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[ "Be me." ]

[ "The one you can exchange for goods and services", "Kinks are what can get you off, fetishes are when its the only thing that can get you off.", "No because I’m not an asshole. I’ve been cheated on before and know it’s one of the most heart breaking and vile things you can do to your partner.", "When was it With?\nI'l do you one better, WHAT WAS IT WITH?", "One is in a bottle and one is in a can.", "$19 bill is better if you can get your hands on one" ]

[ "New Keeneland Strategy For Kentucky Quarter Horse Track - Horse ... Nov 30, 2015 ... Keeneland requested a racing license for a track in Corbin, south of ... The plan is for the track to host 12 Quarter Horse dates in 2017. ... also mean taking on its liabilities, according to a bill supported by state House ... Yes, we do. ... Racing Quarter Horses are at least half Thoroughbred, so you can't really...", "Jeopary Questions page 2044 - FOOD FACTS - TriviaBistro.com I KNOW IT FORWARD & BACKWARD: Piece of paper that says you own the property THE FIVE ... QUARTER BACKS: The quarter for this state features a race horse; we can't tell if it's standing on bluegrass ... THE FIVE SENSES: If you have the \"Second\" type of this sense, you already knew you'd answer this clue correctly.", "California Chrome's Stud Future Looks Tricky | BloodHorse.com Jun 3, 2014 ... But as brilliant as he is as a racehorse, the transition from racing ... that California Chrome could stand his first year in the Golden State. ... If he is good, the runners will come and stud fee will take care of itself.\" ..... on nothing more than long-standing tradition and bluegrass ego? .... I think it's funny really.", "Hirsch's half century | Daily Racing Form Sep 17, 2011 ... If the horses that this gang had handicapped previously broke well, ... registered fractions of :22 2/5 for the quarter, :46 3/5 for the half-mile and :58 ... King a short race and then send him out in the Blue Grass Stakes. ... state of Canadian racing and its future with pleasure and confidence. ..... We can't agree.", "The Stories Behind All 50 State Quarters | Mental Floss Aug 28, 2016 ... Here's how each state decided what to put on its quarter. .... The final coin in the commemorative series is the only one to feature royalty. ... and \"State Song,\" which included the lyrics \"And here we have Idaho, Winning her way to fame.\" ... Home\" and one more overtly referencing the history of horse racing." ]

[ "Types of Horse Races, Horse Race Types, Thoroughbred, Quarter ... Flat racing includes Thoroughbred Racing and Quarter Horse Racing. ... They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle (trot ... racehorses often have French or Russian lineages (such as the Orlov trotter). ... It is a term now used to refer to a distance horse race with diverse fence and ditch...", "Horse racing - Wikipedia Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, involving two or more jockeys riding horses over a set distance for competition. .... Breeds that are used for flat racing include the Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Arabian, Paint, and Appaloosa. ..... be his son Nijinsky II, who is the last horse to win the English Triple Crown.", "Kentucky facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles ... The eastern quarter of the state is dominated by the Cumberland Plateau, on the ... the plateau meets the uplands of the Lexington Plain (known as the Bluegrass region) ..... Farmers, especially western Kentucky \"dark leaf\" tobacco farmers, were ..... and drinking water, has become renowned as a center for horse breeding,...", "Horse Racing Terminology - And Down The Stretch They Come Jan 18, 2010 ... Eased: A horse that is pulled up or stopped prior to finishing the race .... Quarter pole: Post on the infield rail that indicates two furlongs to the...", "Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland on Apr 12, 2014 | Race Preview ... Apr 12, 2014 ... Blood-Horse: Thoroughbred Horse Racing News .... The Blood-Horse has always played the Blue Grass Stakes close to the vest ... Brody's Cause found himself back at home at Keeneland April 9, ... In addition, it will also air the Equine Forum, its weekly talk show, .... P and T Stable; University of Kentucky.", "50 state quarters - Everything2.com There's also an outline of the state (a feature which many other quarters use), .... The design features the image of a racecar superimposed on an outline of the...", "Glossary of Racing Terms - Equibase | Horse Racing | Horse Racing ... The condition can be reversed if the horse is moved to a more temperate climate. .... bobble: A bad step away from the starting gate, usually caused by the track ... be used for any of a number of purposes, depending upon a state's rules of racing. ... From the printer's \"bullet\" that precedes the time of the workout in listings.", "Kentucky State Nickname - The Bluegrass State - State Symbols USA Kentucky's nickname is The Bluegrass State, based on the fact that ... the state (particularly in the northern part of Kentucky - including the metropolitan areas of ... for its horse farms and of course the Kentucky Derby (the thoroughbred is the...", "Kentucky Derby - Wikipedia The Kentucky Derby /drbi/ is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs.", "HyMark High Spots: August 2014 Aug 2, 2014 ... Heck of a way to build your relationship, isn't it? ... This is what happens when soil lacks carbon, said Matt Poore, N.C. State animal scientist turned pasture .... were race horse varieties that could not hold up under the infection. ..... 7 of the Tillamook County Model T Pig and Ford Association Racing Rules,...", "Lexington, Kentucky - Wikipedia Lexington, consolidated with Fayette County, is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 61st largest in the United States. Known as the \"Horse Capital of the World\", it is the heart of the state's Bluegrass region. ... It is the location of the Kentucky Horse Park, The Red Mile and Keeneland race courses, Rupp Arena, the...", "The Official Kansas State Quarter - The US50 Kansas marks the 34th coin to be issued in the United States Mint s popular 50 State Quarters Program, and features a buffalo and sunflower motif,...", "Horse Breeding - Andalusian - Azteca - Quarter Horse - Appaloosa ... Over the years we have bred primarily Quarter Horses and Appaloosas. We would take ... We crossed one of our Arab mares to a Trakehner stallion. We crossed...", "Kentucky | history - geography - state, United States | Britannica.com Dec 11, 2015 ... State nickname: Bluegrass State .... The region was named for the long-stemmed grass (Poa pratensis) that ... the Western Coalfield covers an area of about 4,680 square miles (12,000 square km). .... Plant and animal life .... Kentucky also is a top producer of horses, mules, broiler chickens, and cattle.", "WHEELS The Horse and Buggy Era - Dickinson County Library The \"buckboard\" is the front-most board on the wagon that could act as both a footrest for ... The horse's tail has .... by handsome Arabian horse with long, curly mane in front of a double-door of a ... cloth upon which A.E. Richardson Co. was painted pulled the wagon, driven by a black ...... I'll bet my money on a bob-tail nag,.", "Reverse of the Massachusetts state quarter. The coin features a ... The coin features a design of \"The Minuteman,\" a famous statue that stands ... State Coins | ... which was authorized by the 50 States Commemorative Coin ... The Massachusetts State Quarter was the first of five quarters released in 2000 ... The Michigan quarter depicts the outline of the State and the Great Lakes system.", "Kentucky | history - geography - state, United States | Britannica.com Dec 11, 2015 ... Kentucky has always existed in the middle: as a state looking back ... The deeply dissected Cumberland Plateau, which lies to the west of the Cumberland Mountains and ... Grazing paddock on a horse farm in the Bluegrass region, near ..... The two coalfields and the Pennyrile also have oil and natural gas...", "Jeopary Questions page 1576 - MAY 26 - TriviaBistro.com TALL TALK: At 7' 4\" this wrestler whose last name was Roussimoff brought many an opponent to his knees MAY 26: On May 26, .... AROUND THE USA: State that's home to the most wild horses; it was also home to the Mustang Ranch ... ADJECTIVES: Adjective in the name of Hans, the turn-of-the-century calculating horse.", "Indiana State Quarter - Netstate The Indiana State Quarter - Description of the Indiana State Quarter. ... The racer is superimposed over an image of the state and seems to roll out of the circle of ... the Indy Car and a basketball player, the torch and 19 stars and a state outline.", "Kentucky - New World Encyclopedia Aug 19, 2015 ... Kentucky also has the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in ... Kentucky is known as the \"Bluegrass State,\" a nickname based on the fact ... A typical view of rolling hills and horse farms in the Kentucky Bluegrass. ... the Cumberland Plateau in the east, the north-central Bluegrass region, the...", "Glossary OTB: Horse racing and wagering - Bet With Interbets Firm - Equivalent to a fast track, ideal grass course conditions. ... where a horse is assigned at a class level that is roughly equal to its value. ... Driver The equivalent of a jockey for harness horses. ... Fractional Time Intermediate time recorded in a race at the quarter, half mile, etc. ... Furosemide Also known as Lasix.", "KY Region Articles - Franklin County Public Schools Since Kentucky lies west of the prime meridian, it is located in the Western ... River separates Kentucky from the states of Ohio and Illinois And the Mississippi .... Today the Bluegrass region is known for its thoroughbred racehorses. ... edge of the area, is the state's largest city. Frankfort, the state capital, is also located theie.", "On to 'Old Hilltop': 138th Preakness May 18, 2013 at Pimlico Race ... Wynn Las Vegas/Encore Odds: Preakness/Triple Crown ... there is a Triple Crown sweep prop bet for Orb (will win/won't win) which has narrowed. ... the Maryland state flower that matches the black and yellow colors of the state flag. ..... Yet because this is racing, with its uncompromising hours, there is both...", "Equality State - University of Wyoming The legislature designated the state officially as the Equality State back in the ... refers to Wyoming with the more tourist-friendly nickname, The Cowboy State. ... The bucking horse went on the license plate in 1935the first logo on any ... quarter for cigarettes, how hard they worked, and whether you can count on him to...", "Daily Racing Form: Glossary of Horse Racing Terms BLOWOUT- A short, final workout, usually a day or two before a race, designed to sharpen a .... FOUR FURLONGS- Half a mile; 880 yards; 2,640 feet. .... The quarter pole, for instance, is a quarter of a mile from the finish, not from the start.", "Historic Hialeah Park Open for Horse Racing, Debate | NBC 6 South ... Nov 28, 2009 ... Its future depends on interest and gambling, but Saturday a South Florida landmark is open for quarter horse racing. ... Historic Hialeah Park Open for Horse Racing, Debate ... Opened in 1925, the Park's heyday was a heyday indeed: site of some of the world's best racing and the place for the rich and...", "Horse racing - Wikipedia Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, involving two or more jockeys riding horses .... Track surfaces vary with turf most common in Europe, dirt more common in .... This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's ... Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has its own Hall of Fame in...", "Preakness Stakes - Horse Racing Nation 784 items ... Preakness Stakes horse racing results, news, notes, history, photos, and comments. ... Pimlico Race Course .... Used to be that each of the Triple Crown contest required separate entries but .... The smaller the field the better for me so that the best horses can run their races and we actually get to see the talent.", "\"a\" | Search | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS Will the 2016 Kentucky Derby Lead to a Second Straight Triple Crown Winner? .... Brees hadn't played in the final preseason game since 2006, which was his first .... The winner of the race is given a blanket of yellow Vikings daisies, daubed with ... the state flower of Maryland, don't bloom until June, which is why the flowers...", "The Bluegrass State | State Symbols USA Kentucky's nickname is The Bluegrass State, based on the fact that bluegrass ... \"Bluegrass\" is the common name for grass of the genus Poa, which is a favored...", "Accidents and Injuries - Index :: Harnesslink Click here to watch a replay of race five at Menangle yesterday Amanda Rando ... It was an emotional day at Exhibition Park Raceway on Saturday as a ... became involved and Trites was dragged in the sulky until the horse came to a stop at the fence. .... Know your Horse Health Knowing your horses' normal heart rate,...", "State Quarters, Part 4 | The Brunching Shuttlecocks This adorable little coin features three musical instruments and a musical score. The fiddle represents Appalachian folk music, the trumpet stands for the blues, the guitar stands for country music, and the score presumably stands for the fact..." ]

[ "The thing with that post is that the artistic style is nothing like anything produced in the Maya region in any time period. A continuity of art style is helpful when talking about a piece and possible interpretations it may hold. That being said, the lack of similar art style coupled with the poor quality of the photo leads me to believe that these are fake. Anyone with some sheet metal or stone and tools could produce this and claim it was real. There is also no official report, just a series of self referential claims across the internet." ]

[ "Without explaining it, I'd just like to point out that it's not a modern thing. Look at the stories we have from the ancient Greeks - gods, demigods & mythical heros aren't much different than superheros. [Beowulf](_URL_0_), an important relic of the earliest written English literature, is the story of a superhuman hero and still captures the attention of audiences enough to justify repeatedly making movies of it.", "The astronaut will almost certainly be able to see stars. The reason there aren't any in that picture is because the camera isn't sensitive enough to show the brightly-lit Earth and the dim stars at the same time. But, your eye has much better dynamic range than almost any camera and unless the astronaut is looking directly at the sun, they would be able to see the stars.", "Not to the degree that we do in modern society, but the Phoenicians did differentiate between the types of fish they ate. You can tell by looking at some ancient Phoenician relics which depict different types of fish being shown with different symbols. They also kept the bones of the northern blue-fin tuna (giant tuna), which also suggested they could distinguish between types of fish.", "It's a lucky coincidence. Stars move in the night sky, though not fast enough to notice. It's a combination of the proper motion of the stars, and the precession of the earth's axis of rotation. In fact, 5000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians saw a different star as the north star - Thuban! [In fact, we can calculate what the night sky looked like at any point in history, and into the far future - check it out!](_URL_0_)", "When we \"observe\" planets outside our solar system we aren't actually looking at the planet at all, we're looking at stars and watching for behaviours in the light that indicate there's a planet there. Doing this is simply a matter of pointing a telescope at a star (which is easy to find in the sky) and watching it for long enough. Our own solar system is more difficult to observe. Things in our solar system move across the sky much faster than distant stars. If you don't know that something is there you're very unlikely to have your telescope pointing in the right spot at the right time to actually see anything. Even then, if you weren't aiming to identify everything in your image, you could very well ignore the extra blip.", "Yes, and the most stable form of a ternary system involves a binary system where a third star orbits the binary system, and is far enough away to where it could look at the binary system as a single gravitational object. If this is not the way the system is organized, one or more of the stars is likely to be flung out of the system", "Castes are a relic of old generatiom, the elderly still go by it. My grandparents like to remind me of what caste my family used to be and the legacy they left (we own alot of land in India) and current generation could care less. However there are still some rural areas of India where people have not caught up to modern times and still go by them. Especially poorer people. Caste system is illegal but its hard to prove and not many would go actively seeks out caste system prejudice. Overall, its something that takes time to fix similar to racism in America.", "It's about exposure. A photo from Earth at night looking up has probably nothing in the frame other than stars. This means the camera can keep the shutter open for a longer period like 10 seconds, allowing dim objects like stars to be visible. Videos and pictures of astronauts have an astronaut in the foreground. The camera is exposing for the astronaut, probably at a shutter speed of around 1/200th of a second. This is too short to see any stars except maybe the very brightest few.", "Our detection methods don't work well for systems that look like our solar system. We don't know yet. What we know for sure: There are many systems that look completely different. Planets much closer to the star, much more distant, inner gas planets and outer rocky planets, planets in double star systems, planets as hot as some stars, ... * Transits and related methods are more likely for planets near the star. We found many systems with planets very close to the star - often closer than Mercury. * Radial velocity measurements work better for heavy planets close to the star. We found many systems with that. Imagine Jupiter, but closer to the Sun than Mercury. * Direct imaging works best for very large planets with a very large separation to the parent star, much larger than the planets in our system. * Microlensing and other approaches don't find enough for good statistical analyses.", "Whales had ancestors that were terrestrial and if you go far back enough those terrestrial ancestors themselves had aquatic ancestors. The time gap between the two events is huge but, I hope it still fits what you are looking for. [Evolution of Whales] (_URL_0_)", "No. I assume you mean the tidal force from Jupiter? That is far too weak to be noticeable. The radiation would kill the astronaut very quickly, however. There isn't any place in the solar system that has [tides strong enough to hurt you](_URL_0_). You would have to find something like a neutron star or black hole for that.", "You're traveling at near light speed right now, in the right reference frame. You seem to be surviving it just fine. To elaborate: velocity has no locally observable effects. If you were in a spaceship traveling at near light speed, it would feel and *be* no different than sitting in a spaceship on Earth. The only way you could tell the difference is to look out and see how fast the stars are moving.", "I think \"ancient cultures\" is a difficult concept in this context, but perhaps something like this is what you are looking for? > It would seem, too, that the Egyptians were the first people to establish solemn assemblies, and processions, and services; the Greeks learned all that from them. I consider this proved, because the Egyptian ceremonies are manifestly very ancient, and the Greek are of recent origin. Herodotus, The Histories, II.58", "Ancient people didn't understand what outer space was, and thought that the night sky was just a large blanket with dots on it, which depicted signs from the gods. As such, they came up with methods to decode these messages. Astrology is somewhat based off of this idea. Stars and planets which are millions/billions of miles away do not affect us at all. Horoscopes in the newspapers are supposed to be based off of these signs, but they are purposefully written to be so vague that they could really be for anyone.", "> I guess the best way to put it is, is there a 'habitable zone' for the galaxy, like there is for a solar system? For life as we know it, yes. But that isn't to say there won't be circumstances in which life could pop up in weird places. For example, Jupiter had moons which are generally considered outside the habitable zone of the sun, but tidal forces cause the moon to experience internal heating that causes a liquid ocean which is a good candidate for extra terrestrial life in our solar system.", "In Christianity, a relic is a bone or other body part of a saint, sometimes extended to include related items like pieces of the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Other ancient objects are referred to as \"relics\" by analogy, but the word tends to imply religious significance. Any man-made item from history can be an archeological artifact.", "It's simply that we can't find him. Although we have the name of the ship he departed on he left the solar system before we could track it. There is also a huge dispute about what Khan actually looked like. Most sources depict him as brown skinned with prominent muscles while more recent (and admittedly less reliable) sources describe him as slender, pale, and with a British accent.", "Ozone protects against UV light but thats not a problem for astronauts because the spaceship and space suit will protect them. However, Astronauts are subjected to all kinds of radiation. The earths magnetic field helps to protect astronauts near the earth. But away from the earth, say on a Mars mission, the astronauts would be subject to higher levels of radiation.", "Most likely, it wasn't a single star. The heavy elements - beyond carbon and oxygen - are mostly produced in stars that go supernova. In fact, the solar system lies in a \"bubble\" called the [Local Bubble](_URL_0_) that is believed to be a remnant of one or more of these ancient supernovae.", "What do you mean by \"depictions\"? Are you asking whether the ancient plays get staged in modern theatres? The answer to that is certainly yes: even in towns that aren't major theatrical centres, there's likely to be a staging of an ancient play every year or so (usually one of Euripides'). Theatre schools also often do ancient Greek plays to expand the students' horizons a bit.", "There have been attempts to recreate what Roman music would have sounded like such as [this](_URL_5_) but they're in the realm of educated guesses rather than definitive facsimiles. We don't have any surviving Roman musical notation though it's conjectured they may have used the ancient Greek system. No depiction of a musician reading music has been found in art.", "Elements to form rocky planets, such as silicon, could have been formed in stars that died in a supernova explosion. These stars live a very short amount of time since the more massive a star is during its main-sequence life, the greater its luminosity, the faster it burns through its fuel, and the shorter they live, which can be on the order of a few million years for the most massive stars. So, there could have already been a few generations of star formation to provide material for terrestrial planets by then.", "What (2) says is that you can't prove that the system you're using is valid (if it's strong enough to contain arithmetic). Colloquially, a system cannot *justify* itself. Using it in the context of the Mind-Body Problem is bullshit though. A system can discuss what it does and what-not, it just can't prove itself valid. I would be surprised if your professors are math professors, it sounds like they just heard someone talking about it and reinterpreted it for their own use.", "While space is pretty sterile, spaceships are not. Astronauts bring the bacteria with them wherever they go. Your skin, gut, fingernails, teeth, etc are filled with trillions of bacteria. All their equipment, food, clothes, etc are also covered with some amount of dust and bacteria. The environment in space actually weakens the immune system, so astronauts are more likely to get sick than if they were on earth. Usually only very strong and fit people are sent into space for this reason, to avoid the problems of becoming sick in space. But it still happens, astronauts like Wally Schirra have fallen sick in space and spread the illness to the entire Mission crew. The usual response is to take standard medicines and hope it gets better. The loss of productivity can costs millions, and the crew are stuck for weeks/months until another resupply craft comes.", "In the Apollo program they could do much of their required calculations in advance. The Moon doesn't change direction, it doesn't move under its own power. Because it orbits on a regular path there is no reason the calculations for its position would need to be done on board the spacecraft. > I've also read that the astronauts used star maps? They would be useful for determining which direction they are pointed. Stars are so incredibly distant that no matter where the astronauts were the relative position of the stars would be the same. If you have a small window there are only a few directions that are going to point toward Earth, the Moon, or the Sun which are likely recognizable with the naked eye. By having star maps they could determine where their ship was pointed with the stars as reference.", "2063 man kind discovers FTL. There happens to be a Vulcan spaceship flying around and they make contact. 2151-2155 the event of \"Star Trek Enterprise\" take place 2259-2270 the events of \"Star Trek the original series take place\" 2273 Star Trek the motion picture 2285 the events of (the real) wrath of khan take place 2285 search for Spock 2286 the voyage home 2287 the final voyage 2364-2370 the events of Next Generation 2369-2375 the events of Deep Space 9 2371 the events if Star Trek generations 2371-2377 Star Trek voyager 2373 Star Trek first contact 2375 Star Trek Insurrection 2379 Star Trek nemesis 2387 Romulus destroyed starting the alternative time line Abrams universe bullshit.", "Yes. Mars is in our Sun's habitable zone. The reason why Mars is a hostile place is because there is a very thin atmosphere that does not protect the planet and any water source from the solar wind and radiation. In fact, there are several systems that we have observed (like Gliese) that have several terrestrial planets within the Goldilocks zone. A star's size and luminosity can also effect the size of the habitable zone for that system. for more info: _URL_0_", "The figure eight orbit isn't possible. Binary star systems are common, though, and they can have planets if the two stars are fairly close and the planets are far enough away. Another alternative would be a small star orbiting a large star far away, like if Saturn were big enough to be a star. In that case you could have planets around the big star, _and_ planets around the small star. A stable configuration might have a sun somewhat larger than our own, say twice as large, and then something at probably Saturn's orbit, but at least 100 times the mass of Jupiter. This star would be about 1/10th the size of our sun, and so could obviously have planets of its own, larger than the moons of Jupiter or Saturn.", "An astronauts movements can cause the spacecraft to move, but since it is a closed system the combined center of mass of the spacecraft and the astronaut cannot change. So if the astronaut moves left the spacecraft will move right, but the center of mass will stay in the same spot. Once the astronaut stops moving the spacecraft will also stop. The astronaut cannot change the trajectory, they could only make the spacecraft move slightly back and forth or rotate.", "It depends on the system, but many are far enough apart that each could have its own system of planets independent of the companion star. According to the [Wikipedia page](_URL_0_) on Alpha Centauri, the companion star wouldn't have a significant affect on the climate of a planet orbiting either star, and they orbit at a distance comparable to Uranus from our sun. The other star would move like a planet through the sky, but be brighter than the full moon. If the stars were closer they could interfere though. Also, wobble is not the only way we can determine if there are planets around a star. The new KEPLER observatory measures brightness changes from planetary transits.", "The earth circles the sun in 365 days and six hours. The extra time could be calculated by using star positions relative to the earth, or by tracking the earth's position over time. Because the extra six hours was (basically) annoying, it was stashed until enough six hour units were stored to add another day.", "While /u/varialectio is right that the system is logarithmic, there's no reason it couldn't be logarithmic in the other direction, with the brightest stars having the biggest numbers. Historically, for the ancient Greeks, magnitude was a semi-arbitrary scale where \"first magnitude\" was like \"first class\" or \"first place\", the brightest stars. \"Second magnitude\" stars were less bright and important, and so on, down to sixth magnitude which was the limit of human vision. With the invention of photography we were able to measure brightness accurately, and we chose a logarithmic scale to fit the ancient system, because as it turns out the human eye measures brightness logarithmically. _URL_0_" ]

[ "Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta rejected the notion that the 4-0 hammering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain was down to the players' attitudes.\nThe La Liga outfit were comprehensively outplayed by Unai Emery's side in a memorable display at the Parc des Princes, leaving Barcelona's hopes of Champions League progression all but over.\nBut the Barca skipper insisted the humbling defeat was not down to a complacency and his side will be ready to dust themselves off for the return leg.\nScroll down for highlights\nAndres Iniesta believes his team have the attitude to pick themselves up after Paris defeat\nRio Ferdinand claimed it was the worst he had seen Lionel Messi play for Luis Enrique's side\n'We had a bad day in every way,' Iniesta told Mundo Deportivo. 'In the return we have to try to get as close as possible to turn it around, which is very difficult but we will give everything.\n'The word \"attitude\" is one I have never liked and I do not think it is linked to these players or this team.\n'In the end it is a matter of football. I do not like to talk about attitude when it is not [the reason for the defeat].\n'It's a game and they have overcome us playing football and taking advantage of all their qualities. We have not been able to in any moment of the match.'\nAngel Di Maria opened the scoring with an unstoppable free-kick just 18 minutes into the tie\nJulian Draxler doubled the lead when he drilled past Marc-Andre ter Stegen before half time\nDi Maria added his second of the night and put the game beyond all doubt after 55 minutes\nPSG's top scorer Edinson Cavani sealed the 4-0 defeat when he smashed home late on in Paris\nThe lacklustre performance did not go unnoticed by the BT Sport pundits, who tore into the Barcelona display.\nRio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard leveled the blame at the whole team for turning out the below par performance in Paris.\n'That's the worst I've seen Barcelona and Messi play in recent years but all credit has to go to this Paris Saint-Germain side, they had the nerve and they were positive,' Ferdinand said.\nBarcelona's next six fixtures 19 February - Leganes 26 February - Atletico Madrid 1 March - Sporting Gijon 4 March - Celta Vigo 8 March - Paris Saint-Germain 12 March - Deportivo La Coruna\nFerdinand was not alone in his criticism of Luis Enrique's side. Fellow pundit Gerrard also delivered his own verdict in the post-match analysis.\n'He (Messi) wasn't alone, many more Barca players struggled all night and showed zero effort, especially when they lost the ball,' said Gerrard.\n'There was no reaction all night from any of them.'\nThey will have to overturn the four-goal deficit at the Nou Camp when the French giants make the trip next month.\nBarcelona are a point adrift of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, with the leaders having two games in hand.\nBut Iniesta, a four-time Champions League winner with the club, believes his side are fully focused on regaining their best form after the defeat.\n'It is difficult, these things sometimes happen and it hurts. It is a bad night for everyone. It will cost us to take in this defeat,' Iniesta added.\n'We have to get up, turn the page as fast as possible. We have the other competitions, do not forget that.\n'When the return comes we will try everything to get closer but it is a tie that is very complicated.'" ]

[ "Tears welled up his eyes. As Andres Iniesta walked off the pitch at the Wanda Metropolitano, he stopped to embrace several of his team-mates and was applauded by both sets of supporters after helping Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-0 in the final of the Copa del Rey. It felt like the end.\nAnd if it is indeed the end, it was a fitting finale. Iniesta had produced an exhibition in attacking football, gliding past rivals, linking up with pinpoint passes and even scoring an excellent goal. He always did save them for the big occasion, after all.\nAfter spending the final few minutes on the bench following his substitution, he was then back to lift the trophy, his 31st for Barcelona and a 34th in total. Next week, away to Deportivo La Coruna, he can add another as the Blaugrana look to complete a domestic double. And then in a flash, he will be gone.\n\"There are a lot of emotions and feelings,\" he said after the game. \"I'm happy for the image we gave of ourselves and for the title. The fans deserved this after what happened against Roma.\"\nHe deserved it, too. \"This week I will make my decision public,\" he added. \"But we'll [always] have days like today. I'll say what my decision is. It's a bit clear, but well, we'll see.\"\nIniesta has received ovations from fans all over Spain in the past, including at Real Madrid and Espanyol, Barcelona's two biggest rivals. And on Saturday, Sevilla's supporters paid tribute to the midfielder – even though their team were 5-0 down when he was withdrawn.\n\"I burst into tears when I heard the ovation they had given Andres,\" the player's father, Jose Antonio, told Spanish radio after the game. \"It was really emotional to hear the ovation for Andres.\"\nAnd he added: \"If he takes the decision to leave, it must be respected. If he chooses to leave, I think it is a good moment. My son is going to take a tough step.\"\nIniesta trophies graphic More\nCoach Ernesto Valverde would not confirm whether it was indeed goodbye for Iniesta. \"Well, we will have to see what happens,\" he said. \"He played a great game. Watch him, enjoy him. I would have given an arm when I was a player to do the things he does.\"\nIniesta's goal came from a one-two with Lionel Messi, the Argentine assisting his friend for Barca's fourth goal as the midfielder rounded goalkeeper David Soria and fired into the empty net from a tight angle.\nAndres is 34 in May, while Leo will be 31 in June. Together, they have been at the forefront of the best Barcelona era ever and without each other, it would not have been quite so special.\nMORE: Barcelona claim 30th Copa del Rey crown | Chinese Super League club's sponsor 'positive' over deal for Iniesta | Messi & Barcelona soothe Champions League pain with Copa masterclass in Madrid\nBut barring a late change of heart, it is now all over. Iniesta is set on a move to China in the summer, just months after signing a \"lifetime\" contract with the Catalan club and despite the fact he remains easily good enough to continue at Camp Nou for at least one more season.\nEven when he is gone, though, his football will live long in the memory. His artistry is a joy to behold even now and it is sad for all football fans that he is leaving so soon. Don't go, Andres – you still belong at Barcelona...", "Xavier Laine/Getty Images\nParis Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti has insisted he has no desire to leave the Ligue 1 club despite previously hinting he would be open to a move to Barcelona.\nVerratti played a key role as PSG crushed the Catalan giants 4-0 in their UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday.\nFollowing the French giants' triumph, the 24-year-old Italy international said he is eager to remain at PSG and continue to play a role in their progression, per Mediaset Premium (h/t Goal's Sacha Pisani): \"I'm pleased to attract interest from the big clubs, but I don't want to change. I am part of a great project and we want to become one of the top three in Europe.\"\nAhead of the clash with Barca, Verratti's agent, Donato Di Campli, warned that his client would look to move elsewhere if he did not win the Champions League with PSG, per Metro's Sean Kearns.\nAnd the player himself hinted he would be open to a switch to the Camp Nou, per AS (via Kearns): \"Even though I am currently in a good project and I feel at home, any player would play for Barcelona. They are still the best team in the world. They have the three best players in attack, and [Andres] Iniesta too. Iniesta, [Lionel] Messi and Neymar create a move in a second.\"\nHowever, Verratti's tune has seemingly changed somewhat following Tuesday's spectacular showing.\nAngel Di Maria, Julian Draxler and Edinson Cavani were the goalscorers on the night, but numerous others in Unai Emery's side, including Verratti, were brilliant, per beIN Sports USA's David Cartlidge:\nPSG's Champions League campaigns over the last four seasons have all ended at the quarter-final stage.\nPer ESPN FC, the French outfit were given little chance of even getting that far in 2016-17, with the majority tipping Barca to overturn them in the first knockout round.\nBut now they must be considered genuine challengers for the trophy, as few other sides in the competition could have meted out the hammering PSG did on Tuesday to one of the best sides in Europe, per BT Sport Football:\nAnd in terms of keeping hold of Verratti, it seems a run in the Champions League could hold the key.\nHe is clearly enjoying life in Paris and, even without winning Europe's biggest competition this season, if PSG can continue to show they are making advances in the tournament, the Italian could well eschew a move to Barca to remain at the Parc des Princes.", "Javier Mascherano is in a situation he has never previously experienced. A fixture in every one of the teams for which he has played, the Argentine is now no longer an undisputed starter at Barcelona.\nThe 33-year-old has played just three matches for the Catalan club this season. Against Eibar, he was chosen in order to give Samuel Umtiti a rest, featuring from the outset after spending the previous three games on the bench, something that had not happened since 2010 when he was still adapting to life at Camp Nou and Pep Guardiola's style.\n\"Not being in the team affects him, without doubt,\" his former Argentina coach at youth level, Hugo Tocalli, told Goal. \"He is a player who is used to being a starter and the more he plays, the better he feels.\"\nTocalli, now head of the youth academy at San Lorenzo, nevertheless believes the former River Plate and Liverpool player should stay calm.\n\"He should be relaxed because he is getting minutes,\" he said. \"I still think he has good years ahead of him. I am convinced that when he realises he cannot go on any longer, he will step aside.\"\nMascherano stats More\nThat is what Carles Puyol did a few years ago, turning down a contract with Barcelona because he felt he could not play at the required level. However, there are differences with Mascherano because Puyol retired at the age of 36. Mascherano, meanwhile, is still only 33 and, as Tocalli points out, \"he hasn't had serious injuries in his career\".\nTwo summers back, the player himself was full of doubts and admitted: \"After playing for so long, sometimes you wonder if you can carry on at this level.\"\nBut Barcelona convinced him to sign a new contract. So how did they do it?\n\"Mascherano has that character,\" Tocalli said. \"He is very positive but very demanding with himself. He trusts his team-mates a lot and it is probably a mixture of things that convinced him to carry on.\"\nThe Argentine is a leader and it is worth remembering that his team-mates chose him as one of the club captains ahead of Gerard Pique after Xavi left in 2015 and Andres Iniesta took the armband. Along with the Spain midfielder, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi, 'El Jefecito' became one of the four team leaders in the Barca dressing room.\nMascherano Barcelona Osasuna LaLiga 26042017 More\nJavier Mascherano Barcelona Juventus UCL 19042017 More\nStory Continues", "MADRID Jorge Sampaoli takes his stuttering Sevilla to Camp Nou on Wednesday in his last chance to prove to Barcelona he has the quality to coach them next season.\nThe Catalans are looking to keep the pressure on Real Madrid at the top of La Liga ahead of Los Blancos’ game at Leganes afterwards, but the clash with Sevilla isn’t as tough as it first appeared.\nFor much of the season Sampaoli’s side were in the title race but their season collapsed in March, with Leicester City eliminating them from the Champions League and their Liga form suffering too.\nSince beating Athletic Bilbao 1-0 on March 2, Sevilla have drawn three games against Alaves, Leganes and Sporting Gijon, as well as falling at Atletico Madrid.\nThey are now fourth in the table and 10 points behind leaders Madrid, who have played a game more.\nSampaoli's chances of replacing Luis Enrique, who will leave when his Barcelona contract expires in June, have dwindled, with Athletic Bilbao’s Ernesto Valverde and current assistant coach Juan Carlos Unzue now the favourites.\nOnly a high quality display could help his case, but critics say that Sampaoli’s high-pressing style has taken a toll and his squad is now drained, though the coach disagreed.\n\"I do not see a lack of freshness, but we could not hit the target once we were in the opposition's half,\" Sampaoli said after the 0-0 draw with Sporting.\n“We must improve in regard to converting our chances. Do we have less energy now than earlier in the season? I do not agree with that analysis.”\nWith Sevilla in poor form, Barcelona will expect to earn the three points, particularly with key players rested.\nLionel Messi was suspended for the 4-1 win at Granada on Sunday and Gerard Pique was rested after playing twice for Spain. Andres Iniesta was only a substitute and Samuel Umtiti did not feature. But all four players are expected to start against Sevilla.\nLuis Enrique was pleased to be able to rest his stars and still take three points from Nuevo Los Carmenes. “It's great when you can make up for absent players with the type of squad we have, because it is with squads that win you trophies.”\nRafinha injured his knee against Granada and will be missing, along with Arda Turan and long-term absentee Aleix Vidal.\nReal Madrid, meanwhile, head to local rivals Leganes, although they will be without Raphael Varane, who injured his hamstring in the 3-0 win over Alaves on Sunday.\nMadrid coach Zinedine Zidane hopes they can pick up the pace after a good result though disappointing display at the Bernabeu.\n“We know we have to improve. With games every three days, you can't always play well for 90 minutes. We have to consider that this is the way it's going to be almost every three days and it'll only get worse.”\n(Editing by Mark Heinrich)", "MADRID Lionel Messi delivered a majestic Clasico display to silence the Santiago Bernabeu as the Argentine scored his 500th Barcelona goal to snatch a thrilling 3-2 win at Real Madrid on Sunday.\nMessi scored twice with his stunning second strike settling a pulsating clash in the last minute of stoppage time, drawing Barcelona level with Madrid on 75 points at the top of La Liga, although Los Blancos have a game in hand.\nThe stand-out player in a magnificent match, Messi was a nightmare for Real Madrid whose captain Sergio Ramos was sent off for a hasty two-footed lunge at the Argentine while Casemiro was lucky to avoid red for repeated fouls on the No. 10.\nBarcelona struggled on the night but Messi led them through the game and was the decisive figure on a dramatic occasion that leaves the Spanish title race wide open.\n\"(Messi) even makes a difference when he's at home having dinner,\" joked Barcelona coach Luis Enrique after the game.\n\"He's the best of all time and I have seen a lot of football matches and videos. Now people are better prepared and he makes the difference. And this was his 500th goal.\n\"Just imagine, his 500th goal coming here, a winner in the 92nd minute at the Santiago Bernabeu. It's very nice for Leo and it's nice for everyone associated with Barca.\"\nCasemiro went into the book for a foul on Messi in the 12th minute as Barcelona’s all-time top scorer frequently dropped into midfield to help the team develop moves.\n\"He allowed us to have superiority in midfield, we wanted him on the ball as often as possible,” added Luis Enrique.\nMessi was singled out for praise by several team mates after his virtuoso performance helped Barcelona take three points from a game in which they were under pressure for long periods.\nCaptain Andres Iniesta said: \"Leo’s greatness doesn’t stop surprising us. He is an honour for us and a blessing for the club. We all have to stay with him to have a chance of lifting the title.\"\nMarc-Andre ter Stegen, who made several important saves to keep Real Madrid at bay in the second half, also hailed Messi.\n\"He’s the player that makes the difference, a very special player,\" said the German goalkeeper. “The rest of us made a very big effort and together we earned the victory.\"\n(Editing by Ken Ferris)", "Who will finish as Premier League top scorer? Aguero in the hunt\nGet Manchester City FC updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nWhen Pep Guardiola lost his first match in charge of Barcelona, the reaction of the fans was predictably extreme.\nThe new coach had been a Nou Camp hero as a player, but losing his first game in charge at newly-promoted Numancia – the paupers of La Liga – was verging on unforgivable.\nThere were 40,000 empty seats as Barca kicked off their home campaign against Racing Santander, after the local press and radio had been flooded with emails, letters and howls of outrage.\nAn online poll found that 86 per cent of the Barca fans did not believe he was the man for the job – and that Jose Mourinho should have been chosen ahead of him.\nSo it came as something of a shock to the Catalan when, after his Manchester City team had been booted out of the Champions League and then failed to beat Liverpool , Arsenal or Chelsea , they were politely clapped out onto the pitch for the home game against Hull.\n(Photo: PA)\nAnd while Guardiola appreciated the civility of that kind of support, you get the feeling that, under that veneer of approval, he actually WANTS the fans to be harder on the players – and on himself.\nHe said: “That doesn't happen in Italy or in Spain. That's why I’m so, so glad for the fans we have, because for the first time in my life I have experienced that.”\nThe small number of Barcelona fans who travelled to Numancia had reacted with verbal abuse and gestures aimed at both Guardiola and president Joan Laporta.\nAnd the reaction after Santander managed to hold a dominant Barca team 1-1 in that first home game, was one of alarm, and doubts were already being expressed about the raw young coach who had done such a good job with the club's B team.\nHe was backed by his mentor and Barca legend Johann Cruyff, who, in his newspaper column, described the Santander draw as one of the best performances in years.\nAnd the agony did not last long, as Sporting Lisbon were beaten 3-1 in the Champions League and the team then looked unstoppable in a 6-1 win at Sporting Gijon.\nGuardiola has said that he felt “alone” after those first two games at Barca – until Andres Iniesta popped his head around his door and told him that the players were behind him and his methods.\nHis false start was soon followed by four glorious years, and the fans were given no further reason to grumble.\nBut Pep and his players knew, even amid the shower of honours, that a run like the one City had, of defeats to Monaco and Chelsea, and insipid draws with top four rivals Liverpool and Arsenal, would bring a strong reaction.\nCity fans are, in general, a grateful lot – the traumas of the 90s have moulded them into a group who, apart from the odd grumpy exception, don't demand too much, and they can see the progress which Guardiola is making, and that means they accept the setbacks more easily than most.\nMaybe that will change as younger fans who have known only success become the mainstream – and maybe the pressure that brings will help the club, rather than hinder it.", "Barcelona - Barcelona will need to hit at least five goals past Juventus to produce another miracle Champions League comeback, but have nothing to lose according to outgoing coach Luis Enrique.\nThe Catalans made Champions League history by overcoming a 4-0 first leg deficit to beat Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 in the last round, but have another mountain to climb at the Camp Nou on Wednesday as they trail their quarter-final tie 3-0.\n\"We need to score fewer goals,\" said an upbeat Enrique facing what could be his last European game in charge. \"But bearing in mind the opponent could have chances and the goal can come at any moment, our objective is to score five.\"\nEnrique foresaw Barca's recovery in the last 16, claiming an attack laced with the potential of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar was capable of scoring six against the French champions.\nAnd he called for an expected near 100,000 crowd to play their part as they did against PSG.\n\"We don't have anything to lose. We are free from pressure. Juventus have the semi-finals in their pocket and will have to decide whether to sit back or attack,\" he added.\n\"We only have one option which is to attack, attack and attack again.\n\"I am sure that if we score the first goal, the Camp Nou will score the second and the third will come of its own accord.\"\nBarca captain Andres Iniesta was more cautious in his optimism, recognising the first leg in Turin had been \"a terrible result.\"\nHowever, he believes Barca have the potential to at least create some doubt in Juventus minds.\n\"Nowadays teams respect us a lot. I am convinced they know we can cause them problems,\" said Iniesta.\n\"We have the potential, the players and reason to believe we can turn this tie around or at least get close to it.\n\"We need to create doubts so at some point they see the tie is in danger.\n\"Everything depends on playing a perfect game in every sense.\"\nBarca scored three times in the final two minutes plus stoppage time as PSG froze in a grandstand finish six weeks ago.\nAnd Enrique insisted Barca can't lose belief even if the goals don't come early against a Juventus defence that has conceded just two in nine Champions League games this season.\n\"Don't leave in the 80th minute,\" he said in a message to the fans.\n\"We are going to try until the end. Those of us who experienced the game against PSG have another chance to experience a historic night.\n\"We have seen that Barca can score three goals in three minutes so we will stay together until the 95th minute.\"\nJuventus defender Giorgio Chiellini won his latest battle with Luis Suarez in the first leg after the Uruguayan famously bit the Italian at the 2014 World Cup.\nChiellini scored his side's third goal a week ago after Paulo Dybala's early double and insists Juventus will need all their experience to stand up to Barca's \"sharks\".\n\"We will have to play without fear because they are like sharks - they smell blood and they finish you off,\" he told Sky Sports Italia.\nThe visitors were handed a big injury boost as Dybala has been passed fit to play despite picking up an ankle injury in Saturday's 2-0 win at Pescara.\nBarca will welcome back Iniesta and Neymar from the side that beat Real Sociedad 3-2 at the weekend with Messi's double in that match taking him within two of 500 goals for the club.", "Man Utd plot £40m Sessegnon bid\nManchester United are considering a £40 million bid for Fulham teenager Ryan Sessegnon in the summer, according to The Sun.\nSessegnon has been watched regularly by United scouts of late and the 17-year-old left-sider has been the subject of glowing reports.\nHe is being viewed as a replacement for Luke Shaw, although United could face competition from Tottenham for Sessegnon.\nMan Utd to fight Madrid for Neymar\nManchester United are ready to fight Real Madrid for the signing of Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar, claims Don Balon.\nNeymar only joined PSG in a €222 million world-record transfer from Barcelona last summer, but reports suggest the Brazilian could soon be on the move again.\nMadrid have long targeted a deal for the stylish attacker, but United are willing to make an offer, with the aim of making Neymar the team’s new leader.\nInter want Roma star Strootman\nInter are turning their attention toward signing Kevin Strootman from Roma as they look set to land Stefan de Vrij from Lazio, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports.\nThe San Siro outfit are sure of signing De Vrij on a five-year deal from Lazio after he confirmed he will not renew his deal in the Italian capital.\nLooking to enhance their midfield, it is De Vrij's Netherlands team-mate Inter have decided on and are willing to offer one of Joao Mario or Marcelo Brozovic as part of the deal to cut his €32 million price tag down.\nMan Utd stars' concern for Shaw\nSome Manchester United players are concerned Luke Shaw is being ‘bullied’ by his manager Jose Mourinho, claims the Daily Telegraph.\nShaw was replaced at half-time of United’s 2-0 win over Brighton in the FA Cup on Saturday and he was on the receiving end of blunt criticism from Mourinho .\nThe left-back’s future at Old Trafford appears uncertain again and his latest treatment by Mourinho has reportedly left some of Shaw’s team-mates ‘stunned’.\nVerratti rubbishes Barca rumours\nMarco Verratti has denied reports that his agent Mino Raiola has sounded out Barcelona over a potential summer move from Paris Saint-Germain.\nThe 25-year-old midfielder has been a long-time target of the Camp Nou side, with the Catalans close to completing a move last summer.\nHowever, he says that departing the French capital is not in his mind at present.\nRead the full story on Goal right here!\nPaulinho recommends China for Barca team-mate\nPaulinho has recommended Barcelona team-mate Paco Alcacer accepts an offer to move to China, reports Don Balon.\nBarcelona are reportedly ready to sell Alcacer, with the 24-year-old striker having struggled to make a sustained impact at Camp Nou since his 2016 arrival from Valencia.\nJavier Mascherano left Barca for China earlier this year, and there is also interest in Andres Iniesta, but Alcacer could also have the option of a switch to the Far East, which former Guangzhou Evergrande midfielder Paulinho feels the Spain international should take.\nModric wants Alli to replace him\nLuka Modric has identified Tottenham’s Dele Alli as the man to replace him at Real Madrid, according to Don Balon.\nWith Modric turning 33 in September, the Croatian midfielder is aware he doesn’t have many years left at the highest level and Madrid are already reportedly making plans to find a long-term replacement.\nModric feels that player could be at his old club Spurs and has urged Madrid to make a move for Alli before any of Europe’s other leading clubs launch a bid.\nBarcelona close in on Alaba\nBarcelona are close to sealing a deal for Bayern Munich left-back David Alaba, reports Don Balon.\nBarca and Real Madrid have emerged as suitors for the 25-year-old Austrian, who could command a fee as high as £70 million.\nAccording to the report, however, the Blaugrana are in pole position to land Alaba, and talks over a move are in an advanced stage.\nShaw set to leave Man Utd\nManchester United left-back Luke Shaw appears ready to leave the club after more criticism from manager Jose Mourinho, according to the BBC .\nShaw was taken off at half-time of United's 2-0 win over Brighton in the FA Cup on Saturday, with Mourinho harshly criticising the defender after the game .\nIt wasn't the first time Shaw has been slated by Mourinho, and the 22-year-old reportedly has had enough and will seek a move away from Manchester.\nChelsea and Madrid could swap Hazard for Asensio\nChelsea star Eden Hazard could be headed to Real Madrid in the summer, with Marco Asensio going the other way, reports Diario Gol.\nAsensio is concerned about a lack of first-team minutes at Madrid, and reportedly considers Chelsea a dream destination.\nMadrid have a long-standing interest in Hazard, making a swap a potentially appealing option for both sides.\nMadrid searching for Modric replacement\nReal Madrid have made a long-term replacement for Luka Modric a top summer priority, according to Marca .\nAt 32, the Croatian presumably doesn't have much time left at the highest level, meaning the Blancos are starting to plan for a successor to the Croatian.\nWith a possible move for Neymar appearing complicated, Madrid are turning their focus to finding a player of a similar profile to Modric.\nDortmund make €33m bid for Martinez\nBorussia Dortmund have made a €33 million bid for Racing striker Lautaro Martinez, according to TyC Sports.\nThe 20-year-old has been strongly linked to Inter, but the German side hope they can hijack the striker's move to Serie A.\nMartinez recently earned his first call-up to the Argentina national team, and has been compared to Sergio Aguero and Mauro Icardi.\nNice concede Balotelli will likely leave\nNice president Jean-Pierre Rivere and coach Lucien Favre have acknowledged that striker Mario Balotelli will likely depart the club this summer.\nThe 27-year-old's contract is set to expire after this season, and his resurgent form has led to interest from all over Europe.\nRead what Rivere and Favre said about Balotelli right here!\nJuventus to pay Nzonzi buyout clause\nJuventus are willing to pay Sevilla midfielder Steven Nzonzi's €30 million buyout clause, according to Mundo Deportivo.\nThe 29-year-old has one more year on his contract, and will reportedly weigh up a move abroad in the summer with reported interest from Spain, Italy and England.\nThough the report states Barcelona have taken an interest in Nzonzi, the Frenchman's age means the Blaugrana are unwilling to pay his buyout clause.\nTottenham eye Mawson move\nTottenham are considering a move for Swansea City centre-back Alfie Mawson, according to The Sun .\nSpurs boss Maurico Pochettino has been monitoring the 24-year-old, who recently was named in the England squad.\nAfter Swansea paid £5m for Mawson in 2016, the former Barnsley defender could be set for a move worth at least five times that amount.\nValverde can only wait on Iniesta answer\nBarcelona manager Ernesto Valverde would like Andres Iniesta to stay \"forever\" but admits he can now only wait on the midfielder to decide his next move.\nIniesta has set a deadline of the end of April to determine if he will stay at Barca, amid rumours of a big-money move to China.\nAnd Valverde has said there is nothing left to do but wait and see what the 33-year-old decides.\nMessi wants Barca to sign Alonso\nLionel Messi has urged Barcelona to move for Chelsea left-back Marcos Alonso, according to Don Balon.\nMessi reportedly was impressed with Alonso's performance against Barca in the Champions League, and would like the Spain international to help provide cover for Jordi Alba.\nI wanted Lewandowski at Man Utd – Van Gaal\nFormer Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has admitted that he tried to sign Robert Lewandowski while in charge at Old Trafford.\nVan Gaal did not add a forward during his time in Manchester, instead signing wingers Memphis Depay from PSV and Anthony Martial from Monaco.\nRead why Van Gaal couldn't land Lewandowski right here!" ]

[ "The United States plans to transfer about 600 Afghan prisoners to the custody of the Afghanistan government. The detainees are being held at Guantanamo Bay and at a U.S. air base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul." ]

[ "The Pentagon on Thursday transferred 10 detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Oman in the largest single transfer to a single country under the Obama administration. There are also reports 30 more people could be transferred out of the detention center by this summer, and the administration wants to move the balance of the prisoners to the United States.", "In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai is demanding that the United States hand over control of a prison facility that houses about 3,000 inmates. An Afghan commission has alleged abuse of prisoners there, and says that conditions violate the Afghan constitution. The demands may have more to do with a growing animosity between President Karzai and Washington, however, as NPR's Kabul bureau chief Quil Lawrence tells host Rachel Martin.", "Afghan and American officials today signed an agreement that will hand over control of the main U.S. detention center in that country to the Afghan government. And the American commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan called the agreement \"another example of the progress of transition, and our efforts to ensure that Afghanistan can never again be a safe haven for terrorists.\" It is also, Gen. John Allen said, \"an important step forward\" in the negotiations about what happens after NATO turns over responsibility for security in the nation to Afghans at the end of 2014. The Parwan prison facility outside Kabul holds about 3,000 detainees. It is, as the Los Angeles Times notes, \"the source of the Islamic texts that were burned — accidentally, U.S. officials said — in a trash incinerator at the adjoining Bagram air base, setting off more than a week of deadly riots\" and the killing of six Americans. From Kabul, NPR's Quil Lawrence tells our Newscast Desk that \"the prison will be gradually transferred over six months.\" He also says the deal \"may speed up talks on a strategic partnership agreement that will determine how many American troops stay in Afghanistan after 2014.\"", "The Pentagon says a 43-year-old convicted al-Qaida operative is the first inmate of the Trump administration to be transferred out of the U.S. military lockup in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After more than 15 years imprisonment there, Ahmed al-Darbi was returned to his native Saudi Arabia to serve his remaining nine year prison sentence. Darbi's transfer was part of a deal reached four years ago, when he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring with fellow al-Qaida operatives to blow up ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Under that agreement he was to be sent back to Saudi Arabia no later than Feb. 20 to serve out his sentence, in exchange for testifying against a fellow inmate. The Pentagon attributed the delay in Darbi's transfer to issues that needed to be resolved with Saudi authorities. The last time a prisoner was transferred from Guantanamo was Jan. 19, 2017, the final full day of the Obama administration. Obama had vowed to shutter the prison, but he faced intense opposition from Congress. During his campaign, President Trump vowed to load Guantanamo up \"with bad dudes.\" He has not sent any new prisoners there, but he did issue an executive order on Jan. 20 revoking Obama's directive to close the prison. In that order Trump directed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to make a policy recommendation by April 30 on the transfer of new prisoners to Guantanamo. The contents of Mattis' recommendations were not made public, but a Pentagon spokeswoman said it \"provides our warfighters guidance on nominating detainees for transfer to Guantanamo detention should that person present a continuing, significant threat to the security of the United States.\" Of the nearly 800 men sent to Guantanamo during the George W. Bush administration, 40 inmates remain there. Only 10 of them have been charged with a crime. Efforts to bring their cases to trial have been caught up in years of pretrial proceedings in a recently created war court that has scant legal precedent to guide it. Five inmates who remain were cleared for transfer during the Obama administration by a review board made up of representatives from half a dozen national security-related government agencies. Their fates remain uncertain.", "The notorious prison at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul has been officially handed over to Afghan officials by U.S. military officials. But questions remain about whether some of its prisoners — including \"high value\" Taliban operatives — will remain under U.S. control. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had demanded control of the prison known as the Parwan detention facility before he signs a status of forces agreement with the United States.", "Updated at 10:45 a.m. ET The United States has released four Afghan detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who were returned to Afghanistan — the latest in a series of releases of inmates in recent weeks. Reuters says: \"The men were flown to Kabul overnight aboard a U.S. military plane and released to Afghan authorities, the first such transfer of its kind to the war-torn country since 2009, a U.S. official said.\" The four were released at the request of Afghanistan's new president, Ashraf Ghani, The Associated Press reports. The AP says: \"Obama administration officials said they worked quickly to fulfill the request from Ghani, in office just three months, to return the four, who had been cleared for transfer as a kind of reconciliation and mark of improved U.S.-Afghan relations. \"There is no requirement that the Afghan government further detain the men, identified as Mohammed Zahir, Shawali Khan, Abdul Ghani and Khi Ali Gul.\" In a Pentagon statement, the U.S. said it is \"grateful to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for its willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The United States coordinated with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures.\" Even so, The Washington Post reports: \"The United States and Afghanistan have not started serious discussions about repatriating the remaining eight Afghans still held at Guantanamo Bay, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the transfers. Last month, five Guantanamo detainees, four of them Yemenis, were sent to Georgia and Slovakia. And, earlier this month, the U.S. transferred six inmates to Uruguay. The latest release comes as no real surprise, as it is part of a larger U.S. effort to draw down the inmate population at Guantanamo, which President Obama, in his first campaign for the White House, promised to close. Carol Rosenberg, who covers Guantanamo for The Miami Herald, tells NPR that Ghani formally requested the four be transferred \"because they were at the front of the queue, meaning they were on a list that was approved a long time ago. So, it was easier to get them out than, say, the other eight Afghans are still at Guantanamo. \"In January 2010, the Obama administration drew up a list of people who would be approved for release,\" Rosenberg says. \"These four men were on it, along with dozens of others. Many of them had previously also been approved for release during the Bush years. \"What we're seeing here is the release of people who were informed in 2008, 2009, 2010, that they would be allowed to go under certain circumstances. But, as I think we all know, the process pretty much got stalled by violence in the various countries where some of these people would be going,\" she says.", "For the second year in a row, a U.N. study has found widespread abuse and torture of prisoners in Afghan detention facilities. Despite efforts by the Afghan government and NATO to rein in torture, some sites saw an increase over the previous year. As a result of the findings, NATO is suspending the transfer of detainees to certain Afghan facilities.", "President Barack Obama plans to tell the nation tonight that he's sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and has asked allies to contribute more soldiers as well because that will \"allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.\" The White House just e-mailed reporters these excerpts from the address the president is making at the U.S. Military Academy tonight: -- \"The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 -- the fastest pace possible -- so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.\" -- \"Because this is an international effort, I have asked that our commitment be joined by contributions from our allies. Some have already provided additional troops, and we are confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead. Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what's at stake is not simply a test of NATO's credibility -- what's at stake is the security of our Allies, and the common security of the world.\" -- \"Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground. We will continue to advise and assist Afghanistan's Security Forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government -- and, more importantly, to the Afghan people -- that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.\" Reminder: The address begins at 8 p.m. ET. We'll be live-blogging. Many NPR member stations will be broadcasting the speech. NPR.org will be streaming the audio. And it will be televised by all four major TV networks as well as the cable news networks.", "When the U.S. military handed over the detention center at Bagram Air Field to Afghan authorities this week, it symbolized an American role that is winding down — and the uncomfortable relationship between the two countries. The prison, where Taliban and terrorism suspects are housed, has been a sore point for Afghans for years. At the ceremony, an announcer read the names of Bagram prisoners who the Afghans said were wrongly detained and were now being freed. But what wasn't addressed at the ceremony was that America is delaying the transfer of hundreds of prisoners. Neither side would say why, but a terse statement from President Hamid Karzai's office warned the United States it was breaching Afghan sovereignty. Such squabbles are common these days as Afghans grow weary of the Western presence here. A Critical Period Afghanistan is entering a critical phase as the NATO-led coalition prepares to end its mission by the end of 2014. Afghanistan's political system remains fragmented and corrupt; peace negotiations with the Taliban have stalled, and Afghans are disillusioned with continuing insecurity and economic hardship. Some say the growing emphasis on pulling foreign troops out of Afghanistan is making things worse. They predict that if the next U.S. administration fails to stabilize the country, both Afghans and Americans will pay the price. \"In the West, I know the thinking of the people: 'Oh, what are we doing in Afghanistan?' You are fighting in Afghanistan because the fighters are not in New York, Washington and California,\" says Tamim Nuristani, a former California businessman who is the governor of Nuristan province. He says the current American approach reminds him of what happened here after Soviet troops left in 1989. American interest in rebuilding Afghanistan waned once the Soviets departed. Nation-building measures were left to countries like Pakistan, which instead forged deals with various strongmen and warlords, and eventually the Taliban. Nuristani predicts that without renewed American attention to stabilizing his country this time, al-Qaida and other extremist groups will return to Afghanistan. \"The next administration should see that. Not just leaving and telling the people in the United States 'everything is good, everything is safe,' \" he says. \"When they leave without any plan they leave a government without anything, then when they come back next time to fight them nobody is going to help them.\" Challenges Facing The U.S. So what are Afghans seeking from the next U.S. president? Officials interviewed say they want the new administration to take a much tougher stance toward neighboring Pakistan, which is widely accused of harboring militants who frequently launch attacks across the border. They also call for the U.S. to more aggressively tackle corruption by dealing less with the power brokers in Kabul and more with Afghan leaders at the grass-roots level. Nuristani and other governors complain that their people seldom benefit from the billions of dollars spent in their country. They say most of the money never leaves the various ministries in the capital. \"The entire budget of the American spending in Afghanistan was going through a very limited number of people,\" says Tooriyalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province. \"Those people had only guns before, but now they have the economy in their hands as well.\" Reviving Afghan government negotiations with the Taliban should be another priority for the new administration, says Afghan analyst Wahid Mojda. Mojda says Taliban leaders he met on a February trip to Pakistan accused the Obama administration of stalling. \"They told me every time somebody comes from United States and talks with us about the Afghanistan situation, after this delegation went, another came and the talking started from zero again and again,\" he says. Mojda believes that's because Afghanistan is perceived as a liability by both American presidential candidates. But the analyst warns that the next administration will have no choice but to deal with the Taliban if it wants stability in Afghanistan.", "NPR's Emily Harris reports the U.S. military has begun transporting al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan to a jail at an American Navy base in Cuba. The first group of 20 prisoners was loaded on an Air Force C-17 cargo plane for the 20 hour flight to Guantanamo Bay.", "As part of a renewed push by the Obama administration to empty the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the transfer of five more detainees to other countries was announced on Wednesday night. All five are citizens of Yemen, where the local branch of al-Qaida is claiming responsibility for last week's attacks in Paris. Senior Republican senators introduced legislation this week blocking such transfers. They say releasing the prisoners lets them return to the battlefield.", "The Bush administration has announced plans to send nearly three-quarters of detainees now held at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba back to their home countries -- provided those countries keep the prisoners in custody. Madeleine Brand talks with <EM>Washington Post</EM> reporter Josh White about the plan.", "Audie Cornish talks to professor Robert Chesney about the U.S. transfer of a detainee from the Bagram prison in Afghanistan to the States to face charges in a civilian court.", "Over the weekend The Washington Post ran a long investigative story in which unnamed officials claim the United States knew that detainees in Afghan intelligence prisons were being abused. The U.S., the Post reports, knew about the abuse long before the United Nations issued a report earlier this month that said suspected Taliban fighters were tortured. \"Torture methods included suspending people by their wrists, beating the soles of the feet, electric shocks, twisting detainees' genitals and removing toe nails,\" the AP reported. What the Post found is that the U.S. was warned about the conditions, yet continued to ship detainees to a facility known as Department 124. Others countries, alerted to the problems had stopped sending detainees to the facility. The Post reports: U.S. Special Operations troops delivered detainees to Department 124. CIA officials regularly visited the facility, which was rebuilt last year with American money, to interrogate high-level Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects, according to Afghan and Western officials familiar with the site. Afghan intelligence officials said Americans never participated in the torture but should have known about it. When the United Nations on Aug. 30 brought allegations of widespread detainee abuse to Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. military commander here, he took swift action ahead of the public release of the findings. Coalition troops stopped transferring detainees to Department 124 and 15 other police and intelligence agency prisons. They also hastily began a program to monitor those facilities and conduct human rights classes for interrogators. But the prospect that U.S. officials failed to act on prior warnings raises questions about their compliance with a law, known as the Leahy Amendment, that prohibits the United States from funding units of foreign security forces when there is credible evidence that they have committed human rights abuses. The Post story is long and worth a read, so we encourage you to click over. The U.S. is denying that ignored credible warning of abuse. The Post reports: \"Anyplace that we've had a concern in the past, we've taken the appropriate steps, I'm confident of that, and we're taking the appropriate steps now,\" Lt. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview. \"I don't see it as a systemic problem, as some have said it might be.\" White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the United States has a \"long-standing policy against transferring individuals to torture\" and that \"whenever allegations of human rights violations are raised with us, we move quickly to work with the host government to investigate and resolve them.\"", "Barbara Slavin, a former assistant managing editor for the Washington Times and diplomatic reporter for USA Today, is the author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S., and the Twisted Path to Confrontation. The population of the U.S. prison facility at Guantánamo Bay dipped last week to 174 as President Barack Obama's administration transferred two prisoners to Germany. With the latest transfers, the United States has managed since Obama's inauguration to whittle down the number held in the notorious U.S. prison in Cuba by 66. Still, Obama's pledge to close what he deemed a blot on the legal and moral character of the United States -- and a recruitment tool for Islamist extremists -- is proving exceedingly difficult to fulfill. Administration officials and others who advocate shuttering Gitmo say they worry that a Republican victory in the upcoming midterm elections will make the mission impossible. A U.S. official said he feared that Republicans would impede steps to close the prison because it has been a signature issue for Obama. The official asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the topic. A House Democratic aide, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, added: \"It's hard to envision a path forward.\" Legislation already in place -- and likely to be renewed -- bars the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the United States except for the purpose of putting them on trial. The restriction, passed in 2009, effectively dashed administration hopes to transfer 48 detainees to a maximum-security prison in Thomson, Ill. The 48 have been designated for long-term detention because of the nature of their alleged offenses and the lack of evidence against them that is admissible in U.S. courts. Meanwhile, a provision of the defense appropriations bill under consideration by the Senate would outlaw sending prisoners to countries such as Yemen that have a major al-Qaida presence -- and a poor history of holding on to convicted terrorists. Given that 57 of the remaining detainees eligible for transfer are from Yemen, that provision alone could ensure that Guantánamo remains open for years to come. \"It becomes very hard to bring down the population if it becomes very hard to transfer people or try them in Article III [regular criminal] courts,\" said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He said prospects for closing Gitmo would diminish further \"if Republicans gain control of one or both houses.\" Shutting the facility was a major issue for Obama during his presidential campaign. In a 2007 speech billed as his first major foreign-policy address, he said the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects there had \"compromised our most precious values.\" Once inaugurated, he vowed to close Guantánamo within a year. Asked about that pledge at a recent news conference, Obama said, \"I wanted to close it sooner. We have missed that deadline. It's not for lack of trying. It's because the politics of it are difficult.\" One of the ironies of Obama's predicament is that George W. Bush's administration released more than 500 Guantánamo detainees, sending many back to their countries of origin. About 10 percent have returned to the ranks of al-Qaida or other terrorist groups; another 11 percent are suspected of having done so, according to U.S. officials. \"Bush made a serious error sending some of them back,\" said Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a vocal opponent of shutting Guantánamo. \"Twenty percent is not a bad recidivism rate for car thieves and bank robbers,\" but not for terrorists, he said. (Of those released by the Obama administration, however, only one detainee -- an Afghan known as Abdul Hafiz or Abdul Qawi -- has rejoined jihadi ranks, the U.S. official said.) Bond said Guantánamo was \"the best and most humane place to hold\" suspected foreign terrorists. He dismissed arguments that the prison remains a major recruitment tool for al Qaida, saying, \"any place we hold detainees is going to be alleged to be a torture facility.\" In addition to Republican opposition, the White House has had to contend with civil liberties groups that want Guantánamo closed but oppose moving prisoners elsewhere for indefinite incarceration. \"Our concern with Gitmo is more about the policy than the geography,\" the ACLU's Anders said. The administration has stumbled in its efforts to try high-profile detainees such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. Plans to put him on trial in a criminal court in New York City faltered because of local opposition; the administration has yet to come up with a consistent formula for military tribunals to handle other hard cases. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) complained Monday, Sept. 20, that the administration has no legal framework for dealing with terrorist suspects. \"Democrats are scared to death to talk about this,\" he told an audience at the A", "The Senate voted Wednesday to block funding for President Obama's plan to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, deciding overwhelmingly to delay funding until the administration details what will be done with the 240 detainees being held there. The 90-6 vote came one day after Senate Democrats said they would not more forward with plans to close the prison until they had a comprehensive plan to deal with the detainees. Democrats have generally supported the notion of closing Guantanamo, but party leaders appear undecided on how that should play out and Republicans have criticized the plan as jeopardizing national security. Earlier Wednesday, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House panel that he is concerned detainees might support terrorist activities if they are brought to the U.S. when Guantanamo is closed. \"The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from providing financing to terrorists, radicalizing others, the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States, all of those are concerns,\" Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee. The FBI chief said some of the detainees could pose a threat even if they were held in maximum security prisons in the United States. Citing the bureau's experience with gangs, Mueller said imprisoned gang members often control gang activities despite being confined to a cell. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs rejected the notion that Obama would do anything to endanger Americans. \"The president understands that his most important job is to keep the American people safe, and that he is not going to make any decision or any judgement that imperils the safety of the American people,\" Gibbs said at an afternoon press briefing. He said Obama has not yet decided where some of the detainees will be transferred, adding that task force members are still reviewing options. On Wednesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) ruled out \"releasing\" any detainees into the U.S., but did not elaborate on whether that included bringing detainees to trial in the U.S. and having them serve prison sentences here. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has said 347 detainees are already serving sentences in U.S. prisons, and Gibbs noted that as many as 800 people have been detained at the prison since it was opened by the Bush administration. Obama signed an executive order soon after taking office to close the Guantanamo Bay facility by January, saying it has hurt the image of the U.S. and negatively impacts national security. Last month, he asked Congress to include $80 million to close the prison in an appropriations bill that will fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gibbs said Wednesday that the president realizes lawmakers need and deserve more information before appropriating millions to close Guantanamo and transfer prisoners. Obama is scheduled to detail some of the decisions that have been made about closing the facility and discuss other national security issues in an address Thursday morning. But Gibbs noted that the courts have already ordered some of the detainees to be transferred, adding that one former detainee was moved to France on Friday because a federal judge ruled in 2008 that there was insufficient evidence to support the detainee's detention. Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled Tuesday evening that the United States may continue to hold some Guantanamo Bay prisoners indefinitely without charging them. U.S. District Judge John Bates said Congress gave the president the authority to hold anyone involved in planning, aiding or carrying out terrorist acts in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But he disagreed with the Justice Department's assertion that anyone who \"supported\" enemy forces could be similarly detained. ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz said the decision goes against the Constitution's prohibition on detaining a prisoner indefinitely without filing charges. From NPR staff and wire reports", "Fifteen prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates — the largest single release of the Obama administration. The population of the military prison in Cuba is now down to 61. President Obama has long vowed to close Guantanamo, but efforts to transfer prisoners to the U.S. have been blocked by Congress. As a result, any release must be coordinated with another country. That poses a particular challenge for detainees from places like Yemen, where the U.S. won't repatriate prisoners because of security concerns, as a third country must be found that is willing to resettle them. Twelve of the prisoners released on Monday were from Yemen; the other three were from Afghanistan. The UAE has accepted released prisoners twice before — one UAE citizen repatriated in 2008 and five Yemenis resettled last year. The Yemenis previously sent to the UAE are believed to have been placed in a government-run rehabilitation and monitoring program, The Associated Press reports, although details are unclear. With the new transfer, the UAE has taken in a total of 20 prisoners for resettlement. Oman has also resettled 20; no other country has accepted so many nonnative Guantanamo detainees. Six of the newly released prisoners had been approved for transfer for more than six years — the Guantanamo Review Task Force, which reviewed cases starting in 2009, had unanimously approved them, the Department of Defense said in a press release. The other 12 prisoners, including all three Afghans, were cleared for release by the Period Review Board between January 2014 and May of this year. Two of the Afghan prisoners — Mohammed Kamin and Obaidallah, who only has one name — had been briefly charged in a military commission, The Miami Herald reports. The war crimes prosecutor dropped those charges. The other 13 prisoners had never been charged with a crime. The New York Times reports that with these 15 prisoners sent for resettlement in the UAE, there are now only 20 Guantanamo prisoners who have been approved for transfer and are simply waiting for a country to agree to take them. \"While it appears increasingly unlikely that President Obama will succeed in closing the prison before he leaves office in January,\" the Times writes, he's \"significantly closer\" to releasing all the men on that shorter list of detainees. Amnesty International welcomed Monday's transfer and described Guantanamo as an \"ugly stain\" on the U.S. human rights record. The prisoner release was criticized by the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the AP reports: Rep. Ed Royce called the detainees \"hardened terrorists.\" \"The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 percent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8 percent are suspected of doing so,\" the AP writes. \"That compares with 21 percent confirmed and 14 percent suspected during the Bush administration.\" Nine detainees were transferred to Saudi Arabia in April. Since then, one was released to Montenegro, one to Italy and two to Serbia.", "U.S.-Pakistan ties are virtually frozen. And now, relations between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Washington are once again getting frosty. Over the weekend Karzai surprised the Americans with the demand that the largest U.S.-run prison be turned over to Afghan control much sooner that planned. It's the latest in a series of announcements by the Afghan government that sometimes appear designed to embarrass and annoy U.S. officials, as well as complicate American plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. A special commission named by Karzai gave a news conference over the weekend at the Government Media and Information Center in Kabul. U.S. government donations built the multimillion-dollar facility, but it has become the venue for the Karzai administration's increasingly anti-American declarations. Last month, Afghan officials there condemned Americans for causing civilian casualties in the war against the Taliban — without mentioning that 80 percent of such deaths are caused by insurgents, according to the United Nations. The U.S. Embassy pulled its team of advisers out of the media center the same day. An Expression Of Anger Most recently, the topic was prisons. Gul Rahman Qazi, head of the special commission, read a list of prisoners' complaints about ill treatment in the largest U.S.-run prison in Afghanistan. Americans say they're taking the allegations seriously, while U.N. monitors say conditions in the American prison are not nearly as bad as most Afghan facilities. The prison had been slated for transfer to Afghan control this year, but Karzai has now demanded it be turned over this month. It's not clear whether that's possible, but the sudden announcement took the American Embassy by surprise. That was intentional, says Afghan political analyst Omar Sharifi. \"First, [Karzai] has to show his anger, and that's one of the ways to show his anger,\" Sharifi says. \"It also sends a message, that it's impossible to have anything meaningful without the Afghan government.\" Karzai is angry, Sharifi says, because he feels that the Americans are trying to bypass him on a number of issues — especially in efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban. American officials have been meeting with Taliban figures over the past year, and last month they secured an offer from Qatar to open up a Taliban office, where preliminary negotiations can begin. But the Taliban have for years ruled out talks with Karzai — whom they regard as illegitimate. When news of the Qatar office leaked, Karzai withdrew the Afghan ambassador in Qatar. A few days later Karzai relented, but observers say he is still feeling angry and out of the loop. Many recent announcements by Kabul have been in retaliation, says Sharifi. A 'Dysfunctional Marriage' But Karzai is also in the process of negotiating a strategic partnership deal with Washington, which may involve long-term U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. Karzai needs to show the Afghan public that he's not a yes man for the Americans, says Sharifi. Karzai \"wants to establish his credentials as a guy who is tough to negotiate [with], and also who is capable of delivering. Now, about the delivering part, we have to wait and see,\" Sharifi says. Karzai's tough demands are popular with most Afghans, but it's dangerous for him to keep making them because he looks weak when the U.S. doesn't comply, according to Kate Clark, of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in Kabul. \"The Americans have up to now put all their eggs in the Karzai basket. And Karzai needs the Americans to survive; most Afghans don't think he'd survive a day without American forces and American money,\" Clark says. \"So in a way they're in bed together, and both partners irritate the other occasionally ... sort of like a dysfunctional marriage where neither side feels it can walk out,\" she says. The American initiative for negotiations with the Taliban may be the first step outside that marriage, and Clark says Karzai is making clear his irritation — and his fear of being abandoned.", "In the final months of his presidency, President Obama transferred 15 men from Guantanamo to the United Arab Emirates, the largest single detainee transfer of this administration. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Carol Rosenberg of the <em>Miami Herald</em>, who has been covering the prison since it first opened.", "The exchange of detainees for Bowe Bergdahl was supposed to be part of a bigger peace process. Renee Montagne talks to Marc Grossman, former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.", "Strained relations between Afghanistan and the U.S. and NATO may only get worse this week. The Afghan government is releasing 65 prisoners, many of whom have been accused by the West of plotting and participating in terrorist activities. Robert Siegel speaks with Nathan Hodge of <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> to learn more about the rationale behind this release and what it might mean for Afghan security and diplomacy.", "Over the past two weeks, the Defense Department has transferred 14 detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. That leaves 93 detainees at the military prison in Cuba — the first time the prison's population has been below 100 since it opened in January 2002. The most recent release was announced Thursday by the Defense Department. \"Just last night, after a deliberate and careful review, we completed the transfer of 10 Yemenis — roughly 10 percent, that is, of the total remaining Gitmo population — to the government of Oman,\" Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was quoted as saying by Reuters. Four other detainees have been transferred since the start of the new year. Three more are expected to be moved out of the prison soon, for a total of 17 transfers in the first weeks of 2016. President Obama vowed to close Guantanamo Bay shortly after he took office in 2009 and has made it a point in nearly all of his State of the Union addresses, most recently in Tuesday night's speech. Leadership depends on the power of example, the president said. \"That is why I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: It's expensive, it's unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies.\" Shuttering the facility has proved difficult for Obama. As The New York Times notes: \"His administration has stepped up efforts to find countries to take 48 detainees on a transfer list and moved to speed up the work of a parole-like board that might approve the release of others who are currently recommended for indefinite detention. \"The Republican-led Congress, however, has shown little interest in lifting a ban on bringing any detainees to a prison inside the United States, which is Mr. Obama's plan for those who are either facing trial or are deemed too dangerous to release.\" Even detainees who have been recommended for transfer — meaning the Pentagon no longer believes the U.S. has a compelling reason to keep them in the military prison — can remain at Guantanamo for years while the U.S. negotiates a transfer. It's been particularly challenging to transfer detainees who can't be sent to their home countries, such as Yemen, because of active conflicts. Of the recent transfers, one was a Kuwaiti repatriated to Kuwait; one was a Saudi, sent back to Saudi Arabia; two were Yemenis transferred to Ghana; and the 10 most recent were Yemeni detainees sent to Oman. None of the 14 detainees were ever charged with a crime, according to the Miami Herald and the Times. Of those 93 inmates who remain at the facility, 34 have been cleared for transfer. You can learn more about past and present detainees at the Times' Guantanamo Docket.", "In his first week in office, President Obama issued an executive order directing that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be closed within a year. Although that order received the lion's share of media attention, it was just one of three related directives that the president issued on the same day. The other two orders carry much shorter timelines, and government officials are scrambling to finish the work. The federal government now has three related task forces studying the best way for the Obama administration to handle terrorism suspects. Obama gave one team 180 days to devise a plan for where and how to detain suspected terrorists. The second team, which is also operating under a six-month deadline, will make recommendations on interrogation and transfer policies. The third team is responsible for closing Guantanamo by Jan. 22, 2010. All three task forces bring together officials from different parts of the federal government: Justice, Defense, State, Homeland Security, the CIA and the White House. With the 180-day countdown clock ticking, the detention and interrogation policy teams are already operating with certain handicaps. Some key players, such as David Kris in the Justice Department's National Security Division, were not confirmed for their jobs until recently. Other important advisers have not been confirmed yet at all. Senate Republicans are threatening a filibuster for Dawn Johnsen, the nominee to lead the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Congress has not even held a hearing yet for Harold Koh, who has been nominated as legal adviser to the State Department. If they had already been confirmed, those officials would likely be major players in one or more of the task forces. Shifting Legal Landscape The detention team has the added challenge of chasing a moving target. American courts have produced a steady drip of rulings on how the administration is allowed to handle terrorism detainees. On Thursday, for example, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled for the first time that some detainees in Afghanistan are entitled to the same rights as detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The opinion leaves unclear how many of the detainees at Bagram Air Base have habeas corpus rights. Of the four detainees who brought the case, Judge John Bates said three can challenge their detention. The fourth, an Afghan citizen, cannot. This new development makes it more complicated for the Obama administration to send foreign detainees to Afghanistan, which could well become a major factor in the detention task force's deliberations. The legal landscape may change yet again if the Obama administration appeals the ruling and a higher court overturns it. The detention task force faces equally complicated legal issues at home. In February, the administration indicted Ali al-Marri, the last enemy combatant who had been held in the United States without charge. But the administration has not disavowed the authority to detain enemy combatants in the United States altogether. In fact, Attorney General Eric Holder told a group of reporters last month that he believes the United States is part of the battlefield in the war against terrorism. \"The battlefield is really the entire world,\" Holder said. That suggests Holder has not ruled out using military detention to hold people captured in the United States. Civil liberties groups object to applying a war paradigm to the U.S., saying it opens the door to detaining Americans indefinitely without charge. To add to the ambiguity, the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on whether people can be detained as enemy combatants in the United States. Where To Put Detainees? The interrogation and transfer task force faces its own obstacles. For example, three federal judges on the D.C. Circuit appeals court are currently deciding whether detainees have a right to challenge their transfer to other countries. The interrogation and transfer task force is trying to decide on a policy for transferring detainees without knowing which way the court will rule. Transferring detainees to the United States presents another set of problems. The administration has had a difficult time trying to bring a group of 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs to this country, even though the men are not considered dangerous and have long been cleared for release. The obstacles are even greater for detainees who are considered dangerous. The detention facility in Leavenworth, Kan., has been suggested as one place the men could go. But at Attorney General Holder's confirmation hearing, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback told Holder in no uncertain terms, \"Fort Leavenworth does not want these detainees. If I could put it any clearer to you, I would.\" The Hardest Cases The Guantanamo Bay Task force has about 240 unique challenges: That's the number of men being held at the prison camp. The task force must find a place to send each of the men at the prison camp. One detainee has already been released to Great B", "Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced on Saturday that his government's cease-fire with the Taliban will be extended another day, even as a suicide bombing killed and injured dozens. It was a historic truce. The Afghan government declared the cease-fire in honor of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The Taliban announced its own three-day cease-fire – the first one since the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001, according to media reports. In place of fighting were scenes of Afghan and Taliban forces praying together, hugging and taking selfies. A member of the Taliban posed in a picture with a female official. \"I am beside myself,\" one person posted on Twitter. \"What an [incredible] magical moment in Afghanistan this #Eid. A Talib hands members of the #ANSDF (Afghan forces) red roses.\" The explosion occurred in the eastern province of Nangarhar around 5:15 p.m. local time, according to CNN. Civilians, security forces and members of the Taliban were reportedly among the casualties. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, targeting \"a gathering of Afghan forces.\" At least 26 people were killed, according to Reuters. It is unclear when Ghani learned about the bombing. He told citizens in a televised address that he ordered security forces to extend the cease-fire. \"To respect the public's wishes and to support their demands about peace, I am ordering the security and defense forces to extend the ceasefire from the fourth day of Eid,\" he tweeted. He also asked the Taliban to extend its cease-fire, saying that his government will provide medical and humanitarian aid to wounded members of the Taliban. He said 46 Taliban prisoners had been released, according to Tolo news service, and that prisoners will be \"allowed to contact and see their families.\" Western leaders embraced his announcement to prolong the cease-fire. In a written statement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, \"The United States stands ready to work with the Afghan government, the Taliban, and all the people of Afghanistan to reach a peace agreement and political settlement that brings a permanent end to this war.\" He also said that peace talks needed \"a discussion of the role of international actors and forces.\" NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, \"This is a unique opportunity for the Taliban to show they want the peaceful future that the Afghan people demand and deserve.\" The Taliban's council plans to meet on Sunday to discuss President Ghani's offer, The Guardian reported. A senior council member said the cease-fire could be extended if a date was established for U.S. forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.", "The first prisoners from Afghanistan have arrived at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Melissa Block talks with <EM>Miami Herald</EM> reporter Carol Rosenberg, who is at the base.", "Afghanistan's president publicly rejected the timeline for a prisoner swap with the Taliban on Sunday, just one day after the United States signed a peace deal with the militant Islamist group that proposes a March 10 deadline for an exchange of prisoners. The peace deal, more than a year in the making, aims to end the longest war in American history. Signed Saturday in Doha, Qatar, the agreement calls for the full withdrawal of American troops and supporting civilian personnel, including those of its allies, from Afghanistan within 14 months. There are currently about 12,000 U.S. forces in the country, tasked with counter-terrorism efforts, training Afghan troops and providing air support for Afghan ground forces. The deal also outlined the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan security forces held prisoner by the Taliban. The swap is intended as a confidence building measure ahead of talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan's government, slated to begin around mid-March in Oslo, Norway. The talks are intended to achieve a lasting ceasefire and a political settlement that would establish a role for the Taliban in the country's future. But on Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, that a prisoner release was not a promise the United States could make, according to The Associated Press. \"The request has been made by the United States for the release of prisoners and it can be part of the negotiations but it cannot be a precondition,\" said Ghani. The Afghan president's statements are an early potential setback for the U.S. peace deal, which was signed by U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and the head of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. They also underscore a point that many observers have long predicted: that the most challenging step in the peace process will be reaching an agreement between the Afghans themselves and the Taliban. Before Ghani announced his rejection of the prisoner exchange timeline, a State Department official told NPR both the numbers of prisoners and the timeline for their release are \"aspirational\" and will depend on \"Taliban performance.\" In an interview with CBS's \"Face the Nation\" on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration is hopeful negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban will begin in the coming days, but acknowledged it would be \"rocky and bumpy.\" \"No one is under any false illusion that this won't be a difficult conversation,\" said Pompeo. If the deal holds, it could be a historic step forward. A U.S.-led military coalition invaded Afghanistan shortly after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Taliban, which had been ruling the country for five years, were subsequently overthrown — reprisal for having provided safe harbor to Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida. In the 18 years since, more than 2,400 Americans have died in Afghanistan. A 2019 United Nations report estimated that 32,000 Afghan civilians had died in the past decade. The war is estimated to have cost nearly $1 trillion. President Donald Trump has called the conflict in Afghanistan one of America's \"endless wars,\" and vowed to bring the war to a close. But like his predecessors, Trump has been stymied in that effort. Within months of taking office, the president added 4,000 U.S. troops to the forces already deployed in Afghanistan. According to Saturday's agreement, the United States is set to start the draw-down process by reducing its troop levels to 8,600 within 135 days, bringing the numbers back to roughly where they were under President Barack Obama. The remaining forces would leave within the following nine and a half months. How realistic that timeline is could depend on security guarantees by the Taliban to stop attacks, break with al-Qaida and open talks with Afghan officials. Speaking to reporters from the White House on Saturday, President Trump expressed confidence in the process but warned that \"If bad things happen, we'll go back.\"", "It's been one year since the first al Qaeda and Taliban detainees were transferred from Afghanistan to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hundreds remain there, subject to intense interrogations. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.", "The United States will relocate thousands of Afghan citizens who worked for the American government before U.S. troops exit the country in the next few months. The plan is to relocate between 20,000 and 100,000 Afghan citizens, a senior White House official tells NPR. The White House is in the process of informing both the U.S. Congress and the Afghan government, the official said. Most of the Afghan applicants for Special Immigrant Visas, or SIVs, are translators and interpreters. Their family members will also be relocated. For weeks, the U.S. military has been planning on moving those who are applicants for the special visas to a third country for processing as the security situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. U.S. forces are expected to leave Afghanistan sometime in July, ahead of President Biden's deadline of Sept. 11. Most of the relocation flights will likely leave in August from Kabul Airport, which will be secured by Turkish troops, according to the senior White House official. It's possible the SIV applicants could be moved to the U.S. territory of Guam for processing, according to officials. A COVID outbreak at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has complicated the SIV process, delaying interviews for applicants for the past two weeks. The White House has been pressured by both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to evacuate the Afghans who worked for the U.S. President Biden told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the process has already begun. \"Those who helped us will not be left behind,\" he said.", "Three months ago in Afghanistan, U.S. officials yielded to the demands of President Hamid Karzai and promised to turn over control of the prison at Bagram airbase to Afghan control. But as the process gets underway, neither side seems to agree on the details. There are worries the Americans may have created a Guantanamo-style administrative detention regime that is against Afghan law.", "A federal appeals court hears arguments in the case of a U.S. citizen sentenced to death by an Iraqi court. The United States had planned to hand the man over to Iraq, but a lower federal court issued an order against the transfer. A similar case has been decided in the prisoner's favor by the same appeals circuit.", "Defense officials say they hope to cut more than half the number of prisoners held for three years or more at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Pentagon aims to transfer hundreds of detainees back to their home countries, but those countries will need to accept the terms first.", "Afghan authorities on Thursday went ahead and released 65 prisoners from a high-security prison north of Kabul over the strong objections of U.S. military commanders, who say the men are dangerous terrorists who have attacked civilians and soldiers in the past. As the Los Angeles Times writes: \"The U.S. military had expected the move and denounced it in a series of press releases in recent weeks. But the Afghan government maintained that there was insufficient evidence to try the prisoners or continue to hold them at the formerly U.S.-run detention facility at Bagram.\" On Wednesday, in anticipation of the release, the U.S. military command in Afghanistan released a statement that says, in part: \"This release violates agreements between the U.S. and Afghanistan. \"We have made clear our judgment that these individuals should be prosecuted under Afghan law. We requested that the cases be carefully reviewed. But the evidence against them was never seriously considered, including by the [Afghan] attorney general, given the short time since the decision was made to transfer these cases to the Afghan legal system. \"The release of 65 detainees is a legitimate force protection concern for the lives of both coalition troops and Afghan National Security Forces. The primary weapon of choice for these individuals is the improvised explosive device, widely recognized as the primary cause of civilian casualties in Afghanistan. \"The release of these detainees is a major step backward for the rule of law in Afghanistan. Some previously-released individuals have already returned to the fight, and this subsequent release will allow dangerous insurgents back into Afghan cities and villages.\" But Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells the BBC that he believes there wasn't enough evidence to warrant holding the prisoners. Karzai also says that the Bagram prison has become a \"Taliban-making factory\" where \"innocent\" individuals who have been brought there are turned into terrorists. The Times says that among those who were released are: \"Mohammad Wali, captured by coalition forces in southern Helmand province in May, [who] was described by U.S. military officials as 'a suspected Taliban explosives expert' who placed roadside bombs targeting Afghan and coalition forces. Another, Nek Mohammad, allegedly participated in rocket attacks against pro-government forces and was found to be possessing artillery shells, mortar rounds and at least 25 pounds of homemade explosives.\"" ]

[ "the Fatback Band" ]

[ "Lok Sang Ho", "Betty Who", "Dr. Who", "Who You Are", "Who's That Girl", "Who We Are" ]

[ "News that a plot to send bombs to the United States was foiled by an informant -- and not by inspections -- should not be taken as a sign that the security system didn't work, says Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. \"We use a multilayered system, out of which intelligence-sharing is the first layer,\" she told NPR's Robert Siegel in an interview Monday afternoon for All Things Considered. And since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Napolitano said, those intelligence-sharing arrangements are becoming \"evermore robust.\" Still, it's been reported that it took 20 hours for British authorities to determine that the parcel in question contained explosives. That suggests that without advance warning, it might not have been detected. Asked if a standard airport inspection would have detected the explosives in the packages, Napolitano said, \"The plain fact of the matter is, we did -- and that wasn't by accident.\" Read More Still, law enforcement agencies have not yet ruled out the possibility that there may be other bombs out there, similar to the two bombs that were detected late Thursday and early Friday. \"We've put a ground halt on all cargo emanating out of Yemen,  until they can be inspected,\" Napolitano said. Asked how the bombs, which were hidden in ink toner cartridges in printers, might have been detonated, Napolitano said, \"The forensics investigation is not yet complete,\" but that officials have a \"general idea\" of how the devices were meant to be detonated. She added that she did not want to discuss the detonation details publicly. The terrorists' plot to use commercial cargo carriers like UPS was a new tactic-- part of what Napolitano says is a constantly changing threat. In that environment, the United States can't afford to be be predictable, the security head said. \"We're constantly changing, as well,\" she said. The explosives in the toner cartridges were familiar to investigators, Napolitano said -- the compound has been identified as PETN, a nitroglycerin explosive that was also used in a plot last Christmas which also had ties to Yemen. Now investigators will \"reverse-engineer\" the packages, she said, to see how they were made -- and how they were intended to be used. The U.S. cargo system has long been seen as vulnerable to an attack, primarily because of its size and expanse. \"You've got millions and millions of pounds of cargo that moves around the globe via cargo plane,\" Napolitano said. That means it would be extremely difficult to inspect every shipment -- something proposed by Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who wrote the 2007 law for screening cargo on passenger planes. Napolitano says that screening 100 percent of the cargo traffic is not yet possible. But, she said, by accounting for risk and other factors, the security system is effective. She pointed to last week's interception as proof. As for Anwar al-Awlaki -- the American radical imam in Yemen, whom many consider to be the man behind the cargo bomb plot -- Napolitano said that the attempted attack has the \"hallmarks\" of his activities. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Now, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security. Welcome to the program once again. Secretary JANET NAPOLITANO (Department of Homeland Security): Thank you. SIEGEL: Are you now confident that whatever bombs were sent out in this wave of attacks that they're all accounted for - just two that's it? Sec. NAPOLITANO: Well, let me put it in another way. We are not ruling out that there might not be other devices. And we are acting to make sure that there are not, and moving with our allies and others. For example, we've put a ground halt on all cargo emanating out of Yemen until they can actually be physically inspected. SIEGEL: We have heard about the Saudi intelligence tip about these bombs. Without forewarning, would airport inspections have turned up these packages? Sec. NAPOLITANO: Well, we use a multi-layered system out of which intelligence sharing is the first layer. And over the course of the years since 9/11, over the course of the last several years, over the course of the months since last 12/25, those intel sharing arrangements have become evermore robust. And so I don't kind of play the what-if or what if we hadn't had those warnings from the Saudis. The plain fact of the matter is we did, and that wasn't by accident. Those kinds of warnings and tips occur, and they do so because of our alliances and our friendships and our relationships. SIEGEL: But when we hear that it took the authorities in Britain 20 hours to determine that indeed the parcel they had in possession had explosives in it, that suggests that the question here isn't whether we screen every parcel going on an airplane, but whether we can actually figure out what's inside these parcels, whether we can - whether we have the machinery to detect things. Sec. NAPOLITANO: Well, I think different types of screening are done in different places, and obviously we" ]

[ "Yemeni authorities are checking dozens more packages after terrorists tried to ship by air cargo two bombs from Yemen to Chicago-area synagogues The brazen plot heightened fears of a renewed al-Qaida terror offensive against the United States and other Western countries. U.S. officials say they are increasingly confident that al-Qaida's branch in Yemen is responsible. \"I think we would agree with that, that it does contain all the hallmarks of al-Qaida and in particular al-Qaida AP,'' Janet Napolitano said in an interview Saturday on ABC, referring to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen. Authorities on three continents thwarted the attacks when they seized explosives on cargo planes in the United Arab Emirates and England. The plot sent tremors throughout the U.S., where after a frenzied day on Friday searching planes and parcel trucks for other explosives, officials temporarily banned all new cargo from Yemen. Officials believe as many as two dozen packages were sent from Yemen, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports. She told host Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday that Yemeni officials are searching for more bombs in an abundance of caution. The Associated Press quoted a Yemeni security official Saturday saying the investigation involved about 26 suspected packages. Some of the packages had left Yemen and others were still in the country, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information. President Obama said Friday the two packages intercepted in Dubai and Britain's East Midlands airport apparently contained explosive material, posing a \"credible terrorist threat against our country.\" The president also said White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan spoke to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had assured the U.S. of the full cooperation of his government. \"The United States is not assuming that the attacks were disrupted and is remaining vigilant,\" Brennan told reporters. Obama has called British Prime Minister David Cameron and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to discuss the thwarted mail bomb attacks, the White House said Saturday. The AP quoted intelligence officials as saying a tip from Saudi Arabia led to the discovery of the packages. Sources told NPR that the two packages apparently had the same return address in Yemen. In a statement, the Yemeni government warned against \"rush decisions in a case as sensitive as this one and before investigations reveal the truth.\" U.S. intelligence officials warned last month that terrorists hoped to mail chemical and biological materials as part of an attack on America and other Western countries using the mail. The alert came in a Sept. 23 bulletin from the Homeland Security Department and obtained by The Associated Press. Earlier Friday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the searches of the planes in Dubai and in East Midlands on Thursday night triggered Friday's searches on cargo flights at airports in Philadelphia and New Jersey. \"The president directed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security, to take steps to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and to determine whether these threats are a part of any additional terrorist plotting,\" the White House said in a statement. Napolitano told CNN that investigators believe that the bombs contained the same type of explosives used in the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S. airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit. Yemen is home to the al-Qaida branch linked to that bombing attempt. Also Friday, U.S. fighter planes escorted a passenger plane from Dubai as it approached New York's John F. Kennedy Airport. No explosive was found. Obama was notified of a potential terrorist threat at 10:35 p.m. ET Thursday by Brennan, Gibbs said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that travelers should expect to see heightened cargo screening and additional security at airports. Obama will be making political appearances on Saturday in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Illinois ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections. Ari Shapiro told Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday that it is too early to assess the potential political impact of this latest terror scare on the election. Authorities confirmed that two of the planes searched Friday landed at Philadelphia International Airport -- one coming in from Paris and another from Cologne, Germany. Both were taken to a remote tarmac for inspection. The third flight originated in East Midlands, and the FBI was inspecting that plane at New Jersey's Newark Liberty Airport. No explosive was found in any of the aircraft. The suspicious package in Dubai was found at a FedEx facility and confiscated by local authorities, according to FedEx spokesman Maury Lane. He said FedEx has placed an indefinite embargo on all shipments originating from Yemen and is cooperating fully with law enforcement. Authorities also told NPR that", "On Monday, there were more police officers patrolling the subways in New York City and Washington, D.C., and tighter security at bridges and tunnels around New York City after the death of Osama bin Laden. The Massachusetts State Police had an increased presence at Boston's Logan airport, and at Los Angeles International Airport authorities say they're always on a heightened state of alert. But Aaron Hanson, at LAX catching a plane to South Korea, said security on Monday was especially visible. \"I walked past a couple of security guys with M16s and a German shepherd,\" he says. \"So yeah, I travel quite a bit, and that's a lot more than I'm used to seeing.\" Authorities say that right now, there are no specific threats — they're just being cautious. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made a point of noting that her agency has not issued a security alert. Under a new system — which replaced the much ridiculed color-coded alerts — a public warning will only be issued if there's specific information about a credible threat, she said. Still, her department warned state and local law enforcement on Sunday night to be prepared for the possibility of an attack. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) says his greatest concern is the threat of a so-called lone wolf. \"A single individual who has been radicalized, [who] will now mobilize himself or herself to take action here at home against the American people,\" he says. And, if there was any message from security officials, it's that the public should be on the lookout for anything suspicious that might indicate an attack is in the works and to report it to authorities. It's a system that's proven helpful stopping some domestic attacks, such as the planned bombing in Times Square a year ago. But Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he thinks it's more likely that terrorists will retaliate against Americans overseas. \"It's still hard for them to mount a serious attack in the U.S. Now, does that mean a couple of folks aren't going to put together a bomb or do something like that? No, that's certainly possible, and I think it's important to be focused on it,\" Chertoff says. \"But again, I think the vulnerability is greater overseas than it is here at home.\" And at Logan International Airport, traveler Mimi Ganz said the news about bin Laden's death wasn't going to prevent her from flying to San Francisco, from the same terminal used by some of the terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks. \"I knew that there's always a potential for retaliation and yeah, of course it went through my mind,\" she says. \"But I feel comfortable with the security measures we have in place here.\" Indeed, one of bin Laden's biggest legacies is the massive security network that's become a part of everyday life in the U.S., something officials don't expect to change anytime soon. MICHELE NORRIS, host: In the wake of bin Laden's death, security has been tightened in the U.S. as a precaution. Authorities say they have no information about a specific threat, but they think there's a good chance that bin Laden's supporters will try to retaliate at some point, either at home or abroad. NPR's Pam Fessler reports. PAM FESSLER: There were more police officers today patrolling the subways in New York and Washington, D.C., and tighter security at bridges and tunnels around New York. The Massachusetts State Police had an increased presence at Boston's Logan Airport, and at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities say they're always on a heightened state of alert. But Aaron Hanson(ph), who was there to catch a plane to South Korea, said security on Monday was especially visible. Mr. AARON HANSON: I walked past a couple of security guys with M16s and a German shepherd. So yeah, I travel quite a bit, and that's a lot more than I'm used to seeing. FESSLER: But authorities say right now, there are no specific threats, that they're just being cautious. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made a point of noting that her agency has not issued a security alert, that under a new system, which replaced the much ridiculed color-coded alerts, a warning will only be issued if there's specific information about a credible threat. Still, her department told state and local law enforcement authorities last night to be prepared for the possibility of an attack. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman says his greatest concern is the threat of a so-called lone wolf. Senator JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (Independent, Connecticut): A single individual who has been radicalized will now mobilize himself or herself to take action here at home against the American people. FESSLER: And if there was any message from security officials, it's that the public should be on the lookout for anything suspicious that might indicate an attack is in the works and to report it to authorities. It's a system that's proven helpful recently, stopping some domestic att", "The secretary of homeland security says immigrants detained by the federal government for breaking civil immigration laws will now be treated more humanely. Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that fewer illegal immigrants will be locked up in jails and prisons, and more will be detained in places like former hotels and nursing homes. \"This is a system that encompasses many different types of detainees, not all of whom need to be held in prison-like circumstances or jail-like circumstances, which not only may be unnecessary but more expensive than necessary,\" Napolitano said. The way things work now, officials lock up most of the immigrants in this detention system as though they're desperate, violent criminals. The fact is, the government says only about 6 percent of the immigrants they detain have been convicted of violent crimes. The rest are an assortment: Many have sneaked across the border illegally. Others have been living here legally, often for years, but now the government charges they've overstayed their visas. And thousands are applying for asylum. They say if they go back home, they'll be tortured or killed. But officials still lock most of them up anyway while they decide whether the immigrants can stay. NPR and the government's own investigations have found that the jails are often crowded. Sadistic guards have beaten up detainees. And some have died after they couldn't get medical care. Napolitano says the new system needs to keep track of immigrants but also meet \"the standards of health and safety that law and, indeed, human decency require.\" She said it will take months, maybe years to put most of the reforms in place. For instance, authorities might keep track of some immigrants using electronic ankle bracelets, instead of detaining them at all. Maybe they'll use programs in which immigrants have to report regularly to a kind of parole officer. So far, immigration specialists are giving the announcement mixed reviews. Cheryl Little, who runs the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, gives the administration an A for working to improve things. But she gives it a C or D for not changing things faster. Napolitano and her deputy kept saying it's a complicated system, and they want to get the changes right, so they need more studies and analysis. But legal groups and the government have done numerous studies over the years — and they're filled with specific proposals. \"The writing's on the wall,\" Little says. \"It's pretty clear to anybody who's done this work for any amount of time what the problems are and what some quick fixes are.\" The Department of Homeland Security says it will take some steps right away. For instance, it will send dozens of federal monitors to the biggest detention centers so they can start making sure detainees are treated more humanely. Meanwhile, hard-line immigration activists criticized the administration for being too weak. Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the immigrants have to be detained. Otherwise, most of them will disappear. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Every year, the U.S. detains about 400,000 non-citizens and the government holds them in jails while the Department of Homeland Security tries to deport them. Yesterday, the Obama administration announced a change in policy, a decision to treat many of these detainees less like criminals. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling investigates conditions of immigration detention and he brings us this update. DANIEL ZWERDLING: The secretary of Homeland Security said they're going to stop locking up a lot of the immigrants in regular jails and prisons. Janet Napolitano said instead they're going to detain immigrants in places like former hotels and nursing homes. Secretary JANET NAPOLITANO (Department of Homeland Security): This is a system that encompasses many different types of detainees, not all of whom need to be held in prison-like circumstances or jail-like circumstances, which not only may be unnecessary but more expensive than necessary. ZWERDLING: The way things work now, officials lock up most immigrants in this detention system as though they're violent criminals. The fact is the government says only about six percent of the immigrants they detain have been convicted of violent crimes and the rest are an assortment. Many have sneaked across the border illegally, others have been living here legally, often for years, but now the government charges they've overstayed their visa, and thousands are applying for asylum. They say if they go back home they'll be tortured or killed. But officials still lock most of them up anyway while they decide if the immigrants can stay. NPR and the government's own investigations have found that the jails are often horrendously overcrowded. Sadistic guards have beat up detainees and some detainees have died after they couldn't get medical care. Napolitano says the new system needs to keep track of these immigrants... Ms. NAPOLITANO: ...but also ", "If you've ridden the subway in New York City any time in the past few years, you've probably seen the signs: \"If You See Something, Say Something.\" In Washington, D.C., Metro riders are treated to a recording of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging them to report suspicious sights to the proper authorities. Now, Wal-Mart shoppers across the country will see Napolitano's message in a video as they stand in the checkout line. Why Walmart? \"We are expanding 'See Something, Say Something' in a number of venues,\" Napolitano tells NPR's Audie Cornish. \"It's Wal-Mart, it's Mall of America, it's different sports and sporting arenas, it's transit systems. It's a catchy phrase, but it reminds people that our security is a shared responsibility.\" The \"See Something, Say Something\" campaign has had some major successes-- most notably earlier this year when a street vendor reported smoke coming out of an SUV parked in New York's Times Square, resulting in the arrest and conviction of Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad. But The New York Times reports the program has resulted in relatively few terror-related arrests. Creepy? Homeland security expert Frank Cilluffo says that may be because the message is coming from Washington rather than local officials who are more trusted in their communities. \"I think having Secretary Napolitano on screens throughout the country provides a bit of a creepy feeling,\" he says. \"That shouldn't be from Washington.\" Cilluffo also questions the simplicity of \"See Something, Say Something.\" \"I think the message is long on nouns, short on verbs. I think we need some specificity,\" he says. \"Ultimately, what are people looking for, what sort of suspicious activity, what actions should they take, and who do they specifically turn to?\" More To Do Cilluffo says Homeland Security officials should be constantly re-evaluating and changing their policies as they discover what works and what doesn't. \"Homeland security is not an end state, it's a journey,\" he says. \"We've made some significant strides, but I think we still have more to do.\" AUDIE CORNISH, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish, in for Guy Raz. For the last few years, commuters in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., could count on hearing this message ring out in the subway tunnels. (Soundbite of subway) Secretary JANET NAPOLITANO (Department of Homeland Security): Hello. I'm Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. CORNISH: You heard right. That's the voice of Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, telling people if you see something, say something. And starting this week, the anti-terrorism public awareness campaign is expanding in a big way - to your local checkout line. Sec. NAPOLITANO: If you see something suspicious in the parking lot or in the store, say something immediately. CORNISH: Customers in more than 500 Walmart stores across the country will see Napolitano in this video. (Soundbite of DHS video) Sec. NAPOLITANO: Report suspicious activity to your local police or sheriff. If you need help, ask a Walmart manager for assistance. CORNISH: This comes just as the Department of Homeland Security is looking to drop the color-coded terror alert system, and after air travelers cried foul over new airport pat-down procedures and body scanners - and as the head of the Justice Department, Eric Holder, defends undercover stings that in one case, involved a man flagged over a Facebook posting. So today's cover story: our role in our security. We'll start with Walmart. Shoppers at one store outside Nashville told our producer Kim Green(ph) what they think about the Homeland Security messages echoing over the aisles. Unidentified Man #1: What do I think about it? Unidentified Man #2: I think we ought to be 24/7, 365 aware of what's going on around us. Unidentified Man #3: That's kind of wild right there. Unidentified Woman #1: I think that's a little unnecessary for shoppers in Walmart. Unidentified Man #3: Yeah, especially a small city like Nashville. I mean... Unidentified Woman #1: I don't think someone like that would be shopping at Walmart. Unidentified Woman #2: It doesn't make me feel really happy to walk around that and then think, oh gosh, I even need to look over my shoulder while I'm grocery shopping. Unidentified Man #4: I guess it don't hurt, you know? I don't see the bad in it, I don't guess. KIM GREEN: What do you think suspicious means in this case and would you - if you saw something - what would you think of as suspicious, and would you report it? Unidentified Man #4: I guess that's a matter of opinion, you know? Unidentified Woman #3: I don't know what I would consider to be suspicious. Unidentified Man #4: I guess 911's going to get overloaded now. Unidentified Man #5: Groups of people in one area. Unidentified Man #6: Lingering around behind the stores, side of the store, being in a ca", "(Click here for latest updates.) Saying the post has been \"the highlight of my professional career,\" Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday morning that she is stepping down to become president of the University of California. Her statement followed a Reuters report that broke the news. And the Los Angeles Times reported early this morning that: \"Napolitano's nomination by a committee of UC regents came after a secretive process that insiders said focused on her early as a high-profile, although untraditional, candidate who has led large public agencies and shown a strong interest in improving education.\" We'll watch for more and update as the story develops. Meanwhile, here is Napolitano's complete statement: \"For more than four years I have had the privilege of serving President Obama and his Administration as the Secretary of Homeland Security. The opportunity to work with the dedicated men and women of the Department of Homeland Security, who serve on the frontlines of our nation's efforts to protect our communities and families from harm, has been the highlight of my professional career. We have worked together to minimize threats of all kinds to the American public. \"The Department has improved the safety of travelers; implemented smart steps that make our immigration system more fair and focused while deploying record resources to protect our nation's borders; worked with states to build resiliency and make our nation's emergency and disaster response capabilities more robust; and partnered with the private sector to improve our cybersecurity. \"After four plus years of focusing on these challenges, I will be nominated as the next President of the University of California to play a role in educating our nation's next generation of leaders. I thank President Obama for the chance to serve our nation during this important chapter in our history, and I know the Department of Homeland Security will continue to perform its important duties with the honor and focus that the American public expects.\" UPDATES 11:25 a.m. ET. Joe Lieberman As Secretary? NBC News' Chuck Todd is among the pundits floating the name of former Sen. Joe Lieberman as a potential successor to Napolitano. Lieberman was a major player at the department's creation. He was the Democratic Party's 2000 vice presidential nominee. But he became an independent in 2006. And he was a high-profile supporter of President Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, during the 2008 election. 11:05 a.m. ET. Was At Center Of \"Contentious Issues\": \"As homeland security chief, Napolitano has been at the front lines on a host of contentious issues, from the immigration debate to securing the nation's border with Mexico to the government's response to natural disasters, including deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged the Northeast last year,\" The Washington Post writes. \"Napolitano played a key role in the administration's handling of the Boston Marathon bombings this year. She also has come under criticism for her role in toughening airport security procedures.\" 11 a.m. ET. Confirmation Of Successor Could Take Take Time: ABC News notes that \"her departure paves the way for what could be a rocky confirmation battle for whomever President Obama decides to appoint to succeed her at a time when the administration's nominees are facing delays in Congress.\" 10:42 a.m. ET. Obama Praises Her \"Outstanding Work\": \"I want to thank Secretary Napolitano for her outstanding work on behalf of the American people over the last four years,\" President Obama says in a statement emailed to reporters. He continues: \"At the Department of Homeland Security, Janet's portfolio has included some of the toughest challenges facing our country. She's worked around the clock to respond to natural disasters, from the Joplin tornado to Hurricane Sandy, helping Americans recover and rebuild. Since day one, Janet has led my administration's effort to secure our borders, deploying a historic number of resources, while also taking steps to make our immigration system fairer and more consistent with our values. And the American people are safer and more secure thanks to Janet's leadership in protecting our homeland against terrorist attacks. I've come to rely on Janet's judgment and advice, but I've also come to value her friendship. And as she begins a new chapter in a remarkable career of public service, I wish her the best of luck.\" 10:40 a.m. ET. Had Hoped To Be Attorney General: \"Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona, has overseen the administration's handling of homegrown terrorist incidents, major disasters and immigration, one of the most expansive portfolios of anyone in the cabinet,\" The New York Times writes. \"She had her eye on becoming the next attorney general, but with this move is taking herself out of the Washington political arena.\" Return to the top of this post.", "An offshoot of al-Qaida claimed responsibility Monday for the attempted bombing of a commercial airliner on Christmas Day, stating that the foiled attack was a response to recent airstrikes against al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. In a statement posted on the Internet, the group known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said its members coordinated with the 23-year-old Nigerian man accused of trying to detonate a bomb on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. U.S. intelligence helped Yemeni forces carry out two airstrikes against al-Qaida this month — the second strike a day before the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253. The group, an alliance of militants based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, said the suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was carrying explosives manufactured by al-Qaida members. \"He managed to penetrate all devices and modern advanced technology and security checkpoints in international airports bravely without fear of death,\" the group said in the statement, \"relying on God and defying the large myth of American and international intelligence, and exposing how fragile they are, bringing their nose to the ground, and making them regret all what they spent on security technology.\" Shortly after the group claimed responsibility, President Obama announced during a news conference that he has ordered a review of the nation's watch list system and of its air safety regulations, and has asked his national security team to keep up the pressure on terrorists aiming to attack the U.S. \"We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable,\" Obama said during his holiday vacation in Hawaii. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Monday backtracked from statements she had made a day earlier that \"the [security] system worked.\" She acknowledged in an appearance on NBC's Today show that Abdulmutallab should not have been allowed on the airplane. \"What I would say is our system did not work in this instance — no one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way,\" Napolitano said of the foiled attack. In a CNN interview Sunday, she appeared to defend the intelligence and screening efforts, saying, \"This was one individual, literally, of thousands that fly and thousands of flights every year. \"And he was stopped before any damage could be done,\" she said. Abdulmutallab had been put on a watch list after his father reported concerns about his son's extreme religious views to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria. The Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database list contains approximately 550,000 names. Officials say they lacked enough information about Abdulmutallab's activities to place him on a list of about 14,000 people who need additional screening or an even shorter no-fly list containing fewer than 4,000 names. An apparent malfunction in a device designed to detonate the explosive material may have been all that saved the 278 passengers and the crew. No undercover air marshal was onboard the flight, and passengers and crew subdued the suspect and tamped out a fire after Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to set off the bomb. In a statement released Monday, Abdulmutallab's family in Nigeria said the suspect's father reached out to Nigerian security agencies two months ago and then approached foreign security agencies for \"their assistance to find and return him home.\" Law enforcement officials told NPR that Abdulmutallab's father had practically begged the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to help him locate his son and that they weren't entirely sure of his motivation for telling them that his son had been radicalized. The officials, who asked not to be named, also said they weren't sure whether Abdulmutallab had contacts within al-Qaida but were fairly certain that he had been in Yemen — where Abdulmutallab told investigators that he got explosives and training from someone linked to the terrorist organization. They believe there is a \"better than 50-50 chance\" that Abdulmutallab was in contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni imam whose sermons were attended by three of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers and who was allegedly in contact with accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. Meanwhile, two American passengers on Flight 253 said an older man, tall and elegantly dressed, accompanied the young Nigerian to a counter before boarding in Amsterdam. The passengers, Kurt and Lori Haskell of Taylor, Mich., said that the older man explained to a woman at the counter that the Nigerian had no passport. \"He was a wealthy-looking Indian man, maybe around age 50,\" Kurt Haskell told NPR's Robert Siegel. \"He had a suit on, and he's the one who tried to get the terrorist onto the plane without a passport.\" He said the two men went to the ticket agent counter together, and only the older man spoke. \"What the Indian man said was, 'This man needs to board the plane, and he doesn't have a passport.' And the ticket agent then responded, 'Well, you need a passport to ", "Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano predicted Tuesday that airline passengers in the future will no longer be instructed to remove their shoes at airport security checkpoints, but she said the technology to scan shoe-wearing passengers for bombs does not yet exist and may not be available soon. No technology meets government standards to screen shoes for explosives at airports while passengers wear them. Officials have not been able to say for certain that this technology will exist in the future, though they are working to develop it. Removing shoes during screening has been a common complaint among airline travelers since security was increased after a member of al-Qaida tried to detonate a bomb built into his shoe aboard an American Airlines flight in December 2001. Napolitano said restrictions on carrying liquids on planes — imposed after another terrorist plot to detonate disguised bombs onboard planes in August 2006 — probably will remain in effect. \"We'd love to have a kind of a screening portal that you just step in and, boom, it's got everything, and you go through, and it's painless, and very, very quick,\" Napolitano said at a breakfast meeting organized by Politico, a Washington news organization. \"The technology isn't quite there yet, and it won't be for a while, but I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on, and one of the last things you will probably see is a reduction or removing the limitation on liquids,\" Napolitano said. While a number of companies claim to have technology for scanning shoes, it's more difficult to distinguish a soda or a water bottle from explosives. \"Kudos to the TSA, to the Department of Homeland Security, for being interested in what travelers' concerns are,\" said Geoff Freeman of the U.S. Travel Association. \"To date, we have not made ridding ourselves of those policies as much of a priority as we need to make it.\" Freeman believes Americans would fly more if airport security wasn't such a hassle — and adding more travel would be a boost for the U.S. economy. The government announced earlier that TSA will begin testing a program this fall with a small number of travelers who volunteer personal information. If cleared, these travelers could go through security faster — in some cases, because they won't be asked to take their shoes off. But participants still might be asked to remove their shoes, TSA Administrator John Pistole told The Associated Press. \"It makes sense to try to identify those who are willing to share information about themselves, and if we can make some judgments about them as part of this risk-based screening initiative, then perhaps one of the benefits is they can in all likelihood keep their shoes on,\" Pistole said. Pistole said that TSA will always perform random and unpredictable screening, so that passengers who aren't asked to remove their shoes might be asked to remove their shoes on the next trip. \"Just to keep her guessing,\" he said. \"The last thing we want to do is allow terrorists to game the system.\" Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. DAVID GREENE, host: If Yahoo's ex-CEO was travelling by plane, she may have had to take off her shoes at airport screening. For those frustrated by that rule, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano suggests there may be an end in sight. Here's NPR's Wendy Kaufman. WENDY KAUFMAN: Better screening technology will likely spare us from standing on one foot and trying to take our shoes off. But exactly when will that happen? During a Tuesday breakfast meeting with reporters sponsored by Politico, Homeland Security Chief Napolitano talked about months or even years. Ms. JANET NAPOLITANO (Department of Homeland Security): I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on. And one of the last things you will probably see is a reduction or removing the limitation on liquids. KAUFMAN: While a number of companies claim to have technology for scanning shoes, it's more difficult to distinguish Coke or a water bottle from explosives. The comments - the secretary's latest on TSA's screening process - brought a measured response from Geoff Freeman of the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group. Mr. GEOFF FREEMAN (U.S. Travel Association): First of all, kudos to the TSA, to the Department of Homeland Security, for being interested in what travelers' concerns are. To date, we have not made ridding ourselves of those policies as much of a priority as we need to make it. KAUFMAN: Freeman firmly believes Americans would fly more if airport security wasn't such a hassle - adding more travel would be a boost for the U.S. economy. Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.", "That Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano would take another job is not really a surprise to many, as over the past few years she's been mentioned as a possibility for everything from vice president to U.S. attorney general to head of her homeowners' association. Now, President-elect Barack Obama is considering her for head of the Homeland Security Department, which houses the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration and other entities. For David Heyman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the choice is a good one because, he says, Napolitano has the qualities of both her predecessors — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and current DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. \"She's a sitting governor with deep experience in the homeland security arena,\" Heyman says. \"And she's also a law enforcement official.\" Napolitano's first national exposure came in 1991 as Anita Hill's lawyer in her sexual harassment case against Clarence Thomas. President Clinton appointed her U.S. attorney for Arizona. Five years after that, she was elected the state's attorney general. Then in 2002, she was elected governor of Arizona. As governor of the border state that's seen more illegal crossers than any other, Napolitano's strongest suit is immigration and border protection. She was the first governor to call for National Guard troops on the border, and she has consistently called for Congress to deal with comprehensive immigration reform, not just enforcement. \"They're going to have to deal with immigration as a labor issue as well as a criminal law issue,\" Napolitano said. \"And they're going to have to deal with visa reform and streamline visas.\" If Napolitano has a weakness, it's antiterrorism experience, although as U.S. attorney she was involved in investigating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. What's needed at DHS is someone who can manage those who do have expertise — especially the heads of the department's diverse agencies. James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation says his greatest concern is that the new secretary stand up to Congress — which has more than 100 committees overseeing the DHS. \"If you have a secretary who is just kind of go-along, get-along with a Democratic Congress, what they're gonna find is their department just becomes a piggy bank to fund what they want,\" Carafano says. She may be up to the challenge. As a Democratic governor, Napolitano managed to work well with a Republican Legislature and remain popular with voters. In 2005, Time magazine named her one of the nation's top five governors. MELISSA BLOCK, host: Now, to one of the latest names we're hearing for an Obama cabinet position. Sources tell NPR that the president-elect will pick Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano was an early supporter of Barack Obama, and she's on his transition team. As NPR's Ted Robbins reports, her name has come up a lot recently. TED ROBBINS: That Governor Napolitano would take another job is not really a surprise. Over the last few years, she's been mentioned as a possibility for everything from vice president to attorney general to head of her homeowners' association. Here she is on NPR's Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me. (Soundbite of show Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me) PETER SAGAL: Have you run your condos board? (Soundbite of laughter) Governor JANET NAPOLITANO (Democrat, Arizona): No. You know, there are really hard jobs in government like being a governor, but the hardest job is being on your HOA. That one I can't manage, so... (Soundbite of laughter) ROBBINS: How about managing the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FEMA, TSA, and nine more DHS components? Mr. DAVID HEYMAN (Director and Senior Fellow, Homeland Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies): Well, I think it's a very strong choice. ROBBINS: That's David Heyman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Heyman says Napolitano has the qualities of both her predecessors, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge... Mr. HEYMAN: She is a sitting governor with deep experience in the Homeland Security arena, border security, critical infrastructure protection. ROBBINS: And current DHS head, former prosecutor Michael Chertoff. Mr. HEYMAN: And she's also a law enforcement official. ROBBINS: Janet Napolitano's first national exposure came in 1991 as Anita Hill's lawyer in her sexual harassment case against Clarence Thomas. President Clinton appointed her U.S. attorney for Arizona. Five years after that, she was elected the state's attorney general. Then in 2002, she was elected governor. As governor of the border state that's seen more illegal crossers than any other, Napolitano's strongest suit is clearly immigration and border protection. She was the first governor to call for National Guard troops on the bor", "The new system of homeland security alerts unveiled Wednesday replaces one that critics said was vague and confusing — but it's not yet clear whether the simplified version can do any better job of keeping the public safe and informed. The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that the familiar red, orange, yellow, green and blue alerts will be supplanted by just two alerts: \"Elevated Threat,\" warning of a credible terrorist threat against the United States, and \"Imminent Threat\" for a credible, specific and impending threat. The problems with the color-coded alerts were manifold, said Edward Clark of Executive Interface, a risk management and homeland security consultancy. He called the near-continuous orange alert status for the entire airline industry \"ridiculous.\" The old system, he said \"initially just scared the public and cost a lot of money\" because of the increased security costs that came from nonspecific threat warnings. \"Broadcasting a vague warning that doesn't have specifics on how to react only raises the anxiety level of the general public,\" agreed Kevin McCarthy, a private security analyst and former airline pilot. \"Just saying, 'Oh my God, watch out for this — oh my God, watch out for that,' doesn't cut it,\" he said. Current Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement issued Wednesday that the new system would include such specifics as \"geographic region, mode of transportation, or critical infrastructure\" affected and \"actions being taken to ensure public safety, as well as recommended steps\" for individuals, communities, business and governments. Clark compared the two approaches to getting a vaccination. Under the old system, \"the government would tell you to get a shot, but it wouldn't tell you what the disease was or how dangerous it was,\" he said. \"The new system will tell you why you need to get that shot.\" Bennet Waters, the chief operating officer of the Chertoff Group — founded by Michael Chertoff, Napolitano's predecessor — defends the old system as the \"first iteration\" of an evolving method for keeping the public informed. \"There was some confusion,\" conceded Waters, who worked under Chertoff at DHS. But \"during our time in government we made a deliberate effort to be as specific as possible.\" \"I think the goal is always to get actionable intelligence,\" he said. \"But, there's a delicate balance of when and how to share that information with the public.\" McCarthy thinks that while the new system is an improvement, money could be better spent on educating the public in how to put threats into perspective in their everyday lives. \"I don't think the system works very well at all, frankly,\" he said. \"People have to accept that on the whole, yes, we're going to take some hits [from terrorists],\" he said. \"There's no way around that.\" McCarthy points to the British and how they handled the July 2005 bombings in the London subway system. \"In a few days, they were right back on the Tube,\" he said, referring to the nickname for the subway. \"Now, can you imagine if that happened in D.C.? Do you think anyone would have been back on the Metro for months?\" He said no matter the alert system, the result is going to be an increase in anxiety. Efforts might be better focused on campaigns to help people identify and report threats, he said. \"The single best resource we have in this country is the people. And we're not using it,\" McCarthy said.", "This week, President Trump finally made good on his campaign promise to end DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This 2012 administrative program implemented by President Obama, has allowed about 800,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to remain in the country. They're known as \"DREAMers,\" after a proposed law that never passed. At least a third of them are, or have been, enrolled in college. So when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions officially announced the end of DACA at a news conference Tuesday, an avalanche of criticism from the higher education community began in news releases, in emails to reporters and on social media. From community colleges to some of the country's most selective institutions, higher ed leaders were defiant. \"It's disappointing, and it's just wrong at many levels,\" says Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California system. Napolitano, former head of the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, says undoing DACA violates the constitutional rights to due process of students covered by DACA, so she is suing the Trump administration in federal court. In the meantime, says Napolitano, the University of California system will do all it can to reassure these students that their education, financial status and safety on campus will not be jeopardized. \"We are going to continue to offer a DREAM loan program,\" she says, \"and we are going to continue our directive to our campus police that they are not to serve as surrogate immigration agents.\" All 10 campuses in the UC system will also expand counseling and legal services this fall, especially to students whose DACA eligibility is due to expire. They have until Oct. 5 to renew their permits. In 2014, the Migration Policy Institute estimated about 241,000 people who were eligible for DACA were enrolled in college. Another 57,000 of those eligible at the time had completed at least a bachelor's degree. So the reaction from higher ed is not surprising. Trump has promised to be compassionate in dealing with DREAMers. But after DACA expires in March 2018, hundreds of thousands of students could eventually have to surrender their driver's licenses and their work permits and face deportation. Congress could keep that from happening by extending the program or replacing it with something else, but even then, Trump hasn't said what exactly he's willing to support. \"Every day we hear something different,\" says Eduardo Padron, president of Miami Dade College. The uncertainty doesn't just affect students, says Padron, it affects institutions, because there's so little information or guidance in terms of what to tell students. \"Because right now they feel in limbo,\" he says. \"Nobody for sure knows what their options are.\" As head of one of the country's largest community college systems for the past 23 years, Padron says the plight of undocumented college students is nothing new. But DACA is different, he says, because it was supposed to open doors for deserving young people, not slam them shut. \"These DREAMers are among the most dedicated and determined students,\" says Padron. \"They make a lot of sacrifices. They graduate in significant numbers. They make us proud.\" SCOTT SIMON, HOST: About a quarter of a million DREAMers - young people covered by DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - are enrolled in college this fall. DACA has permitted about 800,000 of these undocumented immigrants who are brought to the United States as children to work and to get an education. So when President Trump indicated he was ending DACA, the reaction from higher education leaders was swift. From the NPR Ed team, Claudio Sanchez reports. CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE: It was left up to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to announce the fate of DACA. (SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE) JEFF SESSIONS: Good morning. I'm here today to announce that the program known as DACA is being rescinded. SANCHEZ: Within minutes, an avalanche of criticism from the higher education community began - in news releases, emails to reporters and on social media, from community colleges to some of the nation's most selective institutions. JANET NAPOLITANO: It's disappointing, and it's just wrong at many levels. SANCHEZ: Janet Napolitano's president of the University of California system and former head of Homeland Security. She says repealing DACA violates the constitutional rights to due process of students covered by DACA, also known as DREAMers. So Napolitano is suing the Trump administration in federal court. In the meantime, says Napolitano, all 10 campuses in the University of California system will do all they can to reassure these students that their education, financial status and safety on campus will not be jeopardized. NAPOLITANO: We are going to continue to offer a DREAM Loan Program. We are going to continue our directive to our campus police that they are not to serve as surrogate immigration agen", "Nearly 3.5 million holiday travelers are expected to board planes this Thanksgiving weekend. Many dread the long lines and invasive procedures of security checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration hopes to improve their experience — it's considering devices that would let passengers keep their shoes on through security checks. Air travelers have only recently mastered the art of sliding out of coats, pulling out laptops and posing for an x-ray photoshoot in a full-body scanner. But a change to U.S. security procedures could come soon. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said recently that passengers will get to keep their shoes on in the near future. \"That would definitely be convenient,\" says traveler Brian Wolfe, as he unlaces his ankle-length suede boots at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. The TSA is considering devices that would save Wolfe the trouble, but still detect threats. Shoes became a concern in 2001, when would-be terrorist Richard Reid made it onto a Miami-bound flight with explosives in his sneakers. The TSA has received numerous bids for devices that scan passengers' shoes as they wear them. One of the competing products is IDO Security's Magshoe, which can be found in hundreds of airports and cruise ships around the world. \"As long as you're still when you step onto the machine, it immediately reads the area from the soles of your shoes, midway up your calf. And then you step off the machine,\" says Michael Goldberg, the president of the Israel-based company. \"You'll get a green or a red, which is a go/no-go signal.\" Morpho Detection, part of the France-based Safran group, is another company vying for the bid. Unlike the Magshoe, prototypes of its ShoeScanner can detect chemical compounds in addition to metal objects. \"It detects a wide variety of explosive and in fact, non-explosive, threats,\" says spokesperson Steve Hill. Morpho's device scans shoes in three different ways, but Hill says the U-shaped ShoeScanner is easy to use. \"As the passenger's standing in this taco shell, if you will, there are plastic doors that are closed in front of him or her,\" he says.\"And when the screening process of 8 to 12 seconds is complete, the doors either open or remain closed, if there's an alarm condition that's detected.\" But shoe scanners could make airport security even more frustrating for passengers, says Steve Lott, of the Air Transport Association, a trade group for the airline industry. \"If we continue to add these reactive patches to an old system, it just bogs down the whole process,\" he says, \"and it becomes very inefficient.\" But for those who think current security procedures are too invasive, shoe scanners may be a step in the right direction. Jay Stanley, an analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, thinks that scanning for traces of threatening material is an improvement over more subjective screenings that land too close for comfort for some passengers. \"We've never really had a problem with particle-sniffers,\" he says. \"And in fact, we've encouraged the TSA to invest more money in developing those kinds of technologies, because they aren't really an invasion of privacy.\" Brian Wolfe is looking forward to keeping his shoes on, but he's skeptical that the new technology will enhance airport security. \"I didn't feel unsafe before,\" he says. \"And if somebody wanted to get around these things, they probably could.\" The TSA hasn't announced a date when shoe scanners will be introduced in airports. For now, travelers will still have to shuffle through security in their socks. LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: Nearly three-and-a-half million holiday travelers are expected to board planes this Thanksgiving weekend. Many dread the long lines and sometimes invasive security process. The Transportation Security Administration hopes to improve the experience. It's working on a device that would let passengers keep their shoes on through security checks. NPR's Beenish Ahmed reports. BEENISH AHMED, BYLINE: Air travelers have only just mastered the art of sliding out of coats, pulling out laptops and posing for an x-ray photo shoot in a full-body scanner. But a change to the security line-up could come soon. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said recently that passengers will get to keep their shoes on in the near future. BRIAN WOLFE: That would definitely be convenient. AHMED: Brian Wolfe is unlacing his ankle-length suede boots at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. The TSA is considering devices that would save him the trouble, but still detect threats. Shoes became a concern in 2001, when would-be terrorist Richard Reid made it onto a Miami-bound flight with explosives in his sneakers. The TSA has received numerous bids for devices that scan passengers' shoes as they wear them. One of the competing products is IDO Security's MagShoe, which can be found in hundreds of airports and cruise ships around the world. Michael Go", "In the days since the Boston Marathon bombings, local law enforcement officials have been given high marks for their response to the attack and the coordination among numerous federal, state and local agencies involved. But at the same time, questions are being raised about the coordination among federal agencies handling intelligence they had about the suspects in the months before the attack. At a Senate hearing Tuesday, there was nothing but praise for the actions of the responders. Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island captured the tone of many lawmakers as he addressed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: \"I'm sure you saw with the same pride that I did the way people pulled together — the lack of 'turfiness' and the very impressive deployment of a wide range of local, state and federal capabilities very rapidly, very comprehensively and very smoothly.\" That lack of \"turfiness,\" as Whitehouse put it, was no accident. One of the lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and subsequent disasters — natural and man-made — was the need for communication and cooperation among responders, says Carie Lemack, director of the Homeland Security Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank. \"These were people who had gotten to know each other over the last decade because they had practiced before,\" she says. \"Before 9/11, we hadn't seen that kind of coordination, so that when you had law enforcement agencies come together, oftentimes they couldn't communicate with each other. They had never met each other before. This was different in Boston.\" Working Together The Massachusetts National Guard was one of those agencies that played a big role in the bombing's aftermath. A Guard unit was at the finish line helping provide security when the blasts occurred and quickly began clearing debris and providing medical assistance. Brig. Gen. Paul G. Smith says the Guard was well-trained for its role. \"And that means putting your ego on hold and recognizing that we support elected officials, civil authorities, and we take our directions from them,\" he says. Boston responders have also had recent practice working together, participating in mass-casualty drills and dealing with severe weather, ranging from tornadoes to blizzards. Smith says all of that experience was put to use after the bombings. \"We have worked very closely with city officials, local police departments, state police, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency,\" he says. \"So there's a history. We know each other. And I think, most importantly, we trust each other.\" Fears Of 'Stovepiping' Still, if the lessons of how to respond to a terrorist attack seem to have been learned well, critics say law enforcement agencies still have a ways to go when it comes to sharing information that could help prevent an attack or at least help in identifying potential terrorists. The criticism centers on the trip to Russia taken by bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a shootout with police Friday. Tsarnaev traveled to an area of southern Russia near Chechnya in January 2012. Russia had requested a background check on Tsarnaev from the FBI before he left the United States. Napolitano told lawmakers on Monday that Homeland Security was aware that Tsarnaev left the country, but he returned to the U.S. some six months later, unnoticed. \"By the time he returned, all investigations had been — the matter had closed,\" she said. After a closed-door briefing to members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said intelligence agencies had reverted to their old pre-Sept. 11 ways, citing the practice of \"stovepiping,\" or failing to share their information with each other. \"Post 9/11, we thought we had created a system that would allow for the free flow of information between agencies,\" he said. \"I think there's been some stone walls and some stove pipes reconstructed that were probably unintentional, but we've got to review that issue again.\" It's not clear what the FBI or anyone else might have done with more information about Tsarnaev. But it seems equally clear that he fell through the cracks before allegedly planting his bomb on Boylston Street last week. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: And I'm Audie Cornish. We begin this hour with Boston and the lessons of 9/11. In the days since last week's marathon bombing, local police have earned high marks for their response to the attack, especially their ability to work well with federal, state and other local agencies. But it's a different story when it comes to coordination among federal agencies that handled intelligence about the suspects months before the attack. NPR's Brian Naylor has the story. BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE: At a Senate hearing yesterday, there was nothing but praise for the actions of responders to the Boston Marathon bombings. Democrat Sheldon Whitehou", "Health officials and pharmaceutical companies are continuing to work on the manufacture and distribution of a new flu vaccine, even as concerns about the illness begin to subside, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told NPR on Thursday. \"We're not declaring victory over the H1N1 flu,\" Napolitano said in an interview for NPR's All Things Considered. \"We also know, however, that this flu could come back, particularly in the fall, and, so, now were moving into 'let's get lessons learned' from the last 10 days and then move forward.\" In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 896 cases of H1N1 flu in 41 states, in addition to two deaths. World health authorities raised concerns about the possibility of a worldwide pandemic after the fast-spreading disease was identified in Mexico in April. Mexican authorities closed schools and businesses all over the country in an effort to keep the flu from spreading after the illness sickened thousands. Mexican health officials said Thursday that the number of confirmed dead had risen to 44. U.S. health authorities acted quickly to stop the flu's spread, closing many schools and conducting public awareness campaigns about the importance of good hygiene in controlling the illness. Customs and Border Protection officers also screened foreign travelers who appeared ill. Napolitano said she was generally pleased with the government's response, in particular the good communication between CDC epidemiologists and federal, state and local officials as they drafted guidelines for schools and health departments. Still, she said there is more work to do. This summer, authorities will lay out plans to deliver services despite high absenteeism in advance of the next flu season, she said. \"I'm not sure many in the private sector really are prepared and have thought through what do you do if you have a 30 percent absenteeism rate, nor in the government how do you make sure the basic functions of society continue even at the high point of an epidemic. So, that's the kind of planning now that we need to work on over the course of the summer,\" she said. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel. MICHELE NORRIS, host: And I'm Michele Norris. And we begin this hour with an interview with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on swine flu and other matters. Schools and businesses in Mexico and the U.S. once closed for fear of the flu outbreak are moving back into normal routines. Even so, the World Health Organization is still suggesting that a large number of people - as many as two billion worldwide - could eventually be infected. The WHO says not everyone who's infected would actually even notice. Janet Napolitano told me it's no time for complacency. Secretary JANET NAPOLITANO (Department of Homeland Security): We're not declaring victory over the H1N1 flu. We know that the virus, as it originally presented, was not as lethal as originally thought, but it did spread very rapidly throughout the United States. We know that people are still contracting the flu. They're getting sick, some are being hospitalized. We had our, unfortunately and tragically, our second death yesterday. We know that hospitalizations and death go with any outbreak of flu. So we anticipated that, but we're still going through it. We also know, however, that this flu could come back, and particularly in the fall. And so now we're moving into, let's get lessons learned from the last 10 days and then move forward. NORRIS: Well, you know, the chief of staff at the White House, Rahm Emanuel, is known for saying that one should never waste a crisis. There's a lot to learn from the biggest challenges that you face. What did this administration learn from the swine flu episode? And looking back, are there things that the government should have done better? Sec. NAPOLITANO: I actually was pleased overall with the government's response in several ways. One, the decision at the outset to get ahead of the flu and to rely on scientists, particularly the epidemiologists at the CDC for help in drafting guidance. I was pleased with the amount of interaction we had with states and with the private sector. There are other things I think we're going to have to work on. For example, should we have a true pandemic associated with a lot of absenteeism from work or for school? I'm not sure many in the private sector really are prepared and have thought through, what do you do if you have a 30 percent absenteeism rate? Nor in the government, how do you make sure that the basic functions of society continue, even at the high point of an epidemic? And so that's the kind of planning now that we need to work on over the course of this summer. NORRIS: As you think about the possibility that this might return in the fall, what will keep you up at night over the summer? Sec. NAPOLITANO: Well, we'll be working. Obviously the Department of Heal", "The Department of Homeland Security's plan to build a virtual fence across the U.S.-Mexico border has come to a crashing halt just days before the release of a report expected to slam the system. Homeland chief Janet Napolitano beat the Government Accountability Office report to the punch when she announced Tuesday that she's freezing funding for the Secure Border Initiative Network. Homeland Security hired The Boeing Co. 3 1/2 years ago to build a string of towers along the 2,000-mile border. The towers were to integrate off-the-shelf products — cameras, radar, connections to ground sensors — so that Border Patrol agents could see who and what was coming across in real time. Boeing made big promises about SBInet's capabilities. \"Ninety to 100 percent of all illegal crossers, this camera system was going to identify and characterize this threat,\" said Rich Stana, who wrote a report on the project last year for the GAO. Boeing built a 28-mile test section in the Southern Arizona desert. It didn't work. The company regrouped, redesigned and redeployed one set of towers near the first set. It is building another section right now. The entire border was supposed to be covered a year ago, but after three years — and $1.4 billion — the system is still full of bugs. \"Well, it sort of works,\" Stana said. A new GAO report obtained by NPR says the bugs are coming faster than the fixes. \"It's not a matter of, you know, do you look at the screen and see things?\" Stana said. \"Yes, you're going to see some things. The question is: Are you going to see things over time? Is it a quality image and is it a reliable image?\" So far, the answer is no. The new report even says some tests have been rigged to guarantee success. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said DHS is to blame for letting things go this far. \"The department could've been far more vigilant in its oversight,\" the Mississippi Democrat said. \"But I can tell you there's no energy or stomach on this committee for this project continuing in its present form.\" An executive from Boeing, which referred questions to Homeland Security, is set to appear before the House Committee on Thursday. Although fence funds have been frozen, DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said $50 million will be diverted to buy things such as mobile cameras, ultralight aircraft and more radios for the Border Patrol. \"This is going to immediately improve our ability to secure the U.S.-Mexico border by redirecting these funds to proven solutions that meet the urgent needs that exist right now,\" Chandler said. For years, a majority of lawmakers in Congress have said the border needs to be secure before they will consider immigration reform. So will the failures of SBInet serve as more justification to delay it? Former Immigration and Naturalization Service director Doris Meissner said that would be a mistake. Virtual fencing or real fencing, she said, will help. But it will not stop people from trying to cross the border for jobs. \"The border is not the single answer to the problem of illegal immigration,\" Meissner said. The virtual fence may have had a stake driven through its heart, but it's not dead yet. Homeland Security says it needs to complete a review of the program before deciding how or whether to continue the program. LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: And I'm Renee Montagne. You could say the government has virtually ended the virtual border fence. Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano announced yesterday that she's freezing funding for the Secure Border Initiative Network. The announcement came just two days before the Government Accountability Office was set to issue a report slamming the project. NPR's Ted Robbins has more. TED ROBBINS: Three-and-a-half-years-ago, the Department of Homeland Security hired the Boeing Corporation to build a string of towers across the 2,000-mile U.S./Mexico Border. The towers were to use off-the-shelf products cameras, radar, connections to ground sensors all integrated so that Border Patrol agents could see who and what was coming across in real time. Rich Stana wrote a report on the project last year for the Government Accountability Office. He says Boeing made a big promise. Mr. RICH STANA (Government Accountability Office): Ninety to 100 percent of all illegal crossers, this camera system was going to identify and characterize the threat. ROBBINS: Boeing built a 28-mile test section in the Southern Arizona desert. It didn't work. Boeing regrouped, redesigned and redeployed one set of towers near the first set. It's building another section right now. The entire border was supposed to be covered a year ago. But after three years and $1.4 billion the system is still full of bugs. Mr. STANA: Well, it sort of works. ROBBINS: And a new GAO report obtained by NPR says the bugs are coming faster than the fixes. Mr. STANA: I", "The White House sought to reassure the traveling public Wednesday that it has fixed security lapses that led to the foiled bomb attack aboard a U.S.-bound jetliner last Christmas. Security officials have been on edge for days because of an increase in intelligence \"chatter\" about a possible holiday-season attack, though officials said there have been no specific, credible threats. John Brennan, the president's chief counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, said the country's security infrastructure has improved since Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly smuggled explosives hidden in his underwear onto an airplane headed for Detroit. \"I'm confident that ... we are in a much better position today than we were last year at this time,\" Brennan said at a news conference in the White House briefing room. One change, he said, is that security agencies are now focused on the potential for multiple small attacks in addition to the potential for a single catastrophic attack. \"What we have seen recently is increased focus, I think, on the part of terrorist groups to try to carry out some of these smaller-scale attacks,\" Brennan said. \"And so we are staying very focused on our ability to detect those types of attacks and stop them whether or not they're by individuals or part of a larger, organizational effort.\" Brennan also said that each time an attack is thwarted, President Obama insists on identifying where the system worked and where it fell short, then making appropriate changes to fix the problems. After the failed jetliner attack last Christmas, the Obama administration has dealt with an attempted car bombing in Times Square, a nearly successful attack on U.S.-bound cargo planes, and several alleged plots disrupted by the FBI. Obama's security team also was forced to defend itself amid questions about why Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was not in the loop about a roundup of a dozen terrorism suspects this week in London. On Tuesday night, Clapper appeared with Brennan on ABC News and seemed stumped when asked whether the suspected plot in London could have threatened the U.S. \"London?\" Clapper asked, looking at Brennan. It was an embarrassing moment for the embattled position of director of national intelligence, a job created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that critics say has failed to live up to its billing as a central, strong figure who would lead the nation's intelligence infrastructure. At Wednesday's news conference, Brennan said the U.S. was \"in constant contact\" with the British \"to work with them closely, to find out whether or not there's any nexus here to the homeland, find out what we can about their motivations, intentions and where their operational planning was going.\" And he vigorously defended Clapper, noting that Clapper was focused on escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and a nuclear weapons treaty with Russia. But Brennan acknowledged that Clapper should have been briefed. \"Should he have been briefed by his staff on those arrests?  Yes,\" Brennan said, adding that it he was \"glad\" that Clapper \"is not sitting in front of the TV 24 hours a day and monitoring what's coming out of the media.\" NPR's Ari Shapiro contributed to this report, which contains material from The Associated Press", "The Justice Department's subpoena of Associated Press phone records as part of an investigation into what Attorney General Eric Holder has called \"a very grave leak\" to the news agency has set off a political firestorm on Capitol Hill, but there's a lot to the AP story published a year ago that started it all. You can read it yourself here. The May 7, 2012, story cites unnamed sources who told the news agency that the CIA had thwarted a plan by a Yemeni affiliate of al-Qaida to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner. That despite White House assertions that it was unaware of any such plot. The AP's story said the would-be bomber planned to use an \"upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.\" It said the new bomb had a better detonation system than the underwear bomb and was constructed using no metal parts to make it difficult or impossible to detect at airports. The AP wrote: \"The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought his plane tickets when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It is not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber. \"The operation unfolded even as the White House and Department of Homeland Security assured the American public that they knew of no al-Qaida plots against the U.S. around the anniversary of bin Laden's death. The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way.\" But, as NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports, there's much more to the story: \"As we understood it then and still understand it, that suicide bomber that AP refers to in its story was actually a double agent working with Western intelligence agencies,\" Dina says. Although the double agent did hand the new underwear bomb technology to U.S. officials, \"they had hoped the agent could do more [and] ... one consequence of the story is that this agent's identity was blown,\" she says. Dina says the bomb was of special interest because of who made it — Ibrahim al-Ashiri, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's master bomb maker. \"Ashiri is also thought to be behind the printer-cartridge bomb that was supposed to target cargo jets over the U.S. a couple of years ago and the underwear bomb of Christmas 2009,\" she says. Ashiri is considered a genius at building bombs and authorities had hoped to use the double agent to get at him, Dina says: \"Officials tell us the plan was to reinsert the agent into al-Qaida's arm in Yemen after [authorities] got their hands on the bomb,\" but the AP leak made that impossible.", "A former Guantanamo detainee provided the tip-off that allowed U.S. investigators last week to disable a terrorist plot that placed package bombs on cargo airplanes bound for American soil, sources told NPR on Monday. Jabir al-Fayfi was a member of al-Qaida and had been imprisoned at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was later released into Saudi custody and subsequently freed by the Saudis after attending a \"re-education program\" there, two intelligence sources told NPR. After his release, al-Fayafi reportedly joined al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, a Yemeni-based offshoot of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, the sources said. Officials said al-Fayfi surrendered to Saudi authorities about two weeks ago and provided them with information about the impending attack. The Saudis also obtained tracking numbers for the packages that contained the bombs, but it is unclear how they got them. Al-Fayfi could not have been the source for that information, because the packages were mailed after he left Yemen. Investigators said the packages -- which also contained clothes and Yemeni souvenirs -- were meant to look like packages a foreign student might send home at the end of a semester. No one has taken responsibility for the package bombs, but U.S. officials believe, because of the way the bombs were put together, that AQAP is behind the attack. Specifically, a 28-year-old Saudi bomb-maker named Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, a high-ranking member of AQAP, is thought to have designed the devices. Al-Asiri has been linked to other recent plots by AQAP. He is known to be innovative, and is suspected of having developed the so-called underwear bomb that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The disclosure comes as U.S. investigators were traveling to Yemen on Monday in search of suspects in last week's foiled bomb plot. John Pistole, the head of the Transportation Security Administration, said Monday on CBS's The Early Show that his agency had dispatched security experts to Yemen to provide training and equipment, and to assist with screening cargo leaving that country. U.S. investigators have said the mail bombs found in the United Arab Emirates and England were headed to two synagogues in Chicago. But British Home Secretary Theresa May said it was possible that the cargo plane carrying the package from Yemen may have been a target, too. Over the weekend, the White House's top counterterrorism official, deputy national security adviser John Brennan, told Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Saleh that his country should take the lead in responding to the terrorists, a top Yemeni official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. A second package was discovered in Dubai, where white powder explosives were discovered in the ink cartridge of a printer, police said in a statement. The device was rigged to an electric circuit, and a mobile phone chip was hidden inside the printer, the statement said. \"It is unclear in this case if the style of bomb has made [Asiri] a prime suspect or if investigators actually found forensic evidence —- like a fingerprint or a hair —- on the bombs,\" NPR correspondent Dina Temple-Raston told Morning Edition. \"He's a creative guy when it comes to bomb delivery systems,\" she said. The al-Qaida group has been linked to the bomb plot because of the use of the explosive PETN, which was used by the group in the bombing attempt of a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas. U.S. authorities also had intelligence that Yemeni al-Qaida was planning this operation, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence. The British home secretary told Parliament on Monday that while intelligence officials were unaware of any further bomb plots on aircraft, unaccompanied cargo from Yemen and Somalia still was being banned from British flights. She said airline passengers would not be allowed to carry toner cartridges exceeding 500 grams in hand luggage. \"This organization is very active. It continues to plan other attacks in the region, notably against Saudi Arabia,\" May said. \"We therefore work on the assumption that this organization will wish to continue to find ways of also attacking targets farther afield.\" Two people were detained in Yemen over the weekend, but later released. Sources tell NPR that the return address and phone number used to send the packages belonged to 22-year-old engineering student Hanan Samawi at the University of San'a — in the capital of Yemen. So authorities picked her up. Her mother, who refused to let her be taken away to jail alone, also insisted on accompanying her, so she was detained as well. Authorities later came to believe that someone else was using Samawi's name. Despite several ill-fated U.S. airstrikes in Yemen since December 2009 that have killed civilians and a Yemeni government official instead of their intended al-Qaida ", "Authorities in Yemen released a female engineering student who had been brought in for questioning in an airline cargo bomb plot, as investigators around the globe strained to understand the outlines of the attempt and the masterminds behind it. Only hours after White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said he was \"confident\" that a 22-year-old woman detained Saturday in Yemen had mailed the bomb-laden parcels, government officials in the country said they had released her, citing an apparent case of identity theft. The confusion only served to underscore the increasing sophistication of terrorists using Yemen as a home base, and the still developing national security and law enforcement response in the U.S. A team of federal investigators -- including FBI agents and transportation security officials -- is on the way to Yemen to hunt for clues in the case and advise about screening procedures, authorities confirmed. Among their first tasks will be to find out who stole the engineering student’s identity and mailed the packages. \"We are continuing to pursue aggressively a variety of investigative leads and are working very closely with Yemeni, British and Emirati officials to find those responsible for the attempted terrorist attacks,\" according to a U.S. government official. The package bombs discovered last week — one in Britain, the other in Dubai — were both addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago, but their ultimate target remains unclear. \"I believe the threat is certainly ongoing,\" Brennan said on the Sunday talk shows. \"We just need to stay on top of this and work it diligently.\" Brennan said authorities can't rule out that the two devices are the only ones out there. He added that investigators \"have to presume\" there might be more potential mail bombs. FedEx and UPS have stopped importing packages from Yemen. The two bombs were \"very sophisticated\" and \"self-contained,\" Brennan added, apparently meaning they could have exploded without an external signal of some kind, \"at a time of the terrorists' choosing.\" The foiled plot \"certainly bears the hallmark\" of al-Qaida's Yemen branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and the terrorist group is \"still at war with us, and we are very much at war with them,\" Brennan said. Forensic analysis indicates that the bomb-maker also constructed the devices used in the failed bombing on a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas and the attack on Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism chief last year, Brennan said. The person assembling these devices, he told ABC's This Week, is \"clearly somebody who has a fair amount of training and experience, and we need to find him and we need to bring him to justice.\" U.S. intelligence officials believe the suspected bomb-maker is a Saudi named Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. British officials say they believe the bombers intended to bring down the airplanes, and Brennan told CBS' Face the Nation that the U.S. backs that view. \"At this point, we would agree with the British that it looks as though they were designed to detonate in flight,\" he said. But Brennan added that they are still working to figure out whether the airplanes or the Chicago synagogues were intended to be the final stop for the bombs. The bombs all contained the explosive PETN. NPR's Tom Gjelten told Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen that the explosive powder was packed into toner cartridges, in order to hide it from scanning. Meanwhile in Yemen, police released Hanan al-Samawi, whose detention had prompted protests among her fellow students at Sanaa University. They are now looking for a woman who may have impersonated her at UPS and FedEx offices in the country. Gjelten said authorities apparently traced the woman through a phone number that she allegedly left. \"It suggests that the Yemeni authorities want to show that they are cooperating, but it's far from clear what responsibility this woman had,\" Gjelten said. A Yemeni human rights group said al-Samawi is not known to be involved in any political activity or to have ties to any Islamic groups. After the apparent dead end, investigators were hunting the impoverished Mideast country for more conspirators. Authorities were also looking at two language institutions the plotters may have been associated with. The explosives were pulled off airplanes in England and the United Arab Emirates early Friday morning, touching off a tense search for other devices. More details emerged Saturday about the plot that exploited security gaps in the worldwide shipping system, and prompted calls for tougher screening of air freight. British Prime Minister David Cameron said he believes the explosive device found in central England was intended to detonate on the plane, while British Home Secretary Theresa May said the bomb was powerful enough to take down the aircraft. A U.S. official said the second device found in Dubai was thought to be similarly potent. Brennan said the devices, which other officials r", "In an interview with All Things Considered's Audie Cornish, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the administration's decision to defer the deportation of some young illegal immigrants is a part of a \"strong enforcement\" of immigration laws. She said that this administration has stymied illegal border crossings and stepped up deportations of criminals. \"Strong enforcement also embodies looking at different categories differently when the facts justify that we do so,\" Napolitano said. \"These individuals really fall in a separate category and we ought to address it as such,\" she added. Like she did earlier today, Napolitano characterized this move as prioritizing. \"What we're doing is saying, 'Look when we enforce the immigration law, we want to focus on those who have violated the criminal laws in addition to immigration law, who are repeat violators or are people we catch right at the border,\" she said. Audie asked Napolitano to respond to critics who have said with this policy shift, the Obama administration is essentially bypassing Congress. Napolitano said this doesn't take the place of legislation. \"This is not the same as the Dream Act, because there is no pathway to citizenship.There's no pathway to permanent legal residency. It's deferral of removal action,\" she said. And it's something the U.S. has done before, she said. For example, the Obama administration decided to defer the removal of the undocumented widows of service members. We'll post the as-aired version of the interview a little later tonight. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: From NPR News, this ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: I'm Audie Cornish, and we begin this hour with a controversial policy shift from the White House. President Obama announced today that the U.S. will stop deporting young, illegal immigrants who have stayed in school and out of trouble. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for work authorization. BLOCK: The policy will apply to people who are aged 30 or younger who arrived in the U.S. before they turned 16 and have lived here for at least five years. CORNISH: They must also have graduated from high school, currently be in school or have served in the military. Republicans criticize the move and said it was an effort to revive parts of the president's DREAM Act after it had stalled in Congress. BLOCK: But the president told reporters in the White House Rose Garden this afternoon that this policy, unlike the DREAM Act, does not offer a path to citizenship. He added that the new policy offers neither amnesty nor immunity. Mitt Romney weighed in with some nuanced criticism. He agreed that the status of young people here illegally is an important matter, but one that should be solved on a long-term basis. MITT ROMNEY: I think the action that the president took today makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution because an executive order is, of course, just a short-term matter. CORNISH: We begin our coverage with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. When I spoke with her today, she rejected the criticism that this is a kind of backdoor amnesty. SECRETARY JANET NAPOLITANO: This is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion within the framework of the existing law. What we're doing is saying, look, when we enforce the immigration laws, we want to focus on those who have violated the criminal laws in addition to the immigration laws, who are repeat violators or who are people we catch right at the border. And at the same time as we have, you know, put those high priority cases into one bucket, into the other bucket we're putting those group of young people who, through no fault of their own, generally they were brought here by parents or other older relatives. They basically grew up here. They've never been to their country of origin. They don't even speak the language. They're going to school. They're in the military. They haven't had run-ins with the law. For those individuals, we are not going to seek removal. CORNISH: But we're also talking about roughly 800,000 people. And what about the critic who essentially say that you're encouraging illegal immigration in the future when you provide actions like this? NAPOLITANO: To the contrary, that's why we put requirements on that you have to have been in this country as of today, and you had to have been here at least five years. And that's to cut against the notion that this is somehow going to be a magnet. But look, our immigration system needs reform, and we continue to want that, and the DREAM Act is part of that reform. We continue to want that. In the meantime, however, the framework allows for discretion, for setting priorities. And just as we set high priorities, we're entitled to set low priorities, which we've done here. CORNISH: But is t", "President Obama blamed a \"systemic failure\" for allowing a suspected terrorist to board a U.S.-bound airplane last week carrying potentially deadly explosives. He vowed to fix the system quickly and promised \"accountability\" at every level. The president's comments Tuesday came in response to criticism of the government's handling of the foiled attack, both before and after the fact. Obama said some parts of the U.S. intelligence community were alerted \"weeks ago\" to concerns that a young Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was becoming radicalized and could pose a threat. But Obama said that information was not effectively distributed before Abdulmutallab boarded a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, and allegedly tried to blow it up. \"Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence, and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged,\" Obama said. \"Warning signs would have triggered red flags. And the suspect never would have been allowed to board that plane for America.\" Obama called the breakdown in information-sharing \"totally unacceptable.\" He ordered that a preliminary review of the problem be finished by Thursday, \"because lives are at stake.\" \"As president, I will do everything in my power to support men and women in intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security to make sure they've got the tools and resources they need to keep America safe,\" Obama said. \"But it's also my job to ensure that our intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security systems and the people in them are working effectively and held accountable.\" CIA Statement The CIA says it learned of the 23-year-old Nigerian man in November, \"when his father came to the U.S. embassy in Nigeria and sought help in finding him. Before that, spokesman Paul Gimigliano says the agency did not have Abdulmutallab's name. Also in November, Gimigliano says the CIA worked with the embassy to ensure Abdulmutallab \"was in the government's terrorist database — including mention of his possible extremist connections in Yemen.\" \"We also forwarded key biographical information about him to the National Counterterrorism Center,\" Gimigliano says. \"This agency, like others in our government, is reviewing all data to which it had access — not just what we ourselves may have collected — to determine if more could have been done to stop Abdulmutallab.\" Perceived Missteps Obama spoke out publicly for the second time in as many days about the Christmas Day bombing attempt — a marked contrast from the weekend, when he stayed out of sight, vacationing in Hawaii with his family. Aides say Obama deliberately kept a low profile at first, to avoid alarming the public or rewarding the attackers. Risk communication expert Baruch Fischhoff thinks the administration may have worried too much about calming travelers' nerves. Fischhoff, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, said what people want from their government at a time like this is competence and honesty. \"They don't want to be reassured or to be worked or to be spun. They want to know the facts so that they can make their decisions,\" he said. \"Often officials have insufficient faith in the public. They think the public can't be trusted to handle the truth and make responsible decisions.\" Republicans were quick to pounce on perceived missteps of the administration — especially the comment Sunday from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that the system had worked. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), who's running for governor in Michigan, even sent out a fundraising letter, criticizing the response of those he called \"weak-kneed liberals.\" The Democratic National Committee called the letter \"shameless.\" But it's not unusual. \"There was a time when a national security issue would not have aroused a partisan reaction. But those days are long gone,\" said political analyst Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College. \"The Republicans have had a sense of issue ownership when it comes to issues of homeland and national security, and consequently it makes political sense for them to think they have an opening here.\" Greater Concerns The holiday timing of the incident is a double-edged sword for politicians. It's a slow news week, so the GOP criticism of the president has received intensive coverage. But it's also a time when many people aren't fully plugged in. Gallup's daily tracking poll showed no change in Obama's approval rating in the days immediately after the bombing attempt. Before this latest incident, terrorism was barely on voters' radar screens. \"In terms of the most important problem facing the country, terrorism had jumped way up after 9/11 in the fall of 2001, but fell off fairly soon thereafter,\" said Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief. \"In our December poll, for example, just 3 percent of Americans spontaneously said terrorism was the most important problem facing the country, way d", "For months, a top target of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Yemen has been Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric and al-Qaida propagandist who allegedly inspired both Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused Christmas Day bomber; and Nidal Hasan, the U.S. Army psychiatrist charged in the killing of 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian at Fort Hood, Texas. With last week's discovery of two bombs hidden in air cargo shipments, however, another al-Qaida figure in Yemen, Ibrahim al-Asiri, has joined Awlaki on the Most-Wanted list. Al-Asiri, a 28-year-old Saudi national, is suspected of designing and building the bombs that were expertly concealed inside Hewlett-Packard printers sent from Yemen to addresses in Chicago. He is also thought to have been responsible for the \"underwear\" bomb in the Christmas Day attempt and another bomb meant to kill Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, the chief of Saudi Arabia's intelligence service. Al-Asiri's bomb-making skill and experience has reportedly elevated him to the top ranks of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based group that has emerged as the most active al-Qaida operation outside of Pakistan. \"Ibrahim is believed by the Saudi authorities to be hiding out in Yemen with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,\" says Christopher Boucek, an associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. \"He's thought to be a bomb-maker, as well as having experience with poisons and toxins and rockets and missiles.\" Mixed Success None of al-Asiri's best-known bombs has hit its intended target. Abdulmutallab was caught before he could detonate the bomb he was allegedly carrying. The suicide bomber who tried to assassinate bin Nayef was himself killed in the blast, but the Saudi prince escaped serious injury. With the failure of the cargo bombs to reach their destinations last week, al-Asiri could be said to be 0-for-3 in his high-profile bombing attempts. In another sense, however, al-Asiri is 3-for-3. All the bombs were cleverly hidden and passed undetected through X-ray machines and other security equipment. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, speaking Sunday on television news programs, called the cargo bombs \"very sophisticated devices\" and said they were built by someone with \"very proficient bomb-making capabilities.\" \"The individual who has been making these bombs, whether it be the one that was given to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab or the one that was attempted to assassinate Prince Muhammad bin Nayef in Saudi Arabia or the ones that were found in these packages, is a very dangerous individual, clearly somebody who has a fair amount of training and experience,\" Brennan said on  ABC's This Week. \"And we need to find him. We need to bring him to justice.\" A U.S. explosives expert with experience analyzing terrorist attacks says the bomb designs in each of these cases did not require high engineering skill. He asked not to be identified because of his security work, but he noted that Irish Republican Army bombers in Northern Ireland came up with similar designs years ago. Concealing The Devices Al-Asiri and his colleagues in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula have shown ingenuity, however, in hiding their bombs. The device intended to kill the Saudi prince was hidden somewhere on and possibly inside the bomber's body. Boucek, editor of a new book, Yemen on the Brink, says al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula clearly takes pride in al-Asiri and his bomb-making operation. \"After the attack against Prince Muhammad in August 2009,\" Boucek says, \"AQAP came out and said, 'We have this undetectable device. You can't find it. You're not going to be able to defeat it. You're going to hear from us again, and we're going to target airliners.' \" Little in al-Asiri's education or background explains his bomb-making work for al-Qaida. His Saudi family is conservative, but not radical. His father, Hassan, is a retired military man. His mother has said Ibrahim was not religious as a young man. But he is apparently zealous in his support of al-Qaida. The bomber Ibrahim sent to kill the Saudi prince was his own younger brother, Abdullah. When he learned of Ibrahim's apparent involvement in the death of his brother, Hassan, the father, denounced the bombing, calling it \"a despicable act.\" MICHELE NORRIS, host: The bombs concealed in two air cargo shipments last week never reached their destinations, but not because they were detected by any airport X-ray equipment. U.S. officials instead credit an intelligence tip from Saudi authorities. The bombs themselves were expertly hidden in printer cartridges. The expert who hid them and built them is believed to be a 28-year-old Saudi man, who is said to be a key member of the al-Qaida franchise in Yemen. NPR's Tom Gjelten has this profile. TOM GJELTEN: The group calling itself al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, has emerged as the most active al-Qaida operation outside of Pakistan. It was also resp", "Since the mid-1980s, the U.S. Border Patrol has quintupled in size — growing from about 4,000 to more than 20,000 agents. The government has constructed some 700 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers. It has placed thousands of ground sensors, lights, radar towers and cameras along the border. And Customs and Border Protection is now flying drones and helicopters to locate smuggles and rescue stranded immigrants. So here's the question: Is the Southwest border secure? The number of illegal crossers apprehended is at a 40-year-low, which can be partly attributed to a weak U.S. job market and improving economy in Mexico. Drug seizures continue near historic highs and violent crime in border cities on the U.S. side has gone down. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says all those facts are indicators of progress in the right direction. \"If I were a police chief of a major city and I came in and I said we had reduced crime in four years by 70 to 80 percent, people would say, 'That's a great job. You're a great police chief,' \" she says. \"If you took that and you applied it to what's been going on along the Southwest border, you'd have to say objectively the same thing.\" A Byzantine Immigration System But more and more people are realizing that illegal immigration is tied directly to the broken legal immigration system, not necessarily security. People come for work without visas because they can't easily get visas. Employers who need guest workers say it's a long, frustrating, costly process to get the workers. Here's an analogy: Imagine immigration, especially from Latin America, as a two-lane residential street with a 20-mile-an-hour speed limit. Over the decades, it's grown to an eight-lane superhighway. But the speed limit is still 20 mph. That is, visas for needed workers haven't risen along with the traffic. \"If you want to keep it at 20 miles an hour, you have to put a cop every 20 feet. And that's what the 'secure the border first' people are in effect trying to do,\" says Daniel Kowalski, a Texas-based immigration attorney and editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin. He says demanding border security first is backward. \"You need to line the border with border patrol, shoulder to shoulder, and that's just the wrong way to do it,\" he says. \"It's too expensive. It's easier to fix the numbers, rather than militarizing the border.\" Because the immigration system is so byzantine, up to half of the estimated 11 million people illegally in the U.S. came in legally, then overstayed their visas. No amount of border security would have stopped that. How Can Security Be Measured? Congress still wants to know whether all the resources along the border are working. There is no single objective measure of border security. Until two years ago, the Department of Homeland Security used something called \"operational control,\" which Arizona Republican Senator-elect Jeff Flake wants the department to keep using. \"In essence, it basically means if someone sneaks across, you have a reasonable expectation of catching them,\" Flake says. \"We're talking about something that is achievable and measurable.\" The House has passed a bill requiring DHS to use operational control, but the department says it's obsolete. The measure only counts territory where actual Border Patrol agents are located. DHS says something it calls the Border Security Index will take into account other things as well: areas covered by technology, air power, the rate of violent crime. It's been nearly three years since that new index was announced and it hasn't been implemented yet. Even the Government Accountability Office said last year that DHS needs to do a better job of reporting its effectiveness on the border. But, even taking that into account, almost everyone agrees the border is more secure than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Napolitano says people who demand complete border security before immigration reform are not being realistic. \"There's no border in the world that doesn't have some form of migration, legal and illegal,\" she says. \"So saying it has to be zero is like saying we have to put the United States under some sort of Tupperware container and seal it off. That's not how our country operates.\" Many lawmakers who've been blocking it now seem to realize that some sort of comprehensive immigration reform is necessary. The political reality is that more border security — or at least more accountability — is still likely to be part of any legislation. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: And I'm Melissa Block. This week, we've been exploring an issue that has jumped up a few spots on the agenda here in Washington - immigration. Congress and the Obama administration have hinted they're ready to deal with the issue in a comprehensive way next year. That's a big change coming after a decade of congressional mandates focused on securing the U.S.-Mexico border. So tod", "Meb Keflezighi ran his final career marathon in New York City in 2017. It was his 26th, which lends itself to the title of his new book, written with Scott Douglas: &#8220;26 Marathons: What I&#8217;ve Learned About Faith, Identity, Running, and Life from My Marathon Career.&#8221; That career started &#8212; and nearly ended &#8212; with how bad Keflezighi felt after his very first 26.2-mile race. &#8220;In 2002, my first marathon in New York, I thought I was going to have a chance at winning it,&#8221; Keflezighi says. &#8220;I went for it, and I got down to four people, and then eventually I hit the wall [at] about 18, 19 miles, and got slower and slower. It was torture getting to that finish line: &#8216;This is the worst thing ever. This is my first and last marathon. I never want to do this again.&#8217; &#8221; Keflezighi was born in Eritrea, but he and his family fled the African country due to civil war. Eventually, they settled in San Diego. He became a U.S. citizen, was a running star at UCLA and made the Olympic team for the first time in 2000. After that disappointing experience in New York City in 2002, Keflezighi went back to Eritrea for the first time since his family had left &#8212; and found new perspective. &#8220;I saw how people are surviving day in, day out, through the sunrise, sunset, all the work they need to do: climbing trees to get leaves from the trees, or going to the well to get water [and] carry it to their villages,&#8221; he says. &#8220;And I said, &#8216;You know what? That 40-minute, 50-minute discomfort that I went [through] in the marathon &#8212; nobody told me to do a marathon, it was a personal choice. So I decided to say, &#8216;You know what? I guess the pain wasn&#8217;t that bad. So I need to go back.&#8217; &#8220;I kind of realized I took for granted what I am able to do,&#8221; he says. &#8220;And I kept going.&#8221; Keflezighi won his Olympic medal in 2004, finishing second in Athens in the marathon. Then came more marathons in Boston and London. But Keflezighi struggled with injuries before he finally had his breakthrough, coming full circle and winning the 2009 New York City Marathon, where his career had started. &#8220;It was a dream come true,&#8221; he says. &#8220;That&#8217;s the marathon that I wanted to win, that was my first win. I thought I could do it, I didn&#8217;t, I got second place, third place, and after about a year and a half of physical therapy &#8212; nothing in a marathon is guaranteed, nothing in life is guaranteed. But if you work hard and do the best that you can, my dream became a reality.&#8221; He made the Olympic team again in 2012, but just missed a medal in the London marathon, finishing fourth. A year later, Keflezighi was injured again. But he was in Boston when two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. That night, he told a reporter he wanted to come back to win the marathon for the people of Boston in 2014. And that&#8217;s exactly what he did. Watch on YouTube. Before the race got underway, Keflezighi scribbled the names of the bombing victims on his bib number. Then he ran away from a world-class field to become the first American man to win the Boston Marathon in 31 years. &#8220;People were excited &#8230; chanting, &#8216;U-S-A, U-S-A.&#8217; I got inspired, I&#8217;m like, &#8216;U-S-A, U-S-A&#8217; with them. [Getting] to be able to pull [off] the victory, not only for myself or for the families, and for the city of the international community of running, I felt blessed that God gave me that chance,&#8221; Keflezighi says. &#8220;It&#8217;s not for lack of trying in the past. But there was a greater purpose on that day. It was just an honor and privilege to be able to pull the victory [off] for all of us.&#8221; Keflezighi says people are still approaching him to tell him their stories of watching that 2014 race. &#8220;You make appearances, and [people say], &#8216;I was at work and I was screaming at the computer, and more people came to watch with me and then they saw your victory,&#8217; &#8221; he says. &#8220;It kind of connected people &#8230; whether it&#8217;s runners or nonrunners.&#8221; After 2014 in Boston, Keflezighi kept running. He made his fourth and final Olympic team in 2016 and finished 33rd in the marathon in Rio. He struggled to finish that race, stopping almost every mile in the later stages. But he writes that runners from Peru, South Africa and other countries encouraged him to keep going as they passed him. It felt, he says, like they were giving him a global victory lap. He ran Boston one more time in 2017, and then later that year wrapped it all up in New York. Keflezighi is retired now. But he&#8217;s still running, and says he&#8217;s always going to be one of the sport&#8217;s biggest cheerleaders. &#8220;A marathon is a metaphor for life, and life is not easy. A marathon&#8217;s not easy,&#8221; he says. &#8220;But through hard", "The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in a highly anticipated set of cases that threatens the legal status of some 700,000 young immigrants — often called DREAMers — who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. It's a program that President Trump tried to rescind seven months after taking office, only to have the lower courts block his action. In 2012, President Barack Obama put the program in place to temporarily protect these young people from deportation. If you were in school, were a high school graduate, or had been honorably discharged from the military, and if you passed a background check, you were eligible for temporary legal status and a work permit, renewable every two years. The program is formally known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. \"Rest easy\" President Trump, from the beginning, seemed conflicted about DACA, caught between the mass deportations he promised his political base during the campaign and his admiration for what so many of the DREAMers have accomplished. These DACA recipients, who come from around the world, have become teachers, psychologists, business owners and doctors. Their successes illustrate the reason that Republicans and Democrats in Congress tried to work out a DACA deal that Trump would sign in 2017. \"Rest easy,\" Trump told the DREAMers in an April 2017 interview with The Associated Press. Trump \"kept waffling back and forth\" But he \"kept waffling back and forth over what he would be willing to accept, and wouldn't be willing to accept,\" in terms of a DACA deal, says Julie Hirschfeld Davis, co-author of Border Wars and congressional editor for The New York Times. At the end of the day, Trump's indecision was so frustrating for Senate Republican leaders that they worked out a compromise with Democrats on their own. Just hours before the deal was to come up for a vote on the Senate floor, however, the administration branded it unacceptable in a midnight press release, according to Davis. Shortly thereafter, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the DACA program would end because, he said, it was illegal and unconstitutional to begin with. \"They are dead wrong ...\" \"They are dead wrong when they say that the DACA program adopted by the Obama administration was illegal,\" says Ted Olson, who served as solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration and is representing DACA plaintiffs in the Supreme Court. Olson points to programs similar to DACA that were put in place by every other president dating back to Dwight Eisenhower. These programs granted temporary legal status, for instance, to 600,000 Cubans in the 1950s and '60s and 1.5 million other undocumented immigrants under another program in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. Janet Napolitano was secretary at the Department Homeland Security when DACA was created. \"Not only is there a long history of deferring action for particular groups under the immigration laws,\" says Napolitano, \"but there's the whole concept of prosecutorial discretion, which gives the executive branch the authority to make decisions about who is going to feel the full brunt of the federal government in an enforcement proceeding, versus not.\" Prosecutorial discretion vs. \"complete suspension of the law\" \"The Supreme Court has long recognized that there may be a line between prosecutorial discretion, not enforcing the law in every instance, and a complete suspension of the law,\" counters John Eastman, a constitutional law professor at Chapman University who has filed a brief siding with the Trump administration in the DACA case. Eastman maintains that DACA is different from other, similar programs in prior administrations, citing DACA recipients' benefits — including work authorization, Social Security benefits and tax credits on tax returns — as different from prior administrations. Napolitano replies that granting temporary legal status to DACA recipients enables them to work, and when they work, they must pay into Social Security and pay taxes. Indeed, government statistics indicate that some 91% of DACA recipients have jobs, allowing them to support their families and generating, over a 10-year period, nearly $60 billion in federal tax revenue that the government stands to lose if the DACA program is abolished. Is this illegally arbitrary? Napolitano is no longer DHS secretary. She is the president of the giant University of California system, including 1,700 students with DACA status. And in that capacity, she is challenging Trump's revocation of the DACA program as so arbitrary and unsupported by stated reasons and data that the revocation is itself illegal. \"If they had done a full policy review and had set forth all their reasons and demonstrated that they had weighed the pros and cons and just came to a different conclusion, they might be able to prevail in this case,\" says Napolitano. \"But they didn't do that. Instead they just simply issued basically a one-sent", "The idea that immigration reform cannot happen without improved border security is one of the recurring themes of the current debate on Capitol Hill. Security was what the president had in mind last May when he announced Operation Jump Start — his plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. The administration calls the operation a success. But troops are now being pulled off the border, and a couple of border-state governors fear that border security will be threatened. For about a year, National Guard troops have been rotating in and out of outposts along the border. Soldiers stayed visible under blue tents right on the border to deter illegal crossers while scanning the landscape, reporting anyone who did cross. The deterrent worked. The number of crossers apprehended by the Border Patrol since last October is down by about one-third, while drug seizures are up. Drug violence in Mexico has also been worsening, as cartels fight for control. That's why Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is upset that the government is beginning to remove soldiers. \"My understanding is they simply won't rotate as many Guard to Arizona,\" Napolitano said. \"My further perception is that that is so that more Guard are available for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.\" Napolitano and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson wrote President Bush asking him to reconsider. Their argument is that the troops are needed at home more than overseas. But the Bush administration says that the Guard deployment was always meant to last for just a year, with the number of guardsmen dropping as new Border Patrol agents were hired. Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke says the U.S. now has a little more than 13,500 Border Patrol agents — a 20 percent increase over last year. \"We are aggressively recruiting new men and women into the United States Border Patrol,\" he said, adding, \"[We] expect there will be a 30 percent increase over the next year to get us to 18,000-plus by the end of calendar year 2008.\" New fencing and sensors have also gone up in strategic places along the border over the last year, making it even tougher to cross. Some analysts, though, say it's a slowing economy, rather than border security, that has cut down on the number of apprehensions. Regardless, about half of those who do cross illegally come through Arizona. And there's been a surge in drug-related violence recently just across the Arizona-Mexico border. Napolitano met this week with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar to see if they might remove troops from somewhere else first. The Texas National Guard has already reassigned hundreds of soldiers along the border. And if Border Patrol recruiting is successful over the next 18 months, most of the Guard will be removed. One to tell whether the new plan is working: Watch whether apprehension numbers continue to go down—and drug seizures continue to go up--after the soldiers leave. MICHELE NORRIS, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel. On Capitol Hill, the debate rolls on over the bipartisan immigration bill. Today, the Senate voted to slash the number of guest workers who could come to the U.S. on temporary visas. The change would cut the number in half from 400,000 to 200,000 a year. Meanwhile, border state governors are worried about security. As NPR's Ted Robbins reports, some of the 6,000 National Guard troops deployed along the U.S.-Mexico border are being pulled back. Unidentified Man: The number is 625557. TED ROBBINS: For about a year, National Guard troops have been rotating in and out of outposts along the U.S.-Mexico border. We visited this unit from Virginia last fall what's called an entry identification team in Nogales, Arizona. Soldiers stayed visible under blue tents to deter illegal crossers while scanning the landscape, reporting anyone who did crossed. Unidentified Man: Another east or west of the fall line. ROBBINS: The deterrent worked. The number of crossers apprehended by the Border Patrol since last October is down by about a third, while drug seizures are up. Drug violence in Mexico has also been worsening, as cartels fight for control. So Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is upset that the government is beginning to remove soldiers. Governor JANET NAPOLITANO (Democrat, Arizona): My understanding is they simply won't rotate as many Guard to Arizona. And my further perception is that that is so that more Guard are available for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. ROBBINS: Napolitano and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson wrote President Bush asking him to reconsider. Their argument is that the troops are needed at home more than overseas. But the government says this was the plan all along. Here's the president almost exactly a year ago announcing the Guard deployment. President GEORGE W. BUSH: This initial commitment of Guard", "Belgium officials ran a simulation Tuesday at Brussels' Zaventem Airport to figure out if it can at least partially reopen using new security measures demanded by the government. It's been a week since the March 22 suicide bombings at the airport and on a subway several miles away. Since then, no commercial flights have gone in or out of this European capital and it's unclear when air traffic will resume. Parts of the Brussels subway have reopened, though soldiers wearing camouflage and armed with assault weapons conduct random security checks that include patdowns and bag searches. Many subway stops are still closed, though officials said all would be opened Wednesday, except for Maelbeek, the site of the suicide bombing. Air travelers are making alternative plans, which often include taking a train to another country to catch a flight. I asked airport spokeswoman Florence Muls if she had any sense of when the airport might reopen. \"We hope as soon as possible, but it really depends on the green light of the federal authorities and the police,\" she said. Muls says when the airport does reopen, it will only be at 20 percent capacity. And the check-in area that was badly damaged by the bombing will take months to rebuild. Even a fortified airport will not be a guarantee against a terrorist attack, noted security analyst Claude Moniquet. \"If [terrorists] are absolutely unable to attack the airport, they will attack the metro. And if they can't attack the metro, they will attack the buses – and so on and so on,\" he said. Moniquet, who worked for the French intelligence service for 20 years, said Belgium has to do more to minimize the threat. The intelligence services need to hire more people from diverse backgrounds, including Arabic speakers, who can build links with the Muslim communities. And he feels strongly that Belgium's anti-terrorism laws are too weak. For example: the law prevents police from raiding a home between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless a crime is in progress. A few days after last November's attacks in Paris, Belgian police got a tip that one of the key suspects - Salah Abdeslam - was hiding in a house in Brussels. But they had to wait until morning to launch their raid. \"They had the information at 8:30, 9 p.m. at night on a Sunday, and they raided the house at 10 o'clock in the morning the day after,\" he said. When police went in, they found Abdeslam's fingerprints, but it took four months to capture him. He was seized on March 18, four days before the Brussels bombings. Meanwhile, a Belgian parliamentary committee approved a measure Tuesday that would allow police raids 24 hours a day. Moniquet says firmly that his country is at war. But he believes real change in anti-terrorism laws will be slow to come. Why? \"I prefer not to comment,\" he said. When pressed, and asked if it would take another attack to make significant changes, he said, \"It's tragic. That means other people must die. But it is only an opinion.\" Outside the Zaventem Airport, passengers who fled the bombing can now go to a cargo area to retrieve their luggage. Emanuel Simeons was there, wheeling his gray suitcase. He and his wife had just cleared security a week ago when the bombs went off. Luckily, they had decided not to stop for coffee before going through. \"That decision was a good decision not to drink a coffee in the departure hall,\" he said.", "A massive oil slick is fouling the Gulf's fragile coastal ecosystem and taking aim at the industries that rely on it. Strong winds and rough seas have prevented skimming and burning operations designed to reduce the slick. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day are spewing unchecked from a deepwater well where an offshore platform exploded and sank. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was among the Obama administration officials who traveled to Louisiana on Friday to assure residents the government was doing all it could. \"The response is strong. It's coordinated, and it's designed to minimize the harm to our coastal lands and that, to the extent there is harm, there is swift and effective cleanup,\" she said. But there's growing frustration over BP's inability to stop the flow and keep the oil slick away from land. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said containment booms designed to be a protective barrier have not been effective. In Alabama, residents are waiting for the damage to begin. Wondering What Will Survive On Dauphin Island south of Mobile, Ala., work boats towed strands of bright orange barriers to sensitive marshes. Dr. George Crozier, director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, stands on a boardwalk overlooking a marsh he describes as a nursery. \"This is what worries me, right here,\" he says. \"Shrimp, oysters, crab, flounder, even red snapper larvae have been found in here. Almost everything that we value comes in here as a baby. A lot of life in here now. Birds and pelicans flying around -- and it's open to the Mobile Bay.\" Mobile Bay is in the heart of the Gulf's \"fertile crescent,\" an area stretching from Texas to the Florida panhandle, where an estimated 90 percent of the Gulf's seafood is produced. Nutrients from the Mississippi and Mobile deltas create rich estuaries. Now, Crozier says, that productive system is at risk and no one really knows how it will respond to the oil. \"We could be about to watch something happen, that's completely man-made, that the natural system hasn't ever seen before.\" The question is when, and what will it look like? To track the impact, the Sea Lab is collecting samples from the Gulf and its estuaries as the crisis unfolds. \"The better we understand what happens, the better we may be able a year from now to project where we're going to go -- how is the ecosystem going to re-equilibrate to this new world?\" Crozier says. \"In five years, we may be able to say it isn't ever going back to the way it was in 2009, 2010. This is a new world.\" Losing A Way Of Life? That uncertainty is unsettling for Paul Nelson, a commercial fisherman in Coden, Ala., and member of the South Bay Communities Alliance. He looks out over Portersville Bay, where his family has been making a living for generations. \"I see something that can't be replaced,\" he says. \"I see something there that we sure don't need destroyed.\" He lost his shrimping boats and his family's oyster business in Hurricane Katrina. \"And now with this, this is going to set us back and our way of life. If this does what we as commercial fisherman ... think it can do, it can destroy us for the next 50 years.\" Alliance member Nancy McCall says she learned to swim and find food in these waters. \"Our uncles and dads would throw nets and pull fish out,\" she recalls. \"This is what brought my grandparents here, is this bay out here.\" McCall says she never thought of living anywhere else, but now wonders whether the community can survive what's coming. SCOTT SIMON, Host: That massive oil slick is continuing to foul Louisiana's fragile coastal ecosystem. More than 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day are spewing unchecked from a deep water well that exploded and sank. President Obama will tour the area tomorrow. NPR's Debbie Elliott has the latest. DEBBIE ELLIOTT: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was among the Obama administration officials who traveled to Louisiana yesterday to assure residents the government was doing all it could. JANET NAPOLITANO: The response is strong. It's coordinated and it is designed to minimize the harm to our coastal lands. And that to the extent there is harm, there is swift and effective cleanup. ELLIOTT: But there's growing frustration over BP's inability to stop the flow and keep the oil slick away from land. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said containment booms designed to be a protective barrier have not been effective and strong winds and rough seas have prevented skimming and burning operations designed to reduce the size of the slick. (SOUNDBITE OF SEAGULLS) ELLIOTT: On Dauphin Island south of Mobile, Alabama, work boats towed strands of bright orange barriers to sensitive marshes. GEORGE CROZIER: This is what I'm worried about right here. ELLIOTT: Dr. George Crozier is director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. He's standing on a boardwalk overlooking a marsh he describes as a nursery. CROZIER: Shrimp, oysters, crab, flounder, even red snapper larva", "The University of California Board of Regents has made by history naming Dr. Michael Drake as the 21st president of the UC system. He was unanimously approved by the board and will be the first person of color to hold the position in the system's 152-year history. He recently stepped down as president of The Ohio State University, a position he's held since 2014. Drake will replace outgoing UC President Janet Napolitano. Drake, a physician, received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a medical degree in ophthalmology from UC San Francisco before his career in academia. \"Stepping down as president of the University of California is bittersweet, especially after seven wonderful, dynamic years, but I depart knowing Dr. Michael Drake will lead with experience and integrity, with the critical support and guidance of the UC Board of Regents,\" Napolitano said in a statement. Drake also served as chancellor of the University of California, Irvine from 2005 to 2014. Before that, he was the UC system's vice president for health affairs for five years. He returns to California to run a sprawling university system that has 10 campuses, five medical centers, more than 280,000 students and nearly as many faculty and staff. \"Much has changed in the 15 years since I was given the privilege of becoming chancellor at UC Irvine, but not my absolute belief in this great University and its time-honored mission,\" Drake said in a statement. \"I look forward to working with the regents, chancellors, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and our broader community as we, together, guide the University through the challenging times ahead.\" As the Los Angeles Times pointed out, Drake comes to the job with decades more experience in higher education compared to his predecessor. \"Unlike Napolitano, a former Homeland Security secretary and Arizona governor who came to the job with no UC or academic leadership experience, Drake has spent nearly four decades in the California university system,\" the Times reported. The impact of the coronavirus is putting financial strain on the system, the newspaper also noted, including \"$1.2 billion in increased costs and lost revenues from March to the end of April.\" The system also faces the possibility of state budget cuts. \"I'm excited and ready to go,\" Drake told the board, according to The Associated Press. He acknowledged the challenges of the pandemic, the threat of climate change, and \"the yawning wounds of social injustice that we see in so many ways that really tears at the fabric of our lives.\" Drake has said that he sees his appointment as an opportunity to bring about change. \"It's an awful time,\" he said in an interview with The New York Times. \"The awfulness is also compelling,\" he added. \"I just believe it's a time to be engaged, and if there's a way to help, to lean in and try to help.\" The board said in its announcement that Drake will receive an annual salary of $890,000 and will be appointed to a tenured professor position at UCSF. That salary is significantly larger than Napolitano's reported salary of $570,000. It is less than the $1.2 million he was reportedly making at OSU.", "It's been a year since Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law the tough immigration bill known as SB 1070. The law made it a state crime to be in the country illegally, and it mandated that local police question the immigration status of anyone they stopped for a crime. Demonstrations, boycotts and court cases ensued in the aftermath of enactment. A year later, SB 1070's supporters call it a success. Opponents say it's a disaster. Either way, it's changed the state. 'Just More Piling On' About a dozen opponents of SB 1070 have been regulars outside the Senate wing of the capital building in Phoenix. They are resolute but low key compared with the thousands of protesters on the same spot a year ago. That could be because inside the building, legislators such as Republican state Sen. Steve Pierce, now have other priorities. \"To me, the number one thing we have in the state is our economy. Finding jobs. We had to get the budget out. Doing things for the economy,\" Pierce says. \"People are hurting, and hurting bad.\" Pierce voted for SB 1070 a year ago. He said Arizona's border security problem needed attention. This year, he and some other Republicans joined Democrats to defeat five new bills aimed at illegal immigrants. Among other things, the new bills would have required schools and hospitals to check immigration status. \"The bills this year were just more piling on. It was about checking citizenship in a hospital, and I just don't see where checking the citizenship of somebody going into a hospital has anything to do with border security,\" Pierce says. The bills were defeated two days after 50 Arizona business leaders sent a letter to state Senate President Russell Pearce asking him to back off new state immigration laws. That gave some Republicans cover to vote against the bills. But Pearce is the architect and chief sponsor of almost all of Arizona's immigration laws. And he isn't backing off anything. \"We're not going to retreat. We will do what we have to do and I personally will do what I have to do until this invasion is stopped,\" Pearce says. A year in, Pearce says SB 1070 is a success. Federal courts have blocked Arizona from enforcing key parts of the law but allowed other portions to take effect. The law, which helped create an unwelcoming atmosphere for illegal immigrants in the state, caused an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people to leave Arizona in the past year, he says. \"They were fleeing. I talked to a U-Haul man that has a large U-Haul company and he said they're doing business better than they've ever done before in their lives,\" Pearce says. \"And they're one way — to Salt Lake City, to Colorado, to other parts of the nation.\" An Economic Hit Pearce points to other measures of success: a sharp decrease in violent crime, 500 fewer inmates in state prisons than a year ago and fewer children enrolled in schools, especially in some heavily Hispanic areas. Those numbers are not in dispute. Whether they're all the result of illegal immigrants fleeing is debatable. Democratic state Sen. Kyrsten Sinema points out that the makeup of most immigrant families is mixed. \"So some of the people in the family are citizens, some of the people in the family are not citizens. But if one person is not, then the whole family may move. And then we lose that revenue, and we lose those future workers,\" Sinema says. So, she says, SB 1070 has been bad for Arizona's economy — in lost workers and in lost tourism and convention dollars from continuing boycotts against the state. Plus, she says, Arizona's image took a hit from negative worldwide media coverage. \"I was in China, and members of the Chinese government were asking me questions about Arizona. That was unpleasant. That was very unpleasant,\" she says. \"They were asking like, what was wrong with our state?\" Supporters say nothing's wrong with Arizona. In fact, SB 1070 was popular with voters in the state and nationwide. Everyone agrees it helped Brewer become a national political figure. SB 1070 has had an impact. Whether you see the impact as positive or negative depends on which side of the issue you're on. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And to Arizona now, where it has been one year since the state legislature dropped a bomb into the national debate over immigration. The get-tough bill known as SB 1070 was later signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. Governor JAN BREWER (Republican, Arizona): With my unwavering signature on this legislation, Arizona strengthens its security within our borders. SIEGEL: SB 1070 makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally, and it mandates that local police question the immigration status of anyone they stop for a criminal offense. (Soundbite of demonstration) SIEGEL: Demonstrations, boycotts and court cases followed. A year later, some of SB 1070's key components are on hold, but supporters call it a success, and opponents say it has been a disaster for Arizona's image and economy. Either way, NPR's Ted Robbins says it has chan", "Many Republicans and Democrats, on Capitol Hill and across the country, hope to stall a deal that hands over operations at six U.S. ports to a company owned by Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). President Bush says he will veto any legislative effort to delay the takeover, which was approved by a multi-agency panel that reviews national security. The president had no direct involvement in the process. The company, Dubai Ports World, is buying the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, a British-owned firm which has contracts to run cargo terminals in New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami and New Orleans. Here are some of the questions raised by the issue: Q: Congressmen and governors from both parties are calling for a review of the $6.8-billion sale. What's behind their objection to Dubai Ports World? Cargo terminals at U.S. ports have been increasingly operated by companies based in foreign countries, such as China, Singapore, Japan, Denmark, Taiwan and Great Britain. The reason this deal is attracting so much attention is that Dubai Ports is owned by an Arab government that has links to terrorism. The United Arab Emirates was home to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and was a financial base for the operation. UAE has also been implicated in a nuclear smuggling ring: It was identified as a transfer point for nuclear components from Pakistani scientists to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Democrats have been quick to attack the sale. \"If they couldn't produce security in their own country to stop the transiting of such nuclear components, why in God's name would we give them the operation of the ports?\" said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). But some Republicans aren't siding with the administration, either. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said the deal raised \"serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland.\" Q: If the Dubai Ports takeover occurs as currently planned, what exactly would the company control? Department of Homeland Securities (DHS) officials say Dubai Ports would have control over nothing more than the operation of some of the cargo terminals in the concerned port cities. The ports themselves are owned by local taxpayers and run by local government. Port authorities issue leases to multiple companies to operate the terminals that load and unload cargo containers from ships. Some of these companies are foreign-owned, others are U.S.-based. Q: Who runs security at U.S. ports? The U.S. Coast Guard is in charge of port security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection is in charge of cargo and container security. The Coast Guard patrols ports, inspects facilities -- including terminals -- and collects information on incoming ships and the sailors on board. Customs agents inspects cargo containers once they reach U.S. ports. But U.S. agents also inspect cargo before it's loaded at some foreign ports. The United States has agreements in 42 major foreign ports that allow Customs officials to sweep containers with imaging and radiation detection technology. \"Since Sept. 11, we do screening as much as possible outside the U.S.,\" said Stewart Baker, assistant secretary for policy with the DHS. \"We don't want to discover a weapon of mass destruction inside a U.S. port.\" Q: Will the transfer of ownership change who is working at these six ports? The dock workers will remain the same, and there will be very little change in management, DHS officials said at a briefing this week. In the vast majority of U.S. ports, the workers operating the cargo cranes and in management are Americans. \"In reality, it's just an economic transaction,\" said Rob Quartel, chairman and CEO of Freightdesk Technologies and a former U.S. federal maritime commissioner. Dubai Ports is buying control of a company that has contracts to manage certain port terminals, said Quartel. \"When all is said and done, it's going to be the same people running the [terminals] day to day, the same managers managing it. The managers' managers will report to a different board, but it's the same people.\" Q: What is the White House saying about security concerns over Dubai Ports? White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Dubai Ports \"is a reputable firm that went through a congressionally approved vetting process.\" The deal comes with a further safeguard not required of other port companies: Dubai Ports is required to participate in U.S. security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials. Roughly 33 other port companies participate in these voluntarily. The Coast Guard is also inspecting Dubai Ports' facilities as they undergo the ownership transfer. The UAE is also seen as an ally by the Bush administration, particularly the pro-Western governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The UAE \"does not want to do anything to jeopardize its relationships with the United States,\" says Joseph Kechichian, an author and consultant who specializes in the Persian Gulf region. \"What they want ", "The attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas Day and the lessons learned from it were the subjects of no fewer than four hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. A \"who's who\" of Obama administration national security officials paraded to the Capitol to answer questions about how suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that Abdulmutallab should not have been allowed to step onto a plane on Christmas Day. \"The counterterrorism system collectively failed, and I, along with director Blair and Secretary Napolitano and others, want to tell you and the American people the same thing we told the president: that we have to do better,\" Leiter said. As for how the system failed, there was much talk about lists — why Abdulmutallab's name appeared on some but not others. One reason, State Department official Patrick Kennedy told the Senate Judiciary Committee, was because someone misspelled the suspect's name after his father reported concerns about his son to the U.S. Embassy. As a result, the concerns were not added to Abdulmutallab's visa information. Kennedy said the State Department now has a version of spell-check software available to check names after visas are granted. Questions About Suspect's Civilian Status Republicans pressed officials on why Abdulmutallab is being tried and prosecuted by civilians as a criminal rather than by the military as an enemy combatant. Many GOP senators believe Abdulmutallab would have spilled a lot more information about his possible contacts before military interrogators. FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Judiciary Committee that it was a decision made on the fly, by FBI agents on the ground in Detroit. \"In this particular case, in fast-moving events, decisions were made appropriately, I believe very appropriately, given the situation,\" Mueller said. That explanation didn't sit well with Alabama's Jeff Sessions, the senior Republican on the panel. Sessions said he didn't think decisions were made appropriately at all. As a result, he said, a chance at gaining more intelligence may have been lost. \"We don't know what that individual learned when he was working with al-Qaida,\" Sessions said, \"and we may never know because he's got a lawyer [who's] telling him to be quiet.\" At the Homeland Security committee, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair seemed to agree with Republicans. Blair testified that he was never consulted about how Abdulmutallab should be interrogated. He said a special interrogation group for high-value suspects, the \"High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group,\" or HIG, was not convened, in part because it was designed for suspects arrested overseas. \"We did not invoke the HIG in this case; we should have,\" Blair said. 'Unexpected Turbulence' And now the administration has a new problem on its hands: finding a new nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration. The nomination of Erroll Southers had been blocked by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who argued that Southers wanted to allow TSA screeners to collectively bargain for a labor agreement. Southers said he was tired of being in limbo, so he decided to resign. \"My family and I have endured quite a bit of unexpected turbulence here as it related to what we consider to be non-issues regarding my expertise and experience, and quite frankly it was just time to move on,\" Southers said. He said the TSA needs a leader now. There's no indication yet of whom the administration is looking at to fill that role. MADELEINE BRAND, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Madeleine Brand. MELISSA BLOCK, host: And I'm Melissa Block. On Capitol Hill today, not one, not two, but four hearings that focused on the attempted Christmas Day airplane bombing. Administration officials accepted blame for intelligence failures and they heard sharp criticism from Republicans over why the suspect is being tried in federal rather than military court. NPR's Brian Naylor reports. BRIAN NAYLOR: A who's who of Obama administration national security officials paraded to the Capitol to answer questions about how Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. Michael Leiter, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, the place where the dots should've been connected, set the day's tone appearing before members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Mr. MICHAEL LEITER (Head, National Counterterrorism Center): Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should not have stepped onto a plane on Christmas Day. The counterterrorism system collectively failed, and I, along with director Blair and Secretary Napolitano and others, want to tell you and the American people the same thing we told the president, that we have to do better. NAYLOR: As for how the system failed, there was much talk about lists and w", "When Westerners think of Beirut, they might rely on dated notions of the city: a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990; a war with Israel and sporadic airstrikes; bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks and the U.S. Embassy; an attack 15 years ago on the prime minister's convoy. So it may seem hard to believe that the biggest blast of them all — the one at the Beirut port on Tuesday, which killed some 150 people, wounded thousands and caused destruction across half the city — was an accident, possibly the outcome of neglect on a massive scale. But that's what signs point to now. Officials have launched an investigation looking at the port warehouse that had held 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used for fertilizer and as an ingredient in bombs. It has fueled many explosions around the world — both accidental and intentional. Lebanese officials say there has been concern about this volatile cargo for years, something Prime Minister Hassan Diab noted publicly in the first hours after the blast. So, rather than war or terrorism, this blast brings to a head something else about Lebanon — the deep paralysis, official corruption and unaccountability that Lebanese demonstrators had been protesting in huge numbers for months before the coronavirus pandemic shut them down. Here are some of the factors that shed light on this week's catastrophe. Explosive chemicals languish at the port In 2013, a ship filled with 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stopped at the Lebanese port. It had a Russian crew, and reports say it was bound for Mozambique. The ship's former captain told Reuters this week that he had been instructed to stop in Beirut to pick up more cargo, but there was a legal dispute over port fees and the shipping company was in debt. Lawyers representing some of the crew said in 2015 that the ship had stopped at the Beirut port with \"technical problems.\" The ammonium nitrate, a fairly common cargo on the oceans, was impounded and unloaded; the crew had to stay on board for nearly a year and was then released. The port's customs director says he sounded several alarms about the material. Since the blast, some port officials have been placed under house arrest. A city of neglect and shortages In 2015, trash choked Lebanon's streets amid corruption and infighting over solid waste contracts. The garbage crisis spawned a protest movement dubbed \"You Stink.\" More crises would come. High government debt and mismanagement caused an economic collapse. There's hyperinflation. Unemployment is high. The country's once-comfortable middle class is slipping into poverty. People have trouble buying bread and are selling their possessions. Lengthy daily power outages have resulted after a corruption scandal disrupted fuel imports from Algeria. And with the country's currency losing 80% of its value since October, the government is struggling to pay for fuel from elsewhere. Widespread street protests started a year ago. Chanting slogans like \"The people want the fall of the regime\" and \"All means all,\" protesters called for the removal of the entire political class. A rigidly divided political system Who's responsible for all this? That's hard to say, in part because Lebanon's government is designed for no single group to be too powerful — or accountable. Lebanon's civil war ended in 1990 with a deal — enforced by neighboring Syria — to divide power among sectarian factions. The presidency is set aside for a Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament is always a Shiite Muslim. It means that the real decisions are made behind closed doors and that elections allow limited choice for the voting public. The various sectarian groups tend to protect the status quo to ensure they each can hang onto as much power as possible. Some sectarian leaders are former warlords and worried they could face revenge or prosecution if the system changes. The presence of Hezbollah further complicates matters. The Shiite Muslim group is not officially part of Lebanon's power-sharing deal but enjoys support from Shiites and some Christians and holds seats in parliament. More importantly, it has the most muscle on the ground. Its militia drove Israel from the country in the late 1990s and rivals the Lebanese military in firepower. The group runs the country's international airport and gets money from vast business interests and from Iran. In other words, the fragmented nature of Lebanese power makes it hard to organize a protest campaign targeting a single leadership — and to vote, or force, it out of power. Full circle: Investigating the blast Lebanon's prime minister and president have formed an investigative committee to find the cause of the blast and those responsible. But already the country's elites are trading blame. The Ministry of Public Works and port authorities say the explosion was the fault of the judiciary, which allegedly did not act on repeated requests by port officials for a legal release of the" ]

[ "Ir arrived broken, I'm so pissed right now. It was a gift for my little sister's birthday. She was so disappointed. I guess it was my fault for buying a used product, I should've known that there was a catch. It is a really nice globe, just buy it new if you want it to get to you in a whole piece." ]

[ "Bought this for my niece she liked the box but thought the puzzle was not challenging at all. She is 11 and put it together in 5 minutes.\nI thought this would be small pieces and didn't know it would be cardboard panels. Guess that was my fault.", "I ordered two packets of these to make a custom Freddy Krueger bra for a costume. I was beyond disappointed to see how small these actually were. I thought they would be about the size of a pencil eraser. Nope. They are smaller than the head of a pin. There's no way I can use them. At least the color was spot on. I guess it's my fault for not double checking the size.", "Shot my first deer with these are couple days ago. I'm disappointed in the performance. Lost the deer but did retrieve my bolt. Looking over the tip , it appeared to have hit bone which is no fault of the tip.but it also never opened up which is the reason I lost the deer. So I will not be buying again.", "As other's mentioned, I am disappointed with the size, my fault I guess. But the plastic was also roughed up and the paint rubbed off the ends of the spikes on his back, almost like the toy had been rubbed against a hard surface. Considering returning..", "I know it is my fault for not reading the product description more carefully, but I went with this one because \"tablecloth\" was in the item description and that was what I really needed. I guess I should've noted the punctuation--\"tablecloth napkins\" are one thing, not \"tablecloth, napkins.\"\n\nI'd recommend they still clarify as many party kits do contain a plastic or vinyl table cloth, and it cuts back on disappointment.", "I guess you get what you pay for. There are no flexibility in the sides of the pockets and due to this I have some pockets that are torn so much that it barely holds the shoes. Disappointed in the buy", "It does not fit my soldering iron but that's not the fault of the product, it is the fault of my $10 off-brand soldering iron. As a result, I purchased a Weller soldering iron to replace my cheap one. Live and learn, I guess.", "This was for my granddaughter's birthday and she was thrilled! The book was new and arrived in a timely manner. I guess I have to buy number three now.....", "Well it's HARD toffee. I guess it is as advertised but I sure won't buy it again.\nYou CANNOT chew this stuff. Just let it dissolve in your mouth.\n\nShould have read the description closer, so no fault to the seller but for those\nof us looking for that Callard and Bowser texture, it's not even close.\n\nIt has a very good taste but man is it HARD !", "I can't actually say? I could not get anything to grow. It is my fault, I guess the green thumb skipped me!", "My wife enjoys buying the Hallmark snowmen to display and play for our grandchildren. Sept 2014 my wife was diagnosed with cancer and we did not have a chance to buy the 2014 snowman collection. She has talked about missing that one year so I bought it for her as a surprise. She was so happy when she opened the box, but, it stopped playing in about 2-3 seconds. I was very disappointed.", "I don't know if I should give this a low rating because I guess it was my fault. But I thought I was ordering the Case for the Galaxy S4....but unfortunately I missed that this was a Galaxy S4 MINI!!! So now I'm stuck with a $50 purchase for something I don't need. I don't know how to get rid of it...I guess craigslist?", "Got this for my daughter for Halloween.. She was so excited when she got the package but got so disappointed because the ears are missing we just got the dress. So I end up buying a rainbow dash hair piece which cost me additional $10..", "I got this for my girlfriend she loved it but i was in shock when i revived it because it did not come with the chain but i guess i was just to fast to buy it then read the product details : ) my girlfriend loved it so every thing A O K", "The book was fun to look through. I didn't find my ancestors, but I guess that was not the book's fault. They should have been more prominent!", "It was my fault I should of ordered a bigger size, because they are very comfortable I love them. They have stretched a little and I guess their alright. But the shoes themselves are very nice.", "My 7 year old is disappointed with this Journal. The voice password protection is awful. She followed the direction and gave the good side and bad side a password. Then she tired to access it. It kept saying that is not the password try again. Well, it was the right password. I guess you have to say it exactly the way you added it or it won't work.\n\nYou are better off just buying a regular Journal. Her friend gave her a Frozen Journal which is really loves because there isn't a voice password.", "I was looking so something to freeze pasta sauces and soups into smaller portions. For some reason I thought these would be a little bigger, but I guess that's my fault for not reading the description. These are incredibly sturdy and seem to be great quality, so I've decided to keep them anyway and find something else to freeze in them!", "Arrived very fast! Well packaged.\nThis is cute, but not all that. I bought it for my niece. The chain part looks and feels very cheap. I guess from buying all my solid gold belly rings then buying this one for my niece it just feels cheap. But she loved and she's 14. .....", "Small book, expected it to be a little bigger. I guess it's my fault for not actually realizing or reading the description very well. My son did love the stickers that you get to place on the progress chart in the back.", "Comfy, good base, and lasts long. Good with iPhone 6S and Samsung Note 5. Only downfall is the headpiece gets pretty sweaty, but I guess thats partially my fault.", "So disappointed that the resold doesnt match the resold casing on my watch & its highly noticeable. Guess i will be returning it!", "The metallic fibers used in these socks are itchy, since I didn't think they were metallic, just gray, so, I guess it's my fault partially. They're also a bit thin and they don't feel like they're gonna hold up to regular wear, so I'm trying to limit how often I wear them.", "It's nice to finally find a really good and interesting book to read. I fell in love with reading this book so much that I ended up buying Tara Sivec's Chocoholics series and so far, I'm not disappointed. She's my new favorite writer.", "Probably my fault since hibiscus don't really bloom inside so it looks unreal. I do have some real ones blooming in the sun room and, unlike this plant, shed a lot leaves and need a lot of water. I guess it is about as good looking a fake hibiscus as you are going to find.", "I was very disappointing as one side of mine was all scratched and one side had a protective covering. I realize it will get scratched up over time. But when you buy something new you don't expect it to be scratched up. I almost sent back on general principle. The other thing I was a little disappointed about. There is no hole in the handle to hang it up and no cord or anything. Which in the picture it clearly doesn't have those things so that's my fault for not thinking about that issue and realizing it doesn't have a way to hang it on a wall etc.", "Good quality. Slim fit as it says which makes it look great. Will keep you really warm.\nThe size was too small for me though, but I guess it was my fault.", "A bit disappointed to find this so small on my 7 inch wrist. 115mm + 75mm is just too short for me, I guess, and perhaps others.", "This is smaller than I thought it would be but now that I reread the dimensions I see that is my fault so I will give it 2 stars instead of 1. I do not recommend this decoration. The two pieces do not fit well together and sits lopsided. Very disappointed.", "I am a therapist at a residential treatment center for teenage girls in Maryland. Invisible Girls has helped EVERY girl I've given it to. In particular, I think about a girl on my case load who had suffered 10 years of incest at the hands of her father. Shortly after she started reading the book, she told me that the chapter on incest had helped her to realize that the incest, which she had always blamed herself for, was not her fault. There are so may other girls I treat that could benefit from this book. Buy it!!", "HOWEVER...the chain got caught and broke first time I wore it. I think it was my fault, but the chain gave up very easily. Disappointed.", "Elle I read all of her books. So far I have All the Brotherhood books. You will not go wrong buying one of her books. I know she tries to but wish she could write quicker. I'm just greedy I guess love her writing." ]

[ "Go to Google maps and use the satalite view after putting in the address you want to map" ]

[ "Take note of it from any connection to your machine. Trace route it (trcroute) or some other more useful tools which im not gonna say. Best approach is take a guess from the route info on the geographical location (very often the ip names of switches etc show city name codes) follow that down to a 50 miles radius max for a worst case, (microwave links, hardlines etc can make isp kit cover more land than youd think, especially behind proxies) or sometimes a few city blocks with dense usage. No isps i ever heard of distribute maps of hardware at street level, so some detective work is involved so you can use your smarts if you have other clues (example a photo with landmarks) and narrow it right down. Way down. And i mean google earth a pic of the top of their house down. =) The internet is by no means anonymous whatsoever.", "antonio villaraigoso\\n\\nit took my 2 seconds, literally, to find and pull up the city of l.a.'s website, where the mayor's name and photo was displayed prominently. it probably would have taken you less time to do what i just did than to ask someone else for the info.", "Being that they legalized marijuana, I would say Denver Colorado. The Mile \"High\" City!!", "Denver did legalize marijuana, but Colorado did not. Since state law overrules city law, it is technically still illegal. And no there are no other states where it is legal.", "I love that song!Now i'll be singing it in my head all day.Where is paradise city it's actually not on the map yet they are still trying to figure out where to put it!", "Who is your service provider? Verizon offers IOBI. It allows you to look at the phone incoming calls as well calls through out the day, block unwanted calls, find where they are calling from, it gives a map to the address, add phone numbers and addresses,etc. It works really well if you have a business.", "The surface area of a sphere is A=4*pi*r^2 where r is the radius of the sphere. The *volume* is (4/3)*pi*r^3.", "you can find pictures of Chris Dowhan the ex-bradford city youth coch photo in www.google.com in images.", "Find the distance between the center and the point (2,3). This will be your radius.\\nThen plug everything into the formula:\\n(x-h)^2 + (y-k)^2 = r^2, where (h,k) is the center and r is the radius.", "The clue of finding the forest temple (where you find Saria) is in the woods where you approach each of the exits to the block you must listen to the song of Saria, so you'll know that you are in the right way, as hint you must find Mido in the way.\\n\\nThat is more than help but won¡t take the taste of playing that wonderful game if you want to spoil a bit the game you can look this map: http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/file/zelda_64_lost_woods.gif\\n\\nGood luck!!", "I run through the numbers from 1-9, looking at each to see where the constraints ensure that there is only one spot left to place an additional number. To do this, realize that each row, each column and each block need exactly one of each number, so starting with 1, I look for combos with limited possibilities.\\n\\nIf the blocks 1,2 have a 1 in them, then 3 should be easy to find, look at blocks 6,9 to see if they have a 1, and mentally cross out the rows and columns that those 1's eliminate and see whats left. Similary, if 2 and 6 have 1's in them try looking at blocks 5 and 3 for enough eliminated squares to ensure there is only one remaining spot for 1 in those blocks. Once you've tried all the possibilities for 1, move on to 2, and keep going until you've been through the whole list of numbers once without finding any new entries.\\n\\nFinally, a trick I really like, is when a block has only one row or one column with space remaining. You know that the remaining numbers in this mostly complete block will be in that row or column, and so you can use that information and apply it to other blocks even though you could not exactly place the numbers in the mostly complete block.\\n\\nHope that helps!", "Depends on the city... if you're talking about city blocks. \\n\\nIn some cities, one block is 1/10 of a mile. Ten blocks =1 mile.\\n\\nIn other cities, it's wherever they decided to build a new street. ;)", "I think it's a combination of satellite photos and photos taken from airplanes. I think they put together a lot of photos they bought or borrowed from different government entities like cities and counties.", "The beautiful city of Grand Junction ,Colorado its snowing right now!", "i hear colorado is big on smoking but i'd have to say gainesville florida cause me and my roommates smoke enough for the entire city", "There are a lot of people that support Bush. They're about 33% of the American population.\\n\\n55% of American population can't find Iraq on a map.\\n\\n11% of Americans 18-24 cant find NEW YORK CITY on a map.\\n\\n60% of Americans don't know who their state's Senators are.\\n\\n....you get the idea.", "It is because Google maps are free. So if you want free stuff, you can't just expect them to show EVERYTHING. Maybe the maps have limited space, hence having not to show the capital cities. Also, the capital cities cannot be written on the maps as they might overwrite other names of places on the map or mislead people into thinking that name of the capital city is written over(say a road of building) is the capital city itself and the surrounding places are not the capital city.\\n\\nAnyway, you can go to Google, pay premium prices for better viewage of the world.", "The distance from the center to a point on the sphere is the radius. Find that by the distance formula, then double it to get the diameter.\\n\\n(The distance formula says to subtract the two x coordinates and square this difference. Then do the same for the two y coordinates and z-coordinates. Add these 3 answers and find the square root of the sum. That's the distance.)", "Northern California is beautiful. Been there only once but I was amazed. Its expensive though. Not sure what things are like in Tenn. I am from Colorado where things are expensive compared to where I moved from, Ohio. Cali was worse than Colorado, at least as far as housing and gas.", "There is a map here http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/deadsea.scrolls.exhibit/full-images/dsmap.gif\\nthat shows where the caves were in relation to major cities in Judea. This is a desert region today and the scrolls and fragments of scrolls were found in caves.", "Ooh, calculus... well, maybe.\\n\\nActually not. The radius five minutes after is 15meters, right? So the perimeter is 2πr = 30π\\n\\nIf the seagull is swimming at (-12, 25) then the radius is determined by the Pythogorean theorem, which is:\\n\\nr = √(x² + y²) = √(144 + 625) = 27.73 meters\\n\\nHow long does it take for the radius to get to 27.73 meters? Divide by 3 ... so about 9.24 minutes.\\n\\nHere I thought you were asking for the equation of the ship's motion if it's moving steadily in a circular pattern where the radius increases at 3m/minute. That would have been an interesting problem.", "The volume of a cylinder equals the area of the base times the height. The area of the base equals pi times the radius squared.\\n\\nSo first you need to find out the area of the base. \\nBase equals pi times radius squared.\\npi = 3.14\\nyour radius is 3 inches\\nSquare your radius first. 3 squared = nine\\nthen multiply by 3.14\\nnine times 3.14 = 28.26\\nNow, your base is 28.26\\nSo multiply your base times your height. Which would be \\nBase = 28.26 inches x Height 6 inches = 169.56 cubic inches\\nAnswer is 169.56 cubic inches", "1: Type slowly enough so that you at least get all words to where they mean close to what you were trying to say at first glance. And think about sentence structure!\\n\\n2: THINK! I don't even know the names of hardly any cities in Mexico, but obviously the capital, Mexico City, would be a major import/export city. Plus, you could just pull up a map...\\n\\n3: This question does not in ANY way relate to singles & dating.\\n\\n4: Do your homework yourself! xp", "I'd expect to find it grouped with alkali metals, atomic number 11, Group 1, Period 3, Block s :)", "Can't speak for virginia, but I live in colorado and the law you speak of is a local law that makes it legal in the city of denver to have some pot, but it's important to remember that federal law still overrides over the city of denver and it is still illegal to have pot in denver.", "Lots. Need to find some? Simple. Go to MySpace.com and do a search. When you do the search do an advanced search. Type in the zip code (you can find zips in an AR phone book) of a place like Little Rock or where ever, put in a mile radius, check off either Wiccan or Other in the Religion menu, and click search. You'll be amazed. ;-)", "I'm not sure. But the volume of a sphere is (4/3)(pi)(r)^(3). \\n2) You know that the diameter is double the radius. So your radius is 1.\\n3) Then, your volume is (4/3)(pi). \\n4)Density=(mass/Volume)\\n5)Density of water is 1.00 mL=1.00g/m^3\\n6)MASS=(Density)(Volume)=((1.0g/m^3)(4/3)pi). Note that cubic meters cancel. The mass is (4/3)pi grams.\\n\\nHope I helped.", "Find a t shirt you like and a photo of dean martin on the internet, and take it to a t shirt shop that transfers photos. There are tons of shops that do that.", "In many areas of the world, streets are traditionally laid out on a grid plan, so that city blocks are square or rectangular. Since the spacing of streets in grid plans varies so widely among cities, or even within cities, it is impossible to generalize about the size of a city block. However, as reference points, the standard block in New York City is 200 feet on a side, approximately 1 acre, and in some U.S. cities standard blocks are as wide as 1/8 mile (660 feet or approximately 200 meters), or 10 acres if square.", "General Motors Corporation: Corporate Offices\\n(313) 556-5000\\n300 Renaissance Ctr\\nDetroit, MI 48243\\n\\nclick this link for a map: http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&lr=&q=general+motors&near=Detroit,+MI&radius=0.0&cid=42331389,-83045833,5830694935658041370&iwstate1=form:to", "This seems like a homework problem, so I'll give a few hints.\\n\\nThe arclength is radius times the angle subtended.\\n\\nTo find the angle subtended, consider the isosceles triangle created inside the circle where the chord is the hypotenuse and the radius of the circle is the two other legs. \\n\\nSince the isosceles triangle created is not a right triangle you need to use a specific formula to find the angle \"C\" subtended by the chord.", "omg i do- Are you from iowa. i have been trying to find someone forever. i have asked this question like way too many times. I am from iowa city. Where are you from?" ]

[ "Subtract the risk-free rate of return from the market rate of return. Take that result and multiply it by the beta of the security. Add the result to the current risk-free rate of return to determine the required rate of return." ]

[ "Definition. Standard deviation of portfolio return measures the variability of the expected rate of return of a portfolio. Its value depends on three important determinants. Proportion of each asset in the portfolio.", "The timing of cash flows that you direct, such as contributions (which includes transfers in-kind) and withdrawals, can affect your portfolio's rate of return. Time-weighted rate of return calculation removes the effect of these cash flows. Money-weighted rate of return includes the effect of these cash flows.", "Holding period return is calculated on the basis of total returns from the asset or portfolio (income plus changes in value).", "A zero-beta portfolio would have the same expected return as the risk-free rate. Such a portfolio would have zero correlation with market movements, given that its expected return equals the risk-free rate or a relatively low rate of return compared to higher-beta portfolios.", "The CAPM and the Efficient Frontier Modern Portfolio Theory suggests that starting with the risk-free rate, the expected return of a portfolio increases as the risk increases.", "As always, we'll start with a definition. Sharpe ratio is the excess return of a portfolio above the risk-free rate relative to its standard deviation. Sortino ratio is the excess return of a portfolio above the risk-free rate relative to its downside deviation.", "IRR vs. Total Return. Note: Realized return is also referred to as internal rate of return or IRR. ... Total return, on the other hand, is a time-weighted return, in that the timing of cash contributions to the portfolio is irrelevant since the portfolio is re-evaluated whenever there are cash inflows or outflows.", "The Excel RATE function is a financial function that returns the interest rate per period of an annuity. You can use RATE to calculate the periodic interest rate, then multiply as required to derive the annual interest rate. The RATE function calculates by iteration.", "How we calculate your instalment rate. We calculate your PAYG instalment rate using information from your most recently lodged tax return. The instalment rate calculation is: (Estimated tax ÷ instalment income) × 100.", "The weighted-average credit rating is calculated by considering the proportion of the value of each individual credit rating and noting it as a percentage of the entire portfolio thereby producing the average credit rating.", "Although jumbo CDs have higher minimum balance requirements than traditional CDs, in return they pay a higher interest rate. Jumbo CDs pay investors a fixed rate of interest, helping to stabilize returns in an investment portfolio by partly offsetting market risk.", "While rate of return tells you how much profit you've made, or how much others have made, from a specific investment over a certain period of time, return on equity is a calculation specific to stocks that calculates how much money is made based on shareholders' investment in a company.", "In economics and accounting, the cost of capital is the cost of a company's funds (both debt and equity), or, from an investor's point of view \"the required rate of return on a portfolio company's existing securities\". It is used to evaluate new projects of a company.", "How to Calculate Net Present Value. To calculate the NPV, the first thing to do is determine the current value for each year's return and then use the expected cash flow and divide by the discounted rate.", "Asset Y has a beta of 1.2. The risk-free rate of return is 6 percent, while the return on the market portfolio of assets is 12 percent.", "The Excel XIRR function is a financial function that returns the internal rate of return (IRR) for a series of cash flows that occur at irregular intervals. Calculate internal rate of return for irregular cash flows. Calculated return as percentage. =XIRR (values, dates, [guess])", "By calculating historical return, you can evaluate how the value of a stock has changed over time. The basic formula for historical rate of return is the new value minus the old value divided by the new value.", "Key Takeaways. The market risk premium is the additional return that's expected on an index or portfolio of investments above the given risk-free rate. The equity risk premium pertains only to stocks and represents the expected return of a stock above the risk-free rate.", "The slope of the SML, which is the difference between the expected return on a market portfolio and the risk-free rate. In other words, it is the reward investors expect to earn for holding a portfolio of beta of 1. The equation of the SML showing the relationship between expected return and beta.", "How to Calculate IGR. An internal growth rate for a public company is calculated by taking the firm's retained earnings and dividing by total assets, or by using return on assets formula (net income / total assets).", "Expected return and standard deviation are two statistical measures that can be used to analyze a portfolio. The expected return of a portfolio is the anticipated amount of returns that a portfolio may generate, whereas the standard deviation of a portfolio measures the amount that the returns deviate from its mean.", "['Time Value of Money.', 'Simplicity.', 'Hurdle Rate / Required Rate of Return Is Not Required.', 'Required Rate of Return is a Rough Estimate.', 'Economies of Scale Ignored.', 'Impractical Implicit Assumption of Reinvestment Rate.']", "An explanation of how the rate of interest influences the level of investment in the economy. Typically, higher interest rates reduce investment, because higher rates increase the cost of borrowing and require investment to have a higher rate of return to be profitable.", "The money-weighted rate of return is calculated by finding the rate of return that will set the present values of all cash flows equal to the value of the initial investment. The money-weighted rate of return (MWR) is equivalent to the internal rate of return (IRR).", "In capital budgeting, hurdle rate is the minimum rate that a company expects to earn when investing in a project. Hence the hurdle rate is also referred to as the company's required rate of return or target rate. ... The hurdle rate is also used to discount a project's cash flows in the calculation of net present value.", "Cost of preferred stock is the rate of return required by holders of a company's preferred stock. It is calculated by dividing the annual preferred dividend payment by the preferred stock's current market price.", "XIRR is your personal rate of return. It is your actual return on investments. XIRR stands for Extended Internal Rate of Return is a method used to calculate returns on investments where there are multiple transactions happening at different times.", "Tip. A bond's yield to maturity measures how much it will earn over its life, while the required rate of return refers to the interest rate necessary to get investors interested in the bond.", "['Calculating the Annual Rate of Return. Bonds typically list an interest rate as a term of the bonds. ... ', 'Multiple Years Until Maturity. ... ', 'Examples.']", "The Capital Market Line and the Security Market Line The SML is derived from the CML. While the CML shows the rates of return for a specific portfolio, the SML represents the market's risk and return at a given time, and shows the expected returns of individual assets.", "The rate of return is a specific way of expressing the total return on an investment that shows the percentage increase over the initial investment cost. Yield shows how much income has been returned from an investment based on initial cost, but it does not include capital gains in its calculation.", "A rational, risk-averse investor views the variance (or standard deviation) of her portfolio's return as the proper measure of the risk of her portfolio. If for some reason or another the investor can hold only one security, the variance of that security's return becomes the variance of the portfolio's return." ]

[ "No he isn't. Tom Cruise in an idiot scientology asshole that spreads a pyramid scheme that is destroying lives. He's a piece of shit. If I ever had the misfortune of meeting him in person, I'd probably punch him in his midget face." ]

[ "My cowboys suck so much ass but my mavericks look good next year", "The fuck are you talking about? Tom Cruise was amazing as Jack Reacher.", "Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher doesn’t make much sense", "Everything with Tom cruise in it... he’s a terrible person every film he ever made is terrible...", "95 mph is 89838.806 Tom Cruises per hour", "What is the thing you hate most about this subreddit and why is it the automoderator?", "Nothing about any of the words you just wrote make any sense whatsoever...", "Tom Cruise doing an Irish accent in Far And Away.\n\nIn fact, just about any American doing an Irish accent in anything.", "Jack Reacher\n\nIn the books: 6'5\", 250 lbs. \n\nIn the movies: Tom Cruise", "\"What is the most stupid thing someone asked you?\"", "In one word, life /s", "Choose silent film from the 1920’s and then don’t say a word. \n\nHope shooter has good sense of humor\n\nProfit", "This makes a lot of sense. We make the most sense intoxicated. Thank you :)", "Memorizing every word of That Thing by Lauryn Hill", "what you are not making any sense ;-;", "They tried spelling the word “sense”", "This is a Trump thing. Most people with common sense do not support the US leaving the organization.", "That you capitalize every word in a sentence", "“What are you are last words”", "What do you mean you people? S/", "They would likely not sweat the little things and be more diligent about focusing on what’s important and what brings them the most joy", "Hear their every word. Honor their every request (unless they ask you to do something extreme, by that point just agree to it but don't do it anyways.). Most importantly, if they want you by their side, be there.", "So you like talking? Name every word.", "Odd that you and someone else said the same thing word for word ain't it?", "German meme subreddits just translate everything word by word which makes it somehow funnier. \nMost of the time you have to know the original meme to heaps what's going on.", "Most of the things you worry about are totally insignificant. You just need a little perspective to realise it.", "Every word, if you use the **top** side of the keyboard.", "Anything involving, karens, rehashed nsfw, \"people of reddit what bad thing did u or someone you know do\", alot of the ask reddit stuff tbh. Since most of it is literally copy pasted or, re-worded. \n\n(The 100's of reddit pages on IG and youtube arent helping at all)", "The funny thing about French is that it doesn't make any fucking sense", "That the “thing” doesn’t end with an s", "Capitalizing every word.", "The wording of this question doesn't make much sense" ]

[ "Very precision and high quality tool would recommend." ]

[ "The coat looks just ok, I think it's a Calvin Klein knock-off though, because it lacks the quality of a Calvin Klein.", "I enjoy Kevin Klein and his work and this although some spots was borderline dark, was very entertaining.", "I loved Dr. Klein's little gem. I have known Richie for 50 years and through his keen awareness of the nature of the human condition he has written of his experiences as a physician combining his medical healing power with his sense of humor. I particularly enjoyed the part where Dr. Klein \"covered\" for the \"theater doctor\" where he describes his experiences with stars of stage and screen.", "this dress is beautiful and I would recommend it. I am 5 foot 2 and so i pinned up the bottom a couple inches but it still looked great.", "Less than one inch high. only 4 or 5 leaves. It's dying day by day. I hope it can servive.", "Rape Girl was a book that I'd recommend to any young adult. Anna Klein turns rape into a topic that can be discussed in any setting and just how it can affect the people that are its victims. In the American Education System rape isn't something that's typically brought up and this book could serve as an excellent beginning to a discussion. Klein shows the audience how much rape can really effect both the individual that was violated and those that love and care about the person. She illustrates the feeling of loneliness that a person can feel believing that what happened to them wasn't bad enough as what happened to another person. It gives a good portrait of the many emotions that any person in this situation could deal with. Valerie herself is a relatable to any teen- she wants to fit in with the cool kids at her school and is dealing with the ups and downs of someone that she thought was her best friend. If you place this book into a classroom setting every student in the room could easily find their own relation to Valerie. This is part of what makes her rape so impactful; we can see this girl in our friends, our family members, and even ourselves. Klein shows us that any one could be a victim to this terrible situation and it's not something (unlike what the media tells us) is easily preventable simply by dressing differently or being more modest. Rape is something horrible and real that happens to the people that we least expect it to, but as Klein shows us the best thing that we can do for them is offer them any support we can.", "Toy looks fine, but it is way over priced. It is a small toy, 4-5 inches tall. My wife had spotted it, so I ordered it for Xmas. I assumed, because the of price, it was a 10-12 inch tall doll. That is my fault for not investigating the size. Supply and demand for a popular movie I suppose.", "Colour is as seen. But the sizing is way off. I am a healthy fit and thick 200lb 5 ft 6 inches curvy women and XL hangs on me", "My tree was nicely and quickly delivered. It stands 16 inches from the top of the pot which is 5 inches deep. There are buds and branches all along the stem and assuming I do my part to provide what it needs it will be a valuable tree in my landscape. (As a bonsai enthusiast I would not use this tree for that because the graft is quite obvious at this stage.)", "This book by George Klein is a MUST for the Elvis Collector. Who better than George Klein knew Elvis more; after all he went to Humes High School with him and lived through the rest of Elvis' life up until his death. The first half of the book contains pictures I have never seen before and I have over 50 Elvis Books along with over 50 magazines. George Klein did a great job going through his archives to show the public many of his personally collected photographs. Every photograph includes written information about the picture. This is a great coffee table book to have around to pick up and enjoy from time to time......for all those Elvis Fans who are STILL in search of MORE of Elvis. The cover is unusually beautiful with the photograph of Elvis INSET into the book. You will not be sorry you purchased this book. I intend to purchase another one for an Elvis Fan of mine. I also treated this friend to the book by Jerry Schilling which I so thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for reading my review." ]

[ "it is a combination of nature and nurture. nature in that one is genetically predisposed to be attracted to certain visual cues that represent fertility, health and the ability for procreation, i.e. the faculties necessary for preservation of the species. your environment factors into the equation in that our understanding of relationships is derived from our parents and leaders in a community, for better or worse. often, a male creates metrics for mate selection based upon that which he has experienced, i.e. his mother. my moms dead and has been since i was 6. she was a redhead. i hate it but I'm infatuated with redheads." ]

[ "I can't really go into the exact science behind it, but basically when you grab onto the antenna, your body acts as an antenna with it.", "Air currents moving around your body as you run leave a section of air just behind you that basically stays with you. If you wish to leave your fats behind, trust that the Japanese have perfected this science. Skip to 1:49 to watch the science behind the gas staying around, or watch the whole thing for some and learning. How to escape a fart: _URL_0_ (please forgive quality)", "Because it's pseudoscience. There is no science behind what they do, and studies have shown that it's no better than a placebo exercise.", "To quote u/lucyinthesky95 from 3 years ago: > the physical reason behind migraines (or at least migraine headaches) is that a blood vessel (usually somewhere in your head) enlarges and the nerves around it send off all sorts of painful little chemicals, which is why they often feel more or less localized to an area, and might affect one side of your face or body more than the other.", "It does orbit the sun. Every planet near us along with their moons are orbiting the sun. That being said, smaller bodies like moons, are orbiting planets while also orbiting the sun. It’s really weird. I can’t explain the math or science behind it. But this video does an excellent job of representing what’s occurring in orbit. _URL_0_", "Pimples are what happens when a pore gets clogged with a mixture of *sebum* (basically skin oil), keratin (the stuff hair and fingernails are made of) and dead skin cells. Sebum gets backed up behind the clog, providing an environment for bacteria, which is what causes the inflammation and swelling. Bacteria are a result of acne, not the cause. Sebaceous glands are far more common on the face, scalp, and upper back than they are on the rest of the body. I suspect that frequent movement and rubbing against clothes works to break up blockages before they form a pimple on most of the body, but the face and scalp don't see too much rubbing.", "The tides aren't caused by the moons gravity directly, but by the difference in gravitational attraction across a large distance. Gravitational attraction becomes weaker with distance and so the side of the Earth facing the moon feels a stronger attraction than the side facing away. It's this difference that causes the tides. Some thing like a tree is not large enough for the difference in gravitational attraction to be significant.", "Computer science is more theoretical and mathematical. It's a field that attempts to look at the math behind how computer without delving into how the computer is actually implemented in the physical world. Computer engineering is the complement - how to actually build a computer, electronics, transistors and such.", "The force of attraction between the magnet and the cart is what's called an *internal force*. meaning, there is no external force to move the cart. The same thing happens if you stand on a scale and try to make yourself lighter by pulling up on your shoe laces. If you go to your bathroom scale and try it (which i recommend you do since physics is an experimental science), you'll see that your weight doesn't change.", "I would imagine it is similar to how humans enjoy being in contact with people they share a bond with or attraction to. The physical contact releases endorphins in our body and makes us happy -- same with dogs.", "> Why do people go unconscious when punched in the face? What is the mechanism there? The brain is shifted within the skull so it impacts the inside, disrupting neurological function. Hopefully this is temporary. > Why does the brain shut down when this happens and what is the purpose of this? Because it is physically disturbed and there is no \"purpose\" of this any more than breaking your nose after being punched has a purpose. It is what happens when subjected to physical impact and it isn't a good thing for the body.", "They don’t “make” those faces. This is a matter of physics, not psychology. It’s what would happen to anybody if your face suddenly weighed 5-8 times as much as it normally did.", "The show is good, if you take it at face value. However, most people on the Internet are insulted by its low brow humor masquerading behind fancy \"science\" words. The majority of their jokes are \"haha laugh at the funny awkward nerds!\" Which hits a bit close to home for anyone who has been laughed at or made fun of for being a social outcast.", "Just a reminder this is AskScience and only posts related to the science behind OP's question are appropriate. **Please do not post about what sounds you find especially annoying.** Thanks!", "There are very few people who can exude a natural demeanor when they are actually forcing it. Basically, they are trying to physically fake what they think they look like when they aren't paying attention to a specific stimuli. It's easy to spot because people aren't good at this and it's apparent in their face, body, and just how they carry themselves in general.", "Well, electricians are almost always skilled workers, like plumbers, that you call if you physically need something wired or have a problem with your circuits in your house. As far as I know, from my friend that is an electrical engineer, that's more about the science and design behind that stuff. Think about it like this: an electrical engineer might design a new type of outlet, but the electrician would be the guy that physically wires it in to a house for use and fixes it when broken.", "Anthropologists study the history of humans. Primarily the physical things that we leave behind and the cultural components that those artifacts communicate. They will take a lot of history courses, some science courses to understand geology and how things age and weather, and some psychology and sociology courses to understand how humans and groups of humans think.", "Your question is super interesting but science cannot yet explain consciousness, and it seems like \"knowledge\" refers to a conscious awareness of some fact or state of affairs, so your question is primarily addressed by philosophy (and is often called the mind-body problem). Assuming that there's nothing like a soul in the brain and that it's only made up of atoms, then one might initially think that if two brains are mentally different then they must be physically different, and if they're physically the same then they must be mentally the same. To put your question another way: if it were possible to construct a brain atom by atom that was an exact replica of my brain right now, would it have the same thoughts and memories and feelings that I do right now? Science doesn't know because science can't explain how consciousness arises from atoms. Philosophers disagree, of course, but if you're interested in reading what they think, try googling something like \"consciousness physical mental states.\"", "The human body will respond to physical stimulation even if you haven't consented and don't want it to happen. Mind over matter only goes so far, so sufficient stimulation will still have a predictable effect. The fact that your body responded in the way it is physiologically meant to respond has nothing to do with whether you gave consent for it to happen. In short: no means no, and what your body does when pushed doesn't mean a damn thing in the face of that.", "Is it understood why there is so much more gender disparity in (say) physics compared to biology? Or more generally, physical sciences and engineering compared to life sciences?", "All species have a certain trigger that attracts them to a mate. Most of the time, that trigger is physical attraction such as strength. Strength is seen as a fit partner to reproduce with and make stronger baby's. You see this in most animals like humans. Humans first though when seeking a partner is physical attraction.", "One can use geometry to describe gravity (relativity) or one can use an attractive force (Newtonian). It is easier to use Newtonian so for every day events we do, but relativity would give the same result. For very fast or very large situations Newtonian physics break down and relativity is required to describe what we observe. > don't we have plenty of evidence that objects DO in fact have a gravitational attraction to each other? The evidence of attraction can be explained by both Newtonian gravity and relativity. Think of Newtonian physics as an estimation what relativity would say for Newtonian, not relativistic, speeds and masses.", "There IS no science behind it, which is why you can't find it.", "In theory computer science is a branch of mathematics. While programming is a practical skill. It's like learning about the physics of how water flows vs being a plumber. But in real life there is no naming police and there isn't really that many jobs to sit around and think about what problems would be possible using a finite state machine that stamped symbols on an infinite tape so in practice they end up being basically the same. With programming classes being slightly more practical of learning specific languages and computer science being more big picture of learning the math and concepts behind things. Or again, maybe not, no one will come shoot you if you name things wrong.", "[Here](_URL_2_) is an article on NBC discussing a possible link between sixteen earthquakes in Texas in November and fracking. Fracking, or [hydraulic fracturing](_URL_1_ the injection), is the injection of water in to a wellbore with the intent of creating fractures in rock to extract something, frequently natural gas. And [here](_URL_0_) is a literature review published in *Science* detailing the ridiculous number of injection-influenced earthquakes and physics behind them.", "Nope: Opposites poles attract, so your \"N-poles-facing-out\" cube will just drop down and stick on to the \"S-pole-facing-up\" slab.", "I don't know the specifics of your shower, but my guess it that is due to evaporative cooling. Your hand is small enough that the warm water can cover it all, and it feels warm. When you step in, your shower isn't producing enough water to cover your entire body. Parts of your body get wet, then face the air that is much colder in comparison. In addition, the water left on your body evaporates, making it feel cool on your skin (this is the principle behind why people sweat). also, what do you mean 'temporally'?", "Gorgeous views and water are usually associated with a fertile land, either for agriculture or hunting/gathering. It is my presumption that we are attracted to it because it is beneficial to us, and this manifests itself in a pleasant feeling...sort of like men are attracted to women with symmetrical youthful faces and good waist to hip ratios. To you, this woman is \"gorgeous\" but what your brain is actually saying is that she is fertile. Again, this is manifested as \"pleasant to look at.\"", "The big bang is what we get when we take all the evidence we have for the expansion of the universe and rewind the clock back as far as we can. The farthest we can rewind shows us that the entire universe was condensed in a very small fine space. But that's where our current physics and mathematics fail us. We exhausted all our evidence and our science rewinding it to the point of the big bang. We need new physics and new mathematics to rewind farther. So we don't know. There are many hypothesis with a lot of good math behind them, but until there is any evidence for them, they will only stay hypotheses.", "At some point, it would be attracted and pulled into some other body. From there, it would travel with that body until that body is itself attracted and pulled into another body.", "This post has attracted a good number of anecdotes, product recommendations, and medical advice, which are against our rules and have been removed. Please keep the conversation on the physical, chemical, and biological topic of how moisturizers work. Also, please refrain from posting non-expert top-level replies; we all have skin, but that doesn't make us all an expert on skin science.", "String theory, complex as it is, still falls under the category of \"basic science\", which is science to understand how the world works, rather than \"practical science\", which is science aimed at a particular outcome or innovation. You can't have practical science without basic science. Basic science allows us to understand what's possible and points towards avenues which practical science can pursue. Understanding physics will allow us to better manipulate it. How, specifically, we'll be able to manipulate it we won't know until we're further along in our understanding." ]

[ "We should First of all see if a suitable Q&amp;A already exists and if one does it should be made into our canonical. If one doesn't exist then we should make one.\n\nOnce we have a canonical Q&amp;A we should arrange an event with the co-operation of the moderators and get as many people as possible to work through the relevant searches/tags.\n\nIt should be possible to only cast one close->duplicate of canonical per question and have the mods cast the second binding vote to get the job done." ]

[ "Martin Luther disliked James, in particular, for its emphasis on works. He called it his \"epistle of straw.\" That said, there is simply not a mechanism for removing anything from the canon in Christian circles.\n\nLikewise, of Revelation, Luther said:\n\n\n About this book of the Revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions. I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment. I say what I feel.\"( Luther, M. (1999). Vol. 35: Luther's works, vol. 35: Word and Sacrament I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald &amp; H. T. Lehmann, Ed.) (398). Philadelphia: Fortress Press. ) \n\n\nIn other words, he didn't like, but again recognized his own inability to edit the canon.\n\nThe canon is simply the consensus on what is best. The marks of canonicity are settled, insofaras there is basically consensus. (Okay, there is a question about those 7 books between Protestants and Catholics, but it is a very, very minor point) Indeed, if Luther were to publish \"his canon\" at best he could only have said, \"this is Luther's canon.\" And there is evidence he wished he could, but again, he couldn't.\n\nI have no doubt that Luther preached very rarely on these books - but he simply did not have the standing to \"remove\" them from the canon. It would be like one person saying, \"Harry Potter is not on the best sellers list.\" He might think it shouldn't have been, but he simply doesn't have the standing to say.\n\nFinally, there is a deragatory term \"canon within the canon,\" which refers to a person's favorite books within the canon - the ones he or she may elevate over others. That Luther suredly had. His canon within the canon was Paul's epistles - but that doesn't mean he could downgrade the status of the others.", "Your explanation is fine! I think I understand your question.\n\nDDoS Mitigation works generally by placing a mitigation device/system upstream from your internet connection. You can contract a DDoS mitigation service like Prolexic for these services, or you can go with a cloud provider that already includes DDoS mitigation from whatever vendor.\n\nIt is impossible to mitigate DDoS at the physical level from your server because the packets are likely flooding the next hop up on the network, e.g. your ISPs local switch. So, you can be dropping the packets all you want, they are still coming from the ISPs switch to your network and utilizing your bandwidth. Thus, to mitigate the attack, the packets need to be dropped upstream.\n\nFor smaller web sites, you can use a proxy service like CloudFlare -- in fact, this is the preferred solution for many until they reach very large size. CloudFlare works by controlling your DNS for the domain. It then proxies all web traffic through its network and servers, which are heavily fortified to withstand DDoS attacks and also to intercept other common hack attempts such as XSS and SQL Injection. Legitimate traffic is then forwarded to your web server while suspicious traffic is dropped upstream, leaving you unaffected by the affects of a potential DDoS.", "When you block the UDP packets in the Netfilter filter table, the packets still trigger connection tracking entry creation in the box.\nThis causes extra resource consumption on the server.\nIn order to avoid connection tracking entry creation, you need to use the raw table to filter your packets.\niptables -t raw -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p udp --sport 123 -m limit --limit 1/s --limit-burst 1000 -j ACCEPT\niptables -t raw -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p udp -m limit --limit 1/s --limit-burst 1000 -j ACCEPT\n\nHowever, this only helps if your server's processing capacity is the bottleneck.\nIf the DDoS fills your server's network connection capacity, there is nothing you can do on the actual server to protect yourself from the flood.\nThis is because the upstream router still sends all those packets to your server via the connection, capping the capacity of the link.\nIn this case, the only solution is to consult your upstream network provider for help in mitigating the DDoS.", "The original closure was done on August 22nd 2011. That's almost 5-6 years ago, and I'd guess it was for low quality. I'm guessing cause I doubt anyone would remember why after so long. Gareth's edit went through - and Michael Kjorling bumped it up cause he was getting rid of the master-slave meta tag (Words Have Been Had).\n\nAnd lets be straight here. Its 2017. Less people get the master/slave/cable select topology than they did when the question was asked. We should probably find a canonical question or create a stellar question as the canonical one. Then open and close this as a dupe, if we so choose. \n\nI'd totally do this but... I don't have any pata cables.", "Canonical answers only make sense if they're answering canonical questions. Posting your great and detailed answer to some highly-localized version of a massively-duplicated question does not help very many people because most of them are never going to find it.\n\nThat doesn't mean you must create your own question, however. If you read Joel's post from top to bottom, you'll see that an important element of that is editing other people's questions. In particular, if you see a question that's almost canonical in nature and is reasonably well-written to begin with, then edit it. Give that person credit for being first, but help the community at large by editing it into a form that will have greater impact.\n\nDon't worry about upsetting somebody with your edit. Be bold. Every action here can be undone if something goes wrong.\n\nThere are of course going to be two notable cases where you can't edit an existing question, and those are (a) when all of the existing questions are terrible (cf. NullReferenceException), or (b) when you don't have the reputation to edit.\n\nIf either of those two exceptions describe your situation, then start your own question, and leave a comment about what you're trying to accomplish. Don't worry that you're answering your own question. Don't even worry that you're creating a question just to answer it. That's expected. That is what the Self-Learner Badge is for. It's even right there in the FAQ:\n\n\n It’s also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, as long as you pretend you’re on Jeopardy: phrase it in the form of a question.\n\n\nThat's it. As long as your question is a question, it doesn't matter who answers it or when. What matters is that the question can be found, and that it has a good answer. That helps everybody.\n\nThe notion that self-answering should be discouraged in any form is wrong-headed; as long as people are following the rules and posting good content, we want them to continue. You're not being arrogant, you're being practical.\n\nOne last thing: If you decide to start your own question because all of the existing ones are too lousy to be salvageable, and you happen to have 3000 rep or more, then start your canonical question and start voting to close all those others as dupes. Yes, seriously, do it. We might want to keep all the dupes around to improve SEO but that doesn't mean we want people posting new answers to them if there's already a perfectly good canonical answer (and question).", "I don't think that you can say that the 25% can be said to relate to the chemical variable specifically; rather, that 25% is the variance that is explained by all constrained axes. While these axes are drawn in such a way that they maximize variance associated with your independent variables, I do not think that they are directly interpretable as being 100% due to the elements.\nThe number of constrained axes is a parameter chosen as an input to the CAPscale method:\n\nAn extremely important point is to determine how many PCO axes should be retained; i.e., what should be the choice for $m$? One might be concerned that the method could suffer from a poor choice for $m$. If $m$ is too small, then there may be some ecologically important information in the data that will not be included in the canonical analysis. On the other hand, if $m$ is too large relative to $N$, then a misleading canonical plot could result. For example, we cannot set $m = N - 1$, for then the squared canonical correlations would all be equal to 1.0, because we have $N$ points!\n\nSo the value of the variance there will vary depending on how many constrained axes you use. If I understand right, you could obtain 100% distance variance explained by choosing as many constrained axes as you have observations.\nI think that it is worth looking into how others have solved this problem. For example, one has to first decide whether or not this 25% is an unexpectedly large number, i.e. compute p-values (I am not crazy about p-values in most contexts but here they could serve as a helpful heuristic), as suggested by the CAPscale paper:\n\nAs a further option, one may test the hypothesis of either (1) no significant differences in multivariate location among groups (CDA), or (2) no significant relationship with quantitative environmental or other variables (CCorA). This is done by using the trace statistic (sum of canonical eigenvalues (sum of squared canonical correlations; see the Appendix) and obtaining a P value by permutation (e.g., Anderson 2001b).\n\nThis seems to be directly implemented as the anova.cca() function in the vegan package (I believe that they have decided that CAP is a flavor of CCA for that package). I understand the motivation to get % variance as it's intuitive, but in complex statistical analysis of distances it is a little bit less clear what it really means. Some kind of comparison to a null hypothesis is probably necessary to say whether it is meaningful.\nFor how others have approached similar questions you can see this discussion. For other implementations that may be more user-friendly, you might consider the vegan package, which is a richer toolbox for ordination in ecology (even if it is less focused on metagenomics). Here is the CAPscale function in vegan. The phyloseq authors have correctly decided to build large pieces of phyloseq out of vegan, so I think that you can pass phyloseq back into vegan functions and e.g. use those analyses directly on your cap_ord object. But see that link for more info.\nFor a little more easy-to-understand background on statistics of distance methods (particularly in microbiomes), you might see here.", "Personal Feeling about Categories in Paths\n\nPersonally, I stopped going crazy about categories and actually even removed them completely from my websites. They not only don't help because people don't search those lists (my hits on those lists has always been dismal) but as you can see it creates duplicates. So I deleted all my categories.\n\nAs a result my URLs are just:\n\n/%postname%/\n\n\nAnd everything works like a charm.\n\nIf you expect a really large number of posts (thousands) on your website, though, having top-level categories may still be a good idea. For small sites, it's just a big waste in all sorts of ways.\n\nOh and as a result of removing the categories on my websites, it looks like I gained in rank since I get more traction. Not a lot more, but I still noticed.\n\nRedirect—to answer your question\n\nI don't know of a plugin to redirect from sub-paths to the main path. Such may exist. Of course, there are plugins you could use to create redirects by hand, but that would be really tedious.\n\nNote that a large number of 301 is not ideal for a website. You'll notice that Google Console reports those as errors (although the new console version does not mark them as errors but warnings. So it may be fine as long as you add a single such 301.)\n\nCanonicalization\n\nAnother way for Google is to fix the canonicalization of the page. So instead of a redirect, you create a canonical meta tag which includes the path you want, whatever the sub-categories. I'm not too sure how you control that under WordPress. I would suggest you test the various plugins that say they can create/fix your canonical path.\n\nTo verify the canonical, look at the resulting page source and make sure that the header meta tag looks correct. It has to be a full URL (i.e. including the protocol, domain name, and path.)\n\nNote that Google still gives you a warning about such pages, saying that it found page blah with canonical foo. This is fine, though.", "I just got this too. If it helps with debugging, the problem appears to be that when answer links are posted, the corresponding question ID is looked up from the current site, not the site that the answer was posted on. So if site A has question ID n with answer ID m, and you get an alert about new answer m and check your inbox on site B, it will lookup answer ID m on site B, not A. If answer m on B is posted on question k, you'll get a URL for site A but for question ID k instead of n:\n\n\nCurrently: http://A.stackexchange.com/questions/k/question-title/m#m\nShould be: http://A.stackexchange.com/questions/n/question-title/m#m", "The equivalent Canon camera to the Nikon D800 would be the Canon EOS 5D Mark III or 5D Mark IV. The equivalent Canon lens to the AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR would be the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM.\n\nThe equivalent Nikon camera to the Canon EOS Rebel XTi/400D was the D40 or D40X. The equivalent Nikon lens to the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II was the AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II.\n\nYour test is comparing an $800 entry level crop sensor camera from 2006¹ using a $100 \"kit\" lens to a newer, $3,000 full frame \"pro\" camera using an $1,100 lens. Which do you think will perform better?\n\nIt is possible to get a lot closer to the Nikon result with even the older, lower end Canon camera by using a more comparable lens that allows you to shoot from a bit further back.\n\n\nIt appears that you were closer to the subject at 55mm (?) with the Canon 18-55mm lens and a little further away at 120mm (?) with the Nikon 24-120mm lens. The different subject distances (how far it is between the camera and the subject) will affect the perspective of the photo.\nThe Nikon lens also allowed you to use an aperture as wide as f/4, while the \"slower\" Canon lens at 55mm restricted you to f/5.6. Assuming you were using the same ISO setting on both cameras, this means you had to use a slower shutter speed (longer exposure time) to get the same exposure value. When shooting with the camera handheld, longer exposure times can increase the amount of blur from camera movement during the exposure.\nThe VR (Vibration Reduction) feature of the Nikon lens may have reduced the influence of camera movement while the kit lens that came with the Canon Rebel XTi/400D does not offer IS (Image Stabilization - Canon's VR equivalent).\nYou might also need to adjust the in-camera contrast and color settings for the Canon to more closely match what you got from the Nikon, but I think one of the greatest differences may be due to a bit of off-axis light striking the front of the Canon lens and reducing contrast. I'm guessing the Nikon 24-120mm lens had the lens hood supplied with it attached, while the Canon 18-55mm lens that was not supplied with a lens hood did not. One of the primary purposes of a lens hood is to reduce the influence of light sources from just outside of the frame.\nThe $1,100 lens on the Nikon is sharper than the $100 lens on the Canon. Canon's EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM is also much sharper than the kit lens supplied with the EOS Rebel XTi/400D. \n\n\n\n I think I had pretty much the same distance in both pictures. I tried to get the same frame, so the focal length is different because of the different sensor size. EXIF says 53mm for the Canon and 105mm for the Nikon, not sure how accurate that is.\n\n\n53mm on the 1.6X Canon camera is the same angle of view as 85mm on the FF D800. A more proper comparison would have been to use the 24-120mm lens on the Nikon at 85mm instead of 105mm. Then you also need to consider that from the same distance at 53mm with the crop body you need to use an aperture of f/2.5 (something your Canon lens doesn't come close to offering) to get the same DoF you would get at f/4 using the FF camera at 85mm. Since your 18-55mm Canon lens is limited to f/5.6 at 55mm, using f/9 at 85mm with the FF Nikon would give approximately the same DoF as you got with the Canon camera and lens.\n\nIn the end, the gear does affect the result here (particularly the sharper, faster lens with stabilization versus the softer, slower lens without stabilization), but a more experienced and skillful photographer can get more out of the older, lower end camera than what we see above. For more along this line of thought, please see: the best way to improve image sharpness on Canon 700D\n\n¹ The equivalent model in Canon's lineup today (which is a much better camera due to improvements in technology between 2006 and 2019) would be the $700 EOS Rebel T7i/800D.", "Title: Can you help me with dependency or other compile errors on Linux?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n This is a Canonical Question about Compile Dependencies and Package Management. \n\n\nI have a question regarding compiling ports/software for Linux. Can the Server Fault community please help with the following:\n\n\nWhat dependencies are necessary for source to compile?\nI got this error while compiling the source for a package; halp!\nWhat Repositories should I use with this package system?\nWhy is it important to use packages rather than building from source?\n\n\nMaybe some additional links to setting up your own repo, methodologies for local repo management, configuration management topics (isn't there a canonical for that too already?), possibly deployment (I think there's a canonical for that too), local sources of caffeination, and anything else that might be directly related or relevant.\n\n\n\n\n\nAs long as you set the Question up clearly as a Canonical close-target you should be fine. I'll be the first person to upvote it if you provide the outline of the Answer as well. i strongly suspect quite a few people will be happy to chime in.", "As you point out, AWS S3 currently does not have an event type for GET calls.\n\nTo do something similar to what you are trying to do, I had to do the following:\n\n\nCreate an application/lamdba that's only purpose was to retrieve items from the S3 Bucket. This application was given exclusive privileges to the S3 bucket.\nThe application keeps a counter of the number of times that S3 resource has been accessed.\nThe application returns the 403 or whatever you want if you exceed the download limit.\n\n\nBasically create a \"middleware\" that's sole purpose is to go from your website/application to S3 and track the number of requests.\n\nWhile the above solution meets your requirements, it is vulnerable to common attacks such as DDoS or people spoofing their IP. If you take this approach consider additional security measures (e.g. only authenticated users can invoke the application's GET call to S3).", "Apollonius work have been reedited recently at W. de Gruyter's (2008-9) \n: Apollonius de Perge, Coniques,\nTexte grec et arabe etabli, traduit et commenté\nEd. by Roshdi Rashed, M. Decorps-Foulquier, M. Federspiel, (Livre I. Commentaire historique et mathématique, édition et traduction du texte arabe. 1.2: Livre I: Édition et traduction du texte grec Ed. by R. Roshdi, M. Decorps-Foulquier, M. Federspiel)\n\nRoshdi in the preface (p.27) and also in a paper online about \"reediting apollonius\" states that the\n\n\n Eutocius’ edition of the first four books, as it has come down to us\n in a manuscript from the 12th century, the Vaticanus. graec. 206", "In general, a good answer to \"where can I learn the basic concepts of X\" is \"a textbook on X\". For sedimentary concepts, you might try Nichols (2009), for instance. Academic papers are a publication vehicle for new research, so you'll seldom find much introductory material in them.\n\nFor terms like \"intracratonic\" and \"intramontane\", you might also find it useful to learn some common Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes. If you look for \"intra\" in a list like this one, you'll find that it's Latin for \"within\", and you might be able to guess that \"intracratonic\" refers to something occurring within a craton.\n\nIf you just want to look up terms as you go, and you're happy with brief definitions, a specialist dictionary might also be helpful. For Earth Sciences, Allaby (2008) is a good concise dictionary, though it might be a little too concise if you're a beginner.\n\n\n\nReferences\n\nAllaby, M. ed., 2008. A Dictionary of Earth Sciences 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.\n\nNichols, G., 2009. Sedimentology and Stratigraphy 2nd ed., Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.", "When you find a tag that has no description and no excerpt yet you're free to provide one.\nThere is no create tag page. A tag gets created if you add a non-existing one to a question, provided that you have the tag creation privilege (1,500 at Stack Overflow).\nAs a consequence of that workflow, tags are initially created without wiki or excerpt. In the moderator-tools there is a new tags stats and for the under 10K's you can visit the new tags page to find freshly created tags and spot the ones without an excerpt. Alternatively you can use SEDE.\nIf you decide to create an excerpt and wiki for a tag, make sure to include usage guidance.\nThere is no point for an excerpt to be an advertisement of the topic. We have to assume people already have some understanding about it, if not they have completely different problems.\nThe excerpt need to provide just enough guidance so the OP can know if the tag is appropriate. I think the term elevator pitch as descibed in the help topic is spot on. For example\n\nuse the tag for issues with the template language. Don't use it for template extensions\n\nThe wiki follows a similar structure, explaining which topics can be asked under this tag, which shouldn't be asked, link to canonical duplicates and link to documentation, official sites etc.\nYou might find the blog post on the topic helpful.", "The question 'Securing small home automation setup' provides a useful reference for general security tips, but there are also some specific steps you should follow to keep your Raspberry Pi secure.\n\nSteve Robillard's answer to a question on Raspberry Pi Stack Exchange outlines some of the specific issues with using a Pi that you can address, such as changing default passwords, using iptables, etc. He also helpfully links to the Securing Debian Manual, which, although very large, is incredibly comprehensive, and covers most major concerns.\n\nSince you'll likely be connecting to the Pi through SSH, consider key-based authentication instead of using a password—a SSH certificate is virtually impossible to guess, even by a determined attacker, unlike a potentially weak password. As noted in the linked article, also take a look at Fail2ban, which will IP block any users who show malicious signs (e.g. incorrect password guesses).\n\nRegarding your DDoS concerns: if someone decides to launch a DDoS attack against your Pi, you stand very little chance. Some attacks can reach up to 665 Gbps, which would be impossible for your Pi to defend against. But, I would pose this question: why would an attacker want to DDoS your Pi? Denying you service would probably not provide much benefit to an attacker, and a lot of IoT devices are instead being hacked to participate in DDoS attacks.\n\nNevertheless, if you were very paranoid, you could perhaps whitelist devices that your Pi was expected to connect to, and simply drop any other packets with iptables. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the trouble.\n\nRegarding DDNS, I find HowToGeek's guide quite clear—essentially, you need to check your router for a DDNS setting, and configure that. NoIP have screenshots for most major router models. You'd probably have better luck asking this separately (and you may already find an answer on Super User).", "Here is the advice in the IBM CPLEX documentation. So this pertains to CPLEX. I don't know to what extent it applies to other solvers.\n\nFirst of all, indicator constraints may not be available in all situations:\n\nIndicator Constraints in Optimization\n\n\n \n The constraint must be linear; a quadratic constraint is not allowed to have an indicator constraint.\n A lazy constraint cannot have an indicator constraint.\n A user-defined cut cannot have an indicator constraint.\n Only $z=0$ (zero) or $z=1$ (one) is allowed for the indicator variable because the indicator constraint implies that the indicator\n variable is binary.\n \n\n\nBest Practices with Indicator Constraints\n\n\n \n Avoid Big M values if at all possible. If you choose to introduce Big M values in your model anyway, use the smallest possible value of\n Big M because Big M values create numerical difficulties and can\n introduce trickle-flow problems in node LP solutions.\n Use indicator constraints instead of Big M when Big M values in the formulation cannot be reduced.\n Do not introduce indicator constraints if Big M can be eliminated from your model.\n Do not introduce indicator constraints if Big M is eliminated by preprocessing. Check the presolved model to determine whether Big M\n has been eliminated from your model by preprocessing. In that case, do\n not introduce indicator constraints for that Big M.\n If valid upper bounds on continuous variables are available, use them. Bounds strengthen LP relaxations. Bounds are used in a MIP for\n fixing and so forth.\n \n\n\nFurther Advice:\n\nDifference between Using Indicator Constraints and a Big-M Formulation \n\n\n Big-M formulations are relatively straightforward, but the value of\n the $M$ term needs to be chosen carefully. If $M$ is smaller than the\n upper bound of $x$, this situation may cut off valid solutions. If $M$ is\n too large, the model may become numerically difficult or exhibit\n trickle flow.\n \n Indicator constraints have the advantage of avoiding these types of\n problems, as they do not rely on a separate constant value. However,\n they tend to have weaker relaxations during the MIP optimization, a\n condition which may lead to longer solve times in a model.\n \n Consider using the big-M form instead of indicators:\n \n \n When the big-M factor is not much larger than other coefficients in the model.\n If the big-M factor is eliminated in presolve. You can write out the presolved model to check this condition.\n If the model does not show any side effects from a big-M formulation.\n If [the solver] can not efficiently solve the model formulated with indicator constraints.\n \n \n Consider using indicator constraints instead of big-M:\n \n \n When the big-M factor remains very large, relative to other coefficients in the model.\n When the big-M formulation is difficult to express, such as an if-then constraint on complex expressions.\n \n \n In all cases, defining upper bound information on the continuous\n variable will generally yield a much tighter formulation and nearly\n always helps with performance.\n\n\nI will have to defer to someone else as to how indicator constraints are handled internally in the solver, for instance in CPLEX, and to what extent SOS may or may not be involved.\n\nBig M formulations are subject to logic \"errors\" due to \"trickle flow\". See \n\n\nWhy does a binary or integer variable take on a noninteger value in the solution?\nSingle reference for Mixed Integer Programming formulations to linearize, handle logical constraints and disjunctive constraints, do Big M, etc? ). \n\n\nI will update this answer based on any answer I get to a question Are indicator constraints immune to trickle flow or other numerics-induced logic 'errors'? which I just posted on the CPLEX forum.\n\nEDIT: Indicator Constraints in CPLEX are immune from the big M/trickle flow issue. I have placed the details, provided Ed Klotz of IBM, in a separate answer to this question.", "I determine a topic-ness of a subject in two separate parts:\n\n\nIt's about Ubuntu or one of its derivatives or anything related to them (which is precisely the quote you mention in your question).\nIt's about an official Canonical product.\n\n\nThe second part is backed by the following text in the help center about the questions that we can ask about:\n\n\n Questions that you may ask:\n \n \n [...]\n Services provided by Ubuntu and Canonical.\n [...]\n \n\n\nWSL falls in the second part, which is an official Canonical product. So I do not vote to close as off-topic virtually anything regarding WSL. That also includes installing it on Windows. Whether it's better suited to be asked on a Windows-specific Q&amp;A site is irrelevant in my opinion. Same reason as to why Ubuntu questions can be valid on Ask Ubuntu and Unix &amp; Linux.\n\nThis reasoning of mine falls back to when Canonical had the, now discontinued, cross-platform Ubuntu One sync product. Any questions about that product used to be on-topic such as How to install Ubuntu One Windows Beta on XP?.", "As with many security models, a multi layered approach might be more suitable for the login use case.\nHere are some suggestions:\n\nAs you already mentioned, rate limiting policies for the API would prevent attacks coming from the same client (DOS).\nImplement a Proof-of-Work system in the API - see for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash. This would make it expensive for the client to calculate a hash but cheap for your server to validate.\nUse CAPTCHA like Google's Recaptcha https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/verify. Admittedly this helps mitigate brute-force attacks, not DDoS.\nFront your API using a cloud provider then use DDoS protection service from your cloud provider to detect suspicious traffic and slows them down at the Edge before they hit your server.", "A duplicate is a duplicate regardless of age.\n\nIt's true - more frequently newer questions are flagged as dupes of older questions, but in this case it wasn't appropriate.\n\nThe dupe question for yours is a canonical QA as to why one-click installer stacks (WAMP, XAMPP, etc.) are inappropriate in a professional sysadmin setting. HopelessN00b found your old question and marked it as a dupe of our newer, canonical question on this subject.\n\nYou will notice that he didn't just outright close your question - he locked it. The question is indeed off-topic, so closing would have been appropriate, but he (somehow) was able to find a bit of grace in his (two-sizes-too-small) heart and just lock/dupe your question instead.\n\nTo answer your explicit questions in a straightforward manner:\n\n\n Why would this be considered a duplicate,\n\n\nEven though it's not exactly a dupe, for instances like this where 1) the question is borderlin off-topic and 2) we have a canonical QA that covers the topic, we use the duplicate flag as a manner to refer people to the canonical answer instead of just closing the question.\n\n\n and why would SF allow this kind of flagging?\n\n\nBecause any mechanism that can help organize and clean up things on the site are helpful. Why should they not allow this kind of flagging?", "The settings that you're looking for don't really exist. I know that Canon's DSLRs allow for one to adjust the in-camera processing of JPGs using sliders for Sharpness, Color Tone, Contrast, and Saturation - and doing so would create an overall \"look\" to all photos taken with those settings... \n\nBut the big variable here is lighting. \n\nYou can't Photoshop the lighting you get from early morning sun, or a cloudy day, or high-noon, etc. \n\nAnd even though a setting like Contrast can be adjusted - this doesn't help you to replicate the contrast-y lighting of high-noon sun vs a cloudy day.\n\nThere are different \"looks\" that can be done in post processing, but advising you on how to do it would necessitate you posting a photo from which to emulate.\n\nOutside of that, the best that can be offered to your question is actually: the only way to achieve a photo with similar lighting to another is to match the light sources in the original.", "\"First we moved the BGP IP prefix,\" said Gargula as he detailed the attack, \"I tried to isolate legit human traffic from bot traffic and not to mix it up. We sacrificed one of their three BGP uplink layers as a 'canary' to test the sophistication of the attack. Then we changed the configuration for the IP uplink.\"\n\n\n\"How does moving the BGP IP prefix help?\"\n\nI believe they are refering to a sinkhole--a sacrificial router, in this case a BGP router, since BGP may not require much authentication. By configuring the sinkhole to \"advertise routes with bogon destination addresses, you can set up a central trap for malicious traffic of all types\" [Hacking Exposed 7: Network Security Secrets and Solutions, 2012]. Lists of bogon addresses can be found online: www.cymru.com/Bogons, slides\n\n\"And also, what other sophisticated DDOS techniques are there?\"\n\nThere are a number of sophisticated DDoS techniques. DDoS leverages DoS methods using a distributed attack surface. Most of us probably know about SYN flood, where a syn packet is sent with a spoofed source address and the receiving system tries acknowledge it does not receive a response and is left with partial connection in a short queue that is easily disabled by flooding. Similarly, a UDP flood is designed and source IP addresses are often spoofed to target DNS servers which rely on the UDP protocol.\n\nReflective amplification is another DDoS attack (DRDoS) that again uses spoofing. Often botnets send the packets, the source address is the victim IP address, and the packets are sent to machines that try to respond to the victim simultaneously, generating a flood of packets sent to the victim. For example, DNS servers respond to small requests with a large amount of information and DNS amplification can overwhelm the victim's system.\n\nApplication-layer DDoS attacks use the same ideas at a higher level, such as the web level, rather than the transport or communication level. Here the goal of the attacker is to find an easy and short request that generates lots of work in the victim's API. For example, a single-word search request can eat up lots of cycles on the victim's machine. Or a database-driven site, might have pages that trigger database queries when the URL is requested. Now, the attacker can use just a few queries per second, either making the requests in a distributed manner or not, and bring the victim's machine grinding to a halt.\n\nThere is also a low-rate DoS attack where the attacker causes a TCP connection to enter a retransmit state. If enough connections enter this state, the victim's machine suffers declining performance.\n\nSee Hacking Exposed 7: Network Security Secrets &amp; Solutions for more discussion of DDoS attacks. See Wikipedia for more attacks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack", "You could check, if $e\\cdot d\\equiv 1 (\\bmod z)$. [1] Since your $z=\\phi(n)$ and you want to do something like $(m^e)^d \\bmod n= m^{ed} \\bmod n \\overset{!}{\\equiv} m$. Therefore, $ed\\equiv 1 (\\bmod z)$\n\nFor decryption check cryptool. [2]\n\n[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_little_theorem#Generalizations\n[2] https://www.cryptool.org/", "Affected questions have now been MOV ed into computer-building, where they should have been all the time.\n\nTag wiki for disassembly created.", "I work at one of the relatively few studios that retain a full-time writing team. I also work very closely with the writers in my role as a tools developer. We have around seven (I think) full-time writers, including their lead, and two writer/designers who act as lore directors and generally are the final authority on the direction of the world.\n\nFor the most part, the writing team authors new text or edits existing produced by other designers. The kind of content they generate tends towards the minor characters, dialog scenes and conversation, bits of chatter and background VO, quest description, descriptions for areas -- basically, anything that needs to be written. They also work with those designers to help ensure that all the text that is produced fits within the framework of the universe we are creating -- that nobody uses anachronisms, that characters of a particular cultural background exhibit the traits of that background, that the game is not too chock-full of pop culture references, et cetera.\n\nOur writers also work with external partners, such as the authors of books based in our world, to ensure accuracy and adherence to what is canon. Most studios maintain a \"story bible\" of some sort that documents these sorts of things, and maintains guidelines for what is and is not canon (ours are not public, but Bungie has published this guide to what is considered canon in Halo, for example)\n\nIf you have a strong background in literature, writing, or related fields you may be able to break in to the industry provided you can find a company that employs a team of full-time writers. This may be difficult. I would caution you that is far more about editing and creating in-the-small than it is sitting around and getting to dictate the entire plot of a game.", "I think we should create a canonical question/answer about GPDR. For me it's more a legal issue, like SOX404.\n\nThe problem I see is, yes we can give generic advice for public facing site (which we can cover in our canonical answer) but in the end only an auditor or a lawyer can correctly answer the OP.\n\nI state that opinion as with GDPR, I don't think, on a online platform like there, that we can go deep in the discussion with the OP to know if he follow GPDR. (an example; how their HR handle employees record from USA&lt;->EU, etc..)", "DDOS means Distributed Denial of Service. If no service is provided by your VPS then no service can be denied. If SSH is provided then SSH can be denied. This means a DDOS can actually work against your system too: if all the bandwidth is taken by the attack or your system is busy trying to process connection attempts to SSH then you will not be able to login anymore yourself, i.e. the service is denied for you.\n\nAdditionally your VPS shares the hardware with other VPS which all share the same bandwidth and CPU. Due to this if any of the other VPS gets attacked it might affect your VPS too.", "The appendix A in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics seems to agree that traditional curricula put logarithms somewhere after Algebra I. CCSSM isn't a curriculum, and it doesn't suggest teaching logarithms later, it just offers \"pathways\" that are supposed to help districts using traditional curriculum find a way to meet the standards. I mention it just to show that, yes, this seems to agree that a traditional time to introduce the subject is later than Algebra I. \n\nThe Massachussetts Curriculum Frameworks put logarithms into \"Algebra I\" under a category like \"Functions.\" Although this is also considered to be \"Common Core Aligned.\"\n\nOne short answer is that \"it's traditional.\" The order you describe is seen as early as 1898 in Bull Wentworth's New School Algebra. (Donoghue, 2003)\n\nCurriculum design is (should be) about structuring the subject matter in a way that students can form a coherent understanding. At the least, it is an arrangement that the designers find coherent. This means that it's not necessarily true that the options are: square roots are more common, square roots are more useful, or square roots are easier. Nor is it necessarily true that there is one correct way. So, one way may be produced, become traditional, and then be perpetuated.\n\nReform curricula have come up against this time and again. Sometimes, the way we do things in math education are traditional and people don't want to question them, even in the face of evidence.\n\nWhile I think you have a good question, perhaps a more forward-looking question might be whether we can find reasons to teach logarithms earlier.\n\nSquares and square roots are connected to a particular 2D representation (squares) that can be used as a model for multiplication. It's popular for assisting students beyond the tenacious idea of multiplication as repeated addition. A representational leg up like that may be (just speculating here) one convenient reason that squares and square roots can be placed early in a curriculum \"pathway.\" I'm really only guessing here; IANACD (I Am Not A Curriculum Designer). But I doubt that's a hard and fast rule that cannot be broken. Some people have successfully introduced algebraic thinking to early grades students (Smith III &amp; Thompson, 2008). Although getting students to reason algebraically is a little bit different (in intention) from introducing a particular concept or operation at a different time.\n\nCited:\n\nDonoghue, E. F. (2003). Algebra and geometry textbooks in twentieth-century America. In G. M. A. Stanic &amp; J. Kilpatrick (Eds.), A history of school mathematics (Vol. 1, pp. 329–398). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.\n\nSmith III, J. P., &amp; Thompson, P. W. (2008). Quantitative reasoning and the development of algebraic reasoning. In J. Kaput, D. W. Carraher, &amp; M. L. Blanton (Eds.), Algebra in the early grades (pp. 95–131). New York, NY: Taylor &amp; Francis Group.", "Update: there is a serious gap in the reasoning after applying Bézout's identity, which concludes that there exists $d$ and $k$ with $ed+\\phi(pq)k=1$. The fragment \"where $d$ appears as the multiplicative inverse of $e$\" attempts to link the $d$ thus exhibited to the $d$ used in RSA. But why would these $d$ share more than their name, especially since the $d$ and $k$ exhibited by Bézout's identity are not unique, and (at least the usual form of) Bézout's identity does not state a relation between these multiple solutions?\n\nWe want either a different statement of Bézout's identity, or getting rid of it altogether. That's easy: start from the definition of $d$ in RSA (whatever that is), and prove that a suitable $k$ must exist, using fact 3 below.\n\n\n\nIt is thought to prove that in RSA, decryption consistently reverses encryption. But hypothesis at time of starting this answer where insufficient for that, as they did not insure that\n$$\\;p\\ne q\\;\\text{ or }\\;\\gcd(m,pq)=1\\;$$\nThis is required in RSA (illustration: try $p=q=5$, $\\phi(pq)=20$, $e=3$, $d=7$; encryption of $m=10$ followed by decryption yields $0$ rather than $10$ ).\n\nNow $p\\ne q$ is made explicit, satisfying said requirement. But it is not apparent where this is used.\n\nNot coincidentally, the proof still has a serious gap at the point where $1^k$ appears, which implicitly uses that $m^{\\phi(pq)}\\equiv1\\pmod{pq}$, because:\n\n\nThis proposition is wrong for some $m$, including $m=2q$ .\nFermat's little theorem is invoked as a justification, but an hypothesis in FLT is that the modulus is prime, while $pq$ is not.\nFLT makes no mention of $\\phi$ , and the definition of $\\phi$ is not invoked in the proof.\n\n\n\n\nUseful standard facts (for all variables in $\\mathbb Z$ unless otherwise noted):\n\n\nIf $p$ and $q$ are coprime, then $pq$ divides $x$ if and only if both $p$ and $q$ divide $x$ .\nIf $p$ and $q$ are distinct primes, then $p$ and $q$ are coprime.\nThe definition of $u\\equiv v\\pmod w$ is that $w$ divide $v-u$ ; or equivalently that there exists $k$ such that $u+kw=v$.\nFor $w&gt;0$, the definition of $u=v\\bmod w$ used in RSA encryption and decryption is that $u\\equiv v\\pmod w$ and $0\\le u&lt;w$ .\nFLT: if $p$ is prime, then $y^p\\equiv y\\pmod p$ .\n\n\nThat allows deriving the helpful:\n\n\nif $p$ and $q$ are distinct primes, and both $p-1$ and $q-1$ divide $j-1$, and $j&gt;1$, then $y^j\\equiv y\\pmod{pq}$ .\n\n\nProof hint: use fact 1 with $x=y^j-y$ , and other above facts.\n\n\n\nIndependently: it is used, but not stated, that the definition of RSA considered uses $d$ such that $ed\\equiv1\\pmod{\\phi(pq)}$ . Another popular definition uses $ed\\equiv1\\pmod{\\lambda(pq)}$ , where $\\lambda$ is the Carmichael function. This definition is used in PKCS#1 and FIPS 186-4. It is mathematically satisfying, for it is necessary and sufficient, when $ed\\equiv1\\pmod{\\phi(pq)}$ is merely sufficient.\n\nAlso, the proof would be clearer if it was restated:\n\n\n$p$ and $q$ are primes;\nthe definition of $d$ used in RSA, and the definition of $\\phi$ or $\\lambda$ if they appear (in which case those are bound to be used in a correct proof!)\n$N=pq$ ;\nwhatever hypothesis on $m$ (commonly, that is $0\\le m&lt;N$, with further restriction to $\\gcd(m,N)=1$ if the condition $p\\ne q$ is not used);\nuse of textbook RSA encryption $m\\to c=m^e\\bmod N$ ;\nuse of textbook RSA decryption $c\\to m'=c^d\\bmod N$ (with a distinct notation for the original message and deciphered messages);\nwhat's to be demonstrated (this answer assumes that it is $m'=m$ for all $m$ satisfying the hypothesis made on $m$ ).\n\n\nAlso: there's a missing bit of reasoning, going from $m'\\equiv m\\pmod N$ to $m'=m$ .\n\nFinally: textbook RSA is not a secure encryption algorithm (assume encryption of the name of someone in the class roll, which will be interrogated tomorrow; one can easily determine from the ciphertext and public key if that's her/him, or even who this is if the class roll is public).", "If John is a dinosaur, he will say that a dinosaur is a dinosaur (true) and an elephant is a dinosaur (lie.) If John is an elephant, he will say that an elephant is an elephant (true) and a dinosaur is an elephant (lie.) Therefore all we can establish from John says \"Zayin is a dinosaur.\" is that John is a dinosaur.\n\nThere are 16 combinations of animals for the second part. For example TD JD MD ED would mean all 4 are dinosaurs. Since they would each tell the truth, starting with M saying \"E is a D\", you end up with T saying \"E is a D\" which is not what was said, so that combination can be ruled out.\n\nThere are more than 1 combinations that lead to the sentence being uttered though: for example TE JD MD ED would make M say \"E is a D\" truthfully, and J pass that along truthfully, but then T lie and report the chain ended E. Similarly TD JE MD ED would start with M saying \"E is a D\" but then J would lie, claiming M said E was an E, and then T would pass that along truthfully. I haven't tested all 16 combinations, but my suspicion is that whenever you have an odd split (1-3 or 3-1) of animal types, that is the sentence that will be uttered.\n\nFor the third part, the sentence \"you lie about your righthand neighbour\" involves 3 animals: the speaker S, the subject Y, and the neighbour N. There are 8 combinations possible: DDD, DEE, DED, DDE, EEE, EED, EDE, EED. In the 4 cases where Y and N are different, Y really does lie, but only if S and Y are the same will S say so. In the other 4 cases, Y tells the truth, but if S and Y are different S will lie about that. So the patterns DEE, DDE, EED, and EDD will lead to this sentence. You can get this pattern if they sit in pairs - for example four of them as DDEE with the final E \"looping back around\" and sitting next to the first D. The total number of animals must be a multiple of 4 to reuse this pattern, eg DDEEDDEE and so on.", "Note 1 As I said in the comment this kind of box is not a good thing: it distract the eye from the important part of your file (the comment itself or the actual code). There are better way to create headers. Now this is only my opinion and this site is not here to argue about this so here is a solution.\n\nNote 2 I give here a solution with the plugins I know but you could probably use any snippet manager other than Ultisnips.\n\nNote 3 Using a snippet manager only for this snippet is probably overkill and you should probably considering creating your own vimscript function. For example, here is an answer I made (with a great help from @Peter Rincker) for a similar question. It uses only vimscript and creates headers a little lighter.\n\n\n\nWhat you are looking for is an intelligent snippet, it is also a built-in feature of Ultisnips + vim-snippets:\n\nFirst, install ultisnips which is a snippet engine (it will allow you to work with snippets but doesn't provide the snippets themselves).\n\nThen you have two ways to get the snippet you're looking for:\n\nMethod 1 You can install vim-snippets which provides a whole list of predefined snippets.\n\nMethod 2 You can declare the snippet by yourself (which is a little bit more work but is lighter since you get only the snippet you need):\n\nFirst create a file ~/.vim/my-snippets/Ultisnips/all.snippets.\n\nThen in this file add this:\n\nglobal !p\ndef make_box(twidth, bwidth=None):\n b, m, e, i = (s.strip() for s in get_comment_format())\n bwidth_inner = bwidth - 3 - max(len(b), len(i + e)) if bwidth else twidth + 2\n sline = b + m + bwidth_inner * m[0] + 2 * m[0]\n nspaces = (bwidth_inner - twidth) // 2\n mlines = i + m + \" \" + \" \" * nspaces\n mlinee = \" \" + \" \"*(bwidth_inner - twidth - nspaces) + m\n eline = i + m + bwidth_inner * m[0] + 2 * m[0] + e\n return sline, mlines, mlinee, eline\n\ndef get_comment_format():\n \"\"\" Returns a 4-element tuple (first_line, middle_lines, end_line, indent)\n representing the comment format for the current file.\n\n It first looks at the 'commentstring', if that ends with %s, it uses that.\n Otherwise it parses '&amp;comments' and prefers single character comment\n markers if there are any.\n \"\"\"\n commentstring = vim.eval(\"&amp;commentstring\")\n if commentstring.endswith(\"%s\"):\n c = commentstring[:-2]\n return (c, c, c, \"\")\n comments = _parse_comments(vim.eval(\"&amp;comments\"))\n for c in comments:\n if c[0] == \"SINGLE_CHAR\":\n return c[1:]\n return comments[0][1:]\nendglobal\n\nsnippet box \"A nice box with the current comment symbol\" b\n`!p\nbox = make_box(len(t[1]))\nsnip.rv = box[0]\nsnip += box[1]\n`${1:content}`!p\nbox = make_box(len(t[1]))\nsnip.rv = box[2]\nsnip += box[3]`\n$0\nendsnippet\n\n\nThe part in the global/endglobal are python helper function made to create a box and get the comment character for the buffer. The part in the snippet/endsnippet is the actual snippet using the python interpolations.\n\nThen independently from the method you followed, you simply have to type box and then use the key you defined in your vimrc to trigger a snippet and the box will be created. You'll then enter insert mode allowing you to type the text you want to put in a box, the length of the box will be updated while you enter the text.\n\nNote that I didn't create the code in this answer, it comes directly from the vim-snippets directory here and here\n\n\n\nSome interesting resources about snippets:\n\n\nI asked a question to differentiate the different snippets managers. As long as you choose snipmate compatible snippets engines, the one I gave you should work.\nVimcast made some good episodes about Ultisnips.\nAnd of course the ultisnip doc is a good place to start.", "I could not find any specific package in the internet that does the same thing as netflow anomaly detection, but I found out how to train some standard algorithms that solve the same problem. My understanding is that the problem is \"network intrusion detection\" or \"anomaly detection in network traffic to detect network intrusion\"\n\nSo creation of a model can be divided into several parts:\n\n\nchoosing an appropriate algorithm\nunderstand how to transform the data for the algorithm\nfinding the data set\ntraining the model\n\n\nThe above tasks in more detail:\n\n\nalgorithm: k-NN or Random Forest. According to the paper Machine Learning DDoS Detection for Consumer Internet of Things Devices k-nearest neighbor is a pretty precise algorithm in network anomaly detection. Nearest neighbor algorithms are present in scikit-learn python package (link). Random forest classifier performed even better. scikit-learn also has a random forest classifier (link).\n\n\nHere is the precision table from the first paper. KN is k-NN. RF is Random Forest. NN is Neural Network. LSVM is a variation of Support Vector Machine algorithm.\n\n\n\nHow k-NN for DDoS works is explained in this paper: Proactive Detection of DDoS Attacks Utilizing k-NN Classifier in an Anti-DDos Framework.\nAccording to the above mentioned papers and other sources the following datasets are used for training:\n\n\nKDCup1999 This is a network intrusion database\nMIT Lincoln Lab, 2000, DARPA intrusion detection scenario specific datasets Contains two DoS attack scenarios\nReasearchgate question on available datasets\n\nOn this link you will find how to train a k-nearest neighbor in scikit-learn. \n\n\nHere is an example code from the link:\n\n&gt;&gt;&gt; X = [[0], [1], [2], [3]]\n&gt;&gt;&gt; y = [0, 0, 1, 1]\n&gt;&gt;&gt; from sklearn.neighbors import KNeighborsClassifier\n&gt;&gt;&gt; neigh = KNeighborsClassifier(n_neighbors=3)\n&gt;&gt;&gt; neigh.fit(X, y) \nKNeighborsClassifier(...)\n&gt;&gt;&gt; print(neigh.predict([[1.1]]))\n[0]\n&gt;&gt;&gt; print(neigh.predict_proba([[0.9]]))\n[[0.66666667 0.33333333]]", "I think this would be on topic - it is a question regarding computer hardware, and is within the scope. It has a canonical answer as well - yes it will cause damage, or no it will not cause damage. \n\nTo quote our help section on what is on topic:\n\n\n Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. If you have a\n question about:\n \n \n computer hardware,\n computer software, or\n personal and home computer networking" ]

[ "Yes, but It's hard to do at home. Salt and sugar crystallize out of solution at different temperatures, so if you dissolve the mixture, then hold the solution at the right temperature, one will crystallize out. Draw off the remaining solution, and let it evaporate. You should end with two containers, one with salt crust, one with sugar crust." ]

[ "Yes, but it's generally quite low. The scale height for separation is the height where the difference in gravitational potential energy between the molecules is comparable to the per-molecule energy/heat of solution. The time scale for separation is also quite long since the distances are great. Table salt's heat of solution is 4 kJ/mol, and molecular mass is about 60 g/mol, so putting a kJ into a mole of table salt requires lifting it ( 1000J )/(( 10m/sec^2 )( 0.06kg )= 1.6 km - so you'd need a column of order 1-4 miles high to see gravitational stratification of the salt solution in it. Hmm, I wonder if the oceans' salinity is affected by that? Maybe an oceanographer can chime in.", "Sugar and salt do actually co-crystallize, but there is no guarantee that a random combination of two solutes will do that. I'd hazard a guess that most combinations of A and B will result in separate crystals of A and B after evaporation.", "Manufacturers of refined table salt add anticaking agents to prevent the grains from sticking together. These agents both absorb water more readily than the salt does, and also coat the individual grains to prevent them coming into direct contact with each other. Common ones used in salt are sodium silicoaluminate and magnesium carbonate. Another method used is to add a small amount of *yellow prussiate of soda* (sodium ferrocyanide) to the brine from which the salt is crystalized; this distorts the salt crystals-normally cubes-into star-like shapes which are less likely to stick together.", "Sugar and salt do not share a [common ion](_URL_0_). One will not directly interfere with the other's equilibrium in water. However, both will compete for water. Competition allows you to [salt out](_URL_2_) some substances. Check out this [video demonstration of salting out](_URL_1_) where a solution of methanol and water is separated by giving the water molecules something else to stick to. It will be less extreme than the video, but you will be able to dissolve less sugar in seawater than in distilled.", "One state - it's a liquid (could be solid, liquid, gas, plasma) Two components - oil and water (*) Two phases - they don't mix so stay as separate layers or droplets A mixture of sugar and salt in water would be a liquid with three components forming one phase because they all dissolve - as long as you don't put too much in, of course. (*)Actually, the oil might be made up of lots of components, ie different hydrocarbons, but that's probably not relevant to your current study.", "Ethanol is less dense than water on its own, but it is *soluble* in water so that when they are mixed it does not separate out like, say, oil. Since it is soluble, the two together essentially become a new \"unified\" liquid and the relative densities do not cause layering (like how dissolved salt or sugar does not separate out by density either). If I were to guess at what you are experiencing, it would be that you have ice in your drink, and the part at the top has simply been diluted more locally due to the melting ice.", "Though the contents were not changed how they mix has changed. Something easier to visualize is a milk chocolate bar. If you have put one of those in the freezer and take it out you notice the powder white film along the outside. That is the maltose sugar that separates from the chocolate because it freezes at different temps. The effect on your soda is similar. Of course if you shook the can up since it is a liquid you could probably remix the flavors but that would give you other problems.", "It's not quite what you'd get out of a juicer that is being mixed with salt. It's more like molasses that's obtained by boiling down sugar beet extract. Sugar, just like salt is capable of lowering the freezing point of water. It is sticky, so it has the advantage of not running off roads quite as much as salt would after the snow begins to melt. All the information I can find about this technique looks like marketing material for the company that sells \"Beet Heet\", so it remains to be seen if this is a good, long-term solution.", "I don't know if it's a debate, but it can be a chemical change for some things and a physical change for others. The common examples are salt and sugar. Table salt, NaCl, dissociates into Na+ and Cl- ions in water. The NaCl compound is no more, that's a chemical change. Sugar simply dissolves, the molecules are separated from each other but there aren't changes to the molecules themselves. More generally, ionic compounds tend to be dissociated by water while other materials simply dissolve.", "Regular white sugar packs together closely. The molasses in brown sugar adds a somewhat stiff structure to the crystals so you may not get as much brown sugar as the recipe requires, making the end result off. Packing it down makes sure you get the same result every time.", "Gatorade is mostly sugar, electrolytes (salt), flavoring, and color all mixed in water. When water is at about room temp or hotter, these components easily mix together giving you Gatorade. When water is cold, these components don’t easily mix together, giving you sugar, electrolytes, flavoring, color, and water, in a bottle. The mixing-ness of things is called its solubility. Solubility increases when a solution is hot and decreases when it is cold. It’s the same reason you add sugar to hot tea before you add ice and call it iced tea and not the other way around.", "They appear white because they have a rough surface. It's similar in that way to table salt: pure NaCl crystals are transparent, but finely ground salt appears to be white. What happens is that light is scattered or reflected when it travels through the surface of a transparent material. When the material consists of fine particles or simply has a rough surface, light passes through multiple surfaces, which all point in different directions, so the light is scattered all over the place. This appears to us as white color. However, this effect is much weaker between water and most other transparent materials. Water also has a smooth surface to air itself, so it doesn't scatter light. That's why calcium deposits are much more difficult to see if they're wet, and why salt and sugar become more transparent if you put them in water.", "1. More efficient to produce. It takes a machine to mix it together thoroughly, to guarantee each cup gets the same amount of fruit. 2. Aesthetics. Machine-mixed might look really bad when you pop open the top, because some yogurts don't have emulsifiers which means liquids can separate out. 3. More \"fun to eat\". Interactivity can be a selling point, as long it isn't a burden. In this case, it's certainly not a burden.", "Yes, you can by chemical extraction. Here's a lab procedure from a college level chemistry course to do exactly that using isopropyl alcohol and salt: [Caffeine extraction](_URL_0_)", "Carbohydrates are composed of a whole lot of sugar molecules stuck together. Complex carbohydrates are made of way more sugar molecules than simple carbohydrates. Compare [sucrose](_URL_1_), table sugar, which is a simple carbohydrate made of two different sugar molecules stuck together, to [starch](_URL_0_), a complex carbohydrate that could be hundreds of glucose molecules stuck together.", "For pancakes and muffins especially, they come out better when they haven't been over-stirred. However, you still don't want a clump of baking powder or a clump of butter in one place, so it's recommended to thoroughly mix the wet and thoroughly mix the dry to even things out, but not over-stir the two together, to prevent toughness. That said, I almost always throw everything in one bowl together, mixing the wet stuff first and then pouring in all the dry before stirring.", "No, but you could form it into an extremely fine powder. At some point the agitation of the blender isn't going to be enough to split the tiny crystals, or the cooling isn't going to be enough to prevent the energy input from heating them enough to bind together again.", "Crude but effective: Grind it in a mortar and pestle for 5 minutes. It'll be much more salty because there's more surface area available to dissolve quickly.", "sure, there is no reason *a priori* that this couldn't be done. In fact, *salt metathesis* reactions are an example of this. I don't know of any practical method for doing this, however. _URL_0_", "A lot of dish detergents have various degreasers etc. That would break down a lot of the caked on food's structural integrity so my guess is yes. If you want a real world answer, you could even design an experiment and test it out yourself.", "Table salt typically contains iodine as an additive (in the US), whereas kosher salt will not. This is one of the reasons some recipes will call for kosher instead of regular table salt. Also, because of how the kosher salt grains are shaped, it tends to be slightly less dense than table salt. In other words, 1tsp of table salt weighs more than 1tsp of kosher salt and, therefore, table salt tastes saltier for a given volume. If substituting one for the other in a recipe, this has to taken into account. As a result, some kosher salt packaging will have [conversion ratios](_URL_0_).", "I'm assuming that you mean ferromagnetic, as in you can pick the object up with a magnet. If that's the case, then the answer is no. Those particular salts aren't ferromagnetic, and no salt is ferromagnetic in solution. Ferromagnetism arises from the long range ordering of unpaired electron spins in a solid lattice. When you dissolve something, all the ions break apart and become surrounded by solvent molecules. The magnetism goes away because there is no more order.", "Gatorade contains salts, but not *a ton* of table salt. A salt is just a bonded pair of ions. NaCl is table salt. Gatorade has some of that, but it also has a bunch of various other salts like sodium citrate and monopotassium phosphate; neither of which would taste salty *per se*. Then Gatorade covers up whatever salty flavor there might be by adding about one metric shit-load of sugar.", "There's certain words that have different meanings to chemists than they do in common usage. In normal usage \"sugar\" refers to table sugar but to a chemist it can refer to a family of chemicals - sucrose, fructose, lactose, and a few others. \"Salt\" is the same - table salt is sodium chloride but the generic term can refer to any chemical with a similar structure. \"Alcohol\" is used the same way. The stuff that people drink is called \"ethyl alcohol\". Rubbing alcohol is made of of similar chemicals like methyl or isopropyl alcohol - they act like drinking alcohol for things like cleaning cuts but if you drink them they'll make you really sick.", "Absolutely. This is one of the most important parts of pharmaceutical formulation, finding a stable salt that will dissolve under the right conditions.", "I believe it is when the ice crystals form, light shining on the snow will be bounced around/through the crystals in such a way that all the different frequencies mix together forming white.", "It has to do with the vast amount of taste buds your tongue has. On these taste buds are different receptors, which only respond to certain ingredients. There is a receptor that was discovered a few years ago that moves sugar into the sweet receptor only if sodium is present (which is half of what common table salt is made of). So since you have a pinch of salt, it activates these receptors and helps more taste buds register the \"sweet\" sensation of sugar.", "You see white when a (roughly) equal amount of all colors enters your eye, but your eye will judge an object to be white if it has the same color as the background lighting. The difference between white and reflective is that white reflects light, but does so in more-or-less random directions, which mixes together all the different input colors into a uniform blend that you see as white. Mirrors reflect light _at the same angle that it came in_, which preserves images rather than mixing them up. It's sort of like the difference between putting flour, sugar, butter, and eggs in a bowl (= the mirror, where individual parts are distinguishable) versus blending up a cake batter (= white object, individual parts are blended together into a uniform color).", "It's the same reason why your fingers get wrinkly when you stay in the bath too long. Osmosis. Your body tries to balance itself all the time. The lollipop is a bunch of concentrated salts and sugars with little water. The inside of your cheek is a lot of water with little salts and sugars. Somethings can pass through the skin easily, some things do not. Water is easiest. So your cheek gives up its water to counteract the lollipop which is mostly salt and sugar. (Much easier than the lollipop's salt and sugar going into your cheek). This is the same when you place your arm on a cold table. After a while that area of the table and your arm will be the same temperature. Because your arm is giving the table your heat. Just like with the lollipop and your cheek. Your cheek is giving the lollipop your water. Thus leaving that area of your cheek wrinkly. Like a prune. Which doesn't have water.", "They won't separate without significant work; it wouldn't be like oil-on-water if that's what you are envisioning. Silver and gold will alloy together and form new compounds depending on the proportions and small amounts of additional elements but a 50/50 mix will get you some form of [electrum](_URL_0_). I'm almost certain there are standard names for various silver-gold alloys but for the life of me I can't find the table in my metallurgy textbook.", "Sugar is really complicated and you can make variations on it, salt is two elements mashed together. potassium chloride exists as another type of salt that people can eat but it tastes slightly worse and has a lot of the same effects sodium chloride does so it's not as worth using.", "Eventually. I assume you are talking about Pink Himalayan salt. In which case you can just call it Rock Salt, or Halite. The reason it is pink is due to contamination with Iron Oxide. Naturally occurring pink salt deposits are in Pakistan and India, with many sites been mined for several hundred years already. It can also be grown commercially in large amounts" ]

