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[ "President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have a new message aimed at firing up their Democratic base to get out the vote. A very casual (necktie-less) president and sweater-clad first lady stand before a plain blue curtain and deliver their pitch directly to the camera which seems to bounce around a bit as though the message was recorded on Air Force One or by a handheld camera held by an over-caffeinated aide. It all gives the message an amateur YouTubey feel which was the intent in a White House which, like its predecessors, heavily scripts such informal moments. Read More POTUS: Hello everybody, it's Barack and Michelle,\" the president says breezily. The introduction would make it easier to use the the audio track on radio if need be. FLOTUS: Election Day is almost here and people are gettin' fired up. POTUS: And we need you to stay fired up all the way to November 2nd. FLOTUS: This year's elections are just too important to sit out because there's so much at stake right now for our future and for our childrens' futures. Each of you can make a difference. We've seen it before, we know we can do it again... Voting isn't enough, they continue. They want their 2008 supporters to bring others to the polls, make phone calls and knock on doors, as well. YouTube's metrics say the video has gotten 30,004 views, decent considering it was uploaded Tuesday. Another metric says the poll is most popular with 13 to 17 year old males. There's something fishy about that piece of data." ]

[ "New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has won Nevada's Democratic caucuses, giving her two early contest wins over her rivals for her party's presidential nomination. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama ran a strong second, with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards finishing a distant third. \"I guess this is how the West was won,\" Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. The victory was her second straight, coming after an upset win in the New Hampshire primary. More than 120,000 Democrats — nearly one-third of all of Nevada's registered Democrats and 10 times the number of Nevadans who participated in 2004 — showed up at 520 precincts around the state. This marks the first year Nevada has held an early presidential contest. Voters told NPR that the economy was the most important issues on their minds, including job stability and the high number of foreclosures in the state. Exit polls conducted by the Associated Press and TV networks show that Clinton received the support of female voters, Latinos and senior citizens— winning despite the fact that two major union endorsements went to rivals Obama and Edwards. Nearly half of Nevada Democrats surveyed in exit polls said they were looking for someone who can make changes. Clinton overwhelmed Obama among the quarter of Nevada Democrats looking for a candidate with the right experience. Nevadans gathered Saturday in high schools, casinos and cowboy bars for the state's first early presidential caucuses. As caucus-goers waited to register, candidates worked the long lines, shaking hands and taking photos with supporters. Former President Bill Clinton brought along daughter Chelsea to hand out buttons and fliers to union workers and urge them to support his wife. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama had already received the endorsement of the culinary workers' union, which has roughly 60,000 members. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards left Nevada Friday to focus on other primary contests, after a week of feverish campaigning in the Silver State. Although he came in third in the caucuses, he secured the support of United Brotherhood of Carpenters, as well as the United Steelworkers. Nine hotels and casinos had been designated as Democratic caucus sites, in a move aimed at making it easier for casino workers to participate. The state Democratic Party let the culinary workers' union, which has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, choose the sites. The decision was challenged in court by the state teachers' union, which argued that the sites unfairly favor Obama. Ultimately, the court decided the sites were acceptable. In the days leading up the Nevada caucuses, a Reno Gazette-Journal poll showed Clinton, Edwards and Obama in a statistical dead heat: Obama with 32 percent, Clinton with 30 percent and Edwards with 27 percent. But Clinton spent little time savoring her victory in Nevada. The candidates scattered Saturday afternoon to other campaign spots to prepare for upcoming primaries. Next on the calendar is the South Carolina Democratic primary on Jan. 26. From NPR staff reports and the Associated Press.", "Reactions, suggestions, and all-around cheer are pouring in following Barack Obama's presumptive Democratic nomination. The following videos are courtesy of CNN. Billionaire BET founder Bob Johnson is urging Obama to pick Hillary Clinton as his VP. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heralded Obama's historic nomination. Half-way around the world, Kenyan citizens were overjoyed at the news. Wish we were there! What is your reaction to Barack Obama's nomination?", "Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton officially put their hard-fought battle behind them Friday with their first big joint rally held in the very small town of Unity, N.H. The tone of the event was one of mutual admiration, even as polls suggest some reluctance among Clinton supporters to switch allegiance to Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee. The crowd was full of enthusiastic supporters of both senators, and there was an explosion of applause when the guests of honor took the stage. Many waved signs for Clinton, and — just in case anyone missed the message of the day — giant painted plywood letters hung at the top of the bleachers spelled out the word UNITY. The town was selected not only for its name but because it's where both Democrats won exactly the same number of votes in January's primary. Clinton, who spoke first, told her supporters that backing Obama was important, since he will need their help this fall in battleground states such as New Hampshire. She also addressed the Democratic Party's fractured state, saying, \"If you are considering not voting or voting for John McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider.\" Clinton's endorsement of Obama left nothing out. She described his agenda as her agenda –- the only option for those who believe in the things she fought for when she campaigned. When she finished speaking, the crowd chanted her name. Clinton and Obama embraced and held their clasped hands high. Then Obama took a turn at the microphone. He praised Clinton for the race she ran, for the barriers she broke and for the inspiration she gave to women. He also praised her decades of public service. Then he turned his attention to the day's theme. \"It's fitting we meet in Unity because that's the only way we can change things,\" he said in his pitch to Clinton backers. Obama made it clear that the voters who supported both Democrats in the New Hampshire primary were really voting for the same goal. At the end of the rally, many Democratic voters were already looking ahead to the general election. And many said they thought the rally could be a first step toward a Democratic ticket that includes both Obama and Clinton. MICHELE NORRIS, Host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris. ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: And I'm Robert Siegel. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton put their hard-fought primary season battle behind them today. They appeared together for their first big rally held in the very small town of Unity, New Hampshire. The town was selected for two reasons - its name, of course - but also because each of the two Democrats won exactly the same number of votes, 107, in January's primary there. The tone of the event was mutual admiration, even as polls show some reluctance among Clinton supporters to back Obama. NPR's Don Gonyea reports. DON GONYEA: The town of Unity is so small it simply couldn't handle the crush of cars that would carry the thousands that descended on this western New Hampshire community today. So school buses shuttled spectators and media alike in from one town over, the venue was a field next to the elementary school. And just in case anybody managed to miss the message of the day, giant painted plywood letters hung at the top of the bleachers, spelling out the word UNITY. It was hot and sunny, and the crowd exploded when the guests of honor took the stage. (SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS) GONYEA: Some waved Hillary for president signs. Clinton spoke first to the Democrats in the state whose primary she won back in January. NORRIS: New Hampshire has a special place in my heart. And I'm here today to ensure that come November, New Hampshire will have a special place in Barack Obama's heart as well. GONYEA: Then she turned to her former opponent. NORRIS: We have gone toe to toe in this hard-fought primary. But today and everyday going forward, we stand shoulder to shoulder for the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love. (SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) GONYEA: Clinton's backing of Obama is important. She won millions of votes in the primaries and the Democratic nominee will need her supporters in November, especially in the long list of battleground states starting with New Hampshire. But a poll out yesterday also shows that right now, only about half of Clinton voters say they will now vote for Obama, with a sizable number saying they will switch to McCain. The senator addressed that today. NORRIS: And to anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting or voting for Senator McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider. GONYEA: Clinton's endorsement of Obama left nothing out. She described his agenda as her agenda and the only option for those who believe in the things she fought for. As she concluded, a chant erupted. (SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE CHANTING) U: Thank you, Hillary. Thank you, Hillary. GONYEA: She and Obama embraced, clasped their hands and held them high, providing the photograph ", "Updated at 7:33 p.m. ET Former President Barack Obama urged Philadelphians to make a voting plan and cast their ballots early for Democratic nominee Joe Biden during his first in-person campaign event of the 2020 contest in a state that may be crucial to a Biden victory. \"Philadelphia, we got 13 days — 13 days until the most important election of our lifetimes,\" Obama said Wednesday evening during a drive-in car rally outside Citizens Bank Park, home to the Philadelphia Phillies. \"And you don't have to wait for Nov. 3 to cast your ballot,\" he said, citing early voting and voting by mail. \"What we do these next 13 days will matter for decades to come,\" he stressed. \"We've got to turn out like never before. We cannot leave any doubt in this election. We can't be complacent. I don't care about the polls. There were a whole bunch of polls last time,\" he said, referring to 2016. \"[It] didn't work out because a whole bunch of people stayed at home and got lazy and complacent. Not this time.\" Because of concerns over the coronavirus, the event was notably smaller than when Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama joined then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in front of thousands of supporters in Philadelphia on the eve of the 2016 election, which Clinton lost. On Wednesday, Obama delivered blistering criticism of his successor, slamming President Trump's response to the pandemic and noting the rising number of cases in the country. \"Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself,\" he said, referring to Trump's recent hospitalization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment. \"Here's the truth,\" Obama said. \"I want to be honest here. This pandemic would have been challenging for any president. But this idea that somehow this White House has done anything but completely screw this up is just not true.\" He admonished the Trump administration for dismantling environmental protection programs and its efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He also reprimanded Trump for his rhetoric and spreading misinformation. \"America is a good and decent place,\" Obama said. \"But we've just seen so much noise and nonsense that sometimes it's hard for us to remember. Philadelphia, I'm asking you to remember what this country can be.\" Biden surrogate Obama also used his speech as an opportunity to reflect on his personal relationship with his former running mate. \"He and I came from different places. We came from different generations. But I came to admire Joe as a man who has learned early on to treat everybody he meets with dignity and respect,\" Obama said. \"And that empathy, that decency, that belief that everybody counts — that's who Joe is. That's who he'll be. And I can tell you the presidency doesn't change who you are; it reveals who you are. And Joe has shown himself to be a friend of working people.\" Before delivering his remarks, Obama participated in a discussion with Black male community leaders at the Hank Gathers Youth Access Center on issues facing Black men and the significance of voting. Obama then stopped by a voter mobilization center to give a socially distanced pep talk to volunteers. The Trump campaign insisted Obama was sent in to campaign for Biden as backup. \"Joe Biden is clearly not up to the rigors of campaigning for president, so he's calling in Barack Obama as a reinforcement,\" ​Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement ahead of Obama's speech. Biden has spent most of the week out of the public eye at his Delaware home ahead of Thursday night's final debate against Trump. While Obama had largely avoided direct confrontations with his successor — as is customary for past presidents — he delivered a searing critique of Trump during the Democratic National Convention in August. (Trump has repeatedly rebuked Obama as well.) \"For close to four years now, he's shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves,\" Obama said at the time. He also raised nearly $8 million in a joint virtual fundraiser with Biden in June, and has recorded videos for Democrats and the campaign, calling on people to vote. Pennsylvania matters That the Biden campaign deployed Obama to Pennsylvania conveys the importance the swing state holds in the race for the White House. The former vice president is currently polling several percentage points ahead of Trump in the state, according to a polling average from FiveThirtyEight. Trump, who won the state by just 44,000 votes in 2016, acknowledged the closeness of this year's race in the Keystone State during a Tuesday night rally in Erie. \"Before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn't coming to Erie,\" ", "Updated at 10:30 a.m. ET Julián Castro, the only Latino candidate in the Democratic field, has ended his presidential campaign. Castro released a video on Twitter on Thursday, saying that his campaign had \"stood up for the most vulnerable people\" and had \"given a voice to those who are often forgotten.\" He adds in the video: \"I'm not done fighting. I'll keep working toward a nation where everyone counts.\" Castro served as secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration and, before that, was mayor of San Antonio, Texas. He was one of the first presidential candidates to announce a run, in January 2019. But Castro struggled to stand out of a crowded Democratic field and didn't gain much traction in national or state polls. He didn't qualify for the last two Democratic debates, in November and December. But Castro's policies often stood out. In an email Thursday, his campaign highlighted that he was the first Democratic presidential candidate with policies on immigration, police reform and ending hunger, among other issues. On immigration, he advocated for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, a position that other candidates then adopted. \"For a long time in this country, we actually did not treat crossing the border as a criminal act. We treated it as a civil violation,\" Castro told NPR in May 2019. \"A lot of the problems that we see in the system today flared up after we started treating it as a criminal offense.\" Castro also criticized the Democratic Party itself, urging it to change the presidential nominating process. In Iowa, he told attendees at a town hall, \"I don't believe the two states that start the process — Iowa and New Hampshire — are reflective of the diversity of the country, or of our party.\" Castro often praised the support of his family, specifically his identical twin brother, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, and his mother, Rosie Castro, a Mexican-American civil rights activist who took part in the Chicano movement. In an interview with The Washington Post in early October, Rosie Castro argued that her son was not climbing in the polls partly because of media coverage. \"There was no respect, if you will,\" Rosie Castro told the newspaper. \"It's just the way that he's talked about sometimes makes you feel like they just don't get it, you know, that they have not been around minorities enough to be able to have a sense for — we can also create, we can also lead.\" Castro had criticized President Trump on NPR as \"the biggest identity politician\" in modern politics. \"What he's trying to do is, he's trying to split people along racial and ethnic and religious lines,\" Castro told the NPR Politics Podcast. \"His specialty, if you will, is division, trying to just amp up a base. He's the biggest identity politician that we've had over the past 50 years.\"", "The response to Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race is just one of the factors Democrats are grappling with in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. NPR's Juan Williams talks with Renee Montagne about factors facing the Democrats and Republicans in the presidential race. In one poll, Williams says, Sen. Hillary Clinton is up slightly among Democratic voters and Obama's negatives are up slightly — with one-third of voters saying the controversy over Obama's pastor has caused them doubts. That portends some difficulty for Obama as he goes into Pennsylvania and beyond. Clinton is holding steady in the lead, and Obama's ads and rallies seem to not be working for him at the moment — despite an endorsement last week from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Richardson implied last week that Clinton should drop out of the race. The Obama camp is making the case that Clinton can't catch Obama in terms of delegates, with no re-vote coming in Michigan or Florida. And Obama has about 10 times as much cash on hand as Clinton. With all of that, the Clinton campaign is on the defensive, making the case that she's more electable because she won more big states in the primaries, and that she could close the gap in delegates. On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain has a major speech on foreign policy this week in Los Angeles after returning from a trip to the Middle East. But the key is raising money, Williams says, and he's behind substantially. RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The response to Senator Obama's speech on race is just one of the factors Democrats are now grappling with in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. NPR's Juan Williams joins us now to look at several factors facing the Democrats and Republicans in this presidential race. Good morning. JUAN WILLIAMS: Good morning, Renee. MONTAGNE: But let's stick with the speech for a moment. We just heard Audie's report about how black congregations in Tennessee reacted to Obama's speech. And you've been looking at the latest polls. At this moment, what is the snapshot on what it looks like his speech accomplished or didn't accomplish? WILLIAMS: Renee, we see in one poll, for example, Democratic voters when they're asked their preference now between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, that was tied in February. Now we see Clinton up slightly, and Obama's negatives going up slightly, again. And also a third of voters in this poll said that Wright - the whole controversy over Reverend Wright — has caused them doubts. That includes a quarter of the Democrats and about a quarter of the Independents. So that holds, or portends, some difficulty for Senator Obama as he goes into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana, especially states with substantial white populations as he tries to break into those voter constituencies. Senator Obama has ads right now up on the air in Pennsylvania and he's been doing some campaign rallies there, but again, according to the polls Senator Clinton is holding steady with about a 15 percent point lead. So the things that had worked for Senator Obama in the past, the ads and the rallies, do not seem to be working for him at the moment. MONTAGNE: Now Barack Obama did receive though, a major endorsement late last week by a former rival, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. And Richardson who had been very close with the Clintons has been urging Democrats to come together, to unify and stopped just sort of saying that Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race. WILLIAMS: That's right, Renee. When Governor Richardson endorsed Senator Obama last week, he said it's time to wrap up the process. But Senator Obama's - and Senator Obama's campaign manager, I might add - has called, last week called Senator Clinton a deeply flawed candidate, suggested she wasn't - and her campaign - not going anywhere. The Obama camp is also making the case that there's no way Senator Clinton can catch Senator Obama, in terms of delegates, in addition to which, Senator Obama has about ten times the cash on hand that Senator Clinton has. So with all of that, the Clinton team is on the defensive, and having to say that in terms of achieving the 20-25 number of pledge delegates necessary to seal the nomination, neither candidate's going to get there and that Senator Clinton, with the upcoming contest and some momentum, could close the gap in delegates, but particularly in the popular vote. And then she's also making the case she's more electable in November because she out performed Senator Obama in big states. So that's the state of the argument between the two campaigns. MONTAGNE: And what about the decision in Florida and Michigan not to revote? Does that mean that Hillary Clinton, if you look at it, can't catch up on the delegate count? WILLIAMS: Yeah, that's exactly right and that's what the - that's what Senator Obama's camp is saying. And right now it appears to be settled, Renee, that there's not going to be a revote in Flori", "President Obama dismissed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's comment this week that the election may be \"rigged\" this year. \"Of course the election will not be rigged! What does that mean?\" Obama said at a news conference at the Pentagon. \"That's ridiculous. That doesn't make any sense.\" The president added Americans should not take Trump's musings on this seriously. \"We do take seriously, as we always do,\" the president said, \"our responsibilities to monitor and preserve the integrity of the voting process.\" On a Monday campaign stop in Ohio, Trump told voters: \"I'm afraid the election's going to be rigged. I have to be honest.\" Obama on Thursday equated Trump's comments to children in the schoolyard complaining about a loss \"before the score is even tallied.\" On a separate matter, the president said he believes Trump should continue to receive national-security briefings, an established practice for all presidential candidates to ensure a smooth transition for the next administration. Trump raised questions this week when he repeatedly claimed to have witnessed video shot in Tehran of the recent $400 million cash transfer from the U.S. government. There is no evidence that video exists and his campaign aides have walked back Trump's claim. \"If someone is the nominee,\" Obama said, \"they get security briefings, so if they were to win they're not starting from scratch if they were to become president. They have been told these are classified briefings. If they want to be president, they have to start acting like a president.\" Obama does not believe Trump will be that president. Earlier this week he said he believes Trump is \"unfit\" for office and went so far as to call on GOP leaders to renounce his candidacy. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has surged in every major public opinion poll since the Republican and Democratic conventions concluded. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, out Thursday afternoon shortly after Obama spoke, gave Clinton a 9-percentage-point lead, 47 to 38 percent, against Trump. Obama's press conference was held at the Pentagon, where he was meeting with military officials to discuss the latest U.S. efforts to dismantle the Islamic State. Obama is heading to Martha's Vineyard this weekend for his annual summer vacation.", "Millions of voters got an e-mail this past week, directing them to a new video featuring President Obama. It's the opening salvo in Democrats' battle to defend their majorities in the House and Senate. Congressional Democrats face an uphill battle in November: Unemployment is sky high, and Obama's approval rating is hovering at or below 50 percent. If history is any guide, many would-be Democratic voters are likely to sit the election out. \"In a midterm election, certain kinds of voters show up and certain kinds don't,\" said Stuart Rothenberg, who edits the Rothenberg Political Report. He said the kind of voters who typically don't show up include young people, African-Americans and Latinos, the very groups whose groundswell of support helped to elect Obama and many other Democrats in 2008. Obama is trying to boost their turnout this time around. His video appeal was aimed at turning 2008's first-time voters into second-time voters in 2010. \"It will be up to each of you to make sure that the young people, African-Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again,\" he said. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said the party has identified 15 million of these new voters who supported Obama in 2008. Targeting those voters and getting them back to the polls will be a major focus of the party's $50 million midterm mobilization. \"We know who these voters are. We know where they are. We know their loyalty to the president,\" Kaine said. \"But the challenge that we're tackling in a, I think, a creative way is getting them engaged in the midterm elections in significant ways.\" Kaine said that if just 10 percent of those voters came back to the polls, they could provide a winning margin in close races. It's a risky strategy, though, to rely on people who haven't voted reliably in the past. In reaching out to voters, old and new, Democrats will argue they are the party of results, while trying to brand Republicans as obstructionists. Kaine listed the passage of health care legislation, a modest improvement in the job market and progress on financial reform as accomplishments to which Democrats can point. \"There's never a risk to be running on results,\" he said. \"Now, it's up to us to tell the story well.\" That's easier said than done. The public is still deeply divided on the health care law, skeptical about the government's economic stimulus and angry about the growing deficit. The crackdown on Wall Street may be Democrats' most popular initiative, which is one reason Republicans are allowing it to move forward. Republican Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia complained that if Democrats are the party of results, they are \"bad results.\" Rothenberg said Democrats have a tough sell in pitching those results. \"If the public felt positive, was upbeat, optimistic, enthusiastic about the future, then talking about the successes would be a terrific strategy,\" Rothenberg said. \"Now it's the best that Democrats have, but people are grumpy. They don't want to hear that things are better. They don't believe they're better.\" Even as he touted a new report showing solid economic growth on Friday, Obama acknowledged there's a long way to go on the road to recovery. Voters will decide in November whether it's time for a political U-turn.", "As President Obama and congressional leaders try to reach a spending agreement to forestall a partial shutdown of the federal government as soon as midnight Friday, they obviously are trying to discern the political tea leaves. Of particular interest to both Democratic and Republican policymakers is the opinion of political independents, those voters who can make or break congressional majorities and White House bids. Recent polls suggest that independents would be displeased by a shutdown. A significant majority of those voters want the sides to reach a compromise that keeps the government fully functioning. And here's another wrinkle. There appears to be a significant Republican divide on the issue with a large percentage of more moderate Republicans wanting a compromise too. Read More That's a contrast with Democrats who are more united, generally favoring compromise. That suggests that while both Democrats and Republicans could be hurt by a shutdown, especially if a significant bloc of independent voters comes to blame one side or the other for the crisis, Republicans could be a little more vulnerable. But it's still too early to know for sure how this will all play out politically. Indeed, it's still possible a shutdown can be avoided. President Obama invited Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner back to the White House Thursday evening. In any event, what do the data say about independents. In a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, when independents were asked if Democrats should compromise to reach a deal, 76 percent of them said they should. When independents were asked if Republicans should compromise, 65 percent of independents essentially said yes. The difference in the responses of independents when they were asked about Republican versus Democratic policymakers could be due to independents generally tilting more toward Republicans than Democrats. A recent Gallup Poll provides a similar message. Sixty percent of independents want a compromise between the partisans that leads to a budget deal. Gallup said its survey results were virtually identical to those in February. A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this week also showed the same basic tendency though it wasn't as strong in the other two polls. Fifty three percent of independents wanted a compromise. While the Pew poll indicated that the respondents would blame both parties equally for a shutdown, Pew's pollsters noted there are fewer differences among Democrats than Republicans on the budget-fight issue. Republicans are divided over whether to stand on principle or accept a budget they disagree with. Half of Republicans (50%) say lawmakers who share their views should stand by their principles even if that means the government shuts down; 43% say lawmakers should be more willing to compromise, even if that results in a budget they disagree with... Democrats are far more unified: 69% say lawmakers who share their views should be more willing to compromise even if that means they pass a budget they disagree with. There are no substantive differences in the views of liberal Democrats and the party's conservatives and moderates. Independents also say lawmakers should be more willing to compromise (by 53% to 38%). Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the NBC News/WSJ survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart, was quoted in accompanying WSJ story saying that the survey results pointed to a very tricky situation for Republicans. When Republicans are combined with independents, forming the universe of people that GOP lawmakers are most eager to appeal to at election time, opinion is evenly split—48% to 47%—between those advising compromises against those urging political leaders to stick to their positions, even if it results in no budget agreement. \"That's a very precarious gap to negotiate,\" said Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster and co-director of the Journal/NBC News poll, who did daily polling for then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich during the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996. Again, it's unclear which party would get the blame for a government shutdown. A reasonable argument could be made that Republicans could be hurt more since, of the two parties, Republicans have the reputation as the anti-government party. House Republicans tried to insulate themselves against blame on Thursday by passing a new stopgap spending bill that would fund the government for an additional week. It contained $12 billion in additional spending cuts for the fiscal year 2011 which ends in September. It also would fund the military for the rest of the year. But President Obama has warned he would veto that bill and it's unlikely to get out of the Senate anyway.", "Just when you thought it was safe ... the showdown in Texas continues. Hot off the presses, we have an update from NPR reporter Wade Goodwyn in Dallas: In Texas, the caucus delegate count is ongoing and if the margins hold, Barack Obama will overtake Hillary Clinton's delegate lead in the state. Hillary Clinton won a clear victory in the Texas primary beating Barack Obama by 51 to 48 percent. But a third of the Texas delegates are allocated through the caucus process, which began last night following the close of the polls. With 40 percent of the caucus vote counted, Obama is winning nearly 56 percent of that turnout. If this margin holds up, Obama's Texas total would surpass Clinton's by three delegates. More than four million Texans voted in the primary and it's estimated that more than a million returned for the Democratic caucus, shattering the old records. We're looking for dispatches from the front lines of yesterday's primary/caucus vote in Texas. For you folks in the Lone Star State, did you notice any irregularities in the voting procedure? Or anyone following Rush Limbaugh's urging of conservatives to vote for Clinton?", "Lee, here... Wins in Hawaii and Wisconsin strengthened Sen. Barack Obama's winning streak since Super Tuesday, while Sen. John McCain trailblazes ahead in lead position to win the GOP nomination for president. Sen. Hillary Clinton, with 10 straight defeats, isn't holding back any punches at Obama, brewing recent allegations of plagiarism -- a missive aimed directly at Obama's noted oratory. And now, there's this rumbling bewteen the spouses. Here's a recent comment by Michelle Obama about being proud to be an American: ... Which appeared to trigger this response by Cindy McCain: Michelle Obama has since attempted to clarify her comments, and there was clearly some immediate damage control by McCain's troop in the video above. But it looks like John McCain and Barack Obama are now exchanging direct jabs. Does this at all reflect a presumption that Obama will become the Democratic nominee? ... Is this safe to presume? Clearly, there are two significant primaries just ahead in Ohio and Texas, although a recent Texas poll shows Clinton ahead of Obama by just two points there, a statistical tie. A recent Ohio poll shows Clinton with a nine point lead in the state. Bill Clinton is saying that a loss in Texas could mean the end for his wife. There are a few events and developments, however, that could change (or strengthen) some things for the Democratic candidates. Performance in an upcoming CNN debate (pundits say Clinton typically outperforms Obama in debate formats) could influence undecided voters, as well as new endorsements (Obama just received support from the Teamsters union; Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is expected to endorse Obama soon). If you're in Texas or Ohio, and are an undecided voter, what does all of this mean to you? And, if you're in another state that has yet to participate in the primary elections process (PA, NC, MS, KY, etc.), we're wondering how your support is being influenced, if at all... Coming up, TMM's international news day. Hear unique perspectives on Kosovo's newfound independence from Serbia ... from a younger generation.", "In any conversation about vulnerable Senate Democrats, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana rises straight to the top of the list. It's bad enough for the three-term senator that she must run for re-election next year in a state as red as boiled crawfish, where President Obama got just 40.6 percent of the vote — and the best she's been able to do is 52 percent. Her support for the Affordable Care Act has only made matters worse. The HealthCare.gov snafu and insurance policy cancellations have contributed to a drop in her poll numbers and given Republicans plenty of fodder. The law's troubles even prompted an anti-Landrieu National Republican Senatorial Committee ad inspired by the famous 1984 Ronald Reagan bear-in-the-woods-equals-Soviet Union ad. The NRSC ad has a Louisiana swamp twist: a scary alligator paddling through dark water equals Obamacare. How does Landrieu wrestle that particular reptile? Partly with her own ad in which she seems to take outsize credit for Obama's belated decision to let people keep insurance policies for next year that would otherwise have to be canceled for failing to meet the ACA's minimum requirements. Landrieu's ad links her introduction of legislation to let people keep their policies to the president's decision. It uses a news bite of her: \"I'm fixing it. And that's what my bill does. And I've urged the president to fix it.\" Near the ad's end the words \"The Result\" appear on-screen with a newspaper headline: \"People now allowed to keep health care plans.\" The Obama administration, of course, was pressured from all directions, and Landrieu was just one of many Democrats who urged the president to act. As scientists are found of saying, correlation isn't causation. But from her campaign's perspective, Landrieu has to do something to try to flip the GOP's Obamacare script and improve her chances at a fourth term.", "When a reporter asked Reince Priebus Tuesday if Republicans would respond to a question about any issue by somehow directing the conversation back to the Affordable Care Act, the Republican National Committee chairman answered tongue-in-cheek. \"The answer is Obamacare,\" he said. \"No, I'm just kidding.\" Well, yes and no. The ACA is the definitely the gift that keeps giving as far as national Republicans are concerned. That's why Priebus made his playful remark on a teleconference to announce new GOP radio ads targeting several Senate Democrats and House members who echoed President Obama's infamous promise that, under the ACA, people could keep health care plans they liked. \"I don't think when you're talking about something that takes up a sixth of the U.S. economy and something that has been as dramatically misrepresented to the American people and something that's affecting everybody in their mailbox and in their lives, it's not possible for this not to be the number one issue going into the 2014 elections. It's just not. \"We're not talking about a car registration fee,\" Priebus added. \"We're talking about people's health care, losing their doctors and their insurance. It's polling right now, in some of our polls, it's tied with the question of the economy.\" The radio ads, which Priebus said will be aired in 40 markets, are meant to hit congressional Democrats in their ACA weak spot. And they contain quite a punch. A woman's voice in one ad urges listeners to make it their new year's resolution to \"keep Sen. Mary Landrieu honest in 2014.\" The voice says: \"President Obama and Sen. Landrieu said if you like your insurance plan, you can keep it under Obamacare. They lied to you big-time. Politifact called that the 'Lie of the Year.'\" Ouch. Justin Barasky, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's national press secretary, poohed poohed the ads in a tweet. \"RNC radio 'ads' are nothing more than an expensive press release. @seanspicer could fund the entire buy with his lunch money,\" he tweeted, referring to the RNC's communications director. The ads are meant to soften up vulnerable Democrats early on, in advance of the onslaught that will happen closer to November, Priebus said. The other targeted Democrats include three senators who, like Landrieu, are viewed as the Senate's most endangered species — those representing states Obama lost in 2012: Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. A few Senate Democrats who aren't quite so endangered were also targeted: Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Mark Warner of Virginia. House Democrats skewered by the ads include two who are running for the Senate — Bruce Braley of Iowa and Gary Peters of Michigan — as well as Tim Bishop of New York and Nick Rahall of West Virginia.", "With Election Day just two days away, the presidential campaigns of Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Gov. Mitt Romney are spending the final hours criss-crossing the swing states trying to get their supporters to the polls. Update 6:15 p.m. EDT: In the latest and final Pew Research Center poll before Tuesday's election, President Obama has edged ahead of Romney, 50 percent to 47 percent in the national popular vote. Obama leads Romney 48 percent to 45 percent in the poll of 2,709 likely voters, which has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. The poll was conducted Oct. 31-Nov. 3. Just last week, a previous Pew Research poll had the candidates in a dead heat at 47 percent. Our original post continues: NPR's Scott Horsley, on the road with Obama, reports that the president has another jam-packed day planned. He'll visit five states today, including New Hampshire with former President Bill Clinton, following an itinerary that runs well past midnight tonight. It's all with a goal of getting his supporters to show up on Tuesday. The message of why to vote for Obama is giving way to urging action. \"If you've already early voted, then go grab some friends and neighbors and co-workers and boyfriends and girlfriends,\" Obama said. \"Now, you should convince them to vote for me before you drag 'em to the polls.\" Romney is scheduled to be in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania today. That last state holds a particularly interesting place on the agenda. It's not that the evening rally itself is remarkable, but that the Keystone State is in the mix at all. In recent years Pennsylvania has been a solid performer for Democratic presidential candidates. Although polls have shown Obama leading there, Romney's campaign insists the state and its 20 electoral votes are up for grabs. In recent weeks, the Romney campaign has spent money on television advertising in Pennsylvania, in part because they have so much of it. But buying TV ads is easy; scheduling the candidate to make an appearance in the final days of the campaign is something else entirely. The fact that Romney is visiting Pennsylvania today means one of two things: either the state really is viable for the Republican, or the Romney campaign believes it's critical to their turn-out success in other battleground states to give the appearance that a big blue state is on the verge of turning red. As NPR's Ari Shapiro reports from the trail, Romney's focus in the final days on New Hampshire and Iowa, two states with highly motivated voters for both parties, shows his eagerness to strike a moderate tone in the final hours of the campaign. \"What I need you to do is to go across your street to your neighbor that has that other sign in the front yard,\" Romney said. \"And in Washington I'm going to go across the aisle, to the guys who've been working for the other candidate.\" At the same time, Romney is also using a more partisan figure to help rev up enthusiasm for the base of the Republican Party. As The New York Times reports, Glenn Beck has been making appearances for Romney in places like Iowa, where his natural connection with evangelical voters could be key to success on Tuesday.", "The latest poll by NPR and its bipartisan polling team [pdf] shows President Obama with a 7-point lead among likely voters nationally and a nearly identical lead of 6 points in the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are spending most of their time and money. But the poll also finds former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney very much within striking distance of the incumbent as the two men begin a series of three debates Wednesday in Denver. More than 80 percent of respondents said they planned to watch the first televised clash Wednesday and one in four said the debate could influence their vote. Read More The poll found 51 percent of the likely voters planning on or leaning toward a vote for the president, with 44 percent voting for or leaning toward his challenger. In the battleground subsample, the numbers were 50 percent Obama and 44 percent Romney. Those numbers were slightly better for the president than his job approval rating in the poll. Nationally, the president was at 50 percent approval (46 percent disapproval), but in the battleground he was at 48 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval. Battleground voters were also more downbeat about the direction of the country. Asked whether things were generally going in the right direction or \"pretty seriously off on the wrong track,\" 59 percent in the battleground said wrong track and just 36 percent said right direction. That gap of 23 points was only 16 points on the same question in the national sample. The poll of 800 likely voters was conducted over the final five days of September by Stan Greenberg of Democracy Corps and Whit Ayres of Resurgent Republic. About a third of those polled live in the 12 states considered in play for the Nov. 6 election: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Ayres, the Republican half of the team, noted that the actual electorate in November may not have as many Democrats as this NPR poll's likely voter sample, which he called \"a best-case scenario\" for the president's party. \"When you sample voters over time, you inevitably get varying proportions of Democrats and Republicans in the sample. It's nothing nefarious, just the vagaries of sampling,\" Ayres said. \"This sample ended up with seven points more Democrats than Republicans. In 2008, there were seven points more Democrats than Republicans in the electorate, according to exit polls. But in 2004, there were equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.\" If this year's voters were to split evenly again between the two major parties, Romney would have an advantage. The NPR poll found him a 4-point favorite among independents. Most observers expect this year's party ratio to be somewhere between the Democratic tilt of 2008 and the even split of 2004 (which recurred in the midterm elections of 2010). Greenberg, the Democratic member of the polling team, said polling this year has generally found fewer people self-identifying with the GOP. \"They're moving into the independent category,\" Greenberg said, \"where also if you look at the brand position of the Republican Party and Democratic Party, the Republican Party favorability has been dropping throughout this whole period.\" But while the ranks of independents are growing, that does not imply a large number of undecided voters with five weeks left to Election Day. The pollsters found only 2 percent calling themselves undecided. Moreover, 11 percent of those who do not support the president said they might still change their minds. Fifteen percent of those who do not support Romney say the same. \"We have a very polarized electorate where people go to their tribal corners and fight it out,\" Ayres said. \"But in an election this close, even a point or two could make a difference.\" The poll indicates that the Republican challenger has a tall order to fill Wednesday night and in the remaining weeks, as he has fallen behind on issues such as taxes, the economy and Medicare. Ayres said that means his party's nominee needs \"to paint a compelling picture for a better economic future, and explain why his emphasis on small businesses and private sector solutions is more likely to succeed than Obama's emphasis on governmental and public sector solutions.\" Ayres also noted that when his firm tested the statement \"Obama's economic plan is working and we need to stay the course\" versus the opposing option, \"Obama's economic plan is not working and we need to try something different,\" the latter choice was easily the more popular. But when the statements were altered to emphasize Romney's video quotation about \"the 47 percent who don't pay taxes,\" the results were different. \"That reinforces the argument that Obama cannot win a referendum on his economic record,\" Ayres added. \"The only way he can win is to so thoroughly trash Romney that he becomes an unacceptable alternative.\" The NPR poll, like others in recent weeks, showed half the ele", "Former President Barack Obama will hit the campaign trail for his former vice president, Joe Biden, in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Obama's first announced stop will be next Wednesday in Philadelphia. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and the fact the Biden campaign has prioritized safety and avoided large gatherings, assures the scene will look much different from the last time Obama held a presidential campaign rally in the city. On the final day before the 2016 election, he and Michelle Obama campaigned alongside Bill and Hillary Clinton in front of thousands of supporters packed onto Independence Mall. While the Biden campaign has not yet announced the details of Obama's speech, odds are it will look much more like a more recent Philadelphia appearance: Obama's searing anti-Trump speech, delivered from an empty room at the Museum of the American Revolution during the Democratic National Convention. Obama has stayed away from the presidential campaign for large stretches this year. He was finishing up his presidential memoir, which will be released next month, and also was giving Biden and other Democrats space to make their own arguments about the 2020 election. Still, Obama has made headlines when he has engaged in the race. His convention speech marked an unprecedented move for a former president: a blistering warning about President Trump, not only as a failure as commander in chief, but also as a threat to democracy itself. \"Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't,\" Obama said in August. \"And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.\" Obama also attacked efforts to undermine voting rights and the credibility of the upcoming election when he delivered Congressman John Lewis' eulogy at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in July. He has recorded videos with Biden and raised nearly $8 million in a joint virtual fundraiser with his onetime running mate earlier this year. During that June fundraiser, Obama repeated a message he has delivered to younger Democrats over and over again this year in online videos, graduation speeches and other mediums: He urged them to do everything they can to organize and participate in the election. \"Man, this is serious business,\" Obama said at the time. \"Whatever you've done so far is not enough.\"", "A high percentage of white Democrats would support John McCain, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. The poll also found that a large percentage of Americans say they would support a continued American presence in Iraq based on our progress there — sign that the troop surge is being seen as successful. The survey also contains both good and bad news for Sen. Barack Obama, who has taken the lead among Democratic primary voters. Robert Siegel talks with Andy Kohut, President of the Pew Research Center. MELISSA BLOCK, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel. A new poll from the Pew Research Center contains both good and bad news for Senator Barack Obama, and it confirms a shift in opinion on Iraq that Senator John McCain has been counting on. The director of the Pew Research Center is here once again to talk about his findings. Andy Kohut, welcome. Mr. ANDREW KOHUT (Director, The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press): Happy to be here. SIEGEL: And first on Iraq, your poll seems to show that the surge must be seen as successful and that it changes what people think about how long the U.S. should in Iraq. Mr. KOHUT: It sure does. We saw back in the fall a growing percentage of people saying that the war effort was going well but no change in views about whether we should stay the course. But in the current survey, the public is evenly divided 47 percent - stay the course until things are stable; 49 percent - let's get out as soon as possible. A year ago, it was only 41 percent - stay the course; 54 percent - get out as soon as possible. Opinions are changing because the public is so much more positive about the course of events in Iraq. There's cause for optimism, they think. SIEGEL: Now, on to the Democratic race for the nomination. In your poll, now, this in line with other national polls: Barack Obama has pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton. Mr. KOHUT: He has a 49 to 40 percent lead first time nationwide in our survey. Democrats - independents who lean Democratic have been favoring him, and he has an even bigger 70 percent lead as the candidate the Democrats thinks is going to win the nomination. SIEGEL: But, there's a weakness in Obama's support that you find in the survey. When people are asked now - Democratic voters asked now about an Obama-McCain race, there are defections from Obama to McCain. Mr. KOHUT: Yeah, Obama only pulls the support of 81 percent of Democrats in a matchup against McCain. And when we look at who might defect, we see much higher rates along white Democrats; we see much higher rates among older voters. Obviously, these have been the constituency of Hillary Clinton and some of these may well be related to perceptions of Obama's foreign policy capabilities among the public at large but even among Democrats. Thirty-one percent of the Democrats who say that they favored keeping troops in Iraq say they would vote for McCain in an Obama-McCain matchup. SIEGEL: But in this question of how many Democrats could the Democratic nominee count on at least in a poll today, your saying Senator Clinton does better than Barack Obama? Mr. KOHUT: Senator Clinton enjoys the support of 89 percent of Democrats, potentially, compared to just 81 percent for Barack Obama. SIEGEL: By the way, do you find the corroboration of Senator Obama's claim that he can effectively reach out to independents and even some Republicans? Mr. KOHUT: Indeed, we do in the survey, in fact, Obama runs about as well against McCain as Hillary Clinton does, but they do it in different ways. Hillary Clinton gets more loyalty from core Democrats - 89 percent versus 81 percent for Obama. But Obama draws more support from independents than Hillary Clinton - 49 percent versus 44 percent. He actually carries the independent vote in this test election. Hillary Clinton would not carry the independent vote matched up against John McCain. SIEGEL: Thank you, Andy. Mr. KOHUT: You're welcome. SIEGEL: Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, talking about Pew's latest national poll.", "Listen carefully to Democrats and you'll hear them repeatedly state their hope that voters in November will view the coming mid-term election as a choice, not a referendum. A choice would mean voters could say, 'Yes, Democrats are bad but Republicans are worse' and allow Democrats to keep power. A referendum lacks that contrast. It's a Roman Forum style show of thumbs on the party in control and, obviously, that wouldn't go well for Democrats this year. But polls continue to suggest that Democrats won't get their wish, that voters see the coming election as a referendum. Read More The latest is an AP-GfK poll that found, like other polls, that while voters have a low opinion of both parties, there's only one currently in power they can throw out of power. An excerpt of an AP story reporting on the poll: In an Associated Press-GfK Poll this month, 60 percent disapprove of the job congressional Democrats are doing; yet 68 percent frown on how Republicans are performing. While 59 percent are unhappy with how Democrats are handling the economy, 64 percent are upset by the GOP's work on the country's top issue. Just over half have unfavorable views of each party. Most say President Obama isn't cooperating enough on the economy; yet even more accuse Republicans of the same thing. Former President George W. Bush and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — the only two Republicans the AP-GfK Poll tested — are both viewed negatively by more than half in the survey, worse than Obama's marks. And people overwhelmingly fault Bush more than Obama for the recession. The problem for Democrats is that voters have already punished Republicans for Bush's perceived failings on economic policy. And, of course, they can't punish Bush again. And just because they blame Bush more for the recession doesn't mean they can't be angry at Obama and congressional Democrats for not fixing it.", "Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are campaigning in Pennsylvania, site of Tuesday's big primary election. Obama also visited North Carolina, which holds its primary May 6; early voting began there Thursday. Each campaign has been claiming victory after Wednesday night's debate, in which the candidates took turns acknowledging recent missteps in their respective campaigns. The long and bruising Democratic presidential race is hurting Clinton more than it is harming Obama, according to a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll. A majority of those polled said they now see Obama as having a better chance of winning the White House in November than the former first lady does. Among Democratic voters responding, 56 percent said Obama had a better chance than Clinton did. In contrast, 43 percent of respondents said Clinton was the stronger candidate, down from 63 percent in November. Back then, only 14 percent of respondents saw Obama as the better contender. But the poll also found that 15 percent of the voters being tracked in the continuing AP-Yahoo poll erroneously think Obama is a Muslim, a seeming result of disinformation widely spread on the Internet.", "The various Republican messaging machines may want to consider getting on the same page regarding the March 1 sequestration deadline. Just as House Speaker John Boehner was urging the Senate to get \"off their ass\" and pass a bill dealing with the automatic spending cuts — and just before Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was time for Democrats to work with Republicans and find a compromise — the Republican National Committee blasted out a press release that seemed to suggest the sequester was actually too small. The boldface headline: \"$85 Billion Is Negligible Compared To Obama's Disastrous Fiscal Record.\" Below that was a list of budget numbers (like the $16 trillion national debt) that dwarf the $85 billion scheduled to be cut this year. All of this, don't forget, follows a couple of weeks of trying to blame the sequester on the White House (see: #Obamaquester) for coming up with it back in 2011 as a way to avert a debt-ceiling crisis. If Republicans are wondering why President Obama continues to enjoy stronger polling on the issue, perhaps their mixed messages on it might be one reason why. S.V. Dáte is the congressional editor on NPR's Washington Desk.", "SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico June 1, 2008, 04:48 pm ETfrom the Associated PressHillary Rodham Clinton won a lopsided, but largely symbolic victory Sunday in Puerto Rico's presidential primary, the final act in a weekend of tumult that brought Barack Obama tantalizingly close to the Democratic presidential nomination. The former first lady was gaining more than 60 percent of the vote in early returns, and a pre-election poll suggested she could wind up with nearly two-thirds support. Read More >> A YouTube video called, \"Viva President Hillary Clinton! Get LOUD! Puerto Rico\" posted this past March in support of Hillary Clinton.", "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appears a man under siege. His political strategists are feuding over the direction of the campaign. He bungled his \"presidential moment\" with an ill-timed and ill-informed response to violence in Libya that led to the death of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. And just as his campaign moved Monday to refocus its message in the wake of a poll showing him losing ground to President Obama on the issue of the economy, a video surfaced purporting to show Romney joking at a fundraiser that he'd have a better chance of winning if his grandparents were Mexican. But while Democrats are licking their chops, and many Republicans are despairing at the state of the Romney campaign just seven weeks from Election Day, the more dispassionate among us suggest that the more things change, the more they stay the same. \"It's still a fluid, very competitive race,\" says Nathan Gonzales, of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, which analyzes political races. \"Anyone who says they know who is going to win doesn't.\" Read More A national poll bounce that Obama got from the recent Democratic convention continues to dissipate. The eight tossup states that will ultimately decide the race remain nail-biters, though Obama is showing increasing strength in two — including the electoral vote-rich Ohio. There are two more jobs reports due before Nov. 6 and three presidential debates next month. And despite Romney's much criticized response to the violence in the Middle East, it's not yet clear how continuing unrest there and in North Africa might affect the president's stature. \"The caution I continue to make is that things continue to change,\" says Frank Newport, editor-in-chief at Gallup. \"It is still too early to make predictions, even though many people want to.\" Bounce Recedes, But Approval Improves Gallup's daily presidential tracking poll showed that Obama improved his national lead over Romney with each day of the Democratic convention, reaching a 7-point advantage by the time the party closed up shop in Charlotte on Sept. 6. Romney got no bounce out of the Republican convention the week before in Tampa. But since then, when Obama held a 50-43 percent national lead, his bounce has shrunk. Monday, Gallup had Obama favored by 48 percent of those polled, Romney by 45 percent. \"It appears to be settling down to where it began before the conventions,\" Newport said, noting that people — many in the media — \"jumped to the conclusion that the race had been reset.\" \"If these trends continue,\" he said, \"it didn't reset the race.\" Recent Gallup surveys, however, have shown that Obama's approval rating among likely voters has reached 50 percent, a key threshold for incumbents. No incumbent president running for re-election in the day of modern polling has ever lost with an approval rating of 50 percent or more going into Election Day. That, coupled with an uptick in the number of people who think the country is moving in the right direction, have some, like Gonzales, waiting to see whether the president has a fundamental advantage going forward. Perhaps the most worrisome news for Republicans was a recent New York Times/CBS News poll that showed Obama had taken away Romney's long-held edge as the candidate \"most likely to restore the economy.\" The same poll also suggested that the Obama campaign had gained the upper hand with voters on whom they most trust to deal with Medicare. Changes in the retirees' health insurance program proposed in Obama's health care overhaul, and by Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, loom large in the key tossup state of Florida. \"If the country trusts President Obama on the economy more than Mitt Romney, then the game is over,\" Gonzales says. \"I just don't know where the Republicans go from there.\" \"But we want to see more polling, more trends,\" he said. The Times poll, Newport says, was a \"strong one for Obama overall\" and conducted fairly close to the convention, so more survey data will put the numbers in better perspective. \"But this would be good news for Obama if he maintains parity, or beats Romney on the economy,\" Newport says. Debate Opportunity, And Early Voting People will tune into the three presidential debates in October (the first is in two weeks), but their effect on the electorate is expected — with the emphasis on expected — to be negligible. \"Debates don't matter until they do,\" Gonzales says. Will a candidate make an exceptional point? Or stumble spectacularly? Unlikely, but possible. \"It will be important for Romney to try and get voters to be more comfortable with him if they don't like where things in the country are headed,\" he said. And Obama? He needs to persuade undecided voters on that right direction/wrong direction question. However, there's another complicating factor in a race where the targets are the handful of undecided voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and", "Asked this morning about whether he plans to drop out of the Republican primary for the Senate and run instead as an independent -- the deadline to do so is Friday -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said, \"Don't know yet.\" It's the number one question on everyone's mind, both nationally but especially in the Sunshine State, including that of St. Petersburg Times blogger Marc Caputo, who reported the above quote. And yesterday, wrote the Times' Adam Smith, Crist was asked if he would \"return Republican donor money since you received that money as a Republican?\"  Crist would only say, \"I think that's a decision that you have to make if you made a decision to go independent. I haven't made that decision yet.\" Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, the once longshot who is now the clear favorite to win the Aug. 24 primary, plans to sign his qualifying papers today.  In a fundraising letter to supporters, the campaign reiterated its main theme: We need leaders like Marco Rubio in the Senate.  Leaders who will stand firmly and proudly on PRINCIPLE and courage of conviction to fight the misguided thinking that has taken over Washington and allowed government to creep into our lives. We don’t need more politicians who are willing to bend with the political winds when the going gets tough. Or worse, abandon the party of limited government all together. Of course, that's not much different than what Dick Cheney said last week when he endorsed Rubio:  \"Lately it seems Charlie Crist cannot be trusted even to remain a Republican. I strongly urge him to either stay in the Republican primary or drop out of the race.\" Crist supporters who have urged him to run as an independent had been touting a Quinnipiac Poll released April 16 that had him narrowly ahead in a three-way race.  But a Rasmussen Reports poll released last week had Rubio leading with 37 percent, Crist with 30, and the likely Democratic nominee, Rep. Kendrick Meek, with 22. By the way, I've written and spoken in the past about the parallels between Crist -- and his infamous embrace of President Obama last year -- and  Sen. Joe Lieberman, who found himself on the outs with his fellow Connecticut Democrats in the aftermath of his equally infamous hug of President Bush.  There's one electoral difference, however.  Lieberman ran for renomination in 2006, lost the August Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, then ran and won as an independent.  Florida, however, has a \"sore losers\" law -- you have to decide before the primary whether or not you plan to run as an independent; you can't wait to see if you lose the primary. Meanwhile, what do you think Crist will do?  Enter our completely unscientific poll:", "For President Obama, the Buffett Rule is the political equivalent of a Swiss army knife, a tool he clearly intends to use any number of ways as he fights to be re-elected and deny the White House to Republican Mitt Romney. From the Democrats' perspective, the proposed rule, which would require that superwealthy taxpayers with at least $1 million in taxable income after deductions, pay taxes at a minimum 30 percent rate, has so much going for it, they can hardly stop talking about it. Which explains why Obama touted the rule at a campaign-style event in Florida Tuesday and again at the White House Wednesday, and why Senate Democrats plan to bring the rule up for a vote soon even though it has no chance of passage. For Obama and fellow Democrats, what's not to like? First, polls indicate a majority of Americans support as a matter of fairness the idea of the richest Americans paying more in taxes, the concept at the very heart of the Buffett Rule. Read More It was, after all, billionaire investor Warren Buffett who in recent years has publicly decried the unfairness of a system that lets him, one of the world's richest men, to pay taxes at a lower rate than his secretary, all because the federal government taxes income from certain investments at a much lower rate than it taxes income from work. Second, for Obama and his fellow Democrats, the Buffett Rule is a chance to put Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on the defensive. The rule can be used by Democrats to underscore their message that not only is Romney very rich but that he also can't relate to the concerns of the average voter. It's another opportunity to get the news media to focus on the fact that in 2010 Romney and his wife Ann paid a 13.9 percent tax rate on $27 million of taxable income. That was a much lower rate than that paid by many middle class Americans and below the 26.3 percent rate Obama paid on $1.7 million in taxable income in 2010. Considering the purpose to which Democrats are putting it, they could just as easily refer to the rule as the \"the buffet (as in pummel) Romney rule.\" Third, it allows Obama and other Democrats to paint Republican politicians as much more unreasonable and unwilling to compromise on the issue of increasing taxes than voters generally. Fourth, the Buffett Rule debate allows Obama to fire up his progressive base, for whom the issue of income inequality is a priority. So the Buffett Rule fight, at first blush, would seem to have more upside potential as an issue for Obama and Democrats than for Romney and his fellow Republicans. Peter Fenn, head of Fenn Communications Group, a well-known media consultant to Democratic campaigns, sees the Buffett Rule discussion as important if only one part of the Obama campaign's overall stress on the need to correct the tilt in the economy towards the superrich: \"If it's done right, it puts Obama, I think, squarely fighting for average wage earners and that's exactly where he needs to be.\" Fenn said his sense was that many Americans, including many Republicans, feel that the benefits to the super wealthy had gotten so far our of whack that something had to be done. He thinks the president has made a good start on driving home his message: \"I thought the (Ossawatomie) Kansas speech led it off well when he talked about the deck being stacked against middle-class Americans for the last ten years. \"I do think the Democrats and Obama have to understand that they've got to make this contrast between the Romney approach and style and policies and the Obama approach and style and policies really clear to people. Because the negatives are just going to be wicked. Romney will turn his fire from Santorum to Obama real fast and these guys (Republican campaign operatives) know what they're doing.\" As for the Republican charges that, among other things, Obama was engaging in class warfare with the Buffett Rule, Fenn pointed to a video from 1985 featuring President Ronald Reagan that's been on the progressive ThinkProgress.org site. In the video made during an official White House event in Michigan, Reagan talked of the unfairness of the tax code by describing a letter he received from a businessman who complained about the unfairness of his paying taxes at a higher rate than his secretary. Sound familiar? \"It was the Buffet Rule. Reagan was railing against this (tax code disparity) ... My point on this is Ronald Reagan wasn't exactly known as a class warrior according to these current Sean Hannity types. But he got it.\" For their part, Republicans clearly intend to use the Buffett Rule debate to cast Obama as just another tax-and-spend Democrat. That was evident from a statement Monday from Romney's campaign: \"President Obama is the first president in history to openly campaign for re-election on a platform of higher taxes... Meanwhile, not everyone is convinced that the polls that suggest a majority of voters want the rich to payer higher taxes show a comple", "Voters are closely divided over the presidential race, saying they would like to see a Democrat in the White House, but picking Republican John McCain over Democrats Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama when asked about specific candidates, according to a new NPR poll. The poll also shows 68 percent of respondents think the country is on the wrong track, and the economy is uppermost on voters' minds, followed by the Iraq war and health care. If the election were held today, 49 percent of likely voters said they would support the Democratic candidate and 44 percent would vote for the Republican nominee, according to the poll, conducted Jan. 29-31. However, when likely voters are asked about matchups between specific candidates, Sen. McCain holds a slight lead over either Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama, though McCain's advantage is within the poll's margin of error. In a theoretical match-up between Clinton and Republican former governor Mitt Romney, Clinton leads 49 percent to 44 percent. The poll shows there would be a tighter race between Clinton and McCain, with the Arizona Republican garnering 48 percent to Clinton's 45 percent, within the poll's 3-percentage-point margin of error. Obama would beat Romney 53-41 percent, according to the poll. But a race between Obama and McCain would be too close to call, with McCain at 48 percent and Obama 47 percent. President Bush's approval ratings remain low. Among poll respondents, 38 percent approve of the job he is doing, unchanged from the previous NPR poll in October. In the new poll, 56 percent disapprove of the president's performance compared with 60 percent last fall. Congress fares no better, garnering a 28 percent approval rating and 65 percent disapproval. In October, 25 percent of respondents said they approved of the job Congress is doing and 69 percent disapproved. In the latest poll, only 23 percent of respondents said the country was heading in the right direction, unchanged from October. The economy and jobs (29 percent) topped the list of issues to which voters say the president and Congress should pay the most attention, followed by the Iraq war (15 percent), health care (11 percent), terrorism and national security (11 percent) and illegal immigration (9 percent). RENEE MONTAGNE, host: And the next big contest, it's a political one, Super Tuesday. Twenty-four states have presidential contests tomorrow. Morning Edition asked its polling team, Democrat Stan Greenberg and Republican Glen Bolger, to see how likely voters are feeling about their choices for president. NPR's Mara Liasson reports. MARA LIASSON: Our polls shows the mood of voters staying remarkably stable and downbeat. Big majorities, 68-23, still think the country's on the wrong track. President Bush's approval ratings are still under 40 percent, but there is something new, says Democrat Stan Greenberg. Mr. STAN GREENBERG (Democrat Pollster): There's now crystallization on the presidential level around real candidates and they are about to move the generic ballot, whether you'd vote for an unnamed candidate, has made that closer. LIASSON: The generic ballot asks voters whether they'd vote for an unnamed Democratic or Republican candidate if the election were held today. In our past polls, Democrats have had a double-digit advantage here, but now that's gone. Democrats are only ahead by five points. And in a year where there hasn't been much good news for the GOP, that narrowing gap is heartening to our Republican pollster, Glen Bolger. Mr. GLEN BOLGER (Republican Pollster): When you see that McCain is ahead of Senator Clinton by three points and ahead of Obama by one point, it underscores that these are actual candidates running as opposed to Party labels. LIASSON: And right now the Democratic Party label is doing better than the Democratic candidates. When the two Democratic front-runners are matched hypothetically against the Republican front-runner, they produce two very different scenarios. Stan Greenberg. Mr. GREENBERG: Obviously, Senator Clinton has higher negatives, but she certainly mobilizes Democrats and consolidates Democrats, that's evident in this survey, and that's also true on the Republican side when she runs. And you have a race in which Independents break for the Republicans. When Obama and McCain run, it's a totally different race if the Independents are divided evenly. LIASSON: Elizabeth Stonesifer, a retired nurse from Pekin, Illinois, echoes the thinking of many other Independents. If she went Republican in November, she says, she'd pick McCain. Ms. ELIZABETH STONESIFER (Independent): 'Cause I think he's authentic, whether you agree with all of his views, and I don't. I like him as a person. LIASSON: If she decided to vote Democratic, she'd go with Obama. Ms. STONESIFER: I see him as certainly more authentic than Hillary Clinton. I'm disillusioned, disappointed, I do not see her as authentic. She is truly a politician from the word go. LIASSON: Stacy Nic", "Republicans scrambling to turn Mitt Romney's videotaped aspersions cast on 47 percent of Americans into a campaign opportunity are hoping for a \"Chick-fil-A moment.\" At least that's the battle cry of conservative blogger Erick Erickson, among a small but increasingly vocal cadre of Republicans urging the GOP presidential candidate to step up and better define and defend the surreptitiously taped comments about government dependency he made at a May fundraising dinner. The Chick-fil-A moment reference? Erickson says at his RedState blog that he believes there are many potential voters who would embrace Romney's larger point about government entitlements. And that they'd emerge like the thousands who turned out recently to support the anti-same sex marriage owner of the chicken restaurant after gay rights activists called for a boycott. \"I think [Romney] needs to now own this statement, articulate it better than he did at that dinner, and actually now have a substantive policy on entitlement reform,\" Erickson told NPR's Steve Inskeep on Wednesday. \"We always lament that politicians are too guarded, don't say what they mean and don't speak honestly,\" Erickson said. \"Here, he was, and now we're beating him up for it.\" Read More Romney has been savaged by Democrats, and some members of his own party, after a videotape was disseminated on the website of Mother Jones magazine showing him referring to 47 percent of Americans as tax deadbeats who believe they are \"victims\" entitled to government-provided health care, food, housing and \"you name it.\" In the wake of the widespread airing of his secretly taped comments, which came after a series of Romney stumbles over the previous week, Democrats pounced and many Republicans despaired — not only at the substance of Romney's comments but also at the timing. Romney has publicly referred to his comments as \"not elegantly stated\" and \"off the cuff,\" but has not backed down on his central premise about government dependence. With fresh polls continuing to show Romney's race against President Obama close (though no major surveys have been conducted post-video dissemination), some Republicans are urging an end to the party freak-out and encouraging GOP partisans to embrace Romney's reworded narrative. And here it is, under the unapologetic candidate's name, in Wednesday's edition of USAToday: \"We're experiencing the worst recovery since the Great Depression. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for 43 straight months; 47 million Americans are on food stamps. Nearly one in six Americans now live in poverty. Under President Obama, we have a stagnant economy that fostered government dependency. My policies will create a growing economy that fosters upward mobility.\" Along with Romney's embrace of the \"food stamp nation\" argument, the Republican National Committee has been promoting a 1998 video of Obama, then an Illinois state senator, talking about his support for \"redistribution\" of wealth to \"make sure everybody has a shot.\" The RNC also has a new ad highlighting the \"redistribution\" theme. The ad also includes a clip of Obama's now infamous \"you didn't build that\" statement about how government and communities help businesses prosper, followed by this snippet of Romney's convention speech: \"In America, we celebrate success — we don't apologize for success.\" And CNN reports that the Romney superPAC \"Restore Our Future\" is going up with an ad in Wisconsin and Michigan that seeks to refocus debate on the economy. While the national unemployment rate in August was 8.1 percent, the new ad claims the \"real\" unemployment rate is nearly 19 percent — a figure it gets by extrapolating from unemployment rate numbers and statistics about workers who have stopped looking for jobs. A dueling Obama \"Priorities USA Action\" superPAC ad that will run in six swing states stays focused on Romney's video comments, contrasting an image of the Florida mansion where the fundraiser occurred with a simple frame house. \"Victims?\" the voiceover says, \"beyond these doors, middle-class families struggle. ... Mitt Romney will never convince us he's on our side.\" The conservative Heritage Foundation on Wednesday also sought to reframe Romney's stumble, turning out an analysis that asserts that the candidate's characterization of 47 percent of Americans as government-dependent and paying no taxes holds statistical water. \"While these groups are not necessarily one in the same,\" Heritage says, \"there is overlap between the two, and the percentages on government dependency and nontaxpaying are very similar.\" Despite the reframing flurry, influential Republican voices remain unconvinced that the party can spin this dross into gold. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan on Wednesday suggested that the Romney campaign needs an \"intervention.\" And syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker says that \"cyborg\" Romney needs to show he understands that \"the problems he's solving actually involve people.\" Again, on", "John McCain's supporters have been urging him to go after Barack Obama in the presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York. But a new poll suggests negative tactics may actually be hurting rather than helping McCain.", "Mitt Romney made yet another attempt Monday to narrow President Obama's substantial polling lead over him with Latino voters. The Republican presidential nominee spoke at the Los Angeles convention of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where he was respectfully received. His message? Obama's economic policies had failed the nation generally and Hispanics specifically. Also, there was plenty for Latino entrepreneurs to like in the low-tax, light-regulation policy prescriptions that Republicans offer. Romney's message was similar to the one he has delivered before to Latino audiences: that he would comprehensively reform the nation's broken immigration system, another area where Obama failed. He said: ROMNEY: \"Candidate Obama said that one of his highest priorities would be to fix immigration in his first year in office. Despite his party having majorities in both houses of Congress, the President never even offered up a bill. Like so many issues confronting our nation, when it comes to immigration, politics has been put ahead of people for too long. \"I will work with Republicans and Democrats to permanently fix our immigration system.\" Read More But the daunting size of the challenge before Romney was not so much measured by the polite if tepid applause such lines received as much as it was by repeated polling that shows him lagging badly with Hispanic voters. The latest, released Monday by Latino Decisions, showed Obama leading Romney by 53 points among Hispanic women and 29 points among Hispanic men. And a surprising twist that threatened to overshadow Romney's outreach this week to Latinos was the emergence of a video Mother Jones brought to widespread attention. The video was apparently recorded secretly at a private event and purportedly shows Romney joking that if his father were Mexican instead of just born in Mexico, \"I'd have a better shot at winning this.\" Meanwhile, Obama's campaign was working hard to undercut Romney by reminding Latino voters of the steps the president has taken to stop deportation proceedings against young illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions. In a prerecorded message to the Hispanic convention, Obama mentioned his unilateral action to put certain parts of the DREAM Act into place and called for Congress to pass the associated legislation. This drew enthusiastic applause from the audience. In addition, the president's campaign sought to remind Latinos of the tougher positions Romney articulated on illegal immigration during the Republican primaries. In a GOP debate during the primaries, Romney called for illegal immigrants to self-deport. A video the Obama campaign released before Romney's speech began: \"This week on Mitt Romney: Extreme Makeover Campaign Edition, Mitt Romney is faced with one of his most implausible makeovers yet: making his extreme policies seem appealing to Latino voters.\"", "Good day, everyone. It's a poll-tastic Wednesday morning in our nation's capital, and despite yesterday's feisty back & forth on Iraq and Afghanistan, it appears that voters are most concerned about the economy. An NPR/Kaiser/Harvard poll in the crucial swing states of Florida and Ohio finds that more than 7 out of 10 voters call the economy a top issue. And get this: [M]ore than three-quarters of people in Florida said they were facing at least one serious economic problem; half said they were struggling with three or more. The big ones? It's jobs, gas prices, housing and health care. A second wave of data from the national poll from the Washington Post and ABC News (we wrote about the first wave yesterday) echoes those findings, with about half of voters ranking economic concerns at the top of their list, followed by gas/energy prices, and Iraq in third place. Meanwhile, a New York Times/CBS News poll finds that despite Barack Obama's groundbreaking candidacy, many African-Americans say they have seen little progress on race relations in the past few years. The poll also indicates racial divisions in the perception of Obama as a candidate: Black voters were far more likely than whites to say that Mr. Obama cares about the needs and problems of people like them, and more likely to describe him as patriotic. Whites were more likely than blacks to say that Mr. Obama says what he thinks people want to hear, rather than what he truly believes. And about half of black voters said race relations would improve in an Obama administration, compared with 29 percent of whites. Those findings are...not terribly surprising. But according to ABC's Jake Tapper, the Obama campaign is already pushing back. Georgia held its state & local primaries yesterday, and despite yesterday's WP article about a younger generation of black politicians challenging incumbents with civil rights-era cred, longtime Democratic Rep. John Lewis cruised to an easy victory in his first contested primary since 1992. Coming up today: for all you Veep watchers out there, Barack Obama appears in Indiana today alongside Sen. Evan Bayh and former Sen. Sam Nunn -- two names that have been bandied about by VP speculators. And John McCain addresses the NAACP. Not an altogether common stop for a GOP candidate, and maybe especially tricky today given the timing of the NYT poll. He's expected to focus on education. And finally, JibJab has a new video portraying Barack Obama bounding over hill and dale on a pink unicorn, surrounded by woodland creatures, as John McCain rips out an IV and hops into a tank.", "Updated Wednesday at 1:43 p.m. ET Last week's terrorist attacks in Paris and how the U.S. should respond to an influx of Syrian refugees are becoming flashpoints in political races. The first test of how it could directly influence a contest could come this Saturday in the Louisiana governor's race. Trailing his Democratic opponent, John Bel Edwards, GOP Sen. David Vitter launched an ad that uses footage from Friday's deadly attacks in France. \"One of the France ISIS terrorists entered France posing as a Syrian refugee,\" an announcer in the ad says. \"Now, Obama's sending Syrian refugees to Louisiana.\" The video shows a letter from Vitter to Obama urging him to stop resettlement of the war-torn refugees in Louisiana, while, the ad alleges, Edwards sides with Obama. Following the Paris attacks, Edwards wrote on Facebook he would work with federal authorities to \"accommodate refugees.\" That post has since been edited, and Edwards later put out a statement that he supports a \"pause\" on allowing refugees in. The Democratic Gumbo PAC, which is supporting Edwards, put out a counter ad Wednesday accusing Vitter of muddying Edwards' position, downplaying the threat to Syria and skipping Senate hearings on the issue. Still, Vitter and Republicans hope the focus on the issue could help him swing some momentum his way in a race where he's been fending off personal attacks. A brutal Edwards ad earlier this month alleged that \"Vitter chose prostitutes over patriots\" — a reference to the 2007 D.C. Madam scandal in which Vitter was identified as a client. Edwards said Vitter skipped a vote to recognize soldiers who had died in favor of taking a call from the prostitution ring. The issue is becoming a hot one in the presidential contest, too, with all of the GOP hopefuls each trying to show they are the best choice on national security. Ohio Gov. John Kasich put out an online ad on Tuesday, accompanied by a fundraising plea to help air it, that highlights what he has said in the aftermath of the attacks and underscoring his own foreign policy experience. \"On-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work,\" Kasich said. \"We've done it for eight years — it does not work.\" Kasich, who is trailing in the polls, said in a speech at the National Press Club Tuesday, though, that he wasn't aware of the ad, even though it was sent out by his own campaign. \"I didn't know they did that,\" he said, \"and I don't know who did it, and I don't know what's behind it.\" Kasich told NPR's Audie Cornish he also supports a \"pause\" in allowing Syrian refugees until they can be vetted — a reversal of his earlier support for resettlement. Billionaire Donald Trump, who continues to lead Republican presidential polls, has radio ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in which he says, \"The tragic attacks in Paris prove once again that America needs to get tough on radical Islamic terrorism.\" He charges that Obama is \"out of touch,\" has \"no strategy\" and is trying to bring in \"hundreds of thousands of refugees\" from Syria. Obama has announced that his administration would like to bring in 10,000, not hundreds of thousands. Trump adds that he would \"quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS.\" In an aggressive Instagram video, Trump also says that the influx of refugees should be stopped. Despite Trump's lack of foreign policy experience, a Reuters poll out Tuesday showed him tied with Hillary Clinton as best to handle terrorism. \"We don't even know who they are!\" he exclaimed. \"They could be ISIS — they could be anybody. What is our president doing — is he insane?\" Ben Carson, who has been nipping at Trump's heels in the GOP race, has also spoken out on the issue, and a superPAC backing the neurosurgeon released an ad touting his hard-line opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. \"When the president says things like, you know, through an executive order, 'I'm going to bring 100,000 people in here from Syria,' Congress needs to say, 'You do that, and we're going to defund everything, including your breakfast,' \" Carson says in a clip used in the ad. Carson, an outsider candidate with no prior political experience, has been fending off criticisms he is unable to grasp foreign policy — a claim magnified by a New York Times story that quoted an adviser saying, \"Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East.\" Down ballot, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey's campaign manager sent out a fundraising email, based on his opposition to letting Syrian refugees into Pennsylvania. \"Senator Toomey believes nothing is more important than the security of the American people. To that end, he is pushing to suspend the admission of Syrian refugees into the United States until we are able to determine, with full confidence, that there are no security risks among them. ... If you agree with Senator Toomey, that nothing trumps the security of the American people, join ", "It's been nearly two weeks since President Obama urged a crowd of supporters in Denver to turn up the heat on lawmakers in Washington to pass his $447 billion jobs bill. So far on Capitol Hill, it's gone nowhere. That could change Tuesday when the Senate holds a vote on taking up the legislation. But fierce Republican opposition both to the bill and how it's paid for leaves slim prospects of it going any further. For weeks, Obama could not get even the Democrats in charge of the Senate to take up the bill. Some of them had big problems with his plan to pay for it with tax hikes on households making more than $250,000 a year. So last week, New York Democrat Charles Schumer offered an alternative plan that significantly raised that income threshold. Schumer's plan imposes a 5.6 percent surcharge only on those whose incomes are above $1 million. \"In other words, 99 percent plus of American people will not have their taxes raised, nor should they,\" Schumer said. The decision to hit income only above $1 million with a surcharge was a sharp break with a firmly held Democratic belief: namely, that families making above $250,000 should pay higher taxes. But as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed out, two recent nationwide polls have shown 3 out of 4 Americans believe it is fair to tax millionaires more. \"Wealthy Americans agree. Two-thirds of people making more than $1 million a year said they would gladly contribute more,\" Sen. Reid said. \"A supermajority of Republicans agree, with two-thirds saying they supported the idea.\" But that majority doesn't include Senate Republicans. On Thursday, their leader, Mitch McConnell, accused Senate Democrats of making the jobs bill even more partisan with the surcharge on millionaires. \"The president has said it's wrong to raise taxes in this weak economic environment. If he meant what he said, surely he'll join me in opposing this unwise tax hike Senate Democrats have proposed,\" McConnell said. At a White House news conference 90 minutes later, President Obama gave a thumbs up to the Democrats' plan of boosting taxes on income beyond $1 million, saying it was an approach he was comfortable with. The president stuck to that populist stance in his weekly video address over the weekend: The wealthy, he said, do owe more to the rest of society. \"Some see this as class warfare. I see it as a simple choice,\" Obama said. \"We can either keep taxes exactly as they are for millionaires and billionaires, or we can ask them to pay at least the same rate as a plumber or a bus driver.\" On a lawn outside the House of Representatives last week, several hundred demonstrators, many in shirts with union logos, demanded that the GOP-led House take up the president's jobs bill and pass it. A couple of days earlier, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had already declared it dead. \"The president continues to say, 'Pass my bill, in its entirety,' and as I've said from the outset, the all-or-nothing approach is just unacceptable,\" Cantor said. But in the Senate, it appears the new millionaires surcharge has prompted some doubting Democrats to get on board with the jobs bill, including Louisiana's Mary Landrieu. \"I think this small increase in income tax for families that make over $1 dollars is a better approach than taking away tax incentives for domestic oil and gas companies,\" she said. Not a single Senate Republican has come out in favor of the jobs bill, meaning it should be easy to filibuster. Even some Democrats remain opposed, like Nebraska's Ben Nelson. \"I think we need to cut spending in this town and not raise taxes,\" he said. Still, most Democrats feel hiking taxes on the wealthy is a winning issue, if not for passing the jobs bill, perhaps for next year's elections.", "Good morning y'all, I hope you had a lovely weekend. Barack Obama sure did. The good news for the Democratic candidate came pouring in on Sunday -- most notably when Colin Powell endorsed Obama on NBC's Meet the Press. In addition to being a retired U.S. Army general and Secretary of State under Bush 43, Powell's also a former McCain campaign contributor. However, the endorsement wasn't a complete surprise. Powell had previously hinted at leaning toward Obama -- calling his candidacy \"electrifying\"-- but he always stopped short of an official endorsement. So in case you missed it or don't have time to watch the video, here's the Powell endorsement in a nutshell: the Republican Party's moved too far right. The economic crisis was a \"final exam,\" and McCain didn't score especially well. Obama did. Sarah Palin's not ready to be vice-president because she's not ready to be president. McCain's turn to the negative -- Bill Ayers and robo-calls -- \"goes too far.\" The Supreme Court doesn't need two more conservative judges. Obama isn't a Muslim, but even if he was, it shouldn't matter. Both McCain and Obama would be good presidents, but because Obama's such a \"transformational figure,\" he'll be voting for him. Hours later, Obama had kind words for Powell at a rally in Fayetteville, NC saying, \"I am beyond honored and deeply humbled to have the support of Gen. Colin Powell.\" And this morning on NBC's Today, Obama stepped up his appreciation by suggesting that Powell may have a role in his administration as a top presidential adviser. Whether or not Powell would accept such a position, Obama said, is something they'd \"have to discuss.\" But that wasn't the only good news for the Democratic presidential hopeful. His campaign also announced yesterday that they'd broken previous fundraising records with a $150 million haul for the month of September. That's actually double the previous record (Obama collected $66 million in August). And with fundraising numbers this large, a debate is probably looming over the future relevancy of public financing. The NYT reports this morning that Democrats may not be in such a hurry to fix the public financing system in congress: Democrats, though, may be reluctant to surrender the significant money-raising advantage they have developed over Republicans, saying that Mr. Obama, by cultivating millions of small donors over the Internet, has built what amounts to a parallel public financing system that is arguably more democratic. \"I think there's going to be a fight inside the Democratic Party on this,\" said David Donnelly, a director of Campaign Money Watch, a watchdog group. The more specific fundraising numbers will be available later today when the campaign files with the FEC. But with the RNC raising roughly $66 million (which in any other year would be an intimidating figure) in the month of September, coupled with McCain's $84 million in public financing, we think it's fair to expect more of the same: Obama outspending McCain in battleground states. And that definitely goes for advertising -- television, print, radio, video game, wherever. Read More >> Not long after Colin Powell endorsed Obama, McCain appeared on Fox News Sunday and responded to the endorsement saying he's \"always admired and respected General Powell.\" McCain added: We're longtime friends. This doesn't come as a surprise. But I'm also very pleased to have the endorsement of four former Secretaries of State, Kissinger, Baker, Eagleburger and Haig and I'm proud to have the endorsement of well over 200 retired army generals and admirals. I respect and continue to respect and admire Secretary Powell. And in reference to Obama's lead in the polls, McCain noted that he loves, \"being the underdog. You know, every time that I've gotten ahead, somehow I've messed it up.\" In other, less serious news, Saturday Night Live enjoyed its highest ratings in 14 years this weekend. That might have something to do with Sarah Palin dropping by for a brief encounter of the comedic kind with her doppelganger, Tina Fey: More than 17 million people tuned in for the show's first half-hour. And as Politico points out, the last time SNL had this many viewers \"was in 1994, for a show hosted by the kneecapped figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.\" And finally, early voting starts today in Florida. Polls show a tight race. McCain was there on Friday. Obama will be there until Wednesday, stumping with a team of his one-time primary rivals, Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton." ]

[ "calves" ]

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[ "And that, in turn, is because rubber is so fantastically useful. Let's take a closer look at one of the world's most amazing materials! Photo: Half of the world's rubber is used to make vehicle tires—and at least half of them are wasted in landfills, burned in incinerators, or otherwise dumped.", "China: The world’s No. 1 metals consumer holds more than half of the known global reserves of 9 of the 14 most critical raw materials. Thank it for your buzzing cell phone: China is the top producer of tungsten, which makes cell phones vibrate." ]

[ "What is engineered fill? Engineered fill is soil or crushed stone that is compacted and used as fill. Engineered fill has much to do with the placement and compaction of the material you are using… and not just the material itself. Making the world better, one answer at a time.", "Which materials are able to flow freely through a cell's membrane is known as? The degree in which materials are able to flow freely through a cells membrane is known as? Materials that allow the charges of an electric current to move freely through them are called what? Making the world better, one answer at a time.", "And that magic material is cow bone ash. The main difference between bone china and fine china is that bone china mixes cow bone ash into the ceramic material. Now I know you are tired of me saying this but they don’t do this to make the material stronger; they mix cow bone ash to give it a unique colour tone.ne of the most commonly asked questions is “what is the difference between bone china and fine china?” There are lots of misconceptions on what makes bone china different from fine china in the online world so we thought we share with you what we as a manufacturer of tableware tell our customers.", "Copyright is a type of intellectual property. Namely, publishing material (as on the Internet, or through print media) is nothing more than making that material available to the world at large.", "What is the function of epithelial tissues? the function of epithelial tissue include: transportation of materials, protection of underlying tissues, absorption of water and nutrients and secretion of waste products. Making the world better, one answer at a time.", "Definition. Materiality is a concept, a threshold, an intangible. What makes misstatement material to one user of the accounts may not be material to another user.", "3. Materials and Structures. is the study of what materials are to be used on the plane and in the engine and how those materials make the plane strong enough to fly effectively. The choice of materials that are used to make the fuselage wings, tail and engine will affect the strength and stability of the plane.", "Answered by The Community. Making the world better, one answer at a time. Smooth muscles push materials through passageways, remove materials from body parts, make body openings larger and smaller, and contract and restrict tubes in your body.", "It is a factory that makes material. What does textile mills do? they produce textiles. Who created the textile mills? during the war of 1812. It is a factory that makes material. What does textile mills do? they produce textiles.", "What Is Metaphysics? The word Metaphysics comes to us from Ancient Greece, a combination of two words: Meta meaning over or beyond and physics meaning the physical, material world. Thus, the combination refers to such concerns that are beyond or transcend the material world.", "What is the difference between DVD and USB? A DVD is a disk that is coated in a layer of material, that material is physically changed using a lazer to make dents in the material. This represents the 1s and 0s by making … into a dent or no dent.", "Split and merge into it. Answered by The Community. Making the world better, one answer at a time. Cellulose is a strong material that makes up some of the cell wall of a cell. Also cellulose that is found in the cell wall of plant cells are carbohydrates.plit and merge into it. Answered by The Community. Making the world better, one answer at a time. Cellulose is a strong material that makes up some of the cell wall of a cell. Also cellulose that is found in the cell wall of plant cells are carbohydrates.", "Still other definitions focus on the process and context of data collection: Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the. world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that makes the. world visible. These practices transform the world.", "What Are Some Possible Materials You Could Use to Make a Battery? Sciencing. Retrieved from http://sciencing.com/possible-materials-could-use-make-battery-11403.html", "What is the foam lining made out of? The material used to make the foam liners is open cell polypropylene foam. What material is used for the OtterBox? The type of plastic used to make the colored OtterBoxes is an ABS plastic that’s reinforced with fiberglass. The type of plastic used to make clear OtterBoxes is high impact polycarbonate. All Otter Boxes (regardless of material used) offer the same protection.", "So, is it made in the USA or not? Here’s what Rubbermaid stated in response to a consumer question on its site: The LunchBlox containers are made in the U.S.A. of global components. Most Rubbermaid products are manufactured in the USA. The raw materials for making plastic are sourced from many places all over the world. Plastic resin is a petroleum based product. Since the raw materials used to make the plastic in our products are globally sourced, we are required to note this on the packaging. Confused?", "Answered by The Community. Making the world better, one answer at a time. Peptone broth is a material commonly used in a lab. Scientists and research scientists use it to culture the growth of Salmonella and Shigella.nswered by The Community. Making the world better, one answer at a time. Peptone broth is a material commonly used in a lab. Scientists and research scientists use it to culture the growth of Salmonella and Shigella.", "Tweet. Home » Composting 101 » What To Use What To Use Now that you’re ready to start making compost, you need to know what organic materials can — and cannot — be used in the compost bin or pile. Composting Ingredients Organic waste is the best raw material to make compost from.", "Fibers of Anthophyllite are what makes asbestos dangerous. Asbestos is a set of six silicate minerals which occur naturally. White asbestos makes up 95% of the asbestos found in buildings. It occurs in all parts of the world. It is fibrous, heat resistant and non flammable. These properties made it very attractive as a component in building materials and other products such as insulation and automobile brake pads.", "Making the world better, one answer at a time. Earwigs are known to eat fiberous materials, including textile materials. While earwigs do not carry any diseases like cockroaches, they can be serious threats to your garments that are wool and alike. Earwigs are known to eat fiberous materials, including textile materials.", "The Differences Between Soft and Hard Soldering. Soldering, according to dictionary.com, is anything that joins or unites.. Soldering in the jewelry-making world lives up to this definition--the how and what is used for soldering is where I get excited as it leads to tools, materials and techniques. There are two standard types of soldering used in the jewelry-making field--soft soldering and hard soldering.", "Deepstone is an aquatic material that is mined from the bottom of the ocean in the world of Ninjago. The molecules that Deepstone consist of are constantly moving, yet still staying solid; making it an effective material used in both combat and defense against ghosts.", "Now that you’re ready to start making compost, you need to know what organic materials can — and cannot — be used in the compost bin or pile. Organic waste is the best raw material to make compost from.", "What cs carries substances around the body? The circulatory system is they system in the body that transports material throughout the body. It carries nutrients, water, and oxygen to all the cells and carries waste …material away from the cells. Making the world better, one answer at a time. the substances that blood carry as it goes around in the body are the vitamins, nutrients, hormones, chemical substances, oxygen and CO2 or carbon doixide.", "Answers.com® is making the world better one answer at a time. During the Great Depression , people lost money so people with no income would just build a Hooverville which can be made with many kinds of materials such as cardboard boxes, refrigerator boxes, and what ever they can find.", "What kind of world did Washington grow up in, what was his youth like between the age of 6 year old and when he left to make a career? Part of what makes Washington such an interesting figure is that he was born into one world and died in another.", "PVC stands for Polyvinyl Chloride. What is interesting is that the Chloride makes up more than half the finished weight of PVC which is what makes the final window resistant to fire.The modern starting materials for the manufacture of PVC are oil and salt. Both of these are products of nature.hat is interesting is that the Chloride makes up more than half the finished weight of PVC which is what makes the final window resistant to fire. The modern starting materials for the manufacture of PVC are oil and salt. Both of these are products of nature.", "Thread: What material are hammer chisels made from. What material are hammer chisels made from. I need to make a long bit to chisel for my jack hammer. I have a Bosch that have been using but it's too short.", "Answers.com® is making the world better one answer at a time. a ductile material is one that can be pulled out ,or drawn,into a long wire.", "Making the world better, one answer at a time. In the business world, BoQ means bill of quantities.. A bill of quantities is a document used in tendering in the construction industry in which materials, parts, labor, and labor costs are itemized.", "Definition: “Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world. They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self.", "making the world better one answer at a time scientists test hypotheses using the scientific method first there is a question posed about a phenomenon then the hypothesis is created about what the scientist thinks will happen when it is tested next the scientist will create an experiment that will answer the question with this the scientist gathers materials and performs the experiment they designed" ]

[ "OTTAWA — Proposals for tax changes aimed at helping Canadian publishers fight for revenues with online news aggregators would result in a punitive \"tax on advertisers,\" executives from Google Canada and Facebook Canada told a Commons committee studying the country's media industry.\nThat's because tax laws currently on the books designed to prop up the industry are archaic and simply don't apply to the Internet age, Jason Kee, Google Canada's head of policy and government relations, told the heritage committee Tuesday.\nKee said he had concerns over how such changes would be implemented.\n\"Long story short, it's essentially a tax on Canadian advertisers,\" he said.\nA report commissioned by the Department of Heritage and unveiled late last month called on Ottawa to consider changing tax laws to favour Canadian news publishers in the digital advertising market and use the new revenue stream to establish an independent, publicly subsidized journalism fund.\nThe independent think-tank Public Policy Forum recommended that advertising with foreign-owned websites no longer be deductible under the federal Income Tax Act.\nThe report, authored by former journalist Edward Greenspon, said that, by extending a 10 per cent withholding tax to commercials and advertising carried by foreign digital media, the government could create a new revenue stream of up to $400 million annually.\nBut Kee said that assumes a direct relationship between an advertiser and a publisher that doesn't actually exist in the digital world, but which does for traditional media under a policy dating from the 1960s.\n\"So as a result, a change in tax treatment could actually be punitive and there may not actually be an alternative (way to advertise),\" he said.\nFacebook Canada’s Kevin Chan added that the committee should be asking Canadian advertisers what they think of the tax change proposal, suggesting they might shed more light on how the potential changes would affect them.\nThe appearance by representatives of the social media aggregators was the first since both firms pledged to roll out tools in Canada designed to crack down on so-called \"fake news.\"\nBoth Facebook and Google said they planned to unveil those tools in Canada soon — as they have already in the United States and elsewhere — to help users discern between credible news and what they term \"misrepresentative content.\"\nChan told the committee the tools will be introduced slowly and will at first be \"narrow in scope\" over concerns that legitimate news might be deemed \"fake news\" after being flagged by users who simply might not agree with a story, even if it's accurate.\nHeritage Minister Melanie Joly held consultations last fall where media industry representatives argued in favour of an Internet tax or at least a sales tax on streamed digital content to help pay for Canadian content.\nWhile Joly has insisted there would be \"no Netflix\" tax under the Liberal government, she has deferred questions about a potential sales tax to the Finance Department.\nBut a spokesperson for Finance Minister Bill Morneau said last month that expanding the Goods and Services Tax to Netflix was not in the works.\nForeign-based streaming services are technically subject to sales tax on their Canadian sales, but no system has ever been established to collect the tax.\nRevenue for Canadian news content providers, including traditional media, has dwindled as advertising dollars shift to online news aggregator services.\nPollster Allan Gregg at Earnscliffe Strategy Group, has said Canadians have enjoyed faster access to more content than ever before, thanks to the Internet, and don't see a crisis in the news business.\nA majority of those he has polled are dead-set against taxpayers propping up the industry, Gregg added.\nJoly told the Canadian Media Producers Association earlier this month that Canadians she has heard from want all media providers to be treated equally, but they don’t want to see their Internet bills go up.\n\"We have to bear in mind that Canadians are anxious about their cost of living,\" Joly said.\nJoly has promised to unveil a cultural strategy this year aimed in part at bolstering job growth in Canada's cultural sector, with an emphasis on cultural exports. The minister is also expected to announce soon the results of her wide-ranging review of Canada's media and cultural industries.\nJoly's office has called the shifts in news revenue streams \"significant,\" and said the government hopes its Canadian content consultations can help it assess how to best support the production of local, credible and reliable news and information.\nThe heritage committee is expected to report to Parliament by spring.\n— Follow @tpedwell on Twitter\nTerry Pedwell, The Canadian Press\nNote to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly attributed paragraphs 2, 3 and 8 to Facebook Canada's Kevin Chan, and paragraph 10 to Google Canada's Jason Kee" ]

[ "Merkel this week survived a major political crisis that threatened to unseat her\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday warned US President Donald Trump against unleashing an all-out trade war after he threatened to impose steep tariffs on cars from the European Union.\nIn a speech to the Bundestag federal parliament, Merkel said both sides were effectively locked in a \"trade conflict\" since Trump's decision to slap punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.\n\"It is worthwhile to prevent this conflict from becoming a real war,\" she said, adding however that this \"would require both sides\" to take steps.\nTrump on Sunday charged that Europe is \"possibly as bad as China\" on trade, as he reiterated that he is mulling import taxes of 20 percent on EU cars.\nThe EU has slapped tariffs on iconic US products including bourbon, jeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, as a symbolic tit-for-tat response to the metals duties.\nTaking aim at Trump over his complaint that the EU, and in particular economic powerhouse Germany, is running a massive trade surplus against the US, Merkel said that his calculation is skewed as it is based only on goods, not services.\n\"If you include services like the digital services, then you have a completely different trade balance sheet, with the US showing a surplus against the EU,\" she noted.\n\"It is almost old-fashioned to only calculate goods and not include services,\" Merkel said.\nMerkel has previously voiced backing for a \"digital tax\" that would target multinationals like Amazon, Facebook or Google, which have come under fire for shifting earnings around Europe in order to pay lower taxes.\nBut the EU is divided over the proposal, as countries including Luxembourg and Ireland are loath to see US tech giants head for the exit.\nWith the US-EU trade row showing few signs of easing, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is heading to Washington by the end of July to seek a way out of the conflict.\n- Reliable NATO partner -\nRelations between the US and other industrialised powers have turned increasingly tense as Trump has pushed his \"America First\" stance with punishing consequences for trading partners, irregardless of whether they are allies or adversaries.\nHistorically strong ties between Berlin and Washington have also taken a beating since the US leader repeatedly skewered Germany over its record trade surplus as well as its relatively small defence spending.\nMerkel acknowledged that Berlin has not been investing enough on defence, but stressed that it will push outlays to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2025.\nNevertheless, Berlin's planned spending is still short of the NATO goal of 2 percent that Trump insists on.\nAnd despite its 1.5 percent pledge, its latest budget forecast for the coming years shows the proportion actually falling to 1.23 percent in 2022 from 1.24 percent this year -- something that could emerge as a point of contention when NATO leaders gather in Brussels next Wednesday and Thursday (July 11-12).\nMerkel stressed however that \"Germany is a reliable partner in NATO\".\n\"We are the second biggest provider of troops, we are participating in several missions and Germany will remain a reliable partner of NATO,\" she said.\nMerkel said \"wars are raging on our front door,\" listing the Syrian war, Islamic State group militancy, unrest in Afghanistan and the conflict in Ukraine.\n\"To not be prepared for defence of the alliance would be negligent,\" she said.", "Boston Globe\nAT&T CEO Randall Stephenson praised the cancellation of the popular ABC sitcom Roseanne after its star posted a racist-filled Twitter rant on Tuesday.\nStephenson was asked about the controversy Wednesday during an interview at Recode's Code Conference. AT&T is in the midst of trying to buy Time Warner, one of the biggest media companies, which owns cable channels such as HBO and Turner Broadcasting. Stephenson said he thinks ABC parent company Disney did the right thing in severing ties with Roseanne Barr.\nWhen asked whether he would've fired her, he quickly answered, \"I can't imagine how you would not.\"\nThe question comes as AT&T and Time Warner await the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department to block a merger between the two companies that would bring together one of the largest telecom providers in the country with one of the highest-profile media companies. Stephenson and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes say the deal is necessary to ensure the companies can compete against big tech giants like Google and Netflix. They argue concerns about the deal hurting competition are unfounded.\nStephenson reiterated these points during his interview at the Code Conference, stating that so-called vertical mergers that marry large-scale distribution and vast amounts of content are the only way to compete against companies like Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google -- which he abbreviates as FANG -- as customers cut the cord to subscription TV services.\n\"The model has to change,\" he said. Otherwise, he said, \"you're going to have a hard time competing with these guys.\" He said that since the merger with Time Warner was announced in November 2016, the market caps of these companies has gone up $1 trillion dollars.\n\"You better figure out how to vertically compete here,\" he said.\nStephenson also acknowledged that the cord-cutting that makes this merger a necessity sped up in 2017, particularly among millennials. This caught the company off guard, even though growth in the market is away from paid TV subscription services, like AT&T's satellite TV offering from DirecTV and toward internet streaming service. Stephenson said the company has seen big growth in its DirecTV Now product, which distributes TV content directly over the company's nationwide wireless network. The company isn't yet making money on this service, but he believes revenue will grow over the next few years as it adds subscribers.\nStephenson also weighed in for the first time in public on Sprint and T-Mobile's $26 billion proposed merger announced last month. He declined to say whether he thought the deal was a good idea, but said it's likely \"a tough hill to climb\" to win regulatory approval. Still, he said the market has changed since his company attempted to buy T-Mobile in 2011.\n\"It will probably get a different review than our deal,\" he said. \"Power to them if they get it done.\"\nWhen asked about AT&T's payments to President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, Stephenson again reiterated his regret. He called the contract to hire Cohen for insight into the Trump presidency a \"bad mistake,\" but said he had nothing else to add.\nBlockchain Decoded: CNET looks at the tech powering bitcoin -- and soon, too, a myriad of services that will change your life.\nFollow the Money: This is how digital cash is changing the way we save, shop and work.", "Mercedes-Benz, Argos and Sandals ads: appeared on extremist content\n\"Progress is neither fast, nor significant, enough,\" Paul Bainsfair, the director-general of the IPA, said in the letter, which has been sent to Google’s UK managing director, Ronan Harris, and Facebook’s regional director of northern Europe, Steve Hatch.\nThe IPA, the trade body for UK agencies, which gave a copy of the letter to Campaign, said Google and Facebook have \"a responsibility\" as the two biggest digital media owners, particularly in video.\nThe UK could be a \"test bed\" for Google and Facebook to introduce \"global gold standards\" that they could then use in other markets around the world, Bainsfair said.\n\"While we acknowledge that small steps towards addressing recent concerns have been taken, our advertisers and agencies are increasingly telling us that this progress is neither fast, nor significant, enough,\" he wrote.\n\"We believe it is incumbent upon the key players in this sector, therefore, to show real commitment to finding solutions to these problems.\"\nThe IPA’s decision to publicise the letter is unusual and suggests it has lost patience with Google and Facebook and wants to pressurise them, following recent problems involving extremist content on YouTube and measurement errors on Facebook.\nThe letter (below) calls on YouTube and Facebook to sign up to a UK cross-industry initiative, called the Jicwebs Digital Trading Standards Group’s good practice principles, to improve brand safety.\nMedia owners and tech companies that sign up to the DTSG principles allow independent verification of their brand safety policies by an independent body such as the Audit Bureau of Circulation.\nGoogle’s Double Click has signed up to DTSG principles, but YouTube and Facebook have yet to do so.\nThe IPA’s letter also urges Google and Facebook to allow independent verification of video viewability and video audience measurement.\nBoth Google and Facebook have said previously that they want to tackle problems with the digital media supply chain and have tightened up their policies.\nHowever, they have been reluctant to allow independent, third-party measurement, despite making some concessions.\nA Facebook spokesman said: \"We are already engaged in a constructive dialogue with the IPA and its members on these important topics. We take our commitment to advertisers seriously, and through continued investment and innovation we're making progress, together with our partners in the industry.\n\"In the last few months we've announced an extra 3,000 content reviewers to nearly double our existing team, as well as new buying options and controls for advertisers that give choice and transparency over how and where ads appear on the platform. We have also updated our metrics to give more clarity and confidence about the insights we provide, including our work with 24 third-party measurement partners who can verify the value we drive for advertisers.\"\nGoogle declined to comment, but stressed it wants to maintain good relations with the IPA.\nA source who is close to Google said it has acknowledged that it has got some things wrong on brand safety and introduced additional controls and it said it has also allowed third parties to monitor viewability and measurement.\nAnother person, who is close to one of the tech companies, expressed surprise that the IPA has chosen to write to Google and Facebook in this way and to publicise the letter.\nEdited version of IPA director-general Paul Bainfair’s letter to Google and Facebook in the UK:\nI am writing today to ask for your urgent action on a number of key points.\nAs you are well aware, online budgets have exploded from around 16% of total spend (2007) to over 40% today. The internet has evolved into a complex ecosystem with online video now established as an important component of internet time. YouTube and Facebook being the two biggest channels.\nThe IPA and ISBA represent the UK’s biggest advertising agencies and advertisers and in our judgement urgent action is needed to bring the safety, measurement and viewability of your online video up to acceptable industry standards.\nThe purpose of this letter is to formally call upon Facebook and Google YouTube to work with us to deliver global gold standards in online advertising verification and cross-platform video advertising audience measurement.\nWe want you to use the UK as one of the largest, most advanced and concentrated digital media markets in the world as a test bed to drive best in class verification and measurement for brand advertising.\nAnd we are calling for you to make the following action points.\nBrand safety\nThe UK has the most robust online brand safety initiative in the world in the form of the Jicwebs DTSG. And yet it has also witnessed the most damaging press coverage for brands in light of this subject.\nWe are calling upon Facebook and YouTube to become signatories to the DTSG Good Practice Principles which will entail the independent verification of their brand safety policies and processes within six months.\nVideo audience measurement\nRecently published evidence derived from the Databank of IPA Effectiveness Awards concludes video advertising, both on and offline, to be the most effective brand-building form.\nWe are calling upon Facebook and YouTube to meet standards of independent industry-owned audience measurement such that cross platform video audience measurement can be achieved.\nVideo viewability\nThe basis of video advertising brand building is that the advertisement is viewable by a human. The greatest growth rate of video viewership is on mobile, dominated by two businesses.\nWe are calling upon Facebook and YouTube to use the UK as a test bed for delivering online and mobile video ad supply that is optimised for 100% viewability and which can be independently verified.\nAs to next steps, we would be very happy to meet with you both individually, or together to discuss how we can progress these points and look forward to your constructive and speedy response.\nI cannot emphasise enough, the importance of this request." ]

[ "MORE than 100 amateur singers, who had never before met, rehearsed and performed one of classical music's greatest works in a single day and raised £2,500 for charity.\nAbout 125 singers ranging in age from nine to 86 joined the tenth anniversary Wantage Come and Sing Messiah concert at the town's Beacon hall on Saturday.\nThey were supported by a miniature orchestra and nearly 100 people paid to come and watch.\nThe all-day workshop and evening performance was all arranged by a small group of music-loving friends who have been putting on the same event every year for a decade.\nThe group, led by husband and wife team Gill and Gordon Skidmore, started organising the first concert in December 2007, and used this weekend's event to celebrate their tenth anniversary, although the first concert was actually staged until January 2008.\nThat anniversary is still to come.\nMrs Skidmore said: \"We had a really fantastic day on Saturday. Everything went according to plan and it was a very happy day.\n\"After expenses, we raised around £2,500 to be shared between the seven charities we supported during our first nine years of existence.\n\"Huge thanks go to all our sponsors for making this possible.\"\nShe gave special thanks to guest conductor for the day Paul Leddington Wright and the four young soloists – Hannah Wardrop (soprano), Lexie White (alto), Hugh Beckwith (tenor) and Matthew Iddeson (bass).\nThe charities to benefit from the show include Prostate Cancer UK and Oxford's Sobell House Hospice." ]

[ "St Michael’s Hospice is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a special ‘Big Sing anniversary concert’.\nThe event is taking place at St John’s Church, Pevensey Road, St Leonards, on Saturday October 28.\nFrom 11am local choirs and singing groups will be taking it in turns to sing in 25 minute slots, all the way through to the evening, culminating in a number of choirs coming together for a Massed Messiah at 9pm.\nBruni Llovet, from the hospice, said: “St John’s have kindly donated the church to the Hospice for this wonderful event.\n“It promises to be a lovely day full of beautiful, harmonious singing, which members of the public can drop in, to listen to for free (donations welcome). Refreshments will be available throughout the day.\nFor info, call Laura from St Michael’s Hospice on 01424 457971 or email fundraising@stmichaelshospice.com.", "Start your Christmas Celebrations with a performance of music from Handel’s ‘Messiah’.\nMarket Rasen & District Choral Society will be joined by some local soloists for a concert in the town’s Methodist Church this Sunday, November 26, at 2pm.\nAlso on the programme of music for the singers will be Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’.\nTickets cost £10 and are available from 01673 844750 or on the door.", "Hundreds attended the first day’s concert which saw the world-renowned tenor and actor take to the stage to perform a varied set.\nBut music was not the only thing on the star’s mind as Boe cheerfully admitted to checking the football score as England played Colombia – and even had it displayed on the big screens, joking that he could sing and watch the TV at the same time.\nAnd once England had sealed their victory in a gripping penalty shoot out, Boe declared it the best gig of his life – and led the crowd as everyone happily chanted \"It’s Coming Home\".\nThe evening’s entertainment came after school children got the event under way yesterday afternoon with a range of activities including a sing-a-long for television.\nA new one-off live ITV programme was due to air today celebrating the 70th birthday of the NHS, showing the crowds in Llangollen, the NHS choir, celebrities and crowds getting together to try to beat a record for the biggest live singalong to be broadcast.\nRhys Davies, chairman of Llangollen Eisteddfod, said: “Having worked as a GP within the NHS I fully understand and respect the wonderful work the NHS provides.\n“We are so excited to be supporting the nation’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of the NHS.”", "Event time: 7:30pm\nSing to the Lord a New Song\n80th Anniversary Celebration\nFeaturing a variety of musical settings of the Psalms, including Bach's double-choir motet \"Singet dem Herrn,\" as well as works by Rutter, Schütz, Vaughan Williams, Paul Bouman and others.\nFriday, April 28, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.\nPeace Lutheran Church, 17651 W. Small Road, New Berlin, WI 53146\nFeaturing J.S. Bach’s exciting double choir motet “Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied” (“Sing to the Lord a New Song”). Plus, join us as we honor composer Paul Bouman, age 98, at our 80th anniversary concert with a performance of three of his works. Paul began his association with the Lutheran A Cappella Choir back in 1940 as a singer, and later became a director.\nFull repertoire is available at http://www.lutheranacappella.org/spring-concert-2017.html\nGeneral Admission $15.00\nStudent/Senior $12.00\nFor more information contact: Dave Mohr, davemohr@me.com\nPrice: $15 General Admission $12 Students & Seniors", "“Get a Handel on Christmas” with the Verde Valley Voices this year. The concert, on Sunday, Dec. 17 at Immaculate Conception Church, begins with a pre-concert holiday sing-a-long at 2:30 p.m. The choir sings at 3 p.m.\nThe Verde Valley Voices have been working hard to bring you a memorable concert full of holiday music you love. From “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” to the “Nutcracker Suite,” the Voices are ushering in Christmas with an entertaining afternoon that’s sure to leave you feeling good about these holidays.\n“I’m excited about the second half,” says Joy Simons, choral director. “We’re singing excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and featuring soloists from within the choir. I think you’ll be surprised and delighted by the quality of the solo work.”\nThe Verde Valley Voices have been entertaining here for more than 20 years. Their Christmas concert has become a tradition for many residents. “The holidays just don’t seem to get started until the concert” is a phrase heard frequently by members.\n“I have just discovered these concerts.” Allie Weathersby has been an avid concert goer for two years. “I love the sound of the choir. The music they sing is beautiful. It takes me back to wonderful memories of making music when I was younger.”\nTickets are available now at Mount Hope Foods and Desert Dancer in Cottonwood, Jay’s Bird Barn in Sedona, Thanks-a-latte in Camp Verde, the gift shop at Immaculate Conception Church, or any choir member. The cost is still $10 for adults; children 12 and under are free. Tickets will also be available at the door.\n“Our goal is to keep quality music accessible to everyone,” Joy says. We work on a shoe-string budget to keep tickets affordable. Bringing music to our world is our primary goal and greatest pleasure.”\nMark your calendars for the Verde Valley Voices concert Sunday, Dec.17 at 3 p.m. (holiday sing-a-long at 2:30) at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on 89A.", "Two choirs blew the audience away at an international concert in Hartlepool’s German twin town.\nHartlepool Male Voice Choir and Hartlepool Ladies’ Choir travelled to Hückelhoven over the Bank Holiday weekend to put on a show for their friends in their German counterpart choir.\nHartlepool Male Voice Choir and Hartlepool Ladies' Choir performing in Germany.\nAround 90 singers took part in the show which took place on Saturday, May 26, at The Aula in the town.\nBoth choirs sang a number of songs separately and together to a crowd of around 500 people, which included German politicians.\nThe concert was the first one that Hartlepool Ladies’ Choir had been a part of since it formed 15 years ago.\nChoir chairman Duncan Graham, 75, from Seaton Carew, said: “We were invited by the Hückelhoven male voice choir to sing at a concert in their concert hall.\n“The twinning between the two towns started in the 1970s and we have kept in touch with them.\n“The concert went really well and we had a standing ovation at the end.”\nThe event had been organised by Stefan Jennessen, chairman of the MGV Hückelhoven-Kleingladbach, and Hartlepool Male Voice choir secretary Mick Waller.\nMusical director David Gibson conducted both choirs during the concert, as they sang numbers including The Prayer and Can’t Help Falling in Love With You - which included a verse in German.\nDuncan added: “We have been rehearsing since just after Christmas and also had the concert four weeks ago in Hartlepool’s St Mary’s Church.\n“We even had two members - Stan Lindridge and John Barker - who are in their 90s take part.\n“Stan was one of the founding members. “It was a fantastic trip and we are expecting a party of them to come over next year as we celebrate out 60th anniversary.”\nThe Hartlepool Male Voice Choir rehearses at The Corner Flag on Friday’s, while the Hartlepool Ladies’ Choir rehearse at Grange Road Methodist Church on Thursday’s.\nThis Saturday both choirs will be rehearsing at Hartlepool Six Form College ahead of their performance at the Royal Albert Hall in November where they will join with choirs from across the country in the Festival of Brass and Voices in aid of Cancer Research.", "Bedford Choral Society is one of the oldest choirs in the country – and its 150th anniversary year culminates with a concert this weekend.\nThe 130-strong choir will sing The Kingdom by Edward Elgar, accompanied by the Bedford Sinfonia, and soloists soprano Rebecca Botton, mezzo-soprano Jeanette Ager, tenor Ben Thapa and baritone Andrew Slater.\nIan Smith, who will conduct the choir, is excited by the prospect. He said: “The choir is going from strength to strength with many new members joining us this year to boost our numbers.”\nThe first concert by the choir was on April 30, 1867, and the current choir celebrated the anniversary on April 30, 2017, with a sell out concert, with the choir singing Lauda Sion by Mendelssohn, as featured at the inaugural concert.\nThe year has also featured an all-English summer concert, and will conclude with a carol concert on December 16 accompanied by Bedford Town Band.\nSaturday’s concert takes place at the Corn Exchange, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £16 or £13, with student tickets costing £6. Call 01234 718044 or visit bedfordcornexchange.co.uk to book.", "A talented school choir from East Sussex have given their most exclusive concert ever to the top female-selling artist of 2017 – centenarian Dame Vera Lynn.\nThe Vox choir from Lewes Old Grammar School (LOGS) have performed at many prestigious events and festivals over the past few years but all agreed this was the pinnacle of their singing engagements.\nTwenty-five choristers from the Lewes school, conducted by musical director Rachel Munro, visited 100 year-old Dame Vera’s Ditchling home and performed a private concert of festive music on Friday afternoon.\nThe programme included Away in a Manger, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Dame Vera’s favourite carol, O Come, All Ye Faithful. Dame Vera, who doesn’t travel these days, sang along with the choir and enjoyed every moment of the 30-minute performance.\nMs Munro, who teaches singing at LOGS, said: “We know how much Dame Vera enjoys Christmas music and as she wasn’t able to attend a carol concert, we thought it would be special to take one to her.”\nAll the pupils knew about Dame Vera and were delighted to talk with her afterwards.\nThey were keen to learn about The Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity, which supports young children with cerebral palsy.\nFifteen-year-old pupil Yasmin O’Mahoney said: “It was such an honour to perform for the legendary Dame Vera Lynn, especially in her home with her daughter and son-in-law. She was so warm and welcoming and it is a memory that the entire choir will treasure.”\nTim Laker, the school’s Bursar, accompanied the pupils and said: “This afternoon has been such a privilege for the school and we have decided to donate the collection from our carol concert on Thursday evening to Dame Vera’s charity.\n“We hope we’ll have the opportunity to visit and sing for the children’s charity sometime in the future.”\nDame Vera, widely known as The Forces’ Sweetheart during the Second World War, released the album Vera Lynn 100 in 2017, to commemorate her centennial year, and it was a number 3 hit, making her the oldest recording artist in the world and first centenarian performer to have an album in the charts.", "BYU-Idaho will be participating in the new sacred music series.\nPerformances will be held June 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and June 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Eliza R. Snow Barrus Concert Hall on campus.\nThe sacred music oratorio will be titled, “The Sermons of Jesus Christ,” and is written by David Sargent, according to byui.newsroom.\nRandall Kempton, a faculty member who will conduct the music, said the intent is to “teach in music some of the important teachings of Jesus Christ from the New Testament.”\nThe idea for sacred music came about when President Spencer W. Kimball mandated composers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to create new music, art and drama that would tell the story of the Restoration. Since then, the Church has collaborated with BYU-Idaho every two years.\n“He wanted pieces that were as good as Handal’s Messiah,” Kempton said. “We have the Spirit. Why can’t we produce stuff like that? Take a Handal and give him the Spirit of God, that’s what we’ve been trying to do with this series.”\nKempton said students who have participated in past sacred music events have usually come away touched.\n“The students come away having sung the scriptures into their hearts,” he said. “You sing a scripture and memorize it, (then) read the scripture and it comes back to you.”\nKempton said students should be prepared for an uplifting experience when attending the performance.\n“It’s a serious classical music of work,” he said. “It‘s the same category as Rob Gardner’s ‘Lamb of God,’ and Handal’s ‘Messiah.’ We hope (those that come) will be uplifted and entertained by what they hear.”\nMore information on the sacred music can be found at byui.edu performing arts.", "FOR SALE: 150-year-old church pews – can be carpentered to fit any space.\nThis parish church has joined the growing number in Oxfordshire pulling out their pews in a bid to become more flexible community hubs.\nHoly Trinity in Charlton, Wantage, is flogging its Victorian oak benches for £150 each, and has even recruited a local carpenter who will (for an extra fee) modify the seats to fit into the average family home.\nChurchwarden Bob Chaplow said: \"I don't know quite where they're putting them –I think some people are cutting them down to fit in their living room.\"\nMany of the pews were made by carpenter William Butterfield from as early as 1848 when the church itself was built.\nMr Chaplow added: \"The only thing remaining of the original church was the original wall and two pews, so we are retaining one of them as a historical connection.\"\nThe profits from the pews will go towards a massive £359,000 refurb which aims to turn the church into a more accessible community space.\nTwo new extensions will give the church a kitchen and disabled toilets for the first time alongside new heating and lighting and step-free access to the church.\nAnd, of course, the heavy oak pews will be replaced with lightweight wooden chairs which can easily be moved, making the hall a more flexible space.\nMr Chaplow explained: \"The Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, said in a recent interview that one of his objectives was to see pews taken out of most of the churches in his diocese to allow buildings to be used more flexibly.\n\"There is a general recognition that it is much better for the community.\n\"If you replace heavy old benches with chairs you can clear the floor area much more quickly.\"\nHoly Trinity, like most churches, already hosts community groups and social events, but hopes the overhaul will make it more attractive to parent and toddler groups, yoga classes, and the Wantage Silver Band, which recently held a concert there.\nMr Chaplow said: \"It's really a recognition that the church is more than just a building for worship on a Sunday.\"\nHoly Trinity is only the latest in Oxfordshire to adopt this progressive attitude: as long ago as 2013, Bishop of Dorchester Colin Fletcher said as many as 20 per cent of Oxfordshire’s more than 300 Church of England sites had undergone such makeovers, and praised their ambition.\nOne thoroughly modern place of worship is Oxford Community Church, based at the King's Centre, in Osney Mead. Administrator Louise Wright said: \"We're in a former warehouse with a hall that can seat a thousand people if we need it to but we've also had go karting in there as well.\n\"We find the flexibility is really useful and helps us with our community focus, which is at the heart of the Christian faith and I think something that's been lost a lot in this country.\"\nLiz Kitch, secretary to the Oxford Diocesan Advisory Committee, said this month: \"The Diocese of Oxford are keen for churches to be used as centres of community.\n\"This can sometimes be difficult when the church is heavily pewed so the DAC regularly work with parishes to reach a compromise enabling flexible use of the building, whilst retaining significant historic fabric.\"\nMr Chaplow said Holy Trinity would close for its five-month refurbishment after a final service on Sunday, August 13, and reopen in January.\nUntil then, the congregation of between 40 and 100 will meet for worship at Wantage Parish Church from August 20.", "Now available on demand: on WCRB In Concert with the Handel and Haydn Society, Harry Christophers conducts Handel's \"Messiah\" at Symphony Hall in Boston.\nDecember 10, 2017\n7:00 PM\nOn the program:\nHANDEL Messiah\nHarry Christophers, conductor\nKatherine Watson, soprano\nChristine Rice, mezzo-soprano\nAllan Clayton, tenor\nSumner Thompson, baritone\nHandel and Haydn Society Orchestra and Chorus\nH+H Vocal Arts Program Young Women's Chamber Choir and Young Men's Chorus\nHear Part One:\nHear Part Two:\nHear Part Three:\nExplore the Messiah digital exhibit.\nLearn more about the Handel and Haydn Society.", "A mass participation singing event is taking place in Aylesbury later this month - and everyone is invited to join in.\nThe Bucks Learning Trust’s music team are holding ‘Carmina in a Day’ at St Mary’s Church in Aylesbury on Saturday February 25.\nThis unique event gives singers of all ages and abilities the chance to learn and perform Carmina Burana - a popular choral work by composer Carl Orff- in the space of seven hours.\nThe BLTM’s area leader for Aylesbury North Fay Hayhurst said: “The idea is to get the community together to sing a well-known piece of music.\n“A lot of people know the music centre for offering children the chance to learn and play music, so we wanted to do something for the adults.”\nThe singers will be joined for the performance by the Aylesbury Youth Orchestra, a talented group of 13-18 year-olds playing an assortment of instruments, with Tom Horn conducting proceedings.\nMs Hayhurst added: “In London mass singing events are held at places like the Royal Albert Hall so we decided we wanted to do something on a smaller scale.\n“For our singing event, no experience is required and you don’t need to be able to read music.\n“Everyone will help each other along and it should be great fun.”\nRehearsals start at 10am with the final performance at 4.15pm.\nThe event costs £10 and vocal scores are available on the day for no extra cost.\nRefreshments are available throughout.\nTo find out more or book e-mail fhayhurst@learningtrust.net or call 01296 383596.", "Rob Beckett and Geri Horner are fronting the latest take on the singing show. Yay, come on - join in, says Frances Taylor\nTelevision needs more singing competitions like Ant and Dec need more NTAs.\nAdvertisement\nBut here we are again, on BBC1 with All Together Now – a show where 100 judges from the world of music show their appreciation of their favourite contestants by getting up, dancing and singing along with them.\nOr, as host Rob Beckett put it, it’s the show “where getting everybody joining in could win you £50,000 – because from Cup Finals to concerts, there’s nothing better than singing along.”\nYes, people, we’ve entered the terrifying realm of forced fun.\nHaving four TV judges saying ‘I really enjoyed that performance’ no longer cuts it. You now have to have 100 of them hitting their buttons (if they likey they have to lighty) before physically singing and dancing to indicate their enjoyment.\nAnd if you think that sounds a bit annoying for both viewer and judge… well, it is.\nSo who are The 100?. Well firstly they’re not to be confused with The 100 – the US drama that aired on Channel 4 about a group of people stranded on a post-apocalyptic earth.\nAlthough given the choice, it would arguably be less of a pain having to deal with the fallout from a devastating nuclear apocalypse than have to sit next to the likes of ‘Mr Fabulous’, a ‘Medieval Banquet Singer’ called Nigel or grumpy git Paulus for six whole weeks on the trot.\nBecause obviously many of these assembled bunch of singers, performers and vocal coaches are the embodiment of ‘I’m mad, me’ – the sort that are brought in by producers to bring ‘buzz’, ‘energy’ and, worst of all, ‘top banter’ to shows like this.\nAnd while some have sold more than 85 million records around the world (Geri Horner), some are famous for doing parody videos called Mans Got Floss by Big Plaq (The Singing Dentist). Well they had to find 100 people somewhere.\nEarly promotional shots for the show led some people to tweet about the visual similarities to The Muppet Show (they weren’t wrong) but The 100 (an overly sinister moniker) also look a bit like battery chickens, cooped up and flapping about in boxed pens.\nAnd much like sad chickens, sometimes they have to be cajoled into getting up. Often the person next to them gives a whoop, turns to them and says “come on, this is great – get up!”\nThe only problem with All Together Now (OK, not the only problem but a problem) is that it isn’t actually a competition to find the best singer. It’s actually just a contest for who can pick the best song.\nTake poor Alex for example. An unfortunate moustache aside, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the former footballer’s performance in this first episode. Heck, it might’ve even got a few turns on The Voice UK. The problem was that Alex had chosen to perform Elton John’s Your Song.\nYou could see the more kooky members of The 100 shifting bored in their seats (one of them even muttered “oh no” when he started singing). And because he wasn’t bad, a handful of people got to their feet with all the enthusiasm of having to give a standing ovation at the theatre just because the person in front has stood up and you can no longer see the stage. He got a paltry score of 11.\nAnd then we had Michael Rice. He was a good singer (he’s previously auditioned for The X Factor) but it was almost certainly because he chose to perform Proud Mary by Tina Turner that he achieved the maximum score of 100. Who isn’t going to stand up when that song comes on?\nGeri, too, seemed like she’d had enough midway through the episode. While they were waiting for the next singer to take to the stage, her next door cellmate Lili Davies, aka ‘Magic Betty’ (what a character!), tried to have some idle chit chat. With Geri remaining utterly po-faced throughout the whole exchange it was the sort of thing that makes you desperate for TV Burp to make a return.\nLili: “What did you have for dinner?”\nGeri: “Not very much. Hummus.”\nLili: “No Jaffa Cakes?”\nGeri: “No.”\nAnd that was it. Now if that’s not a TV Highlight of the Week, I don’t know what is.\nAs a bit of Saturday night fluff, All Together Now isn’t bad. It’s just not that good either. It will no doubt have the same viewers, the same legacy and be just as fondly remembered as BBC1’s recent singing competition Pitch Battle.\nHang on, what do you mean you don’t remember Pitch Battle?\nAdvertisement\nAll Together Now airs Saturdays on BBC1", "No one expects a stopgap to turn into a masterpiece. But that’s what happened to George Frideric Handel when one of his collaborators, Charles Jennens, handed him some texts to set to music.\nMessiah has, since its premiere in Dublin at Easter time 275 years ago, become one of the best-loved pieces of classical music in the English-speaking world. Toronto is no exception, becoming a virtual shrine to Messiah at this time every year.\nThe city’s two flagship orchestras — the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on modern instruments, and Tafelmusik Orchestra on historical ones — present multiple performances every December. The two-hour oratorio, either in part or whole, is also heard in churches, cathedrals, schools and community concerts from the city core to rural villages.\n“Handel says he will do nothing next Winter, but I hope I shall perswade him to set another Scripture Collection I have made for him, & perform it for his own Benefit (taking the bulk of the box office) in Passion Week. I hope he will lay out his whole genius & Skill upon it, that the Composition may excell all his former Compositions, as the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah,” wrote Jennens to a friend in July 1741.\nHandel, who had been making a fine living as an opera composer and producer, had seen the tastes of his London audience shift. They didn’t want Italian opera any more; they wanted something English. They wanted something more serious. He was at a loss, and was even considering moving back to his native Germany, when fate intervened with an Irish concert invitation.", "By\nCheryl Anderson knows how to work a room. Rehearsals of Cabrillo’s Symphonic Chorus plunge her singers into a full-body workout that can include whoops, cries, shrieks, yoga poses, neck rolls, clapping, counting, jumping, swaying, stomping, and endless solfège drilling. To sing with her is to engage in an emotional contact sport that borders on the aerobic. Years of singing with her can change a performer’s life.\nAnderson is known for her charismatic smile and firm directing style—and for her eye-catching footwear, be it the spiky 4-inch heels she favors for conducting, or the more sensible pointy-toed stilettos she wears to rehearsal.\nFirst coming to Cabrillo College in 1991 as conductor of the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus, Anderson has been the school’s Director of Choral and Vocal Studies for 27 years. Even after nearly three decades, the passionate teacher has kept her attitude fresh.\n“I love it so much—making sound that’s beautiful, and building relationships in music,” she says. “It’s what drives me.”\nAlso the director of music at Santa Cruz’s Peace United Church, she recently served as president of the Western Division of the American Choral Directors Association. And on June 1, Anderson will be honored as Santa Cruz Artist of the Year.\nNo one who has sung with her doubts that she deserves it.\n“Her success as a director is directly linked to her success as a teacher,” says Sherrie DeWitt, who has sung with her since the beginning of Anderson’s Cabrillo career. “She believes she can learn and she can teach almost anyone how to sing and interpret music—and I have watched her do it.”\nInfectious Energy\nIn rehearsal, Anderson never raises her voice. Her signature sparkle is usually enough to grab everyone’s attention, and those pointy shoes probably pack some magic of their own. If more is required, Anderson invites the group to “put buttissimos in seats.” Sitting at the piano, she begins a series of exuberant warm-up exercises that amount to a boot camp of growls, buzzes, trills, and arpeggios—up and up the scale, then down and down again—until the entire room is vibrating with kinetic energy. No one is having more fun than Anderson herself—and it’s infectious.\nFull disclosure: I sing with the Symphonic Chorus. In a recent rehearsal, at the end of almost four hours of work, Anderson passed around a sheaf of new music. Before we even had time to groan, she had the group working through complex rhythm and key changes. When things didn’t work, she stopped us, made us clap the timing, then try singing through it again on a single vowel. If we didn’t get it one way, she tried another. By the second run-through of the music, it was almost perfect. I was watching nothing short of magic by a teacher who enjoyed the results as much as we did.\nStrict enunciation of consonants, especially at the end of a word, is expected—and astonishingly, Anderson gets results early in rehearsal schedules. Notes and text are learned by the second rehearsal, and then the detailing begins. Nuanced volume control, exact timing, are all cultivated in the service of her favored musical goals—joy, love, and when possible, redemption. Swooping is not tolerated and every note is given respect. Vocal dynamics—the loudness or softness of a musical phrase—those dynamics are rehearsed, again and again, until merely by raising her eyebrows she can work a roomful of singers through a flawless crescendo, from extreme pianissimo to full-on triple forté.\nRaising Her Voice\nWhen I ask her about her famously coordinated look, she admits, “I just love shoes.” Her clothes are chosen to match them, be they the jewel-toned sweaters and skirts—plus sparkly earrings and necklaces—she favors for rehearsal, or the long Oscar-worthy gowns she wears for concerts.\nAnd she is candid about a deeper aspect of her celebrated dress code.\n“I was raised really poor,” she says. “And when you were out in public, you always had to represent your family. So it was important to look my best.”\nAnderson grew up in a large Pennsylvania family without the expectation of going to college.\n“It wasn’t encouraged,” she admits. “There was never an expectation of anything. It became clear to me that I needed a career if I was going to go anywhere.”\nSinging with an honor choir in high school opened her eyes. “I realized that you could do music as a career. What an incredible insight. And I just never looked back.”\nHer choral music career was nurtured as an undergraduate at West Liberty University in West Virginia, where she met her mentor and friend Alfred deJaager.\n“He taught me to be meticulous, patient, and unrelentingly tenacious,” she says. “His work with vowels and phrasing formed the basis of my choices when preparing choirs.”\nThe pivotal moment in Anderson’s career came thanks to legendary chorale director Robert Shaw. “I was doing doctoral work at the University of Cincinnati. My teacher was a protegé of Shaw’s, and we went to Atlanta to sing with him. It was a life-changing experience,” she says.\nShaw’s legacy is alive and well with Anderson. “I’ve gotten copies of his masterwork scores. I have notes, I have all of his books. Many of us who sang with him still collaborate on Mr. Shaw’s legacy. There was nothing like him,” she recalls with something close to reverence. Her rehearsal techniques—count singing, the refinement of pitch, rhythm drills, emphasis on enunciation—“that’s all Shaw,” she freely admits.\nAnother key strategy was derived from Shaw, who would move singers around like pieces on a chessboard, not according to vocal parts or height, but in terms of the quality of vocal timbres. In essence “tuning” the chorus to enhance the overall mix. This technique produces distinct and often powerful results, as many of Anderson’s veteran choral members will testify.\nMeri Pezzoni, longtime director of Choral Activities at Aptos High School, has performed with Anderson’s Cantiamo group over the past 25 years. “How she trains and mentors her teaching assistants always impressed me. Many of them go on to become choral directors, soloists, and music industry people,” says Pezzoni. “She has an incredible knowledge of choral repertoire and its historical significance.”\nAnderson has a clear and supple soprano voice, but insists that she did not have ambitions to be a solo performer. “I always loved to sing, and I did a lot of solo singing, but when I began at the colleges my job was to teach, to prepare others to sing,” she says. Solo singing was “not something I burned to do. I just thought that we were doing this together. And I got to be the one who made the opportunity for the singers.” She considers this work to be an honor and a sacred trust.\n“She is a model of very professional behavior,” says DeWitt. “She is always very prepared, courteous to everyone—and she remembers names and faces.”\nThe Miracle Worker\nMusic weaves its way into the heart of Cheryl Anderson’s private life as well. Anderson met her husband while she was teaching in Virginia Beach. “He was Commandant of the Army School of Music based at Norfolk’s Navy Amphibious Base. And they needed a soprano for a production of the HMS Pinafore. So we met singing Gilbert and Sullivan,” she says with a chuckle. “We dated for a long time. I had a lot of projects and he was busy with his job.”\nAfter three years, they married. When he moved back to Los Angeles for graduate work at UCLA, Cheryl went with him.\n“It took one concert for me to realize that Cheryl was extraordinary,” says her husband, John Anderson, who is now artistic director of Ensemble Monterey. “When we were first dating, it was her first year of teaching at Shelton Park Elementary School in Virginia Beach. She had these little elementary school children singing in three-part harmony and it was wonderfully musical. That’s just about impossible, and that’s when I knew.”\nCalling him “a great husband,” Cheryl describes him as the most resilient human being she can imagine. “There’s no friction,” says John, who also heads up Creative Arts at Monterey Peninsula College. “As a team, I think we are our best critics and best teachers. Cheryl is definitely a brilliant and gifted conductor, but what sets her apart from all the rest is her spirit of kindness, empathy, good humor and love both for the music and the people who make it. Groups sense this immediately—they know at once that they are singing with a one-of-a-kind master.\nMaster Class\nThose who have sung with her for years know that Anderson always favors the classical masterworks. “I try to program music with deep integrity,” she says. “If it’s fluffy and has integrity, that’s okay. If it’s just fluffy, then I hate it.”\nAnd she does have favorites. “Bach. Always Bach,” she admits. “The St. Matthew Passion. The B Minor Mass. And The Messiah—it always works. Haydn’s Creation. Monteverdi Vespers. Everything emanates from the great masters. They have it all—structure, harmony, passion, harmonic resonance, the essence of storytelling. You never get tired of it.”\nOnce they are trained and fine-tuned, Anderson’s choirs have toured all over the world from Cuba to Russia, performed at Carnegie Hall, and collaborated on operatic works at the Carmel Bach Festival. Each season, the community joins her choirs and Ensemble Monterey orchestra members in a not-to-miss performance of Handel’s Messiah, which she describes as “bone-chilling.” Earlier this month, Anderson’s Symphonic Chorus joined the Santa Cruz County Symphony performing Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler.\nAnderson also selects contemporary masterworks, and is known for highlighting expressionistic choral pieces by composer Morten Lauridsen, whose friendship with Anderson has brought him for workshops with her students and appearances in Cabrillo concerts. She fearlessly forges into the most ambitious modern repertoire—a new Eric Whitacre opera, Hindemith’s setting of Walt Whitman, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Britten’s War Requiem. All guaranteed game-changers, as she would put it.\nWorking the Room\nOne might think the transition from singing with Robert Shaw to working with community members and beginning students could prove frustrating to even the most patient educator. But Anderson won’t hear of it.\n“One of my undergraduate teachers taught me that a student failure is a teacher failure,” she says. “It’s my responsibility to get them there. It challenges me to figure out ways to work the interior language of the music.” She arms her choral groups with fundamental musical principles, harmonic language, historical context, and concert etiquette—everything that distinguishes a polished choral ensemble from a collection of enthusiasts.\n“She loves the challenge of performing masterworks and brings these works to the chorus with a passion,” says tenor Tom Ellison, who’s sung with the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus for 21 years. “She expects every choral member to understand the text and story being told. Her standards are very high and she is willing to spend the time to do what needs to be done.”\nToward that end, Anderson can turn herself, and her choral groups inside out learning exact foreign language pronunciations. No vocal sloppiness allowed.\n“She dreams big, and then goes for it,” says Deborah Bronstein, a 20-year Anderson veteran. “She has a knack for inspiring people to believe in her vision, and do the work needed to make the vision happen, be it Carnegie Hall or singing in the Vatican or creating a Children’s Choir program. She also has a strong commitment to developing people to be better singers, teachers, and people.”\nGame Changing\nAnderson’s goal is to shape a memorable performance. To her, that is “the one that moves the singers, and moves the audiences.” She fiercely believes that “the arts change the world.”\nThe music director is easily moved just recounting a musical experience—such as her recent visit to LA’s Disney Hall to listen to a choir made up of local homeless singers.\n“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” she says, blinking back her own tears. She also remembers a Mozart Requiem she led to commemorate 9/11.\n“We’d never practiced for it,” she remembers. “I just put out a call for singers to come with their music and we all sang. At the end, no on applauded. There was silence. And tears.”\nAnderson attributes her success to her unlimited belief in what her students are capable of. “I believe in people more than they believe in themselves,” she says “I want everybody to continue to grow.”\nAnd if they don’t, she’ll teach them how it’s done.\nIn a box: Santa Cruz Artist of the Year\nTo honor Cheryl Anderson as Santa Cruz Artist of the Year, the public is invited to a free gala Profile Performance of Anderson’s favorite music, performed by six of her choral groups: Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus, Cabrillo Chorale, Cantiamo!, Cabrillo Youth Choruses, Il Dolce Suono and Peace Chancel Choir. The performance will be presented at 7-9 p.m. on Friday, June 1, at Cabrillo College, Samper Recital Hall. For more information, go to scparks.com/Home/ArtsCulturalPrograms/ArtistoftheYear.", "The good organization and a convenient venue made the event stand out as hundreds of Rwandans came out to show their love for gospel music.\nRwead more", "Dozens of singers from along the coast made their way to Edgewater Mall today.\nAll of them vying for the chance to sing the National Anthem at a Shuckers game at M-G-M park.\nDesirae Duncan was there and gives us a look at the talent.", "Have your say\nCrowds of visitors enjoyed a celebratory garden party at a village church.\nThe event at St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church, in Great Casterton, attracted an estimated 120 people.\nThere was a host of fun activities for people to enjoy at the party on Saturday.\nSue Cliffe, a social team member for the event, said: “We had a very good turnout and we had a very successful day.\n“The weather held for us and it was beautiful. We were very lucky.”\nThere were afternoon teas, a treasure trail, croquet and other games.\nInside the church there were displays of pictures, photographs and flowers.\nThe Springfield Jazz Ensemble also performed at the party.\nDonations were requested to aid church funds.", "Young musicians played strings instruments in perfect harmony during a Violins in the Vale concert at Hose Village Hall on Monday.\nChildren from schools across the Vale of Belvoir and students of Harby-based music teacher Zosia Cocker took part in rehearsals, practises, quizzes and other music-related activities throughout the day, culminating in a massed performance for family and friends at the end of the afternoon.\nMrs Cocker said: “On a very hot day our young violinists, violists and cellists shone in a dazzling performance of melodies from around the world, with a special emphasis on music from warmer countries, including South America, Greece and Italy.\n“The children all played their hearts out all day, and it was especially rewarding for me to see all the pupils’ hard work and practising come together at such a memorable event.\n“For many it was their first time playing with an orchestra and they all left with huge smiles, inspired by playing and hearing so much wonderful music.”\nA bucket collection raised just over £60 for Dove Cottage Day Hospice at Stathern.", "Julia Friesen, left, Kassie Knelsen and Janessa Friesen sang The Perfect Gift in front of a full audience at East Elgin Community Complex in Aylmer for the Bradley Street Church of God Community Christmas Program. Entitled “Jesus – God’s Gift of Love,” the event included various musical performances in between an entertaining sermon on what Christmas should mean to families. Practically every seat at the numerous tables was full and several ushers and organizers were standing for the majority of the program. (AE/Craig Bradford)", "By Sage E. Spitz\nThis holiday season, Westminster Choir College students will bring festive music to the Princeton University Chapel.\nStudents from the Westminster Chapel Choir, the Concert Bell Choir, the Schola Cantorum and the Symphonic Choir will perform various musical pieces to get the community into the holiday spirit.\nReadings and Carols is a yearly Princeton tradition which incorporates holiday music, under the direction of conductors Joe Miller, James Jordan, Amanda Quist and Kathleen Shaw.\nConcert Bell Choir conductor, Shaw, has been directing at Westminster for 27 years.\n“This year’s Reading and Carols program will include traditional pieces that we perform from year to year, but will also include three new choral commissions,” she said.\nThis is the 25th anniversary of Readings and Carols, which began in 1992. According to Shaw, the Concert Bell Choir is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.\nWestminster was the first university in the world to offer a curriculum that was developed in order to train music educators and church musicians in the art of handbell ringing, said Shaw.\nThe Concert Bell Choir will be performing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman,” “Greensleeves,” as well as “Sleigh Ride,” which Shaw refers to as “an audience favorite.”\nAccording to Shaw, Readings and Carols was based on the King’s College Cambridge Festival of Lessons and Carols, and it has evolved over the years to “reflect the diverse community of Rider University.”\nThe event begins with a pre-concert music. There are various tunes played on the organ, followed by the traditional performance of “I Wonder as I Wander,” sung by the freshmen Chapel Choir.\nA processional of “Kyrie Eleison” follows, after which readings are interspersed with various hymns and musical pieces.\nAt the end of the program, all the choirs will join together to sing traditional holiday tunes, such as “Joy to the World,” after which there is a recessional and postlude.\nSenior voice performance major and member of the Symphonic Choir Kathee Zhen said, “My favorite part is when the lights come on and we sing ‘Joy to the World’ at the very end. It’s so joyous and happy and it really feels like Christmas is here.”\nAccording to Zhen, the Symphonic Choir, which includes the junior and senior students, will be performing “the fan favorite,” Whitbourn’s “Kyrie Eleison,” as well as Bach’s “Dona Nobis Pacem.”\nZhen reminisced about her first time attending Readings and Carols, saying, “I remember my freshman year, I was sitting in the balcony watching the solos, then the organ came in super loud and the procession started, and it was literally so magical.”\nReadings and Carols will take place Friday, Dec. 8 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 9 at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. in the Princeton University Chapel.\nPrinted in the 12/6/17 edition.", "Thu 10/5 @ 7:30PM\nFri 10/6 @ 7:30PM\nCleveland professional choral group Quire Cleveland is headed into its tenth year of performing nine centuries of a cappella vocal music under the leadership of artistic director Ross W. Duffin.\nTheir 2017-2018 season starts this weekend with “Henry Purcell: Hear My Voyce,” taking on the work of the great 17th century British Baroque composer. They’ll perform “Psalms & Anthems for the Chapel Royal” mostly a cappella, but will be joined by Peter Bennett on organ for some of the works.\nThey’ll do a performance at Lake Erie College’s Morley Music Building in Painesville on Thursday where tickets are $30. On Friday they’ll do a free performance at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland.\nQuireCleveland\nPost categories:", "There had been a number of failed attempts to establish Italian opera in London before George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) arrived there in 1710. But, when audiences began hearing Handel’s works in this genre, a British love affair with Italian opera (and with Handel, himself) began to flower. From his prolific quill flowed a steady stream of castrati- and prima donna-filled Baroque operas and oratorios. It is those splendiferous works that bring Milwaukee Opera Theatre and Danceworks Performance Company together at Lynden Sculpture Garden for the outdoor dance-music event, “Handel’s Bestiary.”\nThough he’s generally thought of as a composer of sacred music ( The Messiah at once springs to mind), Handel was, in reality, a man of the theater. By 1742, the German-born genius had written more than 40 operas; it is mainly these—plus many oratorios, which he regarded as operas sans costumes and stage action—that made Handel one of his adoptive England’s most celebrated men. There’s so much to be gleaned from this vast repertoire of glorious music—as Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik certainly discovered.\n“Working at the sculpture gardens allowed us to think big … Forty acres!” she exclaims. “For ‘Handel’s Bestiary,’ we’ve assembled a cast of 70 intergenerational dancers, 20 singers and instrumentalists and one choir. It’s fairly epic in scale and allows us to luxuriate in the talent that surrounds us.”\nThis will be MOT’s fourth collaboration with Danceworks Performance Company, and Ponasik is excited about the impending reunion at the chosen venue—Lynden Sculpture Garden—a beautiful locale she describes as “a sprawling park that features 50 sculptures from the Peg and Harry Bradley collection,” adding, “It’s a gorgeous site, and it is so much fun to sing there. Something special happens when we perform outside, and it’s not just that sometimes birds and frogs join in the music making. The artists are a little freer and less formal, and the connection forged with the audience feels natural and unforced.”\nThe “bestiary” aspect of this concert joins Lynden Sculpture Garden’s actual flora and fauna with Handel’s animal-centered arias. “One of our goals is to bring the gardens to life with ‘animals.’ There will be a series of 12 arias and accompanying dances at the center of it all. But, there will also be some sneaky, secret performances tucked here and there for those who discover them,” Ponasik explains. This won’t be a concert for the sedentary, passive listener: Pre-concert picnicking is encouraged, and attendees stroll the gardens as the music plays and the animals, both human and non-human, sing, dance and frolic about.\nThe arias on the program are those sung by animal and insect characters in a dozen of Handel’s works—from elephant to bee and from lion to turtledove. One example of this will be Diane Lane signing (as a frog) “Their land brought forth frogs” from Handel’s biblical oratorio, Israel in Egypt . It stems from Part Two of the work—amid an ancient Egypt beset by plagues.\nAnother comes from Handel’s 29th opera for the London stage, Alcina (1735), the plot of which revolves around the eponymous sorceress who lures would-be paramours to her enchanted island, there to enslave them as rocks, trees and wild beasts. The finale of Act Three finds a tiger (aka Ruggiero) venting his defiance in the aria, “Sta nell’Ircana pietrosa tana” (“In Her Rocky Lair”). Eventually, the curtain comes down with Alcina stripped of her magical powers and vanquished, her ex-lovers returned to their normal forms.\nThese are but two examples of the vividly drawn characters with which Handel enlivened his operas and oratorios. This concert features further excerpts from his Julius Caesar , Theodora , Floridante , Judas Maccabaeus and other works, sung by Diane Lane, Kathy Pyeatt, Sarah Richardson, Nathan Wesselowski, Cecilia Davis and others. Several instrumentalists will accompany the vocalists, playing violins, violas, cellos and horns.\n7 p.m., June 16 and 17, Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road, River Hills. For tickets, call 414-277-8480 ext. 6025 or visit milwaukeeoperatheatre.org.", "The Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers, recently installed as choir-in-residence at The Church of the Red Rocks, will share holiday inspiration with “A Festival of Lessons & Carols” at 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15, at The Church of the Red Rocks, 54 Bowstring Drive, Sedona. Admission is free.\nBased on the traditional “Service of Nine Lessons and Carols,” the Chamber Singers will perform Christmas songs with a message of hope, and read selected scripture passages. Some of the carols are concert pieces and others are familiar favorites that allow the audience to sing along.\nThis free performance of A Festival of Lessons and Carols is presented by the Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers as a gift to the people of Sedona and the Verde Valley.\nThe Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers was created in 2010 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Church of the Red Rocks in Sedona, Arizona and the 25th anniversary of Reverend Dr. George A. Ault. Now in its eighth year, the ensemble gives undergraduate and graduate voice and choral students from around the Southwest an opportunity to experience singing in a semi‐professional choir.\nIn becoming the choir-in-residence at The Church of the Red Rocks “the Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers and The Church of the Red Rocks hereby enter into a partnership with the express purpose of promoting the art of music, with the knowledge that doing so will enrich the lives of young people and adults alike and foster an atmosphere of intellectual and artistic curiosity among both patrons and members” according to the Artistic Director, Dr. Ryan Holder.\nFor more information please call The Church of the Red Rocks at 928-282-7963.", "The Love Supreme Jazz Festival was blessed by endless sunshine over the weekend for its sixth year.\nThousands of music fans gathered in Glynde Place, near Lewes, for the festival. More than 20,000 people attended.\nPerformers on Saturday included Elvis Costello and The Imposters, Level 42, Mr Jukes, Pharoah Sanders and the Portico Quartet.\nHeadliner Costello served up a strong 90-minute set from almost every part of his varied career.\nThe rousing finale of Oliver’s Army and What’s So Funny About Peace Love And Understanding had everyone up and dancing despite the heat.\nEarth Wind and Fire took to the main stage on Sunday and those adding to the feast of sound included Steve Winwood in the big top and Moonchild in the arena.", "When Michael Tansley came to Niagara, he meant it to be a time of easing into retirement.\nHe had found a beautiful house he loved in St. Davids, and was planning where to put the furniture, but he needed a job. He heard about an opening for organist and music director at St. Mark’s Anglican Church.\nAfter nine years of what turned out to be a highlight of a long and varied musical career, working with Rev. Bob Wright who was dedicated to bringing arts, especially music, to the historic church, Tansley is ready for the next stage.\nHe’s calling it retirement, knowing it will still mean keeping busy and, of course, playing music for others.\nHe gave the church lots of notice to find a successor, so he would feel comfortable knowing the church music would be in good hands.\nAlthough he has no definite plans for retirement, he knows he won’t be idle.\n“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed these years. I couldn’t have been happier. Will I miss it? Of course I will, but I’m not leaving the area and the friends I’ve made. That’s a bonus.”\nUnlike many retirees, travel isn’t at the top of his list — he has lived in many places and travelled with choirs, and doesn’t feel the pull of seeing new places.\n“I will keep my hand in music somehow, and I hope to do a bit of composing, maybe take a course at Brock and do some volunteering. I’ll also be available to fill in when an organist is needed. And I’ll have the freedom to do some other things that I haven’t had time to do.”\nHe plans to take a break of a few months from St. Mark's to give his replacement time to get comfortable “without me breathing down their neck.”\nTansley will present his final concert at St. Mark’s Church Friday with favourite musical selections he’s chosen.\n“I’m being very selfish with this Christmas concert,” he says. “It’s all music I’d like to do, and I’ll have people around me who have been part of the musical programs of St. Marks.”\nHe has invited as a special guest opera singer David Pike, who was a student of Tansley when he taught at Albert College in Belleville.\n“I started him off with his first singing lesson, and he’s done very well. He has a great career going. I’ll be happy to have him at St. Mark’s.”\nThe baritone sang at the church in June, said Tansley, “and it was a great success.”\n“People loved having him here.”\nWith a busy schedule of European performances, Pike is in Canada this month, and he agreed to come and sing for the church.\n“The program features him and is built around the fact that he’s here.”\nIt also features Michael Abbott on trumpet, Debbie Braun on harp, Lynne Honsberger on organ and cellist Helen Kopec, with music by Britten, Vaughan Williams, Rutter, two excerpts from Handel’s Messiah, Lauridsen and Sirett.\nThere will be some non-secular Christmas carols in new arrangements, said Tansley.\nThe 45-member St. Mark’s choir will be joined by friends of Tansley who have sung with him over the years, he said.\nTickets are $20, and are available through the parish office at 905-468-3123. The concert starts at 7 p.m. with a reception to follow.", "6 PM Reception, 7:30 PM Concert\nConstantine Kitsopoulos\nconducting the\nRoanoke Symphony Orchestra\nThe Moss Arts Center marks its fifth anniversary with a special gala reception and an extraordinary performance. The opera world lost a legend with the death of Maria Callas in 1977. Her exquisite voice and performances astounded audiences, and her loss devastated millions of fans, many of whom never had the chance to see her perform live. Now Callas returns to the stage through groundbreaking holographic technology, confirming her immortality to fans all over the world. \"Callas in Concert\" brings the beloved soprano to the Moss Arts Center to perform with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra in this extraordinary melding of art and technology. Fully remastered recordings of her most iconic performances of Bellini, Bizet, Verdi, and Puccini come to life as she sings them before your eyes. Experience her rapturous voice and timeless beauty, and the legendary emotional force that is Maria Callas as she inhabits her characters and evokes the drama that inspired the world to call her “La Divina.”", "A very entertaining concert was held on Sunday 19th November in Mochrum Church by local young musicians, presented by The Swallow Association.\nDavid Sumner did a wonderful job introducing each performer and the audience enjoyed a great selection of pieces of music played from many different instruments. It was a fabulous concert enjoyed by all with time for socialising and enjoying refreshments together at the end.\nProceeds from the concert will be split between Mochrum Church, Galloway Music Festival and The Swallow Theatre Association.\nThe organisers extend a big thank you to everyone who took part and came along to show their support. Special thanks must go to Mrs Christine Job who accompanied many of the youngsters on the piano at the concert but also encourages and aids their musical development and participation in such events.", "The Chichester Singers offer a programme of Handel, Parry and Duruflé when they perform in Chichester Cathedral on Saturday, March 24 at 7.30pm.\nMusical director Jonathan Willcocks said: “The programme combines celebratory baroque music (Handel – Coronation Anthems) with the beautifully-evocative mid-20th century Duruflé – Requiem.\n“And we also have an interesting lesser-known piece Hear My Words, Ye People by Parry, to mark the centenary of this fine composer’s death in 1918.\n“Parry is today best known for the great hymn Jerusalem, which has virtually become a second National Anthem, and the dramatic anthem I Was Glad which features prominently in most great royal church and cathedral ceremonies.\n“But in late Victorian England he was one of the most prominent musicians (director of the Royal College of Music and professor of music at Oxford University) as well as its leading composer in the generation before Edward Elgar.\n“Hear My Words, Ye People has Southern links, as it was written for a festival held in Salisbury Cathedral in 1894.\n“A further strong local connection is the fact that the original organ accompaniment was orchestrated in 1978 by Richard Barnes, who is currently accompanist to the Chichester Singers, and in this version first performed in St. Paul’s Cathedral for the 300th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter.\n“We have two excellent professional soloists (Stephanie Wake-Edwards – mezzo-soprano and Hugo Herman-Wilson – baritone) and the orchestra for this concert will, as usual, be Southern Pro Musica.”\nThe full programme is Handel – Zadok the Priest; Handel – The King shall Rejoice; Parry – Hear my Words, ye People; and Duruflé – Requiem.\nTickets are available from the box office:http:// https://chichestersingers.co.uk/buy-tickets.\nMore from Phil on https://www.chichester.co.uk/author/Phil.Hewitt2", "Male Northumberland folk singers and a German choir are joining forces for a concert in Alnwick this weekend.\nVoicemale will be performing with Chor des Herrn K. in the event at the town’s Northumberland Hall on Sunday.\nThere has been a connection between the two choirs since a member of Voicemale visited his long-time friends in Germany and was taken to a to a rehearsal of their group. Plans were soon in place for members of Voicemale to visit Germany for a joint concert.\nThis concert took place in 2015 in Burgdorf, Germany. Though the repertoires of the two choirs couldn’t be more different, or maybe even because of this, the concert was a great success.\nWheels were then put in motion for the two choirs to collaborate in the UK.\nThe German choir has more than 100 singers, of which more than 50 will come to England, some with partners and family.\nChor des Herrn K. will interpret rock and pop songs like Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven and So Lonely by The Police, as well as German hits like Engel by Rammstein and Über Sieben Brücken by Karat.\nLutz König, the Herrn K. choir master, arranges all the songs and will accompany the nine-part harmonies on the piano.\nVoicemale will start the evening with a selection of songs from Northumberland and further afield, and the two choirs will join forces to end the night with a grand finale.\nThe event promises to bring a unique and exciting variety of musical entertainment to Alnwick, and there will be a real ale bar in the venue too.\nDoors open at 6.45pm for a 7.30pm start. Tickets are £10 from Alnwick Post Office and Tully’s of Rothbury.", "Little in human nature escapes the scrutiny of scholarship, and New Year resolutions are no exception. We tap into a tradition that dates back to Babylonian times. Their new year began in March with the sowing of the crops: in ancient Roman times this shifted to January, associated with Janus, the two-faced god who looked into the past and the future.\nAs much of health and wellbeing depends on willingness to change, New Year resolutions provide a rich focus of study of human behaviour. Most resolutions are about health-related issues: we tend to make the same ones year after year, resolving on average 10 times to eliminate a particular vice.\nEach represents simultaneously a failed previous attempt and the impulse to continue making future plans for self-change, a Beckettian pact with ourselves.\nOur capacity for self-deception is reflected in a study of food purchases after Christmas. During the holiday season food expenditures increased 15 per cent compared to baseline with 75 per cent of additional expenditures accounted for by less-healthy items. Although there was a modest increase in buying healthy foods in the New Year, the level of less-healthy foods remained at holiday levels, leading the authors to describe our intentions as “New Year Res-illusions”.\nStudies from psychology provide more insights, in particular the concept of False Hope Syndrome, characterised by unrealistic expectations about the likely speed, amount, ease, and consequences of self-change attempts.\nOne of the factors in False Hope Syndrome may be a failure to appreciate the emotional and psychological factors underlying our challenges in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We may do better by focusing on positive rather than negative goals – doing rather than not doing – and undertaking activities that help us to gain insight into ourselves and how we relate to the pressures and opportunities of life.\nADVERTISEMENT\nWhile this may sound like a prescription for mindfulness, many clinicians remain sceptical as to whether formal mindfulness programmes currently in vogue are the best route for most of us. In studies of efficacy of mindfulness training, only a small proportion took up the training, suggesting that the full frontal approach benefits the minority so disposed.\nFor the rest of us, like much of our best experiences in life, an elliptical approach works best: the art lies in concealing the art, so to speak. It is all the better if such a change involves a degree of pleasure and a supportive environment.\nMy own major change this year, and one that I can heartily recommend as a New Year resolution, was to join a choral society, something I had been considering for years. In the event it has proved a remarkable experience, and I am only sorry that I did not join 20 years ago!\nIt is hard to disentangle any one element from the many positive strands involved. The choir, Our Lady’s Choral Society, was incredibly welcoming but also with a fantastic forward impetus and work ethic under the direction of one of Ireland’s most remarkable musicians, Proinnsias O’Duinn.\nWith little previous experience, I found myself over the course of six months singing a moving Beethoven oratorio, a sublime Schubert Mass, three performances of the Messiah, and a delightfully arranged Christmas concert.\nThe rehearsals are as important as the concerts. I find myself looking forward to Tuesday evenings where all else is cleared from my mind as I concentrate on the score and singing, allied to the pleasure of singing together.\nIn addition, there is the constant proximity to the beauty of the music. As a race we are not given to discourse on aesthetics in our personal lives, but aesthetics feature in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as the penultimate step in self-actualization, a truer understanding of who we are.\nThe aesthetic experience is unbelievably heightened in performing in one of these masterpieces, almost as if one became a living character in a great novel or a celebrated painting like Rembrandt’s Nightwatch, moving from observer to embedded participant.\nWhile the health aspects of choral singing are undeniable, these may be over-played to the importance of how it helps us to rethink and reshape our world, experience pleasure and companionship, and connect to something deep inside through text and music.\nChoral singing is not the only route to positively engaging with self-awareness, pleasure, friendship, aesthetics and life perspective, but is a harmonious route to ringing (and singing) in the New Year.", "THE visitors were as colourful as the flowers at this year's Charlton Spring Festival in Wantage.\nDozens of fun-seekers young and old flocked to the annual celebration at Wantage Market Garden in the ground of Charlton Day Centre on Thursday.\nGardeners picked up some green goodies at Colin Fox's petite plant stall while younger revellers went mad on the bouncy castle or enjoyed the live music.\nThe family festival is hosted each year by learning disability charity Style Acre, which manages the day centre, and Sustainable Wantage, which maintains the market garden.\nThe Wantage Market Garden is a collaborative project which aims to provide therapeutic gardening opportunities.\nAll proceeds raised at Thursday's festival will go towards maintaining the garden." ]