[ "A girl is on the beach." ]

[ "A boy jumps into the ocean.", "A woman walking along the sand at the beach.", "couple walking on the beach sand", "The surfer is a walking along the sand.", "The little girls are in the sand.", "A man is walking along the beach.", "A lady walking in the beach sand", "A couple walks along the beach.", "A woman is walking along a beach.", "A little boy plays in the sand on a beach.", "A boy walks along the beach", "People are walking along a beach.", "The people are walking along the beach.", "A girl lies in the sand at the beach.", "A little girl is running on the sand.", "The cats are walking along the beach.", "People are walking along an empty beach.", "A little girl is walking along the top of a concrete wall.", "Some is walking along a beach at sunrise", "A group of friends walking along the beach.", "A surfer is walking along the beach at night.", "A pair of men walk along the beach.", "Two little people playing with sand on the beach.", "A group of people walk along the beach.", "Two people walk along the beach.", "A little boy is building a sand castle at the beach.", "The woman walk along the sandy beach.", "A man and woman walk along a beach.", "A woman is walking barefoot along the beach.", "The group of hikers are walking along the beach.", "A little girl with pigtails running in the sand.", "A little girl is getting along with a robot." ]

[ "If you'd like to sing to your baby this Mother's Day, but think your voice is enough to make a small child cry — or an adult, for that matter — fear not. A new CD just might boost your confidence. Sing to Your Baby is a collection of simple songs for parents who are convinced they're singing-impaired. The songs were written by Grammy winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. The collection features 11 songs, but each one appears twice: once in a key intended for moms and once adjusted for dads to sing. Cathy Fink says most of the tunes are what's known as \"zipper songs,\" written so it's easy to zip out a line and zip in one of your own. \"It's really important for parents to realize that your baby is not judging your singing voice,\" Fink says. \"You are a rock star from day one, so as long as you're having fun and enjoying the moment, the baby's going to have fun and enjoy the moment.\" RENEE MONTAGNE, host: (Soundbite of music from CD, \"Sing to Your Baby\") Unidentified Singer: (Singing) La, la, la-la, la, la. MONTAGNE: Now heres something for parents who like to sing to their baby, but have voices that could make a small child cry, a new CD that just might boost your confidence. (Soundbite of music from CD, \"Sing to Your Baby\") Unidentified Female Singer: (Singing) ...my pretty little bitty, my little bitty baby that I love. STEVE INSKEEP, host: \"Sing to Your Baby\" is a collection of simple songs for parents who are convinced they are singing-impaired. You know, they talking about having a face only a mother could love; we're talking about a voice here that only the child could love. The songs were written by Grammy Award-winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Ms. MARCY MARXER (Songwriter): So many people are self conscious about their singing, and often just hold back because they think maybe their children are not going to like it or they're just not used to doing it. Ms. CATHY FINK (Songwriter): Its really important for parents to realize that your baby is not judging your singing voice. You are a rock star, from day one. So as long as youre having fun and enjoying the moment, the baby is going to have fun and enjoy the moment. MONTAGNE: Well, thats a nice thought. \"Sing to Your Baby\" features 11 songs, each one is on the CD twice. One version is in a key intended for mothers. (Soundbite of music from CD, \"Sing to Your Baby\") Unidentified Female Singer: (Singing) Rockin' my baby in the morning. Rockin' my baby in the afternoon. MONTAGNE: Da, da, da. (Soundbite of laughter) MONTAGNE: Baby in the afternoon. INSKEEP: And then in a key for dads. Soundbite of music from CD, \"Sing to Your Baby\") Unidentified Male Singer: (Singing) Rockin' my baby in the morning. Rockin' my baby in the afternoon. INSKEEP: Those lyrics are in a book that comes with the CD. Cathy Fink says most of the tunes are what's known as zipper songs, written so it's easy to zip out a lyric and zip in one of your own. Ms. FINK: In kids music, the obvious version of a zipper song would be \"Old McDonald.\" You change what the animals are in the animal sounds. Well, let me grab my banjo. If we do something like... (Soundbite of music) Ms. FINK: (Singing) Wake up my little baby, wake up. Wake up my little baby, wake up. Wake up my little sweetie pie, my little honey drop. Wake up my little baby, wake up. But, lets put the babys name in. (Singing) Wake up my little Barry, wake up. Wake up my little Barry, wake up. Wake up my little sweetie pie, my little honey drop. Wake up my little Barry, wake up. And you can use that song a hundred different ways. MONTAGNE: That's Cathy Fink along with Marcy Marxer. Their new CD is titled \"Sing to Your Baby.\" \"Sing to Your Radio Host\" is sold separately. (Soundbite of laughter) Unidentified Female Singer: (Singing) Sing bye-bye. Bye-bye. INSKEEP: This is NPR coos." ]

[ "Protesters gathered in major cities and small towns across the United States to denounce President Trump's immigration policies. The \"Families Belong Together\" marches were planned in response to the administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the southern border. In Washington, thousands gathered despite the sweltering summer heat. They carried umbrellas, fans and water bottles. Many wore white, channeling a practice of solidarity that is historically used in social justice movements, NPR's Windsor Johnston reports. Others carried foil sheets, mimicking what were meant to serve as blankets for detained children. The rally became a family event, with children clutching signs and parents telling NPR that to protest is to be a part of the American fabric — especially before Independence Day. One woman told NPR's Cecilia Lei and Adhiti Bandlamudi that she felt conflicted about the meaning of July 4 this year because of the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants. Still, she dressed her daughter in red, white and blue to keep a conversation on patriotism going. At the White House, crowds grew silent as loudspeakers blasted a recording of babies and children crying. And as people walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Trump International Hotel, protesters shouted \"Shame!\" and booed. A roster of celebrities and politicians spoke, echoing a national cry among protesters to end Trump's \"zero tolerance\" immigration policies and immediately reunite families who were separated at the border. Alicia Keys brought her 7-year-old son and was close to tears on stage as she told a sea of people, \"I couldn't even imagine not being able to find him. I couldn't even imagine being separated from him or scared about how he is being treated. So this is all of our fight. Because if it can happen to any child, it can happen to my child and your child and all of our children.\" Then she read the letter of a mother whose son was held in immigration detention. Actress Diane Guerrero, widely known for her role on Orange Is the New Black, spoke about the deportation of her family members. \"Even some 17 years later, I still remember how it felt when I first cried out for my parents and they couldn't answer.\" Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the Broadway musical Hamilton, performed a lullaby that he had written, telling the crowd it was for parents and children who had been torn apart. \"We're not going to stop until [parents] can sing them to their kids again,\" he said, before singing, \"You will come of age with our young nation. We'll bleed and fight for you. We'll make it right for you.\" The stage was not just reserved for adults. Children shared their messages of pain and compassion with the crowd. \"I wish I could give you a big hug,\" a young girl read from a letter she wrote. At Boston City Hall Plaza, Sen. Elizabeth Warren deplored the president and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an agency. \"President Trump seems to think that the only way to have immigration rules is to rip parents from their families, is to treat rape victims and refugees like terrorists and to put children in cages. This is ugly. This is wrong. And this is not the way to run our country.\" She called for ICE to be replaced by \"something that reflects our morality and that works.\" In California, Sen. Kamala Harris crafted a speech around the words \"We are better than this,\" and John Legend, from behind a piano, sang a brand new song about staying engaged: \"Heaven knows I'm not helpless. But what can I do? ... I can't just sit and pray.\" In Houston, people chanted \"No baby jails!\" In Chicago, protesters marched to the ICE's field office and erected tents. In New York, demonstrators on the Brooklyn Bridge chanted \"Shame!\" In Atlanta, someone carried a cage with baby dolls inside. Around 4 a.m., before Saturday protests officially started, Trump tweeted from his golf club in New Jersey: \"To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit. You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements. So brave!\" He added later in the day, \"When people come into our Country illegally, we must IMMEDIATELY escort them back out without going through years of legal maneuvering. Our laws are the dumbest anywhere in the world.\" Protesters in Bedminster congregated near his golf club with signs and costumes. With additional reporting by Windsor Johnston, Cecilia Lei and Adhiti Bandlamudi.", "In the past, if Sara Solovitch tripped up while playing the piano she would get flustered and stop. Especially in front of an audience. \"I felt like I had to correct everything and each note had to be perfect,\" the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based author and pianist. But now, she can breeze through a few bum notes while playing Claude Debussy's lyrical piano piece Reflections on the Water as if no one were listening. \"One of the things I've really worked on has been continuing to play,\" Solovitch says. For the past three years, Solovitch has been coming regularly to San Jose International airport to play the beat-up Hamilton baby grand located in the Terminal B baggage claim area. \"Here, I'm not worried about people's judgment and evaluation,\" Solovitch said. \"People aren't listening and that's kind of a godsend to me.\" Solovitch's impromptu airport recitals are part of her push to overcome stage fright — a phobia that has plagued the musician since she was a little girl. And now she's written a book on the subject — Playing Scared: A History and Memoir of Stage Fright. Solovitch loves the piano. But she's so scared of playing the instrument in public that even practicing at home when her family is around regularly unsettles her. \"My hands turn wet with sweat and they'll slip and slide,\" Solovitch said. \"My feet tremble so that I have a hard time controlling the pedal. I feel my heart beating really uncontrollably. And then there's just this kind of like pounding in my head.\" As a teen, stage fright drove Solovitch to give up her dream of becoming a professional musician. But even the most seasoned performers struggle with the anxiety. Berkeley standup comedian W. Kamau Bell has hosted his own cable TV series and has appeared on popular podcasts like WTF with Marc Maron. Yet despite Bell's impressive chops, the comic still suffers from performance anxiety on a regular basis. And it makes no difference if he's in front of a national television audience or a small crowd at a bar; he says his mind scrambles and his mouth goes dry. \"I've often said that if there's a way to email the crowd the jokes and still get the same feeling from performing live I would just as soon do that,\" Bell said. It's not just performers who deal with this issue. John Beebe, a Jungian psychiatrist in San Francisco, has dealt with performance anxiety in his own career and treats people who suffer from it. He thinks stage fright is universal. \"When we can't live up to the image we'd like to project we just feel within ourselves that we fail terribly,\" Beebe said. But Beebe believes people can overcome stage fright if they face it head on. Repetition is key. \"I think some of us have learned that the only way to master anything is to practice and do it,\" Beebe said. A steady diet of playing to passersby at the airport has helped Sara Solovitch vanquish her stage fright. Yoga and anti-anxiety medication has helped, too. \"You have to practice performing as much as you practice practice,\" Solovitch said. Practice seems to have paid off: Solovitch is actually looking forward to her next gig. She'll be performing at the public library in Santa Cruz in August. \"I used to talk to myself the way one doesn't talk to their dog: You know, 'You're stupid, you're an idiot, how could you make that mistake?' \" Solovitch said. \"And now as I approach a performance, instead of saying 'I'm nervous,' I say to myself 'I'm excited.' \" This story was produced by KQED Arts.", "Rock 'n' roll legend Fats Domino was on stage last Saturday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit his hometown of New Orleans. The 79-year-old sat at a piano to play a medley of his hits at Tipitina's nightclub. New Orleans Times-Picayune music writer Keith Spera talks with John Ysdstie about the performer's stage fright, and his successful Tipitina's show. (Soundbite of song, \"I'm Walkin'\") Mr. FATS DOMINO (Singer): (Singing) I'm walkin', yes, indeed and I'm talkin' 'bout you and me I'm hopin' that you'll come back to me, yeah. JOHN YDSTIE, host: Legendary rock-and-roll singer and songwriter Fats Domino made a rare and suspense-filled appearance in his hometown, New Orleans, last Saturday. Accompanied by his band, he sat down at the piano at Tipitina's nightclub and played some of his greatest hits to a sold-out audience. He opened with \"I'm Walkin',\" although what we're hearing right now is a 1957 recording. (Soundbite of song, \"I'm Walkin'\") Mr. DOMINO: (Singing) Whatcha gonna do when the well runs dry? Are you gonna sit right down and cry. Whatcha gonna do when I say bye bye? All you're gonna do is dry your eye. I'm walkin'. YDSTIE: Keith Spera, the music writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, was in the audience for the show and he joins us from member station WWNO. Thanks for being with us, Mr. Spera. Mr. KEITH SPERA (Music Writer, New Orleans Times-Picayune): My pleasure. YDSTIE: 0Must have been quite a thrill. Mr. SPERA: You know, the drama of a Fats Domino performance these days is not about the quality of the performance itself. You know, that's going to be good. The drama is whether or not there's going to be a performance at all. YDSTIE: Right. He's got stage fright, right? Mr. SPERA: Yeah, and it seems to have grown more acute since the trauma of Hurricane Katrina, you know? He was supposed to close out the 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. There's a big build up to his grand finale performance, he was featured on the souvenir poster that year. And on the morning of the performance, he didn't feel up to performing. And then at 79 years old, I mean, he just doesn't want to perform all that much anymore. YDSTIE: So describe what happened on Saturday night. What was it like? Mr. SPERA: Well, in incredible build up to this night because, you know, first performance since Katrina, so it was a sold out-crowd. People had bought $200 VIP tickets, fans had flown in from New York and Washington, D.C., and Texas, a huge amount of anticipation, but up until the very last minute - and I'm talking after his band was already on stage - no one really knew if he was going to get up on that stage. YDSTIE: And the promoters didn't as well, right? Mr. SPERA: Exactly. And the funny thing about that is he was the one who actually came up with the idea of performing at Tipitina's. So he did make it to the club, but then backstage, he said infamously, this is news to me. I'm supposed to perform? I didn't know. YDSTIE: And how was it? Mr. SPERA: Well, fabulous. You know, as soon as the man is on stage, decades dropped away. His voice is as sunny as it's ever been. His touch in the piano is strong. People are just completely eating it up. He did \"Ain't That a Shame,\" \"Shake, Rattle and Roll,\" \"Valley of Tears,\" \"Jambalaya.\" I mean, just moving through all these songs almost nonstop with five horns backing him. He had Herb Hardesty on tenor sax, the guy that's played with him since the '40s, so it sounded just like a classic Fats Domino show. YDSTIE: Keith Spera is a music writer for the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans. Thanks, Mr. Spera. Mr. SPERA: My pleasure. YDSTIE: And we'll go out on a 1956 recording of Fats Domino's hit, \"Blueberry Hill.\" Did he play that last Saturday night? Mr. SPERA: He did indeed, and it sounded almost exactly like the record. (Soundbite of song, \"Blueberry Hill\") Mr. DOMINO: (Singing) I found my thrill on blueberry hill. On blueberry hill when I found you. The moon stood still on blueberry hill and it lingered until my dreams came true. The wind in the willow played love sweet melody. YDSTIE: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.", "Audio for this feature is no longer available. \"I gotta do what I gotta do, son,\" Jill Scott says on \"Le BOOM Vent Suite,\" a third of the way through her fourth studio album. \"Grown woman making decisions and choices.\" It's not as if she ever really had a frivolous phase, but on The Light of the Sun, out June 21, Scott sounds whole, composed. She's powerful, and she's fighting the good fight. Scott has come a long way since she was working as The Roots' hook girl. (Can you imagine a time when Scott rode the bus on the Things Fall Apart tour just to come out and sing the chorus she'd written for Erykah Badu to sing in \"You Got Me\"? And people were kind of bummed when she hit the stage — until they heard her sing, of course?) Scott began in Philadelphia as a spoken-word artist, and on The Light of the Sun, she incorporates that work into her songs cleverly. When she finds an opening to leaven her singing with speech, she goes for it, but within reason and to an end. That end might be an offering to women when they're feeling bruised or disappointed. Scott has publicly taken a few punches herself in recent years — a divorce, followed by a short relationship which left her a single parent. \"God, please hear my call / I am afraid for me,\" she sings in \"Hear My Call.\" \"Love has burned me raw / I need your healing.\" In that song, Scott is backed by swelling strings and tender piano; she says \"please\" over and over, with a different inflection every time. But in spite of the pleading, there isn't anything ragged in her voice. Scott's words aren't wasteful, and she doesn't sound like the type to cry in public. She's honest and heartfelt, but she also comes off as a better version of a regular woman. I've seen a sold-out arena crowd hang on her every word and shout encouragement from the cheap seats. She feels close enough that listeners can sing with her, while still looking up to her. After all, this is the woman who can turn a Doug E. Fresh beatbox and a touch of ragtime piano into the bottom of a breezy kissoff song (\"All Cried Out [Redux]\"), in which she sounds more free and brazen than she has in years. This is also the woman who calls herself a \"motherf---- G\" in a spoken-word track called \"Womanifesto\" — and destroys all doubt that she's anything less.", "If you're a fan of The Office, you may have seen Ed Helms, who plays Andy Bernard, occasionally whip out a banjo and bang out a few tunes. On Thursday's Fresh Air, Helms brings his own banjo to the studio and sings bluegrass tunes with his band, The Lonesome Trio. He also discusses his new comedy Cedar Rapids, in which he plays Tim Lippe, a naive insurance salesman who has never left his small hometown, let alone ventured into a hotel room for a night. But when he is sent to represent his insurance company at a convention in a place that he considers exotic — Cedar Rapids, Iowa — Tim meets three insurance company veterans (played by John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who open his eyes to new boundary-pushing ideas. To play the character, Helms said, he had to tap into the part of his brain that contains his most idealistic notions about humanity. \"I really loved this character and wanted him to succeed, and I didn't want him to learn the evils of the world,\" he says. \"As an actor, it was just fun to tap into a really earnest and wide-eyed view of the world that celebrates optimism and hope in a way.\" The innocent character Helms portrays in Cedar Rapids is a far cry from Andy Bernard, the awkward, posturing salesman Helms plays on The Office. \"I suppose it's fair to say if Andy would be me if I didn't learn more about myself,\" Helms says. \"Andy's sort of the high-school version of me in adult form, perhaps. There are some differences. I never struggled with the anger management [issues Andy has]. But certainly the posturing and insecurities — that's most of us in high school.\" Helms' character has now spent five seasons on The Office, the hit comedy set at a fictional Pennsylvania paper company. This upcoming season will be the show's farewell to Steve Carell, who plays regional manager Michael Scott. But even his co-star can't say how Carell's character is going to make his exit. \"I can tell you, honestly — I don't know,\" Helms says. \"I've been told there are a few different plans, and they're not exactly sure how it's going to execute. The narrative of the show is incredibly fluid, and it really changes with whatever is successful in the previous handful of episodes. So we have four episodes with Will Ferrell coming up, which will be crazy and fantastic. And then Steve's departure, which will be utterly heartbreaking but of course really exciting for the rest of us to see where the show leads.\" Helms got his start in the acting world with the Upright Citizens Brigade and other sketch-comedy troupes. Before joining the cast of The Office, he was one of the satirical newshounds on The Daily Show. He co-starred in the gigantic summer comedy hit The Hangover, and has also appeared in Evan Almighty and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. His next big-screen project after Cedar Rapids is The Hangover Part II, scheduled for a May release. Interview Highlights On his love of banjo music \"I grew up in Atlanta, Ga., and there was some early exposure to it, but it's not like it was very prevalent in my family or anything. But I also spent summers up in the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, and [bluegrass] was always a sound that resonated for me and felt like a connection to these places that meant a lot to me. ... But I do think people who love banjo music are cursed in some way, because most people don't like it and it's kind of an obnoxious instrument. But I just get a lot of joy out of it.\" On singing in movies \"It's at the point now where, when I get involved with something, people are like, 'How do we inject a song into this?' And I'm trying to pull back a little bit. But I do love to sing; music's a huge part of my life. And I've always felt like singing at the wrong time, or at the wrong volume or with the wrong energy, can be one of the most hilarious things. So I always use it for comedic effect.\" On stage fright while performing \"I get staggering stage fright when I play music. I don't know what it is. I've done stand-up comedy for 15 years, and I can step in front of 2,000 people in a college auditorium and just chat for an hour. But if you put an instrument in my hand — a guitar or a banjo — I desperately want to share it with people, but I have some stage fright. It makes the technical act of playing difficult. That's something I've always struggled with — even at piano recitals as a kid, I would freeze up.\" TERRY GROSS, host: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. My guest, Ed Helms, got his start as a correspondent on \"The Daily Show.\" On the NBC series \"The Office,\" he plays Andy Bernard, a paper and printer salesman who isn't very good at selling or at keeping a girlfriend. Andy exudes an uncomfortable mix of arrogance and insecurity. Ed Helms was one of the stars of the hit film \"The Hangover,\" and now he stars in the new film comedy \"Cedar Rapids,\" as a small-town insurance agent who's sent to a regional conference in what, to him, is a really big city, Cedar Rapi", "One hundred years ago Tuesday, in a working-poor neighborhood of Newport News, Va., a laundress and a shipyard worker had a baby girl. The father soon disappeared, and the mother and child moved north to New York. The mother died. The girl ran away and became one of the most important singers of the 20th century. Ella Fitzgerald could sing anything: a silly novelty song, like her breakthrough hit, \"A-Tisket, A-Tasket.\" A samba that scatted. A ballad, spooling out like satin. And, as Harlem historian John T. Reddick points out, she did it all with a certain lightness. \"Despite whatever difficulties she had in her life, you could hear the joy,\" Reddick says. Fitzgerald's joy rang out through what Smithsonian Curator of American Music John Hasse says were terrible days. \"It was a really tough time: segregation, the Great Depression, poverty, unemployment,\" he says. From early on, music was Fitzgerald's salvation. It was where she lived. She could lose herself in it and go somewhere else, no matter what was happening around her. Northeastern University music historian Judith Tick imagines the young girl \"singing by herself in a corner of a recess schoolyard and looking happy, smiling and laughing.\" Tick, who's writing a Fitzgerald biography, found some schoolteacher's progress reports on the young singer from ages 7 to 13, which said that Fitzgerald was an excellent student with a good memory. \"When she was 7 years old, one of her teachers called her 'self-reliant,' \" Tick says. \"And then a couple of years later one called her 'ambitious.' \" But everything changed when her beloved mother died. Fitzgerald, then 15, hit hard times: There was a stepfather who treated her badly and an aunt who took the teenage girl away and moved her in with her own family. So she started skipping school. \"She was on the streets of Harlem dancing for tips,\" Hasse says. She earned more pennies as a lookout for cops outside a brothel. At one point, she was arrested for truancy and sent to a reform school, where she was regularly beaten. So she ran away — this awkward, gawky girl with skinny legs and old, cast-off boots — with no money, living on the streets and sleeping where she could. Fitzgerald almost never talked about all that. What she did talk about was an Amateur Night contest at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 1934. She was 17 years old. \"I never thought I was a singer,\" Fitzgerald once told Brian Linehan of the CBC. \"When I first went on the stage, I went out to dance. ... But I'd never been in front of the lights and I saw all of those people out there, I just got stage fright. And the man said, 'Well, you're out here. Do something!' \" But she couldn't dance, because her legs were shaking — and who could blame her? \"The Apollo audiences were ruthless,\" Hasse says. \"Especially the upper balcony [with] the cheap seats. ... Those kids would make the upper balcony jump up and down if they liked somebody, and boo like hell if they didn't.\" Fitzgerald admired singer Connee Boswell's style — rhythmic, lilting and sweet. She decided to sing like her. \"And they said, 'Oh, that girl can sing.' And I won first prize,\" Fitzgerald recalled. Ambitious, she started making the rounds. At a time when female singers were slim and sexy, bandleader Fletcher Henderson thought she didn't look good enough to put onstage. Chick Webb felt the same way at first, but he took her on with his band. Four years later, in 1938, she had her first hit — with lyrics she helped write. Eventually, \"A-Tisket, A-Tasket\" sold a million records, and Fitzgerald kept on singing for the rest of her life. That's a good thing for more reasons than one. As she laughingly said herself, \"If I was dancin', I'd have been starving a long time ago.\" DAVID GREENE, HOST: A hundred years ago today in a working, poor neighborhood of Newport News, Va., a laundress and a shipyard worker had a baby girl. The father soon disappeared, mother and child moved north. The mother died. The girl ran away, got in trouble. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg explores the difficult early life of the child who became the first lady of jazz. SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: Ella Fitzgerald could sing anything. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"A-TISKET, A-TASKET\") ELLA FITZGERALD: (Singing) A-tisket, a-tasket, a brown and yellow basket. STAMBERG: A silly novelty song, her breakthrough hit in 1938. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"A-TISKET, A-TASKET\") FITZGERALD: (Singing) On the way, I dropped it. STAMBERG: A samba that scats. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"ONE NOTE SAMBA\") FITZGERALD: (Scatting). STAMBERG: A ballad spooling out like satin. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"THIS TIME THE DREAM'S ON ME\") FITZGERALD: (Singing) Somewhere, someday we'll be close together. Wait and see. Oh, by the way, this time the dream's on me. STAMBERG: Since the 1930s, any short list of great jazz singers has always included Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"GOOD MORNING HEARTACHE\") BILLIE HOLIDAY: (Singing) Good ", "A life of diapers, Barney and play groups can be a hard pill to swallow for hip, image-conscious parents. Enter \"Baby Loves Disco\" — a kid-friendly dance party at nightclubs across the country. Once you get in, you'll find strobe lights, the hottest local DJ and a lot of toddlers. Baby Loves Disco is putting on a Best Baby Dancer contest. Videos will be posted on the Web this month, and winners will be announced around Halloween. Chana Joffe-Walt of member station KPLU reports. ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: From member station KPLU, Chana Joffe-Walt reports. CHANA JOFFE: Asa Bueler(ph) is standing a roped off line outside Seattle's Club Heaven with a padded bum and a blanket. He's 3, and he's hustling the bouncer to let him in. Why is the guy to wait? He knows the guy in there and all he wants to do is go... ASA BUELER: Disco dancing. JOFFE: Four-year-old Kenneth Green(ph) is totally digging the scene. KENNETH GREEN: It's like full of club people. JOFFE: What are club people? GREEN: They're members of a club. JOFFE: The adult members of this club are partying like it's 1989. DEREK MAZZONE: Unidentified Group: Yeah. JOFFE: Unidentified Woman #1: (Singing) You know you can do it. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG \"VOUGE\") JOFFE: Do you like Madonna? JASMINE HERRING: What is she? JOFFE: She's that music that's playing right now. HERRING: Oh, yes. JOFFE: Five-year-old Charlotte Serl(ph) knows Madonna. She also likes Elvis and a little hip-hop. And she's just tickled to be here. Is it just me or do the British kids always sound smarter? CHARLOTTE SERL: I think it's amazing to be at a proper disco. JOFFE: What do you mean by a proper disco? PEARL: A proper D.J., a proper lights. You just get to dance at part. (SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER) LAURA GLASS: Kids will dance to anything, Bob Marley or The Wiggles. And so if really don't care if we're hearing The Wiggles 24/7, but I do want to go to a club, how much fun is that? JOFFE: Mother of three, Laura Glass, brought Baby Loves Disco to Seattle. It's a national franchise that started in Philadelphia and is now in 20 clubs in 20 cities. It's run almost entirely by a loose network of moms - not for profit, but for fun. GLASS: I just felt as though parents might want to connect somewhere outside of that brightly colored room with a parachute and a ball. JOFFE: Brightly colored children's museums, she says, science centers, the zoo and all the stuff Laura calls plastic crap that's out there for kids. This generation of parents, like their moms and dads before them, are trying to reinvent what it means to be a parent. They're saying you can skateboard with your kids. You can diaper change while watching \"The Daily Show,\" and of course, you can still get your groove on at the club. MAZZONE: When I say baby, you all say disco. Baby. Baby. JOFFE: D.J. Derek Mazzone says he's spinning for the moms and dads out there. With his little girl on his shoulders, he says parenting takes you to this other all-consuming universe. MAZZONE: It's just a great release for both. You know, it just brings them back to the reality instead of the unreality of parenthood. JOFFE: Of course, Baby Loves Disco is really just his own unreality - one where the Village People, Michael Jackson, bubbles, bouncing babies and... BUELER: Disco dancing. JOFFE: Unidentified Child #1: Baby Loves Disco.", "Growing up, actor Octavia Spencer remembers being inspired by the story of Madam C.J. Walker, one of America's first black, female, self-made millionaires. Born on a plantation in 1867, Walker eked out a living washing clothes for white families before building an empire selling hair care and makeup products to women of color. \"She was a woman of purpose,\" Spencer says. \"I've always known her story. But what's interesting is her legacy is known in African American culture, but not really by the masses.\" Now the Oscar-winning actor is helping tell Walker's story to a broader audience, starring as the businesswoman in the Netflix limited series Self Made. Spencer says she can relate to Walker's effort to provide black women with beauty products that were designed specifically for them. \"I remember one of the first jobs I had ... there was no makeup for me,\" Spencer says. \"From then on, I always carry my own makeup. I don't have to now, but I definitely [carried] my own makeup to sets.\" Interview Highlights On fighting for more money with every role I always, always fight ... for a raise. Always. And [I] always got a raise, with every single job, because I've always prepared just to walk away. And sometimes I've had to walk away because productions won't budge. And I'm fine with saying no. I think a lot of people lose the advantage in the negotiating process if they are not willing to walk away. And I'm always willing to walk away. On black women in Hollywood being paid less than white women Oh, that was apparent from the start. You could tell by what an actor/actress gets in their deal. You can tell what an actor gets by what they receive on the sets. No one's actually going to tell you what they make, but you can tell. I mean, we all knew, because what happens is when they're putting together a production, they would cast the male lead, the white female lead, and then they come to you. And it's like, \"Well, we've given out all of our dollars. So here's the change.\" And that's usually by the time they get to you ... there's very little money. I just knew that I wasn't going to take that much longer, especially with what I've been able to achieve as an actress. And women that I worked with, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Jada Pinkett Smith, I mean, we all talk and we started talking numbers and realized that there definitely was a disadvantage that women of color receive and with regard to pay. And we shared information and we all learned how to speak up and say exactly what we want and dictate the terms that we needed in our negotiating process. On the claustrophobic period costuming she wore in Self Made I've done a lot of period pieces, but they were [set] in the '60s or the '50s. I'd never done anything from earlier, actually. I didn't realize that I wouldn't like the costumes. And I don't mean the style, I mean the fact that women had to be so covered up. I mean, everything: the gloves, and the long skirts, and the petticoats and the hats. ... I didn't realize how claustrophobic the costuming would feel, especially with corsets on and all of that. So the clothes were really constricting in a way that I didn't enjoy. They were beautifully, beautifully done. But I was not a fan. And I understand bra burning. I would say I would corset-burn and I would burn the petticoats. I mean, it was just ridiculous what women had to wear — and the stockings and the little boots. It was a lot of clothes. On whether she had any reservations about playing a maid in The Help, given the limited roles for black women in Hollywood Not at all, because I think these women represented real people in our society, people who did noble work. ... Well, like my mother, like so many people, I mean, who facilitate the lives of other people. And I would be remiss if I somehow looked down or found myself superior in any way. I thought that character was well-rounded. She had a wonderful arc in the book and I was honored to play her. On growing up in Alabama and losing her Southern accent One of the ways that I paid for college was through oration and speech competitions. And that's one of the things that you do, you lose your accent. ... Only for me, I lost my accent only to find it again in Hollywood. I mean, the only people I know, the only women I knew growing up were Southern women. So most of the characters I play will likely be Southern, if they're from a certain class. I pick it up, I lose it. And if I'm around Southern people, it definitely comes back quite easily. On having stage fright in front of a live audience but not on set I actually am not the best in front of an audience. I have severe stage fright. So I had to confront that. And in public speaking, I always get extremely nervous before any speech that I have to do, and that has not dissipated at all. And so I had to embrace the fact that I will likely always have stage fright. So I don't know [if] that actually helped me as an actor, but I definitely — I've made my pea", "Even in a week that's filled with bombings and poisoning investigations, for many people the saddest moment in the news was when Brian Anderson, an Oregon sheriff, had to turn away in tears as he announced that James Kim's body had been found. \"I'm crushed,\" he said. \"He was a real superhero.\" Mr. Kim and his wife Kati, their daughters -- 4-year-old Penelope and their 7-month-old baby Sabine -- were stranded in their car in a heavy snow after making a wrong turn onto a logging road west of Grant's Pass, Ore. The Kims lived in San Francisco, where James Kim worked for a tech news Web site. His family owned two boutiques and a coffee shop where he stopped each day, buying a double latte in the morning and a frappe that he brought home to his wife each night. They were driving home from Thanksgiving in Seattle, and missed a turn when snow began to fall; and their car got stuck. The logging road they turned down should be blocked off by a gate in November, because it's considered hazardous in winter. But authorities said yesterday that vandals apparently cut the lock; and the gate was open. For a week, the Kims huddled and ate berries, baby food and crackers. After a few days, they had to burn their tires to keep warm, and to try to attract attention. When they ran out of food, Kati Kim, who is still nursing their baby, breast-fed 4-year-old Penelope, too. In these times of mobile phones, instant messages and global positioning satellites, it is hard to imagine that you can be lost and out of reach anywhere in the United States. Many news accounts have tried to imagine the pain, cold, hunger and fright the family must have felt -- the excruciating uncertainty, day after day, as they weren't found and couldn't know that hundreds of people were searching for them. What might have been hardest for James and Kati Kim was to see and hear their children suffer. So after a week stuck in the wilderness, and no sign of rescue, James Kim decided that a father has to do whatever he can to save his family -- or die trying. He struck out to try to find help. Hungry, weak, and wearing only street clothes, James Kim, a city boy from San Francisco, walked and crawled for ten miles over sharp ledges, through bristling forests and swam through freezing creek waters. Two days after he left, Kati Kim and their daughters were found. Their health is good. But two days after that, James Kim was found dead in a ravine, of exposure. So much of modern popular culture depicts parents who are goofy, foolish, clueless and slightly pathetic. Almost every parent is certain they would risk their life for those they love; James Kim actually made that sacrifice. As Joe Hyatt, a member of the rescue team searching for James Kim, told reporters this week: \"He must have been an extremely amazing individual. I would only hope I could do the same for my family.\" SIMON SCOTT, host: Even in a week that's filled with bombings and poisoning investigations, for many people the saddest moment in the news was when Brian Anderson, an Oregon sheriff, had to turn away in tears as he announced that James Kim's body had been found. I'm crushed, he said, he was a real superhero. Mr. Kim and his wife, Kati, their daughters - four-year-old Penelope and their seven-month-old baby, Sabine - were stranded in their car in a heavy snow after making a wrong turn onto a logging road west of Grant's Pass, Oregon. The Kims lived in San Francisco, where James Kim worked for a tech news Web site. His family owned two boutiques and a coffee shop where he stopped each day, buying a double latte in the morning and a frappe that he brought home to his wife each night. They were driving home from Thanksgiving in Seattle, and missed a turn when snow began to fall, and their car got stuck. The logging road they turned down should be blocked off by a gate in November; it's considered hazardous in winter. But authorities said yesterday that vandals apparently cut the lock, and the gate was open. For a week, the Kims huddled and ate berries, baby food and crackers. After a few days, they had to burn their tires to keep warm, and to try to attract attention. When they ran out of food, Kati Kim, who is still nursing their baby, breast-fed four-year-old Penelope too. In these times of mobile phones, instant messages and global positioning satellites, it's hard to imagine that you can be lost and out of reach anywhere in the United States. Many news accounts have tried to imagine the pain, cold, hunger and fright the family must have felt, the excruciating uncertainty, day after day, as they weren't found and couldn't know that hundreds of people were searching for them. What might have been hardest for James and Kati Kim was to see and hear their children suffer. So after a week stuck in the wilderness, and no sign of rescue, James Kim decided that a father has to do whatever he can to save his family - or die trying. He struck out to try to find help. Hungry, weak and weari", "Liza Minnelli's latest sold-out Broadway show was a double showcase. The first half of Liza's at the Palace... featured many of the tunes that made Minnelli famous on the stage. The second disc relives the 1940s nightclub act made famous by her godmother, Kay Thompson. Many know that Minnelli grew up with famous parents: Her father was film director Vincente Minnelli, her mother Judy Garland. But Thompson also enjoyed a measure of fame. Alongside her long-running act with Andy Williams and his brothers, she wrote the Eloise series of children's books and was a musical director and vocal coach for Hollywood's MGM Studios. \"Well, Kay Thompson was Hollywood's secret weapon,\" Minnelli says. \"So everything that made you smile, really, was because of her. She taught people how to sing, she arranged things and her vocal arrangements were astounding.\" A double-CD recording of Liza's at the Palace... is set to be released this week. Minnelli talked about her career and her latest production with host Scott Simon. \"And, yes, I am left gasping for breath,\" Minnelli says. \"But it's the most joyous exhaustion I have ever experienced.\" Hear the full interview with Minnelli by clicking on the link at the top of the page, starting around noon ET on Saturday, Jan. 31. SCOTT SIMON, host: On Tuesday, \"Liza's at the Palace\" will be released. It's the original cast recording of Liza Minnelli's recent sold-out show on Broadway. And the two CD set is in fact a double showcase because disc one features many of the tunes that made her most famous on stage, including - do we need to tell you this? - \"Cabaret.\" (Soundbite of \"Cabaret\") Ms. LIZA MINNELLI (Singer and Actress): (Singing) Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret. SIMON: The second disc relives the 1940s nightclub act that was made famous by her godmother, Kay Thompson. (Soundbite of \"Hello, Hello\") Unidentified Man: (Singing) Katie Kay Thompson. Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) Hello, Hello. Hello and thanks so much. Your greeting is enough to touch my heart. SIMON: Liza Minnelli joins us from our studios in New York. Thanks so much for being with us. Ms. MINNELLI: Thank you. Hello, everybody. (Soundbite of \"Hello, Hello\") Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) And now that all the formalities are through We might as well - Oh, you haven't all met No. SIMON: Of course, everybody knows, you're the daughter of Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland but let me get you to talk about Kay Thompson, your godmother. Ms. MINNELLI: All right. SIMON: You first. Ms. MINNELLI: OK. SIMON: (Laughing) Ms. MINNELLI: Well, Kay Thompson was Hollywood's secret weapon. (Soundbite of song \"The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe\") Ms. JUDY GARLAND (Actress and Singer): (Singing) What a lovely trip I'm feeling so fresh and alive And I'm so glad to arrive It's all so grand Ms. MINNELLI: She was the musical director at MGM. So all of those great arrangements that you heard, I guess in the 40s, you know from '44 probably right up till '49, were all Kay Thompson's. So, everything that made you smile really was - was because of her. She taught people how to sing. She arranged things. And the - her vocal arrangements were astounding. (Soundbite of song \"The Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe\") Ms. GARLAND: (Singing) When I ever took a ride on the Santa Fe I would lean across my window sill SIMON: There's a part of me that - I think one of the best movie songs of all time is \"The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.\" Ms. MINNELLI: Me too. Kay Thompson. SIMON: That was her song. Ms. MINNELLI: Absolute - that was her arrangement. SIMON: It was her arrangement, yeah. Ms. MINNELLI: Absolutely. All of that stuff and - that's Kay. (Soundbite of \"I'm Nobody's Baby\") Ms. GARLAND: (Singing) What a thrill With the wheels a-singin' westward ho Right from the day I heard them start. Ms. MINNELLI: And like I said. She had been the lady behind the scenes. And suddenly, she did a nightclub act with four guys called the Williams Brothers, one of which was Andy Williams, right? And it knocked everybody off their seat. And she played that run - that night club run for almost 60 weeks. So, Ron Lewis, who is my friend and my director and choreographer and has been since 1970, I asked him, will you - would you help me? Let's try and celebrate Kay Thompson. She was such a huge part of my life. (Soundbite of \"I Love a Violin\") Ms. MINNELLI: (Singing) And when the violin Begins to sob and sigh I look at you and I I've got to fall in love So, honey, hold me close My heart is in a spin. SIMON: I've read the reviews, and the show on stage that you do, - it requires constant movement. I think the Wall Street Journal said, even the tireless Ms. Minnelli is frequently left gasping for breath. Now you had - what is it - in recent years knee operations, hip replacements? Ms. MINNELLI: Oh, yeah, I've had everything but, you know, so has practically everybody else. (Laughing). You know, I'm just, you know, I'", "In the early 1960s when soul star Sam Cooke had his own record label, SAR, he recorded songs by his younger brother, L.C. Cooke. Ten of the tracks were supposed to become L.C.'s debut album in 1964. The release was postponed, then Sam Cooke was killed, SAR went out of business and L.C.'s album fell into limbo. Now, 50 years later, The Complete SAR Records Recordings has appeared. Fresh Air critic Milo Miles examines this lost piece of history. TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. In the early 1960s when soul star Sam Cooke had his own label called SAR Records, he produced recordings by his younger brother, L.C. Cooke. Ten of the tracks were supposed to become L.C.'s debut album in 1964. Sam Cooke was killed that year. SAR eventually went out of business in L.C.'s album was never made. A new collection of L.C.'s recordings for SAR has been released, and music critic Milo Miles has the review. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"THE LOVER\") L.C. COOKE: (Singing) Everybody loves a lover, babe. That's why all the girls love me. Everybody loves a lover, babe. That's why all the girls love me - because when I get to loving I'm as loveable as I can be. I'm a raging ball of fire, babe. I'm a barrel of fun. I'm a raging ball of fire, babe. I'm a whole barrel of fun. Well, I'm a handyman, baby - sixty minute man all in one. Let me tell you about it. MILO MILES, BYLINE: I knew Sam Cooke had a younger brother who he had recorded and produced, but it was tough to hear any of L.C. Cooke's rare singles and impossible to evaluate him as a performer overall - not anymore. All the material L.C. recorded for his brother's SAR label plus two songs made before and one from after have come out as \"The Complete SAR Recrods Recordings.\" Most were written by Sam, a few by L.C. To get my one hesitation out of the way, L.C. is not quite the singer his brother was - tones less rich, phrasing a bit more pedestrian. But it's good the material sketches a persona different from Sam's. L.C. seems - how should we say - brattier. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"TAKE ME FOR WHAT I AM\") COOKE: (Singing) Don't try to make me... CHORUS: (Singing) Don't make me... COOKE: (Singing) ...Into what I ain't... CHORUS: (Singing) ...Into what I ain't... COOKE: (Singing) When you met me, babe... CHORUS: (Singing) When you met me... COOKE: (Singing) ...I was no saint. CHORUS: (Singing) ...I was no saint. COOKE: (Singing) How can a tiger... CHORUS: (Singing) How can a tiger... COOKE: (Singing) ...Be a lamb? CHORUS: (Singing) ...Be a lamb? COOKE: (Singing) Take me, baby... CHORUS: (Singing) Take me, baby... COOKE: (Singing) ...For what I am. CHORUS: (Singing) ...For what I am. COOKE: (Singing) A girl will search for just the right man. And once she finds him, aw look out because right away she'll try to change him. That's when you will hear him shout, don't try to make me... MILES: In the liner notes by Peter Guralnick, he quotes L.C. saying, \"everything Sam wrote was modern.\" I know what he means. Sam Cooke's songs sound timeless, urban and urbane - hip but never snobbish, the perfect blend of cool attitude and warm heart. The only dud track on the album is \"The Wobble,\" a vague, derivative attempt to cash in on the dance craze era. L.C. adds clearer, sassier dance instructions during a spoken finale in \"Chalk Line.\" (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"CHALK LINE\") COOKE: (Singing) Now look, baby. This is the way you walk the chalk line. You put your left foot in front of your right, then your right in front of your left - now your left, baby, back in front of your right. That's it - now your right in front of your left. Now kind of move easy, baby, with it - not too fast. That's it. Shake them hips. Yeah, that's what I mean. You got it. MILES: L.C. claims his favorite number that he ever did is \"If I Could Only Hear,\" which he wrote and recorded before she joined SAR Records. It's understandable he doesn't want his only ride to be his brother's coattails, but while \"If I Could Only Hear\" is a captivating tune, it's stuck too much in the doo-wop mode. The clearer stand-out on this album is \"Put Me Down Easy,\" which shows that L.C., like his brother, Sam, was a master of soft, sensuous pleading. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"PUT ME DOWN EASY\") COOKE: (Singing) I don't why it should be, but lately I can plainly see, you're cool to me. Do what you want to do but, darling, all I ask of you - put me down easy. Put me down easy, baby. Yeah, don't make it rougher, and don't make me suffer. Put me down easy. If you found somebody new, there is nothing I can do but ask you to try and do me just the same as pilots do big aeroplanes. Put me down easy. Put me down easy, baby. Yeah, baby, don't make it rougher, and don't make me suffer. Just put me down easy. MILES: L.C. is now in his early 80s. I was surprised to learn he was born less than a year after his brother. Imagine, had he lived, Sam Cooke could have been around to see his fan, Barack Obama, elected President. GROSS: Milo Miles reviewed L.C. Cooke, \"The Com", "For a year and a half now, Morning Edition has been following the singer-songwriter Neko Case as she worked on an album that would come to be titled The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. It includes \"Where Did I Leave That Fire,\" a song with a haunting question at its heart, and now we know that the singer who asked where she left that fire was feeling depressed. She felt like she was moving through life underwater. But Case also went through a series of deaths in the family, including her grandmother and both parents, although she says she'd really lost them years ago. \"They've really never been my parents,\" Case tells NPR's Steve Inskeep. \"I mean, they are my biological parents, but they never wanted a kid. And so I just wasn't really parented, per se. I don't miss them at all. But, you know, you go back and you start to think about why you missed them your whole life but you never knew you were doing because when you're a little kid that's all you know.\" There was a real incident that inspired Case to write \"Nearly Midnight, Honolulu,\" something that felt a little too real. The lyrics are brutal and the song is sung a cappella, making it beautiful. \"I was waiting for a shuttle to go to the airport and a mother with a little girl who was about 5-ish, I think, and the little girl was singing a song to herself. She's being cute,\" Case says. \"And the mom was screaming at her — 'Just get the F away from me.' Like, 'Don't you ever shut up?!' And I was like, 'That's too close to home.' \" 'Weird Diving Bell Suit' So many of these songs are about Case's experiences or reflect on the way she's feeling or remembering things. And Inskeep has wondered whether Case had lost her creative sense for a little while. \"Yeah, definitely,\" Case says. \"It was always there, but being depressed is a lot like ... wearing this weird diving bell suit made of Ziploc baggies or something. And you're there with other people and you can see them and hear them and touch them through the baggie or something, but you can't conduct electricity.\" \"I was wondering when you felt really depressed, did you have trouble singing?\" Inskeep asks. \"No, but I couldn't really listen to music,\" Case says. \"And that's one of the ways I knew something was really wrong with me. I just found lyrics just grating and so I started listening to ragtime and I found that that was really very comforting. It was like a little bubbling engine. It was like a little teapot — the old style like my grandma had. Like the percolator, which was always like the good coffee smell in the morning. Like, 'All right, we're getting going. Everything's going to be great.' So that's kind of how it felt.\" 'It Happens To Everyone' The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight ... closes on a hopeful note with \"Ragtime,\" which Case is definitely feeling more of these days. \"I definitely feel a lot better,\" says Case. \"Once I stopped fighting it, that's when it really started. It's like a bottleneck broke open, and everything started to flow again and my circulation came back. I stopped trying to overanalyze how sad I was. I stopped trying to say, 'No, I'm not superdepressed.' I mean, I'm sure there's a fear in people — they don't want to admit to being depressed because you're kind of considered broken. It's silly because it happens to everyone. \"I don't think it something that people are going to learn anything from. I'm not trying to say my 'genius' bummer I'm going to lay on you right now is quite momentous. It's more like, 'Hey guys, sucks to feel crappy, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Sorry, man.' And then you move on.\" STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: For a year and a half now, we've been following the songwriter Neko Case as she worked on an album that includes this song. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"WHERE DID I LEAVE THAT FIRE\") NEKO CASE: (Singing) A chill ran through me and I grabbed on tight. INSKEEP: The singer/songwriter wrote, rearranged, and added submarine sounds to a song with a haunting question at its heart. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"WHERE DID I LEAVE THAT FIRE\") CASE: (Singing) Where did I leave that fire? INSKEEP: Now we know the singer who asked where she left that fire was feeling depressed. She felt like she was moving through life underwater. The album is out but the title's so long that Neko Case predicted she'd be forced to cut it. She was not. It is: \"The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You.\" And in our final conversation, Neko Case talked of writing songs after a series of deaths in the family. Her grandmother died. And then she lost both of her parents, although she felt as if she had really lost them years ago. CASE: They've never really been my parents. I mean they are my biological parents, but they never wanted a kid. And so I just wasn't really parented, per se. I don't miss them at all. But, you know, you get to go back and think about why you missed them your whole life, but you never knew that", "Meaghan Smith grew up watching old movies and musicals in London, Ontario. She took those influences and turned them into an album that sounds both old-fashioned and timeless. The song \"I Know,\" for example, could be mistaken for a remastered jazz standard from the '40s, but it's a brand-new track from Smith's new record, titled The Cricket's Orchestra. Smith recently sat down with Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz to talk about the album. Smith grew up in a family of musicians. Her mother is a piano teacher and her father plays the bass. \"There was always music in every single room, all the time,\" she says of her childhood. Unlike her three sisters, Smith never learned how to read music, instead learning songs by ear. She never studied music, but says the art of songwriting came naturally. \"I don't know, I wish I had learned,\" Smith says of reading music. \"But I'm also a little bit glad that I'm sort of naive about it, because it keeps a creative part of my brain open to writing.\" A Musical Experience Smith says she wanted to make a record that sounds \"as if you're leaving one world and entering another\" a musical experience. \"For me, the music that I really connect to, and albums that I love, are albums that I can get lost in,\" she says. \"I turn them on and I forget everything.\" Smith has named her style \"modern vintage,\" and a Canadian newspaper once wrote that the record sounded as if Bjork worked with k.d. lang and Doris Day. With influences from the '20s, '30s and '40s, Smith says she geared her approach toward preserving the \"humanness\" of the sound. \"I love listening to those old recordings,\" she says. \"You can hear everything, you can hear the room that the musicians are playing in, you can hear their feet on the floor ... and you can hear mistakes, too. I love how real that is.\" The album's modern side can be heard on songs such as \"A Little Love,\" for which Smith worked with DJ Kid Koala. Koala scratches records in the background of the piece, adding a playful spin to the sound. \"There's something so organic about his scratching,\" Smith says of Kid Koala. \"Putting it over the top of a string quartet ... I'm so glad that it translated in real life.\" Her career as a musician was never certain; Smith suffered from terrible stage fright early in her career. To overcome this fear, she says she took inspiration from Patti Griffin, another singer who's faced similar struggles. Griffin said that the only way to get over stage fright was to go through it and accept that she was afraid. Smith started going to open mics around her town, eventually getting to a point when she could perform. \"It took me four years of playing open mics like that,\" she says. \"I can now say that playing in front of a crowd is my favorite part of the day. There's nothing that I love more.\" (Soundbite of song, \"I Know\") GUY RAZ, host: What you're hearing could be a remastered jazz standard from the 1940s, but it's brand new. It's a song called \"I Know,\" by Canadian singer Meaghan Smith. (Soundbite of song, \"I Know\") Ms. MEAGHAN SMITH (Musician): (Singing) It's in our hello, and the way her smile glows. And it's in our goodbye and it's here in your eye... RAZ: Meaghan Smith grew up watching old movies and musicals in London, Ontario, and she took those influences and turned them into an album that's both vintage-like and timeless. The record is called \"The Cricket's Orchestra,\" And Meaghan Smith joins me from Halifax, Canada. Welcome to the program. Ms. SMITH: Hi, thank you so much for having me. RAZ: Meaghan, that song we're hearing, \"I Know,\" it has a whistling solo. Can you tell us who that whistler is? Ms. SMITH: Yes, Guy, we had such a special guest appearance. That is my dad whistling. (Soundbite of song, \"I Know\") (Soundbite of whistling) Ms. SMITH: There he goes. Oh, man, he is one of the best whistlers that I know of, and so when I was recording the song, and I felt like it needed a little instrumental break, but I wanted something that really fit the vibe of the track. And I just thought, you know, somebody whistling, and who better to do it than my own dad? RAZ: And your dad, I should mention, and your mom, are both musicians, I mean, not professionals, right? Ms. SMITH: Yeah, I grew up in a super-musical family. There was always music in every single room of every in our house all the time, so... RAZ: I even read that your three sisters are brilliant pianists. Ms. SMITH: They are. RAZ: And you don't even know how to read music, and yet you became the professional musician in the family. Ms. SMITH: I just, I had a really hard time reading music, and I also am very lazy. So I tended to cheat and just learn songs by ear, and I didn't I had never studied music, and you know, it kind of came naturally to me just to play by ear, which led to writing songs for myself. (Soundbite of song, \"I Know\") Ms. SMITH: (Singing) You leave with this, a hug and a kiss. And that little phrase, those three wor", "The Harlem Children's Zone is a nonprofit known for its innovative, multifaceted approach to ending the cycle to poverty. It's garnered kudos from President Obama and philanthropists like William Louis-Dreyfus, who recently announced he would donate up to $50 million to the organization. One of the Harlem Children's Zone programs is The Baby College, geared to expectant parents and those with kids up to the age of three. It celebrates its 15th anniversary this spring. A recent Baby College graduation had the feel of a motivational seminar crossed with a rock concert. It started early on a Saturday morning but the 59 graduates, joined by friends and family, were already used to the schedule. Baby College takes place over nine consecutive Saturdays, during which students learn about subjects including baby-proofing, nutrition, brain development and communication skills. They also learn the importance of reading to kids. At graduation, some of the parents performed a rap on the topic: \"First we start with the names of the letters, here's a little rhyme to help us learn them better. A is for alligator, B is for big, C is for cot, D is for dig.\" Spreading Knowledge, Building A Community Thousands of Harlem residents have been through the program, which counts 5,000 graduates to date. The Baby College recruits aggressively. Outreach workers knock on doors in public housing and stop pregnant women on the street. Staff members conduct weekly home visits with participating families. The program also provides incentives to attend, distributing baby gates and children's books, as well as offering free meals and childcare during classes. Participants with perfect attendance records are entered in a raffle at graduation. The winner gets a free month's rent. This time, an expectant mother, Caprice Johnson, won the prize. \"I'll probably go into labor, hold on,\" she joked. Meeting weekly for more than two months creates a community among the parents and parents-to-be. Dr. Joshua Sparrow, director of Boston's Brazelton Touchpoints Center, says this is one of the Baby College's big benefits. \"When parents don't feel isolated, when they don't feel alone, and they feel like they've got the support from others in their community, they're much more likely to be able to be warm and responsive and sensitive in their interactions with their children,\" he says. Sparrow and the famed pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton helped create the Baby College curriculum. It encourages discipline without corporal punishment. Program instructors share research with parents warning that spanking can stymie brain development and weaken emotional bonds. Edgar Garcia, 25 years old and a first-time father, says the overriding message he got from Baby College was the importance of that emotional connection with his son. \"Discipline comes first, then a lot of things follow afterwards,\" he says. \"At the end of the day, just make sure you're there for your child.\" Ambiguous Impact On Academics Despite the support provided by the program, the academic benefits of Baby College are not clear. A 2011 Harvard study did not find that parents' participation in Baby College alone improved children's test scores in elementary school. \"They don't find a difference between getting the good charter school experience and getting the good charter school experience plus Baby College,\" says W. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Still, he says, a parenting workshop like Baby College can be valuable. \"There's a lot more to learning and development than test scores,\" Barnett says. \"Baby College is not an intensive, expensive program. And so if it only has modest impacts, it's probably worth it.\" The Harvard study did find that children enrolled in the Harlem Children's Zone charter schools outperformed their peers academically, especially in math. And Baby College can serve as a gateway for enrollment to those schools. At the most recent graduation, Baby College director Hassan Daniel emphasized that he was saying congratulations — but not goodbye. \"Please, make sure you stay connected with us. Because we want to make sure that we are giving all these great opportunities to you and your family,\" he said. If he and the rest of the Baby College staff have their way, that graduation could be just the first of many milestones parents celebrate with the Harlem Children's Zone. ARUN RATH, HOST: The Harlem Children's Zone is a nonprofit with an innovative approach to ending the cycle of poverty. One of their best-known programs is Baby College. It's for expectant parents or for those with kids up to the age of 3. As it approaches its 15th anniversary, there is criticism, as well as some successes. Alexandra Starr of NPR's Code Switch team attended the latest Baby College graduation and reports. ALEXANDRA STARR, BYLINE: The event had the feel of a motivational seminar crossed with a rock concert. There was an engagin", "A documentary on the life of composer and lyricist Frank Loesser is about to debut on many PBS stations. Heart & Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser highlights the creative genius behind Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Susan Loesser, daughter of the composer, tells Scott Simon what she hopes people will take away from the documentary. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG) Unidentified Man: (Singing) They call you Lady Luck but there is room for doubt. At times you have a very unladylike way of running out. SCOTT SIMON, Host: Frank Loesser was once called Cole Porter without the martini in his hand. He wrote some of the most enduring American music of the mid-20th century in stage and movie musicals - strong, spirited, funny and moving songs and colorful American speech that continue to make people laugh, tear and hum along today. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG \"LUCK BE A LADY\") L: (Singing) Luck be a lady tonight. Luck be a lady tonight. Luck if you've ever been a lady to begin with, luck be a lady tonight. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG) A: (Singing) A secretary is not a toy, no my boy, not a toy. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG \"BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE\") SIMON: (Singing) I simply must go. Unidentified Man #3: (Singing) But baby it's cold outside. Unidentified Woman #1: (Singing) The answer is no. Man #3: (Singing) But baby it's cold outside. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG) R: (Singing) I've got the horse right here. The name is Paul Revere and there's a guy that says that the weather's clear, can do, can do. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG) Unidentified Woman #2: (Singing) It's got me loving you madly, that little kiss you stole, held all my heart and soul. SIMON: You recognize each and every one of those songs, don't you? A documentary about Frank Loesser will debut on many PBS stations. It's called \"Heart and Soul: The Life and Music of Frank Loesser\". It's the first documentary about the man who wrote \"Guys and Dolls,\" \"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,\" and scores of movie musicals. Joining us now from New York is Frank Loesser's daughter, Susan Loesser. Thanks so much for being with us. SUSAN LOESSER: My pleasure. SIMON: Your father died in 1969. He was just 59. LOESSER: Right. SIMON: He had a lot of music left in him. LOESSER: He did. SIMON: Do you find that people are sometimes surprised to learn that one man wrote all those songs that they hum? LOESSER: Yeah, including me. I wrote a book about my father and my working title was \"He Wrote That Too?\" SIMON: Yeah. What was it like to grow up with him? I almost said with a songwriter, but you'd only - probably only know that one, so... LOESSER: Yes. SIMON: What was it like? LOESSER: Well, I thought it was a perfectly normal childhood, which I found out when I grew up that it wasn't at all. I never saw people work the way people work who aren't in the entertainment business. My father's way of working was to pace and smoke and drink coffee and play some things on the piano and pace some more and write down some stuff. And it looked kind of like play to me. SIMON: Your father's family wasn't wild about his becoming a songwriter, were they? LOESSER: No, they weren't. They were very snobbish, German, lovers of classical music. They thought that popular music was trash, and that's probably one reason that my father was smitten with it and wanted to become a popular songwriter. His father was a piano teacher but did not teach my father how to play the piano. His brother was a prodigy pianist, toured all over the world and then became a musicologist. SIMON: How did they feel when he went to Hollywood? LOESSER: My grandmother, I have a letter from her to him saying, please, please, please, Frankie, come back and get a real job. SIMON: So there was never the point in life where they said, you know, that's our son who won the Pulitzer Prize for musical theater? LOESSER: No. They were not - they did not... SIMON: Which he did with \"How to Succeed in Business\". LOESSER: Yes. Uh-huh. They were always pretty condescending. And yet they really did love him and he was very - he loved his mother, of course, and was deeply fond of his brother. SIMON: I want to ask you about one of his many signature songs, \"Baby, It's Cold Outside\". The story is that this was first sung by your mother and father at a dinner party? LOESSER: Yes. The entertainment business on both coasts had parties at which if you were invited you had to bring an act. And they went to a party, or they had a party, and their act was \"Baby, It's Cold Outside\", which my father wrote in 1944. They were a huge hit. My mother used to say it kept us in caviar and truffles for years. They were invited to all the parties because they sang the song so charmingly, and it was their song. And then when he sold it to the movies in 1948, my mother was really devastated because it was going to be in \"Neptune's Daughter\" with Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban. And my mother was really, really upset about that. However, it won the Osc", "A child's success can't be measured in IQ scores, standardized tests or vocabulary quizzes, says author Paul Tough. Success, he argues, is about how young people build character. Tough explores this idea in his new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character. \"For some people, [the] path to college is so easy that they can get out into life and they've never really been challenged,\" he tells NPR's David Greene. \"I think they get into their 20s and 30s and they really feel lost — they feel like they never had those character-building experiences as adolescents, as kids, that really make a difference when they get to adulthood.\" That wasn't true for the teenagers Tough met during the time he spent in some of Chicago's roughest neighborhoods. There, he worked with teenagers overcoming unimaginable challenges. One young woman he worked with had been sexually abused by a relative, was getting into fights in school and was on the verge of dropping out. But then she entered an intensive mentoring program that changed her life. \"She made it through high school, overcame a lot of obstacles and now is getting a cosmetology degree,\" Tough says. \"For some people, that wouldn't be a huge success. But for her, she overcame obstacles that won't only set her on a path for material success, but also psychological success.\" The difference-maker really depends on the person, Tough says. Mentoring programs that focus on goal-setting can be helpful, and he also says parents should try to help their kids manage stress from a very early age. Interview Highlights On stressed-out baby rats, and what they can tell us about stressed-out baby humans \"When baby rats got stressed out — when they were handled by lab technicians, let's say — there were some mother rats who would lick and groom their baby rats and others who would not. And so the scientists got interested in this one particular behavior, and they tried to figure out what kind of difference it made. As they did a series of experiments, they found out it made a huge difference. The rats who as babies were licked and groomed did much better on all sorts of things when they reached adulthood. They were braver, more curious; it had actually changed the shape of certain parts of their brains. \"I think there's a real parallel there for humans — we don't know for sure that our brains work exactly like rat brains, but I think there's a lot of parallels between that and research on attachment. Psychologists who have studied attachment have found that when human kids have that same kind of licking and grooming-style bonding with their parents, especially in the first year of life, it gives them all sorts of psychological strength, confidence [and] character that, when they reach school age and even into adulthood, will make a huge difference in how well they do.\" On being a parent, and knowing when to let go \"There are two stages [of parenthood] and it's hard to tell where the transition goes from one to the other. When kids are really young — when they're in their first year or two of life — my sense from the research is you can't be too loving. ... What kids need at that point is just support, attention, parents who are really attuned to the child's needs. But at some point somewhere around 1, or 2 or 3, that really starts to change and what kids need is independence and challenge. And certainly as kids get into middle childhood and into adolescence, that's exactly what they need. They need less parenting. ... They need parents to really stand back, let them fall and get back up, let them fight their own battles.\" On rethinking predictors of success \"Absolutely, cognitive skill and IQ make a big difference; vocabulary matters. But the scientists, the economists and neuroscientists and psychologists who I've been studying and writing about are really challenging the idea that IQ, that standardized test scores, that those are the most important things in a child's success. I think there's lots of evidence out there now that says that these other strengths, these character strengths, these noncognitive skills, are at least as important in a child's success and quite possibly more important.\" On how schools are focused on scores rather than noncognitive skills \"Right now we've got an education system that really doesn't pay attention to [noncognitive] skills at all. ... I think schools just aren't set up right now to try to develop things like grit, and perseverance and curiosity. ... Especially in a world where we are more and more focused on standardized tests that measure a pretty narrow range of cognitive skills, teachers are less incentivized to think about how to develop those skills in kids. So it's a conversation that's really absent I think in a lot of schools, to the detriment of a lot of students.\" On raising his own 3-year-old son \"My wife and I had our son just as I was diving into this research, and so I spent a lot of time going back an", "When director Gillian Robespierre co-wrote the new romantic comedy Obvious Child, she says she wanted to bring attention to an empowered, funny woman who has a realistic, safe abortion. \"We ... wanted to combine a lot of things that we felt our culture was suppressing,\" Robespierre tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. In the movie, Jenny Slate stars as Donna, a 27-year-old stand-up comic who still doesn't think of herself as an adult. After a drunken one-night stand, she finds out she's pregnant and decides to have an abortion. Slate, a stand-up comic as well as an actress, says she was excited by the role because it was a departure from her previous work. \"The character is at once really gentle and very bold and sweet, but [she] also can be rather bawdy at times,\" Slate says. \"I do a lot of comedy work but have yet to do real vulnerable stuff.\" In the fall of 2009, Slate became a cast member on Saturday Night Live. During her first show, she mistakenly said the \"f\" word during a skit. The show didn't renew her contract. Slate has a recurring role on Comedy Central's Kroll Show, and on Parks and Recreation she plays Mona Lisa Saperstein. She has also appeared on Bob's Burgers, Girls, House of Lies and the new series Married on FX. Slate also voices the animated Web series Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, which she co-writes with her husband and which they adapted into a best-selling children's book. Obvious Child is Robespierre's first feature film. Robespierre and Slate talk about stage fright, abortion and why fart jokes are funny. Interview Highlights On bringing visibility to the word \"abortion\" Gillian Robespierre: It's a word I'm really happy seeing on a poster; I'm really happy seeing [it] in headlines from Variety to The New York Times to Indiewire — and not just these feminist blogs that have been writing about the film since 2009, which is when it started as a short. On performing comedy about childhood and sexual feelings Jenny Slate: This is the way that I speak to my friends — and I always noticed that I felt this sort of zing of excitement and connection with people [during the comedy shows]. And I felt my identity [was] kind of shining when I would speak about my family and growing up, because it did shape who I am as a woman. It's my way of introducing myself, and sort of laying out all of my imperfections and the little doodads that hang off of my personality that I want to protect. But I'm also maybe a little unsure of if they'll be accepted. On the taboo of the word \"vagina\" Robespierre: My mom said \"vagina\" all the time. She drew me a diagram of my lady parts, and I believe she laminated it after, because everything was laminated in our house. I grew up in the city, so she would laminate my bus passes. And she would laminate my diagrams of like, \"[These are] your ovaries. This is your uterus. [These are] your fallopian tubes.\" I wish I had saved it, but \"vagina\" was nothing shameful in my house. On making fart jokes as a woman Slate: I always thought that farts were funny, and I always thought that they were mine to talk about because they came out of my body. Or I heard them ... coming out of other people's bodies, so they're part of my experience. ... I never thought of it as something that a woman or a girl wouldn't talk about. I think I was aware when I started doing stand-up, especially on my own, that, yeah, I'm getting up on stage, and I'm a woman, and I dress in a sort of typically feminine fashion. I like to wear dresses and skirts when I go onstage because the attitude that I have is: I'm so excited to introduce myself to you. And I want to be wearing what I'd be wearing to a date or a dinner party. I guess when I'm up there maybe I'm imagining a world where my nature is celebrated — and my gender is just part of it. On how hypnosis helped Slate overcome stage fright after her contract wasn't renewed on Saturday Night Live Slate: After SNL ... I realized that I didn't like [doing stand-up] as somebody whose \"thing\" that most people maybe knew was that I said a swear. .... I just felt like [the gossip] was kind of high school-y. ...I felt irritated and mad, and I felt like all this stuff [was] being put on me because I'm the girl who said this swear ... I got up onstage [for stand-up gigs] thinking that maybe people wouldn't like me to be there. That just broke my heart and made me act weird, and I got terrible stage fright. I couldn't remember how to speak to people anymore. I would have a list. I never write my stand-up out, it's just bullet points — and the bullet points were just boring. My husband always told me, \"You're not bombing, it's fine. You're just not enjoying yourself, and you're not trusting anybody. And that's what the sad thing is, is that you're not trusting yourself or anyone else.\" ... I tried to just stop [doing stand-up]. I was just like, \"I'm not going to do this anymore; I can't handle it.\" And my husband was like, \"You can cut yourself down in many ways, ", "Phoebe Snow had one of the most distinctive voices in pop music. It went silent Tuesday morning, more than a year after Snow suffered a brain hemorrhage. She was 60. Snow was born Phoebe Ann Laub. She actually thought she'd never be a singer because she was so shy. She told NPR in 1998 that she'd made up a name for the hammy part of herself — the part unafraid to get up on stage in Greenwich Village coffeehouses. Snow was 22 when \"Poetry Man\" reached the Top 10 in 1975. The song sounded like nothing else on the radio. It was refreshing and unusual to see someone embraced on the strength of her voice and songwriting alone, and not her looks. She was not the prefab concoction we've come to know as a pop princess, yet Snow soon graced the cover of Rolling Stone. On the cover, she was baby-faced and big, with a crop of curls. Some people couldn't tell if she was black or white. Her parents were Jewish music lovers who made sure she could play piano and guitar. But Snow's four-octave voice could handle anything. She recorded 16 albums. Jim Chapdelaine produced one of her last, Natural Wonder. \"She could be that sensitive 'Poetry Man' kind of singer or she could be this rip-roaring flame thrower of a voice,\" he says. \"There was never anything emotionally inauthentic about what she was doing.\" Soon after her first flush of success, Snow had a daughter, named Valerie, born with multiple disabilities. Doctors predicted Valerie would barely survive a few years. Then, Snow's husband left her. Her child became her priority. She moved back to New Jersey, where she had grown up. Career took a back seat to parenting and care-giving, yet Snow continued to perform and record. Her final album, a concert recording, came out in 2008. Her daughter died the year before, at the age of 31. MICHELE NORRIS, Host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris. MELISSA BLOCK: And I'm Melissa Block. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"POETRY MAN\") NORRIS: (Singing) Oh, talk to me some more. You don't have to go. You're the Poetry Man. You make things all right. Yeah, yeah. BLOCK: NPR's Neda Ulaby has this remembrance. NEDA ULABY: Count among those moved by Phoebe Snow's hit another powerful female musician, Queen Latifah. QUEEN LATIFAH: My mom played \"Poetry Man\" a lot when I was a kid in the house. I mean, she played that album endlessly. ULABY: Queen Latifah's mom, Rita Owens, played it every Saturday while cleaning house. NORRIS: I just love the song so much, the melody. And Phoebe Snow had such a unique voice. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"POETRY MAN\") NORRIS: (Singing) You make me laugh 'cause your eyes, they light the night. They look right through me. ULABY: Phoebe Snow was born Phoebe Ann Laub. She actually thought she'd never be a singer because she was so shy. She told NPR in 1998 she made up a name for the hammy part of herself, the part unafraid to get up on stage in Greenwich Village coffeehouses. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED INTERVIEW) NORRIS: Large Marge because I would just send Phoebe to the sideline and say, OK, you, you're too scared. You go sit down. We have to send out Large Marge. ULABY: Phoebe Snow was no wispy pop princess when she landed on the cover of Rolling Stone after \"Poetry Man's\" success. She was baby-faced, big, with a crop of curls. Some people couldn't tell if she was black or white. Her parents were Jewish, music lovers who made sure she could play piano and guitar. But Snow's four-octave voice could handle anything. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) NORRIS: (Singing) I got a little religion, and I'm not ashamed. Somebody in heaven wrote down my name. ULABY: Phoebe Snow recorded 16 albums. Jim Chapdelaine co-produced one of her last. NORRIS: She could be that sensitive \"Poetry Man\" kind of singer, or she could be this rip-roaring flamethrower of a voice that was staggering. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) NORRIS: (Singing) I'm going home. NORRIS: It's even hard for me to find the right microphone to even keep up with her. There was never anything emotionally unauthentic about what she was doing. ULABY: Soon after her first flush of success, Phoebe Snow had a daughter named Valerie, born with multiple disabilities. Doctors predicted Valerie would barely survive a few years. Then Snow's husband left her. Her child became her priority. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED INTERVIEW) NORRIS: The great thing about my daughter is that she is very courageous human being, and she's funny. She has a great sense of humor. She's the most affectionate person I've ever known. I get hugged 30 times a day until my head almost falls off, and I can't think of a better way for anybody to spend their life than to be loved so beautifully and unconditionally. She's my hero. ULABY: Snow was promoting an album with that interview, all covers. She picked one song because it summed up her feelings about Valerie. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) NORRIS: (Singing) I'll do you right, darling. I'll be with you for the long haul. You're all I do it for. ULABY: Neda Ulaby, NPR New", "Over the course of Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes messes with what had already, after its first album, become its signature sound. Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker has this review. TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. The band Alabama Shakes has a new album - their second - called \"Sound & Color.\" The quartet, led by singer-guitarist Brittany Howard, made a splash with its 2012 debut \"Boys & Girls,\" which was hailed for its mix of contemporary rock with older-blues and R&B stylings. Rock critic Ken Tucker says \"Sound & Color\" finds Alabama Shakes experimenting with an even wider range of pop music genres. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"DON'T WANNA FIGHT\") BRITTANY HOWARD: (Singing) My life, your life - don't cross them lines. What you like, what I like - why can't we both be right? Attacking, defending until there's nothing left worth winning. Your pride and my pride - don't waste my time. I don't wanna fight no more. KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: The funky guitar riff followed by the combination of yelling, moaning, wheezing, squeal that emanates from Brittany Howard to kick off the song \"Don't Wanna Fight\" - that's the essence of Alabama Shakes' sound. It's a sound that reaches back to the blues and '60s Southern soul, as well as a sound that plunges forward into the spoken-word vocals of hip-hop. Alabama Shakes is a quartet set up like a rock band - guitar, bass, drums - but which claims any kind, or era, of music as its own. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"DUNES\") HOWARD: (Singing) Somewhere over the dunes, love, I walk, I wept - enough. I turn the desert into sea, babe. I swam from the terrible dust. I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whose love to give. I'm losing it. TUCKER: That's \"Dunes,\" a song that multitracks Brittany Howard's voice, as if she wanted company in her romantic misery. Some of the best music on \"Sound & Color\" is the most quiet music -the moments when Brittany Howard seems to have transcribed conversations she's had with herself about her state of mind, her moods and fleeting feelings. You can hear this in a vocal that confides in you on the song \"This Feeling.\" (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"THIS FEELING\") HOWARD: (Singing) See, I've been having me a real good time. And it feels so nice to know I'm gonna be all right. So please don't take my feelings I have found at last. So please don't take my feelings I have found at last. Yeah, if I wanted to, I'd be all right. TUCKER: Which is not to say that Alabama Shakes doesn't rock out. Having made so much about how much the band prizes intimate sharing, I feel happily obliged to play some of \"The Greatest,\" a kind of new punk rock song about wanting a particular person to love you and just not getting that feeling back in return. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"THE GREATEST\") HOWARD: (Singing) Well, I never meant to be the greatest. I only ever want to be your baby. Now you got me in your arms. Don't ever let me go, go anywhere. Should I say stay, stay away? I know you ain't out there tryin' to be my baby. God help us, help us all. Don't ever let me down. You're always doin' that. TUCKER: For most of its length, \"Sound & Color\" is a collection of really interesting vocals surrounded by guitar chords and drumbeats that carry you along. Then there are a few very special songs, such as this one called \"Shoegaze,\" in which Howard's vocal and the guitars by Howard and Heath Fogg rise up to create a perfectly crafted piece of music that sounds familiar and exhilarating the first time you hear it or the hundredth time you play it. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"SHOEGAZE\") HOWARD: (Singing) Can't wait for night to come. That's when the fun really begins. My band cools off when that day is done. And then I tuck myself in. It ain't no fun to be lonely. But I was not truly lonely. And I'm beginning to realize it. I can't have everything, everything. TUCKER: Over the course of \"Sound & Color,\" Alabama Shakes messes with what had already - after its first album - become its signature sound. There are songs here that distort or muffle the vocals, that fracture tempo and wander around the back alleys of improvisation. Because of this, \"Sound & Color\" isn't a consistent album. But Alabama Shakes does what it needed to do. It's made a second album that opens up new territory and leaves you curious about where the band will go next. GROSS: Ken Tucker is critic-at-large for Yahoo TV. He reviewed \"Sound & Color,\" the new album from the band Alabama Shakes. Coming up, linguistic Geoff Nunberg considers how the word disrupt became part of tech and corporate jargon. This is FRESH AIR.", "Eliza Doolittle is already a big star in the U.K. The 22-year-old Londoner's self-titled debut has gone platinum there, and she's looking to take her soul-inflected pop music across the pond. The daughter of Tony-winning actress Frances Ruffelle and playwright John Caird, Doolittle's stage name is a combination of her first name and a nickname that \"just stuck.\" \"The first song I wrote was called 'Mr. Mysterious,' \" Doolittle tells Weekend All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer. \"It was about an imaginary boy. It's quite silly, really. It's definitely a 12-year-old's song.\" Doolittle was influenced by the R&B and pop stars she heard growing up, but she puts her own spin on things. She says \"Rollerskate\" was the first song for the album that she felt reflected what would become her own sound. \"I felt excited about it and felt like it was something different. It worked with my personality and really seemed to click,\" she says. \"Everything I wrote after that was bearing that sound in mind. I knew exactly what I wanted to do after writing that song.\" Doolittle isn't new at writing songs. She's been co-writing and producing since she was 13, flying between London and New York to write and record. She says the first few years were tough, but that starting young helped her become a better songwriter. \"I was still finding my feet, and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. But the more I experimented, the more knowledge I've gained,\" Doolittle says. \"I'm really grateful that I started young, because if I started writing tomorrow, then I don't know where I'd be. It would take me years.\" (Soundbite of song, \"Skinny Genes\") Ms. ELIZA DOOLITTLE (Singer): (Singing) I don't mind it when you brings out the best in me when you... LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: You're listening to Eliza Doolittle. (Soundbite of song, \"Skinny Genes\") Ms. DOOLITTLE: (Singing) ...when the night always ends with a fight I'm excited that you are the best in me... WERTHEIMER: That's a track off her debut album, which came out this past week. Eliza Doolittle is already a big star in the U.K., which is where she's from. Her record is platinum there, which is not bad for a 22-year-old. She has a kind of girly pop sound with a few musical memories mixed in. Eliza Doolittle, welcome. Ms. DOOLITTLE: Hey. Thanks for having me. WERTHEIMER: First of all, let me ask you about your name, Eliza Doolittle, the girlfriend of Henry Higgins. I know that it's a stage name, but why did you pick it? Ms. DOOLITTLE: Well, Eliza's my name, and Doolittle was always a nickname. And I kind of held onto it for my music. WERTHEIMER: Now, we want to play a track off your record, which is called \"Missing,\" because it does one of the funny things that several of these tracks do. You mix in something that's familiar to me. Let's listen. (Soundbite of song, \"Missing\") Ms. DOOLITTLE: (Singing) Because I'm missing how you found me. I can't afford a bigger world but baby I'm reliable. I'll never go if you find me, find me, find me, find me because I'm missing how you found me. If anybody has a key to spare a little dream for me. I'll let it be that you find me, find me, finally found me. When I fall... WERTHEIMER: Now, I actually remember that. I mean, I remember it. I remember dancing to it. You don't, being 22 years old. (Soundbite of laughter) Ms. DOOLITTLE: No. The first time I heard it was in the studio, so I didn't know the song originally. WERTHEIMER: So what was the - why did you pick it? Ms. DOOLITTLE: Well, I wrote the song with Craigie Dodds. And he'd already written the track already, and that sample was in it. And when I went to the studio, I heard the backing track of what he'd done, and I just started singing straightaway. And literally, the song was written in about 10 minutes and we just quickly popped it down on the microphone. And, you know, it just worked. It just felt right. And then afterwards, I was like, so, that's obviously a sample, right? And he was like, yeah, it's from the Fleetwoods. And we have to keep it on there. It has such a great sound to it. WERTHEIMER: You did something similar in another track, which is called \"Pack Up.\" Ms. DOOLITTLE: Yeah. Well, there's no sample in \"Pack Up,\" but the lyric is from an old war-time song from 1914. (Soundbite of song, \"Pack Up Your Troubles in your Old Kit Bag\") GROUP: (Singing) So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile... Ms. DOOLITTLE: And when we were writing the song, the lyric just came out and it seemed to work really well. We didn't actually clock onto the fact that it was that old song. And then when we realized, it just kind of didn't seem right to sing anything else. And then I got Lloyd, my friend Lloyd Wade, to sing on it, just to give it something different, I guess, and it worked really well. And everyone thinks it's a sample, but it's not. WERTHEIMER: Well, let's listen to a little bit of it. Ms. DOOLITTLE: Okay. (Soundbite of song, \"Pack Up\") Ms. DOOLI", "Chavela Vargas is known largely to an older generation of Latin music fans, but her voice and story can resonate across ages and cultures. At 91, her singing wavers a bit, but her voice still radiates struggle, defiance and ultimately triumph. She was born in Costa Rica, but Vargas has a voice tailor-made for singing Mexican rancheras, boleros and corridos. These songs are like miniature operas, with over-the-top expressions of tragedy, heartbreak and redemption. For many Mexicans, her versions of these songs are definitive. Vargas says she didn't start singing until the early 1950s, when she was well into her 30s. \"I dedicated myself to singing boleros, rancheras, corridos,\" she says. \"I sang a little bit of everything.\" At that time, Mexico was in the midst of an artistic explosion, particularly in film and music. Mexico City nightlife was overflowing with nightclubs, dancing and drinking. Life was un gran festejon, a big non-stop party. Vargas joined the party on stage and off with corridos like \"El Ultimo Trago\" (The Last Drink). The words to that song say, \"Drink this bottle with me. Let's not stop until the last drink. ... Let's hope no one sees us together, in case you are embarrassed\" — the latter line reflecting another part of her life that played out in song. Vargas challenged mainstream Mexican morals by dressing as a man, smoking cigars and carrying — and shooting — pistols. She caused sensations with her public liaisons with women, including a brief affair with painter Frida Kahlo, and she purposely did not change the gender in songs written by Mexico's most famous male songwriters. \"What made her famous was 'Macorina,' \" says Marvette Perez, curator of Latin-American Culture and Music for the Smithsonian Museum of American History. \"I don't think there could be a more queer song for a woman to sing. The song says, 'Ponme la mano aqui, Macorina.' Put your hand right here, Macorina. And whenever she sang the song, she put such sexuality, desire and kind of sensuality into it that you knew why she was singing, why she was singing and to who she was singing it. She was singing it to a woman.\" Eventually, the drinking, smoking and womanizing took its toll. \"Back then, when I was drinking, the drinking affected my throat. The drinking affected my life, everything,\" Vargas says. \"The alcohol is one of the most evil things in the world. So is the cigarette, and I let all of that go from my life for my art.\" In 1979, Vargas retired from the stage and public life, and entered into a life on the streets, much of it spent in an alcohol-induced stupor. It was only when she was taken in by a poor family who didn't know who she was that she was nursed back to health and clarity. The 1990s saw a healthier and more determined Vargas return to the stage. Soon, she was back in cabarets and giving concerts, while Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar used her and her music in his films. In a fantasy sequence in the 2002 Frida Kahlo biopic starring Salma Hayek, Vargas shared a drink and a song with her former lover. Looking back, Vargas says it wasn't easy to be a lesbian in Mexico in the 1950s and '60s. But as she describes how she got through it all, her words sound like the intensely emotional lyrics of the corridos, rancheras and boleros that she loves to sing. \"I had to fight against so many things — fight against the current, as they say,\" Vargas says. \"I had to fight all of them to make something of myself, to triumph.\" At 91, Vargas is still looking to the future. She says her next project is to put her voice to another dramatic song form — an album of Argentine tangos. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, host: And I'm Melissa Block. Singer Chavela Vargas has the kind of voice that doesn't merely interpret songs. She's 91, and you can tell she's lived every moment of heartache and hard drinking that she's singing about. For our series 50 Great Voices, NPR's Felix Contreras tells us about her life, her loves and her ageless voice. FELIX CONTRERAS: She was born in Costa Rica, but Chavela Vargas has the kind of voice that was tailor-made for singing Mexican rancheras, boleros and corridos. (Soundbite of music) Ms. CHAVELA VARGAS (Singer): (Singing in Spanish) CONTRERAS: These lyrics say: I hope that when you leave me, your life turns out well. I hope you meet others who are better than I am. These songs are like mini operas, with over-the-top expressions of tragedy, heartbreak and redemption. And for many Mexicans, Chavela Vargas' versions of these songs are definitive. (Soundbite of music) Ms. VARGAS: (Singing in Spanish) CONTRERAS: Vargas says she didn't start singing until the early 1950s, when she was well into her 30s. Ms. VARGAS: (Through translator) I have dedicated myself to singing boleros, rancheras, corridos - all kinds of styles. CONTRERAS: At that time, Mexico was in the midst of an artistic explosion, particularly in", "Audra McDonald has starred in stage classics and on TV, where she played a leading role on the ABC drama Private Practice for four seasons. But the actress might be better known for her stunning voice and for her performances in the Broadway productions of Carousel, Master Class and Ragtime, which helped her rack up three Tony Awards before the age of 30. She won a fourth Tony for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun, putting her in the company of Broadway greats Gwen Verdon and Mary Martin. Only two actresses (Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury) have more Tonys, and McDonald may soon join their ranks, having recently been nominated for her star turn in a new adaptation of the classic American folk opera Porgy and Bess. McDonald, who plays Bess, says her own personal experiences with the Gershwin opera go back to her childhood. Her parents owned several recordings of Porgy and Bess, including one by the Houston Grand Opera and another featuring Leontyne Price. They also had a record of Sarah Vaughan singing Gershwin tunes. \"She sang 'My Man's Gone Now,' and I remember being struck because I knew Sarah Vaughan as this wonderful, incredible jazz artist, and I thought, 'How is she hitting those notes? I didn't know that she had that incredible range,' \" McDonald tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. \"And that's the first time I heard that aria, and fell in love with it and her interpretation. And it was the first time I realized that someone could sing more than one style brilliantly.\" McDonald took that knowledge with her to the Juilliard School, where she studied classical voice performance. \"I was missing Broadway and thinking that's what I wanted to do,\" she says, \"but here I was studying classically. And I happened upon the Glyndebourne performance of Porgy and Bess, with Cynthia Haymon as Bess. And I listened to it incessantly. I memorized it from top to bottom and thought, 'If I have to sing opera, here's one I'd love to sing, and here's a role I'd love to play.' \" The role of Bess is a notoriously difficult one, says McDonald. \"There's very few quiet moments for Bess,\" she says. \"They're all very big, very emotional and very rangy. And to commit to that night after night after night is very difficult.\" Several of the numbers McDonald performs, including the classic \"Summertime,\" have become iconic entries in the American songbook over the years. She says it was a hard number, at first, to sing. \"The last melody in the show, after an entire night of [Bess] singing and being raped and kicked and beaten and all of this stuff, is 'Summertime,' and it's a lullaby, and it's high, and it has to be high and pretty and sung to a baby,\" she says. \"And it freaks me out that after all this, I have to sound high and pretty and fresh. And I'm always holding onto that baby, going, 'I know you're just a doll, but help me.' \" The song is a rare happy moment for Bess, where she's embracing motherhood and her own potential future. \" 'Summertime,' for me, is knowing that she's got to quiet this baby and have a bond with this baby, and making sure Porgy has a bond with this family and really trying to create this little family now,\" she says. \"She's got a family for the first time in her life, and [she's] trying to create something safe and warm. And that's how I'm approaching the song when I sing it to the baby, and then it all goes to hell.\" Interview Highlights On stereotypes in Porgy and Bess \"[Author DuBose Heyward] really tried to get into their mindset, which was an incredible feat for that period, but it was still written at a time when blacks and whites were not commingling. So even though he researched as much as he possibly could, there were some aspects he couldn't possibly know. He didn't live it, and it wasn't a time when blacks and whites could commingle. But as African-Americans, we can bring something to it that is our own experience, which is a truer experience just by the fact that it can't possibly be anything but a truer experience because we actually are African-American. But people throughout the history of this piece have come down on both sides saying, 'This is stereotypical and this is archetypes.' \" On the Gullah accent \"We had a dialect coach, a very, very talented lady, come in and speak to us about this. And we decided that we would not use an authentic Gullah dialect because no one would understand. The authentic Gullah dialect is actually very clipped, and so it would sound almost Jamaican and be very odd to an American audience's ears. It's not the typical Southern dialect that we're used to. It has a much more percussive rhythm to it. So she said it was better to use a more authentic Southern dialect as opposed to this Gullah dialect.\" On Stephen Sondheim's critical letter in The New York Times about the production before it began previews \"My agent called me and told me that this letter [appeared]. You know, you get certain calls and the phone rings in certain ways, and it just doesn't sound go", "Our Take A Number series is exploring problems around the world, and people solving them, through the lens of a single number. Ron Ferguson, an economist at Harvard, has made a career out of studying the achievement gap — the well-documented learning gap that exists between kids of different races and socioeconomic statuses. But even he was surprised to discover that gap visible with \"stark differences\" by just age 2, meaning \"kids aren't halfway to kindergarten and they're already well behind their peers.\" And yet, there's a whole body of research on how caregivers can encourage brain development before a child starts any formal learning. It's another example, Ferguson says, of the disconnect between research and practice. So he set out to translate the research into five simple and free ways adults can help their little ones. \"Things that we need to do with infants and toddlers are not things that cost a lot of money,\" he explains. \"It's really about interacting with them, being responsive to them.\" He calls his list the Boston Basics, and he's on a mission to introduce it to caretakers first in Boston and then across the country. The principles are: Maximize love, manage stress. Babies pick up on stress, which means moms and dads have to take care of themselves, too. It's also not possible to over-love or be too affectionate with young children. Research shows feeling safe can have a lasting influence on development. Talk, sing and point. \"When you point at something, that helps the baby to start to associate words with objects,\" Ferguson explains. Some babies will point before they can even talk. Count, group and compare. This one is about numeracy. Babies love numbers and counting, and there's research to show they're actually born with math ability. Ferguson says caregivers can introduce their children to math vocabulary by using sentences that compare things: \"Oh, look! Grandpa is tall, but grandma is short\" or \"There are two oranges, but only three apples.\" Explore through movement and play. \"The idea is to have parents be aware that their children are learning when they play,\" Ferguson says. Read and discuss stories. It's never too early to start reading aloud — even with babies. Hearing words increases vocabulary, and relating objects to sounds starts to create connections in the brain. The Basics also put a big emphasis on discussing stories: If there's a cat in the story and a cat in your home, point that out. That's a piece lots of parents miss when just reading aloud. So how do these five principles get into the hands — and ultimately the brains — of Boston's babies? Ferguson and his team decided the Basics have to go where the parents are. They're partnering with hospitals to incorporate the five principles into prenatal care and pediatrician visits. They work with social services agencies, home-visiting programs, barbershops and local businesses. Ferguson even teamed up with a local church to deliver a handful of talks at the pulpit after Sunday services. Tara Register runs a group for teen moms at the Full Life Gospel Center in Boston. She says when she learned about the Basics, she thought, \"This would be the perfect place. We've got these young moms learning how to parent and trying to figure this out.\" Register wishes she had known about the five principles back when she was a teen mom. Years later, she's now helping get the word out to a new generation. She says when she talks about the Basics in her group, the teenage parents are surprised to discover that so much learning happens so early. \"Some of this stuff they're probably doing already and they didn't even know there was a name behind it or development behind it.\" And that's true for most caregivers. A lot of this comes naturally; the key is to connect those natural instincts to what researchers know about developmental science — something all parents can learn from, Ferguson says. \"I have a Ph.D. and my wife has a master's degree, but I know there are Boston Basics that we did not do.\" Back in Register's class, she holds one of the babies and points to his head — and the developing brain inside. \"You can't imagine how much of a sponge this is right here,\" she says. The teens brainstorm ways they'll incorporate the Basics into their daily routine. \"I'll narrate what I'm doing as I get ready for work,\" one suggests. \"I'll count out the number on his plaything,\" another offers. As Register wraps up her lesson, she has one final thought for the group, which she repeats several times. It's essentially the thesis behind all five of the Boston Basics: \"Our babies are incredible,\" she tells the new moms. \"They are complex, they are incredible, they are smart. They can take it all in. So don't underestimate them.\"", "From the moment they took the stage at Washington, DC's Black Cat, Fleet Foxes seemed surprised by all the attention. Lead singer Robin Pecknold made several references to the size of the crowd, telling the sold-out audience he'd never seen so many people packed together. This brought a loud cheer from the roomful of fans who otherwise spent most of the night standing in slack-jawed awe over the band's breathtaking harmonies. After a tentative start, Fleet Foxes seemed to find their collective voice, opening with \"Sun Giant,\" the title track to the band's EP, released earlier this year on the Sub Pop label. They followed with highlights from their self-titled debut LP, including \"White Winter Hymnal.\" Throughout the performance, the band played with a sort of bemused astonishment, repeatedly thanking the audience for their support. The members of Fleet Foxes like to say they're not much of a rock band, but they are one of the year's breakout acts. The group's debut has earned universal acclaim for its timeless mix of folk, choral and rock. It's both a revival and a reinvention of roots music, with inspired attention given to melody and harmony. Fleet Foxes' sound can be traced directly to the music the band members' parents played: The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, The Zombies, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Crosby Stills and Nash. \"We grew up listening to the music of our parents,\" says Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold. \"Every perennial '60s band you'd expect to find in the record collections of baby boomers.\" It's easy to hear these influences in Fleet Foxes' earthy tones, jangling, acoustic guitars and pastoral imagery. The band has described it as \"baroque harmonic pop.\" The choral-like vocals have drawn comparisons to My Morning Jacket, a band that has, itself, borrowed heavily from the past. \"To me, the most enjoyable thing in the world is to sing harmony with people,\" says Pecknold. \"All we strove for with this record was to make something that was an honest reflection of who we are, citizens of the western United States who love all kinds of music and above all else love singing.\" Fleet Foxes formed in 2006 in Seattle, Wash. After playing a number of live shows, and with the help of credit cards a tip money, they recorded and self-released an EP that same year. They followed in Feb. 2008 with the EP Sun Giant and their full-length debut in June, both on Sub Pop.", "Swedish pop singer Victoria Bergsman has a voice heard by millions around the world, but hardly anyone knows her name. Unless you've been deliberately avoiding popular music for the last two years, you've probably heard her voice — not necessarily on her own record, but on the massive hit \"Young Folks,\" by the Swedish indie-pop band Peter, Bjorn and John. The owner of that voice is quiet and almost painfully modest. \"I enjoy singing,\" Bergsman says. \"But I don't know if I could say I'm a singer. From the start, I really loved singing. Though I was very shy and I still am. I just felt that my voice wanted to express something. So I went for it.\" Bergsman fronted The Concretes for more than 10 years. She started the band with two friends in Stockholm, Sweden, where she grew up. She says she wound up being the singer because no one else wanted to. Bergsman says the band's first show was a disaster: \"Everything broke during the sound check. No one of our friends said anything afterwards. They had left.\" The Concretes got better as it grew into an eight-piece band. It released half a dozen well-received albums and EPs. The group's breakthrough hit, \"Say Something New,\" even appeared in a Target commercial. But playing live never got much easier for Bergsman. To this day, she suffers from stage fright. In May 2006, in the middle of The Concretes' American tour, Bergsman collapsed from exhaustion. A few months later, she announced she was leaving the band. Bergsman won't talk about why she quit, but she gives the impression that there were reasons other than her stage fright. By last winter, she was back in a recording studio in Stockholm, working on her solo album. She released it this year under the name Taken By Trees. \"The album sounds like a quiet forest in winter,\" says Sarah Tomlinson, a music critic for the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. \"You feel like it's a hushed mood. She's telling these stories, or singing these lullabies, and you sort of have to draw in close to listen. That's what makes it so appealing.\" Bergsman says she deliberately left room for interpretation in the nine songs she wrote for the album. She talks about purposely giving the songs \"space and air, open space. Leaving a lot of space for the imagination, for the listener.\" Bergsman's voice and lyrics are squarely in the foreground. There are no electric guitars at all, and no rock 'n' roll drum kit, because, Bergsman says, \"It overtakes too much of the melody and things. It's more dignity in a big lonely drum than a drum kit.\" Bjorn Yttling, the bass player for Peter, Bjorn and John, co-produced her album. \"She wanted it to be more minimalistic,\" he says. \"Often that's my job when recording, because everyone wants to play on 12 strings at the same time, and overdub, and you have to cut down on everything and clean up. But this time, it was more like me and her to tell the people on it that they should use only one note at a time.\" Yttling says they recorded quickly, laying down the basic tracks and overdubs in just a week. One track is a first take of Victoria Bergsman singing and playing a ukulele alone in the studio. Though Bergsman's native language is Swedish, she prefers to write songs in English. \"Swedish is hard to rhyme,\" she says. \"It's too scary also to write in Swedish. It becomes too true or something.\" But Victoria Bergsman is slowly starting to face her fears. She's already played a few shows in Europe. And she's planning a handful in the U.S. next year with the band she's put together. \"They really influence me and inspire me to try and be more brave,\" Bergsman says. Maybe one day, she'll even decide to call herself a singer. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, host: And I'm Melissa Block. All this week, we're featuring books, video games, TV shows and music that flew under the radar this year. It's a series we're calling The Ones That Got Away. Today, we'll hear from the Swedish pop singer Victoria Bergsman. She has a voice that's been heard by millions around the world, but she' hardly a household name. This year, she released her first solo album. And as Joel Rose reports, Bergsman is still somewhat shy of the spotlight. JOEL ROSE: Unless you've been deliberately avoiding popular music for the last two years, you've probably head Victoria Bergsman's voice. Not necessarily on her own record, but on the massive hit by the Swedish indie rock band, Peter Bjorn and John. (Soundbite of song \"The Young Folks\") Mr. VICTORIA BERGSMAN (Singer): (Singing) And we don't care about the young folks, talking about the young style. ROSE: The song \"Young Folks\" was so ubiquitous that for some listeners, it eventually went from catchy to grating. But that voice is another story. Mr. BJORN YTTLING (Bass Player, Peter Bjorn and John): Music is really hard to pin down what you like. But often, it is a voice that you listen to it ver", "Most public figures retreat from the public eye at least for a while after they have been disgraced, but not the former governor of Illinois. Rod Blagojevich keeps making the rounds, including an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman earlier this week. And if the reality of Illinois politics isn't absurd enough, next week the Blagojevich saga comes to the stage. The legendary Chicago comedy troupe The Second City premieres its rock opera Rod Blagojevich Superstar. \"Like all great theatrical ideas, Rod Blagojevich Superstar started with drinking,\" says Kelly Leonard, one of the show's creators. \"We were having our holiday party at The Second City, and we said, 'Wouldn't it be great to do a '70s rock opera about Blagojevich?' \" Leonard adds: \"It really fit into this sort of overblown, would-be messiah who's kind of just a naive, arrogant and vain buffoon.\" Leonard says the cast of the show is confident Blagojevich will attend once the show opens in Chicago next week. \"As weird as that sounds, it feels to us like he's the type of guy who would come to the show, laugh his head off and go backstage for a photo op with the cast,\" he says. Produced for broadcast by NPR's Sonari Glinton and Ben Calhoun of Chicago Public Radio. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Most public figures retreat from the public eye after they've been disgraced, at least for a while, but not the former governor of Illinois. Rod Blagojevich keeps making the rounds. Here he is on David Letterman earlier this week. (Soundbite of TV show, \"The Late Show with David Letterman\") Mr. DAVID LETTERMAN (Host): Why exactly are you here? Honest to god, what… (Soundbite of laughter) Mr. ROD BLAGOJEVICH (Former Illinois Governor): Well, you know, I've been wanting to be on your show in the worst way for the longest time. Mr. LETTERMAN: Well, you're on in the worst way, believe me. Mr. BLAGOJEVICH: I sure am. (Soundbite of laughter) SIEGEL: And if the reality of Illinois politics is not absurd enough, next week, the Blagojevich saga comes to the stage. The legendary Chicago comedy troupe The Second City premieres its rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar.\" Kelly Leonard, one of the show's creators, gave us a preview. (Soundbite of rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\") (Soundbite of singing) Mr. KELLY LEONARD (Rock Opera Creator): Like all great theatrical ideas, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\" started with drinking. We were having our holiday party at the Second City and we said, wouldn't it be great to do a '70s rock opera about Blagojevich? (Soundbite of rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\") Unidentified Group (Actors): (Singing) Rod Blagojevich superstar, are you as nuts as we think you are? A day of reckoning you will meet, what idiot sells a Senate seat? Mr. LEONARD: It really fit into this sort of overblown, would-be messiah who's kind of just a naive, arrogant and vain buffoon. (Soundbite of rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\") Unidentified Man #1 (Actor): (As Rod Blagojevich, singing) I fought some fights in the Golden Gloves and played some basketball. I'd have made the NBA if they took white guys who aren't tall. But even that did not deter me. Mr. LEONARD: Three years ago, I was taking my kids trick-or-treating, and we went to the governor's house, as we often do, and he's standing outside, and he's just in his regular, sort of, weekend clothes or whatever, and another parent says to him, hey Governor, what are you dressed as? And he said, an honest politician. It actually happened. (Soundbite of rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\") Unidentified Man #2 (Actor): (Singing) Bears seats on the 50-yard line, and eat at Gibson's for free. Don't pay another parking ticket. Just listen closely to me. You'll have ward buses and precinct captains in your hands. It's not as far off as it seems. Join the machine. Mr. LEONARD: We talked about this backstage, and we all think that the former governor will probably come to the show. As weird as that sounds, it feels to us like he's the type of guy who would come to the show, laugh his head off and go backstage for a photo op with the cast. (Soundbite of rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\") Unidentified Man #3 (Actor): Your administration is over. Can't you get that through your noggin? Unidentified Man #1: Well, you believe that if you want, but for me, I'm going jogging. (Singing) When the press is on your case, it surely makes you frown. Don't put up with all their flogging. Kick up your heels and go jogging. Jogging soothes the mind and is good for the... SIEGEL: Kelly Leonard is one of the creators of \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar.\" The show opens at the Second City in Chicago next week. Our story was produced with help from Chicago Public Radio's Ben Calhoun. (Soundbite of rock opera, \"Rod Blagojevich Superstar\") Unidentified Man #1: (Singing) Jogging lets the wind blow through your sexy hair. It really gives your mind a little spark. Jogging in Chicago can be safe " ]

[ "Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has said the expenses she claimed on her family house were ``above board''." ]

[ "Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is facing fresh questions over her future after ``mistakenly'' claiming the cost of two adult movies on Commons expenses.", "British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is to resign from government in the wake of embarrassing revelations about parliamentary expenses, according to the BBC and Sky News television.", "Jacqui Smith will resign as Home Secretary at the next Cabinet reshuffle, two months after embarrassing revelations surfaced about her expenses.", "Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is to face a parliamentary ``sleaze'' investigation over her second home allowance, it was disclosed today.", "Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is refusing to take the blame for the Gurkha fiasco as she fights for her political life.", "REDDITCH MP and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has praised a project that acts as a stepping stone into education for people with little or no qualifications.", "It seems that to celebrate the upcoming publishing of his new book, Michael Savage has once again decided to try to shake down former British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.", "A Portsmouth MP has today revealed expense claims of more than £60,000 to subsidise her London home over three years.", "NOTTINGHAM South MP Alan Simpson today brandished a bath plug in the Commons, claiming the Home Secretary's expenses scandal had distracted from the real business of politics.", "Britain's Pakistani-origin Communities Minister Shahid Malik has claimed more than 1,000 pounds too much for council tax on his second home expenses, a report said on Tuesday.", "Home Secretary Theresa May is addressing the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth amid claims she is on the brink of destroying the service.", "In a move announced by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Monday, and welcomed by Waveney MP Bob Blizzard, cannabis is set to be reclassified to Class B from January 26, 2009.", "ANOTHER MP will face court over expenses claims, the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said today.", "A former Labour MP made false expenses claims which cleared his overdraft, a court heard.", "Home Secretary Theresa May vowed to crack down on immigration abuse Friday, saying Britain would tighten management of the immigration system.", "THE Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, applauded the work of Wychavon District Council when he visited the headquarters in Pershore this week.", "DUP MP Iris Robinson attempted to claim £1,780 from her House of Commons expenses allowance for a coffee table and lamp, documents obtained by the News Letter reveal.", "The ``bonfire of the benefits'' deal, secured by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, could save taxpayers £9billion a year.", "Prime Minister Harper is defending Saskatchewan Senator Pamela Wallin, whose expense claims are under close examination.", "Four British politicians, including three Labor MPs and a Conservative peer, have denied charges linked to expense claims scandal while appearing at a London court on Thursday.", "Police say two Smith & Wesson guns were stolen from an unoccupied home after a fire.", "The FBI says Smith -- a Democrat from Queens in New York City -- and City Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested early Tuesday at their homes.", "Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Rabbi Julia Neuberger has defended her expenses claims after it was revealed she had received more than £78,000 for overnight accommodation allowances over five years.", "WE need to know that MPs are open and honest about the expenses they claim at Westminster and that they are transparent in the way they give those details so the public can be assured of their honesty in that regard.", "Defence Minister Stephen Smith says the Dutch defence force will review claims that its personnel refused to help Australian special forces soldiers ambushed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.", "Jim and Rosemary Smith say the vacant home next to them has become an animal house.", "Three MPs and a member of the House of Lords will face criminal charges over their expenses claims, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced.", "HOME Secretary Theresa May was branded a ``disgrace'' by furious beat bobbies today as she told them they should welcome pay and pension reforms.", "The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign says the five Irish aid workers who were on board the MV Rachel Corrie are to return home on Monday.", "Conservative co-chairman Baroness Warsi has been cleared by a House of Lords investigation of expenses irregularities, the party said today.", "Iain Duncan Smith today insisted he could live on as little as £53 a week as he defended wide-ranging cuts to welfare which take effect today.", "David Chaytor, 61, submitted bogus invoices to support claims totalling £22,650 for IT consultancy work and renting homes in London and his Bury North constituency." ]

[ "May 3 Therapix Biosciences Ltd:\n* Therapix Biosciences announces the appointment of Josh Blacher as chief financial officer\n* Prior to joining Therapix, Blacher served as Chief Financial Officer at Galmed Pharmaceuticals Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:" ]

[ "BRIEF-Cambian Group names new CFO\n* Anoop Kang will be joining board as chief financial officer in July 2017.", "Aug 14 (Reuters) - Cellectar Biosciences Inc-\n* Cellectar Biosciences reports second quarter 2017 financial and corporate performance\n* Q2 loss per share $0.23\n* Cellectar Biosciences Inc - ‍estimates that available cash and cash equivalents will fund its planned operations into Q2 of 2018​\n* Cellectar Biosciences Inc - ‍additional capital will be required for operations beyond Q2 of 2018​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "BRIEF-Greenland Hong Kong says You Defeng tendered resignation as CFO\n* You Defeng has tendered his resignation as an executive director and chief financial officer Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "April 20 BioScrip Inc\n* BioScrip announces CFO transition\n* BioScrip Inc says appointment of Stephen M. Deitsch to positions of senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and treasurer, effective April 24, 2017\n* BioScrip Inc says Deitsch succeeds Jeffrey Kreger, who stepped down from his roles as senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and treasurer\n* BioScrip Inc says reiterate our 2017 adjusted EBITDA forecast of $45 million to $55 million Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "Feb 13 Vornado Realty Trust\n* Says joseph macnow appointed interim cfo\n* Says stephen theriot, chief financial officer since 2013, will become chief financial officer of jbg smith properties Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "March 31 BioAmber Inc:\n* BioAmber announces CFO transition\n* Says Raymond J. Land appointed interim CFO\n* BioAmber Inc - BioAmber intends to initiate a search for a replacement CFO\n* BioAmber says entered into mutual separation agreement with Mario Saucier, in connection with departure from his role of CFO effective March 28, 2017\n* BioAmber - entered into a mutual separation agreement with Mario Saucier, in connection with his departure from his role of CFO effective March 28, 2017 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "May 2 Plx Pharma Inc\n* Rita m. o’connor appointed chief financial officer of plx pharma\n* Plx pharma inc - o'connor succeeds david jorden, who has served as company's acting cfo since june 2015\n* Plx pharma inc - jorden will transition at end of july Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "April 3 Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc\n* Says CFO Justin Renz resigned\n* Karyopharm announces management change\n* Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc - Renz will continue to serve company in an advisory capacity in order to ensure a smooth transition\n* Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc - Karyopharm has begun a search process for selection and appointment of a new chief financial officer\n* Karyopharm Therapeutics - in interim, Michael Todisco, who has served as company's vice president, finance, will lead its internal finance function Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "Twentieth century German composer Boris Blacher has remained, unjustifiably, an historical curiosity. We know him more for his ideological brush with the Nazis (his teaching was not “on message”) than his music. But on the evidence of his short Concertante Musik, which opened Thursday’s BBC SSO programme, he was a composer of considerable skill and substance. In this performance, engineered with cut-glass precision by conductor Christoph König, the cross-currents of influence marking Blacher’s progressively witty style burst into life.\nBBC SSO ****\nCity Halls, Glasgow\nBorrowings from Stravinsky lurk in the impulsive, motorised rhythms and succinct ostinati. Blacher combines that with a sumptuous but powerfully unsentimental lyricism, long arcs of melody that soften the brittle underscore.\nKönig injected its single-movement format with tantalising clarity, where solo instruments conversed with speedy repartee, and a compelling sense of aerated energy made every moment one to savour and smile over.\nAs such, it was the perfect preparation for Johannes Moser’s highly charged solo performance in Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C. König didn’t initially engage the orchestra – they were a bit sluggish in the opening movement – but when things clicked into gear, magic happened. Moser invested Haydn’s playful music with infinite contrasts and surprises, setting a record-breaking pace in the finale. There was plenty to enjoy in König’s cool dissection of Brahms’ Symphony No 1, even if some splashy moments interrupted its otherwise smooth passage.\nKEN WALTON", "Philadelphia will host the NFL Draft along the Ben Franklin Parkway in less than two weeks. NBC10 Investigative Reporter Mitch Blacher is tracking all of the security preparations.", "BRIEF-Tanvex BioPharma plans new issuance for working capital supplement\n* Says it plans to issue about 23 million new shares of its common stock", "April 3 Caladrius Biosciences Inc\n* Caladrius Biosciences Inc says addition of four clinical sites, including Joslin Diabetes Center, for ongoing phase 2 study of CLBS03 in T1D\n* Caladrius Biosciences Inc says expects to reach important milestone of treating 50% of subjects by mid-2017\n* Caladrius Biosciences Inc says enrollment of 70(th) subject in study, expected to occur in mid-2017, will trigger an additional infusion of capital Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "With some employees already planning to skip work following a (hopeful) birds victory on Sunday, some HR managers in our area are trying to work around that. NBC10's Mitch Blacher explains how the bowl may be costing Philadelphia in productivity. (Published Friday, Feb 2, 2018)\nWith some employees already planning to skip work following a (hopeful) birds victory on Sunday, some HR managers in our area are trying to work around... See More", "SOUTH EASTON, MA--(Marketwired - April 17, 2017) - Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) (\"PBI\" or the \"Company\"), a leader in the development and sale of broadly enabling, pressure cycling technology (\"PCT\")-based sample preparation solutions to the worldwide life sciences industry, today announced that Mr. Joseph L. Damasio Jr. joined the Company as its Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer (\"CFO\") on April 10, 2017.\nMr. Damasio has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience, most recently as Finance Director at Nelipak Packaging, a private equity backed medical packaging manufacturer with over $100M in global annual sales. Before joining Nelipak, Mr. Damasio held various financial positions at CP Bourg, IQE KC, and Kopin Corporation. Prior to Kopin, Mr. Damasio was employed by Pressure BioSciences, Inc., first as Accounting Manager (2007), then as Controller (2008), and finally as Vice President of Finance and Administration (2011). Prior to joining PBI, Mr. Damasio was a senior accountant at BearingPoint, Inc. (formerly KPMG Consulting) and an auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP. Mr. Damasio began his financial career with NEN Life Science Products Inc., a subsidiary of PerkinElmer Inc. Mr. Damasio earned a bachelor's degree in accounting, with honors, from the University of Massachusetts. He holds an MBA and MSF from Boston College and is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts.\n\"The Company has developed and is beginning to implement a comprehensive fiscal plan that we believe is both achievable and sustainable, while supporting continued growth,\" said Mr. Damasio. \"Among its many goals, the plan calls for an up-list to the NASDAQ stock market, the addition of personnel in key areas, a strong focus in and expansion of sales and marketing, and a march towards profitability. I look forward to being part of the senior management team at PBI, and am grateful for the opportunity to help define the Company's future.\"\nMr. Richard T. Schumacher, President and CEO of PBI, commented: \"We are delighted to have Joe re-join the senior management team at PBI. During his five years away, Joe gained a wealth of knowledge and experience that we believe will help us significantly as we look to accelerate the Company's growth on our path to profitability and long-term success. Welcome back, Joe.\"\nAbout Pressure BioSciences, Inc.\nPressure BioSciences, Inc. (\"PBI\") (OTCQB: PBIO) develops, markets, and sells proprietary laboratory instrumentation and associated consumables to the estimated $6 billion life sciences sample preparation market. Our products are based on the unique properties of both constant (i.e., static) and alternating (i.e., pressure cycling technology, or PCT) hydrostatic pressure. PCT is a patented enabling technology platform that uses alternating cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to safely and reproducibly control bio-molecular interactions. To date, we have installed over 250 PCT systems in approximately 160 sites worldwide. There are over 100 publications citing the advantages of the PCT platform over competitive methods, many from key opinion leaders. Our primary development and sales efforts are in biomarker discovery, drug discovery and design, and forensics. Our products are also used in other areas, such as bio-therapeutics characterization, soil & plant biology, vaccine development, histology, and counter-bioterror applications.\nForward Looking Statements\nStatements contained in this press release regarding PBI's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, or predictions of the future are \"forward-looking'' statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon the Company's current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading \"Risk Factors\" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and other reports filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the information included in this release, except as otherwise required by law.\nFor more information about PBI and this press release, please click on the following website link:\nhttp://www.pressurebiosciences.com\nPlease visit us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.", "April 20 BioPharmX Corp\n* BioPharmX completes last subject visit in its phase 2B trial of BPX-01, expects to report topline results first half of May 2017\n* BioPharmX Corp- Expects to report topline results first half of May 2017 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "Feb 2 (Reuters) - Motif Bio Plc:\n* MOTIF BIO PLC - ‍ROBERT DICKEY IV HAS INFORMED COMPANY OF HIS INTENTION TO RESIGN FROM HIS ROLE AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER​\n* MOTIF BIO PLC - SEARCH PROCESS FOR NEW CFO HAS COMMENCED; JONATHAN GOLD, CURRENTLY NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CO, HAS AGREED TO SERVE AS INTERIM CFO Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "BRIEF-SORRENTO THERAPEUTICS ANNOUNCES DISMISSAL OF LAWSUITS\n* SORRENTO THERAPEUTICS INC SAYS DISMISSAL OF ALL CLAIMS AGAINST SORRENTO AND ITS DIRECTORS CONTAINED IN LAWSUITS BROUGHT BY WILDCAT LIQUID ALPHA, LLC Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "THE ISRAEl Secondary Fund management team : Shmuel Shilo, founding partner; Dana Ben Yosef, CFO; Dror Glass, founding managing partner; Nir Linchevski, managing partner; Josh Scher, associate.. Israel Secondary Fund has completed the closing of ISF II, a $100 million secondary fund.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at Jerusalem Post.", "Cellectar Biosciences (NASDAQ: CLRB) and Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:ADMP) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.\nProfitability\nGet Cellectar Biosciences Inc. alerts:\nThis table compares Cellectar Biosciences and Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.\nNet Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Cellectar Biosciences N/A -97.36% -83.40% Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp -130.64% -72.92% -51.38%\nValuation & Earnings\nThis table compares Cellectar Biosciences and Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.\nGross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio EBITDA Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Cellectar Biosciences N/A N/A -$10.78 million ($1.24) -1.39 Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp $11.39 million 14.45 -$18.97 million N/A N/A\nCellectar Biosciences has higher revenue, but lower earnings than Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp.\nVolatility & Risk\nCellectar Biosciences has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp has a beta of 0.02, indicating that its stock price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500.\nInstitutional and Insider Ownership\n2.6% of Cellectar Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.1% of Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.2% of Cellectar Biosciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.\nAnalyst Ratings\nThis is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Cellectar Biosciences and Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp, as reported by MarketBeat.\nSell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Cellectar Biosciences 0 0 2 0 3.00 Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp 0 0 3 0 3.00\nCellectar Biosciences presently has a consensus price target of $2.70, suggesting a potential upside of 57.03%. Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp has a consensus price target of $9.83, suggesting a potential upside of 87.30%. Given Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp is more favorable than Cellectar Biosciences.\nSummary\nAdamis Pharmaceuticals Corp beats Cellectar Biosciences on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.\nCellectar Biosciences Company Profile\nCellectar Biosciences, Inc., formerly Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in developing phospholipid ether-drug conjugates (PDCs) for the treatment and diagnostic imaging of cancer. Its research and development program is based on its PDC cancer targeting delivery platform. Its pipeline consists of pre-clinical and clinical product candidates, including radiotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic PDC’s. The Company’s PDC product portfolio includes CLR 131, which is designed to deliver cytotoxic (cell-killing) radiation directly and selectively to cancer cells and cancer stem cells; CLR 125, which is for the treatment of micro metastatic disease; CLR 124, which is a cancer-targeting positron emission tomography (PET) imaging PDC; CLR 1502, which is for intraoperative tumor margin illumination and non-invasive tumor imaging, and CTX Product Portfolio, including CLR 1601-PTX, CLR 1602-PTX and CLR 1603-PTX product candidates.\nAdamis Pharmaceuticals Corp Company Profile\nAdamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation is a pharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in the development of its specialty pharmaceutical products. The Company is developing various products in the allergy and respiratory markets, including a dry powder inhaler technology that it acquired from 3M Company (3M). The Company’s product portfolio includes specialty pharmaceutical products, such as Epinephrine pre-filled syringe (PFS), APC-5000 dry powder inhaler (DPI), APC-1000 and APC-2000, and biotechnology products, such as TeloB-VAX (vaccine), APC-100, APC-200 and APC-300. The Company’s lead product candidate, the Epinephrine Injection USP 1:1000 0.3 milligram Pre-filled Single Dose Syringe, or the Epinephrine PFS, is a pre-filled syringe designed to deliver a premeasured 0.3 milligrams dose of epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis. The Company also has licensed vaccine technology called somatic transgene immunization (STI) technology.\nReceive News & Ratings for Cellectar Biosciences Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cellectar Biosciences Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.", "April 10 PTC Therapeutics Inc:\n* PTC Therapeutics announces departure of chief financial officer, Shane Kovacs\n* PTC Therapeutics Inc says PTC has initiated a search process to appoint a new CFO\n* PTC Therapeutics - Shane is expected to remain with PTC through closing of PTC's pending acquisition of all rights to emflaza from Marathon Pharma Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "April 10 Repros Therapeutics Inc -\n* Repros names Larry Dillaha, M.D., its permanent president and ceo\n* Dillaha has also been named to board, filling an existing vacancy\n* Dillaha was previously chief executive officer of Cavtherx, an inception stage biotechnology company\n* Dillaha has been serving as president, chief executive officer on an interim basis since February 1, 2017 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "April 12 Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc:\n* On April 7, CFO Eric Bjerkholt informed co of his resignation from all of his positions at co effective as of April 27, 2017\n* Bjerkholt will remain an employee of company through April 27, 2017 - SEC Filing\n* Will be initiating search for a CFO candidate, Bjerholt agreed in principle to continue as consultant to co until Dec 31, 2017 Source text: (bit.ly/2o7jkfI) Further company coverage:", "March 30 Cellectar Biosciences Inc:\n* After much anticipation, Cellectar Biosciences initiates NCI-supported phase ii trial of CLR 131 in multiple myeloma and other blood cancers\n* Cellectar Biosciences-study will be conducted in up to 15 centers in U.S. for patients with variety of orphan-designated relapse or refractory hematologic cancers\n* Cellectar Biosciences Inc - Cellectar will receive approximately $2 million in a non-dilutive grant to help fund trial from national cancer institute\n* Cellectar Biosciences Inc - initial efficacy data from study expected as early as second half of 2017 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "May 2 Selecta Biosciences Inc\n* Selecta biosciences obtains license for recombinant immunotoxin lmb-100 from national cancer institute (nci) for pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers\n* Selecta biosciences inc - under terms of license agreement, nci will receive an upfront payment of $50,000 from selecta\n* Selecta biosciences-nci entitled upto $9.25 million for milestones, low single-digit royalties on worldwide annual sales of any resulting commercialized treatment Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "BRIEF-Marine Harvest sees downside risk to lowered global 2017 supply forecast\n* CFO Ivan Vindheim says the main risk to global 2017 salmon supply outlook is still on the downside of the company's forecast range, despite a downward revision of its view on Wednesday", "New Partnership Helps BSc, MSc and PhD Research Students Perform Biomolecular Research in Nigerian Universities.\nLagos, Nigeria — African Biosciences Ltd. today announced a partnership with Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) to provide access to services of ABL.\nThis includes a launch the first ever all-in-one research packages for the Nigerian academic bioscience research community. African Biosciences Ltd. Research Project Package (ABL-RPP) provides a convenient package for molecular biology-oriented research projects and come with flat rate pricing directed at BSc, MSc and PhD students interested in serious and meaningful biomolecular research in plants, animals, humans and microbes. The packages provide project design service, one-stop access to reagents and supplies, lab-for-rent services where student performs bench work in our lab, contract research services where the company performs bench work, provision of up-to-date literature, and basic data analysis.\nThis service continues the vision of providing ground-breaking integrated bioscience research services through a unique research-design-to-data analysis platform to achieve bioscience research goals by addressing some key challenges of performing bioscience research in Nigeria. With this new service, African Biosciences Ltd. is positioned to be a key player in the biosciences research market by being a leading service provider to build technical capacity in biomolecular research in Nigeria and soon across Africa.\nTo benefit from flat rate pricing, students must meet some requirements such current enrollment in a degree program at an accredited University or tertiary institution recognized by the relevant authorities, approval by the supervisor or research committee, and meet project scope requirement ranging from 2 weeks of lab work for BSc projects and 1 month for MSc projects to 3 months of lab work for PhD projects. The company offers a payment plan to help with affordability, and package pricing allows groups of students to band together to get additional discounts. Academic departments can get bulk discount for groups of their students who sign up to use ABL-RPP and academic institutions who sign long-term Memoranda of Understanding to access this service receive even deeper discounts for their students.\nElaborating on ABL-RPP, Prof. Ikhide Imumorin, Co-founder and CEO of the company explained that eligible projects for flat rate pricing may include techniques from among the following: DNA and RNA extraction, PCR primer design, standard PCR, RT-PCR, Real Time PCR (qPCR), de-novo SNP identification, SNP genotyping, PCR-RFLP, Sanger DNA sequencing, basic bioinformatics and molecular data analysis. Additional charges apply to projects that require ELISA, Western Blots, molecular cloning, protein expression, in-vitro assays, next generation sequencing of DNA and RNA, genome editing, advanced bioinformatics and genome assembly.\nThis research project package is first of its kind in Nigeria for modern bioscience research and is part of the plan of African Biosciences Ltd. to provide comprehensive private sector solutions to life science researchers in Nigeria and Africa.", "April 5 Varian Medical Systems Inc:\n* Varian Medical Systems names new CFO\n* Varian medical systems inc says named Gary E. Bischoping of dell technologies as chief financial officer effective may 8, 2017\n* Bischoping will replace Elisha W. Finney Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "BRIEF-Hyduke Energy says James Hill appointed interim chief financial officer\n* Dayna Decker will remain with Hyduke as controller and chief financial officer of Hyduke's operating subsidiaries", "April 24 (Reuters) - Celldex Therapeutics Inc:\n* CELLDEX THERAPEUTICS INC - APPROVED A REDUCTION IN WORKFORCE TO REDUCE OPERATING COSTS AND BETTER ALIGN ITS WORKFORCE WITH NEEDS OF ITS BUSINESS\n* CELLDEX THERAPEUTICS INC - PLANS TO REDUCE ITS 2018 BUDGETED WORKFORCE BY 59 POSITIONS\n* CELLDEX THERAPEUTICS - REDUCED 2018 BUDGETED WORKFORCE INCLUDES 41 EMPLOYEES TO BE TERMINATED, 18 BUDGETED AND/OR OPEN POSITIONS TO NOT BE FILLED\n* CELLDEX THERAPEUTICS - EXPECTS TO INCUR RESTRUCTURING CHARGES IN Q2 OF ABOUT $1.3 MILLION RELATED TO CASH SEVERANCE PAYMENTS, OTHER EMPLOYEE-RELATED COSTS Source text (bit.ly/2qX3Kpv) Further company coverage:", "Feb 14 Treasury Wine Estates Ltd\n* Treasury Wine Estates Limited appoints Gunther Burghardt as chief financial officer\n* Burghardt replaces outgoing CFO Noel Meehan\n* Matt Young, has been appointed to role of deputy CFO\n* Noel Meehan has advised that with relocation of CFO role to United States he will not continue as CFO and will leave company on 14 March 2017. Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:", "April 24 (Reuters) - Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc:\n* BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL INC SAYS CEO JEAN-JACQUES BIENAIMÉ’S 2017 TOTAL COMPENSATION WAS $15.9 MILLION VERSUS $16.9 MILLION IN 2016 – SEC FILING\n* BIOMARIN PHARMACEUTICAL INC SAYS CFO DANIEL SPIEGELMAN'S 2017 TOTAL COMPENSATION WAS $4.6 MILLION VERSUS $4.9 MILLION IN 2016 – SEC FILING Source text (bit.ly/2HrMQ9F) Further company coverage:", "Aug 14 (Reuters) - TCI Finance Ltd\n* Says approved appointment of ramesh sivaraman as cfo Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:" ]

[ "SAN JOSE — A collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout Sharks territory Monday when defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic took the ice at practice.\nVlasic left Saturday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks at 4:44 of the second period after taking a slapshot to the throat area, but every indication suggests that the Sharks top shutdown blue liner will be healthy enough to suit up for Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils at SAP Center.\n“Big relief,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s obviously a big part for us as we know. It could have been a lot worse, and thankfully, it wasn’t.”\nThe news on Joakim Ryan is less optimistic.\nAdvertisement\nDeBoer said that Ryan, who missed Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury, will be out for “seven to 10 days”, which is why the team recalled defenseman Tim Heed from the AHL Barracuda Monday.\nAt this point, it’s unclear whether DeBoer will skate Heed against the Devils or veteran Paul Martin, who suited up for his first NHL game since Dec. 7 on Saturday. Martin looked rusty during Saturday’s game, receiving 10:10 of ice time and just three shifts during the third period, forcing the Sharks to close out the game with just four defensemen in the wake of Vlasic’s injury.\nThe Sharks could skate Dylan DeMelo on his offside with Brent Burns Tuesday, sliding Heed onto the third pairing with Brenden Dillon.\nMelker Karlsson also practiced Monday after leaving Saturday’s game just 3:17 into the first period with a lower-body injury, the result of a blocked shot. Karlsson is expected to play Tuesday assuming he isn’t hit with a setback.\nJoonas Donskoi, who suffered an apparent left-shoulder injury in Edmonton on March 14, skated before practice Monday. DeBoer labeled his status as day to day." ]

[ "SAN JOSE — Evander Kane, and his Sharks teammates, provided a full-throated response to criticism from iconic Canadian broadcaster Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada last weekend.\nDuring his weekly “Coach’s Corner” segment, Cherry criticized Kane for skating into the Calgary Flames end of the rink during warmups, characterizing the act as the type of behavior that alienates teammates. The Sharks acquired Kane at a bargain-basement prices on Feb. 26, in part, because of the embattled forward’s reputation for causing friction with his teammates in Winnipeg and Buffalo.\n“What he did was, in the warmups, he went down in the other team’s end. Why he does goofy things like that… That’s why he ticks off his own team,” Cherry said. “There is no reason to be down in the other team’s end. We’re not even going to show it.”\nAccording to the Sharks, Cherry got his facts wrong.\nKane insists that he was skating in the Flames’ end after the Sharks returned to the ice for the second period, not during warmups as was suggested by Cherry. It’s common for players to skate in their opponent’s zone prior to the second period because teams switch ends and it’s closer to their bench.\n“It was not during pregame warmups as the video would suggest. It was coming out for the second period,” Kane said. “I was just doing some practice shots without a puck toward the net, like I actually do every single game coming out for the second.”\nGet Sharks news in your inbox. Sign up now for the free Sharks Report newsletter.\nThe suggestion that Kane violated an unwritten hockey code by warming up in the Flames’ end got Sharks defenseman Brent Burns particularly fired up.\n“Every team does that,” Burns said. “I say hi to the other teams’ guys all the time. It’s not uncommon. Watch when guys come out for the second period, they’re always going into the other team’s zone.”\nSharks alternate captain Logan Couture took issue with the insinuation that Kane had rubbed his new teammates the wrong way with his actions in Calgary. After that game, Burns, Joe Pavelski and Joel Ward were chumming it up with Kane, hugging, laughing and celebrating his four-goal night.\n“Every single team does that — that’s crazy. It isn’t a problem for us,” Couture said. “If he shows up and plays the way he does, we don’t care. It’s nothing. It’s really not a story.”\nAnother Sharks player, Barclay Goodrow, called Cherry’s criticism of Kane “outrageous”.\nAt this point, one thing is clear: the Sharks are grateful that general manager Doug Wilson swung a deal at the trade deadline to bring Kane into the room. The Sharks’ season appeared to be trending downward after a four-game trip through the Central Division resulted in a 1-2-1 record. Especially troubling was a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota in which the Sharks were outshot 31-11 over the last two periods and overtime.\nLike our Sharks Facebook page for more San Jose Sharks news, commentary and conversation.\nWith Joe Thornton still sidelined by a right-knee injury, the Sharks seemed to lack the firepower to reach the finish line for a playoff spot. Kane’s acquisition injected life into a dressing room that had the atmosphere of a funeral home after the loss in Minnesota.\nBut after going 3-0 through Western Canada, the Sharks are now 7-2 with Kane, building a three-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks for second place in the Pacific Division and a five-point cushion over the Los Angeles Kings. Kane is proving to be the offensive catalyst the Sharks needed, producing 10 points (5g, 5a) in nine games.\nRelated Articles Sharks get good, bad news on recent injuries\nSharks suffer major injury in win over Canucks\nTakeaways: How the Sharks youngsters made the Evander Kane trade happen\nKane’s four-goal game charges Sharks to victory over Flames\nThings to know: Sharks’ coach provides updates on Kane, Donskoi Kane expressed disappointment in Cherry’s comments because it fed into the perception that he’s locker room cancer.\n“A lot of times, especially in the Canadian media, they feel that they can speak so openly and loosely without getting the facts straight,” Kane said. “Maybe they don’t understand the gravity that their impressions or thoughts and ideas have on the casual fan. When you speak, especially on TV, it is important that they get their facts straight because that can cause a misunderstanding. It might not seem big to them.\n“When you’re talking about a player, and the underlying tones are outrageous, talking about his character, I have a problem with that. It’s unfortunate.”\n— Marc-Edouard Vlasic skated at practice Monday after missing the last 35:16 of Saturday’s game. Vlasic left the game after taking a puck to the throat area. He is expected to suit up against the New Jersey Devils at SAP Center Tuesday.\n— Melker Karlsson also returned to practice after missing all but 3:17 of Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury, the result of a blocked shot.\n— Head coach Pete DeBoer said that defenseman Joakim Ryan will be sidelined for “seven to 10 days” with an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup Saturday.\n— Joonas Donskoi, who suffered an apparent left-shoulder injury in Edmonton on March 14, skated before practice on Monday. DeBoer labeled Donskoi’s injury as a “day-to-day” ailment.", "COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sharks coach Pete DeBoer isn’t hesitating to lean on Martin Jones in the wake of his return from a lower-body injury this week.\nDeBoer will give the goal crease to Jones for the third time in four nights Friday when the Sharks (26-16-8) attempt to end their season-high four-game losing streak against the Columbus Blue Jackets (27-19-4) at Nationwide Arena.\n“He’s well rested and he’s healthy,” the Sharks coach said. “We want to get him feeling good.”\nGet Sharks news in your inbox. Sign up now for the free Sharks Report newsletter.\nAdvertisement\nJones is coming off a 43-save performance against the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday, his second start after missing four games with a lower-body injury. The Sharks top goalie posted an .886 save percentage in 13 appearances before he was sidelined after giving up five goals on 22 shots in a start against the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 18.\nAfter the Sharks shootout loss to the Red Wings Wednesday, DeBoer guaranteed that Jones will take the ball and run with it in the second half.\n2. Joe Thornton’s injury creates an opportunity for Danny O’Regan.\nO’Regan is ready to graduate to the NHL. With Thornton sidelined by a right-knee injury, he’s going to get a chance to prove it on the Sharks five-game road trip.\nThe rookie forward will draw into the Sharks lineup for the first time since Dec. 21 Friday, returning to the fourth line center position in Columbus.\nLike our Sharks Facebook page for more San Jose Sharks news, commentary and conversation.\nO’Regan will skate on a line with Barclay Goodrow and Joel Ward, replacing Marcus Sorensen, who will serve as a healthy scratch with Jannik Hansen and Tim Heed.\n“Obviously, you can’t replace a player like (Thornton), but things happen,” O’Regan said. “I’m lucky to be that next guy that they call on.”\nDeBoer is asking O’Regan to shift roles with the Sharks after he’s served as a top line scorer with the AHL Barracuda and Boston University during his college career.\nO’Regan collected 154 points in 154 NCAA games before joining the Barracuda last season, where he won the AHL’s rookie of the year award.\nIn 91 minor league games, O’Regan has racked up 80 points.\n“He’s an offensive player at the American League level and college. Coming into our lineup, we just want the ice tilted the right away when he’s on the ice,” DeBoer said. “We’re not going to measure him on production, goals or assists.”\nDeBoer is hoping O’Regan can close the revolving door at the fourth line center position that opened up when Chris Tierney got promoted to the third line in the third game of the season. Through 50 games, DeBoer has used O’Regan, Ryan Carpenter, Barclay Goodrow and Joel Ward at fourth line center, and the Mercury News learned two weeks ago that Doug Wilson is trying to fill the position on the trade market.\nO’Regan understands that he will need to play a different role at the NHL level to stick around this time, focusing on being a stronger-possession player at the bottom of the lineup.\nThe 24-year-old has posted a 41.61 percent possession rating in 10 games this season. In his last two games with the Sharks before getting reassigned to the Barracuda, he recorded possession ratings of 30 percent (Dec. 21) and 26.67 percent (Dec. 18).\nO’Regan said he’s going to focus on slowing things down this time instead of playing hot potato with the puck.\n“That’s one of the things that I’ve had in the back of my mind for a couple of months now hoping to get that next chance,” he said. “Hold onto the puck for an extra second.”\n3. Bet on the under (metaphorically speaking).\nAfter clashing with John Tortorella’s New York Rangers teams during his tenure with the New Jersey Devils, DeBoer knows what to expect from the Blue Jackets Friday: a tight-checking low-scoring game.\n“Any John Tortorella coached team is going to play hard, and they’re going to be gritty, and they’re going to compete,” the Sharks coach said. “You know when you’re playing a team like this you’ve got to show up and play.”\nBut the Blue Jackets are struggling to put the puck in the net right now. They rank 27th in scoring (2.54 goals per game) and have scored two or fewer goals in regulation in 10 of their past 11 games.\nRegardless, the Blue Jackets find themselves just two points out of second place in the jam-packed Metropolitan Division because they’re 16-3-4 in one-goal games and they’ve earned 28 out of a possible 32 points when going to overtime.\nThey’re the only team in the NHL that has yet to surrender a goal during three-on-three play.\n“We’ve got to be comfortable in those types of games,” DeBoer said, referring to close game. “We’ve got to be patient, and wait for our chances, and be prepared to win 1-0, 2-1.”", "I often get bitten by mosquitos when others don't. I assume I attract them for some reason. Too sweet for my own good, I guess.\nThen there is Dylan McWilliams -- who has been bitten by a shark, bear, and venomous snake. I'm curious how he attracts them, and does it related to me getting bit often.\nMcWilliams most recently endured the shark attack off the coast of Hawaii, \"I was looking around and saw a lot of blood and I saw a shark underneath me, I started kicking at it.\" He survived, \"The scariest part was swimming back. There was blood behind me. I didn't know where it was.\"\nThey say bad luck comes in threes, and for Dylan McWilliams, a 20-year-old from Colorado, that has unfortunately proved true. The young outdoorsman has survived his third bloody brush... https://t.co/e0562iGLmf — FiWEH Life (@fiweh) April 23, 2018\nThe bear attack was just last year. \"(It) pulled me into its mouth and then it grabbed me with its teeth. When it pulled, it tore the skin and scraped along my skull which was like the cracking noise that I heard.\"\nAnd as for the snake bite, he said, \"It didn't give me much venom, but I got a little bit to make me sick.\"\nI think I react more to bug bites than Dylan has handled the vicious attacks. He is a pure survivalist. UPI", "ENGLAND prop Alex Walmsley is facing a lengthy spell out of the game after breaking his neck.\nThe Dewsbury-born St Helens forward, such a hit in the World Cup, fractured a bone against Warrington Wolves recently and has undergone surgery.\n“It is obviously a massive blow to our team given the fact that Alex is the best front rower in Super League,” said St Helens coach Justin Holbrook.\n“But importantly the news that Alex will make a full recovery from the injury is one we all welcome.\n“The surgeon has told both Alex and the club that he will make a full recovery and his neck will be stronger than ever.”\nElsewhere, organisers are pressing ahead with plans to take a Super League fixture to America, but face a race against time to enter a New York club in English competition in 2019.\nIt is six months since a consortium submitted an application to join the Championship, but they are still waiting to get the go-ahead.\nAn RFL delegation visited New York in January and has asked for more details about the business plan of the proposed new club who will still try for 2020 even if time does run out.\nMeanwhile, talks are ongoing with the Red Bull Arena and US broadcasting companies about taking a Super League game to New York later this year and Ricky Wilby, the Englishman fronting the bid, says the consortium will cover all costs of the travelling teams.\nSalford have expressed a willingness to switch one of their home games to the Big Apple and, although an initial proposal to move their Good Friday fixture with Catalans Dragons has fallen through, Wilby says there are two other Super League clubs keen to become involved.\nWarrington have completed the signing of ex-Wigan Warriors and England winger Josh Charnley from Sale Sharks on a three-year deal.\nHalifax host Oldham in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tonight while Featherstone Rovers welcome North Wales Crusaders after both ties were postponed due to the bad weather at the weekend. Hunslet Hawks’ Challenge Cup game against Bradford Bulls has been rearranged for Easter Monday.", "The Sharks got their pre season off to a winning start against the Willagee Bears.\nThe Sharks got their pre season off to a winning start against the Willagee Bears. Picture: Supplied Rockingham Sharks\nRockingham Sharks opened their 2018 campaign with a solid 44-10 win over the Willagee Bears in their first pre-season hit-out of the year.\nBoth teams were missing players and both looked rusty as the penalty count climbed but coach Darren Shaw was philosophical in his after-match thoughts, saying the win was good, but there was “plenty of work to be done” before round 1 against Fremantle on April 7.\n“We made a lot of mistakes and our completion rate was poor, but it is still pre-season,” Shaw said.\n“We’ll work on that and I know we will get much better.”\nClub skipper Reece Potter was the only casualty of the day, suffering an Achilles injury that could see him out for the season.\nMan of the match was Tevita Pomale, who returned to the club and scored an impressive hat-trick, closely followed by new half Jack Wray, who kicked six from eight and showed promising signs of being a dominant leader.\nA swirling lofty kick on the last tackle from Wray was grabbed by Pomale for the opening try of the day after just three minutes and Wray then kicked the goal to make it six before Ezra Taomia’s surging run set up the home side 10m out four minutes later.\nPomale added his second and the Sharks were looking comfortable.\nWhen Taomia barged over minutes later, Wray added the extras and the home side were 16-0 to the good. But a poor line kick-out handed the Bears possession and a try out wide as both sides traded mistakes and sloppy penalties.\nWray’s sublime pass to Jules Wilson-Wyllie extended the lead and the kick made it 22-6 at the break.\nLock Anthony Bowman put in a superb shift all day and his 25m run broke the Bears early in the second half to extend the lead.\nJosh Neal then broke the crash-over before Pomale added a third with a storming 45m run after hooker Andrew Jefferies had cleverly picked up a loose Bears ball.\nWray kicked his fifth of the afternoon and the Sharks were cruising at 38-10.\nA sublime 50m penalty kick from the young half put the Sharks within sniffing distance of the line with three minutes left and Carlo Trego barged over from 5m out.\nThe kick was good and the Sharks ended their day deserved winners.\nMeanwhile, the reserves had a resounding 58-4 win over the Bears in their trial game.\nThe Sharks face Joondalup Giants in their final pre-season hit-out next Saturday at Franklin Offshore Sportsplex, with all three grades set to play.", "A 13-year-old boy was swimming on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina when he was reportedly bitten by a blacktip or sharpness shark on his foot.\nLinton Suttle said that he was pushing his 11-year-old sister on a boogie board when he dived into the water. Linton said he then felt a sharp pain on his foot, prompting him to pull away, The Island Packet reported.\n\"I thought maybe it was a seashell but as I turned around to look I saw a shadow swim away and I knew I had just got bit by a shark,\" Linton said. \"My first thought was that I wanted to get my sister out of the water.\"\nThe boy told the Island Packet that he did not expect anyone to believe he had gotten bitten by a shark and he was right. His parents initially doubted his injuries were caused by a shark.\nKristy Suttle, Linton's mother and a nurse, said she first thought her son's injuries were cause by a tentacle.\nLinton's father used Google search to find pictures of recent shark bite cases on Hilton Head Island, which matched Linton's bites. According to the Florida Programme for Shark Research, he is the fourth shark bite victim on Hilton Head Island confirmed this summer.\n\"I already knew it was a shark bite,\" Linton said. \"I was glad he also said it was because now my parents know.\"\nLinton has been forced to walk around on crutches and he cannot swim in the ocean. \"Half of an inch to the left and he might have lost a toe,\" she said. \"I am grateful it didn't do more damage.\"\nThree other children have been bitten by sharks this summer including a ten-year-old boy.\nOn 18 June, 14-year-old Ohio girl Reagan Readnour was bitten on the leg in two places by a shark in shallow waters off Burkes Beach. Three days later, 16-year-old Indiana girl Olivia Wallhauser was bitten by a shark while swimming off South Forest Beach. None of the victims suffered life threatening injuries.", "COLUMBUS, Ohio — The elusive first win without Joe Thornton is in the bank.\nThe Sharks (27-16-8) finally got rewarded for their strong play without their emotional leader Friday, ending a season-high four-game losing streak in Columbus.\nThe win allowed the Sharks to break a tie with the Anaheim Ducks and move into sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with 62 points.\nGet Sharks news in your inbox. Sign up now for the free Sharks Report newsletter.\nHere’s what we learned as the Sharks picked up a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets (27-20-4).\n1. The Sharks know the key ingredients to surviving without Thornton.\nThe Sharks are showing that the ingredients they’ll need to survive without Thornton are embedded in their DNA.\nThey put them on display in putting up 42 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday and while earning a point in a seven-round shootout against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.\nIn the third game of a five-game trip, the Sharks work ethic, tenacity and resilience finally translated into something tangible: a win and two key points in the Pacific Division standings.\n“That’s this group’s identity. There’s no quit in them. They don’t get down. They show up and they work,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. “We haven’t gotten the results lately, but there’s been no discouragement.”\nLike our Sharks Facebook page for more San Jose Sharks news, commentary and conversation.\nAfter surrendering the second-highest number of goals (46) in the month of January, the team returned to playing Sharks hockey in Friday’s win, holding the Blue Jackets to 29 shots, 15 through two periods, and shutting the door with another solid goaltending performance from Martin Jones.\n“I love the way we work,” Jones said. “We hunt pucks down on the forecheck as hard as anybody. It doesn’t always go our way, but I don’t think it’s very often that you can fault our effort. That’s one thing I really appreciate about this group.”\nJones made 28 saves while starting his third game in four nights after missing the Sharks last four games games before All-Star weekend with a lower-body injury.\nOn Wednesday, DeBoer guaranteed that the Sharks No. 1 goalie will bring his best stuff in the second half, and so far, Jones is backing up his coach’s promise.\nWith 71 saves on 73 shots in his last two games, Jones is looking very much like the goalie who posted a .930 save percentage in his first 17 appearances before suffering an injury on Nov. 25.\n2. The Sharks power play isn’t skipping a beat without Thornton.\nIt’s goes without saying that Kevin Labanc is being asked to fill Jumbo-sized shoes by taking Thornton’s place on the Sharks top power play unit.\nHis approach to the assignment: listen to the veterans and follow their lead.\nDespite the absence of the game’s most-creative passer, the Sharks power play continues to click, going 4 for 11 (36.4 percent) in four games without Thornton.\nThe power play went 2 for 3 Friday as Logan Couture scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season with the extra man at 5:07 of the first and Labanc scored his second goal in as many games by capitalizing on a 5-on-3 at 10:20 of the second.\nUsing @Burnzie88 as a screen is a pretty good idea.\n#SJSharks pic.twitter.com/pACnvD50J7 — San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 3, 2018\nWhat kind of advice does Labanc get from the likes of Couture, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns on the top power play unit.\n“Don’t be afraid,” Labanc said.\nHe clearly isn’t.\nAnd the 22-year-old is the right fit for the top unit with his rocket-hard shot, ability to hang onto the puck and create space for his teammates. His blast into the top shelf from the slot Friday was his 12th power play point of the season.\nThe other secret to the power play’s success without Thornton isn’t exactly a secret: the group features one of the league’s best-shooting defensemen in Burns, its best-shot deflectors in Pavelski and all-around players in Couture.\n“We’ve got skilled players,” Couture said. “Obviously, you can’t replicate one of the best passers of this generation, but other guys can go out there and put pucks toward the net and that’s how we’re scoring our goals.”\nMarc-Edouard Vlasic scored the Sharks third goal in five-on-five play at 6:51 of the third, his ninth of the season, matching a career high set in 2014-15.\n3. Sharks survive a major scare.\nSharks territory held its breath when Couture left the game after taking a puck to the mouth area with 7:13 left in the third.\nCouture missed the past seven games of the 2016-17 season after getting hit in the mouth by a redirected shot, causing damage to all of his teeth.\nFortunately, Couture returned for the game’s final 3:30 Friday.\n“Nothing came out,” Couture said, referring to his teeth. “But I’ll probably end up having to do (some dental work) when we get back to San Jose.”\nRelated Articles Sharks snag first win without Thornton, beating Blue Jackets\nWill Paul Martin get to play in the NHL again?\nThree things to know: Sharks’ DeBoer isn’t afraid to lean on Jones in wake of injury\nThree thoughts: Sharks’ Hertl, DeBoer back idea of giving Jagr an NHL farewell in San Jose\nTakeaways: Sharks coach issues a guarantee after loss to Red Wings Couture’s upper lip was visibly swollen after the game, and he had a cut below his left nostril.\n“It was definitely worrisome,” Labanc said. “We have Jumbo out for now, and to see another top guy (go out), that would have hurt.”", "The decline in Azerbaijan’s legitimate lending sector and new rules introduced by the Central Bank resulted in the rise of loan sharks and pawn shops, analysts contend. (Photo: Central Bank of Azerbaijan)\nNamig Ibrahimov is a young entrepreneur, building an online shopping platform that offers imported clothing to Azerbaijani customers. To invest in his business, though, he is getting loans not from a bank, but from a loan shark.\n“I don’t trust banks,” Ibrahimov told EurasiaNet.org . “It is riskier than going to loan sharks.”\nWorking through loan sharks, of course, carries substantial risks as well. It is illegal, for one, and the interest is far higher than for a bank loan – about 10 percent per month (over 200 percent yearly), as opposed to around 26 percent annually from a bank. “It’s a swamp,” Ibrahimov said. “It’s so difficult to get out of it.”\nBut Ibrahimov is not alone: loan sharks are an increasingly popular way for Azerbaijanis to get money, amid a banking crisis that has rocked the country’s legitimate financial sector.\nOn February 21, 2015 – now known in Azerbaijan as “Black Saturday” – the government sharply devalued the local currency, the manat, which ultimately led to the closure of 13 banks and the manat losing more than half its value.\nAs a result, Azerbaijanis with bank loans – which were usually denominated in dollars – saw the cost of their obligations skyrocket overnight. Since the devaluation, more than 200,000 Azerbaijanis have been sued by banks for failure to repay their loans,” said one member of parliament, Zahid Oruj. In May, the state-run International Bank of Azerbaijan – the country’s largest lender – defaulted as a result of a large number of bad loans.\nThis has, at times, had tragic consequences for borrowers. In February, a 53-year-old man, Jabrail Jabrayilov, was at a bank to discuss a loan he had taken out for about $1,020. Told he would have to pay an additional $500 in interest on top of that, Jabrayilov had a heart attack on the spot. His son blamed the death on the stress of trying to deal with the loan, local media reported.\nAfter the devaluation, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan instituted new rules aimed at forcing banks to be more selective in giving out loans. One requirement was that borrowers had to be employed, which excluded entrepreneurs and those in the informal economy.\nBorrowers also want to get loans denominated in manats, to help protect against further devaluations, while banks continue to want to loan in only dollars.\n“Neither side wants to lose, since the currency is not stable,” said Samir Aliyev, an economist and editor-in-chief of the magazine Economic Forum.\nLoan sharks are more likely to loan in manats, albeit at exploitative interest rates. “The tightening of credit policy resulted in the rise of loan sharks and pawn shops,” Aliyev said.\nLoan sharks in Azerbaijan operate in the shadows, by word of mouth, offering loans on collateral like gold or real estate. Of the several contacted by EurasiaNet.org through intermediaries, none agreed to be interviewed.\nThe scale of loan sharking is difficult to gauge, given its underground character. But there has been a spike in court cases involving usury, and the topic has become a frequent one in local media.\nIn one case, a Baku woman, Saadat Mammadova, appealed to police after loan sharks took her nine-year-old daughter hostage. She had borrowed 6,000 manats from a loan shark, using gold as collateral. She had been paying it off slowly, but after two years, the interest had ballooned to 100,000 manats, and the loan shark claimed she had not been paying it back. She managed to get her daughter back after paying 2,000 manats, but her case against the loan sharks is still ongoing.\nIn another case, which made it to the Baku Serious Crimes Court, a Baku teacher, Solmaz Sadiyeva, was accused of defrauding several of her colleagues into helping her pay off a debt to a loan shark that had gotten out of control.\nThe rise in loan sharking also can be seen in the decline in the legitimate lending sector. According to the most recent Central Bank data, the portfolio of legitimate creditors amounted to 16.4 billion manats (about $9.7 billion), as of the beginning of 2017, a 24 percent decrease from the year before.\n“The government should have solved this problem by bailing out the banks. But it didn’t, and instead just let the banks and clients deal with it,” Aliyev said.\nIbrahimov, the entrepreneur, has had several friends financially ruined by loan sharks. “One friend took a loan of $6,500, and wasn’t able to pay it back. Her debt was increasing every day, and in the end she had to sell her apartment,” he said.\nAnother friend who had similar problems with a 10,000 manat loan (at the time, about $5,900) didn’t have an apartment to sell and had to flee the country.\nStill, he said, he is going to stick with loan sharks rather than deal with banks. “Yes, it’s illegal, but that’s why you don’t risk getting involved with the police or courts,” Ibrahimov said. “All you lose is your collateral.”", "Niederreiter’s OT goal lifts Wild over Sharks\nSAN JOSE, Calif. -- This being the season of giving, it was only fitting Nino Niederreiter emerged as the final hero Sunday night.\nHe was the recipient of a bad San Jose turnover, and Niederreiter promptly deposited his 10th goal of the season past Sharks goalie Martin Jones 3:26 into overtime as the Wild beat the hosts 4-3.\nNiederreiter was determined to get the puck back from Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo since he had just given away himself moments earlier.\n“As soon as I lost the puck, I was kind of frustrated with myself, but they gave it right back to me,” Niederreiter said. “I was happy to shoot that puck right away.”\nThe Sharks rallied from a 3-0 deficit, but the costly turnover just feet from Jones’ crease prevented San Jose from possibly extending its winning streak to three games.\n“We had a chance, and he threw it away right to them,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said of DeMelo. “In overtime, possession is key. They skated around in our zone for about a minute there, and we were exhausted. You’ve got to hold on to it, you can’t take a chance like that. And that was the result of it.”\nThe victory made a winner of Wild backup goalie Alex Stalock, who toiled for 62 games over five seasons in San Jose. Stalock made 31 saves Sunday.\n“Unreal,” Stalock said of his reaction to beating the Sharks. “Just the whole deal, playing an old team. I’d never done that. A lot of good friends. To get two points is pretty special.”\nSan Jose rallied from a 3-1 deficit after two periods to force overtime.\nSharks defenseman Brent Burns started the third-period comeback with his second goal of the game and fourth of the season at 2:41 on the power play. Tomas Hertl tied it with his seventh of the season at 14:59 after Stalock failed to freeze a shot by DeMelo.\n“It was our sixth game in 10 nights, including traveling back from the East last week,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “It’s back-to-backs against a team that was rested and waiting for us. I knew we’d probably start slow. I didn’t expect us to be down three. I thought it was a gutsy effort to get a point tonight.”\nMinnesota led 2-0 after the first period. The Wild capitalized on the first power play of the game as a sharp passing play made the Sharks pay for Melker Karlsson’s slash of Matt Cullen at 3:07. Ryan Murphy scored his first goal of the season in his sixth game by one-timing a feed from Jason Zucker past Jones at 4:19.\nJones (20 saves) got tangled with Burns at mid-period, and Eric Staal deposited his first of the night into a vacated net after taking a feed from behind the goal from Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter.\nThe visitors’ lead grew to 3-0 early in the second period when Staal scored his second of the game, a goal at 4:58 that stood following both an officials’ review and a failed coaches’ challenge by the Sharks.\n“It was a good start and then we kind of let off the gas a little,” Suter said. “They got some power plays, got the momentum going. We couldn’t get it back in the third, and luckily we got it to overtime and were able to get the extra point.”\nThe Sharks had plenty of opportunity to get back in the game on the power play. They had four in the second period, and they finally struck during the dying seconds of a five-on-three late in the period on Burns’ one-time blast from the left circle off a cross-ice feed from Joe Thornton with 52.5 seconds left before intermission.\n“Obviously it’s nice to chip in. It’s been tough to get ‘em this year,” said Burns, an ex-Wild, player. “It’s still a big point. You don’t want to fall down early in two of the three games, but to get points is what really matters.”\nNOTES: San Jose D Dylan DeMelo played Sunday despite taking the butt end of a stick near his eye Saturday against Ottawa. The Sharks were, however, still without forwards Joonas Donskoi, Mikkel Boedker and Barclay Goodrow -- all with lower-body injuries. Donskoi and Boedker are day-to-day while Goodrow will miss at least a week’s worth of play. D Joakim Ryan was San Jose’s lone healthy scratch. ... After being scratched Friday for the first time, Minnesota C Matt Cullen replaced RW Chris Stewart, and D Gustav Olofsson played in place of D Mike Reilly. D Jared Spurgeon was Minnesota’s other healthy scratch. ... The Wild next play Tuesday when they host the Calgary Flames to start a three-game homestand. ... San Jose is idle until opening a three-game road trip in Calgary on Thursday.", "A shark bit a boy swimming off Hilton Head Island in South Carolina over the weekend. Linton Suttle, a 13-year-old boy from North Carolina, was pushing his sister on a boogie board near Sea Pines Beach Club when he suddenly felt a sharp stabbing pain in his foot.\n“I thought maybe it was a seashell, but as I turned around to look I saw a shadow swim away and I knew I had just got bit by a shark,” Linton Suttle told local Island Packet reporters.\nThe shark bite victim said his first thought after realizing what had happened was to get his 11-year-old sister out of the water.\nThe North Carolina boy’s parents took photos of the bite marks on Suttle’s foot and shared them via an exchange with Florida Program for Shark Research team members. The researchers confirmed the teenager swimming off Hilton Head Island was indeed bitten by a shark.\nFortunately, Linton Suttle did not suffer any major injuries, but will have to walk on crutches for a while – and remain out of the ocean for the near future. The North Carolina teenager is the fourth Hilton Head shark bite victim confirmed by the Florida research group so far this summer.\n4th confirmed shark bite of the summer on Hilton Head Island. #fox35 https://t.co/JbTSSEszvn — Ryan Elijah (@ryanelijah) August 14, 2017\nKristy Suttle, the shark bite victim’s mother, said her son could have lost a toe if the wound had occurred just an inch to the left. The grateful teen’s mother also noted her son was attacked by the shark during the first day of their family vacation.\nSouth Carolina does not have any official shark bite reporting requirements, according to a Daily Mail report. The Florida Museum of Natural History and the International Shark Attack File boast the oldest and the most comprehensive shark bite database in the United States.\nOn July 28, Johnny Simatacolos, 10, also sustained a shark bite while swimming off the beach at Sea Pines Beach. Earlier this summer, Olivia Wallhauser, a 16-year-old Jasper, Indiana, girl was bitten by a shark while swimming in shallow water off South Forest Beach. Reagan Readnour, a 14-year-old Lewis Center, Ohio, girl was pulled from her boogie board and bitten multiple time by a shark while swimming off Burkes Beach.\nGood morning! (@ Sea Pines Beach in Hilton Head Island, SC) https://t.co/1skANPDiBB pic.twitter.com/zt4EKjtyvD — Daniel Burapavong???? (@TD2timeMVP) August 14, 2017\nThe shark attacks on the teen girls happened within a six-mile radius of each other. All of the Hilton Head Island area shark bite victims sustained minor injuries, which has led Florida Program for Shark Research team members to conclude that the South Carolina attacks were initiated by small sharks.\n[Featured Image by Alessandro DeMaddalena/Shutterstock]", "“I don’t blame the shark, I don’t blame the bear, and I don’t blame the rattlesnake,” said a 20-year-old resident of Colorado who had gotten bitten by all three of them.\nDylan McWilliams, a 20-year-old from Colorado, the man who's survived a snake, bear and shark attack!\nMan...that was one bad day! pic.twitter.com/L9u3y3xnxK — Nicholas Walker Ph.D (@Nicknackwalker) April 22, 2018\nA young outdoorsman Dylan McWilliams seems to have upset the animal kingdom as they keep coming one after another to hurt him.\n20-year-old resident of Grand Junction, Colorado, survived his third bloody brush with the kingdom when a shark attacked him while he was boogie-boarding off the island of Kauai, Hawaii.\nHe was enjoying the Pacific waves by paddling into the lines-up at the beach when he felt something bite down on his leg.\n\"I was looking around and saw a bunch of blood,” said McWilliams.\nIt didn’t take him long to spot the shark there who had already caused enough mess to make him wonder if he had lost half of his leg.\n“At first I panicked,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “I didn’t know if I lost half my leg or what.”\nSince McWilliams has had several encounters with wild animals, he was able to identify his recent attacker–a 6- to 8-foot tiger shark. He kicked it hard before attempting to swim to shore to safety.\n“That was the scariest part. I didn’t know where the shark was, and I didn’t know if he would come after me again,” he said.\nThe shark left behind non-fatal yet distinctive teeth marks in Dylan's leg that needed seven stitches. He posted some gruesome photos on his Facebook account.\nAn ordeal like this is bound to make one wary of swimming in the ocean but the young McWilliams is just frustrated about the cuts and is impatient to get back on the surf.\n“I’m just mad that I can’t get back in the water for a couple days,” McWilliams told Hawaiian TV station KGMB.\nHis courage is hardly surprising as in the past he had encounters with creatures like a bear and a rattlesnake.\n“The bear grabbed the back of my head and started pulling me and I was fighting back as best as I could. It dropped me and stomped on me a little bit, and I was able to get back to the group and they scared it away,”he said recounting the incident that took place last year when he was camping with some friends in Colorado.\nThree years ago, he was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in Utah.\n\"I was walking down a trail and I thought I kicked a cactus but couldn't see one, and then saw a rattlesnake all coiled up,\" he said.\nThe deadly creatures may not have any mercy for McWilliams but he holds no grudge against them.\n“I’ve always loved animals and spent as much time with them as I could,” he said. “I don’t blame the shark, I don’t blame the bear, and I don’t blame the rattlesnake.”\nMoreover, McWilliams repeated run of bad luck hasn’t dimed his spirits as he still loves outdoors just as much.\n\"I still go hiking, I still catch rattle snakes, and I will still swim in the ocean,\" he said.\nRead More Watch: Lion Attacks Tourist Who Patted Him While Posing For Pictures\nBanner Image Credits: Pixabay", "SAN JOSE – Oscar Klefbom can laugh about it now, because the result of Game 3 didn’t leave him with a feeling as empty as the net he somehow missed from centre ice.\n“I just wanted to make it a little bit more interesting for the fans,” chuckled the Oiler defenceman.\nWith the Oilers clinging to a 1-0 lead on Sunday night at SAP Center, goalie Martin Jones on the bench and the Sharks desperately looking for the equalizer, the puck bounced the right way and Edmonton suddenly had a three-on-one. Game over. Right?\nSure, until Klefbom fired a shot from the right side of the neutral zone that took off like a rocket and missed the yawning cage by several feet.\n“Bad ice,” he laughed. “No, next time I’m going to score for sure. I just tried to hit the net and it took off on me. It was a bad shot. A terrible shot.”\nWith 1:29 left, the gaffe gave the Sharks a brief respite, and they did get the puck back into the Oiler zone for a couple of chances on goalie Cam Talbot. But nothing much came of it.\n“There was plenty of time but I think we had it under control, actually,” said Klefbom. “It felt like we were playing a very solid game for 60 minutes. I mean, obviously they’re a good team with a lot of good offensive players out there but it felt like we had it under control especially with Cam playing that good.”\nTalbot laughed that Klefbom was going to hear about his miscue, and indeed he did.\n“They had a good laugh. Feels good now when we took care of business,” said Klefbom. “It was a really solid game from the whole team I think so it’s a huge win.”\nJordan Eberle said he couldn’t chirp the defenceman because his own attempt at the cage was deflected.\n“You know what, it would have been nice to have that one go in but it’s nice that it didn’t bite us in the ass, that’s the biggest thing.”\ndbarnes@postmedia.com\nTwitter.com/jrnbarnes", "Hearts of Oak head coach, Frank Nuttal, has lashed out at the tactics deployed by Elmina Sharks in their Ghana Premier League week 12 tie in Accra on Sunday.\nHearts needed an equaliser from Winnful Cobbinah to give them a point after Joseph Mensah had put Sharks in the lead.\nThe result gave Hearts 19 points and 3rd place; 7 points behind WAFA.\nAfter the match, Nuttal told reporters that Sharks disrupted the rhythm of the match with their choice of gameplan.\n“We worked very hard throughout the game and it is unfortunate not to pick up all the three points. But it is difficult when the opposition does not come to play football. I thought I was going to experience a football but what I saw was not good at all. If the Ghanaian league will get better, it needs more teams like us who are willing to play football and will not waste time. We will not fall over all the time as if we have an ankle injury.”\nHearts will face Bolga All Stars, WAFA and Liberty Professionals before the first round of the league ends.\n–\nBy: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana", "SAN JOSE — Another game. Another three-goal deficit erased in dramatic fashion.\nOnly this time the Sharks didn’t quite get the feel-good ending they were looking for.\nDefenseman Dylan DeMelo had a pass intended for Timo Meier intercepted by Nino Niederreiter deep in the Sharks’ zone, and Niederreiter beat goalie Martin Jones with 1:34 left in overtime as the Minnesota Wild withstood a furious San Jose rally and picked up a 4-3 win at SAP Center.\nBrent Burns scored twice on the power play and Tomas Hertl had the game-tying goal late in the third period. Still, it was a bittersweet way to end a three-game homestand for the Sharks, who picked up five of six points before they begin a three-game road trip through Western Canada later this week.\nAdvertisement\n“Five out of six on a homestand is good,” Sharks center Logan Couture said. “We would have really liked to get the sixth point there, but we did a good job of fighting back and getting ourselves back in that game.”\nThe Sharks started the homestand with a thrilling win over Carolina on Thursday when they fell behind by three goals two times before they rallied for a 5-4 overtime victory. They also trounced Ottawa 5-0 on Saturday.\nThe Sharks, after six games in 10 nights which included a cross country flight home, are third in the Pacific Division with 35 points\nWith the Sharks trailing 3-0, Burns’ with 53 seconds left in the second period gave his team a spark.\n“You feel better at 3-1 than 3-0,” said Burns, who has four goals and seven assists in his last 10 games. “With our team, we stuck together pretty good and we don’t have any doubt that even if we’re down, we can work our way back.”\nAfter Burns’ blistering slapshot from inside the blue line got past Wild goalie Alex Stalock to cut Minnesota’s lead to 3-2 with 17:19 to go in regulation time, Hertl tied the game with his seventh goal of the season at the 14:59 mark after a crazy scramble around the Minnesota net.\n“The third goal that tied it up, (Kevin Labanc) got to the net, there was a rebound kicking around there and we scored that goal,” Couture said. “That’s where the goals are. You’ve got to go there.”\nThe Sharks had one power play chance after another in the first two periods Sunday night and finished 2 for 7 with the man advantage.\n“We had some really good looks,” Couture said. “We had an opportunity to score a few more. We got two tonight. So that’s two power goals in three straight games, so something to build off of.”\nThe Sharks allowed a power play goal to Ryan Murphy and two even strength goals to Eric Staal, with his second goal coming at the 4:58 mark of the second to put the Sharks in a 3-0 hole. The Sharks challenged the goal, thinking Niederreiter interfered with Martin Jones prior to the puck crossing the goal line, but the call on the ice was upheld.\nStalock, a former Shark, more often at even strength. San Jose was outshot 13-9 during 5 on 5 play through the first two periods.\nStalock, selected by San Jose in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, spent six-plus seasons in the Sharks organization before he was traded to Toronto in a deadline deal in February 2016 that saw James Reimer come to San Jose.\nStalock was the primary backup to Antti Niemi from 2013-2015 and started the 2015-16 season as the backup to Martin Jones. He played 62 games with the Sharks and finished his time in San Jose with a 24-19-7 record, a .911 save percentage and a 2.37 goals against average.\nStalock, a St. Paul native, signed as a free agent as a free agent with the Wild prior to the 2016-17 season. In seven games with the Wild this year, Stalock has a 2-3-1 record, a 3.13 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.\n“Played well. We made it easy on him through the first two periods,” Couture said. “We didn’t have any traffic. All of the shots from the point were clear sight. He was able to get to the blue. He’s a smaller guy so when he gets to the top of the blue, that’s when he’s successful.”\n? DeMelo returned to play for the Sharks on Sunday after he escaped what would have been a major eye injury the night before against the Ottawa Senators.\nDeMelo was injured with 5:09 to go in the third period of Saturday’s game with Ottawa, a 5-0 Sharks win, as he took a stick to face from Senators forward Alexandre Burrows. DeMelo was cut on the play but also suffered a scratched cornea, according to coach Pete DeBoer.\nBurrows was given a two-minute minor for roughing, a five-minute major for fighting and a game misconduct. Early Sunday evening, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced it had fined Burrows $5,000, the maximum allowable under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association.", "OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — The Ottawa Senators are hopeful that star defenseman Erik Karlsson will be ready for the start of next season following surgery on his left foot Wednesday.\nGeneral manager Pierre Dorion says Karlsson's recovery from surgery to repair torn tendons in the foot would take approximately four months.\nThe 27-year-old Swede was injured during the playoffs, though he still piled up 18 points in 19 games and played 28 minutes per game. Ottawa lost in the Eastern Conference final to eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh.\nAfter the first round against Boston, Karlsson revealed that he had been playing through hairline fractures in that same left foot — an injury suffered in late March. Ottawa said the tendon damage was found during an MRI following the season.\nA four-month timeline would allow for Karlsson to return in mid-October.\nCopyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "Online dating is a real sink or swim situation. There are times when you think you're smoothly cruising towards a love laden beach -- and then suddenly, your love boat gets capsized by a bloodthirsty shark pickup line. Essentially, Tinder is an ocean full of hungry predators lurking in the dark waters, baiting you to your emotional death with bad pickup lines. It's all of our civic duty to shut down these killers before they tear apart more families. Luckily, there are brave women (and maybe men but I DOUBT IT) doing the Lord's work.\nIn good sport fashion, the Reddit user bovinespecies posted a shark pickup line he used to break the ice with a Tinder date, and hoo boy, did she devour him with her fact-heavy response.\nHis line: \"Are you a shark? Because I've got some swimmers for you to swallow.\"\nNOOO. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you until you got gross RIGHT OFF THE BAT. Have no fear though, Natalie knew exactly how to handle this whirlpool of disappointment.\nThe best part of Natalie's response is that she didn't even bother to lay into him for the grossness of his line, and instead ate him alive with facts.", "The Stanley Cup chase continues for the San Jose Sharks , who face a one game deficit opposite the Edmonton Oilers . The Sharks are one of six teams who are behind in their respective series totals in the playoffs thus far.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at WRUF-AM Gainesville.", "BRUMBIES coach Dan McKellar says David Pocock is in line for an eagerly awaited Super Rugby return against the NSW Waratahs on Saturday week.\nThe 29-year-old openside flanker has been cleared by medical staff and is almost certain to take on the Waratahs at GIO Stadium on March 31 after the side’s bye weekend.\nMcKellar said he would have no hesitation slotting Pocock straight back into the starting XV if he thought it was best for player and team.\nLIVE stream the 2018 Super Rugby Season on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week Foxtel Now trial & start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >\n'We don't want you' 2:50\nPocock had surgery to repair damage to his meniscus in January, delaying his comeback to Super Rugby after a year-long sabbatical from the game.\nA battle for the No. 7 jersey will be on after with Tom Cusack performed well in Saturday night’s win over the Sharks.\n“I think ‘Poey’ could start and perform well straight up because he’s been around a long time now and he’s in peak physical condition, as he always is,” McKellar said.\n“What he brings in terms of that on-ball presence and he’s managed to get a bit of work in there, but Tom Cusack has been playing well.\n“While it was disappointing he got the injury, four weeks in now and on the back of some heavy travel we’ll get a boost by having David back in the team.”\nSpeight sizzles for try 0:41\nAfter breaking a two-game losing streak against the Sharks to stay in touch with the top of the Australian conference, the Brumbies could get a double boost by getting co-captain Sam Carter back.\nThe Wallabies lock suffered a concussion against the Melbourne Rebels and missed the Sharks clash, but has been back at training this week.\nMcKellar said Carter should be available despite “some lingering issues” and would have to pass medical tests first.\nThe news isn’t as good for veteran Josh Mann-Rea, who is facing up to six weeks out with a torn hamstring.", "Looney sustained a broken tooth during Saturday's game against the Nuggets, Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News reports.\nLooney was examined by team doctors and was deemed good to get back in the game.", "You have to question things sometimes. Like why on Earth the Melbourne Storm are meeting the North Queensland Cowboys with no Origin players on the park. Who made that decision? The Roar‘s NRL expert tipping panel are here to unravel Round 15.\nWouldn’t it be enthralling to watch Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan, Cameron Smith and Billy Slater all on the same field. The answer is yes, it’s just that we will have to wait until Wednesday when they all play for the same team.\nOrigin continues to take its stranglehold on the competition, with just four games to get through this week after some superb action last weekend.\nThat was capped by an incredible Panthers comeback, a grand final re-match taken by Melbourne, Johnathan Thurston making a convincing return in Darwin and the Warriors proving everyone wrong one more time.\nThe Sea Eagles, Broncos, Roosters and Bulldogs also joined the winners list.\nRound 15 kicks off with the Rabbitohs hosting the Titans in a game of desperation, before the already mentioned Storm and Cowboys clash takes us to Melbourne.\nThe second Saturday game has the Sharks looking to get back into the winner’s circle without their Origin stars against the Wests Tigers, before the Eels and Dragons close the round at Homebush.\nLast week, it was Tim, The Crowd and myself with five, Mary and Greg with four. The Crowd still leads on 75, with Greg in second on 68, while I’m 63, Tim’s 62 and Mary is on 60.\nDon’t forget that on the form below, you can put your own tips in on behalf of The Crowd. We will have the results at 1pm (AEST) on Friday, so be sure to have them in before then. Who knows, The Crowd might prove themselves to be better than the experts.\nTips: Rabbitohs, Storm, Sharks, Eels\nSouth Sydney Rabbitohs vs Gold Coast Titans\nRabbitohs. No Peats and no Wallace are both big outs for the Titans. Being away from home is a big out for the Titans. Rabbits weren’t too bad last week neither. Going Rabbits.\nMelbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys\nStorm. At home. While they are missing Cronk, Slater and Smith, the side they’ve put on the field looks solid. The Cowboys are missing JT, Hess, Cooper, Morgan and that’s really the core of what makes them good. Look for a great display of Bellamy ball from the Storm B team.\nCronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers\nSharks. They are missing Fifita, Holmes, Graham, Bird and Maloney. But they still have Gallen, Lewis and Townshend. No Tedesco really blunts the Tigers too. It’ll be tight but the Sharks should grind a tough win.\nParramatta Eels vs St George Illawarra Dragons\nEels. This should be a cracker of a game. The Eels got smacked up in Darwin while the Dragons were below par against the Bulldogs. I reckon the Eels will want it more after getting pantsed last week but, who knows, the Dragons have been rubbing egg in my face all year…\nTips: Rabbitohs, Storm, Sharks, Eels\nSouth Sydney Rabbitohs vs Gold Coast Titans\nRabbitohs. I can’t believe I am actually tipping the Rabbitohs here, but I feel like the Titans are just too depleted by injury and State of Origin to be able to compete this weekend. There’s never been a better time to face the Titans with them missing Jarrod Wallace, Jarryd Hayne, Kane Elgey and Nathan Peats.\nMelbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys\nStorm. A very tricky game to tip because both sides will be without their Origin players. The Cowboys have struggled without JT throughout this year and I expect the Storm to win at home.\nCronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers\nSharks. Unfortunately, the Tigers are a team I can’t tip at the moment. They are really struggling in the forwards and without Aaron Woods there, despite how many players the Sharks are missing, I still see them unable to match the reigning Premiers.\nParramatta Eels vs St George Illawarra Dragons\nEels. I don’t know why I’m tipping the Eels this weekend other than a feeling that they will bounce back following being embarrassed by the Cowboys last weekend. The Eels will be bolstered by the return of Michael Jennings while the Dragons will really miss Josh Dugan and Tyson Frizell.\nTips: Rabbitohs, Storm, Sharks, Dragons\nSouth Sydney Rabbitohs vs Gold Coast Titans\nRabbitohs. I don’t rate the Rabbitohs much, but they’re getting the Titans at a good time with Jarryd Hayne, Nathan Peats and Jarrod Wallace out because of State of Origin. As long as the Rabbitohs still knuckle down, that is.\nMelbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys\nStorm. Plenty of State of Origin outs for both teams and nothing certain about the result here. Not a lot between the two forward packs, but Cameron Munster stands out in the halves for the Storm. He could make the difference.\nCronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers\nSharks. Another game severely affected by State of Origin outs, but even though the Sharks have more out than the Tigers their superior depth allows them to cover better. Paul Gallen and Luke Lewis to lead the way to a win.\nParramatta Eels vs St George Illawarra Dragons\nDragons. Tricky one between two teams looking to improve on disappointing performances in the last round. The Eels look better in the backs, but it’s the Dragons to win the forward battle and Gareth Widdop to take advantage.\nTips: Titans, Storm, Sharks, Dragons\nSouth Sydney Rabbitohs vs Gold Coast Titans\nTitans. The Gold Coast are coming off what can only be described as a soul-crushing loss. If they don’t turn it around here, their finals hopes can be sent off into the sunset. The Rabbitohs are in a similar predicament, but playing poor footy.\nMelbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys\nStorm. Tough one to work out, but not having Johnathan Thurston has shown it’s impact on the Cowboys. Their attack went from zero to hero against the Eels last week, and you can bet the Storm defence isn’t going to drop off. With Cameron Munster still on the park, they will get it done, with Josh Addo-Carr and Suliasi Vunivalu scoring most of their tries.\nCronulla Sharks vs Wests Tigers\nSharks. Another game that makes you scratch your head. The Sharks are without five of their Origin stars, but the Tigers don’t look like they could score against an under 20’s team at the moment. Cronulla, on the back of their defence and Chad Townsend’s patient kicking game, which was so prominent against Canterbury a few weeks ago will win.\nParramatta Eels vs St George Illawarra Dragons\nDragons. I’m doubting last week’s performance is going to be a new precedent and they will rebound strongly against the Eels. I hope anyway.\nRound 14 Tim Greg Mary Scott The Crowd RAB V TIT RAB RAB RAB TIT ??? STO V COW STO STO STO STO ??? SHA V TIG SHA SHA SHA SHA ??? EEL V DRA EEL DRA EEL DRA ??? Last week 5 4 4 5 5 Total 62 68 60 63 75\nNow it’s your turn to try and beat the experts. Using the form below, select your tips for the weekend ahead and we will have the results at 1pm (AEDT) on Friday afternoon.", "First, they were patient with Evgeni Malkin's recovery from a lower-body injury. The team took a conservative approach and Malkin repaid them with a shot-out-of-a-cannon effort tonight.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at PittsburghLive.com.", "The mood around the locker room and during postgame interviews after Sunday's loss to the Toronto Raptors was generally positive. Losing to the Raptors is not like losing to the bottom-dwelling Mavericks.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at Los Angeles Times.", "The New York Rangers lost two players to upper body injuries against the Nashville Predators Saturday.\nOFFICIAL: Marc Staal and Jimmy Vesey, both upper body, will not return. #NYR — New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 4, 2018\nDefenceman Marc Staal and forward Jimmy Vesey both left the Rangers' game against the Predators with the team announcing neither player will return.\nStaal was injured after getting hit in the head by the Predators' Alexei Emelin.\nConcern for Marc Staal, previously thrice concussed in NYR career, who is done for night (at least) after taking uncalled Emelin head shot. — Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) February 4, 2018\nVesey was also hit in the head, taking an elbow from Filip Forsberg that left him bleeding from the mouth. Vesey returned after the hit to play a couple shifts before leaving the game not to return.", "WINNIPEG — There was an unexpected twist to the Winnipeg Jets’ injury update after Monday’s practice.\nCoach Paul Maurice said defenceman Dmitry Kulikov decided not to have back surgery planned for Monday after meeting with surgeons.\n“It’s never clearly one way or the other that he should go (for surgery),” Maurice said. “So when he met for his final consult, again it’s the player’s choice with what he wants to do.\n“He’s going to forgo the surgery. There are other remedies with this so he didn’t have surgery today.”\nThe team will have an update on Kulikov in three or four weeks. He was supposed to be out a minimum of eight weeks if he’d had surgery.\nThe injury happened in Winnipeg’s 3-2 victory over New Jersey on March 8 right as he fired a shot.\nKulikov, 27, injured his back last season when he played for the Buffalo Sabres. He had been hit into an open door in a pre-season game and was limited to 47 games.\nMaurice also updated the status of defenceman Jacob Trouba, who collided with Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn in the third period of Winnipeg’s 4-2 victory Sunday.\nThe pair made head-to-head contact and Trouba fell down. He was wobbly as he was helped off the ice and began undergoing the NHL concussion protocol.\nMaurice said Trouba was going to see a specialist to get a diagnosis. The Dallas game had been Trouba’s second after he missed 20 games with an ankle injury.\nWinnipeg hosts the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.", "Senators captain Erik Karlsson had surgery Wednesday to repair damage to tendons in his left foot. a The Ottawa Senators are \"hopeful\" that Erik Karlsson will be ready for the start of the 2017-18 season following surgery to his left foot on Wednesday.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at CBC News.", "San Jose Sharks’ Brent Burns (88) is chased by Edmonton Oilers’ Milan Lucic, right, during the second period in Game 3 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Sunday, April 16, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)\nSan Jose >> On Easter Sunday, the Sharks’ offense revealed a big goose egg. And no dye job could add color to it.\nShut out for a second straight game by the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose fell 1-0 in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals and trails 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.\nGame 4 is Tuesday in San Jose at 7:30 p.m.\nEdmonton goalie Cam Talbot made 23 stops.\n“We need to take more pucks to the net,” Sharks center Chris Tierney said. “We need to get a little dirty, get in (Talbot’s) eyes a bit more and try and bang one in.”\nThe Sharks’ biggest stars were all on the ice but noticeably absent from the score sheet.\nBrent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture — all 25-plus goal scorers in the regular season — didn’t generate many shots either, much to the dismay of the majority of the 17,562 fans that jammed into SAP Center.\nBurns and Joel Ward led San Jose with three shots each.\nThe Sharks — who last season reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time after more than two decades of mostly postseason heartache — are facing massive scrutiny in yet another postseason. Considering the team’s inability to raise the Cup in its 25-year existence, it’s justified.\nOne of the league’s hottest teams, the Sharks lost eight of nine games to end March and limped into the playoffs under a cloud of concerns.\nThe biggest area of consternation entering play Sunday was the Sharks’ futility on the power play.\nAnd that trend continued, as the shutout indicates. San Jose finished 0 for 2 with a man advantage in Game 3 and is now 1 for 14 this postseason.\nThe good news? The Sharks didn’t give up any shorthanded goals, as was the case in Game 2. Both Oilers’ goals where shorthanded tallies in their 2-0 win Friday in Edmonton.\nThe Sharks, however, did giftwrap a scoring opportunity at even strength. Defenseman David Schlemko, working in the corner to the left of goalie Martin Jones, attempted to clear the puck out of the zone midway through the third period. Schlemko planted the puck on the stick of Edmonton winger Zack Kassian, who skated across the crease and sent a backhand past Jones with 9:15 left in the game. The was all the Oilers needed.\n“That was a tough break,” Schlemko said. “It’s a game of mistakes and that winds up in the net. There were some Grade ‘A’ chances at both ends. It’s playoff hockey. It’s one shot, one break, one chance.”\nAdvertisement\nJones finished with 21 saves.\nThe game started so promising for the Sharks, who welcomed back future Hall of Fame center Joe Thornton to the lineup. Thornton, who hadn’t played since suffering a leg injury against Vancouver on April 2, came out with fresh legs and the Sharks benefitted in a fast and furious first period. The Sharks outshot the Oilers 13-6 over the opening 20 minutes, but they were unable to sustain the chemistry and managed just 10 shots over the final 40 minutes.\nAs we all know: If you don’t shoot, you don’t score.\nSan Jose pulled Jones in favor of an extra attacker with 1 minute, 47 seconds left, but was unable to change the outcome.\nThornton, who eclipsed the 1,000-assist mark for his career this season, isn’t the only Shark on the mend. Center Logan Couture, who lost a tooth when a deflected puck hit his face March 25 in Nashville, was no longer sporting a full face shield, but he still isn’t his old self. The 25-goal scorer returned to action in Game 1 of the playoffs April 12. He had one shot in Game 3.\nPavelski also finished with one shot. Marleau had none.\nDefenseman Brent Burns, the Sharks’ points leader this season with 76, finished with three shots. He has five total over the past two games after recording eight in the Sharks’ series-opening win.\nSo much of the Sharks’ offense is predicated off Burns’ ability to fire rockets from the blue line or high point and have teammates clean up rebounds. Burns needs to get trigger happy or the Sharks’ offense will continue to look like Couture’s mouth ... toothless.\nSharks coach Peter DeBoer said his team is intent on shutting down Oilers star center Conor McDavid and the Oilers are giving Burns the same attention.\n“If they’re going to concentrate on him, somebody else has to get the job done,” DeBoer said.\nSo who’s it going to be?\nBecause there are a lot Sharks fans who don’t like these eggs.\nContact Jim Seimas at 831-706-3256.", "Share This Video Facebook Twitter EMAIL\nSharks get a bad rap in media. Whether they’re in news reports for attacking people or in scary movies about, well, attacking people, sharks inspire fear for many. Which is a shame, because as marine biologist Ocean Ramsey points out, sharks are beautiful creatures, and more importantly, a vital part of our ocean’s ecosystem.\nSince she was a little girl, Ramsey has loved sharks. She saw her first shark at age 7 or 8, and her encounter with the majestic animal left her completely enamored. So it’s unthinkable to her that there are people out there that could hate or kill them. But people are killing them, and in huge numbers.\n“Currently, sharks are being killed at a rate that averages out to two to three sharks every second,” Ramsey says. “That’s 70 to a 100 million sharks being killed every year.”\nThat’s a horrible amount of shark dying, and the worst part is, they’re mostly being killed just for their fins. Ramsey says that the fins are a status symbol and delicacy used in shark fin soup in Asia. The food, which utilizes less than 5% of the shark, is contributing to so many sharks being killed that they may go extinct in our lifetime. This would be devastating.\n“Without sharks, it’s like being without an immune system,” she says. “Fisheries collapse, diseases spread, and you have major degradation of reefs and local ecosystems.”\nTo combat this devastation, Ramsey is working to change the way we think about sharks. Through her work, she hopes to educate the public about how important and special the creatures are, replacing fear with fascination. Or at the very least, she says, a healthy respect for their place on our Earth. She’d like shark ecotourism to take off, saying it’s much more sustainable than killing them for their fins. And hopes that the public will become more involved with campaigns and conservation efforts to save them. If people only took the time to see sharks, she knows they’d love them as much as she does.\n“I definitely encourage people to go out there, dive in, and see a shark for yourself,” Ramsey says. “It’s so amazing the first time a shark swims by, and locks eyes with you. You really realize how intelligent they are.”\nIt’s an uphill battle to change public perception about the oft-misunderstood creature. But one that desperately needs to be fought. Because like many wild animals, we’re much more dangerous to them than they are to us.", "Alex Rodriguez packs a lot into one day. After 22 seasons with the MLB, the baseball legend is now focusing on growing A-ROD CORP, the holding company he started 15 years ago for his investments.\nHe's a Fox Sports analyst, filming a new CNBC show, \"Back in the Game\" and will become the first Hispanic shark on ABC's \"Shark Tank\" this fall. Plus, he's a full-time dad.\nRodriguez, 42, recently shared the morning routine that sets him up for success. It's changed quite a bit since hanging up his Yankees jersey in 2016, he tells CNBC Make It: \"When you're playing baseball, you're basically having your largest meal at midnight after the game. You're going to sleep around 1:30 a.m. and you're waking up around 10:30 a.m.\"\nFrom then, each day was very methodical: \"Usually at that time, I would go to the gym, get a workout, ride the bike, get a good stretch, get some PT soft tissue work on my body, go down for a nap, wake up for lunch and then I would go drive to the Bronx to Yankee Stadium and do it all over again.\n\"We did that 200 times in 232 days.\"", "COCOA BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A teenager visiting Florida is recovering after he was bitten by a shark over the Memorial Day weekend.\nAccording to a GoFundMe page set up by the teen’s family, 15-year-old Cody High and his family were in Central Florida for vacation with plans to visit Disney World. However, when the family went swimming at Cocoa Beach, Cody was bitten on the leg by a 6-foot bull shark.\n“I was about knee-deep when he got me, and I was walking back. I didn’t see him at all,” Cody fold Fox 35.\nCody was taken to the hospital where doctors stabilized him before moving him to another hospital for surgery.\nAccording to the family, the doctors said there were “too many stitches to count.”\nFox 35 reported that the shark ripped off most of High’s calf, leaving him in a wheelchair. Cody has since been released from the hospital.\nDespite the incident, the family was able to make their planned trip to Disney World.\nCody’s family said he will need extensive rehab, and they have set up a GoFundMe account to help cover the cost of his continued medical care. To donate, click here.\nCopyright 2018 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "SAN JOSE — Defenseman Dylan DeMelo will play for the Sharks on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild after he escaped what would have been a major eye injury the night before in San Jose’s game against the Ottawa Senators.\nDeMelo was injured with 5:09 to go in the third period of Saturday’s game with Ottawa as he took a stick to face from Senators forward Alexandre Burrows. DeMelo was cut on the play but also suffered a scratched cornea, according to coach Pete DeBoer.\nBurrows was given a two-minute minor for roughing, a five-minute major for fighting and a game misconduct. Early Sunday evening, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced it had fined Burrows $5,000, the maximum allowable under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association.\n\"It was close to being a real serious injury,\" DeBoer said.\nAdvertisement\nThe Sharks are looking to sweep their three-game homestand and will be seeing a familiar face in the opposing net as goalie Alex Stalock will start for the Wild.\nStalock, selected by San Jose in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, spent six-plus seasons in the Sharks organization before he was traded to Toronto in a deadline deal that saw James Reimer come to San Jose.\nStalock was the primary backup to Antti Niemi from 2013-2015 and started the 2015-16 season as the backup to Martin Jones. He played 62 games with the Sharks and finished his time in San Jose with a 24-19-7 record, a .911 save percentage and a 2.37 goals against average.\nStalock, a St. Paul native, signed as a free agent as a free agent with the Wild prior to the 2016-17 season. In seven games with the Wild this year, Stalock has a 2-3-1 record, a 3.13 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.\n“One of the most popular guys I’ve seen around a group of guys,” DeBoer said of Stalock. “The guys loved him as a teammate and as a guy. I’m sure they’re excited to see him and play against him and I’m sure we’ll see his best, and his best is usually pretty good.\n“He’ll be playing the puck and making acrobatic saves. I’m sure we’ll get all of Al tonight.”\nSharks forward Jannik Hansen will play in his 600th NHL game Sunday. Hansen only has two assists in 19 games this season, but he’s now dressed for eight straight games afterhe was a healthy scratch in nine of 13 games from Oct. 23 to Nov. 22.\n“He’s getting better,” DeBoer said. “His shifts are more productive in that, not necessarily scoring, but he’s getting us some momentum, playing in the other team’s end. Winning battles, winning foot races. That’s what we’re asking of those guys, we’re seeing more of that and as a result, you find yourself in the lineup more.”", "Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe See our privacy notice Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nChris Ashton is heading back to the Premiership with Sale Sharks to keep his World Cup dream alive.\nThe Wigan-born winger's next destination was finally confirmed last night when he announced he would be leaving Toulon after one successful season to head back to England.\nAshton told the Sale Sharks website: \"This really feels like 'going home'. I've always thought, in the back of my mind, that I'd return to the North to play rugby and I'm delighted to be joining Sale Sharks.\n\"They have developed an increasingly strong squad, including Jono Ross, whom I remember in his younger days at Saracens. He left and has become a considerably more mature player!\n\"In Toulon, I've added to the experience I gained at Saracens. There are many players at Sale Sharks with whom I'm looking forward to playing.\n\"I'm not coming to rest on my laurels: I feel I've got a lot of rugby left in me and would like to make an impact and help to take the club to their winning ways of 2006.\"\nAshton made 72 appearances for the Warriors in Super League, amassing 120 points, between 2005 and 2007. He also represented England RL four times, scoring three tries.\nHe switched codes to join Northampton Saints in 2007 and went on to score 467 points in 110 games.\nIn 2012, Ashton moved to Saracens, and the point scoring continued with his 230 points from 105 games before moving to Toulon for the 2017/18 season - where he went on to add another 115 points.\nDespite his prolific domestic try-scoring form, Ashton's international career - that saw him score seven tries in his first nine Tests - began to stutter with an 11-match scoring drought between October 2011 and December 2012 - a run that came to an end with arguably his most memorable England moment, a try in the 38-21 win over New Zealand at Twickenham.\nHe would score only three more tries for England before earning his last cap in New Zealand back in the summer of 2014.\nEngland saw first hand what they were missing in May's defeat at Twickenham to the Barbarians when Ashton landed a first-half hat-trick.\nBrendan Macken linked with Leicester Tigers move\n(Image: 2016 Getty Images)\nFormer Wasps centre Brendan Macken has been rumoured with a move to local rivals Leicester Tigers.\nThe 27-year-old centre was released by Wasps at the end of the 2017/18 campaign and had previously been linked with a move to newly-promoted Bristol Bears.\nHowever, the former Leinster back could well be heading to Welford Road according to Rugby Inside Line, who released a Tweet saying they 'believed' Macken was heading to Leicester Tigers.\nOf Macken's three seasons in Coventry, the 2017/18 campaign saw him play the most rugby as he made 15 appearances, helping Wasps cope with the injury and suspension issues of Kyle Eastmond that also coincided with Gaby Lovobalavu's ban following his citing after an incident against Exeter.\nUnfortunately he fell foul of Wasps' injury curse and his start in the win over London Irish in March was his last in black and gold before his departure was announced alongside Matt Symons, Kyle Eastmond and Paul Doran Jones in May.\nAshley Johnson 'will be back at the start of the season'\nFormer Wasps fly-half Andy Goode believes Ashley Johnson will be back in action for Wasps by the start of the season\nSpeaking on The Rugby Pod , Goode mentioned the South African forward as an example of a player who comes back for pre-season training a little heavier than when he ended the previous campaign.\nWhen asked what had happened with Johnson by co-presenter Jim Hamilton, Goode said: \"He will be back at the start of the season. There was a misunderstanding.\" He added: \"Hopefully he will be back at the start of the season.\"\nCoventryLive has made two approaches to the RFU for an update on Johnson, the most recent being five days ago, when a response informed there was no update available at that moment in time.\nFans' favourite Johnson was suspended after he was accused of testing positive for a \"prohibited substance\" - understood to be a diuretic - in an out-of-competition test on February 7.\nJohnson hasn't featured for Wasps since the victory over London Irish in early March.", "One catch-and-release Florida lemon shark was apparently so bitter about being caught, he bit his captor on the foot — after he had been returned to sea.\nThe attack occurred Monday when an unnamed fisherman reeled in a 3-foot lemon shark at Ponce Inlet at Lighthouse Point Park, Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.\nNORTH DAKOTA MAN'S MONSTER 15-POUND WALLEYE CATCH BREAKS STATE'S DECADES-OLD RECORD\nAfter releasing the creature back into the Atlantic Ocean, it soon “turned around and bit his foot causing minor injuries,” Volusia County Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue Capt. Tamara Malphurs told the outlet.\nMeanwhile, “the shark left the scene unharmed.” Malphurs surmised that the fierce fish “was very unhappy about being caught.”\nFISHERMEN FOUND WITH OVER 50 ILLEGALLY CAUGHT LOBSTERS\nThe 52-year-old Mount Dora fisherman suffered minor injuries but was not hospitalized.\nThough lemon sharks are typically between 8 and 10 feet long, the University of Florida reports that they are not a “high threat” to humans. They are categorized as social animals that prefer group-living and feed at night. Nevertheless, lemon sharks “will not hesitate” to inflict a bite when threatened by humans, Discovery reports.\nFOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS\n-With AP" ]

[ "The ANZUS Treaty and SEATO Alliance, Australia's responses to the threat of communism - international, Australia in the Vietnam War Era, History Year 9, NSW | Online Education Home Schooling Skwirk Australia 1 Exams Background World War Two was a major turning point in Australian international diplomacy and politics. The fact that Japanese invasion became a real threat during the War, changed the way the country viewed itself. Before 1945 Australia's main 'friend' on the international level was Britain. Less than 50 years after independence, many Australians still saw themselves as more British and European than anything else. It came as somewhat of a shock when, during the Second World War, Australia discovered that it was a part of the Pacific region, and not part of Europe. Australia became very aware of its isolation in the Pacific region, and when countries in South-East Asia started to turn to communism, Australia began looking for international allies that she could rely on in case of further unrest in the Pacific region and the possibility of invasion from the north. See image 1, see image 2 Meanwhile, Britain was also moving more and more towards Europe and at the same time was beginning to pull out of her colonies in the East. Although there were still ties with Britain, Australia started to move towards a closer relationship with America - a 'near' neighbour. ANZUS Australia wanted a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) -style pact to enhance its security in the region; a mutual support agreement, meaning that each country would have to come to the defence of the others in the event of attack. America already had a peace deal with Japan, so the Americans held back from such a committed agreement. Instead they agreed to sign the ANZUS treaty. ANZUS stands for the Australia - New Zealand - United States Security Treaty which was signed in September 1951 and came into effect the following April. The main substance of the treaty is as follows The parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any one of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened in the Pacific. Article III of the ANZUS Treaty, 1951 The ANZUS pact did not commit the US to intervening in the event of an attack on Australia or New Zealand, only to 'consultation', but it was hailed as a great diplomatic success in Australia. See image 3 SEATO By 1954 the situation in South-East Asia was looking more and more dangerous for Australia. There was an overwhelming fear of the further spread of 'monolithic' communism (as it was known at the time). In 1954 the French finally withdrew from Indo-China and North Vietnam became a communist regime. There had also been further unrest in Malaya and Indonesia. And the Korean War had shown that China was willing to provide armed support for other communist regimes. The Australian government felt it was imperative that they have a proper defensive treaty. A number of other countries felt the same way and the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) was created to deal with the situation. Even though it is called the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation, only three South-East Asian countries signed it. See image 4 Bringing together America, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, The Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan, SEATO was created specifically to combat the threat of spreading communism in South-East Asia. The wording of the treaty was much stronger than that of ANZUS. It bound each member to come to the others' aid in the event of external aggression. Each Party recognises that aggression by means of armed attack in the Treaty Area against any of the Parties or against any State or territory which the Parties by unanimous agreement may hereafter designate, would endanger its own peace and safety, and agrees that it will in that event act to meet the common danger in accordance its constitutional processes. Article IV of the SEATO Treaty, 1954 It was intended to be the Asian version of NATO, but it never reached the same level as the N" ]

[ "UK and France agree to joint nuclear testing treaty | UNIAN UK and France agree to joint nuclear testing treaty One centre will be set up... World 12:02, 02 November 2010 The UK and France are to sign treaties agreeing to military co-operation including testing of nuclear warheads, according to BBC . One centre will be set up in the UK to develop nuclear testing technology and another in France to carry it out. Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy will also outline plans, at a London summit, for a joint army expeditionary force. Downing Street called the measures \"practical\", but Labour said they left \"big questions\" about the UK`s defences. A Downing Street spokesman said: \"This summit marks a deepening of the UK-France bilateral relationship. Ours is now a strategic partnership tackling together the biggest challenges facing our two countries.\" The summit comes two weeks after the UK government announced cuts to its armed forces, in the first strategic defence review since 1998, as part of savings aimed at reducing the country`s budget deficit. Under the plans £750m will be saved over four years on the Trident nuclear missile system by cutting the number of warheads. Harrier jump jets, the Navy`s flagship HMS Ark Royal and planned Nimrod spy planes will also be axed, but two new aircraft carriers were spared. Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy are to sign two treaties - one on greater general military co-operation and another, a 50-year deal on nuclear weapons. `Makes sense` The nuclear treaty will establish a centre in the UK to develop testing technology and another one in France to carry out the testing. Warheads will be tested by technical means to ensure their safety and effectiveness, without having to test them by explosion. It is understood that each country will still control its own warheads, and that nuclear secrets will not be shared. Asked why Britain and France did not jointly buy nuclear weapons to replace Trident, Defence Secretary Liam Fox told BBC Radio 4`s Today programme the UK wanted the \"most appropriate\" nuclear deterrent and had a \"particularly close\" relationship with the US on Trident. \"We`re not thinking of buying new missiles - we have the Trident D5 missile. We don`t have to think about new warheads until 2019. \"We do however have to maintain the safety of the warheads we have at the present time... therefore it makes sense that we become involved in the facilities for the experimental physics that will allow that to happen. \"That`s a big cost saving to our taxpayers on both sides of the Channel but it does give us the ability to maintain separate nuclear deterrent programmes.\" The other treaty will allow the setting up of a \"combined joint expeditionary force\", thought to involve a brigade of about 5,000 soldiers from each side. Each country will retain a veto for each operation, which will operate under one military commander to be chosen at the time. The UK and France have also agreed to keep at least one aircraft carrier at sea between them at any one time. Each will be able to use the other`s carrier in some form, certainly for training and possibly operations. Meanwhile, France is to use British A400M fuelling aircraft when there is spare capacity, with plans in place for common maintenance and training. `Deepening ties` Joint work on drones, mine counter-measures and satellite communications is also proposed. Dr Fox told the BBC there had been a \"great deal of hysteria\" in the media about the idea of British troops coming under French command. \"Under the existing Nato system our troops could come under Turkish or Polish command. There`s nothing new about that. \"This does not affect our special relationship with the United States. It gives us economies of scale and helps us to welcome France back fully into Nato.\" Asked who would decide what happen if the French were involved in operations about which Britain was not enthusiastic - at a time they were sharing Britain`s aircraft carrier - he said: \"That would depend on what the other nation thought. This is not a question", "The Nazi Connection with Shambhala and Tibet — Study Buddhism Arrow down Arrow up Many high-ranking members of the Nazi regime, including Hitler, but especially Himmler and Hess, held convoluted occult beliefs. Prompted by those beliefs, the Germans sent an official expedition to Tibet between 1938 and 1939 at the invitation of the Tibetan Government to attend the Losar (New Year) celebrations. Tibet had suffered a long history of Chinese attempts to annex it and British failure to prevent the aggression or to protect Tibet. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was severely persecuting Buddhism, specifically the Tibetan form as practiced among the Mongols within its borders and in its satellite, the People’s Republic of Mongolia (Outer Mongolia). In contrast, Japan was upholding Tibetan Buddhism in Inner Mongolia, which it had annexed as part of Manchukuo, its puppet state in Manchuria. Claiming that Japan was Shambhala, the Imperial Government was trying to win the support of the Mongols under its rule for an invasion of Outer Mongolia and Siberia to create a pan-Mongol confederation under Japanese protection. The Tibetan Government was exploring the possibility of also gaining protection from Japan in the face of the unstable situation. Japan and Germany had signed an Anti-Commintern Pact in 1936, declaring their mutual hostility toward the spread of international Communism. The invitation for the visit of an official delegation from Nazi Germany was extended in this context. In August 1939, shortly after the German expedition to Tibet, Hitler broke his pact with Japan and signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. In September, the Soviets defeated the Japanese who had invaded Outer Mongolia in May. Subsequently, nothing ever materialized from the Japanese and German contacts with the Tibetan Government. Several postwar writers on the Occult have asserted that Buddhism and the legend of Shambhala played a role in the German-Tibetan official contact. Let us examine the issue. The Myths of Thule and Vril Arrow down Arrow up The first element of Nazi occult beliefs was in the mythic land of Hyperborea-Thule. Just as Plato had cited the Egyptian legend of the sunken island of Atlantis, Herodotus mentioned the Egyptian legend of the continent of Hyperborea in the far north. When ice destroyed this ancient land, its people migrated south. Writing in 1679, the Swedish author Olaf Rudbeck identified the Atlanteans with the Hyperboreans and located the latter at the North Pole. According to several accounts, Hyperborea split into the islands of Thule and Ultima Thule, which some people identified with Iceland and Greenland. The second ingredient was the idea of a hollow earth. At the end of the seventeenth century, the British astronomer Sir Edmund Halley first suggested that the earth was hollow, consisting of four concentric spheres. The hollow earth theory fired many people’s imaginations, especially with the publication in 1864 of French novelist Jules Verne’s Voyage to the Center of the Earth. Soon, the concept of vril appeared. In 1871, British novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in The Coming Race, described a superior race, the Vril-ya, who lived beneath the earth and planned to conquer the world with vril, a psychokinetic energy. The French author Louis Jacolliot furthered the myth in Les Fils de Dieu (The Sons of God) (1873) and Les Traditions indo-européeenes (The Indo-European Traditions) (1876). In these books, he linked vril with the subterranean people of Thule. The Thuleans will harness the power of vril to become supermen and rule the world. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) also emphasized the concept of the Übermensch (superman) and began his work, Der Antichrist (The Antichrist) (1888) with the line, “Let us see ourselves for what we are. We are Hyperboreans. We know well enough how we are living off that track.” Although Nietzsche never mentioned vril, yet in his posthumously published collection of aphorisms, Der Wille zur Macht (The Will to Power), he emphasized the role of an internal force for superhuman d", "Crown Prince Regent: Hasan: 1969 Prime Ministers: Mahmud al-Muntasir (1951–1954); Hussein Maziq (1965–1967); Wanis al-Qaddafi (1968–1969). Legislature: Parliament; Upper House (Senate); Lower House (House of Representatives). Independence: 24 December 1951. Area: 1,759,530 km2 (679,358 square miles). Population: 1,091,830 (as of 1954). The 1951 constitution states that King Idris as-Sanusi is the head of state, who can exercise political power to run the affairs of the country, through a government led by a prime minister, as well as can veto legislations and dissolve the house of representatives. The king's government is made up of the parliament, the upper house (Senate) and the lower house (House of Representatives). Each of the three provinces of Libya, namely Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan, were represented in the Senate by eight representatives. Each province had its own \"provincial government.\" The flag of Cyrenaica, Eastern Libya. The name Sanusi (or Senusi) refers to a political-religious order, said to have been founded by the grandfather of King Idris, the Grand Sanusi (Sayyid Muhammad Ibn Ali as-Senussi), in 1837 in Saudi Arabia. The black flag with white star & crescent was adopted by Idris as-Sanusi. The Sanusi family were involved in the wars against the French (between 1902 to 1913) and against the Italian invasions of Libya. After the Italians returned to Libya, after the treaty they signed with Turkey, the country was destroyed, Emir Idris fled to Egypt, and subsequently Omar al-Mukhtar was hanged in 1931. On the 1st of March 1949, Sayyid Idris proclaimed the eastern region of Libya as \"The Emirate of Cyrenaica\", and appointed himself the Emir of Cyrenaica. Even though the UK did recognise the Emirate, the UN failed to recognise the new country. In 1951 King Idris was appointed the King of Libya. Like the American president was reported by Aljazeera to have said in 1968: \"King Idris' regime was stable and secure because it was corrupt, truly corrupt\". The same source also stated that: \"In their bid to dominate Africa, the [Seven] Sisters installed a king in Libya, a dictator in Gabon, fought the nationalisation of oil resources in Algeria, and through corruption, war and assassinations, brought Nigeria to its knees\" (aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2013/04/201344105231487582.html). The Berbers of Libya Under King Idris The official status of the Berbers during the kingdom can be argued to have been slightly better than that during Gaddafi's period, and so far the same as during the \"transitional\" period of the NTC. However, all these three governments have declared constitutionally that Arabic is the only official language of Libya - even though Berber is the native language of Libya. The king's constitution states this under Article 186. However, Article 24 also states that any Libyan can use any language to 'practice' his or her religion or culture, including its use in literature and the media. After practice, of course, comes the real test - whenever the dictators are ready. In addition to the lack of any official recognition, there was no clear policy to assist the Berbers along those lines to develop their unique culture and nurture their prehistoric identity. When a language is declared official it will have the \"legal protection\", the \"funds\", and the dedication to ensure its free evolution. But when it is marginalised or forced into integration into another's freedom then neglect naturally follows. 03 March 2014: The Libyan government has decided to reinstate the Libyan nationality to King Idris and to his family. Decree 146 of 2014, issued by the PMO, also returns all the property confiscated by Gaddafi's government to the Sanusi family.", "SimonBolivar.org The liberator of South America Simón Bolívar At the age of 23, Simón Bolívar ( July 24 ,1783 – December 17, 1830) vowed to free South America from Imperial Spain . Bolívar was a criollo or creole (born in the New World to Spanish parents) . Pressure for independence came mainly from criollos who resented the social and political dominance of the peninsulares ( those born in Spain ) and had access to education and inspired by the French and American Revolutions . As a military leader, Bolívar led his racially mixed armies to defeat the Spanish in Venezuela in 1817, in the republic of Colombia in 1819 and Peru in 1824 and after twenty years of ceaseless activity and covering thousands of miles ended three centuries of despotic, exploitive Spanish rule. All three provinces elected him president . However, despite being reviled in the countries he liberated at the end of his life he has been transformed over time into the greatest figure in South American history. Simon Bolívar (1969) starring Maximilian Schell as Bolívar . The Revolutionary Simon Bolívar : Host Elaine Reyes speaks to Marie Arana of the Library of Congress, and author of the book \"Bolivar: American Liberator,\" about the historical importance of Simon Bolivar: Latin America's most revered revolutionary. He was not able to realize his political dream of a confederated Spanish America as envisioned in the Congress of Panama with a common military, a mutual defense treaties, and a supranational parliamentary assembly. However, the Spanish would not return, and South Americans were free to rule themselves . It seems strange that Bolivar, who was always alluding to the heterogeneous character of the peoples of the Spanish colonies, should have failed to see the great differences between the Venezuelans, the Granadians, the Ecuadorians, and the Peruvians, and the impracticability of a federation of all these countries and their growing nationalism . The only way he could have created a South American superstate would have been through a temporary authoritarian regime until the people were more politically mature, yet was not willing to go as far as Napoleon for such a goal . The one man who possibly could of formed a Commonwealth of Spanish nations was the Spanish monarch Ferdinand VII of Spain (October 14, 1784 – September, 29 1833 whom Bolívar had met and played a game of badminton with) but these hopes were dashed when he dissolved the Cortes (Spanish congress) and arrogantly abrogated the constitution in 1814 . By this act destroyed the last hope of keeping South America in at least an economic union with an allegiance to a single sovereign . Bolívar not only had to drive out the Spaniards with very insufficient means, but, when he had destroyed the old government, he was faced by the task of reconstructing an administration for peoples whose past had fitted them for nothing but despotic rule. He was perpetually reforming or reconstructing the administration, but nothing stable ever came of it. All who might have been able to help him had necessarily disappeared with the rule which they represented. The Spaniards alone were acquainted with the machinery of their government, such as it was, and, from the very nature of the case, it was impossible for them to serve on under the revolutionary government. No misfortune, however great, seemed to daunt Bolivar in his early days. It is hardly possible to conceive any situation more", "Hirohito - World War II - HISTORY.com Google Hirohito: The Early Years Hirohito, the eldest son of Crown Prince Yoshihito, was born on April 29, 1901, within the confines of the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo. According to custom, imperial family members were not raised by their parents. Instead, Hirohito spent his early years in the care of first a retired vice-admiral and then an imperial attendant. From age 7 to 19, Hirohito attended schools set up for the children of nobility. He received rigorous instruction in military and religious matters, along with other subjects such as math and physics. In 1921, Hirohito and a 34-man entourage traveled to Western Europe for a six-month tour; it was the first time a Japanese crown prince had ever gone abroad. Did You Know? Hirohito’s son Akihito, the current emperor of Japan, broke with 1,500 years of tradition by marrying a commoner in 1959. Upon his return to Japan, Hirohito became regent for his chronically ill father and assumed the duties of emperor. In September 1923, an earthquake struck the Tokyo area, killing about 100,000 people and destroying 63 percent of the city’s houses. Rampaging Japanese mobs subsequently murdered several thousand ethnic Koreans and leftists, who were accused of setting fires and looting in the quake’s aftermath. That December, Hirohito survived an assassination attempt, and the following month he married Princess Nagako, with whom he would have seven children. At around the same time, he ended the practice of imperial concubinage. Hirohito officially became emperor when his father died in December 1926. He chose Showa, which roughly translates to “enlightened harmony,” as his reign name. Hirohito as Emperor and the Rise of Japanese Militarism When Hirohito assumed the throne, a universal male suffrage law had just passed, and political parties were near the height of their prewar powers. However, a plunging economy, rising militarism and a series of political assassinations soon caused a crisis for the pro-democracy movement. Hirohito, who as emperor was the nation’s highest spiritual authority and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, essentially fired the prime minister in 1929. The next prime minister was shot and mortally wounded, and in 1932 yet another prime minister was assassinated by naval officers upset about a treaty limiting the number of Japanese warships. From then on, almost all prime ministers came from the military rather than from the political parties, which were disbanded altogether in 1940. More political violence occurred in 1935, when a lieutenant colonel slashed a general to death with a samurai sword. And in 1936, over 1,400 soldiers mutinied in Tokyo, seizing the army ministry and murdering several high-ranking politicians. Meanwhile, Japan’s conflict with China was growing. In 1931, Japanese army officers initiated the so-called Manchurian Incident by detonating a railway explosion and blaming it on Chinese bandits. They then used the event as an excuse to take over Manchuria in northeastern China and set up a puppet state there. Excursions into other areas of the country soon followed, and by 1937 war had broken out. That winter, the Japanese army massacred an estimated 200,000 civilians and prisoners of war in and around the city of Nanking. Rape is thought to have been commonplace, and women throughout Japanese-controlled regions of Asia were brought in to serve as prostitutes. Hirohito did not condone the invasion’s more repugnant aspects, but—perhaps because he worried the military would make him abdicate—he failed to punish those responsible. He also sanctioned the use of chemical warfare and the uprooting of peasants. Japan’s Involvement in World War II In September 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, in which they agreed to assist one another should any of them be attacked by a country not already involved in the war. Japan sent troops to occupy French Indochina that same month, and the United States responded with economic sanctions, including an embargo on oil and steel. A", "Snapshot of Europe: Hungary Hungary Map Courtesy CIA World Factbook The Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság listen?) or Hungary (Magyarország listen?) is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. It is known locally as the Country of the Magyars. Tradition holds that the Country of the Magyars (Hungary) was founded by Árpád, who led the Magyars into the Pannonian plains at the end of the 9th century. The Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 by King St. Stephen I. Initially the history of Hungary was developed in a triangle with that of Poland and Bohemia, with the many liaisons with Popes and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Hungary was partially demolished with a great loss of life in 1241–1242 by Mongol (Tatar) armies of Batu Khan. Gradually Hungary under the rule of the dynasty of the Árpáds turned into a large, independent kingdom which formed a distinct Central European culture with ties to greater West European civilisation. Matthias Corvinus ruled Hungary from 1458 to 1490. He strengthened Hungary and its government. Under his rule, Hungary (notably the northern parts, some of which are in Slovakia today) became an artistic and cultural center of Europe during the Renaissance. Hungarian culture influenced others, for example the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Together with Polish and Czech lands, Hungary formed the Visegrád group of nations. Today an alliance of the same name exists again with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Hungarian independence ended with the Ottoman conquest at the beginning of the 16th century; the parts of Hungary that were not conquered by the Ottomans were annexed by Austria (the rulers of which were Hungarian kings at the same time) in the West, and became the independent Principality of Transylvania in the East, where thus Hungarian statedom was preserved. After 150 years, Austria and her Christian allies retook also the territory of today's Hungary by the end of the 17th century from the Ottoman Empire. Thanks to the victories against Austria by the French-Italian coalition (the Battle of Solferino, 1859) and Prussia (Battle of Königgratz, 1866), Hungary would eventually, in 1867, manage to become an autonomous part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until the Empire's collapse following World War I. Hungary separated from Austria on October 31, 1918. In March 1919 the communists joined the government, and in April, Béla Kun proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. This government proved to be short lived; the Romanian army invaded, the communist forces were defeated and the Soviet Republic was toppled on August 6, 1919. Rightist military forces, led by the former Austro-Hungarian Admiral Miklós Horthy, entered Budapest in the wake of the Romanian army's depature and filled the vacuum of state power. In January 1920, elections were held for a unicameral assembly, and Admiral Horthy was subsequently elected Regent. In June, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, fixing Hungary's borders. Horthy made an alliance with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, in the hope of revising the territorial losses that had followed World War I. Hungary was rewarded by Germany with historical Hungarian territories belonging to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania, and took an active part in World War II. However, in October 1944, Hitler replaced Horthy with the Hungarian Nazi collaborator Ferenc Szálasi and his Arrow Cross Party in order to avert Hungary's defection to the Allied side. Following the fall of Nazi Germany, Hungary became part of the Soviet area of influence and was appropriated into a communist state following a short period of democracy in 1946–1947. After 1948 Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established a Stalinist rule in the country, which was barely bearable for the war torn country. This led to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution/revolt and announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with military intervention by the Soviet Union and the deposition and execution of the reform-minded communist pri", "The Battle of Agincourt ? 25th October 1415 The Battle of Agincourt ? 25th October 1415 In the early morning of St Crispin's Day, 25th October, 1415 King Henry V?s dysentery ravaged and outnumbered English Army that had been marching since leaving Harflleur 17 days before found itself forced to give battle against the relatively fresh and numerically superior French Army commanded by the Constable of France, Charles d'Albret, near the small hamlet of Azincourt or AGINCOURT. This is the story of the battle that took place on that day. Henry V's claim to be King of France was based on the fact that his great-great-grandmother Isabella was the daughter of King Phillip IV of France. When the last surviving son of King Phillip IV, Charles IV, died childless the dowager queen Isabella claimed the throne of France on behalf of her son Edward III of England. As King Phillip IV's grandson Edward III of England was his sole surviving direct male descendant. The French however crowned Phillip of Valois, Phillip IV's nephew, and so began the \"Hundred Years War\". Two significant treaties conceded by the French after the English Kings pursued their birthright by force of arms confirmed the rights of the Kings of England to the French throne. The first was after the English victory at the Battle of Crecy on 26th August 1346 and the second after the Battle of Poitiers on 19th September 1356. A further treaty, the Treaty of Bretigny signed on 8th May 1360 confirmed Edward's rule of Aquitaine, Limousin, Gascony and Calais (among other territories), but the English King had to renounce his claim to the rest of France. Four years later in 1364 Charles V came to the French throne and the war restarted in 1369. In the eyes of the English this nullified the renunciation made as part of the Treaty of Bretigny. It was on this pretext that Henry V set sail from Southampton at the head of an English Army on 11th August 1415. King Henry V King Henry V landed at Chef-en-Caux in the Seine estuary on 13th August 1415 and attacked the 100-man garrison of the Port of Harfleur in Normandy with 2,000 men-at-arms and 6,000 archers. Two French knights the Sieur d'Estouteville and the Sieur de Goucourt took over the command of the defence of the town after coming to the garrison's aid bringing with them an additional 300-men. It is at Harfleur that Henry V makes his famous ?Once more into the breach, dear friends?? speech in Shakespeare?s play. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Let pry through the portage of the head Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it As fearfully as doth a galled rock O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit To his full height. On, on, you noblest English. Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof! Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, Have in these parts from morn till even fought And sheathed their swords for lack of argument: Dishonour not your mothers; now attest That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you. Be copy now to men of grosser blood, And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not; For there is none of you so mean and base, That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' Extract from Act III Scene I ? Henry V by William Shakespeare Henry's brother the 1st Duke of Clarence, Thomas of Lancaster, led part of the English Army to", "Ireland could reject EU treaty - Telegraph Europe Ireland 'could reject EU treaty' European leaders are bracing themselves for a constitutional crisis after a poll indicated that Irish voters are to reject the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum. By Toby Helm, Public Policy Editor 6:49PM BST 06 Jun 2008 The results of TNS/mrbi poll published in The Irish Times showed opponents of the Treaty had doubled their support in the last three weeks, overtaking the \"Yes\" camp for the first time, as opposition to Brussels among working class voters has grown. A \"No\" vote on the Lisbon Treaty, which gives EU institutions more power, abolishes dozens of national vetoes and creates a new post of EU president, would stop it coming into force across the 27-nation community. It would be another blow to the EU project, which has struggled to recover from the rejection in 2005 of the predecessor to the Lisbon document, the Constitutional Treaty, by voters in France and the Netherlands. Rejection of Lisbon by the only country holding a referendum on it would put pressure on British MPs to halt the as-yet imcomplete UK ratification process. Last night there were signs that Brussels officials would try to convene an emergency summit of EU leaders in the event of a \"No\" vote to find a way to satisfy Irish voters, before calling for a repeat referendum. Related Articles Tony Blair \"to win Silvio Berlusconi's backing for EU presidency\" 06 Jun 2008 The survey of 1,000 voters showed 35 per cent intended to vote \"No\", up from 17 per cent in the last TNS/mrbi poll three weeks ago. The \"Yes\" camp stood at 30 per cent, down from 35 per cent in the previous poll. In Ireland the surge in the \"No\" vote was being attributed in part to the unpopularity of Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner. Irish farmers and No campaigners have claimed that world trade negotiations, in which he represents the EU, would slash farm incomes and lead to mass rural unemployment. Mr Mandelson's image has appeared on \"No\" campaign posters across the country. Irish voters fear that the Treaty will erode public services by opening them up to private competition, reduce national sovereignty and trigger higher taxes. The UNITE trade union, which has broken with other workers' groups by campaigning against the treaty, said it would intensify its campaign in the coming days. A \"No\" vote could also encourage integration-minded member states to press ahead with plans for more power sharing, in a \"two speed\" EU, in which \"laggards\" such as the UK and Ireland were left behind. In Ireland there is deep scepticism about whether voters would reverse their decision in a second referendum, as they did in 2003 when Ireland approved the Treaty of Nice – but only at the second time of asking.", "TV Interview for BBC (“I like Mr Gorbachev. We can do business together”) | Margaret Thatcher Foundation TV Interview for BBC (“I like Mr Gorbachev. We can do business together”) Document type: 1200-1245. Film of the item can be seen here . Importance ranking: 3672 Themes: Conservative Party (organisation), Defence (arms control), Employment, Industry, Privatised and state industries, Foreign policy (Asia), Foreign policy (development, aid, etc), Foreign policy (USSR and successor states), Leadership, Terrorism, Strikes and other union action, Voluntary sector and charity, Famous statements by MT John Cole Prime Minister, after meeting Mr. Gorbachev, are you more or less optimistic about detente and world peace in 1985? Prime Minister I am cautiously optimistic. I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together. We both believe in our own political systems. He firmly believes in his; I firmly believe in mine. We are never going to change one another. So that is not in doubt, but we have two great interests in common: that we should both do everything we can to see that war never starts again, and therefore we go into the disarmament talks determined to make them succeed. And secondly, I think we both believe that they are the more likely to succeed if we can build up confidence in one another and trust in one another about each other's approach, and therefore, we believe in cooperating on trade matters, on cultural matters, on quite a lot of contacts between politicians from the two sides of the divide.[fo 1] John Cole Mr. Gorbachev has been mentioned as a possible successor to the present leadership and also as a more flexible and, in Soviet terms, a liberal man. Did you form any impression about him personally like that? Prime Minister [ Mikhail Gorbachev] He was very ready to enter into full, detailed discussion; not to stick to prepared statements. So we had a genuine discussion. As a matter of fact, I also had a genuine discussion with Mr. Chernenko, President Chernenko, when I visited Moscow in February last year, and I also got on very well with President Chernenko, so the two things, really, were very very well worthwhile doing and I am very pleased he is here, and I hope he has an extremely successful visit. John Cole Now, you will be seeing President Reagan at the end of the week. Do you think there is any chance of a Summit meeting in the New Year between President Chernenko and President Reagan? Prime Minister I should not hurry along a Summit meeting too fast. I think the most important thing is to try to decide what[fo 2] form the disarmament talks shall take; what shall be discussed; in which group of Ministers; and to try to make progress there. I am sure that both sides want to make progress, because it is in both of our interests to do so, and I think it is important that some progress is made first and then perhaps to think of a Summit later. But I think it is wrong to raise expectations too high at the beginning, because then people might be disappointed. If they approach it in the framework that we both want to succeed and then take the progress steadily, that will be better in the longer run. John Cole So the arms talks first, and what about Star Wars? Prime Minister Well that, of course, is part of the disarmament talks. Obviously, you cannot stop research going ahead, but I think one does not want to go into a higher and higher level of armaments because between the two main power blocs, the Warsaw Pact countries and NATO, we have got to have balance if we are both to feel secure, but we are only going to feel secure on the basis of a balance of armaments, and obviously, it does not make sense to have balance at a higher and higher level. We want to get the level of balance down and that is why we are entering into the talks; because we want that level of balance down[fo 3] and also because I think both of us feel that more monies should be spent towards raising the standard of living of people and perhaps less on armaments, provided we can keep that balance and that mutual respect for one ano" ]

[ "you just need to change th ip address to one that is not being used" ]

[ "Domain Name System\\n\\nIt converts a domain name, such as answers.yahoo.com into an IP address such as 9.44.120.7 which is used by the network to locate computers", "The problem is that on DSL, you do not get a public IP address on your computer. Your router gets one and then your it gives your computer a private IP address. This is called NAT (Network Address Translation). \\n\\nIn order to use a VPN on a DSL connection, you need to either route a public IP to your computer, which will probably require you to purchase one from your ISP and will require them to help you set it up, or you will need to set up some port forwarding in the router to forward the ports that the VPN program communicates on.\\n\\nRight now, when you connect to a remote computer, it sees that traffic as coming from the IP address of your router, since your computer IP is private. When it tries to send information back, the router says \"Hey! I don't know what this is!\" and drops the packets. Port forwarding tells the packets which local IP address they should go to and having a public IP on your computer makes that step unnecessary.\\n\\nYou will definitely need to call your ISP on this, but I hope my explaination helps to clarify.", "A public IP address can be used to address a computer from outside a network; a private IP address is used to address a computer from within a network.\\n\\nFor example, if you use a router for your home network, it tends to have the address 192.168.0.1 or the like. The first two numbers -- 192.168 -- indicate this is a private address; only computers on the network, behind the router, can reach IP addresses in that group.\\n\\nA public IP address might be 70.232.43.168; if you type that into your Web browser ( http://70.232.43.168 ), and there is a Web server operating on that IP address listening on a default HTTP port, you'll see the Web site.", "Internet Protocol address) The address of a device attached to an IP network (TCP/IP network). Every client, server and network device must have a unique IP address for each network connection (network interface). Every IP packet contains a source IP address and a destination IP address.\\n\\nStatic and Dynamic IP\\n\\nAn IP network is somewhat similar to the telephone network in that you have to have the phone number to reach a destination. The big difference is that IP addresses are often temporary.\\n\\nEach device in an IP network is either assigned a permanent address (static IP) by the network administrator or is assigned a temporary address (dynamic IP) via DHCP software. Routers, firewalls and proxy servers use static addresses as do most servers and printers that serve multiple users. Client machines may use static or dynamic IP addresses. The IP address assigned to your service by your cable or DSL Internet provider is typically dynamic IP. In routers and operating systems, the default configuration for clients is dynamic IP (see DHCP).\\n\\nDotted Decimals\\n\\nIP addresses are written in \"dotted decimal\" notation, which is four sets of numbers separated by periods; for example, 204.171.64.2. If you knew the IP address of a Web site, you could enter the dotted decimal number into your browser instead of the domain name (which is why we have DNS!).\\n\\nAlthough the next version of the IP protocol offers a virtually unlimited number of unique addresses (see IPv6), the traditional IP address (IPv4) uses a 32-bit number that defines both the network and the host computer. The network class determines how many of the 32 bits are used for the network address, leaving the remaining bits for use as the host number (note the numbers of networks and hosts in the table below). The host number can be further divided between subnetworks and hosts", "One way is to buy router and connect all computers to it with UTP cables. But it means that all computer need to have a network adapter on each computer you supply. It could be done also with WLAN adapters(without wiring). Problem is that in those ways you can have one IP address on the Internet which is shared (It means all other computers will have IP addresses which are reserved just for local area networks-that addresses are not exist on the Internet).\\nThere are other ways if you are want to be a real ISP. But it`s more complicated...", "DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Suppose a computer belonging to a network and without a fixed IP address. When it is turned on, it requests network configurations (this request is sent as a broadcast request - everyone in the network can listen, but only a DHCP server will answer). The DHCP server answers this request with informations as IP address, netmask, gateway IP, DNS server, and so on. This IP address can be valid by a period of time (depends on the DHCP server configuration), and, when this period is over, another network configuration request is sent to the DHCP server.\\n\\n\\nDNS: Domain name system. It is used to translate IP address in readable (or sometimes not ;-) ) names. For example: when you type www.yahoo.com in address field of your browser, a request is sent to your DNS server (that can be fixed or got by DHCP request) and the server answer with the IP address of that name. With this address you can do all the communication needed. The inverse also can be done: you request the name of a host and the DNS answer the name of that host. Below is a link for BIND site, which is a very used DNS server. And a HOWTO too ;-)", "How is network configured? Are u using DHCP? i.e. Obtain IP address automatically... If so, then you will always get a pause while it (your computer NIC) is getting an available IP address from your router or DHCP server. All routers has a capability to add a static IP address for each host on the network.\\n\\nOn the command prompt, type ipconfig /all and write down the MAC address and IP address (192.168.x.x) \\n\\nLog into your router and see where you can add a static IP, assign and IP address with the MAC address that you got from ipconfig /all.\\n\\nOnce you have that configured, add the same IP address on your NIC/wireless NIC network configuration.\\n\\nThis way your computer will not have to send a broadcast message to the DHCP server and wait for the ack and IP address everytime you boot up.\\n\\nGood luck.", "ARP - \\n\\nAddress Resolution Protocol. A TCP/IP protocol used to convert an IP address into a physical address, such as an Ethernet address. A host wishing to obtain a physical address broadcasts an ARP request onto the TCP/IP network. The host on the network that has the address in the request then replies with its physical hardware address. Precidia's products support ARP.\\n\\nUDP -\\n\\nUser Datagram Protocol. A communications protocol for the Internet network layer, transport layer, and session layer, which makes it possible to send a datagram message from one computer to an application running in another computer. Like TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP is used with IP (the Internet Protocol). Unlike TCP, UDP is connectionless and does not guarantee reliable communication; the application itself must process any errors and check for reliable delivery", "With help of NAT(Network Address Translatior) u can connect ur all computer to the internet. NAT use one public ip address & u can map all private address to it to access internet.it converts private add to public address. Private addtess are thr range of ip address which is reserved to use privatly by an org. u can not use it over internet.Public ip address r used to connect devices on internet. To setup network with 10 computers put ur public ip address on server & with help of proxy u can access internet on all PC", "There are two types of IP address that your computer has, the Local IP address and its Internet IP address.\\nThese are one and the same if you have a direct connection to the Internet, such as a dialup modem, or have only one computer plugged directly into some types of broadband modems.\\n\\nSo, since the question does not clarify which IP address you are looking for, I will answer how to find both.\\n\\nYour Internet IP address is how other computers on the Internet know where to find you, and how to communicate back and forth with your computer.\\n\\nYou can find this very simply by visiting one of the sites that the others mentioned, such as http://www.ipchicken.com\\n\\nMany times, if you are connected to the Internet through a corporate network or home network, you will also have a separate Local IP address (which is how your computer talks to other computers, devices, etc, on the network at the place it is actually plugged into, such as your home)\\n\\nIf you are running Windows 95, 98, or Millenium Edition, this can be found by clicking on the Start Menu, selecting Run, and typing \"winipcfg\" without the quotes, and hitting enter or clicking OK or Open. \\nAfter this is done a box will come up which will have a drop-down menu. Select your modem or device you are connecting with, and it will show the \"IP Address\".\\n\\nIn Windows 2000 and XP, you would click Start, Run, and type \"CMD\" and click OK.\\nA black screen will come up, with a blinking line.\\nInside the black screen, you will need to type \"ipconfig\"\\n\\nThis will show your local IP address, such as the following:\\n\\n\\nC:&#92;>ipconfig\\n\\nWindows IP Configuration\\n\\n\\nEthernet adapter Local Area Connection:\\n\\n Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected\\n\\n\\n\\nEthernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:\\n\\n Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : megapathdsl.net\\n IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.20.1.108\\n Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0\\n Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.20.1.1\\n\\nC:&#92;>\\n\\nHere, this shows that my \"Local Area Connection\" (which is the network jack on my computer) is unplugged, but that my wireless connection has an IP address of 10.20.1.108 \\n\\nDoes this answer your question?", "Network Bridge overview:\\nNetwork Bridge provides an inexpensive and easy way to connect local area network (LAN) segments. A LAN segment is a single section of network media that connects computers. For example, suppose you have three computers: computer A, computer B, and computer C. Computer A has two Ethernet network adapters, and computers B and C have one Ethernet network adapter each. An Ethernet cable connecting A to B creates one LAN segment. Another Ethernet cable connecting A to C creates another LAN segment. \\n\\nTraditionally, if you want a network with more than one segment, you have two options: routing or bridging. IP routing is a common solution for connecting network segments. However, to set up IP routing you either must buy hardware routers or set up the computers at the junctions between segments to operate as routers. IP routing requires difficult IP addressing configuration for each computer on each network segment, and each network segment must be configured as a separate subnet. IP routing is a good solution for large networks, where scalability is important, and where there is an experienced staff to configure and maintain the network. A bridge does not require difficult configurations, but you must purchase additional hardware bridges. Neither of these options are ideal if you have a home or small office network, do not want to purchase expensive bridging hardware, and do not have experienced staff to administer an IP routing network. \\n\\nWith Network Bridge, you can connect LAN segments by selecting the appropriate network connection icons and clicking Bridge Connections. Equally easily, you can enable the bridge and add connections to it. The network bridge manages your network segments and creates a single subnet for the entire network. There is no configuration required, and you do not need to purchase additional hardware such as routers or bridges. IP addressing, address allocation, and name resolution is easy to do in a single subnet IP network. \\n\\nThe network bridge can create connections between different types of network media. In a traditional network, if you are using mixed media types you need a separate subnet for each type of media, and packet forwarding is required for each one of the network's multiple subnets. Packet forwarding is required because different protocols are used for different types of media. Network Bridge automates the configuration required to forward information from one type of media to another. \\n\\nOnly one bridge can exist on a computer running Windows XP, but you can use it to bridge as many network connections as the computer can physically accommodate. For information about creating a network bridge, see Bridge Connections.", "Yes! Most Internet Service Providers include a Router. This provides a DHCP Service (Provides IP addresses to computers requesting one) as well as a NAT Service (Network Address Translation - Provides a \"mapping\" of local computers IP address to Pubic IP address\"\\nBoth DSL and Cable use Digital Signals. This allows both VOICE and DATA to use the Broadband at the same time.", "a proxy goes between your computer and the internet, or your network, and an ip address is the number given to identify your computer online, by your isp.\\n\\nSo a proxy ip address is like using someone elses address for your time online instead of your own...", "MAC address is a unique address which is given to the Network Interface Card through which we can identify any computer in the network. \\n\\nAny DHCP server will be able to assign IP to its client only based on the MAC address.", "Function, NO...Desciption below....\\nEvery machine on the Internet has a unique identifying number, called an IP Address. A typical IP address looks like this: \\n\\n216.27.61.137 \\nTo make it easier for us humans to remember, IP addresses are normally expressed in decimal format as a \"dotted decimal number\" like the one above. But computers communicate in binary form. Look at the same IP address in binary: \\n\\n\\n11011000.00011011.00111101.100... \\nThe four numbers in an IP address are called octets, because they each have eight positions when viewed in binary form. If you add all the positions together, you get 32, which is why IP addresses are considered 32-bit numbers. Since each of the eight positions can have two different states (1 or 0) the total number of possible combinations per octet is 28 or 256. So each octet can contain any value between 0 and 255. Combine the four octets and you get 232 or a possible 4,294,967,296 unique values! \\n\\nOut of the almost 4.3 billion possible combinations, certain values are restricted from use as typical IP addresses. For example, the IP address 0.0.0.0 is reserved for the default network and the address 255.255.255.255 is used for broadcasts. \\n\\nThe octets serve a purpose other than simply separating the numbers. They are used to create classes of IP addresses that can be assigned to a particular business, government or other entity based on size and need. The octets are split into two sections: Net and Host. The Net section always contains the first octet. It is used to identify the network that a computer belongs to. Host (sometimes referred to as Node) identifies the actual computer on the network. The Host section always contains the last octet. There are five IP classes plus certain special addresses: \\n\\n\\nDefault Network - The IP address of 0.0.0.0 is used for the default network. \\n\\nClass A - This class is for very large networks, such as a major international company might have. IP addresses with a first octet from 1 to 126 are part of this class. The other three octets are used to identify each host. This means that there are 126 Class A networks each with 16,777,214 (224 -2) possible hosts for a total of 2,147,483,648 (231) unique IP addresses. Class A networks account for half of the total available IP addresses. In Class A networks, the high order bit value (the very first binary number) in the first octet is always 0. \\nNet Host or Node \\n115. 24.53.107 \\n\\n\\n\\nLoopback - The IP address 127.0.0.1 is used as the loopback address. This means that it is used by the host computer to send a message back to itself. It is commonly used for troubleshooting and network testing. \\n\\nClass B - Class B is used for medium-sized networks. A good example is a large college campus. IP addresses with a first octet from 128 to 191 are part of this class. Class B addresses also include the second octet as part of the Net identifier. The other two octets are used to identify each host. This means that there are 16,384 (214) Class B networks each with 65,534 (216 -2) possible hosts for a total of 1,073,741,824 (230) unique IP addresses. Class B networks make up a quarter of the total available IP addresses. Class B networks have a first bit value of 1 and a second bit value of 0 in the first octet. \\nNet Host or Node \\n145.24. 53.107 \\n\\n\\n\\nClass C - Class C addresses are commonly used for small to mid-size businesses. IP addresses with a first octet from 192 to 223 are part of this class. Class C addresses also include the second and third octets as part of the Net identifier. The last octet is used to identify each host. This means that there are 2,097,152 (221) Class C networks each with 254 (28 -2) possible hosts for a total of 536,870,912 (229) unique IP addresses. Class C networks make up an eighth of the total available IP addresses. Class C networks have a first bit value of 1, second bit value of 1 and a third bit value of 0 in the first octet. \\nNet Host or Node \\n195", "internet (Lower case i) \\nAny time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state. \\n\\n\\nInternet (Upper case I) \\nThe vast collection of inter-connected networks that are connected using the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's. \\nThe Internet connects tens of thousands of independent networks into a vast global internet and is probably the largest Wide Area Network in the world.\\n\\nARPANet -- (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) \\nThe precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60's and early 70's by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking to connect together computers that were each running different system so that people at one location could use computing resources from another location.\\n\\nTCP/IP -- (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) \\nThis is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now included with every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software.\\n\\nUnix \\nA computer operating system (the basic software running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets). Unix is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet. \\nApple computers' Macintosh operating system, as of version 10 (\"Mac OS X\"), is based on Unix.", "An interconnected system of networks that connects computers around the world via the TCP/IP protocol.", "DNS= Domain Name System/Domain Name Server\\nNetwork/Internet resources like web pages and mail servers are stored on computers. Each computer is assigned an IP address which identifies it on the network-- think of it like the license plate on your car, or your phone number. But people do not look for those resources by IP address--- too hard to keep them all straight. So we use a DNS server to keep a list of what name matches to what number. When you go looking for a web page, for example, you tell your computer \"go to www.yahoo.com\" but your computer does not know who that is. So your computer asks the DNS server. The DNS server translates the name to the address so the computer can find what it is looking for.", "Networking Tools\\n\\n * Ping.exe : The BIG one. This is probably one of the most used tools for TCP/IP. Ping sends ICMP Echo Requests to verify that TCP/IP is configured correctly and that a remote TCP/IP system is available. Ping is very customizable through switches. This should be your first stop during times of networking problems. Using it to test network response time is but one of it's many functions.\\n * Arp.exe : allows you to view and modify the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache on the interface of the local computer to detect invalid entries.\\n * Nslookup.exe : Check records, domain host aliases, domain host services, and operating system information by querying Internet domain name servers. When you start Nslookup, it shows the host name and IP address of the DNS server that is configured for the local system, and then display a command prompt for further queries. If you type a question mark (?), Nslookup shows all available commands. You can exit the program by typing exit. To look up a host's IP address using DNS, type the host name and press Enter. Nslookup defaults to using the DNS server configured for the computer on which it is running, but you can focus it on a different DNS server by typing server (where is the host name of the server you want to use for future lookups). Once another server is specified, anything entered after that point is interpreted as a host name.\\n * Hostname.exe : Displays the hostname of the computer.\\n * Ipconfig.exe : Displays current TCP/IP network configuration values. You can update or release DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) allocated leases, and display register, or flush DNS (Domain Name System) names. Output can be redirected to a file if desired.\\n * Nbtstat.exe : Check the state of current Netbios over TCP/IP connections, update the NETBIOS name cache, and determine the registered names and scope ID. Nbtstat is designed to help troubleshoot NetBIOS name resolution problems. When a network is working ok, NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses. It does this through several options for NetBIOS name resolution, including local cache lookup, WINS server query, broadcast, LMHOSTS lookup, Hosts lookup, and DNS server query.\\n * Netstat.exe : Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections. Very cool utility. Try running it while connected to the net.\\n * Pathping.exe : Trace a path to a remote system and report packet losses at each router along the way. Pathping combines features of Tracert and ping.\\n * Route.exe : Display the IP routing table, and add or delete IP routes.\\n * Tracert: Trace a path to a remote system. This tool gives you the number of hops a packet must make to get there, and the IP address of each hop. It does this for a maximum of 30 hops. This tool is very useful for seeing where a problem with a slow response time may lie.\\n * NetDiag.exe : a diagnostic tool that helps isolate networking and connectivity problems by performing a series of tests to determine the state your network client and whether it is functional. Using the /l switch will output results to netdiag.log as the results can be lengthy. This tool will likely not be installed on your system by default. What you must do is go into your Windows 2000 CD in the support/tools directory. Run the setup file there for full access to the Windows 2000 Support Tools. I had problems with getting this program running due to fatal errors from it, but see how you make out. I'll keeps troubleshooting it to see what I can do. \\n\\nNon Networking Tools\\n\\n /? switch displays options on these utilities as well.\\n\\n * Sfc.exe : System File Checker. This utility scans protected system files and replaces files overwritten with the correct system files provided by Microsoft. This could prove to be an invaluable tool for repairing your system after some of those search and replace programs that we all know", "IP address - Internet Protocol Address\\nAn IP address is like the address of your computer on the internet. Yes, it can be changed. If your service provider has given you a dynamic IP service, it keeps changing every few minutes/hours. You can check your IP address by visiting a site such as www.whatismyip.com or just going to the Command Prompt and typing \"ipconfig\" and hitting the enter key. If your sevice provider has given you a static IP address, it does not change by itself, but you can manually change the IP address which appears on other sites (please note, it does not change the IP address of the whole machine, it only changes the IP address in that program) by using a proxy server. You can find proxies for free at sites such as www.proxy4free.com . Here is some additional info from wikipedia, visit wikipedia for more info, see the source url -\\n\\nAn IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique number that devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard. Any participating device — including routers, computers, time-servers, internet FAX machines, and some telephones — must have its own unique address. This allows information passed onwards on behalf of the sender to indicate where to send it next, and for the receiver of the information to know that it is the intended destination.\\n\\nThe numbers currently used in IP addresses range from 1.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255, though some of these values are reserved for specific purposes. This does not provide enough possibilities for every internet device to have its own permanent number. Subnet routing, Network Address Translation and the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server all allow local networks to use the same IP addresses as other networks elsewhere though both are connected to the Internet. Devices such as network printers, web servers and mail servers are often allocated static IP addresses so they can always be found.\\n\\nIP addresses are conceptually similar to phone numbers, except they are used in LANs (Local Area Network), WANs (Wide Area Network), or the Internet. Because the numbers are not easy for humans to remember, the Domain Name System provides a service analogous to an address book lookup called \"domain name resolution\" or \"name resolution\". Special DNS servers on the internet are dedicated to performing the translation from a domain name to an IP address and vice versa.", "Connect a router to your ISP, then connect your computers to the router. The router will get an IP address from your ISP. Set your computers to get their IP address via DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) from the router. The router will assign non-routable IP addresses to your computers, therefore they cannot be seen on the ISP side of the router.\\n\\nThe router uses NAT, network address translation, to map packets to and from the ISP to the correct computer on your LAN.\\n\\nThis is a very standard setup.", "ISO/OSI Network Model\\nThe standard model for networking protocols and distributed applications is the International Standard Organization's Open System Interconnect (ISO/OSI) model. It defines seven network layers. \\n\\nLayer 1 - Physical \\nPhysical layer defines the cable or physical medium itself, e.g., thinnet, thicknet, unshielded twisted pairs (UTP). All media are functionally equivalent. The main difference is in convenience and cost of installation and maintenance. Converters from one media to another operate at this level. \\n\\nLayer 2 - Data Link \\nData Link layer defines the format of data on the network. A network data frame, aka packet, includes checksum, source and destination address, and data. The largest packet that can be sent through a data link layer defines the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU). The data link layer handles the physical and logical connections to the packet's destination, using a network interface. A host connected to an Ethernet would have an Ethernet interface to handle connections to the outside world, and a loopback interface to send packets to itself. \\n\\nEthernet addresses a host using a unique, 48-bit address called its Ethernet address or Media Access Control (MAC) address. MAC addresses are usually represented as six colon-separated pairs of hex digits, e.g., 8:0:20:11:ac:85. This number is unique and is associated with a particular Ethernet device. Hosts with multiple network interfaces should use the same MAC address on each. The data link layer's protocol-specific header specifies the MAC address of the packet's source and destination. When a packet is sent to all hosts (broadcast), a special MAC address (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) is used. \\n\\nLayer 3 - Network \\nNFS uses Internetwork Protocol (IP) as its network layer interface. IP is responsible for routing, directing datagrams from one network to another. The network layer may have to break large datagrams, larger than MTU, into smaller packets and host receiving the packet will have to reassemble the fragmented datagram. The Internetwork Protocol identifies each host with a 32-bit IP address. IP addresses are written as four dot-separated decimal numbers between 0 and 255, e.g., 129.79.16.40. The leading 1-3 bytes of the IP identify the network and the remaining bytes identifies the host on that network. The network portion of the IP is assigned by InterNIC Registration Services, under the contract to the National Science Foundation, and the host portion of the IP is assigned by the local network administrators, locally by noc@indiana.edu. For large sites, usually subnetted like ours, the first two bytes represents the network portion of the IP, and the third and fourth bytes identify the subnet and host respectively. \\n\\nEven though IP packets are addressed using IP addresses, hardware addresses must be used to actually transport data from one host to another. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to map the IP address to it hardware address. \\n\\nLayer 4 - Transport \\nTransport layer subdivides user-buffer into network-buffer sized datagrams and enforces desired transmission control. Two transport protocols, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP), sits at the transport layer. Reliability and speed are the primary difference between these two protocols. TCP establishes connections between two hosts on the network through 'sockets' which are determined by the IP address and port number. TCP keeps track of the packet delivery order and the packets that must be resent. Maintaining this information for each connection makes TCP a stateful protocol. UDP on the other hand provides a low overhead transmission service, but with less error checking. NFS is built on top of UDP because of its speed and statelessness. Statelessness simplifies the crash recovery. \\n\\nLayer 5 - Session \\nThe session protocol defines the format of the data sent over the connections. The NFS uses the Remote", "There are to methods... network printing and IP Printing.\\n\\nNetwork printing... hook up a printer to you router and follow the instructions that came with the router.\\n\\nIP printing... hook up a printer to a computer and install the drivers. go to Control Panel and click Printers and Faxes. Then right click on the printer that you want to be shared. And click Properties. then click the Sharing tab. say that you understand the risk. and enable the sharing. DO NOT USE THE WIZARD. IT SUCKS. once you are done setting up a shared printer on a computer find the IP address of that computer and remember it. go to another computer and open up the Printers and Faxes folder in the Control Panel. click Add a Printer and select Printer is a Network Printer and is Attached to Another Computer and click Next. now select the option to connect to a Printer Over the Internet. In the space provided, type in the IP address you wrote down. Then click Next. Install the drivers and your set! MAKE SURE BOTH COMPUTERS ARE ON DURING THESE PROCEDURES. YOU MUST BE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. --> also... you can use this option for multiple computers by repeating the 2nd part of the procedure on the unchastized computer", "All devices are connected to one another in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it. Ring topologies are relatively expensive and difficult to install, but they offer high bandwidth and can span large distances. \\n\\nYou have to have two network card per computer not easy to setup eather. Each card has to have it own IP address given to it in Network settings.", "This is a typical problem for people who have installed firewalls like Norton Internet Security etc. The purpose of a firewall is to block unauthorized access into one's computer. You will have to configure it accordingly to enable networking. The same can be done by - \\n\\n1) If you only have Windows Firewall (i.e. no other firewall), first try and disable the same.\\n\\n- Go to START\\n- Go to CONTROL PANEL\\n- Go to WINDOWS FIREWALL and turn it off (on both PCs ofcourse)\\n\\nYour computers should now be connected to the network and should be able to share data. Please see that the workgroup on both the PCs is the same (default workgroup is MSHOME). The same can be checked by - \\n\\n- Right Click MY COMPUTER\\n- Go to COMPUTER NAME\\n- Click CHANGE\\n- It displays your workgroup which should be same on both PCs\\n- Incase it is not type the same word (eg HOME, WORKGROUP, etc) on both PCs so that they have the same workgroup\\n- Restart your computer if needed (sometimes the computer prompts that it has to restart for the changes to take effect)\\n\\nYour computers should now be connected.\\n\\n2) Incase you have firewalls like Norton Internet Security, you will have to manually configure the same by entering the IP addresses (unique address of the PC that can then be identified on the network) manually into both the machines. You can check the IP address by - \\n\\n- Go to START\\n- Go to RUN\\n- Type CMD and press enter\\n- In the window that pops up, type IPCONFIG and press enter\\n- The value assigned to \"IP Address\" is that computer's IP address (it will read something like 192.169.1.2 in case one is connected to their router)\\n\\nFor Example, let the IP address of your desktop be xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and let the ip address of your laptop be yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy. In the desktop you will have to add yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy in the trusted zone of your desktop and in the laptop you do the opposite. This will let the firewalls of both the PCs access each other. \\n\\nA different senario can be that you want the desktop to access the laptop but not vice versa. For this you can feed the IP address of the laptop into the desktop's firewall only. This will enable you to control the shared folders and drives of the laptop from your desktop but not the other way round.\\n\\nPlease note that networking is an extremely vast field and the explanation that i have given above is the most common issue faced between two computers. If you are using a company's laptop and your individual desktop, chances are that you might not be able to connect ot your desktop (inspite of the above settings). This is becuase, the network policy in corporate computers is predefined and will only work in your place of work and no where else (to secure your office network). Please consult a networking specialist on this issue.\\n\\nHope you find this information useful", "First you need to know th differnce. To understand the difference between a router and a switch you need to understand the ISO model.\\n\\nISO/OSI Network Model\\nThe standard model for networking protocols and distributed applications is the International Standard Organization's Open System Interconnect (ISO/OSI) model. It defines seven network layers. \\n\\nLayer 1 - Physical \\nPhysical layer defines the cable or physical medium itself, e.g., thinnet, thicknet, unshielded twisted pairs (UTP). All media are functionally equivalent. The main difference is in convenience and cost of installation and maintenance. Converters from one media to another operate at this level. \\n\\nLayer 2 - Data Link \\nData Link layer defines the format of data on the network. A network data frame, aka packet, includes checksum, source and destination address, and data. The largest packet that can be sent through a data link layer defines the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU). The data link layer handles the physical and logical connections to the packet's destination, using a network interface. A host connected to an Ethernet would have an Ethernet interface to handle connections to the outside world, and a loopback interface to send packets to itself. \\n\\nEthernet addresses a host using a unique, 48-bit address called its Ethernet address or Media Access Control (MAC) address. MAC addresses are usually represented as six colon-separated pairs of hex digits, e.g., 8:0:20:11:ac:85. This number is unique and is associated with a particular Ethernet device. Hosts with multiple network interfaces should use the same MAC address on each. The data link layer's protocol-specific header specifies the MAC address of the packet's source and destination. When a packet is sent to all hosts (broadcast), a special MAC address (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) is used. \\n\\nLayer 3 - Network \\nNFS uses Internetwork Protocol (IP) as its network layer interface. IP is responsible for routing, directing datagrams from one network to another. The network layer may have to break large datagrams, larger than MTU, into smaller packets and host receiving the packet will have to reassemble the fragmented datagram. The Internetwork Protocol identifies each host with a 32-bit IP address. IP addresses are written as four dot-separated decimal numbers between 0 and 255, e.g., 129.79.16.40. The leading 1-3 bytes of the IP identify the network and the remaining bytes identifies the host on that network. The network portion of the IP is assigned by InterNIC Registration Services, under the contract to the National Science Foundation, and the host portion of the IP is assigned by the local network administrators, locally by noc@indiana.edu. For large sites, usually subnetted like ours, the first two bytes represents the network portion of the IP, and the third and fourth bytes identify the subnet and host respectively. \\n\\nEven though IP packets are addressed using IP addresses, hardware addresses must be used to actually transport data from one host to another. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to map the IP address to it hardware address. \\n\\nLayer 4 - Transport \\nTransport layer subdivides user-buffer into network-buffer sized datagrams and enforces desired transmission control. Two transport protocols, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP), sits at the transport layer. Reliability and speed are the primary difference between these two protocols. TCP establishes connections between two hosts on the network through 'sockets' which are determined by the IP address and port number. TCP keeps track of the packet delivery order and the packets that must be resent. Maintaining this information for each connection makes TCP a stateful protocol. UDP on the other hand provides a low overhead transmission service, but with less error checking. NFS is built on top of UDP because of its speed and statelessness. Statelessness simplifies the crash", "ADSL Modem + Router with 10 ports , 10 LAN Cables , also all computers should have network cards installed (it can be onboard on the motherboard or a pci device).\\n\\nthen you will need to connect all the LAN cables to the Modem / Router and then modify each of your computers to use network (settings depends on what modem you are using) , by typing a IP like 10.0.0.2 in the browser you will get to the control panel of your modem , which its written in the manual of your modem . then get your ADSL ready , test by going to www.yahoo.com if it worked the work's done , if not check if all the IPs on the network are properly configured , go to control panel , network connection , properties of the LAN connection select Internet Protocol , TCP/IP click properties and select the right IP address for them, note that only one computer can have a specific IP address, for example on the network you can have 10.0.0.3 only once , the next should be 10.0.0.4.\\nall other details depend on your modem / router , hope it helped.", "The most common form of spoofing is to pass a request for data from one computer through another computer so that the site from which info or services is being requested can't accurately identify the source of the request. It's like being able to dial your cell phone from my cell phone so that I can call someone and have your caller id appear on their phone instead of mine. The way it is done is by setting your IP address as a proxy address in my web browser.\\n\\nYou can block your IP address from being used as a proxy address (or your IP provider can). Proxy spoofing is often used by people who don't want where they are surfing to be connected back to their own IP address. It can also be used to get into a site which has blocked a person's IP address, because they have abused the site before. \\n\\nAnother kind of spoofing (the one you are experiencing) uses a redirect command to route traffic from one address to another. In this kind of spoof the point is to get someone (who thinks they are at your site) to provide information or access to their computer to a third computer that is almost surely being run by a hacker who is collecting IP addresses and who knows what all else. Yes it is illegal and yes you can get it stopped. Your provider needs to diable your IP address, give you a new one, and help you find the hack in your HTML that is causing the redirection. Good luck.", "DNS :Domain Name Service\\nif you don't have DNS on your network you should go to a network resource just with it's IP address and not it's network name.then you should have a list of ipaddress of each computer.because memorizing alot of IP addresses is not easy but memorizing names is.\\n//192.168.20.214 or //sales ? which one easier?", "You need to make your Linux box a router. IMO it's cheaper and easier to buy a router. But you need 2 network cards in your Linux box, one with the external IP and one with the internal IP. Then you set up NAT. Connect the internal IP network card to a switch where your other computers are connected to. Make the Linux box's internal network card's IP address their default gateway.", "A gateway is a must for your PC to establish connectivity to external networks (and internet). The gateway is a device which lets your PC communicate with external networks. Whether you need to specify a gateway or not depends on your configuration. In the case of a dial up connection and dynamically alloted IP addresses, gateway is also picked up automatically. However if you have a static IP address assigned to your system, you may also have to specify the gateway.", "DHCP\\n(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Software that automatically assigns temporary IP addresses to client stations logging onto an IP network. It eliminates having to manually assign permanent \"static\" IP addresses. DHCP software runs in servers and routers. See IP address, DDNS, APIPA, link-local address, DNS and WINS." ]

[ "Eat healthy and exercise. Cardio is the best exercise you can do to lose fat. It increases your metabolism and insulin levels which will help break down fats and sugars in your system.\\n\\nThat is the smart, sensible way. If you want a quick fix you aren't going to find one because even liposuction won't change your lifestyle." ]

[ "How many pounds do you intend to lose? As how we grow fat, we know it how our body accumulate fat. So to reverse it, I think you know more than we do how is your body metabolism working. Just go on a healthy diet. The fastest way is to go through operation.", "I personally haven't had a baby, but cardio at the gym does wonders when you want to lose inches. Eliptical trainers will do it fast. I've lost lots of weight that way and I know others who have lost baby fat that way also. It's the fastest healthiest thing I know to do. Also if you do it regularly it gets easy and the results last.", "i think it's the other way around: when your stomach hurts, you take pepto bismol to relieve the pain!", "The fat around a heavy weight person keeps the stomach from being able to expand a lot for an eating competition. The thinner the person, the more room for the stomach to expand as they stuff the food in.", "Cardio alone WILL NOT help you look good for summertime. Cardio gets your heart rate up which is fine, and you will lose some fat around your belly, which is fine, but summer is about two months away and doing excessive cardio does not build muscle, it only leads to injured joints. You lose MORE FAT and get toned by turning your fat into muscle, by lifting weights, seriously. if your a girl and not into lifting weights i recommend doing squats for your legs and various ab exercises.", "Drinking/sipping .. Not guzzling .. water throughout your meal is a good thing. It will not cause you to become \"fat\" as water doesnt contain fat. It will however, fill you up. Especially if eaten rice because it will expand inside your stomach.\\n\\nIf anything drinking excess water with your meal will help you to lose weight because you will eat less.\\n\\nThis is not a recommended dietry tip.", "cause wat makes the wet stuff come out is around the entry way of the hole", "on diet...\\n\\nThe only way you can keep your stomach flat and hard is if there is no layer to fat covering it and the best way to lose fat is simple - exercise. If possible, do some cardio first thing in the morning before eating any full meals. This burns the maximum amount of fat. Since your body has not had any food for the last 7-10 hours, it burns the fat in your body for energy. If not, then cardio and a little weight lifting anytime of the day will do. It is important to build some muscle since it will aid in your fat loss. The more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism.\\n\\nAlso, try eating small meals more frequently as opposed to the big 3 (breakfast, lunch, dinner). try to eat a small meal every 3 hours. The reason for this is that your body burns more calories since it is constantly digesting something in your stomach and will raise your metabolism. It is also useful to eat small meals because your stomach will not be stuffed and will always have a smaller look. If you are afraid of doing this because you might end up eating more, try this: when you are about to eat lunch, separate everything on your plate into 2. eat half and leave the other half to be eaten 3 hours later. do the same with dinner.\\n\\nlastly, losing weight is just simple math. If your calories taken in is more than when you use up (exercise, daily activities, metabolism, etc) then you gain weight. If it is less, then you lose weight. If you are really determined to lose weight then i suggest you start counting how much calorries you consume a day and cut it by 300-500 each week until you notice some results.\\n\\nif you are really serious, avoid eating foods high in sugar without any real nutritional value (chocolate, cakes, doughnuts, ice cream, all desserts) and foods way up there in the calorie scale (pizza, fried anything, etc)\\n\\n-----------------------------------------\\n\\nby doing all of the above, you will be able to achieve a lean body with a good body fat percentage. This will ensure that your stomach is flat and hard. However, if you want abs (im assuming that you do) you will have to train them hard. There are quite a number of exercises for the abs on this page http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm like the different variations of crunches and oblique exercises to get you started.", "Herbalife is the fastest and healthiest way to lose weight. I lost 35 pounds in two months and the best part is I got healthier. I got tons of energy and I just feel great.", "According to fashion experts, \"fat\" means you wear anything larger than size 2.\\nAccording to me, \"fat\" starts around size 16 or 18. Then again, being a 28-year-old guy, female clothing sizes are a bit confusing for me.\\nBut to answer your, question, you are not fat at all at size 10, and I would gladly date you if I were about ten years younger.", "Losing 2 lbs. a week is really hard to do. But there is only one way to lose fat: You have to eat less than you burn.\\n\\nA pound of fat = 3,500 calories. So to burn a pound of fat you have to burn 3500 cals above and beyond what you're eating. \\n\\nTo lose a pound of fat a week, you need to burn 500 cals a day (above and beyond what you are eating.) To lose 2 lbs of fat a week, you'd have to burn 1000 cals a day. It can happen, it's just really hard to do.\\n\\nRemember that you don't want to starve yourself. If you don't eat enough calories your metabolism will slow and your body will start to break down muscle. You may lose weigtht this way, but you will lose lean weight as well as fat weight. It's not very healthy!\\n\\nSo, To answer your question depends on your resting metabolic rate. roughly 1500/day for women and 2000/day for men. This is your bear minimum for the day... you shouldn't eat less than that. Then up your exercise and you're off toward weight loss!!!", "joe,\\n\\nNo matter the physical activity you partake in, if you're eating more calories than you're burning, then you'll pack it on...no way around it.\\n\\nAnother situation is that perhaps you are losing fat mass and gaining muscle mass...see, muscle weighs more than fat, so the only way you'll notice sometimes is to see if your physique is improving...so, get off the scale and look at how you LOOK...if you're looking better, you'll know.", "obesity, unsexy, un attractive, bad stomach upsets, irritations due to excess greaase, high colesterol level, excess fat stotred in your stomach, and for lack of a better word, Ass.", "if you want to get \"SUPER\" abs u have to lose excess fat and skin around your abdominal muscles you do not specifically have to work them out very much at all....just run a lot and focus on losing body fat some people try for years doing 500 situps a day and get nowhere because their body fat is too high therefore the abs cant be seen.....oh and eat healthy low carbs", "they messin around if you know wat i mean", "i m a muslim girl. i would like to ask u wat do u think abt muslims?? tat made u ask this question.", "No there isn't. That \"flab\" on the back of your arms is a fat deposit. The only way to lose it is to lose weight/fat. It is possible to tighten things up a little by doing some excercises like tricep extensions, curls, or even just pushups. If you build up the muscle the fat will be a little less \"jiggly\", but it will still be there. So walk for 30 minutes or so a few times a week and you'll see the best improvements.", "The fat burning zone is misunderstood by most people. We are never burning just one type of fuel (fat protein carbs) we are burning them all just in different percentages. The main source of fuel for your body and the one that is readily available is glucose from glycogen (\" glycogen is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals and occurs primarily in the liver and muscle tissue. It is readily converted to glucose as needed by the body to satisfy its energy needs. Also called animal starch\"). \\nFat and protein can also be converted to glucose if needed. The fat burning zone is when the body is supposedly burning a high percentage of fat during exercise. Fat is stored at different places in your body. around organs, intramuscularly, and subcutaneously(bellow the skin)this is the one most people are trying to lose unfortunately the fat utilized during exercise is the intramuscular type and so little it doesn’t matter there is 9cal/gram of fat and a little fat supplies a ton of energy. The best way to lose fat is to create a caloric deficit at the end of the day from food and exercise because during sleep is when the body really kicks into fat stores but only f it needs it. About 500 calories a day is a good caloric deficit to be in to lose weight at a healthy rate which is about 2 pounds a week.", "If your partner loves them, then why get rid of them? It's up to you, though. If you want to wear 'skinny' jeans, then you'll have to get rid of the handles then.... the old fashioned way. Eat a healthy diet, workout and get plenty of cardio. Cardio burns the fat. Drink lots of water while dieting to remove the body of toxins while burning fat.\\n\\nOh, and BTW, you can't target one area of the body for fat loss. When you lose fat, you lose it all over.", "contrary to popular belief, you cant just target a specific area when losing fat. You must reduce your body fat percentage in your ENTIRE body and eventually the belly fat will go too. \\n\\nThe best way to lose fat is simple - exercise. If possible, do some cardio first thing in the morning before eating any full meals. This burns the maximum amount of fat. Since your body has not had any food for the last 7-10 hours, it burns the fat in your body for energy. If not, then cardio and a little weight lifting anytime of the day will do. It is important to build some muscle since it will aid in your fat loss. The more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism.\\n\\nAlso, try eating small meals more frequently as opposed to the big 3 (breakfast, lunch, dinner). try to eat a small meal every 3 hours. The reason for this is that your body burns more calories since it is constantly digesting something in your stomach and will raise your metabolism. It is also useful to eat small meals because your stomach will not be stuffed and will always have a smaller look. If you are afraid of doing this because you might end up eating more, try this: when you are about to eat lunch, separate everything on your plate into 2. eat half and leave the other half to be eaten 3 hours later. do the same with dinner.\\n\\nlastly, losing weight is just simple math. If your calories taken in is more than when you use up (exercise, daily activities, metabolism, etc) then you gain weight. If it is less, then you lose weight. If you are really determined to lose weight then i suggest you start counting how much calorries you consume a day and cut it by 300-500 each week until you notice some results.\\n\\nif you are really serious, avoid eating foods high in sugar without any real nutritional value (chocolate, cakes, doughnuts, ice cream, all desserts) and foods way up there in the calorie scale (pizza, fried anything, etc). Foods which are very sweet like the ones mentioned above contain a lot of simple sugars which do nothing but make you fatter. What you want to be eating are complex carbs (wheat bread, oatmeal), foods high in protein (tuna, beef, chicken breast, etc), vegetables and fruits as these foods have the most nutritional value and will help in your fat loss. dont over eat with these foods only because they have good nutritional value. remember as long as you have a caloric surplus, you WILL gain weight, no matter how healthy you eat\\n\\nby doing all of the above, you will be able to achieve a lean body with a good body fat percentage. This will ensure that your stomach is flat and hard. However, if you want abs (im assuming that you do) you will have to train them hard. There are quite a number of exercises for the abs on this page http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercise... like the different variations of crunches and oblique exercises to get you started.\\n\\none more thing. losing a few lbs (2-3) a week is optimal as losing more (5-10lbs) a week would lead to a drastic loss of muscle mass and would only produce a smaller, not necessary thinner, version of yourself. losing that much weight can also be decieving as most of it will be from water and muscle, not much from fat. It will only be a matter of time before you cannot take the starvation any longer and you will eat everything in sight. you need to change your eating habbits and drop your calories gradually as opposed to a sharp drop.", "way too much to lose in a month! Eat in moderation, exercise, limit fat and calories. You could lose up to 2 pounds a week and it would still be considered a healthy weight loss. Join a weight loss club such as Weight Watchers and talk to your doctor about losing weight.", "The US Army is actually making the transition from the M-16 to the M-4 which is a variation of the M-16. Both rifles are produced by Colt Manufacturing and Fabrique Nationale Manufacturing Inc.", "is this wat ur lookin 4? \\nTimbaland feat. Magoo and Fat Man Scoop Lyrics Drop Lyrics", "Your problem may be with your stomach. Do you get heartburn or sour stomach? Do you have diabetes? You may have acid reflux disease, or you might be burning fat and be acidotic. If brushing and flossing don't work, talk to your doctor. I don't recommend using mouthwash, as that can damage the inside of your mouth and cause further mouth odor.", "if your friends say you're not fat then you are probably not. When they say look at me, why don't you actually look at them to see if you are fat. I have friends who are REALLY thin and think they're fat and I get really annoyed with them cos I try to lose weight with no luck and they're saying they're fat and they're like 3 or 4 clothes sizes smaller than me. You are only 11 so you might get a bit of puppy fat but it is not unhealthy. As long as you eat right and exercise then you should be ok. You don't need to pay loads of money to play sports to keep fit. Do things like walk to school if you can. Go for a jog around your neighbourhood or something.", "I went on a low calorie diet and lost weight pretty quickly. I am 5'4'' and went on a 1000 calorie a day diet. You're not supposed to go below 1200 calories, but I ate enough, just low calorie stuff. The calories, not the fat content, are what's important when trying to lose weight. It gets easier to eat less, too, once you get used to it and your stomach shrinks a little bit. I'm down to 118 from 125. It worked.", "wen ur nervous or anxious and ur stomach feels funny because all this worrying or happiness [basically all yr emotions ur feeling at that moment] are all jumbled up. or at least thats wat i think =]", "Since egg yolk and egg white is nutrients for developing a chick, there is no way it can help you lose weight. Egg white is rich in protein and egg yolk is rich in nutrients such as fat, carbohydrates etc. Taking in too much will NOT help you lose weight. Instead it will raise your Cholestrol level and your weight!", "if your reason for wanting to lose weight in 2 weeks is for the beach and after that you dont care about how you look then skip the part enclosed in the dotted lines.\\n\\n----------------------------------------------------------\\n\\nThe best way to lose fat is simple - exercise. If possible, do some cardio first thing in the morning before eating any full meals. This burns the maximum amount of fat. Since your body has not had any food for the last 7-10 hours, it burns the fat in your body for energy. If not, then cardio and a little weight lifting anytime of the day will do. It is important to build some muscle since it will aid in your fat loss. The more muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism.\\n\\nAlso, try eating small meals more frequently as opposed to the big 3 (breakfast, lunch, dinner). try to eat a small meal every 3 hours. The reason for this is that your body burns more calories since it is constantly digesting something in your stomach and will raise your metabolism. It is also useful to eat small meals because your stomach will not be stuffed and will always have a smaller look. If you are afraid of doing this because you might end up eating more, try this: when you are about to eat lunch, separate everything on your plate into 2. eat half and leave the other half to be eaten 3 hours later. do the same with dinner.\\n\\nlastly, losing weight is just simple math. If your calories taken in is more than when you use up (exercise, daily activities, metabolism, etc) then you gain weight. If it is less, then you lose weight. If you are really determined to lose weight then i suggest you start counting how much calorries you consume a day and cut it by 300-500 each week until you notice some results.\\n\\nif you are really serious, avoid eating foods high in sugar without any real nutritional value (chocolate, cakes, doughnuts, ice cream, all desserts) and foods way up there in the calorie scale (pizza, fried anything, etc). Foods which are very sweet like the ones mentioned above contain a lot of simple sugars which do nothing but make you fatter. What you want to be eating are complex carbs (wheat bread, oatmeal), foods high in protein (tuna, beef, chicken breast, etc), vegetables and fruits as these foods have the most nutritional value and will help in your fat loss. dont over eat with these foods only because they have good nutritional value. remember as long as you have a caloric surplus, you WILL gain weight, no matter how healthy you eat\\n\\nby doing all of the above, you will be able to achieve a lean body with a good body fat percentage. This will ensure that your stomach is flat and hard. However, if you want abs (im assuming that you do) you will have to train them hard. There are quite a number of exercises for the abs on this page http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercise... like the different variations of crunches and oblique exercises to get you started.\\n\\none more thing. losing a few lbs (2-3) a week is optimal as losing more (5-10lbs) a week would lead to a drastic loss of muscle mass and would only produce a smaller, not necessary thinner, version of yourself. losing that much weight can also be decieving as most of it will be from water and muscle, not much from fat. It will only be a matter of time before you cannot take the starvation any longer and you will eat everything in sight. you need to change your eating habbits and drop your calories gradually as opposed to a sharp drop. \\n---------------------------------------------\\n\\nin the short term, the best way to lose those extra pounds is still exercise and diet. however, do not expect to lose a lot of weight in a healthy manner. to lose 5lbs in 2 weeks is safely achieveable. 10lbs is pushing it. if you do a crash diet what you will lose waterweight and muscle mass which isnt a good thing.", "do you mean stomach stapling. why would you staple your ear to lose weight?", "your disgusting how aboput you go screww your self i hope she would kick you in your stomach just because she is hideously fat to you doesnt mean she is to everyone else", "Since breast tissue is composed of mainly adipose tissue (fat), you will want to follow a plan to reduce your overall body fat levels. When you lose body fat, it will come off from all over your body including your breast tissue. Many women actually see most of the initial fat reduction in the breast region, so its a matter of following the right plan to lose this unwanted body fat." ]

[ "Abstract The buckling loads are, in general, those for which ¦ K ¦ = 0, where K is the stiffness matrix. In this case, K is a transcendental function of the buckling load λ. The Wittrick and Williams' algorithm consists of finding how many buckling loads have been exceeded at each iteration. Coupled with the bisection method, this algorithm is infallible, but sometimes the convergence rate is slow. To accelerate the convergence, a new method for computing the buckling loads is presented. This method can be considered as an improvement on the bisection method of Wittrick and Williams' algorithm. An exact geometric matrix which is a function of the buckling load λ is derived. The stiffness and geometric matrices are used to perform a linearized eigenproblem combined with the Wittrick and Williams method." ]

[ "Proposed a simple and effective shot boundary detection method based on HSV space, this paper comprehensive consideration of the whole image pixel video frame and the local color histogram feature. First, it operates the whole pixel map for exacting the effective foreground movement area, and then exacting the color histogram in the region, finally, the sliding window around the current frame is adopted to compute the between-class distance and within-class distance of the color histogram, constructing effective color features of the distance criterion for shot boundary detection. Experimental results show a better detectability of the cut transition and gradual transition.", "FIELD: information technology. SUBSTANCE: server computer has memory; a processor, user space in memory, which includes an abstraction module for controlling bandwidth consumption by limiting frame transfer rate based on client functionality and type of 3D graphics application. The memory and processor receive information on loss of a device associated with user space and, upon receiving said information, initiates a procedure for deleting or repeating client connection. EFFECT: high stability of remote operation with graphics applications by controlling frame transfer rate and progressive text rendering. 22 cl, 6 dwg", "formwork formwork for casting a concrete wall, comprising a casing main body (1) with a front shuttering (11) and comprising a support structure (2) hingedly attached to a rear face (12), the structure comprising a support frame (20) and at least two arms (21,22,23,24) rotatably mounted on the rear face (12) and on the frame, each of these two arms having respectively together with the frame, of firstly a first mechanically stable extended position in which the frame of the support structure is spaced from the rear face (12) so as to maintain and stabilize the formwork, and secondly a second retracted position wherein the frame of the support structure is located near the rear side, in particular to facilitate transport of the formwork.", "In music genre classification, most approaches rely on statistical characteristics of low-level features computed on short audio frames. In these methods, it is implicitly considered that frames carry equally relevant information loads and that either individual frames, or distributions thereof, somehow capture the specificities of each genre. In this paper we study the representation space defined by short- term audio features with respect to class boundaries, and compare different processing techniques to partition this space. These partitions are evaluated in terms of accuracy on two genre classification tasks, with several types of classifiers. Experiments show that a randomized and unsupervised partition of the space, used in conjunction with a Markov Model classifier lead to accuracies comparable to the state of the art. We also show that unsupervised partitions of the space tend to create less hubs.", "The paper presents an application of the modified kernel based object tracking to iris tracking. Human perception rules are used for defining a proper feature space for iris that mainly accounts for the fact that eyes represent instinctive visual fixation regions. In addition, a similarity metric that is close to the way human vision compares and perceives the difference between scene components has been employed for finding the exact iris location in subsequent frames. As a result, just one iteration of the mean shift algorithm allows us to get a faithful estimation of iris location in subsequent frames. This property makes the proposed algorithm implementable on mobile devices and useful for real time applications. Experimental results performed on MICHE database show that the proposed method is robust to changes in illumination or scale, iris partial or total occlusion for some subsequent frames, blinks.", "This paper argues that phenomenal or internal metrical spaces are redundant posits. It is shown that we need not posit an internal space-time frame, as the physical space-time suffices to explain geometrical perception, memory and planning. More than the internal space-time frame, the idea of a phenomenal colour space has lent credibility to the idea of internal spaces. It is argued that there is no phenomenal colour space that underlies the various psychophysical colour spaces; it is parasitic upon physical and psychophysical colour spaces. The argumentation is further extended to other sensory spaces and generalised quality spaces.", "The interpretation of user facial expressions is a very useful method for emotional sensing and constitutes an indispensable part of affective HCI designs. This paper proposes an effective system for continuous facial affect recognition from videos. The system operates in a continuous 2D emotional space, characterized by evaluation and activation factors, enabling a wide range of intermediary affective states to be worked with. It makes use, for each video frame, of a classification method able to output the exact location (2D point coordinates) of the still facial image in that space. It also exploits the Kalman filtering technique to control the 2D point movement along the affective space over time and to improve the robustness of the method by predicting its future locations in cases of temporal facial occlusions or inaccurate tracking. The system has been tuned with an extensive universal database and preliminary evaluation results are very encouraging.", "This paper presented an algorithm estimating state of charge of Lithium-ion battery by fractional order unscented Kalman filter. Lithium-ion battery was modeled by fractional order state space model. Then the fractional order state space model was discretized and implemented by unscented Kalman filter. The estimating result indicates the stability and accuracy of this algorithm.", "In this paper, we construct two types of feed-forward neural networks (FNNs) which can approximately interpolate, with arbitrary precision, any set of distinct data in the metric space. Firstly, for analytic activation function, an approximate interpolation FNN is constructed in the metric space, and the approximate error for this network is deduced by using Taylor formula. Secondly, for a bounded sigmoidal activation function, exact interpolation and approximate interpolation FNNs are constructed in the metric space. Also the error between the exact and approximate interpolation FNNs is given.", "This essay presents a practical approach that focuses on three aspects of narrative space. The approach is exemplified with a reading of Janet Frame's \"You Are Now Entering the Human Heart.\" This text is short and thus ideally suited for discussion in class. The reading of Frame's story demonstrates that space is crucial in situating literary meaning in specific cultural contexts.", "The method of the present invention relates to a multi-frame structure operation of the video codec stored specific image. In particular, it relates to a method for copy and save images in specific image or multimedia videophone terminal of compression or decompression process. It provides a way to copy and save specific images while compression or decompression process. Each process using the first and second memory space allocated by the image size, and two alternate memory region as a region of an image and the previous encoding or decoding the current image. Compressed in any (n) frame or decompression process, when issuing a request to copy a specific image, the required image reproduction, an image compression or decompression process prior to the first frame (n + 1) corresponding, stored in the considered a first memory space of the image. Thus, the first process in the third memory space (n + 2) frame compression or decompression process.", "Towards a nasal patient interface for delivering pressurized air or breathable gas supplied to the patient airway delivery inlet, the nasal patient interface comprising: a backing member, the backing member includes a retaining structure and permanently connected to the holding a sealing structure forming structure; may be attached to the frame structure of the holding member; detachably attached to the positioning and stabilizing structure of the frame member; and the frame member mechanically joined to the headband and the magnetic positioning and stabilizing structure folder. Further comprising a frame configured to allow exhaled air exhaust vents and configured to isolate the exhaled air via the vent pressurized air or breathable gas supplied to the separator.", "The authors present a method for improving HMM (hidden Markov model) phonetic discrimination capability which is a linear discriminant transform of acoustic features to a continuous-valued feature space such that phonetic distinctions correlate closely with Euclidean distance in the transformed feature space. Experimental testing with a 30-word single syllable highly confusable vocabulary showed that the acoustic-phonetic transform could be used to reduce word error rates approximately 25%. In general, results based on the LDA2 transform, i.e., linear discriminant analysis with whitening of the within-class covariance matrices, are superior to those obtained with LDA1, linear discriminant analysis without whitening. Recognition results also improve if a block transform of several frames per block is used rather than a transform based on one frame per block. >", "The invention provides a battery pack of an electric vehicle. The battery pack comprises a battery pack installation frame with a structure matching with the inner space of an electric vehicle, multiple battery cells which are combined and are fixed in the battery pack installation frame, a distributed battery controller which is arranged in the battery pack installation frame and is connected to the battery cells, and a connector which is arranged at the outer side of the battery pack installation frame and is connected to a power connection port of the electric vehicle. The battery cells are combined in different ways to form a special-shaped battery pack so that maximized use of an electric vehicle space is realized. The battery pack is conducive to a compact layout design of an electric vehicle and increases an electric vehicle battery pack capacity as large as possible.", "Abstract A method is presented for the evaluation of rapidly oscillatory integrals. The method is a variation of Levin's method, and involves forming a quadrature rule which is exact for a certain set of functions. It is shown that the choice of exact functions and, more importantly, the integration abscissae are crucial to the convergence and numerical stability of the method. The computation of the integration weights is also discussed. Comparisons are made with alternative methods, in particular with Levin's original implementation.", "We describe an algorithm for context-based segmentation of visual data. New frames in an image sequence (video) are segmented based on the prior segmentation of earlier frames in the sequence. The segmentation is performed by adapting a probabilistic model learned on previous frames, according to the content of the new frame. We utilize the maximum a posteriori version of the EM algorithm to segment the new image. The Gaussian mixture distribution that is used to model the current frame is transformed into a conjugate-prior distribution for the parametric model describing the segmentation of the new frame. This semisupervised method improves the segmentation quality and consistency and enables a propagation of segments along the segmented images. The performance of the proposed approach is illustrated on both simulated and real image data.", "In this paper, we present a novel intra-rate estimation method for H.264 rate control. The proposed method establishes the intra-frame rate-quantization (R-Q) estimation model by using gradient-based picture complexity measure. The proposed model aims at selecting accurate quantization parameters for intra-coded frames which can fully comply with buffer constraints. By adaptively updating this R-Q model, the performance of the model can be guaranteed regardless of the changing of video frame characteristics. Simulation results show that by using our proposed scheme, better rate control for intra-frames and frames at scene changes can be achieved. As a result, the number of skipped frames is significantly reduced thus it provides improved visual quality of the reconstructed pictures.", "We propose a new method, where the likelihood normalization technique is applied at both the frame and utterance levels. In this method based on Gaussian mixture models (GMM), every frame of the test utterance is inputed to the claimed and all background speaker models in parallel. In this procedure, for each frame, likelihoods from all the background models are available, hence they can be used for normalization of the claimed speaker likelihood at every frame. A special kind of likelihood normalization, called weighting models rank, is also proposed. We have evaluated our method using two databases-TIMIT and NTT. Results show that the combination of frame and utterance level likelihood normalization in some cases reduces the equal error rate (EER) more than twice." ]

[ "In Tallahassee, Florida's Legislature has one overriding goal this session: to close a $4.5 billion budget shortfall. And one of the key programs it is targeting for cuts is Medicaid. In Florida and every other state, the program, which provides health insurance for the needy, makes up a big chunk of the annual budget. In reforming the program, Florida hopes to save $1 billion in what it spends on Medicaid. When he introduced a plan recently to overhaul Medicaid, the head of Florida's Senate, Republican Mike Haridopolos, said that his first two goals were improving the quality of care and improving the access to care. \"Then and only then,\" he said, \"we start looking at costs.\" But in fact, there is really one thing driving elected officials in Florida and elsewhere to take a hard look at Medicaid — and that's the price tag. Ten years ago in Florida, Medicaid cost $9 billion. By last year, it had risen to more than $22 billion. More than half of that cost is picked up by the federal government. Even so, Florida's share still amounts to nearly one-third of the state's budget. Using Contracts To Cap Costs To bring down that cost, Florida's Legislature is planning to dramatically revamp the way the state delivers health care to those on Medicaid. State Sen. Joe Negron has put together a plan that changes the state's relationship with Medicaid recipients and Medicaid health care providers. \"We want to get out of the check-writing business and into the contract-compliance business,\" he says. Negron wants to scrap the old fee-for-service model and replace it with managed care. He proposes negotiating contracts with health care providers, which would agree to deliver care to the state's 3 million Medicaid recipients for a predetermined fee. Negron says it would give the Legislature a way to effectively cap what it spends each year on Medicaid. \"We're going to decide how much we want to spend on Medicaid,\" he says. Of the state agencies charged with overseeing the program, he says, \"They do not have the authority to spend beyond what we appropriate.\" From a budgeting standpoint, it's an attractive idea. It passes off the responsibility for controlling costs, and the risk of busting the health care budget, to private contractors. But it also means that Medicaid recipients may start seeing fewer benefits. At a time of tight budgets, Republican State Sen. Steve Oelrich said that Florida has few options. \"Like the triage nurse separates the sore throat from the stroke and the heart attack,\" he says, \"what we've had to do here is take our limited resources, and apply them where they're most effective.\" Republicans control the governor's mansion and both chambers of the state Legislature, so it's clear some version of Medicaid reform is likely to pass. That doesn't mean Democrats are going along quietly. Poor Reviews For Managed Care Experiment At a recent workshop in Hollywood, Democratic State Rep. Joe Gibbons said he was tired of hearing the Republican refrain that balancing the state budget is like balancing the family checkbook. Gibbons says that the analogy doesn't justify cutting health care for many who desperately need it. He said, \"If my family checkbook at home is short, you know what I do? I get a second job. I don't just eat three days instead of seven. ... What they're telling us we got to do is, you got to eat three days.\" It will be weeks until the Legislature finalizes its plans to overhaul Medicaid. But for many Republicans, the future can be found in Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and other communities in Broward County. For the past five years, nearly all Medicaid recipients in the county have been part of a pilot program that puts them in privately run managed care plans. Many in the Legislature now want to expand that program statewide. At the workshop in Hollywood, a succession of doctors, care providers, advocates and Medicaid patients all had the same message: Managed care has been a disaster. Richard Stein, a retired lifeguard, came to speak on behalf of a friend, Cynthia Bowersox, who, he said, has had four HMO plans in four years. Stein said Bowersox is homeless and was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. \"It has taken four months to get a biopsy on a throat cancer,\" he said, \"due to the impediments placed by the HMOs for authorizations.\" A Push For Managed Care Moving more Medicaid recipients into managed care is something that's been happening not just in Florida, but in almost every state in the country. In Broward County, critics say the experiment with privately run managed care often reduces access and benefits for those on Medicaid. Those charges will be considered by the Obama administration when it looks at whatever new Medicaid plan Florida comes up with. If the administration doesn't approve, some Republicans in the Legislature say Florida should drop out of Medicaid. They say the state would then provide care for some 3 million of its poorest residents with whatever" ]