[ "These are just a few of the people who made the Bryant Park Project such an amazing place to work. Last night I left our office knowing that I had just one day left with everyone here, one more day to make the show that we all love so dearly. I was depressed, and I knew there was only one thing I could do -- bake. There is something about measuring, mixing, and frosting that I find incredibly soothing. My mom always baked for me when I was young, and I remember watching her take the time to paint the food coloring on the apple cut-outs on top of her pie. It was like edible proof of how much she loved us. Last night when I was carefully mixing and coloring my third batch of homemade butter cream frosting, I was just overwhelmed with feelings for this group. I leave the BPP with a final batch of baked goods, 24 ice cream cone cupcakes filled with all my love." ]

[ "When Mary Lambert sang the hook for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 2012 hit \"Same Love,\" her career transformed. She quickly went from performing at coffee shops in Seattle — \"to six people, including my mom,\" as she tells it — to performing on Ellen, at the MTV Video Music Awards and the Grammys. Now, Lambert is releasing her debut solo album, Heart on My Sleeve. Still, she says the opportunity \"Same Love\" provided her still has her in disbelief. \"It's so much a part of my artistic identity,\" the singer and songwriter tells NPR's Arun Rath. \"I can't really believe that that's my breakout song, a song about gay rights and social justice existing in the pop world. Like, that's my introduction? That's pretty cool.\" Lambert was in the midst of applying to graduate programs for teaching when received the phone call from Macklemore and Lewis. She says the song came at the right time in her life, a moment when her identity as both gay and Christian felt like a daily contradiction. \"My Christian friends were like, 'We love you; you're still going to hell.' And my gay friends were like, 'Why are you hanging with a group of people that don't value your rights?'\" she says. \"I wanted to think really critically about, what would I tell the world if I had the opportunity about my point of view? You don't accomplish a lot by changing people's opinions by shoving facts down their throat. I think you change people's opinions by opening your heart up and showing the parallels between you and another person. That's how people's ideas shift.\" Lambert spoke with NPR's Arun Rath about finding her own audience after \"Same Love,\" incorporating poetry and spoken word into music and covering Rick Springfield's \"Jessie's Girl.\" Hear more of their conversation at the audio link. ARUN RATH, HOST: When Mary Lambert sang the hook on Macklemore's 2012 hit \"Same Love,\" her career transformed. MARY LAMBERT: I mean, around this time, I'm playing venues to, like, six people including my mom. Like, this is not - this is not happening for me. RATH: She went from performing in coffee shops in Seattle to performing on \"Ellen,\" on the MTV Music Video Awards and at the Grammys. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) LAMBERT: (Singing) And I can't change, even if I tried, even if I wanted to. And I can't change, even if I tried... RATH: Now at 25, Mary Lambert is releasing her debut album, \"Heart On My Sleeve.\" She came by NPR West to talk about it, but I had to start by asking her about the song that made her famous. Are you sick of talking about \"Same Love\"? LAMBERT: (Laughter) No, I'm not. It's so much a part of my artistic identity, and I can't really believe that, you know, that's my breakout song, sung about gay rights and social justice and, like, existing in the pop world now. Like, that's my introduction. Like, that's pretty cool. RATH: How did that come together? LAMBERT: After I graduated college, I was really experimenting in my writing, at least the feeling of living sort of a contradictory life of being a Christian and a lesbian and feeling, like, that I did not feel like I could coexist in both of those worlds. Like, my Christian friends were like, we love you; you're still going to hell. (Laughter) And, you know, my gay friends were like, why are you hanging out with a group of people that don't value your rights? And Hollis Wong-Wear, who sings on \"White Walls,\" she and I were friends and did poetry together. She suggested me for the song because she was good friends with Macklemore and Ryan. And she knew that that was sort of a part of my identity and something I was exploring. I was just so, so shocked. I was actually in the process of applying to graduate school to be a teacher. So I was like, OK, I'm going to put that degree on hold and see if I can make this happen. I wrote it, and about two hours after that phone call, I went into that studio, met them for the first time and recorded it that night. RATH: Let's talk about the new album. I think if people hadn't heard you before, this is a great way to introduce you, is the song \"Secrets.\" (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"SECRETS\") LAMBERT: (Singing) I've got bipolar disorder. My life's not in order. I'm overweight. I'm always late. I've got too many things to say. I rock mom jeans, cat earrings, extrapolate my feelings. RATH: So I love how you go from a place, you know, where you're talking about how you couldn't write everything in one song to you have a song where everything's out there. LAMBERT: (Laughter) All of it. All of the baggage. I just wanted to write a song that was sort of about living unapologetically. I mean, this is a pop song. So I'm not, like - I know that I can't, like, solve all of the world's problems. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"SECRETS\") LAMBERT: (Singing) I don't care if the world knows what my secrets are, secrets are. There might be a nugget where it just clicks in some 13-year-old girl's head that she's valued. And it's not tied up in a pretty bow because this is me showing you " ]

[ "45 cubic feet and an 80-pound bag yields . 60 cubic feet. One 50-pound bag of Quikrete Fast Setting Concrete Mix yields about . 375 cubic feet." ]

[ "45 cubic feet and an 80-pound bag yields . 60 cubic feet.", "30 cubic feet, 60 pounds of concrete mix yields . 45 cubic feet and an 80-pound bag yields . 60 cubic feet.", "Each 80 pound bag yields 0.6 cubic feet. There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. Thus, it requires 45 bags to yield 1 cubic yard.", "QUIKRETE® CONCRETE MIXES CALCULATOR: Enter the size of the slab you want to build in square feet. The calculator will indicate the number of 60 or 80 pound bags of QUIKRETE® Concrete Mix you need to build a 4″ or a 6″ slab. (All yields are approximate and do not include allowance for uneven subgrade, waste, etc.)", "Since 27 cubic ft is a cubic yard, it would take 54 bags to make a yard. However, if it's after the bag has been emptied, the soil will bulk out, which may reduce the number of bags by 20% or more. How many cubic feet of topsoil are in a 90-pound bag?", "A 80 lb. bag provides 0.6 cubic feet of cured concrete. If you have concrete delivered it is sold by the yard (which is a cubic yard = 27 cubic feet). 27 cubic feet/ 0.6 cubic feet = 45 bags.", "Originally Answered: How many 80-pound bags of concrete does it take to make a yard? An 80# bag of concrete mix yields about . 6 cubic feet of concrete. So one cubic yard of concrete requires about 45 bags of mix.", "Anyone know how many cubic feet in a 50 pound bag of fertilzer? 60 lbs per cubic foot according to several web sources. That comes out to . 83 CF per 50 pounds.", "60 pound bag yields .017 cubic yards. 80 pound bag yields .022 cubic yards.", "Originally Answered: How many 80-pound bags of concrete does it take to make a yard? 45 bags would give you 1 cubic yard of concrete.", "A 60 lb. bag provides 0.45 cubic feet of cured concrete. A 80 lb. bag provides 0.6 cubic feet of cured concrete.", "One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet. A 40 pound bag of topsoil usually contains about .", "Re: 80 Lb Bags Of Quikrete 097512 yards + 5% = . 102388 yards.", "An 80# bag of pre-mixed cement, sand and gravel (CONCRETE) is 0.6 cubic foot per the bag. There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. So 27 / 0.6 = 45 80# bags.", "One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet. A 40 pound bag of topsoil usually contains about . 75 Cubic Feet of soil. There are 25.71404638 Dry Quarts in a Cubic Foot, so a 25 quart bag of potting soil would equal approximately 1 Cubic Foot.", "A 50-pound bag of pea gravel is equivalent to 0.5 cubic foot, so two 50-pound bags cover 1 cubic foot.", "6 cubic feet for an 80 lb bag. The first thing you need to know is the “density” of the concrete.", "Portland Cement, Type I/II, Quikrete, 94lb Bag, 35 Bags per Pallet, Price per 70 Bags (2 Pallets) In Stock!", "Use the following yields per each bag size: 40 pound bag yields .011 cubic yards. 60 pound bag yields .017 cubic yards. 80 pound bag yields .022 cubic yards.", "You will need 3 quarts (2.8 liters) of water for every 80 pounds (36.3 kilos) of Quikrete concrete.", "An 80# bag of concrete mix yields about . 6 cubic feet of concrete. So one cubic yard of concrete requires about 45 bags of mix.", "Depending on particle size/moisture/ etc, sand is about 100 lbs per cubic foot, so a 50 lb bag is about 0.5 cubic feet. 21.3 Cubic feet / . 5 cubic feet per bag is 42.6 bags.", "To determine how many bags of concrete you will need, divide the total cubic yards needed by the yield. Use the following yields per each bag size: 40 pound bag yields .011 cubic yards. 60 pound bag yields .017 cubic yards.", "Choose the mixer size most appropriate for the size of the job to be done • Allow at least 1 cu ft (28 L) of mixer capacity for each 80 lb (36.3 kg) bag of QUIKRETE® Concrete Mix to be mixed at one time • For each 80 lb (36.3 kg) bag of QUIKRETE® Concrete Mix to be mixed, add approximately 6 pt (2.8 L) of fresh water ...", "Pre-mix concrete comes in bags that are 60 lbs. and 80 lbs. A 60 lb. bag provides 0.45 cubic feet of cured concrete.", "A pallet can handle 54 X 2.8 cubic feet bags and 45 X 3 cubic feet bags.", "A 50 pound bag of sand is about 3 cubic feet…so it looks like 7-8 bags should work for 2 inch depth.", "1 bag = 50 kg of cement. 1 m^3 = 35.3147 cubic feet.", "One 94 lb. bag of Portland Cement makes 4.5 cubic feet of concrete.", "1 cubic yard is 27 cubic feet or 765 litres 1 bag of mulch is 2 cubic feet or 56.6 litres So a cubic yard of mulch is equivalent to 13.5 bags A bag is from ~3 to ~5 dollars (spring 2020) depending on the brand.", "How many square feet are covered by a 50 pound bag, under average conditions? A: About 1,000 square feet.", "in metric countries - 1 litre. in non-metric countries - 1 quart. So it looks like the medium freezer bag (945 mL)." ]

[ "A head on ice would be able to survive for a while, especially if prior to separation induced hypothermia is used to trigger the mammalian diving reflex, and drugs which limit brain damage from anoxia are used. This may give as much as 30-40 minutes to work with a severed head. If the dead body is in good shape otherwise, such as a recent death from acute head trauma, and is similarly cooled rapidly to prevent tissue breakdown, you could possibly reattach most major components in that time. Regrowing the severed spinal cord would be the tricky part, but there is a lot of research going on that suggests it may be possible, especially if correct treatment of the severed spinal cord is taken immediately. Stem cell grafts or at least application of specific growth factors will probably be needed to complete the connection. \\n\\nWith arteries, muscles, skin, and peripheral nerve connections restored, the person could be kept on a heart-lung machine until the spinal cord is repaired to maintain steady breathing and heartbeat. \\n\\nSo, in short, it's plausible with near-future medical technology, but it's probably risky enough to not be worth attempting yet. Within 10-15 years, it could be done. \\n\\nThe real question would be whether or not the newly connected head could correctly control the body it's attached to. There are some general levels of organization to the distribution of nerve fibers in the spinal cord, but the I/O pattern in the cervical spinal cord of the grafted head wouldn't be an exact match for the spinal cord in the body. If the signals are mismatched, and they probably will be, the results could be anything from loss of muscle coordination and control to chronic severe neurological pain. Whether or not the plasticity of regrowth would allow this to correct itself is unknown. \\n\\nIt might end up being easier to graft the head plus spinal cord into the donor body, since the spinal cord to peripheral nervous system connections, plus the cranial nerve to body connections, such as the vagus nerve, are much simpler than the spinal cord. If bloodflow could be restored within the 30-40 minutes working time this would give surgeons time to finish the spinal graft. Recovery would still be very extreme, since the spine would have to be completely opened up, and successful recovery of such an invasive procedure is currently beyond our medical capabilities, but there is a lot fo work with artificial spinal disks, bone grafts, and other systems for repairing damaged vertabrae. \\n\\nI certainly wouldn't volunteer to be the first patient, but it's plausble that one day it could be done successfully." ]

[ "The Indians were legit last year. Even though they lost Millwood, Elarton and Howry, they should still be a very good young team. Travis Hafner is quite possibly the strongest guy in baseball right now. I dunno if they have enough to beat the White Sox this year, but definately in the next few years." ]

[ "An EpiPen!" ]

[ "It’s better to have lost. You learn and grow. Hopefully.", "OP have you got something to tell us?", "LL, His momma said knock you out.", "On reddit you use `/s`", "Can't have something if you have nothing", "Why??? Who said something??? WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?????????", "Pros: You have something to do\n\nCons: You have to do something", " Can't have a heartbreak if you never have relationships", "You have us beat", "Do you still have her number? s/", "Manny. You have something to hate. You will want to brutally murder Manny, and that’s what makes it fun", "You have never tried durian.", "What do you mean you people? S/", "Normally I would say you have a real problem, but with Covid you probably get a little slack right now. Hopefully you have plans tho?", "You have a reason to act like you have something up your ass.", "You don't need to sleep with 100's to have unknown kids.", "Have you seen us?", "Have you not seen us?", "When you have something interesting to say", "do you have homework to do or something", "Attraction is subjective, although there is a “general hot/not” scale kind of but if (s)he’s dating you... (s)he likes whatever flaws you think you may have.", "You should have used protection.", "Never. You go through rough patches, but I have never regretted having my kids.", "What have people asked you?", "Have you heard of something called addiction?", "Yeah to us a building from the 1600's or 1700's is majestically old when you guys have stuff several times older and it's not even seen as a particularly a big deal.", "\"You can only conclude something if you have a doctor's degree\"", "What answer do you have?", "Do you know what would happen if you tried to force this on people? You realize in the US there have already been riots over having to wear masks, never mind forcing people to get infected? This is the kind of thing that would start a coup or an actual impeachment.", "Obviously you have something you want to tell someone lol", "Never gonna give you up, what else would represent us?", "You don't have to be scared of the dark. You only have to be scared of what is in the dark, that you cant see." ]

[ "There is no USSR. Are you referring to Russia?" ]

[ "everybody does things differently. I hate being mad with anyone for life.....", "No cause then I would have to hate you for asking this one and I don't hate you because I think that you actually want to know what you are asking and so does everybody else.", "Allen Iverson. T.O. is easy to hate, but EVERYBODY HATES AI. They just show their hate by constantly critisizing his performance...not as overt as the T.O. thing!", "Ussr will still exist, he would attack France searching for weapons of mass destruction", "Physics. No wonder everybody hates physics ...", "if everybody does it, believe me it will...", "Seinfield, Everybody Hates Chris, That 70's Show", "Did you see that last posting about Military Personnel should refrain from making posts? WHATEVER!!!!!!!!! Just about everybody on the face of this earth is wondering what the HAY we are still over there for. I like the way the other guy tried to give an explanation which still does not make sense to me. To answer your question, I (Army Spouse) find no justification in this \"war\"!!! And neither does my husband, but again he is doing his job!! Would hate to lose good ol' Tricare for not doing his job!! (Tricare is military health insurance.) I'm not anti-army just anti-war. There's a difference.", "EVERYBODY WHO BOTHERED ME IN THE PAST OR UPSETTED ME BEFORE I DIED ... AND PPL WHO I HATE ... ALMOST EVERYBODY !!! WHO I KNEW", "everybody usually does", "Any club on the top are always disliked ..who hates man utd .....everybody. \\nwhen they were on top...\\ncome on you blues...k.t.b.f.f", "Ice hockey is in the winter olympics sice the begining.\\nHere a list of the winners : \\n\\n1920 - Canada (Winnipeg Falcons) \\n1924 - Canada (Toronto Granites) \\n1928 - Canada (University of Toronto) \\n1932 - Canada (The Winnipegs) \\n1936 - Great Britain\\n1948 - Canada (RCAF Flyers) \\n1952 - Canada (Edmonton Mercurys) \\n1956 - USSR\\n1960 - United States \\n1964 - USSR\\n1968 - USSR\\n1972 - USSR\\n1976 - USSR\\n1980 - United States\\n1984 - USSR\\n1988 - USSR\\n1992 - Unified Team (Was the name during USSR to Russia transition) \\n1994 - Sweden\\n1998 - Czech Republic \\n2002 - Canada \\n2006 - Sweden", "What in the hell did any of that mean? What did the USA do to Osama bin Laden except become the victim of his plots on at least three different occasions? The USA is not a \"victim of its past deeds\" it's simply the target of all the hate-filled wackos in the world because the USA is the ONLY country of significance economically and militarily left in the world.\\n\\nWhen the USSR still existed the same fringe groups that hate the USA hated the USSR just the same.\\n\\nWhat the USA should do is STOP giving money to the United Nations and stop giving money directly to other countries and see how well they all do without the generous assistance given to them by the American people every year.\\n\\nBy the way, did you notice how much assistance and money the Taliban and Al Quada gave to the Muslim victims of the hurricane in SE Asia last year - ZERO. And yet the USA was the first on the scene trying to help.", "If you use the Messenger menu on top go to,\\n\\nMessenger>My Status>Invisible to Everyone will show you offline to everybody, but you will still be able to see everybody.", "Law and Order, Two and a Half Men, South Park, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Crossing Jordan, The Shield, Saturday Night Live, Family Plots, Monk, King of Queens, Everybody Hates Chris", "McCarthyism happened in the 1950s. Groups of people (actors, news reporters, etc) were suspected of being communists - with no basis or foundation for the suspicion. Many people were banned from doing their work because of their suspected communist ties. This was during an era called the \"Cold War\" which was between the end of World War II and the mid 1980's. At this time, the United States and Russia (then called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - USSR or Soviet Union) were sworn enemies of each other. The USSR was a communist state. When the USSR collapsed in the mid 80s and early 90s the two nations resolved their differences.\\n\\nCommunism is an economic system where the state owns the means of production, and everybody is supposedly treated equally - as opposed to capitalism (which the USA has) where the more you work the more $$$ you make, and the more $$$ you make the 'better off' you are.", "I say Hulk Hogan he's unforgetable and he still entertaining everybody.", "Sure, everybody does it anyway.", "Russia. It's not as big as the former USSR (because the other former republics are independent), but it's still HUGE, stretching from Eastern Europe all the way to the Bering Strait across from Alaska.", "They use all the same methods everybody else does. We used early withdrawal or condoms.", "so, if time is a banana or bacon, how does it stand still? it must be an animal.....but if you say the animal is pig, then bacon still stands....\\n\\nwas stephen hawkins vegetarian, or did he hate animals to think that animals had no time?", "SO WHAT LET THEM SAY YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND BECUASE IF THEY TALK ABOUT YOU THAN THERE JEALOUS OR HATEING AND WHO CARES IF YOU GUYS ARE GOING OUT I'AM NOT SAYING YOU ARE YOU SHOULD EVERYBODY DOES SOMEDAY LIFE IS SHORT SO LIVE IT TO THE FULLEST CAUSE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, IT WILL BE OVER AND YOU'LL RELIZE YOU DID NOTHING WITH IT, IT BUT IF YOU DO SOMETHING WITH IT WILL TAKE FOREVER TO END", "The french hate everybody because they are so insecure with their own little failure of a country. Their culture is dieing so they legislate the amount of outside films that come in their country. The short answer is that are jealous of the rest of the world,", "Sites of conflict weren't limited to Cuba and Afghanistan--there were ideological conflicts throughout the world at the time. Many countries in South America, Asia, etc. Though the US and USSR didn't ever really have direct contact, the cold war was very real though many people at the time didn't want to recognize that it actually was a war. \\n\\nThe USSR was actively promoting Communism throughout the world to extend their reach. Luckily Reagan had the insight to know that just because they weren't attacking us--the spread of Communism would be just as good as if they were attacking us. Reagan countered the USSR's pursuits and won. I think the USSR would still exist today if Reagan hadn't actively countered them and given the US \"peace through strength\". Because he refused to play Russia's game, they were forced into trying to keep up with the US's military and nuclear buildup which eventually lead them to an economic crisis--forcing them to snap out of their ploys of world domination.", "Nope...The sun still has plenty of hydrogen, and the only Earth smashing asteroid that we know of is still over 800 years away. Everybody Party!!", "For the same reason straight people want to join. No, gay does not \"come with love everybody peace to all fagity mentality\".", "If he is the type to face the crowd in the restaurant, he is not ready to be faithful. He still needs to explore. Like many of us, he loves women in general.\\nOr, and I hate to assume this and by no means does it reflect negatively toward you, you just don't hold his attention, he still desires more.", "Russia might have same ambitions as the erstwhile USSR, but it is certainly not the same power as USSR, economically, technically and most importantly politically. \\n\\nAnd I think this is a fact that no one can deny now. Also, the problems with other breakaway nations of USSR has made it weaker.", "Brazil defeated the USSR 2-1 in Sevilla. The winning goal was scored by Eder.\\n\\nAnd -- you should not confuse Russia with the (ex-)USSR. It's the same kind of mistake as confusing England with Great Britain.", "Here is a good source to find the answer.\\nhttp://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/\\n\\nIt starts with Cuba becoming a Communist country under Castro, who invokes and requests aid from the USSR. The USSR was more than willing to aid Cuba in response to what they had percieved was a threat from the US and Turkey agreeing to deploy missile armed with nuclear weapons in Turkey aimed at the USSR. The USSR and Cuba ageed to have missiles in Cuba and was hurried along by the decisions of the US to try to get rid of Castro through various means, including assasination and the Bay of Pigs invasion.", "USSR. They beat d americans to d pucnh.", "I didn't know we invited people here.Come here and get married,get your greencard. That's what i heard what everybody else does." ]

[ "I laughed out loud throughout this book. The author's characterization of her quirky mother and staid strong father is perfect. Though she has her differences with them in belief and culture, she loves them and respects them, and though she pokes fun at their quirks, she's not poking fun at their religion.\n\nWhen the author ends up back home after her divorce, she takes the time to look back over her life -- examining her upbringing and religious culture. This isn't so much a \"revelation\" or \"cure\" type of memoir. It's really just a look at her life -- how her past shaped her and how it continues to.\n\nThere are some thought-provoking truths about getting older, starting over, and family ties, but mostly it's just an enjoyable fun and FUNNY read." ]

[ "This is a really great soundtrack CD!!! I am a HUGE fan of Hilary Duff, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the movie!! This album has a lot of Hilary Duff songs (yah!!) and also songs by Haylie Duff, Mya, Jesse McCartney, Kaitlyn, MxPx, Edwin McCain, and other great artists!! This is definetely a 5 star CD in my opinion!!!", "\"Hollywood Vampires\" (Deluxe Edition) is great! This is a great and interesting rock album with an interesting picks of classic songs that are well-done. This is a great rock album debut, as well, too. All (17) tracks on here are great. Note: The original edition has (14) tracks on it, this version has (3) additional tracks included with it.\n\nTrack Listing:\n1. The Last Vampire (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)\n2. Raise The Dead (4 out of 4 stars)\n3. My Generation (4 out of 4 stars)\n4. Whole Lotta Love (4 out of 4 stars)\n5. I Got A Line On You (4 out of 4 stars)\n6. Five To One/Break On Through (To The Other Side) (4 out of 4 stars)\n7. One/Jump Into The Fire (4 out of 4 stars)\n8. Come And Get It (4 out of 4 stars)\n9. Jeepster (4 out of 4 stars)\n10. Cold Turkey (4 out of 4 stars)\n11. Manic Depression (4 out of 4 stars)\n12. Itchycoo Park (4 out of 4 stars)\n13. School's Out/Another Brick In The Wall (4 out of 4 stars)\n14. My Dead Drunk Friends (4 out of 4 stars)\n15. I'm A Boy (4 out of 4 stars)\n16. Seven And Seven Is (4 out of 4 stars)\n17. As Bad As I Am (4 out of 4 stars)", "The soundtrack to \"Trash\" is great! This is another great soundtrack / score from Antonio Pinto. It is well-done, well-made and entertaining. All (22) tracks on here are great.\n\nTrack Listing:\n1. Where's the Wallet? (4 out of 4 stars)\n2. Police Dump (3 out of 4 stars)\n3. Frederick to Gardo (3 out of 4 stars)\n4. The Boys Arrived (4 out of 4 stars)\n5. Station Chase (4 out of 4 stars)\n6. The Letter (4 out of 4 stars)\n7. Trash Kid (3 out of 4 stars)\n8. Raph Taken (4 out of 4 stars)\n9. Police Interrogation (4 out of 4 stars)\n10. Rato and Gardo (4 out of 4 stars)\n11. Prison Walk (3 out of 4 stars)\n12. Gardo Recites Letter (4 out of 4 stars)\n13. Flashback Alegria (3 out of 4 stars)\n14. The Clemente Code (4 out of 4 stars)\n15. Raph Makes Video (4 out of 4 stars)\n16. Marco's Bible (3 out of 4 stars)\n17. Favela Hideout (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)\n18. Imagina O Paraiso (4 out of 4 stars)\n19. The Favela Race (4 out of 4 stars)\n20. Cemetery (4 out of 4 stars)\n21. Long Trip Home (4 out of 4 stars)\n22. Everyone Is Happy (3 out of 4 stars)", "I bought this as a replacement for my phone charger. It is very thick and does not bend easily.\n\n5 stars if you are looking for durability or computer use .\n4 stars for a phone cable.", "Cable works as expected, not much else to say about it. Price was a little high, so it is getting 4 instead of 5 stars.", "The soundtrack to \"Noah\" is excellent! This is another excellent album from Clint Mansell & The Kronos Quartet. This is also another impressive soundtrack to a Darren Aronofsky film. This is one of the best movie soundtracks of the year, so far. This is also an excellent soundtrack to what was one of the most anticipated movies of the spring season. All (23) tracks on here are excellent.\n\nTrack Listing:\n1. In The Beginning, There Was Nothing (4 out of 4 stars)\n2. The World Was Filled With Violence (4 out of 4 stars)\n3. The End Of All Flesh Is Before Me (4 out of 4 stars)\n4. Sweet Savour (4 out of 4 stars)\n5. The Fallen Ones (4 out of 4 stars)\n6. For Seasons, And For Days, And Years (4 out of 4 stars)\n7. Make Thee An Ark (4 out of 4 stars)\n8. Every Creeping Thing That Creeps (4 out of 4 stars)\n9. I Will Destroy Them (4 out of 4 stars)\n10. Flesh Of My Flesh (4 out of 4 stars)\n11. The Wickedness Of Man (4 out of 4 stars)\n12. In Sorrow Thou Shalt Bring Forth Children (4 out of 4 stars)\n13. Your Eyes Shall Be Opened, And Ye Shall Be As Gods (4 out of 4 stars)\n14. The Flood Waters Were Upon The World (4 out of 4 stars)\n15. By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed (4 out of 4 stars)\n16. The Judgement Of Man (4 out of 4 stars)\n17. The Spirit Of The Creator Moved Upon The Face Of The Waters (4 out of 4 stars)\n18. Forty Days And Nights (4 out of 4 stars)\n19. What Is This That Thou Hast Done? (4 out of 4 stars)\n20. The Fear And The Dread Of You (4 out of 4 stars)\n21. And He Remembered Noah (4 out of 4 stars)\n22. Day And Night Shall Not Cease (4 out of 4 stars)\n23. Mercy Is - Patti Smith (4 out of 4 stars)", "Giving it a 4 star instead of 5 because of the very cheap wall anchors they include and mine had 3 or 4 black marks on it. Being all white they are very noticeable. Shelf looks great otherwise", "Gave these 5 stars bc I thought I needed them, but after removing all 4 doors on my wrangler they weren't necessary.", "This tea is very low quality. Basically it is a dust.\n\nIt's a riddle who gives this tea 4 and 5 stars??", "Very cool shoes. I just put them on. Comfortable but feel like they are cut a little small. 4/5 stars.", "my cat uses it- that's enough for 5 stars\nBUT-\nit's strong enough for her to climb with all 4 paws on the post, and she weighs 9Lbs", "The games will leave you wanting. Fire TV is a must and that aspect of the product warrants 5 stars...the gaming edition appears to still be in Beta. So, 2 stars to the game side of Fire TV...six stars for Fire TV...averages out to 4 stars. ;~)", "The case is nice, great color (chose the blue one) but I only gave it 4 stars cause I've only had it for a few weeks but if it holds up for a long time then def it deserves 5 stars!", "Pentecost does a fine job of summarizing and anlayzing the meaning of the parables in a consistently clear manner. Penetecost is solidly conservative and evangelical. The analysis is brief but to the point. The interpretations are solid and dependable.\n\nFor interpretation, this book deserves a 5 star rating. It is, however, a bit dry, which is why I rate it as a 4 rather than 5 star.", "Attracts too much dust and hair to look pretty for long. Otherwise would have been 4 or 5 stars, especially given the price.", "The lamp looks great and comes with lightbubs. Quality is 4 stars some parts arealottle scratched in packaging and the bottom support part is bulky. But aesthetically it's a 5 star product and variable light setting make out for imperfect quality.", "This game Battlefront not deserve to be called Star Wars, its not worth money, lol it just came out and prices already half off lol even re sale value tells this is another garbage from EA, Ea games this days garbage, you can tell they give out free dlcs in BF4 cuz they f up this and last year really good,\n\nDON'T TRUST PEOPLE WITH 4-5 STARS IN HERE WARNING!!!!! THEY GOT PAYED TO LEAVE 4 or 5 stars so be aware !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\n\nI got payed few years ago for alot fake feeedback!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i know how it works, why am snitchin cuz EA did not payed me my money!!!! for my Fake feedback!!! now everyone need to know that EA games they buy 4-5 stars feedbacks for cheap too don't be IDIOT!! move on", "It was quite a bit heavier than expected and I would have given it 4 or maybe 5 stars except for the tiny chipped areas all over it.", "4 1/2 stars - pretty good design at good price. Not very stable in the vertical screen mode. Horizontal needs one further upright (more vertical) setting. Excellent - just needs couple minor adjustments for 5 stars.", "Fits great, relatively slim fit, exactly what I wanted. 5 stars for the price I paid, $3.41 on 12/10/2014. Since it's now it's up to $6.99, so I'd only give it 4 stars if I purchased again..", "Fits nice and snug (I'm thin). the pouch in front does the job well. The material is on the thinner side is why i gave it 4 instead of 5 stars.", "Beautiful rug. Very nice quality. Colors were not completely true to picture , but we expected some of that and we are happy with the colors. That is the only reason for 4 stars instead of 5.", "Works great in my Samsung Note 4. Popped it in, and worked without a flaw. Appears to be really fast especially when accessing photos and videos.\n\n***UPDATE*** February 5, 2015: Well, after initially giving this 5 stars, it failed after just a few months. My Note 4 stopped recognizing the drive and will not format or mount it. Guess I will be using the warranty.....", "These lights are perfect over our bar area. I gave them 5 stars because I love the look of them. However, I think my husband would give them 4 stars because he thought they are not the best quality.", "I left this bottle with water in the car for 4 days and it was still cold on the fourth day. I would have given it a 5 star if it came with the lid with a straw.", "This gum makes me feel like i drank 1-1/2 cups of coffee. The only reason it isn't 5 stars is because after 3 minutes it gets nasty tasting for 4-5 minutes, and then it is back to ok.", "Very slim and looks nice indeed! Would hv gven 4 stars if it stays on whenever its inside my pocket which isn't the case.... 5 stars if it truly prevents my fon my breaking when it falls", "Does what it says on the tin. When you can't make do with a 25' cable and a 50' cable is just too long, 35' is a good choice. Everyone else gives 1 star or 5 star reviews for cables, so here is a 4. Blue was accurate.", "<a data-hook=\"product-link-linked\" class=\"a-link-normal\" href=\"/iPhone-6S-Screen-Protector-SmartPoteger-3D-Touch-Compatible-0-2MM-9H-Hardness-Anti-Blue-Ray-Scratch-Resistant-Tempered-Glass-Screen-Protector-for-Apple-iPhone-6-6S-4-7-Inch/dp/B017BL8KIE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8\">iPhone 6S Screen Protector, SmartPoteger 3D Touch Compatible - 0.2MM 9H Hardness Anti Blue-Ray Scratch-Resistant Tempered Glass Screen Protector for Apple iPhone 6/6S 4.7 Inch</a>\n\nPackage arrived in order and was professionally packed and packaged....Item absolutely matched the description and fit perfectly on my iPhone 6s...\nWhen it comes to reviewing products on Amazon I try to be straight forward and honest.....Using a number of various descriptions for each product I have purchased and as well implementing a 1-5 Stars based on that criteria...So as follows here is my take on this product....\n\n1. Item arrived on time: 5 Stars *****\n2. Packed Professionally: 5 Stars *****\n3. Packaging Like New: 5 Stars *****\n4. Package in order: 5 Stars *****\n5. All Items accounted for: 5 Stars *****\n6. Installed Easily: 5 Stars *****\n7. Great Communication 5 Stars *****\n8. Recommend to others: 5 Stars *****\n9. Help up in scratch test 5 Stars *****\nItem10 of this review will not be included since I cannot report on the quality of the product after a drop or impact....I am sure it would have been fine but I just got my phone and did not want to see the outcome..I will wait for that after my first drop....Hopefully that will never happen....\nRiiiiight...lol\n\nI was given a discount on this product for an honest and unbiased review...Don't let this stop you from purchasing this product!!\nThanks SmartPoteger", "These panties fit my very petite daughter very well. I only gave 4 stars instead of 5 because the pattern was completely different than what was pictured.", "Cd1 has isues, CD2 has issues, Overall there are some 4' star performance, while others 2 star. Sure his playing is excellent considering this is RAVEL, THE MOST DIFFICULT PIANO (other than the 3 great great composers, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern)\nIf you have Alpers, Bavouzet, Roge (Decca), Tharaud, Osborne, Vinnitskaya, Perelumter(Nimbus), Michelangelo Carbonara (WHO? Yes sie Michaelangelo CARBONARA< 5 stars,, Never heard of him? WEll your loss)\nAnne Queffelec I have on order, I think it is a 4/5 star. POSSIBLE\nIf you have all the ones mentioned, YOU DO NOT NEED THIS CD.\nPaul\nThe Ravelian\nNew Orleans", "I love classical movie scores, and this music is so amazing. It portrays emotion so well. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the movie, but the soundtrack is superb!! The reason I gave it 4 stars was because I do not like digital downloads, because I love tangible CDs that I can touch, stare at, play in my car (I only have a cd player/radio), and leaf through the booklets. 5 stars for the music, 4 stars for the medium." ]

[ "We prove that every homogeneous flow on a finite-volume homogeneous manifold has countably many independent invariant distributions unless it is conjugate to a linear flow on a torus. We also prove that the same conclusion holds for every affine transformation of a homogenous space which is not conjugate to a toral translation. As a part of the proof, we have that any smooth partially hyperbolic flow on any compact manifold has countably many distinct minimal sets, hence countably many distinct ergodic probability measures. As a consequence, the Katok and Greenfield-Wallach conjectures hold in all of the above cases." ]

[ "Abstract In the present paper we study invariants of equitorsion geodesic mappings of non-symmetric affine connection spaces. We generalize invariants of this mapping herein. As the main result, we examine the forms of these invariants in the case of equitorsion geodesic mappings of semi-symmetric spaces.", "The curvature and the reduced curvature are basic differential invariants of the pair (Hamiltonian system, Lagrange distribution) on the symplectic manifold. It is shown that the negativity of the reduced curvature implies the hyperbolicity of any compact invariant set of the Hamiltonian flow restricted to a prescribed energy level. We consider the Hamiltonian flows of the curve of least action of natural mechanical systems in sub-Riemannian structures with symmetries. We give sufficient conditions for the reduced flows (after reduction of the first integrals induced from the symmetries) to be hyperbolic and show new examples of Anosov flows.", "Ergodic one-parameter flows (G/Γ,gℝ) induced by the left action of a subgroupgℝ ⊂G on homogeneous spaces of finite volume are considered. Letℳ ⊂ ℝ+ be the set of allt>0 such that the cascade (G/Γ,g t ℤ) is metrically isomorphic to the cascade (G/Γ,gℤ). We prove that eitherℳ is at most countable or the subgroupgℝ is horocyclic andℳ=ℝ+. We prove that a metric isomorphism of ergodic quasi-unipotent cascades (or flows) is affine on almost all fibers of a certain natural bundle. The result generalizes Witte's theorem on the affinity of such isomorphisms of cascades with the mixing property; this is applied to the study of the structure of the setℳ ⊂ ℝ+. The proof is based on the fundamental Ratner theorem stating that the ergodic measures of unipotent cascades are algebraic.", "For flows on an orientable closed surface of larger genus (that is, of genus ) a special geodesic distribution (the geodesic framework of the flow) is constructed that consists of geodesics with the same asymptotic directions as the trajectories of the flow and that is a complete topological invariant of the irrational flows on such surfaces. The problem of the dependence of the geodesic framework on a perturbation of the flow (or on the parameter of a family of flows) is considered. It is shown that an irreducible elementary irrational geodesic framework of a flow depends continuously on the perturbation of the flow (which is analogous to the continuous dependence of an irrational Poincare rotation number on a perturbation of a flow).", "For studying homogeneous geodesics in Riemannian and pseudo-Riemannian geometry (on reductive homogeneous spaces) there is a simple algebraic formula which involves the reductive decomposition \\(\\mathfrak{g} = \\mathfrak{h} + \\mathfrak{m}\\) of the Lie algebra \\(\\mathfrak{g}\\) of the isometry group G and the scalar product on \\(\\mathfrak{m}\\) induced by the metric. In the affine differential geometry, there is not such a universal formula. In the present paper, we propose a simple method of investigation of affine homogeneous geodesics. As an application, we describe homogeneous geodesics for homogeneous affine connections in dimension 2 and we find families of affine g.o. spaces in dimension 2. We also solved the problem of the canonical re-parametrization of affine homogeneous geodesics.", "Abstract Let ω be a closed 1-form on a compact surface M . A non-wandering flow on M is given by the vector field v whose inner product i v ω is again a closed 1-form. For such flows we establish a topological invariant which is a graph endowed with the rotation and the weight functions. It is shown that this graph is a discrete invariant which classifies the non-wandering flows. Conversely, for an abstractly given set of such invariants we solve a realization problem", "It is well known that there are no geometric invariants of a projection from 3D to 2D. However, given some modeling assumptions about the 3D object, such invariants can be found. The modeling assumptions should be sufficiently strong to enable us to find such invariants, but not stronger than necessary. In this paper we find such modeling assumptions for general 3D curves under affine projection. We show, for example, that if one of the two affine curvatures is known along the 3D curve, the other can be found from the curve's 2D image. We can also derive the point correspondence between the curve and its image. We also deal with point sets and direction vectors.", "Several classes of spherical matrix distributions have been studied by many authors. In this paper the relationships among the classes are discussed in the following aspects: the characteristic functions in these classes, coordinate transformations, marginal distributions, marginal densities, and sphericity. Some statistics that are invariant in these classes are listed for applications.", "Methods of identification of the form of objects based on the signature analysis and invariant to affine transformations are considered. It is shown that these methods can be applied to surface quality assurance. Questions of sensitivity of these methods are considered. Dependences of these methods on noise are brought.", "We consider uniformly strongly elliptic systems of the second order with bounded coefficients. First, sufficient conditions for the invariance of convex bodies are obtained for linear systems without zero order term on bounded domains and quasilinear systems of special form on bounded domains and on a class of unbounded domains. These conditions are formulated in algebraic form. They describe relation between the geometry of the invariant convex body and the coefficients of the system. Next, necessary conditions, which are also sufficient, for the invariance of some convex bodies are found for elliptic homogeneous systems with constant coefficients in a half-space. The necessary conditions are derived by using a criterion on the invariance of convex bodies for normalized matrix-valued integral transforms also obtained in the paper. In contrast with the previous studies of invariant sets for elliptic systems, no a priori restrictions on the coefficient matrices are imposed.", "A robust image watermarking scheme relying on an affine invariant embedding domain is presented. The invariant space is obtained by triangulating the image using affine invariant interest points as vertices and performing an invariant triangle representation with respect to affine transformations based on the barycentric coordinates system. The watermark is encoded via quantization index modulation with an adaptive quantization step.", "The notion of differential-invariant solutions is a generalization notions of invariant and partially invariant solutions. It is closely related to the notion of automorphic systems. The system of differential equations is called an automorphic with respect to the Lie group \\(G\\), if there is any solution of this system is obtained one fixed solution through action group of transformations \\(G\\). In contrast to the invariant and partially invariant, making use of the differential-invariant solutions has not yet received equally widespread. In this chapter, it is shown that if Lie group \\(G\\) is a finite-dimensional group, then some finite (as a rule of zero order) prolongation of a automorphic system is completely integrable system. This fact is useful in constructing automorphic systems. Also, we prove theorems on integration and on order reducing for the automorphic systems.", "Scale-invariant processes, and hereafter processes with broken versions of this symmetry, are studied by means of the Lamperti transformation, a one-to-one transformation linking stationary and self-similar processes. A general overview of the use of the transformation, and of the stationary generators it builds, is given for modelling and analysis of scale invariance. We put an emphasis on generalizations to non-strictly scale-invariant situations. The examples of discrete scale invariance and finite-size scale invariance are developed by means of the Lamperti transformation framework, and some specific examples of processes with these generalized symmetries are given.", "We have found all transformations {x, y, F} → {\\(\\tilde x,\\tilde y,\\tilde F\\)} which leave the class y″ = F(x) yN of differential equations form-invariant (and are elements of a Lie group) by constructing their generators (Theorem 1). The corresponding finite transformations are written down.", "In this paper, we study the developing maps of the Lie groups with left-invariant affinely flat structures. We make some bacis observations on the nature of the developing images and show that the developing map for an incomplete affine structure splits as a product of a covering map of codimension 1 and a diffeomorphism of dimension 1.", "SUMMARY A marching finite volume method is presented for the calculation of two-dimensional, subcritical and supercritical, steady open channel flow including the usually neglected terms of slope and bottom friction. The channel flow will be assumed to be homogeneous, incompressible, two-dimensional and viscous with wind and Coriolis forces neglected. A hydrostatic pressure distribution is assumed throughout the flow field. The numerical technique used is a combination of the finite element and finite difference methods. A transformation is introduced through which quadrilaterals in the physical domain are mapped into squares in the computational domain. The governing system of PDEs is thus transformed into an equivalent system applied over a square grid network. Comparisons with other numerical solutions as well as with measurements for various open channel configurations show that the proposed approach is a comparatively accurate, reliable and fast technique.", "Analytic capacities are set functions defined on the plane which may be used in the study of removable singularities, boundary smoothness and approximation of analytic functions ::: belonging to some function space. The symmetric concrete Banach spaces form a class of function spaces that include most spaces usually studied. The Beurling transform is a ::: certain singular integral operator that has proved useful in analytic function theory. It is shown that the analytic capacity associated to each Beurling–invariant symmetric concrete Banach space behaves reasonably under affine transformation of the plane. It is not known how general analytic capacities behave under affine maps.", "The purpose of this paper is the construction of invariant regions in which we establish the global existence of solutions for m-component reaction-diffusion systems with a tridiagonal symmetric toeplitz matrix of diffusion coefficients and with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. The proposed technique is based on invariant regions and Lyapunov functional methods. The nonlinear reaction term has been supposed to be of polynomial growth.", "The object of the present paper is to obtain conditions of integrability of some distributions of semi-invariant submanifolds of contact metric manifolds with ? belonging to ( ?, ? ) -nulity distribution. Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 61(1): 93-96, 2013 (January) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/dujs.v61i1.15103", "In order to overcome the available disadvantages of the intensity-based image stitching,a fast automatic image stitching al-gorithm based on Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) was proposed. The key feature points of image were extracted,the point transformation parameters between two images by using invariability of image in this algorithm,which are the translation,rotation and affine of image in the scale space. This algorithm was applied to image stitching,simulation result proved that the proposed algorithm can automatically stitch when image feature is less or more complicated,and has good performance,which is adaptive,dithering ro-bust,and noise robust.", "We consider a class of invariant measures for a passive scalar f driven by an incom- pressible velocity fieldu, on a d-dimensional periodic domain, satisfying @tf +ur f = 0; f(0) = f0: The measures are obtained as limits of stochastic viscous perturbations. We prove that the span of the H 1 eigenfunctions of the operatorur contains the support of these measures. We also analyze several explicit examples: whenu is a shear flow or a relaxation enhancing flow (a generalization of weakly mixing), we can characterize the limiting measure uniquely and compute its covariance structure. We also consider the case of two-dimensional cellular flows, for which further regularity properties of the functions in the support of the measure can be deduced. The main results are proved with the use of spectral theory results, in particular the RAGE theo- rem, which are used to characterize large classes of orbits of the inviscid problem that are growing in H 1 .", "Using the phase-method, stationary distributions will be obtained for general service-requirements in case of symmetric-service-disciplines. A way of generating results for open networks by results for closed networks is given. In the second section an “invariance-property” is introduced. This property, which is equivalent to “job-local-balance”, generalizes Kelly’s models with symmetric-service-disciplines. Again stationary distributions are obtained. Some examples of this generalization are given.", "Abstract R134a upward flow in four different vertical headers and its effect on R134a distribution into parallel microchannel tubes were investigated experimentally. R134a was provided into the header by (5 or 10) tubes in the bottom pass and exits through the (5 or 10) tubes in the top pass representing the flow in the heat pump mode of reversible systems. The inlet quality was varied from 0.2 to 0.8, and the mass flux from 92.26 to 276.79 kg m−2 s−1 per tube. The best distribution was at high flux and low quality. Experiment and visualization reveals the flow pattern effect in terms of homogeneity and momentum: churn flow has better distribution than separated flow since the two-phase mixture is more homogeneous; distribution is better at high mass flux in the header (by increasing mass flow rate, tubes number and/or tubes protrusion) because the higher momentum liquid can reach the top exit tube.", "Abstract We show how to generate non-trivial solutions to the conformally invariant, relativistic fluid dynamic equations by appealing to the Weyl covariance of the stress tensor. We use this technique to show that a recently studied solution of the relativistic conformally invariant Navier–Stokes equations in four-dimensional Minkowski space can be recast as a static flow in three-dimensional de Sitter space times a line. The simplicity of the de Sitter form of the flow enables us to consider several generalizations of it, including flows in other spacetime dimensions, second order viscous corrections, and linearized perturbations. We also construct the anti-de Sitter dual of the original four-dimensional flow. Finally, we discuss possible applications to nuclear physics.", "The highly reproducible histochemical localization of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)+ qualifies it as an important marker of astrocytes in both research and clinical applications. The primary objective of this study was to produce monoclonal antibodies having the advantage of invariant specificity, affinity, and titer to GFAP-specific epitopes of wide species distribution. We report here the characterization of four monoclonal antibodies that recognize the same or spatially close epitopes specific to GFAP. The epitope(s) detected has been phylogenetically conserved; human, bovine, ovine, canine, porcine, rabbit, guinea pig, rat, murine, and chicken brain homogenates all specifically absorb monoclonal antibody activity. Of importance to the routine application of these new anti-GFAP monoclonal antibodies is the demonstration here of the stability of the antigen-antibody interaction in normal, reactive, and neoplastic astrocytes of both rat and human origin following various methods of fixation.", "Invariant polynomials with matrix arguments have been defined by the theory of group representation, generalizing the zonal polynomials. They have developed as a useful tool to evaluate certain integrals arising in multivariate distribution theory, which were expanded as power series in terms of the invariant polynomials. Some interesting polynomials has been shown by people working in the field of econometric theory. In this paper, we derive the expected values ofC φ κ,λ (BR,BU),Cκ(BR)Cλ(BU) andCκ(B−1U), whereBB d =X′X andXn×p is distributed according to an elliptical matrix distribution. We also give their applications in multivariate distribution theory including the related development in econometrics.", "This paper deals with the dynamics of a simple family of holomorphic diffeomorphisms of $\\C^2$: the polynomial automorphisms. This family of maps has been studied by a number of authors. We refer to [BLS] for a general introduction to this class of dynamical systems. An interesting object from the point of view of potential theory is the equilibrium measure $\\mu$ of the set $K$ of points with bounded orbits. In [BLS] $\\mu$ is also characterized dynamically as the unique measure of maximal entropy. Thus $\\mu$ is also an equilibrium measure from the point of view of the thermodynamical formalism. In the present paper we give another dynamical interpretation of $\\mu$ as the limit distribution of the periodic points of $f$.", "Water reflection detection is a tough task in computer vision, since the reflection is distorted by ripples irregularly. This paper proposes an effective method to detect water reflections. We introduce a descriptor that is not only invariant to scales, rotations and affine transformations, but also tolerant to the flip transformation and even non-rigid distortions, such as ripple effects. We analyze the structure of our descriptor and show how it outperforms the existing mirror feature descriptors in the context of water reflection. The experimental results demonstrate that our method is able to detect the water reflections.", "We present a sufficient condition for the existence of ergodic continuous invariant measures (ECIMs) for continuous folding transformations. We apply this result to prove the existence of ECIMs for general set expanding Markov transformations and $n$-dimensional tent maps.", "Let (E): ut=H(u) denote the KdV, MKdV or Burgers equation, and U(s)=Σ(Djs)∂/∂uj, where D=d/dx, ui=Diu, s=s(u, u1, ..., un) is a polynomial of ui with constant coefficients, be the generator of invariant group of equation (E). We prove in this paper that all such generators form a commutative Lie algebra, from which it follows that for any symmetry s(u, ..., un) of (E), the evolution equation ut=s(u, ..., un) possesses an infinite number of symmetries (or conservation laws in the case of KdV and MKdV equations).", "We introduce a generalization of structured manifolds as the most general Riemannian metric g associated to an affinor (tensor field of (1,1)-type) F and initiate a study of their semi-invariant submanifolds. These submanifolds are generalization of CR-submanifolds of almost complex geometry and semi-invariant submanifolds of several interesting geometries (almost product, almost contact and others). We characterize the integrability of both invariant and anti-invariant distribution; the special case when F is covariant constant with respect to g gives major simplifications in computations.", "It is shown that whenever fields governed by the equations ∂/∂tpα=−δH/δqα, ∂/∂tqα =δH/δpα allow a conservation law of the form ∂ρ/∂t+divJ=0, there exists a corresponding Lie–Backlund infinitesimal contact transformation which leaves the Hamiltonian equations invariant. A condition that an invariant Lie–Backlund infinitesimal contact transformation gives rise to a conservation law is established. Each such transformation, which may involve derivatives of arbitrary order, yields a one‐parameter local Lie group of invariance transformations. The results are established with the aid of a Lie bracket formalism for Hamiltonian fields. They account for a number of recently discovered conservation laws associated with nonlinear time evolution equations." ]

[ "Western bearded dragon measures up to 38cm, from tip of nose to tip of tail. Dwarf bearded dragon measures up to 40cm, from tip of nose to tip of tail. Just for the record, the largest bearded dragon on record is the German giant morphn which can reach up to 66 cm in length." ]

[ "Bearded Dragon. The bearded dragon (also known as the dragon) is found naturally in Australia, but bearded dragons are kept as exotic pets in many places all around the world.Bearded dragons can grow up to 24 inches long but that is including their long tail, making the bearded dragon fairly small in body size for a lizard.earded Dragon. The bearded dragon (also known as the dragon) is found naturally in Australia, but bearded dragons are kept as exotic pets in many places all around the world.", "The bearded dragon will also be eating less and the bearded dragon does this for a period of two to three months. Bearded dragons can grow up to 24 inches long but that is including their long tail, making the bearded dragon fairly small in body size for a lizard.earded Dragon. The bearded dragon (also known as the dragon) is found naturally in Australia, but bearded dragons are kept as exotic pets in many places all around the world.", "The following is a list of bearded dragons with a mix of yellow and other colors: 1 Sandfire red bearded dragon. 2 Orange bearded dragon. 3 Citrus tiger bearded dragon. Sunburst bearded 1 dragon. Tangerine bearded dragon.", "The bearded dragon is a territorial lizard and should be keep in a big enough enclosure if the bearded dragon is kept as a pet. The bearded dragons diet is made up mainly of leafy greens which the bearded dragon plucks from trees and bushes.earded Dragon. The bearded dragon (also known as the dragon) is found naturally in Australia, but bearded dragons are kept as exotic pets in many places all around the world.", "Other common reptiles that brumate include some kinds of turtles, tortoises and snakes but some amphibians, like frogs, also brumate. 1 Bearded Dragons. 2 Bearded Dragons. 3 Bearded Dragons. 4 Bearded Dragons. 5 Bearded Dragons. 6 Exotic Pets. 7 Bearded Dragons. 8 Bearded Dragons.", "Types of Bearded Dragons. As mentioned, there are 8 different types of Bearded Dragons, all of which are classified as separate species, not subspecies. Pogona barbata - Eastern or Common bearded dragon. Pogona henrylawsoni - Black soil bearded dragon. Pogona microlepidota - Kimberly bearded dragon.", "How Big Do Bearded Dragons Get. The most common bearded dragon species See the other types of bearded dragon species. is the Pogona Vitticeps, so the chances are if you have a bearded dragon, is is this species.", "The most common species of bearded dragons is the Inland (or Central) Bearded Dragon which is the most often found at pet stores or pet shops. Below we will explore different types of bearded dragons: Inland Bearded Dragon. Also known as central bearded dragon; this is the bearded dragon that is found in the pet stores.", "0. Welcome to Dachiu Bearded Dragons. We are a husband/wife team of bearded dragon breeders – bearded dragons for sale include red, orange and yellow color morphs, hypomelanistics, leatherbacks, translucent, hypotranslucent and dunner bearded dragons (Pogona Vitticeps).. Welcome to Dachiu Bearded Dragons. We are a husband/wife team of bearded dragon breeders – bearded dragons for sale include red, orange and yellow color morphs, hypomelanistics, leatherbacks, translucent, hypotranslucent and dunner bearded dragons (Pogona Vitticeps).", "Omnivorous Lizards (Eat Plants and Meat): This is the largest category of lizards. Bearded dragons: click for more information on Bearded Dragons as Pets. Australian (Eastern) Blue Tongued Skink: The Blue Tongued Skink requires a 18x48 gallon reptile terrarium.", "How big does an adult bearded dragon get? The average adult bearded dragon gets 18 inches long (1 1/2 feet) . There are different species of bearded dragon that can get up to 24 inches (2 feet).ow big does an adult bearded dragon get? The average adult bearded dragon gets 18 inches long (1 1/2 feet) . There are different species of bearded dragon that can get up to 24 inches (2 feet).", "Bearded Dragons originate in Australia. The most common species in the pet industry is the Inland Bearded Dragon, Pogona vitticeps, which was formerly called Amphibolurus vitticeps. The Inland Bearded Dragon is sometimes referred to as the Central, or Yellow-headed Bearded Dragon.", "How To Make A Hammock For A Bearded Dragon. As they are purchasing a bearded dragons are not to drop the eggs. Itll take action for your pet bearded dragons to move the bearded dragons there competing for a bearded dragons are quite domesticated and suffering about the enjoyment of them develop the exterior of the both the standard procedures.", "Adult bearded dragons are a average of 15 to 24 inches in length, while hatchlings are between 3 to 4 inches at birth.earded Dragons Eastern Bearded Dragons (the most common type of bearded dragon) can grow to 55cm total length.", "Why is your male bearded dragon shaking his head up and down to your female bearded dragon and why is your female bearded dragon waving back to your male bearded dragon?", "Bearded dragon. Bearded dragons are the genus Pogona, which are agamid lizards. The central bearded dragon is the common name for Pogona vitticeps, which lives in dry areas of Australia. The name bearded dragon refers to the fringes around and under the head.", "If you get a male bearded dragon, you should know that your beardie most probably is going to be a big boy, since male beardies are always bigger then the females. The most popular bearded dragon, the Pogona Vitticeps (that´s the normal bearded dragon lol) is not even the biggest species of the bearded dragons.", "Description. Inland bearded dragons are 13 to 24 inches (33 to 61 cm) long, including the tail. They are appropriately named bearded dragons because of their beard, an expandable dewlap with spiky scales.They have a broad, triangular head, round bodies, stout legs, and robust tails.escription. Inland bearded dragons are 13 to 24 inches (33 to 61 cm) long, including the tail. They are appropriately named bearded dragons because of their beard, an expandable dewlap with spiky scales.", "The bearded dragon's scientific name is Pogona Vitticeps and they are medium sized lizards which are generally 12-24 inches in length from their head to the tip of their tail.he size and length of a bearded dragon depends on a couple of factors including: Sometimes you may get a bearded dragon and not know how old he/she is. Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can use to get a general estimate of how old a bearded dragon is. Bearded dragons are normally very healthy and hardy lizards.", "Average Bearded Dragon Cost. 1 The age of the dragon Learn how long bearded dragons live. - 2 younger bearded dragons are cheaper. 3 Where you buy your dragon-pet stores and private dealers will have different prices.4 The type of bearded dragonLearn the different types of bearded dragons you can get.ost pet stores will sell you young bearded dragons between the prices of $30-$60 and the larger (more mature) bearded dragons can cost up to $100. Besides the cost of your bearded dragon you're going to need to get the necessary supplies.", "The Age of the Bearded Dragon. Your bearded dragon's age will play a big part in the price. If a dragon is very young then he or she will be cheaper to buy. Most pet stores will sell you young bearded dragons between the prices of $30-$60 and the larger (more mature) bearded dragons can cost up to $100.ood & Nutrition. Your bearded dragon will need live food (crickets, worms, etc.)Learn what live food (bugs) are safe for a bearded dragon to eat. and plants to eatLearn what plants are safe for a bearded dragon to eat. .", "Personality-Based Names for Your Bearded Dragon. According to the Bearded Dragon Guide, these lizards make excellent pets. They have an even temperament, and some bond closely with their owners.n groups, they form a hierarchy where the largest lizard is the leader. Here are some name ideas based on the personality and behavior traits of bearded dragons: 1 Dizzy-For the swaying. 2 Bob. 3 Huffy. 4 Billows. 5 Honey.", "1 5 to 8 Years-This is the max age bearded dragons get in the wild and is generally how long a dragon will live if their owner just does the basics and doesn't pay any attention to their bearded dragon's diet Learn about the bearded dragon's health and diet. or health.he size and length of a bearded dragon depends on a couple of factors including: Sometimes you may get a bearded dragon and not know how old he/she is. Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can use to get a general estimate of how old a bearded dragon is. Bearded dragons are normally very healthy and hardy lizards.", "Taming a bearded dragon Part I: The skittish baby. Case history #1 I got a bearded dragon because all the research I did showed me that bearded dragons were always calm and friendly.aming a bearded dragon Part I: The skittish baby. Case history #1 I got a bearded dragon because all the research I did showed me that bearded dragons were always calm and friendly.", "Normal - Bearded dragon offspring from breeding two bearded dragons with different traits. Hypo - Bearded dragon offspring from breeding two bearded dragons with hypomelanism traits. Generally the offspring are lighter in color and have a sigificant reduction of dark colors in the skin, eyes, and nails.", "1 - younger bearded dragons are cheaper. 2 Where you buy your dragon-pet stores and private dealers will have different prices. 3 The type of bearded dragonLearn the different types of bearded dragons you can get. - younger bearded dragons are cheaper. 2 Where you buy your dragon-pet stores and private dealers will have different prices. 3 The type of bearded dragonLearn the different types of bearded dragons you can get.", "There are many vegetables that are safe for bearded dragons to eat. In fact, we have a list of over 50 safe vegetables to feed your bearded dragon on our bearded dragon diet See the complete list of safe foods that bearded dragons can eat. page. Below is a list of the most common staple vegetables that you can feed your bearded dragon every day: Besides plants and insects, bearded dragons will also eat fruit. The following list of fruit is safe for you to feed your bearded dragon. For a much larger list of safe fruit please visit our bearded dragon diet See the complete list of safe foods that bearded dragons can eat. page.", "Gone are also men placed in the field. This breed has inherent nature. Right from the scorching her to poop in that same spot Zhejiang provides additional plan that she might wish for good and bad guinness book of world records largest bearded dragon traits and beets.", "Bearded Dragons for Sale. Bearded dragons are a great part of the reptile keeping experience. They are gentle and colorful and can be kept indoors without any complications. Many of the bearded dragons for sale online are the product of small time breeders and we get our bearded dragons from these very same dragon keepers.", "Bearded Dragon Lighting. The Bearded Dragon's Lighting. A bearded dragon's lighting set-up should mimic what the reptile would get in the wild as closely as possible. To achieve this, you should first know what a natural environment for a bearded dragon is.", "Depending on the species or captive-bred morph, bearded dragons can grow anywhere from 13 to 24 inches long. Their most distinguishing feature is the spiny scales found on the throat which can be expanded when threatened, giving the genus its common name.earded Dragons live in arid, rocky, semi-desert regions and dry open woodlands. They are adept climbers, spending time on branches and in bushes. Bearded Dragons also bask on rocks and exposed branches in the mornings and afternoons.", "Types of Bearded Dragons. Bearded dragons come in many different sizes and colors. There are 9 different species of bearded dragons and many breeders have been able to breed dragons in a variety of unique color patterns. Take a look and you see the different types of bearded dragons that you can get for a pet. Read More." ]

[ "Christian and Muslim clashes in Egypt have left 12 people dead, 238 injured and two Coptic churches in Cairo burned, the state media reported." ]

[ "Egyptian Christians demonstrated on Monday in Alexandria and Cairo to call for more protection after two days of clashes that left a burned-out church and 12 deaths.", "Five Egyptians were killed and eight wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said today, in the latest sectarian violence in the most populous Arab state.", "Cairo clashes continue into the night Several thousand opponents of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood clash with supporters of the Islamist group near its headquarters in Cairo, leaving at least 40 people wounded.", "Four Ethiopian Muslims beat a Christian evangelist to death and assaulted his pregnant wife last week in Worabe, an area of Ethiopia that is 97 percent Muslim.", "The Egyptian army clashed with demonstrators in downtown Cairo after a Coptic Christian demonstration was attacked by unknown persons.", "The Pentagon on Monday urged restraint in Egypt and stressed the importance of holding elections after clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters in Cairo left 24 people dead.", "The attacks on Ethiopian Christians by the Muslim fundamentalists in that country has continue unabated with the Friday burning of another eight churches, a bible school, and 17 Christian homes.", "Egyptian riot police clash with protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011.", "Islamic insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops in Somalia's capital today in battles that killed 12 people and wounded 10 others.", "Pope Benedict on Sunday condemned a bomb blast outside a church in Egypt which killed at least 21 people, the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in the Middle East and Africa.", "Ethiopian police clashed on Saturday with scores of Muslims protesters complaining that the state is interfering in their religion, witnesses and officials said.", "Clashes between protesters and security forces continued in Cairo today, the third day of violence that has killed 10 people and exposed rifts over the army's role as it manages Egypt's promised transition from military to civilian rule.", "A flag that reads: ``There is no God but Allah, Mohammad is Allah's messenger'' flutters in front of a building damaged by clashes between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in Tripoli, northern Lebanon August 27, 2012.", "An Egyptian court on Monday acquitted four Muslims accused of killing an elderly Christian, saying that testimony from witnesses had not established they were the murderers, a judicial source said.", "Religious violence between Christians and Muslims erupted again Tuesday in central Nigeria, and the state government called for more military units to enter the city where rioters have killed at least 27 people.", "Egypt's finance minister resigned on Tuesday, becoming the first high-level official to leave in the aftermath of the deadly clashes between Coptic Christian demonstrators and military forces on Sunday that appeared to signify a turning point in the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak eight months ago.", "Haiti closed its airports Wednesday as post-election violence rocked the Caribbean nation with clashes leaving at least four dead.", "At least six gunmen have been killed in fresh clashes with the Egyptian security forces in Sinai amid tensions which continue to rise in the peninsula.", "Israel has launched an airstrike on Gaza after its troops clashed with Hamas along the border and militants fired mortars into Israel, leaving five Palestinians dead.", "Two primitive bombs and nine empty machine gun shells were spotted near al-Nour mosque in Cairo's Abbaseya, an area that has witnessed deadly clashes between inhabitants and protestors, state media reported on Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.", "Protesters set fire to cars, tires and two polling stations, clashing with police firing tear gas in riots that erupted around Egypt on Monday over allegations the ruling party carried out widespread fraud to sweep parliamentary elections.", "A government rocket attack killed at least 12 people in a village in central Syria Wednesday, while rebels battled regime forces over two key military bases in the northeast where government troops broke an opposition siege last week, activists said.", "A group of Armenians and Azerbaijanis clashed in the Lyuberetsk Region in the vicinities of Moscow, leaving one dead, seven injured, a law enforcement source told Interfax.", "At least 12 Syrians were killed Sunday in the central city of Homs after troops backed with tanks deployed in the city, pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV reported.", "Turkey expressed on Monday concern over clashes between security forces and protestors in Egypt.", "An anti-Egypt rally in southern Gaza turned deadly on Wednesday when demonstrators to the border fence and stoned Egyptian troops on the other side, leading to an exchange of gunfire and the death of an Egyptian soldier.", "Up to 12 Palestinians have been killed in a wave of Israeli air attacks targeting Gaza strip since Friday afternoon till early Saturday, according to medical officials.", "Muslims in Spain are campaigning to be allowed to worship alongside Christians in Cordoba Cathedral -- formerly the Great Mosque of Cordoba.", "Malaysian police have detained more than 900 Myanmar nationals in the capital Kuala Lumpur after a series of deadly clashes between Buddhist and Muslim groups.", "Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans debating Muslim integration to stand up more for Christian values, saying Monday the country suffered not from ``too much Islam'' but ``too little Christianity.''", "Protesters in Egypt and Libya attacked US diplomatic missions on Tuesday, leading to the death of an American staffer at the consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi after fierce clashes at the compound, a Libyan official said.", "An interfaith dialogue movement will start training Muslim and Christian religious educators for peace in January, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said." ]

[ "So first of all these are awesome. Great size and normal peanut butter from skippy. So far I have made tons of sandwichs, crackers, and just ate it straight from the bottle. Since there is two this is going to last a very long time. So overall this is a simple but great product." ]

[ "Even though this isn't truly natural in the sense that other natural peanut butters are (containing only 100% peanuts), it is still healthier than your average grocery store peanut butter. But, the best part of Skippy Natural is the taste: I can't ever go back to the typical JIF-style peanut butter.", "After 60-some years, I qualify myself to attest to the nature of peanut butter. I love peanut butter. Smooth or crunchy? ... either is fine. I've made my own peanut butter in the blender. I've sampled peanut butters from Africa, Europe, Australia and Asia. They are all interesting and every country seems to have its national favorite. I picked up a hankering for peanut butter sauced spaghetti in China. The g-kids love it, the wife and kids ... not so much ... it's the concept of peanut butter that I appreciate.<br /><br />In the US we have the giants of peanut butter ... Jif, Skippy and Peter Pan (JSPP). Some stores carry a designer peanut butter brand at a premium price. In the end, the consistently barely discernible difference among JSPP is marginally irrelevant. Does anyone say `I hate Jif but love Skippy?' No. JSPP at the lowest price delivers the commodity equivalently. I would doubt that a blind taste test could discriminate among JSPP.<br /><br />In the US market dominated by JSPP, Planters just seems to appear as a butter out of peanut land. I don't think I have ever seen Mr. Peanut on a peanut butter jar before (or, I could just not remember). Was this new? Was it `different? Well, here's what the Planters web site says:<br /><br />\"Peanut butter had some growing up to do. And as the reigning peanut experts, who better to make it happen than Planters? After all, isn't it about time for a more sophisticated peanut butter?\"<br /><br />Taste test result:<br />1. Planters is smoother. It rolls of the butter knife without tearing a hole in the bread.<br />2. I taste and smell more concentrated peanut flavor.<br />3. Planters doesn't tend to clump and hang off the uvula requiring milk to resolve (although milk is certainly my recommended choice for beverage pairing).<br />4. In my 'blind taste test', Planters wins. It is a noticeably better taste and less mouth desiccating.<br /><br />Decision:<br />Planters has something different to add to the grocery landscape of JSPP. 5-star good peanut butter and my new first choice (if the price is right).<br /><br />p.s. My wife, out of the blue, said \"Hey, that peanut butter you got is the best peanut butter I've ever tasted!\" ... that's a \"wow!\" vote.", "Why does this bone have to contain chicken meal and poultry flavor??? It's a PEANUT BUTTER bone. The reason I purchased it is because it was advertised as PEANUT BUTTER. My dog has a chicken sensitivity and would've gotten the runs like mad had I not read the label before giving it to him. Rather than return it because the shipping would've cost the same as what I paid for the item, I took the filling out and gave him the plain bone. I'll refill it with some regular Jiff if need be. It would've been helpful for the company to disclose the ingredients in these so-called peanut butter flavored things. Chicken is not peanut butter.", "I love the taste of Jif peanut butter. Compared to regular Jif creamy peanut butter, this natural peanut butter still tasted the same, perhaps slightly better if anything at all. However, I am trying to get our family to use as many organic (or close to organic) products as possible, and products with as few ingredients as possible tend to be better in that case. Jif Natural Peanut Butter only contains peanuts, palm oil, sugar, and possibly traces of salt and molasses. The regular version has these ingredients plus vegetable oil and mono and diglycerides. I actually found the natural peanut butter to cost the same amount as the regular kind, so of course I bought the natural version. And it tastes great, so I'm happy with my purchase.", "I've had all flavors of Skippy and one jar of every other brand I could find, including the old fashioned ones that separate, and this one was the best for my needs.<br /><br />It tastes as good or better than regular skippy. The taste is very much like Skippy's regular product.<br /><br />On the topic of texture, it is like a more spreadable version of Skippy or JIF. If regular peanut butter was thick enough to tear bread if you spread it too quickly, this one is not. It goes on smooth, as if it was whipped.<br /><br />This peanut butter doesn't stick to the mouth as much. There is still some of that beloved sticking action, but only half that of normal PB. The mouth-feel of this peanut butter is differemt than any I've had, so you may like it or dislike it. Personally, I think it's a lot better.<br /><br />A response to some criticism I've read about this peanut butter that made no sense to me, for the sake of explaining why these criticisms should make no sense to you as well:<br /><br />Is this product dishonest for saying \"All Natural\" without containing only peanut oil? No.<br />The bad reviews this received focused on how it has palm oil, and those reviewers seem to think that means it is a dishonest product, since it says \"All natural\". I could go on a rant about how crude oil is natural and turpentine is organic, but it would make more sense to explain that \"All Natural\" peanut butter doesn't have to be the type that separates. The stuff that separates is typically \"Old Fashioned\" or \"Home Made\" peanut butter. If your Peanut butter is separating and it says \"All Natural\" you need to be aware that they are following only one possible \"All Natural\" formulation for peanut butter and that the kid that you are looking for is more reliably found with an \"Old Fashioned\" written somewhere on the jar.<br /><br />Another thing I've heard is that it contains sugar and salt, and that any \"All Natural\" product shouldn't have those. To that I ask, \"Do you know what the definition of 'Peanut butter' is?\". Peanut butter is not a spread made of peanut flour and oil, and never has been. Since day one it was flavored with oil and/or salt. Being put off by the salt and sugar content is like being upset that lemon-aid contains sugar or water instead of lemons alone. If you are in the market for a diabetic friendly peanut butter, this is not for you, Stay away. If you are looking for something low in salt, because of your high blood pressure, stay away from this product. It is only as low in salt as the average \"Peanut Butter\" in the same isle of the store. If you are trying to eat healthily and want to avoid sugar or salt, find one that doesn't have those ingredients, but don't blame Skippy for making a bad product when the definition of peanut butter nearly always calls for sugar and salt, historically.<br /><br />Is peanut oil more healthy than palm oil peanut butter? Depends on your beliefs.<br />I like coconut oil, and coconut oil comes from the coconut palm. Palm oil isn't exactly canola, but it has one great property that you aren't going to get in peanut oil. It leaves the peanut butter thick and creamy, without the separation. There are almost no people who believe saturated trans fat is healthier for you than palm oil, so from that perspective this is a huge gain in healthiness over regular Skippy that I've been eating all these years as my favorite peanut butter. Peanut oil might be healthier than palm, to some people, but it is solely omega-6, so if that someone is in the US, they are probably consuming too much omega-6 already. If you're looking for an oil soup with some peanut plaster at the bottom, definitely buy \"Old Fashioned\" peanut butter, but for people like me, who value texture, this product is the ultimate blend of healthy and enjoyable. You can't have everything ideal in life, and if you could there wouldn't be any peanut oil in this product at all... it would be omega-3 based algal oil. No oil is perfect and I like my peanut butter creamy and without needing a long mixing process that ends in a product that is different on the bottom of the jar than the top.", "I used to be allergic to peanuts as a child, and I have a strong taste aversion to peanuts and peanut butter, but I love almond butter. After hearing rave reviews for Barney Butter, I decided to try out their version. I don't know how they do it, but somehow Barney Butter tastes EXACTLY like peanut butter! I know that this is a plus for some, but if you like peanut butter, why wouldn't you just buy peanut butter? Why make perfectly good almonds taste like peanuts? If I buy almond butter, I want it to taste like almonds.", "My kids with multiple food allergies (including peanuts) already have enough on their plate without having to explain why they're eating weird looking stuff. So I am thrilled to be able to recommend Sunbutter as a peanut butter substitute. My kids don't have to do without that childhood lunch staple, the peanut-butter sandwich.<br /><br />Sunbutter doesn't taste like peanut butter; it tastes like sunflower seeds. However, this is not an unpleasant taste, just different. It has the exact same texture and mouth-feel as peanut butter, though, so it can be used as a straight substitute for peanut butter in all kinds of recipes. We've used it as a substitute to make peanut-free peanut sauce, peanut butter cookies, and peanut butter fudge. It functions exactly as peanut butter does, and as long as the sunflower-seed taste goes well in the recipe, it does just fine. I should warn you, though, there are some contexts where the flavor just doesn't work with the recipe. On the other hand you may find that some people will prefer the flavor. Our neighbors don't have a single peanut-allergic kid, but they bought some Sunbutter anyway because their kids had it over at our peanut-free house and loved it.<br /><br />Sunbutter does have a couple of quirks. First, if you expose it to alkali, it turns green. So if you use it in a recipe that is heavy on the baking soda, you may get an unexpected result. And of course since detergent is alkali, if you leave any on the knife and put it in the dishwasher, that which doesn't wash off will be a harmless but very ugly fecal shade of green. Rinse thoroughly before putting Sunbutter-covered utensils in the dishwasher. Second, it has more of a tendency than peanut butter to separate into oil and solids. I used to buy it in the large tubs but when we'd open one up there was an inch-thick layer of sunflower oil on the top. We tried to mix it in but then we found that the stuff at the bottom was so thick and dry that it couldn't be spreaded at all. We developed two workarounds for this: one, upon opening a new container, we'd dump it in the mixer and mix it all up. Two, buy smaller jars.<br /><br />Overall, three cheers for Sunbutter!", "That might be a slight exaggeration, however, I would just as soon eat Barney Butter as peanut butter. Plus, it's healthier and not a problem for my daughter with peanut allergies. Although, I do have to add that she does not like it. But the rest of the family does. Bottom line, if you want an almond butter that is almost peanut butter, this is it.", "Peanut Butter and Jelly Larabars is a new flavor (to me, anyway, because I just discovered them in the stores here). They are really awesome.<br /><br />I admit, I've never been a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with light bread, but I LOVED peanut butter and jelly on graham crackers. Now that I've gone vegan, I can't eat peanut butter and jelly or graham crackers, but this PB&J Larabar tastes just like the peanut butter and jelly on graham crackers that I used to eat. And even for non-vegans, these bars are still good - anybody can eat them. They taste just like whatever the flavor is, and are healthy (even though you'd never know it, because they taste so good!)<br /><br />These bars are healthy, natural, soy-free, vegan, kosher. They have no added sugar, and no chemicals. It is amazing how something so natural and simple can be so good.<br /><br />Larabars are good to pack for trips, lunches, or anytime you need some energy (or just food); they are convenient because you don't have to cook, measure, slice, or stir, and you don't need a container with a special lid. You don't need anything! You just open and eat!!! All the flavors are good for energy or hunger-control, but when I am really hungry, my favorite flavors are peanut butter cookie and peanut butter and jelly (the featured flavor in this particular review). The ones with peanut butter (not really peanut butter, but just peanuts) seem to give me more energy.<br /><br />I love all flavors of Larabars (I haven't yet discovered a flavor that I didn't like), but I do have my favorites, depending on the mood I'm in. Like I mentioned in the prior paragraph, Peanut butter cookie and peanut butter and jelly are my favorites if I am really hungry.<br /><br />All the flavors of Larabars are healthy, and even though they have no added sugar, they certainly crave my desire for sweets (because they do taste like they have sugar, even though they don't). I am not really a big \"sweets\" eater; I prefer salts. If I could just have salty foods all the time, I think I could totally give up sweets. But even those who do love sweets, I think these bars would satisfy their sweets desire, also, because they taste like whatever the flavor is.", "It was in the 1920s that the H.B. Reese Candy Company first began manufacturing a product made with specially processed peanut butter and Hershey's milk chocolate. Back then the product was simply known as peanut butter cups, but today the popular candy is known as Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Harry Burnett Reese was actually a former dairy employee of Milton S. Hershey, the founder of the Hershey Foods Corporation who was inspired by the example and went off to make his own fortune in the candy industry. Reese made a lot of other products, such as Johnny Bars (caramel-like molasses) and Lizzie Bars (coconut candy), but in the end his fortune was made by this single product, which offered a simple combination of peanut butter and chocolate.<br /><br />In the 1920s, from a factory located down the street from that of Hershey, Reese began selling his peanut butter cups in 5 lb. boxes to be used in candy assortments. In the 1930s he added the cups, which were originally sold for a penny each. During World War II Reese discontinued all his other products and just made the peanut butter cups, which were distributed through wholesale jobbers, vending machine operators and syndicated stores. After World War II the peanut butter cups, now in their familiar orange, yellow and brown wrapping, continued to gain national popularity. In 1963 the H.B. Reese Candy Company, Inc., was sold for $23.5 million to the Hershey Chocolate Company, and in 1976 the first variation in the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup was made with the introduction of Reese's Crunchy Peanut Butter Cup.<br /><br />In 1992 Reese's started selling its own peanut butter in a jar, in 1994 it offered Reese's bits for baking, and in 1998 the company launched ReeseSticks to go along with the Fastbreak, Nutrageous, and Bites, not to mention peanut butter Christmas trees, pumpkins, eggs, and all the other seasonal products. Now even have White Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which pretty much defines heaven on earth for me in terms of candy making. But behind this growing array of candy products there remains the original Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. There is something to be said for the simple combination of peanut butter and chocolate, as immortalized in the \"you got chocolate in my peanut butter/you got peanut butter in my chocolate\" ad campaign that inspired many Americans to walk around eating peanut butter out of a jar.<br /><br />Now, you can certainly make your own peanut butter cups. You just need 12 paper muffin cups, a 12-ounce package of milk chocolate chips, a cup of reduced-fat peanut butter, 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, a 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt, a pair of scissors, microwave, and refrigerator. But it will take you a couple of hours to make 12 candies. Or you can buy this 6 pack of peanut butter cups and just enjoy eating them without resorting to making them.", "I don't know why the Jumbo Fudge Sticks do not contain milk like the regular size ones do, but I am glad. I think they are the only line of Keebler cookies that are accidentally vegan. I have tried all 3 varieties: Regular, Peanut Butter, and the new Mint flavor. The peanut butter ones are my favorite, they taste kind of like a cross between a Little Debbie Nutty Bar and a Kit Kat Bar. Yum! I like to take them apart layer by layer and enjoy.", "I was previously on a Sweet and Salty Caramel Bugles kick, when I decided to try these. My mom asked me why I was eating the caramel ones, because the package states \"may contain wheat\", but they were so good, I continued. The Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bugles are truly delicious! I could go through an entire bag in one sitting, if I didn't start itching halfway through the bag, due to the wheat, and my Gluten Sensitivity. Before becoming Gluten Sensitive last year, I devoured the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chex mix. If you like that, you will love these Bugles. They are so very good! Unfortunately, they do contain wheat, so if you are Gluten Sensitive, they will not work for you :-( I kept eating them, telling myself the itching wasn't that bad, but once I started itching within an hour of eating them, I had to accept they were not worth it. I highly recommend them to anyone and everyone who enjoys the combo of Chocolate and Peanut Butter.", "Better than peanut butter!!! 'nuff said! and i loooooooove peanut butter!!! This almond butter is smooth, flavorful and just overall outstanding. I can literally eat it by the spoonful.", "This is the only peanut butter I buy now. It tastes exactly like normal JIF peanut butter, but adds an Omega 3 boost. The previous reviewer scorned it because of the fish oil, which I'll admit made me squeamish too at first, but I've honestly never tasted anything fishy in this peanut butter. And unlike actual fish, or fish oil capsules, I've never burped up fish either after eating this peanut butter. Considering these alternatives, I'd rather get my daily Omega 3 boosts in this extremely tasty way, especially since I eat a lot of peanut butter anyway.", "The flavor of sunbutter is toasty, buttery and something like peanut butter but twice as good. Sunflower seeds are nutritionally superior to peanuts, but Sunbutter works anywhere peanut butter does. Including making great cookies and Thai peanut sauces.<br /><br />I buy it by the case, because everyone in my family loves it. If you're allergic to peanuts, or just looking for a better nut butter at a reasonable price, I recommend this. It does come, by the way, in an organic version, but I like this crunchy version the best.", "Tried many Butter Toffee Peanuts and many on Amazon's list. Bergin's had the best taste so far. The order I received had fresh peanuts and were covered with butter toffee, not like others where the butter toffee had broken off and left many plain peanuts. The best I had so far.", "Great Tasting Natural almond Butter, Please note that this is NATURAL almond butter and it does not contain any hydrogenated oils or other chemicals/additives (like most other major brands), so you will have to stir it or mix it when you get it home since the oil will separate and make it runny on top and very firm at the bottom. I like both almond butter flavors and the 3 peanut butter flavors i got with the same order:)I would recommend buying this product from Amazon.com and not from the wild squirrel website since Amazon.com has free shipping:)" ]