[ "With less than a dozen days left in power, the Trump administration on Friday approved a radically different Medicaid financing system in Tennessee. With this move, the federal government is for the first time granting a state broader authority in the operation of its health insurance program for the poor without interference from Washington, allowing Tennessee to make decisions on such issues as whether to add new benefits or eligibility categories or spend Medicaid dollars outside of health care, if it thinks that would help enrollees. Instead of the open-ended federal contribution to the funding of Medicaid in all other states — which increases with higher enrollment and associated health costs — Tennessee will instead get a capped amount of money, via an annual block grant. The annual funding cap will increase if enrollment grows. What's different is that, unlike with other states, Medicaid funding to Tennessee won't automatically keep up with rising expenses. The approval is a 10-year \"experiment,\" according to Friday's announcement by Seema Verma, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The approach has been pushed for decades by conservatives who say states too often chafe under strict federal guidelines about enrollment and coverage. They think they can find ways to provide care more efficiently, she says. But Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center sees the move as a step backward for the state's Medicaid program. \"No other state has sought a block grant, and for good reason,\" Johnson says. \"It gives state officials a blank check and creates financial incentives to cut health care to vulnerable families.\" Tennessee is one of 12 states that have not approved expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act – a decision that's left tens of thousands of working adults in Tennessee without health insurance. Whether this change in the way Tennessee's Medicaid program is funded will stick is an open question. The incoming Biden administration is likely to oppose the move, but to unravel it, officials would need to set up a review that includes a public hearing. Implementing such a fundamental change via an executive branch action rather than getting Congress to amend Medicaid law is also likely to be met with court challenges. In any event, the changes to the state's program will take months to implement because the shift in policy requires final approval by the legislature, and officials in Tennessee must also negotiate quality of care targets with the administration. TennCare, the state's Medicaid program, says the new system would give it unprecedented flexibility to decide who is covered and what services it will pay for. Under the agreement, TennCare will have a specified annual spending cap, to be based on historical spending, inflation and predicted future enrollment changes. If the state can operate the program at a lower cost than the cap and maintain or improve quality, the state then shares in the savings. Trump administration officials say the approach adds incentive for the state to save money, unlike the current system, in which increased state spending is matched with more federal dollars. If Medicaid enrollment grows, the state can secure additional federal funding. If enrollment drops, it will get less money. \"This groundbreaking waiver puts guardrails in place to ensure appropriate oversight and protections for beneficiaries, while also creating incentives for states to manage costs — while holding them accountable for improving access, quality and health outcomes,\" Verma said. \"It's no exaggeration to say that this carefully crafted demonstration could be a national model moving forward.\" The agreement is somewhat different from traditional block grants championed by conservatives, the CMS notes, since it allows Tennessee to get more federal funding as enrollment grows. And while the state is given flexibility to increase benefits, it can't on its own cut benefits. However, opponents — including most advocates for low-income Americans — say the approach will threaten care for the 1.4 million people in TennCare — a group that includes children, pregnant women and the disabled. Federal funding covers two-thirds of the cost of the program. Democrats have fought back against block grant Medicaid proposals since the Reagan administration and most recently in 2018 as part of Republicans' failed effort to repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act. Even some key Republicans opposed the idea because it would cut billions in funding to states, and that would make it harder to help the poor. The approval of Tennessee's request comes as Medicaid enrollment is at its highest-ever level. More than 76 million Americans are covered by the state-federal health program — a million more than when the Trump administration took charge in 2017. Enrollment has jumped by more than 5 million in the past year as the economy slumped wit", "Florida Gov. Rick Scott paid a high-stakes visit to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, in hopes of persuading the Obama administration to continue a program that sends more than $1 billion in federal funds to Florida each year to help reimburse hospitals for the costs of caring for the state's poor. Uncertainty about the future of the program, slated to end June 30, has created a hole in the state budget and paralyzed Florida's legislature. \"We had a good conversation ... but we don't have a resolution,\" the Republican governor told reporters after an hour-long, private meeting with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell. Burwell's office issued a written statement after the talks, saying that Florida's request \"falls short of the key principles HHS will use in considering proposals regarding uncompensated care pool programs.\" Gov. Scott contends that a letter HHS sent to Florida last month linked the expiration of the fund for hospitals with Florida's refusal to exercise its option to expand health insurance coverage through Medicaid. Scott filed a suit against HHS last week, alleging that the federal government is trying to coerce the state into expanding Medicaid. The governors of Texas and Kansas, which receive similar funding to help their hospitals, have said they support Florida's lawsuit. But after meeting with Scott, Burwell insisted that \"whether a state receives federal funding for an uncompensated care pool is not dependent on whether it expands Medicaid.\" Whether to expand Medicaid, or not is \"a state decision,\" she reaffirmed. That seemed to leave open the question of whether some funding might still be available for the hospital program — albeit at a lower level — if a state does not expand. Scott said he needs an immediate answer from HHS on how much money, if any, the administration might provide, so that he and Florida's legislature can complete their budget deliberations. \"We need our answer right now,\" he said. Burwell indicated Scott might have to wait a while longer. \"HHS heard the Governor's request for a timely response to help the state meet its budget timeline,\" her office said in the written remarks. \"HHS believes completion of the public comment period, on-going discussions with the state, and the state's submission of its proposal to CMS are the next steps in the process.\" The 30-day comment period has about two weeks remaining. Florida is one of 21 states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. That left about 800,000 Floridians without health insurance. Burwell has said HHS prefers that the state expand health care coverage via Medicaid, rather than continue full federal funding of the low-income pool that subsidizes hospitals. The bitter dispute over Medicaid expansion between the Republicans who control Florida's House and the Republicans who control the state's Senate led the Florida legislature to adjourn last week without passing a state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Lawmakers are expected to return to Tallahassee in June to resume budget deliberations. Florida's House has adamantly opposed expanding Medicaid, with House Speaker Steve Crisafulli last week calling it \"a broken system, with poor health outcomes, high inflation ... federal strings, and no incentive for personal responsibility for those who are able to provide for themselves.\" But on Wednesday, Scott had good things to say about how well Medicaid was working in Florida. In the past two years, the state has turned over most of the Medicaid program's operations to private Medicaid health plans. \"We now have a program that works,\" Scott said. \"We know what it's going to cost us. We have insurance companies responsible for taking care of Medicaid recipients, and we have Medicaid recipients who know who is responsible for their care. ... And we now have a budget surplus.\" Nonetheless, Scott said he doesn't trust the federal government's promise to fund Medicaid expansion under the health law; he fears the state will be on the hook to pick up too much of the cost. The federal government is paying all the costs through 2016, and then is to pay at least 90 percent of the costs. A year ago, federal officials warned Florida leaders that the low-income pool that subsidizes hospitals would end this year, but Scott included the money in his proposed state budget anyway.", "Can for-profit health insurance companies be trusted to take care of the nation's sickest and most expensive patients? Many states, under an initiative supported by the Obama administration, are planning to let the companies manage health care for those elderly and disabled people covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. Patient advocates have warned that private health insurance companies are ill-equipped to provide the complex medical care and at-home services many of these people need to survive. It turns out that Arizona, a state that has been known to resist federal health programs, has been doing just that for many years. In Apache Junction, east of Phoenix, a sparsely filled nursing home stands as a stunning achievement for Arizona's public health insurance program. Only half of the rooms are filled, and the men and women who live here — too disabled in mind or body to return home — seem surely in their last days. \"These are folks that have chronic cognitive and/or physical disabilities that in most cases are not going to improve,\" says George Jacobson, the nursing home administrator. That sets Arizona apart. Of those Arizonans covered by Medicare and Medicaid and deemed sick, frail or disabled enough to live in a nursing home, only 27 percent of them do. The rest live in assisted living facilities or at home. Joseph Ford sits in his well-worn easy chair in the living room of his suburban Phoenix home. He's 42 and disabled from a car accident. His attendant has just arrived and makes her way into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Later, she'll change the sheets on Ford's hospital bed. It's pushed against the wall in the entryway where he sleeps every night, since Ford can't make it up the stairs. His house is busy today: Dave Oxford, the case manager from his health insurance company, is here too. \"All right, Joseph,\" Oxford says. \"So you have not had any recent medication changes. I have listed here that you're on Lyrica at 100 milligrams, is that correct?\" Oxford works for Mercy Care, a subsidiary of the insurance giant Aetna, which is paid with public dollars from Medicare and Medicaid. He visits his clients in their homes every three months to monitor their conditions and assess their needs. Do they need a new wheelchair? A bar installed in the bathroom? Help with groceries? \"The care doesn't end at the home visit,\" Oxford says. \"If there's a need that arises between the quarterly visits, then we ensure that's taken care of. And I think that's a big part of how we maintain people in their home, as opposed to in a nursing home.\" The health plans that compete for Arizona's combined Medicare-Medicaid patients receive a fixed monthly fee. The companies are then expected to cover all of a patient's needs. Critics have long argued the incentives for companies to keep the cash and withhold care are too great — the potential profits too tempting. And they point to the scandal-filled 1990s when some HMOs kept costs down by denying treatment. Today in Arizona, though, patients like Joseph Ford and advocacy groups say the health plan case managers are less like Grim Reapers and more like guardian angels. \"Dave is cool,\" Joseph tells me. \"He's in my cellphone.\" \"I appreciate somebody on the other side not only looking out for my well-being, and not just looking at me as a number on a paper,\" he says. Ford is a number on a paper, of course. A big number. Nine million people nationwide are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, and their care costs some $300 billion a year. Arizona though, unlike other states, has long paid private health plans to manage care for public beneficiaries, and that has saved a lot of money. Arizonans in nursing homes cost the state $5,400 a month for custodial care. If kept in their homes, the cost is $1,400. But Arizona's fervent belief in the free market — having those private companies run public benefits — doesn't mean it's the Wild West. Insurance executives, hospital and provider groups, and advocates say state regulators are vigilant and quickly rebuke plans that don't meet their strict standards. \"There are a number of different metrics we look at on a very regular basis, that look at access to care,\" says Tom Betlach, who oversees Arizona's Medicaid agency. \"Are the members getting the access to care that they need? Making sure there aren't any gaps in the system. We're looking at the quality measures to make sure that they're meeting the standards within the contract.\" Arizona's system appears to be working. Arizonans eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare enrolled under one managed care plan were far less likely to be hospitalized or put in nursing homes than those in traditional fee-for-service plans. They used the emergency department less frequently, too. When they did end up in the hospital, they spent far fewer days there and were readmitted less often. There's widespread consensus that Arizona's model works because it pays higher Medicaid rates than most other states", "Is Medicaid the best health care possible? A lot of people who use it seem to think so. A new study released by Harvard's Chan School of Public Health shows that people enrolled in Medicaid are overwhelmingly satisfied with their coverage and care. The researchers looked at survey data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from more than 270,000 people who were enrolled in Medicaid in 2013. They gave the program an average rating of 7.9 out of 10, where 10 was considered \"the best health care possible.\" Nearly half of the respondents rated Medicaid a 9 or 10. \"If nearly half the people are giving it nearly a perfect score, that's pretty good,\" says Michael Barnett, a researcher in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard's Chan School. \"There aren't a lot of services that we get for anything, government or not, where you'd give it a perfect score.\" The study, published as a research letter in the July 10 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, also shows that 84 percent of Medicaid recipients felt they were able to get all the medical care they needed in the last six months. Only 3 percent said they could not get care because of long wait times or because doctors would not accept their insurance. The results applied across the board to those in traditional Medicaid, Medicaid managed care plans and among the elderly and disabled. The study did not include people who got Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act expansion or people in nursing homes. The survey results come just as Republicans in the Senate are debating a complete overhaul of the Medicaid program, and they counter some of the major arguments for those changes. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has championed the Medicaid overhaul, often argues that many doctors refuse to accept Medicaid patients. \"I mean, what good is your coverage if you can't get a doctor?\" he asked in a presentation to reporters in March. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price made a similar argument in testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee last month. \"One-third of doctors in America do not accept new Medicaid patients,\" he told the committee. His office didn't respond to a request for comment on the new study. Barnett, the study's author, says the new data is the first that shows what Medicaid users think of the program. \"Part of what motivated this study is that there is a lot of rhetoric and what we would call misinformation around 'What does Medicaid do, how effective is it, and how satisfied are enrollees with their coverage?'\" he says. \"This is the survey that really provides the most reliable large scale information that we have to date, [with] over 270,000 enrollees, and they're largely satisfied.\" The bill being considered by the Senate would slowly roll back the expansion of Medicaid benefits to many poor, non-disabled adults, that happened as part of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. And it would change Medicaid from an open-ended program that pays for all the care beneficiaries need, to one that offers states a set amount of money each year based on the number of people who qualify for Medicaid in that state. The analysis issued by the Congressional Budget Office last month estimates spending on Medicaid would be $770 billion less over ten years under the Senate bill than under current law and that 15 million people would lose Medicaid coverage by 2026. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: One reason Republican senators have had a hard time getting support for their health care bill is that it dramatically cuts Medicaid. Medicaid covers health care for the poor and disabled. Republicans argue it's not quality care. But a new survey from Harvard's Chan School of Public Health shows that the people who actually use Medicaid are overwhelmingly happy with it. NPR's Alison Kodjak reports. ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE: To hear Republicans in Congress tell it, Medicaid is broken. It's too expensive. It's too complicated. Here's House Speaker Paul Ryan in March arguing the federal government has made the program too complex. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PAUL RYAN: More and more doctors just don't take Medicaid. I mean what good is your coverage if you can't get a doctor? And that is a huge growing problem with Medicaid. KODJAK: Medicaid patients tell a different story. The overwhelming majority in the survey said they've been able to get all the care they need. Only 3 percent said they couldn't get care because of a long wait list or because they couldn't find a doctor who would take their insurance. Michael Barnett is the lead author of the study. MICHAEL BARNETT: Part of what motivated this study is that there is a lot of rhetoric and what we think is misinformation around, what does Medicaid do? How effective is it? And how satisfied are enrollees with their coverage? KODJAK: The study is based on a huge trove of data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs Medicaid. BARNETT: This is a ", "The Republican-controlled Florida legislature — at odds over the question of whether to expand Medicaid — abruptly ended its session three days early on Tuesday, leaving hundreds of bills that are unrelated to health care unfinished. Andy Gardiner, president of Florida's state Senate, says he's disappointed with the House's decision to stop negotiating and leave town. \"The House didn't win, the Senate didn't win and the taxpayers lost,\" Gardiner says. \"There are a lot of issues that aren't going to make it, and it's unfortunate.\" But Steve Crisafulli, speaker of the Florida House, says it was the right thing to do. \"We've made every effort we can to negotiate with the Senate on a budget,\" he says, \"and at this time they're standing strong on Medicaid expansion.\" Shortly after the adjournment, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, filed a lawsuit against the federal government over health care funding — a move that was promptly derided by the leadership of the state Senate. \"I don't think it changes anything,\" says the chairman of Florida's Senate appropriations committee, Tom Lee. \"Once he announced he was going to file a lawsuit against the federal government, I think everyone sort of shut down and lawyered up, and all that sort of thing.\" Here's a brief overview of the fight: The Republican-led state House is firmly against Medicaid expansion, while the Republican-led state Senate supports it. Scott once supported expansion but is now against it. And the federal government raised the stakes of the battle by refusing to negotiate on the renewal of a $2 billion fund called the Low Income Pool, which reimburses hospitals for unpaid bills. \"The pool money was about helping low-income people have access [to health care],\" U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell told northern Florida's WFSU in January. \"I think we believe an important way to extend that coverage to low-income individuals is what passed in the Affordable Care Act ... this issue of Medicaid expansion.\" The governor's lawsuit over the low income pool accuses the federal government of trying to coerce the state — requiring Florida to expand Medicaid or lose $2 billion. That sort of pressure was expressly forbidden by the U.S. Supreme Court, Scott says, when it upheld the federal health law in 2012. House appropriations chief Richard Corcoran recently delivered a 20-minute anti-Medicaid speech to fellow lawmakers that underscored his side's determination to block the expansion. \"Here's my message to the Senate,\" he said. \"They want us to come to the dance? We're not dancing. We're not dancing this session. We're not dancing next session. We're not dancing next summer — we're not dancing. And if you want to blow up the process because you think you have some right that doesn't exist? Have at it.\" Now, the central task that state law requires of the legislature — to pass a budget— remains incomplete. Scott tried this week to pressure the legislature to the bargaining table to craft a budget. He threatened to veto Senate priorities, but the Senate remained unmoved. Scott has said he will call the legislature back for a special session to complete the budget. This story is part of NPR's partnership with WFSU and Kaiser Health News.", "Health insurance wasn't available through his job, so Jose Nuñez turned to Medicaid, the nation's public insurance program that assists 75 million low-income Americans. Like most people on Medicaid, the Los Angeles trucker was assigned to a private insurance company that coordinated his medical visits and treatment in exchange for receiving a set fee per month — an arrangement known as managed care. But in 2016, when Nuñez's retina became damaged from diabetes, the country's largest Medicaid insurer — Centene — let him down, he says. After months of denials, delays and erroneous referrals, he is claiming in a lawsuit, the 62-year-old was left nearly blind in one eye. As a result, he lost his driver's license and his livelihood. \"They betrayed my trust,\" Nuñez says, sitting at his kitchen table with his thick forearms folded across his chest. The current political debate over Medicaid has centered on the idea of putting patients to work so they can earn their government benefits. Yet some experts say the country would be better served by asking this question instead: Are insurance companies — which receive hundreds of billions in public money — earning their Medicaid checks? More than two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are enrolled in such programs, a type of public-private arrangement that has grown rapidly since 2014, boosted by the influx of new beneficiaries under the Affordable Care Act. States have eagerly tapped into the services of insurers as one way to cope with the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA, which has added 12 million people to the rolls. This fall, voters in three more states may pass ballot measures backing expansion. Outsourcing this public program to insurers has become the preferred method for running Medicaid in 38 states. Yet the evidence is thin that these contractors improve patient care or save government money. When auditors, lawmakers and regulators bother to look, many conclude that Medicaid insurers fail to account for the dollars spent, deliver necessary care or provide access to a sufficient number of doctors. Oversight is sorely lacking and lawmakers in a number of states have raised alarms even as they continue to shell out money. \"We haven't been holding plans to the level of scrutiny they need,\" said Dr. Andrew Bindman, former director of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and now a professor at the University of California, San Francisco. \"This system is ripe for profit-taking, and there is virtually no penalty for performing badly.\" In return for their fixed fees, the private insurers dole out treatment within a limited network, in theory allowing for more judicious, cheaper care. States contract with health plans as a way to lock in some predictability in their annual budgets. More than 54 million Medicaid recipients are now covered by managed care plans, up from fewer than 20 million people in 2000. (In traditional Medicaid, states pay doctors and hospitals directly for each visit or procedure — an approach that many researchers say can encourage unnecessary or excessive treatment.) Already, states funnel nearly $300 billion annually to Medicaid insurers. That's up from $60 billion a decade ago. Today's spending is approaching what the Pentagon awards annually to military contractors. Medicaid is good for business: The stock price of Nuñez's insurer, Centene, has soared 400 percent since the ACA expanded Medicaid eligibility. The company's chief executive took in $25 million last year, the highest pay for any CEO in the health insurance industry. In California, the largest Medicaid managed care market with nearly 11 million enrollees, Centene and other insurers made $5.4 billion in profits from 2014 to 2016, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis. Plans get to keep what they don't spend. That means profits can flow from greater efficiency — or from skimping on care and taking in excess government payments. \"States are just giving insurers the keys to the car and a gas card,\" says Dave Mosley, a managing director at Navigant Consulting and former finance director at the North Carolina Medicaid program. \"Most states haven't pressed insurers for the information needed to determine if there's any return on their investment.\" Two of California's most profitable insurers, Centene and Anthem, ran some of California's worst-performing Medicaid plans, according to state quality scores and complaints in government records. California officials have been clawing back billions of dollars from health plans after the fact. For nearly two decades, federal officials have tried building a national Medicaid database that would track medical care and spending across states and insurers. It's still unfinished, hampered by differing reporting methods in the states and refusals by some health plans to turn over data they deem trade secrets. In July, a federal inspector general's report accused Medicaid insurers of intentionally ignoring fraud and overpayments to ", "This week, as senators have decamped from Washington for the Fourth of July recess, the future of the Senate's Affordable Care Act replacement plan — and by extension, Medicaid — remains uncertain. Just days before the recess, a report from the Urban Institute, a public policy think tank, detailed big increases in Medicaid spending on opioid addiction treatment under the Affordable Care Act. It's a trend that could be reversed if the Senate's plan passes. The increase in spending parallels the national increase in opioid-related deaths. The New York Times estimates that drug overdose deaths in 2016 likely topped 59,000. Faced with mounting fatalities and more dangerous and potent synthetic opioids, emergency departments, local governments and laypeople have stocked up on naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose. The Urban Institute estimates Medicaid spending on that drug alone increased more than 90,000 percent in five years. The report also tracks Medicaid spending on two medications used to treat opioid addiction, buprenorphine and naltrexone. Together with naloxone, spending on the drugs increased 136 percent nationwide between 2011 and 2016, but with great variability among the states. In seven states, spending rose more than 400 percent. The authors of the report draw a parallel between the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion and spending on addiction medications, saying it has brought addiction treatment to previously underserved populations. \"What we saw was this gigantic, rapid, ongoing expansion in treatment,\" says co-author Lisa Clemans-Cope. \"It was particularly fast after 2014 when the big Medicaid expansion came into play. There's definitely an effect of people getting access to treatment. That's the primary driver of growth of spending.\" The Senate health bill would place a cap on federal Medicaid dollars and gradually phase out the Medicaid expansion. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would result in 15 million fewer people enrolled in Medicaid than under current law. As an olive branch to opioid-ravaged states, lawmakers have talked about giving states $45 billion to spend on opioid treatment over 10 years, most likely in the form of grant money. The original Senate bill offered just $2 billion for states to use in 2018. Clemans-Cope says none of that would make up for the projected losses in Medicaid spending. \"Either the $2 billion or the $45 billion that have been bounced around are really nothing compared to the treatment needed,\" she says. \"When you look at rapid expansion in spending, it's hard to tell at what point the need would be satisfied.\" Even with the additional opioid money attached, two Republican senators from states particularly hard-hit by the opioid crisis — Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of Ohio — have yet to back the bill, saying cuts to Medicaid are too high. \"I continue to have real concerns about the Medicaid policies in this bill, especially those that impact drug treatment at a time when Ohio is facing an opioid epidemic,\" Portman said in a news release. Medicaid's role in fighting the addiction epidemic has caused other prominent Republicans to question the Senate health care bill, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich. He told ABC's Martha Raddatz the proposed bill doesn't do enough. \"It's anemic. It's like spitting in the ocean,\" Kasich said. The Urban Institute reports Medicaid spent nearly $1 billion on medications for treatment alone in 2016. And those aren't the only health costs by any means. Harvard health economics professor Richard Frank told NPR the cost of treating opioid addiction could be as high as $180 billion over 10 years, taking into account other forms of treatment and related health care needs. Clemans-Cope notes that for this report, the Urban Institute did not collect prescription data on methadone, another widely used opioid treatment, so Medicaid spending on addiction treatment is actually higher than reported. It also only looked at prescription medication spending and didn't account for dollars used for mental health services or co-morbidities that occur alongside addiction, such as HIV or hepatitis C. The story was produced by Side Effects Public Media, a news collaborative covering public health.", "Buried in the paltry enrollment numbers for the Affordable Care Act that were released last week was something that came as a surprise to many — the success states are having signing people up for the Medicaid program, which provides health care to low-income people. During the first month the health exchanges were open, just over 100,000 people managed to choose a private health plan, according to the report. But nearly four times as many were deemed eligible for Medicaid or actually enrolled in that program or its cousin, the Children's Health Insurance Program. But people who have been working on the Affordable Care Act say that's neither a surprise nor a fair comparison. \"Comparing those numbers today is like comparing apples to baseballs,\" says Joan Alker. She's executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. One major reason for the brisk early enrollment in Medicaid is that many states have made it a point to reach out early to people they assume will be eligible, such as those already getting other benefits like food stamps. The health law opens Medicaid up to everyone earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. That's just over $15,000 for an individual. And some states are making it very easy to sign up. In Arkansas, Alker says, \"the newly eligible received a letter in the mail, and they simply had to sign and return that letter in order to enroll. So does that sound like the exchange enrollment process to you? No, it doesn't.\" Indeed, Oregon has already signed up more than 70,000 people for its expanded Medicaid program, also by soliciting its food stamp enrollees, yet its online health exchange is still not yet up and running. But it's not just states that are expanding their Medicaid programs that have people signing up for Medicaid. States that have refused federal funds to expand their Medicaid coverage (about half of states are expanding and half are not) are seeing more people coming forward, too. Advocates for the program call it the \"welcome mat\" effect. But it's more commonly called the \"woodwork effect.\" \"At any given time, only two out of three people who are eligible for Medicaid are enrolled,\" says Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. \"And so if you have this big expansion with this big media education campaign, a lot of those people who are already eligible will go and enroll in the program.\" Which is why in places like Florida and Texas, states that are not expanding Medicaid, the exchanges have already qualified more than 10,000 new Medicaid enrollees each. In states that are expanding the program, the federal government is footing the entire bill for the first three years for the newly eligible, then gradually phasing down to 90 percent. But Cannon notes that for people who were already eligible, states will have to pay their regular share of Medicaid costs. \"The federal government is paying on average a little more than half of the cost for that; so states are paying a little less than half of the cost,\" Cannon says. He is an opponent of the health care law. Not only will states have to pay more for these newly enrolled people, Cannon says, but putting more people on Medicaid is not necessarily a good thing. He says many have questioned whether it's a very good program at all. \"The access to care and the quality of care in Medicaid is not what it should be, and so there's a big question about health outcomes of Medicaid and how do they compare to private insurance and even not having health insurance,\" he says. But at least some of those questions have been answered in a series of studies done in Oregon. \"It seems clear that there are substantial benefits for low-income adults who enroll in Medicaid relative to being uninsured,\" says Katherine Baicker of the Harvard School of Public Health. She's one of the lead researchers of the studies. Low-income adults on Medicaid had an easier time getting health care, Baicker says. They also used more health care and had far fewer financial problems than those who remained uninsured. \"We saw big drops in depression rates for people who got Medicaid relative to being uninsured,\" Baicker says. People also said their health was better. The studies did not, however, find measurable improvement in several aspects of physical health. All of which means Medicaid and its expansion remain controversial. But one of the goals of the Affordable Care Act was to expand health insurance to millions more people, including through the Medicaid program. It just happens to be the one where enrollment is working at the moment.", "When it comes to worries about high health care costs, having health insurance doesn't necessarily spare you, according to a study recently published in JAMA. Despite the gains in insurance coverage brought by the Affordable Care Act, high health care costs continue to plague many Americans, researchers found. Around 11 million Americans experienced \"catastrophic medical expenses\" in 2017, the last year the study covered — and privately insured people represented more than half of those. \"Catastrophic expenditures\" is a term coined by the World Health Organization that refers to health care spending of more than 40% of a person's income after food and housing costs. During the study period from 2010 to 2017, 6 million people between 20 and 64 years old with private insurance suffered such financial burdens, and their share of the total who reported them went up from 46% to nearly 54%. The study found an overall decrease in catastrophic expenses by 2017 — in particular people on Medicaid saw a decrease — but not among the privately insured. Dr. Charles Liu, one of the study authors, called the results \"surprising.\" Despite gains in health insurance, he said, many Americans may still be vulnerable to unmanageable bills, including high premiums and high out-of-pocket costs. He worries, as a physician, that these costs could discourage people from seeking health care. \"I think this is going to create a new kind of culture of, 'I don't go to the doctor because I don't know what it's going to cost or I'm afraid it'll break the bank,' \" he said. Liu cited two reasons he thinks people with private insurance aren't seeing better financial protection from huge expenses: high-deductible plans and unavoidable trips to out-of-network facilities such as emergency rooms. These situations can leave patients on the hook for high bills. \"A lot of [employer] insurers are offering their employees high-deductible plans because health care is so expensive, and that's the way companies are able to stay afloat,\" Liu said. \"Even if you reach your out-of-pocket max and you don't owe any more than that, that number alone may still represent more than 40% of your take-home income.\" The authors noted that while earlier research had shown benefits of the ACA in helping the lowest income and uninsured groups get health coverage, little was known about its impact on higher earners or people who had private insurance through employers or the individual marketplace. That group includes people still on the low end of the income spectrum who make too much to qualify for Medicaid or government subsidies (aka, tax credits), which were two fundamentals of the ACA. The researchers analyzed income, insurance coverage and spending data from a large sample of American adults. Low-income, privately insured people had the worst results in the analysis, seeing no benefit from the ACA: They had the highest rate of catastrophic health care spending before the law passed in 2010 and continued to have it in 2017: 35% compared with 8% for people on Medicaid. Dr. Martin Gaynor, president of the American Society of Health Economists, noted that Americans with private, employer-based health care have long been \"bearing the burden\" of higher health care costs when employers find themselves paying higher premiums for reduced benefits, and paying lower wages to their employees as a result. \"Some economists feel that higher health care costs are the primary reason for stagnating wages for many U.S. workers,\" Gaynor said. The study noted that, thanks to the ACA's Medicaid expansion, more than 7 million more Americans enrolled in Medicaid in the study period (14 million have been added to Medicaid rolls as of 2020). The public insurance has been effective in providing affordable care for eligible individuals and families. \"People who have Medicaid actually had pretty low rates of catastrophic expenditure,\" Liu said, explaining that it has strict caps on how much people can be charged, that premiums are typically zero or very low and it has low out-of-pocket spending caps. Expanding Medicaid in the 12 states that have yet to expand could help provide better protection from medical expenses in certain groups of people, said Dr. Ellen Meara, a professor of health policy at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. \"In the states that didn't expand Medicaid, there's good evidence that people fall through the cracks in that sense,\" Meara said. \"The goal of insurance is to protect us against catastrophic costs, and if more than half of the people facing catastrophic costs are privately insured, I think we're still failing that.\" Meara also puts prescription drugs high on the list of contributors to financial burdens across all types of insurance, and she expects to see more pressure on elected officials to help change that. While the Supreme Court is considering arguments in a case that could strike down parts or all of the Affordable Care Act, President-elect Joe Bid", "Over the months that President Obama and the Democrats made the case for Obamacare, they continually insisted that it was a program without trade-offs. They assured the public that the almost fairy-tale scenario of insuring millions more while reducing costs could be achieved without reducing the quality of health care. In a typical statement, President Obama asserted last December that the proposed health-care plan was “deficit-neutral; it bends the cost curve; it covers 30 million Americans who don’t have health insurance.” That pretense survived, battered but mostly intact, until last week, when a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report found that, post-Obamacare, health-care costs are rising: The annual rate of growth is now 6.3 percent, up 0.2 percentage point. When asked about this finding at his Friday press conference, Obama said, “Bending the cost curve on health care is hard to do. . . . We didn’t think that we were going to cover 30 million people for free.” In plain English: “You should have read the fine print.” But there’s no mea culpa chorus coming from the left.  On the contrary, liberals have already rushed to defend the plan, declaring that it is a bargain that covers an estimated 32 million people at a reasonable expense. Even if that were true, it would not change the fact that the program was relentlessly marketed to the public on false grounds, and that the savings the program is alleged to achieve are unlikely to materialize. As it is, CMS may be underestimating the costs — the report’s numbers rely on wobbly assumptions, the most implausible of them being that Congress will allow doctors’ Medicare payments to be cut by 23 percent in December. Considering that Congress has overridden such reductions every time they have been scheduled to happen, there is no reason to believe that this will actually occur. The report also assumes that the excise tax will be implemented on schedule in 2018, which assumes, in turn, that future congressmen will stand up to the unions that vehemently oppose it. It assumes that the new Medicare board will cap spending — we imagine the seniors will have something to say about that. Take all these factors together, and it looks very likely that the true annual growth of health-care costs will be even higher than currently anticipated. And while those 32 million may in theory have health-care coverage, that is not the same thing as having access to health care. More than half of them will likely end up in Medicaid — a program with such abysmally low reimbursement rates that a growing number of doctors are simply refusing to see Medicaid patients. Access to Medicaid does not ensure access to a doctor. The new report only confirms what a majority of Americans have suspected all along: Obamacare is a fiscal disaster that doesn’t address the spiraling cost of health care, and may end up driving it even higher. For politicians who are serious about bending the cost curve, the first step should be repealing this law, which even the president implicitly acknowledges was sold on false pretenses.", "When Florida workers promoting President Obama's health law marketplace want instant feedback on how they're doing, they go to an online \"heat map.\" The map turns darker green where they've seen the most people and shows bright red dots for areas where enrollment is high. \"The map shows us where the holes are\" and which communities need to be targeted next, said Lynn Thorp, regional director of the Health Planning Council of Southwest Florida. She hands out information about the health law's marketplace at rodeos, farmers markets, hockey games and almost any place where people gather. The mapping strategy is one reason why a Republican-controlled state like Florida, whose leaders have criticized the health law at practically every turn, is leading the nation in signing people up for private Obamacare health plans. With two weeks to go until the deadline for 2015 enrollment, Florida's tally exceeds that of even Democrat-led California, which has twice the population, uses three times as much federal funding for outreach and has built its own online marketplace. \"It's surprising Florida has done as well compared to other states, and they will be looked at by folks who want to learn lessons to promote enrollment,\" said Joel Ario, managing director for Manatt Health Solutions, a consulting firm, who worked for the administration setting up the exchanges soon after the law was passed. As of mid-January, 1.27 million Floridians had enrolled in exchange plans, according to federal data, compared with 1.2 million Californians. Texas, which has 6 million more people than Florida, enrolled about 919,000 people in private plans. Both Florida and have a 22 percent uninsured rate. California's rate is 17 percent, according to the latest census data. \"It is truly ironic that Florida leads the nation in enrollment ... with leadership that has actively opposed the law,\" said Leah Barber-Heinz, executive director of Florida CHAIN, an advocacy group involved in outreach efforts. \"It shows true commitment on the part of many and it portrays an extremely high need for affordable coverage. There are other reasons cited for Florida's robust enrollment —including intense competition among insurers in several big counties and the high degree of coordination among the nonprofits and community groups which received federal grants to sign people up. Another key factor is the state's decision not to expand Medicaid under the law. That's left consumers with incomes above the federal poverty level of $11,600 per year with no coverage option other than to buy a private plan — with help from sliding-scale government subsidies. About 800,000 Floridians who make less than the federal poverty level are shut out altogether because they make too little to qualify for subsidies for private plans, but too much to qualify for Medicaid. In Florida, adults with children qualify for Medicaid only if their income is below 34 percent of the poverty level. Childless adults are ineligible. Florida is one of 22 states that chose not to expand Medicaid after the U.S. Supreme Court made that provision optional for states. In contrast, California expanded Medicaid to those making up to 138 percent of the poverty level, or $16,100 for an individual. The program has grown by 2.3 million people since fall of 2013, boosted partly by publicity for the online marketplace. Covered California spokesman James Scullary said the exchange isn't allowed to enroll people in private plans if their incomes fall between 100 and 138 percent of the federal poverty line, because they qualify for Medicaid. Jon Urbanek, senior vice president of Florida Blue, the state's dominant insurer, credits Florida's strong enrollment in private plans, in part, to the state's decision not to expand Medicaid. He also points to the intense outreach by thousands of the carrier's insurance agents. Florida Blue has conducted about 3,000 \"town-hall\" style meetings at its 18 retail centers. \"We knew going in that this was going to be a face-to-face, get in the community type of action to build trust with people,\" he said. Florida has also gained from having an older population which is more likely to buy coverage than younger people, Ario said. That population is centered in a handful of urban areas such as Miami, Orlando and Tampa, making them easier to target, he said. Then there's the unusual effort to coordinate outreach. John Gilbert, national field director for Enroll America, a nonprofit doing outreach in 10 states, said Florida has benefitted from having several large nonprofits with experience signing up children for Medicaid. They have worked together closely – helped in part by the heat map. Thorp of the Southwest Florida Health Planning Council describes how every time she hands out Obamacare flyers at a fair, or counsels at a local library, the action get entered into a computer log, which immediately changes the heat map. That way, other outreach workers see where contacts have been ", "When 20 states filed suit over the new health law just after President Obama signed it in March, the expansion of Medicaid was a major part of their beef. Medicaid is the program that provides health care to the poor. It's federal-state shared funding is the subject of a perpetual tug-of-war between governors and the feds. But a new study suggests that the Medicaid expansion might cost states less than they think, and some states might actually make money on the deal. Read MoreResearchers looked at the impact of the Medicaid expansion on both the number of uninsured and how much it would cost states. The study found, not surprisingly, that expanding Medicaid eligibility to everyone below 133 percent of the federal poverty line, including previously ineligible childless adults, would dramatically increase the Medicaid rolls (by roughly 16 million people) and dramatically decrease the number of people without health insurance (by roughly 11 million people) by the year 2019.What was surprising was how little it would cost the states. Of the total 464.7 billion the study estimates the Medicaid expansion will cost between 2014 and 2019, the federal government is expected to pick up $443.5 billion OF THE TAB. On average, the federal government will pick up 95.4 percent of each state's expanded costs over that period.\"The increases in state spending are pretty small compared to the increases in coverage and relative to what states would have spent if there had been no reform,\" said Urban Institute researcher John Holahan, the study's lead author, at a briefing on the issue. In fact, Holahan says, that's probably an underestimate. With so many more people covered, states will be able to cut back on other money they now spend on things like free health care for people who don't have insurance -- something the study wasn't able to take into account.\"I think if we had been able to account for that, that we would show that the savings to states from no longer having to share as large a burden as they do now for uncompensated care would probably be greater than their new obligations for medicaid spending,\" he said.Then why are states still so unhappy? Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, says some states think of the Medicaid expansions as a pair of $200 shoes on sale for $20.\"If you like the $200 pair of shoes it's a great deal because you only have to pay 20 dollars.\" But at the same time, he says, \"if you look in your wallet and you have a 10 and a couple of ones and some change and you're not sure you can come up with the 20 dollars it doesn't really matter what a good deal it is.\" Thus, he says, \"much of the difference in perspectives in state response to the Medicaid expansion has to do with whether they're focusing on what they're going to get ... or what they feel they can afford.\"Weil says states are also worried about the problem of capacity. Many are looking at what could be a 50 percent increase in their Medicaid rolls. \"That raises serious concerns about provider and delivery system capacity. Managed care plans, hospitals, physicians, primary care, specialists. States already struggle in this area and they worry about whether or not they can meet the increased demand.\"And then there's the age old adage that 'he who pays the piper calls the tune.'\"States have experience that the larger the federal share is in paying for a program, the more over time the federal government sets the rules and is more directive over how the dollars will be spent,\" Weil says. \"So even with a large federal share, which sounds good, there's concern about how that will play out with regard to state flexibility in running their programs.\"", "A liberal think-tank closely allied with the Obama administration is proposing a health care spending plan it says could save hundreds of billions of dollars in entitlement spending without hurting middle- and low-income patients. The plan from the Center for American Progress comes as Congress prepares for a battle royal over the so-called fiscal cliff. That's the combination of tax increases and spending cuts that happen automatically unless lawmakers and the president can reach a deal before the end of the year. Democrats have been demanding higher taxes on the rich, while Republicans say they won't budge without big changes to programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't mince any words in his first floor speech of the lame-duck session Tuesday afternoon: \"Republicans like me have said for more than a year now that we're open to new revenue in exchange for meaningful reforms to the entitlement programs that are the primary drivers of our debt.\" And meaningful reform is exactly what the authors of the CAP plan said they are proposing. \"If entitlement reform is simply code for dismantling Medicare and Social Security, we're not at the table, and we should oppose that with everything we've got,\" said Ezekiel Emanuel, a senior fellow with the group who helped put the proposal together. \"On the other hand,\" he added, \"if entitlement reform is, 'We're going to transform the system, modernize it so it can deliver high-quality, lower-cost care,' that's where we are. And that's what we think we've got here.\" Now, the Center for American Progress isn't just any group. It's considered something of the White House's reserve corps. Emanuel, for example, is the brother of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and a former White House health staffer himself. CAP President Neera Tanden is also a former White House health staffer. And this new plan is notable not just for potential savings of a half-trillion dollars but for what some of those savings are. They include many things that build on savings included in the Affordable Care Act, like cutting waste and encouraging more efficient care, as well as lowering payments to some providers. But there are also some controversial items. Like asking wealthier Medicare beneficiaries to pay more out of pocket for their care. And limiting the tax-free status of health insurance for people who earn more than $250,000 a year. \"These are not easy proposals,\" said Tanden. \"They are definitely not easy proposals for the progressive side.\" Indeed, tampering with the so-called tax exclusion for employer-provided health premiums in even the most minor way in the Affordable Care Act caused some major heartburn for organized labor, whose members tend to negotiate for more generous, tax-free benefits rather than taxed wage increases. But they are things that both liberal and conservative economists agree would start to rein in health spending as 78 million baby boomers start to migrate onto Medicare. And Emanuel says they weren't included in the plan just to try to win Republican votes for a budget deal. \"The [U.S.] health care system is the fifth-largest economy in the world — $2.8 trillion. It's as big as the French economy,\" he said. (It's slightly bigger, actually.) \"You're not going to transform it overnight. You need, however, to put in place the structures that will transform it over a decade. That's what we've tried to do, and I think this is the legacy for the president.\" But will the plan really impress any of those Republicans who are clamoring for entitlement reform? Early indications suggest not. \"The idea that you can shoot at everyone in a crowd and not hit a beneficiary is ridiculous,\" scoffed Tom Miller, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and a former Republican congressional staffer. Miller suggests that by cutting payments to health care providers, the plan can't help but result in some care disruptions for patients. \"It's just a continuing combination of further payment reductions — relatively arbitrarily,\" he said. Rather than letting the market determine how the health care system works, \"you're going to see what \"command and control\" really looks like for the health care system,\" he said. And there are some places even the liberal Center for American Progress wouldn't go. For example, raising Medicare's eligibility age to 67 — as some have proposed — is a nonstarter. \"We believe raising the Medicare age simply shifts costs to states, seniors and private employers,\" Tanden said. Likewise, the plan rejects most cuts to the Medicaid program. Reducing funding for Medicaid right now \"would undermine the very strong case the administration is making each and every day for governors to ... do their Medicaid expansions\" under the Affordable Care Act, Tanden said.", "The expansion of Medicaid helps rural hospitals stay afloat in states like Colorado, which added 400,000 people to the health insurance program under the Affordable Care Act. Hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid were about 6 times less likely to close than hospitals in non-expansion states, according to a study by researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The study was published Monday in the January edition of the journal Health Affairs. Colorado was one of 32 states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. That cut the state's uninsured rate in half. The biggest group that got coverage was childless adults. Richard Lindrooth, a professor at the Colorado School of Public Health and lead author of the study, says hospitals saw more people showing up to hospitals with that insurance — so Medicaid payments increased. That helped the hospitals' bottom line. \"It's not as though Medicaid is an extremely profitable form of reimbursement, but it is something,\" says Lindrooth, a professor the University of Colorado's School of Public Health. \"On the margins, it certainly helps the hospitals' cash flow.\" Lindrooth says he and his colleagues hypothesized that hospitals in expansion states stood a better chance of remaining financially viable. So they examined national hospital data and local market conditions. They compared four years before the Affordable Care Act went into effect (2008-2012) with years right after the launch of the ACA (2015-2016). Lindrooth says the results were noteworthy, especially for rural hospitals, which often struggle to stay open. \"Rural hospitals tend to be in more of a financially tenuous position, even prior to the Medicaid expansions,\" Lindrooth says. \"We found that really about half of the closures that did occur in non-expansion states could have been averted through the expansion.\" With more insured people in expansion states, hospitals made more money and provided less free care. \"So overall their margins improved,\" he says. Rural hospitals in non-expansion states didn't have that advantage. Rural health leaders said the study confirmed what they've seen on the ground. Jason Cleckler, CEO of Delta Memorial Hospital in Delta, Colo., in the rural western part of the state, said the Medicaid expansion helped his hospital's finances. He compared the numbers in 2011 with 2016, after expansion. The hospital's Medicaid population grew from 10 percent to 20 percent, and the hospital was left with less uncompensated care. It saved the hospital more than $3 million. \"I think that really speaks to what the researchers found. So Medicaid doubled, our bad debt decreased significantly, and the uninsured rate decreased significantly,\" Cleckler says. \"It's pretty remarkable, and I would venture to say that most hospitals, even ones with a lower percentage of Medicaid, have experienced a similar story.\" Cleckler did describe Medicaid coverage as a \"mixed bag\" for rural providers. Reimbursement rates can be paltry, he says. A hospital that pays $100 for a lab test may only be reimbursed $20. Another problem, he said, is many doctors and providers either won't accept or limit the number of Medicaid patients due to low reimbursement rates. An average of 30 percent to 50 percent of rural patients are covered by Medicaid, noted Michelle Mills, CEO of Colorado Rural Health Center, which offers rural health providers education and training. Mills says the population in rural areas is generally \"older, sicker and poorer\" than in urban communities. She says the expansion plus a bump in Medicaid reimbursement rates \"has helped rural Colorado hospitals from closing.\" The jobs generated by those hospitals are key to rural economies, with health care one of the top three rural employers in Colorado. \"The importance of Medicaid expansion in our state cannot be understated,\" says Cara Welch, director of communications with the Colorado Hospital Association. Welch says other factors also provided a boost, including the state's strong economy and its hospital provider fee. That fee helps reimburse hospitals for uncompensated care from the indigent population and those paying with Medicaid. Brock Slabach, senior vice president of the National Rural Health Association, says the study correlates with data the group has reviewed. \"If state legislatures and Congress want to cure the rural hospital closure problem, expanding Medicaid and not block-granting this important program would be the answer,\" he says. Members of the Republican majority in Congress have suggested changing Medicaid to a block grant. That means that instead of the federal and state governments sharing payment for every enrollee who qualifies, the federal government would provide each state a set amount of money, capping total Medicaid spending. It would let states decide how to spend the money. But health care and hospital advocates worry that the change would likely lead to cuts over time. This story is part", "More than 1 million patients who use federally funded community health centers will remain uninsured because they live in 24 states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released Friday by researchers at George Washington University. Most of those patients live in the South, because every state in that region except Arkansas and Kentucky opted against expanding the federal-state program for the poor after the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that it was optional. \"These low-income patients already face significant challenges to obtaining health care,\" says lead author Peter Shin, director of the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at George Washington University. \"Our analysis suggests these patients will remain without access to affordable insurance, which will almost certainly lead to delays in care and the risk of more serious health conditions.\" Health centers in states that have expanded Medicaid are benefiting, as 2.9 million of their uninsured patients were projected to gain coverage in 2014 either through Medicaid or through buying subsidized private coverage on the new health insurance marketplaces, the report found. Officials at health centers in Colorado, Kentucky and other states that expanded Medicaid have seen their rates of uninsured patients fall dramatically this year. Gaining coverage helps health center patients get access to specialists along with prescription drugs, diagnostic tests and hospital care for little or no out-of-pocket costs. The coverage will also be a financial bonanza for health centers that are paid several times more from Medicaid than from the sliding scale fees they charge the uninsured. Nationally, about 1,200 community health centers provide primary care services to nearly 21 million patients at 8,000 sites. About 36 percent of their patients in 2012 were uninsured and 39 percent were on Medicaid. In the states that expanded Medicaid this year, the government and private insurance payments will lead to potential revenues of $2.1 billion in 2014 for the centers. That's money the centers can use to pay physicians and nurses and also to expand services. But in the states that opted against expanding Medicaid, the centers will lose about $569 million in extra Medicaid funding, the study found. Health centers in states that didn't expand Medicaid are unlikely to have money to grow and \"as a result, access problems are likely to increase as the number of uninsured patients who seek care at health centers increases,\" the report said. And this is likely to exacerbate existing access problems, particularly in the South. The report showed that 35 percent of the 1.1 million community health center patients left struggling without insurance live in just five states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. \"That is a huge resource loss for them,\" Shin said. If all 50 states had expanded Medicaid as the law's framers had intended, 5.2 million uninsured community health center patients out of a total of 7.5 million would have been covered, the report projected. Those that would have remained uninsured could not afford to buy coverage on the exchange, chose not to purchase it or were ineligible for Medicaid because of their immigration status.", "If all goes according to plan, next year many Arkansas Medicaid beneficiaries will be required to make monthly contributions to so-called Health Independence Accounts. Those who don't may have to pay more of the cost of their medical services, and in some cases may be refused services. Supporters say it will help nudge Medicaid beneficiaries toward becoming more cost-conscious health care consumers. Patient advocates are skeptical, pointing to studies showing that such financial \"skin-in-the-game\" requirements discourage low-income people from getting care that they need. The states of Michigan and Indiana have already implemented health savings accounts for their Medicaid programs, modeled after the accounts that are increasingly popular in the private market. In Michigan and Indiana, people can use the funds, which may be supplemented by the state, to pay for services subject to the plan deductible, for example, or to cover the cost of other medical services. The program particulars in each state differ. But both states – and the Arkansas proposal — require beneficiaries to make monthly contributions into the accounts in order to reap certain benefits, such as avoiding cost sharing for medical services. Funds in the accounts may roll over from one year to the next, and participants may be able to use them to cover their medical costs if they leave the Medicaid program. \"We believe in consumerism,\" says John Selig, director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services. By requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to make a monthly contribution to a Health Independence Account, \"we think they'll use care more appropriately and get a sense of how insurance works.\" Under the health law, states can expand Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Arkansas is one of several states, including Iowa and Pennsylvania, that is experimenting with using Medicaid funds to enroll new Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries in private health insurance through the Affordable Care act marketplace. For 2015, Arkansas wants to expand its experiment by introducing the Health Independence Accounts. Nearly all beneficiaries earning between 50 and 138 percent of the poverty level ($5,835 to $16,105 for an individual) would have to participate through monthly contributions of between $5 and $25, depending on their income, or face cost-sharing requirements capped at 5 percent of income by Medicaid rules. In addition, Medicaid enrollees with incomes over the poverty level could be refused services if they don't make their monthly contribution and don't make a copayment. (This year, those with incomes between 100 and 138 percent of poverty already have copays.) Each month that a beneficiary would make a payment to his or her account, the state would contribute $15. Unused amounts would roll over from one year to the next up to a maximum of $200, which could be used by the beneficiary for health care costs if he or she leaves Medicaid for private coverage. At least 40 states charge premiums or cost sharing for at least some beneficiaries. These beneficiaries already have skin in the game, advocates say, and they question the value of these special accounts that add a whole new layer of complexity for people who may not ever have had insurance before. \"We're creating these incredibly complicated administrative structures, and I don't think people will understand them,\" says Judith Solomon, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.", "When people living with HIV walk out of prison, they leave with up to a month's worth of HIV medication in their pockets. What they don't necessarily leave with is access to health care or the services that will keep them healthy in the long term. That is one of the findings of a study published Tuesday in PLoS Medicine. The study was among the first to follow people with HIV from jail or prison back into the community. What they found was that most people — more than half — fell out of care within three years of leaving prison. But those who did stay in care did well — better than those who returned to prison. They were more likely to have access to health insurance and intensive case management that connected them to support groups, housing, medical care and other services. The fact that so few had that experience points out how the health care system fails this population, says Dr. Frederick Altice, director of Yale's HIV and Prisons program and the study's co-author. In some states, prisoners are re-enrolled in Medicaid before they're released. In others, it can take weeks or longer. \"[HIV] is a chronic disease,\" says Altice, who has been treating people with HIV since the early 1980s. \"People don't need services six weeks after release. They need them immediately.\" Indeed, the study suggests that the post-prison-release period may be key in the fight to eliminate new transmissions of HIV, says Dr. Cato T. Laurencin, a professor at the University of Connecticut and founding editor of the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, who was not involved in the study. \"We are now talking about the fact that we believe that we can end new cases of HIV in our lifetime,\" Laurencin says. \"We need to see changes in this setting. And if we're not, that tells us we're not on course.\" Connecting data to care One in 6 people living with HIV is incarcerated at any one time, according to a 2009 study. The good news is that these people often get treatment behind bars. Some studies show 71 percent of people leave prison with HIV that is so well-controlled, it is undetectable with current tests. The bad news is that once people leave prison, engagement in care and associated HIV viral control drops precipitously, as the study shows. Indeed, one year after leaving prison, among the 1,094 study participants, only 67.2 percent were still in care. The following year, that number dropped to 51.3 percent. By the end of the third year, only 42.5 percent were still in care. That's for everyone in the study. When researchers teased out people who were re-incarcerated from those who weren't, retention was higher; 48 percent of the re-incarcerated had care, while 34 percent of those living outside did. But fully controlled HIV was more common in the people on the outside, the study showed. \"This is the paradox,\" says Altice. \"People who are re-incarcerated didn't have good viral suppression. It's much better for health [to stay out of prison].\" Upping the odds of good health So what made the difference? When the researchers looked at what differentiated the people who stayed in care from those who didn't, a few things stood out. People with health insurance were more than twice as likely to achieve viral suppression as those without. Second, those with access to intensive case management — services that can connect people to support groups, drug treatment programs, housing and other services — were twice as likely to still be virally suppressed at the end of three years as those without it. Even those who received only five case management visits were still 69 percent more likely to be virally suppressed at the end of the study. One limitation of the study, says Dr. David Wohl, co-director of HIV services at the North Carolina Department of Corrections and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, is that it's hard to generalize the findings in one state, an urban one like Connecticut, nationally. \"This is a best-case scenario,\" says Wohl. \"The services described in this paper don't exist in North Carolina.\" Indeed, like many Northern states, Connecticut expanded Medicaid. And it is among 16 states that have changed their rules to suspend rather than cancel Medicaid when people enter prison. Many states cancel Medicaid enrollment, requiring recently incarcerated people to navigate reapplying. Other states have extremely limited eligibility for Medicaid that might exclude adults without disabilities. \"This also tells me something else,\" says Altice. \"This should be a group targeted for Medicaid expansion.\" For the University of Connecticut's Laurencin, those interventions could start to ameliorate the impact of HIV on communities of color. Seventy-eight percent of the people in the study were black or Latino. Only 1 in 3 of them stayed in care. As HIV becomes more concentrated in communities of color while effective treatment and prevention more often go to white, middle-class Americans, this study ", "As Congress weighs repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday sought to keep its conservative-style Medicaid expansion under the federal health the health law. Indiana applied to the Trump administration to extend a regulatory waiver and funding until Jan. 31, 2021, for its package of incentives and penalties that are intended to encourage low-income Hoosiers on Medicaid to adopt healthful behaviors. Beneficiaries pay premiums, get health savings accounts and can lose their benefits if they miss payments. Though Pence now supports the health law's repeal, the Healthy Indiana Plan that he established in 2015 as the state's governor has brought Medicaid coverage to more than 350,000 people. The architect of the plan was health care consultant Seema Verma, who has been nominated to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Without Trump administration approval, federal money for Indiana's expansion will run out Jan. 31, 2018. Indiana officials said the Medicaid expansion would continue even if Washington follows through on a Republican proposal to distribute federal Medicaid funds through a block grant program that would give states more flexibility in setting benefits and eligibility levels. State officials refused to say whether the expansion would continue if Congress repealed Obamacare and eliminated funds for Medicaid expansions. If that happened, it's unlikely states would have the money to make up for the lost federal aid. Indiana's effort to continue its Medicaid expansion demonstrates how states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act — even Republican-controlled ones — are counting on additional federal dollars to pay for those expansions. It also reflects deadline pressure: They can't wait for Congress to finish its debate over the future of the health law because they need to set budgets and programs now for next year. According to Indiana's request, continuing the Medicaid expansion will cost Indiana $1.5 billion but bring $8.6 billion in federal funding from 2018 to 2020. \"Indiana has built a program that is delivering real results in a responsible, efficient, and effective way,\" Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, said in a statement. \"I look forward to maintaining the flexibility to grow this remarkably successful tool and to preserve our ability to respond to the unique needs of Hoosiers.\" Several other states including Kentucky and Ohio are considering adopting features of Indiana's Medicaid plan. Tuesday's filing continues most core elements of the Healthy Indiana Plan, but also expands beneficiaries access to substance abuse treatment and adds incentives for members to quit smoking, use chronic disease management programs and take part in voluntary job referral and training programs. \"Certainly I think the new administration would give the waiver a friendly reception,\" said Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. \"But again that doesn't answer the question about whether the money is going away,\" if Congress repeals the health law and the Medicaid expansion. Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., broke the news of the waiver submission plans at a House committee hearing on Medicaid on Tuesday. \"It's an outstanding program that I hope folks on both sides of the aisle see it is a way to save and help people who truly need it, and it can be replicated,\" Brooks said. Some Republican plans to scrap and replace the Affordable Care Act don't include a Medicaid expansion. Republicans have argued for years that the Medicaid program is broken and non-disabled adults who gained coverage under the expansion should not be covered. Under expansion, states received additional federal funding to expand eligibility to everyone with annual incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,000. Holcomb isn't the only Republican governor counting on Medicaid expansion and the additional federal funding continuing at least through 2018. Ohio Gov. John Kasich proposed a budget Monday that maintains expansion coverage for 700,000 individuals. But Kasich plans to switch from a traditional Medicaid expansion to a more conservative version that will require beneficiaries to pay more out of pocket. This story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization. You can follow Phil Galewitz on Twitter: @philgalewitz.", "Conservatives coined a catchy name for the legislation House Republicans have scheduled for a Tuesday vote — Cap, Cut and Balance. Democrats in the White House have what they think is just as creative a name for the bill — Duck, Dodge and Dismantle. And those same Obama officials vow that President Obama will veto the legislation if it were to reach his desk. That's a major if; it's unlikely the Republican bill will get through the Senate. An excerpt from the veto threat issued by the Office of Management and Budget: The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 2560, the \"Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011.\" Neither setting arbitrary spending levels nor amending the Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal responsibility. Increasing the Federal debt limit, which is needed to avoid a Federal government default on its obligations and a severe blow to the economy, should not be conditioned on taking these actions. Instead of pursuing an empty political statement and unrealistic policy goals, it is necessary to move beyond politics as usual and find bipartisan common ground. Read More White House press secretary Jay Carney riffed Monday on the name Obama administration officials are using for the GOP legislation. He used the obligatory Kabuki theater metaphor to indicate that what we are seeing is highly stylized and predictable. CARNEY: Look, what we are witnessing here with thismeasure is classic Washington posturing, Kabuki theater. You know, this is a measure that is designed to duck, dodge and dismantle: duck responsibility, dodge obligations and dismantle eventually if enshrined into law, which it will not be; but it would essentially require the dismantlement of our social safety net — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It would, at the very least, require the kinds of cuts that arerequired under the Ryan budget that emerged from the House Republicans and would — it could essentially be worse because it institutes the kind of across-the-board cuts by calling — you know, it's very cleverly designed so that they can claim this isn't the case because it's very vague, but it requires the passage of a balanced budget amendment, all of which, under consideration in Congress right now, would require even more draconian cuts, cuts that are even more draconian than the ones that were in the Ryan budget. That includes a 70 percent cut in clean energy; drastic cuts in education, for example; and then significant reductions or dismantling of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. In terms of the balanced budget amendments — obviously Congressman Ryan's plan did not deal with Social Security, but to find the savings — you know, the draconian savings that are called for in these measures — you would have to do that to those programs. And it's a dodge because — look, we don't need these kinds ofmeasures. What we need is Congress to get to work, to agree tocompromise, to agree to do the work of the American people instead of satisfying some narrow slice of the — of the political spectrum sothat — so that we can reduce our deficit in a responsible way thatdoes not heap the burden on single — you know, small segments ofsociety. House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor defended the legislation: \"Tomorrow, the House will vote on Cut, Cap and Balance, a common sense proposal that will cut and cap federal spending to ensure that Washington begins to live within its means and put in place a Constitutional balanced budget amendment that will make balancing our budget the rule, not the exception. No one wants to default on our debt, and that is why House Republicans are bringing forth this plan to meet the President's request for a debt limit increase with the necessary safeguards to make sure that we don't continue to kick the can down the road. With millions of Americans out of work, we need to get the economy growing again and control spending here in Washington, and Cut, Cap and Balance is a path forward to do just that. As President Obama has not put forth a plan that can garner 218 votes in the House, I'd caution him against so hastily dismissing Cut, Cap and Balance.\" Many congressional Republicans are loathe to vote for a debt-ceiling increase if they're unable to also point to significant legislative action aimed at addressing the government's huge deficits and national debt. Thus, House passage of the Cut, Cap and Balance bill would give Republicans a modicum of political cover, even if the legislation doesn't survive in the Senate. In a conference call with reporters, Obama Administration officials were asked why the administration was coming out so strongly against the Cut, Cap and Balance plan, if it's to extreme and won't move out of a divided Congress, much less leave the president's desk. They said the issue transcends Congress, noting that a slew of Republican presidential candidates have endorsed the \"Cut, Cap and Balance\" plan, suggesting it's becoming a core element of the Republ", "Updated 6:56 p.m. ET Senate Republicans on Thursday released a revised version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. The new version comes after the Congressional Budget Office found that the original BCRA would in the next decade increase the uninsured population by 22 million over what it would otherwise be. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped for a vote before July 4, but was forced to delay that because he couldn't garner the 50 votes he needed among the 52 GOP senators. The question now is whether this version of the bill could pass the Senate. Shortly after its release, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul both said they intend to vote against letting the bill go forward. With two no votes, Vice President Pence could provide the 51st vote needed for passage. But if three Republican senators defect, the bill cannot pass. The new bill makes some big changes from the last BCRA draft, but it also leaves some major parts of the original Senate proposal intact — it would still repeal the individual and employer mandates, it would still mean cuts to Medicaid spending, and it would still allow states to opt out of key parts of Obamacare. In their summary of the bill, Senate Republicans laid out the major provisions. Here are some of those big changes that this new version of the bill would make to the original BCRA, and what they would mean: Health savings accounts will be able to pay for premiums. Under IRS rules, people with high-deductible plans are eligible for health savings accounts (HSAs), accounts into which people can put money for health care expenses tax-free. Under this bill, people would for the first time be able to use that money for premiums. Americans' deposits in HSAs have ballooned over the last decade, according to HSA consulting firm Devenir. However, those accounts also tend to benefit higher-income people more than others, as Kaiser Health News' Michelle Andrews wrote in December — for example, richer people are more likely to have the extra money to sock away for health expenses. More money for the opioid epidemic. The Senate's initial bill offered $2 billion to address the opioid crisis for 2018. This version would offer about $45 billion over 10 years, which is what Republicans Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman and West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito had requested at one point. However, some experts say that around $4.5 billion a year is nowhere near enough for combating America's massive opioid epidemic, as the New York Times reported in June. Keeping some Obamacare taxes. The first BCRA version would have repealed an array of Affordable Care Act taxes, which would have overwhelmingly benefited higher-income Americans. This newer version of the bill keeps some in place, including the net investment income tax and a payroll tax that hit higher-income Americans. Allowing insurers to offer non-Obamacare-qualified plans. This mirrors an idea that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Utah Sen. Mike Lee had proposed in recent weeks: The Senate's bill would allow an insurer to offer skimpier plans. As long as an insurer does offer a plan on the individual insurance exchanges that meets the demands of Obamacare's Title I (for example, covering certain areas like preventive care and protecting people with pre-existing conditions), that insurer will be allowed to offer additional plans off of the individual insurance exchanges that don't meet those criteria. That idea had created worries of a two-tiered insurance system — one in which older and sicker people would opt into the more comprehensive plans, while younger and healthier people would choose the cheaper plans that covered less, potentially causing a \"death spiral\" on the exchanges for those older and sicker people. Extra stabilization money, in part for high-risk customers. The original version of the BCRA provided $112 billion that would have allowed states to stabilize their markets or help high-risk customers in a wide variety of ways. In this version, that is bumped up to $182 billion. One function of this money is to mitigate some of the two-tier issues created by new, nonqualified plans. If an insurer offers a plan that meets the Obamacare criteria, that insurer would be eligible for money to help high-risk customers. This all means that the new version doesn't make major changes to one big part of the BCRA: Medicaid. Under the original Senate bill, the Obamacare Medicaid expansion would be rolled back, and Medicaid spending would be capped — states would either be allotted a certain amount per capita, or they could get a block grant instead. It also caps Medicaid spending growth in the medium-to-long-term. This bill doesn't change any of that. According to the CBO, the original BCRA would have cut Medicaid spending by $772 billion over 10 years, and would have resulted in 15 million fewer Medicaid enrollees by 2026 than under current law. A new CBO score on the bill i", "Since Senate Republicans released the draft of their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act last week, many people have been wondering how the proposed changes will affect their own coverage, and their family's: Will my pre-existing condition be covered? Will my premiums go up or down? The bill is still a work in progress, but we've taken a sampling of questions from All Things Considered listeners and answered them, based on what we know now. Q: My husband and I are both in our 50s, self-employed, and we have a daughter in college. We buy insurance through the California exchange. Our family premium is now $1,100 a month with a deductible of $6,800 per person. We have never received a subsidy. Three months ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was early stage, and I am in treatment with no cancer remaining. We are all very active and healthy otherwise. Here is my concern: Based on what I have read, it appears our age group stands to see the biggest jump in premium costs. Not to mention, I now have a pre-existing condition. Will our premiums rise astronomically? -- Denise Estrada, Los Angeles, Calif. A: This is a double-barreled question on premium costs and pre-existing conditions, both major concerns to consumers. For a person in their 50s, worries about premium increases are well-founded. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are allowed to charge older people up to three times more than young people for the same insurance policies. The Republican health care bills in both the Senate and House would allow insurers to charge up to five times more. That change would likely lead to cheaper health plans for younger people, but also more expensive ones for those over 50. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that a 60-year-old in Los Angeles County who doesn't qualify for subsidies would see her premium rise about $2,600 a year. As for your question about your pre-existing condition, the answer would depend on where you live. The Senate bill does preserve the pre-existing condition protections that exist under the Affordable Care Act — meaning insurance companies must offer you a policy even if you have a medical problem. But it would also allow states to ask for waivers from some federal regulations, including those that define \"essential health benefits.\" If a state doesn't include cancer treatment or pharmaceutical coverage in those benefits, then insurance companies can elect not to pay for some of the care you need. Q: My 2 1/2-year-old son has been through eight hospitalizations and is fed partly through a feeding tube. We have insurance through my husband's employer, and our son qualified for Medicaid last November because of a program in Pennsylvania for children with chronic illnesses. The medical bills we've already seen would have been catastrophic without insurance, and our out-of-pocket medical expenses were thousands of dollars a year, even with insurance, before he qualified for Medicaid. His medical care needs have been so intense that I have not been able to work this past year. We are very worried about his future care costs without Medicaid, as well as our ability to afford insurance coverage for him if pre-existing conditions are not afforded any legal protections. How is Trumpcare likely to affect our family? -- Emily Kane, Pittsburgh, Pa. A: It sounds like Pennsylvania's Medicaid program has been helpful for your child. Under the proposed law, states will have even more power to design their own Medicaid programs, so there's no reason to think that Pennsylvania would take away a local program that it has implemented. What might be worrisome, however, are the overall reductions to the Medicaid program. The bill turns Medicaid from an open-ended program that pays for all the care beneficiaries need, to one that caps federal spending based on the number of people enrolled. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that if the Senate bill passes, Medicaid spending would be 26 percent lower, over the next decade, than it would be under the Affordable Care Act. Some analysts believe that over time, states will have to cut services, reduce how much they pay doctors and hospitals and make it harder to qualify for Medicaid. Q: My wife and I are both 42, and we have two children, ages 10 and 13. We have coverage through the marketplace but do not qualify for payment assistance. In addition, my wife has rheumatoid arthritis and currently uses expensive monthly injections to treat it. Would insurance still be required to cover my wife's arthritis treatment under the new law? And how would our premiums be affected? -- Jeremy Merrill, Cedar Park, Texas A: As far as premiums go, it looks like yours are likely to remain about the same. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that for a 40-year-old in Williamson County, Texas, who doesn't qualify for subsidies, premiums are flat under the new law. Whether your insurance will cover your wife's condition depends largely on ", "Children in foster care are significantly more likely than other kids to be given mind-altering drugs, according to a study of five states released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office. The report, which focused on children in the Medicaid program, also found that foster kids were more likely to be prescribed five or more psychotropic drugs at an age and at doses that exceed the maximum FDA-approved levels — both of which carry serious health risks. Some 3,841 infants under age one were prescribed a psychotropic drug in the five states the report looked at. Seventy-six of them were in foster care. Experts say there's no good reason for infants to take such drugs, the GAO notes. Continue Reading The report \"confirms some of my worst fears,\" Sen. Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., said in a Senate hearing on the issue Thursday, adding that states and the federal government have not done enough to monitor the problem. The two-year investigation in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Texas found that foster children were prescribed psychotropic drugs at rates 2.7 to 4.5 times higher than other children in Medicaid in 2008. Psychotropic drugs include those used to treat ADHD, anxiety, depression and psychosis. In total, the five states spent more than $375 million in Medicaid funds for psychotropic drugs for both foster and non-foster children. The higher prescribing rates don't necessarily mean that states are acting inappropriately, the GAO points out. Psychotropic drugs have proven effective in treating mental illness, and the higher rate could be \"due to foster children's greater exposure to traumatic experiences and the unique challenges of coordinating their medical care.\" A recent study in the journal Pediatrics also found that foster children are prescribed multiple antipsychotics at higher rates than other children. Ke'onte Cook, a 12-year-old from Texas who testified at the Senate hearing, was on up to five drugs at a time while in foster care, including for bipolar disorder. The drugs made him irritable and exhausted, he said, caused a loss of appetite and \"put me in a lights-out mode 15 minutes after I'd taken them.\" Cook was adopted two years ago, and is now off all of the medications he was on while in foster care. \"I think putting me on all of these stupid meds was the most idiotic thing I experienced in foster care, and the worst thing someone could do to foster kids,\" Cook said. \"I was upset about my situation, not bipolar or ADHD.\" The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, passed in September, requires states to come up with protocols for appropriate use of psychotropic drugs for foster kids. But the GAO says that's not enough: HHS should create nationwide guidelines to \"help states close the oversight gaps we identified and increase protections for this vulnerable population.\" HHS agreed with the recommendations in written responses to the report.", "Four years after going out on a limb to get Medicaid expansion enacted in Ohio, outgoing Republican Gov. John Kasich is worried about the future of the program. So he is now defending it — through a study and through the stories of people who have benefited from the coverage expansion. One of those people is Brenda Jean Searcy, a 55-year-old law student who lives with her 93-year-old father in the Columbus suburb of Westerville. She says she had always been healthy but was felled by Lyme disease and then Graves' disease; the diagnosis of the latter came after she had signed up for Medicaid through the expansion. \"I am very grateful to have Medicaid. It has made my life much better and made me much healthier,\" Searcy says at a press conference. Searcy is one of the 653,000 Ohioans who gained coverage through the Medicaid expansion, four years after Kasich defied his fellow Republican legislators in pushing Medicaid expansion through. He claimed it would bring $13 billion in federal funding to help low-income people in Ohio get health care — especially those struggling with mental illness and addiction. Kasich is nearing the end of his second term and will leave office in January. He wants the Medicaid expansion to continue, and his Medicaid department commissioned an independent study on the effects of the expansion to support it. Ohio Medicaid Director Barbara Sears says the analysis shows Medicaid expansion has cut in half the number of uninsured Ohioans. Ninety-six percent of people in the program with opioid addiction got treatment, and 37 percent of smokers were able to quit. One-third reported improved health, including better access to medical care for high blood pressure and diabetes. ER visits went down 17 percent, and there was a 10 percent increase in the number of people seeing primary care doctors. And most recipients said Medicaid expansion made it easier to find work, earn more money and care for their families. The state's budget office, part of the executive branch, estimates Medicaid expansion will cost nearly $5.2 billion in 2021, the first year Ohio will pay its full share of the costs as determined by the Affordable Care Act. Ohio budget director Tim Keen says the state's projected share would amount to $354.1 million. However, with drug rebates, assessments on managed care plans, a 1 percent tax on premiums and other offsets, the state's share drops to $163.1 million. \"Medicaid expansion is a significantly better deal for the states and for Ohio than the traditional program, and that's important as one considers our ability to fund this program,\" Keen says. But Republican lawmakers have long had concerns about the program's cost. And so does the Republican candidate to replace Kasich, Attorney General Mike DeWine. After stating for months that he feels the Medicaid expansion is financially unsustainable, DeWine says he'll keep it but makes changes, such as implementing work requirements and wellness programs. DeWine hasn't made clear how much those changes would save the program – for instance, 96 percent of Medicaid expansion recipients in Ohio would be exempt from work requirements. Kasich says he has talked to DeWine's team about supporting the program. \"I worry a little bit about somebody kind of nickeling and diming it away somehow — a little bit here, a little bit there — but I think they'll be for it,\" Kasich says. Karen Kasler is statehouse bureau chief for Ohio Public Radio and Television.", "Cynthia Gordy is The Root's Washington reporter. This month marks the 30th anniversary of the first reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States, an occasion that has prompted reflection on advances made in fighting the epidemic. Antiretroviral drug treatments have transformed the virus in this country from a fatal disease to a manageable chronic condition. HIV transmission to newborns has been virtually eliminated. The national infection rate has declined by 60 percent. Of course, the epidemic continues despite the successes — especially among African Americans, who account for nearly half of the nation's new HIV infections. And recent economic challenges actually threaten to roll back decades of progress, as cash-strapped states reduce access to lifesaving medicine for thousands of HIV patients. Facing budget shortfalls, 17 states have scaled back AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which help about 174,000 poor or uninsured patients pay for expensive HIV medication. Through lowered income-eligibility thresholds or direct funding cuts, HIV-positive people have been thrown off insurance rolls, and a record high of 8,111 are on waiting lists (pdf) for antiretrovirals and other drugs. The actual need is likely greater, since some states have eliminated waiting lists altogether. The federal government pays for most of ADAP funding, supplemented by states. But the contributions have not kept pace with a demand that has only increased with rising unemployment as more Americans lose their health insurance. AIDS activists say that while they understand the challenge of both federal and state budget constraints, medication that thousands depend on to stay alive is a terrible place to look for savings. \"The budget is not just a fiscal document but a moral document,\" Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church and chair of the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS of Metro Atlanta, told The Root. \"It is a statement about what we the people view as important, and who we think is unimportant. Too often our deficits are balanced on the backs of those who can least afford it.\" The Funding Fight Spilling with 1,599 people, the ADAP waiting list of Warnock's state of Georgia is the second-longest waiting list in the country. He and other local activists find it particularly galling, then, that the state recently cut $100,000 from its program. Officials from the Georgia Department of Community Health say that they're doing the best they can with insufficient federal funding to help them cover newly eligible patients. With the average cocktail of HIV/AIDS drugs costing $12,000 a year per person, it's a tall order for a cash-strapped state. To help bridge the wide coverage gap, Georgia is relying on charity programs in which pharmaceutical companies donate medication. The majority of people on Georgia's waiting list are being served by them, but it's an unreliable, quick fix, which depends on whatever donations they can get. Florida, which has the nation's longest ADAP waiting list at 3,520, is also leaning on assistance from pharmaceutical companies to cover most of their frozen-out patients. As a possible solution for trimming their list, state officials are considering cutting in half the income eligibility for their program, to $21,780 or less. The decision is still pending. \"We are currently covering as many patients as we can with the funds that are available,\" Jessica Hammonds, press secretary for the Florida Department of Health, told The Root. The federal government likewise insists that it is aggressively responding to the ADAP funding crisis. This week the Health Resources and Services Administration, which administers the programs, announced that it's making an additional $50 million available this year to help states take people off waiting lists. \"But ADAP is one small part of our overall national response to HIV,\" Jeffrey Crowley, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, told The Root. Explaining that most funding for HIV/AIDS care comes from Medicaid and Medicare, he pointed out that, under the Affordable Care Act, in 2014 Medicaid will expand to all adults with incomes below 133 percent of the poverty level. \"That will take a lot of pressure off these programs. We're really trying to manage a short-term challenge.\" And what about people who can't wait three years for treatment? The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced a new \"fast track\" option to help states accelerate their Medicaid expansion, specifically for HIV/AIDS patients, now. Pushback From the Pulpit Claims from both federal and state officials that they're doing everything they can under tough economic times are ringing hollow to skeptics who point out that poor black folks are disparately affected. \"In the 1980s when it was seen as a gay white man's disease, monies were piled up on top of monies to fight it,\" James Favorite, pastor of Beulah Baptist Institutional Church in " ]

[ "Hey, just bringing this old question up for a vote. \\n\\nIf you have not found the answer you are looking for, please, feel free to use one of the following links from my personal collection:\\n\\nhttp://www.dogpile.com\\nhttp://www.itools.com/\\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page\\nhttp://www.dictionary.com\\nhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/\\nhttp://www.medterms.com/script/main/hp.asp\\nhttp://www.alexa.com\\nhttp://www.searchtools.com/tools/tools.html\\nhttp://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html\\nhttp://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp\\nhttp://www.searchsystems.net/\\nhttp://library.albany.edu/internet/choose.html\\nhttp://www.archive.org/\\nhttp://www.publicnoticeads.com/\\nhttp://www.samspade.org\\nhttp://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/ \\nhttp://www.hplearningcenter.com \\nhttp://www.petfinder.com/\\nhttp://www.findlaw.com\\nhttp://www.rxlist.com\\nhttp://www.webmd.com\\nhttp://www.truthorfiction.com\\nhttp://www.salary.com\\nhttp://www.songlyrics.com/\\n\\nMy post is simply to encourage you to pick a \"Best Answer\" or to assist you in finding the answer. \\n\\nThank you!" ]

[ "You description does not match your question, unless of course the question is a metaphore. Maybe add some more detail to this question?\\n\\n\\nHard-cooked eggs (eggs cooked in the shell in water) should never be boiled - simmer them in water. If boiled or cooked too long, the protein toughens or becomes rubbery and a greenish or purplish ring forms around the yolk. \\n\\nTo correctly cook the eggs, place them in a single layer in a pan with enough cold water to cover them completely. Bring the water to a boil, remove from heat, cover tightly with a lid, and allow to remain in the water approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Then place under running, cold water to cool quickly. This way of cooking is also known as \"coddling.\" It does not toughen the whites as boiling does. \\n\\nSoft-cooked eggs: 3 to 5 minutes \\nMedium-cooked eggs: 7 to 8 minutes \\nHard-cooked eggs: approximately 15 to 20 minutes \\n\\n\\nStorage: Hard-cooked eggs in the shell can be refrigerated up to one week. Out of the shell, they should be used immediately.\\n\\nMicrowave: You cannot hard-cook eggs in a microwave (they'll explode), but if you find after peeling an egg that it is not quite done at the center, pierce it once or twice with a fork, set microwave to medium power and cook the egg for 10 to 20 seconds before checking for doneness.\\n\\n\\nTips: To tell if an egg is hard-cooked or raw, place the egg on its side and spin it evenly on a level surface; if it wobbles, it is raw.\\n\\n\\nHow To Peel Hard-Cooked Eggs Easily: \\n\\nThis is what I do:\\n\\nI place the eggs in the pan they were cooked in and add cold water. \\n \\n\\nI then crack the eggs under water (this seems to help loosen the membrane under the shell). \\n \\n\\nStart peeling at the larger end, where the air pocket is, and remove the shell under running water to make the shelling easier. You must get a hold of the membrane under the shell when you remove the shell. Very fresh eggs are harder to peel. The fresher the eggs, the more the shell membranes cling tenaciously to the shells.", "its how the electrons fit into the shells around the nucleus. at gcse there are 4 and they have the rule 2.8.8.18 so the first shell is filled first with two and then the second with 8 and so on.the number of electrons in the outer most shell used gives the atom its properties and its position on the periodic table", "The chicken. Would God create an egg without a mother bird to warm the egg and care for the chick? God made Adam as an adult from what I can tell. So why wouldnt he have made all of creation in its prime?", "I think it's the egg. I figure at some point two other kinds of birds got together and the result of their mating is what we now call a chicken. (Bird A + Bird B=Chicken). A second theory is that throughout time, some other bird evolved into what we now call a chicken. Well, either way, the answer is EGG." ]

[ "Colombo" ]

[ "Ports", "Port Said", "(Port) Vila", "Sri Lanka (Ceylon)", "Port of call", "Port Arthur", "Cinnamon (Carter)", "area", "the Port Authority", "gardener", "Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)", "a garden", "Gardening", "a capital city", "an area code", "gray area", "Spice Islands", "\"Picnic Area\"", "Port Moresby", "the port of Calais", "City", "Area rug", "the City", "area codes", "Biggest", "Indian Ocean", "the San Fernando Valley", "Area 51", "Islamabad", "a botanical garden", "The Ginza", "Hyannis Port" ]

[ "What does it mean \"C is a structured programming language?" ]

[ "What can I do with the C programming language?", "What kind of things can you create with 'C' programming language?", "What is the difference between imperative (procedural), functional, declarative and object-oriented programming languages?", "What's c programming?", "What are the best sites for C Programming language?", "How does procedural programming differ from object-oriented programming?", "Which is best site to learn data structure with C?", "Why we say that C++ is not purely object oriented programming language?", "What are the best blogs on C programming language?", "What's object oriented programming really and what makes it different from procedure oriented programming (C)?", "What are some good intermediate/beginner projects for C programming language?", "Which programming language should I learn after learning C?", "Why C++ and not ++C?", "Is c# a good programming language?", "Why the language C++ is named so? Why was it not named as ++C?", "What's the difference between c# and C languages?", "Now that I have learned the C programming language, what can I develop with it?", "Should I learn the Java programming language or the C++ programming language for game development?", "What are security issues in the C language?", "How do I learn C programming language easily ?", "What makes C# a better programming language than Java?", "What projects can I do if I have good knowledge of C language and data structures and algorithms?", "What are some good resources for learning data structure in C?", "What text editor should I use and specially for c programming language?", "What can I do to improve my programming skills in c language?", "How can we learn c programming?", "What are the safety issues in the design of C language?", "What is a functional programming language?", "Which programming language uses mostly and why?", "What is variable in C?", "How do I install and start up C programming language?", "Why Sanskrit has the capability to be a programming language?" ]

[ "The best thing to do is to edit the question and add in more information. This shows you are still working on it.\n\nEven if it is a couple of lines explaining you found this and that but it still did not fix it." ]

[ "Warning this is a rant and my moment on the Soapbox\n\nMy official feeling as moderator and member of the community on 1:\n\nGoogle is the SU/SF/SO home page. Until every question has been asked on these sites and the first 3 pages of Google point only to SU/SF/SO LMGTFY is not an answer nor a solution to any question.\n\nThe moderators openly ignore any flags that indicate this and we will not close a question because someone else believes that the person should have used Google first. Believe it or not, but outside of your small little IT world there is users out there that doesn't know how to use Google, or doesn't know how to ask the question. This is why SU/SF/SU exists. Am I harsh? Yes. Because I am extremely tired of seeing people use Google as an excuse for people asking valid questions. I am a certified trainer and deal with some of the brightest minds in the IT industry everyday, and most of them don't know how to ask questions, but can answer them brilliantly.\n\nOn SF I can understand 2-5 however on SU they make no sense. The average person does not always understand the terminology. I have been in IT for 14 years and recently asked questions regarding Linux networking, which turned out to be a bridging question, however I did not know about the term and therefore the question made no sense, and I could not find the information using Google because I wasn't sure what I was looking for. However SF provided useful, intelligent and quick answers.\n\nIf you are not willing to accept that there are people that really don't know, and won't have the ability to Google it, I strongly suggest that these sites are not the place for you", "Asking a good question is a lot harder than writing a good answer, even if writing a good answer likely requires more research and more experience, which makes them very valuable. So let's have a look at what's important in writing a good question as opposed to an acceptable question. You already mentioned the most important resources that help you writing an acceptable StackExchange question, so I'll skip the advice you would find there and jump to the things you seemingly deemed important. Please note that a lot of this is subjective and depends on the specific site and the current &quot;trending&quot; topics and style there.\nTitle\nYou mention that titles are important. No question here, so I'll skip this. Or should I...? I am not entirely sure. You seem to have identified this incredibly important aspect but feel like there is still something left that needs to be said. A &quot;perfect&quot; question would make clear what you are expecting from an answer with that bullet point. I'll just add a bit to this because it is incredibly important.\nTitles are what differentiates a good from an acceptable question at first glance. If you spend some time of StackExchange you will notice a pattern of really, really bad questions that often have similar problems. One of them being that their titles are not good. They write everything in lowercase, they write a topic like &quot;Writing a StackExchange question&quot; instead of a question like &quot;How to write a StackExchange question?&quot;, they don't use any punctuation, there are typos, the vocabulary and site-specific terms are wrong, they are asking for an &quot;opinion&quot; or &quot;ideas&quot; right there is the title... Not every bad title belongs to a bad question, but most bad questions have a bad title. That means that if you, as a long-time user, ignore questions with a bad title you are automatically ignoring most bad questions. You also ignore some good ones, but you accept those false-positives for an overall more pleasant personal experience.\nAs long-time users are the ones with such an experience and at the same time those that provide most of the answers and feedback in general a question with a bad or even a mediocre title will receive far less attention than a question with a good title - no matter how good the question body is.\nHaving a good title that tells people what your question is about in a concise way is probably the single most important thing in creating a good question that people will want to read and answer.\nFormatting\nMarkdown can be difficult to use in the beginning. I remember how I struggled with proper lists because you need an extra empty line between the text and the list for the &quot;-&quot; at the beginning to be recognized. And then you need a space after it to really make it a list. And then I tried to use HTML because I knew how to use that and people told me not to use it because it messes up the site for people using a screenreader. And not having alternative texts for images makes a question or answer basically unusable and frustrating for people using a screenreader. And then I tried to have a simple linebreak. Not a paragraph. Just a linebreak. For which you need two spaces at the end of a line before hitting Enter once.\nIt was difficult...\nAnd this leads to me, as a member with more experience, to know that people in the beginning need some help. But it also needs me to know that people who use proper formatting have spent some time in getting to know the site they are working with. They try to get used to something that is not often used outside of the IT business and can be quite frustrating at times. They try to make their posts easier to read for me, someone who might be willing to answer their question and help them. It makes me feel better when people use proper formatting. That's why it's important.\nWhat exactly constitutes proper formatting is difficult to say. It depends on the question, it depends on the writing style and it depends on the site you are on. Many people outside of StackExchange would argue that my use of italics is not proper. I nearly never use italics. But if you look through this answer up to here I've already used it quite often.\nWhy is that?\nOn StackExchange many people try to put emphasis on important things or to denote that something is not to be taken literal. Bold face and putting something into quotes are two of the more important ways to do this. But bold text kind of screams at the reader, which is why I noticed many people who are on the site for a longer time will use it sparingly. I, for example, mostly use it for summaries like in this recent answer of mine or in headers. You should definitely use italics and bold face. But try to use it where it adds value to your post and when possible use it sparingly. When in doubt use italics over bold.\nIt's also important to be aware of some of the more rarely used ways to format text. Like adding citations. For example look at my answer to the question How do you write a Stack Exchange answer? (hint: this way of phrasing it and adding links is also part of the topic &quot;formatting&quot;):\n\nAdhere to traditional styles\nOn RPG you can find that many people refrence guides and rules in a specific style, by mentioning the book name and page number and then using the citation markdown with added emphasis on the names of an ability/ rule/ ... and the important words on which they focus later.\n\nI've seen other sites use a style where you first cite the text and then add something like:\n\n- The Book from The Author (Link: Link)\n\nIf your formatting looks like every other question on the specific site it will be easier for people to read and to find the most important points.\nAnd another thing about formatting is to know when not to format something. If you look at the source text from this answer, specifically the last citation example, you will notice that I escaped the &quot;-&quot; so that it will not display as a bullet point, but instead as a dash.\nIf you use such little, more difficult, things I know that you have spent some time with markdown and put effort into your question. That makes me more likely to try to answer it. Which leads to more people seeing it and answering it.\nEffort\nEffort is difficult. The best thing to do is to link to similar questions on the site or maybe one or two Google results and say &quot;I've seen this and that and they don't answer my question because reasons&quot;. Or even say &quot;I couldn't find anything here and on Google with this query: Example query&quot;. It shows that you did your research, it gives people a starting point on what not to search and what not to talk about.\nThis question for example did a pretty good job with that. But maybe you could mention How do you write a Stack Exchange answer? and your previous question How to write a Stack Exchange comment? to show that this is basically the continuation of a series.\nWhich is an interesting thing in itself. Often the first one or two questions of a a kind of &quot;series&quot; of questions are interesting, but after that there is a sudden breakdown where people are bored and want something new. Sometimes the hype can last for a long time. I've seen that especially on WorldBuilding.SE, but other sites show such patterns from time to time, too. This question looks quite good to me and reminded me of the older question about answers that I've answers, but then again I haven't seen your comment related question before. Otherwise my interest in the question might have been lessened, too.\nEase of Communication\nJust as there are certain formatting styles there are certain ways to communicate things. If I say &quot;Square-Cube Law&quot; every regular on WorldBuilding will know that I want to say that a animals can only grow up to a certain extent in real life. For the reason see Wikipedia:\n\nIf an animal were isometrically scaled up by a considerable amount, its relative muscular strength would be severely reduced, since the cross section of its muscles would increase by the square of the scaling factor while its mass would increase by the cube of the scaling factor. As a result of this, cardiovascular and respiratory functions would be severely burdened.\n\nThat's a standard comment under basically every &quot;Anatomically Correct&quot; or similar question. It's so standard that I don't even need to look at the comment section to know that someone will have commented about it. That means when writing a question about animals I need to write that people can ignore the Square-Cube Law. Otherwise someone will provide an answer like &quot;It's not possible, see Square-Cube Law&quot; while I am talking about fantasy animals. Not helpful.\nBy reading many questions on the site I am posting and in the topic I am asking about I can anticipate things like that and make it easier for others by saying they can ignore that aspect. This applies to every StackExchange site.\nYou need to be an expert about writing a question on the specific site you are posting on if you want a really good answer. You don't need to sound like a professor in the field, you need to sound like you know the standard phrases on the site and did some reading about the topic here. You will notice patterns. Make use of them.\nOther stuff\nIt's often a good idea to write a concise, easy-to-understand question first and then add a &quot;Longer version&quot;. That way people can skim the easy version to see if they are generally interested enough in the topic to read your question and maybe provide an answer before deep-diving into multiple pages of question body. On the other hand if you only have a very short version people might be missing some details. You will often see comments on StackExchange sites about missing details. Striking the right balance is difficult and requires practice. It depends on the topic, the site and your writing style. If you've read so far you have probably realised that my writing style is the opposite of concise most of the time. I prefer long texts with lots of information and on a lot of sites I regularly frequent people like this style especially in answers. Not so much in questions. That's why I need an additional small extra paragraph or a bold face question at the start or end.\nI've also notices that when I am writing longer questions it's a good idea to start with a paragraph that is only one or two sentences, not much more than my title. Then I write the real, long question. And in the end I provide another paragraph with the question. This sounds like useless repetition, but it helps to keep the main question in the mind of the reader and show that I am really interested in this specific instance, not in something else that someone might have interpreted from my longer text. People tend to get hung-up on some small details, especially when answering longer questions.\nAnd if you can make your question fun to read and fun to answer it will help a lot. People are mostly on StackExchange to get some help every now and then and to have fun reading and writing about their favourite topic. Everyone you normally encounter is someone sitting in front of their computer at home using StackExchange as a little hobby to unwind from time to time. You don't want your question to look like a joke question because people will think that you are making fun of them, which means you are making fun of the time they are spending to help you, but a little funny content has never hurt. For example here I made my question title look like the start to a joke, which people really liked: A witch, a vampire and a pixie meet in a bar and talk about tomatoes eradicating humanity. I knew that for story-identification question on SciFi.SE you don't need a &quot;question&quot; and so I decided to use this instance I remembered to make the title look like a joke, even if the question body was a real, normal story-identification request.", "My $3.50: \n\nServerFault IS NOT tier 1 technical support. We should expect a minimum standard of effort from people asking questions here. That means at least a cursory Google search, and the understanding that questions about specific hardware or software limitations, pricing, provider-specific configuration questions, etc. are best asked of the vendor.\n\nI've been commenting/voting to close based on that, referring people to their provider, the vendor, etc. for an answer when it's painfully obvious that no research/effort has been expended before running here to ask the question.\n\nI don't mind the occasional \"How many Herps can my Derp9000 support?\" questions, but it seems that this is becoming more than occasional. I would hate to see the site become \"please spoonfeed me my vendor's spec sheet\".", "Concerning ServerFault Culture\n\n\nWhat do you see as the top two most valuable cultural elements of ServerFault?\nHow will you perpetuate those cultural elements as a moderator?\nWhat do you see as the top two flaws in SF's culture at the present time?\nHow would you address those cultural flaws as a moderator?\n\n\n\n\nSysAdmin1138\n\n\n Cultural Good/Bad\n \n First of all, we are a group of people who like fixing problems. We like fixing them even when they're not entirely topical, though this impulse is moderated somewhat by the vote-to-close system. We even work together, keying off of other answers, to solve them. That's great!\n \n Also, the tone of our answers is a real positive. With few exceptions, our answers do not include \"WTF were you thinking\" style verbiage when we're solving problems. This sets us above other similar sites, and that is a Good Thing.\n \n On the other hand, mocking in comments of seemingly stupid, incoherent, or otherwise odd questions is on the rise. Kyle has mentioned in the past that Sysadmins in general tend towards mockery as a self-policing method, and that's definitely not the tone we need to set here. I strongly agree. Mocking is particularly insidious because it provides a barrier to entry for new people, and we don't need that.\n \n Secondly, we do have a problem with minimum standards and where they are. We've had many debates over where the 'professional' line sits, as evidenced by the prior set of questions, and that leads to a lot of variability at the entry-level end of our career spectrum. We seem to be OK with people explicitly declaring that they're learning to do what we do, but have a low tolerance for people trying to do the learning but not stating that they're doing the learning. New SF users seem to want to answer anything they can, where the long-time users or deep-experts are much more likely to vote-to-close or worse, mock.\n \n Moditorial fixing of culture\n \n The diamond by the Moderator's name does not provide a strong bully pulpit. When a diamond-mod posts a comment it does carry more weight than even high-rep users, which is about as strong as it gets. Therefore, the largest influence of a mod is behind the scenes; removing things unilaterally (spam and bad questions), merging tags, responding to flag-for-mod-attention flags.\n \n Mocking in answers can be addressed by 2K+ users and doesn't require mod-attention. Mocking in comments is another thing, and if I have the power I intend to do something about them when I see it happening. A mod-comment reminding people that such behavior is not encouraged here can do a lot to signal that such things shouldn't happen. Particularly egregious examples will be, if possible, removed.\n \n Dealing with the minimum standards issue is an ongoing process and is a hearts-and-minds thing. We've been doing some of that work here in Meta, and I'll happily continue to contribute in that. Being a moderator changes my role in the debate somewhat, but I hope to continue to be a good influence in the debates.\n\n\nRobert Moir\n\n\n Two most valuable cultural elements and two worst flaws of SF\n \n The sysadmin community as a whole is very much focussed on \"see a problem, fix a problem\" directness, which maps well to the ethos of the Stack Exchange sites idea to be a question and answer site. The downside of this is that it tends towards sarcasm and rude dismissal of people whose questions don't fit into that pattern. The BOFH stories on the register are funny because a lot of us recognise our own wishes at the end of a bad day in them, but its all too easy to forget the BOFH is a joke when you've had a bad day yourself.\n \n The second aspect of SF that I like is that the regular contributors are always willing to help both people asking and people answering questions - by answering questions, editing and improving answers and, yes, closing duplicates with a link to a previous question/answer. The downside of this is that its possible to become jaded after a while, and be a little too quick to pull the trigger to close a question or to edit one yourself rather than allow/guide the author to improve their statements by themselves.\n \n How moderators can boost these strengths and help deal with the weaknesses\n \n In all the above cases, both strengths and weaknesses, I think that the moderator tools might well add a few features to make it easier, but an experienced user of the site should already be leading by example; editing and commenting (with as light a touch as possible) and generally helping people to improve questions and answers themselves. \n \n One thing a moderator needs to remember is that they are in the limelight, so while experienced site users should be leading by example, any mistakes made by a moderator can generate far more ripples than those made by someone else. It isn't realistic to expect moderators to never make mistakes. It is realistic to expect them to remember they are moderators and think before using a moderator tool.\n \n This leads me back to encouraging people to do the right thing rather than forcing them - be firm and always be consistent, but use a light touch if possible and explain your actions as a moderator so that people will know why you acted and what they need to work on in the future. \n\n\nMark Henderson\n\n\n What do you see as the top two most valuable cultural elements of\n ServerFault?\n \n For the most part, we're people who\n actually give a shit about the\n problems that we're helping to solve.\n So many times when I'm googling for\n issues and I see forums (mainly\n TechNet and Expert Sexchange threads)\n where answering peoples problems are\n almost done rudely, and only done\n because whoever is doing it is\n required to do it to keep some sort of\n status. I have no idea whether or not\n that's true, but that's mostly the\n impression that I get. When I joined I\n specifically decided I wanted to get\n to 10k rep and then I would quit\n (because I had \"won\" the game). But\n it's many moons after I reached the\n 10k threshold and I'm still here, and\n I would be still be here if you took\n rep away completely.\n \n Secondly, I'm actually glad to say,\n this is mostly an impartial place (see\n my answer for the flaws of SF for a\n continuation of this!). People come to\n get an answer, and an answer is what\n they get. They (usually) don't get any\n \"That's stupid, you should just use\n Linux it's got that built in\", there's\n very little preaching and when people\n disagree, they usually agree to\n disagree. When there are people making\n others feel un-welcome, they are\n flagged into oblivion by the wider\n community.\n \n How will you perpetuate those cultural elements as a moderator?\n \n Honestly, the great thing about the\n community here is that there's not\n much a moderator needs to (or even can\n do) to let the site continue being a\n caring place. The community is a fluid\n thing but it seems to be that when new\n people join, they see the attitudes of\n those before them and continue this\n attitude, thus leaving a legacy for\n those that come later. Just as long as\n we clean up the few spills along the\n way, new users will have nothing to\n fear about here. This applies to both\n my favourite elements on SF - clean up\n the spills along the way and they\n won't continue to happen in the future\n (much).\n \n What do you see as the top two flaws in SF's culture at the present time?\n \n Server Fault is now at an age where\n cliques start to form, and this can be\n counter-productive in multiple ways:\n \n \n Comment spam can build up that's totally irrelevant to the question. I\n am guilty of this myself - leaving\n little 'in' jokes around the place for\n other grandfather users to see and\n have a little giggle about.\n It can be a barrier of entry to new users. Admittedly Server Fault\n overcomes a lot of these issues\n through its innovative design and\n process, but I remember when I first\n came to SF and I went to\n meta.stackoverflow - I felt like a\n complete outsider and really unwelcome. When I raised my concerns I\n was shot down and my question was\n long-since deleted. I know that at the\n time there are other (now departed) SF\n users who felt the same way. I really,\n really hope that SF does not go down\n that path. Particularly\n meta.serverfault. Everyone here should\n be made to feel welcome - and 99% of\n the time we do, but we need to make\n sure it stays that way.\n \n \n The other main flaw in SF (well, it's\n not really a \"flaw\" as such...) is\n that it's definately the 3rd of the\n trilogy sites, even though it was the\n 2nd site launched. If you look at\n Stack Overflow, there are questions\n and answers there that literally have\n a THOUSAND upvotes, and questions with\n dozens or even hundreds of votes are\n not uncommon. The only way a question\n or answer on this site EVER gets that\n kind of attention is when Jeff posts a\n link on twitter or codinghorror about\n it. The perceived lack of voting here\n has two issues:\n \n \n I realise that SU and SO have many more users than we do, and SO is one\n of the most popular websites in the\n world. We can never, ever even begin\n to think about matching that sort of\n popularity. For starters there are\n orders of magnitude more programmers\n than sysadmins in the world, but the\n lack of voting users can be\n dissapointing. I've seen stupid,\n stupid CW questions upvoted 40 times\n when a really great, thought out\n question gets 5kviews and a grand\n total of 2 upvotes. People who post\n GREAT questions and GREAT answers need\n to be rewarded appropriately, and I\n feel that they are not at the moment.\n Not enough of our users vote enough. I believe that upvotes are\n more imporant than downvotes, but ANY\n kind of vote is appreciated. I'm also\n an offender of this. I have proudly\n voted 2759 times (u:2516, d:243) which\n makes me one of the most proliferant\n voters on SF, but even I don't do\n enough voting. I've only run out of\n votes maybe 3 times since I joined.\n \n \n How would you address those cultural flaws as a moderator?\n \n I know this has been a very, very long\n speech, but this one is a short\n answer:\n \n I will vote more. A lot more. Even if\n I don't become a moderator, starting\n right now, I'm going to try and use up\n my daily votes at least once a week.\n \n This is more difficult than it\n sounds as 00:00 GMT is right in the\n middle of my work-day, so my votes\n roll over half-way through the day,\n and voting that many times in a single\n day would just mean voting\n meaninglessly\n\n\nSam\n\n\n What do you see as the top two most\n valuable cultural elements of\n ServerFault and how will you\n perpetuate those cultural elements as\n a moderator?\n \n This might seem like an obvious\n statement, but the most valuable thing\n we have is a community of users\n willing to answer people’s questions\n and not just with a quick answer. We\n have a collection of people willing to\n look at a question, apply their\n knowledge to it, and then go off and\n research a solution, often to very\n complex problems, and provide an\n answer to a person on the internet who\n they will likely never meet, or see\n how they benefit from their work,\n because they can.\n \n There is an easy way for moderators to\n help perpetuate this by making it easy\n for them to do so. Remove the spam and\n the advertisements that get in the\n way, help to clean up the\n inappropriate or misplaced questions,\n edit these questions to make sure they\n can reach the people best able to help\n them. If the moderators can help to do\n this, the users are able to focus on\n what really matters, quality answers.\n \n Another great point about Serverfault\n is that a lot of the time, moderators\n aren’t needed. People have invested so\n much time and effort into this site,\n that they are also invested in keeping\n the site clean and organised and\n editing, migrating or closing\n questions where it is needed. I also\n feel that by operating in this way\n users feel better when they have their\n questions edited or moved. It seems\n much less personal when 5 people have\n voted together to close or move your\n question than when a single superman\n jumps in and does it. I’m be much more\n inclined to consider that my question\n had problems if 5 of my peers agreed\n on that.\n \n There is an easy way for moderators to\n help perpetuate this, keep their\n fingers out of the pie! There are some\n tasks that a moderator should be very\n keen on dealing with, spam, abuse etc.\n But I feel a good moderator shouldn’t\n be visible to users until it is clear\n that they are needed. There is no call\n to use the mod hammer to close a\n question that will get closed by users\n (often with positive feedback to the\n user that asked the question), there’s\n no need for moderators to come in and\n make sweeping changes to a question\n when they know the users will help\n evolve this question over the time.\n Moderation is a power to be used\n lightly and honed over time, not a\n chain gun to be used on all that get\n in its way.\n \n What do you see as the top two flaws\n in SF's culture at the present time\n and how would you address those\n cultural flaws as a moderator?\n \n One of the increasingly common faults\n I have seen with the community is the\n fact that we can be somewhat elitist\n as to what questions we will answer.\n We look at a question that is badly\n worded, with spelling or grammar\n mistakes as being written by someone\n too lazy to make the effort, so why\n should we spend time answering it.\n However more and more of the time,\n these sorts of questions are from\n people whose first language is not\n English, or who are struggling in\n trying to put their thoughts into\n words, but are trying very hard to put\n together a question. \n \n We should be more accommodating in\n this area, particularly as high rep\n users and moderators, and spend some\n time helping these users clean up\n their questions and make them better,\n rather than jumping on the close\n button. I’m as guilty as the next\n person in this sometimes, and I need\n to do better at taking the time to try\n and establish what someone is trying\n to ask. If we can get this far, then\n the question has value and we can help\n by editing and formatting the question\n so that it gets good answers. No\n question should be written off just\n because it doesn’t read well at first\n glance. A moderator’s role should be\n as a guide, to spot these users that\n might be struggling and help and\n encourage them to write better\n questions. \n \n My final bad point is something we’ve\n all done at some point I’m sure. You\n see a question where you think “OMGZ\n how can they not know that” because\n the answer is so blindingly\n obvious..... to you. We’ve all learned\n so much over our careers that we can\n sometimes forget what it is like to\n not know the basics, especially those\n times when you know that the answer\n should be obvious, but you can’t get\n it. We’ve all been there, but now our\n heads are so full of the incredibly\n intricate solutions to complicated\n problems that we forget and we leave\n condescending comments or LMGTFY\n links. It has probably taken that user\n some courage to ask what they know is\n a simple question, but we make them\n feel bad about it.\n \n I’m by no means saying this is\n happening all the time, but we have\n all thought that way I’m sure, when\n we’re busy and stressed, but it’s not\n fair to that user. As a moderator I’d\n like to think that I can help dissuade\n this behaviour by leading by example\n and letting people know that snide\n comments and LMGTFY links don’t help.\n Along with reassuring the, often new,\n users that it’s ok to ask questions\n that might seem simple, because you\n can guarantee that they are not going\n to be the only ones who benefit from\n the answer. A moderator’s diamond adds\n some weight to your responses and it\n should be used for good.\n\n\nBen\n\n\n Best bits\n \n In my opinion the best two elements of Server Fault (and the\n reasons I registered as a user in\n fact) are the overwhelming sense of\n friendliness and willingness to help.\n I have registered on many internet\n forums in the past, and posting as a\n newbie I was often put down in some\n way by someone who had a high post\n count and was thus \"more important\"\n than me. My first posts were usually\n disagreed with and I wasn't made to\n feel particularly welcome. Here at\n Server Fault, I \"lurked\" for a while\n so I could get a feel for the place,\n and was bowled over by the sense of\n community and real friendliness, even\n by the high rep users (who on forums\n I'd experienced in the past I would\n generally consider to be jerks). When\n I had a problem I couldn't figure out,\n I was confident that when I posted it\n on Server Fault I would be met with\n some friendly and awesome answers by\n some incredibly clever people.\n \n As a moderator, I would continue to\n encourage this friendly behaviour and\n try to make Server Fault a better\n place by removing the \"noise\" posts we\n get (non-answers and spam). I want\n Server Fault to be the place for\n people in our profession to go to\n share their knowledge, and in my\n efforts to remove all the noise I hope\n to encourage even more professionals\n to join and participate.\n \n Worst bits\n \n As mentioned by the other candidates, we do seem to have a\n problem with inappropriate comments.\n It's not a major problem, but a\n problem that needs to be addressed\n nonetheless. I am certainly not\n playing totally innocent here - I have\n posted the odd snarky comment at the\n end of a long and hard day, but I\n usually deleted them after a few hours\n when I'd cooled down. I have since\n realised that such grumpy comments are\n unacceptable, and as a moderator I\n would work to remove such comments\n that poke fun at people or don't\n really add anything to the discussion.\n I would give gentle reminders of what\n comments are designed for, as people\n seeing a moderator discouraging\n something will be less inclined to do\n it themselves.\n \n Another problem is we can be very\n quick to jump on the close button. We\n need to figure out what the original\n poster really wants and try and edit\n the question to fit. Bad English and\n grammar can easily be fixed with an\n edit, and can really salvage a\n potentially good question. I have\n recently started to do this to poor\n questions that I see, and as a\n moderator I would continue this trend.\n Again, people seeing a moderator do\n this might be more encouraged to do it\n themselves, or at least not go\n straight for the close button and try\n and figure out what the question asker\n really wants.", "Just my $3.50, indexed for inflation:\n\nAny questions explicitly or implicitly asking about circumventing/violating an institutional or government policy are off topic for Server Fault. Period. Do not pass Go. Do not collect unemployment when fired for cause.\n\nI don't think we need to adjust the FAQ to clarify this -- It is implied in the first line:\nServer Fault is for system administrators and desktop support professionals, people who manage or maintain computers in a professional capacity… \n\nAs a community for PROFESSIONAL system administrators is is not our place to help others break local policy. We may think the policy is stupid. We may suggest that people work with their institution/government/whatever to change the policy, and we may even discuss circumvention techniques in chat/on twitter/on our own blogs, but as professionals addressing other professionals on the main site it is not appropriate for us to advise breaking local policy at someone else's organization, or to assist people asking questions in such activities. \n\nWhen questions are in a gray area we often ask for clarification in comments. If clarification isn't forthcoming within a few hours (or it becomes obvious the question is about circumvention with no legitimate technical/SA goals) the question gets zotted.\n\n\n\nWhat kind of \"policy circumvention\" questions might be allowed? I like Shane's example:\n\n\n \"My firewall blocks all outbound HTTP requests due to a policy requirement; how do I get WSUS/package manager to work?\"\n\n\nThis question is not \"how do I break my company's policy\", it is \"We have this policy (no HTTP outbound). We also have a business need for this piece of software (WSUS). Can I make WSUS work in the context of this policy, or do we need to craft exceptions?\"\n\n\n\nWhat kind of \"policy circumvention\" questions should not be allowed?\n\nMy employer only allows outbound SSH to corporate-controlled sites - What techniques can I use to bypass this block and SSH into my remote machines?\nNo -- the policy says \"No SSH\", and you're asking us how to do something your employer forbids. Quite probably for good (legal) reasons.\n\nMy employer blocks Facebook. How can I get on Facebook?\nNo -- C'mon, be serious. What's the business case for Facebook? MAYBE for the marketing department, in which case they can have IT craft a firewall/proxy/blacklist exception for the people who need it.", "My take for what it is worth. I see at least two very strong statements you make. I don't see strong statements as necessarily problematic; sometimes it is very important to take a stand. But stands often have to be defended.\n\nThe first very strong statement essentially summarized in your sentence:\n\n\n Math never cares what your social background is, it does not care what\n language you speak, nor will it ever discriminate.\n\n\nWhich (unless I am mistaken) relies on the assertion that mathematics is something discovered rather than constructed. Since not everyone shares this view, you may encounter opposition to this in your job search. I won't give a counter-argument, but if you get into a discussion of mathematics as objective, someone might ask you how the choices that make up the department's curriculum were discovered rather than culturally constructed (considering that this shapes what the students will be studying). If you say that don't see the choices of what to study as part of the objectivity of mathematics and leave it at that, you may be considered to have missed the point of the question.\n\nYou also make a strong statement that:\n\n\n \"[...] Math will provide an equal opportunity for all my college\n students to reach their goals.\"\n\n\n[emphasis mine] Consider how you will answer challenges to whether math can actually provide the opportunity you promise.\n\nI have seen very intelligent people I respect take very different and compelling views on diversity questions in mathematics, which tells me that it is a difficult set of questions. And some of it may come down to beliefs and values.", "Desk Setup\n\nHow does one work without a private workspace?\n\nThis is a great question and one I have been heavily considering recently, because I find myself in a similar position.\nI work in an environment which is somewhat open but have tons of distractions. I also have a walking path which means anyone walking by (of many) sees my monitors as well as causes distractions since we have barely 1/2 wall cubicles.\nThis beautiful ASCII illustration shows my desk arrangement:\n +----------+\n | |\n | |\n +----+--------------------| |\n | | | Additional\n | | | Path by |\n | | My desk | my desk |\n | | | |\n | +--------------------| |\n | | |\n | | |\n | Whiteboard sits here| |\n | | |\n | | |\n | +--------------------| |\n | | | |\n | | Colleagues desk | |\n | | | |\n | | | |\n +----+--------------------+----------+\n +------------------------------------------------------------------+\n | |\n | Main walking path with TONS of people walking daily |\n | |\n | |\n +------------------------------------------------------------------+\n\n\nNow, I also really like having a whiteboard at my desk. I use this all the time and had an extra at home which I wasn't using so I brought it in and mounted it like so:\n\nThe net effect this has is twofold. First, I have a whiteboard at my desk which is great. But second, I actually block anyone walking behind me on the main walking path from seeing my monitors unless they are quite tall.\n\nI'm not sure how the private cube mentality is &quot;perceived&quot; by others. Unfortunately perception is usually a determining factor for judgement.\n\nAll my coworkers love my setup, because a whiteboard is so helpful. The facilities guy hates it because it looks... hokey, but, everyone else likes it and I've gotten compliments from others about it. Plus the facilities guy actually is trying to find a cost effective but more aesthetically pleasing version anyways.\nPerception\nTo help with the perception element, I've spent time talking with nearly everyone around me about the &quot;needing to focus to be able to get work done as I'm an introvert&quot; discussion. This is the important thing to focus on - the things other people will relate to. Odds are most of your future cube-mates are going to go &quot;man I wish I was smart enough to think of that!&quot; or something like that. But only if you explain the why. My current boss knows this too.\nMost people generally can relate to the, &quot;distractions cause me problems working effectively&quot; question. Simply mentioning this, or asking coworkers, &quot;how do you deal with distractions?&quot; can make this a completely not awkward and easy conversation.\n\nHow to focus\nGet yourself:\n\nEarplugs (soft foam ones are most comfortable for long term use, learn how to put them in right - I'm not joking, putting them in this way is 10x as effective as what most people do)\nOver ear headphones, I wear these, if you don't like music get yourself more &quot;noise muffling&quot; types\nBaseball cap (like below works)\n\n\nYou can adjust the hat down in such a way that you do not see much in your peripheral vision but still see your monitors fine. If you have a natural &quot;wall&quot; on your desk tilt the cap sideways slightly to block the aisle next to you. Combined with a good set of headphones and earplugs, you can block a very large percentage of distractions this way.\nCombined, these three items lets me block all noise distractions and after a while you learn how to position your hat in such a way to block a considerable number of visual ones.\nLast, this might be obvious, but close out of email/IM/SE completely and you will nearly completely remove distractions.\nWhen I'm working like this I am completely in my own world and actually feel bad when people need me because I'm completely and utterly oblivious.", "If you are doing it for the enjoyment of writing, then just do it.\nWrite what you like, as you like, when you like.\nAn audience of real readers isn't required.\nOn the other hand, everyone likes a little appreciation now and again.\nIf you want appreciation, then you need real readers. To get real readers, you have to write things that other people want to read.\nWhat you can do is to write things that interest you, and that you think may interest someone else.\nIf you write a post about the cool embroidery scissors you bought with the stork shaped handles, then you are addressing your own interest in those scissors - but you are also addressing the people around the planet who collect such things.\nWhen you write about something that interests you, try to write it to address those people who may also be interested in that subject.\nTake the embroidery scissors as an example. Merely writing that you bought a pair of stork shaped scissors won't interest many people. Mention that they are embroidery scissors. Mention what you've learned about the history of the shapes of such scissors. Tell about how you came across the one you have and why you have it.\nEach detail adds keywords that the search engines will find. Each keyword means more people who will find their way to your blog. Maybe you bought your embroidery scissors at the souvenir shop in a castle in France. That detail might attract people who don't know about embroidery scissors but do know the castle because they intend to visit it on their next vacation - and now they also know about embroidery scissors because they read your mention of the castle.\nWhat I'm trying to say is that you should write things that interest you but write so that it is also of interest to others.\nAs many people as there are in this world, you can bet that anything that interests you will also interest someone else. Address those shared interests, and people will (eventually) find their way to what you've written.\n\nAs for being ignored:\nJust because no one comments or otherwise interacts with your writing, it doesn't have to mean that no one is interested.\nI've been writing a blog for the last year or so.\nIn that time, I've gotten a handful of responses (comments or &quot;thumbs up.&quot;) Truly, no more than 20 responses.\nThat's disheartening.\nOn the other hand, I use the Google &quot;Search Console&quot; and the Google &quot;Analytics&quot; to see how often people visit my pages.\nThe &quot;Search Console&quot; tells you how many times people have found your pages using the Google search.\nThe &quot;Analytics&quot; tells you how many times your pages have been accessed from all sources. It also tells you how much time people spend on each page.\nA summary of my blog for the last year:\n\n8940 page views.\nAverage time spent on each page: 2 minutes and 20 seconds.\n2650 clicks on Google search.\nLess than 20 comments or other interactions.\n11.6% of the people who visit my blog once come back again later.\nPeople who visit my blog view an average of two pages per visit.\n\nIf I were judging the &quot;reach&quot; of my blog by just the interactions, I'd have to say there's nobody interested in what I'm doing.\nWith the other sources of information, I know that a lot of people are finding and reading my blog. Since they come back, I also know that they find it entertaining or useful in some way.\nI'm not writing a blog to be an author.\nI started that blog because I write software in my free time, and I was disappointed in just how few people found it on GitHub. The blog started as a way to generate interest in my software.\nI'm also active on the &quot;Electrical Engineering&quot; Stack Exchange. Many of my blog posts start out with someone asking a question over on EE. I'll often answer there, then do some further experiments (or make a gadget inspired by the question or the answers) and write a blog post about it. The blog post is then about something that interests me, and I know it interests at least a few other people because somebody asked and somebody else answered on the EE stack.\nThe blog is about things that I do. Most of the posts involve either software or electronics hardware (or electronics concepts.) I try to make them informative and entertaining.\nAt any rate, I'm not trying to be an author. I'm just sharing things that interest me with other people who may be interested in the same things.\n\nI do not know how Quora or Medium work, or what facilities they give you for monitoring how many people read your posts. I use GitHub Pages with embedded tracking from Google so that I can see real usage information.\nTry seeing what statistics those sites can give you about your readers. You may be surprised at how many people actually read your stuff but don't interact with you.\n\nSomething else you might try is to be more active on the Stack Exchange sites. There are many stack sites with different subjects. Maybe there's one that interests you. You can answer questions that interest you and ignore ones that don't interest you - and you know that at least one person is interested in what you write.", "I am doing my best to correct people as I see them, by either leaving a comment explaining how it works, or pointing people to the FAQ and the new user thread.\n\nOn the other hand I personally am being very brutal with my voting (46 downvotes) because we're in beta and I love the signal to noise ratio so far and I think this is an opportunity to set the standard for what a good SE should be like. I'm not even an expert and I run into wrong Ubuntu information on the internet everywhere, so I look at this site as a way to reverse the boat so people can love to use their computers with Ubuntu instead of being frustrated.\n\nI think most people just are not used to SE and when we explain how it works people seem to correct themselves and enjoy the site and rock on. \n\nAlso, I think it's much easier to be tough early on and then ease up than it is to start allowing sloppy questions/answers and then try to clean it up after the fact. Also, I still think people think this is just another forum which can be confusing (there have been 2 horribly off-topic questions today for example).\n\nMaybe we can say something in the FAQ that a downvote isn't something to take personally and to think of it as a nudge in the right direction.", "In my personal experience, there are 2 kinds of people who tend to ask such obvious questions.\n\n\nThose who are lazy and want you to do all their work.\nThose who are completely clueless and don't know how to even start working on a solution.\n\n\nNot everyone always fits into those categories. Someone could have had a bad day, some stressful situation at home or have something on their mind that makes it hard to think clearly.\n\nIn either situation, you should not present them with a solution. They'll remember your helpfullness, get used to you solving their problems and ask you more frequently for help instead of working to find a solution on their own.\n\nInstead, make it clear you won't tell them. The easiest way is to tell them\n\n\n I don't remember the page, but it's written in the first half of our assignment. I'm currently working on another topic / question so you'll have to find it yourself.\n\n\nOr in another situation\n\n\n I don't remember the exact wording, so you should look that up in our assignment paper, in case I misinterpreted anything.\n\n\nThis way you are polite, indicate that you are willing to help them, but either unwilling or unable to help them with this particular question. It should also seperate the lazy people from the clueless ones. A lazy person most probably notices that they cannot expect you to just hand over the solution and they either start working on their own or go bother another person. Or they might openly ask you to give them the solution, in which case you can decline more or less politely.\n\nThe clueless person is less easy to deter. In my experience, they'll often ask you to stick around and be available for the next question, and the next, and the next. They are the ones asking \"What did you search for?\" and \"Where did you click?\". People like that are often called \"help vampires\" because they suck you dry of energy and patience. \n\nThe best way to cope with a help vampire is to help them help themselves. Telling them \n\n\n I googled for \"standard letter porto\"\n\n\nmay help them right now, but in the long run they'll be as clueless as ever. They need not learn the solution, but how to find a solution in the first place. Tell them how to break the assignment down.\n\n\n We're supposed to send a letter to X. For that you need the actual letter, an envelope and a stamp. You can ask Google \"How much does it cost to send a letter?\" and in the answers you'll see that it's called letter porto and how much the standard letter porto is.\n\n\nIt will take some time, but slowly they should learn the very basics of how to break an assignment down into manageable tasks.\n\nIf they stick to their help vampire attitude, you can tell them\n\n\n I already explained to you how to search for that, at least three times. I have my own work to do here and if I hold your hand at every step, I won't be able to finish my own work.\n\n\nThis is more than a simple \"no, I won't help you\". It shows them that their questions have negative consequences for other people. Some help vampires start reflecting more before asking for help, others might not.\n\n\n\nI advice against the \"asking questions back\" approach. The idea is that you ask the other person questions so that the answers they give eventually answer their own question. I've seen this approach backfire spectacularily and in the worst case the asker will feel patronized and insulted.\n\nYou cannot know the train of thought of your counterpart. The questions you ask might lead them to completely diffetent answers or simply to the reply \"If I knew that I wouldn't ask you.\"\n\nI've always had better results with telling people how to solve the task step by step instead of manipulating them into solving it and then expecting them to realize and remember how they did it.", "To make it easier for potential clients to find me, I:\n\n\nDetermine how my target market will find clients.\nMake sure I am visible in those places.\n\n\nIn my case, my target market will either do a Google search or they will use a referral. In the first case, I will at times use Google ad words localized to my area to make myself more visible. (But in my case this can get a bit pricey.) \n\nOther target markets may do things differently, so that's why understand how your clients will look for you is so important.\n\nI try to keep up with my referral network. I have lunch regularly with people who are good at referring me to their contacts. And I try to expand it by attending events where I will meet potential clients and connectors. My target market is small business owners, so I joined my local chamber of commerce. \n\nI also contact former clients to see how things are going and if there are new opportunities with them.\n\nIn my case, Craigslist would be a poor source of leads. People using craigslist tend to be tire kickers and cheap, and those are not clients I'm interested in.", "Being a mod is sort like being a police officer. They have to deal with stupidity all the time so it is easy to get bitter over time. The people they deal with on the whole might not be stupid, but even then they see the stupid side of people. Because of the power police have though, it is very important that they never give into the temptation to just smack people upside the head -- the same is true of mods. Do you think you have this temperment?\n\nDefinitely. I have long experience being in a position to smack heads and know how to not do it. The 'therapeutic tap' can be useful as a one-time redirection to get someone on track, but never do it out of frustration.\nOne thing all mods need to keep in mind is that all comments and meta-answers we make hold more weight than a mere high rep user would. It is Official Communication, so those exchanges need to be the paragon of professionality.\n\nIf elected, it's possible you will receive some criticism of your decisions from time to time, sometimes quite vehement criticism, which you may feel is unjustified, how will you handle this?\n\nIf you're at all active with moderation, this is a certainty. The key is to remain calm, and be aware that every action you take can be criticized so you only do actions you can defend. When called upon to defend, be in tune enough to the community that the community does your defense for you before you notice the meta-post, or if you see it first defend with calmness and sympathy for the aggrieved.\n\nYou see a question that's borderline appropriate for the site. It's got no flags, and two close votes. What do you do?\n\nWait for more close-votes or a flag. 2 isn't enough to hammer unless it's obvious. If it is time sensitive for some reason, run it by either the VTC or CommsRoom chatrooms for more opinions (and votes).\n\nAs there is a meta for all the sites on meta.StackOverflow, have you been active there already and how do you see your role there as a member of this site? If you see a role at all?\n\nIt is our role to keep abreast of changes to the environment (new rep requirements, badges, rep-limited features) which requires at least monitoring MSO. When there are structural problems, it is our role to push for things on MSO since we have a relationship with the overall SE community through our mod-ship.\n\nYou're the sole closer of a question using your mod-hammer. The OP of the question posts on meta asking it to be re-opened. How much convincing do you need to reverse your decision (e.g. 5 users agree with the op, or 1 mod, or nothing because they were polite)?\n\nIf I una-hammered something, there is always a strong reason why. Though, 95% of the questions showing only my name on the Closed By line were brought to my attention by flags. However, I am but one vote. If two of our proven community members says they thing it actually has a home here, I'll listen. We have a 'reopen' mechanism for a reason, and that can work via MSF posts as easily as actual Reopen votes.\n\nThe quality of questions in terms how professional or advanced they are comes up again and again on meta. Joel answered when that came up once with:\n\n&quot;There are basically two ways discussion groups can go. They can stick with the same people (who are learning and getting smarter) or they can stick with the same subject. If they stick with the same people, the only way to keep them entertained is to get more and more esoteric until you have a site where nobody can get useful information except the 14 old-timers who have been around since the beginning. This is nice for the 14 old-timers, but doesn't make the Internet a better place. If you stick with the same subject, eventually the old-timers get bored. That's a better outcome, I think. I think the old-timers would be better served by finding a new area to learn about that's challenging and interesting.&quot;\n\nDo you agree with him on this and how do you determine if a question is too basic?\n\nI agree, since I've seen it happen. In our case it's a bit trickier since we have a well searchable database of historic questions so dupe-closing will get ever more common as the DB grows.\nPersonally, as a voter not a moderator, I'm more tolerant of basic questions than the community seems to be at the moment. I'll answer them. This is why I keep having answers migrated to SuperUser.\nAs a moderator I only action basic questions after they've received significant community feedback against them in the form of close votes and flags.\n\nDo you tend to view all (or most) questions that are posted or do you stay mostly within your favorite tags?\n\nAs I said when I took this job, by being elected the community has asked me to put moderation ahead of traditional participation in the form of answers and close-voting. My current day-job has me a lot less bored than my previous one, so my time for SF is greatly restricted from what it once was. Because of this, I make time for handling the flag-queue but do not make time to peruse questions.\nThis is a key point. Moderators are 'human exception handlers', not the Guardians of Propriety to whom Concerned Citizens forward complaints of offenders. By sifting every question on the site as they show up I can handle obviously-misplaced content faster than our high-rep users can get to them. However, we already have a dedicated group of people monitoring all new content and they're quite vocal with close-voting and flags. I merely expedite their actions once they've sifted things for me.\nThe hammer is best used for edge cases that wouldn't otherwise get handled, but should be handled. And I don't action edge-cases until at least one other person has said it needs actioning.\nI would like to view all questions, but I simply do not have time. When I have time for answering, I'll look at the front page, look at the interesting stuff, hit a few of the tags I follow to see if there is anything unloved, and then move on.\n\nHow will you cope with pressure from visitors who don't understand how the site works? I see a lot of people say in response to another question that they will listen to others, which is right, but how will you deal with a large number of people who complain about a closed question that is off topic - I can find more than 10 people who hate to see licence questions closed as dups of our canonical licence question.\n\nThere are two questions here, how to deal with loud but un-clued users about how SF works, and how to handle dissent against what was previously a settled topic.\nI find that one-on-one with new, engaged, but unclued users is a great way to help foster understanding. That can be in the form of brief comment-exchanges, or in actual chat. We've had a few people drop into chat to question how the site works which works... uh... interestingly.\nGo into chat in the mein of honest inquiry and you'll get happily helped. Go into chat with indignation that things aren't working the way they should, there will be mocking.\nAs for the second topic, that is a sign that we need to have a meta-conversation about the topic again. Sizeable dissent is a sign that the one-size-fits-most answer we've identified doesn't actually fit most, and we need to change something. Whether that's better defining the topical/off-topical line or which sub-cases are not Too Broad/Too Localized, that needs to happen.\n\nYou see a user who generally posts good, useful answers, however they are being rude and offensive to some people in comments, particularly what you might call &quot;less difficult questions&quot;. The user has already been warned about their behaviour but that seems to have made no difference. What do you do now?\n\nYou may think you know who this is talking about, there are more of them than you think.\nThis user is Not Being Nice. The Mod Notice/banhammer schedule:\n\nNotify them that their behavior is bad and needs to change. If this goes on yada yada.\nOne day or seven day suspension. Depends on the offense and how frequent a participant they are.\nOne month suspension. They'll notice that.\nOne year suspension.\n\nSo far no one has come back after a year-ban.\n\nSysadmins tend to get stereotyped with a holier-than-thou attitude. Do you feel you fall into this stereotype (in general)? Why/Why not?\n\nI try hard not to. If my users won't come to me with problems because they're afraid they'll be yelled at or made to feel stupid, I won't find out about problems I need to know about.\n\nI think moderators, besides fulfilling the day to to day tasks, also need to set a higher example in terms of being respectful to users more than your average user (at least, ones they don't already have a good familiarity with). Is that something you have already or done, or would be willing to do in the future if you are elected as a moderator?\n\nCan and have. The only snark I do is in chat. I've extended this to my blog since I have a good number of readers from the SF community.\n\nHow do you feel about old (say, more than 12 months old) content that is now off-topic due to an FAQ revision? If one user went and flagged 44 posts in 10 minutes on posts from circa 2009 stating them as off-topic, do you act on the flags?\n\nThis is an ongoing debate, and hopefully there has already been meta-discussion on these topics. If there hasn't, then one needs to be started now. I'll mark one of those flags as 'unhelpful' with a custom notice of 'see this meta question', and then leave the rest. That way other mods will know that we're holding off on actioning those 44 flags until after some community feedback. It'll royally screw our &quot;average flag handling time&quot;, but better that than mistakenly nuke content.\nThe worst method is to 'unhelpful' all of those flags and then do a meta post, as that will drop someone with over 600 flag-rank to under 200. They will be 'unappreciative'.\n\nDo you think you will be more active if granted mod status? If so, would you see it as an opportunity to promote the site? If so, are there other things you think you could do to promote/improve the site?\n\nThis was asked last year, and I think I lived up to it. I will be as active, just less visible with it. Fewer questions and answers, more flag-handling and conflict resolution.\nI'm also an active blogger (see profile for link) through which I promote SF related stuff. I also get ModSwag, for sharing at technical conventions. LISA was my first, and I passed out quite a few ServerFault cards.\n\nWhat is the biggest problem that we have within the SF community?\n\nFAQ-evangelicalism. Which we're covering already.\n\nHow much interaction have you had with the dev team and SE staff?\n\nAs a mod, quite a bit. When SF needs a dev to do something (such as change the contents of the FAQ, or burninate tags) it's us that rousts up the dev to go get it done. They hold regular chat-casts for moderators which I try to make when possible (usually US hours, which makes it tricky for antipodeans like Mark).\n\nA question (clear, has all revelant technical information) asks how to route some traffic around a firewall. The asker mentions that he has no control over the firewall itself. Do you close the question with an explanation of why you think it's wrong? Close with a harsh word? Destroy the asker's account? Answer the question?\n\nAs a community, we've decided to close policy circumvention questions unless the asker is clear that they're not actively circumventing policy.\n\nWhat do you feel should be done with homework questions?\n\nAs a community, we feel they fall afoul of &quot;...in a professional capacity&quot; so they should be closed.\nAs a person, I feel we're missing an opportunity for education.\n\nDo you think we close questions too quickly that can be salvaged with some editing? If so, can you think of a way to combat this?\n\nMore moderators with more time on their hands. We close a lot of questions, sometimes I have time to edit a VLQ flag into something answerable, but a lot of the time I don't. If it's just an English literacy problem crossed with overly pedantic readers (&quot;there is no question there&quot;), that's a pretty easy fix.\n\nThing 1: No Safties on the Mod Hammer\nOne thing that the StackExchange team is quite clear about is that Thou Shalt Not Go On Delete Binges Without Community Approval, and it is best if you do it in a group and not just lone-Mod it. I made this exact mistake when I first got my diamond, and is has been made clear to me where my errors lay.\nGetting your diamond does not mean you have a license to kill old/busted/invalid content. Community oversight is paramount. In fact, it is best to do as several people have done and to identify some Data.stackexchange.com queries that identify bad content, have people validate that it does indeed return bad content with few false positives, and only unleash the Mod-Weedwhacker after all of that has gone through meta.\nSecondly, weedwhacking deprives people of valuable, valuable flag-rank. We had enough low-hanging fruit for a single Marshal-badge earner, everything left are edge cases or stuff superseded by FAQ changes.\nThis applies just as much for Closes as Deletes, by the way.\nThing 2: Decorum Uber Alles\nAs a moderator, you don't get the luxury of cussing people out. Occasional slips need to be apologized for. We do deliver sternly worded warnings, but these warnings need to be done in a professional tone using words that don't have high emotional resonances with them. Moderator Notices are the big-gun on this, but this also applies to corrective-comments when you're trying to adjust behavior.\nThing 3: User Reputation Management\nAnytime a mod does something to a question or answer it affects user reputation. Migrating a question with answers removes those answers from the answerer's rep-chart when they next get recalculated. Deleting a question removes everyone's reputation (including negatives). Locking a question prevents further rep-earning. Protecting a question prevents brand new users from contributing. ComWiki removes everyone's rep-earning.\nThis, by the way, is why the Historical Significance lock came into existence; for questions that should go away, but are too heavy in reputation-significance to delete. It's a compromise.\nPeople work hard for their rep points. People notice a lot when their rep drops a thousand points because you deleted a question/answer that had 100 upvotes on it.\nThe more rep-weight a piece of content has, the more certain you have to be of your justifications for removing that piece of content.", "First off, it's worth mentioning that everybody has these \"blind spots\" or gaps in their knowledge. Nobody can know everything, and some of the smartest people I've met are very open about that fact. I think a big part of being a good programmer is being comfortable with the unknown. What makes a good programmer isn't that they can write code, it's that they can learn how to write code.\n\nIn that regard, a self-learner already has a lot going for them. Because it's not really about memorizing stuff: it's more about the ability to do research, consult documentation, try stuff out, and see what happens. So the best thing somebody can learn is the ability to learn, if that makes sense.\n\nI'll also say that for me, the thing that really took my knowledge to the next level was when I started answering questions. So I'd say your recommendation of checking out posts on Stack Overflow is on the right track, but I'd encourage novice and intermediate programmers to go a step further and try to answer questions as well. If Stack Overflow seems overwhelming (it was for me at first), then maybe join a forum and start answering questions there. \n\nIf you're only familiar with if statements, then start answering questions about if statements. Eventually you'll see a question that also involves a for loop, so to answer that question you do some research on for loops. Then you start answering for loop questions, and eventually come across a question about functions... That's a contrived example, but the general flow is pretty much exactly what I experienced. Even after a formal education, it really opened my eyes up to how much I didn't know!\n\nFind a community, share your work, talk about programming. This is one way the gaps get filled in with a formal education, so it stands to reason that this would help with a self-learner as well.", "I have depression and anxiety. I had it for years and it took me a very long time for me to finally be able to reach out and see a therapist for help. \n\nFirst of all, you need to know that only one conversation probably won't make your SO willing to see a therapist. There is a lot of stigma around therapists and mental health and it won't go away overnight. If you want your SO to seriously consider the option of seeing a mental health professional, you need to normalize this subject for him. Make it clear that having mental health issues is nothing to be ashamed of, and that having anxiety issues is just like having a cough that won't go away.\n\nIf you are not doing it already, here are a few things that you should start doing:\n\n\nStart talking about your mental health. \n\nLike me, my mother has depression. However, she never talks about it. She never talks about how bad she sometimes feels or how worried her cancer made her. As a child, this behavior lead me to believe that I should never, ever, talk about bad things to her. That not being okay was a sign of weakness and that it was a very shameful thing. \n\nDon't do that to your SO. Talk to him about the bad things. Be vulnerable with him. Ask for help when you need it. Talk to him about asking other people for help. This way, he might start realizing that it's okay to need help and that it's okay to ask for it.\nDo not make jokes about people needing a therapist. Do not make jokes about people being \"crazy\". And if someone makes such a joke around you, make sure to tell them that such a joke is not okay.\n\nWhen I was little, I thought that psychologists were for \"crazy people\" and that being one of those people was very bad. As such, it was really clear to me that I should never go see one. Because, in my mind, it was better to be dead than crazy. And psychophobic jokes about \"crazy people\" was what led me to that conclusion.\n\nDon't let your SO believe that it's better to be dead than \"crazy\". It's not. Having bad mental health is okay. Being \"crazy\" is okay. Depressed people have value. Bipolar people have value. Schizophrenia people have value. Having mental health issues doesn't end your life. You can still have a job, a home, several loved ones and anything else you can dream of.\n\n\n\n\nNow, here are some of the things I needed the most to hear before I was finally able to ask for help:\n\nBut please, note that this will not convince your SO the first time he hears it. He will need time to process it and, probably, to hear it again before being able to fully accept it.\n\n\n Yes, you could keep going without seeing a therapist. But why suffer when seeing one might make you feel better?\n\n\n.\n\n\n There is nothing wrong with taking medication. People with bad sight wear glasses. So, why shouldn't people with depression take medication?\n\n\n.\n\n\n It's okay to not be okay. It's okay to need help. You are not weak from asking for help. Asking for help is one of the most difficult things I ever did. Recognizing that you need help and asking for it makes you brave, not weak. Please, ask for help when you need it.\n\n\n\n\nHere are some other things that you might need to know:\n\nWhen I'm feeling bad, I always forget how I was happy before. It's like happiness never existed in my life. And when I'm feeling well, it's the opposite. I forget how bad I was and I always minimize it. \n\nYou said that you tried talking to your SO at a moment when he was feeling okay. Try the opposite. It took me years to finally ask for help because my \"unwell me\" was too unwell to make a phone call and my \"well me\" made me feel like I didn't really need the help.\n\nWhen I finally reached for help, it was for two major reasons:\n\n\nI was truly convinced that there was no shame in asking for help, even if I ended up not really needing some.\nI had gathered concrete evidence that I, indeed, needed help and was not exaggerating how bad I felt. This \"concrete evidence\" took the form of a diary where I would write when I wasn't well. Then, by reading it when I was well, I was able to truly see how unwell I was. I was able to trust myself again and knew that, indeed, this part of me needed help.\n\n\n\n\nMore reading:\n\n\nA somewhat related answer about \"How to get my wife to accept bisexuality before our daughter comes out of the closet?\"\n\n\n \n Lead by example\n Normalize the subject\n Share your knowledge\n \n\n\n\n\n\nAs a side note, please know that you often need to try several different therapists before finding one that suits you. It's hard, draining and frankly discouraging, but it's always worth it in the end.", "To an extent this is an XY problem.\n\nGeneral Advice for Getting Questions Answers When You Can't Afford a Bounty\n\n(and even if you can!)\n\nBounties are a secondary measure for attracting additional attention to a question. They are not initially available (you must wait a minimum of 48 hours after a question is asked to attach a bounty to it), and they are not necessarily more effective than other \"free\" measures.\n\nIf you have the rep, bountying your question(s) is perfectly valid. But here are some other ways to get answers, which you should try first (and, where applicable, keep trying even during or after a bounty):\n\n\nMake sure you have a good question. If you can, edit your good question into a great question (or a better one). Do additional research on the topic and report your findings. (If your research leads you to a solution, you can answer your own question.)\nUpdate your question with information obtained over time, whether that informaton be a result of newer research you've done, or details you remembered of discovered, or the answers to questions other people asked you in comments, or information that explains how existing answers (and other, similar questions) don't fully solve your problem.\nAsk for help in chat. The sum of all your reputation on all Stack Exchange sites has to be at least 20, for you to post messages in chat. (Otherwise, you can enter chat rooms and read their contents but the system doesn't let you post.) You definitely meet this requirement; you can use chat.\n\nThe proper way to ask for help with a question in chat is to:\n\n\nBe polite. (Prefer \"Can someone help me with ...?\" to \"Assistance now, minions!\")\nLet people know (with a link) what question you need help with.\nUsually, give a brief summary of the issue, to help people decide if they should look at your question. That is, to help them figure out if they're interested, and if they think they might be able to help.\nAsk for help in chat sometime when you have the ability to stick around and respond to people's questions and comments there. It's best to avoid asking for help in chat and then immediately going AFK for a significant time. It's especially best to avoid posting a link to your question in chat and then immediately leaving the chat room. Help people help you.\n\nShare your question with people outside Ask Ubuntu, if you think they would be interested in it. For example, you could mention it on your blog. If you use social networking services like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, you could post there. If you use microblogging services like Identi.ca or Twitter, you could post it there. Someone on the Internet might see it, check out your question, and realize they can answer it.\nYou don't (yet) have enough reputation to start a bounty on any of your questions, but there are people who do. You can ask if anyone is interested in bountying any of your questions. You shouldn't expect that anyone will ...but often someone will if they think the question deserves more attention and would benefit substantially from a bounty.\n\nChat is one good place to ask for this, but I'd advise trying to get help from people in chat before asking if anyone in chat wants to bounty your question. That's not a hard-and-fast rule, though.\n\nOf course, you should not angrily demand tribute from others in the form of bounties. (Not that you would ...I just want to make this answer as broadly applicable as possible.) Also, it's probably better to ask a group of people if anyone's interested in putting a bounty on your question, than to ask a specific individual. But your mileage may vary.\n\nI looked at your questions and I don't think they would likely benefit that much from bounties. So I tried to contribute in other ways besides bountying, like commenting and answering. However, I have already expressed interest in your questions (I am doing so right now). So please feel free to approach me to ask if I'd be interested in bountying. Unless something changes, such as more time passing without an answer, I'd likely say no, but I won't be offended and I trust you won't be either. You can contact me by saying something in main chat with @EliahKagan in it. I may also be able to help further in ways other than bountying.\n\n\nFurther Reading\n\n\nHelp Center > What should I do if no one answers my question?\nHelp Center > What is a bounty? How can I start one?\n(includes information about when to bounty, what to do first, and alternatives)\nhttp://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/269/what-happens-if-i-dont-get-a-satisfying-answer\nhttp://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/6449/how-can-i-bump-a-question-if-i-already-have-all-the-information-and-cant-bounty\nhttp://meta.askubuntu.com/questions/6347/what-to-do-if-your-question-on-askubuntu-does-not-get-answered\nHow to get answers for sure\nGetting attention for unanswered questions?\n\n\nMy Thoughts About Your Particular Questions\n\nEven if you had oodles of reputation, it seems to me that your questions, as they stand now, don't need bounties to be answered (and I'm not sure if they did have bounties that it would help much).\n\nThis, this, and that are already answered and you've marked an answer as accepted; I'm guessing those are not the questions you're looking to get answered.\n\nThis one may be a duplicate of this big general question. That big question is, in a sense, two questions in one, because some of its answers are about how to continue using Ubuntu after a freeze, while others are about how to troubleshoot a freeze (which is what you're interested in, if I understand your question correctly). Some of the answers might try to address both.\n\n\nIf you have gone through all the answers there and tried all the suggestions in all the answers that may be applicable to your situation, then you should definitely update your question with details about everything you tried and everything that happened. That will make your question much more complete and should facilitate an answer; at that point, if you don't get an answer, a bounty would likely help a lot.\nIf you haven't gone through all those answers and tried everything that might be applicable to your situation, then your question is a duplicate of that question. We might close it. But we can reopen it if it turns out not to be a duplicate for any reason; in particular, if you then edit it with information about everything you've tried, that might render it no longer a duplicate. Editing a closed question automatically causes it to be considered for reopening.\n\n\nThis has recently been answered (after you posted this meta question). Both answers seem reasonable and like they may help (though I may be biased, having written one of them).\n\nThis, this, and that appear to be bugs. It might be hard for someone here to give an solution to them ...but if you report them as bugs, you may be able to get help that way (and at least you will have helped make Ubuntu better). See my comments on those questions, for details.\n\nIf you decide to report one or more of those problems as bugs and you've read the bug reporting documentation (take a look at this question too), and you still need help gathering information and creating the bug report, it's definitely appropriate for you to ask for help with that in chat (though as always, it's possible no one will be available to help).\n\n\nIn particular, if you wish, feel free to ask me for help reporting those or any other bugs. I love bugs. :) I cannot promise I'll be able to help, but if I think I can and I have time, I'll try. My guess is that my attitude in this matter is not rare.\nWhile it's okay to politely solicit help reporting bugs in chat, and questions about how to report bugs that are not themselves bug reports or requests for solutions to bugs are on-topic, questions that in effect are just bug reports in the wrong place are off-topic. (Occasionally a request for a workaround to a bug is considered on-topic, but usually not, since usually even workarounds belong in the bug report instead, where affected users can see and use them.)\n\n\nThis question would probably benefit from a bounty, but I don't think it needs one. It's an interesting problem, and there's more information you can provide that should help shed light on the cause of the problem (see my recent comment there). Hopefully a solution will be discovered soon. If you provide more details but still no solution is found soon, I'd definitely consider putting a bounty on that question.\n\nGood luck!", "as I see, views on new question are rare, tor stackexchange is dead. here is my amateur answer:\n\nI don't think tor servers/nodes are recording logs, they just forward traffic (TCP packets), the same as Internet Exchange Nodes, NSA can catch traffic at IXP but no logs. therefore you use tor software and you don't log to any server and tor software care that server cannot log your IP address (tor software connect through some circuit, I don't know how it looks and how software choose circuit, entry node, etc). that's difference between tor network and let's say classic proxy network, classic proxy can record your IP while Tor server doesn't record your IP. although I think, admin of entry node/server MAYBE can snitch your traffic but not your IP. \n\nexit nodes are public, they are not hidden, if police want, they can shut down all of them, if cops make international cooperation. anonymization of internet is privacy and privacy is guaranteed by the law although the law is worse than before, the law is changed in interest of government to spy mass of people under excuse of paranoia about terrorism. so, you didn't study law, therefore you ask yourself why cops simply don't shut down all tor servers, then you can ask why they allow vpn, proxy and similar? because if you want to spy somebody, you must ask judge for permission, they don't have any right to spy mass of people. they do it unofficially, although in America they made this famous NSA court that allowed them to destroy privacy. \n\nso, if you work in post office and you cut my envelope and read my letter, under excuse of this or that, I can make court case against post office and get money for damaging my privacy. it is the same with internet, therefore they spy people secretly, unofficially, only NSA has their secret court/judge. many people make case against facebook for participation in PRISM spying program. Just justice is slow, maybe after 10 years they will win.", "When asked what languages I know I'm tempted every time to say \"all of\n them and none of them\". I'm awful at self-promoting because arrogance\n irritates me and I would never want to tread there. But, truly, I feel\n no language is out of bounds.\n\n\nMany people I have heard say that or something similar are the same ones that when asked to create an application in C# decide to do it in VB or Java because \"they are all the same.\" The requirement is to use certain languages that the company has standardized on. When the company asks that question they are interested in your familiarity and comfort in using those languages.\n\nAnd while languages like C# and Java are very similar I have known people who could not make the transition easily. They wrote very sloppy C# and kept saying how much better java was because of certain libraries they knew.\n\n\n How can I convey on a resume that programming languages aren't\n important?\n\n\nYou shouldn't. The business is looking for people someone to program in the languages they need. The job of a resume is to show your skills so that the business can see if your skills match their needs. No one is going to read a paragraph of you explaining how you can pick up any language with just a little effort. They want to know what you can do on day one starting off so that even if you never advance you are not going to be a total waste if you do not work out. \n\nI specialize my resume skills to those requested in the job listing. I classify them from beginner to expert. And I make sure that I include as many of the skills on my resume as they have listed in the job description.", "I think the people who compliment you mean well, and we should assume good intent.\nComplimenting your weight loss doesn't necessarily imply insulting others who couldn't do so. It's only meant to compliment you for the hard work you put into it, albeit it is only their assumption you did so.\nMost people struggle to either gain or lose weight. It's only natural to assume that you worked hard to lose your weight. It's quite less common to see people like you who lose or gain weight for other reasons.\nI think it's best that you not make it awkward for them, and simply thank them or inform them what the reality is.\n\nThank you, but it wasn't my efforts that got rid of the weight. It was my (reasons in brief).\n\nAnd if they understand you, they will respond with &quot;I see&quot; or something and maybe ask you further questions to know more about your reasons.\n\nI lost too much weight during my initial hostel days, and some people thought I was working hard to achieve that, but in fact, I was working hard to do the opposite. The food I got from the hostel mess wasn't to my liking and I had no proper meals for many days, merely surviving with snacks and hotel foods. I would mention it to my relatives when they see me, that I didn't lose weight on purpose. And they would be like, &quot;Oh, I didn't realize how difficult it would be for you there.&quot; (I grew up in the Middle East, and it was my first time attending a college in India, and it was difficult to fit in.)", "Zanna's Answers\n\n\n \n How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?\n \n\n\nI think this is a really difficult situation, but it would mainly depend on my relationship with that user. I usually manage to have positive relationships with people I can respect, and that makes it a lot easier to resolve issues without acrimony. I guess would try to help that user find ways to avoid getting into arguments and let them know that, much as their work is valued and appreciated, it doesn't give them a pass to treat other people badly.\n\n\n \n How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?\n \n\n\nI would go over the circumstances again, since when I think other people have made a mistake it's usually me. If I was still confused, I'd just ask them about it so they can point out what I've missed. If it turns out that the closure/deletion was really wrong, it could easily be fixed. It's not uncommon for questions closed by mods to get reopened by the community here especially after the OP edits, and also not that rare to find an answer deleted by a mod some time in the past that deserves salvaging and flagging for undeletion. \n\n\n \n In your opinion, what do moderators do?\n \n\n\nI think that moderators are the people accountable to the community for the feel of the site and its smooth-running. These things depend on so much more than mod efforts of course, but only mods are available to others for the purpose of seeking recourse to keep things running nicely. Mods fix the things only mods can fix, represent community issues to the higher powers where necessary, and help out with whatever needs their help.\n\n\n \n A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?\n \n\n\nI already feel that my reputation adds some excess weight to my actions, so I have generally tried not to come across as overly authoritative in my posts and comments, though I have probably not always succeeded in that. I always admire those mods who manage to have a light touch in everything they do. Since I tend to say what I feel, I would have to attend to that diamond heaviness and try to speak accordingly.\n\n\n \n In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?\n \n\n\nWell, I think that the main benefit is in the perception of accountability, in that people would see me as being there to help them and that would enable me to be more helpful. But mods do have some extra useful powers for fixing stuff. For example, I would especially like to be able to go directly from a post getting incorrect close votes to the review queue where I can vote to leave it open, and edit duplicate question banners to add or remove targets. I would also like to tell those people who always click No Action Needed in First Posts and Late Answers reviews to please only review if they really have time and inclination to do it properly.\n\n\n \n This question would be mostly valid for people who are very active in the review queues. Before the diamond, reviews would require several people's votes before the system decides on the outcome. With the diamond, your vote will be the definitive one. Would that spook you into skipping reviews? In summary, how would the diamond affect your activities in the review queue?\n \n\n\nThanks for this question as it's something I've thought about a lot. Since being a moderator wouldn't automatically make my opinion more correct than before, I would certainly have to change my way of working to avoid hammering everything. But I do think it is OK for mods to cast the 5th close or reopen vote or the 3rd delete vote where they would have cast a vote as a normal user, as well close/delete things that very obviously should be closed or deleted. Also, mods have more powers to break things but, fortunately, more powers to fix them if things go wrong :) Rather than being \"spooked\" (I already hit the skip button more often than any other), I think I would just take it a little slower and more carefully.\n\n\n \n What activity most occupies the time you spend in Ask Ubuntu? I mean, what would you say you most do here?\n \n\n\nThe short answer is that my main activity is editing :)\n\nFor a long answer, I'll try to give a loose description of my usual workflow on the site. I'll start out in The Downboat (a chatroom dedicated to moderation issues) and catch up on the discussions and actions needed there. I'll also be looking at the main chat to see if anyone is chatting, but that is unusual these days :( At some point I will probably move on to looking at the review queues. I start with Reopen if there is anything there as I feel reopening is a bit more time-critical than other actions. Then I'll try to look at the other queues. I might check the First Posts review history to see if those reviews are being done properly. Also, I'm usually involved in some editing or other janitorial projects, for example I am currently trying to remove the images tag from all the posts that have it, which means carefully fixing everything else about the question and its answers too. I'm also trying to to help fix posts with code fence issues. I always look at meta to see if there are any new questions. In the course of all this, I do a lot of editing and voting, occasional commenting, and from time to time I even write posts!\n\n\n \n How much time will you have to moderate Ask Ubuntu every day? What is your timezone?\n \n\n\nI think the time I spend actually doing stuff on Ask Ubuntu in an intentional manner averages out at about 30 minutes per day, although I spend somewhat more time than that logged in and in chat, intermittently at the keyboard, peeking in to see what's happening and casting a vote here and there.\n\nMy time zone is UTC + five-and-a-half.", "Comments\n\n(I started this write-up before the election started thinking we'd just get the usual boring election questions, but then things got rancorous, so this is partly my take on the State of ServerFault and partly answers to the questions.)\n\nOverall, SF is working - questions get asked and answered, bad ones get downvoted and closed. There's a core of extremely knowledgeable regulars that participate widely in the site (except they never vote enough!) and a trickle of new people coming in and becoming regulars. As a moderator, I'd expect to contribute to this: respond to flags, delete unneeded comments, clean up bad posts.\n\nAs to the problems... \n\nI vehemently disagree that SF is a toxic, hate-filled community. It's incredibly disheartening to hear multiple SE staff throw those terms around, lumping all of us together as being responsible for SF being that way.\n\nI see complaints about questions being closed or downvoted unfairly on every SE site I follow, whereas here on SF, I'm sure we've had fewer accustions of \"you guys are mean!\" over the past year or so. Maybe the flag stats will show me to be wrong, and I'm sure some will dismiss this opinion with \"you guys have scared everyone away,\" but I stand by it: ServerFault is not any more horrible than other SE sites.\n\nOTOH, if I were a moderator, I would see the flags and just as I clean up as much stuff as a normal user can, I'd be quick to get rid of crappy, unconstructive comments. In addition to using the moderator tools, I'd continue to be active on meta, explaining how the site's intended to function.\n\nThe thing that most of the regulars - including me - think is the biggest problem with SF is that the site is swamped with lousy questions. Clear, interesting questison are drowned out by (just to mention a couple common examples) questions from people who are in way over their head (\"Could you give me a complete step by step guide to do...\") and questions about how to use a certain tool to solve a problem, but it's the wrong tool.\n\nTo be clear: \"lousy\" doesn't mean beginner questions, and it doesn't mean simple ones. The most common thing that identfies a lousy question is that the person asking doesn't really understand what they're doing and why. So if you try to clarify a question, they don't understand what you're asking them in comments, or they won't consider a different approach. Regardless of the exact definition, the result is that good content is hard to find, which for many people is a turn-off. We've had regulars disappear completely and we've had others drastically cut back their participation. Although new people do come along, it's harder for them to find good questions and then even though they give some excellent answers, they don't get the same acknowledgement because there are fewer people voting.\n\nCan anything be done about the flood? I really don't know, and it's not obvious to me that a moderator can make a huge difference. Being able to mod-hammer questions closed might help a bit: I'm currenly slowly chipping away at old, questions by downvoting or voting to close (which then lets the auto-delete faeries get rid of them) but I regularly use up all my votes. It's been a couple years since I regularly read every single question on the site, but when I do go through them all, there are certainly a lot that could do with swift closure, so I think I'd focus on that: trying to make the good questions stand out as much as possible.\n\nIt's been suggested that iffy questions can be cleaned up and turned into gems, and maybe that would help, but I don't think that's a job for the moderators. Mods can encourage this sort of behaviour, but the bulk (and it's a huge bulk) of that work has to come from the larger community.\n\nSpecific Questions\n\n\n What have you personally done to make Server Fault a more enjoyable place for professional system administrators?\n\n\nI vote. A lot. The most. This election focussed on what to do about bad posts, but don't forget that voting up good posts is also important - it makes the good posts visible and motivates people to participate.\n\n\n do you as a nominee feel that moderators should have term limits...\n\n\nNo, I'd let anyone who's ever been a mod, stay a mod. I'd like to see some of them participate more, but if the load on active mods gets too high, SE has shown they'll add more mods.\n\n\n will you continue to delve the review-queues at your current rate?\n\n\nI don't think that's possible. I'd step back from the review queues and give someone else a chance to do the most reviewing. :) As one close or reopen voter in 5, I've got no problem being pretty quick to judge, but if I were hammering questions closed or open, I'd be more circumspect. Since I'm not sure which questions become audits, I can't answer that part of the question, I'd have to wait and see how that works.\n\n\n What would it take for you to consider a review-ban on someone for persistent over/under reviews?\n\n\nI'm not sure what you mean by over/under reviews, if you mean incorrect reviews, I'd certainly consider banning people. I'm only active in close and re-open reviews and haven't seen too many signs of bad reviewing there (with one very noteworthy exception.)\n\n\n Katherine's question(s) - \"too nice,\" \"too mean,\" or \"just right\"?\n\n\nI think I've mostly answered these, but to be clear - I think we're close to \"just right.\" I'd nuke unpleasant comments, I'd continue to vote, I'd try to give little nudges to improving the questions that have a hope of being salvaged.\n\n\n The boring, standard SE questions:\n\n\nThe Q&amp;A from the last election in early 2013 had similar questions if anyone wants to check them out: 2013 Moderator Election Q&amp;A - Questionnaire\n\n\n Do you agree with this proposal?\n \n Is there an administrative requirement to post on Server Fault?\n\n\nI think these are covered by my previous comments.", "I see two problems here: people want opportunities to socialize and/or you might not have have enough structure to the meetings.\n\nNote: I assume you are in a position of significant authority or can easily suggest a change to the current methods. How to suggest a change to the current policies is, in my opinion, a whole other question.\n\nPeople want opportunities to socialize: Humans are social creatures so, naturally, they want to socialize. If you look at a young child, you can probably see their mouth moving constantly! :)\n\nYou mentioned that some people might not get a lot of social opportunities. It might be a good idea to actually encourage this behavior; that is, encourage it outside of board meetings. This socialization could actually be beneficial for your organization! I personally work better when I know another people. Getting to know the other people on the board could make people work more efficiently together. Also, it makes people feel more welcomed, making them want to be on your board.\n\n[As I already mentioned in the comments] a potluck may be a good idea. It's cheap, easy, and it has something for everyone to enjoy. Furthermore, it can be adapted to fit your needs (i.e. cater the main dish and everyone brings deserts).\n\nTry to mix it up some every month with some twist like changing the location or doing a theme for the meal each month. Your goal is to make people want to come to these events and get to know who they are working with.\n\nStructure in meetings: Perhaps it isn't that the board members feel a need to socialize, but it may be somewhat a lack of structure. If people don't realize you do need to get a lot of things done, they may start to get off topic. My guess is a lot of people have the ability to focus on important matters but just don't know what needs to be done.\n\nDo whatever it takes... a PowerPoint, a Prezi, a Google Doc for everyone to be in, a handout, or even just a simple Word document on a projector to show what you need to accomplish! Do whatever works best for you.\n\nYou have to remember that making a meeting too formal may be counterproductive. You could make people feel bored (making them want to talk so they can do something more enjoyable) or even prevent creativity.\n\nUltimately, you may have to give a reminder that these meetings need to stay on topic and you need stay productive. Of course, do this in a much more friendly way... I love using the compliment sandwich. (It has a great name, too! Ahh great... now I'm hungry.)", "I see no reason why not. Ubuntu is an operating system, it is not a kernel. That's precisely the distinction that people like RMS make when they insist on calling the OS GNU/Linux and not Linux. Linux is a kernel, not an OS and Ubuntu is an OS, not a kernel. \n\nThe kernel is just one of many bits and pieces that make up an operating system. It is arguably the most important of these, but nevertheless, it is still just one of them. \n\nSo, if you are using a modified kernel on an Ubuntu system and want help fiddling with it, I don't see how it is any different than if you were using a Desktop Environment with no Ubuntu flavor associated with it. Say you install Cinnamon on Ubuntu, that doesn't change the fact that you're using Ubuntu. You can still ask for help setting it up or tweaking it. \n\nTweaking kernels is relatively common, after all and one of the benefits of using Linux for power users is precisely this ability to configure the system to fit your needs. This includes configuring a kernel. I don't think anyone would argue that recompiling the kernel to enable an option is off topic here, so why would using a kernel someone else has recompiled be any different?\n\nAlso, consider the implications. If we say that questions about making non-Ubuntu kernels work on Ubuntu are off topic, that would suggest that using an Ubuntu kernel on a non-Ubuntu distribution would make it on topic. So I could install Ubuntu's kernel on my Arch machine and then ask questions about it here. \n\nThe way I see it, the worst that can happen is that nobody here will be able to help you but I see absolutely no basis to make such issues off topic. What next, should we also make questions asking about lilo off topic because Ubuntu ships with grub by default?", "As to question 1: I do have a german speaking background, so please excuse the source actually is in german:\nThere is a really nice journal called Wurzel, the german word for \"square root\". In there, Attila Furdek has a section called \"Schlaue Leute werden durch die Fehler von anderen klug\" (trans. \"Clever people become wise through the mistakes of others\"). The structure of the tasks is always the same: The Problem is posed, along with two or more answers, all getting to a different conclusion. The question then is, which solution is correct and why. Sample problems can be accessed online, Attila Furdek also collected the problems along with solutions in a book.\n\nThe way to get these questions is similar to the way distractors for multiple choice questions are generated: Furdek would collect his students work to a problem. If there are different solutions among them, he would pick two or three different solutions ans give them back to the class, together with the question which one would be the correct one and why. \n\nThis way, the different alternatives are actual mistakes, which makes the problems very authentic. \n\nI used translations of the book in my own classes, but more over, collected my students solutions in order to use the same style of task. \n\nOn question 2: I have to admit, I haven't \"Google scholared\" this topic as I should. My experiential knowledge is, that this type of task, put right, can be a great learning opportunity. Similar to tasks using concept cartoons, it stimulates classroom discussions not only about the \"what\" and the \"how\", but also the \"why\" of a solution. This way, I've the impression my students were less relying on \"solutions from the book\" and went towards more confidence in their answers. Opposite of the worries of DRF (see comments), in my experience this tasks did not reinforce wrong procedures, to the contrary, they helped my students a lot in \"making sense\" of what they do.\n\nMuch in the sense of a saying by Groucho Marx: \"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.\"", "Of course.\n\nAs with many aspects of writing fantasy, the answer will almost always be \"yes, of course! It's your world, you make up the rules!\" Like: Can I have dragons? YES. Can I have Elves? YES. Can I have portals? YES. Can I have polydimensional beings that ordinarily consist of dissociated arrays of tentacles bilocate into our universe as large purple dragonflies? YES.\n\nYou get the point with this kind of question.\n\nWorks for sci-fi too, even though they don't always like to admit it! :)\n\nBasically this works because you will show, through your story telling, and possibly through visual art techniques, that people in the ordinary dimension can not see or interact with people in the demonic dimension. You'll eventually show how the break-down occurs and how people cross through the portals.\n\nProblem solved!", "To my mind, this case is very similar to the question of whether somebody can essentially pay for co-authorship. We see many questions of this sort on this site, a particular apropos example of which is this one, which asks in part:\n\n\n Suppose I'm a billionaire who knows nothing about science, but I take it into my head that I want to be (regarded as) a famous scientist.\n\n\nThe case of the Saudi Arabian affiliations looks to me very much like a parallel construct:\n\n\n Suppose I'm a billionaire institution which does little significant research, but I take it into my head that I want to be (regarded as) a famous institution.\n\n\nI think that it is completely reasonable to find this problematic, and to object to a co-author adding this institution, just as one might object to a co-author adding the billionaire know-nothing as another author.\n\nNow the question is what to do about it, and, as in these authorship questions, the advice tends to depend strongly on the power dynamics of the situation. On this site, we often advise students to leave bad situations rather than creating a confrontation, due to the power imbalance with faculty. For people in positions of power, however, like tenured faculty, it is an effective endorsement of unethical behavior if you are aware of it and do not call it out. It may not be a hill to die on, but either you care enough to make your voice heard or else you accept the behavior as legitimate. \n\nIn this particular case, the student may have acted unwisely with regards to safeguarding their own future, but it may also have been important enough to them to take that ethical stand. It's impossible for us to know how important it was to that person, and it's easy to engage in post-facto critique of their tactics, but I think the concern is legitimate and the actions taken are within the range of reasonable options, depending on how strongly the student felt about the ethics involved.\n\nIn short: some people choose not to take military money, not to work on espionage-related research, or not to publish in non-open journals. Choosing not to be party to what you perceive as bribery for prestige is just as legitimate an ethical choice to make.", "You will never be able to control what other people choose to discuss, unfortunately. You are fully within reasonable expectations to be able to say you dislike the topic. If you are at a social gathering, then it is socially polite for people to take into account that everyone enjoys themselves to a reasonable extent. \n\nIn general, you can make simple statements such as, \"This is such a polarizing topic. Could we please just discuss something a little more fun and lighthearted?\" In particular, if with family, I will add in something like how seldom I get to see them &amp; I mostly want to laugh &amp; catch up on one another's lives, and not dissect the problems of the world. This may not work as well in other arrangements that are more formal perhaps.\n\nIf asked point blank any question I do not wish to discuss I deflect. It's not just politics. I do it sometimes for sport, to make the point even. I have been asked if we are having any more children. I find this to be a very personal question for someone to throw at you in a group, so instead, I crack a joke by asking something of them that I find overly personal, such as \"How much money did you make last year?\" When they look confused then comes the punchline, said in good humor, \"Oh I am sorry, I thought we were asking awkward questions, like a game. Oops\".\n\nHow best to handle any given situation will depend on your personality type (if you aren't funny by nature, humor is likely out of the list of options). It depends on your relationship to the people within said conversation as well as the dynamic of the group. I have some family that we can have fascinating mutually respectful political banter for hours on end and everyone is enjoying it. On the other hand, I have other family that such a discussion leads to arguing &amp; ruffled feelings in a matter of minutes (yet they don't have the good sense to avoid it). I used to work for someone with very strong opinions absolutely opposite of my own and he gravitated toward clients that were similar, or maybe they gravitated toward him? Either way, I was often subject to listening to them go on and on about things I absolutely was in opposition to. I generally remained quiet, said as little as possible, even at times claimed ignorance to avoid having to take any stance. I might in such cases, when asked what I thought, say something like, \n\n\n I am sorry. Listening to you all discuss it has been enlightening, but I am afraid that I don't feel as informed as I should be to even make any assessment on that. I definitely intend to look into it more. \n\n\nIt was not my place in that environment to make my boss or our clientele uncomfortable with my personal political views which literally had absolutely nothing to do with the business I was in. No one would have been better off for me having aired my opposition and very likely I would have alienated myself. The \"best\" way to handle it will always be relative to all such types of variations of circumstance. In business, I prefer maximum privacy on personal views. I don't really want to hear what other people think about issues that do not pertain to work and likewise, I would prefer not to share. If it's more familiar-peer situation or family I believe it is reasonable to ask for a change of topic, and people might initially act put out, but can most often seem to move past the initial reaction and stop using that topic.", "Recover corrupted wallet\n\n\n Possible to get back my private-key from [corrupted] wallet.dat\n\n\nI doubt it.\n\nYou could put in weeks of effort and not recover anything. By effort I mean learning what tools are available, how to configure and use them and how to evaluate the results. Learning more about the internal structure of wallets etc. Learning about general tools that can recover deleted older versions of files (if you immediately stop using the computer and maybe extract and duplicate the disk) etc.\n\nMost likely you will be contacted by many scammers offering to recover your wallet or telling you about marvelous people who can recover wallets. It is almost certain that all of them will be trying to trick you out of more money by inventing plausible seeming fees. In this website we see a lot of pleas for help from the victims of recovery scams. \n\n\n\nBackups\n\nMost computer users learn early on the importance of backups. Some by seeing other people's good habits, some by seeing other people's disasters and some by making our own disasters.\n\nSee Tom Scott - The Worst Typo I Ever Made\n\nIn the case of Bitcoin, it is essential to make a backup as soon as you create your wallet and again after making any significant changes such as importing a key. This sort of backup needs to be kept somewhere safe from fire, theft or accidental loss.", "I found an interesting article about speech development, but it doesn't address your question, so I can only answer with anecdotal evidence.\n\nThere are people who can stick their pinkie fingers in either side of their mouth and make a high-pitched whistle. Many of us learn the more common form of folding our tongues up and blowing sound out through pursed lips. The only way I learned the latter was by my mother spending a lot of time showing me and having me practice while not facing her (she was not fond of being spit upon). No one ever showed me the first method and, just seeing and hearing the end result, I have never learned to duplicate it.\n\nI give that background because it is the foundation of how I worked with my daughter in learning speech -- I over-dramatized the making of sounds and playing with words with large facial expression and as open a mouth as was possible, then encouraged her to do the same.\n\nI believe it helped her to see (not just hear) how I made the various sounds so that she could them mimic them. The \"s\" sound is rather challenging: the teeth largely hide the tongue's role. Combine that with a transition to another sound and that tongue just wants to jump up (making a \"t\"/\"th\" sound)!\n\nThe more you patiently play with the sounds in a back-and-forth manner so that it is fun, silly, and ultimately results in success, the more likely your child is to pick up the \"correct\" pronunciation... And, if it doesn't happen immediately at least you get to make some funny sounds together!", "In at least one of those cases, it's because I edited out a lot of discussion/commentary text that was not pertinent to the technical question. It's an attempt to help you out. You're getting downvoted in part because you're using the site in a manner that is contrary to the FAQ.\n\nYou're angry about the downvotes. The community is irritated by the lengthy, rambling posts - and what appears to be an attempt to turn a Q&amp;A site into a message board.\n\nIn anticipation of further outcry, please see the FAQ - particularly \"Other people can edit my stuff?!\"\n\nTake a deep breath. A lot of your frustration seems to stem from a lack of understanding about the site. My suggestion is that you read some of the existing questions. Try to get a feel for how the site was designed and how the community currently functions.", "Here's an analogy to think about: why more people like fast food, instead of specialized cuisine? \n\nFast-ness\n\nFrom the \"customer\" (question asker or visitor) point of view the same reason as fast food applies: people like answers that are quick to test , easy to copy-paste, easy to verify. Questions for which I write long scripting solutions don't always gain much attention - it would require user adding a script, playing around with settings to make it work, etc. Not a lot of people want to indulge into that.\n\nFrom the point of view of other people who answer that question, relatively simple questions and simple solutions attract more attention. Often I will find myself answering a text processing or renaming question , and will be like \"Yup, that guy's got a good way,too, and it's pretty simple ; why I didn't think of it myself ? Upvoted !\"\n\nAudience\n\nEach question attracts specialized type of audience. You will see chili555 answering mainly networking question, me and Jacob Vlijm answering scripting questions that border on creating custom applications, A.B. ( who recently has not been active ) answering mostly package management questions, heemayl who answers bash and command line questions. The more specialized the question, the less likely people to view it and test an answer. From your example, question about the hardware clock ( which really should have been closed as off-topic, by the way ) is relatively easy to answer and most computer-savvy people know about the CMOS battery, so of course it will be attracting more traffic , hence higher likelihood of upvotes. \n\nOn the other hand, not a lot of people mess with bootloaders or have desire to go into that level of experimenting. Hardware-specific questions attract less audience,too. My personal response is often \"Well, I don't have access to this same hardware - I am a broke college student who barely could afford this laptop, so how do you expect me to troubleshoot yours ?\"\n\nThis is not too different form fast-food analogy. Many people can relate to burgers, but very few can relate to properly tasting wines and some unique steaks.\n\nSelf-validation\n\nI've slightly touched on this already. Many people find a question and go \"Yup, I would do the same\". Especially if the answer is simple, short, can be even found in man page. With fast food analogy , I remember from economics class that there is a psychological factor to it - people like fast food not only for simplicity but because it's available in more places and will be exact same. Suppose you have a sys admin who spend years in managing Linux servers , sees a question and tries to answer, and then sees you posted something similar to what he would expect. There you go, there's a person who expected to find exactly the same thing, just not in their usual setting.\n\nHow many people will say \" Yup, I would write this same script to automatically set up mouse or keyboard via polling dbus or xinput?\" Again, very specialized audience is needed here, and high probability of \"yup\".\n\nDoes it mean posting complex answers won't help you grow reputation?\n\nQuite the opposite: if you have a specialized type of tags and questions you like answering, by all means do answer them. It is likely that you will have much less competition and the community eventually will recognize that your answers are good. Occasionally, such questions may even have bounty on them. \n\nGrowing reputation isn't an immoral thing ( contrary to what some users may think ), so by all means do participate in those easy questions as well.", "I took a look at the question and your answer.\n\nAt a glance, the answer you gave doesn't appear to have anything to do with the question asked.\n\nIt was flagged as such and deleted by a moderator as result.\n\nThe OP asked about why an installer depends on a certain font package. The answer provided by yourself is a one liner - which is difficult to parse and understand in relation to the question.\n\nI can only assume that this is why it was flagged. \n\nPerhaps you should elaborate more in your answers? Show how they are relevant to the question (posting a Unicode character that probably a number of people can't see and only see a square or whatever the browser decides to display when the font doesn't have a glyph for it is not particularly helpful).\n\nAdditionally, you used \"we\" in your answer - who is \"we\"? How are you a representative of this \"we\" and why is your answer authoritative in that sense? Makes it difficult to see the relationship between yourself, the answer and the question as asked.", "I'll preface this answer stating that I am queer, but have not come out to my extended family (what's left of them), aside from having my Facebook name match my new name and being friends with my cousins there. Despite being vocal in the past about my identity, I don't know what all my family has seen or if they even call me Lux. This answer will be generalized, but I still think it will be applicable (and can help with other social circles).\nBefore coming out\nFirst and foremost, ask your child what she wants. Coming out is still a very personal issue and only the individual gets to dictate how they come out. If she wants to make the announcement herself then your job is to be present and to stand with her. However, it's possible that she'll want you to announce it. You did say you were having a boy when pregnant with her, I think it's still appropriate to announce that you actually had a girl. (Usually outing someone is a big no-no, but here it's okay imo)\nEither way, the important thing to do beforehand is to get on the same page as your daughter. Ask her what is okay to say and what's not. Do you tell family only her new name/pronouns or do you give the whole story of her journey so far?\nThen ask how she wants to come out. Does she want it done in person, over the phone, or even via cheesy family newsletter? She probably has been thinking it'd be in person (I've been assuming it would be), but there are other methods each with its own pros and cons.\nThen you should warn her that she may get intrusive and inappropriate questions. Within 5 minutes of me coming out on FB I was asked if I was getting the surgery. It seems when it comes to trans issues all of the mores and taboos get thrown out the window. People don't normally ask each other about genitalia, but now that your kid is trans she may get asked questions. Tackling these questions can be as simple as saying &quot;I don't know&quot; or &quot;We're still figuring out where this gender journey will take us&quot; and remind family that this is still a pretty private affair. On the flip side, you and your daughter can be as open as you want. Announce that she'll do hormone replacement therapy (HRT) but no surgeries at the moment, or voice training and make-up lessons. Ultimately it's up to your daughter.\nComing out\nNo matter what method of coming out is used, keep things light and state things matter-of-factly. We're still in a society where your daughter's very existence is controversial and some family members may not be supportive. I believe just telling it how it is with confidence can go a long way. I have a cousin who doesn't know why my name changed and pressed my mom for information. I assume he thinks that I am trans and I also assume that he's not cool with it. However, she just held firm and said that I am an adult and get to make my own decisions. It shut him down. You can give a similar argument since your daughter is a young adult now and making a name for herself (literally in this case, I guess).\nAfter coming out\nAfter the announcement is made is when it becomes your time to shine. When you're an ally, the name of the game is solidarity. When family and friends misgender/deadname your task is to correct them. More often than not it's just a slip up (it is a 17 year old habit calling her by her dead name after all). There are a couple of different ways to correct, the standard being repeating the sentence with the correct pronoun:\n\nFamily Member: When he and I saw the latest blockbuster movie...\nYou: When you and she saw the movie...\n\nOne that my friends have used was the ouch/sorry method:\n\nFamily Member: When he and I...\nYou: Ouch\nFamily Member: Sorry, when she and I...\n\nPersonally I'm not a fan, but some people like it.\nOn the subject of apologies for misgendering/deadnaming, when people slip up they should apologize, but only once. People can overcompensate with their apologies:\n\nPerson: When he... Oops, I mean she. I'm sorry.\nTrans Person: It's okay.\nPerson: No, I'm really sorry. I swear I'm such a good ally. I am so accepting of trans people (etc)\n\nIt's unnecessary because mistakes happen, but then it also highlights that the misgendering happened and then puts the person in the spotlight as they try to [humble]brag about their being an ally. You can help shape how people interact with your daughter and how they talk about your daughter simply by reminding them the correct name and pronouns and even teaching proper trans etiquette. Based on comments, it sounds like the little sister is doing a pretty good job of this already.\nIn general, hop online and see what trans people have to say. Reddit is a potential source, recommended by Pyritie in the comments. Getting educated is a great thing for an ally to do and taking the time to Google and read is the best step. See what trans people have complained about when dealing with cis people and try your best not to do those things and correct people when they do those things. Continually ask your daughter when it's okay to confront people when a situation pops up and you weren't sure what to do.\nRegarding the girlfriend\nIf your daughter's sexuality is also going to be part of the discussion ask your daughter and her girlfriend what labels you should use. You say that your daughter is bi, but her girlfriend may not identify as such. Maybe pansexual is more appropriate, maybe lesbian since this is a women-loving-women (wlw) relationship now. The point is, figure out what everyone is comfortable with then follow the above steps.\nGood job on being a supportive mom!" ]

[ "Mary Lou McDonald" ]

[ "The Who by Numbers", "Betty Who", "The Who's Tommy", "Dr. Who", "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", "Who You Are", "Who's Sorry Now", "Who Is Fancy", "one who suffers", "Who's That Girl", "one who is accomplished", "The Man Who Was Thursday", "a person who was not a slave", "she who scrivens", "The Girl Who Died", "Who's on First?", "Who You Selling For", "He who pours", "The Man Who Was Peter Pan", "a player who is not a starter", "House of Traditional Leaders", "individuals who are in transit", "The Woman Who Walked into Doors", "Who the Hell Are You", "Who Gets the Last Laugh?", "The Man Who Laughs", "Who's Making Love", "The Man Who Loved Children", "Who Needs Pictures", "those who dispel the undead", "She who weeps", "Who Needs You Baby" ]

[ "How deep will the Turkish military go into Syria?" ]

[ "Which are the forces and rebels in Syria?", "Is Turkey invading Syria?", "What is happening in Syria?", "What's the DEAL with SYRIA?", "How did war start in Syria?", "What is wrong with Syria?", "Will Turkey invade Northern Syria?", "What is the Syria civil war?", "Why is Putin in Syria?", "Why is russia in syria?", "Whats really happening in Syria?", "Did Turkish President Erdogan purposely stage the military coup to suit his own benefits?", "Will Hillary Clinton cause WWIII by going to war with Syria?", "What government does Syria have?", "How can I stop war in Syria?", "Who is to blame for the situation in Syria?", "What are the landforms of the Canadian Shield?", "How does the Turkish (Türkçe) sound like to non-Turkish speakers?", "Does it seem like Turkey will invade Kurdish areas of Syria?", "Is it likely that there will be another military coup in Turkey?", "Is Pokemon Go coming to South Korea?", "How far back, does the blue eyes go?", "Is America likely to go to war with Syria, and by extension Russia, if Hillary Clinton wins the election?", "How far is the Sun?", "Is Turkey cooperating with ISIS?", "What is it like to live in Syria in 2016?", "Are time machines possible? How far back can you go?", "What's going to happen in the nearest future in Turkey?", "Why has Russia pulled out of Syria?", "Why is Turkey fighting the Kurds?", "If north and south India split will it be beneficial for the north or south?", "What's happening in Turkey?" ]

[ "Fatmir Mula, 39, who lives in London, had earlier been convicted at Luton Crown Court of the attempted murder of Elena Melnyk and Nicholas White.\nHe knifed Ms Melnyk in her armpit and stabbed her boyfriend Nicholas White, who suffered a lacerated liver and a deflated lung.\nMula was ordered to serve a minimum term of 11 years.\nThe court heard the defendant - a Kosovo national who lives in Newham - went to the Purple Contact Centre in Rothesay Road last July, a place used to facilitate contact between families after relationships have broken down.\nMs Melnyk, who lives in Bedfordshire, was waiting in the office when she was given the message her ex-husband wanted to speak to her, a jury was told.\nHe appeared in the doorway and the centre manager ushered them into a kitchen area where Mula suddenly produced a kitchen knife from his rucksack.\nAfter stabbing his ex-wife in the armpit, he stabbed Mr White twice in the chest and once in the neck, injuring him so badly he had to be airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.\nMula ran away from the centre by climbing out of a window, but was arrested the following day.\nHe denied two counts of attempted murder and possessing an offensive weapon, but the jury found him guilty.\nHe was given life sentences for both counts of attempted murder, both to run concurrently.\nPassing sentence, Judge Richard Foster said he posed \"a significant risk of inflicting serious harm on others, in particular future partners\".\nIn an impact statement, Ms Melnyk said: \"I know if he comes out he will be looking for me and finish what he started... that burden will be with me for the rest of my life.\"" ]

[ "\"Passion killings\" have become a tragic trend in the southern African nation of Namibia over the last three years.\nThe Namibian police described passion killings as murder cases between intimate partners such as husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, and exes.\nDozens of women, and in some cases men, have been killed at the hands of their lovers across the country - in 2015 there were 48 murders of this type, and 36 the previous year.\nThe suspects range in age from 19 to 64, the victims from 18 to 65 but the majority of cases involve very young adults.\nThese numbers may seem small, but they should be taken in the context of Namibia's very small population of just under 2.5 million in a vast country.\nA cursory glance at Namibia's soul-searching politicians and commentators will tell of gruesome killings and the recurring presence of firearms, knives, sticks stones and even a shoelace as weapons of choice.\nThe murders occur in sudden bursts of rage across the country: A husband stabs his nine-month pregnant wife, a couple who had co-habited for 19 years are discovered with gunshot wounds to the head, a 19-year-old student walking home with her elder sister is confronted by the boyfriend she dumped and both sisters are killed with a stone, some women are decapitated.\nSam Nujoma, former Namibian president:\n\"From today onwards, anyone found guilty of committing such evil deeds will have to be buried alive\"\nOne Namibian clinical psychologist attributed the spate of killings to a general breakdown of the family unit, to the lack of parental guidance for self-obsessed young adults who can no longer tell right from wrong as well as \"low self-esteem among men, material dependence, poor coping mechanisms and failure to handle rejection\".\nThe question \"why?\" has been posed by the Namibians themselves.\nFormer president and independence leader Sam Nujoma was moved to declare: \"We have fought those who colonised our country, and we will continue to fight those who are killing our girls.\n\"From today onwards, anyone found guilty of committing such evil deeds will have to be buried alive.\"\nBut the veiled threat of \"a life for a life\" is not credible since Namibia removed the death penalty at independence in 1990, and those calling for its reinstatement in the constitution are frustrated because the passion killings have one sting in the tail: The killers often take the time to leave a suicide note, and then end their lives.\nNuusita Ashipala, a reporter for the New Era newspaper in the northern region of Omusati, which has seen the highest numbers of passion murders, reported last week that a local politician had told an elders' meeting that it was time to try the radical proposal of issuing the young with \"dating contracts\", so that parents would know who their children were involved with.\nOkalongo Councillor Laurentius Iipinge believes they could also be renewed on a yearly basis to free those who no longer wished to be in certain toxic relationships.\n\"It is better to have agreements known to the families, rather than hearing that your daughter was killed because she misused her boyfriend's resources or vice versa,\" he added.\nThe councillor was clearly identifying money as the root cause of break-ups and acrimony amongst his region's couples, where eight young women have already lost their lives this year.\nMr Iipinge suggested that such contracts would enable those who feel robbed or simply want to claim back what they have spent on partners, to do so through their families, rather than resorting to anger, rage and murder.\nNamibia at a glance:\nNamibia country profile\nSome may see this as a classic African example of tradition meeting modernity - the elders with their family-based mediation trying to rein in a Facebook generation lost in its own navels.\nI spoke to the New Era reporter, who has seen crime scenes in the aftermath of these murders.\nShe recounted yet another murder where a man came home and distributed sweets to his young children then stabbed his wife 20 times, before slitting his own throat with a knife.\nI asked her what she thought of the councillor's proposal.\n\"I don't think it will work. It makes money the root cause of the rage but even if it was, as an independent working woman I feel we all spend on each other during relationships.\"\nFarai Sevenzo:\n\"Despite its diamond and uranium wealth, its booming tourism and excellent infrastructure, Namibia's poorest citizens are still grappling with a traumatic and violent apartheid past, which denied them a decent education\"\nOf course this proposal, as an idea, seems unworkable.\nWhich young man or woman wishes to spill the details of his or her liaison to their elders?\nThe causes for such a spike in murder rates are as usual much more mosaic: Despite its diamond and uranium wealth, its booming tourism and excellent infrastructure, Namibia's poorest citizens are still grappling with a traumatic and violent apartheid past, which denied them a decent education.\nThe councillor's own ward, bordering Angola to the north, suffered traumatic abuse when it was a South African Defence Force Army base under white-minority rule.\nA violent past creating violent families may have caused psychological scars that run deeper than the nation may wish to admit.\nThen there's the availability of lethal weapons with poor gun controls, drugs and alcohol mixed with overwhelming social inequality to create a potent mix for the young and lost.\nA fight-back of sorts has already begun by trying to educate Namibia's younger generations - although it is couched in the staid impenetrable language of the donor agencies who speak of \"gender-based violence\".\nAs Namibia turns 26 this March, the government and the police need to up their game and protect their citizens from these murders by fighting the idea that passion can best be expressed by taking a life, even one's own.\nMore from Farai Sevenzo:", "Ian Workman, of Turton, Lancashire, was jailed for life in 2011 after he was convicted of stabbing Susan Workman to death in a row over their divorce.\nThe advert appealed for the jury to take part in a \"documentary\".\nPolice said they were investigating to see if any crime has been committed.\nThe advert, published in the Lancashire Evening Post on 30 April, offered £1,000 for the jury members to give their opinion on \"new evidence\" relating to the conviction of millionaire car dealer Workman.\nAt no stage did it mention it had been placed by associates of Mr Workman, but his son Grant confirmed to the newspaper that they were responsible for it.\nHe said the plan was to create a film of the jurors discussing fresh evidence about the case and publish it on YouTube.\nMr Workman said the family had taken legal advice and were confident they were doing nothing wrong in placing the advert.\nUnder the Juries Act 1974, it is an offence to disclose information about a jury's deliberations or to solicit or obtain such information.\nWorkman, who has now been in prison for more than four years, stabbed his former wife once in the chest, before wiping the blood from his hands and the knife and calling the emergency services.\nHe then inflicted wounds to his own stomach in a bid to disguise his crime and told police his ex-wife had attacked him, Preston Crown Court heard.\nWorkman, then aged 58, has always maintained his innocence and claimed his ex-wife's injuries were self-inflicted.", "But it is not only in Victoria. Across Australia, a spotlight is being shone on the failure of government agencies to protect women and children from violent partners and fathers.\nThe murder of Melbourne woman Kelly Thompson by her ex-partner in February this year was not unusual. On average, one woman is killed every week across Australia by a current or former partner, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.\nMs Thompson was stabbed to death in her home by Wayne Wood, who then killed himself.\nIn the months preceding her death, she had spoken to police about Wood's violent behaviour many times and he had regularly breached a police intervention order that was supposed to prevent him going within 200m of her house.\nHer story highlighted how courts and police often fail women and children when they are in most need of protection.\nSix months after she was killed, Ms Thompson's parents joined Victoria's leading family violence organisations on the steps of the Victorian parliament to speak out at the launch of the No More Deaths campaign.\nWendy Thompson said the police \"miserably failed\" her daughter. \"And they've failed two people that are now dead and families that are shattered. And it should never have happened,\" she told ABC TV.\nThe No More Deaths campaign has called on Victoria's political parties to commit to wide-ranging policies to keep women and children safe ahead of the 29 November election.\nAll three of Victoria's parties - the Coalition, Labor and The Greens - attended the launch. The Greens have adopted much of the campaign's platform, the Labor Party has promised a royal commission into family violence, and the Coalition government has announced a A$150m ($131m; £81m) action package.\nThe commitments have not come too soon, says Domestic Violence Victoria chief executive officer Fiona McCormack.\n\"The rates at which Australian women are being assaulted and terrorised are obscene but particularly the number of women and children being murdered in Victoria,\" she says.\n\"Every family that we speak to says the same thing: they want the death of their family member to be the catalyst for a turning point in how we respond to this issue.\"\nA combination of factors made this the right time to launch the campaign in Victoria, says senior policy officer at the Federation of Community Legal Centres, Chris Atmore.\n\"This year, there has been a lot of media attention on several family violence killings that really touched the public and as a consequence, touched politicians, particularly because two of these killings happened in public,\" says Dr Atmore.\nIn April, 33-year-old Fiona Warzywoda was stabbed to death by her partner, Craig McDermott, in a busy suburban shopping centre in Melbourne.\nOnly hours before, she had attended court in relation to an order preventing McDermott from approaching her.\n\"That case really touched the community directly, the people in the shopping centre, the shopkeepers … and there was a public vigil organised by her family,\" says Mr Atmore.\nThe emergence of Luke Batty's mother as an articulate advocate for the rights of women and children at risk has also changed public attitudes, she says.\nIn February, 11-year-old Luke was beaten with a cricket bat and then stabbed by his father in front of horrified onlookers at a cricket training session in rural Victoria.\n\"Rosie Batty has emerged as an extraordinary advocate for change… politicians have been falling over themselves to meet her,\" says Dr Atmore.\n\"It's almost like a perfect storm… We have had a sense that our politicians are taking the issue more seriously in recent months because we have been invited to sit at the table.\"\nLegislators and police have been under pressure in other states and public attitudes about the issue are being questioned.\nIn Queensland, former governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce last month said the gravity and severity of domestic violence in that state was far worse than people realised. Dame Quentin is chairing a task force reviewing the service and facilities available to victims of family violence.\nIn Western Australia, the family of murdered indigenous woman Andrea Pickett, a mother of 13 children, are suing the state government and police service in what lawyers are calling a landmark case. They are suing over the authorities' failure to act despite Ms Pickett's numerous reports to police about her estranged husband's violence.\nIn New South Wales, the Labor Party says it will establish a specialist court for domestic violence and sexual assault cases if it wins next year's state election.\nMoo Baulch, acting chief executive officer of community organisation Domestic Violence NSW, welcomed Labor's announcement. However, she said many people still view domestic violence as something that happens behind closed doors.\nShe is disturbed that some media have portrayed Geoff Hunt, who in September killed his wife and children on their rural property in NSW and then killed himself, as a victim.\nThere have been suggestions Mr Hunt had snapped because of the burden of looking after his disabled wife.\n\"In this day and age, it is amazing that we will make this kind of excuse for a murder. As a nation we have got a long way to go,\" says Ms Baulch.", "These are the words of a father who has not seen his daughter, now aged four, for two years.\nHe said his mistake was representing himself in court when his ex-partner, the child's mother, had a lawyer.\nThe father, who asked not to be named, said the judge denied him any contact - then told him to \"stop wallowing in self-pity\".\nHe said the court experience was \"daunting\" and he felt the judge \"took advantage\" of his lack of legal knowledge.\nSince legal aid cuts in England and Wales in April 2013, thousands more parents have appeared in civil cases about children as \"litigants in person\" - meaning without a lawyer.\nOf the 112,000 parties involved in cases which started in 2012-13, more than 58% had a lawyer, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed.\nIn the next 12 months - after the cuts - that dropped to less than 42%.\nAnd new figures show less than 38% were represented by a lawyer in April to June this year.\nOne mother, who asked not to be named, said she was in \"floods of tears\" and had to compose herself before going in to court over contact with her two children - something she called a \"matter of life and death\" for a parent.\nShe said she had previously used barristers but having spent £7,500 in legal fees, she felt her lawyers had not represented her views \"at all\" - so she began representing herself.\n\"It was intimidating but I actually found not having a barrister was better because I could put my own case,\" she said.\nThe mother said she did \"a lot of research\" but being a litigant in person still took \"real grit\".\nHowever she got the result she wanted, and her children now live with her during the week and with her ex-husband at weekends.\nBrian, a father who asked for his surname not to be published, said he used a lawyer for the first six months of a legal fight with his ex-wife for contact with their two children - but bills were \"adding up\" so he began representing himself.\n\"The disadvantage you have is you don't know the law, the processes and the language that's used in court,\" he said.\n\"You can find that you've been left behind and something's been decided that you didn't understand.\"\nBut he said there were advantages of representing himself, such as having control over how his side of the case was handled.\nBrian, who initially lost contact with his children but now sees them every other weekend, is still fighting for increased contact - and said he would now be \"bankrupt\" if he had used a lawyer throughout the \"painfully slow\" legal process.\nHe now helps other people representing themselves, and he said arguing against a lawyer for the right to see their children was \"extremely stressful\" and \"absolutely demoralising for many fathers\".\nFigures show the number of men and women unrepresented has consistently been about equal.\nSusan Jacklin QC, chairman of the Family Law Bar Association, said barristers who have appeared against litigants in person often found them \"rather at sea\" - for example they were unaware of legal principles and what constituted relevant evidence.\n\"Some barristers have said to me they felt that the other party didn't in reality have a fair hearing,\" she said.\nShe said she was hearing of \"more and more\" parents giving up on the legal fight to see their children - which she called the \"hidden cost\" of the drive to cut legal aid.\nSingle parents' charity Gingerbread said its helpline had received hundreds of calls from parents unable to get legal representation.\n\"Ultimately, parents are finding themselves stranded without access to the legal protection they need for themselves and their children,\" a spokeswoman said.\nElsewhere, shadow courts minister Andy Slaughter said the rise in unrepresented parties in the courtroom was \"putting further strain on an already over stretched legal system\".\nBut an MoJ spokesman said a \"large number of people have always represented themselves\" and judges are trained to support them.\nHe said the government wanted people to use mediation rather than the \"confrontational and stressful experience\" of court, and the law had been changed so people must consider mediation before going to court over child or financial matters.\nMediation is where splitting couples hold meetings with an impartial professional, to reach an agreement.\n\"Millions of pounds of legal aid remains available for family mediation and for legal advice to support family mediation,\" he added.\nBut Legal Aid Agency data shows use of mediation has fallen.\nLast year the government admitted it had been taken by surprise by the fall in demand for mediation and was \"looking at how we can address the issue\".\nIn April to June this year 1,778 couples started mediation - down from 2,706 in the same period in 2013 and 3,566 in April to June 2012.\nMarc Lopatin, founder of Lawyer-Supported Mediation, said the government needed to \"incentivise legal aid lawyers to support the process\".\n\"Ministers should admit they got it wrong,\" he said.\n\"They need to stop seeing lawyers and mediators as an either or.\n\"Both professionals working in tandem can keep families out of court and promote the interests of the child.\"\nJerry Karlin, chairman of charity Families Need Fathers, said falling numbers of parents attending mediation or court meant \"many children may be losing out on relationships with their parents unnecessarily\".", "Patrick and Gillian Kettyle were found with stab wounds at their house in Fetcham, Surrey, on 27 November.\nThe Old Bailey was told Viktoras Bruzas, 39, believed his ex-wife was having an affair with Mr Kettyle and carried out a revenge attack.\nThe Lithuanian national, who admitted two counts of murder, was ordered to serve a minimum of 33 years in prison..\nHe changed his plea on Wednesday after denying the charges at a previous hearing.\nThe Kettyles, who were both in their 50s and known as Pat and Gilly, were described as the \"most fantastic parents\" and a couple who \"dearly loved\" each other.\nBruzas, from Walton-on-Thames, attacked Mr Kettyle with a kitchen knife in a \"particularly brutal\" manner because he blamed him for \"ruining his life\" and the failure of his marriage, according to prosecutor Alan Kent QC.\nThe Old Bailey was told it was likely that Mrs Kettyle was stabbed as she tried to protect her husband.\nThe pair's teenage son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, hid after being woken by screaming and shouting and held the handle of his door when the killer approached his bedroom.\nBut the court heard Bruzas told the boy through the closed door: \"I have no issue with you, boy, or your mother. It's Patrick, he's ruined my life. I'm not scared of prison.\"\nMr Kent told the court: \"On that evening he left his flat armed with a knife, intending to take the ultimate revenge, and that's what he did.\n\"The victims were a perfectly normal middle-aged couple who were, in their own home, murdered by this defendant.\n\"Patrick Kettyle was clearly a very charming man. It seems the defendant's wife began to talk to Patrick Kettyle about the state of her marriage.\n\"She would complain that the defendant was a violent and controlling man and had been that way throughout their marriage,\" added Mr Kent.\nBruzas learnt of \"flirtations\" after he logged into his wife's email account.\nHe made threats against the property developer several months before the murders and was issued with a police notice.\nOn one occasion he drove to Mr Kettyle's house in the early hours and shouted: \"Why are you trying to take my wife away from me?\"\nHe also emailed him saying, \"My family going to sort out.\"\nSurrey Police launched a manhunt for Bruzas, who was thought to have fled to West Sussex, following the discovery of the couple's bodies.\nThe court was told he asked officers, \"How long do you get for murder in this country?\", when he was caught driving his car through the nearby village of Oxshott 18 hours later.\nDet Ch Insp Mark Preston said: \"This deeply saddening incident has been devastating for the family and friends of Patrick and Gillian and left the close-knit community of Fetcham in shock.\n\"I welcome today's guilty plea and lengthy custodial sentence and I hope that it will bring some form of closure to the family.\n\"I would like to recognise all the officers and staff who worked tirelessly on the operation to find and capture Bruzas as quickly as possible and on the murder investigation itself to ensure he was brought to justice.\"", "Justin Robertson, 36, was paid £1,500 by Benjamin Carr, 22, to \"silence\" his former stepmother Pennie Davis after a long-running feud between the pair.\nRobertson had denied murder but was convicted after a six-week trial.\nCarr, from Southampton, was convicted of conspiracy to murder and will serve a minimum of 30 years.\nCo-defendant Samantha Maclean, 28, of Beech Crescent, Hythe, was found not guilty of the same charge at Winchester Crown Court.\nRobertson, of no fixed address, had been paid by Carr to attack Mrs Davis on 2 September last year over fears she would disrupt his father's wedding to his new partner.\nHe was given a life sentence for the murder.\nMother-of-five Mrs Davis, 47, was found dead by her new husband in a field at Leygreen Farm near Beaulieu in the New Forest, where she had been tending to her horses.\nShe had been stabbed 14 times in an attack described by trial judge Justice Andrew Popplewell QC as \"particularly brutal\".\nDuring the trial, jurors heard Carr, the son of Mrs Davis' ex-lover, hired Robertson to kill her.\nShe had threatened to go back to police over sexual assault allegations first made against him when he was 14, the court was told.\nIt was part of a long-running feud between the pair.\nThe court heard Mrs Davis had been caught having sex with a former partner by Benjamin Carr while she was in a relationship with his father.\nCarr's father Timothy was due to marry last summer and Mrs Davis messaged his fiancée on Facebook, telling her about the allegations she had first made almost 10 years before.\nHis son feared Mrs Davis would go back to police about the historical sexual abuse and conspired with Robertson to kill her.\nRobertson's girlfriend, Lian Doyle, 24, also of Beech Crescent, Hythe, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.\nIn a statement, Mrs Davis's family said: \"The people responsible for our mum's brutal murder have been convicted, but we cannot celebrate.\n\"It is not them, but us, Pennie's family, who have been given the real life sentence. The life of someone precious to us as a mother, daughter, wife and sister has gone and can't be replaced.\"\nSpeaking outside court, Det Supt Paul Barton, of Hampshire Police, said: \"Pennie was a loving mother who doted on all her children and was just starting a new chapter in her life with husband Pete.\"\nJohn Montague, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: \"This is a tragic case where a mother-of-five who had just remarried died from a savage pre-planned execution.\n\"Her husband, Peter, made the terrible discovery when he found her dead near the horses that she loved so much.\n\"Our thoughts are with him, Mrs Davis' children and extended family.\"", "Farasat - who does not wish to be identified - was a manager at the English Language Adventure School in Luton where Masood taught English between 2010 and 2012.\nHe said: \"He was the last man I thought would do a heinous crime.\"\nMasood fatally drove into three pedestrians and stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death in last Wednesday's attack.\nFarasat added: \"I thought it must have been a different Khalid Masood.\n\"I was completely horrified and bewildered when I heard his name.\"\nMasood, who lived in Dunraven Avenue and The Meads in Luton, taught at the language school for Middle Eastern students for over two years.\nPrior to that, he had a criminal career dating back to 1983 which led to time in Lewes Prison in East Sussex, Wayland Prison in Norfolk and Ford open prison in West Sussex.\nFamily of attack victim who fell in River Thames overwhelmed by 'love and support'\nFarasat, who prayed with Masood at work, said: \"He was jolly. Very serious about his job.\n\"He told me that in prison he made a firm resolve to leave the life of crime and clean himself up.\"\nMasood, 52, is reported to have had at least three children and one previous wife.\nHe killed teacher Aysha Frade, 44, US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, and retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, when he drove a hire car into people on Westminster Bridge.\nHe then stabbed PC Palmer, 48, outside Parliament before being shot dead.\nInquests into the deaths of his four victims will be opened on Wednesday.\nFarasat added: \"Many people are asking which mosque he was from. It is completely irrelevant. None of the mosques in Luton are radicalised.\n\"If he was radicalised, I definitely would have identified the signs. He was not radicalised in Luton.\n\"The only time I saw him get angry was when he heard the English Defence League was coming to Luton. He was very upset.\"\nHe added: \"He was a practising Muslim, he would pray in the office, but he was apolitical.\"", "Desmond Brooks, 42, stabbed the three women, two while children were present, in Brixton, on 29 July 2013.\nBrooks, a Jamaican national, told his victims they were \"nagging\" and disrespecting\" him.\nHe was ordered to serve a minimum of 29 years, at the Old Bailey.\nBrooks pleaded guilty to murdering Keisha McKenzie, 28, and sentenced to 19 years for the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend Joan Wade, then aged 46.\nHe also received 12 years for inflicting grievous bodily harm on his sister-in-law, who was 17 at the time. He attacked the three women over the course of 35 minutes, the court heard.\nBrooks said to his ex-girlfriend: \"You think I'm playing? I'm going to kill you.\". He then attacked her as she lay on the sofa in a flat they shared, in front of a child.\nMs Wade fled to her balcony, where neighbours and passers-by watched him chopping and slashing at her with a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife.\nTwo of her fingers were chopped off as she tried to protect herself and her lip and tongue were sliced through.\nAfterwards, armed with another knife, Brooks went to the nearby house of his ex-wife.\nAs she answered the door, he began stabbing her. She died at the scene from 42 separate injuries, a post-mortem examination showed.\nMs McKenzie's 17-year-old sister jumped on his back and tried to stop him and then locked herself in the bathroom with a child who was screaming.\nJudge Stephen Kramer heard Brooks, who has 10 convictions for cannabis offences since he arrived in the UK in 2002, then battered the bathroom door down and stabbed her repeatedly in the head.\nLater that evening, he got on a bus and asked the driver to flag down the first police he saw. He told police: \"I want to hand myself in. I killed my wife. I cannot take it any more.\"\nJudge Kramer said: \"Over the period of about an hour, you engaged in a stabbing spree properly said to be of extreme violence and ferocity.\n\"The catalogue of injuries inflicted is truly appalling.\"\nHe said the two surviving women had been left permanently disfigured.\nFollowing the trial, the family of Ms McKenzie and her sister said they were \"satisfied to finally have some justice\".\nThey added: \"We have lost Keisha forever but no amount of years will bring back the loving mother and bubbly, smiley daughter, auntie and sister that we all knew and loved.\"\nBrooks pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder his ex-wife's sister but guilty to an alternative charge of grievous bodily harm.\nAll sentences will run concurrently.", "Sandra Danevska, 38, from Hammersmith, west London, accused the man of rape, stabbings and acid attacks.\nShe also subjected two women he later dated to \"a traumatic online campaign\".\nDanevska, a nanny, used 60 fake names to implicate her ex-lover in a string of crimes, so officers visited his home 42 times, the Metropolitan Police said.\nShe created scores of bogus social media profiles and bombarded her victim's other girlfriends with \"threatening\" and \"malicious\" messages.\nDanevska was found guilty on 29 June at Isleworth Crown Court of three counts of stalking involving serious alarm or distress and of two counts of perverting the course of justice.\nShe was jailed on Friday and issued with a restraining order.\nThe harassment started in 2011, but the series of hoax social media profiles were only traced to addresses linked to Danevska last year.\nDet Con Dean Puzey said: \"This woman's actions caused her victims unimaginable distress and the sentence reflects the serious nature of her offending.\n\"Danevska stalked multiple victims and used social media and the police crime reporting system to make their lives intolerable.\n\"Her ex-boyfriend, an entirely innocent man, found himself a suspect for rape, stabbings and acid attacks. The impact on his life in particular was horrendous.\"", "Tony Vita, 47, repeatedly stabbed 48-year-old Marion Vita at their house in Baillieston last September.\nA jury rejected his claim that she had died in a bizarre accident after falling on the knife during a struggle.\nAt the High Court in Glasgow, Vita was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years before being eligible for parole.\nJailing Vita, temporary judge Sean Murphy QC, said: \"This is an incredibly sad case and has had tragic consequences for everyone who knew her including you.\n\"You had lived an exemplary life, but all of that ended when you discovered she was having an affair with another woman.\"\nThe judge said the incident was a \"truly exceptional case given the unusual circumstances\" of what went on.\nVita - who often broke down during his trial in March - showed no emotion as he was led handcuffed to the cells.\nDuring the trial, Vita said he had tried to kill himself after discovering that his wife had been having an affair with 34-year-old Elwira Rumniak for almost a year.\nThe jury was told that the couple's neighbour, Helen Colquitt, heard three screams just after 20:00 on 20 September last year as she was watching television.\nShe said the screams were immediately followed by a woman shouting: \"No, don't\", followed by the sound of someone running upstairs.\nIn his evidence Vita said he did not realise his wife was injured and said he went upstairs and stabbed himself twice in a failed attempt to end his own life.\nBut he had no explanation as to why his wife's blood was on the front of the dressing gown he was wearing and on the legs of his glasses.\nDetectives who examined the home after the murder found an entry on a calendar in the kitchen for 20 September 2013 which stated: \"Marion cheating lesbian whore.\"\nVita had also cut his wife out of family photographs and smashed a mug which said \"home is where the heart is\".\nMrs Vita's lover, Ms Rumniak, told the court she had met her at a party in October 2012 and fell in love.\nMs Rumniak told prosecutor Douglas Fairley QC that the couple wanted to set up home together and had talked of adopting a child.\nMrs Vita had been staying in Edinburgh with Ms Rumniak but came home to Baillieston to face her husband after confessing by text to the affair.\nIn a rage, Vita stabbed his wife four times and then left her to die.\nThe court heard how the couple's 11-year-old son found her lying dying on the couch.\nHe told the court: \"My mum was unconscious...her lips were quite grey.\n\"She was not moving at all. She was lying on the sofa, sort of on her side.\"\nThe boy said he tried opening his mother's eyes and talking to her before a 999 call was made.\nHe said that Ms Rumniak had been one of Mrs Vita's \"best friends\", but that his father had \"suspicions\" about the true extent of their relationship and he had been aware of his parents arguing.\nPolice officers who interviewed Vita shortly after the murder said he displayed no grief or sense of loss at the death of his wife.\nPrior to sentencing, Brian McConnachie QC, defending, said: \"The circumstances disclosed at trial indicate that this incident clearly happened at a time of unimaginable stress, so far as Mr Vita is concerned.\"\nAfter jailing Vita, Judge Murphy also praised his son adding: \"He will have to come to terms with the loss of his mother and the imprisonment of his father.\"", "Amirah Droudis, 37, will spend at least 33 years behind bars for killing the woman -who cannot be identified - in 2013.\nDroudis's boyfriend, Man Haron Monis, took 18 people hostage in a Lindt cafe in central Sydney in 2014.\nThe 16-hour siege ended with the deaths of Monis and two hostages when police stormed the building.\nMonis had been charged with being an accessory to his ex-wife's killing, and was on bail at the time of the siege.\nThe Supreme Court of New South Wales heard that Monis planned the 2013 murder and Droudis carried it out.\nThe victim, identified by the pseudonym Helen Lee, was stabbed 18 times before being doused in petrol and set alight outside an apartment in western Sydney.\nAfter the trial, Justice Peter Johnson ruled that Monis recruited Droudis to murder his ex-wife.\n\"The offender uncritically adopted and espoused Monis's foul beliefs and acted in public support of him in public protests,\" he said in his sentencing remarks on Wednesday.\nThe judge described Monis as \"an evil man\" whose death was \"a result of his own criminal and murderous acts\".\n\"No-one mourns his passing and many have been left to grapple the consequences of his destructive acts,\" he said.\nThe judge acknowledged claims that Droudis had been repeatedly assaulted by Monis.\nDroudis was sentenced to a maximum 44 years in jail with a non-parole period of 33 years.\nDetective Inspector Jason Dickinson, who worked on the case, said he was satisfied with the sentence handed to Droudis.\n\"This was a brutal and callous crime and I think the sentence today has reflected that brutality,\" he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.\nThe victim's family made a statement outside court, thanking the judge, prosecutors and police.\n\"Today we are very happy that justice has been served to our only daughter,\" the statement said.\nThe findings of an inquest into the cafe siege are due to be handed down this year.\nHow the Sydney siege unfolded", "County Antrim man Samuel Gaynor was 80 when he wrestled the weapon from Craig Binnie during the December 2013 attack.\nA judge said he had been \"incredibly brave\" for confronting Binnie \"with little regard for his own safety\".\nBinnie was jailed for 13 years for what the judge at Belfast Crown Court said was a \"horrifying, sustained attack\".\nThe court heard during Wednesday's sentencing that Mr Gaynor had rushed to the aid of his neighbour Nancy McDowell.\nHe was attacked by Binnie, but managed to disarm the 43-year-old.\nMr Gaynor, from Newtownabbey, who joined the army and who fought in the Korean War, is now approaching his 83rd birthday.\nHe said that even though he sustained four life-threatening wounds that required surgery he would \"more than likely do it again\".\nBinnie, from Tynan Drive in Newtownabbey, had armed himself with two knives before beginning an attack that left five people with stab wounds.\nThe attack was carried out in front of a five-year old child.\nThe judge said it would be \"hard to imagine the terror\" of the victims who were subjected to a \"frightening, sustained episode of unprovoked violence\".\nMr Gaynor said Binnie had been \"raining blows and stabbing\" him during their confrontation.\n\"I knew at this point he was trying to kill me and that I was fighting for my life,\" he said.\n\"I remember thinking that I had to take this man down.\n\"I don't know where I got the strength from, but I fought my way to my feet and overpowered him and got the knife away from him.\"\nMr Gaynor returned to his home where his wife came to his aid.\n\"My kitchen and dining room were like a war zone - blood and bloody towels everywhere.\n\"I remember saying to my wife: 'Love, I did my best, I think I'm going.' I then collapsed as I had lost a lot of blood.\"\nHe was taken to hospital where he was treated for his wounds.\nAmong the other victims were Angela Bell and her son Edward, who said they \"might not be here now\" if Mr Gaynor had not taken the knife from Binnie.\nMs Bell said: \"In my opinion he saved my life and the lives of my family, and I'll always be so grateful to him.\"\nEdward said: \"Sammy is a real hero to do what he did that night.\"", "Natalia Doherty was last seen on 15 April 2003 in Eastbourne, where she was living at the time.\nOn Wednesday a Luton man, aged 66, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful burial\nLast week a 71-year-old man from Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, was arrested on suspicion of the same offences.\nA house in Icknield Way in Luton has been searched as part of the investigation.\nWhen Ms Doherty disappeared she was thought to have travelled to Luton to stay with her ex-husband, Gerald Doherty, who has since died.\nOfficers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit launched an investigation in January 2014 into the case, which has led them to believe Ms Doherty was murdered in 2003.\nA police spokesman said: \"Proof-of-life enquiries have since failed to show any sign she is alive.\n\"Investigators are keen to trace Natalia's final movements and anyone who recognises her or Gerald from their time at the now-demolished pub, the Regents Arms in Hastings Street, Luton, or has any information relating to her disappearance, is asked to contact the police.\"", "Jonathan Pay, 46, shot a man who wrestled him to the ground during the failed raid - leaving a pellet lodged in the base of the victim's skull.\nA second robber stabbed the 50-year-old before both men fled the Lloyds Bank branch in Liphook, Hampshire, on 16 May.\nPay was jailed for 16-and-a-half years at Winchester Crown Court.\nPay, of Liphook Road, Lindford, had previously admitted wounding with intent, having an imitation firearm with intent and two counts of attempted robbery.\nThe customer, who has asked not be named, said Pay held the gun to his wife's head before pointing it at bank staff.\nHe said: \"I had him on the floor and nearly got the gun off him but his friend stabbed me and he shot me in the face.\n\"I dragged him out of the bank then he came back in and shot me again through my hair-line.\n\"It was adrenaline, complete instinct. I though my life was going to end in the bank.\"\nThe victim, from Headley Down, was treated in hospital for a minor stab wound, but he said the pellet could cause facial paralysis if removed, because it was embedded in a major nerve cluster.\nHe said his wife now \"shakes all the time\" and was unable to go shopping on her own.\nDet Con Kat Bird said the couple had been nominated for bravery awards.\nShe said: \"That customer tackled Pay to the ground causing his face to be uncovered and dislodging sunglasses which later forensically linked him to the offence.\n\"The man's wife also grabbed a bag containing gloves and a balaclava, which Pay was carrying.\n\"These items, which he had forgotten to put on, also forensically linked him to the scene.\"\nShe said detectives were still trying to establish the identity of the second robber.", "Phillip Nicholson, 22, died from a stab wound to the neck in the Boscombe area of Bournemouth on 26 May.\nHis ex-partner Isabella Gossling, 20, was found guilty of murder after a trial at Winchester Crown Court.\nHer lover Richard Moors, 26, had previously admitted murder. The court heard Moors inflicted the fatal wound.\nGossling and Moors, both of Sea Road, Bournemouth, will be sentenced on Monday.\nDuring the trial, the court was played a recording, made on Gossling's phone, of the final moments of Mr Nicholson's life in which he is heard saying: \"Stop, I just want to be friends, please.\"\nNigel Lickley QC said Gossling was a manipulative and threatening figure who could be heard on the recording telling Mr Moors to \"go on. Do what you need to do\".\nGossling insisted she could do nothing to stop the attack.\nThe jury also heard the couple had taken £800 from Mr Nicholson's bank account.\nMr Nicholson, who had learning difficulties, had been lured to Gossling's flat on the pretence of meeting another girl they were friends with.\nAfter the attack the killers can be heard discussing how to leave their victim's body to make it look like he had stabbed himself.\nMr Nicholson's aunt Dee Drummond described him as \"lovely and affectionate\".\n\"His death was nasty, vicious and cruel by people who had already made his life hell,\" she said.\nDet Ch Insp Stewart Balmer said: \"We, along with Phillip's family, are delighted that Isabella Gossling has been convicted today.\n\"This follows Richard Moors' previous guilty plea to Phillip's murder.\n\"Family liaison officers are supporting Phillip's family at this difficult time and our thoughts are very much with Phillip's family.\"", "Ex University of Bedfordshire academic Dr Theodora Dallas told jurors a man on assault charges at Luton Crown Court had previously been accused of rape.\nThe trial in July 2011 was halted. Dallas, from Greece, said her grasp of English was sometimes \"not that good\".\nThree High Court judges sentenced the 34-year-old to six months in prison.\nShe was told that she would serve three months in jail and be on licence for the remainder of the term.\nThe judges refused Dallas permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.\nLord Judge said Dallas had \"deliberately disobeyed\" the trial judge's instructions not to search the internet and added: \"The damage to the administration of justice is obvious.\"\nHe said: \"Misuse of the internet by a juror is always a most serious irregularity and an effective custodial sentence is virtually inevitable.\"\nHer counsel Charles Parry had made a plea to the court to be merciful and impose a suspended sentence, but Lord Judge rejected this.\nHe said there was \"no sufficient basis\" for suspension.\nShe had said earlier in a written statement: \"I had no intention at all to prejudice the jury in any way. I had no intention to disobey what the judge said.\"\nAt a hearing last Thursday, Attorney General Dominic Grieve told Lord Judge, Lady Justice Hallett and Mr Justice Openshaw that Dallas had impeded the administration of justice and was in contempt.\nBut the academic, who has resigned from her post, told the judges: \"I did not understand that I could make no search on the internet.\n\"I really apologise. I never thought it would cause such disruption.\"\nLord Judge said Dallas was guilty of \"contempt of the jury and the jury system... to the criminal standard\".\n\"In the long run, any system which allows itself to be treated with contempt faces extinction.\n\"That is a possibility we cannot countenance.\"\nDallas came to England from Greece at the age of 19 and was \"a woman of positive good character and we acknowledge her achievements thus far in her relatively young life,\" the judge said.\n\"She has now put her academic career into jeopardy.\"\nBut nothing had been said in mitigation that convinced the court she should be spared an immediate jail sentence, the judge said.\nHe had \"no doubt\" that Dallas knew \"perfectly well\" the trial judge had directed members of the jury not to seek information from the internet but \"deliberately disobeyed the order\".\n\"She did not merely risk prejudice to the due administration of justice, but she caused prejudice to it.\n\"The time of the other members of the jury was wasted and the public was put to additional unnecessary expense.\"\nDallas had been a psychology lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire, which has its main campus in Luton.\nThe trial where the contempt was committed involved a man accused of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.\nA juror had told an usher that Dallas had carried out internet research while they were deliberating their verdict, flouting instructions by the trial judge.\nDallas had revealed to jurors the man had previously been accused and acquitted of rape. He was re-tried in October last year, convicted and jailed.\nDallas said she had been checking the meaning of grievous bodily harm on the web.\nShe had added the word \"Luton\" to a search which produced a newspaper report mentioning the man and the rape allegation.", "Paul McManus stabbed 51-year-old Isabelle Sanders 37 times at her house in Crookston on 9 April last year.\nHe was also convicted of attempting to murder her partner, Norman Busby, 86, and two robbery-related stabbings.\nAt the High Court in Livingston, McManus, 20, was told he must serve a minimum of 26 years in prison before he can apply for parole.\nMcManus was jailed for a minimum of 21 years for murder and 14 years for the attempted murder and two other robbery-related stabbings.\nHe was told he would serve five of the 14 year sentence consecutively with the 21-year sentence for murder.\nJailing McManus, judge Lord Armstrong told him that Ms Sanders and Mr Busby had been living their lives as normal before he robbed their home.\nHe said: \"Their lives and yours had never crossed, but randomly you went to their home armed with two knives, forced your way in and inflicted violence on them.\"\nThe judge highlighted the accused's \"significant\" criminal record, which included convictions for theft, assault and robbery and the use of weapons.\nDespite McManus' young age, Lord Armstrong pointed out that he had already served seven sentences of detention and he had committed the murder a matter of weeks after his release from custody.\nThe judge told him: \"There are no reasons, whether to do with the consumption of drugs and alcohol or your lifestyle otherwise, which could possible justify the taking of another's life as you did.\n\"I have no doubt that those who knew Isabelle Sanders and her relatives have been deeply affected by all this. No sentence would be regarded as sufficient in their eyes.\"\nMs Sander's sister, Lindsay Dougall, said McManus should spend the remainder of his life in prison.\n\"We would like to acknowledge Lord Armstrong, who given current judicial protocol, has imposed as severe a sentence as likely in this case,\" she said.\n\"However, we strongly believe that for violent re-offenders, who flagrantly disregard the rehabilitation offered and the opportunity given to them through early release, who then go on to commit a violent murder, that the Scottish judiciary should be given the option and the guidance to impose a whole of life sentence.\n\"We will be petitioning the Scottish government to urge parliament to consider this opinion.\"\nProcurator fiscal Jennifer Harrower said McManus had been found guilty of \"horrific crimes\".\n\"Paul McManus embarked on an escalating series of assaults and robberies on members of the public, which culminated in the murder of Isabelle Sanders in her own home and the near-murder of her partner,\" she said.\n\"There were horrific crimes and McManus has left devastation and sadness in his wake. He now faces spending the rest of his life behind bars.\"\nMcManus had denied murdering Ms Sanders and had lodged a defence of incrimination, blaming his former friends Ross Arthurs and Christopher O'Reilly.\nBoth men denied being at Ms Sanders' home at 77 Raeswood Drive on the night of the murder.\nThe jury heard how McManus was armed with a knife in each hand when he barged his way into Ms Sanders' home after the door had been answered by Mr Busby.\nThe 86-year-old man described staggering back and being stabbed \"several times\" in the chest before Ms Sanders, who had been upstairs in bed, came to the top of the stairs.\nMr Busby said: \"Isabelle screamed and ran down the stairs and she saw him standing there. I was lying on the floor covered in blood.\n\"She saw him stealing stuff and she tried to push him out the front door and he had his knives and he stabbed her several times.\n\"She fell to the ground covered in blood. I reached out but she was dead.\"\nThe court heard that after seizing car keys from the house, McManus left, taking £300 in cash, a decanter filled with whisky and a laptop. He could not start the car and fled.\nPathologist Dr Marjorie Turner told jurors that Ms Sanders had 61 separate injuries to her body and suffered 37 stab wounds, two of which were fatal.\nMr Busby suffered two punctured lungs in the attack, which could have proved fatal without treatment.\nThe court was also told by Mr Arthurs that McManus had confessed to him that he carried out the murder.\nHe said McManus told him he \"couldn't stop\" after attacking Ms Sanders, adding: \"He said he stabbed her repeatedly on the head and shoulders. It was horrible.\"\nThe jury also heard that a pair of jogging trousers and a tracksuit top belonging to McManus had the DNA of Ms Sanders on them.\nThe trainers he wore were never recovered. McManus threw them away in a bin in Glasgow city centre after buying a new pair with cash he had stolen from Mr Busby.\nIn evidence, McManus admitted the jogging trousers and tracksuit top were his, but claimed that on the night of the murder they were worn by Mr Arthurs.\nMcManus also told the jury that he had stabbed Mr Busby in a panic and was upstairs when Ms Sanders was stabbed by one of his friends.\nThe jury of nine women and six men took less than two hours to find McManus guilty of all charges.", "BBC News examines what conditions the victims of the Connors' family endured.\nHis head was shaved and he was put to work at 05:00 in the morning having had nothing to eat since his \"capture\" the day before.\nIt was in the summer of 2006 that the homeless man from Manchester agreed to work for the Connors family after being offered £80 a day.\nOn the way to the traveller family's caravan park in Bedfordshire he got cold feet and asked to be dropped off.\nBut a man he later identified as Paddy Connors - jailed for five years on Tuesday, by a judge at Luton Crown Court - told him: \"No, you're coming with us.\"\nIt was not until the end of his first working day he received food, from other workers at the camp, near Leighton Buzzard.\nIt was food of the lowest quality, he said, an accusation that was confirmed when police raided the caravan site and found a small larder to feed 23 men.\nMedical examinations after the raid revealed one of the men at the site was suffering from scurvy and another was covered in his own excrement, which he had been unable to clean off because he was so weak.\nExaminations also showed the men had suffered broken bones, damaged ribs and other injuries that could only have been inflicted by beatings.\nOne man, who stayed with the Connors family after returning to the UK from Spain in 2004, told the police he had seen hundreds of workers passing through Green Acres and being abused.\nThe man described how Paddy Connors, when told of a worker trying to get away, had said: \"No, he won't, I'll hurt him, I'll kill him.\"\nAnother man, an alcoholic, who lived with the Connors family for seven years until the raid, spoke of his experiences.\nDuring his time with them, he said he travelled with the family abroad and his job included looking after the children.\nOn one job however, he fell through the roof of a garage and broke an ankle. He was kept working by being given painkillers but eventually he was taken to hospital.\nHe discharged himself and went back to work for the Connors family with his leg in plaster and wearing sandals.\nThe man described how he was once beaten with a broomstick that left scars on the back of his head.\nHe told police he had suffered \"seven years of abuse, starvation and torture\".\n\"There was no respect. They treated me like a slave and that's putting it mildly,\" he said.\nOne of the men had been picked up in London when he was down on his luck and offered £50, a roof over his head, food and clothing if he worked for the family.\nWhen he asked for his money he was told he would get nothing and that shelter and food was better than living on the streets.\nHe tried to escape after a beating and was chased, stabbed in the back of the head, knocked to the ground and dragged back to Green Acres.\nOthers who considered escaping listened to rumours there was a field at the caravan site where bodies were buried. The men told the trial they regarded this as a veiled threat.\nThe family's victims lived in squalor in sheds, run-down caravans and horse boxes.\nThere were no toilets or showers and they were taken to a nearby leisure centre on Fridays to wash.\nTheir bedding was changed about every four months and they received one meal a day, resulting in most suffering malnutrition and low body weight.\nMedical examinations found some of the men had previously had or were suffering from scabies infections.\nWhile their victims were underfed and lived in squalor, the Connors family are believed to have hidden millions of pounds in offshore bank accounts. These were the proceeds from their block paving, asphalting and clearance businesses over some 15 years.\nIf the money is recovered the first beneficiaries are to be the men who they kept in servitude.\nOn Tuesday, Tommy Connors Sr, 53, was jailed for eight years and his son Patrick (Paddy), 21, for five years, at Luton Crown Court. Both men were convicted of servitude, compulsory labour and assault charges.\nThe daughter of Tommy Connors Sr Josie, 31, and her husband James John Connors, 34, were jailed for 11 years and four years respectively last year for keeping vulnerable men in servitude and requiring them to perform forced labour.\nJames John Connors - known as \"Big Jim\" - was also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.", "Una Crown was found in her bungalow in Magazine Lane, Wisbech, on 13 January. She had been stabbed and her body burned in a bid to destroy evidence.\nOfficers have not found the knife used to kill Mrs Crown.\nA reconstruction of her last-known movements will feature on the BBC's Crimewatch programme later.\nDet Insp David Grierson, leading the investigation, said: \"Una habitually locked herself in her house when she was there alone.\n\"She would check who was at the door if anybody called, so I strongly suspect she either recognised the person at the door, or had good reason to open it to a stranger.\n\"I believe she was attacked fairly instantaneously after speaking to, or confronting this person at her front door.\"\nHe said officers were appealing on Crimewatch for \"that vital piece of information or evidence that tells us who was responsible for this\".\n\"We still haven't found the knife which was used to kill Una,\" Mr Grierson added.\n\"There could be some property missing from her house which will be revealed on Crimewatch.\"\nPolice said Mrs Crown was last seen on Friday 11 January, but made a telephone call to a friend at about 17.00 GMT the following day.\nThey believe she was murdered some time between Saturday night and Sunday morning.\nA 58-year-old man arrested in late January in connection with the investigation remains on bail until 15 May.\nOn the same Crimewatch episode, Cambridgeshire Police will reveal how they brought another woman's killer to justice.\nRimas Venclovas, 48, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in November after being convicted of the kidnap and murder of his ex-wife Vitalija Baliutaviciene.\nThe 29-year-old had gone missing after leaving her Peterborough home last August.\nA satellite navigation system seized from Venclovas' home in Lithuania was key to the case, detectives said.\nIt was used to trace his journey through six countries, eventually leading to the discovery of Ms Baliutaviciene's body in a shallow grave in Poland.", "Noye, 63, was jailed for life in 2000 for stabbing the 21-year-old on an M25 slip road at Swanley in 1996.\nHis lawyers claimed two key witnesses at his trial were now discredited, but on Tuesday, High Court judges dismissed his appeal against his conviction.\nToni Cameron said the family were happy that they had \"justice for Stephen\".\nHowever, she told BBC Radio Kent that it did not take away the fact that she had lost her son.\n\"Every day I think of Stephen,\" she said.\n\"It hurts because of the life that we've lost. No grandchildren, no wedding. And he was starting his own business that week.\n\"All this has gone from us and we didn't realise how happy we were until it was taken away.\"\nMrs Cameron added: \"We always had a happy family life with Stephen... it's such a great loss to all of us.\"\nNoye fled to Spain after stabbing Mr Cameron but was extradited in 1998 and jailed for life at the Old Bailey in 2000. He denied murder, on the grounds of self-defence.\nTwo previous appeals by Noye, in 2001 and 2004, were unsuccessful.\nMr Cameron was stabbed in front of his fiance, Danielle Cable, who is now in a witness protection scheme.\nGiving judgement on Tuesday, Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Henriques and Mr Justice Davis, said there was no doubt that Mr Cameron was \"deliberately stabbed\" by Noye, and that it \"was not self-defence\".\nLord Judge said: \"Rather it was a gross over-reaction in the context of a fight with an unarmed man, almost certainly consequent on the fact that the appellant was losing it.\"\nMrs Cameron added that the appeal should \"never have come about, because it was all in the court what he [Noye] did the first time\".\n\"At the end of the day he left my son to die in the gutter,\" she said.", "At a news conference, Mr Nisman's ex-wife said the findings ruled out theories of accident or suicide.\nMr Nisman was found dead in his home on 18 January, hours before he was due to testify in Congress against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.\nHe was probing Argentina's deadliest terrorist attack, the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre.\nSandra Arroyo Salgado, Mr Nisman's ex-wife, said a team of experts had made their conclusions based on reports from a post-mortem examination and existing forensic evidence.\nMs Arroyo Salgado, a federal judge, added that her report was at \"the disposal of the prosecutor and judge\" involved with the official investigation into Mr Nisman's death.\nDespite telling journalists the report's conclusions, Ms Arroyo Salgado has not released the full details of the document.\nAfter presenting the report, Ms Arroyo Salgado expressed her disappointment that family members at the scene were not allowed to participate in Mr Nisman's autopsy, despite having the right to do so.\nHowever, she said Mr Nisman's family had decided against conducting a second autopsy.\nFollowing the press conference Viviana Fein, who is leading the investigation into Mr Nisman's death, told Argentina's Radio Nacional that she would consider Ms Arroyo Salgado's report.\nMs Fein told the station: \"Up until now ... there has been nothing which allows me to say categorically whether this was a suicide or homicide. Nothing.\"\nOne of the experts who helped compile the report was Daniel Salcedo, a former Buenos Aires police chief.\nHe was assisted by a forensic expert and forensic pathologist.\nThese new revelations are likely to add even more pressure to the investigation of the most controversial case in Argentina's recent history. They thrust the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Viviana Fein, into the spotlight.\nFor weeks she has faced criticism for refusing to say if Alberto Nisman was killed or took his own life, only describing the case as a mysterious death.\nBut for Mr Nisman's ex-wife there is only one mystery to be solved: who killed him? From the beginning of the investigation, Sandra Arroyo Salgado distrusted the way the first tests were carried out and appointed her own team of analysts.\nAmong other shocking revelations in her report, she says Mr Nisman died in agony and alleges that his body was moved after he died.\nThe nation's eyes are now on the Argentine justice system, which is facing some of its toughest tests ever.\nIt is expected to solve the death of the man who created a political earthquake, and to decide whether to investigate the accusations made against the president and some of her highest ranking officials.\nMs Arroyo Salgado's announcement comes a day after an Argentine prosecutor appealed against a judge's decision last week to throw out Mr Nisman's case against President Fernandez.\nIn a 350-page report, Mr Nisman had suggested Ms Fernandez covered up the alleged involvement of senior Iranian officials in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish centre.\nMs Fernandez has always rejected the allegations, claiming Mr Nisman was fed misleading information by a rogue intelligence agent trying to discredit her government.\nEighty-five people died in the car bomb attack, which completely destroyed the seven-storey Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (Amia) cultural centre in the capital Buenos Aires.", "Chris Turner, 62, played for Peterborough United and was diagnosed after falling ill in 2006.\nHis wife Lynne said doctors told her it was \"caused by heading too many balls\".\nThe FA is discussing similar concerns with the family of ex-player Jeff Astle who died in 2002 from brain trauma caused by heading heavy leather balls.\nThe governing body has said it would also meet Mrs Turner to discuss her husband, who is now confined to a nursing home.\nShe said: \"[The FA] have really got to acknowledge that there is something going on.\n\"It's not for Chrissy, because he's never going to benefit. It's too late for him, but it's for kids now who are heading balls.\"\nTurner was a defender with Peterborough United from 1969-1977, and later played for Luton, Cambridge United, Swindon and Southend before retiring in 1984 and going on to manage both Cambridge and Peterborough.\nMrs Turner said he remained active until becoming ill.\n\"We took him to the doctor. That's when they did a brain scan and said he'd got frontal lobe dementia caused by heading too many footballs. It's what boxers get,\" she said.\n\"I know there are thousands going through this, but at 55, to be like that when you were so full of life, doing the job you loved in football... and that's what's killed him really, because he's just not the same person anymore.\"\nMr Turner has been unable to walk, talk or eat for about five years, his wife said.\nShe is convinced the condition was brought on by years of heading heavy footballs as there is no history of dementia in his family.\n\"I know that is what did it,\" she said. \"He complained of violent headaches in his forehead and that's when it started.\"\nA spokesman for the FA said: \"[We] are working with other sports with higher prevalence of head injuries towards an education programme to allow safe participation in any sport.\n\"There are standards set out in the laws of the game for the size, weight and pressure of footballs and we will continue to liaise with Fifa on this and other medical issues.\"\nThe association would, he added, be happy to discuss Mrs Turner's concerns about the game.", "Christopher Shone, 55, stabbed 43-year-old Mary Craig, at their home in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, on 26 May.\nA jury at the High Court in Glasgow rejected his claim that Ms Craig died while trying to stop him self-harming.\nJudge Johanna Johnston told Shone he had committed a \"brutal act\" and must serve a minimum of 16 years in prison.\nThe temporary judge said: \"You were convicted of murdering Mary Craig. The jury rejected your defence of accident.\n\"There had been an argument and Ms Craig said she was fed up with your behaviour. Later that day you stabbed her through the heart.\n\"That brutal act robbed her of her life, robbed her children of their mother and tore apart the family. Her family have all been devastated by your crime. For her children their lives will never be the same again.\"\nAs Shone was led away to begin his sentence members of Ms Craig's family shouted: \"Murderer and rot in hell\".\nDuring Shone's trial, the jury heard how the couple had been together for eight years in a relationship that was described as \"up and down\".\nShone had gone with Ms Craig to her sister's home on the morning of 26 May and it was there that an old home video was put on which showed the victim with her ex-husband.\nShone claimed he soon \"went into a low\" as it had been difficult \"seeing them together\".\nThe couple later argued when Ms Craig returned home from her karate class.\nA neighbour, Amanda Brown, told the jury how she spoke to Ms Craig that night.\nThe witness recalled: \"She told me that he was drunk - she said she could not be bothered with it any more and was sick of it. I thought she was going to leave him... separate.\"\nInstead Ms Craig was killed later that night when Shone plunged a kitchen knife into her chest. She died from a single stab wound to her heart.\nHe then put the murder weapon back into a knife block and sought no assistance for his dying partner.\nIt was Ms Craig's 13-year-old son who dialled 999.\nThe jury was played the emergency call where the distressed teenager repeatedly asks for help for his mother.\nShone was detained at his house and later apparently broke down when police told him Ms Craig had died.\nGiving evidence, he claimed the death was a tragic accident after Ms Craig tried to wrestle a knife from him to stop him self harming.\nAsked what happened, Shone wept: \"Her arm slipped off mine. My arm came down... it went into her. I just thought that it was a small cut.\"\nBut prosecutor Steven Borthwick described Shone's claims as a \"pack of lies\" and that he had stabbed Ms Craig \"right to the hilt\" of the knife.", "Syrian businessman Nicholas Daher, 85, was stabbed to death in Letchworth on 4 January.\nSammi Ozone, 60, admitting killing the father of his wife Samur at their Whitethorn Lane home, but denied murder.\nA jury at Luton Crown Court found him not guilty of murder on grounds of diminished responsibility.\nThe jury was told how Ozone cut himself after the fatal stabbing and was taken to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage for treatment.\nWhile there, with a police guard nearby, he is said to have made unprompted comments: \"Is the devil alive? I didn't mean to do it. I saw the devil in front of me.\"\nFather-of-two Ozone has been remanded in custody until 25 August for a psychiatric report to be updated prior to sentencing.\nJudge Michael Kay QC said: \"This has been a very sad case, but Mr Ozone should be prepared for a custodial sentence of some length.\"\nDuring the case, prosecutor Robert O'Sullivan QC said: \"For a number of years the defendant had ill-feeling towards his father-in-law. Mr Daher was a very wealthy man, who had funded their lifestyle in Syria where they came from.\n\"Mr Ozone resented his father-in-law's controlling behaviour.\"\nWhen questioned by the police, he said something had \"flipped\" when he went in the kitchen.\nHe said his father-in-law had a devil face.\nHe said: \"He was evil. He was mad. He laughed at every step in our life.\"", "The Israeli army says it is sending hundreds more soldiers to Hebron and officials are withholding some tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority.\nIt comes after an Israeli man was killed and his wife and two children wounded after their car was fired on near the Jewish settlement of Otniel.\nIt was the second fatal attack on an Israeli in the West Bank in two days.\nThirty-five Israelis have now been killed in a wave of knife, gun and car-ramming attacks since October.\nMore than 200 Palestinians - mostly attackers, Israel says - have also been killed in that period.\nOn Friday a group of world powers known as the Quartet issued a report warning of \"perpetual occupation and conflict\" between Israelis and Palestinians unless both sides take positive action.\nThe Hebron closure will limit movement except for humanitarian cases, Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said.\nHe added that this was the military's \"most substantial\" move since 2014. The Hebron area is home to some 700,000 people.\nThe victims of Friday's attack were members of the same family. Local media named the dead man as 48-year-old Michael \"Miki\" Mark, a father-of-10.\nHe was killed when the car crashed after the attack. His wife and two children were taken to hospital for treatment.\nIsraeli forces were still searching for a Palestinian gunman.\nIn the wake of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israel to deduct from tax it collects on behalf of the PA the equivalent amount which the PA pays each month to Palestinian militants jailed in Israel.\n\"Israel believes that the encouragement of terrorism by the PA leadership - in incitement and in payments to terrorists and their families - constitutes incentive for murder,\" the prime minister's office said.\nThe shooting happened on Route 60, about nine miles (15km) south of the settlement of Kiryat Arba, where a day earlier 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel was stabbed to death in her bedroom by a Palestinian as she slept.\nHer attacker, from a nearby village, was shot dead by settlement guards.\nHours before the shooting attack, a Palestinian woman was shot dead by security forces in Hebron, adjacent to Kiryat Arba, after drawing a knife, police said.\nPolice said the woman had tried to stab a policewoman who was searching her at the entrance to a shrine revered by Jews and Muslims.\nElsewhere in the West Bank a Palestinian man died during clashes at the Qalandiya checkpoint, near Ramallah, where Muslims were trying to cross to Jerusalem for prayers.\nLocal hospital officials say he had a heart attack brought on by inhaling tear gas.", "Duncan Potts, 28, from Coldridge near Crediton in Devon, died climbing in the Mont Blanc range near Chamonix, the Marines confirmed.\nHe was with a friend on Wednesday when a large rock came loose and fell about 3m (9ft) onto him according to reports.\nMr Potts had been in the Royal Marines, where he was a mountain leader, for 11 years and left in April.\nThe Foreign Office said it was providing assistance to Mr Potts' family.\nCol Kevin Oliver, from the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in Lympstone, Devon, paid tribute to Mr Potts.\nHe said: \"We are saddened to hear of the death of Duncan Potts, an ex member of the Royal Marines family and a mountain leader.\n\"We knew him as a fine young man who was a credit to the service, who left having achieved much in his career. The thoughts and sympathies of those that knew him go out to his family and friends.\"\nHis fiancee, vet April Lawson, said on Facebook that Mr Potts, who she got engaged to in Rome on 11 June, was her \"soulmate\".\n\"I love you so much,\" she wrote.\n\"I always will love you and you will remain in my heart forever. You mean the world to me and are my life.\n\"I'm truly grateful for the time we had together. My kind-hearted, handsome gentleman.\"\nShe said her partner was a skilled climber, surfer, skier and musician who was going to pursue a career in physiotherapy.\n\"You are such a strong and brave man,\" she said.\n\"I miss you and want cuddles please. I hope you were happy Duncan because I was so happy with you.\n\"I will always love you Duncan Potts to the moon and back.\"\nMr Potts' brother Andy said: \"It's really starting to hit home how much and widely he is going to be missed. I'm still struggling to come to terms with the fact that my big brother is no longer with us.\n\"Duncan had such an incredible group of friends and you all made his life so fun filled and special and I want to thank every one of you for being such an important part of his life.\"\nWendy Lawson, mother of April, said her daughter's \"world has been ripped apart\".\n\"My heart grieves for this lovely man and for the future now denied both,\" she said.\n\"My love and thoughts go out to all his family and friends; Duncan is a beautiful man, inside and out.\"", "Diamond - who played Screech in the TV show - was convicted earlier this month of two charges of carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct.\nThe 38-year-old actor had said he was defending his fiancee and had not intended to stab anyone.\nHe has been ordered to report to jail on Sunday to start his sentence.\nDiamond left the courtroom in Wisconsin without commenting.\nThe fight happened on 25 December in Port Washington, Wisconsin, while Diamond was with partner Amanda Schutz.\nDiamond said a group in the bar wanted to pose for pictures but others were badgering him and Schutz, and he tried to help her by brandishing his pocketknife to deter the group.\nThe man who was stabbed was not seriously injured.\nAs well as his role in the 90s high school-set sitcom, Diamond appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK in 2013.", "Last month, the 32-year-old left League Two side Luton Town by mutual consent to return home.\nBut the ex-Derry City winger said when his wife, Laura, was diagnosed, everything paled into insignificance.\n\"I called Michael (O'Neill), explained what had happened and told him I wasn't going to be available for the Euros,\" he said.\n\"When something like that happens, your only thought is for your family.\"\nMcCourt told the Times that his wife was returning home from a holiday when their life was turned upside down.\n\"The flight landed at Gatwick and was taxiing to the airport when she had a seizure on the bus,\" McCourt said.\n\"Paramedics were called to the scene and they rang me.\n\"They said they were going to send her to East Surrey Hospital. Naturally, I was very concerned.\n\"Within 48 hours it came back that they had found a brain tumour,\" he said.\nThe doctors told the couple they needed to operate on the tumour and remove it as soon as possible.\nAlthough the tumour was benign, it was growing. The date for the operation was 9 June, the day before Euro 2016 started.\nMcCourt said Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill told him to be there for his wife and 'don't even think about Euros'.\n\"Laura didn't need the attention it would have created if he had said what was really happening,\" he adds.\nThe operation was successful and Laura has now been given a positive diagnosis.\n\"It was absolutely nerve racking,\" he said, \"but thankfully we were given the best possible news afterwards, which was that everything had been positive.\n\"Laura is now recovering and we're told that in four to six months, please God, she will be completely back to normal.\"", "Stephen Munro, 45, from Aberkenfig, Bridgend, denied stalking his former partner but was found guilty after a trial at Swansea Crown Court.\nThe court heard he was \"besotted\" with her, approaching her outside her home and at a park while she walked her dog between January and May of last year.\nMunro was jailed for 18 months on Tuesday.\nThe court was told he was a successful businessman who owned a taxi firm and a minibus company which operates a £20,000-a-month school transport contract around Bridgend.\nThe jury heard he had been jailed for eight days over Christmas 2015 after she ended their four-year relationship the previous June.\nHe was later given a suspended sentence and a restraining order with instructions not to contact his ex after pleading guilty to harassing her.\nBut within the same month he continued his stalking.\nJudge Daniel Hale said: \"You're a man in your 40s. Not some lovelorn teenager.\n\"She clearly wanted to lead an independent life. But you were besotted with her.\n\"There was no violence but it must have been unpleasant.\"\nMunro also had his restraining order extended to include streets near her home and was ordered to pay a £150 victim surcharge.", "The 53-year-old shot and stabbed to death the mother-of-two in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on 16 June, a week before the EU referendum vote.\nMair shouted \"Britain first\" in the attack, but the judge said the true \"patriot\" was Mrs Cox, not Mair.\nProsecutors said Mair was motivated by hate and his crimes were \"nothing less than acts of terrorism\".\nMrs Cox, MP for Batley and Spen, had been on her way to a constituency surgery when she was set upon in front of two of her assistants and shocked constituents.\nMair shot the 41-year-old with a sawn-off rifle and stabbed her with a dagger, turning on 78-year-old Bernard Kenny, who tried to stop him. In a raid of his home nearby, police found Nazi-related material.\nThomas Mair: The man who murdered MP Jo Cox\nWhat the judge told Thomas Mair\nBrendan Cox: 'Jo strengthened, not silenced'\nConviction closes 'sad chapter' for Birstall\nWestminster reacts to verdicts\nRolling coverage and reaction to verdicts\nThe jury found Mair guilty of having a firearm with intent, causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Kenny and having a dagger.\nThe judge gave him a whole life tariff, saying he was likely to spend the rest of his life in jail. He said the offence was so exceptional that Mair could only be released by a secretary of state.\nMair, dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, remained impassive as the verdicts were read out, after just over 90 minutes of deliberations.\nHe had not entered a plea and chose not to give evidence in his defence at the trial.\nBut before sentencing, Mair asked to speak to the courtroom. The judge declined, saying he had already had an opportunity.\nAddressing Mair, Mr Justice Wilkie said: \"You affect to be a patriot. The words you uttered repeatedly when you killed her, give lip service to that concept.\n\"Those sentiments can be legitimate and can have resonance but in your mouth, allied to your actions, they are tainted and made toxic.\"\nMair's inspiration was not love of country but admiration for Nazism, the judge said.\n\"Our parents' generation made huge sacrifices to defeat those ideas and values in the Second World War. What you did, and your admiration for those views which informed your crime, betrays the sacrifices of that generation.\"\nHe said Mair had not the courage to acknowledge what he had done and forced Mrs Cox's family to relive the events.\nBy contrast, your second victim of the day - Mr Kenny - acted \"instinctively and courageously\" to try to save Mrs Cox and deserves the highest praise, he said to Mair.\nMr Justice Wilkie said the murder was carried out to advance a political cause of violent white supremacism, associated with Nazism.\nHe said an aggravating feature was the weeks of planning in which Mair researched Mrs Cox, a past assassination of a serving MP and matricide, knowing she was the mother of young children.\nThe judge described Mrs Cox as \"a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, partner, and companion\".\nHe said her generosity of spirit was \"evident in the selfless concern she had for others, even when facing a violent death\", referring to Mrs Cox's plea to her assistants to get away and save themselves, as she lay dying in the street.\nDaniela Relph, BBC News correspondent\nThe jury took just one hour and 36 minutes to reach its verdicts. Every seat in courtroom eight of the Old Bailey was filled as the jury foreman stood to deliver the guilty verdicts.\nFrom Mair there was no reaction. He had maintained his silence throughout the trial and during every police interview.\nAs the verdicts were delivered, Jo Cox's family smiled. Her sister, Kim, held her mother's hand. Then Jo Cox's husband read a victim impact statement.\nStanding in the witness box, in front of the man who murdered his wife, Brendan Cox told Mair that he pitied him because his life was devoid of love and consumed by hatred. It was a highly charged moment.\nThe Cox family watched as Mair was led away, in silence, to begin his life sentence.\nIn a statement read to a packed courtroom at the Old Bailey, Mrs Cox's husband Brendan said he was not there for \"retribution\" and felt \"nothing but pity\" for Mair.\nLater, speaking outside court, he said his wife's killing was an incompetent and self-defeating act of terrorism that was driven by hatred but instead created an outpouring of love.\nHis family would not respond to hatred with hatred, he said, and Jo's ideas and values would live on in her children, and family.\nOutside court, Mrs Cox's sister Kim Leadbeater said she and her parents, Jean and Gordon, were relieved that the process was over after a difficult few months.\n\"We can and we will work through our pain and, as a family, we are stronger and more united than ever.\n\"I, for one, will not be beaten by what has happened and I know I am not alone - it is the last thing my sister would want,\" she said.\n\"There may have been one act of extreme cowardice on that day, but there were acts of extreme bravery,\" she added.\nLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mair had \"robbed the world of an ambassador of kindness\" and urged her fellow MPs to confront those who wish to promote the hatred and division that led to her murder.\nHome Secretary Amber Rudd called it a \"shocking and senseless murder\" that was \"an attack on all of us and the values we share of democracy and tolerance\".\n\"As home secretary, I am determined that we challenge extremism in all its forms including the evil of far right extremism and the terrible damage it can cause to individuals, families and communities,\" she said.\nThe Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement: \"Mair has offered no explanation for his actions but the prosecution was able to demonstrate that, motivated by hate, his pre-meditated crimes were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.\"\nThe CPS said it worked closely with police to build a strong case, and commended a number of \"brave\" eye witnesses who gave evidence.\nMair was a \"cold-blooded killer\" who lived a solitary lifestyle, with no social circle and had never come to the notice of the police before, DS Nick Wallen, of West Yorkshire Police, said.\nNothing could ever excuse the evil and the horror that he brought to the small town of Birstall, he added.", "Adam Wilson, of Lostock Hall, was found with serious injuries at a property on Albrighton Crescent in Lostock Hall near Preston in September.\nJason Taylor, 21, of Westfield, Lostock Hall denied murder but was found guilty after a trial by jury.\nAt Preston Court, he was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years.\nMr Wilson died as a result of catastrophic bleeding from a stab wound in his thigh, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.\nSophie Lorimer from the CPS North West said the \"brutal attack\" in front of his ex-partner was \"purely motivated by jealousy\".\n\"He could not accept that the relationship with his ex-girlfriend was over,\" she said.\nTaylor's girlfriend said he bombarded her with text messages and phone calls which \"progressively became more and more abusive\".\n\"The final text he sent to her stated he was giving her one last chance before things turned sour.\n\"Minutes later he violently broke into her house where Adam Wilson was also present.\"\nMs Lorimer said Taylor then stabbed Mr Wilson numerous times with a large knife which he had taken with him.\nTaylor carried out the \"frenzied\" knife attack \"fully aware\" there were two young children also present at the house, she said.\nHe then fled and hid from police in a neighbouring garden, she added.\nMs Lorimer said Taylor had shown \"no remorse\" throughout the case in which he claimed he was acting in self-defence.\nDet Ch Insp Neil Ashton of Lancashire Police said Taylor's actions were carried out \"in anger and jealousy\".\nHe said: \"His actions were completely unprecedented and resulted in the needless and very sad loss of a young man's life.\"", "Natalia Doherty, 50, a mother-of-three who was last seen alive in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on 15 April 2003, was identified by dental records.\nHer remains were discovered during a search of a garden of a house in Icknield Way, earlier this week.\nTwo men, aged 66 and 39, from Luton who were arrested on suspicion of murder have been bailed until next year.\nThe older man had previously been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and preventing a lawful burial.\nA 71-year-old man from Port Glasgow is on bail on suspicion of the same crimes.\nPolice said the victim's family was being kept updated with developments, while being supported by family liaison officers.\nDetectives believe that shortly before her death, Ms Doherty travelled to Luton to stay with her late ex-husband, Gerald, at the now-demolished Regents Arms in Hastings Street.\nOfficers from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit launched a fresh investigation in January 2014, which led them to believe Ms Doherty was murdered.\nInvestigations are continuing at the house in Icknield Way, police have said." ]

[ "Found this reference , a white paper from a firm &quot;Moffatand Nichol,&quot; which says\n\nLocalized areas found between structure and external service yard can\nbe designed as a form of articulation or ‘rocker’ slab, which as the\nname suggests, allows for normal movements irrespective of on-going\nsettlements. While rocker slabs may be a solution for particular\napplications, they can never provide an operationally friendly\nsolution for large storage areas or service yards.\n\nMy take, skimming some other sites' documents which mention but don't strictly define them, is that a &quot;rocker slab&quot; is a single-cast piece of concrete which rests on supports at both ends (and possibly the sides), thus joining two separate parts of framing. Quite possibly without being bonded in place (as the slab is a preform). Local bolts would be required to anchor the slab." ]

[ "Rocker-bogie is the suspension. The steering is Ackermann.", "Live edge furniture refers to the inclusion of the unsquared, natural edge of a tree in the lumber being used for a piece. Typically this is the sapwood with the bark removed. In standard lumber this edge is milled off. \n\nIn general bark is actually hard to keep on the wood as it expands and contracts at a different rate to the wood it's attached to, so therefore tends to detach over time. The sapwood is the actual \"living\" part of a tree and encompasses the outermost ring through which nutrients travel. Sapwood is generally a lighter color that the heartwood (inner rings) and therefore is preferred to add an accent to the piece being produced. Sapwood inclusion in dimensional lumber (read squared edges) usually denotes lower quality lumber.\n\nA piece of lumber that includes 2 live edges is typically referred to as a slab, although a very wide piece of wood can also be referred to as such without the live edges. Hence, slab tables often are a table made from the cross section of a tree with the bark removed but maintaining the 2 live edges. The angle of the live edge can be used to get a general idea of what part of the layered cross section the piece came from. The more parallel the edge, the more central the slab. The more angled the edge, the more peripheral the cut. This can also be seen in the grain pattern of the end grain, as it will invariably reflect the angle of the edge.", "You may have some luck with stabilizing it as though it was a slab. Using an epoxy in acetone method:\n\n\nDissolve epoxy in acetone\nSubmerge rough stone in the epoxy acetone mixture\nSeal up container so acetone does not evaporate\nLeave in mixture for at least a week\nRemove from acetone and let dry for at least another week \n\n\nMindat has some good instructions along with other methods\n\n\n\nThe important detail is this method relies on diffusion. When you have a slab your path length is relatively short, so the epoxy can diffuse in fairly quickly (days). As you make the material thicker the time increases. If you have a piece of rough that is fairly narrow in one dimension, you're in luck, treat it as a slab, diffusion won't be slowed down by rough edges, indeed it will be slightly faster. Where you're going to run into problems is with a thick piece of rough material that resembles a sphere. In this situation you may want to go at it in multiple passes as follows:\n\nLet's say that your rough material is sphere with a diameter of six inches. Additionally you've determined that you can \"completely\" stabilize a slab that is one inch thick.\n\nIf you follow the same procedure with the rough material, you can \"completely\" stabilize the outer 1/2 inch of it. At which point you could cut off slabs as circles of a sphere:\n\n\n\nof 1/2 inch thickness.\nThe process could be repeated to allow for a second, larger, slab to be produced.\n\nI would probably sacrifice the first layer, as it is typically irregular to begin with, making a poor slab. Or, because I am impatient, I would slab the rough and accept what breaks as broken and stabilize the usable parts as slabs.\n\nNote: It has been years since I've made a cab and my knowledge of stabilization techniques is from research only, I have not tried these techniques myself.", "This is Kuwait National assembly building designed by Jorn Utzon, Danish architect. In your image the building is under construction.\n\nThe objects are permanent formwork for roof concrete slab. They create the grooves on top that is going to be populated with reinforcement and mold the stem of T-beam Roof slab.\n\nAt the same time, they are nicely arched on the bottom and will play as the dramatic voluted ceiling of the building.\n\nHe utilizes this type of architectural feature in many of his designs.", "Bent lamination would work well for making the rockers with the tools you have available. You can cut the thin strips on your table saw then glue and clamp them in a simple jig. \n\nIf you are constructing them from plywood, such as one method with the silhouette cut from a single sheet or you need to cut curves for other parts, a jig saw is a good choice and your most economical option as far as cutting curves with power tools.", "Support either side of each post, cut it off, insert a steel stub base or pour a new concrete base to a height slightly above the planned slab, pour the new slab.\n\nOr, just make sure the \"expansion joint\" around each post is actually around each footing, boxing out the whole area, and fill with pea stone or marble chips after pouring the slab.\n\nOr skip pouring a slab and just put in a base for pavers and build the patio from pavers.", "If the slabs are stable and not moving (caused by poor compaction, sub surface drainage, or plate tectonics), commercial floor leveling (gypcrete is the most flexible and most economic in most areas) would quickly get you flat.\n\nSome considerations will be: \n\n\nDoor clearances\nNeed to extend floor drains upwards\nStair rises affected\nNeed to clear out everything", "I was looking for something similar, and I found Mars Rover Rocker-Bogie Differential to be really helpful.\n\nWith my level of understanding it took me a while. But the link my professor provided me with really helped me, it has decent animations to help understanding the concept. \n\nOkay so here's my understanding of the mechanism. \nThe differential system essentially could consist of either of these two mechanisms:\nThe Differential Gearbox and the Differential Bar.\n\nThe differential Gearbox consists of three gears. The one in the middle (2) is connected to the body, while the ones on the side (1) rockers of the system.\n\n\n\nIf you were to pick the rocker bogie up and hold the body intact, and tilt one of the side rocker downwards, the gears in the gearbox would make the rocker on the other side tilt upward. If you tilt it upwards, the other one would tilt it downwards. More complex system use more gears to make the whole system more sensitive to the movements.\n\nAs for the Differential bar, it's not used on the rover as it interferes with the solar panel, but it works in a similar way. Except its rod that connects the two rockers. And this rod is pivoted in the middle onto the body. \n\nSo, as far as my understanding goes, look at the picture and consider the gears on either side (Gears numbered 1). If one of the gear(let's say the top one) is turning clockwise, it would make Gear no. 2 (which sits in the grove of both of the other gears.) move anti-clockwise. Which in turn would make the other No.1 Gear turn anti-clock wise.\n\nNOTE: ALL THE GEARS FIT INTO THE GROOVE OF EACH OTHER. So any rotation that takes place in this system affects the other two gears. And the gears are attached or arranged in such a way that No.1's are running in the opposite direction of each other. \n\n\n\nHere you can see the differential Bar on Curiosity.", "The ticking noise is probably a sticky lifter, push rod, or rocker arm. For a variety of reasons, one of these might momentarily lose contact with the other. The lifter touches the push rod, the push rod also touches the rocker arm, and the rocker arm touches the valve stem. If any of these parts are \"sticky\" you can get a click. When things warm up, the stickiness might go away.\n\nThe actual cause of the stickiness that is making things click might be harmless (rocker arm has extra play) or potentially deadly to the engine (no oil or bad oil).\n\nBased on what you've said, get an oil and filter change NOW! Oil should be changed at least every 5000 miles. Don't worry about getting Synthetic. That's for extending the oil life, and there's a lot of debate about that. What you need now is new oil.", "For big constructions, there is a survey plan and a few bench marks marked and cemented by the surveyor. Then at the time of excavation there are auto rotating laser levels that cast a level moving beam which is easy to see and follow. there are reflecting mirrors and elevation readers.\n\nExcavation is done in stages, from rough to fine contours using different heavy machinery depending on the type and configuration of the site. Many jobs call for presence of soils engineer at intervals to test the soils and determine their properties and if they match the project's soils report.\n\nConcrete slabs can be leveled with vibrating, moving, or, rotating screeds or operator driven motorized finishers or manually. There are plastic stakes that mark the finish level and the have fittings for long aluminum levels.\n\nStructural drawings usually call for 1/8\" to 1/16\" tolerance in slabs level.", "Someone built on rock because the rock was where they wanted to put the house. This mighf reduce foundation cost, too.\n\nYou repair the foundation the same way you repair any brick or fieldstone foundation -- mortar in new pieces if necessary, tuckpoint to fill in eroded-away mortar, etc. Think of the ledge rock as a natural foundation slab and work from there.", "Generally you'll not be able to remove 30mm from a concrete slab without cracking up the remainder. In the UK a typical slab might only be 100mm thick. \n\nHowever (in the UK at least) it's unlikely you're looking at the floor slab, but rather the floor screed (sharp sand and cement 3:1) used to finish off the floor. The 100mm concrete floor slab is actually a sub-floor slab underneath the finish screed.\n\nNow, the floor screed can be hard, but it's laid fairly dry and is often not too difficult to chop out. Typical thickness ranges from 50mm to 75mm (but can be as little as 25mm...) \n\nStarting in a corner, try chopping a small exploratory hole with a sharp cold chisel and a club hammer. Check for pipes first, as radiator pipes typically get buried in the screed around the edges of the room.", "Поехавший means \"crazy, weird, inadequate\" here. There is a colloquial idiom [у него] крыша поехала (literary \"[his] roof is gone\") which means \"he is off his chump (crumpet, noggin, nut, rocker, trolley); he has bats in his belfry; he has gone bughouse (bugs)\", so the verb поехать can also mean \"go crazy\", and поехавший is the past active participle from this verb.\n\n\n Он ещё хотел что-то сказать, но так и остался с открытым ртом, чем-то неожиданно напуганный. - Ты чё? - уставился на него Вовка. - Крыша поехала? (Б. Новосельцев, Отработка)\n \n He wanted to say a few words more, but suddenly turned to stone, his mouth agape. 'What's the matter with you?' Vovka stared at him. 'Have you gone off your rocker, or what?'", "First I would like to define the terms Mods and Rockers, according to Wikipedia:\nRockers\n\nThe rocker subculture was centred on motorcycling, and their appearance reflected that. Rockers generally wore protective clothing such as black leather jackets and motorcycle boots (although they sometimes wore brothel creeper shoes). The common rocker hairstyle was a pompadour, while their music genre of choice was 1950s rock and roll, played by artists like Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, and Bo Diddley.\n\n\nMods\n\nThe mod subculture was centred on fashion and music, and many mods rode scooters. Mods wore suits and other cleancut outfits, and preferred 1960s music genres such as soul, rhythm and blues, ska, beat music, and British blues-rooted bands like The Who, The Yardbirds, and The Small Faces.\n\n\nWho won?\nI will base my opinion on what subculture is still popular today. I think that Mods music genres and culture is more popular today. Mods covered larger music genre so it has probably touched more music fans than Rockers.\nAnd Mods fashion style seem to be more common today (elegant suit, short and flat haircut ) than Rockers (motorcycle leather protections, pompadour hairstyle...).\nMod culture had his revival in the late 70s and in the 80s and some Mod bands from this period were still active recently.\n\nThe Chords in 2010\nSecret Affair in 2012\n\nAlso recent brit rock seem to have more influences from the Mods than the Rockers. Here is a clip from Lostprophets that makes obvious references to Mod culture (scooters, suits, haircuts..).", "As an honours civil engineering student I have been taught by three different doctors of civil and structural engineering that there is no difference between the two scenarios in design practice. What matters is how you prevent actual punching of slabs using collars, rebar design and other methods.", "I'd go for a square joint with a form. If you are using reinforcement (either as a part of the structural design for the slab or simply as an anti-crack measure), carry it through to stop any possible differential movement. That said, the concrete within two adjacent slabs poured within a relatively close period (approximately 3 days) will fuse as the cement hydrates and form a single \"unit\".", "The main reason for the stepped arrangement of the slope is slope stability and safety.\n\nSuch walls/cuttings are divided into two components:\n\n\nsub vertical walls between two flat horizons\nflat sections between sub vertical walls\n\n\nBy having a stepped arrangement, material and hence weight, is removed from above the toe of slope (where the bottom part of the slope meets the ground). This reduces the pressure at the toe of the slope and assists with the stability of the slope. This is critical because should the toe fail, the whole wall/slope will fail. To further assist with toe pressure reduction and slope stability, the sub vertical parts of the wall generally have a slope themselves. The maximum angle of each wall component is determined by a geotechnical analysis, which considers things such as: rock mass rating, joint orientation, joint persistence, conditions of joints (joint infill, joint friction, presence of slippery minerals such as talc), RQD (Rock Quality Designation), rock strength. In stronger and more component rock the angle can be steep. In weaker and less component rock, the wall angle will be shallower.\n\nDepending on local terminology and whether the slope is for civil or mining purposes, the flat sections of the stepped slope are called benches, catch benches or berms. In addition to stepping the slope back into the in-situ rock, the benches catch smaller rocks and rubble that can fall off the wall from time to time. The wider the benches the better, firstly due to the increased offset of the wall and pressure reduction at the toe, but also the increased capacity to catch rocks falling from the slope above.", "The primary reason for the long lasting strength of idols in most of the temples are the choice of Granite for sculpting the idol. Even though the granites appear to be similar in appearance, their strength and durability are decided by various factors like cracks in outer layer, porosity etc., \n\nThe Granite(rocks) of high quality are used for building pillars and supporting beams, where as low quality would be used for pavements. \n\nEven though the deciding factor of selction of making idols are not clearly known, we can very well say that choice of the Granite is one of the predominant reason for long lasting strength of idols. \n\nMore over, the abishegams performed on the idol like thaila-kapu and the choice of abishegam material may also enhance the strength of the idols.", "The purpose is to prepare a flake for improved manipulation.\n\nAbrasion is a process also referred to as 'raking': \n\n\n Raking is the action of carefully dragging a course abrader or other device to remove \"micro\" flakes from the edge of a biface or preform to change it's [sic] shape or give support to an edge before actual abrading is done prior to percussion or pressure work.\n source\n \n Edges being worked [especially while soft hammer knapping] must be ground dull prior to flake removal. This dulling helps prevent edge collapse. A piece of sandstone, very soft limestone, or other soft rock may be used to dull the edge.\n source\n \n The process [of lithic reduction] also involves frequent preparation of the edge to form better platforms for pressing off flakes. This is usually accomplished with abraiders made from a coarse-grained stone such as basalt or quartzite.\n source\n\n\nEssentially, the abrasion allows for the force to be distributed more evenly and controllably.", "According to Wikipedia it is called \"curb cut (U.S.), curb ramp, dropped kerb (UK), pram ramp, or kerb ramp (Australia)\".", "Those cracked blocks are \"concrete masonry units\" (CMU) and what you're looking at is the bottom side of the hearth of the fireplace on the floor above. There could be three reasons: 1) Settlement, and/or 2) Under sized cantilevered slab (hearth), or 3) the weight of the concrete at the time of installation caused the lintels to crack.\n\nIt looks like the upstairs hearth is about level with the floor above, based on the height of the CMU to the adjacent wood floor joists. (We'll discuss this later.) The hearth is made from concrete and reinforcing steel. Think of it as a reinforced concrete slab up in the air rather than on the ground. \n\nUsually, the builder will build a plywood box up in the air to hold the concrete slab and rebar. In this case, it looks like the builder had the \"mason\" lay some \"lintel blocks\" and then he poured the concrete slab on top of the masonry lintel blocks. (Very unusual where I live.) This could be due to job site scheduling. Maybe the builder was busy when the mason was building the fireplace, so the builder told the mason to \"block-out a space for the hearth and he'd pour the concrete hearth later.\" \n\nThe concrete hearth (slab) needs to sit on the foundation of the fireplace and cantilever out from the fireplace. We usually require the slab to be 6-8\" thick (depending how far it's cantilevered (extending out into the room) and what we're going to put on it...like tile, rock, etc.) We use two layers of rebar. One held down about 3/4\" clear of the top surface of the slab and one layer of rebar held 3/4\" clear of the bottom of the slab. With masonry lintels, it's a little more complicated, but clearances still need to be maintained. \n\nMasonry will not hold the hearth up. It needs concrete and reinforcing. (Unless we do like the Romans and build arches.) The only way to provide the necessary strength is to use rebar and concrete. I suspect the masonry you see from below is just \"formwork\" used to hold the structural concrete and rebar slab.\n\n1) Settlement:\nAll buildings settle. Usually during construction when we first \"load-up\" the soil. What we hope is that it settles uniformly. What causes problems is \"differential settlement\". This is when one part of the structure settles more than the rest. This causes cracking and usually occurs when one part of the building weighs more than the rest, like the fireplace. (I hope the fireplace has its own footing and is over sized. That will reduce the differential settlement.) If there was settlement, then that could cause the cracking. \n\n2) Under sized cantilevered slab or rebar:\nIn this case, we have a cantilever slab that's probably causing the problem not settlement. Cantilevered slabs are a bit unusual in residential construction. So most builders don't understand them. Actually, the rebar needs to be in the top of the slab during its service. (Contractors are use to putting rebar at the bottom, I.e.: footings, slabs-on-grade, etc.) When the portion of the slab furtherest from the face of the fireplace bends, it will bend down and then the \"tension\" side of the slab is on top. If the contractor puts the rebar in the bottom (or more likely in the middle) of the slab, then there isn't enough \"effective depth\" to adequately support the load and the slab will deflect too much causing cracks ON TOP OF THE SLAB. So, if you check and see cracks (and they can be \"hairline\" cracks) on top of this hearth, then this is the cause. You probably have tile, brick or stone on your hearth and can't actually see the concrete slab, but checking the joints of the tile, brick or rock will work too. If you don't have cracks on top of the hearth, then the cracks you see from below are from \"movement\"...issues 1) or 3).\n\n3) cracking at time of installation:\nYou say the masonry blocks feel solid...not loose. That's good, but doesn't mean they won't loosen in the future. It has to do with how the mason installed the lintel blocks. Lintel blocks are \"U\" shaped CMU. The smallest I know of are 8\" high. If they installed them without modifying them, then the sides of the \"U\" could be embedded in the concrete slab and they'll never crack loose and fall. However, if they cut the top of each \"U\" off so they could install the concrete slab close to the bottom of each lintel, then the broken pieces you see from below could wiggle loose and fall. However, what is odd is that the lintel blocks are cracked on the bottom, which could be Settlement, but 2 of the blocks have a significant crack, while the third has only a \"hairline\" crack. Odd...unless the lintels were not supported very well at the time of installation. (The mason would need to build a wood platform to support his lintels , but maybe it wasn't adequate to support the concrete slab that was poured on top before the slab set-up and cured. Then, that would explain the cracks on the bottom of the lintels, especially if there are no cracks on the top of the hearth. \n\nSo, a little homework. Remember I started by saying I thought the top of the slab (hearth) was about level with the finished floor above, well, it needs to be verified. If the top of the hearth is 10\"-12\" above the finished floor (raised hearth) then that probably is good because that means the sides of the lintel blocks were not cut down and they won't come loose...cracked or not. However, all my analysis is based on the typical cantilever design. So, Is there a support wall downstairs supporting this hearth that is not in the picture?", "No, a screed does not increase a slab's capacity in any practical way. It is considered non-structural.", "The answer to this question depends a lot on your skill level.\n\nYou say you want a ski that does a little bit of everything, so I'd recommend a ski with both camber and rocker, but you're going to have to balance length and width based on how you ski. The shorter ski you get, the more control you're going to have on the downhill, but you're going to have to go wider to get the float you need to support 90kg plus a backpack (you need to factor in the weight of your gear and backpack when shopping for backcountry skis).\n\nI'm 188cm, but not even 75kg, and I ride skis 210cm long. They are amazing for staying afloat in deep snow, and climbing steep slopes with full skins, but I'm not as strong a skier as I used to be, so I struggle a bit on the downhill in the glades trying to dodge trees. My next pair will probably be 170cm at the longest for tight turning (and slightly slower descents) with a little more rocker because I tend to stay in deep snow. I probably won't enjoy the uphills as much, but if I get a wider ski I should still be able to float fairly well.\n\nIf you're really not sure what kind of ski to get, then go for the best deal, riding your skis is really the only way to learn what kind of ski you really want or need, but if in doubt, just pick something whics seems to be a balance of everything (rocker, camber, radius, width), and use them for a season, from there you'll be able to discover what type of skier you are and what type of ski you'd need.", "On the 920, when you press the volume rocker, you get on the top bar -- the volume setting (like 20 / 30) and a setting that says ring + vibrate ... touch the ring + vibrate portion and it will switch to vibrate only and no affect the volume ...\n\nDoing the same -- hit the volume rocker, and then the vibrate area, and it will switch to ring + vibrate ... simple, but it was not explained -- I did the volume thing too when I first got the phone ...", "The Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council (LATBSDC) 2017 guidelines suggest using the following (Table 3, LATBSDC 2017):\n\nService-Level Evaluation:\n\n\nAxial : $0.8E_cA_g$\nFlexural : $0.8E_cI_g$\nShear : $0.4E_cA_g$\n\n\nMCE-Level Evaluation:\n\n\nAxial : $0.5E_cA_g$\nFlexural : $0.5E_cI_g$\nShear : $0.2E_cA_g$\n\n\nFor code-level evaluation you could use some value between those two, as you professor recommended. However, it is common practice to use the full section for PT slabs (i.e., modifier = 1.0).", "Dressing wheel for bench grinder stones... used to flatten the stones after they get rounded or grooved.", "You could use a slab of glass or other transparent medium with a different refractive index then air. The slab should have two surfaces which are as parallel as possible and be mounted on a two axis gimbal. Namely the more you tilt the slab in any direction relative to axis of the beam the more the beam will shift in that direction, while maintaining the beam direction, as shown below:\n\n\n\nHowever you will get more losses due to reflections the further you tilt the slab. And depending on how large of a displacement or the beam you want you might also need a quite thick slab. In order to get your hand on a thick slab of transparent material you could also use a liquid filled container.\n\n\n\nThe lateral displacement of the beam $l$ can be expressed as follows\n\n$$\nl = d\\,\\sin\\theta\\left(1 - \\frac{\\cos\\theta}{\\sqrt{n^2 - \\sin^2\\theta}}\\right)\n$$\n\nwhere $d$ is the thickness of the slab, $\\theta$ the angle between the beam and the normal of the slab and $n$ the refractive index of the slab.", "Your slab has cracked and that it why your tiles are cracking. This is not good and you need to document everything with pictures and get back with the builder to fix this. Check with your Better Business Bureau (or whoever you have) to see about attorneys who could help if it should come to that. Send copies of the pictures and descriptions of the damage to the builder via certified mail. Get this ball rolling while your still under warranty. Good luck.", "Wild guess (without photos):\n\n\n6\" concrete block structure (common for residential foundations--4\" is mostly used for a shorty garage wall base and cases where actual brick ledges are present)\n~1\" thin brick veneer outside\n\n\nYou may also have a 6\" foundation that transitions to a 4\" block behind a full brick veneer. \n\nYou should be able to determine brick thickness at corners or penetrations. That'll tell us a lot.", "The armrest section is quite thin and also the grain is oriented at 90° to what you'd normally expect for an armrest. I would expect this to split with time due to expansion/contraction (and in fact you already have a split in the timber here.\n\nWhat you have here with the large slab end is typically known as a \"pew\" like you might have in a church. If you do a google image search for \"wooden pew\" you will see that they pretty much never have this hole cutout under the armrest portion or if they do, they leave a much thicker section above.\n\nHere are some examples:\n\n\n\n\n\nAs you can see, the last one there does have a cutout but it's left a few inches of material above.\n\nSomething else you might be able to do is this:\n\n\n\ni.e. adding an extra piece of timber on top of the armrest with the grain going the \"correct\" way. I realise there are no cutouts in this picture but there could be. I'd still probably want to leave at least 2\" of thickness to the main slab part of the armrest though to avoid splitting, personally. You may get away with less but it depends on how dry the timber is, what kind of fluctuations in temp/humidity it might be subjected to etc.\n\nOther than that I can't see any obvious problems with it.", "Sunset Strip (2000)\n\n\n A day in Hollywood, 1972, with young people looking for the 24 hours that will change their lives. Zach will open that night for a British rocker at Whisky a Go-Go; he lives in a canyon and plays impromptu duets with a mysterious guitarist he doesn't see. Tammy is a costume designer, open to quick sex with the various rockers she works with and loved from afar by Michael, a photographer recovering from a case of the clap. His good friend is Felix, a morose, alcoholic songwriter. On hand for comic relief is Marty Shapiro, a fast-talking record producer. Getting ready for the gig at the club, Zach's performance, and the early-morning aftermath comprise the film.", "I don't know if this was intended but after looking for banded column style I ran into rustification or rustication:\n\n\n Rustication is a form of exterior ornamentation particular to buildings in the classical style. It is defined by projecting stones with sunken joints or grooves conveying an air of deliberate roughness and strength.\n\n\nThat is not compelling but the article goes on to describe different kinds of rustication. It is a broad definition but a specific style of rustication is:\n\n\n Picked-work or a simple chiselling or chipping of the stone surface to produce a general rough effect \n\n\nTwo of the examples on the page do my connection more justice. Click to enlarge in both cases.\n\n \n\nIt seems obvious from the photo in the question that this is not carved but it looks to be emulating picked work rustification. I can almost draw a line of symmetry down the middle of your picture but that might just be looking for a pattern that does not exist. \n\nSearching for images of rustication yields similar results." ]

[ "Absolutely love these, the color is true to the photos and no scratches in the several months I've had them." ]

[ "The were definitely not the Mars bars my husband remembers. Will not buy again.", "Those chairs are great, and for the price... you can't find better than those. Of course, you notice that they are fake Eames but again.. for the price! Amazing buy, will definitely buy again from Baxton Studios, fast shipping, great quality.", "Doesn't fit will on phone, static and clicking... use other headset and definitely better. Would buy it again...", "Somewhat small and the quality if the cotton is not smooth at all, compared to similar outfits like Levis or Hanes. Will definitely not buy this brand again...", "I would definitely never buy this again. It is scratchy,uncomfortable,and doesn't fit well. I saw that this product had great reviews and decided to buy it. But I was very disappointed do t waste your time and money buying this.", "You get what you pay for. Cheap price, cheap quality. Would definitely not use on higher end projects. Would not buy again.", "While not the cure for butt soreness on the rower it does help a lot. Only took a few days to receive. Definitely would buy again.", "I used them in my F450 quad build. I wish they would be little bit more flexible. Definitely will buy again if I will need more.", "Not the best. They taste a bit stale and old, and the grape flavor tastes like soap; I threw those away. Would definitely not buy again at any price.", "I get so many compliments. These are a beautiful red wood bead. Quality and price is unmatched. This is my my second order of the redwood beads. My daughter wanted a pair. I will definitely buy again, and again. Thank you!", "I bought two if these chairs. We thought they were really good but then they started breaking really easy, I definitely won't buy it again.", "Very good product. Love the convenience of buying bulk and that it is a pure organic stevia product. The little serving size spoon that comes with it is nice too. Just the right amount for most things. I'll definitely buy again." ]

[ "Critical Sociology Positivist and interpretivist sociology focus on answering questions so that we can understand the way that society works. These views see the purpose of sociology as describing or understanding society. But, what if we want to move beyond just description? What if we want to solve problems? Critical sociology is a branch of sociology that focuses on studying society in order to change it for the better. Remember our question about voting: we've discovered that poor and young people are not voting." ]

[ "Some sociological journals focus on critical sociology and some sociological approaches are inherently critical (e.g., feminism, black feminist thought). Building on these early insights, the rise of Feminist methods and theories in the 1970's ushered in an ongoing debate concerning critical versus objective realities.", "That is, sociology is the study of what it means to be a member of a particular society, and it involves the critical analysis of the different types of social connections and social structures that constitute a society.", "1 Explain what sociological theories are and how they are used. 2 Describe sociology as a multi-perspectival social science, which is divided into positivist, interpretive and critical paradigms. Understand the similarities and differences between structural functionalism, critical sociology, and symbolic interactionism.", "As a term, critical theory has two meanings with different origins and histories: the first originated in sociology and political philosophy, while the second originated in literary studies and literary theory.", "In a very general sense, sociology can be defined as the study of ‘the bases of social membership’ (Abercrombie, Hill and Turner 2000: 333). That is, sociology is the study of what it means to be a member of a particular society, and it involves the critical analysis of the different types of social connections and social structures that constitute a society.", "For critical sociologists, then, the question is not simply why this segment of the population is not voting, but how we can use that information to convince them to vote more. Lesson Summary. Sociology is the study of human society and its patterns. There are three major views on sociological research.", "Feminist theory is a type of critical sociology that examines inequalities in gender-related issues. It uses the critical approach to examine the maintenance of gender roles and inequalities. Radical feminism, in particular, considers the role of the family in perpetuating male dominance.", "Because society, as defined in Chapter 1 Sociology and the Sociological Perspective , refers to a group of people who live in a defined territory and who share a culture, it is obvious that culture is a critical component of any society.", "Drawing on the three sociological paradigms we have been studying in this introduction to sociology, the sociological understanding of what constitutes a family can be explained by symbolic interactionism, critical sociology, and functionalism.", "Video: Symbolic Interactionism in Sociology: Definition, Criticism & Examples. This lesson describes a way of looking at the world that focuses on communication, meaning and symbols. You'll review a real-world example of this approach and explore the criticisms from those who prefer other sociological methods.", "Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity.", "Academic sociology has come to regard the sociology of medicine as a fruitful area of specialization. It is in their role of social critic that medical sociologists encounter the greatest resistance from mainstream medicine and health care. Critical medical sociology emerged from both Marxist and social constructionist traditions within the discipline (Waitzkin 1989; Brown 1995).", "Sociology is a text heavy field, meaning that it requires students to read and interpret a lot of information. (Reference 1, 2, 3) Students interested in majoring in sociology take courses in English while they are in high school to adequately develop their critical thinking and reasoning skills.", "Now for positivism:three aspects 1.Who the positivist sociologists are 2.What it is 3. What are the criticisms 1. August Comte the man who generated the term 'Sociology'. meaning 'the scientific study of society...", "Critical theory stresses the reflective assessments and critique of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities.", "Research Methods in Sociology. What is sociological research? Do you know what the positivist, interpretive and critical approaches are to sociological research? In these lessons, you will figure out the answers to both of those questions and more.", "Critical psychology. Critical psychology is a perspective on psychology that draws extensively on critical theory. Critical psychology challenges mainstream psychology and attempts to apply psychological understandings in more progressive ways, often looking towards social change as a means of preventing and treating psychopathology.", "Black (African-American) Literary Criticism. Black or African-American criticism is marked by the following considerations: A sense that black writing comes out of a sociological, political, ideological and cultural situation marked by oppression and marginalization. 'Black' reading then must negotiate the difficult boundaries between textual and cultural meanings, between 'aesthetic' and ideological impacts.", "Sociology is the scientific or academic study of social behavior, including its origins, development, organization, and institutions. It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, social disorder and social change.ften grouped with urban and rural sociology is that of community sociology or the sociology of community. Taking various communities—including online communities—as the unit of analysis, community sociologists study the origin and effects of different associations of people.", "The Impact of Sociology of the Social Divisions-The Impact of Sociology of the Social Divisions Examine critically some of the ways in which the sociology of the social divisions have impacted on your own personal and family history, and assess the implications for your professional practice as a social worker....", "Every sociology major must satisfy the critical tracking criteria in their UF Undergraduate Catalog. To be “on-track” in Sociology, students must earn a Sociology GPA of 2.75 and have completed the following courses by the end of 60 hours: SYG2000.", "Concept of Critical and Radical in Victimology. It is viewed differently from conservative victimology; it is an outcome of unequal social factors like unemployment, poverty, patriarch and racism causing crimes. The need for great resources to be devoted to law enforcer's agencies and prisons are agents of social control.", "Critical Legal Studies. An intellectual movement whose members argue that law is neither neutral nor value free but is in fact inseparable from politics. Critical legal studies (CLS) is a sometimes revolutionary movement that challenges and seeks to overturn accepted norms and standards in legal theory and practice.", "sociology meaning, definition, what is sociology: the study of the relationships between people living in groups, especially in industrial…. Learn more.", "Definition of the noun Conscientization. What does Conscientization mean as a name of something? noun [sociology, education] A social concept, grounded in Marxist critical theory, that focuses on achieving an in-depth understanding of the world, allowing for the perception and exposure of perceived social and political contradictions.", "Sociology is the scientific or academic study of social behavior, including its origins, development, organization, and institutions. It is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, social disorder and social change.uman ecology deals with interdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. In addition to Environmental sociology, this field overlaps with architectural sociology, urban sociology, and to some extent visual sociology.", "D.C. II Introduction to Sociology (4211) Objectives : • To introduce the stude4nts to the discipline of Sociology. • To familiarize students with the basic concepts of sociology. • To provide basic understanding of the social structure of society. Course Contents : I The nature of sociology. The meaning of sociology.", "Critical Theory . 1. Meaning of Critical Theory. Critical theory has different meanings for different writers. As critique it is usually considered to be a critique of modernity and the developments and institutions associated with modern society.", "Sociology is a science, it is just one that does not primarily rely on positivism, a specific philosophy of science that emphasises observation and falsification as the critic … al elements to science.hey are both disciplines under the category Social Sciences, this category includes: - Sociology-Anthropology-Political Sciences-Psychology-Economics It h … as the word science in it because science just means it is a systematic study that is done through observation and experiment. 4 people found this useful.", "Critical consciousness is the ability to perceive social, political, and economic oppression and to take action against the oppressive elements of society. The concept of critical consciousness (conscientizacao) was developed by Paulo Freire primarily in his books: Pedagogy of the Oppressed.", "Critical Theory. Critical theory for us describes an interdisciplinary field of study. It provides a way of understanding institutions, such as the art world and education, in terms of the ideas and knowledge they produce and reproduce in our society, which is characterized by the unequal distribution of power.", "Theories of Resistance and Reproduction in the New Sociology of Education. 1Theories of Reproduction and Resistance in the New Sociology of Education: A Critical Analysis HENRY A. GIROUX In the past ten years radical educators have developed several theories around the notions of reproduction and resistance." ]

[ "The World Trade Organization's top court handed Canadian wheat farmers another victory yesterday in their fight against US charges they are unfair traders." ]

[ "The World Trade Organization on Monday rejected a US appeal against an earlier finding that supported Canada&#39;s wheat trade. The WTO appeals body upheld a February decision by its dispute settlement body, which", "GENEVA The top court of the World Trade Organization on Monday dismissed a US appeal of an April decision that Canada&#39;s Wheat Board met international rules, undermining the Bush administration&#39;s efforts to dismantle the Canadian agency.", "The WTO probes US support for soya, wheat, corn, rice and other crops, after complaints from Canada and Brazil.", "A NAFTA panel has ruled in Canada&#39;s favour for the third time in the softwood lumber dispute and ordered the US government to stop fighting the rulings", "Australian wheat growers have made their biggest wheat sale to China in more than a decade. The Australian Wheat Board will supply China with 1.5 million tonnes of wheat, with an estimated value of around $US156 million.", "Australian scientists have used two recently discovered genes from an ancient wheat variety to develop a new way to breed salt-tolerant wheat.", "The World Trade Organization's (WTO) top trade court on Monday rejected a U.S. appeal against a ruling exonerating the export policies of the Canadian Wheat Board, diplomats and trade sources said.", "TORONTO - A US soldier who walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division and fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq is seeking refugee status.", "VANCOUVER (CP) - Canada is moving a couple more pieces in the chess game that its softwood lumber trade battle with the United States has become.", "WINNIPEG—Three federal cabinet ministers have assured the Canadian Wheat Board that they support its monopoly selling powers debated at recent world trade talks, the board&#39;s chairman said yesterday.", "Canada and the United States finalized a deal to end a long-standing trade dispute over softwood lumber on Saturday after ironing out final details on the sidelines of World Trade Organization talks in Geneva.", "The United States claimed victory over the European Union in a dispute at the World Trade Organisation about geographically-linked product names such as Champagne or Parmesan cheese.", "Australia cuts its wheat forecast by 30% due to drought, with global wheat prices at record highs.", "Boeing wins a government contract to monitor the 7,500 miles of borders the US has with Mexico and Canada.", "The Finns held the US to 17 shots on goal in a 2-1 win in the semifinal. If they can keep Canada under 20, they&#39;ll have a good chance of winning the final.", "Canada has taken the next step in its challenge of U.S. farm subsidies to the World Trade Organization, requesting on Friday that a dispute settlement panel be established in the case.", "Scientists have cloned a gene from wild wheat that they hope could boost the nutritional value of bread and pasta and help fight world hunger, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday.", "Australia's wheat exporter AWB is to temporarily lose its monopoly over wheat exports after a report into bribes.", "Canada is already positioned to benefit from an agreement US officials are touting as a breakthrough beef deal with Japan, says the Canadian Beef Export Federation.", "WASHINGTON - The United States claimed victory in a trade battle against Europe over the protecting the names of regional products such as parmesan or champagne.", "US wheat futures break through $10 a bushel for the first time fanning fears about food price inflation.", "By Bloomberg News. The Bush administration yesterday appealed a trade panel&#39;s decision that effectively struck down United States tariffs on $4.6 billion a year of Canadian lumber.", "The former financial boss of Australia's monopoly wheat exporter has vowed to fight any criminal charges arising from a damning report alleging he approved hefty bribes to Saddam Hussein.", "VANCOUVER (CP) - The US government followed through Wednesday on a last-ditch appeal to overturn a key trade ruling that undercuts stiff American tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.", "By Saiah, R Sreekumar, P A; Leblanc, N; Castandet, M; Saiter, J-M ABSTRACT Wheat-flour-based agropolymers are prepared using an extrusion method. The morphology of the native and extruded wheat flours are analyzed by scanning electron micrography (SEM).", "A US soldier has refused to fight in the US army and has asked for political asylum from Canada claiming that &quot;all Arabs and Muslims were shown as potential terrorists&quot; during military training.", "The cost of pasta in Italy is set to rise because durum wheat is increasingly being used as a bio-fuel, manufacturers say.", "In a sign the United States is taking a more aggressive stance in a long-running dispute over Canadian lumber imports, a US trade official Thursday accused Canada of failing to negotiate in good faith.", "Canada has positioned itself ahead of the United States to regain share in the lucrative Japanese beef market, thanks to strict new rules aimed at preventing mad cow disease, Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell said on Wednesday.", "VANCOUVER (CP) - The promotion of free trade around the world will help fight terrorism and is in the security interests of the U.S. and Canada, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said Friday.", "The increasingly shrill battle for the US presidency has even led to a fight to win the attention of deaf Americans.", "As fighting winds down, US troops face an even more difficult mission in Fallujah winning the people&#39;s allegiance. Planners want to" ]

[ "Sherwin has written a passionate novel of a Japanese family at a time when the entire country is awakening, flexing its muscle, preparing to be a world power. A Japanese businessman and politician, Taku Imura, deeply loves his younger wife, Emi, who suffers intermittently from epilepsy. Taku travels frequently for business, leaving Emi alone for extended periods of time. He nurtures great hopes for Korea's autonomy, but when Japan colonizes Korea, Taku rages, making powerful enemies with his views; as a result of his opinions, Taku is imprisoned for months.\nAfter a number of unsuccessful pregnancies, the couple finally conceives a healthy son and both parents hover anxiously over their only child. Yet Taku is frequently absent from their home, falling victim to the charms of a geisha. He buys Hana's contract and a house for her as well, fathering four healthy children with his geisha. When Emi succumbs to her disease, Taku combines the two households, his children together under one roof. Meanwhile Japan builds its military strength, factories turned over to the production of munitions, eyes trained on China as the next acquisition.\nHana's and Emi's children become adults and marry, starting their own families. At this point, the story integrates their personal lives with the changing face of a Japan on the move towards world domination. One of Taku's daughters marries an idealistic young soldier in the Imperial army. Following the rape of Nanking, the soldier is completely changed by what he has witnessed, as well as his own performance in the military. The author attempts to put a more human face on this atrocity, at least in the case of the young soldier.\nPearl Harbor changes everything. Taku's children endure almost daily bombings by the Allies, their sons inducted into the war as the entire nation is galvanized. Industrial and military might have turned the country into abject poverty, kamikaze pilots dying for the honor of the Emperor. Beauty and poetry disappear, trampled by jackboots and military necessity.\nSherwin's prose is as elegant and formal as the rituals of feudal Japan, yet she is unflinching in her description of the brutality of war and its destruction. She speaks kindly, as if in the telling, lessons may be learned, but all of the Eight Million Gods and Demons cannot save Japan from the fate it has called upon itself. War, in all its manifestations, has become too familiar, victory hollow when ideals and innocence are betrayed. Sherwin writes a stunning indictment of war, her heart filled with love for the survivors. Luan Gaines/2004." ]

[ "I wear these socks along with my night splints. Been very surprised at the results! After a few days I've noticed an improvement and less pain with Plantar fasciitis. I've been struggling with Plantar Fasciitis and pain for 7 months.", "I use this massager at the base of my back while sitting on the chair, sofa, in the car, and driving the electric chairs while shopping. Relieves pain and stiffness and helps for walking after these activities. Also helps with neck pain and stiffness." ]