[ "The death toll from Italy's worst earthquake in nearly three decades climbed Tuesday to 207 as more bodies were recovered. Rescuers are now reaching outlying communities in the mountainous region. The worst-hit village, called Onna, has been all but leveled." ]

[ "The president of Ecuador cut short a visit to Italy, returning home to a country heavily damaged by Saturday's 7.8-magnitude quake. David Greene talks to Carolina Loza Leon, a reporter based in Quito.", "Many scientists expressed outrage after an Italian court convicted six earthquake experts of manslaughter for not doing enough to warn the public before a 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people. NPR foreign correspondent Sylvia Poggioli talks about the trial and other recent events in Italy.", "The death toll continues to rise in one of the worst earthquakes to hit Iran and a nearby region. The 7.3 magnitude quake hit along the border with Iraq and was felt as far away as Turkey.", "First came the eruption. Then, the quake. An overnight earthquake, triggered by Mount Etna's eruption two days ago, caused injuries and damage in Eastern Sicily early Wednesday morning. The volcano has been spewing ash and lava has flowed down its slopes since it began erupting on Monday. The quake registered 4.8 magnitude, according to Italian news agency ANSA, which reported 600 people were displaced by the temblor. Officials said the quake was one of about 1,000 tremors — most of them small — related to Etna's eruption, The Associated Press reports. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that Italy's Civil Protection Agency set up temporary shelters for those whose homes were damaged or who were too frightened to go home. At least 10 people were injured, according to the AP, and others sought medical care for panic attacks or shock. A section of a major roadway was closed, as was the railway along the Ionian coast, ANSA reported. Images of the area showed churches and buildings strewn with rubble, fallen signs in front of shops, and toppled statues. On Monday, ANSA reported that a new fracture had opened on Etna's southeast crater, from which ash was spewing. Authorities closed down airspace over the airport in the nearby city of Catania. \"Etna remains a dangerous volcano, and this country of ours is unfortunately fragile,\" government Undersecretary Vito Crimi said Wednesday, according to the AP. Many people reportedly slept in their cars after the quake. Mount Etna is the most active stratovolcano in the world, according to the United Nations, which has named it a World Heritage Site. Etna has one of the world's longest documented history of eruptions, stretching back to 1,500 B.C. One local resident said the earthquake was worrying. \"Tremors during eruptions are pretty normal here,\" Gaetano Maenza told The Guardian. \"What is unusual is the level of magnitude triggered by Etna. I have no memory of such intensity. It was scary.\" Mount Vesuvius, located near Naples in a heavily populated region of Italy, has also exhibited increased seismic activity recently, according to the newspaper.", "Updated at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday: Officials in Italy say the death toll has risen to 241. The Associated Press quotes the country's civil protection agency — in updated figures about 27 hours after the earthquake struck, the officials said the death toll was 247, but it has since been revised downward. Urgent search efforts continue. Original Post: A powerful earthquake shook central Italy overnight on Wednesday, killing more than 150 people, according to Italy's prime minister, and destroying large swaths of several towns. Victims are still being pulled from the rubble, and the full extent of the devastation is not yet clear. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the quake, which was centered about 100 miles northeast of Rome, had a magnitude of 6.2 and was shallow — at a depth of just over 6 miles. Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del and Pescara del Tronto, in the Apennine mountains, are among the hardest-hit towns. They're small in size but popular as tourist destinations — and August is a prime time for vacations in the area. \"A lot of the officials are lamenting that these are tiny towns but their populations swell in the summer, specifically because they are very sought-after vacation getaways,\" Associated Press reporter Nicole Winfield told NPR. \"So the tiny town of Accumoli ... the mayor said is only a population of 700 but it swells to about 2,500 in the summer,\" she says, raising concerns about high casualty numbers. The towns in the region are old, with roots in medieval Italy, and some have been \"completely razed,\" Winfield says: \"The buildings are old and they just crumbled.\" Some buildings in the area feature architecture dating to the 16th century, according to the website for the city of Amatrice. The earthquake struck just after 3:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday morning, Christopher Livesay reports for NPR. \"One of the towns worst hit is Amatrice,\" Livesay reports. \"The mayor says half the town 'doesn't exist' anymore, and that all roads to and from have been cut off.\" \"Thousands of rescue workers are scrambling to save survivors,\" Livesay reported from Amatrice. Reports collected by the USGS show that the impact of the quake was felt from coast to coast in central Italy and as far north as Bologna and as far south as Naples. Emma Tucker, the deputy editor of The Times of London, was one of the thousands of people on vacation in the region struck by the earthquake. She was staying at a farmhouse just over 50 miles from the epicenter of the quake, and woke up to \"very intense\" shaking. \"The thing that I keep remembering was this terrible noise. ... It sounded like a train was heading towards the house and was going to run over it, sort of a thunderous clanking noise,\" she tells NPR. \"I'm told this was short [for an earthquake], it was 20 seconds, but they felt very, very long, those 20 seconds.\" Hundreds of people have been injured in the earthquake, and thousands of people need temporary housing, The Associated Press says, citing Italy's civil protection agency. According to local media reports, in Accumoli alone, the mayor says there are some 1,500 people now homeless, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports. TV images show survivors wearing the slippers and pajamas they fled in overnight; it will be chilly when night arrives in the mountains, Sylvia says. Rescue crews have struggled to access some of the quake-damaged communities; roads are impassable in some regions. Pope Francis has dispatched Vatican firefighters to assist in the effort, Sylvia reports. The Associated Press reports that in Amatrice, the air was choked with dust and thick with the smell of gas: \"Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets, and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as some 39 aftershocks jolted the region into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1. \" 'The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,' marveled resident Maria Gianni. 'I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn't hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg.' \"Another woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she didn't know what had become of her loved ones. \" 'It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left,' she said, too distraught to give her name. 'I don't know what we'll do.' \"As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors.\" The Apennines are \"tectonically and geologically complex,\" the USGS writes, and the region has experienced several major earthquakes. In 2009, a major earthquake hit near the city of L'Aquila, not far from Wednesday's quake. The 2009 earthquake killed 300 people. Afterward, seismologists were convicted of manslaughter for having said, days before the quake, that it was improbable a large quake was imminent. Their statement was in response to a widely publicized earthquake prediction by a layperson. The convictions, which were crit", "More than 90 people have been killed and over 1,500 other hurt in the deadly earthquake that hit central Italy Monday. Walter Mooney of the U.S. Geological Survey says though scientists have learned a lot about quakes, they are still unable to predict them with any accuracy. \"Instead of doing short-term predictions, we can do something, which I think is equally valuable, and that is give the long-term probability of an earthquake,\" Mooney says.", "Updated at 11:45 a.m. ET A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Albania's central coast overnight Tuesday, severely damaging buildings and triggering more than 100 aftershocks across the Balkan Peninsula. At least 18 people are dead, according to The Associated Press, which cites Albania's Defense Ministry. Hundreds of other people were injured in the quake. \"Significant damage is likely and the disaster is potentially widespread,\" the United States Geological Survey says in its damage estimate. It adds that economic damages will likely be more than $100 million, noting that previous earthquakes of this severity \"have required a regional or national level response.\" The epicenter was only about 20 miles northwest of the capital city, Tirana (population 375,000), the USGS says. The quake hit some 15 miles northeast of the coastal city of Durres (population 122,034), at a depth of 20 kilometers, according to the agency. The cities of Durres and Thumane were the worst hit, Albanian Defense Minister Olta Xhaçka said in an update on the devastation wrought by the quake. She added that while workers are trying to reach anyone who might be trapped by rubble, the work is slow going, as many buildings are still at risk of collapsing. \"The 6.4 magnitude quake hit Albania around 4 a.m. local time and could be felt some 200 miles north in Sarajevo,\" Matthew Algeo reports for NPR from Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The quake was also felt across the Adriatic Sea, in the Puglia region of southern Italy, according to the USGS. The quake flattened brick-and-mortar buildings, leaving massive heaps of rubble where restaurants and other buildings had been. Emergency crews used cranes to carefully lift pieces of walls and other debris, hoping to find survivors. Images from Albanian public broadcaster RTSH show residents gathering in city parks and sidewalks during the night, wary of staying inside as aftershocks rippled through the area. A number of nations, from Italy and Greece to France and Turkey, have offered to help Albania with rescue and recovery efforts, according to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.", "Melissa Block talks with Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center. He was tapped by the Italian government to investigate the events surrounding the tragic 2009 earthquake in the city of L'Aquila, which left more than 300 people dead. The Italian government convicted seven prominent earthquake experts of manslaughter on Monday for not adequately warning the public about the quake ahead of time. The head of Italy's disaster body has resigned in protest against the prison sentences.", "Italy bids an emotional farewell to 19 Italians killed last week in Iraq. The state funeral rouses feelings of patriotism and pride in the victims of a bombing attack on a compound that housed engineers and military personnel. The death toll was Italy's greatest military loss since World War II. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.", "Updated at 6:40 a.m. ET on Monday At least 91 people are dead after a major 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday, jolting nearby Bali. It was the second deadly quake in a week to hit the major tourist destinations. The quake, with its epicenter in northern Lombok, wrecked buildings more than 120 miles away in the neighboring island of Bali, knocking out electricity in several areas and forcing evacuations, according to Indonesia's disaster response agency, Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB). A tsunami warning was issued briefly, then rescinded. The temblor, originally reported as 7.0-magnitude was measured at 6.9 by the U.S. Geological Survey and struck at 7:46 p.m. Sunday evening local time. In addition to the dead, hundreds of people were injured and thousands of homes damaged, BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement. \"Most of the victims died from being hit by collapsed buildings,\" Nugroho says, adding that the death toll would \"definitely increase.\" At a news conference, he described the damage in northern Lombok as \"massive.\" He said rescuers had been blocked by debris-strewn roads and collapsed buildings and that some of the worst-hit areas could not immediately be reached. \"I was watching TV when I felt a big shake,\" Harian, a Lombok woman who gave one name, told The Associated Press. \"The lamp was shaking, and people were shouting 'Get out.' I ran out into the dark because the power cut off.\" Photos from across the island show dozens being wheeled off in stretchers after the quake. Many wounded victims were treated outside of health clinics and hospitals due to the condition of damaged buildings. Officials expect the death toll to rise. Freelance reporter Tess Vigeland, speaking to NPR from Bali, describes the moment the temblor hit the island: \"Shopkeepers and tourists fled stores and restaurants en masse. A Balinese dance performance at a famous temple in Ubud ended with the audience jumping from their seats and running to the streets. A magnitude 5.6 aftershock hit less than an hour later.\" Famous for their picturesque beaches and mountains, buildings in Lombok and Bali height restrictions keep buildings from exceeding the height of coconut trees, the AP reports. Just one week ago, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the region, leaving at least 16 people dead. Sunday's quake also comes amid an uptick in eruptions at Bali's Mount Agung volcano, Vigeland reports. Mount Agung lies on the Pacific Ocean \"Ring of Fire,\" a string of volcanoes and fault lines.", "NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from central Italy where recent earthquakes have devastated one of Italy's major centers for Christian pilgrims and tourists who come to see the Medieval and Renaissance art. In Assisi where nearly every stone is a piece of art, the quakes brought down the ceiling of the basilica in the Cathedral of St Francis. Restorers say the task of restoring two frescoes painted on the ceiling is nearly hopeless...they might not be able to find enough fragments in good condition. The people of Assisi are in despair, too. The local economy is under threat because Assisi depends on pilgrims and tourists for its livelihood.", "Updated at 11:10 p.m. ET The desperate search for survivors continues Sunday in Nepal. Strong aftershocks woke thousands of Nepalese who were forced to spend the cold night outdoors. The Nepalese home ministry puts the latest death toll at 1,805 killed and 4,718 injured, according to the BBC. Doubtless those numbers will change throughout Sunday, and more from neighboring countries. The BBC is reporting that many countries and international charities are offering aid to the country to help recover from the disaster. Steve Herman with the Voice of America Asia bureau chief tweeted that 17 bodies have been recovered at Everest base camp, making it the worst disaster ever to hit the mountain. Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET Authorities in Nepal say nearly 1,400 people are confirmed dead following a powerful earthquake near the capital Kathmandu, where homes and ancient temples collapsed amid the intense temblor and strong aftershocks. Dozens of people in three neighboring countries were also killed. At least eight were reported dead on Mount Everest, and perhaps dozens more trapped by a quake-triggered avalanche that hit the world's tallest peak at the height of the climbing season. The death toll was likely to continue to rise — perhaps dramatically — as more information comes in from remote and isolated regions affected by the magnitude 7.8 quake. The Associated Press says that the earthquake \"shook several cities across northern India, and was felt as far away as Lahore in Pakistan, Lhasa in Tibet, and in Dhaka, Bangladesh.\" Kathmandu's international airport was shut down following the temblor, the news agency says. \"We need support from the various international agencies which are more knowledgeable and equipped to handle the kind of emergency we face now,\" Nepal's Information Minister Minendra Rijal was quoted by the BBC as saying. It is the worst quake to hit the South Asian nation since 1934, when a massive one all but destroyed Kathmandu. In today's temblor, a Nepali police spokesman says 1,394 people are confirmed dead in that country. At least 38 others were confirmed dead in neighboring India, 12 in the Tibet region of China and two in Bangladesh, according to the AP. In Kathmandu, people described panic and ruin amid collapsed buildings. The Associated Press quotes Pushpa Das, a laborer, as saying he ran from his house when the first quake struck but could not escape a collapsing wall that injured his arm. \"It was very scary. The earth was moving ... I am waiting for treatment but the (hospital) staff is overwhelmed,\" he told AP. NPR's Julie McCarthy, reporting from India, says it is causing workers in offices to flee buildings there. India is sending planeloads of supplies and personnel to assist Nepal in rescue and relief efforts. \"Survivors pulled from the rubble are swamping hospitals in the capital — many with broken bones,\" Julie says. \"Others are seeking treatment on the streets. [Kathmandu] has lost its historic nine-story Tower. It collapsed along with many other archeologically significant sites.\" Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the U.S. was \"working closely\" with Nepal \"to provide assistance and support. \"Ambassador [Peter] Bodde has issued a disaster declaration in order to immediately release an initial $1 million for humanitarian assistance. USAID is preparing to deploy a Disaster Assistance Response Team and is activating an Urban Search and Rescue Team to accompany disaster experts and assist with assessments of the situation.\" The quake, with its epicenter near Lamjung, about 50 miles northwest of the capital, struck just before noon local time and was followed by about 20 aftershocks, one as strong as magnitude 6.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Oxfam's country director for Nepal, Cecilia Keizer, said in a statement that telephone lines and electricity had been severed in many areas, \"making charging mobile phones difficult.\" \"The water is also cut off. The number of people killed is continuing to rise. Many of the old houses have been destroyed and at least one large apartment block has come down in Kathmandu,\" she said. \"Given the closeness to the epicenter, Pokhara must also be badly affected,\" Keizer said of the city of more than 250,000 that lies closest to the quake's origin. Meanwhile, a senior mountaineering guide, Ang Tshering, was quoted by the AP as saying an avalanche swept the face of Mount Everest after the earthquake. He said at least 10 climbers had died at Base Camp, but Gyanendra Shretha, an official with Nepal's mountaineering department, said eight bodies had been recovered. Earlier, a Nepali official said 30 people had been hurt on the mountain. This is a breaking news story and we will update this post as new information becomes available.", "A strong earthquake rocked central Italy early Wednesday, collapsing homes on top of residents as they slept. At least 23 people were reported dead in three hard-hit towns where rescue crews raced to dig survivors out of the rubble, but the toll was expected to rise as crews reached homes in more remote hamlets. \"The town isn't here anymore,\" Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi said. The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. local time and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome, where residents felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks. The temblor was felt from the Lazio region into Umbria and Le Marche on the Adriatic coast. The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 80 miles northeast of Rome, where the air was thick with dust and smelled strongly of gas. The center of Amatrice was devastated, with entire buildings razed. Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as some 39 aftershocks continued into the early morning hours, some as strong as 5.1. \"The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,\" marveled resident Maria Gianni. \"I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn't hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg.\" Another woman, sitting in front of her destroyed home with a blanket over her shoulders, said she didn't know what had become of her loved ones. \"It was one of the most beautiful towns of Italy and now there's nothing left,\" she said, too distraught to give her name. \"I don't know what we'll do.\" As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors. There was relief as a woman was pulled out alive from one building, followed by a dog. \"We need chain saws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything,\" civil protection worker Andrea Gentili told The Associated Press. Italy's national blood drive association appealed for donations to Rieti's hospital. The devastation harked back to the 2009 quake that killed more than 300 people in and around L'Aquila, about 55 miles south of the latest quake. The town sent emergency teams Wednesday to help with the rescue. \"I don't know what to say. We are living this immense tragedy,\" said the Rev. Savino D'Amelio, an Amatrice parish priest. \"We are only hoping there will be the least number of victims possible and that we all have the courage to move on.\" The Italian geological service put the magnitude at 6.0; the U.S. Geological Survey reported 6.2 with the epicenter at Norcia, about 105 miles northeast of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers 6 miles. \"Quakes with this magnitude at this depth in our territory in general create building collapses, which can result in deaths,\" said the head of Italy's civil protection service, Fabrizio Curcio. He added that the region is popular with tourists escaping the heat of Rome, with more residents than at other times of the year, and that a single building collapse could raise the toll significantly. The mayor of Accumoli, Stefano Petrucci, told state-run RaiNews24 at least six people had died there, including a family of four, and two others. In Amatrice, the ANSA news agency reported two bodies were pulled from one building. The Rev. Fabio Gammarota told ANSA another three were killed in a separate collapse. In Amatrice, Pirozzi told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris. Premier Matteo Renzi's office tweeted that heavy equipment was on its way. A 1997 quake killed a dozen people in the area and severely damaged one of the jewels of Umbria, the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, filled with Giotto frescoes. The Franciscan friars who are the custodians of the basilica reported no immediate damage from Wednesday's temblor.", "Good morning, here are our early stories: -- Brussels Crime Lab Torched In Apparent Attempt To Destroy Evidence. -- Suicide Bombing In Yemen Kills At Least 45, Attack Claimed By Islamic State. And here are more early headlines: Facing Questions, Trump Says He'll Make Immigration Speech This Week. (Politico) Tropical Depression Forms On Florida's Gulf Coast. (Weather.com) Italy Investigating Whether Poor Construction Worsened Quake Toll. (AP) Italian Coast Guard Rescues Some 1,100 Migrants At Sea. (Reuters) Secretary Of State Kerry Visiting Bangladesh, India. (AP) Burning Man Festival Opens In Nevada. (USA Today) New York Beats South Korea 2-1 In Little League World Series. (CBSSports) Scientists Finish Year In A Dome, Simulating Mars Experience. (Guardian)", "The quake that struck L'Aquila in central Italy early Monday morning is a symptom of an unusual phenomenon: collapsing mountains. More than 200 people were killed in the quake — Italy's deadliest in nearly three decades. Rise And Fall Gigantic forces produced by moving crustal plates created the Apennines, the mountains that run down the spine of Italy. But these forces are also causing them to collapse. Italy lies between two huge plates: the African plate to the south and the Eurasian plate to the north. Geophysicist Paul Earle of the U.S. Geological Survey says a smaller \"microplate\" has also been pushing into Italy from the east. This has caused the landmass to compress like a carpet being pushed from the side on a wooden floor. The carpet bundles up into ridges — that's the Apennine mountains, where the recent quake took place. But on the western side of the country, Italy is also dealing with the creation of a basin, says Earle. That's because the Earth's crust there is actually stretching apart. As the Apennine mountains ride over that basin, gravity pulls them down. \"Gravity is actually causing the slow collapse of this mountain chain,\" says geologist Bob Holdsworth of Durham University in the United Kingdom. \"And the geological faults — huge fractures that cut through the Earth's crust — are actually accommodating that collapse, so that's why this area is so tectonically active; that's why there are so many earthquakes in this region.\" Tectonic Scars Holdsworth says these big faults are found in clusters or families. He and a team of scientists from the U.K. have been studying the history of these faults. The region near the quake is in fact famous for its sharp, cliff-like scarps, which are the scars left on the surface from previous quakes along those faults. When one cluster experiences a slip and causes a quake, it changes the pattern of stress in nearby faults, which leads to the next quake. Holdsworth is studying the chronology of those quakes. \"What we're doing,\" he says, is \"using a past record of fault movements to try and predict into the future.\" ARI SHAPIRO, host: Now, let's take a look underground. As Sylvia just mentioned, central Italy has always been a seismic hotspot. That's because of a complex plate between giant tectonic plates and a spider web of faults running underneath the surface. NPR's Christopher Joyce has more. CHRISTOPHER JOYCE: The towns that suffered the worst devastation sit in the Apennine Mountains that run like a backbone down the length of Italy. The area is known for its dramatic ridges and cliff-like scarps, the scars left by previous quakes. Historical records show the town near the quake's epicenter has experienced earthquakes for at least 800 years, and Italy has seen at least a dozen big quakes over the past century. Geophysicist Paul Earle of the U.S. Geological Survey says Italy is sitting in a geological jumble - giant tectonic plates that form the earth's crust are banging into each other like bumper cars in an amusement park, but in very slow motion. Dr. PAUL EARLE (Geophysicist, U.S. Geological Survey): Tectonics involve the collision between the Eurasian and African plates. And there are smaller microplates between those plates that cause stresses that generate the earthquakes. JOYCE: One of those microplates is the Atria plate. It's pushing under Italy from the east. This irresistible force compresses the land and creates high ridges, like the Apennine mountains. These pile up like the ridges in a carpet that's pushed from one side along a wood floor. Dr. EARLE: But then you also have the opening of a basin on the west end side. JOYCE: The basin was created because, on the western side of the mountains, the earth's crust is slowly stretching or pulling itself apart. And the mountains above this widening basin are prone to slipping down. Bob Holdsworth, a geologist at Durham University in the United Kingdom has studied this phenomena. He explains what's happening. Dr. BOB HOLDSWORTH (Geologist, Durham University): Gravity is actually causing the slow collapse of this mountain chain. And the geological faults — huge fractures that cut through the Earth's crust — are actually accommodating that collapse, so that's why this area is so tectonically active; that's why there are so many earthquakes in this region. JOYCE: Holdsworth says the faults occur in clusters. Dr. HOLDSWORTH: And when one of them moves in an event like this, and that produces a significant displacement, which distorts the stress field. And that distortion affects all the faults that surround it. And when you look at the history of movement back through geologic time, you can actually see how those interactions have triggered movements on other faults. JOYCE: Holdsworth leads a team that will fly to Italy this week to measure movement along the L'Aquila fault, the one that's near the epicenter of the recent quake and a likely suspect in this incident.", "A strong earthquake in Italy's Umbria region destroyed a centuries-old basilica that was built at the birthplace of Saint Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica early Sunday. No deaths were reported from the quake, which followed a series of smaller temblors. Images from the scene show firefighters coming to the aid of nuns as they fled one of the buildings in Norcia, which is also commonly called Nursia. One reason for the lack of casualties: many buildings had been declared unsafe after a large quake in August. \"The monks are all safe, but our hearts go immediately to those affected, and the priests of the monastery are searching for any who may need the Last Rites,\" reads an announcement from the Benedictine monks of Norcia, who had been working to raise money to repair their historic basilica. Today, the monks said, \"The basilica is destroyed.\" NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports for our Newscast unit: \"The quake brought down buildings already damaged by a big tremor in August and two months of aftershocks. Sunday's earthquake was more powerful than the one that struck Aug. 24 that killed almost 300 people. \"There was extensive damage to buildings but no reports of injuries. Many towns had been evacuated in August, and few people remained. The epicenter was near Norcia in the Umbria region, but tremors were felt as far north as Bolzano in the north near the Austrian border and in the southern Puglia region. \"In the walled town of Norcia, the 14th-century basilica of St. Benedict was devastated, with only the façade still standing. In Rome, the earth shook strongly and at length. Transport authorities shut down the metro to check for damage. \"Italy lies on two fault lines, making it one of Europe's most seismically active countries.\" Framed by the Sibylline Mountains, the town of Norcia sits in a scenic valley plain that's named for Scholastica, Benedict's sister. The quake has ruined months of work to make the basilica safe to use again after August's earthquake. In recent months, the monks had been using a fund-raising campaign and revenue from their brewery — which produces Birra Nursia — to help pay for the rebuilding effort. That effort was expected to cost $7.5 million — a figure that will surely be dwarfed by the damages incurred today. Sunday's quake is the most powerful of a cluster of temblors to hit central Italy. In the past week, eight quakes, all with magnitudes of more than 4, struck the region, including two that hit Wednesday: one with a magnitude of 5.5, and one with a magnitude of 6.1.", "The death toll is climbing after two earthquakes that struck western China early Monday. More than 70 people are dead and at least 400 others are injured in Gansu province, the BBC says. According to The Associated Press, China's state media say the death toll stands at 75. The U.S. Geological Survey says the first temblor registered a strong 5.9 magnitude. It struck around 7:45 a.m., local time (Monday evening in the eastern U.S.). The second quake, with a magnitude of 5.6, was felt about an hour later. The BBC adds that \"at least 5,600 houses in the province's Zhangxian county are seriously damaged and 380 have collapsed, while some areas suffered from power cuts or mobile communications being disrupted, the earthquake administration added.\" The area is about 770 miles west of Beijing. China's Global Times writes that \"days of downpours and a series of aftershocks have added difficulties to rescue efforts. ... Aftershocks and minor landslides with falling rocks were seen in the mountainous region following the quake.\"", "A major earthquake strikes northern Algeria, killing at least 500 people and injuring thousands. The 6.7-magnitude quake is the most devastating to hit the country in more than 20 years, and officials fear the death toll will rise. Hear Reuters correspondent Paul de Bendern.", "Iranian state media reports that hundreds of people are dead and nearly more than 1,000 injured in that country alone. The quake struck at night and officials say the death toll was likely to rise.", "So far, it appears that the damage and death toll in Chile will prove far less severe than in Haiti, despite the fact that the Chilean quake last weekend was, by some ways of measuring these events, 500 times more powerful than the quake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12. More than 200,000 died in the Haiti earthquake. The death toll of in Chile was about 700, but expected to rise. Here are some of the determining factors, according to experts, on the destruction caused by each quake: Epicenter: In Chile, the epicenter of the 8.8 magnitude quake was 70 miles from the nearest large city, Concepcion. The epicenter of Haiti's 7.0 magnitude quake was just 15 miles from Port-au-Prince, the densely populated capital. On an index used to measure the intensity of ground shaking during an earthquake, nearly 3 million Haitians were exposed to \"extreme\" or \"violent\" shaking. Because the epicenter of the Chilean quake was offshore and farther from major population centers, no one was exposed to the most intense ground shaking. Population Concentration: Haiti's quake tore through its most populous city, the capital Port-au-Prince. Chile's quake caused damage in the capital, Santiago, and in the large city of Concepcion, but it appears that rural coastal towns may have absorbed the brunt of the quake's power. An estimated 1.2 million people were left homeless by the Haiti quake; some 500,000 homes were damaged in the Chile quake. Preparation: Chile has a functioning government and modern infrastructure that was better prepared for an earthquake. Construction standards are higher. Much of Haiti's urban population lives in densely populated shantytowns and Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere, has a government rife with corruption and inefficiencies. Tsunami: Although there was a tsunami triggered by Haiti's quake, its impact was dwarfed by the deaths directly attributable to the quake (more than 200,000 killed, according to current estimates). The tsunami in Chile appears to have been more significant, but the coastal area where it hit is sparsely populated and the people who live there understand to take higher ground to avoid a tsunami in the event of a major quake. Recovery: Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, was near the epicenter and the government's ability to function was severely impaired by the disaster. Although there was significant damage to some areas of the Chilean capital, the destruction appears to have been largely confined to historic buildings. Most of the more modern structures in Santiago were engineered to withstand seismic events. Chile's more modern airport and seaport infrastructure will also likely make the logistics of international aid delivery less challenging than it has been in Haiti.", "The death toll in Nepal continues to climb, two days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated much of the country, including the densely-populated capital city of Kathmandu, and set off avalanches on Mount Everest. More than 4,000 people are confirmed dead, including at least 18 on Mount Everest, but that number is expected to rise. Search and rescue teams have not yet reached some remote, mountain villages near the quake&#8217;s epicenter. Here & Now&#8217;s Jeremy Hobson speaks with NPR&#8217;s Kirk Siegler, in Kathmandu. &#8220;There are certain parts of the city that are much worse off than others,&#8221; Siegler said. &#8220;For instance, where I am, I&#8217;m in a hotel in the central part of the city. The odd building here or there has been reduced to rubble, but a lot of buildings like this one are still standing. If you&#8217;re near the historic temples, that&#8217;s a much different situation.&#8221; “People are very worried. They’re facing a very uncertain future. They’ve lost so much, and they’re not sure where to go from here.” He says rural areas closer to the epicenter of the quake are likely facing greater devastation, and that it continues to be difficult for rescuers and media to get to those places. Siegler reports that it appears the aftershocks following the earthquake are now subsiding. &#8220;Certainly, I don&#8217;t think blankets and tents, waterproof clothing would be turned away at the border by any means,&#8221; he said. &#8220;&#8230; Just walking around the city, literally it seems as though every green space has been taken over by people living in limbo and camped out. Some are fortunate enough to have tarps, others not.&#8221; Siegler spoke with several people today who are still concerned about aftershocks and what to do now with dwindling food and water supplies. &#8220;People are very worried. They&#8217;re facing a very uncertain future,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They&#8217;ve lost so much, and they&#8217;re not sure where to go from here.&#8221; [Youtube] Guest\n\nKirk Siegler, a reporter for NPR&#8217;s National Desk. He tweets @KirkSiegler.", "Italy's prime minister says the emergency phase of a deadly earthquake is over, but it'll still take months to get people back into their homes. Silvio Berlusconi attended an Easter Mass for rescue workers and volunteers in the hard-hit city of L'Aquila.", "The law in Italy provides primary homeowners special funds to make dwellings safer in the event of a quake. But it doesn't apply to second homes. The majority of homes in Amatrice were second homes.", "Italy is considering targeted interventions against smugglers as the toll of those dying in the Mediterranean continues to rise. The weekend shipwreck off the Libyan coast may have claimed 800 lives.", "BANTUL, Indonesia (AP) -- Desperate relatives searched rubble for survivors Saturday after a powerful earthquake flattened nearly all the buildings in this rice-farming town while residents slept, killing more than 3,500 people on Indonesia's densely populated Java island. The magnitude-6.3 quake wounded thousands more and was the nation's worst disaster since the 2004 tsunami. It also triggered fears that a rumbling volcano nearby would erupt. The earthquake struck at 5:54 a.m. near the famed Borobudur temple complex, caving in roofs and sending concrete walls crashing down. Thousands were wounded. Survivors screamed as they ran from their homes, some clutching bloodied children and the elderly. The worst devastation was in the town of Bantul, where 80 percent of the homes were destroyed and more than 2,000 people killed. Residents started digging mass graves almost immediately, with family members sobbing and reading the Quran beside rows of corpses awaiting burial beneath a blazing sun. Village heads recorded their names so the victims could be added to the official death toll. Subarjo, a 70-year-old food vendor, sobbed next to his dead wife, his house destroyed. \"I couldn't help my wife ... I was trying to rescue my children, one with a broken leg, and then the house collapsed,\" he said. \"I have to accept this as our destiny, as God's will.\" It was the recent in a series of disasters to strike Indonesia -- from the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Aceh province to a widening bird flu outbreak to the threat of eruption from nearby Mount Merapi. The quake's epicenter was 50 miles south of the rumbling Merapi, and activity increased soon after the temblor. A large burst spewed hot clouds and sent debris cascading some two miles down its western flank. Bambang Dwiyanto of the Energy and Mineral Ministry could not say whether the quake caused the volcanic activity but warned that it could trigger a larger eruption. \"It will influence the activities of Mount Merapi, particularly in the lava dome,\" said Dwiyanto, head of the ministry's geological division. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific \"Ring of Fire,\" an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Saturday's quake was centered about six miles below the surface, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Anthony Guarino of the CalTech Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Indonesia has the second-highest number of erupted volcanos in historic time, outside of Japan. It also has the largest number of volcanos in the world -- 76. As night fell across the disaster zone - stretching across hundreds of square miles of mostly farming communities in Yogyakarta province -- tens of thousands of people prepared to sleep on streets, in rice fields and in backyards, fearful of aftershocks. International agencies and other nations promised to send relief immediately. Power and telephone service was out across much of the region, adding to their terror. After spending hours digging in vain through the smoldering debris, many said they were giving up their search for relatives or friends until morning. \"It's just too dark,\" said Sarjio, who was looking for his 40-year-old neighbor, believed to be trapped beneath the remains of her house. \"There's nothing we can do now.\" President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the army to evacuate victims and arrived with a team of Cabinet ministers to oversee rescue operations. He slept in a tent camp with survivors. At least 3,505 were killed in the quake, command post officials from the affected districts told The Associated Press. Two-thirds of the fatalities were in Bantul. \"The numbers just keep rising,\" said Arifin Muhadi of the Indonesian Red Cross, adding that more than 3,400 people were hurt. The only foreigner reported killed or injured in the quake was a man from Holland. U.S. Embassy spokesman Max Kwak said he did not know of any American casualties, and said the United States was contributing $100,000 for search-and-rescue efforts and emergency care. Yogyakarta is about 18 miles from the sea. In the chaos that followed the quake, false rumors of an impending tsunami sent thousands of people fleeing to higher ground in cars and on motorbikes.", "\"A powerful earthquake jolted China's Sichuan province Saturday near where a devastating quake struck five years ago,\" The Associated Press writes. According to CNN, early estimates put the death toll around 100. More than 1,000 other people were reportedly injured. Both figures could change substantially as more information comes in. Reuters, for example, is already reporting that the number of injured may top 2,000. The U.S. Geological Survey puts the estimated magnitude of the temblor at a strong 6.6. There's been a series of aftershocks since the initial quake. As the AP reminds readers, \"the area lies near the same Longmenshan fault where the devastating 7.9-magnitude quake struck May 12, 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead.\" All Things Considered was on assignment in Chengdu, China, when that devastating quake hit in 2008. It's coverage is collected here.", "The death toll is soaring into the hundreds following the worst earthquake to hit Japan in recent history. Hundreds more are injured or missing. The 8.9 magnitude quake triggered a tsunami that ravaged Japan's eastern seaboard and traveled all the way across the Pacific.", "Chile's president called Saturday's earthquake a \"catastrophe of unthinkable magnitude,\" and said the country will accept aid offers. The death toll has surpassed 700. Eben Harrell, a London-based reporter for <em>Time</em> magazine, was in Santiago when the quake hit. He tells Renee Montagne there are pockets of devastation in Santiago.", "Updated 1:52 a.m. ET Monday: The death toll from Saturday's earthquake has risen to 262. The new number was given to reporters Sunday night. President Rafael Correa, who cut short a trip to Rome to return to Ecuador, said he expects the death toll to rise. Government officials say there are many people who are still missing. Original Post: A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador's central coast Saturday evening, killing hundreds and devastating entire regions of the country. Reuters reports that the death toll from the quake currently stands at 246 people, with more than 2,500 injured. \"The immediate priority is to rescue people in the rubble,\" Rafael Correa, Ecuador's president, said on Twitter. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake at 6:58 p.m. local time (7:58 p.m. ET), centered 16 miles southeast of Muisne, a sparsely-populated coastal town. Ecuador has a history of massive temblors, including seven with a magnitude of seven or greater within 155 miles of this quake since 1900. But as The New York Times reports, \"the one on Saturday, which by some accounts lasted more than a minute, was believed to be one of the most powerful since the 1970s.\" Correa \"decreed a national emergency,\" which \"gives the government expanded authority and a state of emergency in six of the country's 24 provinces,\" according to the Times. \"Pedernales is destroyed,\" Correa added in a post on Twitter, referring to one of the worst-hit areas of the country. Reuters describes the region as a \"rustic tourist spot with beaches and palm trees.\" \"There are villages totally devastated,\" Pedernales' mayor Gabriel Alcivar told a local radio station, the wire service reported. \"What happened here in Pedernales is catastrophic.\" Alcivar told the BBC that \"looting had broken out\" in the area. Meanwhile, rescue workers are trying to find survivors in the rubble. The BBC reports that \"helicopters and buses are ferrying troops north but have been hampered by landslides.\" It adds that in some areas, \"people are using their bare hands to try to dig out survivors.\" \"About 13,500 security force personnel were mobilized to keep order around Ecuador,\" Reuters reports. The quake rattled buildings and caused homes to collapse as far away as Ecuador's capital of Quito, 105 miles (170 km) from the quake's epicenter. Quito residents rushed to the streets in fear, according The Associated Press. \"I'm in a state of panic,\" Quito resident Zoila Villena told the AP. \"My building moved a lot and things fell to the floor. Lots of neighbors were screaming and kids crying.\" The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement saying the \"tsunami threat from this earthquake has now mostly passed.\" The quake follows two major earthquakes on the other side of the so-called Ring of Fire. They hit southwest Japan on Thursday and Saturday, killing at least 42 people.", "Earthquakes are common in central Italy. After the 2009 quake in L'Aquila, there were stricter building codes and recommendations for new construction. But many older buildings remain vulnerable.", "Crews pulled more bodies out of tons of broken concrete and twisted steel Wednesday after a highway bridge collapsed in Genoa, raising the death toll in the disaster to at least 39 people. Here & Now&#8216;s Robin Young speaks with NPR&#8217;s Sylvia Poggioli (@spoggioli1), who&#8217;s in Rome.", "The death toll continues to climb after an earthquake hit the small Himalayan nation of Nepal on Saturday. Renee Montagne talks Phil Ewert of the aid agency World Vision." ]

[ "No matter how big or small a telescope is, photons of light still have to touch the 'scope mirror in order to be seen and/or photographed.\\n\\nIt's interesting, though, to realize that with these big telescopes we're seeing extremely distant objects as though we'd been physically transported thousands of light years closer to them. For example, if you're looking through a 20-power telescope at some galaxy that's 10,000 light years away from Earth, the view through the telescope is as if you're only 500 light years away.\\n\\nGod is spelled B-I-G B-A-N-G\\nPBrax@netscape.com" ]

[ "We believe the universe to be infinite in size. In some ways, we know how small the universe is not.\\n\\nThe universe is atleast 13 billion light years in radius from the earth. The furthest galaxy seen to date dates from 13 billion years ago. This means that the light from that galaxy took 13 billion years to reach us and so, at the speed of ... uh ... light, it was 13 billion light years away from earth. This is 76,424,219,300,000,000,000,000 miles away or 76 sextillion miles away.\\n\\nThe problem is seeing past that distance because Hubble discovered that light keeps shifting toward the red part of the spectrum and beyond as the universe continues to expand. There could be stuff past where we can see but we don't know because we can't see it.\\n\\nAnother reason I say minimum is because after the light left that galaxy 13 billion years ago, we believe that the galaxy continued to move away from us during that 13 billion year period due to the expansion of the universe. So, it is over 13 billion light years away from us today and the light from that galaxy \"today\" would take over 13 billion years to reach us.\\n\\nBut in reediting this just now, I realized that there might actually be a stretching effect for the distance due to the time that has passed. In otherwords, the distance that the light travelled in the first year (13 billion years ago) has since expanded (causing the redshift) and so will be more miles in distance than the light year travelled in the most recent year till now. Which may be why articles on the oldest galaxies seen never mention distance but only mention time or age. They never say the observed galaxy is 13B light years away, they say that it is 13B years old and leave it at that. Let's just ignore this plausible issue for the moment. \\n\\nWith out extrapolating, you might calculate the volume of a sphere that is 13 billion light years in radius and use that as a lower bound for the size of the universe:\\n\\n4/3 radius^3 => 5.9*10^68 cubic miles. Don't know about you but I can't even comprehend how big that is.\\n\\nAs for who or what created it, well, that depends on what you believe and what evidence you allow to modify that belief.\\n\\nI liked the article in March 2005 Scientific American on the \"Misconceptions of the Big Bang\".", "A light year (or light-year, or lightyear), abbreviated ly, is the distance light travels in one year: about 9.461 × 1015 metres (9.461 petametres), or about 5.879 × 1012 (nearly six trillion) miles. More specifically, a light year is defined as the distance that a photon would travel, in free space and infinitely distant from any gravitational or magnetic fields, in one Julian year (365.25 days of 86,400 seconds each). Since the speed of light in a vacuum is exactly 299,792,458 m/s (670,616,629 mph) by the definition of metre, one light year is exactly equal to 9,460,730,472,580,800 m (5,878,625,373,184 mi).\\n\\nThe light year is often used to measure distances to stars: a light year is not a unit of time. In astronomy, the preferred unit of measurement for such distances is the parsec which is defined as the distance at which an object will generate one arcsecond of parallax when the observing object moved one astronomical unit perpendicular to the line of sight to the observer. This is equal to approximately 3.26 light years. The parsec is preferred because it can be more easily derived from, and inter-compared with, observational data. However, outside scientific circles, the term light year is more widely used by the general public.\\n\\nA light year is also equal to about 63,241.077 astronomical units (AU). For a list of lengths on the order of one light year.\\n\\nUnits related to the light year are the light minute and light second, the distance light travels in a vacuum in one minute and one second, respectively. A light minute is equal to 17,987,547,480 m. Since light travels 299,792,458 m in one second, a light second is 299,792,458 m in length.\\n\\n\\nMiscellaneous facts\\nIt takes 8.3 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth (a distance of 1.58 × 10-5 light years). \\nThe most distant space probe, Voyager 1, was 13 light hours (only 1.5 × 10-3 light years) away from Earth in September 2004. It took Voyager 27 years to cover that distance. \\nThe nearest known star (other than the Sun), Proxima Centauri is 4.22 light years away. \\nThe center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 28,000 light years away. The Galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. \\nThe Triangulum Galaxy (M33), at a bit under 2.6 million light years away, is the most distant object visible to the naked eye. \\nThe nearest large galaxy cluster, the Virgo Cluster, is about 60 million light years away. \\nThe particle horizon (observable part) of the universe has a radius of about 46 billion light years, but light from the edge of the observable universe was emitted only 13.7 billion years ago (the age of the universe). The figures differ because distant objects have continued to recede from us due to cosmological expansion. \\nOne gigaparsec is equal to approximately 3.26 billion light years.", "*Edit2*\\nBe careful! Most people that have replied to this question have obvious lack of knowledge in quantum field theory, relativity, cosmology, string theory and particle physics. I don't know where they get their facts from, but they are outdated and don't contain any correct information from ANY of the five fields I listed above. They do sound very matter-of-fact though. At least go to that www.superstringtheory.com website to see for yourself who is right and who is wrong.\\n\\nWhat you have loosely described is called the horizon problem. It was a huge problem for cosmologists and physics theorists to solve, and all the answers aren't quite in place yet, but I'll give you the jist and you can visit that website I mentioned to get the real goods on exactly why and how we know what we know.\\n\\nThe \"big bang\" was actually not an explosion, it was a rapid expansion, like a balloon being inflated. The universe started out as nothing but a seemingly empty vacuum that expanded so fast it released a whole lot of energy. This energy started out as extremely hot radiation that cooled into particles like quarks and gluons. These quarks and gluons then came together to form protons which then cooled further and formed atomic matter, which we are all familiar with (except for religious folk who don't want to think very hard, they like simple, three-word answers that start with \"G\" and require no thought).\\n\\nThe horizon problem, kind of like what you described, is that light can only travel at a fixed speed, but the universe is huge (over 50 billion light years across) and has NOT existed long enough to allow light to travel from one side to the other (the oldest light we see has travelled 40 billion light years even though the universe is only 14.5 billion years old - the discrepancy is due to expansion). In fact, it is unlikely that light from one side of the universe will ever reach the other side because the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light. \\n\\nWhat inflation also did is almost instantly expand the matter that now makes up the Earth so far away from the matter making up those early galaxies that the light from them is only just reaching us today. The light takes even longer to reach us than the distance to the galaxies because we are moving away from those galaxies faster than the speed of light. You might think this means the light would never reach us but this is not true because as the photon travels towards us, the expansion rate of the part of the universe it is traveling through gets slower and slower relative to us until the photon's speed is greater than the expansion speed and it zooms to us. Thus the galaxy might have started out only a few billion light years away but the expansion caused the photon to take 10 billion years to get to us, so we see these galaxies as they were 10 billion years ago.\\n\\nAs for the rest of the horizon problem: Studies of the cosmic background radiation show that the entire universe was isotropic in the beginning (that means it was almost the same everywhere). The cosmic background radiation is almost like a giant cast of the universe - it shows the shape and contours of many different properties of the universe when it was only about half a million years old. Anyways in order for the universe to be the same everywhere, it means the particles had to be all interacting with each other over a short distance, and inflation explains this very well. It makes the universe and all matter in it small enough that all matter is initially able to interact before being blown all outward in 3 dimensions like a balloon.\\n\\n*Edit*\\nI just want to add that the universe is ~14.5 billion years old and the Earth is not travelling at the speed of light relative to spacetime, we zip around our galaxy at a few hundred kilometers a second and our galaxy whips around its cluster at an even greater speed, but not even close to the speed of light.", "A star is basically a giant hydrogen bomb. It sits in space for billions of years fusing hydrogen into helium, creating loads of light and heat, among other things.\\n\\nA planet orbits a star, and is just a piece of matter that does not perform nuclear fusion. Some of them are rocky balls (like the Earth, or Mars), while some of them are giant balls of gas (like Jupiter, or Saturn).\\n\\nEDIT: fungusbrains1, planets twinkle too. They don't produce their own light, but they reflect light from the Sun. Any cosmic object whose light rays pass through the atmosphere twinkles.", "A solar eclipse occurs when another planet (or the Moon) passes between the the Earth and the Sun and blocks the light from reaching the Earth.", "we dont see moonlight, the astronauts didnt see earthlight. what we and the astronauts saw was actually sunlight reflecting off of each (moon and earth). the moon gives off no light and all the lights on the earth would not make a very bright light if you were staring at the planet from the moon's surface.", "A hologram is a 3d image of an object. If you look at one you may try to reach out and touch it but nothing is there.\\n\\nWe don't actually see objects, we see the light that is reflected from them. If that light is bent somehow the image will change and the appearance of the object will be different than the case of no interference. We try to extrapolate what was actually there based on the light that reaches our eyes (and the extrapolation is distorted if the light gets bent).\\n\\nIn short, the mirage is a real image, but it is not a real object.", "Couldn't quite reach the speed of light, but if it reaches relativistic speeds (a significant fraction of speed of light), it's a million times faster than a bullet. Energy would be a trillion times higher per gram. Since a cotton ball is about one thousandth the mass of a bullet, it would have a billion times more energy than a bullet (roughly 5 billion joules for a cotton ball of 1 milligram at 1/3 the speed of light). This is approximately the energy of one ton of TNT, which would kill you dead.", "if we need light to see, what does light use to see? How does light illuminate itself. The answer is that light is light already, you are the one who needs it to see. You cannot fathom the mystery of God but God is existence itself and it is impossible for such not to actually exist", "Same answer, different explanation.\\n\\nWhen you look at something, you see light coming from the object (either reflected or generated). Light takes time to move through space (or air, or any distance through any medium). So the light you are seeing has come from the object some amount of time ago, and you are looking into the past.\\n\\nExample: Light takes 8 minutes to reach the Earth from the Sun. So anytime you look at the Sun (which you shouldn't do), you are seeing it as it existed 8 minutes ago! In the past! If it were to dissapear, we would not know for a full 8 minutes, as there is still light on the way to us from it!\\n\\nOnce you start looking outside our solar system, the time it takes light to get to us changes from hours/mintes, to years/centuries/melinia! Then you are truly looking into the distant past, seeing things as they were thousands of years ago.", "The Earth will most likely become devoid of life within the next half a billion years as a result of the sun warming up and increasing in radiation output. The Earth itself will probably be destroyed 5 billion years from now when the sun uses up its hydrogen fusion fuel supply and, in response, expands to swallow most of the inner planets.", "It's true that the speed of light is constant no matter what speed at which you or the source is moving. This is a fundamental postulate of relativity, and there is no explination. It's just accepted because our experiments indicate that it is true. You used the formula \"lights speed + X = actual speed\" this type of velocity addition is called \"Galilean\". It turns out that speeds don't actually add that way. Far out.\\n\\nWhere is the rest of the energy? Good question. The frequency of the light you observe from the sun DOES depend on how fast you and it are moving. The energy of each photon is given by E = hf, where f is the frequency of light.", "I've been on light therapy - it's usually used for SAD - Seasonal Adjusted Depression - it's for winter blues that come from having too little light during the day, and then we spend most of the day inside and aren't exposed to actual sunlight. Sunlight has been shown to be necessary for our mental and physical health. Light therapy uses full-spectrum light to replace the sun when it goes down before we get home from work. If your problem is \"winter blues\" then, yes, light therapy does work.", "The galactic fountain model is a model of gas enrichment in the galaxy. It holds that when supernova go off near the top or bottom of the galactic disk the enriched gas they blow off sprays above and below the disk. This gas then falls back into the galactic disk and helps to enrich the gas there. \\n\\nIn short the model is that huge bubbles of superheated gas from supernovae burst open, shooting gaseous plumes 20,000 light-years out from the galaxy’s disk. (One light-year equals about 5.8 trillion miles.) As the gas cools, it loses buoyancy and crashes back onto the galaxy itself at speeds exceeding 100,000 miles per hour.", "There are ~200,000,000,000 stars in our galaxy. There are at least 80,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe, and reasonable estimates are from 80 billion to 400 billion. Estimates of the total number of stars in the universe that I've seen start around 3 followed by 16 zeroes, and a reasonable approximation would be in the neighborhood of 4.8 x 10^22.\\n\\nNow, we don't know of a single star that is known to NOT have planets; in fact, any planet within an order of magnitude or two of the mass of Earth is far too small for us to even detect, with the exception of those in very unusual systems, such as the one in the link below, which orbits a pulsar (it's also 1/5 the mass of pluto, but even if it were Earth-sized, a pulsar probably wouldn't be very conducive to life forming).\\n\\nWe also don't know exactly what conditions it takes to form life, how long those conditions need to last, or how long planets normally stay within that range of conditions.\\n\\nHowever, we can make some estimates.\\nThe sun is a G-type star, and, although F-K type stars might be capable of supporting life (and such make up ~64% of the stars in the galaxy), we'll ignore everything but the 18.7% of stars which are G-type.\\n\\nFurther, let's say that only 1 in 10,000 G-type stars has a planet capable of forming life.\\n\\nNow, there is, on average, about 1 supernova per galaxy per century, so we'll have to eliminate some candidate stars on that; say about 99% of eligible stars do not form life as a result of radiation bombardment from nearby supernovae.\\n\\nThen, let's estimate that it takes 100,000,000 years for life to form, and the average planet only has 4,000,000,000 years of its lifespan where life can survive. Then, we have to figure out how many planets have life at any given time. The approximate lifespan of the sun is 10 billion years, so we'll figure that's about average for a G-type star.\\n\\nWe'll assume that no star has more than one habitable planet, and that no life colonizes any other planets. Then, we'll figure that only 1% of the planets which are still eligible actually have life.\\n\\nThat still leaves 3-4 planets currently inhabited, in our galaxy alone, including Earth. Multiply that by, oh, say, 1% of the minimum number of galaxies in the universe (just for the fun of it), and we still get nearly 3 billion currently inhabited planets.\\n\\nSo, I'd say that the answer is a pretty resounding \"yes\". Although most of them would be extinct long before we could concievably detect their existence, and even if not, they would be extinct for many millenia before we could communicate with them.", "Andromeda Galaxy is not a \"system\" it is simply referred as a galaxy.\\n\\nThe Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31 or NGC 224; older texts often call it the Andromeda Nebula) is a giant spiral galaxy in the Local Group, together with the Milky Way galaxy. It is at a distance of approximately 2.5 million light years or 770 kpc, in the direction of the constellation Andromeda.", "An Earth year has about 10,000 calories per serving, while a light year has only about 5,000 calories. Also, you age a lot less in a light year, but you dont really do as much...", "Big Bang theory \\n\\nIn astronomy, a theory according to which the universe began billions of years ago in a single event, similar to an explosion. There is evidence for the Big Bang theory in the observed red shift of distant galaxies, which indicates that they are moving away from the Earth, in the existence of cosmic microwave background, and from other data. The Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe is accepted by most astronomers today. \\n\\n\\nScientists have recently found that the expansion of the universe is actually speeding up. This effect is attributed to the presence of dark energy.", "About 500 million light years\\n\\nThe Hercules cluster, Abell 2151 is the dominant galaxy of the Hercules supercluster which contains 12 Abell galaxy clusters and spans some 6 degrees of sky. The Hercules supercluster was first recognized by Harlow Shapely in the 1930's. The supercluster is split into a northern and southern (larger) superclusters which are physically connected by a bridge of galaxies and reside at distances of 400 and 500 million light years respectively. Abell 2151 is the richest cluster within the supercluster in terms of galactic members, especially large spirals which make up 50% of the cluster. Abell 2151 is itself made of subclusters designated N, C, and E. The bumpy distribution of intracluster gas and presence of distinct subclusters suggest that A2151 is relatively unevolved and is still undergoing collapse and coalescence. Current thinking is that galaxy clusters form from large scale mergers of smaller subclusters and groups. The mergers are responsible for changes in the physical dynamics and structure of the clusters and intercluster medium.", "A fingerprint would increase the absorbance of the compound as detected by the instrument. This is because the grease from the print will reflect additional light, such that it does not reach the detector, thereby increasing absorbance.", "As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.\\n\\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. \\n\\nLink below explains more and has a diagram:", "I'm actually studying this right now. Ok, I need you to consider \"Time and Space\". You've probably heard these terms used together quite often. Here's the story: Think of our Solar System as a bed mattress. If you put something heavy on it, like a bowling ball, then smaller objects (like a marble) placed next to it will be drawn to it, correct? This is basically the concept of gravity, and why we're on the ground and why Earth is revolving around the Sun instead of wandering off in space. Now, time is irrelevant because things revolving around the sun have different timeframes, for example, Mercury has a year of 88 Earth days, whereas a day on Venus is actually longer than it's year. Now, if something moves quicker, it is therorized to move slower in \"Time\". Therefore, if the Earth spun around the Sun faster, we would then live longer lives. Now Einstein understood that light is the fastest known thing in the universe, because it travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 km/sec). Now everything that we know of, that we can see, that does exist would be invisible unless there were light to see it, and for this reason, things are \"relative\" to the speed of light. Do you follow? Everything that moves, moves in a speed compared to light. It's kinda hard to grasp, but consider this; when there's a T-storm, and lightning strikes, you see the lightning, and then you hear the thunder. That's sound trying to catch up to the speed of light. Now, Einstein theorized that the faster you move, the slower time goes, because you are approaching the speed of light, and because light is the fastest thing in the Universe, there's nothing to compare it to, therefore time, in a sense, STOPS once you reach that speed. And If you exceed the speed of light, Time may very well move in reverse. Now do you see why time truly does not exist? Here's my favorite example: Let's say you have two identical twin brothers, and one of them is an astronaut, and goes on a space voyage in a spaceship travelling at the speed of light for a really long time. Long time? To who? To the astronaut? Nope. according to the Theory of Relativity, no matter how long he is gone, as long as he is moving at the speed of light, time will not pass for him at all. The astronaut could return after 50 Earth years to discover that his brother is an old man whereas the astronaut is still young enough to do backflips, not aging one bit. I hope that helps you, as You can tell I take a great deal of interest on the topic.", "you can travel to the future but not the past, the closer you travel to the speed of light the faster the time goes by on the outside. I once knew how this worked but can't rememeber now.\\n\\nIn order to travel through time, one must travel at the speed of light, or at least at speeds very close to the speed of light. The problem is, as you mention, that it is not possible to accelerate something up to the speed of light. This comes from the theory of special relativity. In that theory, Einstein has shown that as something accelerates and travels at great speeds its mass increases. And the larger the mass of the object, the harder it is to give it a push to make it accelerate some more. So when the speed of the object gets really close to the speed of light, its mass becomes almost infinite making it impossible to actually give it the speed of light (or speeds faster than the speed of light). \\n\\nBut you don't need to travel exactly at the speed of light to \"travel to the future\". This also comes from Einstein's special relativity. When things travel at speeds close to the speed of light, time slows down. For example, if you were travelling for 10 years in a spaceship that could go at 95% the speed of light then 32 years would go by for the people that stayed on Earth. So in that sense you could say that you have traveled in the future. However we do not have the means to accelerate our space shuttles to speeds even close to that. The space shuttle travels at about 17,500 miles per hour which is 40,000 times slower than the speed of light. At that speed, an astronaut would have to travel a billion years in his space ship in order to jump one year in the future!", "At that rate, it'd take about 2 trillion years for the earth to reach the distance from the sun where Venus is. The solar system is only about 4 or 5 billion years old. Answer: Venus was almost certainly never where we are.", "The magnetic field prevent excess of radiation and matter from sun to approch the earth. For example when an explosion occurs on the sun's surface...\\nAs we know that explosion release a lot of energy which try to reach the earth. The magnetic field of earth block them. That why in polar region we see those green waves in the sky at night...\\n\\nWithout those explosion, the sun still send excess of light. The light contain excess of ultraviolet radiation and the percentage is too small for the magnetic waves of the earth to block it.\\n\\nHence the ozone layer filters the light and allow little ultraviolet rays to enter the atmosphere...", "relative means what you compare it to, so anything can be still. even me, although im moving on the earth at a very high speed. if i compare myself to my computer, i am standing still. \\n\\nspeed of light relative to whatever isnt moving, otherwise it wouldnt be the speed of light. actually this is getting advanced, i think the speed of light is a tricky subject because it does not obey traditional newtonian physics", "All elements (atoms) absorb and reflect certain frequencies(colors) of light. This spectra can be used to identify the elements present in a sample of material even if it is a neutron star a billion light years away or a piece of lint on a table.", "The best guess today: no.\\n\\nIn modern cosmology the topology of the universe appears to be open. \"Topology\" meaning the shape, although in the case of the universe to observe the shape we would have to exist in 4 spatial dimensions. Since we're stuck in 3-dimensions we have to get by on analogies.\\n\\nThe topology or shape of the universe is something which comes out of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. It depends primarily on the distribution of mass and energy in the universe. If the amount of mass-energy is more than a certain critical value then the universe would be \"closed.\" Basically the mass would curve space-time back onto itself. In a closed universe you could fly off in the direction of the north pole and (after about 25 billion years) and circle the universe to land on the south pole.\\n\\nIf the amount of mass in the universe is less than this critical value then the topology of the universe is a bit more complex, but, to answer your question space would be infinite.\\n\\nBased on what we know today that is the case, space is infinite.\\n\\nHowever, we cannot see an infinite universe. When we see things that are farther away we also see them from deeped in the past. A galaxy we see that is 10 billion light years distant is actually a view of what the galaxy looked like 10 billion years in the past.\\n\\nWhen we look farther in space, and thus earlier in the history of the universe, we eventually run into the microwave background. For the first 10,000 years or so after the Big Bang the universe was so dense that it wasn't yet transparent. When the density dropped enough to be transparent then some of the light could escape for us to detect much later.\\n\\nHowever, while the universe is thought to be about 13 billion years old, we can actually see out a bit farther than that, I think around 20 billion light years, because the universe is expanding.\\n\\nWhat this boils down to is that there is a sort of \"wall\" beyond which we can't see. This wall corresponds to a time soon after the Big Bang. However, studies of the total mass-energy within the universe strongly suggest that it has an open topology - that it is infinite.\\n\\n(Of course it is possible that this infinity will be refined when we have a better theory of how Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity play togther. String Theory is one way to combine these two.)", "Think of Einstiens theory of relitivity E=((MC)squared) Where C = the speed of light and M = th electrons flowing from the electric source to the bulb = E (the ability to do work) wich results in theroy the light bending around the vehicle eirgo the light bends becaus both the light and the vechile are travling at the same speed.", "The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. \\n\\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. \\nAs you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.", "Scientists recently discovered a (presumed) rocky planet orbiting a small red-dwarf star about 25,000 light years from Earth. The planet is about 5 times larger in diameter than Earth and revolves around its sun about two and a half times further away than does earth. Because its sun is smaller and cooler and because it rotates further away than does Earth, the average temperature is about -300 degrees and so probably does not harbor life." ]

[ "EDMONTON, AB: Yesterday, yet again, NDP members of the Legislature’s Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship voted down a common-sense motion from the United Conservatives to allow the committee to meet with stakeholders and be able to hear their concerns directly.\nDavid Hanson, United Conservative MLA for Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills, put forward the motion, a measure required because the rules of the Standing Committee simply do not allow for any activities to be undertaken other than the specific task assigned to them, even if there is ample time between meetings dealing with the assigned task.\n“It’s completely unacceptable that Albertans should have to wait for years to meet with the committee and give feedback on bills and policies that affect their lives, said Hanson. “The NDP’s repeated decision to block Albertans from having access to this all-party committee effectively says that their feedback is simply not welcome.”\nThis is the second time in less than two months that the NDP members have deliberately chosen to defeat a common-sense motion that would allow stakeholders to express their concerns directly to the all-party committee.\nThe purpose of legislative standing committees is to review policies referred to them by the Legislative Assembly and give due consideration to other issues that fall within their mandate.\nSeveral groups have been waiting over two years to hear back on their request to meet with the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship, including the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC), Independent Power Producers Society, Alberta Used Oil Management Association, and others.\nThe NDP tried suggesting that AAMDC members already had a chance to voice concerns at their recent convention – but a conference with over one thousand delegates with limited opportunity to get a thirty-second question into a limited question-and-answer session is hardly the same as access to a standing committee.\n“The issues that fall under the mandate of the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship are of particular concern to rural Albertans,” noted Don MacIntyre, United Conservative MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. “The NDP’s steadfast opposition to this common-sense motion shows that they are genuinely not interested in hearing from Albertans, especially rural Albertans, on issues of importance to them.”\nShare this: Print\nEmail\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nPinterest\nGoogle" ]

[ "Central Peace-Notley NDP members sent a clear signal of support, acclaiming Marg McCuaig-Boyd as their candidate in the next provincial election.\nThe long-time educator, post-secondary executive and small business consultant has a proven track record as their MLA since 2015, successfully fighting alongside Premier Rachel Notley for good-paying jobs, a pipeline to get top dollar for our oil, and a more diversified economy that works for everyone.\n“I’ve been so proud to fight for the needs of this region at the Legislature and serve in an NDP caucus that’s on the side of everyday Albertans,” McCuaig-Boyd said. “We’re making life better for families by ensuring our kids learn in good classrooms while our loved ones and seniors have access to the care that they need.”\nMcCuaig-Boyd and the NDP have stood up to calls for deep cuts to vital public services and cleaned up years of PC waste and corruption, while making important investments to repair aging infrastructure and fighting rural crime.\n“Jason Kenney’s UCP twice voted against funding for rural crime-fighting RCMP officers and have refused to support us in fixing the crumbling roads and bridges that are critical for keeping our rural communities moving,” she said.\n“Kenney’s scheme for a massive tax giveaway to the rich would mean cuts to seniors care, firing teachers and nurses, and harm Alberta’s economic recovery. They’re not on Alberta’s side.”", "In the aftermath of the awful attacks on a lone police officer — mowed down by a car and then repeatedly stabbed — and four civilians in attacks over the weekend, Edmonton and Alberta have shown strength.\nPeople have come together in rallies, there has been an outpouring of support for our first responders, and we have shown that we are not going to let the actions of one person disrupt our lives.\nBecause that’s the kind of place that Alberta is.\nNo city or province is perfect, but faced with adversity, we always rise up.\nAnd despite the words and actions of small groups, who may respond negatively when incidents like this happen, We know that’s not what Alberta is.\nWe don’t need to be reminded not to have hate in our hearts, as Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley implored on Sunday.\nAlbertans do not have hate for the Somali community, or refugees who come here to escape persecution.\nAlbertans are a welcoming bunch.\nWe open our arms to all, whether it’s victims from the Fort McMurray fires, or refugees from places like Syria and, yes, Somalia.\nAre there concerns that a Somali refugee who was previously investigated for espousing extremist views is accused of this act?\nYes, and we hope the public receives answers to questions about the screening and refugee claimant process in this man’s case.\nBut anger at him and hate for his actions do not translate to hate for the community.\nThe people for whom we assume that message is directed wouldn’t be listening anyway.\nFor they have hate and fear in their hearts all the time. They didn’t need attacks like those on the weekend to try to stoke fear and hatred.\nThey are the ones who we need to be worried about, as much as we need to be worried about extremists who would mow down cops and then run a U-Haul truck into crowded areas, taking down pedestrians as they go.\nWe can be proud of our community’s response so far, and know that it’s because it’s who we are.", "Multiple independent studies from respected think tanks , banks , and financial officers have shown that continuing to move rapidly towards a $15 minimum wage in Alberta:\nEDMONTON, AB: The United Conservative Party Caucus is urging the NDP government to press pause and release independent economic analysis that outlines the impact of this latest wage hike.\nUnited Conservative Party Interim Leader Nathan Cooper said it’s time for the NDP to put aside ideology, and either conduct or release previously completed empirical evidence on one of the fastest minimum wage increases in North America.“In the face of mounting evidence that the rapid minimum wage increase will hurt, not help, Albertans, the NDP government is refusing to hit pause,” Cooper said. “If common sense was used over ideology, the NDP would do the right thing, and not proceed with the minimum wage increase on Sunday.”\nUnited Conservative Labour Critics Glenn van Dijken and Prab Gill said that if the NDP won’t take their word that now is not the time for another minimum wage increase, they should listen to their NDP counterpart in British Columbia, Premier John Horgan, who slowed down his government’s plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021.\n“It would be entirely irresponsible for an increase to occur until the Premier publicly presents independent economic analysis,” van Dijken said. “Albertans have been through the ringer with the economic downturn. Calgary and Edmonton lead major cities in unemployment. Now is not the time to put ideology over evidence.”\nGill concluded by saying the government’s dogged determination to proceed with its aggressive minimum wage agenda is just another example of the NDP not understanding the unintended consequences of their actions, and that the United Conservatives will continue to be hard at work presenting common-sense ideas to contrast the NDP’s ideological agenda.\nAudio of the press conference is available here.", "The Alberta government’s Minister of Transportation and Government House Leader Brian Mason announced he will not seek re-election when Albertans head to the polls in 2019.\n“I will not be running again in the next election,” Mason said in a news conference Wednesday. “Does anyone have any questions?”\n“I’m turning 65 in October too, and I’ve won ten consecutive elections, and I think that’s enough,” Mason said.\n“There’s always more you could accomplish, I could think of a lot of other things that I could accomplish if I could live forever or be in government forever, but that’s not really how life works,” Mason continued.\n“I’m very pleased with the things I’ve accomplished both on [Edmonton’s] City Council and as a member of opposition, and in government as well.”\nMason was first elected MLA for Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in a byelection in 2000, and served as leader of the NDP from September 18, 2004 to October 18, 2014.\nPrior to his move to provincial politics, Mason served as City Councillor in Edmonton for Ward 3, he was first elected in October 1989, and won three civic elections.\nResponse to news from both sides\nShortly after Mason’s announcement, Premier Rachel Notley posted a tweet thanking Mason for his work with the NDP.\nThere's no question @bmasonNDP will be missed.\nAmong other things, the Press Gallery Christmas party videos will never be the same.\nHere’s one of our best https://t.co/598NccijHJ #abpoli #ableg — Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) July 4, 2018\nUCP Leader Jason Kenney also tweeted after the announcement, calling the long-time MLA “a good man devoted to Alberta and public service.\"\nThe next Legislature will miss the wisdom, experience, and decency of @bmasonNDP. A good man devoted to Alberta and public service. Best of luck in your future endeavours post-election, Brian! https://t.co/atuAxbr6Md — Jason Kenney (@jkenney) July 4, 2018\nTwo other former cabinet ministers have also announced they would not seek re-election in 2019: the former associate health minister Brandy Payne and former Minister for the Status of Women and Service Alberta Stephanie McLean.", "Edmonton – Alberta’s NDP government jumped to defend its new carbon tax from detractors on New Year’s Day as consumers got their first taste of some of the new prices they’ll be paying in 2017.\nDeputy Premier Sarah Hoffman addressed reporters at the legislature on Sunday, where she stressed the link between the tax and getting pipelines to tidewater approved.\nHoffman notes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was clear when he approved Kinder Morgan’s expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline in November that the decision would not have happened without Alberta’s climate plan.\nGasoline at the pumps rose 4.5 cents per litre on Jan. 1, prompting an Opposition Wildrose MLA to post a picture of himself on Twitter on New Year’s Eve filling jerrycans before the price jumped.\nHome heating and business fuels go up, too.\nHoffman called on Albertans who have opposed the government’s climate plan to come together for the sake of seeing the Trans Mountain pipeline to completion.\n“It’s the best way for us to protect for the environment and protect jobs and get pipelines built,” Hoffman said.\n“While it’s four-and-a-half cents today, it’s billions of dollars for our economy and for economic diversification that are crucially important for Albertans and Alberta communities.”\nAlberta isn’t the only province where green initiatives were expected to affect prices starting on New Year’s – Ontario’s cap and trade program to curb carbon emissions also kicked in.\nThe plan, which is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 15 per cent below 1990 levels within four years, will drive the price of gasoline up 4.3 cents per litre and increase the cost of home heating by up to $6.70 a month.\nThe Alberta government estimates the average family will pay $443 more in 2017, but opposition members say it will be at least double that as the carbon tax dominoes through the economy and consumers pay for it through higher prices.\nWildrose Leader Brian Jean said in an emailed statement Sunday that the price of everything is rising at a time when Albertans need a break.\n“The vast majority of Albertans do not support this carbon tax, no matter how much money the NDP waste on ads promoting it or how many ministers they send out to spin a job-killing tax,” Jean said.\nThe Alberta government has another scheduled a media availability on Monday where Environment Minister Shannon Phillips is scheduled to talk about the levy, rebates and further steps.", "EDMONTON, AB: As Premiers from across Canada meet in Ottawa today, United Conservative Interim Leader Nathan Cooper is calling on Premier Rachel Notley to join him in denouncing the federal Liberals’ assault on small business.\nThis summer, Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a plan to increase taxes and eliminate several longstanding measures designed to help Canadians start and grow a small business. These changes will hit Alberta small businesses especially hard, with many still struggling as a result of the current economic downturn.\n“Today, our Premier has an opportunity to show Albertans that she can put their interests ahead of her own,” said Cooper. “Trudeau’s proposal promises to gut small business in our province and across the country, and he justifies it by labelling hardworking small business owners as criminals and tax cheats. It’s shameful that both Premier Notley and Finance Minister Joe Ceci have refused to speak up and defend Alberta entrepreneurs against these baseless attacks.”\nSeveral Premiers and finance ministers have spoken out against the proposed changes, including Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeill, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball, and even the NDP finance minister in B.C., yet Alberta’s Premier has remained silent.\n“This is an issue that crosses party lines, with Canadian leaders from across the political spectrum voicing their opposition to this damaging proposal,” said Cooper. “Unlike this NDP government, the United Conservatives are proud to stand up and defend Alberta’s interests. We remain hard at work representing the priorities of everyday Albertans.”\nShare this: Print\nEmail\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nPinterest\nGoogle", "EDMONTON — Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips says the province is \"still standing\" a day after its carbon tax took effect, and Albertans who opposed the levy could start seeing rebate cheques within days.\nBut Opposition Wildrose critic Don MacIntyre says the majority of Albertans continue to oppose the tax, and that the science isn't settled on whether humans are responsible for the majority of climate change.\nThe tax officially began Sunday, adding 4.5 cents per litre of gasoline at the pumps as well as hiking costs for home heating.\nPhillips held a news conference Monday where she addressed what she felt was \"misinformation\" about the levy, a day after deputy premier Sarah Hoffman held a similar media availability in the legislature building.\nLike Hoffman a day earlier, Phillips stressed the link between the NDP government's new tax on carbon and the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in November.", "The NDP government is spending $259,000 on a mail-out campaign highlighting its plan to cap electricity prices as the cost of power has moved upward.\nThe province sent out a brochure to 1.6 million homes telling residents they are “protected against high electricity prices.”\nThe flier outlines the Notley government’s pledge that if prices go above 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour, the province will cover the costs above that level.\nPrices have exceeded the cap this April, with the government expecting to soon make payments to power companies under the subsidy plan.\nMike McKinnon, press secretary to Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd, said in an email the price cap policy is about giving certainty to residents “to know they’re protected from the power price roller coaster created by the previous Conservative government.”\n“We have a responsibility to communicate policy to Albertans, ensuring they know their government has their backs,” he said, adding that there is no plan to expand the advertising beyond the mail-out.\nBut the campaign raised eyebrows among the Opposition, which has taken aim at the NDP in the past over $9 million spent on advertising its climate leadership plan.\nUnited Conservative Party MLA Nathan Cooper said he had “significant concerns” about another NDP advertising campaign.\n“We see them spending additional resources to communicate a problem that they created,” he said.\n“And all these costs add up.”\nAfter hitting historic lows, power prices are expected to increase this year to a range closer to the historical average price of 7.3 cents an hour.\nThe UCP says that’s due to the government’s mishandling of power purchase arrangements (PPAs) and push toward renewables as it phases out coal-fired power.\nThe government has estimated the cost of the price cap will be around $74 million this year, with the amount paid out of funds collected through the carbon levy.\n– With files from Chris Varcoe\njwood@postmedia.com", "EDMONTON, AB: Premier Rachel Notley should join the Opposition in condemning the B.C. NDP’s radical plan to bog Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion down in new legal and environmental challenges, United Conservative Party Energy Critics Drew Barnes and Rick Fraser said.\nOn the heels of an election promise to “use every tool in the toolbox” to stop the shovel-ready pipeline expansion, the B.C. NDP today announced its plans to seek intervenor status, erect new environmental hurdles and join existing legal challenges against the project.\n“This project has already been approved by our world-class energy regulator, as well as two federal cabinets. The B.C. government doesn’t have a leg to stand on and we need to make that clear as a province and country,” Barnes said. “There’s absolutely no excuse for this kind of political interference, especially at this stage in the game.”\nFraser said it’s time for Notley to drop her “social licence” scheme, which has failed to win any support for pipelines on the west coast.\n“Premier Notley’s plan to win over her friends in B.C. with ‘social licence’ has flopped,” Fraser said. “The Premier needs to show she’s ready to do what Albertans elected her to do, which is put Alberta’s interests first, and roundly condemn this latest news.”\nShare this: Print\nEmail\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nPinterest\nGoogle", "After a year of protests and heated debate between government parties, Alberta's carbon levy has gripped the province.\n\"I understand why some people are concerned and have questions, after all the levy is a new cost,\" deputy premier Sarah Hoffman said at a news conference on Sunday.\n\"Today I call on all those who have been fighting our climate leadership plan to stand with us.\"\nAs of Jan. 1, the levy — termed \"price on carbon\" by Alberta's NDP and \"carbon tax\" by opposition parties — added 4.5 cents per litre for regular gasoline and 5.3 cents per litre for diesel.\nPrices crept past $1 per litre, on average, in the final days of 2016.\nOn New Year's Day, fuel bills at some gas stations jumped nearly five cents per litre.\nGas creeps past $1 per litre in Alberta0:49\nTo offset the added cost, Hoffman said more than 60 per cent of Albertan families will receive a full rebate for the levy.\n\"We're proud to act and move forward on this,\" she said, before citing benefits such as job growth, a more diverse and stable economy, as well as protecting the environment.\nMoney from the levy will be re-invested into the province, Hoffman added.\n\"Yes, we could have waited for Ottawa to act and have a plan imposed on us, but Albertans don't lead from behind. With a climate leadership plan we rightfully take our place as global energy leaders.\"\n'Breaking the land lock'\nWithout a carbon levy, Hoffman said the Trans Mountain pipeline could not have been approved by the federal government. If completed, the project would open Alberta's oilsands to international markets.\n\"Make no mistake, our climate leadership plan is the reason that Alberta is breaking the land lock,\" Hoffman said.\nThe \"yelling, screaming and finger-pointing by former governments\" has failed to address that specific challenge, she added.\n\"To be frank, I think they don't even want us to get pipelines because I think they care more about this government failing, than about Albertans benefiting from all of the opportunity that exists as we move forward.\"\nIgnored call for referendum\nThe carbon levy's launch ignores a call by Alberta's Wildrose opposition party to hold a referendum first.\nIn December, Wildrose leader Brian Jean said the NDP needed approval for the carbon levy because it wasn't mentioned during the 2015 election campaign.\nHe also argued the levy would cost Albertans unnecessarily in the years before an even higher, federally-mandated carbon levy takes hold. Under the federal plan, the price on carbon will increase to $50 per tonne by 2022.\nIf his party wins the next election, Jean has said he's prepared to sue the federal government over its carbon levy.", "EDMONTON, AB: Tuesday, Wildrose House Leader Nathan Cooper released the following statement regarding two new reports from the Information and Privacy Commissioner that outline the toxic disrespect for the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) across the Government of Alberta:\n“I’m deeply troubled, but not surprised, to read these disappointing reports into the state of FOIP in our province.\n“Issues of chronic delays, cost barriers and political interference are clearly rampant and being enabled by the NDP government.\n“Not only has the NDP government not eliminated the unethical practices it used to oppose – it’s actually embraced them.\n“Wildrose released a series of recommendations recently on how the government could fix Alberta’s broken FOIP system.\n“I urge the NDP government to adopt our changes in tandem with recommended legislative changes from the Commissioner – and start fixing Alberta’s FOIP system today.”\nShare this: Print\nEmail\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nPinterest\nGoogle", "Three years ago, Alberta voters probably surprised themselves by giving Rachel Notley's New Democrats a crushing victory over the divided forces of province's conservatives.\nWill they do it again? Just maybe. Though the current fight with B.C. is certainly going to make that more difficult.\nVictory in a dark time\nNotley's victory came just in time for her to govern through the downturn in oil prices, and a brutal retrenchment in the industry.\nShe doubled the pain by imposing both a carbon tax and an emissions cap on the industry, and then by adding new taxes and regulations on the rest of the economy. The combined effect of lower prices and policy reform had international investors shifting their money to other opportunities, and tens of thousands of layoffs followed.\nThings looked grim.\nThe polls showed a collapse in the NDP's political fortunes, and the early success of Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party had many wondering if Notley's government was doomed. There was, and still is, talk of the NDP being \"one and done.\"\nBut it's too early to write off Notley's government as a temporary blip in Alberta's political history.\nThe NDP's strong hand\nThe next provincial election is more than a year away — two if the NDP pushes the election timetable into 2020. That's plenty of time for the NDP to recover in the polls and affections of Albertans.\nThe party has some big political assets, some strong cards to play. The most important of which, is Premier Rachel Notley.\nWhatever Albertans think of her government's record, Notley is an honest and sympathetic character from a family with deep roots in Alberta politics. Sunny, seen as in-touch with concerns of Albertans.\nKenney and the UCP have been careful not to attack her personally, and that's unlikely to change.\nA poll last November showed that the UCP led by Jason Kenney had 47 per cent support of decided voters while Premier Rachel Notley's NDP sat at 33 per cent. (CBC)\nA second important asset is the province's growing economy.\nThe job market isn't exactly soaring, but both the private and public sectors are hiring, and if the growth continues, the NDP campaign will be able to say thing are looking up.\nAs well, Notley's cabinet is talking about slowing down the growth in public spending, and provincial revenues are firm — which should reduce the deficit. And infrastructure projects are making life better, as anyone who drives between Edmonton and Calgary can see. The NDP also say the \"heavy lifting\" of their agenda is done. Meaning that the peril of controversial legislation should be mostly behind them politically. All this gives Notley room to move to the political middle ground in the coming year.\nThirdly, their time in power has allowed the NDP create new constituencies for itself.\nProtectionism for local brewers and distillers, corporate rebates of the carbon tax, and the higher minimum wage tie thousands of livelihoods to the NDP's re-election.\nAnd there's also additional NDP support to be found among public sector unions. Over the next year, the NDP will no doubt point to the UCP's budget plans as a promise of public sector layoffs, pay rollbacks and pension reforms. Those scare tactics will keep many of Alberta's 440,000 public sector workers in the NDP camp.\nBut despite all these assets, the party still has a major fight ahead if it's to win another election.\nSerious obstacles to overcome\nThe NDP's early moves against Kenney have been weak. Their first salvo came just after Kenney won the UCP leadership.\nNotley went after a separate school curriculum dealing with \"consent\" and sexuality. It was an attack which some took as suggesting that Roman Catholic doctrine condoned marital rape. Anger followed, as did some outraged articles. The whole thing hurt her reputation.\nBut by far the biggest threat Notley and the NDP face, is the fight over pipelines.\nThe outcome of the pipeline battles may determine the fate of Rachel Notley's government. (CBC)\nFirst, Notley launched a national tour to tout the case for pipelines. But her tour was followed by the cancellation of the Energy East project, and Notley ended up with nothing to show for her efforts. In the past few days, a very public and ugly exchange with B.C.'s new government has raised the stakes even higher.\nAlberta needs new pipelines. And Notley is in a pitched battle with people you'd think would be on side.\nThe B.C. New Democrats aren't just her co-partisans, Notley worked with them for years as a political staffer on the coast. And now they stand opposed to Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, and want to block bitumen shipments from Alberta's oilsands.\nWhile these two positions play well at home in B.C., they run directly against Alberta's interests, and hurt Notley.\nStanding up for Alberta\nOver the next months Notley must get ahead of Kenney on standing up for Alberta.\nHe will reap a political dividend if the premier's friends in B.C. keep shafting Alberta. Notley and her government will need to find options for retaliation, and make them public. She'll need to show her hand. She'll also need to explain why the NDP carbon tax hasn't delivered the promised \"social licence\" for pipelines. It's something Kenney hammers, and will continue to hammer, at every turn.\nBut Notley has another card to play in this political poker match over pipelines.\nWho stands for Alberta\nPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is said to want Notley to win re-election. His government also says it supports the Trans Mountain project, and inter-provincial pipelines are a federal responsibility.\nNotley should push Trudeau to join her sales effort on behalf of Trans Mountain. I suggest it should be at a joint town hall meeting in Burnaby, the centre of B.C.'s anti-pipeline sentiment.\nIf the Trans Mountain pipeline dispute with B.C. doesn't show progress, Notley and her party would lose some of their own social capital in Alberta. (Tina Lovgreen/CBC)\nIf Trudeau lends his credibility as a son of British Columbia (with his ancestral and educational ties) to Notley's ties to the B.C. NDP, the co-operation with Ottawa could bring results her government's going to need. If the pipeline dispute doesn't show progress, Notley and her party would lose some of their own social capital here in Alberta.\nThey'd let Kenney be seen as the leader \"who stands for Alberta.\" And come the next election, those other NDP campaign assets wouldn't matter. She and her party really will be \"one and done.\"\nCalgary: The Road Ahead is CBC Calgary's special focus on our city as it passes through the crucible of the downturn: the challenges we face, and the possible solutions as we explore what kind of Calgary we want to create. Have an idea? Email us at calgarytheroadahead@cbc.ca\nMore stories from the series:\nThis column is an opinion. For more information about our commentary section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.", "EDMONTON — The Alberta legislature has passed a bill that bans protesters from standing, demonstrating or taking pictures within at least 50 metres of an abortion clinic.\nThe governing NDP, the Alberta party, Liberal David Swann and Independent member Richard Starke voted to pass Bill 9 in third reading.\nThe lone dissenter was Independent Derek Fildebrandt, who says women and staff should not be harassed outside clinics, but the bill goes too far in limiting free speech.\nThe Opposition United Conservative caucus again refused to participate in the debate and walked out en masse during the votes.\nUCP Leader Jason Kenney is against abortion and said his caucus would not debate or vote on the bill, calling it nothing more than divisive political gamesmanship by Premier Rachel Notley’s government.\nKenney’s caucus walked out of the house 14 times when the bill came up in the house over the last two months, and only one member, Angela Pitt, spoke to it in debate.", "The United Conservative Party is under fire for claiming that NDP legislation would allow newcomers in Alberta to vote without proof of residency as soon as they enter the province.\nIf approved, Bill 32, which includes Election Act changes that aim to make voting more accessible, would end the six-month residency requirement to cast a ballot in Alberta. Voters would still need to provide identification and proof of Alberta residency to vote.\nBut UCP Leader Jason Kenney tweeted Friday that “NDP supporters are denying that their new election law removes the residency requirement to vote.\n“Upshot: you can come to Alberta and vote the next day,” his tweet said.\nOn Saturday he reiterated the message. “Irony alert: according to the NDP, I’m not an Albertan after 27 years, but under their new election law someone can move here and vote the next day as an Albertan.”\nThat would not be allowed under the proposed rules, said Alberta Trade Minister Deron Bilous.\n“(Kenney’s) understanding of the bill is so far from the truth he might as well be in Ontario,” he told reporters. “There is still a residency requirement.”\nTo vote in Alberta, residents need to be Canadian citizens who are 18 years or older. They need to prove their identity and Alberta address. They can do this with a piece of government-issued identification, or with two pieces of identification on an approved list authorized by Elections Alberta.\nThe NDP said that Bill 32 doesn’t change voter identification requirements.\nBilous said the move to end the six-month requirement was a recommendation by chief electoral officer Glen Resler.\nResler made the recommendation to a 2014 standing committee on legislative offices. “We are requesting the six-month clause be deleted and that the requirement is for an elector to be resident in Alberta and would have to provide their residency through identification showing a local address,” he said in recorded Hansard.\nThe UCP caucus continued tweeting about the bill Monday. “For those who missed, NDP’s Bill 32 removes 6 month residency requirement for voting. Someone on voters list w/ID could LEGALLY vouch for a ‘friend’ that showed up just days before e-day. If wrong, why not expose at a committee hearing? What is NDP scared of?”\n“My understanding … is that you can still fill a statutory declaration without ID,” UCP house leader Jason Nixon told reporters Monday.\nAccording to the government, that’s not accurate. A voter on the list at a polling subdivision can vouch for someone in the same area by signing a declaration — but identification is still required.\n“Essentially what they’ve been doing is spreading mistruths about this bill,” Bilous added.\nBlaise Boehmer, spokesman for Kenney, said the NDP isn’t being clear about election rules and that Bill 32 should go to committee for review.\n“We’re not retracting anything,” he said Monday in reference to Kenney’s tweets.\n‘The NDP wants to plow through bills hundreds of pages long in the final four days,” he added.\nNixon said there should be at least a month-long residency requirement for people new to the province who want to vote.\n“What I heard from constituents over the weekend is six months is too long … but having no residency requirement is too short,” he said.\ncclancy@postmedia.com\ntwitter.com/clareclancy", "EDMONTON, AB: UCP Solicitor General Critic Mike Ellis today introduced Bill 216, the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement (Protecting Alberta’s Children) Amendment Act, 2017, which clarifies the responsibility of all adults to contact the authorities if they know of a child that is in need of intervention. However, this Bill was defeated by the NDP.\nDubbed “Serenity’s Law”, after the young Alberta girl whose tragic death in government care shook Albertans to their core, Ellis first brought this common-sense idea forward last fall. Today, the United Conservative Caucus asked for unanimous consent of the Legislative Assembly to waive protocol and pass this important legislation through all three stages in one day. With Serenity’s mother watching in the gallery, the NDP failed once again to do the right thing for Alberta children in care.\n“Serenity’s case touched all our hearts and it is imperative that we do whatever we can to help protect Alberta’s most vulnerable children,” said Ellis. “That’s why we asked for the government’s cooperation to pass this important legislation today. This simple, common-sense change clarifies the role that all of us are expected to play in keeping children in our province safe. I am profoundly disappointed to see the NDP waste yet another opportunity to take meaningful action on this critically important issue.”\nBill 216 also proposes to increase the maximum fine for failure to report from $2,000 to $10,000 and adds six months incarceration to the potential penalties.\n“We all have an obligation to report suspected child abuse to police and Bill 216 makes it perfectly clear that there will be serious consequences for failing to do so,” said Ellis. “The entire child intervention system failed Serenity from beginning to end, and this small change could mean the difference between life and death for a child in the future. Today, the NDP made it perfectly clear that they are not serious about fixing the broken system that led to Serenity’s death, nor are they interested in providing some measure of justice, however small, for her family.”\nShare this: Print\nEmail\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nPinterest\nGoogle", "The NDP suspended portions of its caribou protection plan Monday and called on the federal government to step up on the file, citing a $1-billion price tag over the next four decades.\n“Alberta’s approach … and fulfilling the requirements under federal law cannot and will not come at the expense of our economy,” said Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips in a letter sent to Ottawa.\nThe province released its draft plan on Dec. 19 to help threatened woodland caribou populations recover in 15 different ranges. Hundreds of Albertans have since voiced concerns, Phillips said, referencing public meetings in communities including Cold Lake, Fort McMurray and High Level.\nIn the letter to federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Phillips said the province needs a cash infusion “to restore habitat necessary to ensure population growth.”\nAlberta so far has spent $9.2 million on caribou recovery, but restoration costs over the next 40 years are pegged at $1 billion, she stated. “Rearing facilities in our protection plan will cost in the neighbourhood of $75 million.”\nLisa Wardley, chairwoman of the Northwest Species at Risk Committee, said communities in northern Alberta feel ignored. She advocated for a detailed assessment to determine the effects of caribou range planning on local economies.\n“My hamlet is within a caribou range,” Wardley said, speaking about her Zama City home about 600 km north of Grande Prairie. “There is no protected land in that range right now.”\nShe said communities currently have control over the land, but that would change under the proposed provincial plan.\n“Predator management is a big thing, so in protected areas you can’t necessarily do that,” she said in an interview. “We have trappers that are actually creating that wildlife balance. Can they continue if it’s a protected area? We’re not sure.”\nWardley said she’s concerned the range planning would affect nearly 40 per cent of the province’s land mass and hinder forestry and energy industries. “In a nutshell, if it was in your backyard, wouldn’t you want a say?”\nOn Monday, the NDP kiboshed conservation plans pending the outcome of a socioeconomic plan, which means for now there will be no new parks created. But the province will still invest in other projects, such as industry-led efforts to maintain caribou populations.\nSeveral United Conservative Party MLAs repeatedly asked about the issue during Monday’s question period.\nOpposition leader Jason Kenney asked for Alberta Premier Rachel Notley to commit to examining the effects of caribou range planning on jobs.\n“It goes without saying that is part of the socioeconomic assessment that the ministers have indicated to the federal government we want to see completed,” Notley responded.\ncclancy@postmedia.com\ntwitter.com/clareclancy", "EDMONTON, AB: United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney has issued the following statement following announcements from UCP MLAs Wayne Drysdale, Pat Stier, David Schneider and Scott Cyr that they will not seek re-election in 2019:\nI want to thank Wayne, Pat, David, and Scott for their significant contributions to the people of Alberta, as well as their commitment to the success of our unity project. They are devoted public servants who stand up for their constituents. Few opportunities can rival the distinct honour of being chosen to represent constituents at the Alberta Legislature, and I’m confident Wayne, Pat, David, and Scott will remember their time here fondly.\nWayne Drysdale just marked his tenth year as an MLA, which included distinguished service as Minister of Transportation and Minister of Infrastructure. He has been a steady voice of wisdom and experience in our caucus. I wish him and Sherry all good things after the next election.\nPat Stier embodies the many aspects that make our province great: he’s a rancher and a farmer, he worked in oil & gas, and he’s devoted decades of his life to serving his community at both the municipal and provincial level. He’s a principled conservative who stood by his party during difficult times.\nIn the time I’ve known David Schneider, I was pleased to work with someone with a significant background in public service at the municipal level. David represented his constituents well in our caucus, and his keen knowledge of Alberta’s forestry industry and agriculture was a tremendous asset to our team.\nScott Cyr’s background as an accountant was a great asset in holding this government to account each and every day. During the unity process he also played a key role in ensuring the success of our movement. I wish him and his family well.\nOn behalf of our party and caucus, I know Wayne, Pat, David, and Scott will be missed. Together they leave a proud legacy as founding members of our growing party, and each played a critical role in a unity process that brings us ever closer to fulfilling our promise to renew the Alberta Advantage. With their departure, I am encouraged by the caliber of candidates our party is attracting, which I believe will reflect the diversity of today’s Alberta.", "The provincial government is finally setting up an all-party committee on democratic reform. It will look at everything from campaign finance laws to electoral reform, but there is no guarantee the recommendations will be approved before the next election. NTV’s Michael Connors reports.\n-Advertisement-", "The President of the Privacy Access Council of Canada calls Alberta Education’s refusal to release the names of the individuals making up the curriculum expert working groups a “perverse” interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act.\nMetro previously reported on the provincial government’s undertaking of a full curriculum overhaul and how the names of individuals at the reins— the “expert working groups”— aren’t being made public.\nAfter continued refusal from Alberta Education to release the information, Metro put in a FOIP request. A reply given to Metro Jan. 23 indicated the information would be released publicly February 13, but they’ve since had a change of heart.\nEducation Minister David Eggen said his reluctance to release the names of the individuals in the curriculum working groups stems from a worry that the individuals will be the subject of “political attacks.”\n“We’ve seen it already from opposition, and a PC leadership candidate and these political attacks can be directed at me, but I would ask they leave the people on the curriculum working groups out of it,” he said.\nAlberta Education FOIP coordinator, Janet Cummings, said since they decided to reverse their decision to publish the information they will need to reopen Metro’s original request.\n“That means that we have to go out and do that consultation with the 400 members [of the curriculum working groups],” she said.\nCumings said after consulting with the individuals, those people then have 20 days to make an argument not to have their information released, and then Alberta Education has another 10 days to make their decision. This is then followed by another 20 day period in which the individuals in question have another chance to speak with the office of the privacy commissioner.\nThe FOIP coordinator said the whole process could take upwards of 90 days.\nSharon Polsky, president of PACC, told Metro she believes Alberta Education is using the FOIP Act as a shield to prevent disclosure.\n“Governments across Canada that profess to subscribe to openness and accountability—this flies in the face of their own stated policy,” she said.\nPolsky said using the FOIP Act to try and prevent these attacks is not the purpose of the act.\n“That’s a perverse interpretation of the FOIP law. Especially nowadays with social media, everybody is subject to being criticized,” she said. “It allows anybody to weigh in, which means based on this logic- and I use the word generously- absolutely every name must be concealed to protect them against ever potentially receiving criticism or being threatened.”\nFurther, Polsky said the release of this information is in the public’s interest.\n“As a parent, as a taxpayer, and as an educator—it very much is in the public interest to know who, what’re their views and what is the expertise and the qualifications of the people who are going to set the curriculum for the next generations –plural – of Albertans,” she said. “It’s absolutely critical to public interest.”\nThe minister said they are currently working with the office of the privacy commissioner on this issue and how—if at all—is best to release the information.\nMetro inquired with the privacy commissioner’s office about their involvement early Tuesday afternoon and was called back later by Alberta Education who clarified they hadn’t yet begun their work with the commissioner’s office, but we drafting a formal letter that day.\nWildrose Education Shadow Minister Leela Aheer said the continued withholding of this information from Alberta Education is troubling and puts their transparency in question.\n“The NDP should be reassuring Albertans by being open and transparent about this rewrite process, instead of refusing to even release the names of the outside organizations invited to participate,” said Aheer . “Albertans are concerned when curriculum writers refer to students as agents of change - they want to know that this not about NDP ideology.”\nEggen said he believes there has \"never been a more transparent process\"", "Protesters hung a large banner from Edmonton's High Level Bridge on Friday morning to \"dispel the myth\" that all Albertans support the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.\n\"It's reckless to expand major fossil fuel infrastructure at a time when we should be seeing all hands on deck for investing in a sustainable economic future,\" Anna Gerrard, a spokesperson for the demonstrators, said in a news release. \"Albertans are ready for an energy transition.\"\nThe three-part banner, proclaiming No Kinder Morgan, is hung from the east side of the bridge where it can be seen from the Legislature building. It was hung by a team of \"educators, workers, students and community organizers,\" the news release said.\n\"Today's event sends a clear message to Rachel Notley that Albertans are ready for a stable economic future, not another ill-fated pipe dream,\" the protesters said.\nThe twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline would nearly triple the capacity of the 1,150-kilometre line running from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. to 890,000 barrels of oil per day.\nThe $7.4-billion construction project would add 980 km of new pipeline and reactivate 193 km of existing pipeline along the route.\nFirst Nations, environmental groups and the NDP government in British Columbia are all fighting against Ottawa's approval of the project.\nThe protest comes one day after TransCanada's announcement that it will not proceed with its proposed Energy East and Eastern Mainline projects, prompting Indigenous groups and other opponents to claim victory.\nThe 4,500-km Energy East pipeline would have carried more than one million barrels of oil every day from Alberta and Saskatchewan across the country to be refined or exported from facilities in New Brunswick and Quebec. Recent projects had put the full price tag at almost $16 billion.", "The Calgary-Lougheed by election set for Thursday looks like a typical Jason Kenney political lab, sterilized and sealed, the ideal test run of the UCP leader’s master plan for Alberta.\nThere he is, the sole conservative candidate with an audience. The options to the right of him (Alberta Advantage, Reform Party of Alberta, the inevitably appalling Larry Heather) are electorally meaningless.\nMeanwhile, the centre-left is splitting itself between the NDP candidate, Phillip van der Merwe, and Liberal Leader David Khan, whose campaign is surprisingly energetic and effective.\nFor the first time in an actual vote for a legislature seat, the anti-Kenney forces are now in the same weak position as Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives were before the 2015 election.\nThey’re feeding on each other rather than focussing on their real problem, defeating the ideological opponent.\nThe conservative split allowed Rachel Notley and the NDP to come out of nowhere to win. Kenney today is far better known, and infinitely more prepared, than Notley was in the early stages of that campaign.\nThe conventional wisdom is that this makes Kenney unbeatable, first on Thursday, and in any other vote before he glides to the premier’s office in the 2019 general election.\nBut it’s a long run to spring of 2019. Much can change.\nFormer Premier Jim Prentice won four byelections on Oct. 27 2014. In December, he thought he’d co-opted Wildrose with floor-crossings. PCs were euphoric. Only five months later they lost the election.\nThe case isn’t parallel, obviously, but it shows the danger of assuming too much.\nAdvance polling in Calgary-Lougheed indicates high interest. One-third more ballots were cast than in the 2015 advance vote. And that was an emotional general election about change.\nAll this would seem to favor Kenney, but the New Democrats still hope to give him a scare.\nThey’re throwing all they have at the campaign, hoping not so much for victory as a result that shows Kenney isn’t all-powerful. They’d be thrilled to score 40 per cent.\nThe NDP attacks are often exceptionally personal. The strategy is to paint Kenney into a corner formerly occupied by right-wing elements of Wildrose.\nHe has left doubts among some voters, especially with the UCP’s opposition to Bill 24, which strengthened protection for LGBTQ kids in gay-straight alliances.\nKenney’s rebuttals to NDP attacks are undeniably ferocious, but they’re usually based more on policy and performance than character.\nBoth sides leave the nastiest stuff to their trolls, who take the these attacks to unprecedented extremes. (As one UCP loyalist says, “they’ve got their loonies, we’ve got ours.)\nThe UCP feels the dial has already moved sharply from the Bill 24 uproar at the start of the fall legislature sitting, to hard economic issues that deeply concern most Albertans – unemployment, the looming carbon tax increase, deficit spending, and much more.\nIf Kenney does win on Thursday, he’ll immediately have more stature as leader of the Official Opposition, as well as the pay, $160,000 before perks.\nVictory will also cement his authority over the UCP caucus, which hasn’t always been as firm as it looks. He probably wouldn’t face the NDP this year because the house will rise before he’s sworn in.\nKenney will then turn to the big hole at the centre of UCP plans; this party has no official policy, and hasn’t even been formally founded by its members.\nThere will be a founding convention in Red Deer next May 4. A policy meeting will come later, probably in the fall of 2018.\nThe UCP types say the main policy lines won’t change. Kenney promises to repeal the carbon tax and legislate a sustained period of tax relief and fiscal restraint.\nUntil policy is official, however, the UCP looks like an empty vessel, which the NDP ardently fills with every negative possibility.\nThe path to 2019 looks clear to many conservatives. Kenney keeps winning, sweeps NDP aside.\nAnd yet, Alberta politics haven’t been predictable since the strange day in 2006 when the PC Party voted to reject Premier Ralph Klein.\nDon Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald\ndbraid@postmedia.com\nTwitter: @DonBraid", "“Not at all,” Horwath said Wednesday after the Progressive Conservatives, who have slipped to second place according to most public-opinion polls, accused her of “indulging offensive and radical elements in her party.”\n“It is fair to ask whether there is a point at which Ms. Horwath is prepared to stand up to the radical interests in the NDP and stand up for the people who are hurt by her offensive candidates?” said Clark, whose own party has endured its share of candidates’ dubious Facebook and Twitter posts.\nHorwath bristled at the suggestion her party, which polls indicate could win the June 7 election, is biased against the police.\n“In fact, I’ve spent a great deal of time over these last number of years meeting not only with the chiefs of police as a group, but also with the police associations,” she said, acknowledging she was shocked by Andrew’s post.\n“It’s the kind of statement that takes one aback. My understanding is it’s language that, within the Black community is utilized to show displeasure when there are Black leaders who are not felt to be doing enough to address Black community issues,” the NDP leader said.\n“As somebody who is not from the Black community, when I saw that post that was made public by the Conservatives, it was surprising. It’s not something that I would ever say, but we do know that there’s lots of situations where Black activists are trying to make some change and put some pressure on large institutions to help change the culture.”", "The provincial NDP government is launching an online survey.\nThey want to hear from Albertans about the future of Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the Province.\nThe move comes after Edmonton New Democrat MLA Thomas Dang announced in December 2016 that he would be tabling a Private Member’s Bill to drop DST in the province.\nVoters first approved the measure back in 1971, when more than 60 percent of Albertans said they wanted DST brought in. It was the second time it made it to the ballot, having only narrowly failed the first time back in 1967.\nWhen he first made the announcement, Dang told media that every time Albertans change their clocks, he sees floods of emails from his constituents complaining about it.\n“I then started doing research and studying the effects of ‘why do we do it’,” said Dang. “Obviously, it came from war time efforts, and some of those reasons don’t hold weight anymore.”\nDang says he’s looking at two options that they are looking at should DST be abolished in the province.\n“We can go with Saskatchewan and stay with Central Standard Time all the time,” he said. “Or we can stay with Mountain Standard Time all the time. We want to hear from Albertans about what their thoughts are.”\nCurrently in the nation, Saskatchewan, and parts of British Columba, Quebec and Nunavut, does not change their clocks for DST.\nIn Edmonton, a town hall will take place at the Federal Building on Friday, February 17, 2017.\nTo access the survey, click here.\n– Posted by BET", "The Canadian Press\nEDMONTON -- The United Conservative Party says one of its legislature members has resigned from caucus.\nUnited Conservative Leader Jason Kenney issued a terse statement Friday that said Don MacIntyre resigned at about noon.\nA tweet from MacIntyre says he's resigning to focus on family, but it does not specify whether he is stepping down as an MLA or just leaving caucus.\nThe United Conservative Party did not return phone calls requesting comment.\nMacIntyre was elected to the legislature in the constituency of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake in 2015 under the Wildrose banner before the party merged with the United Conservatives.\nBefore that, he was a part-time instructor for the alternative energy program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and worked as chief technical officer for a private overseas geothermal company.\nMacIntyre has suggested in the past that science hasn't conclusively proven that climate change is a man-made problem.", "EDMONTON, AB: New City Charters for Edmonton and Calgary announced this week represent good first steps in evolving the province’s relationship with Alberta’s largest cities, but United Conservative Party caucus Municipal Affairs Critics Pat Stier and Ric McIver say more work needs to be done to ensure all stakeholders have their voices heard.\nOne key aspect of the new City Charters is no new taxation powers for municipalities, in part because of a successful lobbying effort by the legacy Wildrose and Progressive Conservative caucuses.\n“Today’s announcement represents a good start for the eventual establishment of City Charters for Calgary and Edmonton,” said McIver. “We would have liked to see more effort made by this NDP government to reduce red tape for small- and medium-sized businesses and are hopeful that the 60-day consultation period will give these key participants in our economy an opportunity to be heard.”\nToday’s announcement covers many areas and has the potential to impact all Albertans. McIver and Stier are calling on the Minister of Municipal Affairs to ensure this process remains responsive, and that the outcomes mean more transparency and accountability for the taxpayer.\n“While I am encouraged to see that the proposed new capital grant funding model for our two largest cities will be tied to provincial revenue, many serious questions remain about how it will function in practice,” said Stier. “We have been strong advocates for the adoption of this model and I encourage the NDP to extend similar provisions to all Alberta municipalities to ensure equal access to stable and predictable infrastructure funding across the province.”\nShare this: Print\nEmail\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nPinterest\nGoogle", "The longtime fixture of provincial politics was first elected as the NDP representative for a north Edmonton riding in 2000, and is currently the longest serving member in the Alberta Legislature.\nEDMONTON—After nearly 30 years in public life — including almost two decades in the Alberta Legislature — Brian Mason announced Wednesday he will not run again.\nHe rose to leader of the party in 2004, taking over for Raj Pannu, before stepping down in 2014 to open the door for the leadership race that would be won by Rachel Notley.\nAfter Notley led the NDP to victory in the 2015 provincial election, toppling the Progressive Conservative dynasty that had ruled in the province for four decades, Mason stayed on. He is currently minister of transportation.\nPrior to entering provincial politics, Mason was a member of Edmonton City council, first running in 1983 and first elected in 1989.", "The brouhaha over the NDP’s rehire of John Heaney continued Wednesday with yet more queries lobbed at the government in the legislature during question period.\nThis time, it was about the exemption Heaney received to continue his B.C. cannabis lobbyist work while he’s employed by the Alberta government as an adviser in the finance and energy ministries.\nThat exemption, obtained by Postmedia, is dated Feb. 7, 2018 — months after Heaney began his adviser role and weeks after he registered as a lobbyist in B.C. It was signed by Premier Rachel Notley’s chief of staff Nathan Rotman.\nFinance Minister Joe Ceci said on his way into the legislature Wednesday he’s not concerned about the political optics of Heaney’s hire, “because I think he’s been very useful for this government.”\nUnited Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney disagrees. Asked by media Wednesday, he labelled it “a gross conflict of interest.”\n“This stinks to me, and we’re going to continue to ask questions about it,” he said.\nBoosting visitor experiences\nThe province has doled out grants to 16 visitor service providers across Alberta, said a Tuesday news release.\nCash from the Visitor Services Innovation Fund will be used for projects ranging from a roving information kiosk to a mobile-friendly website on Alberta’s tourism hot spots.\nGrants ranged from $7,000 for individual organizations to $16,000 for partnerships, the release said.\nWinners included Edmonton Tourism, Red Deer Tourism and Convention Bureau and Tourism Jasper.\ncclancy@postmedia.com\negraney@postmedia.com", "A veteran NDP MP had his colleagues in stitches Wednesday with colourful criticism of the Liberal government's move to buy Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline and the core assets related to its expansion for $4.5 billion.\n\"Liberals do know it's not legal to smoke weed until August, right? Because this idea makes no sense at all,\" Nathan Cullen said in question period.\nCullen rose in the House of Commons to rail against Liberals for buying a \"65-year-old pipeline\" and expanding its capacity despite objections from many Indigenous communities.\n\"Only Liberals would try to force through a pipeline and tankers through traditional First Nations territory and call that reconciliation. And only this prime minister would call himself a climate change leader and then be willing to spend $15 billion on a diluted bitumen pipeline to China,\" Cullen said.\nThat $15-billion figure was in reference to an assessment from the National Observer.\nCullen even worked in a dig at how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tends to stick to a careful script when it comes to defending his approach to resource projects.\n\"Watch, he's about to say the environment and the economy must go together,\" he said.\nThe prime minister noted that Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley, whose economic approach federal New Democrats used to \"celebrate,\" is a big fan of the decision. Trudeau said that both his government and Notley's understand the importance of getting resources to new markets and, at the same time, putting a price on carbon pollution.\n\"The economy and the environment go together,\" Trudeau said.\nCullen then highlighted how the prime minister told Bloomberg Tuesday that Kinder Morgan walked away from the table because uncertainty around the project made it \"too risky for a commercial entity.\"\n\"What? If it's too risky for an oil pipeline company to build an oil pipeline, why is it okay for the Canadian public to pick up all of that risk?\" he asked.\nTrudeau again touted how happy the \"NDP premier of Alberta\" was with Ottawa's decision to support what he called a job-producing project in the national interest.", "The National Democratic Party (NDP) has welcomed the decision by President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove the Chair of the Electoral Commission as well as two of her deputies from office.\nAccording to the NDP, the decision to remove the three Commissioners -Mrs Charlotte Osei, Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwaah and Mr. Amadu Sulley- is a proof of the President’s commitment to save the public purse.\nThe removal is on the recommendation of a committee set up by the Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, to investigate alleged acts of corruption, misconduct and misbehaviour by the three commissioners.\nInformation Minister, Dr. Mustapha Hamid, in a statement issued Thursday, June 28, 2018, announced the dismissal of Charlotte Osei, Georgina Opoku Amankwaah and Sulley Amadu for misbehaviour and incompetence.\nRead: Firing Charlotte Osei, 2 others a painful decision but... - Akufo-Addo\nThe opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has kicked against the decision describing it as politically motivated and has demanded a reversal of the President’s action.\nNational Organiser, Kofi Adams claims the accusations against Charlotte Osei are trumped up claiming that the decision remove her as well as her two deputies, is part of a well thought out plan by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the 2020 elections.\nRead: “We won’t allow Akufo-Addo to destroy EC” – NDC vent anger over removal of EC Bosses\nBut the NDP which is an offshoot of the NDC, whose candidate, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings was disqualified by the EC from contesting the Presidential Election in 2016, has hailed the President’s move as a “great relief”.\nRead: EC lawyer justifies disqualification of NDP presidential aspirant\n“The National Democratic Party, NDP, has learnt with great relief the dismissal of Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), from office by a due process of the constitution and rule of law” the party said in a statement issued Tuesday, July 3 and signed by Secretary General, Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong.\nThe decision underscores the President’s commitment to safeguard the national purse from reckless scramble for wanton dissipation of public funds, it noted.\nIt noted also: “By the NDP’s encounter with the dismissed EC Chair in the run-up to the 2016 elections, it was clear that in just a matter of time the Commission was going to crash in obvious managerial incompetence and stalled democracy.”\nL-R: Amadu Sulley, Chatlotte Osei and Ms Georgina Opoku Amankwah\n“The EC logo splash and Mrs Charlotte Osei’s infamous declaration that she had ‘seen, chosen and loved it’ began an ego trip that would lead to her scramble to wantonly dissipate public funds, monitise and auction our democracy,” the statement added.\nThis, according to the statement, “…explains why she [Charlotte Osei] would still disqualify the NDP 2016 Presidential Candidate even though we filed an impeccably completed document and also after the Supreme Court had ordered her to reverse her decision and grant the NDP a hearing”.\n“The NDP therefore throws out full support behind the President’s appropriate dismissals at the Electoral Commission as an act to safeguard our democracy from auction to the highest bidder,” it said.", "CALGARY — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said Wednesday she has very little time for conversations that seek to shut down the oilsands as the provincial government pushes to make sure the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is built.\nSpeaking to a room full of oil industry members in Calgary as part of the Global Petroleum Show, Notley said any effective climate plan has to pay attention to working people, adding that her NDP government's plan does this.\nHer comments come as the B.C. NDP, supported by an alliance with the Green party, moves closer to potentially forming the West Coast province's government and implementing their commitment to stop Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion using all means available.\nNotley told reporters after her speech that it was too early to speculate on the tactics that might be used by a future B.C. government to hinder the project.\nShe said she spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday where he once again assured her that the federal government is committed to moving forward with the pipeline.", "The United Conservative Party has appointed a retired judge to investigate after a Calgary constituency association meeting dissolved into chaos on the weekend.\nAllegations of ballot stuffing and improper handling of votes at the founding annual general meeting of the UCP’s Calgary-North East constituency association have been circulating online.\nA video of the event posted online shows shouting and arguments among party members at the meeting.\nUCP executive director Janice Harrington said in a statement that party officials immediately suspended the meeting when potential irregularities came to light.\nShe said retired judge Ted Carruthers has been engaged to conduct an independent review.\n“When serious, credible allegations are raised, they will be investigated,” said Harrington in an email.\nThe event in Calgary-North East followed a tumultuous contest for the UCP nomination in Chestermere-Strathmore, where sitting MLA Leela Aheer was acclaimed after other potential candidates declined to enter the race.\nOne potential candidate in that race, David Campbell, alleged misconduct and accused the party of bias in favour of Aheer. He was forcibly ejected from the founding AGM of the Chestermere-Strathmore riding association last month.\nUCP Leader Jason Kenney was not available for comment Wednesday.\njwood@postmedia.com", "While a majority of Canadians say they don’t care about a politician being a visible minority when voting for the country’s leader, a new Angus Reid poll suggests about three-in-ten voters also say being a practising Sikh might hurt new NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s chances in an election.\nThe study looked to gauge how Canadians feel when it comes to voting for the new federal NDP leader based on his religion and visible characteristics as a Sikh man.\nSingh won the federal New Democratic Party leadership in September, becoming the first visible minority to lead a major Canadian political party. He won without holding a seat in the House.\nOn voting for a visibly looking Sikh man\nOf about 1,400 people surveyed, seven-in-ten Canadians out of B.C., Alberta and Ontario responded to the poll saying they themselves would consider voting for a national party leader who wears a turban and carries a kirpan.\nRespondants out of Quebec showed the greatest hesitancy in voting for a Sikh man, with about half saying they wouldn’t vote for such a person, regardless of their policies.\nREAD MORE: Jagmeet Singh chosen as new leader of federal NDP\nREAD MORE: MP Nathan Cullen endorses Singh in NDP bid\nBroken down by age, almost 40 per cent of those aged 55 and older said they couldn’t support such a leadership, as well as 40 per cent of Conservative Party supporters.\nThe survey also touched on perceptions Canadians as a whole feel towards a Sikh prime minister.\nAsked to think about how their close friends and family members would vote, half said either “most” or “some” of the people in their lives wouldn’t favour a visible minority leader. When asked about “society as a whole,” respondents said they suspect 80 per cent would not show their support in the voting booth.\nOn if religion will get in the way for voters\nVisible aspects aside, when asked if Singh’s religion will hurt the NDP’s electoral chances, 54 per cent of respondents said it would.\nThe pushback was found to be strongest in Quebec, where debates over public officials wearing religious symbols and accommodating religious minorities are part of both recent history and an ongoing political process.\nTwo-thirds of that province agree with the statement about Singh’s religion hurting his party’s electoral standing. Atlantic Canada is the only other region where more than 50 per cent agree." ]

[ "Its high strength and quick set time make Gorilla Super Glue the go-to adhesive for a variety of household projects. ... Super glue, also referred to as cyanoacrylate glue, or CA glue, works on a variety of materials, including plastic*, metal, stone, ceramic, paper, rubber and more." ]

[ "Super glue is safe for use in fish tanks because it becomes completely inert when moist or wet. The main active ingredient of the glue is Cyanoacrylate. When in contact with water it forms strong and stable bonds. ... The Gorilla gel super glue can be used as aquarium glue.", "Gorilla Glue is not designed to work on fabric materials.", "You can use a spray adhesive to glue polystyrene. ... Generally an all purpose PVA glue that is water-based and safe for use by children can be used for gluing Styrofoam. These conventional PVA glues (wood working glue) are thick and suitable for use on virtually all craft surfaces. Glue has to be tacky style glue.", "The glue I'm targeting the most is Gorilla glue. If this glue is ingested by your pet, as soon as it hits your pet's stomach it will expand immediately and then harden. It can cause severe damages to your pets entrails by causing blockages or even expanding stomachs.", "New member. Well you have to prime the rubber with two part hypalon adhesive, the glue it with two part PVC adhesive. Wash the area on the boat to be glued with MEK and the rubber with touluene, 2- 3 coats of glue on each service. Make sure the glue is not wet when bonding.", "It can be used for almost anything but is especially useful for nonporous materials that other adhesives can't glue together. Contact cement works best on plastics, veneers, rubber, glass, metal and leather. ... Once the solvent evaporates, the cement forms a flexible bond with no residual moisture.", "The strength of the rove cartridge was impressive. ... The lab test for the Gorilla Glue cartridge I tried out tested 78.09% THC and 89.87% total active cannabinoids. This co2 oil felt as strong as a Brass Knuckles cartridge if not stronger.", "Generally an all purpose PVA glue that is water-based and safe for use by children can be used for gluing Styrofoam. These conventional PVA glues (wood working glue) are thick and suitable for use on virtually all craft surfaces.", "Silicone Glue for Big Projects Synthetic foam and silicone are good partners. The silicone glue is an adaptable bonding and sealing adhesive that allows you to manipulate foam rubber as the glue dries.", "School glue, a type of white glue, dries more slowly. Inexpensive and nonflammable, PVA glue dries clear. ... These glues form a very strong bond and are recommended for use on materials such as metal, ceramics, glass, some plastics, and rubber; they aren't recommended for flexible surfaces.", "It is perfect as it can be used as both glue and varnish. Try a specialist glue such as Aleene's instant decoupage water-based glue, sealer and finish. PVA glue – all round glue which dries clear and sticks paper, card, fabric, wood and metal.", "Suitable for: Universal - glues wood, wood based materials, plastics (ABS, hard and soft PVC, Plexiglas®, polystyrene, Resopal®), metal, glass, porcelain, ceramic, leather, rubber, felt, cork, fabrics, cardboard, paper, many plastics and much more.", "Cyanoacrylate instant adhesive is generally your best bet for rubber bonding; epoxies are not usually recommended – rubber is easily peeled off. Cyanoacrylate adhesive cures in seconds so you can find out pretty quickly whether it is going to work or not!", "Gorilla All Weather Tape Made with incredibly strong, permanent, butyl adhesive and a weather resistant shell this tape withstands even extreme weather conditions. Gorilla All Weather Tape resists drying, cracking and peeling caused by sunlight, heat, cold and moisture and works in both hot & cold temperatures.", "9 'PVA glue can be used as a DIY porestrip' 'Apart from the danger of getting glue in your eyes it could certainly lead to an horrendous allergic reaction. Even the non toxic variety. Glue could also lead to clogging the pores.", "Absolutely. Specifically designed to be safe for your skin with varying bond strength. As with any product, be sure to know what you're getting and read all instructions and warning labels thoroughly before use. What's the difference between white and clear PVA glue?", "The main use of PVA glue is as a wood glue. ... Although most PVA glues used industrially are water resistant to grade 2, which means they can sustain several cycles of soaking/drying without having the glue fail, they are NOT Waterproof.", "Suitable to use on rubber and plastics. Penetrates machinery parts. Safe to use in an enclosed environment.", "['Gelato.', 'Apple Fritter.', 'Blueberry kush.', 'Cookies and Cream.', 'Do-Si-Dos.', 'Gorilla Glue.', 'Forbidden Fruit.', 'GSC.']", "Once applied, the glue remains temporarily adjustable and does not wrinkle paper. Universal - glues wood, wood based materials, plastics (ABS, hard and soft PVC, Plexiglas®, polystyrene, Resopal®), metal, glass, porcelain, ceramic, leather, rubber, felt, cork, fabrics, cardboard, paper, many plastics and much more.", "Adhesives Used Rubber– This type of adhesive is primarily used for removable decals. It's not recommended that you use it in areas where the temperature will rise above 160F. Rubber adhesives are known for their high tac and will adhere to such surfaces as Teflon, silicone, plastics, and even other rubber itself.", "The glue cures in 1 to 12 hours. Instant glues come in liquid form for plastic, metal and rubber, and gel form for porous materials such as wood and leather. ... White glue: Products such as Elmer's Glue-All are polyvinyl-chloride based. They are cheap and easy to use and clean up with soap and water.", "There are many thousands of species that are not found in zoos. But one of the most visible examples is the mountain gorilla. Almost all the gorillas you will see in (at least US) zoos are western lowland gorillas. There are a smattering of eastern lowland gorillas.", "['As @Meat Trademark said fake spider webs can be made out of cotton. Here is a good video to demonstrate it.', 'Another faster method using rubber cement is described here.', 'Another method is by using hot glue.']", "No, gaffers tape is cloth based and the adhesive is slightly affected by water or humidity. Yes, it is cloth based and made of rubber adhesive. It will melt and then catch on fire. Yes, it is cloth based and will catch on fire.", "['Chimpanzee.', 'Cross River Gorilla.', 'Mountain Gorilla.', 'African Elephant.', 'Forest Elephant.', 'Western Lowland Gorilla.', 'Gorilla.', 'Eastern Lowland Gorilla.']", "Originally Answered: What type of glue or adhesive can be used on the skin? The only glue I can think of that's likely to work but relatively safe is cyanoacrylate. ... You can use childrens washable glue, eyelash adhesives, liquid latex, spirit gum, lace wig glue, etc.", "Yes you can with Command™ Outdoor Products. The adhesive should be applied to a clean, smooth, dry surface when the temperature is above 15°F (-9°C).", "Known for its reliable adhesion, it is ideal for use on paper, fabric, trimmings, silk, and surfaces like wood, metal, glass, china, Styrofoam, as well as most plastics. The glue dries clear and tacky.", "As @Meat Trademark said fake spider webs can be made out of cotton. Here is a good video to demonstrate it. Another faster method using rubber cement is described here. Another method is by using hot glue.", "According to the website WD40 is safe on rubber. The only materials which are mentioned as being affected are polycarbonate and clear polystyrene. However since it is a petoleum based product I would agree wth Alex Rogers and avoid contact with natural rubber.", "The production company then admitted that some gorilla costumes were used, but only for the death scenes. They then were able to assure the public that no gorillas were harmed in the filming. In actuality, about half the footage of gorillas used in the film was of gorilla costumes, or puppets." ]

[ "contact yahoo help immediately,\\nchange your password. \\nmay be someone is gaming with your account." ]

[ "Because they have never encounted anything that convinced them of a god's existence. Please read the FAQ linked below which explains in more detail.", "the answer to this question is not really well-known by the scientific community. there are a number of competing models for explaining the energy of empty space. a good place to start learning about it would be to look up the cosmological constant, which is incorporated into general relativity. it can be measured and is proportional to the energy density of empty space. see the link below for more details.", "I think that email addresses are rarely associated with zip codes. If a person posts their email address and zip somewhere on the web, a search might find it... But I doubt it. It depends on where it was posted on the internet in the first place... \\nIf this doesn't explain, please give some more details. :) Thanks.", "Can you explain what 4-h is please?", "My understanding of Religion, at least for a Monotheist point of view, is that religion is man's attempt to obey God. \\n\\nFor me I am \"Christian\". But my relationship with God is more important than how good of a Christian I can be. I will always fail in pleasing both God and man. But pleasing God is infinitely more important than pleasing man. By accepting His grace and obeying His word, he is pleased. If I can consistently do these things I will exceedingly satisfy my \"religous\" duties.\\n\\nSo to answer your question, I would say I do know what it talks about when it comes to my religion. But only because I get my religous beliefs and practices from a reliable source, God. And if I have any questions, I ask God not my religion. Hope this answers your question.\\n\\np.s. In no way am I an expert or claim to be an expert. This answer is a result of what God has taught me through my relationship with Him.", "Please see this link which explains\\n\\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_weight_classes", "uses more oil quicker. i stuck on the question please explain more", "There is water/gas cooling heat exchanger are started first to avoid overheating. There is some checking for Hydrogen which can mean a water leak into the core. The 3mile island problem is online. It explains what the operators did to worsen the problem and what could have been done in detail.\\nTry Am Institute of Physics, Physics Today site.", "yes they do, the Quran explains the relationship between science and religion, read it (the english version).", "now i dont know much detail, but according to science, there was what is called the Big Bang. here, this big, huge gas ball started spinning really really fast and formed the milky way, then, smaller gas balls were formed which are the plantes. then the moons are astroids lurned into the planet's gravitational force. (just remember-this is not detailed ONE BIT and i might even be wrong on some of this-but the basic idea is correct.)" ]

[ "The tiny but significant hole was from a collision with a piece of space debris, NASA officials said." ]

[ "By SETH BORENSTEIN HOUSTON - Atlantis' six astronauts completed two inspections of the space shuttle Wednesday to make sure it wasn't damaged from mysterious objects found floating outside the spacecraft and made preparations for a landing attempt on Thursday.", "A Sri Lankan baby found in the debris left by the tsunami is returned to his parents, after DNA tests confirmed he was their child.", "A tornado tossed cars down streets, damaged dozens of homes and tore off roofs in southwest Florida, officials said Monday. One person was injured by flying the debris.", "A severe storm swept through this Minnesota town, killing a 10-year-old girl, damaging hundreds of homes and scattering debris across the city, officials said Sunday.", "Among the bodies of victims and debris left when a killer tsunami slammed into the Sri Lankan coast, rescuers found a baby still alive.", "ASTRONAUTS on the space shuttle Atlantis will spend two extra days in orbit to fix the craft's thermal \"blanket\". Experts feared the rip could result in damage to the shuttle during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.", "A man who was struck by debris and suffered brain damage when a tornado destroyed this town in May has died, making him the 12th victim of the storm, his family said.", "The space shuttle appeared to have made the jump into orbit without any significant damage to its delicate heat shield.", "Debris and damaged items from homes and businesses where hauled curbside Monday as residents in the Midwest and South cleaned up after the weekend's severe thunderstorms that were blamed for 13 deaths.", "Thousands of Indonesians were cleaning up mud and debris from their flood-damaged homes on Saturday after rains eased and waters that forced many into cramped emergency shelters begin to subside.", "CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - NASA will not be able to launch the next space shuttle mission in March as planned because the shuttle Atlantis sustained damage from a ferocious hail storm, the U.S. space agency said on Tuesday.", "Jeanne was the third hurricane in six weeks to damage Florida&#39;s Kennedy Space Center but NASA would not say on Monday whether the damage will set back plans to resume space shuttle flights next March.", "Russian authorities say they have now found traces of explosives in the wreckage of both passenger aircraft that crashed Tuesday. Investigators say they found explosive residue in debris from an airliner that went down in the Tula region south of Moscow.", "The crew of the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery was preparing Sunday for its rendezvous with the International Space Station. NASA said the crew was inspecting the shuttle's heat shield for any possible damage from Saturday's launch, and preparing tools necessary for the rendezvous.", "By Staff Reports Video: Hail Storm Damage Delays Shuttle Launch CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA on Tuesday postponed next month's launch of space shuttle Atlantis after a hailstorm left hundreds of small dings on the spacecraft's external fuel tank.", "A Sri Lankan court opened a custody hearing Wednesday for \"Baby 81,\" the wide-eyed boy found alive among bodies and debris left by the Asian tsunami.", "The first shuttle flight since the Columbia tragedy has been pushed back by NASA. This is due to hurricane damages and implementation of new safety measures.", "A Russian scientist has reopened the controversy over a gigantic explosion in 1908 in Siberia with a claim that he has found debris from an extraterrestrial space vehicle, or UFO, which collided with a comet.", "An elderly Sri Lankan man was found alive under the debris of a southern town nearly two weeks after it was decimated by giant tsunami waves, a newspaper reported on Sunday.", "By Traci Watson Early data from Saturday's launch of space shuttle Discovery show the ship is in good health and suffered no damage on the way to orbit, deputy shuttle program manager John Shannon said Sunday. \"It was a very typical ascent,\" Shannon said.", "Workers demolishing damaged houses found a body thought to be that of a Hurricane Katrina victim, authorities said.", "An Iraqi boy rescues a destroyed bicycle from the debris of a destroyed building in Fallujah, outside Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004, after US troops pounded Fallujah with airstrikes, destroying one house and damaging three others.", "A chemical found in shampoo and hand lotions may damage the developing nervous system, research suggests.", "The International Space Station is not ready to serve as a safe haven for shuttle crew members stranded by ship damage, the Russian commander of the next station crew said on Thursday.", "NASA should be able to meet all requirements for resuming space shuttle flights next spring, but some solutions, like repairing damage to heat shields, will be open", "LUFKIN, TEXAS - A 1.8-metre-long piece of the space shuttle Columbia was recently found in Texas, according to NASA. The shuttle broke up over the state on Feb. 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.", "Damage consistent with the bends has been found in sperm whale bones, Science magazine reports" ]

[ "Venezuela suggested Friday that exiles living in Florida may have masterminded the assassination of a prosecutor investigating a short-lived coup against leftist President Hugo Chávez" ]

[ "CARACAS, Venezuela - A Venezuelan lawyer suspected in last week's bombing murder of a top state prosecutor was killed in a gunfight with police on Tuesday after he tried to ram detectives with his car and opened fire on them, officials said.", "A key state prosecutor may have been killed when his car exploded in Venezuela, officials fear.", "The Venezuelan government Friday described as &quot;brutal act of terrorism&quot; an explosion that killed a state prosecutor who is leading a probe into backers of Venezuela&#39;s coup in 2002.", "CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela recalled its ambassador from Panama Friday in protest at comments by Panama's outgoing leader about the pardon of four Cuban exiles who plotted to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000.", "Venezuela withdraws its ambassador from Panama, in an on-going row about a pardon for four Cuban exiles.", "President Hugo Chavez&#39;s spokesman on Friday accused &quot;terrorists&quot; training in Florida of being behind the assassination of a top prosecutor who intended to try backers of Venezuela&#39;s 2002 failed coup.", "A truck owned by a prosecutor pressing charges against supporters of Venezuela's failed 2002 coup exploded early Friday, and the body of the prosecutor appeared to have been inside, the government said.", "Police have detained an eighth suspect in the slaying of a Dutch filmmaker, allegedly by a group accused of threatening to kill several Dutch politicians in the name of Islam, prosecutors said Saturday.", "By Patrick Markey CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's President HugoChavez pressed for a new anti-terrorism proposal on Saturdayafter a car bomb killed a top state prosecutor investigatingopponents accused of backing a 2002 coup against him.", "A special prosecutor said Friday that the conviction of a man serving life in prison in the slaying of a woman should be tossed out because new DNA evidence points to another suspect.", "The jailed American suspect in the slaying of a British student was questioned by prosecutors for six hours Monday and insisted that she was not involved, her lawyers said.", "CARACAS, Venezuela - A Venezuelan prosecutor probing a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez was killed by a car bomb that the government blamed on Friday on radical opponents it said were training in the United States.", "Dutch police have arrested eight suspected Islamic radicals as part of the investigation into the brutal slaying of outspoken filmmaker Theo van Gogh, prosecutors said Wednesday.", "VENEZUELA CARACAS -- President Hugo Chavez vowed yesterday that Venezuela's intelligence services would identify the assassins of a state attorney who intended to prosecute backers of Venezuela's 2002 coup. Danilo Anderson, known to many Venezuelans as the &quot;super prosecutor,&quot; was killed Thursday night by two explosions that ripped through his vehicle in the capital. The assassination renewed the specter of ...", "By Patrick Markey CARACAS, Venezuela - A car bomb killed a topVenezuelan prosecutor investigating opponents of President HugoChavez who were accused of backing a 2002 coup attempt againstthe leftist leader, officials said on Friday.", "Police have detained an eighth suspect in the slaying of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and arrested two other men who called for the beheading of a Dutch politician in the name of Islam, prosecutors said Saturday.", "U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police on Tuesday killed a suspected gang leader wanted in the kidnap-slaying of a French businessman.", "A leading Venezuelan prosecutor investigating the 2002 coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez has been killed in a car bomb attack in Caracas, raising fears of renewed unrest in the country.", "The FBI is reviewing images of teenagers found on computer equipment seized from former JonBenet Ramsey slaying suspect John Mark Karr's home to compare the images with a national database of child porn victims, a Sonoma County prosecutor said.", "Italian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of 40 suspected Calabrian mafia members over the slaying of six Italian men in Germany two weeks ago, ANSA news agency reported Thursday.", "Prosecutors, lawmakers and rights activists criticized Venezuela's judicial system for the acquittal of a man who had been accused of torturing and repeatedly raping a woman.", "Exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky on Monday called the Kremlin and Russia&#39;s chief prosecutor &quot;seriously sick&quot; for blaming the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya on foreign elements.", "A former college student suspected in Monday&#39;s slaying of a security guard at the Illinois state capitol building was captured on Tuesday as he was knocking on doors of homes nearby, police said.", "Police said they had arrested two Rwandans living in exile in France who are wanted by an international court trying suspects in Rwanda&#39;s 1994 genocide.", "Russian prosecutors charge exile Boris Berezovsky with plotting to seize power in Moscow, his lawyer says.", "Prosecutors withheld evidence that might have led to the dismissal of child pornography possession charges against former JonBenet Ramsey slaying suspect John Mark Karr, defense lawyers told a judge Tuesday.", "Venezuelan police arrest two men in connection with the killing last week of state prosecutor Danilo Anderson.", "One of the men suspected of killing a sheriff's wife and a deputy was also a suspect in his own wife's death, a prosecutor said Wednesday.", "CARACAS, Venezuela -- One of Colombia's most-wanted drug lords has been found slain, Venezuela's top counter-drug official said Friday.", "THE CRIME: A car bomb killed a prosecutor preparing a case against nearly 400 people who backed a 2002 coup attempt to oust President Hugo Chavez.", "Police arrested eight more suspected Islamic radicals Wednesday in the slaying of a Dutch filmmaker who criticized Muslim customs.", "Police discovered the bodies of four missing people inside a Jeep on Sunday and arrested a man suspected in their slayings, authorities said." ]

[ "Western Terrorists - TV Tropes Western Terrorists You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share YMMV Basically, a group of terrorists who are mostly from the West (Typically defined as North America and Europe (With the possible exceptions of Turkey, Cyprus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Russia, which can fall under Asia and the East instead), though South America and Oceania can also be included), and who are mainly influenced by cultural, political or religious ideas of Western origin. The trope may also cover a single individual. What makes someone \"Western\" can be rather hazy and difficult to define, since it's not simply a matter of where the person was born or grew up (many Islamic terrorists, generally regarded as non-Western, lived the majority of their lives in the West, and for that matter many elements of Islamic culture - coffee and yogurt, for instance, were originally Arabic and Turkish foods, respectively - have profoundly influenced Western society and vice versa, making it tough to ascertain who's \"Western\" and who's not). Generally, a \"Western terrorist\" is a terrorist fighting for something that has been an issue in the West for a long time - an ideological offshoot, for better or worse, of the legacies of the European feudal system, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, or the scientific revolution launched in the seventeenth century, like anarchism, communism, Christian religion, environmentalism, nationalism, or racism, as opposed to an issue most strongly associated with another culture (like non-Christian religion, which of course raises the fascinating question of whether to classify Israeli terrorists as Middle Eastern or Western. Same with South African terrorists , which could be classified as either African or Western). Bear in mind that an apparently non-Western terrorist group may be secretly led by Western terrorists acting as The Man Behind the Man . For example, this would be the case if an apparent Islamic terrorist group turned out to be part of a secret neo-Nazi plot to provoke World War III (unlikely, yes, but stranger things have happened). Creators may opt to draw from Real Life terrorism cases, from Anders Breivik to the Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, to the civilian mass-murders orchestrated in Northern Ireland , instead of the arguably more topical example of Middle Eastern terrorists. They may find Western terrorism more interesting than its counterparts in the rest of the world, simply because it is much more multidimensional in scope. Additionally, using Western villains often seems like an easy way of skirting any racial or ethnic Unfortunate Implications (though many Middle Easterners are of Caucasian descent, or at least look it). However, there is also danger with this approach: if used in improbable contexts, or to replace non-Western terrorists in an adaptation or update, the use of Western terrorists can start to look like a cheap case of Acceptable Targets . Some groups of Western Terrorists that have appeared in media and news are various Animal Wrongs Group , whose actions have been dubbed eco-terrorism. There are also militia groups . Other examples include extreme nationalists, racial supremacists, violent leftists, religious radicals and separatist movements. The Troubles in Northern Ireland is a notable example - a definitely European dispute, with white Christians involved in sectarian violence which included riots and violence. (On the other hand, the Irish Republican terrorist/resistance movement is definitely anti-colonialist, and anti-colonialism is usually thought to be a non-Western theme.) A similar notable example are the conflicts between Russians and Chechnyan separatists in the Russian republic of Chechnya. In recent years, there are those who commit terrorism in the West as lone wolves without being affiliated with known established terrorist organizations; often they are psychopathic young people subscribing to some nihilistic ideology that makes sense only to them (Jared Loughner" ]