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[ "Mati Zundel, the Andean electro-folk alchemist who records as Lagartijeando, speaks of music as witchcraft, and connecting with other life forms through the use of psychoactive plants. This might seem “delirious,” as he suggested during our Skype call, but the zest and fire in his voice brings a prickling of gooseflesh; to Zundel, this is all very real. As he goes on, it begins to sound like the charming producer/multi-instrumentalist has reached some point of self-actualization. He recalls his backpacking journeys, and stints spent integrating himself with indigenous tribes in South American villages, and times when he befriended trendy producers in megalopolises, experiences that allowed him to develop an encyclopedic knowledge of folkloric and modern music.\nZundel has just returned from a local event called Fiesta de la Guitarra, where regional music is celebrated: “There’s gauchos, payadas, chacareras, samba, chamamé, vidala, copla…I love to see this!” he enthuses. That festival takes place in his native Dolores—a tiny hinterland of 20,000 habitants that’s just a 125-mile drive away from Buenos Aires. This marks his fourth years back home after a three-year globetrotting venture, and he’s enjoying the bucolic lifestyle of being back home. Dolores is also where he recorded his latest effort, the jubilant and meditative El Gran Poder.\nOn the album, it’s clear that his intrepid journeys provided him with a wealth of musical knowledge. The record fuses blissful electronic ambience with nostalgic pan flutes (or siku) and jaunty charangos, most of which he arranged and performed himself. Zundel talked with us about the mysticism behind ícaros—sacred chants that are sung during indigenous, spiritual ceremonies: “If you listen to my music, there are elements that search and call for that, they ask for protection,” he offers.\n[We spoke with Zundel in his native Spanish. We present both the original discussion and an English translation below.]\nOn El Gran Poder, it’s easy to detect your extensive knowledge of Latin America and its folklore. Which were some of the landscapes you drew on for the project?\nIn previous years, I studied music in Cochabamba, the folkloric crib of Bolivia. I had the opportunity to study the charango at a very respected academy. That opened up my mind to what Bolivia’s musical map consists of—which is somewhat inaccessible, because lots of the music comes from peasants who aren’t on the Internet, or they’re hard to find. I also studied in Brazil, and that’s why the album has the spirit of those lands. It was very natural for me to mix this with electronic music.\nI not only wanted to study the theory of where this music is produced, but to also see its context, the ambience—how regional festivities are celebrated, and how people dance. I wanted to live it! All of that marked me tremendously, and it helped me understand different cultures, small-town life, how people live there, and how they relate to the world.\nEn El Gran Poder, se escuchan tus influencias extensas en el folklore Latinoamericano. ¿Cuáles fueron tus favoritos paisajes sonoros que sacaste para este proyecto?\nEn años anteriores, estudié música en Cochabamba, la cuna folclórica de Bolivia. Tuve la oportunidad de estudiar el charango en una academia muy respetada. Eso me abrió la cabeza de lo que es el mapa musical de Bolivia que quizás es un poco inaccesible porque mucha música son campesinas y no suenan en el internet, o son difíciles de encontrar. También estudié en Brasil y por eso [el disco] tiene un poco el espíritu de esas tierras. Me salió súper natural mezclar eso con música electrónica.\nSe me dio la pauta no solo de estudiar la teoría musical en el lugar donde se produce, pero también ver el contexto, el ambiente. Cómo son las fiestas regionales y como baila la gente. ¡Vivirlo! Todo eso me marcó muchísimo, y me ayudó a entender más de cómo son las diferentes regiones culturales, los pueblos, la manera de vivir, y de relacionarse con el mundo.\nThe album is very meditative. Did religion or spirituality influence your musical creativity?\nTo a certain extent, I’ve always been on a spiritual quest. Perhaps the fact of going with some tribes and participating in their ceremonies or rituals helped me connect with nature. All indigenism has a super connection with nature, and it’s very alive. I thank Latin America’s past indigenous cultures have a deeper relationship with nature—they reconnect with plants, the sky, and with all of those living organisms. Perhaps because of our modern education, that isn’t so present, or we simply choose not to pay attention.\nI used to live in the city, and after I went backpacking for three years, I decided to come back to my native town of Dolores. I’m thankful for the experience of introducing nature back into my life, and not being locked up in an apartment. The change was a hard one, and maybe I’m missing out on a lot of things [commercially]. If I lived in Berlin or New York, perhaps I’d have more success with my music. But humanly, the fact of being able to eat from my own sowing, or being able to listen to the wind when I sleep, that gives me peace. That influences my music.\nEl disco es muy meditativo. ¿La espiritualidad o religión ha influido tu creatividad musical?\nEn cierta forma, yo siempre he tenido una búsqueda espiritual. Quizás el hecho de ir con algunas tribus y participar en ceremonias o rituales me ayudó a conectarme con la naturaleza. Todo el indigenismo tiene una súper conexión con la naturaleza, y está muy viva. Le agradezco mucho a Latinoamérica que las culturas de anteriores indígenas tienen más relación con la naturaleza, de volver a conectarse con las plantas, el cielo, y todos esos organismos vivos. Quizás por nuestra transformación educativa no están tan presentes, o no le damos tanta bola.\nAntes vivía en la ciudad, luego me fui de viaje por tres años, y después decidí volver al campo en mi pueblito original de Dolores. Lo que le agradezco a esa experiencia es poder introducir la naturaleza en mi vida, y no estar encerrado en un departamento. Fue duro el cambio, y quizás pierda muchas cosas al nivel [comercial]. Bueno, si viviría en Berlín o Nueva York, tal vez me iría mejor con la música. Pero humanamente, el hecho de poder comer de mi siembra, o poder escuchar el viento cuando me duermo, eso me paz. Eso se influye en la música.\nWhen one travels for some time, it’s likely that one will find self-reflection, or discover deeper beauty in one’s hometown. Sometimes those places where one travels become part of you. Do you feel that?\nTotally. Some of that stays vibrating inside you. Music also has something you yearn for, something that you want to return to. When I play the charango, or hear the siku, it transports me to those mountainous places. [In Dolores] we have no mountains, unfortunately. What surprises me the most is that I found a sound that I feel very comfortable with—for more that it’s not my culture I feel it my own. I think that a bit of my music reflects wanting to travel. I had the need to return home and to organize myself, because traveling also brings chaos to your life—you don’t eat well, you can’t study because you’re always on the move, you sleep in any way you can. [Backpacking] is a disorganized lifestyle.\nCuando uno viaja por un tiempo, es probable que encontrará autorreflexión, u otra belleza más profunda de casa. A veces los lugares donde uno viaja se convierten en parte de uno. ¿Sientes eso?\nTotalmente. Algo de eso queda vibrando dentro tuyo. La música también tiene algo que añoras, que quieres que vuelva. Cuando toco el charango, o escucho el siku, me transporta a esos lugares de las montañas. [En Dolores] no tenemos montañas, lamentablemente. Lo que más me sorprende es de que encontré un sonido que me siento muy a gusto—por más que no sea mi cultura me siento muy propio. Creo que un poco de [mi] música se refleja de volver a viajar. Me dio la necesidad de volver a casa y a ordenarme, porque viajando también te desordena la vida—no comes bien, no puedes estudiar algo porque estás todo el tiempo moviéndote, dormís de cualquier forma. Es una vida desorganizada.\nThese last years, we’ve seen the rise of electronic music producers returning to roots. Do you think there was something in the air that inspired this emergence of electro folkloric artists?\nSuddenly a whole group of them exploded! Perhaps all of that was very underground and just took force. I started working with ZZK Collective nine years ago, and during that time, nothing really existed. It started off as a small party in Buenos Aires of about 150 to 200 people, and suddenly it began to grow and grow. I feel that some artists from other countries took that mold of mixing modern music, whether it was electronic or hip-hop, with folkloric, cumbia or regional sounds. For me, [Ecuadorian-French producer] Nicolá Cruz gave it a techno touch, more house-driven. And in Peru, Dengue Dengue Dengue got more visual with their aesthetic—traits that we [in Argentina] hadn’t developed. Folkloric music and downtempo too was also fused in São Paulo, Brazil. Each artist gives it their own unique touch, like Chancha Vía Circuito, King Coya, and Matanza. What’s interesting is that an idea rose from Argentina, and producers in different countries began readapting it and giving it their own spin.\nEn los últimos años, vimos un levantamiento de productores de música electrónica regresando a raíces. ¿Crees que existió algo en el aire que inspiró la emergencia de artistas electro folklóricos?\n¡De repente como que explotó una cacerola! Quizás todo eso estaba por debajo, muy underground, y tomó fuerza. Yo empecé trabajando con el colectivo ZZK hace nueve años atrás, y en ese tiempo nada existía. Comenzó como una fiesta muy chiquitita en Buenos Aires, como de 150 a 200 personas, pero de repente empezó a crecer y a crecer. Siento que algunos artistas de otros países agarraron este mismo modelo de mezclar música moderna, sea electrónica o hip-hop, con música folclórica, cumbia, o regional. Para mí, Nicolá Cruz le terminó dando un toque tecno o más housero, y en Perú, Dengue Dengue Dengue se pusieron mucho más visuales con la estética—algo que nosotros no lo habíamos desarrollado. En São Paulo, Brasil también se empezó a mezclar música folclórica con downtempo. Cada artista le da un toque diferente, y no es lo mismo Chancha Vía Circuito, King Coya, o Matanza. Lo interesante fue que de repente salió una idea en Argentina, y cada país la fue agarrando, readaptando, y dándole una vuelta más tuerca.\nDo you think that mixing folkloric sounds with more modern elements, like electronic or hip-hop, is partly commercializing rustic cultures?\nI find it more interesting. I have friends who’ve traveled to Bolivia, and they know folklore. But listening to their music, they’re making the same kind of electro-house that resonates in Ibiza. It’s all fine and dandy. I respect them, they’re good musicians. But from my point of view, where is the musician’s identity? Where is their originality? I like electronic music and I like folkloric music, both things. I can listen to Modeselektor the same as William Centellas, a folkloric charango player from Bolivia. I like Major Lazer and I like Mercedes Sosa. I find something in each style. But from my artistic point of view, I’m a lot more interested in artists who innovate, who intent to break structures, who mix things up. That’s why perhaps my electronic music sounds more organic, or more rustic. I like that there’s a bit of grime in my audio, and not have this polished house or electronic sound. Being rustic is an artistic manifestation.\n¿Tú crees que mezclando sonidos folclóricos con los más modernos, sea electrónicos o el hip-hop, es en parte comercializar esas culturas rústicas?\nLo encuentro más interesante. Tengo amigos que han viajado a Bolivia y conocen el folclor. Después escucho su música, y hacen electro-house igual que en Ibiza. Está todo bien y perfecto. Los respeto, son buenos músicos. Pero desde mi punto de vista, ¿donde está la identidad de ser músico, donde está su originalidad, donde está él? A mí me gusta la electrónica y lo folclórico, las dos cosas. Puedo escuchar a Modeselektor como a William Centellas, un folclorista charanguista de Bolivia. Me gusta Major Lazer y me gusta Mercedes Sosa. A cada uno le encuentro algo. Pero desde el punto de vista artístico, me interesa mucho más los artistas que innovan, intentan romper las estructuras, que intentan mezclar más las cosas. Por eso quizás sale la electrónica más orgánica, o más rústica. Me gusta que haya un poco de suciedad en el audio, y no que sea ese audio perfecto de house o electrónica. Es una manifestación artística el hecho de ser rústico.\nEarlier you commented that you partook in spiritual ceremonies. The huicholes consume peyote as part of their sacred rituals, as some amazonian tribes use ayahuasca, and in Oaxaca there are mushroom. What’s your opinion on the ingestion of psychedelics for the purpose of creative expansion?\nI think that the search for oneself comes first. Suddenly, there’s an ayahuasca or peyote boom, and it’s consumed for the purpose of having a good time. That’s how you’ll lose on the grand teachings those plants can leave you. If one’s going to take it with a certain degree of spirituality—whether to find answers or get to know oneself deeper—obviously those plants will unveil reality as we know it. They’ll show that reality has a lot of psychedelia in its energetic composition. But the deeper message is how your spirituality aligns with your reality, and how the plant can help you improve your own reality.\nMaybe I have experimented in these rituals with these plants, and what spoke to me the most was our sensibility towards nature—how to connect with other forms of life that I previously had no connection with. And with myself too, as I was a bit more disconnected. I had lots of information and programming that wasn’t mine, and I was reproducing these social and cultural patterns that I hadn’t chosen. They had nothing to do with my essence. It’s good if one is going to consume them for the sake of cleansing and healing.\nCertain music, like ícaros, aren’t normal songs used for beautiful or aesthetic reasons, but because they’re powerful songs. I’ve experimented singing certain songs with energetic structures that defend and protect. I wanted some of that to be present in my music, or to help people with cleansing or meditation. For they not to solely be for the sake of entertainment, but to somewhat help humanity on that spiritual plane. If you listen to my music, there are elements that search and call for that, they ask for protection.\nComentaste que participaste en ceremonias espirituales. Los huicholes consumen el peyote como santidad, tribus amazónicas usan la ayahuasca, y en Oaxaca consumen los hongos. ¿Qué opinas sobre la ingestión de psicodélicos para el propósito de la expansión creativa?\nYo pienso que primero va la búsqueda de cada uno. De repente hay un boom de ayahuasca o peyote para consumirlo con el solo hecho de pasar un buen momento. Así te pierdes la gran enseñanza que te pueden dejar esas plantas. Si uno lo va a tomar con cierto grado de espiritualidad—para encontrar respuestas o conocerse a uno mismo—obviamente las plantas corren el velo de la realidad. Te muestran que la realidad tiene mucha psicodelia en su composición energética. Pero el mensaje más profundo es como tu espiritualidad se relaciona con tu realidad, y cómo la planta te puede ayudar a mejorar tu propia realidad.\nQuizás sí he experimentado en rituales con estas plantas, y lo que me habló más es la sensibilidad hacia la naturaleza. Cómo poder conectarme con otras formas de vida que antes no tenía conexión, y conmigo mismo también que antes estaba más desconectado. Tenía un montón de información y programación que no era mía, y estaba reproduciendo patrones culturales y sociales que yo no había elegido. No tenía nada que ver con mi esencia. Está bueno si uno lo va tomar con ese concepto de limpiarse y curarse.\nCierta música, los cantos e ícaros, no son canciones normales usadas para los estético o bonito, sino son canciones poderosas. Yo he experimentado cantar ciertas canciones con estructuras energéticas que te defienden y protegen. Quería que eso estuviera en mi música, o que ayude a la gente para limpiarse y para meditar. Que no solo sea un acto de entretenimiento, sino un poco para ayudar a la humanidad en ese plano espiritual. Si escuchas mi música, hay pequeños elementos que buscan y llaman a eso, que piden protección.\nMusic can be something sacred. ¡El Gran Poder!\nYes! It’s very sacred, but it costs to get there. Perhaps the more indigenous cultures are best at reflecting this. They have another relationship with music, a more mystical one where it fulfills a function of connecting with something more spiritual. We Westerners see music as something more aesthetic, whether we approve of a song or not. But you could listen to a song and it can make you happy, sad, or euphoric. It changes your mood. For me, music is pure witchcraft.\nLa música se convierte en algo sagrado. ¡El Gran Poder!\n¡Sí! Es algo sagradísimo, pero cuesta llegar a ese punto. Quizás las culturas más indígenas son quien mejor reflejan eso. Tienen otra relación con la música, una más mística donde cumple una función de conectarse con algo más espiritual. Nosotros en nuestra occidentalidad vemos la música como algo más estético, de me gusta o no me gusta. Pero puedes escuchas un tema y te puede alegrar, entristecer, o poner eufórico. Te cambia tu estado de ánimo. Para mí, la música es una brujeria pura.\n—Isabela Raygoza", "Trabajadores de un edificio de oficinas colocan un letrero con la palabra “Fearless” (valiente) en referencia a uno de los títulos de uno de los álbumes de Taylor Swift antes del comienzo de su juicio civil el viernes 11 de agosto de 2017, en Denver. Un ex guardaespaldas de Taylor Swift dijo el viernes que vio a un locutor meter su mano debajo la falda de la cantante. El incidente habría ocurrido un momento antes de que les tomaran una fotografía previo a un concierto de 2013 en Denver. El locutor David Mueller niega haber tocado a Swift y la ha demandado por 3 millones de dólares diciendo que arruinó su carrera. Swift lo contrademandó afirmando que sufrió una agresión sexual. (Foto AP/David Zalubowski)\nRelated\nView Larger Tree Paine, right, publicist for pop singer Taylor Swift, walks with the singer's brother, Austin Swift, out of the federal courthouse after a ruling in the civil trial for the singer to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.\nView Larger Attorney Douglas Baldridge, center, who represented pop singer Taylor Swift, emerges from the federal courthouse after a ruling in the civil trial for the singer to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.\nView Larger Ryan Kliesch, a Denver radio host, emerges from the federal courthouse after testifying in the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver.\nView Larger Shannon Melcher, former girlfriend of a Denver radio host who allegedly groped pop singer Taylor Swift, is helped to avoid the media after testifying in the civil trial in federal court Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver.\nView Larger Supplied by a local radio station, boxes of donuts sit on a wall for members of the public as they wait to attend the civil trial for pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. Radio station DJ David Mueller sued Swift after her team reported she was groped by Mueller to his bosses at a country music station. He is seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job and reputation. Swift countersued Mueller, claiming sexual assault. She is seeking a symbolic $1.\nView Larger Greg Dent, former security guard for pop singer Taylor Swift, emerges from the federal courthouse after testifying in the civil trial for the pop singer, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. Radio station DJ David Mueller sued Swift after her team reported she was groped by Mueller to his bosses at a country music station. He is seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job and reputation. Swift countersued Mueller, claiming sexual assault. She is seeking a symbolic $1.\nView Larger A court officer hands out passes to the public for the morning session in the civil trial for pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. Radio station DJ David Mueller sued Swift after her team reported she was groped by Mueller, to his bosses at a country music station. He is seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job and reputation. Swift countersued Mueller, claiming sexual assault. She is seeking a symbolic $1.\nView Larger Eugene Yee of Denver holds up his passes for both the morning and afternoon sessions in the civil trial for pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. Radio station DJ David Mueller sued Swift after her team reported she was groped by Mueller to his bosses at a country music station. He is seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job and reputation. Swift countersued Mueller, claiming sexual assault. She is seeking a symbolic $1.\nView Larger Attorneys for pop singer Taylor Swift, Douglas Baldridge, left, and Jesse P. Schaudies, Jr., are surrounded by photographers as they enter the federal courthouse for the morning session in the civil trial , Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. Radio station DJ David Mueller sued Swift after her team reported she was groped by Mueller, to his bosses at a country music station. He is seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job and reputation. Swift countersued Mueller, claiming sexual assault. She is seeking a symbolic $1.\nView Larger Ryan Kliesch, a Denver radio host, emerges from the federal courthouse after testifying in the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift. Friday, Aug. 11, 2017 in Denver.\nView Larger Ryan Kliesch, a Denver radio host, emerges from the federal courthouse after testifying in the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017 in Denver.\nView Larger Ryan Kliesch, a Denver radio host, emerges from the federal courthouse after testifying in the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017 in Denver.\nView Larger Fourteen-year-old Kennedy Wares, second from right, confers with her grandmother, Nancy Elliott, both of Littleton, Colo., as they move up the public line to view the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver.\nView Larger Members of the media stand on the sidewalk as they wait for Shannon Melcher to emerge from the federal courthouse after testifying in the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. Melcher, who was the girlfriend of the man accused of groping Swift, was allowed to leave the courthouse by a back exit.\nView Larger Fourteen-year-old Kennedy Wares, right, and her grandmother, Nancy Eliott, both of Littleton, Colo., wait at the head of the public line for seats in the civil trial involving pop singer Taylor Swift, Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver.\nView Larger Cajas con donas proporcionadas por una estación de radio sobre una barda para las personas que esperan entrar al juicio civil de la cantante pop Taylor Swift, el viernes 11 de agosto de 2017 en Denver. Un ex guardaespaldas de Taylor Swift dijo el viernes que vio a un locutor meter su mano debajo la falda de la cantante. El incidente habría ocurrido un momento antes de que les tomaran una fotografía previo a un concierto de 2013 en Denver. El locutor David Mueller niega haber tocado a Swift y la ha demandado por 3 millones de dólares diciendo que arruinó su carrera. Swift lo contrademandó afirmando que sufrió una agresión sexual.\nView Larger Austin Swift, brother of pop singer Taylor Swift, heads to a hotel after emerging from the federal courthouse following a ruling in the civil trial for Taylor Swift to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.\nView Larger Douglas Baldridge, front center, attorney for pop singer Taylor Swift, emerges from the federal courthouse after a ruling in the civil trial for the singer to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.\nView Larger Tree Paine, left, publicist for pop singer Taylor Swift, leads Swift's brother, Austin, right, past photographers after emerging from the federal courthouse following a ruling in the civil trial for Taylor Swift to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.\nView Larger Members of the legal team representing pop singer Taylor Swift are driven away from the Ritz Carlton hotel after a ruling in the civil trial for the singer to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.\nView Larger Douglas Baldridge, front center, attorney for pop singer Taylor Swift, smiles as he chats with an escort while leading his legal team out of the federal courthouse after a ruling in the civil trial for the singer to determine whether a Denver radio announcer groped the singer in a case in federal court late Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, in Denver. A judge on Friday threw out a former radio host's case against Taylor Swift in a trial that delved into their dueling lawsuits over whether he groped her during a backstage meet-and-greet and whether she and her team ruined his career.", "Immigrant Rights March\n(The following is taken from the groups Facebook page)\nThis is the first of many responses to our Mayor’s press conference last week. Join us and let our voices be heard! We will march in solidarity.\nAlthough we acknowledge the current efforts to reach out to the community via a press conference, the truth is that we are still in the same place: with an outdated FPD immigration policy that needs to be reevaluated to reflect the current national threats to our undocumented community, and with our mayor and elected officials that have not made any commitments to implement new policies and structures to protect our undocumented community. Words are just not enough! Our undocumented community is telling us that they DO NOT feel safe after the press conference. Our county Sheriff continues a close partnership with ICE.\nWe are committed to a Fresno culture that emphasizes the dignity and safety of every Fresnan. We will show that Fresno is a sanctuary community, and communicate to our elected officials that we expect policies and structures that represent our values! We will also be advocating for a future town hall meeting, where residents of various immigration status will get the opportunity to communicate with elected officials. So bring your signs and walking shoes! We will meet up at City Hall and march in solidarity with our undocumented community.\nFurther details to come regarding the route. We will be staying on the sidewalks. This will be a family-friendly march, so bring the kids and grandparents!\nWe also ask that you refrain from violence and going onto the streets. Remember that we are doing this for our undocumented communities and we do not want to discourage our community from coming out with us!\nThis march will take place at the same time as LA's \"Immigrants Make America Great,\" so join the movement, support your local community, invite your friends, and share this event.\n*relaxed parking on Saturdays\n__________\n¡Únase a nosotros y que se escuche nuestras voces! Marcharemos en solidaridad.\nAunque reconocemos los esfuerzos de nuestro alcalde con la conferencia de prensa que hizo, la verdad es que todavía estamos en el mismo lugar: No se ha comprometido a implementar nuevas polizas y programs que protegan a nuestra comunidad indocumentada. Y las leyes de policia tienen que ser renovadas.\nFresno es una comunidad santuario, que cree en la dignidad y la seguridad de cada persona. ¡Nuestros representantes nos tienen que demostrar que vamos a tener leyes que representan nuestros valores! Así que traigan sus cartelones y zapatos para caminar! Marcharemos juntos, un pueblo unido para que nuestro alcalde nos escuche.\nLes daremos mas detalles pronto sobre la ruta.\nVamos a empezar en City Hall (la oficina del alcalde). Vamos a quedarnos en las banquetas. ¡Esta será una marcha para las familias, asi que traigan a los niñ@s y los abuelit@s!\n*estacionamiento es gratis los sabados\noriginal image (881x1136) Added to the calendar on Tuesday Feb 14th, 2017 10:01 AM", "Not only are Fifth Harmony one of the biggest girl bands in the world (in 2017 alone they have won an MTV VMA, released a huge album and collaborated with Pitbull) but they're also renowned for their unbreakable bond and adorable sisterhood.\nThis couldn't have been clearer than over the weekend when the girls praised Dinah for working with Leona Lewis.\nView the lyrics Mr. Worldwide\nWith the beautiful, sexy, sophisticated Fifth Harmony\nSí, and I ain't too proud to beg just like TLC\nI got a good head on my shoulders if you know what I mean\nThat's when I called her over and told her \"Mami ven aqui\"\n¿De dónde eres, cuál es tu nombre?\n¿Tienes novia, o buscas hombre?\nPor favor, disculpa todas las preguntas\nQue lo único que quiero es un besito en la punta, pretty, please\nPlease, vas a tener que esperar (Dame un besito, mami)\nPlease, si lo quieres tonight\nLo que quieras si me dices por favor\nLo hago todo si me dices por favor (por favor)\nDe la forma en que lo dices, díme mas\nHaz lo que quieras si me dices por favor\nElla me dijo \"Número uno, mi nombre es Johanna\"\n¿Y de qué punta tu hablas? Punta Cana\nNo mama, de la punta de mi nariz\nYo me pillo un french kiss, en la punta de París\nEstoy loco, y un poco suelto\nCoco quemao', y un poco fresco\nPero dame un besito en la punta, por favor\nMami, me lo merezco, pretty please\nPlease, vas a tener que esperar (dame un besito, mami)\nPlease, si lo quieres tonight\nLo que quieras si me dices por favor\nLo hago todo si me dices por favor (por favor)\nDe la forma en que lo dices, dime mas\nHaz lo que quieras si me dices por favor\nMami, dame eso, sexy (¿que tú quieres?)\nMami, dame besos, rico\nMami, dame eso, sexy (mmm)\nMami, dame besos, rico (¿que tú quieres?)\nMami, dame eso, sexy (¿eso?)\nMami, dame besos, rico\nMami, dame eso, sexy\nMami, dame besos, rico\nPlease, vas a tener que esperar\nPlease, solo quieres sanar\nLo que quieras si me dices por favor (por favor)\nLo hago todo si me dices por favor (por favor)\nDe la forma en que lo dices, dímelo (todo haz)\nHaz lo que quieras si me dices por favor\nLo que quieras si me dices por favor (por favor)\nLo hago todo si me dices por favor (por favor)\nDe la forma en que lo dices, dímelo (todo haz)\nHaz lo que quieras si me dices por favor (por favor)\nVen mamita, pa' dártelo\nDespacito, suavesito, rico\nComo arroz con huevo frito\nPor favor Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com Hide the lyrics\nNO. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. DINAH AND LEONA HAVE RELEASED AN INCREDIBLE CHRISTMAS MEDLEY.\nThe two superstars uploaded a video onto YouTube of them covering 'Silent Night' and 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'. In it, both Leona and Dinah not only show off what incredible voices they have but they also harmonize beautifully.\nWe need Leona and Dinah to release an official duet together. Their voices complement each other so well.\nWe weren't the only fans though. Normani and Ally took to Twitter to congratulate Dinah.\nNormani wrote: \"screaming screaming still screaming now I’m crying waghhhhhhhh voices of angels falalalalala this is her idol all she’s ever talked about bih we made it queen of vocals baby sister I’m so proud\". Our thoughts exactly, Normani.\nMeanwhile, Ally said: \"IM CRYING OH MY GAH !!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations sis!! YOUR DREAM CAME TRUE! You deserve it mama. Merry Christmas to you baby! I love you so very much\". This is all too cute for words. What friends.\nscreaming screaming still screaming now I’m crying waghhhhhhhh voices of angels 👼🏽👼🏽 falalalalala this is her idol all she’s ever talked about bih we made it queen of vocals baby sister I’m so proud I don’t have enough characters even tho they added love you so much 😭✨🎼🎄 https://t.co/aRYfKvA81X — Normani (@NormaniKordei) December 7, 2017\nIM CRYING OH MY GAH !!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations sis!! YOUR DREAM CAME TRUE! You deserve it mama. Merry Christmas to you baby! ⭐️ 🎄 I love you so very much https://t.co/8xc1jMlsCZ — Ally Brooke (@AllyBrooke) December 7, 2017\nWe love that Fifth Harmony support each other's solo projects.\nHuge congrats to Dinah on this Leona medley. It is sublime.\nWords: Sam Prance\nListen to your favourite tracks no matter where you are with the MTV TRAX music app. No ads, no limits, no monkey business. Download it now for FREE at mtvtrax.com.", "International, bilingual poet Xanath Caraza writes \"Gold dust covers the water of Venice this morning.\" Her work Donde La Luz Es Violeta / Where the Light is Violet has been described as \"a moving prayer to water at a time when this essential of life is most precious.\"Credit Xanath Caraza, Kansas CityEdit | Remove\nI am Xánath Caraza, and I today will read two bilingual poems from my book Donde la luz es violeta / Where the Light is Violet.\nSusurros en la atmósfera\nPolvo de oro cubre el agua de Venecia\nesta mañana. Las gaviotas no se han\nfijado en mí, hace frío en esta barca a\nla deriva. El viento salvaje de la laguna\ncorre por doquier, alborota mi pelo negro.\nVoy en busca de Marco Polo, su fantasma.\nLos ecos de sus pasos encerrados en este\náureo sendero me llaman. Los caracteres negros\nde Il Milione enclaustrados en las páginas.\nMilenaria memoria frente a mí, los dedos crecen.\nNadie sabe que soy coleccionista de palabras\nde susurros en la atmósfera, de sonidos acuáticos\nde pasiones contenidas en caracolas y bivalvos de\nestas mezcladas aguas de Venecia, de los secretos\nmás íntimos, de besos robados. Soy poeta en esta\nbarca a la deriva, la nave de los locos, quiero pensar. Prisionera de Cronos en este dorado laberinto de agua.\nOro líquido es el agua de Venecia esta mañana.\nUlula viento mi canto, llévalo al fondo del mar\njunto con mis lágrimas.\nWhispers in the Air\nGold dust covers the water of Venice\nthis morning. The seagulls have not\nsighted me, it’s cold in this boat floating\nadrift. The savage wind of the lagoon\nraces here and there, mussing my black hair.\nI’m in search of Marco Polo, his ghost.\nThe echoes of his steps enclosed in this\ngolden path summon me. The black characters\nfrom The Travels locked within the pages.\nMillennial memory before me, my fingers grow.\nNo one knows I’m a collector of words\nof whispers in the air, of aquatic sounds\nof passions contained in conches and mollusks of\nthese intermingled Venetian waters, of the most intimate\nsecrets, of stolen kisses. I’m a poet in this\nboat floating adrift, the ship of fools, I want to think.\nI’m imprisoned by Cronus in this golden labyrinth of water.\nLiquid gold is the water of Venice this morning.\nHowl, wind, my song, drag it to the bottom\nof the sea alongside my tears.\nXánath Caraza for the High Plains Public Radio Readers Book Club.\nDonde la luz es violeta / Where the Light is Violet\n(Mammoth Publications, 2016)\nBilingual Poetry (Spanish & English)\nBy Xánath Caraza, translated by Sandra Kingery\n208 pages\nISBN: 978–1–939301–69–7", "A 26-year-old Chinese man known for his death-defying stunts atop tall buildings has fallen to his death.\nAnd his final moments were captured on video.\nAccording to the South China Morning Post, cops say 26-year-old Wu Yongning died in November after falling from the Huayuan Hua Centre, a 62-storey building in Changsha, the capital of the Hunan province in China.\nKnown as China’s first rooftopper, Wu climbed the building as part of a rooftopping challenge that boasted US$15,000 in prize money.\nWARNING: Some will find this video disturbing\nThe Daily Mail reported Wu had set up a camera on another portion of the building to capture his stunt.\nThe footage shows the man attempting pull-ups on the building’s edge before losing his grip and plunging to his death.\nHis body was later found by a window cleaner.\nRooftopper es el que se sube a las terrazas de rascacielos sin ninguna medida de seguridad sólo para tomarse selfies y videos.\nWang Yongning (Daredevil) que inició esta práctica en China pasó un mes sin subir fotos. Se acaba de confirmar que cayó de un edificio. pic.twitter.com/NitCf9W7RJ — Carl Bonifatti 🌱 SOS 🇻🇪 (@carlbonifatti) December 10, 2017\nWu worked as an extra in films before he made rooftopping — the act of climbing onto the roof of a building to take pictures — a career. The man often posted pictures of his exploits on social media.\nWu’s girlfriend Fu JinJin told The Beijing News she called the cops on Nov. 9 after he didn’t return home. She said Wu had planned to ask her parents permission to marry her two days after the fatal fall.\nWu’s uncle, Feng Shenliang, told the South China Morning Post he’d planned on using the prize money for his wedding and his mother’s medical costs.\nThe stuntman’s death was confirmed Dec. 8 after fans of his escapades noticed Wu hadn’t posted new videos on social media in a month.", "The Grammy Award-winning Las Vegas rockers will play before the Knights take on the Capitals.\nImagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds performs during the Vegas Strong Benefit Concert at T-Mobile Arena on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto\nImagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds performs during the Vegas Strong Benefit Concert at T-Mobile Arena on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto\nEl líder de Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds, se presenta durante el concierto de beneficio \"Vegas Strong\" en T Mobile Arena, el viernes 1 de diciembre de 2017, en Las Vegas. | Foto Benjamin Hager / Las Vegas Review-Journal.\nImagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds performs during the Vegas Strong Benefit Concert at T-Mobile Arena on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto\nBefore the Vegas Golden Knights heat up the ice Wednesday, Imagine Dragons will breathe a little fire of their own.\nThe Grammy Award-winning Las Vegas rockers will perform before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The broadcast begins at 5 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.\nThe band last played the venue Dec. 1 at the Vegas Strong benefit concert for the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund.", "Vegas was as low as a minus 155 favorite at the Westgate sports book Wednesday afternoon and as high as a minus 165 favorite at Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming and the Stratosphere sports books.\nGolden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) battles for the puck between Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson (74) and right wing T.J. Oshie (77) during the second period of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Monday, May 28, 2018. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto\nLos aficionados de Vegas Golden Knights festejan el primer triunfo de su equipo en la Final de la Stanley Cup. Lunes 28 de mayo de 2018 en T-Mobile Arena. Foto Chase Stevens / Las Vegas Review Journal.\nThe Golden Knights are consensus minus 160 favorites over the Washington Capitals (plus 140) at Las Vegas sports books in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.\nVegas was as low as a minus 155 favorite at the Westgate sports book Wednesday afternoon and as high as a minus 165 favorite at Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming and the Stratosphere sports books — which had Washington at plus 145.\n“It’s been all Knights on (Wednesday’s) game,” South Point sports book director Chris Andrews said. “We’re up to (minus) 160. We’re starting to get a little comeback on the Capitals but we’ll probably need the Capitals.”\nThe ticket count was more than 2-1 in favor of the Knights at the Westgate while the money was 3-1 in favor of Vegas.\nThe wagering handle was down a bit from Monday’s opener, which the Knights won, 6-4.\n“This seems a little lighter than Game 1,” Westgate sports book manager Randy Blum said. “But there’s a lot of time until the game starts. I’m sure that will change.”\nThe total is 5½ (Over minus 115) after it opened at Over minus 130.\n“They’re mostly on the under,” Andrews said.\nAt William Hill sports book, 62 percent of the tickets and 65 percent of the money is on the Knights on the money line and 58 percent of the tickets and 76 percent of the money is on over 5½.\nBlum said Westgate bettors are backing Vegas on the puck line (minus 1½) at plus 175 by a 20-1 margin. At William Hill, 93 percent of the tickets and 61 percent of the money on the puck line is on the Knights.\nTomas Nosek scored an empty-net goal with 2.7 seconds left in Game 1 as the Knights covered the puck line for the third time in their past four home games.\nVegas is 7-1 at home in the postseason, is riding a five-game winning streak and is 13-3 in the playoffs overall.\nWilliam Hill bettors are banking on Capitals star Alex Ovechkin to score a goal in Game 2. Will he? Ninety-three percent of the tickets and 84 percent of the money are on yes at plus 155.\nVegas is a minus 240 favorite to win the Cup at adjusted series odds at the Westgate, which has Washington at plus 190.\nContact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.", "U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his “deepest sympathies” to Canadians on Tuesday morning in the wake of the fatal van attack in Toronto that left 10 people dead and 15 others injured.\nTrump was speaking in front of the White House with French President Emmanuel Macron by his side during an arrival ceremony in Washington.\nREAD MORE: What we know and don’t know about the Toronto van attack\n“I also want to express our deepest sympathies to the Canadian people following the horrendous tragedy in Toronto that claimed so many innocent lives,” Trump said.\n“Our hearts are with the grieving families in Canada.”\nThe condolence comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke with media Tuesday morning, calling the deadly rampage “horrific” and “senseless,” adding all Canadians stand with Toronto.\nThe attack happened Monday around 1:30 p.m. ET when a man drove a white rental van down a busy stretch of sidewalk on Yonge Street in the city’s north end. Witnesses on scene described the van as “deliberately” hitting people on the sidewalk.\nToronto police have arrested 25-year-old Alek Minassian in the incident; he has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.\nTrump isn’t the only politician to reach out to Canada following the attack.\nREAD MORE: First of 10 victims killed in Toronto van attack identified as Anne Marie D’Amico\nMexico President Enrique Peña Nieto took to Twitter on Monday to express his country’s condolences.\n“Mexico expresses its solidarity and condolences to the people and Government of Canada, as well as to the relatives of the people who were injured or lost their lives today in Toronto,” he tweeted.\nMéxico expresa su solidaridad y condolencias al pueblo y gobierno de Canadá, así como a los familiares de las personas que resultaron heridas o perdieron la vida hoy, en Toronto. — Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) April 24, 2018\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, “I express my profound solidarity with the Canadian people after the tragedy that has just struck the city of Toronto.“\nJ’exprime ma profonde solidarité au peuple canadien après la tragédie qui vient de frapper la ville de Toronto. — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 23, 2018\nNew York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio also offered his support.", "The President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, has announced that the South American nation will be the first Latin American country to join NATO as a ‘global partner’.\nIn a televised speech on Friday and in a series of tweets published on his personal Twitter account, Mr Santos said that the country will formalize its membership of the organisation at a meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 31st May.\nEmbed from Getty Images\nGlobal partners of NATO co-operate with the organisation on areas and issues of ‘mutual interest’, including emerging threats. Some of the eight other countries which hold this form of NATO membership (currently Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan) also actively support or contribute to NATO operations, either militarily or by other means.\nFirst founded in 1949, NATO was created through the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4th April 1949. The organisation aims to ‘guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means’. Under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, an attack against one NATO member state is considered as an attack against all members (though this Article has so far only been invoked once – in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US in 2001).\nHemos avanzado mucho desde que empezamos el camino para entrar a la @OECD. Colombia hoy construye paz, hay menos pobreza, tiene una economía sólida y liderazgo internacional. #ColombiaEnLaOCDE — Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) May 26, 2018\nY otra gran noticia. La próxima semana formalizaremos el ingreso de Colombia a la OTAN, @NATO, en la categoría de socio global. Seremos el único país de Latinoamérica con este privilegio. — Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) May 26, 2018\nAll of these global partners have negotiated Individual Partnership Cooperation Programs with the US-led alliance, which define their involvement in NATO operations. In an interview with the AFP news agency, Rafael Piñeros, a professor at Bogotá’s Universidad Externado, explained that the global partner membership of NATO was created so that the bloc could form ‘strategic alliances’ outside of Europe, Canada and the US with the aim of maintaining global peace.\nPresident Santos initially announced his intentions to more actively involve Colombia with NATO in June 2013. The country previously signed an agreement for closer military co-operation with the grouping in December 2016. This agreement was intended to enable the organisation to assist with the implementation of the historic piece agreement signed with the left-wing FARC rebel group (for which Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize).\nEmbed from Getty Images\nOn the same day as the NATO announcement, it was also confirmed that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has accepted Colombia as a member nation. The economic organisation founded in 1961, which is based in Paris, traditionally only accepted industrialised nations as its members, though in recent years has also begun to accept emerging economies.\nPresident Santos said that Colombia’s admission into the OECD would attract more international investment and improve the financing available for infrastructure projects, in addition to making it easier for the country to apply for loans.\nHe added that, in his view, Colombia’s admission to both organisations would improve the country’s global image.", "lmao I just submitted this!! like what the hell... I know you wanna break the usa but por favor fonsi\neste remix es un asco, guacala. idk why they let bieber sing the chorus in spanish, it's horrible and he kills the vibe of the song, it also doesn't go well with their voices\nEdited at 2017-04-17 05:51 am (UTC) Reply\nThread\nLink\nI can't deal with Fonsi's attempts to appeal to the youth or whatever. First, getting a Maluma makeover and now featuring Bieber for a subpar Despacito version? No, gracias. Don't fix it if it's not broken. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nHow is it a Maluma makeover? He looks the same and has always worn sleeveless shirts and leather pants. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nFonsi is a thirsty tool. This is some shit he would pull, lbr. Reply\nParent\nThread\nExpand\nLink\nYour note was my first thought OP ❤ Reply\nThread\nLink\nLmao i liked it 😂🙊.\nBUUUT the original >>>>> this one.\nThe original is gonna be the song of the summer 2017 tbh 👩🏽‍⚖️ caso cerrado.\nEdited at 2017-04-17 06:05 am (UTC) Reply\nThread\nLink\nSis... te estoy juzgando, si soy sincera.o Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nperdón 😔 Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nit's this years bailando lbr Reply\nParent\nThread\nExpand\nLink\nI think it will be burned out by the time summer arrives, at least for the Latin market. Last year's summer anthems (aka La Bicicleta and Duele el Corazón) came out in April/May. Despacito has already been killing it during the winter/spring, and although Spanish songs have longevity, I'm sure another songs will come up in summertime. Reply\nParent\nThread\nExpand\nLink\nYou should only listen if you wanna laugh at Justin's spanish.\nYou'd still have to pay me. Reply\nThread\nLink\nThat spanish, yikes Selena taught ha\n¿Por qué tienen que arruinar esta canción? Ya me estaba cansando porque la repiten a cada rato, pero es buena y pegajosa, gringos de mierda, arruinando todo como siempre.\nLuis Fonsi, why? Pendejo. Reply\nThread\nLink\nI guess it's bc of that... bc it was/has been overplayed and they needed a boost or something. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nLuis Fonsi is a certified douche so it only makes sense that he'd collaborate with Bieber.\nMost Spanish songs are awful when you release them in English later. Unless it's conceived as bilingual from the get go without featuring new people on the transition (a la most Shakira singles), it's just a big mess. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nFlawless comment. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nMy Zumba teacher better not play this shit in class. Reply\nThread\nLink\nWhenever my Spinning instructor plays this I make a point of putting on my headphones which pisses him off. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nI see him trying to piggyback on Despacito's success. I don't mind the remix tbh but the original is way superior Reply\nThread\nLink\nPero que es este odio omg\nA mi me gusta demasiado Jajajaja am I trash?\nNo me gusta más que la original pero está bueno el remix. I'm glad Bieber is not on the video tho cause I don't need to see his ugly face, his voice is ok tho Reply\nThread\nLink\nSis, even the gringo spanish of Bieber tho? Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nNo, that sucks but the English part is good! Reply\nParent\nThread\nExpand\nLink\nChama, quiérete a ti misma porque esta versión no es necesaria. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nugh, fuck Luis Fonsi. Reply\nThread\nLink\nAlso I'm working in Australia for a couple of months so I only hear this song when I play it on YouTube. Praying for y'all that are having it overplayed porque es deliciosa Reply\nThread\nLink\nNo sabía que estabas en Australia! Que cool! Y ya se, acá en México la ponen a cada rato lol. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nEs porque con este timezone nunca estoy en ONTD jajaja\nEs demasiado cool, no puedo con mi vida!\nEstoy segura q en Costa Rica está igual, pero cuando me vine apenas estaba levantando allá Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nomg ustedes se conocen? Que raro y que cool lmao.\nLa verdad que no he salido mucho últimamente entonces no sé si será un hit en Costa Rica lol pero mi vecina la pone todooos los días. Reply\nParent\nThread\nExpand\nLink\nAlso who is the girl on Luis Fonsi's video bc she is so stunning I crush on her Reply\nThread\nLink\nzuleyka rivera Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nyou and gianluca vacchi\ni lived for his eurotrash visits to latino tv shows in miami. he got to meet zuleyka in one of them and couldn't contain his drool and they danced together. i received about three lives. i regret nothing. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nZuleyka Rivera, a former Miss Universe. She is stunning irl but dumb af. She's also just as thirsty as he is so they would actually make sense as a couple but his wife doesn't let him out of her sight because she knows better than that. Reply\nParent\nThread\nLink\nHis voice sounds good and i've heard worst pronunciations. Still, talk about unnecessary. Reply\nThread\nLink\n🔥🔥🔥\nGracias Papi Reply\nThread\nLink\nLmao no really... Who asked for this. I love it! 😂 Reply\nThread\nLink", "The social media team of Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez created fake social media profiles that were used to attack opponents of former President Alvaro Uribe, a local university found out.\nThe University of Antioquia (UdeA), the most respected public university in Medellin, investigated the possible election fraud after discovering that Gutierrez’ social media strategist was working for former President Alvaro Uribe.\nBecause strategist Mateo Gomez is a freelancer, he can work for any campaign. He can not, however, use public resources for the promotion of candidates, and this seems to be the case.\nGomez and a team of seven contractors of Medellin’s communications secretary began creating 200 fake profiles in May last year, according to one of the contractors who shared the database with the UdeA.\nThe anonymous source told the university that, according to Gomez, the fake accounts were meant to be used to report other fake accounts that were criticizing the mayor.\nThat’s not what happened though.\nThe fake accounts were first used on September 29 to attack a member of the opposition in the city council whose party was talking with former Mayor Sergio Fajardo, Gutierrez former patron.\nThe second victim was a council member of Uribe’s Democratic Center (CD) party who in October last year said that the former president was the “main obstacle for peace” before being expelled from the party.\nGutierrez’ fake accounts became active again in February to defend Gutierrez’ former security chief who is in prison for ties to local crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado and Uribe who was being investigated over his alleged ties to paramilitary group AUC.\nAt the same time, the fake accounts began attacking presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, a political rival of both Uribe and Gutierrez.\nQuiere ser presidente de Colombia y trata a las regiones con mentiras. Mentiroso #PetroMentiroso https://t.co/sELduuJCPT — Aaron Lopez (@aaronlopez892) February 22, 2018\nQuiere ser presidente de Colombia y trata a las regiones con mentiras. Mentiroso #PetroMentiroso https://t.co/PWTcMwzx3P — celeste henao (@HenaoCelesteh2) February 22, 2018\nQuiere ser presidente de Colombia y trata a las regiones con mentiras. Mentiroso #PetroMentiroso https://t.co/VVNjE0lhaf — Rosi Buitriago (@rosibuitriago42) February 22, 2018\nQuiere ser presidente de Colombia y trata a las regiones con mentiras. Mentiroso #PetroMentiroso https://t.co/mNEZzkg0fS — Saray Perez (@saris44p) February 22, 2018\nThe fake accounts stopped publishing between March 11, the day of the legislative elections, and April 16, the day that the university called Gomez to ask about the fake accounts.\nGutierrez’ social media chief told the UdeA that he was unaware of the fake accounts created by Medellin’s public relations team and insisted that the city hall “does not use that type of profiles.”\nMedellin communications director Jorge Gonzalez that his office “does not use fake profiles” and that such strategy was never approved “in any way.”\nBoth Gomez and the CD confirmed that Gutierrez’ social media chief also worked for the former president ahead of the legislative elections.\nAccording to Uribe’s party, the work consisted of “designing posts for social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook), verifying the quantity and quality of the posts [and] advising on the targeting of ads on social media.”\nHow Medellin’s tax payers paid for Uribe’s fake social media accounts was last modified: by", "MONTRÉAL, July 3, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ - Following the recommendations of the regional public health authorities of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud de l'Île-de-Montréal, the civil protection organization for the agglomeration of Montréal announces that it has activated the intervention level of its extreme heat response plan. This plan, which is progressive according to the weather conditions and the effects observed on the health of citizens, provides for the introduction of measures to ensure the well-being and safety of citizens.\n\"The safety of our citizens is our priority and we are working closely with all concerned partners to ensure everyone has obstacle-free access to cooling facilities during this particularly challenging period. I invite everyone to show solidarity with our more vulnerable citizens and I would like to thank our employees for their exceptional mobilization\", declared the mayor of Montréal, Valérie Plante.\n\"Our teams are on the ground and closely monitoring the situation in order to adapt their actions according to the needs of the population. Today, we are activating our emergency measures coordination center to be able to deploy all necessary responses according to the latest developments\", added the director of the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal, Bruno Lachance, who is also civil protection coordinator for the agglomeration de Montréal.\nThe intervention level of the plan calls for the start of a joint door-to-door operation by the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal in order to reach the most vulnerable populations and distribute safety advice in certain priority areas.\nPlease note that since the beginning of the extreme heat and humidity wave in the metropolitan area, boroughs and related municipalities have extended the opening hours of their play fountains, pools and wading pools, as well as of their air conditioned municipal facilities. Borough residents may find the contact information and opening hours of these facilities on the city's website (www.ville.montreal.qc.ca), or by dialing 311. Residents of related municipalities can contact their city or look up the information on their municipality's website. Contact information is also available here . Some 17,000 litres of water have also been distributed to organizations providing assistance to the homeless and an additional 25,000 litres have been distributed to boroughs, related municipalities and emergency services.\nHealth impacts\nThe city wishes to remind you of the main prevention measures put forth by the regional public health authorities of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud de l'Île-de-Montréal, aiming to reduce health risks due to overwhelming or extreme heat.\nIt is strongly recommended to:\nDrink water often without waiting for signs of thirst\nCool down frequently with a cool bath or shower\nGo spend a few hours in an air conditioned or cool place (malls, libraries, theatres, Space for life facilities, etc.)\nLimit physical activity\nWear lightweight clothes\nVulnerable persons – young or old – persons suffering from mental illness, as well as persons suffering from chronic illnesses like diabetes or cardiovascular, respiratory, kidney or neurological diseases must be particularly vigilant, as well as children under the age of four.\nIf heat-related symptoms occur, dial 811. In emergency situations, dial 911. For more information on health risks, got to: https://santemontreal.qc.ca/en/heat/.\nFor additional advice, go to: site de la Sécurité civile.\nFor live updates, follow Ville de Montréal or your municipality/borough on Facebook or Twitter.\nSOURCE Ville de Montréal - Cabinet de la mairesse et du comité exécutif", "The Chamber of Commerce of Guayaquil (CCG) made observations to the Organic Law for Efficiency in Public Procurement.\nThe law, approved by the Legislature, includes amendments to the Organic Law of the National Public Procurement System, the Organic Code of Territorial Organization, Autonomy and Decentralization, and the Organic Monetary and Financial Code.\nThe main reforms include the homologation of the rules for expropriation processes, the collection of the Special Improvement Contribution and the limitations to the complementary works in the State contracts.\nConcerning the expropriations, the owners have no option for claims. They are only allowed to negotiate the price of seizure and to challenge the act only in matters of the fair price.\nSource: http://www.expreso.ec/ economia/la-camara-da-su- vision-en-la-ley-de- expropiacion-CN1249985", "he founder of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, Oscar Camps (C) poses with Spanish journalist Jordi Ebole (L), the mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau (2R), Spanish singer Joan Manuel Serrat (2R) and Span\nItalian authorities impounded a migrant rescue boat operated by a Spanish non-governmental organisation on suspicion it was aiding illegal immigration, the NGO said Monday.\nThe group, Proactiva Open Arms, said on Twitter its boat was being kept at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, where it docked on Saturday after rescuing more than 200 people off the coast of Libya.\n#ULTIMAHORA Por fin y después de +48h del primer rescate, entramos en puerto #Pozzallo tras soportar una noche más de espera con olas de 2 metros.\nAfortunadamente,la vida sigue para todxs.Seguiremos protegiendo vidas invisibles #mar,con un alto coste, porque esa es nuestra misión pic.twitter.com/LbWTMtvJrr — PROACTIVA OPEN ARMS (@openarms_fund) March 17, 2018\nA Sicilian prosecutor's office was quoted by Italian media as saying it had opened an investigation against the NGO and impounded the boat.\nOn Thursday, the rescue ship went to the aid of two boats that were in difficulty 73 miles off the Libyan coast, after being alerted by the Italian coastguard.\nBut Italian authorities then informed the Spanish group's ship that the Libyan coastguard was in charge and a Libyan coastguard speedboat soon arrived at the scene.\nREAD ALSO: Concern as Spanish activist probed for saving drowning migrants\nIn such cases, the Libyan coastguard frequently intervenes before a rescue ship sent by the Italian authorities arrives.\nBut an NGO spokeswoman said it was the first time that Italy had actually asked a humanitarian ship to participate in an operation coordinated by Tripoli.\nIf the rescue is coordinated by Tripoli, the migrants will be sent back to Libya instead of being taken to Italy.\nFor this reason, the Open Arms vessel refused to hand over the rescued migrants and headed north instead, evacuating a mother and her newborn child in Malta, because they were in need of urgent care.\nThe ship then arrived in Italy and was allowed to dock on Saturday by the authorities because of the \"frail condition of the migrants on board.\"\nAccording to organisations such as the United Nations Refugee Agency, migrants face appalling conditions in Libya.\nA 22-year-old Eritrean, rescued at sea by the Open Arms ship last week after spending 18 months in detention in Libya, died from severe malnutrition just hours after landing in Sicily.", "The veteran defenseman joins Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds and Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler as finalists for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award which will be handed out June 20 at the NHL Awards Show at the Hard Rock Hotel.\nVegas Golden Knights' Deryk Engelland (5) speaks before an NHL hockey game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto\nGolden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland (5) controls the puck during the third period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series between the Golden Knights and the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Friday, April 13, 2018. Richard Brian Las Vegas Review-Journal @vegasphotograph\nGolden Knights general manager George McPhee, from left, team owner Bill Foley and defenseman Deryk Engelland (5) watch as a banner is raised in honor of the victims of the Oct. 1 shooting before the start of an NHL hockey game between the Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 31, 2018. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto\nVegas Golden Knights' Deryk Engelland (5) plays against the San Jose Sharks during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, March 22, 2018, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)\nEl defensa de Vegas Golden Knights Deryk Engelland, izquierda, firma la camiseta de Tristen Sterbens, de 6 años, mientras su padrastro, Mike Foskaris, lo abraza durante la primera fiesta de fanáticos del equipo en la Fremont Street Experience en el centro de Las Vegas el domingo 14 de enero. 2018. Richard Brian Las Vegas Review-Journal @vegasphotograph\nDeryk Engelland’s leadership on and off the ice this season for the Golden Knights was noticed by the NHL.\nThe 36-year-old defenseman was nominated Monday for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which goes to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice. On Tuesday, Engelland was one of three finalists for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award which is given to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team on and off the ice during the regular season.\n“It’s a huge honor for me,” Engelland said. “Same thing (for the Clancy). There’s a lot of good players on that list and I’m honored to be part of it.”\nGolden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland named a finalist for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/l4rK7eMnqJ — David Schoen 📰🗞🏒 (@DavidSchoenLVRJ) April 24, 2018\nEngelland’s “We are Vegas Strong” speech during the pregame ceremonies that honored the victims of the Oct. 1 Strip shooting prior to the Knights’ home opener Oct. 10 has been well-documented. But he also had a career year on the ice for the Knights with five goals and 23 points.\nYour browser does not support iframes.\n“It makes it extra special,” he said of having had his best season while playing in Las Vegas.\nJoining Engelland as Messier finalists are Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds and Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler. The winners for both the Messier and Clancy will be announced at the NHL Awards Show on June 20 at the Hard Rock Hotel.\nKnights top-10 TV ratings\nThe annual NHL local television ratings are out and the Knights were in the top-10.\nAccording to Sports Business Daily, the Knights’ average season local television rating in their inaugural season on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain was 1.87, ranking them No. 9. The ratings are from 22 of the 23 U.S. NHL markets (Carolina was not included).\nThe rating might have been affected by airings at local bars and sports books, which are not counted in viewership. Only private homes are used in compiling the numbers. Also, Las Vegas DISH customers were unable to watch games because the satellite provider did not come to a broadcast agreement with AT&T.\nAccording to the Nielsen Research formula, each point is worth 75,740 homes and the ratings are derived from the first five minutes of the game. The games were watched by an average of a little more than 146,000 homes.\n“We are pleased with the overall television ratings during our inaugural season and we look forward to building off this strong first year in the seasons to come,” said Knights president Kerry Bubolz. “The ratings we have accumulated for our playoff games have been outstanding and we are excited about the momentum we have seen there.\n“Our colleagues at AT&T SportsNet have been great partners. We have one of the largest television distribution territories in all of sports and we’ll continue to grow our fan base and engage those fans in Las Vegas and throughout our entire broadcast footprint.”\nThe Knights’ local ratings for the first round of the playoffs were 5.4 for Game 1, 6.3 for Game 2, 6.9 for Game 3 and 7.1 for Game 4.\nThe Pittsburgh Penguins had the highest regular-season local market rating among U.S.-based clubs, a 5.81, followed by the Buffalo Sabres at 4.62 and the St. Louis Blues at 3.93. The lowest rated markets were Anaheim (0.24 percent), Florida (0.27 percent) and Arizona (0.35 percent).\nGoucher keeps working\nDespite AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain’s coverage of the Knights having concluded for the season, Dave Goucher, the team’s television play-by-play announcer, is still working.\nIn a nice touch of irony, Goucher will call Game 7 of the Boston Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs first-round series Wednesday for Westwood One Radio. Goucher was the Bruins’ radio play-by-play voice from 2000 to 2017 and has also worked for Westwood One in 2016, calling the Western Conference finals.\nMore Golden Knights: Follow all of our Golden Knights coverage online at reviewjournal.com/GoldenKnights and @HockeyinVegas on Twitter.\nContact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.", "Two smack talkers will be laying it on as thick as barbecue sauce this weekend in Norco.\nThe reality series veterans will be facing off at this year’s Horse Town Brew n’ Que Festival June 1-3 at the George Ingalls Equestrian Event Center.\nThey are:\nMichael Character: Of TLC’s “BBQ Pitmasters” and Destination America’s “BBQ Pit Wars.” The Georgia restaurateur “really is a character,” said event coordinator Debbie Yopp. “That’s a perfect name for him.”\nPhillip Dell: Of the Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen” and “Chopped.” In addition to barbecue, the Las Vegas chef has managed to combine expertise with desserts and pastries with weight loss and competitive bodybuilding.\nThere will be more to listen to at the festival, including live blues and country music. And Johnny Crawford, child star of the 1950s western series “The Rifleman,” will be there for meet-and-greets.\nBeer will be poured by more than a dozen craft brewers from throughout Southern California.\nThe festival begins Friday with a “meat and greet” and ends Sunday with a barbecue judging certification class. But most of the action is on Saturday, including the celebrity face-off; live entertainment; food and beer sampling; and competitions sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and the California BBQ Association.\nMore than 60 teams will compete this year. The competition is one of the largest in California, Yopp said in a phone interview, and has become “a very, very big event” in the barbecue community. Riverside County recently lost a KCBS-sanctioned event with the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio decided to eliminate its competition in favor of a barbecue tent curated by the Food Network’s Guy Fieri.\nBrew n’ Que raises funds for several non-profits, according to Yopp, including Kappa Alpha Psi leadership programs, Caramel Connections Foundation, and Service Through Action.\nHorse Town Brew n’ Que Festival\nWhere: 3737 Crestview Drive, Norco\nWhen: Reception, 6 p.m. Friday, June 1; 1-8 p.m. Saturday, June 2; 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, June 2\nTickets: $30, $89\nInformation: 951-444-1280; www.brewnquefestival.com", "BULLETIN REPORT\nThere are fireworks, sure, but the July 4 holiday offers other opportunities to celebrate the nation’s independence.\nTuesday, July 3\n• 7:30 p.m.: Electric 5K & One-mile Fun Run; race starts at Meerscheidt Recreation Center, 1600 E. Hadley Ave. Visit www.lascrucesrunningclub.com.\n• 9 p.m.: The Electric Light Parade; Solano Avenue (Begins at Apodaca Park, 801 E. Madrid Ave., south on Solano Avenue, east on Hadley Avenue, ends at Maag Softball Complex.) Theme: “Illuminate the Sky.” Call 575-541-2550.\nWednesday, July 4\n• New Horizons Band of Las Cruces concert: 10 a.m., Atkinson Recital Hall, 1075 N. Horseshoe, NMSU campus; free. Judy Bethmann is director, Brian Theodorson is assistant director. www.la-tierra.net/nhband.\n• Mesilla Valley Concert Band performance: 3 p.m., Atkinson Recital Hall in the NMSU Music Center, 1075 N. Horseshoe on the NMSU campus; free. Dr. William Clark is director, John Schutz is assistant director. www.mesillavalleyconcertband.org.\n• The City of Las Cruces and NMSU will host the city’s free July 4 celebration at Pat and Lou Sisbarro Community Park, 3205 Arrowhead Drive on the NMSU campus; gates open at 4 p.m.; food vendors on site; no grilling, personal fireworks, alcohol, RVs or overnight parking allowed. Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx will headline at 8 p.m., with special guests Jefferson Starship opening the show at 6 p.m. The annual fireworks display will begin immediately following the concert, at approximately 9:45 p.m.\nContact the Las Cruces Parks and Recreation Department at 575-541-2550 or NMSU at 575-646-5981.\n• Fourth of July in Mesilla: 7-9 p.m. will feature a live musical performance XKE on the Mesilla Plaza. The fireworks display begins at 9 p.m. at the corner of Avenida de Mesilla and Calle de Mercado. Free.\nGarrison flag to fly on Independence Day\nThe City’s garrison flag will fly from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 4 at Veterans Memorial Park, 2651 Roadrunner Parkway, in observance of Independence Day, according to a press release from the City of Las Cruces.\nAfter the flag has been raised, Las Cruces resident Naomi Vega will sing the National Anthem.\nThe garrison flag is flown on traditional and patriotic holidays, and the public is invited to help veterans raise and lower the flag. Volunteers should show up at the park about 15 minutes before the large flag is to be raised or lowered. Veterans will advise volunteers how they can help.\nFor information on dates when the garrison flag is flown, call James Turner at the New Mexico Department of Veteran Services, at 575/524-6220.", "Social organizations are demanding state accountability for the massacre.\nSeveral social and campesino organizations have called for protests after at least eight people were killed during what campesinos say was an attack by state police forces on coca growers in the department of Tumaco, located in southwest Colombia.\nIn a press conference, Patriotic March, one of the organizers of the protest, said eight people were killed and 52 injured and called for national mourning in what it characterized as a massacre, demanding “a verification mission to uncover the truth about what happened.”\nA sit-in in front of the presidential palace to demand accountability will also include Voices of Peace, an organization monitoring the implementation of the peace accords.\nPeasant associations representing those who witnessed the events say state police forces were responsible for the deaths. Prensa Rural said at least 9 people were killed, while other accounts list up to 16 people killed.\nColombian President Juan Manuel Santos in a televised press conference did not address the claims by campesino witnesses but instead said that criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking didn’t want the area to leave behind coca production. He also noted that it was a FARC territory, without explicitly blaming the group that has now transitioned to civilian life.\n“We deeply regret what happened, we emphatically condemn these events,” Santos said. “I express my condolences to the families of the citizens who died.”\nHe said it was wrong that civilians were murdered, adding that an investigation was underway to “fully understand” what happened. Santos stated that there were six people dead and 19 injured.\nIn a communique, Voices of Peace urged the government to implement the integral agrarian reform that would distribute land more equitably. It said that the killings were not an isolated case, but are rather “due to the escalation of the confrontation between authorities, in particular, public police forces, with the people in the most marginalized areas of the country where families have had to resort historically to the cultivation of illicit crops to guarantee their vital minimums for survival.”\nOrganizaciones sociales de Tumaco desmienten a medios de “comunicación”, afirman que Policía y FF.MM dispararon a comunidad movilizada. pic.twitter.com/9fs7vr5AyK — Rodrigo Londoño (@TimoFARC) October 6, 2017\nA statement from local community action groups, posted by Rodrigo Londoño, the leader of FARC: “Social organizations of Tumaco reject the media claims, and say that police fired on the mobilized community members.”\nGobierno arremete contra campesinos en Tumaco y se lava las manos #SolidaridadCampesinosTumaco @NoticiasRCN y @NoticiasCaracol informen bien pic.twitter.com/mkHLFVPFPn — ETCR Ariel Aldana (@ETCRArielAldana) October 6, 2017\nHowever, police have insisted on blaming the clash that over 50 injured on dissident FARC rebels rejecting the peace process in the department of Nariño, one of the hardest hit areas by state and drug trafficking violence.\nSome of the victims suffered “headshots and several minors,” the attorney general office said.\nIn a statement issued by the Ministry of Defense, authorities said the men, “threw at least five-cylinder bombs at members of the security forces and at the crowd, and then attacked with indiscriminate fire from rifles and machine guns at demonstrators.”\nThere is no evidence of any planned explosion using five-cylinder bombs and the Association of Community Action Boards, Asominuma issued a statement rebuking the state’s version of events.\n“Peasant communities settled in the Alto Mira and Frontera area of the Llorente Corregimiento, Municipality of Tumaco, who have witnessed the last events in which 9 peasants were killed and 18 were injured, shows us the true reality of the unmeasured force against the defenseless peasants who were peacefully demonstrating,” the statement read.\n“After several days of resistance on the part of peasant communities,” in an attempt to repress the revolting campesinos, the state used force and fired shots at the civilians, the statement continued.\nThe Asominuma statement also said that “the army and the police in an attempt to justify its excessive and irrational action,” was “a clear violation of human rights.”\nThe Community Council said that as a governing body, they feel threatened and would like to claim “our determined position in defense of life, autonomy and free development of our peoples.”\nThey also said to the Colombian government that “the presence of the state can not only be seen from the militarization of the territories,” but that there is an inter-institutional participation to guarantee the proper development and the good life of the communities.\nOn the other hand, the Alto Negro and Frontera Negro Community Council demanded that the Colombian government ensure the protection of the leaders of each community that integrates the organization.\nColombia’s coca production increased 52 percent in 2016, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. That is, it went from 96,000 to 146,000 hectares, the figure reflecting the production nearly 15 years ago. The increased production was spread through the territories such as Putumayo, Norte de Santander and Nariño.\nAuthorities say that more than 115,000 families in 13 departments are willing to avail themselves of plans to voluntarily replace about 90,000 hectares of coca. At present, 21,902 families have been involved in this process.\nBut this program has not succeeded in curbing organized crime, as the groups in the region continue to fight over the crop.\nELN, FARC and social organizations demand clarification of facts in Tumaco massacre\nSocial organizations, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (FARC), demanded Friday that the Colombian justice system clarify the facts raised in the massacre against the peasant population of Tumaco, Colombia.\nSo far, the unfortunate incident that occurred on Thursday, left at least nine people dead and 18 others injured during an alleged clash between the Colombian Army and the National Police against coca growers who were active in the town located southwest from Colombia.\nIn this regard, Farc president Rodrigo Londoño expressed his position through the social network Twitter and demanded that a verification mission be immediately sent to Tumaco “to identify with truthfulness those responsible for the massacre of campesinos.”\nHe added that the Colombian media distorted information about the facts and sought to hide the truth.\n“The truth: Peasants in Tumaco are resisting the forced eradication of crops of lawful use. The forced eradication accompanied by the bullet are foolish and criminal measures, “added Londoño.\nPablo Catatumbo, a member of the FARC’s National Political Council, repudiated the massacre and blamed public forces for what had happened, while demanding that the Colombian government investigate the event in detail, to clarify the facts and to find those responsible for the “heinous crime and guarantees of justice, reparation and non-repetition”.\nIn turn, the ELN, which is currently in peace talks with the Colombian government and has maintained a ceasefire since October 1, expressed through its social networks on Twitter its condemnation of the massacre and demanded intervention with urgency of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, as well as international support for the seriousness of the events.\nLikewise, the Political Voices Group of Peace – committed to the implementation of the Peace Accords in the neogranadina nation – issued a communiqué in which it urged the Government to “make the promise of Peace in the country’s fields a reality.”\nSince September 28, thousands of Colombians have been in peaceful protest in Tumaco, demanding an end to the campaign against the peasants through murder and forced evictions from the lands they work, as well as the fulfillment of the Peace Agreements between the government and the FARC .", "Sanchez took to Instagram to post a cryptic message (Picture: Getty)\nArsenal’s wantaway star Alexis Sanchez has posted a cryptic message on Instagram as he pushes for a move away from the north London club this summer.\nJose Mourinho reveals exactly what Victor Lindelof will bring to Man Utd squad\nThe Chilean’s desire to leave Arsenal is becoming one of the biggest transfer sagas of the summer window, with Manchester City and Bayern Munich trying to prise him away from the Gunners.\nDespite his keenness to work either under Pep Guardiola or Carlo Ancelotti, Arsenal will do everything possible to block a move – even if it means losing him for free next summer.\nYa tengo 80 años 😊y Sabes porque en mi cara siempre hay una sonrisa ? Porque la vida me enseño que siempre hay que buscarle el lado bueno a las cosas y recordar que \" TODO PASA POR ALGO \" Mantén tu sonrisa siempre aunque tú corazón llore .💫 A post shared by Alexis Sanchez (@alexis_officia1) on Jun 14, 2017 at 8:09am PDT\nAnd Sanchez has taken to Instagram to post a message describing his current emotions, uploading a throwback image to the time he dressed up as an old man for a commercial.\n‘I’m already 80 and you know why there’s always a smile on my face?\nArsene Wenger is struggling to convince Sanchez to stay at Arsenal (Picture: Getty)\n‘Because life taught me that you always have to look for the good side of things and remember that “everything happens for a reason”.\n‘So keep your smile always, even though your heart cries.’\nThe message suggests Sanchez’s hopes of securing a move away from Arsenal are dwindling, with any move now likely to be delayed until after he has participated at the Confederations Cup.\nMan City are reportedly on the verge of making a £50 million bid for the Chilean forward, which could in turn force Bayern to lodge an official offer at long last.\nMORE: Alexis Sanchez tells Arsenal his transfer preference… and it’s not Manchester City or Bayern Munich", "TORONTO — The photos are gruesome. Hugo Barrette slumped over unconscious, his rag-doll limbs bent under him awkwardly and his face crushed against the concrete. Barrette on a stretcher, his face a soupy mess of blood and ripped flesh.\nThe 25-year-old cyclist from Iles-de-la-Madeleine, a tiny Quebec archipelago in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, had crashed in World Cup training in Cali, Colombia, in the fall of 2015, roaring through a railing at 80 kilometres an hour.\nHe'll race in Cali again for the first time this week in a World Cup he said is a victory before he even sets his two wheels on the track.\n\"It's part of my story,\" Barrette said. \"I've never seen it as such a bad thing. It's just part of my story, and to get past that, I need to go back there and perform at my best and just show what I got, as I've intended to do before I crashed.\"\nBarrette was coming off a breakout three-medal performance at the Pan American Games, and looking forward to the Rio Olympics when he crashed in a training session. The force snapped the steel railing in two, and left Barrette with two broken vertebrae, a shattered nose, broken teeth, head lacerations and a dislocated shoulder. His nose and shredded lip required plastic surgery. Had he not turned his head at the last second, he believes he'd be dead.\nBarrette's screams are audible in the video of the scene, which was so traumatic national coach Erin Hartwell considered quitting. Barrette doesn't remember much, saying \"Maybe it's a good thing that I lost that part of the story.\"\nAlso a good thing: the motivation of making the Olympic team had Barrette back on his bike just two weeks later. There was no time to be hesitant.\nAnd if nothing else, the crash made him take stock of his career. He paused just long enough to appreciate how far he'd come.\n\"Since I was 16 years old, I never stopped, just all out all the time just to improve to become the best,\" Barrette said. \"I believe I reached an amazing level, a dream-like level, winning everything at Pan Ams (two gold and a bronze), I was living the dream that I had as a little boy.\n\"But since I was so anchored in that world, I never really realized what I've accomplished. So that crash really made me open my eyes, and made me realize how much I love the sport and how lucky I am to do this. And that's part of why I recovered so fast, because I didn't want to give up at such an amazing time.\"\nBarrette claimed his first World Cup medal, a silver, in Hong Kong just 81 days after his crash. He also qualified for Rio, where he finished 13th in the keirin.\nBarrette will be joined on Canada's men's team in Colombia by Stefan Ritter of Edmonton, Joel Archambault of St-Christine, Que., and Patrick St-Louis-Pivin.\nCalgary's Kate O'Brien and Laura Brown leads a women's team that includes Amelia Walsh of Ayr, Ont., Steph Roorda of Vancouver, Kinley Gibson of Edmonton and Ariane Bonhomme of Gatineau, Que.\nBarrette has nothing special planned for Cali, no plans to take a close look at the crash site.", "The \"rat\" is actually a pacarana, a rodent species native to South America (Photo Source: WLOX)\nA viral video of a \"rat\" taking a shower in a shockingly human-like manner has been making waves on social media.\nThe short clip shows the animal standing in a tub and covered in soap suds, rubbing its body with its paws the way a person would clean themselves in the shower.\nJokes quickly circulated as people speculated that the rodent may be a CIA experiment gone wrong, Ratatouille headed to work, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's teacher, Master Splinter, winding down after a long day of training.\nTurns out that the animal isn't a rat after all. It's a pacarana, a rare rodent native to South America.\n“There is just no other rodent that would fit all of those features, and the fact that this video was taken in Peru where pacaranas are known just seals the deal,” Dallas Krentzel, an evolutionary biologist who studies rodent diversity at the University of Chicago, told Newsweek.\nNothing to see here. Just a rat scrubbing itself in the shower. pic.twitter.com/4RN03admo9 — Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) January 28, 2018\n\"Scientifically, pacaranas are more closely related to capybaras and guinea pigs than true rats such as the black rat,” researcher Toumas Aivelo told the Independent.\nAs the video gained more exposure, many called its movement \"unnatural\" while questioning how it became covered in soap and if this was a case of animal cruelty.\nThe Chilean Minister of Energy, Andrés Rebolledo Smitmans, responded to concerns by posting a video to show that the pacarana's slow and human-like movements are natural to the species.\nHe also made sure to note, \"the shampoo they put on it is for pets.\"\nStill, Krentzel wants people to know that pacaranas (or any wild animal) probably shouldn’t be covered in soap for any reason.\nPara quienes criticaron que pusimos a la Pacarana?? bañándose en una gráfica, les contamos que es normal ese movimiento que hacen, además ese Shampoo que le pusieron es para mascotas ??\nRecuerda, en tus duchas #CuidaElAgua ?? pic.twitter.com/tFyIPPNVi6 — Ministerio Energía (@MinEnergia) January 31, 2018\nCopyright 2018 WLOX. All rights reserved.", "Police in Spain have raided a fake branch of the Vatican Bank following accusations that it was swindling huge profits from contracts signed with companies around the world.\nFootage released by Spain’s National Police shows the group’s office in the seaside resort of Fuengirola near Marbella on the country’s southern coast. The Vatican shield can be seen emblazoned across the windows and chairs in the offices as well as on a luxury vehicle parked outside the property.\nREAD MORE: ‘Offensive & painful’: Abuse victims slam pope over slander accusations\n“As well as a lot of paperwork, agents seized a sailboat in the Fuengirola marina, several high-end cars, 64,000 euros in the main suspect's checking account, many luxury watches, technological supplies, silver ingots, point of purchase devices, a firearm with blanks and 5,000 euros in cash,\" Spanish police said in a statement.\nDesarticulada en #Fuengirola una organización que suplantaba a la Banca Vaticana para recaudar fondos. Intervenidos: un velero, coches de lujo, casi 70.000€, relojes exclusivos, lingotes de plata... pic.twitter.com/bgBXmzTddK — Policía Nacional (@policia) February 2, 2018\nThe phoney bank purported to offer trade relations and advice to international companies. Catholic symbols and iconography such as statues of the Virgin Mary were placed around the office to complete the subterfuge. The Vatican Bank does not have any other outlets outside of Vatican City.\nOfficers arrested three Spaniards and a Colombian national in the operation. It’s claimed that a 30-year-old Spanish national presented himself as a member of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps. He also allegedly carried papers identifying him as a Cuban ambassador.\nREAD MORE: Vatican auditor: I hired security to ensure Holy See wasn’t spying on us\nThe real Vatican Bank has been no stranger to controversy itself in recent years. In 2009, a book by Giangluigi Nuzzi found that the bank facilitated the creation of fake charity accounts used for political donations, laundering and embezzlement. In 2012, four priests came under investigation for allegedly operating accounts for Mafia money-laundering operations.", "Photo: St Gallen police\nHeavy snow fell across Switzerland on the weekend, causing accidents on the roads, and delays and cancellations to train services and flights.\nSome 80 flights were cancelled at Zurich airport on Sunday morning, though the situation later stabilized as the snow turned to rain, reported Swiss media\nIn the canton of Vaud, the train line between Aigle and Bex was shut on Sunday afternoon after a train got stuck between the two.\nIts 400 passengers had to wait five hours to be evacuated because accessing the train proved difficult for rescue services, a spokesman told news agency ATS\nRail traffic partly restarted on Monday morning but only on one line, the other remaining blocked.\nHowever due to frozen rails along the same line delays and cancellations remained a common theme when commuters went back to work on Monday.\nCher @presse_CFF,\nJe ne savais pas que la Suisse n'avait pas l'habitude de la neige et de l'hiver... :)\nPire encore que les retards quotidiens.\nPendulairement vôtre. pic.twitter.com/tsB6R6ddHC — Mélissa Baudrillart (@melissa_bdrllrt) December 11, 2017\nSeveral mountain roads in the Valais, which was particularly badly hit by snow, were closed on Monday after the heavy snowfall in the previous days presented an avalanche risk.\nSnow chains were obligatory on others.\nHeavy snow in Verbier in the Valais. Photo: Laura Mathew\nAccidents were reported all over the country, with some 40 in the canton of St Gallen alone.\nOne 20-year-old driver in the canton had a lucky escape when his car skidded on a curve and nearly fell into the Linth canal. He and his passenger were unhurt, said police\nConditions on the motorways were difficult. Photo: Matt Radmore\nStrong foehn winds hit the country on Sunday, with gusts of up to 100km/hr even in alpine valleys and the Jura, said MeteoNews\nAccording to MeteoSuisse the strong winds will continue through Monday, along with significant precipitation, with up to 80cms expected in the Alps.\nThe situation will calm on Tuesday.", "'The chief must honestly look at her way of managing, whether she has to change her tone and practices. They need to go into the process of rebuilding trust,' says analyst Tony La Viña\nPublished 5:51 PM, December 12, 2017\nMANILA, Philippines – One thing is clear as far as the impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives are going: there are cracks in the Supreme Court (SC).\nIt's been a long-time open secret, exposed on Monday, December 11, in a single statement by Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro: \"Hanggang kailan kami magtitiis? (Until when will we suffer?)\"\nDe Castro is described as the nemesis of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Just before the impeachment complaint was filed, her last action against Sereno was sending a memorandum to the en banc asking for a reassessment of the Chief Justice's actions on many internal matters.\nAs De Castro said so herself: \"Lagi ko siyang kinokontra (I'm always opposing her).\"\nAnd it's not something unique to her only, as it turned out. (READ: Impeachment committee question: Is Sereno still fit to hold office?)\nJustices vs Sereno\nIt's public record that retired justice Arturo Brion also has a bone to pick with Sereno.\nIn his concurring opinion in the en banc decision that overturned then solicitor general Francis Jardeleza's exclusion from the short list when the latter was applying for SC justice, Brion accused Sereno of \"manipulation\" and engaging in a \"purposive campaign\" to discredit the former solicitor general.\n\"Sasabihin ko sa kanya, wala namang ganyanan (I would tell her, don’t go that route). You are getting what you want through these devious means that are not right,” Brion said during the hearing.\nAfter 12 long hours of hearing on Monday, De Castro had not run out of strong words for the Chief Justice: \"Whoever disagrees with her is crazy, that is her frame of mind.\"\nIn a rare display of emotion, De Castro admitted she was disappointed when Sereno was appointed Chief Justice in 2012, bypassing her and other more senior justices.\nAssociate Justice Noel Tijam even egged the Chief Justice to face the House committee: “If she continues to refuse, if she continues to ignore participating in this committee, that would show disdain, that would show contempt to this committee and it’s a constitutional process.”\nJardeleza's wounds\nJardeleza's statements also show that time has not healed wounds.\nExplaining the Itu Aba issue which was Sereno's basis for questioning his integrity and loyalty to the country, and the reason for his exclusion in the short list, Jardeleza accused Sereno of committing an act of treason.\n\"Until now, I still don't know why it was done to me. In my view, what was done to me was inhuman,\" Jardeleza said.\nBefore it reached the judiciary, the Itu Aba issue caused quite a stir among the Philippine legal team handling the arbitration case over the West Philippine Sea.\nJardeleza did not want to include Itu Aba in the Phiippines' official memorial to the arbitral tribunal, because for him, the move would have been too risky. Rappler's sources said that Jardeleza argued the Itu Aba exclusion would have appeased China and helped restore normal ties with the regional super power.\nIn the end, American lawyer Paul Reichler prevailed in his strategy to include Itu Aba – but not without getting key members of the team to first step in, the most crucial of whom was then justice secretary Leila de Lima who eventually convinced former president Benigno \"Noynoy\" Aquino to go with Reichler's version.\nJustice Carpio\nThis is where another member of the Court comes in: Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.\nSereno's spokesperson Carlo Cruz said it was Carpio who brought the Itu Aba issue to the attention of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which was then vetting Jardeleza for a Supreme Court post.\n\"What the JBC did was simply to heed Justice Carpio's concerns,\" Cruz said.\nIn his testimony, Jardeleza accused Sereno of illegally obtaining the \"top secret\" memorandum written by Reichler to use it against him.\n\"We're not certain as to what memorandum Justice Francis referred to yesterday. I personally believe (Justice Carpio) did not need to refer to anyone else's 'memo.' We are all aware of Justice Carpio's expertise on this matter,\" Cruz said.\nOf course in the end, it was the decision of the JBC, which does not include Carpio as member.\nCruz said that apart from Sereno, there was another JBC member who invoked the unanimity rule.\nUnder JBC rules, if the integrity of the applicant is raised, there has to be a unanimous vote for that person to be on the short list.\nA source close to the Sereno team said there was initial concern over what Jardeleza would say in the House, causing some to worry that sympathy would be on his side.\n\"But by going overboard and accusing Sereno, the camp feels relieved. 'Pag nag-sobra ka na, hindi na credible (If you go overboard, it's no longer credible),\" the source said.\nThe House justice committee had to end the hearings for the year, but when it comes back on January 15, other justices are expected to testify.\nThey are Associate Justices Samuel Martires and Mariano del Castillo.\n\"Kung ako kay Justice Sereno, mag-resign na siya, dahil kung hindi pa siya mag-resign napakakapal na ng mukha niya (If I were Justice Sereno, she should just resign, because if she doesn't, some nerve she has),\" complainant Larry Gadon said.\nMidas Marquez\nAnother person at the center of these hearings is Court Administrator Midas Marquez.\nAs the hearings revealed, 3 of the charges directly involved him, or his authority being sidelined by Sereno.\nFor example, the Regional Court Administrator's Office (RCAO) was supposed to have been under his direct supervision. When Sereno revived it in 2012, she did so by appointing Geraldine Faith Econg as head of the office she then named the Judicial Decentralization Office (JDO).\n\"She deliberately omitted in the entire Administrative Order 175-2012 any reference to the Office of the Court Administrator. Kaya hindi niya tinawag na RCAO (That’s why she didn’t call it RCAO),” De Castro said.\nOn the issue of granting survivorship benefits to widows of retired justices and judges, instead of Marquez directly endorsing applications to the en banc, it became a 4-step process.\nInserted between Marquez and the en banc was the committee created by Sereno, Carpio, and Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr, and the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) created by the Chief Justice.\nAnd on Monday, it turned out that when Sereno transferred the Maute cases to Cagayan de Oro, she did so, ignoring the recommendation of Marquez to transfer it to Taguig instead.\nMarquez didn't want to comment on questions why Sereno was sidelining him. But court insiders said there are trust issues between the two.\nBy the end of the hearing on Monday, a House member asked Marquez if he would like to say something more about Sereno, given that the justices had already said so much.\n\"It will show that I don't have the monopoly of not being liked. May kasama na ako (I have company),\" was his loaded answer.\n'Old boys club'\nLegal analyst and court observer Tony La Viña is convinced that this is about Sereno being a woman.\n\"These are management issues, that if it were a man, it wouldn't be an issue,\" La Viña said. (READ: 'Do not be afraid to be minority,' Chief Justice Sereno 5 years on)\nLa Viña said that past chief justices made similar mistakes but were forgiven because it's an \"old boys' club.\"\n\"They would just correct it. But because she's a woman, that makes them very unforgiving. All these are very correctible and have been corrected,\" La Viña said.\nFor example, although La Viña believes that while Jardeleza shouldn't have been excluded from the short list in the first place, Sereno's concern was a \"legitimate policy debate.\"\nBut the fact that the en banc overturned Sereno on it means the debate had been settled, an example of a court disagreeing and resolving its problems.\nImpeachable offense?\nIn every hearing, House members attempted to ask the justices whether they believe the so-called offenses are violations of the Constitution or constituted betrayal of public trust. No justice offered an opinion.\n\"They've turned all the worst possible things on the chief, even if it turns out to be true, it's not an impeachable issue,\" said La Viña.\nBut La Viña believes Sereno can learn a lot of lessons from this proceeding.\n\"The chief must honestly look at her way of managing, whether she has to change her tone and practices. They need to go into the process of rebuilding trust; build trust among themslelves,\" La Viña said.\nThis showing against Sereno has surely affected public trust in the judiciary, something very crucial especially in the current political climate.\nBut as justices and House members like to always point out, the Supreme Court is a collegial body made up of equals.\nSereno is not the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court is not Sereno.\nPublic trust is a challenge they all carry.\n\"It would take just one good decision for them to regain the trust of the public,\" said La Viña.\nWith that, 2018 will be very interesting for the judiciary. Will they rise up to the occasion? – Rappler.com", "A Spanish woman has been served a one-year jail sentence after posting Twitter jokes about the 1973 assassination of a key ally to General Franco, as the number of convictions handed down for \"justifying terrorism\" by Spain's National Court continues to rise dramatically.\nLuis Carrero Blanco was killed in a bomb attack by members of the Basque separatist group ETA, six months after being made prime minister.\nHe was seen as the heir apparent to the ageing dictator, and his death in an explosion which flung his car into the air opened the way for democratic reforms when Franco died two years later.\nBut four decades later, Agence France-Presse reports that 21-year-old Cassandra Vera has been landed with a criminal record after using Twitter to joke: \"ETA combined a policy against the use of official vehicles with a space programme.\"\nIn another post, she asked: \"Did Carrero Blanco also go back to the future with his car?\"\nThe Spanish National Court ruled that the tweets \"constitute contempt, dishonour, disrepute, mockery and affront to the people who have suffered the blow of terrorism\", causing an outcry among human rights campaigners in Spain.\nSpain election: Conservatives win, but without majority\nThe leader of left-wing populist party Podemos accompanied her to the high-profile trial, while the granddaughter of the assassinated prime minister herself said she was \"scared of a society\" where tweets led to jail sentences.\nA Twitter search reveals hundreds of similar jokes posted before and after her arrest.\nThe number of court cases addressing such crimes has risen from 12 in 2015 to 37 in 2016, with 12 rulings already handed down in the first quarter of 2017.\nIn one high-profile case, singer-songwriter Cesar Strawberry was sentenced to a year in prison for joking about an ETA kidnapping on Twitter, while a group of puppeteers have also fallen foul of the courts' increasingly harsh application of the law.\n🏛 @Pablo_Iglesias_ y @Saracarrenov registran PNL en la Comisión de Justicia en defensa de la libertad de expresión con @kira_95 y @FacuDiazT pic.twitter.com/u5t9xm2gEr — Kamchatka (@Kamchatka_H) March 28, 2017\nThe conservative People's Party has also introduced a new \"gag law\" allowing police to fine people for perceived contempt of authority.\nFines have been given for Facebook posts criticising local authority decisions, and one woman was charged for carrying a bag with the slogan 'ACAB – All Cats are Beautiful'. Police interpreted it as meaning 'All Cops Are Bastards'.\nAs a first-time offender convicted of a non-serious, non-violent crime, Ms Vera is unlikely to serve time behind bars. But the ruling will reportedly block her from accessing scholarships, \"ruining her life\" according to tweets posted after the ruling.", "What will you be doing? (Picture: Getty/Metro/Ella)\nJust when you thought New Year’s Eve was all about booze and fireworks.\nFor many of us, New Year’s Eve revolves around some sort of merriment and countdown.\nRace tracks, snow grottos and virtual rollercoasters - amazing features on cruise ships for 2017\nBut in other parts of the world, you’ll find more unusual traditions that are designed to bring luck, prosperity and other well wishes for the new year.\nAnd in some cases, these celebrations are frankly bizarre.\nSo while you’re celebrating the start of a new year, just imagine what else you could be up to.\nSpain – eating grapes\nAt the stroke of midnight, superstitious and fun-loving Spaniards will start to stuff grapes into their mouths.\nThe unusual celebration is timed with the toll of the bells with each grape being ingested in time with each gong.\nAs the legend goes, each of the 12 grapes signifies a month in the coming year.\nSo if you manage to complete the challenge, you’ll be looking at a lucky and successful year ahead.\nBut if not, at least you got a few laughs in along the way.\nColombia – running around the block with a suitcase\nY es que en mi pueblo si se sale a dar la vuelta a la manzana con la maleta, todo sea por viajar en el 2016. #AgüerosDeMiPueblo #Agüeros #2016 #FelizAño #HappyNewYear @nuebesdejupiter A video posted by Diego Alberto (@dialcoto) on Dec 31, 2015 at 9:55pm PST\nWhen it comes to wanderlusting, Colombians do it best.\nTo ensure that travel is on the cards for the coming year, they run around the block with a suitcase.\nPresumably they’ve emptied it first.\nDenmark – watching Dinner For One\nThere are several typically Danish ways of welcoming the new year.\nJumping off a chair for example, or smashing plates against the front door of a loved one.\nBut the staple is a short comedy sketch called Dinner For One, which is broadcast on DR, the country’s national broadcaster Danish Broadcasting Corporation, just before the countdown each year.\nRomania – dancing in real bear skin\nTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video\nYes, you heard right, in real bear skin.\nIt’s a ritual that takes place between Christmas and New Year and supposedly wards off evil spirits.\nAs part of a parade, the participants would roll over and ‘die’ before becoming resurrected to signify the coming of spring.\nScotland – gifting coal (and other things)\nAs part of the Hogmanay celebrations in Scotland, there’s a belief that the first person through the door after midnight should gift a lump of coal (presumably for the host’s fire).\nIdeally, this would be accompanied by things like salt, shortbread, black bun and whisky.\nKnown as first-footing, the tradition is supposed to bring good fortune to the home.\nFinland – casting tin\nIn Finland, predicting the future is a popular activity for New Year’s Eve.\nOne way of doing this is to cast tin.\nEach person is given a small amount of tin in the shape of a horseshoe for good luck.\nThis is melted and then swiftly dumped into a bucket of cold water.\nThe resulting shape is then interpreted to predict what will happen in the coming year.\nSouth Africa – throwing out old furniture\nThere was a time you needed to get out of the streets by midnight if you’re in Johannesburg as the locals had a habit of throwing their old furniture out of the window on New Year’s Eve.\nIt’s a way to start the year afresh.\nHowever, the practice has since been outlawed and police have started patrolling the streets to catch out anyone still hurling their rubbish from the window.\nSo, I guess it’s back to more ‘normal’ ways of celebrating then.\nMORE: QUIZ: How epic was your New Year’s Eve?\nMORE: 18 irritating New Year Facebook statuses that make us want to leave social media\nMORE: 10 reasons to break your New Year’s resolutions", "A First Leader for Université de l'Ontario français\nTORONTO, July 4, 2018 /CNW/ - The Université de l'Ontario français (UOF) is proud to announce the appointment of its first Interim President, Mr. Normand Labrie, unanimously elected by the university's Board of Governors. With a distinguished career as a professor of sociolinguistics, as a renowned university researcher, in particular on the topic of post-secondary education, and as a director of various research organizations, the UOF's first leader assumed his duties on July 1, 2018.\nProfessor Labrie has accrued over 14 years of experience in public and university administration. He has previously worked as Director of the Centre de recherches en études franco-ontariennes of the University of Toronto'sOntario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and as Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies for the same institute. In 2012, Mr. Labrie was appointed by the Council of Ministers of the Government of Québec as Scientific Director of the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture. His research also earned him recognition and honours by his peers, who awarded him the Medal of the Order of La Pléiade for his contribution to the development of the Francophonie in 2007. He was also elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.\nWith a particular passion for developing French-language post-secondary education in Ontario, Professor Labrie's expertise and research provided ample support for the UOF's foundational works. He began as a member of the French-language University Planning Board in 2016, then as a member of the Université de l'Ontario français' Technical Implementation Committee in November 2017.\n\"The Board of Governors is glad to appoint Normand Labrie as Interim President of the Université de l'Ontario français and has complete faith in him. The challenges are great, but his contributions over many years, even while the project was nothing but an idea, and his strong understanding of the matter make him the ideal candidate to establish our Francophone university,\" said Dyane Adam, Chair of the Board of Governors for Université de l'Ontario français. \"His appointment entrenches the development of activities for the university and ensures that the university's mission, vision and values will be respected.\"\nOver a one-year mandate, the Interim President will oversee the university's various projects. It will fall on Mr. Labrie to ensure the success of its academic and administrative work ahead of the university's opening in Toronto in 2020.\n\"This appointment is an invaluable recognition. I hope to rise to the challenge by continuing the work we've already begun. Although the deadlines are tight, we are making rapid progress and the university takes shape with each passing day. My purpose is to root it into Ontario's landscape and make it stand out nationally and internationally. I am already immersed in the work to reach those goals!\" said Professor Normand Labrie, Interim President of Université de l'Ontario français.\nIn the fall of 2018, UOF will launch a competition to fill the regular position of president, with a start date in July 2019.\nA Summary of Mr. Normand Labrie's Career:\nOver 25 years of university-level teaching experience at University of Toronto , Université Paris III — Sorbonne Nouvelle and Berlin Free University\nat , Université Paris III — Sorbonne Nouvelle and Berlin Free University Over 14 years of experience in public and university management\nOver 10 years of experience in governance within various organizations like the Centre francophone de Toronto , the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Toronto's Governance Council\nwithin various organizations like the Centre francophone de , the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of and the Governance Council 2 Major Acknowledgements: Knight, Order of La Pléiade in 2007, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016\nKnight, Order of La Pléiade in 2007, and Fellow of the Royal Society of in 2016 Over 150 publications, including L'Accès des francophones aux études postsecondaires en Ontario : perspectives étudiantes et institutionnelles, and over 300 communications across the world\nAbout UOF\nThe Université de l'Ontario français is a resolutely 21st century institution; it prepares for the citizenship and professional activities of the future. Governed by and for Ontario's Francophone community, its operates in French and is firmly connected to the world. All of UOF's activities are guided by the values of pluralism, innovation, collaboration and excellence. Knowledge lies at the heart of its mandate. It facilitates creation, mobilization and circulation in transdisciplinary inductive learning and research efforts that are based on experience.\nFollow us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and LINKEDIN!\nOfficial Hashtags: #UOF\nSOURCE Université de l’Ontario français (UOF)", "Lionel Messi signed his first contract with adidas in 2006 and after 10+ years together the pair have decided to make it official for the long term with the Barcelona and Argentina striker penning a ‘lifetime’ contract with the 3-Stripes, according to Spanish radio station Cope.\nNOTICIA @partidazocope: Messi renueva de por vida con Adidas. Un contrato vitalicio que le une a la marca alemana hasta el fin de su carrera pic.twitter.com/Hk2tPEfNWV — El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) February 10, 2017\nMessi confirmed he was happy with adidas saying on his facebook page, ‘Happy to be able to continue working with adidas many more years!’ although no exact terms were included.\nThe deal does little to soothe the hearts of Barcelona fans. Messi’s contract with the club is set to expire in 2018 and negotiations at the end of last year hit a roadblock. And Barcelonistas will surely remember that adidas was rumored to be willing to help finance a Messi move to an adidas club.\nShop for Messi gear at World Soccer Shop", "When Lynn Wyatt, the grand dame of Houston society, visited the Oscar de la Renta retrospective last year at San Francisco’s de Young museum, she felt it was high time to bring the work of her late friend to Texas.\nWyatt, who is a life trustee at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, urged the institution’s director Gary Tinterow to view the Bay Area installation before it closed. “I was deeply impressed,” explained Tinterow. “I quickly realized Oscar de la Renta’s beautiful dresses meant something to people.”\n“The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta” makes its debut with a gala reception at MFA this week ahead of its public opening on Sunday. The exhibition will feature nearly 70 ensembles from the de la Renta archives, the museum’s own holdings, the archives of Pierre Balmain and loaned pieces from some of the label’s top clients.\nCurated by André Leon Talley, who also worked on the de Young installation, the Houston exhibit features day- and eveningwear and differs significantly from that of earlier offerings, with some never-before-seen pieces.\n“We have the great Amal Clooney’s wedding dress, which is the last wedding dress that Oscar designed before he died,” explained Talley by phone from Houston.\n“It’s on loan from Mrs. Clooney, but we have been very anxious to have that dress for so long,” continued the former Vogue editor at large, who had a close friendship with the designer. “We wanted it [in San Francisco], but Mrs. Clooney reached me through her assistant to say that she felt it was too early to have her dress in an exhibit after she married [George Clooney].”\nCalling the acquisition of the lace bridal gown a “diplomatic summit,” Talley noted other key pieces include loans from Beyoncé (a Houston native), Annette de la Renta and, of course, Wyatt.\n“He had such great taste and en plus, he was a fabulous dancer,” recalled Wyatt in her enthusiastic drawl. “Women appreciated that he made them look beautiful and to do that, you have to have a beautiful dress.”\nFor Wyatt, the Bayou City was a fitting choice for this type of show. “The ladies of Houston appreciate beautiful clothes and like to dress up as opposed to other cities where they think it’s putting yourself out there too much. This is the best place to celebrate him,” she said.\nWorks from the Sixties to the designer’s 2014 death will be on display until the end of January in rooms that are organized around themes that resonated with de la Renta throughout his life. These inspirations include his native Spain, the Far and Middle East, his love of gardens and a magnificent client list.\nThe MFAH will also draw from its collection of paintings and furniture to contextualize the pieces in environments in which the designer often intended them to be worn. “He knew his clients — he knew what kind of china they ate off of,” said Talley. “It’s important to know he lived with the people he dressed. They had a certain kind of world, [which was] appropriate and elegant.”\nCindi Strauss, the museum’s director of decorative arts and design, worked to reassemble de la Renta’s world with each of the exhibition’s thematic rooms. “Oscar himself was a collector so we looked for works of art that [would have] resonated with his own personal interest,” she explained.\nA large double portrait of two women in a garden by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 17th-century Chinese cabinets, 18th-century benches and another garden scene by French painter Nicolas Lancret will be seen alongside de la Renta’s designs.\n“It could be the color of the dress that goes next to the painting to suggest a very romantic moment,” remarked Talley.\nDe la Renta’s costume jewelry is being utilized to illustrate his aesthetic. “There are so many different kinds of moods to the jewelry, so we try to make the rings, broaches, bracelets match the clothes as much as possible,” said Talley.\nAs curators worked this summer to assemble the pieces, news of Hurricane Harvey’s destructive path sent museum staff into emergency mode — but fortunately, the museum suffered only minor external damage.\nWith portions of Houston and much of its surrounding area rebuilding after August’s devastating storm, Talley sees this opening as a welcome diversion for the city. “[The people of Houston] are ready for an optimistic party,” he said. “They’re upbeat and I don’t feel a sense of any kind of depression.\n“It’s about beauty — a celebration of this great man’s life and I think it’s quite inspiring and wonderful,” he added.", "A fire in the central chimney of the Château Montebello forced guests out of the historic west Quebec hotel Friday night.\nA fire alarm at the Montebello Que., hotel rang out just after 11 p.m.\nOver 400 guests were sent to a neighbouring convention centre and waited there until fire crews arrived.\nLa cheminée du Château Montebello a pris feu dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi #iciottgat pic.twitter.com/Ld82nczW7Y — @iciottgat\nAccording to the fire department in Montebello, they were able to quickly control the fire.\nPeople were allowed back into the hotel around midnight.\nHotel staff said the fireplace is inspected twice a year and is in good repair. According to a post on the Château Montebello's Facebook page, the chimney had last been swept in December.\nThe central fireplace will not be lit until an investigation is complete, the hotel said in a statement.\nNo one was injured during the fire.", "Getty\nJustin Bieber’s newest girlfriend is model and actress Paola Paulin. The 23-year-old pop star was seen with the 26-year-old actress late last month during a church service and were seen together again on October 4.\nPaulin was born in Mexico, but raised in Colombia. She has worked as a model and TV host. In 2015, she landed a two-episode role on the HBO series Ballers with Dwayne Johnson.\nYou can follow Paulin on Twitter and Instagram. She also has a Facebook page.\nHere’s what you need to know about Paulin and her relationship with Bieber.\n1. Bieber & Paulin Were First Seen Together on a Church Date in September\nFeeling blessed to do what I love for a living 🎥❤️🙌… Que afortunada me siento de trabajar en lo que amo 🎥❤️🙌 A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Sep 28, 2017 at 9:55am PDT\nPaulin and Bieber were first seen together publicly at a church in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, September 27. They were photographed leaving the church together, with Bieber wearing a jacket that read “fear of god” on the back.\n“They met earlier in the day and he insisted she go to church with him,” a source told Us Weekly. “After church, there was paparazzi outside so they snuck away from them and had an intimate, private date.”\nBieber and Paulin met up again on Wednesday, October 4, People Magazine reported. They had a date at the Chateau Marmont.\nMaliciosa! A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Aug 19, 2017 at 2:27am PDT\n“He was with her at Chateau and told people the next day she was ‘hot as s***,'” a source told People.\n“They’re totally smitten with each other,” another source told Us Weekly.\nE! News reports that they are not “exclusively dating.”\n2. Bieber’s Pastor Carl Lentz Reportedly Approves of Him Dating Paulin\nSundays ☀️..📷 @marioalzatee 👌 . Shoutout to my trainer 💪 @armobrah A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Sep 24, 2017 at 8:15pm PDT\nBieber’s relationship with Hillsong Church pastor Carl Lentz gained attention after the singer suddenly cancelled the last dates of his Purpose tour.\nThe U.K. Sun claims that Lentz “screened” Paulin before their relationship began. Thankfully for The Biebs, he approves of them dating.\n“Justin does not make a move without consulting [Carl],” a source told the Sun. “Carl wants to help Justin rebuild his life in a solid way and the woman he is with – his romantic partner – has a big influence on him.”\nThe source told the tabloid that Bieber will now not date anyone if she doesn’t embrace Hillsong and Lenz “entirely.”\n3. She Speaks English, French & Spanish & Has a Degree in International Business Management\nFinished work ✔️ headed to business meetings ✔️ ready to enjoy Friday ☯️. Be the best version of yourself ❤️. Todo el día trabajo, trabajo y agradecida con Dios, recuerden siempre ser su mejor versión ❤️ A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Sep 15, 2017 at 6:54pm PDT\nPaulin was born in Mexico and raised in Medellin, Colomiba. According to Haute Living, she also speaks English, French and Spanish. She graduated from Pontifical Bolivarian University with a degree in International Business Management.\nAfter working for ProColombia, the Colombian Government Trade Bureau, she moved to Miami and started a modeling and acting career in 2012. She is represented by Elite Modeling Management.\nIn her interview with Haute Living, she described the perfect place for a romantic date: “Yamashiro Hollywood because is the best view of Hollywood,perfect to go with someone that makes you laugh and tell you some beautiful words.”\nShe added that she’s been based in Los Angeles full-time since May 2016.\n4. Paulin Is Set to Star in a Movie About Mexican Filmmaker Emilio ‘El Indio’ Fernández\nDespertándome @judybswim 💕 A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Sep 7, 2017 at 8:10pm PDT\nPaulin is hoping to follow-up her appearance on Ballers with a role in a biopic about Emilio ‘El Indio’ Fernandez, the legendary Mexican filmmaker. Haute Living reports that she was cast to play the late Delores Del Rio, one of the first Latin stars in Hollywood.\nPaulin recently posted on Instagram that she was also working on a project with stunt coordinator Arnold Chon. Chon has worked on over 100 movies and TV shows, including the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp.\nAfter a long day on set playing with the green screen! 🎥. Had the pleasure to work with @arnoldchon one of the best stunt strainers 👌👊. 📷 @chrisjaialex. Después de estar todo el día en el set !🎥 termino el día trabajando con uno de los mejores entrenadores para stunt #arnoldchon A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Sep 25, 2017 at 11:09pm PDT\nAccording to her IMDb profile, Paulin has also appeared in campaigns for L’Oreal, Bon-Ton, Kohl’s and Sketchers. She also appeared in Nassau Paradise Island Tourism Board advertising. She has also done voice work for South Park.\n5. Bieber Was Rumored to Be Dating Hailee Steinfeld Earlier This Year, but She Said They Are Friends\nWorking on set all day 🎥..but not complaining about the rob life at all 🖤… Les cuento que hoy trabaje todo el día en el set .. pero no me choca estar andando en bata por ahí 😜 A post shared by Paola Paulin (@paola_paulin) on Aug 25, 2017 at 8:54pm PDT\nBieber has been linked to various models and actresses over the years, most notably Selena Gomez. However, it’s been awhile since he’s dated anyone publicly for a long period of time.\nBack in May, TMZ claimed he was dating actress Hailee Steinfeld. She later shot that down in a radio interview, noting that they’ve been friends for years.\nThe singer was also linked to Brazilian model Gabriella Lenzi, after it looked like she was with Bieber in an Instagram photo in July." ]

[ "Due Date of a Return Personal income tax returns are due on or before April 15th following the close of each tax year. When the due date for filing tax returns falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the filing may be made on the next succeeding business day.he due date for filing 2014 personal income tax returns is Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Extensions. General Rules: Taxpayers who are unable to meet their income tax filing deadlines may apply for automatic six months extensions of time to file Massachusetts personal income tax returns and to make payments." ]

[ "Florida S Corporations and tax-exempt organizations are generally not required to file a Florida corporate income tax return if they do not have federal taxable income. If they have federal taxable income, however, they are then required to file a Florida corporate income tax return and pay any tax due.", "No SD state return due date: No SD state extension due date: No SD state return due date after extension: South Dakota, no state income tax: Tennessee: No TN state return due date: No TN state extension due date: No TN state return due date after extension: Tennessee, no general income tax: Texas: No TX state return due date: No TX state extension due date", "Florida State Tax Extension. The state of Florida does not have an income tax and hence there is no need of any extension as far as individual income tax is concerned. However, there is an extension of form available for corporate businesses in Florida. Form F-7004 must be filed with payment of tax by the original due date of the Florida return.", "Who DO Conduct Business in Delaware: Are required to file a Corporate Income Tax Return (regardless of the amount, if any, of gross or taxable income) using Delaware Corporate Income Tax Return Form 1100 or Delaware S-Corporation Reconciliation and Shareholders Return Form 1100S.", "Types of business income tax returns. Different types of income tax returns for different businesses. Filing your income tax return at the end of the tax year. Learn about the kinds of income tax return that must be filed at the end of the tax year based on how the business is operated, due dates for tax returns and what to do if a person has difficulties in paying income tax.", "Records of Nontaxable Income-You may need to show that income which was NOT reported on your tax return came from nontaxable sources. Keep records for at least three years from the date the return was due or filed, or two years from the date the tax was paid, whichever is later.ecords of Nontaxable Income-You may need to show that income which was NOT reported on your tax return came from nontaxable sources. Keep records for at least three years from the date the return was due or filed, or two years from the date the tax was paid, whichever is later.", "A K-1 is used by a Partnership or S-Corporation to report a partner/shareholder's distributed share of income. Partnerships and S-Corporations do not pay income tax. Instead, they file their corporate / partnership tax return as an informational return only." ]

[ "By Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif. Feb. 12--SAVE MOUNT DIABLO has scored another victory in its never-ending efforts to preserve open space in an increasingly urban part of the East Bay." ]

[ "The difficulties faced by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shared editorial space with the debate surrounding human cloning in the German press Friday.", "Two space shuttle astronauts ventured into open space on Tuesday to begin the first of three spacewalks to upgrade the power system on the International Space Station.", "Mojave, Calif.—In a spectacular flight that opened a new window to space - and the imagination â€-paceShipOne rocketed to victory in the international Ansari X Prize competition yesterday.", "Wednesday, The Advocate's editorial board wrote", "Unique angles. Tall ceilings. Half walls. Open space.", "Messaggio a convegno Osservatorio permanente Giovani Editori", "The New York Times has named two deputy editorial page editors, including one who will oversee the editorial page’s presence online.", "Tra UnionTurismo e Societa' italiana Autori ed Editori", "The New York Times is appointing Carla Anne Robbins as deputy editorial page editor and David Shipley as deputy editorial page editor in a newly created position.", "Iran fired a research rocket into space Monday to mark the opening of its space center, a move that was immediately condemned by the United States.", "The crew of the US space shuttle Atlantis and the three occupants of the International Space Station have opened the hatch separating their joined spacecraft, NASA said.", "Astronauts on the International Space Station got more living space on Saturday when they opened up Harmony, the outpost's first new room in six years.", "Biancheri, rischia di colpire giornalisti ed editori", "The following editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, Sept.", "pioneering bid to win a $10 million (5.6 million pounds) prize and prove that space is open for business. space travel as ordinary as a Caribbean cruise.", "A space capsule containing NASA&#39;s first sample from space in more than 30 years crashed into the Utah desert today after its parachutes failed to open.", "By Ed Sealover, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Sep. 15--Colorado Springs is set to add a parcel to its open-space collection that would serve as a link between Mesa Open Space and Bristol Park on the city's west side.", "A private space plane is set to shoot beyond Earth's atmosphere for the second time in a week on Monday in a pioneering bid to win a $10 million prize and prove that space is open for business.", "Michael Moore's editorial-umentary calls for universal free healthcare.", "Letter: Reader appreciates integrity he perceives in magazine&#8217;s editorial content.", "By Sophia Kazmi, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif. Jun. 3--Dublin and Livermore are at peace with each other over Doolan Canyon, a patch of open space between the two cities, north of Interstate 580: It will remain open space for the foreseeable future.", "Space Center Bremen, Germany's space-themed indoor park, has closed its gates and filed for bankruptcy less than one season after opening.", "CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers on Wednesday left open the possibility that space shuttle Atlantis would blast off this week on a mission to resume construction of the international space station.", "The BBC suspends all phone and interactive competitions in response to recent editorial mistakes.", "Media & professional: Basic agreement reached over editorial independence but price yet to be settled.", "Bucknell opened a lot of eyes earlier in the week with a road victory against Saint Joseph's. The Bison left a lot of people with open mouths with their follow-up win &#151; a 69-66 victory at No. 10 Pittsburgh on Sunday night.", "HOUSTON, Sept. 12 -- Space shuttle astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper stepped out into open space for the first time this morning, looked around and exclaimed, \"Aaah. Wonderful.\"", "A Times reporter remembers a time when, in the shadow of the Twin Towers, art, creativity and open space flourished.", "The Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and the Pacific is now open due to ice loss, the European space agency says.", "Editor and Publisher - NEW YORK President George W. Bush has picked up two new editorial endorsements but still trails Senator John Kerry badly in the race for newspaper editorial backing, according to E&P's exclusive daily update.", "The apparent killing of a wounded Iraqi in Fallujah prompts some fiery anti-US editorials .", "Serena Williams got back to winning ways with victory over US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the China Open on Sunday." ]

[ "Here's the problem: Perfumes cover odor. Deoderant covers odor. Everything out there is designed to cover it. You need to eliminate it otherwise you'll keep smelling it.\\n\\nKeep washing, keep using deoderant, but also take a close look at your diet. Onions, garlic, sometimes peppers and other foods can cause odor to seep out through sweat pores. Even if you're barely perspiring, it might still be there.\\n\\nAnother part may just be your mind playing tricks on you since you are self-concious and noticing it. My girlfriend used deoderant but she still had her own personal scent. \\n\\nThere are sprays you can use and such. I might suggest this stuff called Approach. I've used it a few times when I knew I'd be sweating a lot and I'd have no chance to freshen up. You can find it online. Go to www.approachit.net and you can get it there.\\n\\nGood luck!" ]

[ "They just love to laugh at it. I have seen it. It makes me laugh at how such a pointless and stupid movie could be fitted in a popular place, like a cinema or t.v.\\nSome people just find Napoleon D. such an awesome movie, because probably when they watched it had nothing better to do, so they found it funny at the moment. \\nBut no. I still can´t figure out why he´s so popular!", "The corn-ball politico's that instituted that bunch of horse-sh*t need to figure out where their retirements are going to come from now that Jack Abramahoff has been taken down.\\nThe French may be a little sissied, but in regards to the Constitution, I would say Call Them Whatever You Want, I like mine with a side of brown gravy. (potatoes and gravy?)", "I'm a busy mom...I WISH I had the chance to shower every day!! I shower every OTHER day....and most of the time I use deoderant....You'll usually know the day I toook my shower, because my son will have a bald spot where he cut his hair while I was in the tub, and i'll have those white marks on my shirt from the stick deoderant.", "Where are you from? An alien? I am not in a lab to observe people. By thy way, I listen to \"Don't think twice, It´s all right\" by Bob Dylan.", "anything starting with an \"s\" such as showering, sleeping, sex, s***t, and other things", "I have one here that I can email you Russ, takes some getting used to to handle the functions but it doesn t take alot to figure out rustytoronto@yahoo.com", "I agree with the first answer. That's nearly impossible to predict. I have this book from the 70's that tried to predict where we would be by now and they had moon bases, flying cars, giant space stations, etcetra. So they couldn't even figure out where we would be in 30 years let alone 1000.", "It´s on April, but i don´t know the exactly day.", "Well that depends on what country you are. I guess in general most countries don´t go investigating around who´s married twice. As this is mostly a civil matter, the person that has been affected should be the one to file against the person that married twice. Say I am married and my husband married another woman without divorcing me first I would be the one taking him to court. To prove that he is guilty you just have to show that there are two Marriage Certificates and then he would have to prove his innocence by presenting a valid Certificate of Divorce that demonstrates that he divorced the first wife on a date before his second marriage. This is the way it´s done in countries that go by the Napoleonic or French Law System. I guess it´s different in another countries where the English Common Law is practiced.", "well, I always get very ill of that and then I have to do the exams again because I was too ill. So, just don´t gett ill, it´s kinda stupid.\\n\\nRelax!\\nMake a planning where you plan nice things that you can look forward to. Like lying on the couch with a blanket and a good movie and a hot chocolate. Or take a sauna and an icecold shower afterwards. Dance. Sing. Take a walk on the wild side. And get lots of fresh air!", "I think this is about asking people to rate things on a scale, for example \"How much do you like eating cheese? rate this on a scale of 1-10 where 1 means \"I hate cheese, I wouldn't eat it if you paid me twice my annual salary\" and 10 means \"I love cheese, I want to eat it all day.\"\" Irrespective of what they actually think, most people will opt for a number roughly in the middle of the scale, so you will get lots of 5's and 6's and very few 1's or 10's. this means the results from this kind of question may not be accurate.", "I bought it a couple days after it came out. I listened to the whole CD twice I think, and I don't know... I think I still like Comalies better. Maybe it's because I had high expectations for this album.", "because most indians don't take a bath and eats spicy foods,and when they got sweat,their bad odor comes out and they are not aware of personal hygene.just be still nice to them,and i hoped u will be immuned with their smell :)", "were do you start from? ideal quantum gas?\\n\\nwhat i know is: if you have managed to compute entropy S, heat capacity c is simply:\\n\\nc = T ∂S/∂T", "crap!! I guess it`s just addictive. it`s freakin` 1:15 am, I have to go to bed , but I just can`t stop doin` this crap!!", "asuming of course that ur man cheated, i`m kinda curious about the details of the infidelity, however it is common for a man who cheated to do it again, i know i have! yes i`m am a pig and i don`t deserve my girlfriend, and i know that to be certain... still she wants to be with me, go figure. I`ve told her every single detail, and had given her a way out u know a choice! she didn`t want it, i still enjoy a lot of her character and sense of humor and we get along just fine... except for the above.", "hold it on as long as u can, BUT......... if u can`t stand for it anymore, i have 3 solution\\n1st, find a bottle or plastic, and do it in a very seceret place, where there aren`t any people\\n2nd, ask to the people where to find bathrooms\\n3rd, knocked somebody`s house and ask them to lend their toilet\\n\\nthanks", "um sorry sweetie but if he still likes you than why would he get a new girlfriend? i guess what you should do is let him go, it isn`t easy but still, if he comes back to you that`s how you know, besides if nothing happens then it wasn`t meant to be in the first place.", "I have seen twice on ocasion that women have come into the mens room and peed standing up in the urnal. No problem for them! It can be done.I have seen women pee in a toilet standing up while at drinking parties in my younger days. So I know it can be done.", "well what would u do.u would s***t yourself .well coming from down under i would be like steve urwin play with them", "I don´t thinks this is a good place to ask those question, there it´s a lot of porn web sites where u can read sex historys and things if you wanna know, but remember some kids read this, if your gay it´s ok, i´m bi, but u don´t see me asking this kind of things, rigth??", "Yeah- it really suck when you get them, doesn´t it- but that´s the way life is I guess... Those not to nice scarings aren´t much to do about (except the laser thing you where talking about). Also hear that cocoa butter should reduce it- but I think you have to apply it while it´s happening. There are a \"St. Ives\" lotion that is said to minimize scares and bleach them- but I´m not sure you can get it over there.", "Funny thing is, you might not be. \\n\\nI was labled as a hypochondriac by some doctors, friends and family and now I can say \"raspberries to them\" cause I really am sick.\\n\\nMy illness took 17 doctors and 12 years to figure out. As it turned out, I am the one who figured it out! I have a very long history of being ill. From small things like getting every cold that walks before me to major things like having my thyroid removed..twice! (It actually grew back two times, I am growing it again! Not that I want to..LOL)\\n\\nIf in fact you are not just \"imagining\" that you are sick, don't stop asking and learning.\\n\\nI have about 30+ years of self education in symptoms (I am 45) and I continue to learn every day so I can help my doctors figure out what is wrong cause dang it...there is A LOT wrong!\\n\\nIf you want to let me know what your symptoms are, I will offer my opinion on what type of doctor to go to or what tests to have run. I might be able to help.\\n\\nIf in fact you are a hypochondriac, then the simple answer is to follow the above info and find out that in fact..you are fine!", "Don't use botox. Get the anti-perspirant Certain Dri. You will never sweat from your underarms, hands, or feet. Eliminates all odor. Has no smell. Has no residue so it does not stain your clothes at all. It is a roll on you can get at any drug store in the anti-perspirant section. You put it on at night. Go to sleep. Wake up and take a shower. The residue of the deoderant is gone, but you don't sweat or smell at all for a couple of days. And when I say you don't sweat or smell I mean it. I go to the gym and my shirt gets soaked except for under the arms. That is how well it works. I have used the product for over a decade, and have had no unhealthy skin responses from using it.", "Ya know, as a child of the 70's, I really thought the 1980's were a dry spell, creatively speaking.\\nSure, there were some pretty good one-hit wonders, but overall, there were no 'Beatles' or 'Rolling Stones' coming out of that era.\\nNo...not until I heard the opening guitar line to \"Where the Streets Have No Name\" that I took notice to something that others had already picked up on.\\nAnd then it hit me: POW! \\nU2's \"The Joshua Tree\" WAS (to me) the Sgt. Pepper of the 1980's...the pinnacle of musical excellence for that decade.\\nI still listen to that album and it still sends shivers down my spine.\\nIt rocks, it rolls and it has messages that still are relevant today.", "this guy is greek and he s asking something about greek traditional songs but i cant figure out what.i think where he can download them from.try the limewire program.you can find it at download.com.δοκιμασε το limewire.κατεβασε το απο το download.com", "my blankets have to be face up for me to sleep and i feel uncomfortable with #s that are not divisible by 5 or if they have a 3 in ones place... also i do whatever i can not to look at drains and if i do i get cold chills (in the shower, sink, etc)", "B A N I S H M E N T\\n\\nS H A M E\\n\\nC A S T R A T I O N\\n\\nD I S I N F E C T A N T", "much easier than a single Mom!!! \\nTo a woman, a single dad already proved that he can have and raise kids in a stable environment. If that isn´t a plus for women who are looking for a good man I don´t know what!!\\nTo a man, a single mom is loaded with baggage - somebody else´s children!\\nIt´s not fair but that´s the way society seems to promote it.. \\nSo the answer is still DEFINITELY! If you´ve already proven you´re a good dad and then on top of that have a job then you are an invitation to any woman who is looking for a serious relationship! I can´t believe you´re asking.. lol. you should be swamped with nice women :-)", "Time series can be viewed as having several components added together (either the original time series or a transformation like ln(X) or x^l)\\nSay the time series X=T+S+I where T is the trend component; S is the seasonal component and I is the irregular or noise component. There are many methods to decompose time series, like X-11 or X12, ARIMA, GARCH, etc.\\nBenchmarking, in this context, means achieving the same result as a given time series.\\nPerhaps you are required to beat a seasnolly adjusted benchmark (that is, just T+I, not T+I+S). In annual periods, it won't matter. sin S adds up to zero upon a year period. However,in non annual periods, you avoid over or under estimating active performance by seasonally adjusting", "i-t-w-i-t-h-o-u-t-a-n-y-s-r-'-s\\n\\nYou said spell \"it without any r's\"\\n\\n-OR-\\n\\nMaybe you just meant i-t", "I'm 41 and I found out I had Type II, 2 1/2 years ago and no one in my family has ever had it. Just keep taking your pill, stay away from sugars and watch your carbs. It's not that hard these days - there are lots of foods out there. I take Avandia twice a day and insulin shots twice a day so you're so lucky. It's not hard to adjust. After I found out I lost 73 lbs. and it wasn't hard. Good luck." ]

[ "A lot of redditors mention Gordon Ramsay being lovely. My godsister can confirm. She worked at a hotel restaurant in Cornwall where Ramsay vacations at regularly. She was so nervous she spilt something but he just gave her a really fatherly warm smile and went “no it’s okay my darling” and continued on with his conversation.\n\nWhen I was a kid, my family took a trip to London and we were shopping in Harrod’s. Being the kid I was, I was running around while my parents shopped. I ran up to this man, looked up and said “you look REAAAAAAAALLY familiar. Have we met?” And he flashes a smile and says “no, but I get that a lot” and then he walks off. My dad came right over and went “...you do realise that was mr bean you just spoke to right?”" ]

[ "Have a nice celebration. Just remember the decisions you make can have life long impact.", "I've never met a rude vegan they're always nice to me", "We were arguing over which year to celebrate it in.\n\nAnd surprisingly, none of our computers crashed.", "If its nice then thank you, if its rude or pervy then fuck off.", "Celebrities aren't going to talk to you on Twitter no matter what race you are.", "Summary: I met Aquaman\nNice.", "\"I hope you have the day you deserve.\" It's not *technically* rude, but it also is.", "It's a celebration of their families joining together bro, not a concert. If you can't afford an extravagant wedding then just have a simple one with a nice honeymoon", "Have you met a Christian before?", "People because have you met them?", "You have a limited, unknown number of remaining birthdays to celebrate.", "What do you think we are some kind of gods?\n\nI don't even have sex with non celebrities", "They don't. Have you met an older person?", "I used to work front desk at a fairly nice hotel and wasn't allowed to be rude, so if a guest was rude I'd say something like \"I hope the rest of your day is as pleasant as you are\"", "Have you ever met a woman by any chance?", "Not to sound rude but what we’re your reasons?", "nice, what did you put in it?", "It’s still rude to diagnose people without qualifications. Rude people have always done the things that were rude and still do.", "Celebrate it, own it, accept it, love it. You have bedazzled genitalia. This is the way.", "Are you coming at my grandma? Rude", "Simply say “ anyway I’ll let you get back to what you were doing, have a nice day “", "Surprisingly, yes.", "You have nice eyes", "“You have a nice voice”", "I told my family it’s rude to chew with their mouth open, and they said I was being rude saying that is it rude. What. Is this not a thing, do people think chewing loudly is normal? Heavens", "\"people who have birthday on 9/11, how do you celebrate it?\"", "Being blunt is unrelated to being rude. Rude is when you say something mean or unpleasant not for the benefit of the person you are saying it to or at an inappropriate time or place.\n\nYou can be rude telling the truth or lying.", "Yes they are overpriced for what you get and the reason people buy them is because they want to show off\n\nWhen's the last time you saw a celebrity having an Android phone", "Rude people. Always have been, always will be.", "No one knows what they are doing. And if you ever need help with anything just ask someone. People are surprisingly open to helping others.", "Not really. These days, if you want to know what celebrities are up to, go on their social media. They'll tell you themselves.", "My main concern is that a celebrity offering no-strings-attached sex to some random person they met is likely to have an STD.\n\nBut other than that I don’t think I’d have a problem with the concept." ]

[ "Precise, repeatable, and objective outcome tools are necessary to refine surgical procedures so that short-term and long-term knee function and patient satisfaction are improved. Our study supports the fact that kinetic analysis using dynamometric platforms could be a useful tool in the objective evaluation of patients with lateral patellar instability under realistic loading conditions (evaluation of functional instability). With this task we duplicate: (1) muscle forces, (2) weight-bearing conditions, and (3) rotational loads caused by sports gestures (higher than the load applied to the knee during clinical examination)." ]

[ "Purpose ::: Gait kinematics and kinetics of the knee before and after medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction in patients with recurrent lateral patellar dislocation (RPD) are unknown. The purpose of this study was to measure knee kinematics and kinetics during gait before and 1 year after anatomical MPFL reconstruction in patients with RPD and compare the results to healthy individuals.", "Purpose ::: The purpose of the present study was to compare the outcomes of patients who underwent augmented direct anatomical repair using a Brostrom-Gould procedure with those who underwent lateral ligament reconstruction using a split peroneus brevis tendon for the treatment of chronic ankle instability.", "Objective To explore the therapeutic effects of steel wire fixation in circle and \"8\" shape for the treatment of patellar fracture.Methods From March 2001 to August 2006,32 patients with closed patellar fracture were treated with steel wire fixation in circle and \"8\"shape.Results The follow-up period ranged from 1 to 16 months after operation.According to Lu's evaluating criteria,the excellent and good rate was 93.7%.Conclusion This intenai fixation methed has the advantages of reliable fixation satisfactory,therapeutic effect,simple operation and being spread easily.", "The ability to balance on one leg was tested in 29 patients with chronic posttraumatic functional instability of the ankle joint prior to operative exploration of the lateral ligaments of the ankle joint. The results were recorded in seconds and were compared with a control group without functional instability. Patients with ruptured calcaneofibular ligament had a significantly reduced test result compared with patients with uninjured calcaneofibular ligament. Isolated damage to the anterior talofibular ligament did not affect the test result. The patients had a significantly reduced test result on the affected leg, as compared with the unaffected leg and the control group. The single-leg postural equilibrium test is a simple clinical test that is easily used in the objective evaluation of functional instability of the ankle. In chronic functional and mechanical instability, this test seems useful in differentiating between injured and uninjured calcaneofibular ligament.", "BACKGROUND ::: Patellar dislocations are common, particularly in the adolescent polulation. Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioners are healthcare professionals who can appropriately manage these injuries to minimise the risk of chronicity. ::: ::: ::: METHODS ::: This is a case study which uses a clinical examplar from the authors practice focusing on the assessment, diagnosis and managment of patellar dislocations. Particular reference is made of the significance of the MPFL. ::: ::: ::: RESULTS ::: This paper highlights the importance of recognition of appropriate management of patellar dislocations in the ED setting. Discussion points include the role of the MDT and the role of exercise prescription in the injury management. ::: ::: ::: CONCLUSION ::: The diagnosis of patellar dislocation is heavily dependant on eliciting a comprehensive history and conducting an appropriate clinical exam. Patient outcomes may be optimised by adopting an MDT approach.", "Objective: To compare the curative effect of three internal fixation methods in the treatment of patellar fractures.Methods: One hundred and twenty four patients with patella fractures admitted to our hospital from January 2008 to April 2009 were divided into three groups,and were treated with tension band,steel wire circular ligation method and circular fixation with silk thread,respectively.The curative effects of three internal fixation methods were observed for comparison.Results: The good and excellent rate of the tension band group was 96%,significantly higher than that of the steel wire circular ligation group(87.5%) and silk thread circular ligation group(84.6%)(P0.05).Conclusions: Tension band fixation has definite effect on the treatment of patellar fractures and is helpful in early knee function exercises.Furthermore,it is suitable for comminuted fracture of patellar.It is an effective treatment for its stability and firmness in fixing patellar fractures.", "Presents a report on a recent experiment on the evaluation of seam pucker level by the objective method. Explains that human beings measure physical quantity and quality by means of subjective methods. Fabric hand evaluation is an example of this type of evaluation and an example of a relatively complex measurement with many relating physical variables. The measurement of seam pucker is a much simpler measurement than fabric hand evaluation, as only the fabric geometry along a seam line is visually observed and evaluated. This simplicity, however, is useful when investigating the human objective judgement of a geometrical phenomenon. Suggests that this investigation may be applied directly to the development of an objective system of seam pucker level.", "The lateral instability of a thin beam under periodic bending loads was investigated. Physical evidences of the instability were observed previously by experiments. But an analytical study has not been reported. The object of this study is to demonstrate the nature and existence of dynamic lateral instability. The harmonic balance method is applied to bifurcation modes which result from the stability change of torsional mode of a beam and then compared with numerical simulations. It is found, in a certain frequency range, that a small bending load results in the lateral instability when damping is small.", "This article describes a comprehensive treatment of experimental enzyme kinetics strongly coupled to electronic data acquisition and use of spreadsheets to organize data and perform linear and nonlinear least-squares analyses, all in a manner that promotes development of important reasoning skills. Kinetic parameters are obtained for the stable enzyme bovine alkaline phosphatase by fitting the dependence of velocity on substrate and inhibitor concentration using regression algorithms of Excel.", "The purpose of this study is to offer standardisation of multi-articular leg extension movements for isokinetic testing, based on a two link rigid body model with equal length of thigh and shank. Such standardisation corrects interindividual variations and may enable the derivation of the force-length-velocity [F(l, v)] characteristics during multiple joint (MJ) activities.", "BackgroundIdentification of mechanical factors associated with patellofemoral pain, the most prevalent running injury, is necessary to help in injury prevention, but unfortunately they remain elusive.HypothesisRunners who develop patellofemoral pain have increased knee joint angular impulse in the frontal plane.Study DesignCase control study; Level of evidence, 3.MethodsA retrospective study compared knee abduction impulses of 20 patellofemoral pain patients with those of 20 asymptomatic patients. A second prospective study quantified knee angular impulses during the stance phase of running of 80 runners at the beginning of the summer running season. Epidemiologic data were then collected, recording the type and severity of injury of these runners during a 6-month running period.ResultsThe patellofemoral pain patients in the retrospective study had significantly higher (P =. 026) knee abduction impulses (17.0 ± 8.5 Nms) than did the asymptomatic patients (12.5 ± 5.5 Nms). Six patients developed patellofem...", "Abstract Complications caused by the patella may be responsible for the majority of all revision or secondary procedures after total knee arthroplasty. Treatment alternatives for these complications are quite varied and frequently result in only fair functional ratings. As with most complications, prevention is the key to the problem; for the most part, patellar complications are avoidable. A greater understanding of the etiology, diagnosis, and prevention of the various patellar complications after total knee arthroplasty can certainly minimize their occurrence, if not entirely eliminate it. The following patellar complications will be discussed: instability, fracture, meniscus, tendon rupture, loosening, and component failure.", "This article describes a new technique for the arthroscopic reduction and fixation of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tibial avulsion fractures using bioabsorbable suture anchors. This described technique requires the use of anterolateral, anteromedial, medial mid-patellar, and lateral mid-patellar portals. A suture hook loaded with No. 2 polydioxanone (PDS) was used to pierce the ACL through the anteromedial or anterolateral portal, and bioabsorbable suture anchors were inserted through the medial and lateral mid-patellar portals. The five patients treated using this technique were evaluated at 1 year postoperatively. All patients showed bony union without anterior laxity or flexion contracture. The described technique provides firm fixation of fracture fragment and can be used in both skeletally immature and mature patients.", "The dynamic interpretation of the serum concentrations of markers is frequently used to calculate biological indicators of therapeutic efficiency and relapse. But analysis of marker kinetics can also help improve our understanding of the natural history of different types of cancer and their evolution under treatment. This application is illustrated by an analysis of CA 125 kinetics measured in a patient with stage III ovarian cancer treated with multiple lines of chemotherapy and who had a survival time of 9 years.", "Objective: To introduce the concepts and treatment methods of uncertainty in pharmacoeconomic evaluation. Methods: The concepts and treatment methods of uncertainty in pharmacoeconomic evaluation were analyzed and summarized by searching relevant literatures. Results: The presence of uncertainty, which may be produced in the various stages of pharmacoeconomic evaluation process, can affect the accuracy and confidence of the results of pharmacoeconomic evaluation and it can be effectively evaluated and treated by completing the research design and improving the statistical and sensitivity analysis. Conclusion: The uncertainty should be reduced from all aspects in order to ensure the accuracy and confidence in pharmacoeconomic evaluation. Meanwhile, the uncertainty can be assessed by sensitivity analysis during evaluation, which can assist the researcher to control the uncertainty factors.", "Objective To characterize the early pain-induced thermal manifestations of knee joints,an accessible thermographie method for screening the abnormalities related to knee OA was developed.Methods One hundred and seventy-seven subjects were enrolled and the thermal images of knee joints were captured in China Rehabilitation Research Centre(CRRC).By quantitatively characterizing the temperature distributions and features of all the knee joints,a thermal screening method based on patella-centering was performed.Results Based on this method,the average screening accuracy rate of 91.6%(P0.05)and sensitivity of93.5%were obtained in distinguishing normal and abnormal cases.Conclusions This method shows high performance for screening the abnormal knee joints,which can be further utilized in the joint disease screening and physical examination.", "This work presents a decision-making framework for stochastic optimization of renewable energy businesses considering technological uncertainties and risk management. With the help of a global sensitivity analysis based on Sobol’s method, significant uncertain parameters from biochemical reactions are identified. Moreover, two options for selecting sensitive parameters are explored: (1) when all parameters are simultaneously evaluated, and (2) when parameters are separately evaluated based on their kinetic pathway. For both cases, the renewable energy facility is simulated considering uncertainty. To maximize the profitability of the business, a metaheuristic stochastic global optimization technique is incorporated to the framework. This method uses a radial basis function which approximates a computationally expensive objective function and permits intelligent selection of the best operating conditions. To evaluate the efficacy of this framework, a hypothetical multiproduct lignocellulosic biorefinery mo...", "Postoperative anterior knee pain was evaluated in a consecutive series of 138 knees in 108 patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated by total knee replacement with Mark I Insall-Burstein prostheses. No knee had primary patellar resurfacing, and in the 119 knees followed up for a mean of63.9 months, none had secondary resurfacing. Anterior knee pain was absent in 87 knees (73%), mild in 16 (13.5%) and moderate or severe in 16(13.5%). The height of the patella above the prosthetic joint line was the only variable which was directly related to the incidence of anterior knee pain. The sensitivity and specificity of patellar height measurements for identifying patients with or without pain were derived. From these data, a selective policy of resurfacing the patella in those at risk was adopted. Choosing a patellar height of 15 mm or less, patellar resurfacing could be avoided in 80% of patients likely to have no pain, and the patella could be resurfaced in 65% of those likely to have anterior knee pain.", "The pathology of patellar tendinopathy and the mechanisms of pain are poorly understood. The most popular treatment modality is the Eccentric overload Exercise. However, there is insufficient evidence to recommend a specific protocol and yet it is the most commonly used treatment modality. The aim of this case study is to present the possible mechanisms of pain and a treatment approach on a patient who was diagnosed as having patellar tendinopathy. It is suggested that hyper extension of the knee might be the source of patellar tendon pain in this patient. Following a course of pulsed short wave diathermy the patient was symptom free and remained so at 6 month review. Further studies to evaluate effectiveness of pulsed short wave diathermy is suggested.", "Dilatometry is a useful method to investigate the transformation kinetics of ferrous alloys. In the present study, a dilatometric analysis procedure that considers the effect of non-isotropic volume change was applied to evaluate the kinetics of austenite formation during the intercritical annealing of TRIP steels. Metallographic analysis was conducted to validate the dilatemetric analysis results. The austenite fractions from the dilatometric analysis showed reasonable agreement with those from the metallographic one. This verifies that the kinetics of austenite formation during heat treatment of low carbon TRIP steel can be reliably analyzed with the proposed procedure.", "Purpose: To culturally translate and validate the Persian version of Kujala Patellofemoral Scale (KPS) and evaluate the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, construct validity and ceiling or floor effects of this instrument in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). Method: After standard forward and backward translations, 100 patients with PFPS completed the Persian versions of the KPS and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) in the first visit. With time interval of 2–3 days after the first visit, 47 patients filled out the KPS in the second visit. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2,1) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) and Cronbach’s α coefficient, respectively. The Spearman’s rank correlation (rs) was used to assess the correlations between the Persian KPS and SF-36 subscales. Results: The acceptable level of ICC >0.70 (ICC = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.93–0.98) and Cronbach’s α coefficient >0.70 (α = 0.81) was obta...", "Amperometry is a commonly used technique for detecting the kinetics of single-vesicle exocytosis with excellent temporal and spatial resolution. However, different methods of analyzing the amperometric signals can produce conflicting conclusions. We developed an efficient automated method for kinetics analysis of single spikes that does not filter the data and therefore prevents distortion of the results. The algorithm assesses the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and accordingly, separates the signals using an adjustable two-threshold calculation. This enables comparing data with different SNRs from different setups. The software also includes a complete statistical analysis, with an automated selection of the most appropriate statistical tests and a graphical representation. The algorithms can be used for any other experimental results requiring the separation of signals from noise, making this method useful for many applications.", "The present work was designed to estimate changes in the quality of the equilibrium function (QEF) and dynamic stabilization indices (DSI) of the vertical position of the body in comparison with the traditional stabilometric characteristics (the length and the area of statokinesigram, mean radius of body deviation, average linear centre of foot pressure displacement velocity). The computed stabilometric technique was used to study the equilibrium function in the patients (n=133) presenting with otorhinolaryngological problems and requiring the surgical treatment. It was shown that selected stabilometric characteristics (such as QEF and DSI) may be useful for control of the efficacy of the treatment of surgical patients; moreover, they can be applied to the evaluation of dynamics of the patients' health status during the postoperative period.", "A multi-body dynamics model is developed to study the cross-wind stability based on the factorial design theory. The lateral displacement and yaw rate under cross-wind are used as special evaluation indexes. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the suspension system and the optimal design method is employed to improve the structure of suspension and enhance the cross-wind stability of the car.", "The objective of the study was to compare prospectively short-term and mid-term results after ACL reconstruction with special focus on changes in instrumented knee laxity.", "Establishing a clear, attainable, and measurable goal is the starting point for all successes in physiotherapy, and using outcome measures can be helpful in setting measurable goals.1 Patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) have become a standard in both clinical practice and research.2 While traditional assessments such as range of motion, strength, and functional movements can provide valuable information to the clinician, these types of assessments can fall short of adequately addressing all meaningful outcomes because they are inherently biased and may not describe the patient's own perception of his or her state of health. PROMs have been developed to obtain quantitative data on general health quality, function, and pain. PROM data can help practitioners determine the severity of the disorder, formulate a treatment plan, and assess treatment efficacy over time.3", "PurposeWe aimed to (a) elucidate the concordance of visual assessment of an initial 123I-ioflupane scan by a human interpreter with comparison to results using a fully automatic semiquantitative method and (b) to assess the accuracy compared to follow-up (f/u) diagnosis established by movement disor", "Children and adolescents with Down syndrome frequently are involved in athletic pursuits. In addition to well-known associated medical conditions, such as hypothyroidism and cardiac anomalies, these individuals also are susceptible to musculoskeletal problems. Patellar instability, hip joint instability, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, bunions, and cervical spine instability have been reported with a significant incidence in this population. Early diagnosis of musculoskeletal problems allows for more effective interventions that preserve function and allow safe participation in sports activities.", "Twenty-eight goats underwent ACL reconstruction with freeze-dried bone-patellar tendon-bone allografts in one knee, the opposite knee serving as a control. One group of 16 knees was evaluated, in groups of four, at 6, 12, 26, and 52 weeks by histologic and vascular injection techniques. The other group of 12 knees was evaluated in two groups of six at 26 and 52 weeks by morpholog ical and biomechanical techniques of analysis. Within the first 12 weeks these allografts were revas cularized ; in the first 26 weeks they had matured to resemble normal connective tissue. Graft stiffness was 29% of the control value and maximum force to failure was 43% of the control value. The results of this study indicated that freeze-dried bone-patellar tendon-bone allografts are biomechani cally and biologically similar to patellar tendon auto- grafts.", "We propose a method for intravital examination of ethanol metabolism in rat brain. Calipsol-anesthetized rats were fixed in stereotaxis and ethanol solution was infused into the lateral cerebral ventricle via an orifice in the skull at a constant rate with a syringe or micro-pump. Elimination of ethanol and production of acetaldehyde (ethanol metabolite) were measured in perfusate samples from the cisterna magna by gas chromatography. The method is highly sensitive, reliable, and reproducible and allows to study the kinetics and enzyme mechanisms of ethanol oxidation in the brain and regulation of this process.", "In this paper, sensitivity analysis and probability analysis are incorporated, and both objective and subjective probability are used to the sensitivity elements and their variation. The risk evaluation of the project is made properly and scientifically.", "Abstract Successful management of chondral and osteochondral defects of the weight-bearing joint surfaces has always been a challenge for orthopedic surgeons and rehabilitation specialists. Autologous osteochondral mosaic transplantation technique is one of the recently evolved methods to create hyaline or hyaline-like repair tissue in the pathologic area. Clinical evaluation, various imaging techniques, arthroscopy (second look), histological examination of biopsy samples, and measurements of cartilage mechanical properties are used to evaluate the merits of outcomes and quality of the transplanted cartilage. According to our investigations, good to excellent results were achieved in more than 92% of patients treated with femoral condylar implantations, 87% of those treated with tibial resurfacing, 79% of those treated with patellar and/or trochlear mosaicplasties, and 94% of those treated with talar procedures. Long-term donor-site discrepancies, assessed with use of the Bandi Score, showed that patient..." ]

[ "FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2012, file photo, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis reacts as he is introduced before an NFL preseason football game against the Detroit Lions in Baltimore. Lewis was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018. Nick Wass, File AP Photo" ]

[ "FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2006, file photo, Chicago Bears' linebacker Brian Urlacher (54) attempts to sack Carolina Panthers' quarterback Jake Delhomme (17) in the third quarter of their NFC divisional playoff football game in Chicago. Urlacher was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) (Photo: The Associated Press)\nMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\n\"I've been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,\" Lewis said. \"I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don't want to work out every day now.\"\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\n\"The door knocked and I started getting excited,\" Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. \"All the emotions caught the best of me because it's been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.\"\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game's most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase \"You got Mossed\" for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens, who didn't attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\n\"Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus,\" Lewis said. \"Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?\"\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team's first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honor.\nLewis' career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nUrlacher wasn't far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Butkus, Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr's TD sneak in the \"Ice Bowl\" for the 1967 NFL championship.\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nBeathard, also not on hand Saturday, helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n\"I'm glad I didn't have to vote for this class,\" Urlacher said. \"It's a great class.\"\n___\nMore AP NFL: pro32.ap.org and twitter.com/AP_NFL\nCopyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nBaltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis reacts as he is introduced before an NFL preseason football game against the Detroit Lions in Baltimore in 2012. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)\nFormer Washington Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard gestures during a press conference at the Redskins NFL football training camp in Richmond, Va., in 2016. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)\nDallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens (81) pulls in a 48-yard pass as Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk (50) defends in the second quarter in their NFL football game in Irving, Texas, in 2007. (AP Photo/LM Otero)\nSan Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss (84) celebrates a touchdown catch during the first quarter of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., in 2012. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)\nPittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris (32) picks up 10 yards as he turns the corner as Houston Oilers' Robert Brazile (52) makes a dive to latch on to Harris to make the stop, during an NFL football game in Houston in 1978. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky, File)\nChicago Bears' linebacker Brian Urlacher (54) attempts to sack Carolina Panthers' quarterback Jake Delhomme (17) in the third quarter of their NFC divisional playoff football game in Chicago in 2006. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)\nDenver Broncos safety Brian Dawkins celebrates a goal line stand against the Kansas City Chiefs during an NFL football game in Denver in 2010. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)\nGreen Bay Packers offensive guard Jerry Kramer and coach Vince Lombardi watch the Packers' defense against the San Francisco 49ers in an NFL football game in Milwaukee in 1963. (AP Photo/File)\nMINNEAPOLIS — Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\n“I’ve been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,” Lewis said. “I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don’t want to work out every day now.”\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\n“The door knocked and I started getting excited,” Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. “All the emotions caught the best of me because it’s been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.”\nRandy Moss\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game’s most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase “You got Mossed” for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nTerrell Owens\nOwens, who didn’t attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nRay Lewis\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\n“Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus,” Lewis said. “Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?”\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team’s first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honor.\nLewis’ career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nBrian Urlacher\nUrlacher wasn’t far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Butkus, Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nBrian Dawkins\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nJerry Kramer\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr’s TD sneak in the “Ice Bowl” for the 1967 NFL championship.\nRobert Brazile\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nBobby Beathard\nBeathard, also not on hand Saturday, helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFinalists\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n“I’m glad I didn’t have to vote for this class,” Urlacher said. “It’s a great class.”", "MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\n“I’ve been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,” Lewis said. “I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don’t want to work out every day now.”\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\n“The door knocked and I started getting excited,” Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. “All the emotions caught the best of me because it’s been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.”\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game’s most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase “You got Mossed” for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens, who didn’t attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\n“Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus,” Lewis said. “Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?”\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team’s first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honor.\nLewis’ career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nUrlacher wasn’t far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Butkus, Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr’s TD sneak in the “Ice Bowl” for the 1967 NFL championship.\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nBeathard, also not on hand Saturday, helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n“I’m glad I didn’t have to vote for this class,” Urlacher said. “It’s a great class.”\n(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)", "Former wide receiver Randy Moss has always had a unique way with words during and after his playing career. (0:39)\nMINNEAPOLIS -- Saturday marked my ninth year as a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here are some thoughts after safety Brian Dawkins, linebacker Ray Lewis, receiver Randy Moss, receiver Terrell Owens and linebacker Brian Urlacher emerged as the five modern-era choices:\n1. Owens' time arrived\nI've been an Owens supporter based on his production and the leading role he played in the successes of his teams, highlighted by his courageous performance for Philadelphia on a broken ankle in the 2005 Super Bowl against New England.\nNo one could question Owens' effort, toughness or production. I've made the point that Owens' teams and their quarterbacks enjoyed some of their finest seasons with Owens as a centerpiece. It took a couple of years, but these very measurable contributions prevailed over less measurable concerns that Owens' immature behavior hurt his teams.\nOwens had five 1,200-yard receiving seasons, and is second all time in receiving yards (15,934) and third in touchdown catches (153) behind only fellow 2018 inductee Randy Moss and Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports\n2. Owens held key for the OL\nThere were five offensive linemen on the ballot of 15 modern-era finalists. All but Joe Jacoby made the initial reduction to 10 candidates. Once four linemen advanced to the final 10, I felt as though Owens would have to miss the final five for any offensive lineman to make it this year.\nEditor's Picks Meet the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class The 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame includes a pair of wide receivers and a trio of linebackers.\nSizing up a legend: Inside Ray Lewis' draft-day slide to the Ravens There was skepticism about his height from the beginning, and it showed during the draft. But Ray Lewis' fall turned into the Ravens' biggest gain. 1 Related\nLewis and Moss seemed like locks. Urlacher was not far behind. Dawkins was a strong candidate running unopposed at his position once John Lynch failed to make the final 10.\nWith Lewis, Moss, Urlacher and Dawkins in prime position to earn spots in the final five, the question became whether Owens would gain enough support to join them. If Owens failed, then the fifth member of the 2018 class would be cornerback Ty Law or one of the remaining offensive linemen, which included Steve Hutchinson, Tony Boselli, Kevin Mawae and Alan Faneca.\nOnce Owens made the reduction to five, he still had to win 80 percent approval on a separate yes-no vote. Ten \"no\" votes would have eliminated him, and there was some feeling that this could happen. Owens hadn't even made the final 10 last year, after all.\n3. O-linemen face challenges in 2019\nSafety Ed Reed, tight end Tony Gonzalez and cornerback Champ Bailey become newly eligible for enshrinement next year. They combined for 35 Pro Bowl and 17 first-team All-Pro selections. All three were all-decade selections as well.\nThose three could be first-ballot Hall of Famers, which would leave open only two modern-era spots for a pool that figures to again include Law, Hutchinson, Boselli, Mawae, Faneca, Isaac Bruce, Edgerrin James and John Lynch.\nThese acclaimed offensive linemen are now in the same position prominent wide receivers faced when Cris Carter, Andre Reed, Tim Brown and Marvin Harrison were in the mix. Carter made it in 2013, Reed followed in 2014 and Brown's turn came in 2015, resolving a logjam that was threatening to complicate matters for Harrison, who made it in 2016.\n4. Not a bad day for Isaac Bruce\nBruce's numbers are almost identical to those of Owens and Moss, except that he scored far fewer touchdowns, in part because Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk took away scoring opportunities from him. Bruce lost out to Owens and Moss on Saturday, which means those two will not overshadow him in the future. That is good for Bruce's prospects.\n5. Another battle looms for Lynch\nDawkins, the great former Philadelphia Eagles safety, had the edge over Lynch, the great former Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety.\nReed's eligibility as a first-time safety candidate in 2019 figures to replicate the dynamic for Lynch next year. Voters sometimes talk about picking the best five players regardless of position, but when little separates candidates in voters' minds, there can be a tendency for individual voters to pick one player from a position group.\nFinalists tend to earn enshrinement eventually. Lynch will continue to have elite company among safeties on future ballots with Reed eligible in 2019, Troy Polamalu eligible in 2020 and Charles Woodson eligible in 2021.", "BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Inside the Hall of Fame deliberation room on Friday, the 47 members of the committee had two headaches plaguing Canton that could be alleviated with a productive afternoon.\nAfter eight hours and 18 minutes, the election of both Packers guard Jerry Kramer and mercurial wide receiver Terrell Owens did the trick.\nOwens, who is second only to Jerry Rice in receiving yards, eighth in receptions and third in touchdowns touched off a firestorm in 2017 when, in his second year, he was not elected to the Hall despite a stunning statistical career. His candidacy forced voters to not only consider his unbelievable on field talent, but his behavior in the locker room which, if it effects on-field play, can be a detriment.\nThe public perception was that a massive voting bloc existed specifically to deter Owens’s candidacy. But on Friday, the realization that his election was inevitable managed to swing the vote in his favor. Owens also benefited from a strong candidacy put forth by Randy Moss. There was almost no chance Moss could get in without Owens, who had a superior career statistically, even if Moss’s was more enjoyable aesthetically.\nThe election of both Moss and Owens is one of the Hall’s first pivots to the Madden Generation, a group of fans who fell in love with the sport through the popular football video game or through the playing of fantasy football. Both players we giants in that regard, with Owens posting eight seasons with double digit touchdowns in his career. Moss had nine, including the incredible 2007 season with New England, where he posted an NFL-record 23 scores.\nAs for Kramer, widely believed to be one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history, the 82-year-old was a perceived wrong the committee inherited. Led by legendary Dallas-area Hall of Fame voter Rick Gosselin, who, observers said, had an outstanding presentation, Kramer was able to finally make his way into the Hall. Gosselin was able to push past the 11 other committees which had previously considered his candidacy and paint the picture of a true legend—the body behind one of the most famous blocks in NFL history (ahead of Bart Starr in the Ice Bowl, 1967).\nRay Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Brian Dawkins, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard are the other members of the 2018 class.\nWhereas Lewis’s election felt inevitable, and Owens’s candidacy was the most gawked-at, this class presented a fascinating landscape of players across multiple generations. The election of Urlacher and Dawkins helped chisel into the massive discrepancy between offensive and defensive players that currently exists in the hall.\nCornerback Ty Law, a three-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Pro Bowler who had five postseason interceptions on the stoic Peyton Manning alone, was one of the closest players who didn’t make the cut. The creation of his bust in Canton seems inevitable.\nAnd then there was Owens. After he was left out last year, his brazen social media campaign highlighted a perceived flaw in the process. Owens claimed that all of his friends and family knew he was a Hall of Famer anyway. Earlier this week, he was quoted by USA Today calling it the “Hall of Shame.” His tune changed considerably on Friday night when the announcement was made official. He congratulated his fellow members and, in true Owens fashion, told one detractor in particular to “kick rocks.”", "MINNEAPOLIS — Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offences from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defences on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 per cent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\n\"I've been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,\" Lewis said. \"I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don't want to work out every day now.\"\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defences as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\n\"The door knocked and I started getting excited,\" Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. \"All the emotions caught the best of me because it's been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.\"\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game's most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase \"You got Mossed\" for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens, who didn't attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defence for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\n\"Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus,\" Lewis said. \"Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?\"\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team's first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honour.\nLewis' career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nUrlacher wasn't far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Butkus, Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr's TD sneak in the \"Ice Bowl\" for the 1967 NFL championship.\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nBeathard, also not on hand Saturday, helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and centre Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n\"I'm glad I didn't have to vote for this class,\" Urlacher said. \"It's a great class.\"\n___\nMore AP NFL: pro32.ap.org and twitter.com/AP_NFL", "Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, who took turns as Bay Area lightning rods, are going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame together as two of the NFL’s most productive and controversial wide receivers ever.\nOwens and Moss were voted in Saturday with linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher, as well as a nine-time Pro Bowl safety, that being Brian Dawkins rather than fellow finalist and current 49ers general manager John Lynch.\nThe enshrinement ceremony will be held Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio.\nMoss, Lewis and Urlacher were first-ballot candidates.\nFormer Washington and San Diego general manager Bobby Beathard, grandfather of 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard, got elected as the contributor finalist. Also approved were the two Seniors Committee finalists: former Packers guard Jerry Kramer and Houston Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile.\nOwens, snubbed his first two years as a finalist, celebrated Saturday by posting a social-media photo of a black cap with gold letters “HOF” and a caption congratulating his fellow classmates, saying “We’re GOLDEN!” It was a tame celebration compared to some from Owens’ playing days that involved popcorn, pom poms, a Sharpie pen and two infamous trips to the Dallas Cowboys midfield logo.\nMoss is the first wide receiver to make it through on the first ballot since Jerry Rice in 2010. Moss’ low point of his career may have come at the end of his two-year tenure with the Raiders from 2005-06. Whereas Owens played the first eight years of his 15-year career with the 49ers (1996-2003), Moss emerged from a one-year hiatus and ended his career amid the 49ers’ 2012 run to Super Bowl XLVII.\nWhen Owens got snubbed last year — he failed to make the cut from 15 to 10 — he ripped the voting process a “total joke.” “Honestly, doesn’t mean anything to me to get in beyond this point,” Owens tweeted last February.\nThe 49ers, who Owens condemned earlier this week, nevertheless congratulated him Saturday. “Terrell Owens gave our organization eight great seasons of service and some terrific memories that will live on in 49ers lore,” CEO Jed York said in a statement. “He is one of the most accomplished wide receivers in the history of the NFL, and very deserving of this selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”\nOwens left the 49ers after 2003 in a botched attempt at free agency, ultimately landing with the Philadelphia Eagles in an arbitration-brokered deal with the Baltimore Ravens. From there, Owens went on to the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.\nOwens ranks second all-time with 15,934 receiving yards, trailing only Rice’s 22,895 yards. Owens and Moss each had 153 touchdown receptions — the most behind Rice’s 197 — before Moss resumed his career in 2012 and caught three more touchdowns for the Super Bowl-bound 49ers.\nOwens and Moss drew the longest debate among Saturday’s panel, chewing up 45 minutes and 34 minutes, respectively, according to Hall voter Clark Judge.\nRice tweeted congratulations “for the Hall” to his fellow receivers, and before Saturday’s vote, he called them “two of the most explosive receivers to play the game.”\nCongrats Randy Moss and Terrell Owens for the Hall!! — jerryrice (@JerryRice) February 4, 2018\nMoss spent two seasons on the Raiders, producing 1,005 yards and eight touchdowns on their 4-12 team in 2005 before tallying just 553 yards and three touchdowns the next year on a 2-14 wreck. But Moss rebounded in 2007, setting a NFL record with 23 touchdown catches as the New England Patriots went undefeated before falling in the Super Bowl.\n“The door knocked and I started getting excited,” Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. “All the emotions caught the best of me because it’s been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.”\nMoss and Rice are the only players to post at least 10 seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards. In Moss’ swan song with the 49ers, he caught 28 of 50 targets for 434 yards and three touchdowns in the regular season; he had no touchdown catches in the playoffs.\nUnlike the past two years, Lynch did not make Saturday’s cut from 15 to 10 finalists, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco, who served on the selection panel and presented Owens’ case. The five who made the Top 10 but not final approval were cornerback Ty Law and offensive linemen Tony Boselli, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson, and Kevin Mawae, Maiocco reported.\nCongrats to a great and deserving Class. Disappointed but humbled to be a finalist. Thanks to everyone for the support. https://t.co/B7gIpXwodz — John Lynch (@JohnLynch49ers) February 3, 2018\nLynch was “disappointed but humbled” to be a five-time finalist for a 15-year career that bred nine Pro Bowls, three All-Pro First Team accolades and a Super Bowl win. A year ago, Lynch left his Fox Sports analyst gig and became the 49ers general manager, aligning with new coach Kyle Shanahan in rebuilding a franchise that opened 0-9 but ultimately closed on a five-game win streak.\nLewis and Urlacher played their entire careers with their original teams, Lewis leading the Baltimore Ravens from 1996 to 2012 and Urlacher serving from 2000-12 as the Bears’ most revered player since their 1985 Super Bowl-winning team. Dawkins established himself as a play-making safety with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1996-2008 before ending his career with the Denver Broncos from 2009-11.\nThe Hall of Fame’s 48-person selection committee started debating at 7 a.m. CT and took nearly eight hours to formulate this year’s class.\nTwo days prior to the enshrinement ceremonies will be the Hall of Fame Game, and it conceivably could include the 49ers, who haven’t played in that exhibition opener since 2000.", "In this photo provided by the NFL, former NFL players Brian Dawkins, from left, Bobby Beathard, and Ray Lewis, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2018, attend the 7th Annual NFL Honors at the Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium on Saturday in Minneapolis. Photo by AJ Mast — Invision for NFL — AP Images\nMINNEAPOLIS >> Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\n“I’ve been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,” Lewis said. “I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don’t want to work out every day now.”\nAdvertisement\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\n“The door knocked and I started getting excited,” Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. “All the emotions caught the best of me because it’s been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.”\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game’s most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase “You got Mossed” for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens, who didn’t attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\n“Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus,” Lewis said. “Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?”\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team’s first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honor.\nLewis’ career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nUrlacher wasn’t far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Butkus, Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr’s TD sneak in the “Ice Bowl” for the 1967 NFL championship.\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nBeathard, also not on hand Saturday, helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n“I’m glad I didn’t have to vote for this class,” Urlacher said. “It’s a great class.”", "The Minnesota Vikings' Randy Moss celebrates with the crowd after scoring a touchdown on a long pass from Randall Cunningham early in the fourth quarter of the Vikings' matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals at the Metrodome in 1998. The Vikings won the game, 24-3.\nFormer Minnesota Viking Randy Moss was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday.\nMoss, who played in the league for a total of 14 seasons, got into the Hall on his first try. The sometimes controversial receiver was known for making big plays on the field and was considered one of the most dominant players in his era. Early in his career, he was also in the spotlight for some off-the-field issues, including an altercation with a traffic officer in Minneapolis in 2002.\n• Full coverage: Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis\nDrafted by the Vikings in 1998, Moss made an immediate impact on a team that went 15-1 before its infamous loss in the NFC Title Game that season.\nMoss' first stint with the Vikings lasted through the 2004 season. He had a brief reunion with Minnesota during the 2010 season.\nRandy Moss at Super Bowl XLVIII Media Center in New York in 2014. Maddie Meyer | Getty Images file 2014\nMoss finished his career with more than 15,000 receiving yards and 156 receiving touchdowns.\nThe class leaders: Lewis, Urlacher, Moss and Owens\nRay Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nIn this file photo, Minnesota Vikings wide reciever Randy Moss catches a touchdown pass over Washington safety Sean Taylor on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2005, in Landover, Md. Washington won the game 21-18. Evan Vucci | AP file 2005\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\n\"I've been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,\" Lewis said. \"I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don't want to work out every day now.\"\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\n\"The door knocked and I started getting excited,\" Moss said of Hall of Fame President David Baker alerting him he has been elected. \"All the emotions caught the best of me because it's been a long journey and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.\"\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game's most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase \"You got Mossed\" for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens, who didn't attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nIn this file photo, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss pulls in a 15-yard pass in front of Chicago Bears cornerback R.W. McQuarters Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004, in Minneapolis. Tom Olmscheid | AP file 2004\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153. Lewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\n\"Growing up as a child, I know what that looked like, Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus,\" Lewis said. \"Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?\"\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team's first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honor.\nLewis' career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nUrlacher wasn't far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Butkus, Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr's TD sneak in the \"Ice Bowl\" for the 1967 NFL championship.\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nRandy Moss Otto Greule Jr | Getty Images file 2002\nBeathard, also not on hand Saturday, helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n\"I'm glad I didn't have to vote for this class,\" Urlacher said. \"It's a great class.\"", "MINNEAPOLIS — Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\nMoss led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens, who didn’t attend the announcement, entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections.\nLewis’ career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and former Jets center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.", "Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss lead a talented group of players looking to earn a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2018.\nBoth Lewis and Moss are in their first year of eligibility but have impressive-enough resumes to make the cut. The inductees will be announced on Saturday.\nLewis was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP, and earned a spot in the Pro Bowl 13 times over his 17-year career.\n\"There's nobody more deserving,\" Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said about Lewis on Friday. \"He made people around him better, which is the greatest compliment you can give anybody. He sincerely was that dominant.\"\nMoss, who also played for the Patriots, Raiders, 49ers and Titans, is second all-time with 156 touchdown receptions, amassed at least 1,200 receiving yards in eight seasons and made the Pro Bowl six times.\nFormer Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and guard Steve Hutchinson are also on the ballot for the first time.\nUrlacher was the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team. Hutchinson was a seven-time Pro Bowl selectee who spent time with Seahawks, Vikings and Titans and also made the All-Decade Team.\n\"It would be an insult if Brian is not a first-ballot selection,\" former Bears coach Lovie Smith told NBC Sports Chicago. \"Brian changed the way the middle linebacker could be played. First ballot for Brian is a no-brainer.\"\nAnother prolific receiver, Terrell Owens, could make the cut after reaching the final round in each of the past two years. Owens played for the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills and Bengals from 1996 to 2003. He put together several impressive seasons and is second all-time in receiving yards (15,934) and third in touchdown receptions (153) behind Moss and Jerry Rice.\n\"Terrell Owens should be in the Hall of Fame as a first ballot, given the numbers,\" Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter said. \"But now, they came up with some criteria that now the locker room is an extension of the playing field, and we had never ever heard that before. Randy Moss is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.\"\nThe other modern era finalists are Tony Boselli, Isaac Bruce, Brian Dawkins, Alan Faneca, Joe Jacoby, Edgerrin James, Ty Law, John Lynch, Kevin Mawae and Everson Walls.\nThe inductees will be announced the day before Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.\n--By Todd Karpovich, Field Level Media", "BLOOMINGTON, MINN. -- One former New England Patriots star made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Another one missed out.\nAccording to a report from Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, wide receiver Randy Moss was selected to the Hall of Fame class of 2018. He becomes the first wide receiver to get in on the first ballot since Jerry Rice in 2010.\nRandy Moss is heading to Canton https://t.co/k5kPhcxIrt -- ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 3, 2018\nMoss finished his career with 982 receptions for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns. In more than three seasons with the Patriots, Moss 259 passes for 3,904 yards and 50 touchdowns. He set a single-season record for most touchdown receptions in a season with 23 in 2007 -- the year the Patriots finished with an undefeated regular season.\nMeanwhile, cornerback Ty Law missed out on the Hall of Fame despite being a finalist for the second consecutive season. Law spent 10 seasons with the Patriots, and finished that time with 36 interceptions and six touchdowns in 133 starts. He picked off Peyton Manning three times in an AFC Championship win over the Colts in the 2003 season.\nFell short this year for the 2018 HOF class but very appreciative and humbled to be apart of the conversation and consideration congrats to the 2018 class, well deserved!!! #HOF2018 -- Ty Law (@OfficialTyLaw) February 3, 2018\nOther members of the 2018 Hall of Fame class include Terrell Owens, Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Brian Dawkins, Bobby Beathard, Robert Brazile and Jerry Kramer, according to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter.", "Good luck trying to cover starting wide receivers for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2018.\nRandy Moss and Terrell Owens are among the eight men who will be enshrined into football immortality this summer in Canton, Ohio. Ray Lewis, Brian Dawkins, Brian Urlacher, Bobby Beathard, Robert Brazile and Jerry Kramer were also named as the newest Pro Football Hall of Famers, as announced Saturday night at NFL Honors.\nAll eight men have such fantastic stories and roads to enshrinement, with particularly long waits for induction ending for Brazile and Kramer. Lewis, Dawkins and Urlacher are fitting teammates as some of the hardest-edged defenders of their era. But it's hard not to start telling the story of this class without noting that the two most electric, productive and headline-grabbing receivers of their era will head to Canton together.\nRandy Moss never quite passed Jerry Rice as the greatest receiver of all time, but for many he was the most dominant ever at his very best. A league-changing talent from his first game with the Vikings, Moss was a vertical threat problem that virtually no defense could solve. He led the league in touchdowns with 17 as a rookie and wound up averaging 1,395 yards and 13 scores in his first six seasons. As a member of the Patriots, he and Tom Brady reset what was possible for a passing offense to achieve, with Moss scoring 23 times in 2007. Moss was on the first-team All-2000s squad as named by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, doing it with a magnetic style on and off that field that was impossible to ignore. Few players in NFL history were more fun to watch, which helps to explain Moss' enduring popularity with younger generations to this day. I can't wait until his speech.\nTerrell Owens shouldn't have had to wait three tries to get his hall call, but that's unfortunately what happens when only five modern era candidates can make it every year. It was always only a matter of time before the voters recognized Owens' sustained brilliance in his stops with the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.\nWhile he had his share of controversies over the years, no one ever questioned Owens' work ethic or excellence on the field. He was a first-team All-Pro five times, once more than Moss. Owens had memorable clutch moments in the playoffs with a game-winning touchdown for the 49ers and an epic 122-yard performance in the Super Bowl with Philadelphia, just seven weeks after breaking his leg and tearing ligaments in his ankle. Few receivers more consistently beat the man across from him snap after snap than Owens. It was time for Hall of Fame voters to love them some T.O.\nMoss and Owens will be joined by three defenders who helped define the era they played in. Ray Lewis owned the mantle as the league's preeminent middle linebacker, bringing a ferocity in his tackling that was only matched by his versatility and intelligence. He was part of a new school of do-everything middle linebackers, like Urlacher, who excelled against the run and the pass. A rare player to win Defensive Player of the Year twice, Lewis also won Super Bowl MVP in 2000. Known as one of the great leaders of all time, Lewis maintained the Ravens' level of defensive excellence throughout the aughts. He was a first-team All Pro seven times, the type of number that made him a shoo-in first ballot Hall of Famer.\nLike Owens and Moss entering the Hall together, it's great to see Urlacher and Lewis make it the same year. Another first-time nominee, Urlacher was Lewis' NFC counterpart as the best middle linebacker of the last decade. Showing rare speed and deep coverage ability for a linebacker, Urlacher's skills helped to popularize the Tampa-2 defense that spread across the league. But no other team could find a player quite like Urlacher, whose instincts and speed could erase big plays before they happened. He was both the Defensive Rookie of the Year (2000) and Defensive Player of the Year (2005) in a career that included five first-team All-Pro nods.\nPerhaps the induction of Eagles great Brian Dawkins is a positive omen for Philadelphia's chances in Super Bowl LII. The hard-hitting safety was nominated in his second year of eligibility after after a 16-year career that included four first-team All-Pro nods. Dawkins had a knack for making big plays, recording 37 interceptions with 26 sacks and 36 career forced fumbles. He played an enforcer-style at the position, without sacrificing any range, that almost doesn't exist anymore.\nBoth senior finalists, Packers guard Jerry Kramer and Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile, have finally earned induction after careers that ended decades ago. Kramer was a finalist for induction eleven times and got into the Hall after helping to anchor the Lombardi-era Packers offensive line. One of the most colorful players of his era, Kramer was all-NFL five times and a member of the NFL's All-Decade team of the 1960s. You can't write the story of the NFL without Kramer. He opened up the hole that helped Bart Starr score the winning touchdown in the \"Ice Bowl\" and helped change the way NFL players were seen after writing a book \"Instant Replay\" with the late Dick Schaap. Kramer is finally headed to Canton, 45 years after he was first eligible.\nBrazile is lesser known, but no less deserving. The Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975 as the sixth overall pick, Brazile made first-team All Pro in five straight seasons (1976-1980.) He was a member of the 1970s All-Decade team and is the latest in a crop of recent worthy Hall of Famers that had brilliant peaks to their career without crazy longevity. As described by Chris Wesseling, Brazile was the league's first dominant 3-4 outside linebacker.\nFormer personnel boss Bobby Beathard was this year's Contributor Finalist and is now a Hall of Famer because of his excellent work across four decades with the Chiefs, Falcons, Dolphins, Redskins and Chargers. He is best known for his work with the Redskins, where he became Redskins general manager in 1978. Often using a method of trading away his first round picks, the Redskins Super Bowl XVII title included 27 free agents. Beathard led the Redskins to two Super Bowl titles. Throughout his career, his teams advanced to seven Super Bowls and won four of them.\nEvery Hall of Fame class is strong, but this is a particularly high-wattage group from top to bottom. The modern-era candidates were all major stars elected early in their eligibility. It sets up what should be a memorable weekend in Canton this summer, where eight more gold jackets will be given out to complete some of the greatest football careers of all time.", "MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offenses from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defenses on the outside.\nThe two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 percent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.\nBut the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support.\nMoss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times.\nBut at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defenses as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game’s most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase “You got Mossed” for embarrassed defensive backs.\nHe led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions.\nOwens entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.\nOwens ranks second to Jerry Rice with 15,934 yards receiving and is third on the all-time touchdowns receiving list with 153.\nLewis is widely considered one of the greatest middle linebackers, winning two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning eight All-Pro selections. He anchored a dominant defense for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens in a season that ended with him winning Super Bowl MVP, then retired as a champion after Baltimore closed his last season with a title win over San Francisco in February 2013.\nLewis joined tackle Jonathan Ogden as the only Ravens voted into the Hall of Fame as both of the team’s first-round picks in its initial season of 1996 received the high honor.\nLewis’ career was also marked by legal problems off the field. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice after initially being charged with murder in connection with two killings following a Super Bowl party in Atlanta in January 2000. Lewis was also fined $250,000 by the NFL.\nUrlacher wasn’t far behind Lewis with his play on the field and is the latest in a line of great Chicago middle linebackers to make the Hall, joining Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary and Bill George. He was the Defensive Player of the Year of 2005 and joined Lewis on the 2000s all-decade team.\nDawkins spent most of his 16-year career in Philadelphia, earning five first-team All-Pro selections for his versatility that included 37 career interceptions and 26 career sacks. He became the first player in NFL history with a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in the same game against Houston in 2002.\nKramer got passed over 10 times previously as a finalist before finally getting enough votes as a senior to become the 14th member of the Vince Lombardi Packers to make the Hall. Kramer helped anchor the Green Bay line for 11 seasons, winning six NFL titles and making the block that cleared the way for Bart Starr’s TD sneak in the “Ice Bowl” for the 1967 NFL championship.\nBrazile was a finalist for the first time after a 10-year career for the Houston Oilers that included five straight All-Pro selections.\nBeathard helped build four Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington and made seven trips to the title game during more than three decades as a personnel executive with a sharp eye for talent.\nFive offensive linemen were among the 15 finalists, with tackle Joe Jacoby getting eliminated in voting that reduced the candidates to 10, and tackle Tony Boselli, guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson, and center Kevin Mawae getting cut in the next round of voting.\nCornerback Ty Law also made it to the final 10 in his second time on the ballot. Defensive backs John Lynch and Everson Walls, receiver Isaac Bruce and running back Edgerrin James were the other candidates eliminated in the first cuts.\n___\nMore AP NFL: pro32.ap.org and twitter.com/AP_NFL", "MINNEAPOLIS—Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher terrorized opposing offences from the middle of the field. Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did the same to defences on the outside. The two hard-hitting linebackers and two big-play receivers highlighted an eight-person class voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Safety Brian Dawkins also received at least 80 per cent support from the 47 Hall of Fame voters, along with contributor Bobby Beathard and senior nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile. But the biggest stars of the class are the two linebackers that made it on their first tries, and the pair of lightning-rod receiver who sometimes caused as many problems for their own teams as for the opposition. Moss also made it on his first try, while Owens needed to wait for his third year on the ballot to get enough support. Moss and Owens each played for five teams in their careers as they often wore out their welcome with their inability to get along with teammates and coaches at times. But at their best, there were few players ever able to strike fear in defences as much as Moss and Owens, who were both all-decade selections for the 2000s.\nArticle Continued Below\nMoss burst on the scene as a rookie in Minnesota in 1998 when he caught a league-leading 17 TD catches and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC title game. His combination of speed and athleticism made him the game’s most dangerous big-play threat and led to the phrase “You got Mossed” for embarrassed defensive backs. He led the NFL in TD catches five times, including his record 23 for New England in 2007, and earned four All-Pro selections. He finished his career with 982 catches for 15,292 yards and ranks second all-time with 156 TD receptions. Owens entered the league as a third-round pick by San Francisco in 1996 but developed into a star known for some memorable playoff appearances, including his winning 25-yard TD catch to beat Green Bay in 1999; his 177 yards in a comeback win against the Giants in 2003; and his nine catches for 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl against New England just seven weeks after breaking his leg.", "Terrell Owens and Randy Moss headlined the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class announced in Minneapolis on Saturday.\nMORE: Thank you for ending Terrell Owens' overcooked Hall of Fame debate\nFor the first time in history, there is more than one wide receiver in the same class.\nMoss, former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher were elected in their first year of eligibility.\nFormer Eagles safety Brian Dawkins, former Packers guard Jerry Kramer, former Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile, and former executive Bobby Beathard join Lewis, Moss, Owens and Urlacher in this year's Hall of Fame class.\nThe 2018 class will officially be inducted in Canton on August 4.\nLewis was a 13-time Pro Bowler over a 17-year career spent entirely with the Ravens. He was the Defensive Player of the Year twice and helped the Ravens win each of the Super Bowl titles in 2000 and 2012. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV and finished his career with 1,336 total tackles, 41.5 sacks and 31 interceptions. If there was any one player who was a lock for the 2018 class, it was Lewis.\nMoss was one of the most dangerous receivers the NFL has ever seen. With blazing speed thanks to a long stride, Moss was capable of a big play every time he touched the ball. He was a first-round pick of the Vikings in the 1998 draft and had an immediate impact with 69 catches for 1,313 yards and a league-high 17 touchdowns in his first year. He finished his 14-year career, that included six Pro Bowl selections, with 982 receptions (15th all-time) for 15,292 yards (fourth) and 156 touchdowns (second).\nMoss is the first receiver since Jerry Rice in 2010 to get inducted in his first year of eligibility.\nRight behind Moss for touchdowns (153) and just ahead of him in yards (15,934) is Owens, whose 1,078 receptions rank eighth all-time. Owens was passed over the previous two years, but finally got in this time. While his numbers are undeniable, Owens was perceived as a bad team-mate – something that had kept him out of Canton.\nUrlacher spent his entire 13-year career with the Bears and was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2000. He was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 when he had 121 tackles with six sacks, five pass breakups and a forced fumble to help the Bears win the NFC North. Urlacher was an eight-time Pro Bowler with 1,229 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 78 pass breakups, 22 interceptions and 12 forced fumbles over his career.\nDawkins gets in after being passed over last year in his first year of eligibility. One of the most versatile defensive backs in NFL history, 'Weapon X' was a nine-time Pro Bowler and five-time first-team All-Pro selection. Dawkins had 778 tackles with 26 sacks, 28 forced fumbles and 37 interceptions over a 16-year career. He spent 13 of those seasons with the Eagles before finishing his career with the Broncos.\nThe two Senior Committee finalists – Kramer and Brazile – were both included in the 2018 Hall class.\nKramer, whom Vince Lombardi once called the best guard in football, had been regarded as the most overlooked player from the 1960s Packers teams that won five championships in seven years, including the first two Super Bowls. No player had been a finalist more than Kramer without receiving induction into the Hall.\nNow 82 years old, Kramer was a three-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro selection over an 11-year career for Lombardi's Packers. He is perhaps best known for the key block that paved the way for Bart Starr's game-winning quarterback sneak to beat the Cowboys in the 1967 NFL championship game, otherwise known as the Ice Bowl. Kramer was elected to the Packers Hall of Fame in 1975.\nKramer is the 25th Packers player inducted in Canton and 12th from Green Bay's championship teams of the 1960s. He was named to the league’s 50th Anniversary team and was the only member of that group not already in the Hall of Fame.\nBrazile was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975 after the Oilers selected the linebacker with the sixth overall pick of the 1975 NFL Draft. Brazile, who will turn 65 Wednesday, made the Pro Bowl every year from 1976-82 and was named to the 1970s all-decade team. During a 10-year career, Brazile never missed a game and retired with 13 interceptions and 11 sacks over his final three seasons, when sacks became an official stat in 1982.\nBeathard, the former Redskins and Chargers general manager who was the contributor finalist, rounds out the 2018 Hall of Fame class. Beathard was the architect of Washington's Super Bowl titles in 1982 and 1987. The Redskins won another Super Bowl in 1991, two years after Beathard left to become the GM of the Chargers. The Chargers had four straight losing seasons from 1988-91, but won the AFC West in 1992 and went to the Super Bowl two years later.", "The 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class has been announced. It has some great names, including two of the greatest linebackers and two of the greatest receivers to play the game.\nRay Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Brian Dawkins, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Bobby Beathard, Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile are the new inductees.\nThe Arizona Cardinals were left out of the Hall this year, as none of the inductees played for them.\nThey had candidates.\nAlan Faneca, who played the final of his 13 NFL seasons with the Cardinals in 2010. He did not make the cut this year, despite his nine Pro Bowls and six first-team All-Pro selections. He was a finalist.\nRunning back Edgerrin James was also a finalist who didn’t get in. James, who finished with more than 12,000 rushing yards for his career, had four seasons with more than 1,500 rushing yards, six with at least 1,200 and seven with at least 1,100.\nHe played three seasons for the Cardinals and two of them were in the top-10 seasons for rushing yards in a season in franchise history.\nFaneca should be a Hall of Famer. Many believe James will make it as well.\nThe Cardinals had Kurt Warner a year ago and likely will have that connection to the Hall with Faneca and hopefully James in the years to come. But this year, they simply must applaud the careers of those whom they had to face.\nListen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.", "Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press\nHall of Fame voting is one of the more thankless jobs in sports. Sure, it's an honor to be selected as one of the caretakers of a game's celebration of greatness (or so I've heard), but the only time fans want to know who the voters are is when they're angry about a snub of one of their favorite players.\nNo doubt there are angry fans across the NFL after the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was announced ahead of Saturday's NFL Honors in Minneapolis. Folks mad that safety John Lynch, offensive tackle Tony Boselli or guard Alan Faneca will be forced to wait another year.\nBut in viewing this year's class of five modern-era inductees, one thing is clear: The voters nailed it.\nPer Daniel Rapoport of Sports Illustrated, the 46 Hall of Fame voters (including Bleacher Report's Dan Pompei) settled on a 2018 class that includes inside linebackers Brian Urlacher of the Chicago Bears and Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens, safety Brian Dawkins of the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos, and wide receivers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, who each got around a little bit.\nMarcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press\nLewis, Urlacher and Moss were all inducted in their first year of eligibility. It was Dawkins' second bite at the apple, and Owens made it on the third try.\nMaking a case against any of that quintet is a mission worthy of Tom Cruise.\nGet it? Impossible?\nThat word could also be used to describe the task of covering Moss. From the moment he stepped on the field for the Minnesota Vikings in 1998, there were times he was uncoverable. Opponents had to change their defensive packages when they played against him. There was even a name for it: the Randy Rules.\nOver 14 NFL seasons, Moss caught 156 touchdown passes—more than any player not named Jerry Rice. As Moss told Courtney Cronin of ESPN, \"I put my mark, I put my stamp, I put my name, I put my family's name on the game of football, the National Football League; you can't get any higher.\"\nThe stamp Terrell Owens put on the NFL is part of the reason he waited this long for induction. His credentials aren't in question. Over 15 seasons, Owens earned six Pro Bowl nods. He ranks third in career receiving touchdowns (153), eighth in receptions (1,078) and second in receiving yards (15,934).\nDONNA MCWILLIAM/Associated Press\nBut Owens was also as known for his outbursts off the field as his exploits on it—so much so that many attributed his Hall of Fame wait to them. That led to a rekindling of the age-old debate regarding the weight of a player's off-field actions when considering his HOF credentials. There wasn't a more talked-about finalist this year than T.O.\nOr last year, for that matter. Over the past decade, there hasn't been a more glaring omission than Owens. Once could be chalked up to a \"message\" from voters about Owens' off-field behavior. Twice looked the part of a grudge. And given that Moss was no choir boy himself, it would have been hard to justify selecting one and not the other.\nThat conversation's over now.\nLewis and Urlacher, the first pair of middle linebackers to be inducted in the same year, were two of the most intimidating defenders of their generation. In a statement released by the Ravens (via Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun), general manager Ozzie Newsome said Lewis—a 13-time Pro Bowler and two-time Defensive Player of the Year—stands out even among this class of all-time greats.\n\"For 17 years, we could point to No. 52 and tell the other players: 'Follow his lead. Practice like Ray practices. Prepare like Ray prepares. Be a great teammate like him.' It was our privilege to have him as a Raven. We are all better for having him here. His play on game days speaks for itself. Even in that small group who have the honor of being a Hall of Famer, Ray stands out. When you talk about the great players of all time, no matter position, he is among the greatest of the great.\"\nThere aren't many linebackers who can be mentioned in the same breath as Lewis, but Urlacher's one of them. On the same field the great Dick Butkus prowled in Chicago, Urlacher carved out quite the legacy. He was an eight-time Pro Bowler with 1,354 career tackles, 41.5 sacks and 22 interceptions. Urlacher was the 2000 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and the 2005 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.\nAll Dawkins did over 16 seasons of prowling the defensive backfield in Philly and Denver was pile up 37 career interceptions, force 36 fumbles and add 21 sacks. Dawkins was a nine-time Pro-Bowler and member of the All-2000s team—a versatile safety before versatile safeties were the NFL norm.\nMichael Perez/Associated Press\nThis group's credentials are about as unassailable as you'll see in a Hall of Fame class. On a list of the top 10 players to ever take the field at their respective positions, all five of those names would to show up.\nThey were among the best to ever play at those spots—the definition of a Hall of Famer.\nThis isn't to say Lynch (who played the same position as Dawkins and has a similar resume) isn't worthy of induction. Or Boselli and Faneca, who were a pair of the best offensive linemen of their era.\nAs Pompei wrote for The Athletic ahead of this year's vote, the crop of 2018 finalists was deep—too deep to prevent someone from getting the cold shoulder.\n\"The class is strong,\" Pompei wrote. \"It's so strong that I suspect eventually about 85 percent of these men will be Hall of Famers. It's so strong that no matter who we put in, we're going to be roasted for who we leave out. It's the nature of the process.\"\nBut the Pro Football Hall of Fame is also a numbers game. Only five modern-era players can gain acceptance in a given year. And among the five inductees, there isn't a weak spot—no one who can be pointed to as underserving.\nNot even close.\nMaybe those first-year slam dunks made the voters' job easier. Maybe they just did a really good job. Maybe both.\nBut whatever the reason, any sour grapes are just that—complaints borne as much by allegiance to team to as any empirical comparison.\nThis year, they got it right.", "For the fourth year in a row, Isaac Bruce will miss out on the Hall of Fame. The 2018 class was announced on Saturday night, and Bruce’s name was not among the nine inductees.\nHere’s the full list of players who got in this year:\nHall of Fame, Class of 2018: Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis, Brian Dawkins, Terrell Owens, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2018\nThis was Bruce’s fourth year of eligibility and his second as a finalist. It was a strong year for wide receivers with Terrell Owens and Randy Moss also among the finalists, which made it even more difficult for Bruce to get in.\nAt the time of his retirement, Bruce ranked second all-time with 15,208 yards receiving, only trailing Jerry Rice. Even eight years later, Bruce is still fifth in NFL history in that department, while also ranking 13th in receptions and 12th in touchdown catches.\nHis numbers certainly seem worthy of being inducted in Canton, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult for receivers to get into the Hall of Fame, for some reason. Bruce was a role model and a pro’s pro on the field, which makes his inability to get in even more puzzling.\nNot to mention, he made the biggest play in Super Bowl XXXIV, lifting the Rams to victory.", "Brian Urlacher.(Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)\nBy Chris Emma–\nMINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (670 The Score) — Before those closest to Brian Urlacher could speak to his game-changing play at middle linebacker, his tremendous talents and legendary performances, they mentioned how humble he was through it all.\nThat side of Urlacher was certain Saturday as he took the stage with the 2018 class to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He kept gazing to his right at the likes of Randy Moss and Ray Lewis, whom he believed were locks to the class, and struggled to consider his place among them.\nDuring his 13 seasons as a star for the Bears, Urlacher refused to put himself with the likes of Mike Singletary and Dick Butkus because he wasn’t a Hall of Famer.\nNow, Urlacher has no choice but to consider himself elite.\n“If history says that, I guess I’m a part of that category now,” Urlacher said. “It’s a great honor to be associated with the Hall of Fame and now to be in it. It’s awesome. This experience has been very cool for me. Very humbling.”\nUrlacher had taken it all in stride before Saturday, refusing to get his hopes high for the first-ballot candidacy to Canton. But he admitted there were nerves during the day as he waited in a hotel room in nearby Bloomington and waited for a knock on the door. Urlacher even forgot to remove the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign from the handle.\nThe powerful knock of David Baker, president to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, echoed through his room and the moment Urlacher said he never could’ve imagined became a reality.\n“Coming from a small town in New Mexico — Lovington, New Mexico — I was very happy to go to college for free and get a scholarship to play college football,” Urlacher said.\nUrlacher joins an eight-man class that includes Lewis, Moss, Brian Dawkins, Terrell Owens, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard. Induction for the 2018 class will come the first weekend of August from Canton, Ohio.\nOne can only imagine how many Bears fans will make the trip to see Urlacher inducted among the game’s greats. NFL Network host Rich Eisen said it well in introducing Urlacher to the NFL Honors stage, announcing him as “the quintessential Chicago linebacker.”\n“He just falls right into that whole group,” Singletary said of Urlacher.\nUrlacher took the moments after Baker knocked on his door and texted coaches from every level of his football career to say thanks. He thought of the late Mark Hatley, the Bears general manager that ended the draft room debate between Urlacher and Plaxico Burress, Lovie Smith, whose defense he fit so well, and so many others instrumental in his career.\nUrlacher was moved to learn there are just 318 members to the Hall of Fame, and just 28 linebackers. A unique selection process has brought such great joy to many of the game’s greats — and kept many more waiting for that knock on the door. Owens left Minnesota and returned home, fearing he would be disappointed again.\nBefore Saturday, Urlacher kept his mind from drifting to Canton. He handled media obligations and spoke of the opportunity but refused to get his hopes high. Urlacher could never consider truly great without a bronze bust for proof.\nThe humble superstar now can call himself a Hall of Famer.\nChris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670 The Score 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670 and like his Facebook page.", "Controversial wide receiver Terrell Owens and linebacker Ray Lewis headlined the NFL's 2018 Hall of Fame class.\nIt is one of the youngest groups in history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as Owens, Lewis, wide receiver Randy Moss, linebacker Brian Urlacher and safety Brian Dawkins were all selected on Saturday for enshrinement.\nThose five players joined seniors committee nominees offensive lineman Jerry Kramer and linebacker Robert Brazile, and longtime personnel executive Bobby Beathard who was on the contributors' committee.\nOwens, who is second all-time in receiving yards and third in receiving touchdowns, wasn't voted in during his first two years of eligibility, likely because of his on- and off-field conduct.\nLewis, Moss, and Urlacher were all voted in in their first year of eligibility, while Dawkins made it in after being a semifinalist in 2017.\nAdditionally, for the third time in his legendary career, Tom Brady won the NFL's Most Valuable Player while JJ Watt's heroic fundraising efforts for the victims of Harvey earned him the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award on Saturday.\nTerrell Owens, Ray Lewis, Randy moss, Brian Urlacher, Brian Dawkins, Robert Brazile, Jerry Kramer and Bobby Beathard were inducted in the NFL's 2018 Hall of Fame class (Pictured, left to right: Brazile, Dawkins, Beathard, Lewis, Moss, and Urlache)\nLewis, Moss, and Urlacher were all voted in in their first year of eligibility, while Dawkins made it in after being a semifinalist in 2017 (Pictured, from left to right: Brazile, Dawkins, Beathard, Lewis, Moss, and Urlacher)\nKramer and Brazile (pictured, left, with Dawkins) were seniors committee nominees and longtime personnel executive Beathard who was on the contributors' committee\nRAY LEWIS\nLewis (pictured, January 2013) is the most decorated of the group as a 13-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Super Bowl champion and a Super Bowl MVP in his 17-year career as a Baltimore Ravens linebacker\nLewis is the most decorated of the group as a 13-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Super Bowl champion and a Super Bowl MVP in his 17-year career as a Baltimore Ravens linebacker.\n'I've been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,' Lewis said. 'I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don't want to work out every day now.\nIn his career, Lewis registered 2,055 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 31 interceptions, 20 fumble recoveries and 19 forced fumbles.\nPro Football Reference ranks him as the ninth-best overall player and third-best defensive player in NFL history in terms of approximate value.\nLewis did face some controversy when he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the stabbing deaths of two men in 2000.\nTERRELL OWENS\nOwens (pictured, August 2006), who was inducted in his third-year of eligibility likely for his controversial conduct, was a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time First Team All-Pro\nAfter three tries, Owens earned his place among football's immortals following a 15-year NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.\nThe 1996 third-round pick out of Tennessee-Chattanooga was a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time First Team All-Pro.\nOwens was known for his controversial conduct on the field including his numerous celebrations after scoring touchdowns, some of which have resulted in fines by the NFL front office\nHowever, he ranks eighth all-time in receptions (1,078), second in receiving yards (15,934) and third in receiving touchdowns (153).\nIn his sole Super Bowl appearance, he returned from a broke ankle to register nine receptions for 122 yards with the Eagles in a 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in February 2005.\nBRIAN URLACHER\nUrlacher (pictured, November 2012) was inducted in his first year of eligibility thanks to 13 stellar seasons at linebacker for the Chicago Bears\nUrlacher was inducted in his first year of eligibility thanks to 13 stellar seasons at linebacker for the Chicago Bears.\nHe made the Pro Bowl eight times and was a four-time First Team All-Pro. He was also the 2000 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and the 2005 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.\nThe 2000 first-round pick out of New Mexico appeared in 182 games, in which he finished with 1,354 tackles, 41.5 sacks, 22 interceptions, 15 fumble recoveries and 11 forced fumbles.\nRANDY MOSS\nMoss (pictured, October 2009) made six Pro Bowls and earned All-Pro First Team honors four times in addition to winning the 1998 Offensive Rookie of the Year\nAnother candidate who was inducted in his year of eligibility Moss was an explosive playmaker.\nMoss played as wide receiver in 14 seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.\nHe made six Pro Bowls and earned All-Pro First Team honors four times in addition to winning the 1998 Offensive Rookie of the Year.\nHe ended his career with 982 receptions for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns, ranking 15th, fourth and second in those categories, respectively, on the all-time list.\nPerhaps most impressively, he topped 1,000 receiving yards in a season on 10 occasions.\nBRIAN DAWKINS\nDawkins (pictured, November 2004) was a nine-time Pro Bowler and four-time First Team All-Pro in his 16-year NFL career\nDawkins compiled impressive stats in his 16-year NFL career.\nHe spent his first 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before playing three years with the Denver Broncos.\nA nine-time Pro Bowler and four-time First Team All-Pro, Dawkins recorded 1,131 career tackles, but he also contributed in other areas with 37 interceptions, 26 sacks, 36 forced fumbles and 19 fumble recoveries in 224 games.\nLike Owens he too played in the team's 24-21 Super Bowl XXXIX loss to the New England Patriots.\nROBERT BRAZILE\nIn his 10-year career, appearing in 147 games, Brazile (pictured, 1981) had 13 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries.\nOne of two senior committee nominees, Brazile became a Hall of Famer in his 29th year of eligibility.\nHe spent his entire 10-year NFL career from 1975 to 1984 with the Houston Oilers (now known as the Tennessee Titans) and was a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time First Team All-Pro.\nWhile tackles and sacks were not tracked until almost the end of his career, it is clear Brazile made an impact, being named the 1975 Defensive Rookie of the Year.\nIn 147 games, Brazile had 13 interceptions and 14 fumble recoveries.\nJERRY KRAMER\nKramer (pictured, January 1967) was an NFL champion on five occasions (pre-Super Bowl), and he went on to win both Super Bowl I and II with the Packers in 1967 and 1968\nAfter 45 years of eligibility, guard Jerry Kramer, Pro Football Hall of Fame as a seniors committee nominee.\nKramer spent his entire 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers, primarily as a right guard, although he also played a few seasons as Green Bay's kicker. In 1962, he even led the NFL with an 81.8 field-goal percentage.\nKramer was a three-time Pro Bowler and a five-time First Team All-Pro.\nHe was an NFL champion on five occasions (pre-Super Bowl), and he went on to win both Super Bowl I and II with the Packers in 1967 and 1968.\nBOBBY BEATHARD\nBeathard (pictured, 1983) became the Miami Dolphins' director of player personnel in 1972, the same year the team became the first and only team to finish with a perfect record\nLongtime NFL general manager Beathard earned his induction via the contributor committee.\nAfter stints as a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons, Beathard became the Miami Dolphins' director of player personnel in 1972, the same year the team became the first and only team to finish with a perfect record.\nThe squad under Beathard won two Super Bowls in Miami before he left to become the Washington Redskins' general manager in 1978, role he kept until 1989, winning two more Super Bowls.\nHe eventually became the San Diego Chargers' general manager in 1990 before leaving in 2000.\nIn 1992, Beathard he led the Chargers to their first playoff appearance since 1982, before helping them reach the Super Bowl in January 1995.", "Wide receiver Randy Moss and linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher were elected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in their first year of eligibility, heading an eight-person class.\nWide receiver Terrell Owens and safety Brian Dawkins were the other modern-era players selected. Two seniors committee nominees, linebacker Robert Brazile and guard Jerry Kramer, also got the call, as did Bobby Beathard, a former general manager of the Washington Redskins and San Diego Chargers.\nThe vote was held in Minnesota near the culmination of Super Bowl week, and the official announcement was to be made on the televised NFL awards show Saturday night.\nThis year's Hall of Fame enshrinement is set for Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio.\nDawkins was eligible for the second year, while Owens was on the ballot for a third time.\nMoss, 40, was a six-time Pro Bowl performer who played for five teams, notably the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots. He ranks second in NFL history with 156 touchdown catches, fourth in receiving yards with 15,292 and 15th in career receptions with 982.\nLewis, 42, was the heart of two defensive-minded, Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens teams, capturing MVP honors for Super Bowl XXXV. He was a 13-time Pro Bowler and a two-time league Defensive Player of the Year.\nUrlacher, 39, earned eight Pro Bowl selects and was the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year in a 13-year career spent entirely with the Chicago Bears.\nDawkins, 44, spent 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and three with the Denver Broncos. He was a nine-time Pro Bowl honoree, the second-highest total for a safety.\nOwens, 44, played eight of his 15 NFL seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He is second in career receiving yards (15,934), third in receiving touchdowns (153) and eighth in receptions (1,078).\nKramer, 82, played all of his 11 NFL seasons for the Packers, starring on Green Bay's legendary teams of the 1960s. An All-NFL player five times, he was chosen to the NFL's 50th Anniversary Team in 1969.\nBrazile, 64, was a Houston Oiler throughout his 10-year career, making seven Pro Bowls in a row.\nBeathard, 81, was an executive for the Miami Dolphins as part of two Super Bowl runs before constructing a Super Bowl champion in Washington. He later put together a Chargers team that reached a Super Bowl. In all, his clubs appeared in seven Super Bowls and captured four titles.\n--Field Level Media", "CLOSE SportsPulse: Our NFL experts make their final predictions on who's going to win Super Bowl LII. The real question is who's gutsy enough to take the Eagles. USA TODAY Sports\nBaltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis waves to fans after beating the Indianapolis Colts 24-9 in the AFC Wild Card playoff game at M&T Bank Stadium. (Photo: Evan Habeeb, USA TODAY Sports)\nMINNEAPOLIS – Five years to the day of his final game – a triumph in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans – Ray Lewis is Squirrel Dancing his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.\nThe former Baltimore Ravens linebacker was elected to the 2018 class Saturday in his first year of eligibility, headlining a star-studded class that also includes wide receivers Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, linebacker Brian Urlacher and safety Brian Dawkins.\nThe two senior committee nominees, Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile, and contributor Bobby Beathard, a longtime general manager, complete the eight-man class.\nThe discussion about Lewis’ candidacy lasted only five minutes, unsurprising given his sterling on-field credentials.\nLewis, one of the NFL’s most intimidating middle linebackers, was the lone slam-dunk candidate for 2018 following a 17-year career, spent entirely with the Ravens, in which he won two Super Bowl rings, made seven first-team all-pro teams, was selected to 13 Pro Bowls and was a two-time NFL defensive player of the year in 2000 and 2003. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXV for his role in the Ravens’ 34-7 win over the New York Giants, as he anchored what is arguably one of the greatest defenses in NFL history.\nLewis announced after the 2012 regular season, of which he played just six games because of a torn triceps, that he would retire following the playoffs. That postseason served as a fitting farewell tour that ended in the Super Bowl.\nBut Lewis’ career was not without controversy.\nLewis was indicted on murder charges in 2000, stemming from an altercation in Atlanta following a Super Bowl party in which two men were killed. Lewis was allowed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor, in exchange for his testimony against two friends, who were later acquitted.\nDuring his final season, Lewis had to answer questions about a report he sought out a deer-antler velvet extract, which contains a substance banned by the NFL, in his recovery from a torn triceps. Lewis denied ever using the spray.\nLewis, Moss and Urlacher were all selected in their first year of eligibility. Dawkins was picked in his second go-around as finalist, while Owens made the final cut in his third turn.\nIt’s fitting that Urlacher joins Lewis in the 2018 class, as they spent more than a decade as the best middle linebackers of their generation. Urlacher, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2000 draft, played his entire career with the Chicago Bears before retiring after the 2012 season. He was a four-time first-team all-pro and eight-time Pro Bowl selection, as well as the NFL’s defensive player of the year in 2005. He was the leader of a Bears defense that consistently ranked among the league’s best in the mid-2000s and won an NFC championship in 2006.\nDiscussion on Owens’ credentials lasted more than 45 minutes Saturday, the longest of any of the 15 finalists. But ultimately his career numbers landed a coveted spot in Canton. He caught 1,078 passes for 15,934 yards (second in NFL history) and 156 touchdowns (third all-time) in his career, most of which was spent with the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.\nUnlike Owens, Moss did not have to wait to join the Hall of Fame, becoming the first wide receiver to get in on the first ballot since Jerry Rice. His election comes in Minneapolis, where he was a first-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 1998. He also played for the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and, briefly, for the Tennessee Titans before ending his career with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played in Super Bowl XLVII against Lewis’ Ravens. He was a four-time first-team all-pro and still holds the NFL’s single-season record for receiving touchdowns (23).\nWhat a weekend this could be for Dawkins, the longtime Eagles safety who now works in the the team's personnel department. Dawkins was a five-time first-team all-pro (four times with Philadelphia and once with the Denver Broncos), and he finished his 16-year career with 37 interceptions and 36 forced fumbles.\nAmong the notable finalists who were not selected were safety John Lynch, offensive tackles Tony Boselli and Joe Jacoby and offensive guards Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson.\nFollow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.\nPHOTOS: One great shot of every Super Bowl", "Former Pittsburgh Steelers guard Alan Faneca will have to wait at least one more year to get elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.\nFaneca, who was one of five former NFL offensive linemen that made the list of 15 Hall of Fame Modern Era finalists this year, wasn’t voted to be a member of the 2018 class on Saturday in Minneapolis, MN. Faneca, who played 13 seasons in the NFL after being drafted in the first-round of the 1998 NFL Draft out of LSU, has been a Hall of Fame finalists three consecutive years since becoming eligible to be elected.\nOf the five former NFL offensive linemen who made the Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists list this year, Faneca owns the best post-season award credentials thanks to him being voted to the Pro Bowl nine times and a First-Team All-Pro six times. The other four offensive linemen who were finalists this year were Tony Boselli, Joe Jacoby, Steve Hutchinson and Kevin Mawae and like Faneca, none of them were voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.\nFaneca played 10 seasons for the Steelers from 1998 to 2007 and he won one Super Bowl with the team during that span. Faneca signed with the New York Jets in 2008 and played two seasons for them before ending his long NFL career by playing one year with the Arizona Cardinals in 2010.\nReportedly, the five modern era players who were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame are Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Brian Dawkins and Brian Urlacher. Those selections are expected to be made official Saturday night during the annual NFL Honors show.\nHall of Fame, Class of 2018: Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis, Brian Dawkins, Terrell Owens, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2018", "Moss Point High School's Class of 1983 has raised money for Mississippi Crime Stoppers to help regulate the instance of crime in the city.", "Minneapolis (CNN) The Pro Football Hall of Fame has a large contingent heading to Canton, Ohio, later this year, as wide receiver Randy Moss, wide receiver Terrell Owens, linebacker Brian Urlacher, safety Brian Dawkins, linebacker Ray Lewis, guard Jerry Kramer, linebacker Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard made up the star-studded class of 2018 elected on Saturday.\nThe group was announced during the taping of NFL Honors, a two-hour prime-time awards special held at the Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium at the University of Minnesota. The group will be enshrined in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in August.\nMoss is the first wide receiver to be elected in his first year on the ballot since Jerry Rice. In his career, which spanned 14 seasons, Moss had 982 receptions for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns and led the NFL in touchdown receptions five times. He also set the NFL record with 23 touchdown receptions in 2007 with the Patriots.\n\"I started this game at 6 years old and never imagined that I'd be here, putting on a Hall of Fame jacket,\" Moss said.\nOwens, a previous snub, made it in his third year of eligibility. He noticeably was absent from NFL Honors on Saturday, opting instead, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram , to play basketball in Los Angeles.\n\"He was very calm, very respectful and kind of humble about it,\" Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker said when describing Owens' reaction when he got the phone call.\nAfter a 16-year career, Owens finished with 1,078 receptions for 15,934 yards -- the second-highest yardage total in NFL history -- and 153 touchdowns, the third most. He also led the NFL in TD catches three times.\nOwens previously had voiced his displeasure at not being elected, tweeting this time last year, \"HOF is a total joke\" when he didn't get in. This year, though, Owens celebrated with a post on Instagram, reading, \"CONGRATS to the HOF CLASS OF 2018. We're GOLDEN!\"\nLewis: 'I want to go fishing with a cigar'\nLewis, a first-time finalist, played for the Baltimore Ravens from 1996 to 2012. He was twice named AP defensive player of the year and won two Super Bowls, earning MVP honors in Super Bowl XXXV.\n\"Now I can finally rest,\" Lewis said. \"I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don't want to work out every day now.\"\nRay Lewis.\nAnother first-time finalist, Urlacher spent his entire career with the Chicago Bears from 2000 to 2012. He won a defensive rookie of the year award and in 2005 was named defensive player of the year.\n\"I'm glad I didn't have to vote, because it would be really hard to pick,\" Urlacher said.\nDawkins, in his second year of eligibility, was a safety with the Eagles and the Denver Broncos, spanning 16 seasons. He helped the Eagles to eight playoff appearances and was a nine-time Pro Bowler. He is the first player in NFL history to record a sack, interception, fumble recovery and touchdown catch in same game, when he did it against the Houston Texans on September 29, 2002.\nDawkins called it \"extremely gratifying\" to be elected the same year the Eagles are in the Super Bowl.\n\"That's huge,\" Dawkins said. \"That goes above anything I can think about besides being able to now call myself a Hall of Famer.\"\nKramer: 'It's something I was afraid to believe in'\nKramer, a senior finalist, played from 1958 to 1968, anchoring the offensive line of the Vince Lombardi-era Green Bay Packers. The right guard is remembered for a key block that made way for Bart Starr's game-winning touchdown in the famous \"Ice Bowl.\" In his 45th year of eligibility, this was his 11th time as a finalist.\n\"There were 10 times I was waiting for a knock on the door that didn't come, so there wasn't a great deal of confidence that it was going to happen this time,\" Kramer said.\nThe first time he heard a knock Saturday? \"It's the maid,\" he said. \"So we gather ourselves.\"\nBrian Dawkins.\nThe knock from Baker came later. \"I was over the top,\" Kramer said. \"It's something I was afraid to believe in, was afraid to hope for.\"\nA first-time finalist, Brazile, a linebacker from 1975 to 1984 with the Houston Oilers, also was a senior finalist. He was selected to seven Pro Bowls and held the team record with 147 consecutive games played.\n\"I want to say thank you,\" Brazile said. \"To the selection committee, thank you all.\"\nBeathard: 'Never really had it as a goal'\nBeathard, a contributor finalist, is a former NFL general manager. Teams he worked for reached seven Super Bowls and won four.\n\"I worked all the years in the league and I never really had that as a goal or anything,\" Beathard said on the phone to reporters. \"Never thought much about it. ... It's a real honor. I never dreamed about being in (the Hall of Fame).\"\nThere were 18 finalists for this year's class, 15 of which are from the modern era. Of the 15, four were first-time finalists.\nBrian Urlacher.\nThe Pro Football Hall of Fame's current bylaws stipulate that between four and eight new members are to be chosen each year. No more than five modern-era finalists can be elected in a given year.\nTo be eligible, modern-era players and coaches must have last played or coached more than five seasons ago. Contributors do not need to be retired to be eligible. Senior finalists are determined by the Seniors Committee, which reviews the qualifications of those players whose careers ended more than 25 years ago.\nTo be elected, a finalist must receive a minimum positive vote of 80% during the annual selection meeting. This year's class was selected by a 48-person selection committee.\nTom Brady named NFL MVP\nIn addition to the Hall of Fame announcement, the NFL and the Associated Press named their annual award winners at NFL Honors. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, at age 40, was named NFL MVP.\nThe Los Angeles Rams had an impressive showing, with running back Todd Gurley earning offensive player of the year, defensive tackle Aaron Donald winning defensive player of the year and Sean McVay named coach of the year. The Saints swept rookie-of-the-year honors with running back Alvin Kamara on offense and cornerback Marshon Lattimore on defense.\nThe Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year went to Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, who raised more than $37 million for people affected by Hurricane Harvey.", "BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- It will be one of the youngest groups in the history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as Ray Lewis, Randy Moss and Brian Urlacher were all selected Saturday for enshrinement in the class of 2018.\nAll three players were in their first year of eligibility and join Terrell Owens and Brian Dawkins as the modern-era selections to be enshrined. Those five players join longtime personnel executive Bobby Beathard (contributor) and seniors committee nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile for enshrinement.\nEditor's Picks Meet the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class The 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame includes a pair of wide receivers and a trio of linebackers.\nFive takeaways from the 2018 Hall of Fame debate -- from a voter Terrell Owens finally made it. Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis and Randy Moss made it in their first year of eligibility. For John Lynch and a slew of O-linemen, the wait continues. Here's how it all went down, according to one of the voters in the room.\nSizing up a legend: Inside Ray Lewis' draft-day slide to the Ravens There was skepticism about his height from the beginning, and it showed during the draft. But Ray Lewis' fall turned into the Ravens' biggest gain. 2 Related\nThe Hall of Fame's board of selectors met Saturday, the day before Super Bowl LII, to select the class. The 15 modern-era finalists were trimmed to 10 and then five. Those five finalists were then voted on with a yes or no for enshrinement. The contributor and two seniors nominees were voted on separately with a yes or no.\nThe Hall of Fame's enshrinement ceremony will be Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio.\nIt was a day for the 1990s and 2000s NFL as Owens was the modern-era selection who had waited the longest, and he was in just his third year of eligibility. Dawkins was in his second year of eligibility.\nLewis was the most decorated of the group as a 13-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and a Super Bowl MVP in his career as a Baltimore Ravens linebacker.\n\"I've been going a long time. And now I can finally rest,\" Lewis said. \"I want to go fishing with a cigar now and just sit back. I don't want to work out every day now.\n\"Growing up as a child, I know what [a Hall of Fame middle linebacker] looked like -- Mike Singletary, Dick Butkus. Who dreams of being in that category, sitting with those guys?\"\nLewis started 227 games in his career and was credited with eight 100-tackle seasons.\nThe 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class features three first-ballot selections. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports\n\"For 17 years, we could point to No. 52 and tell the other players: 'Follow his lead. Practice like Ray practices. Prepare like Ray prepares. Be a great teammate like him,'\" Ravens general manager and executive vice president Ozzie Newsome said in a release from the team. \"It was our privilege to have him as a Raven. We are all better for having him here. His play on gamedays speaks for itself.\n\"Even in that small group who have the honor of being a Hall of Famer, Ray stands out. When you talk about the great players of all time, no matter position, he is among the greatest of the great.\"\nMoss, who played for five teams in his career, is second all time in touchdown receptions with 156 and had eight 1,200-yard seasons in his career. He played seven full seasons and part of another in Minnesota, site of Sunday's Super Bowl.\n\"The door knocked and I started getting excited,\" Moss said of Hall of Fame president David Baker alerting him he has been elected. \"All the emotions caught the best of me because it's been a long journey, and it ends in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tears of joy.\"\n.@PFHOFPrez makes the rounds to the doors of the new #PFHOF18 class members. This is how they learned they were officially elected to the Hall. pic.twitter.com/iSJQeHiLWv — Pro Football HOF (@ProFootballHOF) February 4, 2018\nIn the days leading up to Saturday's selection meeting, some wondered if Urlacher would be chosen in the same class as Lewis, as two high-profile players at the same position in largely the same era. The athleticism and production of the former Chicago Bears middle linebacker tipped the scales.\nUrlacher was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2005.\nOwens, a finalist for the past three years, had been a hot-button candidate with his own public criticisms of the board of selectors after he had not been chosen for the Hall in 2016 or '17.\nA third-round draft selection of the San Francisco 49ers in 1996, Owens ranks eighth all time in receptions (1,078), second in receiving yards (15,935) and third in receiving touchdowns (153). He played for the 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals in a career that spanned 15 years.\n\"Terrell Owens gave our organization eight great seasons of service and some terrific memories that will live on in 49ers lore,\" CEO Jed York said in a statement congratulating the six-time Pro Bowler. \"He is one of the most accomplished wide receivers in the history of the NFL, and very deserving of this selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.\"\nOwens, who is the only player to score a touchdown versus each of the current 32 teams, acknowledged his selection Saturday in an Instagram post featuring a Hall of Fame hat.\nDawkins played 13 of his 16 NFL season for the Eagles, who will face the New England Patriots in Sunday's Super Bowl. A nine-time Pro Bowl selection, he was a rare player to have finished a career with at least 35 interceptions and 20 sacks.\n\"This is tremendous news, and I could not be more proud of Brian. Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is an honor he truly earned,\" Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said. \"He epitomized everything we love about the game of football. His intensity, his passion, his love of the game and his leadership were always dialed in at the highest possible level.\n\"He connected in every possible way with the city of Philadelphia and our legion of Eagles fans across the country.\"\nBut no former player waited longer for enshrinement than Kramer, who played his last season with the Green Bay Packers in 1968. He was the only guard selected to the NFL's 50th anniversary team and was a lead blocker for one of the league's iconic plays in the Packers' sweep. Kramer also cleared the way for Hall of Famer Bart Starr to score the winning touchdown in the Ice Bowl, the Packers' 21-17 win over the Cowboys in the 1967 NFL Championship Game.\n\"In the old days when the quarterbacks called their own plays, since most of them were right-handed, they called most of the plays to the right. So the defense would put their best men on that half of the field. Therefore, Jerry Kramer, as a right guard, played against the best defensive tackle every week. He still made All-Pro five times,\" said former Packers linebacker and 2013 Hall of Fame inductee Dave Robinson.\nBrazile was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection as well as a four-time first-team All-Pro. The player known as \"Dr. Doom'' was named to the NFL's all-decade team of the 1970s.\nBeathard was a personnel executive for five teams in his career, including Super Bowl winners in the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins. He was part of 10 division winners and four Super Bowl winners overall, including the 1972 Dolphins team that finished undefeated.\nBecause it takes an 80 percent yes vote for a finalist to earn enshrinement, the votes sometimes cancel each other out if players are clustered at one position group. With two wide receivers in Owens and Moss as well as two linebackers in Lewis and Urlacher selected for enshrinement, it was a difficult day for five former offensive linemen who were finalists.\nJoe Jacoby didn't make the cut from 15 finalists to 10, while Tony Boselli, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson and Kevin Mawae did not make the cut from 10 remaining modern-era finalists to five.\nJacoby and former cornerback Everson Walls were both in their final year of eligibility as modern-era candidates. They now move to the seniors category and can only be considered for enshrinement if the seniors committee selects them as a nominee, a difficult proposition with the current backlog. Walls had not made the cut from 10 to five.\nFormer Patriots cornerback Ty Law was also eliminated in the cut down from 10 to five. Wide receiver Isaac Bruce, running back Edgerrin James and safety John Lynch were eliminated in the cut down from 15 to 10.\n\"I'm glad I didn't have to vote for this class,'' Urlacher said. \"It's a great class.\"\nAs for next year, tight end Tony Gonzalez, cornerback Champ Bailey and safety Ed Reed will be in their first year of eligibility.\nInformation from The Associated Press was used in this report.", "ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A former University of New Mexico Lobo will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.\nThe news was leaked over Twitter that former Lobo and Chicago Bear great Brian Urlacher has been selected to the Hall of Fame.\nA part of the 2018 class, Urlacher is now a first-ballot Hall of Famer.\nThe 39-year-old becomes the first ever Lobo to make it into the pro football Hall of Fame, and just the 28th Chicago Bear to make it to the Hall.\nOver his illustrious career, Urlacher was selected to the Pro Bowl 8 times and was the first team All-Pro five times.\nIn his 13 seasons, Urlacher racked up over 13,000 tackles, over 31 sacks and 21 interceptions.\n________________\nSend a Breaking News Tip\nReport an error or typo\nLearn about the KRQE apps", "Music students of Irene Martin and Emily Baker were recently presented in recital at New Liberty Baptist Church, Mortion. Pictured from front left are Christian Lewis, Cali Tillman, Brooklyn Chisolm, Samantha Gardner, Lydia Powell and Sam Bradshaw. Second row, Chloe Lang, Sophia Lang, Brayden Hines, Blake Hines, and Kyle Powell. Third row, Irene Martin, Parker Lang, Gage Lee, Lillie Bradshaw, Brynnley Powell and Emily Baker. Fourth row, Isaiah Goss, Lisa Biggert, Aleyna Ivy and Ethan Powell.", "The Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday announced its Class of 2018.\nAnd ex-Jets center Kevin Mawae was not among the players selected.\nHere is the class:\nHall of Fame, Class of 2018: Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis, Brian Dawkins, Terrell Owens, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard. -- Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2018\nFor the second straight year, Mawae was one of the 15 modern-era finalists. (He hadn't previously been a finalist.) But he was left out again.\nAlso left out were two other former Jets who made the finalist list: offensive guard Alan Faneca and cornerback Ty Law. Faneca is a three-time finalist (2016-18). Law is a two-time finalist (2017-18).\nWhile Faneca played for the Jets from 2008-09 and Law was with them in 2005 and 2008, Mawae spent a larger chunk of his career with the Jets -- eight seasons, from 1998-2005. He split his other eight seasons evenly with Seattle and Tennessee.\nLast season, the Jets inducted Mawae into their Ring of Honor. He retired after the 2009 season.\nWill Jets land Cousins?\nMawae was an eight-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro. He made six Pro Bowls with the Jets and twice was a first-team All-Pro for them, in 1999 and 2001.\nHe started all 118 of the games he played for the Jets. He played in every game from 1998-2004, and then played in six games in 2005. He didn't miss a game from 1995-2004.\nDarryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.", "BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — After hours of lobbying and debate, a new Hall of Fame class will emerge this weekend from a list of 15 modern-era finalists.\nWhat’s interesting about football’s process is that almost anything can happen. Writers rarely have a concrete idea of how the lobbying process will pan out and, at this stage where only a few names remain, everyone is deserving. There is initial debate, a round of voting to narrow the group of players from 15 to 10, a second round of voting to go from 10 to five and a third round of voting on the final five. A player needs 80% to make it in.\nSo here’s our crack at previewing the action to come, with updates expected throughout the day.\nWHO IS IN THE RUNNING?\nTony Boselli, tackle, Jacksonville Jaguars\nIsaac Bruce, wide receiver, Rams, 49ers\nBrian Dawkins, safety, Eagles, Broncos\nAlan Faneca, guard, Steelers, Jets, Cardinals\nSteve Hutchinson, guard, Seahawks, Vikings, Titans\nJoe Jacoby, tackle, Washington\nEdgerrin James, running back, Colts, Cardinals, Seahawks\nTy Law, cornerback Patriots, Jets, Chiefs, Broncos\nRay Lewis, linebacker, Baltimore Ravens\nJohn Lynch, safety, Buccaneers, Broncos\nKevin Mawae, center, Seahawks, Jets, Titans\nRandy Moss, wide receiver, Vikings, Raiders, Patriots, Titans, 49ers\nTerrell Owens, wide receiver, 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills, Bengals\nBrian Urlacher, linebacker, Chicago Bears\nEverson Walls, cornerback, Cowboys, Giants, Browns\nWHO WILL MAKE THE FINAL CUT?\nThis is where it gets tough. Moss, Walls, Urlacher, Lewis and Hutchinson are first-timers, while everyone else has taken at least one spin through the ringer. Ray Lewis, a two-time Super Bowl winner, 13-time Pro Bowler and seven-time first-team All Pro, is probably the safest bet despite a murky past away from the field. While this can’t be considered specifically—voters are tasked with keeping their opinions to the player’s on-field prowess—it may inevitably creep into their minds during the process.\nThere figures to be a fascinating showdown on the receiver front. Randy Moss ranks fourth in the NFL in receiving yards, 15th in receptions and second in receiving touchdowns. The latter category, touchdowns, is the only one in which he has an edge on Owens. Owens’s candidacy has been hotly contested and he has more career catches and yards than Moss. But post-career Moss has done much more to polish his image than Owens, who has taken the “burn it down” approach to the committee. Regardless of whether or not it’s fair for a player’s legacy to be determined by a small group of writers, Owens’ clamorous career will still give some pause.\nThis should be a good year for the offensive linemen: Five-time Pro Bowler Tony Boselli and nine-time Pro Bowler Alan Faneca were some of the best up front players of their time. Offensive line play is difficult to quantify, but casual observers have been getting smarter over the years.\nAlso, don’t be surprised to see at least one of the safeties—Lynch or Dawkins—making a play at the Gold Jacket.\nWILL PEOPLE BE SATISFIED WITH THAT?\nOf course not. If Moss gets in and Owens does not, there will be intense backlash. If Moss doesn’t get in because of Owens, there will be an even more intense backlash. Moss’s cultural importance gives him the slight edge in my book, though I’m not voting. He was Odell Beckham before Odell Beckham. He redefined the position. His documentary, Rand University, was a deep, painful look at his life and rise from a small town in West Virginia. There is a lot to appreciate there.\nAt some point, the Hall is going to turn into a generational tug of war. People of a certain age (like myself) are going to have a rabid appreciation for players like Moss, Owens, Urlacher and James because they came up at a time where football players weren’t just football players. They were replica jerseys, hairstyles, video game characters, fantasy football entities and television regulars in our era. Will the arguments evolve as well?", "The 2018 Hall of Fame class will include longtime Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer, who – after 11 tries as a finalist – finally got the call he’d been waiting for. He will become the 25th member of the Packers to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.\nThe rest of the 2018 class is littered with connections to the Packers.\nTwo of the players were stars for divisional rivals. Two others helped hand the Packers heartbreaking playoff defeats. One almost became a Packer. And the final two had direct connections to Packers executives.\nLet’s go down the list:\nRandy Moss\nHe terrorized the Packers. Moss averaged 18 yards per catch and scored 14 touchdowns in just 15 regular season games against Green Bay. He did huge damage as a rookie, catching 13 passes for 343 yards and three scores in two big wins over the Packers. Just months later, the Packers responding to the slaughtering by taking defensive backs with their first three draft picks. They never quite figured out how to stop Moss, but few really did. He famously pretended to moon the Lambeau Field crowd after catching an important touchdown during a Vikings’ playoff win over the Packers in 2005.\nBrian Urlacher\nUrlacher played 182 games and made eight Pro Bowls over 13 seasons with the Bears. He spearheaded several very good Chicago defenses, making him a natural enemy of the Packers. Both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers respected him deeply. Urlacher’s interception of Rodgers was nearly a game-turning moment in the NFC title game in January 2011.\nRay Lewis\nThe Packers were this close to drafting Lewis in 1996. Green Bay was set and ready to take the young Miami linebacker at No. 27 overall in the first round, but the Ravens derailed those plans by selecting him with the 26th pick – giving Baltimore one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history and leaving the Packers with offensive tackle John Michels. A once-in-a-generation player could have been a Packer. Instead, he made 13 Pro Bowls and won two Super Bowls with the Ravens.\nBrian Dawkins\nDawkins is forever tied to one of the worst playoff defeats in Packers history. After Donovan McNabb and Freddie Mitchell famously overcame 4th-and-26 and sent the 2004 divisional playoff game into overtime, Dawkins picked off an errant pass from Brett Favre and set up Philadelphia’s game-winning field goal. The Packers looked like a team of destiny to end 2003. A horrific end-of-game sequence in Philadelphia made quick work of that.\nTerrell Owens\nMany of Owens’ iconic moments came at the expense of the Packers. In 1999, Owens knocked Green Bay out of the playoffs with a 25-yard touchdown catch with only four seconds left. The miraculous play was dubbed “The Catch II.” Later, Owens gave us his famous pom-pom dance and popcorn celebration after catching touchdowns against the Packers. Owens caught at least one touchdown in five straight games against Green Bay between 2000 and 2007.\nRobert Brazile\nWho was Brazile’s backup for many years in Houston? Former Packers general manager Ted Thompson, of course. Playing behind a future Hall of Famer forced Thompson to become a special teams craftsman.\nBum Phillips in 2007: \"Ted was a good linebacker in the league. We happened to have Ted Washington and Robert Brazile. He was a good player. He just happened to be on a team that had two great players. He was an excellent football player. He just never got credit for it.\" https://t.co/zXSTcfTYxm — Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) February 4, 2018\nBobby Beathard\nThe former Redskins general manager wasn’t responsible for bringing Packers president Mark Murphy to Washington, but the two were together when the Redskins won a pair of Super Bowls during the 1980s. Beathard was also a scout for the 1966 Kansas City Chiefs, who were beaten by Kramer and the Packers in Super Bowl I." ]

[ "Search parties find the wreckage of a Brazilian passenger jet which vanished over the Amazon jungle." ]

[ "Rescue workers sifted on Wednesday through the smoldering wreckage of a jet liner that crashed at Sao Paulo airport, killing as many as 200 people in Brazil's second major air disaster in less than a year.", "Rescue workers in Brazil pulled charred bodies from smoking wreckage and damaged buildings on Wednesday after about 200 people were killed in the country's worst air disaster.", "· Sightseeing flight took place in bad weather · Army team sent in after villagers find wreckage", "HALIFAX - Investigators have recovered the flight data recorders from the wreckage of the cargo jet that crashed at Halifax International Airport last week.", "Police and emergency workers recovered bodies and secured the flight recorders yesterday from the wreckage of two Russian airliners that crashed Tuesday night, while authorities said", "A radar breakdown in northern Brazil causes five flights between Sao Paulo and the US to turn back.", "The United States clinched the top spot in its group by beating Brazil on Sunday night in the FIBA Americas tournament.", "Searchers on Monday found the wreckage of a helicopter that disappeared over the weekend while carrying 24 people on a flight chartered by the World Wildlife Fund. No one survived, officials said.", "A preliminary investigation blamed a bird strike for forcing a United Airlines flight bound for Brazil to make an emergency landing at O’Hare Airport shortly after leaving the airfield, a United spokesman said today.", "Investigators searched the twisted and charred wreckage of a passenger flight Monday for clues why it crashed in stormy weather on the resort island of Phuket, killing at least 88 people.", "A Brazilian airliner carrying 176 people crashed and burst into flames on Tuesday at Brazil's busiest airport, killing at least three people in the country's second major air disaster in less than a year.", "Briana Scurry will replace Hope Solo as goalkeeper when the United States plays Brazil today with a spot in the women's World Cup final on the line.", "Investigators examine the wreckage of a passenger plane which crash-landed in Indonesia, killing 22 people.", "Preliminary investigations into Brazil's worst air disaster could be completed by next week and are focusing on why a smaller jet that collided with the downed plane was in a flight lane assigned to traffic going the opposite direction, authorities said Friday.", "Still unable to put on the show everyone has expected in the World Cup, Brazil got another shaky win and a spot in the second round.", "A plane crashes into a filling station, starting a major fire, near Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil.", "Authorities said Sunday there were no survivors among the 155 people aboard the Brazilian jetliner that crashed deep in the Amazon jungle, as rescue workers began to pull bodies out of the twisted wreckage.", "The debut flight of \"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow\" landed the No. 1 weekend box office spot with an estimated &#36;16.2 million amid an overall lackluster turnout at theaters.", "Radar that tracks planes over the vast Amazon jungle failed for several hours early on Saturday, forcing a dozen international flights to change course, Brazil's airports authority said.", "The burned wreckage of a missing tour helicopter was spotted Saturday in a remote mountainous area of Kauai, but rescuers were unable to reach the area before dark to learn if the pilot and his four passengers survived.", "A Brazilian passenger plane carrying 174 people crashed into a fuel station at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport on Tuesday and caught fire after braking too late upon landing, airport and airline officials said.", "At least one person is reported killed as a plane carrying 176 people erupts in flames in Sao Paulo, Brazil.", "SAO PAULO, Brazil - A Brazilian passenger plane with 155 people on board disappeared over the Amazon jungle on Friday after colliding with a small plane, the company and news reports said.", "An unexplained two-hour outage at a radar facility in the Amazon forced at least four American Airlines flights from the U.S. heading to Brazil to return to Miami International airport early Saturday.", "Brazilian officials investigate what caused a passenger jet to slide off a runway and crash, killing some 200.", "A plane carrying at least 150 people crashed into a gas station and burst into flames after landing at Sao Paulo's airport Tuesday, Brazil's airport authority said.", "The Civil Aeronautics Agency on Friday vetoed a plan by Brazil's struggling airline Varig to suspend most flights and ordered the company to fly all its assigned routes.", "A passenger plane has crashed into a fuel station and caught fire at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport.", "A passenger plane carrying 170 people crashed into a filling station at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport on Tuesday after failing to brake in time upon landing, Globo News television said.", "Ecuador upset Brazil 1-0 Wednesday to send the World Cup champions to their first loss in qualifying for the 2006 tournament, and it cost them the top spot in South America.", "A Brazilian jetliner with 140 people aboard was reported missing Friday over the Amazon jungle after colliding with a smaller executive jet, aviation authorities said.", "The Taiwanese president's flight to an outlying island several weeks ago was diverted because 28 Chinese fighter jets were spotted in the area, a major Taiwanese newspaper reported Thursday." ]

[ "A student has died after being injured in Friday's shooting at a high school in Marysville, Wash. She died at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, health officials said at a news conference Sunday night. Dr. Joanne Roberts read a statement from the teenager's family, which said in part, \"We are devastated by this senseless tragedy.\" As we reported Friday, a student entered the school's cafeteria and opened fire, killing another student at the scene before reportedly killing himself. Three students are still hospitalized — two of whom are in critical condition — the Seattle Times says, citing hospital officials. The community mourned together at a gathering Sunday, The Associated Press reports, adding: \"The makeshift memorial on a chain link fence by the school, which will be closed this week, kept growing Sunday. Balloons honoring the victims and the shooter adorn the fence along with flowers, stuffed toys and signs.\"" ]

[ "A student at a high school in rural Washington state opened fire outside a biology classroom on Wednesday, killing another student and wounding three others before being caught. The shooting occurred at Freeman High School in the tiny town of Rockford, about 26 miles south of Spokane near the Idaho border. \"I was putting my backpack away and I heard a loud pop, and I turned around. He was walking around,\" Elisa Vigil, a 14-year-old freshman, told the Spokesman-Review. \"He had his pistol. His face was completely passive. He shot someone in the head. I crouched down in the hall. I looked up and a girl screamed, 'Help me, help me, help me.' The hall was empty. She was shot in the back. I looked to my right, and there was a boy and he was shot in the head.\" Spokane County Sheriff Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters the attacker was stopped by a school custodian. According to The Associated Press, Brian Schaffer of the Spokane Fire Department said one student died at the scene and three others were taken to a local hospital and were expected to survive. \"The shooter has been apprehended and is taken into custody,\"said Schaffer. The name of the shooter has not been released, but he is reported to be a sophomore. Authorities have not commented on a possible motive. Another student, Michael Harper, 15, said the suspect \"was always nice and funny and weird.\" Harper also said that the suspect had shared a note with some friends saying that he \"was going to do something stupid.\" In a statement, Gov. Jay Inslee said, \"All Washingtonians are thinking of the victims and their families, and are grateful for the service of school staff and first responders working to keep our students safe.\"", "A 16-year-old girl has died after she was shot Tuesday at Great Mills High School in St. Mary's County., Md., by another student. Jaelynn Rose Willey was critically injured in the attack, which also injured a 14-year-old male student. The gunman, identified by the St. Mary's County sheriff as 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins, was pronounced dead on Tuesday after exchanging fire with the school resource officer. \"On Tuesday of this past week our lives changed completely and totally forever,\" Willey's mother, Melissa, said at an emotional press conference last night. \"My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head, and took everything from our lives.\" Speaking while holding a toddler, Willey said that her daughter was the second oldest of nine siblings and was on the school swim team. She said Jaelynn was \"brain dead and has nothing, no life left in her.\" Several hours later, the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office released a statement saying that Jaelynn had died, surrounded by her family. \"It is with heavy hearts and great sadness we provide this update,\" it said. The sheriff's office has said previously that \"all indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence. Rollins and the female victim had a prior relationship that recently ended.\" \"No parent should ever be faced with a decision like this,\" Maryland's Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement. \"There are no words adequate to express our compassion for her loving family and the entire Great Mills community.\" The male victim was shot in the leg, according to the sheriff's office, and was discharged on Wednesday. Mass demonstrations are planned this weekend in Washington, D.C., calling for firmer action against gun violence. The rally is organized by survivors of last month's school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people.", "The teenager shot in the head by a classmate at a high school outside Denver died Saturday after being hospitalized for eight days. Claire Davis, 17, was shot at point blank range with a shotgun on Dec. 13 and had been hospitalized in critical condition. \"It is with heavy hearts that we share that [at] 4:29 p.m. this afternoon, Claire Davis passed away, with her family at her side,\" Littleton Adventist Hospital announced in a statement on its Facebook page. \"Despite the best efforts of our physicians and nursing staff, and Claire's fighting spirit, her injuries were too severe and the most advanced medical treatments could not prevent this tragic loss of life. Claire's death is immensely heartbreaking for our entire community, our staff and our families.\" Police say by Karl Pierson, 18, entered Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., on Dec. 13 armed with a shotgun, reportedly targeting a staff member, whom he did not encounter. Police have said Davis was likely a random target. Pierson shot himself to death less than two minutes after shooting Davis. Arapaho High School is just a few miles from Columbine High, site of a 1999 mass shooting. And Davis was shot on the one-year anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The Davis family released a statement later Saturday noting \"with unspeakable sadness\" Claire's death, but also thanking the community for its support. \"Last week was truly a paradox in that we lost our daughter, yet we witnessed the wonderful love that exists in the world through the tremendous outpouring of support we received,\" the statement read in part. The family's entire statement can be found on the hospital's Facebook page.", "Police have identified the gunman who killed a student and wounded a teacher at an Oregon high school before fatally shooting himself Tuesday. Jared Michael Padgett, 15, was armed with an \"AR-15-type\" rifle, a semi-automatic handgun, a large knife and several magazines of ammunition, authorities say. Tuesday's shooting took place in a gym that was detached from the main building at Reynolds High School in the Portland suburb of Troutdale. The weapons used by Padgett were owned by his family and had been locked up; however, the shooter \"defeated the security\" to gain access to them, according to Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson. He said Padgett was carrying nine loaded magazines and that the weapons were concealed in a guitar case and duffel bag when the shooter arrived on campus. Anderson said an autopsy confirmed that Padgett died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after exchanging gunfire with police. Teacher Todd Rispler, who was grazed in the hip during the assault, was able to get to the school's office and initiate the lockdown procedure, Anderson said. Authorities said they did not know of any link between the shooter and the student he killed, who has been identified as Emilio Hoffman, 14. Update at 8:00 p.m. ET Troutdale Sgt. Carey Kaer is quoted by The Oregonian as saying that Hoffman was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time: The newspaper says Padgett shot Hoffman twice in the chest with the rifle. Dr. Larry Lewman, deputy state medical examiner, says the victim died at the scene.", "People in certain jobs develop a working relationship with death. In many years of listening to people, I've learned it's a necessity. Nurses know that for all their efforts, many patients die. Soldiers and police see the deaths of comrades, and may also kill. War correspondents walk devastated cities. Who would have guessed, though, that the people called upon to work so closely with death might include teachers and students? Again and again in recent years, they have been targeted. After a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, then-president Obama noted, \"The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.\" Many officials vowed it must never happen again, but many weapons have been fired in many schools since then. In Marysville, Wash., a student shot five other students, killing four and then killing himself. At Aztec High School in New Mexico, a former student killed two students and then himself. In Benton, Ky., just last month, a gunman killed two people and wounded more than a dozen. Then came Wednesday's shooting, the worst since Sandy Hook: 17 people dead, both students and adults. Mass shootings — including school shootings — have grown common enough that any of us may grow a little like the hospital nurse or the firefighter: accustomed to carnage. We arguably have to grow accustomed. Lawmakers and presidents have agreed on no effective solution to mass shootings — neither gun control nor mental care, neither a policy nor a prayer. If the shootings continue, it follows that we have to bear them. Yet we run a risk if we cease to feel the effects. Nurses and cops and soldiers know: It's a risk to mental health. A risk to moral health. To the soul. So it's appropriate to ask ourselves a question: In Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday, a teenager with what's believed to be an AR-15 rifle, opened fire in crowded hallways, and walked away after 17 people were killed. Do we still feel it?", "--NPR's John Biewen reports from Springfield, Oregon, on funeral services yesterday for 16-year-old Ben Walker, one of two students at Thurston High School, shot to death last Thursday during a shooting rampage by a 15-year-old classmate. More than 500 people attended.", "Updated at 8:25 p.m. ET The shooting suspect in Santa Clarita, Calif., has died one day after the attack at Saugus High School that killed two students. Authorities identified him as Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow, 16, a junior at the school. Officials say he died at a hospital where he was being treated for a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. One of the two students who died in Thursday's shooting at Saugus High was the nephew of an employee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, underscoring the shooting's devastating impact on the nearby community. \"The 14-year old-boy is the nephew of one of our security officers,\" Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, in an interview Friday morning with TV station NBC4 in Los Angeles. A female student also died in the shooting; Villanueva identified her at a Friday news conference as Gracie Muehlberger, 15. \"Her parents, Cynthia and Brian, [are] obviously devastated,\" Villanueva said. \"We're with them. And it's a tough day here in Santa Clarita.\" Other victims in the case aren't yet being named publicly, the sheriff said, because their families haven't been able to inform all of their relatives. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says Berhow carried out the attack on his birthday, carrying a .45-caliber pistol to school on the day he turned 16. Investigators say he shot five others before shooting himself. Three off-duty law enforcement officers were the first to respond to the scene as shots were fired at Saugus High — because they were dropping kids off at the school. As students fled the campus and the first urgent messages went out over police channels, the officers were rushing inside to help. One of those officers was Detective Daniel Finn of the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station, who spoke at a news conference Friday. \"I was on my way to work, I was dropping off my girlfriend's son at school,\" Finn said. As he neared the school, he saw \"several hundred students running off-campus,\" Finn said. He then drove into the school circle, where a student told him there had been gunshots. Finn informed the sheriff's station and started to enter the campus. As he did so, an off-duty Inglewood officer joined him. They didn't know what to expect — but they found the campus nearly deserted. \"There were no students,\" Finn said. \"Most of the students, the vast majority of them had already either exited campus or been safely secured in a building.\" When they entered the quad area, they spotted three wounded students lying on the ground, with the gun nearby. Still uncertain whether a gunman might be lurking on the campus, Finn and the other officer began giving the students medical aid. And drawing on his own experience as a former school resource deputy, Finn told a school administrator to get the facility's medical aid bags. \"He brought them out and we started assessing their wounds and trying to pack the wounds and stabilize them.\" None of the students spoke, Finn said. In addition to the suspect and the two students who died, three other students were also shot: two females, ages 14 and 15, along with a second 14-year-old male. One male victim was released from the hospital late Thursday; the other victims were in stable condition as of Friday morning, Villanueva said. Investigators are still working to figure out a possible motive, said Capt. Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau. \"Suffice it to say, we did not find any manifesto, any diary that spelled it out, any suicide note or any writings which will clearly identify his motives behind this assault,\" Wegener said. Villanueva refuted local reports that have suggested the gunman shot his ex-girlfriend and her best friend. \"That is not accurate,\" the sheriff said. \"As far as we know, the actual targets were at random.\" The suspect had been dropped off at school by his mother, Villanueva said. He said investigators recovered several firearms from their house, including some that he said \"were not registered at all.\" Noting the suspect brought the gun to school and seemed to count his shots as he fired, the sheriff said, \"It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment act.\" The shooting took place in the school's quad and was captured on its surveillance video system. Citing that footage, Wegener said on Thursday that from the moment the suspect took a pistol from his backpack, then shot his fellow students — and then shot himself in the head — only about 16 seconds elapsed. But that quick succession of events has left a tight-knit community reeling. Of the families whose loved ones were killed or wounded in the shooting, Villanueva said Friday morning, \"It's devastating for them. They're in total shock.\" \"Everyone else who had a family [member] in the school, they had that moment where they didn't know the safety or the whereabouts of their children,\" the sheriff added. Describing the shock of the violence that struck before classes began Thursday morning, Villanuev", "A week after a school shooting in the Seattle area, residents of Washington state are faced with two competing ballot initiatives on guns this election. Initiative 594 would require universal background checks for gun sales, whether online, at a gun show or trade. Initiative 591 says no such changes would be made at a state level until Congress votes for the country to adopt universal gun control. Gun rights supporters say stricter background checks would not prevent incidents like the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School last week, where a freshman football player started shooting in the school cafeteria, ultimately killing two students and himself. Here & Now&#8217;s Robin Young speaks with Austin Jenkins, Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network, about the dueling initiatives and whether the school shooting last week will affect how people vote. Guest\n\nAustin Jenkins, Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network. He tweets @AustinJenkinsN3.", "Updated at 8:20 p.m. ET Two students have died after a gunman opened fire Thursday morning at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., according to law enforcement officials. Three other students also were shot. Authorities have not named the suspect but say he is a 16-year-old student at the school. He carried out the attack on his birthday. In a late afternoon news conference, Capt. Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau said an Instagram account believed to belong to the suspect said, \"Saugus, have fun at school tomorrow.\" That message was later removed, but Wegener said investigators don't know who deleted it. At a news conference earlier in the day, Wegener said detectives reviewed surveillance video footage from the high school that showed the suspect taking a handgun from his backpack and shooting five other people before shooting himself in the head. The suspect is currently in \"grave condition,\" Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said. The sheriff's department says the victims who died are a 16-year-old female and a 14-year-old male, both of whom died at the hospital Thursday morning. The others who were hospitalized include two more female students, ages 14 and 15, along with a second 14-year-old male student. Wegener said the suspect, said to have been dressed in black, used a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol that had no more bullets in it when it was recovered. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that off-duty officers whose children attend the schools and had just dropped them off there were the first to respond to the scene. After receiving a report of shots fired at Saugus High, deputies found six students suffering from gunshot wounds in the school's quad. The wounded teenagers were triaged and transported to hospitals. \"The suspect was later identified as one of the victims who was found in the quad,\" Wegener said. The teenager \"is in custody and being treated at a local hospital,\" Villanueva tweeted. Investigators are still working to determine what could have led to the violence. As of late Thursday, they have established no motive for the shootings. The FBI is also involved in the case; Wegener said the bureau will help recover any cellphone video that may have been captured during the attack. He added that the suspect's mother and girlfriend were being interviewed at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station. Authorities say they believe the suspect acted alone and without an ideological purpose. Four of the wounded students were transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, which says that three of them — two males and one female — arrived in critical condition. The female patient and one of the male patients later died, according to hospital spokesman Patrick Moody. Another male student was in good condition and later released. The shooting took place before the start of classes, shortly after 7 a.m. local time. \"Deputies responded to reports of shots fired,\" the sheriff's station said via Twitter. \"This is an active shooter situation.\" After deputies reached the school, they worked to clear the campus and begin a systematic search for the suspect on school grounds and nearby. As first responders rushed to answer the call about an active shooter at Saugus High School, some of them were also contending with an added layer of pressure and anxiety: They have children who are enrolled there. \"There were several members of my department — and this is a very close-knit community — that had kids that were also at the school,\" Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said at the midday news conference. Villanueva confirmed that some of his deputies also have children who are students at Saugus. \"This area has an awful lot of law enforcement presence,\" the sheriff said, \"so it would not surprise me\" if off-duty deputies had responded to the scene. The school became the scene of a large evacuation as lines of students were led through its parking lot to a secured area. Officials set up a reunification point at Central Park, across a major roadway south of the school. After the shooting, the fate of the suspect wasn't immediately known. In that interval, nearby residents were asked to \"shelter in place and report any suspicious activity,\" said Tim Murakami, undersheriff of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The shooting also prompted a lockdown order for nearby elementary schools. A broader lockdown was ordered for the entire William S. Hart Union High School District, but that was later rescinded. \"I hate to have Saugus be added to the names of Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook,\" Villanueva said, listing other horrible school shootings at the midday news conference. \"But it's a reality that affects us all throughout the nation, something we're going to have to deal with.\" He added, \"We've got to figure out what are we doing wrong and how can we stop this from happening in the future.\" This is a breaking news story. Some thin", "A teacher and a student have died and three other people are seriously wounded in southern Sweden, where a masked man armed with a sword or knife attacked a school Thursday. The attacker was shot by police and died later at a regional hospital. A second teacher and two students — ages 17 and 15 — underwent surgery after suffering severe injuries, according to the NAL hospital in Trollhättan, where the attacks happened Thursday morning. The hospital initially reported the 17-year-old's age as 11. One of those students died at the hospital. The remaining two victims are in intensive care, according to the hospital, which adds that one of them is in critical condition. Hours after the attack, a chilling photo emerged, taken by a student who says her classmates posed for a snapshot with the attacker moments before the violence began. It shows a man in a black helmet and mask, wearing what looks to be military-style clothing with a long black overcoat. He's holding a sword against his shoulder. The student who took the photo tells Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet that she and her friends thought the costume might have been related to Halloween. Her classmates posed next to the man for the photo, she said, adding that the attack began after a teacher then told the man to leave. Update at 11 a.m. ET: Attacker Dies At Hospital After being shot in the chest, the attacker was taken to the same hospital as his victims. He died later Thursday after receiving treatment, police say. Providing more details about the attack at a news conference, officials said that the attacker, a 21-year-old resident of Trollhättan, had knocked on doors at the school and stabbed people who opened them. Update at 8:30 a.m. ET: Student Has Reportedly Died One of the two boys who were wounded in the attack has died, according to Expressen reporter Carl Fridh Kleberg, citing local police. The NAL hospital says one of the patients has been stabilized and is now in the intensive care unit; the rest remain in critical condition. Our original post continues: There have been conflicting reports about the type of weapon the attacker used. \"Police spokesman Stefan Gustafsson said the attacker was in his twenties and used 'several knife-like objects,' \" according to Swedish news site The Local. The attack took place around 10 a.m. local time in or near the cafeteria of the Kronan school, a primary school that's situated in a cultural center. The building also includes a library. \"Around 400 pupils are understood to be taught at the school, aged between six and fifteen,\" The Local reports. According to Swedish media cited by the AP, the deadly attack came shortly after a discussion about \"teachers' worries that the school was too open, with a cafe for adults that meant the school could not control who comes in.\" The report adds that the school has its own cafeteria — but that the students had to walk through the public cafe to reach it. The attack set off chaos at the school, with a large police and emergency response. Photos from the scene show that one ambulance crashed into a wall in the parking area next to the cafe's entrance. A teenager who attends the school and witnessed part of the attack described the scene to The Local: \"I was in a classroom with my class when one of my classmates' sisters called her to warn her that there was a murderer at the school. So we locked the door to the classroom, but our teacher was still outside in the corridor. \"We wanted to warn him, so a few of us went outside and then I saw the murderer, he was wearing a mask and had a sword. Our teacher got stabbed. \"The murderer started chasing me, I ran into another classroom. If I had not run, I would have been murdered. I'm feeling really scared. Everyone's scared here.\" Responding to news of the attack, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven expressed his condolences for the victims and their families, saying, \"This is a black day for Sweden.\" The BBC reports, \"School attacks are rare in Sweden — this is the first since a shooting at a school in Kungalv near Gothenburg in 1961 which killed one person and injured six others.\"", "Authorities now say that a student in Maryland who fatally shot a fellow classmate and seriously hurt another died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a confrontation with a school resource officer. Initial reports suggested that Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill, the resource officer at Great Mills High School, in Great Mills, Md., might have killed the shooter, 17-year-old Austin Rollins. In a statement issued by the St. Mary's County sheriff's office said evidence indicates that last Tuesday, after Rollins fired a single shot that hit one student in the head and another in the leg, he was confronted in a hallway by Gaskill. Rollins, however, then \"fired one fatal shot to his head; simultaneously DFC Gaskill also fired one non-fatal shot, which struck the weapon in Rollins' hand,\" it said. One of the two students hit by Rollins, 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey, died two days later after being taken off life support. The 14-year-old with the leg wound survived. \"All indications suggest the shooting was not a random act of violence,\" the sheriff's office said in the statement. \"Rollins and the female victim had a prior relationship which recently ended. The investigation has not yet uncovered any public social media posts/threats made by Rollins.\" The Associated Press writes: \"According to the sheriff's office, Rollins entered the main entrance of the school the day of the shooting about five minutes before he shot Willey in the head with his father's gun. The same bullet traveled into the leg of Desmond Barnes, who had sought shelter in a classroom. Rollins then turned a corner and passed several classrooms before the confrontation with the school resource officer, which occurred about three minutes after shooting Willey, the sheriff's office said. Rollins and Gaskill fired their weapons about 30 seconds later.\"", "A 15-year-old student who had been expelled a day earlier for bringing a gun to class opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle in a Springfield, Oregon high school cafeteria today, killing at least one person. Approximately two dozen others were injured, some critically. Two unidentified adults, who may be the suspect's parents, were found dead at the suspect's home. Nancy Solomon of member station KLCC reports.", "A lone shooter was dead Friday after an attack at a high school north of Seattle, police said. Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureux said the shooter was a student, but he did not have any additional information including where the shooting took place and if anyone else was killed or wounded. Many students and staff members were seen walking out of Marysville Pilchuck High School, about 30 miles north of Seattle, after police and ambulance crews surrounded the campus. Lamoureux said police were going room by room, searching the school to make sure it was safe. &#8220;It is an active scene,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We do ask parents to please stay away.&#8221; There were conflicting reports about the number of possible injuries. Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said the facility was expecting one patient but had no other information. Arthur White, who lives across from the school, tells The Daily Herald a large number of police vehicles converged on the scene quickly late Friday morning. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen so many police in my life. It&#8217;s a tragedy,&#8221; White said. Ayn Dietrich, an FBI spokesperson in Seattle, said the agency had personnel on their way to the scene to help authorities with the investigation. The latest school shooting in the region happened at Seattle Pacific University, where a gunman killed one student and wounded two others on June 5. Guest\n\nKim Malcolm, reporter at KUOW in Seattle, Wash.", "Updated at 7 p.m. ET Court documents say the suspect in the shootings at a South Florida high school has confessed to investigators. Nikolas Cruz, 19, has been booked on 17 charges of premeditated murder at Broward County's Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. According to a court filing, \"In a post-Miranda statement, Cruz stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with a AR-15 and began shooting students he saw in the hallways and on the school grounds. Cruz stated that he brought additional loaded magazines to the school campus and kept them hidden in a back pack until he got on campus to begin his assault.\" Cruz made his court appearance less than a day after the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which killed at least 17 people and wounded 15 more. Cruz allegedly fired on unarmed students and teachers at the high school in Parkland, Fla., which had expelled him for disciplinary reasons. In a late-afternoon news conference, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel gave a timeline of Wednesday's events. He said that the shooter arrived at the school at 2:19 p.m., and that within two minutes, he began firing into several classrooms. After conducting attacks on the first and second floors, the shooter dropped his rifle on the third floor and ran away by mixing in among the crowd of students fleeing the scene. Israel said the gunman visited a nearby Walmart and McDonald's before he was apprehended without incident. Within an hour, Cruz was in custody, captured by law enforcement off campus. The sheriff said the shooter arrived at the school by an Uber car, but he said the driver isn't suspected of being complicit in the shooting. Peter Forcelli, the special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said that the rifle used in the shooting was legally purchased about a year ago by the shooter. SWAT teams were on the scene soon after the shooting began, evacuating students from the building. After Cruz was arrested away from the school's premises, he was taken to a hospital for treatment before being released to police custody. He faced a judge in court briefly Thursday, and bond was denied. Parents and classmates are left to cope with the aftermath. \"No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school,\" President Trump said in a televised speech to the country Thursday morning. \"No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.\" \"Law enforcement will do everything we can — the FBI, ourselves — to make sure that this person is convicted of all charges and that justice is served,\" Israel said Thursday. Authorities said Cruz began the attack outdoors toward the end of the school day, just as the school's some 3,200 students were leaving their classrooms. \"This particular individual came onto campus at the time of dismissal,\" Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie told reporters, \"and that is a fairly open time for the campus.\" The shooter then worked his way indoors using using an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and what Israel described as \"countless magazines,\" smoke grenades and a gas mask. Then, the fire alarm sounded — which \"seemed odd,\" NPR's Greg Allen reports, \"because there had already been a fire alarm that day.\" Greg explains what happened next: \"Soon teachers and students got the word: It was a code red. There was an active shooter in the school. In some classrooms, teachers made sure their doors were locked, lights turned off and students hidden in closets or under the desks. \"But thinking it was a drill, one student interviewed on television says, her teacher led them out of the classroom before recognizing the danger. As he got them back into the classroom, she said, he was shot and killed.\" \"It was pretty chaotic, to be honest,\" Broward County Mayor Beam Furr told Morning Edition on Thursday. \"There were policemen from every one of our cities — we have 31 cities in Broward County, and I believe every force from the county was there. And as I arrived [yesterday] the kids were coming out, and the parents were beside themselves hoping to see their kids.\" The wounded were taken to three hospitals in the area. Representatives of two of those hospitals, speaking at Thursday's news conference, said five patients remained in their care at midday. Among the 17 victims were the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon, and assistant football coach Aaron Feis. The Douglas football program tweeted that Feis, who was an alumnus of the school, \"selflessly shielded students from the shooter when he was shot.\" \"He died a hero,\" the team said, \"and he will forever be in our hearts and memories.\" Authorities say they have notified the victims' families. Furr is not only the mayor of the county, but he also worked as a teacher in the local school district. He said the rampage Wednesday called to mind some of the kids he had taught in the classroom. \"You keep your eyes on those kids who b", "Update at 4:10 p.m. ET. Student Surrenders: A 17-year-old suspected in a shooting that injured two students at a Philadelphia school has turned himself over to police. Philly.com reports: \"Police around noon Saturday said the District Attorney's Office approved aggravated assault charges against the teen. Prosecutors did not approve charges against another teen, who turned himself into police for questioning Friday night. He has since been released, investigators said.\" Our Original Post Continues: Philadelphia police are still looking for a student they believe was involved in a school shooting that left two fellow students wounded on Friday. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: \"One of the victims, a girl who was shot through the arm, was treated at Einstein Medical Center, just blocks away from Delaware Valley Charter High School, where the shooting occurred. She was released from the hospital later in the day. \"The second victim, her boyfriend, was struck by the same bullet, which lodged in his shoulder, police said. He remained at the hospital Friday night.\" The Inquirer reports that two other students had been questioned by police and they were seeking a third student. An unnamed, \"high-ranking law enforcement source\" told the paper that they believe the shooting was accidental — that it happened while the students played with the gun. NBC Philadelphia reports that parents rushed to the school after they heard the news. \"A school is supposed to be a safe environment. Are you kidding me? Two kids just got shot,\" one parent told the station. \"How was a child, or whoever, [able to] bring a gun up in the school?\" USA Today reports that after gun went off, the school was placed on lockdown and \"the 600 students were searched and released individually.\" This news, of course, comes just days after a 12-year-old student opened fire at a Roswell, N.M., school, wounding two fellow students.", "Police say a student with a hand gun shot two classmates Tuesday morning at a Maryland high school. Officers say the shooter was fatally injured in a shootout with a school resource officer.", "Canadian police say four people have died and two others are in critical condition after a school shooting incident in a remote village in northern Saskatchewan. The prime minister and other officials earlier said five people were killed. One suspect is in custody. As the incident unfolded, La Loche Community School, which serves students in seventh to 12th grade, posted on Facebook to say the school — and a nearby elementary school — were on lockdown and the public should stay away. Reuters reports: \"Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada, which has stricter gun laws than the United States. In the country's worst school shooting, 14 college students were killed at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique in 1989. \"Extra doctors and nurses have been sent to treat patients in Keewatin Yatthe Regional Health Authority's 16-bed hospital, said spokesman Dale West.\" The Star Phoenix newspaper of Saskatoon quotes sources as saying the suspect is a boy and that the chain of events began with a shooting at a residence. The acting mayor of La Loche, Kevin Janvier, says some of the fatalities are believed to be members of the suspect's family, as Craig McCulloch reports for our Newscast unit. The mayor's daughter, a 23-year-old teacher at the school, also died in the shooting, he told the media. La Loche is a town of 3,000 people, mostly members of the Dene First Nation, Craig reports. It's located about 375 miles northwest of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.", "Update at 12:58 p.m. ET. Third Student Dies: The death toll from yesterday's shooting rampage at a Chardon, Ohio school has climbed to three. The AP reports that a hospital confirmed the death of Demetrius Hewlin. WOIO, a local station, reports that his family said Demetrius \"was a happy young man who loved life and his family and friends.\" \"We will miss him very much but we are proud that he will be able to help others through organ donation,\" the family said. Two other students remain hospitalized. Our Original Post: A second student has died as a result of injuries he received during yesterday's shooting rampage at a Chardon, Ohio school. Russell King Jr., 17, was pronounced dead early this morning. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: \"Russell was described by students as a sociable kid who got along well with people. \"Enrolled at both Chardon High School and at the Auburn Career Center in Concord Township, the junior studied technologies of alternative energies like solar and wind power while at the career center. \"Auburn Superintendent Maggie Lynch described Russell as a good student, polite and cooperative. Lynch also characterized Russell as 'a very social kid, quick with a smile.'\" Daniel Parmertor died yesterday from his injuries and three others remain hospitalized. \"We are shocked by this senseless tragedy,\" Parmertor's family said in a statement according to local station WKYC. \"Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss.\" The schools at Chardon remain closed today. Our friends at State Impact Ohio report that District Superintendent Joseph Bergant said teachers and staff should stay home and \"spend some time reflecting on family.\" \"If you haven't hugged or kissed your kid in the past couple days, take that time,\" he said at a news conference yesterday. Police said that a suspected gunman is in custody. Update at 4:16 p.m. ET. Prosecutor Says Suspect Did Not Know Victims: A juvenile court judge has ruled that T.J. Lane will remain in custody for at least 15 days. At the hearing, a prosecutor also told the judge that after Lane was apprehended, he confessed to bringing a gun to school and of firing 10 rounds into the cafeteria. The prosecutor said he did not \"know the victims and chose them randomly.\" The prosecution has until March 1 to file charges. Update at 11:18 a.m. ET. Suspect To Appear In Court: The Geauga County Juvenile Court, who identified the suspect as T.J. Lane, says he is scheduled to appear at at a 3:30 p.m. hearing today. During a press conference, authorities said they had still not established a motive. Chardon Schools Superintendent Joseph Bergant said schools would reopen on Friday and parents, students and faculty will be invited to attend counseling sessions. Bergant repeated his missive from yesterday — that everyone should go hug their kids today. \"We're not just any old place, Chardon, this is every place,\" Bergant said. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: And I'm Robert Siegel. A third student has died in Chardon, Ohio, that's after another student opened fire yesterday at the local high school. As Bill Rice of member station WCPN reports, the rural town is reeling from the violence. BILL RICE, BYLINE: Kristen Shenker is a 2007 graduate of Chardon High School. She and her friend Amanda Nelson are raising funds to benefit the families of the victims in Monday's shootings. She says the residents of her small town are shocked. KRISTEN SHENKER: I don't think it's really hit. I mean, I just noticed in the community walking through just Walmart, you know, everyone is just like at an awe, like no one knows what to say. No one knows what to do. RICE: Amanda Nelson says Russell King, the second victim to die of his gunshot wounds, was a family friend. AMANDA NELSON: He was a true gentleman. He was always nice to me. And I just - you know, its not fair. Not at all. RICE: At a press conference held earlier today, Geauga County Sheriff David McClelland said he also is personally affected by what happened. SHERIFF DAVID MCCLELLAND: I happen to be a graduate of Chardon High School. I met my wife here. The most eerie feeling in the world was walking down the halls yesterday – running down them in response to the incident we had. RICE: Nate Mueller, a student at Chardon High, told a local television station he was at the table with several of the students who were shot and was himself grazed in the ear by a bullet. NATE MUELLER: He didn't say anything the entire time. He took one shot, and then that's when we looked to see what was happening, because it sounded like a firecracker almost. And at that point, I looked back, I saw him shoot that which hit one of my other friends that was sitting at the table with us. And then, as I was turning around, that's when he hit me. RICE: Authorities have identified 17-year-old T.J. Lane as the alleged gunman. He wa", "NPR&#8217;s Ron Elving (@NPRrelving) joins Here & Now&#8216;s Jeremy Hobson to discuss the latest in Washington in the wake of Wednesday&#8217;s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.", "Three weeks ago a Chicago high school honor student, Derrion Albert, was beaten to death on the way back home from classes. Since that horrific incident, Obama Administration officials have described the murder as a call to action to address school violence. Meanwhile, school administrators in Washington, D.C., have also been facing problems with school-related violence happening outside school grounds. Host Michel Martin discusses the risks that students face in trying to get an education with civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Colbert King, of <em>The Washington Post</em>.", "Hadiya Pendleton was a sophomore at King College Prep High School in Chicago. The 15-year-old traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to perform with the school's marching band at inaugural events. This week, she was shot to death by a man who inexplicably fired at her and a group of friends.", "Kendrick Castillo, the student killed in this week's school shooting in Colorado, was honored in a community vigil. Hundreds of people came together to mourn his death and speak out against violence.", "A unidentified gunman shot and killed a student he held hostage for four hours at a high school in Bailey, Colo., on Wednesday. The man also killed himself as police entered the school in an attempt to rescue two hostages.", "Updated May 1 at 11:25 a.m. ET Two people died and another four were wounded, three critically, in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Tuesday. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced in a tweet that a suspect, Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, was in custody. Terrell, a former student at the university, now faces charges of murder and attempted murder in the attack. On Wednesday, the school identified the victims who died as students Ellis Parlier, 19, and Riley Howell, 21, according to member station WFAE. The station says UNCC Chancellor Philip Dubois identified the wounded as \"19-year-old Drew Pescaro and 20-year-old Sean Dehart, both of Apex, 20-year-old Rami Al-Ramatan of Saudi Arabia, and 23-year-old Emily Haupt of Charlotte.\" Dubois did not elaborate on the students' injuries. But he credited quick police action with preventing worse casualties. And he said a live mass casualties drill that the university held last fall had also helped. As the crisis ended Tuesday, local police announced: \"Scene secure. One in custody. No reason to believe anyone else involved. CMPD and UNCC going room by room on campus to identify any students, faculty or others who may be sheltering in place.\" Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said police were on the scene quickly enough to find and disarm the suspect in the same room where the shootings happened. He said two people were found dead at the scene, and three others were hospitalized in critical condition, while the fourth person suffered less serious injuries. The campus remained on lockdown for much of Tuesday afternoon and into the evening. Earlier, tweets by the campus's Office of Emergency Management advised people to \"Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately\" as \"law enforcement is individually sweeping buildings on campus.\" The shots were fired near the school's Kennedy building. Student Laura Olmos told WFAE, \"I got a call saying don't come back to campus because I was going to come back to have dinner with my friends. I just went to the Target parking lot and started crying. ... Now we are one of those schools. It's so crazy.\" Doctoral student Ari Seal said he was in the gym when the alert came and that lights were shut off and students were told to huddle together in the center of the gym. Shortly after the shooting attack, Dubois released a statement saying decisions are being made on how to handle the rest of the school term. \"Among those unknowns is how we will navigate the remainder of the semester, including the final examination schedule and graduation,\" he said. \"Examinations will be canceled through Sunday while we formulate a plan for the following week.\" Dubois said counseling is being provided to students who were on campus during the shooting and will be made available to the rest of the university on Wednesday.", "Updated at 7:50 p.m. ET A 15-year-old high school student will be charged with two counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder after a mass shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton, Ky., according to police. Kentucky State Police identified the students who were killed as a girl, Bailey Nicole Holt, who died at the scene, and a boy, Preston Ryan Cope, who died at the hospital. Both were 15 years old. Authorities say 12 other people were shot and five are in critical condition. In addition, five people suffered other kinds of injuries in the scramble when the shooter opened fire with a handgun on students and faculty. \"We are trying to determine that every one of those that has been shot was a student. It is our belief that they are,\" Gov. Matt Bevin said at a news conference Tuesday. \"The shooter was a student, a 15-year-old male,\" he added. \"That student is in custody. That student was apprehended at the scene.\" Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders said that the shooting began just before 8 a.m. and that first responders arrived on the scene within 10 minutes of the first gunshot. The shooter was soon arrested in a \"nonviolent\" fashion and will be charged with murder and attempted murder, according to Bevin. \"I did not see the shooter, but I did see the commons after. It was a disaster. Everyone just dropped their stuff and ran,\" Allissa Hubbard, 16, told member station WKMS. She had been in the library when a series of loud pops were heard, and students began to run outside. According to WKMS, Hubbard hid beneath a set of stairs with another girl as they listened to the screams of their teachers. \"I'm terrified,\" she added. \"I've been feeling like I'm going to throw up all day long. It was awful.\" \"It was the most frightening thing,\" Gloria Hollifield, a parent, told WKMS. \"I'm 60-some years old and I've never been so damn scared in my entire life.\" \"I know I speak for communities across my home state in sending prayers of comfort and healing to students, faculty and everyone affected by this violence,\" Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor midday Tuesday morning as information about the shooting was beginning to surface. \"Our hearts are with the entire community in Marshall County and our gratitude is with the first responders who rushed into harm's way.\"", "The shooter at Oregon's Umpqua Community College apparently died of a self-inflicted wound. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Amelia Templeton of Oregon Public Broadcasting about the latest details.", "NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on a memorial service for the six-year-old Michigan girl, who was fatally shot last week by a classmate. Students were given teddy bears at Buell Elementary School as they returned to class for the first time yesterday.", "Dozens of students who survived last week's deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., plan to travel to their state capital on Tuesday to march and demand legislators enact a ban on assault weapons.", "Updated at 10:45 p.m. ET At least 10 people were killed when a gunman opened fire inside a small-town Texas high school, in what Gov. Greg Abbott called \"probably the worst disaster ever to strike this community.\" Ten others were wounded in the morning attack at Santa Fe High School. A 17-year-old suspect is in custody and being held at Galveston County jail without bond, school district officials said in tweet, adding that the alleged shooter is being charged with capital murder and aggravated assault of a peace officer. School district officials identified the suspected shooter as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a current student at the school southeast of Houston. Citing evidence from the suspect's journals and electronic media at a news conference, Abbott said Pagourtzis had plotted to carry out the attack and then die by suicide. But he surrendered instead. \"He gave himself up and admitted at the time he didn't have the courage to commit suicide,\" Abbott said. A second person was also detained for questioning, police said, and a third who police said had been acting suspiciously was also being interviewed. A shotgun and a .38-caliber revolver — neither of which was owned by the suspect — were used in the morning shooting. The weapons were legally owned by Pagourtzis' father, Abbott said. The Associated Press identified one of those killed as substitute teacher Cynthia Tisdale, whose niece Leia Olinde tearfully remembered Tisdale helping her shop for a wedding dress. \"She was wonderful. She was just so loving,\" Olinde said. The embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C., said one of the students killed was Sabika Sheikh of Pakistan, who had been participating in a U.S. State Department-sponsored student exchange program. The embassy said its consul general in Houston was touch with authorities. Hours after the violence unfolded inside the school, news of another potential threat emerged. The Santa Fe Independent School District announced, \"Possible explosive devices have been located at the school and off campus.\" Police are \"in the process of rendering them safe,\" the district said, adding that the school had been evacuated. Law enforcement officers have warrants for two residences that have been linked to the suspect, Abbott said at the afternoon briefing, but efforts to search them have been slowed by concerns that the properties might have been booby-trapped. Describing explosive devices that had been found, Abbott said a \"CO2 device\" and a Molotov cocktail were among the devices that had been spotted in both a home and a vehicle linked to the case. Santa Fe Independent School District officials announced all campuses will be closed Monday and Tuesday. By late afternoon, school officials had begun the process of reaching out to families in the community, an attempt to provide some comfort. \"As I write this message, our campus remains an active crime scene,\" Superintendent Leigh Wall wrote. \"I want you to know that we will gladly accept every resource that will help our students on what promises to be a long road to recovery. Your children's needs — emotionally, spiritually and physically — will be met by those who are best equipped to do so,\" Wall said, referring to the outpouring of support the district had received throughout the day. At least one vigil has been in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a city of some 12,000 people and sits between Houston and Galveston. In addition to police from the city and school district, the investigation involves both state and federal authorities, including the FBI. The shooting reportedly began before 8 a.m. local time, putting the school on lockdown and sending police rushing to the scene. Several witnesses said the attacker was armed with a shotgun; reports also said he had several weapons. After announcing news of the shooting, the school district issued an update stating, \"This morning an incident occurred at the high school involving an active shooter. The situation is active, but has been contained.\" As the situation unfolded, several ambulances and Life Flight medevac helicopters were called to the location, and a stream of them was reportedly seen leaving for nearby hospitals. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said that one officer from the Santa Fe Independent School District Police Department was injured and is being treated at a hospital. He did not have details about that officer's condition. Before Abbott's update, area hospitals had said that they had received at least 12 people from the school. The Clear Lake Regional Medical Center said that two of its campuses have together taken in nine patients. The University of Texas Medical Branch said it received three patients — two adults and one person under 18 years old — from the shooting. One of those patients, a middle-aged man with a chest wound, is in critical condition, according to Raul Reyes, the hospital's director of media relations. The other two people had been shot in the leg, he said. A student at the school to", "Some Washington, D.C.-area residents have created a free home-share network to provide lodging for hundreds of students traveling to the nation's capital on Saturday to demand action to end gun violence. The \"March for Our Lives\" rally was spearheaded by student survivors in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month in Parkland, Fla, where 17 people were killed. Inspired by the Parkland students' poise and conviction during interviews following the shooting, students at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md., started DC Teens Action to try to help find student demonstrators traveling to Washington for the march a place to stay. Phil Sturm, a Realtor who lives in Chevy Chase, Md., came across DC Teens Action's callout for potential hosts for student marchers. \"I'm going to be a host for actually 18 to 20 we think, possibly 20, that are driving up from North Carolina Friday,\" Sturm said. By now he and his wife are pros at this. \"We have had people for Earth Day, for the Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart march — we had a houseful for that one — we had a lot of people for the Women's March,\" Sturm said. Sturm said when he was younger, his mother would open up their Washington, D.C., home to relatives and their friends protesting the Vietnam War and the Cambodian incursion in the 1960s and 1970s. He said accommodating demonstrators traveling to the Washington area so their voices can be heard is simply carrying on his mother's legacy. \"I get great energy from the young people. I think it's contagious.\" Cindy Sherman, a speech language pathologist, lives in Northwest Washington, D.C., and is a mother of four. She is not involved with DC Teens Action. But a week after the Parkland shooting, she spent hours at her laptop emailing anyone she could think of to see about helping students find lodging. \"So within a week, I had about 130 families committed offering about 500 beds,\" Sherman said. Not all of those were filled, but she still gets emotional at the outpouring of support she received for her effort. DC Teens Action organizers found that the two biggest hurdles to students attending the march were transportation and lodging. They weren't in a position to address travel costs, said Gabrielle Zwi, 17, who is one of the organizers of the group. \"Because this is a student-centered movement, the majority of high-schoolers are under the age of 18, which means they can't book their own hotels and a few other things. So we decided to open our homes to those students,\" Zwi said. After posting a message on social media, the group got offers to place approximately 800 students. But after eliminating offers that were too far away and some after doing \"light background checks\" on potential hosts, the group placed about 300 students. Another organizer, Kate Lebrun, 18, who also attends Walter Johnson High School, said she really felt that school safety needed to be made a top priority in this country one week after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland. Lebrun was taking part in an off-campus demonstration on gun violence in Washington, D.C., last month when she got an alarming message about her school. \"While I was down there, I got news from my brother that there was a bomb threat at our high school and that everyone had been evacuated to the football field,\" Lebrun said. The bomb threat turned out to be a false alarm. Still, she points out that she was born the year after the 1999 Columbine shooting and that school shootings have been a common occurrence in her lifetime. \"This has been the norm for us growing up. In schools, we practice what to do when there's a shooter. And it's been happening since as long as I can remember in school,\" Lebrun said. Sherman says she has never participated in a demonstration before, but she will this weekend. \"I've cared about stuff, but I've never felt the need. I guess I never thought it would matter. But some reason I really think this matters, because it involves kids.\" AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: The student-led anti-gun violence rally March For Our Lives takes place in Washington this weekend. Since D.C. hotels are expensive, a number of area residents are opening up their homes free of charge to the students and families traveling to the nation's capital for the event. NPR's Brakkton Booker reports. BRAKKTON BOOKER, BYLINE: Phil Sturm is a realtor who lives in Chevy Chase, Md. PHIL STURM: I'm going to be a host for actually 18 to 20 - we think 18 but possibly 20 - that are driving up from North Carolina on Friday. BOOKER: He's allowing a group of high school and college students to stay at his home so they can all take part in the March For Our Lives demonstration on Saturday. By now, he and his wife are pros at this. STURM: We've had people for Earth Day. We have had people for the Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart march. We had a houseful for that one. We had a lot of people for the Women's March. BOOKER: Stur", "This post updated at 9:40 p.m ET. At least three people were wounded and one was killed after a lone gunman opened fire on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, according to Seattle police. Officials say the alleged shooter is in custody. The campus was placed on lockdown soon after the shooting began just before 3:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. ET). The Associated Press had quoted Seattle Police as saying there were four victims and a Harborview Medical Center spokesman as saying one of them had died in the hospital. However, Dept. Capt. Chris Fowler mentioned only three victims in a later news conference: \"We had a young male enter Otto Miller Hall on the Seattle Pacific University campus armed with a shotgun,\" Fowler said. \"[He] walked into the building, into the foyer, immediately confronted the three victims, and shot those three individuals. Two have life-threatening injuries and one has minor injuries.\" \"The shooter began to reload his shotgun and a student who is the building monitor inside the hall confronted the shooter, was able to subdue the individual and once on the ground, other students jumped on top of him and they were able to pin the shooter to the ground until police were able to arrive,\" he said. NPR member station KUOW reports: \"Police have one suspect in custody. They had said earlier they were looking for a second suspect — described as an armed white male with a long-sleeved blue shirt — but are no longer. \"Whether there are other victims remains unclear. The SWAT team continues to [canvass] the campus.\" Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called it \"a tragic moment for Seattle and a tragic moment for America once again.\"", "Authorities say the gunman was a former student who went into the school, heavily armed and started shooting. When it was all over, 17 people were dead. The suspect is in police custody." ]

[ "SAN DIEGO — Authorities asked the public Friday for help in identifying and tracking down a burglar who ransacked two residential complexes near Balboa Park over a several-week period last month.\nShortly before 2:30 a.m. Sept. 9, the thief forced entry to a parking garage and an office at an apartment complex in the 2600 block of Fifth Avenue in San Diego, then stole a laptop computer and an Amazon package, according to police.\nThe same person — described as a Latino or white man in his mid-30s to mid-40s — subsequently sneaked into a parking garage at a condominium complex in the 1400 block of Ninth Avenue by ducking underneath a security gate as vehicles entered or exited. He then forced his way into a locked storage room and stole bicycles after using bolt cutters to defeat locks intended to secure them from theft.\nSurveillance cameras captured images of the burglar, who at times wore a black zip-up hooded sweat shirt with an “SDSU” logo on it and a faded red baseball cap that appeared to have the name or acronym “BUBS” on the front.\nAnyone with information about the case was asked to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477 or contact the agency online at sdcrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000." ]

[ "Raw news helicopter video of the end of a police pursuit in Pacific Beach on Friday. The suspect, accused of burglary, led SDPD officers on a high-speed pursuit along southbound I-5 from Carmel Valley, tossing a bag out the window on the freeway. (Published 19 minutes ago)\nA suspected burglar seen running from a home in Del Mar Friday hopped into a car and led police on a high-speed chase down Interstate 5, throwing a bag out the window on the freeway as officers zeroed in on him.\nA housekeeper saw the man running from a home in Del Mar just after 10:30 a.m. and called police. Undercover and patrol units with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) saw the suspect’s car and, at around 10:40 a.m., tried to stop him on southbound I-5 near Carmel Valley.\nThe suspect refused to stop and led officers on a pursuit on the freeway, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph. The suspect exited at Balboa Avenue and Mission Bay Drive and stopped the car on Culver Street near Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach. There, the SDPD said he threw the car keys out of the window and surrendered to officers.\nInvestigators said the suspect threw a bag out the window on I-5 during the chase. Officers are recovering that bag to see what was inside – and whether it was something stolen from that home in Del Mar.\nNo one was hurt in the chase. The suspect’s name has not yet been released.\nThe investigation is ongoing.", "Please enable Javascript to watch this video\nCHICAGO – Police are investigating a series of bold robberies in two Chicago neighborhoods.\nFirst, in Albany Park, police say suspects have forced their way into apartments.\nIn two incidents, on North Spaulding and North Drake, two men forced their way in to apartments through the front door. The burglars took small items that they could grab and ran away.\nThere are have been more than five burglaries in the area since the middle of January\nPolice are asking residents to make sure they lock their doors and get an alarm system if they can.\nThe other neighborhood on alert is Bronzeville were there have been four burglaries.\nChicago police say it's a smash and grab ring. The suspects have used bricks to break windows or kick in the front door. The burglars grab what they can and take off.\nThe crimes started on January 11th in areas near 40th and Cottage Grove, and 45th and Drexel.\nMost crimes have happened during the day when most people are at work.\nAnyone with information is asked to call police.", "SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The theft of some family heirlooms from a home in North Park has left residents wondering if a burglar is targeting their neighborhood.\nMike Warnick and his wife, Kristin, returned to their home near University Avenue and Utah Street after 10 p.m. Tuesday and found the rooms ransacked. A screen had been cut open at a bedroom window.\nThe intruder had dumped the jewelry box in the walk-in closet. More than 40 pieces in all were gone, including jewelry gifted to them from Kristin's parents.\nAmong the missing items was a gold coin in the family for generations, watches and two rings given to Kristin by her grandmother, who passed away more than a decade ago.\n\"They are irreplaceable. It's very disheartening,\" said Warnick.\nThey're not alone.\nAccording to neighbors, in a one-block radius, there have been a total of four similar break-ins in the past month and a half, including two that Tuesday night.\nAnyone with information is asked to call the San Diego Police Department at 619-531-2000.", "Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a suspected burglar by a resident in Long Beach Monday morning.\nAuthorities were sent to the 200 block of East Artesia Boulevard to investigate a shooting report about 5:15 a.m., Long Beach Police Department Sgt. James Richardson stated.\nArriving officers found a man at the scene who had been shot in the upper body, Richardson said.\nInvestigators believe the wounded man was a burglar who had been shot by a resident, who remained at the scene and called police.\nThe suspected burglar was transported to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries, Richardson said. His identity has not been released.\nThe shooting was not believed to be gang related and is still under investigation, Richardson said.", "SAN DIEGO — Authorities reached out to the public Tuesday for help in identifying a burglar who assaulted an 82-year-old San Ysidro woman and stole her car after she caught him looting her home.\nThe octogenarian returned from an outing on the morning of March 29 to find the thief in the living room of her residence in the 200 block of West Park Avenue, according to San Diego police.\nThe intruder grabbed the woman, threw her down, threatened her with a knife and demanded she give him her car keys. She complied, and he fled in the woman’s silver 2003 Toyota Camry with various items he had stolen from her home.\nMedics took the victim to a hospital for treatment of scrapes and bruises to her hands and head.\nOfficers found the woman’s car abandoned a few blocks from her residence about an hour after the crime was reported.\nPolice have released an artist’s rendering of the perpetrator, described as a roughly 30-year-old, 5-foot-7-inch Latino with a thin mustache.\nAnyone with information about the case is asked to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.", "Broward Sheriff's Office detectives released video Thursday of two skinny burglars hitting a pair of cars in front of a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea home. The Broward Sheriff's Officer released video Thursday of a pair of car burglars who entered two unlocked cars parked in front of a Lauderdale-By-The-Sea home.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at The Miami Herald.", "Hoover police are investigating a spate of resident break-ins in the Inverness area, all of which happened while the residents were home.\nThree of the burglaries happened Wednesday, March 14, in the Barkley Square neighborhood, Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said Monday. In each of those crimes, the intruder entered the houses with no forced entry and rummaged through the victims' belongings without being detected.\nThe suspect also went into three vehicles that were either parked inside the garage or on the street in front of the homes, he said. In each case, the suspect removed items from the victims' purses before leaving the area.\nTwo more homes were burglarized in the Inverness Green neighborhood early Saturday morning. In both of those cases, Czeskleba said, the suspect entered through an unsecured door. Both victims in these cases encountered the suspect while he was still inside their homes. He immediately fled on foot once the victims discovered him.\nThe suspect also entered one of the victim's vehicles prior to him entering their home. They described him as a white male, about 6-feet tall and wearing dark clothing. Investigators believe it's like the suspect is the same in all five cases. Nobody was injured.\nPolice issued these reminders:\n- Don't leave items in plain view in your vehicle\n- Be sure to lock your vehicle every time you park it\n- Make sure the doors and windows to your home are locked and secure\n- Consider installing motion activated floodlights on the exterior of your home\nAnyone with information about the crimes is asked to call Hoover police Detective Todd Henningsen at 205-444-7534. Tipsters who wish to remain anonymous and qualify for a cash reward can call Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.", "BURGLARS have leapt between balconies to ransack a young woman’s apartment in Melbourne’s CBD overnight.\nThe 22-year-old woman heard strange noises while she was in the bathroom of her Katherine Place apartment before 11pm last night.\nShe left the bathroom to investigate and found her a number of items stolen.\nPolice believe three burglars jumped from an adjacent balcony to gain entry to the unit.\nJUNKIE BURGLAR JAILED FOR BASHING POLICEWOMAN\nBUNGLING BURGLAR GETS STUCK TRYING TO BREAK INTO SHOP\nTEENS CHARGED FOLLOWING ALLEGED BURGLARY SPREE\nThe same men are believed to have been involved in a series of armed robberies in nearby Batman Park a short time later.\nThe trio allegedly stole mobile phones from two victims.\nPolice arrested two teens aged 17 and 18 and a 30-year-old Deer Park man after a brief foot chase.\nPolice said items allegedly stolen from the burglary were recovered and will be returned.\nAll three remain in custody and are expected to be charged with aggravated burglary and attempted robbery.\nPolice are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incidents in Batman Park to contact Crime Stoppers.\nedward.gardiner@news.com.au\n@edjgardiner", "COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Columbus detectives are still searching for multiple serial burglar suspects, who have targeted about 30 businesses around Central Ohio since May.\nMany of these businesses are small and family owned. The burglars are going straight for the cash. Police said they are prying open registers, coin machines and stealing entire ATM’s.\nOne of the those businesses that was hit is VFW Post #4044.\n“Ran straight back like they knew what they were doing, grabbed the ATM machine flipped it over on its side and busted everything loose, cut the wires,” said post quartermaster Guy Andonian. “Believe it or not, they put it in the back seat of a car.”\nColumbus Police said the VFW was first robbed on June 2nd.\n“That was less than a two-minute job and our alarms were going off and everything,” said Andonian.\nBut, it wouldn’t be the last time. Andonian said they came back on July 25th. Using a crow bar, the burglars were able to get through the front doors, even dislodging a 600 lb security magnet.\n“They ran right behind the bar and started hitting the registers,” he said.\nAndonian said grocery store next door was hit less than two weeks after the VFW’s first burglary.\n“They used crow bars to get through its doors and couldn’t get the ATM machine out because they had it drilled and bolted to the floor,” he said. “It makes you feel uneasy. You don’t know how long it’s going to last in the area.”\nHe said they’ve lost about $3,000-$4,000 because of the burglaries, threatening their mission to help veterans in need.\n“We’re a veterans club,” said Andonian. “It makes it even worse because we’ve got veterans that have served to protect our country, but now we’ve got low-lives that are coming in and destroying what we have kind of built.”\nHe said they are considering moving the VFW to another location because of the crimes.\nPolice are urging anyone with a tip to call Detective Kevin Morris: 614-645-2177.", "Burglars are believed to have jumped from a balcony to rob a Melbourne apartment while the woman who lived there was in the bathroom.\nThe victim, 22, heard noises inside her Katherine Place home about 10.50pm on Monday and when she investigated, she found a number of items missing.\nPolice believe the same offenders attempted a number of robberies in nearby Batman Park shortly after. They arrested two teenage boys, 17 and 18, as well as a 30-year-old Deer Park man, after a short pursuit on foot.", "Los Angeles bird watchers may notice a new species cruising the waters at a couple Los Angeles lakes — and they can rent them to take a spin of their own. Be on the lookout for giant swan pedal boats at Echo Park and Lake Balboa.\nWheel Fun Rentals, which runs bike and boat rentals at parks around California and nationwide, launched new boats at the two locations this week.\nhttps://www.instagram.com/p/Bf1SG6zHIeM/?taken-by=wheelfunrentalsofficial\nThe avian-themed watercraft come in two sizes — the large swan seats up to five people, the smaller boat fits two adults and two children under 10 — and rents for $11 an hour for adults. Riders under 18 qualify for a $6 per hour rental.\nBut some are crying fowl, like Sherman Oaks resident Leslie Young.\n\"These 'swan boats,' while charming for some, intrude on the beauty of [Lake Balboa],\" Young said via email. \"There are so many places in L.A. to experience theme rides, but precious little nature left to appreciate.\"\nYoung admits she and her family are probably in the minority regarding their swan sentiment, but worried that the boats would add a theme-park feel to San Fernando Valley recreation spot Anthony C. Beilenson Park, which she said is \"plagued\" by crowds and parties during the summers.\nYoung said she had considered starting a petition against the swans, but now thinks the idea would be dead in the water, as many fellow residents in her neighborhood Facebook group seem to be onboard with the new boats.\n\"I think they’re cute and if it gets more families outdoors visiting the park, great,\" one resident wrote.", "Bizarre News More>>\nIntruder cleans apartment, takes nothing Intruder cleans apartment, takes nothing A man returned home from a trip and found that his apartment had been broken into — and cleaned. A man returned home from a trip and found that his apartment had been broken into — and cleaned.\nCar Crashes Down from Parking Garage Car Crashes Down from Parking Garage AUSTIN, TX (KEYE) - New video was released Wednesday from a car that crashed down from a parking garage. Back on July 13th, a woman was hospitalized after her vehicle plunges to the street from a 7th floor parking garage in Downtown Austin. It happened around the intersection of East Sixth and Brazos Streets. Police say the car fell off the parking garage and landed in an alley, hitting another car down below. \"The police officer said he saw the video and he said, '... AUSTIN, TX (KEYE) - New video was released Wednesday from a car that crashed down from a parking garage. Back on July 13th, a woman was hospitalized after her vehicle plunges to the street from a 7th floor parking garage in Downtown Austin. It happened around the intersection of East Sixth and Brazos Streets. Police say the car fell off the parking garage and landed in an alley, hitting another car down below. \"The police officer said he saw the video and he said, '...\nMassive, inflatable chicken with orange hair is staring down the White House Massive, inflatable chicken with orange hair is staring down the White House WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS) – The White House has an unusual onlooker Wednesday — a large, inflatable chicken with golden orange hair. The inflatable chicken, situated on the Ellipse facing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, is a visual that organizers of the Tax Day March have used in the past to coax President Trump to release his tax returns. Tax Day March events in cities from D.C. to Chicago to San Francisco this year have featured the large poultry prop as they p... WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS) – The White House has an unusual onlooker Wednesday — a large, inflatable chicken with golden orange hair. The inflatable chicken, situated on the Ellipse facing 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, is a visual that organizers of the Tax Day March have used in the past to coax President Trump to release his tax returns. Tax Day March events in cities from D.C. to Chicago to San Francisco this year have featured the large poultry prop as they p...\nAccused burglar doesn’t flush toilet, leaves DNA for California police Accused burglar doesn’t flush toilet, leaves DNA for California police VENTURA, CA (AP) — Investigators say a suspect accused of burglarizing a Southern California home took a bathroom break and left DNA evidence in the toilet that led to his arrest. Detective Tim Lohman of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office says the suspect did not flush during the October break-in in the city of Thousand Oaks. He says that allowed investigators to collect evidence to conduct a DNA profile. That profile matched another DNA profile in a national database ... VENTURA, CA (AP) — Investigators say a suspect accused of burglarizing a Southern California home took a bathroom break and left DNA evidence in the toilet that led to his arrest. Detective Tim Lohman of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office says the suspect did not flush during the October break-in in the city of Thousand Oaks. He says that allowed investigators to collect evidence to conduct a DNA profile. That profile matched another DNA profile in a national database ...\nPolice asking residents to not shoot Bigfoot after recent sighting Police asking residents to not shoot Bigfoot after recent sighting GREENVILLE, SC (WFLA) — The Greenville Police Department is asking that you don’t shoot Bigfoot. This comes in response to a reported sighting in Cleveland County, South Carolina earlier this week. The police department posted the following on its Facebook page: “After watching this video from nearby Boone, North Carolina, Facebook followers and friends, I think we can say with some confidence that proof of Bigfoot still eludes us. If you see Bigfoot, please... GREENVILLE, SC (WFLA) — The Greenville Police Department is asking that you don’t shoot Bigfoot. This comes in response to a reported sighting in Cleveland County, South Carolina earlier this week. The police department posted the following on its Facebook page: “After watching this video from nearby Boone, North Carolina, Facebook followers and friends, I think we can say with some confidence that proof of Bigfoot still eludes us. If you see Bigfoot, please...", "A burglary suspect was shot and killed by a resident in Long Beach early Monday, police said.Long Beach police were called to a report of a shooting in the 200 block of Artesia Boulevard at 5:16 a.m. Monday.They found a man who had been shot in the body. The Long Beach Fire Department brought the man to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.Police talked to a man at the scene and determined that he had shot a burglary suspect. He had called police after the shooting and remained at the scene.Police are continuing to investigate.", "Our home prices are astronomical and rents are reaching stratospheric heights. But one of the perks of being a San Diegan is that if you can afford to put a roof over your head, and if you can afford to take a break from the job that puts that roof over your head, you can enjoy our great outdoors on the cheap.\nIf you can make your way to one of our many parks — Balboa Park, Mission Bay Park, Mission Trails Regional Park, the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Chula Vista — you can park, wander, hike, meditate or show off for visitors, and it’s all free. The Torrey Pines Gliderport offers one of the most amazing views in San Diego, and it’s free, too.\nThe same goes for our beaches. There is no admission fee, and if you don’t mind the Blood, Sweat and Tears Tax, there is free parking, too.\nAnd now, thanks to a nationwide arts program, some of San Diego’s best interiors will be as inclusive as our exteriors.\nOn Tuesday, six San Diego-area museums became part of Museums for All, a national initiative to provide free or reduced-price access to low-income individuals and families. The discounts — which range from free to $3 access for one to four people — are available with the presentation of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cards and a valid photo ID.\nThe participating museums are the San Diego Natural History Museum and the San Diego History Center (both in Balboa Park), the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the New Children’s Museum (both in downtown San Diego), the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad and the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum in Escondido. The Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla is also on the Museums for All list, but it is currently closed due to a major expansion project.\nIf you qualify for the Museums for All discounts, this means that a bounty of local cultural treasures — the Natural History Museum’s hometown-centric “Coast to Cactus in Southern California” exhibit, the New Children’s Museum’s Zen-like “Rain House,” the San Diego History Center’s “Inside/Out” rotating display of items from its vast archives — are a lot more accessible than they used to be.\nIf you are not eligible for these discounts, they serve as an important reminder of what our local cultural institutions have already done to bring their prizes to the people.\nAdmission to the lovely Timken Museum in Balboa Park is always free, which never fails to shock visitors and locals alike. Also in the park, the San Diego History Center and the Museum of Photographic Arts have instituted flexible admission policies that allow patrons to pay what they can, even if that means just a smile on the way out.\nAt the San Diego History Center (and its Junipero Serra Museum in Presidio Park), visitors are encouraged to make a minimum donation of $10 to give future visitors the chance to pay what they can. When the Museum of Photographic Arts instituted its “Pay What You Wish” policy in 2015, it was the first of its kind in Southern California. That policy still holds, with visitors asked to make a voluntary contribution in lieu of paying a traditional admission fee.\nThere is also Balboa Park’s beloved and much-utilized Free Tuesday program. Free Tuesdays offers free general admission to San Diego County residents and to active military personnel and their dependents to park museums on a rotating basis. Check the City of San Diego Parks and Recreation website (sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation) or the Balboa Park website (balboapark.org) for the schedule.\nAnd every February, Macy’s Museum Month offers half-off admission to more than 40 participating San Diego museums. You missed your 2018 opportunity, but 2019 will be here before you know it.\nOn the museum-access front, San Diego will never reach the lofty heights of London, where the government has made general admission to all of the city’s major museums — the astounding British Museum, the eclectic Victoria and Albert Museum, the illuminating Imperial War Museum, to name just a few — free.\nWe all know that San Diego is pretty on the outside. But thanks to the Museums for All discounts and initiatives like the San Diego History Center and Museum of Photographic Art’s flexible admission policies and the Free Tuesday program, more San Diegans are getting the chance to see that our beauty is more than skin deep.\nSometimes one of the best views a city can offer is an open door.\nTwitter: @karla_peterson\nkarla.peterson@sduniontribune.com", "A Tulsa business has been hit with burglaries four times in the past 90 days, including this weekend.\nThe owners of Bulldog Film and Video are so fed up, they're offering a reward to anyone who can identify the thieves.\nWhen at first the burglar couldn't break into a door, he broke a window of one of the trucks in the parking lot and found a hatchet.\nThat's when he came back and used it to literally chop his way into the door.\nYou can see the resulting damage he left before he went inside.\nThere is video of the most recent burlgar.\nHe was on the property for nearly an hour and the first thing he did was head for the cameras.\n\"He jumped over that fence and took the board and starting moving all the cameras out of position,\" said Brian Blagowsky, burglary victim.\nThey've had thousands in generators, mowers, tools and camera gear stolen.\nEach time they get hit, they add more security. First, they added bars to all the windows.\n\"They spread the bars with a hydraulic jack, enough for somebody to squeeze through the little four inch opening,\" Blagowsky said.\nThen, bars inside the doors to keep thieves out of the main studio.\nThey added an alarm and cameras, but, it didn't stop.\n\"They've probably cut our fence here at least eight or nine times,\" Blagowsky said.\nA man broke in in May. They hope someone recognizes his unique skull shirt.\nA man broke in on Fourth of Julu and someone else came that same night and took more items.\nThen, over the weekend, hit again — more theft, more expensive damage.\nThey say police tell them they're too understaffed to patrol, so now Blagowsky is offering cash to whoever can identify the burglars.\nThey plan to add more security cameras, more motion detectors, more alarms — but the problem is no matter how much they keep adding to fortify this place, burglars keep getting in and they're tired of it, so if you recognize these guys, call police.", "Three men were sent to the hospital this weekend after being assaulted in separate incidents in the Mission District.\nThe first assault occurred on Friday night near 16th and Shotwell streets, after a verbal argument between a 58-year-old man and an unidentified woman turned physical. At about 10:53 p.m., police report that the woman grabbed a metal pipe and struck the man with it, causing non-life-threatening injury. The woman left the scene before police arrived, and the man was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.\nAt 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, police arrested a 21-year-old man who, along with two other unidentified suspects, attacked and robbed a 22-year-old man near 23rd and Mission streets. According to a police report, the victim was near the intersection when he was approached by the group of three men, who physically attacked him and stole his cellphone and wallet. The victim was injured and transported to a nearby hospital while the suspects at first were able to flee the scene. One of them, the 22-year-old suspect, was later located and arrested by police.\nAt 11:45 p.m. on Sunday, a 24-year-old man was attacked with a “Wet Floor” sign outside of business at McCoppin and Valencia Streets. According to a police report, the victim was involved in a verbal argument with two employees of the business, a man estimated to be in his early 40s and a woman who is estimated to be in her mid 30s. The man reportedly jumped over the counter and followed the victim outside of the business, where he struck the victim.\nThe woman allegedly followed, proceeded to pick up the sign and hit the victim with it. Once the suspects stopped striking the victim, the latter fled the scene in his vehicle. Police have not reported any arrests.\nTwo robberies\nTwo women used pepper spray to rob a 27-year-old man of his pants and wallet on Sunday morning. The attack happened near 25th and Shotwell streets while the victim was sitting his car around 3:05 a.m. One of the women, estimated to be between 20 and 30 years old, approached the man’s car on foot and asked to borrow the man’s phone.\nWhen the man got out of his car, she deployed the pepper spray while the second suspect appeared and hit the victim. The suspects robbed the man and then fled on foot, evading arrest.\nA group of teens reportedly robbed another teen near 24th and Folsom streets on Friday. At about 3:50 p.m., the 17-year-old victim was walking when one of the suspects, estimated to be between 16 and 18 years old, grabbed him from behind. The other then approached and went through his pockets. After stealing the victim’s his cell phone, the group fled on food. No arrests were made.\nShots fired\nPolice responded to report of shots fired near 26th and Folsom streets on Friday. At about 3:48 a.m., police responded to a Shot Spotter activation in that area but located no suspects, witnesses or property damage. Several bullet casings were recovered at the scene.\nString of burglaries\nPolice also reported multiple burglaries throughout the Mission over the weekend.\nThe first occurred at a residence near 24th Street and San Jose Avenue at 4 a.m. on Friday. Police report that the 28-year-old victim awoke to a sound at her window. When the woman got up to check on its source, she saw an unidentified suspect standing outside of it and shining a flashlight inside. The suspect then reached into the woman’s window and stole a speaker before fleeing on foot.\nSometime between midnight and 2 a.m. on Sunday, an unidentified burglar entered the home of a 53-year-old woman near 17th and Church streets. The victim awoke at 2 a.m. after hearing her dogs barking at a noise coming from the back of her house. At 6 a.m, the victim discovered that her laptops, tablet, speakers, purses, checkbook and credit cards were missing. Police have not made an arrest.\nResidents of a home near 17th and Guerrero streets woke up at 10 a.m. on Sunday to discover their shoes and bikes missing from their garage, but did not see any suspects. No arrests have been made.\nAt 4:50 a.m. Sunday, an unidentified suspect entered a residence on Lapidge Street, between 18th and 19th streets, and made off with a backpack and several laptops belonging to the men living there. The home’s tenants were asleep during the incident, but one of them awoke to hear footsteps and the front door closing. Upon running outside, the tenants saw the suspect running down the street and realized that the items were missing. Police have not reported an arrest.\nSometime around 7 a.m. on Sunday, the resident of a home on Fair Oaks Street entered his bathroom and after coming out 15 mintues later, saw a man climbing out the front window of his home. The burglar managed to snag the victim’s cell phone and laptop and evade arrest.\nA man and a woman, both 26 years old, were arrested after entering the home of a 55-year-old man and 21-year-old woman on Linda St on Sunday night. The victims were asleep when a witness saw the woman entering the building at 11:20 p.m. and called 911. Responding officers encountered both suspects on the scene and took the pair into custody.\nAt 4:30 a.m. on Monday, an unidentified person entered the home of a 33-year-old woman and stole her laptop. The woman awoke to the sound of the burglar opening the door to her bedroom. The burglar managed to flee the scene before police arrived.\nCrime is trauma and the county offers different services, which can be found here. Victims of violent crime can also contact the Trauma Recovery Center at UCSF.", "SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A San Bruno man who alleged targeted visitors to San Francisco has been charged with 20 counts related to an auto burglary spree between 2016 and 2017, San Francisco prosecutors said.\nDeshawn Patton, 21, was booked into San Francisco County Jail on $625,000 bail.\nHe was charged with nine misdemeanors, including two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of possession of a burglary tool, one count of unauthorized use of radio communication, three counts of resisting police officers, one count of theft and one count of hit-and-run causing property damage.\nThe alleged crimes happened between April 12, 2016 and May 18, 2017, according to the district attorney’s office.\nProsecutors said six of eight victims were from out of town and six of the eight victim vehicles were rental cars. The victims were visiting\nSan Francisco from Los Angeles, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Rhode Island, China and Germany.\nPolice said officers attempted to arrest Patton on four separate occasions but he fled each time by ramming a police car, ramming a victim’s vehicle that he had burglarized or running away.\n“We’re working closely with the Police Department to identify and disrupt the most prolific auto burglary rings,” District Attorney George\nGascon said.\n\\", "San Diego has adopted a new policy for naming city libraries, parks and other assets that is expected to spur more donations, especially for renovations of Balboa Park’s aging buildings.\nThe policy also aims to prevent inappropriate commercialization of city properties and protect the city from having them named for harmful, controversial or disreputable people or organizations.\nA city in Missouri that lacked such a policy was forced to allow the Ku Klux Klan to participate in an adopt-a-highway program after the group sued to overturn being rejected from the program.\nThe City Council last week unanimously adopted the policy, which covers all city assets and combines a hodgepodge of policies individual city departments have been using into a comprehensive and universal set of regulations.\nThe policy outlines the criteria, conditions and procedures that govern naming and renaming of city assets.\nNatasha Collura, the city’s executive director of corporate sponsorships, said San Diego reviewed the policies of 26 cities and universities in crafting the new regulations.\nCouncilman Chris Ward, whose district includes Balboa Park, said the policy was a crucial step forward.\n“It’s important that the city has a comprehensive and clear naming policy to ensure that we’re properly recognizing those individuals for their civic or financial involvement,” Ward said.\nThomas Herrera-Mishler, chief executive of the Balboa Park Conservancy, said the policy will help his group when opportunities arise to secure major donations, which he said was likely.\n“I expect to become very adept at following this procedure in the coming years,” Herrera-Mishler told the council.\nSave Our Heritage Organisation, a local group that seeks to preserve historic buildings, also endorsed the new policy.\nCouncilwoman Georgette Gomez said another key element of the policy is preventing naming of assets that overcommercialize the city, urging city officials to be cautious.\n“Let’s make sure it doesn’t get out of control,” she said.\nCollura said the new policy won’t prevent litigation like the Ku Klux Klan lawsuit, but will help the city defend itself.\n“The current policies did not adequately protect the city if the city chose not to accept funds from organizations that do not reflect city values,” she said.\nThe policy allows the city to reject naming or renaming proposals that portray or include depictions, words, or phrases that the city deems to be harmful, controversial or that otherwise don’t support city principles.\nThe policy also allows the city to rename any city asset if the resident, organization or business for which it is named turns out to be disreputable or becomes disreputable.\ndavid.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick", "Four armed suspects were caught on camera in a terrifying Van Nuys home-invasion robbery.\"In this particular case, there was somebody home and it's a really dangerous situation,\" LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said.Police said it happened just after 4 a.m. on June 2 at an apartment building in the 15100 block of Vanowen Street.Lopez said the suspects targeted one victim and shots were fired inside the apartment.Police said it's not clear what the thieves stole or how they got away. They said it's important the suspects are caught.\"Obviously with shots fired they're really dangerous,\" Lopez said.Three of the suspects are described as 5 feet 10 inches, 170 pounds, with brown eyes and hair. The fourth suspect is also 5 feet 10 inches tall at 170 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair, a moustache and goatee.Authorities said at least two of the suspects were armed with handguns.Neighbor Emilio Rodriguez said these kinds of crimes seem to be on the rise, which is making the community uneasy.\"For the most part a lot of people are good, good hard-working families. But unfortunately we have some people that just want to get it the fast way, I guess,\" he said. \"We just hope that these people get caught and the violence and the home invasions stop because it could happen any day, any time to anybody.\"Deborah Tummolilo said it's nerve-wracking and is affecting the way her granddaughter plays.\"That's one of the worst things, too. We don't let her play outside, particularly unsupervised,\" she said.Authorities are urging anyone with more information to come forward.Anyone with more information is asked to call Van Nuys division Detective Mendoza at (818) 374-0086 or Detective Cheun at (818) 374-0081. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.", "The city is hoping a free trolley service over the summer weekends will help alleviate traffic and parking issues at the Balboa Peninsula. The City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night, with Mayor Kevin Muldoon and Councilman Scott Peotter dissenting, to approve a pilot program for the trolley service, which will begin June 17 and run for 12 weekends and July 4. \"The peninsula trolley pilot program brings together government, residents and private businesses to improve a situation facing all of us in Newport Beach, and that's traffic congestion,\" said Councilwoman Diane Dixon.\nStart the conversation, or Read more at The Wave.", "A man broke into two Lincoln Park homes in a 20-minute span early Sunday morning and sexually abused children who were asleep in their bedrooms, Chicago police said.\nThe man first entered a home in the 400 block of West Belden Avenue on the North Side around 2 a.m. and abused a 13-year-old girl, police said in a community alert.\nNext, he went into a home a few in the 500 block of West Grant Place about 20 minutes later and abused an 11-year-old girl.\nPolice are searching for a person of interest who was seen in the area during the incidents, according to the alert.\nHe is a white man, 20 to 30 years old, with a light complexion and short brown or strawberry blonde hair, the alert said.\nHe is about 160 pounds and 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 7 inches. He was wearing a button-down, light-colored shirt with front pockets and sleeves rolled up, slim fitting dark pants and white gym shoes. He is a cigarette smoker.\nAnyone with information is asked to call Area Central detectives at 312-747-8380.", "BERKELEY (CBS SF) – Berkeley police last week arrested a man they believe pulled the trigger in a shooting near San Pablo Park in July in which a bullet nearly hit a resident in the head.\nBerkeley resident Anthony McCurty, 37, was arrested at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 3200 block of Briggs Avenue in Alameda, where police served a search warrant.\nPolice said they believe McCurty was responsible for a shooting that occurred at about 3:50 p.m. on July 24 near the intersection of Acton and Burnett streets.\nAccording to police, bullets from the gun did not hit anyone, but one bullet nearly hit a resident in the head when it passed through the wall of her home in the 1300 block of Burnett Street.\nInformation that investigators gathered during the arrest led them to an apartment in the 5600 block of Bay Street in Emeryville, where they found a stolen .45-caliber pistol and narcotics.\nMcCurty is being held in the county jail on $635,000 bail.\n© Copyright 2017 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "The following April 23, 2018 crime report was supplied by LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore of the West L.A. Division. Arrests do not indicate a conviction.\nStolen Vehicle\n600 E Rustic, 4/21/18 at 6:15 PM. The suspect (male white, brown hair, 5’8″ 160 lb, 20/25 years) took victim’s vehicle from a residential driveway.\nBurglary\n200 Alma Real, btwn 4/14/18 at 2PM and 4/16/18 at 7 AM. The suspect entered location under construction, possibly using a key, and took several televisions.\n200 Mabery, 3/30/18 btwn 1 AM and 10 AM. The suspect entered home and took victim’s tools.\nTheft\n600 East Channel, 4/14/18 at 8 AM and 4/15/18 at 10 PM. The suspect (possibly worker inside resident) took victim’s wallet and money.", "Join 10News and March of Dimes as we march for all healthy babies.\nMarch for Babies® is a day for everyone. Together we hope for a day when all moms and babies are healthy. We remember those babies we lost. We celebrate every baby. Families, businesses, and volunteers dedicated to the fight for the health of all moms and babies take part in March for Babies, March of Dimes biggest annual fundraising event.\nIn San Diego, much of those funds raised locally go to research, leading programs and providing education and advocacy, much of it right here in our community supporting organizations like UCSD NeoNatal, Rady Childrens’ Hospital or The Salk Institute.\nEach walk distance is 3.5 miles along beautiful routes within the parks.\nRegistration: 7:00 a.m. Start: 8:00a.m.\nSunday, April 23rd\nMance Buchanon Park\n425 College Blvd.\nOceanside, CA 92057\nSaturday, April 28th\nBalboa Park\n2514 6th Ave.\nSan Diego, CA 92103\nSIGN UP TO WALK OR DONATE: marchforbabies.org\nMance Buchanon Park is a beautiful enclosed park. There is plenty of parking all along the perimeter of the park. Our festival zone will be in the middle near the main building.\nBalboa Park walkers are encouraged to park in the Inspiration Point parking lot off of Park Blvd. Shuttles will be running to take walkers to the festival zone. Our festival zone and start and finish line is at the corner of 6th Ave and Laurel St.\nThere will be a registration tent at each location where you can drop off any additional cash or checks and pick up your t-shirt if you’ve raised over $100!\nIf you don’t need to drop off funds or pick up a shirt, there is no need to stop by registration, you can simply enjoy our festival zone! Stroller are of course permitted along the walk route. Feel free to run the route, however please note that the March of Dimes will not be keeping time for runners.\nPlease do not bring your bike, bikers will not be permitted on the walk route in the interest of the safety of all other walkers.\nDogs ARE welcome at the Balboa Park walk, however they are not permitted at the Oceanside walk site.\nTogether we hope for a day when all moms and babies are healthy. Families, businesses, and volunteers dedicated to the fight for the health of all moms and babies take part in March for Babies®, March of Dimes biggest annual fundraising event.\nAll March for Babies events are non-smoking.\nAbout March of Dimes\nMarch of Dimes is the leading non-profit organization for pregnancy and baby health.\nIf you had a heel prick test, and APGAR score, were ever given a Polio Vaccine or your mother took Folic Acid during pregnancy, chances are YOU are a March of Dimes Baby. Since 1938, March of Dimes has been actively working to fight infant disease, birth defects and premature birth across the globe.\nMarch of Dimes offers comprehensive information on pregnancy and newborn topics, such as, complications, caring for your baby, birth defects, folic acid, etc. Through marchofdimes.com you can search various pregnancy related topics and access medical references, publications, and reports.", "The following May 29, 2018 crime report was supplied by LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore of the West L.A. Division. Arrests do not indicate a conviction.\nBurglary\n600 Las Lomas Ave, 5/1/18 btwn 11 AM and 12 PM. The suspect (male Hispanic, black hair, 30/35 years, short hair and beard) entered a construction site, took victim’s tools, and fled in a white pick-up truck.\nBurglary/Theft from Vehicle\n800 Fiske, btwn 5/9/18 at 11 AM and 5/13/18 at 8 AM. The suspect removed the catalytic converter from victim’s vehicle.\n800 Toyopa, 5/20/18 btwn 9:25 AM and 10:25 AM. The suspect entered victim’s vehicle and took a gift card.\nTheft\n14700 Pacific Coast Hwy, 5/24/18 at 12 PM. The suspect took victim’s backpack while victim was using the restroom.\n100 Rockingham, btwn 3/6/18 at 9 AM and 5/11/18 at 8 AM. The suspect removed jewelry from victim’s home.\n1500 Michael Ln, 5/15/18 at 10 AM. The suspect tricked victim into sending money claiming the victim would receive $4000.\n1200 Rimmer, btwn 4/12/18 at 12 PM and 5/18/18 at 2 PM. The suspect took money and a blank check from victim’s home.\n100 West Channel, 5/18/18 btwn 10:45 PM and 11 PM. The suspect took victim’s cell phone from her purse.\nViolation Of Court Order\nSunset/Swarthmore, 5/24/18 at 9 AM. A 61-year-old male was arrested for violation of a court order after loitering in the Palisades Village.", "Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nSeveral homes have been attacked by stone-throwing yobs and thieves. Here’s the round-up of grassroots crime in the Huddersfield area from over the past few days.\nBeaumont Park\nIntruders entered a house in Woodside Road via an unlocked door and stole a laptop from the hallway at 6pm on Wednesday, April 5.\nBirkby\nIntruders smashed a security lock to enter a garage in Armitage Road, but made off empty-handed at 2pm on Sunday, April 3.\nThree laptops, a TV, a rucksack and a wallet containing credit, debit and store cards were taken from a house in Norwood Road at 2.15pm on Friday, April 7.\nDalton\nA front door was vandalised at a house in Tolson Crescent at 5pm on Monday, April 3.\nBurglars entered a house in Cow Heys and searched the living room before leaving empty-handed at 8.10pm on Tuesday, April 4.\nA wing mirror of a car parked in Coach Hose Drive was smashed at 7.50pm on Tuesday, April 4.\nDeighton\nStones were thrown at a property in Scott Vale at 6.10pm on Tuesday, April 4, causing damage to a motor vehicle and the house door.\nDenby Dale\nIntruders forced the door of a house at Leak Hall Lane, damaging the door, before searching the property and leaving. Nothing was stolen in the incident which happened as 6pm on Wednesday, April 5.\nEmley\nA Peugeot 208 parked in Warburton was stolen at 9pm on Friday, April 7.\nFixby\nThe front near side window of an Audi A3 parked on Bradford Road was smashed and a sat nav and media system was taken at 10.30pm on Friday, April 7.\nGledholt\nA large stone was used to smash a window at a house in Heaton Road at 11.45am on Friday, April 7.\nHighburton\nThe boot of a Renault Scenic parked in Highfield Road was scratched at noon on Wednesday, April 5.\nHonley\nStones and other items were thrown at a property in Roundway at 11.34pm on Wednesday, April 5, smashing a kitchen window. A bedroom window of a house in Roundway was also broken in a similar incident at 2.40am on Thursday, April 6.\nKirkburton\nBurglars smashed panels of a door with a crowbar and stole two off-road motorcycles at a property in Thorncliff Lane at 11pm on Sunday, April 9.\nKirkheaton\nA rock was thrown and smashed a headlight of a Fiat Ducato parked in Fields Rise at 7.15pm on Friday, April 7.\nLindley\nJewellery and jewellery boxers were stolen from a bedroom at a house in Cressfield Road by burglars who scaled a fence to gain entry through an unlocked kitchen window before leaving by unlocking the back door and porch door using keys that had been left in the locks. The incident happened at 11am on Tuesday, April 4.\nBurglars failed to break into a house in Burwood Road after attempting to snap the locks on the back door and side door at 10.25pm on Wednesday, April 5.\nLockwood\nVandals smashed a double-glazed window of a house in Stanley Street at 5.30pm on Saturday, April 8.\nMarsh\nA make-up bag and contents were taken from a Peugeot 207 parked in Dudley Road after the nearside front window was smashed at 10.30pm on Wednesday, April 5.\nMeltham\nVandals scratched the passenger doors, bonnet and boot of an Audi A1 at Sunny Heys at noon on Sunday, April 9.\nNewsome\nA brick was thrown causing damage to a house in White Hart Drive at 10.45pm on Thursday, April 6. Two-and-a-half hours later, a missile was thrown at a door in the same street, causing an outer pane to crack.\nOakes\nThieves forced the lock on the driver’s door of a Peugeot car parked in Chiltern Avenue and stole a sat nav, holdall, cash and Raleigh folding bike at 9pm on Sunday, April 2.\nThe near-side front quarter light of a Peugeot 208 parked in New Hey Road was broken to gain entry but nothing was taken. The incident happened at 2.30am on Monday, April 3.\nThieves got into a portable building at a building site in Crosland Road via an unlocked window, turned off the CCTV and used plant machinery to pull open the door of a container and steal machinery and tools. The incident happened at 9.30pm on Wednesday, April 5.\nPaddock\nA bag of tools was stolen from an unlocked Mazda van at Royds Avenue, Paddock at 6pm on Wednesday, April 5.\nBurglars got into an unlocked shed in the front gardens of a house at West View and stole garden tools, hand tools and a sack cart at 6pm on Friday, April 7.\nRawthorpe\nBurglars entered business premises at Nether Hall Avenue via a skylight and took a number of items before leaving via the fire exit at 5pm on Tuesday, April 4.\nShepley\nThe occupant of a property in Firth Street disturbed an intruder trying to break into a garage at 1.40am on Monday, April 10.", "People in Burbank and Toluca Lake are being advised to lock their homes and cars after security cameras captured a woman targeting Valley residents. Kim Baldonado reports for the NBC4 News at 5 on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Published 47 minutes ago)\nResidents are on edge after a mystery woman began targeting their Burbank and Toluca Lake neighborhoods.\nResidents say their neighborhood is usually quiet and safe, but that sense of safety has been shaken as the woman has been captured on several security cameras going through unlocked cars and trying to break into people's homes.\n\"We've had someone going around opening doors, trying to get into people's homes, getting into people's homes and stealing,\" said Burbank and Toluca Lake neighborhood Watch Captain Jill Share.\nThe mystery woman has long, dark hair and was seen wearing Ugg boots with knee-high socks while carrying a large black bag with a white Chanel logo.\n\"It was bizarre,\" said Linda Flaherty, a Burbank resident whose car was targeted. \"I think it's absolutely bizarre. It's like 2:30 in the afternoon, broad daylight, sun shining and she just blatantly walks up like she owns the place.\"\nKaren Koenig's home was burglarized on the same day Flaherty's car was ransacked, forcing her to change the way she lives. \"My door is locked 24/7, my windows are locked 24/7,\" Koenig said, lamenting the fact that the woman could be targeting her neighborhood precisely because residents usually feel safe enough to let their guard down.\nNeighbors are now warning each other, posting flyers and alerting one another on Facebook and the NextDoor app.\n\"It's crazy. We've got to get her off the streets,\" Flaherty said.", "Burglaries were up dramatically last year, continuing with the trend of the past several years. The Juneau Police Department said there were 310 burglaries reported in 2016. That’s triple the 94 burglaries that were reported in 2012.\nLast year’s spike in burglaries continued even into the first few months of this year, Juneau Police Detective Benjamin Beck said.\n“It appears to me that there is a group of serial burglars, people who were repeatedly committing burglaries. And I think it’s evident by some arrests that have been made lately,” Beck said. “After those arrests, the amount of burglaries has declined rapidly. There’s been a huge drop in burglaries after those arrests.”\nDespite that, Beck said there are still burglaries committed as random crimes of opportunity.\nBurglary is defined by any unlawful entry into a structure to commit theft.\nBurglars tend to hit businesses during the night, and go through homes during the day when everyone is at work or school.\n“It was more initially just like shock of, wait, somebody was in our house and then feeling kind of violated and feeling yucky,” said Amy Dressel, whose house was burglarized in February.\nThe shock later turned to sadness as she realized what was missing, she said.\nIt’s possible that someone was watching her house in February before they burglarized it, Dressel said. The burglar went through her place after she left for work and while her mom was out walking the dogs.\n“They obtained entry to our house and then they went through the bedrooms and emptied every possible thing that they could find that was of value: jewelry boxes, memory boxes,” Dressel said. “They went through the drawers of the bedrooms and, I guess, shelfs.”\nDressel said some of her acquaintances found a few of her items disposed by the burglar in the landfill and in Gold Creek.\nCraig Millard suspects that someone broke into his house, twice.\nThe first time was in December when someone entered through a garage side door and stole winter coats and camping gear stored in the garage.\nThe burglar returned in March while he and his roommate were sleeping and stole a few items in the kitchen area.\n“The first time it was probably unlocked and that’s how they got in,” Millard said. “The second time JPD thinks that they probably carded the door knob because that’s why we got that plate installed.”\nA new set of interlocking plates on the garage’s side door and door jamb prevents the old trick of using your identification or credit card to enter a locked door.\nDavid Noon said someone last October kicked in a poorly installed deadbolt lock on the backdoor of his house.\nThe burglar made a mess in the living room before running off with Noon’s hard drive full of children’s photos, his kids Pokémon cards and his grandfather’s pocketwatch.\n“I noticed a couple things that were odd, like I had a new pair of headphones that I couldn’t find and there was a deck of cards that was strewn on the floor,” Noon said. “I got in touch with my daughter and she’s like ‘No, I didn’t make that mess.’ And that’s when it just clicked in my head, yeah, there had been some burglaries in the neighborhood.”\nThe burglar didn’t bother taking a small antique silver set and signed Norman Rockwell prints. Luckily, Noon said he had his laptop and iPad with him when the burglar paid a visit.\n“There is a direct correlation between the opioid epidemic, the use of powdered drugs, generally — by that I mean heroin and methamphetamine — and our unprecedented spike in property crime,” District Attorney James Scott said.\nDespite staff layoffs and sweeping changes in drug laws that reclassified some possession crimes as misdemeanors, Scott said prosecution of burglaries and drug crimes still is a priority.\n“The vast majority of people that we prosecute for residential burglaries and business burglaries are people who ultimately are found to be committing crimes to support drug habits,” Scott said.\nThe Juneau Police Department also said thefts and larcenies also increased last year. From 2012 through 2015, they ranged from 742 to 991. They increased to 1,212 last year.", "Overland Park police say an accused burglar tried to talk his way into homes by claiming to be with Google Fiber.", "Three cars were stolen in the early hours of this morning (October 6) in Kenilworth after burglars broke into three homes and stole the vehicles’ keys.\nTwo of the burglaries took place in Glasshouse Lane.\nOne of the homes had a side window smashed by burglars, who stole a wallet and a set of keys to a Jaguar, which was then stolen from the drive. This is incident 63 of October 6.\nAnother home was broken into via the rear conservatory, and keys to a BMW were taken. The car was then stolen. This is incident 72 of October 6.\nAnd at just before 2am, an Audi was stolen from a house in Common Lane after its keys were stolen from the house. This is incident 32 of October 6.\nA spokesperson for Kenilworth Watch said: “There is a limit as to what people can do to protect their homes and vehicles.\n“We encourage residents to do all they can but when the town is being hit like it has and is being with car key burglaries it’s about investigations and regular police patrols.\n“We want an assurance on these needs as some residents are becoming frightened and dismayed.”", "Newport Beach is prepared to spend about $1.8 million to cap Balboa Island’s seawalls.\nThe City Council will vote on a contract Tuesday for Chatsworth-based Bosco Constructors to add a 9-inch concrete cap to about a mile and a half of the publicly maintained seawalls on the north, south and west sides of the main Balboa Island.\nThe project breaks down to $1.4 million for construction and about $350,000 for contingency, consultant services, materials and geotechnical testing and incidentals.\nThe cap will help protect the community from flooding during especially high tides, officials say.\nWork is expected to start in November and be done by the spring, with a hiatus during the holidays and the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.\nThe extension, which would bring the walls to 8½ to 9 feet, is a less costly stopgap measure in place of replacing the aging walls.\nThe walls were built between 1929 and 1939 and are considered to be in fair condition, with some superficial cracking and pitting. With continued maintenance, they should have 10 or more years left in them, according to a staff report.\nThe new project will make the main island’s walls about as tall as those on Little Balboa Island, which the city capped in the late 1980s.\nPeninsula crosswalk study\nDuring the study session, the council will review the results of a Balboa Peninsula crosswalk safety study. City staff, which has already shared the study at a town hall hosted by Councilwoman Diane Dixon and a meeting of the city’s Balboa Village Advisory Committee, suggest an overhaul of the tourist-heavy area’s crosswalks.\nFuture safety measures could include higher-contrast pavement markings, added signage, flashing beacons and curb extensions.\nDrone regulations\nAlso during the study session, the police department will review drone regulation in other cities and seek council and resident direction on local approaches.\nTuesday’s meeting starts at 4 p.m. with the study session, followed by the regular session at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.\nhillary.davis@latimes.com\nTwitter: @Daily_PilotHD", "Sheriff’s deputies patrolling through Bonsall for looters taking advantage of the Lilac Fire arrested a woman for burglary in the 29000 block of Disney Lane Saturday afternoon.\nA real estate agent called the deputies to report a suspicious person inside a house for sale around 12:45 p.m.\nAfter determining the suspect didn’t live there she was arrested for burglary (looting) during a state of emergency. She had entered the property, taken various household items and put them in her car.\nThe resident arrived at the home and confirmed the suspect did not belong there.\nThe suspect was later identified as Sacheen Silvercloud. Silvercloud was booked into the Vista Detention Facility.\nVista Station Detectives will be handling the follow-up investigation." ]