[ "\"American Pie\" Lyrics - What Do They Mean? Now for ten years we've been on our own The music died 1959, McLean more than likely started writing this song around 1969. And moss grows fat on a rolling stone The great Bob Dylan wrote \"Like a Rolling Stone\" in 1965. This was his first MAJOR change from folk music. In late 1966, Dylan was involved in a motorcycle accident, and hid in his house in Woodstock, NY for a good year, hence the \"fat,\" and the moss shows the time change. Dylan didn't really get his muse back till 1975. but that's not how it used to be. McLean liked Dylan as a folk singer in the early sixties more than his folk-rock style in the mid sixties. (I wonder what he thinks of Dylan's religious phase!) When the jester sang for the king and queen Ok, the jester's Bob Dylan. The king is Peter Seger and the queen is Joan Baez. These were the two big names in folk at the time early '60's). During the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, Dylan was honored to play his own set and then combine with these two legends to sing his song \"Blowin' in the Wind.\" In a coat he borrowed from James Dean In the Dean movie \"Rebel Without A Cause,\" he wears a red windbreaker. On the cover of the Dylan's \"Freewheelin',\" he is seen also in a red windbreaker. This cover also resembles a famous picture of Dean. This ties in with the previous line 'cause this album is were Dylan really took off, with such songs as \"Blowin' in the Wind\" and \"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.\" And a voice that came from you and me. This means two things. 1. Dylan was the spokesman for the 60's (and he was) and 2. He didn't have the best singing voice in the world, and even you and me could sing like him (but you could write like him if Shakespeare «he's in the alley» himself told you what to say!) Oh, and while the king was looking down This could mean two things; Pete Seger remained a traditional folk singer, while Dylan was constantly reinvented himself and therefore became unbelievably popular. This could also be a reference to Elvis (the King of rock and roll), because he joined the U.S. Army and reportedly dropped his soap everyday in the shower. The jester stole his thorny crown While Elvis was in the army, Dylan took his spotlight and changed the whole music business. The thorny crown is the price of fame, and is referenced with Jesus's thorny crown before he was murdered. The courtroom was adjourned, no verdict was returned This deals with the Kennedy assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald was never convicted because he was murdered. And while Lennon read a book of Marx This is about the Beatles music becoming political. Songs like \"Revolution\" (1968) (which actually mentions Chairman Mao) were much different then \"Love Me Do\" (1963). Many American adults thought the Beatles were bad for the American youth, especially after Lennon's remark in 1966 about Christianity. He said \"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first: rock 'n' roll or Christianity.\" This started anti-Beatles burnings and such. The quartet practiced in the park The quartet was the Beatles (there were four, not including if Paul McCartney is really dead!) and the park thing is Candlestick Park, the place of their last concert. It was practicing 'cause their music would grow after they stopped touring (their first project after this was \"Sgt. Pepper\" which is considered the best album of all time). And we sang dirges in the dark, the day the music died. A dirge is a funeral song. These songs were for the Kennedy's (John and Robert) and Martin Luther King, all who died in the mid 60's. And remember- \"Dark\" rhythms with \"Park\" Verse 4 Helter Skelter in a summer swelter Charles Manson is one of the most dangerous cereal killers ever (his favorite was coco-puffs). In the summer of 1968, he massacred an entire family 'cause of the Beatles song \"Helter Skelter,\" which appeared on the white album. He thought that the Beatles were warning America about the racial conflic", "Bob Dylan | Rolling Stone artists > B > Bob Dylan > Bio Bob Dylan Bio For almost 50 years, Bob Dylan has remained, along with James Brown, the most influential American musician rock & roll has ever produced. Inscrutable and unpredictable, Dylan has been both deified and denounced for his shifts of interest, while whole schools of musicians took up his ideas. His lyrics — the first in rock to be seriously regarded as literature — became so well known that politicians from Jimmy Carter to Vaclav Havel have cited them as an influence. By personalizing folk songs, Dylan reinvented the singer-songwriter genre; by performing his allusive, poetic songs in his nasal, spontaneous vocal style with an electric band, he enlarged pop's range and vocabulary while creating a widely imitated sound. By recording with Nashville veterans, he helped give rise to Seventies country-rock. In the 1980s and 1990s, although he often seemed to flounder, he still had the ability to challenge, influence, and surprise listener — something he did more reliably in the late 1990s and 2000s, when he recorded some of the greatest music of his career. Born May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, Robert Allen Zimmerman's family moved to Hibbing when he was six. After taking up guitar and harmonica, he formed the Golden Chords while a high school freshman. He enrolled at the arts college of the University of Minnesota in 1959; during his three semesters there, he began performing solo at coffeehouses as Bob Dylan; he legally changed his name in August 1962. Dylan moved to New York City in January 1961, saying he wanted to meet Woody Guthrie, who by then was hospitalized with Huntington's chorea. Dylan visited his idol frequently. That April he played New York's Gerdes Folk City as the opening act for bluesman John Lee Hooker, with a set of Guthrie-style ballads and his own lyrics set to traditional tunes. A New York Times review by Robert Shelton alerted A&R man John Hammond, who signed Dylan to Columbia and produced his 1962 debut album. Although Bob Dylan contained only two originals (\"Talking New York\" and \"Song to Woody\"), Dylan stirred up the Greenwich Village folk scene with his caustic humor and gift for writing deeply resonant topical songs. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Number 22, 1963) included the soon-to-be folk standard \"Blowin' in the Wind\" (a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary), \"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall,\" and \"Masters of War,\" protest songs on par with Guthrie's and Pete Seeger's. Joan Baez, already established as a \"protest singer,\" recorded Dylan's songs and brought him on tour; in summer 1963 they became lovers. By 1964, Dylan was playing 200 concerts a year. The Times They Are a-Changin' (Number 20, 1964) mixed protest songs (\"With God on Our Side\") and more personal lyrics (\"One Too Many Mornings\"). He met the Beatles that year and reportedly introduced them to marijuana. Another Side of Bob Dylan (Number 43), recorded in a single session on June 9, 1964 and released on August 8, concentrated on personal songs and imagistic free associations such as \"Chimes of Freedom\"; Dylan repudiated his protest phase with \"My Back Pages.\" In late 1964 Columbia A&R man Jim Dickson introduced Dylan to Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, whose band the Byrds would in 1965 have its first hit with \"Mr. Tambourine Man,\" kicking off the mid-decade folk-rock boom. Meanwhile the Dylan-Baez liaison fell apart, and Dylan met 25-year-old ex-model Shirley Noznisky, a.k.a. Sara Lowndes, whom he married in 1965. With Bringing It All Back Home (Number Six), released early in 1965, Dylan surprised listeners for the first of many times by turning his back on folk purism; for half the album he was backed by a rock & roll band. On July 25, 1965, he played the Newport Folk Festival (where two years earlier he had been the cynosure of the folksingers) backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and was booed. The next month, he played the Forest Hills tennis stadium in Queens, NY, with a band that included members of Canadian band the Hawks (including drummer Levon Helm", "Bob Dylan Lyrics HOME TOPLYRICS NEWEST LYRICS SUBMIT LYRICS NEWS CALENDAR bob dylan Lyrics Send \"Bob Dylan\" Ringtone to your Cell Bob Dylan Biography Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American musician, poet and artist whose position in popular culture is unique. Although Dylan started his musical odyssey in 1959, much of Dylan's best known work is from the 1960s, when he became an informal documentarian and reluctant figurehead of American unrest. Some of his songs, such as \"Blowin' In The Wind\" and \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\", became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. Read More Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American musician, poet and artist whose position in popular culture is unique. Although Dylan started his musical odyssey in 1959, much of Dylan's best known work is from the 1960s, when he became an informal documentarian and reluctant figurehead of American unrest. Some of his songs, such as \"Blowin' In The Wind\" and \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\", became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. His song \"Like A Rolling Stone\", released in July of 1965, was named \"The Greatest Song of All Time\" by Rolling Stone magazine in 2004, placing #1 in a list of 500 titles. Dylan remains an influential and popular artist; his most recent album of new songs, 2009's Together Through Life, reached #1 on the charts in the US, Britain, France and several other countries. Bob Dylan's strong influence over the past few years is becoming even more prominent amongst a growing group of younger emerging artists such as George Ellias, and Devendra Banhart. Dylan's early lyrics incorporated politics, social commentary, philosophy and literary influences, defying existing pop music conventions and appealing widely to the counterculture of the time. While expanding and personalizing musical styles, Dylan has shown steadfast devotion to traditions of American song, from folk and country/blues to rock and roll and rockabilly, to Gaelic balladry, even jazz, swing and broadway. After becoming a Christian, Dylan explored themes of faith, redemption and love while mining the gospel vein. In a few years he found an equilibrium. His last albums can be seen as new highlights in his important career. Dylan performs with the guitar, keyboard and harmonica. Backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s. He has also recently performed alongside other iconic artists, such as Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty and Eric Clapton. Although his contributions as a performer and recording artist have been central to his career, his songwriting is generally held as his highest accomplishment. Life and career Origins and musical beginnings Robert Allen Zimmerman (Hebrew name Shabtai Zisel ben Avraham) was born in St. Mary's Hospital on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised there and in Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range west of Lake Superior. Research by Dylan's biographers has shown that his paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) to the United States following the antisemitic pogroms of 1905. His mother's grandparents, Benjamin and Lybba Edelstein, were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in America in 1902. In his autobiography Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan writes that his paternal grandmother's maiden name was Kyrgyz and her family originated from Istanbul. Dylan's parents, Abram Zimmerman and Beatrice \"Beatty\" Stone, were part of the area's small but close-knit Jewish community. Robert Zimmerman lived in Duluth until age six, when his father was stricken with polio and the family returned to his mother's home town, Hibbing, where Zimmerman spent the rest of his childhood. Robert Zimmerman spent much of his youth listening to the radiofirst to blues and country stations broadcasting from Shreveport, Louisiana and, later, to early rock and roll. He formed several band", "Quinn The Eskimo by Manfred Mann Songfacts Quinn The Eskimo by Manfred Mann Songfacts Songfacts This was written by Bob Dylan, but Manfred Mann was the first to record it. Manfred Mann is a group named after their keyboard player. They had another hit in 1976 (as Manfred Mann's Earth Band) with \" Blinded By The Light ,\" a song written by Bruce Springsteen. >> Suggestion credit: chet - saratoga springs, NY Dylan released his version in 1970 on his album Self Portrait. It also appears on his 1972 album More Greatest Hits. Ron Cornelius was Dylan's guitarist for the Self Portrait sessions, and told us about the experience: \"There's everybody and his brother flying into Nashville to play on that thing. If you look at the credits, it's amazing how many people were delighted to come and play on it. Out of everybody I've worked with, I don't know of anyone who's been any nicer than Bob Dylan.\" This is also known as \"The Mighty Quinn.\" It was featured in a 1989 movie with that name. The film starred Denzel Washington as a police officer named Xavier Quinn. The song was performed in the movie by Sheryl Lee Ralph. It is possible that Dylan came up with the idea for this after seeing the 1959 Nicholas Ray movie called The Savage Innocents. In that movie, Anthony Quinn played an Eskimo named Inuk. The film is also notable as the first screen appearance of Peter O'Toole, who demanded that his name be removed from the film as all of his dialog was dubbed by another actor. >> Suggestion credit: Bob - The Colony, TX This was also recorded by Leon Russell, The Hollies, and Gary Puckett and The Union Gap. The Grateful Dead occasionally played this at their shows. Here's one story that circulated about the song: The Grateful Dead years ago had a wild LSD party in a New York City hotel during a tour visit. Allegedly, one of the party guests was Bob Dylan. One of the other guests at the hotel didn't appreciate the noise and voiced several complaints. It was actor Anthony Quinn who'd played an Eskimo in The Savage Innocents. That could have inspired a partying Dylan to write a strange and funny song like this. >> Suggestion credit: Joe - Minneapolis, MN One theory is that \"The Mighty Quinn\" is Sheriff Larry Quinlan, who raided the Castillia Foundation land in Millbrook, New York and arrested Dr. Timothy Leary and his group of hippies. Quinlan confiscated all the LSD and other drugs at the scene. In this scenario, the \"pigeons\" are informers. >> Suggestion credit: Jerry - Poughkeepsie, NY Mike D'Abo of Manfred Mann: \"We met in a publisher's house as Bob Dylan was making some new material available to other artists. We heard about 10 songs and I thought ' This Wheel's On Fire ' would be the one to do, but Manfred liked The Mighty Quinn, which was called 'Quinn The Eskimo' then. It was sung in a rambling monotone but Manfred had recognized its potential. He sold me on the idea of doing this song, but I had to make up some of the words as I couldn't make out everything he was saying. It was like learning a song phonetically in a foreign language. I have never had the first idea what the song is about except that it seems to be 'Hey, gang, gather round, something exciting is going to happen 'cause the big man's coming.' As to who the big man is and why he is an Eskimo, I don't know.\" - from 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh. >> Suggestion credit:", "The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan | Song Info | AllMusic The Times They Are A-Changin' google+ Song Review by William Ruhlmann Bob Dylan's \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\" is one of his great early-'60s anthems, a worthy successor to \"Blowin' in the Wind.\" The 22-year-old singer/songwriter wrote the song probably in September 1963. He later said he was consciously trying to write a big song, and that comes across clearly. The simple tune, played in waltz time, supports five verses that contain a clarion call to recognize and accept change in a general sense. The opening line, \"Come gather 'round people,\" evokes old folk ballads, but the singer has a cautionary tale in mind, not a soothing story. Using biblical references, starting with the flood and including the Sermon on the Mount, he tells various groups -- writers and critics, senators and congressmen, mothers and fathers -- that change of an uncertain, threatening nature is coming. He offers little advice to cope with this change, suggesting only that mothers and fathers, whose \"old road is rapidly agin',\" either lend a hand or get out of the way and that, as the flood waters rise, \"you better start swimmin'.\" Like \"Blowin' in the Wind,\" which Dylan had written more than a year earlier, \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\" spoke philosophically and in general terms, but was easily interpretable in the context of its period of composition as a referring primarily to the civil rights struggle. Yet it also looked beyond that specific movement to more general currents of change already stirring in the country, especially the generational conflict addressed in the fourth verse, an aspect of the song that would make it increasingly meaningful as the 1960s went on. Dylan first recorded \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\" as a publishing demo, accompanying himself on piano. This rendition, commercially released in 1991 on The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 [Rare & Unreleased] 1961-1991, contains several minor lyric variations from the more familiar versions, including the substitution of \"breath\" for \"time\" in the line \"If your time to you is worth savin'\" in the first verse. The best-known version of the song was recorded by Dylan with an acoustic guitar on October 24, 1963, in sessions for his third album. In recognition of the song's importance, that album was titled The Times They Are A-Changin' when it was released on January 13, 1964. It was perhaps Dylan's most politically oriented LP, also including such overt statements of social conscience as \"Ballad of Hollis Brown,\" \"With God on Our Side,\" \"Only a Pawn in Their Game,\" and \"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.\" By being the title and leadoff track, \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\" served to raise the curtain and set the theme of this serious, disturbing work. Similarly, Dylan began using the song to open his concerts. The Times They Are A-Changin' became Bob Dylan's first album to peak in the Top 20 of the LP bestseller charts, but its austere character prevented it from becoming a big hit; though it eventually went gold, it actually sold less well than its predecessor, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. But the title song earned immediate notice. Like Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary began opening their concerts with it, and they used it as the leadoff track on Peter, Paul and Mary in Concert, which reached the Top Five in September 1964. Their version was released as a single in the U.K., where it charted briefly. (They are also the first to alter the title, replacing the hyphen between \"A\" and \"Changin'\" with an apostrophe; many other variations would follow.) Before this, the Dylan LP The Times They Are A-Changin' had charted in the U.K., eventually reaching the Top Five. In anticipation of the singer's spring 1965 tour of England, the Dylan recording was released as a single, and it reached the British Top Ten. Dylan dropped \"The Times They Are A-Changin'\" from his set lists after his 1965 U.K. tour as he moved to rock accompaniment, but as the '60s went on, the song began to seem a prescient foreca", "Bob Dylan's Renaldo and Clara To Be Finally Released | Literary Kicks Bob Dylan's Renaldo and Clara To Be Finally Released Levi Asher • January 17th, 2011 Summer Of Love Dylanologists rejoice! I've heard from a semi-reliable source that Renaldo and Clara, a much-discussed and little-seen 1978 epic film by Bob Dylan, will soon be finally released on DVD. This astounding, rich and often frustrating movie represented one of the most dramatic episodes in Bob Dylan's long career. An ambitious, intentionally difficult postmodern art film, Renaldo and Clara was panned by critics for being pretentious, incomprehensible and painfully long (all of these things are true). Released in the early years of the punk-rock/new-wave era, the film's windy self-indulgence revealed Dylan as completely out of step with his times. Stung by the criticism, Dylan has refused to release the film ever since. It has not shown in theatres since the 1970s, and has never been officially released on VHS or DVD. But this movie is a masterpiece in spite of its faults, or perhaps because of them. Conceived by Dylan as an early experiment in cinema verite (a genre now typically known as \"reality tv\"), Renaldo and Clara tells a single story but deliberately confuses the identities of all the characters, several of which are played by Dylan, his former lover Joan Baez or his then-wife Sara Dylan. Bob Neuwirth, T. Bone Burnette, Ronee Blakely, Mick Ronson, Scarlet Rivera, Ronnie Hawkins, Rob Stoner and countless other friends come along for the ride. Various improvised or real-life scenes introduce themes of love, politics and the meaning of America, and by the end none of the themes are easily resolved. The film quality is erratic, the direction is often unclear, and the acting is often clumsy (guitarist Mick Ronson is particularly wooden, and Dylan is no Brando himself) However, stirring scenes and images emerge. Most importantly, the narrative scenes are intercut with stunning complete performances of great songs like Tangled Up In Blue, It Ain't Me Babe, Never Let Me Go, When I Paint My Masterpiece and One More Cup Of Coffee. The film features Dylan in a peak moment of live performance with the Rolling Thunder Revue (the largest and, in my opinion, most exciting band he ever played with). The film's literary credentials are through the roof. It's co-written by Sam Shepard, includes a powerful poetry performance by Anne Waldman, and features many beguiling scenes with Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, who light up the screen whenever they appear. This movie is also the only close glimpse curious Dylan fans will ever get of Sara Dylan, the songwriter's greatest muse (Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands) and the mother of his older children. I've seen Renaldo and Clara several times, but always on either a fuzzy bootleg VHS recording or, more recently, in broken segments on YouTube. In either case, the viewing experience is not great (it pretty much looks like the image at the top of this page, which show Sara and Bob as Clara and Renaldo). I'm looking forward to seeing it in high quality video for the first time, and hearing the killer live music in high quality audio. Maybe this time I'll even be able to understand more of the story. It's not clear whether Dylan has refused to release this film since the 1970s only to spite the critics or for other reasons. The crash-landing of Renaldo and Clara coincided with Dylan and Sara's divorce, after which the always enigmatic folk-rocker released a brilliant, Kafkaesque album called Street-Legal, then disappeared for several months and reemerged as a born-again Christian. Renaldo and Clara, though an artistic failure in several ways, captures the heat of an artist in a creative frenzy. It probably also captures something about the 1970s as a whole. My old friends at the once-thriving rec.music.dylan Usenet newsgroup may also remember that I once posted an extensive synopsis of the film there (this was one of the very first things I wrote online). Through maintaining this piece over the years, I've been made aware o", "Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues - Dedece Blog | Dedece Blog 2 “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was Dylan’s first electric guitar piece and was also notable for its innovative film clip, which first appeared in D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary, Don’t Look Back. At the time Dylan was becoming unhappy to be categorised as an acoustic-only “protest singer” so he electrified his guitar and in doing so antagonised his army of Folk music fans around the world. The song’s first line is a reference to codeine distillation and politics of the time: “Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine / I’m on the pavement thinkin’ about the Government”. The widespread use of recreational drugs, and turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War were both starting to take hold of the nation, and Dylan’s hyper-kinetic lyrics were dense with up-to-the-minute allusions to important emerging elements in the 1960s youth culture. “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan’s first US Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also entered the Top 10 on the singles chart in the United Kingdom. Dylan emerged on the music scene in 1961, playing in Greenwich Village coffeehouses after the folk music revival was already underway, and released his first album the next year. Over a short period—less than three years—Dylan wrote about two dozen politically oriented songs whose creative lyrics and imagery reflected the changing mood of the postwar baby-boom generation and the urgency of the civil rights and antiwar movements. At a time when the chill of McCarthyism was still in the air, Dylan also showed that songs with leftist political messages could be commercially successful. By 1964, however, Dylan told friends and some reporters that he was no longer interested in politics. Phil Ochs, another “protest” singer-songwriter, was asked if he thought that Dylan would like to see his protest songs “buried.” Ochs replied : “I don’t think he can succeed in burying them. They’re too good. And they’re out of his hands.” According to rock journalist Andy Gill, “an entire generation recognized the zeitgeist in the 1965 verbal whirlwind of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’.” Bob Geldof saw Dylan perform in Dublin in 1964 …. “Dylan had scooped the whole of American folk music (folk, blues, country) and married it to the Psalms, the poets, the Old Testament, and hurled it at my head, articulating the inchoate urge I was feeling. Bob Dylan moved my head. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards my hips.” Bruce Springsteen – “Bob Dylan freed your mind just as Elvis Presley freed your body.” Dylan has stated that when he reached the University of Minnesota in 1959, he fell under the influence of the Beat scene: “It was Jack Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso and Ferlinghetti.” Kerouac’s The Subterraneans, a novel published in 1958 about the Beats, has been suggested as a possible inspiration for the song’s title. The song also depicts some of the growing conflicts between “straight” or “square” (40-hour workers) and the emerging 1960s counter-culture. It song also references the struggles surrounding the American civil rights movement eg “Better stay away from those / That carry around a fire hose” as during the civil rights movement, peaceful protestors were beaten and sprayed with high pressure fire hoses. Bob Dylan at the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee voter-registration rally, Greenwood, MS, July 1963 In 2005 Todd Haynes got permission from Dylan to make a semi-bio-pic about Dylan, scored with his own music. It was significant that he got permission; Haynes had a nightmare on the production and release of Velvet Goldmine after David Bowie refused permission to use his music. After receiving Dylan’s blessing, Haynes constructed a fragmented story wherein six different actors would play representations of Dylan (or representations of representations of Dylan). The Cast comprised Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Ba", "Film & History Contact Us No Direction Home No Direction Home (Directed by Martin Scorsese, 2005) No Direction Home traces the meteoric rise of Bob Dylan to the unsought status of American prophet and the fall from grace that resulted in his withdrawal from public performance in 1966 for nearly a decade. Through more than three hours of interviews with Dylan and his contemporaries and footage of his early performances, placed into context by historical clips of significant events, Scorsese attempts to answer the questions that continue to intrigue many Americans. Scorsese begins by giving us a glimpse into 1950s life in Hibbing, Minnesota, an iron mining and steel making town teetering on the precipice of one of America’s largest open cut pits. It was almost inevitable that the adolescent Robert Zimmerman, and a good number of his contemporaries left Hibbing, many of them joining the swell of students entering America’s colleges and universities. Dylan was drawn to the rebels, Marlon Brando and James Dean. Scorsese’s documentary includes a clip of Brando in the 1953 movie The Wild Ones. Dylan says, “James Dean, Marlon Brando and The Wild Ones didn’t just spring up from nowhere…Time and progress obliterated the past as it was when I was growing up.” Dylan finished high school and came to college in Minneapolis as ‘a musical expeditionary’. It was in the bohemian coffee shops of Dinkytown that Bobby Zimmerman became Bob Dylan. While he did not attend formal classes, the teenager undertook a self-directed crash-course in musical history and technique. Dylan heard a record by Oklahoma dust bowl singer Woody Guthrie. “He was a radical,” Dylan recalls. “You could listen to his music and learn how to live.” Dylan learned Guthrie’s repertoire and, in 1961, set out for New York, where Guthrie was living in ‘some kind of hospital’, to visit him. Scorsese’s portrayal of New York in 1961 has a voice-over of President John F. Kennedy’s famous inaugural speech. “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,” the nation’s first Catholic president says. Scorsese introduces us to the Beat scene in Greenwich Village through original footage and conversations with musicians including Liam Clancy and Dave Van Ronk. Mike Marqusee says the folk music revival had been shaped by the desire of early leftists to “Americanize” their ‘seemingly alien’ Marxist movement. The revival was halted by the Cold War paranoia of the McCarthy era, with Pete Seeger and The Weavers blacklisted, leftist leader Alan Lomax exiled in Europe, and Woody Guthrie crippled with Huntington’s chorea. By the late 1950s, the remaining faithful were eking out a living in Greenwich Village. Izzy Young, who opened the Folklore Center in Macdougal Street in 1957, says in No Direction Home that he and other men of the left recognized that the young Dylan would be the one to carry on the tradition established by Guthrie and Seeger. Dylan certainly seemed to be a ‘fellow traveler’, spending hours in the Folklore Center listening to records and reading songbooks. With the rock ‘n’ roll he’d immersed himself in during his teenage years and his apprenticeship performing in the coffee houses, Dylan’s musical education prepared him well for the next phase, as a songwriter. He says: “I kinda went through Woody Guthrie…but I didn’t want to go through him as though it was just negligible…I didn’t consider myself a songwriter at all but I knew I had to write it and sing it.” As a farewell gesture, Dylan wrote his first song, Song to Woody. A performance at Gerde’s Folk City attracted media attention and he was offered a recording contract by John Hammond at Columbia. Scorsese contextualizes the political atmosphere of the era, introducing Suze Rotolo, the girl photographed arm in arm with Dylan on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, who was working for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1961, CORE had sent a group of ‘freedom riders’ on buses into the South to test a federal court civil rights ruling banning segregation on buses and trains. “They were traumatic t", "Buddy Holly is born - Sep 07, 1936 - HISTORY.com Buddy Holly is born Publisher A+E Networks If you took out a map of the United States and traced a line beginning at New Orleans and running up the Mississippi River to Memphis, the tip of your finger would pass through the very birthplace of rock and roll—a region where nearly every step in its early development took place and where nearly every significant contributor to that development was born. But if the foundation of rock and roll was mostly laid down within 100 miles of the Mississippi River in the mid-1950s, the blueprint for what would follow required the further contributions of a young man born 700 miles to the west on this day in 1936: Charles Harden Holley. Writing and performing under the name Buddy Holly, this Lubbock, Texas, native would have an influence on rock and roll that would far outlast his tragically shortened career. Buddy Holly spent his west Texas youth learning the piano, the violin, the banjo and the guitar. He formed his first group while still in junior high school. Performing as Buddy & Bob, Holly and his school friend Bob Montgomery played what they called \"western and bop”—one of the many creative names used in the mid-1950s to describe the various hybrids of blues, R&B and country & western that would later coalesce into rock and roll. When Buddy & Bob opened in Lubbock for a young kindred spirit named Elvis Presley in 1955, Holly saw very clearly in what direction he wanted to go. And while Holly would never be able to compete with Presley in terms of good looks and charisma, he would far outdo Elvis in terms of purely musical creativity. By 1956, Elvis had become a superstar performing material originally written by others, and though Buddy Holly was still an unknown, he was blazing a trail that future giants like the Beatles would follow by writing, performing and eventually producing his own material. Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones would draw heavily on the Buddy Holly catalog either for cover material or direct songwriting inspiration, and Holly would be a tremendous formative influence on the young Bob Dylan, among many others. In a recording career that lasted little more than 18 months, Holly contributed an astonishing number of classic songs to the rock-and-roll canon, including \"That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Not Fade Away,” It’s So Easy,” “Everyday,” “Oh Boy!” and “Maybe Baby.” Born on this day in 1936, he died in 1959 at the age 23 in rock and roll’s most famous plane crash. Related Videos", "What did I do Wrong | Manfred Mann Lyrics, Song Meanings, Videos, Full Albums & Bios What did I do Wrong / Manfred Mann Video From album: The Singles Plus The Singles Plus Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band (with a strong jazz foundation) of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Manfred Mann were chart regulars in the 1960s, and the first south-of-England-based group to top the US Billboard Hot 100 during the 'British invasion' of the US music scene. Beginnings 1962—1963 The Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers (as the band were originally called) were formed in London in December 1962 by keyboard player Manfred Mann and drummer/vibes player Mike Hugg. Born out of the British blues boom then sweeping London's clubs (which also spawned such luminaries as The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds), the band were completed by Mike Vickers on lead guitar, Dave Richmond on bass, and Paul Jones fronting as lead vocalist and harmonica player. Gigging constantly throughout late 1962 and early 1963, the band soon attracted attention for their distinctive sound propelled by Mann's keyboards, Jones' soulful vocals and an occasional horn section. Manfred Mann's Cock-A-Hoop (1964) The group signed to HMV Records in March 1963 after a change of name to Manfred Mann (at the suggestion of their label's producer), and debuted in July of that year with the jazzy instrumental single \"Why Should We Not?\", which failed to chart, as did the follow up (with vocals this time), \"Cock-A-Hoop\" Early success 1964—1965 Groovin' with Manfred Mann EP (1964) In 1964 the group were asked to provide a new theme tune for the ITV pop music TV series Ready Steady Go!. They responded with the energetic \"5-4-3-2-1\" which, with the help of weekly TV exposure, rose to No.5 in the UK charts. It was shortly after \"5-4-3-2-1\" was recorded that Richmond left the band, being replaced by Tom McGuinness - the first of many line-up changes. After a further self-penned hit (\"Hubble Bubble (Toil And Trouble)\") the band struck gold with \"Do Wah Diddy Diddy\", a cover of a minor hit earlier that year by The Exciters. The track, which showcased Jones' powerful singing, reached the top of both the UK and US charts (The Exciters version had only charted #78 in the US). During 1965 the group continued to have hits with both self-penned and cover material, their sound increasingly moving away from the blues-based music of their early years to a highly successful pop-soul hybrid. Notably the group began to have success with interpretations of Bob Dylan songs, including \"With God On Our Side\" as a track on a best-selling EP. The One In the Middle EP (1965) They also reached No.2 in the UK with the controversial \"If You Gotta Go, Go Now\", which was banned or edited by a number of TV and radio stations. Prior to this latter release, Paul Jones announced his intention to quit the band for a solo career once a replacement could be found. The Mike d'Abo years 1966—1969 Jones stayed with the band for one more year, during which time Mike Vickers was replaced by Jack Bruce of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (long enough to play bass on the band's second UK No.1 single \"Pretty Flamingo\"). Jones was eventually replaced by Mike d'Abo - among those on the shortlist was Rod Stewart - and this was one of the few occasions when a band has successfully swapped lead singers and remained at the top. Jack Bruce left to form Cream and was replaced by Klaus Voorman (a longtime Beatles associate), with McGuinness moving to guitar. To complete the changes, the group switched labels to Fontana Records. With d'Abo as vocalist, the group pursued a softer acoustic pop sound, with a tinge of Dylanesque social comment and surrealism in the lyrics. Their first Fontana Records single was in fact a Dylan cover, \"Just Like A Woman\", and the group went on to score their biggest hit for two years with a cover of his \"Mighty Quinn\". Frustrated with the limitations and image of being seen purely as a hit single", "Donovan - Biography - IMDb Biography Showing all 26 items Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (15) | Personal Quotes (3) Overview (3) 5' 10\" (1.78 m) Mini Bio (1) Donovan Philips Leitch was born May 10, 1946, in Glasgow, Scotland. Music was always part of his home life, with both traditional Scottish/Irish songs at family and local celebrations, and popular music through radio and live performances. When Donovan was ten his family moved south to England, resettling in Hatfield. Before starting college in his teens, the young man had run away from home more than once; on one outing at fourteen, he found an old guitar in a trash can, still good enough to learn the basics on. Though interested in rock-n-roll through artists like Buddy Holly and The Everly Brothers , Donovan embraced the folk-music boom that swept both England and America in the early 1960s, and also the Beat Generation writers and poets. Donovan settled into the St. Albans music scene, north of London, but traveled to different parts of the country, frequently with longtime friend \"Gypsy Dave\", who played kazoo and passed the hat while Donovan played guitar and harmonica and sang, for their keep. Their songs included traditional and recent folk music, songs by their friends (like Mick Softley) and the beginnings of Donovan's own writing, about what he'd seen and experienced away from home. On a beach trip to Southend with members of the St. Albans circle, Donovan played and sang between performances by an R&B group called the Cops and Robbers, and so impressed the group's managers that they expressed interest in signing him up as a performer. Beginning with taping some publishers' demos for other songwriters, Donovan was soon demoing his own material, and the tapes found their way to the ears of Elkan Allan , producer of Britain's popular rock show Ready, Steady, Go! (1963). Donovan's first appearance (in cap and denim) led to a short residency on the show, which in turn led to a recording contract with England's Pye Records. His first singles were respectable UK hits in 1965, and made a minor impact on the American market that year. Promoted first as mainly a folk performer and a kind of British rival to Bob Dylan , evidence of Donovan's own blossoming style as writer and musician was undeniable as early as his second album, with its hints at jazz and a different kind of pop sense from Dylan's. When Dylan toured England in 1965, the two met for a well-publicized \"summit\" at his hotel suite; after an hour's private talk, they emerged smiling arm-in-arm to a waiting press conference. Press headlines announced \"DYLAN DIGS DONOVAN!\" and he joined Dylan and Joan Baez on the road, though he didn't perform with them onstage. (Donovan can be seen keeping Dylan and Baez company in Dylan's Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (1967)). Donovan went on to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he was welcomed. After his first two mostly-folk albums in England (distributed in the US by Hickory Records), produced by his managers, Donovan immersed himself in the pop sounds of the \"British Invasion\" bands, and both his writing and choices in the studio reflected this. In 1966 Mickie Most became Donovan's new producer, and his sidemen began to include future Led Zeppelin members John Paul Jones (who arranged several Donovan tunes, augmenting the sound they were aiming for) and Jimmy Page . (John Carr usually played drums at Donovan's sessions, although John Bonham was also sometimes around.) Epic Records in the US expressed an interest in picking Donovan up for the American market, with Clive Davis offering a contract, and Allen Klein was also interested in taking over Donovan's management. New and bigger deals offered led to lawsuits, and Donovan vanished from the record market for a few months while matters were being settled. Emerging with new management and production teams, Donovan followed up his first US #1 single, \"Sunshine Superman\" (dedicated to John Lennon and Paul McCartney ), with his signature hit \"Mellow Yellow\", which reach", "Fleetwood Mac · 2016 Tour Dates and Concert Tickets | Thrillcall Track Artist for New Show Alerts Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in 1967 in London. Due to numerous line-up changes, the only original member present in the band is its namesake, drummer Mick Fleetwood. Although band founder Peter Green named the group by combinin... Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band formed in 1967 in London. Due to numerous line-up changes, the only original member present in the band is its namesake, drummer Mick Fleetwood. Although band founder Peter Green named the group by combining the surnames of two of his former bandmates (Fleetwood, McVie) from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, bassist John McVie played neither on their first single nor at their first concerts, as he initially decided to stay with Mayall. The keyboardist, Christine McVie, who joined the band in 1970 while married to John McVie, appeared on all but the debut album, either as a member or as a session musician. She also supplied the artwork for the album Kiln House. The two most successful periods for the band were during the late 1960s British blues boom, when they were led by guitarist Peter Green and achieved a UK number one with \"Albatross\"; and from 1975 to 1987, as a more pop oriented act, featuring Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Buckingham and Nicks, 1977's Rumours, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks' song \"Dreams\"), and remained at No.1 on the American albums chart for 31 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-selling album of all time. The band achieved more modest success in the intervening period between 1971 and 1974, with the line-up including Bob Welch, during the 1990s in between the departure and return of Nicks and Buckingham, and also during the 2000s in between the departure and return of Christine McVie. In 1998, selected members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. The band has sold 100 million albums worldwide. In 2014, Christine McVie rejoined the band. Formation and early years (1967–1970) Fleetwood Mac was formed in 1967 in London when Peter Green left the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Green had replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road. After he had been in the Bluesbreakers for some time, Green asked if drummer Mick Fleetwood could replace Aynsley Dunbar. Green had been in two bands with Fleetwood—Peter B's Looners and the subsequent Shotgun Express (which featured a young Rod Stewart as vocalist). John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood became a member of the band. The Bluesbreakers now consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie and Green recorded five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental which Green named after the rhythm section, \"Fleetwood Mac\". Soon after, Green contacted Fleetwood to form a new band. The pair wanted McVie on bass guitar and even named the band 'Fleetwood Mac' as a way to entice him. However, McVie opted to keep his steady income with Mayall rather than take a risk with a new band. In the meantime Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood teamed up with slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer and bassist Bob Brunning, who was in the band on the understanding that he would leave if McVie agreed to join. The Green, Fleetwood, Spencer, Brunning version of the band made its debut on 13 August 1967 at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. Within weeks of this show, John McVie agreed to join the band as permanent bassist. Fleetwood Mac's first album, Fleetwood Mac, was a no-frills blues album and was released on the Blue Horizon label in February 1968. In fact there were no other players on the album (except for th", "the Band | Canadian-American rock group | Britannica.com Canadian-American rock group Levon Helm The Band, Canadian-American band that began as the backing group for both Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan and branched out on its own in 1968. The Band’s pioneering blend of traditional country , folk, old-time string band, blues , and rock music brought them critical acclaim in the late 1960s and ’70s and served as a template for Americana, the movement of hybrid, roots-oriented music that emerged in the late 1990s. The members were Jaime (“Robbie”) Robertson (b. July 5, 1944, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Levon Helm (b. May 26, 1940, Elaine, Arkansas, U.S.—d. April 19, 2012, New York, New York), Rick Danko (b. December 29, 1942, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada—d. December 10, 1999, Marbletown, New York, U.S.), Richard Manuel, Stratford, Ontario, Canada—d. March 4, 1986, Winter Park, Florida, U.S.), and Garth Hudson (b. August 2, 1937, London, Ontario, Canada). The Band (left to right): Garth Hudson, Jaime (“Robbie”) Robertson, Levon Helm, Richard … © G. Hannekroot—Sunshine/Retna Ltd. Robertson, Helm, Danko, Manuel, and Hudson were five self-effacing sidemen pushed into becoming a self-contained group by Dylan, the star in whose shadow they grew. Robertson was the group’s principal writer and guitarist. Drummer Helm was a “good old boy” from Arkansas , the sole American in a lineup of displaced Canadians. Danko was the amiable hayseed on bass and occasional fiddle. Pianist Manuel sang blues ballads in a wrenching Ray Charles baritone. And Hudson’s otherworldly keyboard doodles were the glue that held the whole operation together. At their peak, from 1968 to 1973, the quintet embodied better than any other group the sense of the American past that came to haunt pop culture after the hippie ideals of the 1960s had crashed to the ground. The real midwife to the Band’s birth was Hawkins, a rockabilly diehard from Arkansas who ventured up to Canada in the spring of 1958. As Hawkins’s lieutenant, Helm, still a teenager, helped recruit the young Ontarians—Robertson, Danko, Manuel, and Hudson—who replaced the original members of Hawkins’s backing band, the Hawks. At a point when Fabian ruled the pop airwaves, the razorback rock and roll of the new Hawks was welcome only in the scuzziest roadhouses. During these years on the road, Robertson absorbed much of the flavour of life below the Mason and Dixon Line that would permeate Band songs like “ The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down ” (1969). Similar Topics Black Sabbath In 1964 the Hawks figured they could make it without Hawkins. During their summer residency on the New Jersey seaboard, Dylan got wind of their reputation and, after playing with Robertson, hired the group to back him on his first electric tour—a tour so controversial among folk purists that Helm could not take the pressure and quit. For the Hawks it was a baptism by fire, and it all but burned them out. In 1967, in an effort to recuperate, the group (minus Helm) followed Dylan to Woodstock , New York . In nearby West Saugerties they gathered daily in the basement of “Big Pink,” a secluded ranch house. Here the five men put together a rambling repertoire of old country, folk, and blues songs that later leaked out as a series of “basement tape” bootlegs and then as the double album The Basement Tapes (1975). When Helm returned to the fold, Dylan began urging “the Band”—as they were now known locally—to go it alone. The immediate result of this separation was Music from Big Pink (1968), a wholly original fusion of country, gospel , rock, and rhythm and blues that, more than any other album of the period, signaled rock’s retreat from psychedelic excess and blues bombast into something more soulful, rural, and reflective. Yet it was The Band (1969) that really defined the group’s grainy character. Recorded in a makeshift studio in Los Angeles in early 1969, the album was a timeless distillation of American experience from the Civil War to the 1960s. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent After the many years spent backing Hawki", "Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan | Song Info | AllMusic Blowin' in the Wind google+ Song Review by John Bush Inarguably the peak of modern protest songwriting, \"Blowin' in the Wind\" transformed Bob Dylan from hipster folky to cultural sensation and provided the growing protest community with an anthem equally applicable to every kind of injustice ever visited upon the Earth. Though it'd been brewing in Dylan's head for a while, \"Blowin' in the Wind\" was first heard in public on April 19, 1962. After finishing the lyric and tune that afternoon, Dylan took the song with him over to the nightclub Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village. He ran through it in front of Gil Turner, the host of that night's performances, and Turner immediately decided to add it to his set. After he played it that night, the audience went wild and gave the song an ovation. Still, over a year passed before \"Blowin' in the Wind\" appeared on a Dylan LP. Finally, in 1963, the song was released as the first track on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Even before it had hit the stores, however, Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, brought an acetate to Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio cut the record themselves as quickly as they could, and the single hit number two by the summer of 1963. Stevie Wonder also hit the Top Ten with his version three years later. Folkies of all stripes (Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio, the New Christy Minstrels, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Judy Collins) have recorded the song, as well as other artists including the Hollies, Cher, King Curtis, Sam Cooke, Marianne Faithfull, Ray Conniff, Chet Atkins, Stan Getz, Earl Scruggs, Lou Donaldson, Bobby Darin, and the Searchers. Of course, only a handful of performers -- Jimi Hendrix (\"All Along the Watchtower\"), the Byrds (\"Mr. Tambourine Man\"), Manfred Mann (\"The Mighty Quinn\") -- have done Dylan songs better than Dylan himself, so it's no surprise that the definitive reading is the first issued, from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. As with most of his other classics, Dylan makes a complex song sound deceptively simple; in each of the three verses, he asks three rhetorical questions (i.e., \"How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?\"), and answers each time with the chorus: \"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind/The answer is blowin' in the wind.\" While the questions speak to the unending record of injustice in the long history of the world, the answers reflect the Taoist mantra that the solution is obvious to all who truly think about it, yet impossible to grasp with any type of standard (i.e., written or expressed) explanation. Though it's masked in naturalistic thinking, \"Blowin' in the Wind\" is an encapsulation of Eastern thinking within abstract songwriting that (surprisingly) made the charts and (not so surprisingly) became one of the most famous standards of the rock era. Appears On", "Gloomy Don McLean reveals meaning of ‘American Pie’ — and sells lyrics for $1.2 million - The Washington Post Gloomy Don McLean reveals meaning of ‘American Pie’ — and sells lyrics for $1.2 million The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set! By Justin Wm. Moyer April 8, 2015 Follow @justinwmmoyer Songwriter Don McLean's manuscript for the classic song \"American Pie\" sold at an auction for $1.2 million . (Reuters) The music died because Buddy Holly merely wanted what every touring musician wants: to do laundry. Shoved into unheated buses on a “Winter Dance Party” tour in 1959, Holly — tired of rattling through the Midwest with dirty clothes — chartered a plane on Feb. 3 to fly from Clear Lake, Iowa, to Fargo, N.D., where he hoped he could make an appointment with a washing machine. Joining him on the plane were Ritchie Valens and, after future country star Waylon Jennings gave up his seat, J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. “the Big Bopper.” Taking off in bad weather with a pilot not certified to do so, the plane crashed , killing everyone aboard. The toll was incalculable: The singers of “Peggy Sue” and “Come On Let’s Go” and “Donna” and “La Bamba” were dead. Holly was just 22; incredibly, Valens was just 17. Rock and roll would never be the same. Thirteen years later, Don McLean wrote a song about this tragedy: “American Pie,” an 8½-minute epic with an iconic lyric about “the day the music died.” Now, the original 16-page working manuscript of the lyrics has been sold at auction for $1.2 million. “I thought it would be interesting as I reach age 70 to release this work product on the song American Pie so that anyone who might be interested will learn that this song was not a parlor game,” McLean said in a Christie’s catalogue ahead of the sale. “It was an indescribable photograph of America that I tried to capture in words and music.” That photograph was always a little bit blurry. At more than 800 words, the meaning of “American Pie” proved elusive even for a generation used to parsing inscrutable Bob Dylan and Beatles lyrics. McLean has said the song was inspired by the 1959 plane crash, but has been cagey about other details. “People ask me if I left the lyrics open to ambiguity,” McLean said in an early interview, as the Guardian reported . “Of course I did. I wanted to make a whole series of complex statements. The lyrics had to do with the state of society at the time.” But what state was that? It seemed like the song’s cast of characters — which include a jester, a king, a queen, good ol’ boys drinking whiskey and rye as well as “Miss American Pie” herself — were meant to represent real people. The song includes references to Karl Marx; Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (or, more likely, John Lennon); the Fab Four; the Byrds; James Dean; Charles Manson; the Rolling Stones; the “widowed bride,” Jackie Kennedy; and the Vietnam War. Left: Don McLean in 1972. Right: McLean in Waterford, N.Y., in 1968. (Photos by AP) What does it all mean? Just what a song about the day the music died seems like it might be about: the end of the American Dream. “Basically in ‘American Pie,’ things are heading in the wrong direction,” he told Christie’s, as the Newcastle Herald reported . “It is becoming less idyllic. I don’t know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense.” As ideals of the 1960s turned into the cynicism of the 1970s, this feeling was widespread enough to send the song to No. 1 in 1972. “American Pie is the accessible farewell to the Fifties and Sixties,” Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis wrote in the catalogue . “Bob Dylan talked to the counterculture in dense, cryptic, apocalyptic terms. But Don McLean says similar ominous things in a pop language that a mainstream listener could understand. The chorus is so good that it lets you wallow in the confusion and wistfulness of that moment,", "Moodswings: SIMON & GARFUNKEL SIMON & GARFUNKEL REMASTER 320 KBPS The most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel crafted a series of memorable hit albums and singles featuring their choirboy harmonies, ringing acoustic and electric guitars, and Simon's acute, finely wrought songwriting. The pair always inhabited the more polished end of the folk-rock spectrum and was sometimes criticized for a certain collegiate sterility. Many also feel that Simon, as both a singer and songwriter, didn't truly blossom until he began his own hugely successful solo career in the 1970s. But the best of S&G's work can stand among Simon's best material, and the duo did progress musically over the course of their five albums, moving from basic folk-rock productions into Latin rhythms and gospel-influenced arrangements that foreshadowed Simon's eclecticism on his solo albums. Simon & Garfunkel's recording history actually predated their first mid-'60s hit by almost a decade. Childhood friends while growing up together in Forest Hills, NY, they began making records in 1957, performing (and often writing their own material) in something of a juvenile Everly Brothers style. Calling themselves Tom & Jerry, their first single, \"Hey Schoolgirl,\" actually made the Top 50, but a series of follow-ups went nowhere. The duo split up, and Simon continued to struggle to make it in the music business as a songwriter and occasional performer, sometimes using the names of Jerry Landis or Tico & the Triumphs. By the early '60s, both Simon and Garfunkel were coming under the influence of folk music. When they reteamed, it was as a folk duo, though Simon's pop roots would serve the act well in their material's synthesis of folk and pop influences. Signing to Columbia, they recorded an initially unsuccessful acoustic debut (as Simon & Garfunkel, not Tom & Jerry) in 1964, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. They again went their separate ways, Simon moving to England, where he played the folk circuit and recorded an obscure solo album. The Simon & Garfunkel story might have ended there, except for a brainstorm of their producer, Tom Wilson (who also produced several of Bob Dylan's early albums). Folk-rock was taking off in 1965, and Wilson, who had helped Dylan electrify his sound, took the strongest track from S&G's debut, \"The Sound of Silence,\" and embellished it with electric guitars, bass, and drums. It got to number one in early 1966, giving the duo the impetus to reunite and make a serious go at a recording career, Simon returning from the U.K. to the U.S. In 1966 and 1967, they were regular visitors to the pop charts with some of the best folk-rock of the era, including \"Homeward Bound,\" \"I Am a Rock,\" and \"A Hazy Shade of Winter.\" Simon & Garfunkel's early albums were erratic, but they steadily improved as Simon sharpened his songwriting, and as the duo became more comfortable and adventurous in the studio. Their execution was so clean and tasteful that it cost them some hipness points during the psychedelic era, which was a bit silly. They were far from the raunchiest thing going, but managed to pull off the nifty feat of appealing to varying segments of the pop and rock audience -- and various age groups, not just limited to adolescents -- without compromising their music. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (late 1966) was their first really consistent album; Bookends (1968), which actually blended previously released singles with some new material, reflected their growing maturity. One of its songs, \"Mrs. Robinson,\" became one of the biggest singles of the late '60s after it was prominently featured in one of the best films of the period, The Graduate (which also had other Simon & Garfunkel songs on the soundtrack). It was unsurprising, in retrospect, that the duo's partnership began to weaken in the late '60s. They had known each other most of their lives, and been performing together for over a decade. Simon began to feel constrained by the limits of working with the same collaborator; Garfunkel, who wrote virtually none of the mat", "Music history Final 08/09 Flashcards The collective changing of a song Term The appalachian music tradition gets most of its Celtic music tradition from what countries? Definition Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, and the Hebrides Term What artist was called \"America's tuning fork\" by poet Carl Sandburg; stayed on the forefront of music and politics through the 1960s ; was blacklisted by the McCarthy era's HUAC Committee; and wrote 60s civil rights and folk anthems We Shall Overcome, If I Had A Hammer and Turn, Turn, Turn? Definition Peter Seeger Term What East Coast folk artist openly opposed the Vietnam War by organizing hte Institute of for the study of Non-Violence, and also made the song We Shall Overcome, co-written by Pete Seeger, the 1960s antiwar anthem? Definition Joan Baez Term Bob Dylan traveled from his Minnesota home to New York City, allowing him to see what dying folk artist, who was also his most important single influence? Definition Woody Guthrie Term The majority of music on the air during the early days of radio came from what source? Definition Local talent performing live Term Hillbilly music's first multi-million seller, The Prisoner's Song, was recorded on many record labels by the same artist. What was his name used on his first recording with Victor? Definition Vernon Dalhart Term Which artist became the first Western Movie Star by batlling the Phantom Empire from his horse and singing songs like That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine in the 1930s science fiction movie series? He later went on to star in over 80 films and started producing the first ever made for TV series. Definition Gene Autry Term What artist combined country and rhythm and blues to create the first rock and roll million selling hit? Definition Bill Haley and the Comets Term Besides Don Law, what 2 Nashville producers created the \"Nashville Sound\"? Definition Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins Term Where did Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson go in the early 1970s when they left Nashville to start a fresh country sound? Definition Austin, Tx Term What country movement/style is associated with the early 1980s that blends disco-ized country songs and electronic rodeos? Definition In regards to entertainment, the term Broadway is synonymous with: Definition American Musical Theater Term Before radio and television shows, what was considered by the music business to be the most important quality for a song's success Definition Good Songwriting Term What turn of the century piano style was first popularized by Scott Joplin and used in minstretl shows, becoming crucial in the development of early jazz? Definition Ragtime Term British team Gilbert and Sullivan were immensely popular in What category of entertainment does their work fall? Definition Operettas Term What type of staged variety show of the late 1800s early 1900s contained a lineup of 10 acts by a group of musicians, acrobats, family acts, comedians, jugglers, magicians and trained animals? Definition Vaudevilles Term What underclass groups were the predominant creative sources fro the first major trends in American pop music? Definition Jews and African Americans Term George Gershwin became famous for his upbeat, witty shows and film scores, but is best remembered for his opera masterpiece of 1935 called: Definition Porgy and Bess Term Which songwriter was on the staff at Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, MGM, and Paramount Studios from 1933 through 1961, and is the most successful songwriter in the history of motion pictures? Definition Harry Warren Term When did the record companies begin to use electricity to cut grooves instead of the acoustic power inherent in sound. Definition 1925 Term What instrument designer cited the Theremin as the major influence for his own most popular product? Definition Robert Moog Term 1. The term “blues” and the music it describes was first notated by a university in what century? Definition . 20th Term 2. The first sales of blues music on records opened an entirely new market of black music for black consumers. What was this market called by the r", "Bob Dylan ‘Blood on the Tracks’ 40th Anniversary: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review | Billboard Album Review 0 If Bob Dylan 's 15th studio album must fit in a box, it's his confessional '70s-singer-songwriter record. Released on January 17, 1975 -- 40 years ago today -- Blood on the Tracks landed amid the dissolution of Dylan's marriage to his first wife, Sara, and with its sad, strummy songs about love gone awry, it has all the hallmarks of classic breakup album. Here's the problem with that: Dylan has never been a confessional singer-songwriter, and even when he's writing about himself, there's the question of which \"himself\" he's being. The rascally Minnesotan born Robert Zimmerman has been playing characters since he came on the scene in the '60s, and his peerless songwriting hinges on allegory, metaphor, and misdirection. His catalog is a feast of breadcrumbs meant to throw you off the trail. Blood on the Tracks teases with approachability. The emotion is so raw, so present, and yet it's safe to say no one really knows what Dylan is singing about. His son Jakob, leader of the Wallflowers , believes the album is \"about my parents,\" as one-time manager Andrew Slater told the New York Times , while papa Bob insists the lyrics are based on the short stories of Anton Chekov. Another influence was artist Norman Raeben, whose 1974 painting tutorials taught Dylan to \"put my mind and my hand and my eye together, in a way that allowed me to do consciously what I unconsciously felt,\" as he told writer Jonathan Cott. Whatever the truth is, there are certain indisputable facts. Blood on the Tracks marked Dylan's return to Columbia Records after two albums on Asylum, and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 , leading many critics to call it a comeback -- not his first and certainly not his last. Also, the album comprises recordings made at two sessions: one in New York City with studio pros assembled by engineer Phil Ramone and a second in Minneapolis organized at the last minute by Bob's brother David. A mini version of the cult devoted to Bob and the Band's storied Basement Tapes surrounds Blood on the Tracks, and four decades later, hardcore Dylanheads debate which versions, NYC or Minneapolis, are superior. One thing most folks agree on is that Blood on the Tracks is a special entry in Bob's canon. Whether inspired by an impending divorce or the work of a Russian dramatist, these 10 songs carry a lot of hurt. There's also humor, regret, anger, tenderness, and even a Wild West potboiler -- all accompanied by some of the prettiest music Dylan has put to tape. Read on to get our track-by-track take on one of Dylan's finest, an album that therefore ranks among the best in rock history. \"Tangled Up in Blue\": With forward momentum reminiscent of Dylan's \"Like a Rolling Stone\" and a scattered narrative loaded with geographical references (the North Woods, New Orleans, Brooklyn), the leadoff track sets the tone for an album about homecomings and goodbyes. Seven verses and no choruses, it's the story of a drifter kept from various women -- or perhaps the same one -- by stuck-up would-be in-laws (verse No. 1), good sense (No. 2), and the inherent awkwardness of strip-club convos (No. 4). And that's just the stuff our strumming Odysseus can sort of articulate. \"Simple Twist of Fate\": Most hear this as a john pining for a prostitute, and the lines about the \"strange hotel\" with the \"beat-up shade\" and the woman's retreat to \"the waterfront docks\" lend credence to such a reading. Whether it was illicit or innocent, the relationship has thrown Dylan's subject for a loop, and he sings truehearted over jingling acoustic chords and warm harmonica that play down the carnality of the rendezvous. The resignation of the final two lines -- \"She was born in spring, but I was born too late / Blame it on a simple twist of fate\" -- hark back to \"Don't Think Twice (It's Alright),\" maybe the best song Dylan has written about the disappointment of an affair ending prematurely. \"You're a Big Girl Now\": Following two fairly abstract tunes, Dylan scales", "The Velvet Underground & Nico Album Cover | recordart The Velvet Underground & Nico Album Cover rockdoc999 7 Comments The album “The Velvet Underground & Nico” is remarkable for many reasons–not least the music. a. It is one of only two albums that I know of that names the cover designer rather than the band or the record’s title on the front (the other being Swedish band bob hund‘s 1996 LP “Omslag: Martin Kann“.) b. The cover provoked two lawsuits (more on those later). c. Gatefold covers had generally only been used for double albums. Elvis Presley’s “Elvis Is Back!” from 1956 is said to be the first gatefold cover for a single LP and “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was not released until two months after the Velvets’ album. In 1965 Andy Warhol became The Velvet Underground‘s manager and he booked them into New York’s Scepter Studios in April 1966 to record the group’s first album which was de facto produced by studio owner Norman Dolph rather than by Warhol. Warhol insisted that chanteuse Nico (real name Christa Päffgen) sing on the album and she sang on three songs. For unknown reasons some songs were rerecorded and some new songs recorded by producer Tom Wilson in Los Angeles later that year. Wilson was a staff producer for Columbia (and later Verve) Records and had produced three of Bob Dylan‘s early albums (“Another Side of Bob Dylan“, “The Times They Are A’Changin’“, four tracks on “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan“, “Bringing It All Back Home“) including the hit single “Like a Rolling Stone“. Warhol offered the album to Columbia Records, who turned it down! Then through the Andy Warhol association Verve Records agreed to release it. Logically enough, as Nico was not a member of the group the album’s title was “The Velvet Underground & Nico. The “&” emphasizing the fact. Warhol gave his Banana painting to the band for the album cover. The removable banana on the front was difficult to produce and delayed the album’s release until March 1967. Acy R. Lehman, who designed the cover, decided on the gatefold to be able to include photos of the band members taken by Paul Morrissey, and colour photos by Verve photographer Hugo. I have seen the large band photo on the rear cover credited to Andy Warhol, so I am not sure it was by him or, as stated in the album credits, by Hugo. The rear cover photograph showed actor Eric Emerson the lights projected behind the band with his inverted face superimposed on the picture of Lou Reed‘s head. This is commonly called the “Torso” version”. Emerson was in need of money as he had been charged with drug offenses and sued Verve Records to pay him for the use of his photograph. Verve refused to pay and recalled as many copies as it could and stuck a large black sticker over the offending photograph. On subsequent printings of the album sleeve the photograph was airbrushed to obscure Emerson’s portrait before the album could be reissued in June 1967. This delay badly affected the album’s sales; only about 30,000 copies being sold between 1967 and 1972 – I must be one of the early buyers as I bought my copy in late 1967 on the strength of the review in Rolling Stone. Brian Eno is quoted as saying in 1982 “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.” – obviously, with one exception – me! There were promo copies distributed with the “Torso” cover which had white or yellow record labels. I think all promos were mono versions with “Torso” rear cover. There are three versions of the cover of the original American release: a first state with the “torso” rear cover, a second state with the sticker over the upper part of the torso picture and the third state with Emerson airbrushed out. The front cover of the mono version. The front cover of the stereo version. Note the lower positioning of the banana. The “first state” torso rear cover. Below: the airbrushed “third state” rear cover. The rear cover with the sticker covering Emerson’s face. This album has never been out of print since it was originally released. There have been several variations on the cover design and recen", "Frankie Valli: Italian of the Week | Sons of Italy Blog Sons of Italy Blog THE Blog for the Italian American Community! Menu Entertainer Italian American Italian of the Week Music Musician Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, better known as Frankie Valli, was born on May 3, 1934, in Newark, New Jersey. He was the youngest of three children born to barber and model train designer Anthony Castelluccio and homemaker Mary Rinaldi. When he was seven his mother took him into New York City to see up-and-coming artist Frank Sinatra. The show changed Frankie’s life: “I saw Sinatra coming out on stage and the way he was lit up, it was like he had an aura around him. I decided then and there that’s what I was going to do—be a successful singer.” When he was just 19, Frankie signed his first record contract. He quickly became known as having the “voice of an angel.” In the late 1950s, Frankie and his band – the Four Lovers – saw moderate success. The group had a few minor hits and even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. In 1959, Frankie’s friend and future actor Joe Pesci introduced the band to songwriter Bob Gaudio. This addition changed the course of the band’s success. With Bob writing the songs, the band changed its name to the Four Seasons, released “Sherry,” and became an overnight sensation. Frankie decided to go solo in 1965 while staying with the Four Seasons. Bob wrote his solo songs and made sure they didn’t rely on Frankie’s falsetto. His first major solo hit came in 1967 with the classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Things slowed down for the musician in the early 1970s, but between 1975 & 1979 he and his band had a slew of hits: “My Eyes Adored You,” “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night),” and “Grease.” Over his career, Frankie has had over 70 hits chart on Billboard’s Top 100 and has sold well over 100 million records. In 1990, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His life and music were reintroduced to a whole new generation when he and Bob teamed up again in the mid-2000s – this time to write the musical Jersey Boys, which dramatized Frankie’s life with and without the Four Seasons. It opened on Broadway November 6, 2005, and became an instant hit. The jukebox musical won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Clint Eastwood later adapted the story into a film of the same name. Today Frankie continues to tour, record music, and release new albums.", "Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited | PopMatters Highway 61 Revisited The year was 1965. America’s involvement in Vietnam is escalating and American troops are sent to the Dominican Republic in an attempt quell a rebellion on the island. The Johnson Administration announces an anti-poverty initiative as part of his Great Society. Selma, Alabama is racked with violence as segregationists attack peaceful civil rights marchers and riots break out in Watts, causing 34 deaths and injuries to 1,000 people. Against this backdrop, Bob Dylan makes what will prove to be a prophetic musical statement, plugging in, turning up the volume and altering the pop music landscape for years to come. First came Bringing It All Back Home, with one side of electric music and one side of what can best be described as acoustic rock, followed in short order by the single “Like a Rolling Stone”, bursting onto the charts like that first gunshot that started the Revolutionary War, and his controversial electric performance Newport Folk Festival and the single. And yet, all of that was just prelude. On August 30, Dylan released what remains for me the most electrifying rock-and-roll album of all time, Highway 61 Revisited. From its opening rim shot, which snaps the album into motion, an opening that stands above nearly all others in the history of rock and roll, a crack that strikes deep into the soul, Dylan spins and whirls into a snarling, searing 51 minutes of anarchic imagery and music. This is Bob Dylan at the height of his phantasmagoric powers, the dark visionary, the painter of nightmarish inner landscapes who brings together the strands of disparate worlds, mixes them and deconstructs them, crafting a world of disillusion and alienation that offers what may have been the first inclination that the Age of Aquarius was not all peace and love. This is an album of brutality and innocence, an album that could only have been produced by an artist at the height of his powers, with a war raging overseas in the shadow of a presidential assassination. It is that rare album on which not only are there no weak cuts, but on which each song is a masterpiece, a classic rock and roll album. Some history is in order, here. This is Dylan’s second electric effort, released in August of 1965, just five months after the remarkable Bringing It All Back Home. The earlier effort featured an electric side and an acoustic side, though the acoustic songs are nothing like anything he’d recorded in the past. In structure, in approach, they are songs that seem designed for full-band backing. Dylan had been making the move toward rock and roll for about a year, starting with the release of the more personal Another Side of Bob Dylan, an album that lacked much of the topical fireworks of his two previous albums. Another Side was still a folk album, but sounded different than the folk music that was popular at the time both in terms of content and song structure. Then in February 1965, Dylan released “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, the rollicking, rocking masterpiece that would forever change how rock and roll would be played from then on. “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, with its images of revolution and chaos, prefigured the pitched political battles that were to soon characterize the decade—but its musical impact was not apparent until the release in July of “Like a Rolling Stone” and Dylan’s fateful appearance at the Newport Folk Festival several days later. The 1965 festival has taken on mythic stature in the annals of rock and roll and there is some dispute over exactly what happened when Dylan walked on stage dressed in leather jacket and white shirt with snap-tab collar and cranked out his allegory of intellectual freedom, “Maggie’s Farm”, “It Takes A Lot to Laugh” and “Like A Rolling Stone”. There apparently was booing and the crowd was angry—though just how angry and how much booing remains in dispute. He left the stage and came back to play a pair of acoustic songs—“It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and “Mr. Tambourine Man”—and left again. He then went into the studio to rec", "Bob Marley dies - May 11, 1981 - HISTORY.com Bob Marley dies Publisher A+E Networks In what would prove to be the next to the last concert of his tragically short life, Bob Marley shared the bill at Madison Square Garden with the hugely popular American funk band The Commodores. With no costumes, no choreography and no set design to speak of, “The reggae star had the majority of his listeners on their feet and in the palm of his hand,” according to New York Times critic Robert Palmer. “After this show of strength, and Mr. Marley’s intense singing and electric stage presence, the Commodores were a letdown.” Only days after his triumphant shows in New York City, Bob Marley collapsed while jogging in Central Park and later received a grim diagnosis: a cancerous growth on an old soccer injury on his big toe had metastasized and spread to Marley’s brain, liver and lungs. Less than eight months later, on May 11, 1981, Bob Marley, the soul and international face of reggae music, died in a Miami, Florida, hospital. He was only 36 years old. Nesta Robert Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in rural St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, the son of a middle-aged white Jamaican Marine officer and an 18-year-old black Jamaican girl. At the age of nine, Marley moved to Trench Town, a tough West Kingston ghetto where he would meet and befriend Neville “Bunny” Livingston (later Bunny Wailer) and Peter McIntosh (later Peter Tosh) and drop out of school at age 14 to make music. Jamaica at the time was entering a period of incredible musical creativity. As transistor radios became available on an island then served only by a staid, BBC-style national radio station, the music of America suddenly became accessible via stateside radio stations. From a mix of New Orleans-style rhythm and blues and indigenous, African-influenced musical traditions arose first ska, then rock steady—precursor styles to reggae, which did not take shape as a recognizable style of its own until the late 1960s. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer performed together as The Wailers throughout this period, coming into their own as a group just as reggae became the dominant sound in Jamaica. Thanks to the international reach of Island Records, the Wailers came to the world’s attention in the early 1970s via their albums Catch a Fire (1972) and Burnin’ (1973). Eric Clapton spread the group’s name even wider by recording a pop-friendly version of “I Shot The Sheriff” from the latter album. With the departure of Tosh and Wailer in 1974, Marley took center stage in the group, and by the late 70s he had turned out a string of albums— Exodus (1977), featuring “Jamming,” “Waiting In Vain” and “One Love/People Get Ready;” Kaya (1978), featuring “Is This Love” and “Sun Is Shining”; and Uprising (1980), featuring “Could You Be Loved” and “Redemption Song.” While none of the aforementioned songs was anything approaching a hit in the United States during Bob Marley’s lifetime, they constitute a legacy that has only increased his fame in the years since his death on this day in 1981. Related Videos", "The Story Behind Jimi Hendrix's \"All Along the Watchtower\" - Cover Me The Story Behind digs deep into how an iconic cover song came to be. Brian Jones was in bad shape. The Rolling Stone had staggered into London’s Olympic Studios, where Jimi Hendrix was trying to record a new Bob Dylan song, “All Along the Watchtower.” Though Jones could barely stand upright, he demanded to play on the track. There had already been many takes and the arrangement was just starting to come together, but Hendrix, ever accommodating to his friends, sat Jones down at a piano. Jones jumped right in, not letting inebriation limit his enthusiasm, and began producing off-beat clunks and clangs that caused Hendrix to stop the take in frustration after only 23 seconds. What would become known as the greatest cover song ever recorded was quickly falling apart. Where Hendrix first heard “All Along the Watchtower” is a matter of some debate. His publicist at the time, Michael Goldstein, says he played it for him at a Greenwich Village party before Dylan’s album John Wesley Harding was even released. “I went to dinner with [Dylan’s manager] Albert Grossman in an awful Mexican restaurant around 46th Street,” he says. “He gave me this cassette and said, ‘Here’s a sample of Dylan’s latest songs.’ I had a party a week or so later and Jimi was there. I said, ‘How would anybody like to hear something from Dylan that you haven’t heard?’ and I played the tape. Jimi came up to me and said, ‘Hey Mike, can I take that home with me? I really want to listen to that again.’ I said, ‘Sure you can have it, what the hell do I care?'” Hendrix’s girlfriend Kathy Etchingam, who he was living with in London at the time, says he first heard it like any other Dylan fan would have: he bought a copy of the record. “It was soon after he came back [from the States],” she recalls. “I remember him having the album when he came back along with a bottle of duty-free American whiskey. We played it over and over again. He just loved it.” There are other stories as well. Dave Mason of Traffic has described a party he threw in London as Hendrix’s introduction to the song. And Michael Fairchild, in the Electric Ladyland reissue liner notes, points to a session Hendrix played on with Paul McCartney’s brother Mike McGear as a possible first exposure. It may not really matter though, because there was no way Hendrix was not going to hear “Watchtower” sooner or later. Though it was certainly in vogue among musicians to namecheck Dylan, Hendrix was the type of superfan who carried a Dylan songbook in his travel bag, who once almost started a fight in a Harlem club after making the DJ play “Blowin’ in the Wind” (which, not surprisingly, cleared the dance floor), and who pestered Dylan’s guitarist Robbie Robertson with questions about how Bob wrote his brilliant songs (Robertson’s reply: “Usually on a typewriter”). He even dumped a girlfriend using lyrics from Dylan’s kiss-off song “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine”). He had been covering Dylan songs himself as early as 1965, as a session player for Curtis Knight’s “Like a Rolling Stone”-ripoff “How Would You Feel,” and the actual “Like a Rolling Stone” became a staple of his early live shows. It was after hearing one such performance that Chas Chandler, bassist for the Animals (who had recently had their own hit with “House of the Rising Sun,” a song they had heard on a Dylan record), decided to sign him and become his manager. He would record a few Dylan songs in his career – “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window,” “Drifter’s Escape,” “Tears of Rage” – and toyed around with others. A Rolling Stone interviewer in 1969 described him idly strumming along to “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” while answering questions. “It’s not a wonder to me that he recorded my songs,” Dylan himself wrote in 1988, “but rather that he recorded so few of them because they were all his.” Though stories differ, he met Dylan at least once, but any interactions were by all accounts inconsequential. In that same Rolling Stone interview, Hendrix", "Music Gates: Thin Lizzy-Whiskey in the jar Thursday, May 26, 2011 Thin Lizzy-Whiskey in the jar Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The two founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums. Thin Lizzy are best known for their songs \"Whiskey in the Jar\", \"Jailbreak\" and \"The Boys Are Back in Town\", all major international hits still played regularly on hard rock and classic rock radio stations. After Lynott's death in 1986, various incarnations of the band have emerged over the years based around guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes, though Sykes left the band in 2009. Thin Lizzy's de facto leader, Lynott was composer or co-composer of almost all of the band's songs. He was one of the few black musicians to achieve commercial success in hard rock, and the first black Irishman to do so. Thin Lizzy boasted some of the most critically acclaimed guitarists throughout their history, with founders Downey and Lynott as the rhythm section, on the drums and bass guitar. As well as being multiracial, the band drew their members not only from both sides of the Irish border but also from both the Catholic and Protestant communities during The Troubles. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including country music, psychedelic rock, and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal. Rolling Stone magazine describes the band as distinctly hard rock, \"far apart from the braying mid-70s metal pack\". Allmusic critic John Dougan has written that \"As the band's creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working-class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition.\" Van Morrison, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix were major influences during the early days of the band, and later influences included American artists Little Feat and Bob Seger. \"Whiskey in the Jar\" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of Cork and Kerry counties, as well as Fenit, a village in Kerry county. It is about a highwayman, or perhaps a footpad, who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed traditional Irish songs. It has been recorded by numerous professional artists since the 1950s. The song first gained wide exposure when the Irish folk band The Dubliners performed it internationally as a signature song, and recorded it on three albums in the 1960s. Building on their success, the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy hit the Irish and British pop charts with the song in the early 1970s. The American metal band Metallica brought it to a wider rock audience in 1998 by playing a version very similar to that of Thin Lizzy's with a heavier sound, and won a Grammy for the song in 2000 for Best Hard Rock Performance. \" The above text is a mashup from Wikipedia.\" Posted by", "\"American Masters\" No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (TV Episode 2005) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error No Direction Home: Bob Dylan 5h 59min A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to \"voice of a generation\" to rock star. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Visit our Awards Central section Related News a list of 28 titles created 16 May 2012 a list of 33 titles created 31 May 2012 a list of 26 titles created 02 Sep 2013 a list of 25 titles created 08 Mar 2015 a list of 29 titles created 2 months ago Title: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (27 Sep 2005) 8.6/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 6 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards » Videos Edit Storyline He is one of the most influential, inspiration and ground-breaking musicians of our time. Now, Academy Awardâ\"¢ winning director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, 1990) brings us the extraordinary story of Bob DylanâEUR(TM)s journey from his roots in Minnesota, to his early days in the coffee houses of Greenwich Village, to his tumultuous ascent to pop stardom in 1966. 27 September 2005 (USA) See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia The black cylindrical case that Allen Ginsberg was resting his hand upon during his interview was a Manfrotto camera tripod case the crew brought along with them for the interview. See more » Goofs Footage of the San Francisco Bay Bridge is included among footage of New York City illustrating Bob Dylan's arrival there. See more » Quotes Bob Johnston : I believe in giving credit where credit's due. I don't think Dylan had a lot to do with it. I think God instead of touching him on the shoulder he kicked him in the ass. Really. And that's where all that came from. He can't help what he's doing. I mean he's got the Holy Spirit about him. You can look at him and tell that. I Walk The Line Written by Johnny Cash (as John R. Cash) Bug Music Inc. on behalf of House of Cash, Inc. and Unichappell Music on behalf of Hi-Lo Music, Inc. He's Younger Than That Now 20 September 2005 | by hand2handyman (United States) – See all my reviews Well, it took a director as great as Martin Scorsese and 45 years of recording, travelling, ramblin' and bein' busy bein' born instead of dyin', but at long last Dylan fans from Dharma to Duluth have a glimpse behind the genius in the dark sunglasses. A remarkable film--for so many reasons that it would take at least 3 1/2 hours (the length of the movie) to list them--but the main reasons anyone with an interest in His Bobness needs to view this film are as follows: 1) Scorsese's direction: Almost 30 years after he chronicled the passing of a musical era with his magnificent film The Last Waltz, Scorsese once again captures musical brilliance and history on film as only someone who truly appreciates Dylan's historical as well as cultural influence could. A Master Director chronicles a Master Musician. 2) Archival footage of everyone you never saw before on film, including Gene Vincent, Hank Williams, and early 60's Greenwich Village pioneers aplenty and of course.. 3) Bob. For reasons known only to himself, Dylan actually speaks on record about his least favorite topic, himself. Along with last year's autobiography, this film reveals far more of the portrait of the artist as a young man than could ever have been anticipated given Bob's notorious closed-mouthed history on his own history. With Elvis, Ray Charles and John Lennon gone, there are few--if ANY--artists whose historical and musical importance even come near that of Bob Dylan. In No Direction Home, we see as much, if not more, than we are entitled to see about how and why young Robert Zimmerman from Hibbing, MN became the most important songwriter of", "This Wheel's On Fire by The Band Songfacts Songfacts Written by Bob Dylan and Band bassist Rick Danko, this was one of Dylan's famous \"Basement Tapes\" songs, recorded in April 1967 with the members of The Band in Big Pink (a house in upstate New York) after Dylan's near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1966. Fourteen different Basement Tapes became available as Bootleg recordings, and \"This Wheel's On Fire\" appeared on tapes labeled \"Great White Wonder\" and \"Little White Wonder.\" >> Suggestion credit: Joey - Athens, GA Band drummer Levon Helm's autobiography is called This Wheel's On Fire . In the book, he explains that the basement tapes sessions had a very loose feel - they didn't mind some bad notes and had to play relatively quiet, since they were really in a basement and too much sound echoing off the wall could be annoying. Helm adds that for this song, he was teaching himself to play the piano, and some of the music he wrote just seemed to fit with Dylan's lyrics. Dylan's original version is much slower than The Band version on Music From Big Pink. When he recorded The Basement Tapes with The Band, many of the songs were covers of old Country or Blues tunes, and sometimes they jammed on different song ideas. \"This Wheel's On Fire\" was one of the few fully formed songs they came up with. Members of The Band credited Dylan with teaching them a great deal about songwriting during his time at Big Pink. Like many songs Bob Dylan wrote, this one is open to interpretation. The wheel on fire seems to be the singer anticipating death, and who he's speaking to could be a friend, an enemy, or even God. Many artists have covered this song, including Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, whose version hit #5 in the UK in 1968. The Byrds covered it in 1969, and Siouxsie and the Banshees brought it back to the UK charts in 1987, with a version that hit #14. With so many cover versions, it was a very profitable song for the writers, and while Bob Dylan was used to large royalty payments, Rick Danko was not, and his check for about $200,000 was an astonishing amount of money. Danko would later say, \"Those royalty checks almost killed some of us,\" referring to members of The Band who suddenly had easy access to drugs, alcohol, and a lifestyle of excess. Richard Manuel, who killed himself in 1986, was particularly prone to drinking and drug binges. Julie Driscoll recorded the song again in the early 1990s as the theme to the BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous. This new version was recorded with Adrian Edmondson, who is the husband of the show's creator and star Jennifer Saunders. Kylie Minogue gave the track an euphoric disco-charged makeover. Her version was released as the official theme song for 2016's Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.", "Booker T & The MGs | Rolling Stone artists > B > Booker T & The MGs > Bio Booker T & The MGs Bio The Memphis-based quartet Booker T. & the MG's is one of the most important studio bands in the history of American popular music. On their own, the MG's are best known for their 1962 instrumental hit \"Green Onions\" (Number Three, Pop, Number One, R&B), but the group is remembered more today for its work as the house band at Stax Records, where they played behind a string of hits by heavyweight soul acts including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and the Staple Singers. The band formed by accident one day in 1962, when seventeen-year-old keyboard player Booker T. Jones was in a Memphis studio waiting for rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley to arrive to a recording session. He and drummer Al Jackson, bassist Lewie Steinberg and guitarist Steve Cropper began jamming on the melody that would become \"Green Onions.\" Stax Records president Jim Stewart liked the tune so much he decided to record it and put it out as a single. The band needed a name, so Jackson suggested the MG's, for the popular early-sixties sports car. Eventually, MG's came to stand for Memphis Group. The style of the song — a bouncy, organ-driven R&B melody with blasts of trebly, country-rock guitar over a swinging, laid-back bass-and-drums groove — became the signature musical foundation for Southern soul. Jones had been working as a session man for Stax since 1960. Cropper was a one-time member of the Mar-Keys, a band known for its proto-MG's instrumental hit \"Last Night.\" Jackson was a veteran of the Memphis jazz scene. After two albums with the MG's — 1962's Green Onions and 1965's Soul Dressing — Steinberg was replaced by another former Mar-Keys member, bassist Donald \"Duck\" Dunn. The MG's were prolific throughout Sixties, recording their own albums in addition to their work as the Stax house band. Their string of hits include \"Boot-leg\" (Number Ten R&B, Number 58 pop, 1965), \"Groovin'\" (Number Ten R&B, Number 21, Pop, 1967), \"Hip Hug-Her\" (Number Six R&B, Number 37, Pop, 1967), \"Soul Limbo\" (Number 17 Pop, 1968), Hang 'Em High\" (Number Nine Pop, Number 35 R&B, 1969) and \"Time is Tight\" (Number Six Pop, Number Seven R&B, 1969). Although mostly known for their hip singles, the MG's stretched out on the ambitious McLemore Avenue (#19 R&B, 1970), the band's funky, instrumental version of the Beatles' Abbey Road in its entirety. As important as their music, Booker T. & the MG's — two black members and two white members — became a symbol of racial integration in the South during the civil rights years. As the individual members began getting session work in other cities, they had less and less time for their work as the MG's, and the group called it quits in 1971. Their final album, released that year, was the aptly named Melting Pot. In 1975, the band had begun work on a reunion album when Al Jackson was shot and killed by a burglar at his home in Memphis. Three years later, Cropper and Dunn backed the Blues Brothers — Saturday Night Live's John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's semi-serious send-up of an R&B band — for the Number One album Briefcase Full of Blues, which included a cover of the Sam & Dave hit \"Soul Man\" that reached Number 14 on the Pop chart. The project was so popular that Cropper and Dunn worked with Belushi and Aykroyd on a 1980 film of the same name. The two also continued their work as session musicians. Cropper worked with artists ranging from Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton to southern power pop pioneers Big Star and The Band's drummer Levon Helm. Dunn recorded with Helm, Peter Frampton, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and others. Jones released four solo albums and played on sessions with the likes of Dylan, Willie Nelson, Rodney Crowell, Carlos Santana and John Lee Hooker. In 1986, Atlantic Records co-owner Jerry Wexler asked the MG's to reform for the company's fortieth anniversary. Jones was unable to attend because he fell ill, but the show, with a replacement keyboardist, went on. It inspired with group to reform, along wit", "Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen 22 Links Introduction Bruce Springsteen is an American (New Jersey) rock singer, composer and guitarist. Also known as \"The Boss\", he has been rocking around the world along with the E-Street Band or on his own since 1972, releasing 26 albums so far. He has sold over 80 million records world-wide, has won 18 grammy awards, 1 Academy Award (Philadelphia), and a couple Emmys, as well as being part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and being ranked 23rd by the Rolling Stone Magazine in their list of \"100 Greatest Artists of All Time\". He is married to E-Street Band member Patti Scialfa since 1991. Early 70s: First two albums Springsteen's whole name is Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen Zirilli, born the 23rd of September of 1949 in a NJ town called Freehold. His first music influences come from Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan later on, which made him buy a guitar and learn to play at the age of 13. Later he joined the band \"The Castiles\" in high school, playing guitar and later becoming lead singer. During the late 60s and until 1972 Springsteen took part in many different projects: a trio named Earth, and the bands Child, Steel Mill, Dr Zoom & the Sonic Boom, Sundance Blues Band and The Bruce Springsteen Band. These were the days when he became fomous locally, specially in the town and pubs of Asbury Park, New Jersey, after which Springsteen named his soon to arrive first album. It was at this point that he earned the nickname \"The Boss\", because he was in charge of collecting the band's pay and distribute it amongst the different members. It was during these years that Springsteen met and began several bands along with what soon would become widely known as \"The E-Street Band\", a loyal and skilled group of musicians who have accompanied Bruce for the most part of his career. Young Springsteen As Bruce slowly became famous in the area managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos contacted him, and managed to arrange an audition with Columbia Records talent seeker John Hammond. As a result of this Bruce signed with Columbia Records and released his first album \"Greetings from Asbury Park\" in 1973, soon to be aclaimed by the critics who saw in Springsteen's complex lyrics a new Dylan . Sales were not as good as the critics though. \"Spirit in the Night\", \"Lost in the Flood\", \"Growing Up\" and \"Blinded by the light\" are some of the excellent songs that forever would stay in the memory of his fans and in the lists of hundreds of shows all around the world, yet to come. Later that year he released his secon album \"THe Wild, the Innocent and the E-Stret Shuffle\". Once again the critics were very good, but the sales were not so great. \"4th of July Asbury Park\" and \"Rosalita\" were among the best songs from this second release. Born to Run It was in 1974 that Jon Landau wrote one of the most famous quotes about Springsteen when he said \"I saw the future of rock and roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen\", and he sure was right. He soon became his manager and helped him producing his third unforgettable album that would make Springsteen famous all over the USA and later the rest of the world: \"Born to Run\", released in 1975 is one of the big milestones in Bruce Springsteen's career. More than 30 years after its release fans and critics worldwide consider \"Born To Run\" one of the most important and energetic albums in the history of Rock N Roll. With classic tracks such as \"Thunder Road\", \"Jungleland\", \"Tenth Avenue Freeze-out\" and \"Born to Run\", this album contains some of the songs that were to became true hymns for the audience throughout the world for decades to come. Darkness On the Edge of Town Springsteen & E-Street Band After touring all over the USA, and going to court to fight over the rights of his tracks against his previous manager Mike Appel, he released a new album in 1978. His fourth, album was to be somewhat different, but great again nevertheless, \"Darkness on the edge of town\" steps away from the optimism of \"Born to run\" and speaks of daily struggles and problems,", "Sledge, Sister - Dictionary definition of Sledge, Sister | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary Sledge, Sister COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning Sister Sledge Sources The disco era of American music, which hit its peak in the late 1970s, would not have been the same without the energetic grooves performed by Sister Sledge. Their 1979 hits “He’s the Greatest Dancer” and “We Are Family” inspired dancers in the club scene around the world. The infectious chorus of “We Are Family” was adopted by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team in their 1979 World Series championship season. Over time, the song has become the anthem for several causes, including gay rights and as a call for tolerance after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States . Four sisters make up the group Sister Sledge. Debbie, Joni, Kathy, and Kim Sledge were all born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Their father and mother met in New York where both were pursuing careers in entertainment. Edwin Sledge, a renowned tap dancer, made entertainment history by being the first African American to perform on Broadway . Florez Williams acted and danced until she took on the full responsibility of raising her daughters. Their grandmother, Viola Williams, was a lyric opera performer who taught the girls basic vocal techniques. As young children, Debbie, Joni, Kathy, Kim, and their sister Carol performed as Mrs. Williams’ Grandchildren. Appearing throughout Philadelphia, the girls sang for charities, churches, and other events under their grandmother’s guidance. One of their primary performance venues was the church they attended, Williams Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME). In 1971, as the Sisters Sledge, they recorded their first single, “Time Will Tell,” on a local label named Money Back. They changed their name to Sister Sledge not long afterward and began recording for various Atlantic Records labels. Much of their early work with Atlantic involved singing background vocals. Then in 1974 they released their first album, Circle of Love. A single from that album, “Love, Don’t You Go through No Changes On Me,” reached number 31 on the R&B charts. The album was wildly popular in Japan , and in 1975, Sister Sledge was invited to the International Tokyo Music Festival, where they won the Silver Prize. Their second album, Together, released in 1977, produced single that made it to number 61 on the R&B charts, called “Blockbuster Boy.” By the end of the 1970s, the sisters had begun to question their devotion to the music industry. Despite years of experience, their future seemed uncertain. Carol had already decided to leave her singing career to pursue teaching. The four remaining sisters promised themselves that if they did not make it really big in the next year that they would disband and go their separate ways. As fate would have it, Sister Sledge became the pet project of producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, the team that had worked with the group Chic to produce the popular dance hit “Le Freak.” Rodgers and Edwards’ production skills, combined with the vocal talents of Sister Sledge, led to the 1979 breakthrough album We Are Family. The first single from the album, “He’s The Greatest Dancer,” went to number one on the R&B charts. The second single, “We Are Family,” not only hit number one on the R&B charts, but broke through to reach number two on the pop charts as well. Willie Stargel of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team chose the song as his team’s anthem in the 1979 championship season. The infectious fun and call for togetherness embodied in the song helped bond crowds with the Pirates as they eventually won the 1979 World Series. The album itself was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Rodgers and Edwards produced the group’s third album, Love Somebody Today, released in 1980. The single from that album, “Got to Love Somebody,” made it to number six on the R&B charts. For their 1981 release, All American Girls, Sister Sledge recruited new producers and scored", "Marc Bolan - Biography - IMDb Marc Bolan Biography Showing all 27 items Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (3) | Trivia (15) | Personal Quotes (3) Overview (4) 5' 5\" (1.65 m) Mini Bio (1) Mark Feld, born in London, was always destined to be a star. Even as a teenager he was already seeking fame. Well known as a sharp dresser, he was employed by a modeling agency and became a \"John Temple Boy\", wearing John Temple suits in their catalogs as well as becoming a cardboard cutout displayed in their shop windows. Many initial attempts to get into the music business failed, and so he turned to acting, landing several character parts in some TV shows including a juvenile delinquent on the Sam Kydd TV series Orlando (1965). His first recording, \"The Wizard\", was released in 1965 and resulted in an appearance on the TV music show Ready, Steady, Go! (1963). He briefly became a member of 1860s group John's Children before forming his own group, Tyrannosaurus Rex. The group's first single was \"Debora\", also a track on the album \"My People Were Fair\", released in July 1968. Although not a hit the first time around, on its re-release in 1972, when Bolan was at his peak, \"Debora\" made the UK top 10. In July of 1969 the group dropped its folksy, hippie sound to go electric with the single \"King of The Rumbling Spires\". Unfortunately, like his other singles, it failed to take off, only reaching #44. The group shortened its name to T. Rex and finally broke through with the single \"Ride a White Swan\" in 1970. This opened the door to a whole series of hit singles, including \"Bang a Gong, Get It On\"--on which Elton John played keyboards--which reached the US top 10 in 1971, as well a series of highly acclaimed albums. At the height of his popularity Bolan had a string of #1 hit singles in the UK and became a teen idol as well as a leader of the glam rock movement. In 1972 he released his own movie, Born to Boogie (1972), featuring Ringo Starr , among others. However, due to the rise of 1970s soul music, by 1975 Bolan's career was in decline, at least sales-wise. As a leading figure of the punk movement in the UK, he provided a forum for new acts to appear on TV via his own music program. Cruelly, just when he was on the rebound, Marc died in a car crash in 1977. - IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous Spouse (1) His curly mop of cork-screw hair Trivia (15) Father of Rolan Bolan . Contrary to popular belief, the inspiration for his professional name was not Bob Dylan but his roommate at the time, fellow actor James Bolam . Name evolution: Bolam > Bowland > Boland > Bolan. Came to fame with his acoustic band Tyrannosaurus Rex. With his electric band T. Rex , he started the Glam Rock movement in the United Kingdom. Marc Bolan passed away on September 16, 1977, only two weeks from what would have been his 30th birthday on September 30. He was cremated after death and his ashes were interred at Golders Green Crematorium in North London, England. His song \"Jeepster\" was covered by former Marillion singer Fish on his 1993 album \"Songs from the Mirror\". His father Simeon Feld was a lorry driver. Parents were Simeon and Phyllis Feld; had one younger brother: Harry Feld.", "Olivia Newton-John - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running! Olivia Newton-John [ edit ] Early life Newton-John was born in Cambridge , England. She is the granddaughter of Max Born , a German Nobel prize -winning physicist who fled from Germany with his wife in the 1930s in order to avoid persecution due to Born's Jewish heritage and his wife's part Jewish descent (although Olivia herself is a Christian ). Olivia's father, Brin Newton-John, originally from Wales , was an MI5 officer attached to the Enigma machine project at Bletchley Park , and the officer who took Rudolf Hess into custody when he parachuted into Scotland in May 1941. After World War II , he became a professor of German at the UNSW annex at Tighes Hill in Newcastle, Australia . In 1954, at the age of five, Newton-John, her parents Brin and Irene, and her older siblings Hugh and Rona, relocated to Melbourne, Australia , where her father had taken a job at Melbourne University as the Master of Ormond College . Her parents divorced when she was eleven years old. [ edit ] Early career Newton-John magazine pin-up, early 1970s By the age of 16, Newton-John had formed an all-girl band, Sol Four, and soon was a regular on local television (such as The Tarax Happy Show as Lovely Livvy) and radio shows in Australia. She entered a talent contest on the television programme Sing, Sing, Sing , hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe , and performed the songs \"Anyone Who Had A Heart\" and \"Everything's Coming Up Roses.\" She won the contest and received a trip to England as the prize. Initially, she did not want to go, but her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons. By 1963 , Newton-John was appearing on the local daytime TV shows and weekly pop programs in Australia. It was on the Go Show , where she met her lifelong friends, Pat Carroll and John Farrar . (Carroll and Farrar eventually married.) When she was 16 years old, Newton-John returned to England to live with her mother. Newton-John was homesick in England as she missed Australia and her then boyfriend, Ian Turpie (with whom she co-starred in an independently produced Australian telefilm Funny Things Happen Down Under ). This changed when friend Pat Carroll also moved to England. The two formed a duo and toured nightclubs in Europe. After Carroll's visa expired, and she had to return to Australia, Newton-John cut her first solo single, \"Till You Say You'll Be Mine,\" backed with \"For Ever,\" for Decca Records in England in 1966 . Newton-John's first album was titled Toomorrow [sic], which was also the name of her musical group at the time. They were the brainchild of American producer Don Kirshner , creator of The Monkees . The group also starred in the movie Toomorrow. Although the band and film were commercially unsuccessful, Newton-John's solo career started to take off with her first solo album titled Olivia Newton-John, which was released in the United Kingdom on Pye Records . Newton-John quickly became one of Britain's most popular singers. She was voted Best British Female Vocalist two years in a row by the magazine Record Mirror. In 1968 she met The Shadows ' guitarist Bruce Welch , to whom she became engaged until 1972 . They made appearances on Cliff Richard 's weekly show It's Cliff Richard and she starred with Cliff in the telefilm The Case . The critically-acclaimed 1975 album Have You Never Been Mellow continued success in the United States after she broke through the market the year before. Newton-John's first international hit was a song written by Bob Dylan called \"If Not For You,\" which was produced by Bruce Welch and her friend John Farrar and released in 1971 . She represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 singing \"Long Live Love\" and came in at fourth place. Later in the year, the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know and the single \" I Honestly Love You \" were released in the United States , and \"I Honestly Love You\" became her first single to chart at #1 across the Atlantic . In 1975 , encouraged by expatria", "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo by Tony Christie Songfacts Songfacts Yorkshire born Tony Christie was a successful singer of dramatic big-voiced pop ballads in the early 1970s. He achieved five top 40 hits in the UK in that period, including this song, which peaked at #18 and \"I Did What I Did For Maria,\" which got to #2. Meanwhile in continental Europe he was even more successful, topping the German and Spanish charts with this song. Although Christie's popularity waned in his native Britain from the mid-seventies, he maintained a successful singing career in Germany. Back home, his career began to revive when he was the vocalist on All Seeing I's 1999 top ten hit, \"Walk Like a Panther.\" Soon after the British comedian Peter Kay started using this tune as a kind of unofficial theme song, playing it at the start of live concerts to rev the crowd up. Kay also featured it in his TV comedy series Phoenix Nights, leading to a resurgence in his popularity. Cottoning on to the revived interest in the song, the decision was made to re-release it on March 14, 2005 to raise money for the Comic Relief charity. Kay filmed a new video for the song which featured him miming to the track whilst a string of celebrities appeared marching behind him. The song and its accompanying video caught the British public's imagination reaching #1, where it stayed for seven weeks and becoming the best selling record of 2005 in the UK. The song raised over £1.5 million for charity and Christie broke the record for the act who had the longest wait for a #1 single having waited close to near 35 years from his first chart entry. New York singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka wrote the song along with lyricist Howard Greenfield. Though he knew it was a good song, Sedaka told The Daily Mail June 19, 2009 that he is surprised at the manner in which it has endured. He explained: \"It was originally a rough demo on a cassette. Tony Christie's manager came to see me, saying he had a new singer who sounded a bit like Tom Jones . I played him Amarillo and he immediately liked it. I cut a reggae version of it myself, but Tony's was catchier and more upbeat. When they revived it in 2005, I thought it was amusing. But then Tony started sending me messages updating me on its progress in the charts. It was totally unexpected, but I guess it's a timeless song; one from the old Brill Building tradition.\" Amarillo is a city in Texas, located in the north of the state. Other songs to name-check Amarillo include George Strait's \" Amarillo By Morning \" Nat King Cole's \"(Get Your Kicks) on Route 66\" and Bob Dylan's \"Brownsville Girl,\" where it was referred to as the \"land of the living dead\". This song was a Top 40 hit in Australia in early 1972, reaching #3 and spending 16 weeks on the chart. >> Suggestion credit:" ]