[ "Multicellular glands. The simplest form of a multicellular gland is a secretory epithelial sheath-a surface epithelium consisting entirely of secretory cells (e.g. the epithelium lining the inner surface of the stomach, where the mucous secretion protects the stomach wall from the acidic contents of the stomach) ." ]

[ "A large polypeptide attached to dimers of the secreted form of IgA. Structurally unrelated to immunoglobulins and synthesized by epithelial cells in the secretory gland, not by the plasma cells that synthesize the immunoglobulin.", "Noun. 1. exocrine gland-a gland that secretes externally through a duct. duct gland, exocrine. gland, secreter, secretor, secretory organ-any of various organs that synthesize substances needed by the body and release it through ducts or directly into the bloodstream. oil gland-a gland that secretes oil.xocrine gland. n. 1. (Anatomy) any gland, such as a salivary or sweat gland, that secretes its products through a duct onto an epithelial surface.", "In the human digestive system, the main sites of digestion are the oral cavity, the stomach, and the small intestine. Digestive enzymes are secreted by different exocrine glands including: 1 Salivary glands.2 Secretory cells in the stomach.3 Secretory cells in the pancreas. 4 Secretory glands in the small intestine.igestive enzymes are secreted by different exocrine glands including: 1 Salivary glands. 2 Secretory cells in the stomach. 3 Secretory cells in the pancreas. 4 Secretory glands in the small intestine.", "The salt gland is an organ for excreting excess salts. It is found in elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, and skates), seabirds, and some reptiles.Sharks ' glands are found in their rectum, birds' and reptiles' in or on the skull in the area of the eyes, nostrils or mouth.These glands are lobed containing many secretory tubules which radiate outward from the excretory canal at the center. Secretory tubules are lined with a single layer of epithelial cells.he evolution of a salt gland in early reptiles and birds allowed them to eat aquatic plants and animals with high salt concentrations. This evolutionary development does not account for the gland in elasmobranchs, suggesting convergent evolution.", "Cystic fibrosis (SIS-tik fi-BRO-sis), or CF, is an inherited disease of the secretory (see-KREH-tor-ee) glands. Secretory glands include glands that make mucus and sweat.Inherited means the disease is passed from parents to children through genes.ystic fibrosis (SIS-tik fi-BRO-sis), or CF, is an inherited disease of the secretory (see-KREH-tor-ee) glands. Secretory glands include glands that make mucus and sweat.", "The large salivary glands form three paired groups: 1 the sublingual gland s, which are positioned beneath the tongue and embedded deeply in the connective tissue of the oral cavity, 2 the submandibular glands and. 3 the parotid glands, which lie outside the oral cavity.ecture and lab focus on the one organ found within the oral cavity, the tongue, and the glands which empty their secretory products into the oral cavity, the salivary glands. In the lab you will also have the opportunity the examine one other specialized epithelial area, the lip.", "'going away'. Describes nerves that carry impulses away from the central nervous system, or from relay stations outside it, to effector organs or tissues, e.g. motor nerves to muscle, secretory nerves to glands.", "Describe some of the major genetic and environmental factors that can cause developmental disabilities. Describe why knowing the causes of a developmental disability may affect the support you provide. Identify and use strategies to get additional information about specific conditions. Lesson 5: Services for People with Developmental Disabilities", "However, the four . Types of animal tissues can be sub-divided further as each includes several different sub-types of the tissue, each being specialised to meet specific needs and/or perform particular tasks. Epithelial tissue exists in many forms and can be classified or sub-divided in different ways.Types of Epithelial Tissue: Each of the sub-divisions of epithelial tissue identified above can be described in terms of its structure (using both text and diagrams), location, and function within the body.owever, the four . Types of animal tissues can be sub-divided further as each includes several different sub-types of the tissue, each being specialised to meet specific needs and/or perform particular tasks. Epithelial tissue exists in many forms and can be classified or sub-divided in different ways.", "Operculata. The operculum is not a product of the mantle. It is produced by a separate organ, the opercular disc, a pad of specialized secretory epithelial cells located right where the operculum is attached-on the posterior, dorsal aspect of the foot.perculata. The operculum is not a product of the mantle. It is produced by a separate organ, the opercular disc, a pad of specialized secretory epithelial cells located right where the operculum is attached-on the posterior, dorsal aspect of the foot.", "Saliva is a watery substance formed in the mouths of animals, secreted by the salivary glands. Human saliva comprises 99.5% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (which can be used to extract DNA), glycoproteins, enzymes (such as amylase and lipase), antimicrobial agents such as secretory IgA and lysozyme.", "Body of a sweat gland cut in various directions. Generally, sweat glands consist of a secretory unit consisting of a base rolled into a glomerulum, and a duct that carries the sweat away. The secretory coil or base, is set deep in the lower dermis and hypodermis, and the entire gland is surrounded by adipose tissue.", "Internally, the prostate is incompletely divided into five lobes, as described below: 1 Anterior lobe: It lies in front of the prostatic urethra and is devoid of secretory glands. 2 Middle lobe: It is a wedge-shaped lobe situated between the urethra and the ejaculatory ducts.", "1 Apocrine sweat glands are mostly limited to the axilla (armpits) and perianal areas in humans. 2 They are not significant for cooling in humans, but are the sole effective sweat glands in hoofed animals, such as the camels, donkeys, horses, and cattle.he secretory coil or base, is set deep in the lower dermis and hypodermis, and the entire gland is surrounded by adipose tissue. In both sweat gland types, the secretory coils are surrounded by contractile myoepithelial cells that function to facilitate excretion of secretory product.", "The afferent arteriole in this region contains specialised secretory cells (smooth muscle cells) called juxtaglomerular cells, that secrete renin. These cells do two things: 1 They monitor blood pressure, by measuring how much the arteriole wall is stretched.he afferent arteriole in this region contains specialised secretory cells (smooth muscle cells) called juxtaglomerular cells, that secrete renin. These cells do two things: 1 They monitor blood pressure, by measuring how much the arteriole wall is stretched.", "Functional abnormality of the pituitary gland includes over or under-secretion of hormones (Hypersecretion and Hyposecretion, respectively), causing a variety of disorders. The most common cause of pituitary disorders is pituitary gland tumors. There are two types of tumors - secretory and non-secretory.", "Identify the four types of tissue in the body, and describe the major functions of each tissue. The four types of tissue in the body are epithelial, connective, muscle, and nervous. Epithelial tissue is made of layers of cells that cover the surfaces of the body that come into contact with the exterior world, line internal cavities, and form glands.", "The skin has two principal layers. 1 The epidermis is the epithelial tissue layer of skin. 2 Hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands are epithelial invaginations from the epidermis. 3 The dermis is the connective tissue layer of skin.he skin has two principal layers. 1 The epidermis is the epithelial tissue layer of skin. 2 Hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands are epithelial invaginations from the epidermis. 3 The dermis is the connective tissue layer of skin.", "Odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) are developmental odontogenic cysts of epithelial origin, first identified and described in 1876 and further characterized by Phillipsen in 1956.Pindborg and Hansen suggested the histologic criteria necessary to diagnose OKC in 1962.The initial terminology for an odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) was primordial cyst, as ...", "zymogen. an inactive precursor that is converted into an active enzyme by action of an acid or another enzyme or by other means; a proenzyme. zymogen cells. the secretory cells that secrete the zymogens.zymogen granules. contained in the cytoplasm of the secretory cells in the relevant gland. Contain the zymogen.n inactive precursor that is converted into an active enzyme by action of an acid or another enzyme or by other means; a proenzyme. zymogen cells. the secretory cells that secrete the zymogens. zymogen granules. contained in the cytoplasm of the secretory cells in the relevant gland. Contain the zymogen.", "Definition of pituitary. 1 1 : of or relating to the pituitary gland. 2 2 : caused or characterized by secretory disturbances of the pituitary gland pituitary dwarfism.", "Definition of acinus - a small saclike cavity in a gland, surrounded by secretory cells., a region of the lung supplied with air from one of the terminal Definition of acinus - a small saclike cavity in a gland, surrounded by secretory cells., a region of the lung supplied with air from one of the terminal dictionary thesaurus" ]

[ "Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said RCN's 2007 cable rates are too high. The cost of the \"full basic\" cable package, which includes 60 channels, is rising 8 percent, from $49.95 to $53.95 when sold alone, according to the mayor's office. In a statement, Menino said, \"We are concerned with the increases in both bundled and RCN's standard ..." ]

[ "Mayor Thomas M. Menino is upset at what he says is a marketing ploy that is taking away business from one of the city's most famed retailers.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino's quest for new restaurant and telecommunications tax powers for Boston ran into a buzzsaw of business opposition yesterday.", "Last spring, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, worried that Faneuil Hall Marketplace was welcoming national chains and repelling local merchants, decried the shopping center's high rents, vowed to put pressure on the management company, and ordered an audit into its lease agreement with the city.", "By SCOTT VAN VOORHIS Mayor Thomas M. Menino's may want to be a \"green\" mayor, but, boy, is his face red! The mayor has been busy lately pledging to cut Boston's greenhouse emissions and talking up his vision for environmentally friendly skyscrapers.", "It would appear to be time for Mayor Menino to get the Duck Boats ready. Red Sox Rolling Rally II should jam the streets of Boston this week.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino is considering the economic development services director for Hartford to be the new head of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, an aide said yesterday.", "By JESSE NOYES Mayor Thomas M. Menino is expected to announce an expansion of an Internet safety campaign for youth in Boston public schools today, adding a program for local high schoolers to mentor kids about keeping safe online and a brand-new Web site.", "Turner Broadcasting has agreed to pay all costs of a security scare triggered by a marketing campaign that disrupted travel in the city for nearly a full day, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Menino said on Friday.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino emerged from Brigham and Women&#39;s Hospital yesterday and said that his newly diagnosed Crohn&#39;s disease will not be a factor in whether he seeks a fourth full term.", "Boston Mayor Thomas Menino proposed selling City Hall and its brick plaza to private developers Tuesday in a move he said would \"galvanize the vitality of our downtown.\"", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino will require all new city government buildings to be &quot;green&quot; and will begin to push large private projects to be environmentally friendly as well.", "Putting pressure on the Legislature to act, Mayor Thomas M. Menino today will introduce a proposal to reduce Boston's property taxes $200 a year for the average homeowner if the Legislature gives the city the ability to impose a 1 percent meals tax and a tax on telecommunications companies.", "Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino expressed concern yesterday about steam utility Trigen-Boston being taken over by a French energy conglomerate, saying it underscores the need for state regulation to crack down on Trigen steam leaks that have hurt people and snarled traffic.", "By Alexandra Clough, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. Mar. 4--CITY SUES NIKOLITS OVER CONDO APPRAISALS: The people are crying over too-high property taxes. But West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel says they're not high enough.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday said he would tap a former top aide to run a new organization that will try to persuade national and overseas companies to bring operations and jobs to Boston.", "Developer John B. Hynes III got in trouble with Mayor Thomas M. Menino recently when he suggested building a private school on the South Boston Waterfront.", "The Federal Government says the big-city mayors request for a share of the federal gas tax revenues is too rich. Over the weekend, the mayors from Canada&#39;s 10 biggest cities, including Ottawa, said they&#39;re", "The rate of home loans in foreclosure rose to a record high in the second quarter of 2007 as more homeowners in California, Florida and other states could not refinance their adjustable-rate mortgages, a trade group said on Thursday.", "Boston's 38-year-old City Hall, a vast, concrete Modernist structure in the heart of the downtown, should be sold and moved to a growing waterfront district, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said on Tuesday.", "UK interest rates may be too high because the Bank of England has wrongly forecast inflation levels, a House of Lords Committee says.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino is going ahead with redevelopment of the historic Ferdinand Building in Dudley Square, even though the state has dumped a plan to relocate 1,000 or so employees there.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston made his pitching debut on the mound at Fenway Park over the weekend, in a commercial television spot.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that Lansdowne Street, behind Fenway Park's left-field wall and home to popular clubs like Jillian's and Avalon, will undergo $1.2 million in improvements over the next two years.", "Deficit projections have fueled speculation that the mayor will not call to renew a 7 percent property tax cut enacted by the City Council last year, but the mayor insisted that he did not think higher property taxes were in sight.", "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said on Thursday the mayors of more than 100 other U.S. cities have joined their effort to get illegal guns off America's streets after a spike in violent crime.", "A leading industry analyst on municipal wireless projects is revising its 2007 spending estimates as cities find their projects costing more and drawing less interest from residential customers than expected.", "Inflation of around 3 percent in the United States since 2005 is too high for comfort in the longer term, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Sandra Pianalto said on Monday.", "Boston City Council President Michael F. Flaherty yesterday lambasted the Menino administration's suggestion of a compromise on public amenities on Fan Pier in an effort to speed up development of the languishing land.", "But as soon as Mayor Thomas M. Menino&#39;s staff announced that the crowd at Saturday&#39;s Red Sox &#39;&#39;rolling rally&quot; celebration totaled 3.2 million people", "The costs of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs are rising at unsustainable rates that will force policy makers to adopt major changes to curb spending, the head of the Congressional Budget Office warned on Monday.", "By Elias E. Lopez, The Miami Herald Dec. 10--Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn asked residents to join him in a fight against overdevelopment in Miami-Dade County, rising insurance rates and \"unfair\" mitigation fees during his annual State of the Village address Wednesday.", "Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday said he was relieved that a local group will redevelop Fan Pier after beating an out-of-town rival for the key site on the South Boston Waterfront." ]

[ "the 17th and the 18th centuries" ]

[ "Getting Wasted", "waste container", "in public", "in exchange for money" ]

[ "So, so excellent! My husband's fingers have changed a bit with age and his titanium ring was so tight he started keeping it in his wallet. We certainly couldn't afford another ring at this point, so I asked him if he'd try one of these. When we got it it was just too big and notified the seller. We were sent the next size down free of charge and weren't even required to return the too large ring!\n\nWe chose the slate grey color and unless you're looking directly at it from a close distance it just looks like metal. It's comfortable and doesn't fall off, get caught, make it hard to stick hands in pockets, etc. We love it! I'm not sure we'll go back to metal!" ]

[ "This thing sucks, the app doesnt work and it gets really hot quick. Ive reach out to Lume cube both by email and phone and have heard nothing from them. The phone just rings and the emails have not been returned. I was really excited about this product but because of the lack of customer service Ill be returning this and buying another Litra. At least the Litra works as advertised without the worry of over heating. Plus the customer service is better, they actually returned my emails.", "Grandfather loved this phone. He could hear very good with it, both on a call and hearing it ring. Unfortunately, the battery died after a week and would no longer charge. Not a problem though as Returning the phone for an exchange was a super easy process. Great customer service! Will recommend this store/company!", "The first unit did not work with my system. Customer service is fantastic. They sent a unit that works great. Customer service is everything. I highly recommend J-tech", "I've had this frame for a couple of years now and it generally works great! Twice I've had issues with it locking up and both times customer service has helped fix the problem. Most recently the customer service agent \"ICE\" was able to give me perfect recommendations to get it up and running after the frame had frozen. It works great and looks great, and Nixplay's customer service is there for you if anything happens.", "Got great comments on the ring frm my military and vetran customers If I hadn't seen the ring I'd have guessed Marines Very subtle and distinct.", "Ring Video Doorbell along with our front and back Ring Stickup Cam's create a safe zone around our home. In the past 9 months our Ring Stickup Cam's have caught person's on video that have meant us harm and was instrumental in the identification and prosecution of the threat. Our RING Sign probably has deterred many others.\nThe Solar power cell for our front Stickup Cam's need now power cord. DIY Installation REALLY! Totally Remarkable!\nLove the integrated interface and quality of customer service. Highly recommend!", "The down side was the orignial unit went dead and wouldn't power on just after the warranty went off. One would think I would drop the unit for this issue but after calling and explaining the issue to the customer service staff at Amazon they made an exception since it was so close to the end of warranty and sent me a replacment device @ no charge.\n\nAt least for me, this one instance of great customer service has earned them a long time customer.\n\nThanks for understanding what customer service can do for customer retention.\n\nGreat work.", "We love ting! We save over $100 a month ($1200 a year!) by having ting and couldn't be happier with the phone service & customer service. Such a great company that knows how to breed happy customers.", "everything fit as suppose to only problem o-ring on single fitting end was to small in thickness had to use old o-ring would hold under vacuum pull down but not under pressure\n\nUpdate - Pit Stop Auto is the seller of this manifold assembly. As soon as Pit Stop received the information about the incorrect o ring size they contacted there manufacture to correct the problem, they have sent me a new o ring kit and have been in touch with me by email and phone to make this right. This as been great customer service. I have change my stars from a 3 to a 5 and I would recommend to by all your products from Pit Stop Auto I know I will be.", "I've read some reviews on ComposTumbler's hit or miss history with customer service, but from what I understand, they were recently bought by Mantis.\n\nI broke a part (my fault) on my ComposTumbler and they were what you'd expect for high quality customer service. They knew the part, they got the order to me quickly and were very friendly and helpful.\n\nI like my ComposTumbler so it's good to know that the customer service has improved significantly (from reading older reviews) since Mantis took over.\n\nGreat product, great service. Buy one.", "great customer service\n\ncomfy pillow\n\ngreat service\n\npillow stay relatively cool for memry foam, Very wise choice I made in buying these pillows", "Great example of \"Customer No-Service\". The paint is coming off my case and my messages to Customer Service are being ignored. Paid a lot for this case and never dropped it, but it looks like crap anyways. If they change their process and backed up their product this review would be great, but this thing is off to the recycle bin!", "They stretch too much and the front of them are too soft to press hard enough to keep the patella secure. Really did nothing to help. Great customer service for the refund. They definitely stand behind their product and have a high standard of customer service.", "This is one of the most important books on sales and customer service to come along in 20 years. Jeffrey Gitomer follows up \"The Sales Bible\" with this inspiring look at how anyone can generate loyal, lifelong customers.\nGitomer has a wonderful intolerable of shoddy customer service that is apparent througout the book. In addition to the expected stories of lousy service, Gittomer recounts tales of WOW-level customer service that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I especially loved his specific examples of the simple things that anyone can do to delight their customers.\nFilled with humor and great passion for its subject, this is a book I'll be using for years to come. This book is priceless for anyone for who comes into contact with customers.\nSteven Salta, Excell Data Corporation", "the first one I have received lasted for about a week. After initial review, I was contacted by their customer service rep and asked if it would be OK for them to send me a new replacement one (without me asking). Customer service is top notch and I can really appreciate that. So far, battery has been working great. Will keep my review updated if need to. Again, excellent customer service!", "didn't need after all. Returned for credit, great customer service.", "filter works great, fits perfectly, faster flow of water now, fast delivery service, wonderful customer service, checking to see if the product arrived", "This shirt was shipped as a large which I requested but it was too small. I advised the seller and they immediately replaced my shirt with great satisfaction and superb customer service. I will definitely continue to order from this seller. The shirt consist of great fabric and the graphics are large and readable at a great price. Thank you for providing such great customer service and quality clothing.", "Love that this collection is remastered-\nit sounds great.\nSo glad you had it for such a great price,\nthanks for the great customer service.", "Its not that bad. Works well. Great customer service if you find yourself needing to use it.", "These are great! I was in the market for simple and functional mills and these fit the bill. Great design, price and customer service!", "Well made and quite warm in the northern winter. Great customer service and quick delivery", "These copper mugs are beautiful and the copper straws were a great bonus. Love them!\nFast shipping and great customer service.", "It worked great in the first 2 weeks, then it just broke!\nThe company returned the money.\nGood customer service.", "They're simple to use, effective and easy to clean and great follow up customer service!", "Book was missing 5 chapters but they have a great customer service, replied quickly, and received full refund.", "Item would not work for my intended use. Sabrent Customer Service was great at finding a solution that would.", "Bought a bunch of these for our iPads at our company and they work great. Customer service from SHARKK is great also.", "Beware, Extremely poor customer service. I called Hailo Customer Service, 45 days after receiving the ladder because one steel support cable had a twist and kink in the cable. Customer Service asked that I send photos, which I did 6 different times. Finally, after contacting them 6 times, they said the cable kink/twist would not hurt anything. Now I'm stuck with a defective new ladder and a customer service department that just wants too ignore quality defects and customers. I asked for the customer service representative's supervisor and never heard from Hailo again. I would recommend buying the \"Little Giant\" brand ladder, their customer service is wonderful.", "Seller is great! Excellent customer service and I plan on purchasing from again.\nThe product is great and it has really helped my son with his ankle issues. This is a great alternative to custom orthotics especially for kids who are still growing. Highly recommend.", "These are very comfortable and a good addition to the iPod by Underwater Audio to liven up my swim workout. The company also has great customer service to ensure customers are satisfied with their products!", "I ordered this for my nephew who loves Bakugan.. I am not familiar ;-)\nIn short, it wasn't what I thought it was and the customer service from cardrush was great. Just wanted to rate them on that since customer service in general seems to be a dying concept. They were quick and very efficient!" ]

[ "California airport locales" ]

[ "Where's the beef?", "Where Is the Love?", "HDNet Movies", "Where's Waldo?", "Girl in the Movies", "Queen of the Movies", "Stitch! The Movie", "The Peanuts Movie", "The Rugrats Movie", "The Emoji Movie", "The Movie Geek", "The Muppet Movie", "The Movie Songbook", "Blue Movie", "The Puppetoon Movie", "The Lego Movie", "Wing Chun", "Men with Brooms" ]

[ "Add a few tablespoons to pancake batter with a few drops of banana extract and you have found manna from Heaven. If you're counting calories, dip apples in the PB2 - yummy! Add enough to taste for hot chocolate beverage. Elvis would have loved it!" ]

[ "A cup of this with a dollop of whipped cream is heaven on a cold, damp or snowy, winter evening. Heaven!", "This product is very good. I follow the directions exactly and mix it with water.. I havent tried mixing it w/ jelly or honey or anything else, as some others have suggested; the whole reason I bought this was because I wanted a lower calorie, lower fat alternative to regular peanut butter, so for me, mixing it with 150 calories worth of jelly doesnt make any sense.<br /><br />In any case, this is definitely NOT exactly like regular peanut butter.. the consistency is a little different, but I suppose you could adjust that to your own liking by adding more or less water. Also, you can definitely tell that this is a lower fat product than regular peanut butter; I mean, when you take a tablespoon of regular peanut butter, you can instantly taste and sense the richness due to the fat content, and when you eat PB2, you definitely notice the difference. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, just different. Its almost the same as if you are used to eating super premium, high fat ice cream, and then one day you switch to low fat; the low fat may still taste very good, but because you are so used to eating the high fat stuff, you will instantly notice a difference-- however, once you get used to it, it wont bother you.<br /><br />I would say PB2 is the same... its definitely NOT the exact same taste / texture as regular peanut butter, but its still very good. it has a very fresh, \"clean\" taste. in my opinion, its DEFINITELY worth the compromise, considering the huge amount of fat and calories in regular peanut butter, and how much healthier PB2 is in comparison . I have cravings for peanut butter just about every day, but up to now, I have only allowed myself to eat regular peanut butter about once a week, due to the fat and calorie content... but now, since finding PB2, I allow myself to have it whenever I want it.<br /><br />By the way.. I tried the PB2 Chocolate version-- I ordered a sample from their website-- it was OK.. not fabulous, not bad. to me, if I am going to really \"go for it\" and eat chocolate peanut butter anything, its not going to be a low fat version, because its just not worth it. in other words, if I had a craving for a Reeses peanut butter cup, chocolate PB2 would not satisfy that craving. On the other hand, when I have craving for regular peanut butter-- in a sandwich or right off of a spoon, regular PB2 will satisfy that craving without wrecking my diet. Bottom line: if you arent sure whether or not you will like this product, go to the Bell Plantation website and spend the four bucks and order a sample, and give it a try, then you will know for sure before you commit to buying 4 jars plus shipping. ( and folks, the shipping costs almost as much as the 4 jars, so make sure you like this before you order it! )<br /><br />My final verdict is I am pretty sure I will be replacing regular peanut butter with PB2 for as long as they keep making it, and will probably order it by the case in the future to save on shipping.", "I just received my order yesterday and I'm really happy with this product. I'm not the hugest fan of chocolate ice cream but bought this because of the HG recommendation. I liked it pretty well on it's own but when I mixed it with some PB2 it tasted just like Edy's peanut butter cup ice cream--yum! I wasn't tempted to eat the whole pint--it is rich enough that a cup mixed with the PB2 was plenty and that has about the same amount of calories as the whole pint. I think it would taste good with Better n' Peanut Butter too for a treat with a few more calories.", "This was the best idea ever. I have a SERIOUS peanut butter addition. I thought I was just going to have to stop buying it because it was getting so out of hand. I usually mix regular PB with Greek yogurt (the unflavored kind...it has the lowest amount of sugar) to try to lower the fat/calorie content, but I wont be doing that anymore. This tastes just as good, if not better. I also found that if I used yogurt instead of water, that a little bit less PB2 needs to be used. I typically mix a little water in there, too. For a treat, I would also put just a lil' bit of PB2 in with some Greek yogurt and maybe a bit of SF jelly and some cereal!", "I purchased this product after reading a raving review of it in Nutrition Action Health Letter which is a newsletter published by the respectable Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). They recommend it for being tasty and a healthy (low-cal) alternative to regular peanut butter.<br /><br />[...]<br />(don't let the web address mislead you)<br /><br />I have eaten peanut butter almost every day for the past many decades--usually for breakfast. The regular version of PB2 actually tastes pretty good. In fact I'd say it tastes better than some cheaper brands of peanut butter--you know, the oily store brands. The chocolate version is okay, but it's not as nutty and it's not chocolaty enough to get your chocolate fix.<br /><br />However, I take issue with consuming this alternative for health reasons. It definitely does have far less fat and calories than regular peanut butter. However, the fat in quality peanut butter is about half MUFAs or monounsaturated fat. This is some of the healthiest fat you can consume. The American Heart Association notes that MUFAs are associated with reducing of the \"bad\" LDL cholesterol. A little more than a quarter of the fat is also polyunsaturated fat.<br /><br />The sugar content of regular PB2 is the same as Jif for an equivalent serving size. The chocolate version actually has a little more sugar and a little less protein. So you give up the healthy fat and keep the refined sugar.<br /><br />2 TBS of PB2 mixed with one TBS of water actually only yields 1.5 TBS of spreadable product. So while you do save A LOT of calories with PB2 you don't save a lot of calories for very long.<br /><br />The bottom line is this: Peanut butter can be a very healthy food IF eaten in moderation. If you buy PB2, you WILL eat it in moderation because you get very little for a lot of money. If you are trying to severely restrict your calorie intake to lose weight, there might be a place for PB2 in your meal plan. If you just want to eat healthy, use 2 TBS of normal peanut butter at a time and enjoy it.<br /><br />Finally, a note about the cost: 3 of these 6.5 oz. jars should give you almost as many prepared servings as one 40 ounce jar of regular peanut butter. So it's roughly 3 times the cost of Jif which is my regular brand in case you hadn't figured that out (crunchy, actually).<br /><br />Read more: [...]", "Oh my goodness... If all I ever used this in was smoothies, I'd still get my money's worth. I never imagined I could drink a peanut butter smoothie without first packing my bags for a fat/calorie guilt trip! In order to get this much peanut butter flavor you'd have to add a ton of peanut butter to even perceive it in there. To the woman that said it was too pricey, I'd say that ONE peanut butter smoothie from Jamba Juice costs as much as a bag of this stuff. I'm SO glad I found this product and can't wait to see what other yummy uses I can find for it. The possibilities are endless!<br />Try this recipe: 1 cup non-dairy milk (soy or almond) 1 frozen banana, 1 tbsp PB2 or PB2 chocolate Blend and enjoy.", "I made a chocolate peanut butter banana protein shake with this and OMG...they were amazing! I used one cup of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (40 cal), one frozen banana, a scoop of vanilla protein powder (120 cal), 2T of the PB2 (85 cal) and some ice. YUM! Low calorie AND delicious!! This is my new favorite drink!!", "I'm not worried about my fat intake at all, but I love peanut butter and would easily eat 400 peanut butter calories daily. I'll eat a spoonful by itself, put a couple in a smoothie... With the same amount of PB2, I'm eating 90 calories. That means I can dip apple slices & dark chocolate, eat spoonfuls, and still put some powder in my smoothie without gaining 2 pounds a month.<br /><br />I bought one bag of chocolate and one of regular and mixed them together (thinking if it was nasty, the chocolate would help it taste better). It actually tastes really good! My boyfriend says he can't tell that it's not regular peanut butter (I can tell) and that he prefers the powder to real peanut butter in shakes and smoothies. (I make fake ice-cream all the time by blending ice, almond milk, banana, and pb2).<br /><br />Honestly, the powder doesn't taste the same. However, it is close enough to make me keep eating it instead of the real peanut butter in the cupboard. I like that I can make it as creamy or as thick as I want, and I have to say ignore the picture that someone posted here, because it really doesn't look that nasty!<br /><br />I took a chance buying the larger bags because it's cheaper by weight, and I am not at all disappointed. PB2 is well worth the money and I will be buying it regularly.", "Guys: Although this may not have the exact taste of a typical commercial brand peanut butter out of the jar, it is VERY CLOSE. THIS IS THE ONE THAT SATISFIES A CRAVING FOR CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER without all the fatty oil.. It has no chemical or weird aftertaste (it's the most peanut-nutty tasting alternative out there which I've tried), and you really can adjust the consistency based on the amount of liquid you add. Although I previously favored the \"Better-n-Peanut Butter\" brand sold here <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KUQG3O\">Better N Peanut Butter, Better N Peanut Butter, Orig Lf, 16.00 OZ (Pack of 12)</a>and at Trader Joe's (which needs no mixing or preparation and has a real peanut butter texture), I must admit that the taste of \"better n peanut butter\" is not nearly as good as PB2 ( \"Better n Peanut Butter\" is less peanut-y and does have an odd sort of after taste) and it needs to be refrigerated after opening or it gets moldy (trust me.....yuck).<br /><br />Anyway, back to this product:PB2. It has a very good peanut buttery taste and if you're cooking with it or mixing it in drinks or smoothies (like a banana smoothie), the texture is a non-issue. And having it in these 1 lb packages makes it much more affordable than buying the small jars sold here or directly from PB2's website (where they add $10 shipping). And if you get at least three bags at Amazon, it qualifies for free shipping (it works out to about $8.70/lb). I also ordered the chocolate which is also good (not a strong chocolatey taste, more like a hint of cocoa), but my favorite is still the plain PB2.<br /><br />***UPDATE***<br />Guys: I just tried another product from Byrd Mill and searched under peanut flour product (basically peanut butter with the oils removed as well) that's also very good (it's cheaper than the PB2 product here if you buy the 5 1lb. option....I ordered -1- 5 lb bag and the total price with shipping was approx. $32.65 (therefore about $6.50/lb). The package comes in about 4 days after you order, but the one negative is that it is not vacuum sealed. It's in a plastic bag with a twisty tied around it and then placed in a large paper bag with a folding top (the kind of bag that coffee beans come in, but bigger). In order to keep it fresh, I use about 1 lb. at a time and then vacuum seal the rest. They also sell larger and smaller quantities at slightly steeper discount with little change in shipping. You have an option of getting a dark roast (more peanut-y) or light roast (less peanut-y tasting) and either 28% fat left in (at 6g/serving) or 12% (at 3g fat per serving). I buy the dark roasted, 12% fat. It is definitely more peanut-y than PB2 and is smoother and creamier in texture. The only big difference from the PB2 product (which I prefer, others may not....) is that Byrd Mill does not have any salt and sugar added (it's just pure roasted de-fatted peanut flour) so you'll most definitely want to add a little salt (maybe even a little honey) to the mixture to suit your taste if your using it plain (like on a sandwich, or with crackers or right on a spoon. So if you find yourself snacking on peanut butter every day to satisfy your peanut butter cravings, go ahead and try this.", "I purchased 5 lbs of heaven. WARNING - do not set the entire 5lb bag within arms reach.", "this is a contemplative tea. it is simply heaven.<br />this is a tea to savor and keep for a special time for yourself.", "Excellent! Abundantly fruity. Not too sweet and not too soury. Heaven in a jar.", "the best chocolate candy I tasted ...melts in ur mouth and ur in heaven. mmmm good chocolate", "Recently purchased- sprinkled over my ice cream tonight and went to heaven. If not so expense, I would purchase more", "You MUST have duck fat at home. Period.<br />Try frying potato in it. Eggs. The list goes on, but it's heaven.", "After a couple of days to try out these 2 Peanut butter substitutes (the regular and chocolate versions) I can say I'm a convert. I LOVE peanut butter, for me it's a trigger food. If I eat it, I tend to want to eat half the jar at once and it can lead to wanting to eat other things I know I shouldn't. I've worked damn hard to shed 170lb this past year and half and indulging in PB is something I very rarely do anymore. I'd all but given it up. So actually finding something like this, which will allow me to enjoy the occasional PB&J sandwich without the feelings of guilt and remorse is a godsend!<br />The reg. version of PB2 does have a roasted peanut taste to it, so it's not quite like regular PB, you don't get the salty sweeter taste of Jiff or Skippy. JUST the roasted peanut taste. But it's quickly adapted to. And the Chocolate version (which I was more skeptical of) was even better! You can eat either one right after you mix them with water, but I think they're best when added to something else.<br />First of all I like to mix a base of reg PB2 with the chocolate version since I prefer a bit more of the nutty flavor to the chocolate. When just eating the chocolate my first thought was this would be great on whole wheat with a smear of marshmallow creme. And I don't even like marshmallow creme. But I will probably try it out one day to see if I'm right.<br />Either spread works great on fruit. I've tried apples and bananas so far. I also tried a PB&J with reduced calorie jelly and it worked very well. Good enough to replace the high calorie reg. PB&J sandwiches.<br /><br />It might sound strange but one combo I REALLY like is to scoop a bit of the powdered PB onto a fat free potato chip (I use Pringles fat free sour cream) and no there wasn't a taste clash or anything. I'm sure you could use the reg Pringles fat free, I just happen to think the sour cream ones taste better. Anyway turn the chip upside down and scoop a bit of powder into the \"bowl\" of the underside and eat. The salt of the chip is the first thing that hits your tongue and then the PB powered crumbs. And the combo is just....yumm!!!! Like that, it really does taste like any PB you could buy. I tried it with the chocolate version too, and there it's really like eating a peanut butter cup. And surprisingly the salty chip and powered PB isn't dry in the mouth. Quite the opposite actually. Now on the other hand, I tried adding the powdered PB2 as a topping to my skinny cow ice cream as I do on occasion like some melted PB on my ice cream, but there it DID dry out my mouth completely. Very strange. So I decided to try and mix the PB2 with water then heat it up in the microwave to see if it would melt like reg PB. It didn't. It got hot, but ended up dry like the cookie dough for peanut butter cookies where you can basically ball it up in your hands. I guess without all the fat the PB2 can't melt like standard peanut butter. So as for ice cream topping, at least so far, it hasn't worked.<br />I am looking forward to seeing what else these 2 powdered products would work with and am already planning on ordering the larger sizes as I'd like to try some baking with them too.<br /><br />All in all, I highly recommend them!<br /><br />Edit; Okay so it DOES work as a melted peanut butter substitute on ice cream. The key is to start with a base of water and gradually add powder to it until you get a very creamy consistency that will run off a spoon, just like melted pb *then* heat it up in the microwave. My first attempt with this method I used far too much water so be careful there. I kept adding bits of powder including the chocolate version for fear I'd use all my pb2 up. But it was so much water I couldn't thicken it up enough and decided to start over. However, rather than just throw it all out, I decided to try it out as a drink. And you know, heated up, it was like a super rich cup of cocoa....delish! Even with no added sweetener it was sweet enough. And as a plus, since it's just water you can save those calories there. Not to mention, if you're lactose intolerant like me, regular hot chocolate is out anyway.<br /><br />Now even though this stuff is 85% less than regular peanut butter it does have some calories and fat, so I wouldn't over do it. But as an occasional indulgence, I'm so happy I found this!<br /><br />PS: I just want to add since purchasing PB2 from Amazon I've found a site called \"netrition.com\" and I highly recommend buying food stuffs from them. Amazon is great for pretty much everything else, but they are way over priced on their food.<br />I bought the large 16oz pack of PB2 from netrition for only 7.99 per bag. the same price Amazon charges for the small 6.5oz size! They don't have free shipping like Amazon, but they only charge $4.95 flat shipping fee no matter how much you buy. So it's not bad. Maybe because I bought so much, or it was my first time ordering but they also sent me a free low cal. quick cook cake mix. They were also way WAY cheaper on PB2 peanut butter crackers and everything else I ordered from them.<br /><br />So like I said, Amazon is great for most things, but when it comes to food, Netrition is a whole lot better!", "If dark chocolate /nuts is your idea of candy heaven,this candy is just the ticket!", "So flavorful and smells like heaven. Great price compared to stores. Arrived fast.", "I'm extremely disappointed with these berries. I gave them a 1 star, however, if I was allowed I wouldn't have given any stars. I usually get Heaven Mountain berries and thought I would try these because they can be included as part of a free shipping order. Big mistake on my part. These berries are dry and brittle and have a slightly bitter taste. The others that I usually get (heaven ones) are moister plumper and have a sweeter flavor. Do yourself a favor and get something other than these. You can get the Heaven Mountain ones from a partner company with Amazon - Vitacost. It would be nice if they were listed here. Anyway, be forewarned.<br /><br />Cheers", "These are like having a little bit of heaven in a box. There is some much flavor in these. WARNING you could eat the whole box with as good as these are.", "When little pieces of Heaven fall from the sky and land here on earth, Fruit Gems are formed. Thank you Sunkist for harvesting such goodness!", "Flake Bars are the best. Nothing else like it.<br />Eat slowly and you'll feel like your in heaven!", "Had this corn bread mix for the first time tonight with some grilled fresh green beans and new potatoes. I always like corn bread with this slice of heaven.... and this corn bread mix took me above the clouds in taste and texture.<br />I've been making and eating corn bread for 60 years and this is as good as it gets, believe me.<br />Just follow directions and have a slice of heaven on me !", "This honey is heaven in a bottle. Supermarket honey is no match for the smooth pure taste of this stuff.<br />It even makes a huge difference in the bread that I bake with honey.", "I was at my daughter's last evening, busy I was on the barbecue grill when she walks out with a small dish she called an appetizer. One bite and my taste buds screamed \"I'm in Heaven\". Okay, kidding aside, but I thought she had brought me leftovers from some 5-star Indian Restaurant. This curry paste done with tender chicken is heaven. I am ordering it today.", "soooooo many red vines. I'm in candy heaven and my family is also. Buy this product, this candy arrived sooooo fresh and tasty, you will enjoy it too.", "If you're into fudge, Amish Buggy is by far the best. It's creamy, smooth and delicious, and tastes like it all just came out of your mother's kitchen. Pure heaven.", "I love the taste of the spicy Country Cut Beef Jerky. Tender little chunks of meat with a tongue-tingling zing of heat. Jerky heaven!", "I can hardly express in words how I feel about these bears. Haribo Gold-Bears are absolutely charming. They're a little taste of heaven. I like them frozen.", "Nature's Path Organic Toaster Pastries,Frosted Strawberry are so good.I've been buying them for years.I'd tell anyone to buy and eat these.<br />Heated up with a glass of milk....HEAVEN.", "T thought this product was pretty reasonably priced and the taste is heaven. I like the spun texture better than normal honey.", "sugar free users these are like you are in seventh heaven...<br />have to find out where they are sold in stores....<br />leave it to RS to come up with a great item...bj" ]

[ "It's a matter of contrast. In low light, your eyes aren't as good as distinguishing/seeing different colours. (Try for yourself, at night or in the dark, you only see black and white.) So, because your ability to see different colours is 'worse', it means that the difference in shade of the flat snow and any features on it are too similar to be told apart, and so your brain assumes they must be the same colour. It reasons that if they're the same colour, they must be the same surface, and so you can't make out the bumps and such." ]

[ "It's mostly just how wet the snow is. Light and fluffy snow has very little water in it (which is why it's so light) but because there isn't too much water in it, it won't stick to much. More water will make it the thicker snow that's easy to clump together. Even more water makes it slush, where it's very clearly water-like when you step on it.", "Snow is a whole bunch of individual ice crystals arranged together. When a light photon enters a layer of snow, it goes through an ice crystal on the top, which changes its direction slightly and sends it on to a new ice crystal, which does the same thing. Basically, all the crystals bounce the light all around so that it comes right back out of the snow pile. It does the same thing to all the different light frequencies, so all colors of light are bounced back out. The \"color\" of all the frequencies in the visible spectrum combined in equal measure is white, so this is the color we see in snow, while it's not the color we see in the individual ice crystals that form snow. Basically, if you just had a big block of ice, light can pass right through it, where as with snow, light is being reflected and bounced around many many times, through many crystals of snow.", "Most streetlights are sodium vapor. The bulb has a small amount of gas inside, and when you run electricity through it, it emits light of a specific color. That color tends to be a pretty orang-y yellow. Most nights, that light is absorbed or scattered by the dark ground. On snowy nights, the white snow reflects it much more. Also, if you have clouds that are low in the sky, they will reflect the light back down, which enhances the effect. Astronomers hate this kind of light, because it interferes with how well you can see things in the sky. They call it [Light Pollution](_URL_0_).", "There are two factors that affect the colour of a material - absorbance and scattering (well, there are other factors like fluorescence, but these are the major ones). The absorbance of water to visible light is very low, as you understand. Pure water (or ice) is mostly transparent if you talk strictly about the light that is absorbed. \"Clear\" or \"invisible\" means that all light that encounters the ice passes straight through, which more or less happens with a big block of pure ice. However, snow, with many small crystals of ice, scatters light like crazy. This scattering dominates the appearance of the snow. All wavelengths of light are randomized scattering from and bouncing off snow, which leads to snow's white appearance.", "I guess if you live in a very light poluted area, and it snows, the snow scatters the light all over the place as it is crystals of frozen water. The have a refraction index and can redirect light so it might appear brighter. The same reason the winters with snow are usually brighter than the ones without. Asphalt absorbs most of the light, snow reflects most of the light. **This is my most educated guess!**", "Air is clear. Ice is clear. Snow is a mixture of air and ice... but it isn't clear. The reason is, when light passes from air into ice it is reflected or refracted. Since snow has so many tiny bits of ice, light will encounter so many air/ice transitions at random angles that it redirects light more or less randomly.", "The snow scatters light from all kinds of sources (moon, stars, streetlamps, etc) better than grass or pavement when there is no snow. This means more light reaches your eyes.", "Snow reflects light, so what every available light there is at night, it will be reflecting from the snowfall.", "I’m assuming that there is a wide variety of harsh you could be talking about. If you are asking about harsh and in brightness or the higher chance of sun burning the skin, A lot of that has to do with snow in the winter. The light waves coming from the sun hit the snow are are reflected back up. This cause light to seem much brighter then it really is, that’s why on a cloudy night in the winter, you can see for a few miles with out flash light or anything. Street lights and house lights will reflect off the snow and off the clouds. Illuminating an area and allowing you to see at light levels similar to dusk. For harshness from sun burning the skin. The UV rays also reflect off the snow, essentially causing a double whammy because any rays that might have missed your skin bounce back up at you going for round two.", "There's a thing called refraction. basically light will take a turn when it hits a different meaterial or a change in density of that meterial. That's why lookign in a pool makes things look weird and hard to judge where things are at the bottom. This is an [image of refraction](_URL_1_). - a laser or light beam entering glass. Air very close to asphalt is much hotter so it's less dense so it will cause refraction. At low angles of light that refraction can cause a reflection. (think - 'shallow bounce\" ) since the refraction is minimal you usually only see it at long distances where you are viewing the pavement at a very shallow angle.", "Your eyes do adjust, but they simply are not capable of adjusting *enough.* Reflected light from the snow is a lot brighter than you might think. Adjusting to a sunny day is one thing, but when the light from the sunny day is *also* coming at your from the ground at the same time, it's too much. Your eyes adjust to light conditions by making the pupil larger in low light and smaller in bright light. But it can only go so small. There is a limit. Fun fact: being exposed to glare from snow with no relief from it can cause \"snow blindness\" which is like a sunburn on your eyeballs. Sunglasses are important for Arctic/Antarctic adventures.", "It's because snow is made up of ice crystals (snowflakes), with many gaps and pockets of air inbetween, whereas ice and water do not have this air. The difference in structure of snow vs. ice means that the vast majority of light (80+% for new snow, depending on conditions) is reflected back, while with ice and water most light passes through.", "With a large block of ice, light will only be scattered once, at the boundary between air and the ice. With a lump of snow there are so many different boundaries between air and ice that light gets repeatedly scattered which is why we see it as white. Same effect if you took glass (which is transparent) and crushed it up, the crushed up glass would appear white. Oh an btw this is a physics not chemistry question ;)", "Because the edges of your eyes have more of the receptors that can see in low light.", "Snow is tiny grains of frozen water - ice - and appears opaque. A nicely frozen ice cube can be completely transparent. The difference comes from the amount of light scattering occurring in the snow. Lots of grain boundaries between the air and the ice means that the light is scattered a lot, making snow appear opaque, rather than transparent like ice can be.", "Your eyes have two types of photocells, rods and cones. Rods are good at seeing in the dark, but they're not great with detail, and they can't see colors. They are located in your peripheral vision, but not in your center vision. Cones are not good at seeing in the dark, but they're good with detail and they can see colors. They are located everywhere in your eyes, but there are a lot more in your center vision. Your center vision contains only cones. Good for detail, that's what the center of your vision is for. But since there are no low light rods in your center vision, look at something directly and you don't have low light cells there to see them with. This is also why it's hard to determine colors in low light environments. The low light peripheral rods you're using are completely colorblind.", "Snow is an excellent insulator. It's hard for heat to flow through (or into) it so even though the air temperature inside the igloo is warm, the rate of heat going into the snow is low. Second, water ice is *hard* to melt. It takes a lot of heat energy to change it from ice at 32°F to liquid at 32°F. So the small amount of heat that does go into the snow only melts a little bit away. Igloos aren't usually a long-term shelter, more like a hunting camp or survival shelter, so they last plenty long enough.", "Because it is bright. The sun is up there. The sky itself is made up of gas that scatters light. Even though it is not as bright as looking directly at the sun, it is like looking at a TV screen very closely. The sunlight hits the moisture in the air and diffuses toward your eyes. You've probably seen an even more noticeable version of this on a bright day after a stow storm. If you walk outside, you can experience certificate snow blindness. The white snow surrounding you reflects the sunlight and gives a bright diffuse light. And at night, if you are in relative darkness, and your eyes have adjusted, the moon diffusing light through the sky is still the brightest source. You're still looking at a light source directly.", "So the athletes can see. The snow is bright white and it can be hard to distinguish distance and elevation changes. Basically a guide like the lines on the road", "This is actually the reason why want the ice at the poles not to melt. Because it is white and reflects light. So it becomes a bit of a viscous circle once it starts. Heat leads to less snow which leads to even more heat and so on. But it's hard to reflect light on the scale to many any difference. You would need to cover entire continents in white to make a difference, which is obviously impossible to do.", "The glare from the snow has overloaded the light receptors in your retina, especially those that receive the color blue, they are the most sensitive. After overloading, these blue receptors takes a while to recover, when you can't see blues, the reds in the environment becomes more prominent.", "Snow is really good at reflecting light. Water is really good at transferring heat.", "What if I told you snow is not white? But the light passing through it is obscured. Same idea behind glass being clear normally but if you tried to look through a bunch of crushed glass you'd have a bad time. The crystals formed in snow prevent light from passing as clearly and make the snow appear \"white\"", "The moon actually has a very low [albedo](_URL_0_), it only reflects about 12% of light that shines on it. Snow and clouds reflect up to 80% while even soil reflects 20-30% When we look at the moon it seems bright because the sun is blasting it with a crap ton of light and reflecting even 12% of a crap ton of light is still a fair amount of light, but when you see pictures from the surface they often look gray, and dark, and shadowy and that's because the Moon is! You don't get the same level of reflection and no atmospheric diffusion so everything is duller and shadows are crisper and darker than they'd be on Earth", "Interference from heat waves in the air. Even cold air has enough energy to disturb and refract the light.", "It is more likely due to inperfections in the crystal structure of ice created from quickly freezing. Because you make ice in a freezer, there are multiple nucleation sites so there is not 1 uniform crystal orientation. This leads to multiple grains which create stress. This stress causes cracking in the ice. (You will also see this when you heat the ice too fast, like dropping it in room temperature water). Any imperfections in the crystal structure can refract light and reduce the visibility", "Water and snow are structured differently in the same way that coal and diamonds are structures differently. In both scenarios, they are the same chemicals, but the orientation and layout of the chemicals changes their visual properties. In snow and coal, there is more space between the individual atoms, resulting in a greater surface area, which means there are more surfaces for light to hit and a lesser chance of light making it all the way through.", "Yes. The [albedo](_URL_0_) of snow is quite high, so it melts slowly. Other colours will have a lower reflectivity, which means they absorb more light. This means they absorb more heat, and melt faster. We do see this with soot and dust in snow, eg _URL_1_", "Light from the sky is reflected off of the snow. The light comes from the sun reflecting off of the moon.", "This anatomical features is called the epicanthic fold. It's not actually exclusive to Asian populations; the Khoisan people of Southern Africa also have this feature. As to *why* this feature exists, there is no scientific consensus. Some have theorized that it's something to do with protecting against the the sun, or snow-blindess, or high winds, but all of these are problematic. Another possibility is just that it's a random mutation that became fixed in some populations a long time ago during a genetic bottleneck and then was carried through into larger future populations. Another possibility is that it was culturally considered a mark of beauty, and so spread through sexual selection.", "More light outside, less light in the car. The tinted windows make it harder to see inside, but not out. This is also why it is sometimes hard to see at night out of the car with tinted windows if it is basically pitch black outside and some light inside.", "Water is clear, why are frothy waves white? Glass windows are clear, why is a pile of shattered safety glass white? All for the same essential reason. Something clear is clear because its structure is well aligned to allow light to pass through with**out** lots of refraction or absorption. Snow flakes (and bubbly water, and glass shards) provide millions of surfaces, all pointing different directions, sending light bouncing and bending and absorbing in all sorts of ways. The light gets diffused into what you see as white." ]

[ "No. When we feel an object is cold or hot we are really sensing that is *hotter* or *colder* than our skin. We don't feel temperature, we feel the temperature exchange. We don't get used to it, we simply get to the same temperature. If you touch something cold and your hand starts warming it, eventually both surfaces will have the same temperature and you won't feel the difference anymore. Some materials, like metals, are very efficient dissipating heat so they will rapidly drain the heat from your skin's surface and will feel cold even if they are at the same temperature. Others, like wood, distribute worse the heat and the contact zone will get warmer faster. You can test this by putting one hand in cold water and the other in hot water. Then, put both in water at room temperature." ]

[ "I am a bit confused by your question. Are you asking why humans enjoy hot showers over cold showers? Because the water being closer to body temperature is more comfortable because of the less of a shock to the system and the need for the body to engage protective measures to hold on to body heat. It is the same reason why getting into a warm bed is more comfortable than one with cold sheets. Or putting on clothes fresh from the dryer feels good. Just because humans have been used to cold water as their only way of washing does not mean that is inherently more comfortable.", "No. You skin burns at set temperature and so if it was not hot enough to burn you when your hands are a normal temperature, it will not burn them if your hands are cold. In fact, that may actually help protect you if contact time with the heat source is minimal, as your skin will be starting from a lower point moving towards the \"burn temperature\". Your body detects temperature differences, rather than temperature itself. This is why you get used to being a cold swimming pool for example. Your blood supply to your skin gets reduced and so your skin surface cools down, getting closer to the temperature of the pool and so the pool feels less cold. TLDR: Temperatures that do not burn warm skin will not burn cold skin either. Being cold initially may help protect the skin if contact with heat is fleeting.", "Hot showers aren't as hot as you'd think. They're no hotter than summer in Las Vegas or Phoenix. However, it's also water, and evaporating water is taking heat from your body (this is why a fan blowing on you when you're wet makes you cold). This in combination that water from the shower isn't touching all of your body (compared to being in something like a hot tub). Shower water very quickly goes down in temperature after it has come into contact with you.", "Mint is super special! You know how all plants are different, like how roses have thorns and smell sweet, or how fruit trees grow different kinds of fruit? Mint is special in its own way because it has something called \"menthol\" in it. When humans put menthol in our mouths, our bodies can sense the menthol, but human bodies can get confused sometime. For example, when we eat peppers it feels hot and you can begin to sweat... but with menthol, it feels cold! So when you drink ice cold water after eating mint, your body gets worried that you are getting too cold, and that's why it stings a little. If your body thinks something is happening that is harming it (like being too cold) you feel pain.", "Take something hot and put it next to something cold. The hot object will cool down and the cold object will heat up until both are at the same temperature. Note that the hot object will not get hotter, not the cold object get colder. Heat death is when everything in the universe is at the same temperature, and then nothing can ever happen, since that will mean that hot objects get hotter or cold objects get colder.", "You can *not* heat your water. Many people use cold water to shower. If showering in cold water is too cold, you can use a washcloth with cold water that will warm considerably after coming into contact with your body. If you go the washcloth route, you don't have to wash your entire body at once and you can keep yourself relatively warm while doing so.", "Having a cold drink is not bad for your sore throat, and there's no evidence to suggest that it does. Some people believe that it will cause congestion in your respiratory tract, but they're confusing a cold drink with breathing cold, dry air. That's why people often become congested for a while after being outside in the cold winter weather. Having a hot drink, however, [will loosen nasal mucus](_URL_0_) and is usually better than a cold drink if that's causing the sore throat.", "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why do my feet get cold and sweaty when I don't wear socks and have them underneath the blanket? ](_URL_5_) 1. [ELI5: Why does putting socks, which cover around 5% of my body, make me feel significantly warmer? ](_URL_2_) 1. [ELI5: Why does sticking one foot out of the blanket make me feel cool? ](_URL_4_) 1. [ELI5: If my whole body is under a blanket but my foot is exposed, then my foot is freezing ... but if my entire body is exposed, then I don't feel that cold. Please ELI5 ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: Why does sticking one foot out from under the blankets prevent me from getting too hot? ](_URL_0_) 1. [ELI5 Why is it that both legs under the covers is too hot, both legs out too cold, but one in one out is prefect? ](_URL_1_)", "Yes it does. There are three main ways to transfer heat in or out of an object: 1) Conduction - Transfer of heat from a hot object to a cold object via physical contact. 2) Convection - Transfer of heat from your object to a moving fluid (i.e. air) that then goes somewhere else and transfers heat to another, cooler object. 3) The third type is radiation. An object with a non-absolute-zero temperature is always radiating. The amount of energy per unit time being radiated depends on the temperature. Hotter objects radiate more. If you put a hot object in a vacuum chamber, the object would radiate heat into the walls of the chamber. P.S don't forget to flag your question.", "Aw come on ... Yarr! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why is hot water better at cleaning than cold water? ](_URL_4_) ^(_56 comments_) 1. [ELI5: why does hot water work better for washing dishes or just dirt in general than cold water? ](_URL_3_) ^(_6 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why do hot water work better than cold water for cleaning dirty stuff? ](_URL_5_) ^(_2 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why hot water wash grease away easier than using cold water? ](_URL_1_) ^(_7 comments_) 1. [ELI5:What is hot water doing that makes cleaning dishes etc easier that cold water isnt? ](_URL_2_) ^(_ > 100 comments_) 1. [ELI5:Why is it easier to wash dishes with hot water? ](_URL_6_) ^(_6 comments_) 1. [ELI5: why, at shower taps, does the hot water supply get calcium deposits much more quickly than the cold water supply? ](_URL_0_) ^(_14 comments_)", "Looking at how hot water cleans fats off of plates would be useful. Imagine the plate was just in the refridgerator. The lipids (fats) get cold and hard right? It's hard to brush them off. But adding hot water warms them up and once they are warm and soft, it is easy to rub them off. That is why using hot water makes it easier. It warms up all the organic matter on the plates/whatever else, and makes them easier to come off. Why does hot stuff come off easier than cold stuff? Imagine which is easier to move - a [unit that is really tight and well-bonded](_URL_0_) or these [looser moving around things](_URL_1_)?", "There are several advantages, as well as disadvantages, to being cold blooded. By not generating your own body heat, you get to save energy and don't need to eat as much food - which again saves energy because you don't have to hunt. A disadvantage would be that it takes a while to 'warm up' after a cold night. That's why reptiles are usually pretty sluggish early in the morning, and they have to sit in the sun for a while. This makes them more vulnerable to predators. It also depends on where the animals live - many cold blooded animals can't survive in cold climates, because they can't get enough warmth from the sun to survive. In the desert, there's a lot of sunshine, so why not use it for body heat, instead of generating your own?", "Cold things absorb heat. Hot things give off heat. Our bodies are warm, we give off heat into the air. That's why skin naturally feels warm to you. If the air is cold it keeps sucking our body heat, our bodies need to keep using energy to make more heat which keeps getting sucked away. This is uncomfortable. The air being hotter than the body is not usually an issue. We rarely encounter air temp hotter than our bodies are.", "> ... You could also think about the following (theoretical) set-up: 2 perfectly absorbing and irradiating black bodies placed at the focal points of an ellipsoid perfect mirror. ... This has come up here before. You can either assume that the area is significant, or you can assume that the object is at the focal point, but you can't really assume both. > ... this photon then collides with a hot object. Why wouldn't this photon be absorbed by the hot object (and making it hotter)? ... Thermodynamics doesn't really deal with individual photons but with statistical aggregates of photons. In particular, it doesn't make sense to talk about \"one photon of black body radiation.\" If you trace any light path between the hot and cold objects, the average flow of energy along that path will be from the hot object to the cold object.", "Yarr! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why does hot water out of the tap look cloudy. ](_URL_4_) 1. [ELI5: Why is hot water from the tap always cloudy? ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: Why does hot water come out white/cloudy from the tap but when I boil cold water it is transparent? ](_URL_5_) 1. [ELI5: Why does hot water come out of the tap white, but cold comes out clear? ](_URL_1_) 1. [Why does tap water turn cloudy when it gets hot? ](_URL_6_) 1. [ELI5: Why does hot water look cloudy sometimes? Why would hot water from a faucet be cloudy, even tho it's crystal clear when cold? ](_URL_2_) 1. [ELI5: Why hot water out of the faucet sometimes appears cloudy or white in color? ](_URL_8_) 1. [ELI5:Why is wam tap water not see through? ](_URL_7_) 1. [ELI5: Why is hot water white right when it comes out the tap? ](_URL_0_)", "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: What causes you to feel like you're being watched? And how does your body know when someone is watching you? ](_URL_1_) 1. [ELI5: Why can people \"sense\" when they are being watched? ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: Why is it that we can sometimes \"feel\" someone looking at us? ](_URL_5_) 1. [ELI5: How does the \"I-feel-observed sense\", that makes us feel uncomfortable when we feel like someone is watching us, even when we can't see clear evidence of someone watching us, work? ](_URL_2_) 1. [ELI5: Why do we sometimes get the feeling that we are being watched when someone is looking at us? ](_URL_4_) 1. [ELI5:. Why is it that we can sometimes \"feel\" when we are being watched? ](_URL_0_) 1. [ELI5: What is the cause for that feeling that you are being seen (but no eye contact)? ](_URL_6_)", "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5:How come allergies can be newly developed despite not being allergic to the certain product in the past? ](_URL_0_) 1. [ELI5: How does the human body suddenly become allergic to a certain type of food, after years of eating it without any problems? ](_URL_3_) 1. [ELI5: How does one become allergic to something? ](_URL_4_) 1. [ELI5: How does my body get allergic to something that I wasn't allergic to a few years ago? ](_URL_5_) 1. [ELI5: When I suddenly become allergic to something like shrimp, why is this happening and why does my body react the way it does? ](_URL_1_) 1. [ELI5: Why and how people get allergies ](_URL_2_)", "Because part of how your body cold down when it's hot is by sweating. When the sweat evaporates, it takes some of your heat with it (this is also why it's so cold when you get out of the shower and you're all wet). When the humidity is high, your sweat evaporates more slowly, and it's harder for your body to cool off.", "> Why does coffee taste cold at room temperature? Room temperature is in fact lower than body temperature, therefore coffee at room temp will feel cold. > ... and soda tastes hot when at room temperature? Soda is (very mildly) acidic. The hot sensation is from the acid reacting with the walls of your insides. > Why does room temperature coffee taste like shit? [Yeah? Well that's just like... your opinion, man.](_URL_0_)", "I'm by no means a medical expert, but I recall it being a evolutionary response to rid your body of urine when it gets cold. This is because urine uses a lot of heat/energy in the body to be kept at an appropriate temperature. When in a survival situation where the body gets cold, it immediately expels the liquid to keep the rest of the body warm. Cold water removes heat from the body even faster than cold air. I'm not sure why warm water makes us pee too.", "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why does sticking one leg out from under the covers transport me from Mustafar to Hoth? ](_URL_4_) ^(_15 comments_) 1. [ELI5 Why is it that both legs under the covers is too hot, both legs out too cold, but one in one out is prefect? ](_URL_1_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why does sticking one foot out from under the blankets prevent me from getting too hot? ](_URL_0_) ^(_14 comments_) 1. [ELI5: why does uncovering blankets from your feet cool you off so quickly? ](_URL_2_) ^(_2 comments_) 1. [ELI5: How is it that I can keep a leg out from under the covers and my body temperature evens out, but if I'm sitting on the couch with a blanket on my lap, the top part of me is cold? ](_URL_5_) ^(_1 comment_) 1. [ELI5:ELI5: Blanket on, feels too hot. Blanket off, feels too cold. One leg out, feels perfect. Why is it so? ](_URL_3_) ^(_4 comments_)", "Your body does not actually feel temperature the same way a thermometer does. Rather, what you perceive as temperature is merely the transfer of energy, either into you (hot), or away from you (cold). Wind, as long as the ambient temperature isn't too hot, would actively speed up the energy transfer from your body into the surrounding air, giving you the sensation of cold. Btw, this is also the reason why a metal surface would often feel colder than a wooden surface, even if they are both of the same temperature: metal is such a good conductor of heat, that your body is instantly losing energy into it, giving you the sensation of cold.", "\"You'll catch your death of cold out there unless you put on your jacket...\" Oh Grandma, I love you but you're still wrong about that one. Cold weather doesn't get you sick. And neither does being cold and wet, by themselves. However, being cold and wet for an extended period of time can weaken your immune system (think hypothermia level cold) while your body uses resources to heat itself. Colds are caused by viruses, not by your body's response to external temperatures. Colds are more prevalent in colder months because viruses like rhinovirus have been found to replicate more easily in colder temperatures. [Source](_URL_0_) Kind of like how oxygen by itself won't cause a fire, but is an accelerant or catalyst to a fire burning with a fuel source. Such is the way with cold temps and the rhinovirus (common cold).", "Note that water cools you down extremely rapidly compared to cold air. A cold shower puts stress on you to keep your core body temperature up, while cold air does not (when you are properly clothed). I'm not sure what temperature a hot shower is, but it helps maintain your core body temperature rather than lowering it.", "Temperature alone is not what makes something feel cold: what matters is the rate of heat exchange. Heat will flow from your body to colder objects it touches, and how cold those objects feel depends on the rate of that flow of heat. This is why wind can feel colder than still air: the wind removes heat faster than still air. Similarly something like styrofoam will not feel very cold because it is a very good insulator, while metal will feel very cold, because it is a good conductor of heat. Your leather chair falls along this spectrum, conducting heat faster than other fabrics. Note that if you are *colder* than your surroundings, then correspondingly metal feels *hotter* while styrofoam feels less hot, wind feels *hotter* than still air, and your leather chair will feel *hotter* than other fabrics.", "You feel like you're cold because your body is trying to get warmer. Basically, the part of your brain that controls your temperature wants you to be warmer. The temperature your body thinks should be normal goes up, so the temperature your body is now, feel cold. This also explains why you feel hot and sweaty when the fever breaks. Your body's thermostat has been lowered but your body is still hot from the fever, so you feel hot and start to sweat until your body temperature drops back down.", "Objects can exchange heat in three ways: conduction, convection and radiation. Our hot knife isn't in direct contact with anything, so conduction is out of the question. As you said, convection is also impossible, due to the lack of a gas or fluid. Radiation is still possible. All objects radiate part of their heat. This is also how the Earth gets warmed up by the Sun. There's a practical vacuum between the Earth and the Sun, so there has to be a way, else it would be very cold here.", "While heat does indeed rise in an otherwise static volume of gas (what we call convection), a hot air body will warm that which is around it. So if the air around you is 20 C, and the water is 4 , the water will be warmed by the air. You know this - when you're cold and you go into a warm room, you are warmed up by the air. Ambient temperatures will bring everything they are in contact with toward that temperature. If I have a 5 degree coin, a 15 degree coin, and a 10 degree body of air all in a box, the cool coin will warm up, the hot coin will cool down.", "When matter heats up (starting from 0 K), it steadily emits some of that heat in the form of electromagnetic radiation. We call this “black body radiation”. This is why, for example, iron turns orange when heated by a blacksmith. As things get hotter, the frequency of these EM waves gets higher. So iron that is “white hot” is emitting higher frequency light than iron which is only “red hot” because the white hot iron is much, much hotter. Most of the things around us are cold enough that their black body radiation is lower frequency than visible light. Our bodies are right around 35 C, for example, and our black body radiation is in the infrared. However, the sun is much, much hotter. By measuring the frequency and intensity of the light emitted by the sun, we can solve for how hot the surface must be in order to produce that color. Our sun is mostly yellow, which works out to roughly 5.7 kK. A blue star is vastly, incredibly a lot hotter, while a red star is much, much colder.", "No. The cold or flu is a virus. If the person does not come in contact with the virus, the person will not get the cold or flu.", "Sound travels faster when it's cold because being cold is a result of the atoms moving less than when it's hot. Therefore cold air is denser, and sound travels faster in denser objects. This is because sound is just a chain reaction of molecules bumping into each other, and the speed in which that \"wave\" travels is the speed of sound. This will also makes sound travel faster in water and even faster in solid objects than in a gas. If you get multiple small balls and place them about 2 inches apart and roll the first one, the last ball will start to move after a certain amount of time. If you place them 1 inch apart, it will get there in half the time.", "The ignition point is how hot it gets before it catches fire. The energy density tells you how much energy it produces, which you could use to figure out how hot it would burn. If objects could only set fire to things with lower ignition points, then you'd only burn the part of the wood that has a lower ignition point than it does where you light it." ]

[ "Representative Barney Frank, the highest profile gay man in public life in America, called Justice Antonin Scalia a ``homophobe'' during an interview with a gay online news agency, 365Gay.com." ]

[ "Rep. Barney Frank used his opening statement during a Wednesday morning hearing to take a shot at the Senate.", "US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia praised the Constitution at William Carey University while warning against judicial activism that he believes overrides the will of the people.", "Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., will marry his longtime partner, his spokesman said Thursday.", "Barney Frank, one of the few openly gay individuals in the US House of Representatives, announced Nov. 28 that he will not seek re-election, according to the Washington Post.", "US Representative Barney Frank formally introduced the Employment Nondiscrimination Act into Congress on Wednesday with 111 co-sponsors.", "Representative Barney Frank, 71, of Massachusetts has announced that he will marry his longtime partner, Jim Ready, 42, of Ogunquit, Maine.", "The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore falsely accused Rep. Barney Frank of ``involvement in giving a blank check to Fannie and Freddie,'' echoing the oft-repeated myth that Frank fought efforts to strengthen congressional oversight over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.", "Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank has introduced a bill that would end the federal ban on marijuana.", "Joseph Kennedy III has launched his campaign for the Massachusetts congressional seat now held by retiring US Rep. Barney Frank.", "Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services will deliver remarks on the role of mortgage servicers in the foreclosure crisis and the overall economy.", "NEWTON, Mass. Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts announced his retirement Monday effective at the end of next year, closing out a congressional career of more than three decades capped by passage of legislation imposing new regulations on Wall Street.", "Congressman Barney Frank is scheduled to host a town hall forum in Taunton later this month, where he is expected to present a case to constituents for including cuts to military spending in the efforts to reduce the federal deficit.", "Rep. Barney Frank wrote in a thank you letter to his campaign contributors that he was thinking of new ways to thank them, including ``texting and sexting.''", "On his website last week, comic book artist and film director Frank Miller slammed the Occupy Wall Street movement, calling it ''nonsense.", "House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., has predicted that 2009 will be marked by sweeping regulatory overhaul and will be the ``best year'' for public policy since the New Deal.", "A top Croatian football official made starkly homophobic remarks Monday, in the second similar incident within just 10 days.", "Chuck Norris has written a homophobic article attacking the Boy Scouts, after board member James Turley vowed to change the organization's discriminatory ways.", "WASHINGTON - Justice Antonin Scalia is unhurt after he tripped outside a restaurant in Providence, RI The incident happened Sunday just after the Supreme Court justice had eaten at an Italian cafe in Providence's Federal Hill neighborhood.", "Mass. Congressman Barney Frank announced today that he will not seek re-election.", "Comedian Tracy Morgan apologized Friday after making homophobic comments during a June 3 show at Nashville's Ryan Auditorium.", "A school board member in Arkansas has caused upset after posting homophobic comments on his Facebook page, urging gay and lesbian youths to commit suicide.", "Stern weighed in on the Chick-Fil-A gay marriage controversy during his latest satellite radio broadcast, calling the company ``scumbags'' for President Dan Cathy's recent statements that he was proud to be anti gay marriage.", "Howard Stern has defended Ellen DeGeneres from her critics and bashed anti-gay GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.", "PHILADELPHIA New York Rangers forward Sean Avery says Wayne Simmonds of Philadelphia uttered a homophobic slur at him on the ice.", "Minnesota Senator Al Franken says he ``completely disagrees'' with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on gay rights, adding that he sees little point in discussing such issues with the presidential candidate.", "​Fred's at Barneys New York, the stylish, modern bistro and brainchild of Fred Pressman, son of Barneys New York founder Barney Pressman, closed today.", "Frank Turner has created his own signature beer called Believe.", "Comedian Tracy Morgan met with homeless gay teens in New York, two weeks after upsetting activists with homophobic comments during a stand-up routine in Nashville.", "During an interview with Lee Hawkins of the Wall Street Journal, NBA commissioner David Stern called Billy Corben's 30 for 30 documentary Broke mildly racist.", "Another Katter's Australian Party candidate has been accused of homophobia after tweeting 'I wouldn't let a gay person teach my children and I'm not afraid to say it'.", "Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat whose brokering of anti-abortion provisions in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul drew fire from both liberals and conservatives, said on Friday he will not seek re-election.", "After the game, Avery accused Simmonds of using a homophobic slur." ]

[ "If your house is poorly sealed and insulated, installing a solar heat unit won't save very much energy; solar heated air leaks out just as quickly as conventionally heated air does. Solar air heaters do their best work in areas with long, cold, sunny winters. ... This is more complicated than adding solar room heating." ]

[ "Infrared space heaters work silently since they don't use a fan - they just radiate light! ... Infrared heaters are also actually \"healthier\" than other heaters since they do not reduce humidity or oxygen content in the room. Other heaters can dry out your sinuses and skin, as well as cause static electricity.", "Solar photovoltaic air conditioners convert sunlight captured by a solar array into electricity. The air conditioning unit works the same as a typical split system, but is powered by energy provided by the sun. ... Solar thermal systems use a plate to capture the sun's heat which turns an electric generator.", "They certainly do, and it's all about the heating technique! A reverse cycle air conditioner works very differently to conventional gas or portable electric heaters. ... When in heating mode, the unit works in the opposite way to cooling, in that it draws heat in from the air outside before distributing it around the room.", "Gas tankless water heaters work better than electric in cold climates. ... Though it is true that most electric tankless heaters do not perform well in cold weather, many natural gas tankless systems do.", "For a quick summary, I am stating the advantages of solar water heater below: Solar heater operates using sunlight (a free natural resource) which helps in saving electricity costs. Requires only basic fittings and a one-time investment. Water is heated through a renewable and clean energysource.", "A radiant ceramic heater works by using electricity to warm a ceramic plate, which then radiates heat into the room. A convection ceramic heater, on the other hand, adds a fan into the mix. This blows air across the ceramic parts to quickly heat the air and spread it around the room.", "Pros of Solar Water Heaters If you want to get away from gas and hydropower, solar water heating is an excellent option, especially if you live in an area that receives a lot of sunshine, as approximately 80% of the radiation is turned into heat energy.", "Most heaters work through convection, gradually heating the surrounding air and letting it circulate until it's premeated the entire room, but infrared heaters emit a precise beam of heat that warms you directly by throwing out a steady stream of heat particles.", "Air heater is a broad term that may be used to describe several specific types of heaters. More concisely defined types of air heaters include duct heaters, enclosure heaters, forced air heaters, heat torches and flame heaters, radiators, space heaters and room heaters, and tubular heaters.", "Fish tank heaters do catch fire. However, there are a lot of factors involved in the cause of such fires. For starters, whether the heater will catch fire or not depends on its quality, the way it is used, how well maintained it is, and so on.", "Electric and gas water heaters work differently to provide hot water to a household. While there are some water heaters that run on solar energy, oil and propane, the most common water heaters are fueled by either electricity or natural gas. ... Natural gas water heaters use a burner to heat up the water tank.", "Infrared heaters fundamentally work in a different way than other conventional heaters. They don't increase room temperatures by heating the air. Instead, they emit or radiate energy or light that is invisible to human eyes. This light comes from the electromagnetic radiation process from the infrared heat panels.", "['How Does Solar Power Work? ... ', 'What are the Benefits of Solar Panels? ... ', 'What is the Life Expectancy of Solar Panels? ... ', 'How Much Does it Cost with Installation? ... ', 'How Do I Size My System? ... ', 'How Extensive is Solar Panel Maintenance? ... ', 'Will a Solar System Raise Home Value?']", "Selecting a Solar Pool Heater A solar pool heating system usually costs between $3,000 and $4,000 to buy and install. This provides a payback of between 1.5 and 7 years, depending on your local fuel costs. They also typically last longer than gas and heat pump pool heaters.", "The simple answer is that solar panels do work on cloudy days – they just do not perform as well as they would on a bright sunny day. Though estimates range, solar panels will generate about 10 – 25% of their normal power output on a cloudy day.", "The Mr. Heater Corporation is a leading manufacturer of quality portable propane infra-red, forced air and convection heaters. ... Heater also manufactures wall-mounted and overhead natural gas and propane heaters as well as hoses, fittings and accessories, all made in the U.S.A. Mr.", "Solar energy is an effective way to generate renewable energy for your air conditioner to use, while also providing power to the rest of your appliances. Solar panel systems will generate thousands in electricity savings for over 25 years, and outlast your air conditioner plus all the other appliances they power.", "Radiator and Heater Cores. The radiator is the major player in the cooling system that cools the engine. ... The heater core is basically a small radiator that works in reverse, in that the heater fan blows across the heater core to push warm air into the passenger compartment.", "How Do Solar Panels Work? Simply put, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels actually comprise many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. (Photovoltaic simply means they convert sunlight into electricity.)", "One reason parabolic heaters are gaining in popularity is their efficiency. Parabolic heaters can run at an 80 percent efficiency rating, meaning that they utilize 80 percent of the energy they take in to turn back into heat, wasting less energy than other heaters.", "Convection space heaters heat up a room by heating up the air, most common convection space heaters will use around 1500 watts. Click calculate to find the energy consumption of a space heater using 1500 Watts for 5 hours a day @ $0.10 per kWh.", "Electric patio heaters Electric heaters are typically radiant heaters which heat objects directly - as opposed to convection heaters which circulate warm air to heat up the surrounding area. Radiant heaters are generally better for large gardens as you can choose what area you'd like to be heated directly.", "The average air conditioner uses 1.3kw of power, and the average solar panel system ranges from 2kw to 4kw.", "How do solar water heating systems work? Solar water heating systems use solar panels, called collectors, fitted to your roof. These collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water that is stored in a hot water cylinder. ... Flat plate collectors, which can be fixed on the roof tiles or integrated into the roof.", "['Endless amounts of energy, free of charge.', 'No CO2 emissions during operation.', 'Cost savings: up to 60% less energy to heat water, up to 35% less energy for space heating.', 'Reduced consumption of fossil fuels.', 'Solar thermal systems can be integrated into existing systems.']", "Infrared heaters are more energy-efficient than other space heaters. They use 100 percent of the heat they produce which creates almost no loss in heat transfer to zone heat at a low cost. ... They are also considerably safer than other types of space heaters since the heating coils do not become ultra hot.", "Radiant heaters emit infrared radiation that directly heats objects and people within their line of sight, and are a more efficient choice when you will be in a room for only a few hours and can stay within the line of sight of the heater. ... Safety is a top consideration when using space heaters.", "The Advantages of Infrared Space Heaters Infrared heaters are more energy-efficient than other space heaters. ... This is because, unlike other supplemental heating appliances, infrared heaters do not heat the air and instead emit infrared radiation that only warms the objects the radiation touches.", "The solar water heater absorbs light by means of a collector placed on the roof and converts it into heat. It passes this heat to a water tank by means of a circulating pump. This exchange is triggered by the thermal regulator, but only when the collector is hotter than the water in the tank.", "How much do electric heaters cost to run? That all depends on how often —and at what temperature—you run your baseboard heaters. Running a single baseboard heater for 24 hours a day would use 333.49 kWh of electricity, according to BCHydro.", "Solar energy uses captured sunlight to create photovoltaic power (PV) or concentrated solar power (CSP) for solar heating. This energy conversion allows solar to be used to power auto motives, lights, pools, heaters and gadgets.", "Tankless water heater do not have anode rods as they do not have a holding tank meaning they pair very well with soft water. ... Also in order to power an electric tankless, you need to have additional electrical work done. The power to run a standard electric water heater tank is not enough to power a tankless." ]

[ "Some blood will usually be taken from your arm with a needle. This is sent to a lab to check your cholesterol level. You should get the result in a few days. You might be asked not to eat anything for up to 12 hours before the test." ]

[ "All in all, doing a PSA test on your own, at home, isn't a good idea. Not only do you lose the specialist support of your doctor, who can help you both before and after the test, but the tests could be unreliable. And there's no need to pay for the test when it's available free on the NHS.", "Do not break an atorvastatin tablet before taking it. It may take up to 2 weeks before your cholesterol levels improve, and you may need frequent blood tests. Even if you have no symptoms, tests can help your doctor determine if this medicine is effective.", "How to get an NHS hearing test. You can get a free hearing test on the NHS. Your GP may refer you to a hearing specialist (audiologist) who can do the test. It could take a few weeks to see the specialist.", "You do not qualify for free NHS eye tests when you're pregnant, but you do get a number of other benefits.", "How do I find an NHS dentist? The service finder on the NHS website enables you to find local NHS services, including dentists. You will need to contact the dental practice directly and check whether they are currently accepting NHS patients.", "The HbA1c test is a simple blood test. The blood can be taken by your doctor or at a pathology lab. There is no need to fast before the test – you can eat and drink as normal. The results should be available within 24 hours.", "Have regular eye tests The good news is that if you're 60 or over, you can have a free NHS eye (sight) test as often as you need one.", "Do not eat or drink anything, except water, for at least 12 hours before the test. You may need to stop taking some medicines before the test.", "A. DNA Clinics do not offer free DNA testing. You can only access this service through a private company. The NHS does not offer DNA testing for paternity or other relationships.", "Sometime between weeks 24 and 28, your doctor will test to see if your body is using sugar correctly. You'll drink a very sugary liquid and then, an hour later, you'll have a blood test. You do not need to fast before this 1-hour glucose test, but don't have a doughnut on your way to the doctor's office either.", "What is an NHS medical card? You do not need an NHS medical card to receive NHS treatment. If you have an old medical card, it may have an old-style NHS Number made up of both letters and numbers. However, in recent years this has been replaced for all patients with an NHS Number made up entirely of numbers.", "How long do I have to fast for a blood test? It depends on the test. Fasting for a lab test typically lasts eight hours. Your doctor should give you any special instructions related to your tests, including fasting requirements.", "Yoga is a great activity for you if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease. It gives you strength, flexibility, and mind-body awareness. You'll also need to do something aerobic (like walking, biking, or swimming) if you're not doing a fast-moving type of yoga.", "There are two types of tests that might be ordered, but the most common is the 25-hydroxyvitamin D, known as 25(OH)D for short. For the blood test, a technician will use a needle to take blood from a vein. You do not need to fast or otherwise prepare for this type of test.", "Need Confidential & Fast STD Tests But in some cases, a person could still have genital herpes and a negative result. That's likely due to other factors related to how much virus there is in the sores. You don't need to do anything to prepare for these tests.", "Antihistamine medications must be stopped before skin prick testing and performing a food challenge. However antihistamines do not need to be stopped before blood testing.", "You need to go to the lab one time for a 2-hour glucose tolerance test. For this test: DO NOT eat or drink anything (other than sips of water) for 8 to 14 hours before your test.", "BNP and NT-proBNP are measured as a simple blood test to help diagnose and monitor heart failure. BNP and NT-proBNP test results provide different values. At Cleveland Clinic, doctors rely mostly on NT-proBNP testing to monitor patients with heart failure. You do not need to fast or do anything to prepare for the test.", "do not need to test for radon yourself. Before or after you move in to your home (whether you live in a house or apartment building), you can ask the owner if the building has been tested for radon.", "The HbA1c blood test If you have diabetes, your HbA1c level may be done every 2-6 months by your doctor or nurse. This test measures your recent average blood sugar (glucose) level. Because it is an average measurement you do NOT need to fast on the day of the test." ]

[ "First, the spectrum isn't really continuous because you need a standing wave in the laser cavity. But the difference between them is $\\frac{c}{2L}$ where L is the cavity's length which makes the spectrum look continuous in a regular spectrum analyzer, for example a $30cm$ long resonator will have a difference of $500MHz$ which is negligible compared to the optical frequency. \n\nSecond, every atom has its own \"gain spectrum\" - the frequencies which it can easily amplify, which is wide when compared to this difference between frequencies, so what actually makes a laser so monochromatic is the competition between frequencies on the amplifying atoms, the standing wave frequency which is amplified the most eventually wins the competition. \n\nMode locked lasers, like the kind you have, have a gain medium with a very wide gain spectrum. Here you just need to find such a material, e.g. Ti:Sap. But how do you cancel the mode competition and let all of the frequencies to participate? You force them cooperating by entering something into the cavity which will let pulses laze and doesn't let CW. This laser will have a \"time mode competition\" which the pulses will win. Pulses are a superposition of a lot of frequencies so you made a laser with a wide spectrum!" ]

[ "I can provide an anecdotal answer. We use UV cured adhesives to bond pieces inside of our UV lasers. These lasers produce intense UV light, some of which is scattered around inside of the laser head. The exposure to those specific UV wavelengths is much more intense than the exposure of a piece of material laying out in the sun. Bond failure, however, is not an issue for us.", "I would go with a laser printer. You can get black/white or color laser printers. The color laser printers are true laser printers. They contain 4 toner cartridges. Many laser printers are available as part of a multi-function device, where you can print, scan and fax.\n\nNow.... some laser printers are vastly cheaper to operate than others. For example, I have an old HP M2727nf. This is a black/white multi function printer. It takes HP toner cartridges. HP uses a 4 digit code for cartridges. Some printers can accommodate high capacity toner cartridges and HP (and 3rd parties) make these cartridges and they are suffixed with the letter X. For example, 1234 and 1234X. 1234X is the high capacity cartridge. My M2727nf printer can print about 7,000 impressions on one high capacity cartridge. These cost about $20 (3rd party), so each impression costs .285 cents.\n\nI also have an HP color laser printer. The cartridges for this are much more expensive and there are no high capacity cartridges available. Impressions on this printer are around 10 cents a page, so the older printer is around 50 times cheaper to operate.\n\nSo you could buy a new laser printer that takes high capacity toner cartridges and you should be able to print for well under a penny a page.", "From Cisco documentation:\n\nCisco SFP Modules for Gigabit Ethernet Applications Data Sheet\n\n\n When shorter distances of single-mode fiber (SMF) are used, it might be necessary to insert an inline optical attenuator in the link to avoid overloading the receiver. A 10-dB inline optical attenuator should be inserted between the fiber-optic cable plant and the receiving port on the SFP at each end of the link whenever the fiber-optic cable span loss is less than 8 dB.\n\n\nMy suggestion would be to use the fiber type appropriate to the application. For distances of 550m or less (allow some swag for jumpers and such), use multimode. It will be cheaper all around.\n\n\n\nUpdate --\n\nOptical Fiber Standards and Their Applications\nSmall form-factor pluggable transceiver\n\nDifferent SFP types expect certain fiber type/sizes. While they may work with other types, the operation of single-mode vs multi-mode is different and could impact performance.\n\nMulti-mode optical fiber\n\n\n The main difference between multi-mode and single-mode optical fiber\n is that the former has much larger core diameter, typically 50–100\n micrometers; much larger than the wavelength of the light carried in\n it. Because of the large core and also the possibility of large\n numerical aperture, multi-mode fiber has higher \"light-gathering\"\n capacity than single-mode fiber. In practical terms, the larger core\n size simplifies connections and also allows the use of lower-cost\n electronics such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and vertical-cavity\n surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) which operate at the 850 nm and 1300\n nm wavelength (single-mode fibers used in telecommunications typically\n operate at 1310 or 1550 nm 3). However, compared to single-mode\n fibers, the multi-mode fiber bandwidth–distance product limit is\n lower. Because multi-mode fiber has a larger core-size than\n single-mode fiber, it supports more than one propagation mode; hence\n it is limited by modal dispersion, while single mode is not.\n\n\nSingle-mode optical fiber\n\n\n Like multi-mode optical fibers, single-mode fibers do exhibit modal\n dispersion resulting from multiple spatial modes but with narrower\n modal dispersion.[citation needed] Single-mode fibers are therefore\n better at retaining the fidelity of each light pulse over longer\n distances than multi-mode fibers. For these reasons, single-mode\n fibers can have a higher bandwidth than multi-mode fibers. Equipment\n for single-mode fiber is more expensive than equipment for multi-mode\n optical fiber, but the single-mode fiber itself is usually cheaper in\n bulk.\n\n\nRegarding cost: There is a cost difference between SFP types and this will contribute to the total cost of a solution and should be considered. A quick search around the internet and one provider of 1m jumpers, the single-mode jumpers were roughly twice the price of multimode.", "This is a minor problem and can easily be remedied in less than half-an-hour.\n\nThe tendency of the skin to darken with injury is referred to as \"marking.\" \n\nAs long as the skin is darker than your normal skin colour it is a relatively easy procedure to lighten the skin pigments using an intense pulsed laser by a dermatologist, skin treatment specialist, or a cosmetic surgeon. The specific wavelength of laser that is used has been used successfully for many years. It is not a new concept. The laser is very superficial and its effect is almost immediate. It is a painless procedure. A short (probably free) consultation visit to the doctor's office will confirm this.", "I am interested in finding out if it is possible to get access to the image data coming from that sensor? And I was interested in seeing if the image data could be used to measure the filament width?\n\n\nNo. The sensor is the PAT9125EL. The only output it provides is the movement in the X and Y directions. There is no way to get image data out of it.\n\n\n Could I add a rgb led and interpolate the filament color by comparing pixel intensity under different lighting conditions\n\n\nNo. The sensor uses laser light of a specific wavelength. It's likely not sensitive to any other wavelengths. On a positive note, there is an \"average frame brightness\" register that can be read from the chip, but I don't think it's likely to work with RGB LEDs.", "It may be worthwhile to consider how laser scanners work. We know that it is possible to send a beam of light at an object, and detect how long it takes to be reflected back to the sensor to measure its distance.\n\nFirst of all, we use lasers because reflection of the light from the object is so important. lasers keep the light concentrated in a narrow beam, with minimal refraction. We'll come back to that later.\n\nThere are several ways to measure distance. The first is triangulation. This typically depends on good placement of optics, and the CCD sensor the return beam shines onto. You can easily see the problem with a large distance - the angle detected gets increasingly close to $0^\\circ$, so that we need sensor components which are very accurate at small scales. We would also like a beam width which is narrow for accurate detection of where the beam is, but there is greater diffraction at narrow beam widths, meaning the return beam of light is not that narrow. Over long distances, the beam gets increasingly wider, because of the small amount of diffraction.\n\nThe second way is to measure the round-trip time. Light travels very fast at $3\\times 10^8 \\textrm{m/s}$. This means that even detecting something at $150 \\textrm{m}$ will take $1 \\textrm{μs}$. Embedded computers typically have a clock rate of only several megahertz, so even at this large distance, a system would struggle to provide an accuracy of 10%, and that is assuming the data acquisition is as fast - often the peripheral features have a slower clock rate.\n\nThe data acquisition is typically much slower, allowing cheaper systems to be built. As to how they can get away with this - an interesting phenomenon is used. If a sinusoidal signal is embedded into the light (via the intensity), the return signal will also be a sinusoidal signal. However, depending on the distance, the signal will have a phase shift. That is, at $0 \\textrm m$, there is no phase shift, and if the wavelength is $20 \\textrm m$, then an object at $5 \\textrm m$ will mean that the light travels $10 \\textrm m$, creating a phase shift of $180^\\circ$. If the signals are normalized to the same amplitude, taking the difference between the outbound signal, and the return signal, we get another analog sinusoidal signal (note: this is only one method). The amplitude of this depends on the phase shift. At $180^\\circ$, we get the maximum amplitude - double of the original outbound signal. We can easily detect the amplitude of this signal even with slow digital circuitry.\n\nThe main problem is that the choice of wavelength limits the maximum range. For example, the wavelength of $20 \\textrm m$ limits the detection range to only $5\\textrm m$. If we simply chose a much longer wavelength, we would get the same percentage accuracy. In many cases, if we want greater absolute accuracy, the system will have a greater cost, since we must more accurately measure amplitude in the face of environmental noise. This may involve a number of changes - for example, a larger laser beam, greater light intensity, and more accurate electronic components, more shielding of noise, and more power to run the system. If any one of these is not good enough, accuracy is affected.\n\nThe other problem which affects all methods is the intensity of the return beam. As the distance increases, the intensity decreases. There is not that much scatter of light in air, so attenuation is not so much caused by this. However, even though a laser light is used, there is a very small amount of diffraction. It is not possible to remove this diffraction completely, although it can be decreased with a wider beam width. Diffraction reduces the amount of the returning light beam incident on the sensor. Because the beam width gradually increases, the sensor only receives a small proportion of the returning light. This affects the accuracy of measurements. Using a larger sensor can also increase noise. Therefore, here we also see another limit on the distance. We can increase the distance by increasing light intensity, or increasing beam width. However, increasing light intensity increases power consumption and heat, while increasing beam width requires larger optic lenses, and larger distances between optic components.\n\nEssentially, there is a balance between cost, accuracy, power consumption, and size of the system, and longer distances often requires better components to maintain accuracy.", "Put simply: controlling the phasing would be impossible (not just difficult). Not only do you have to deal with a constantly changing physical distance but also with the dynamics of the atmosphere. It's difficult enough to maintain transverse phasing across an earth-based receiver (think adaptive optics); I can't imagine a reliable way to track the radial variation. Without that, unless you are sticking with multi-meter wavelength radio systems, you cannot hope to phase up the receivers.", "Not with consumer equipment.\nFDM printers are functionally three-axis motion control machines: &quot;extrude quantity W material at position X Y Z, continue to next W, X, Y, and Z.&quot;\nAdapting it to control a laser position is a relatively simple task, because most of the logic is the same. &quot;fire laser for W duration&quot; instead of &quot;extrude quantity W material&quot;. Moving the laser around is functionally similar to moving the print head around.\nConsumer SLA (aka &quot;DLP&quot; or &quot;mSLA&quot;) is an entirely different logic, a different process. It is effectively layer-by-layer snapshots, rather than multi-axis motion control. They do a whole layer at a time, then lift the whole object up for the next layer: &quot;flash layer 1 for W duration, lift bed Z, proceed to layer 2.&quot;\nProfessional/industrial SLA printers that use lasers exist (like SLS), but they're tuned to precisely cure photopolymer resins, not cut things.", "$\\require{\\mhchem}$\n\nThere are almost too many ion species to list that have been used in ion trap based quantum computing or related experiments. The usual choice is one that is, when singly ionized, hydrogen-like which has convenient consequences for their laser spectroscopy: Then a strong, typically $20$ MHz wide transition lies in the UV or blue end of the laser-accessible spectrum (rather than in the vacuum-UV as it would for ions that need higher than single ionization to become hydrogen-like). Also, the spectrum remains relatively simple (if it is hydrogen-like) meaning there are a limited number of other states that may need their own laser as a repumper laser. It can be advantageous to have one optical meta-stable state that needs a repumper laser because that can be used in measurements and state preparations (or, atypically, to represent one qubit state).\n\nFinally, you typically (but not always) want an ion that has a hyperfine structure because that allows you to use hyperfine states with only a few $\\mathrm{GHz}$ energy spacing as qubit states. These states are advantageous because they have century-long decay times, meaning you have practically no decoherence simply from their spontaneous decay (but you do have decoherence from magnetic fields, to which well-chosen states have, however, no linear and only a quadratic dependence).\n\nIt is also convenient to have a low mass ion because that allows you to build an ion trap with higher motional frequencies (the ion is more strongly confined if its charge-to-mass ratio is high). High motional frequencies imply less (anomalous) heating inside the ion trap and the possibility of faster $2$-qubit gate speeds.\n\nOne of the most popular ion species is $\\ce{^{171}Yb^+}$ because you have all required lasers in a spectral region (IR and visible) where you can build them with relative simplicity and there is a convenient meta-stable state of about $1\\ \\mathrm{Hz}$ width (and one with about $1\\ \\mathrm{nHz}$ width that is irrelevant), and it has a particularly simple hyperfine structure due to its nuclear spin of $1/2$. $\\ce{Ca^+}$ is almost as good: If you can live without having a hyperfine structure, $\\ce{^{40}Ca^+}$ has equally simple laser requirements and a relatively low mass whilst by tuning your lasers for $\\ce{^{43}Ca^+}$ you gain a hyperfine structure at the expense of it being a fairly complicated one due to the nuclear spin of $7/2$. Some groups pursue $\\ce{^9Be^+}$ which is cool for being so light and for only needing lasers at essentially the same wavelength, albeit a difficult one ($313\\ \\mathrm{nm}$). Many other ions have been used experimentally, including $\\ce{Sr^+}$, $\\require{\\mhchem}\\ce{Hg^+}$ and a good depiction of the important properties can be found at Chris Monroe's \"Ion Periodic Table\".", "There is a very nice Myth Busters video about bouncing a laser off the Moon linked below.\n\nTo answer your question, current work is done with an array of corner cube reflectors on the Moon roughly 50 x 50 cm in size. Pulsed lasers on Earth have traditionally been green frequency-doubled infrared Nd:YAG lasers, similar to the \"classic\" DPSS green laser pointers before they commercialized green diode lasers. That's why older green laser pointers were so expensive, heavy and large, they contained a semiconductor diode laser, and an infrared Nd:YAG crystal laser, and a frequency doubling crystal all on a tiny \"optical bench\" inside the pointer.\n\nDon't be put off by the \"peaks at 1 giga Watt\" mentioned in the video, that's the instantaneous power during the very short, probably a few nanosecond pulse. The average power of the laser is going to be a few Watts or so. That's why each pulse contains \"200 quadrillion photons\".\n\nThe laser beam has to be collimated with a large telescope (like a meter or more in diameter) to make the spot on the moon small enough, and the received photons on Earth has to be collected with a large telescope as well. Each pulse usually results in only a few photons actually detected by a photomultiplier tube. You run for a while and collect enough photon statistics to average out the noise and get a precise time measurement. A special, very narrow pass optical filter is used to make sure light of other wavelengths on say the brightly lit lunar surface don't make it to the photomultiplier tube, or else it would just saturate.\n\nYou can read further about the retroreflectors in these Stack Exchange questions and answers as well:\n\nSpace SE:\n\n\nWhat are these structures on the Lunar Ranging Retro Reflector (LRRR) arrays for? some images\nLocal expansion measured, near zero via Lunar Ranging - what about deep space probes? cool images\nWho does these mesmerizing simulations of the phases of the Moon? And how? cool GIFs!\n\n\nPhysics SE:\n\n\nIs the metric expansion of space relatively uniform on different length scales?\nHow is a result of no time variation in the gravitational constant G related to a measurement of no local expansion?\nWould order 1AU metric expansion of space begin if the solar system were not inside a galaxy?", "Get an idea on the spectral sensitivity and quantum efficiency of your camera. The data are provided by the camera manufacturer and/or chip manufacturer. It's easier for monochrome cameras as there is no colour filter (bayer pattern) involved. They are also more light sensitive. CCDs are more sensitive than CMOS and CCD is also more linear. (Your Canon camera has a CMOS sensor). For colour cameras you'll get separate curves of quantum efficiency for each colour.\n\nAn important aspect is the colour spectrum you want to observe. Cameras and normal lenses are designed to detect visible light only. That is only an extremely small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.. Any camera, including the monochrome ones, do have an IR filter to disallow any light with wavelength longer than red to pass. These IR filters can be removed from some chips (there are offers for certain cameras). Yet even then, the material of the chips has a cut-off around 1.5µm.\n\nIf you are using some optics, get the spectral transmission curve for that as well. Different coatings block different wavelengths. Data are availble from manufacturers - usually they are designed for visible wavelength exclusively.\n\nIn order to get a rough estimate of your photon count you thus have to take the pixel value, de-convolve that with the quantum efficiency of the pixel (per colour if you use a colour camera) and de-convolve that with the transmission curve of your optics and then the spectral density of the light source you observe. You might want to make several measurements at different wavelength (small band pass filters) to get a better idea of the spectral content.\n\nIf you have a monochrome colour source with known intensity (i.e. laser), you can use that in order to calibrate your guestimate.\n\nIn any case: use raw images. Try to get a handle on the actual values per pixel without any colour corrections via white balance etc done.", "So, I'll take this very smoothly. The idea is to take you from ray optics gradually to an understanding of radiomagnetic waves as actual waves, and show that it all makes sense.\n\n1st idea: Refraction on a material interface (high->low density)\n\nWe remember what happens when we have ray of light, leaving a optically denser medium (e.g., water) into a less dense one (e.g. air):\n\n\n\nThe ray is refracted away from the normal of the interface (image taken from wikipedia's refraction article &amp; cropped).\n\nWe can actually calculate how $\\theta_1$ and $\\theta_2$ are related; it's Snell's law that you might already know:\n\n$$\\frac{\\sin(\\theta_1)}{\\sin(\\theta_2)}= \\frac{n_2}{n_1}$$\n\nwith $n_i$ being the refractive index of the medium (air or water).\n\n2nd idea: Water on a sphere\n\nNow, imagine you're standing on sphere (like, a planet). Your planet is completely covered in very very salty water, and above that, is air.\n\nYou're of the water-dwelling kind, and you hold an orange laser pointer nicely horizontally:\n\n\n\nSo, in this drawing, you stand at point $B$, and hold your laser pointer straight vertically (that is, perpendicularly to the planet radius $\\bar{BA}$. At point $C$, the ray hits the saltwater-air interface in the angle $\\delta$.\n\nOur job is now to find $\\delta$, because we know the refractive indices of air and saltwater, and we can then calculate under which angle the ray will leave the saltwater¹.\n\nWe know that on the saltwater-air-interface, the ray will be refracted away from the normal, that is, closer to the ocean surface. So, the ray will already have one \"bend\", that looks like it \"hugs\" the ocean surface curvature a bit. \n\n3rd idea: Water in layers.\n\nNow we realize that this ocean is pretty deep, and that the water isn't constantly salty – the deeper waters are way more salty than the waters close to the surface.\n\nLet's even think these different degrees of saltiness come in layers. Then, we can imagine there being a lot of interfaces like the water-air interface from the second idea :)\n\nSince salty water is at the bottom and has a higher refractive index than less salty water, we get such a bend at every interface. The ray is getting bend more and more to \"hug\" the spheres, until, at the end, it practically \"rides\" on a circle-like shape that it really can't leave (because it's always refracted back a little bit more).\n\n4th idea: From rays to waves\n\nNow, the first big thing to simply swallow is: Laser light and, let's say, mediumwave radio broadcast, are really just the same thing: electromagnetic waves. There's zero difference between them, other than that an orange laser has maybe a wavelength of 600 nm, whereas your medium wave broadcast might have a wavelength of 600 m, that is, one billion of the wavelength.\n\nSo, whereas the saltwater layers seem \"huge\" to a ray of light, which you might have already learned to model as \"plane wave front\", these layers might be \"small\" compared to the wavelength of a medium wave transmission.\n\nNow, imagine that instead of a small, cute laser pointer, you used a giant lamp consisting of thousands of laser pointers, mounted atop of each other: A large \"tower\" that shines kind of a beam (consisting of many laser rays). Now, the lower laser pointers are in deeper, saltier waters, and get bent more within shorter distance than the upper ones.\n\nThere's an old analogy that physics teachers often employ: imagine this group of rays being a marching band, nicely arranged to all start marching at the exact same instant. While the upper-water band members move relatively straight and only rarely meet a water-water level interface, the band members close to the ground are often making a bend in their path. The overall front of the marching band seems to \"slouch\" around the curvature of the earth.\n\nThis analogy isn't as bad as it sounds at first: The refractive index $n$ is actually just a measure for how much slower than in vacuum the light is in that medium. So, the \"deepwater rays\" simply are slower than the \"not as saltywater rays\". That means that the whole wavefront (marching band front) does follow a curve.\n\n5th idea: we don't have salty water, but earth will do.\n\nObviously, you're not a water-dwelling alien controlling a giant marching band consisting of laser beams. \n\nInstead, you have an antenna. But that antenna very much sends out an electromagnetic wavefront. As electromagnetic waves permeate air, trees, hills, dry earth, not-so-dry-earth, small animals, large animals, buildings, tapestries and people, they are, just like the special case of visible light, slowed down in media. \n\nIn the case of ground waves, the lower parts of the wave front permeates earth. Earth has a higher conductivity as air – and that means it slows down the electromagnetic wave. How that slowing down happens isn't actually very easy to explain - in the end, earth has physical properties that increase its $n$.\n\n\n¹ I haven't had the time to properly test my calculations, but if they are correct, that angle is, if we set the earth radius to 1, $\\delta=90° - 2\\arcsin\\left(\\pm \\sqrt{\\frac l{2+2l}}\\right)$, but that's actually not that important here. If you want to have some geometry in your presentation, deriving that angle from the ratio of earth radius (set arbitrarily to 1) and water height would definitely be a cool thing.\nFor the things I want to explain, it's not important what this angle is, exactly.", "A product exists from many vendors that is an extremely thin foil on a paper backing. When one prints with a laser printer, the toner material (a plastic powder) is fused to the paper by the extreme heat generated within.\n\nOnce a sheet is printed, the foil is attached to the page and run again through the laser printer, which is told to print a blank sheet. This heats the fused toner, causing it to bond to the foil in only those locations.\n\nThe foil sheet is removed, leaving a colorful shining surface where once existed ordinary black toner.\n\nVarious foil colors and patterns are available. One such location also provides instructions/guidelines as well as supplies.\n\nI've used this type of product decades ago with an HP LaserJet 3 with wonderful results.\n\nIf you required to have a reflective background, the text would have to be white and the background black, allowing for the foil to attach to the entire background minus the lettering.\n\n\n\nThe various web sites I've perused show using laminators as well as laser printers and some will also suggest a heat press for bonding the foil.\n\nIf you require multi-color foil results, experimentation is warranted. I don't know how the first layer of foil would react to a second pass in a laser printer, but I think it would be practical. Using a laminator probably reduces the risk as well.", "First, I am assuming you mean an embedded system like Cars Go Quiet, not a set of headphones optimised for a city bus. The latter would not be on topic here.\n\nThere's great information (albeit somewhat technical) contained in \"Is active noise cancellation useful in vehicles\" which may shed [eventually] the answer you are looking for, but I will try to explain the major caveats in simple terms here:\n\nThe problem is maintaining the correct anti phase relationship between what is likely the entire vehicle as a sounding board, and one or more \"point source\" generators (speakers).\n\nThe cancellation effect can even be done with light (lasers) MIT Destructive Interference\n\nHOWEVER, there are some very key criteria. The energy must by culminated, focused, single-sourced, not combined with reflected waves, and ultimately maintain strict phase stability in the desired environment. This is almost never true with real light, and only marginally the case with a carefully benched and controlled split-mirror laser beam. Sound is a lot slower and simpler, and more stable as well. The multi-source and multi-phase issues are still a problem, and exponentiate depending on the volume of the space you want to control noise.\n\nOn a set of headphones, this is easily achieved, with only the space in the ear canal that needs to be carefully regulated.\n\nOn a car, this can be done to some extent, but will be most effective in the lower \"exhaust rumble\" frequencies.\n\nOn a bus, there is likely too much volume to address the multi-phase and multi-directional sound, as well as expect a single point source to address this volume effectively front-to-back.\n\nThe only simple solution for a bus is to wear a set of headphones.", "Certainly there are. In the abstract, what defines a Markov process is that the transition probabilities (or rates, in continuous time) do not depend on the history; this is usually abbreviated by stating that the probabilities only depend on the current state, but they can also depend on time.\n\nAs a very concrete example of a system with this property, you can take the Markov chain that is used to describe the interaction of a atomic wave function with the external electromagnetic field, as described by Jean Dalibard, Yvan Castin, and Klaus Mølmer, \"Wave-function approach to dissipative processes in quantum optics,\" Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 580 (1992). The complicated density matrix for a multi-level atom, evolving in time according to the optical Bloch equations, is replaced with a wave function that evolves according to a Markov process. Under the stochastic evolution, spontaneous decay appears (just as it seems to appear with real atoms) as a random process. This formalism can easily accommodate external forcing by one or more lasers, which may be turned on or off at any given time. And obviously, switching off the external pump lasers will change the transition rates between different state in a discontinuous fashion.", "Wouldn't the surface of the spaceship absorbs all the energy from the pulse and burns?\n\n\nIt might or might not absorb all of the energy, depending on what type of weapon is being considered (different wavelengths of laser light and different types of particle will have different properties). However, it won't burn in the sense you're probably thinking - the amount and, crucially, concentration of energy involved is enough to reduce parts of the hull to plasma. This is the principle of laser ablation. Plasma is much less dense than solid matter, e.g., hull plates. As a result, it expands violently as it changes phases. In other words, it explodes.\n\nOne interesting side effect is that if the explosion is too small to simply tear the ship apart, the ship will tend to direct the force outward. The plasma is propelled away from the ship, and as a consequence, the ship is propelled away from the plasma - making it look like laser strikes are physically knocking the ship around.\n\n\n Even pressurised compartment don't explodes that violently am I right?\n\n\nOf their own accord, they cannot. Depressurization is not generally as dramatic as shown in movies. These kinds of incidents (when they aren't made up out of whole cloth) tend to be based on airliners that suffer damage to the fuselage, which can indeed rip apart dramatically - but that's because airliners are flying into 500 mile per hour winds. Spacecraft obviously are doing no such thing, and the atmospheric pressure within isn't sufficient to do much damage.\n\nHowever, if an energy weapon manages to strike through the hull, it will turn the air inside to plasma just as readily as the hull (even more readily, in fact, since it can skip a few endothermic steps along the way), destroying the ship from the inside. And, as AlexP points out in comments, there's always the possibility of touching off secondary explosions from sources like fuel, weapons, or volatile parts of the life support system.", "Classical interference\n\nIn optics classical interference is when you see interference that can be described by a coherent wave-like behavior (such as in a double slit experiment or in an interferometer). A quantum picture of such an interference is that you have a group of photons each prepared in identical states, and each photon interferes only with itself (e.g. different paths interfere) to produce the interference pattern. As such you only need a single detector (or array of independent detectors such as a CCD camera) to measure the interference. An example of what this looks like (taken from here) is shown below.\n\n\n\nThe resolution is limited to roughly the wavelength of the light.\n\nQuantum interference\n\nIn optics quantum interference involves interference of multiple photons. This means that experimentally you are measuring correllations that involve (at least) two different points (can be two spatially seperated points or the same point at different times). In addition, to be considered quantum, the correlations usually need to be stronger than what is allowed classically (e.g. you must demonstrably have entanglement present that describes the multi-photon correlation).\n\nAn example of what this looks like (taken from here) is below. This image shows two entangled beams being generated by a nonlinear optical process. The two entangled photons interfere by both going out the same (but random) output of the beamsplitter.\n\n\n\nIf you change the lengths between the two paths you'll see a dip in coincidences (known as a \"Hong-Ou-Mandel dip\"), but if you look at the output of each of the detectors separately you don't see any fringes. These two plots look like\n\n\n\nAs for the resolution, you can think of a quantum state consisting of N entangled photons as like a superparticle at N times the energy, and thus 1/N wavelength. Thus the resolution is limited to roughly the average wavelength/N. See e.g. \"N00N states\" for a discussion of quantum super-resolution in metrology.\n\nMatter-wave interferometry\n\nMatter wave interferometers use matter instead of EM radiation. Because historically matter was considered corpuscular (rather than having a wave/field like nature that light has), any wave-like properties of matter are automatically considered \"quantum\". Therefore a simple 2-slit or Mach–Zehnder interferometer made using matter is \"quantum\" interferometry, while using light is \"classical,\" even though the principles are the same.\n\nThe resolution is again roughly limited to the wavelength (which for matter means the de Broglie wavelength).", "I know Chris Webster (at JPL) well and have discussed the TLS instruments he builds at length. They have more in common with the MIRO instrument on the ESA Rosetta spacecraft (I was a co-investigator on that instrument) than with sector or quadrupole mass spectrometers.\n\nMass spectrometers have relatively poor mass resolution but can measure atoms or molecules of any mass over their design range. Hence they are called \"survey\" instruments. If you're not sure what species you're going to find, you use one of these to get a wide cut at the atmosphere's composition. If you put a pyrolyser at the inlet you can volatilize liquids and measure those, or thermally break down solids and measure their decomposition products. It's a \"broad brush\" approach.\n\nThe TLS looks at how much specific absorption lines of specific molecules absorb a laser beam propagating through a sample of gas. The amount of absorption tells you how much of that species is in the gas mixture. You have to measure multiple lines for each species to sort out molecular abundance from temperature. Temperature affects the population of molecules in the specific energy states—energy of rotation, or vibration, or both—that give rise to those lines.\n\nBut the wavelength of one TLS laser \"channel\" is tunable over a limited range, and you can have a limited number of channels: each channel adds mass to the instrument and takes more power. So when you design the instrument, you have to tune the channels you can afford (in cost, mass, power, data volume—all those pesky limitations!) to cover those molecules you're really, really interested in, and are confident you will actually see when you get to the destination.\n\nTo measure isotopic ratios in something like methane, you have to have channels that will get at least a couple CH4 lines, where the C is \"normal\" 12C and the H's are \"normal\" hydrogen, not deuterium. To get carbon isotopes you have to add coverage at the wavelengths of 13C-H4 lines, 14C-H4 lines, etc. (at least two lines each), and those wavelengths are significantly different from those of the 12C molecules. To get D/H you have to add coverage at the wavelengths of 12C-H3D lines. So you can quickly use up all your instrument's mass, power, etc. allocations chasing this one objective. If it's really, really important, you might do that. But when Curiosity was designed, nearly ten years ago, there wasn't that much importance attached to it.\n\nSo far the data discussed in the Science paper indicate that finding methane on Mars is highly variable and rather unpredictable other than a mild seasonal correlation. At the time the Curiosity TLS was designed it was a matter of debate as to whether methane had actually been detected at all. And Kevin Zahnle of NASA Ames even suggests the methane detected might have come from Curiosity itself, though Chris doubts that. But uncertainty about whether you would detect methane at all is another argument against chasing that objective.\n\nIt might be different now.", "In principle, not much different to LIGO, since LIGO is sensitive to kHz gravitational waves. But you need to find ways to increase the sensitivity at kHz frequencies, without compromising response at lower frequencies, or perhaps having a tuneable response. These improvements are likely to come with increased laser power and developments in the optics and mirror coatings.\nDetecting gravitational waves (GWs) is limited at high frequencies by the length (or effective length, with some cunning deployment of mirrors) and at low frequencies by various sources of noise, including &quot;radiation pressure noise&quot; which is an inescapable consequence of using powerful lasers to do the detection.\nRoughly speaking, to get maximum sensitivity at 1kHz (LIGO is most sensitive at 100Hz), you make your interferometer arm length equal to a quarter of the GW wavelength (or the total path length of the light to be $\\lambda_{\\rm GW}/2$). This ensures that perturbations to the arm length all &quot;sum up&quot; whilst the laser light is in transit. Thus for a GW frequency of 1KHz that means $L \\simeq 75$ km (or a total path of 150 km).\nThat's fine - something of LIGO's size can be made effectively that long by bouncing the light up and down the arms about 10 times, which is much less than the $\\sim 270$ times that LIGO uses in order to get sensitivity at lower frequencies.\nSources of noise at 1kHz are mostly limited to simple &quot;shot noise&quot; due to the finite number of photons in the laser beam. So you would need to boost the power at the beam splitter by using a more powerful laser to begin with or by employing clever recycling techniques to amplify that power within the interferometer arms.\nIn LIGO, they use a laser with a power of about 40W, split between two arms. The 4km arms form Fabry Perot resonators that boost this by a factor of 270, but that isn't the power at the beam splitter. From the beam splitter's point of view, the FP arms are about 0.97 times reflective. To amplify the power at the beam splitter you put a recycling mirror prior to the beam splitter, with a reflectivity of 0.97. This allows all power to transmit into the FP arm cavity, but also amplifies the power between the beam splitter and the FP input mirror by a factor of about 35.\nAt present LIGO is tuned to have a high amplification factor in the FP arms and a modest power recycling gain, which is limited by the effective reflectivity of the FP cavity due to losses at the reflective surfaces.\nTo get more power at the beam splitter, whilst maintaining sensitivity at 100 Hz, would need big improvements in the mirror and mirror coatings technology; improvements in laser stability at high power and the clever used of &quot;squeezed vacuum&quot; techniques which can to some extent shape the noise frequency profile, allowing modest improvements in the shot noise at the expense of radiation pressure noise at lower frequencies. For instance, by minimising losses in the mirrors, one could make the FP arms more reflective, which allows a bigger recycling gain (which goes as $(1-R)^{-1}$).\nEven without these improvements, you could tune LIGO to work better at 1kHz, at the expense of its response at lower frequencies. The gain of 270 is not realised at high frequencies. You could drop this to around 20, which would increase the reflectivity of the FP arms to about 0.997 by reducing the losses (which increase with how many times the light bounces around) and could then use a more reflective power recycling mirror and get a power recycling boost of 330. This would gain you a factor of $\\sqrt{10}$ in SNR at 1kHz at the expense of losing a factor of 10 sensitivity at 100Hz.\nThere is lots more detail in the technical documentation for the Einstein Telescope. This proposed third generation GW detector operates on the same principle as LIGO, but with improvements. It will have several &quot;V&quot; shaped interferometers to improve its directional response and remove dead spots; it will use more powerful lasers; it will operate cryogenically to improve sensitivity at low frequencies; it will have 2 interferometers within each set of arms, tuned for low and high frequencies respectively, as I've indicated above; it will have 10 km arms and use more massive mirrors to reduce the effects of radiation pressure and other displacement noise at low frequencies; and it is proposing big developments in optics technology (e.g. mirror losses at 1 ppm) to boost power and get high frequency response.", "Tracking technology\nLaser mice are generally the best, though their extreme precision occasionally causes problems with awkward surfaces. But I play on a rough wooden table with my laser mouse and I rarely notice when I'm moving over the wood instead of my mousepad. Optical doesn't work well with reflective or black surfaces. I'm not really sure what the complaint about laser is about honestly. I am currently unable to find a surface this cheapo laser mouse can't work perfectly on.\nDPI\nThe best thing you can do is have a DPI switching mouse. This has two benefits; the first is letting you immediately switch the mouse movement speed (go from instant-turning speed to super precise sniping movements) and the second is letting you find exactly how sensitive you're comfortable with the mouse being for a given application or surface. Since I'm used to my high-DPI mouse I don't really switch it down (or all the way up) that often, but it's a nice feature to have.\nIf you want high DPI (I recommend it) again, laser is best; they're usually double optical or more. My Logitech G500 is ridiculously sensitive at 5700 max DPI, but right around 2000 feels nice. Remember if your mouse is too sensitive you can lower the pointer speed via software.\nErgonomics\nFor ergonomic factors, get a &quot;handed&quot; mouse if at all possible. If you're Left Handed you might go with an ambidextrous mouse (or if your partner is differently-handed and will use it as much as you do), but generally a &quot;handed&quot; mouse is far more comfortable to grip.\nSize\nDepending on your grip, get a mouse big/small enough for you. My hands are large so I have to scrunch up my hands (claw grip) or let my palm all off the mouse (fingertip grip). To palm-grip the mouse I need a mouse with a big &quot;butt&quot;. Razer has a good guide to grip styles if you're confused by these terms or want more info on grip styles.\nWeight\nWeight-adjustable mice are also nice. High-DPI, low weight mice can be a pain to use; I prefer them a bit heavier, but the best thing you can do is manually adjust the weight. This sounds silly to some but adjustable weights are pretty common in mid to high end gaming mice.\nWireless\nI've had issues with Bluetooth but what really matters is interference; the more wireless devices you have the more likely there's some interference going on. I've had issue with bluetooth and non-bluetooth devices.\nBattery really shouldn't be a concern here; your mouse should last weeks between charges no matter what. General battery specs should be listed by the mouse anyway, so there's no need to consider which tech is going to eat more battery.\nMulti-axis/multi-touch mice\nFor &quot;two axis&quot; wheels, if you mean Apple's multi-touch mince, those are terrible for gaming. Physical buttons are a must for one thing. If you mean horizontal scroll &quot;tilt&quot; wheels they usually don't get in the way of gaming, just make sure it's not too sensitive. My Logitec G500 requires a bit of force to press the horiz scroll which is good, an older Microsoft wireless mouse was sensitive enough I often accidentally pressed the horizontal scroll buttons while moving the wheel.", "A random longwire is just that, a random length. There is no optimum length, by definition. Usually people use random longwires for multi-band operation. Since the design frequency is &quot;a lot of them&quot;, the strategy of a random longwire is more or less to give up on making the wire suit any particular frequency, and just deal with the mismatch with a tuner.\nIf you are wondering what the optimal length is for &quot;some single-wire antenna for use on one band&quot;, the answer is probably &quot;about 0.47 wavelengths&quot;. Without defining &quot;optimal&quot; I'm making some assumptions, but I would very much recommend you install a half-wave dipole because:\n\nNo tuner is required, minimizing losses\nMaking the wire longer does not improve performance\nUnlike and end-fed antenna, it is quite easy to address feedline common-mode current with a balun\n\nFor height, &quot;as high as possible&quot; is generally a good answer, since this minimizes ground losses. But if you have the time and space, you can squeeze out a few more decibels by being more precise. This analysis by by Jari Perkiömäki OH6BG/OG6G suggests a multiple of 0.5 wavelengths, plus 0.1 wavelengths (0.6, 1.1, 1.6, 2.1, ...)\nIf you wish to further improve your antenna performance, you'll want to consider antennas which can improve your gain and/or directivity. Some of the more popular choices on HF being Yagi, 4-square, and Beverage antennas.", "One report of a study on the topic funded by NASA JPL in 2005 is &quot;Deep-space to ground laser communications in a cloudy world&quot;. Based on global cloud statistics, they worked out the probability of success as a function of number of receiving stations and optimized their location, and found that the number needed to achieve the desired availability was well over budget. One ground station in the Atacama is good, but multiple ones all in the same desert are not, because the autocorrelation length of the cloud/no-cloud signal they found is around 600 km, so if one station in Chile was clouded out, so would the other ones probably be at the same time. You want them all at high altitude mountain observatories, but scattered over every continent, including Haleakala, Kilimanjaro if you could get permission, and other widely separated high and dry places. Another problem is turbulence, which since it is caused largely by solar heating, is worst exactly where clouds are least frequent, so you need astronomy-grade adaptive optics and probably multi-meter deformable mirrors to be able to correct the signal as it arrives. Aerosols are another consideration, which makes coastal regions less good due to sea spray, even separate from the humidity that produces clouds. My own conclusion from following this group's work for several years was that the right way to do it is laser from deep space to earth orbit, with the space-to-ground links in radio for affordable availability.", "If you require a circular opening and have access to a laser cutter AND the plastic is acrylic and not polycarbonate, the baubles can be cut with the laser cutter. The edges would be polished by the laser to a smooth edge.\n\nMakerspaces are the best option for finding a laser cutter. It has to be a CO2 laser rather than the lower cost, lower power diode lasers as the latter operate at the wrong frequency.\n\nI would be able to accomplish your objective, but I find no method of contact in the SE system.", "In order to use the same antenna design at different frequencies, \"all you need to do\" is scale all elements of the antenna proportionally to the difference in wavelength. For example, if you take a Yagi antenna designed for around 150 MHz, and scale all of the lengths in its design down by half, you will have a Yagi antenna good for 300 MHz.\n\nOf course, there's no “resize” button on physical objects, so you have to build two separate antennas instead. And there may be mechanical limitations (e.g. the thickness of sufficiently strong wires) that mean a design doesn't physically scale perfectly.\n\nIf you use an antenna at a frequency/wavelength that is too far off from what it was designed for, two things will happen:\n\n\nIt will have a different impedance at the feed point (the connection to the transmitter). This means that the RF energy will not be efficiently transferred into/out of the antenna, and it may damage a transmitter. (For receivers, this is not usually critical.)\nThe radiation pattern will be not as designed. Generally, a directional antenna will not be as directional — instead of \"pointing\" in one direction, it will have a spiky pattern with many highs and lows.\n\n\nIt is not impossible to have a directional antenna which works for two different frequency bands. But it must be designed specifically for that pair. And unless physical space is an issue (as with HF antennas which work with long wavelengths and therefore are themselves quite large), it is simpler to use two separate antennas with standard designs, if a suitable multi-band design is not already available.", "Solution : Is there another solution without prerotating vectors ?\n\nI finally got a solution, and here it is.\n\nPython, ROS geometry library, numpy\n\nMy actual code/maths in short : \n\n1) Rotate the position &amp; orientation of lasers by roll &amp; pitch. The axes='sxyz' means : Static axis, apply roll, pitch, yaw. \n\nquaternion_matrix creates a 4x4 transformation matrix from the quaternion.\n\nlaser = (1,1,1,0) # laser position\norientation = (1,0,0,0) # laser orientation\n\nroll, pitch, _ = list(euler_from_quaternion(q, axes='sxyz'))\nq = quaternion_from_euler(roll, pitch, 0, axes=\"sxyz\")\nlaser = numpy.dot(quaternion_matrix(q), laser)\norientation = numpy.dot(quaternion_matrix(q), orientation)\n\n\n2) Algebric solution : Rotation around Z in function of yaw\n\n\n\nlaser = [-sin(a)*laser[1] + cos(t)*laser[0], \n cos(t)*laser[1] + sin(t)*laser[0],\n laser[2]]\n\norientation = [-sin(a)*orientation[1] + cos(t)*orientation[0], \n cos(t)*orientation[1] + sin(t)*orientation[0],\n orientation[2]]\n\n\n3) Algebric solution : Extrapolation from the measurments in function of yaw\n\nImportant notice : Since the rotation do not scale vectors, the denominator of the K factor is a constant. Then, we can simplify it by precompute length of the orientation vector. \n\nM = 100 # distance\nK = sqrt(M^2 / (orientation[0]^2 + orientation[01]^2 + orientation[1]^2))\nPointOnWall = [ K * orientation[0] + laser[0],\n K * orientation[1] + laser[1],\n K * orientation[2] + laser[2]]\n\n\n4) Algebric solution : From this, on two laser, get walls. \n\nThe two \"PointOnWall\" equations should gives enough data to get the yaw. Knowing this is a (-1,0,0) normale, I can find 2 planes from the two points :\n\n\n\n5) Algebric solution : Measure the YAW.\n\nOne plane in the other (Via XMaxima), we got : \n\n\n\ndef getYaw(position1, orientation1, measure1, position2, orientation2, measure2):\n length1 = length(orientation1)\n length2 = length(orientation2)\n k1 = measure1/length1\n k2 = measure2/length2\n numerator = -k2*orientation2[0] + k1*orientation1[0] + position1[0] - position2[0]\n denominator = -k2*orientation2[1] + k1*orientation1[1] + position1[1] - position2[1]\n return atan(numerator/denominator)\n\n\nAs expected, roll &amp; pitch DO NOT interfere, since the positions and orientations are prerotated.", "It would disappear from sight when it enters the darkness but function exactly the same otherwise\nDarkness says:\n\nA creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.\n\nLaser beams from a laser gun from the DMG are not a magical source. Thus the laser beam is also not magical. Since it is not magical it will be unable to illuminate the area covered by darkness.1\nHowever, the spell only says that it is unable to illuminate the darkness, not that the laser ceases to exist. So, the laser beam would function otherwise like normal in the darkened area (eg it would hit and damage targets) and if it didn't hit something would come out the other side of the area the same as it went in (eg bright and lasery). The same thing would apply to, for example, a flaming arrow.\nThe power level of the light source doesn't matter at all - only the power source. You could place something with the illumination power of the sun itself in the center of the darkness and it wouldn't shine at all unless it was a magical light source.\n\n1 - Obviously if this is using some sort of custom setting/item created by a DM which they do define laser shooting technology as magical, then the laser bolt would illuminate the darkness. However, by default the rules do not indicate that laser guns are considered to be magical at all.", "TLDR - FDA granted market clearance based on the paper linked below. Which was a double-blind, randomized, placed-controlled study. With a success criteria of 3 inches and 35% individual success rate which was exceeded. There were no dietary or exercise requirements placed on patients.\n\n\n\nI found this clinical trial paper published in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 41:799–809 (2009) which details results of the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial of non-invasive body slimming ZERONA.\n\nStudy Design/Patients and Methods:\n\n\n Double-blind, randomized,\n placebo-controlled trial of a 2-week\n noninvasive laser treatment conducted\n from May 2007 to June 2008 across\n multiple-private practice sites in the\n United States of America. Sixty-seven\n volunteers between the ages of 18–65\n with a body mass index (BMI) between\n 25 and 30 kg/m2 and who satisfied the\n set inclusion criteria participated.\n\n\nResults:\n\n\n Participants in the treatment group\n demonstrated an overall reduction in\n total circumference across all three\n sites of 3.51 in. (P&lt;0.001) compared\n with control subjects who revealed a\n 0.684 reduction (P&lt;0.071745).\n\n\nSuccess criteria as defined by the FDA:\n\n\n The overall study success criterion,\n established by Food and Drug\n Administration (FDA), was defined as\n at least a 35% difference between\n treatment groups, comparing the\n proportion of individual successes in\n each group. It was determined by the\n FDA that a reduction of at least 3.0\n in. was clinically meaningful.\n\n\nFrom the results (refer to the paper) 62.86% of the test group met the individual success criteria of 3 inches.\n\nIt's a long enough paper, so I've deliberately tried to display the most relevant information to the question.\n\nAlso of note is this passage here, and I'm not a doctor, but refer to the context yourself if you think I'm taking this out of context:\n\n\n Discussing the basic principles of\n laser therapy as described above could\n help guide further investigations\n towards uncovering the exact mechanism\n employed by laser therapy that\n ultimately results in the formation of\n the adipocyte membrane aperture.\n\n\nIt would seem from the quote above the exact mechanism is not entirely know. That doesn't sound comforting to me.\n\nJust found this:\n\n\n The FDA granted market clearance\n following the completion of a\n placebo-controlled, randomized,\n double-blind, multi-site clinical\n investigation evaluating sixty-seven\n study participants. The results\n obtained from that study demonstrated\n an average inch loss reduction of 3.65\n inches across patient's waist, hips,\n and thighs in as little as two weeks.\n The clinical trial, absent of diet\n restrictions, exercise requirements,\n or any other adjunctive components\n properly illustrated the clinical\n utility of the Zerona and set the\n precedent on how aesthetic devices\n should be evaluated.\n\n\nIt would appear from the above that the study I have mentioned in my answer was the one used by the FDA to allow market clearance. And further to your question (and as per quote above) the trial was done \n\n\n absent of diet\n restrictions, exercise requirements,\n or any other adjunctive components", "Power. Could a spacecraft transform the energy beam to electric power\n for use onboard?\n\n\nYes, a spacecraft can definitely turn a steady flux of light into electrical energy. A device that does exactly that is pictured below:\n\n\n\nSolar are more effective at some wavelengths than others, so the monochromatic light of a laser is especially useful for energy transmission.\n\n\n Communication. Could the energy beam be modulated to communicate data\n to the spacecraft and be reflected in a modulating way by the\n spacecraft's sail to send data back?\n\n\nAt large distances, the targeting of the spacecraft is mostly about hitting it with at least a part of your light cone (yes, lasers diverge too). You then have the opportunity to use single-blinking-light communication, such as Morse code or plain binary bits. Variations in the intensity of the beam can also be used to transfer the information in a analogue manner. There are limitations to this form of communications though. Big lasers are not easy to just turn on and off quickly, and an occultation disc is going to experience the most serious overheating problems ever heard of. A better solution might be to slightly tilt the beam a tiny bit back and forth, but getting it pointed right on target again is perhaps difficult. In short, it can be used for communications, but the bandwidth is surely limited.\n\n\n Impact prevention. Could parts of the energy beam be focused by parts\n of the sail to first detect impacting dust grains ahead from their\n reflections, and the refocused to evaporate them?\n\n\nI am more in doubt about this one, first of all, looking ahead is simply not enough. This situation, for example, is not going to end well:\n\n\n\nAs velocities in space are relative, impacting objects may come from every direction. The difficulties with this method is more in the ways of actually being able to discover very small objects at a fairly large distance, and having the ability to illuminate them is not helping that much.\n\nAs for combining multiple functions into one, say sail/photovoltaic, I can not see many situations where this is useful. The reason here is the enormous difference in pushing force and energy content of the beam. $1N$ to $150,000,000W$. That means that the area you are going to need for power production is far smaller than the propulsive part of the sail. That is convenient as well, as photovoltaics are much thicker and heavier than the currently used sail materials. Other things, like sail/reflector is much more reasonable, as the sail is a reflector. Throwing optical lensing properties into the mix should certainly possible as well, at the cost of more structural mass for calibration and accuracy.", "Oh man. Yes lasers can and will damage your camera's sensor! Your laser pointer is probably weak enough, but I still wouldn't risk it.\n\nLight painting (as you were doing), is okay, so long as you're not pointing your laser directly into the lens, however, if you plan on doing more light painting, I would switch to an LED or incandescent source instead of a laser.\n\n\nInfo\nMore info here", "An option beyond using a laser would be to purchase a craft cutting machine such as a Silhouette Cameo or similar. It uses a very sharp cutter that is moved over the surface of the material, cutting through to create your stencils. It is quieter and less expensive than a laser cutter. Additionally, a laser machine creates smoke and odors which may be challenging to address.\n\nAs Chris suggests, you may find a makerspace with such a device, although they are inexpensive enough to purchase. Laser machines are much more costly.", "This article from Princeton University deals with laser pointer use and human effect, and it mentions that use of laser pointers that are higher than 5 mW are dangerous and should not be used, so it seems like the green one might be safe, although they recommend that the lower the output the better, as they will be safer.\n\nLike with any laser, avoid pointing it at your cat's eyes, or at reflective surfaces that might reflect the laser into their eyes, and that can cause problems, the same way it can for humans. \n\nFurther, though, beyond just the output, another concern is that since the cats cannot \"kill\" the laser, they are not able to come down from the \"high\" of hunting, and may redirect that energy in negative ways (excessive grooming, aggression, etc), so it is suggested that at the end of a laser pointer play session, you give the cat something to \"kill\" such as a stuffed toy or something similar.", "A squarish shape antenna is the best sender/receiver\n\n\nThere is no practical basis for this assertion.\n\n\n Wavelength of the 15Khz [SIC] frequency is around 14990 meter [SIC]\n\n\nThe formula for the reasonable approximation of wavelength is\n\n$$\\lambda (in\\space meters) = \\frac{300}{Frequency\\space in\\space MHz} \\tag 1$$\n\nSince 15 kHz is 0.015 MHz, it has a wavelength of ~20,000 meters.\n\nWhen a loop antenna is constructed with a loop circumference that is less than 1/10 wavelength, it is classified as a small loop antenna. When designing these types of antennas, one of the most important factors to which the engineer must pay attention is the efficiency. Small loop antennas have very low radiation resistance which gives rise to an inefficient antenna.\n\nAntenna efficiency is defined as:\n\n$$efficiency = \\frac{R_r}{R_r+R_l} \\tag 2$$\n\nwhere Rr is the radiation resistance and Rl is the RF resistive losses of the antenna and any losses in the core material.\n\nYou can see from equation 2 that as the radiation resistance is reduced, for a given resistive loss, the efficiency drops precipitously.\n\nThe radiation resistance of a multi-turn loop antenna that is wound around a high permeability material, such as ferrite or iron powder, is given as:\n\n$$R_r=197n^2\\mu_{er}^2\\left(\\frac{C}{\\lambda}\\right)^4 \\tag 3$$\n\nwhere C is the circumference of the loops in meters, n is the number of turns of wire and $\\mu_{er}$ is the effective relative permeability of the material around which the loops are wound. If the loops are air wound, simply set $\\mu$er to 1.\n\nYou can see from equation 3 that for a given core material, as the number of turns are increased, the radiation resistance goes up according to the number of turns squared.\n\nThe approximate RF resistance of the loop antenna is given as:\n\n$$R_l=n*C*R_{wire} \\tag 4$$\n\nwhere Rwire is the RF resistance of the wire in ohms/meter. The RF resistance of 26 gauge (AWG) copper wire at 15 kHz is 1.265 ohms/meter.\n\nThe gain of the small loop antenna is given as:\n\n$$G=1.5*n*efficiency \\tag 5$$\n\nArmed with these formulas, you can calculate all of the parameters for any proposed 15 kHz small loop antenna. What you will find is that very small antennas such as you suggest will be very low gain antennas due to low efficiency. Whether or not such an antenna is adequate for your application depends on many other factors such as receiver sensitivity, transmitter power, distance, etc." ]

[ "Currently, it takes about 6 months to a year to get U.S. Citizenship from the time you apply. The citizenship process actually starts when you first get your US green card. In order to be eligible for citizenship, you must meet six basic requirements. Be a lawful permanent resident, also known as a green card holder." ]

[ "how to become a physician assistant; how to take a B A and become a PA; how to become a physician\\s assistant; how long does it take to be a physician asst; how to make the most money as a PA; how to become a pa; how long does it take to become a PA; how long to become a physician assistant; how to become a physicians assistant; PhysicianAssistantPrograms", "How Long Does It Take To Become a Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)? How Long Does It Take To Become a Nurse Practitioner? How Long Does It Take To Become a Nutritionist? How Long Does It Take To Become A Pharmacist? How Long Does It Take To Become a Physician Assistant? How Long Does It Take To Become a Social Worker? (ANSWERED) How Long Does It Take To Become a Vet Tech? How Long Does It Take To Become An LPN? How Long Does It Take To Become an OB/GYN? How Long Does It Take To Become an Ultrasound Technician? How Long Does It Take To Get a Medical Degree? How Long Does It Take To Get a Nursing Degree? Your first stepping stone toward a rewarding nursing career is completing the education and becoming registered. Ill answer the age old question about how long it takes to get a registered nursing degree.", "how to become a physician assistant, how long does it take to become a physician assistant, how long does it take to become a PA, how long does it take to become a physicians assistant, how long does it take to be a physician assistant, how to become a pa, how to become a physicians assistant, how long does it take to become a physician\\s assistant, how long does it take to be a PA, how long does it take to become a physician assistant in california, how long does it take to become physician ...", "for how long do you have to be a US citizen before you can become a member of the US supreme court n/a for how long do you have to be a State citizen before you can become a member of the US supreme court", "Popular Posts. 1 How Long Does Mail Take. 2 How Long Does The Flu Last. 3 How Long Does Suboxone Stay in Your System. 4 How Long Does It Take To Get Mri Results. 5 How Long Does It Take To Digest A Meal. 6 How Long Does It Take To Become An Architect. 7 How Long Does It Take To Lower Blood Pressure.", "How Long Does It Take to Become an Ultrasound Tech? How to Become an Ultrasound Technician: The Ultimate Guide; … How Long Does It Take to Become an Ultrasound Tech? … and there are ways to plan your program that will yield the best results at the lowest cost and time usage.", "How long do you have to be a state citizen in order to become a member of the US House of Representatives make laws for GA What does the State house of Representatives do?", "For US citizens living in the United States, how long does it typically take (from start to finish) to renew a US passport? If the expedited fee is paid, how fast can it be done?", "How long does it take to receive your discover chrome card once approved? How long does it take to get a new discover card in the mail? How long does it take to process mailed discover application?", "How long does it take for a new immigrant to get work permit in Singapore? How long will it take to get an Australian work permit and visa? How long does it take to process a Canadian study permit amendment from Canada?", "how long do you have to be a state citizen in order to become a member of the US senate", "I&#39;m a little confused about the process to become a physical therapist. How long does it take from the start of college (freshman year) to get your masters degree in physical therapy and become a LPT?", "How long it takes time after applying for green card from EB3(H1b visa) Philadelphia, PA | 3 attorney answers I am at USA with H1B visa as researcher with Phd degree. i am a indian citizen of India. i am going to apply green card. Denver, NC | 4 attorney answers My daughter is us citizen, she is planning to marry H1b visa person, how long will it take to get green card. Houston, TX | 4 attorney answers How long does it take for Marriage based Green Card process and is it safe to travel with H1B visa?", "How Long Does It Take to Become a Phlebotomy Technician. So you’re wondering how long does it take to become a phlebotomy technician. The good news is that this is one of the easier medical fields to get into as far as education and training go.", "How long should it take to process a rental application for a home....? How long does it take to process a new rental application and what information are we entitled to be told? Answer Questions", "Basically, I am at a University and now I want to begin trade school to become an electrician. I want to know how long does it take to become to finish the program, how long does it take to become a master electrician, and if my math and english credits will transfer to a trade school.Also, Is an electricians...asically, I am at a University and now I want to begin trade school to become an electrician. I want to know how long does it take to become to finish the program, how long does it take to become a master electrician, and if my math and english credits will transfer to a trade school. Also, Is an electricians...", "How Long Does It Take to Process a Security Clearance (2015)? An update on how long it takes to process a security clearance as of the second quarter of FY 2015.", "1 55% - How long does it take to get the next step in border patrol hiring process? 2 43% - How long does it take to process a package from canada at the sf usps sorting facility? 3 40% - When will the usps stop hiring casual employees? 4 29% - What kind of process does toys r us do for hiring?", "How long does it take to get student visa for Germany? How long it takes for the German student visa process to complete from Kolkata? How many days will it take in India to get student visa processed for Germany?", "How long does it take for a credit card payment to be processed? Hi, I just paid off my mastercard with my CIBC debit, and I was wondering how long it will take the payment to go through.It hasn't shown up on the statement yet, and I need to use that money ASAP...ow long does it take for a credit card payment to be processed? Hi, I just paid off my mastercard with my CIBC debit, and I was wondering how long it will take the payment to go through.", "Naturalization – A Process to Become a US Citizen. United States is said to be a land of immigrants. A foreign citizen can become a US citizen by the process of naturalization. A foreign national who wants to become a US citizen must satisfy the eligibility requirements constituted by the Congress. On becoming a naturalized US citizen, you will be granted all the rights in the United States, such as the right to vote.", "How long does it take to process an amended individual income ... How long does it take to process an amended individual ... we recommend that you allow at least 6 months from the date you submitted your amended return before ...", "Re: How long does it take for Paypal to process a payment for an item purchased on ebay ? Re: How long does it take for Paypal to process a payment for an item purchased on ebay ? If you are initiating a payment I would recommend that they funds are available in your bank account.", "How long does it take to get a full coaching practice? How long does it take to become a certified coach? How long does it take to be good at coaching? Each of these questions has a different answer and every coach has a different experience, but here are a few basics, if you're wondering about becoming a coach.ake sure your training prepares you for one of those and know that most coaches take a several months to several years to attain them. You won't be surprised when I tell you that how long it takes to become good at coaching depends a lot on the coach.", "For those who are pondering how long does it take to become a CNA, it is sufficient to know that a person can become a CNA in more or less three to four weeks time.The total duration for the course and finally becoming a CNA depends on the type of course that has been chosen by the aspirant.Secondly how long does it take to become a CNA also depends on the speed of the individual for the completion of the courses provided by the training institutes.The more the delay in study the longer it takes to become a CNA.or those who are pondering how long does it take to become a CNA, it is sufficient to know that a person can become a CNA in more or less three to four weeks time.", "Illinois state refund how long does it take to get. What day of the week does the state of alabama direct deposit my state refund check? How long after state refund check is mailed out will i get it? Illinois tax refunds take how long. How long does to take for the state of michigan to process an income tax refund?", "1 79% - How long does it take for t-mobile to process an order? 2 42% - If i order something online with 3 day shipping but takes 48 hours to process and send out, when will it come? 3 31% - My five year old son is order to take a psychosocial evaluaton, how long does this process take and how soon can i recieve a report?", "Apart from the level of education to opt for how long does it take to become a teacher? No matter which degree of Teacher Training Education one opts for it usually takes nearly 1-3 years to complete the entire training process in order to become a much qualified and a certified teacher.", "How much does it cost to become a U.S. citizen? Currently it costs $725 to become a U.S. citizen through the naturalization process (for most applicants). When filing Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, you must pay two separate fees: an application fee and a biometric services fee.", "RE: If you deposit money at an atm, how long does it take to process and get added to your account? Say i stuck 200 in an envelope and feed it into the atm, how long does it generally take to process and put the money in my account?", "How long does it take the irs to approve a refund after it is accepted? Why does it take long for the irs to process a refund with education credit Post to Facebook", "How Long Does It Take To Become A Doctor. If you are wondering how long does it take to be a doctor, it is assumed that you mean a medical doctor or physician. A medical degree is a professional degree like a law degree or a pharmacy degree. In the U.S. becoming a doctor requires extensive education." ]

[ "The US military says a soldier has died in Iraq from non-combat related causes." ]

[ "The US military says two American soldiers died Saturday in Iraq from what the military described as non-combat-related injuries.", "The Department of Defense says two Fort Campbell soldiers died in Iraq on Wednesday from injuries suffered when their vehicle rolled into a canal.", "Tuesday, the Ardmore soldier who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq was laid to rest.", "A Minnesota soldier killed in Iraq this month has been laid to rest in a solemn ceremony.", "Funeral services are set for an Alamogordo soldier killed in Iraq when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.", "A Walker County soldier killed in Iraq was laid to rest Saturday.", "A local soldier killed in Iraq is remembered on the gulf coast.", "London, March 2 A British soldier has been killed in a rocket attack in southern Iraq, the defence ministry said.", "The Defense Department said an Army sergeant from Madera has died in Iraq.", "An Idaho soldier killed in Iraq will be remembered in the Treasure Valley today.", "An Oneida County post office will be named after a soldier killed in Iraq.", "On Friday night a Cabarrus County soldier who was killed in Iraq was laid to rest after an emotional funeral.", "Two Idaho soldiers of the 116th Cavalry Brigade were killed in Iraq.", "A 22-year-old soldier from Inverness was killed in Iraq when a man wearing what appeared to be an Iraqi military uniform burst into a house where the soldier was taking a break and shot him, his family said Monday.", "Two Fort Campbell soldiers have been killed in Iraq from injuries suffered after their vehicle encountered an improved explosive device.", "A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division has died in Iraq from injuries sustained in a non-combat incident, the military said.", "A 21-year-old Fort Carson soldier was killed Saturday in what is being classified a ``non-combat related incident'' in Iraq, the Department of Defense said today.", "GAYLORD Visitation services will be held all week for a Gaylord soldier killed in Iraq and the funeral will be Friday.", "``A US service member died Sunday in a non-hostile incident in central Iraq,'' the military said Monday.", "A local soldier injured by a roadside bombing in Iraq was honored with a Purple Heart on Saturday.", "Two Fort Riley soldiers were killed Thursday in As Sadiyah, Iraq, the Department of Defense said.", "A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq as the country celebrated the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday which ended the fasting month of Ramadan, the US military said on Friday.", "A soldier from Maine who served in the National Guard has died in Kuwait, military officials said Wednesday.", "Soldiers returned home to family and friends after one year in Iraq.", "Authorities say a soldier from Salem has died while on a training exercise in Kentucky.", "The US military says three coalition soldiers were killed in in southern Iraq after their base was hit by a rocket or mortar attack.", "BRAVE soldiers from Cambridgeshire will be reunited with their families this afternoon when they return from a tour of duty in Iraq.", "A British soldier has died in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.", "The US military confirmed that five American soldiers have been killed in central Iraq.", "A Fort Campbell soldier from California died this weekend after his unit was attacked in Afghanistan with an improvised explosive device.", "The Defense Department says a 22-year-old soldier from Gustine, Calif. has died in Afghanistan of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire.", "A US Army soldier from Southern California has been killed in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday." ]

[ "Returned it, which went well thanks to Amazon. The write up as to the year and make of ATVs this supposedly fits was not as specific as necessary as to which models it WILL NOT FIT. Not all Can Am frames are the same. Don't buy this if you have a 400 cc Max model - either one or two up. It will not come close to fitting. I ended up calling Can Am to get the right part and paid some more $. No direct seller seemed to understand the important distinctions of specific models and frames." ]

[ "Heat safe up to 400??? Then medium high on my stove top must be well over that. Ive seen these smoking at well under 400. Dont waste your money on this cheap stuff, unless its a gift for someone you don't care about.", "I contacted the former owner and he said that when he contacted Ooma and asked or he could sell it , he was told there should be no problems. But when I wanted to activate it, I was first told that they were not sure that they could activate it as it could have been stolen. After I contacted the former owner and got his answer I tried again and was again refused. This went on for about 2 weeks and I finally got a man on the line that told me flat out that when I bought a new one in a store, the price of the activation was included in the sale, so I better buy a new and more modern one to get the most out of it.\nI contacted the seller again and he was gracious enough to tell me to return the unit to him and he would refund me the money. So I did not had a change to use the unit or to evaluate it. Max", "The hose I purchased ACP-400 has a defective valve. They will not do anything unless I remove it from the can of refrigerant VENTING IT INTO THE AIR, which is of course illegal as hell. Totally useless company if you have a defective product. I'm planning to drop it off at an auto shop maybe they can dispose of it properly.", "This will not work on 2004 polaris sportsman 400. Major issues. Took to Polaris dealer. Dumped fuel into motor AND out off exhaust. Caused MAJOR engine problems. VERY VERY DISPLEASED WITH THIS PRORDUCT. Will not give any stars", "I also received ARC.\n\nThough listed as a mystery, Id classify this charming tale more as a romance with a touch of police procedure.\nBookstore owner Sami, loves Max who is a police detective, but not sure if shes ready for marriage. Max love Sami, but is too busy with investigating a serial rapist to spend the time with her hed like. They share many common interests, but they have many obstacles to overcome before they can make a decision about their future life as a married couple. One of the big pluses of this story is the wonderful Colorado settings. I needed to keep reading not only to find out if Max caught his man, but also if how the relatiohsip between Sami and Max would turn out.", "Installed (2-1-18) these Mono-Max shocks and struts on my 98 4-Runner with Moog springs all around. Amazing improvement! No unnecessary roll or kneeling. The control I have now is outstanding! And I live in a place that has immediately put them to task, Belize central America. The paved roads here can be as bad as being off road. They can be very windy, and dip and drop out of no where. Bumps are used all over for traffic control. I am completely satisfied with how they handle all of the road conditions here. I definitely recommend this product for anyone searching for replacements.\n\nSide note: truck has settled at about 2.5 inches of lift, but this was from a stance held by very worn shocks/struts and springs. And the rear does sit just a little bit higher than the front.", "She's such a terrible dog owner that I don't care what happens to her.", "just purchased pingel shift kit and having installed by proffesionals\nthey found it to be defective upon bench test\nthey are overnight sending product back to have repaired or replaced\nnow not sure if it will keep working safely since i am handicapped 63 yr old man\nnot at all happy", "This is a quite comprehensive book regarding Corgis. Includes history, breed standard and care. Great book for Corgi lovers, owners or potential owners", "400 seeds zero growth. I don't care about the price. Would have paid more for seeds that actually grow. Will never buy from this company again.", "Do not buy wiring harness was turned off and it melted everything and was smoking thought my quad caught fire and was like holy crap do not buy!!!!!!!!!", "I have the Python 323 (also known as the Python 3203P) installed in a 91 mustang, and this sensor plugs right into the brain with no wire splicing (4 pin MUX port - zone 7) - cable included with sensor. Works like a charm. I installed mine on the ceiling in front of the dome light, and ran the wire through the headliner over to the drivers side frame. I placed the sensor up there because it seemed to get the best response. It warns when someone is near the front or rear of the vehicle as well as the sides. This was my first alarm install, and I'm impressed with this product.\n\nIf you have an alarm system that has a 4 pin MUX port, this is a great sensor to easily add another layer of security without breaking the bank.\n\nGet it!\n\n<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/Install-Essentials-508D-Radar-Field-Disturbance-Sensor/dp/B0009VFOME/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">Install Essentials 508D Radar Field Disturbance Sensor</a>", "My baby Max was losing so much weight and now with Gorilla Max he looks so darn good! I am so glad my husband bought Gorilla Max!", "Installed in a FJ40 with no top over a year ago. They have been washed, rained on, the one under the seat bounced around quite a bit. Working fine still. Can not hear them driving over 40mph - or anything else but wind and tires.", "I like wearing Air max. My feet do not hurt me when I wear them. I am on my feet a lot during working hours. I have planter faciaitis and they help with that also. I can not wear flat sneakers shoes for I have a high arch and the Air Max helps with that also.", "This is a really nice fragrance, as it can be used in a variety of settings from work, to a night out, to a casual day, but I do find that the scent can be a little overpowering if you are not careful. I would make sure that you spray it once, maybe twice at max and make sure that you have a chunk of time available before you hop in a car with someone else.", "I have had the 405 for over one year now and I cannot understand how a company could make such a badly designed product and not recompense the buyers for their flawed design. If this was a car, there would have been a recall, not for the sake of safety but for the sake of customer satisfaction.\n\nBottom line - the touch bezel option is worthless when wet. The locking feature has to be used often and the intense frustration that comes when you have to take the watch out of locked mode to either change a setting or turn watch back on because your break went over the allowed minute will drive you crazy. I've used this watch for a year and I've learned to live with it, but I would not ever give it 5 stars.\n\nI guess if you live in a very dry climate and you do not sweat a lot this probably would be a 4 star watch, but still the bezel ... this is not an iPod, it's a watch and when you try to use it as a watch in normal mode it doesn't even give the date unless you push one of the buttons down and that activates the GPS to begin draining the battery down.\n\nI'm trying to decide what to replace this watch with, either the 310XT or the Timex Global Trainer. I hope this review helps at least one person not buy this watch and look else where for a better design.", "This device can be scary. Like the other reviewers, the Maxtor OneTouch 4 just stopped working a few months after I bought it. I'd put all of my pictures and a few other big files on it to make some room om my older HD. (Don't do this....use it only as a backup!!). In any case, when it did fail, I searched for a solution and found a write up at: [...]\n\nIt's likely, although not certain, that the problem is with the Maxtor enclosure and not the Seagate drive that's in it. That write up tells you how to disassemble the Maxtor OneTouch 4 and install the Seagate drive that's in it in a new HD enclosure (make sure you get an enclosure with a \"SATA\" connection). I used a Rocketfish enclosure, but others will work. It worked great, and all my data was recognized. You void the warranty on the Maxtor, and you have to pay for a new enclosure, but you get your data back. Many thanks to the genius who posted the instructions!", "Quick delivery, beautiful bottle and I can already feel some of the benefits. I also received an Email from the owner asking if I am happy with the product. I will be recommending this to friends. Thank you", "Mine fell apart and the owner refused to honor my warranty. Would not recommend!", "I am extremely happy with this unit! Works flawlessly with my ELB 400!! It's nice to have a product that works!", "Our Max is a dog that was born very skitttishand nervous around people new things etc.. have a trainer, been working with vet.. this was recommeneded by vet and trainer.. it does work for Max it takes him down a couple notches that he can focus on the training.. and it keeps him calm, no shaking etc. This is our new daily regime and will keep it on hand always.. it keeps us from having to use the dog Prozac.. that's was the next possible step. I give it to Max twice a day in am and bed and I keep 4 drops in his water bowl.", "That 5 star review above must be from the company because I had a very different experience. The unit arrived on time, but in the worst shipping ever. the box was destroyed, blades sticking out of the box and damaged, and looks like it was sent around the world 15 times. not ups fault.. the packaging was crap.\n\n2nd.. the unit i received was clearly used. rust everywhere, dings and scratches, looks like it was repainted a few times. I am scared to see if it even works.\n\n4th.. this is not a 800 watt unit.. that is blatant false advertising. The manual it comes with says its rated at 400 watts normal operation. 750 watts max in a tornado before it shuts off .. no 800 watts anywhere.", "This is an excellent unit. I am the proud owner of 2 Everlast units. This unit is very easy to use, extremely light weight, but holds a smooth steady arc. For the money you can not beat these units.", "It says it may contain lead. I don't like the sound of that. Whatever you do, don't buy this, or your nuts.\n\n*UPDATE*\n\nBumped up to three stars as no one has died and it doesn't seem harmful. Has big interior pockets and luxury feeling leather.", "I have used this several times and I am very pleased. You do have to be careful when trying to find the right temp. If you are pressing standard t-shirt material 400 degrees will work just fine. If it is a softer/ jersey material you would want to adjust the temp and keep it under 350 because it could burn the material. I learned the hard way but have now gotten the hang of it . Overall, this is my first heat press and I love it!!", "Two orphans, Emilia (Emily) and Max, are taken by their countries at a young age and trained to be effective agents in service of their governments. They learn all that was essential, how to memorize, steal, defend themselves, murder, move at ease among the most sophisticated, among royalty. They are then turned loose in service of their countries. Bondurant follows them to America, France, Austria, France again, Hawaii, Russia and to England. The emphasis is on Emily with Max appearing once Emily has established as a character and we watch them through the manipulations of international intrigue. Max and Emily are often at odds and often try to get the best of each other. In spite of their competition, it is obvious they share a deep fondness for each other. The story telling is compelling and I often found myself totally engrossed in the events as they unfolded; the story from Hawaii was especially intriguing as the Japanese and English end up in confrontation. The machinations are complicated and gripping.\n\nThere was another aspect to this story I greatly liked. Max and Emily were taken at a young age and raised without the usual affection and care most children enjoy; it was part of the training of effective agents, be it the most brutal or the most genteel of behavior. And they learned well. What was moral, what was right, was what best served their countries. Slitting a throat, moving smoothly through a Christmas party in Russia, all one and the same. In spite of that Max and Emily are still capable of caring, of loving, of showing their humanity. In spite of the best efforts of their countries, they could not turn Max and Emily into cold, uncaring machines.\n\nThere was something else I liked. it was obvious Emily and Max were lovers. But that was all through innuendo, readers could draw their own inferences without having go suffer through detracting descriptions.", "The Nikon SB-400 is a very small yet powerful flash TTL compatible with all modern Nikon Cameras with a Flash Hot shoe. For most non-professional shooting situations, it is really the perfect flash.\n\nThe Flash refreshes very quickly especially for such a small flash. The flash head moves so the lighting can \"bounce\" resulting in much more pleasing colors and even light distribution without the harshness of direct lighting. The SB-400 can illuminate a reasonably large room even when \"bouncing\" the flash.\n\nThis Flash is larger than the newer (and similarly priced) SB-300 but the SB-400 is a better flash unit. It is quicker and more powerful probably because the SB-400 is powered by AA batteries and the SB-300 is powered by AAA batteries.", "i still not get this item yet, this owner not care this my 2nd review still same,i hope they send re send me or give my money back", "I thought Reggie and Berlin were my favorites until I read about Max and Claudia! I love the chemistry and the humor. Max is a man that everyone woman longs for: handsome, hard-working, a man with morals and values, a man who believes in taking care of his responsibilities. This story has so much relevance. The characters were well developed and the love scenes scorched the pages! Well done, Ms. Daniels!", "Bought this to replace a Snapper 33\" lawn tractor. With the snapper it took approx 4 hours to cut my 1 1/2 acre lot the ZT2450 takes just over an hour. I carried my hand held GPS and my max speed was 5.85 MPH. The Snapper used about 4 1/2 gallons to cut the entire lawn and the ZT2450 about 1.75 to 2.\nI'd recommend you go over the machine and tighten all the bolts you can find. I was having battery problems and finally tracked it to a loose ground strap bolt.\nAlso recommend dropping the tire pressure to about 30% of the max. Improved both grip and the ride.\nBe careful cutting across the face of a hill, the uphill driving wheel lightens up and makes control difficult.\nI've been using my ZT2450 for 6 months now and am very happy with the performance and value for money.", "The paper is very white, excellent for double sided printing. The paper is also just a tad heavier than 20 lb paper giving it a nice feel and also helpful for double sided printing. Only drawback is that it is 400 sheet reems when most are 500 sheet, making this expensive when compared to say Double A, or even Offic Max equivalents. I've used about 4000 sheets and yet to not like it. Just would like it cheaper." ]

[ "Two men are working hard." ]

[ "Two women are fixing a roof.", "A man with a tool is on a roof.", "A woman is on a ladder working on a roof.", "A man on a ladder repairs the roof.", "Two men standing on a roof.", "The street is full of suburban homes.", "A person climbs a ladder to there roof", "A person is on a ladder working on a roof.", "Men who appear to be thinking are in an operating room.", "A boy climbs a ladder to reach the roof.", "The ladder did not appear particularly sturdy.", "He worked on a roof, replacing tile.", "Two men are destroying a roof.", "Two men are at home.", "The men are on the roof.", "A man has a tool belt on the roof.", "two men in a room", "Workers stand on a ladder to repair the roofing of a building.", "the men is at the bottom of the ladder", "There is a suburban street.", "Two men are standing in a room.", "A suburban street.", "Two men in the living room", "Two men in a room with no beds.", "Two men are sitting in the room.", "A man is standing on a ladder in a room.", "Adding subtracting roofing could increase you chances of finding the home page.", "Two men are sweeping a room.", "Two men on a ladder are putting letters on a building.", "A man amid a park.", "Two men are alone in a room.", "A woman on a ladder replaces a light bulb in her closet." ]

[ "Needed a device with a little more signal to reach my AP.\n\nWorked great for XP-32 and Win7-32 .\n\nWouldn't work for Win7-64 (which is what I purchased it for). Would install, and Device Manger reported\n\"this device is working properly\". It could never detect any AP's in the area or receive any signals.\nWindows could not resolve the problem. Tried CD drivers, and drivers from the vendor's website.\n\nHave two other usb adapters, and they are working fine. Instead, I purchased a better antenna for\nthese devices to reach my AP with the Win7-64 system." ]

[ "Printer was great when used with Windows XP and Windows 2000 (yes, I had 1 machine which still was running Windows 2000). Upgraded the Windows 2000 machine to run Vista 64-bit. Poof - no driver from Minolta - customer service gives run-around if you try to press them. They kept saying that some HP drivers might work for this printer so unless this works don't bother with Minolta - go with a more trusted company. I can't believe there are no drivers for Windows 7 and Vista...", "most of them didn`t work in my machin and they should have. so verry un happy with this product.", "It didn;t work well in my pool. I guess the pool was too big. Had to get parts for my old navigator", "the vendor was very difficult to work with WATCH your return days. These were great otherwise - just didn;t go down as far as others i bouhgt", "I installed these on a 6th generation Core I5 Intel NUC and they work perfectly. BIOS check was flawless and I installed Windows 10 64-bit without a problem. Really fast RAM.", "It is nice and colorful for an extra chair. I thought it would rise easily by pressing the handle because of hydraulics, it didn;t work real well. It was bought for my husband who was ill.", "Product didn 't work at all, after charge when turning on would not stop vibrating and then turned off. Product didn't look like a usb drive, not good finish, looked too bulky!", "very elegant and classy, looks like I spent thousands of dollars on those pieces and no needs to know I didn\"t!!!!!!!", "Michigan is Michigan and apparently the powers to be didn`t think RichRod fit the mold.\nDon`t forget football is business and to a lesser extent a gamne", "great but didn`t fit perfect at the beginning if you change just one, I change all of them and that made them fit", "i learned a lot about ted williams that i didn t know ; public person much different from private persona", "The display is easy to read, colorful, bright enough to overcome daylight. It automatically adjust the back lighting for day/night operation so it does not shed too much light in your eyes in the dark. The microSD card is a little undetermined as far as function. The software is a little unrefined, but works OK with Windows 7 64-bit. Keep in mind that if you seek restaurants, it may lead you to destinations that are no longer in business. Call ahead!", "This watch is great, except for its bracelet that is already coming apart within one year use. I didn`t like it !", "Plug and play support in Windows 10 64 bit. Dropped it into an open PCI express x16 slot, fired up the computer and it auto connected to my wireless router. Painlesa", "Didn t like it . Was too expensive and the glitters are coming off . They all over my daughter uniform and i found the same one cheaper in store . Could have return it but my daughter won t understand she love frozen", "returned 2x for large size. didn;t get larger in right places and hardly got larger at all. Top of instep was terriby small even in size 11.\nCompany was pleasant however and refunded my money.", "A poor choice. I flew the item only once and it had a rough landing. Now it will not spin. The lights come on indicating that it has power but the props will not spin. It didn';t land that hard there is no reason for the problem.", "Doesn't work! Tried it in multiple places in my home with all four major networks within 15 miles of my house and I got poor or no reception at best. I even gave it to my daughter to try in her NYC apartment and it didn;t work there. Tried to return the item but never received a return label now I'm stuck with this thing. DO NOT BUY!!", "Got this machine a couple of months ago. Added a PCIe video card, an additional 1GB of RAM and a second hard drive. With Windows 7 64 bit edition, this machine is FAST! You really can't get any better hardware for the price. I've even done some heavy \"processor crunching\" video capture and editing and it hasn't crashed yet. Very satisfied with this unit. Don't be discouraged or turned away because it's a Compaq...all of your support comes from HP.", "One overly long tedious movie. I wanted to turn it off in the middle but suffered to the end. I hoped the male actor would get a shave and a haircut when he took a shower but alas, he didn`t,", "Quality was good but dilivery took over 30 days. Color was more aqua. Not like pictured.i ended up giving it away i didn`t want to wait another 30 days for a credit.", "I'm giving it a 5 star because I run Windows 7 64-bit edition on my PC and all you need to do is plug it in the computer and it will detect it with ease; no need to look for the driver. Compared to other Fight Sticks I read about that is a big hassle to install on the PC, this one is easy. Also it runs on wired USB, and is said to be 3m long. My main reason for buying this is so that I can use it for the games on my PC. Of course some games won't accept the Fight Stick 3 but if you know how to use \"xpadder\" you can configure it to work. It gets the job done but the only problem is the layout of the buttons is a little awkward. $40 is cheap if you are not a hardcore gamer; which cost up to $70(if it is on sale) and more.", "A bit loud but was very cheap and had no problems with installation in a new Windows 7 machine. Still functioning over 2 years later.", "I got the presenter, mainly fir use with our Sunday church services using MediaShout 3.0 and 4.0. Mainly, we run slides for different songs during the service, and up until now most presentation devices haven't worked with MediaShout, so we have to use a keyboard or mouse all the time. The R400 was perfect. The unit comes with an USBconnector slid into the presenter, so it's impossible to get lost. I plugged it into my Windows 7 64 bit machine, and it was recognized right away. I tried it with both PowerPoint and MediaShout, both the forward and back worked as expected. Then go to black was a nice feature which worked in PowerPoint, but not MediaShout.\n\nPros:\n- Small size comfortable fit in my hand\n- Position of buttons, including to go to black Problematic sentence structure\n- USB connector plugs into the presenter when not in use\n- Case to hold the presenter so it doesn't get scratched\n- Worked without having to install any drivers on Windows 7 and Vista (I haven't tried others)\n- Integration with MediaShout\n\nCons:\nThis is minor, but there's a power switch on the side of the presenter. Great to conserve battery life, but when I first plugged it in, I forgot about the switch and thought the unit didn't work.\n\nOverall this is a great product, and I'd recommend it to anyone as a first choice.", "No negatives so far. Windows XP and Windows 7 work perfect.", "I was randomly asked to read this book and glad I did! The story is very good and the aut hor didn' t drag with too in depth details. I highly recommend this book. I think I found a new author to follow!", "Worked just as expected. Five stars because there were no problems for Windows to automatically load the drive and map the drive. I am using Windows 7. I haven't tried it on Windows 10.", "I bough a long roll of self-adhesive velcro a few days before flight time, and affixed if to the bottom of the pad and the bottom of the fibreglass kennel, so the pad didn;t slip, then threw in a blanket and an unwashed T-Shirt, After an 11-hr flight, the pad had not been dislodged, though the blanket was as in a ball at one end, the T-Shirt on the other where the dog lay its head. Oh - and the thing wasn't even damp or soiled. Try it some time !", "do not waste your time trying to load Windows 10, it will not load. I have Windows 7 and it is still slow but it works. Update your HP drivers and do Windows Updates did speed it up a little.", "Ordered it cause I was working on a rifle that has 5/64\" hex screws. The Wiha 5/64\" bit did not fit the screw. Too big, so thought I needed to order the next size smaller (1/16\") Nope, that was too small. So I ordered the Cooper Apex bit in 5/64\" and guess what? It fit perfectly. Don't get it. I wasted my money on the two Wiha bits cause the return postage would cost as much as the bits I was returning. Thought Wiha was premium stuff. Don't know why the sizing is off like that", "Snappy Self-Centering 9/64\" Drill Bit Guide\n\nWhen my Snappy bit guide was new it was pretty good. However, after a couple of years of use, the spring compressed to the point that the tool was useless. (The spring, when tight, keeps the bit's sliding sleeve tight against the work, and the bit centered.) I took the tool apart and stretched the spring, but it re-compressed almost immediately. I replaced this sub-par Snappy with an S. E. Vick Tool Company self-centering bit (<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/9-9-64-Hex-Drive-VIX-Bit-Self-Centering-Hinge-Bit/dp/B004W0JVWM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">#9 (9/64) Hex Drive VIX-Bit Self Centering Hinge Bit</a>) -- that's the best brand for self centering bits and it has a strong long-lasting spring, based on the performance of my other S.E. Vick self centering bits...", "The quality is fine, but I really wish I'd ordered a larger size for my son. He's 7 and is between sizes at the moment (size 7 is a tad small and 8 is a bit big on him). These t-shirts are a little tight but way too short, especially after the first washing." ]

[ "the group of men must be his disciples\\nno he did not have girlfriends" ]

[ "this would be a friend i have a prob with:\\n\\ni want to hang out with my friend but he goes with the wrong crowd, that i dont want to associated with... thus i cant hang out with him at those times", "I have a Tattoo of a panther tearing out of my left shoulder that I say it means the new me coming out of the old me so it can be seen, I have Jesus Christ on my right Bicep with the saying Died for me under it, I have an angel on my left bicep in memory of a very dear friend, On my left forearm I have a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross to remind me everyday what he did for me, and last of all I have a cross on my right forearm in memory of my dad with the year he was born and the year he died.", "it depends on if you already are friends with him or you are just trying to make him like you without even talking to him before. if you are already friends with him, hang out with him more. the more a person hangs out with another person the more attatched they become to the other person. if you don't know him, try to make yourself more noticeable. try to stand out more. popular guys like girls that look good and have great personalities.", "Most Black Men I know think he is guy. He currently deals with alot of girls. He tried to pick up a friend of mine in the Gucci store here in NY. So maybe he is Bi. I wouldn't put it past him. Alot of Black men in the entertainment business are short and gay. I attend alot of industry party and work i fashion and let me tell u, there are always more men there then women!! And he does NOT have a wife and kids.", "he doesnt seem like he deserves you. i ve seen your questions and i say tell him to grow up or get out", "Have you thought about \"writing off\" some of these \"guy friends\"? If they are \"just\" friends, why does it matter who they date?\\n\\nI get the impression that these \"guy friends\" are more than just \"friends\" to you -- that they are prospective \"boy friends\".\\n\\nConsider it self selection. If these guys are more interested in your cousin than you, then you might take the attitude that these guys weren't the guys for you in the first place. (When I was young, I used to get frustrated that certain girls only liked me as a friend. When I got older and wiser, I realized that these girls and women did me a favor ... they saved me from a relationship with someone whom I would not have been happy with long term).\\n\\nThis realization can become a real form of empowerment for yourself which, may in turn, make you more attractive to some of these guys in the first place.\\n\\nTwisted logic, I know. But I met the woman who became my wife when I finally said to heck with women who weren't interested in me.\\n\\nFinally, why are you and your \"guy friends\" hanging out in situations where they get to meet your cousin anyhow? If there are guys you like, find ways to hang out with them that don't allow your cousin to get near them. Or if you are hanging around with your cousin, stop hanging around with her. Put some distance between you and her.", "Don't call him. You may think that it would be good to get together with him but in the end it will not result well. A friend of mine went through this with a guy she dated for 2 years. since you were together for so long there may be a part of you that will always have some feelings for him and the same could go to him having some feelings for you. I think he is not used to this new relationship and thinks about what he is missing when he is not with you. It will be for the best if you don't go back to him. I wouldn't call him or hang around him very much because it will only make those feelings stronger. Find a good group of friends that aren't exactly mutual friends that you two made when you were in the relationship, and hang out with them.", "Guys are clueless (at least I was). I had many women friends in high school and college that I thought were just friends. Only later did I find out that some of them wanted to be more than just friends.\\n\\nSometimes a guy is just trying to be friends because he thinks that is the best way to start a relationship ... by being friends.\\n\\nI definitely had my \"dog\" days but I genuinely liked women as friends.\\n\\nSo, as the first poster suggested, get to know him. Depending on your age, try just hanging out with him and talking to him. He's not some alien from another planet. Guys often like women who can talk to them.\\n\\nTry group activities that involve him or casual things: tennis, a hike, bowling, coffee, ice cream, lunch.\\n\\nGet to know him and let him get to know who you really are. Don't change to please him. Be yourself.\\n\\nAnd if you find yourself getting along really well, who knows where it will go. He may be your first kiss. You may find out he's not interested in women or girls.\\n\\nBut the first thing you have to do is to put yourself on his radar. And don't expect things to happen \"over night\".\\n\\nGood luck.", "This is what I did for my guy friends: I cooked for them! If you don't know how to cook, then order delivery or something. Invite his friends and some of your friends and pitch in the money to do this! It's a great way to hang out. This will also show him that you're a pretty cool chick and he will dig the fact that you do this kinda stuff for your friends. Also, it's pressure free. Try it! He just might ask you to hang out more often.", "I agree. At the moment I'm transfixed with NIZLOPI - get the album, they are the most talented act out. I\"ve seen them 3 times this year and they will blow you away. (Forget the JCB song - that's not what they're about). Their new single was released yesterday - \"Girls\".", "14 is way to young and if you go for it i hope your folks find out and have him arrested, shame on him, and you better start acting 14 or you are going to regret it big time, plenty of time for that junk later, have fun hanging out with your friends and keep the serious boy/girl stuff on hold!", "i think she is the best actress and director out there i`ve seen her movies and they were awsume", "its not worth it, I was in the navy and I have seen hundreds a married men cheat on their wifes and I have seen hundred of women sheat on their husbands get the picture, humans rarely have enough self control to stay faithful!", "if we want to be alone, we won't want to hang out with you, and that will defeat the whole purpose. better ask for girls who just like to hang out with one person at a time rather than in groups.", "because its alot easier than getting a woman to have *** with\\n\\nand in the absence of a girlfriend / wife / friend with benefits. it is cheaper and safer than hiring a ********** and it gets the job done because having an ******* not only feels really good. it is also good for the immune system. \\n\\npersonally i think more girls should **********. they should also consider making it easier for men to get them into *** for ****** pruposes or at the very least they could let men watch them **********.", "i hope not ! but u know how rap artists do it, they get married and not tell no body simple beacuse they still wanna be able to play the field and still do groupes, while they are on tour! \\nif he is engaged his soon to be wife is either a long time girl friend or she a gold digger, !my bet they have been for years and she has proven to him that she is down for him regardless!money or no money!", "The best cure for that is time. If you want to speed things up try talking with her as little as possible. Also hang out with old friends that you have not seen for a while, friends you do not have in common with your ex and who are fun. They will make you remember how life used to be when she did not exist. It helps to start imagining day to day life without her.", "You need to see a shrink!\\n\\nStop hanging out with the rejects from the renaissance fair!\\n\\nYou have read to many books, and need to find a good group of friends to hang out with instead of stocking some dude!", "Surprisingly, given the time that guys spend thinking about sex and boobs, most guys don't speak much about their sexual encounters. For example, most of my friends won't reveal any details besides what is self-evident to everyone who has seen the girl.\\n\\nTo be more precise, guys WILL brag about going with a girl, but they usually WON'T say what they did exactly, how many times, how long, describe her exact anatomy, her taste, smell etc. \\n\\nA typical description is something like \"I did X and it was real good. We did it all night and she enjoyed it a lot\". \\n\\nYounger men (<18-20) may speak about the act in detail, but only to their few close friends.", "Did you break up with him or did he break up with you? If you broke up with him, he has to understand that there were problems and it wasn't working out. But if he broke up with you, That is all on him. he is the one who broke up with you and is jealous. He also has to realize that there are other girls out there and to him, your the only one out there(lol). Just know that you have the power and tell your boy friend that your x is trying to screw things up and to not believe him!", "Your friend is having a little jealousy problem right now. It's really cool that you are talking to the new girl, sometimes a new student doesn't have any friends for a while. Keep being friends with the new girl and tell your other friend she can hang out with you too.", "I have seen a lot of them hanging out at the malls", "Girls dissect things too much. Most guys think for about 1/2 seconds before they write something down. He likes you. We NEED to hang out some times means I wish I hung out with you more because I like you. Guys do think before they put the word LOVE in their salutation so that means he likes you. FORGET ALL THAT OTHER STUFF! The guy likes you it was probably hard for him to write that note as guys brains are small.\\n\\nIf a guy hangs out with you one on one he likes you romantically. This is always true, and is never not true, except for gay guys. You may only like him as a friend but he likes you. We guys don't hang out one on one with girls who we don't have some kind of crush on (unless we're gay.) Hope that's helpful, and you need to stop reading so much into everything, it will make you crazy!", "In my experience, I have known several men who prefer bigger girls. They say there is more to love, more to hold and that sort of thing. From what I have seen the woman has to take care of herself and have a bit of confidence. If a girl loves herself and shows it then guys will be attracted not only to her but that confidence as well.", "The best way is to have a hobbie and the next best thing is to fine a good girl friend that doesn't have a boyfriend and hang out....if non of that works get a new boy friend...but never go back to the old one", "I did not just vote for Kerry, I worked hard for him and still believe that he was (and is) the best man for the job. He has seen war, seen what it does to men and would not be like the chicken hawks we currently have infesting 1600 Penn Ave.", "a girl who is a friend usually is more comfortable to be around and hang out with. also, you wouldn't take her out and call it a date or go to a fancy place. you could probably tell anything to a girl who's a friend.", "I'm 14 too,ask you parents if they would be alright with you and her hanging out in a larger group, so it would be a little less like a date, but more like hanging out with your friends. You can always hang out more with her than the rest of the group. But whatever you do, don't lie to your parents about going out cause they probably will find out and then you will just have to wait longer to be able to date. hope this helps. =)", "If you are already connected to the girl (ie, talk, go out in groups, hang out sometimes alone, etc) this one line usually worked for me:\\n\\n\"Ya know, we've been friends for some time now, and I feel I like you on a whole new level..\"\\n\\n(By the way. I'm marrying that girl)\\n\\nIf you don't know her, flatter her and say daring things to her. Don't try to work up a *friends* relationship and then work it out from there... she'll feel decieved, as if many things you said before were planned out.", "If it seems like we think we rule the world its because girls hanging out in groups and out-numbering us makes us nervous. Historically we have a sense of authority, so we there are more girls than guys in an area we feel like we have to live up to our history and be the boss(es). Either that or all the guys you hang out with are, well this is yahoo, \"meanie weanie's\".", "Because in America we are all equal. men and women. I am the wage earner in my marriage and my husband is the wife. Should I put him in a cage and let him out only if he's been good? You are so misguided, that I can't even bring myself to insult you.", "true friends, even casual friends are to be treasured. In this world you need your friends. Stand strong. Talk to those that are concerned for you they should be treasured also, give them the respect and attention they need. But, be true to yourself. I have seen some awsome men grow out of really nerdy boys or young men. Anyway, don't throw him away. In life, you never know what tomorrow may bring, you could find yourself alone without, anyone. Or not." ]

[ "Tore Andre Flo believes Ruben Loftus-Cheek's call-up to the England squad for the 2018 World Cup could give him the impetus he needs to become a first-team regular at Chelsea.\nLoftus-Cheek is highly regarded at Stamford Bridge, but he spent the entirety of the 2017-18 season on loan at Crystal Palace after struggling for game time.\nFlo works in Chelsea's loan department and travels extensively, watching the 37 players who are currently away on temporary deals.\nHe believes Loftus-Cheek has all the talent in the world, insisting that he must grab his chance in Russia with both hands this summer.\n“I really have high hopes for Ruben,” Flo said, as he answered Goal’s questions at William Hill’s pitch day at Stamford Bridge. “He is a brilliant player and I have been following him through his years in the academy as well.\n“He seems to have taken that step well into senior football. He is very very exciting and I hope he gets his chance at the World Cup and that he takes it. He has definitely got the potential and he is exciting to watch. He might be ready for Chelsea, that’s up to the manager to decide, I guess.\n“I think it is something that we will continuously discuss. He is one of those that we think might be ready, we need to have the manager in on that, with a good World Cup again he could really be in the Chelsea squad again but it is not for me to say, yes or no on whether he will definitely do it.\n\"I think so, yes [that he is ready to start]. Obviously, he is still quite young and maybe a bit inexperienced when it comes to these types of games but he has got the quality to do it. He might be eased in a little bit but he can also come on and make an impact.”\nAnother who has made an impact away from Chelsea is Mason Mount, who scored 14 goals and provided 11 assists in a loan spell with Vitesse.\nVoted Chelsea's Academy Player of the Year in 2017, Mount has also caught the eye of Gareth Southgate, who called the 19-year-old up to train with the England senior players last week, something which Flo, who scored 70 goals for the Blues, takes great pride in.\n“Yes, it is a very very proud moment. He has done so well there especially in the second part of the season. This was his first loan and the first time in senior football, it took him a little bit of time to break into the team at Vitesse where he played, but from then on he was brilliant.\n“Fourteen goals, voted player of the year, he has got a great future. He is a really really good talent.”\nMount was ranked in the top 50 teenager footballers in the world by Goal back in March in NxGn 2018." ]

[ "Harry Kane’s sixth goal of the World Cup took him level with Gary Lineker for England’s record at a single tournament.\nKane struck from the penalty spot against Colombia, with England eventually winning through in a penalty shootout in Moscow.\nOnly Lineker has scored more World Cup goals overall for England than Golden Boot pace-setter Kane and here, Press Association Sport takes a look at the pair’s statistics on the big stage.\nSharp shooter\nWorld Cup Russia 2018: top goal scorers so far\n– Kane has scored with all six of his shots on target at this World Cup, with his goals coming from only nine attempts in all (two off target and one blocked). Even those numbers may be inflated by his third goal against Panama, when Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot looped in off his heels, being classed as a “shot”.\n– His goals include three penalties – two against Panama and one against Colombia on Tuesday, when of course he also scored in the shootout that secured England’s progression.\n– That contributes to four goals with his right foot, as well as a headed winner against Tunisia and what the official tournament website terms a “goal scored by backheel” against Panama.\n– Kane’s goals have come in only three appearances and England have yet to score a goal without him on the pitch, either against Belgium or after he was substituted against Panama.\n– Kane has now scored in six successive caps, a feat last achieved by Tommy Lawton between October 1938 and May 1939.\nSix appeal\nEngland´s all-time top World Cup scorers\n– Only once before has an England player reached half a dozen goals in a single World Cup – Lineker in 1986.\n– Lineker’s goals came in five games and, like Kane’s, featured a hat-trick – in his case against Poland in the final group game. He followed up with two against Paraguay in the next round.\nStat: Lukaku is the first player to score 2 or more goals in consecutive World Cup games since Diego Maradona in 1986 (England & Belgium). Some jug-eared goal-hanger also managed that feat in 86. — Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) June 23, 2018\n– Kane’s run in Russia also echoes how clinical Lineker was from close range – all six of the latter’s goals in 1986 came from in or very close to the six-yard box. Kane scored twice from that range against Tunisia to go with his three spot-kicks and the fluke against Panama.\n– Lineker added four goals at the next World Cup in 1990 to leave him as England’s all-time record holder on 10. Kane has moved ahead of 1966 hero Geoff Hurst into second place on the list.", "The Premier League is back, and while the opening weekend saw many familiar faces returning on the scene, there were many new players on show to light up the opening weekend of the season.\nManchester United and Huddersfield Town both enjoyed dream starts to the new campaign thanks in large part to business done over the summer months, while other sides may have wished they had stuck to a 'tried and tested' formula.\nWhile there is still plenty of time to bed in to their new surroundings, Sportsmail assesses the debutants who contributed to the Premier League breaking the £1billion barrier in transfers since the window opened.\nRomelu Lukaku continued his fine record against West Ham on his Manchester United bow\nAlexandre Lacazette made a blistering start to life in the Premier League with a debut goal\nAhmed Hegazi already looks tailormade for West Brom having scored from a set piece\nARSENAL\nAlexandre Lacazette - 8/10\nLacazette was quick off the mark to settle him quickly in the Premier League. Only time will tell if he can adapt to life in England, but the early signs are good.\nThe Frenchman is just the seventh player to score on his Premier League debut for Arsenal after Kevin Campbell, Steve Bould, Fredrik Ljungberg, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Thomas Vermaelen.\nTook his goal instinctively and worked tirelessly when pushed out left to make way for Olivier Giroud through the centre.\nSead Kolasinac - 6.5\nHaving scored in the Community Shield against Chelsea, Kolasinac showed his strengths going forward once more as he set up Danny Welbeck for Arsenal's first equaliser.\nBut the Bosnian also suggested he is fallible at the back, albeit in a less natural role as part of a defensive three, with Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki both profiting from poor marking.\nLacazette scored with his first shot and second touch in the Premier League after 94 seconds\nSead Kolasinac produced a strong performance going forward but was suspect at the back\nBOURNEMOUTH\nAsmir Begovic - 7\nBeaten at close range by the 'Nesta of the Pyramids' Ahmed Hegazy, Begovic will not have been happy that the downward header went through his legs but the Bosnian shouldn't be too hard on himself.\nBusy from the first minute, the goalkeeper signed for £10m from Chelsea showed why he is an upgrade on Artur Boruc.\nNathan Ake - 7\nHaving shown his importance to Bournemouth following his return to Chelsea in the second half of last season, Ake's return for £20m was unsurprising, but he went missing for Hegazy's winning goal.\nThe youngster composed himself, however, to limit West Brom to few chances thereafter and he nearly earned his side a penalty late on after a challenge on him by Craig Dawson.\nNathan Ake instructs his team-mates during his first appearance since his permanent move\nJermain Defoe - 6\nHowe opted to start Defoe on the bench due to fears over a groin strain, and the free transfer from Sunderland is likely to start against Watford this weekend after a quiet afternoon from Benik Afobe.\nHaving scored 19 goals for the Cherries in his first spell on loan back in the 2000-01 season, Defoe will be expected to excel once more on the south coast but at The Hawthorns he was given just half an hour to make an immediate impact.\nBRIGHTON\nMatthew Ryan - 7\nThe Australia international, a £5.8m summer signing from Valencia, made every inch of his 6ft frame count as he kept out a point blank effort from Gabriel Jesus in the first half.\nThe keeper was unable to react quickly to Lewis Dunk's inadvertent header on his own goal, but his earlier reflexes suggest he could be the difference to the Seagulls staying up this season. Ryan attempted more passes than any outfield Brighton player in this match (27).\nMatthew Ryan made an excellent save to deny forward Gabriel Jesus to keep the score at 0-0\nPascal Gross - 6\nCut a lonely figure in Brighton's attack, and was far too isolated to be in any real position to demonstrate his true qualities.\nWill certainly face easier afternoons in the top flight but worked hard to replicate the creativity shown at Ingolstadt to bring about his move.\nIzzy Brown - 6\nOne of several Chelsea loanees on show in the Premier League this weekend, Brown's evening was ended early following a bright start. A knee injury means it may be a little while before he is able to prove his worth at this level.\nDavy Propper - 5\nHaving sealed his move just days before the curtain raiser, Propper was chasing shadows for large parts of the game at the Amex Stadium.\nThe £10m midfielder struggled to get on the ball and often conceded possession cheaply. Worked tirelessly but a lot more will be expected from him following the club-record move.\nDavy Propper found the going tough on his Premier League debut against a stellar City cast\nBURNLEY\nJonathan Walters - 6\nThe veteran striker was brought on in the 75th minute in an effort to close out the game, and victory for Walters will have tasted all the sweeter after he scored two own goals for Stoke against Chelsea in January 2013.\nJack Cork - 8.5\nAn excellent debut from Cork. There was plenty of scepticism surrounding his £10m move to Turf Moor having been allowed to leave Swansea for a potential Premier League rival, but the former Chelsea trainee relished being back on familiar territory.\nWith Cesc Fabregas suspended, Tiemoue Bakayoko unfit and Nemanja Matic sold on, Cork showed Antonio Conte what he's missing ahead of the game against Tottenham.\nCHELSEA\nAntonio Rudiger - 5.5\nRudiger may have seen a home fixture to Burnley on the opening day as the perfect assignment to ease himself into the Premier League but he was in for a rude awakening.\nGranted he was not helped by the dismissal of his captain Gary Cahill, but the presence of Sam Vokes unsettled him, and there's plenty more revered strikers in the English top flight that await. Booked.\nAntonio Rudiger was given an unsettling ride by Burnley on his Premier League debut\nAlvaro Morata - 8\nAntonio Conte looked at the positives after the champions were humbled by the traditionally travel-sick Clarets at Stamford Bridge, and in Alvaro Morata he certainly found one.\nThe £70m buy from Real Madrid had an instant impact, reducing the deficit with a well-placed diving header before setting up a Grandstand finish with another glance into the path of David Luiz.\nCould have completed the comeback in stoppage time but was unable to adjust his feet, by the early signs are that he will be a hit in west London.\nAlvaro Morata was far more of a threat than Michy Batshuayi during the 3-2 loss to Burnley\nCRYSTAL PALACE\nTimothy Fosu-Mensah - 5\nFosu-Mensah denied Steve Mounie the chance of a hat-trick with a superb recovery challenge after a slip from Scott Dann but it was clear the youngster has had barely a training session in him in this unfamiliar three-man defence.\nPlenty of room for improvement but his versatility makes him a useful asset both in defence and midfield. Having looked impressive for United during pre-season, he will want to forget about his first Palace outing quickly.\nJairo Riedewald - 5\nA far from impressive start from the defender signed from Ajax for £7.9m. Riedewald's nerves appeared to rub off on the fans in the Holmesdale End, and he was far too reluctant to carry the ball forward.\nThe Dutchman will want to draw a line under his Premier League bow after a tense affair in which he was sarcastically cheered by fans when he did eventually launch the ball towards the front.\nRuben Loftus-Cheek - 6\nLoftus-Cheek was the one high note for Frank de Boer on a chastening opening day in English football.\nDriving his side forward from midfield, Huddersfield were kept busy but he looked more effective when he was withdrawn from his initial attacking position. Certainly needs more from those around him to be a hit.\nRuben Loftus-Cheek was asked to play in two position on his Premier League debut for Palace\nEVERTON\nJordan Pickford - 8\nHaving arrived at Everton for a British-record fee for a goalkeeper, Pickford suggested he will not be overawed by his £30m price tag as he produced a quietly commanding performance despite Stoke's blunt attack.\nThe former Sunderland goalkeeper knew when to punch and when to gather from the countless number of balls thrown into his box, and his distribution with the ball at his feet was impeccable.\nThe save from Xherdan Shaqiri in the dying minutes having not been tested all game earned his side two points and an immediate return on his hefty outlay.\nMichael Keane - 8\nLike Pickford, Keane has fitted seamlessly into this Everton defence. Having lost a tooth for his troubles in the second-half, the former Burnley man battled on manfully with the threat of Peter Crouch and never put a foot wrong.\nThree clean sheets in all competitions from three appearances says all you need to know about the start he's made on Merseyside.\nMichael Keane was straight into the wars for Everton but his performance was exceptional\nDavy Klaassen - 6\nThe Dutchman, like so many early on in the Premier League, appeared somewhat lost at times in the first half as the Toffees struggled to assert themselves with a system of three centre-halves.\nKlaassen clearly has quality on the ball, but too often he found himself crowded out in central areas, and could have done more to find pockets with his defence soaking up slow possession.\nHis movement for the goal, dragging two Stoke defenders with him to create space for Rooney was the standout moment before he was withdrawn on the hour-mark.\nWayne Rooney - 8\nRooney was the difference between the two sides, both in his decisive finish and overall quality. Brought his game management when Everton needed a calm presence during Stoke's late onslaught, winning free-kicks, and he was rarely wasteful in possession.\nHis goal brought memories of a time when he would make late dashes into the box at Manchester United and the early signs are that he will comfortably hit double figures this season upon his return to his boyhood club.\nNo player has scored more Premier League goals on the opening day than Wayne Rooney (8)\nSandro Ramirez - 6\nAnother summer signing who looks like he will take time to adjust to the rigours of the Premier League. Sandro was involved in the winner with a sharp turn but he snatched at his only chance.\nWas moved out to the left during the half-time reshuffle but his understanding with Rooney will need work if it is to prosper.\nCuco Martina - 6\nBrought on at half-time as Koeman shuffled from three at the back to a more familiar 4-3-2-1 formation, Martina provided his side with better balance as youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin was pushed further up field.\nOne comical foul throw aside, the indications are he can provide an adequate stopgap while Everton await the return of Seamus Coleman.\nHUDDERSFIELD\nJonas Lossl - 8\nLossl is the latest goalkeeping Dane to leave an impression in the top flight having marked his debut with a clean sheet.\nSigned on loan from Mainz, the 28-year-old demonstrated an excellent command of his area, reflexes and distribution to keep Crystal Palace at bay during the 3-0 win.\nMathias Jorgensen - 7.5\nJorgenson - or Zanka as he may well become known - signed a three-year deal this summer and he dealt well with the threat of Loftus-Cheek, Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke.\nThe defender rose well at the far post to create his side's opener, showing he can be useful in both boxes for his side this season.\nMathias Jorgensen rises to clear a cross into the box as Huddersfield beat Crystal Palace\nAaron Mooy - 8.5\nHaving impressed during the promotion-winning campaign, Mooy was signed for £10m in the summer and the defensive midfielder turned attacking maestro was heavily involved in everything good about the Terriers.\nMooy delivered the set piece which caused Joel Ward to put the ball into his own net, and it was his cross once more that found the head of Steve Mounie for Huddersfield's second.\nDanny Williams - 6\nA second-half replacement for Tommy Smith, Williams said it would be his dream to play in the Premier League and he fulfilled this in the 57th minute with his side leading 2-0.\nWas asked to do a job by David Wagner in an unfamiliar right-back position with Palace looking to increase the urgency through Zaha, and he didn't disappoint.\nSteve Mounie - 8.5\nTwo goals on his Premier League debut, it's no wonder Mounie was the name on everyone's lips in the away section at Selhurst Park.\nOught to have completed his hat-trick but led the line impressively following his club-record move from Montpellier. Could be one of the finds of the season.\nSteve Mounie scored with his first two shots on target in English football for Huddersfield\nLEICESTER CITY\nHarry Maguire - 8\nRecovered from Lacazette's early goal to play a hand in Leicester's instant equaliser, towering at the far post to set up Shinji Okazaki for a simple finish. Arsenal's own defensive problems down the other end served to accentuate Maguire's qualities.\nThere were eyebrows when the Foxes parted with £17.5m for his services from Hull, but having been wanted by Tottenham, this was a very promising start from an individual perspective despite the late collapse.\nHarry Maguire gets up above Olivier Giroud to win one of a number of aerial duels on Friday\nKelechi Iheanacho - 6\nIheanacho was introduced by Craig Shakespeare at the Emirates at a time when his side were trying to preserve a 3-2 lead, but the Nigeria international appeared to not understand his role as the switch played into Arsenal's hands.\nThe return of Okazaki and Jamie Vardy working so effectively as a partnership prior to his appearance could mean the man signed for £25m has to wait for his opportunity from the start.\nLIVERPOOL\nMohamed Salah - 8\nSalah was the first of two Egyptians to score on Saturday, as he and Hegazy became the first to notch on the same day in the competition since November 1, 2008 (Mido and Amr Zaki).\nThe former Chelsea winger won the penalty which led to the second equaliser, and he looks set to feature prominently this term, prodding in at the far post after an exquisite take and lob from Roberto Firmino. A constant threat.\nMohamed Salah celebrates putting Liverpool in front with a close range finish against Watford\nMANCHESTER CITY\nEderson Moraes - 6\nRecovered from a nervous first touch as his clearance failed to make the halfway line, but Brighton offered very little to reveal if the £35m signing from Benfica is the man long-term to guard Pep Guardiola's goal. A virtual spectator.\nDanilo - 6.5\nIn Benjamin Mendy's absence, Danilo was deployed in the left wing-back role and the Brazilian provided dangerous in-swinging deliveries particularly in the first half.\nRegularly looked to get forward on the overlap to show why Guardiola forked out £26m on a player who can play both sides.\nKyle Walker - 7.5\nAfter all the hype surrounding his £54m move from Tottenham, Walker made a strong start to life at City. The England right-back got was a constant outlet, unchained from his defensive duties with Brighton pinned in their own half.\nBernardo Silva - n/a\nTipped by many to be the standout signing of the summer, Bernardo Silva was made to watch from the bench among others from City's wealthy talent pool, and his seven minutes of action were not enough to draw a rating.\nKyle Walker saw plenty of the ball in his customary right wing-back role for Manchester City\nMANCHESTER UNITED\nRomelu Lukaku - 8.5\nLukaku has now scored on his Premier League debut for three different clubs - West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Manchester United.\nHis latest goals means he has now scored more in all competitions against West Ham than he has against any other English side (11). But his overall game was sound as he again showed his clinical streak against sides outside the top six. More will be expected.\nNemanja Matic - 9\nLukaku grabbed the headlines with his brace, but the performance of Matic was every bit as impressive as he protected the back four and showed his ability on the ball with one brilliant piece of skill on the right side.\nComposed in possession and always in the right place, if there was a performance to suggest he is the missing piece of the jigsaw at United, this was it.\nNemanja Matic had a debut to remember for United showing Chelsea what they are missing\nNEWCASTLE\nJavier Manquillo - 6\nHaving failed at Liverpool and Sunderland, this must surely be Manquillo's final chance to show he is cut out for the Premier League, and fellow Spaniard Rafa Benitez may feel he can get a tune out of him.\nThe full-back was a willing runner going forward providing a couple of good crosses and he dealt well given the enforced changes alongside him.\nFlorian Lejeune - 6\nLooked comfortable until Harry Kane's scything challenge brought a premature end to his debut. The Frenchman was caught late by the England striker after 34 minutes and will now be assessed.\nChristian Atsu - 7\nHaving impressed with two goals and four assists during pre-season, Atsu continued his good form with a display full of energy having made his loan move from Chelsea permanent over the summer.\nHaving got the best out of him last year in the Championship, the Ghana international could prove lethal for Benitez against lesser sides.\nChristian Atsu had a good battle with Kyle Walker-Peters down Newcastle's left flank\nMikel Merino - 6\nBrought on after Jonjo Shelvey's brainless sending off, Merino plugged a hole in midfield but saw little of the ball with Tottenham making full use of the man advantage.\nWill learn more when likely to be handed his chance from the start at Huddersfield this Sunday.\nSOUTHAMPTON\nNone\nSTOKE\nKurt Zouma - 7\nSigns of encouragement for Zouma as he reminded Antonio Conte of his qualities as starter, keeping Sandro Ramirez quiet before the forward's withdrawal.\nFound things tougher up against Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and there was one hairy moment when he was dispossessed cheaply by the Englishman which led to a smart save by Jack Butland.\nDarren Fletcher - 7\nFletcher helped Stoke make the brighter start at Goodison Park in recycling the ball for the creative likes of Xherdan Shaqiri to cause problems, and came within a yard of equalising with a long-range drive.\nThe former West Brom midfielder's presence will enable Joe Allen to venture into more advanced areas and he kept his side compact and organised even after Rooney's breakthrough.\nDarren Fletcher has replaced the experience of Glenn Whelan in the Stoke engine room\nEric Maxim Choupo-Moting - 6.5\nStoke were blunt in attack with Said Berahino who still cannot buy a goal in the Potteries, but in replacing Marko Arnautovic, Choupo-Moting produced an encouraging cameo despite his inability to salvage a draw.\nComfortable on the ball, the Cameroon international received a glowing report from his manager Mark Hughes. In line to start the next match against Arsenal.\nSWANSEA\nTammy Abraham - 7\nAbraham was a threat all afternoon to a Southampton defence shorn of Virgil van Dijk, and the Chelsea loanee will perhaps feel he ought to have done better with a headed chance in the first half that went inches wide.\nShowed his qualities in the box by carving out another chance for himself in the second period, and may have to do so throughout the season given the likelihood of Gylfi Sigurdsson departing. Brought off after 80 minutes.\nTammy Abraham will look to build on a lively stat for Swansea against Manchester United\nTOTTENHAM\nNone\nWATFORD\nKiko Femenia - 5\nBrought on to replace Daryl Janmaat after 18 minutes, Femenia didn't look equipped for the Premier League. Up against Liverpool's swashbuckling three-pronged attack, the former Alaves full-back struggled more and more as the game wore on.\nTom Cleverley - 6.5\nBrought in on loan last season, Cleverley completed an £8m switch from Everton over the summer, and his industry was on show in the build-up to Watford's second goal.\nOften described as neither one thing or another, the former Manchester United midfielder built on an encouraging spell at Vicarage Road last term by dragging his side back from 3-2 down.\nNathaniel Chalobah - 6.5\nChalobah returned to the Hornets following a successful loan spell four years ago, and he looked assured in possession during a game in which neither side had control.\nProduced an audacious attempt to catch Simon Mignolet out with a 50-yard effort which shows the former England Under 21 international is not short on confidence despite a lack of opportunities at Chelsea.\nNathaniel Chalobah could prove to be a snip at just £5m and he looked assured in possession\nAndre Gray - 5.5\nSigned late last week, Gray was made to wait for his full Watford debut as he was handed a brief cameo by Marco Silva.\nBrought on with his side trailing, the former Burnley striker looked to stretch the tiring Liverpool defence but he had little impact on the game. A case of watch this space.\nRicharlison - 6\nAnother one of Silva's summer signings who came off the bench, the Brazilian looked a threat down the left-hand side and won a free-kick in the lead-up to the stoppage time equaliser.\nRicharlison was one of a number of new Watford players on show against the Reds on Saturday\nWEST BROM\nJay Rodriguez - 7\nRodriguez at £12m could prove a snip, and his pre-season form suggested he is over the worst of his injury worries.\nThe 28-year-old may have scored on a couple of occasions but still received glowing feedback from his manager Tony Pulis. Kept at bay on this occasion, but his energy suggests he could be a real asset for the Baggies this term.\nAhmed Hegazy - 9\nThe star Premier League debutant of the weekend along with Matic, Hegazy could become a cult hero. Provided a constant aerial threat at set pieces, and had chances to add to the opportunity he did convert from Chris Brunt's cross.\nPulis watched the Egypt international at the African Cup of Nations, and here on his first appearance at The Hawthorns the centre-back already looked at home. Defensively sound, West Brom can make Hegazy's loan move permanent and that could well be secured well in advance of the end-of-year option.\nHegazi rises at the far post to hand West Brom the lead against Bournemouth on Saturday\nWEST HAM\nJoe Hart - 6\nHart will not have been grateful to the fixture computer for throwing up United as his opponents upon his return to the Premier League, but there was little he could do about the goals.\nWill hope the develop a relationship quickly with those in front of him to convince Gareth Southgate he is still the right choice as England's No 1 and he can expect to be kept busy on this evidence.\nPablo Zabaleta - 6\nAnother former Manchester City player who has certainly seen better days, Zabaleta was given a torrid time by Marcus Rashford, and was already on a booking when he looked up to see Anthony Martial coming on in his place.\nHonest as the day is long but cannot be expected to provide the Hammers with the athleticism of modern-day full-backs, and he received very little protection from Arnautovic.\nPablo Zabaleta and Joe Hart both experienced unhappy visits to their former local rivals\nMarko Arnautovic - 5\nDifferent shirt colour, but the same mercurial Austrian. He will have his days, but this was not one of them.\nArnautovic pushed through a move to West Ham over the summer claiming he was joining a bigger club, but this was another one of those days where he looked disinterested when his new team needed him to put in a shift.\nJavier Hernandez - 7\nThe one bright spark for West Ham. 'Chicharito' had very little support at Old Trafford, but the Mexico striker worked hard in his bid to score against his former club.\nLacked endeavour at times from those around him, but Slaven Bilic is unlikely to leave him as isolated in less challenging encounters.", "RNPS IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2009 - Chelsea's John Terry (L) watches teammates warm down with his children Summer (C) and Georgie after their English Premier League soccer match against Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in London September 20, 2009. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh\nLONDON Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur take time out from their ongoing Premier League title battle for a mouth-watering FA Cup semi-final clash at Wembley on Saturday.\nWe look at five standout clashes between the sides:\nMay 1967 - FA Cup Final\nChelsea 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2\nNicknamed the Cockney final, it was the first between two London clubs, and Bill Nicholson's Tottenham emerged triumphant to claim the trophy for the fifth time.\nFavourites Tottenham, with former Chelsea players Jimmy Greaves and Terry Venables in their ranks, had finished the season in third place and were tipped to beat a Chelsea side managed by Tommy Docherty that had ended up in ninth place.\nJimmy Robertson gave Tottenham the lead in the 40th minute and Frank Saul doubled their advantage before Bobby Tambling's late consolation for Chelsea, who had to wait three more years to win the trophy for the first time.\n- - -\nApril 1975 - League Division One\nTottenham Hotspur 2 Chelsea 0\nIf any game fuelled the bitter rivalry between the two clubs it was this muddy relegation scrap at White Hart Lane played in front of a heaving 51,000 crowd, some of whom climbed floodlight towers to catch a view of the action.\nChelsea, featuring a young Ray Wilkins, were the better side early on and Tottenham keeper Pat Jennings made several superb saves, one to keep out a powerful header from Ian Hutchinson.\nSteve Perryman gave Tottenham the lead after the break and Chelsea had a goal ruled out as the tension mounted before Wilkins missed a sitter. Alfie Conn made it 2-0 to sel a priceless victory for Spurs.\nThey ended up one place above the relegation zone and one point above Chelsea, who went down.\n- - -\nDec 1997, Premier League\nTottenham 1 Chelsea 6\nThe balance of power had well and truly shifted to west London by the time of this clash. Tottenham had not beaten Chelsea in any competition for seven years.\nThe pain continued. Tore Andre Flo scored a hat-trick as second-placed Chelsea outclassed a Spurs side languishing in the bottom three after a poor start to the season, which had cost Gerry Francis his job.\nFlo put Chelsea ahead five minutes before halftime but Ramon Vega levelled before the break.\nThe wheels came off Christian Gross's Tottenham after the break as Chelsea ran riot with Roberto Di Matteo, Dan Petrescu, Flo and Mark Nicholls putting them out of sight before Flo completed his hat-trick in the final minute.\n- - -\nApril 2012, FA Cup semi-final\nTottenham 1 Chelsea 5\nThe last time the sides met in the FA Cup proved a sucker punch for Harry Redknapp's Tottenham side, who were chasing a top-four finish in the league and were above Chelsea.\nRafael van der Vaart had a header cleared off the line by Chelsea skipper John Terry before Didier Drogba's ferocious shot put Chelsea in front in the 43rd minute.\nChelsea went 2-0 up in controversial circumstances. Juan Mata's effort was adjudged to have crossed the line despite the ball apparently being blocked by Ledley King.\nGareth Bale gave Sput hope but goals from Ramires, Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda finished them off.\nChelsea went on to win the Cup, and to rub salt into Tottenham's wounds they beat Bayern Munich to win the Champions League and deny Tottenham, who finished fourth to Chelsea's sixth, a spot in the competition.\n- - -\nMay 2016 Premier League\nChelsea 2 Tottenham 2\nA match dubbed the \"Battle of the Bridge\" ended Tottenham's hopes of winning the Premier League and handed the title to Leicester City.\nTottenham needed to win their final three games of the season to have any chance of catching Leicester and were clearly wound up by Chelsea's players publicly stating they wanted Leicester to win the title.\nA first win at Stamford Bridge in 26 years looked like extending the title race when Harry Kane and Son Heung-min both scored before halftime.\nGary Cahill pulled one back soon after the break and Eden Hazard's curler broke Tottenham's hearts before the match spiralled out of control, with the visitors losing their heads and ending up with nine yellow cards. Mousa Dembele was subsequently suspended for gouging the eye of Diego Costa.\n(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Larry King)", "Olivier Giroud admits he may have to leave Arsenal (Picture: Getty)\nArsenal forward Olivier Giroud admits he could quit the club in January as he bids to get his hopes of a spot in France’s World Cup squad up and running again.\nThe Frenchman is yet to start a league match for Arsenal this year and has mostly been used in the Gunners’ Europa League campaign.\nGiroud was a late substitute in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday and he grabbed a late equaliser to remind Wenger of his qualities.\nAlexandre Lacazette has been favoured instead of Giroud and there’s a chance, despite Didier Deschamps’ continued faith in him, that the 30-year-old will be dropped for this summer’s World Cup.\nGiroud grabbed a late equaliser for Arsenal on Sunday (Picture: Getty)\nGiroud insists Deschamps simply wants him to play more, regardless of whether it’s at Arsenal or not and the striker says he’ll consider every opportunity in January.\n‘I have the World Cup at the back of my mind weekly, almost daily. Each time I go onto the pitch, it’s to be more clinical and keep on track for the World Cup,’ said Giroud.\n‘During international get-togethers, the coach usually warns me against that [leaving Arsenal for the sake of it]\n‘He has told me the things he wanted to tell me, which is totally logical and I understand. He wants me to play more.\n‘If I wasn’t able to leave this summer, it was because of the opportunities I had.\n‘It wouldn’t have been good to leave for leaving’s sake, but it’s certain that eventually, even in January, I’m going to have to ask myself the question again.\n‘It won’t be easy to find the right solution and take the right decision, but we’ll look at the opportunities.’\nMore: Arsenal FC We've hit peak banter era: Ostersunds mock Wenger after Europa League draw Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi defended by unlikely Arsenal legend Who are FK Ostersunds? The club dreaming of ending Arsenal's Europa League run\nGiroud was close to joining Everton in the summer and was even said to have gone to the Toffees’ training ground to agree a deal with the club.\nHowever, Deschamps’ faith in him convinced him to stay at Arsenal but the form of Lacazette in front of him hinders his chances with France.\nMORE: Chelsea make approach for Ross Barkley as transfer offer is lined up for Everton star", "Chelsea are through to the FA Cup semi-finals thanks to an extra time goal from Pedro for a 2-1 win away to Leicester City, much to the relief of Blues fans and under-pressure manager Antonio Conte.\nAfter the semi-final draw was made, Chelsea were anointed favourites to take out the competition after Manchester United drew Tottenham Hotspur in the other section.\nAntonio Conte's men will meet Southampton in the next round after goals from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Cedric Soares sent Mark Hughes' team through.\nConte was delighted with his team's performance after being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona in midweek.\n\"A tough game but we knew this,\" he said. \"We must be pleased today. I saw a good performance and great character from my team.\"\nEarlier England international Jamie Vardy equalised following Alvaro Morata's first goal of 2018.\nWith no replays from the quarter-finals onwards, 30 extra minutes were required, in which Pedro headed in a cross by former Leicester midfielder N'Golo Kante.\nConte, knowing this is his last chance of a trophy this season, must hope the victory is an omen. The previous three times Chelsea have knocked Leicester out, in 1997, 2000 and 2012, they won the competition.\nFor the Saints, the charge to the semi-finals has been a welcome distraction for the relegation-threatened 18th placed team in the Premier League.\nHughes was appointed manager on Wednesday following the sacking of Argentine Mauricio Pellegrino and his side struggled in the opening 45 minutes on Sunday against League One promotion chasers Wigan.\nWigan, who had beaten three Premier League teams in the Cup including Manchester City in the previous round, could not convert their chances, however, and Southampton came out strongly after the break.\nThe decisive goal came in the 62nd minute when Hojbjerg converted with a side-foot finish from a Dusan Tadic corner.\nSouthampton had a chance to wrap up the tie when they were given a penalty with 18 minutes remaining but Manolo Gabbiadini's spot kick, awarded after he had been brought down by Dan Burn, was brilliantly saved by Wigan keeper Christian Walton.\nSouthampton's second goal came in injury time when Soares finished off a swift counterattack, led by Nathan Redmond, with a calm finish into the far corner.\n\"It was an important day for the players today,\" Hughes said.\n\"I have been really impressed with the quality of the talent I have. They have lost a bit of confidence recently but they are good players.\n\"We stood up to Wigan. It was a statement of intent and a start. We have work to do in the Premier League, but we will enjoy this moment.\"", "LONDON: Liverpool squandered a chance to exert some pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea as Sunderland's Jermain Defoe converted two penalties to earn the Premier League strugglers a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light on Monday.\nSadio Mane's goal looked to have earned Liverpool a win that would have moved them within three points of Chelsea but the forward later handled the ball in the area to give in-form striker Defoe the chance to salvage a draw for his side.\nTen-man Manchester City moved up to third place, two points behind Liverpool, as they beat Burnley 2-1 at home with Gael Clichy and substitute Sergio Aguero scoring second-half goals after Fernandinho was shown a red card before the interval.\nZlatan Ibrahimovic struck his 13th league goal of the season as Manchester United won 2-0 at West Ham United to stretch their winning league run to six games, although they were helped by a 15th-minute red card for the home side's Sofiane Feghouli.\nJuan Mata's superb finish from Marcus Rashford's cross had given sixth-placed United the lead as Jose Mourinho's side moved level on 39 points with fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and 10 behind leaders Chelsea who visit rivals Spurs on Wednesday.\nHull City's relegation worries intensified when they lost 3-1 at West Bromwich Albion despite taking the lead, while Middlesbrough eeked out a point against champions Leicester City in a drab 0-0 draw at the Riverside Stadium.\nEverton manager Ronald Koeman enjoyed a 3-0 victory over his former club Southampton, although the goals scored by Enner Valencia, Leighton Baines and Romelu Lukaku all came late on.\nLiverpool manager Juergen Klopp was left to rue two dropped points as his side's four-match winning run came to a halt.\n\"I must be honest, it doesn't feel good. It's not because of the point. It's because of two penalties in the game. That was harsh and really hard to accept,\" Klopp said.\nDaniel Sturridge's flicked header gave second-placed Liverpool a 19th-minute lead but Defoe levelled six minutes later after Ragnar Klavan tripped Didier Ndong.\nMane's close-range finish put Liverpool back in front but he was penalised for handball six minutes from time and Defoe kept his cool to dispatch another penalty and take his league goal tally to 11 out of third-bottom Sunderland's 19 this season.\nFERNANDINHO DISMISSED\nManchester City captain Fernandinho's 32nd-minute lunge on Burnley's Iceland midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson was deemed two-footed by referee Lee Mason and he red-carded the Brazilian who has now been sent off three times in his last six games.\nBurnley were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage though and City actually improved after the break when David Silva and Aguero were introduced off the bench.\nClichy, who had managed only one league goal in more than 100 Premier League games for City, gave his side the lead in the 58th minute with a precise shot past Burnley keeper Tom Heaton.\nFour minutes later Aguero grabbed his 11th league goal of the season with a superb finish from a tight angle. Ben Mee halved the deficit 20 minutes from time and there were a few late jitters but City held on.\nThey have 42 points, seven behind Chelsea, but their tetchy manager Pep Guardiola was not in the mood to talk up his inconsistent side's chances of challenging for the title.\n\"Yesterday no. Why today are we in the title race?\" the Spaniard said in a BBC interview.\nUnited are unbeaten in the league since a 4-0 hammering by Chelsea on Oct. 23. They were not at their best against West Ham at the London Stadium but enjoyed a numerical advantage after Feghouli was harshly sent off for a tackle on Phil Jones.\n\"I don't feel sorry for West Ham - I didn't watch the decisions. I think if you talk about decisions, we are the champions of bad decisions,\" Mourinho said.\n(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Clare Fallon and Ken Ferris)", "Mourinho, Van Gaal, Dalglish – the managers who went back for more\nJupp Heynckes' appointment at Bayern Munich on a deal until the end of the season is the latest example of a coach returning to an old club.\nFootball's managerial merry-go-round sometimes sees the same faces jumping back on the same horse for a second spin, but is that always a wise decision?\nThe history of such moves is a chequered one and here we take a look at some of the lessons that even the 72-year-old Heynckes could learn from.\nJOSE MOURINHO (CHELSEA 2004-2007 & 2013-2015)\nThe self-titled Special One needed to produce some extraordinary results to back up his big talk and he did just that at Stamford Bridge.\nFresh from a stunning Champions League success with Porto, the Portuguese led a Blues revolution in a first spell that yielded two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup.\nBacked by the immense financial might of owner Roman Abramovich, there was one honour that eluded Mourinho at Chelsea, as European supremacy proved beyond his grasp.\nHe was sacked in September 2007 and Chelsea reached the Champions League final that same season under Avram Grant.\nStellar names followed Mourinho into the hot seat, but he loomed large as a point of comparison to the likes of Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez.\nWhen he returned in 2013, via spells at Inter Milan, where he was once again crowned king of the continent, and Real Madrid, it was as if a hero had come back to west London. All of his indiscretions were forgiven and none of his successes forgotten.\nThat second stint brought another top-flight crown and a further League Cup triumph. When he left again in December 2015 following an abysmal start to Chelsea's title defence it was, the club said, \"on good terms\", adding that Mourinho \"will always remain a much-loved, respected and significant figure at Chelsea\".\nHowever, that promise appeared to have been forgotten when Mourinho was booed by fans and labelled a 'Judas' on his return to Stamford Bridge with Manchester United in March 2017.\nLOUIS VAN GAAL (BARCELONA 1997-2000 & 2002-2003)\nThe belligerent Dutchman was linked with the Bayern job himself, which again would have represented a return to an old stomping ground.\nHe is a man not unfamiliar with revisiting his past, having twice managed both Barcelona and his home country.\nIt was at Camp Nou that he sought to cement his reputation as a world-class coach, having caught the eye of the Spanish giants during a trophy-laden six-year Ajax reign.\nHowever, it was not quite the experience Van Gaal had anticipated. He clashed regularly with the media, detracting from his on-field achievements, which saw Barca add another two LaLiga titles to their collection.\nPerhaps, having followed on from the more amiable Bobby Robson, Van Gaal appeared positively hostile in comparison and that persona did not help his cause.\nHe left in May 2000 and fired a telling parting shot.\n\"The president [Josep Lluis Nunez] took me on for my philosophy and personality, and also the gameplan of my Dutch team, Ajax,\" he said.\n\"But to implant this philosophy in a club is very difficult, because this philosophy does not correspond with the culture of the country.\"\nAll that was apparently water under the bridge by the time 2002 rolled around, as Van Gaal was appointed for a second time.\nThis time the results were largely disappointing and his headline signings, notably Juan Roman Riquelme and Gaizka Mendieta, failed to live up to the hype.\nA prior falling out with Rivaldo saw the Brazil star released and, all in all, it was not a happy return for Van Gaal.\n60% - Louis van Gaal es el entrenador con el mejor porcentaje de victorias en la historia de la #UCL (mínimo 50 partidos). Legendario. pic.twitter.com/CKgISLGAGo — OptaJose (@OptaJose) 17 January 2017\nKENNY DALGLISH (LIVERPOOL 1985-1991 & 2011-2012)\n'King Kenny' earned his royal moniker at Anfield with success as a player and a manager, combining both duties in his first spell at the helm.\nThe Reds' maiden league and FA Cup double came under his guidance in 1985-86. He was also responsible for bringing in names now synonymous with the Merseysiders, signing Peter Beardsley and John Barnes ahead of his third campaign in charge.\nWith such talented players at his disposal, not to mention his own sublime talents, Liverpool played a striking brand of attacking football that produced that magical blend of entertainment and results.\nDespite some blips along the way – the infamous 1988 FA Cup final loss to Wimbledon among them – Dalglish created a legacy at the club not only through triumphs, but also the tragedy of the Hillsborough disaster, when his strength of character was readily apparent.\nThe record books speak volumes to his influence, with three league titles as Liverpool's manager and two FA Cups.\nHe later won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and endured undistinguished tenures at Newcastle United and Celtic, where his playing career had begun.\nHaving returned to Anfield in 2009 as part of the youth set-up, Dalglish found himself back in the top job following the end of Roy Hodgson's short-lived rule in 2011.\nThe fiery Scot brought in Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, those two arrivals capturing the stark contrasts of his time in the job.\nHe delivered the club's first trophy in six years with victory in the 2012 League Cup final, but lost the FA Cup final that same year.\nThose cup exploits mattered little when weighed against Liverpool's league form, though, as they finished eighth, some 27 points behind winners Manchester City.\nDalglish was sacked in May 2012, but seemingly had no regrets.\n\"It has been an honour and a privilege to have had the chance to come back to Liverpool as manager,\" he said.\nLFC are delighted to announce the Centenary Stand at Anfield will be renamed The Kenny Dalglish Stand.\nFull story: https://t.co/wSGKnxsqgh pic.twitter.com/d9KE6FF1IE — Liverpool FC (@LFC) 3 May 2017\nOTHER NOTABLE MANAGERS WHO WENT BACK...\nMarcello Lippi had two spells with Juventus and with Italy.\nFirst time around at Juve he won three Serie A titles and the Champions League, while his second coming yielded two further top-flight titles.\nHaving won the 2006 World Cup with Italy, he promptly left the role but came back in 2008. His attempt to guide his country to another world title ended in humiliation as Italy finished bottom of their group at the 2010 tournament.\nLippi's compatriot Fabio Capello is another man to have taken on the Juve job, but it was at Real Madrid and AC Milan that he had two cracks of the whip.\nAt San Siro he won four league titles between 1991 and 1996, throwing in a Champions League title for good measure. Second time around, Milan finished 10th in his sole season.\nHis two spells at Madrid came a decade apart and both produced LaLiga honours, but no more. His defensive style of play won few admirers among the Santiago Bernabeu faithful.", "“Six finals” await Chelsea in the Premier League run-in after a 2-0 loss at Manchester United that leaves their title chances at only “50 percent”, manager Antonio Conte said.\nHaving hoped to re-establish a seven-point lead over second-place Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea’s advantage remains four points following Sunday’s defeat at Old Trafford.\nThey remain in the driving seat and will face only one top-seven side — Everton — in their last six games, but Conte suggested his team can no longer be considered outright favorites.\n“We have to think that there are six finals from now until the end,” said the Italian, who was without goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois due to injury and wing-back Marcos Alonso due to a virus.\n“The league is open and we have a 50 percent probability to win the league.”\nConte accepted that his team “deserved” to lose and said the outcome of the match was his fault for failing to sufficiently motivate his players.\nBut in a pointed reference to Chelsea’s struggles last season under Jose Mourinho, now the United manager, he said his team’s quest for the title deserved to be considered a “miracle”.\n“I prefer to fight for the title instead of don’t fight for the title and stay calm. The pressure is normal and we are lucky to have the pressure,” said Conte.\n“Last season Chelsea had no pressure; 10th place and you play calm, you are happy.\n“We must understand this, that (something) really important is happening this season because we are doing a great job and a miracle if you consider last season and the problems we had.\n“For this reason we must have great enthusiasm to play these last six games. If we win, we must be proud. Otherwise we must clap another team.”\nMourinho’s decision to man-mark Eden Hazard and Pedro effectively muzzled Chelsea, who failed to register a shot on target in a league game for the first time since 2007.\nAnder Herrera, who shadowed Hazard, set up Marcus Rashford for United’s seventh-minute opener and netted the hosts’ second goal with a deflected strike early in the second half.\n– ‘Phenomenal ‘\nVictory lifted United to fifth place, four points below Manchester City, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League place, with a game in hand.\nDespite having been barracked with chants of “Judas” during United’s 1-0 defeat at Chelsea in the FA Cup last month, Mourinho said victory over his former club carried no special significance.\n“The satisfaction is for different reasons,” said Mourinho, whose side take a 1-1 scoreline into the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final at home to Anderlecht Thursday.\n“The first reason is, with Liverpool and Manchester City’s victories, if we don’t win today, goodbye Premier League (top four).\n“We don’t know what can happen in the Europa League, so these three points were phenomenal.\n“The second reason is they are the leader. They are named Chelsea, but they could be named Arsenal or Tottenham.\n“When you beat the leader, it is obviously a very good feeling because you feel you are as good or better than them.”\nMourinho said United’s win showed that had Herrera not been sent off in last month’s FA Cup defeat at Chelsea, it would be his side facing Tottenham in the semi-finals Saturday.\nTottenham are on a run of seven straight league wins — their best sequence in 50 years — and Conte knows his side are in for a battle beneath the Wembley arch.\n“We all know the next game and how you go for the final or you don’t go and for this reason, you must put 200 percent to reach the final,” he said.\n“It won’t be easy because I think Tottenham now is the best team and they are in great form and they have a lot of enthusiasm.\n“They are feeling the possibility to write history and it is important to know this.”" ]

[ "Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis colonized 20-40% of newborns and are more frequent in premature. They are responsible for localized infections such as pleural effusion, pneumopathy, adenopathy, abscess or systemic sepsis. An important hyperleukocytosis is often associated with pulmonary infections. Their responsibility, as pathogen agents, is questionable in some non bacterial meningitis. There is large controversy for their role as cofactor, in chronic lung disease (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) and periventricular leukomalacia, because of a too low number of newborns in prospective trials. Genital mycoplamas are resistant to beta lactamines. Macrolides have a good sensitivity, particularly josamycine, but Mycoplasma hominis is resistant to erythromycin. For systemic sepsis, fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacine have less deleterious effects than IV erythromycin." ]

[ "A young woman developed multiple abscesses in her transplanted kidney. Amplification of the 16S rRNA gene with subsequent sequencing revealed Ureaplasma urealyticum as the infectious agent. Microbiological diagnosis and sensitivity testing led to therapy with levofloxacin, resulting in rapid recovery of the patient.", "The purpose of the study was to further investigate the occurrence of a specific immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) protease among mycoplasmas of various origin. Fifty-two strains representing the genera Mycoplasma, Ureaplasma, Acholeplasma and Spiroplasma were examined. The ability to cause specific cleavage of human IgA1 in the hinge region resulting in intact Fab and Fc fragments was exclusively associated with strains of U. urealyticum. Thus, this trait may be used as a valuable differential characteristic of U. urealyticum. A more pronounced proteolytic activity capable of causing extensive degradation of both human and bovine IgA was demonstrated in the type strain of U. diversum.", "Seventy-seven recently isolated bovine ureaplasma (T-mycoplasma) strains were compared by the growth inhibition test with previously reported strains. The complex serological nature of the group was confirmed. Only five of the fresh isolates did not react with antisera to the eight representative bovine strains proposed previously. The suggestion that the serological diversity of the group might be represented by a small number of strains has thus been confirmed. Eleven strains are proposed as representatives of this serological diversity. No common antigens were shown between Ureaplasma urealyticum, the ureaplasmas of human origin, and the bovine isolates.", "An outbreak of granular vulvitis and ulcerative posthitis in 24-month-old virgin Bonsmara heifers and bulls is reported. Ureaplasma was isolated locally from all the clinically infected cattle. There was marked clinical improvement within 3 d of the commencement of a 5 d course of tylosin administered intramuscularly at 10 mg kg-1. Ureaplasma could not be cultured from the external genitalia of either heifers or bulls following clinical recovery. Details of the Ureaplasma culture media are given.", "Mycoplasma hominis is a heterogeneous species with DNA-DNA hybridization values ranging from 51 to 100%. We report here the sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene of a strain (183) that greatly differs from the type strain (PG21) of this species. Comparison of 16S rDNA sequences from these two strains showed limited differences, indicating that the two strains belong to the same rRNA species complex. Using these nucleotide sequence data, we established a rapid method for the detection of M. hominis by using polymerase chain reaction. This method was shown to be sensitive and specific when tested with reference strains and clinical isolates.", "Mycoplasma hominis is normally a commensal of humans. When the organism is pathogenic, it primarily causes disease in the genitourinary tract. Septic arthritis caused by M. hominis is a rare condition that occurs chiefly in the postpartum period, in immunosuppressed hosts, or in patients who have recently undergone urinary tract manipulation. Arthritis caused by M. hominis is clinically indistinguishable from septic arthritis caused by other bacteria. Diagnosis is often delayed because infection with this organism is not suspected or because it grows slowly, if at all, in routine culture media. Appropriate therapy often leads to a good outcome, although relapses and resistance have been reported", "A turkey-breeding operation in Eastern Europe had been suffering from an infertility problem for about 1 year. During the first visit of the investigation, ureaplasma was isolated from 4 out of 10 toms and 3 out of 5 hens randomly selected from a flock of 250 males and 2,200 females. The candled fertility at the time of investigation was 66%. Twelve weeks later, ureaplasma was isolated from five out of five hens from a flock that had a candled fertility of 51%, whereas no isolations were made from five out of five hens that had a fertility of 94%. Stained preparations of semen were evaluated, demonstrating an increased number of stressed abnormal spermatozoa. Histopathological lesions suggestive of a mycoplasma infection were observed in the oviduct of females. Several tests were conducted for various viral and bacterial infections and for the presence of mycotoxins in the feed; all were negative.", "Objective:To study the relationship between semen abnormal liquefaction and ureaplasma urealyticum(UU) infection,chlamydia trachomatis(CT) infection in genital tract. Methods:230 infertile men were selected and divided into semen unliquefaction group,deficient liquefaction group and normal liquefaction group according to the time of liquefaction.The relationship between semen liquefaction status and infection rates of UU and CT was observed. Results:The infection rates of UU and CT in semen unliquefaction group and deficient liquefaction group were significantly higher than those in normal liquefaction group(P0.05;P0.05);and there was no significant difference between semen unliquefaction group and deficient liquefaction group(P0.05). Conclusion:Semen abnormal liquefaction is related to UU infection and CT infection in genital tract.", "Objective To investigate the status of mycoplasma and other pathogenic microorganism infection in female genitourinary tract.Methods Samples from female genitourinary tract in department of gynecology of out-patient clinic(OPD) were collected and detected for the presence of mycoplasma and other combined pathogenic microorganism with culture,and then the results were statistically analyzed.Results The mycoplasma positive cases were 675,among which 285(42.20 %) were accompanied by other pathogenic microorganism infection.The pathogenic pathogenic bacteria were mainly Enterobacter(44.6%),followed by Staphylococcus epidermidis(32.2%) and Staphylococcus aureus(20.4%).The detection rate of Candida albicans and Staphylococcus saprophyticus accounted for 2.8% and 1.0% respectively.Conclusion Mycoplasma infection in female genitourinary tract is mostly accompanied by other pathogenic microorganism infection.So prevention and cure of female genitourinary tract diseases should be paid much emphasis upon.", "After pointing out the epidemiological significance of sexually transmitted diseases, the authors report results in 100 male patients given doxycycline polyphosphate during 2 weeks for urethritis. Ten patients had post-gonococcal urethritis and twenty others had persistent urethritis afer a first treatment had failed. The association Chlamydia trachomatis-Staphylococcus albus was the most common bacteriologic finding. Staphylococcus aureus and Neisseria gonorrhea were demonstrated in 24 and 12 cases respectively. Ureaplasma urealyticum was found in only four instances. Clinical and bacteriological results show that doxycycline polyphosphate was effective in 92 out of 100 cases. Circumstances of the eight failures are analyzed specifically. Clinical tolerance was excellent in every case. Following confrontation with recent data from the literature, these results lead the authors to conclude that gonococcal and non-gonococcal urethritis is an indication of choice for doxycycline polyphosphate.", "Objective:To evaluate and analyze the efficacy of Azithromycin in the treatment of mycoplasma infection in children.Methods:120 children of mycoplasma infection were selected and randomly divided into observation group and control group,aged 2 to 10 years.Both groups were given conventional treatment,and the control group treated with Erythromycin,the observation group treated with Azithromycin.Results:The total effective rate of observation group was 90.00%,significantly higher than 73.33% of the control group,there were significant differences(P0.05).No obvious adverse reaction was found in the two groups.Conclusion:Azithromycin in the treatment of mycoplasma infection in children has good safety and reliability,the proposed clinical further.", "Objective:To instruct rational application of antibiotics and prevent the combination from happening in patients with Ureapiasma Urealyticum (UU)infection,Methods:Culture was uscd.1232 paticnts agcd between 10~65 were tested.Results:(1)234 male with a positive rate of 4915%,998 female,with a positive rate of 6984%.The total positive rate is 6591%.Patients aged between 18~45 group has the most cases and the highest positive rate,that is 7692%.Conclusion:The culture method is cheap,practical and convenient,so it's available for clinical laboratory.", "Haemotrophic Mycoplasma,formerly called Eperythrozoon and Haemobartonella,has an increasing interest as new emerging zoonoses in humans.This pathogen colonizes on the surface on red cells of a wide range of vertebrate hosts.Clinical symptoms are described as anemia,icterus and fever.Generally,the infected animals become latent carriers without showing clinical symptoms.However,malnutrition or other adversities can induce high bacteremia and the occurrence of clinical manifestations with high mortality.Formerly,this pathogen was classified as Rickettsiales.But the sequence homology of 16S rRNA gene with Mycoplasma agents suggests it should be reclassified in Mycoplasma genus and accordingly named Haemotrophic Mycoplasma.However,this transfer has not yet been well accepted.Some studies confirmed hemoplasma infection in humans showing fever,malaise,drowsiness,repeated URI,diarrhea,splenohepatomegalia,decrease of red cell,heamoglobin and platelet,increasing of bilirubin.", "Two newborn premature infants are described in whom infection by herpes simplex virus occurred in utero, probably as a result of transplacental transfer of the virus. Studies in one infant suggest that the fetus produced antibody in utero.", "This structured review discusses the current literature on selected biomarkers and their ability to predict preterm delivery (PTD). Among symptomatic women, the likelihood ratio (LR+) for the prediction of PTD was found to be greater than 10 using amniotic fluid (AF) interleukin-6 (IL-6), AF Ureaplasma urealyticum, as well as a multi-marker consisting of cervical IL-6, cervical IL-8, and cervical length (CL). The LR+ was found to be between 5 and 10 for serum C-reactive protein (CRP). An LR+ between 2.5 and 5 was recorded for serum corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), cervical fetal fibronectin (fFN), cervical IL-6, serum relaxin, and a multi-marker consisting of fFN and CL. CL and bacterial vaginosis (BV) both predicted PTD in women with preterm labor with an LR+ of less than 2.5. In asymptomatic women, AF U. urealyticum and a multimarker consisting of five individual markers [fFN, CL, serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), serum alkaline phosphatase, and serum granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)] pr...", "Summary We report a case of Brucella melitensis infection in an obstetrician who was infected during the delivery of an infant suffering from congenital brucellosis. The obstetrician was treated with doxycycline and rifampin and fully recovered. This is the first reported case of Brucella infection transmitted through infectious secretions at the delivery of a transplacentally infected newborn and emphasizes that, especially in endemic areas educational and technical measures are needed in order the obstetricians to avoid ingestion of secretions during clearance of the newborn's respiratory tract from saliva and amniotic fluid.", "In a retrospective study of 27,000 infants aged younger than 3 months evaluated for urinary tract infection (UTI) with paired urinalysis and urine culture, investigators set out to determine the optimal urine white blood cell (WBC) threshold for UTI when using an automated urinalysis system stratified by urine concentration.", "This study assessed the utility of urine, vaginal, cervical, and rectal specimens for the detection of Mycoplasma genitalium in women by using our laboratory-developed PCR assay. The relative sensitivity was 85.7% for the vaginal swab specimen, 74.3% for the endocervical swab specimen, 61.4% for the urine specimen, and 24.3% for the rectal swab specimen.", "Le Floc'h et al. 2007. J. Exp. Med. doi:10.1084/jem.20061524 ::: ::: [OpenUrl][1][Abstract/FREE Full Text][2] ::: ::: [1]: {openurl}?query=rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1084%252Fjem.20061524%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F17325197%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%", "Objective To probe clinical characterization,diagnosis method and therapy evaluation through retrospec- tive clinical analysis for 167cases infected by MP.Methods Clinical data,therapy evaluation and changes of 167cases with MP infection was analyzed.Results 126 out of 167cases with MP infection whose age were in one month-three years suggested that the age of infants infected with MP trended to younger;these patients shared with cough,heat in different extent and gasp. CAT,MP-IgM and CRP should be served as routine tests to help diagnosis.And different pathological changes were envisaged according to X-ray films.Conclusion The age of infants infected with MP trended to younger.CAT,MP-IgM and CRP should be served as routine tests.It was important to analyze the characterizations in combination with clinical presentation.Anti -biotin Macroslide for MP treatment was effective drug.", "Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection leading to the development of primary atypical pneumonia causes diverse complications involving other organs and the nervous systems. There have been only a few reported cases of otolaryngologic complications of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, including otitis media and acoustic nerve impairment. A twenty-five-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of acute bilateral sensorineural hearing loss associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. The patient showed a markedly elevated mycoplasma complement fixation titer and had bilateral acute otitis media. The hearing loss has been improved by the application of several medications. Further research is thus called for to elucidate the pathophysiology of acute hearing loss associated with by Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.", "Objective To improve the recognition,diagnosis and treatment of mycoplasma pneumonia (MP).Methods The clinical data of 56 cases with MP from march 2005 to march 2007 was collected and analyzed.Results As for the age distribution,39 cases are over 5 years old (69.4%),most of them are school age children,17 cases are not over 5 years old (30.6%),the youngest are only 2 months;The clinical manifestations were fever,cough,changes in chest X-ray examination,mainly the little shadow in one side and increased vague hilar shadow.15 cases had extra-pulmonary complications;Mycoplasma pneumoniae-specific IgM antibodies were positive in all the cases.They are all achieved the cured by given the macrolides drugs.Conclusion MP has the highest prevalence rate in preschool children,The onset age is more earlier.Clinical features are serology test is its main diagnostic method.Macrolide antibiotic can achieve good efficacy.", "Synovial needle biopsies, joint aspirates, and joint tissue obtained at open operation from 41 cases of rheumatoid arthritis were inoculated onto PPLO media, L-form medium, and cell cultures for the isolation of mycoplasmas, L-form bacteria, and viruses. Medium suitable for the isolation of 'T' strain mycoplasmas was not employed. No mycoplasmas, L-form bacteria, or cytopathogenic viruses were shown. Similar specimens from nine patients diagnosed as having Reiter's disease were examined in a like manner and yielded only one Mycoplasma hominis type 1 isolate from a knee joint biopsy. It is concluded that known strains of mycoplasma and bacterial L-forms do not play a direct role in early and established cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Some of the cell cultures used in this study contained mycoplasma contaminants. Bacterial contaminants were also encountered in occasional batches of L-form medium.", "Summary A fatal case of pneumomediastinum, subcutaneous emphysema, and pneumothoraxcomplicated by pulmonary hemorrhage and infection with post-mortem findings has been presented. The unusual course and problems in its management were discussed. A review of the literature reveals this to be a comparatively rare condition but one which must be considered in the differential diagnosis of respiratory distress in the newborn infant.", "Erythema multiforme is an acute self-limited, usually mild, and often relapsing mucocutaneous syndrome. This disease is usually related to acute infections, most often a recurrent herpes simplex viral infection or other infectious agents such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection has been reported to be a cause of bullous erythema multiforme in children and Stevens-Johnson syndrome in young adults. To our knowledge, there has been no report of typical erythema multiforme associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in adults. We report a case of erythema multiforme associated with acute infection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in a 30-year-old woman.", "A 22-month-old infant developed purulent pleurisy caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae and a hemolytic uremic syndrome. The diagnosis was suggested by the classical triad: hemolytic anemia, renal failure and thrombocytemia confirmed by renal biopsy which demonstrated extensive cortical necrosis. Renal involvement was severe, justifying an indication for renal transplantation.", "RENAL CALCIFICATION (RC) AND HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED URINARY TRACT INFECTION(HA-UTI) IN A NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: RISK FACTOR OR SEQUELA? † 2159", "Bacterial infections are more frequent and severe in the first few days of life than at any time thereafter. It is also well recognized that in newborn infants clinical signs of infection may be minimal: accordingly, laboratory tests are of greatest importance for diagnosis in this period of life. Because of the difficulties in interpreting the meaning of granulocyte changes in preterm infants, we have examined the possible clinical usefulness of serum c-reactive protein, determined by a new, sensitive electrophoretic method (ZIA), for detection of bacterial infection in infants of this age. This study suggests that c-reactive protein testing is a helpful adjunct in diagnosing bacterial infection in the first month of life.", "A healthy 5-year-old child had recurrent symptomatic urinary tract infections, the last of which was accompanied by black specks in her urine. These specks were identified as Curvularia species, a dermatiaceous mold. Symptoms resolved and fungi disappeared with long-term hydration, without specific antifungal treatment.", "Data from the literature are controversial regarding the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in dental plaque and its association with gastric infection. One of the possible mechanisms suggested for re-infection is the recolonization with H. pylori from dental plaque. The purpose of this review was to determine whether dental plaque, poor oral hygiene, and periodontal disease were risk factors for H. pylori infection.", "Abstract Hybridomas, which were found to be infected with mycoplasma, were cleared of contamination by passaging in BALB/c mice. This procedure was successfully applied to four of five cultures examined. The procedure offers a simple and effective means of eliminating mycoplasma from valuable and sometimes irreplaceable hybridoma cell cultures.", "Objective Investigate the status of Mycoplasma genitalium in healthy women. genital tract.Methods On the basis of the published nucleotide sequence of the Mycoplasma genitalium 140KDa adhesion protein gene,primers were synthesized.123 cervix tract samples of healthy women were detected by Polymerase Chain Reaction.Results Mycoplasma genitalium has been detected and positive ratio of Mycoplasma genitalium in healthy women. genital tract was 0.7%.Conclusion Mycoplasma genitalium was conditional pathogenic microbe." ]

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[ "My Springer Spaniel ate them right away but the Malamute sniffed it a lot and finally ate them. I'll stick with the Happy Hips Chicken products.", "<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AJ1ULS\">Dogswell Happy Hips for Dogs, Chicken Breast,15-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 3)</a>Dogswell chicken jerky is now made in China. The FDA has warned against dog food products made in China. Don't risk it!", "My almost-11-year-old lab (who still believes he is a puppy) struggles with a food allergies and hip dysplasia. We've tried every premium dog food under the sun and just found Innova EVO about a month ago. In that month, his energy is up, his hips seem to be stronger, his coat has become thick and shiny and he no longer scratches... at all! This stuff is amazing! He used to have redness on his stomach and in his ears and that's all gone too. I am thrilled with the results - our sweet boy is feeling good and happy again and I love knowing we've found something that works so well for him. Thanks Innova!", "My dogs love them. It helps keep their joints limber. My dachshund is very fussy and loves these glucosomine treats. She won't eat the ones from the vets. If you have a fussy older dog that needs these please try. You'll be happy and so won't they. I would recommend the smaller bag to try and then you can upgrade.<br /><br /><a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016CN094\">3 Packs Zukes Hip Action Jerky Naturals BEEF-3lb</a>", "My dog loves Newman's Chicken and rice organic dog food, which I have Amazon ship every 2 months. She also loves the Happy Hips brand of treats. I was excited to see Newman also offered treats, so I tried the Salmon and sweet potato. Unfortunately, she does not like this product, probably because it is in biscuit form.<br /><br />Now I somehow have to make her eat these over the next several months, even if I have to grind them up and put in her regular food.", "PLEASE research, on the web! This product nearly killed my dog! All of Dogswell jerky treats are Poison!! Made in China! This Dist. does not seem to care he is killing our pets. Fda told me 70 dogs have died from these kind of dog treats. BEWARE! I have over 1,000.00 in vet bills. Amazon please don't sell this line to us, talk with the FDA,<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AJ1ULS\">Dogswell Happy Hips for Dogs, Chicken Breast,15-Ounce Pouches (Pack of 3)</a> find another product made in the USA, before more of our furry friends get sick or die.", "I didn't mind paying the $20+ a bag because my dog loved them. These are so expensive that I didn't look on the bag to see where they were made until ANOTHER recent recall on Chinese dog treats/food that was killing dogs....when I looked at the Happy Hips bag, I was pretty ticked off to see that these are made in China.<br /><br />I used to joke that my dog was addicted to these, but now I am actually a little concerned that there may be some addictive substance in these Chinese \"treats\"", "I had been buying my 2 year old Bichon Frise these Happy Hips Duck Treats for months until recently when I purchased a large bag that, upon opening it, reeked of some sort of chemical substance which smelled very much like chlorine or bleach. The smell was overwhleming and disgusting. Not knowing what was wrong with it, just out of curiosity I looked on the back of the bag to read the contents and sure enough....at the bottom of the bag were those dreaded words, \"Made in China\".<br /><br />Up until this time I had assumed their treats were made in the USA, and some of them are. But after looking through all their products it seems that their duck and chicken breast treats come from China.<br /><br />Do NOT trust this product!!!", "\"Sweet potatoes?! My dog will eat sweet potatoes????\"<br /><br />Yes, you may be surprised!! I've fed my English Bulldog pup more treats than I care to mention and these are his favorite. An especially a good choice for dogs with allergies! From a taste standpoint, if he had his way he would eat the whole bag. This is the closest thing to \"scraps\" that I've intentionally fed my dog. From a health standpoint, bullies are know for their skin problems. Kingston's coat is very shiny and his eyes and nails look great, too. Due to his breed's susceptibility to hip dysplasia I also plan to try the <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F9AHN0\">Dogswell Veggie Life Happy Hips Sweet Potato Chews Dog Treats (15 oz.)</a>. But with 6 bags, each holding 10- 15 treats, this has lasted me a while. RECOMMENDED!!!", "Ordered this for my daughter to take to college. It's microwave popcorn, what more can you say? She's happy with it so I'm happy with it.", "This stuff is so good! My dogs go crazy for it. It smells like people food, and I believe it is made with human-grade food. I use 1/2 can per dog, mixed with premium, grain-free dry food. Awesome! Just look at the ingredients listed below!<br /><br />Dogswell Happy Hips Stew Canned Dog Food really is, \"Everything you want, nothing you don't.\"<br /><br />Happy Hips Stew Canned Dog Food is all natural and grain-free. It contains Glucosamine and Chondroitin to help maintain healthy hips and joints. Made with cage-free and antibiotic-free meat. Contains no soy, corn, rice, gluten, wheat, BHA/BHT, ethoxyquin, rendered poultry, added hormones, artifical colors, flavors or preservatives. Dogswell makes it easy to feel confident that you are feeding your pet natural healthy food.<br /><br />Ingredients:<br />Water sufficient for processing, lamb, lamb liver, beef, beef liver, salmon, dried egg product, peas, potato starch, sweet potatoes, carrots, red peppers, guar gum, natural flavor, sodium phosphate, shrimp meal (source of Glucosamine), canola oil, spinach, garlic powder, flaxseed oil, squash, cranberries, blueberries, zucchini, potassium chloride, tricalcium phosphate, Chondroitin sulfate, taurine, iron amino acid chelate, vitamin E supplement, zinc amino acid chelate, choline chloride, cobalt amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, riboflavin supplement, sodium selenite, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, vitamin B-12 supplement, potassium iodide, biotin, vitamin D-3 supplement, Glucosamine hydrochloride.<br /><br />UPDATE: I vary the amount I use in their meals, and I also use other Dogswell Happy Hips and Vitality canned food (the lamb and the duck). Instead of 1/2 can per meal I will often add more dry food and use just 1/4 can per meal per dog mixed with dry (they love Wellness Core Reduced Fat dry food, which is highly palatable on its own as well) instead of a half can per dog, depending on how much of the dry food I'm giving them. With this stuff mixed in with the dry food and the wild salmon oil, they go crazy for it every time. They even love it cold. One of my dogs is supposed to drink a lot of water, so I started to add a little bit of hot water with the dry and wet mix sometimes, and they seem to really enjoy it like that as well.", "My dogs LOVE duck treats and have been getting the chicken happy hips for years so I though I'd give the duck a try. Bad idea. The treat was too tough and stringy for my small female Westie to pull apart and she ended up choking and vomiting. I order by subscription and had to make cuts in the strips with a poultry shear to use up the 6 bags. I too hate the fact that these are made in China, but my little guys need extra condroitin and glucosamine so I'm back to the chicken formula.", "The Dogswell Happy Hips Sweet Potato Chews I bought from Amazon were stale. I have bought these before, in local stores, and they are supposed to be pliable and \"chewy\". Although the bags had expiration dates that were in code, each bag I opened, contained \"stale\" chews. They broke like crackers and I could hear my dog chomping on them like a bone. I buy them so I can bend them over and put them in her toys or bones - she can spend a lot of time trying to get at the \"treat\". With these, all I could do was feed them to her like snack crackers. I was very disappointed. I will continue to buy them, as they are a good product, just not from Amazon.", "My favorite one. I am very happy with this spaghetti sauce. I am very happy with this purchase. It all arrived safely.", "I received an email from Amazon stating the recepient was happy with the basket but they did not know whom it came from. So I am very pleased that the recepient was happy but not happy that they did not receive the gift note. This was for a death in their family who was very close. I mean I can easily contact her but the note was of been much more personal. Not knocking Amazon I am definitely a fan but not happy about this incident.", "Very good company, no problems with service, and it was fast and packaging was perfect. The best was getting a case of Happy Hippos..<br />give them a try, they will make you very happy!", "Ugh.<br /><br />We've been buying Happy Hips treats for our 14 year old black lab/springer spaniel mix for about a year because they are SO beneficial for her arthritis. We bought a batch of the Beef Liver to add a little variety to the whole routine - and oh, my gosh!<br /><br />The dog LOVES these treats! She's ready to put on a tu-tu and prance around the kitchen to beg for them. Forget the dignity afforded to canine senior citizens - this pooch is acting like her old juvenile self! I don't know if they are more potent than the duck or chicken treats, but they sure seem to pack some sort of punch!<br /><br />I made the mistake of giving the neighbor dog a taste. Now she won't go away! Every time I turn around she's at the back door looking for more - she certainly never acted this way with the duck or chicken!<br /><br />Did I mention that they were disgusting?? They ARE! Unlike the other \"flavors\" of Happy Hips these things absolutely REEK! And forget about them looking like \"beef jerky\" - nope! They're real dried out liver - mostly little dried square bits that remind me of mica or shale (they're almost crystalline). There's no pretending this is anything other than what it is - nasty gross protein of the variety that dogs LOVE! At least it's sanitary and not the dead stuff they like to roll in out in the yard.<br /><br />Yes, I'll be forced to buy these again. My 14 year old is rather irresistible with her old-lady gray hair, sassy grin, and wagging tail! They are a healthy all natural treat with no added hormones, fillers or other nasty stuff. I just wish they didn't smell so bad!<br /><br />December 2010 UPDATE:<br /><br />I'm happy to report that Ceilie is still making her way around the yard at nearly 16 years old thanks in large part to the Happy Hips brand of treats. We were pulled out of town last winter for a family emergency and had to leave her with a relative for a week. She didn't do well adjusting at all, so by the time I got back home I was really scared I was going to lose her. I don't know if she had a stroke or just refused to eat, but she could barely walk and couldn't hold her head straight. It took a week of encouraging her to eat senior dog food (a cut up hot dog plus chicken broth helps) and regular dosing of glucosamine and chondroitin via these treats to pull her out of it. Now I have to be careful that I don't run out. If she doesn't get her dose of these each day she goes down hill really fast. The vitamin option doesn't sit well on her tummy so I persist in spoiling my grey haired old lady with these treats. Amazon's prices and delivery can't be beat.", "I've always loved the taste of Quaker Puffed Rice and it's become scarce in our local stores. I'm happy to find it on Amazon. Ten boxes should keep me happy for a while.", "The flowers arrived quickly, and were beautiful. The arrangement delivered was yellow and orange, and quite stunning. She was extremely happy, and that makes me extremely happy. Extremely pleased.", "I cracked open a can and my cats went to town. Good ingredients for cats too, so the occasional \"wet stuff\" makes them happy, so that makes me happy.", "I have orderd from this vendor twice. They deliver on time. The product is absolutely delicious. Happy, happy.", "I have ordered this twice.<br />It is very good coffee and it is impossible to find it in the large size.<br />Since my husband drinks it like it's going out of style, this is a great way to stock up.<br />It saves me time and money.<br />Plus, it makes my husband happy.<br />If hubby's not happy, ain't nobody happy!<br />:0)", "Stumbled onto this tea by accident, but GLAD I did! I'm now on my 4th tin. Sometimes I add just a drop of honey and very thin slice of lemon, and my Saturday mornings are HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!<br />This is my first Amazon review, but I like the tea so much, I wanted to share how awesome it is!", "Our 2 year old pointer mix dog has a variety of allergy issues. After she developed hair loss and red spots on her hip, head, and paw that would not heal, we decided to put her on an elimination diet. She has been eating this product for about two months now, and with the help of some antibiotics to treat a secondary staph infection, and daily Benadryl, her skin has healed and her fur is growing back. I am very happy with the way this food appears to be hypoallergenic for her. She likes both the food and matching treats.<br /><br />FYI- We also provide her with smoked elk bones from Venison Joe's, and she LOVES them. I want to mention this because it is hard to find appropriate bones for dogs on an elimination diet.", "This spice cannot be found just anywhere. Can find just about anything on Amazon. Very happy with the availability of this on Amazon and the ease of purchase. The quality was as expected. Price is always the best. Very happy to have made this purchase.", "My wife first tasted this mix of tea in Canada and fell in love with it. We searched for it in the States and finally found it here. Same great mix and flavor. This is a wonderful blend. She's happy and I'm happy.", "We love the national brand but don't like the MSG in it. So, we were very excited to try this. It is okay and we were happy to find it. It takes a couple of minutes longer to thicken than the national brand. We aren't happy enough with it to buy it again.", "You get what you pay for. Not the cheapest, or the most expensive. We're happy with the quality of the chest and the variety of the teas. I'm not a tea expert, but I've always been happy with Bigelow Tea.", "its great for making bread, my mom loves to bake with it! She says she would buy it again. I am not a baker/cook so that is only my moms opinion. But shes happy, so i'm happy.", "Our 12 yr old shepherd mix has been taking this for about a year. Our vet reccommended it, he thinks that dogs digest it better than pills. I wasn't sure, but figured I would try it.<br /><br />Within a week I saw a difference in our dog. He was a LOT more lively. And he clearly felt better. In fact, he felt good enough that he started stealing food off the kitchen counters again. I was so happy to see that, it represented progress forward (instead of just holding steady, which was my best hope for his arthritis).<br /><br />I reccommend this product to so many of my friend with dogs. It is really amazing what it can do and how well it works. Best of all, the dogs love it. I don't have to smear peanut butter on some pill and hope he'll swallow it. If you have a dog with arthritis or hip dysplasia, this is worth trying.", "I was happy with the prices when i started the subscription, but now you are more expensive than the grocery store and in my order at least 8 cans were dented like the boxes were thrown around....not at all happy.", "My son is allergic to just about everything and we were so happy to find this product. I find it a bit bland but my son loves it. I have never seen it sold in any store but am happy I can easily purchase it here at Amazon." ]

[ "Two men were convicted for carrying out abuse during the 1970s, 80s and 90s at the now closed Skircoat Lodge.\nVictim Kaz Gray said inquiries did not go far enough and some individuals were allegedly still working with children.\nCalderdale Council said no one involved in the historical cases still worked for the authority.\nIn 2001, Malcom Phillips, who ran Skircoat Lodge for nearly 20 years, was jailed for seven years for repeated abuse of children in his care.\nA social worker there, Andrew Shadders, who abused boys, was jailed for 15 years.\nAnother man, Terence O'Hagan, was charged with abuse but died before conviction.\nMs Gray, who is leading the protest at the council's social services offices, said the scale of the abuse in care homes in Calderdale over that period of time was \"rampant\".\nShe said: \"When I went into care one of the first things they did was put me on the pill.\n\"I was 14, the youngest lass I knew of at the time on the pill in Skircoat was 11 years old.\"\nMs Gray, who has waived her right to anonymity, was abused at Skircoat and said she was trafficked to a care home in North Wales where she was raped.\nShe said she considered there were people still working with children in the area who had been \"complicit in the abuse\" of youngsters decades ago.\n\"Nothing's changed, nothing will change until everything comes out,\" she added.\nThe council said it fully supported the investigation at the time.\nIt added: This was an appalling case and we regret that children suffered when they were in the care of the local authority.\n\"I would like to reassure people that nobody involved in the historic cases works for the council, and in the intervening years our safeguarding practices have changed beyond recognition.\"\nChief Supt Dickie Whitehead, Calderdale District Commander, said a thorough investigation was carried out by police and the council between 1997 and 2002 following allegations against a number of employees at Skircoat Lodge Assessment Centre and Dobroyd Castle.\nHe said: \"This led to a number of arrests and prosecutions, resulting in a number of substantial prison sentences.\"\nMr Whitehead urged victims of abuse to come forward, adding: \"We can promise that reports will be investigated and victims will be treated with the utmost sensitivity.\"" ]