[ "By . Marielle Simon For Daily Mail Australia . Health experts have issued a warning to parents after a primary school started selling Subway six-inch rolls in its canteen. Students at Golden Grove Lutheran Primary school in Adelaide can now buy the fast food subs twice a week, despite concerns over the amount of fat and sugar in its products. The idea was the brainchild of a mother of two pupils at the school - who is also the owner of a nearby franchise - and comes after teachers failed to find volunteers to staff the canteen. Fast food chain, Subway, and Golden Grove Lutheran Primary School has joined together, serving their students Subway twice a week . However, the move has concerned Dieticians Association of Australia spokeswoman Lisa Renn, who fears children could get bad eating habits if they have access to Subway at school. 'It is important to not establish the habit in the first place because it is hard to break.' Ms Renn told the Daily Mail Australia. Bad eating habits can lead to obesity in children . 'Hopefully this doesn't open the gates for allowing all sorts of fast food. 'Under the dietary guidelines for Australian children it is recommended that children only consumer zero to two serves of extra food a day, if the child isn't doing physical activity that consumption is zero. 'A meatball sub option would come under an extra in the saturated fat category. 'What we would prefer to see is offering yoghurt or fruit which would tick the dairy and fruit requirements, not a cookie or juice.' Ms Renn added having Subway is not always unhealthy, as long as serve sizes are strictly monitored. Students at Golden Grove can order four or six-inch subs and can also buy a cookie or a juice, according The Advertiser. In South Australia, the government-backed Right Bite scheme offers guidelines about what food schools in the state should serve. The rules ban high fat, high sugar and heavily processed foods in canteens. Pam Kent, president of SA Primary Principals Association, said it was quite clear what should and should not be sold to students. She added more schools in South Australia are outsourcing canteens because volunteers are hard to find. Golden Grove Lutheran Primary School in Adelaide signed a deal with Subway after failing to find canteen volunteers . 'There is a lack of volunteers... there is not a massive attraction of helping in canteens in a voluntary capacity. Some schools have had to close their canteens, while others have had to outsource,' she told The Advertiser. 'The healthy eating regulations have kicked in which is a good thing, but the capacity to have big turnover with healthy foods has diminished as a result. Neighbouring school, Wynn Vale Primary, shares its canteen with Golden Grove but has not employed Subway. 'We follow the healthy eating policy from the government,' principle Graeme Fenton said. 'We haven't felt the need to go down that path, there would be a consulting process with the governing body of the school.' Subway didn't returns calls from Daily Mail Australia. Six-inch chicken parma sub . (with mozzarella) Serving size 305g . Energy 1960kj . Energy 469 calories . Protein 34.4g . Fat, total 14.7g . Carbohydrates 48.8g . Sugars 8.1g . Dietary fibre 3.6g . Mini Ham Sub . Serving size 125g . Energy 683kj . Energy 163 calories . Protein 8.8g . Fat, total 2.2g . Carb. 25.5g . Sugars 4.3g . Dietary fibre 2.1g . SOURCE: SUBWAY ." ]

[ "By . Lillian Radulova . A lonely middle-aged woman who became obsessed with a 15-year-old boy who she met at school before inviting him to do gardening work at her home has been spared a jail term for having sex with him. Kylie Fiona Henry, 40, was acquitted in November of raping the boy in her Adelaide home in April 2011, but was found guilty of the less serious charge of unlawfully having sexual intercourse with him by a jury at the South Australian District Court. On Friday, Judge Paul Cuthbertson suspended a two year jail term and placed the former school canteen manager on a three-year good behaviour bond with conditions including she undertake 230 hours of community service. Kylie Fiona Henry, 40, received a two year suspended jail sentence on Friday despite admitting to unlawfully having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old boy at her Adelaide home in 2011 . Henry was 38 when she slept with the victim, who was sleeping over at her home with his younger sisters who had befriended Henry's children. 'You were entrusted with the complainant's safety that night by his mother and used the opportunity to satisfy your own sexual desires,' Judge Cuthbertson said. 'You were in the position of parent. He was staying in your house with the permission of his mother.' More... 'He tried to take this little boy... he just went in for the attack': Cafe owner tells of the moment alleged child-snatcher pounced as toddler sat beside his mother in busy shopping centre . Monster of a mother: A birth control pioneer, she was revered as a parenting guru. But Marie Stopes treated her son, who died this week, with abominable cruelty . The victim had told the court Henry, a mother of three, had robbed him of his first sexual encounter and the incident had left him scared and confused. 'I felt ill. I can't trust women and I hate them,' he said. The court heard that Henry had first met the boy when he was in primary school. The court heard how Henry became obsessed with the boy after the incident, visiting his home nearly every day over the next three months . She then began a conversation with the boy's mother when he returned to the school to watch his younger sisters play sport, which led the boy to be invited to her house for some gardening work. After the incident, Henry became obsessed with the boy, visiting his home nearly every day over the next three months, the judge said. Henry's utterances to a friend on Facebook 'made it perfectly clear, you were obsessed with him and had a sexual interest'. 'You now admit your defence was an utter concoction,'Judge Cuthbertson added. She told the jury she did not have sex with the boy, but did have a passionate dream about them having sex. Kylie Fiona Henry's lawyer said her client's behaviour was not pre-meditated but had been an 'appalling lack of judgment'. Henry was a lonely, single mother, who suffered from low self-esteem, Judge Cuthbertson said. 'In some respects, you are a person to be pitied - life has not dealt you a good hand,' he said.", "Anthony Dirrell has told his mandatory challenger George Groves that he must 'prove himself' before he is given a shot at his WBC super-middleweight title. Since being knocked out by Carl Froch at Wembley in May, Groves has responded with back-to-back victories, the first of which made him the No.1 contender in the WBC's 168lb rankings. In a Sportsmail exclusive in September, Dirrell described Groves as a 'fraud' who did not deserve a crack at his title. Anthony Dirrell (right) may sidestep George Groves and make a voluntary defence of his title . The Saint has since won twice, outpointing Christopher Rebrasse to claim the European title before knocking out Denis Douglin in November. But, despite those victories, Dirrell's attitude has not changed and he insists he will not be agreeing to a fight with the west Londoner. When asked about Groves, Dirrell said: 'Who? I don't know that guy. 'Oh that guy who fought Carl Froch and got knocked out by him twice? Oh that guy. 'There's no interest. Why would there be? He got knocked out twice. Dirrell wiith Muhammad Ali's daughter Laila Ali at WBC convention in Las Vegas on Monday . 'Why would you get a shot if you got knocked out twice? He's a good fighter but you got knocked out twice. 'You need to prove yourself. You haven't fought anybody yet to prove yourself and won. 'He still has to prove himself. You have to fight, that's how you prove yourself. 'He got knocked out twice. Who deserves a shot after that? That's like me saying, if he had the championship and I got knocked out twice by Carl Froch, they wouldn't want to see me fight the champion. 'Vice versa it's the same thing.' Groves' promoters, Team Sauerland, have attempted to make contact with Dirrell's representatives to get the ball rolling on their mandatory challenge. George Groves is No 1 contender for WBC super-middleweight title after back-to-back victories . It is unclear whether the Americans are considering their options but Dirrell seems relaxed about the possibility of being stripped of his belt, should he fail to meet his mandatory requirements. Groves and his promoters are in Las Vegas this week for the WBC convention and are expected to force the issue with the governing body about their plans for the super-middleweight strap. But Dirrell will be allowed to make a voluntary defence of his title as late as March before being forced to turn his attention to Groves. Dirrell, the self-styled 'Dog' added: 'We're looking to make money, that's what this business is about. I got the belt, I got what I came here for and now it's time to get paid. 'Me and my management team need to go and see who we want to fight but not yet. We should have one soon and that's what I'm waiting on.' Dirrell has dismissed Groves as a 'fraud' after being knocked out twice by Carl Froch . When asked whether he would consider facing Groves in the UK, considering how much money the Saint generated in ticket sales in 2014, Dirrell replied: 'Never. Why have I got to go over there to fight him if we have to fight? He has to come and see me. That's just how it is. I'm not going to go over there just because. That's not how it works. 'Floyd [Mayweather] never went anywhere and he's selling out arenas. You've got to come to the Us to fight, to get your name known, before you can you're somebody.' Eddie Hearn has revealed that Groves could be in line to fight for the vacant IBF title, should Carl Froch vacate it, in an all-British grudge match with James DeGale, meaning the mandatory shot at Dirrell could be put on the back-burner. On DeGale Dirrell added: 'He's a good fighter, he's an Olympian I heard. He's a good fighter also.'", "FARGO, North Dakota (CNN) -- Some residents were breathing sighs of relief Monday as the Red River receded, but an early-spring snowstorm that swept into the area prompted officials to warn the flood dangers weren't over. North Dakota National Guard members inspect a levee along the Red River near Fargo on Monday. With winds of 25 to 40 mph expected and as a much as a foot of new snow possible in some areas, North Dakota officials weren't ready to let down their guard. \"It's not over,\" Fargo Deputy Mayor Tim Mahoney said during a televised meeting of officials. \"We're still in a flood fight, so now you just have to be careful and watch things, and we'll monitor as we go along,\" Mahoney said. Still, he said, it's time to \"start thinking about what we'd do if we weren't fighting a flood,\" and that the city is \"going to start talking to different people to see when we can start getting things back online and get going.\" The most intense portion of the snowstorm was expected to roll through southwest and south-central North Dakota, easing some concerns that it could cause more immediate flooding at the Red River to the east. At 8:15 p.m. Monday (9:15 p.m. ET), the Red River at Fargo was at 38.71 feet, more than 2 feet below Saturday's crest. The river was forecast to be below 38 feet on Tuesday and approach the 18-foot flood level by early next week. But officials warned the storm's wind would cause waves in the floodwater and put more pressure on the sandbag dikes along the river. And the National Weather Service warned of another rise in the river level in mid-April as temperatures begin to warm and melt the snow. Watch how the storm could bring new problems » . The city planned to halt its sandbagging operation Monday. Bruce Grubb, Fargo's enterprise director, said 3.5 million sandbags have been filled. Officials emphasized the process could resume at any time, particularly in the face of the storm. In the meantime, National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Gust said, \"we are very confident now that [the] river is in a slow decline.\" Two deaths and 50 injuries have been reported in flood-related incidents. The injuries included victims of car wrecks caused by flooded roads, epidemiologist Kirby Kruger said. Other problems, including mental health issues, carbon monoxide poisoning and cardiac-related events, were reported, Kruger said. Water seeped into two of five buildings at the Oak Grove Lutheran School primary and secondary complex after a flood barrier began to leak, officials said. School officials said the two buildings had about 6 inches of water in the basement. The school last flooded in 1997. See how a levee can fail » . \"We knew this flood was going to be different,\" said school spokeswoman Ann Marie Campbell. \"There was a lot of emotion this morning when we got the word we had a breach.\" A contingency dike contained the water, said Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker, but three houses between the contingency and primary dikes also flooded. iReport.com: Send your photos, video of flooding . Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, residents of Moorhead, Minnesota, were waiting to see if miles of levees and sandbags there would hold. \"We're all in this together -- so far, so good,\" said U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, at a Sunday news conference. \"Keep vigilant, keep checking the dikes.\" Evacuations in Moorhead were proceeding smoothly, Mayor Mark Voxland said Sunday. No breaches of dikes were reported, he said. Mike Redlinger, Moorhead city manager, said the city was securing neighborhoods, particularly at night. President Obama has signed emergency and disaster declarations for Minnesota and North Dakota, freeing up federal funds. See map of affected area » . The flood's crest of 40.82 feet on Saturday broke a record that had held since 1897, when the Red River reached 40.1 feet at Fargo. In 1997, the river reached 39.6 feet, a level that many residents thought would be the highest they'd ever see. CNN's Susan Roesgen, Steve Kastenbaum, Dina Majoli, Chuck Johnston, Chad Myers and Dave Hennen contributed to this report.", "A restored 400-year-old barn on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage farm has been destroyed by a fire thought to have started in a kitchen. The building is used for cookery courses run by the millionaire chef’s company and has been the scene of ‘feasts’ filmed for his Channel 4 television series. Last night, Fearnley-Whittingstall was said to be unaware of the destruction as he is away filming for another of his programmes, Hugh’s Fish Fight, about sustainable fishing. Firefighters were on the scene investigating the cause of the fire today. Each of the individual cookers in the barn had its own gas cylinder . Blaze: A team of firefighters battle the fire as it engulfs the cookery school kitchens at the River Cottage headquarters in Devon on Tuesday night . River Cottage: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall used the site in the TV series The River Cottage Treatment . Aerial picture of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage showing the main house and Kitchens to the rear . ‘He is on a boat 8,000 miles away in . the middle of the ocean somewhere and only contactable via satellite . phone,’ a spokesman said. ‘He will be informed as soon as he can be . contacted.’ Eight fire engines and 80 firefighters . spent three hours tackling the blaze at the 66-acre River Cottage Park . Farm near Axminster, Devon. A gardener, who lives in part of the large . farmhouse opposite, raised the alarm at around 10pm on Tuesday. Investigators are not treating the blaze as suspicious. Nobody was in the barn at the time and no people or animals were hurt. Inside: The River Cottage cookery school which was destroyed in the blaze on Tuesday . Blaze: The cooking classroom was completely destroyed in the fire which happened shortly after 10.15pm on Tuesday . Blaze: The roof of the stone building has caved in and the timber beams have been left severely charred at River Cottage in Axminster, Devon . Before: The River Cottage barn is home to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookery school. Staff said that anyone booked on a course will be contacted as soon as possible . Destroyed: The floor and work surfaces are covered in tiles from the roof. Pots and pans are blackened and the rest of the kitchen completely gutted . Damage to the single-storey building . is thought to run into tens of thousands of pounds. Yesterday the . remains of rows of gas ovens and burnt-out pots and pans could be seen . among the charred debris. The former threshing barn was restored . six years ago and is regarded by Fearnley-Whittingstall’s team as ‘the . heart of River Cottage HQ’, his spokesman said. Staff were said to be ‘shocked and . upset’ by the fire. They said the building was used for £230-a-day . cookery courses and as a venue for celebrations. It could also be booked . for private functions. Wrecked: The kitchens may have to be pulled down following the blaze. The cause is not thought to be suspicious . Blaze: Two firefighters work on the scene this morning as an investigation into the cause of the blaze gets underway . Fearnley-Whittingstall, 47, who is due . back in England at the end of the month, lives with his wife Marie and . their four children in another farmhouse less than 20 miles away. Yesterday budding chefs who were due . to attend courses in the barn were advised to stay at home, while those . already in the area were offered free breakfasts. A River Cottage . spokesman said: ‘Cookery school courses at Park Farm will not be running . in the short term, and anyone booked on a course will be contacted by . the River Cottage events team as soon as possible.’ Fire damage: The River Cottage reveal the events barn was destroyed in a blaze last night to their Twitter followers . Charred: Pots sit on the shelves in the blackened kitchen . Celebrity chef: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had this morning not been informed about the blaze as he is away filming . A message posted on Twitter yesterday . by the River Cottage team expressed thanks to the fire service, saying: . ‘River Cottage sausage rolls all round for the crews, who were terrific . last night.’ Fearnley-Whittingstall moved into the original River . Cottage in Dorset in 1998. He went on to write a series of best-selling . books based on his philosophy of ethically sourced food and moved his . headquarters to Park Farm in 2006. He also runs the River Cottage Canteen . and Deli in the centre of Axminster and last year opened the latest . addition to his empire – a second Canteen and Deli in Plymouth. Remote: The converted barn which was destroyed can be seen in the background here. Firefighters had difficulty reaching the site because of its location .", "You've heard of The Cat in the Hat but the latest pet accessory promises to turn your tabby into the king of the jungle. The headpiece for felines conveniently fits around a cat's head and gives it a thick mane of golden hair with a pair of ears on top. The handmade lion hats come in a variety of colours and can be bought in golden brown, black, grey, ivory and husky. Velcro is used so they can be easily attached underneath the chin. Scroll down for video . Me-ow do I look? Pet owners can now turn their cat into the king of the jungle by giving it a hat with a golden brown lion's mane . Your cat may already think it is the king or queen of the home but why not give them a mane of hair to transform them into a lion . Designer Yumiko Landers, from Seattle, Washington, U.S. explained how she came up with the idea. The 39-year-old said: 'Every cat we've ever known believes they're the master of their domain. 'So I thought there's no better way to represent that by making them look like a true lion. 'The idea of hats for cats came from my sewing group and the theme of the week was cats and dogs. 'I thought it would be great to make a long-eared dog hat for my cat, but it didn't turn out as expected and looked more like a pair of bunny ears. Cute: Mrs Landers has one cat which models the hats online and can be bought from a website . 'A few friends saw the photos of the hat and asked if I could make bunny ears for their cats. That was the beginnings of hats for cats.' Mrs Landers has one cat, which models the pieces online. She also sells monkey and leopard design headgear for felines. She added: 'We actually make hats for both cats and dogs. Several of our customers have purchased the lion hat for their dogs. Pampered: The hat conveniently fits around the cat's head and gives it a thick mane of golden hair . King of the beasts: Designer Yumiko Landers from Seattle came up with the lion hat idea . 'We also make monkey and leopard hats - I have a notebook full of other pet hat ideas. 'The feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive. 'I couldn't have guessed the product would be so popular. We continue to receive orders from all over the world. 'We hand make every hat. From cutting fabric to sewing the hat together to packaging the products, my husband and I do everything ourselves.' The hats can be bought online from Etsy, a website that sells handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies. The standard and traditional golden brown hat costs £25 while the husky coloured hat costs £33.", "Two schoolboy brothers have been scarred for life after temporary tattoos burnt into their skin on an Easter Holiday from hell. Liam, 16, and Owen Groves, 14, pestered their mother to allow them to have henna body art while on an all-inclusive holiday in Egypt. But instead of natural henna the tattoo artist, who worked in the resort where they were staying, used super-strength black henna. Warning graphic content . Liam Groves, 16, got a tattoo using 'black henna' while on holiday in Egypt but was left permanently scarred after chemical in the dye burned into his skin . Younger brother Owen, 13, suffered a similar reaction. Unlike henna, which is a natural plant dye which turns the skin dark brown, 'black henna' is synthetic and often made with hair dye which burns the skin . While henna itself is a harmless natural product used to turn the skin dark brown, 'black' henna is usually made using hair dye which contains harmful chemicals which burn the skin. On the plane home Liam and Owen couldn't stop itching and had to be pulled out of school when they returned to the UK as the patterns turned into sores. The dodgy tattoos have permanent scars on their backs and the brothers now can't take their tops off in the sun as doctors warned to avoid direct sunlight on the area. Their furious mother Alison, 48, yesterday warned other parents thinking of letting their kids have holiday tattoos to think twice. The tattoos were initially fine but began itching on the way home and eventually turned into large sores . Mother Alison described her anger after the boys got the tattoos from someone working in their holiday resort . The full-time mother said: 'The boys had been asking for henna tattoos and I gave in and we had them done by the man running the gift shop in the hotel. 'We sat in the gift shop whilst he did them. Now I wish I had never let them have them done. 'As a parent I was mortified and devastated by what I saw. They had pussed and swelled up massively. 'I wish I had never let the boys have them. It was a huge mistake. I would ask any other parent to think twice before letting their children have them done.' The mother, who has been locked in a three-year legal battle, added: 'I can't believe it has dragged on this long. The pain and suffering my boys have been through I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. 'But all that is compounded by Virgin and their reaction. Their behaviour has been awful and that have treated us with contempt throughout this process. 'They are in the wrong but they think they can drag this out and we will just go away. But it's just not right that they can allow this sort of thing to go on in their resorts then cover it up as if nothing ever happened.' The family went for a week-long stay at the Movenpick El Solhna, in Egypt in April 2011, when Liam was 13 and Owen was just 11. Since going on the holiday in 2011 (pictured) Alison has been locked in a legal battle with Virgin Holidays . Owen (left) and Liam were just 11 and 13 when the tattoos were done while the family were in Egypt . Alison, of Standon, Herts., said: 'I took the boys to our doctor who said they were experiencing a reaction to the chemical PPD[Para-Penilen-Diammine] which is used in black henna. 'He diagnosed contact dermatitis and they were given a steroid cream and moisturiser to assist with the healing and discomfort. 'The tattoos looked horrific and had blistered terribly and were causing a lot of distress and sleepless nights.' The boys were prescribed steroid cream to bring the swelling down but it did nothing to help . But seven months later the tattoos still had not healed and she had to take them to a specialist dermatologist. She added: 'Despite all the time the scars were still visible and he believed it would take several more months for the reaction to settle completely. 'It was a horrible experience for us all to go through. The boys because of the pain and discomfort and scarring, and as parents, seeing the boys in so much stress and not knowing what had happened to their skin. 'Even now they cant go out in the sun properly as if they get heat on the areas where the tattoos were they come out again faint and it really hurts then both.' The boys have now been told they will not be able to have a permanent tattoo, dye their hair or have piercings because of the reactions they suffered. The family's solicitor Nick Harris, head of travel law at Simpson Millar solicitors, said: 'People assume, when they stay at an all-inclusive resort, that the facilities provided will be safe to use. 'It is disgraceful that UK Tour Operators continue to allow Henna tattoo artists to operate within these resorts unchecked knowing that the ink they're using can lead to horrific scarring and disfigurement.' A Virgin Holidays spokesman said: 'Virgin Holidays were concerned to learn of the reaction that these customers experienced following the henna tattoos they had during their holiday to Egypt in 2011. 'Virgin Holidays takes the well-being of all of its customers very seriously. However, as this matter is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings we're unable to comment further.'", "It was a daring bid for freedom that could have come straight out of The Great Escape or The Colditz Story. But the intrepid five who attempted to tunnel under a spike-topped 12ft metal fence using nothing more than pilfered cutlery were not plucky PoWs fleeing the Nazis – but Nottingham schoolboys trying to break out of their city academy. If any of the youngsters tasted liberty, however, it was short- lived as the culprits were soon rounded up, and the already imposing security measures tightened up even further to thwart future escape efforts. Pupils dug a hole in an out-of-the-way spot within the grounds of Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham (above) Their hole – dug in an out-of-the-way spot in fields within the grounds of Djanogly City Academy – has now been filled in, and a metal bar inserted to strengthen the fence, which was designed to ensure under-16s do not leave school grounds. Acting headteacher Elaine Crookes said the pupils, thought to be all under 14, have been ‘spoken to’  and vowed: ‘Our staff are supervising that area to ensure our students stay in school.’ The school takes tough measures to combat truancy. As well the forbidding fence, its security also includes a ‘swipe-in’ system. Tracey Phillipson, whose daughter is a Year 9 pupil, said: ‘The fencing with security signs all over it does make it look a bit more like a prison than a school and I guess to some pupils that’s a challenge.' Assistant head Andy Roach wrote about the audacious breakout bid in an email to staff last week. He said: ‘Regarding students digging a hole under the fence to escape... I have some updates.’ He said groundsmen had ‘filled in the hole and put a metal bar across the bottom of the fence in that area. ‘However, can staff on duty on the back field please keep an eye on them digging any more holes for this purpose in other areas along the fence. Assistant head Andy Roach wrote about the audacious breakout bid in an email to staff last week . ‘Quite a lot of cutlery was found in the area, presumably stolen from the canteen  to aid their digging, so if staff on  the duty can keep an eye on students smuggling cutlery out of  the canteen...’ Housewife Jamila Khaliq, whose home backs onto the school playing fields, said of the escape bid: ‘I can’t believe they would even try such a thing. Since they put in the new fencing, we have all thought it was impossible for any pupil to get out. ‘It can be noisy in the back garden sometimes. I hear a lot of shouting and swearing – but never any digging.’ Former pupil Farzan Fazal, 20, described the school as ‘security mad’, adding: ‘They have even had  a marked car patrolling the area looking for truants. They give out fines if your child truants a lot.’ He added: ‘It would not be easy to dig a hole under that fence with a spade let alone a spoon. ‘When I was there in 2005, the fencing was smaller and we could slip out and go home for lunch. I guess that is what they were trying to do. Most secondary schools will let you go but Djanogoly has never allowed it. That’s why they built the bigger fencing.’ The school has now imposed tighter security measures after the bid for freedom - which could have come straight out of The Great Escape (above) The school, which is in the deprived . Hyson Green area of the city, is in ‘special measures’ after an . inspection by the watchdogs Ofsted last year ruled it was ‘inadequate’. It has suffered from high truancy rates, and pupils aged under 16 are not allowed out of the grounds without permission during the day. Ofsted also noted in its report: ‘Students’ conduct, particularly outside lessons, shows a lack of respect for belonging to the academy.’ Ms Crookes said: ‘We can confirm that five pupils tried to leave the school at lunchtime by getting below the fence on the fields at our Gregory Boulevard site. ‘We have spoken to the students concerned, and taken action to repair the hole. That part of the fence has also been reinforced. Our staff are supervising that area to ensure our students stay safe and in school.’", "(CNN) -- The tragic death of Eric Garner at the hands of the NYPD -- a fatal scuffle caught in all its horror in a video shot by a bystander -- is, in part, the product of a nationally recognized police strategy, \"broken windows.\" It may have outlived its usefulness in many parts of New York. Garner, a father of six, was allegedly a low-level street hustler, a \"buttlegger\" illegally selling cigarettes one at a time or in packs without taxes applied. When police approached and tried to arrest Garner -- something they'd done before — the man jumped up, complaining that he had no goods on him, had not been dealing and didn't want to be hassled. The cops swarmed Garner, with at least one appearing to choke Garner and press on his neck as he gasped, eight times: \"I can't breathe.\" You can see the disturbing video here. He died shortly afterward. As the video went viral, community protests and vigils mounted. A central issue in the protests is the fact that the video shows one officer, Daniel Pantaleo grabbing Garner by the neck and pressing down on his head and chest, in apparent violation of a police rule that bans such choke holds. \"Members of the New York City Police Department will not use choke holds,\" Section 203-11 of the NYPD Patrol Guide says. \"A choke hold shall include, but is not limited to, any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.\" Two of the officers involved in the incident have been assigned to desk duties with their guns taken away. NYPD Commissioner William Bratton has promised a \"top to bottom\" retraining of every member of NYPD in how to arrest people, as well as a review of the department's use-of-force policies. Bratton has also met with the FBI in anticipation of a possible federal lawsuit alleging that Garner's civil rights were violated. Choke holds were banned 20 years ago after the death of a young man, Anthony Baez, who was killed in a confrontation with police after a football he was tossing with friends hit a police car. The officer who choked Baez to death was ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison. Bratton was recently re-appointed to the top post after a long stint in Los Angeles, giving the latest incident an eerie deja-vu quality. Despite the ban on choke holds, new incidents continue to pile up: The NYPD's Civilian Complaint Review Board received more than 1,000 complaints about the use of choke holds between 2009 and 2013, but punished only nine officers, none of them with anything more serious than a loss of vacation days. The Rev. Al Sharpton has vowed to press the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio on the investigation of the Garner case, which has been turned over to the local district attorney. But the larger question remains: Why was a team of six officers enforcing an almost laughably low-level crime like selling loose cigarettes for 50 cents apiece? The answer lies in New York's dramatically successful experiment with battling an out-of-control crime wave in the early 1990s, much of it built on a \"broken windows\" theory first developed by criminologists George Kelling and the late James Q. Wilson and laid out in a famous 1982 Atlantic Monthly magazine article. The idea is shorthand for a phenomenon known to sociologists: Leaving an otherwise safe building with an unfixed broken window signals to criminals that nobody cares about the property, which quickly becomes a haven for prostitution, drug dealing and serious crimes. With murders back then hitting more than 2,000 per year, NYPD cops were told by Bratton to stop waiting for the next 911 call and tasked with enforcing seemingly minor \"quality of life\" matters like public urination, panhandling and vandalism that made people feel unsafe. The strategy provided an immediate payoff. Cops doing quality-of-life patrols in the subways discovered that people jumping the turnstile (entering without paying) often turned out to have drugs, guns or outstanding warrants. Most turnstile-jumpers weren't dangerous felons, but it turned out that dangerous felons often didn't bother to pay the fare. So enforcing small violations helped catch truly dangerous criminals. Even more important, when streets and subways began to feel safer, more people used them -- and the very presence of more law-abiding citizens always acts as a deterrent to crime (it creates more witnesses who are likely to point out the bad guys to cops or actually intervene to stop certain kinds of crimes). Bratton, an architect of the broken windows revolution in policing, appears to be going back to his old playbook during his second tour as commander of the NYPD: So far this year, officers have arrested 240 subway performers, who do such things as break dance and perform backflips on moving trains. But the Garner case shows it may be time to revise, reduce or scrap broken windows policing, at least in some neighborhoods. When Bratton became commissioner for the first time, in 1994, the city had just finished a year with 2,420 murders. The number last year was just 333. The subways aren't out of control, the break dancers aren't carrying weapons, and low-level cigarette hustlers aren't causing the kind of disorder the city weathered in the 1990s. As Garner is laid to rest and the cops involved get whatever fate the court system has in store, the NYPD should re-evaluate how much force and attention it needs to train on low-level crime in a much safer city.", "NEW YORK (CNN) -- The British are coming, the British are coming -- to Brooklyn? By subway? Barclays has paid $300 million for the naming rights to the New Jersey Nets arena. New York's struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sold the naming rights to the second-busiest subway stop in Brooklyn. The Atlantic Avenue-Pacific Street Station will now have the name of a British bank, Barclays, added to it. Several subway riders are outraged that Barclays has purchased the naming rights to this subway stop, which sees about 10 million people go through it each day. One straphanger said, \"A London Bank shouldn't be the name of this train station; it's something that belongs to the public domain.\" Another said, \"It's just everywhere we go, everything we do, it's just branding, branding, branding. It's America now.\" Renaming the Atlantic-Pacific Station is tied to the construction of Barclays Center, the new sports arena for the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets. Barclays is paying developer Forest City Ratner $300 million for naming rights to this arena. Ratner, in a separate deal, will be paying the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $200,000 a year for the next 20 years to rename this commuter hub. Authority Press Secretary Jeremy Soffin said, \"Like transit systems all over the U.S. and around the world, we are facing budget deficits.\" In an effort to bridge the authority's $1 billion deficit, the transit giant that oversees the operation of the city's subways, buses and rail lines wants to follow the Barclays example with stations throughout the system. Though the Atlantic-Pacific subway station is the first in New York for which naming rights have been sold, across the country, there have been several cases of public transportation systems using naming rights to increase revenue. In 2003, the Las Vegas monorail system signed a 12-year, $50 million deal with Nextel to put its name on the station in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Cleveland Bus System sold station names to two hospitals for $1.1 million a year. Internationally, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has been selling the naming rights of 23 metro stations. However, not all naming rights deals are successful. In 2001, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority tried to raise $22 million by auctioning the naming rights to four historic \"T\" stations. It received no bids. Reassuring the public that there are certain lines they won't cross when it comes to renaming stations of historical value, Soffin said, \"It's a very clear line there, and we want to be as open as possible, but we're not sort of selling the shop here.\"", "By . Mark Duell . A school in Britain has become the first in Europe to teach pupils while they are standing up, it was revealed today. Nine and ten-year-old pupils at Grove House Primary School in Bradford, West Yorkshire, are taking part in a pilot - run by local medical researchers in a bid to improve concentration and health. The seven-week scheme will see pupils take it in turn to stand behind six desks while the others sit down as usual, with each student spending a carefully-calculated 230 minutes standing each week. Scroll down for video . Pilot: Aleefa, ten, is one of the pupils at Grove House Primary School in Bradford using a standing desk . The trial is designed to assess the impact on concentration of sitting for long periods of time - and what effects it can have on children’s health. Schools in Australia, New Zealand and the US have already tried the idea, but the Year Five children at Grove House Primary are thought to be the first in Europe to use the innovative desks. Teacher Hannah Rogers, 28, said: ‘The pupils have been so excited to take part in this experiment, and they absolutely love it. ‘We’ve only been doing it two weeks in my class and already I can see an improvement. I’ve got a very active class and I think they’re really responding to having more freedom. Test: The pupils' weight, height, blood pressure, waist circumference and fine motor skills are being taken during the experiment, and the results will be compared at the end . Standing up: Aleefa (left) and ten-year-old Raheem (right) are involved in the seven-week scheme which will see pupils take it in turn to stand behind six desks while the others sit down as usual . ‘It keeps them focused. They’re . working better, their concentration is better, and when given the . option, they want to continue standing rather than going back to . sitting. The year group of 55 pupils whose parents gave permission for them to take part in the trial was divided into two. The first half used the standing desks for seven weeks from February to the Easter half term, while the second half started using the desks after Easter for another seven weeks. During the experiment, pupils are being monitored in two ways. One is with an actigraph accelerator - a red box worn on the waist like a pedometer to monitor how much physical activity is carried out. They are also examined with an actipal activity monitor - a small patch stuck to the thigh, which measures whether the pupils is standing or sitting. Their weight, height, blood pressure, waist circumference and fine motor skills are also being taken, and the results will be compared at the end of the study. ‘It doesn’t seem to . be limited to certain lessons, as it seems to be working for everything . - maths, English, even using a laptop. ‘And . I’m glad that the excitement of the experiment has shown them that . scientists aren’t boring or stuffy - science can be fun, like this.’ Dr Sally Barber, principal research fellow at medical researchers Born in Bradford, said: ‘The idea is two-fold. Firstly, we want to see whether we can change pupils’ behaviour. ‘We know if you can establish healthy lifestyles early in life, they can be continued into adulthood. ‘So a less sedentary lifestyle while . you’re a child means less sedentary adults. There have also been studies . which show that conditions like diabetes are affected by sitting for . long periods of time. ‘Secondly, . sitting for a long period of time has been shown to have a negative . impact on children in terms of concentration and behaviour. We want to . see if this study will change that. ‘ . Born . in Bradford is a social study looking at a number of babies born in the . city after 2007, and is now working with Loughborough University on the . standing learning project. Trailblazers: Schools in Australia, New Zealand and the US have already tried the idea, but Grove House Primary is thought to be the first in Europe to use the innovative desks . Dr Barber said that the idea came from a school in Australia, which has now secured funding to roll out the trial over a number of schools in the country - proving its ‘feasibility’. She added: ‘The idea is used in a school . in Australia, New Zealand and one in Texas, America - but as far as we . know it’s not been done anywhere else in Europe.’ 'I'm glad that the excitement of the experiment has shown [the pupils] that scientists aren't boring or stuffy - science can be fun, like this' Hannah Rogers, teacher . The desks, which can be raised and lowered with a handle, have been donated by a company called Ergotron. Dr Barber, who is working with four others on the study, said the hoped to have results of this first study by mid-September. Grove House Primary School was opened in 1969 and has around 420 children in its main school as well as 52 in the nursery. But its latest Ofsted inspection in November 2013 concluded that it was 'a school that requires improvement'. The report said there was an 'inconsistent' quality of teaching, governors were 'not holding leaders to account' and white British pupils were 'not doing as well as similar pupils across the country'.", "Tony Bellew bt Nathan Cleverly (points) Anthony Joshua bt Michael Sprott (TKO R1) George Groves bt Denis Douglin (TKO R7) James DeGale bt Marco Periban (TKO R3) Scott Quigg bt Hidenori Ohtake (points) Callum Smith bt Nikola Sjekloca (points) Jamie McDonnell bt Javier Chacon (TKO R10) George Groves struggled to get out of second gear but eventually found his stride to stop Denis Douglin and stay on track for another tilt at a world title. The Londoner, who lost twice to Carl Froch in the last 12 months, barely gave himself pass marks for what was a below-par performance. Groves is the mandatory challenger for Anthony Dirrell's WBC belt, a fight for which negotiations are expected to start next week. Douglin, who is rather uniquely trained by his mum Saphyia, had won his previous three fights and also has one scheduled for next month. But he hit the canvas hard in as fight approached the halfway point when Groves landed successive right hooks to the head. Douglin managed to beat the count but was stopped moments later when the referee stepped in following another barrage of shots on the ropes. VIDEO Scroll down to watch James DeGale: I won't fight George Groves, he looks a bit shot . George Groves (right) knocked out Denis Douglin in the seventh round of their super-middleweight clash . Groves watches on as Douglin tries to get up after being knocked down in the seventh round . Groves pins Douglin in the corner as he starts to find his rhythm later in the fight . Groves needed several rounds to work out his opponent who was more than happy to march forward but whose shots were on the crude side. Douglin enjoyed a strong second round as he outlanded Groves who left himself far more open than was necessary. But, gradually, Groves stamped his authority on the fight, finding his range and slipping some rather wild shots. And he landed the decisive blows in the seventh session to set himself up for bigger challenges to come. Groves celebrates after the referee stops the fight in the seventh round . Groves poses with his silver super-middleweight title (left) and remains on course for a world title shot . Groves said: 'Paddy [Fitzpatrick, his trainer] gave me five out of 10 and I'll need to watch it back but I'd probably agree. 'It was what I needed, he's a good fighter. It's good to get another stoppage and be back knocking people out. 'There are other options but I want the quickest route [to a world title] and that is the WBC.'", "Eric Cantona and Vinnie Jones cracked it, but will Daniel Sturridge? The Liverpool striker has admitted he fancies dabbling in the movie business once his football career comes to an end. The England forward has been enjoying the company of supermodels and designers at London Fashion Week, while also recently appearing in his first professional shoot for Esquire magazine. The former Manchester City and Chelsea forward's poses are a start but Sturridge recognises he has a long way to go if he is to fit into Hollywood. VIDEO Scroll down for Brendan Rodgers on amicable England talks over Sturridge . Daniel Sturridge has admitted going into acting is something he'd give serious consideration to when he eventually retires from football . Sturridge, who recently took part in a shoot with Esquire, has revealed he loved drama class at school . The Liverpool striker features in November's edition of Esquire magazine . Sturridge scores against Southampton in the opening game of this season's Premier League campaign . 'There is an expectation that if you do a sport, any sport, you should never have a life outside of that, he said. 'People expect you to just train, play, train. But that's not me. David Beckham - Golden balls has appeared in all three Goal movies. Pele - The Brazilian legend has featured in the likes of Escape to Victory and A Minor Miracle. Eric Cantona -  The former Manchester United and Leeds striker has featured in the likes of Elizabeth and Looking for Eric. He also features in new release You and the Night. Vinnie Jones -  Football's hard man has featured in the likes of 'Mean Machine' and 'X-Men: The Last Stand'. Ian Wright - The former Arsenal legend featured in Sun of the Black Gun in 2011. 'I loved drama class at school. I never took it seriously as I was playing football. But maybe when I retire, I'll have a dabble.' As controversy surrounds his imminent return from a thigh injury and subsequent absence from Roy Hodgson's latest England squad, the 25-year-old will be seen modelling jackets in the magazine's November issue. While many may disagree, Sturridge insisted that not all footballer's are badly dressed as he praised some of his teammate's style credentials. 'Hendo (Jordan Henderson) dresses quite well. (Mamadou) Sakho is very dressy, he'll show up for training in a smart shirt and shoes, though I think that's a Parisian thing. Brad Jones has a go. Loves a blazer, Brad Jones...' he said. As the national team prepare for Euro 2016 qualifiers against San Marino and Estonia without their first choice centre forward, Sturridge reflected on England's ill-fated World Cup campaign in Brazil. 'Obviously, it was disappointing. But I lived one of my dreams: I scored a goal at the World Cup. I feel that I gave a good account of myself.' Sturridge has missed Liverpool's last six games after picking up a thigh injury on international duty . Daniel Sturridge realised his dream of scoring at the World Cup after netting against Italy . The Liverpool forward has already tasted the limelight in front of the screens featuring in Subway adverts prior to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The England striker is all smiles after featuring in Subway  adverts prior to the 2014 World Cup . The November issue of Esquire magazine will be on sale from Friday October 3 - CLICK HERE to read the full Daniel Sturridge interview .", "Hundreds of people lined the entrance to a Washington state high school as it reopened on Monday, more than a week after a student fatally shot three of his classmates, wounded two others and then killed himself. Waving well-wishers, many holding candles, greeted students returning to Marysville-Pilchuck High School following the October 24 shooting. People cheered as buses and cars entered the school campus. A 10.30am assembly started the school day, and lunch was in the gym because the cafeteria where the shooting took place remains closed. The normal class schedule, with its earlier start, resumes on Tuesday. People dressed in the school colors of red and white cheer and wave as one of the first school buses carrying students on their return to Marysville-Pilchuck High School drives past on Monday . Connie Dewdney, left, Raquel Dufour and Cherlyn Ferguson hold their hands in the shape of hearts as a school bus to Marysville-Pilchuck High School drives past in Marysville, Washington . Washington Governor Jay Inslee asked residents to wear red and white — the school colors. The colors stand out vividly in a memorial with flowers, balloons and messages of love that covers the fence around the school. The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, 15, a popular freshman who had recently been named a homecoming prince, died of a self-inflicted wound after opening fire. Zoe Galasso, 14, was killed during the shooting; Gia Soriano, 14, died on October 26; and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, died on Friday. Two other students remain hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Andrew Fryberg, 15, was in critical condition and Nate Hatch, 14, was in satisfactory condition. Both are Jaylen Fryberg's cousins. The teenage gunman opened fire on a group of his best friends and family members involved in a tragic love triangle. Jaylen Fryberg, 15, opened fire on the group in the canteen at Marysville-Pilchuck High School during a lunch break on October 24. Shaylee Chuckulnaski passed away on Friday at the Providence Medical Center as a result of 'severe injuries'. Her friend Gia Soriano, 14, and the girl the schoolboy gunman had a crush on, Zoe Galasso, 14, were also killed in the tragic shooting. A school bus drives under a giant American flag flying from a fire ladder truck as students return to their high school a week after a shooting that left four students dead, including the shooter, and two students still in a Seattle hospital . Candles are held by people greeting school buses driving past. The day began with a 10.30am assembly. Lunch was held in the gym because the cafeteria where the shooting took place remains closed . Carved pumpkins with the names of those involved in a deadly school shooting at the end of last month line a memorial for victims attached to the high school's fence . Andrew Fryberg, 15, and Mr Hatch, 14, were the shooter's cousins and Ms Soriano and Ms Chuckulnaskit, also 14, were close friends of the group. Shaylee's family said in a statement: 'Our hearts are broken at the passing of our beautiful daughter. Shay means everything to us.' It has been claimed Jaylen had a crush on Zoe Galasso and became heartbroken when she dated his cousin, Andrew. Ms Galasso was sitting around a table with her friends at Marysville-Pilchuck High School on Friday when Jaylen Fryberg opened fire. She was pictured attending the homecoming dance at the Washington school with Andrew Fryberg after she and Jaylen Fryberg fell out, just days before the deadly attack. Jaylen had previously treated Andrew like a brother, and was devastated to learn the girl who rejected him and chosen his cousin instead. In an ominous indication of the anger that spurred his deadly tirade, Jaylen tweeted last month: 'Dude. She tells me everything. And now I f***ing HATE you! Your no longer my 'Brother'!' The teenage girls are believed to be friends of Jaylen Fryberg, with witnesses suggesting he targeted them in a room full of hundreds of students. Tragic: Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, succumbed to gunshot wounds wounds on Friday that she had suffered when 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg opened fire on the group in the canteen at Marysville-Pilchuck High School during a lunch break . Gia Soriano, 14, was the third student to die following the Washington school shooting last month . Dead: Zoe Galasso, 14, (left) died in the attack before shooter Jaylen Fryberg (right) turned the gun on himself. It has been rumored that his outburst could have been fueled by romantic feelings for Zoe .", "(CNN) -- When Mississippi attorney Tim Holleman was approached by furious community officials in Gulfport to stop BP and its contractor from dumping tar balls and oil-stained byproducts into a local landfill, he sent out an e-mail asking if there were alternatives to deal with the waste. At least five companies replied, offering possible ways to reuse or recycle the oily waste -- an option that BP has yet to implement in its cleanup efforts of what scientists now say is the largest accidental release of oil into water in history. Instead, tar balls, oily sand and vegetation, and soiled gloves and suits from the thousands of temporary BP workers who've been working to clean up beaches along the Gulf of Mexico are being dumped in landfills along the Gulf Coast. BP has collected close to 40,000 tons of \"oily solid\" waste from the cleanup activities. All the dumping has sparked enough consternation among the community in Harrison County, Mississippi, where the Pecan Grove Landfill is based, that the board of supervisors there even passed a resolution this summer not to accept BP waste. Residents there worried that the estimated 1,200 tons of oil-tainted byproducts dumped at the landfill would contaminate its soil and water. \"We're left to deal with it 15, 20 years later if and when this landfill has a problem. BP is long gone, and we're stuck with the problem. Nobody is going to say I'm sorry,\" Holleman said. But if the solid waste is not dumped, where can it go? Waste Oil Collectors Inc. of Gautier, Mississippi, was among those who wrote back to Holleman, describing a process in which the oil waste can be shredded into uniform bits and then heated to 2,500 degrees in a kiln. That recovers energy from the waste and breaks it down into mineral components, some of which can be used in asphalt. Another local engineering firm proposed the use of a sand agitator, which \"cooks\" and separates sand from the tar balls collected on beaches. The two products are then further processed, turning the emulsion into a recycled sand product that can be returned to the beach, while the oil product can be accumulated, sold and reused. Bobby Knesal, owner of the firm, is partnering with several other companies and hopes to bring the agitator to the Gulf Coast. \"This is a technology that's not new to the oil industry,\" he said. \"It's what they do every day, but they've never done it on a volume of a sand beach.\" Knesal said he is waiting for state environmental officials to tell him to what extent he must treat the processed sand before it can be returned to the beaches. Others say their products have been tried and tested and are good to go. Russell Markesberry, president of Hydra-tone Chemicals, also got in touch with Holleman and proposed the use of a coconut oil-based detergent that can be sprayed to clean booms or oil washed ashore on beaches and marshes. The organic compounds in the detergent bond with the oil and form a biodiesel fuel that can be resold, he said. The rest of the detergent combines with seawater and can be drained into an industrial waste treatment plant, where it biodegrades in a month. Booms can then be redeployed. Holleman said he has forwarded the proposals to representatives from BP and from Waste Management, the Mississippi company that owns and operates the landfill, but they fell on deaf ears. \"I didn't get a response from them, that's part of the problem,\" he said. The bigger problem, Holleman said, is how BP has been dealing with the oil waste from the very start. Dumping the waste in landfills is the \"least preferred\" option under a series of disposal methods outlined under the 34-page waste management plan from Unified Command, the federal agencies overseeing the cleanup efforts. The \"most preferred\" option is to reduce the generation of waste in the first place, something BP and Waste Management said they have tried to do. Following that comes \"reuse,\" \"recycling\" and \"treatment.\" Last on the list is \"dispose.\" \"It is a priority ... to implement recycling and reuse for the generated waste,\" the plan states. \"As far as we've been able to determine, they jumped right to the least preferred method of disposal rather than looking at alternatives that don't leave it in the landfill, that don't need to be dealt with in the next 20 years,\" Holleman said. Dumping is the easiest and cheapest way of dealing with the waste washed ashore. Holleman said that based on estimates he received, dumping the junk in landfills costs about $35 to $40 per ton, while recycling can cost twice as much. Knesal's soil agitation and recycling technology has a $60 per ton price tag. After several rounds of talks with Holleman and county officials, BP and Waste Management agreed last week to stop putting oil waste into the Pecan Grove landfill. Oil that has already been dumped into the landfill will remain there, and the oil in the staging areas will remain in large trash bins for now. BP said it agreed to stop dumping \"not because the material is hazardous but because of community sensitivity to the issue,\" spokeswoman Perry Hatcher told CNN. The oil giant says it is looking at ways to recycle and reuse the oil and equipment from the cleanup. Oil recovered from water has been used \"as it would be originally used,\" and the \"process wasn't so much recycling as recapturing product,\" Hatcher said. She said various recycling options are \"being explored for any other waste that would not be used directly as it would have been originally.\" Mike McAnulty, BP's waste management coordinator, said the company is evaluating an option to process tar balls so they can be used to make asphalt. He also said BP is finalizing plans to use a centrifuge technology to spin out oil and water from absorbent booms so the remaining material can be used to make plastics. \"It's only lately that we had the quantity of that type of waste to execute the test on a larger scale. So we're really ahead of the curve on that one,\" he said. Then there are regulatory hurdles the company needs to clear. \"We have heard concerns that there could be adverse effects on the asphalt due to possible dispersant and residual volatiles still in the tar balls,\" said Amy Graham, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There is concern too that sand transported with the oil is too \"round\" for constructing roads. Professor Ralph Portier, a bioremediation expert at Louisiana State University, said the cleanup efforts could benefit from better planning. Instead, responses from the government and BP seem \"reactive\" instead of \"proactive.\" \"Because they're reacting to one of the largest spills ... and they had sheer volume and they had to do something with it. They couldn't just let it sit in containers along U.S. Highway 90,\" he said of BP burying the oil waste. It could have been worse if the oily waste was left unattended, Portier said. \"It's not sitting in a coastal area that when we have a tropical storm come ashore ... all the material is being blown all over Biloxi, Mississippi, for example. So those are pragmatic things, it's more reactive than it should be, but at least it is pragmatic.\" U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Scott Carr said the priority of the incident response has been stopping the oil flow and cleaning up the beaches. \"From the incident standpoint, [recycling the waste] was not the top of the list three weeks ago,\" he said. BP insists that it had been looking at various \"green\" options \"since very early in the incident.\" \"It's really the complexity of identifying first which options are reliable and then looking at the regulatory framework and where you can likely employ those,\" McAnulty said. \"And then actually running a pilot test and then having a test of sufficient duration to demonstrate that the technology works.\" He declined to say when recycling options will be implemented. For now, Harrison County officials are claiming victory over their efforts to stop BP from filling up the Pecan Grove site.", "Tokyo (CNN) -- In most of Japan, it's still legal to possess child pornography. Although production and distribution have been banned for 15 years, Japan lags behind other major developed nations in forbidding people from simply holding the sinister material. That is about to change in a country regarded as a global nexus of child pornography. The country's upper house of parliament is expected to pass legislation this month making possession of it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison. Children's rights activists have applauded the step, although their reaction is tempered with frustration that it has taken such a long time. \"As a member of a group that's been hearing the voice of the victims for many years, we welcome the news,\" said Shihoko Fujiwara, a representative of Lighthouse, a nonprofit group that helps exploited children. \"Japan took so long, and it is too late to reach this decision as a developed country.\" The proposed law, which was already approved by the lower house of parliament this week, comes with a couple of noteworthy loopholes. When it goes into effect, it will give those already in possession of child pornography a year to dispose of it. And it won't cover the country's popular manga (comic book) and anime (animation) industries, which include depictions of violent sexual abuse of children in their publications. Fujiwara said a discussion about some of the imagery in manga and anime -- content that would be illegal in many Western countries -- would be a natural \"next step.\" 'A necessary evil' But representatives of those industries say that while they support the ban on real child pornography, any move to censor their products would be an unjustified restriction of freedom of expression. Daisuke Okeda, a lawyer and inspector for the Japan Animation Creators Association, said it was \"natural that animation is exempted.\" \"The goal of the law itself is to protect children from crime,\" he said. \"Banning such expression in animation under this law would not satisfy the goal of the law.\" Okeda said that no studies have been done that prove any link between pedophilia and animation in Japan. Hiroshi Chiba, the manager of Chiba Tetsuya Production, one of the country's best known manga production houses, said that more could be done in terms of age restrictions on graphic content featuring children and to distinguish it more clearly from other comics. And he admitted that some products of the industry leave him and his colleagues \"disgusted.\" \"But rich, deep culture is born from something that might not be accepted by all,\" Chiba said. \"We need to allow the gray zone to exist as a necessary evil.\" 'An international hub' Some experts counter that children suffer in a culture that appears to tolerate images of child sexual abuse. Hiromasa Nakai, a public affairs officer for UNICEF in Japan, pointed to the graphic content in manga, anime and some video games, as well as the \"junior idol\" genre of books and DVDs that display minors wearing tiny bikinis and striking sexual poses. Japan should do more -- beyond the proposed law change -- \"to protect the best interest of children,\" Nakai said. Statistics show that child pornography remains a big problem in Japan. The U.S. State Department's 2013 report on human rights practices in Japan labels the country \"an international hub for the production and trafficking of child pornography.\" It cited Japanese police data showing the number of child pornography investigations in 2012 rose 9.7% from a year earlier to a record of 1,596. The cases involved 1,264 child victims, almost twice as many as in the previous year. The fact that possession remains legal, for the time being, \"continued to hamper police efforts to enforce the law effectively and participate fully in international law enforcement,\" the report said. Girls as sex objects . One local authority already took matters into its own hands. The prefecture of Kyoto in central Japan introduced a ban on possession of child pornography in 2011. But Nakai said addressing the problems isn't just a matter for government, suggesting parents, the media, the private sector and even children themselves can play a role in improving the situation. The portrayal of young girls as sex objects in Japan has long raised eyebrows among Westerners. An article in Wired in 1999 reeled off a list of examples in Tokyo: \"Vending machines sell schoolgirls' used panties, which the girls sell to middlemen. 'Image bars' specialize in escorts dressed in school uniforms. Telephone clubs feature bored adolescent girls earning spending money by talking dirty. Sex shops sell a porn magazine called 'Anatomical Illustrations of Junior High School Girls.'\" Some experts suggest the situation is born out of Japan's long-established patriarchal society. Whatever the cause, changing a culture may prove a lot harder than changing a law. CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki reported from Tokyo, and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Junko Ogura and Will Ripley contributed to this report.", "A feud over staff lunches at a private boys school has become a lawyers' feast. Staff at one of Adelaide's most prestigious schools, St Peter's College, have always got the luxury of supplied lunches, it's believed for about 150 years, but now the school has removed the longstanding lunch subsidies, without any consultation. It's forced angry staff to launch legal action against the school, who claim they have made the change in a bid to cut costs, which sees them fork out around $340,000 a year. St Peters College, Adelaide. Staff have had their lunch subsidies removed. The school is trying to cut costs . Food Feud : Staff at St Peter's College Adelaide have taken legal action against the school after they removed school lunch subsidies . Both parties have enlisted the help of heavyweight QCs and will appear before the Fair Work Commission in arbitration hearings this month. All teachers and staff have been instructed not to speak to the media but representing them is the Independent Education Union who claim the school has been unwilling to negotiate with staff. 'We've got a situation where ... a long-established entitlement has been removed,' state secretary Glen Seidel told ABC radio. 'It's unfortunate that it's around something as eminently mockable as lunches.' More than 200 staff are affected by the loss of the lunch subsidies which is worth about $3000 annually for each staff member. The Independent Education Union claim the school has been unwilling to negotiate with staff. 'The provision of staff lunches at a cost of $340,000 (per year) when the school needs to operate in a highly competitive education environment was, in the opinion of the School Council, unacceptable,' said a St Peter's spokesperson . 'It had been tradition for staff to take their meals with students in the school dining room,' Mr Seidel said. 'Obviously there's a lot of tension around this whole issue on both sides, It really shouldn't have got to this stage.' In a statement, a college spokeswoman said the staff lunches were an anachronistic benefit rarely available in Australian workplaces. 'The reality for St Peter's College is that it must put its finances on a sustainable footing,' she said. 'The provision of staff lunches at a cost of $340,000 (per year) when the school needs to operate in a highly competitive education environment was, in the opinion of the School Council, unacceptable.' A feud over staff lunches at a private boys school has become a lawyers' feast. Staff have taken legal action over schools decision to take away their lunch subsidies .", "Cancer has played an enormous role in Lachlan Korvin's life . Lachlan Korvin was only 10 years old when he lost his mother Tracey to brain cancer in 2003. But before he could properly come to terms with the loss, he was dealt with another blow -receiving his own testicular cancer diagnosis the following year. Since then, the 24-year-old's whole life has been dedicated to helping people cope with the trauma that comes with either being diagnosed with the illness or having a loved one struggle through it. Aside from working as a radiographer at Dandenong Hospital in Victoria, Mr Korvin is part of the team who on Friday will launch the world's first support website for the 23,000 young Australians who are affected by the illness in some way each year. 'I had some idea of what was going on at the time, but it was never really a sit down sort of thing,' Mr Korvin said of his mother, who he described as 'warm, funny and a bit organic'. 'She was diagnosed and after the initial treatment she went into remission and then she relapsed, which is what took her. That was really scary - when it came back, and then it obviously just got worse. 'When I was diagnosed, that was a bit harder because I'd had that experience and knew what could happen.' Back in 2005, during the completion of his own treatment, Mr Korvin said there were very few avenues for a young person to seek support when cancer struck in their lives. Pictured here with his parents, the 24-year-old lost his mother Tracey (right) to brain cancer when he was 10 years old . 'I was diagnosed while in high school and I had a cool group of friends who helped me through the journey, so there was some understanding and I was very lucky in that sense as not a lot of people had that,' he said. 'But your friends can only go so far when you need people who have been there and done that. 'There's always a lot of uncertainty as to what's going to happen and you have so many questions running through your head, especially during the early stages of diagnosis. 'Things like: will the treatment affect my fertility? Am I actually going to survive? Will I be physically scared? Is the family ever going to be the same again? And then depending on your age you might think: I am too young for this to happen and what role am I going to have to play now, do I have to step up? Mr Korvin (left, with his brother) was then diagnosed with testicular cancer. During his remission he learnt of cancer support group CanTeen and has since remained an active member . 'That is what gets people - this bombardment of despair.' This uncertainty and the lack of support is what inspired Mr Korvin and the CanTeen team to design a website where fears could be expressed and advice and support sought at any time of the day or night. Mr Korvin learnt of CanTeen through the hospital grapevine following his remission and after getting involved, became an incredibly active member, eventually making his way up to the support group's board. 'I joined up in late 2005 when there was a heavy focus on peer support through in the program and then after a few years I thought I should take on a bigger role because it has done so much for me,' Mr Korvin said. He is now heavily involved in the launch of the CanTeen Online Support Platform, the world's first website that provides young people with 7-day access to counsellors and 24/7 access to an online community where they can share their experiences through forums and testimonials. He now works as a radiographer in Dandenong Hospital in Victoria (left) and sits on CanTeen's board and helps organise many of their events including National Bandanna Day (right) Pictured with his girlfriend Katherine: Mr Korvin is one of the bright young minds behind CanTeen's world first support website for cancer patients and their loved ones which will be launched on Friday . 'CanTeen research shows that young people dealing with cancer are five to six times more likely to develop mental health issues like anxiety and depression,' CanTeen's CEO, Peter Orchard , said. 'Having instant peer and professional support available seven days a week – from anywhere in Australia - will combat the main triggers of psychological distress, which include feelings of isolation and a lack of information about what their cancer journey will involve. 'Our specially trained counsellors truly understand the physical, emotional and practical impact of living with cancer and will be available over extended hours via instant messaging, email or phone. Designed by young people who have all had cancer touch their lives, the website which has received $2 million in government funding, will be launched on Friday.", "(CNN) -- From the world's biggest manufacturer of mobile phone batteries to a car company with global pretensions, BYD is a Chinese company that has roared onto the international stage energized by its workaholic founder Wang Chuanfu. Building his own dreams: Wang Chuanfu has turned BYD into an international company in less than 15 years. Wang's hands-on approach to running a business with 130,000 employees -- he still eats in the company canteen and lives in a BYD-owned housing complex -- isn't too far removed from how he built the company from scratch in 1995 when he was 29 years old. Wang trained as an engineer and studied the patents of other companies' mobile phone batteries, even taking them apart to see how they were made. He raised some start-up capital from a relative to create his own mobile phone battery-making business in Shenzhen, the special economic zone just north of Hong Kong. BYD's business approach differed from the likes of Sony and Sanyo by substituting an automated system for one of China's biggest resources, physical labor. Employing thousands of people was cheaper than installing expensive robotic assembly lines, and by 2000 BYD had become the biggest mobile phone battery maker in the world. Wang bought a failing Chinese car company in 2003 to enter the automobile market, and BYD now has a number of models available in China, including a plug-hybrid car cheaper than the market-leading Toyota Prius. The success of BYD has attracted plenty of attention from industry analysts and investors from the West, including Warren Buffet. The billionaire American has invested $250 million in BYD, making even more people in the West sit up and take note of the company. Wang isn't content to just compete in the hybrid and electric car market in China; he aims to keep BYD's meteoric rise going and make it the world's biggest car maker by 2025. \"It is a big ambition. In January and February 2009 China was the world's biggest automobile consuming market for those months. So based on this, China can sell more than 10 million automobiles this year. So maybe China can exceed the USA and become the biggest market in the world,\" Wang told CNN. BYD stands for \"Build Your Dreams\" and Wang is trying to fulfill the aspiration among many in China of creating a national champion; a brand with international respect and reputation of quality. Wang believes the electric car can be that product, and BYD the company to do it. \"For new energy vehicles...China is on the same level or even leading other countries. In the field of new energy cars, China hopes that Chinese companies can catch up with the rest of the world and catch up with the pace,\" said Wang. But the term \"Made in China\" still has a stigma attached to it. The scandals of tainted milk and toys that had to be recalled rocked China in 2008 and diminished the reputation of Chinese products abroad. \"This kind of 'Made in China' is different from other types of 'Made in China.' Our products have never been recalled, unlike many of our competitors. Judging from that, products made in China are sometimes better that those made elsewhere. As long as there are high-standards, Chinese manufacturing companies can definitely meet those standards,\" said Wang. China also has acute environmental problems. It is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and Wang is aware that being an entrepreneur also means having an eye on the environmental impact of his business. \"As an entrepreneur, I think I have to consider both aspects. One part is the creation of a new business mode, or the revelation of new business competition. The other is that it's for social responsibility, making our Earth bluer. \"Urban pollution, reliance on petroleum and emission of carbon dioxide are three problems that entrepreneurs have to consider for basic social responsibility,\" said Wang.", "An asset management boss is selling his multi-million-dollar Adelaide mansion and moving to Bali to do humanitarian work with his partner. Erik Metanomski, 52, has put his five-bedroom mansion on the market, which is located at Austral Terrace in Malvern in the exclusive inner suburbs of Adelaide and expected to sell for around $3.7 million. Mr Metanomski and his partner Lisa Kenny, 48, have relocated from Australia to Sanur on the Indonesian island where they do work for the John Fawcett Foundation blindness prevention charity and Jodie O'Shea Orphanage respectively. Erik Metanomski, 52, and his partner Lisa Kenny, 48, have relocated from Australia to Bali . Mr Metanomski is selling his mansion located in Malvern in the exclusive inner suburbs of Adelaide . The five-bedroom mansion is expected to sell in a short amount of time for around $3.7 million . Mr Metanomski, who is chairman of the John Fawcett Foundation, said had been splitting his time between Adelaide and Bali but decided to sell his home and relocate more permanently to Indonesia. 'I never expected I'd end up spending this much time in Bali,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I'm going to be in Bali two-thirds of the time so having a big house is a bit self-indulgent, so we just decided having a smaller place we could just lock up and leave made more sense. 'My daughter and nephew were living in the house, they were having a great time, so they're probably not so pleased with the decision,' he joked. The couple, who met in Bali, are both living in Indonesie where they are doing humanitarian work . Ms Kenny quite her high-flying job at Zurich bank in Sydney to volunteer at the Jodie O'Shea Orphanage . Ms Kenny had only planned to stay for six months but she quit her job when she realised she couldn't return to corporate lie . Ms Kenny, who is already living in Bali full-time, said she and Mr Metanomski met there after she moved to the island in November 2013. Ms Kenny took a six month leave of absence from her job as head of operations for the general insurance division of Zurich bank in order to spend time volunteering at the Jodie O'Shea Orphanage. 'My plan was always to retire and go and volunteer in orphanages around Cambodia and Indonesia,' she said. 'But I just thought about it and thought I could be dead by the time it happens, I just couldn't imagine waiting another 20 years.' Mr Metanomski is chairman of the John Fawcett Foundation which works to prevent and cure blindness . In Bali there is a high proportion of vision impaired people and the vast majority have curable conditions . When her six month leave in Bali was over Ms Kenny decided she wanted to stay permanently and gave her notice to Zurich. 'Once you've made a lifestyle change it's really difficult to go back and live that corporate lifestyle,' she said. She now splits her time between the orphanage and running a commercial laundry business on the small island of Flores. Mr Metanomski said he became involved in the John Fawcett Foundation, which works to prevent and cure blindness in Bali's population, by chance. Mr Metanomski's mansion has been on the market for five days and he said he expected it to sell quickly . The property is being advertised as 'One of South Australia's finest family estates which is sure to impress the premium buyer who appreciates sophisticated entertaining and the very best in lifestyle living' 'I made a trip to Bali and someone suggested I go see John Fawcett and I was captivated by it all, and so impressed by John and the people working with him,' he said. 'They asked to me take on the role of chairman.' The foundation carries out eye operations in Bali's villages, where there is a high proportion of vision impaired people and the vast majority have conditions that can be cured. Mr Metanomski is also a director of investment company Lanyon Asset Management in Adelaide, but he does a lot of his work for the company from his office in Indonesia. The sandstone villa comes with a swimming pool, designer pool house and stately original fireplaces . Mr Metanomski, who is chairman of the John Fawcett Foundation, said had been splitting his time between Adelaide and Bali but decided to sell his home relocate more permanently to Indonesia . His Adelaide mansion has been on the market for five days and Mr Metanomski said he expected it to sell quickly. The property is being advertised as 'One of South Australia's finest family estates which is sure to impress the premium buyer who appreciates sophisticated entertaining and the very best in lifestyle living.' The sandstone villa comes with a swimming pool, designer pool house, stately original fireplaces and wine cellar. 'I'm going to be in Bali two-thirds of the time so having a big house is a bit self-indulgent, so we just decided having a smaller place we could just lock up and leave made more sense,' Mr Metanomski said . 'My daughter and nephew were living in the house, they were having a great time, so they're probably not so pleased with the decision,' he joked .", "(CNN) -- On a cooler-than-usual summer evening in Los Angeles, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McClean and Kevin Richardson -- aka the Backstreet Boys -- got back to what made them famous: singing and dancing in front of hoards of screaming (mostly female) pop music fans. The free concert closed out The Grove's 2013 Summer Concert Series, a month-long promotion that included performances by Sara Evans and Capital Cities in previous weeks. The Boys' 35-minute set attracted 17,500 fans. The performance comes just one day after the release of the band's latest studio album, \"In A World Like This\" -- they released two additional albums without Kevin Richardson -- and continues their 20th anniversary celebration, which includes receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an upcoming documentary film and a world tour that kicks off Friday, August 2 in Chicago. With more than 130-million album sales worldwide, the Backstreet Boys know they are the best-selling boy band of all time, but they also know this one-time golden statistic has, to a degree, lost its sheen amid the music's industry's new measures of success: ticket sales, sponsorships, downloads, clicks, tweets and Likes. By this standard, the Boys are not quite back. With ages ranging from 33 (Carter) to 41 (Richardson), any one of the Backstreet Boys could have been Justin Bieber's much older brother, if not his father -- and it's not missed on the guys just how big a difference one generation can make. In a candid and revealing turn, the men of the Backstreet Boys offer their take on music in the age of YouTube, react to the \"haters\" and explain why starting their careers in schools, malls and pet stores was just right for them. CNN: Describe your new album in a word. Brian Littrell: Growth. Howie Dorough: Timeless. A.J. McLean: Truth. Nick Carter: Comfortable. Kevin Richardson: Inspired. CNN: You have a lot of fans -- and a lot of haters out there. What do you say to those that question your cool factor, relevance and place in the music industry? Carter: We never thought we were cool. Richardson: We never claimed to be cool. McLean: We never said that. Carter: We're just guys that love music. Richardson: We love music. We do what we love and have fun and enjoy it, and put out positive vibes and energy. Yeah man, just create! Carter: We worked hard to get where we are now. We busted our asses. It's been 20 years, you know? The grassroots approach starting overseas. Starting in Germany when America didn't want to have any association with us. Littrell: There was no Internet, you know? You couldn't just toss your music up in the air and let it stick somewhere. CNN: Things were very different in the music business 20 years ago. What's been the biggest challenge? Richardson: If you want to have a long career in this industry, it's a given that there will be waves -- highs and lows -- like a boat rocking on the ocean. It goes up and down and up and down. Knowing that and working through it and riding through it is what sustains you. As well as your fans. McLean: We don't ever settle. We always try to set new goals for every album cycle. From the music to the producers to what we actually want to sing about, write about. And keep trying to push the limits of who we are and who we want to keep being and grow into. Backstreet Boys will never settle. CNN: Your first album came out in 1996, but you're calling this your 20-year anniversary. What happened in '93? Richardson: That's when we formed. We got signed in '94, beginning of '95, but the five of us got together in '93. Between when we got together and when we got signed, we went on the road and did a school tour in a van. There are still people who come up to us on the street and say, \"You performed at my elementary school in Pennsylvania when I was 7 years old!\" We didn't play in bars to build our fan base, we played high schools, middle schools, elementary schools. McLean: Grand opening of pet stores! You name it! Richardson: The parking lot of a car dealership. We did it. Wherever we could play and get exposure. Wherever we could sing a cappella and show people that we're not just pretty faces, we actually have talent, we can sing. We sing with passion, we sing with soul and we love to sing. That's what we did. CNN: That was your YouTube back then. Richardson: Yeah, we got discovered via a VHS tape to a record label. Now people are uploading videos on the Internet and that's how they get discovered. CNN: Do you have an opinion about which way is harder? Carter: It's all relative. We're not taking away from people's hard work nowadays, it's just a different world. I can't relate necessarily. I can only say what we've gone through. But, the social media with YouTube and everything, it does give people an opportunity to expose yourself and if you have talent it will come out. I think that's a great thing. If we had had that back then, who knows? Dorough: But it was during that time that we were developing. Richardson: We were growing. We were learning who we are. Carter: I think the fact that we took our time getting around the world, that's one of the other reasons why we're able to be here and have this staying power. Because sometimes the social media, it's so fast, that people get it, but to hold on to it, it isn't there. CNN: Any last words? Richardson: Ultimately, we just want to say that our fans -- number one -- is why we're still here. Read more: One Direction star signs football deal .", "She may be generous and polite, but police in Oklahoma City say that will not save a robbery suspect they're calling the 'tipping bandit' from prison. Investigators are appealing to the public for help in apprehending a woman who is accused of robbing the same Subway eatery at gunpoint twice less than a week apart. According to police, during the first stick-up in mid-January, the female suspect walked up to a clerk at the Subway at 6900 North May Avenue, pulled out a handgun and demanded that she hand over all of the cash from the register. Scroll down for video . Caught on video: Surveillance cameras inside a Subway eatery in Oklahoma City captured a woman dressed in black pulling a gun on a cashier and demanding she hand over all the cash . Repeat offense: The January 28 incident that was caught on camera came less than a week after the robber held up the same eatery and left a $1 for the Subway staffer working the counter . Before the robber fled with money in hand, she dropped a dollar bill in the tip till with the words, 'This is for you.' The banknote in question has been seized as evidence by police, reported News9. The Subway staffer in the incident quit a short time later. About a week later, on January 28, the unidentified woman returned to the same fast-food restaurant. Surveillance cameras inside were rolling as the woman walked up to the counter, leveled a black pistol at a worker and ordered her to hand over all of the cash. After being handed a wad of bills, she retreated, but not before thanking her victim. Crime scene: Both robberies took place at this Subway on North May Avenue last month . No witnesses: On both occasions, the woman waited until all the customers had left . The perpetrator was described a heavyset African-American woman who was last seen wearing baggy pants and a black hooded shirt with a distinctive white design on the front . Police say the second time around the suspect did not leave a tip. The first robbery was not captured on film. The perpetrator was described as a heavyset African-American woman who was last seen wearing baggy pants and a black hooded shirt with a distinctive white design on the front. Police say on both occasions, the woman waited until all the customers had left. Anyone with information about the suspect is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 405-235-7300. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.", "With its white sandy beaches and year-round sunshine, the Goodfellow family couldn't wait to leave their dreary home in Hull to start a new life in Australia. But just two months after making the move of a lifetime, the family-of-three have returned to Britain - because of the sky-high price of teabags and the lack of Robinson's squash in Australia. Siobhan and Andrew Goodfellow spent £10,000 to move with . two-year-old daughter Savannah halfway around the world from their home in Hull to Adelaide in September last year. Home sweet home: Siobhan and Andrew Goodfellow, pictured with their daughter Savannah, have returned to the UK just two months after starting a new life in Australia . Move of a lifetime: The Goodfellows spent £10,000 uprooting their life in Hull, pictured left, to start afresh in Adelaide, Australia, pictured right . But far from experiencing the life of luxury she'd expected, Mrs Goodfellow and her family were left shocked at the soaring cost of living in the country - with the final straw coming when she couldn’t find her daughter’s favourite juice in the supermarket. Having never been to Australia and with no family and only few friends living in the country, the idea to move struck Mrs Goodfellow after watching STV documentary series ‘Poms in Paradise’ about Brits who have settled in Sydney. Mrs Goodfellow, 35 said: ‘I’m really impulsive and I can be quite a bully when I’ve made my mind up on something but this was a big decision so I left it with Andrew for a few weeks to think about. I didn’t think he’d say yes. I didn’t think he’d leave his mum. ‘It was only when he came back to me and said, I think we should definitely do it, that I started taking it seriously. ‘Because of my daughter’s age we said it would be the right time, when she wasn’t going to be affected because she wasn’t in school or anything.’ Not living the dream: Siobhan Goodfellow, 35, said the cost of living in Adelaide, pictured, was sky-high . So the couple decided to move over 10,000 miles from the three-bedroom, semi-detached house in Hull they had shared for eight years, to start a new life in Adelaide. Mrs Goodfellow started looking for a replacement job in recruitment in April while Mr Goodfellow, 40, agreed to leave his job as a forklift truck driver and stay at home looking after Savannah until they were settled down and he could start looking for work himself. They booked themselves on to a 32-hour flight leaving from Newcastle airport on September 3rd, packed their furniture into a shipping crate and let their property to a young family with two children. They even sent their eight-year-old Dalmatian Molly to have vaccines and get a pet passport. When they landed the family checked themselves in to a plush, two-bedroom hotel apartment in the centre of Adelaide, which came with a shared swimming pool, until they found somewhere to rent. But the dream quickly unravelled. Mrs Goodfellow continued: ‘We knew almost straight away that something wasn’t right, but we just didn’t say anything to each other. Big ideas: Siobhan Goodfellow had never been to Australia but made the decision to move there after watching the STV documentary series 'Poms in Paradise' about Britons who have moved to Sydney . Taking the plunge: Andrew Goodfellow, pictured . left with his daughter Savannah, gave up his job as a forklift driver to . make the move to Australia - hoping it would provide a better life for . his little girl, pictured right . ‘It just wasn’t what we were expecting. You think you’re going to be able to go out there and afford a great quality of life because the wages are all higher, but it’s also really, really expensive. ‘I drink green tea and out there a box of 80 green tea bags can cost £8. You can spend £80 on shopping and only come away with two carrier bags. ‘It’s the little things you miss as well, like not being able to get my daughter’s favourite juice. All they have over there is the thick Ribena cordial and she likes Robinson’s apple and blackcurrant. I remember going round the shops and thinking, what are we going to do?’ After just two weeks in their new home the pair sat down in their apartment and had a tearful conversation. She continued: ‘One night we were sitting in the apartment and Andrew got upset and asked if I felt the same way. That’s when we realised we both felt the same but just hadn’t wanted to say anything. ‘We missed our families more than we thought we would, and talking to them was difficult because of the time difference. ‘We said we would go on a bit longer and see how we felt but we both knew from then.’ Homesick: Andrew Goodfellow, 40, and his wife Siobhan found they missed their home comforts and couldn't find their daughter's favourite Robinson's squash when they reached Adelaide, pictured . Urgent calls were made to the Port of Manchester where their furniture was sitting on the dock waiting to be loaded onto a ship. The couple asked staff to hold it, before telling Mrs Goodfellow’s sister not to put their dog on a plane which would have cost them another £4,000. They then called the travel agent and booked flights home for the following week, but in their indecision called back twice to delay it. ‘We were uneasy about it but we had to make a decision. Before we left there was no doubt in my mind that it was going to work. We thought our daughter was going to grow up Australian. ‘We both looked at each other when we got the airport and thought, are we doing the right thing?’ Eventually the family ended up living with family in Newcastle by the end of October - just two months after leaving. Mrs Goodfellow continued: 'I don’t think Savannah ever realised what was happening, she just got on with it. Costly move: The Goodfellows decided to return to the UK before their pet dog Molly, pictured with Savannah, was sent out to Australia to join them - which would have cost them £4,000 for the flight alone . ‘We were worried about the amount of flying she’d have to do but she was always really good and never complained. ‘When we tell her about this in a few years she’ll probably say: “you did what?!”’ Mrs Goodfellow is now working for her former recruitment company in Durham, while her husband works shifts driving cargo on and off ships at nearby docks. They are sharing a house with her sister while they try and find somewhere new to live. She said: ‘We have always wanted to move to the North East and now seems the perfect time. The family renting our old house have offered to buy it and all our things are already in storage.' But despite their disastrous first attempt at settling in Australia, Mrs Goodfellow admits she could be tempted to try it again in the future. She revealed: ‘I would go back to Australia, to Perth or Sydney or Melbourne, but not to Adelaide.' On average, the cost of living in Australia is significantly higher than in Britain. Consumer prices are approximately 22 per cent higher while groceries are 25 per cent higher. Here's how every day items in a daily shop compare: . Item                                                                        Australia             Britain          Difference . Loaf of Fresh White Bread (500g)                           £1.71                   £1.00            +71.39 %Rice (1kg)                                                                £1.85                   £1.50            +23.03 %Eggs (12)                                                                 £2.46                   £2.00            +23.03 %Local Cheese (1kg)                                                 £6.15                   £6.00            +2.52 %Apples (1kg)                                                            £2.46                   £1.66            +48.23 %Oranges (1kg)                                                         £1.85                   £1.60            +15.34 %Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range)                                     £.9.23                  £6.00            +53.79 %Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle)                                £2.77                   £1.68            +65.03 % . (Source: www.numbeo.com)" ]