[ "Victims reported hundreds of alleged offences of physical, emotional or sexually abuse.\nThe police investigation began in 2006 but the apparent discovery in 2008 of part of a child's skull at a care home made headlines around the world.\nIt was later found to be coconut shell, but hundreds of victims had by then come forward.\nJersey care abuse inquiry: Children 'still at risk'\nMore on the child abuse report\n'Do not ignore this report'\nFollowing allegations dating from the 1960s, Operation Rectangle was launched with 192 people coming forward with 553 allegations of offences, including 315 at Haut de la Garenne.\nAllegations were also made about the Sacré Coeur Orphanage, the Blanche Pierre group home and the successor to Haut de la Garenne, Heathfields.\nThe Independent Jersey Care Inquiry (IJCI), launched in 2014, has now published its final report.\nThe inquiry heard from more than 600 witnesses over the last three years and its report concludes aspects of Jersey's services for children are still not fully fit for purpose.\nNeil McMurray, who has been campaigning for victims of child abuse for more than a decade, said his message to the States is \"do not ignore this report\".\nLawyer Alan Collins, who represented the Jersey Care Leavers Association at the inquiry, said many of the victims have mixed emotions about the report as it deals with sensitive and painful matters.\nHe said: \"They will want to ensure many of the recommendations are taken up by the States of Jersey to ensure children in the future do not have to endure what they had to endure.\"\nThere are more than 600 recommendations contained in the report, which include:\nTimeline leading to the inquiry\nThis is taken from a more detailed timeline examining the lead-up to the inquiry and political issues surrounding it.\nConvictions of historical abuse as a result of Operation Rectangle include:\nSkull or coconut ?\nOperation Rectangle was not all plain sailing. Under the gaze of intense media interest, the first head of the investigation, Lenny Harper, claimed a piece of a child's skull had been found.\nThis was later revealed to be a piece of coconut after testing by experts in the UK.\nSpeaking after that revelation, the then deputy chief officer of the States of Jersey Police, David Warcup, said there was no evidence any children had been murdered at the former home.\nMr Warcup expressed \"much regret\" at the \"misleading\" information previously released.\nDuring the Jersey Care inquiry, when called to give evidence, Lenny Harper would only do so over video as he said he had been warned Jersey law officers had prepared a \"nasty surprise\" for him if he came to the island.\nPolitical opposition\nThe inquiry has heard evidence from more than 200 people in 146 public hearings, with two million pages of hard evidence submitted and 600 total witnesses including evidence read to the inquiry by lawyers.\nThis is despite the fact that the inquiry nearly did not happen.\nSome politicians suggested the scale of the abuse was \"exaggerated\" by the media. That led the then chief minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur, to suggest an inquiry was a waste of time.\nA proposition by Senator Francis Le Gresley, overruling the chief minister, was successful in the States and that led to the inquiry going ahead.\nSince the abuse first came to light the States says a number of changes have been made to the care system.\nThese include appointing an independent chairman for the child protection committee and providing millions in funding to support child care reforms.\nThere was also a new multi-agency system set up to manage sexual, violent and dangerous offenders.\nThe Brig-y-Don children's home was reopened under criteria set out in earlier reports into childcare and a board of visitors was developed to provide independent contact and support for children in care.", "Justice Lowell Goddard was speaking as she opened the independent inquiry, which she said could last until 2020.\nIt will examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from abuse.\nJustice Goddard said there were suggestions that one child out of every 20 in the UK had been sexually abused.\nShe said many who are sexually abused as a child do not tell adults - and that if they do \"their reports may go unheeded\".\nThere may also have been systematic under-recording and mis-recording of child sex abuse by the police and other agencies, she added, meaning that \"the true picture may be even worse than the current figures indicate\".\nSpeaking about the scale of the problem, she said: \"The need for accurate recording is one of the issues that the inquiry will have to confront.\"\nThe inquiry was first announced by Home Secretary Theresa May in July 2014.\nIt followed claims of a high-level cover-up of historical child sex abuse involving public figures, including politicians.\nThe New Zealand High Court judge, who led an inquiry into police handling of child abuse cases in her own country, was the third person named to chair the inquiry - her two predecessors resigned over concerns about their links with the establishment.\nIn her opening remarks, she said the task ahead was daunting, but that it could expose past failures of institutions to defend children.\nJustice Goddard said the sexual abuse of children \"has left permanent scars not only on successive generations, has left permanent scars not only on victims themselves, but on society as a whole\".\nBut she added: \"This inquiry provides a unique opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children, to confront those responsible, to uncover systemic failures... and to make recommendations that will help prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the future.\"\nJustice Goddard also said it was important to emphasise that this was the largest and most ambitious public inquiry ever established in England and Wales.\nDespite the size of the investigation, she was \"determined to ensure that it does not become bogged down in the delays that have bedevilled some other public inquiries in this jurisdiction\".\nIn July last year, Labour MP Simon Danczuk called on Leon Brittan to say what he knew about paedophile allegations passed to him when he was home secretary in the 1980s.\nThe files were given to Lord Brittan, who died in January, by the late Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, a long-standing campaigner against child abuse.\nMr Dickens's son has said the files - now missing - contained \"explosive\" paedophile allegations about powerful and famous figures, including politicians.\nSince Mr Danczuk's comments brought the so-called \"Dickens dossier\" to the fore, the focus has moved to the wider issue of how historical child sex abuse allegations were dealt with by public bodies and other institutions across the country.\nPreviously there had been calls for an overarching investigation into historical abuse claims in the wake of revelations that TV entertainer Jimmy Savile abused hundreds of victims at hospitals, children's homes and schools.\nRead more on the \"Dickens dossier\" and other ongoing inquiries\nThe inquiry, which was given statutory powers and a new panel in February, will investigate whether \"public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales\".\nJustice Goddard has decided abuse victims will not sit on her advisory panel, but there will be a separate Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel.\nThe advisory panel comprises Prof Alexis Jay of Strathclyde University, Drusilla Sharpling of the police inspectorate, Prof Malcolm Evans of Bristol University, and child protection barrister Ivor Frank.\nJustice Goddard said she was determined to put as much information into the public domain as she could, as soon as possible. She also referred to annual reports being published, the first of which would be next year.\nAs she was giving her statement, the office of Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC confirmed that immunity from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act will be offered to current or former public servants prepared to testify about allegations of child sex abuse.\nIt will not protect anyone who admits taking part in child sexual abuse.\nJustice Goddard ended her statement by issuing a call for anyone with information about sexual abuse cases to come forward.\nAnd she urged institutions responsible for caring for children, which may come under scrutiny, to take a \"proactive stance towards the inquiry\".\nThe NSPCC said a team of trained counsellors would operate a free dedicated helpline to offer support on its behalf.\nPeter Wanless, the charity's chief executive, said many victims had \"harrowing stories to tell\", adding that the charity wanted to make \"what could be a tortuous journey as easy as possible\".\nThe chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, Keith Vaz, said the inquiry, which he described as a \"once in a lifetime opportunity\", could last a decade.\n\"And of course we wish [Justice Goddard] luck in the very difficult job that she's got, which could take up to ten years. I mean, this is going to be a very long inquiry.\"\nIn February, it was announced Justice Goddard had been chosen to lead the inquiry because she was \"as removed as possible from the organisations and institutions that might become the focus of the inquiry\", Mrs May said.\nBaroness Butler-Sloss, the first inquiry chairwoman, resigned a week after it was set up.\nThis followed calls for her to quit because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, had been attorney general in the 1980s.\nHer replacement, the then Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf, stood down on 31 October amid concerns over her links to former Home Secretary Lord Brittan.", "Ms Woolf is a City lawyer and former president of the Law Society.\nShe will head an inquiry panel including child abuse experts and at least one victim of abuse.\nRetired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss quit as head of the inquiry in July, saying she was \"not the right person\" for the job.\nShe stood down after child abuse victims raised concerns that she is the sister of the late Sir Michael Havers, who was attorney-general in the 1980s when abuse is alleged to have happened.\nThe inquiry, which was set up in July, was prompted by allegations that figures in Westminster and Whitehall were implicated in covering up child sex abuse, and that police and other authorities did not properly investigate prominent offenders such as Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith.\nAnnouncing Ms Woolf's appointment, Home Secretary Theresa May said: \"In recent years, we have seen appalling cases of organised and persistent child sex abuse which have exposed serious failings by public bodies and important institutions.\n\"These failings have sent shockwaves through the country and shaken public confidence in the pillars of society in which we should have total trust.\n\"That is why the government has announced that an independent panel of experts will consider whether such organisations have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.\n\"We are absolutely clear that we must learn the lessons of past failures and the panel will be instrumental in helping us to do this.\"\nLabour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the fact that the inquiry was \"finally moving forward\".\nBut she added: \"We still have no terms of reference for the inquiry and have had no assurances that it will look into current gaps that exist in the child protection system, as well as historical institutional failure.\n\"We now need urgent answers on both these issues.\"\nMs Woolf, 66, is an expert in energy markets and has advised many governments and the World Bank on privatisation and energy reforms.\nAs the Lord Mayor of London, she acts as ambassador for the City of London and Britain's financial services industry around the world.\nShe said: \"Ensuring lessons are learned from the mistakes which have been made in the past and resulted in children being subjected to the most horrific crimes is a vital and solemn undertaking.\n\"I was honoured to be approached to lead such an important inquiry and look forward to working with the panel to ensure these mistakes are identified and never repeated.\"\nShe will be assisted as head of the inquiry by Graham Wilmer, a child sexual abuse victim and founder of the Lantern Project, which helps victims of sex abuse, and Barbara Hearn, former deputy chief executive of the National Children's Bureau.\nProf Alexis Jay, author of the recent report into abuse in Rotherham, will act as an expert adviser to the panel, said the Home Office.\nTheir first tasks are to finalise membership of the panel and agree terms of reference for the inquiry, said the Home Office in a statement.\nRochdale MP Simon Danczuk, who led calls for an overarching inquiry into alleged abuse, backed the appointment of Ms Woolf but called on her to bring \"a sense of urgency\" to the investigation.\nHe said the inquiry had lost momentum due to delays after the resignation of Lady Butler-Sloss.\n\"I'm pleased the Home Secretary has finally got this moving,\" said the Labour MP.\n\"Although I would not have looked to high office in the Square Mile to find someone to challenge the establishment, Fiona Woolf is a smart and capable woman and she has my support.\n\"Britain is in the middle of a child abuse crisis and this inquiry has to be a watershed. It must go to the heart of the establishment and challenge why crimes have been swept under the carpet for so long.\"\nMr Danczuk added that there was \"no time to lose\", as some alleged abusers were now very elderly and could die before facing justice.\nMatthew Reed, chief executive of the Children's Society, echoed Mr Danczuk's call for no further delays to the inquiry but said it must be \"thorough and comprehensive\" and the voices of victims must be heard.\n\"This is a critical opportunity to eliminate the obstacles that have denied these children justice in the past and to stop this horrific crime from happening again,\" he added.", "They were convicted of child sex offences including rape, grooming and trafficking during three separate trials at Leeds Crown Court.\nProsecutors praised the \"immense courage and bravery\" of the two victims who gave evidence against the men.\nThe longest sentence passed was 25 years in what was described as a \"complex and lengthy operation\".\nThe gang of men abused a young girl in Halifax and Bradford between 2009 and 2011, the Crown Prosecution (CPS) said.\nAnother victim was also sexually assaulted by one of the gang members.\nPeter Mann, head of the complex casework unit at the Crown Prosecution Service for Yorkshire and Humberside, said: \"These men are responsible for a range of crimes involving child sexual exploitation and abuse.\n\"One victim was sexually assaulted in a car.\n\"The second victim was groomed, and systematically exploited by the older men she associated with. Some of her abusers acted together as a group, grooming her and plying her with drink and drugs. Others took advantage of her individually.\"\nWest Yorkshire Police said the abuse was first reported to its officers in 2012 by the victim, who was then aged 15 and living in Halifax at the time. A second girl who came forward gave evidence against another gang member.\nThe force said the case was \"the largest and longest running investigation into child sexual exploitation in Calderdale\".\n\"It led to a major investigation with police conducting nearly 60 hours of interviews with two victims. Detectives also processed 1,848 statements, 2,963 exhibits and more than 20,000 items of disclosure,\" police said.\nIn total 25 men were charged. During the trials four defendants were cleared by a jury while three others were acquitted on the orders of the judge.\nMr Mann described it as a \"complex and lengthy operation\" and said the girls had shown \"immense courage and bravery in reporting these matters to the police and in providing evidence\".", "Justin Welby made the promise during a private meeting with survivors of clerical abuse earlier this week.\nThe independent inquiry into child sex abuse led by Justice Lowell Goddard is expected to last five years.\nLambeth Palace said the archbishop wanted the Church to be reviewed first.\nBut it said if this did not happen within six months, the archbishop would instigate an \"independently-led past cases review\".\nThe Bishop of Norwich, the Right Revered Graham James, said the archbishop was one of the first to ask for a national inquiry into abuse and \"from all indications\" it appears the Church will be first to be examined.\nIn 2010, the Church published the results of a three-year investigation into abuse in the Church of England, spanning a 30-year period.\nIt uncovered just 13 cases which needed reporting to the authorities, prompting survivors to say the investigation was inadequate.\nBBC religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said for this reason not all survivors of abuse wanted the Church to investigate itself.\nMarilyn Hawes, who was one of five people representing survivors' groups at the Lambeth Palace meeting, said the archbishop had been compassionate and focused.\nThe founder of Enough Abuse UK, which she set up after three of her four children were abused by a Church of England headteacher, said she had \"every hope and belief\" he would follow through on his words.\nBut if he didn't, they would start \"banging drums again and making a noise,\" she said, \"because this is about a safer society and an environment called the church where people have to feel safe.\"\nShe described the day of the meeting as a \"momentous one for the survivor community,\" adding that there needed to be an emphasis on abuse prevention in future.\n\"If we don't care for our children, then actually we care for nothing and nobody, and the people who should lead that are the Church,\" she said.\nThe Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Paul Butler, who speaks for the Church on safeguarding issues, acknowledged sex abuse had been covered up in the past.\n\"There are cases where that undoubtedly has happened and we've been slowly but surely uncovering more of them,\" he said.\n\"When the home secretary first called we said 'please, take the Church first' because we've been calling for this kind of inquiry earlier as well.\"\nHome Secretary Theresa May ordered the independent inquiry into abuse in England and Wales in July 2014, following claims of a high-level cover-up of child sex abuse involving public figures, including politicians and clergy.\nThe inquiry, which was given statutory powers and a new panel in February, was opened earlier this week by Justice Goddard, who is a New Zealand High Court judge.\nIt will investigate whether \"public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales\".\nJustice Goddard has issued a call for anyone with information about sexual abuse cases to come forward, urging institutions responsible for caring for children, which may come under scrutiny, to take a \"proactive stance towards the inquiry\".\nShe has written to more than 240 institutions, including the police, National Health Service and churches, asking for any documents that could be used in the inquiry.\nThe BBC's religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the 2010 case review came after a three-year investigation by the Church of England into child abuse.\nAbout 40,000 diocesan files dating back more than 30 years were examined during the inquiry.\nVictims of alleged abuse in the Church of England compared this with a recent review of historical abuse cases by the much smaller Methodist church, which showed more than 900 such allegations going back to 1950, our correspondent added.\nThe Methodist Church's investigation uncovered reports of nearly 2,000 cases of abuse - including 914 allegations involving sexual abuse.", "Leslie Paul, 64, from Islington, north London, was sentenced on Thursday for child sex offences at a Lambeth children's home between 1980 and 1988.\nWhen a victim reported the abuse to council staff, he said he was moved from the home but Paul was not and abused boys for a further six years.\nIn light of this claim, Lambeth Council said it would review its records.\nThe male victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: \"As a child you make these reports and they decided to move me away and to leave that man in Lambeth social services for at least another six years where he abused more children.\"\nThe victim said on one occasion he was driven to a house where four men raped him, in what the sentencing judge John Hillen described as \"a vile attack\".\nPaul was found guilty in December of 15 indecent assaults, one count of indecency with a child under 14, and one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault on a boy under 14.\nHe pleaded guilty to one count of making an indecent image of a child on or after 1 January 2005.\nLambeth Council said it was \"appalled at the horrific abuse\" committed by Leslie Paul and had provided the Met with information that led to Paul's prosecution. It said it would continue to work with police investigating historic abuse in the borough.\n\"The information used to bring this prosecution will also be presented to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse led by Justice Lowell Goddard. The inquiry's first investigation will be into the extent of any institutional failures to protect children in the care of Lambeth Council from sexual abuse and exploitation,\" a spokesman added.\n\"In the light of subsequent comments we are reviewing our records to see if additional action is needed, and if there is more information that needs to be provided to the police and the Goddard inquiry in relation to Leslie Paul's employment,\" he said.", "Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) chairman, Sir Anthony Hart, said possible \"systemic failures to prevent such abuse\" will be investigated.\nHe said that a number of state bodies will be examined including the RUC.\nHe also confirmed that MI5 and MI6 will be investigated and both are legally represented at the inquiry.\nIn his opening statement, Sir Anthony, said the inquiry will investigate the \"nature and extent of sexual abuse perpetrated on residents of Kincora, abuse that resulted in the arrest, conviction and sentence of Mains, Semple and McGrath.\"\nWilliam McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains were senior care staff at Kincora. They were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.\nAt least 29 boys were abused at the east Belfast home between the late 1950s and the early 1980s.\nThe HIA inquiry is expected to look at claims a paedophile ring at the home had links to the intelligence services.\nThere have been allegations that people in positions of authority and influence knew what was happening at the home and that they covered it up.\nBoth MI5 and MI6 have agreed to be central participants in the HIA inquiry but some campaigners had wanted Kincora to be investigated as part of the wider Westminster inquiry into historical child abuse, which they argue has more powers.\nThe Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, led by Justice Lowell Goddard, is investigating whether institutions including local authorities, the police and the BBC have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales.\nLast year, Home Secretary Theresa May ruled out extending the Goddard inquiry to include Kincora, stating that child protection was a devolved matter.\nAnd last week victim Gary Hoy, 54, lost an appeal to overturn a ruling to keep investigations into child sex abuse at the home, which is now closed, within the remit of the HIA.\nNorthern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has insisted that all state agencies will co-operate with the inquiry.\nIn a statement, the Northern Ireland Office said: \"The sexual abuse of children, or tolerance of it by people in positions of authority, is utterly abhorrent.\n\"The government is absolutely committed to ensuring that allegations surrounding Kincora are fully investigated and that anyone who has broken the law faces justice.\"\nKincora survivor Clint Massey has told BBC Radio Ulster he hopes the inquiry will acknowledge that the authorities could have halted the abuse.\n\"I'm hopeful that the inquiry will say, yes, there was a cover-up, there was state collusion in what was going on in Kincora. It should have been stopped.\n\"There were people wanted to stop it. They were blocked. So, I want that to come out,\" he added.\nThe HIA is led by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart and was set up in 2013 to investigate child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland over a 73-year period, up to 1995.\nThese included a range of institutions, run by the church, state and voluntary sector.\nThe HIA is sitting at Banbridge Courthouse and inquiries into Kincora are expected to last up to four weeks.", "The figures were revealed by Operation Hydrant, set up by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC).\nIt explores links between child sex abuse by \"prominent public persons\".\nOf the 1,433 suspects identified, 216 are now dead and 261 are classified as people of public prominence, with 135 coming from TV, film or radio.\nOf the remainder:\nAnother 17 institutions are classified as unknown.\nThe figures are taken from police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.\nThey relate to reports of abuse, or investigations of abuse, which police forces were dealing with in the summer of 2014.\nNorfolk Police Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the NPCC's lead on child protection, said the referrals were increasing \"on an almost daily basis\" with the numbers released being a \"snapshot in time\".\n\"We are seeing an unprecedented increase in the number of reports that are coming forward.\n\"That has brought about a step change in the way the service has had to deal with it.\"\nHe also said police were projected to receive about 116,000 reports of historical child sex abuse by the end of 2015 - an increase of 71% from 2012.\nHe added: \"There is no doubt [Jimmy] Savile has had an effect on us. We are dealing with more and more allegations.\"\nEx-DJ Jimmy Savile was revealed after his death to be one of the UK's most prolific sexual predators.\nAnd Mr Bailey said while there was no figure for the number of victims, it was likely to run into the thousands.\n\"These figures raise the question, is more abuse being perpetrated?\" he said.\n\"I don't have the evidence at this moment in time to prove this one way or another.\"\nOperation Hydrant does not conduct any investigations itself, but gathers information from other inquiries.\nThere are a number of ongoing investigations into historical sex crimes, including Operation Pallial, which is looking at claims of abuse in care homes in north Wales and an inquiry into Knowl View school in Rochdale, where the late MP Sir Cyril Smith is said to have preyed on boys.\nOperation Yewtree has already seen Rolf Harris and former public relations guru Max Clifford jailed for sex crimes.\nMr Bailey said police forces were now moving resources from other departments to focus on past sex crimes.\n\"More and more officers are being deployed into our vulnerability teams because of this surge in demand. And it's right they should do that.\"\nLiz Dux, a lawyer with legal firm Slater and Gordon, which represents 800 child sexual abuse victims, told the BBC the Savile revelations meant people had given victims confidence.\n\"The hope is the police have enough manpower to do [the investigation] justice, and to give it the importance it deserves.\n\"What we've seen is, not only in relation to celebrities, or well-known politicians, people have generally come forward and said 'I was abused by a family member, or I was abused in these circumstances, and I now feel able to address it and I now want to see my offender brought to justice'.\"\nJon Brown, head of the NSPCC's programme to tackle sexual abuse, described the figures as \"astonishing\" and said they showed abuse \"permeates all parts of society\".\nHe added: \"We are seeing a seismic shift in people's willingness and preparedness to come forward now and talk about things that have happened sometimes many, many years or decades ago.\n\"What we're beginning to see is a much more realistic picture now of the scale of the problem, and we now need to be looking at ways in which that can most effectively be dealt with.\"", "Football has been shaken by claims from former players that they were abused by those in positions of authority.\nThe deputy first minister has called for the SFA to set up an independent inquiry.\nFollowing the meeting, Police Scotland said it was the \"investigative authority\" for any reports of abuse.\nThe force said it was working with partnership organisations, including the SFA and the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Scotland, to explore further ways of engaging with people who may have information about child sexual abuse within football.\nPolice Scotland confirmed the meeting took place but have stressed that they are the investigatory authority if there are allegations of sex abuse in football or anywhere else\nSo presumably that means that - at least at this stage - there will be no separate independent enquiry set up by the SFA.\nAnd one survivors' group has told me that, for the first time, they've been invited to meet the SFA and the PFA in Glasgow, possibly as soon as tomorrow.\nThis chimes with the Police Scotland statement which says they want to look at further ways to engage with people who might be able to help their investigation.\nPolice forces from across the UK, including Police Scotland, are now looking into claims of historical sexual abuse within football.\nMore than 80 potential suspects and 98 clubs are involved, police chiefs have said.\nOn Friday, a BBC Scotland investigation revealed that former youth coach and referee Hugh Stevenson was allowed to carry on working in football for several years after being reported to police and the SFA over child sex offences.\nAfter Monday's meeting, Det Ch Supt Lesley Boal, head of public protection at Police Scotland, said: \"Police Scotland has met with a range of partners organisations over the last few weeks, including the SFA and the PFA Scotland to discuss our individual and collective ongoing commitment to those who have found the courage to report child sexual abuse within football.\n\"The intention of this group includes exploring further ways to engage with people who may have information about or may wish to report child sexual abuse within football.\n\"The group will assess how we can respond to any concerns at local community level and today's meeting cemented our lines of communication which will allow that information to be assessed in a timely and effective manner.\"\nShe added: \"Police Scotland is however the investigatory authority in terms of any reports received with regard to child sexual abuse in football. Tackling child sexual crime and the abuse of children is a priority for Police Scotland.\"\nSurvivors' group White Flowers Alba has urged the Scottish government to set up a wide-ranging inquiry into child sex abuse.\nSpeaking on The Kaye Adams Programme, Andi Lavery, from the group, said: \"The SFA can't police itself. It's up to the government to take leadership.\n\"We are a victims' group. As children we weren't listened to, as adults we aren't being listened to.\"\nThe English Football Association has commissioned an independent investigation into the way it dealt with abuse allegations and there have been calls for the SFA to set up a similar review.\nSpeaking on the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme, the deputy first minister said he favoured such a move.\nHe added: \"It should be conducted by an authoritative, independent, respected figure who will be able to look at these issues without fear or favour, and to examine all of the issues to the satisfaction of the wider debate within Scotland.\"\nSNP MSP James Dornan told The Kaye Adams Programme he agreed that the SFA should set up and fund an independent inquiry.\nHe rejected calls to extend the Scottish government's inquiry into the abuse of children in care.\n\"If we continue to widen the inquiry, we will never get the conclusions that survivors demand and are entitled to,\" he said.\nIn a statement on Sunday, the SFA said: \"We are open to the possibility of an independent review but with the right scope and terms of reference.\"\nOpposition parties have called for the Scottish government, rather than the SFA, to take the lead on any inquiry.\nFormer Scottish justice minister Cathy Jamieson told BBC Radio Scotland it may be time for a wider inquiry into the historical sex abuse of children in Scotland, which the Scottish government or Holyrood could take the lead on.\n\"There will be, inevitably, some other organisation, or some other sphere, where historical abuse will raise its head,\" she said.\nSpeaking on the Good Morning Scotland programme, she added: \"That is why it would be important to have an over-arching look at all these inquiries, and if government won't do that, and I believe they could have a role to do this, then perhaps the Parliament should step up and do it.\"", "Ivan Lewis said the suffering of victims at Kincora had been \"unimaginable\".\nThere has been a long-running campaign to add the home into a UK-wide inquiry.\nHome Secretary Theresa May has repeatedly said child protection is a devolved matter.\nIn February, a Home Affairs Committee report said the inquiry in England and Wales should be extended.\nMs May said the scope of the inquiry would not be extended to include Northern Ireland and Scotland.\nThree senior care staff at Kincora in east Belfast were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.\nAt least 29 boys were abused at the home between the late 1950s and the early 1980s.\nOne of the men who was later convicted, William McGrath, is believed to have been an MI5 agent.\nAllegations remain that some members of the British intelligence services knew of the abuse and helped to cover it up.\nThe home is being investigated as part of Northern Ireland's own inquiry into child sex abuse, the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry (HIA), but the inquiry's chairman Sir Anthony Harte does not have the powers to compel witnesses or documents from agencies like MI5.\nThe Secretary of State Theresa Villiers has insisted that all state agencies will co-operate with the inquiry.\nCampaigners have said including Kincora in the UK inquiry would allow new information about the home to be revealed.\nMr Lewis said abuse scarred survivors for the rest of their lives, and that a Labour government would \"take all steps necessary to secure truth and justice for the victims\".\n\"It is vital that we support the survivors, ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice and ensure this never happens again in our country,\" he said.\nAmnesty International welcomed Mr Lewis' comments.\n\"But justice for victims of abuse shouldn't be reliant on the outcome of an election,\" Amnesty's Patrick Corrigan added.\n\"We call on all parties to make a similar pledge to deliver truth and justice to the Kincora victims.\"\nThe UK-wide inquiry has been the subject of controversy after numerous attempts to find a judge to chair the panel.\nFiona Woolf and Lady Butler-Sloss were appointed last year, but both later stepped down from the position.\nNew Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard was appointed earlier this year.\nShe has previously told the Home Affairs committee that she was willing to discuss the inclusion of Kincora into the UK inquiry with Theresa May.\nIn February, a High Court judge in Northern Ireland granted leave for a judicial review to be taken into how the investigation into abuse at Kincora is dealt with.\nIt is scheduled to take place on 1 June.", "The senior brother had previously been moved out of Rubane House, where he abused young boys, and became principal of a school in Downpatrick.\nThe details were revealed at the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry.\nIt is examining allegations of abuse at Rubane House in Kircubbin.\nAbout 200 former residents have made allegations of abuse.\nThe inquiry also heard the De La Salle Religious Order paid compensation to victims who were sexually abused at Rubane House within years of the order ruling that a previous investigation into their abuser was \"best forgotten\".\nThe HIA has been told that one victim, then aged 12, arrived at Rubane House in 1961.\nThree years earlier, in 1958, the order launched an internal inquiry into claims of sex abuse against the brother in charge of the home.\nThe order subsequently ruled that \"no reference is to be made at any time or to anyone regarding the inquiry\".\nHowever, the senior brother continued to sexually abuse boys at the home. The order later paid the victim £27,500 in compensation.\nAnother victim, who was in the home from 1958 to 1960, was paid £20,000 in compensation earlier this year.\nJunior counsel to the inquiry, Joseph Aiken, opted not to read out the contents of a statement the man made to police in 2010.\nMr Aiken invited the inquiry panel to adjourn to take time to read the statement which he described as \"graphic\".\nThe inquiry also heard the victim \"subsequently abused his own children\".\nRubane House was open from 1950 to 1985.\nA total of 55 former residents have come forward to the inquiry to allege that they were physically or sexually abused.\nThe sex abuse allegations at Rubane House ranged from watching children in the shower to rape, while physical abuse ranged from corporal punishment to serious assault.\nThe HIA inquiry was set up in 2013 to investigate child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland over a 73-year period, up to 1995.\nThe Rubane House allegations form the third module of its public hearings.\nIt had previously been examining what happened to children sent from Northern Ireland to institutions in Australia.", "It will focus on - but is not restricted to - the Haut de la Garenne care home during the 1960s.\nThe inquiry will also cover events surrounding the three-year police investigation dubbed Operation Rectangle, which began in 2007.\nHundreds of allegations of child abuse emerged but Operation Rectangle itself became a subject of criticism.\n1960: Jersey Home for Boys merges with Jersey Home for Girls and is renamed Haut de la Garenne.\n1981: The UK Department of Health and Social Services conducts a critical review of Jersey's care provision. Its authors say the whole system needs \"urgent appraisal\" and recommend closure of Haut de la Garenne.\n1986: Haut de la Garenne is closed.\n1989: First conviction for abuse offences in Jersey's care system is of a man who ran a \"family group home\" with his wife. He was convicted of sexual offences against children in the 1960s.\n1998: Jane and Allan Maguire, another couple who ran a group home, are charged with abuse offences but the case is eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. In 2008 BBC Panorama detailed a catalogue of abuse and tracked the couple to France.\n2006: States of Jersey Police begin a long-running covert investigation into child abuse, which is later dubbed Operation Rectangle and publicised in 2007.\nJuly 2007: Senator Stuart Syvret, the island's health minister from 2005, accuses the government of decades of child protection failings.\nAugust 2007: The States Assembly announces a review of child protection but the ensuing political scandal leads to a vote of no confidence in Senator Syvret. He returns to the backbenches where he continues to campaign on child abuse issues. He is disqualified from States membership in 2010.\nStuart Syvret later served two prison sentences for what he calls \"politically-motivated\" charges. He continues campaigning.\nFebruary 2008: Operation Rectangle, now the centre of global media attention, begins to focus on the Haut de la Garenne care home. Police discover \"skull fragments\".\nMarch 2008: A public rally in St Helier highlights concern over the way abuse claims at Haut de la Garenne were handled.\nThe current inquiry is only the latest investigation into what went wrong in Jersey's care system. There has been a series of independent and States-led reviews of care provision in the island.\nMarch 2008 - Committee of Inquiry: Children's Care Homes\nJune 2008 - The Williamson Report: An Inquiry into Child Protection in Jersey\nJanuary 2009 - Williamson Report: Implementation Plan\nNovember 2010 - Brian Napier QC: Suspension of Graham Power, Chief Officer of States of Jersey Police\nFebruary 2011 - Historical Child Abuse: Committee of Inquiry\nNovember 2011- Verita Report: Historical Child Abuse\nNovember 2011 - Children and Young People: Strategic Framework for Jersey\nMay 2008: News emerges that what police originally thought were bone fragments discovered in February at Haut de la Garenne are more likely wood or coconut shell.\nJuly 2008: Labour MP Austin Mitchell tables a Commons motion calling on the UK government to hold an inquiry into Jersey child abuse allegations. He says he has no confidence in a public inquiry by Jersey authorities.\nSeptember 2008: Jersey's Attorney General, William Bailhache, defends the island's legal system, following allegations of a \"cover-up\".\nNovember 2008: Chief of Police Graham Power is suspended over his handling of Operation Rectangle. His performance becomes subject to a separate £1m investigation by Wiltshire Police. Mr Power accuses ministers of \"a state-sponsored, taxpayer-funded personal vendetta\". He says politicians \"interfered\" with police investigations and \"closed ranks\" with civil servants.\nMr Power retires in 2010. That year, his suspension is described as unfair by the Napier Report and he says he has been exonerated.\nJune 2009: In the first Operation Rectangle prosecution, Michael Aubin, 46, a former resident at Haut de la Garenne and also a victim of abuse, admits abusing other boys between 1977 and 1980. He was sentenced to probation and immediately freed, having spent 19 months on remand.\nAugust 2009: Claude James Donnelly is jailed for 15 years for rape and indecent assault.\nSeptember 2009: Gordon Claude Wateridge is sentenced for three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979 at Haut de la Garenne.\nNovember 2009: Ronald George Thorne sentenced to 12 months in jail for gross indecency between 1983 and 1984.\n2010: Leonard Miles Vandenborn is sentenced to 12 years for rape and indecent assault in the 1970s and 1980s.\nJanuary 2011: Anthony and Morag Jordan found guilty of assaults on children during the 1970s and 1980s and sentenced to six and nine months respectively.\nFebruary 2011: Senator Francis Le Gresley lodges a proposition in the States Assembly demanding a public inquiry.\nMarch 2012: Victims of abuse are offered up to £60,000 compensation, without the need for a court hearing.\nOctober 2012: Several islanders complain they were abused by Jimmy Savile in Jersey. At least one complains he was assaulted by the entertainer at Haut de la Garenne in the 1970s.\nMarch 2013: States Assembly unanimously agrees the framework for an independent inquiry into historical child abuse. Chief Minister Ian Gorst blames the delay on his own \"cautious approach over the terms of reference\".\nJuly 2013: The inquiry is delayed when its chair, Sally Bradley QC, suffers a stroke. She is eventually replaced by Frances Oldham QC, who promises to be \"fearless and robust\".\n2014: As the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry finally gets under way in July, campaigners including MP John Hemming continue their calls for UK authorities to include Jersey in a forthcoming nation-wide child abuse inquiry.", "Education Secretary Angel Constance said the inquiry would have powers to force witnesses to give evidence.\nShe said abusers would \"face the full force of the law\" where it brought to light evidence of crimes.\nThe move followed scandals involving child abuse at institutions including those run by the Roman Catholic church.\nSpeaking in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Constance said the full remit of the inquiry would be confirmed by the end of April 2015, following discussions with the survivors of abuse, which would begin in January.\nShe said: \"This parliament must always be on the side of victims of abuse.\n\"We must have the truth of what happened to them and how those organisations and individuals into whose care the children were entrusted, failed them so catastrophically.\n\"And to get to that truth, we will be establishing a national public inquiry into historical abuse of children in institutional care.\"\nMs Constance added: \"To ensure justice is done, I can tell this chamber that, where crimes are exposed, the full force of the law will be available to bring perpetrators to account.\"\nThe education secretary also confirmed measures would be put in place to ensure the inquiry did not interfere with any on-going criminal investigations or prosecutions.\nAnd Ms Constance said she would \"take on board\" calls from campaigners to set aside the legal time bar which stopped historical cases coming to court.\nHer announcement came 10 years after former First Minister Jack McConnell offered an apology to victims of abuse in children's homes, but at the time stopped short of agreeing to a full public inquiry.\nThe move was welcomed by Scotland's centre of excellence for looked after children, based at Strathclyde University.\nProf Andy Kendrick, head of the university's school of social work, said: \"It is a testament to survivors that we have reached the point of an inquiry. This follows a long campaign by survivors to achieve justice.\"\n'Hideous crimes'\nLabour education spokesman Iain Gray also welcomed the inquiry, adding: \"In truth, it should have happened sooner.\"\nConservative MSP Nanette Milne said: \"I hope it will provide an opportunity to expose the perpetrators of such hideous crimes against children in Scotland and to learn lessons to prevent this abuse of children in care ever happening again.\"\nAlison McInnes, of the Liberal Democrats, told MSPs that victims had \"long cried out\" for an inquiry but said they must get proper support when interacting with it.\nPrevious inquiries into institutional child abuse in Scotland have included the Shaw Review, which in 2007 called for a new centre to help victims, and the 2009 probe into the treatment of vulnerable youngsters at the former Kerelaw Residential Unit in Ayrshire.\nPolice Scotland, which is opening a child abuse investigation unit in the new year, said it would \"fully co-operate with any inquiry which is convened\".", "Correction 10 November 2012: The BBC has apologised unreservedly for broadcasting a report on Newsnight on 2 November over allegations of child abuse which transpired to have involved a case of mistaken identity. As a result the video of the original report has been removed from the website. More details can be found here.\nSteve Messham was one of hundreds of children abused in the 1970s and 80s - exploitation brought to light by the Waterhouse Inquiry Report in 2000.\nBut he told BBC Newsnight the inquiry uncovered just a fraction of the abuse.\nHe and another victim also told the BBC a leading Thatcher-era Conservative politician took part in the abuse.\nSince the Jimmy Savile sex abuse allegations surfaced, politicians have been raising questions about other historic cases.\nDuring the 1970s and 1980s almost 40 children's homes in north Wales were the scene of horrific child abuse in which youngsters were raped and abused by the very people who were paid to look after them.\nIn the early 1990s, allegations of the abuse started to surface and in March 1994 Clwyd County Council commissioned an independent inquiry into claims of widespread abuse across north Wales, centred around the Bryn Estyn care home.\nProfessor Jane Tunstill, who was on that inquiry panel, told the BBC in 2000 that along with a \"litany of abusive practices going on in the home on the part of the care staff\" there were rumours that people outside the care system were also involved in the abuse.\nHowever, the inquiry's report was never published and the copies were pulped to ensure that the local authority was able to maintain its insurance cover.\nIn the wake of this, and amid growing public pressure, in 1996 the-then Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague, ordered an inquiry into allegations of hundreds of cases of child abuse in care homes in former county council areas of Clwyd and Gwynedd between 1974 and 1990.\nThe tribunal, led by Sir Ronald Waterhouse, heard evidence from more than 650 people who had been in care from 1974 and took almost three years to publish its report.\nCounsel for the inquiry mentioned the existence of a shadowy figure of high public standing, but said that there was no substantial evidence to support the allegations.\nAn investigation by BBC reporter Angus Stickler at the time of the report's publication revealed allegations of a much wider circle of abuse than that uncovered by the inquiry.\nHe uncovered allegations of widespread physical and sexual abuse of children not just by care system staff, but that children were being lent to paedophiles from all walks of life including businessmen, police, and a senior public figure in a paedophile ring stretching beyond the borders of north Wales, to Chester, London, Brighton and beyond.\nOne of the victims that Angus Stickler spoke to in 2000 was Mr Messham, who described some of the abuse he suffered. Now, reporting for BBC Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, he has re-interviewed Mr Messham.\n\"In the home it was the standard abuse which was violent and sexual. Outside it was like you were sold, we were taken to the Crest Hotel in Wrexham, mainly on Sunday nights, where they would rent rooms,\" Mr Messham recalled in this latest interview.\n\"One particular night that I always recall is when I was basically raped, tied down, and abused by nine different men.\"\nHe also stood by his claims then that his abusers included a leading Tory politician of the Thatcher era.\n\"You were taken by car, where basically you were sexually abused. Various things would happen, drink would be involved, it was basically rape. But it wasn't just him, there be other people involved as well,\" he said.\nWhen asked how many times he was abused by the politician Mr Messham said:\n\"Off my head I couldn't give an exact number as it goes back many years but certainly more than a dozen.\"\nIn his new interview, Mr Messham also said that he had gone to the police in the late 1970s to report the abuse, but that he was not believed:\n\"I was called a liar. I was pinned up against a wall. I could still name to this day the police officer who had done it,\" he said.\n\"The police denied it and when they looked back, they finally admitted in the inquiry [that] statements were made. That's all they would say. They wouldn't say who was named in them. But they did admit I did make a statement of sexual abuse.\"\nMr Messham also insisted that his statements to the police included allegations of sexual abuse against the politician.\nIn his original investigation Angus Stickler also spoke to another victim who claimed to have been abused by the politician, as well as others.\nNewsnight/the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has been unable to track him down for this latest report. However, in 2000 he described how as a teenager he was abused by the politician:\n\"We went out for something to eat and he pulled over in a layby and then, hey presto, oral sex took place,\" the man - who wanted to remain anonymous - said.\nHe told Angus Stickler that at the time, in the early 1990s, he went to North Wales Police to report the abuse, showing them faxed photographs of the senior Tory politician.\nHowever, he said that the two police officers he showed the photograph to dismissed his claims, saying that since the pictures were faxed they were not sufficiently reliable evidence and no further action was taken.\nThe Waterhouse inquiry, which cost £12m to stage, promised to leave no stone unturned in its endeavour to uncover abuse.\nHowever, there have been complaints that the terms of reference were too narrow, restricting investigations to abuse taking place within the care system, not beyond it.\n\"I don't understand why on Earth we had an inquiry when we had to leave out 30% of the abusers,\" Mr Messham said in his latest interview.\n\"And basically I was told to do that. I was told I couldn't go into detail about these people, I couldn't name them and they wouldn't question me on them.\"\nMr Messham says he wants a new investigation into what happened:\n\"I would like a meeting now with David Cameron. He's made a statement, a sweeping statement that abused people need to be believed, we haven't been believed, we've been swept under the carpet.\n\"It's time he knew the truth. It's time a full investigation took place and until I can meet with him and get some reassurance I don't believe we will get anywhere.\"\nRichard Scorer, a solicitor with Pannone and Partners, who represented 30 victims at the Waterhouse inquiry, believes the original remit of the inquiry and attitudes at the time were at the heart of the problem:\n\"The terms of reference were an important restriction. It's also fair to say at that time, and we're going back to the mid to late 1990s here, at that time the idea that senior public figures; politicians; celebrities could be involved in child abuse was seen as a bit far-fetched,\" he told Newsnight/the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.\n\"We now know of course from recent revelations that it isn't far-fetched at all - and that's part of the reason why it's important that these allegations are looked at again,\" he added.\nAnyone with information into these allegations - or who needs support on the issues raised in this article - can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk, or call their local police station by dialling 101.", "Mr Brown told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that the 2,000 surviving British child migrants who suffered abuse should be compensated.\nHe said the mass transportation of 130,000 British children overseas was \"government-enforced trafficking\".\nAcross 50 years, the children were sent to ex-colonies such as Australia.\nThe transportation programme began in the 1920s, partly to ease the population of the UK's orphanages in the years after the First World War, and to give \"lost\" children the chance of a new life in Britain's colonies.\nBut children continued to be be sent abroad until 1974.\nThe Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales has already heard that many child migrants experienced \"unacceptable depravity\", with some having been sent abroad without the consent of parents and wrongly told they were orphans.\nIn 2009, the Australian government apologised for the cruelty shown to the child migrants and in 2010 Mr Brown, in his role as UK prime minister, issued an apology to victims on behalf of the UK.\nThe experiences of the children sent away from the UK is being looked at as part of the first phase of the wide-ranging inquiry into child abuse.\nMr Brown told the inquiry that the forced migration of British children was \"probably the biggest national sex abuse scandal\".\n\"Bigger than what people have alleged about Savile,\" he said.\n\"Bigger than what people have alleged about individual children's homes.\n\"Bigger in scale, bigger in geographical spread, and bigger in the length of time that went on undetected.\n\"I'm shocked about the information that I have seen.\"\nThe child sexual abuse inquiry so far\nMr Brown said a government minister should explain to the inquiry why nothing has been done over \"sickening\" new evidence of abuse which has come to light since his 2010 apology.\nHe said he had become aware of so many historical cases he described as \"grave, horrifying and sickening\" and said there had been a \"violation of human rights\".\n\"Children were denied a childhood, an identity, a family and any sense of belonging,\" he said.\n\"Many, some as young as three - and this was happening as recently as the 1970s - were sent abroad having been falsely told their parents were dead.\"\nHe said successive governments had failed in a duty of care.\n\"Because we failed in our duty of care it is now time to compensate the 2,000 child migrants still alive,\" he said.\nMr Brown added: \"My apology seven years ago was for the gross inhumane violation of rights by forcibly removing children, depriving them of identity, family and any sense of belonging.\n\"An unknown but clearly large number of these children were subjected to horrific assaults sometimes before, sometimes during but in the main after they left the UK.\n\"Because successive governments failed in what I call their duty of care, these 2,000 surviving migrants all need and deserve redress.\"\nMr Brown told the inquiry that 1,000 families had been reunited since 2010.\nAnother former prime minister, Sir John Major, did not appear in person but provided a written statement to the inquiry which said his government took the approach that mistreatment of British children sent abroad was primarily a matter for the country concerned.", "Inquiry chairwoman Lowell Goddard will give an opening statement which will set out its guiding principles.\nJustice Goddard will outline how the inquiry will be run, timescales, how evidence will be taken and areas of public life that will be examined.\nThe inquiry was set up by the home secretary in March.\nJustice Goddard took up her post the following month. Her appointment followed the resignation of two chairwomen amid concerns over their links with the establishment.\nOn the opening day, Justice Goddard will summarise the steps taken to build the framework for the inquiry's work and provide information and clarity around the task ahead.\nThe New Zealand High Court judge's opening statement will also explain the various ways in which the inquiry is working with victims and how they will be able to engage in the process.\nThe inquiry panel comprises Justice Goddard, Prof Alexis Jay of Strathclyde University, Drusilla Sharpling of the police inspectorate, Prof Malcolm Evans of Bristol University, and child protection barrister Ivor Frank.\nThe counsel and solicitor to the inquiry will also be present at the opening, as will the secretary to the inquiry. It will take place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Centre in Westminster.\nJustice Goddard, who was appointed to the New Zealand High Court in 1995, has previously led an inquiry into police handling of child abuse cases in that country.\nClaims of an establishment cover-up of historical child sex abuse involving public figures, including politicians, prompted Home Secretary Theresa May to announce two inquiries in July 2014.\nThe inquiry, which will have statutory powers, will investigate whether \"public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales\".\nBaroness Butler-Sloss, Mrs May's first choice as inquiry chairwoman, resigned a week after it was set up. She faced calls to quit because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s.\nHer replacement, Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf, stood down on 31 October amid concerns over her links to former Home Secretary Lord Brittan.", "Peter Wanless's review, which will cover how police and prosecutors handled information given to them, is expected to report within 10 weeks.\nA Hillsborough-style inquiry will also be held, led by an independent panel of experts on law and child protection.\nThis would be wide-ranging and would not report before the next election.\nMrs May, who said the panel inquiry could be converted into a full public inquiry if necessary, said she wanted to ensure the public had confidence that serious crimes were being investigated.\nFor Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the announcements, adding: \"We need to know what happened when these allegations were first raised even decades ago, when you will know that former cabinet ministers have said there may have been a cover-up.\"\nMrs May, addressing MPs after weeks of increasing questions about how past claims of child sex abuse were handled, said Mr Wanless would be assisted in his review by a senior legal figure.\nPrime Minister David Cameron has vowed that the investigation into how public bodies handled abuse claims will \"leave no stone unturned\".\nHistorical child abuse claims: Key questions answered\nWhy has this come up now?\nLabour MP Simon Danczuk last week called on Leon Brittan to say what the then home secretary did with documents he was passed in the 1980s containing allegations about powerful figures and paedophilia.\nWhat happened to the files?\nLord Brittan passed them to Home Office officials and a 2013 review found the minister had acted appropriately.\nWhat did the papers allege?\nThe allegations, compiled by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens, were set to \"blow the lids off\" the lives of powerful child abusers, the MP's son has said. The late Mr Dickens said he planned to expose eight such figures.\nRead more: Historical child abuse claims explained\nThe review led by Mr Wanless centres on concerns the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse contained in a dossier handed over in the 1980s by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens.\nMrs May said: \"I want to address two important public concerns: first that in the 1980s the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse and second, that public bodies and other important institutions have failed to take seriously their duty of care towards children.\"\nThe government will \"do everything we can to allow the full investigation of child abuse and the prosecution of its perpetrators\", she said, and will do nothing to jeopardise those aims.\n\"There would be a presumption of \"maximum transparency\" and \"wherever institutions and individuals have failed to protect children from harm we will expose those failures and learn the lessons\".\nThe Home Office's senior civil servant Mark Sedwill commissioned a review last year into the department's handling of child abuse allegations between 1979 and 1999, including the information provided by Mr Dickens.\nThat review discovered that 114 files relating to historical allegations of child sex abuse were not available. \"These are presumed destroyed, missing or not found,\" she said.\nThe investigation found no record of specific allegations by Mr Dickens of child sex abuse by prominent public figures.\nBut while Mrs May said she was confident that the work commissioned by Mr Sedwill was \"carried out in good faith\", the Wanless review would address the public's need for complete confidence in the integrity of the investigation's findings.\nShe anticipated that witnesses would be able to \"speak freely\", although she would have to consider the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act in some cases.\n\"It's only if people can speak openly that we can get to the bottom of these matters,\" she said.\nNearly 150 MPs have called for an \"over-arching\" inquiry into alleged child abuse.\nEx-education minister Tim Loughton said Monday's move was a \"major step forward\" but his colleague Mark Reckless told Channel 4 News a judge-led inquiry was needed to subpoena witnesses and obtain documents.\nMrs May's statement comes as ex-Home Secretary Leon Brittan defended his dealings with the material given to him by Mr Dickens.\n\"It has been alleged that when I was home secretary I failed to deal adequately with the bundle of papers containing allegations of serious sexual impropriety that I received from the late Geoff Dickens MP,\" Lord Brittan said in a statement.\n\"This... is completely without foundation - as evidence from the Home Office's own report supports.\"\nHe said Mr Dickens had thanked the Home Office for the way in which the information he provided was handled and \"for following up the cases that I keep sending to it\".\nTimeline\n1982: MP Geoffrey Dickens says he plans to expose eight prominent figures as paedophiles.\n1983-84: Mr Dickens passes files to the Home Office.\nFebruary 2013: The Home Office reviews hundreds of thousands of files, searching for information it received about organised child sex abuse.\n1 July 2014: Labour MP Simon Danczuk demands to know what the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan did with the files from Mr Dickens.\n2 July 2014: Lord Brittan says he passed that material to officials.\n4 July: The prime minister orders a senior civil servant to look again at the 2013 Home Office review.\n7 July: Lord Brittan dismisses claims he failed to act appropriately on Mr Dickens' claims as \"completely without foundation\".\nHowever, Douglas Hurd, Lord Brittan's successor as home secretary, said he knew nothing about allegations of child abuse made by Mr Dickens.\n\"Not a word,\" Lord Hurd told BBC's World Service. \"I never heard any story about that subject and I think in fact if there'd been something in it I would somehow have got to hear. I didn't. I know nothing about it.\"\nA number of inquiries are already taking place into alleged child abuse, including the extent of abuse by Jimmy Savile at schools, NHS hospitals, care homes and the BBC.\nOn Monday, Greater Manchester Police said it was considering widening its investigation into allegations of a cover-up involving paedophile abuse at Knowl View residential school in Rochdale in the 1980s and 1990s.\nIt said Rochdale Council had agreed to suspend its own inquiry while it considered how to proceed.", "Nottinghamshire Police has been investigating abuse in the county's care homes since 2010, and 263 victims have reported offences so far.\nThe inquiry will also look at children cared for by foster carers and adoptive parents.\nThe councils involved have both welcomed the inquiry.\nNottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council said in a statement: \"From the outset, we have taken these allegations seriously, some of which date back to the 1940s when predecessor organisations were in charge of children's homes.\n\"We welcome the independent scrutiny that the Goddard Inquiry (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) will bring to cases of historical sexual abuse and will engage fully with it.\"\nComplainants from Nottinghamshire include actress Samantha Morton, who said she was sexually abused by two residential care workers in a Nottingham children's home.\nThe offences reported in the county are not all of a sexual nature.\nHowever, the Goddard inquiry will focus on the \"sexual abuse and exploitation\" of children in care, and will investigate the extent of any \"institutional failures\" of the councils to protect children from this.\nThe Goddard inquiry was expected to come to Nottinghamshire. We knew that they were aware of the scale of abuse here as we met with them earlier in the year to discuss how survivors were going to be engaged with.\nThe big difference it will make is that the inquiry intends to highlight any failings made within the local authorities and services and will be more thorough than just an investigation of a crime.\nMy own experiences included being sexually abused in my home as a child and then in a children's home that I was in where I was prostituted as a child.\nHaving worked with survivors of abuse since 1986 I am very aware of the many thousands of survivors who have been ignored and re-abused by the failings of local authorities and services over many decades.\nEven inspectors of care homes who were bringing up problems were harassed and forced out of the system.\nEast Midlands Survivors on Facebook\nNottinghamshire will be one of 12 separate investigations in England and Wales.\nNottinghamshire's Chief Constable Chris Eyre and Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping have held discussions with the inquiry team over the last eight months to encourage it to focus on Nottinghamshire.\nMr Tipping said in a statement: \"This is a huge step in the right direction and I'm really grateful that the Goddard team has listened to our appeals for Nottinghamshire to become part of the national inquiry.\n\"I have met a good many of the survivors and they have impressed upon me the importance of this inquiry and their wish to have the opportunity to tell their story and to have that story heard.\"\nHe encouraged any victims of abuse to come forward and go to police if they have not done so already.", "The comments were made on the second day of the inquiry into historical abuse in 13 Northern Ireland care homes and borstals between 1922 and 1995.\nLawyers for De La Salle Brothers and Sisters of Nazareth made the apologies.\nThe Health and Social Care Board also said that if the state had failed in any way it was sorry.\nA barrister representing De La Salle Brothers offered their \"sincere and unreserved apology\" for the abuse at its home in Kircubbin, County Down.\nThe QC said the Brothers \"deeply regret that boys in their care were abused\".\nHe said their mission was to look after the welfare of vulnerable and deprived children, and the abuse by some Brothers \"was in contradiction to their vocation.\n\"They recognise that there have been failures to protect the victims,\" he said.\n• 434 people have made formal applications to speak to the inquiry\n• 300+ witnesses are expected to testify during the public hearings\n• 263 alleged victims have already given statements to the inquiry's acknowledgement forum\n• 13 residential institutions are currently under investigation by the inquiry team\n\"This inquiry represents perhaps the last opportunity to establish what exactly occurred during the operation of the homes.\"\nThe inquiry also heard admissions made on behalf of the Sisters of Nazareth order of nuns.\nA barrister representing them said they \"recognise the hurt that's been caused to some children in their care\".\n\"They apologise unreservedly for any abuse suffered by children in their care. They go forward hoping that lessons will be learned, not just by them in the provision of care, but also by carers generally in society and in wider society at large.\"\nA barrister for the Health and Social Care Board said that where it had failed to meet acceptable standards, it offered its apologies to those involved.\nEarlier, it was told that some children's homes in Northern Ireland in the 1960s were relics of a bygone era.\nPost-war welfare reforms were not adopted by some institutions, the senior counsel to the panel said.\n\"The evidence suggests that those homes operated as outdated survivors of a bygone age,\" said Christine Smith QC.\nOutlining the context of institutional care in Northern Ireland, she said the status of children historically could be illustrated by the fact that while the RSPCA was set up in 1824, the NSPCC was not set up for another 60 years.\nLocal authority homes:\n• Lissue Children's Unit, Lisburn\n• Kincora Boys' Home, Belfast\n• Bawnmore Children's Home, Newtownabbey\nJuvenile justice institutions:\n• St Patrick's Training School, Belfast\n• Lisnevin Training School, County Down\n• Rathgael Training School, Bangor\nSecular voluntary homes:\n• Barnardo's Sharonmore Project, Newtownabbey\n• Barnardo's Macedon, Newtownabbey\nCatholic Church-run homes:\n• St Joseph's Home, Termonbacca, Londonderry\n• Nazareth House Children's Home, Derry\n• Nazareth House Children's Home, Belfast\n• Nazareth Lodge Children's Home, Belfast\n• De La Salle Boys' Home, Kircubbin, County Down\nThe barrister told the inquiry of one submission received by a woman who had been in care between 1971 and 1976.\nShe detailed how after wetting her bed, she had her nose rubbed in it, before being stripped, left in a cold room and then forced to wash in cold water and disinfectant.\nThe biggest ever public inquiry into child abuse ever held in the UK is investigating claims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as childhood neglect.\nThe public hearings stage of the inquiry, which began on Monday, is being held in Banbridge, County Down, and is expected to last for 18 months.\nThe inquiry's remit is limited to children's residential institutions in Northern Ireland.\nDuring that time, it is due to hear evidence from more than 300 witnesses, including former residents who claim they were abused as children, the people who ran the institutions, health and social care officials and government representatives.\nThe inquiry's remit is limited to children's residential institutions in Northern Ireland.\nTo date, 434 people have contacted the inquiry to allege they were abused.", "Police forces \"cannot cope\" with the \"huge\" rise in reports, Chief Constable Simon Bailey, of the National Police Chief's Council, told the BBC.\nFigures show the number of child abuse reports is up by 80% in three years.\nHis comments came as the national inquiry into child sexual abuse began its full public hearings on Monday.\nChief Constable Bailey, the head of Operation Hydrant, which is investigating multiple allegations of historic sexual abuse across the UK, said he knew his view would cause nervousness and draw headlines.\nBut he said the numbers of reports of abuse were at \"huge proportions\" - an NSPCC study in late 2016 used figures which suggested the number of individuals looking at such images could exceed half a million.\nHe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme about 400 people were arrested by police in conjunction with the National Crime Agency every month, for looking at indecent images.\n\"There are undoubtedly tens of thousands of men that are seeking to exploit children online with a view to meeting them, with a view to then raping them and performing the most awful sexual abuse upon them,\" he said.\n\"That's where I believe our focus has got to be. They are the individuals that pose the really significant threat.\"\nOffenders who viewed online child abuse images should be placed on the sex offenders register, cautioned and managed in the community undergoing rehabilitation, he said.\nHe added: \"Every time viewed, the victim abused again. But we have to be able to manage the totality.\"\nNot using the court system would \"speed things up\".\nThe Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales (IICSA) started its public hearings on Monday.\nThe wide-reaching inquiry will look at child abuse claims against local authorities, religious organisations, the armed forces and public and private institutions - as well as people in the public eye.\nIt began with an examination of allegations made by children in care who were sent abroad.", "It is the biggest child abuse public inquiry ever held in the UK, having been contacted by more than 400 people who said they were abused in childhood.\nThe HIA inquiry was first announced in 2010 and was formally set up by Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers on 31 May 2012.\nIts aim is to establish if there were \"systemic failings by institutions or the state in their duties towards those children in their care\".\nIt will also determine if victims should receive an apology and compensation.\nThe inquiry was established as a result of a campaign for justice, which gathered momentum in 2009 following the damning findings of a similar institutional abuse inquiry in the Republic of Ireland.\nThe Ryan Report, published on 20 May 2009, examined allegations of child abuse at Catholic-run children's institutions in the Republic of Ireland over a 60-year period.\nIt found that church leaders knew sexual abuse was \"endemic\" in boys' institutions, where children lived in a \"climate of fear\".\n434 people have made formal applications to speak to the inquiry\n300+ witnesses are expected to testify during the public hearings\n263 alleged victims have already given statements to the inquiry's acknowledgement forum\n63 witness applications were from former residents now living in Great Britain\n61 witness applications were from former residents now living in Australia\n20 witness applications were from former residents now living in the Republic of Ireland\n8 witness applications were from former residents now living in other countries\n13 residential institutions are currently under investigation by the inquiry team\nThe Ryan report also concluded that physical and emotional abuse and neglect were features of Irish children's homes, reformatories and industrial schools and that the young residents faced a \"daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from\".\nThe findings of the nine-year-long inquiry made headlines around the world and led to calls for a government-backed investigation north of the border.\nWithin months, thousands of people had signed a petition called Justice for the Victims of Institutional Abuse in Northern Ireland.\nThe petition was delivered to the Northern Ireland Assembly in November 2009, when MLAs backed a motion calling for a similar assessment of the scale of child abuse in Northern Ireland.\nThe Stormont Executive agreed to set up a public inquiry in 2011, and the following year, on 31 May 2012, the terms of reference were announced by Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers.\nOn the same date, retired High Court judge Sir Anthony Hart was appointed to chair the inquiry. MLAs subsequently passed legislation, giving the inquiry team statutory powers to compel witnesses to testify.\nWhen it was originally announced, ministers initially said the HIA inquiry would examine abuse claims over a 50-year period from 1945 to 1995.\nHowever, in October 2012, just as the first stage of the inquiry began, its remit was extended to investigate allegations dating back to the foundation of the state in 1922.\nSince October 2012, the inquiry has been taking evidence in private session from former residents of children's homes, borstals, training schools and other childcare institutions.\nThe inquiry's remit is limited to children's residential institutions in Northern Ireland, regardless if they were run by the state, religious organisations or voluntary groups.\nIt means that victims of clerical child abuse that took place outside residential institutions, those abused in foster care and former residents of Magdalene laundry-style homes in Northern Ireland, are excluded from taking part.\nA joint campaign by clerical abuse victims and ex-residents of laundry-style institutions to be included in the proceedings has so far failed.\nIn December 2013, a woman who claimed she was molested in foster care lost a legal challenge to force the inquiry to examine her case.\nThe HIA has three main elements that are known as an acknowledgement forum, a research and investigative team and an inquiry and investigation panel.\nThe purpose of the acknowledgement forum is to record the experiences of people who claim they were abused in children's institutions.\nThere has been some criticism of the lack of face-to-face counselling provided for those who have come forward to tell their stories.\nLast August, the campaign group Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (SAVIA) said some witnesses have been suicidal after giving testimony and claimed organisations like theirs were being left to \"pick up the pieces\".\nBut in a statement, a spokesperson for the inquiry said it had \"dedicated witness support officers\" and was making every effort to \"ensure that sufficient emotional support is available for victims and survivors\".\nTo date, 434 people have applied to testify to the inquiry or to speak to its acknowledgement forum.\nMore than a third of them are now living outside Northern Ireland, including 61 people who have moved to Australia.\nThe inquiry has established that between 1947 and 1956, about 120 children were sent from institutions in Northern Ireland to institutions in Australia, as part of a UK government policy of child migration.\nA team from the HIA inquiry panel is making trips to Australia during the hearings in order to meet potential witnesses.\nSo far, the inquiry is investigating 13 residential institutions in Northern Ireland, but this number may be extended during the course of the public hearings.\nThe institutions under examination are a mixture of children's homes and training schools run by the state, by voluntary organisations and by the Catholic Church.\nThe inquiry does not have the legal power to find anyone guilty of a criminal offence, but if it receives information that a crime has been committed, the details will then be passed to the police.\nThe role of the the inquiry's research and investigative team is to compile and analyse all the witnesses statements gathered during the acknowledgement forum and submit a report - set within the historical context - to the inquiry and investigation panel.\nThe panel consists of the chairman and two other government-appointed inquiry members who will then produce a final report.\nTheir report will determine if there were systemic failures in the care of children and make recommendations on matters such as the possible need for a formal apology to victims and future compensation.\nThe HIA inquiry is due to complete its hearings by June 2015 and deliver its final report to the Northern Ireland Executive in January 2016.", "The investigations span all tiers of football, \"from premier clubs through to amateur\", the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said.\nPolice forces across the country are continuing to receive calls, it added.\nOf the identified victims, 98% were male, and the age at the time of abuse was between seven and 20, police said.\nA total of 639 referrals had been received from the helpline set up by the children's charity the NSPCC, and directly from police forces.\nThe information is being passed to Operation Hydrant - which oversees the investigation of allegations of \"non-recent\" child sex abuse within institutions - which collates it and shares it across forces.\nThe NPCC's lead for child protection said the allegations were \"being swiftly acted upon\" by police.\nAlthough 98 football clubs had been \"referenced\", not all were necessarily under investigation, the police said.\nAnd it said the number of victims, previously reported to be 350, continued to apply until all the referrals had been analysed and processed.\nGloucestershire Constabulary has become the latest police force to confirm it is investigating claims, saying \"some allegations of non-recent sexual abuse\" had been received.\nMore than 20 other forces have launched similar inquiries, including the Met, South Wales, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Hampshire, Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.\nMeanwhile, Premier League boss Richard Scudamore has written to the parents of more than 3,000 players in the league's youth system to reassure them their children are being protected.\nIn the letter, which was sent on Wednesday to the parents of children aged eight to 18, Mr Scudamore said the league had been \"very concerned\" by the allegations of historical sexual abuse at professional football clubs.\n\"The victims and survivors have been extremely brave to come forward and have our sympathy and support,\" he wrote.\n\"Given the volume of media coverage these disturbing stories understandably continue to generate, it is important that you... are made aware of the current standards and provisions in place to keep your children safe.\"\nMr Scudamore went on to outline the Premier League's various safeguarding measures.\nHe added: \"There is no complacency - the Premier League's own safeguarding team and independent monitors visit each club regularly throughout every season to assess the quality of their work and guide them on any developments that could be made.\"\nThree weeks ago, ex-Crewe defender Andy Woodward waived his right to anonymity to say he had been a victim of sexual abuse as a young footballer.\nSince then, more than 20 former footballers - including ex-youth players, trainees and professionals - have come forward with allegations of historical abuse in football.\nGoverning body the Football Association has announced an internal review.\nA leading civil rights lawyer has backed calls for an inquiry into child abuse in Scottish football.\nRaju Bhatt, who sat on the independent panel into the Hillsborough disaster, said failure to do so would be a betrayal of the victims.\nFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already rejected calls for a current inquiry into the abuse of children in care to be widened, saying it should be down to the police to probe football abuse claims.\nChildren's charity the NSPCC said the \"shocking\" numbers had revealed the \"deeply disturbing extent of abuse\" in football.\nIt said its football hotline, launched with the support of the FA, had seen a \"staggering surge\" in calls in its first week.\nThe hotline set up by the NSPCC is available 24 hours a day on 0800 0232642.\nPolice forces investigating allegations:\nKent Police said it has received reports of \"non-recent child abuse within the football community\" in Kent, which it is \"currently reviewing\".", "Peter Righton gave \"considerable assistance\" as an expert in child care to a government report in 1970.\nHe had earlier left a teaching job over complaints of child abuse. He later became a member of a pro-paedophile campaign group. Righton died in 2007.\nThe Home Office said it was \"absolutely committed\" to stamping out child abuse.\nIn July, Home Secretary Theresa May announced an overarching inquiry into how public institutions had handled historical claims of child sexual abuse.\nThis followed a campaign by MPs whose concerns included evidence of a wide paedophile network in documents seized from Righton's home in 1992 after his arrest over child abuse images.\nThe report to which Righton contributed led to major reforms of 1970s children's homes.\nIt was authored by a Home Office advisory committee and set out how hundreds of new homes should be brought under local authority control.\nSo-called community homes replaced approved schools - residential centres for \"delinquent\" youngsters - and involved the employment of hundreds of social care staff.\nThe report credited Righton, who at the time was an academic specialising in social work, for \"considerable\" help in a chapter on the training of residential workers.\nA former care professional familiar with the events has told the BBC that Righton travelled extensively carrying out research work during the period he contributed to the project and had been to children's homes \"all over the country\" including Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Rochdale and Preston.\n\"He [used to] go and interview, in approved schools, individual boys and he certainly went to speak to the heads of homes,\" the former care worker said.\nThe retired worker - who asked not to be identified - said that Righton \"networked\" at children's homes, adding: \"He was a very dangerous man because he was put in a position where he could abuse trust.\"\nRighton visited the Bryn Estyn approved school in Wrexham where he met staff and children, according to the care worker's account.\nThe former worker said that Righton had claimed that he \"took boys out\" and had also said he used \"sexual\" language with them.\nThe source added that the words Righton had exchanged with the boys were \"not something that you would have in a healthy conversation with a child\".\nBryn Estyn was later at the centre of an abuse scandal in which 140 former residents made allegations that they were abused between 1974 and 1984.\nAn official report described \"appalling\" abuse at the home and former housemaster Peter Howarth was jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing boys as young as 12. He died in prison.\nThe Waterhouse report into abuse at north Wales homes described how local councils were \"in a state of turmoil\" in the early 1970s owing to the new responsibilities imposed on them by the legislative changes of the time.\nHowarth had earlier taught at the same special school in Kent where Peter Righton had faced complaints of child abuse.\nBy the mid-1970s, Righton had become a founding member of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) which advocated sexual relationships between adults and children.\nAt the same time he became increasingly influential in the field of residential child care, according to Ian Pace, a lecturer at City University who has researched historical abuse at music schools and the influence of PIE.\nHe said Righton was \"deeply involved with the cult of the classical world that was very important to... the paedophile movement\", focusing on stories of \"Greek love\" between men and young boys.\nMr Pace said \"some of Righton's interests\" were reflected in the Home Office advisory report.\nThe section of the report which credited Righton called for residential child care workers to be trained in \"the growth of civilisation\" and \"aesthetic values\".\nThe Home Office declined to comment on the revelations about Peter Righton.\nA spokesman referred the BBC to the home secretary's comments to the House of Commons in July when she said the government would address two concerns: \"First, that in the 1980s the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse.\n\"Secondly, that public bodies and other important institutions have failed to take seriously their duty of care towards children.\n\"As I informed the House on 7 July, the whole government take the allegations very seriously. That is why I announced two inquiries last week.\"\nIn 1992 Peter Righton was fined £900 for possessing images of child abuse and was cautioned over an earlier assault.", "Chief executive Peter Wanless said there had been a \"staggering surge\" in the number of people getting in touch.\nThe chief executive of funding body UK Sport said if any sport did not take enough action to deal with the issue of abuse, it would reconsider its funding.\nFifteen police forces are now investigating allegations of historical child sex abuse in football.\nThe inquiries come after several former players made allegations of abuse against football coaches.\nThe NSPCC said that between 23 and 29 November its hotline received 860 calls, and within the first three days of it launching, the organisation made more than 60 referrals to a range of agencies across the UK.\nThat was more than three times as many referrals as in the first three days of the Jimmy Savile scandal, the charity added.\nHow do you talk to your child about sexual abuse?\nAbuse scandal 'one of FA's biggest crises'\nMr Wanless said it demonstrated the \"worrying extent of abuse that had been going on within the sport\".\nJohn Brown, the NSPCC lead on tackling sexual abuse, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the calls were about current concerns, as well as historical and non-recent abuse.\nPressed about calls involving current cases, he said he was unable to give details but it \"would be naïve to assume that all the concerns were in the past\".\nHe drew parallels with victims of the late DJ Jimmy Savile, saying sexual abuse is fundamentally about the abuse of power and his victims had been \"very effectively\" silenced.\n\"Listening to these footballers talk bravely about their experiences - and the many reasons why they couldn't speak up - I think it would be naïve to assume that there is not the risk of an ongoing problem in football and in sport generally that needs to continue to be examined and dealt with,\" he said.\nA zero tolerance approach to abuse and harassment was needed in football clubs and whistleblowers should be listened to, he added.\nLiz Nicholl, UK Sport's chief executive, spoke to the BBC about how other sports must react to the allegations affecting football - and what repercussions they could face if they fail to take claims seriously enough.\n\"We would certainly want the sport to evidence the action it's taking to deal with the issue, and if we were concerned in any way, if there was inaction, then we would consider our funding relationship with the sport,\" she said.\nUK Sport allocates money from the government and National Lottery to Olympic and Paralympic sport.\nOn Wednesday, BBC 5 live learned Essex Police had received information relating to allegations of non-recent child abuse.\nNorfolk Constabulary also told the BBC it was in the early stages of an investigation into an allegation.\nThe Football Association has announced an internal review and a number of football clubs are conducting their own inquiries.\nIt was revealed on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that the FA scrapped a flagship project in 2003 meant to ensure children were being protected from sexual abuse.\nMeanwhile, former Newcastle player Derek Bell has revealed he wanted to kill the coach who sexually abused him during the 1970s.\nHe was groomed and abused by George Ormond between the ages of 12 and 16 while playing for the Montagu and North Fenham boys football club. Ormond was later jailed for six years for sexually assaulting young boys.\nChelsea Football Club has also confirmed it has begun an investigation into allegations of historical sexual abuse concerning a now-deceased individual it employed in the 1970s.\nA number of forces including the Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester Police and Cheshire Police had previously announced they were investigating historical allegations.\nA spokesman for Essex Police said: \"Essex Police has received information relating to allegations of non-recent child abuse within the football community.\n\"That information will be reviewed and investigated accordingly.\"\nHe added: \"We need those who have been the victim of child sexual abuse to report it to the police.\n\"We also urge anyone who may have any information regarding child sexual abuse to come forward.\n\"When allegations are reported, it enables police to assess whether there are current safeguarding risks and ensure appropriate action is taken.\"\nA spokesman for Norfolk Constabulary said the force was \"investigating an allegation relating to child abuse within football\".\n\"We are in the early stages of our investigation and cannot comment any further,\" he added.\nPolice forces investigating allegations:", "The findings of inquiries at 28 hospitals were published in June.\nA further wave of allegations has since emerged at some of those hospitals, and meanwhile a further eight hospitals and one ambulance service are starting investigations.\nThe results are expected in January 2015.\nThe former BBC presenter of Top Of The Pops and Jim'll Fix It, who also worked as a Radio 1 DJ and received a knighthood in 1990, died aged 84 in October 2011.\nHe was an opportunistic and prolific sex offender, who took advantage of his celebrity status to carry out abuse in dozens of NHS hospitals, according to the reports published in June.\nAssaults on victims aged from five to 75 were described in reports into Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor.\nReports from four hospitals which were also due in June - Stoke Mandeville, Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire, Springfield Hospital in London and Crawley Hospital in West Sussex - but have been delayed.\nEight further hospitals are starting fresh inquiries:\nWest Yorkshire Ambulance Service is also investigating allegations.\nNot all the hospitals mentioned are still in existence, including Shenley psychiatric hospital and Meanwood Park, while others have changed function.\nThe allegations at Scott House Hospital relate to a period the site served as a children's home. And Calderdale Royal Hospital is built on the site of the former Halifax Royal Infirmary where the alleged abuse took place.\nThe precise details of Savile's links with all these institutions or the number of alleged offences are unknown.\nThe Queen Elizabeth Hospital has launched an investigation after it found records of visits by Savile, but there have been no specific allegations of abuse by the public.\nThe Shenley Hospital closed in 1998, but the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust is conducting the investigation.\nIt said: \"The allegation is about a teenager, not a patient, who took part in a sports event held there when Savile was present.\n\"We have spoken to this person, our report will be published in line with all the others.\"\nThe South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Bethlem Royal Hospital, said: \"We are investigating this evidence thoroughly and if necessary will ensure that any lessons are learnt for the future.\"\nMeanwhile, Leeds General Infirmary, Stoke Mandeville and the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle are investigating fresh allegations that have emerged since June.\nPeter Garsden, from the association of child abuse lawyers, told the BBC: \"It's quite shocking, I'm sure we all thought we'd heard the last of the Savile locations, but here we are with several more allegations.\n\"It seems that his net spread very far and wide, which is perhaps not surprising considering he was constantly visiting hospital under the guise of doing charity work and inevitability he behaved the same way wherever he went.\"\nHe said the inquiries helped victims of abuse in the \"journey to justice\".\nIn a written ministerial statement, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: \"At the request of the Crown Prosecution Service, the publication of the NHS investigations into Jimmy Savile is being delayed until the conclusion of ongoing legal proceedings.\n\"Therefore, I wish to advise the House that there will be a delay in the publication of the outstanding NHS investigation reports.\n\"We now hope trusts will publish their reports in January 2015.\"\nThe investigation at Leeds, published earlier this year, found patients, including teenagers recovering from surgery, had been abused in their beds and one 10-year-old boy had been sexually assaulted while waiting on a trolley for an X-ray on his broken arm.\nWhen the reports came out, Mr Hunt apologised on behalf of the government and the NHS.\nHe said there was a \"deep sense of revulsion\" over the findings, adding: \"We let them [the victims] down badly.\"", "Theresa May asked the home affairs committee to put forward three names of possible candidates after the two women appointed to run the inquiry resigned.\nMrs May said she was seeking views in a process of consultation.\nBut committee chair Keith Vaz called the request \"inappropriate\", saying Mrs May herself should identify a nominee.\nMrs May announced the independent inquiry in July, to look at how public bodies dealt with historic allegations of child sex abuse.\nThe first chairwoman, Baroness Butler-Sloss, stood down within days, and her replacement, Fiona Woolf, resigned last month after victims of abuse questioned their links to figures involved in an investigation into allegations from the 1980s.\nMrs May apologised to victims and told the House of Commons that her department was compiling a list of new candidates.\nShe also agreed to allow the cross-party Home Affairs Committee to vet the new nominee before they are officially appointed.\nThe BBC has seen a letter, written by Mrs May on 5 November, to Mr Vaz in which she restated her intention to \"consult with survivors' groups and relevant parliamentarians\".\nIn the letter, she also wrote: \"As part of this process, I should be most grateful if you and your committee members would like to suggest perhaps three individuals as candidates for the role of chair.\"\nIn his reply a week later, Mr Vaz said it would be \"totally inappropriate for us to make any such suggestions\".\nThe Labour MP added: \"The best way to proceed would be for you to identify a suitable nominee as you suggested in your phone call to me, and for us to conduct a pre-appointment hearing in the usual way.\"\nIn a statement, the Home Office said: \"It is important that we find a candidate who can win the confidence of survivors and has the necessary expertise to carry out this vital and demanding role. The home secretary is currently seeking the views of survivors' groups and parliamentarians.\n\"Nominations can also be made through the inquiry's website.\"\n1 July - MP Simon Danczuk calls on former Home Secretary Leon Brittan to say what he knew about paedophile allegations passed to him in the 1980s\n7 July - Government announces independent inquiry into the way public bodies investigated and handled child sex abuse claims. Baroness Butler-Sloss chosen as head\n9 July - Baroness Butler-Sloss faces calls to quit because her late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s\n14 July - She stands down, saying she is \"not the right person\" for the job\n5 September - Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf named the new head of the inquiry\n11 October - Mrs Woolf discloses she had five dinners with Lord Brittan from 2008-12\n22 October - Abuse victim launches legal challenge against Mrs Woolf leading the inquiry, amid growing calls for her resignation\n31 October - Mrs Woolf steps down\n3 November - Home Secretary Theresa May apologises in the Commons for the inquiry being without a chair for four months", "The inquiry will look at historical abuse of children in care in Scotland.\nBut John Findlay, who was abused while a pupil in the care of Aberlour House in Moray, said money would be better spent supporting victims.\nHe said the inquiry was \"yet another process\" rather than progress towards helping people.\nMr Findlay told BBC Scotland's Timeline programme how he had spoken publically before about what happened to him, but has not been contacted about giving evidence to the inquiry.\nHe was abused by one of his teachers, who is no longer alive, at Aberlour House, a prep school for Gordonstoun private school in Moray which Mr Findlay went on to attend.\nMr Findlay was assaulted in his bed in a dormitory after being given what he described as a form of date rape drug.\n\"He fondled my genitalia. He put his head under the covers, He took photographs,\" said Mr Findlay of the attack.\n\"Once I was able to move afterwards I confronted him about it. I was convinced by him that I imagined it, that nothing happened.\"\nMr Findlay said what happened to him as a child \"tainted\" his adult life, including work and personal relationships.\nOn the inquiry, he said: \"I would love to say I have hope, however, it is yet another announcement of yet another inquiry and yet another process.\n\"I see actually no progression whatsoever with regards to any government or any school providing genuine help for victims of abuse.\n\"It is all very well saying 'yeah, we are looking into it', but for crying out loud it is about time you could just turn around and say instead of spending how ever much on inquiries why not just spend the money on helping the victims of this abuse.\"\nGordonstoun is among boarding schools and other institutions involved in the investigation.\nIn a statement. Gordonstoun said: \"We welcome the Scottish Abuse Inquiry's invitation to submit a report and will respond in full.\n\"Cases of non-recent abuse must be unimaginably distressing for the victims and their families and the work that the Scottish Abuse Inquiry is undertaking will, we hope, draw important lessons from the past and make children safer in the future.\n\"For everyone at Gordonstoun today, making sure our students are happy, healthy and safe is at the heart of everything we do.\n\"We are committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for all our students. Our ongoing work in this area was recognised in our most recent independent Care Inspectorate Report which gave us a rating of five - 'very good' - for pupil care and support and noted the 'comprehensive child protection procedures' in place.\"\nThe Scottish government said it had established one of the widest ranging public inquiries that Scotland has ever seen into the abuse of children in care.\nA spokesperson said: \"It will focus on the systemic institutional failures which saw many of our most vulnerable children, including those in the care of the state, abused by the very individuals who were there to care for them.\n\"We want that inquiry to be able to undertake its work in a timescale that can address the issues raised by survivors.\n\"Scotland is one of the few countries in the world that has dedicated funding for support services for adult survivors of child abuse.\n\"We have made real progress in delivering what survivors told us they wanted, including a greatly expanded support fund of £13.5m over five years to co-ordinate access to and deliver resources, integrated care and support for those who were abused in care.\"\nThe spokesperson said Deputy First Minister John Swinney had also committed to a consultation on redress, pledging to work with survivors to consider the wide range of differing views on the subject.\nThe spokesperson added: \"Last year, we introduced legislation to make it easier to take civil action against historic child abuse, and we also reviewing the child protection system to ensure it is as effective as it can be.\"", "The NSPCC said the reasons were not clear, although greater awareness of sexual abuse, arising from historical cases, may be a cause.\nIt said this showed the Scottish legal system must become more sensitive.\nIt has called for a \"bold approach\" to reform the way child sex abuse cases are handled.\nThe figures were published as the NSPCC prepared to launch its third \"How Safe are our Children?\" report measuring the extent and nature of child abuse across the UK.\nScottish government figures showed that in 2013-14 there were 3,742 sexual offences against children including rape, sexual assault and grooming - a 10-year high.\nThe charity said that in the following year, 2014-15, the number of contacts to its helpline from adults in Scotland worried a child was being sexually abused rose by 19% from 341 to 407.\nAlmost half (203) were considered so serious they were immediately referred to the police or children's services.\nThe NSPCC said it was not clear why the number of offences had risen.\nBut it said more victims may have the courage to come forward following the reporting of historical cases and the police may also have improved their recording methods.\nThe charity praised the Scottish government for establishing an inquiry into historical abuse in children's institutions.\nBut Matt Forde, NSPCC Scotland's head of national services, said as more children spoke out, the Scottish legal system needed to develop a more sensitive and effective response to ensuring justice was served.\nHe said: \"The nation has been horrified by the revelations of decades of horrendous child abuse. But while the Scottish government's inquiry is historical, child abuse is not.\n\"For too many children, our court system adds further trauma to their earlier experiences of abuse. We need a bold approach to reform our legal system.\"\nA Scottish Courts Service report \"Evidence and Procedure\", published in March, agreed changes were necessary.\nIt said: \"In recent decades the number of child and vulnerable witnesses being called to give evidence has increased dramatically.\n\"They have, however, been introduced into a system that was ill-equipped to accommodate them, with the result that there have been a series of adjustments to the law and practice that, at best, only partially address their needs.\"\nThe NSPCC said a Scandinavian system, called Barnehus, had helped free children from further suffering, allowing the therapeutic support they needed to begin more quickly.\nIn specialist centres, designed to be non-threatening and reassuring for victims, a team, including a criminal investigator and prosecutor, a health expert, a senior social worker, a judicial counsellor and forensic expert worked together to support the child.\nThe aim was to help victims through possible trauma and to make sense of official procedures to reduce long-term problems.", "Gary Hoy, who lived in Kincora, said the memories would always be there but he would like to see the building gone.\nSurvivor Clint Massey said demolishing the building would bring a kind of closure for victims like him.\nMargaret McGuckian, of pressure group SAVIA, said they hoped to speak to the home's owners about the next step.\nThree senior care staff at Kincora were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.\nAt least 29 boys were abused at the home between the late 1950s and the early 1980s.\nOne of the men who was later convicted, William McGrath, is believed to have been an MI5 agent.\nAllegations remain that some members of the British intelligence services knew of the abuse and helped to cover it up.\nMr Massey said the building was \"serving no purpose\".\n\"While this is here, this building stands for one thing only - not happy memories at all. Once it's gone, it's a closure of sorts,\" he said.\nMs McGuickan said the victims \"grieve every night\" about the abuse they suffered in the home.\n\"What we're hoping [is] that we enter into consultations, and perhaps this building will be bought over, razed to the ground and maybe something could be set up in its place far away from here for the victims,\" she said.\nThere have been calls for the home to be included in a Westminster led inquiry into abuse at state run institutions.\nThe government declined to do so, saying child protection was a devolved matter and Kincora was covered by the work of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry led by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart.\nCritics say that inquiry doesn't have the power to compel witnesses and won't get at the truth of alleged security service involvement. The government said it would ensure the sharing of information.", "The appeal for a return to negotiations came from Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.\nHe said now that the On The Runs Report has been published, unionists should get back around the talks table.\nBut in a BBC interview, Mr Robinson said he did not believe a resumption of formal talks would achieve anything.\nHe said unionists' focus was on their campaign for a commission of inquiry on parades, which would be raised again at a meeting with Secretary of State Theresa Villiers next week.\nAt the start of this month, unionist parties walked out of talks about parades, flags and the past, in protest at a Parades Commission determination barring an Orange Order parade from returning along part of the Crumlin Road in north Belfast.\nThe Stormont talks came six months after the last major push to resolve the outstanding issues - chaired by former US diplomat Richard Haass and Harvard professor Meghan O'Sullivan - ended without agreement.\nAsked about a Sunday newspaper report that he would be replaced as DUP leader in September, Mr Robinson described the story as \"garbage\" and said speculation about his future had become \"boring\".\nAlso in the interview, the DUP leader accused Sinn Féin of foot-dragging on the latest financial monitoring round at Stormont and claimed funding for the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HAI) was at risk.\nHe said if the dispute was not resolved, the abuse inquiry would have to be suspended.\nSinn Féin said it had been attempting to get the DUP to agree the June monitoring round for the last two weeks.\n\"But this cannot be based on a unilateral DUP imposition of an arbitrary £87m in Tory cuts in a routine monitoring round. Tory cuts are a political issue that should be separated out and dealt with by the executive collectively,\" the party's Daithí McKay said.\n\"The June monitoring round can and should be agreed quickly and the money made available for the work of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry and for the large number of other projects affected.\"\nUlster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said the inquiry should not be under any threat.\n\"While the inquiry is dependent on monitoring funds, it is inconceivable to the Ulster Unionist Party that the Northern Ireland Executive would allow the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry to be wound up early for the lack of resources,\" he said.\n\"Tonight many, many victims will be unnecessarily dismayed and distressed after hearing Peter Robinson say that this outrageous suggestion is even being considered.\"\nMeanwhile, Mr Robinson said the terms of reference for the UK's abuse inquiry should include the Kincora Boys' Home in east Belfast.\nIn 1981, three senior care staff at the east Belfast home were jailed for abusing 11 boys.\nThe chair of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Sir Anthony Hart, has said the HIAI \"does not have sufficient powers\" to investigate some of the allegations relating to Kincora.\nMr Robinson said: \"I want to see a full investigation into the terrible abuses which occurred in Kincora.\n\"Having received this communication from Sir Anthony, it is clear that the proper route to fully investigate the abuse at Kincora Boys' Home is to have it included in our United Kingdom's Child Abuse Inquiry.\"", "Barnardo's urged ministers to act after fresh claims of an abuse \"cover-up\".\nBaroness Butler-Sloss stood down as head of an overarching inquiry nearly a fortnight ago amid concerns about her family links with the establishment.\nHome Secretary Theresa May then said a new chairman and inquiry panel would be announced \"as soon as possible\".\nThe charity was responding to the BBC's story about claims that a cover-up took place to protect politicians' reputations following allegations of abuse at a children's home in south London.\nBarnardo's chief executive Javed Khan said: \"Today's allegations of politician and police cover-up operations into historical child sexual abuse claims is a stark reminder of the urgent need for government to get its investigation into child sex abuse off the ground and find a replacement for Baroness Butler-Sloss now.\n\"Despite claims of 'not hanging around' in naming her successor, almost two weeks have passed. The government has still to tell the country who will lead the inquiry and what its remit will be.\"\nBBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins says there is understood to be frustration among some in the charitable sector that a replacement still has not been announced.\nLady Butler-Sloss's late brother, Sir Michael Havers, was attorney general in the 1980s.\nWhen she stepped down the retired judge said she was \"not the right person\" for the job and did not \"sufficiently consider\" whether her family links would cause difficulties.\nMrs May said she did not regret appointing the peer, adding that she would \"not hang around\" in naming a successor.\nDowning Street initially said it would \"take a few days\" to appoint a new chairman and appeared to indicate that whoever was chosen would not be so closely linked to the establishment.\nMrs May said she hoped to name a new candidate \"within a reasonable amount of time\" but said whoever was approached would need to \"think carefully\" about the nature of the role.\nFollowing the call from Barnardo's, a Home Office spokesman said: \"The work of this inquiry is vital and an announcement will be made on who will take over the chairmanship and membership of the panel as soon as possible.\"\nThe inquiry was set up to examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from paedophiles.\nIt came after Labour MP Simon Danczuk called on Leon Brittan to say what he knew about paedophile allegations passed to him when he was home secretary in the 1980s.\nThe files were given to Lord Brittan by the late Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, who was a long-standing campaigner against child abuse.\nMrs May has ordered a separate review into the Home Office's own investigation into historical allegations of child abuse and how police and prosecutors handled information given to them.", "Bishop Geoffrey Robinson told a national inquiry the Church had failed to speak out strongly about the abuse.\nThe bishop played an important role in developing the Australian church's response to the issue in the 1990s.\nAustralia is holding a national inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.\nPopes and archbishops, including the Vatican's finance chief, Australian Cardinal George Pell, had sent out the \"wrong message\" about the issue, Bishop Robinson told the inquiry on Monday.\n\"I think that some popes gave out the wrong message ... and some archbishops too,\" local media reported Bishop Robinson telling the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.\nBishop Robinson said Pope John Paul II did not immediately condemn the abuse claims when they emerged in the 1990s.\n\"We still haven't had that kind of leadership, not even from (Pope) Francis,\" he said, explaining that bishops followed the Vatican's line by remaining silent on the issues.\nBishop Robinson said that while he was drafting a national response for the Australian Catholic Church to abuse victims in 1990s, the then Archbishop of Melbourne, Cardinal Pell, released his own protocol for Melbourne.\nUnlike the national strategy, it required alleged sex abuse victims to speak to church lawyers first.\n\"(Pell) would later claim that this meant he was the first person in Australia to have such a protocol,\" said Bishop Robinson.\n\"He destroyed our unity,\" he told the Commission.\nMore than 4,000 victims have come forward to the Royal Commission, which is looking at how religious groups, charities and state care providers responded to child sex abuse allegations." ]

[ "Police are investigating the death of a five-year-old Illinois boy, who was found unresponsive in his father's car on Sunday. According to authorities, Logan Jacobs asked his father Michael Jacobs if he could play with his tablet device. The father agreed and continued the household chores he was doing, assuming his son was in his bedroom in their Princeton home, playing on the device. Tragic death: Five-year-old Logan Jacobs died Sunday after climbing into his father's car to play on his tablet device . Hot car: The little boy (right, pictured with his mother and sister) was known to fall asleep easily, and police believe he may have fallen asleep in the car and overheated . About two hours later, Logan was found inside his father's car, which was parked in the driveway of the family's home. The tablet was plugged into the vehicle's charger, the windows were up and the vehicle was locked. The little boy was known to fall asleep easily, according to Coroner Janice Warmhoff, reports BCR News. The temperature in Princeton reached a high of 84 degrees on Sunday. Police believe Logan entered the car, fell asleep and overheated. Kindergartner: Little Logan Jacobs was a student at Jefferson Elementary school and loved playing sports and video games . The boy's 10-year-old sister and two other girls were also in the home when the incident occurred. Logan Jacobs was rushed to Perry Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police told KWQC there was no foul play or neglect on the part of the parents, Michael and Melony Jacobs, and that the tragic death was an unfortunate accident. An autopsy was carried out Monday and results are pending. An inquest may be scheduled. The little boy was a kindergartner at Jefferson Grade School in Princeton who loved sports and video games. 'It's a very sad day in the district. We are attached to everyone of our kids,' Princeton Elementary School District Superintendent Tim Smith told BCR News. 'Our hearts, prayers and love go out to Logan's family.'" ]

[ "A four year old boy was mauled to death by his uncle's two pit bull dogs. Logan Shephard died after being savaged by the dogs in the front garden. Two police officers conducting a traffic stop 100 yards away heard screams for help and ran to the home in Riverview, Florida. When they arrived they saw the dogs standing over the toddler. Tragic: Four-year-old Logan Shepard was mauled to death by two pit bulls around 10.35pm on Saturday night in Riverview, Florida . Logan was visiting his uncle's house with his mother, Stephanie Groulx (pictured), at the time of the incident . Family members said both dogs had been put in a crate in the front garden before Logan and his mother Stephanie Groulx arrived at the home on Saturday night. They told police Logan went inside the house where he was given a bowl of ice cream. Stephanie went with her sister Delores Frederick into the master bedroom along with a 15-year-old cousin of Logan. As they chatted the heard screams from the garden and ran out to find the pit bulls attacking Logan. It is feared the boy had let the dogs out of their crate as owner Billy Frederick had told police he put them in their crate. Police will investigate whether Logan let the dogs out of whether they weren't locked up properly . The bowl of ice cream given to Logan was found on the floor by his side. Logan was pronounced dead at the scene. Animal Services responded and took possession of the dogs. There is no animal call history at the residence. Police said no charges have yet been filed.", "Authorities have arrested the parent of the 15-month-old boy who died after being left inside a hot car. John Junek, 40, of Leonardtown appeared in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt for arraignment on Thursday afternoon on a charge of involuntary manslaughter according to an NCIS official. Navy officials say the baby boy was found dead in a vehicle at a naval station in southern Maryland. Fatal fogetfulness: John Junek of Leonardtown, Maryland, left his 15-month-old son in the back of his car at the Naval base where he worked on a hot summer day . Junek showed little emotion when asked whether he understood his rights. The judge released Junek to the custody of his parents. Junek's attorney said the family wants Junek to live with his parents because it would have been difficult for him to return to his own home after his son's death. His attorney said Junek was devastated and grieving over the death. Public affairs officer Connie Hempel said that the child was found unresponsive in the back of a vehicle about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Hempel said emergency workers from the station performed CPR but the boy was pronounced dead at 4:15 p.m. Authorities say the baby was left in the car by Junek, who works on the base. He was arrested and charged in the death after investigators concluded the boy had apparently been in the vehicle for seven hours with temperatures of up to 85 degrees. In a court documents filed Thursday an NCIS investigator said Junek told authorities he was supposed to have dropped off the boy at a daycare center on the base, but failed to do so. The charge sheet also claims that Junek got back into his car twice during the day - and still failed to notice that his young son was sill in the car. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating. Died: NCIS is investigating the death of a 15-month-old boy who was found Wednesday in a car on a military base at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland . Hot Car Death court documents .", "By . Snejana Farberov . A 9-month-old baby boy from California was pronounced dead Wednesday after he was left alone in his father's hot car for 10 hours. According to police, the San Jose resident forgot to drop off his son at his babysitter's home before heading to work and only learned of what happened when he returned to pick up his car. Just after 7pm Wednesday, officers received a 911 call about an unresponsive baby in the backseat of an SUV parked in the 3700 block of Payne Avenue in San Jose. Scroll down for videos . Fatal mistake: A San Jose, California, father, forgot to drop off his 9-month-old son at his babysitter's home and left the boy to die of heat in the backseat of his parked SUV . First responders who arrived on the scene pronounced the child dead from a suspected heat stroke a short time later. Temperatures hovered around the 80-degree mark Wednesday, but inside the locked car it was likely at least 20 degrees hotter, NBC Bay Area reported. The boy's father, who also has two older children, followed his usual routine Wednesday morning, parking his silver Honda SUV on Payne Avenue before switching to his work vehicle - a large box truck stocked with supplies for vending machines. The dad, whose work hours are 9am to 6pm,  had made arrangements to drop off the 9-month-old at his sister-in-law's house, but there was some 'misunderstanding.' When the father and son failed to show up at her home, the woman concluded that someone else must have been caring for the infant that day, according to ABC7 . Routine: Every morning, the dad would park his SUV on Payne Avenue and switch to a delivery truck . Yousif Nijmeh, whose brother owns the company where the father of three works as a deliveryman, told the NBC station that the man loved the baby 'most in the whole world.' Witness: Yousif Nijmeh, a brother of the father's boss, said he was working on his car just steps away from the SUV but had no idea there was a baby inside because of tinted windows . Nijmeh was in the area working on his car all day Wednesday, but said he had no idea that the little boy was dying in the backseat of the SUV just steps away because the vehicle had tinted windows. When the father finished his workday and came back to pick up his car, Nijmeh witnessed the man breaking down and sobbing uncontrollably at the sight of his unresponsive son in the sweltering backseat. ‘He's a very responsible father who was so proud of the baby,’ he said. ‘The baby was like a gift from heaven for them.’ So far, the father has not been arrested, but the case will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office. It is believed to be the first fatality this year involving a child left in a car. According to the organization Kids And Cars, last year, 32 children died from heat stroke after being forgotten in a vehicle. Since 1991, there have been 647 cases nationwide – 51 of them in California.", "The father of a 15-month-old boy who died after being left in a hot car in July has pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminally negligent homicide. Kyle Seitz, 36, entered the plea in Danbury Superior Court on Friday. The death of Benjamin Seitz was ruled a homicide in August. On July 7, the elder Seitz was supposed to drop his son off at day care, but the dropoff never occurred, his wife, Lindsey Rogers-Seitz said. Seitz drove to work and at the end of the day he went to pick Benjamin up at day care, only to realize he was not there, authorities said. When Seitz realized his son was in the car, he rushed the child to the hospital, but Benjamin had died. The cause of the boy's death was hyperthermia due to environmental exposure, according to the state medical examiner. Grieving mother's mission to stop hot car deaths . The Connecticut death came a month after a similar incident in suburban Atlanta garnered national headlines. In the Georgia case, a grand jury ended up indicting Justin Ross Harris on eight counts, including malice murder and two counts of felony murder, over the death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. Through his attorneys, Harris has claimed that he forgot to drop off the boy at daycare and mistakenly left him in his 2011 Hyundai Tucson on a day when the temperature topped 92 degrees. At least 44 children died in 2013 from heatstroke caused by being left in cars in the United States, according to the national nonprofit organization KidsAndCars.org. At least 30 children have died this year for the same reason. Over the past decade, the group figures, there have been at least 388 children who have died of vehicular heatstroke.", "By . Peter Rugg . PUBLISHED: . 14:30 EST, 2 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:09 EST, 3 November 2012 . As St. Clairsville High football star Michael Ferns raced towards the end zone there was nothing in front of him but his 12th touchdown of the season. So fans were all the more shocked when the Ohio teen stopped only one yard from the end zone, and purposely stepped out of bounds. The only people who weren’t confused were his team-mates, who immediately understood that Ferns had just sacrificed glory so that a teammate could honour his recently passed father. Scroll down for video . Tragedy: Only two days before his football game, Logan Thompson's father Paul died of a stroke at 44 . Just two days before the team’s game against Edison High, Logan Thompson, a devoted freshman varsity player who’d never played in a single game, had lost his father to a stroke at age 44. Thompson’s father, Paul, has suffered the stroke while unconscious in the bathroom as his sons got ready for school. Logan battered down the door with a baseball bat to get to him and the paramedics came, Paul was sadly pronounced dead at a local hospital. ‘In that instant, Logan stopped being a kid,’ his mother, Daniele, told ESPN. ‘He made grown-up decisions. In the blink of an eye his world changed and he went from being and adolescent to a young man.’ Teammates: Star player Michael Fern knew how devoted Thompson¿s family was to football and wanted to find a way to ease his teammate's suffering . Before the visitation or the funeral, Logan had a football game to attend. Though Logan typically spent his varsity games on the bench, he knew his father would’ve wanted him to go. Until the last quarter of the October 5 game, the time passed like any other game for Logan, supporting his team from the sidelines. Unbeknown to Logan, the team’s coach Brett McLean had secretly urged his top players to stop short of the end zone if they had a chance, allowing grieving freshman a chance to final score. Michael Fern: With only one yard to the end zone, Fern stepped out of bounds stopping the game and setting up Logan Thompson for his first touchdown . The plan was almost foiled by two referees, who at first ruled that Fern had actually scored a touchdown. They finally relented after teammates came rushing on to the field to protest their own touchdown. As the team regrouped, McLean yelled for Logan. ‘You’re going in at running back,’ McLean told him. ‘Tell them to run 26 Power.’ When the boy, a linebacker who only rarely played wide receiver, looked at his couch in shock, McLean offered some last words of encouragement before sending him on to the field. Bench warming: Logan, a freshman who'd never scored a touchdown, spent most games on the sidelines until his teammates executed their plan . ‘It’s easy,’ he said. ‘Just follow Michael Ferns’ big butt.’ On the next play Thompson was given the ball and darted straight into the end zone through a five-yard gap between the right guard and tackle. ‘It felt like slow motion,’ Thompson told reporters. ‘I saw this humongous hole. I don’t think our line has blocked this well all season.’ Ferns went to Thompson and hugged him. Shocked: Fans who's never seen Logan's number 17 jersey on the field had no idea what to make of the last second entrant . At one end zone St. Clairsville principal Walt Skaggs broke down while at the other At the other McLean was wiping away tears. In the stands, Logan’s brother, Landen, texted Daniele: ‘Mom, Logan scored a touchdown.’ ‘Looking straight up into the sky after scoring my first varsity touchdown’ Thompson later wrote on Twitter. ‘I know the old man was watching! Love and miss you so much daddy.’", "A manhunt has been launched to find a man who allegedly kidnapped his five-year-old son after stabbing the boy's mother multiple times. Police believe Ethan Peterman was abducted by his father Joseph Davis, 35, who is suspected of attacking the boy's mother with a knife. The woman, who has not been named, is in a critical condition in Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, according to My Fox Atlanta. Davis does not have custody of Ethan, police say. Hunt: Police believe Ethan Peterman (left) was abducted by his non-custodial father Joseph Davis (right) The child was last seen at 6.30pm near his home in Kennesaw, Georgia, wearing an orange shirt, blue jeans, and black Jordan shoes. He was described by police as a black male with short brown hair and brown eyes, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. His father, Davis, is a 5'11\", 178lb black man with hazel eyes and brown hair driving a silver car, authorities said. The FBI is assisting Georgia police. Missing: Police said Ethan (pictured at a playgroup) was last seen at 6.30pm near his home in Kennesaw, Georgia, wearing an orange shirt, blue jeans, and black Jordan shoes .", "A mother charged with murdering three of her children in a botched murder-suicide attempt had tried to kill herself twice before, it has been revealed. A report by the Florida Department of Children and Families says an investigator came to the home of Jessica McCarty in Palm Beach, where she admitted taking sleeping pills and muscle relaxers before texting a friend that she was going commit suicide. Investigators labeled her three children Laci McCarty, aged seven, six-year-old Philip McCarty and Christopher Swist, aged five months, as being in intermediate danger, reports Wesh.com . The children's grandmother told investigators that McCarty, 33, had twice before attempted to kill herself. According to the report, DCF gave the family a brochure, had them sign a safety plan and closed the case. Scroll down for video . Sole survivor: Police said Monday five-month-old Christopher Swist (right), died three days after his mother Jessica McCarty killed his two older siblings in a botched murder-suicide. McCarty (pictured on the left in a suicide-protection vest with bandages on her slashed wrists) survived the attack and was arrested . What happened to the happy family? McCarty, pictured with her partner Chris Swist, daughter Laci McCarty (right) and sons Philip McCarty (center) and Christopher Swist (in her arms), called the police on herself . McCarty was arrested after she called 911 on Friday and told police she'd killed her children. Laci and Philip were found unresponsive in the same room at the home and were pronounced dead that night. The mother strangled the infant and drowned and strangled the daughter, Palm Bay Police Chief Mark Renkens said, according to Florida Today. Police say none of the three children were shot or stabbed, but lacerations were found. Christopher Swist had been on life support at Florida Hospital for Children since Friday but lost his fight for life on Monday. McCarty has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The attempted murder charge could be upgraded. 'Our hearts go out to the friends and family who have lost children in such a horrific manner. The fathers of these helpless, innocent children struggling is simply gut wrenching,' said acting Palm Bay Police Chief Mark Renkens. Police say none of the three murdered children were shot or stabbed, but lacerations were discovered . According to Renkens, there had recently been a break in the relationship between McCarty and the youngest child's father, also called Christopher Swist. Investigators said McCarty sent photos to Swist of blood throughout the house. Swist arrived first at the scene and found his son unresponsive on his bed, police said. Police said they found a journal in the driveway of the home that was addressed 'To my family,' which indicated that McCarty was sorry for what she 'had to do.' Letter left behind: Investigators say McCarty left a note behind at the scene saying she was 'sorry for what she had to do'. The motive for the attempted murder-suicide is still not clear . There was also another page addressed to Christopher's father, asking him to keep her son's name alive, police said. On Sunday, McCarty waived her right to appear at her first hearing, sending her attorney instead. In a mugshot provided by the local jail, the troubled mother appears in a suicide-prevention vest with bandages covering her recently-slashed wrists - her mouth agape. The motive for the tragic attempted murder-suicide has still not been revealed. However, McCarty did have a troubled history and in 2009 was investigated by the DCF for possible child neglect. The agency recommended McCarty to mental health counseling after that investigation, according to public records. She has also been arrested on charges of forgery, shoplifting, and prescription drug abuse. Police were first called to the family's residence just before 6pm, when McCarty called 911 to say her three children were dead and that she had cut her wrists. Christopher Swist, the father of the infant, also called police when he came home to find the children unconscious in a bedroom. Phillip McCarty (left) was the father of the two older children Jessica is believed to have killed on Friday night . Seven-year-old Laci (right) and six-year-old Philip (left) were pronounced dead shortly after they were found . Disturbing find: McCarty's partner Christopher Swist came home on Friday to find his son (pictured together above) and McCarty's two other children unconscious. The older McCarty children were pronounced dead on Friday. The infant was found with a cord wrapped around his neck and spent the weekend on life support . McCarty allegedly sent pictures of blood inside the home to Swist, leading him to come home and investigate. When he came home, he found his son with a cord wrapped around his neck and lying on a bed. Philip unresponsive in a corner and Laci unresponsive and wounded on a bed. An autopsy on the two McCarty children was scheduled for Sunday. Palm Bay police apprehended McCarty outside her home shortly after she called 911. Officers said they had to shoot her with beanbag rounds because she was 'uncooperative' and was armed with a butcher's knife. Jessica McCarty had her two older children with Phillip (left) before having a third with Chris Swist . Jailed: McCarty, pictured left with partner Chris Swist and her two eldest children Laci and Philip and right again with Chris Swist. She was treated for her injuries and then booked in jail where she is being held without bond . McCarty was in the front yard when apprehended, but she 'wasn't showing her hand' after several requests to do so. She then showed she was holding a knife and refused to put it down, police said. After refusing several requests to put down the knife, police said officers shot McCarty with five to six less-lethal 'beanbag' rounds, which are meant to subdue a person. McCarty was treated for her injuries and taken into custody, according to WFTV. The tragic incident has shaken the community and a prayer vigil for the three murdered children was scheduled for 8pm on Monday night. Following news of little Christopher's death, friends of his father started an outpouring of support on Facebook. According to his profile, Christopher Swist is a former Marine.", "A five-month-old baby boy who was found with a cord around his neck has died in hospital three days after being found at his family home awhere his mother allegedly killed his two older siblings. Jessica McCarty's five-month-old son Christopher Swist had been on life support at Florida Hospital for Children since Friday, the same day her other children, seven-year-old Laci and six-year-old Philip, were pronounced dead. The 33-year-old mother has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Scroll down for video . Sole survivor: Police said Monday five-month-old Christopher Swist (right), died three days after his mother Jessica McCarty killed his two older siblings in a botched murder-suicide. McCarty (pictured on the left in a suicide-protection vest with bandages on her slashed wrists) survived the attack and was arrested . What happened to the happy family? McCarty, pictured with her partner Chris Swist, daughter Laci McCarty (right) and sons Philip McCarty (center) and Christopher Swist (in her arms), called the police on herself . Police say none of the three murdered children were shot or stabbed, but lacerations were discovered . The attempted murder charge could be upgraded. Christopher's father came home and found him with a cord wrapped around his neck on Friday at the house in Palm Bay, Florida. McCarty's two other children with another father - Laci and Philip - were found unresponsive in the same room at the home and were pronounced dead that night. The mother strangled the infant and drowned and strangled the daughter, Palm Bay Police Chief Mark Renkens said, according to Florida Today. Police say none of the three children were shot or stabbed, but lacerations were found. Letter left behind: Investigators say McCarty left a note behind at the scene saying she was 'sorry for what she had to do'. The motive for the attempted murder-suicide is still not clear . On Sunday, McCarty waived her right to appear at her first hearing, sending her attorney instead. In a mugshot provided by the local jail, the troubled mother appears in a suicide-prevention vest with bandages covering her recently-slashed wrists - her mouth agape. Investigators have since revealed that McCarty left a note at the scene addressed 'to my family' in which she says she is 'sorry for what she had to do'. The note included a special address to her young baby's father, asking him to 'keep Christopher's name alive'. The motive for the tragic attempted murder-suicide has still not been revealed. However, McCarty did have a troubled history and in 2009 was investigated by the Department of Children and Families for possible child neglect. The agency recommended McCarty to mental health counseling after that investigation, according to public records. She has also been arrested on charges of forgery, shoplifting, and prescription drug abuse. Police were first called to the family's residence just before 6pm, when McCarty called 911 to say her three children were dead and that she had cut her wrists. Christopher Swist, the father of the infant, also called police when he came home to find the children unconscious in a bedroom. Phillip McCarty (left) was the father of the two older children Jessica is believed to have killed on Friday night . Seven-year-old Laci (right) and six-year-old Philip (left) were pronounced dead shortly after they were found . Disturbing find: McCarty's partner Christopher Swist came home on Friday to find his son (pictured together above) and McCarty's two other children unconscious. The older McCarty children were pronounced dead on Friday. The infant was found with a cord wrapped around his neck and spent the weekend on life support . McCarty allegedly sent pictures of blood inside the home to Swist, leading him to come home and investigate. When he came home, he found his son with a cord wrapped around his neck and lying on a bed. Philip unresponsive in a corner and Laci unresponsive and wounded on a bed. A autopsy on the two McCarty children was scheduled for Sunday. Palm Bay police apprehended McCarty outside her home shortly after she called 911. Officers said they had to shoot her with beanbag rounds because she was 'uncooperative' and was armed with a butcher's knife. Jessica McCarty had her two older children with Phillip (left) before having a third with Chris Swist . Jailed: McCarty, pictured left with partner Chris Swist and her two eldest children Laci and Philip and right again with Chris Swist. She was treated for her injuries and then booked in jail where she is being held without bond . McCarty was in the front yard when apprehended, but she 'wasn't showing her hand' after several requests to do so. She then showed she was holding a knife and refused to put it down, police said. After refusing several requests to put down the knife, police said officers shot McCarty with five to six less-lethal 'beanbag' rounds, which are meant to subdue a person. McCarty was treated for her injuries and taken into custody, according to WFTV. The tragic incident has shaken the community and a prayer vigil for the three murdered children was scheduled for 8pm on Monday night. Following news of little Christopher's death, friends of his father started an outpouring of support on Facebook. According to his profile, Christopher Swist is a former Marine.", "By . Louise Boyle . A four-year-old boy has died after being found alone and seriously injured in the middle of a road on Sunday night. Marterrance Albury is believed to have been either dropped off or thrown out of a SUV at around 9.45pm in Tampa, Florida. He landed on his head and was run over by the back wheels, police said. Witnesses called 911 after spotting the boy in the middle of the road. He was taken to hospital in critical condition but later died from his injuries. Scroll down for video . Marterrance Albury, four, was found in this road on Sunday in Tampa, Florida. He later died in hospital from injuries he sustained after being reportedly thrown from an SUV . The boy was in the care of his 17-year-old brother at the time of his death, a police statement revealed today, after his mother, Johntea Williams, 36, went on a night out with a friend. Approximately 20-30 minutes after the incident, the victim's 17-year-old brother walked up to an officer at the scene and told him that he couldn't find his four-year-old brother. The victim rolled out of the vehicle in front of his apartment complex, investigators said. The victim's mother came home at 4am and became hysterical and wanted to take her own life, police reported. Once officers were able to calm her down, she was transported to the hospital. Detectives are still interviewing the 17-year-old son. The investigation is ongoing . Family attended the Tampa Police Department on Monday but were too distraught to comment, according to Fox. Police would not comment on how they identified the boy but said that they had no reports of missing children. It is unclear if the family recognized the vehicle that the little boy was in at the time, a green Ford Expedition made between 2001 - 2004. Investigators are currently looking at surveillance footage from red light cameras and nearby businesses. The Tampa Police Department said in a statement that the child is a young, black male. Anyone with information has been asked to call Crime Stoppers 1-800-873-TIPS.", "Arrested: John Thomas Cormier Jr (pictured) was arrested Monday on charges he murdered his 3-month-old son . A young 21-year-old father was indicted Monday on charges he murdered his 3-month-old son. John Thomas Cormier Jr's  arrest comes exactly three months after his infant son was found unresponsive at the Lebanon, Tennessee home he shared with the boy's mother. An investigation was launched after the incident, and the case was recently brought in front of a grand jury, which decided to indict Cormier on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. Emergency responders arrived at an apartment on 1701 Summerfield Drive on August 18, after receiving a call that a 3-month-old boy was unresponsive. Cormier's son was rushed to University Medical Center, but it was too late and he was pronounced dead. Lebanon Police Chief Scott Bowen has not commented on the case, or the condition the child was in when they found him. The Department of Children's Services is also investigating the case. Cormier is currently being held in Wilson County Jail on $250,000 bail. Emergency call: Cormier's son was found unresponsive at an apartment in this Lebanon, Tennessee complex on August 18. A grand jury decided to indict 21-year-old Cormier on charges of first-degree murder .", "By . Chris Parsons . Last updated at 8:51 PM on 9th January 2012 . Tragic: Logan Kushner died after smoking K2 synthetic marijuana before jumping into a creek . A promising college American football player drowned after smoking K2 synthetic marijuana and jumping in a creek. Logan Matthew Kushner had bought K2 with a friend legally from a neighbourhood gas station before smoking the synthetic product and jumping into a park creek early on Sunday morning in Clearwater, Florida. According to reports, Kushner's friend whom police did not name, persuaded the 19-year-old to get out of the water and told him they needed to leave. But when Kushner opted to stay, the friend left him behind at the park. The . Palm Harbor University High School student, who also played football . for the school's team, The Hurricanes, did not answer calls to his phone . after being left alone. After failing to contact him, Kushner's friends went to the creek and found him unresponsive in the water, according to police. He was pronounced dead at Mease Countryside Hospital. Kushner had been smoking K2, which is branded as an incense but also called 'fake weed'. K2 . and similar substances are known to be synthetic cannabinoids . significantly more powerful than marijuana, according to the Drug . Enforcement Administration. Dangerous effects: The number of people falling ill after taking synthetic drugs like K2 and Ivory Wave has rocketed in the the last year . Normally sold by the gram in brightly-coloured packaging, the substances are known to induce dizziness and hallucinations. Users can also experience paranoia, anxiety and agitation, as well as physical side-effects such as high blood pressure and heart rate, panic attacks and seizures. Laboratory-made drugs have been around since the middle of the 20th century, when LSD was first studied. But synthetic marijuana - produced by spraying dried plant material with a chemical compound - has only been around for the last few years. Effects include paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, seizures and a rapid heartbeat and symptoms can last for days. Doctors usually treat overdoses with anti-anxiety drugs like Valium and Xanax which slow the heart rate. One patient told a doctor at the Carolinas Poison Center it was 'like being on cocaine, but ten times worse'. When friends found Kushner, he was discovered unresponsive in the water. He has since been remembered as a 'popular kid with a good heart', while devastated school friends have set up a Facebook tribute page and organised a vigil. Andrea Weaver, 40, his 10th grade English teacher, said: 'He was upbeat. He always had a smile.' Police have yet to reveal what caused Kushner to drown, or whether he was under the influence of any other substance at the time of his death. Fake forms of marijuana were sold . online and in drug paraphernalia shops and convenience stores until the . DEA banned the use and sale of their key ingredients in March. Shortly . after the ban, however, various manufacturers began advertising other . fake marijuana products, many of which are sold online. According to the Tampa Bay Times, a gas station near Clearwater was selling a substance called Scooby Snax Potpourri on Sunday. Despite its name, the product warned it was not meant for human consumption. The company's website asserted that the product does not contain any of the compounds banned under synthetic cannabinoids legislation.", "A man was shot dead in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon as he cycled through a quiet residential neighborhood. The unnamed man, 31, was found unconscious and unresponsive at the corner of Union Street and Utica Avenue in Crown Heights just after noon beside his bike and bloody baseball cap. Witnesses describe seeing a gunman approach and fire a single bullet into his head before jumping into a gray Chevy Suburban and speeding off. A man was shot dead in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon as he cycled through a quiet residential neighborhood . Police have described the shooting as ‘a well-planned execution’ and are unsure if the gunman had an accomplice. Witness Jacob Ramlall, 34, said he saw the man fall and also someone yelling. 'You did not hear a shot. [It was] like he used a silencer of something,' he told the New York Post. Another witness noted that the killer 'was very quick jumping out of the car’ to shot the victim. Another witness to the shooting was in their car and followed the suspects’ speeding getaway car for a couple miles before losing sight of it. There have been no arrests at this time and the investigation is still ongoing. The unnamed man, 31, was found unconscious and unresponsive at the corner of Union Street and Utica Avenue in Crown Heights just after noon beside his bike and bloody baseball cap . Less than 2 hours later and just 2 miles away, a 19-year-old man was shot once in each leg. The wounded man was taken to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition but refused to cooperate with investigators. The shooting is believed to be part of an ongoing beef between two rival gangs in the neighborhood. .", "By . Lydia Warren . PUBLISHED: . 09:13 EST, 22 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:32 EST, 22 July 2013 . A two-year-old has died after his father allegedly threw him on a bed - causing the boy to smack his head against a wall - because he vomited. Jayden Morales Villegas' mother agreed to take the young boy off life support on Sunday afternoon, five days after he allegedly suffered the blow at the hands of his father, Angel Villegas, 29. The alleged attack came just two weeks after Jayden and three of his brothers had been taken out of the care of their mother by the Department of Children and Families and given to their father. 'Attack': Angel Villegas, left, has been arrested for allegedly throwing his two-year-old son Jayden Morales Villegas, right, causing the boy to hit his head on a wall which left him brain dead . Villegas, a father of nine, was looking after the boy and some of his siblings at his apartment in Homstead, Florida on Tuesday when the boy, who was suffering from a cold, vomited during dinner. He became frustrated with his son and threw him on a bed, causing the child to hit his head against a wall, police said. He found the boy unresponsive the next morning, his affidavit said. The boy was rushed to Miami Children's Hospital, where he was declared brain dead and put on life support. But he was pronounced dead at 1.30pm on Sunday. 'It hurts a lot; he was just my baby,' Jayden's mother, Vanessa Morales told the Miami Herald. 'I just told him to be strong, that we love him and his brothers love him and that I will never forget him.' Victim: Jayden was found unresponsive the next day and his life support was switched off on Sunday. The tragedy came two weeks after he was taken from his mother's custody and given to his father . Heartbroken: His mother, Vanessa Morales, said she was stunned that Villegas was capable of such violence . Villegas was arrested and his charges have now been upgraded from attempted second-degree murder to second-degree . murder and aggravated child abuse. Morales added to CBS Miami that she was shocked by the arrest. 'Mad, . hate and really confused because I never thought he would do something . like that,' she said. 'Why did he take his anger out on a two-year-old, . especially his son, his son.' His Facebook page is covered with pictures of him and his children, including two other young boys and a baby girl. Arrest, Villegas, pictured before a judge, faces second-degree murder charges for the death . Both Villegas' and Morales' children remain in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. Villegas is being held on $110,000 bond but if he pays that, he will be put under house arrest.", "By . Leslie Larson . PUBLISHED: . 18:28 EST, 20 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 00:50 EST, 21 October 2012 . The parents of an 8-year-old boy have sued a Chicago hospital, alleging doctors pronounced their son dead though he was still alive and refused to listen to desperate relatives who insisted he continued to move his eyes and body. The lawsuit, filed this week, accuses Mercy Hospital and Medical Center of negligence and alleges that nearly five hours passed before staff agreed to perform a cardiac ultrasound, which showed Jaylen Dorsey's heart was beating. 'You didn't have to be a doctor to see that the heart was pumping blood,' the boy's father, Pink Dorsey, said at a news conference on Friday but hospital officials deny the allegations. Wrong conclusion: Jaylen, who suffers from severe brain damage, was found unresponsive by his mother on February 18. He was taken to Mercy Hospital and doctors there pronounced the boy dead. Jaylen, who suffers from severe brain damage - is bedridden and on a ventilator, was found unresponsive by his mother, Sheena Lane, on February 18. He was taken to Mercy Hospital and doctors there pronounced the boy dead. The family says Jaylen's eyes continued to flick open, but that his parents were told the lingering effects of medicine were causing that to happen. 'We're not doctors, so we just went along with what they told us,' Dorsey said. So family members began to plan a funeral for the boy. But when other relatives arrived at the hospital, they gasped when they saw Jaylen's eyes opening, the boy's father said. Horrifed: The boy's father Pink Dorsey (left) and his mother, Sheena Lane (right) have sued Chicago's Mercy Hospital, alleging that doctors wrongfully declared their son dead . The lawsuit says the family had to demand that medical staff conduct more tests and that a cardiac ultrasound finally showed the boy's heart was beating. The hospital, which rejects the lawsuit's allegations, said in a written statement that Jaylen arrived at the hospital after suffering full cardiac arrest for 25 minutes and doctors treated him for 'an extended period of time' before declaring him dead. 'Despite extensive resuscitative efforts, Jaylen did not immediately regain a pulse and no heart activity was noted for several hours,' the hospital said. '... While this is a very rare occurrence, extensive resuscitation efforts, medication and young age can result in a patient's heart function returning spontaneously. We hope for continued strength for Jaylen.' His parents are seeking $200,000 in damages. The lawsuit says they suffered hours of 'severe emotional distress.' Lawsuit: The Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago has denied the allegations in the lawsuit . The boy's parents also worry that the hours he was off his respirator while at the hospital may have worsened his condition. The boy's mother, Jaylen, says the 8-year-old’s condition has deteriorated since the ordeal in February. 'He doesn’t wake up anymore,' she said. Lawyer for the parents said that because of the ongoing litigation they would not release details about his disability.", "By . MailOnline Reporter . A 15-year-old learner driver accidentally ran over and killed his toddler brother in the family driveway on Saturday. Alex Marivilla, two, died after being hit outside the Jolie, Illinois, home about 3pm. The teen driver, whose parents had asked him to move the GMC Yukon SUV, didn't realize his brother followed him outside. Scroll down for video . Scene: A 15-year-old learner driver accidentally ran over and killed his toddler brother in the driveway of the family home (pictured) in Joliet, Illinois on Saturday. He was driving a GMC Yukon SUV (pictured in driveway) 'It's all around a very tragic, very upsetting situation,' Joliet Police Lt. Stephen Breen told Chicago Tribune. 'The toddler had come out of the house . unbeknownst to the driver and it appears he may have been trying to get . in the passenger side of the SUV. He (the driver) didn't . know he was there.' Breen said the teen moved the car and heard a thump. When he stopped the car, he found his brother on the ground. The shocked teenager carried Alex into the family's Providence Way home where their parents called 911. Patch reported Alex was pronounced dead at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center. An autopsy was expected to be completed on Monday, according to the coroner's office. Breen said police are conducting a death investigation. Scene: Alex was pronounced dead at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center in Illinois (pictured) on Saturday afternoon .", "A three-year-old boy died after being left for three hours in a car in Arizona while temperatures soared towards 100 degrees. Hayden Nelson died in hospital after being stuck in the vehicle outside a church in Phoenix between 11am and 2pm - the hottest part of the day. He had been driven to the Abundant Life Church in the south of the city that day by a 27-year-old family friend, who 'forgot' him while she went to choir practice. Deathtrap: This is the parking lot outside the Abundant Life Church where Hayden Nelson, three, was left in a roasting car for three hours . His mom was also at the practice inside, and had arrived before the family friend, who had two other children with her. By the time Hayden was found - after practice was over - he had stopped breathing. Temperatures of 97F were recorded in Phoenix that day. According to AZCentral, police estimated that temperatures in the car could have exceeded 120F. A police spokesman said: 'It's obvious that the 27-year-old forgot that the child was in the car.' 'She was in a hurry. She had something that she had to do, and she didn't take a minute to make sure.' 'You cannot imagine what this lady is going through right now, what this family is going through.' Prosecutors are debating whether to press criminal charges against the woman, who has not been named.", "A woman was caught on camera sobbing with blood on her face as she was being arrested for the stabbing death of her husband in San Diego Sunday. Sandra Mathis, 52, surrendered to police just after 4.45pm in the 1800 block of Commercial Street after police say she repeatedly plunged a knife into her husband's upper torso. The 48-year-old victim was discovered lying on the ground unresponsive with blood gushing from a wound in his neck. He was taken to UCSD Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries two hours later. Scroll down for video . Bloody Sunday: Sandra Mathis, 52, was charged with murder after police say she stabbed her 48-year-old husband multiple times in the upper torso after an argument. The woman was caught on camera weeping with blood on her face during her arrest Sunday . In broad daylight: Mathis' 48-year-old husband was found bleeding from a wound in his neck under a bridge in the 1800 block of Commercial Street in San Diego Sunday afternoon . According to police, the victim and his wife were homeless and living in a makeshift tent camp under a bridge in the Barrio Logan section of San Diego. Police officers who responded to the scene found Sandra Mathis trying to revive her mortally wounded husband, but to no avail, according to the station CBS8. News cameras were rolling as the dishevelled, blood-spattered woman missing several teeth was placed in handcuffs. Mrs Mathis was charged with murder and taken to the Los Colinas Detention Facility. Responding officers seized a knife believed to be the murder weapon from the scene. First aid: Officers found Sandra Mathis trying to revive her mortally wounded husband . Strained marriage: Mathis and her husband were homeless and suffering from alcohol problems . Police said there was no history of domestic violence between the couple down-on-their-luck couple, but their friends said they both had a drinking problem. Investigators say the stabbing was sparked by an argument between the husband and wife. Carmen Chambers, who knew Mathis and her spouse, said they appeared to be devoted to one another, but their difficult circumstances may have put a strain on their relationship.", "A three-year-old boy who died earlier this week after being left in a car for three hours in extreme desert heat is seen smiling and happy in recently released photos taken before his tragic death. Hayden Nelson died on Sunday afternoon after a family friend, Courtney Arnold, reportedly forgot the child in her car in the parking lot of Abundant Life Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Arnold was at choir practice at the time with Nelson's mother, Tiffani Nelson. Tragedy: Three-year-old Hayden nelson (above) died after a family friend forgot him in her car during choir practice on Sunday . Gone to soon: the boy died of heatstroke as temperatures outside soared to 100 degrees . According to authorities, little Hayden, his mother and his eight-year-old sister had spent the previous evening staying at Arnold's house along with her five-year-old son. Arnold drove everyone to practice that morning as Ms. Nelson needed to arrive early. Prosecutors are still deciding whether or not to press charges. Now, the Nelson family is sharing photos of their smiling boy, and trying to raise $5,000 for his funeral expenses and medical bills. 'Hayden Nelson, only three years old, was extremely loving and affectionate kid who loved God. He loved to sing, dance, praise and worship,' says the page on GiveForward. 'He loved going to church and was always happy and smiling. He gave the best hugs and can brighten the day of all who loves him by just being in their presence.' Smiling and happy boy: His family has just released photos of him taken before the tragedy as they try to raise money for his funeral . According to reports, Hayden did not exit the car with the other children, and no one realized at the time. By the time they returned to the car to find him at 2 pm, it was too late and the boy had died of heatstroke as temperatures in the area reached 100 degrees. He wasn't breathing when he was discovered police told The Arizona Republic.", "A five-year-old boy who went missing in Virginia last weekend has been found dead. Noah Thomas's mother last saw her son sat in their living room in Dublin, VA, watching cartoons at 9am on Sunday. But after an hour-long nap, she woke to find the back door open and Noah gone. On Thursday, after an FBI-backed search that spanned five days, the Pulaski Sheriff's Office confirmed the child's body was found in a septic tank near the family home. Nobody is in custody. Tragic: Noah Thomas, five, was last seen watching cartoons on Sunday morning at home in Dublin, Virginia. Police confirmed his body was found in a septic tank near the family home on Thursday afternoon . Search crews have looked around the boy's house. His mother could not find him after she woke up at 10 . Police and more than 100 volunteers who signed up to look for Noah in the small town had covered about 3.3 square miles by Monday after the 60lb red-headed boy was reported missing. Pulaski County Sheriff Jim Davis said that authorities have no evidence of foul play in his disappearance, and that the family has cooperated with authorities. Investigators said search dogs stopped near the road near Noah's house, which is 'never typical'. No suspicious vehicles were seen in the area. Pulaski County Sheriff Jim Davis said the FBI and Virginia State Police became involved in the search . Investigators said search dogs stopped near the road near Noah's house, which is 'never typical' Crews used helicopters in the search in the area, which is mostly residential with farmland and a woods by the boy's house. Authorities were debating draining the river nearby despite expressing near-certainty that Noah did not fall in and drown. His mother, who called police at 11am after searching for her child, said that the boy was a cautious child and had no history of running away. Noah's parents were scheduled to make a statement on Monday afternoon, but their statement was delayed. The area near the boys house includes a small woods and a pond .", "By . Ashley Collman . PUBLISHED: . 01:10 EST, 9 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:27 EST, 9 January 2014 . A 4-year-old boy died Wednesday morning after falling into an empty bath while being watched by a babysitter in a Times Square luxury high-rise. Police responded to a 911 call at The Ritz Plaza apartment building at 235 West 48th Street and found the boy unconscious and unresponsive. According to his 37-year-old babysitter, she had set the boy on a ledge in the bathroom of the eleventh floor apartment before leaving the room momentarily. Scroll down for video . Too young: Police responding to a 911 call at The Ritz Plaza apartment building in New York's Times Square found a 4-year-old boy unconscious and unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital . While she was gone she heard a loud noise, ran back into the bathroom and found the boy had fallen into the empty bathtub. Paramedics rushed the boy to St Luke's Hospital on Roosevelt Island where he was pronounced dead. Police sources told NBC New York that the boy had been found with cuts and burns on his face, burns on his genitals, as well as yellow foam around his mouth. Some of the burns were from cigarettes and the babysitter couldn't account for any of the injuries. Wasn't watching: The boy's 37-year-old babysitter says she left the bathroom momentarily and came back to find the boy had fallen into the bathtub . She said the boy's 37-year-old father had placed him in her care on December 18 before being arrested on a warrant in New Jersey. He is still incarcerated. It was not immediately clear where the mother was, but according to the New York Daily News, she had lost custody. As of late Wednesday, the babysitter was still being questioned by police. The medical examiner is expected to conduct an autopsy Thursday morning, and charges will be filed after that. However, as the New York Times points out, these investigations can take a while. Charges have yet to be filed in the suspicious death of a Mexican consular official's 4-month-old son on December 10 after an autopsy proved inconclusive. The Administration of Children's Services is also investigating, and isn't allowed to divulge whether the family has a record. Sources told NBC New York that the babysitter doesn't have a history of child abuse or neglect. The child's death came as a surprise for tenants in the 40-story luxury tower. 'I have a baby too...that's scary,' a woman pushing a stroller outside the building told the Daily News.", "A mother and her infant son were killed this weekend in a late-night off-roading excursion gone wrong. Hallie Lewis, 22, and boyfriend Taylor Brown, 21, of Orlando strapped their 1-year-old son Brason into a child seat to go along for the off-roading drive near Walt Disney World Saturday night. Around 10:30pm, the couple's Jeep got stuck in a muddy area and Brown exited the vehicle to try and pull it out of the muck with the help of a friend in a different truck. Tragic: Hallie Lewis and her 1-year-old son Brason were killed this weekend after their Jeep became stuck in mud during a late-night off-roading accident. Lewis pictured above in photos posted to her Facebook . Unresponsive: Hallie and her son became unresponsive when her boyfriend got out to try and rescue the stranded vehicle. Hallie and her baby boy pictured above with a man who appears to be her partner in photos posted to Facebook . While Brown was trying to rescue the stranded Jeep, Lewis and her baby boy became unresponsive inside the vehicle, according to a press release by the Florida Highway Patrol. Mother and son were transported to separate hospitals. Lewis was pronounced dead at Dr Phillips Hospital, while baby Brason battled for his life at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in critical condition. The baby was later pronounced dead Sunday evening. Authorities continue to investigate the deadly incident, but believe the mud may have clogged the Jeep's exhaust pipe, exposing Lewis and her son to carbon monoxide poisoning.", "By . Daily Mail Reporter . A Pennsylvania family has faced more than its share of grief this week as a 4-year-old boy was killed after attending the funeral of his father, who was murdered last weekend. Little Karder Hardy was hit by a car and killed on Saturday after returning from the funeral of his father, Derrick Brown, who was fatally shot in Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Authorities say the boy had exited a Dodge Charger at 11th and Upland streets about 5 p.m. Saturday after returning from the funeral. Tragic: 4-year-old Karder Hardy was killed after getting hit by a car on Saturday . According to witnesses, the boy jumped out of the backseat to run to his mother, whom he'd seen standing across the street. As the boy ran across the street, he was hit by a white van, according to witnesses. 'I seen him laying on the ground and I was holding him and telling him . to hold on, hold on Karder,' Denise Brown, his great aunt, told NBCPhiladelphia.com. The boy was rushed to Crozer-Chester Medical Center with severe head trauma. His injuries, however, were fatal - he was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. The van's 42-year-old driver stopped and remained at the scene of the accident. After the driver was questioned by police, it was determined that the tragedy was a terrible accident. Victim: Authorities believe the boy's father, Derrick Brown, was an innocent bystander when he was fatally shot last week . Brown - the boy's father - was fatally shot while in the city's West End. Investigators say he was likely an innocent bystander who was caught in the crossfire. 'It's too much for the family to deal with all in one day,' family friend Kathy Pappas told NBC.", "By . James Nye . PUBLISHED: . 16:12 EST, 9 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:02 EST, 9 December 2013 . An Indiana teenager who helped save two children after they fell into an icy reservoir in 2010 was killed on Sunday in a tragic shooting in an Indianapolis suburb at the hands of one of her own friends. Aubrey Peters, 16, was pronounced dead at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis late Sunday after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest inside Noblesville home, police said. Noblesville Police Lt. Bruce Barnes said officers arrived at the home shortly before 11:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a person shot. He said they found Peters unresponsive. Scroll Down for Video . Tragic: Aubrey Peters, 16, was allegedly shot dead by her friend at his family home on Sunday night after they were fooling around with handguns inside the house . Police questioned three other people who were inside the house and arrested Jacob Travis McDaniel, 20, on preliminary charges of reckless homicide and pointing a firearm. McDaniel appeared in Hamilton County Superior Court today where a probably cause affidavit outlined how the 20-year-old was showing Peters a shotgun and handgun immediately before she was fatally shot. One witness, Dajuan Williams, said that 'McDaniel tried to get Aubrey to hold the gun, but she didn't want to,' reported the Indianapolis Star. It was at that point that McDaniel dropped the magazine from the handgun, pointed it directly at Peters, took the safety off and pulled the trigger. Charged: Jacob McDaniel , 20, has been charged with reckless homicide after his friend, Aubrey Peters, 16, died of a gunshot wound at his family home on Sunday . Court documents from today said that McDaniel though the gun was not loaded, but instead a round was fired into Peters' chest. 'Aubrey clutched her chest and said, 'What just happened?' the affidavit says. Panicked, McDaniel tried to concoct a story for the group. 'McDaniel then stated, 'The story is the gun fell off the table and went off,' according to the affidavit. Medics arrived soon after the shooting and failed to revive Peters who was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Vincent's. McDaniel's bond was set at $25,000. He will next appear in court on February 21 for a pretrial hearing. Scene: Aubrey Peters was shot dead at this Noblesville house in Indianapolis on Sunday night after she was reportedly shot by her friend Jacob McDaniel . Peters' grandfather, Randy, who has raised her since she was 8 months old, said the family is devastated. 'She had a 3.9 GPA. A great student, a great kid,' he said. He said he doesn't know what happened and doesn't know McDaniel. He said his granddaughter left home Sunday to study. The American Red Cross of Greater Indianapolis honored Peters in 2011 for helping to save two young girls who had fallen through the ice on Morse Reservoir the year before. Hero: In 2010 Peters and her grandparents rescued sisters Sydney, (pictured left, aged 4) and Jessica Moore (pictured right, aged 7) from a frozen reservoir behind their home . Frigid waters: This is the reservoir behind the home of Aubrey Peters where she saved two sisters from drowning in 2010 . Sad: This is Aubrey Peters aged 13 giving an interview to WTHR after she rescued two sisters from a frozen pool three years ago . Peters, then a seventh-grader, told investigators she heard the screams of 7-year-old and 4-year-old sisters and alerted her grandparents and called 911. One girl reached shore safely, but Peters' grandfather pulled the other out and resuscitated her. Peters told WISH-TV at the time that seeing the girls struggle in the water was 'terrifying.' 'It was like watching someone die, and I hated it,' she said. Red Cross spokeswoman Ann Gregson recalled honoring Peters Monday and lamented her death. 'She stood out — they always do when they're younger,' Gregson told WRTV. 'Any time there is a senseless death, it just breaks your heart.'", "The father one of one three children who were tragically killed in Palm Bay, Florida, in March has spoken out about the kids he cared for and loved. Seven-year-old Lacey McCarty, six-year-old Phillip McCarty and five-month-old Christopher Swist died allegedly at the hands of their mother, Jessica McCarty, in a botched murder-suicide. Christopher Swist - father of the five-month-old and the man who was dating Jessica McCarty just before the alleged killings - had nicknames for all of the children and coached the two oldest in little league baseball. Scroll down for video . Jessica McCarty, pictured with her partner Chris Swist, daughter Lacey McCarty (right) and sons Philip McCarty (center) and Christopher Swist (in her arms), called the police on herself . McCarty was arrested on March 20 and faces three counts of first-degree murder for the incident. Investigators say she left a note behind at the scene saying she was 'sorry for what she had to do' Just 24 hours before their death, he took pictures of the two oldest children at their latest game, and both looked happy as ever, Swist said. 'The kids loved everything about Little League,' Swist told People. 'The past two years, we watched the Little League World Series on ESPN. Our families were always at all the games.' Their love of the sport was so strong that Palm Bay City Council has renamed a little league field in their town 'Angels' Field' in memory of the children. Swist said that he had a great bond with the children, calling Lacey 'Chick', Christopher 'Toe Toe' and Phillip 'Smash'. As he comes to terms with the tragic deaths of the three kids he loved so much, Swist has created a non-profit organization titled 3 Angels Ball For All, in hopes of helping disadvantaged youth play organizational sports. Jessica McCarty still faces three counts of first-degree murder for the incidents that occurred on March 20. McCarty's partner, Christopher Swist, who she was reportedly on a break with at the time of the alleged murders, coached her two oldest children in little league baseball . Swist, who was only the father of the youngest slain child, said he had a close bond with all three children and gave them all nicknames to go by . Swist called seven-year-old Lacey (right picture, left) 'Chick', five-month-old Christopher (left) 'Toe Toe' and six-year-old Phillip 'Smash' (right). Each nickname supposedly had a story behind it . McCarty was arrested after she called 911 and told police she'd killed her children. Lacey and Philip were found unresponsive in the same room at the home and were pronounced dead that night. The mother strangled the infant and drowned and strangled the daughter, Palm Bay Police Chief Mark Renkens said, according to Florida Today. Police say none of the three children were shot or stabbed, but lacerations were found. Christopher Swist had been on life support at Florida Hospital for Children but lost his fight for life in the days following the attack. 'Our hearts go out to the friends and family who have lost children in such a horrific manner. The fathers of these helpless, innocent children struggling is simply gut wrenching,' said acting Palm Bay Police Chief Mark Renkens said after the incident. According to Renkens, there had recently been a break in the relationship between McCarty and Swist. Lacey and Phillip where pronounced dead shortly after they were found unresponsive. Christopher held on for a couple days before dying at the hospital . McCarty was arrested after calling 911 on herself and telling the police she had killed her three children . When Swist arrived on scene - after McCarty had sent him photos of blood throughout the house - and found the children unresponsive. He then called the police . Investigators said McCarty sent photos to Swist of blood throughout the house. Swist arrived first at the scene and found his son unresponsive on his bed, police said. Police said they found a journal in the driveway of the home that was addressed 'To my family,' which indicated that McCarty was sorry for what she 'had to do.' There was also another page addressed to Christopher's father, asking him to keep her son's name alive, police said. In a mugshot provided by the local jail, the troubled mother appeared in a suicide-prevention vest with bandages covering her recently-slashed wrists - her mouth agape. The motive for the tragic attempted murder-suicide has not been revealed. However, McCarty did have a troubled history and in 2009 was investigated by the DCF for possible child neglect. The agency recommended McCarty to mental health counseling after that investigation, according to public records. Phillip McCarty (left) was the father of the Phillip and Lacey, the two older children McCarty is believed to have killed on March 20 . McCarty and Swist had one child together - five-month-old Christopher. Police said they were on a break at the time of the incident . She has also been arrested on charges of forgery, shoplifting, and prescription drug abuse. Police were first called to the family's residence just before 6pm, when McCarty called 911 to say her three children were dead and that she had cut her wrists. Swist also called police when he came home. Swist now has the comfort of his city's support in mourning and remembering the three children he loved. 'All I have left is the memories that my children blessed me with,' Swist told People. 'Those moments will forever be ours together. Those children touched so many lives in the community; naming the field after them is a great way to help keep those memories alive.' And he knows he has to push on and have the strength to hold his memories close. 'I don’t think you ever heal from this,' Swist told Space Coast Daily. He added: 'The best we can do is survive. The way we survive is we all stand together as one family. 'As far as you guys even thinking about naming the field, that really means a lot to us. We just can’t say enough. We miss our kids. We miss our kids.' Though Phillip and Lacey were not Swist's biological children, he cared for and loved them both. He claims that the children 'touched so many lives in the community' of Palm Bay .", "By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 11:58 EST, 15 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:10 EST, 21 March 2013 . A teenager died after accidentally taking his father's medicine, an inquest heard today. Sixth-former Paul Hurst, 18, mistakenly took a mixture of medication. A friend found the 'talented and fun-loving' student unconscious on a beanbag at his home. Talented sixth-former Paul Hurst, 18, died after mistakenly taking his father's medicine . Paul was taken to hospital but could not be revived. His father, also called Paul, told the inquest: 'I kept the three drugs in a kitchen cupboard - Paul had never expressed any interest in taking the medication. 'He was a wonderful human being and always saw the good side in people. The inquest heard that Paul's death was the result of his own actions, even though it was unintentional . 'The only thing he ever wanted was to be loved - he brightened up everyone's life.' Paul was found dead at his home in Wellington, Hereford, in November last year. The Hereford inquest heard younger Paul suffered from the medical condition dyspraxia which caused him to have a lack of awareness of danger and a 'sense of invincibility'. Detective Sgt Tim Powell told the inquest that Paul's death was the result of his own actions, even though it was unintentional. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. Dyspraxia is a life-long common disorder that affects movement, co-ordination and social skills. It is also known as developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD). Dyspraxia affects basic motor skills - such as walking - and fine motor skills -such as writing - in children and adults, the NHS says. Adults with the condition can suffer social and emotional difficulties, as well as problems with time management and organisation. The condition is believed to affect around five to six per cent of people in the UK. Men are more disposed to suffer from it, and it tends to run in families.", "A 10-year-old boy has died after an SUV crashed into the back of his Mennonite family's horse-drawn carriage in a small community in northwest Missouri. But the victim's family have forgiven the female driver that hit the two-wheel cart, saying she was 'merely a tool in the hands of God'. The State Highway Patrol said the crash happened Thursday morning near Wheeling, about 90 miles northeast of Kansas City. The agency says Joshua Leinbach was killed in the accident, while his two younger sisters were thrown from the buggy. Driver: Penny Anderson says she was blinded by sinlight and did not see the small cart carrying the children to school in Wheeling, Missouri, but the victims' family told her they don't blame her . Buggy: Horse-drawn carts are common in the area, where this a small Mennonite community of about 20 families. They have to share the road with regular vehicles, however . Crash: Seen here is the damage caused to Penny Anderson's car in the accident which killed 10-year-old Joshua Leinbach . The children were on their way to school. The patrol said seven-year-old Amanda Leinbach suffered serious injuries, while eight-year-old Katelyn's injuries were minor. The family lives in Wheeling. The SUV driver, Penny Anderson, also suffered minor injuries. The 44-year-old told KMBC-TV that she'd been temporarily blinded by the morning sun before hitting the buggy. 'They were just in a tiny little two-wheel cart,' she said. 'I never saw them. I never saw them.' Support: Friends of the victims' family are seen visiting their home following the accident on Thursday . Anderson added: 'I feel like I have done the most horrible thing a person could ever do and I didn't even mean to. It was an accident.' Anderson was taken to hospital for some minor injuries. The children's family visited her that night. They went to tell her they do blame her for what happened, and will not press charges over the wreck. 'They looked right at me and said, ''We don't blame you for what happened'',' Anderson said. A member of the boy's family told KMBC: 'It is heartbreaking, but we rest in the shelter of God's arms.'", "By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 10:10 EST, 5 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:43 EST, 5 November 2012 . The mother of an 18-month-old girl found dead inside a car with her sister was previously accused of neglecting her children by drinking while they were left in a playpen, it was claimed yesterday. Christina Carlson, 36, was arrested last month after her daughter Chantel Craig, was found dead inside a car with her two-year-old sister on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington state. Carlson pleaded not guilty to criminal endangerment and failure to care for children, after the toddler was pronounced dead. The girl’s sister was treated for dehydration but is expected to recover. Scroll down for video . Covered: Christina Carlson made her first court appearance over the case at Tulalip Tribal Court last month . But a Child Protective Services file apparently revealed a maternal grandmother had previously claimed Carlson gave the girls only a bottle without any solid food, reported KOMO News in Seattle. She also claimed in December 2011 that Chantel’s sister had lice and couldn’t walk because she was always left in a walker. A CPS file allegedly said Carlson would leave her girls in a playpen and drink. CPS case workers could not find Carlson in that month - but by January she agreed to treatment, along with the children’s father. A CPS visit in February then found the children and the home clean. However a case worker found nobody home when making an unplanned visit in May. The home was boarded up by July and the case was closed in September for an unknown reason, reported KOMO. Investigation: Carlson was arrested last month after her daughter Chantel Craig, was found dead inside a car with her two-year-old sister on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington state . Then last month the sisters were found alone in a car. Chantel was unconscious and unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at hospital. The CPS review board is now set to look at the case file. The children were found on October 8. Chantel was taken to Providence Medical Center in Everett and her sister went to Seattle Children's Hospital, where she was treated for dehydration. Carlson is in jail awaiting a trial which is expected to begin early next month, reported HeraldNet. She made her first court appearance, covered by a red sheet, at Tulalip Tribal Court on October 11. Tulalip Tribe chairman Mel Sheldon told KOMO the girls’ family were part of the tribe - a close-knit Native American community living on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, 45 miles north of Seattle. See video here . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.", "By . Ashley Collman . A father in North Carolina locked himself in his car on a sweltering day to raise awareness of a tragic  summer trend that kills dozens of children each year. Terry Bartley of Greensboro, North Carolina filmed himself sweating and struggling to breathe in his car on a 90-degree day to find out what it's like to be a child forgotten in the back seat. Mr Bartley posted the video on June 20, just two days after 22-month-old Cooper Harris died after his dad left him in a parked SUV for nine hours. Scroll down for video . Torture: Greensboro , North Carolina father Terry Bartley filmed himself suffering in a parked car on a hot day to raise awareness of the dozens of U.S. children who die each year forgotten in the back seat . Harris has since been charged with murder and child cruelty. He has plead not guilty, claiming he left Cooper in the car accidentally. 'I'm sitting in the car with the windows rolled up because I want to know hot it feels to be left in the car and sitting in the back seat, strapped into the car seat,' Mr Bartley says in the video, as sweat streams down his face. 'As you can see, I'm sweating like I can barely breathe out here and my system is stronger than these little kids.' Too young: Mr Bartley posted the video just two days after the death of 22-month-old Cooper Harris, who was left in the back of his father Justin Ross Harris' SUV for nine hours on a 90-degree day . Charged: Justin Ross Harris has since been charged with murder and child cruelty. He has plead not guilty, saying he accidentally left Cooper in the car. Pictured in court on July 3 . Mr Bartley says he would never leave his children in the car, even if the engine was running with the air conditioning on. 'They would get out of the car and come with me or I ain't gonna stop at all. This is wrong,' he says. So far this year, 17 children have died of heatstroke after being left in a car, according to San Francisco State University's Department of Earth & Climate Studies. On average, about 38 children are killed each year in these circumstances.", "A four-year-old boy found dead in a Manhattan bathtub on Wednesday suffered excruciating torture at the hands of his babysitter for weeks after his dad left, she allegedly told police. Myles Dobson was covered with bruises and burns over his arms, legs and genitals when he was found unconscious in Janaie Jones' apartment at the The Ritz Plaza in Midtown. The 37-year-old told authorities that she was trying to discipline the young boy after she assumed care of the boy on December 18 when his father, Okee Wade, 37, was sent to jail. 'I was giving him corporal punishment,' Jones, a transgender performer who uses the name Kryzie King, allegedly admitted to police, DNAinfo reported. 'I was trying to control him.' 'Killed': Four-year-old Myles Dobson was found dead in a bathtub in Manhattan on Wednesday. The woman caring for him , Janaie Jones, allegedly told police she had been burning and beating the boy . She allegedly admitted to police that, from December 28, she beat the boy with belts and hangers, burned him and locked him alone inside the bathroom for hours in an attempt to control his behavior. Other sources told the news site that Jones rarely took the boy outside and beat him when he asked to go to McDonald's. She . told police that she left Dobson alone in the bathroom on Wednesday and . heard a 'thud' and when she went inside, she saw him unconscious in the . bathtub, police said. She claimed she had set the boy on a ledge in the bathroom of the eleventh floor apartment before leaving the room momentarily. Too young: Police responding to a 911 call at The Ritz Plaza apartment building in New York's Times Square found a 4-year-old boy unconscious and unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital . Okee Wade left his son with a baby sitter after being arrested for missing a court appearance . Police responded to a 911 call at The . Ritz Plaza apartment building at 235 West 48th Street and found the boy . unconscious and unresponsive. He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Jones . was taken to the Midtown North Precinct stationhouse, where she . allegedly admitted that she had abused the boy in recent weeks. She is expected to be charged. The medical examiner is expected to conduct an autopsy Thursday morning, and charges will be filed after that. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Myles had to endure 'horrific injuries over a period of days' as he spoke at a press conference on Thursday. Loss: Little Myles was found unconscious in an apartment on the 11th floor of the highrise, right . Jones looked after the boy after his father was arrested on a warrant for missing a court appearance in New Jersey on fraud charges, DNAinfo reported. It was not immediately clear where the mother was, but according to the New York Daily News, she had lost custody. The Administration of Children's Services is also investigating, and isn't allowed to divulge whether the family has a record. Sources told NBC New York that the babysitter doesn't have a history of child abuse or neglect.", "A man whose six-month-old baby girl died after being trapped in a car for around six hours at an Intel business parking lot claims he forgot she was there. The 38-year-old, who has not been identified, was meant to take his child to daycare on the way to work after a doctors appointment yesterday morning. But instead he simply drove to work at Intel in Oregon and left the baby in her seat, The Oregonian has reported. The baby girl's father works at Intel and the car was in a large company parking lot (file picture) Just after 5pm, he returned to the vehicle to find the little girl lifeless and called 911. Fire Department spokesman Storm Smith said medics found both mother and father at the scene, with the mother following a 911 operator's instructions on performing CPR. Mr Smith says medics took over treatment and an ambulance took the child to Tuality Community Hospital in Hillsboro, where she died. Lieutenant Rouches added that the cause of death has not been determined. Neither the father nor mother was identified and no arrests have been made. The Intel business parking lot in Oregon where a baby girl died after being left in a car for six hours . The father told police that he does not typically drop the baby off at daycare. On Thursday, he told officers, he was not operating in his normal routine. Detectives are continuing to investigate the case.", "By . Wills Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 08:19 EST, 19 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:21 EST, 19 September 2013 . A two-year-old boy who was found in a hot car last week has died in hospital two days after his father was arrested . Jordan Cartee was found last Thursday afternoon outside of his family's home in Anna, Texas, after his father left him in the vehicle. The child was found alive, but unresponsive, and was taken to Children's Medical Center in Dallas by air ambulance. On Sunday, the boy's condition worsened and he died on Monday night, according to NBC 5. Scroll down for video . Scene: Jordan Cartree was found in a car (pictured) outside his home in Anna, Texas . Suspect: Joshua Cartree, Jordan's father, was arrested on Friday and has been held in custody . The boy's father, Joshua Cartree, 32, was arrested in the hospital last week and charged with injury to a child. He has since been held in the Collin County jail but police have not indicated whether he will receive more serious charges as a result. Since Jordan was found, it revealed that the . family was recently the subject of an investigation by Child Protective . Services, after Jordan was spotted walking alone by his neighbour. However the investigation is said to have ended . last week after the family installed new locks at their home so . their child would be more secure. It is rumoured the inside of the car was 108 degrees when Jordan was found on Thursday but the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Officers has not yet released the two-year-old's cause of death. On Friday, the family said the boy had been put into a medically-induced coma to try and reduce swelling in his brain. House: Investigators found Jordan's toys scattered around the garden of Cartree's family home in Anna, Texas (pictured) Map: Jordan Cartree was found outside the property on Highway 121, north east of Dallas . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.", "By . Paul Thompson . PUBLISHED: . 12:54 EST, 27 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:13 EST, 27 January 2013 . A seven-year-old boy has died after being buried alive by his younger brother as they played in a pile of sand at their rural home. Wyatt McDaniel was pulled unconscious from the mound of sand after his five-year-old brother alerted their father. Despite desperate efforts by Charlie McDaniel to revive his son with CPR and later by paramedics the boy went into cardiac arrest. McDaniel was pronounced dead after being airlifted by helicopter from the family's horse farm in Bexar County, Texas. Tragic: Wyatt McDaniel, 7, died on his parents' horse farm this weekend after he was buried alive in a large sand pile by his brother . Accident: Police are working on the theory that Wyatt was buried by his brother, but they said that no one yet knew for sure how the boy ended up in the pile. Results of full autopsy has yet to be carried out for what police believe was a tragic  accident on Friday. Police said it appeared the two boys had been playing in a pile of loose beach sand at the horse farm and riding school. It is believed they had dug a hole in the top the pile of loose sand and younger brother Logan may have piled the sand back on top trapping his brother. Paul Berry, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, said the five year old alerted his father. 'The brothers had been playing in the sand together when the younger son came to the father, alerting him that the older brother wasn't moving,' Berry said. Witnesses told investigators Wyatt and his five-year-old brother Logan were playing in a sand pile while their father Charlie was giving a lesson at the Wild Sunday Farm. Although police are working on the theory that Wyatt was buried by his brother they said that no one yet knew for sure how the seven-year-old ended up in the pile. Frantic: Firefighters and paramedics gathered at the Wild Sunday Farm, where Wyatt's father Charlie tried to revive his son . An aerial view of the property, taken by KABB-TV, showed a mound with what appeared to be a depression in the center. 'No one actually saw it' Berry said. 'Clearly there was an accident with sand. And it appeared as if he suffocated, but that needs to be determined by the medical examiner.' Theresa Chamberlain, who said she knows the family, described the brothers as 'inseparable.' The boys were 'best buddies,' she said, 'and we're concerned about Logan, and how he will handle this.' Chamberlain said she is a longtime friend of Logan's mother and has been offering help to the family. An 'outpouring of support' for the family was being held at Wilderness Oaks Elementary, Wyatt's school. The community is invited to tie orange ribbons, his favorite color, around the campus. Devastated: A neighbor says the two boys were 'inseparable' and 'like best friends.' Friends and family fear for Logan and how he will handle his brother's death . According to online property records, Charles McDaniel owns and operates the horse facility Wild Sunday Farm. A photograph on the business' Facebook page that was added in May 2010 shows a small boy smiling broadly and wearing a riding hat atop a black horse. The caption reads: 'Wyatt McDaniel's very first time in the tack. He's a natural! I am so proud of my little guy! :)' One the farms webpage McDaniel boasts how he has trained and looked after many award winning horses. 'For over 20 years, our horses and riders have won at all levels of shows (local, state, and national) and received numerous year end awards,' it says. 'At Wild Sunday Farm, you and your horse will receive the highest degree of safety and the best quality care, teaching and training. Wild Sunday Farm specializes in hunters, jumpers, and equitation and attends all levels of hunter/jumper. 'We are proud to offer an outstanding facility that caters to families and individuals.'" ]

[ "Seven Deadly Sins" ]

[ "*batteries not included", "\"Seven Brides For Seven Brothers\"", "pride & prejudice", "Tulsa (for A Lust)", "Seven Days", "Pride Rock", "The Pride of the Yankees", "The Seven Dwarfs", "Nevada (NV/envy)", "Seven Pounds", "Pride (toP RIDErs)", "the Mercury Seven", "seven feet", "seven billion", "\"Chicago Seven\"", "The Seven Year Itch", "Seven Samurai", "12 or 13 (if they included the Christ figure)", "Seven Hills of Rome", "\"Charley Pride's 10th Album\"", "The Seven Years' War", "House of the Seven Gables", "Pride cometh before a fall", "the Dance of the Seven Veils", "the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", "wrath", "being 7 feet tall", "7 (27)", "Seven Against Thebes", "Self-esteem/worth", "Faith, hope & charity", "The House of the Seven Gables (House of Seven Gables accepted)" ]

[ "San Jacinto Peak" ]

[ "ninth highest", "among the highest", "eight highest", "25th highest", "31st highest", "sixth highest", "2nd highest", "the highest good", "The Valley", "peak hour", "fourth highest", "Quandary Peak", "Seonginbong Peak", "third highest", "Shillong Peak", "Whale Peak", "valley", "Chuchemara Peak", "Foladi peak", "Peak Eleanora", "peaked headdress", "peaked cap", "mountain peaks", "Urkema Peak", "Mervyn Peake", "Gannett Peak", "Francs Peak", "Twin Peaks", "Peak farmland", "Maxine Peake", "North Peak", "Grizzly Peak" ]

[ "Having been raised on miso soup, I was looking forward to trying this instant variety. Objectively and politely reviewed, it is just terrible! When stirred briskly into boiling water, the granules become suspended briefly but do NOT dissolve, producing a brown sludge at the bottom of the cup. The presentation is unappetising. The taste is execrable. The bits of seaweed are minusule. And the deadly salt content is ten times (10 X) the recommended allowance! I am not sure what this is, but I can tell you from 70 years of experience with wonderful miso soups here and in Japan that this product is not fit for human consumption. I threw it out, not wishing to see it restocked and resold by the Seller!" ]

[ "This oil actually smells like coconut oil and tastes very pleasing. I have moved my Spectrum oil from the kitchen to the bathroom and will be using it as a body moisturizer now. I would say that after trying Artisana the Spectrum brand oil should be labeled \"Not for human consumption\" :)", "I bought this for my three parrots and my consumption. It has a very good taste and a good price. Papaya has a lot of Vitamin A which is good for birds and humans.", "Product is made in the USA, all human consumption, no grains, kitties love it, and FREE SHIPPING IS AWESOME!", "Diet sodas contain ultimately a bunch of chemicals not meant for human consumption. This soda is all natural, with an all natural sugar substitute, Stevia. Much safer for the body! Personally, I don't care for some of the other flavors of this soda. But their cola is delish in my book!", "The quality of these seeds is excellent. They begin to germinate for me in 24 hours and in 3 to 5 days they are ready to use. I've never sprouted seeds with results as good as this. I can easily recommend these to the sprouter, whether for human consumption or your four legged friends.", "My dogs liked these as much as the more expensive ones. I did crack my upper denture on one though so for human consumption they should be soaked in warm water for a while.", "We have tried so many types of \"healthy\" food for our kitties and they have turned their noses up at them.<br /><br />They love this brand, and I feel good about giving it to them. It is real food, it looks good and smells good, and from what I understand is packaged at a facility that packages food for human consumption, as well.", "This is the first product my dog will get so excited over he actually twirls, spins, shakes hand, sits up, and \"silent barks\" for. We taught him how to actually whisper a bark! He LOVES these Salmon Strips and, truthfully, they smell good enough for human consumption. Thanks for making a very nutritional snack/treat. My dog gives you a 5+ paws!", "I've been using bonita as a treat for our cats for years. This brand of organic bonita looks to be human consumption quality. Be sure you know how much 2.5 ounces is...it is a lot! Bellyrubs' quality is high and most of the tuna is large flakes, not dusty crumbs. I expect to buy this once or twice a year for our cats. A few flakes and they are happy :)", "Is what it says, a whole mackerel in a can. Our cats love this, much better than ground fish food in a can (and who knows what all is in that stuff.) Plenty of juice along with the whole fish.<br /><br />Looks good enough for human consumption, our cats love it !!", "There is a Chinese article from Taiwan (found in yahoo-Hong Kong) that issued a product recall for all Indomie Noodles. The test result from Taiwanese authorities shows that the product contained excess amount of preservatives. Although damage to human may not be immediate but prolonged consumption could lead to kidney disease.<br /><br />I, myself, used to love this product but I have reduced the consumption of all Instant Noodles from once a day to once every 3 to 4 months. Best to stay away from these processed food especially one with a recall.<br /><br />([...])", "This is essentially the same stuff as Kitty Kaviar and other name-brand bonito flake cat treats for a fraction of the price. Moreover, it's a high-quality, human consumption grade product, so if you enjoy seasoning with Bonito, it can be a feast for you and your furry friends. It is quite a large bag, though, so be prepared to make room in the fridge or freezer because it has to be refrigerated after opening.", "Although rather expensive, this is a quality cat food. It looks like the fish that it is made from, and our cat Rosie loves it. It appears that they put a little bit of the outside of the fish in each can as a treat. This cat food seems to be made at a higher standard than most - the food in the can could be for human consumption. Anyway, I can highly recommend it if you are looking for a high quality cat food.", "We are big jerky fans in this house and I have probably tried all brands at one time or another..This jerky is by far the WORSE!!! You will swear you are eating a Dog Treat and check the package a couple times to make sure they are for human consumption! Well my dogs are eating them as treats now", "I have several adopted dogs and in my circle of friends, we have over 25 dogs combined (mostly rescues and adoptions). This treat is everyone's favorite ! And, while they are \"not for human consumption\", I will admit that I find them very tasty also.<br />If you haven't tried them, I encourage you to do so. The price is right and the babies can't get enough !", "This food is compete garbage. Its main ingrediant is corn, which is very unhealthy for dogs since they cannot digest it. It is just filler that stresses out your dog's digestive systems. You are paying for food your dog can't even digest! Also the meat in this food from meat that was of a too poor quality for human consumption. This includes feet and intestines.<br /><br />Please save yourself time, money, and your dog's health by reading the review of it at [...]", "My little sister cats are very finicky, and they absolutely LOVE every flavor of Greenies. The ingredients are all natural, and the extra vitamin B-1 helps as a flea and tick repellent...REALLY! B-1, or thiamin, builds up with everyday consumption, and it causes an unpleasant odor to emit from the skin that is only detectable by biting insects. It works on humans as well as animals. GOOOOD STUFF!!", "A Ginger & Lemon Beverage Mix sounds like a real treat. I am a hot tea aficionado, but this mix was god-awful. I added it to water both hot and cold. It made everything taste like medicine. My wife refused to drink it at all, so repelled was she by the chemical odor. Although I generally like a lemon flavor, and use ginger in cooking, this combination as presented by Gold Kili is not meant for human consumption.", "These are great.<br /><br />My cat is totally in love with them. She just waits patiently for them. They are very healthy! Also her fur has become so soft that she feels like velvet, like a soft bunny! so much so that everyone that pets her is amazed. This stuff is great, very healthy, very good for her. I'd much rather give her this then some \"wiskas\" or something treat of questionable health benefits :x at least this is natural. :)<br /><br />and as I said in the title, the only reason this doesn't get 5 stars is because its sort of a rip off... if you go to a asian grocer and get Bonito Flakes (or Katsuboshi) you will pay much less, and its probably fresher and better quality, as it is intended for human consumption then. :x", "If you like them spicy this is great.<br />Be sure to wash hands after consumption!", "I've seen these products at high-end pet stores. Don't get ripped off. This is a total waste of money if you live in a town with at least one Asian grocery store.<br />Go to your Asian grocery, preferably Japanese, and purchase dried bonito flakes, i.e. katsuobushi. Katsuobushi is way cheaper and probably much better quality, as it's meant for human consumption. There should only be one ingredient. Bonito. One of the ingredients we Japanese use to make dashi stock.", "My budgie used to love the oat groats I bought from Whole Foods, but when I no longer had access to them, I hoped that the canned variety that I found in pet stores would suffice. Wrong. My budgie refused to eat those. I figured that they must be stale or treated in some way, so I turned to the Sprout House. Because these groats can be sprouted, I figured that they would be fresh. And they are. You wouldn't believe how excited my bird got when I fed him these. And he loves the sprouts almost as much as the seeds.<br /><br />I'd say that about 95-98% sprout, indicating freshness. Because these are organic, I don't worry about chemicals that could kill an animal as delicate as a bird. Of course, that's also good news for humans.<br /><br />If you wanted to use these for human consumption, you could sprout them or soak them overnight before cooking for a nutty oatmeal. You could chop them in your food processor, making your own \"steel-cut\" oatmeal. I've only sprouted them, so I can't say how they taste as a higher-fiber oatmeal. The 1-pound container is probably too small if you plan to use them as hot cereal on a regular basis, but I recommend trying them in this size first before committing to a larger container.<br /><br />-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann", "Yes, my cat loves this stuff. That's besides the point. Really, this is not meant to be cat food. I put this on my rice, my ramen, my tofu, etc. and I eat it. This can also be boiled to make a fish stock, although it doesn't really give a super strong stock unless you use a lot of the flakes. The flakes are very meaty, taste mild and very good. For those of you who don't like fish, this isn't for you. However, you probably have had bonito fish stock if you've had miso soup before. I love this stuff. I set aside a small batch for my cat because he loves it too and it's a great treat for both of us that is not salty, preservative laden, or fatty.<br /><br />tl;dr: Great taste, can be used as a healthy alternative to cat treats, but it's really meant for human consumption.", "This seemed (at first) like a cheap alternative for tooth brushing, but after a few weeks without substantial results I'm beginning to have my doubts. I've received numerous complaints regarding bad breath from my girlfriend, and have discovered a noticeable increase in salivation as well as unsightly hair growth. I've read that many dogs have choked, gagged, and even puked while eating these hygiene chews. Unfortunately I can report the same problems during human consumption. This is mainly because they are a little too big to be swallowed whole, and sometimes when you're eating especially vivaciously they'll tend to slowly clog your throat if you forget to swallow often enough, triggering your gag reflex. It does merit three stars however, because they taste DELICIOUS. The taste itself is worth the negative side-effects. I've seen no reviews so far covering effects on humans, so I just thought I'd throw in a few of own my personal experiences.", "This is the third flavor of this brand we tried and it, like the other two, have been a huge hit with our cat. We follow a primarily raw food diet for him and sometimes get cans as a treat (or if we get a little lazy). This brand is high quality and really does seem safe for human consumption. Amazon offers an amazing deal so we're back to stock up before the cost goes up. Delivery was a dream, as usual. For less than twenty cents more per can than some horrible by-product laden generic cat food, our little beast (and we) are satisfied. Marbella Paella was a huge hit!", "I agree with \"Nicole Rae\": it makes no sense whatsoever that Weruva would be using Menadione Sodium Bisulfite. You don't need a Vit K supplement, and if you want it then use kelp pwdr because it's cheap. Google this ingredient for yourself. For some reason TWO WERUVA FLAVORS DON'T USE THIS INGREDIENT: PAW LICKIN CHIKIN and PEKING DUCKEN. The kitten loves them, but he loved Poly BBQ and others too. Hey, if it's banned for human consumption in some European countries, why take the chance. I called the company and simply gave them direct feedback: please stop using this ingredient, then I'll buy the full line so long as the kittens will eat it and luv on it. I hope they won't be 10 yr old cats by that time.", "I will no longer consider buying product from Kelloggs for the following reason:<br />Kelloggs continues to include GMO (genetically modified organism) ingredients in their products but refuses to include that information on their product labels. There are no long term studied to prove that GMOs are safe for either human or animal consumption. Kelloggs/ position is that GMOs are deemed safe by the FDA so they are not required to be identified to consumers. However, Michael Taylor, head of the FDA, is a former attorney for Monsanto, the chemical company responsible for the development and wide spread use of GMOs in the American food supply, illustrating a conflict of interest that prevents the FDA from acting responsibly. It's interesting to note that 50 other countries around the world have banned GMOs from their food supply all together but consumers here in the United States do not even have the right to be informed when GMOs are present in the products we buy. Kelloggs is an unacceptable choice as long as they refuse to fully disclose the true nature of their ingredients to consumers.", "Baxie loves it, it looks so much like human food. Thank you", "This product contains yellow prussiate of soda, an anti-caking agent that is a regulated chemical that seems to be a concern when taken in high amounts. No surprise as it contains cyanide. It also affects what you can do with it in terms of pickling and brining. The USFDA CFR Title 21, v6 Sec 573.1020 regulates it in the following way -- notice that it doesn't say HUMAN consumption: The exact wording in the Code of Fed Regs is \"Yellow prussiate of soda...may be safely used as an anticaking agent in salt for animal consumption at a level not to exceed 13 parts per million. The additive contains a minimum of 99.0 percent of weight of sodium ferrocyanide decahydrate.\" I bought this at the grocery store and am throwing it away. It may not be \"much\" in terms of contaminants from this single product (altho they COULD use food grade diatomaceous earth and have the same \"anticaking\" effect), but given we are being bombed with contaminants like this from all sides in our foods, every little bit of avoidance seems like the smarter option. I recommend you do not buy this salt -- look for Kosher salt options that do not have additives. If your salt cakes, you can easily crush it and add a spoon of diatomaceous earth (food grade) and mix it well -- this does a good job as well. The \"convenience\" of free-flowing kosher salt is not worth the added chemical ingestion...", "Lets break it down:<br />Chicken- looks like 1st ingredint, but really isnt since all ingredients are listed based on weight prior to extrusion and since meat is 80% water, it slides way down the list.<br /><br />Main ingredients:<br /><br />brewers rice- byproduct when nutrition portion of the rice is taken out (for human consumption)<br /><br />wheat- another filler, common allergen<br /><br />poultry byproduct- rendered slaughterhouse waste , whatever is leftover when prime cuts are taken out, can contain diseased animals.<br /><br />corn gluten- another byproduct, remnant after the nutritious portion is taken out, common allergen<br /><br />animal fat- unidentified, could come from euthanized shelter animals.<br /><br />and the list goes on, more corn, soy and plethora of other indigestible matter.<br /><br />Probably costs $3 to make, more goes into the pretty packaging.", "This salt-free seasoning blend is a great product for those that sanction their salt consumption. It has great flavor and it is much less expensive via Amazon.com than in-store purchase (if you can find it).", "Still once in awhile you need to get that sugar craving fix and this will do it. It is sugar smacks anyway you look at it. Not good for daily consumption in my opinion..but hey, once in awhile you need a treat..." ]

[ "I love the size and feel of this towl. The only problem is the color. It was supposed to be \"cranberry\" but looks more like \"rust\"." ]

[ "In an interview, author Amor Towles described his protagonist as having 'a will to joy.' That sensibility pervades this elegantly written, satisfying novel.", "This was different from anything I have ever read! An enchanting story laced with the history of Russia that mesmerized me. Mr. Towles has a way with words that makes enjoy this book and not want it to end.", "It feels soft and comfy. Love the color and texture, the only problem is it's a bit small in size.", "This towle is a nice texture. However it does not lay flat on my mat due to the way that it was surged. Constantly having to readjust it during class. Also colors are tie dye with lots of pink not galaxy looking like the photo leads you to think.", "It seems to have taken forever for this book to become available for the general public to read, but what a knockout! Totally worth the wait and loved it from start to finish, with all the scintillating twists and turns. What a superbly clever writer Samantha Towle is!! Such a way with words. So much so that you feel a part of the actual book, not merely the reader, but somehow inside the scenario unfolding in front of you. More like an onlooker.\n\nIncredible achievement for your first publication and so can't wait for the next! Bring it on - and quick!!!", "This is a re-hashed litany of Tillman's football career, along with comments from others that were mostly in the public domain, with absolutely no insight into the man. It is particualrly trashy to try to make money from the reputation of a true fallen hero.\n\nTillman did the right thing and kept it to himself, Towle takes advantage for his own (and the publisher's) financial benefit.\n\nThere shoud be negative stars in your rating system, because this \"book\" deserves them.", "I am a size 13/14 and these socks are too big. Love the feel and comfort. Will buy again, in a smaller size.", "loved it i am a 1-2 x i ordered a 4x xxxxl and still too small i wish they were true to size had to sadly return it :(", "Bought these for a gift but feel the sizing is right & I know she will love them!!!", "I love this and get lots of compliments on it. I have small wrists and the small size fits perfect. It feels durable and well made.", "Love these and they fit great. Nice thing about Chucks is once you know your correct size they always fit in that size. I feel they run about a half size large.", "Great lights. Looks and feel sturdy and permanent. I love the medium sized balls of lights.", "I love it, perfect size and so far been a very good product, sticks well providing directions for applying are followed.", "Love the shoes but they are too small (I usually wear a 9, and I ordered a 9) and they feel like size 7s.", "Love how these feel! Not a fan of how big they are. :(", "It runs large on me so I will have to adjust it. I love it though and it is beautiful as well as convenient.", "I love this shoe and it feels wonderful on but I had to return it. These really do run long. Order a size smaller than normal.", "I planned to get a size bigger - the crotch was too short and tight for me. I love the feel of the jeans.", "With most tablets getting smaller and thinner this tablet goes outside the box. Its big and bulky and i love it. It feels well constructed and durable. Tons of ports full size hdmi/usb/full size sd card. Love this tab", "This lantern is just beautiful!! I love it! Came on time and undamaged. It comes with a chain and a hook. Its a medium sized lantern with a very morrocan feel. Love it.", "Love this! It's so soft and warm. I just wish I would've gotten one that's a little bit bigger.", "but I love it. the material is heavy but it is a perfect fit. I just ordered a size up.", "I love the feel of these sheets. I got the Queen size but the fitted sheet runs a little small. It doesn't tuck in on the sides. But it's not so bad that I can't use them.", "The shoe ran a bit large and the toe box feels quite big. I would get a 1/2 size smaller. I do love Solomon products.", "I use this bag all the time, I just wish it was a bit bigger.\nLove it.", "Quality is awesome, not a cheap feel or look at all... love the colors and different compartments. Perfect size. Glad I purchased!", "It was sorta smaller than I thought. But I love the way it looks.", "I feel ridiculous loving a salt and pepper grinder as much as I love this one. The black wing at the base of each side controls the granule size, with five options. The pepper isn't the best, but both are so good. I love this grinder.", "Loved the colors, the quality, the Dearfoams individually. However, if you are larger than a size 14 this ROBE WON'T FIT. ONE STAR OFF because I truly feel the measurement is misleading. Saving for Christmas for my size 10 niece. She will LOVE IT.", "I absolutely love it. It is the perfect size and the instructions are very thorough. Thank you!!", "The size is fit my feet, (38EU), It's so nice and very comfortable,I can wear with jean or suits,and I like the style too.", "Its big but i don't care, its cute and i love it. It comes in great condition and i haven't had a problem with it.:)" ]

[ "Oh my god these shells and white cheddar cheese are glorious. You really should buy CASES of these, they are so delicious. If you have a hearty appetite, this \"family size\" will serve one just fine. I can't get over how amazing it tastes. Not only that, but for this recipe the shells are perfect - they hold the flavor MAGNIFICENTLY! It only takes minutes to prepare. And be ready: you may begin shedding tears of joy once you place a spoonful in your mouth - it is THAT good. Plus it's organic if that's important to you." ]

[ "I used to like this product until I learned that it is made in China!<br /><br />How many more horror stories do we need to hear about such atrocities as lead in baby toys made in China, contaminated baby formula made in China, contaminated tooth paste made in China, and poisoned pet food before we learn that -- if it comes from China-- it should not go in your mouth, your baby's mouth, or your pet's mouth??!!!", "This Ramen is the best Ramen in the world. It is very spicy and has great flavor. It is so much better than the $.10 Ramen you find in your avg. grocery store. Authentic Korean ramen. Add some egg to it, and you'll be in Ramen Heaven. So so good.", "Well as everyone knows, green tea is super healthy and good, take 8 tea bags heat 4 cups water to nearly boiling and steep for 4 minutes, fill your tea pitcher half way with cool water and stir in 1/8 tsp of stevia add steeped tea and stir then rinse tea bags with fresh water and add to pitcher. Add ice and it's pure heaven! so refreshing!", "I've bought all 3 brands of pitted country olives sold on Amazon. These are my least favorite by far. There is too much rosemary in them. It detracts from the olive's flavor and all the rosemary \"stems\" make for an unpleasant eating experience. I find myself reaching in my mouth to pull out the stems like when you have a hair in your mouth.", "This coffee tastes worst than any gas station coffee. It leaves a horrible after taste in your mouth before you even finish drinking one cup." ]

[ "Philae Temple is home to the Aswan sound and light show." ]

[ "Philae Temple is more than 40 minutes away.", "Light and sound Show.", "Philae is a place of worship.", "There is a foreground for the Sound and Light Show.", "There is a sound-and-light show that plays in the evenings.", "The cathedral has a sound and light show.", "A sound and light show made fun of religions.", "During the spring Masada hosts impressive sound-and-light shows.", "A sound and light show defended religions.", "During the summer Masada hosts impressive sound-and-light shows.", "The summer evenings on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday offer dazzling sound and light shows.", "There is an amazing light show going on.", "During the summertime, a sound-and-light show is put on at the Shalimar Bagh.", "You can learn more about Sound and Light shows at www.sound-light.egypt.com.", "There are some lights.", "A sound-and-light show is held in the evening in the courtyard.", "A sound-and light-show happens first thing in the morning.", "We are a few minutes away.", "Philae is the nearest temple to Aswan.", "It takes 20 minutes to give MAST.", "There were over 20 available photographs of Light.", "Philae is the furthest temple from Aswan Town.", "There is no Sound and Light show.", "The temple is near the theater.", "The sound could be one of the three concerts happening.", "It is twenty miles away.", "There are big shows.", "The event is not currently taking place.", "It takes just 20 minutes to burn fair skin.", "Philae Temple was a beautiful temple, but set in a grim location.", "A cat show is taking place.", "Just twenty miles from the market is the Man Ho Temple, with huge saunas and indoor hot springs." ]

[ "By . Will Payne In Lincoln Park, New Jersey . PUBLISHED: . 12:39 EST, 7 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 13:42 EST, 7 March 2014 . The ‘spoiled’ cheerleader fighting a bitter law suit against her parents previously threatened to sue a teacher for kicking her out of the Homecoming dance because he thought she was drunk. Senior tutor William Schilling spotted Rachel Canning out in the parking lot with a group of boys – including her boyfriend Lucas Kitzmiller – and thought they were acting suspiciously. Earlier in the evening Rachel, now 18, had apparently been hard loudly boasting that she had Everclear, a brand of vodka. Entitled: Rachel Canning, left, threatened to sue her school after she was kicked out of her Homecoming Dance because she was strongly suspected of being drunk of vodka . Bragging: Rachel was heard bragging by teachers that she had a bottle of Everclear. They searched her car, didn't find any and the teacher who hauled her into an office was convinced she was drunk . Above the law: Rachel, pictured in her Homecoming Dance dress, felt she had a case against the teacher . She was hauled into a school office and questioned while teachers searched the car she had been standing near. They didn’t find any alcohol and she was cleared of drinking, but in Tuesday’s court hearing a lawyer representing Rachel’s parents Elizabeth and Sean revealed Mr Schillings had told them he was convinced she was drunk and would have been able to prove it ‘if he’d had a breathalizer’. Despite that Rachel was insistent she was completely innocent – even though she was suspended for two days in the aftermath of the incident. She was so angry that, according to her parents, she started to threaten legal action against Mr Schilling. In court documents seen by MailOnline, Elizabeth wrote: ‘Rachel also had starting threatening filing a lawsuit against Mr. Schilling from Morris Catholic for making her miss her Homecoming Dance’. Explaining the incident she went on: ‘On October 12, 2013 we were contacted by Morris Catholic High School, and spoke with Mr Schilling, who advised us that Rachel was suspected of drinking and had been heard bragging loudly, inside the Homecoming Dance, and having ‘Everclear’, a grain of vodka alcohol. ‘Mr Schilling relayed to us that Rachel had been seen in the parking lot with her boyfriend and several other boys acting in a suspicious manner, which caused the Morris Catholic authorities to search their vehicle. She added: ‘Mr Schilling also related to us that they had discovered plans for a post-homecoming dance alcohol party, presumably at our house, hosted by Rachel. Not impressed: The judge hearing her claim that her parents should pay her school fees and maintenance even though she refuses to live by their rules took a very dim view of her case . Support: Jon Inglesino is pictured with Rachel Canning at her hearing this week. The powerful attorney is funding her case and letting her stay at his mansion . ‘Rachel was suspended for this behavior for two days by Morris Catholic, being placed on probation for the rest of the fall semester and not being allowed to participate in the Peer Ministry Group because of her behavior.’ Rachel’s version of events was very different. She wrote: ‘There was an incident where I was accused of being intoxicated at my high school’s Homecoming dance. I was found not to be intoxicated.’ But her alleged reaction to threaten legal action seems to demonstrate the kind of mentality that has led her to sue her parents for maintenance, college bills and legal fees, after claiming they abandoned her. She even went on to allege that her mother was the cause of her bulimia because she called her 'porky' and that her father had an 'inappropriate affection' for her. However, Mrs Canning said the girl developed a 'hatred' for her mother because all she did was try to get her treatment for her eating disorder. And a Department of Children and Families investigation cleared Mr Canning of any claims of abuse, with Rachel's parents claiming an official assigned to the case came to the conclusion she was just 'spoiled'. Her pleas for immediate financial assistance were denied in a hearing at Morris County Court on Tuesday, but Judge Peter Bogaard set a trial date for April 22. Rachel’s controversial legal battle is being funded by the father of her best friend, millionaire lawyer Jon Inglesino. The Cannings believe he is enabling their daughter’s behavior and encouraging her to take the matter to court. She is currently living In their large mansion in Rockaway Township, New Jersey. War: Elizabeth and Sean Canning aren't just fighting with their daughter, but the Inglesinos - in whose home they claim Rachel had her first drink - and with the parents of her boyfriend Lucas Kitzmiller . Princess: Rachel even accused her mother of being the cause of her bulimia, claiming that Mrs Canning had called her 'porky' and 'fat'. Mrs Canning because she tried to help, Rachel developed a 'hatred' towards her . Sean Canning wrote: ‘The fact the Inglesino family has subsidized a lawsuit, rather than providing responsible guidance in abiding by a parent’s rules is not an acceptable society norm.’ Yesterday we revealed the parents claim in court papers that Inglesino, the managing partner at Inglesino, Wyciskala & Taylor and a member of Gov. Chris Christie’s School Funding Task Force – allegedly allowed Rachel to drink in his house. Apparently when Rachel was a 15-year-old freshman she got so drunk on vodka at Inglesino’s home that she was sick all over the sidewalk and into a garbage can after her dad Sean picked her up for a basketball game. And according to the Canning family, Inglesino’s wife Amy gave Rachel and her friends wine coolers in the back of a limo bound for New York on her daughter’s 15th birthday. In an excerpt from explosive court documents, Sean – a retired police chief from Lincoln Park – wrote: ‘The Inglesino household, according to Rachel in the past, is more lenient. She would often tell us how the Inglesino parents would allow alcoholic parties to be held at their house…. ‘Rachel’s first time drinking alcohol was at the Inglesino house, in March of 2011 and on other occasions including their daughter’s 15th birthday where they have freely provided alcohol. ‘Rachel came home bragging saying that during the limo ride to NY, Mrs Inglesino gave all the girls wine coolers to drink. This type of behavior we did not condone.’ The war of words between the Inglesinos and the Cannings is not the only family feud to have developed during the bitter legal dispute. On Wednesday MailOnline exclusively revealed that the parents of Rachel’s boyfriend Lucas Kitzmiller are furious the Cannings are blaming him for making her ‘obsessed with alcohol’ and getting her suspended from school. Corrupting? Lucas Kitzmiller, right, has been accused of leading Rachel astray with drink, parties and even getting her suspended from her Catholic High School in New Jersey . They also dragged his dad Jeffery and mom Lisa into the battle, saying they regularly brought the boozed-up pair home well after curfew, turning up at 3.30am on one occasion. They gave Rachel an ultimatum that she had to either split up with her boyfriend, or move out. In one exchange between the Catholic high School girl and her father last November she wrote: 'Well I'm not coming home if I can't see him'. Rachel refused to dump Lucas and actually moved in with his family for two nights, before relocating to the Inglesinos. But Jeffery Kitzmiller defended his son and his wife, Lisa. He said: ‘My son has been painted in a questionable light by some of the comments from the Cannings. 'Their only experience of him is that he met the father long enough to shake hands. That's the only interaction they have ever had. They made their decision about him from that. 'If you read the court papers you can see the trend is with every boyfriend she's had it's always the boyfriend who's the bad influence. We have been dragged into this.’ Rachel’s chances of winning against her parents look slim after Tuesday’s initial hearing, especially after her pleas for immediate financial aid were shot down in flames by Judge Bogaard. He was incredibly vocal in his criticism of the high school student. After reading an expletive-laden and vicious answerphone message left by Rachel, from Lincoln Park, New Jersey to her mother, in which the girl said: 'I wanna s*** all over your face', he said: 'Have you ever in your experience seen such gross disrespect for a parent? I don’t see it in my house.’ If looks could kill: Inglesino's children Jamie, left, and Lauren, right, glower at Rachel's father, Sean. The Cannings claim their daughter once came back from a party at the Inglesino house so drunk she vomited on the sidewalk . The judge added that Rachel had given her mom and dad: ‘The proverbial f you’. He also warned he must consider the 'slippery slope' where 'we open the gates for a 12-year-old to sue for an Xbox, a 13-year-old to sue for an iPhone… what about a 15-year-old asking for a 60 inch TV?' Yesterday a Facebook account called ‘Education for Rachel’ appeared, apparently set up by the controversial teen. Incendiary posts were made defending her position and attacking other groups such as baby boomers. One message read, ‘Educating children is first in parenting skills’. Hundreds of people, ‘liked’ the page and scores reacted with fury to her comments. But yesterday – despite certain media reports - Jon Inglesino confirmed to MailOnline that it was a fake account and had not been set up by Rachel. Around the same time a page called, ‘In Support for Sean and Elizabeth Canning’ was set up." ]

[ "Parents have hit out at a high school's 'ridiculous' dress code after dozens of girls were turned away from their homecoming dance. Some arrived at Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah, wearing floor-length gowns, others in high-necked ensembles. But one by one, around 24 girls were forced to sit in a line for inspection - before being ordered to leave. Scroll down for video . Distraught: Erika Shepherd was wearing a high-necked, floor-length gown when teachers turned her away . They are now calling on the high school to apologize, sending in pictures of their gowns and asking teachers to analyze why they are inappropriate. One of the girls who was turned away on Saturday, Erika Shepherd, arrived in a floor-length dress. She told Fox 13: 'They pulled me to the side and asked me to twirl around to see if I was immodest, then made me sit against the wall.' 'And while I was sitting against the wall there was about ten other girls that were sitting there being embarrassed.' Eventually, a teacher told her 'it's too low in the back' and that she 'needed to get a jacket or go home and change clothes'. Her classmate Taylor Gillespie was also sent home in her knee-length purple halter-neck dress. Taylor had made sure her dress did not come up past mid-thigh when she sat down - one of the school's strict rules. Sweeping: Despite the length, officials at Bingham High School in Utah deemed Erika's dress 'inappropriate' Strict: She was told to go home and get a jacket or to leave the homecoming dance on Saturday altogether . But when she arrived, teachers would not let her in. 'They just took a wild guess and said, 'You're not admitted in.'' Her father Chad Perhson told Fox 13: 'I asked them why they turned her away and then showed them a picture of her on the phone I'd taken myself of her sitting down where the dress meets her knees.' The school has rebuffed criticism, claiming its guidelines are clearly stated on the website. The code, posted online, reads: 'Dresses should cover chest and back at the top of the armpit and should be secure and stay in position. 'Hemlines should go no higher than the mid-thigh when seated. 'Boys should be in collared shirts and no jeans. Vetted: Taylor Gillespie had checked her dress against the guidelines before arriving but was turned away . Too short? The school rules dresses must not come up above mid-thigh when sitting down . Angry: Taylor left the dance and refused to return because she was so embarrassed by the incident . 'Behaviour/dancing should be safe and appropriate. 'Students who fail to follow these guidelines will be not admitted or removed from the dance.' However, the students and their parents insist they were singled out for no reason while other students were allowed to go in. Maddi Rowley, another student upset by the situation, told Fox 13: 'Other girls were admitted into the dance wearing my same dress in different colors. I was in high heals (sic), as you can see, and I am a taller girl. 'I am very angry, especially because my date couldn't get his money refunded. Surely you can understand the injustice. I'm nearly an adult, and my parents allowed me to go out in this dress.' The incident comes two years after nearby Stansbury High barred dozens of girls from the homecoming dance for wearing dresses that were 'too short'. However, days later, the principal issued an apology.", "By . Steph Cockroft . A teenager broke down in tears after a dance instructor asked her to perform 'erotically' on stage to the controversial song Blurred Lines, her parents have claimed. Bella Hobbs, 14, was allegedly asked to push her cleavage out, pull her skirt up to her crotch and gyrate her hips during the lesson at The Castle School in Thornbury, near Bristol. When Bella refused, the Year 10 pupil was forced to argue with her Zumba instructor - who was an external teacher from outside the school - in front of friends, her parents say. Scroll down for video . Bella Hobbs, 14, a pupil at the Castle School in Thornbury, near Bristol (pictured above), was allegedly reduced to tears after her Zumba dance instructor asked her to perfom erotically to the controversial song Blurred Lines . She also had to apparently say 'no' four times before the instructor allowed her to sit out of the dance. Now Bella’s 'horrified' parents, Catherine Hobbs and . Neil Castleton, from Thornbury, are demanding an apology from the school. They say the song - which has been criticised for glorifying rape and sexual violence - should never have been played in front of the children. The chart-topping single, written by Robin Thicke, was even banned by some student unions over its controversial lyrics after it was released last summer. Ms Hobbs, 44, a former teacher who now works as a therapist, said: 'I am not a prude, I am a liberal person . and I haven’t got a problem with sexuality, but for a child to feel . worried that what they are doing is dirty and rude, that is wrong.' Ms Hobbs claims her daughter came home from school in a state of distress. Bella told her parents she felt 'dirty' about being asked to perform the moves because they were 'too sexy'. Robin Thicke, left, has been criticised for the lyrics in his song Blurred Lines, which he performed in raunchy fashion alongside controversial singer Miley Cyrus at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards in August, right . She said: 'Bella said that she was unhappy about the way that she was asked to dance, she said it was dirty. 'When she showed me the dance that she was expected to do, I would have been horrified. 'She said she was told to dance by pushing her cleavage out and wiggling her chest, pulling her skirt up to her crotch and gyrating her hips.' Ms Hobbs also said it must have been hard for her daughter to stand her ground so many times. Melanie Warnes, executive headmaster at the school, pictured above, said Bella's mother and father were the only parents to complain. She said the two PE teachers overseeing the lesson did not notice the song being played . She claims the two teachers observing the Zumba class subliminally endorsed the sexualisation of children by not stopping the dance. Ms Hobbs said she is now concerned about the impact the alleged incident will have on the other children. She said Bella did not understand the song and she had to spend two hours explaining to her daughter why the graphic lyrics were wrong. But Melanie Warnes, the school’s executive headmaster, said Bella’s mother and father were the only parents to make a complaint about the Zumba classes. She said the lyrics would not have been audible underneath the shouted instructions and the general sound of 50 students and children making noise. The two experienced female PE teachers, who were overseeing the lesson, did not notice the song being played, she said. She said: 'We are investigating and we would take it very seriously if any age inappropriate lyrics have been used. 'The teachers were not aware that any inappropriate dance moves had been made.' She added that Bella, as an experienced dancer, had been asked to demonstrate but refused and there was 'no issue made'. She said the song was most likely part of an iPod playlist of lively dance music and the teachers were 'not aware of anybody being uncomfortable'.", "A schoolboy was taken out of class for a day - because teachers said his hair was too short. Jack Littlewood, 13, was punished with 'isolation' at his school in Wardley, Greater Manchester, because of his short back and sides cut. His furious mother Amanda Brown insists the youngster has thick hair and wears it short to stop it from becoming unruly. Jack Littlewood (pictured), 13, was placed in 'isolation' at his school in Wardley, Greater Manchester, because of his short back and sides cut, his mother claims . But his short haircut was picked up on and the teenager was placed in a classroom for the day with children who had misbehaved at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School. He was issued with two days of isolation as punishment and a note was sent home explaining why. But the following day he was told to rejoin his classmates because his hair looked more acceptable. His mother has now written to the school to complain. The letter reads: 'It is disgusting he is not getting the education he is entitled to whilst in isolation and I will be taking this matter further should you inflict this punishment on him another day.' She said: 'I can understand if he had a skinhead, tramlines or had it coloured but his haircut is just a normal short back and sides.' The schoolboy's short haircut was picked up on and the teenager was placed in a classroom for the day with children who had misbehaved at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School (pictured) School rules state boys should wear their hair no shorter than a number three cut all over. Jack has a number two clipper cut worn longer on top. Year 9 pupil Jack, who had his haircut last Saturday, arrived at St Ambrose Barlow from St George's High School in September following the closure of the high school in Walkden. Ms Brown says he was never in trouble for his hairstyle at St George's. Headteacher Marie Garside declined to comment on the matter other than to say: 'Parents are aware of the school rules before pupils start in September.' According to government guidelines, every school has a behaviour policy which sets out the conduct for pupils before and after school as well as during the school day. Scools can punish pupils if they behave badly with measures including a routine 'telling-off', a letter home, detention or confiscating something considered inapporpriate for school. But it can also include removing a pupil from a class or group. Parents have the right to complain about a punishment and must first contact the headteacher. If they are not satisfied, they can ask for a copy of the school's complaints procedure.", "By . Rachel Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 08:16 EST, 13 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:19 EST, 13 August 2013 . Sophie Lewis can now walk thanks to a pioneering operation that involves using magnets to lengthen bones . A teenager has been given pioneering treatment using magnets to slowly lengthen her right leg. Until recently Sophie Lewis, 17, struggled to walk because of a pelvic deformity and curved spine that has left her in crippling pain. But after becoming the youngest patient in the UK to undergo a new treatment, Miss Lewis is quickly gaining independence and recovering well. Surgeons have fitted a telescopic rod in her right thigh which will slowly lengthen and extend the limb by 6cm. The metal rod is controlled by magnets and Sophie must use a remote control at home to gradually lengthen her leg by 1mm each day. She will repeat the procedure 60 times, eventually adding 6cm to her leg to correct her deformity and the rod will be removed in a year’s time. Ms Lewis, who lives with optical assistant mother Karen, 43, electrician father Garry, 51, and younger brother Matthew, 13, explained the groundbreaking operation. She said that inside the rod is a magnetic gear, and when she hovers her magnet above her right kneecap, the magnets repel one another, which twists and pulls the rod apart to extend the leg by 1mm a day. Miss Lewis, from Grimsby in Lincolnshire, is so delighted with her progress and the work of doctors at Sheffield Children’s Hospital she now wants to study to become an orthopaedic surgeon. She said: 'I was worried and excited because I knew I was the youngest person to have this surgery but I had a lot of confidence in the surgeon. 'The doctors decided it was better for me to have this operation because I’m hoping to be a spinal surgeon so I’ll spend the majority of my time standing up. 'If they lengthen my leg it will mean the pain should subside everywhere else. 'I did want to be a dance teacher but then I got really interested in orthopaedic surgery and now I’d like to be a surgeon. 'We’ve been to conferences and met a few people who know about my condition but no one has seen anything like it. 'The doctors in Sheffield have been fantastic and I’m really glad they recommended me for this operation so I can beat the pain.' Until recently Miss Lewis took 13 painkillers a day because of her disability. She had a twisted sacrum - the large, triangular bone at the base of the spine - and was left with one hip almost touching her rib cage. The metal rod is controlled by magnets and Sophie uses a scanner at home to gradually lengthen her leg by 1mm each day. She will repeat the procedure 60 times, eventually adding 6cm to her leg to correct her deformity and the rod will be removed in a year¿s time . In addition to this, her legs were not aligned correctly and were tilted to the opposite side. She said: 'I've had to live with the pain gradually getting worse for years so when the operation came up, it completely changed my life. 'I've had problems since birth and I realised that I always had a short leg but did nothing about it. 'When I was 13, I had a 3D scan performed which then made me realise that my pelvis was deformed. 'The pain gradually got worse, and in my teenage years the pain has become as bad as ever. 'It was constant and was taking a toll on my breathing. Sometimes I physically couldn't take anymore. 'I had to give up doing P.E. in school in Year 8, and had to give up dancing.' Surgeons inserted the rod in a four-hour operation after breaking her upper leg bone but left just six tiny scars. The rod, called the Precise Intramedullary Limb Lengthening System, has been used in the U.S. but never before in someone so young. Just 330 of the operations have been carried out across the globe and only ten have been performed in the UK, all on adults. The procedure reduces pain and scarring and means the patient can be up and about quicker after surgery. Orthopaedic surgeon James Fernandes said: 'It’s been fantastic to be able to perform this operation on the youngest person so far. 'This new technology we’re using is very advanced. We are starting to be able to use this on patients who are younger and younger. 'Our centre is known internationally for its orthopaedic work. 'We advise and treat hundreds of children every year with limb abnormalities and are a major centre for training the next generation of paediatric orthopaedic surgeons. 'Hopefully now we can treat more children in this way reducing the pain and recovery time.'", "By . Neil Sears and Emily Andrews . PUBLISHED: . 17:55 EST, 30 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:10 EST, 2 January 2013 . He's never afraid of being outspoken on Strictly Come Dancing. When it comes to affairs of the heart, however, it turns out Len Goodman is rather good at keeping quiet. The 68-year-old married his long-term girlfriend yesterday in a surprise ceremony. The 30 family and friends he invited thought they were attending a quiet Sunday lunch – until the registrar arrived. Third time lucky! Len Goodman and Sue Barrett arrive for their surprise wedding at Mosimann's in London . Goodman, head judge on BBC1's dance show, had been with Sue Barrett, 47, a dance teacher, for more than ten years. It's third time lucky for Goodman. At 28, he married his champion dance partner Cherry, but they divorced a few years later. He then had a long-term partner, Lesley, with whom he had a son, James. He told the Daily Mail yesterday: 'I've had a marvellous day, and now my gorgeous Sue is the new Mrs Goodman. 'Did I pickle my walnuts? Of course I did! I wanted it to be a low-key affair, so we didn't tell anyone except my 96-year-old mum as I didn't want her having a heart attack with the surprise.' Asked if he got down on one knee, he laughed and replied: 'At my age, no way! I made her go four stairs above me on the staircase so at least she was taller than me, does that count? Dancing duo: Len Goodman with his first wife and champion dancing partner Cherry Kingston . The long-term girlfriend: Goodman's second partner, Lesley, with whom he had a son, James . 'We've had a marvellous day, with marvellous food surrounded by all my dearest friends – and it didn't go on for too long so it didn't get boring!' Among the guests was close friend and Strictly professional Anton du Beke. He and Goodman celebrated afterwards with a little waltz outside exclusive Mosimann's private dining club in London's Belgravia. The dancer, who arrived with a glamorous blonde on his arm, said: 'I didn't know a thing about Len getting married. It was a complete surprise – hilarious really, but completely marvellous.' Aside from Du Beke, the ceremony was a distinctly unstarry affair. Friends: Goodman at his London wedding with guest and fellow Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke . Absent: Strictly presenters Tess Daly and Sir Bruce Forsyth and Goodman's fellow judges were not at the wedding . Tess Daly, Sir Bruce Forsyth and Goodman's fellow judges Bruno Tonioli, Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood were all absent. Not that the wedding – which cost £25,000 – lacked glamour. Guests were treated to a champagne reception on the mezzanine balcony overlooking the central restaurant, which Goodman paid £10,000 to hire. The couple, both dressed in blue, were married in a private room by Westminster superintendent registrar  Alison Cathcart. After the short ceremony at 2pm, their guests sat down to a sumptuous five-course lunch. There was a choice of prawn cocktail or Asian-style pumpkin soup to start, followed by mushroom risotto. For the main course guests could . choose between seabass or English lamb with stir-fried vegetables, with . cheese and 'old school' apple crumble to finish. The happy couple then - of course - took to the floor for, as Goodman put it, 'a spot of dance-teacher dancing.' The . Strictly judge, who officially registered his intention to marry in . August, said: 'I've been going out with my lovely Sue for  ages and I . decided it was time to pop  the question. 'She's . gorgeous and makes me very happy – though she likes to stay out of the . limelight. It was a complete surprise to my friends and family today and . we've had a fabulous time.' Private wedding: Goodman's fellow judges from the BBC One show were not among the guests .", "By . Emma Reynolds . This is the shocking moment a furious mixed-race teenager tried to hit a woman on the Tube after she made a racist remark. The mobile phone footage posted on YouTube yesterday is entitled 'Racist Woman On London Train Gets What She Deserves!' It begins a short way into their argument - after the 19-year-old aspiring recording artist had apparently stepped on the woman's shoe. Scroll down for videos . Violence: The female passengers, left, makes racist comments until the boy is so angry he lunges at her . Furious reaction: The 19-year-old is dragged away from the woman and told to 'relax' by fellow passengers, while the driver asks what is going on over the intercom . Race row: The pair trade insults in the run-up to the violence, with her calling him a 'smelly Nigerian' and him calling her a 'white princess' The pair trade insults, with the boy shouting that the woman has been racist, and her then calling him a 'smelly Nigerian', before he compares her to an 'escort'. Their . expletive-littered argument then descends into violence, with the . teenager lunging at the woman after accusing her of having hit him with a . bottle. Eventually, the Tube . driver asks what is happening over the intercom, and the three-minute . video comes to an end as the fight is broken up. A Twitter user known as Cidz Carnage or @carnageofficial, thought to be the youth involved, tweeted on Tuesday: 'Oi some racist women was giving it to me today, then she hit me with a bottle then i f***ed her over dumb b****.' He later added: 'Calling me a smelly african... Then having the audacity is hit me with a bottle.' And yesterday he posted: 'Remember Racism is Disgusting and Totally Unacceptable'. He later deleted the tweets. British Transport Police believe the video was filmed on Tuesday and posted online the next day. War of words: She accuses him of stepping on her toe and he asks if she thinks she is in America, before she apparently hits him with a bottle as the row escalates . A BTP spokesman said: 'There is an . allegation of abusive behaviour by the woman towards the man, but that . doesn’t justify a violent response. 'The . man and woman pictured in the images are seen arguing with each other . on the video and we’re keen to speak to both of them to get their . version of events. 'We urge them or anyone who knows . them, as well as passengers who were on the train at the time, to come . forward so we can begin to build a full picture of what exactly took . place.' They are appealing for information . about the incident, believed to have taken place on a southbound . Northern line service between Old Street and Moorgate. The footage begins with the woman, who appears to be in her 20s, saying: 'I . wouldn't f***ing touch you. You are f***ing s*** on my shoe' and adding . that her boyfriend is black, suggesting that this shows she was not . being racist. 'He respects me,' she continues, after the boy had apparently insulted her appearance. The teenager replies: 'OK white princess, queen, Kate Middleton!' Tempers flare: The boy is seen apparently throwing punches, while other passengers look on in horror . He criticises her 'lunatic antics' and calls her a 'smelly p**** b****', adding: 'How old are you, 28? I'm only 19.' She expresses concern that 'b******s like you will steal from me' and calls him a 'smelly f***ing Nigerian.' He . becomes increasingly angry at her lack of remorse, asking: 'So first I . pushed you, now I've tried to rob from you?' He compares her behaviour . to something that would happen in America. A moment later, she says: 'I don't care what I look like', apparently in response to another insult. As the train pulls in to Moorgate, a fight breaks out, with the boy seen lunging at the woman, shouting, 'You hit me on the head with a bottle... you racist b****... looking at you, you f***ing escort. There are witnesses. Everyone seen, everyone heard!' He is pulled away from her as voices are heard saying 'relax' and 'let her go'. He appears to leave, adding: 'don't you ever touch me, don't you dare touch me.' The incident follows a recent spate of passengers filming racist rants on public transport.", "By . Anthony Bond . The family of former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher are rallying around his furious wife following reports the rock star fathered a love child, it emerged today. The 40-year-old singer allegedly has a seven-month-old daughter called Emma following a . long-running affair with U.S. showbusiness writer Liza Ghorbani. Claims about the lovechild have reportedly left Gallagher's wife Nicole Appleton furious, leading to her allegedly banning him from returning home. Support: The family of former Oasis front-man Liam Gallagher are rallying around his furious wife following reports the rock star fathered a love child, it emerged today. The singer, pictured, performs with his band Beady Eye at Benicassim in Spain last night . Angry: Claims about the lovechild have reportedly left Gallagher's wife Nicole Appleton furious. She has allegedly banned him from returning home . As reported by the Daily Mirror today, Gallagher's family yesterday rallied around his 38-year-old wife after the allegations emerged. One relative said: 'Liam has only got himself to blame - he's just too wild. I said he should never have got married.' It was claimed yesterday that Gallagher . told Miss Ghorbani that the baby girl . 'is beautiful' and has his 'rock star genes'. The enigmatic frontman bragged about his musical DNA to his alleged former lover, according to reports in the United States. Scroll down for video . 'Livid': Miss Appleton, left, and Gallagher have a 12-year-old son. They were married in 2008. It has been claimed his affair with Miss Ghorbani began after she profiled him for the New York Times . Last year Gallagher bought a . £1.6million apartment in Manhattan, close to Central Park and not far . from where Emma is being raised. Gallagher . has said the baby is 'a beautiful . child because she has “rock star genes”’, the New York Post claimed. It alleged Gallagher’s relationship with Miss Ghorbani ended only after Emma was born. Unmarried Miss Ghorbani, 39, has told . friends their affair ended and then resumed again, according to another . newspaper, the New York Daily News. Happier times: Liam Gallagher is pictured with his wife Nicole Appleton, who he married five years ago . It . quoted a friend as saying: ‘It went on until she told him she was . pregnant. He cut it off. He was so paranoid his wife would find out.’ Their . trysts are alleged to have began after the music journalist met the singer . in 2010 and wrote a glowing interview for the New York Times, entitled A . Night Out With Liam Gallagher. It . was also claimed that since the allegations were made, his furious . wife, All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, is said to be livid. A friend said: ‘Nicole has told Liam not to come home, at least not for a few weeks, and is furious.’ A . spokesman for Mr Gallagher told MailOnline yesterday that his lawyers were . still taking action against the New York Post and would not be . commenting further. There has been no sign of Miss Appleton, 38, at the couple’s £2.7million five-bedroom townhouse in Hampstead, North London. Gallagher, . 40, is in Spain, where he appeared unfazed as he downed cocktails yesterday. He . was drinking a mystery brunette in a black bikini, who stroked . his head as they lay beside a hotel pool in Ibiza. Starting . at 11.30am, the former Oasis frontman drank more than a dozen mojitos . and several tequila shots as he laughed and joked with friends. The previous night his new band Beady Eye had performed at the Ibiza Rocks festival. Afterwards . he was said to have looked ‘happy and relaxed’ as he mingled with . female fans and posed for photographs at Pikes Hotel, a favourite . celebrity haunt in San Antonio, and danced topless on his room balcony, . which overlooks the bar, until 2.30am. Gallagher flew to Alicante yesterday to play at the Benicassim festival. He has . made no public comment on what his spokesman says is ‘gossip’. Gallagher has taken steps to prevent . the story spreading, instructing London law firm Harbottle & Lewis . to write warning letters to newspapers making inquiries about the . singer’s reaction to the claims. He is also reported to have hired a . lawyer in New York to defend himself against a paternity suit brought by . Miss Ghorbani at the Manhattan Family Court. Ready to rock: Liam Gallagher after his band Beady Eye's gig in Ibiza on Wednesday. He has been told not to come home by his wife - for now... She . is  alleged to be seeking £2million. After paying for the medical costs . of the birth herself, Miss Ghorbani began the legal action and arranged . a DNA test for her baby. Gallagher’s . lawyers are taking unspecified ‘action’ against the New York Post for . naming him as the father, but on Thursday it made further claims. A . source told the newspaper: ‘Liza met Liam when she interviewed him and . they began an affair [which] continued until around three months after . the birth of the child. He ended the relationship when she told him she . was suing him for child support. Simpering: The glowing New York Times profile of Gallagher written by . Miss Ghorbani describing how the British singer 'turned heads' at the . Ritz-Carlton . ‘Liza isn’t after millions of dollars, she is simply seeking child support and no amount has yet been set. If they don’t settle on a figure, the case will go to a public trial.’ Miss Ghorbani, who specialises in . interviewing rock stars, is said to be staying with her parents at their £500,000 house in . McLean, Virginia. Her mother Sylvia, 63 – who was born in Lancashire and moved to America aged 19 – declined to comment. She is a teacher at a local school, while her husband, Iranian-born Daryoush, 65, runs his own mobile home business. Friends claim that Gallagher left it to another family member to break the news of the love child allegations to his mother. A source said: ‘They thought Liam should have done it himself. ‘His family have also advised Liam to see a top lawyer for the court case – and to consult a top divorce lawyer as well. ‘They . are concerned for Liam. They say he’s “chaos” and that they are worried . that he won’t stop his partying lifestyle until he makes himself ill.’ Friends of Canadian-born Miss Appleton . say she never suspected her husband of cheating on her, despite his . history – he already has three children by three women. Two of those . were born during marriage. On stage: Gallagher performed with his band Beady Eye at a hotel in Ibiza this week, just hours after the identity of his alleged love child's mother was revealed an ocean away . Gallagher married his first wife, actress Patsy Kensit, in 1997. But only a couple of months later he fathered a child with singer Lisa Moorish. Their daughter Molly is now 15. Gallagher and Miss Kensit had a son, Lennon, now 13, in 1999. In 2001, Gallagher had another son, Gene, now 12, with Miss Appleton, whom he married in 2008. In the same year, Gallagher boasted he was a ‘top dad’ who had turned his back on a rock’n’roll lifestyle to be there for his family. The singer revealed he had never intended to become a father but insisted: ‘Once you get your missus pregnant, you’ve got to step up to the plate.’", "The head of art at a prestigious grammar school who began a lesbian affair with a teenage pupil has been banned from teaching for life. Debbie Evans, 55, who taught at South Wilts Grammar School in Salisbury for 23 years, struck up a sexual relationship with the girl in 2011, after the teenager fell ill at school and she supported her. The National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) disciplinary panel was told that Evans began teaching at the school in 1990, had a previously unblemished career as Head of Art and was a respected member of the team. But after the girl joined the school in 2010 a sexual relationship developed between them, and continued after the pupil - who was over 16 -  left the school. Debbie Evans, 55, who taught at South Wilts Grammar School  for 23 years, struck up a sexual relationship with the girl in 2011, after the teenager fell ill at school and the teacher supported her (file picture) The panel was told that in May 2011, the girl - referred to as Student A  - was taken ill at the school and was helped by Ms Evans. Then, that summer, the teacher was invited to a meal at Student A's home and began to give her lifts to and from school. In late 2011 Student A turned 18, and the following month she and Ms Evans went for a meal where it was alleged that they kissed, marking the start of their sexual relationship. The girl finished sixth form in July 2012, but it was claimed that the relationship continued until October 2013. The student's mother contacted the school on October 27, 2013, to discuss unspecified concerns about a teacher. On October 31 2013, Ms Evans resigned with effect from 31 December 2013. But meanwhile, on November 11 2013, Student A's parents reported the alleged relationship to senior staff. The disciplinary panel findings say Evans admitted that she had 'abused her position of trust by entering into an inappropriate relationship, including of a sexual nature' with the girl. The findings add that her conduct fell 'significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.' The National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) disciplinary panel was told that Evans was a respected member of the team. But after the girl joined the school in 2010 a sexual relationship developed between them. It continued after the girl, who was 18, left the school . Imposing the ban on behalf of the Education Secretary, NCTL official, Paul Heathcote, said Evans had been found to have 'abused her position of trust,' that her actions were 'sexually motivated' and had caused the girl emotional harm. He said the disciplinary panel considered she was guilty of 'serious sexual misconduct.' He continued : 'Ms Evans has shown insight into her actions and is remorseful. She has co-operated with this process and the panel have judged that she does not pose a continuing threat to pupils. 'However, having paid due regard to the maintenance of public confidence in the profession and the declaring and upholding of proper standards of conduct, the panel have recommended that the order should be without the opportunity for an application to have it set aside. I agree with this recommendation.' The ban stipulates that she will not be allowed to apply to have the ban set aside. She can, however, appeal against the ban to the High Court.", "Irate parents have confronted Myleene Klass in the playground at her daughter's private school after she mocked them online in a row over donations towards birthday gifts. The DJ and musician was harangued by other middle-class mothers on the school run who accused her 'betraying' them by leaking private emails online. Miss Klass, 36, had revealed a parent had asked others to donate a 'suggested £10' to buy their children birthday gifts, including a Kindle, and leave the cash in the child's school bag. But when she arrived to pick up daughter Ava, seven, from her school in north London yesterday afternoon the broadcaster was berated by mothers who said her criticism was a 'cheap-shot'. Scroll down for video . Joke: Myleene Klass, left  today, and right with her childre, mocked parents at her daughter's school for soliciting donations towards children's birthday presents - but has been berated by other parents . A fellow parent, whose daughter was the subject of the email, called across the playground to her: 'Why did you do it, Myleene? Why?' Miss Klass then shouted back: 'If you've got a problem with it, talk to me in private.' Other furious parents have written and emailed the headteacher of the £5,000-a-term school accusing her of using the personal emails of fellow parents to get press attention. 'It was a very distasteful and cheap shot,' wrote one. One furious mother, who asked not to be named, said: 'She has betrayed our confidences and belittled us so publicly. Lots of people have complained.' Another said: 'It is so out of order. She isn't going to have any friends left.' Another defended the present arrangement saying: 'It is to make it easier for parents so they don't buy expensive presents that nobody wants. 'There is no obligation. Myleene has misunderstood the school's community spirit.' Many are baffled why the star would tweet the emails over a year after they were sent. One said: 'It is bang out of order. These are old class emails from a year ago.' The emails posted by Miss Klass did not have dates on them but stated the party is due to take place on February 9th. Last night several parents claimed they were a year old. Today Miss Klass did not drop her daughter at school. Mockery: Ms Klass posted the text of two emails she received from fellow parents, as well as her response . Problems began after 36-year-old Miss Klass, the former pop star turned Classic FM presenter, posted on social media two emails she had received 'from some school mums', after first changing the names. Gift-giving has become a big business in many top private schools as parents vie to curry favour with teachers. Tatler magazine reported last year that some teachers had been given presents as lavish as £1,000 handbags, diamond necklaces and cases of vintage wine. At one school, parents even offered teachers the chance to use their private jet. A mother at a London prep school said that she was emotionally blackmailed into donating £90 - the minimum amount acceptable - to a fund for teachers' gifts. Some schools have had to introduce new rules capping the value of presents teachers can accept - at Stowe, for example, staff must declare any gifts above £50 . The first email read: 'Jane and Hannah would prefer a class birthday gift for their daughters this year. Sarah would like a Kindle and Lola a desk (very studious choices!) so if you would like to join in, please can I collect a suggested £10 from you before the party on February 9. 'If you prefer to send £ via an envelope in your daughters [sic] school bag, marked for Jane/me that works too. I will pass on a voucher and card to each at the party. Thanx [sic] and no obligation of course.' A second email from another parent who offers to collect the cash reiterates that £10 would be a 'popular amount' to contribute – meaning that the total value of the gifts would be at least £200 – but adds: 'Feel free to give what you like or indeed, to give your own gift.' Shortly after, Miss Klass published her stinging reply in which she said she was collecting 'unicorn money' towards a 'real, live unicorn' for Ava. Warming to her theme, she added: 'I'd like a Ferrari and Leonardo DiCaprio, so by all means, do feel obligated to contribute to this too.' And making it clear she thought the original request was bad manners, she ended her retort by saying the money could be donated to a fictitious site – www.getwhatyoure-givenandendthismadness.com. Mother: Ms Klass was making fun of parents whose children attend the same school as her daughter Ava . Miss Klass, who lives in North London, entitled her reply 'Let's put the fun back into Bdays!' and shared it with her 459,200 followers on Twitter and 75,000 on Instagram. Hours later, she was confronted in the playground as she picked up Ava from her school. On parenting website Mumsnet, opinion was divided. One wrote: 'Well good on her for shaming these grabby idiots. It's crass and rude to ask for money instead of a gift.' Another posted: 'One of the mums asked to do this at our school! I think it's so rude!' But others sided with the parents asking for money. One wrote: 'What's wrong with asking for contributions towards a larger present? It seems much more sensible than getting 30 presents which you have to find room for and may not be played with.' A spokesman for Miss Klass, who also has a three-year-old daughter, Hero, declined to comment. Star: The entertainer, pictured on Instagram today, rose to fame as a member of Hear'Say and is now a television and radio presenter . DJ: Ms Klass has a show on Classic FM as well as hosting other TV and radio programmes .", "Given their marriage only lasted 72 days before she filed for divorce speculation that Kim Kardashian had married for money and publicity were rife. But according to a U.S. magazine the breakdown of the relationship was in fact down to Kris Humphries and his mean behaviour. It has been claimed that the basketball star not only neglected his new wife, but he made a series of derogatory comments towards and is accused of referring to Kim’s famous sizable derriere as a‘fat ass’ Mean man? Kris Humphries has been accused of belittling Kim Kardashian and it has been alleged he called her 'fat ass' Us Weekly also reports that the 26-year-old was brutal with his comments towards his new wife and insulted her constantly. A source told the magazine: ‘He belittled her in front of people. He'd call her stupid. It was truly sickening. ‘He tried to control Kim by bringing her down...He would say truly terrible things. One time, he said she had no talent and her fame wouldn't last.’ A source close to Humphries told MailOnline: 'The Us Weekly story is completely taken out of context and a manipulation of the media. The show is completely staged; there is nothing real about this reality show.' 'Kris teased Kim a lot, but it was never malicious, and he never resented her. He loved her and still does. Too bad they have to tear someone down to propel their own careers.' It has also been alleged that Kris is . planning to sue Kim for $10million over his role in the upcoming Kim . and Kourtney take New York series. According . to Life&Style magazine: ‘He’s claiming his role on Kourtney & . Kim Take New York is bigger than he was told, and that’s why he wants . more money. But Kris is also suing because he’s really worried about how . badly he’s going to be portrayed on the series.’ Did you just say that? Kris is accused of slamming Kim's curvy derriere, seen here in happier times before their split . In the trailer for the upcoming series viewers see a furious Kim blasting Kris for his partying ways and asking why she found out he wasn’t even in the country through Twitter. Kim’s sister Kourtney is seen . offering her distraught sister relationship advice suggesting the . marriage was over before it ever really began. Kim announced she was filing for divorce on October 31, just 72 days after their lavish wedding. In the wake of their split both kept a low profile and Kim cut a trip to Australia short before visiting Kris in his hometown. Kim . then went to work on Tyler Perry's new film The Marriage Counsellor in . Atlanta but has returned to LA and was cheering on her brother Robert in . Dancing With The Stars yesterday. Not happy: Kris is said to be planning to sue Kim for $10million over his role on her new reality TV show . While Kris cancelled personal . appearances in the wake of the split last week he stepped out as the . face of a watch brand, cashing in on his heightened fame. Spokespeople for both Kim and Kris were unavailable for comment earlier today. Meanwhile, RadarOnline reports Kim's . manager and mother Kris Jenner has got Kim on lockdown - and is limiting . her public appearances until the backlash over her divorce has settled . down. Party animal? Kim was said to be frustrated that Kris often spent his evenings out partying without her . Jenner has told Kim to stay out of the spotlight and has gone into damage control after being shocked at the amount of bad Press the short-lived marriage has received. A source told the website: 'They did not anticipate the extreme backlash and the damage it would cause to the K-brand as a whole. 'The whole empire has been affected by this dumb marriage and Kris Jenner is all about getting paid.'", "A fundamentalist Christian church at the centre of a multi-million-pound dispute over charitable status is being investigated about claims of child cruelty. The Exclusive Brethren, which has 16,000 UK followers, has gained the support of more than 50 MPs in its bid to retain its charitable status – and the entitlement to tax relief on donations. But this newspaper has uncovered allegations of a shocking regime inside Exclusive Brethren schools – including pupils being confined at home for using the internet, elders tearing pages from textbooks to remove material about gay rights or sexually transmitted diseases, and teenage boys and girls being banned from talking to each other. Regime: Pupils at the strict Wilton Park School, where liaisons are forbidden . Yesterday a local education authority confirmed it was investigating allegations of child cruelty and failures to teach the National Curriculum at an Exclusive Brethren school in Wiltshire. Wilton Park School, near Salisbury, opened in  September 2011 as an independent day school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18. The probe, by Wiltshire County Council, local police officers and the Department for Education’s Due Diligence Team was triggered by a teacher at Wilton Park handing over a dossier describing alleged abuses. These claims include the punishments imposed upon six pupils for setting up a Facebook page. Elders from the church are said to have responded so harshly because of the Exclusive Brethren’s teachings on modern technology – laptops are considered instruments of evil and internet access is tightly controlled to protect followers from defiling material. Pupils are also banned from emailing each other because, according to a school memo, ‘such communications promote special friendships and are beneath the dignity of our calling’. The dossier states that, on the elders’ instruction, six pupils were withdrawn, confined to their homes and forbidden to have any communication with anyone outside their close families. Inside the Exclusive Brethren community these punishments are called ‘shutting up’. The teacher, who is not a member of the Exclusive Brethren, wrote: ‘As an employee I have known of families that have been “shut up’’ for different lengths of time. I have never witnessed pupils being shut up before. Faith school: Wilton Park School says it has a 'strong Christian ethos designed . to protect our students from the less desirable aspects of modern . society' ‘The pupils were shut up between the months of May and July 2012. The only girl was shut up for the longest number of days and was recorded to have had 37 days off out of a possible 70 [school] days between May 4th and July 22nd [when the school term ended]. All of her absences were recorded as authorised absences. ‘She was not allowed to have any communication with anyone apart from immediate family members, i.e. those who she shared a house with. She suffered both mentally and physically from this controlled withdrawal from her friends; she lost weight and was emotionally distressed. ‘When it was decided that she would be allowed back to school, it was controlled by the EB [Exclusive Brethren] elders. She was dropped off and escorted into a classroom. 'She remained there with work to do all day. She was not allowed to have contact with anyone apart from one or two teachers. They were not allowed to have any form of conversation with her unless it was study related. ‘At the end of the day she was picked up by a parent and taken home. She remained in her home until the following school day.’ A Brethren spokesman said: ‘Shutting up is not intended as a punishment but is meant to encourage people to consider the consequences of their actions. Where young persons are involved this decision is taken ultimately by their parents, though the advice of elders may be sought. ‘The trustees – all Brethren – decide what is best for the school based on their religious and moral beliefs.’ The six pupils were in Wilton Park’s sixth form. These boys and girls, aged 16 to 18, are subjected to gender segregation at all times – to reflect the school’s commitment to biblical values. Liaisons and relationships between pupils are prohibited and monitored using CCTV. Other stipulations include teenagers being forbidden to attend university or public events such as Premiership football matches. Pupils seldom play any competitive sport and have been banned from playing rugby by the church’s Australian leadership. As the dossier compiled by the Wilton Park teacher reads: ‘The sixth-form boys at the school are a very athletic group and they wanted to start playing full-contact rugby. They put forward a very articulate and well-thought-through presentation as to why they felt this was necessary. The trustees told them they would come back with an answer within 24 hours. ‘Their answer, as dictated to them by “Australia”, was clear that full-contact rugby should not be played as it promotes savagery. So for Exclusive Brethren schools in the UK, decisions are no longer made locally or even nationally.’ Teaching staff at Wilton Park must also abide by strict codes of conduct and dress, as set out by the school: ‘Female staff must wear dresses or skirts (at least knee-length) and clothing must be modest and not revealing or low-cut.’ Male teachers must have short hair and shave. The launch of the investigation comes just weeks before the Exclusive Brethren’s appeal against the Charity Commission is heard by a legal tribunal. The Commission recently decided the church did not qualify for charitable status. Unless the verdict is overturned, the Exclusive Brethren stands to lose its entitlement to tax relief. As a charity, the church currently claims 25p from the Inland Revenue for every £1 received in donations under the Gift Aid scheme. The case is worth so much to the church that it has spent £1.5 million on a legal campaign. THE five-day tribunal in March will hear evidence about the church’s charitable works. But other witnesses, including former members of the Exclusive Brethren, may gave their testimonies from behind screens – such is their fear of the potential consequences. An Education Department spokeswoman confirmed she was aware of the dossier and added: ‘We are working with police and local council to take any action necessary.’ A spokesman for Wiltshire Council said: ‘An allegation has been received in relation to this school. ‘The council is committed to protecting and safeguarding every child in Wiltshire. We take all allegations of child abuse seriously.’ 'Sensitive': Pupils at Linton Park in an English lesson . AS part of our investigation, The Mail on Sunday was given unprecedented access to another Exclusive Brethren school. All 192 pupils at Linton Park School, near Maidstone, Kent, come from Exclusive Brethren families – in keeping with the church’s stance of separation from the community, including other Christian groups. The pupils are aged from seven to 18. Deputy head teacher John Welch admitted that his staff – who don’t belong to the controversial church –  censor books to remove content that the school’s trustees consider incompatible with their faith. Deputy head: John Welch admitted his staff censor books . He also admitted the Exclusive Brethren’s stance on issues such as gay rights and abortion made teaching ‘delicate’. Mr Welch, a former policeman, said: ‘I’ve been working in Brethren schools since 2001 so by now I know the areas that are sensitive. But today I still have to get approval for resources such as DVDs. Blasphemy is another area so we blank out any swear words. ‘Recently I was teaching post-1945 British history and the legalisation by Harold Wilson’s government of abortion and homosexuality. Many communities would say these were advances in society, the Brethren would not. It is delicate.’ According to pupil Nathan Woodcock, 15, his community is being unfairly targeted. He said: ‘We do a lot of work for the public benefit and I really enjoy helping the less fortunate. For instance, we put on “Pie Days”, when the homeless come to our meeting hall and we feed them. 'The public don’t understand we only eat and drink with people with whom we share the Lord’s Supper.’ The Exclusive Brethren, which has 16,000 followers in the UK and 46,000 worldwide, formed in 1848. In that year they broke off from the much larger Plymouth Brethren – an evangelical Christian church founded in 1832. The church’s worldwide leader Bruce Hales, based in Sydney, Australia, assumed the leadership after the death of his father. Hales preaches that the world is ‘evil’ and that separation from it is the ‘greatest thing that the Lord has provided’. Imposing: The Brethren Assembly Hall built next to the school . Leading man: Bruce Hales (third from left), who leads the 40,000 members of the Exclusive Brethren . Since publication of this article the school closed for a month but reopened after being cleared by an investigation into claims that pupils were punished for using Facebook. Wilton Park School, run by fundamentalist Christians, the Exclusive Brethren, shut in February after an anonymous teacher made claims including that sixth-formers were disciplined after accessing the social networking site.  The teacher also claimed that textbooks at the school near Salisbury, Wiltshire were censored to remove material about gay rights and evolution, and that social interaction between boys and girls was banned. Now Wiltshire County Council states: ‘It has been unanimously agreed by all agencies involved that no specific safeguarding issues were identified and the investigation has now concluded’. A letter from the Council to the school described the concerns as ‘unfounded’. A statement from the school says: ‘Wilton Park School is delighted that the Local Education Authority, the Department of Education, and the Wiltshire Police have unanimously agreed that there were not safeguarding issues at the school after the enquiry that followed an anonymous complaint about its pastoral care. The school has now re-opened with the strengthened resolve on the part of both the teaching staff and pupils to maintain the standard of excellence that characterises Focus schools. •         We are happy to confirm that, contrary to our article on January 20, boy and girl pupils are not segregated at all times and pupils play competitive sport.", "A self-styled 'ditzy' blonde TOWIE fan was today revealed as the one of the brainiest Essex girls around after it was discovered she has a higher IQ than Albert Einstein. Lauren Marbe, 16, stunned her teachers by scoring 161 on the Mensa brain test after she was entered with other pupils from her school. The teenager loves fake tanning, having blonde highlights, manicures and getting glammed up for TOWIE parties with her friend. But it appears that as well as being very pretty, she also has a beautiful brain. Bright spark: Lauren Marbe, 16, has an IQ of 161 which is smarter than Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and Stephen Hawking - but still loves trash TV like TOWIE . This daughter of a black cab driver and dreams of one day being a performer in the West End - like Essex celebrity Denise Van Outen. But her amazing brain test score means she is brighter than Professor Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and even Albert Einstein - who all have an IQ of 160. Brainbox Lauren has been enrolled in prestigious high-IQ society Mensa, which means she is officially in the top one per cent of cleverest people in the world. The schoolgirl, who is already predicted straight A's and A*'s for her GCSE's, and says she is delighted to have 'blown away' the Essex stereotype. Talented: Lauren could end up going to Cambridge but the pretty teenager dreams of being a star on the West End stage having already worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber . Lauren, of Loughton, Essex, said: 'It was such an achievement and I got a bit tearful to tell you the truth. Charles Dickens - 180 . Dr. David Livingstone - 170 . Charles Darwin -165 . Stephen Hawking – 160 . Quentin Tarantino – 160 . Bill Gates - 160 . Sharon Stone - 154 . Bill Clinton - 145 . Shakira - 140 . JFK - 119 . 'I was one of the last people to get my result and everybody before me had got around the 130 mark so that was the kind of result I was expecting. 'My teachers knew I was quite clever because of my grades but they had always thought I was blonde and a bit ditzy. 'Now they keep saying 'I didn't realise you were that clever'.' The teenager, who loves to look 'reem,' or great, added: 'I am blonde, I do wear make-up and I do go out. 'I love my fake tan and fake nails as well so I guess I am a bit of an Essex girl in that sense. 'I watch TOWIE and I love the programme, it's addictive but now most people do seem to think that's what everyone in Essex is like. 'I love living in Essex and I'm glad that I might be able to show people that we aren't all ditzy and blonde.' Passion: The 16-year-old hopes that she can use her brain to build a successful future but admits she was pleasantly surprised to have such a high IQ . Lauren, is a pupil at Roding Valley High School, Loughton, Essex, took the Mensa-accredited IQ test earlier this month along with other high acheivers at her school. The dedicated pupil - head girl of her primary school and currently a prefect - was already considered bright after scoring a double A* in her science GCSE, which she took a year early. But she was stunned when she received her results, showing she has a higher IQ than some of the world's greatest minds. She is now aiming to take A-Levels in art, physics and maths after her GCSEs, this summer, and would love to study architecture degree at the University of Cambridge. But the prodigal teenager has already performed in the West End for two years as part of the chorus for Andrew Lloyd Webber smash-hit Joseph, with Lee Mead, from 2007. Happy: Lauren admits that she is a typical Essex girl but hopes she can help change the reputation of young women from the county - who are often portrayed as dim . Her proud parents, father David Marbe, 45, a London cabbie, and mother Sue Marbe, 45, deputy head of a primary school, say they will be happy whichever path their gifted daughter chooses. Sue, 45, said: 'Living in this area there is a lot of pressure to be the stereotypical Essex girl but she has a a real nice support from the other girls. Teachers: 'They had always thought I was blonde and a bit ditzy', she said, but her IQ test has dispelled any myths about her intellect . 'Most of the time Essex gets a bit of a negative press. People think all girls are blonde and all girls are dim. 'Lauren is blonde but it does seem like she has shaken the stereotype that all Essex girls are stupid. 'She does love TOWIE but she sees it as what it is. A lot of the young people in Essex think that it is one of the only ways to be successful. 'Lauren and her friends aren't as bad as some of the girls in the area but they do like to dress up and look good. 'Essex girls are all well groomed and Lauren isn't any different. Her and her friends like to go out and get dressed up in nice clothes. 'There's nothing wrong with the TOWIE cast and everyone in Essex loves the programme but its just nice for us all to get a good reputation for academic success for a change.' 'Obviously I am really proud. I am quite shy and I don't like boasting but I am really pleased that she has done so well. 'All her teachers have been coming up to her and saying they didn't realise how intelligent se actually was. 'I don't know who she got it from. Me and my husband should get tested as well.' Einstein himself never took an IQ test as none of the modern intelligence tests existed during the course of his life. But experts have believed for a number of years now that the iconic scientist had an IQ of around 160 - just short of Essex's brightest teen. The Calculated IQ Estimates for 301 Historic Geniuses published by American Psychologist Catherine Cox Miles has calculated the IQ of Einstein and a number of other historic figures. The IQ test is designed to test a range of abilities to determine the level of intelligence of the student - in the UK the average score is 100. Enjoyment: Lauren says she likes to watch TOWIE and will sometimes dress like the women on the show . Lauren sat the Cattell III B test under supervision from British Mensa and achieved 161 - one point short of the maximum score you can get if you are under 18. Adults take the same test as the one Lauren sat but because they have more developed brains British Mensa will only score them a maximum of 161. This is because a different mathematical equation is used to convert an adult's score into an IQ rating, than is used to convert a child's. A number of different IQ tests exist and British Mensa will accept applicants into the exclusive group if they provide evidence of their exceptional performances in other respective tests. British Mensa Chief Executive John Stevenage said: 'Lauren Marbe achieved a score in the top two percent on a Mensa IQ test making her eligible to join Mensa. 'Lauren's school recently took advantage of Mensa's Schools Testing scheme allowing schools to offer IQ tests to pupils aged over 10 and a half within the school setting.'", "A schoolboy described as 'a model pupil' was barred lessons after shaving his head to raise money for Macmillan Cancer charity because his school says he has set a bad example. Year nine pupil Stan Lock, 13, from Wrington, Somerset, decided to lose his thick brown hair after a number of friends and family were struck down by the disease. The model pupil had the trim on Sunday after setting up a donation page for Macmillan Cancer care - with some teachers from Churchill Academy at North Somerset giving him money. Year nine pupil Stan Lock has been banned from classes after he decided to shave his hair for charity after a number of friends and family were struck down by the disease. He is pictured before and after (above) But he was devastated when he went to school the next day and was told his number zero hairstyle was against the rules. He is banned from attending lessons and spends all day inside an individual booth, including lunch and break times. Staff  have said he must stay in exclusion until his hair had grown back to at least a number two - which could take weeks. His mother, Mel Rees, 47, said she was extremely proud of her son's decision to shave his head  and helped to set up a JustGiving page. But now she says she is furious at the school's decision. She said: 'When he came home on the Monday evening he said he was really worried that he was in serious trouble over the cut. Stan having his head shaved (pictured) - he has now been forced into isolation at his school for the short cut . 'The next day he ended up in isolation and was told that he would have to stay there until his hair grew back to at least a number two. 'I've tried speaking to the headteacher but he says if he lets one student off with it the other 1,400 might follow. It's madness. 'On Tuesday Stan was saying that he almost regretted do it, which is such a shame. Luckily now he's had so much support he's enjoying it and he realises that what he has done for charity is a great thing. 'He's a model pupil, he's on track to do really well, it's not as if he's a troublemaker or a little rebel trying to stick two fingers up at the school.' Stan hoped to raise just £100 from the head shave but has now raised more than £1,200 as news of the school's reaction has spread. Stan said he is 'upset and disappointed' that he is being punished for trying to do a good deed . Friends have rallied around and set up a Facebook page calling for his release, a petition and have even started posting #freestan on posters around the school. Stan said: 'I decided to shave my head because cancer is horrible and people I know have been affected by it, so I decided to do something to help. 'On Monday teachers were supportive and one even donated. But in my last lesson my PE teachers were concerned and took photos to send to the head of house. 'The next day my tutor was told that I had to go to isolation. I tried to explain that it was for charity. 'I am very upset and disappointed as I am being punished for doing charity fund raising. 'I have had my break and lunch time taken away to be sat behind a computer screen in a small box like room. 'I am starting to regret shaving my head because the days feel like weeks, it feels like a prison.' The uniform policy at the school - rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted - states: 'Very short hair or hair with designs cut in will be considered 'extreme'. 'Children who have extreme hairstyles will be isolated.' Stan says some teachers from Churchill Academy (pictured) even donated money to his charity page on JustGiving before he was told his hairstyle was against uniform rules and barred from the classroom . Headteacher Dr Barry Wratten said: ‘I do not favour speaking publicly about individual students or their families and will not do so now. 'Churchill Academy and Sixth Form have held a firm line against those who decide to flout our behaviour policies for many years - it is only by doing this can we uphold our standards and make sure we are fair to all. 'This incident isn’t the first and won’t be the last of this nature. 'In the past parents have approached us about stunts to raise money for charity and we have been able to advise and work with them to avoid any difficulty. 'At times, some parents do not do this and do not advise their children of potential problems. 'Isolation is one of the consequences for students that break our behaviour policies. 'My stance is to review when someone is able to take their place again in the mainstream of our learning community – this I will do in these circumstances and this will be based on discussions with the student. 'Speaking generally, there are many ways to raise money for charity - most we will support; rushing into a particular way without thought is always likely to cause consequences. 'Some people wish to avoid consequences by blaming others - I think this sends a poor message to young people. ' I have consistently held this stance and parents, generally, know we set high standards. That's why we expect them to have a dialogue with us before they allow their child to do something they may regret.' Stan's fundraising increased ten-fold within an hour of his story becoming public today and by 3pm his fundraising has soared to almost 40 times his original target, reaching £3,823.19, with donations still flooding in. The teenager was hoping to raise a modest £100 from his head shave. He was also swamped by messages from well-wishers who supported his decision to shave his head and criticised the school for putting him in isolation. One wrote: 'Just read about your exclusion from school and wanted to say that you're a very inspirational young man and stay strong in your beliefs as you go through life Stan. Take care x' Another added: 'Well done young Sir Stan - very courageous and admirable with a big heart. 'Your school teacher can learn to grow up following your example. Do not be bullied into not following your heart by anyone.' Anyone wishing to donate to Stan's cause should visit his JustGiving page. Last January pupils staged a protest at a Redcar Academy in North Yorkshire amid claims a teenager who shaved her head to raise money for charity after her best friend died of cancer was banned from lessons. Mia Flood, then 14, was devastated when friend Georgina Anderson, 15, died after a battle with cancer. She promised her friend before she died that she would shave her head and donate the hair to the Little Princesses Trust - a charity which makes wigs for other young cancer patients. She planned to donate money raised from the charity head shave to the Teenage Cancer Trust, as a thank you for helping Georgina's family throughout her ordeal. Mia's mother ordered a wig but until it arrived her daughter was forced to be schooled at home. A statement released by the academy and Mia's family said that it had been agreed that arrangements for Mia's education would be made if she went ahead with the shave. In July 2013 MailOnline reported three 12-year-olds who raised £800 for Cancer Research UK by each shaving half their hair off were taken out of classes and allegedly told 'it's pathetic way to raise money'. Kiera Thomas, Gemma Wright and Macey Daden decided to adopt the unusual hairstyles, with the breast cancer ribbon shaved onto the side of their heads, in order to battle cancer after losing loved ones to the disease. They raised £800 for Cancer Research UK, with some of their teachers at St Leonards Academy in St Leonards on Sea, Sussex, among the generous donors who sponsored the girls. However, they were hauled before the head of Year Seven and told off for their appearance, while Kiera was put in isolation from her classmates because of her haircut. Jenny Jones, principal of St Leonards Academy, said: 'While we applaud these girls for their efforts in raising money for charity, we have rules and regulations regarding dress and appearance which apply to all our students.' In April last year 15-year-old Jess Vine, from the Isle of Wight, cut her long hair, which came to below her waist, to fundraise for Cancer Research UK after her grandfather lost his battle with the illness last year. But she was then told by her school, Ryde Academy, she could not attend classes unless she wore a wig. Ryde Academy confirmed Jess had to wear the wig as part of uniform policy.", "Britain's biggest family is about to get even bigger as mother Sue Radford has announced she is pregnant with her eighteenth child. The expectant mother and her husband, Noel, said they were feeling 'incredibly lucky and blessed,' as they revealed the happy news. Despite being elated by the impending arrival, the couple has said that this will be their last child, the Sun reported. Scroll down for video . Britain's biggest family are about to get even bigger after super mother, Sue Radford, 39, revealed she is pregnant with baby number 18 . 'It is the perfect Christmas gift,' they told the newspaper's Rachel Dale. 'The children are all very excited about having a new brother or sister so it will be a happy home over the holidays. The Radfords of Morecambe, Lancashire, run a successful bakery and pride themselves on not claiming any extra state benefits aside from the regular child benefit. Mr and Mrs Radford were childhood sweethearts and she got pregnant with their first child Chris, 25, at the age of just 14. Along with Chris, they are also parents to Chloe, 19, Jack, 17, Daniel, 15, Luke, 14, Millie, 13, Katie, 12, James, 11, Ellie, nine, Aimee, eight, Josh, seven, Max, six, Tilly, four, Oscar, three, and Casper, two. The latest pregnancy comes after Mrs Radford lost baby, Alfie, who was due in November in July . The couple also have two grandchildren and were featured on the Channel 4 show, 16 Kids and Counting. The latest pregnancy comes after Mrs Radford lost baby Alfie, who was due in November, at 21 weeks in July. Writing shortly after, Mrs Radford, said: 'I think losing a child changes you as a person, I’m not the same person I was before I lost Alfie. 'I will never be that person again but I’m learning to live life as an angel mummy and put a smile on my face when there’s times I really don’t feel like smiling.' The super mother, 39, and her 43-year-old husband shared their latest baby news with their 130,000 Facebook followers, writing: 'We are feeling incredibly lucky and blessed.' The Radfords received messages of support from some of their 130,000 followers. Geraldine Evans wrote: 'The radford family can actually teach others a thing or two about being a parents and budgeting.... Congrats to each and everyone of you. X' Ann James posted: 'Hats off to them....saw the programme..they eat home made good meals, he works, they are clean and tidy and the kids are well mannered.' Making a meal out of it: The Radfords have said they are 'incredibly lucky and blessed,' after revealing the impending arrival . Logistical nightmare: The Radfords are pictured on a family holiday to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands in 2011 .", "A teenage girl with 'tremendous promise' as a footballer has died after suddenly collapsing at her home just days after scoring her first goal at a top women's team. Lydia Bennett died 'within an hour' of taking ill at her family home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, on November 4. Today her family paid tribute to the 'beautiful' teenager who had been planning a future in sports. Tragic: Lydia Bennett died this week after collapsing at her home in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The 17-year-old was described as a 'bubbly' teenager by her football team mates . 'We have three beautiful children, of which Lydia is one,' Paul and Carole Bennett said in a statement with their daughters, Rachel and Charlotte. 'We are all missing her so deeply, it is hurting so much.' Lydia, who had been playing for Burton Ladies FC at the time of her death, fell ill at home on Tuesday and rapidly deteriorated, her father said. 'It was roughly about an hour afterwards, it was so sudden. We don't know what the cause is.' The teenager, described as 'adored by everyone' at her football club, had been planning a career in sports. 'She wanted a career in sports either as a teacher or player. That's what she was studying towards,' Mr Bennett added. 'As her family we would like to thank her friends, colleagues and team mates for their support and such kind words. 'Adored by everyone': Friends and family today paid tribute to the teenager who was loved by 'all' at her football club . Burton Albion cancelled this weekend's games in memory of the teenager. The cause of Lydia's death is not yet known . 'She was beautiful, lovely, wonderful, just the best daughter anyone could wish to have. I don't know what we can do without her.' Just days before her tragic death the 17-year-old scored her first goal for Burton Ladies FC. Adam Smallman, head of football at the club, said the teenager's death had come as a shock to all who knew her. 'It looks like its just one of those tragic things that came out of the blue with no warning. 'She was fighting fit and trained four times a week, she was proving a real talent who I'm sure would have gone on to have a successful career. 'Lydia was showing tremendous promise and was over the moon to score her first goal for the team at the weekend.' A statement previously published on the club's website described her as a 'popular and proud' team member. 'Lydia was a very popular and proud member of Burton Albion and her family, team mates and coaching staff will be supported through this difficult period. 'The thoughts of the whole Brewers family are with Lydia’s family and friends at this sad time. 'As a mark of respect this Sunday’s games have been cancelled for our women’s first and development teams,' it said. Nicola Mellor, female football lead at Burton Albion Community Trust added 'Lydia was a very bubbly person who was adored by every member of the girls football and education programme. 'Lydia always put 100 per cent effort into everything she did with the club.' It is understood the teenager died in Good Hope hospital after collapsing at the home she shared with her sisters and parents. Her older sister Rachel paid tribute to the schoolgirl on Facebook, writing: 'I love u baby sister. Im so proud of all u have achieved in the past 17 years. I adore u n wish that u didnt have to leave me. I love n miss u every second (sic).' A spokesman for Staffordshire Police confirmed the death was not being treated as suspicious.", "Daniel Laurikietis, 32, has been barred from teaching for life after performing a sex act on a teenager . A drama teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after plying a teenager with alcohol and performing a sex act on her. Daniel Laurikietis, 32, began contacting the girl through Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and text messaging when she was just 15. After speaking to her Laurikietis, who taught at Haslingden High School in Rossendale, Lancashire, discovered the teenager had mental health issues. But instead of referring the issues to someone who was fully qualified, he tried to help her himself, a disciplinary panel said. Around three years after the contact began, in March 2013, he invited her to his home where they drank together and he performed a sex act on her, the National College for Teaching and Leadership heard. A Professional Conduct Panel found his actions amounted to 'unacceptable professional conduct, that is misconduct of a serious nature that falls significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher'. The former teacher admitted all the allegations and that he was guilty of 'conduct of a dishonest and sexually motivated nature'. He had already been warned by the school about 'inappropriate contact with students' by creating an alias Twitter profile six months before the incident with the girl, referred to as Pupil A. The panel did not specify the age of the girl when the incident took place. NCTL panel chairman Nicolé Jackson told him: 'You have extensively abused your position of trust in relation to a vulnerable pupil with a history of self-harm. 'You exploited that position of trust for your own purposes. You failed to treat Pupil A with dignity and mutual respect. 'Your conduct amounted to a blatant disregard to the need to safeguard Pupil A's well-being. 'Her well-being was affected and put at risk. 'You ignored the policies and practices of the school at which you were employed, despite an earlier warning.' Bosses: The 32-year-old resigned from Haslingden High School in Rossendale, Lancashire, after the incident . The panel recommended that Mr Laurikietis should be banned from the profession for life. Accepting the recommendation, Alan Meyrick - decision-maker on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan - said Mr Laurikietis' conduct was 'particularly serious'. He added: 'It involved a wholly inappropriate relationship with a vulnerable student that culminated in the consumption of alcohol and sexual activity. 'Whilst he has acknowledged his mistakes he has shown little regard for the effect his behaviour had on the pupil concerned. 'In all the circumstances I agree that the order should be without provision for an application to apply for it to be set aside. 'This means that Mr Daniel Laurikietis is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children's home in England. 'Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Daniel Laurikietis shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach.' The panel banned Laurikietis (above) from teaching in any English school, sixth form or children's home . The former teacher now describes himself as a self-employed actor, teacher, director and 'Semi-Professional Geek' on Twitter. He posted mostly about sci-fi films including Star Wars and Star Trek alongside comic book characters, and occasional posts ranging from the theatre industry to singers Morissey and Kanye West. One supporter on the site claimed he was still a 'top teacher' despite admitting the allegations. Mark Jackson, headteacher at Haslingden High, said: 'Mr Laurikietis had already resigned from his post when these allegations came to light. 'However, we followed the correct procedure and the case was fully investigated and appropriately dealt with in his absence. 'We then referred the matter both to the Disclosure and Barring Service and the National College for Teaching and Leadership.'", "A man facing trial for helping his former lover strangle a woman during a sexual encounter, told the court his former flame had a 'twisted desire to kill' and that he had only dug the victim's crude grave. Micheal John Duffy, 34, pleaded not guilty to murdering Colleen Deborah Ayers, 33, whose decomposed body was uncovered in a shallow grave on her parent's 25-acre Lakesland property, located near Picton, south west of Sydney. In the opening statements of Duffy's trial Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Wilkins SC told the jury, that while his former partner, Rachel Evans, had initiated the violent act, Duffy had willingly joined in. He claimed his co-accused, Evans, was the one who had a 'twisted desire to kill' and he had only helped bury Ms Ayers' body. Micheal John Duffy pleaded not guilty to killing Colleen Deborah Ayers after claiming he had only disposed of her body while his co-accused Rachel Evans was the one with a 'twisted desire to kill' Ms Wilkins told the court Evans was the one who grabbed the belt used to strangle Ms Ayers after telling a witness: 'We are going to kill her, we are going to kill her.' 'She put the belt around Ms Ayers' neck. The deceased bucked her off.' 'It was at that stage that the accused Duffy intervened and also started strangling her,' she said. 'This was Rachael Evans' idea. She was the ringleader and this accused [Duffy] joined in.' The court heard Ms Ayers had met Evans at a pub in Campbelltown only a day before she was gruesomely murdered. It is alleged on May 8, 2012, Evans and Duffy, along with a 16-year-old girl who can not be named, went to a hotel in Picton with Ms Ayers. Evans, Duffy and Ms Ayers then proceeded to have sex with each other while the unidentified teenager filmed the act. The next day, after drinking and taking the drug ice, Ms Ayers invited the duo, along with another man, Scott Debridge, to her parents empty Lakesland property. Ms Wilkins told the court Evans and Duffy had planned to steal and sell firearms from the rural property so they could buy drugs. Courthouse: Duffy's co-accused Evans, who has plead guilty to murder,  will receive a reduced sentence for giving evidence at her former lover's trial . Later that night, after Evans had been 'cutting up' ice, she heard Duffy and Ms Ayers having sex. The 16-year-old witness said Evans became agitated and armed herself with the leather belt. The court heard Evans then entered the bedroom and started strangling the victim. It was at this point, the crown said, Duffy joined in. Ms Wilkins said once Ms Ayers was dead, Evans dragged her body into the bathroom so she could try to wash away Duffy's DNA. Meanwhile, Duffy and Debridge went to a dam on the property to dispose of the body where they dug a shallow grave and buried Ms Ayers. During his trial, Debridge claimed he tried to refuse the orders to dig the grave, however, Duffy 'bashed' him with a shovel until he continued. After Ms Ayers' body was buried the group proceeded to ransack her parents house, stealing jewellery, an Xbox and, as planned, the firearms. It is reported the group left in a maxi taxi at about 7.40am on May 10. In a chilling revelation, Evans then allegedly told the cab driver she had a 'very exhilarating night'. Ms Ayers wasn't reported missing until May 25, when her parents returned home from holidays to the Lakesland property, where their daughter's body was secretly buried. Ms Ayers' discomposed body was uncovered in a shallow grave on her parent's 25-acre Lakesland property in 2012 . Police finally caught up with Evans on May 31, after her parents spent a week wondering where their daughter could be. Evans took officers to the property and showed them where Ms Ayers was buried. She reportedly told the young witness she felt no remorse for the killing. 'I feel good. I don't feel guilty. The f***ing belt buckle snapped. When I was burying her I started hitting her with the shovel. It felt so good,' the Daily Telegraph reported. During her trial it was revealed Evans sent fan mail to infamous murderer Ivan Milat and bragged to the unidentified teen-aged witness that she would become a 'serial killer' in years to come. Evans has plead guilty to murder and Debridge to being an accessory after the fact, with both receiving discounts on their sentences for giving evidence during Duffy's continuing trial. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "A senior teacher is being made redundant in Dundee after councillors refused to reduce their drinks budget by £44,000. Norma Seith is set to lose her post at the Menzieshill Young Mum's Unit (YMU) - which helps teenage mothers stay in education. Ms Seith is principal teacher and manager of the organisation, which provides support to young 'fragile' women who 'have seen their lives become very, complicated'. Scroll down for video . Teacher Norma Seith is set to lose her post at the Menzieshill Young Mum's Unit in Dundee after councillors refused to reduce their drinks budget by £44,000 . The SNP administration has refused to cut their drinks budget despite the alternative being the removal of Ms Seith from her post. More than 1,000 people have now signed a petition urging the council to reverse their decision and opposition groups rallied round the unit today, proposing a series of alternative savings, The Courier reports. Derek Scott, the Conservative member for Broughty Ferry, suggested slashing food and refreshment for councillors, alcohol purchases and hospitality budgets. He claimed that by saving £44,000 in the entertainment allowance, the council could afford to employ the principal teacher at the YMU. However, his motion was defeated by SNP members who pushed ahead with their proposals — and Labour councillors who declined to vote. Clare McGraw, whose daughter uses the YMU, told members at today's meeting that the unit was crucial in helping those who become pregnant while in education. She said: 'Any changes to the YMU should be done with care and attention, given the crucial support it provides. Protesters who signed a 1,000-strong petition calling for the council to reverse their decision rallied outside the school today . '(Education convener) Stewart Hunter has already said to me that the planning could have been better. 'The principal teacher has been there for 24 years and is essential as a relationship with those involved in the unit. This amounts to a dismantling of the YMU.' SNP finance spokesman Councillor Willie Sawers said: 'This is the ninth year in a row that the council tax has been frozen in Dundee. 'Within the savings proposed for council services, we have made absolutely every effort we can to protect the quality of the services we provide.' On their website, the YMU says it 'caters for the extra needs of pregnant schoolgirls and young mothers with their babies from across the city. 'The unit is staffed by a Principal Teacher, supported by a designated YMU support worker and two qualified Early Years Practitioners.' Ms Seith was unavailable for comment today. Speaking to the Evening Telegraph last month, the teacher spoke of the crucial work that the YMU do in helping young mothers. She said: 'The emphasis is on continuing the girls' education. But there's also input from us on parenting skills, nutrition and many other aspects of motherhood. 'And whilst some girls have been around other children — brothers, sisters, cousins — others are terrified at the prospect of being a mum.'", "A man whose girlfriend ran off with his stepfather and gave birth to a baby nearly four years ago has spoken of his delight after DNA tests proved the baby is actually his. Love rat Stan Crowther, 47, and Rachel Delaney, 18 at the time, set up home together and Rachel then gave birth to a baby daughter, whom Stan believed was his. But recent bombshell DNA tests showed that the baby, living in Chorley, Lancashire, actually belongs to her former partner, and Stan's former stepson, Ashley Mercer, 27. Ashley Mercer (left, pictured in 2010) was heartbroken when his girlfriend Rachel Delaney began an affair with his stepfather Stan Crowther (both pictured right). Rachel had a baby shortly after moving in with Stan and recent DNA tests have proved that the child is in fact Ashley's . Stan Crowther, 47, with the baby daughter he believed was his until recent DNA tests proved otherwise . The affair between Stan and Rachel shattered Ashley and his mother, Mandy, who has astonishingly now forgiven Stan for the affair. Mandy, 47, who has now found new love with partner Andy Barker, says: 'It's been a rollercoaster few years. It might sound funny, but I'm happier now than I've ever been before. 'I have forgiven Stan. We're friends again. And my son has moved on with his life too and has a new daughter to be proud of.' Both men were left reeling from results of DNA tests which show that Ashley - and not Stan - is the father of Rachel's daughter. Ashley says: 'I feel very bitter towards Stan. I trusted him, I used to call him dad and I can't forgive him like my mum has. 'I'm buzzing to find out I am the baby's dad - and Stan isn't.' Love rat Stan with Ashley's mother Mandy Rourke, 47, whom he was married to for ten years . Ashley Mercer was in a relationship with Rachel's sister Kelly before he met Rachel, and the pair have a son, pictured, now seven . Kelly Delaney, Rachel's sister, with her son with Ashley . Ashley has five children with five different women - including a son with Rachel's sister Kelly. He started seeing Kelly when he was 19, and their son is now seven. But they split when he was three years old. Ashley was single for just three months before he moved on from Kelly to her half-sister, Rachel, in 2010. Rachel, then 16, began working at the family firm: a Lancashire tattoo parlour. Ashley says: 'Rachel was very similar to her sister, but she was naughty. We had a lot of fun together.' Rachel soon became part of the family and Ashley's mother, Mandy, grew fond of her. But Ashley began to suspect an affair between Rachel and his stepfather Stan, confiding in Mandy, who at first dismissed the idea as outrageous. Rachel and Stan when they first got together: Their relationship fizzled out 18 months later and DNA tests have now proved that Ashley is the baby's biological father . Stan and Rachel set up home together, and Rachel then gave birth to a baby daughter, whom Stan believed was his . Ashley says: 'I saw them in the car together, play fighting, but then they were getting too cosy. 'I was sickened. Stan and my mum had been married for ten years and I called him dad. He was my father figure.' Horrified by her son's claims, Mandy turned detective and began checking the mobile phone belonging to the tattoo parlour - which Rachel took home with her each night. She says: 'The account was in my name and I checked her bill and Stan's. Stan was sending loads of texts. 'I spoke to Stan and he became very defensive and shifty and I knew, instantly, there was something going on.' She confronted Rachel and found intimate text messages between her and Stan. Horrified, she threw Stan out and Ashley finished with Rachel. Mandy, 47, has found new love with partner, Andy Barker . Mandy (pictured with new partner Andy) says: 'I was furious that Stan had betrayed me. But it hurt even more that he had betrayed Ashley' Mandy says: 'Ashley was gutted. He hadn't wanted to believe it. He stopped eating and he started drinking heavily. 'He'd had a stammer as a kid, but it came back much worse. I was really worried about him. 'I was furious that Stan had betrayed me. But it hurt even more that he had betrayed Ashley.' Rachel then announced she was pregnant. Mandy says: 'At first she said it was Ashley's baby, then she said it was Stan's. It was disgusting. Poor Ashley was totally up the wall.' Rachel eventually announced that the baby, born in March 2011, was Stan's, and the couple set up home together. It was the last straw for Mandy, who filed for divorce. Mandy (pictured with younger son Josh, now 19) turned detective and began checking the mobile phone belonging to the tattoo parlour, which she ran with Stan . Mandy (left) says: 'I spoke to Stan and he became very defensive and shifty and I knew, instantly, there was something going on'; Right: Rachel pictured in 2010 . But Rachel and Stan's relationship fizzled out 18 months later and DNA tests have now proved that Ashley is the baby's biological father. Ashley is now is a new relationship with partner, Deanne Parry. The couple are planning to get engaged and he has contact with Rachel's daughter. Perhaps most surprising of all, Stan and Mandy are friends again, though she vows she will never forgive Rachel. Mandy says: 'There's no relationship there, but Stan and I are friends. For a long time, I was angry and bitter. But life is too short for that.' Rachel says: 'I wanted the baby to be Stan's. But deep down, I knew there was a chance Ashley was the dad. 'I didn't want my little girl going to school and not knowing who her dad was. I paid for the DNA test. Ashley didn't pay a penny. I am not sure whether I will put his name on the birth certificate. He needs to step up as a dad.' Stan has since moved away to start a new life and says: 'I am heartbroken. I thought that little girl was mine and the DNA results were devastating. I don't see Rachel any more. 'I regret the way I treated Mandy, and we are friends again now. I wish things had happened differently but I just have to get on and start again.'", "By . Mark Duell . The mother of nine who rakes in benefits of £33,500 a year today defended her family’s £7,000 taxpayer-funded holiday, saying she is already planning another one for next year. Cheryl Prudham, 32, and husband Rob, 29, who are expecting twin girls in September, were pictured last month in shorts and flip-flops soaking up the sun on a break with their brood in Menorca, Spain. They stayed at the three-star Hotel Victoria Playa in Santo Tomas, which has two swimming pools and a beach nearby, and Mrs Prudham claimed she was not concerned about using taxpayers’ money. Cheryl Prudham, 32, defended her use of taxpayers' cash for her holiday with children George, 14, Jack, 13, Caitlin, nine, Maisie, eight, Millie, six, Madison, five, Leon, three, Lenny, two, and Lainey, one . The mother, who lives in a five-bedroom council house with her family in Gravesend, Kent, told Closer magazine: ‘I don’t feel bad about using taxpayers’ money. We’re entitled to a holiday. ‘We spent our days going for walks on the beach, having toasties by the pool and watching the hotel entertainment in the evenings. One of our rooms had a sea view.’ Mrs Prudham, who has admitted smoking during pregnancy and taking her children out of school in term time, is expecting twin girls in September, and will get a further £1,400 a year in child benefit. She added: ‘I asked the school headmaster if we could get time off, but he said \"no\". So we decided to go anyway. One of the weeks was during half term, so they haven’t missed that much school. ‘We didn’t want to wait until the summer as it’s too hot to go away then. If we get fined we’ll have to deal with it. We’d pay it off gradually - there’s no way we could afford a big lump sum.’ ‘I haven’t put a limit on how many more children I’ll have. People criticise me for getting lots of benefits but it’s the Government’s fault. You’re not going to say no to money if it’s offered to you.’ Soaking up the sun: The Prudham family pictured on holiday in Menorca today with their growing brood . The couple said that they . had been enjoying quality time with children George, 14, Jack, 13, Caitlin, . nine, Maisie, eight, Millie, six, Madison, five, Leon, three, Lenny, . two, and Lainey, one. Mr . Prudham told MailOnline last month: ‘We’re having a great time. I’d like . to buy a villa out here. The kids deserved a holiday – it’s nice for . them – and we just want to spend time with them.’ Mr . Prudham also said of critics of their lifestyle: ‘I’m not bothered what . other people think. They’re just stuck up. People are just jealous. 'It’s . none of anybody else’s business. Other people like us go on holiday all . the time and it doesn’t matter if it is in England or abroad, it all . costs the same'. The couple . could be fined more than £800 after taking their children on holiday . during term time. ‘I’m not worried about the school fines. It is up to . us when we go on holiday’, Mr Prudham said. Mrs . Prudham, who posted a selfie with her husband on Facebook while on . holiday, was also seen smoking while her children were splashing in the . pool. When asked how she could justify a fortnight abroad, she told The Sun last month: 'We can't even enjoy a family holiday'. Abroad: The also admitted headteachers had warned them not to go on holiday in term time, but they went anyway, which means they face fines of £60 per child - a total of £840 . And commenting on smoking while pregnant, she added: 'I'm not drinking though, am I? I asked my midwife and she said to me it would be worse if I give up because I would get too stressed out. So I've cut down'. The couple also admitted headteachers had . warned them not to go on holiday in term time, but they went anyway, . which means they face fines of £60 per child - a total of £840. 'I don’t feel bad about using taxpayers’ money. We’re entitled to a holiday' Cheryl Prudham . TaxPayers' Alliance spokesman Andy Silvester said: 'Taxpayers won't be convinced that chipping in for a sunny Spanish holiday is the best way for their money to be used.’ In April, part-time carer Mrs Prudham said her twins would be her last, and that she planned to be sterilised so she could focus on her career. Mrs Prudham said: ‘For one, I work more hours than what they are saying and two, I'm going to be sterilised. I'm going to have a caesarean and I'm going to get sterilised at the same time. ‘I'm glad that I am pregnant with twins and I am amazed by it. It’s not anybody else's business. I do a job that most people couldn't do. I care for the elderly every single day.’ Home life: This is the Prudams' council house in Gravesend, Kent, but they want to move again because they do not like the area . Mrs Prudham added: ‘I don't give a s*** if people are on my side or not. I don't care. ‘It is actually no one else's business . about what I choose to do in life. It doesn't matter what you say people . are still going to judge you. They are still going to bad mouth you. Read more: The full feature appears in this week's Closer magazine, on sale now . ‘I don't care what people think, it is my choice that 11 children are going to be more than enough. Obviously I want to carry on my career and things like that.’ The parents have been involved in a long-running battle over their council house, because they said they needed a bigger one for all their family. They used to live in a tiny home in Sittingbourne, Kent, and first demanded a new home last year after hearing about other families on benefits who had landed huge properties. They repeatedly bid for new council . homes through Kent Homechoice, which works alongside Kent County . Council. However, they were left furious when they were turned down by . the authority. Instead they agreed a house swap with a family living in Gravesend, who wanted to downsize. But Mrs Prudham said previously she is unhappy with the new £200,000 home - because they do not like the neighbourhood. She . added: ‘We've been here for about three months but I'm not really happy . with the new house. We've got enough room but it's just we had to move . out of Sittingbourne and we liked it there. ‘But . there was nothing available there so I had to do a mutual exchange here . and I don't really like it here to be honest. I'm not going to be able . to go back to Sittingbourne.’", "The X-Factor singer who claims the cut-glass accent that has captured the nation's imagination is a product of elocution lessons - and not her upbringing - attended a £31,000-a-year private school, it has been revealed. Chloe-Jasmine Whichello, 23, of Wells, Somerset, said her well-spoken tone was down to speech therapy she received at the age of 11 to cure a lisp and was nothing to do with a privileged background. But the model, who stunned judges with a dazzling blues-soaked performance on last night's show, attended Canford School in Wimborne, Dorset, which is set in over 250 acres of grounds on the banks of the River Stour and features a boathouse for rowing, a 294-seat theatre seating and an art gallery. Scroll down for video . Classy: Chloe-Jasmine Whichello, who stunned judges with a dazzling blues-soaked performance on last night's X-Factor, attended Canford School in Wimborne, Dorset . Impediment: The singer said her well-spoken tone was down to speech therapy she received at the age of 11 to cure a lisp . Canford School in Wimborne, Dorset, which is set in over 250 acres of grounds on the banks of the River Stour and features a boathouse for rowing, a 294-seat theatre seating and an art gallery . Miss Whichello, who once said: 'When people meet me they always say, \"You are the poshest girl I’ve ever met in my life\"', claims treatment for her speech problem caused her upper-class accent. She said: ‘I had elocution lessons in order to speak properly.' 'I literally couldn’t even formulate a sentence my lisp was so bad. It was terrible actually because I was too scared to speak.’ The singer admitted that boarding school and her modelling career had also helped to cement her speech, adding: ‘If people think it’s posh I am really sorry. I am not royalty.’ Miss Whichello once said: 'When people meet me they always say, \"You are the poshest girl I’ve ever met\"' Last year she appeared on TV modelling contest The Face, hosted by supermodel Naomi Campbell . Chloe-Jasmine, who speaks fluent French, German and Portuguese, had planned to study law but instead took up modelling at 18. Her parents Garry, 55, and Denise, 57, live in the heart the prestigious village of Wells. The house has at least three floors - a ground floor with a large entrance hall, upstairs and a basement. The kitchen can be seen through the large Edwardian single glaze windows and takes up the whole left hand side of the house. Prices in the street are worth between £350,000 to £500,000. They are just a short walk from the glorious Wells cathedral, the quaint shops in the centre, and a large Waitrose is just around the corner. Plush: Chloe Whichello's parents home in Wells, Somerset . Their house is also just a two minute walk from the holistic health practice they own, the Beaumont Natural Health Centre. It is down a narrow cobbled road and offers osteopathy , massage, reflexology, hypnotherapy and acupuncture. Chloe-Jasmine said she was thrilled and shocked by the judges’ reaction. ‘I didn’t expect such a positive reaction because I haven’t had a singing lesson since school,’ she added. The singer's parents run the Beaumont Natural Health Clinic in Wells, which offers osteopathy , massage, reflexology, hypnotherapy and acupuncture . The young hopeful first auditioned in 2007, but did not make it on screen as the judges did not think she was ready. She was criticised by Simon Cowell, who claimed the then-16-year-old represented the generation of teenagers who only sought fame. But last year she appeared on TV modelling contest The Face and she said the cut-throat world of the catwalk had prepared her. ‘I have interacted with a cacophony of people and that has made me think that life is very short and what is the worst thing that can happen,’ she said. However, she has no intention of being a wild child. ‘I am completely teetotal,’ she said. ‘I don’t really see the point of going out and getting really drunk.’ Canford School hit the headlines recently when a teacher was cleared of engaging in sexual activity with a ‘flirty’ female pupil. Russell Woolwright, 30, said the false allegations had forced him to resign from his job as an economics teacher at the Dorset School attended by Miss Whichello, where he had worked for five years. The girl, who was 17 at the time, sent Mr Woolwright a series of inappropriate emails – but he insisted there had been no sexual contact. After having to endure a four-day trial in which he was charged with making the teenager perform a sex act on him during an encounter in an alleyway, he said the system leaves all the ‘power with the pupils and not with the teachers’. Mr Woolwright met up with the girl after she pestered him with a string of lewd emails including one she titled ‘party in my pants’ in October. He said he told the girl to stop contacting him and twice backed away when she tried to kiss him. After the police later learnt of the email exchange between the pair, the girl ‘embellished’ her version of events and claimed she carried out the sex act. But a jury took just 90 minutes to find him not guilty of two counts of causing or inciting sexual activity with a girl as an adult in a position of trust.", "A 15-year-old says she was humiliated by a teacher who showed an enlarged picture of her in a bikini to more than 100 other students during a school assembly. Children at Eggbuckland Community College in Plymouth, Devon, were shown the photograph taken from her Facebook profile to illustrate the pitfalls of posting private images online. Unknown to the schoolgirl, who has not been named, staff had taken her swimwear photo off the internet. It was blown up and added to a portfolio of other pictures then shown during a packed school assembly. The shock tactic at the 1327-pupil specialist arts school left the girl distraught. Scroll down for video . Upset: A 15-year-old was left in tears after staff at Eggbuckland Community College in Plymouth, Devon, pictured, showed a picture of her in a bikini to a packed assembly . Her mother, who has now made an official complaint to Ofsted, said: 'They took the photo from her Facebook profile - she put it on there last year. 'They used other photos of kids from the neck up but for some reason they thought it was OK to use a picture of my daughter in her bikini. 'Why did they have to use an image like that to make their point. Then they pointed her out in the assembly. She was really upset. 'I got a phone call from my daughter in the afternoon. When she told me about it I went from nought to sixty. I was so upset at work I was sent home. 'She's really upset and hurt and this has knocked her confidence. She's not the type of girl who likes attention like this. 'She's a tom-boy, she doesn't wear make-up and she doesn't even have her ears pierced. It's not often you even get her in a bikini.' Complaint: The girl's mother, says she has had an apology from the headteacher, but has complained to Ofsted about the incident . The woman, who does not want her daughter to be identified, has now written to education watchdogs Ofsted, the board of governors and the head teacher to demand answers about the incident. She says if the school were concerned about the image, they should have pulled her daughter aside or contacted her to voice concerns - rather than using it to embarrass her. She added: 'The headteacher has since phoned me and couldn't me more apologetic. I don't think she was aware it was going to happen.' The school today said today it had stated a 'formal investigation' into the incident, which will consider the teacher's conduct. A spokesman added: 'In a House assembly last week on the topic of \"Online Safety\", students were shown a PowerPoint including a short video about the potential dangers of which they need to be aware. 'One of the images in the presentation was of an Eggbuckland student wearing shorts and a bikini top. The member of staff leading the assembly had accessed the picture simply by Googling the names of some of our students. 'She wanted to illustrate how freely available such images are, through the internet. We are really sorry for the way in which this important message was delivered. This was an error of judgement: the member of staff had not intended to cause any embarrassment'. A Plymouth City Council spokesperson said on behalf of the school, whose motto is 'Learning, caring, achieving': 'We cannot comment on the incident itself. 'It is very important that young people understand the risks of posting images and messages about themselves online. 'All our partner agencies, including all schools, have a duty to promote on-line safety and equip all pupils and students with the ability to stay safe online. 'Most images placed online on social networking sites or through the use of smartphones can be found and copied, and then shared. 'Sadly, there are people of all ages who know that they can use photographic images to bully, exploit or coerce others, and do so. 'The advice given to children and parents is that it is very difficult to ensure any picture is completely private and it is important to positively manage their online identity and profile and think carefully before sharing personal content.'", "By . Steve Nolan . PUBLISHED: . 11:37 EST, 30 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:37 EST, 30 January 2013 . A three-year-old girl has been left with permanent bright blue marks in her hair after the dye from a hair bobble leaked and stained it. Scarlett Belfield had been playing outside her home with friends when the tie got wet and the dye ran - leaving unsightly streaks of blue in her long blonde locks. Dismayed mother Charlotte Hollinshead, 22, has tried washing Scarlett’s hair 15 times following the incident last Friday. Turned the 'air blue: Angry mother Charlotte Hollinshead and three-year-old daughter Scarlett Belfield with the hair bobble, left, and the effects of the dye on her hair, right . Offenders: The blue hair ties which ran while Scarlet was playing in the snow . She has tried a variety of ways to clean the dye off - including using washing-up liquid to wash her hair - but they have all failed to work. The mother-of-two asked a hairdresser for advice, who told her the stubborn dye can only be removed by bleaching her daughter’s hair - or chopping it off. Furious Charlotte said she contacted high street discount store B&M Bargains - only for staff to tell her that the hair clips weren’t suitable for blondes. They offered her a refund on the £1.29 bumper pack of hair accessories but refused to apologise or cover the cost of correcting the mistake. Full time mother Charlotte, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, revealed she is now demanding compensation from the store. She said: 'Scarlett had been playing in the snow with her dad when she came back in with blue in her hair. Permanent: A close up of Scarlett Belfield's hair shows the effect of the blue dye . 'The dye had completely run out of the bobble and in to her hair, it’s stained it blue and nothing will make it come out. 'I have tried everything and even contacted a hairdressers’ for advice. 'They said that I’d either have to bleach Scarlett’s hair or cut it. 'There’s no way I’m going to bleach a three-year-old girl’s hair so the only thing is to have it cut. 'It would have to be cut very short to get rid of all the blue, so we might wait a bit which means she’s stuck with it for now. 'I called the store to complain but they were really snotty with me - one woman even said \"what do you want me to do about it?\" 'I couldn’t believe my ears when they told me the bobbles weren’t made for blonde children - how would I have known that? Streaks: Parents and staff at the youngster's nursery school thought that Scarlett's parents had died her hair deliberately . Bright: Mother Charlotte Hollinshead has washed her daughter's hair 15 times since Friday in a bid to get rid of the dye . 'If there’s that big a risk they should put a warning on the label. 'It is absolutely ridiculous that a child of that age should get their hair coloured because of a hair tie.' Scarlett's mother was left embarrassed when parents and teachers at her nursery group even thought Charlotte had put the blue streaks in her hair on purpose. The youngster’s father Nathan Belfield, 22, a bricklayer, added: 'We had just been out in the street enjoying the snow when it happened. 'The dye was very dark blue at first and we are trying to get her hair back to normal. 'We are angry with what the shop said and we don’t want to have to dye a three-year-old’s hair, it’s just not right. 'I have had teachers at school asking me why her hair is a different colour and I’ve had to explain we haven’t done it. 'It is embarrassing to explain and we would like an apology from the shop and more than a refund.” Staff at the Old Hall Street store in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, where the bobble was bought, have refused to comment on Charlotte’s complaint. The firm’s head office were also unavailable for comment today. No apology: The B&M store in Hanley, Stoke where the bobbles were purchased .", "By . James Tozer . Rachel Lyne, who was a victim of a harassment campaign by Richard and Amanda Holman, who claimed she was a prostitute . Rachel Lyne will forever regret her short-lived affair with the plumber who fixed her boiler. She ended the relationship with Richard Holman after four weeks when she discovered he was married – but her troubles were only just beginning. For seven years, the 48-year-old suffered the effects of a smear campaign masterminded by Holman and his furious wife. The couple, who lived in a £1million farmhouse in Scorton, Lancashire, set up hundreds of fake online profiles branding her a prostitute and a benefits cheat. She moved hundreds of miles away to escape the slurs, but faced a steady stream of men at her door expecting sex. Eventually, police gave her a panic alarm and she resorted to putting a note outside her home stating it was not a brothel. Yesterday 45-year-old Holman and his then wife Amanda – now divorced – were starting 26-week jail terms after being convicted of harassment. But many of the cruel profiles remain accessible. After the hearing, Miss Lyne said the couple had ‘destroyed every little aspect of my life’, adding: ‘It’s gone on for seven years … It destroyed my relationship with my parents. ‘Friends and people I had known all my life were looking at me sideways. You can imagine the humiliation and embarrassment that it has brought to my family.’ Richard Holman, left, and Amanda Holman, right, who have both been jailed for 26 weeks after being found guilty of harassment . Miss Lyne started a relationship with . Holman after he fixed her boiler in 2007. She found out he was married . when his wife answered his mobile phone, and immediately ended the . affair. Mrs Holman – a . director of her husband’s gas fires firm – called her a ‘home-wrecker’ and a ‘whore’. Shortly after the romance was discovered, parcels of . lingerie began arriving at Miss Lyne’s home and workplace. Her . parents and neighbours received letters alleging she was a prostitute, . drug dealer and benefits cheat. Her dog went missing and was found 400 . miles away. Hundreds of fake . online dating and sex profiles were set up in her name, with up to four . men a day appearing at her home expecting sexual services. In . 2011 Miss Lyne moved to Cornwall with friend Stuart Walker. But the . following year a man came to her door believing he had been speaking to . her on a site called Happyslappers.com. Police . traced the profiles to Mrs Holman’s computer. One showed images of a . bikini-clad woman captioned: ‘Look at my gorgeous body boys – come and . see me.’ It calls Miss Lyne . and Mr Walker ‘professional benefit cheats’. Scott Ainge, prosecuting, . told Preston Magistrates’ Court: ‘[Miss Lyne] isn’t and never has been a . prostitute and there is a rift between herself and her parents who . believed the information they were being fed.’ The Holmans are understood to be planning an appeal.", "Rachel Reeves: Labour frontbencher is set for a Cabinet role if Ed Miliband wins the election in May . Labour frontbencher Rachel Reeves today hit back at claims she could not handle being in the Cabinet while having a baby. She hopes to become Work and Pensions Secretary if Ed Miliband wins power in May. But she is due to have her second baby just five weeks later, on 15 June, and will begin her maternity leave before that. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell questioned whether becoming a mother means she will be able to give her job her 'full attention'. But Miss Reeves rejected the suggestion, writing on Twitter: '300,000 women a year take maternity leave but Andrew Rosindell thinks can't do big job & be a mum. Tory women problem?' The row erupted after Miss Reeves, 36, said she believes she would have time to abolish the housing benefit under-occupancy charge – known as the 'bedroom tax' – before she goes on maternity leave until September. 'Yes. I'm having a child, and I shall be on maternity leave for the early weeks and months of the next government,' she said in an interview at the weekend. She added that she had already planned her first moves if Labour is in government and she takes over at Work and Pensions. 'The first thing I would do is to abolish the bedroom tax,' she said, referring to the Coalition's controversial policy of cutting housing benefit for council tenants with a spare room so their rent is not fully covered, meaning they have to pay the shortfall or move. 'That's something I can do really quickly. My baby's due in June, and I want to cancel the bedroom tax before I go on maternity leave. That would be a great start for when I come back in September.' Despite her heavy workload, Miss Reeves, who is married to civil servant Nick Joicey, does not have a nanny or any formal childcare and mainly relies on her mother and aunt. Speaking about her childcare arrangements, she added: 'I do make sure I get things done; that I've sorted out the shopping and that there's food in the fridge.' Miss Reeves, a fast-rising Labour star since she was elected in 2010, has been tipped as a successor to Ed Miliband as Labour leader. She is currently work and pensions spokesman, shadowing Iain Duncan Smith. Miss Reeves took to Twitter to hit back at criticism of the idea of taking maternity leave from the Cabinet . But in an interview at the weekend, the Leeds West MP, who has a one-year-old daughter, ruled herself out of taking over if Labour loses the election. 'I think Ed is going to win and I hope that I will be in his first Cabinet, so that's not a scenario I have given any thought to,' she said. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said last night: 'I don't want to say someone who is having a baby is not eligible to be a Cabinet minister, but I certainly think perhaps the demands of that particular job will require someone to give it their full attention. 'I don't expect Rachel Reeves to be in the Cabinet after the election because I expect the Conservatives to win, but clearly people need to be put in the positions they can handle.' David Cameron's official spokesman also dismissed suggestions that pregnant women should not be appointed to the Cabinet. Asked whether the Prime Minister believed a pregnant woman could serve in the Cabinet, the spokesman told a regular Westminster media briefing: 'Why on Earth not?' The spokesman added: 'The Prime Minister's views around maternity leave (entitlements) is that they are universal, they apply to everyone and it is entirely a matter for individual families to take the decisions that they think are right for them, and the Government's job is to support them in those decisions they take.' Next in line? Miss Reeves, a fast-rising Labour star since she was elected in 2010, has been tipped as a successor to Ed Miliband, left,  as Labour leader. But Tory MP Andrew Rosindell questioned whether she could give the job her full attention . Miss Reeves is expected to be Labour's public face of the General Election campaign with regular TV appearances. She has been pushed forward by Mr Miliband, becoming shadow chief secretary to the Treasury in 2011, before being promoted to shadow work and pensions secretary in 2013. After studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford, state-educated Miss Reeves's first job was as an economist at the Bank of England. She took five months' maternity leave from Parliament after her first child was born in March 2013, returning to work in early September after the summer recess. A week after her return, she faced embarrassment following an appearance on BBC2's Newsnight when its editor Ian Katz sent a tweet calling her 'boring snoring Rachel Reeves'. He had intended it as a private direct message but instead it was tweeted publicly. At the time, Miss Reeves said she was particularly aggrieved about the comment because she had agreed to be interviewed even though she had a new baby. She said: 'I thought, I've just been on your programme at 11 o'clock at night, I've got a tiny baby at home, I could have been at home. I just felt humiliated.' Liberal Democrat equalities minister Jo Swinson was criticised last year for taking six months' maternity leave. She complained of the lack of support for mothers, such as 'bizarre' rulings banning MPs from taking babies through the voting lobby. Miss Swinson said new mothers may need to breastfeed during all night votes and debates. 'I hardly think it would be too much of a disruption,' she said. 'You can take a sword through there but you can't a baby. I think we need to get away from this guilt culture in terms of judging other people's decisions as parents.' Desperate Ed Miliband brings back Two Jags . By Jack Doyle, Political Correspondent for the Daily Mail . Veteran: John Prescott is to return to frontline politics as a climate change adviser to Ed Miliband . John Prescott is to return to frontline politics as a climate change adviser to Ed Miliband. But the move, widely seen as an attempt by the Labour leader to fend off the threat of Ukip by shoring up working-class votes, was greeted with widespread derision. The appointment of Lord Prescott – dubbed Two Jags – came as a second poll in a week put the Tories ahead of Labour. The Opinium survey for the Observer had the Conservatives up two points on 35 per cent and Labour down two on 33. Senior Labour figures admitted Lord Prescott, 76, would play a significant campaigning role ahead of the election. The appointment of the veteran bruiser – during the 2001 election campaign he famously punched a protester who threw an egg at him in North Wales – came as a surprise. He recently criticised Mr Miliband's 'far too timid' approach. 'He might as well have said at the end of his conference speech, 'Go back to your constituencies and prepare for coalition',' Lord Prescott said in October. He was deputy leader of the Labour Party for 13 years and deputy Prime Minister under Tony Blair until he resigned in 2007. He earned the sobriquet Two Jags after it emerged he owned one and had a second as his ministerial car. In 1999, he was criticised for driving the 200 yards from his hotel to the Labour Party conference venue. He blamed the need to protect his wife Pauline's hair. In 2006 he took a chauffeur-driven Jaguar the 200 yards from his hotel to speak on global warming at a US conference At the time he said he was 'fully focused' on saving the planet. That year it also emerged that he had a two-year affair with his secretary Tracey Temple, a divorcee 24 years his junior. On BBC1's Andrew Marr show yesterday, former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell denied Lord Prescott's return was 'terrifying' but admitted Mr Miliband's personal poll ratings were 'not good'. Former Blair aide Matthew Taylor told Sky News that Lord Prescott was 'probably past the stage of punching people'. Mr Miliband said he was bringing back the veteran because he 'knows how to knock heads together'. Lord Prescott will advise him ahead of the UN climate change conference in Paris later this year, he said. Lord Prescott was the lead EU negotiator during the talks which led to the 1997 Kyoto agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Labour foreign affairs spokesman Douglas Alexander said Lord Prescott was one of the party's strongest campaigners. He said: 'The role and brief that John's been given right now is to focus on climate change but I fully expect that as well as that policy role, he'll continue to support the Labour campaign in the months ahead.' Tory MP Nigel Mills said: 'So, Labour appoints the man who spent his ministerial career swanning around in two gas-guzzling Jaguars to be their adviser on climate change? Another dud appointment from weak Ed Miliband who's got a man who crashed the economy running the shadow Treasury and a deputy leader who thinks the way to attract the female vote is daubing her campaign material in pink.' Ukip's Nigel Farage mocked the appointment, telling Radio 4: 'I think they're a bit short of talent.' Yesterday's Opinium Poll shows Labour has fallen 11 points since the end of 2012. It follows an ICM poll for the Guardian which put the Tories on 36 per cent and Labour on 32. Opinium's Adam Drummond said the recovering economy was boosting the Coalition's ratings." ]

[ "I. FUNCTION AND TYPES OF MUSCLE. Locomotion: One of the most obvious functions of muscle tissue is locomotion. When muscles contract, the fibers pull or relax bones to which they are attached, thus causing locomotion. Muscle contraction is also the primary means of moving lymph in the lymphatic vessel." ]

[ "II ANIMAL TISSUES. In animals, organs are composed of varying combinations of four basic tissue types -- epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. Each of these tissues has distinctive structural features and specific functions which are again combined to produce functioning organs.I ANIMAL TISSUES. In animals, organs are composed of varying combinations of four basic tissue types -- epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. Each of these tissues has distinctive structural features and specific functions which are again combined to produce functioning organs.", "These groups of specialized cells that share a common structure and function are called tissues. In animals, there are four main tissue types: connective tissue, epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue.hese groups of specialized cells that share a common structure and function are called tissues. In animals, there are four main tissue types: connective tissue, epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue.", "Chapter 3: Muscle and Nervous Tissues Objectives1. Name the four major tissue types and their subcategories. (c. muscle; d. nervous)2. Explain the structure and function of the muscle and nervous tissues.3. Give the chief locations of the muscle and nervous tissue in the body4. Be able to identify muscle and nervous tissue.", "There are 4 primary tissue types in the human body: epithelial tissue. .tissue A collection of similar cells that group together to perform a specialized function. muscle tissue and nerve tissue.connective tissue.here are 4 primary tissue types in the human body: epithelial tissue. .tissue A collection of similar cells that group together to perform a specialized function. muscle tissue and nerve tissue. connective tissue.", "Animal cells and plant cells can form tissues, like muscle tissue. A living tissue is made from a group of cells with a similar structure and function, which all work together to do a particular job.Here are some examples of tissues: muscle. the lining of the intestine. the lining of the lungs.issues. Animal cells and plant cells can form tissues, like muscle tissue. A living tissue is made from a group of cells with a similar structure and function, which all work together to do a particular job. Here are some examples of tissues: muscle.", "Smooth muscle. Smooth muscle is represented from the stomach wall. Smooth muscle tissue is defined as a non-striated muscle tissue comprising involuntary contractile elements surrounding tissues and structures where contraction is part of normal function.mooth muscle tissue is defined as a non-striated muscle tissue comprising involuntary contractile elements surrounding tissues and structures where contraction is part of normal function.", "Epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscle tissue, nervous tissue. This is based on the structure of cells, composition of noncellular substances and the functions of the cells.", "Equipment: Microscopes and histological slides. Tissues are groups of cells with a common structure (form) and function (job). There are four main tissues in the body – epithelium, muscle, connective tissue and nervous tissue.quipment: Microscopes and histological slides. Tissues are groups of cells with a common structure (form) and function (job). There are four main tissues in the body – epithelium, muscle, connective tissue and nervous tissue.", "Tissues are made up of many individual cells. Groups of different kinds of tissues are organized together to form organs, which have special functions with characteristic shapes and functional properties. There are four kinds of tissues based on differences in their anatomy and function: epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue.", "This is the layer of dense connective tissue that connects the skin to tissues below it, like fat and muscle. Because most of the vital functions of the skin are performed or housed here. This is the layer of dense connective tissue that connects the skin to tissues below it, like fat and muscle. Because most of the vital functions of the skin are performed or housed here.", "Groups of similar cells that function together make up tissues. Groups of similar tissues that function together make up organs. For example, the stomach organ is made up … of mucous lining, muscle, and vascular tissue. 2 people found this useful.Groups of similar tissues that function together make up organs. For example, the stomach organ is made up … of mucous lining, muscle, and vascular tissue.", "The simplest level of organization is that of the cell. A group of cells with a similar function is called a tissue. Groups of tissues working together to perform a common function are called organs. An example of this would include the nervous, muscle, and other tissues which make up the heart.he simplest level of organization is that of the cell. A group of cells with a similar function is called a tissue. Groups of tissues working together to perform a common function are called organs. An example of this would include the nervous, muscle, and other tissues which make up the heart.", "Muscle physiology: Physiology is the study of the function of living systems, the mechanical, physical, and biochemistry of function and energy transfer. Muscle physiology is concerned with the types of muscle tissues (of which there are three). Here I discuss skeletal muscle specifically.", "The Human Being—A Complex Organism. The same type of cells which carry out a specific function are organised into a tissue. For examples, a group of muscle cells form a muscle tissue while a group of nerve cells form a nerve tissue.he Human Being—A Complex Organism. The same type of cells which carry out a specific function are organised into a tissue. For examples, a group of muscle cells form a muscle tissue while a group of nerve cells form a nerve tissue.", "Tendons are a type of soft tissue connecting muscle tissue to bone, similar to the ligaments that connect bone to bone. The function of tendons is to transfer force between muscle and bone.", "The 4 Basic Tissue Types in the Human Bodywww.exploringnature.org Tissues are groups of cells with a common structure (form) and function (job).There are four main tissues in the body – epithelium, muscle, connective tissue and nervous tissue.he 4 Basic Tissue Types in the Human Bodywww.exploringnature.org Tissues are groups of cells with a common structure (form) and function (job).There are four main tissues in the body – epithelium, muscle, connective tissue and nervous tissue.", "A group of cells grouped together to perform a similar function is a tissue. FOr example, all of your mucels perform a similar function. The muscles are actually tissues consisting of a group of similar cells. A group of cells grouped together to perform a similar function is a tissue.", "Hypodermis (Superficial Fascia). The subcutaneous tissue deep to the skin. It is not part of the skin, but it shares some of the skins protective functions. It is superficial to the tough connective tissue wrapping (fascia) of the skeletal muscles, consists mostly of adipose tissue. Functions: Anchors the skin to the underlying structures (mostly muscle), acts as a shock absorber.", "Contractions in striated muscles are voluntary, except for the heart muscle, in which contractions are involuntary. Cardiac muscle is often treated separately from the other striated muscles, as it has somewhat different characteristics. A sarcomere is the functional unit of striated muscles.triated muscle tissue is muscle tissue that has repeating sarcomeres, in contrast with smooth muscle tissue. Specifically, striated muscles are:", "dense irregular connective tissue that separates a muscle into groups of individual muscle fibers: perimysium: bundles of muscle fibers: fascicles: the outermost connective tissue layer that encircles an entire skeletal muscle: epimysium: dense irregular connective tissue that lines the body wall and limbs and holds functional muscle units together: fascia", "Neurons are specialized cells characteristic of _____. muscle tissue. connective tissue. nervous tissue. epithelial tissue. The structural and functional unit of nervous tissue is the _____. dendrite. axon. insulator. neuron." ]

[ "Fresh from winning this year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, Lewis Hamilton gave his fans an early peak at his newest set of wheels. The Mercedes racing driver was a surprise winner of the coveted award in a glittering ceremony in Glasgow, capping a year that saw him secure the Formula One world championship for a second time. And Hamilton took to his Instagram to showcase the latest machine that could propel him to his second title on the bounce next season. Lewis Hamilton posted the picture of his new 'beast' on his Instagram account . Lewis Hamilton is held aloft after winning the F1 driver's championship in Abu Dhabi last month . Lewis Hamilton receives the trophy as he is named 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year . Hamilton will be appearing on the Christmas Special of the Jonathan Ross show and was looking forward to test driving his new 'beast' around the BBC studios. Hamilton posted on his Instagram account: 'My new car! Thanks to Jonathan Ross and team! Watch me whip this beast around on Saturday's Christmas Special!  #TeamLH #NewRide #SaturdayAt10pm #GodIsTheGreatest' Hamilton (centre) poses alongside runner-up Rory McIlroy (right) and athlete Jo Pavey ." ]

[ "Fresh from his red carpet appearance, Lewis Hamilton's dog Roscoe was also sharing in the limelight during the F1 world champion's Christmas celebrations. The Mercedes driver posted an Instagram picture of himself and his pair of pooches - Roscoe and Coco - wearing identical Santa hats but very different facial expressions, with the caption: 'Hope you all had an amazing Christmas with your families! #GodIsTheGreatest #BestDogs #Family #GodBless #TeamLH #RoscoeAndCoco. Roscoe had already been introduced to the world at large when he accompanied Hamilton to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards to watch his master beat golf No 1 Rory McIlroy to the titular prize. Lewis Hamilton poses with his dogs Roscoe and Coco at home over Christmas . Hamilton poses with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger (centre) and Tom Cruise (right) after Cats . That crowned a sensational year for the 29-year-old claimed his second world driver's title after winning 11 races and defeating team-mate Nico Rosberg by clinching victory in the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton has been deservedly relaxing at the end of gruelling season, which has included watching his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger's performance in the West End musical Cats and meeting yet more famous people. On Saturday, Hamilton posted a selfie that included Scherzinger, the cast from Cats... and Hollywood star Tom Crusie, with the caption: 'Tom & I backstage after watching Cats last week! #Grizabella #JellicleCats #ThatSongIsStillStuckInMyHead'. Hamilton is accompanied by Roscoe after winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year . The British driver celebrates winning he world title for a second time with victory in Abu Dhabi .", "Nico Rosberg expects Mercedes to lead the way this season, hailing his team as the best in Formula One. Rosberg will renew his championship battle with team-mate Lewis Hamilton when the season gets underway at the traditional Albert Park curtain raiser in Melbourne on Sunday. Mercedes won 16 of the 19 races last term, and their ominous form in pre-season testing sees them start the new campaign as clear title favourites. Nico Rosberg takes a selfie under the gaze of the world's media as he poses with this year's trophy . The German finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton this year and will renew his battle with the Briton in 2015 . ‘We are looking good and we are very optimistic for the new season,’ said Rosberg, who finished runner-up to team-mate Hamilton in 2014. ‘We are the best in F1 now. We have the best individual departments, we have the best overall team, we have the best engine factory – they’re just doing an awesome job. Our race team is leading the way.’ Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, suggested earlier this week that Rosberg must re-invent himself in order to challenge Hamilton for the championship. Rosberg was all smiles as he stepped off the tram outside the Albert Park Circuit on Wednesday . Lewis Hamilton, pictured with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, will fight with Rosberg for this year's title . And the German, winner of the last year’s season opener in Melbourne, has conceded that he must improve this term if he is going to prevent Hamilton from winning a third title. ‘I have to be that little bit better,’ said Rosberg, who won six fewer races than his team-mate last season. ‘Last year wasn’t quite enough and I just need to try to look for a little bit extra.’ Rosberg presented this year’s Australian Grand Prix trophy to the assembled media on Wednesday after boarding a tram to the Albert Park circuit. 'I have focussed on pushing myself even harder for the rematch with Lewis,'he added. 'In the end, it comes down to who can put the best season together overall, and I have to make sure it's the other way around this time.' Hamilton beat team-mate Rosberg to last year's championship after a thrilling title battle .", "Lewis Hamilton came with his pet bulldog and went home with the top prize — BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The Mercedes racing driver was a surprise winner of the coveted award in a glittering ceremony in Glasgow, capping a year that saw him secure the Formula One world championship for a second time. He flew in from Los Angeles and flew pretty much straight back after adding his name to four previous winners from his sport — Sir Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell (twice) and Damon Hill (twice). Lewis Hamilton receives the trophy as he is named 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year . Hamilton (centre) poses alongside runner-up Rory McIlroy (right) and athlete Jo Pavey . McIlroy (right) congratulates winner Hamilton as the pair shake hands on stage after the announcement . Hamilton (right) speaks on stage to the crowd as he is interviewed by presenter Gary Lineker . Hamilton (centre) sits alongside brother Nicolas as the awards ceremony takes place on Sunday night . The Mercedes driver thanking fans from his private jet with his pet dog, Roscoe . Hamilton pets Roscoe on his plane while giving his appreciation to his supporters . Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton arrives on the red carpet along with his dog Roscoe . Hamilton walks down the red carpet in Glasgow on Sunday as his pet dog Roscoe slowly follows . Lewis Hamilton is held aloft after winning the F1 driver's championship in Abu Dhabi last month . It was a shock because the bookmakers had installed Rory McIlroy as odds-on favourite. Hamilton had always seemed to be ‘Marmite’ — loved or hated — but the people who like him spread their love in the live phone-in to take him one place higher than he managed in 2007 and 2008. The margin — 209,920 to McIlroy’s 123,745 — was an even bigger surprise. The Ulsterman looked upset at coming second. Jo Pavey, who won two major athletics medals — including European gold in the 10,000m — at the age of 40 and having returned to the track in May after the birth of her second child, was third. The claims of both Hamilton, who took his dog Roscoe for a walk on the red carpet before the ceremony, and McIlroy were immense. McIlroy’s brilliance was showcased in 25 days, starting with his first round at Hoylake, where he won The Open, and finishing with his final round at Valhalla, where he won the USPGA Championship. His first World Golf Championship win fell in the middle. His aggregate total was 48 under par and 11 of the 12 rounds were under 70. Remarkable statistics by any stretch and then there was the sheer uninhibited style of his play. Those claims were impressive. But so were Hamilton’s. He was only the fourth Briton to win double world championships — joining Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Stewart. He has won more races than any compatriot (33). His 11 race wins this season was another national record. Real Madrid's Gareth Bale joined the ceremony via video link from the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco . McIlroy (right) greets Paul McGinley as the golfing pair take their seats at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow . Former British track cyclist Sir Chris Hoy is recognised with the Lifetime Achievement award . The big screen shows Gareth Bale presenting Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo with the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award . The stage is full as the England women's rugby union team receive their Team of the Year award . Europe's 2014 Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley speaks on stage as he wins Coach of the Year . Sports Personality of the Year . Lewis Hamilton (Formula One) Team of the Year . England women's Rugby World Cup team . Coach of the Year . Paul McGinley (Golf) Overseas Sports Personality of the Year . Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Young Sports Personality of the Year . Claudia Fragapane (Gymnastics) Helen Rollason Award . Competitors at the Invictus Games . Lifetime Achievement Award . Sir Chris Hoy (Track cycling) Unsung Hero . Jill Stidever (Swimming) Oh, yes, the car was good but his ability to put it in places others could not at speeds they could not match was remarkable. It has been that way ever since he announced himself as a talent of rare brilliance. And he does it in a dangerous sport. One wonders how much nationality had to play in the outcome. McIlroy has said he will compete for Ireland at the Olympics. Hamilton, despite where his taxes are paid, is avowedly British. ‘I am so proud of being British,’ he said. ‘I am proud and honoured to be among such talent. A huge thank you to all the people who called in. It’s been such an incredible year. I couldn’t have done it without my team and my family. 'My father did four jobs to make this possible. Being here is a reminder of how many great sportsmen we have, and I never thought I would be up here with the greats. This is a dream.’ Yet another award fell at Cristiano Ronaldo’s twinkling feet when he was named Overseas Personality of the Year. On an evening populated by the royalty of Scottish sport — mostly handing out the prizes, though in the case of Sir Chris Hoy awarded one himself — as well as Prince Harry, Ronaldo added some foreign glitz. His Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale presented the award to his fellow and greatest Galactico, who this year scored his 200th goal in 178 games. His 23 hat-tricks is a La Liga record. Prince Harry (left) presents the Helen Rollason Award to Lieutenant David Henson, who represents the competitors at this year's Invictus Games . Gymnast Claudia Fragapane receives the 2014 Young Sports Personality of the Year award . Jill Stidever, winner of the Unsung Hero award, sheds a tear as she receives her trophy on stage . Scottish band Simple Minds kick off the 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony in Glasgow . BBC presenter Gabby Logan smiles as she hosts the famous annual awards ceremony . Paul McGinley, meticulous captain of Europe’s Ryder Cup- winning golfers in Gleneagles, was awarded Coach of the Year. A misnomer perhaps, but who could begrudge him after his team was so good it almost rendered an intrinsically heart-stopping competition an anti-climax? In every sphere Europe had the measure of the USA, as they posted a 16½-11½ victory. Sunday night’s ceremony was staged in Glasgow’s Hydro, a venue for this summer’s superb Commonwealth Games. So it was appropriate that Hoy, a twice Commonwealth champion, was handed the Lifetime Achievement Award. Hoy, 38, is Britain’s most decorated Olympian with six gold medals and one silver on his bulging c.v. He also has 11 world titles. But the facts do not convey what a fabulous standard-bearer for British sport he has been. All 12,000 of the cheering home crowd realised something of his status as a true sportsman in the rounded sense of the word. Sochi 2014 gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold (right) speaks to presenter Clare Balding during the ceremony . Prince Harry (centre) sits alongside Jonny WIlkinson (left) during the awards ceremony . McIlroy is pictured on the red carpet ahead of the ceremony (left), and Carl Fogarty arrives (right) Victoria Pendleton poses for the cameras (left), and Carl Froch arrives with fiancee Rachael Cordingley . It has been a phenomenally successful season for Lewis Hamilton, who can now proclaim himself to be a double Formula One world champion and winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. Here is a rundown of Hamilton's season in numbers. 209,920 - Number of public votes received in the 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. 67 - Points ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg at the end of the season. 11 - Wins this year, making him the most successful non-German driver in one season as Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel both won 13 races in a single campaign. 7 - Fastest laps this season. 7 - Pole positions this year, although he came second to Rosberg who scored 11. 5 - His highest run of successive wins this year. Only Schumacher, Vettel and Alberto Ascari have managed more in one season. 2 - A second world title means Hamilton is now one of 16 drivers to have been champion more than once. 1 - After two second-placed finishes, Hamilton has his first BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. And here's who has previously been crowned Sports Personality of the Year . 1954 Sir Chris Chataway . 1955 Gordon Pirie . 1956 Jim Laker . 1957 Dai Rees . 1958 Ian Black . 1959 John Surtees . 1960 David Broome . 1961 Sir Stirling Moss . 1962 Anita Lonsbrough . 1963 Dorothy Hyman . 1964 Mary Rand . 1965 Tommy Simpson . 1966 Bobby Moore . 1967 Sir Henry Cooper . 1968 David Hemery . 1969 Ann Jones . 1970 Sir Henry Cooper . 1971 HRH Princess Anne . 1972 Dame Mary Peters . 1973 Sir Jackie Stewart . 1974 Brendan Foster . 1975 David Steele . 1976 John Curry . 1977 Virginia Wade . 1978 Steve Ovett . 1979 Sebastian Coe . 1980 Robin Cousins . 1981 Ian Botham . 1982 Daley Thompson . 1983 Steve Cram . 1984 Torvill and Dean . 1985 Barry McGuigan . 1986 Nigel Mansell . 1987 Fatima Whitbread . 1988 Steve Davis . 1989 Nick Faldo . 1990 Paul Gascoigne . 1991 Liz McColgan . 1992 Nigel Mansell . 1993 Linford Christie . 1994 Damon Hill . 1995 Jonathan Edwards . 1996 Damon Hill . 1997 Greg Rusedski . 1998 Michael Owen . 1999 Lennox Lewis . 2000 Sir Steve Redgrave . 2001 David Beckham . 2002 Paula Radcliffe . 2003 Jonny Wilkinson . 2004 Dame Kelly Holmes . 2005 Andrew Flintoff . 2006 Zara Phillips . 2007 Joe Calzaghe . 2008 Sir Chris Hoy . 2009 Ryan Giggs . 2010 AP McCoy . 2011 Mark Cavendish . 2012 Sir Bradley Wiggins . 2013 Andy Murray .", "Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton was presented with the 2014 drivers' championship trophy at the FIA's annual awards ceremony in Qatar. Hamilton clinched the championship at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi last month, pipping Mercedes team-mate to the title in what was billed as the 'Duel in the Desert'. And on Friday night champions from every branch of international motor sport gathered at the 2014 prize-giving ceremony as Hamilton finally got his hands on the trophy. VIDEO Scroll down for Lewis Hamilton presented with drivers championship trophy . Lewis Hamilton poses with the F1 drivers' championship at the ceremony in Doha on Friday . Hamilton claimed the title in the final race of the season at the Abu Dhabi GPlast month . The 29-year-old was neck-and-neck with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg all season in a tense battle . Rosberg (right) shared this selfie with Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo (left) and Toto Wolff on Twitter . Hamilton and Wolff pose with the drivers' and constructors' trophies in Doha on Friday . Hamilton sits in his Mercedes on stage before being given the trophy . Champions from every branch of international motorsport gather on stage with their trophies . Hamilton endured a frosty relationship with team-mate Rosberg for much of the season, culminating in the pair colliding at the Belgian grand prix - leading to disciplinary action against the German by Mercedes. But the duo looked to have put their differences aside following the season's climax as they posed for pictures together during the event. Rosberg took to Twitter to share a selfie with champion Hamilton, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.", "(CNN) -- It was a case of like father like son for Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg, who followed in the footsteps of his famous parent on Sunday. The 26-year-old Mercedes driver is the third son of a Formula One racer to win a race -- achieving the feat 30 years after his father Keke claimed his first checkered flag at the Swiss Grand Prix. They joined Britain's Graham and Damon Hill and Canada's Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve as the only father and son duos to triumph in the 62-year history of the sport. Rosberg is hoping to build on his long-awaited first victory after heading off McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton in Shanghai. \"It's amazing to have it,\" the German said in a video blog on the team's website after his 111th race as an F1 driver. \"It's been a long time waiting and Niki Lauda (three-time world champion) said that the first win is the most difficult. After that it gets easier. So if that's the way it goes that would be fantastic.\" Only four drivers in F1 history have waited longer to claim victory: Button (113), Jarno Trulli (117), Rubens Barrichello (124) and Mark Webber (131). He still has some catching up to do to his Finnish father, who won the 1982 world title with Williams as he collected five race wins in a nine-season career from 1978 to 1986. For Nico, Sunday's win was a cause of celebration with Keke. But the Hills and Villeneuves were sadly never able to enjoy the feat together, as both fathers died in tragic circumstances. Britain's Damon Hill made history in 1996 when he won the world title with Williams to add to those Graham took home in 1962 and 1968, making them the only father and son to both be drivers' champions. Damon won 22 races in an eight-season career spanning from 1992 to 1999, but Graham never saw him race as he died in 1975 when the plane he was flying crashed in foggy conditions in North London. His son was just 15 at the time. Hill senior earned the nickname \"Mr. Monaco\" after winning on the Monte Carlo circuit five times out of his career total of 15 victories. Gilles Villeneuve was also never there to see his son Jacques win the 1997 world championships with Williams, triumphing in 11 races overall in a 10-season career spanning 1996 to 2006. A charismatic and thrilling driver, Gilles died in 1982 during a qualifying session at the Belgian Grand Prix -- having been runner-up in the world championship three years earlier with Ferrari. He won six races overall, the first in his home grand prix in 1978 at the Montreal circuit now named after him.", "1/4 Rory McIlroy, 11/4 Lewis Hamilton, 50/1 Jo Pavey, 80/1 Gareth Bale . Selected odds supplied by Coral - correct at time of publication . Lewis Hamilton and Rory McIlroy are set for a Sports Personality of the Year showdown after personal triumph this year. While Hamilton clinched his second world championship title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, McIlroy claimed the Open and US PGA Championship. With both Brits at the top of their game, Sportsmail's experts pick their favourite for the award... VIDEO Scroll down to see which other accolade Rory McIlroy bagged this year . Rory McIlroy (left|) and Lewis Hamilton (right) are set for a Sports Personality of the Year showdown this year . LEE CLAYTON, head of sport - RORY MCILROY . Rory McIlory. He just hits the ball, he doesn’t need the car. Hamilton has been terrific and I listened to him clinch the title while driving home, with some outstanding radio on Five Live. He didn’t win the award last time he was world champion and I fear he will miss out again. There seems to be a disconnect with the British public, but he is doing everything he can to change that. MATT LAWTON, chief sports reporter - RORY MCILROY . McIlroy. Credit to Hamilton for securing a second world title but you can't ignore the fact that he's won a two-horse race this season. McIlroy, however, has now proved himself the world's finest golfer. An amazing year for him. JON McEVOY - LEWIS HAMILTON . Both are great sportsmen but only one wants to be known as British and, despite living in his second tax haven, that man is Hamilton. McIlroy, by declaring himself Irish for Olympic purposes, should not be handed a British bauble. McIlroy is all smiles as he lifts the Claret Jug after winning the Open Championship at Hoylake in July . Hamilton celebrates his second world championship triumph after clinching victory in Abu Dhabi . CHARLES SALE - RORY MCILROY . It has to be Rory McIlroy. So much more difficult to win a major golf championship than an F1 Grand Prix, which were effectively two-horse races this season with both competitors from the same stable. Plus McIlroy helped win the Ryder Cup. MIKE DICKSON - RORY MCILROY . Rory McIlroy should win by a mile ahead of Hamilton. McIlroy does not enjoy a huge technological advantage over his opponents and in real sport everyone competes on level terms. PHIL DUNCAN - LEWIS HAMILTON . He should have won it in 2008 after clinching the F1 title in the most dramatic of circumstances but was beaten to the punch by Sir Chris Hoy and I fancy Rory will get the better of him this year, too. A pity because Hamilton deserves it. A winner of 11 races this year under huge pressure, and isn’t it time British motor racing was recognised at SPOTY? Damon Hill was the last winner, a mighty 18 years ago. McIlroy holds aloft the Wanamaker Trophy after claiming the US PGA Championship at Valhalla . Hamilton is drenched in bubbly after posing for a photo with his Mercedes crew in the Abu Dhabi pit-lane . DEREK LAWRENSON - RORY MCILROY . Let's see... the guy who has just compiled the finest season in the entire history of UK golf or the bloke who came first in a two-car race. I think it might just be Rory McIlroy. JEFF POWELL - RORY MCILROY . Rory McIlroy – even went so far as to sacrifice his starry girlfriend so as to rescue his game. IAN LADYMAN - RORY MCILROY . Because the golfer competes in a sport where all participants begin equal. Hamilton does not. MARCUS TOWNEND - RORY MCILROY . Rory McIIroy seems a vibrant young man, the sort you would enjoy having a chat and drink with. Hamilton seems charmless. In a contest judging sporting achievement and personality it is no contest. McIlroy sprays champagne as he celebrates Europe's victory in the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in Scotland . Hamilton was visibly emotional in the immediate aftermath of his victory . MATT BARLOW - RORY MCILROY . Rory for me. Consistently brilliant and a refreshing personality. Outside those two, perhaps a nod to Gareth Bale for his CL heroics. LAURIE WHITWELL - RORY MCILROY . Without doubt Rory McIlroy. While he beats opponents with the craft of his two hands, any Formula One driver is only as good as his car. Hamilton is very good, of course, but so are the Mercedes mechanics. McIlroy has recovered his mojo and is accelerating at a rate that could challenge the all-time greats. Just to recap: he won the Open, the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup this year. In such a wide and talented field that is remarkable. He also has that personality bit. PAUL NEWMAN - RORY MCILROY . Hamilton's achievement is fantastic but it has to be Rory for me. Technology just plays too big a part in motor racing for it to be pure sport. LAWRENCE BOOTH - RORY MCILROY . It's McIlroy for me. It's harder to win a golf major than a grand prix. And you've got no one to help you. FINAL SCORE: MCILROY 12-2 HAMILTON . Hamilton, still with his helmet on, is given a kiss by his popstar girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger after his victory .", "The history of Formula One is littered with dramatic last-day title shootouts in which legends such as Lauda, Hunt and Schumacher have put everything on the line... and all without the need to award double points. Ahead of Sunday’s showdown we look at F1’s most thrilling finales. 1950 — Monza, Italy . The first Formula One season came down to a fight between the three Fs of Alfa Romeo: Nino Farina, Juan Manuel Fangio and Luigi Fagioli. Farina, with his straight-arm driving style, led but was being harried by Fangio until his gearbox broke. Fangio rejoined the race in his team-mate Piero Taruffi’s car but was hampered by further gremlins. With Fagiolo way back in third, Farina, a qualified doctor and cavalry officer, won to become Formula One’s first champion. Nino Fabrina (pictured) won in 1950 to become Formula One's first ever champion . 1959 — Sebring, USA . Jack Brabham led the table coming into the final race but Stirling Moss, also in a Cooper T51, was just 5.5 points behind after winning the previous two grands prix. Ferrari’s Tony Brooks was also in contention. Moss, who had taken pole, retired with a broken gearbox. Brooks was bumped on the first lap and took a long pit stop. It was all clear for Brabham to win the race and the title. But he ran out of fuel. He got out and pushed the car over the line for fourth. It was enough for the championship, too. Jack Brabham pushed his car over the line to win the Driver's Championship in 1959 . 1964 — Mexico City, Mexico . John Surtees became the only man to win a world championship on two and four wheels. His rivals were Graham Hill, who headed the standings, and Jim Clark, who needed to win the race. Hill was running third, enough for the title, but he collided with Lorenzo Bandini and his hopes were dashed. Clark, who started on pole, was driving brilliantly at the front only for his Lotus to start leaking oil, eventually forcing him to stop. Bandini let his Ferrari team-mate Surtees through for second — and history. John Surtees is still the only man to have won a world championship on both two and four wheels . 1976 — Fuji, Japan . ‘By all the laws of humanity,’ wrote James Hunt on the front page of the following day’s Daily Mail, ‘I should not be motor racing champion of the world.’ It had been an insane climax to an insane season. Ferrari’s Niki Lauda had almost burned to death at the Nurburgring, allowing Hunt to narrow the gap during the Austrian’s recuperation. It came down to Fuji. The weather was so bad that Lauda retired after one lap. Hunt carried on, took third and the title. James Hunt (left) was involved in a tense battle for the 1976 championship with rival Niki Lauda (right) 1984 — Estoril, Portugal . The closest race ever in numerical terms, Niki Lauda beating McLaren team-mate Alain Prost by half a point. Prost won the race, equalling Jim Clark’s record of seven wins in a season (although when the championship started in 1950 there were just six grands prix in Europe as well as the Indianapolis race). But Lauda, helped by Nigel Mansell spinning off, came second and that was enough for his third and final title. Lauda celebrates after winning the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in July, 1984 . 1986 — Adelaide, Australia . All seemed under control for Nigel Mansell — he was in third place, enough to beat his title rivals Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost. But on lap 64 at Dequetteville Terrace his tyre blew violently. ‘Look at that,’ exclaimed Murray Walker on the BBC. Mansell somehow kept his Williams out of the wall but his race was over. Prost became world champion but Mansell consoled himself with becoming ‘People’s Champion’ and BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Left to right: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet pose for the cameras in 1986 . 1994 — Adelaide . A bitter day that, rightly or wrongly, shaped the reputation of Michael Schumacher as a dirty fighter. The German, who started the race one point ahead of Damon Hill, hit the wall in his Benetton. This allowed Hill to get alongside Schumacher, who then turned his car in on the British favourite. Both men were out of the race, making Schumacher champion. Michael Schumacher celebrates with his team manager Flavio Briatore after winning the 1994 championship . 1997 — Jerez, Spain . Schumacher was again cast as villain. He turned in on Jacques Villeneuve at Dry Sack corner, but this time it did not work for him. Schumacher ended up beached in the gravel, Villeneuve survived and took third and the title. Schumacher was disqualified from the championship and admitted he regretted the incident — a rare mea culpa. Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve gets out of his Williams-Renault F1 car at the Jerez circuit in Spain in 1997 . 2008 — Sao Paulo, Brazil . Perhaps the most dramatic final day of all. In spitting rain, Felipe Massa of Ferrari crossed the line first. Lewis Hamilton needed to finish fifth or better to win the title but the Briton was sixth as Massa won. But in the next few seconds, Hamilton passed Toyota’s Timo Glock, who was struggling on slick tyres on the wet track. News of Hamilton’s late surge was relayed to the Massa family, who were already celebrating in the Ferrari garage. Their faces fell. Hamilton won the title and Massa, in front of his home support, conducted himself graciously in numbing defeat. Lewis Hamilton celebrates in Sao Paolo in 2008, after winning the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos . 2012 — Sao Paulo . Poor Fernando Alonso, who lost out on the title on the final day of the season for the third time. The hero of the day was Sebastian Vettel. The left side of his Red Bull was severely bruised in a collision with Bruno Senna on the fourth corner of the race. Ferrari’s Alonso, trailing by 13 points at the start, finished second. Vettel, in a superior car, fought back doggedly to sixth. It was enough for his third title at the young age of 25. Sebastian Vettel won his third Driver's Championship in a row at Sao Paolo in 2012 .", "By . Dan Bloom . With a spaceship-like array of dials controlling everything from tyre circumference to wing flaps, Formula 1 cars have changed a lot in 46 years. It was once a raw sport of man and car, as world champion Graham Hill's vehicle proves. The racing legend's 1968 Lotus 49B will be sold tomorrow for an estimated £1million - despite having just 10 simple instruments on a dashboard which could almost pass for a family saloon's, alongside an ordinary-looking gearstick. A simple sport of man and car: Racing legend Graham Hill's 1968 Lotus 49B will be sold tomorrow for £1million - despite having just 10 instruments on its dashboard . A lot changes in 46 years! Nowadays all the controls are on the steering wheel - which looks like a spaceship cockpit. Last month Sauber explained its controls (pictured) The enigmatic driver, whose son Damon Hill also conquered the world of Formula 1, was the reigning world champion when he took delivery of the Lotus 49B in 1968 - hence the number one on its body. The car’s predecessor, the Lotus 49, had already set a new benchmark for performance and handling when it was unveiled the previous year. Only 12 Lotus 49s were ever built, and the iconic car - which has come up for sale for the first time since the 1970s - is one of only a handful still in existence. Graham Hill and his famous moustache raced the 49B in the Tasman Championship in early 1969, notching up two second places and finishing fourth in the Australian Grand Prix in Brisbane. Later that year Hill raced it in front of a home crowd at the British Grand Prix, finishing seventh. The car boasted a 400bhp V8 engine and a top speed of more than 180mph - figures which sound tame compared to modern F1 cars but had world-beating potential at the time. Its interior was certainly simpler than modern racers. Over the last 46 years, F1 controls have gradually migrated to the steering wheel, which now contains almost every function a driver could ever need. Magnificent: In accordance with F1 tradition, the Lotus 49B carried the number one on its body in honour of its driver Graham Hill, who was the reigning world champion . Only 12 Lotus 49s were ever built, and the iconic car - which has come up for sale for the first time since the 1970s - is one of only a handful still in existence . Pristine: Kept for its entire post-racing history by the collector John Dawson-Damer, the car still bears the name of its driver in large print and looks as it did in 1968 . Golden age: Impressive though it is, the car's lack of advanced controls and gadgets harks back to a simpler age of motor racing, a raw game of man and machine . A thing of beauty: Auctioneers at Bonhams claimed the car, which will be sold tomorrow, is one of the 10 most exquisite designs ever to grace a Formula 1 track . Teams have spent millions developing . their controls to make them easy for drivers to press, and most of the . F1 competitors keep the fine details of their steering wheels a . closely-guarded trade secret. But . one team, Sauber, released a detailed breakdown of how its steering . wheel works this year - and it features more than 25 buttons, dials, . switches and lights. BUILT: 1968RACED UNTIL: Early 1970sENGINE: 400bhp V8TOP SPEED: 180mphWORTH: £1million . The functions include performance maps, rear wing flaps and even a tool to change the circumference of the wheel while driving. There is a pit limiter, which reduces the car's speed when it needs quick maintenance, and a button to contact the pit team to warn them of a stop one lap ahead. After being raced by Hill, the 49B was sold to Swedish racer Joakim Bonnier for the remainder of the 1969 season. The following year it passed to South African driver Dave Charlton, who drove it to two South African F1 wins, before it was retired into the hands of collector John Dawson-Damer shortly afterwards. He restored it to its former glory, saying it was his favourite of 15 classic cars he owned. The 49B is expected to fetch £700,000 to £1million when it is sold at the Goodwood Festival of Speed near Chichester, West Sussex. Tomorrow's sale has a note of sad irony to it, as Mr Dawson-Damer was killed at the wheel of his Lotus 63 when it crashed at Goodwood 14 years ago. Glory: Graham Hill racing the Lotus a few months after he was named world champion in 1968. Sadly it would not help him to victory - he finished eighth . Vintage: The same car being raced later in its career. It will be auctioned with a price tag of up to £1m at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where its owner died . Simpler days: Almost 50 years old, the Formula 1 car was less streamlined than its modern successors, with the rivets visible and not an adjustable wing flap in sight . Like father like son: Graham Hill (left) won two Formula 1 world championships in 1962 and 1968, a feat which would be repeated once by his son Damon (right) in 1996 . The car is being sold by Mr Dawson-Damer's family and its auctioneers described it as one of the 'top 10 groundbreaking F1 designs'. James Knight, director of motoring at Bonhams, said: 'When it first rolled onto the track in 1967 the jaws of all the other competitors dropped. It simply blew its competition out of the water and set a benchmark for performance in F1. 'Lotus’ engineers had found a way to save weight without curtailing performance and handling. They also debuted the Ford Cosworth DFV engine which had never been seen before and went on to notch up so many wins. 'The developments pushed the envelope of what was possible in the sport and it became very clear the future of F1 lay with this design.' Mr Knight added: 'It is the very last car to be sold from the estate of John Dawson-Damer who tragically died in 2000. It was his favourite from a collection of 15 classic cars, most of which were Lotuses. 'It is an extremely rare car with great provenance.' Dynasty: An eight-year-old Damon Hill gets tries on his father's OBE in 1968 . For British racing legend Graham Hill, it was not enough to win the F1 world championship twice - his son would have to win it too. In an industry which has had its share of dynasties, Graham and Damon Hill remain the only father-son pairing ever to both take home the title of World Champion. Born in Hampstead, north London, in 1929, Graham served in the Royal Navy but did not drive a car until the age of 24 - eventually venturing into the world of motor racing and shooting to prominence in the early 1960s. His first World Championship win came in 1962, and it would be six years before he won the title again. From then his racing career saw a gradual decline which ended in tragedy before he could bring himself back into the top spot. Famously, Hill died in November 1975 when he tried and failed to land a plane in freezing fog. The crash killed him alongside five other members of the Embassy Hill team. His death shocked the close-knit world of Formula 1, and the village of Silverstone - home to the track of the same name - now has a road called Graham Hill in his honour. But his legacy would live on in a more prominent way - his son Damon. As a child Damon had watched his father win gong after gong and was just 15 when he died. Young Damon was determined to make a success of himself in the hyper-competitive world of motor racing. Williams team chiefs said they took him on because he was a 'tough b******', and he did not disappoint. Despite facing racing legends of the like of Ayrton Senna, he ascended through the ranks in the early 1990s before eventually claiming the world championship in 1996. He was named the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year and helped his family name go down as one of the most notable in Formula 1 history.", "(CNN) -- Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, quadruple title winner Alain Prost, and contemporary pacesetters Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso were all contenders in CNN's quest to find the greatest Formula One driver of all time. But In the eyes of Formula One's great and good it was two icons of the sport -- Ayrton Senna and Juan Manuel Fangio -- who proved inseparable. Senna's three world championships in the late 1980s and early 1990s made him an idol for modern stars like Lewis Hamilton. CNN Greatest F1 Driver . The Brazilian's death following a crash at Imola in 1994 led to three days of mourning in his homeland and his genius has gained almost mythical status with the eponymous documentary on the driver, which brought the Senna legend to a new generation of fans in glorious Technicolor. Fangio graced F1 tracks in the early days of the sport, in the sepia-tinged 1950s, an era when the Argentine's talents could not be truly captured on camera. But if you crunch the numbers, the Argentine shunts Senna over to the curb. Fangio collected five world championships, two more than Senna, winning a record 45% of the grands prix he entered compared to 25% for Senna. The Argentine started an unrivaled 55.8% of his races from pole position -- Vettel's current record is just over 33% -- while also qualifying for 92% of his grands prix on the front row. No one can match Fangio's record of winning the championship with four different teams, while he is also the oldest F1 champion, taking the 1957 drivers' title aged 46 years and 41 days. Although that comparison is arguably unfair as fate cruelly robbed Senna of the chance to match that particular achievement. One criticism that has been leveled at Fangio was that he always drove the best car, but as Stirling Moss told the sport's official website it was \"because he was the best bloody driver!\" \"The cheapest method of becoming a successful grand prix team was to sign up Fangio,\" added Moss. Blog: Alonso, Vettel on track for greatness? Perhaps what Senna inspires within those who admire him is not measurable in numbers. He was a maverick, driving with a cavalier flair which was best summed up when he proclaimed, \"If you no longer go for a gap, you are no longer a racing driver.\" His six wins at the famous Monaco Grand Prix is an unparalleled feat, while his championship duels with McLaren teammate Prost were pure sporting theatre. Senna's win-at-all-costs approach was epitomized in 1990 when he led Prost in the championship heading into the year's penultimate race -- the Japanese Grand Prix. Prost, starting in second position, overtook polesitter Senna off the line. But, knowing if neither driver finished Senna would be crowned champion, the Brazilian forced Prost off the track at the first corner and cemented a second world title success. \"When you had Prost and Senna fighting it out in the same team, there's no question to the caliber of each driver, very different personalities and great drivers,\" 1996 world champion Damon Hill told CNN. \"Those epic battles stand the test of any sporting rivalry.\" Senna was a perfectionist, taking risks which could turn certain victory into abject failure -- notably his crash at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix when he was holding a 55-second lead over his nearest rival. If Senna took the sport to the very edge of sportsmanship, Fangio conducted himself with \"a sense of honor never seen before or since.\" He shot to global fame in 1958 when he was kidnapped in Cuba by Fidel Castro-led revolutionaries. As was the case with everyone who met him, his captors were charmed by Fangio and they released him unharmed,\" it is claimed in a tribute to him on the sport's official website. When describing what made Fangio so special, three-time drivers' champion Jackie Stewart said: \"I think the dignity and style, the way he went about his business . \"Fangio is the one that, for me, would have written the whole book. You would want to do what he did and how he did it.\" Over the course of their illustrious careers, the pair astonished with their ability and courage, pushing their vehicles to the limit in pursuit of the checkered flag. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that these two legends of motorsport proved inseparable.", "LONDON, England (CNN) -- The Royal Mail, Britain's postal service, has unveiled a range of stamps commemorating some of Britain's most notable Formula 1 drivers, ranging from Stirling Moss in the 1950s to Nigel Mansell in the 1980s. Jackie Stewart is Britain's most successful Formula 1 driver, having won world championships in 1969, 1971 and 1973 . The six stamps, in varying denominations, depict Moss in his 1957 Vanwall, Graham Hill in his 1962 BRM, Jim Clark in his 1963 Lotus, Jackie Stewart in his 1973 Tyrell, James Hunt in his 1976 McLaren and Nigel Mansell in his 1986 Williams. The stamps were timed to capitalize on Lewis Hamilton's home grand prix at Silverstone, such is the fervor for the young BF driver in Britain. But industrial action -- a dispute about modernization plans and pay -- throughout the Royal Mail group has overshadowed their release. As a matter of protocol no British stamp can depict the face a living person other than the monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which explains why the cars are pictured from above, revealing only the tops of the drivers' helmets. Royal Mail has celebrated Formula 1 before -- in 2004 it released a set of \"smilers\" stamps interspersed with non-postal stamps depicting the Jordan Formula 1 team -- but it is the first time it has created a set of postage stamps with a Formula 1 theme. The stamps have caused some controversy as they celebrate one driver -- Stirling Moss -- who never won a world championship, while omitting Mike Hawthorn, the first British driver to win the title, and Damon Hill, the last British driver to win the title. However British dependency, Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands between Britain and France, has redressed the balance by releasing its own set of Formula 1 postage stamps. The eight stamps -- released to coincide with the centenary of the Brooklands motor racing track, home to the very first British Grand Prix -- depict all the drivers to have won world championships: Mike Hawthorn (1958), Graham Hill (1962, 1968), Jim Clark (1963, 1965), Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971, 1973), James Hunt (1976), Nigel Mansell (1992) and Damon Hill (1996). Britain is not the only country to have celebrated its Formula 1 heritage in postage stamp form. In 1999 Monaco produced a stamp to commemorate 70 years of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, picturing a single-seat Bugatti racer and Michael Schumacher in a 1998 Ferrari F300. Even countries without an obvious Formula 1 heritage have celebrated the sport and the Ferrari team in particular. San Marino, which has been home to many Formula 1 grands prix has produced Ferrari F1-themed stamps but so too have Bosnia Herzegovina, Somalia, Jamaica, Chad, Malagasy, Benin, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique and Kazakhstan. E-mail to a friend .", "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Formula One has seen a number of last-race world championship deciders down the years. Michael Schumacher (left) and Damon Hill collided at the last race of 1994, with the German taking the title. Here, The Circuit looks at four of the most memorable of the last 15 years. Drivers in capitals won the title. 1994 (Australian Grand Prix, Adelaide) MICHAEL SCHUMACHER v Damon Hill . Even without a last-race showdown, the 1994 season had been dramatic enough. The legendary Ayrton Senna had become the second fatality in two days at the San Marino Grand Prix after 12 years without a death in F1. See images of the best title showdowns. » . Schumacher started the season strongly in a Benetton that had its legality questioned by a dubious paddock and media, and by mid-season he was 27 points clear of Hill. But Hill clawed his way back into the title hunt, helped by Schumacher's two-race ban for ignoring a black flag at the British Grand Prix. Come the decider in Australia, the momentum was with Hill and the deficit was down to one point. Schumacher looked rattled all weekend and after being hounded by the Englishman from the off, he crashed into a wall midway through the race. Crawling back onto the track, Schumacher veered one way and Hill the other as they approached the next right-hander, only for the German to swipe across the Williams' bows, ride up over Hill's front wheel and into retirement. Read more about F1 at The Circuit. Hill would have become world champion if he could have kept going but suspension damage ended his race and his title challenge. Schumacher, at 25, became one of F1's youngest and most controversial champions. 1997 (European Grand Prix, Jerez) JACQUES VILLENEUVE v Michael Schumacher . Three years on from Adelaide, those who had given Schumacher the benefit of the doubt were left to reassess their opinions of the German. Villeneuve's Williams was the class of the 1997 field but mistakes had blighted his campaign and Schumacher's brilliance had put him ahead by one point by the last race in Jerez, Spain. Vaulting poleman Villeneuve at the lights, Schumacher raced into a lead few thought he would lose. But after the last round of pitstops, the Ferrari's tires were not working as well and Villeneuve closed in. Heading down the back straight, the French-Canadian dived up the inside into the following hairpin corner, surprising Schumacher, who turned into the corner and into the side of the Williams. Schumacher slid off into the gravel and retirement while Villeneuve, his car damaged from the collision, hobbled on to finish third and take the title by three points. A vilified Schumacher was later stripped of his second place in the championship for his desperate maneuver. 1998 (Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka) MIKA HAKKINEN v Michael Schumacher . An intriguing season, the first with grooved tires and narrow-track cars, had seen Hakkinen surge into an early season lead with a lightning-quick, if somewhat fragile McLaren. But Schumacher's Ferrari benefited from Goodyear's incessant tire development and by mid-season the never-say-die German was back in the title hunt. Going to the season-closer in Japan, Schumacher had to make up four points on Hakkinen, who had edged the previous race at the Nurgburgring. Schumacher had claimed pole at Suzuka, just ahead of Hakkinen, but stalled on the grid, further adding to his reputation of fumbling pressure-cooker situations. Starting from the back at the restart, he sliced his way up to third and was keeping his fingers crossed for a problem for the race-leading Finn. But a puncture on lap 31 ended his title hopes. An ice-cool Hakkinen was not headed throughout and could coast to his first drivers' world championship. 2007 (Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos) KIMI RAIKKONEN v Lewis Hamilton v Fernando Alonso . It had been a remarkable debut season for McLaren's Hamilton, with him often outpacing double world champion team-mate Alonso. But after a slow start, Ferrari's Raikkonen had begun to look menacing as the season progressed. F1's first three-way title decider since 1986 saw Hamilton start the last race in Brazil with a four-point advantage over Alonso and seven over Raikkonen. Felipe Massa's Ferrari took pole with Hamilton alongside, but the Englishman was slow away and by turn three he was behind Raikkonen and Alonso. Rashly, Hamilton attempted to re-pass Alonso, ran wide and dropped down the order. Soon after, he suffered gearbox problems that cost him 30 seconds -- effectively scuppering his chances of becoming F1's first rookie champion. Out front, Massa slowed to allow Raikkonen past for the win he needed to become champion by one point from seventh-placed Hamilton and Alonso, who trailed home a distant third.", "There are many benefits of being a successful Formula One driver: fast cars, a multi-million pound salary and experiencing life in a multitude of countries and cities. Lewis Hamilton can now add a trip to the White House and a meeting with the President of the USA, Barack Obama, to that list. The Mercedes driver, who is vying to win the World Championship for the second time in his career, took advantage of a four-week gap between races to join girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger in Washington DC on Thursday. Scherzinger, the singer and X Factor judge was invited by the President to celebrate the work of Special Olympics, for whom she is a Global Ambassador. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg argue about who is best . President: Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger at the White House with Barack Obama and Stevie Wonder . The sports organisation helps children mostly with, but also some without, intellectual disabilities to train and compete in a wide variety of sports and activities. They also hold the Special Olympics World Games both in summer and winter. Last week’s function saw a concert from Katy Perry, who performed hits including ‘Firework’ and ‘This Moment’, before dedicating her performance to a ‘unified generation’. Hamilton and Scherzinger took to their respective Instagram accounts to show themselves rubbing shoulders with the likes of Stevie Wonder, as well as a shot of President Obama’s speech. The pair can also be seen together enjoying a drink and sitting at their table. The British driver appeared most excited about meeting the President and the First Lady, calling the experience both an ‘honour’ and a ‘pleasure’. He added how proud he was of his partner and the work she does for the organisation. Hamilton currently stands 11 points behind German team-mate Nico Rosberg in the drivers’ standings. Second: Lewis Hamilton is currently second in the F1 drivers' standings, behind team-mate Nico Rosberg . Mercedes: The British driver is enjoying a resurgent season after moving from McLaren . VIDEO Hamilton should have obeyed team orders .", "Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has topped the leaderboard as the fastest driver in Top Gear's 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' challenge. Dethroning Britain's Lewis Hamilton in the latest episode of the show, host Jeremy Clarkson said Ricciardo made the best time he's ever seen. 'That’s the fastest anybody’s ever gone around our track,' Clarkson declared during the episode. Earlier in the week Daniel Ricciardo had already set his sights on toppling Hamilton this season - and his attempt at the famous Dunsfold Aerodrome site in Surrey was screened on February 8. Scroll down for video . Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has topped the leaderboard as the fastest driver in Top Gear's 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' challenge . Jeremy Clarkson (centre) said 'That’s the fastest anybody’s ever gone around our track' Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo (left) pose for a photograph at a 'Meet the Drivers' event at Milton Keynes' SnoZone on Tuesday . Hamilton, who clinched his second Formula One world title last year, took some beating as he is the fastest of all the F1 drivers to have taken to the makeshift circuit, ahead of the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell and Rubens Barrichello. The 30-year-old Mercedes driver set his time two years ago in the car reserved for the F1 stars, a Suzuki Liana. Ahead of his crack at Hamilton's time, 25-year-old Australian Ricciardo said: 'It's been a while since I heard people asking 'When are you going to go on Top Gear?', so the time has come.' Red Bull driver Ricciardo, who won three grands prix last season, added: 'I hope it's cold so the engine is crisp, but I also hope it's dry so I can actually have a good crack. Ricciardo tried his hand at sledging as the Formula One stars wrapped up in thermals to take to the slopes . Ricciardo addresses media after the event, where he spoke of his upcoming Top Gear appearance . Kvyat reaches the bottom of the slope as he enjoyed a day at Milton Keynes' Snozone . David Coulthard, a Formula One driver turned television pundit, took to the mic to ask some questions . 'We'll see how we go. I believe Lewis has the crown at the moment, so it would be nice to take at least one title off him.' Ricciardo and fellow Red Bull man Daniil Kvyat appeared at Milton Keynes' SnoZone on Tuesday, for a 'Meet the Drivers' event alongside team principal Christian Horner. Former driver turned pundit David Coulthard was also present, as the team enjoyed the slopes on skis and sledges. The latest episode of Top Gear featuring Daniel Ricciardo will air tonight at Monday 9th February at 7.30pm on BBC Knowledge .", "(CNN) -- His reputation might be that of Formula One's ruthless wheeler dealer, but come the season of goodwill Bernie Ecclestone likes to show a different side to his character. The 84-year-old billionaire's annual Christmas card has often been a way for Ecclestone to get things off his chest and his 2014 offering was no exception as he took aim at a legal case that has cost him $100 million. The card depicts him handing over that sum of money to a highway robber, who is pointing a pistol at him. \"This is not a robbery, I am collecting for the Bavarian state,\" says the man on horseback while a cartoon figure of Ecclestone is seen clutching the sack of money. The greeting on the inside of the card contains says: \"Maybe now we can have a Formula One race in the really nice city of Munich (state capital of Bavaria), Germany.\" Earlier this year, a German court agreed to end the bribery trial, in which Ecclestone stood accused, in exchange for a $100m settlement, with $99m going to the Bavarian state treasury and the remainder to a children's charity. Ecclestone, who had strongly denied the charges, was later quoted as saying he was a \"bit of an idiot\" for paying out the huge sum, particularly as he believed he would eventually be cleared. Even by settling the 84-year-old was only left with a small dent -- he paid the $100m within a week -- in his reported $4 billion fortune. Money has often been a theme of previous Ecclestone's Christmas cards. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton was the butt of the F1 chief's humor in 2012 after the driver's surprise switch from McLaren to Mercedes. The card showed Hamilton jumping into a Mercedes car driven by Niki Lauda, with the passenger seat containing a large bag marked with a dollar sign. Though world champion Hamilton arguably might be having the last laugh given his recent drivers' title triumph. Getting the tone right for an annual Christmas card isn't always easy to negotiate. Former British Premier Tony Blair has been widely ridiculed for his 2014 card, which shows him standing next to his wife Cherie but smiling in intense and uncomfortable fashion. \"The stuff of nightmares\" someone tweeted.", "By . Toni Jones . PUBLISHED: . 05:46 EST, 20 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:38 EST, 21 February 2013 . Scottish female racing driver Susie Wolff has announced that she will appear in a BBC documentary this spring about her life as the only woman in F1 . Formula One female test driver Susie Wolff has announced that she will appear in a BBC documentary this spring about her life as the only woman in F1. 30-year-old Susie, from Oban, Argyll, is tipped to become the only female racing driver in the sport and the film, The Fastest Woman In The World, follows her life and career as a test driver. Directed by her BAFTA-nominated . brother David Stoddart, 31, the film also features appearances from . Formula One race ace Lewis Hamilton and racing legend David Coulthard. Susie, who is a developmental driver for the Williams F1 team began go-karting when she was . eight and now lives in Switzerland with her husband, Austrian racing . driver Toto Wolff. She said: 'Shooting the film was one . of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I . '’m a fairly private person, so to . have my brother follow me for nine months, through some pretty . difficult times - let’s just say it was a big challenge.' David said: 'It was tough combining . the role of documentary maker and brother. I had to remind myself that I . was there to film Susie's story, but during the more difficult moments . my instinct as a brother kicked in. 'It was challenging at times to strike the balance, but it's a great story that needed to be told.' He . added: 'Susie was very open and honest, and I’m enormously grateful to . her for that, and for giving me a rare glimpse into life in Formula . One.' Other names to have driven for Williams in the past include Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Jenson Button. Susie . said: 'I don't race to prove how good women can be against men. 'I race . because it’s my passion and I hope this documentary will give an insight . into a very competitive world, in which I’ve been racing since I was a . young girl.' Susie is currently the only female driver in the sport and the film, directed by her brother and BAFTA-winning film maker, David, will follow her career in the traditionally male-dominated industry . 30-year-old Susie, who is married to Austrian racing driver Toto Wolff, is a developmental driver for the Williams F1 team . She revealed the news at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain where she joined her Williams F1 teammates to launch Williams 2013 race car, the FW35 . As a test driver Susie is currently the only female driver in the sport after Spaniard Maria de Villota lost her right eye in a testing crash in July 2012. Speaking to the BBC as she drove a 2011 Williams race car at Silverstone following the accident Susie said: 'She told me to drive for us both now, that I would be out there representing us both. 'I had Maria's star on my helmet. It's with pride I have that and without doubt I was driving for the two of us.' She added: 'She is an incredible lady. Before you even talk about her as a racing driver, she is an incredible person, an inspiration. 'After the publicity surrounding Maria's accident without doubt I felt an extra need to go out there, do a good job and show that her accident was a freak one-off and it doesn't generalise women in motorsport.' Only five women have ever competed in Formula One, including Brit Divina Galica who failed to qualify for the opening two South American races in the 1978 competition. The last female to compete was Italian Giovanna Amati in 1992. Susie became the only female F1 driver after test driver Spaniard Maria de Villota lost her right eye in a testing crash in July 2012 . Susie said, 'I don't race to prove how good women can be against men. I race because it's my passion,' 30-year-old Danica Patrick is the first woman to take pole position for the Daytona 500 race . American Nascar driver Danica Patrick becomes the first woman to take pole position for the Daytona 500 race this week. 30-year-old Danica will also be the first woman to take pole in any Nascar top division event as she starts on the front row on Sunday for Nascar's most prestigious race. This is the latest in a long line of achievements for one of the most prominent women in motorsport. Patrick posted a qualifying lap of 196.4mph in her number 10 Chevrolet, completing the 2.5mile-long route at the Florida superspeedway in 45.817 seconds on Sunday. She will line up alongside four-time Nascar champion Jeff Gordon on the front row of the grid this Sunday, for the first race in the 2013 Sprint Cup Series. The Daytona 500 is the series' most prestigious race - considered to be Nascar's equivalent of the Super Bowl. Before making the switch to Nascar, Patrick raced in the IndyCar series. Her Indy Japan 300 win in April 2008 made her the only woman so far to win an IndyCar race. In 2005 she was voted Rookie of the Year at the Indy500 after finishing fourth in the race. By 2009, she recorded the highest finish by a woman at the Indy500 when she finished third behind Helio Castroneves and the late Dan Wheldon. Sir Richard Branson tried and failed to woo her to Formula 1 to join his Virgin Racing team for the 2010 season. She was due to test for a seat at Honda F1 in 2008 before the team pulled out of the sport. The previous qualifying records for a female driver were held by Janet Guthrie. She qualified ninth in two 1977 races and 18th for the 1980 Daytona 500. Danica Patrick exits her vehicle after her Daytona 500 pole position-securing run during qualifying at Daytona Beach in Florida . ‘The Fastest Woman in the World’ will premiere on BBC2 Scotland in spring . For further information visit:  www.facebook.com/DrivenTheFastestWoman .", "Lewis Hamilton has continued to make the most of his time away from the track by attending the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2015-2016 show in Paris on Thursday. The 30-year-old, reigning Formula One champion, was dressed to impress in a navy suit and shiny shoes while sporting his new hairstyle. The 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner was sporting an even more daring look at the IWC 'Journey To The Stars' Gala Dinner on Tuesday. Lewis Hamilton dressed to impress on Thursday sporting a navy suit and white shirt combo . Lewis Hamilton is led to the entrance of the show with close surveillance from his bodyguard . Hamilton was all smiles as he attended the Louis Vuitton Menswear show on Thursday . There he joined forces with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger at the glitzy gala in Geneva, while also catching up with rival and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. In just over a week's time the first pre-season test will be held in Jerez in preparation of the new F1 season, with Mercedes unveiling their car on the opening morning. Reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton (left) posed for a picture with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger at a glitzy gala in Geneva on Tuesday . Hamilton (left) caught up with last season's main rival and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg . The test starts on February 1 and lasts a total of four days. Hamilton will drive the W06 on the second and fourth days, with team-mate Rosberg taking to the wheel on the opening and third days. The new season starts in March in Melbourne, with Hamilton bidding to win his third title.", "London, England (CNN) -- Formula 1 will continue to take place in Britain for the next 17 years after a deal was struck between Silverstone's owners and the sport's chief Bernie Ecclestone. Monday's announcement by the track's owners means the oldest venue on the F1 calendar keeps its place. Silverstone's comeback took place despite rival track Donington Park being awarded the contract to host the British Grand Prix from 2010. However, that circuit lost out after failing to secure the $200 million needed to fund redevelopment plans. That had led to fears Ecclestone would look to move the race abroad. Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips told the Press Association: \"We've always had five-year deals and never been able to get the investment we needed to redevelop. \"But 17 years gives us the ability to invest and move forward. We've always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you're never quite sure. Phillips described the deal as \"peace in our time\" between the circuit's owners, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), and Ecclestone. \"The relationship with Formula One Management has been improving,\" added Phillips. \"There's a good working relationship with him now and we don't have any issues.\" Applauding the negotiating team, BRDC president and 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill told the Press Association: \"It's not easy to enter into an agreement of this magnitude. It's a big commitment. \"But the BRDC felt we wanted this relationship to continue, and we were prepared to back the negotiating team, with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead. \"This announcement is tremendous news. It really does cement Silverstone as a motor sport venue and is incredibly satisfying for the BRDC to cement its relationship with F1.\"", "(CNN) -- Nico Rosberg boosted his world title hopes ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi by holding off Mercedes teammate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton to win the Brazilian Grand Prix Sunday. His victory cuts Hamilton's lead in the standings to 17 points, with double points on offer in the final round in a fortnight. Rosberg, who started from the front of the grid after his 10th pole of the season, maintained his advantage over Hamilton throughout, the pair finishing over 40 seconds clear of third-placed Felipe Massa. Hamilton, who had overtaken Rosberg under similar circumstances to take the checkered flag in the U.S. Grand Prix in Texas last week, was left to rue a mistake just before the second round of pit stops on lap 28 at Interlagos. Staying out an extra lap in an attempt to leapfrog Rosberg through the tire changes, he spun off and lost several seconds. Hamilton pulled back most of the deficit of over seven seconds -- but could not repeat his Austin heroics as his run over five straight victories was ended. But a second-placed finish in Abu Dhabi will ensure Hamilton repeats his 2008 title triumph with McLaren. Massa, who was given a five-second penalty for an infringement, drove a fine race in the Williams to delight his home supporters, while Jenson Button took fourth for McLaren. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel claimed fifth ahead of the Ferrari pair of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. But they were all playing second fiddle to the all-conquering Mercedes duo, with Rosberg polishing his credentials with his fifth win of the season. \"I was able to attack and control the gap to Lewis in the race,\" he said at the race presentations. \"It all worked out so that is great and the support has been excellent.\" Hamilton admitted his error had proved key, but realizes there is all to play for in two weeks time. \"I made a big mistake in the middle of the race but otherwise the car was superb and everyone did a great job,\" was the verdict of the Briton.", "Nico Rosberg must reinvent himself in order to challenge Lewis Hamilton for this year's Formula One championship, according to Damon Hill. Rosberg lost out to Hamilton at last season's title decider in Abu Dhabi, with the Briton storming to the chequered flag as his Mercedes team-mate encountered technical gremlins. It marked Hamilton's 11th victory of the campaign, six more than Rosberg. The Mercedes pair are set to go toe-to-toe for this year's championship once more, with the Brackley-based outfit appearing to boast the strongest package ahead of Sunday's curtain raiser in Melbourne. Nico Rosberg needs a reinvention if he is to challenge Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, says Damon Hill . Hamilton roared to championship victory in 2014 with 11 race victories to his rival team-mate's six . Hamilton (left) and Rosberg come together following their final race of a tumultuous season last year . Rosberg has a more subtle skill set than his formidable team-mate Hamilton, says Hill . And Hill, the 1996 world champion, believes Rosberg has to improve on his displays of last season to stand any chance of stopping Hamilton from claiming back-to-back titles. 'Nico has talents that are slightly more subtle and less obvious than Lewis, but I think he is going to have to invent a new Nico to counter his team-mate,' said Hill. 'If you look at the strike-rate of Lewis's wins in comparison to Nico, that was pretty formidable really. Does it change that much and can it change that much over the winter? 'It can, but politically now Nico had an opportunity last year to establish himself as the guy that the team wants to invest in, but Lewis really captured that with the biggest prize going. 'The championship was delivered by Lewis, so he is clearly someone, if Mercedes have to hedge one way or the other, then they will go for Lewis.' Hamilton will begin the new campaign as the favourite to claim his third championship. But does Hill believe there is any danger that the Briton, whose celebrity status outside Formula One continues to grow following a number of showbiz appearances during the off season, will take his eye off the ball? 'You never know with Lewis,' he admitted. 'He keeps us guessing and it would be easy to take some of the signals he puts out as being slightly distracted by other things. Hamilton will begin the new Formula One campaign as the favourite to claim his third championship . Star power: Some read Hamilton's glitzy lifestyle - here he (second left) poses during Paris Fashion Week with celebrities (from left) Jared Leto, Kanye West, Olivier Rousteing, Kim Kardashian - as a distraction . 'But he knows what he is doing when he gets in the car and why he is there. He has got so much confidence in his own ability. 'I can't see him getting propely distracted. He wanted to do this all of his life and I think now he has got the ball rolling he wants to win. He can see the prizes, he collects his trophies and is very proud of his success and he still talks as if he is stunned by his own success. He will be very difficult to beat this year.' Sky Sports F1® is the only place fans can watch all 20 Grand Prix weekends live across TV, Sky Go and NOW TV .", "Lewis Hamilton sent a motivational message to his Instagram followers from the cockpit of his Formula One car in Barcelona. The British driver, who is currently testing in Spain ahead of the first race of the season on March 15, posted an 'in-car selfie' alongside the message: 'Have an amazing day today, #TeamLH!! Be GREAT!!' Hamilton was fresh from Wednesday night's BRIT Awards, where he presented the Best International Female Solo Artist award alongside Ellie Goulding at the O2 Arena, before racing back to Barcelona for Thursday's testing session. Lewis Hamilton posed for an 'in-car selfie' in the garage in Barcelona before heading out for testing . Hamilton is pictured with Calvin Harris (left) at the O2 Arena ahead of the Brit Awards on Wednesday night . Hamilton was the fastest driver in the morning session in Barcelona, recording a best lap of 1:24.881 . 1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:24.881 (48 laps) 2. Felipe Massa (Williams) 1:25.763 (29) 3. Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull) 1:25.947 (45) 4. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 1:27.079 (33) 5. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) 1:27.802 (33) 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:27.813 (28) 7. Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) 1:27.866 (34) 8. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:31.479 (7) Hamilton was the fastest of the drivers during the morning session, ahead of Williams' Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat. After testing, Hamilton and his Mercedes team will head to Australia for the first race of the 2015 calendar, in Melbourne on the weekend of the 13-15 March. The 30-year-old recorded 48 laps in his car, while fellow Brit Jenson Button could only manage seven in his McLaren. Reigning Formula One champion Hamilton was taken ill during testing last Thursday, but recovered for this week's session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton (middle) presenting the International Female Artist of the Year award to Taylor Swift (right) The 30-year-old (right) takes the microphone as he speaks the crowd, while Goulding is all smiles .", "(CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton extended his Formula One drivers' championship lead after finishing fourth at the German Grand Prix. The British driver moved 14 points clear of McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who was fifth at Hockenheim. Red Bull's Mark Webber retained third after placing sixth, but was caught on 136 points by teammate Sebastian Vettel after the German finished third on his home track after starting from pole position. Ferrari kept their title hopes alive as Fernando Alonso claimed his second victory of the season ahead of teammate Felipe Massa, mirroring their 1-2 at Bahrain in the opening race of the season. Third-placed Ferrari trail leaders McLaren by 92 points with eight races left, with Red Bull in second a further 64 ahead of the Italians. Drivers' Championship (after 11 rounds): . 1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 157 points . 2. Jenson Button (GB) McLaren 143 . 3. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 136 . 4. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 136 . 5. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 123 . 6. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 94 . 7. Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 89 . 8. Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 85 . 9. Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 38 . 10. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 35 Constructors' Championship: . 1. McLaren 300 points . 2. Red Bull 278 . 3. Ferrari 208 . 4. Mercedes GP 132 . 5. Renault 96 . 6. Force India 47 . 7. Williams 31 . 8. Sauber 15 . 9. Toro Rosso 10 .", "(CNN) -- The floral, serene surrounds of London's Chelsea Flower Show seem a million miles from the screeching, full-throttle action of Formula One. But the two worlds have merged in a unique and award-winning way thanks to the Williams F1 team and a British tree nursery. \"The Williams Story\" is a topiary display which depicts the history of the nine-time constructors' champions, from their origins in 1977 to Pastor Maldonado's historic victory at the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this month. And, in keeping with the green shoots of recovery which were visible during Williams' first race win in eight years, the piece features a life-sized topiary Formula One car. The eye-catching display, which also boasts a pit crew sculpted from living trees, has been handed a gold medal at the prestigious annual British horticultural event. \"Winning the gold medal is a fantastic achievement,\" Williams founder and team principal Frank Williams said. \"I saw it for the first time (this week) and was taken aback by its scale and attention to detail. \"The Chelsea Flower Show is a uniquely British occasion and to be successful at this illustrious event is a great honor. I hope the public enjoy the display as much as the judges.\" The topiary took over three years to complete and was sculpted using a fast-growing plant native to south-west China. The honor provides Williams with a timely boost ahead of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, with the team looking to build on Maldonado's win -- the first by a Venezuelan in the history of the sport. Williams' celebrations were cut short by a fire in the team garage, a blaze which left seven people in hospital. The incident also resulted in Williams losing vital parts and equipment, but the team's chief operations engineer Mark Gillan moved to thank the other F1 manufacturers for the support they have shown. \"The team's preparations for Monaco have been somewhat hampered by last Sunday's garage fire,\" Gillan said on the official F1 website. \"But the impact of the fire has been mitigated by what can only be described as a Herculean effort by the factory and our suppliers to restock both the damaged equipment and car parts. \"We would also like to thank the generous offers of help from the other teams, highlighting once more the excellent sportsmanship that exists in Formula One and high levels of camaraderie throughout the pit lane.\"", "Lewis Hamilton and Rory McIlroy will once again do battle for top dog in men's sport - after both were shortlisted for the 'Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.' Two of the biggest names in British sport went head-to-head for the 'BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award' last year  - which saw the Formula One world champion come out on top. But it's not going to be a straight fight between the two of them - as Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, tennis world No1 Novak Djokovic, MotoGP champion Marc Marquez and pole valuter Renuad Lavillenie have all been shortlisted. Lewis Hamilton and Rory McIlroy will be going head to head for the World Sportsman of the Year Award . McIlroy will be eager to win after losing out to Hamilton in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award . Hamilton, who won his second world title last year, said: 'Knowing how prestigious the Laureus Award is I feel very, very grateful and proud to be amongst the great athletes that have been nominated. 'It's great when you have these awards, which recognise the excellence and the commitment from lots of different individuals. I'm proud to be amongst them. 'It's quite a line-up. Rory's done an amazing job. Ronaldo, what a great player he is, Djokovic, I mean he's killed everything. I could only have ever dreamed really, at this period of time in my life, to be up amongst them.' The Mercedes driver won the F1 World Championship title after a pulsating season with Nico Rosberg . Cristiano Ronaldo has also been shortlisted after his fine 2014 season which saw him win the Ballon d'Or . Marc Marquez of MotoGP and world tennis No1 Novak Djokovic have also been nominated for the award . The world No1 (bottom) won in action at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in emphatic fashion . The prestgious Laureus trophy was won by Hamilton's rival Sebastian Vettel last year and sporting legends such as Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher have also been awarded the prize. Not only are McIlroy, Hamilton and Ronaldo competing for the top prize but they'll also have some interest in the 'Laureus World Team of the Year Award'. Mercedes AMG Petronas, the European Ryder Cup squad and Real Madrid have all been nominated for the award but face strong competition from the Germany World Cup team. The Germany World Cup squad celebrate after beating Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro . The European Ryder Cup team pose with the trophy after comfortably beating America . Great Britain's Jo Pavey will be one of the names flying the flag for the women as she was shortlisted for the 'Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.' The long-distance runner won the European Championships 10,000 metres title - just ten months after giving birth and became the oldest woman to ever win the gold medal. Oliver Wilson is another British name in with a chance after his impressive season - winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and climbing from 792 in the world to 156. Like Pavey, Dame Sara Storey proved that giving birth isn't the end of a glittering sporting career and was nominated for the 'Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award.' Dame Sarah Storey (left) and Jo Pavey are both up for separate awards at the ceremony in Shanghai . The London 2012 Paralympic Game double gold-medallist, won four world titles last year after taking time off to following the arrival of her daughter. Chinese tennis star Li Na will want nothing more then to win the 'Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award' in her home country after being named as one of the six candidates. She's faced rival Serena Williams a number of times on the court but this time the two of them will soon be competing in other ways after the American was also shortlisted. New Zealand's shot-putter Valerie Adams, Norway's skiing star Marit Bjørgen, Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba and Slovenia's Tina Maze have also made the cut. Li Na (left), who recently retired, will be looking to win the award in her home country of China . World Cup heroes James Rodriguez and Mario Götze starred in Brazil and have rightly earned themselves a shot at winning the 'World Breakthrough of the Year Award.' Gotze scored the winning extra-time goal in the final for Germany and Colombia's Rodriguez was arguably the tournaments standout player - earning himself a lucrative move to Real Madrid. They're joined by Grand Slam winner Mario Cilic, F1's Daniel Ricciardo, 18-year-old Olympic Slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin and the Switzerland Davis Cup team. The awards ceremony is taking place in the luxurious city of Shanghai, China on April 15 to commemorate the achievements of the world's greatest sporting stars. Mario Gotze celebrates after scoring the winning goal in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil . James Rodriguez was arguably the stand out player of the tournament after his impressive performances .", "Lewis Hamilton says it 'felt amazing' to be part of a team that helped Mercedes to their first ever constructors' title. The 29-year-old Briton won the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi and was followed by team-mate and championship rival Nico Rosberg to take the crown away from Red Bull. And Hamilton, after being presented with his race trophy by Russian President Vladamir Putin, says he was proud to contribute. Lewis Hamilton has a new t-shirt made out for him as Mercedes won the constructors' championship . Lewis Hamilton says he is proud to be a part of history after Mercedes sealed the constructors' championship . Hamilton was presented with the Russian Grand Prix trophy by president Vladamir Putin . Mercedes co-team boss Paddy Lowe (second left) joined Nico Rosberg and Hamilton on the podium . 2014 - Mercedes . 2013 - Red Bull . 2012 - Red Bull . 2011 - Red Bull . 2010 - Red Bull . 2009 - Brawn GP . 2008 - Ferrari . 2007 - Ferrari . 2006 - Renault . 2005 - Renault . 'It's history, so we're proud to be a part of it. It's amazing, it's a beautiful day,' Hamilton, in his second year with Mercedes, said. And after crossing the line he said over the radio: 'Congratulations to the team on winning the constructors' championship. Great job man! History in the making!' Rosberg made a mistake on the first lap of the inaugural Grand Prix to all but hand his team-mate the race win, but admitted he had to be happy with the end result. 'Half of me is extremely disappointed, but I'm also really really happy because everyone in the team deserves it so much. 'It's their most important title, so I can smile a bit.' The Mercedes team pose for a photo after the Russian Grand Prix . Hamilton won the race in Sochi ahead of Rosberg (left) and Williams' Valtteri Bottas (right) The lock-up that cost Rosberg on lap one in Sochi .", "Which sporting champion has decided to resemble Star Wars hero Chewbacca? After a year of success it appears this sportsperson has decided to find a way to go into hiding from the public eye. However, being the force in the field that he is Lewis Hamilton has found a different approach to winning once more. Lewis Hamilton uploaded an Instagram photo of himself in a ghillie-style suit as he went paintballing . The 29-year-old celebrated his Formula One Drivers' Championship success with constructors winners Mercedes by going paintballing. Accompanied with the caption: 'Out with my team paint balling today... Like my outfit?? #TeamLH #MercedesAMGPetronas #BigFoot #Chubaka #SniperLife #Yetti,' the two-time world champion can be seen in an outfit that resembles an Army ghillie suit. The Brit had to show his attritional qualities throughout the season as he battled with Mercedes' team-mate Nico Rosberg for the world title. The pair's tussle boiled all the way down to the season-ending race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which Hamilton clinched with a first-placed finish as Rosberg finished 14th. Rosberg and his competitors will be hoping Hamilton, who won 11 grand prix races in 2014, won't be showing his predatory instincts behind the wheel next season too. Hamilton is paraded in front of the world's media after celebrating his second world championship triumph . The 29-year-old sealed his second world title at the 2014 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November .", "(CNN) -- Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso secured an emotional victory for Ferrari at their home Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday. The 29-year-old started from pole position and delighted the \"Tifosi\" -- the name given to Ferrari's legion of passionate fans -- with a superb drive to finish ahead of world champion Jenson Button, with Felipe Massa third in the second Ferrari. Button claimed the better start and led for the first 36 laps, but Alonso took the lead following a pit stop and held on for Ferrari's first \"home\" win in four years. \"That was one of the great wins of my career, so emotional and so special for me and for this team. For me it is there with my Spanish Grand Prix of 2006,\" Alonso told reporters. \"Now we must go back to work -- we need to find consistency in the last five races of the season,\" he added. Alonso's third success of the season, and 24th of his career, saw him close the gap at the top of the world driver standings. The Spaniard is now on 166 points, 21 points behind new leader Mark Webber -- who overtook McLaren's Lewis Hamilton at the top of the standings despite finishing down in sixth place. Hamilton crashed out on the first lap, meaning he now trails the Australian Red Bull driver with just five races still to go. Sebastian Vettel finished fourth despite early engine problems and a remarkable final lap 3.3-second pit-stop. Nico Rosberg finished fifth for Mercedes, ahead of Webber. Nico Hulkenberg of Williams, Renault driver Robert Kubica, seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher and the second Williams of Rubens Barrichello completed the top 10.", "(CNN) -- Formula One's main protagonists are saving their best until last thanks to a controversial new rule change at Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 2014 drivers' championship will be decided at the desert denouement when Mercedes title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg roll out for a double or nothing gamble. Hamilton leads Rosberg in the standings by a healthy 17-point margin, but a new rule awarding double points at the season finale has raised the stakes. The top-10 finishers at the twilight race will get two points for the price of one with the race winner earning 50 points. The rule change means it is mathematically much easier for Rosberg -- son of 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg -- to snatch the title from championship leader Hamilton. Should Rosberg win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton, who won the world championship with McLaren in 2008, must finish second to stop his German teammate winning his first world title. If the race win was worth 25 points -- as it has been at the preceding 18 races this season -- Hamilton could finish as low as sixth and still claim a second world championship. The double points rule was the brainchild of the F1's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone and was introduced by the sport's governing body the FIA. The new ruling dangled the carrot of keeping the championship alive until the very last race, and so it has proved. But the novelty of double points has had a lukewarm reception, even from the man who has the most to gain from the rule change. \"I find it artificial and I don't like it in general,\" Rosberg told the media after his victory at the last race in Brazil. \"Of course, now with the way it is, it's great for me. We'll see how it goes this year. We need to keep on reviewing it.\" Describing the double points as \"artificial\" puts Rosberg in tune with the general feeling among F1's inner circle of drivers, teams and the traveling media pack. The concept of a single race being arbitrarily twice as valuable as the other 18 on the calendar has been hard to digest among the sport's diehard racers. But hard-racing Hamilton -- who describes his attacking style behind the wheel as \"driving like I stole it\" -- is adopting a cool and calm approach to the high stakes race in Abu Dhabi. \"It's something you can't be thinking about,\" said Hamilton, who has won 10 races in 2014 compared to Rosberg's five victories so far. \"It's not something I'm willing to accept. I'm just going to keep pushing as hard as I can and to win as many points as I can. \"I can't be thinking, 'what happens, if this happens in the future?' If we lived our life like that maybe you won't achieve what you set out to achieve.\" The Mercedes hybrid turbo car has been the dominant force this season and the team sealed its first-ever team title with three races still to go. An 11th one-two finish in Brazil saw the Silver Arrows also break the previous record for the most one-two finishes in a single season set by fierce McLaren rivals Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1988. But the drivers' championship, which has swung between Hamilton and Rosberg throughout the season, is still poised precariously ahead of the Abu Dhabi finale. \"Both are worthy champions,\" Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff said of his dueling drivers on the team's official website. \"Of course, there will be bitter disappointment for one of them and great joy for the other. It is now down to us to ensure that this fascinating year concludes in the right way by giving Lewis and Nico a platform to settle the title purely on the track. May the best man win!\" There are whispers the Mercedes bosses are privately worried a reliability problem could decide which of their men wins the title. Wolff told the BBC if Hamilton broke down during the race it would be \"a nightmare.\" Hamilton retired with an engine problem in Australia, a brake failure in Canada and because of damage to his car after Rosberg collided with his teammate in Belgium. In turn, Rosberg failed to finish the British Grand Prix with a gearbox failure and electronics problems stopped him early in Singapore. A reliability issue for Hamilton could also be a major public relations headache for Mercedes, especially in the competitive arena of F1 where the finger of suspicion is always ready to point. It could also have ramifications on the driver market. Hamilton's Mercedes contract runs out at the end of 2015 and he is due to discuss new terms after the season while Rosberg signed an improved multi-year contract in the summer. Ferrari and McLaren are yet to confirm their 2015 driver lineups while on Wednesday Romain Grosjean became the latest driver to secure his seat for next season with Lotus. For now, the Mercedes duelists go into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend knowing the title is in their hands. Hamilton won the twilight race for McLaren in 2011 and has taken pole at the glittering Yas Marina circuit twice but was beaten in qualifying and the race by his Mercedes teammate Rosberg last season. \"I go into this race with no fear and with every belief that this can be my title,\" said Rosberg. \"Win or lose, double points or no double points, I feel proud of what I have achieved this year.\" On the opposite side of the Mercedes garage, Hamilton is also counting on fortune's favor in Abu Dhabi. \"I'm hoping that bad luck won't play a part this time around and I know the team has been working flat out to make sure it doesn't,\" he said. \"I'm feeling relaxed, I'm feeling confident and I'm ready to win.\" F1's twilight finale in Abu Dhabi is poised to be a sensational showstopper but when the sun goes down on the 2014 season only one man be will riding into the sunset as the new world champion. Read more: Bianchi out of artificial coma . Read more: Is Formula One running out of gas?", "He flies the world in a blood-red private jet, has an access-all-areas Formula 1 pass worth a cool £1 million and is fresh from the red carpet at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, resplendent in a solid gold chain worthy of a superstar rapper. And like most A-listers, this particular star is not without a few unpleasant habits. Support staff at the BBC awards can attest as much, having been tasked with picking up after him. Welcome to the world of Roscoe Hamilton, a two-year-old bulldog who lives a life of absurd luxury. Scroll down for video . Roscoe (centre) lounges about while on holiday with Lewis Hamilton and his other dog, bulldog bitch Coco . As the adored pet of Lewis Hamilton, reigning Formula 1 world champion, his is an existence of five-star pampering. Home is a £10 million apartment in Monaco, which he shares with Hamilton, his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and a bulldog bitch called Coco. Yet there is no question who rules the roost. Since padding into Lewis’s life in February 2013, Roscoe has taken centre stage. Take the family’s sleeping arrangements. Hamilton may be dating one of the most desired women on the planet in Nicole, but when the day ends, it is Roscoe who snuggles between the Egyptian cotton sheets alongside his master. (Ms Scherzinger is based for much of the year in America.) And as the racing driver jets between the U.S. and Europe in that gleaming £20 million Bombardier CL-600, he does so with Roscoe sitting beside him on his personal cream leather seat. Double act: The pair together at last night's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards . Indeed, Roscoe has his own passport as well as that pass to the Formula 1 paddock, which was given to him by Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire overlord of the sport. Sponsors pay upwards of £1 million for these passes, yet Roscoe’s, which features a photograph of the bulldog in a pair of expensive Beats headphones, was a gift. While many people were nonplussed to see a celebrity turning up to the televised awards with his pet, to those who know Hamilton well it was no surprise to see the pooch waddling along the red carpet on Sunday night, complete with gold chain. Hamilton was wearing this jewellery at some of his public appearances towards the end of the Formula 1 season, and is happy to share his substantial worldly goods with his dog. This is a fastidious professional who obsesses over the tiniest detail to give him a racing advantage. Yet he allows Roscoe to play with his race helmet as if it was a toy ball. And this is no ordinary piece of kit. It takes three days to make one and they cost £3,300 apiece. That said, they are designed to withstand 800c flames and huge impacts, so an encounter with an enthusiastic bulldog is unlikely to cause too much of a problem. The helmet is adorned with an image of Hamilton with Nicole and — you guessed it — Roscoe. The extent of the driver’s canine infatuation has ruffled feathers, however, with questions raised about whether it is appropriate to allow a dog into the racing paddock. Legendary commentator Murray Walker did not mince his words: ‘I have the utmost respect and admiration for Lewis, but the F1 paddock is no place for a dog. Think of the safety reasons. Think, too, of how a dog’s hearing system is infinitely more sensitive than a human’s — and my hearing has been destroyed by F1 cars. I am utterly amazed he’s allowed to take the dog in. I can’t imagine what the hell they are thinking about. It’s madness.’ All of which presented a dilemma for Hamilton’s racing team, Mercedes. By that point, Roscoe had his own bespoke canine racing suit, while Lewis spent £220,000 on hiring a luxury motor home for the European season — because the hotels frequented by the Formula 1 hierarchy do not allow dogs. Some race tracks, seduced by the glamour of the driver and his designer dog, use them as an advertising tool. For the Silverstone Grand Prix, the organisers provided Roscoe with a bespoke timber kennel, with his name over the door and a personalised cap. Roscoe, however, does not sleep in a kennel. And when his master is otherwise disposed, only the very best treatment will do. The X Factor: A friendly nuzzle for Lewis's girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger. The singer spends half the year in America - leaving a space in the couple's bed for Roscoe to slip between the Egyptian cotton sheets . High flyers: UK-bound with Roscoe (left), Coco (centre) and Lewis Hamilton on board a private jet . Marie-Pierre Hansom, senior ‘host’ at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey — the carmaker’s flagship centre — was left in no doubt about this earlier this year. Accustomed to dealing with the biggest star names, she was taken aback by what happened when the driver arrived to film a commercial. With Lewis fed, watered, made up and safely installed on set, she was settling down for a cup of coffee when the phone rang. ‘It was our reception desk advising me that two of his guests had arrived on site,’ she says. ‘Most of the entourage were here by then, so I thought: “Who could it be?” What's up, dawg: In Beats headphones. The two-year-old bulldog even has his own pass to the Formula 1 paddock . ‘I went to introduce myself and I’m faced with two little bulldogs. Panic inside, we don’t allow dogs in the building, what am I going to do? I need to move them pretty quickly. ‘I make it to the suite, get them set up very quickly. They need water, they need food, they need cushions. They had to be taken for various things such as comfort breaks. We even had to call the cleaning team for help at one point, because I don’t deal with things like that. I started the day expecting one celebrity. I finished it with three. ‘I hope I made them happy, and by the snores coming out of Roscoe I think they all had a good time.’ Since arriving in Hamilton’s life, Roscoe has become a social media star. There is footage of him in Lewis’s bed, on aircraft and even on a trip to a bowling alley. Hamilton, who doesn’t have children, is fond of dressing up his beloved dog in designer hats, headphones and jewellery. He also brings along Roscoe to interviews (on one occasion having to apologise when the mutt’s loud snoring drowned out his answers). Yet it’s plain Roscoe has fulfilled an important role in his master’s life. Raised in the rarefied atmosphere of motor racing, anointed as the chosen one since his teens, it is hardly surprising Hamilton is not the most worldly of individuals. Blessed — or cursed — with a prickliness particular to the uber-competitive, he clearly takes great comfort from the unquestioning adoration of his dogs. Roscoe was joined last year by the bulldog bitch Coco, yet she has been comparatively anonymous, due in part to health problems. She has had to undergo two tricky operations to treat a problem with her tongue, so by and large Roscoe has travelled with Lewis while she stayed at home. Lewis grew up with pet labradors, though, so why a bulldog? The answer may lie in his controversial relationship with his nationality. Playtime: Making friends with Lewis's nephew, Kalden, when Hamilton spent a day with his mother and sister . Roscoe has his own passport and for the Silverstone Grand Prix, the organisers provided Roscoe with a bespoke timber kennel, with his name over the door and a personalised cap . In his acceptance speech after winning Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday night, much was made of his pride in his British heritage. Yet this is a man who, the moment the big bucks started rolling in, decamped to Switzerland and then Monaco as a tax exile. Twitter immediately lit up with outraged comments about the BBC’s sporting champion not even paying a licence fee. He may believe that by having a British bulldog by his side, the public will subconsciously associate him with all things patriotic. But perhaps not when the dog is Roscoe Hamilton, surely the most pampered ‘non-dom’ in the canine world. Chilling out: The intrepid trio take to the slopes. Roscoe was joined last year by the bulldog bitch Coco, yet she has been comparatively anonymous, due in part to health problems .", "It has not escaped Rory McIlroy’s notice that the last time a golfer won the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award was the year he was born. Just like the 25-year-old Northern Irishman this season, Sir Nick Faldo won four times in 1989. Just like Rory, two of those successes were the Open Championship and the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA at Wentworth. Faldo’s other two wins however, in the French Open and the British Masters, were events far below the standing of the pair rounding out McIlroy’s illustrious quartet — the US PGA Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Is this the year, therefore, when the sport’s long wait finally ends? In Glasgow, at the SSE Hydro where the Ryder Cup gala concert was held in September, are we about to see just the third golfer crowned (the other was Welshman Dai Rees in 1957, when he captained Great Britain and Ireland to a rare Ryder Cup success) in the 61st edition of the BBC’s prestigious sports review? Rory McIlroy beams  in the locker room at Royal Liverpool following his triumph in The Open . ‘It would be big for golf, wouldn’t it?’ said McIlroy. ‘Growing up in a sports-mad household, it was certainly a programme I always watched. It was a chance to see some of the greats of British sport being honoured. So I’m really pleased to be part of the conversation. ‘I think when you look at the names of the winners it’s understandable why it has been a while since a golfer has won. We’ve had great footballers like David Beckham and Ryan Giggs, we’ve had the cyclists, the Olympics in 2012 and Andy Murray winning Wimbledon. ‘Having said that, this would be a great time for a golfer to win. If the wider public see a golfer doing his stuff on a programme like this, it might spark a greater interest. ‘Of course, there will always be interest in golf. But it might give it an injection of excitement, like it had in the mid-90s with Faldo and Seve, or when Tiger came along. That would be great from a UK and Irish perspective.’ McIlroy owes much to his dedicated father Gerry, who along with mother Rosie, made many sacrifices . At a time when there has been a significant drop in participation levels and the game is rarely shown on terrestrial television, McIlroy is the sort of poster boy a sport dreams about. His father Gerry worked behind the bar at Holywood Golf Club in Belfast, while his mother Rosie took on menial jobs to give McIlroy his chance. Sport is full of inspirational stories and the fact McIlroy, from these humble circumstances, grew up to become comfortably the best golfer in the world in 2014 is right up there with the best of them. ‘I realise there are a lot of great candidates but if I do win, I’m hoping it will be an inspiration for young kids to pick up a set of clubs and go and play,’ he said. ‘I know all about the numbers playing golf going down and it’s important we attract more young people.’ As ever with McIlroy, the season has been long and eventful. Off the course he broke off his engagement with fiancee Caroline Wozniacki. He has been embroiled in a nasty legal battle with his former management company that will lead to a slew of headlines that will make the front sections of newspapers, as well as the back, when it reaches its bitter conclusion in a Dublin courtroom in February. In past years, such distractions clearly affected his golf but this season he has done an amazing job of putting it all to one side. Caroline Wozniacki and McIlroy ended their engagement in May during a turbulent year for the world No 1 . ‘I guess I’ve just got used to it,’ he said, with a rueful grin. ‘I think over the years I’ve just learned to compartmentalise. In 2013 I didn’t have the best off-season and perhaps didn’t put in the work I should have. ‘But this year I really re-dedicated myself in some ways. I got back to what worked before, and the results came afterwards.’ The high-point, of course, was that four-week stretch from mid-July to mid-August, when he won three tournaments in a row comprising two majors and a WGC. Rickie Fowler might have been exaggerating a bit to call it the finest stretch of golf ever played but it was certainly the finest by any player born in Europe. ‘I might have played better tournaments but I’ve definitely never had a stretch like that before,’ acknowledged McIlroy. ‘Winning The Open obviously meant an awful lot, as it does to any player born in the UK. It’s on the BBC, it’s watched by a lot of people who don’t normally follow golf, and it was noticeable to me how much my recognition levels went up. A jubilant McIlroy celebrates a dominant Ryder Cup win alongside Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter . SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR: LIVE on Sunday on BBC 1 from 8pm and BBC Radio 5 Live from 7.30pm. ‘The second one, the Bridgestone, I played really well. The Firestone course is one I love so it was great to win there and get back to world No 1, which was certainly one of my goals. ‘As for the USPGA, that might have been the one I enjoyed the most, for the way it panned out. I’m really proud of the way I played down the stretch to catch Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson, with the light fading and all that. ‘So yeah, it was the time of my professional life so far, and it’s obviously nice when people like Rickie are saying such things. But you can’t afford to dwell too long on what you’ve done in this game. ‘The wins are on the board but I’m already thinking ahead to 2015 and trying to win more tournaments.’ McIlroy catches the Wanamaker Trophy from PGA of America president Ted Bishop after victory at Valhalla . What a year it promises to be. Not only will he get to defend two majors; at the Masters in April he will have his first tilt at becoming just the sixth golfer to complete the career grand slam, and all at such a tender age. ‘There’s going to be a bit of hype around that week, isn’t there?’ he said, smiling. ‘That’s fine with me. I’ve reached the stage where I’m happy to embrace it. But do you know what I’m looking forward to the most in the build-up? Just trying to improve certain areas of my game. ‘Yes, I want to win the Masters. But what will help me do that? What’s held me back from winning it before? How can I change the outcome? They’re the things I’m concentrating on. ‘I’m not saying to myself I want to win the Masters because anyone can do that. It’s how you go about it that enables you to achieve such goals.’ McIlroy says interest in golf has wavered since Tiger Woods' decline, but he wishes to improve its popularity . For this festive month, however, the Masters can wait. Time for a bit of relaxation back home in Belfast. Time to keep the gossip photographers busy, no doubt. Time for too many Christmas dinners and one or two Ulster rugby games. The odd trip to Old Trafford, perhaps. And a big night out in Glasgow. ‘I’m looking forward to it,’ he said. ‘It’s been a heck of a year for golf and it could be some night for the game. We’ve got a decent shout for Team of the Year with the Ryder Cup boys, while I think everyone agrees Paul McGinley was a brilliant captain, so he must have a chance for Coach of the Year. ‘And obviously you’ve got me in there as well. Hopefully it’s a night we dominate.’ Mike Dickson (Tennis Correspondent) Given that he does not possess a set of go-faster golf clubs, it has to be McIlroy. Hamilton may be a great driver but he does not compete on even terms with most of his rivals. McIlroy has no false advantages and is up against a much wider global talent pool. VOTE FOR: Rory McIlroy . Phil Duncan (Formula One Writer) Hamilton should have won it in 2008 after clinching the F1 title, but was beaten by Sir Chris Hoy. I fancy Rory will get the better of him this year, too. Hamilton deserves it as a winner of 11 races this year under huge pressure. Damon Hill was the last winner for F1 — 18 years ago. VOTE FOR: Lewis Hamilton . Ian Ladyman (Northern Football Correspondent) McIlroy should get it because he competes on a level playing field with his competitors. Motor racing is a pastime dictated largely by engineering. It’s hard to call it sport when only two or three contestants can possibly win. VOTE FOR: Rory McIlroy . Paul Newman (Cricket Correspondent) It’s got to be McIlroy for me. Hamilton’s achievement is outstanding but the technology is too important in F1 for him to to surpass McIlroy’s majors and Ryder Cup. I hope Gareth Bale makes the podium, too. The way he has settled in Spain is outstanding. VOTE FOR: Rory McIlroy . Sam Peters (Rugby and Cricket Writer) If it’s a choice between McIlroy and Hamilton I’d go for McIlroy every time. Golf is one of the loneliest and most mentally challenging sports around and the young Ulsterman is at the very top of it. A superstar of the modern game. VOTE FOR: Rory McIlroy .", "Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton faced a furious backlash last night as he was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the year. Hamilton became the seventh formula 1 driver to scoop the award beating golfer Rory McIlroy to the post by more than 85,000 votes. But within minutes of receiving the award amid a standing ovation from guests at the event in Glasgow, the racing driver was being attacked on social media for his status as a tax exile. Scroll down for video . Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton faced a furious backlash last night as he was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the year, beating Rory McIlroy (right) and Jo Pavey (left) Furious twitter users took the site to vent their fury that someone who ‘doesn’t even have TV license’ should win such a prestigious BBC award. Chris Hall wrote: ‘The real travesty is that kids inspired by Lewis Hamilton will never get chances he did thanks to tax-dodgers like him.’ Another critic, John Torrie, added: ‘#SportsPersonality An oxymoron perpetuated by the choice of Lewis Hamilton. Proud to be born British but doesn’t want to live here among us.’ Within minutes of receiving the award amid a standing ovation from guests at the event in Glasgow, the racing driver was being attacked on social media for his status as a tax exile . During his speech, Hamilton said his family were his inspiration and paused to hug his younger brother Nicholas (right) before collecting his trophy . Javier Mejia wrote: ‘Right in saying Lewis Hamilton is a UK tax exile? Given personality award by the BBC, funded by everybody’s license fee.’ Another twitter user @nick_moore added: ‘He pays no tax, has zero personality and doesn’t even have a tv licence. How does that work? @LewisHamilton #SportsPersonality #GetInspired’ But despite the controversy, with 209,920 public votes, Hamilton’s victory over second place McIlroy was decisive. The golfer, who was the favourite of many to win the award, trailed behind with 123,745 votes while long distance runner Jo Pavey came third with 99,913 votes. Earlier in the evening, Hamilton, 29, was joined on the red carpet not by his glamorous singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger but by his pet bulldog Roscoe much to the amusement of fans . Roscoe certainly looked red carpet-ready, donning a large gold chain for the occasion . Roscoe looked at home on the red carpet, although Hamilton's other dog Coco was not present . Earlier in the evening, Hamilton, 29, was joined on the red carpet not by his glamorous singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger but by his pet bulldog Roscoe much to the amusement of fans. Speaking during the ceremony, Hamilton said his family were his inspiration and paused to hug his younger brother Nicholas before collecting his trophy. He said: ‘I’m so proud and honoured to be among such great sporting talent. I want to say a huge thank you to all the people who called in, I really wasn’t expecting it. The BBC was left red-faced when, several minutes before the official result was announced an error on its website claimed golfer Rory McIlroy was the winner. An update to the site at 10.21 under the headline ‘McIlroy wins Sports Personality award’ said: ‘Golfer Rory McIlroy wins 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.’ It was hastily removed to be replaced with the real winner Lewis Hamilton several minutes later. ‘I could not have done this without my amazing team, my family, my dad who once had four jobs to help me, my brother. ‘I’ve been incredibly inspired by them. I never thought in a million years I’d be surrounded by such people. ‘Thank you to all the fans. I always say we win and lose together because I feel your love. I feel so proud to carry the Union flag and hope I will continue to make you proud.’ Hamilton won his second Formula 1 world title last month after edging an often controversial battle with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg when he clinched the crown with victory at Abu Dhabi. He moved to the exclusive tax haven state of Monaco in 2012 after several years living in Switzerland. The other contenders for last night’s award were Real Madrid footballer Gareth Bale, dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin, boxer Carl Froch, skiier Kelly Gallagher and her guide Charlotte Evans, swimmer Adam Peaty, gymnast Max Whitlock and skeleton racer Lizzy Yarnold. Hamilton won his second Formula 1 world title last month after edging an often controversial battle with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg when he clinched the crown with victory at Abu Dhabi .", "Lewis Hamilton — forlorn, curt and quiet-voiced — had rarely looked more vulnerable than as he left the paddock to spend a night alone with his hopes and thoughts. The world championship is still his to lose. He is 17 points ahead of his Mercedes colleague Nico Rosberg — who took pole — and will start only one place behind him on the grid at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. If he finishes where he starts — second — he will be enshrined in Formula One history as only the fourth Briton to win two championships. Graham Hill is one, the others are Jim Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart, the last to accomplish the feat 43 years ago. Lewis Hamilton appeared vulnerable ahead of the final race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . Hamilton will battle Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg for the drivers' championship on Sunday . Hamilton qualified in second place and will win the title if he can finish in the same position . But to observe Hamilton here after Rosberg’s virtuoso lap was not to see a man happily embracing his destiny. Damon Hill, the 1996 champion and son of Graham, summed it up perfectly: ‘Nico is doing everything — and I mean everything — to get the high ground over Lewis. Lewis looks sometimes as if Nico is getting to him. I am concerned about that for Lewis’s sake.’ Rosberg was 0.386sec faster in qualifying, giving him an 11th pole to his rival’s seven this season. Hamilton, a venerated one-lap specialist, must find that perturbing and inexplicable. Both men made a few mistakes over the three sessions. Hamilton locked up and ran far on to the kerbs; Rosberg ran dramatically wide in the second session. When he set the fastest lap, Rosberg’s wife Vivian and the Mercedes’ hierarchy celebrated. The man himself put up a thumb and thrust a forearm out as he drove back into the pit lane. It was a gesture of intent. Rosberg celebrates after wining his 11th pole position of the season with the fastest qualifying lap . Rosberg is still in contention for the championship as double points are on offer in the season finale . The German driver appeared more confident as the season reaches its nail biting conclusion . This title fight is now going to be won as much in the six inches between the ears as the 3.47 miles of hot track. And Rosberg seems to be winning the psychological battle. ‘Pressure,’ said the German, ‘is one of the hopes that I have, a bit like today and in the last race in Brazil. ‘They are the kind of opportunities I am looking for. I am pushing to keep the [pressure] level extremely high. Lewis has everything to lose; I have everything to gain, so the pressure is on him.’ Hamilton has made a virtue of having no friends or family with him in the paddock here. There is just him and his Finnish trainer Ville Vihola. But is his singular approach really a help? Or did he miss the companionship of more familiar faces when the going got tough under the night’s sky? By contrast, Rosberg’s little throng of friends tucked into beer and pasta on a table outside the Mercedes hospitality area. They clapped when their man walked over with his plate of rice and chicken. Hamilton had to suffice with the brief company of rapper Pharrell Williams, their meeting making the British driver so late for his 7pm engineering debrief that technical director Paddy Lowe had to fetch him. Rosberg walked briskly there, sipping his water bottle. The up-and-at-‘im attitude was obvious. There are several permutations but Hamilton will be assured victory if he finishes second . Hamilton speaks with international artist Pharrell Williams (left) behind the scenes in Abu Dhabi . Hamilton takes time out to pose for a picture with Williams and Tyrese Gibson (right) How the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix course is set up . So was Hamilton’s dejection. ‘I don’t know whether he puts on looking sad,’ said Hill. ‘His body language in the post-qualifying interview told me he could hardly bare to sit next to Nico. ‘It’s not dislike; it’s just very difficult emotionally to cope with this type of situation. It’s a total psychological game. That’s all it is.’ We should not lose sight of the fact that Hamilton remains favourite for the title. The maths favours him: if he finishes first or second there is nothing Rosberg can do about it, even with the absurdity of the points counting double. And coming in the top two should be straightforward enough so quick are their cars. Yet the Williamses of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will start third and fourth and cannot be discounted. If Hamilton should not get cleanly through the first corner in at least second place, he is liable to be caught in the scramble behind. Hill knows the dangers of this better than most. For he admits he was ‘not on full attack’ when he led the standings going into his title decider in 1996 and was hit by Gerhard Berger’s Benetton. Former world champion has questioned whether Hamilton has got his tactics clear ahead of the race . Hamilton races as night falls in Abu Dhabi in his quest to be crowned drivers' champion for a second time . Hamilton's racing style does not lend itself to driving for second place . ‘It’s like golf,’ said Hill. ‘The hard bit comes when you get nearer the hole. It’s the 50-yard chip with a half swing. I am not sure Lewis is so good at that.’ Hamilton is supreme as an all-out attacker but that is not his task here. He seems confused about what tactic to employ. Asked how he would conduct the race, he offered a brief response: ‘Same as always.’ Fine, but later, when asked whether he would race for second, he said: ‘You are right it’s not my style. But we will decide tomorrow.’ A couple of hours later, he was a touch more relaxed. ‘I don’t really pay much attention to Nico,’ he said. ‘Of course Nico, for sure, is trying everything possible in his head to come up with some kind of way of dealing with things I guess. That’s just how he deals with it. I just keep things to myself and do my talking on the track.’ Hamilton gives a thumbs up after qualifying, although having Valtteri Bottas behind him could be a concern . Hamilton and Rosberg share the stage together - but who will be standing on the winner's podium? Hamilton takes his Mercedes around the track for the final time before judgement time . By late evening, the Red Bulls were under investigation after the technical delegate Jo Bauer spotted the front wings of the cars driven by Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, due to be fifth and sixth on the grid, were flexing illegally. They were relegated down the grid, so Jenson Button of McLaren moved up to sixth and now could have a say among the fray in what may be his last ever F1 race. His qualifying session was eventful: he had to go back to the pits because McLaren had forgotten to fuel him. ‘Are you joking?’ he said. He still beat his rival for a seat at the team next year, Kevin Magnussen, who will start 11th. The slowest cars on the grid were the Caterhams of Kamui Kobayashi and British rookie Will Stevens. But just making it here was a triumph of sorts for the team, whose affairs are being overseen by an Irishman called Finbarr O’Connell, the administrator and a ballroom dance devotee, who now finds himself on the pit wall.", "Formula One drivers are to be barred from changing helmet designs during the course of a season in a ruling aimed at helping fans identify their heroes and also pleasing traditionalists. It will be less well received by those drivers who like to change the look of their lids with some frequency. The decision was taken by the governing FIA's Formula One Commission, which met on Tuesday, one of those present confirmed to Reuters. It has yet to be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council. Jenson Button is another driver whose been known to change his designs throughout the F1 season . Lewis Hamilton will be affected by Formula One's made the decision to ban helmet design changes . 'The FIA is keen to have stability so people can identify who is in the car,' said the source. 'The new phenomenon of drivers changing helmet every few races isn't helping.' The news received a mixed response on social media, with sportscar racer and former F1 driver Alexander Wurz one of those critical of the decision. Australian Mark Webber, who left Formula One at the end of 2013 and now races for Porsche in sportscars, suggested there were 'bigger issues than this' for the sport to address. Others pointed out that one-off helmets, such as the special design worn by Jenson Button in 2011 and auctioned off to raise funds for victims of a Japanese earthquake and tsunami, would not be allowed. Nor would tribute helmets, such as the James Hunt one worn by Kimi Raikkonen in 2013. According to the autosport.com website, four times world champion Sebastian Vettel has used some 60 different designs since his debut in 2007 -- although he said recently he was likely to stick with one now he was at Ferrari. Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber dismissed the new plans and pointed out that there are 'bigger issues' Tribute helmets like this one worn by Kimi Raikkonen are no longer allowed during the course of the season . Sebastian Vettel will be recognised by his helmet with the new ban coming into place by Formula One . The frequent changes have rankled with more traditionally-minded fans, who yearn for the days when drivers were easily recognisable by helmet colours and when cars also had much bigger numbers on their sides. Britain's two times champion Graham Hill famously raced with the colours of the London Rowing Club, dark blue with white tabs, in the 1960s and 70s with son and 1996 champion Damon following the tradition. The most distinctive helmet of all belonged to the late Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna, who was always associated with his country's yellow and green colours. Ayrton Senna wore his Brazilian colours of green and yellow throughout his extraordinary F1 career ." ]

[ "(Redirected from Herpes of the eye). Herpetic simplex keratitis, also known as herpetic keratoconjunctivitis and herpesviral keratitis, is a form of keratitis caused by recurrent herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection in the cornea. It begins with infection of epithelial cells on the surface of the eye and retrograde infection of nerves serving the cornea." ]

[ "It is strongly contraindicated with herpetic and other viral eye infections. Other contraindications include fungal and mycobacterial infections because tobramycin is inactive against those, and the corticoid acts as an immunosuppressive agent, preventing the body's immune system from dealing with the infection.", "Presence of Herpes labialis or Herpetic-Gingivostomatitis (HSV-1). Herpetic infections such as herpetic whitlow occur when the virus residing in the mouth and infected saliva come in contact with fingers with open wounds.", "1 Herpetic whitlow: A herpetic whitlow is an infection of the fingertip area caused by a virus. 2 This is the most common viral infection of the hand. 3 This infection is often misdiagnosed as a paronychia or felon. 4 Cellulitis: This is a superficial infection of the skin and underlying tissue.", "Types. HSV-1 and HSV-2. Learn the difference between the two types of herpes simplex virus. Herpes and the Eye. Most people are surprised to find out that two types of herpes viruses -- the one that causes cold sores and the one that causes chickenpox -- can cause a condition called herpetic eye disease.Slideshow: Pictures and Facts About STDs.erpes and the Eye. Most people are surprised to find out that two types of herpes viruses -- the one that causes cold sores and the one that causes chickenpox -- can cause a condition called herpetic eye disease. Slideshow: Pictures and Facts About STDs.", "Herpetic whitlow—also called digital herpes simplex, finger herpes, or hand herpes—is a painful viral infection occurring on the fingers or around the fingernails. Herpetic whitlow is caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Infections with HSV are very contagious and are easily spread by direct contact with infected skin lesions.", "Other disorders caused by herpes simplex include: herpetic whitlow when it involves the fingers, herpes of the eye, herpes infection of the brain, and neonatal herpes when it affects a newborn, among others. There are two types of herpes simplex virus, type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2).HSV-1 more commonly causes oral infections while HSV-2 more commonly causes genital infections. They are transmitted by direct contact with body fluids or lesions of an infected individual.ther disorders caused by herpes simplex include: herpetic whitlow when it involves the fingers, herpes of the eye, herpes infection of the brain, and neonatal herpes when it affects a newborn, among others. There are two types of herpes simplex virus, type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2).", "Finger Infection Causes. Bacteria cause most of these finger infections. The exception to this is the herpetic whitlow, which is caused by a virus. How the infection starts and is found in a particular location is what makes each specific type of infection unique. Usually some form of trauma is the initial event.", "Post-herpetic neuralgia: Post-herpetic neuralgia, a complication of shingles (varicella-zoster virus infection) is a form of neuropathy. Alcoholic neuropathy: Alcoholism is often associated with peripheral neuropathy.", "DFA is the most common test employed for shingles diagnosis because it can be rapidly performed and offers results in about 90 minutes. PCR may be performed on skin scrapings, serum or blood for herpetic diagnosis. CBC may indicate a patient with a viral infection, but is non-specific for herpetic infections.", "Herpetic and postherpetic neuralgia. Herpetic and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) usually affects the first branch of the trigeminal nerve. The diagnosis of postherpetic neuralgia usually requires the outbreak of shingles (herpes zoster) in the forehead or eye.", "Causes of neuritis include: 1 Shingles – inflammation of a nerve, caused by infection with the herpes virus. This common type of neuralgia is known as post-herpetic neuralgia. 2 Infection – the nerve can be irritated by nearby infection, such as a tooth abscess.", "A whitlow is a painful and highly contagious infection on the fingers caused by the herpes simplex virus. It is also known as herpetic whitlow. There are two types of herpes simplex virus—type 1 and type 2—and both can cause herpetic whitlow.", "Causes. 1 Allergic conjunctivitis. 2 Bacterial conjunctivitis. 3 Blepharitis (inflammation that affects your eyelids). 4 Corneal abrasion (rubbing off of the very top layers of the cornea, the transparent cover of your eye). 5 Corneal herpetic infections (herpes).", "190 Followers. A. Infections caused by HSV are contagious. The virus is spread from person to person by kissing, by close contact with herpetic lesions, or even from contact with apparently normal skin that is shedding the virus. Infected saliva is a common means of virus transmission.90 Followers. A. Infections caused by HSV are contagious. The virus is spread from person to person by kissing, by close contact with herpetic lesions, or even from contact with apparently normal skin that is shedding the virus. Infected saliva is a common means of virus transmission.", "Fungal infection also can be a cause of paronychia formation, and should be considered especially in people with recurrent infection. Paronychia should not be confused with herpetic whitlow, which can form tiny pustules on the finger and is caused by a virus but is not typically located at the nail edge. Herpetic whitlow is not treated with an incision and drainage and therefore needs to be distinguished from a paronychia.", "This is a systemic viral infection that begins in the first week of life. This manifests with fever, subnormal temperature, cyanosis, hepatosplenomegaly, kidney and adrenal involvement besides the herpetic skin lesions .", "What are the symptoms of an eye infection im wondering if my daughter has an eye infection. Eye infection: Symptoms include redness, irritation, pain, discharge, blurred vision, foreign body sensation, and others. See an eye doctor.", "[hwit´lo] felon. herpetic whitlow a primary herpes simplex infection of the terminal segment of a finger, usually seen in those exposed to infected oral or respiratory secretions, such as dentists, physicians, or nurses. It begins with intense itching and pain, followed by the formation of deep coalescing vesicles.", "(1) What is PHN? PHN (post-herpetic neuralgia) is the name given to the pain that lingers for months or even years after the rash caused by an infection called shingles has healed. Shingles is an often-painful outbreak of rash or blisters on the skin.", "Prokera® for Dry Eye. View Video. PROKERA® biologic corneal bandage devices are used by eye doctors around the world to heal and treat eye diseases such as keratitis, common dry eye, recurrent corneal erosions, filamentary keratitis, persistent epithelial defects, neurotrophic corneas, herpetic ulcers, and many other ocular surface diseases.", "‘Gingival ulceration in herpetic stomatitis is common and is associated with mouth ulcers elsewhere and fever’ ‘Adjuvant chemotherapy may produce diarrhea, mucositis or stomatitis, myelosuppression, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, hair thinning, taste changes and skin and nail changes.’ ‘Other childhood infections such as herpetic stomatitis, exanthema subitum, and chickenpox also seemed protective.’", "They can be spread when an infected person is producing and shedding the virus. Symptoms of herpes simplex virus infection include watery blisters in the skin or mucous membranes of the mouth, lips or genitals. Lesions heal with a scab characteristic of herpetic disease.", "[edit on Wikidata] A herpetic whitlow is a lesion (whitlow) on a finger or thumb caused by the herpes simplex virus. It is a painful infection that typically affects the fingers or thumbs. Occasionally infection occurs on the toes or on the nail cuticle. Herpes whitlow can be caused by infection by HSV-1 or HSV-2.", "A herpetic infection of the brain thought to be caused by the transmission of virus from a peripheral site on the face following HSV-1 reactivation, along the trigeminal nerve axon, to the brain. HSV is the most common cause of viral encephalitis.", "COMMON BRAND NAME(S): Lidoderm. USES: This medication is used to relieve nerve pain after shingles (infection with the herpes zoster virus). This type of pain is called post-herpetic neuralgia.", "Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2) IGM refers to current infection or outbreak. So, this would be postive if you recently have had or currently have a herpetic outbreak. Whereas, HSV2 IGG refers to a previous infection, which means that you have been infected with the herpes virus and are, therefore, able to transmit the virus to someone else.", "Cause eye pressure ear pain - What could cause left eye pressure with left ear pain? Ear/Sinus Infection. An ear infection or sinus infection will cause facial pain which can cause pain in the ear or the eye. Taping on the face will elicit pain if the sinus is infected. An ear infection will usually have discharge or pain when pullin on the ear.", "2-5 days: Most of what is called pink eye is due to viral infections which take 2=5 days to cause an eye infection that is obvious. Pink eye is common in children but occurs in epidemic form in adults.", "Viral. 1 Herpes simplex (infection with herpes simplex virus, or HSV) is very common in the mouth and lips. This virus can cause blisters and sores around the mouth (herpetic gingivostomatitis) and lips (herpes labialis). 2 Mumps of the salivary glands is a viral infection of the parotid glands.", "The dropper opening is sterile. If it becomes contaminated, it could cause an infection in the eye. What is Gentamicin Sulfate Ophthalmic Solution: Gentamicin Sulfate Ophthalmic Solution is an antibiotic and is used to treat bacterial infections of the eyes.he dropper opening is sterile. If it becomes contaminated, it could cause an infection in the eye. What is Gentamicin Sulfate Ophthalmic Solution: Gentamicin Sulfate Ophthalmic Solution is an antibiotic and is used to treat bacterial infections of the eyes.", "cute (primary) herpetic gingivostomatitis (AHGS) typically affects children, but this infection also. occurs in adults. Because of the limited symptoms, a dentist may be the first health care practitioner consulted. It is therefore important that dentists be able to recognize. the condition (Fig. 1).", "Herpetiform ulcers, (also termed stomatitis herpetiformis, or herpes-like ulcerations) is a subtype of aphthous stomatitis so named because the lesions resemble a primary infection with herpes simplex virus (primary herpetic gingivostomatitis). However, herpetiform ulceration is not caused by herpes viruses." ]

[ "When the last Iowa-class ship was finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry, no battleships remained in service or in reserve with any navy worldwide. ... The U.S. has eight battleships on display: Massachusetts, North Carolina, Alabama, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Texas." ]

[ "By 1964, all but the four Iowa-class battleships had been stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry (NVR), but on several occasions one or more of those four battleships were reactivated to provide naval gunfire support. ... As part of this, all four Iowa-class battleships were modernized and reactivated.", "Yes, it is possible to reactivate decommissioned battleships. However, they can only be the Iowa class battleships of the US as they're the only ones that are capable of being reactivated to decent modern levels. Depending on how well they've been maintained as museum ships, it'd take may be 2 to 3 years.", "Historic battleship to move from its 70-year-old home. After being docked in its historic site at the San Jacinto Battleground near La Porte for 70 years, Battleship Texas will be moved to a new location to try to boost revenue and visitors, according to the Houston Chronicle.", "Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in October 1990 after 19 total years of active service, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) in 1995, before being reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships.", "There are no battleships or submarines in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes lie entirely between Canada and the US - Canada being the USA's largest trading partner and the longest undefended border in the world.", "However, neither is a true battleship, and the heavy cruiser is generally smaller and more lightly armed and armored than a battlecruiser. ... Achieving this speed required starting with something the size of a battleship, but with fewer main guns, smaller main guns, less armor protection, less range, or some combination.", "BB = Battleship. CA = Heavy Cruiser, in WoWS used for cruisers in general. CL = Light Cruiser. DD = Destroyer. CV = Carrier.", "Nearly half of them were aboard the USS Arizona, a battleship that sank under heavy strafing and bombing. There were just 335 survivors of the USS Arizona's crew. Just three are alive today.", "HMS Hood was revered as the most powerful warship in the world for more than 20 years, earning the nickname \"The Mighty Hood\". But in May 1941 - during the battle of the Denmark Strait in the North Atlantic - it was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck.", "More than 2,400 U.S. service members and civilians died that day. Nearly half of them were aboard the USS Arizona, a battleship that sank under heavy strafing and bombing. There were just 335 survivors of the USS Arizona's crew. Just three are alive today.", "Currently, an entrance ticket to USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park costs USD 15.00. Guided USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park tours start around USD 15.00 per person.", "In 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. ... America's supported the Cubans and Filipinos against the Spanish rule. The sinking of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor.", "Well, that or a tugboat. The USS Missouri was finally retired in 1992 and turned from a warship into a museum—just like the one in the movie. Today, it stays docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where there is no crew at the ready, nor any ammo or fuel on board.", "Dogs shall not be left unattended in any camper, motor home, tent, vehicle or other camping equipment at any time. ... No dogs are allowed in any buildings at Dixon Lake, including restrooms, the rental cabin or the Ranger station. Service animals are exempt from this exclusion.", "There are only four surviving Civil War-era ironclads in existence: USS Monitor, CSS Neuse, USS Cairo, and CSS Jackson.", "WWII bomb damage. HMS Victory is still a serving Royal Navy vessel and is the oldest ship still in commission with any navy in the world. The last time Victory was minus its masts was in 1944 when they were removed after having been damaged during a Luftwaffe bombing raid on the dockyard in 1941.", "['The USS New Jersey is now a museum at Camden, New Jersey.', 'The USS Missouri is berthed in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.', \"The USS Iowa is part of the previously posted Suisun Bay reserve fleet in California (it's the big one on the end).\"]", "It doesn't have its topsails, some decks are missing, and it is not even afloat. It is in drydock and undergoing repairs, rehabilitation, and restoration. Technically, the HMS Victory is still “commissioned”, meaning it is still part of the Royal Navy. It is the oldest commissioned vessel.", "battleship USS Arizona. Only 335 survived the “Day of Infamy.” Many of these survivors were aboard the Arizona during the attack.", "At the present time, many important vessels in the United States Navy are powered by nuclear reactors. All submarines and aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered. Several cruisers were nuclear-powered but these have all been retired.", "Bernhard Heuer, the last surviving crewmember of the infamous German battleship, the Bismarck passed away Thursday 8 March 2018 at the age of 95. Heuer was the last living member of 114 Kriegsmarine sailors to survive the sinking of the Bismarck and its last living crewmember.", "['The Scottie dog.', 'The top hat.', 'The thimble (soon to be replaced by the voted-for piece)', 'The boot.', 'The wheelbarrow.', 'The cat.', 'The racing car.', 'The battleship.']", "['who served in the armed forces during a period of war or under conditions simulating war, and.', 'was wounded, disabled to any degree, or left with long-term illness as a result of military service, and.', 'was discharged or retired from military service under honorable conditions.']", "The USS Indianapolis, pictured in the 1940s, was a Navy cruiser active in the Pacific theater during World War II. To this day, the tragedy that left 880 sailors and Marines dead is known as one of the worst disasters in U.S. Naval history. Only 316 survived. There are now just 10 living survivors.", "Some of the major battles include the First and Second Battles of Bull Run, The Battle of Shiloh, The Battle of Antietam, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. There was also the famous sea battle between the two ironclad battleships the Monitor and the Merrimac.", "The final resting place of the USS Lexington, a World War II-era aircraft carrier, has been discovered 76 years after it was sunk in the Coral Sea, more than 500 miles off the coast of Australia.", "['PAD/ AAD BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE (BMD) SYSTEM. ... ', 'NAMICA (NAG MISSILE CARRIER) ... ', 'P-8I NEPTUNE. ... ', 'INS VIKRAMADITYA AND KOLKATA CLASS DESTROYERS. ... ', 'PHALCON AWACS. ... ', 'INS CHAKRA. ... ', 'BRAHMOS MISSILE. ... ', 'SU-30MKI.']", "Then once complete, disconnect the watch and hold down the upper left and right buttons to enter service menu. Then select the Reset GPS option this will clear out everything and your watch will be emptied from any logging.", "jump ship. To depart from a ship. As soon as the battleship docked in Singapore, Roger jumped ship, never to return. (idiomatic) To leave something, especially suddenly or rapidly.", "Combat Fleets of the World does, defining cruisers as having major command and control capabilities, destroyers as being similar but lacking these additional capabilities, and frigates as being generally smaller than destroyers and generally focused on a single warfare area.", "['Dots and Boxes.', 'Tic Tac Toe.', 'Sim.', 'Pictionary.', 'Paper Telephone.', 'Bulls and Cows, Sprout, Battleship and more fun paper games.']", "['The Black Pearl. ... ', \"Queen Anne's Revenge. ... \", 'East India Trading Company Armada. ... ', 'The Flying Dutchman. ... ', 'The Empress. ... ', 'HMS Interceptor. ... ', 'The Dying Gull. ... ', '11 Futuristic Plane Designs That Might Become a Reality Soon.']" ]

[ "Believe it or not, unemployment compensation is taxable income. Too few people seem to know this (or want to know this). And this oversight could leave taxpayers owing on their federal and state income tax returns. The states regulate unemployment, but they do not always succeed in making sure people understand their tax obligations. On top of this, the tax withholding process for unemployment is structured in a way that encourages behaviors that make things worse. Simply put, your local unemployment office does not automatically withhold federal and state taxes once you start collecting unemployment." ]

[ "Railroad retirement benegits are subject to Federal Income tax. Tier 1 of Railroad retirement has the same treatment regarding income taxes as does Social Security benefits.Tier 2 of Railroad Retirement benefits are subject to Federal income tax just like other company pensions.Railroad Retirement Unemployment benefits receive the same tax requirements as do State unemployment benefits.ier 2 of Railroad Retirement benefits are subject to Federal income tax just like other company pensions. Railroad Retirement Unemployment benefits receive the same tax requirements as do State unemployment benefits.", "However, if you do not contribute to your state's unemployment insurance fund, you are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits in the event your business shuts down. Sole proprietors are required to pay state unemployment insurance tax on employees.", "Employer taxes pay for unemployment benefits. Employers pay unemployment insurance taxes and reimbursements which support unemployment benefit payments. Employees do not pay unemployment taxes and employers cannot deduct unemployment taxes from employees' paychecks.", "This is not true. Employer taxes pay for unemployment benefits. Employers pay unemployment insurance taxes and reimbursements which support unemployment benefit payments. Employees do not pay unemployment taxes and employers cannot deduct unemployment taxes from employees' paychecks.Unemployment benefits are available if you meet eligibility requirements set by the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act (. ).mployees do not pay unemployment taxes and employers cannot deduct unemployment taxes from employees' paychecks. Unemployment benefits are available if you meet eligibility requirements set by the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act (. ).", "Employees do not pay FUTA taxes. The FUTA rate is 6.0% and employers can take a credit of up to 5.4% of taxable income if they pay state unemployment taxes.", "Colorado Unemployment Tax Rate For 2014 | Accounting Books. Colorado Unemployment Tax Rate For 2014. In this Colorado Unemployment Tax Rate For 2014 ebook you can read all information in this pdf. in this ebook you will also learn about 17jun14 state unemployment tax rates, 2014. … Read More.", "Sole Proprietorship. Generally, if you are the sole proprietor of a business, you are not required to pay unemployment insurance tax on yourself. However, if you do not contribute to your state's unemployment insurance fund, you are not eligible to receive unemployment benefits in the event your business shuts down.", "Although the IRC does not define what constitutes reasonable officer compensation, it does state that shareholders of S Corporations are included within the definition of employee for FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) and federal income tax withholding.lthough the IRC does not define what constitutes reasonable officer compensation, it does state that shareholders of S Corporations are included within the definition of employee for FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) and federal income tax withholding.", "Liability Notification: If you are liable for unemployment tax, you will receive an unemployment tax Employer Account Number (EAN), also known as a State Identification Number (SID), that you will use when filing and paying your unemployment taxes.", "In Oregon, employers are not required to carry this insurance. Unemployment Insurance: Tax Businesses are required to pay unemployment benefits to eligible employees. More information regarding unemployment benefits and insurance requirements can be located on the State of Oregon Unemployment Insurance Tax page.", "The tax section of your paycheck includes Fed Withholding, Fed MED EE, Fed OASDI/EE, and State Withholding. UPDATE: 2016 OASDI Tax and Social Security Withholding Rate Fed Withholding is the biggest component of the total tax you are paying out of your paycheck.", "3. federal open market committees what is the name of the fed's chief policy making body? and what does it do? Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and it decides what to do with taxes and things related to the economy", "SUTA Dumping & Unemployment Insurance Rate Manipulation SUTA is the acronym for the State Unemployment Tax Act. SUTA Dumping is any tax evasion scheme designed to manipulate the Unemployment Insurance (UI) experience rating system in an effort to avoid paying taxes.", "In this Unemployment Tax Calculator screen you can calculate the State Unemployment (SUTA) tax rates. You may enter gross wages; the calculator calculates Employer SUTA taxes. User can still optionally enter experience Unemployment(SUTA) tax Rate (%), their experience Unemployment( SUTA) wage base in addition to the gross wages.", "Nevada State Tax Information. Looking for Nevada state tax information? We provide the latest resources on state tax, unemployment, income tax and more.", "Railroad Retirement benefits are exempt from Indiana state income tax. They may be federally taxable, depending on your filing status and income. They follow the same rules … as Social Security benefits.ier 2 of Railroad Retirement benefits are subject to Federal income tax just like other company pensions. Railroad Retirement Unemployment benefits receive the same tax requirements as do State unemployment benefits.", "The FUTA rate is 6.0% and employers can take a credit of up to 5.4% of taxable income if they pay state unemployment taxes. This amount is deducted from the amount of employee federal unemployment taxes you owe. Most states have their own State Unemployment Insurance Tax Act (SUTA or SUI).If you qualify for the highest credit, then the minimum FUTA rate is .6%.Each state has its own new employer rate for new businesses. The length of time that new employers are subject to this rate also varies. Contact your state unemployment office for information on new employer rates.his amount is deducted from the amount of employee federal unemployment taxes you owe. Most states have their own State Unemployment Insurance Tax Act (SUTA or SUI). If you qualify for the highest credit, then the minimum FUTA rate is .6%. Each state has its own new employer rate for new businesses.", "Massachusetts State Tax Information. Looking for Massachusetts state tax information? We provide the latest resources on state tax, unemployment, income tax and more.", "North Carolina State Tax Information Looking for North Carolina state tax information? We provide the latest resources on state tax, unemployment, income tax and more.", "State Unemployment Insurance (SUI): New employer rate is 4.025% plus the corresponding subsidiary fund percent(.075) for 2015. Rates do NOT include the subsidiary tax of 0.625% or the reemployment tax of 0.075%.", "When you acquire all or part of a business that was required to pay unemployment taxes in this state, you are a successor for unemployment tax purposes. As a successor, you are immediately liable for unemployment taxes regardless of the amount of wages you pay or the number of workers you employ.", "1 Unemployment insurance is funded by a tax on employers. You do not pay anything for. unemployment insurance while you are working. Unemployment insurance is for individuals. who earn wages from an employer who is required by law to pay the unemployment insurance. tax. It does not include self-employment.", "can one collect unemployment compensation from the state of new jersey if they reside in another state but worked for a company based in nj and paid nj unemployment taxes", "Unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits (depending on the jurisdiction also called unemployment insurance or unemployment compensation) are payments made by the state or other authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a compulsory governmental insurance system, not taxes on individual citizens.", "The FUTA tax rate is 6 percent. That is the tax rate that applies to the first $7,000 in wages paid to each of your employees during the year. Credit for state unemployment taxes. You can generally claim credits against your gross FUTA tax to reflect the state unemployment taxes you pay.", "step 4 calculate state unemployment tax based on the rate your state unemployment agency assigns you and the state s annual wage limit assuming that you are a new non construction employer in michigan your tax rate is 2 7 percent of the first $ 9000 paid to each employeestep 5tep 4 calculate state unemployment tax based on the rate your state unemployment agency assigns you and the state s annual wage limit assuming that you are a new non construction employer in michigan your tax rate is 2 7 percent of the first $ 9000 paid to each employee step 5" ]

[ "If your application and interview are approved, you will receive your Green Card in the mail approximately 8 to 14 months after you initially filed. If you prepared and submitted your application correctly, the USCIS will typically respond 2 to 3 weeks later with a letter in the mail." ]

[ "How Long Does the U.S. Citizenship Process Take? From getting a green card to taking the U.S. citizenship test and interview, it can take quite a long time to become a U.S. citizen. Currently, it takes about 6 months to a year to get U.S. Citizenship from the time you apply.", "How Long Does it Take to Get a Replacement Green Card? According to the most recent estimates from USCIS' Processing Times website, it takes 4 – 9 months to issue a replacement green card, with an average processing time of 7 months.", "How long does it take to get the green dot card through the mail. You should receive your card in about 5-10 business days after ordering it.", "How long does it take to get a replacement Social Security card? Luckily, it doesn't take a long time – within two weeks after your application, you will receive your new card and can use it for whatever purpose.", "How long does it take to get the green dot card through the mail. You should receive your card in about 5-10 business days after ordering it. And once the IRS accepts your tax return, your refund will be deposited directly to your card, generally within 21 days.", "How Long Does it Take to Replace/Renew a Green Card? [2020] According to official USCIS information, green card renewal can take between 11.5 to 13 months.", "How Long Does it Take to Replace/Renew a Green Card? [2020] It currently takes approximately 10-12 months to renew or replace a lost green card.", "How long does it take to receive the green sheet? It depends. Parole decisions generally take 6 weeks to process from the date of interview.", "How long does it take to renew/replace a green card? It currently takes approximately 10-12 months to renew or replace a green card. However, it is possible to get temporary proof of permanent resident status for travel abroad, employment and other purposes.", "How long does it take to get a credit card in the mail? Once the application is accepted, it typically takes 7-10 days to receive your new credit card in the mail.", "How long does it take to get a marriage green card? The total wait time for a marriage-based green card ranges between 10 to 38 months, depending on whether you are married to a U.S. citizen or green card holder and where you currently live (not including possible delays).", "Typically how long does it take to get hired once an application is submitted? If you are a fit, expect an interview within a week. Then the hiring process takes about 2 weeks after that.", "How long does it take to get an ID? After you have paid your fee, you will be issued a temporary paper ID while you wait for your card. It takes between two and three weeks for your ID card to arrive in the mail.", "How long does it take to get a Replacement Florida EBT Card? Your replacement card will be mailed to you and it will take 7-10 business days to arrive. However, unlike getting a credit card or debit card replacement, you cannot get your EBT card expedited or a tracking number for the card.", "How long does it take to get a residence permit in Germany? From the time of your interview, provided your documents are completely in order, it will usually take around 2-3 weeks for your Permanent Residence Permit to be processed.", "How long does it take to receive my PayPal Cash Card? You'll get your card in the mail within 7 to 10 days of applying.", "After completing the biometrics appointment, there are 5 additional steps in the green card application process: Receive your EAD and/or advance parole travel document. Respond to any Requests for Evidence. Complete the green card interview.", "How long does it take to get the Priority Pass card? It depends on the credit issuer. In my experience, it usually takes 2-3 weeks.", "How long will it take to get my card after I have submitted my application? Your Westpac Airpoints™ credit cards should be sent out 4-5 days after you apply.", "How Long Does it Take to Get a New Green Card? The average processing time to replace a lost or stolen green card is 5–8 months, as of July 30, 2019. (Processing times change regularly. For the latest wait-time estimate, please visit the USCIS website.)", "How long does it take to get your First Premier credit card in the mail? You should have your First Premier Mastercard in hand about 2 weeks after you were approved. If you already got your statement, but not your card, then it might've just gotten lost in the mail.", "How long does it take to get my business cards? It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks depending on the size and complexity of your order. If you order from Staples, expect your cards within 3—7 business days.", "How Long Does it Take to Get an Austrian Student Visa? It can take up to 6 weeks to get an interview appointment at an Austrian embassy, depending on the demand for appointments. It can then take a further 1-4 weeks to process the visa application.", "It does not take long at all to get hire. should receive a call with in 2 weeks. Do the online application and what for a call. After you receive the call you will be schedule for and interview after the interview they will call you back and set you up for orientation.", "When filing Form I-90 to replace a lost green card, you'll need to pay a USCIS filing fee of $455 plus a biometrics fee of $85. The total USCIS fees are currently $540. How long will it take to get a new green card? The process to replace a lost/stolen green card generally takes 8-12 months but can be longer.", "How long does it typically take to receive my money? It will take about 7-10 days after you certify before the payment is deposited in your account or loaded on the debit card.", "How long will it take to get my enhanced driver's license or state ID card? Your license or state ID card should arrive two to three weeks after submitting your application, but allow up to 30 days.", "Originally Answered: How long does it take to get to heaven or hell after you die? It takes about 30 seconds to get to Hell.", "How long does it take to apply for a digital MMJ ID card? In the old system, processing and approval of applications may take as short as three days or as long as two weeks. After approval, you must wait for about three to 10 business days to receive the card in your mail.", "The consulate will then schedule a consulate interview and after the interview the officer will either grant you a immigrant visa or issue you with a denial . After winning the Green Card Lottery or lets say being selected for further procession, then its very important to get yourself well prepared.", "Just wondering how long does it take for Disney to refund your money to your credit card after you cancel a reservation. I know the Disney line 7-10 days for credit to show on your card and up to two billings cycles on your statement.", "How long does it take to get a replacement VISA® Credit Card if my card is lost or stolen? Visa® credit cards are not processed locally and can take 7-10 business days to receive." ]

[ "We all know the feeling. You are going about your day, making phone calls and texting, when suddenly your smartphone's battery starts to look dangerously low. You don't have a charger with you, and even if you did, there would be nowhere to plug it in. For most people, this means spending a few hours unconnected -- but not for residents of several towns and cities in Serbia. They can charge their phones on the go thanks to Strawberry Tree, the first of its kind public solar-powered charging station, installed in parks and squares across the country. Conceived by Milos Milisavljevic in 2011 while he was still a student at Belgrade University, Strawberry Tree contains 16 chargers for a variety of mobile phones and tablets, as well as its own wi-fi and USB sockets. His creation won the Verge Accelerate startup competition in San Francisco at the end of October -- the only company from outside America to take part -- and already boasts the European Union Sustainable Energy Award. \"We rely heavily on our cell phones for many essential tasks during the day,\" says Milisavljevic, now 26, who founded his company, Strawberry Energy, when he received the first order for his charger. \"You communicate over your cell phone, you are using maps, taking photos, so basically your phone becomes your life. It's a huge problem when you run out of battery because then you are just carrying a brick in your pocket,\" he adds. Strawberry Tree, named so after the symbolism of strawberries as the first fruit of the summer, can work for up to 20 days without sunlight thanks to its in-built solar batteries. It contains reused steel, and 98% of it can be recycled. \"I was fascinated with clean technology, and I wanted to find a way that it could benefit people in their everyday life by solving a common problem -- running out of battery,\" says Milisavljevic. While replenishing cell phone batteries is the device's main function, Milisavljevic wants Strawberry Tree to become a core item of infrastructure in what he calls a smart, connected city of the future. Each charger is equipped with sensors which measure conditions like air pollution, noise levels, and UV radiation in its vicinity. Milisavljevic says he hopes these sensors could in the future enable people to access locally-focused environmental data though an app on their smartphone. \"For example, if you had a network of Strawberry Trees spread around the city, you could check if there's ice on the road in your street, what park is the quietest if you want to relax,\" explains Milisavljevic, \"or if you have asthma or allergies, you could see what's the air quality in the area you're planning to go to,\" he adds. The company's ambitious plans don't stop there. After Serbia was hit by devastating floods in May, large swathes of the country lost power preventing many people from contacting their families for several days. Milisavljevic thinks that his creation could become an invaluable resource in similar scenarios. \"Strawberry Tree could have an emergency button which would send a signal to emergency services that you are in danger, and in any kind of a disaster, for example if the power grid is down, the Tree would be the place where you could call for help and get in touch with your loved ones,\" he adds. Milisavljevic also stresses that in spite of the dramatic changes in the way that people communicate in the last 50 years, cities have remained almost frozen in time: \"Street signs are still street signs, city lights are only city lights, and benches are still just benches. There is hardly any innovation in city living, so our dream is to bring new technology to outdoor public spaces, so we can improve the quality of life in our cities,\" he says. Read this: What is Europe's best festival? More from On the Road Serbia ." ]

[ "(CNN) -- Those souped-up water ski machines are ideal vacation-time fun but they've never been cheap. Thanks to British designer Ross Kemp, the world has been graced with a solar-powered watercraft that costs just a third of the price of your average powered water craft. Called ASAP, Kemp's creation is part ski, part surfboard and part catamaran. Powered by the sun, it's both free to run and fully sustainable. Read more: the smart streetlamp that will save energy . Why ASAP? ASAP stands for \"As Soon As Possible,\" reflecting the vessel's intended function as a rescue craft. Kemp dreamed up the idea while on a lifeguard training course, where he spotted a gap in the market for a more effective and more affordable water rescue vehicle. \"While doing my training, I found it incredibly hard to tow a body in the water and started looking at rescue equipment. I saw an opportunity to design something from scratch,\" says Kemp. \"A lot of rescue aids are simply re-purposed leisure equipment, for example a paddle board is just a surf board, and a Jet Ski is just adapted for rescue purposes, so rescuers adapt the way they rescue people to the equipment rather than the equipment for them.\" ASAP, however, has been designed with rescue missions in mind. Kemp spent months studying on-duty lifeguards to get an idea of how his concept could better assist the process. In his final year as a design student at Loughborough University he developed the first ASAP prototype in a tent in his back garden. Read more: The earthquake-proof table that offers reliable shelter . So what makes it any good? Whereas traditional skiers can be cumbersome to get going, ASAP is lightweight and can be jumped on and launched immediately by one person. It has a sloping center platform to slide the injured onto quickly, getting them buoyant as soon as possible and its V-shaped catamaran hull means it cuts through waves to avoid slapping, making it much safer for towing a casualty. Kemp's creation is timely. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) drowning is the third leading cause of accidental death around the world, yet with rising fuel prices petrol skiers are becoming an increasingly unfeasible option for local and charity run rescue stations. At the moment ASAP can travel up to 15mph, but it's still under development: \"It's not going to have the super power of a Jet Ski but it will certainly take the lifeguard to the casualty much quicker than swimming. We're working on making the propulsion much stronger,\" says Kemp. CNN Blueprint set Kemp up with industrial design kingpin and mentor Ross Lovegrove, who loved the product but suggested he insert solar-powered lights so that ASAP glows as it goes. Although only at its second prototype, ASAP has already won an award for Best Startup Business in the UK Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards and Kemp is thinking about how to expand: \"I'd love to be able to offer solar charging stations to local councils so they can charge their watercrafts whenever they need to.\" And the good news is that soon he hopes to introduce his solar-powered watercraft to the leisure market, which means we won't need to undergo any grueling training or save any lives to give it a whirl.", "Earth could be hit by a series of damaging solar flares after the largest sunspot to be seen on the star for 24 years aligns with our planet. The sunspot, previously known as Active Region 12192, began facing Earth in October but did not produce any coronal mass ejection (CMEs). CMEs are the most energetic events in our solar system, involving huge bubbles of plasma and magnetic fields being spewed from the sun's surface into space. Scroll down for video . The sunspot, previously known as Active Region 12192, began facing Earth in October but didn't produce any coronal mass ejection (CMEs). After disappearing for two weeks, it is once again facing our planet . The region, renamed Active Region 12192, has now rotated around to face Earth again, and is likely to create CMEs, Nasa scientist Holly Gilbert told Space.com during a video interview. 'This time around, it's more likely to have some coronal mass ejections associated with it, even though the solar flares might be smaller,' she said. 'We have a good idea, based on the structure of that magnetic field and the sunspot, that it's very possible that it will create some mid-level flares.' Magnetic fields in sunspots can store vast amounts of energy, but looping magnetic field lines can get tangled up and snap, releasing their energy as explosions called flares. Earth could be about to be hit by a series of damaging solar flares as a huge sunspots aligns with the planet . A view of the visible sun showing the largest sunspot of solar cycle 24, AR12192, as seen on October 22 . According to Dr Gilbert, the sunspot is still large enough for 10 Earths to fit inside it, and is believed to be the 33rd largest of 32,908 active regions recorded since 1874. The Jupiter-sized sunspot produced six eruptions in October and early November, before disappearing for two weeks. Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost. Astronauts are not in immediate danger because of the relatively low orbit of this manned mission. They do have to be concerned about cumulative exposure during space walks. The charged particles can also threaten airlines by disturbing the Earth’s magnetic field. Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies. A positive aspect, from an aesthetic point of view, is that the auroras are enhanced. Geomagnetic storms are more disruptive now than in the past because of our greater dependence on technical systems that can be affected by electric currents. Earlier this year, Ashley Dale, who is a member of an international task force, dubbed Solarmax, warned that solar 'super-storms' pose a 'catastrophic' and 'long-lasting' threat to life on Earth. A solar superstorm occurs when a CME of sufficient magnitude tears into the Earth's surrounding magnetic field and rips it apart. Such an event could induce huge surges of electrical currents in the ground and in overhead transmission lines, causing widespread power outages and severely damaging critical electrical components. Mr Dale, carrying out doctoral research in aerospace engineering at Bristol University, said it is only a 'matter of time' before an exceptionally violent solar storm is propelled towards Earth. He says such a storm would wreak havoc with communication systems and power supplies, crippling vital services such as transport, sanitation and medicine. Without power, people would struggle to fuel their cars at petrol stations, get money from cash dispensers or pay online,' he said. 'Water and sewage systems would be affected too, meaning that health epidemics in urbanised areas would quickly take a grip, with diseases we thought we had left behind centuries ago soon returning.' The huge sunspot produced six eruptions in October and early November, before disappearing for two weeks . The largest ever solar super-storm on record occurred in 1859 and is known as the Carrington Event, named after the English astronomer Richard Carrington who spotted the preceding solar flare. This massive CME released about 1022 kJ of energy - the equivalent to 10 billion Hiroshima bombs exploding at the same time - and hurled around a trillion kilos of charged particles towards the Earth at speeds of up to 3000 km/s. However, its impact on the human population was relatively benign as our electronic infrastructure at the time amounted to no more than about 124,000 miles (200,000 km) of telegraph lines. Mr Dale says these types of events are not just a threat, but inevitable. Nasa scientists have predicted that the Earth is in the path of a Carrington-level event every 150 years on average. This means that we are currently five years overdue - and that the likelihood of one occurring in the next decade is as high as 12 per cent. Sunspot AR12192 is 14 times larger than Earth and almost as big as Jupiter. The Met Office told MailOnline it might be the largest sunspot in 25 years. It is so big that it can be seen in images of the sun from Earth's surface (shown in this image from pilot Brian Whittaker)", "By . Sarah Griffiths . Pot plants can clutter up a workspace, providing little benefit other than looking pretty. But now there’s a mini tree that promises to charge your smartphone and can even be used as a light. The Electree Mini has solar panel 'leaves' to transform the light it absorbs into energy that can be used to charge a range of USB-connected devices as well as batteries. Scroll down for video . The mini power plant: The Electree (pictured) contains solar panels to transform the light it absorbs into energy that can be used to charge a range of USB-connected devices such as smart watches (pictured) and smartphones . The 'plant' is made from recycled plastic and contains no glue. It has nine solar panel 'leaves' that can be swivelled to face the sun. They transform light into energy that can be stored in batteries and used to power USB devices. A version of the tree enables it to be turned into a colour changing lantern. The Electree Mini will come in kit form and can be dismantled easily. Its design was inspired by bonsai trees and patterns in nature. It is available to pre-order from €199 (£164) via Indiegogo. The device has nine solar cells which can be swivelled on the ‘potplant’s’ plastic branches to get maximum exposure in the sunlight. Vivien Muller, the French designer behind the concept was inspired by bonsai trees and patterns found in nature when designing the device, which is now at crowd-funding stage. He intended it to provide solar-derived power to environments without electricity and after several prototypes over two years is close to bringing his idea to the public. The device comes in different versions: the basic Electree Mini, which recharges three AA or AAA batteries that people can use to power appliances; Electree LED, which turns the solar tree into a colour changing lantern and Electree USB, which will allow people in sunny countries to recharge their smartphones and smart watches every day. Smart: The Electree USB version of the 'potplant' will allow people in sunny countries to recharge their smartphones and smartwatches every day using solar power (pictured) Sun worshiper: The device has nine solar cells which can be swivelled on the 'potplant's' plastic branches to get maximum exposure in the sunlight . Owners of the 'potplant; will be able to recharge a smart watch . even on cloudy days. The Electree takes approximately four hours to . charge AA (LR6) batteries on a sunny day and around 48 hours in less . favourable lighting conditions. One version will allow people to make use of all the different functions, which come in the form of modules that can be clipped into the Electree’s ‘pot’. Made from recyclable materials, the Electree comes in kit form, allowing people to disassemble it when they are not using it. Mr Muller needs to raise €190,000 (£156,164) to reach his goal on crowd funding website Indiegogo to put his prototype into production. ‘Reserve an Electree mini for your home, office, or store, to ensure continuous aesthetic rapture coupled with a greener carbon footprint for yourself and all your visitors, colleagues, and customers,’ he said. The basic Electree Mini costs €199 (£164), with the USB and LED versions available to pre-order for €229 (£188). A version allowing people to use the ‘plant’ as a light, battery and smartphone charger is priced at €249 (£205) and delivery is estimated to be just in time for Christmas. Lightbulb moment: The Electree LED, uses solar energ harvested during the daytime to transform into a colour changing lantern at night. Users can change the colour by twisting the plant . The device comes in different versions. The basic Electree Mini (pictured) recharges three AA or AAA batteries, that people can use to power appliances, in its base. It also has clip-in modules (also pictured) that turn it into a light and USB device charging station .", "Billed as Brazil's first player-powered football pitch, a field in a Rio de Janeiro slum has been opened that harnesses the kinetic energy of players' movements to provide night-time illumination. Football legend Pele was on hand for the event in the Morro da Mineira slum, which saw a local youth team put the system to the test. Under the project, sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell, about 200 energy-capturing tiles developed by British startup Pavegen were installed the width and breadth of the field and covered by a layer of AstroTurf. Scroll down for video . A field in Rio de Janeiro has been converted into a high-tech football pitch (pictured). About 200 energy-capturing tiles harness player movements to power lights . Working in conjunction with solar panels also installed around the field, the player-powered tiles feed electricity to a system of floodlights overhead. A safety gadget has been devised for athletes to prevent serious head injuries occurring during sports. The Jolt Sensor device monitors the movement of players, keeping track of any dangerous impacts. Any potential threat causes the clip - worn on the player's head - to vibrate and send a wireless message to referees, as well as parents and coaches on the sidelines. The gadget was created by CEO Ben Harvatine from St. Louis, Missouri after he suffered from concussion himself. It is hoped the Jolt Sensor will help reduce serious concussion by encouraging sportsmen to stop play at the time of injury. The company are aiming to start shipping the product in April 2015, with a Kickstarter campaign currently taking place to raise £36,000 ($60,000). While the head of Pavegen, engineer Laurence Kemball-Cook, did not reveal the exact science behind the tiles, his father and the company's chairman, Richard Kemball-Cook, said they use a system of cogs. When stepped on, the cogs spin like tops and act like generators, he said. Each tile now costs about £310 ($500), but the price is falling as the 35-employee company refines its manufacturing process, Mr Kemball-Cook said. Pavegen has installed similar tiles in train stations in Europe, shopping centres in Australia and Terminal 3 of London's Heathrow Airport, Laurence Kemball-Cook said, but the football field is a first. 'We've effectively turned this community into a real-life science experiment,' he said. 'I believe this technology can be one of the future ways we illuminate our cities.' Similar tiles have been employed in airports, shopping centres and more but this is the first time they have been used on a football field . The new pitch was launched by Brazilian football legend Pele. The technology could also apparently be used to power future cities . Pele got emotional over the project, tearing up as he said he hoped the new field would help spark local kids' interest not only in football but in science. 'My father named me Edson after Thomas Edison,' said the longtime star striker, whose birth name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. He said he hopes the next generation of Brazilians will help bring the country as much success in science as it has had in football. 'I'm sure that soon the number one scientists in the world are going to be Brazilians,' Pele said.", "People could someday be living the high life in this futuristic 'super city' towering 2,230ft (680 metres) into the clouds. The Cloud Citizen project, a 1.7 million square foot metropolis, dwarfs all but one skyscraper in the world - the 2,717ft (828 metres) Burj Khalifa. It was designed as part of a competition to create a new iconic business district in Shenzhen Bay, China - and the towering design won first prize. The high-life: People in Shenzhen Bay, China could someday be living the high life in this futuristic urban community towering 2230ft (680 metres) into the clouds. The concept building was designed as part of a competition to create a new iconic business district, scooping first prize . The ultra-modern building would use solar and wind power, as well as harvest rainwater, making it efficient for the community. Hong Kong-based Urban Future Organisation and CR-design in Shenzhen collaborated with Chalmers Technical University in Sweden on the concept. The idea behind the competition was to create an iconic new business district, similar to London’s Canary Wharf or Midtown Manhattan in New York. However, unlike those business districts, Cloud Citizen is made up of one, huge integrated building. Vertigo: Hong Kong-based Urban Future Organisation and CR-design in Shenzhen collaborated with Chalmers Technical University in Sweden on the concept . Contest: The Cloud Citizen project, a 1.7 million square foot metropolis (left), dwarfs all but one skyscraper in the world - the 2,717ft (828 metres) Burj Khalifa (right) By night: The idea behind the competition was to create an iconic new business district, such as London’s Canary Wharf or Midtown Manhattan in New York. However, unlike those business districts, Cloud Citizen is made up of one, huge integrated building . It took a dedicated team of designers around 12 weeks of work to create the plans. The design aims to give back to the environment through rainwater harvesting, solar and wind power, and pollutant filters. A number of smaller areas within the large structure have been set aside for IT-industry, commercial, leisure, and cultural areas. Each one of these spaces is also connected to a large park, and aims to encourage a sustainable lifestyles. Jonas Lundberg, international design director for the Urban Future Organisation, said their vision was less about grandeur and more focused on giving back to the environment. Raising expectations: Unlike other business districts, Cloud Citizen concept is made up of one, huge integrated building. It took a dedicated team of designers around 12 weeks of work to create the plans . Superstructure:  The design aims to give back to the environment through rainwater harvesting, solar and wind power, and pollutant filters. A number of smaller areas within the large structure have been set aside for IT-industry, commercial, leisure, and cultural areas . In the clouds: Jonas Lundberg, international design director for the Urban Future Organisation, said their vision was less about grandeur and more focused on giving back to the environment . 'We were interested in the old Chinese low-rise courtyard blocks, called Hutongs, and wanted to see if we could use the informal village arrangements of these in a 3D setting for increased social interaction,' he said. 'Our partner, CR-Design, is based in Shenzhen and that's why we decided to work on this project together. 'Shenzhen is changing from manufacturing to service industries, which has been tremendously fast-paced already. 'The point was to create a project with the capacity to give more to the environment than it takes. 'We not only tried to create a meaningful public space in the sky, but we also worked on water harvesting, sky gardens and micro generation, for example.' Inspiration: 'We were interested in the old Chinese low-rise courtyard blocks, called Hutongs, and wanted to see if we could use the informal village arrangements of these in a 3D setting for increased social interaction,' said the designer, Jonas Lundberg . Construction: 'The point was to create a project with the capacity to give more to the environment than it takes,' said Jonas Lundberg, international design director. 'We not only tried to create a meaningful public space in the sky, but we also work on water harvesting, sky gardens and micro generation, for example' While the designs are still a concept, they could someday be built in Shenzhen, a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong (pictured) A London-based architect has been making waves in the design industry with her vision of a stunning home powered by hydroelectricity.Margot Krasojevic's concept, Hydroelectric Tidal House, aims to harness the consistent and powerful movement of waves to generate energy . A London-based architect has been making waves in the design industry with her vision of a stunning home powered by hydroelectricity. Margot Krasojevic's concept, Hydroelectric Tidal House, aims to harness the consistent and powerful movement of waves to generate energy. Ms Krasojevic is an avid supporter of renewable energy - previously designing an electric coral reef station and a hydroelectric prison. She explained that the construction will be focused around two shells - one inner and one outer. Made of concrete, the outer shell is designed to keep the house stable and will use solar cells to generate energy for the living section. The inner section, which will be made of aluminium, will move in cohesion with the tide. The section will float within the external structure as the tide rushes through it. As tides are more predictable than solar energy, Ms Krasojevic has included a two-part turbine, which, reacting with waves, will compress air to create an electrical current - similar to a wind turbine. The second part of the turbine uses magnets that move along a copper wire, also generating electrical energy.", "Eric Tyler is Research Fellow with New America Foundation, a non-profit U.S. think tank, based in Washington DC. He is currently at sea. Hilo, Hawaii What happens when you mix 11 budding startups with Google executives, Stanford professors, a Nobel Peace Laureate and 600 college students and put them on a ship to circumnavigate the world? An experiment launched this month called Unreasonable at Sea hopes that this eclectic group will unleash global entrepreneurship. A 590-foot ocean liner has become the incubator for this experiment, attracting aboard both multinational companies and international foundations, venture capitalists and environmental philanthropists, even a Saudi Arabian prince and the founder of WordPress. All want to take part in fostering the entrepreneurial efforts of those on the ship. From Hawaii, the program will visit a range of developed markets from Japan to Spain as well as developing markets from Burma (also known as Myanmar) to Ghana. This allows for a crucial opportunity to not just tweak business models but more importantly test products in local contexts. For many of the founders, who come from countries around the world, this is their first voyage on a ship. As such, seasickness on the choppy waters of the Pacific has been a recurring struggle, but it has not deterred the entrepreneurs from diving head first into the business workshops, one-on-one meetings and pitch events. The program is spearheaded by Stanford University's Institute of Design and the Unreasonable Institute, which has teamed up with Semester at Sea to embark on a 105-day journey to 13 countries around the world. It also has financial support from backers including Microsoft and SAP. At its core, the program believes in creating a melting pot of individuals with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives while also maintaining a context of openness that doesn't shy away from experimentation and failure. And it's no surprise to hear lunch conversations focused on intellectual property challenges in China and supply chain strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa. When I boarded the ship, the co-founder of the program, Daniel Epstein, explained to me the unique criteria he sought for the chosen entrepreneurs. \"We are not looking for typical Silicon Valley startups,\" he said. \"We are hedging our bets on the black swans: startups who are leveraging technology to solve seemingly intractable social and environment challenges and who are positioned within billion dollar market opportunities. We hand selected these ventures from nearly 1,000 applications coming from just shy of 100 countries.\" The handful of participating startups could be from a technocrat's dream with products ranging from a tablet teacher training software to a solar-powered cooking stove. They are also geographically diverse with founders joining from China, Botswana, Spain, India, and Mexico, among other destinations. George Kembel, the co-founder of Stanford's d.school, also leads the seaboard program. He told me: \"We find ourselves at a time in which we're shifting from a most industrialized era to a new era. And almost all of the institutions that were built on that last model that got us this far aren't really adapted for carrying us much farther.\" After an orientation session on the deck, I spoke with Deepak Ravindran, founder and CEO of Innoz, one of the more developed companies participating in the program. His idea began when he noticed that his friends in his Indian home state of Kerala didn't have access to internet, but they all had mobile phones. So in 2009, Ravindran and three classmates dropped out of college to focus on bridging this information gap through the development of a text message-based search engine. Currently, the company has 120 million users and receives five million text message queries a day. And he says this is only the beginning. \"There are a lot of dumb phones in the world, and what I want is to make every dumb phone smart with information. Maybe because of this chance to visit 14 countries, we can see whether we can launch at scale.\" In the end, Unreasonable at Sea is moving into uncharted waters, and to a large degree, nobody on the ship knows exactly what the end result of this bold experiment will be. But despite this ambiguity, there is sense that this social alchemy might very well lead to innovation.", "Las Vegas (CNN) -- After six days, 3,250 booths and 20,000 new products, a few interesting trends bubbled up at last week's Consumer Electronics Show. There were plenty of generic 5-inch smartphones, cheap tablets and ginormous televisions, as well as prototypes of fun, futuristic technology like the 20-inch 4K tablet from Panasonic or the self-driving car from Audi. We also spotted plenty of odd gear, like the manicure machine that can print photos on your nails and the mind-controlled helicopter. And we learned a few things about where consumer tech is going in 2013. Here are six trends that caught our eye. Transportation for people who hate walking . Shiny, futuristic smart cars were on display from big companies such as Audi, Toyota and Ford. They showed off self-driving car prototypes and in-car displays for reading maps, playing music and even checking social networks. But some of the more inventive transportation tech was smaller and geekier. There was the ZBoard, a motorized skateboard that senses your weight to propel you in the right direction, going up to 15 miles per hour. The eFlow E3 Nitro Electric bike will set lazy bikers back $4,000. People wearing electric roller skates and strange two-wheeled boots zipped around the show floor at low speeds. The Solowheel electric unicycle actually looked like a lot of fun, but at $1,795, you might be better off catching a few cabs. Overhyped pricey TVs . Televisions are the biggest product category at the Consumer Electronics Show, with major companies such as Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Panasonic using the occasion to launch their latest and greatest screens. The big hardware feature pushed at last week's show was the Ultra High-Definition 4K screen, which offers a crisper picture than traditional HD displays. While the technology is closer to being available to consumers, it's still mostly just hype. The prices are sky-high for 4K TVs, and you'll notice the difference only if you're sitting close to the set or if you spring for a giant television measuring 60 inches or larger. Even if you can afford a 4K TV, there's not much in the way of content for the medium yet. Crowdfunded gadgets . The crowd-funding and conference worlds merged nicely at this year's CES. Companies that got their start on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, like the people who made the Pebble smart watch, managed to parlay that early momentum into higher visibility at the show. Crowdfunding sites also are proving to be more than just great ways to raise money; they're places where people with offbeat inventions can test the waters to see whether there's a market for their product. And then there were the startups with protoypes that announced plans to raise money on crowdfunding sites in the coming months. One CES darling was the HAPIfork, a \"smart\" fork that tallies how many bites you take in order to help fast eaters slow down. The product has received a lot of press, both adoring and mocking, which should help it rake in money when it debuts on Kickstarter this spring. Help for senior citizens . The elderly tend to get overlooked in the tech world, but this year's CES featured a surprising number of products aimed at the grandparent set. Connected smart-home devices make it possible to monitor family members from far away, which can be comforting to primary caregivers dealing with aging parents. New sensors can text family members or a doctor if something is amiss in the senior's daily routine, such as not getting out of bed or skipping medication. If you're concerned about an elderly relative's safety, you can use smartphone apps to remotely control security systems, thermostats and even kitchen electronics. For people in poor health, sensors and gadgets will monitor vital signs and send alerts if someone needs assistance right away. In case of emergency . Whether inspired by Hurricane Sandy or \"The Walking Dead,\" a number of intriguing gadgets promised to help users handle emergencies. The Luci inflatable lantern, for example, is both solar-powered and waterproof. Also popular were mobile-charging devices that offer backup power on the go for smartphones and tablets. These battery packs can be pricey, though. The solar-powered Yeti 150 generator has enough juice to power a smartphone for 15 hours, but it will cost you $400. The junk . CES is huge, spanning 1.92 million square feet. For every interesting gadget or prototype, there were dozens of small booths hawking digital detritus. Though Apple doesn't have an official presence at CES, the iPhone accessory was a popular item on the show floor, There was a neverending supply of cheap cases, covers, Bluetooth keyboards, power packs and charging stations for iPhone and iPads. Speakers and headphones were as omnipresent as flu germs. Some big companies introduced cool audio products, but the big trend continued to be celebrity-endorsed headphones. Beats by Dre has done so well that every earbud now clamors for some famous support, even from the likes of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister or, um, \"The Jersey Shore's\" Snooki. Finally, there were the massagers. There wasn't anything terribly innovative or new in the massage field, but the booths demoing massage tech were always packed with stressed-out or weary attendees who needed a little back rub after wandering the show floor all day. The latest trend in this field? Little robot massagers that wander around on your back. We'll find out soon enough whether they catch on in the real world.", "Solar 'super-storms' pose a 'catastrophic' and 'long-lasting' threat to life on Earth, a scientist has warned. These huge storms are caused by violent eruptions on the surface of the sun and are accompanied by coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. CMEs are the most energetic events in our solar system - involving huge bubbles of plasma and magnetic fields being spewed from the sun’s surface into space. Scroll down for video . Solar 'super-storms' pose a 'catastrophic' and 'long-lasting' threat to life on Earth, a scientist has warned. A solar eruption could take out the National Grid, along with many electrical systems across the world . They are often preceded by a solar flare - a massive release of energy from the sun in the form of gamma rays, X-rays, protons and electrons. A solar superstorm occurs when a CME of sufficient magnitude tears into the Earth’s surrounding magnetic field and rips it apart. Such an event would induce huge surges of electrical currents in the ground and in overhead transmission lines, causing widespread power outages and severely damaging critical electrical components. Ashley Dale, who was a member of an international task force - dubbed Solarmax - set up to identify the risks of a solar storm and how its impact could be minimised, warned of the danger man faces from 'solar super-storms.' A solar superstorm occurs when a CME of sufficient magnitude tears into the Earth’s surrounding magnetic field and rips it apart . Mr Dale, carrying out doctoral research in aerospace engineering at Bristol University, said it is only a 'matter of time' before an exceptionally violent solar storm is propelled towards Earth. He says such a storm would wreak havoc with communication systems and power supplies, crippling vital services such as transport, sanitation and medicine. Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost. Astronauts are not in immediate danger because of the relatively low orbit of this manned mission. They do have to be concerned about cumulative exposure during space walks. The charged particles can also threaten airlines by disturbing the Earth’s magnetic field. Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies. A positive aspect, from an aesthetic point of view, is that the auroras are enhanced. Geomagnetic storms are more disruptive now than in the past because of our greater dependence on technical systems that can be affected by electric currents. 'Without power, people would struggle to fuel their cars at petrol stations, get money from cash dispensers or pay online,' he said. 'Water and sewage systems would be affected too, meaning that health epidemics in urbanised areas would quickly take a grip, with diseases we thought we had left behind centuries ago soon returning.' The largest ever solar super-storm on record occurred in 1859 and is known as the Carrington Event, named after the English astronomer Richard Carrington who spotted the preceding solar flare. This massive CME released about 1022 kJ of energy - the equivalent to 10 billion Hiroshima bombs exploding at the same time - and hurled around a trillion kilos of charged particles towards the Earth at speeds of up to 3000 km/s. However, its impact on the human population was relatively benign as our electronic infrastructure at the time amounted to no more than about 124,000 miles (200,000 km) of telegraph lines. Mr Dale makes it clear in the latest issue of Physics World that these types of events are not just a threat, but inevitable. Nasa scientists have predicted that the Earth is in the path of a Carrington-level event every 150 years on average. This means that we are currently five years overdue - and that the likelihood of one occurring in the next decade is as high as 12 per cent. This image of a huge solar flare (top left) was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). One of the most dramatic features is the way the entire surface of the sun seems to ripple with the force of the eruption . The 40-strong international team of scientists from Solarmax gathered at the International Space University in France last year to identify the best ways of limiting the potential damage of a solar super-storm. A sub-group of scientists concluded that advanced space-weather forecasting is the best solution, which could be achieved by sending an array of 16 lunchbox-sized cube satellites into orbit around the Sun. The network could give around a week’s notice of where, when and with what magnitude solar storms will take place, providing adequate time to switch off vulnerable power lines, re-orientate satellites, ground planes and begin national recovery programmes. Mr Dale’s own solution is to design spacecraft and satellites so that the sensitive, on-board instruments are better protected again sudden increases in radiation from solar storms. He suggests redistributing the existing internal architecture of a craft so that sensitive payloads are surrounded by non-sensitive bulk material such as polyethylene, aluminium and water. Mr Dale added: 'As a species, we have never been more vulnerable to the volatile mood of our nearest star, but it is well within our ability, skill and expertise as humans to protect ourselves.'", "To commemorate the life and work of painter Vincent van Gogh, fellow Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde has created a beautiful, illuminated bike path inspired by one of van Gogh's most famous works. The kilometre-long Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path is inspired by Starry Night and features 50,000 glow-in-the-dark stones, which have been embedded in the ground. The solar-powered stones soak up the sun's rays by day, resulting in a breath-taking swirling pattern of glowing fragments. To commemorate the life and work of Vincent van Gogh, fellow Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde created this dazzling bike path tribute . The Van Gogh-Roosegaarde cycle path opened in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on November 12 . The opening of this unique installation marks the start of the Van Gogh 2015 international theme year . The path also boasts LED lights, which are meant to enhance visibility on cloudy days when the stones may not be able to charge. 'I wanted to create a place that people will experience in a special way, the technical combined with experience, that's what techno-poetry means to me,' Roosegaarde said in a statement. The cycle path is located in the Dutch county of Brabant, where Van Gogh was born and raised. It opened in the city of Eindhoven on November 13. Inspired by one of Van Gogh's most famous works - Starry Night - the path boasts 50,000 glow-in-the-dark stones . The stones are solar-powered, so they charge via the sun's rays during the day and turn on at night, illuminating the ground for one kilometre . Roosegaarde collaborated with Heijmans, a construction services business, to pull off this gorgeous feat . The installation is part of the larger Van Gogh Cycle Route, which is free of charge and open to the public year round. The entire route measures 335 kilometres and is split into five individual day trips, which connect several Van Gogh heritage sites. The dazzling one kilometre stretch is just part of a series of celebrations, called Van Gogh 2015, intended to mark the 125th anniversary of the painter's death. Over the year, cultural events celebrating the life and work of the artist will be held in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. The one-kilometre stretch is part of the larger 335-kilometre Van Gogh Cycle Route, which takes riders to many artist-inspired heritage sites . Source of inspiration: Vincent van Gogh's iconic painting is housed at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam . Mission accomplished: 'I wanted to create a place that people will experience in a special way,' Roosegaarde said of his achievement .", "By . Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline . Some videos and images taken from the ISS are so incredible that they can leave you questioning their authenticity. But this time-lapse of an aurora surrounding the ISS as it completes an orbit of our planet is very much the real deal. The amazing footage was captured by Esa astronaut Alexander Gerst on the station last week. Above can be seen an animation of the moment Esa astronaut Alexander Gerst and his crewmates on the ISS spottted an aurora around the ISS. The green light is caused by the interaction of solar wind with particles in Earth's atmosphere. Part of the huge solar array can also be seen moving (credit: Esa/Nasa) The time-lapse was created by photographs taken on board the ISS by members of the Expedition 40 crew. There are two types of aurora - Aurora Borealis, which means ‘dawn of the north’, and Aurora Australis’, known as ‘dawn of the south.’ As their names imply, the former are seen in the northern hemisphere and the latter in the southern hemisphere. They are caused when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth’s atmosphere. These so-called geomagnetic storms occur when a solar wind or cloud of magnetic field hits the Earth’s magnetic field. Usually the charged particles from the sun are deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field, but some do manage to enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles. These collisions emit light. As a result, auroras are most common around the magnetic poles and are most often seen in areas with little light pollution. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have also been reported. The common, greenish-yellow colour is caused by colliding oxygen molecules approximately 60 miles (96km) above Earth. Rare, red auroras are produced by oxygen molecules situated much higher up, at around 200 miles (320km). Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora. It shows the station orbiting the planet as normal before green lights begin to come into view. The ISS then flies right through the aurora, revealing a stunning sight that only a handful of people have seen with their own eyes. ‘We flew right through a massive aurora after last week’s solar mass ejection,’ Gerst, from Germany, commented. The ISS completes an orbit every 92 minutes, but sights of this sort are fairly rare. While auroras have certainly been spotted from space before, it’s not all that common for the station to fly through one. This is because the station’s orbit generally remains fairly close to the the equator, so it doesn’t venture too far towards the poles of our planet. It is around the North and South pole where auroras are generally most apparent, as this is where Earth’s magnetic fields are most concentrated. Auroras are caused by the interaction of solar wind with magnetically charged particles in the atmosphere. However, during periods of increased solar activity the amount of solar wind hitting Earth increases. This means there are more collisions taking place in Earth’s atmosphere and, consequently, this can push the lights closer to Earth’s equator. It is on occasions like this that more regions of Earth are able to witness the Northern or Southern Lights, with auroras sometimes reported as far south as the UK during these events. And it seems that a recent increase in solar activity also treated the residents of the ISS to the fascinating sight. The ISS (pictured) completes an orbit every 92 minutes, but sights of this sort are fairly rare. While auroras have certainly been spotted from space before, it’s not all that common for the station to fly through one. This is because the station’s orbit generally keeps it fairly near the equator . The astronauts are continuing their groundbreaking research on the ISS, with a new crew set to travel to the station next month, while Russian cosmonauts are also preparing for a spacewalk today. And recently Alexander Gerst took part in a live Facebook Q&A to answer questions from people on Earth. One included Sir Richard Branson, who asked: ‘What do you think the role of astronauts will be in 50 years’ time? Pioneers? Guides? Or the norm?’ Gerst responded: ‘My hope would be that in 50 years from now, space travellers will not only be professional Agency astronauts, but that everybody should have a realistic chance to make the incredible experience I am having right now. ‘Anyway, I hope there will still be pioneers out there who will fly to destinations farther away.’ Alexander Gerst (pictured) is part of Expedition 40 on the ISS. Next month they will be welcoming three new crewmembers to the space station when three of the current crew return to Earth. Gerst has been prolific on Twitter (@Astro_Alex) and frequently tweets stunning images and video from space .", "One of Nasa's most powerful space telescopes has turned its gaze on the Sun for the first time to capture this stunning image. Nasa's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has produced the most sensitive solar portrait ever taken in high-energy X-rays. The mission is primarily designed to look at black holes and other objects far from our solar system. Scroll down for video . X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The NuSTAR data, seen in green and blue, reveal solar high-energy emission (green shows energies between 2 and 3 kiloelectron volts, and blue shows energies between 3 and 5 kiloelectron volts). The NuSTAR data, seen in green and blue, reveal solar high-energy emission (green shows energies between 2 and 3 kiloelectron volts, and blue shows energies between 3 and 5 kiloelectron volts). The high-energy X-rays come from gas heated to above 3 million degrees. The red channel represents ultraviolet light captured by SDO at wavelengths of 171 angstroms, and shows the presence of lower-temperature material in the solar atmosphere at 1 million degrees. This image shows that some of the hotter emission tracked by NuSTAR is coming from different locations in the active regions and the coronal loops than the cooler emission shown in the SDO image. 'NuSTAR will give us a unique look at the sun, from the deepest to the highest parts of its atmosphere,' said David Smith, a solar physicist and member of the NuSTAR team at University of California, Santa Cruz. Solar scientists first thought of using NuSTAR to study the sun about seven years ago, after the space telescope's design and construction was already underway, but before the telescope launched into space in 2012. Smith had contacted the principal investigator, Fiona Harrison of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who mulled it over and became excited by the idea. 'At first I thought the whole idea was crazy,' says Harrison. 'Why would we have the most sensitive high energy X-ray telescope ever built, designed to peer deep into the universe, look at something in our own back yard?' Smith eventually convinced Harrison, explaining that faint X-ray flashes predicted by theorists could only be seen by NuSTAR. While the sun is too bright for other telescopes such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, NuSTAR can safely look at it without the risk of damaging its detectors. The sun is not as bright in the higher-energy X-rays detected by NuSTAR, a factor that depends on the temperature of the sun's atmosphere. This first solar image from NuSTAR demonstrates that the telescope can in fact gather data about sun. And it gives insight into questions about the remarkably high temperatures that are found above sunspots -- cool, dark patches on the sun. Future images will provide even better data as the sun winds down in its solar cycle. 'We will come into our own when the sun gets quiet,' said Smith, explaining that the sun's activity will dwindle over the next few years. With NuSTAR's high-energy views, it has the potential to capture hypothesized nanoflares -- smaller versions of the sun's giant flares that erupt with charged particles and high-energy radiation. Nanoflares, should they exist, may explain why the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, is sizzling hot, a mystery called the 'coronal heating problem.' The corona is, on average, 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), while the surface of the sun is relatively cooler at 10,800 Fahrenheit (6,000 degrees Celsius). It is like a flame coming out of an ice cube. Nanoflares, in combination with flares, may be sources of the intense heat. The new telescope (right) offers deeper, crisper images of the sky - and will help Nasa hunt down 'hidden' objects such as black holes which could help unravel the mysteries of the universe. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, NuSTAR X-Ray telescope is 100 times more sensitive than any previous telescope operating in the same energy range . 'We will see the hottest, densest and most energetic objects with a fundamentally new high-energy X-ray telescope that can obtain much deeper and crisper images than before,' said Fiona Harrison, NuSTAR's principal investigator at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who first conceived of the mission 20 years ago. The telescope has more than 10 times the resolution, and more than 100 times the sensitivity, of its predecessors operating in a similar energy range. Studying black holes that are big and small, far and near, NuSTAR will endeavor to answer questions about the formation and physics behind these wonders of the cosmos. The observatory will also investigate how exploding stars forge the elements that make up planets and people, and it will even study our own Sun's atmosphere. If NuSTAR can catch nanoflares in action, it may help solve this decades-old puzzle. 'NuSTAR will be exquisitely sensitive to the faintest X-ray activity happening in the solar atmosphere, and that includes possible nanoflares,' said Smith. What's more, the X-ray observatory can search for hypothesized dark matter particles called axions. Dark matter is five times more abundant than regular matter in the universe. Everyday matter familiar to us, for example in tables and chairs, planets and stars, is only a sliver of what's out there. While dark matter has been indirectly detected through its gravitational pull, its composition remains unknown. It's a long shot, say scientists, but NuSTAR may be able spot axions, one of the leading candidates for dark matter, should they exist. The axions would appear as a spot of X-rays in the center of the sun. Meanwhile, as the sun awaits future NuSTAR observations, the telescope is continuing with its galactic pursuits, probing black holes, supernova remnants and other extreme objects beyond our solar system. This 04 November, 2003 image shows giant sunspot 486 (lower-R) 486 unleashing another powerful solar flare. Ionizing radiation hit Earth's atmosphere soon after the explosion and caused a severe radio blackout, which radio listeners noticed across North America. Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost. Astronauts are not in immediate danger because of the relatively low orbit of this manned mission. They do have to be concerned about cumulative exposure during space walks. The charged particles can also threaten airlines by disturbing the Earth’s magnetic field. Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies. A positive aspect, from an aesthetic point of view, is that the auroras are enhanced. Geomagnetic storms are more disruptive now than in the past because of our greater dependence on technical systems that can be affected by electric currents. The images comes weeks after warnings that Earth could be hit by a series of damaging solar flares after the largest sunspot to be seen on the star for 24 years aligns with our planet. The sunspot, previously known as Active Region 12192, began facing Earth in October but did not produce any coronal mass ejection (CMEs). CMEs are the most energetic events in our solar system, involving huge bubbles of plasma and magnetic fields being spewed from the sun's surface into space. The region, renamed Active Region 12192, has now rotated around to face Earth again, and is likely to create CMEs, Nasa scientist Holly Gilbert told Space.com during a video interview. 'This time around, it's more likely to have some coronal mass ejections associated with it, even though the solar flares might be smaller,' she said. 'We have a good idea, based on the structure of that magnetic field and the sunspot, that it's very possible that it will create some mid-level flares.' Magnetic fields in sunspots can store vast amounts of energy, but looping magnetic field lines can get tangled up and snap, releasing their energy as explosions called flares. According to Dr Gilbert, the sunspot is still large enough for 10 Earths to fit inside it, and is believed to be the 33rd largest of 32,908 active regions recorded since 1874. The Jupiter-sized sunspot produced six eruptions in October and early November, before disappearing for two weeks. Earlier this year, Ashley Dale, who is a member of an international task force, dubbed Solarmax, warned that solar 'super-storms' pose a 'catastrophic' and 'long-lasting' threat to life on Earth. A solar superstorm occurs when a CME of sufficient magnitude tears into the Earth's surrounding magnetic field and rips it apart. Earth could be about to be hit by a series of damaging solar flares as a huge sunspots aligns with the planet . Such an event could induce huge surges of electrical currents in the ground and in overhead transmission lines, causing widespread power outages and severely damaging critical electrical components. Mr Dale, carrying out doctoral research in aerospace engineering at Bristol University, said it is only a 'matter of time' before an exceptionally violent solar storm is propelled towards Earth. He says such a storm would wreak havoc with communication systems and power supplies, crippling vital services such as transport, sanitation and medicine. Without power, people would struggle to fuel their cars at petrol stations, get money from cash dispensers or pay online,' he said. 'Water and sewage systems would be affected too, meaning that health epidemics in urbanised areas would quickly take a grip, with diseases we thought we had left behind centuries ago soon returning.' The largest ever solar super-storm on record occurred in 1859 and is known as the Carrington Event, named after the English astronomer Richard Carrington who spotted the preceding solar flare. This massive CME released about 1022 kJ of energy - the equivalent to 10 billion Hiroshima bombs exploding at the same time - and hurled around a trillion kilos of charged particles towards the Earth at speeds of up to 3000 km/s. However, its impact on the human population was relatively benign as our electronic infrastructure at the time amounted to no more than about 124,000 miles (200,000 km) of telegraph lines. Mr Dale says these types of events are not just a threat, but inevitable. Nasa scientists have predicted that the Earth is in the path of a Carrington-level event every 150 years on average. This means that we are currently five years overdue - and that the likelihood of one occurring in the next decade is as high as 12 per cent.", "By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 16:15 EST, 29 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:44 EST, 29 September 2013 . NASA is preparing to launch a 3-D printer into space next year, a toaster-sized game changer that greatly reduces the need for astronauts to load up with every tool, spare part or supply they might ever need. The printers would serve as a flying factory of infinite designs, creating objects by extruding layer upon layer of plastic from long strands coiled around large spools. Doctors use them to make replacement joints and artists use them to build exquisite jewelry. In NASA labs, engineers are 3-D printing small satellites that could shoot out of the Space Station and transmit data to earth, as well as replacement parts and rocket pieces that can survive extreme temperatures. Made in space: Project manager Matthew Napoli, left, and director of research and development Michael Snyder test a 3D printer which will eventually be used in space . ‘Any time we realize we can 3-D print something in space, it's like Christmas,’ said inventor Andrew Filo, who is consulting with NASA on the project. ‘You can get rid of concepts like rationing, scarce or irreplaceable.’ The spools of plastic could eventually replace racks of extra instruments and hardware, although the upcoming mission is just a demonstration printing job. ‘If you want to be adaptable, you have to be able to design and manufacture on the fly, and that's where 3-D printing in space comes in,’ said Dave Korsmeyer, director of engineering at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, about 35 miles south of San Francisco. For the first 3-D printer in space test slated for fall 2014, NASA had more than a dozen machines to choose from, ranging from $300 desktop models to $500,000 warehouse builders. Test run: Tools and parts made by a 3D printer are displayed. One of the biggest obstacles to space exploration is that you need to bring everything with you including tools, equipment, spare parts and satellites . All of them, however, were built for use on Earth, and space travel presented challenges, from the loads and vibrations of launch to the stresses of working in orbit, including microgravity, differing air pressures, limited power and variable temperatures. As a result, NASA hired Silicon Valley startup Made In Space to build something entirely new. ‘Imagine an astronaut needing to make a life-or-death repair on the International Space Station,’ said Aaron Kemmer, CEO of Made in Space. ‘Rather than hoping that the necessary parts and tools are on the station already, what if the parts could be 3-D printed when they needed them?’ When staffing his start up in 2010, Kemmer and his partners warned engineers there would be ups and downs - nauseating ones. In more than a dozen flights in NASA's ‘vomit comet’ reduced-gravity aircraft, Made In Space scientists tested printer after printer. Ready for launch: Aaron Kemmer, CEO and co-founder of Made in Space, looks through some items. Specialized 3D printers would allow astronauts to produce the things they need on-demand when they're in space, allowing them to travel farther from the Earth . Last week at their headquarters on NASA's campus, Made In Space engineers in lab coats and hair nets tinkered with a sealed 3-D printer in a dust free cleanroom, preparing the models for further pre-launch tests. As proof of its utility, the team revisited the notorious 1970 moon-bound Apollo 13 breakdown, when astronauts were forced to jerry-rig a lifesaving carbon dioxide filter holder with a plastic bag, a manual cover and duct tape. A 3-D printer could have solved the problem in minutes. ‘Safety has been one of our biggest concerns,’ said strategic officer Michael Chen. Sparks, breakages and electric surges can have grave consequences in the space station. ‘But when we get it right, we believe these are the only way to manifest living in space,’ he said. Space-bound printers will also, eventually, need to capture gasses emitted from the extruded plastics, be able to print their own parts for self-repairs and have some abilities to recycle printed products into new ones. Scott Crump, who helped develop 3-D printing technology in 1988 by making a toy frog for his daughter with a glue gun in his kitchen, said he never conceived how pivotal it could be for space travel. But he said that until metal becomes commonly used in 3-D printers, the applications will be limited. ‘The good news is that you don't have to have this huge amount of inventory in space, but the bad news is now you need materials, in this case filament, and a lot of power,’ he said. NASA and other international space agencies are pressing forward with 3-D printing. Mastering space manufacturing, along with finding and producing water and food on the moon or other planets, could lead to living on space. Last month, the space agency awarded Bothell, Wash.-based Tethers Unlimited $500,000 toward a project to use 3-D printing and robots to build massive antennas and solar power generators in space by 2020. It replaces the expensive and cumbersome process of building foldable parts on Earth and assembling them in orbit. For Made In Space's debut, when it's shuttled up to the space station aboard a spaceflight cargo resupply mission, the initial prints will be tests - different small shapes to be studied for strength and accuracy. They're also discussing with NASA about what the first real piece that they should print will be. Whatever it is, it will be a historic and symbolic item sure to end up in a museum someday. ‘It's not something we're discussing publicly right now,’ said CEO Kemmer. Then, Jason Dunn, the chief technology officer, beckoned, dropping his voice as he grinned. ‘We're going to build a Death Star,’ he joked softly, referring to the giant space station in the ‘Star Wars’ movies that could blow up planets. ‘Then it's all going to be over.’", "When high-energy electrons and ions from the sun hit Earth’s upper atmosphere, they can excite atoms and create fantastic colours - which we see on the ground as auroras. And now a study has claimed that we could create our own auroras, by firing a particle accelerator into the sky from space. The intriguing research says that a beam fired from the machine would create artificial auroras  – and it could even create lightning in the atmosphere. Scientists in California have described how to create artificial auroras on Earth. They said a particle accelerator could be sent 185 miles (300km) up into space (illustration of a satellite in orbit shown). It would then fire high-energy beams back at Earth's atmosphere . The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, was picked up by Mark Zastrow from Eos. The accelerator being proposed would be three times stronger than anything like it before, producing a beam with particles 0.5 to 10 million electron volts. Pulses of the beam would last just 0.1 microseconds. The accelerator would be located in space, 185 miles (300km) above the ground, and would fire back towards Earth's atmosphere. There are two types of auroras on Earth - the Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere, known as the Northern Lights, and the Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisphere, known as the Southern Lights. Auroras occur when highly charged electrons from the solar wind collide with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the earth's atmosphere at altitudes from 20 to 200 miles (32 to 320km) above the planet’s surface. The interactions between the charged particles give off light. Auroral displays appear in many colours: red, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The color of the aurora depends on which atom is struck, and the altitude of the meeting. The common green hue is caused by colliding oxygen molecules at altitudes of up to 150 miles (240km). It would be based on a instrument called the Compact Particle Accelerator for Space Science (Compass), which is being developed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and SRI International, both in California. ‘The authors say that employing such instrumentation would offer many scientific opportunities to study the behaviour of particles in the upper atmosphere,’ wrote Mr Zastrow. ‘The paths of the electrons would trace out the arcing field lines of Earth’s magnetic field, illustrating how they bend and snap during the intense geomagnetic activity caused by solar storms. ‘As they descend into the Earth’s atmosphere, some of the electrons would strike atmospheric molecules, producing visible aurora-like emission.’ He added that the beam might even be able to trigger different forms of lightning, including red sprites and blue jets. For now the idea is only a concept, and there are no concrete plans to build it. But the team says that by proving it works, it could be a step towards actually making it. There are two types of auroras on Earth - the Aurora Borealis in the Northern Hemisphere, known as the Northern Lights, and the Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisphere, known as the Southern Lights. Shown is the Aurora Borealis above the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Iceland . It would not be the first experiment with Earth’s atmosphere, though. In Alaska there is an ionospheric research programmed called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (Haarp). Haarp is jointly funded by the US Air Force, the US Navy, the University of Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). It was established to analyse the ionosphere - a region of the upper atmosphere - and investigate the development of ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance. In Alaska there is already an ionospheric research programmed called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (Haarp), pictured. It was established to analyse the ionosphere - a region of the upper atmosphere - and investigate the development of ionospheric enhancement technology . The station regularly uses a tool called the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI), a high-power radio frequency transmitter facility operating in the high frequency band. It is used to temporarily excite a limited area of the Ionosphere. Haarp has been the subject of numerous unfounded conspiracy theories. It has been blamed for hurricanes, thunderstorms, major power outages and more, but no convincing evidence supports any of the claims.", "(CNN) -- Facebook's $2 billion purchase of startup Oculus, which makes virtual reality headsets, is bad news for small investors and Silicon Valley's innovation ecology. The deal means we will never have the chance to own Oculus stock. This is the latest instance of a shift in the tech sector that reduces would-be investors to mere consumers. For decades, Silicon Valley's culture was built around small startups that counted on \"going public\" -- listing their shares in an initial public offering. The resulting IPO provided working capital to the founders and allowed ordinary investors to buy into the dream -- and prospect of a financial upside. Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo and Google and others went this route. Ordinary investors could participate by holding a stake in the companies they liked. This also made it possible for a steady stream of tech upstarts to grow into independent tech giants with diverse products and services. Early employees at successful startups would then use their new-IPO wealth to depart and launch the next wave of companies. This IPO model began to erode after the dot-com bubble burst when the market became riskier. At the same time, the dot-com survivors were increasingly flush with cash and in an arms race to ensure growth. Buying early-stage companies was an easy way to gather new technologies, businesses, patents -- and top-notch entrepreneurial brains. The shift came into sharp focus in 2006 when Google bought YouTube. Founded by three PayPal employees in 2005, YouTube was less than two years old when Google paid the then-unheard sum of $1.65 billion to turn it into a Google subsidiary. This was good news for Google, but we will never know what YouTube might have become had it remained independent. Sure, investors can participate by owning Google stock, but might YouTube stock have done even better if allowed to fly on its own? Grabbing companies before they go public also impoverishes the variety of products that come to market. Imagine if Apple had been acquired in the early 1980s during its infancy by IBM or Sony? Would there ever have been a Macintosh, iPod, iPhone or iPad? Now that Facebook owns Oculus, will it allow users to wear their goggles when visiting virtual worlds in Second Life or watch movies from Sony Pictures? With Nest -- acquired recently by Google for $3.2 billion -- will iPhone users get the same level of interaction with their home thermostat as Android users? While some companies like Amazon have shown remarkable restraint in allowing their acquired subsidiaries to operate independently, the temptation to tweak products for differential advantage is compelling, particularly when the price tag is in the billions of dollars. Instead of an eclectic field of many companies of all sizes, the new landscape is becoming dominated by a few goliaths whose cherry-picking among the small startups all but eliminates the population of mid-sized companies with significant future IPO and innovation potential. Worse yet, employees in the acquired startups who find themselves in secure, lavishly-paid positions at companies like Facebook are less likely to strike out on their own. And even if they do manage to break out and create a new company, their focus will be on the quick kill of getting acquired by a giant in a year or two, not on embarking on the multi-year road of creating a potentially world-changing product. The future of tech sector dominated by the acquisition trend reminds me of the final scene of the movie \"Raiders of the Lost Ark.\" After a nail-biting, continent-spanning race to find a mystical and vastly powerful artifact, the last the audience sees of the now boxed-up Ark is its disappearance into a vast warehouse of identical crates. We know the Ark will never see the light of day again and are left to wonder at what else might be hidden and gathering dust alongside it. In the case of Oculus, we might enjoy the immersive pleasure of head-mounted displays, but even that will not be enough to keep me from wondering what might have been if Oculus, Nest and all the other startups gobbled up by giants like Facebook and Google had been allowed to grow into independent companies owned by ordinary investors like you and me. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul Saffo.", "A London-based architect has been making waves in the design industry with her vision of a stunning home powered by hydroelectricity. Margot Krasojevic's concept, Hydroelectric Tidal House, aims to harness the consistent and powerful movement of waves to generate energy. Ms Krasojevic is an avid supporter of renewable energy - previously designing an electric coral reef station and a hydroelectric prison. A London-based architect has been making waves in the design industry with her design of a stunning home powered by hydroelectricity. Margot Krasojevic's concept, Hydroelectric Tidal House, aims to harness the consistent and powerful movement of waves to generate energy . She explained that the construction will be focused around two shells - one inner and one outer. Made of concrete, the outer shell is designed to keep the house stable and will use solar cells to generate energy for the living section. The inner section, which will be made of aluminium, will move in cohesion with the tide. The section will float within the external structure as the tide rushes through it. As tides are more predictable than solar energy, Ms Krasojevic has included a two-part turbine, which, reacting with waves, will compress air to create an electrical current - similar to a wind turbine. The designer explained that the construction will be focused around two shells - one inner and one outer. Made of concrete, the outer shell is designed to keep the house stable and will use solar cells to generate energy for the living section . As tides are more predictable than solar energy, Ms Krasojevic has also included a two-part turbine (left), which, reacting with waves, will compress air to create an electrical current - similar to a wind turbine . Ms Krasojevic, 39, said: 'Designers approached me to design a surfers' beach house, which made me think of tidal power and using this dynamic in a similar way to how surfers choreograph movement through water.' Pictured is the exterior staircase of the home . The second part of the turbine uses magnets that move along a copper wire, also generating electrical energy. Ms Krasojevic, 39, said: 'The hydroelectric house is the latest in my design approach, attempting to harness renewable energy within sustainable design. 'Designers approached me to design a surfers' beach house, which made me think of tidal power and using this dynamic in a similar way to how surfers choreograph movement through water. Coral reefs are known as the ‘rainforests of the sea’ and although they only occupy a total area half the size of France, they provide a home for a quarter of all marine species on the planet. Now Margot Krasojevic has shared designs for a futuristic manmade reef with an electric field designed to attract calcium carbonate from the water in a bid to form new reefs quickly. In her vision, the reef would be formed from a framework of moveable steel girders and steel ball structures, designed in a way to support the growth of natural coral. Large ‘metal balls’ would be connected by cables to floating solar panels on the water’s surface so an electrical current can be generated.The current would draw particles of calcium to small pieces of natural coral attached to steel frames below the water, in a bid to stimulate further growth. It would be low enough for divers to swim around the structure - which looks as it if comes from a sci-fi film – but strong enough to create an electric field around the frame. The field would condense dissolved calcium carbonate in the seawater so that it could attach itself to the steel frame in order to build the limestone skeleton. And the coral fragments tied to the calcium carbonate-covered frame would help limestone skeleton growth, which is the foundation for natural corals. The inner section, which will be made of aluminium, will move in cohesion with the tide. That movement will run a turbine which will then generate electricity for living . Ms Krasojevic is a supporter of renewable energy - previously designing an electric coral reef station and a hydroelectric prison. Pictured is her latest designs . 'I believe it is vital for architects to work with cross disciplines - in particular, planning infrastructure and sustainability' Earlier this year, Ms Krasojevic unveiled a design for champagne bar that will be the toast of Paris if it is built before the French capital is threatened by another flood. Located on the banks of the Seine, the ultramodern structure – dubbed Grand Cru du Siecle – would have an enclosed circular glass bar situated over a bell mouth spillway that swallows water and sends it into underground canals. According to Ms Krasojevic's splashy proposal, the water is then diverted into outlying lakes and reservoirs. As for the bar itself, it features a monocoque shell that welcomes natural light and etched glass like that of a bottle of bubbly. The second part of the turbine (right) uses magnets that move along a copper wire, also generating electrical energy. The architect's designs are still at concept stage . The inner section will float within the external structure (pictured) as the tide rushes through it. Ms Krasojevic also unveiled designs for a floating champagne bar .", "Ditching green energy targets would save every household in Britain around £214 a year, a report reveals today. The Centre for Policy Studies paper concludes that the rush for renewable energy has been the ‘most expensive policy disaster in modern British history’. Shifting to wind and solar power have hugely increased costs to consumers, while creating an energy supply that is ‘intermittent’. As a result, huge additional investment has been required in backup capacity to cover for when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. Shifting to wind and solar power have hugely increased costs to consumers, while creating an energy supply that is ‘intermittent’ (file picture) And billions more have been spent to connect remote wind farms to the national grid. Author Rupert Darwall concludes that, astonishingly, no British government has conducted a rigorous analysis of the costs and benefits of the renewables target which was first negotiated by Tony Blair at the European Council in 2007. The Government is committed to providing 15 per cent of its energy from renewable power by 2020. Mr Darwall, the author of The Age of Global Warming, concludes that the annual costs of the renewables target is a staggering £9billion. Switching back to a free market in power would save households around £214 a year, assuming that gas replaces renewables, he says. The report says: ‘Energy policy represents the biggest expansion of state power since the nationalisations of the 1940s and 1950s. It is on course to be the most expensive domestic policy disaster in modern British history. ‘By committing the nation to high, cost, unreliable renewable energy, its consequences will be felt for decades.’ ‘In addition to their higher plant-level costs, renewables require massive amounts of extra generating capacity to provide cover for intermittent generation when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.’ The report concludes that the costs of ‘intermittent renewables’ have been ‘massively understated’. As a result, ‘massively subsidiesed wind and solar capacity floods the market with near random amounts of zero marginal cost electricity.’ ‘To keep the lights on, everything ends up requiring subsidies, turning what was once a profitable sector into the energy equivalent of the Common Agricultural Policy.’ The cost of the national grid has nearly trebled as a result of connecting to remote wind farms, he says. More solar and wind means Britain is having to more than double its overall capacity, because additional sources are needed when wind isn’t working. Without renewable energy, the UK would need 22GW of new capacity to replace old coal and nuclear stations, but as a result of renewable energy, an additional 50GW is required, the report says. the annual costs of the renewables target is a staggering £9billion, according to the report . Abandoning renewables and going back to a market system would save around £6billion a year, or around £214 for every household, he says. But Professor Catherine Mitchell, Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Exeter said the report ‘downplays climate change as a problem’. She said: ‘What is needed is an electricity market that is constructed to best integrate renewable energy and energy efficiency for the benefit of customers, the environment and security.’ Last month, Energy Secretary Ed Davey announced £4billion in new energy deals for wind and solar schemes. It means a guarantee for some 27 new renewable energy projects that they can sell their power at a fixed price until 2040. The subsidised schemes include 15 onshore wind farms, five solar arrays, two offshore wind programmes and five waste conversion plants. It will be paid for by householders through their electricity bills with a subsidy added to the basic cost of electricity. A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: ‘We are dealing with a legacy of underinvestment to safeguard people’s electricity supplies now and in the years ahead. ‘The Government’s Electricity Market Reforms are designed to attract up to £100 billion of capital investment that we will need in the sector over the next decade. By creating the world’s first low carbon electricity market, we are going green at the lowest cost, and attracting tens of billions of pounds of infrastructure investment, creating huge numbers of green jobs.’", "A breakthrough in sustainable energy and car design has enabled a team of engineers to build the world's first solar powered family car. The Dutch team have created the world's first 'energy positive' car, which means it produces more energy than it uses. It also has enough room to seat a family of four. A breakthrough in sustainable energy and car design has enabled a team of engineers to build the world's first solar powered family car . Using large solar panels that are placed on the roof of the car, 'Stella' can travel 250 miles without sunshine and on a sunny day, when fully charged, it can drive up to 420 miles. This is nearly twice as far as a standard electric car can travel before it needs to be charged up. Made with the latest in lightweight materials, such as high grade aluminium and carbon fibre, the car weighs a mere 380kg, 1120kg lighter than the average electrical car. Team Manager, Lex Hoefsloot, at Eindhoven University of Technology, said: ‘Because the car is standing still 90 per cent of the time in front of your house or your office, we found out that in 10 out of the 12 months of the year, the car provided more energy than it uses. The Dutch team have created the world's first 'energy positive' car, which means it produces more energy than it uses. It can also seat a family of four . Using large solar panels that are placed on the roof of the car, 'Stella' can travel 250 miles without sunshine and on a sunny day, when fully charged, it can drive up to 420 miles . ‘The car also produces twice the amount of energy needed to drive normal distances and soon our car will be granted a licence plate by the Dutch authorities. ‘We strongly believe that the car of the future is much lighter, aerodynamic and more efficient. ‘Solar panels are the solution for a sustainable future, and they can increase the range of your car. Made with the latest in lightweight materials, such as high grade aluminium and carbon fibre, the car weighs a mere 380kg, 1120kg lighter than the average electrical car . The car produces twice the amount of energy needed to drive normal distances and will soon be granted a licence plate in The Netherlands . ‘The car is still expensive because it is a prototype and it is hand-made, but when the production is scaled up, the car could be just as affordable as a normal family car. ‘The solar cells on the roof of the car cost only £2,600. ‘Our future designs will focus on making the car even more comfortable, practical and energy efficient, so in the end people have the feeling that they could buy a similar car at a dealership.’ The lead engineer, Lex Hoefsloot, said: 'Solar panels are the solution for a sustainable future, and they can increase the range of your car' The car is still expensive because it is a prototype and it is hand-made, but when the production is scaled up, the car could be as affordable as a normal family car . The solar cells on the roof of the car cost only £2,600 . The engineers said: 'Our future designs will focus on making the car even more comfortable, practical and energy efficient'", "By . Ellie Zolfagharifard . PUBLISHED: . 08:52 EST, 26 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:55 EST, 26 August 2013 . A cocktail glass-shaped satellite that could provide a third of the world's required energy by 2025 is being developed by Nasa. The design was created by Dr John Mankins who was commissioned by Nasa to explore the possibility of using solar panels in space to send energy to Earth. What Dr Mankins came up with was an incredible floating satellite named the SPS-ALPHA, or . Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array. It looks like a cocktail glass floating in space, but the SPS-ALPHA machine might be might actually be the future of how we collect solar energy . In a recent interview with Becky Ferreria at Motherboard, Dr Mankins claimed that, depending on funding, SPS-ALPHA could be launched by as early as 2025. 'A single solar power satellite would deliver power to on the order of a third of humanity—not all at the same time, but any of that market could, in principle, be addressed,' he said. The technology would mean that energy would beamed down to Earth where power stations would pick it up and farm it out to customers. The system would be made up of thousands of . thin, curved mirror-like pieces which could move around to ensure that . they picked up as much sun as possible. The inside of the SPS-ALPHA would also be lined with photovaltic panels which convert the sun’s energy into microwaves. These microwaves would then be beamed down to Earth out of the bottom end of the ‘cocktail glass’. The system would be made up of thousands of thin, curved mirror-like pieces which could move around to ensure that they picked up as much sun as possible . Dr Mankins, who runs California-based firm Artemis Innovation Management Solutions, claims that the system would be much cheaper than some alternatives like a single array that could go around Earth. On the NASA website Dr Mankins writes the project is a ‘a novel, bio-mimetic approach to the challenge of space solar power’. ‘If successful, this project will make possible the construction . of huge platforms from tens of thousands of small elements that can . deliver remotely and affordably 10s to 1000s of megawatts using wireless . power transmission to markets on Earth and missions in space,' he said. Solar energy available in space is billions of times greater than we use on Earth and beaming it down has long been seen as the answer to our dwindling energy supplies. Last year researchers at Stratchclyde University tested equipment in space that could collect energy and transfer it back to earth through microwaves or lasers. As part of the project, researchers at Strathclyde University aim to produce a 'swarm' of satellites that could one day power whole cities . The project waspart of a NASA . Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) study led by Dr Mankins. The . role of the team at the University of Strathclyde was to develop innovative solutions for the structural elements of the project. The researchers hope to eventually produce a 'swarm' of satellites that could one day power whole cities. Initially the tiny satellites wouldn't replace ordinary power grids - instead, they could swiftly resupply power to disaster areas or outlying districts that are difficult to reach. A 'receiver' on Earth would turn the precisely targeted microwave or laser beams into usable electricity. Dr Massimiliano Vasile, of the University of Strathclyde, said: ‘Space provides a fantastic source for collecting solar power and we have the advantage of being able to gather it regardless of the time of the day or indeed the weather conditions.'", "Coal is the new gold in South Africa -- it's also one of the worst polluters on the planet. South Africa is the world's fourth largest coal exporter with over 40 billion tons of the fossil fuel in reserves, according to the government. While the Chamber of Mines reported sales of some $10 billion last year. But the of host of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, currently taking place in Durban, is under increasing pressure to curb its addiction to coal -- the world's most notorious contributor to the greenhouse gases blamed for contributing to climate change. From South Africa to America, Europe to China, coal is the bedrock on which most world economies have been built. Reducing its use, many countries argue, will reduce productivity and growth. \"If today we say no to coal, that means we have to switch off all our power plants in South Africa,\" said Dipuo Peters, South Africa's Minister of Energy. \"What is going to happen to our country? We need to keep the lights on. We need to grow the economy and create jobs. As we speak 25% of our people are unemployed.\" Developed countries have pledged to contribute $100 billion towards a Green Climate Fund that would subsidize efforts by developing nations to reduce their carbon emissions. But with the economies of developed countries under strain many fear these funds will never materialize. Complicating matters even more is the argument around whether the world's second biggest economy, China, should be entitled to such a subsidy. In the meantime, with more power stations either being built or planned, South Africa's coal mining industry is likely to continue to grow. It is also creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs like Andre Magiya. \"People want coal in big numbers,\" the mining logistics businessman said. \"We cannot satisfy the export market as it is. \"And locally the hospitals use coal, manufacturers use coal, even the prisons. Everywhere there is demand for coal.\" Europe has been South Africa's main coal export market, but orders from India and China have rapidly grown in recent years. Still, it is domestic demand that drives the industry: Over 90% of South Africa's electricity, produced by power utility Eskom, is generated from coal. The government-controlled company has some of the biggest power plants in the world and is busy building more -- a move that has attracted the attention of international environmentalists Greenpeace, who recently staged a demonstration at a power plant under construction in the Mpumalanga province. \"This country has been mining coal since the 1860,\" said Melita Steele of Greenpeace. \"It has formed the backbone of the economy and it's what Eskom knows. \"So what do you do when you are in an electricity crisis? You invest in what you know. Even though the government is talking nicely about climate change we are not seeing the action and we are not seeing the urgency.\" China and the United States are undoubtedly the world's worst air polluters, but South Africa leads in Africa -- and activists say it should be leading in clean energy as well. \"Less than 1% of this country's energy is green which is a sorry tale. We are seeing more significant action from countries like Lesotho in this regard,\" said Steele. At the last U.N. climate change conference, COP16 in Copenhagen, President Jacob Zuma committed to reducing 34% of South Africa's carbon emissions by 2020 and some progress is being made. Several initiatives to create electricity from waste are already underway. Africa's biggest sugar producer, Illovo, says with the right incentives from government it could invest in equipment that could see it produce 1.6 gigawatts per hour of power from sugar fiber called baggase -- power it could add to the national grid. Peters says the government will conclude discussions with the sugar industry soon and in the meantime it is investigating other alternatives. Several wind and sun energy projects already have the government's financial backing. \"We have got a plan of one million solar geysers (solar water heaters) by 2014. One million solar geysers saves 3,000 megawatts. Three thousand megawatts is a potential power plant, and we are saying being able to do that is an indication of our commitment,\" she said. It's a delicate balancing act -- one many developing countries continue to grapple with. Alleviating poverty remains a primary focus whatever the means. Some of South Africa's major employers are also among the country's top polluters. They've warned that without alternative energy sources, the government's ambitious carbon reduction targets will negatively impact on plans to grow the economy and create jobs. Peters says her department hopes to ultimately be able to provide big industries with reliable clean energy to meet their minimum demands. \"We want to build 5,000 megawatts of solar power so that we can, in the next 10 years, prove to ourselves and to the world that solar and wind can be a base load,\" she added. These are ambitious targets and promises that may go up in smoke if the world fails to reach consensus in Durban.", "(CNN) -- If you're the type of person who thinks working out is just a waste of energy, then a new gym developed in the UK might help change your mind. This new fitness center, situated in a city park in Hull, northeast England, not only provides a facility for local residents to get fit but also generates electricity every time the equipment is used. \"So far, the community has generated 40,000 watt hours (40 kilowatts),\" says Georgie Delaney, creative director at The Great Outdoor Gym Company. \"The goal is that a gym like this should serve a community of about 5,000 people and really people could easily make a kilowatt hour per day. So, if you times that by the amount of gyms that we could possibly install, that actually becomes quite a significant amount of energy,\" Delaney said. Read: Arab Youth turn heat up at U.N. climate conference . The company has already installed more than 350 gyms in public places around the UK -- paid for by local councils and free of charge to use for local residents -- but this is their first to convert human energy into electricity. The gym currently powers its own lighting, but the hope is that one day they will be feeding surplus energy into the national grid and reducing electricity bills. \"We truly believe that in the western world we consume too much energy both in terms of food and electricity. What we're trying to do with the green energy gyms is give councils and communities a tool, with a facility like this, so people can actually offset their consumption of both food and electricity,\" Delaney says. The concept clearly impressed city officials in Hull. \"The aim of the council is to get more and more people active instead of sitting in their lounges watching television,\" says councilor Terry Geraghty. \"We want to get people off their [sofas] and get a bit active ... more and more people are getting obese, also diabetes, heart disease, not just in Hull, but in the country,\" he added. Read: Chasing down the world's vanishing glaciers . The idea is also attracting interest from local authorities around the world, some of them in developing countries, says the company. The prototype in Hull cost around $100,000 to install, but there are also plans to develop a cheaper $32,000 model which would charge mobile phones and a larger gym (around $130,000) where power could be fed back to the grid. Ling Ge, a research scientist at the UK's Imperial College London, is impressed with the scheme but its price may be an issue for poorer nations. \"The conversion from the gym to the national grid could be quite costly in developing countries,\" Ling says. Instead of installing electricity-generating gyms in countries in Africa, for example, it might be cheaper to use alternatives such as solar heating, solar power cells or hydroelectric power stations, she says. \"But still, it's a really beautiful concept and it uses existing technology in a novel way,\" Ling said. \"I think it's an excellent way to educate people about the concept of sustainability and changing people's behavior without putting the 's' word in your face.\"", "(CNN)Serbian forces committed egregious violent acts against ethnic Croatians in the early 1990s, but they don't equate to genocide, a U.N. court ruled Tuesday. The 153-page ruling from the International Court of Justice means that modern-day Serbia will not have to pay restitution to Croatia, which in 1991 split from what was then Yugoslavia. The decision relates only to the two national governments' responsibility to one another, not the culpability of any individuals for targeting members of an ethnic group. Such individual cases are handled by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), another U.N. court. \"Croatia has not established that the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the (Serbians') pattern of conduct ... was the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Croat group,\" the International Court of Justice (or ICJ) ruled. \"... It follows ... Croatia has failed to substantiate its allegation that genocide was committed.\" In addition to dismissing Croatia's case that its citizens had been victims of genocide, the ICJ also rebuffed Serbia's counterclaim that Croatian forces had committed genocide against its own citizens. This all relates to what happened in the 1990s, in the bloody aftermath of Yugoslavia splintering into separate nations. Many of the most horrific allegations have been levied against those aligned with the Yugoslavia government -- the closest equivalent to what is now the Republic of Serbia -- for its actions in Kosovo and Bosnia. In fact, several Serbians have been charged with genocide, though none yet specifically tied to actions inside Croatia. They include Radislav Krstic, sentenced to 46 years after the ICTY convicted him in relation to a five-day slaughter of up to 8,000 Muslims in the town of Srebrenica in what's been called the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by a U.N. tribunal when he was charged with 66 counts for crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes, though he was found dead in his cell before his years-long trial in front of the ICTY finished. Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is still on trial for two genocide charges and nine others related to ethnic violence during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. When Ratko Mladic's own trial on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity opened in 2012, the former general -- who is accused of orchestrating a horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing -- showed no remorse, even appearing to threaten victims in court. Yet even as such individual cases push forward, courts have been reluctant to hold governments involved in the conflict directly responsible for genocide. In 2007, for instance, the International Court of Justice acquitted Serbia of committing genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But, in the same ruling, the U.N. court did find Serbia guilty of failing to prevent genocide in Srebrenica. Tuesday's ICJ ruling relates specifically to what Serbian forces did in Croatia between 1991 and 1995. The violence began when Serbian troops went into Croatia ostensibly to aid armed ethnic Serbians trying to create their own autonomous states there. The U.N. court considered reams of evidence, from both sides, about what happened in the years that followed. And some of what happened, the U.N. court ruled, was consistent with genocide. For example, the ICJ found Serbian and allied forces responsible for a \"large number of killings\" that disproportionately affected Croats, \"which suggests that they may have been systematically targeted.\" The forces also \"injured (ethnic Croatians) and perpetrated acts of ill-treatment, torture, sexual violence and rape (that contributed) to the physical or biological destruction of the protected group,\" according to the court. Croats were singled out in other less lethal ways, like restricting their movement to create \"a climate of coercion and terror\" and spur them to leave, the ICJ said. The court didn't find sufficient evidence, however, to implicate Serbian forces on other grounds, like depriving Croatians of food and medical care. But even if some of the acts could fall under the umbrella of genocide, there must be evidence of intent -- that the forces went in aiming to destroy a group of people -- in order for these actions to be labeled genocide under the so-called Genocide Convention, which dates to 1948. That was not proven, in the eyes of the International Court of Justice. \"In view of the fact that dolus specialis has been established by Croatia,\" the court said, using the legal term for a specific intent, \"its claims of conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and attempt to commit genocide also necessarily fail. \"Accordingly, Croatia's claim must be dismissed in its entirety.\"", "By . Ben Spencer . The spread of large solar farms should be controlled so they do not become as unpopular as wind turbines, the Energy Minister said yesterday. Greg Barker pledged that he would not allow solar power to ‘become the new onshore wind’. He said he wanted a shift away from huge solar farms that blight the landscape, in favour of small panels on the roofs of homes, offices and schools. Unsightly: The number of solar panel farms in Britain has risen in two years from 46 to 184 . Mr Barker said Britain’s rooftops should become mini power stations, as he announced a new solar strategy. The plans include turning Government offices, factories, supermarkets and car parks into ‘solar hubs’. His intervention comes after it emerged this week that the Prime Minister is planning to make a stand against onshore wind turbines before the next election. A Conservative source said that Mr Cameron is ‘of one mind’ with the loudest opponents of onshore windfarms and is considering a cap on the number of new turbines. Mr Barker said yesterday: ‘I do not want solar farms to become the new onshore wind. Energy Minister Greg Barker: 'I do not want solar farms to become the new onshore wind' ‘Solar power enjoys huge popularity, so we have to be careful. I do not want to see unrestricted growth of solar farms in the British countryside.’ He added: ‘We have put ourselves among the world leaders on solar and this ambitious strategy will place us right at the cutting edge. ‘There is massive potential to turn our large buildings into power stations and we must seize the opportunity this offers to boost our economy as part of our long-term economic plan. ‘Solar not only benefits the environment, it will see British job creation and deliver the clean and reliable energy supplies the country needs at the lowest possible cost to consumers.’ There has been a huge expansion in the number of large solar projects. Two years ago there were 46 large-scale farms in Britain, but by the end of February this year there were 184 projects. An additional 194 projects have planning permission and are awaiting construction. A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: ‘We want to move the emphasis for growth away from large solar farms and instead focus on opening up the solar market for the UK’s estimated 250,000 hectares [600,000 acres] of south-facing commercial rooftops.’ The Solar Trade Association welcomed the announcement, saying it would strengthen the UK’s position in the ‘booming’ global solar market. Chief executive Paul Barwell said: ‘Greg Barker has championed solar power specifically because he knows it has the greatest potential to empower millions of people across the UK with low-cost green energy. Solar will also provide thousands of good-quality local jobs.’ Tory plans to make a stand against onshore wind have been opposed by Lib Dems, including Mr Barker’s boss, Energy Secretary Ed Davey. Mr Davey told Parliament on Thursday: ‘Onshore wind is ... the cheapest large-scale renewable technology, and I would not want to do anything to reduce its deployment.’", "In the past year solar power in the UK has more than doubled while in the US it has grown by 30 per cent. But many current systems fail to solve the problem of how energy is managed and used overnight when the sun sets. Traditionally, energy gathered during the day is sent back to the grid, but this can prove costly if you need to buy it back - unless you have a smart battery that stores the excess energy in your home. Sonnenspeicher (pictured) uses a lithium iron phosphate battery to store energy harnessed by solar panels. This energy can be used throughout the day, and any excess is stored for when the sun goes down. Rather than selling this excess electricity back to the grid, homeowners can then use their stored supply for power . With this in mind, German firm Automatic Storage Device (ASD) and designer Wolfram Walter have created the Sonnenspeicher. It uses a lithium iron phosphate battery to store the energy harvested during the day by solar panels fitted to a roof. This energy is used throughout the day, and any excess is stored for when the sun goes down. Rather than selling this excess electricity to the grid, and potentially having to buy it back at a later date or time, homeowners can use this stored supply to power their home until the sun rises again. Sonnenspeicher features an intelligent management system that automatically controls the charging and discharging current, to make it easier to manage how much energy is being used. Sonnenspeicher features an intelligent management system that automatically controls the charging and discharging current, to make it easier to manage how much energy is being used. It additionally has a Sleep mode that ensures the storage system never runs low and will automatically go into standby when not in use . Although it is designed to be completely independent of the national power grid, it can equally be wired up in the case of emergency. For example, whenever there is energy in the battery available, the connection to the grid is locked. When this energy runs out, the Sonnenspeicher connects to the grid 'in a millisecond' ASD Sonnenspeicher uses a lithium iron phosphate battery to store the energy harvested during the day by solar panels. This energy is used throughout the day, and any excess is stored for when the sun sets. Rather than selling this excess electricity to the grid, and potentially having to buy it back at a later date or time, homeowners can use this stored supply to power their home until the sun rises again. Sonnenspeicher features an intelligent management system that automatically controls the charging and discharging current, to make it easier to manage how much energy is being used. It additionally has a Sleep mode that ensures that the storage system never runs low and will automatically go into standby when its not being used to increase efficiency. The system comes in different sizes ranging from the Sonnenspeicher 300, which is 4.8 kWh, to the Sonnenspeicher 600 at 8.06 kWh up to the 1000 model which offers 13.44 kWh. Prices start at €8,450 (£6,170). It additionally has a Sleep mode that ensures the storage system never runs low, and will automatically go into standby when its not being used to increase efficiency. And although it is designed to be completely independent of the national power grid, it can equally be wired up in the case of emergency. For example, whenever there is energy in the battery available, the connection to the grid is locked. When this energy runs out, the Sonnenspeicher connects to the grid 'in a millisecond'. This switchover works the other way too. If a home is predominantly powered by the grid, the Sonnenspeicher will still store energy and instead act like a generator during a power cut. 'We wanted to create a storage system that makes you truly independent of the national power grid, that adequately supplies all of your household appliances at all times, and that remains efficient and trouble-free for at least 20 years, so that you can have the peace of mind that your investment really is worth every penny,' said the firm. The system comes in different sizes ranging from the Sonnenspeicher 300, which is 4.8 kWh, to the Sonnenspeicher 600 at 8.06 kWh up to the 1000 model which offers 13.44 kWh. Prices start at €8,450 (£6,170). The firm said an average home can save around €1,200 a year (£876), so it would still take around seven years to recoup the costs, but the system will last for 20 years.", "Various types of renewable energy such as solar and wind are often touted as being the solution to the world’s growing energy crisis. But one researcher has come up with a novel idea that could trump them all - a biological solar panel that works around the clock. By harnessing the electrons generated by plants such as moss, he said he can create useful energy that could be used at home or elsewhere. A University of Cambridge scientist has revealed his green source of energy. By using just moss he is able to generate enough power to run a clock (shown). He said panels of plant material could power appliances in our homes. And the technology could help farmers grow crops where electricity is scarce . Dr Paolo Bombelli will present his research as part of the Pint of Science festival, which is running from 18 to 20 May in 50 cities across nine countries. His idea is relatively simple - by wiring up plants to an electro-chemical system, he is able to harness the waste electrons and energy produced during the photosynthesis process. And the results are surprisingly efficient. He demonstrated how a smartphone-sized block of moss could be used to power a digital clock. The Pint of Science festival is taking place from Monday 18 to Wednesday 20 May 2015. It sees scientists of various disciplines give talks in pubs around the world, with topics ranging from the brain to space, that the public can attend for £3 - the ‘price of a pint’. Dr Paolo Bombelli, with his moss-powered clock, is one of the scientists taking part. This year more than 600 science evenings will take place in 50 cities across nine countries. Cities in the UK include Bristol, London, Manchester and Southampton. A full schedule can be found on their website. An A4-sized area of leaves - about 93 square inches (600 square centimetres) - could charge four AA batteries in one hour on a typical sunny day. Dr Bombelli said his inspiration came from the movie The Matrix. ‘In that movie, they try to generate electrical energy, power, from humans,’ he explained. ‘And although it was a bit crude, the concept is actually correct. ‘But there are perhaps less ethical issues if you take electrons from photosynthetic organisms than humans.’ The apparatus required is also relatively simple - cables, some water and a plant. At the moment, Dr Bombelli is trying to find a way to increase the ‘flux’ of electrons emitted by a plant, making more energy available. ‘If we can crack this, we can get a very large flux of electrons coming out, then we can build a biological solar panel,’ he told MailOnline. Dr Bombelli said his inspiration came from the 1999 movie The Matrix. ‘In that movie, they try to generate electrical energy, power, from humans,’ he explained, shown in this image from the movie. 'But there are perhaps less ethical issues if you take electrons from photosynthetic organisms than humans' An A4-sized area of leaves - about (93 square inches (600 square centimetres) - could charge four AA batteries in one hour on a typical sunny day. The ultimate goal is to develop panels that generate five watts per square metre (11 square ft). By comparison, a solar panel generates 150 to 200 watts per square metre . Dr Paolo Bombelli presented his research at a preview of the Pint of Science festival (left). He is adamant that regular moss (stock image right) could provide an additional source of renewable energy to complement others that are available . For example, he said people could have one of these panels on the roof of their house to power certain appliances in their home. The goal is to generate up to five watts per square metre (11 square feet). By comparison, a solar panel generates 150 to 200 watts per square metre. The uses are not just in the home, though. Dr Bombelli said in regions where people don’t have access to energy, biological solar panels could be useful for tasks such as growing crops. People could be shown how to build the simple systems and, unlike solar panels which require technical expertise to fix, the biological solar panels can be fixed easily. ‘To assemble one is not too difficult,’ he explained. And to demonstrate just how useful the technology can be, Dr Bombelli is gearing up to deploy a plant-powered system in London Zoo. A trap camera powered by moss will be installed in the next four to eight weeks, and ultimately the same camera could be used to capture images of animals in the wild. Rice farming is one area Dr Bombelli sees his technology being useful. It could help power technology in areas where electricity is scarce, possibly increasing yields. Shown is a stock image of rice paddy fields in India, one region Dr Bombelli said his technology could be useful . He noted that there are limitations: the technology is not very mobile, and its power output is low compared to other renewable energies. Nonetheless he thinks it could be part of a ‘portfolio of renewable technology’ to generate electricity. ‘We don’t really think the world is going to be powered by this technology, but it could play a role,’ he said.", "Choosing shoes to match an outfit could soon be as simple - and cheap - as pressing a button on a smartphone. A startup has designed a range of footwear that changes colour and design thanks to flexible e-ink displays built into the sides. The range also has 'anchors' on the toe and heel so physical accessories can be added to the Volvorii Timeless smart shoes. Scroll down for video . A startup has designed a range of footwear that changes colour and design thanks to flexible e-ink displays built into the sides. The Voltarii Timeless shoes  (example pictured) also have 'anchors' on the toe and heel so physical accessories can be added, such as bows, flowers or ankle straps . The shoes were designed by Lithuania-based iShuu Technologies, which is currently seeking funding for the footwear on Indiegogo. At the moment, prototypes are only available in black and white, but other colours are expected to launch if the campaign receives enough funding. Each shoe has flexible e-ink displays on the left and right sides. Inside the shoe's sole is a Bluetooth receiver that connects these displays to a smartphone app. Each shoe has flexible e-ink displays (pictured) on the left and right sides. Inside the shoe's sole is a Bluetooth receiver that connects the displays to a smartphone app . At the moment, the prototypes are only available in black (pictured) and white, but other colours are expected to launch if the campaign receives enough funding. The team is estimating a delivery date of December this year and has raised more than $21,400 (£14,300) of its $50,000 (£33,600) target . Patterns including polka dots, animal stripes and flowers can then be selected and 'sent' to the displays on the shoes. They are made of rubber and leather in European sizes 36 to 40 . Each shoe has a flexible e-ink display on the left and right sides. Inside the shoe's sole is a Bluetooth receiver that connects the displays to a smartphone app. Patterns including polka dots, animal stripes and flowers can then be selected and 'sent' to the displays on the shoes. The shoe also has physical customisation options. On the top of the toe and back of the heel are anchors, to which the wearer can attach accessories - a flower or bow on the toe, for example, and an ankle strap on the back. A wireless module, also in the sole, allows the shoe's display to be charged wirelessly . Patterns including polka dots, animal stripes and flowers can then be selected and 'sent' to the displays on the shoes. 'The Volvorii's clean, elegant, sturdy design brings gravitas, respect and formality in an unmistakable way,' said the campaign page. The shoe also has physical customisation options. On the top of the toe and back of the heel are anchors, to which the wearer can attach accessories - a flower or bow on the toe, for example, and an ankle strap on the back. They are made of rubber and leather in European sizes 36 to 40. A range of smaller and larger sizes are still in development. Another wireless module in the sole allows the shoe's display to be charged without cables. However, because e-ink requires so little power, it will only need to be charged 'between two and six months' at the most. So far, the iShuu team has created a working prototype as part of the Louis Vuitton Prize for young fashion designers, but now the team is hoping to turn the prototype into a final product. The shoe also has physical customisation options. On the top of the toe and back of the heel are anchors, to which the wearer can attach accessories - a flower on the toe, for example, and an ankle strap on the back . A wireless module, also in the sole, allows the shoe's display to be charged without cables. However, because e-ink requires so little power it will only need to be charged 'between two and six months' at most . The team is offering the Volvorii Timeless shoes $249 (£167) from Indiegogo, but he retail price after the campaign ends has not yet been announced. The team is estimating a delivery date of December this year. It is hoping to raise $50,000 (£33,600) by the 12 April and has so far raised more than $21,400 (£14,300). The Fashion-Entertainments (FES) watch is raising money on crowdfunding site Makuake, and was created with help from Sony. It features 24 design patterns that can be selected at the touch of a button, has a basic design and is said to last up to 60 days on a single button battery . The Fashion-Entertainments (FES) watch is raising money on crowdfunding site Makuake and is said to have been created with help from Sony. The Japanese tech giant confirmed its involvement with the startup to the Wall Street Journal in November and people involved in the project admitted the tech firm's name was kept a secret to see if there was demand for the gadget. An official release date has not been announced, but customers can pre-order a FES watch (pictured, including its 24 strap designs) from Makuake, and the device is expected to ship internationally in May . This demand has been proved by the fact the campaign surpassed its fundraising goal of 2 million yen (£10,700/$17,000) in three weeks, with 140 supporters. According to the campaign page, the watch features 24 design patterns that can be selected at the touch of a button. It has a basic design and is said to last up to 60 days on a single button battery. The watch weighs 50.6g, its dial is 1.5-inch (4cm) in diameter and the case is 0.2-inches (7mm) thick. An official release date has not been announced, but customers can pre-order a FES watch from Makuake, and the device is expected to ship internationally in May.", "SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- The owner of Luscious Garage is wondering whether the electric wall outlet will be the \"gas tank\" of the future. A Toyota Prius hybrid, owned by Luscious Garage, has been converted to run on electricity. Drivers of gas-sipping hybrid vehicles are increasingly interested in converting their vehicles from gasoline powered to electric, according to garage owner and lead technician Carolyn Coquillette. While drivers of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles complain about higher fuel prices, clients of the San Francisco garage are investing big bucks to make their green cars even greener. That's being done through plug-in conversions and adding more powerful batteries to currently available gasoline/electric hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius. \"The regular Prius is a gasoline dependent car; it doesn't get energy from anywhere but the gas tank,\" said Coquillette. \"What this [conversion] allows me to do is get energy through an [electric wall] outlet, so [the wall outlet] is like my electric gas tank,\" she said. Coquillette, who has degrees in physics and English, said she gets three or four calls or e-mails a day, asking about the conversion. And, she says, with gas prices at more than $4 per gallon, she expects even more interest. A lot of the cars that pull in to Luscious Garage are Toyota Prius hybrids, which Coquillette calls, \"the Volkswagen Beetle of our times.\" Coquillette showed off the garage's psychedelically painted Prius, which has undergone the conversion. Its original nickel-metal-hydride battery packs have been replaced with lead acid batteries to extend the distance the car can travel on electricity. Coquillette expects to begin conversions to even more efficient lithium batteries soon. The plug-in conversion costs about $7,500. \"Gas becomes optional,\" with this conversion, Coquillette said. \"Gas isn't required to move this car anymore. If you want to drive a really long way, without recharging, yes, gas is required, but it gives you the flexibility of not having to burn gas anymore if you don't want to. And that's very liberating,\" she said. The garage itself strives to be green, with much of its power coming from solar panels. And with gasoline approaching $5 per gallon in the San Francisco Bay area, \"plugging in cars make a whole lot of sense right at the pocketbook,\" said Korthof, who works for Energy Efficiency Solar. What kind of people are converting to this conversion? \"We've seen such a diverse group of people,\" said Coquillette. \"We have some people who come in who are entrepreneurs, who are business people, there are some people who are diehard environmentalists, but there are some people who come in, they just want to burn less gas.\" The corporate folks at Toyota don't have any official position on plug-in conversions. They don't endorse or discourage it. iReport.com: Show us your first car . But for hybrid owners who demonstrate exuberant efforts to find more energy efficiency, \"we really appreciate the fact that the Prius is the vehicle of choice,\" said Jana Hartline, environmental communications manager for Toyota. Hartline said the Prius was not designed with any conversion possibilities in mind, but she said the company welcomes any technology that pushes the envelope on plug-in batteries. While the nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery will remain the choice for Prius, Camry and Highlander hybrids, Toyota is doing some research and development with lithium ion batteries. Hartline said Toyota will be using lithium ion batteries in some commercial fleets in late 2009, mostly to learn more about charging behaviors. Although the current batteries are \"durable and reliable,\" Hartline said lithium ion batteries pack more energy into a smaller space. Much more research is needed, she said, about how hybrid owners would use their vehicles. For example, how often and for how long owners would plug in to the electrical grid, or a solar supply. Also, as more drivers become interested in alternative energy, they will need to learn more about infrastructure. For example: . • Will companies, malls or fast-food joints provide charging stations? • Will they charge for the charge? • In what other ways will the energy infrastructure have to change? While the 2004-2008 Prius is the most popular hybrid conversion, it is also possible on 2005-2008 Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape hybrids. And, as Coquillette says on the Luscious Garage Web site, \"Any car can become a plug-in hybrid, if you have enough money.\" And driven customers don't seem to be letting cost discourage them from the conversion. \"Customers are not coming to me and saying, 'I'll do this if there is a rebate.' People come to me and say, 'I want to do this right away,' \" said Coquillette. Luscious Garage will soon open a second location for the growing number of really green hybrid owners. \"Hybrid technology is one thing. Then there is plug-in hybrid technology, which is the next step, which genuinely removes your dependence on fossil fuel,\" said Coquillette. However, most U.S. electricity is created from burning fossil fuels -- about 70 percent, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy. Just under 49 percent comes from coal-burning power plants, about 20 percent from natural gas and about 1½ percent from burning oil. CNN's Peter Dykstra and Miles O'Brien contributed to this report.", "(CNN) -- Mobile is a big deal in Africa. People probably get tired of hearing that, but there are around 820 million mobile subscriptions on the continent. Mobile payments are becoming the norm and tech startups are building to it. Established industries are being disrupted by mobile and services that have been otherwise lagging in the African market are finding new vigor due to mobile solutions and better and more efficient ways of doing business. So here are just a few of Africa's most interesting, exciting and emerging mobile startups. Clever cabs . In the consumer transportation sector, two startups have really shown some potential to really disrupt this industry. Both use the basics of Uber, a U.S.-based mobile personal driver, which has coincidentally entered the African market in the last couple of months. ZapaCab works with cab companies in South Africa. Its app allows to you to order a cab via your mobile device -- a driver is then dispatched to pick you up. You're given the driver's name, car details and the estimated time of arrival. Easy Taxi Taxi is a Brazilian startup backed by African Internet Holdings, and its app now has a Lagos version. Simply download the app, request a cab and wait for it. Read also: 10 African tech startups you need to know . Mellowcabs, on the other hand, is an amazing idea. Firstly its vehicles are very cool electrically assisted pedal-powered cabs -- and secondly, they are free to use, funded by advertising. The service wants to bring web advertising offline, sort of, through in-cab tablets. Each of the tablets runs geolocation software, so when the vehicles approach a certain store or restaurant, the software triggers specific adverts. In Ghana, the public sector is a good place to see what mobile can do. People who still use a post office box, this startup is for you. Based in Ghana, Boxbuzz is an SMS alert system that contacts PO box owners via text message whenever they receive mail in their boxes. How cool is that? No more unnecessary trips to the post office. Games and health . Gaming is becoming quite the thing in Africa and Nigerian startup ChopUp is looking to disrupt that with its social platform that connects mobile-device gamers across the continent. The platform allows players to interact based on gaming interests and achievements, and lets gamers share and transfer gaming points. Read this: Birth advice by text message, phone medicine in Kenya . As a wannabe health nut, I am always looking for apps that can help me be healthy and monitor my eating and exercise habits. Diet Assistant is a Uganda-based mobile startup that has created an app that recommends healthy and affordable meal choices made of locally available and accessible foods. The app also aims to help with weight control and it can be customized to fit your needs. The healthcare industry is getting a fair amount of disruption right now. Faselty is an online blood donation system that organizes and helps to facilitate blood donation processes. The mobile integrated platform works through location and blood type. Then there is the mobile messaging scene, which everyone wants to be in, with the hopes of competing with WhatsApp. In Africa, 2go seems to be the instant messaging startup most likely to succeed. The service claims to have more than 30 million registered users in total and just over 10 million of those are in Nigeria. E-commerce is really making the rounds in Africa. Every day a new shop pops up and with a rising middle class willing to spend all that disposable income, why not? That's the premise behind M-DUKA, a Ugandan mobile shopping platform that allows you to buy virtual services like airtime, and to pay utility bills. All transactions are done via mobile and receipts are issued via text message. Read also: Africa's giant infrastructure projects . Staying secure . Finally, mobile startups are also targeting the world of security. Cape Town, South Africa, is the birthplace of one of the world's most popular security startup success stories -- certificate authority Thawte, which today is owned by Symantec. A startup that some have theorized could be become the Symantec of the mobile age, IMPI (International Mobile Protection Initiative), also hails from Cape Town. IMPI provides anti-malware protection for Android devices, along with an integrated data management suite that simplifies the secure backup and storage of device data. Then there's Journey from Embark Mobile. Journey allows companies to build mobile applications to securely capture data for their internally facing processes. As the data collected from the apps are stored in Journey's cloud, communication is encrypted using industry-standard certificate-based SSL/TLS. The startup's focus on deploying secure applications has attracted businesses in the financial sector, which often have stringent requirements and policies regarding their own data. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michelle Atagana.", "(CNN) -- NASA has postponed for one day the scheduled launch of a rocket carrying a solar probe. The space agency plans to launch an Atlas V rocket carrying its Solar Dynamics Observatory, which it says will study the sun \"in greater detail than ever before.\" After delaying the launch three times because of windy conditions Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, Florida, NASA said it will try again Thursday, with a launch window of 10:23 a.m. to 11:23 a.m. ET. \"The vehicle's flight control system sensed wind loads exceeding the limit, prompting the abrupt end to the countdown,\" NASA said. The agency says the observatory will provide a better understanding of the sun and its role in space weather events such as solar flares, which can wreak havoc on Earth. The observatory is designed to deliver solar images with resolution 10 times better than high-definition television, according to NASA. The five-year mission \"will determine how the sun's magnetic field is generated, structured and converted into violent solar events like turbulent solar wind, solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections,\" according to the agency. The solar wind, a stream of electrically charged particles flowing out from the sun, fills the entire solar system with charged particles and magnetic fields, according to NASA. Solar flares are actual explosions in the sun's atmosphere, the largest of them equal to billions of one-megaton nuclear bombs. And Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs, are eruptions that launch solar material into space at a high rate of speed. Such events can put astronauts at risk, as well as aircraft flying over Earth's North or South Poles, and can also disrupt satellite communications, navigational systems and power grids, NASA said. In 1969, for instance, a solar current knocked a power grid serving Quebec, Canada, off-line for nine hours. \"That's a direct impact on life and society,\" said Richard Fisher, director of NASA's Heliophysics Division. He is in charge of Wednesday's launch. In addition, changes in magnetic energy such as those around sunspots can change Global Positioning System signals, making them less accurate . \"If you're landing a great big jet airliner in a low-visibility situation and you have one of these events that causes a misinterpretation of location by 150 to 200 yards, that's big stuff when you're trying to hit a runway with these instruments,\" Fisher said. There's no way to predict space weather. Officials hope the Solar Dynamics Observatory can provide information to help change that. \"This is the most advanced spacecraft we've ever designed to study the sun and its dynamic behavior,\" Fisher said. The sun, he said, \"has this trick of converting magnetic energy into other kinds of energy that can affect the Earth.\" \"I believe we're up to the point now where we can probably predict when something like this is more or less likely and you can at least take precautions,\" Fisher said about solar weather. A warning system, for example, could help power grid operators avoid an outage by taking some of the grid's load off or finding alternative configurations. The sun's effect wasn't an issue for the Earth until the technological advances in electronics over the last hundred years, he said. The observatory is \"going to give us good awareness of the dynamics of the sun, and we're going to be able to make estimates on when we should take precautions with our satellites or with airline operations or with Department of Defense systems,\" Fisher said. \"We have an increasing pressure on science to try and predict what's going to happen on the sun, and that's the scientific bent of this (SDO) satellite, is to try to get a handle on it.\" The observatory contains three major instruments that scientists believe will send data back to Earth for at least five years. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly will allow scientists to see the sun in high resolution. The imaging assembly will also observe the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment will measure its ultraviolet spectrum every 10 seconds. \"Space weather forecasting is in its infancy ... just like hurricane forecasting was years ago,\" according to an article on NASA's Web site by Liz Citrin, SDO project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which developed and will manage the mission. \"We built up experience in collecting data, designed models, tested those models and now look what we can do.\" The observatory will snap an image of the sun in eight wavelengths every 10 seconds, NASA said. It will remain in continuous contact with a station at the White Sands Complex in southern New Mexico. \"The biggest challenge of this mission was the data rate,\" Citrin wrote in the article. \"SDO will blast back 1.5 terabytes of information every day. ... That's equivalent to a half-million song downloads. It's unprecedented.\" The observatory is the first mission of NASA's Living With a Star program. The program is aimed at increasing understanding of the sun in order to address its effect on Earth. The mission was supposed to launch in August 2008, but scientists decided more testing was needed. CNN Radio's Shelby Erdman contributed to this report.", "By . Ted Thornhill . Last updated at 1:41 AM on 29th September 2011 . A sunspot 62,000 miles across - ten times bigger than Earth - is releasing gigantic solar flares that have created astonishing light shows over Britain, described by one sky-watcher as the best he'd ever seen. Known as auroras, they are caused by radiation particles . from the sun bouncing off Earth's atmosphere and are normally only seen in countries in the far north, such as Norway. However, they've been photographed as far south as Oxfordshire and in Northumberland, where the skies became a dramatic green and purple hue. Purple haze: The incredible light show on Monday made Northumberland look more like Norway . It's not grim up north: The solar flares transformed Britain's northern skies . Way to glow: The aurora over Ludgershall in Buckinghamshire last night . A huge green and red aurora was also captured by the International Space Station. However, the recent solar flares, caused by a . sunspot known as 'Active Region 1302', could wreak havoc with electrical . communications ranging from handheld . electronics such as iPhones to sections of the power grid. But experts . believe the most powerful eruptions have been and gone. Joe Kunches, a scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said: 'The solar wind that was really energised seems to have passed us by.' However, solar activity is notoriously unpredictable and the Earth isn't out of the firing line just yet. Astronomer . Dr Ian Griffin, CEO of Science Oxford, told MailOnline: ‘Active Region . 1302 is the source of all of the auroras, and may well be the source of . some more auroras over the next few nights. ‘Space-weather . forecasters estimate a 40 per cent chance of more flares during the . next 24 hours. Any such eruptions would be Earth-directed as the sunspot . crosses the centre of the solar disk. ‘In short, with no moon in the sky, and . an active region on the sun, the next few nights might be very . interesting for sky-watchers in Britain.’ Aurora-chaser Reed Ingram-Weir described the lights seen over Britain as the most impressive he'd ever seen. On . Monday he took incredible pictures near the causeway that links the . North East coast with the island of Lindisfarne, in Northumberland. He . said: 'What made this display really amazing was the colour, it was a . fantastic deep purple colour when usually Northern Lights are a pale . green colour. 'The reason . it was purple is all to do with the composition of the particles from . the sun hitting the atmosphere, obviously these were some different . kinds of particles. Red alert: This stunning image from the International Space Station shows a bright green and red aurora over the Earth, with the latter colour caused by radiation colliding with nitrogen in the atmosphere . Hot stuff: The behemoth sunspot 1302 has been unleashing huge solar flares . Well spotted: Astronomer Dr Ian Griffin took this picture of Active Region 1302 in Oxford . 'We set off from Newcastle at around 9pm and then drove an hour north, all the time trying to get a clear view directly north. 'We needed to find an area without . light pollution as well and by the time we reached Lindisfarne it was . about 10.30pm but it was well worth the journey. 'I have been to Norway four times and Iceland once to see the lights, but this was the best one I have ever seen anywhere.' Spectacular auroras could be a fairly regular occurrence over the next new years as the sun is currently going through a strong period of activity. Dr Tim O'Brien from the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory, told MailOnline: 'Solar activity rises and falls, with peaks every 11 years. We are now on a rise towards the next maximum, which is good news for Northern Light watchers. 'The next peak is in 2014, so there should be other chances to see auroras. The rate of occurence (of solar flares) will certainly increase over the next few years. However, you can't predict them.' A sunspot occurs when strong magnetic fields on the sun reach the surface and cool down, according to Nasa. Large ones can be seen clearly using telescopes and powerful cameras.", "They may have fallen by the wayside lately, in favour of tablets and phones, but experts predict sales of desktop PCs will rise again this year. And a Polish startup is hoping to aid this resurgence by developing a computer within a mouse. The mouse concept is fitted with a quad-core processor, Wi-Fi and 128GB storage - the only extra hardware needed is a monitor. Scroll down for video . The Mouse Box concept was created by Poland-based Przemysław Strzelczyk and a team of software developers. It is the same size as a traditional mouse, meaning it would fit comfortably in the hand, and runs on a 1.4GHz ARM processor, like the chip inside the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, for example . Called Mouse-Box, the wireless gadget was designed by Poland-based Przemysław Strzelczyk and a team of software developers. It is the same size as a traditional mouse, meaning it would comfortably in the hand, and runs on a 1.4GHz ARM processor, like the chip inside the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, for example. It connects to a monitor or projector via a standard HDMI cable, and comes with the same amount of storage as a high-end iPhone 6 Plus. The SONICable claims to halve the amount of time it takes to charge a battery. It is available for iPhone and Android devices. When it’s plugged into a device, but switched off, it acts like a standard USB cable and syncs content from one device to another. But, when it is switched on, the syncing functions are disabled so the cable concentrates all of its energy into charging the connected device. The £18 SONICable is set to ship in March. This can’t be physically expanded, but can be increased using cloud storage. Mouse-Box comes with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, and charges wirelessly on an inductive charging pad that doubles up as a mouse pad. This means it should never run out of battery. ‘At the beginning, moving computers was a real challenge’ explained the Polish startup. ‘Computer portability has been improving along with developing a PC. ‘However, it still isn’t ideal as it is necessary to transport a lot of its parts - a monitor, a keyboard, a CPU and a mouse. 'We are introducing Mouse-Box, a computer different than ever before - an incredible combination of the two most important elements in a computer set.’ Mouse-Box (pictured) connects to a monitor or projector via a standard HDMI cable, and comes with the same amount of storage as a high-end iPhone 6 Plus. It charges wirelessly on an inductive charging pad that doubles up as a mouse pad. This means it should never run out of battery . In a video, the Mouse-Box is shown being used to make presentations, as an alternative to the work PC, or to replace a PC at home. The startup is currently looking for funding to create a prototype, and later put the device into mass production, so a release date and price have not been announced. Global shipments of PCs rose by one per cent in the last quarter of 2014, and analysts from Gartner believe they will continue to rise in 2015. They predict that this year, shipments will climb to almost 317 million units, up 2.9 per cent from 2014 - almost matching the number of units shipped in 2013. They also predict that tablet sales will decline as a result. In a video, the Mouse-Box is shown being used to make presentations, as an alternative to the work PC (pictured), or to replace a PC at home. The startup is currently looking for funding to create a prototype, and later put the device into mass production, so a release date and price have not been announced .", "(Financial Times) -- Nuclear power is so expensive compared with other forms of energy that it has become \"really hard\" to justify, according to the chief executive of General Electric, one of the world's largest suppliers of atomic equipment. \"It's really a gas and wind world today,\" said Jeff Immelt, referring to two sources of electricity he said most countries are shifting towards as natural gas becomes \"permanently cheap\". \"When I talk to the guys who run the oil companies they say look, they're finding more gas all the time. It's just hard to justify nuclear, really hard. Gas is so cheap and at some point, really, economics rule,\" Mr Immelt told the Financial Times in an interview in London at the weekend. \"So I think some combination of gas, and either wind or solar ... that's where we see most countries around the world going.\" Mr Immelt's comments underline the impact on the global energy landscape of the US shale gas revolution, Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown and falling prices for some types of renewable power. The shale boom has sent US natural gas prices down to 10-year lows, a trend some analysts believe will spread elsewhere, while the nuclear industry faces added costs and uncertainty after Fukushima. At the same time, a 75 per cent fall in solar panel market prices in the past three years has made solar power competitive with daytime retail electricity prices in some countries, according to a recent report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, while offshore wind turbine prices have steadily declined. Such factors pose dilemmas for countries such as the UK, which is trying to build new nuclear plants without public subsidy. The ruling coalition is also split over whether to set a new target to make the electricity sector virtually free of carbon emissions by 2030 -- a plan George Osborne, the Conservative finance minister, opposes but many Liberal Democrats back. Mr Immelt lent weight to the Lib Dem argument, saying GE had found existing EU carbon targets helpful. \"I think standards sometimes really drive innovation,\" he said. \"To a certain extent at least, knowing what the rules are and being able to innovate against it is not a bad thing.\" Mr Immelt played down the impact of changing energy trends on a company as large as GE, which reported annual profits of $13bn for 2011 (on revenues of $142bn) and sells products for every leading source of energy, from gas and wind turbines nuclear reactors and oil drilling gear, to gas and wind turbines. \"We've got them all, so in some ways when you have them all you don't have to be so smart about anything,\" he said. Analysts estimate GE's nuclear revenues, from a joint venture with Japan's Hitachi, at an estimated $1bn, or less than 1 per cent of annual global sales. Mr Immelt is visiting London during the Olympic Games, which GE sponsors. The company will announce on Monday that it has made more than $1bn in sales from Olympic host cities since 2006, including $100m from the London games, where GE has sold several power systems, 120 electric vehicle charging stations and thousands of lights. © The Financial Times Limited 2012 .", "By . Ellie Zolfagharifard . The sun unleashed a massive X-class solar flare over the weekend which could result in spectacular auroras on Earth tomorrow. The solar flare peaked at 5:48pm GMT (1:48 pm EDT) on Saturday March 29 causing a brief radio disturbance while generating a series of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). CMEs are powerful plasma eruptions near the surface of the sun driven by kinks in the solar magnetic field. Scroll down for video... Extreme ultraviolet light streams out of an X-class solar flare as seen in this image captured on March 29, 2014, by Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory . The CMEs will graze Earth tomorrow causing a possible geomagnetic storm that will create auroras. It is not yet clear where auroras will be seen, but it is thought that people living at higher latitudes will be most likely to spot a light show if one emerges. Scientists, however, believe it will only deliver a ‘glancing blow’ and will not seriously affect communication systems. ‘The best-guess forecast calls for minor G1-class storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras,' wrote SpaceWeather.com. Watch the X-class solar flare in action . Solar flares can damage satellites and have an enormous financial cost. Astronauts are not in immediate danger because of the relatively low orbit of this manned mission. They do have to be concerned about cumulative exposure during space walks. The charged particles can also threaten airlines by disturbing the Earth’s magnetic field. Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and knock out energy supplies. A positive aspect, from an aesthetic point of view, is that the auroras are enhanced. Geomagnetic storms are more disruptive now than in the past because of our greater dependence on technical systems that can be affected by electric currents. As well as blacking out some radio signals for about an hour over the weekend, the solar flare produced radio signals of its own, according to SpaceWeather.com. ‘The explosion above sunspot AR2017 sent shock waves racing through the Sun's atmosphere at speeds as high as 11 million mph (4800 km/s),’ it said. ‘Radio emissions stimulated by those shocks crossed the 93 million mile divide to Earth, causing shortwave radio receivers to roar with static.’ Sunspot AR2017, that contained the flare, was active over the weekend, producing three solar flares in total. In addition to the X-class solar flare on March 29, two M-class solar flares erupted from the region on March 28 and March 30. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. However -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. This flare is classified as an X.1-class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense. Plasma from the solar flare will graze Earth tomorrow causing a possible geomagnetic storm that will create auroras for high-latitude sky watchers . A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released. Radiation . is emitted across virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from . radio waves at the long wavelength end, through optical emission to . x-rays and gamma rays at the short wavelength end. The amount of energy released is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time . A . flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar . atmosphere is suddenly released - mostly in the active regions around . sunspots. Their frequency varies from several a day, when the sun is particularly active, to less than one a week during quiet periods. Earlier this week scientists came a step closer to . understanding this powerful phenomenon behind solar flares  by witnessing, for the first . time, the mechanism behind it. Footage . put together by an international team led by University of Cambridge . researchers showed entangled magnetic field lines looping from the sun’s . surface. These magnetic lines slip around each other and lead to an eruption 35 times the size of the Earth and an explosive release of magnetic energy into space. The discoveries of a gigantic energy build-up bring scientists a step closer to predicting when and where large flares will occur. ‘We care about this as during flares . we can have CMEs and sometimes they are sent in our direction,’ said . lead author, Dr Jaroslav Dudik from Cambridge University. ‘Human civilisation is nowadays maintained by technology and that technology is vulnerable to space weather.' ‘Indeed, coronal mass ejections can damage satellites and therefore have an enormous financial cost.’ ‘They . can also threaten airlines by disturbing the Earth’s magnetic field. Very large flares can even create currents within electricity grids and . knock out energy supplies.’" ]

[ "Ford Motor Company" ]

[ "an engine", "engine", "Ford Ka", "Who's Making Love", "Sho Hayami", "Sho Kosugi", "Ford Fusion", "Victory Ford", "Who", "Sho Murray", "the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company", "Williams Ford", "the Who", "Ford Mondeo", "those who need it for decision making", "Ford V8", "person who makes designs for objects", "the vehicle manufacturer", "The Making Of", "Who Made Who", "Who?", "Engineer", "Ford Madox Ford", "Ford Cortina", "Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant", "Ford Expedition", "Making Time", "Chandler's Ford", "Ingenuity Engine", "Ford Bond", "Make Luv ''", "Shoebox Ford" ]

[ "There are two parties to Ford's problem. Party One is the management of Ford who did not keep their eye on the ball and kept making big vehicles in a changing market. Party Two is the UAW, who kept pushing for unbelievable wage and benefit goodies in the face of a changing market that clearly favors more nimble business organization. \\n\\nThe fault dear brutus lies not in our stars, but in ourselves. People who buy large, gas guzzling vehicles need to deal with their bad judgement. Gas will rise to $5 a gallon and we need to get real about our choices in terms of what we drive." ]

[ "It really depends. Just starting out in your first year probably about 30-40 thousand. Many established reps make well over 100,000. It will be easier if you can sell other products as well. Disability, long term care etc...", "NO definately not intellectual....great TV personality MAYBE. \\n\\nGOOD investor....obvious. I think she is over-rated a bit. I think she has lost touch with her core audience (those in the 30-40 thousand dollar range). I think that when she shows off her 22 houses and each room designed with antiques and silk it makes the rest of us look at our lumpy but comfy couch and go \"sigh\". \\n\\nI do think her MAJOR contribution to society is teaching us all to READ again. She has made many people sit down with a book who for a long time hadn't. Oh and her stance on education....I love that as well.", "About 25 thousand miles, 40 thousand kms.", "The great depression was different.......the reason people lost their homes was because banks called entire loans due......for example..you had a mortgage for $2,000 and the bank would send you a letter saying you had 30 days to pay your entire mortgage balance...thank you\\n\\nBanks cant do that today....we have laws that prevent them from calling mortgages due like that.", "It was thousands of years ago. This is the horse that inspired a generation of Ford cars.", "If you look at the job description for it on salary.com it looks like it is just a meshing of 3 different roles - web designer, business analyst, and project manager. I think you see similar functions in many programs although they arent exactly labeled as \"web content engineer.\" As such, you could probably get the training from most web development or MIS tracks and specialize the electives around what your job target is. I have been in web development for 9 years and when I heard web content engineer, to me I think webmaster or web admin, usually a lower level position than some other web related functions. I would think maybe mid 30s to mid 40s to start, maybe more in Dallas, Austin, or Houston less as you go out from there. But I think it would depend on exactly what the company has you doing regardless of the title.", "Without knowing which specific creditor you're inquiring about it there is not going to be a definate answer. From experience GEMB, Juniper, some Citi, & Target generally report the first half of the month. Household bank generally reports about 10 days after the billing period. American Express reports typically one week following the reporting month. As far as you wanting to pay below 40%, why wait until the due date is approaching? Why not submit payment now? Waiting until due date will allow the creditor to report the outstanding balance at payment closing. If you go ahead and pay down then the next report they send to the reporting agencies will be less therefore allowing for less utilization for reporting. Also for what it's worth, FICO is known to prefer utilization to be below 30% not 40%.", "As with anything, it's a matter of personal taste.\\n\\nMy taste goes for the Ford. Over 30 years personal experience as a proud and satisfied owner of Ford cars and trucks.", "About 40 thousand a year. The best players can make a little more.", "3 million years on the African Savannah, about 35 to 40 thousand years populating the rest of the planet.", "I think NO. Let's reverse the question, should China take over the world. I think NOT. The question is realy, should we impose our values and culture on other people. Look at Iraq, which we supposedly attacked to support \"democratic\" reform. It's been a botched job, from the get go. Now lets take what has been a 3 year process, 280 billion spent, thousands dead and wounded( and I am not talking just US personell) and Iraq is only twice the size of Idaho.\\n\\nNow extend that a million times and ask the question again.", "yes,it will make you feel better when you are finished,i lost 40 pounds once walking everyday after dinner,well that and watching what i was eating =) good luck,even tho i dont think you need to loose weight =)", "Bermuda Triangle\\n\\n also known as the Devil's Triangle and the Limbo of the Lost, a geographical area of about 3,900,000 sq km (1,500,000 sq mi), between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Melbourne in Florida (located 55°W to 85°W and 30°N to 40°N), in which there have been numerous unexplained disappearances of ships and aircraft.", "Your best chance of finding information about Ford is with the search engines.Also see the wikipedia article on him. Here is a quote from wikipedia:\\n\\n\"Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and the Henry Ford Company (which later became Cadillac). He was one of the first to apply assembly line manufacturing to the mass production of affordable automobiles. This achievement not only revolutionized industrial production in the United States and the rest of the world, but also had such tremendous influence over modern culture that many social theorists identify this phase of economic and social history as \"Fordism.\" Some credit him with contributing to the creation of a middle class in American society.\\n\"\\n\\nYou should also read \"My life and work\" by Henry Ford, at the gutenberg.org website and do not forget the Henry Ford Heritage Association at hfha.org\\n\\nI hope you find this information useful.", "www.USAJOBS.gov The federal government has thousands of jobs open in your field. You can work in any state and hundreds of different divisions. Think of the possibilities: Border Partol, FBI, CIA, DEA, Marshals, Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, State Correctional, ETC.\\nWhere do you live? What wold YOU like to do with a criminal justice degree? I think it's pretty open.", "Henry Ford, Business Personality / Inventor \\n\\nBorn: 30 July 1863 \\nBirthplace: Greenfield Township, Michigan \\nDied: 7 April 1947 \\nBest Known As: Creator of the Ford Motor Company", "jog/run for about 30 continous minutes. \\nbike for about 40 minutes.\\nwalk for about 1 hr.\\nswim for about 20minutes.", "i am a republican and do not like him. he spends entirely too much and is entirely too focused on Iraq when his own country is having economical problems (look at how many jobs have been lost) \\n\\ni also feel Kerry would've done no better. Our government is in need of serious reform!!! it is too corrupted.", "For the same reason no one has jobs in all of South America...The government is beyond corrupt, it's so corrupt they make the USA look like Lady justice herself, it's so corrupt the people doing the horrible crimes think it's normal practice to behave that way, while all of there people are defecting because no matter what they do in there country to help reform Nothing happens...and their families die.", "Hey, what's going on with you girl? If don't have respect for yourself, then do it. Otherwise, if you value who you are and how you are, you would not be thinking about doing that. Just doing do it; that's the worst decision you can ever make in life. There are lot of good jobs, but don't choose a \"job\" like that.", "Macaws 30 to 50 years– the smaller mini-macaw at the lower range.\\n\\nCockatoos 30 to 40 years.\\n\\nAmazons 50 years or more with proper care. The average is more like 20 years due to the fact that amazons are prone to obesity and fatty liver disease which can lead to death.", "We will come home from Iraq when the Iraqis are ready to take control of their own country and will not slip back into the way things used to be. Anyone who thinks that as soon as a democrat becomes president, they will just end our efforts in Iraq is very mistaken. So you people think that after the progress that we have made, we should just pull out now without completing the job? Anyone ever heard of Vietnam? The one war we weren't completely committed to? And how does it compare with the other wars that we have been in and did the right way? Which war do we look back on now with the most regret? Vietnam, because we went in half-assed and lost thousands of soldiers for nothing. Compare that with WW2 where we lost many more soldiers, but finished the job.", "I think most people think of our troops and think of the images they see on the news. They don't think about it being their neighbors or relatives. I keep hearing people say the troops should come home, which is a great idea and all, but to do it before the job is finished would be like pissing on the graves of all soldiers that died during the war, they would have died for nothing. It would be like going up the the thousands of veterans disabled by the war and tell them that they failed, they lost their arm, leg, vision, etc for a job that wasn't necessary and therefore wasn't followed through with. And to know that I lost close friends, some of the best soldiers in the world for nothing, I would lose it. It would be just like when we withdrew from Somalia less than a few weeks after all of those Rangers and SF guys were killed, nothing was accomplished and that place is still in chaos. This would be the same thing but 200 times more severe.", "found out what motivates you. Find something you like to do and enjoy it.\\n\\nNow if you are talking about being lazy at work, think about your boss firing you for not doing your job.", "thousands of transaction per bank and millions nationwide, can be processed manually? what do you think?", "That depends on what you intend to do with your PC, General Media, Hi Def Graphics, Gaming, there are Thousands of Cards for Hundreds of Jobs, put two in and you can go up to 1024MB, so if you can say what sort of work you will be giving the Card to do Someone will give you an answer.", "Andromeda answer sounds close to the mark.\\n\\nAt equator, ascending 6--8 thousand feet gets you out of the sweltering tropical lower levels and into the more temperate zone analogous to surface travel from equator to 35 or 40 degrees North Latitude.\\n\\nSo seven thousand feet is about 28 degrees cooler. Wonderful! Those Mountain Gorillas may be more clever than we think.", "just ask yourself-why have you come to this world??? i dont mean to get all \"religious\" with you, but it's true that god sent you to this world for some reason-you find out what it is and serve god you think is right. so if you fee like all's lost-think about WHAT's lost, and how that has anything to do with why you're here. what's the point of doing anything if you're just going to die one time or another. so you might as well do what you can in this world while you still have time-dont waist it...", "I think he do love you, due to the fact you lost your women head to him so there are feelins all around you teo relationship. Just give it a try it want hurt, Just be careful with yourself", "accept it, when you do that, things will be easy for you. think about how many people who lie about thier age and get away with it. if you ever got away with it ovbiously you dont look your age!!! but just accept it and be proud of your age and what you have done in that time thats what makes youbetter than 40.", "What exactly do you want to know? \\n\\nThey're reputable, dependable, and you can create your own investment breakdown (20% real estate, 30% growth stocks, 40% traditional stocks, etc.). Do be careful about how you slice up that pie, though. I invested a high percentage of my funds in growth stocks during a bad time in the market, and lost money every quarter for over a year. I eventually learned to create a more diverse and more stable portfolio.\\n\\nYour TIAA-CREF investments are also VERY easily transferred when you move from one institution or another.\\n\\nI have no idea if I'm actually answering your question.", "To me, the best thing you can do is learn as much as you can as quickly as you can. Ask for any reading material on your job and surrounding jobs. Take material home and read. Take notes if you are being trained so people don't have to re-teach you. Act with confidence. Think before you ask a question that doesn't need to be asked - you can ask too many questions. As management, it looks good if you don't leave at exactly 4:30 or whenever. After your first day, go home and think about how you can do the best job you can to help the company." ]

[ "(CNN) -- Sports superstar Roger Federer has organized a charity event to raise funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, as the tennis world rallies to contribute to the cause. Federer, the world's top-ranked player, will take part in an exhibition event in Australia on Sunday along with other top names such as Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Samantha Stosur. They will play in doubles matches at Melbourne Park in the state of Victoria's capital city, giving up their last day of preparation ahead of this year's opening Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open. \"The entry fee is a minimum donation of $10. This should be fun and it's for a great cause,\" the Swiss said on his official Web site. \"I think it's something as a tennis family we're very happy to do. I know it's on the eve of the first Grand Slam of the season, so for some it's not so easy maybe mentally to separate a few things -- but I think it's a great initiative. \"The devastating earthquake which hit Haiti on Tuesday measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale and has left tens of thousands of people dead. The United Nations has launched an appeal for hundreds of millions of dollars to try to help around three million people in need.\" Blog: Haiti can expect sporting support . Federer supports several charities, having launched his own foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged children. The 28-year-old, who has won more Grand Slam titles than any other male tennis player, also visited tsunami victims as part of his role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Meanwhile, Marcos Baghdatis, who lost to Federer in the final of the 2006 Australian Open, has donated $5,000 of his prize money for winning the Sydney International tournament on Saturday to the World Vision Australia Haiti Earthquake Appeal. \"The situation in Haiti is really, really sad,\" the Cypriot told the ATP Tour's official Web site. \"I have seen the pictures on the news and it is just horrific. I want to send my condolences to everyone affected by the earthquake.\" World No. 42 Baghdatis beat France's Richard Gasquet 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in the final, coming back from 4-1 down in the second set. Gasquet, who has dropped to 53rd in the rankings after serving a ban for testing positive for cocaine last year which was later reduced due to mitigating circumstances, was seeking his first title since September 2007. Sydney doubles champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic both donated five percent of their prize money to the appeal. \"I don't think we can fully comprehend the devastation of the earthquake over in Haiti, and we just want to do our part in helping everyone who is suffering during this difficult time,\" Nestor told www.atpworldtour.com. American John Isner also contributed to the relief fund, donating $5,000 to the Red Cross from his first prize for winning the men's tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. \"It's a small contribution to help the victims in Haiti. What happened there makes us realize how lucky we are,\" said Isner, who defeated France's Arnaud Clement 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-2) in the final of the Heineken Open on Saturday to claim his first ATP Tour title." ]

[ "Haiti's terror didn't end when the ground stopped shaking. Reports of rape and sexual violence have been all too common after the January 2010 earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people and displaced almost 25% of the entire population. \"On the evening of January 20, several young men were firing gunshots in the air. They came into our shelter and grabbed my 19-year-old niece,\" one woman, Dina, told Amnesty International. \"They just came in, grabbed her and dragged her away. ... She was raped by several men. They took her at around 9 p.m. and let her go at around 2 a.m.\" Another woman, Guerline, told the rights group that she and her 13-year-old daughter were attacked on the same night in March 2010. The men wore hoods and told Guerline that if she went to the police, she would be shot dead. \"There is nowhere safe where I can live, so I had to keep quiet,\" she said. \"I didn't take my daughter to the hospital. She was too scared. I sent her to another town where some relatives live.\" In the days following the disaster, camps were set up to provide shelter for more than a million displaced Haitians. But these \"tent cities\" have been far from ideal, according to Malya Villard-Appolon, one of this year's top 10 CNN Heroes. \"After the earthquake, the situation was inhumane and degrading. There was no security. There was no food; there was no work,\" said Villard-Appolon, a rape survivor who co-founded an organization, KOFAVIV, that helps other victims find safety, medical aid and legal support. \"Two years after the earthquake, it is still the same,\" she said. \"The people are still under the tent, they don't have electricity, they are getting raped.\" Nearly 370,000 people remain in displacement camps, according to the U.N. And gruesome reports of violence, inadequate health care and substandard living conditions have painted a picture of horror and hopelessness. In one study, published in January by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (PDF), 14% of households reported that at least one member of the household had been a victim of sexual violence since the earthquake. And 70% of households surveyed said they were now more worried about sexual violence. Residents have cited lack of lighting, long walks to the bathroom, and flimsy tents as some of the issues putting females at risk of attack. Many females also are on their own for the first time. \"Women and girls were left to fend for themselves in camps,\" said Anne-christine d'Adesky, project coordinator for PotoFanm+Fi, a nonprofit that has been working with more than 70 Haitian support groups to track post-earthquake violence. \"Because of the great displacement, people lost that sense of community protection.\" Accurate numbers of gender-based violence are difficult to find in the aftermath of such devastation, especially when many victims fear retaliation. But d'Adesky said her group has seen a steady rise in reports, which she attributes to increased outreach. One young woman, Marie, was raped in the Champ de Mars camp and had her jaw broken. She said she was also forced into prostitution so she could eat and survive. High numbers of adolescent girls are engaging in what they call \"transactional sex\" for shelter and food, d'Adesky said. Many of those interviewed claimed they had never sold sex before, but the earthquake had left them no option. \"I call this gender aftershocks,\" said d'Adesky, whose group is publishing their report on Haiti next month. \"These women and girls have no means of survival and are engaging in transactional sex work -- or survival sex -- sometimes just for shelter.\" And many of those women -- as well as those who have been raped -- are becoming pregnant, raising fears about rising maternal health issues. Even before the quake, Haiti was the most dangerous place to be pregnant in the Western Hemisphere: the lifetime risk of dying during childbirth there is 1 in 47. \"We followed up with a number of pregnant girls who were no longer pregnant,\" d'Adesky said. According to her sources, there has been a high rate of illegal street abortions and child abandonment. But amid the depressing and dire reports comes a glimmer of hope. KOFAVIV and other groups are working to help young girls and women, giving them safety, support and training so they can make money and not have to sell themselves. Better lighting has been installed in some displacement camps. More than 10,000 military and police personnel are now helping to provide security throughout the country, and hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers have been assigned to specifically work with the Haitian National Police. And in the last two years, there has been a big change in the way rape is prosecuted, according to legal experts. More women are reporting the crimes, and more rapists are being prosecuted. \"There has been a higher percentage of complaints that are turning into pre-trial investigations and are leading to formal charges,\" said Brian Concannon Jr., director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. In the first two years after the quake, sources in Haiti had estimated there were few, if any, rape convictions. But this year there have already been more than 60 convictions for sex crimes in Haiti, according to the National Human Rights Defense Network. This summer, 22 rape cases were prosecuted and there were 13 convictions, said Meena Jagannath, a lawyer who has worked with Haitian rape victims. There was one acquittal, and eight of the trials were \"left blank\" for a number of reasons, including lack of representation for the victim who may not have even known she was to appear in court. \"It sounds like it's a small number, it sounds like more should have been filed since 2010,\" Jagannath said. \"But we should take into consideration the biases of the system and level of disorganization and corruption. It really is an accomplishment. I've heard those numbers are much higher now than even before the earthquake.\" CNN Photos: Rape adds to Haitian camp woes . Concannon said Haiti's justice system has a history \"of not taking rape that seriously.\" It wasn't until 2005 that rape was classified as a crime on par with an assault. Before that, rape was a \"crime against public morals,\" which Concannon says is something like a misdemeanor compared with a felony. Now the challenge is changing attitudes and empowering women to speak up. While it still can be difficult for many victims to file a police report and obtain the necessary medical documents needed to pursue justice, there are more resources for women who want to speak out. \"All this progress is the result of advocacy by KOFAVIV and other grassroots women's groups and their allies,\" Concannon said. \"I believe that the progress has the potential to play a key role in transforming attitudes about violence against women -- not just in the justice system, but in Haitian society as a whole.\" More from CNN Heroes: . Afghan girls take brave first step . Young caregivers put life on hold . What really sways teens not to drink, drive?" ]

[ "This book is 100% fluff and contains absolutely nothing of substance. It reads more like an empty self-help book written by a snake-oil salesman looking to develop another stream of passive income while simultaneously upselling his readers/victims to his other products. I've never written a review on Amazon before, but this book was infuriatingly horrible enough to motivate me to write this.\n\nIf you're looking for advice that's actionable and more substantive than broad generic affirmations like \"pursue wealth instead of money\", \"make connections\", \"do what you love\", \"pay off your debts\", and \"save your money\", you're definitely not going to find any in this book. The chapter titles should be enough of a red flag: \"Take Control\", \"Develop a Wealth Mindset\", \"Create the Environment\", \"Find Clarity\", \"Craft your dream career\", \"Make Money\", etc.\n\nThere are no case studies or detailed accounts as to how the author or any of the \"75 Successful Entrepreneurs\" obtained their financial freedom. The author merely litters meaningless 1-3 sentence quotes throughout the book. Essentially there is no data or stories to back up any of the broad generic claims that constitute this entire pathetic excuse of a book. So even if you're comfortable with the fact that this is a fluffy self-help book, don't expect to find inspiration through biographical accounts or success stories because there aren't any.\n\nThere is no way in hell anyone who actually read this book could give this anything more than 1 star. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. As I write this review, the book has 129 reviews and an average 5 star rating. The only logical explanation is that the reviewers were compensated by the author. Pathetic.\n\nJust to prove that I'm not just a \"Negative Nancy\", here are some similar books I read that were relatively good: \"The 4 Hour Work Week\" by Tim Ferris, \"The $100 Startup\" by Chris Guillebeau, and \"Choose Yourself!\" by James Altucher. Even though those books can be unrigorous and \"self-help\"-y at times, at least there are in-depth case studies in there that might inspire you.\n\nAustin Netzley: you are a money-obsessed con artist and should be ashamed of yourself." ]

[ "They have a whole page telling you to ignore all advice from professors, other prep books, family, and friends. But follow their advice word for word because they are experts. I don't appreciate the condescending and arrogant approach the author is taking. And then their advice is very basic and self explanatory.", "In a field riddled with authors that make questionable claims and have even more questionable training, this book is a welcome dose of sanity.\n\nThe authors give a clear exposition of Hypnotherapy and what it can achieve. Rather than the do it yourself books that flood the market, Bryant and Mabbutt make it clear that seeing a professional therapist is far more productive. The reader does decide to seek help, this book will make sure that they know what to expect as well as give you the tools to make sure that you are picking the best therapist for you.\n\nIf you have ever considered hypnotherapy for weight loss, smoking, self esteem, or anything else, this is the book you should read first.", "This book should have been entitled \"My Daddy issues and how I AM SO just as much a man as he was.\" Any actual insights into survival come from the facts of the anecdotes and case-studies, certainly not from the author's self-congratulatory pseudo-philosophy.\n\nIn the end the question of the title - \"Who lives, who dies, and why\", never gets answered, and the appendix entitled \"The Rules of Adventure\" contains no insights that anyone with garden-variety common sense doesn't already know.\n\nI would not recommend this book for anyone interested in any real study of survival and survivors.", "I am 1/3 in. It's a great book. My first marketing book. Author gave me great ideas and instructions that I can do to effect my businesss.\n\nThis books can be life changing if you are brand new to marketing. So no doubt. Please buy it!\n\nThe reason for 3-stars is:\n\n1-Like many self help books, the material can be condensed to about 3 pages. And for more in depth discussion, maybe author could expand it to an intelligent 45-page booklet. But it's hard to sell it for $20 if it's a thin book.\n\n2- So far, it seems self promotional of his own businesss. I find this conflict of interest and I TRUST the author LESS. I don't like his character that's is too blatantly self-serving.\n\nI will say I haven't checked his website yet. But because I don't trust him in this book, therefore it is highly unlike I will use and recommend his service.\n\nIn any case. objectively speaking , his advice is workable for small or big business.\n\nI suggest that, to make good use of the book, business owners should take a break from the book, and correct/work on your business material as the author's suggestion inspires you. For example, following the author's points, I reduced my websites home page to half of the info and redesign my brochure.\n\nSo put his advice in action right away. And always, run a successful business on ethical platform. That means, even if you can get away with things, you will always choose to do the right thing for others.\n\nHope this helps fellow entrepreneurs!", "The ending of this book, and the weak secondary plot, left me dismayed. The author should be ashamed of herself. I will never purchase another Lisa Jackson book.", "This book is a great resource for both first time writers as well as experienced self-publishers still honing their craft.\n\nAs a self-published author with about a year of experience under my belt, I was happy to find tons of good advice regarding new concepts to try as well as some thoughts with regards to fine tuning what I'm already doing.\n\nThe pros are fairly easy to list:\n- Quick easy read\n- Goes beyond just the ebook world and gives full end to end advice regarding the self-publishing business.\n- Written by a top self-published author (something not all \"how to\" books of this genre can claim) so there's the added confidence of listening to someone who knows what they're talking about.\n- Priced very aggressively compared to other \"how to\" books in this genre and easily worth what those others are charging.\n\nThe only con some might find with this book is that often times Hicks gives general advice on a topic rather that getting too specific. However, this makes a lot of sense. The author (rightfully) points out that every success story is going to be a little different. Emulating him or anyone else 100% isn't a guarantee of the same results. We each have to find our own voice in these things.\n\nThe title of this book is perfect. It's not a system, it's not a get rich quick scheme, it's a path...a long winding one. This book is aimed at those who wish to put themselves on this path. It exists to point us in the right direction and give the reader the tools they need to forge ahead. Whether we reach our 'destination' is still heavily reliant on us, but this book is an excellent compass to help guide us there.", "Very helpful things to consider and do before going to the Dr.'s for health concerns!\nPractical self health concern helps!\nEnjoyed the case studies of those she has advised on health concerns!", "Bunch of copied and pasted code with little explanation. Most of the book is about data-sets and how to parse them. When it comes to neural nets or Tensorflow authors advice the reader to research it on the web. Trying to read this book is like trying to understand Egyptian hieroglyphs.\nI am just amazed that these three authors were so incredibly lazy that having giving the opportunity to write a book, they decided not to spend even couple of weeks on it. if each of these three authors spend a month on the book, the book could have been something useful. They just decided to take the money and run.\nThe editors Nicole Tache and Shiny Kalapurakkel should be ashamed of themselves for letting a hodgepodge of collected code to be published as a book. And shame on O'Reilly for publishing this.\nI suspect the positive ratings are by the authors's friends.", "If you have written a book and published, you know that the writing and the publishing were the easy parts. The most vital-and most difficult-task is promoting the book so that people will buy it. Distributors are fond of saying to authors, \"Our job is to get the book onto the shelf; your job is to get it off.\"\nIn ten chapters, this author presents the how-to, step-by-step, of how to promote a book to distributors, retailers, and consumers. She covers a lot of ground to help authors get the word out. Plenty of examples to give authors guidance. Ground Rules In Action sections and Key Points summaries at the end of the chapters added value\nJosephson is founder and president of Cameo Publications, a firm that has published eight books, including this one. Her experience includes writing over 1,000 articles. From my research on amazon.com, this appears to be her first book. She uses herself heavily in her examples, to the point that this reviewer felt the book was bordering on self-promotion. With her experience as a publisher and a magazine editor, she has gained a body of knowledge that is valuable for authors. The knowledge is conveyed effectively in this book. Authors would be well-advised to read and heed the advice in these pages.", "There are so many \"how to\" guides that are based on best-case scenarios and advice that's impossible for a normal person to follow. This is NOT that type of book. It's packed with real-world help for all the dreamers who want to finally take action to build a business that doesn't jeopardize their family along the way.", "If you're struggling with a shopping addiction, you will face yourself on these pages. For everyone else, this book isn't particularly special or a must read. The author's self destructiveness and lack of control is maddening, but those are the qualities that define her addiction. If you do not have a particular interest in the author, shopping addiction, or \"an addict recovers\" literature, you should read something else.", "Fun to read, with plenty of useful examples!\n\nInteresting case studies and usable action plans make this book stand out from the crowd. If your goal is getting the most out of social media, this book will definitely help you develop a practical strategy and choose the right tactics.\n\nA Definite Read!", "Shameless, blatant plagiarism of the Ghost Dusters series. Taking a first-person story and changing it to third-person doesn't make it an original book! This \"author\" should be ashamed, and will be lucky not to get sued. Amazon, pull this down!", "If you have studied Candlesticks or have not, there will not be much of a secret.\nBut there are something else in this book that the author explained, you will not find at anywhere else, I found very valuable.", "The book provides a lot of timeless advice to help someone take responsibility for their own decisions and work towards building a better life on their own terms. Redzic has certainly gone through a lot of adversity on his way to establishing himself as an immigrant to America and self-funding a private college education. Above all, I noticed that he really opened doors for himself by relentlessly putting himself out there to form genuine relationships with other people. By sticking your neck out there for others, they're more likely to help you when you're in need. I think that's what some \"self-help\" plans miss: self-help should not be \"alone\"-help!\n\nThis book wasn't just a list of \"10 tips for success\" or whatever, but rather a personal story of success (that seems is still being written) that Redzic is able to form into something relatable to the reader. Additionally, there are sections that provide practical advice for the young person either about to enter college or about to start managing their own finances. Certainly not comprehensive, but a great start for the basics. I wouldn't mind handing this book over to my future kid before he or she starts thinking about college plans, since the advice for self-actualization will never get stale. Even if you're 40/50/60 or beyond it's never too late to read this book!", "We all think we know ourselves really well, but, as this book reveals, most of us don't see ourselves as clearly as we could/should.\n\nTasha Eurich has written a thorough and interesting book on the self-awareness. In Insight, she talks about the anatomy of self-awareness, our own blind spots and our roadblocks to personal insight. She then provides tools for gaining self-awareness and talks about the myths and truths of self awareness.\n\nThe Good:\nEurich provides interesting insight into, um, Insight. There is plenty of information on how we can be blind to our own behaviors and beliefs. The author focuses on self-awareness unicorns - the people who learned to become perfectly self-aware. I enjoyed reading about the studies and science of self awareness.\n\nThe Bad:\nThe prose feels a bit... salesy. I feel like I am sitting in a self-help rally being pumped up by and thrilled by the author. She peppers the book with \"shocking\" \"astonishing\" \"urgent\" \"critical\" information that feels more appropriate to a soap opera than a scientific look at self-awareness. I also felt that the tips for gaining self-awareness weren't very well-laid out. The author also tends to use phrases that I was unfamiliar with, clearly assuming that we all have some sort of experience in the field.", "I've read a number of books about entrepreneurship and business. Although most books claim to be for people who actually are starting a small business, few of them are actually helpful. Most are written from the perspective of an observer. Many of these books (i.e. Art of the Start) aren't even written by entrepreneurs but pseudo-entrepreneurs that haven't actually started a business - and whose advice is geared towards very specific niche types of companies or situations. Few of these books actually offer actionable information.\n\nOf the few books I've read and would recommend without any reservations this would be one of them, along with Founders at Work, and Four Steps to the Epiphany.\n\nAlthough the book was written in the 1980s, very little of the information feels dated (except perhaps a very short chapter on incorporating your business at which time LLCs did not exist). Although the advice contained in the book is often generalized, it is not written from a third person perspective. It is as if the author were having lunch with you, and offering his own knowledge based on specific experiences he had with starting his own businesses.\n\nGenerally speaking, I tend to be skeptical of advice offered without highly specific data (i.e. case studies that show cash flow, balance sheets, etc.) or some other kind of metric to actually prove the argument of the author.\n\nBut this book comes off as quite sincere. One of the best pieces of advice that the author lays out, is to start small, use your own money (however much or little you feel comfortable using), and to take time and be patient in solving all of those little niggling problems that will confront you when you first begin.\n\nSolving the small problems early on set you up for your future success. My own life experience confirms this observation, and numerous other pieces of advice in the book like this one were also confirmed by my own common sense and experience.\n\nHighly recommended to anyone starting a small business.", "Stewart Snyder's QUITTING IS FOR WINNERS is a helpful resource with practical advice for exiting careers and jobs that are no longer serving you (or, perhaps, never did). As a former job-quitter turned self-employed entrepreneur (which is a fancy of way of saying \"I work for myself\"), even years after leaving my career behind I still find this book to be a great source of inspiration and reminders (plus case studies) for why I quit and why I must work so hard to keep going. For others who are considering quitting their jobs, I can see this book as great motivation to start preparing for the leap -- ultimately, to take it.", "I found this book to be fairly useless for a regular premed. It features mostly non traditional students who \"beat the odds\" and make it in. If you're a normal pre med in college, you're not going to glean anything from this except that maybe you should study harder so you can avoid some of these problems. Examcrackers has a great forum for real premed advice for everyone.", "The Author should be ashamed of himself calling this The New Testament Bible, it is very graphic and focused on the evil and war of The New Testament. IT IS NOT FOR CHILDREN.", "This book is full of tips to help you be more confident and boost your self-esteem. The books tips include believing in yourself and surrounding yourself with supportive people that also believe in you. You should also like your job, challenge yourself by trying new things, express yourself, and work at overcoming your fears. In doing these things you will gain confidence and build your self-esteem as you take criticism at face value and use it in a positive way. By focusing on these positives you will be happier and more self-confident. The biggest thing you should do is be true to yourself.", "Would not work with my dvd player. Would not auto switch. The people who sell this thing should be ashamed of them selfs. This is the worst waste of money I have ever spent money on!", "A total waste of money! Not quite sure what this pamphlet is supposed to be?", "NOTE: I received a free copy of this book to review for the web site Metapsychology Online Reviews; you can read a more detailed version of my review on that site.\n\nIn this self-help book, authors John Preston and Melissa Kirk encourage readers to be actively involved in their own treatment. Thus each chapter which follows is filled with detailed, proven behavioral changes which those struggling with depression can implement in an attempt to produce a resulting improvement in mood. Although the authors acknowledge that when one is depressed, one may have little motivation to attempt positive action, they make this process as easy as possible by providing specific advice as well offering useful exercises. The areas of change which the authors address vary from making healthy lifestyle choices (e.g., sleep, nutrition, and exercise), incorporating cognitive strategies, enhancing self-esteem, managing intense emotions, improving social skills, to preventing relapse. Particularly useful is the information on recognizing negative thought patterns, the suggestions for clarifying one's own value system, the basic overview on developing a mindfulness practice, and the very detailed information on becoming more aware of body language and engaging in more adaptive social communication, both of which would be especially helpful to those experiencing some social anxiety in addition to depression.\n\nIn their discussion of relapse, Preston and Kirk emphasize two basics of self-care (sleep and exercise) as well as stress the importance of having a support person involved. They also suggest goal-setting as a means of maintaining balance and continuing progress. The authors conclude their book with two Appendices, one which lists Medical Disorders That Can Cause Depression and one which lists Drugs That Can Cause Depression. (Note: the authors strongly recommend that anyone with depression first see a medical professional for a complete physical to rule out possible medical causes for their depression. They also emphasis the importance of professional help in the treatment of depression, particularly for those with severe depression.) Overall, this short book (with References, it's just under 140 pages) offers just what it promises--i.e., a practical self-help guide to the treatment of depression. As a psychologist working in a college counseling center, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to my student clients.", "It is a fake book that is rude an does not need to be published or purchased by anyone ever", "I just completed reading the book from cover to cover and I am pleased. I think when it comes to judging the quality of a book, a reader should consider how well the author has shared their real world experience in the field. I feel strongly that the author makes a compeling case for why engineers should care about doing DI, and the author shared a great deal of his experience, both good and bad, with implementing DI. I don't believe the author came accross as being smarter than anyone as someone else has posted. I think it takes a lot to write a book and share experience and I value the content that was shared with me. Obviously their is a lot of content out of date when reading this in 2016. However, Id say that there is still a great deal of value to be gained from reading this. Im sure a very small population of people can articulate the details of DI so be greatful you have some resource at all. Thank you.", "I haven't read this cover-to-cover, but what I've read so far has been helpful. The practice tests are invaluable!! I think having those will do more to help than anything else, followed up with the book itself and its insights. Kaplan has always been known for being a good study aid, and this is my first time actually seeing that for myself. I've got this and the GMAT official guides, but I like how this is written better.", "If you have read my other reviews you will know I have read 100's of self help books over the years. I am a business consultant, peak performance expert, entrepreneur and University lecturer amongst other things. As such I read books in order to improve my knowledge and the advice I can give others. I ordered this book via the Vine programme in the hope I may end up learning something new about how the mind can create happiness without all the positive thinking garbage that some book push.\n\nThe saying, \"A mind can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven\" is something I strongly believe in. We are in fact masters of our own happiness through the way we view the world around us. I started reading about how cognitive belief systems can control the world we see many years ago when I read Psycho Cybernectics by Maxwell Maltz. The premise of this book is that the way a person sees themselves and so thinks, affects the self esteem and so affects every part of their life, including the ability to be happy. The problem with most motivational/self help books are that they assume that by setting goals, thinking positively and using mantra like affirmations people can achieve anything they want to achieve. The great falsehood with this, is that for many, past programming and the way people view their pasts is the critical block which goal setting does not address. Most people who are unsuccessful/depressed/going nowhere etc assume the problem is outside of them, so by using most motivational books they put the responsibility to be successful on somebody else's \"system\", without first realising how they are thinking is the cause of the dissatisfaction.\n\nThis book by Oliver Burkeman is very different, as the author clearly states from the outset that he is not offering the reader a foolproof way of becoming successful, what he offers is wise advice on the topics of \"Happiness\". The premise of the book is in order to become happier you must stop chasing happiness and embrace all the things that can go wrong in your life and just accept them. In essence it is very similar to Buddhist thinking of detachment of thought and becoming a mere observer of your thoughts....\"What we resist we get more of in our lives....\" is the idea. By embracing problems we in essence can detach ourselves from the self made negative connotations/interpretations of how WE see disasters in our own lives. Maltz in Psycho Cybernetics claimed that a damaged self image is the core reason for so much failure. By detaching from the negative thoughts/connotations of problems that affect the self image and so changing how we see ourselves, we in essence slowly embrace happiness by becoming less anxious about how we see past. Does it work? The author gives no promises but I think it will certainly help an individual find greater peace in their lives and so help repression of negativity, which is always a good thing.\n\nThis book is very different from most self help books. I think it should be read in conjunction with Psycho Cybernetics as this will give the reader a better understanding of how the mind can \"Make a Hell out of Heaven and a Heaven out of Hell.\" It is a very motivating read and it should help the reader become happier with their lives by embracing problems.\n\nHighly Recommended.", "Terrible waste of money. It's about 10 minutes of reading about nothing. You could no more grow a tomato from this book than the man in the moon could. The book is really nothing more than a few paragraphs that the writer probably wrote out on a napkin while eating some tomatoes that someone else grew. This is nothing but a scam and Amazon should be ashamed of allowing something like this to be sold at the site.", "This book is an excellent choice to learn C++ in small steps since the topics are designed to be studied in about 1 hour sessions thus making it a good fit for busy self-learners.\n\nI started with practically no C nor programming experience and this book allowed me to learn without external help (this says a lot about the good explanation the author has been able to convey)\n\nI really recommend it.", "This is a great book for anyone, but especially for the person who has been bullied in the workplace. However, one doesn't need to have been bullied to get a lot out of this book. I would have loved this book when I worked in management as it would have been a great guide for structuring positive relationships with employees.\n\nThe author, Annie Clayton, provides clear, actionable, and expert advice, often drawing upon professional journal articles and scholars in the field to offer support to her advice. She also includes stories from those who experienced bullying and their responses. An excellent book for anyone who values a healthy workplace.", "Annino's book provides the basic legal knowledge women need to deal with problems such as caring for elderly parents or young children, preparing for death or disability of self or spouse, whether to buy insurance, etc. However, there is no dry legalese: the advice is straightforward and abundantly illustrated with interesting stories from her law practice. In chapters aimed at women in various stages (divorcing, single, married, etc.) Annino seems to be having a personal conversation directly with the reader, offering lots of practical advice. Even has a fashionably pretty cover! Ladies: start your studies with this book." ]

[ "Web Design, just like Graphic Design, is the creation of graphics, typography, graphs, and images to communicate an idea. However, Web Design only concerns websites, not print. ... They also have to take their designs and turn them into a working website, which involves programming." ]

[ "Web designers may be graphic designers who work on the web or developers who have built enough skills to create a good looking website or app. Web designers tend not to take the human-centered approach of UX design. ... Web design tends to be less iterative, whereas UX design is about integrating continuous improvements.", "A web designer is an IT professional who is responsible for designing the layout, visual appearance and the usability of a website. A good web designer needs to have both creative graphic skills and technical skills.", "A web designer is a graphic artist who develops and styles objects for the Internet. Website designers are able to tap into their creative energy and design the overall layout and look for websites. A web developer is one that develops applications and functionality for the Internet.", "Graphic design is basically considered print design nowadays. Visual communication as a discipline contains a broader spectrum of communication design disciplines such as digital design i.e. web and product design, advertising, photography, illustration. film and video and graphic design.", "Graphic designer Like being a web developer, being a graphic designer is something that you can do either freelance or by being employed by a company. Either way, design work is something that's required nearly everywhere and can be done nearly anywhere.", "Graphic design is the design of magazines, some advertising work, packaging, book covers, cd covers, web site design where as interior design is used to design both exterior and interior of peoples' houses, hotels look, cafes, bars etc. Both interior design and exterior design can earn high or low.", "Graphic Design. ... The underlying structure of graphic design and fine art is one and the same. However, graphic designers make art that is commercial, whereas fine artists often make art for personal expression.", "Graphic design is the most visible area of the design field, thanks to graphics-heavy websites, advertisements and print media. ... Industrial design is just as widespread, but it calls on a slightly different set of skills than those required in graphic design.", "Web designers plan, create and code internet sites and web pages, many of which combine text with sounds, pictures, graphics and video clips. A web designer is responsible for creating the design and layout of a website or web pages. It and can mean working on a brand new website or updating an already existing site.", "Graphic designers and product designers are responsible for developing an appealing design for clients, though graphic designers focus on designs done on a computer while product designers create designs that will be used to create actual products.", "Web Design refers to the design of the over-all website. While UI design refers to the design of a User Interface. ... A web designer focuses on creating the overall design. While a UI designer focuses specifically on the design of User Interfaces of the application.", "A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures (sometimes) and advertising.", "Becoming a Graphic Designer. Graphic artists need a bachelor's degree in graphic design, web design, art, animation, or a related field. You'll need highly developed computer skills, with a mastery of the Adobe suite of products, such as Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.", "['Graphic Designer. ... ', 'Web/App Designer. ... ', 'Advertising. ... ', 'Video Editor. ... ', 'Photojournalist. ... ', 'Art/Design Director. ... ', 'Communications Manager. ... ', 'Design Education.']", "1. Graphic designer. Graphic designers develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, websites and more. ... Ruane worked as a graphic designer at a technology magazine, creating magazine layouts, some advertising, print production and a bit of web design.", "Game design is related to creating fun games while graphic design is related to applying visual arts. Graphic design involves designing impressive graphics using the advanced designing tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and more. There is less coding work and more designing work.", "['Photography.', 'Graphic Design.', 'User Interface Design.', 'Web Design.', 'Application Design.', 'Digital Painting.', 'Printing.', 'Social Media Marketing.']", "['TV, theatre or film set designer.', 'exhibition display designer.', 'television production assistant.', 'industrial/project designer.', 'graphic designer.', 'web designer.']", "Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas. The designer works with a variety of communication tools in order to convey a message from a client to a particular audience. The main tools are image and typography.", "Graphic design is the process of creating visual and textual content in order to communicate messages to a target group. It involves the application of typography, photography, and illustration, in combination with visual hierarchy and page layout techniques.", "Job Opportunities Career options for someone with a certificate in graphic design include web designer, package designer, creative director, illustrator and computer artist.", "Web designers use various design programs such as Adobe Photoshop to create the layout and other visual elements of the website. Web Developers on the other hand, take a website design and actually make a functioning website from it.", "The main difference between graphic design and digital design is that graphic design is mostly static (logos, magazines, pictures etc.), while digital design involves movement (animations, interactive elements, movies etc.). Digital design does not only use visual arts, but may also include audio and sound effects.", "In essence, web design refers to both the aesthetic portion of the website and it's usability. ... Web Developers on the other hand, take a website design and actually make a functioning website from it. Web developers use HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and other programming languages to bring to life the design files.", "Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use of typography, photography, iconography and illustration. The field is considered a subset of visual communication and communication design, but sometimes the term \"graphic design\" is used synonymously.", "['Graphic Designer. Every aspect of a graphic designer is done from behind a screen, yet becoming a graphic designer is not a skill that can be mastered overnight. ... ', 'Data Analyst. ... ', 'Online English Tutor. ... ', 'Social Media Marketing. ... ', 'Web Developer.']", "['Visual identity graphic design. — ... ', 'Marketing & advertising graphic design. — ... ', 'User interface graphic design. — ... ', 'Publication graphic design. — ... ', 'Packaging graphic design. — ... ', 'Motion graphic design. — ... ', 'Environmental graphic design. — ... ', 'Art and illustration for graphic design. —']", "Hello and welcome to Graphic Design tutorial conducted by Acadgild. Graphic Design is the process by which messages and images are used to convey information to a targeted audience. ... A Graphic Designer is a communicator, who takes ideas and gives them visual form so that others can understand it.", "Graphic designers and animators both work in a creative field that involves developing designs primarily using a computer. While graphic designers create designs used in advertising for clients, animators create designs and animations that are used to entertain audiences.", "['Graphic Design Teacher. A graphic design teacher uses established curriculum to develop new materials, innovative assignments and engaging content for classes. ... ', 'Systems Designer. Many systems designers work for corporations to re-develop or re-design web-based content. ... ', 'Publication Specialist.']", "Graphic design is a craft where professionals create visual content to communicate messages. By applying visual hierarchy and page layout techniques, designers use typography and pictures to meet users' specific needs and focus on the logic of displaying elements in interactive designs, to optimize the user experience.", "Education for Graphic Designers A bachelor's degree in graphic design or a related field is usually required. ... Most programs include courses in studio art, principles of design, computerized design, commercial graphics production, printing techniques, and website design." ]

[ "Messages: 2,196. There are seven Marriott timeshare resorts in Orlando. The closest to Disney are the three that share the Marriott World Center property - Sabal Palms, Royal Palms and Imperial Palm Villas. These are the oldest of the seven. SB and RP are two bedroom resorts, IP is an all three bedroom resort." ]

[ "Courtyard By Marriott Hotels in Walt Disney World FL. Courtyard By Marriott Walt Disney World properties are listed below. Search for cheap and discount Courtyard By Marriott hotel rooms in Walt Disney World, FL for your upcoming meeting or individual travels. We list the best Courtyard By Marriott Walt Disney World lodging properties so you can review the Walt Disney World Courtyard By Marriott hotel list below to find the perfect place.", "8623 Vineland Avenue · Orlando, Florida 32821 USA. Discover a stunning Orlando hotel, boasting a prime location, just one mile from the Walt Disney World Resort. The Courtyard Orlando Lake Buena Vista in the Marriott Village is a Disney Good Neighbor hotel and provides complimentary shuttle service.", "Get an overview of this hotelWalt Disney World Resort hotel with African-themed lodge. This 4-star resort is within close proximity of Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course and Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park.", "When you stay at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground in Lake Buena Vista, you'll be on a lake and close to Disney's Osprey Ridge Golf Course and Walt Disney World ®.", "Walt Disney World Resort, SeaWorld and an abundance of Orlando restaurants and local attractions are a short distance from the Floridays Resort Orlando. Floridays Resort Orlando is an award winning resort close to everything you love in Orlando.", "Escape to one of the premier resorts in Orlando, Florida. Discover a world of possibilities when staying at Orlando World Center Marriott. Whether booking accommodations for your family vacation, wedding guests or corporate event, find everything you need for a successful stay. As one of the most convenient resorts in Orlando, we offer amazing on-site amenities as well as a shuttle service to Walt Disney World®.", "Top Trending Hotels within or near the Walt Disney World® Resort. 1 Four Seasons Resort Orlando At Walt Disney World Resort. 2 Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs™ Resort Area. 3 B Resort and Spa located in Disney Springs Resort Area. Disney's Contemporary 1 Resort. Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside. Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.", "Delta Orlando by Marriott - hotel nearest Walt Disney World. Experience the NEW Delta Orlando Lake Buena Vista! Our hotel focuses on the details, while blending the excitement of the area’s most sought-after entertainment with luxurious accommodations skillfully designed to meet the needs of the next gen savvy travelers.", "Top Trending Hotels Near Walt Disney World® area, Orlando. 1 Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas - Kidani Village. 2 Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge. 3 Disney's BoardWalk Inn. Disney's Grand Floridian Resort 1 & Spa. Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Disney's Beach Club 1 Villas. Disney's Wilderness 2 Lodge. Disney's Yacht Club Resort.", "disney monorail, disney monorail hotels, Disney World Hotels, disney world monorail hotels, disney world resort, walt disney world hotels, walt disney world resort.", "The following is a list of the Disney parks located around the world and a short summary of what each park includes: • Disneyland Resort: This is the first Disney resort and is located in Anaheim, California.he following is a list of the Disney parks located around the world and a short summary of what each park includes: • Disneyland Resort: This is the first Disney resort and is located in Anaheim, California.", "Our Orlando hotel is just around the corner from popular Disney Springs, and are the closest non-Disney hotel to the Walt Disney World Resort®.", "JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts. Brand Overview: JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International’s luxury brand that consists of more than 75 exceptional properties in gateway cities and distinctive resort locations around the world.", "Featured Hotels Near Walt Disney World. TownePlace Suites by Marriott Orlando at Flamingo Crossings/Western Entrance 3-star hotel This property has agreed to be part of our Preferred Property Program, which groups together properties that stand out because of their excellent service and quality/price ratio with competitive prices.", "Walt Disney World Resort More Walt Disney World Resort Stories. Insider Tips for Dining with Disney Characters at Walt Disney World. So many favorites, so little time! Dining with the beloved Disney characters is a fun way to get up close and snag some fantastic vacation photos – and have a delicious meal too.", "As of April 2008 Disney owns & operates 25,126 rooms in the Walt Disney World Resorts. *Total above includes Disney's Hilton Head Resort and Disney's Vero Beach Resort. As of April 2008 Disney owns &amp; operates 25,126 rooms in the Walt Disney World Resorts. *Total above includes Disney's Hilton Head Resort and Disney's Vero Beach Resort.", "WALT DISNEY WORLD® Resort. Orlando Resorts near WALT DISNEY WORLD®. Come one, come all, to a family-friendly Orlando hotel less than one mile from Walt Disney World® Resort. Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is directly behind Disney Springs and down the street from other associated parks of Central Florida.", "Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Information. Rates as low as $159! The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin is located in the heart of Walt Disney World. These award winning resorts are located between Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios with Disney's Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom theme parks close by.", "Be sure to read more about the MouseSavers Preferred Hotels in Disney Springs, where you can get special MouseSavers offers: 1 B Resort and Spa located in Disney Springs Resort Area. 2 Best Western Lake Buena Vista in the Walt Disney World Resort. 3 DoubleTree Suites by Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort.", "Hotels & Resorts. Imagine staying just steps away from world-famous theme parks and an array of shopping, dining and entertainment options. That's exactly what you can expect when you stay at the Resort Hotels at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida or Disneyland Resort in California. Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.", "Until Disney's Art of Animation Resort is open (May 31) we do not have specific details of journey times to/from this resort, but what I can tell you is that Disney's Art of Animation is located close to Disney's Pop Century Resort, and both resorts have their own transport and will not be sharing with any other resort, at this time.", "Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa a staySky Hotel/Resort. Adjacent to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlet Mall, Lake Buena Vista Resort is 2 miles from the Downtown Disney Area and Walt Disney World Resort. SeaWorld Orlando is only 4 miles away.", "Frozen at Walt Disney World Resort Frozen at Walt Disney World Resort Height: Any HeightClassics, Indoor, Interactive, What's New, FrozenEpcot. Frozen Ever After Frozen Ever After Height: Any HeightSmall Drops, Slow Rides, Dark, Disney Princesses, FastPass+, Indoor, What's New, FrozenEpcot, World Showcase.", "Disney's All-Star Music Resort is a resort that is part of the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of five resorts in the Value Resort category, along with Disney's All-Star Sports Resort, Disney's All-Star Movies Resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort, and Disney's Art of Animation Resort. The resort is located on the southern portion of the Walt Disney World Resort property near Disney's Animal Kingdom.", "MouseSavers Preferred Hotels offer outstanding value and excellent quality plus excellent Orlando hotel discounts at top hotels near Disney World. You can learn more about how we picked these hotels below. All of the MouseSavers Preferred Hotels are very close to the Walt Disney World theme parks. Some of them are even on Disney World property! In addition, each MouseSavers Preferred Hotel offers special discounts, packages and/or extras for MouseSavers readers.", "Independent Hotels Marriott Vacation Club Sonesta Hotels And Resorts Hampton Inn Motel 6 Hilton Garden Inn Hilton Grand Vacations Club Holiday Inn Resort Omni Hotels Westin The Walt Disney Company Marriott Days Inn Ramada Red Roof Inns Best Western Preferred Hotels & Resorts Holiday Inn Express. Neighborhoods.", "Disney World to Close Hollywood Studios' Animation Pavilion. June 29, 2015, 3:21 PM · The Walt Disney World Resort today confirmed that it will close the Magic of Disney Animation pavilion at Disney's Hollywood Studios next month. One of the original attractions at what opened in 1989 as the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park, the animation pavilion used to be a working production facility where visitors could watch Disney animators creating feature-length films. The Florida studio worked on Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear before Disney closed it in 2004.", "• Walt Disney World Resort: This resort was Disney's second project in Orlando, Florida and is an expansion of the Magic Kingdom which opened in 1971. Today its theme parks include the original Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom.he following is a list of the Disney parks located around the world and a short summary of what each park includes: • Disneyland Resort: This is the first Disney resort and is located in Anaheim, California.", "Dreams Unlimited Travel. Walt Disney World Resorts - Disney Hotels. There are more great reasons than ever to stay at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel. Disney Resort benefits make a Walt Disney World vacation fun, relaxing and worry-free with a wide variety of Disney Resort amenities and programs.", "2. Disney Hotels. The Disney Armed Forces Salute program also applies to Disney Resort hotels, where military members can get select rooms at 30-40% off the normal rates. This includes a variety of deluxe resorts, moderate resorts, and value resorts at Walt Disney World in Florida.", "International Drive. Situated on Lake Eve, this 3-star Orlando condominium resort is within 3 miles of both Discovery Cove and SeaWorld. Wet N' Wild is 4 miles from the resort, and Walt Disney World Resort is 8 miles away.", "Insider Tips for Dining with Disney Characters at Walt Disney World. by Pam Brandon, Food Writer, Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. So many favorites, so little time! Dining with the beloved Disney characters is a fun way to get up close and snag some fantastic vacation photos – and have a delicious meal too." ]

[ "A biopsy is the only way to diagnose non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There are several types of biopsies. Doctors choose which one to use based on each person’s situation. Excisional or incisional biopsy: This is the most common type of biopsy if lymphoma is suspected.any symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma are not specific enough to say for certain if they are being caused by cancer. Most of them can also be caused by non-cancerous problems, like infections, or by other kinds of cancers." ]

[ "Best Answer: The breathalyzer measures the amount of alcohol in your system through CO2 not what is on your breath. They will do one sample and a second usually 15 minutes after the first.A pee test will also detect it.ating Newest Oldest. Best Answer: The breathalyzer measures the amount of alcohol in your system through CO2 not what is on your breath. They will do one sample and a second usually 15 minutes after the first. A pee test will also detect it.", "What is Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) Is a non treponemal testing procedure for the serological testing of syphilis. Which is the percentage of detection of primary and secondary syphilis with RPR test. It only detect 70-80% of primary cases but detects 99% of secondary. What is Cardiopin.", "**IMPORTANT: CPT Code is informational only; obtain the Test Code for ordering. Methodology. Immunofixation. Reference Range(s) No monoclonal proteins detected. Clinical Significance. Monoclonal increases in IgG or IgA are often associated with diseases such as multiple myeloma, lymphomas or leukemia.", "Overall, yes, Ritalin can be detected in a drug test. But, it depends on the test itself and on what urine is being tested for. Ritalin is detected in a intense Urine testing stage, on the kinds of tests usually conducted in the military.", "What is the stage of a cancer? The stage of a cancer is the extent of the disease at the time of diagnosis. The treatment and prognosis (outlook) for a patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) depend in part on the stage of the lymphoma. Tests used to gather information for staging can include: Physical exam.", "What Test Results Mean A NEGATIVE result from a Hemoccult II test means that there was no evidence of occult (hidden) blood detected in your stool specimen. However, this test is not a complete cancer detection examination; it only detects blood in the stool.", "Genomic tests are relatively new but are already finding their place in the management of men with prostate cancer. What is genomic testing? A genomic test detects and measures subtle genetic changes in your tumor generating information that can help physicians determine how best to treat your disease.", "Diagnosis & Tests. Finding colorectal cancer early is the key to beating it. There are many different tests to detect colorectal cancer. Here you’ll learn what to expect from each test and procedure. Screening Guidelines; Detecting the Cancer; Tests Your Doctor May Use; Colonoscopy: What to Expect; Fecal Occult Blood Test; Imaging Tests; Genetic Testing", "First Response Early Result. What it is: A standard stick test that's been shown to be more sensitive than other brands. A 2005 University of New Mexico study found that of seven popular pregnancy tests, First Response tests were best in detecting early pregnancy.", "Other common lymphomas in dogs include cutaneous lymphoma (lymphoma of the skin), alimentary or gastrointestinal lymphoma (lymphoma of the stomach and/or intestines) and mediastinal lymphoma (lymphoma involving organs within the chest, such as lymph nodes or the thymus gland).What causes lymphoma in dogs?our dog’s prognosis is determined by what type of lymphoma he or she has and what type of chemotherapy is used to treat the lymphoma. The median length of survival of dogs with multicentric lymphoma treated with UW-25 chemotherapy is between 9-13 months.", "Hence, people who are facing health issues may visit a doctor for tests, wherein the excessive levels of leukocytes in urine may be detected. A doctor will generally recommend a patient to undergo a urinalysis as it is the best type of urine test to detect excessive levels of leukocytes in urine.This abnormality can result in bladder or kidney damage.ence, people who are facing health issues may visit a doctor for tests, wherein the excessive levels of leukocytes in urine may be detected. A doctor will generally recommend a patient to undergo a urinalysis as it is the best type of urine test to detect excessive levels of leukocytes in urine.", "Lymphoma in dogs is an aggressive cancer that can metastasize very quickly. If the dog receives treatment and responds well to it, he may live up to one year after the lymphoma is detected. The cancer involves the lymphatic system and spreads at an alarming rate.", "Gastric MALT lymphoma is a type of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) affecting the stomach. To learn more about the symptoms and tests for this lymphoma see the article MALT Lymphoma. The following treatments can be used for gastric MALT lymphomas: Treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection (antibiotics)", "Around 90 per cent of the iodine in the food that you eat or drink is passed out of the body in your urine. So, one of the best ways to detect an iodine deficiency is a 24-hour urine collection test (called a random iodine-to-creatinine urine test).o, one of the best ways to detect an iodine deficiency is a 24-hour urine collection test (called a random iodine-to-creatinine urine test).", "Screening can detect medical conditions at an early stage before symptoms present while treatment is more effective than for later detection. In the best of cases lives are saved. Like any medical test, the tests used in screening are not perfect.", "What is the meaning of not detected HIV test result? The meaning of a not detected HIV test result means that the viral load can not be detected. If this is the first HIV test, you need to retest in 3 months. If you have alr…eady have been diagnosed with HIV, continue taking the prescribed medication.", "A Pap test is a test of a sample of cells taken from a woman's cervix or vagina. The test is used to look for changes in the cells of the cervix and vagina that show cancer or conditions that may develop into cancer.It is the best tool to detect precancerous conditions and hidden, small tumors that may lead to cervical cancer. If detected early, cervical cancer can be cured.he test is used to look for changes in the cells of the cervix and vagina that show cancer or conditions that may develop into cancer. It is the best tool to detect precancerous conditions and hidden, small tumors that may lead to cervical cancer. If detected early, cervical cancer can be cured.", "Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's and Dementia (5 Best Tests) 1 These five memory tests for Alzheimer's and dementia are designed to detect early signs of cognitive impairment, memory loss, or or problem with judegment or thinking. 2 These are the best free memory tests for Alzheimer's and dementia that are backed by reputable science.", "What is the BAER test? The hearing test known as the brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER) or brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) detects electrical activity in the cochlea and auditory pathways in the brain in much the same way that an antenna detects radio or TV signals or an EKG detects electrical activity of the heart.", "Let’s start with what is the meaning of sensitivity and specificity: Sensitivity means that: how much the test can detect the positive cases. Specificity means that: how much the test can detect the negative cases.", "Ultrasound is a good alternative test for blood test to determine gender because it is safe and accurate in determining baby sex. What's more, it can also detect defects such as heart defects, cleft palate, and club foot that other tests fail to detect.", "Tweet. Share this. What causes lymphoma is not well known. DNA mutations may be what causes lymphoma to develop but what triggers these mutations is largely unknown. Family history does not provide much of a clue; except in the case of some rare forms, lymphoma does not appear to be linked to genetic inheritance. However, as lymphoma incidence rises and research accelerates, several risk factors for lymphoma have been established. We outline some of them below.", "Detecting PCP in your system relies heavily on the type of test. 1 Urine tests can detect PCP after 4-6 hours and for up to 7-14 days. 2 Blood tests are best done within 1-4 hours since plasma levels peak during that time. 3 Hair tests can detect PCP within 5-10 days after use and for up to 90 days.", "It is not so surprising that Sjögren's lymphomas are not associated with EBV because the virus, when present in LSG of SS patients, is detected in epithelial cells by in situ hybridization.15 Moreover, EBV is present in lymphomas occurring in immunosuppressed patients57; that is not the case in Sjögren's patients.", "What is a screening test? A screening test is done to detect potential health disorders or diseases in people who do not have any symptoms of disease. The goal is early detection and lifestyle changes or surveillance, to reduce the risk of disease, or to detect it early enough to treat it most effectively.", "The best way to detect the lack of photosystem II in these organisms would be. A) to determine if they have thylakoids in the chloroplasts. B) to test for liberation of O₂ in the light. C) to test for CO₂ fixation in the dark.", "Confidence votes 187. The average drug test will detect from 25 ng/ml(nanograms per milliliter) to 50ng/ml, but some can detect as low as 5 ng/ml, depending on how much the drug test cost and what kind of technology they have.One-three inhalations is equal to about 50 ng/ml.onfidence votes 187. The average drug test will detect from 25 ng/ml(nanograms per milliliter) to 50ng/ml, but some can detect as low as 5 ng/ml, depending on how much the drug test cost and what kind of technology they have.", "Best Answer: Terry, An infection with HIV can take six weeks for detection. At 90 days, 95% will be positive. At 6 months, 99% will be positive.nitial testing for HIV is designed to detect antibodies to the virus. More than 98% of people who have HIV will produce enough antibodies to HIV to be detected on tests within 3 months of the time they got infected.", "Most tests will have a sensitivity of 20 – 25 miU/ml. The lower this measurement is, the earlier the pregnancy can be detected. The best early pregnancy test will have a low miU/ml. The absolute minimum amount of hCG that can be detected is 5 miU/ml, but no current over-the-counter tests go quite this low.", "Yes. Influenza tests may not detect every case of the flu. Rapid antigen tests generally detect 50-70% of influenza cases, while molecular tests detect 66%-100% of cases, depending on the test used. A negative result may mean that the test is not detecting the influenza strain or that there is not sufficient virus in the sample to allow it to be detected.", "A negative influenza test may mean that the person has something other than influenza, that the test is not detecting the influenza strain, or that there is not sufficient virus in the specimen to allow it to be detected.apid flu tests are best used within the first 48 hours of the onset of symptoms to help diagnose influenza and determine whether or not antiviral drugs are a treatment option. Rapid tests vary in their ability to detect influenza.", "The CRP (C-reactive protein) test detects non-specific inflammation in the body. Find out what it means when you have an elevated level. The CRP (C-reactive protein) test detects non-specific inflammation in the body." ]

[ "Two days after prosecutors announced they would not bring criminal charges against an Amtrak engineer involved in a 2015 derailment, a Philadelphia judge has ordered his arrest. Municipal Court Judge Marsha Neifield on Thursday ordered the arrest of engineer Brandon Bostian on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment. Bostian was at the controls of an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia in 2015, killing eight people and injuring about 200 others. NPR's Colin Dwyer reported for the Two-Way Blog that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced in a statement on Tuesday: \"The evidence indicates that the derailment was caused by the engineer operating the train far in excess of the speed limit. However, we cannot conclude that the evidence rises to the high level necessary to charge the engineer or anyone else with a criminal offense.\" Following the announcement, attorneys representing the family of one of those killed in the accident brought a private citizen criminal complaint against Bostian. The Associated Press reports that following the judge's decision: \"The city quickly referred the prosecution to the state attorney general Thursday to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Attorney General Josh Shapiro's office said it's reviewing the matter. It could appeal the order to the state's Superior Court. ... \"It's rare but not unprecedented for citizens to seek private criminal complaints when they object to a prosecutor's decision. Pennsylvania judges can approve or reject their petitions, but typically give wide latitude to a prosecutor's discretion. It's not clear if any such cases in recent memory in Philadelphia have survived when the prosecutor appealed.\" Colin writes: \"The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in August 2016 that Bostian likely caused the derailment, which occurred as the engineer accelerated into a curve rather than braking. The New York-bound Amtrak 188 entered the curve going more than double the speed limit, flinging multiple train cars free from the tracks and tearing up some of the railway's I-beams. \"Yet prosecutors say they have 'no evidence that the engineer acted with criminal \"intent\" or criminal \"knowledge,\" ' and they do not believe there's enough evidence to prove that Bostian acted with 'criminal recklessness.' \" The accident has prompted more than 125 lawsuits. As NPR's Merrit Kennedy reported in October, a federal judge approved a $265 million settlement between Amtrak and people affected by the crash." ]

[ "Prosecutors announced Tuesday they will not level criminal charges at Brandon Bostian, the engineer involved in the 2015 Amtrak derailment that killed eight people and injured some 200 others in Philadelphia. \"The evidence indicates that the derailment was caused by the engineer operating the train far in excess of the speed limit,\" the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said in a statement. \"However, we cannot conclude that the evidence rises to the high level necessary to charge the engineer or anyone else with a criminal offense.\" The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in August 2016 that Bostian likely caused the derailment, which occurred as the engineer accelerated into a curve rather than braking. The New York-bound Amtrak 188 entered the curve going more than double the speed limit, flinging multiple train cars free from the tracks and tearing up some of the railway's I-beams. Yet prosecutors say they have \"no evidence that the engineer acted with criminal 'intent' or criminal 'knowledge,' \" and they do not believe there's enough evidence to prove that Bostian acted with \"criminal recklessness.\" So the office has concluded its investigation into the incident, which also prompted more than 125 lawsuits. As NPR's Merrit Kennedy reported in October, a federal judge approved a $265 million dollar settlement between Amtrak and people affected by the crash: \"The court documents state that the settlement program is also available to passengers who have not yet filed a lawsuit or settled with Amtrak. According to the terms of the settlement, plaintiffs will be notified of their final award by June 30, and plaintiffs' lawyers expect the claims payments to be distributed by next summer.\" Bostian also sued Amtrak for negligence in January, according to member station WHYY, which says the engineer claimed he came \"under attack by projectiles\" on the night of the crash. But WHYY reports that federal investigators \"found no evidence that Amtrak 188 had been targeted or hit by rock-throwers.\"", "The tax evasion charges brought against former Justice Department official Webster Hubbell by Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr were dropped today by a Washington DC judge. The judge's decision means that all related charges brought by Starr against Hubbell's wife, his accountant and his tax lawyer will also be dropped. The judge ruled that Starr built his case against Hubbell by using records that Hubbell supplied under subpoena. That means that Starr's use of those documents in creating the case against Webster Hubbell violated the limited grant of immunity that Hubbell was granted by a federal judge in Arkansas. NPR's Nina Totenberg talks with Robert about what today's developments mean for the future of the Whitewater investigation.", "Federal prosecutors won't retry Sen. Robert Menendez and co-defendant Salomon Melgen, in a surprise decision Wednesday that brings an end to the long-running case against the New Jersey Democrat. As recently as earlier this month, the Justice Department had vowed to retry Menendez on charges of bribery and fraud after its first attempt ended in a mistrial in November. But a court decision last week, in which several counts against Menendez were thrown out, persuaded prosecutors to reverse course. Prosecutors referenced that order in the motion they filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Menendez and Melgen, a Florida doctor, had been accused of engaging in a quid pro quo relationship, in which Menendez allegedly gave government favors in exchange for gifts from Melgen — including trips on Melgen's private jet. Both defendants have denied any wrongdoing, arguing the gifts were merely evidence of their close friendship. The move Wednesday now lifts a cloud of legal suspicion that has long hung above Menendez, a high-ranking Democratic senator who is up for re-election in the fall.", "More than a year after a judge ordered an investigation, NPR has learned that the prosecutors who ran a failed corruption case against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens will not face criminal contempt charges. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports: Two sources tell NPR the long investigation will end soon without any criminal referrals. The Justice Department walked away from its 2008 criminal conviction of former Senator Ted Stevens because of problems with how the prosecutors shared evidence. The trial judge, Emmet Sullivan, became so upset with the prosecutors, he ordered an investigation into whether they violated the law themselves. Now NPR has learned that investigation will end without any criminal referrals. Two sources say that a separate internal investigation by the Justice Department has uncovered some alleged misconduct by an FBI agent and several line prosecutors but those findings will result in ethics referrals, not any criminal trouble. Stevens died this year and prosecutor Nicholas Marsh committed suicide as the investigation neared an end. For some background, you might want to take a look at this New York Times story, which details judge Sullivan's angry speech about the prosecution making \"false representations and not meeting its discovery obligations.\"", "A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the criminal stock-options backdating case against Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry C. Nicholas III and the company's former chief financial officer William J. Ruehle. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled that prosecutors had improperly intimidated witnesses, tainting their testimony and making the case \"a mockery of justice.\" He said the government's conduct in the case was \"shameful.\" Read More >> Prosecutors portrayed former company executives of hiding billions of dollars in compensation from regulators and investors in the Irvine, Calif-based technology firm. The judge scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing to consider whether he should consider narcotics distribution charges against Nicholas -- the only remaining charge in the case.", "to be convicted on the testimony of a witness's recovered memory, will be re-tried. Last April, a federal judge overturned his conviction, but yesterday, the district attorney from the original trial said he will prosecute Franklin again.", "Good morning, here are our early stories: -- Focus On Infants During Childbirth Leaves U.S. Moms In Danger. -- DHS Considers Carry-On Laptop Ban On Flights From Europe. -- Judge Orders Charges Brought Against Amtrak Engineer, Reversing Prosecutors' Decision. -- After Conflict-Of Interest Flap, No China Meetings For Kushner Companies This Weekend. -- Sessions Tells Prosecutors To Seek 'Most Serious' Charges, Stricter Sentences. And here are more early headlines: Suspected Tornado, Huge Hail Strike Oklahoma, No Injuries. (Weather.com) Justice Dept. Investigating Fatal Police Shooting Of Texas Teen. (Reuters) Brazil Calls End To Zika Emergency As Cases Drop. (Deutsche Welle) Venezuelan Military Members Arrested; Protests Continue. (AP) Dutch Group To Start Cleaning Up Huge Ocean Garbage Patch. (VOA) Malaysian Firefighters Rescue Turtle Stuck In Grate. (AP) Zimbabwean Leader Not Asleep; Just \"Resting\" Eyes. (BBC)", "It's another bad day for the Justice Department. A federal judge in Louisiana has thrown out the central criminal charge against a former BP executive because prosecutors failed to prove he knew about a pending congressional investigation into oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico three years ago. U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt also ruled that a Democratic House member who inquired about the oil flow rate was acting as head of a subcommittee, not a full congressional committee, as required under the federal Obstruction of Justice statute. The judge's ruling dismisses half of the BP Task Force prosecution against David Rainey, the highest ranking official at the British oil giant to be charged with a crime in connection with the spill and explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig. Eleven men died there in April 2010. Brian Heberlig, a lawyer for Rainey, told NPR in an email statement that \"we are very pleased with the Court's thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion dismissing the main charge in the indictment.\" The original grand jury indictment said Rainey failed to share accurate information about the oil flow rate during a briefing with members of Congress and their staff only weeks after the spill, and that he helped prepare a misleading response to Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Ed Markey about flow rate estimates. But the judge ruled that \"it is not enough that the indictment obliquely suggest that the defendant was aware of a request emanating from some person or group associated with Congress.\" He added: \"Because it is an essential element of this crime that the defendant knew of this inquiry and investigation, the indictment must allege such knowledge. It does not.\" A Justice Department spokesman said prosecutors are reviewing the ruling and declined to comment further \"at this time.\" Authorities have the option of appealing the ruling or refashioning their indictment. The judge's decision left in place a second charge against Rainey, for allegedly making false statements about the oil flow rate in an April 2011 interview with law enforcement agents. Lawyers who represent people in front of Congress are already taking note of the decision. Washington lawyer Stanley Brand says \"it's certainly significant from a congressional standpoint for future cases.\" \"For obstruction purposes,\" Brand says, \"it has to be an officially authorized investigation and what that means is, you've got to have the chair and you've got to have the majority otherwise it's just a rump exercise for the purposes of the law.\"", "Prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss some or all the charges against the former head of of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Reuters reports the prosecutors made the decision shortly after meeting with his accuser, who had earlier today asked that a Manhattan district attorney be removed from the case. AP, Reuters and NBC News New York report that prosecutors have filed motions in court to have the sexual assault charges dismissed. NBC News New York reports: The development comes more than three months after Strauss-Kahn was arrested, and more than seven weeks after a judge released him from house arrest as investigators admitted they had discovered significant problems with the credibility of the maid. The accuser, who came forward late last month and identified herself as Nafissatou Diallo, met with prosecutors briefly Monday as the motion was filed. Her attorney has said she was not treated fairly and that the DA bungled the case. Strauss-Kahn is due in court on Tuesday, where a judge is expected to officially grant the prosecution's request and dismiss the case. The move comes after questions arose about Diallo's credibility. The AP reports there were also questions \"about the strength of the evidence that a forcible encounter had occurred in the hotel room in May.\" Update at 3:49 p.m. ET. Some Or All Charges: The AP reports that the court filing has not been made public, yet. But that prosecutors are asking that \"all or some\" of the charges against Strauss-Kahn be dismissed. We've tweaked our lede to reflect this information.", "Government prosecutors want a federal judge to reconsider her decision to ban crucial testimony and evidence in the sentencing phase of the Zacarias Moussaoui case. They say the aviation security witnesses and evidence are essential to the case.", "Andrew Goldstein is charged with pushing a woman into the New York City subway tracks, killing her. His first trial ended in a hung jury. He will be re-tried, starting next week -- but this time his attorney will be using a tactic that may endanger his health. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.", "The widow of the gunman who killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., in June 2016, will remain in custody after a federal judge in Florida revoked bail and a prior release order. Today's ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul Byron reverses a decision by a federal magistrate in Northern California that would have allowed 31-year-old Noor Salman to be freed pending her trial on charges that she aided the shooting rampage by her husband, Omar Mateen. As we reported, Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu said Salman was not a flight risk or a danger to public safety. Ryu said she doubted that prosecutors would be able to prove that Salman helped Mateen provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Salman is also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to federal investigators. Salman was arrested in California in January where she was residing with her mother in the San Francisco Bay area. Ryu's initial ruling would have allowed Salman to be released on a $500,000 bond to the custody of her family. But Judge Byron of Orlando overruled that decision. He said Ryu had minimized Salman's admitted knowledge of her husband's extremist views and his preparation for the attack. Federal prosecutors are seeking Salman's return to Florida. A hearing is set for April 10.", "The Justice Department on Wednesday asked a federal judge to drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. However, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial. In a move first reported by NPR, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors. \"After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial,\" Holder said in a statement Wednesday. \"In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.\" U.S. District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan set an April 7 hearing on the motion to dismiss the case. Reaction From The Stevens Camp Stevens' lawyers praised Holder's decision and said it was \"justified by the extraordinary evidence of government corruption in the prosecution of Sen. Stevens.\" The lawyers, Brendan Sullivan and Robert Cary, called the case \"a sad story and a warning to everyone. Any citizen can be convicted if prosecutors are hell-bent on ignoring the Constitution and willing to present false evidence.\" Stevens said, \"I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed. That day has finally come. It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair. It was my great honor to serve the state of Alaska in the United States Senate for 40 years.\" Charges Of Prosecutorial Misconduct Judge Sullivan has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he has called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the Public Integrity Section, which is charged with prosecuting public corruption cases. The straw that apparently broke Holder's back was the discovery of more prosecutorial notes that were not turned over to the Stevens defense team as required by law. The notes were discovered by the new prosecution team, which was appointed in February. With more ugly hearings expected, Holder is said to have decided late Tuesday to pull the plug. His decision is said to be based on Stevens' age — he's 85 — and the fact that Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most important, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated. \"The Department of Justice must always ensure that any case in which it is involved is handled fairly and consistent with its commitment to justice,\" Holder said in his statement. Holder began his career in the Public Integrity Section; according to sources, he was horrified by the failure of prosecutors to turn over all relevant materials to the defense. The attorney general also knows the trial judge, Emmett Sullivan, well. The two men served together as judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before each was promoted to higher office. Holder respects Judge Sullivan and reportedly has watched with growing alarm as the judge repeatedly has scolded prosecutors for failing to follow his judicial orders to fully inform defense lawyers about everything from potentially favorable evidence to the travel plans of witnesses. During the trial, prosecutors' missteps led the judge to instruct the jury to disregard some evidence. Sentencing has been repeatedly delayed. By last month, it was playing a back seat to charges of prosecutorial misconduct —as a whistle-blowing FBI agent made complaints about improper conduct by a fellow agent and prosecutors. With a hearing scheduled in two weeks to explore those charges, Holder decided to review the case himself. In addition to Wednesday's decision to drop the case against Stevens, Holder has also ordered an internal Justice Department review of the prosecutors' conduct. An adverse decision from the Office of Professional Responsibility would be ruinous for the prosecutors, including the top two career officials in the Public Integrity Section. Justice Department officials say they will withdraw their opposition to the defense motion for a new trial and will dismiss the indictment, in effect voiding the Stevens conviction. Reaction In Alaska Many Alaskans expressed relief at the Justice De", "A federal judge revokes accused Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui's right to act as his own attorney in his ongoing trial, saying he had violated her orders by filing repetitive motions that used contemptuous language. Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers will resume defending him. Hear NPR's Nina Totenberg.", "An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has granted bail to a man accused of masterminding the deadly 2008 attack on Mumbai, India. Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi is one of seven men charged with planning and helping to carry out the Mumbai attack that killed more than 160 people. The Associated Press reports that Judge Kausar Abbas found there wasn't enough evidence to keep Lakhvi in custody. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that federal prosecutors had opposed the bail plea. Azhar Chaudhary, a government prosecutor, told India's NDTV that the government \"will appeal against bail plea and demand a stay order.\" Lakhvi was ordered to pay the equivalent of around $5,000 as bail. The application for bail came yesterday as Pakistani lawyers were on strike to condemn a deadly terrorist attack this week on a school in the city of Peshawar. India blames Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group, for the 2008 attack in Mumbai. Lakhvi was believed to be the group's operational chief at the time. Pakistan arrested seven men, including Lakhvi, after the attacks, but as Dawn noted, proceedings in the trial have come to a standstill. India expressed outrage at today's decision. Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, called on Pakistan to reverse the decision. \"The grant of bail to Lakhvi will serve as a reassurance to terrorists who [perpetrate] ... heinous crimes,\" he said.", "The man accused of killing nine people during a Bible study in Charleston, S.C., last year has rehired his defense attorneys to represent him in the first phase of his federal murder trial. Dylann Roof, 22, faces 33 federal hate crimes charges for walking into the basement of a historically black church and sitting among worshipers before opening fire, according to prosecutors. The government is seeking the death penalty. Earlier this month, Roof asked to represent himself in the trial, prompting a series of delays to the final phase of jury selection as U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ordered an evaluation of Roof's mental competency. Last week, Gergel granted Roof's motion to act as his own attorney. For five days, Roof represented himself during the final jury selection, expressing few opinions about potential jurors as his attorneys sat next to him providing backup counsel. But late last week, Roof's attorneys asked the judge to reverse the decision, arguing that Roof was not equipped to adequately defend himself against a possible death sentence, and that \"allowing him to proceed would deprive him of protection against cruel and unusual punishment,\" reported the Charleston Post and Courier. On Sunday, Roof sent a handwritten letter to the judge asking that his lawyers be allowed to represent him in the first phase of the trial, during which evidence is presented, but not during the sentencing phase, in which arguments will be presented for and against the death penalty. \"I would like to ask if my lawyers can represent me for the guilt phase of the trial only,\" the letter began. On Monday morning, Judge Gergel asked Roof to confirm his request in court, the Post and Courier reported. \"You are delegating to (defense attorneys) your strategic decisions in the guilt phase, and that is acceptable to you?\" Gergel asked Roof, according to the newspaper. \"Yes,\" Roof replied. The ruling reinstated a defense team that includes attorney David Bruck, who also defended the man sentenced to die for his role in bombing the Boston Marathon, as The Two-Way has reported. On Monday, jury selection resumed with Bruck handling all motions on Roof's behalf. Among those motions was a request to dismiss the federal hate crimes indictment altogether, which the judge denied. As The Two-Way has noted: \"The federal hate-crime charges against Roof 'center on both the victims' race and their identity as churchgoers who were attempting to follow their religious beliefs when Roof attacked.' At the time, [Attorney General Loretta Lynch] called hate crimes 'the original domestic terrorism.' \"Roof also faces federal weapons charges. \"The Justice Department says he selected the [Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church] and his victims to win notoriety and to try to ignite a race war.\" Roof appeared to have set up a website that included a \"manifesto-like diatribe against non-whites,\" as we've reported. Roof is also facing separate murder charges brought by the state of South Carolina, which is also seeking the death penalty. As NPR's Debbie Elliott has reported, the family members of some of the shooting victims have said they are unhappy with the drawn-out nature of the legal proceedings, and do not favor the death penalty for Roof.", "The hunters have become the hunted. Prosecutors who just months ago won a corruption conviction against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, are themselves now the targets of a criminal investigation into charges of prosecutorial misconduct. Although Stevens has since been defeated for re-election, on Tuesday the judge who presided over his trial, set aside the guilty verdict at the request of Attorney General Eric Holder. But Judge Emmett Sullivan went further. In a stunning and rare move, he appointed a special prosecutor to investigate charges of misconduct against the Stevens prosecution team. ARI SHAPIRO, host: Some federal prosecutors are facing a reversal of fortune this morning. Just months ago, they won a conviction against then-Senator Ted Stevens on corruption charges. Now, the prosecutors need lawyers themselves. They're the targets of a criminal investigation centered on charges of prosecutorial misconduct. NPR's legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports. NINA TOTENBERG: Federal Judge Emmett Sullivan, the judge who presided over the Stevens trial last fall, has granted the Justice Department motion to satisfy the verdict and drop all charges against the former senator. But that was just the first step the judge took at a hearing that lasted nearly two hours yesterday. Although Judge Sullivan said he has enormous respect for the new Attorney General Eric Holder and for the decision Holder made to abandon the prosecution, the judge said he could not leave the investigation of prosecutorial misconduct in the hands of the Justice Department. His quiet voice belying his furious words, the judge said he has an independent obligation to ensure misconduct is fully investigated and addressed in an appropriate public forum. Therefore, he said, he's appointed a special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department to investigate all six members of the original prosecution team, including two top officials from the Justice Department Public Corruption Office. The man tapped for this special prosecutor role is Henry Schuelke, a former federal prosecutor, military judge and counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee. Judge Sullivan, who repeatedly chastised prosecutors during the Stevens trial, said he was shocked as more and more information came out after the trial, showing that prosecutors withheld information that was potentially favorable to the defense. In 25 years on the bench, he said, I've never seen anything approach the mishandling and misconduct in this case. So now the judge has initiated a criminal contempt investigation of the prosecutors. The probe could lead to criminal charges being filed against some or all of them, or lesser sanctions -everything from a reprimand to disbarment, fines, firing or other sanctions. George Washington University law professor and former prosecutor Stephen Saltzburg says there appears to be little question there was prosecutorial misconduct. More important now is the next question. Professor STEPHEN SALTZBURG (Law, George Washington University; Former Prosecutor): To the extent they didn't - how bad was the conduct? And that, I think, will be meaningful to the judge as he considers what he's going to do. TOTENBERG: Among the information prosecutors failed to turn over to the defense were prosecution notes that showed their star witness did not originally tell the same story he did on the witness stand. Columbia law professor and former federal prosecutor Daniel Richman notes, though, that it's extremely difficult to prove that a prosecutor acted with malice rather than misjudgment or incompetence. Professor DANIEL RICHMAN (Law, Columbia University; Former Federal Prosecutor): One of the things we all know about conversations with witnesses is that different details come out at different times, and the failure to have said something isn't necessarily a sign of later fabrication. TOTENBERG: Judge Sullivan said yesterday he's become increasingly concerned in recent years about what he called the disturbing tendency of prosecutors to withhold information from the defense. The Supreme Court has long held that prosecutors must turn over any information that is material and potentially favorable to the defense. But what's material and what's favorable to the defense? That decision is left to the prosecutor to decide. NYU law professor Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert, notes that it's awfully tempting for prosecutors to err on the side of holding back information that may hurt their case. And because the defense in most cases has no way to find out what information prosecutors have, there's usually no penalty for prosecutors holding back. Professor STEPHEN GILLERS (Law, New York University): It has to be drummed into these young prosecutors that that is simply not acceptable and not only will the temporary victory not advance their careers, but the failure to honor their constitutional duty as law-enforcement persons will result in a destruction ", "A judge in Illinois is calling for a special prosecutor to look into how Cook County prosecutors handled the Jussie Smollett case — which began with the Empire actor reporting a hate crime, then saw him arrested for allegedly faking the incident and finally having all charges against him dropped. In his order, Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Toomin said \"unprecedented irregularities\" of the case require an independent counsel to investigate \"to restore the public's confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system.\" Depending on the special prosecutor's findings, the disposition of Smollett's case could be nullified, Toomin said, citing the outcomes of similar inquiries. The decision to appoint a special prosecutor comes three weeks after Chicago police released hundreds of pages of records related to the case investigators worked to build against Smollett. Smollett, 37, was indicted on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct, related to making a false report to police about the event in which he alleged he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago in January. Police said they believe Smollett paid two brothers to fake an attack on him in order to get publicity. Law enforcement officials have said they're frustrated that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office ended the case by abruptly announcing Smollett would not face any charges. Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, along with Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, called it a \"whitewash of justice.\" Foxx recused herself from the investigation before Smollett was charged, saying she wanted to avoid any appearances of a conflict of interest because of conversations she had with a Smollett family member. But in a controversial move, Foxx put her top assistant in charge of the case — and Judge Toomin sharply criticized that decision on Friday, saying an independent special prosecutor should instead have been brought in rather than a prosecutor who \"was appointed to a fictitious office having no legal existence.\" Despite her recusal, Foxx was later shown to have been in frequent touch with that assistant about the case, after her office released a raft of emails and text messages. The messages Foxx wrote to her assistant showed she questioned the criminal charges that had been filed against Smollett. \"So I am recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases, 16 counts on a Class 4 felony becomes exhibit A,\" Foxx wrote in one note. In an interview with NPR member station WBEZ, Foxx suggested that her office had more pressing issues than Smollett: \"We deal with a lot of things in this city, in this county, not the least of which is a homicide rate that outpaces other major cities, shootings that outpace other major cities, sexual assault, sexual violence, domestic violence. And it is not to diminish that what Mr. Smollett was alleged to have done did have an impact on people who are actual victims of hate crime, did have an impact on how people perceived our city. But he was charged with a Class 4 felony.\" Foxx said there had been a lot of confusion about the case — and that it was never very likely Smollett would have gotten a prison sentence if he were convicted.", "Federal prosecutors ask a judge to drop terror conspiracy charges against Zacarias Moussaoui, accused of complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks. The move is a tactic to speed an appeal of a trial judge's ruling that Moussaoui has the right to interrogate al Qaeda prisoners in U.S. custody. Hear NPR's Nina Totenberg.", "In a highly unusual move, the judge in the Atlanta test-cheating case said he had a change of heart. He reduced three people's sentences from seven years in prison to three.", "MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday found probable cause to charge a police officer in the 2016 slaying of a Black man who was sitting in a parked car, taking the rare step of overruling prosecutors years after they declined to charge the officer. Milwaukee County Judge Glenn Yamahiro said probable cause existed to charge Joseph Mensah with homicide by negligent use of a weapon in Jay Anderson Jr.'s death. He ordered a special prosecutor to formally file the charge within 60 days. Yamahiro's decision marks a victory for Anderson's family, who took advantage of a little-used provision in state law to ask the judge for a second look at the case. Mensah, who is also Black, discovered the 25-year-old Anderson sleeping in his car at 3 a.m. in a park in Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee suburb. Mensah said he shot Anderson after Anderson reached for a gun, but Anderson's family disputes that and the judge on Wednesday said the evidence did not back up Mensah's version of events. Anderson was the second of three people Mensah shot to death during a five-year stint with the Wauwatosa Police Department. Prosecutors cleared him of criminal wrongdoing in each case. Anderson's family asked Yamahiro to review that case under an obscure state law that allows judges to directly question witnesses in what's known as a John Doe proceeding. A judge who finds sufficient evidence for charges can file them directly, leaving prosecutors out of the equation. At least six other states have similar statutory provisions, but attorneys say the process is rarely used in Wisconsin. Judge says Officer Mensah could have waited for a backup The judge said he decided that the single charge against Mensah was warranted based on testimony about the circumstances of the shooting. Mensah should have been aware that pulling his weapon on Anderson created an unreasonable risk of death, Yamahiro said. Mensah could have taken steps to de-escalate the situation, including waiting for backup that was on the way, the judge said. Anderson's behavior was consistent with someone who was intoxicated, had been asleep and was trying but having difficulty complying with Mensah's orders, Yamahiro said. The evidence did not back up Mensah's claims that Anderson was pretending to be asleep or that Anderson lunged for his weapon, the judge said. The judge also noted problems with the investigation and cited what he said were structural defects with having neighboring law enforcement agencies investigate one another and nearby district attorneys make charging decisions. He ordered a special prosecutor to be appointed to handle the case. Mensah joined the Wauwatosa Police Department in 2015. That year he fatally shot Antonio Gonzales, who identified as Latino and American Indian. Prosecutors said Gonzales refused to drop a sword. The Anderson shooting came the next year. Then, in 2020, Mensah fatally shot 17-year-old Alvin Cole as Cole fled from police during a disturbance in a mall. Mensah said he shot Cole, who was Black, after he pointed a gun at him. That set off months of protests. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's decision not to charge him in that shooting led to more protests in Wauwatosa in October. Mensah remained under pressure even after being cleared in Cole's death and resigned in November. He collected a $130,000 severance payment and now works as a Waukesha County deputy, another Milwaukee suburb. Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson, who hired Mensah as a deputy in January, didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Motley, the Anderson family's attorney, also represents the Gonzales and Cole families. She said she is considering invoking the John Doe process for them.", "Egypt's project of slowly adding women to the judiciary suffered a setback in February when the State Council for Administrative Judges voted overwhelmingly against admitting female judges. Egypt's prime minister ordered a review of the decision, and the state's Constitutional Court said there is no constitutional or legal restriction to women serving as judges. The decision now rests with the council's all-male executive board. Human rights advocates are calling for a dialogue to convince the board to reverse longstanding prejudices against having women judge legal cases. \"To be honest, this [was] the position of all judiciary bodies in Egypt until 2003,\" says Hafez Abu Seada, president of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, noting that 2003 was the year President Hosni Mubarak appointed the country's first female judge. \"Now, we're asking for a dialogue — not blaming or condemning,\" Seada says. \"We ask for dialogue to convince them that this is a right for women in [the] 21st century.\" Slowly Changing Old Stereotypes After February's vote against female judges, the council's vice president was quoted by Egyptian media as saying he didn't think women could handle the workload of cases. Another top official added that having female judges could violate Islamic proscriptions against meetings between unrelated men and women. The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported that female judges could require lengthy maternity leaves, hampering the court's efficiency. Such stereotypical arguments are familiar to Egyptian jurist Osama Attaweya, a supporter of female judges who currently serves as an assistant to the justice minister. Attaweya says the administrative council that voted against women handles only a limited number of cases — those brought against the government. Meanwhile, he says, over the past three years, dozens of pioneering female judges — out of more than 9,000 total judges — have been quietly building an unassailable record of performance in other courtrooms across Egypt. \"These 42 women are judging civil, criminal, family and economic cases, in all parts of the country,\" Attaweya says. \"Their performance is absolutely on a par with their male colleagues. They have proved that they're perfectly capable of handling the job.\" Changing Views Through Competence One reason these women have moved smoothly into their new role is that they came from the ranks of state prosecutors, which have included women for years. Hana Dahroug, chief judge of the Cairo Economic Court, says after 15 years as a prosecutor, she wasn't worried about handling a judge's duties. But she did encounter some surprised stares as she joined her male colleagues on the bench. \"I remember very well the first day,\" Dahroug recalls with a laugh. \"The other judges were quite surprised to see me sitting next to them. And I saw the startled looks from the lawyers and their clients. But gradually they got over it.\" \"At the end of the day, what's important for any lawyer or plaintiff or defendant is having a competent judge. Whether it's a man or a woman makes no difference,\" she says. But Dahroug also knows the history of the administrative council. She knows that a very talented woman, Aisha Rateb, who would later become an ambassador, was the first to apply for a judgeship there, only to be rejected on the basis of her gender — in 1949. More than six decades later, Dahroug and her colleagues are hoping this year's vote against female judges will be the last.", "NPR''s Eric Westervelt reports on a recent decision by a Federal judge in Boston which has renewed debate over race and criminal justice. The Boston judge reduced a black defendant''s criminal sentence on grounds that his lengthy prior record may have been the result of racially-biased traffic stops.", "The former police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist last April in North Charleston, S.C., has been released on $500,000 bail. Circuit Judge Clifton Newman denied bail for Michael Slager in September, saying his release would \"constitute an unreasonable danger to the community,\" but on Monday, the judge granted a $500,000 bond. Slager, 33, was released later that day, according to The Associated Press, which adds that he will be under house arrest until his trial, set for Oct. 31. Newman was compelled to reconsider bail for Slager after setting the trial date. The judge's decision stems from the fact that South Carolina prosecutor Scarlett Wilson is handling both Slager's case and that of Dylann Roof, the man accused of murdering nine people at a historically black church in Charleston last summer. The Post and Courier newspaper has more on the judge's reversal: \"At the heart of Circuit Judge Clifton Newman's decision was an order from the state Supreme Court that cleared the area's top prosecutor from going to trial on other cases before Emanuel AME Church shooting suspect Dylann Roof is tried this summer. The order is why, Newman said, he had to set Slager's trial for Oct. 31. \"Meanwhile, Slager's pretrial confinement could affect a sort of punishment on the former officer even while he is presumed innocent, the judge said. A defense attorney cited Slager's celiac disease that has worsened with a jail diet containing gluten. \"The prospect of months more behind bars prompted Newman to reconsider his decision denying bail in September, when he labeled Slager a danger to the community and a flight risk.\" The AP reports that a group of about two dozen protesters gathered Tuesday outside the Charleston County jail to protest Slager's release. The news service says the protesters yelled, \"We want Slager back in jail\" and \"There is a murderer on the loose.\"", "In contrast to her earlier ruling in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trail, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema says the government may present new witnesses from the aviation industry, but not the ones who were tainted by a government lawyer who told them what to say under oath.", "A judge overturned the convictions of the police officers in the Ramparts corruption case in Los Angeles. Scott speaks with NPR's Ina Jaffe.", "An Egyptian court has ordered that former President Hosni Mubarak be released from custody while he awaits a retrial on charges related to the killing of protesters during the 2011 protests that led to the toppling of his government, NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Cairo. Peter adds that even though that case and others related to corruption charges are still active, Mubarak's release would \"likely spark anxiety that the military-backed government now in charge is returning Egypt to the authoritarian state it was in before the Arab Spring.\" Prosecutors, Peter also reports, have said they won't appeal the court's order. According to Reuters, the judge said prosecutors couldn't challenge the ruling even if they wished: \"The decision to release Mubarak issued today ... is final and the prosecution cannot appeal against it,\" Judge Ahmed el-Bahrawi said. The BBC adds that reports from Cairo suggest Mubarak may be released as soon as Thursday. Mubarak, 85, was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison for not stopping the killing of protesters in 2011. But the court has now said he should not be kept in custody while appealing that verdict.", "Updated at 2:52 p.m. ET A Pennsylvania judge has dismissed the most serious charges filed against 11 members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity in the hazing-related death of Timothy Piazza. Judge Allen Sinclair dismissed involuntary manslaughter charges filed against the fraternity brothers. But he allowed new charges of \"conspiracy to commit hazing\" to proceed against some of the fraternity brothers. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement that he was \"disappointed by the decision\" and is \"assessing our legal options.\" \"We filed these charges after a comprehensive review of the case,\" Shapiro said. \"That review is ongoing. We will move forward with our case and the charges that were held for trial today. I am disappointed by the decision of the Magisterial District Judge and we are assessing our legal options. My office is committed to seeking justice for Timothy Piazza and his family and holding responsible individuals accountable for their actions, consistent with the law and the evidence in this case.\" Through its attorney, Thomas Kline, the Piazza family also echoed its disappointment but said it was \"heartened\" that various other charges were either added or are continuing to be pursued: \"While disappointed that the refiled involuntary manslaughter charges against the fraternity brother criminal defendants were again not sustained by Magistrate Judge Sinclair, the parents of Tim Piazza are heartened that the important newly filed conspiracy charge has now been added and will move forward to trial along with the charges of reckless endangerment and hazing. These charges carry with them significant penalties, including substantial jail time. Jim and Evelyn Piazza are optimistic that the Pennsylvania Attorney General will obtain a full measure of justice on behalf of their son, and this prosecution will eventually deter this kind of abhorrent conduct.\" Among the defendants is Luke Visser, who allegedly ran a beer pong table at the Beta Theta Pi house the evening Piazza was injured. In his case, conspiracy to commit hazing charges were dismissed by the judge, along with the more serious involuntary manslaughter charge. Visser's attorney Theodore Simon thanked the judge for finding again that the most serious charges against his client should be dropped. Simon wrote in a statement to NPR, \"This was a sad and tragic loss of life, but not every unfortunate tragedy should result in serious criminal charges.\" The judge ruled Visser will continue to face charges related to furnishing a minor with alcohol. NOEL KING, HOST: A judge is throwing out some of the most serious charges against a group of Penn State fraternity members. Those charges stem from a night of hazing and heavy drinking. That night ended with the death of a fraternity pledge. NPR's Jeff Brady has the story. JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Prosecutors say 19-year-old pledge Timothy Piazza was served 18 drinks at the frat house in just under an hour and a half. Security cameras recorded much of the night's events. Piazza fell down a flight of stairs twice. And prosecutors say fraternity brothers didn't call for help right away. Piazza died later at a hospital from severe head and abdominal injuries. Now a Pennsylvania judge has thrown out some of the most serious counts filed against 11 fraternity brothers. LEONARD AMBROSE: But the charges shouldn't have been filed in the first place. BRADY: Attorney Leonard Ambrose represents one of the fraternity brothers, Joseph Sala. AMBROSE: The former district attorney filed charges of felony, aggravated assault, manslaughter and a host of other offenses that were all dismissed. BRADY: That was last September. The prosecutor refiled the charges, and now they've been dismissed again. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro took over the case when the original prosecutor lost her re-election bid. Shapiro says he's disappointed by the judge's decision and is assessing legal options. This is not the end of the case. The accused could still face jail time if found guilty of other crimes such as hazing and furnishing alcohol to minors. Tom Kline is an attorney representing Timothy Piazza's family. TOM KLINE: In the meantime, 26 individuals face 560 counts. And the Piazza family is wholeheartedly behind the prosecution not for the sake of punishment only, but for deterrence. They want to see that this never happens again. BRADY: The Piazzas are working with families of other hazing victims around the country to push for new and stricter laws aimed at preventing hazing. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Philadelphia. (SOUNDBITE OF SOULAR ORDER'S \"RENASCENT\")", "Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will face an additional charge of third-degree murder, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill ruled on Thursday, after an appeals court ordered Cahill to reconsider his earlier decision to dismiss the charge. \"The court is going to grant the motion to reinstate\" the charge, Cahill said as he announced his decision. The ruling came as a third day of jury selection was set to begin in the trial over the killing of George Floyd. Chauvin was already facing manslaughter and second-degree murder charges when the much-anticipated trial opened this week. Chauvin's defense team had sought to block the additional murder charge, but the Minnesota Supreme Court denied the request for review, in a decision that was issued Wednesday afternoon. Last Friday, the Court of Appeals ordered Cahill to reexamine the third-degree charge based on the precedent set by a recent appeals court ruling. The judge had initially found that ruling, in the case of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, was not a precedent for the Chauvin case. On Thursday, Cahill said he now agrees with the higher court, and that its precedent takes effect immediately. \"I feel bound by that,\" the judge said, \"and I feel it would be an abuse of discretion not to grant the [prosecution's] motion.\" Noor was found guilty of third-degree murder in the killing of a woman outside her home. Prosecutors argued that the appeals court's ruling in that case supports the charge against Chauvin. Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, argued in court Thursday that the cases are different. At one point, he noted that in the Noor case, the officer had clearly put other people at risk when, seated in a car, he leaned over and fired his weapon through his partner's window. When Cahill threw out the third-degree murder charge last fall, he ruled that prosecutors could not show probable cause that Chauvin's actions had placed people other than Floyd at risk. But he said the recent appeals court ruling changes the standard. \"Even though they are factually different, I have to follow the rule that the Court of Appeals has put in place,\" Cahill said, \"specifically that murder in the third degree applies even if the person's intent and acts are directed at a single person.\" Rights activists are also keeping the Noor case in mind as they watch the Chauvin case, because of the reversal of races: Noor is Black and the woman he killed was white; Chauvin is white and Floyd was Black. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled last June that George Floyd's death was a homicide, saying that his heart and lungs stopped functioning \"while being restrained.\" The autopsy report cited neck compression – Chauvin was seen holding his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes – but it also noted \"other significant conditions,\" including fentanyl intoxication, recent methamphetamine use, and signs of heart disease. Floyd's death inflamed nationwide protests that quickly spread around the world, as people expressed outrage over the dramatic video in which Chauvin is seen pinning Floyd to the asphalt. \"Please, please. I can't breathe,\" Floyd repeatedly said before he died. Five jurors are now seated for the trial, as the court works to select 12 jurors and two alternates. When they're chosen, jurors are told to report back to the courthouse on March 29, when opening statements are scheduled to begin. Three other former Minneapolis officers who were at the scene — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas K. Lane — face charges of aiding and abetting murder. They were fired along with Chauvin one day after Floyd was killed, and they were arrested several days later.", "Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema decides that the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui can go forward, but without testimony and evidence key to the government's case. The judge halted proceedings Monday, warning government lawyers that they had violated her order not to coach upcoming witnesses.", "In a surprising move, the Bristol County District Attorney in Massachusetts on Monday dropped criminal charges against two environmental activists who used a lobster boat to block a shipment of coal to New England&#8217;s largest coal-burning plant. The defendants, Ken Ward and Jonathan O&#8217;Hara, were prepared to argue their actions were necessary because of the threat posed by climate change. But district attorney Sam Sutter agreed with the defendants, calling climate change &#8220;one of the gravest crises our planet has ever faced.&#8221; He dropped the charges and reached a plea agreement. Sutter joins Here & Now&#8216;s Robin Young to discuss his decision. \nThe Associated Press contributed reporting.\n\nGuest\n\nC. Samuel Sutter, Bristol County District Attorney. He tweets @DASamSutter.", "Two former University of Colorado football players could soon face rape charges that first emerged during a recruiting scandal at the school. In 2004 a local district attorney said the university was using alcohol and sex to lure high school athletes to play for its team. Colorado has since reformed its recruiting program, but no charges were brought against athletes accused of rape. That may be about to change. One of the rape cases involves Julie Stene. In 2000 she attended a high school graduation party in a Denver suburb. Stene says she got very drunk, blacked out and at 3:00 a.m. woke up in her car — \"in only a T-shirt, with mud on myself and in a lot of pain,\" says Stene. \"And I knew that I had been sexually assaulted.\" She went to the police, who took her to the hospital for tests. DNA from two people was collected from Stene. One matched classmate Clyde Surrell, who told police that he and Stene had consensual sex. At first Stene was prepared to help prosecutors, but then her father became terminally ill. She was depressed and dropped out of the case. Then in 2004 the scandal at the University of Colorado was making headlines. Stene knew Surrell was a player there. \"And I thought, 'Oh God, if he's involved I'm going to feel really, really bad because I could have pressed charges against him and maybe this wouldn't have happened,\" says Stene. She decided to pursue the case again but, according to court documents, the prosecutor refused to file charges, saying she didn't want to appear to be \"jumping on the CU bandwagon.\" Stene's own lawyer then filed a rare civil suit to compel prosecution. Colorado District Court Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. recently issued an order in Stene's favor. NPR couldn't reach Clyde Surrell for this story—phone numbers connected to his name were not in service. Lawyers who represented him in the past say they've had no contact with him. In 2007 he talked with Denver television station KUSA. \"If I've every heard a girl say stop, I'm done,\" Surrell told KUSA. \"I'm not the aggressive type.\" Julie Stene says another former classmate also raped her that night. Riley McMurdo also says he's innocent. His attorney Iris Eytan says she may challenge the judge's decision to compel the prosecutor to file charges. \"You have a situation where a career prosecutor made a decision not once, but she made it three times not to file this case. She said there's no case,\" says Eytan. Judge Samour's order mentions a completely separate case involving another woman, Monique Gillaspie. She was a former soccer player at the University of Colorado and says she was raped in December of 2001 by Clyde Surrell and another football player, Marques Harris, who is now a professional football player with the San Francisco 49ers. The Boulder County district attorney's office says it is reviewing those allegations to determine if charges are warranted. Attorney Lou Rubino is representing Harris and says it's a shame this case has resurfaced. \"[I]t should be a dead issue. It's been hashed and rehashed and, again, Harris did nothing wrong,\" says Rubino. Rubino says Harris passed a polygraph test and submitted DNA samples back in 2001. He suspects prosecutors will conclude again that there's not enough evidence to bring a case. LIANE HANSEN, host: Our next story may not be suitable for young ears, so you may want to shield them now. Two former University of Colorado football players - one now in the NFL - could face rape charges soon. The allegations date back to a 2004 recruiting scandal. A local district attorney said the university was using alcohol and sex to lure high school athletes to play for the team. Since then, Colorado reformed its recruiting program and, at the time, no charges were brought against several athletes accused of rape. That, as NPR's Jeff Brady reports, may be about to change. JEFF BRADY: Nine years ago, almost exactly, Julie Stene was graduating from high school. She says she went to a party, got very drunk, blacked out and at three in the morning woke up in her car… Ms. JULIE STENE: In only a T-shirt with mud on myself and in a lot of pain, and I knew that I had been sexually assaulted. BRADY: Stene went to the police, who took her to a hospital for tests. DNA from two people was collected from Stene. One matched classmate Clyde Surrell, who told police they had consensual sex. At first, Stene was prepared to help prosecutors, but then her father became terminally ill. She was depressed and dropped out of the case. Then in 2004, the scandal at the University of Colorado was making headlines. Stene knew Surrell was a player there. Ms. STENE: And I thought, oh god, if he's involved in this, I'm going to feel really, really bad because I could have pressed charges against him and maybe this wouldn't have happened. BRADY: Stene decided she was strong enough to go ahea" ]

[ "In the successful teaching and learning cross-cultural communication,the vocabulary teaching with cultural connotations has always the core point.This article divides the vocabulary with rich cultural connotations into five categories in order to highlight the significance of the vocabulary in culture teaching." ]

[ "Vocabulary has always been an area of interest for many researchers since words represent “the building block upon which knowledge of the second language can be built” and without them people cannot convey the intended meaning (Abrudan, 2010). Nation (1988) emphasised if teachers want to help their learners to deal with unknown words, it would be better to spend more time on vocabulary learning strategies rather than spending time on individual words. However, Schmitt in Schmitt and McCarthy (1997:200) stated that among vocabulary learning strategies only ‘guessing from context’ and ‘key word method’ have been investigated in depth. Therefore, there is need for more research on vocabulary learning whose pedagogical implications may contribute to the field of second language learning. Considering the abovementioned issues, vocabulary is a worthwhile field to investigate. Hence, this paper aims at proposing a framework for vocabulary teaching strategy in English as a foreign language context.", "With the rise of schools in Western languages and multimedia-based teaching methods in modern science and technology,foreign language teaching in recent years is more and more emphasis on teaching methods and language of its purpose Strategy,which ignored the traditional foreign language teaching of language constitute the three elements,in particular the status of the basic vocabulary knowledge.This paper through a comprehensive set of vocabulary learning in foreign language learning in the status and role of research at home and abroad,called for foreign language education in the basic stage should pay attention to vocabulary learning,to improve vocabulary teaching requirements.", "This article analyses features of cross-cultural communications and related problems arising in national educational spaces in a global world. The author describes the features of cross-cultural communication. It is argued that communication processes between members of different cultures should take into account the linguistic and cultural background of subjects of communication. The article analyses the development of global educational space from the Antiquity to the present day. The author describes the features of modern transdisciplinary studies and the role of the subject in a modern educational space. An analysis of different approaches to text analysis is presented.", "The cultivation of intercultural awareness in foreign language teaching is an important topic,it is also one of the goals of the high school English course.The lack of the cultivation of intercultural awareness is the largest insufficient in high school English teaching.In the teaching,\"improving vocabulary teaching,comparing different cultures and strengthening language practice\" are the three specific ways to the effective development of the students' intercultural consciousness.", "With the development on Sino-Japanese relations,the demand for talents of Japanese comes to a new height,and there is an increase in schools with Japanese program.In the teaching practice,we should start from the learning atmosphere in class,interact positively with students,combine direct teaching with the integration of translation,and train the cultural infiltration and cross-cultural communication consciousness.", "The documents concerning English vocabulary teaching are overviewed in this thesis.The contents,characteristics and tendency of English vocabulary teaching are analyzed as well.The importance of vocabulary and vocabulary teaching are recognized and accepted by the researchers.The connection between the vocabulary teaching and other linguistic branches get the widespread consideration and study.The cognitive memorization of the vocabulary,the cultural meaning of the vocabulary are the focuses of the studies.The vocabulary teaching has very close connection with lexicon,pragmatics and semantics,which are very traditional subjects in the researches.However,the scholars are very active on them.Many a high-quality thesis concerning these subjects has already been published.", "This paper is a part of a longitudinal study focusing on qualitative aspects of learning in a foreign language in the development of cognitive processes in mathematics. The aim of the paper is to present a more complex analysis of textbook-based obstacles to communication. These obstacles originate in the process of vocabulary and grammar acquisition within a particular multicultural and sociocultural context. The study was carried out using mathematics textbooks from English-speaking countries which are used when teaching mathematics in English to Czech students.", "This Independent Professional Project outlines my process of becoming aware of the interrelationship of language and culture in the Korean University language classroom and the issues surrounding teaching culture in Korea at the turn of the millenium. My decisions, reflections and realizations made as an expatriate EFL teacher based in Seoul, Korea, which helped to address these concerns, are fully presented. This paper reflects on the “culture bumps” inherent in my living and teaching context, and the cultural adjustments made both in the classroom and out. It also explores the major theoretical influences that have been helpful in designing a Culture course for Korean university students. It then presents and evaluates the curriculum and lesson plans that were created and implemented. ERIC Descriptors Cultural Awareness Cultural Context Culture Intercultural Communication Instructional Materials Teacher Developed Materials Curriculum Development Intensive Language Courses", "The inclusion of nonverbal communication has given communication studies a broader range of cross‐cultural application and eliminated some “blind spots” in intercultural communication. Theories of nonverbal communication can now be applied to study discrimination in intercultural contexts. Some modules of discrimination are proposed to suggest a new relationship between intercultural communication and nonverbal communication studies.", "This paper,taking students of Zhejiang Education Institute as an example,tries to find out the problems in English vocabulary learning of non-English majors at higher vocational level. A questionnaire is designed to probe into the learning habits,vocabulary memory and new words acquisition of non-English majors. According to the research result,it proposes suggestions on English vocabulary teaching such as howto foster students' learning habits,howto teach learning strategies and howto change ways of vocabulary teaching.", "This research paper,from the perspective of cross-cultural communication,intends to analyze the cultural misconceptions Chinese have about North American culture.Inspired by the data the author collected through the semester-long project with three subjects from different background,the topic of helping Chinese people overcome stereotypes about American culture stands out to claim the practical value in terms of enhancing Chinese people’s cultural awareness and ability to distinguish cultural perspectives and recognize the complexity of cross-cultural communication.Also,recommendations like to know yourself,to develop cross-cultural communication competence are provided for overcoming the formation of stereotypes and to decrease possible cultural incidents since people of both cultures are increasingly interacting with each other in various aspects in the situation of globalization.", "This study looks into the cultural dimension involved in the e-mail correspondence between EFL students inAlgeriaand English students inBritain. E .mail entries were analysed to yield insights into the cross- cultural communication process. The data analysis focussed on the types of cultural information transmitted and effects of cultural assumptions and values on communication effectiveness. The findings revealed fundamental characteristics of both. Algerian and British cultures by the two groups of participants. It was also found that curiosity toward the other culture was a motivating factor for on-going correspondence but cultural presumptions were sometimes a hindrance for communication. Moreover, positive interpretations of cultural differences and empathy were key factors contributing to the removal of communication obstacles.Cross-cultural e. mail correspondence sensitized the participants to cultural differences and served as a learning experience for cross-cultural understanding", "The development of words reflects the development of society. Many new words emerge as the times require and most of them are used frequently in mass media. In this essay, how these new words appeared will be analyzed in order to understand the words better and help us to present the culture-cross communication in English teaching.", "Successful business activities depend on cross—cultural communications,however,cross—cultural communications are often hindered by the cultural disparities.These cultural disparities in- clude language,way of thinking,value outlook,laws and regulations,custom and habit,and so on. The effective cross—culture communications are to use proper communication paths,to overcome the disadvantageous factors of cultural disparities and to strengthen understanding and integration.", "Attempts are made in this paper to probe into the confusion of the Chinese English learners in the cross-cultural communication with the English-speaking people from abroad by focusing on the topic of culture interference through systematic analysis of the cases observed in dealing with the aged. Some suggestions are given to avoid the miscommunication between Chinese English learners and English-speaking people.", "Multi cultural based teaching media is helpful for teacher and students during the process of teaching and learning. These media answer questions related to the establishment of multicultural education in Indonesian context which is not yet optimally carried out. With the help of multicultural based media, students are taught to understand the differences among their cultural background and understand plurality as well.", "Inferencing, or guessing the meaning of novel words from the context or from internal clues, is a vocabulary comprehension skill. The structure of this book is described below. Chapter one defines inferencing and its value is discussed. Chapter two shows a taxonomy of types of linguistic clues which help the reader guess the meaning of unknown words. The next chapter focuses on how to teach inferencing skills in and out of the classroom. Chapter four discusses the relationship between inferencing and the cloze test. The final chapter depicts the summary, pedagogical implications, and recommendations for further research. The content of this book should benefit second language learners of English, lecturers, parents, educators, and researchers in vocabulary and second language acquisition.", "The cross-cultural foreign language practice project to build a multi-modal discourse mode,is to seek the integration of language and its associated resources,rich language training real exchange situational creation of more flexible foreign language learning space,while exploring the assessment processmulti-modal.Positive role in promoting of multimodal discourse mode of foreign language training to improve the efficiency and quality of training to improve the foreign language learning interest of the trainees.", "This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of appropriate material to be covered and methods to utilize in teaching diversity content in the social work curriculum. A case example of a cultural immersion experience for baccalaureate social work students is presented to illustrate how an out-of-classroom setting with community leaders can be used as a means to teach diversity holistically and with an ethno-conscious approach. Through horizontal learning and respectful dialogue, students have an opportunity to witness a community's strengths and resources and to develop relationships that foster understanding and cultural sensitivity.", "This paper summarizes the results of a collaborative narrative inquiry study conducted by two teachers in an English as a foreign language classroom in Bogota, Colombia. The study places emphasis on teacher learning as a reflective practice to contribute to students’ vocabulary learning. However, the analysis presented in this paper is grounded on teachers’ narrative events to understand their experiences teaching vocabulary over communicative classroom activities. Findings revealed that teachers could claim ownership of their own teaching practice when there is negotiation and collaboration of teaching practices over vocabulary activities; furthermore, data made evident that when collaboration emerges as a driving force, teachers’ learning can become relevant to increase students’ learning since reflection is used to adapt teaching to get learning outcomes.", "This paper studies how to effectively cultivate college students’ cultural awareness in college English teaching and learning in the attempt to effectively promote the target culture learning in a non-native context like China through adopting various ways. This study is carried out through a sociocultural test among college English teachers and learners, with the expectation to get an objective view of the current status of culture instruction in college English teaching in China.", "This paper for all intents and purposes is to describe issues and challenges of teaching reading in the EFL classroom. Basically, this paper claims that teaching reading and reading competences are failed to achieve and students get insufficient knowledge and skills through reading. Teaching reading has been colored with problems that make students boring. The problems include: Literacy in general word list vocabulary: Difficult vocabulary terms, Academic vocabulary, Complexity of grammar, Inappropriate texts, Complexity of academic text, Reading habits and culture, Lack of schema activation, Lack of motivation to read, Insufficient preparation in teaching reading. This paper proposes alternative to teaching reading in context of academic purposes in the university level.", "Bilingual education is conducive to raising the level of higher vocational colleges to improve their vocational skills and cultural literacy.From a bilingual cross-cultural communicative competence of the impact and the inherent requirement of bilingual Vocational education,the implementation of bilingual education in vocational colleges can help students achieve intercultural communication ability,and develop their international community survival and development capabilities.", "This chapter introduces the collection and concentrates on the topics of cross-cultural communication, translation, and interpreting in the context of, and in relation to, war. It examines the growing field of research on the area of language and war, and argues that communicating and interpreting are centrally important activities in the context of war. A focus on the human dimension through selected case studies of interpreters allows readers to understand the challenge of understanding how people experience language(s) in the context of war and also seeks to shed light on the challenges that communication and language pose for military logistics and policy. Finally, this introduction provides an overview of the key themes and content of the collection.", "This paper applies Kress' theory of multimodality in social semiotic to facilitate vocabulary acquisition and text building in classroom. It designs a classroom activity wherein Japanese University students of Spanish as a foreign language built a hypertext aiming to do research about several topics and enlarge vocabulary. Additionally, based on the classroom activity, it established the Multimodality-based Model in the classroom of Spanish as a foreign language and briefly investigate and analyze the responding of students. Finally, the paper summarizes the merit and limit of this activity and concludes that the approach of multimodality can make students become aware of available resources for conveying meanings. This paper relates multimodality to hypertext, which can well combine their advantages, i.e. the hypertext can link many kinds of media and is more suitable for conveying meanings and feelings.", "Politeness,as a universal phenomenon,is part of the national culture,and it plays an important role in human communication. Under the different cultural backgrounds,the ways to express and the standards used to judge politeness and courtesy vary greatly. The article compares and analyzes the causes to form these differences from the four perspectives: the use of imperative language,invitations,the language and the acts of expressing gratitude and the appellations so as to provide a valuable reference for smooth cross-cultural communication and foreign language teaching.", "Little research has been conducted that explores connections between the fields of intercultural communication and English-language instruction. To address this gap, we report on an intercultural communication course delivered as an integral part of a short-term professional development immersion program for English-language teachers from South Korea. Study results indicate that intercultural communication training served to enhance participants’ pragmatics awareness along with sensitivity regarding sociocultural influences on communication that they experienced in situ. After the four-week course, most of the participants expressed desire and readiness to integrate intercultural communication into their teaching in South Korea. Intercultural communication training promises to complement pragmatics instruction aiming at improving English-language learning and teaching.", "This paper puts forward the importance and necessity of vocabulary teaching in TCSL and the methods of teaching Chinese characters and words to international students of elementary and intermediate levels. This paper consists of four parts: introduction, importance and necessity of teaching Chinese characters and words in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL), methods of teaching Chinese characters and words to international students, conclusion and implications.", "As a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural activity, translation aims to communicate information. And the basis of this communication lies in the common understanding of cultural backgrounds of the target language as well as the source language. By analyzing the cultural features of English and Chinese, this paper mainly suggests that in the process of English-Chinese translation, we should not only consider the factors of language itself but also emphasize the analysis of cultural differences so that we can avoid mistranslating as much as possible and realize the most appropriate translation and the true purpose of communication.", "Abstract Intercultural competence is considered to be a core element for the professional and social competence of a teacher. Intercultural competence comprises a system of lingua-cultural knowledge which is developed at the foreign language learning stage. The development of intercultural competence is fostered by such didactic methods as the lingua-conceptual approach to teaching of foreign language, working with authentic texts and films, corrective exercises which are targeted at eliminating possible communication failures. Communication classes are conducted in interactive form and involve role playing and training activities, wherein intercultural communication peculiarities are taken into consideration.", "Cross-cultural management has been conceptualised using a variety of perspectives from a simple focus on the cultural adaptation of pre-existing management skills, to being a management subset with unique skills, goals and processes (Torbiorn, 1985). This paper will examine various conceptualisations of cross-cultural management in the expatriate context and suggest that previous definitions that are strongly linked to cultural adjustment lead to limitations in management outcomes. This literature examination will conclude with a definition of cross-cultural management that goes beyond cultural adjustment and adaptation to include the unique management skills, goals and processes of cross-cultural management. The paper will critically examine the relationship between cross-cultural management and cultural intelligence.", "In the background of globalization, the CET should not be limited only in the proper foreign language. More attention should be paid to lead college students to search the social and cultural implications behind language, and on the cultivation of their inter- cultural communication competence, thereby to satisfy the current social require on their foreign language competence. This paper attempts to propose some undertaking principles and methods to such a process at present, with the hope of offering some inspiration to the inter- cultural education in our CET." ]

[ "True: big things do come in small packages. I'm glad that I read this tiny gem. It IS worth the price." ]

[ "This album, while the production was good, was not what everyone had hyped it up to be. It was this amazingly great rap album. The beats were good but the rhymes were just to simple and boring to actually sit through the whole thing.", "This is a rare treat for anyone who remembers the last of the great steam powered locomotives that ran on the Grand Trunk! The original film quality is exceptional and with sound as well. The photographers did an amazingly good joob of capturing a", "Amazingly long burning. The first set I used I timed. I got 49 hours our of one and 53 out of the other. These are THE BEST emergency power outage lighting I have ever had. I bought 4 more just to keep on hand.", "I was loving this monitor until today when I turned it on and it began flickering and smelling like burnt electronics. As you can see in the picture the colors have become completely grey and muted and it is now practically unusable. I made sure with the test screen that this is a hardware issue and it has not fixed itself with resets or rest.\n\nI double checked that I was using the proper power supply in a surge protector and I was. I'm using this review to warn everyone that this monitor might have some unknown hardware issues that have yet to widely surface. I am especially disheartened because the monitor worked amazingly well before and it's a complete bummer to have it break in just six months.", "Disappointed with this box. Purchased this exclusively to use for sreaming Kodi addons and Espn app. It simply does not have the processing power/speed to handle this simple task. Constantly locks up, buffers. My inexpensive Moto g cell phone is far superior for the purposetv\n\nI currently use my phone to stream to my tv, while this box sits in a drawer. I would prefer to have a dedicated box, but have not yet decided what to purchase.", "The Seven Years war is somewhat of a footnote in American history, yet it set in motion everything to follow in our country's destiny for at least the following hundred years. So well written and amazingly researched. Have never come across another book that even comes close to the treatment Anderson gives to this amazing time in our history.", "Met Dan at FOWD 2009 and he is a great guy in general, very humble yet amazingly knowledgeable. This DVD accompanies the book flawlessly and since I am a visual learner I pick up more from DVD's and video tutorials than books anyway.\n\nThank you Dan Cederholm for making such a wonderful book and DVD combo. =)", "I've had my rw4 for a couple months. This thing works amazingly! I have 3 tanks with wave timers and multiple korilla power heads. This blows them all away! I was hesitant due to the brand but tried after reading the reviews. Don't be afraid and buy it! This was one of the best purchases I have made dollar for dollar for my aquariums.", "Quality of unit is excellent! Compared to other 12V portable compressors I've owned, this one operates more quietly with less vibration, provides an easy-to-read, accurate gauge and, most importantly, inflated bicycle, wheelbarrow and John Deere tractor tires amazingly fast!\nHave yet to need to try it on car tires, but do believe that it will out-perform any other portable compressors I've owned to date.", "So amazingly comfortable!!!! Could not be happier!!!", "Kreeft is his usual insightful and yet glib, entertaining self here as he takes the simple yet deep and sometimes overwhelming Life Course of Abandonment to the Divine Will and brings it home to new generations of seekers in a more modern linguistic. Not to be missed. He writes on a level with the great saints including de Caussade.", "BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!\n\nThis product worked amazingly well for the first 3 months or so only to completely stop working. I cant seem to get power to the unit at all. I cant return it to Amazon and I need to ship this monstrosity back to the manufacturer ( on my dime ) to see if it can be fixed or replaced under the warranty. What a joke! I expected much better. So very disappointed - spent over $200 for this piece of garbage.", "The Get Up Kids Red Letter Day [EP] delivers some of the band's best songs. Forgive and Forget is replete with awsome guitars and drums while Anne Arbour is strung out with thoughtful lyrics. Mass Pike combines bells and drums to provide a funky intro then goes into a sonic assault of power chords, drums, bells, and even strings. Anne Arbour is probably my favorite song on the EP. The songs are simple, yet pack a quasi-punk/emo punch that is definitivly Get Up Kids style. The lyrcis are simple at times, but they are still good, and contain verses that everyone can realate to. It took a few listenings to get into this one, but then it became a seasoned veteran in my CD player. If you are looking for something new, and haven't checked out The Get Kids yet, this CD can definetly start you out on the right track. If you like the Get Up Kids, you should aslo check out Jimmy Eat World and Alkaline Trio for some awesome music too.", "Truly twisted. Mackay has managed to out do himself with these sick and horrific tales in this second volume. Charlie is still in a drug coma and we are getting another first hand view in to his destroyed and drug manipulated mind. Each nightmare is more perverse than the last. This book is disturbing to the 10th power. Andrew Mackay is an amazingly gifted story teller. Read at your own risk! I read this book for an arc and my honest review.", "Haven't had a chance to get them installed yet, but have powered them up. Quality product, comes with installations brackets. Thanks!", "This looks like that it will cover all the bases. Haven\"t had a power surge yet and hopefully these protecters will work as advertised.", "Definitely an adult read. Heavy on the fantasy side. Vampires are mostly offstage. Were's, elves, witches, and warlocks are all present and make up the entire cast.\n\nA bit on the wish fulfillment side. The main character is amazingly powerful but lacks control or stamina and maturity.\n\nThe sex scenes were more of a distraction, although well written.\n\nThere is the potential for this series to rise to a very high level. This would be a solid buy in paperback.\n\nI am going to buy the sequel now.", "This is the new falcon chip system with the 175W power brick. This system runs nice and cool. No problems yet..Very Happy!!", "As a parent and a volunteer in the school system, I found this book to be amazingly helpful and insightful.", "Although we have not had a power failure yet to test these, the bulbs are very bright and the overall size of the items are small so that they almost blend into the wall.", "I have my doubts about this flashlight producing 600 lumens, but even if it doesn't, it is still a great flashlight. The simple, compact design is great. Only problem is that it burns through batteries quick, and to save power it lowers the output of the flashlight drastically. A phone's flashlight become brighter when the flashlight is in that power saving mode. If it wasn't for that, I'd give it five stars", "I purchased the power mat but have yet to be able to use it....wasn't properly informed to needing a special case or back for the phone before it could be used with power mat. My friend whom I purchased the power mat for has a Samsung Galaxy S4 and no one I mean NO ONE makes a case or back for this phone that is compatible with the power mat. My suggestion is that you give customers the option to purchase a case when they are looking to purchase a power mat, at the very minimal let them know one is needed before the device can be used.", "Did not realize that it was smaller than my previous. Juicer is ok but motor not as powerful as my Jack LaLane which I purchased from Costco. For the price,though, it does the job. Cleaning is simple.", "Awesome card. since i built my gaming machine, i have not had any issues whatsoever. ive been playing world of warcraft with all the settings on \"ultra\" with full environmental effects, shadows, everything and not even a hiccup! load times are amazingly fast and so far, it has not let me down. i've actually even ordered a second one of these so i can run crossfire with them for some real high-powered graphics.", "Very good quality, and the package comes with 5 brushes. I use these for all my military weapons cleaning as the bushes are perfect to get off power, dirt, oil and anything else your service firearm picks up. They last a long time, and their shape is perfect for broad areas and hard to reach niches as the brushes have both a wide and narrow head. Moreover, Type-III Products shipped amazingly fast, and they have the best price on any site for this item, including ebay. Quality firearm cleaning aid.", "Ordered 2sizes up and it fit perfectly! Amazingly cute too especially for the price", "Cute yet simple dress. The front fabric is a spandex like material and the back more jersey. I love the cat print in front, lace straps, and striped rainbow back. Everything a little girl loves!!", "Cookies work amazingly well! Packaging is not great, and cookies have arrived smashed.", "I knew this writer was a liberal, yet I still read his books knowing his unwavering bias. This book took it to a whole new level. Making the characters unlikable and simple characters with obvious outcomes." ]

[ "By . James Rush . PUBLISHED: . 07:08 EST, 17 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:53 EST, 17 February 2013 . A 26-year-old man has been charged today with causing death by dangerous driving after a 80-year-old woman was killed as she crossed the road. The woman suffered serious injuries in the 'hit and run' incident in Yardley, Birmingham, yesterday. West Midlands Ambulance Service said the . woman had suffered 'multiple serious injuries and was in cardiac . arrest' when medics arrived at about 11.30am. A man, 26, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after the 80-year-old woman died . Medics said she was in cardiac arrest when she was found. A man handed himself into police hours later . She died a short time later, while the driver sped away from the scene. The woman's family has been informed but police have not yet publicly named her. A large-scale police operation to trace the car and driver started immediately after the crash. She was hit as she crossed the road in Yardley, Birmingham, yesterday . Some hours after the accident officers found a damaged blue Vauxhall Astra dumped at the roadside about six miles away in Solihull, which police believe is the car involved in the incident. It was being forensically tested today. The suspect was arrested after he handed himself in at Stechford police station. A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: 'A 26-year-old man has tonight been charged with the offence of causing death by dangerous driving. 'He will appear before Birmingham Magistrates' Court tomorrow.' The car believed to have been involved in the incident was recovered six miles away in Solihull. A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said medics attempted to resuscitate the woman as soon as they arrived. However, they said 'despite their best efforts, nothing could be done to save the woman and she was confirmed dead'. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons." ]

[ "By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:31 EST, 15 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:53 EST, 15 November 2013 . Accused: Richard Husband, pictured, has appeared in court charged with causing the death of a paramedic and elderly patient in a crash on the A337 in Hampshire . A motorist has appeared in court charged with causing the death of a paramedic and elderly patient when their ambulance smashed into a tree. It is claimed that Richard Husband, 26, collided with the emergency vehicle on the A337 Brockenhurst to Lyndhurst Road in Hampshire. Ambulance driver Gillian Randall, 42, and 88-year-old patient Francis Ironside - who was travelling in the rear of the vehicle at the time of the crash - died at the scene. A male crew member and a male relative of the patient also suffered serious back injuries in the collision. Both had been travelling in the back of the ambulance at the time of the crash, on April 26 this year. Husband, from Brockenhurst, Hants, is charged with two counts of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving. He did not enter a plea at the short hearing held earlier today. Magistrates in Southampton, Hampshire, have sent the case to trial at Bournemouth Crown Court on December 9. Husband, who dressed in a sharp blue suit with a red and white striped tie, was granted unconditional bail. Tragedy: Ambulance driver Gillian Randall, 42, and 88-year-old patient Francis Ironside, who was travelling in the rear of the vehicle, died at the scene of the crash on April 26 this year . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.", "A man has allegedly crashed his car into a house full of people and attempted to set it on fire before stabbing a man to death. The 50-year-old driver will front court on Tuesday faced with a string of charges after police allege he rammed his car into the home at Delaneys Creek, north-west of Brisbane, about 7.30pm on Monday. Police say five people, including a woman believed to be the man's ex-partner, were in the home when the car crashed into the side of it. Scroll down for video . A 50-year-old driver will front court on Tuesday faced with a string of charges after police allege he rammed his car into the home at Delaneys Creek, north-west of Brisbane, about 7.30pm on Monday . A terrifying scene then unfolded, with the driver of the car allegedly climbing out of the smashed vehicle and stabbing a 50-year-old man to death. The victim received multiple stab wounds and died at the scene. It is believed the pair were known to each other. None of the other people at the home were hurt. Police allege the man tried to cause a fire or an explosion by driving the car into the house. Police say five people, including a woman believed to be the man's ex-partner, were in the home when the car crashed into the side of it . A terrifying scene then unfolded, with the driver of the car allegedly climbing out of the smashed vehicle and stabbing a 50-year-old man to death . The victim received multiple stab wounds and died at the scene. It is believed the pair were known to each other . The driver has been charged with murder and four counts of attempted murder. He was also charged with enter dwelling with intent, contravention of a domestic violence order, driving whilst disqualified, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and attempted arson. He is due to appear in the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Emergency vehicles swarmed the property at Chappel Road in Delaneys Creek - about 20 kilometres north-west of Caboolture . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "By . Tara Brady . PUBLISHED: . 17:16 EST, 13 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:12 EST, 13 March 2013 . Convicted: Aadil Asghar, 25, was found guilty after killing 12-year-old schoolboy Harsh Dharmendra . A boy racer in a sports car killed a schoolboy after weaving in and out of heavy traffic and hurtling down a bus lane. Aadil Asghar was told he faces a jail sentence after hitting and killing 12-year-old Harsh Dharmendra who was crossing the road on his way home from school. The boy was thrown 10ft into the air by the force of the impact and landed in the back of a car just yards away from his home. Tragically the pedestrian crossing where he had attempted to cross was not working at the time he was hit. He died in hospital the next day. The jury was told the 25-year-old driver had been cutting across lanes in a bid to get ahead of traffic and was in the designated bus lane when he struck the schoolboy. He was also estimated to be travelling over 40mph in his white Audi A1, emblazoned with grey racing stripes, on the road which is a designated 30mph zone. The jury heard one driver warned 'he's going to kill someone' as Asghar cut up cars just moments before the fatal crash. Alan Blake, prosecuting, said: 'The collision was the culmination of aggressive and impatient driving as the defendant drove his vehicle in heavy traffic proceeding out of Reading.' 'When Harsh stepped out in to the bus lane there was no prospect of the defendant being able to bring his vehicle to a stop,' he added. In court: A jury at Reading Crown Court convicted Aadil Asghar of causing death by dangerous driving . Witness Katie Herd was driving home from work in her Audi A3 on the day of the boy's tragic collision and said she saw Asghar's Audi 'weaving in and out of the traffic.' Asghar admitted causing death by careless driving but contested a more serious charge of death by dangerous driving. However, a jury at Reading Crown Court convicted him of causing death by dangerous driving on February 21 last year in King's Road, Reading, Berks. He was released on conditional bail and will be sentenced on April 11 by Judge Stephen John.", "An 18-year-old trainee nurse died on a hen party when a lorry driver smashed into their coach which was travelling at just 5mph on a motorway, a court has heard. Bethany Jones was with a group of 20 women on their way to Liverpool when their coach was hit on the M62 in West Yorkshire by an articulated vehicle. Lorry driver Kevin Ollerhead, 45, from Merseyside, denies causing death by dangerous driving and went on trial today at Leeds Crown Court. Bethany Jones, 18, (left) died on a hen party when lorry driver Kevin Ollerhead, 45, (right) smashed into their coach which was travelling at just 5mph on a motorway, Leeds Crown Court heard . Bride-to-be Stefanie Firth, 24, was among the 21 people seriously injured in the crash, including Miss Jones's mother and sister. The minibus was either stationary or travelling at no more than 5mph when it was hit just after junction 32, near Pontefract, due to a problem with the vehicle's clutch, a jury was told. But Brian Cox QC, prosecuting, told the court that Ollerhead 'took no significant avoiding action by breaking or speeding' to avoid the collision, and 'if he had braked at all he did so at the last second'. Other vehicles avoided colliding with the coach but Ollerhead, who was driving the lorry on a cruise control set to 52mph, drove straight into the back of the bus. Mr Cox QC said: 'The defendant simply failed to act. The collision was avoidable had he observed and reacted to the coach. The minibus was either stationary or travelling at no more than 5mph when it was hit just after junction 32 on the M62, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire . Bride-to-be Stephanie Firth (left) was among the 21 people who were seriously injured. Minibus driver James Johnson, 62 (right) has already pleaded guilty to death by dangerous driving . 'He was driving a large articulated truck in a lane of traffic on a motorway and the standard of care he demonstrated was far below someone in his position. 'He can't have been paying attention and taking steps to avoid a collision by simply driving into the rear of the coach without breaking. 'The journey in fact ended abruptly in a tragic collision close to junction 32 on the M62.' The coach driver, James Johnson, 64, from Bradford, pleaded guilty to causing Miss Jones's death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing, the jury heard. His 24-seat Mercedes minibus began showing signs of mechanical error just minutes into the hen party journey on April 26 last year. Other vehicles avoided colliding with the coach but Ollerhead, who was driving the lorry on a cruise control set to 52mph, drove straight into the back of the bus . Mourners at the funeral of Miss Jones from South Elmsall, who was killed on April 26 last year . 'Before reaching the A1, the coach showed signs of mechanical failure, so much so that a number of passengers on the coach called on the driver to investigate the problem,' said Mr Cox. 'There was a smell of burning and in fact the coach had a badly burnt out clutch.' Miss Jones died after suffering multiple injuries and all of the other passengers on the coach, who were from the Pontefract area, were injured, some severely. The prosecution argued that both the coach driver and lorry driver are to blame for the young woman's death. Mr Cox said: 'James Johnson, the coach driver, has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Indeed, the prosecution submit his driving was a substantial cause of the accident but it was not the sole cause. 'An additional and significant cause of the accident was Kevin Ollerhead's driving, which, submit the prosecution, fell far short, far below, the standard to be expected of a competent and careful driver. 'He too is guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and he too bears some responsibility for what occurred.' The jury was told that Ollerhead gave a statement to police in which he said he could not recall braking or steering but there was nothing he could have done to avoid the collision. Johnson will be sentenced following Ollerhead's trial, which is expected to last ten days. Lorry driver Kevin Ollerhead arrives at Leeds Crown Court with an unknown woman where he is charged with causing death by dangerous driving . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 04:32 EST, 13 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:05 EST, 13 March 2013 . Tragedy: George Tyson, 61, died after pushing his son out of the way . A selfless father was killed by a road sign after he pushed his disabled son out of the way of an 'out of control car', a court heard. George Tyson, 61, had been taking a walk with his son Garry, 32, when his throat was cut open by a Give Way sign. Teenager Jamie Skelton, 18, is accused of losing control of his car on a street corner and sending the sign flying into the carpenter's neck. The driver, who was 17 at the time of the incident, is charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Skelton, an apprentice engineer, allegedly drove at 'excessive speed' and careered backwards at about 50mph on to the pavement near Mr Tyson's home in Ulverston, Cumbria, the Daily Mirror reported. Preston Crown Court heard Skelton's Vauxhall Corsa knocked the pole down, but he continued backwards over it and the sign was caught up in the car's wheels before it was flung out, slashing Mr Tyson's carotid artery. Just before he was hit, he had pushed his son Garry, who has cerebral palsy, out of the way of the car. Prosecuter Arthur Gibson said that this was caused because Skelton's car was 'out of control'. George Tyson died at the scene of the incident on the A5087 at Bardsea in January of last year, when he was out walking with his 32-year-old son . He said the sign was 'was flung out like a metal frisbee or boomerang,' the Westmorland Gazette reported. Mr Gibson accused Skelton, who denies the charge, of heading out to test the car's limits. He said: 'He was going to see what the car could do, perhaps to pretend he was a rally driver, driving at fast and excessive speeds, a pattern of driving that would lead to terrible and tragic consequences.' Mr Tyson died from his horrific injuries on the A5087 at Bardsea in January, last year. Skelton, of Barrow, Cumbria, pleaded not guilty to death by dangerous driving. The trial continues. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.", "A lorry driver has been cleared of causing the death of an 18-year-old woman in a crash between his truck and a coach carrying a hen party. Kevin Ollerhead, 45, of St Helens, Merseyside, was found not guilty of causing the death of Bethany Jones by dangerous driving. Ms Jones was among a group of 20 women travelling to the hen party in Liverpool in April last year when their coach was hit on the M62 in West Yorkshire by an articulated vehicle driven by Mr Ollerhead. She died after suffering multiple injuries. All of the other passengers on the coach, who were from the Pontefract area, were injured, some severely. Bethany Jones (left) died after suffering multiple injuries in the crash on the M62. Kevin Ollerhead (right), 45, has been cleared by a jury of causing her death . The jury of eight women and four men took just two hours to find Mr Ollerhead not guilty at Leeds Crown Court. He was also cleared of an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving. The coach driver, James Johnson, 64, of Bradford, pleaded guilty to causing Ms Jones's death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. He will be sentenced on November 14. Gasps could be heard from the public gallery as the jury foreman announced the unanimous not guilty verdicts. Family members and friends of Ms Jones sobbed as Judge Guy Kearl QC thanked the jury. The court heard that the collision happened on April 26 last year after the 24-seater coach suffered mechanical problems and came to a 'near standstill' on the motorway. Pictured, the fatal crash on the M62, West Yorkshire that killed Bethany Jones . The coach left South Elmsall, near Pontefract, at 11.06am to travel to Liverpool for a hen do ahead of the wedding of Stefanie Firth. The passengers on the bus very quickly became aware of signs of mechanical failure, including a smell of burning, and asked Johnson to stop the vehicle. Johnson did stop the coach, which had a badly burnt-out clutch, and made a brief examination but said he could not find a problem and continued the journey. The speed of the coach gradually slowed to a crawl until it was travelling at just 5.5mph in the nearside lane of the M62, just after junction 32, near Pontefract. Mr Ollerhead, who was driving his lorry at 52mph, crashed into the back of the bus, shunting it 50 yards along the road and into a crash barrier, leaving it lying on its side across an exit sliproad. He told the court he was a professional driver and there was nothing he could have done to avoid the accident.", "A young boy is in critical condition after a road accident in which a van hit a power pole in Sydney's west on Thursday evening. The 8-year-old was airlifted to The Westmead Children's hospital with serious head trauma while the driver sustained only minor injuries. After being subjected to a roadside breath test that was positive, a man was arrested and taken to St. Mary's police station. A young boy is in a critical condition after a van crashed into a power pole on Thursday evening . An 8-year-old was treated at the scene by paramedics before being airlifted to Westmead children's hospital . A man was arrested after blowing a positive breath test reading of 0.087 and taken to St Mary's station . The Daily Telegraph reported that after blowing a blood alcohol reading of 0.087 at the station, police released the man to go to the hospital to be at the boy's bedside. He returned to the Penrith Police Station on Friday evening where he was charged with three offences. The 39-year-old Erskine man was charged for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, negligent driving causing grievous bodily harm and mid-range drink driving. His licence has also been suspended. The Sydney Morning Herald have reported that the boy is understood to be the man's son. The 39-year-old was charged with dangerous, negligent and mid-range drink driving . The man was granted bail and will appear at Penrith Local Court . The man and boy were travelling along Mamre Road just before 8pm, near the intersection of Elizabeth Drive, Kemps Creek, when their white van hit the pole. NSW Ambulance Paramedics treated the young boy at the scene before he was transported to Westmead. After returning to the Penrith Police Station, the driver was granted bail, but will appear at Penrith Local Court on the 13th of May. Police are continuing their inquiries.", "By . Tara Brady . PUBLISHED: . 06:27 EST, 20 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:40 EST, 20 March 2013 . Jailed: Nathanial Teague was sentenced to more than three years after killing an 80-year-old widow . A car thief who killed an 80-year-old widow in a hit-and-run has been jailed for more than three years. Unqualified driver Nathanial Teague, 26, ploughed into pensioner Alice Lucas at 60mph on a pedestrian crossing after stealing his ex-girlfriend's Vauxhall Astra. Her frail body was catapulted four metres in the air and landed on a grass verge - about 25 metres from where she was hit. Teague then desperately tried to drive away but smashed his vehicle into another car. He managed to steer the wreckage away from the scene on the A45 Coventry Road in Yardley, Birmingham, and dumped the car at his former partner's house in Solihull, West Midlands. Despite attempts to save Mrs Lucas, she died at the scene from her injuries. Teague handed himself in to police later that evening on Saturday, February 16. He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, failing to stop after an accident and driving without a license and no insurance. Teague, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to all charges at an earlier magistrates court hearing. He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison at Birmingham Crown Court. Scene: Despite attempts to save Mrs Lucas, she died on the Coventry Road in Yardley, Birmingham . Jailing Teague, Judge Michael Chambers QC told him: 'This death was tragic and unnecessary. 'The impact on those nearest to her must be enormous. The visibility and weather conditions were good. 'You should have been able to see her had you been travelling at the proper speed and keeping a proper lookout.' He was also banned from the roads for three years. Alice Lucas was crossing the Coventry Road when she was knocked down and killed by Nathanial Teague . After the case PC Stuart Thorpe, from West Midlands Police, said: 'This was a tragic case where an elderly lady has lost her life and a family has been left devastated by a moment of dangerous driving. 'Thankfully, the person responsible has saved the family the time and pain of enduring a lengthy court process, and he has admitted all of his actions which culminated in Mrs Lucas' death. 'We hope that the family can now take some comfort from this sentence.'", "By . Phil Vinter . PUBLISHED: . 14:16 EST, 8 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:17 EST, 9 September 2012 . Police have launched a murder inquiry into the death of a teenage cyclist who was knocked off his bike by a hit and run driver. Delaney Brown, 19, died after his bike was hit by a car in Vincent Road, Luton, on Wednesday, police said. A police spokesman said the death of Delaney Brown was now being treated as murder 'as a result of information which has been given to detectives.' Vincent Road in Luton, where Delaney Brown was struck by a car on Wednesday . She refused to be drawn on a motive for the killing but said that a 26-year-old man who had previously been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving had now been freed. He was released on police bail while further inquiries were carried out. 'We do not want to give out further information while there are still outstanding suspects to be arrested,' the spokesman added. The 19-year-old was the victim of a hit-and-run driver as he rode his bike along the road. He was thrown to the ground and left to die by the callous motorist who sped off. Today police appealed for help from the public to convict the killer. A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said that the joint major crime team from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire had launched an investigation into the death. 'Mr Brown, who was from Luton, was pronounced dead at the scene and a full collision investigation was launched. 'Family liaison officers are supporting the victim's family at this time and the coroner will open an inquest in due course. \"Case is now being treated as murder 'as a result of information which has been given to detectives.'\" says Police spokesman . 'It is believed a silver or grey Astra or BMW, was seen in the area at the time of the collision and officers would urge the driver of this vehicle or anyone who can help trace this car to contact them urgently,' added the spokesman. Detective Inspector John Arthur added: 'It is clear that there are people who have either witnessed or have a knowledge of this incident. We need their assistance and appeal for them to come forward with their information.' He said that they could contact the poilice anonymously either via Crimestoppers or by texting the police with their information. Detective Inspector John Arthur, from . the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, . said: 'It is clear that there are people who have either witnessed this . incident or who have knowledge of this incident. 'We need their assistance and appeal for them to come forward with any information. 'If people are uncomfortable speaking . directly to the police, for whatever reason, they can contact . Crimestoppers, completely anonymously.' Police said that they had arrested a man in relation to the non-stop . fatal road traffic collision. He said said to be 26 years old and had . initially been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous . driving. Anyone with information is urged to contact Bedfordshire Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.", "By . Richard Hartley-parkinson . Last updated at 6:01 PM on 7th October 2011 . Justice Secretary Ken Clarke proposes to increase sentencing from two years in prison to five . Dangerous drivers who cause serious injuries on the road could be jailed for up to five years under new plans, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said today. The introduction of a new offence of 'causing serious injury by dangerous driving' would more than double the current maximum sentence of two years for dangerous drivers whose victims are seriously injured but not killed. The change was spurred on by cases such as that of motorist Christopher Marr, who was jailed for just 26 months when he left 14-year-old Devon Foster with horrific injuries after a collision. Judge Steven Everett presided over his case and said it 'defies belief' that he could not sentence Marr for longer. He was released from prison after 13 months. Campaigners welcomed the proposals, saying that, with 1,850 deaths on the roads in Britain last year alone, the move would 'help to provide justice to families whose lives have been ripped apart by dangerous drivers'. Mr Clarke said: 'We have listened to the victims of dangerous drivers, their families, MPs, judges and road safety groups and their experiences have directly informed these changes. The review was sparked by the lack of sentencing power that a judge said he had when jailing the driver behind the horrific injuries of 14-year-old Devon Foster . 'Making our roads safer is a priority - . five people died on our roads each day last year, so we need to do . everything we can to further improve safety.' Ellen . Booth, from road safety charity Brake, said: . 'This new offence finally means that serious injury is recognised . within the title of the offence, and this recognition is vitally . important to victims and their families. 'It also means that dangerous drivers . who inflict serious injuries can expect to see higher sentences to . better reflect the terrible trauma and injuries they have caused.' Andrew Howard, head of road safety at . the AA, said the changes, which will be part of the Government's Legal . Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, 'should make sentences . more proportionate to the devastation dangerous driving causes and . should also deter people from driving badly'. Road Safety Minister Mike Penning added that while the vast majority of motorists were safe and responsible, 'the wilfully reckless minority who put lives in danger must face serious penalties'. Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: 'RoSPA has previously called for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving to be extended to cover causing serious injury, so we welcome the announcement of a new offence of 'causing serious injury by dangerous driving'. 'Serious injuries often cause life-long disability for the victims of bad drivers and can fundamentally affect their quality of life and that of their families. 'To ensure this new law works as intended, it will be absolutely crucial to ensure that it is applied consistently in terms of prosecution and sentencing.' Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said 'The main response to this proposal must be to ask: what exactly is meant by \"serious injury\"? 'The definition in Reported Road Casualties refers to a visit to accident and emergency or an overnight stay in hospital. 'I assume that, if the injury results from an act of dangerous driving, then the definition must imply an injury that is life-changing. 'It will be important for Parliament to give a clear indication of what is understood by serious when the amendment is debated. Otherwise, it is quite likely that the offence may be placed on the statute book with little or no effect. 'At present, just under 6,000 drivers are charged every year with dangerous driving. Yet we have no information about how many of those charges are the result of a crash involving serious injuries. 'So, it will be important to understand just how many extra court cases will result from the new offence. 'I hope that MPs and peers will therefore look very carefully at the detail of this offence to ensure that it leads to improvements in road safety, especially as it was not referred to in either the Strategic Framework for Road Safety published by the Government in May 2011 or the earlier consultation document on Road Safety Compliance published in November 2008.' A judge who wrote to David Cameron last year asking why he was unable to sentence a driver to more than two years has been cited as sparking the the re-think in the law. Christopher Marr  was sentenced to 26 months in prison when he crashed into three teenage girls in Bromley Cross, Bolton, after taking his girlfriend's car while drunk on August 22 last year. He drove at 90mph on the wrong side of the road before mounting a pavement and colliding with the girls, who were walking home from a party, leaving a scene of 'absolute devastation'. When jailing Christopher Marr (left) for just 26 months for dangerous driving Judge Steven Everett wrote to David Cameron to ask for tougher sentences . Marr took his girlfriend's car without her consent when he drove at 90mph, on the wrong side of the road, while drunk before hitting Devon and two friends . Devon Foster, then 14, was left fighting for her life with a fracture that ran from ear to ear under the front of her eyes, a cracked bone in her back, a bruised kidney, a fractured right arm and an ankle injury. She was left with brain injuries, scars and still suffers from hearing problems but has been able to finish her GCSEs. Devon Foster, pictured while recovering, suffered from a skull fracture that left her with hearing problems . Judge Steven Everett presided over the case and ordered for the court transcripts to be sent to the Prime Minister and the Justice Secretary when he found he could sentence Marr for just 26 months. He was released after 13 months. Summing up at Bolton Crown Court he said: 'For many years lawyers and judges have been railing against the government to change the sentence. 'It defies belief that successive governments have not seen fit to increase the maximum sentence. It is about time the government got its facts right and sorted itself out.' Miss Foster, now 15, backs the proposal. She said: 'I'm very happy the law is being changed. It's just sad that I have had to go through what I've been through for the law to be changed.' Her mother, Sam, 42, added: Devon's mum Sam, 42, added: 'It is wonderful, it's great news. It is a pity it has had to happen like this for so many families to go through what we've gone through for the Government to sit up and take notice. 'Christopher Marr is already out of prison but Devon is still serving her life sentence. 'She's got scars to look at every day, medication to take every day, hospital appointments each month. Devon's life has been turned upside down and her life has been put on hold. 'People may think twice now before driving dangerously.'", "By . Kate Lyons . Police have charged a man who allegedly hit seven cyclists with his car while driving in Sydney earlier this year. The 27-year-old Caringbah man was driving a Nissan X-Trail on Southern Cross Drive in Eastlakes, in Sydney's south, when he collided with a group of cyclists, at about 8.30am on Sunday March 16, police allege. Police arrived on the scene to find the cyclists were conscious, but had sustained injuries, ranging from abrasion to serious spinal fractures. Gillian McDonald was one of the seven cyclists hit by the car in March in Eastlakes in Sydney's south . All seven cyclists were taken to hospital for treatment and observation.Three of them were treated in intensive care units for spinal injuries. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that one of the cyclists faces two years of rehabilitation after losing function in her right hand. Police spoke to the Nissan driver at the scene and yesterday charged the man with eight offences. They included four counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, three counts of causing bodily harm by misconduct, and negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. The man is due to appear in Waverley Local Court on July 21. A man has been charged over the incident, which resulted in seven cyclists being taken to hospital . Police allege that a 27-year-old Caringbah man was driving dangerously and crashed into the group of cyclists, who were out for a Sunday morning ride . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "Lynne Hansen, 58, did not sleep well last night. She was disturbed by the deadly crash that yesterday claimed the life of Aneri Patel, 16, at the exact same spot where her daughter, Emma, 20, was killed by a car seven years ago. The similarities were 'eerie'. Both young women were hit by inexperienced drivers near the bus stop on the corner of Railway Parade in Kogarah, in Sydney's south, around the same time of the morning. Mrs Hansen's first reaction to Monday's horrible news was to feel sorrow for Ms Patel's mother and father. '(I was thinking about) the poor parents, really, because we're the ones that live with it,' Mrs Hansen told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday. 'The other drivers, they go home eventually, they grow up,' she said. But for the parents, 'it's horrible, you never get over it.' Scroll down for video . Tragedy: In March 2007 pedestrian Emma Hanson, 20, was struck by a car at the exact same intersection where Aneri Patel, 16 was killed on Monday . CCTV footage showed the moment Emma and other bystanders were struck. Learner driver Rose Deng was behind the wheel of this red Toyota Echo which ploughed into pedestrians in Kogarah in March 2007. Aneri Patel, a 16-year-old student at Kogarah High School, was killed when she was struck by a 4WD driven by an unlicensed 26-year-old driver on Monday morning. Police arrested Puipuimaota Galuvao, 26, who was driving the car that struck and killed Ms Patel. It's believed the car mounted a footpath and hit the student outside a Kogarah chemist on Monday morning. Galuvao is the sister of former NRL star Joe Galuvao, a two-time premiership winner for Many Sea Eagles and Penrith Panthers. She has been charged with a number of driving offences including dangerous driving occasioning death and driving without a licence. She has been granted bail and will appear in Kogarah Local Court on October 14. Friends gather where Aneri Patel was killed yesterday, singing songs and lighting candles. The crash site in Kogarah yesterday. The scene in Kogarah on Monday. Two others were severely injured by the crash. An unlicensed driver was behind the wheel of the 4WD that killed the Kogarah High student and severely injured two others, a 51-year-old woman and an 84-year-old man, about 11:30am yesterday. The driver, a 26-year-old woman, was granted bail. According to Nine News, the sister of former NRL star Joe Galuvao was charged over the crash. Ms Hansen was killed in March 2007 when learner driver Rose Deng accidentally drove a red Toyota Echo into a waiting bus queue. No changes have been made to the intersection since the incident. The speed limit on Railway Parade was reduced from 60km/h to 50km/h. Kogarah mayor Stephen Agius told Daily Mail Australia that NSW police, Roads and Maritimes Services, police and council agreed 'no feasible engineering solutions would have prevented that (2007) crash occuring'. Mrs Hansen, whose family is from Orange, said bollards should be installed as a safety measure at the 'very tricky' intersection where both Emma and Aneri were hit. 'It is a tricky intersection. I think anyone who has driven there would agree with me,' Mrs Hansen said. 'You've really got to stop and think at that intersection.' She said inexperienced drivers would 'definitely' struggle with the intersection. Mum Lynne Hansen said the similarities between the crashes were 'eerie'. Pictured: Emma Hansen. Kogarah Chamber of Commerce president Megan Barker told Daily Mail Australia bollards should be put up to protect pedestrians. 'We definitely need some bollards there to protect pedestrians,' she said. 'We just need those lights looked at and the bus stop... moved down the road. 'It's right on the bend. It's in a bit of a bad spot, there, actually.' Mr Agius said Kogarah Council will act immediately should police and RMS investigations into Monday's accident make any recommendations. The driver who allegedly struck Ms Patel with a 4WD will face offences including dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death, and driving a vehicle on the road without a licence. She will face Kogarah Local Court on October 14. Mrs Hansen said Emma was 'the most gorgeous girl, inside and out' who was loved by all'. She had been studying fashion design at Kogarah TAFE around the time of her death. Mrs Hansen said she had forgiven the driver, Ms Deng, for the accident which killed her daughter. But she still thinks about Emma everyday. 'I just feel so sorry for the (Aneri's) parents because you never get over it,' Mrs Hansen said. 'Really, you just look at what your child was like.. and how much you're going to miss your child and love them. Emma Hansen was a studying to become telephone counsellor to help people in need. Lifeline's Sutherland office set up a scholarship fund in her name - the Emma Hansen Memorial Fund - for people who want to study Telephone Counselling but cannot afford it. The incident in Kogarah yesterday, pictured from the sky. Emergency services workers at the scene of the Kogarah incident yesterday. Stretchers are carted from the Kogarah crash scene.", "By . Louise Cheer . A drunk learner driver has allegedly been caught speeding with four children in the back seat of his car. On Tuesday, Victoria police pulled over a 26-year-old driver on the Hume Freeway near Chiltern - in the state's north - just before 6.30pm. The Braybrook man was travelling at 159km/h in his Holden Commodore while overtaking trucks and cars on the road. The Braybrook learner driver, 26, was caught drink driving on the Hume Freeway at Chiltern . After receiving a report about a black sedan travelling at a high speed in the area, police highway patrol positioned themselves on the Hume Freeway. The vehicle was intercepted a short time later in Barnawartha North - about 2km south of the Murray Valley Highway. The driver was breath-tested by police and returned a reading of 0.074. In the car with him was a female passenger - who held an expired learners permit - and four children  between the ages of five and 12. Police found two of the young people were sharing one seatbelt. The man's car has been impounded and the 26-year-old was charged with dangerous driving, speeding and having an overloaded vehicle as well as other offences.", "By . Kerry Mcdermott . PUBLISHED: . 16:05 EST, 2 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:23 EST, 3 January 2013 . A novice driver has been caught on camera motoring along a busy highway with his hands behind his head. The man - who was said to have driven for a distance of up to 20 kilometres with his hands resting behind his head instead of on the steering wheel - was filmed by a stunned witness in Melbourne, Australia. The rogue driver is thought to have been using his knees to steer his Mazda 3, which was fitted with P-plates to indicate a probationary licence holder. On probation: The driver was caught on camera driving without his hands on the steering wheel . The footage of the stunt was sent to an Australian newspaper. Officers from the Frankston Highway Patrol have now charged a 20-year-old man with reckless conduct likely to cause serious injury, driving in a dangerous manner, and failing to have full and proper control of  motor vehicle. Police had received reports of a man driving with no hands on the Frankston Freeway and Moorooduc Highway at around 6.30pm on Sunday evening, according to the Herald Sun. The 20-year-old suspect, from Thornbury, was released on bail and is due to appear at Frankston Magistrates' Court on April 3. Look no hands: The 20-year-old driver was arrested and charged with reckless conduct . In the Australian state of Victoria drivers who hold a probationary licence must display P-plates on their car. Drivers must pass a hazard perception test, a practical driving test and an eyesight test in order to obtain their probationary licence. VIDEO: Driver filmed at the wheel with hands behind his head .", "By . David Mccormack . A locksmith who was chasing a 23-year-old who drove away before paying for a lockout service lost control of his car and hit three teenage girls on a sidewalk in northern Georgia, killing one and injuring the other two. Tansu Kanlica, 27, of Atlanta, was arrested and is facing several charges including vehicular homicide and reckless driving. Kanlica was chasing 23-year-old Garrett Anderson in Kennesaw on Sunday night after Anderson had refused to pay him $175 for unlocking his car. The incident occurred on Sunday night after Tansu Kanlica, left, chased Garrett Anderson, 23, after Anderson had refused to pay him $175 for unlocking his car . Anderson, who was also arrested, faces similar charges to Kanlica and is also charged with theft of services. According to police, Kanlica was driving a silver 2004 Nissan on Barrett Lakes Boulevard approaching Shiloah Valley Drive just before 8 p.m. on Sunday. Reports say Anderson stopped suddenly, sending Kanlica's van out-of-control onto the sidewalk. He lost control of the car before leaving the roadway, then crossed the sidewalk and struck three teenage girls walking to a nearby movie theater. Reina As-Salaam, left, was pronounced dead at the scene in Kennesaw, Georgia, while Juliana Ferrell, right, is in hospital in a critical condition following the crash . According to police, Kanlica was driving a silver 2004 Nissan on Barrett Lakes Boulevard approaching Shiloah Valley Drive just before 8 p.m. on Sunday when the accident occurred . Reina As-Salaam, 15, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other girls, Juliana Ferrell, 16, and Monica Epps, 16, were hospitalized. Ferrell is in critical condition. Epps suffered several broken bones, but is expected to be OK. Police said Kanlica fled the scene, but was located nearby shortly after the accident. They said they believe Kanlica was chasing Anderson for theft of services. According to warrants, Kanlica worked for a locksmith and was called to unlock Anderson's car. Once he did, Anderson took off and Kanlica followed.", "Mike Penning, the Justice Minister, will close a legal loophole to ensure driving bans for those jailed for causing deaths start when they are released . Dangerous drivers who have killed on the roads in the UK will banned from getting behind the wheel for longer under new plans being considered by the Government. At the moment driving bans begin as soon as sentences begin, which means most people jailed for causing death by dangerous driving serve out their bans while in prison. But under a new scheme announced by Mike Penning, the Justice Minister, the bans will only come into force once offenders have left prison - keeping dangerous drivers off the roads for longer. He called the current system - allowing offenders to get behind the wheel soon after being released - was 'abhorrent.' 'If you have lost a loved one to a motorist who was drunk, driving recklessly or using a mobile phone, it is nothing short of an insult to see the killer leave prison and get straight behind the wheel of a car again,' he told the Sunday Telegraph. The new measures will build on a pledge by ministers to allow judges to extend the period that dangerous drivers who cause deaths are kept off the roads. Campaign group RoadPeace said that fewer than one in 10 drivers who caused deaths are banned from getting back behind the wheel for more than three years. Mr Penning said he plans to use powers in the 2009 Coroners and Justice Act to ensure driving bans for dangerous drivers who cause deaths begin only on the day they leave prison. He said the rules could be in force in weeks. Campaigners have also called for reckless drivers to be given longer sentences, with around just two thirds of drivers convicted of causing death by dangerous or careless driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol being jailed for five years or less. The maximum sentence is 14 years in prison. Government plans to give judges more powers to impose longer driving bans have stalled recently and have been stuck during debate stages at the House of Lords and House of Commons. The new regulations could affect the sentences of dangerous drivers like Craig Eccleston-Todd, 27 (left) who was using his mobile phone when he crashed head-on into the car being driven by Rachel Titley, 28 (right) The new rules could affect drivers like Craig Eccleston-Todd, 27 who killed a young solicitors clerk when he got behind the wheel drunk, and was texting as he drove along. Eccleston-Todd, of Newport in the Isle of Wight, was driving home from a night at a pub when he received a text message. As he was reading or replying to it, he veered across the road while driving round a bend and smashed into 28-year-old Rachel Titley’s car coming the other way. She later died of her injuries. He was jailed for six years and banned from driving for eight, after which he will have to complete an extended driving test.", "By . Steve Robson and Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:26 EST, 31 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:20 EST, 31 August 2013 . The chilling moment a German lorry driver ploughed his 40-ton vehicle into the back of a queue of motorway traffic and killed a man has been released on CCTV. Anton Maizen was jailed for four-and-a-half years this week after he caused the death of a 79-year-old man and injured two others. He had been driving solidly for 15 hours before the crash, which happened on the M25 near Aveley in Essex. Footage of the violent crash shows Maizen, 58, hurtling towards the back of the sliproad queue at 56mph - the maximum speed his lorry would allow. Scroll down for video . Moment from impact: Anton Maizen's 40-ton lorry approaches the queue of traffic on the sliproad of the M25 in Essex at full pelt . Smash: Unable to stop, he ploughs into the back of a BMW at 56mph, the lorry's maximum speed . Unfolding horror: The smashed BMW is propelled into the inside lane, causing a second lorry to lose control and swerve into the queue of traffic . Swerve: The second lorry comes off the road, while the German's vehicle jackknifes and ends up on the hard shoulder . He smashes into the back of one car, which causes a second lorry to swerve off the inside lane and into the queue, while Maizen's vehicle careers into a wall. Jailed: Maizen was jailed for four-and-a-half years earlier this week . A mother and child escaped without serious injury but the driver of a Renault Clio, 79-year-old Ronald Moughton from Ilford, died at the scene. Maizen, of Wixhausen, south of Frankfurt, admitted one count of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Basildon Crown Court today. The crash, on Tuesday, April 2, came after Maizen had been at work for nearly 23 hours - driving for 15 of those hours without a break. Maizen's 840-mile journey had begun the . previous day in Germany, with the driver entering the UK via Folkestone. He then drove to south London, before continuing on his way to . Lincolnshire. During this time he did not take breaks of longer than an hour - and did not have any sustained period of sleep, the court heard. Maizen was returning to the Channel Tunnel when the crash took . place. During his police interviews, he was unable to explain why he struck the rear of the queue at his maximum speed of 56mph. Maizen's . tachograph charts were found hidden behind the driver's seat and a data . chart in his sock was later found disclosing his route and timings. Wreckage: A man died as a result of the pile up on the M25 in Essex . Dangerous: The crash came after Maizen had been at work for nearly 23 hours - with 15 of them spent on the road . The German motorist was disqualified . from driving for five years and ordered to take an extended driving test . in order to regain his licence. Tailbacks: The German was also disqualified from driving for five years following the collision . Judge Owen Davies QC said: 'It would . appear that you failed to slow your vehicle and were still driving at . 50mph when you applied the brakes. 'Expert evidence shows it must have been fatigue that caused this incident. 'You had been driving for 22 hours and 44 minutes without the lengthy period of rest required. 'Your actions in those brief moments have caused untold misery on others.' James . Harrison, mitigating, told the court his client deeply regretted his . actions and took complete responsibility for the suffering he has . caused. He said: 'He knows that words are not . enough to express the regret he feels for those who suffered loss and . injury as a result of his actions. 'Had he foreseen the likelihood of any incident like this unfolding he would never have climbed behind the wheel of his cab.' Inspector Keith Whiting of Essex . Police said: 'We believe drivers and owners of foreign and British . commercial lorries will take note from this tragic incident that those . who disregard the law and the safety of vulnerable people in smaller . vehicles around them will be brought to justice, face a prison sentence . and a lengthy disqualification. 'We . also believe that people who were disrupted for several hours as a . result of this crash will appreciate that the complex and meticulous . investigation undertaken by Essex Police's Serious Collision . Investigation Unit was justified and has successfully brought a driver . to justice for causing one death and serious injury of two other road . users.'", "By . Daily Mail Reporter . A woman whose sister was killed by a drunk driver, ran over a cyclist while chasing her boyfriend at nearly 70mph after a drunken row. Emma Egan leapt behind the wheel when Liam Dent drove off after dumping her. But the 26-year-old lost control as she tailgated him at 69mph in a 40mph limit. Emma Egan has been jailed for for four years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving . She smashed into father-of-two Eric Codling, 55, catapulting him from his bicycle and killing him instantly. Egan, whose sister had been killed by a drink-driver eight years previously, wept as she was jailed for four years at Sheffield Crown Court. The beauty therapist, who admitted causing death by dangerous driving, is likely to serve two years in prison before being released. Mr Codling’s widow, Karen, said of the sentence: ‘It is disgusting. This is not justice. Is Eric’s life only worth four years? ‘I know nothing will bring Eric back, but... to only serve two years for killing somebody just doesn’t make sense. ‘Why is what she did any different to murder? We don’t feel there has been any justice.’ The court heard that Egan, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was over the drink-drive limit when she chased Mr Dent through Sheffield after he ended their relationship in November last year. Emma Egan smashed into father-of-two Eric Codling, pictured, 55, catapulting him from his bicycle and killing him instantly . After crashing into Mr Codling, she stopped briefly before driving off in her Vauxhall Astra. When police found her at Mr Dent’s home in the city, Egan was wailing incoherently, rocking in her seat and shaking. She then fell to the floor and vomited. Egan told the officers: ‘Oh God, what have I done? I’m so sorry.’ Alan Taylor, for Egan, said she was ‘profoundly sorry for her actions leading to the tragedy’. She had been in a state of emotional turmoil over the ending of her relationship with Mr Dent. ‘She must bear the heavy burden of guilt for the rest of her life,’ Mr Taylor said. ‘Not a day will go by when she will not remember the pain and anguish she has caused.’ Mrs Codling, 50, from Sheffield, said the fact Egan’s sister was knocked down and killed by a drink-driver ‘added insult to injury’. That driver was also jailed for four years and Mrs Codling said: ‘Egan’s own mum at the time said a four-year sentence for the driver who killed her daughter was an outrage, and she is right – it is.’ In a victim impact statement read out in court before Egan was sentenced, Mr Codling’s 13-year-old daughter Grace described how the death of her father had affected her and her nine-year-old sister Eve. Eric Codling with his wife Karen and their daughters Grace, 12, and Eve, nine . ‘I miss him being here, I miss everything about him,’ Grace said. ‘I feel angry. I think it’s horrible someone could do it.’ She said she wept for her father, while Eve ‘does not talk to anyone’. Mrs Codling told of her husband’s love for his daughters and how he had years before nursed her through cancer treatment. ‘We all miss him terribly – I lost my soulmate, my lover, my everything,’ she said. ‘My girls lost their cuddles and hugs. We are all bereft.’ She said she takes her daughters to their father’s grave every week. ‘We speak to him as though he is standing there with us as that’s all we have left now. ‘I loved him so much and he loved me and his girls so much. It’s just not fair it has happened.’ Sentencing Egan, who was also banned from driving for six years, Judge Julian Goose said: ‘No order or sentence will bring back the life of the deceased. ‘Death by dangerous driving is aggravated in your case by the fact that at the time you were over the [drink-drive] limit and were in pursuit of another vehicle while travelling at excessive speed.’", "Two men have been arrested over the fatal M25 horror crash that closed the motorway for 12 hours after a lorry smashed through the central reservation. Thousands of drivers were trapped in eight miles of tailbacks after a man died in the 'catastrophic' four-lorry pile-up on one of the busiest stretches of the motorway. The victim, believed to have been a 39-year-old from Leicester, was found dead at the scene and three more were injured when a lorry ploughed through the central reservation in Essex. Two men, aged 33 and 25, have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Both are still being treated in hospital and are due to be questioned by police later. Scroll down for video . Tragedy: One person died and three more were injured after a lorry crashed through the central reservation of the M25 . Static: Drivers stuck in the traffic said the queues were so bad a journey usually lasting around 20 minutes took up to four hours . Two men have been arrested over the fatal crash that closed the motorway for 12 hours and caused long tailbacks for thousands of motorists . Closures: These aerial photographs show the extent of the tailbacks with lanes closed in one direction and the other stretch of road completely sealed off . 'Two men aged 33 and 25 have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving in connection with a fatal road crash on the M25 in Essex shortly before 2am,' a police spokesman told MailOnline. 'Both are receiving treatment in hospital and will be interviewed in due course.' Motorists were trapped and some vehicles ended up on the wrong side of the road after the crash near Waltham Abbey at 1.50am, which closed the motorway between junctions 25 and 27 for more than 13 hours. Drivers stuck in the traffic said the queues were so bad a journey usually lasting around 20 minutes took up to four hours. Arrests: Two men, aged 33 and 25, have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. Both are still being treated in hospital and are due to be questioned by police later . Crash: Police said it was a 'catastrophic scene of carnage' and the road was closed for 13 hours . A man, believed to have been a 39-year-old from Leicester, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash between junctions 25 and 27 in Essex, causing huge queues of at least 8 miles . More drivers were left trapped in vehicles after the 'catastrophic' crash on the motorway near Waltham Abbey at 1.50am . The road partially re-opened at 3pm with 'two lanes open in both directions between junctions 25 and 27 with a 40 mile per hour speed limit on the lanes that are running', the Highways Agency said. As rush hour got underway this evening, one lane remained closed anti-clockwise between Junction 27 for the M11 and 26 at Waltham Abbey and two were closed clockwise as contractors worked to repair the barrier. There were reported delays of around 15 minutes. Chief Inspector Jonathan Baldwin, of Essex Police, said the road was a 'catastrophic scene of carnage'. Police had to close the M25 in both directions between junctions 25 and 27 causing miles of queues between Enfield and Epping. It was also shut for two more junctions to Junction 23, where the M25 meets the A1(M) until this afternoon. Essex Police said today that one person was killed and three others were taken to hospital following the incident. Chaos: The M25, which circles London, was closed after the crash, and the grey line at the top of the picture shows where the closure took place . Issues: As rush hour got underway two lanes remained closed between Junction 27 for the M11 and 26 at Waltham Abbey in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions as contractors worked to repair the barrier . Deserted: These Highways Agency cameras show how miles of the M25 were empty after part of the motorway was shut . Inspector Dick Thomas, from Essex Police, said: 'At this time we have one confirmed fatality and a number of people who are trapped in their vehicles. 'There is debris across both sides of the M25 and the motorway will be closed for the foreseeable future while we deal with this collision and begin our investigations to establish what has happened. 'If it is at all possible motorists are advised to avoid the area and find alternative routes. There are also currently delays of about one and a half hours on the M1 southbound between junctions 20 and 18. This is due to resurfacing works after a lorry carrying cheese caught fire. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "By . Lizzie Edmonds . Marlon King arrives at Nottingham Crown Court where he was jailed for 18 months today for dangerous driving . Former Premier League footballer Marlon King has been jailed for 18 months today for dangerous driving. The ex Sheffield United striker was driving erratically and eating ice cream behind the wheel when he caused a three-car pile up on the A46 in Nottinghamshire last April, the court heard. The footballer was seen weaving in and out of traffic before slamming on his brakes - causing another driver to perform an emergency stop. Other drivers then smashed into his vehicle, Nottingham Crown Court heard. One driver had to be cut out of his car before spending three weeks in hospital for a fractured and dislocated forearm. King pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving in March. Sentencing King in court today, Recorder Paul Mann QC said: 'I do not regard your case as merely impulsive or silly behaviour. 'It was aggressive. It was arrogant.' The judge handed King 18 months behind bars and a three-year driving ban. The court heard that King committed the offence on his 33rd birthday while driving a white 2011 Porsche Panamera. He was eating an ice cream he had bought from a McDonalds just moments before the crash, which happened at around 3pm on April 26. King was seen weaving in and out of traffic before he undertook Martin Beck, whom he perceived as travelling too slowly in the outer lane of the A46, the court heard. The former footballer slammed on his brakes in frustration, forcing Mr Beck to perform an emergency stop in his black VW Polo. As Mr Beck came to a halt, another driver in a silver Vauxhall Astra who had pulled out behind him, collided with the stationary Polo. The 'concertina effect' forced the Polo into the back of King’s Porsche. Mr Beck had to be cut out of his car and airlifted to hospital after the collision at Winthorpe near Newark. He spent three weeks in hospital and required surgery for a fractured and dislocated forearm. Mark Bush, who was travelling in the Astra, was also taken to hospital for cuts and bruises. The court heard how the ex-footballer was weaving through traffic on the A46 in Nottinghamshire while eating an ice cream from McDonald's. He then slammed on his breaks, causing a three-car pile up . The court heard that King drove off from the scene but was flagged down by another motorist who feared Mr Beck had been killed by the collision. King returned to Mr Beck’s car, where he blamed the driver for the collision. The judge told King: 'You were so pumped up with road rage, you had to start accusing him of being to blame for these collisions'. King, born 26 April 1980,  is a professional footballer who plays as a striker. He was given an 18-month jail sentence following a conviction for dangerous driving today. As of October 2009, King had convictions for 14 offences. He has previously served three jail sentences and has other criminal convictions including: fraudulent use of vehicle licence document, driving without insurance and theft from a person and from a car. He was also convicted of two cases involving assault of young women rejecting his advances in the Soho area of London in December 2008. King had his playing contract cancelled by Wigan after being convicted of the sexual assault charges. He was sentenced to eighteen months in prison.", "Police say a 21-year-old man suspected of participating in an illegal street race that killed two spectators in Southern California has been booked on suspicion of murder. Henry Gevorgyan turned himself in on Saturday night accompanied by his lawyer. Jail records show he’s being held on $2 million bail. The Los Angeles Police Department said Gevorgyan fled the scene of the deadly accident in the San Fernando Valley last week. Authorities said he was driving a souped-up Ford Mustang that veered out of control and crashed into a crowd on the sidewalk. Henry Gevorgyan, 21, turned himself into the Los Angeles police after they suspected him of driving his Mustang into a crowd of onlookers, allegedly killing two . A souped-up car that was illegally street racing lost control and veered on to a sidewalk, killing two spectators and critically injuring another before the driver ran away at about 2.15am on Thursday, police said . Two cars were reportedly involved in the accident, police said. This is one of the two cars that was crushed after the planned early-morning race . Spectators Eric Siguenza, 26, and Wilson Wong, 50, were killed, according to ABC 7. A third man was hospitalized with serious injuries. Police said Gevorgyan could face murder charges. 'We are pursuing murder charges against the driver of one of the vehicles and continue to investigate the role and responsibility of the other,' McMahon told the Los Angeles Daily News on Thursday. The motorist of a second vehicle also allegedly fled the scene. Police did not have immediate information as to whether the driver had been identified or apprehended, according to the Los Angeles Times. One of the victims of the crash was 26-year-old Eric Siguenza (pictured left). He was a spectator at the street race . Car skid marks covered the pavement along a street in the Chatsworth section of Los Angeles the day after the incident . A crisis response team surveys skid marks at the drag racing scene on Thursday. Though it's in a commercial area, the street has been used for illegal nighttime races for quite some time . The street where the incident happened, in a commercial and office area that is mainly deserted after dark, has long been the scene for illegal nighttime street races. City Councilman Mitch Englander told the Daily News that he'll introduce an ordinance allowing police to seize cars involved in street racing or reckless driving resulting in serious injury or death. McMahon told CNN that people should be aware that street racing is a dangerous activity. 'Many view this as an entertainment, glamorous activity. I think it's important for the public to know that this is illegal, dangerous and an all too deadly activity,' he said. Though Gevorgyan turned himself in, police are still searching for a second suspect who was allegedly involved in the street race .", "(CNN) -- A 16-year-old Pennsylvania boy is facing murder charges, accused of fatally shooting a cab driver who he believed was intentionally taking a longer route to his destination. Aazis Richardson is accused of shooting the cab driver, Vincent Darbenzio, 47, twice in the back of his head while still in the cab, according to Lackawanna County Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico. Richardson believed Darbenzio had ignored his route suggestions in attempt to increase the fare, according to Talerico. \"I just told him, 'take this way;' he didn't want to listen -- he got his (expletive) shot,\" Richardson told CNN affiliate WNEP. Calls and e-mails to the Lackawanna County public defender's office, which is representing Richardson, were not immediately returned. As Richardson was being taken away, he showed no remorse for the driver or his family telling WNEP, \"my homies died, everybody gotta die.\" Richardson was charged as an adult with multiple counts of murder in the first, second and third degrees, as well as robbery and firearms-related offenses, according Talerico. On Sunday, more than 50 of Darbenzio's friends and family members held a vigil near the spot where Darbenzio was killed, according to the victim's brother, Chris Darbenzio. Richardson is currently being held without bail at the Lackawanna County Prison, according to the district attorney's office.", "By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 07:43 EST, 14 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:53 EST, 14 May 2013 . A murder investigation has been launched after 20-year-old man died today having been struck by a car in a hit-and-run. The incident happened just after 10pm last night in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Sussex Police were called to the scene and found the victim. He was taken to St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester, where he died in the early hours of the morning. Police at the scene where a man was fatally injured in a hit-and-run crash . Police scenes of crime officers scour the road in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, for clues . He has been named today as Charlie Hancock, of Pagham. The Sussex and Surrey Major Crime Division confirmed they are treating the death as a murder investigation. A 41-year-old local man, believed to be the driver of the car, has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. Detective Inspector Wendy Burton, of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: 'We are appealing to anyone who saw two men having an altercation while in a grey Chrysler Voyager vehicle in Rowan Way, Bognor, between 9.30pm and 10pm on Monday, to come forward. 'We would also like to hear from any friends of Charlie who may have seen him on Monday as we are trying to trace his movements.' A 41-year-old local man, believed to be the driver of the car, was arrested for grievous bodily harm . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.", "A 17-year-old P-plate driver is fighting for her life in hospital after her car collided with a bus carrying 35 high school students. The girl's Toyota Yaris and the privately chartered bus crashed into each other at an intersection at Kellyville in Sydney's north-west shortly before 12pm on Friday. She was trapped for more than 30 minutes at Memorial Avenue and Hector Circuit before emergency services were able to cut the roof off her car. Scroll down for video . A 17-year-old P-plate driver suffered serious injuries after colliding with a school bus at an intersection at Kellyville in Sydney's north-west shortly before 12pm on Friday . She was trapped for more than 30 minutes at Memorial Avenue and Hector Circuit before emergency services were able to cut the roof off her car . The girl was treated at the scene for serious head and abdominal injuries and was rushed to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition. The 67-year-old male bus driver and the group of Year 9 students from Oakhill College in Caste Hill were not injured in the collision. The bus driver was taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol tests. Memorial Avenue was closed in both directions between Windsor Road and Old Windsor Road. Detectives have established a crime scene to be forensically examined as they investigate the crash. The girl was treated at the scene for serious head and abdominal injuries and was rushed to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition . The 67-year-old male bus driver and the group of Year 9 students from Oakhill College in Caste Hill were not injured in the collision . The bus driver was taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol tests . Detectives have established a crime scene to be forensically examined as they investigate the crash .", "Oregon State Police say a 19-year-old man has caused a three-car crash when he fainted while holding his breath as he drove through a tunnel northwest of Portland. According to a news release, Daniel J. Calhon, of Snohomish, Washington, told investigators he fainted Sunday afternoon while holding his breath in the Highway 26 tunnel near the community of Manning. His car, a 1990 Toyota Camry, drifted across the centerline and crashed head-on with a Ford Explorer. Some people hold their breaths in tunnels as part of a game or superstition. The driver was holding his breath in keeping with a popular superstition about not breathing in tunnels . Fallout: The driver who crashed into the other cars and his passenger are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries . Both vehicles struck the tunnel walls before a pickup hit the Camry. Four people, including Calhon and his passenger, 19-year-old Bradley Meyring, of Edmonds, Washington, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Police say Calhon has been cited for reckless driving, three counts of reckless endangerment and fourth-degree assault.", "By . Wills Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 09:33 EST, 20 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:17 EST, 20 January 2014 . Two men have appeared in court charged with causing the death of an 18-year-old woman after a minibus carrying a hen party crashed on the motorway. Bethany Jones died and many of her friends and family were seriously injured when the bus collided with a lorry on the M62 in West Yorkshire last April. Bride-to-be Stefanie Firth, 24, was among the 21 people seriously injured in the crash, including Miss Jones’s mother and sister. Accused: Minibus driver James Johnson, 62 (left) and lorry driver Kevin Ollerhead, 44, arrive at Wakefield Magistrates' Court  charged with causing death by dangerous driving after a crash on the M62 last year . James Johnson, who was driving the minibus, and Kevin Ollerhead, who was driving the lorry, both appeared at Wakefield Magistrates’ Court today. Johnson, 62, from Bradford, and Ollerhead, 44, from St Helens on Merseyside, both stood as the charge of causing death by dangerous driving was put to them in front of a packed courtroom. No pleas were entered in the five-minute . hearing and Deputy District Judge Philip Holden told both men the case . could only be dealt with at crown court. It is understood the minibus turned onto its side after leaving the main carriageway and . going up a slip road when it collided with a Farmfoods lorry driving in . the same direction. Victims: First-year nursing student Bethany Jones (left) died in the crash while bride-to-be Stephanie Firth (right) was among the 21 people who were seriously injured . Scene: It is understood the minibus turned onto its side after leaving the main carriageway and going up a slip road when it collided with a Farmfoods lorry driving in the same direction. The defendants, who were both smartly dressed in suits and ties, spoke only to give their names and personal details. Miss Jones was with a group of women heading for a hen party in Liverpool when the minibus collided with the lorry and overturned on the M62 at junction 32, near Pontefract. Several of the injured women . were airlifted to hospital. The nursing student, who was in her first year at Leeds University, died at the scene. Johnson and Ollerhead were given unconditional bail and told to appear at Leeds Crown Court on February 3. United in grief: Injured friends of Bethany Jones attended her funeral in their wheelchairs .", "By . Associated Press . and Daily Mail Reporter . A driver accused of running a Massachusetts stop sign and causing an ambulance crash that killed a patient is being charged with negligent motor vehicle homicide. Driver: Lisa Zemack, 61, drove through a stop sign, hitting an ambulance and killing a dialysis patient who was being transported . A spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early said Wednesday that Lisa Zemack, 61, also faces a charge of driving to endanger in connection with the crash a day earlier in Milford, 40 miles southwest of Boston. Zemack, a local real estate agent, will be summoned to court at a later date. Police say the patient in the ambulance was 58-year-old Upton resident Karen Scott. They say she died when the ambulance was struck on its right rear bumper by Zemack's car and overturned. She . had been traveling from a dialysis appointment to an assisted care . facility where she was living, according to the Boston Globe. Surveillance video at a nearby pizza shop captured the crash. Zemack's Mercedes can be seen driving straight towards an intersection as the ambulance approaches on Route 140. Zemack neglects to stop, passing . straight through a stop sign at Green Street and hitting the ambulance . on its right rear bumper, causing it to spin and then flip over. Scroll down for video . Patient killed: The ambulance can be seen on top of the guard rail, which it nearly went right over after being hit by Lisa Zemack who ran a stop sign . Dented: Zemack's Mercedes was crumpled in the crash . Write caption here . 'Once it goes 90 degrees, physics and momentum causes it to flip over, a complete flip... It almost went over the guardrail,' Milford Police Sergeant John Sanchioni told the Boston Globe. Karen Scott was pronounced dead at Milford Regional Hospital on Tuesday. A paramedic riding with Scott in the ambulance was injured but has since been released from hospital. The Boston Globe reports that Zemack has three prior citations, for speeding in 1990, 1995, and 2005. There has been no answer at a telephone listing in the name of Zemack, who lives in Framingham. It's unknown if she has an attorney.", "By . Amanda Williams . Student Sarah Jane Burke, 17, was on her way home from college when David Baillie ploughed into her as she crossed the road, a court heard . A teenage girl was killed by a road rage driver who was 'acting as if he owned the road' as he carried out an aggressive overtaking manoeuvre in a 30mph street, a court heard. Student Sarah Jane Burke, 17, was on her way home from college when David Baillie ploughed into her as she crossed the residential street, it was said. Newcastle Crown Court heard from witnesses who said Baillie was involved in a road rage incident at the time of the collision with the driver of a Vauxhall Corsa. The car was in front of his Volvo S60 as they travelled along a 30mph road in Sunderland, the court heard. Witnesses said Baillie, who had a young child and a woman in the car, swerved and accelerated to get past the Corsa as talented art student Sarah was crossing the road. Baillie, who afterwards described the teenager as 'like a rabbit in the headlights', crashed into her, throwing her into the air and she landed on her head 20 metres away. The teenager suffered multiple injuries and died five days later in hospital from her injuries. Baillie, who admits causing death by . careless driving, is on trial accused of causing Sarah’s death by . dangerous driving, which he denies. Witnesses claim Baillie had been . 'tailgating' the other vehicle from Barnes Park Road and had hit Sarah as he tried desperately to get in front. Prosecutors say as he overtook the other car, Baillie was focusing on the other driver alongside him, rather than the road ahead. Prosecutor Nick Dry told jurors: 'His driving was fuelled by rage and failing to get ahead of the Corsa and thereafter he was consumed by a determination to overtake at all costs. 'This culminated in a collision which cost a 17-year-old girl her life.' Sarah, described in court as a 'talented teenager', had been on her way home from college on September 17 last year. She lived with her parents and sister, in Sunderland, and was crossing the city’s Ormonde Street around 5.30pm when she was hit. Trial: David Baillie pictured outside Newcastle Crown Court. The court heard from witnesses who said Baillie was involved in a road rage incident at the time of the collision with the driver of a Vauxhall Corsa . Witnesses said Baillie, who had a young child and a woman in the car, swerved and accelerated to get past the Corsa as talented art student Sarah was crossing the road. She was flung 20 metres and landed on her head . Mr Dry said Baillie had been seen driving dangerously before the impact as he became enraged by Corsa driver Paul Potter. Mr Dry said: 'The defendant was seen by a number of witnesses to be driving dangerously in the minutes before the fatal impact with Sarah. 'Seemingly enraged by the vehicle travelling ahead of him, he was accelerating and braking heavily as he looked to overtake.' Mr Potter, who was taking his 12-year-old daughter to her grandmother’s, said Baillie pulled up alongside him at traffic lights, where one lane filters into two. Mr Potter, a bus driver, pulled away but said Baillie kept accelerating very close behind him and another witness estimated he was within a foot at times. Mr Dry said: 'Another witness put it down to road rage and noticed the defendant appeared to be very agitated. 'Throughout the episode he noticed the Corsa was driving in a steady, normal manner.' As they travelled along Ormonde Street, Baillie overtook near a zebra crossing, it was said. Mr . Dry told the court: 'She reached the middle of the road when Mr Potter . looked in his mirror to see the defendant pulling out to overtake him, . accelerating hard to get by. 'There was a violent swerve causing the suspension to dip and the car looked out of control.”' The teenager, who lived with her parents and sister, in Sunderland, was crossing the city's Ormonde Street around 5.30pm when she was hit . Mr Potter braked to let Baillie past but it was too late to prevent him hitting Sarah. Jurors were shown footage which was picked up by a passing bus and showed Sarah making her way home along Ormonde Street. A . second set of footage, picked up by a camera on another bus, showed the . aftermath of the tragedy while Sarah was lying on the road injured . after she tried to cross it. The . court heard Baillie initially blamed the Corsa driver for causing the . accident but went on to admit in police interview that his driving had . been dangerous as he had been paying more attention to the other . motorist than to the road ahead. Mr . Dry said: 'He conceded his driving was dangerous, particularly the . action to overtake on a busy, 30mph street with blind junctions, . approaching traffic lights at a time when he was not focused on the road . ahead.' Mr Dry said after Sarah died, Baillie 'changed his mind' and now says his driving was careless not dangerous. Baillie, 39, of  Sunderland, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving as his trial was about to start but denies the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving. The trial continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "By . Emily Davies . PUBLISHED: . 12:36 EST, 11 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:52 EST, 11 February 2013 . Vonterrious West, 22, would not have faced charges if he had stopped after hitting Keith Richardson, 32 . A 22-year-old man has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident after he struck a man who deliberately cycled in front of his car. Vonterrious West was driving in his Chrysler 300 when he hit 32-year-old cyclist Keith Michael Richardson at 7.30pm Saturday. Mr Richardson was found on the roadside of State Road 60 in Lake Wales, about 55 miles south of Orlando. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his damaged bicycle was located nearby. According to investigators, Mr Richardson had been drinking and argued with his girlfriend shortly before the crash. He called his mother in Mississippi to say he was going to throw himself in front of a car on his bicycle. Mr Richardson had first hurled himself in front of two other cars but the drivers swerved and missed him, officials said. He was then his by West, who stopped to check check his vehicle for damage before getting back into the car and driving away, according to a witness. Homicide detectives say West did not realize he had struck a person and would not have been charged if he had stayed at the scene. Lethal: Keith Richardson was killed when he rode his bicycle into the path of a Chrysler 300 like this one . Found roadside: Vonterrious West was driving in his Chrysler 300 when he hit 32-year-old cyclist Keith Michael Richardson in Lake Wales (pictured), 55 miles south of Orlando .", "Frustrated cabbie Kugannesan Balasubramaniam (pictured) had rammed into the back of a classic sports car and killed the driver during the morning rush hour, a court heard . A taxi driver who shunted the back of a classic sports car so hard it 'folded like a penknife' and killed the driver is facing jail. Kugannesan Balasubramaniam had ploughed his Peugeot van into the back of the 1963 MGB convertible roadster at 48mph on the A40 Westway in London. The court heard the 31-year-old had become 'frustrated' while driving in traffic shortly before the crash. Teacher Nick Sennett, who had only hired the classic car for a few days, suffered serious head injuries as his car was shunted forward violently in the four-car crash. Paramedics spent an hour trying to save the 58-year-old, who taught economics at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Balasubramaniam had claimed the vintage car had pulled out in front of him suddenly. But jurors unanimously found the taxi driver guilty of causing death by careless driving, an alternative to the original count of causing death by dangerous driving. Speaking after Mr Sennett's death chef Heston Blumenthal, who attended the £15,700-a-year school, had said: 'What made Nick stand out was his very calm, playful banter. He was one of those teachers you could be very comfortable around. He was really lovable, really funny, chilled out.' Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC told Balasubramaniam: 'You will be sentenced at this court for causing death by careless driving on the 15 January next year. 'You should understand that the law makes it clear that a custodial sentence is likely but as you are a man of previous good character I order a pre-sentence report for that day.' The minicab driver had just collected a sixth-form student from Heathrow Airport and was taking her to an address in northwest London, Southwark Crown Court heard. Prosecutor Nicholas Bleaney told the court: 'Shortly before the collision she noticed the defendant making a mobile phone call, she thinks the phone was put to his ear rather than using a hands-free system but perhaps more importantly she started to pay attention to what was going on in front of her. 'She noticed that the traffic was building up and first thing in the morning it is by no means unusual for the traffic to build up,' he said. 'She noticed this defendant was starting to get frustrated and slapping the steering wheel with his hands and she then noticed the line of traffic in front of their car and it wasn't clear to her whether it was completely stationary or moving slowly but she noticed around that point that the defendant started to speed up to a speed that would be appropriate to an empty road. Nick Sennett, who previously taught chef Heston Blumenthal, was killed when Balasubramaniam ploughed his Peugeot van into the back of hsi car at 48mph on the A40 Westway . 'She simply watched as the defendant drove into a car in front. 'That proved to be Mr Sennett's MGB, he had hired it from a classic car club for a few days and the impact shunted it into the car in front,' added Mr Bleaney. The force of Balasubramaniam's ramming also shunted cars ahead of the MGB in the four-car crash, jurors heard. 'Essentially it (the MGB) folded like a penknife,' said Mr Bleaney. 'He hit his head on the windscreen top and suffered some chest injuries but the main injury was a very serious head injury and sadly he did not regain consciousness and he was pronounced dead at the scene.' Balasubramaniam told officers at the scene that the vintage car pulled suddenly in front of him into his braking distance. Sam Robinson, for Balasubramaniam, said the soft-top roadster had changed lanes and pulled just in front of the minicab at the same time the traffic slowed. He told jurors: 'Unfortunately at the point that the MG made the manouvere from the middle lane to the outside lane was the point at which the traffic had back up over that hill. 'The stop-start which was going on further up the road had stopped again. 'What was 100 metres of clear road in front of this defendant suddenly became a whole lot less. 'He couldn't stop, he tried as we all would, the result was a terrible accident.' The 1963 MGB convertible roadster 'folded like a penknife' when it was shunted forward violently in the four-car crash (stock image) Although the defendant was speeding, he said it was 'not dangerous if the conditions are right' and dismissed the prosecution case as having 'no physical evidence' showing how fast the vehicle was going. Balasubramaniam had been driving a replacement vehicle while his own car was at the garage. A tracking device inside the vehicle recorded the minicab driver was speeding at 48mph on the 40mph road. He was also overworked, having worked 90 hours in the previous seven days for the cab hire company One to One. Mr Bleaney said: 'It is the prosecution's case that he was over-tired when he was driving and over-tired in circumstances where he had gone into that situation for commercial gain.' The short-sighted driver also failed a basic number plate-reading eye test when officers attended the scene. Balasubramaniam, from Wembley, northwest London, denied a single charge of causing death by dangerous driving. He was convicted by the alternative charge of causing death by careless driving and released on conditional bail ahead of his sentence on January 15. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "A driver has admitted to mowing down and killing his heavily pregnant girlfriend just three weeks before she was due to give birth to their daughter. Daniel Dutfield, 24, today pleaded guilty to running over his girlfriend of six years, Jessica Fenner, 22, near his family home in Morden, Surrey, in July. Miss Fenner, who was just 24 days away from giving birth, was rushed to hospital but casualty doctors were unable to save her and her unborn baby and they died hours later. Daniel Dutfield, 24, pleaded guilty to mowing down and killing his pregnant girlfriend, Jessica Fenner, 22 . Her boyfriend, who had only been driving for a year, was arrested after the crash and later charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Appearing via video link from High Down prison in Surrey, Dutfield pleaded 'guilty' to the dangerous driving charge. Tearful members of Miss Fenner's family gasped and hugged each other in the public gallery at Croydon Crown Court. Recorder Warwick McKinnon immediately adjourned sentencing. Miss Fenner, from Wallington, south west London, is understood to have been due to give birth to a girl on July 30. Miss Fenner, from Wallington, south west London, was due to give birth to a girl on July 30 . Dutfield mowed down heavily pregnant Miss Fenner on Glastonbury Road, Morden, Surrey (pictured) The couple are believed to have been together since 2008 and had recently moved into a flat when she was killed. She had posted a string of messages on Facebook saying how excited she was about her life with Dutfield. In one message, written on June 26, she wrote: 'So happy with my new flat can't wait to start moving stuff in - feeling excited.' The 21-year-old also posted on June 9 this year saying she felt her life was 'finally' coming together after she found a new flat to live in with Dutfield ahead of the birth of their baby girl. On July 4 last year she told friends that her boyfriend had passed his driving test first time, writing: 'Well done dan for passing his driving test first time so proud of you love u loads x.' The mother-to-be, who worked at hardware store Wilkinsons, also asked for suggestions for the name of her baby girl and posted ultrasound scans showing the baby to friends. Friends struggled to come to terms with the news of Miss Fenner's death. Jenny Meadows said: 'I sincerely cannot believe that such a lovely young women such as Jessica Fenner is gone so soon. 'I used to work with Jessica and every time I was in a bad mood or needed help she was always there for me. 'I will always miss her lovely personality.' Tom Edwards, who went to Stanley Park High School with Miss Fenner, added: 'She was a very nice young lady. She was attractive and friendly and had a lot of friends. I was very sad and upset when I heard the news.' Others took to Facebook to express their sadness. Ally Bee-Bowley said: 'Poor poor Jess... Her whole life ahead of her. RIP Hun.' Kelly Mac added: 'Can't believe it, I'm in shock, so so sad.' Appearing via video link from High Down prison, Dutfield pleaded 'guilty' to the dangerous driving charge . The couple were together since 2008 and had recently moved into a flat when she was killed .", "A driver has died after being thrown from his vehicle when it hit a utility pole, careered off a Brooklyn bridge and landed more than 40 feet below. The 27-year-old lost control of the Infiniti SUV he was driving east on the Belt Parkway, hitting a utility pole and rolling it over bridge railings before it became airborne and landed next to Mill Basin Creek below. Pictures from the scene of the crash show rescue services cleaning up the site where a crane was required to lift the mangled vehicle from the water's edge. A crane is used to pull the vehicle up to the bridge from where it had rolled over a protective rail . Debris and other pieces of the vehicle remain scattered on the ground, while marks showing where it landed against the bridge support can also be seen. The New York Post reported the driver, Michael Weber, hit the center median when travelling across the bridge about 2am Monday. He was thrown from the car when he hit the guard rail, landing on the highway before the car itself plunged over the edge. Weber was found unconscious with several broken bones and severe injuries to his head, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The silver Infiniti - pictured as it is lifted up to the roadside - was left a mangled wreck after the crash . After he was ejected from the vehicle, the Infiniti plummeted 40ft to the shore below . Emergency services work at the scene of the crash at Mill Basin, Brooklyn ." ]

[ "I would be a cat. most people like cats and cats are very sneaky and they can fall from, like, 100 feet and walk away." ]

[ "I would go out with you if you were taller", "Animals have personalities. Why would they change if they were human?", "Simply say “ anyway I’ll let you get back to what you were doing, have a nice day “", "Ooooh. I thought you forgot you keep your memories and you were saying that because gorillas are smarter than other animals. Or you were saying that it would be an improvement lol", "You become as you were before you were born.", "That would depend on what time and place you were on.", "If you were a fruit, you would be a FINEapple", "You probebly know what me and many other boys would do if we were females", "I'd ask them, \"If you were going to ask Reddit something what would it be?\"", "What were you expecting?", "If you went back in time or forward in time you would become stationary\n\nSo when you excited your time bubble you would instantly die because the earth would be nowhere near where you were", "This is something you should talk to a therapist about. No one here is qualified to say who is at fault. \n\nThere's so much information that would need to be given in order for any of us to even *begin* to be able to make a reasonable judgment call. We don't know what your parents were like when you were a child, how you were treated as a child, what kind of morals they instilled into you, etc, etc.\n\nI highly suggest you speak to a therapist. Get to the root of *why* all of this is occuring. That experience will show you if *you* need to change, they need to change, or some combination of the two.\n\nSalaam.", "I know. (That’s why I said “then I realized you were serious.”)", "If you were a professional wrestler what would be your entrance music?", "What year were you born?", "You would have if you were smarter.", "what, were you raped?", "What the FUCK were you thinking?!?", "Finally adding a feature that takes you back to where you were if you accidentally go to the top while scrolling", "'I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them'", "what was your life like before you were born?.... it goes right back to that.", "You were... you were the worst", "you are going to become morbidly obese in t minus 30 seconds sorry pal", "I dunno, Pops, if you were young and dating an attractive woman, what would you be planning?", "If you were any more inbred you would be a sandwich!", "I would go back 4 minutes and make you change the number of words in this question.", "Addiction.\n\nWhat makes you go back to sugar even though you know it’s not healthy?", "\"You were such a happy child, why aren't you like that any more?\"", "\"what were you wearing, though?\"", "I think what you were looking for was thank you", "Here’s my actual question for you OP,\n\nWhy were you looking under her bed to begin with and why would other people do that", "Why would you try to change them? Don't marry them if you think you need to change someone" ]

[ "Agents arrested more than 150 people on sex-trafficking charges in dozens of cities including Atlanta, Denver and Seattle.\nThe youngest victim found was 12 years old, the FBI said.\nThe FBI targeted hotels, casinos and lorry stops to find underage victims.\nThe majority of the teens found were girls. Agents also found three boys and three transgender teens.\nThe FBI worked with local police departments and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help the teenage victims to find shelter and get medical attention.\nThe agencies want to ensure the teenagers do not return to prostitution.\n\"When kids are treated as a commodity in seedy hotels and on dark roadsides, we must rescue them from their nightmare and severely punish those responsible for that horror,\" FBI Director James Comey said in a statement.\nThe raids involved about 500 local police departments from across the country. A similar FBI-led campaign carried out last year uncovered about 160 teenagers working as prostitutes." ]

[ "\"Our children are not for sale,\" FBI director James Comey said, announcing the results of what the bureau dubbed Operation Cross Country.\nAbout 400 law enforcement agencies across more than 100 cities assisted in the haul, he said.\nSome of the children had been \"sold\" online, FBI officials said.\n\"These are not faraway kids in faraway lands,\" Mr Comey said. \"These are America's children.\n\"This is not our first operation, and it will not be our last.\"\nThis was the eighth such operation managed by the FBI, which has recovered nearly 3,600 children and gained convictions in 1,450 cases over 11 years, the bureau said.\n\"Child sex traffickers create a living nightmare for their adolescent victims,\" said Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general, department of justice criminal division.\n\"They use fear and force and treat children as commodities of sex to be sold again and again. This operation puts traffickers behind bars and rescues kids from their nightmare so they can start reclaiming their childhood.\"\nFBI officials said children who had been recovered would be given therapy and medical attention.\nMany of the children rescued in these latest raids had formerly been part of the child welfare system but no-one had reported them missing, the BBC's David Willis reports from Washington.\n\"We cannot find them if no one reports them missing,\" John Ryan, chief executive of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said, adding that in only two states were agencies required to report children missing from their care.\nOfficials said agencies may not report the children missing because some run away repeatedly and they may believe the children will return.", "The largest numbers of children rescued were in San Francisco, Detroit, Milwaukee, Denver and New Orleans.\nFBI assistant director Ronald Hosko said the Operation Cross Country VII raids had been the agency's largest action against child exploitation.\nThe FBI said 2,700 children have been rescued in such US raids since 2003.\nThe victims in the most recent raids were almost all girls and range in age from 13 to 17.\nThey had been prostituted in a variety of locations, including truck stops, casinos, motels as well as on social media and online advertisements.\nMr Hosko said the accused had preyed on vulnerable teenagers, exploiting them over a period of time.\n\"Girls are enticed with compliments or offers, [asked] do they want to make some money,\" he said.\n\"Then they are trapped into this cycle that involves drugs, that involves physical abuse. It may involve torture.\"\nSince 2003, some 1,350 people have been convicted in such cases, including life prison sentences for 10 pimps, the FBI said.\nAssets of more than $3.1m (£2m) have been seized.\nThe US justice department has estimated as many as 450,000 children run away from home each year.\nIt says a third of teens living on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.\nSome lawmakers have said further legal protections are needed.\nOregon Senator Ron Wyden has introduced a bill to require local police, as well as foster care and child welfare programmes to identify children lured into sex trafficking as victims of abuse and neglect, making them eligible for protection and services.\n\"In much of the country today if a girl is found in the custody of a so-called pimp she is not considered to be a victim of abuse, and that's just wrong and defies common sense,\" Sen Wyden said during a hearing last month.", "Another 44 people have been detained. Eleven women from Central America and Mexico, most in their 20s, were freed.\nThe women were reportedly forced to have sex with up to 30 men a day, charging $30 (£19) for each act.\nThe gang is thought to have been smuggling women since 2008, moving them to different cities every week in the south-eastern US.\nThe US authorities have indicted eight men and four women. Most of the other detainees are said to be clients.\nThe sex-trafficking ring served mostly ethnic Latino immigrants in larger cities and rural communities of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, the authorities said.\nOne of the indicted, a Mexican citizen, is accused of having threatened to send one woman back to Mexico if she did not have sex with at least 25 men a day.\nImmigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton said 967 arrests in connection with people trafficking and sex tourism were made last year alone.\n\"To those who would believe that sex trafficking doesn't happen in America, reflect on this case and think again,\" Mr Morton said at a news briefing.\nMost of the 44 detainees were reportedly non-Americans and would face court action. Those who were illegal in the country would be deported, said Mr Morton.\nThe scale of human trafficking in the US is hard to gauge, but the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, operated by Polaris Project since December 2007, has received more than 57,000 calls from every state in the union.\nIncidences of sex and labour trafficking have been reported in all 50 states in the US, and the District of Columbia, in the two years leading up to 2012.", "More than 100 police officers from Thames Valley Police carried out raids at eight properties across the city.\nOne more man, aged 34 and of no fixed abode, has since been arrested. About 60 incidents are being investigated.\nPolice said alleged offences included rape, sexual grooming and indecent assault on girls from 1999 to 2007.\nDet Supt Joe Kidman described the raids at 06:00 BST as part of a \"complex investigation\".\nThe alleged offences all involve female victims.\nThe men arrested are aged between 29 and 45.\nSearches are continuing at the addresses with neighbourhood patrols expected in the area throughout the day.\nThames Valley Police said that the arrests were part of \"a stand-alone separate investigation\" from Operation Bullfinch, in which seven men were jailed in June 2013 for crimes including child rape and trafficking.\n\"I understand today's events will have an impact on the community and residents will be concerned about the nature of these arrests,\" Det Supt Kidman said.\n\"This is an ongoing investigation. Tackling child sexual exploitation is an absolute priority for Thames Valley Police and this complex investigation and arrests today demonstrate this.\n\"We would encourage all victims of child sexual exploitation to come forward and speak to us in confidence. We will listen to you and we will support you.\"", "The month-long \"Operation Orion\" also resulted in 18 children being rescued, federal agents said.\nArrests were made mostly in the US but also took place in countries including Spain, Argentina, the UK and the Philippines.\nThe official in charge said many of the cases began with a child chatting with someone they had encountered online.\n\"Let this operation be a warning to anyone who would think they can use the internet to exploit children - we are out there looking for you, we will find you, and you will be prosecuted,\" Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton said in a statement.\nThe statement said\n that Operation Orion focused on the production, possession and distribution of child pornography in videos and photographs.\nThose arrested included a 35-year-old babysitter in Louisiana suspected of using a seven-year-old child to make pornography.\nA 28-year-old man in Michigan was found to have more than 1,200 images and 109 videos of child sex abuse on computers and media storage devices, officials said.\nEight men were also arrested in Los Angeles, including one who met his alleged 12-year-old victim on the internet.\nHe was charged with enticing a minor to commit lewd acts after agents pretended to be the girl online and arranged to meet him at a shopping centre.\nThe ICE statement said that they had also \"identified and rescued\" 18 victims of child pornography.\nNo details were given of the arrests conducted abroad. The US Justice Department also listed Sweden, Serbia and the Netherlands as involved in the operation.\nUS Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in a statement: \"This operation uncovered a dangerous and depraved group of criminals who were devoted to trading sexually explicit images of children under the age of five.\"", "Four networks were uncovered operating in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Croatia and Bosnia, police said.\nSix missing children from the Netherlands were found in appalling conditions in Spain last week when a couple in their 40s were arrested.\nProsecutors say the practice is a modern type of slavery.\nThe operation began over a year ago when investigators at Amsterdam Central Station noticed that a group of children were being used repeatedly as pickpockets under the control of adults, said a police statement (in Dutch).\nChildren were taken out of school to carry out shoplifting and pickpocketing, and authorities believe under-age girls were sexually abused and became pregnant.\nWhen police arrested the Eastern European couple in a raid on a flat in the Spanish city of Barcelona on 15 June, they found a baby and five other children under the age of 15.\nThe couple are thought to be part of a child exploitation network and are expected to be extradited to the Netherlands. They are suspected of people trafficking, using false identities and removing underage children from competent authorities.\nAccording to Dutch media, some of the children were under youth protection supervision and had previously been reported missing from an asylum seeker centre in Ter Apel in the north-eastern Netherlands.\n\"These days we look at whether a child is a victim of people trafficking,\" said prosecutor Warner ten Kate.\n\"I feel that this is the tip of the iceberg, that there are more children in the Netherlands who are victims of this.\"\nPolice believe the children had come from poor families in Bosnia and other countries in the former Yugoslavia.", "Thirty Romanian children were saved from trafficking, and 200kg (441lb) of heroin and 599kg of cocaine was seized.\nForces across the EU and elsewhere acted together in Operation Archimedes, which ended on Tuesday, the EU's law enforcement agency Europol said.\nPolice arrested 170 people in connection with people trafficking.\nAbout 10,000 irregular migrants were checked as part of the operation, Europol said.\nArchimedes was co-ordinated by Europol from The Hague in the Netherlands.\nIt involved all 28 EU member states plus police forces in six other countries: Australia, Colombia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the USA.\nEuropol director Rob Wainwright told reporters that the eight-day operation was the \"single largest assault on organised crime we've seen in Europe\".\nAlmost all kinds of crime were targeted, ranging from drug-trafficking to illegal immigration, tax fraud, counterfeiting and theft.\nAmong the illegal drugs seized were 1.3 tonnes of cannabis.\nMr Wainwright said there was a growing trend of victims being recruited and trafficked across Europe.\nChildren are being exploited for sexual and economic purposes, with some used as prostitutes and others made to beg on the streets, he added.\nEuropol's operation paints a picture of cross-border and interconnected crime networks, the BBC's Anna Holligan reports.\nThe announcement of these unprecedented arrests are designed to reassure citizens and deter criminals, our correspondent says.", "Twelve Thai nationals and five Americans were charged with illegally transporting hundreds of women from Thailand.\nTheir victims were forced to work as prostitutes across the US.\nA US lawyer said the ring promised poor women a bright future, then \"forced them to live a nightmare\".\nThe women were driven into prostitution in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and other cities, to pay off \"bondage debts\" of between $40,000 and $60,000 (£31,000 and £47,000).\n\"The 17 people charged in this indictment ran a highly sophisticated sex trafficking scheme,\" US lawyer Andrew Luger, of the district of Minnesota, said in a statement.\n\"They promised women in Thailand a chance at the American dream, but instead exploited them, coerced them and forced them to live a nightmare. In short, the victims lived like modern day sex slaves.\"\nBrought into the US on fraudulent visas, the trafficking victims were made to work long hours to repay the criminal gang. They were encouraged to have breast implants in a bid to make them more appealing to potential clients, and the cost of the surgery was added to their debt.\nAs soon as they arrived on US soil the women were trapped in massage parlours, hotels and apartments and ordered to sell sex. They were not allowed to leave without escorts, who also had sex with the victims as part of their payment.\nAlex Khu, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Minneapolis, said the gang threatened to harm the women's families if they tried to escape.\nIn one case, the group sent thugs to assault a victim's relative in Thailand, breaking his bones.\nUS authorities believe the scheme has been operating since at least 2009.\nAccording to the indictment, the lynchpin in the vice ring was Sumalee Intarathong - a 55-year-old woman who was recently arrested in Belgium for separate trafficking offenses there. The US plans to seek her extradition.", "Properties in Nantwich, Crewe, London, Bristol, Stoke and Preston were targeted by more than 100 officers.\nEight women, believed to be originally from Eastern Europe, were found at several of them, Cheshire Police said.\nA 49-year-old man from Nantwich and a 37-year-old woman from Crewe were arrested in connection with the investigation.\nThey are currently being questioned on suspicion of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.\nThe raids involved officers from the Metropolitan Police, Avon and Somerset Police, Staffordshire Police and Lancashire Police, along with the National Crime Agency.\nDet Insp David Brown, who has led the operation for Cheshire Police, said the warrants were executed after \"months of hard work\" and formed part of a larger inquiry.\nHe said human trafficking and sexual exploitation stemmed from \"organised crime\" and targeted \"some of the most vulnerable people in our society\".\nDet Insp Brown said the women found at the addresses were being offered support.", "The 2016 Global Slavery Index, from the Walk Free Foundation in Australia, defines slavery as \"situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception\".\nModern forms of slavery can include debt bondage, where a person is forced to work for free to pay off a debt, child slavery, forced marriage, domestic servitude and forced labour, where victims are made to work through violence and intimidation.\nThe BBC looks at five examples of modern slavery.\nHuman rights groups say thousands of people are trafficked and forced to work on fishing boats, where they can be kept for years without ever seeing the shore. Victims say those who are caught trying to escape can be killed and thrown overboard.\nThailand, which is the third largest exporter of seafood in the world, has been accused of crewing fishing boats with Burmese and Cambodian men who have been sold and forced to work as slaves. The authorities are trying to crack down on people traffickers.\nMany victims say they were tricked by brokers who promised them factory jobs, and then put them on fishing boats where they were forced to work.\nOne Burmese man who escaped his traffickers said he was forced on to a tiny boat in the open sea where he fished 20 hours a day, with no pay.\n\"People said, anyone who tried to escape had their legs broken, their hands broken or were even killed,\" he told the BBC.\nForced to fish: Slavery on Thailand's trawlers\nFigures suggest there could be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK, trafficked from countries including Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam and Romania.\nAbout 3,000 children from Vietnam alone are thought to be working in British cannabis farms and nail bars.\nMany victims are told their families will be hurt if they leave.\nOne victim was 16 years old when he came to the UK, hoping to earn money to send home to his family. Instead, he was forced to work in a cannabis factory.\n\"I remember asking the man who took me there if I could leave because I didn't like it but he threatened to beat me or starve me to death,\" he said.\nHe was arrested when police raided the house, and charged with drug offences - but was eventually helped by the NSPCC child trafficking advice centre.\nUK slavery: Victims 'need better support'\nThe International Labour Organization estimates that there are 4.5 million victims of forced sexual exploitation.\nShandra Woworuntu, an activist against human trafficking, was forced into sexual slavery in the US in 2001.\nShe left Indonesia when she was promised work in the hospitality industry in the US, but the agents who met her at the airport passed her on to armed traffickers, who forced her to carry out sex work.\n\"They told me I owed them $30,000 and I would pay off the debt $100 at a time by serving men,\" she said.\nShe eventually managed to escape, and helped the FBI locate a brothel with other trafficking victims.\nShandra Woworuntu: My life as a sex-trafficking victim\nThe report highlights that many children across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East are forced to beg on the streets by criminals.\nOne victim told researchers: \"Though I am begging I am not paid a single amount. I have to deposit all to them. I am deprived of food and good sleep. I am not paid my wages only working as a bonded labour.\"\nAnother said: \"I can't say anything to you because I am in constant fear. I am threatened by my employer not to open my mouth to anybody otherwise I will be punished severely.\"\nMuch modern slavery isn't visible in public. It takes place in homes and private farms.\nLast week, three men from the same family in the UK were jailed for forcing a man to do heavy labour for next to no money.\nMichael Hughes, 46, was forced to work for the family for more than 20 years, doing building work and road laying.\nHe said he was made to live in a 1.2m (4ft) wide garden shed with no heating or running water for two years.\nAnd last month, a UK man was jailed for two years in the first case of a man holding his wife in domestic servitude.\nThe wife was tortured, forced to do all the chores, and not allowed to leave home, prosecutors said.", "The End Prostitution Now campaign claims the move would decriminalise victims of sexual exploitation and protect vulnerable prostitutes.\nThe initiative is being backed by the Women's Support Project and the Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership.\nNorthern Ireland recently became the first part of the UK to make buying sexual services a criminal offence.\nThe End Prostitution Now campaign is hoping to put pressure on the Scottish government make the same legislative change.\nOpponents of the move said it would drive prostitution underground and make it harder for sex workers to operate safely.\nAt present, it is not illegal to pay for sex in Scotland.\nHowever, activities such as public solicitation, running a brothel and kerb-crawling are criminal offences.\nLiz Curran, from the Women's Support Project, told BBC Scotland there had been \"a shift across Europe\" and many countries were moving to criminalising the demand for sex.\nShe said: \"The crux of this campaign is about challenging the demand for prostitution which is inherently harmful to women. We have to tackle the root cause and from our campaign's point of view that is gender inequality and men's demand.\n\"The vast majority of women who are involved in prostitution are not there through choice. A small minority of women may make it a choice but the law does not represent the interest of minorities.\"\nScotpep is the sex workers' rights organisation which works with prostitutes on the streets and in saunas.\nMolly (not her real name) from Scotpep told BBC Scotland the law criminalising buying sex had not worked in Sweden and Norway and there was no proof that there had been no reduction in the number of sex workers.\nShe said there was harm associated with the law, especially for street-based sex workers.\nMolly said: \"When the client is criminalised he is more jumpy.\n\"He needs to get away quickly and that means the worker has to get into his car more quickly if she wants to keep his business.\n\"That cuts down on the crucial time that she has to talk about services and prices and to assess whether he seems safe, whether he seems drunk, to write down his car registration number. So there is a huge increase in violence associated with laws like this.\"\nLabour MSP Rhoda Grant has submitted amendments to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill in the hope of tackling sexual exploitation.\nShe said: \"Trafficking and exploitation of this kind are based on the basic principles of supply and demand, and we must tackle demand if we want to prevent vulnerable people being exploited in the first place.\n\"It's now illegal to purchase sex in Northern Ireland. We need to follow suit to stop Scotland becoming a haven for sex traffickers moving out of Northern Ireland and into a more hospitable environment here.\"", "They raided 35 addresses in the Newport area and recovered what is believed to be Class A drugs and money.\nA total of 27 people were convicted following a major operation in February.\nCh Supt Marc Budden said: \"We have now acted on further community intelligence to continue our robust action against these crimes.\"\nBoys aged 13, 15 and 16 were among those arrested along with a 60-year-old woman.", "The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said hundreds of kilos and thousands of litres of chemicals were seized in 20 states over five months.\nOperation Cyber Juice focused on secret laboratories dealing in drugs obtained over the internet from China.\nAgents also confiscated steroid powder, liquid and more than $2m in cash.\nDEA acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg said too many young people were ruining their bodies and lives through steroid abuse, but this operation had attacked the \"global underground steroid market, exposing its dangers and lies\".\nIt began in April and ended with nine arrests on Tuesday.\nThe DEA said many of the drugs seized were bought from Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and then converted in secret labs into forms of steroids to be sold on the US black market.\nIn Arizona, four so-called steroid conversion labs were shut down and 150,000 doses of the finished product seized.", "A report published last month found at least 1,400 children were abused in the South Yorkshire town from 1997 to 2013.\nBarnardo's Scotland said child sexual exploitation was a \"severe problem\". It has urged government and child protection agencies not to be complacent.\nThe charity said Rotherham should be \"a wake-up call for Scotland\".\nThe Scottish government said it was committed to protecting children and young people's wellbeing.\nRevelations of child abuse on a massive scale in the English town were revealed in the Jay Report.\nNow Barnardo's Scotland has published 15 lessons it said must be learned by those involved in protecting children and young people in Scotland.\nThe charity said child sex exploitation (CSE) \"is happening across Scotland\", with two large-scale police operations to identify victims and target perpetrators, one of which, Operation Dash, was ongoing.\nBarnardo's called for recognition, at every level, that sex between an adult and a child under 16 was always wrong and that it was not the child's responsibility to say 'No'.\nMartin Crewe, director of Barnardo's Scotland, said: \"We know child sexual exploitation is happening across Scotland.\n\"We know how devastating it can be. We know charities and support agencies are aware of the problem and are working to put the necessary infrastructure in place to tackle child sexual exploitation.\n\"But as part of this process, we all need to heed the warning and learn the lessons from Rotherham if we are to be certain that we are all doing our best to protect children from this horrific form of abuse in Scotland.\"\nHe added: \"If there is one fundamental lesson from Rotherham it is that we cannot be complacent about child sexual exploitation in Scotland.\"\nPolice Scotland said keeping children safe, particularly those who are vulnerable, was top of its list of priorities.\nAs part of Operation Dash, 22 people have been reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in relation to a range of crimes.\nDet Ch Supt Lesley Boal said: \"CSE is a complex challenging and sensitive area of policing.\n\"Police Scotland works nationally to support the Scottish government's action plan on CSE and we have developed an action plan to compliment this.\n\"In addition at a local level we have created 14 divisional public protection units that work in partnership with local authorities and health through child protection committees to tackle all forms of child abuse including CSE.\n\"Within Police Scotland we have a number of specialist units including the National Rape Task Force, the National Human Trafficking Unit and the National Domestic Abuse Task Force that focus on serious sexual crimes.\"\nThe Scottish government published updated child protection guidance in May this year.\nA spokeswoman said: \"Child sexual exploitation is an abhorrent crime and can have devastating impact on victims and their families.\n\"We established an expert working group to specifically examine child sexual exploitation and this work contributed to our updated guidance. We also work closely with the experts at the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children (CELCIS) to shape policies and practices to ensure that protection is as rigorous as possible.\n\"We share a duty- in families, communities, government, social care and the justice system - to protect young people from harm.\n\"Clearly all of us working to keep children safe in Scotland are considering the lessons to be learned from the Jay report to maintain a robust and responsive system of child protection in Scotland. The public would expect no less.\"", "Billal Amin sent a taxi to collect the teenager and her 15-year-old friend and take them to a hotel in East London.\nThe two girls were given alcohol before the 14-year-old performed a sex act on Amin and had sex with another man.\nAmin was jailed for 12 years and put on the sex offenders' register for life at Lincoln Crown Court.\nMartin Hurst, prosecuting, said after the assaults Amin took a taxi with the girls telling them they were going to his home.\nWhen they left the taxi Amin disappeared abandoning the girls in London in the middle of the night.\nThe court was told they sought help and police were contacted resulting in an investigation that led to Amin's arrest.\nThe inquiry revealed two months earlier Amin had met the girl in London when she had also performed a sex act on him.\nJailing him for 12 years, Judge Simon Hirst said he acted \"disgracefully\".\nHe told him: \"Abandoning a 14-year-old girl in London in the middle of the night beggars belief.\"\nAmin denied a charge of trafficking for sexual exploitation in March 2013 and two charges of sexual activity with a child but was convicted by a jury on a 10 to two majority.\nHe was cleared of a further charge of trafficking for sexual exploitation.\nThe 33-year-old, of Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order banning him from having contact with any child under 16.", "The Perth man is accused of running the alleged paedophile ring involving men he knew, aged 35 to 47.\nThe girl suffered the alleged abuse over two-years before being saved after a tip-off from the public in April.\n\"She was rescued from this horrible situation... and is safe,\" Detective Superintendent Glenn Feeney said.\nPolice seized several computer storage devices which allegedly contained 149 videos of the girl.\n\"To give an idea of the scope, one of these storage devices contained 200,000 videos and four million photos,\" Det Superintendent Feeney said. \"It's disgusting material. There's no words to describe it.\"\nThe eight men have been charged with a range of offences including sexual penetration of a child, sexual servitude, stupefaction of a child, and child pornography offences.", "The arrests were made in a joint operation between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the PSNI. Those arrested are suspected of accessing indecent images of children.\nOn top of the arrests, steps were taken to protect a number of children deemed to be at risk.\nItems were also seized for further forensic examination.\nThe people who were arrested have been released on bail pending further enquiries.\nLast September, 25 people were arrested in a similar investigation.", "About 500 officers from every police division took part in the day of action, which resulted in 15 arrests.\nOfficers were joined by colleagues from HMRC as they visited businesses, including nail bars.\nThe force said one person had been detained on suspicion of trafficking.\nA further two people have been arrested for immigration offences, while 12 others have been arrested by immigrations enforcement officers.\nThe operation also aimed to identify people at potential risk or those being exploited as slave labour.\nPolice said that the six children had been found working in nail bars across Scotland and displayed indicators of trafficking.\nSenior officers have said the scale of human trafficking in Scotland is unclear.\nPolice Scotland hopes to help the public become more aware of the signs that may indicate that someone has been trafficked.\nThose leading this latest operation said they were determined to crack down on criminal gangs who deal in people to make profits.\nDet Ch Insp Stuart Houston told BBC Scotland: \"This is organised crime that is quite often behind exploitation and trafficking of individuals. We need to know about that and need to try and take some action against these groups.\"\nLast week, new Scottish government guidelines were launched as part of the country's first human trafficking strategy.\nConsumers are being urged to look for signs that people have been trafficked and consider whether people working in their local nail bar, car wash or shop may be in danger or vulnerable.\nThe most recent figures have suggested that trafficking has increased in Scotland.\nLast year there were 145 potential victims of trafficking identified - a 31% increase on the previous year.\nMore than a third were trafficked into forced labour while another third were forced to work in the sex industry.", "The Mexican government said almost 100 raids had been carried out in 12 countries.\nThree girls aged between nine and 15 were rescued in Mexico, a government commission said in a statement.\nComputers were seized that were allegedly used to post indecent videos on the internet.\nThe Mexican National Security Commission said searches were carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.\n\"Operation Without Borders\" was aimed at \"breaking various structures dedicated to the distribution of pornographic material of children via the internet\", the commission said in a statement.\nA fourth girl was rescued as part of the operation but the commission did not specify in which country.\nThe raids come two months after Spanish police arrested more than 80 people in raids targeting images of child sex abuse.", "The swoop came after a two-year undercover FBI investigation spanning four continents.\nOperation Card Shop tracked those buying and selling information through a fake, FBI-run online forum on such \"carding\" schemes.\nTwelve of the arrests were in the United States, with six in the UK.\nAll of the detained are men ranging in age from 18 to 25. Some face 40 years in prison if convicted on fraud-related charges.\nOne of the men, Mir Islam, known online as \"JoshTheGod\", was charged with trafficking in 50,000 stolen credit card numbers.\nIn total, investigators notified credit card providers of more than 400,000 compromised accounts.\nUS officials said the operation prevented losses of $205m (£131m) from debit and credit cards.\nThe sting focused around an online forum called Carder Profit, set up by the FBI in June 2010, where users could exchange stolen account and card numbers.\nInvestigators identified alleged cybercriminals in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.\nUS district attorney Preet Bharara \n said in a statement\n: \"Clever computer criminals operating behind the supposed veil of the internet are still subject to the long arm of the law.\"", "The men from Rochdale and Oldham, who exploited girls as young as 13 were given sentences ranging from four to 19 years.\nThey were found guilty of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.\nLiverpool Crown Court heard the group plied five victims with drink and drugs and \"passed them around\" for sex.\nThe girls were abused at two takeaway restaurants in the Heywood area of Rochdale by the men aged between 24 and 59. The takeaways are now under new management.\nAll those convicted were found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with girls under the age of 16.\nJudge Gerald Clifton said the men, eight of Pakistani origin and one from Afghanistan, treated the girls \"as though they were worthless and beyond respect\".\nThe judge added: \"One of the factors leading to that was the fact that they were not part of your community or religion.\n\"Some of you, when arrested, said it (the prosecution) was triggered by race. That is nonsense.\n\"What triggered this prosecution was your lust and greed.\"\nThe solicitor for Adil Khan, one of the convicted men, said an appeal would be lodged.\nAlias Yousaf claimed outside court that jury deliberations had been \"breached\".\nHe claimed comments on Twitter by the far-right group Infidels of Great Britain and the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, showed they knew the men would be found guilty before the verdicts were delivered.\nMr Yousaf said: \"We are left with no option but to conclude that the confidentiality of the jury's deliberations must have been breached.\"\nEarlier the 59-year-old leader of the sex ring, who cannot be named for legal reasons but was also convicted of two rapes, aiding and abetting rape, sexual assault and trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, was jailed for 19 years.\nHis defence barrister, Simon Nichol, said his client \"has objected from the start for being tried by an all white jury and subsequent events have confirmed his fears\".\n\"He believes his convictions have nothing to do with justice but result from the faith and the race of the defendants.\n\"He further believes that society failed the girls in this case before the girls even met them and now that failure is being blamed on a weak minority group.\"\nBut sentencing the ringleader to 19 years in prison, the judge called him an \"unpleasant and hypocritical bully\" who had ordered a 15-year-old girl to have sex with takeaway worker Kabeer Hassan as a birthday \"treat\".\nHassan, 25, of Lacrosse Avenue, Oldham, was sentenced to nine years for rape and three years, concurrently, for the conspiracy conviction.\nTaxi driver, Abdul Aziz, 41, a married father-of-three, of Armstrong Hurst Close, Rochdale, also convicted of trafficking for sexual exploitation, received a nine year sentence.\nAziz was said in court to have taken over as the main trafficker of girls.\nMarried father-of-five Abdul Rauf, 43, of Darley Road, Rochdale, also convicted of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation, received six years.\nThe religious studies teacher at a local mosque asked a 15-year-victim if she had any younger friends and would drive some of the girls to other men who would use them for sex.\nAdil Khan, 42, of Oswald Street, Rochdale also convicted of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation, received eight years.\nKhan, who is married with one child, fathered the child of a 13-year-old victim.\nMohammed Sajid, 35, of Jephys Street, Rochdale, also convicted of one count of rape, sexual activity with a girl under 16 and trafficking for sexual exploitation, was jailed for 12 years.\nHe will be deported back to Pakistan following the conclusion of his sentence.\nMohammed Amin, 45, of Falinge Road, Falinge, was a driver for Eagle Taxis for 14 years and was known as \"Car Zero\".\nHe was also convicted of sexual assault and received a five-year jail term.\nHamid Safi, 22, of no fixed address, was also convicted of trafficking girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation and sentenced to four years.\nHe sneaked into the UK on a lorry in 2008 and claimed asylum. He will be deported to Afghanistan at the end of his sentence.\nAbdul Qayyum, 44, of Ramsay Street, Rochdale, was jailed for five years. He was a driver for Streamline Taxis in Middleton, Greater Manchester, and was known by the name \"Tiger\".", "York Regional Police say the men attempted to purchase sex with an undercover officer, who posed as a girl between the ages of 13 and 16 online.\nPolice targeted men who searched for prostitutes online, but did not arrest men who were seeking sex with an adult.\nIn Canada, adults are allowed to sell sexual services, but it is illegal to buy sex.\n\"We stopped 104 men from purchasing 104 children,\" Det Sgt Thai Truong said during a press conference on Friday.\nThe investigation, dubbed Project Raphael, lasted four years.\nThe goal of the undercover operation was to reduce demand for child prostitution by putting the men who seek it out behind bars, according to police. An undercover officer would engage with men looking to buy sex online, and then tell them that she was underage.\n\"Once they were told they were speaking with children, for the most part the men would stop,\" PC Truong said.\nDuring that time, officers were also able to rescue about 85 child victims. However, police say they were only able to arrest about half of the pimps in those cases because the girls were too afraid to participate in the investigation.\nMany of the girls showed signs of physical abuse, PC Truong said.\nPC Truong says that most victims of sex trafficking began prostitution at about the age of 14.\nOf the 104 cases placed before the courts, 40 of the cases have been resolved, with 64 still before the courts. About a quarter of the accused plead guilty. Four went to trial and of those four, three were found guilty and one man was acquitted. \nFive cases of the 104 were withdrawn.\nIn Canada, soliciting the sexual services of someone under 18 is a crime punishable by six months to 10 years in prison for first-time offenders.", "The Playpen site was located on the Tor network which is used to anonymise web-browsing activity.\nThe FBI found a way around this to reveal the users' real IP addresses and led to 200 prosecutions.\nBut it refused to reveal to the court how it managed the feat.\nThe site was located on the Tor network which many people use to browse the web anonymously. It conceals their location and identity by routing their connections through a chain of different computers and encrypting data in the process.\nTo get round this the FBI used what it called \"network investigative techniques\" and revealed people's identities.\nBut it refused a request for information on its technological investigation techniques.\nFederal prosecutor Annette Hayes wrote in a court filing on Friday that \"because the government remains unwilling to disclose certain discovery related to the FBI's deployment of a 'network investigative technique'\" it was \"deprived of the evidence needed to establish defendant Jay Michaud's guilt beyond reasonable doubt\".\nThe government's Motion to Dismiss order is pending before the court and the judge is expected to sign a dismissal order \"within the next day or two\", the assistant public defender Colin Fieman told the BBC.\nMr Michaud's case is one of many emerging from the investigation into Playpen users.\nIn December, the Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said the investigation of Playpen led to more than 200 active prosecutions and the identification or rescue of at least 49 American children who were subject to sexual abuse.\nIn January, Michael Fluckiger was sentenced to 20 years in jail for running the Playpen site.\nOnce the site's administrators had been arrested, the FBI kept the site going for 13 days to gather information about members.", "If passed into legislation, the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill, proposed by the DUP's Lord Morrow, would make Northern Ireland the lead in the UK on human trafficking law.\nThe bill aims to enhance services for victims as well as making it an offence to pay for sexual services from a prostitute.\nThe consultation period ends on 18 October.\nBuying or selling sex is legal across the UK, however, many activities related to prostitution, including kerb crawling, running a brothel and pimping, are all outlawed.\nLord Morrow said it was illegal to pay for sex in Northern Ireland from someone who has been coerced.\n\"The majority of rescued victims of trafficking in Northern Ireland are those brought here for sexual exploitation and I believe that we can do better,\" he said.\n\"For instance, in Sweden, there's a very clear message of zero tolerance for the purchase of sex that has had a clear impact on trafficking.\"\nOther points in the Stormont bill include extending the definition of 'other exploitation' to include forced begging; defining a victim of trafficking and outlining compensation procedures for victims.\nIt proposes allowing courts to take aggravating factors into consideration when passing sentence.\nThe bill also aims to ensure child victims have a legal advocate to support them through the relevant criminal, immigration and compensation procedures, and provide special measures for trafficking victims if they act as witnesses.\nIt will also set out what assistance and civil legal services are available to victims of trafficking, and ensure no prosecution is brought for a criminal offence committed by a trafficking victim as a direct consequence of being trafficked.\nLord Morrow's bill also proposes training for police and prosecutors.\nIt urges the Department of Justice to produce an annual strategy on raising awareness of and reducing trafficking.\nPublic consultation is currently taking place in the Republic of Ireland about the future of legislation on prostitution.\nIt is due to be referred to an Oireachtas committee at the end of this month.\nIrish Justice Minister Alan Shatter said that while there was a clear consensus on the \"evils\" of child prostitution and sex trafficking, there are \"differing and genuinely held views\" on how criminal law should deal with prostitution.", "Andrew Pykett, 38, from Warwickshire, who called himself English Daddy online, abused 10 victims from across the UK and one in the US, police said.\nThe offences covered more than 10 years from 2004 to 2016, and involved teenagers aged between 13 and 16.\nHe pleaded guilty to 20 counts of sexual activity with a child, seven counts of meeting a child following sexual grooming and other charges.\nDet Sgt Collette O'Keefe, from Warwickshire Police, said Pykett, of Clarendon Avenue, Leamington Spa, had a fetish where he liked to roleplay and pretend to be father figure to his victims.\nMore updates on this and other stories\nHe would groom them before sexually exploiting them, with one girl reporting her hands were bound behind her back during sex.\nPykett, who ran an IT business, sought his victims out nationwide and would often drive to collect them and bring them back to Leamington Spa, she said.\nChecks on his computers and phones revealed sexualised conversations, indecent images and graphic sexual abuse of children from all parts of the UK and further afield, including South Yorkshire, Essex, London, Wiltshire, South Wales, Nottingham, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chesterfield and Cleveland, Tennessee in the US.\nDescribing Pykett as a sexual predator, Ms O'Keefe said he came to the attention of police in November 2015 after a member of the public contacted the NSPCC after they saw him kissing and inappropriately touching a very young girl in South Yorkshire.\nShe appealed for other victims to come forward to police.\n\"I think we have just hit the tip of the iceberg,\" she said.\n\"In total I think there's going to be a lot more victims out there and I'd appeal for them to come forward.\"\nShe praised the ones that had come forward for helping convict \"an extremely dangerous man\".", "The man coerced children in Norway and the Philippines to engage in filmed sex acts.\nHe was convicted of sending cash to a family in the Philippines so they could arrange for the abuse to take place.\nSome of the sex involved children under the age of 14 and was streamed live on the internet. NRK said he abused 62 children, 20 from the Philippines.\nIt said that he was found guilty of six counts of child sex abuse.\nThe man, who has not been named but is from Bergen, transferred his disability benefits to a family in the Philippines who then arranged for the children to be abused, TheLocal.no reported.\nThe other 42 children in the case were tricked by the man on various internet chat services when he pretended to be a young teenager in order to win the trust of his victims and then manipulate them into carrying out sex acts, Local.no said.\nIn November, Norwegian police carried out \"Operation Darkroom\", arresting more than 50 men who were suspected of taking part in a separate online paedophile network.\nThose held by police came from all sections of society, NewsinEnglish.No reported.", "The investigation uncovered a brothel luring undocumented Asian women to the city.\nIt found the women were being promised work to pay off people smugglers.\nJustice Minister David Ford said the extension of the National Crime Agency to NI should help to stop people being trafficked into the sex trade.\nMr Ford said the NCA will have greater powers and resources than the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).\nThe BBC investigation exposed how women were being recruited to work as prostitutes in Belfast through a classified newspaper advert in the UK China Times.\nAn undercover reporter, who replied to the advert as part of the investigation, was offered sex work by the Belfast brothel manager, who introduced herself as Lisa.\nLisa told the reporter that she keeps half of the earnings of the prostitutes she recruits.\nSpeaking to BBC Radio Ulster, Mr Ford said people trafficking into the sex trade was causing \"major problems across Europe\".\n\"I think the authorities are doing what they can but clearly the PSNI has limited resources and is not particularly in a position to follow up matters which clearly originated in Great Britain to the Chinese press there.\n\"One of the key issues there is to see that, using particularly the resources of a body like the National Crime Agency, which has the international reach to see the source countries working alongside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as well as the ability to co-ordinate across different regions of the UK.\n\"When we get the NCA fully operational in Northern Ireland in a few months time I hope that will help,\" Mr Ford added.\nThe NCA was introduced in the rest of the UK in 2013, but its powers have been limited in Northern Ireland due to nationalist politicians' concerns over its accountability.\nHowever, following a new agreement on oversight mechanisms, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) agreed to support the extension of the NCA's full powers to Northern Ireland.\nSinn Féin retains its objection to the move, but SDLP's change of position means the NCA will be fully operational in Northern Ireland within the coming months.\nNorthern Ireland recently became the first part of the UK to make buying sex a crime, following legislation brought before Stormont by the Democratic Unionist Party peer, Lord Morrow.\nLord Morrow told BBC Radio Ulster: \"What my bill is designed to do primarily is to support victims of human trafficking and there are in the bill measures to support those who have been exploited.\n\"That was what the purpose and the drive of my bill was, and for those who try to say that this might in some way drive it further underground, I just fail to understand that , because quite frankly, this type of activity is already underground.\"\nThe BBC Radio Ulster documentary - Vice Girl or Victim - is available on the BBC iPlayer.", "Krzystof Jakubiak, 49, used a website to advertise women under his control as prostitutes, Cheshire Police said.\nHe and fellow trafficker Marlene Soska, 37, were arrested at their homes in Crewe and Nantwich, Cheshire, in May.\nEight women were found in properties in both towns, as well as in Bristol, London, Preston and Stoke-on-Trent.\nThe operation is believed to have been operating for two years, the police said, and could have made more than £1m.\nJakubiak, who had pleaded guilty to 36 human trafficking and sexual exploitation offences, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years at Warrington Crown Court.\nHe was also subject to an indefinite control order, which will place him under restrictions upon his release - the first time the order has been issued following new anti-human trafficking legislation.\nSoska, who had admitted seven offences relating to human trafficking and sexual exploitation, was given an 18-month community order.\nDet Insp David Browne, from Cheshire Police, said human trafficking and sexual exploitation are crimes that exploit \"some of the most vulnerable people in our society\".\n\"People may be shocked to hear that this sort of thing has taken place in Cheshire but this case highlights the fact that human trafficking and sexual exploitation can happen anywhere,\" he said.", "The rise includes people lured to the country after meeting people via online dating or job recruitment sites.\nRomania remains the most likely country of origin for victims, followed by Poland and the UK.\nThe NCA says trafficking does not have to involve crossing international borders.\nInvestigators say the rise is partly down to better reporting, including an increase in the number of children feared to be victims of sexual exploitation gangs.\nOverall, the agency says there has been a 22% jump in the number of identified suspected victims of trafficking between 2012 and 2013.\nThe 2,744 suspected victims, thought to be the tip of the iceberg, include 602 children.\nThe NCA says there has been a surge in reports of sexually exploited children - from 38 to 128 - in the wake of high-profile abuses cases in Rotherham and elsewhere.\nInvestigators also found cases of adults forced into prostitution, labour exploitation, domestic servitude, or compelled to commit crimes such as making false benefit claims.\nMore than half of the Romanians in the figures were being exploited for sex, according to the NCA’s annual intelligence assessment.\nPeople from Poland were the most likely victims of labour exploitation - forced to work in agriculture, construction, factories and car washes.\nAlmost all of the 55 children who were being used to make false benefit claims originated from Slovakia, the report says.\nThe NCA says victims were being trafficked from Eastern Europe on the expectation of legitimate work which never materialised.\nIn some cases women travelled to the UK with men who they thought were their boyfriends - only to be coerced into prostitution.\nSome victims had initially responded to online dating sites or job adverts.\nThe NCA report adds: “There is limited information available to suggest that traffickers mark potential victims with tattoos, with various symbols signifying ownership or to show that a victim is over 18.\n“Information also suggests that victims may be marked with numbers, but the meaning of these numbers is not known.\n\"Various sources indicate that tattoos are used globally to mark victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation by traffickers and pimps, but the extent to which this is used in the UK is not known.”\nLiam Vernon, head of the NCA’s human trafficking team, says: \"Put very simply, you brand cattle - and that's how traffickers view people, as a commodity to buy and sell.\n“Human trafficking for the purposes of exploitation is an insidious and complex crime and much of the exploitation is hidden from view.”\nMr Vernon says trafficking has \"nothing to do with crossing borders\", and any recruitment for prostitution, forced labour, slavery or servitude is exploitation.\nSpeaking about the British victims, he adds: \"With UK girls, we see them groomed, we see them recruited, we see them moved around, we see them kept by gangs for sexual exploitation, gratification, or financial gain.\n\"For UK men, we see that happen, recruited by abduction, fear, controlled, for purpose of slavery, for purpose of labour.\"\nThe government’s Modern Slavery Bill is currently before Parliament and expected to become law before the 2015 general election.\nMinisters say it simplifies complex laws on exploitation and increases the maximum sentence to life.\nThe bill also proposes to ensure victims cannot be prosecuted for most offences committed while being controlled - and receive reparations from their abusers.\nLabour says it will create a \"specific offence of serious exploitation\".\nIt says this will make prosecutions easier and prevent the \"undercutting of local workers and responsible businesses by the exploitation of low-skilled workers from Europe\".", "The law - the first of its kind in the UK - was introduced last June after a majority of MLAs at Stormont backed it.\nIt was feared the law would push the sex trade further underground and expose sex workers to greater risk.\nBut figures from the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) have shown no-one has ended up in court for paying for sex.\nAccording to the PSNI, more than 800 men are paying for sex in Northern Ireland every day, but over the past year, only 10 men have been investigated by police.\nOut of the seven of those cases referred to the PPS, three were thrown out, two men received cautions while the remaining two cases are still being considered by a senior prosecutor.\nDefending the PSNI's record, Det Supt John McVea said there had been some successful outcomes.\n\"There are a number of people who have received cautions at the direction of the PPS. Our priority is to protect the vulnerable and to target human trafficking and sexual exploitation,\" he said.\nMaking it illegal to pay for sex has acted as a deterrent and that has been welcomed, he added.\n\"We have identified 60 people in the past year who have been the victims of human trafficking,\" said Det Supt McVea.\n\"That is a considerable number and we feel we have made a significant impact on human trafficking throughout Northern Ireland. Paying for sex within this act is a not a priority, our priority is to target the human trafficking element and sexual exploitation.\"\nDet Supt McVea said the PSNI's aim was \"not about targeting an individual sex worker\", but to ensure that sex workers are not vulnerable and do not fall victim to a crime.\nHe added, however, that: \"If we come across criminality we will address it, and that's where the ten cases have been referred to the PPS in the past year.\"\nThe lack of prosecutions has come as no surprise to David Ford, who was the Justice Minister when the law was introduced.\n\"The challenge for police is how they actually produce evidence from what is, in effect, a consensual business relationship between two adults. There clearly is a lot of work that needs to be done to fight trafficking, but that is not the same thing,\" said Mr Ford.\n\"We need a more detailed look at the issues around prostitution rather than tacking on this one clause to a bill dealing with the more important issue of human trafficking.\"\nThe DUP's Lord Morrow, who pushed for the new law, said it is too early to judge how effective the law will be.\n\"Those of us who are legislators don't have any control over the PPS, however, we are expecting that there will be a change coming in the next 12 months,\" said Lord Morrow.\n\"I believe, as the police have already assured me, that this is a precious piece of legislation in the tool box which they will be using.\"\nLord Morrow said he has warned the PPS that questions will be raised if there are no prosecutions in the next 12 months.\n\"I can't tell the police what their priorities should be, but I believe they value the new law and they are keen to see the implementation and enforcement.\n\"I look to the PPS to do what they are supposed to be doing, and if over the next 12 months there is no change we will be talking to the PPS to ask them to explain the reason why,\" he added.\nOne sex worker in Belfast - Catriona - told the BBC that the new law has put her at greater risk.\n\"I'm not surprised there have been no prosecutions as it was always going to be difficult to get the evidence.\n\"My clients are aware of the law and if anything it has left sex workers at greater risk, as it is harder to scan our clients,\" she said.\n\"They are reluctant to be upfront about who they are and that means we aren't sure who we are seeing or if they are genuine. Clients are more fearful they will be found out and will end up in court and have their names in the newspaper.\"\nShe added: \"I think the police have better things to be doing than going after people who are having consenting sex.\"\nUnder the legislation, those who are convicted of paying for sex will face a fine of £1,000 and up to a year in prison.\nPoliticians at Stormont are due to review the law in two years' time.\nYou can watch the full report on BBC Newsline at 18:30 BST.", "Media playback is unsupported on your device\n9 October 2014 Last updated at 07:55 BST\nFigures suggest that in 2012, more than 200 young people across both Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent were \"at risk\" of exploitation.\nBBC Midlands Today's Liz Copper has this special report.", "Paul Charles Wilkins, 70, of Littleport, Cambridgeshire, flew to California in January 2016.\nHe was caught in an undercover sting and faced several charges, but under a plea agreement pleaded guilty to taking pornographic images into the country.\nHe was also ordered to pay a $25,000 (£20,400) fine.\nWilkins, who holds dual UK and US citizenship, was jailed for 56 months in the UK in 2011 for possessing indecent images of children.\nHe was on probation when he left the UK on 31 January last year, travelling to California to \"engage in illicit sexual conduct\" with two boys aged 10 and 12, US officials said.\nWilkins had set up an online site enabling him to arrange to meet boys, and had made the journey to the US after a man apparently offered him sex with his two sons.\nWhen that plan failed to materialise, Wilkins fell prey to a sting operation set up by undercover agents.\nThey contacted him via the online group administered by Wilkins, and used by people with a \"sexual interest in children\".\nHe paid one of the agents $250 (£204) for sex with a nine-year-old Mexican boy in Palm Springs.\nBut the boy did not exist and Wilkins was arrested on 11 February after handing over the money for his \"share\" in the child.\nWilkins initially denied four charges of travelling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, attempted sex trafficking of children, possession of child pornography and transportation of child pornography.\nIn September he pleaded guilty to the latter charge under a plea agreement with the US Attorney's Office.\n\"This defendant persistently engaged in the sexual exploitation of children,\" said United States Attorney Eileen M Decker.\n\"Today's sentence ensures that children will be protected from his abhorrent conduct for many years.\"" ]

[ "This study investigated the role of different cognitive abilities—inhibitory control, attention control, phonological short-term memory (PSTM), and acoustic short-term memory (AM)—in second languag..." ]

[ "As for Chinese ESL (English as a second language) learners, one of the major problems in English learning is their poor performance of spoken English. Among various factors that improve spoken English skills, it is believed, learning strategies play an important role in acquisition of oral English. Beginning with the learning purpose and style of spoken English, this paper discusses the application of socioaffecrive, cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies in Chinese ESL learners' acquisition of spoken English.", "All the papers in this special section address issues central to cognitive linguistics research: usage-based models with their focus on frequency; multi-word units and the relationship between lexical and grammatical knowledge; and the nature of lexical meaning, especially construal or “thinking for speaking”. Cognitive Linguistics is thus clearly a useful paradigm for L2 research. The contributors also emphasise that many of the processes operating in L1 acquisition are relevant in L2A as well. In this paper, I discuss the opposite side of the coin: how cognitively-inspired L2 research can inform work on first language learning and theoretical linguistics, focussing in particular on three issues that have been extensively studied in an L2 context but neglected by the other language sciences: transfer of knowledge between constructions, the role of explicit learning, and individual differences in linguistic knowledge.", "Children who struggle to learn at school typically have poorer social competence. This thesis showed that poor language skills also negatively impacts on social competence. Furthermore, cognitive abilities such as attention and memory were shown to disrupt children’s ability to learn, which in turn is related to poor social competence", "In the past one or two decades, the research on the language acquisition has focused on learners' cognitive abilities and learner strategies. It has proved that these factors do influence the efficiency of language acquisition. Meanwhile, some researchers found that some non-intelligence factors (such as affect ) also play an important role in acquring a language. This essay attemps to discuss the relationship between language acquisition and learners' affect. It focuses on learners' affective influence on language learning and thus concludes that language teachers should activate students' affect and make use of them to better language teaching.", "This study investigates a specific cognitive and behavioral phenotype associated to language talent in Asperger’s syndrome. Recent studies have regarded AS individuals’ uneven profile of competence and performance as a cognitive style rather than a cognitive deficit. The study of AN’s cognitive and language profile was carried out in order to investigate specific traits of his development, which could explain his language talent. The SCQ for talent in ASD and the CCC-2 were used as tools to screen AN’s profile. Our research results are in line with earlier studies on language talent in AS. Talent in AS is associated with a cognitive style for processing information in a local bias. In addition, results from the test of the participant’s communicative abilities suggested that his communicative skills are marked by patterns of weaknesses and strengths. Moreover, AN’s language difficulties are related to the comorbidity of AS with other developmental conditions, namely SLI and PLI.", "The degree to which prosodic features related to English lexical stress affect the perception of factors such as intelligibility and accentedness by native English listeners was investigated. Acoustic analyses of English multi‐syllabic words spoken by native Spanish speakers who learned English as a second language (ESL) were used to determine the values of the acoustic correlates of lexical stress of these speakers on a set of target words. Values for vowel duration, intensity, and fundamental frequency produced by the Spanish ESL speakers were compared to those values produced by native English speakers. Prosodic variation observed in the ESL speakers was used to formulate a range for manipulations to the target words. To focus solely on prosody and not take into account consonant and vowel quality, manipulations, using the PSOLA algorithm in Praat, were done to the voices of native English speakers. These manipulations captured increases and decreases in duration, intensity, and fundamental frequency o...", "This study investigated whether pretask instructions and/or planning opportunity affect second language (L2) learners’ ability to solve their...", "Teaching subjects in a second language to learners who are not yet fluent in the language of learning incr eases the cognitive demands which lessons make on them. Effective programmes therefore require a pedagogy which compensates for these increased learning demands. Without it, learning may be less effective and programmes may exclude learners who cannot meet these demands. The key feature of this pedagogy is language support. To provide it, teachers need to be able to analyse the language demands of lessons. This paper describes categories which can be used for the analysis of language demands in L2-medium subject lessons. It also discusses the degree to which subject teachers working in L2 can be expected to perform this analysis.", "Meta-cognition is about the cognition of cognition with the meta-cognitive monitoring as its core,which involves the ability of using meta-cognitive knowledge to plan,monitor and evaluate the learning process.The authors hereby first analyze the present state of English learning of college students and theoretical basis of meta-cognitive monitoring in the development of college students' autonomous learning ability,and then from the classroom experiment illustrate that meta-cognitive training into college English teaching can lead students to monitor the learning process and adjust the learning strategies,which can arouse students' awareness of autonomous learning,develop the corresponding ability and improve their ability to use language effectively.", "The focus of this study is to determine if children who are poor readers produce vowels with greater variability than children with normal reading ability, since earlier research has indicated possible links between phonological difficulty, speech production variation, and reading problems. In continuation of our past research [K. Lydtin, A. Fowler, and F. Bell‐Berti, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 2704 (2001)], where we looked at the spectral aspects of vowel production, we will report the results of our study of vowel duration and its variability in poor and good readers. The vowels chosen for this study are /ɪ/, /e/, and /ae/ in real and nonsense words occurring in both blocked and random presentation. [Work supported by U.S. Dept. of Education, McNair Scholars Program.]", "The language learning strategies of adult second-language learners get more important as education concentrates more on individualisation and flexibility. In a multiple case study, it was examined which learning strategies were utilised by some lower educated, second-language learners who were working on their own in a class room, with a system called 'Indiflex' It was concluded that observing is a useful method to make learning strategies operational. Starting learners of Dutch as a second language already turned out to use a broad range of social, cognitive and metacognitive strategies. As learners make more progress in the language, the number of negative strategies (skipping difficult tasks for example) and social strategies (like asking for help) seems to decrease in favour of cognitive and metacognitive strategies like looking something up in a dictionary and deducing a word's meaning from its context.", "How do children learn to read Chinese? Three abilities identified as cognitive cores for reading in alphabetic orthographies are letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, and rapid automatized naming (RAN; Hulme & Snowling, 2013). What are the cognitive cores for Chinese? Identifying such cores is important for two reasons. First, if they can be identified, cores can be tested early to distinguish those children who might be at risk for reading difficulties, helping prevent and remediate dyslexia. Second, training of such core abilities might facilitate more optimal word recognition and word writing over time. In other words, identifying such core abilities can suggest more effective ways to teach early Chinese literacy skills. In this article, we argue that phonological sensitivity, RAN, and morphological awareness are cores for Chinese learning. In addition, visual-orthographic abilities may be associated causally with Chinese literacy skills over time.", "Morrison [J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 117, 2401 (2005)] theorized that L1‐Spanish learners of English initially identify the Canadian English /i/‐/■/ contrast via a multidimensional category‐goodness‐difference assimilation to Spanish /i/, with more‐Spanish‐/i/‐like vowels (shorter vowels, lower F1 and higher F2) labelled as English /■/ and less‐Spanish‐/i/‐like vowels (longer vowels, higher F1 and lower F2) labelled as English /i/. The L1‐Spanish listeners’ use of duration is positively correlated with L1‐English speakers’ productions, but their use of spectral cues is negatively correlated; hence, exposure to English results in increased use of duration cues and reduced use of spectral cues, leading to unidimensional duration‐based perception. Since, in L1‐English speakers’ productions, spectral properties are partially correlated with duration properties, L2‐English learners can use duration‐based perception as a bootstrap for learning L1‐English‐like spectral‐based perception. Results from a new study are pr...", "Metalinguistic activity involves the ability to treat language objectively and to manipulate language structures deliberately. This ability to focus attention on language forms per se becomes possible for children only gradually as their cognitive development proceeds. In the understanding of spoken language, the focus of attention is typically on the meaning of the utterance, and little attention is paid to the particular acoustic forms of the message. Written language, on the other hand, requires analysis and manipulation of language forms in order to extract the meaning from them. According to Vygotsky (1934), Mattingly (1972), and Cazden (1972, 1974), the additional cognitive demands of this analysis and manipulation underly the observed discrepancy between the adequate speaking and listening abilities of the young, school-age child and his limited ability to deal with written language.", "This chapter honors the contributions of J. P. Das to the assessment of intelligence and diagnosis and treatment of developmental and learning disabilities; it provides an overview of similar research on assessment and instruction for language learning rather than human intelligence, which has been conducted at the University of Washington in collaboration with the second author at the University of California, Riverside. In contrast to the research of Das and colleagues, the research of the University of Washington team has focused primarily on specific learning disabilities differentiated from developmental disabilities. Key to both lines of research is the role of executive functions. Thus, in this chapter, we discuss recent developments in the research on executive functions, ranging from their roles in the supervisory attention of working memory to the cognitive processes that support language learning and use.", "The present study investigated native and non-native speakers' perception of the French nasal vowels [e-o- ɑ] and the oral vowel [o]. Thirty-four L1 American English intermediate learners of French and thirty-four French native speakers were asked to identify 60 one-syllable word items containing the four vowels [e-o-ɑ-o] in word-final position produced by a native speaker and randomly distributed across three conditions: audio-only, audio-visual and visual-only. Identification results revealed that overall performance was better in audio-visual and audio than in visual condition and that non-native speakers showed greater identification for [o]\\ than for [e] and poorer identification for [ɑ]. A confusion matrix revealed that across conditions, the vowel [ɑ] resulted in the most misidentification and was often mistaken for [ɑ]. For both native and non-native speakers [o] was sometimes confused with its oral counterpart [o]. The data also indicate different patterns of identification of the three nasa...", "We created a novel paradigm to investigate phonological processing in sign and asked how age of acquisition (AoA) may affect it. Participants indicated which of two signs was more phonologically similar to a target, and estimated the strength of the resemblance with a mouse click along a continuous scale. We manipulated AoA by testing deaf native and non-native signers, and hearing L2 signers and sign-naive participants. Consistent with previous research, judgments by the native and L2 signers reflected similarity based on shared phonological features between signs. By contrast, judgments by the non-native signers and sign-naive participants were influenced by other (potentially visual or somatosensory) properties of signs that native and L2 signers ignored. These results suggest that early exposure to language helps a learner discern which aspects of a linguistic signal are most likely to matter for language learning, even if that language belongs to a different modality.", "This paper aims to investigate self-regulation enhancement within a CLIL course targeted to teach academic listening and reading skills. Explicit learning strategies instruction was implemented to promote learners’ skills to autonomously manage academic studies in Italian as a second language in a university setting. Students’ cognitive styles were also catered for while carrying out learning strategies instruction. Findings show that learners reached a high degree of self-regulation in terms of reading skills while tackling academic materials in Italian as a second language; on the other hand, a slightly lower degree of autonomy was detected in learners in terms of academic listening skills.", "By generating empirically testable physiological models of cognition and affect, the understanding and facilitation of learning and problem solving can be advanced. A review of the representative research and theoretical literature on right hemisphere processes and psychophysiological models regarding the functional organization of the brain is presented. The major roles of the right hemisphere processing modes in language, learning, perception, creativity and affect are discussed. A psychophysiological model of problem solving is proposed.", "In this model, speech perception by adults is characterized as an active, information‐seeking process whereby native listeners detect the most reliable acoustic parameters that specify phonetic segments and sequences, using highly over‐learned, automatic selective perception routines. In laboratory perceptual tasks, differentiation of native (L1) phonetic contrasts is rapid and robust in suboptimal listening conditions even when the listeners focus on other levels of language structure, or indeed on another task. In contrast, late L2 learners must employ greater attentional resources in order to extract sufficient information to differentiate phonetic contrasts that do not occur in their native language. Phonetic and phonological modes of speech perception are described, which can be tapped in the laboratory by manipulations of stimulus complexity and task demands. These experimental manipulations reveal complex interactions between the linguistic experience of listeners and phonetic similarity relationsh...", "Our aim was to investigate perceptual attunement (PA) in vowel perception of Dutch-learning infants (6-8-10-month-olds) using the hybrid visual fixation paradigm (Houston et al., 2007). Infants were habituated to one phoneme and subsequently tested on items in which a token of the habituated phoneme alternated with either another token of the same phoneme, or a token from another phonemic category. Habituation involved tokens of multiple speakers. Infants were tested on a native (/aː/-/eː/) and non-native (/ɛ/-/ae/) contrast. The 6-month-olds (n = 38), 8-month-olds (n = 44) and 10-month-olds (n = 35) discriminated the native contrast. The non-native contrast was discriminated by the group of 6-month-olds (n = 42) but not the 8-month-olds (n = 47), in line with PA. However, the 10-month-olds (n = 39) also showed discrimination. We conclude that discrimination of phonetic categories can occur after perceptual attunement; discrimination performance is sensitive to tasks applied.", "This paper, under the framework of Flege's(1995) Speech Learning Model, investigates the acoustic features of English monophthongs produced by college students who speak Tibetan (Lhasa). Acoustic features of English monophthongs produced by Tibetan speakers are compared with those of British news broadcasters (Deterding, 1997). The study found that: 1. Under the influence of Tibetan vowel system, English vowel space for Tibetan is centralized and smaller than that of RP(Received Pronunciation). 2. Female Tibetan cannot distinguish vowel contrast /e/and /æ/ very well. For English vowels produced by female Tibetan, /i:/ is lower than that of RP, /i/ and /a:/ are fronter than RP /i/ and /a:/, what's more, /u:/ is less fronter than RP/u:/; male Tibetan differentiate vowels /e/ and /æ/ successfully. For English vowels produced by male Tibetan, /i:/ is less fronter than RP /i:/, /a:/ is much fronter than RP/a:/ and /u:/ is less fronter and lower than RP/u:/.", "Abstract The aims of this paper were firstly to identify any differences in the level of suggestibility between 20 7–9-year-old children with mild learning disabilities and 20 children with average academic ability using the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale 2 (GSS2) and, secondly, to note the impact of the cognitive interview on the response patterns of children with mild learning disabilities. On the GSS2, average academic ability children recalled significantly more correct details than children with mild learning disabilities. There was no significant difference between the two groups of children on distortions, fabrications, total confabulations or on any of the four measures of suggestibility. In the second part of the study, 38 children with mild learning disabilities watched a filmed event and then were interviewed using either a standard or a modified version of the cognitive interview. Following this, all participants were asked specific questions, some of which incorporated misleading information...", "This article investigates an approach to language education for young children situated in a cultural-historical tradition. This approach recognizes the fundamental situatedness and dialogicality of language learning. It views language learning as a joint activity which is located within daily routines and social practices that are meaningful to young children and their care givers. It looks at the nexus of social, cognitive and linguistic development and accentuates the key role of the care giver. An approach to language education for young children with a cultural-historical perspective demands a high level of professionalism in early childhood settings. This implies a concept of professional training for child care providers which offers knowledge, skill training and reflection on individual belief systems. The article suggests directions for further research on professional training of child care providers based on a cultural-historical perspective.", "The purpose of this study was to determine the role of personality variables in second language acquisition and then to integrate such variables into an adapted version of Gardner's socio-educational model which was tested using LISREL causal modeling. A total of 88 first-year university students of French were assessed on measures of language aptitude, attitudes, motivation, French achievement, self-perceptions of proficiency in French, and personality traits. The latent variables in the model included Language Aptitude, Self-Confidence with the second language, Integrativeness, Attitude towards the Learning Situation, Motivation, Situational Anxiety, and two personality constructs labelled Analytic Orientation and Seriousness. The final model is discussed in light of previous models of second language acquisition.", "Research on individual differences has identified factors constraining L2 acquisition in terms of a global performance; yet little progress has been made in identifying specific predictors of phonological acquisition. To explore such potential predictors in L2‐learners, working memory, selective attention, processing speed, vocabulary size, and naming speed in L1 and/or L2 were assessed. These scores were then compared to individual L2‐phonological acquisition index scores, which were obtained by combining the scores from three tasks: an ABX task (testing acquisition of English phonetic categories), a sequence repetition task (testing acquisition of English stress), and a speeded lexical decision task (testing the encoding of English syllable structure). The results were based on data from 20 Korean learners of English with varying lengths of US‐residence (LOR) and 10 English native speakers as controls. In all the tasks, the native speakers performed better than the longer‐LOR learners, who, in turn, did...", "Whether an English learner can spell a word correctly or memorize it effectively, or reads well or not is directly related to his/her phonological awareness. According to developmental independence hypothesis, the development of sub-phonological awareness depends on learners' language training, i.e., the development of phonological awareness is concerned with learners' special language experiences. Phonological awareness can be fostered, and the enhancement of phonological awareness can improve word spelling ability. The article centers on the effects of phonological awareness in word spelling, elaborating on how these effects are reflected in the process of word spelling; meanwhile, based on the viewpoint of dialectical materialism, the article points out that the improvement of spelling ability in turn can enhance phonological awareness.", "Cognitive impairment is a far too common medical problem. Moreover, there is no effective therapy for increasing memory and learning in individuals with such an impairment. Recent studies implicate that mTOR pathway may be involved in learning and behavior. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that mTOR inhibition can increase the learning and memory in mice. We examined spatial learning ability in mTOR heterozygous and control mice by Morris Water Maze. In the control group of mice, we also inhibited mTOR pathway by rapamycin administration and examined its effect on learning and memory.Our results demonstrate that mTOR heterozygous mice had significantly higher ability for spatial learning. Also, inhibition of mTOR in control mice increased the spatial learning ability. We conclude that mTOR inhibition can lead to increased learning ability. However, further investigations are needed to examine the role of mTOR in Alzheimer and disorders in which memory impairment is the major pathology.", "There are many factors that affect the success or failure of foreign language learning. Some of these factors have more to do with cognitive,...", "A data set consisting of phoneticians' limitations of a set of target vowels was LPC spectrum analyzed and quantized into 19 one‐third‐octave bins. These data were treated by discriminant analysis. Depending on the input data set, classification accuracy varied from 88.5% to 99.5%. Vowel categories are found to be arranged in discriminant function space much as they would be expected to appear on a phonetic vowel chart or a F1/F1 space except at the “front‐back” dimension is relatively foreshortened. The results are interpreted as an analytic form of the dispersion hypothesis, according to which the vowels of a given language are maximally dispersed in vowel space [cf. J. Liljencrantz and B. Lindblom, “A numerical simulation of vowel quality systems,” Language 48, 839–862 (1972)]. [Work supported by NSF.]", "This study investigates the production and perception of voice onset time (VOT) among preschool children who acquired English and French simultaneously compared to monolingual peers of these two languages. Children participated in this study at the age of 18 months and returned at 24 months for a second session. During each session the children took part in a visual habituation procedure to evaluate discrimination of VOT using edited natural /b/+ vowel and /p/ + vowel syllables in a task format developed by Houston et al. (2007) to assess individual performance. In this task, three VOT values (produced by several talkers) were presented to the children: one within adult norms of the language for voiced bilabial consonants; one within the adult norms of the language for voiceless bilabial consonants; and one between the means for the voiced and voiceless consonants. The children also participated in a structured play session, and their spontaneous productions of word initial stops were acoustically analyze...", "Perceptual speech intelligibility index can provide an objective standard for evaluating how speech deficiencies affect listeners’ judgments. This study investigated the effective variables for assessing speech intelligibility in Mandarin-speaking children with cerebral palsy. Acoustic measurements include vowel working space, vowel duration, pitch variation, and intensity variation of speech samples collected from picture naming tasks in two children with cerebral palsy (CP) and two typically developing children (TD) at four years old. Only clear word productions in terms of perceptual judgment and vowel formant display were incorporated to secure the reliability of data analysis. For speech intelligibility, eight judges were recruited to record the words they heard from the speech samples. Major findings are: (1) CP children had a smaller vowel space area due to limited control of tongue compared to TD children; (2) CP children showed longer vowel duration because they spent more time producing speech d..." ]

[ "Fascinating. A wild ride written as a cross between free verse poetry and a screen play. If you love sailing or free and independent thought or aan trying to find himself, you will enjoy this book." ]

[ "Definite upgrade for my Mid 2012 Macbook Pro. Combined this with a 1 TB SSD and my computer has had new life breathed in to it!" ]

[ "By . Harriet Arkell . Food stamps will be handed to the poorest and neediest when cash handouts are scrapped in favour of vouchers next week. Many local authorities are expected to take part in the scheme under which vouchers will be issued to the most vulnerable, rather than cash grants or loans. They will be issued to help tide people over in times of financial crisis, and recipients will be able to exchange the vouchers for food, nappies and other essentials, but not alcohol or cigarettes. Thousands of the most vulnerable people will be given vouchers redeemable for food and essentials from April . The voucher scheme is being introduced from 1 April under changes to benefits outlined in last year's Welfare Reform Act. The food stamps will replace the discretionary part of the government-run Social Fund, which issued immediate, small cash grants and loans to people on low or no incomes who needed help urgently. Now, instead of the money being handed out by central government, it is being devolved to local authorities in England and devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. The current budget of £178.2m will be handed down to a local level, plus start-up costs of £72m, for councils to spend as they see fit. A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the move was not about cost-cutting, as there was no reduction in budget, but rather was intended to ensure the money was spent where it was most needed. He said: 'We’re reforming the Social Fund because it is complex, over-centralised and poorly targeted, and replacing it with local provision to ensure this money goes to those most in need. Vouchers will be issued to those most at need at a local level in England, Wales and Scotland (file image) 'We will transfer the current annual funding for crisis loans and community care grants to local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland. 'They will receive the full programme budget of £178.2 million a year in addition to administration and start-up costs of over £72 million which represents a fair settlement.' The vouchers will be adopted in the wake of the abolition of the Social Fund's discretionary scheme, under which the needy were given crisis loans, repayable out of their benefits, or community care grants. Local authorities may offer vouchers redeemable at supermarkets, food banks, or those that may be exchanged for hot meals . The Social Fund's regulated scheme, which governs cold weather payments, Sure Start maternity grants, funeral expenses and the Winter Fuel Grant, will be unaffected, the DWP says. It will be up to the local authorities how they spend the money, but many of those in England are said to have confirmed their plans to issue one-off, single-use vouchers to those who apply for emergency assistance. Some authorities are planning to hand . out food parcels, and will divert extra funds to local food banks to . enable them to buy more supplies and take on more staff to help. And others may issue the money as repayable loans, similar to the crisis loans available under the previous system. Bath and North East Somerset council is one authority planning to offer vouchers, and a spokesman told MailOnline the council intends to use their allocation to offer a mixture of vouchers and discretionary payments. Spokesman James Hinchcliffe said: 'These may be supermarket vouchers or electricity or gas vouchers, or they may be Discretionary Support payments, for example to help with housing payments or essential household items.' A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said it was also planning to offer a mixture of clothing and fuel vouchers, food parcels, and emergency travel costs. Critics said the scheme may stigmatise those already in trouble, but the Government insists the plans, which will enable local authorities to set their own eligibility criteria, will mean the money will go where it is needed most." ]

[ "Smokers who litter the streets with cigarette butts will be given a £30 shopping voucher if they complete a stop smoking course and quit the habit. The vouchers will be given to anyone who is fined for dropping smoking-related rubbish - such as butts and empty cigarette packets - and then completes a course commissioned by the council. Those who successfully give up smoking will be able to redeem the taxpayer-funded vouchers at a number of popular high street shops including Debenhams and Boots. Penalty: Under the scheme, those caught dropping cigarette butts and packets will receive a fixed-penalty notice of £80 - reduced to £55 if paid in 10 days. They will then be invited to attend a stop-smoking course . A public health charity said that the scheme could 'boost the resolve' of those who are struggling to quit. But opponents to the pilot programme, which launches in the London borough of Wandsworth next month, have branded it as 'bizarre'. They argue that it is unfair to rewards those who litter - adding that the council's money could be better spent elsewhere. Resident Alex Gore, 30, said: 'It's barmy. What about those who don't drop litter or have quit smoking off their own back? 'The council would be better off providing more bins with ashtrays on top then doing a bonkers gimmick like this.' Writing on the council website, another resident Kim Willott said: 'Whilst its easy to blame the people who do it the council should provide more bins.' John O'Connell, Director for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'This is utterly bizarre. Litterbugs are fined for the obvious reason that it costs money to clean up. Expensive problem: Wandsworth council said itaiming to reduce smoking by 3 per cent next year . 'Rewarding those who continue to do it is a strange brand of justice. The scheme is clearly open to abuse, and needs to be rethought \" Under the plans, those caught dropping cigarette butts and packets will receive a fixed-penalty notice of £80 - reduced to £55 if paid in 10 days. Offenders will be given the option of attending a stop-smoking course commissioned by the council and will be given the £30 upon completing the programme. A spokeswoman for charity Action on Smoking Health said: 'Most smokers want to quit so this incentive scheme could boost the resolve of those who are struggling to kick the habit. 'Combining the anti-litter initiative with helping people to stop smoking should be beneficial all round as it will save money and improve the health of those who succeed in quitting smoking.' Health spokesman Cllr Jim Maddan said: 'We know that 65 per cent of smokers want to quit, but often they don't know where to turn for help. This scheme will help them find that help. 'Stopping smoking is the single most beneficial thing anyone can do for their health. 'We won't force people to sign up for a stop smoking course, but we hope that this £30 voucher will encourage them to take the first step.' The vouchers are available at a range of shops Debenhams, HMV, River Island, House of Fraser, H Samuel, Habitat, Toys R Us, Homebase and Clinton Cards among others. The council handed out fines to 614 people for littering in 2013-14, around half for smoking-related rubbish. The borough said it spends £4million picking up 7,000 tonnes of litter from the streets every year. It is aiming to reduce smoking by 3 per cent next year and claims to have helped more than 6,500 smokers to quit since 2010. Reward: The taxpayer-funded vouchers can be redeemed at a number of popular high street shops including Debenhams (pictured), River Island and Boots. The scheme has been branded as 'bonkers' by opponents .", "Britain's biggest loyalty card scheme has boosted security after it was targeted by fraudsters in an apparent eBay scam. Nectar, which is used by more than 19 million people, is the latest card scheme to fall foul of fraudsters after it linked up with the auction website to allow customers to spend points online. Under the Nectar and eBay scheme, members can collects points on eBay purchases and then change their points into vouchers to spend on the auction site. Nectar, which is used by over 19 million people, is the latest card scheme to fall foul of fraudsters after it linked up with auction website eBay to allow customers to spend points online . But customers have seen thousands of points going missing from their Nectar account - only to find out later they have been spent on eBay. The problem is believed to have arisen because customers can link their Nectar cards to more than one eBay account, and vice versa. That has allowed fraudsters to steal shoppers' points and move it to their own eBay account to spend without the card holder noticing any unusual activity. The Swales family, from York, were first alerted that their Nectar account had been compromised when they tried to pay for shopping with their card in December but were told they were unable to. After checking their account, they found that 9,000 points had disappeared to later be used on eBay - but not by them. The problem is believed to have arisen because customers can link their Nectar cards to more than one eBay account, and vice versa. Customers have seen thousands of points going missing from their Nectar account - only to find out later they have been spent on eBay . They eventually received a full refund and Nectar is now investigating what happened, after telling the family they were not the only ones who had been hit. Nectar has since added extra security measures, and customers are now required to enter a secondary authentication when linking their accounts, Claire Woffenden of Betanews reports. Millions of people are members of the Nectar card scheme. Launched in 2002, over half of Britain's households own a card . Customers currently enjoy a number of perks, including double Nectar points on all Sainsbury’s shopping – online and in store – and two Nectar points per £1 spent on Sainsbury's fuel - plus one point per litre when the customer also swipes their Nectar. Points can also be gained at Homebase, BP and British Gas and redeemed at cinemas, Argos, the Eurostar, Orient Express, Amazon and resorts such as Alton Towers. While millions of loyalty cards are in use in Britain, a recent poll by YouGov Sixth Sense found that 93 per cent of respondents would carry on shopping even if their loyalty cards were stopped. Analysts believe the true value of the cards to supermarkets is for the data they give the chains about our spending habits. Ania Krwawicz, spokeswoman for Nectar's parent company Aimia, said police were also now investigating. She said: 'We became aware of suspicious activity on a small number of Nectar accounts. We informed those customers affected, notified the police and are working with them on this investigation'. MainOnline has contacted eBay for comment. Nectar is the latest in a line of loyalty cards to become a victim of account hacking. In 2013 Tesco customers claimed they'd fallen victim to online fraudsters who had hacked into their Clubcard accounts and taken hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers. At the time, the supermarket giant said it believed fraudsters had stolen people's online IDs and passwords through phishing emails and opportunistically used them on the Clubcard website. The supermarket asked police to investigate claims that dozens of its customers' Clubcard accounts may have fallen victim to the online fraud, with some losing vouchers they accumulated over several years. Nectar card users have also reported that points have been stolen and spent at Argos.", "By . David Wilkes . Updated: . 03:24 EST, 23 November 2011 . After 25 years in the baking business, Rachel Brown knew her exquisitely decorated cupcakes were popular. She just didn’t realise how popular. So when she decided to drum up a little extra trade with a discount deal, she bit off more than she could chew. Swamped by orders, Mrs Brown, who normally makes 100 cupcakes a month, found herself having to bake an astonishing 102,000. Recipe for disaster: Rachel Brown had to draft in 25 staff as demand surged for her cupcakes . And disastrously, because her deal . had been so generous and the demand so huge, she made a loss on every . order – wiping out her profits for the entire year. The cupcake catastrophe started when the 50-year-old cook posted a deal on money-saving website Groupon. She offered subscribers to the site a 75 per cent discount on 12 cakes – selling them for £6.50 instead of the usual £26. Mrs Brown, from Woodley, near . Reading, said: ‘We only expected to get a few hundred orders out of it . but we had thousands and thousands pouring in. We had to cut it off at . 8,500 orders.’ Her company, called Need a Cake, . normally employs eight workers, but it had to bring in 25 agency staff. After spending an extra £12,500 on staff and distribution, she made a . loss of £2.50 per order. Sour taste: Cake maker Rachel Brown outside her company Need A Cake, in Woodley near Reading. She was besieged with more than 8,500 requests after placing a discount deal on money-saving website Groupon . Rising to the occasion: Mrs Brown's staff worked night and day to meet the extraordinary demand . ‘Without doubt, it’s the worst ever business decision I have made,’ she said. ‘It’s been an absolute nightmare.’ U.S.-based Groupon is a ‘deal-a-day’ website offering coupons to subscribers, giving discount deals on . anything from restaurant meals to spa treatments. It uses collective buying power to . achieve lower prices and the deals it offers are available only if a . minimum number of people sign up. Companies that offer deals hope to . gain new custom or sell extra goods to customers during their visit. Mrs Brown’s offer on the website . invited customers to ‘construct their ideal cupcake, choosing from . sponge flavour, icing and decoration options’. And it certainly proved tempting. Mrs . Brown said: ‘As soon as we were making, packaging and sending the cakes . out we were on to the next order. It was non-stop. We take pride in . making cakes of exceptional quality but I had to bring in agency staff . on top of my usual staff, who had nowhere near the same skills. ‘I was very worried about standards dropping and hated the thought of letting anybody down. ‘Even a much larger company would have difficulty coping, but my poor staff were having to slog away at all hours. ‘One of them even came in at 3am . because she couldn’t sleep for worry. I’ve been running this business . for 25 years and I thought I knew what I was doing. We are still working . to make up the lost money and will not be doing this again.’ Heather Dickinson, Groupon’s . international communications director, said there was no limit to the . number of vouchers that could be sold. Sinking feeling: Need A Cake, which usually employs eight people, had to take on an extra 25 agency staff to meet demand, and in the process wiped out all the profits for the year . Fallout: One of Mrs Brown's employees Jo Walsby was given the unenviable task of fielding calls from angry cupcake buyers whose orders were taking longer than expected to be fulfilled . Boxed in: Need A Cake usually sells boxes of cupcakes for upwards of £26, meaning a £2.50 loss was made on each of the £6.50 Groupon offers . She said: ‘We approach each business with a tailored, individual approach based on the prior history of similar deals.’ She added there had been ‘constant . contact’ with Need a Cake and this was the first time she had heard the . company had experienced difficulties. But Mrs Brown has refuted this claim, saying she has written records of correspondence highlighting the problem. Meanwhile, a message on her website informs customers the deal is no longer available. It reads: ‘The Groupon offer is now . closed. We regret that we cannot process any unused vouchers as they . have now expired with Groupon.’ Groupon is a 'deal-a-day' website that offers a series of discount offers on a variety of products and services. The website, at groupon.co.uk, offers a different daily deal such as a meal out, skills class or beauty treatment in participating cities - 36 in Britain so far. If you are attracted by a deal, you click 'buy now' and give your credit card details. If enough people have committed, the money is taken and you're emailed back a voucher (or Groupon) which you redeem. The company boasts that its collective buying power means it can offer discount prices while bringing together businesses and consumers. HOW TO USE IT . The site is easy to navigate and very clearly laid out. On entering the website you pick your nearest city from a scroll-down menu. The offer is described in minute detail and limitations are highlighted. For example a deal of three microdermabrasion facials for £40, real value £165, is in a salon with 'edgy décor'. Groupon vouchers have to be used within a specified time frame.BEST DEALS . Beauty treatment offers abound. with treatments and spa days frequently on offer. One treatment that has gained nationwide popularity thanks to Groupon is the 'fish pedicure' (where fish nibble at the hard skin on your feet), which is almost permanently on offer for less than £10. Other decent deals include car valet service for £10 instead of £25, cupcake decorating classes for £29 from £99, photography lessons for £30 down from £150. DOWNSIDES . Deals aren't always available nationwide and are limited to particular cities, which may not be near you. Groupon has very few offers from big companies or well-known chains and is top heavy on beauty treatments.", "The mother of a disabled teenage boy said her son was 'embarrassed and mortified' after she was forced to drag him to the bathroom because there was no wheelchair on board. Virgin Australia has apologised after the incident involving Heike Fabig's son Kai, who is now 14, on board VA 183 from Sydney to Nadi, Fiji on September 28. But a furious Ms Fabig said that was not good enough and is demanding a wheelchair on board every flight. Scroll down for video . Kai, 14, pictured with his mother Heike Fabig, suffers from spastic paraplegia and the rare disorder Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy . She said some staff on board the flight even suggested she change Kai's nappy in his seat - in front of other passengers. 'It just beggars belief,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'Don't these people have children? 'I don't want a voucher, I don't want points, I want an aisle chair on every flight - specifically if there is a wheelchair user on board.' Airlines often keep aisle wheelchairs on board for people with injuries or disabilities to transport themselves around the aircraft. On a flight from Sydney to Fiji, Ms Fabig was forced to drag her son to the bathroom due to Virgin Australia failing to include an aisle wheelchair on board the plane . Ms Fabig said her family had contacted the airline in the weeks prior to the incident and an official had assured them an aisle chair would be made available for Kai . Ms Fabig said her family had contacted the airline in the weeks prior to the incident and an official had assured them an aisle chair would be made available for Kai. But two hours into the flight, a flight attendant informed her there wasn't one on board. Kai has hereditary spastic paraplegia and the rare disorder Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. He developed symptoms of the disorder in April 2014. It has left him incontinent and unable to walk. After tense discussions, she eventually carried her 50kg son the short distance to the toilet. Despite the airline offering an apology (left) to her and her son (right), a furious Ms Fabig said: 'I don't want a voucher, I don't want points, I want an aisle chair on every flight - specifically if there is a wheelchair user on board' 'I had to sort of carry-drag him along,' she said. 'They're actually really good in getting you onto the plane (via wheelchair). 'Once you're there you can just pee your pants.' She said a concerned flight attendant wrote up an incident report and assured her there would be an aisle wheelchair on the return flight. However, 'on the return flight, the same thing happened'. Virgin sent Ms Fabig's family an apologetic email and have pledged to investigate the incident. She said a concerned flight attendant wrote up an incident report and assured her there would be an aisle wheelchair on the return flight. However, 'on the return flight, the same thing happened' The email said: 'I apologise on behalf of the Virgin Group of airlines for the stress and inconvenience caused to you and your son. 'As per our discussion we do take this matter very seriously. 'However, whilst we remain focused on obtaining an outcome, I'm unable to provide a specific date for resolution.' Pictured with Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2014, Ms Fabig and Kai are considering taking the matter to the Human Rights Commission . A spokeswoman for Virgin Australia told Daily Mail Australia that the incident was currently being investigated and that 'the business is working hard to rectify the situation'. 'Virgin Australia has sincerely apologised to the guest for any inconvenience caused in this situation and we are in contact with the guest regarding this matter. The safety and comfort of our guests is our number one priority.' Ms Fabig is considering taking the matter to the Human Rights Commission.", "State capitols across the country will be more Republican than at any point since the Roaring '20s when victorious legislators and governors take office next year. That could result in lower taxes and perhaps fewer dollars flowing to social safety net programs. A day after a big election, newly emboldened Republican state leaders already were making plans Wednesday to pursue deeper tax cuts, relax business regulations, expand private school vouchers and impose new limits on public welfare programs. In some states, such as Kansas, Republicans will be able to do as they want, because they control both chambers of the legislature and the governor's office. In others, such as neighboring Missouri, the Republicans' legislative supermajorities will be so large that they can essentially disregard the objections of a Democratic governor. In this photo taken on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, Republican Russ Diamond (left) celebrates his victory in the state House District 102 race at the Batdorf in Annville, Pa., by making confetti out of negative ads and tossing them in to the air . Elsewhere, like in New York, the Republican takeover of one legislative chamber simply means a stronger say in a state still otherwise led by Democrats. Nowhere in the entire nation did Democrats take over a legislative chamber previously held by Republicans. And Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett was the only Republican chief executive to fall to a Democratic challenger. For statehouse Republicans, 'it's their strongest position in nearly a century,' said Tim Storey, an analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Republicans will have full control of at least 29 state legislatures, according to the conference, the party's largest total since 1928, perhaps earlier. The GOP will hold at least 32 governorships, including newly won offices in traditionally Democratic Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts. In many cases, the Republican victories expanded majorities won in previous elections, such as the 2010 GOP sweep. Over the past several years, Republicans already have used those majorities to cut taxes, restrict abortions, expand gun rights and limit the powers of public employee unions. Those all remain high on the Republican agenda. 'We're going to focus on legislation that helps small businesses, whether that's taxes, labor or the regulatory environment,' said Missouri House Speaker-nominee John Diehl, whose Republican caucus now holds its highest-ever number of seats. The challenge for Republicans may be to constrain their enthusiasm, lest they go further than some voters had anticipated and complicate their chances of re-election in the future. After large GOP majorities in Kansas enacted widespread income tax cuts in recent years, the resulting budget difficulties turned Tuesday's election into a referendum on Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's financial policies. He narrowly won, as Republicans added to their ranks in the House. Brownback acknowledged at a victory party that 'it's a difficult time for many Kansas families' and 'jobs are scarce,' but he pledged to keep the state on the route he had charted. 'Our way is holding down taxes, holding down regulations, controlling spending,' Brownback said. Republican governors or legislative leaders in Maryland, Maine, New York, Texas and West Virginia also are already talking of tax cuts. Republican Eddie Smith, left, kisses his wife, Lana Keck Smith, after defeating Rep. Gloria Johnson in the 13th District of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Knoxville, Tenn. At right is their daughter Lauren . Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott has promised to make an expansion of school vouchers and charter schools a priority for his new Republican administration that will be paired with an even larger GOP majority in the House and Senate. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who won re-election along with an expanded GOP legislative majority, also wants to expand enrollment in a private school voucher program. His agenda includes drug tests for people seeking food stamps or unemployment benefits and more tax cuts on top of the $2 billion enacted during his first term. In Maine, Assistant Republican Senate Leader Roger Katz said that the new GOP-led Senate hopes to team with a Republican governor to implement 'sensible' changes to welfare programs, cut government spending, lower taxes and eliminate bureaucracy for businesses. The Republican victory in Arkansas was the largest since Reconstruction, with GOP candidates sweeping the statewide offices and building upon its legislative majorities. Republicans will have to decide whether to continue a program enacted under Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe that expanded health coverage to more than 200,000 people by using Medicaid money to buy private insurance. 'With these victories by the new Republicans — many of whom have voiced opposition to that — it really puts it in some real danger,' said Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. 'The big test initially is what happens to the private option.'", "An enormous fatberg of built-up grease from takeaways and rubbish on one of Britain's busiest party streets has been found. The 3ft-wide mass was blocking sewers beneath Mill Lane in Cardiff, a popular nightlife spot with scores of fast food restaurants. Photographs taken by a camera robot sent underground to investigate the water blockage revealed the buildup which has likened to Jabba the Hutt. Scroll down for video . A fatberg of built up grease from takeaway food and waste was found blocking sewers beneath Mill Lane in Cardiff (above) The 3ft-wide mass also contained make-up and nappy wipes. It had been blocking water flow beneath the busy city centre street . Alongside congealed fat from kebabs and burgers were wet-wipes, nappies and chewing gum. Passers-by used to spending their nights in the street's many clubs and bars were horrified to see what had been beneath their dancing feet. Office worker Michelle Morgan, 24, said: 'That is just so disgusting. It is horrible to think that is just lying there. 'It just shows that all the fat and rubbish has to go somewhere. I’ll never eat another kebab here again!.' Shopper Adrian Smith, 27, added: 'It looks like Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars mixed with a rancid mountain of lard. It is appalling.' Welsh Water urged revellers not to throw litter in the street or down toilets and sinks to avoid such blockages . Passers-by likened the buildup of fat to 'Jabba the Hutt mixed with rancid lard' when shown photographs . Welsh Water, who claim to spend millions every year removing waste from sewers, encouraged revellers not throw rubbish down their sinks and toilets. 'It is pretty disgusting. In Cardiff alone, 80 tonnes of rubbish including dental floss, chewing gum, nappies and plasters are removed from sewers every month,' a spokesman said. 'We want to change customer behaviour when it comes to putting things down the toilet and disposing of fat, oils and grease.' Among the most common causes of drain blockages are make-up and nappy wipes, fat and grease, chewing gum, dental floss, plasters and building debris. Over the festive period waste experts warned against pouring turkey and goose fat down kitchen sinks. It came after a 15-tonne fatberg was found in London in 2013. A sewage worker took three weeks to clear the mass which threatened to spill out onto streets. Mill Lane in Cardiff is one of the city's busiest partying streets, with scores of fast food restaurants serving drunken late-night customers regularly .", "LEWES, England (CNN) -- Tired of soaring prices and uncertain financial markets, a small town in southern England is fighting back -- with its own local currency. Tuesday evening, the wealthy English town of Lewes plans to launch the Lewes Pound as a complementary currency to the British pound. About 50 local traders have agreed to accept it, and organizers are selling the notes at a discount to entice people to buy them. \"If you spend a pound in a supermarket,\" campaigner Adrienne Campbell told CNN, \"it almost immediately goes out of the community, leaks away, and then isn't remaining in the community serving the local people.\" Organizers say the Lewes Pound benefits shoppers by strengthening local shops and increasing a sense of pride in the community. For traders, it increases customer loyalty, minimizes the cost of card-based transactions, and attracts attention to the town. The Lewes Pound also benefits the environment by keeping transactions local, thus reducing carbon emissions, organizers say. Local cheese shop Cheese Please -- which plans to accept the new currency -- offers an example in the economics. Owner Fiona Kay fills her counter with local cheeses, and a customer would use the Lewes Pound to buy them. Kay would then pay the dairy with Lewes Pounds, and the dairy owner would use the Lewes Pound to buy local supplies. The Lewes Pound is a basically a voucher worth one British pound that can only be redeemed at locally-owned participating stores. Customers can buy it at several issuing outlets around town and trade it back for sterling at any time. \"I think we will be keen to take it,\" said Hamish Elder, managing director of the local Harveys Brewery. \"For us, it's as much about how well it's welcomed by the people who are using it. If they find it a nuisance, and there is no real benefit for them, they they are not going to back it, so there is no point (in) us backing it.\" To encourage people to buy the currency, organizers are offering a 10-percent discount on the notes for the next two weeks. It's all part of a year-long pilot program designed to test how well the system works. Lewes Mayor Michael Chartier plans to launch the program Tuesday evening in a ceremony at the Lewes Town Hall, unveiling the nearly 10,000 Lewes Pounds that have so far been designed. Lewes has a history of being a bit rebellious. U.S. revolutionary Thomas Paine spent six years in Lewes until 1774, and for hundreds of years the town has hosted a wild and colorful annual bonfire parade. The town has also had its own currency once before, between 1789 and 1895. The current currency initiative has the backing of Transition Towns, a non-profit organization that works with local communities to develop their own initiatives to address high oil prices and climate change.", "Asda has removed a 'rogue online offer' after customers discovered they could get a £50 discount on anything over £50. In a 'system glitch', hundreds of shoppers were able to buy luxury items such as electrical equipment, crates of alcohol, chocolate and DVDs for as little as 1p. All they had to worry about was the cost of delivery. However, hours later Asda bosses got wind of the blunder and texted the bargain-hunters to say their orders had been cancelled. Blunder: The supermarket giant texted customers to say their orders had been cancelled after hundreds discovered they could buy £50 items for 1p. A spokesman said they will not honour the 'rogue' offer . It comes just weeks after the store was attacked for offering 'mental patient' Halloween costumes to their online shoppers. Today, the groceries giant faced criticism by announcing it will not honour the deal promoted last night. A spokesman said: 'We're aware of a glitch with our e-vouchering, and are in the process of addressing it. 'No-one has lost out as a result of it, but a small number of savvy customers have taken advantage and got more money off than they should have. 'We’ve removed the glitch which has prevented customers from using the rogue voucher and we apologise for any confusion caused. 'We will not be honouring any outstanding orders which have used a rogue voucher code.' Customers took to social media after the seeming act of generosity was revoked. One Twitter user said: 'PLEASE HONOUR MY ASDA DEAL. THINK OF IT AS CHARITY' Another tweeted: 'So depressed I didn't get this ASDA deal' Splashing out: People were able to spend their cash on bubbly and DVDs as well as the everyday essentials . Others called BBC Radio 4 to complain. Nick Devine, 23, from Leeds, told the You & Yours programme he was sent the code by a friend. He said: 'I bought two-and-a-half litres of vodka and three bottles of mixer, checked out and it came to zero. 'I said I'd pick it up from Asda so I didn't have to pay the delivery costs, but I've woken up to a text message this morning to say it's been cancelled.' Before this morning's bombshell announcement, some generous shoppers were even tweeting the code for others to share. Delighted: Hundreds of shoppers were excitedly tweeting about the seeming act of generosity last night . One man posted a picture of his computer screen showing a £6.05 total on an online shop worth £56.05, saying: '£50 off Asda delivery, no minimum spend. Offer ends 01/01/14. You get 4 uses. Code RM 10 1M 05 #cheers' As the news spread, people were desperate not to lose out. One woman tweeted: 'Panic buying in the office for the £50 off #Asda deal. FAR too much pressure.' Another said: 'Obviously lots of people have had the same idea as me with this asda deal, website keeps crashing arhh' One successful shopper exclaimed: 'Taking advantage of asda deals. £50 of booze for 4.50! #yaaasssss' Undeterred by the backlash, Asda has announced that it reserves 'the right to withdraw or cancel any of its e-vouchers at any time'.", "By . Ruth Styles . They've got the Bugaboo pushchair and the Moses basket, and the Duchess of Cornwall has stocked up on organic baby food. Now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been sent a Finnish maternity kit - which comes complete with a snowsuit, a teething toy and a pint-sized duvet - as they prepare for the impending birth of their first child. The kit, which is issued to every Finnish mother, contains everything a new parent could possibly need while the box it arrives in doubles as a crib. Scroll down for video . Generous: The Finnish Government has sent the Cambridges a maternity kit that includes a cardboard crib . Thanks Finland! Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and the Duchess of Cambridge both got a baby box . Source: BBC . Items provided include socks and mittens, a knitted hat, a balaclava, a mattress, a selection of babygros and, more surprisingly, a box of nursing bra pads and some condoms. The box also includes a set of non-disposable nappies - chosen, according to Tanja Jääskeläinen, the deputy head of mission at the Finnish Embassy in London, with the planet in mind. 'I cannot imagine that we would use commercial nappies,' she told the Times. 'It is always these traditional ones. 'I don't know how much people use them but people are more environmentally conscious now.' She added: 'It is something that every mother looks forward to receiving, especially when you have your first child. 'There's so much that you don't know you need. When the box arrives, you look at the clothes and think, \"They are so cute\". You cannot imagine your baby is so small. Then the baby arrives and most of the things are too big. A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'We were delighted to receive the very kind gift of a maternity package from the Finnish Government. 'It was a very thoughtful gesture. I'm sure the Duke and Duchess will be very interested to see the contents.' Is that for me? Camilla is handed a box of organic baby food while on a visit to the Rhug Estate in Gwynedd . What's in there? The Prince of Wales inspects the contents of his wife's Rhug Estate shopping bag . Although the Cambridges are the first members of the British Royal family to be sent the maternity kit, they aren't the only blue-blooded recipient. When Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria was expecting her daughter, Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland, last year, she was also sent a box. Other preparations are continuing ahead of the impending Royal birth with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall stocking up on baby food while on a visit to the Rhug Estate in Gwynedd yesterday. The delighted Duchess was handed a box of organic infant treats by officials from baby food manufacturer, Plum. Organic food and the environment are both issues close to Prince Charles' heart who will no doubt also be thrilled by the Finnish Government's choice of eco-conscious terrycloth nappies. 'It’s brilliant that HRH Prince Charles has been given some organic baby food for his first grandchild on his visit to the Rhug Estate,' commented the Soil Association's Jim Twine. Twine, who is the organic foundation's head of business development, continued: 'The Prince will be making a choice to give his grandson or daughter one of the best starts in life in common with more than 50 per cent of parents who choose to buy organic baby food for their infants. 'Organic baby food guarantees parents are buying food produced without the use of almost all pesticides, all synthetic fertilisers and GM crops - ultimately giving parents confidence in the way in which in the food has been produced - with no hidden surprises.' In London meanwhile, workmen outside St Mary's Hospital in Paddington could be seen setting up a press pen opposite the entrance to the Lindo Wing where the Duchess of Cambridge, 31, is due to give birth. By last night, members of the world's media were already arriving to stake out their spot, as the baby's due date - 12th July - rapidly approaches. Ready: Workmen put the finishing touches to the press pen outside St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington . In London press photographers start to arrive at St Mary's Hospital in London . Photographers and television crew have been marking out positions in front of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's .", "By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 12:20 AM on 27th October 2011 . A mother is furious after her baby girl sucked a piece of cannabis she picked up in the nappy-changing area of a KFC restaurant. Stacey Rush snatched the drug before Lily, her 17-month-old daughter, could swallow it. She complained, but all the manager did was offer a Fruit Shoot to wash out the infant's mouth. 'He said it happens all the time and there was nothing he could do,' said Miss Rush, a mother of two from Newbury, Berkshire. 'But if you knew someone was taking drugs in your toilet, you'd do something about it.' Shocking discovery: The KFC on Wharf Road, Newbury, Berkshire, where Stacey Rush's baby daughter found the cannabis . Miss Rush, 24, said she was sickened to find that cannabis mixed with tobacco had been left in the baby changing area, and horrified after staff initially refused to say sorry. She said: 'I didn't spot it but then I saw Lily had something in her mouth. When I realised it was cannabis I felt sick. 'It was all over the floor mixed with tobacco. What if she had swallowed it? 'There was no apology. All they did is offer a Fruit Shoot to wash the cannabis out of her mouth. I won't go there again.' Cannabis users often mix the drug with tobacco before rolling it into long cigarettes, or 'spliffs'. Secretive: Cannabis users often seek out private, secluded spots like public toilets and changing rooms to prepare their drug . Public toilets and changing rooms are . frequently used as locations for users to prepare their cannabis . cigarettes away from prying eyes. Miss Rush, who also has a . four-year-old son, had taken Lily into the KFC branch in Wharf Road, . Newbury, just before lunchtime and taken the opportunity to change her . nappy. She said: 'The cannabis was lying about on the baby-changing platform and some had also fallen on to the floor. Research shows smoking marijuana can accelerate the onset of psychotic illness such as schizophrenia by up to three years. Eighty-three studies involving 22,000 people were analysed. It found people vulnerable to mental health problems were likely to suffer symptoms at a much younger age if they used the drug. The findings confirmed that it accelerates the onset of full-blown mental illness, which makes it harder to treat successfully. Dr Matthew Large and colleagues at the Prince of Wales Hospital, New South Wales, claimed 'overwhelming evidence' showed it triggered schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. This was perhaps through an interaction between genetic and environmental disorders or by disrupting brain development. 'Goodness knows who left it there - it's . horrifying and sickening to think a mum had been in there rolling a . joint while they changed their baby's nappy. 'I thought these fast-food restaurants sent people in all the time to check on the toilet areas and baby changing facilities to make sure they're kept clean. 'It doesn't say much for their standards if someone can wander into a baby changing area and smoke a joint without any of the staff noticing. 'If my baby had ingested some of this cannabis goodness knows what it would have done to her.' A KFC spokesman said: 'We were shocked to hear of this incident, and have spoken with Miss Rush to apologise for her experience. 'We take hygiene very seriously in all of our stores, and our toilets are cleaned every half an hour. 'We are currently investigating the substance to determine what it was, and have reminded staff at our Newbury restaurant to be extra-vigilant in the future.' The fast food chain, which says it is considering compensating Miss Rush, said it had not yet informed the police but would do so if the substance is confirmed to be illegal.", "By . Daily Mail Reporter . Embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling received the SNL treatment in the show's opening gambit. The show, hosted this week by Spiderman actor Andrew Garfield, got straight to the week's big story of Sterling's leaked racist rant and the subsequent fallout in its cold opener. Bobby Moynihan as the octogenarian billionaire insisted that he, in fact, is the real victim in the whole affair. Basketball diary: SNL's skit sees Sterling holding a press conference to redeem himself after racist remarks got him banned from the NBA . 'My reputation has gotten a real black eye, which we all know is the worst kind of eye,' he says in a press conference in which he's apparently trying to redeem himself for the racist comments he was recorded making that were leaked last week. He goes on to say that he intends to use every penny of the $1 billion that he'll earn from the sale of the Clippers to repair his relationship with the black community, especially Magic Johnson, 'who was clearly one of the good ones.' 'So I have been learning about your history,' he says. 'Today, I watched Roots on TV, and let me tell you, that Questlove, very talented, very talented boy.' High achiever: A representative from the LA Chapter of the NAACP appears to award Sterling his second lifetime achievement award . New love: Sterling says far from being racist, he has a new girlfriend who is 'three-quarter black' He then explains that he plans to spend $3 million to take young black men on a cruise to the beautiful Ivory Coast off Africa 'to never come back!' The show made no mention of Sterling's 'personal assistant' V. Stiviano who gave an interview to Barbara Walters on 20/20 last night, but the businessman's love life was fair game. He explains that he has parted ways with his 'half-black mistress Ms Stiviano' and has now taken a mistress who is 'three-quarters black.' 'Listen, I know y'all are like, \"She don't have no dignity!\" Well you know what I do have? A new Lexus convertible!' says 'Kayla,' before describing sex with Sterling as 'like a leather tent's collapsed on me.' Good judge of character: Dennis Rodman says Sterling is one of the greatest men he knows, right up there with Kim Jong Un . The next person to vouch for Sterling is former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who says Sterling is 'a good man,' and that he should know because he is, 'above all, a good judge of character.' 'And this is one of the greatest men I've ever met, right up there with my main man, glorious leader Kim Jong Un,' he says. The LA chapter of the NAACP also came in for a drubbing from SNL for awarding Sterling a Lifetime Achievement award, essentially for giving them a lot of money. The only person, according to the skit, who had a great week during the Sterling controversy, was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who says, 'I have gotten more high fives from random black people this week than any other week in my life. And I have learned many wonderful new handshakes.'", "(CNN) -- The upcoming presidential election will likely hinge on whether voters trust President Obama or Mitt Romney to restore a robust economy. Presidents have less power over the economy than they and most people believe -- Congress, the Fed, and the economy's inherent dynamics all play major roles -- but the president can lead on key issues and set the tone for economic policy. To understand how the Romney and Obama views differ, consider two issues. The first is how to avoid the so-called \"fiscal cliff.\" Under current policy, substantial tax hikes and spending cuts kick in on January 1, 2013. The Bush tax cuts, in particular, are scheduled to expire, and both domestic and military spending are scheduled to fall, under the debt ceiling deal of August 2011. Both candidates view this tightening in fiscal policy as a threat to economic recovery, but they differ on which aspects to modify. Obama wants to continue the Bush tax cuts on middle-class households but let them expire on high-income households. And Obama opposes the automatic spending cuts in general, although most observers suspect he would be open to some cuts in military spending. CNN Money: Tax deduction cap -- how much would it raise and who would pay? Romney also wants to extend the Bush tax cuts, but for all households rather than just the middle class. In fact, Romney has called for further reductions in tax rates, including those on corporate income. Romney will likely accept cuts to domestic spending while opposing those to the defense budget. Obama, therefore, will use negotiations over the fiscal cliff to push greater redistribution of income and for shifts in expenditure from military to domestic programs; Romney the reverse. Neither candidate, of course, describes his position in these terms. Obama will paint the debate over tax policy as about fairness, while Romney will say it is about promoting economic growth. Obama will defend domestic expenditure as \"investment\" in our future, while Romney will characterize much of it as waste. Regardless, the two have different priorities for taxes and spending. On the tax side, Romney's position is more convincing. Raising rates on high-income households will generate only modest revenue, and higher rates on dividends and capital gains are bad for growth. Likewise, lower corporate tax rates will boost growth. More broadly, Obama's focus on redistribution sends a chilling message to entrepreneurs and innovators, and any negative impact on growth makes the debt situation worse. On the budget, neither candidate is sufficiently skeptical of federal spending. Obama errs in believing that federal expenditure is mainly \"investment.\" In reality, huge chunks -- such as drug prohibition, the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NASA, earmarks, the Postal Service, Amtrak, foreign aid, agricultural subsidies, the Small Business Administration, along with bridges to nowhere, the Big Dig, and high-speed rail -- are wasteful. Opinion: Romney's radical economic plan for U.S. Romney makes a similar mistake for military spending. Many defense and national security activities, such as the ongoing war in Afghanistan, provision of national security for nations in Western Europe and other parts of the globe, not to mention unnecessary weapons systems, redundant military bases, and more, are difficult to justify. The second big issue facing Obama or Romney will be taming the growth of Medicare. Both candidates agree that, under current projections, Medicare grows faster than the national's overall economic output forever, which means Medicare is essentially bankrupt. Romney and Obama disagree, however, on how to fix Medicare. Obama's approach consists of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a creation of the Affordable Care Act. The IPAB will have the power to restrict Medicare expenditure, chiefly by controlling health care prices and limiting reimbursement for care deemed unnecessary or not cost-effective. Romney wants to shift most or all future Medicare beneficiaries (those currently 55 and younger) to vouchers. By limiting the rate at which the voucher amount increases over time, this approach can also slow Medicare expenditure. And if competition among insurers makes the health insurance market more efficient, vouchers can reduce spending further. Both approaches, therefore, aim to \"save Medicare,\" but in fundamentally different ways: The IPAB relies on government to decide what health care is valuable, while the voucher approach lets individuals make those choices. Of the two, Obama's has little chance of success, given the failure of similar efforts in the past. Price controls incentivize health care providers to game the system, such as by billing for extra tests, procedures, and medications. This also means that price controls will introduce myriad inefficiencies in the health care system. The Romney voucher approach has more potential, but the devil is in the details. Any voucher system must include enough insurers to generate real competition. And the definition of \"health insurance\" must be sufficiently broad that competing insurers can offer policies that genuinely limit costs. In addition, the most obvious way that insurers can lower premiums is by raising co-payments and deductibles. This would be a good outcome, since it would encourage seniors to balance the benefits and costs of health care. Yet this also means seniors would pay more, a fact not often emphasized by advocates of vouchers. Obama's and Romney's economic visions differ, therefore, on three fundamental issues: how much government should redistribute income; what kind of federal spending is worth its costs; and whether governments or markets allocate resources more efficiently. The choice is not unambiguous, but overall Romney has the better view. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeffrey Miron.", "These shocking pictures show a house littered with dirty nappies, soiled bedding and buckets of urine where two young children were being forced to live. The parents of the three-year-old and six-year-old were found guilty of neglect after they were found living in the dirty home among piles of rubbish and rotting food. The squalor, at the house in Birkenhead, Wirral, was described as 'filthy' and 'appalling' by a judge who said the dirty conditions had clearly been building up over a period of months. Two children were living in squalid conditions in a house littered with dirty nappies and buckets of urine . Piles of rubbish littered the floors, while dirty pillows and bed linen were found throughout the property. In some rooms police found buckets of urine and dirty nappies, as well as what appeared to be faeces on the floor. Discarded and rotting food was found in the kitchen where dirty plates and cooking utensils were found piled high. The children have been taken away from their parents, who cannot be named, and are now being looked after by social services. The alcoholic parents of the children were sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months . Piles of dirty plates and kitchen items were found in the kitchen, as well as dozens of piles of rotting food . In the bedrooms mattresses, pillows and bedding were soiled and dirty, with rubbish strewn across the floor . Judge Dennis Watson, QC, told Liverpool Crown Court: 'This was not something that occurred overnight. 'This was something that developed and became the norm over a period of some months.' The court heard the neglect occurred after a number of relatives of the children's relatives died. Her partner is disabled. Both were referred to as alcoholics. The pair were given prison sentences of four months, suspended for 18 months. Both must complete supervision programmes. Andrew McInnes, defending the father, said: 'He accepts by his plea of guilty that the photos are difficult. The thing for him is to get more contact with the children and that is a matter for social services.' Toys, rubbish and clothing were found discarded about the room and next to a broken and torn sofa . Buckets of urine were found throughout the house, alongside rubbish where the children had been living . Piles of rubbish were found collected in corners of the house, with discarded packets spilling out of them . The children were taken into the care of social services and their father wants to get more contact with them . Staircases were shown littered with discarded items and rubbish throughout the home when police searched . Pillows found in the Merseyside home were filthy and stained, following months of neglect of the home .", "The anti-obesity drive by the Government is being overseen by a firm receiving millions of pounds to promote junk food, it has emerged. PR firm Freud Communications is being paid £3million a year to run crucial public health campaigns – including Change4Life, the drive to combat obesity. But while supposedly encouraging the nation to eat healthier, the firm is also earning millions a year to promote junk food firms including Mars, KFC, Pepsico – makers of Pepsi, Walkers crisps, and Tropicana fruit juice – as well as ASDA. Conflict of interest? A television commercial for the Government’s Change4Life anti-obesity campaign . The disclosure will lead to renewed claims ministers are failing to address the crisis because they are too ‘cosy’ with the industry. It comes after a major report in the British Medical Journal found that key scientists advising ministers on obesity were receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds for research from the junk food industry, including the likes of Nestle and Mars. There has been particular suspicion over Change4Life’s schemes offering families money-saving vouchers for seemingly healthier products – which happen to be made by junk food firms. These include Smart Swaps and Sugar Swaps deals which give the public discounts on items such as Pepsi Max, Uncle Ben’s Rice Time ready meals – made by Mars – and certain ASDA products. A number of those involved in the voucher schemes also pay Freud Communications for their marketing, including Pepsico, Mars, ASDA and Warburtons. This has prompted further suspicion they are simply hijacking Change4Life as a free advertising ploy. Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum said: ‘There has to be a conflict of interest. It’s a cosy deal.’ Public Health England, the Government agency tasked with tackling obesity, would not say how much Freud is paid to market Change4Life. But accounts on its website show £2.73million was given to the firm in the past ten months, to promote Change4Life, as well as run campaigns on cancer awareness and smoking. The other arm of the Government’s obesity policy, the Responsibility Deal, has also been criticised for letting manufacturers set their own goals for making products healthier. Freud won the contract for Change4Life in 2012 and is solely responsible for its publicity. Sheila Mitchell of Public Health England said: ‘Agency groups of this high quality are always bound to have a mixed portfolio of clients.’ Freud would not comment.", "By . Rupert Steiner . A high street chain is testing an electronic price tag that alters the price of an item based on the profile of the customer. B&Q wants to use the technology to reward loyal shoppers with discounts and offers. The new Wi-Fi-enabled price tags will be put on the edge of shelves and will identify customers through a chip in their mobile phone. Brand loyalty: Home improvement store B&Q want to use the electronic price tags to reward loyal customer or to drop the prices at off-peak times . The high-tech system would then use data stored either from loyalty cards or spending habits to work out a price, which would be displayed next to the goods as the customer walks past. Some will see the innovation as an extension of the vouchers they receive at the checkout. But others may worry it is the start of a two-tier pricing system that favours the rich at the expense of the poor. Ian Cheshire, chief executive of B&Q owner Kingfisher said: ‘We have done various behind-the-scenes tests. It’s all about special offers for individuals where we are looking at bundling offers or giving discounts.’ The firm has installed electronic price tags in its French chain of Castorama stores and is now looking to introduce them in the UK. Britain’s retailers are facing tough times as consumers rein in spending on all but the most essential of items. Time regulated shopping: The devices could be used to encourage shoppers into the stores at less busy times to help retailers even out their staffing numbers and car parking congestion . They have been looking at new ways to . attract shoppers and encourage loyalty as more people shop about for . the best deals. Vouchers and promotions have become a major weapon in . the battle for the retail pound and Kingfisher is looking at taking it a . step further with its cutting-edge technology. Mr . Cheshire, who is chairman of the British Retail Consortium, also . revealed he is looking at introducing variable pricing based on the . model used by the airlines. This means products could have different . prices at different times of the week depending on demand. The . weekends and evenings are usually the busiest for most retail chains . and Mr Cheshire is testing a system where the prices of some products . would be cheaper earlier in the day and during the week to encourage . customers to come into the store at non-peak times. This would result in fewer queues and help retailers even out their staffing numbers and car parking congestion. Mr Cheshire said: ‘We could move to . dynamic pricing and mimic the model used by easyJet. Yield management . techniques are not new – it’s just they haven’t traditionally been used . in retailing. ‘Pricing could be adjusted based on time of day. I am on the board of Premier Inn owner Whitbread and when I joined they had two different prices for their hotel rooms – now it’s 10,000. Look at how the airlines work and what you can do online, people are used to that.’", "Neglect: A mother who left her ten-month-old baby strapped in his pushchair for 14 hours in a urine-soaked nappy and without a feed has avoided jail . A mother who left her ten-month-old baby strapped in his pushchair for 14 hours in a urine-soaked nappy and without a feed has avoided jail after admitting neglect. The baby's father contacted social workers after he noticed while changing the child that the little boy had red abrasions on his legs caused by sitting in his own dirty nappy. The following day, both the boy and the woman's older child were taken away from their mother. Derby Crown Court heard the woman had not felt up to looking after the children because she felt 'unwell'. She admitted she had only given the children crisps and a drink each during the day. But she was handed a 12-month community order, with supervision and 100 hours of unpaid work, after pleading guilty to neglecting her children. The alarm was raised after the infant's father found two 10cm-long dark red abrasions in lines across his legs as well as areas of eczema. The injuries are believed to have been caused by 'long contact with urine-soaked nappies', . The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons but who lives in Derby, also pleaded guilty to neglecting her three-year-old child - again by not feeding it during that period. Sarah Allen, prosecuting, said: 'In interview, she accepted her son would have been in a soiled nappy and had been in the pushchair for over 14 hours and held down. She felt it was the only option because she was feeling unwell.' Miss Allen said the woman also accepted she had not fed them for that period of time - from 11pm until 1pm the following day - a period in which they had been sitting together in their living room. Miss Allen said: 'She accepted her son, by that stage, was a crawling, active baby and she accepted he would not have been happy being treated in that way but felt that there was nothing further that could have been done because she was suffering pain.' Admission: The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons but who lives in Derby, pleaded guilty to neglecting both of her children at Derby Crown Court, pictured above . Passing a community sentence Judge John Burgess said: 'Being a mother is a great responsibility. 'You are expected, both by the public and your children, to care for them and care for them properly, and you didn't - you failed both of your children. 'You failed to give them food over a significant period of time and you left one of your children strapped in a pushchair without changing his nappy for too long, and he suffered as a result.' The judge said he accepted that this had not been 'deliberate ill-treatment'. He added: 'At that particular time, you were an inadequate mother - you weren't able to cope.' He said she had been unwell but needed to understand that there were millions of mothers who felt unwell but went on to look after their children 'brilliantly'. The judge believed the main cause for the neglect was the depression she had been suffering at the time.", "(CNN) -- In a ruling that could reverberate nationwide, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the state's voucher program, which gives poor and middle class families public funds to help pay for private school tuition, including religious schools. Indiana has the broadest school voucher program available to a range of incomes, critics say, and could set a precedent as other states seek ways to expand such programs. Supporters say it gives families without financial means more options on where to educate their children. However, opponents of the Indiana program had sued to block it, describing it as unconstitutional and saying it takes money from public schools. Teresa Meredith, the vice president of the Indiana State Teachers Association and one of the plaintiffs, said she was \"very disappointed in the ruling.\" Unanimous ruling . As many as 9,000 students statewide are part of the voucher program and more than 80% use the funds to go to religious schools, according to Meredith. But in its unanimous 5-0 ruling, the Supreme Court said that was not an issue. It said it did not matter that funds had been directed to religious schools as long as the state was not directly funding the education. The tuition, the court said, was being funded by the parents who chose to pay it with their vouchers. \"Whether the Indiana program is wise educational or public policy is not a consideration,\" Chief Justice Brent Dickson wrote. The public funds \"do not directly benefit religious schools but rather directly benefit lower-income families with school children.\" Expanding the program . Unlike other states, Indiana's program is considered especially extensive because the vouchers are not limited to low-income students in failing schools. A family of four with an annual household income of $64,000 is eligible for vouchers worth up to $4,500 per child, according to the program. Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Pence has pushed to expand the program. \"I welcome the unanimous decision by the Indiana Supreme Court to uphold our school choice program,\" Pence said. \"I've long believed that parents should be able to choose where their children go to school regardless of their income.\" The state Senate education committee will hear a House bill Wednesday that calls for expanding the voucher program to include children with special needs and those in military families if their household income is as high as $85,000 for a family of four. Meredith calls the timing \"interesting,\" saying she feels the schools are getting hit twice. She believes the Supreme Court ruling will sway lawmakers who were undecided on the issue before Tuesday's ruling. She is concerned about the future of the public school system and says other districts nationwide that have voucher programs should watch where the dollars are going and sound the alarm quickly when they see the negative fiscal impact as a result of students transferring to private schools. A nationwide debate . Private school tuition vouchers are a hot political issue nationwide. They began in Milwaukee in 1990, according to the National Education Association, and were followed by two other voucher plans in Ohio and Florida. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a challenge to the voucher program in Ohio using logic similar to Tuesday's ruling in Indiana. Courts in Wisconsin and Arizona have also upheld voucher-type laws, according to the American Federation for Children, a pro-voucher group. A voucher case is in appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court and another one is awaiting ruling at the Louisiana Supreme Court. Glenda Ritz is the Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction. She is not a fan of the voucher system, but in her role in the school system, she was named as one of the defendants. \"As state superintendent, I will follow the court's ruling and faithfully administer Indiana's voucher program,\" she said. \"However, I personally believe that public dollars should go to public schools, and I encourage Hoosiers to send that message to their representatives in the statehouse.\"", "It was enough to leave the middle classes choking on their focaccia (well, if they'd had any to hand). A power cut left hundreds of Ocado customers without their online shopping at the weekend. Around 1,700 were told their groceries, mainly from Waitrose, had been cancelled or delayed – some were even warned their Ocado van would not arrive until 3.30am. Many complained that their weekend lunches and dinner parties had been ruined by a lack of such essentials as pork belly or pistachios. Jennifer Skillen, of Gloucestershire, posted a picture of Ocado avocados that were brown inside and wrote: 'I am rarely disappointed with Ocado but these avocados clearly didn't read 'ripen at home' on the label!' The problems began on Friday when, according to Ocado drivers, a power cut at a distribution centre caused orders to be delayed. An Ocado spokesman later attributed the delays to a faulty microchip. Shoppers soon went on Twitter to vent their frustration. Belinda Moore, a communications director, wrote: 'You are kidding me! Whole delivery cancelled. There's not a snowflake in miles of London. So unimpressed.' She added: 'Can't wait to get home, get the kids to bed and then spend two hours doing the food shop.' Sandra Oliver was told to expect a delay of five hours before it was eventually cancelled. She wrote: 'Ridiculous that my shopping is late again tonight – it's becoming a regular occurrence these days.' Helen Bullock tweeted: 'Unacceptable service. Notified at 11.30pm that 9pm delivery would not be turning up. Second time now. Loyalty being challenged big time.' Simon Langford was told to expect a two-hour delay on his delivery which was due at 10.30pm, and said: 'Really? I won't get that sleep back.' And a Twitter user named Charlie D wrote: 'Right royal cock-up with Ocado. My delivery has gone from being 2hrs 50mins late to 3hrs 30mins late – as if I want it at 1am.' Around 1,700 were told their groceries, mainly from Waitrose, had been cancelled or delayed – some were even warned their Ocado van would not arrive until 3.30am . Other customers later complained about items being out of stock or arriving past their best. Jennifer Skillen, from Gloucestershire, posted a picture of her Ocado avocados that were brown inside and wrote: 'I am rarely disappointed with Ocado but these avocados clearly didn't read 'ripen at home' on the label!' Another user called Palola had items missing from her order. She said: 'Wanted to roast a pork belly today from my order but have been emailed to say it's missing and no alternative – why?! Thank God I also ordered a chicken otherwise Sunday roast would be ruined!' A spokesman for Ocado said: 'A minor technical fault at our Hatfield Customer Fulfilment Centre on Friday caused issues for a small number of our customers. 'The fault was fixed within a day and affected customers have been contacted to rearrange delivery. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused and we have offered a money-off voucher as compensation to those affected.'", "By . Deni Kirkova . Once upon a time pillbox hats, wiggle dresses and summer gloves were the usual attire for women popping to the shops. Men, meanwhile, stepped out in dapper three-piece suits paired with top hats, neat moustaches and monocles. For many, these were the good old days of style. But that style is by no means lost forever and for some recreating it helps define their current look. In fact some vintage aficionados spend lots of time and money painstakingly recreating fashions from the 1930s-50s - some even committing to their look 24 hours a day, seven days a week - and now they have the opportunity to be recognised for their efforts. Lori Jade rocks a fitted skirt suit with fire-red hair and matching bucket bag, hat, brooch and gloves . Twinwood Festival, near Bedford, now in its 13th year, celebrates the style and music of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. And this year for the first time, the most stylish vintage guy or gal will be crowned Mr or Miss Vintage and win an array of prizes in the first UK wide annual vintage style contest. In a unique chance for candidates to show off their vintage credentials, Mr and Miss Vintage potentials will be judged on hairstyle, . make-up, clothes and accessories by a panel including . vintage style icon Lola Lamour. Lola Lamour, head judge and presenter in the search for Mr Vintage UK 2014 and Miss Vintage UK 2014 . With a standout re-enactment singing career and a classic 40s wardrobe, Lola makes the perfect judge . Lola . is one of the best known 1940s singers on the circuit and was featured in Channel 4 documentary Time Warp Wives. Her clothes, car and house are all based upon the styles of the 1940s and 50s. With a standout re-enactment singing career, a classic 40s-inspired wardrobe and home, Lola makes the perfect head judge and presenter. Joined by her co-presenters and judges Dusty Limits and . Mark Ewing, she will be running the rule over the finalists at the . Twinwood Festival, now . in its 13th year. Marcella Puppini of retro singing trio The Puppini Sisters will also be on hand to award the prizes which will be handed out from organisations including  vintage-style fashion label Vivien of . Holloway, Vintage Life Magazine, vintage dressmaking fabric company Til The Sun Goes Down, and more. Organisers . stress that Miss Vintage UK and Mr Vintage UK is . unlike any other beauty contest in that age and body shape are not a . factor – simply the ability to capture the spirit of the era. Twinwood Festival celebrates all things vintage from August 23 through 25 . Olivia Rowson rocks a pink streak in her hair and wears feminine knee length frock with coral acessories . Anastasia D'Vine hopes to win the cheque plus voucher from Vivien of Holloway and Vintage Life subscription . All hopefuls need to do is simply get dressed up in their finest retro threads and email a picture (300dpi minimum) to info@missvintageuk.com or info@mrvintageuk.com. Organisers will then publish these on the official Twinwood Events Facebook page. The top twenty ladies and . top ten gents receiving the most likes from the public will then go into . the second round where the judges will decide which ten ladies and four . gents are to go forward to the finals at Twinwood Festival 2014. Anyone can simply email a photograph which will be posted onto the festival's Facebook page . Suits you sir! Vintage fellas dress up in the fashions of the day, including smart three-piece-suits and even canes . The . top 20 ladies' photos and top 10 gents' will then be judged by a panel . of experts, and 10 ladies and 4 gents will be invited to enter the . finals at Twinwood, on August 23, . 24 and 25. This decision will be made on or before July 18. Over the weekend they have over 60 bands across . 11 stages, 4 music bars, 8 indoor venture, over 100 traders plus air . displays, classic vehicles, comedy, museums, hair and beauty, food and . drink and room for camping to party into the night. See facebook.com/twinwoodevents. Over the weekend they have over 60 bands across 11 stages, 4 music bars and much more . 1st . - The Miss Vintage UK Trophy, Cheque for £250, £250 voucher from Vivien . of Holloway, One year's subscription to Vintage Life Magazine, A £100 . Fabric voucher from ‘Til the sun goes down and Tickets for two plus . camping for Twinwood 2015 (value app £250) 2nd - Cheque for £100 and £100 voucher from Vivien of Hollloway . 3rd - Cheque for £50 and £50 voucher from Vivien of Holloway . 4th - Cheque for £25 and £25 voucher from Vivien of Holloway . 5th to 10th - £25 Voucher from Vivien of Holloway . All 10 finalists get two free tickets plus camping for Twinwood 2014 (value £232) and a goody bag from Vintage Life Magazine. First prize is a cheque for £250, voucher from Vivien of Holloway, subscription to Vintage Life and more . 1st - The Mr Vintage UK Trophy, Cheque for £250 . 2nd - Cheque for £100 . 3rd - Cheque for £50 . 4th - Cheque for £25 . All 4 finalists get two free tickets plus camping at Twinwood 2014 (value £232) Bespectacled Ian Valentine is a Mr Vintage entrant hoping to bag a cheque for £250 .", "A couple were jailed yesterday for neglecting a boy of 12 so badly he went blind in one eye. Gillian Hendry and Craig Dick, both 34, kept the youngster and his sister, two, in a fly-infested house littered with nappies and old food. The boy lost sight in his left eye from cataracts because they failed to take him for hospital appointments that could have saved his sight. Gillian Hendry and Craig Dick, both 34, were jailed for a total of five years at Teesside Crown Court for child neglect after their son went blind in one eye . The boy, 12, and his half-sister, two, were kept in filthy conditions. The parents failed to take the boy to hospital appointments that could have saved his sight, and failed to treat his arthritis so he was left with a limp . He also became increasingly crippled with a form of juvenile arthritis until his doctors called in social services chiefs so they could give him the treatment he so desperately needed. When social workers went to the house in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees in August last year the couple would not let them inside. They returned with the police who were shocked by what they found, prosecutor David Crook told Teesside Crown Court. The couple, who were living on benefits, were unkempt and the boy said that he could not see out of one eye, which had turned white from a cataract. They claimed they were too busy to notice the boy’s plight. The judge was shown photographs that showed the house in an ‘appalling’ state of filth and mess. The staircase was littered with trodden-in food and bin bags stuffed with dirty nappies. The kitchen was infested with flies, and upstairs had a squalid toilet and a bath that was filled with cold, dirty water. One bedroom had been used as a toilet, and the children’s beds had no covers and filthy mattresses – which had turned damp and mouldy in the girl’s cot. By contrast, the couple’s bedroom was relatively tidy – although they said that they slept downstairs. The court heard that one bedroom was used as a toilet while the bathroom was strewn with litter and the toilet and sink were filthy . Social services were alerted to the couple by doctors who became concerned for the boy's health. When police forced their way into the house they found Hendry and Dick trying to clean up . The children were immediately taken into care. The boy now lives with his natural father, and the girl, who was fathered by Dick, is being put up for adoption. Lawyers for the couple said they were unlikely to have responsibility for any children again. Peter Wishlade, defending Hendry, said she ‘let everything slip’ because she claimed to be depressed. He said: ‘Other than that, I don’t know how this has happened, I cannot give any explanation.’ Jim Withyman, defending Dick, said he was a man who could not even take care of his own personal hygiene. He added: ‘There is a deficiency in him by allowing his children to live in such appalling conditions.’ Judge Howard Crowson, who earlier lifted court restrictions that would have made naming the couple impossible, told them: ‘The conditions we have seen in the photographs are appalling. ‘I feel this was inadequacy rather than a deliberate attempt to cause harm to either child.’ Hendry was jailed for two-and-a-half years and Dick for two years and two months after they admitted two charges of child neglect. The court heard that the parents' bedroom was kept in a better condition than the rest of the house (pictured) though they claimed they never slept there . Officers found bin bags strewn around the house filled with rotting food and used nappies . The court heard that the little girl's mattress was covered with mould while her room was also filthy . The kitchen was filled with flies (left) while the upstairs landing was covered with bin bags and dirty clothes . The bath tub was filled with cold, dirty water, while the sink was filled with rubbish and the toilet was unclean . The court was told that Hendry claimed she had neglected the children because she was depressed, but that there was no medical evidence to back this up .", "By . Dan Bloom . A bystander who was hit round the head with a torch by an enraged Domino's Pizza driver has been offered compensation - in the form of £200 worth of pizza. John Murray shouted at 25-year-old Guy Swansborough to slow down after he saw him driving fast towards two young men who were crossing a road in Caversham, Reading, Berkshire. Swansborough shouted back at Mr Murray before grabbing a large torch from his car, stepping onto the pavement and whacking him over the head with it. Attack: John Murray (left) has been offered £200 of free pizza by Domino's after he was attacked by delivery driver Guy Swansborough (right) - but he said his jaw had been hurt in the attack and the offer was an 'insult' Now the pizza franchise's head office has offered Mr Murray £200 in vouchers as compensation. But he told The Sun on Sunday he had broken his jaw and the offer caused him 'even more pain', adding: 'It's an insult'. Reading magistrates heard Swansborough was wearing a Domino's Pizza uniform when he attacked 35-year-old Mr Murray, who was with his fiancée Julie Wilkes, on May 15. The attack only stopped when Mr Murray ran at Swansborough and rugby tackled him to the ground, the court heard. Hurt: Mr Murray was accidentally given £200 in vouchers which all expired at the end of August . Claire French, prosecuting, said: 'Driving down the same road at speed and wheels screeching was the defendant who nearly lost control of the car, and as two young males crossed the road the car was driven very close to them, in Mr Murray's opinion it was at them. 'After telling Swansborough to \"slow down, mate,\" Swansborough reacted by stating \"You ******* talking to me mate?\" with Mr Murray replying \"Slow down there are kids about.\"' The prosecutor said Mr Murray 'was left feeling dizzy and numbness to his hand' after the attack, while The Sun on Sunday reported Mr Murray had broken his jaw and could not eat solid food for a week. Ms French added: 'He saw the man, who he had never seen before, coming at him again and he ran towards him and the pair toppled backwards onto the floor where they tussled before another man arrived at the scene to help.' A Domino's Pizza spokesman Sarah McGhie said the gift of free pizza had been a 'gesture of goodwill'. But the offer went sour when it emerged Mr Murray had only until the end of August to use all of his vouchers - which the firm admitted was an error and later rectified. Ms McGhie told MailOnline: 'The driver was instantly dismissed. That is without a doubt behaviour we do not tolerate. 'After the driver was dismissed, one of the directors at head office gave Mr Murray a call to express that that's not how we expect Domino's drivers to act. 'He offered him some vouchers as a gesture of goodwill. It was nothing like \"here, have some pizza and let's hear no more of it\". 'Unfortunately those vouchers were short-dated to the end of August, which was an error. We hold our hands up over that and we changed when it was pointed out to us. Sacked: A Domino's spokesman said Swansborough, pictured outside court, was dismissed after the incident . 'The same director called Mr Murray over the mistake and he said it was okay and laughed about it.' Swansborough, from Caversham, admitted assaulting Mr Murray and possessing of cannabis during a hearing at Reading Magistrates' Court. In police interview he told officers he had been 'hot-headed' on the day of the attack. Swansborough is due to be sentenced at Reading Magistrates' Court on August 11.", "By . Claire Bates . PUBLISHED: . 11:58 EST, 7 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:03 EST, 8 February 2013 . Andrew Beveridge was admitted three times to Victoria Hospital. He begged his wife not to return him there before he died during his final visit . A widow has condemned the 'horrific' treatment of her husband in an NHS hospital where he was left crying in wet nappies. Grandfather Andrew Beveridge, 80, who was suffering from leukaemia, was forced to wash in a basin when he was first arrived as the showers were not working. During his second stay he contracted staphylococcus and septicemia after being put in an open ward. Conditions were so bad he begged his wife Janet not to make him go back a third time during which he contracted a chest infection and died last month. Mrs Beveridge, 73, said her sobbing husband was left alone in wet nappies on more than one occasion. She said: 'Andrew used a sheath so that he didn't have to go to the toilet and they didn't have his size in the hospital. 'I packed some for him but nurses failed to do what they were supposed to and I found him crying in wet nappies on two separate occasions. 'It's the indignity of all these little things that upsets me.' Mrs Beveridge said she had to clean up another patient's urine in another care failure at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife. She said: 'When Andrew was taken into hospital he felt unwell and was told he could lie down on a bed. 'But someone had just got up from the bed and there were bits of food on the table and urine on the floor. Mr Beveridge's widow said she found him crying in wet nappies on two separate occasions . 'A nurse changed the bed but my daughter and I had to clean up the other mess. It wasn't a difficult job but it shouldn't have been us doing it.' Mrs Beveridge also told how she had to pester staff to perform an X-ray on her husband after noticing that his stomach had become swollen. She said: 'I was really worried about it and said to one of the nurses but she told me not to worry about it. 'My sister had the same thing before she died two years ago so I was concerned about it and asked them to do an X-ray. 'I spoke to Andrew later that evening and he told me he had an X-ray.' It was the last conversation Janet had with her husband who died in the early hours of January 12. Janet said the indignities continued . after his death when she went to the hospital to collect his belongings . and was told to choose from a number of unmarked brown envelopes. She said: 'There were carrier bags full of other people's belongings lying on the floor and my daughter was horrified. 'There were no names on any of the envelopes and it was a case of 'take your pick'. 'My husband's expensive Rotary watch was in one of the envelopes and anyone could have taken it.' When daughter Elaine noticed her father's rings were missing from the envelope she was told they were probably still on his body and they would have to wait two hours until the mortuary opened. Janet said: 'I know that it was his time but it shouldn't have been the way it was. 'I'm having a meeting with NHS Fife but I don't know what will happen. I expect they will have their excuses ready. I'm just hoping that no other patients have to go through what we have. 'For a whole year, it was just one catastrophe after another and the same things have been happening to other people in the area. 'It's so frustrating. Nothing will bring Andrew back but someone has to try to do something because it isn't good enough.' NHS Fife confirmed the family had been in touch and a spokeswoman added: 'Once we receive the details of their concerns we will investigate the issues raised.' NHS Fife confirmed Mr Beveridge's family had been in touch about his treatment at Victoria Hospital .", "Sainsbury's today dumped plans for dozens of new superstores after it announced pre-tax losses of £290million in the last six months and warned they may be squeezed for years. Britain's third biggest chain, behind Asda and Tesco, said today it needs to respond to changing shopping habits. Customers have been flocking to discounters like Lidl and Aldi, smaller convenience stores or shopping online. In the face of its worst results for a decade the supermarket giant admitted it needs to improve the quality of 3,000 own-brand products and would invest £150million in cutting its prices. Struggling: Sainsbury's reported pre-tax losses of £290m for the past six months as it said it would launch a price war to win back customers . The cost of writing down the value of existing stores and those sites which will no longer be developed meant the supermarket giant plunged to a loss of £290million in the six months to September 27. New chief executive Mike Coupe, who replaced Justin King over the summer, said Britain's grocery market is going through a 'once-in-a-generation' transformation - and Sainbury's needs to cut prices to compete. He told Sky News: 'We've had one of the most challenging market conditions I've seen in my 30-year career; a culmination of structural change in our industry, customers shopping more frequently. 'A period of deflation, which happens once every 10 years but actually fantastic for customers, so customers are seeing prices coming down'. But despite the change in habits he does not believe it is the end for superstores. The retailer said its underlying profits for the six months to September 27 were 6.3 per cent lower at £375 million in the 28 weeks to September 27 - compared to £433million in the same period last year. But it had to write-off £628million from the value of its existing supermarkets and because of its mothballed developments. The ultra-competitive market means it expects its like-for-like sales to fall over 'the next few years' after reporting a 2.1 per cent drop in the period. And it warned its second half profits were likely to be worse. The company said: 'The grocery sector is undergoing structural change as customers shop more frequently, using online, convenience and discount channels more. 'We expect supermarket like-for-like sales in the sector to be negative for the next few years, but we have robust plans to address this challenge.' A new price comparison survey by the Grocer magazine has found the cheapest basket of food is available at Aldi. The budget chain is significantly cheaper than more established rivals, the publication said. A basket of 33 commonly bought items was £38.19 at Aldi. Asda was the next best at £45.26, which is some £7.07 or 18.5per cent more expensive. The equivalent basket was £49.87 at Tesco, £50.08 at Morrisons, and £52.41 at Sainsbury’s. Morrisons has tried to counter the threat posed by Aldi by being the first supermarket to launch a loyalty card scheme that promises to refund the price difference in the form vouchers. Tesco and Sainsbury’s also offer vouchers where one of their mainstream rivals – other than Aldi and Lidl – are cheaper. Waitrose is one of the few mainstream food companies, along with Marks & Spencer, to be putting on sales. Its basket of 33 items came in at £56.19, which is £18 or 47per cent more expensive than Aldi. The prices for Lidl were not included in the study however, it tries to match the figures charged by Aldi. The Grocer magazine was not able to make an exact like for like comparison, however the products were as close as it could find. It said: ‘Asda is working hard to close the gap. Morrisons has promised to refund the difference via vouchers. But on the evidence of Aldi’s first guest appearance in The Grocer 33, the big four are still trailing in its wake. ‘Virtually all products this week - 30 out of 33 - were cheapest at Aldi - 25 exclusively so. The biggest savings were on meat products, with £1.99 gammon steaks and £1.07 sausage rolls, respectively 81p and 53p cheaper than elsewhere.’ The Grocer added: ‘It is the margin of difference to Aldi that is furrowing brows … When it comes to basics, it’s elementary: Aldi is way cheaper.’", "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a French magazine that \"there haven't been any tangible\" signs that U.S.-led airstrikes in his country have weakened ISIS, despite assertions Wednesday by America's top diplomat that \"significant progress\" has been made in derailing the Islamist extremist group. In an interview with Paris Match, a portion of which was published online Wednesday, al-Assad said his government has \"noticed no change\" in ISIS since the air campaign began more than two months ago. \"It isn't true that the strikes are helpful,\" the Syrian President said. \"They would, of course, have helped had they been serious and efficient.\" After first striking ISIS targets in Iraq, the U.S.-led coalition went after the group inside Syria in September. These efforts haven't been coordinated with al-Assad's government, which U.S. and other Western leaders have said they want replaced -- even going as far, in some cases, as supporting and working with moderate opposition forces fighting to unseat him. Airstrikes mark shift in coalition focus to ISIS 'capital' Yet al-Assad said in his Paris Match interview, which took place on November 28 in Damascus and will be published in full Thursday, that the U.S.-led military campaign has limited use because \"you can't end terrorism with aerial strikes. Troops on the ground that know the land and can react are essential.\" Whether or not the strikes have hurt ISIS, there's been little indication that they or anything else has gotten Syria closer to an end to a civil war that erupted after mostly peaceful protests in Daraa province in March 2011. Kerry says anti-ISIS coalition has made progress . U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, however, offered a very different view of the anti-ISIS fight Wednesday. Addressing reporters in Brussels, Belgium, after a meeting of representatives from the 60 members of the coalition, Kerry said various efforts -- from more than 1,000 airstrikes to sanctions -- have significantly hampered ISIS in the Middle East. \"There was a consensus that the momentum which it had exhibited 2½ months ago has been halted,\" he said. ISIS \"has been forced to modify its tactics, and some of those modifications are severely hampering their ability to operate in the way that they were.\" He added that the coalition has taken important steps in \"defeating (ISIS) on the battlefield, restricting its finances, enacting laws to restrict the flow of foreign fighters and countering its toxic ideology.\" The airstrikes are part of that overall strategy, and they show no signs of letting up. U.S. Central Command said that between Monday and Wednesday of this week, there were 14 coalition airstrikes in Syria -- all of them near Kobani, the city near the Turkish border that in recent weeks has become a key battleground in the ongoing fight -- in addition to 11 such strikes inside Iraq. Conflicting figures . The United Nations has estimated more than 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war. Yet the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the toll is much higher, claiming Tuesday that it's more than 200,000 people -- among them about 63,000 civilians, 45,000 Syrian troops and more than 50,000 rebel fighters. Millions more have been displaced inside Syria by the violence, with the United Nations estimating up to 1.8 million refugees in neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. And the situation may only get worse, after the U.N.'s World Food Program earlier this week announced the suspension of food vouchers for Syrian refugees because of a lack of funds. Scenes of devastation inside Kobani . Asked by Paris Match if he'd survive this war -- or if he would have the same fate as once entrenched but later deposed leaders Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya -- al-Assad said, \"The captain doesn't think about death or life, he thinks about saving his ship. If he thinks about sinking, everyone will die.\" Al-Assad insisted that his goal has never been to remain President indefinitely, adding, \"I am doing my best to save the country.\" \"Regardless (of) what happens, we as Syrians will never allow our country to become a toy in Western hands,\" he said. \"It is a fundamental principle for us.\"", "A man who wears a nappy every day and has caused controversy for running a nursery for adults has appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show to defend his right to dress up as a baby. Derek Ventham, 52, and his wife Maxine appeared on the ITV show today to explain how the service they offer - and Derek's penchant for nappies - is not sexually motivated. Derek said: 'I'm like any other person, I get up, have breakfast and go to work. I have to wear a nappy all the time as I suffer from incontinence.' Scroll down for video . Derek Ventham appeared on today's Jeremy Kyle Show to talk about why he wears nappies . The 52-year-old, pictured wearing a nappy, said dressing up as a baby is not a sexual fetish. He said he wears nappies because he's incontinent and because he's 'fascinated' by them . However Derek admitted he would still wear a nappy if he didn't suffer from incontinence or wet the bed - because it's something he has done since he was a teenager. He explained: 'This was a liking I've had since I was seven, a fascination for nappies. It's not sexual.' Derek and Maxine now live in Liverpool where they run 'Nursery Thymes', a place where adults can regress back to an infant-like state in which they wear nappies, have books read to them and even experience a nappy change. The couple had lived in Portsmouth but were forced to move after they were branded 'perverts' by their neighbours following Derek's appearance on Channel 4 documentary The 15-Stone Babies in 2012. Derek and his wife Maxine, right, run an adult nursery and told Kyle, left, on the show that 'don't force this on anyone, we keep it private and hidden' On the show, Derek had explained his love of dressing up and acting like a baby and was filmed having a nappy changed by his wife. He said on the show that people who call him a paedophile and a pervert have got his interest all wrong. He said: 'We don't want to be with children, we want to be the child.' Despite his recent TV appearances, Derek told Jeremy Kyle that they don't 'force this on anyone, we keep it private and hidden'. Maxine said they shouldn't be judged for their adult nursery which is used by people from all walks of life . Derek pictured dressed up as a baby on a Channel 4 documentary The 15-Stone Babies in 2012. He and Maxine had to move from their home in Portsmouth after the show aired because they were receiving abuse . They say business is booming at their adult nursery where customers are charged £75 an hour to play with toys, have nap time in adult-size cribs and dress up in nappies and children's clothes. There is a £25 surplus charge for a nappy change while staying overnight costs £350. 'Mummy Maxine' and 'Daddy Derek' explain on their website: 'We are nursery-thymes, we have been running our nursery for 14 years. We look after adult babies in our adult sized nursery, we look after you the way you want and cater your stay to the care you want. The couple's nursery where adults can dress up in children's clothes, left, and sit in a high chair, right . An overnight stay at Nursery Thymes with a night in a cot, pictured, costs £350 . 'Sitting in the high chair being fed by mummy or having your nappy changed in the big cot, we have lots of cuddly toys to play with, come along and relax in a warm friendly atmosphere, let us make your dreams come true. You must be over 18 too visit our nursery.' The couple say their clients come from all walks of life and some like to pretend to be a baby to get away from the stresses of everyday life. For others, the regression is a chance to deal with past childhood traumas. Maxine told Kyle: 'There is a stigma about what we do and people have an opinion and think you are a pervert. 'We are normal working people who happen to like to dress in a certain way, each to their own.'", "Drawings done by a neglected five-year-old boy who weighed just 8.3kg when he was discovered by police in Adelaide reveal the extent of his trauma. A court heard his mother was 'too busy having sex' to properly care for her son, who almost starved to death in the filthy room he was locked in by his parents for nearly two weeks. The boy, now in foster care, is still struggling to cope after the abuse he suffered and is distressed by normal tasks like drawing, Channel Ten News reported. Scroll down for video . Drawings done by a neglected five-year-old boy in Adelaide show he is struggling to cope with basic tasks . The boy, then four years old,  weighed just 8.3kg when he was discovered by police . He has learning difficulties and has been held back in kindergarten where he gets bullied and called a 'baby' by other children. The boy's 24-year-old mother told police she was preoccupied with her partner and put him before her toddler. The child, then four years old, was only days away from death when he was found naked and crouched on the floor, the Adelaide District Court heard on Tuesday. Police only happened to find the malnourished, dehydrated and shivering boy when his mother called police to the Adelaide home complaining she had been assaulted by the boy's father. He has learning difficulties and has been held back in kindergarten where he gets bullied and called a 'baby' In a handwritten letter penned by boy's father to his mother, he apologised for his abuse . The mother said she has 'messed up'. 'I've done the wrong thing. I know I shouldn't have thought about my man before my son,' she said. 'I didn't associate with my child like I should have, instead I was too busy having sex with (her partner).' The court also heard that the mother had miscarried and earlier pregnancy after she was physically assaulted by the father, who kicked her in the stomach. In a handwritten letter penned by the father to the mother, he apologised for his abuse. Police sift through the squalor of the Adelaide home last year . A court heard his mother was 'too busy having sex' to properly care for her son, who almost starved to death in the filthy room he was locked in by his parents (pictured) for nearly two weeks . The court also heard that the mother had miscarried and earlier pregnancy after she was physically assaulted by the father, who kicked her in the stomach . 'I can’t take any of the s*** I’ve put you threw [sic] back, you have no idea how much I wish I could,' he wrote. ‘The one person who tried to help me (you) has coped [sic] mistreatment, foul language, violence and distance and for all of this I am sorry.’ The court also heard the mother posted pictures to social media of her meals and dishes she had just cooked as her son starved in his bedroom, Channel Nine News reported. While the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was fed under his locked door and lived in a small room full of soiled nappies, pictures were posted on Facebook of her first attempt at cooking a roast lamb and a melted chocolate dessert. Images of roast lamb and a chocolate dessert posted by the starving boy's mother as he was locked in his bedroom . The Adelaide house was covered in rotten food and litter. Here, the toilet is surrounded by used toilet paper . Prosecutors have called for significant jail sentences after the 28-year-old father and the 24-year-old mother have pleaded guilty to an aggravated charge of endangering the life of their son. The District Court was told the parents had been on a binge of alcohol and cannabis and had fed the boy yoghurt, custard or jelly on plates they slid under the door. Officers had to walk through garbage bags, rotting food, dirty nappies and sanitary pads to get to the boy, who was surrounded by used nappies, plastic plates and his own faecal matter. 'He (was) a whisper of a child and, on the prosecution case, only a couple of days away from certain death if the officers had not intervened,' Ms Boord said. Police had to wade through rubbish when they were called to the home last year to deal with a domestic incident . Cans of energy drink and food wrappers fill the room as investigators wade through the squalor . A victim impact statement, compiled by authorities and the boy's foster parents, said he now hides food in his pockets and has had a significant number of decayed teeth removed. For the first six months he was in care, he refused to leave his bedroom. He's still being toilet-trained, has limited language skills, cries and whimpers in his sleep and normal family outings are obviously new to the boy. He cannot tolerate doors being closed and cannot control his emotions, sometimes punching himself in the head or running into walls. The court was told that when arrested, the mother weighed 38kg and the father 39kg. The boy was locked in his room and fed under his door. He weighed 8.3kg when discovered . Toys and a dirty matress fill the room. Doctors said the boy was just days from death when found . Bags of rubbish fill the bathroom. Police were shocked by the appalling state of the property . The mother's lawyer, Tim Heffernan, said no-one in the household was receiving proper care. There was no routine, no day or night, and his client - who had a terrible upbringing - was subjected to domestic violence. Although she loved her son, 'she was clearly incapable of organising her life or caring for the child'. The man's lawyer, Mark Twiggs, said his client was appalled by his actions and was extremely sorry. Years earlier, Victorian authorities had removed another child from the father's care. The couple will be sentenced on December 11. The four-year-old boy was found in a filthy house which was littered with rubbish and rotting food . In his police interview, the father said the boy was kept in his bedroom for 12 days and fed under the door . The boy was discovered at the family home in Adelaide. His parents will be sentenced in December . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "Lac-Megantic, Quebec (CNN) -- The head of the railway whose runaway train devastated a small Quebec town cast doubt on his engineer's story Wednesday as he arrived to face insults from survivors and harsh questions from reporters. Edward Burkhardt said the engineer has been suspended without pay and faces a criminal investigation by Canadian authorities. He said the engineer reported to railroad managers that he set 11 hand brakes on the train cars before they broke away from their engines, but \"I think it's questionable whether he did.\" \"Our general feeling is now that is not true,\" said Burkhardt,chairman of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. The engineer had worked for the MM&A for \"many years\" and \"had a completely clear safety record up until Saturday,\" Burkhardt said. Most of the 73-car train derailed in the center of Lac-Megantic early Saturday, and tank cars full of oil exploded and burned. Quebec provincial authorities have found 20 bodies, and 30 more are missing \"and most probably dead,\" Quebec Provincial Police Capt. Michel Forget said Wednesday. Graphic: Runaway train devastates Canadian town . Authorities have said those still missing may have been vaporized by the resulting inferno. The number of those unaccounted for dropped from the 45 reported earlier Wednesday, and Forget said the numbers could fluctuate as the investigation continues. The railway cars strewn throughout the center of the town 6,000 have barely stopped smoldering, and the area around them remained cordoned off Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of evacuees, mostly older residents, were still taking shelter in a local school, said Myrian Marotte, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Red Cross. In the beginning, there were 2,000 people who were forced to flee their homes, Marotte said . \"Everyone here knows someone who was evacuated,\" she said. Nevertheless, she added, \"You see a lot of solidarity and resilience.\" A fair bit of anger was also on display as Burkhardt arrived Wednesday afternoon. Two middle-aged men shouted at him as he spoke with reporters, calling him an obscene name and challenging him to walk into the heart of the disaster. One of the men, Pierre L'Heureux, told CNN he knew at least half the people who were dead or missing. \"They should put that guy in prison,\" L'Heureux said. \"He's a murderer ... he should be in prison.\" Burkhardt also was likely to face a chilly reception from Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche. Burkhardt said he was trying to arrange meetings with the mayor, who would not tell reporters Wednesday whether she would meet with him. Burkhardt said he felt \"personally, absolutely rotten\" about the crash and said his railroad would \"stand up to our responsibility.\" As chairman, \"I guess it's my role to collect all this criticism,\" he said. \"We think we have plenty of responsibility,\" he said. But whether the company bears \"total responsibility\" for the crash is \"yet to be determined,\" he added. The cars broke free from an MM&A train as it was parked in the nearby town of Nantes early Saturday, plunging down a seven-mile incline into Lac-Megantic. Firefighters in Nantes had been called to put out a fire on the train before the cars broke away, and Burkhardt said those firefighters may have shut down systems on the train's five locomotives that contributed to the disaster. \"We felt this probably had an important part to play in this tragedy,\" he said. The fire department in Nantes has rejected the notion. The engineer had parked the train and set hand brakes on all five engines and then checked into a hotel for the night. Firefighters reported the blaze to a track maintenance man, who alerted the company to the incident, Burkhardt said. The engines and nine other cars remained behind when the rest of the train broke away sometime later. They stopped a quarter of a mile away from their original parking spot in Nantes. Police: Evidence criminal act may have led to train crash . Investigators have asked fire crews to stop spraying down the wreckage to preserve as much of the remaining evidence as possible. Quebec police spokesman Benoit Richard said Wednesday, \"We are no longer treating this as just an accident.\" Some of the evidence led investigators to believe a \"criminal act\" may have contributed to the train crash, Forget said Tuesday. But Forget said authorities would lay no blame until the investigation shows exactly what happened. All businesses and factories in the affected region that are able were reopening Wednesday morning, Roy-Laroche said. She said the Red Cross would begin distributing vouchers to those returning home for food and other essential items, with the funds for the vouchers donated by people in the community and businesses in the region. The mayor urged tourists not to cancel their reservations in the area, noting that some 300,000 people visit the region between May and October every year. And she thanked people from around the world who sent messages in the aftermath of the tragedy. \"All these messages give us the strength to face this catastrophe,\" she said. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois said the provincial government would provide $25 million in emergency assistance immediately, with another $25 million to help with reconstruction efforts. \"It's small comfort, we know,\" Marois said. But she said the government hopes rebuilding will become \"a mobilizing force\" for the town. Tuesday, some 1,200 residents were allowed to return to their homes in the area. Among them was Michel Gagnon, who was eating lunch Wednesday on his patio, a few blocks from the edge of the cordon. Gagnon said Lac-Megantic's downtown had lost everything, but within a few years, \"everything will be back up.\" CNN's Paula Newton, Ben Brumfield, Holly Yan, Umaro Djau, Jonathan Mann, Pierre Meilhan and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.", "A pianist has been left horrified after finding a dead earwig lurking in his Marks & Spencer wholefood salad. Lee Reed, 36, said he felt 'physically sick' after nearly swallowing the insect, which he discovered in the pre-prepared salad he bought from the M4 service station near Reading, Berkshire. The wedding musician, from Watford, Hertfordshire, has now hit out at Marks & Spencer after the store handed him a £15 gift voucher for the 'isolated incident'. Wedding pianist Lee Reed, 36, said he felt 'physically sick' after finding a 'massive' earwig in his nutty super wholefood salad, which he bought from Marks & Spencer at the M4 service station near Reading, Berkshire . Mr Reed found the dead earwig in a pre-prepared Marks & Spencer nutty super wholefood salad (pictured) 'It's basically a fob-off,' he said. 'I don't want to be one of those greedy compensation claimants but I feel the way I have been shrugged off is not fair. 'It was horrible. I couldn't eat anything for the rest of that day.' Mr Reed said he regularly bought the store's nutty super wholefood salad and picked up the offending one as he made his way to a wedding gig in Reading. The salads are priced at two for £3.50. However, he said he wouldn't be purchasing any food from the high street chain again. He said 'I wouldn't buy anything from there again, absolutely not, because you just don't know anymore. 'Just the thought of it put me right off my food - it was right at the bottom so I'd had a few mouthfuls. 'I was just about to put it in my mouth when I saw it was there. 'It was just disgusting. It's not nice to have something like that in there. 'If it was a little fly you might not notice but it was a massive earwig.' Marks & Spencer apologised and handed Mr Reed a £15 gift voucher for the 'isolated incident' (file picture) Mr Reed discovered the critter in his greens in June and reported it to the store who launched an investigation. This week, West Berkshire and Wokingham Environmental Health ruled it was an 'isolated incident'. Marks & Spencer spokesman Sarah Wynne said all salads are thoroughly washed and inspected to make sure all insects have been removed. She added: 'Quality is extremely important to us, we take the health of our customers seriously and have agreed with our growers to minimise the use of pesticides.'", "By . Lucy Crossley . A teenager nicknamed 'Nando's' because of his love of the fast food chicken chain has had its logo tattooed on his bottom, only for his request for free meals to be given the cold shoulder. Nando's superfan Bradley Holman had the cockerel mascot Barcelos permanently etched on his right buttock as a sign of his love for the restaurant. However, when the 19-year-old from Lower Kingswood, Surrey, contacted the company asking for a reward for his customer loyalty, his request was rebuffed. Cheeky: Bradley Holman got the inking done during a holiday to Malia, Crete in July 2013. The etching took two hours and cost him 90 euros . Favourite: Mr Holman, 19, says he eats at Nando's every time he goes out for dinner, and estimates that he spends more than £1,500 at Nando's every year . 'Ever . since I first tried their Peri-Peri chicken five years ago, I’ve been . crazy about Nando’s. I’m a huge fan,' said Mr Holman, who estimates that . he spends more than £1,500 at Nando’s every year. 'Whenever . I go out for a meal now, it’s always Nando’s. I order the same thing . every time - an extra-hot whole chicken to myself, garlic bread and a . bottomless drink. Nothing beats it. 'My friends and locals around my hometown call me \"Nando’s\" because I love it so much. People are always asking me to get my bum out so they can see my tattoo.' The Assistant Store Manager got the inking done during a holiday to Malia, Crete in July 2013. The etching took two hours and cost him 90 euros. 'I was feeling hungover after a . night out and all week, I had been craving a nice Nando’s. I was telling . my mates about it and they suggested I get a tattoo of it. I thought . that sounded right up my street. 'So . I went to the nearest tattoo parlour and asked for the Nando’s cockerel . on my bum cheek. The whole process was painful especially after the . alcohol had worn off but it was worth it.' After having the inking done, Mr Holman contacted Nando’s in the hope they would offer some thanks for his dedication. 'I . emailed Nando’s to tell them that I got the tattoo of their chicken on . my bum because I really liked the restaurant,' he said. Worthwhile: Mr Holman said that while getting his tattoo had been painful, getting the inking was still 'worth it' 'I . asked if they rewarded customer loyalty like this and they snubbed my . questions saying they don’t give any free meals or vouchers to . customers. 'I’m really angry . about it. Surely I’m due something for my commitment to Nando’s. I just . wanted a small token so I was gutted when they gave me nothing. 'You . always see Nando’s giving free stuff to celebrities and footballers but . they never reward ordinary, loyal customers like me.' Mr . Holman said his ideal prize would be the much-celebrated ‘black card’, . which guarantees free food for life at Nando’s and is rumoured to have . been given to stars such as Beyonce, David Beckham and JLS, while singer . Ed Sheeran and boxer David Haye have posted pictures online of their prized 'High Five' cards. 'If . Nando’s gave me the black card, I’d get the image of the card tattooed . on my left bum cheek to complete the look,' said Mr Holman. Rebuffed: When Mr Holman, from Lower Kingswood, Surrey, contacted the company asking for a reward for his customer loyalty, his request was rebuffed . Response: Instead of the card, or a voucher, Mr Holman instead received an email stating: 'While we love your dedication to Peri Peri, we unfortunately can't give you a Black Card or a voucher' Threat: Mr Holman replied to Nando's and said he would be inclined to turn to a rival chicken chain . Egged on: Mr Holman's friends encouraged him to get the tattoo after he told them he was craving Nando's food . 'The staff can scan my behind when I come in to the restaurant.' Instead of the card, or a voucher, Mr Holman instead received an email stating: 'While we love your dedication to Peri Peri, we unfortunately can't give you a Black Card or a voucher.' Despite Nando’s ignoring his efforts, Mr Holman says he has no regrets about the inking. However he admits that his cheeky tattoo has received mixed reviews from the opposite sex. 'Some girls love it but others think I’m an idiot for having the tattoo. I don’t care though, they’re obviously not the right girl for me anyway. 'I always take girls out to Nando’s on a first date so it would be a nightmare if they didn’t like the restaurant.' Nando’s was founded in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1987 and operates over 1,031 outlets in 24 countries. In 2012, the restaurant chain reported sales of £350million ($650m). Fans: Rumoured Black Card holders JLS in a London branch of Nando's . Only openly acknowledged by Nando's in 2010, the chicken chain's fabled High Five card, or Black Card, is so prized as it grants its very select list of owners and their friends unlimited free meals at the restaurants. Many owners are discreet about the cards, but celebrities including David Beckham, JLS, Ricky Gervais, Beyonce and Jay-Z, and even Oprah Winfrey are rumoured to have them. Singer Ed Sheeran has posted a photograph where he proudly poses with a Black Card, and has written a song with rapper Example (who claims he was the first person to ever get a High Five card) - entitled Nando's Skank. And asking for a card won't help fans of the chain to get their hands on them, as the company says anyone who has requested a card, 'no matter how politely', will ever receive one. 'Asking for one is simply the biggest taboo - a definite no no,' the chain states on its website in a post entitled 'High Five Card, Fact or Fiction'. The website also states: 'You've heard rumours about it - a card that magically provides free Nando's for a whole year. 'The mythical Nando's High Five card - can you be sure it really exists? Or, like unicorns and Robin Hood, is it just a legend - one created by Nando's to give fans a holy grail to yearn for?' When you consider that the average meal in Nando's costs around £10, including a bottomless soft drink, for a celebrity to eat there twice a month with five of their friends it would be worth around £1,200 a year.", "She was frustrated at how complicated her children's baby grows were to do up. So, Melanie Chiknagi came up with an alternative - to create her own range of 'parent-friendly' suits. The mother-of-two, a former commercial property surveyor from London, developed a new design of baby grow that does not include traditional leg poppers, which she found 'difficult' to use. Instead, her design, dubbed the Picklesuit, features plastic zips on each leg, with concealed flaps to protect the infant's limbs. It also includes wide arms and non-slip soles from size '6 months' up. Creative mother: Melanie Chiknagi (pictured with her son, Samson, dressed in a Picklesuit) has developed a new design of baby grow that does not include traditional leg poppers, which she found 'difficult' to do up . Innovative: Instead, her design, dubbed the Picklesuit, features plastic-moulded zips on each leg (pictured), with concealed flaps to protect the infant's limbs. The suit also includes wide arms and non-slip soles . 'Easy-to-use': While the suit (pictured) can be fully opened 'so that it is easy to dress little ones', its zips also allow parents to undress only their child's lower half during nappy changes, Mrs Chiknagi told DailyMail.com . While the suit can be fully opened 'so that it is easy to dress little ones', its zips also allow parents to undress only their child's lower half during nappy changes, Mrs Chiknagi told DailyMail.com. 'The design means that the baby's top half stays nice and warm,' she said. 'It's an innovative baby grow that is easy, practical, and hassle-free to put on, take off, and open for nappy changes.' And despite Mrs Chiknagi having launched her Picklesuit range only last year, it has already become a great success with British parents, with many deeming it an 'easy-to-use' and 'thoughtful' innovation. The mother said she was first inspired to create the Picklesuit - which is now available in three star designs (red-and-white, grey and white) - after struggling to do up her baby son Samson's baby grow. 'Our second child was born and we still couldn't do up his baby grows,' said Mrs Chiknagi, who lives with her son, daughter, Matilda, and husband, Pascal, in an old Victorian house in the capital. 'Frustrated at the fiddly design on most, Pascal and I decided to design our own, parent-friendly one. We replaced leg poppers with a zip up each leg. Then we fitted a fabric flap inside the YKK zips. Contrast: 'The design means that the baby's top half stays nice and warm,' she said. Left, a red-and-white star version of the Picklesuit with zips on the legs, compared to a normal baby grow with leg poppers, right . Son: The mother said she was first inspired to create the Picklesuit - now available in three star designs (red-and-white, grey and white) - after struggling to do up her baby son Samson's (pictured today) baby grow . 'This ensures the zips never have any contact with baby's' legs and will not pinch the skin when done up.' She added: The Picklesuit took us a year to design, and getting this flap right was laborious.' Another flap on the baby grow's front 'prevents the baby from playing with the zips, and means that when a parent is carrying their child, the zips won't dig into the carrier's skin', said Mrs Chignaki. The Picklesuit, which is produced in a British factory that Mrs Chiknagi visits on an almost daily basis, was perfected after 'many, many prototypes', all of which the mother tried out on her two children. 'The result is the easiest, most straightforward babygrow to put on - even in the middle of the night, she said. 'Parenthood is hard enough without having to struggle with complicated clothes. Mother-of-two: Mrs Chiknagi (left and right, with Samson) lives with her son, daughter, Matilda, and husband, Pascal, in an old Victorian house in the capital. She monitors her firm and customer's orders from home . Success: Despite Mrs Chiknagi having launched her Picklesuit range only last year, it has already become a great success with British parents, with many deeming it a 'thoughtful' innovation. Above, her firm's website . 'We hope that the practical Picklesuit will help to make life just that little bit easier.' Although she replaced leg zips with poppers, Mrs Chiknagi decided to keep poppers on her baby grow's front to enable parents to fully open it if they wish - or keep it shut during nappy changes. Mrs Chiknagi monitors her business, Picklebee, and customer's orders from her family home. She also creates other 'fun, practical' products for infants, including silicon bibs and reusable food pouches. She recently exhibited her work to great acclaim at The Baby Show at ExCel London. On her website, Mrs Chiknagi reveals she named her baby grow design the Picklesuit because she affectionately calls her children 'pickles'. For more information, visit: www.picklebeelimited.co.uk.", "(CNN) -- Never underestimate the power of Oprah or a free meal. Customers were left hungry and unhappy after Oprah Winfrey's endorsed coupon campaign overwhelmed KFC. That seems to be the lesson KFC is learning after talk-show titan Oprah Winfrey took to the airwaves Tuesday with an offer of a free grilled chicken two-piece meal. Hungry consumers could visit Oprah.com, where for the next 24 hours they were supposed to be able to download a coupon for the meal that included two pieces of the company's new grilled chicken menu item, two side orders and a biscuit. What ensued was a coupon craze that was for some a headache. Customers flooded KFC restaurants, and many had long lines and even longer wait times. iReport: Watch a video on the frenzy . Bloggers took to the Web in waves to report on the frenzy. Customer complaints ranged from the inability to download the coupon because of the site's high traffic to some restaurants simply not honoring the deal. \"I'm a big girl,\" Shannon Edwards told CNN affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore, Maryland, on Thursday after she was turned away from a KFC. \"I like to eat. So I'm kind of disappointed I have to go to McDonald's now.\" Charlotte Beal, a food and beverage consumer strategist at the consumer insights firm Iconoculture, said it was a perfect storm of the astronomical influence of Winfrey and the recession. \"In this economic environment, anything free you can't beat it, and it's just so enticing,\" said Beal, who added that her company has been tracking the increase of coupon usage, especially those available online. \"It's a well-known fact that Oprah's been transparent about her own struggles with weight and diet so when she partners with a company that's trying to offer a healthier product, consumers really listen.\" Watch Winfrey discuss the reaction » . \"Not only are you attracting the people who are strapped for cash and want a free meal, but you also are enticing the whole Oprah audience that relates to her own struggle of trying to find something healthy to eat,\" Beal said. Alan C. Marcus, president and chief executive officer for public relations firm the Marcus Group Inc., said the situation had all the ingredients of a public relations nightmare. \"If you make a commitment and you don't produce on that commitment, you lose your credibility and that ripples throughout the company,\" Marcus said. \"It hurts your brand, and it hurts your position in the marketplace.\" Winfrey is \"a powerhouse\" whose fans cannot be denied, he said. \"I think they underestimated Oprah,\" Marcus said. \"She's got a lot of influence, and she has earned a following over many years.\" In a press release Thursday night, KFC said that after the \"unprecedented and overwhelming response\" restaurants would no longer honor the coupon but would provide a rain-check program for customers. \"We would like to apologize to our customers who have been inconvenienced by the overwhelming response to our free Kentucky Grilled Chicken offer,\" said Roger Eaton, president of KFC U.S. \"The lines of customers wanting to redeem their coupons have been out the door and around the block, so we're unable to redeem customer coupons at this time.\" Eaton appeared on Winfrey's show Friday via Skype to sort out what she referred to as the \"chicken caper.\" Winfrey acknowledged some of the issues surrounding the campaign, and called the download of 10.5 million coupons and giveaway of $42 million worth of free food from KFC \"quite a hookup.\" Eaton said 4 million meals had been redeemed by using the coupons, with 6.5 million meals from rainchecks still needing to be distributed. Winfrey said the reaction to the chicken coupon surpassed even her giveaway of cars to audience members a few years ago. \"I was really deeply moved, first of all, by all the people who sent thank you's for the chicken,\" Winfrey said. \"You know, I actually got more thank you's for the chickens than we did for the cars, which is so amazing.\" The coupon craze is not the first time chicken lovers have gotten fried over a good deal. Recently, KFC competitor Popeyes experienced a similar problem when some of its franchises ran out of chicken during a promotional eight-piece deal for $4.99.", "By . Wills Robinson . Accused: Amal El-Wahabi, 27, pictured arriving at the Old Bailey today, was told to put her 'trust in Allah' as she pawned her wedding ring for nappies and milk . A terrorist's wife who allegedly paid a student to smuggle money into Syria pawned her wedding ring to buy nappies while her husband sent pictures of him holding AK47s, the Old Bailey was told today. Amal El-Wahabi, 27, told her husband Aine Davis that she was starving and struggling to provide for her children while he was fighting in the Middle East. But Davis, 30, continued in his bid to get his wife to join him by sending her an ISIS propaganda video via WhatsApp. The court heard he sent the clip, which encourages people to 'pick up arms to jihad', followed shortly by the message: ‘Good innit?’. El-Wahabi, a mother-of-two, is accused of arranging for her friend Nawal Msaad, 27, to hide 20,000 euros in her knickers and take it to Davis. Msaad was detained by counter-terrorism police at Heathrow Airport in January after they discovered the hidden package in her underwear. In a series of messages between El-Wahabi and her husband Davis, she was told to put her 'trust in Allah', despite complaining that her children were suffering. She said: ‘Your boys are ill, it’s hard dealing with them on my own. I’m tired.’ In an earlier exchange, she described how her mother was begging her not to travel to Syria. But she said: ‘After speaking to you last night kind of changed me, I know you need me there. ‘I do wish I was different and I didn’t have to be confused. I do love you and you are my husband.’ El-Wahabi eventually decided to join her husband and got Msaad to conceal the cash in before travelling to Syria. The court was told Davis sent the incendiary three-minute video while they were arranging the exchange. It featured armed men holding a black flag with the slogan ‘There’s no God like Allah’. The video states: ‘How enjoyable that the guardian of death hugs me and entertains me when I hold my machine gun with the palm of my hand.’ Viewers are told to ‘go ahead and pick up arms to the jihad’ and it carries the name of the terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.' Asked the following day if she had watched it, El-Wahabi replied: ‘Yeah I did, I see how it is.’ Davis had left London a few months earlier to join the jihadist cause in Syria but remained in contact with his wife and their two sons. He told his wife not to let the boys have baseball hats because they were worn by the ‘kaffir.’ El-Wahabi, who calls her terrorist husband ‘Honey bunny,’ tells him in one message ‘the kids are going through a hard time. My faith is so low. It’s too much. We are in a lot of debt.’ She complains that the baby buggy is broken and she cannot afford a new one, but Davis is adamant there is no chance of him returning. ‘How could you think I could come back,’ he asks. ‘Its a test. Be patient. Put your trust in Allah.’ Davis tells her she could go to be with him in Syria. But El-Wahabi replies: ‘You need to watch the news. They are on to people. I don’t think you know how bad it is.’ She adds: ‘I don’t think you understand. Even if I wanted to come I cannot as they are on to people. In another message she states: ‘I don’t know how to deal with this long distance marriage and being broke. I don’t know how long I can be patient. Don’t be angry but I sold my ring.. I needed the money.’ Davis tells her: ‘Forget the news. Allah sees it all.' His wife continues to tell him why she pawned the ring. ‘I needed nappies and food. You don’t know how bad it is. It’s worse than ever. I had no choice. My kids need food and milk.’ Smuggled: Nawal Msaad, also 27, is accused of concealing €20,000 in her knickers to give to El-Wahabi's husband Aine Davis in Syria. She was stopped by counter terrorism police at Heathrow Airport in January . At one point Davis answers: ‘I have no time for this. I am preparing myself for Allah.’ El-Wahabi says: 'I don’t know how I got myself into this, two kids and broke and husband aint around. There is not enough food for the three of us so I don’t eat that much.’ She adds: ‘No matter what I am going through you will not come and help me.. That breaks my heart.’ Davis says: ‘I am never coming back. Get that out of your head.’ But his wife tells him he will not necessarily be caught if he returns: 'You might not go to jail because lots of people are coming back. If you go to jail it is in Allah’s hands.’ Davis sends her a picture of him with a heavily armed comrade and adds: ‘I am good and you think I would come back for humiliation?’ He also mailed her a jihadi video and tells his wife: ‘I have chosen this path. I hope this makes things clear.’ El-Wahabi recruited Msaad to smuggle to the cash to Turkey as there are no direct flights to Syria. She was taken to a private room where she pulled out a roll of banknotes from inside her underwear. Davis, who had previously lived in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen and Egypt, flew to Amsterdam in July 2013 and has not returned to the UK. He is thought to either be dead or still in Syria. Msaad and El-Wahab both deny becoming concerned in a funding arrangement as a result of which money was made available or was to be made available to another, and they knew or had reasonable cause to suspect that it would or may be used for the purposes of terrorism. The trial continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article." ]