[ "Since I began following <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425204138\">The Maker's Diet</a> in order to improve my health, I have been interested in adding kefir as regular part of my daily nutrition. Sadly, all of the kefir that I have been able to find is both low-fat and pasteurized. As well, many varieties have undesirable additives (fructose, preservatives, etc.). Recently, I have been reading more information about the benefits of kefir, so I began to look for a way to make my own. I am already drinking raw milk from a local farm and have been making yogurt from that, so making kefir seemed like a good idea. A health food store that I frequent sells kefir starter but it requires that the milk be heated first (according to the directions on the package) - essentially pasteurizing the milk and negating all of the benefits of raw milk in the process. My search brought me to <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JO0VV2\">Milk Kefir Grains</a>. At first, I was a little put off by the price. When I learned that the kefir grains can be used indefinitely with proper care and feeding, I decided to place my order.<br /><br />When I received my package of <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JO0VV2\">Milk Kefir Grains</a>, I was a little concerned by the condition. The box was shipped in a cardboard 'sleeve' that had been crushed. The product box was considerably flatter than it should have been, but the small, sealed 'envelope' containing the dried kefir grains inside was unharmed. My suggestion would be to revise the packaging or choose a better shipping carton to prevent/minimize any potential damage. That said, the damage was purely cosmetic.<br /><br />When my <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JO0VV2\">Milk Kefir Grains</a> arrived, I immediately set to reading the included instructions. While I was a little dismayed at having to wait a week (or more) for the grains to be revitalized (by putting them in fresh milk daily until they are ready), I was eager to start enjoying homemade kefir! I wasn't entirely positive if the grains were fully ready after 7 days, so I gave it another 3 days. Even though the instructions say to start with smaller quantities of milk (about 8 oz.) for the first batch of kefir and stepping up to the desired amount, I made my first batch out of a full quart. It came out great!<br /><br />I am currently making my 4th batch. To store the grains between batches, I simply put them in a jar with about 6 oz. of milk stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days until I am ready to make a new batch.<br /><br />If you are looking to enjoy the health benefits of homemade kefir, I recommend <a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JO0VV2\">Milk Kefir Grains</a> by Cultures for Health. Be patient - it is worth the wait." ]

[ "I bought this product around the beginning to middle of May 2011 &, at that time, it showed a picture of the box from the company Cultures for Health LLC. It also had (& still has) their name on it as \"by Cultures of Health LLC\" but then further down is says \"Ships from and sold by Lifetime Kefir.\" I just want to clarify for everyone out there, who like me thought I was buying from a specific COMPANY that sells milk kefir, that this is not sold through Cultures for Health & it is not sponsored or affiliated with them in any way. I contacted Cultures for Health today and the customer service lady said that they are not affiliated with this \"Lifetime Kefir\". I also received my kefir grains in a plastic baggie & wrapped in about 5 more plastic baggies, all smooshed up flat, and looking nothing like the cauliflower looking kefir grains you see pictures of. Needless to say I was a little freaked out. I decided to just try it out & see if the kefir grew and 'worked'. ----- THAT BEING SAID ..... the kefir grew wonderfully! and has tripled or quadrupled in a months time. I also sent the seller a question after working with and growing my kefir for about 2 or 3 days and he gave me a quick, polite, fairly thorough answer. Customer service seemed just good ... and quick. I started with making about 1c of kefir and it was fizzy, clumpy/watery, weird. I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for but I guess this is normal and I just kept working with it each day changing the milk out and making new kefir. It took about 1-2 weeks before it was producing well and I was making good kefir (not fizzy, but creamy now). I was slowly figuring out how to work with the product. I now make a quart jar of kefir daily. I switch out the grains/kefir each morning and am left with about 3-4 cups of kefir each day. All-in-all, I think the product is good. *****UPDATE 7/13/11******: Since the initial review here, I have contacted the seller about some things & have had wonderful, very polite, and very quick customer service. There is nothing bad to say at all about the customer service with this seller, in my opinion. He seems to go out of the way to make sure the buyer is fully satisfied with the product. And the product seems great. My grains have grown tremendously and I have probably 1 to 1 1/2 CUPS of kefir GRAINS now. That is all from about 1T of smooshy, yellow looking 'stuff' (kefir grains) that I initially got from the seller. It took a couple weeks for them to start working \"normally\" and looking more \"normal\" but just give them some time and they seem to come through and make great kefir. The only reason for less than 5 stars is simply because I feel like there still is a little misleading advertising in the product. It appears this seller (Lifetime Kefir) has a few different kefir grain ads/products on amazon & the one that I bought from ([...]) shows that it is \"by: Cultures for Health, LLC\" and \"shipped and sold by Lifetime Kefir\". I thought I was buying the grains from Culture for Health through a middle-man, so to speak. When actually it is not a Cultures for Health product at all. Maybe no big deal to others, but it was for me. It ended up being a great product in the end though.", "As with the other Earth's Best products, Chunky Orchard Fruit is a quality and wholesome food for my baby. According to the label, the ingredients are: Organic Apples, Water, Organic Apricots, Organic Pears, Organic Bananas, Organic Dehydrated Apples, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)." ]

[ "Two things that are relevant: 1. They can discriminate on any factor if they have scientific evidence that it increases or decreaes the cost of insuring you. There is clear evidence that younger drivers are more likley to be involved in a crash; therefore it is legal to charge them more. 2. The legal standard for discrimination is different depending on what the basis for the discrimination is. Legally race is extremely difficult to justify (almost impossible), sex is difficult but possible, and age is relatively easy to justify." ]

[ "There's no law against discriminatory pricing as long as you aren't discriminating based on protected criteria (race, sex, religion, etc.). Part of the reason insurance companies get lower rates is because hospitals know they'll get paid. If you don't have insurance, it's sort of a gamble to provide treatment (and they aren't allowed to turn you away under most circumstances). Often they'll have a \"charity\" office to negotiate payments for those who can't pay (writing off the difference against their taxes).", "It's not a denial of service or something like preferential treatment for a certain race, gender, etc. Actuarial science is just that: a science. Insurance is a business, and the different variables that determine how much someone pays for their insurance are based on past and present statistics of behavior. The price isn't set for me just because I'm a non-married white male with no dependents and so on, it's because all of those factors statistically show that I am a higher risk for an insurance claim. There is chemistry in the human brain involved as well that helps explain why the 18-25 partition has an upper bound of 25. There are subgroups within that partition as well. If there was a flat rate insurance cost for everyone who owned a car, regardless of age, gender, driving history, etc, there would be a massive outcry from the 'safer' drivers who then pay more than their share for the claims of the young and old.", "It is in places where they have specifically have a law or ordinance prohibitting it. It is not generally illegal across the country because such discrimination (currently) only applies to race, religion, and nationality. So companies cannot discrimination based on those factors but are allowed to discriminate on other factors (age, sex) unless the State, County, or City puts in a law against it.", "Car insurance rates vary hugely based on a multitude of factors including, for example, demographic information (age, sex, etc.), driving experience / history, type of vehicle, address/location, vehicle use habits, etc. Basically these insurance companies just have to come-up with one particular combination of factors where their insurance turns out to be cheaper than the competition and then they can use this as the basis for comparisons to other insurance company's prices in their ads.", "The answer is because there is no law that would forbid it. Other discrimination is prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, such as the racial discrimination you mentioned. Gender isn't mentioned in the Civil Rights Act until Title VII but that doesn't have anything to do with businesses discriminating against potential customers. Title II of the Civil Rights Act forbids certain types of privately-owned businesses open to the public from discriminating against customers based on “race, color, religion, or national origin.\" No gender there. This is also why \"ladies night\" is legal at most bars. In Montana, and as far as I know that's the only place in the US, it is actually illegal for insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of gender. _URL_0_", "Because it's not really about race. It's about poverty. Poor people are more likely to be driving crappy cars or not have the proper training. Because ethnic minorities are disproportionately poor the data makes it look like it has to do with race, but it's really about class. Poor people already face price disparity when buying insurence, as rates rise in urban areas.", "It's based on statistical analysis. Age is a factor as well. Women get into more car accidents, but men are more likely to die (or cause death) in an accident, which causes more expense. The younger you are, especially teens, the more likely you are to get into an accident, as well as the elderly. I don't think there's any correlation to race. Young men, in general, are in the deadliest accidents, so it kinda makes sense that their pricing would be higher. Women's rates rise though, if they're in multiple minor accidents.", "It's difficult to prove, but if the person they hired is clearly less qualified, but of their preferred race/age/sex, then you may have a case. On the other side, lawsuits are expensive, and companies will often just settle rather than waste time and money fighting them, so a person might not even have to have a reasonable claim that they were discriminated against.", "Men have higher auto insurance rates because they are more likely to be the cause of automobile accidents than women are. And insurance is, at it's core, a numbers game. And it is discrimination. It's just not *illegal* discrimination. Remember, discrimination is legal except in a few, narrowly defined categories and circumstances.", "Actuaries are the people that help insurance companies set rates, by using statistical analysis to figure likelihood of an incident and likely payout. For example, in the case of car insurance, they would look at age, sex, driving records, address of drivers and type of vehicle to determine likelihood of an accident or theft claim. They'd also look at vehicle repair bills for particular models. Those would all be factored into settings a rate based on the combinations.", "Racism is preferential treatment based on race, typically by a majority against a minority. Reverse racism is preferential treatment based on race, by a majority against *in favor* of a minority, to avoid the appearance of regular racism. For example, let's say two people are up for a promition, a white guy with 10 years experience, top rated performance reviews and several industry certifications, and a black guy with 2 years of experience and average performance reviews, and missing key certifications. The company is currently being sued for discrimination in an unrelated case, so they promote the black guy to give the appearance of being more inclusive. In this case the white guy would be a victim of reverse discrimination, and may have grounds for legal action.", "This happens with pretty much every race/community. Babies learn to tell people apart very early in life. They learn based on the people they're with. Over a certain age that part of the brain stops adjusting as quickly. So people are better at telling apart the same sort of people who raised them.", "Nothing in the Civil Rights Act says you can't discriminate against people in places of public accommodation on the basis of sex or gender. The only limitations on discriminating as a place of public accommodation in the act are discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin. There are prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sex and gender in employment, housing, and education, but those don't apply to ticket sales for clubs. Some states and cities have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender and sex in places of public accommodation, but I assume Nevada and Las Vegas don't have any such laws/ordinances.", "Insurance rates are always based on the likelihood of something happening. This is why younger people pay higher auto insurance - they tend to have more accidents. Males tend to have more accidents as well. When you are young you would not want to pay the same rate for life insurance as does a 70 year old person. There rate is much higher as they are more likely to die so they pay more. A young male pays more because decades of studies indicate they cost insurance companies more to cover.", "Basically, discrimination is legal - even in terms of protected classes like sex and race - if the company can show that there is a bona fide purpose for the discrimination. Hooters has argued that their servers are entertainers, and the entertainment they provide is a role that can not be filled by a man. Their stance has generally held up in court, although they have reached settlements with some men who sued on the basisof hiring discrimination.", "Do the statistics to justify it exist? For example black people are victims of crime more often than white people, because on average they live in shitty neighborhoods more often. That doesn't mean that you should charge black people more for homeowner's insurance, though: you just charge them more if they live in a shitty neighborhood regardless of their race. I think you'd have a hard time finding a meaningful case where the applicant's race is a relevant factor (or, more precisely, is the best factor to use). Gender and age very often will be, though.", "The cost of universal healthcare isn't based on current costs. Typically cost estimates are used based on prices in other countries and the savings they get from government bargaining power driving down prices. One thing to mention here is that it's not generally insurance companies causing prices to be high. Insurance companies negotiate with medical providers to reduce prices, not increase them. (They get the same margin regardless, and lower prices means more customers buying insurance.) The drivers of high costs are the medical providers: doctors, hospitals and the like. They are paid substantially more than in other countries for the same work. You don't generally hear much of them being blamed in political discourse because people like doctors and hospitals, yet dislike insurance companies.", "In part, because the insurance company doesn't actually pay that \"uninsured rate\": because they are a huge customer, they negotiate much better rates for the drugs/services. You will never see what they pay: they get an invoice for the face amount, and then get a discount off that. It's somewhat the same for car dealers. There's an \"invoice\" with a price, but they don't actually pay that price. The manufacturer gives them all kinds of discounts and credits based on complex rules, like if they meet an overall sales goal they get an extra 5% off.", "Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on things like gender, race, and age. [Title VII also, however, allows for discrimination based on protected characteristics (except race), when that characteristic is what is called a \"Bona Fide Occupational Qualification\" (BFOQ). To be a BFOQ, being a member of that group is essential to the job.](_URL_0_) Hooters was sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (who argued that Hooters was primarily providing food, which you don't have to be a woman to do) and they argued that their waitresses main function was offering \"vicarious sexual entertainment\" to their customers. They settled out of court for over $3 mil and agreed to start having positions available for men (bartender, host, etc). The entertainment industry tends to be the most successful when arguing for this kind of exception.", "people naturally form \"in\" groups and \"out\" groups, based on multiple characteristics, family, race, age, and sex being the first because most obvious.", "it is illegal in the european union to the best of my knowledge, so i'm assuming you mean the US. i don't know about the relevant federal/state laws but i would imagine that the practice would be ruled discriminatory in the US too, if someone were to take auto insurance companies to court over this.", "Age discrimination is only illegal when you discriminate against old people. Not against young people. So you can make a 55+ community, but you can't make an \"under 30 only\" community. And no, you can't make a \"no black people\" community either. Discrimination is only illegal when it is against what's known as a [protected class](_URL_0_). Protected classes, such as race, religion, and national origin, are specifically spelled out in legislation. Age is a protected class, but it's a weird one, because when they wrote the legislation they specifically stated that it prevented discrimination against old people, not discrimination on the basis of age in general.", "Isn't it just adjusting what you tested to match actual population statistics based on what ever strata you desire? So if I do a poll based on Trumps approval rating and survey 1000 people, that's pretty good. However if I think race is important and I only surveyed 300 white people, I'll increase the weight of white people's opinion so that it matches the 60% of the population that is white.", "They can't, they give females a discount. As more females means more males which means more profit, offering lesser prices for females means more profit. Some states do make this illegal.", "They can't. They're just not worth it to sue, apparently.", "My understanding is that it is based on the post's score (upvotes-downvotes), reduced by a formula based on how old the post is. The score is also adjusted so that each additional upvote is worth progressively less. I'm not sure if any additional adjustment is made to balance posts from different subreddits. For the non-ELI5 version, see a statistical description of both the story and comment rating algorithms [here](_URL_0_).", "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination by employers \"on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.\" However, Title II of the same act prohibits discrimination \"based on race, color, religion, or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, **theaters,** and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.\" Congress made no attempt to enforce gender equity on the Boy Scouts, men's clubs, women's groups, restrooms, or half-way homes for \"troubled\" women. Gender discrimination is completely legal in the United States in many sectors. Employment isn't one of them, but theaters are.", "Yes there are absolutely price differences between different flight paths, even if they are essentially the same cost to travel (in fuel, facilities, etc.). The reason for this is simply price discrimination, as you suggest in your example. Airlines study flight paths and adjust prices based on demand (and other factors), so over time route fares vary dramatically based on seemingly irrelevant or counterintuitive factors, and country of origin is one of those things.", "Discrimination based on religious beliefs is almost invariably banned in any anti-discrimination statute. For instance, here's text from Indiana's anti-discrimination statute: > (l) \"Discriminatory practice\" means: > (1) the exclusion of a person from equal opportunities because of race, **religion**, color, sex, disability, national origin, or ancestry; > --_URL_0_", "Discrimination laws do not apply when specific characteristics are intrinsic to the job. This is how modeling, acting, and other talent agencies can get away with hiring only very specific traits. For an example that doesn't involve the big two (race and sex), a company might require that you are able to lift 50 pounds, and stand for 8 hours. This effectively discriminates against the disabled and very old (even though they're protected classes as well). However, that job may well involve moving around a lot of freight in a warehouse, which a disabled or very old person might just be incapable of performing up to safety/speed requirement standards.", "Because all of insurance is a statistics game. They discriminate against everyone and everything because all they have when you come into their shop is their existing stats. Any business can provide any kind of service to anyone it wants, and refuse anyone it wants, if you don't like one business's agreements you can go somewhere else.", "I'm sure they do, but probably don't admit it. I seen a post many moons ago that this guy said he was an insurance agent and he bases policies on the three O's. Old, Ovaries, Orientals." ]

[ "This paper presents an analysis of the measurement results of DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial) signals in Malaysia. In this project, a measuring vehicle equipped with measuring equipment and receiving antenna (directional) placed at the height of 10 m above ground level was used. Parameters quality of DVB-T: field strength, MER (Modulation Error Rate), BER (Bit Error Rate) before Viterbi and BER after Viterbi for100 test points in the coverage area were investigated and analyzed. The measurement shows 99% of the test point received a good DVB-T signal quality (reception possible)." ]

[ "The terrestrial digital broadcasting of television signals continues to develop. One of the last systems of this type, Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB T), is already operational in many countries around the world. The paper analyzes the features of this technology. It includes the terrestrial digital television development, television signal processing for digital broadcasting, codification methods of these signals, as well as multiplexing and modulation techniques. The result of this theoretical investigation -based on the rigorous, systematic, and exhaustive research of different sources related to this topic- offers a description of system capabilities, showing it as a flexible and robust alternative for television operators, who will be able to match, and even improve on, the area coverage of the typical analog system using only a fraction of the current power consumption..", "This paper deals with cross-layer measurements for the efficient analysis of Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) system performance. In particular, valuable relationships between some cross-layer DVB-T system parameters are investigated through measurements conducted at the physical and application layers. Specifically, channel power, error vector magnitude, and modulation error ratio are assessed at the physical layer, whereas objective video quality indices are estimated at the application layer. To this aim, a number of real-life experiments are executed through a purposely developed testbed that enlists a suitable DVB-T transmission platform and real-life receivers. The ultimate goal is to highlight the importance of cross-layer measurements in the analysis and troubleshooting of DVB-T system operation and to show how to deduce from such measurements practical information and hints to be profitably used in the design and setup of any DVB-T broadcasting system.", "In this paper the robustness of the physical layer signaling in the new DVB-T2 (second generation terrestrial digital video broadcasting) system is studied and compared to corresponding robustness of data path with help of computer simulations. The robustness is studied in both static and mobile transmission channels.", "This paper aims to determine, through experimental measurements performed on satellite television (TV) channels broadcasted in Europe, the influence of the satellite transponder broadcasting plan on the Perceptual Video Quality (PVQ) at the end user terminal. For the satellite television providers, there is always a tradeoff between the efficiency use of the transponder bandwidth, in terms of the number and type of the television channels on a transponder, and the image quality delivered on each channel. The author uses a previously developed specific application that can measure and monitor in real time and with real video content the viewer Quality of Experience (QoE), the viewer Perceptual Video Quality and the Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. The experimental measurements where performed on various satellite transponders that use the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard DVB-S, with different broadcasting plans.", "The spreading of the Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T) technology makes it possible to address a large amount of end users, even those who are not familiar with the Internet, providing services and applications characterized by differentiated levels of interactivity. In this paper we propose an example of integration of different technologies, DVB-T and videoconference, in order to widen the spectrum of available interactive services, with specific reference to a T-learning environment. An experimental implementation of the proposed service is currently adopted by our University; due to the flexibility of this solution, in terms of low bit rate required by the video content and portability of the application, a further extension to generic educational contexts is easily conceivable.", "The second generation DVB standard for digital terrestrial broadcasting (DVB-T2) is already in regular operation in several countries around the world. The networks operated in these countries are primarily optimized for stationary reception. Consequently, all currently available commercial receivers have been optimized for the stationary use case. However, thanks to a wide range of parameter configurations, the DVB-T2 standard is also well-suited for mobile reception, which is currently evaluated in a field trial with DVB-T2 in the northern part of Germany. As no mobile measurement receivers are available, we developed the world's first software-based mobile DVB-T2 measurement receiver for evaluating the performance of DVB-T2 within this field trial. Besides the decoding of the Transport Stream, the receiver is also able to measure detailed transmission channel characteristics and link them to their geographical position using GPS data.", "To design and implement a 60 GHz based Multimedia Mobile Communication (MMC) system, we wish to incorporate the latest state-of-art Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and Spread Spectrum/Code Division Multiple Access (SS/CDMA) technologies. Accordingly, we have studied experimentally those two technologies through experimentation at C-band systems, not commercially available at 60 GHz band. Moreover, this study has already been incorporated by the authors partly in a 60 GHz transceiver system (Tx-Rx), the faithful incorporation of which should be experimented by test and measurement methods. Therefore this paper analyses the DVB technology in the form of performance measurement of the receiver section of the 60 GHz transceiver system.", "DVB-T2 is offering a new way for broadcasting value-added services to end users, such as High Denition (HD) TV and 3D TV. Thanks to the advances made in digital signal processing, and specically in channel coding, DVB- T2 brings an increased transfer capacity of 50% and a new exibility in services' broadcasting in contrast with the rst generation DVB-T standard. As DVB-T2 is still in deployment's test, simulation model could be an interesting way to evaluate the performance of this network in supporting new value-added services. In this paper, we describe the new features and enhancements we have integrated within the DVB-T2 module in OPNET, and in particular: (i) a realistic physical model;(ii) an MPEG-TS layer with an IP encapsulator;(iii) hierarchical application layer ables to use pcap traces to simulate real video traces. Also, we include an extensive simulation campaign in order to well understand the performance of DVB-T2 networks.", "This paper analyses the performance of a DTT (digital terrestrial television) broadcasting system that includes MIMO-OFDM techniques. The benefits of these techniques are studied comparing the results for different MIMO 2 x 2 (multiple input multiple output), MISO 2 x 1 (multiple input single output) and SISO (single input single output) system configurations. Different propagation channel models and configurations are considered for each diversity scheme. This study has been carried out in the context of development of the next generation DVB-T, called DVB-T2.", "After giving a short description of the underlying principles of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as a representative of a multicarrier modulation (MCM) system, this paper sets the main emphasis on investigating the effects of IQ imbalance caused by the analog signal processing in the tuner. A mathematical description of the resulting distortions is given. Special attention is paid to the description in the frequency domain. This is the prevailing level of digital signal processing in OFDM receivers to extract useful information from the received signal. An OFDM 64 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) transmission chain according to the European DVB-T (terrestrial digital video broadcasting) standard has been simulated in order to evaluate the impact of the tuner imperfections on the constellation diagram and the bit-error rate (BER). In the framework of the DVB-T system possible strategies to equalize these imperfections are briefly suggested.", "Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting for Terrestrial (ISDB-T) One-Seg is a Japanese standard for digital television specifically for mobile reception. It uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) that provides robustness against multipath fading. A novel approach called Compressed Sensing (CS) has been implemented for estimating the Channel State Information (CSI). The CS improves the spectral efficiency by estimating the CSI with less measurement. However CS requires high computational cost that makes the method difficult for actual implementation. This paper proposes a new approach for channel estimation using reduced size sparse measurement matrix combined with Modified Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (MOMP) algorithm. The simulation shows that the proposed method provides less execution time for CSI calculation.", "Reports on the current situation regarding the question of future digital terrestrial transmitter networks for radio and TV as seen by the German Platform for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) founded in 1990 by the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT). >", "A digital HF radio broadcasting network such as Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) may be enhanced by constant monitoring of the quality of service (QoS) provided to its customers, the listening audience. For this purpose, a number of test receivers need to be distributed throughout the target broadcast region. The paper addresses the question of how many test receivers are required for this purpose, where they should be placed, and how to extrapolate the measurements they make over the broadcast service area or areas.", "In this paper, we derived the exact formula for the normalization factor of both B-mode and Q-mode hierarchically modulated symbols of the advanced terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (AT-DMB) system. This factor is required to scale the average energy of the transmit symbol to one. After investigating the average energy of hierarchically modulated symbols in AT-DMB, we formulate the normalization factor as a term of the constellation ratio. Based on this normalization factor, we have verified the effect after normalization on bit error rate (BER) performance.", "A system for providing an electronic program guide for radio frequency channels and direct broadcast satellite channel, comprising VCR (80) with an RF tuner. Radio channel carrying the RF signal is connected to the DBS receiver (50) an RF input (64), a DBS receiver is tuned to the channel DBS channel 3 (or. 4) the combination of RF modulation. A combined RF signal to the RF tuner in the VCR, the RF signal RF tuner to tune to the appropriate RF channel to channel 3 (or 4) or a wireless local channel DBS channel. The output of the RF tuner is output to baseband video input terminal (66) connected to the DBS receiver VCR baseband video output terminal (84). The system provides the radio baseband video signal and DBS channels.", "Compatible or hierarchical video compression schemes are of interest especially due to emerging broadband networks and over-the-air digital transmission links. The embedded transmission of low resolution video signals should, however, not affect the coding efficiency of the highest resolution video signal. For digital terrestrial broadcasting applications, the use of motion information is necessary to sufficiently compress the hierarchical layers. This paper investigates the possibility of in-band motion compensation in a hierarchical subband coding scheme, and proposes a compatible transmission scheme using PRMF filter banks and embedded quantization.", "Systems combining turbo codes with decision directed feedback synchronisers have been suggested as a way to improve tracking performance of the receiver at low E/sub s//N/sub o/. In this work the operation of such schemes for the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard is investigated and the limitations that bound their performance are analysed. It is shown that these systems are possible with restrictions imposed on the interleaver size of the turbo code system.", "In a method and apparatus for automatically identifying a program broadcast by a radio station or by a television channel, or recorded on a medium, by adding an inaudible encoded message to the sound signal of the program, the message identifies the broadcasting channel or station, the program, and/or the exact date. In one embodiment the sound signal is transmitted via an analog-to-digital converter 12 to a digital data processor 14 enabling frequency ranges to be split up, enabling the energy in some of the frequency ranges to be altered in a predetermined manner to form an encoded identification message, and with the output from the data processor being connected via a digital-to-analog converter 26 to an audio output 28 for broadcasting or recording the sound signal. The invention is particularly applicable to measuring the audiences of programs that are broadcast by radio or television, or that are recorded.", "This paper introduces development and implementation of new Airborne Satellite Antenna (ASA) used for Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) of Aeronautical Satellite Broadband System (ASBS) known as a Digital Video Broadcasting-Return Channel via Satellite (DVB-RCS). Directional High Gain Antenna (HGA) of ASA system usually needs to be protected by special radome and always positioned in the focus of satellite by a special antenna mechanical and electrical antenna tracking mechanism situated on the special stabilized pedestal. The several possible types of broadband ASA via different Radio Frequency (RF) band, such as Ku-band transceiving, airborne satellite broadband antenna, L and Ku-band antennas for DVB-RCS and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) solutions, Ka-band transceiving antenna system for DVB-RCS solutions, Antenna Systems for Aeronautical Satellite Broadcasting (ASB) are discussed.", "We demonstrate real-time, in-service, digital signal analysis of 10 Gbit/s data using a 1.2 Tbit/s burst-mode digital processor. The processor comprises a time-stretch front-end and a custom data acquisition and real-time signal processing back-end. Experimental demonstration of real-time, in-service, signal integrity analysis of streaming video packets at 10 Gbit/s is presented.", "Techniques using the three parameters of the sin 2 window signal (pulse tops and risetime) and a chroma pulse signal with which to measure directly the TV impairments in all the distinct time domains that pertain to a color TV picture permit sensitive and accurate measurements to be made that correlate with subjective TV picture impairments more directly than earlier techniques utilizing steady-state measurements. The methods described are applicable to complete TV systems as well as system components.", "The invention includes a method, in particular a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) method for recording and reproducing the stream data for (DMB) and relates to a communication terminal and a system therefor, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) modem for a digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) in the not only the general mobile communication terminal that is the invention which to reproduce the broadcast data by using the mobile communication modem. Digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), DMB modem, a mobile communications modem", "Based on deeply researching Data Carousel protocol in a set of DVB data broadcasting protocols,this article pro-vides a kind of scheme to transport data broadcast service in the CATV network.With this scheme,the data of data broad-cast and digital audio and digital video in the MPEG-2transport stream can be transported in the same time.", "The present invention provides efficient data broadcast signal into digital broadcast signal multiplexed television broadcast signal multiplexing transmission apparatus. In the TS packet filter means for separating the television broadcast into a TS packet and dummy packet television broadcast, a television broadcast in which only the TS packets stored in the plurality of first buffer, the packet filter means for broadcasting data in the TS is separated into TS packets for the data broadcasting, the DII packet segment, segment group and event messages, each different packet stored in the second plurality of buffers. In the multiplexing processing apparatus to the transmission rate for the television broadcast TS read out from the first plurality of buffers for sequentially television broadcast TS packet, and should be inserted during the dummy packets, to priority bits high order read out from the plurality of second buffers for data broadcasting TS packets.", "Analog and digital schemes for implementing the onedimensional Hadamard transform in real time for TV signals has been proposed. Within practical limitations, hardware has been developed and tested according to the scheme. The evaluation of the hardware has been carried out using a real image. Furthermore, bandwidthreduction experiments are conducted for various bit rates. Analog and digital transform coding schemes are compared for prominent performance parameters. It is demonstrated that good broadcast and video-phone quality pictures can be obtained using the first four coefficients, and the first two coefficients, respectively.", "This paper presents the design of a line scanner which simultaneously generates height and intensity data at video rate (10 MHz). The optical detection scheme uses double triangulation for height measurement. The telecentric scanning and small spot size provide a high lateral accuracy (20 micrometers ). Design rules are presented which facilitate an optimum selection of the position sensitive detectors (PSD). New technologies for PSD processing are described, enabling a significant performance improvement over conventional analogue or digital circuits. Height resolution (1:1000), and dynamic range (four decades) are limited only by the physical properties of the PSDs.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.", "AbstractUntil now, the digitization of radio has taken place through changing terrestrial broadcasting delivery system from analogue to digital. But broadband and mobile reception technologies have now introduced new aspects to the digitization process. Today, this process is increasingly guided by developments in technology and in the market, but public service broadcasting companies still have influence in it. All digitalization new initiatives face the same problem – the lack of reasonably priced receivers equipped with a multifunctional chipset to facilitate the transition. The role of programming content is also changing. The overflow of music on different platforms forces public service broadcasters to reconsider the content of their own broadcast offerings.", "A digital video monitoring system mainly real ized with software is int roduced. The international standard JPEG2000 is applied as the basic frame of th e encoding and decoding part of the system. Therefore, the video characteristic of the system is increased remarkably. This standard uses wavelet based coding t heory and coefficient quantization scheme, which is according with human vision system (HVS) and thus eliminates the blocking effect usually occurring under hig h compression ratio with conventional approaches. This makes it possible to achi eve high compression ratio under same subjective and objective quality. Simulati on on computers shows that the image quality is still acceptable when the compre ssion ratio is up to 50 for standard image sequence “Car phone”.", "This paper discusses ISDTV. It was designed to fulfill the challenging and unique demands of broadcasting television in Brazil while promoting digital inclusion throughout the country. With ISDTV, channels occupy the same 6-MHz bandwidth of old analog stations, and it can deliver high-and standard-definition videos to fixed, mobile, and portable devices. In 10 years, the market for digital television sets in the country is expected to reach $100 billion. The Brazilian market is the biggest in South America, and significant efforts have been made by the Brazilian Ministry of Communications to promote the Brazilian standard throughout South America. So far, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Venezuela are considering its adoption.", "Because the current Set Top Boxs(STB)on the market are designed complexity,expensively and with high cost,a DSP-based instrument ratings survey design is presented in this paper.The voice signal through the TV and sound signal received from multimedia tuner are A/D sampled,FIR filterred,FFT spectrum calculated and compeared,and the final results will be sent to a upper grade subset of the data processing system,in order to obtain ratings of each column.By comparing with the traditional STB,the designed device has simple equipment,low cost,real-time and high accuracy.", "As digital TV broadcasting takes off around the world, cable operators have been watching developments with a keen eye. As more value added services are introduced along with video and audio, it becomes apparent that cable may offer a significant advantage over all other transmission methods including terrestrial and satellite. This paper compares the merits of direct cable links and explores the concept of the `broadcaster budget'. It also demonstrates how the impact of services such as the Internet and video on demand benefit from high speed interactive communication links that cable TV can offer.", "With the continued evolution of technology in support of the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), the need for effective Situational Awareness (SA) and efficient Command & Control (C2) becomes increasingly important for successful mission planning, management, and execution. The Digital Video Broadcast - Return Channel Satellite (DVB-RCS) NetOps vision for remote management and monitoring aims to provide visibility and Situational Awareness to required communities of interest as well as the ability to view and configure all the operational layers DVB-RCS, including the devices and technology, operations and management, and missions and objectives." ]

[ "Cheerleaders for the Washington, D.C., NFL team are describing a uncomfortable topless photo shoot followed by a possibly mandatory night out with sponsors that took place in Costa Rica in 2013. The situation underscores the lack of power NFL cheerleaders have across the league." ]

[ "A cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers knelt during the U.S. national anthem on Thursday evening, just before a game against the Oakland Raiders. The woman has not been identified, and her decision to kneel echoes player protests against racism and police brutality. Football player Colin Kaepernick started the protests when he kneeled during a pre-game anthem in 2016. He is a former player for the 49ers. Spectators photographed the cheerleader kneeling while the rest of her squad held up pom-poms in unison during the Star Spangled Banner. NBC reporter Damian Trujillo also tweeted a shot of the cheerleader kneeling on one knee, with her hands on her hips. This may be the first time an NFL cheerleader has kneeled during the anthem. Cheerleaders for college-level football teams have kneeled in protest before. Last year five members of Kennesaw State University's cheerleading squad in Georgia knelt during the national anthem. A local NBC affiliate reported that four of the five cheerleaders were not asked back on the team. Kaepernick left the 49ers in 2016, and still has not signed on with another team. He is suing the NFL for allegedly freezing him out of playing professional football because of his activism.", "The NFL is facing public scrutiny about how its players treat women off the field, but the league's troubles also extend to on-field activities. Cheerleaders from five teams have brought fair wage lawsuits.", "Texas' House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impose new restrictions on high school cheerleaders. The measure would ban \"overtly sexually suggestive\" routines. The Democrat who sponsored the bill says he considers it \"disgusting\" when cheerleaders shake \"their behinds.\" If it becomes law, Texas can then argue over a point that the bill does not address: the definition of \"sexually suggestive.\"", "The NFL season is under way. Just in case the team from Washington does something that warrants reporting, please remember that we avoid saying its name. Our guidance is here. Meanwhile, the baseball team from Cleveland is setting records and could end up in the World Series again. We should avoid using photos that include images of the team's longtime mascot, Chief Wahoo. As we have previously said: \"At NPR, the policy on 'potentially offensive language' applies to the images posted online as well. It begins by stating that 'as a responsible broadcaster, NPR has always set a high bar on use of language that may be offensive to our audience.'\" If you come across other potentially offensive team names or logos, apply the same thinking as we have in these cases.", "A \"mandatory\" trip to a nightclub where they were told to escort wealthy sponsors. A topless photo shoot that male spectators were invited to attend. Those are two of the main allegations made by cheerleaders from Washington's NFL team about a 2013 trip to Costa Rica to photograph the squad's swimsuit calendar. The allegations described in a New York Times story stem from a trip to the Occidental Grand Papagayo, an adults-only resort on Culebra Bay, on Costa Rica's west coast. Citing interviews with five cheerleaders who were there, the Times' Juliet Macur reports that the women were unhappy with their lack of privacy — and worried that the team wasn't concerned enough with their safety. Also unsettling: They said the team collected their passports early in the weeklong trip. The team told the Times that it normally collects passports on international trips as a matter of security. When it was time to take photographs for the risqué calendar — including ones that involved being topless — the cheerleaders said men who backed the team as either sponsors or stadium-suite holders were invited to watch the photo shoots up close. \"At one of my friend's shoots, we were basically standing around her like a human barricade because she was basically naked, so we could keep the guys from seeing her,\" one cheerleader told Macur. \"I was getting so angry that the guys on the trip were skeezing around in the background.\" Nine of the cheerleaders were also told they had been chosen to be \"personal escorts\" for sponsors during an outing at a nightclub, according to the Times. Several said the order came from the squad's director. That trip included urgings that the cheerleaders drink and flirt; one participant said the cheerleaders felt as if their bosses were \"pimping us out.\" The cheerleading squad's director, Stephanie Jojokian, told the Times that she doesn't agree with the depiction of the trip. She denied ordering anyone to go out with sponsors and said she provides a supportive environment for her cheerleaders. \"Where is this coming from?\" Jojokian is quoted as saying. \"I would never put a woman in a situation like that. I actually mentor these women to be strong and to speak up, and it kills me to hear that.\" Neither Jojokian nor the team responded to NPR's request for comment and clarification about the cheerleaders' allegations. In a statement to the Times, the team said: \"The Redskins' cheerleader program is one of the NFL's premier teams in participation, professionalism, and community service. Each Redskin cheerleader is contractually protected to ensure a safe and constructive environment. The work our cheerleaders do in our community, visiting our troops abroad, and supporting our team on the field is something the Redskins organization and our fans take great pride in.\" News of the allegations comes after two former NFL cheerleaders – one from the Miami Dolphins and another from the New Orleans Saints – recently filed federal and state complaints over their working conditions. Their complaints cite discrimination and describe a controlling environment that also limits cheerleaders' ability to profit from their careers. The attorney for both women, Sara Blackwell, has said they would agree to settle their claims for $1 — and the guarantee of a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss leaguewide standards on working conditions for cheerleaders. Responding to the report about the Washington cheerleaders, Blackwell said via Twitter, \"In light of the latest NY Times story, Goodell is completely awful if he refuses to meet with us to create rules that are lawful and fair.\" In an earlier tweet, Blackwell also said it was a \"big mistake\" if Goodell doesn't discuss how to protect the NFL's cheerleaders — and protect the NFL and its teams from a future lawsuit. When the Times contacted the NFL about its Washington story, a spokesman said the league \"has no role in how the clubs which have cheerleaders utilize them.\" \"Our office will work with our clubs in sharing best practices and employment-related processes that will support club cheerleading squads within an appropriate and supportive workplace,\" the spokesman added.", "In Wisconsin, a special committee endorsed a ban on bare-chested fans at high school sports events, as well as limits on body paint. But the ominously named Board of Control has found no need to control clothing. No word if board members ripped off their shirts and did the wave while voting.", "Bailey Davis was a Saintsation — a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints. That is, until she posted a photo of herself in a one-piece lace bodysuit on her private Instagram account. The Saints fired the 22-year-old this January for violating a code of conduct that prohibits cheerleaders from appearing nude, seminude or in lingerie. It wasn't the only strict rule that Davis and her former colleagues had to follow — cheerleaders for the Saints can't have players follow them on social media, must have private social media accounts and are required to leave parties or restaurants if players are there. The company says the rules are in place to prevent cheerleaders from being preyed on by players. Davis, a native of Ellisville, Miss., had dreamed of become a Saintsation: Her mother worked as the cheerleading squad's choreographer for nearly 18 years. She resigned after her daughter's firing. Davis filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces civil rights laws relating to workplace discrimination, against both the NFL and the Saints. She spoke to NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about why she became a cheerleader, how she has to recognize thousands of different NFL and MLB players and the reaction her suit has gotten. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. Interview Highlights On what the firing represents to her The players have the freedom to post whatever they want to on social media. They can promote themselves, but we can't post anything on our social media about being a Saintsation. We can't have it in our profile picture, we can't use our last name for media, we can't promote ourselves, but the players don't have the same restrictions. On sexism versus different rules for different employees The football players have a different job than us, and I completely understand that. But as far as being in the same place as a player, and me being the one who has to be careful about where I'm at, and watch out for them, that's so discriminating. ... If I post something, and I'm in a swimsuit or in a body suit, it's seen as something sexual, but the players can post shirtless in their underwear and it's just seen as athletic. ... If I'm [at a place before a player] first, I would still have to leave. And that's not just Saints players, it's any NFL team, or NBA. So anybody from the Pelicans could walk in, and I would have to leave, or I'd be fired. On why she became a cheerleader I kind of wanted to be a Saintsation as a stepping stone into my dance career, because I knew there was a four-year cap on it. But by my third year, and I knew I had to start looking for another job in the dance world, I wanted to start promoting myself more [on social media] and there was no rule that I couldn't have my [social media] pages public, for people to find me. When they said, \"Well, you need to make your page private so these players can't find you,\" that's when I realized, OK, [it'll be] harder for people to find me and for me to find another job as a dancer, because social media is how we market ourselves nowadays. On the reaction her suit has gotten My fellow teammates have not been supportive to me. I've been told that I'm putting the team in a negative light, and a lot of the girls have been posting stuff on social media, saying that, you know, the organization is great and offers so many opportunities — which is true, and I mean, I [felt] the same way when I was in the organization. We're told so many times, \"There's a hundred other girls that would do your job for free.\" You're just taught to keep your mouth shut or they'd replace you. So I think when you're in the organization, you don't realize that there's nothing OK about this.", "During a recent break in the action, a dance squad stormed the court for the Washington Wizards. Donning bright red, white and sparkly blue outfits, they spun, they shimmied, they even did some light twerking. They looked like any dance team a fan might expect to see at an NBA game, except for one difference: They were all over the age of 50. The \"Wizdom\" dance team, as the squad is called, first took the court for the Wizards in November and has performed at several home games since. The 19 women and one man who make up the squad range in age from 50 to 76, and they include former NFL cheerleaders, a dentist, several grandmothers and a breast cancer survivor. \"We are part of what I like to call the 'Fame,' 'Flashdance' and 'Let's Get Physical' generation,\" says Wizdom dancer Cindy Hardeman, 60. \"We're just taking it into our elder years,\" she says, later adding, \"If we were to top it in order of why we do it, I'd say fun, fun and fun.\" With contagious enthusiasm, team members are almost always dancing: in the locker room, walking to practice, lining up to perform. \"They're very well-rehearsed, perform with a lot of energy, charisma, style, and are just entertaining to watch,\" says the team's choreographer, Derric Whitfield. \"The audience can get behind them because they are so good. It's not just, 'Oh that was cute.' It's 'Wow they really can dance.'\" More than 50 people tried out for the Wizdom — a rigorous audition process that was documented by the team's sponsor, the AARP. With their debut in November, they became one of at least a dozen other squads for dancers who are 50 or older in the NBA. By the time the season is over, Whitfield says, the team will have learned and performed seven routines in total. Some who made the team tried out because they had performed as professional dancers or cheerleaders years ago and wanted to do so again. Some were looking for a way to get more exercise or were talked into it by their grandchildren. For others, the team has helped them to overcome hardships. \"I was laying around having a pity party cause I lost my husband eight years ago and my mother two years ago and in between I had brain surgery,\" says one member of the team who asked to be identified, fittingly, as \"Nana.\" At 76, she is the oldest member of the team. \"This is really lifting my spirits,\" she says. Kristina Leach, 68, is another member of the Wizdom. A former cheerleader for Washington's NBA team, she lost her husband a few years ago. One year later, the restaurant where she worked for 40 years closed down. She says dancing for the Wizdom is the \"best thing to happen to me.\" The team is extremely dedicated, Whitfield says. One member, for example, performed right after a prolonged nosebleed. Some have chronic health conditions but train together outside of the team's official weekly practices. \"To our surprise we are able to do things we didn't think we could do,\" says Christopher Johnson, 53, the one male member of the team. \"It's motivating us to even go further, to practice more, to be part of other dance classes.\" The group's last performance is on April 9. They'll all have to try out again next year if they want to rejoin the team. But members of the Wizdom say that won't keep them apart. They've already planned cookouts and pool parties for the off-season. As Nana puts it, the team has become a family. \"We go through our aches and pains together,\" she says. Then she adds: \"Anyone have Tylenol Extra Strength? Give me three!\"", "As part of a joke, the NFL team posted a photo of new uniforms. Dozens of fans replied they liked the fake uniforms. For real, the team is supposed to unveil new uniforms later this month.", "Concession stand workers can often make more than team cheerleaders for the National Football League. That pay gap is the subject of a new documentary called &#8220;A Woman&#8217;s Work: The NFL&#8217;s Cheerleader Problem.” The PBS Independent Lens film airs on Monday. The pay disparity came to light in 2014 after a series of lawsuits raised by cheerleaders who said they were underpaid and sexually harassed. Filmmaker Yu Gu follows the stories of Maria Pinzone, former cheerleader for the Buffalo Bill Jills, and Lacy Thibodeaux-Fields, former cheerleader for the Los Angeles Raiderettes. Gu, who was born in China, says she came to the U.S. as an immigrant with high expectations about equality in democracies. So when Gu arrived as a student at the University of Southern California and heard about Thibodeaux-Fields’ “mind-blowing” lawsuit claiming the cheerleader was paid less than minimum wage, Gu was perplexed. She says she was instantly drawn to the story. “Just seeing this sort of extreme inequality was something that really piqued my interest,” she says. “I wanted to dig deeper.” Watch on YouTube. Thibodeaux-Fields filed her lawsuit a week before Super Bowl XLVIII, Gu says. The NFL tried to make a distinction about cheerleaders’ pay, saying individual teams are responsible for paying cheerleaders, not the league. The move was an attempt to “push away the responsibility,” Gu says. In 2014, the average salary of an NFL player was about $420,000 a year, and a mascot could make up to $65,000 a year. A Raiderette cheerleader averaged just $1,250 a year, according to the documentary. The pay didn’t match the work put in: Football cheerleaders can spend upwards of 60 to 70 hours a week working on behalf of the team. NFL teams act as though the cheerleading role is an “invaluable benefit” and “women should feel lucky to have this opportunity to cheer [and] to be part of this organization that is so meaningful,” Gu says. Teams spin cheerleading as “not really a job” but more of a charitable act to give back to your team and community, Gu says. Many fans carry the same sentiment, she says. Ultimately, the battle over fair pay has shed light on the perception of what cheerleaders represent. One fan in the documentary said cheerleaders aren’t a good example for young girls, especially when it comes to body image. “I don&#8217;t agree with the image that a lot of these NFL cheerleaders are portraying,” the female fan said in the film. Throughout “A Woman’s Work,” Gu shows the connection between low pay and how society views cheerleaders. While the lawsuits spurred some to question the relevancy of cheerleaders, Gu says they still remain a big part of these sports teams. “I think part of it is if these teams are going to employ women, employ these cheerleaders, they need to be treated fairly,” she says. “And also, I think the women themselves need to be empowered to really evolve their roles, to evolve their industry and sort of even the creative aspect of who they are and how they&#8217;re marketed.” She argues the problem goes back to how society views sexuality and women’s bodies, too. “I think right now, in terms of rape culture [and] toxic masculinity, I think there&#8217;s the idea that men are just entitled to women&#8217;s bodies and their affection, and their beauty should be a given [and] should be free,” Gu says. The documentary also explores gender roles and the often unacknowledged labor women do, such as caregiving. Gu hopes the film’s look at the invisible labor many women take on can help “reinvigorate” respect and dignity for what “woman’s work” means. So far, there have been current and former professional cheerleaders who have seen the film and felt it was a reflection of their experience, she says. They feel empowered to change the narrative on who they are and what they stand for. “They&#8217;re not just there to be seen and not heard,” she says. “They have a voice. They have opinions.” Some former cheerleaders still have criticisms regarding the lawsuits and the fight for fair pay. But Gu hopes that after watching the movie, they will rethink their stance and find “it&#8217;s not impossible to both love your experience as a cheerleader and also be treated fairly, be paid fairly, and to have a safer workplace.” Cristina Kim produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Jill Ryan. Serena McMahon adapted it for the web. This article was originally published on WBUR.org.", "The political debate surrounding national anthem protests at National Football League games intensified this week after players declined to stand during the playing of \"The Star-Spangled Banner\" after the mass shootings in Las Vegas. Before the Monday Night Football game between the NFL franchises in Kansas City and Washington D.C., two Kansas City players sat on the bench during the playing of the anthem, while all of the Washington players stood with their arms locked. The controversy started last season when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel during the anthem to protest what he described as injustices faced by people of color, particularly at the hands of police officers. Last month, the issue resurfaced with greater urgency when President Trump condemned players who refused to stand for the anthem. He later called for fans to boycott NFL games unless team owners stopped the protests. Some players, coaches and team owners criticized the president, characterizing his rhetoric as divisive. Former NFL player and NASA astronaut Leland Melvin called Trump's comments \"boorish and disgusting\" in a letter posted on Facebook. Last week, he told Here & Now's Robin Young that Trump's remarks about NFL players \"incensed\" him. \"I really think that, when the announcer in the stadium says, 'Rise to honor our veterans,' by no means is [Colin] Kaepernick, or anyone taking a knee, in any way wanting to dishonor the service of police officers, or people who are fighting in our wars,\" Melvin says, \"but it's an injustice that's happening in our streets, it's an inequality, it's things that have been stemmed from slavery and the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, all of these foundational documents that define our democracy. That's what matters.\" But a sizable portion of those surveyed disagree, says Diane Hessan, founder of C-Space, a market research company. Among the 400 voters participating in a study she began last December, more than 40 percent supported the president on the NFL protests. Hessan tells Young that for many who disapprove of these protests, it comes down to \"plain patriotism.\" She says their views highlight the collision of politics with what many see as the escapism of sports and the cherished ritual of the national anthem. \"One is the ritual of sports and how that's for many people a sacred place where you root for your team; but people of all political persuasions root for their team,\" Hessan says. \"The other ritual, though, is the playing of the national anthem, everyone standing up, and the dignified, expected, comforting routine that that symbolizes.\" Hessan says people in her study used words like \"despicable\" and \"a disgrace\" to describe the Ravens-Jaguars game in London, where players sat down for the national anthem but stood for \"God Save The Queen.\" She says many decried those actions as making \"a mockery of our nation.\" Many respondents also cited the hypocrisy of NFL officials who haven't stopped these demonstrations but banned other displays of activism, such as when the Dallas Cowboys wanted to support the Dallas police officers killed in July 2016. \"So the question, really the hypocrisy, is why did [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell say it was OK for players to take a knee, but not OK for players to wear a fairly benign decal supporting Dallas police in the aftermath of a shooting last July?\" Hessan says. Lastly, Hessan says many who support Trump on this issue also said they feel liberals celebrate free speech but not when it is conservatives who are speaking. She argues Trump is using the NFL protests to turn the electorate against a group of people perceived as being part of the elite; in this case, football fans versus football players. \"My perspective on this is Trump is dumb like a fox when it comes to this particular issue,\" Hessan says. \"He knows that if he stokes this racist issue — if he stokes anything related to identity politics — that the Democrats will jump onto it, it's almost like a trap, and then all of a sudden, we've got a week of people screaming and yelling about civil rights.\"", "FedEx, the title sponsor of the Washington Redskins' stadium, is asking the team to change its name following a report that investors are lobbying for the company to cut ties with the National Football League team. FedEx, which paid $205 million in 1999 for the naming rights to the team's stadium in Landover, Md., said in a statement on Thursday that it had \"communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.\" The request follows a report in AdWeek on Wednesday that letters signed by 87 investment firms and shareholders worth $620 billion had asked FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo to cut business ties with the team unless it agrees to the name change. FedEx CEO Fred Smith is a minority owner of the team. However, the majority owner, Daniel Snyder — who bought the team in 1999 — has shown no inclination to change the name. A letter to Nike from investors cited Black Lives Matter as having \"focused the world's attention on centuries of systemic racism.\" \"[We] are witnessing a fresh outpouring of opposition to the team name,\" it said. \"Therefore, it is time for Nike to meet the magnitude of this moment, to make their opposition to the racist team name clear, and to take tangible and meaningful steps to exert pressure on the team to cease using it.\" Although a poll taken in 2016 found that most Native Americans did not find the team's name offensive, a survey published by the University of California at Berkeley earlier this year showed that nearly half of 1,000 Native Americans polled agreed or strongly agreed that the name of the Washington team is offensive. The controversy over the name has gone on for years. But the recent Black Lives Matter protest has provided a new impetus for change. An NFL official confirmed Thursday that the league intends to play \"Lift Every Voice and Sing,\" often called the Black national anthem, at each team's season opening game after \"The Star Spangled Banner.\" In another sign of change, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last month said that he would welcome former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick back in league three years after the quarterback was effectively shut out of the NFL for calling attention to racial injustice by taking a knee during the pregame rendition of the national anthem.", "There are three reasons for the appearance of this photo. 1. It is an excuse to mention the very interesting NFL campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness month, in which the players and coaches are decked out in a whole lot of pink, from shoes to helmets to towels. It's really something to see -- this is not a lot of discreet little patches and stripes. This is aggressive marketing of this cause. (It's not the first year they've done it; it's just that it's happening right now.) 2. It is an excuse to add this picture of Brett Favre getting pummeled on Monday Night Football. (P.S. Brett Favre's wife is a breast cancer survivor, and they have their own charity, so nobody is messing with Brett Favre on this point. But he is still Brett Favre. Pummel away!) 3. It is an excuse to tell the darkly amusing story of Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears, who, for whatever reason, completely ignored (or boycotted, or disliked) the entire pink theme, and found himself sacked nine times in the first half. Some say karma. Some say \"however Jay Cutler gets sacked nine times is fine with me,\" but those are mostly people who prefer other NFC North teams.", "In an effort to raise money for a local government program, a group of middle-aged women pose naked for a calendar. They then sold the calendar and attempted to give the proceeds to the local fire department. The city refused out of fear of litigation. Ben Adler of member station KAZU reports.", "NFL players are donning pink to support a league-wide campaign against breast cancer. As the WNBA finals and MLB playoffs are kicking into gear, the NBA season is halting. Michel Martin talks sports with <em>US A Today</em> Sports Columnist Christine Brennan, <em>ESPN the Magazine</em> Staff Writer Elena Bergeron, and TheWiseLatinaClub.com Blogger-in-Chief Viviana Hurtado.", "Jason Wright joins the Washington Football Team as it confronts a series of crises: allegations of sexual harassment and bullying, the COVID-19 pandemic and changing a racist team name. Wright is the first Black person to ever be an NFL team president. He arrives after seven years as a partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and before that, seven years as an NFL player, with an MBA degree in between. Wright is in his first week on the job after being appointed on Aug. 17. \"It's been busy, I'll tell you that much,\" he tells NPR's All Things Considered. Wright is responsible for the team's business operations. Team Coach Ron Rivera remains in charge of \"on-field responsibilities and football decisions.\" Both Wright and Rivera report to team owner Dan Snyder. Both have spoken about the need to change the team's culture, but they face the challenge of working under a team owner who according to findings from the Washington Post, \"has presided over an organization in which women say they have been marginalized, discriminated against and exploited.\" Wright talked with NPR about the decision to play football amid the pandemic and his ability to make change under Snyder's ownership. Interview Highlights How do you begin to prioritize your to do list? What's at the top of it right now? The biggest thing on my mind right now — and always was, but has become more acute this week — is ensuring that our workforce feels confident that we are the leaders of people that can actually get our culture into a place where people feel trustworthy of leadership, that they feel trusted to do their work, that they can bring their full selves to work, that they are not going to be marginalized in any way. ... But they need to know in a clear way that there's a new direction, the things that we plan to do in tactical terms. And the best I can do is just talk to people to share that consistent message over and over again. And so the No. 1 priority is the psychological and emotional well-being of our team. And does the team include the cheerleaders who are at the center of the stories about sexual harassment? How are you defining team? Yeah, they are very much in, and when I say team I'm actually talking about all our business folks. When you have these accusations in The Washington Post that point to the team owner, Dan Snyder, as deeply involved in sexual harassment, this is somebody who you answer to. How much can you really do to change the culture? I think this is a question that most chief executives face. The corollary I give is, you know, I'm the chief executive and [the owners are] the board of directors. And so, yes, you answer to them and they're going to set direction. But I have the ability to implement that in a way that's in line with my vision for the organization. Now, that said, if everything in the Washington Post article is true, then there's — that's just not a tenable situation, and Dan and Tanya [Snyder] and I have had open conversations about that. ... And we will let the investigations play out and we'll have our true fact base on where we stand. And then if we have to revisit the conversation at that point, we will. But in the meantime, I have the leeway to set a new direction. And them, as the board of directors, have given me and Coach Rivera that trade space. Why do you think it's taken until 2020 for a Black person to be the president of an NFL team, especially when about 70% of NFL players are Black? Well, I mean, you could ask that question about CEOs in corporate America. I mean, take your pick, right? The systemic barriers to Black folks moving into higher education, therefore having the credentials that signal you're able to move into these roles and then the historic bias, both implicit and explicit, that exists in keeping Black folks from getting senior roles in organizations. They're well-documented. We haven't had a lot of clear pathways or even a lot of thinking about folks transitioning from the field to the business side of the operations. And I credit the fact that I had a Black head coach during my time, a Black general manager during my time, and at a subconscious level, helping me believe at some level that there was a pathway for me in that direction, though it was never an explicit goal. I've got to believe that I was bold enough to step into the opportunity because I saw those role models before. Let's talk about the NFL's return to play. The team announced earlier this year that it would play home games without fans present because of the risks of COVID-19. If the team believes it's a risk for fans to attend games, why isn't it a risk for players to play them? Well, there's a difference between the testing protocols that players go through and what happens with fans. I actually think the approach taken, which was what European soccer has done and what we are planning to do, is one that actually gave athletes the right autonomy to make a decision. You could opt out. ", "Images at the link below are not exactly NSFW, but they're JKOWFW (just kind of weird for work). We spent a few minutes in yesterday's meeting discussing whether or not to use a story from the Wall Street Journal about college football beefcake photos. This is apparently a longstanding tradition involving teammates lathering themselves in baby oil and posing shirtless together next to beefcakey things like orange Lamborghinis and big guns. In the end we decided not to use the story on the radio show, because holding the photo spreads up to the microphone is not an effective way to communicate their beefcakeyness.", "In Sacramento, Calif., two women were arrested for going topless in protest against several initiatives backed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in Tuesday's election. They were part of a group called Breasts Not Bombs. But down in Southern California, a junior at Chapman College has been allowed to roam free and shirtless for a year. He uses his naked chest to advertise birthday wishes and other student messages at $1 a piece.", "The company's ad campaign calls on people to photograph themselves wearing only the disposable undergarments below the waist, to reduce the stigma of incontinence.", "The XFL is set for a reboot this weekend nearly two decades after it folded. Back in 2001, World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon promised a new type of football game: faster, more violent tackles, creative new rules, a brash attitude and scantily clad cheerleaders. \"We welcome you to our brand of football,\" McMahon said in his 2001 opening day speech before he growled, \"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the XFL.\" Instead of a coin toss, two players sprinted to the ball for possession. Coaches and players were mic'd up and on-field conversations were broadcast live on TV. At halftime, cameras went into the cheerleaders' locker room. Players used nicknames on the back of their jerseys instead of last names, spawning personalities like \"He Hate Me.\" The XFL even ushered in regular use of now-ubiquitous aerial footage from Skycams. The league partnered with NBC and the first games had meteoric ratings. But fans left in droves over sloppy game play and TV ratings plummeted. The league folded after just one season. The second version in 2020 promises less over-the-top entertainment and better football. XFL officials say they have the resources they need to stick around. McMahon has reportedly promised a half-billion dollar investment. He's banking on capturing football fans' attention during the six-month NFL off-season. Eight teams — Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Fla., and Washington — will kickoff Saturday and Sunday. The XFL ran a teaser commercial during the Super Bowl that had a faux doctor pitching the league as the antidote to \"football withdrawal syndrome.\" The 10-week season runs through most of the spring and ends with a championship game on April 26. Many leagues have attempted to succeed with spring football and so far all have failed. Here's more on what the XFL hopes will set it apart from the NFL, and what may, or may not, make it a lasting league. What's the draw? Unique rules and personalities. The XFL promises plenty of wrinkles to make the game interesting: A \"comeback period\": Often NFL or college teams with the lead at the end of the game will run the ball to run out the clock. In the XFL, the clock will mostly stop after every play within the last two minutes of each half to give trailing teams a chance to catch up and win. No extra points: The XFL says the extra-point kicks after a touchdown have become a given, so they added some spice with flag football-style rules. Instead of kicking, teams can choose to run plays from the 10, 5 or 2-yard line. If they get into the end zone, they'll get 3, 2 or 1 extra point, respectively. The rule, paired with the comeback period, means teams have a better chance of overcoming a deficit and could create more games that remain interesting in the fourth quarter. Games under three hours: NFL games last on average about three hours and 12 minutes and have a lot of down time, but the XFL is looking to stuff the same number of plays into less time. It will have a shorter 25-second play clock and the clock will run after incompletions and out-of-bounds plays, instead of stopping as it does in the NFL and NCAA. The XFL is also limiting each team to two timeouts per half, shortening halftime to 10 minutes and eliminating the ability for coaches to challenge plays (though officials can review most plays if they choose). Overtime: Gone is \"first-team-to-score wins\" or games ending in ties. New rules are similar to soccer-style penalty kicks or hockey shootouts. Overtime consists of five rounds where teams will attempt to score from the 5-yard line. The team with the most points at the end wins. Multiple forward passes in one play: A quarterback can throw to another player and as long as that second player is behind the line of scrimmage, he can pass forward to another player. The rule could give birth to some innovative trick plays. The XFL says it will also discourage political gestures from players during games, like former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest how police treat people of color. As to coaches and players, the XFL nabbed some big names, like former Oklahoma Sooners coach Bob Stoops, who will coach the Dallas Renegades, and quarterback Cardale Jones, who won a national championship at Ohio State and will play for the D.C. Defenders. Other former college and NFL players, and those attempting to make the NFL, will round out the rosters. It's unclear who could be a breakout personality in the league, similar to Rod Smart (aka \"He Hate Me\") in 2001. Renegades wide receiver Jeff Badet has made a social-media splash during practice with his helmet visors based on internet memes, including Spongebob. Why is it so hard to start a new league? Several other independent professional football leagues hoping to capitalize on spring football, like the Arena Football League (1987-2008), the United Football League (2009-2012) and the Alliance of American", "Turns out there's a bit of fallout from the wardrobe malfunction in this year's Superbowl. In the GoDaddy.com. A buxom young woman appears before Congressmen auditioning commercials and her blouse falls open. GoDaddy's risque take-off on Janet Jackson's Super Bowl moment didn't sit well with those who run the NFL. They yanked it from the broadcast before it could air again. Says GoDaddy: how ironic that a parody of censorship was itself censored.", "Updated at 9:35 p.m. ET The Washington Redskins football team is conducting a \"thorough review\" of its name, an apparent break from the NFL franchise's longtime resistance to consider such a move. A short time later, Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians said it would consider the \"best path forward with regard to our team name.\" It said the team wants to embrace responsibility to advance social justice. Friday's announcement by the Washington team came a day after FedEx, the title sponsor of the team's stadium, said it requested that the team change its name. \"In light of recent events around our country and feedback from our community, the Washington Redskins are announcing the team will undergo a thorough review of the team's name,\" the franchise said in a statement. \"This review formalizes the initial discussions the team has been having with the league in recent weeks.\" Team owner Dan Snyder, who has previously resisted changing a name that many find offensive to Native Americans, said: \"This process allows the team to take into account not only the proud tradition and history of the franchise but also input from our alumni, the organization, sponsors, the National Football League and the local community it is proud to represent on and off the field.\" NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league backs the team's review. \"In the last few weeks we have had ongoing discussions with Dan and we are supportive of this important step,\" Goodell said in a statement, according to NFL.com. In 2015, a federal judge ruled that the franchise's trademark should be cancelled because the name \"may disparage\" Native Americans. But two years later, the group of Native Americans who had sued dropped their legal fight after the Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that federal trademark protections couldn't be denied over the use of disparaging and offensive terms. \"Although a poll taken in 2016 found that most Native Americans did not find the team's name offensive, a survey published by the University of California at Berkeley earlier this year showed that nearly half of 1,000 Native Americans polled agreed or strongly agreed that the name of the Washington team is offensive,\" NPR's Scott Neuman has reported. In recent days, corporate sponsors have put pressure on the team to ditch the name. On Thursday, FedEx issued a one-sentence statement saying it had \"communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.\" FedEx paid $205 million in the late 1990s for the naming rights to the team's stadium in Landover, Md. And company CEO Fred Smith is a minority owner of the team. Earlier this week, AdWeek reported that 87 investment firms and shareholders worth $620 billion sent letters asking FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo to stop doing business with the team if it doesn't find a new name. The letter to Nike cited the Black Lives Matter movement and said that \"we are witnessing a fresh outpouring of opposition to the team name.\" \"Therefore, it is time for Nike to meet the magnitude of this moment, to make their opposition to the racist team name clear, and to take tangible and meaningful steps to exert pressure on the team to cease using it.\" In Friday's announcement, Washington head coach Ron Rivera said, \"This issue is of personal importance to me and I look forward to working closely with Dan Snyder to make sure we continue the mission of honoring and supporting Native Americans and our Military.\"", "On game day the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders line up on the field holding a power stance — feet firmly planted wide apart and arms jutting straight at their sides, ready to shake their pom poms to cheer and dance for their football team. But two of the Rams cheerleaders at Sunday's Super Bowl won't be holding any pom-poms, they're men. Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron are making history tonight as the first male cheerleaders in the history of the National Football League (NFL) to perform at the big game. In the past, men performing with the cheerleaders at the Super Bowl have been stuntmen, but Jinnies and Peron are the first to dance alongside women and official be a part of the cheer squad. Male cheerleaders are not new to the sport. At the college and high school level, the sport has long been co-ed. But, this season was the first time that the NFL had male cheerleaders with Peron, Jinnies, and Jesse Hernandez of the New Orleans Saints' cheerleading squad. Jinnies and Peron are both classically trained dancers who made the squad in March 2018, but both told NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend Edition that they found their way to the auditions at the last minute. Peron was at a Lakers game on the Wednesday before the auditions, and found himself watching the Lakers cheerleaders. \"I recognized a few of them on the court and I just asked myself why can't I do that?\" he asked. He had already danced with some of the cheerleaders on the court. In fact, he had taught a few of them how to dance. So, Peron decided to call a friend who had been on the Rams cheer squad last year to ask about auditions. He found out they were that upcoming Sunday, so he decided to just show up. Jinnies path to becoming a cheerleader was also impulsive. He had been working at a dance show at a theme park, and on his lunch break, he ran into some Rams cheerleaders talking about the upcoming audition. They encouraged him to try out, so he did. \"I think it means that anyone can achieve their dreams and make it to a huge stage,\" he said of his experience. Both boys were a little nervous with pre-game jitters as they talked with Garcia-Navarro. They were on the bus with the rest of the cheer squad on the way to a fan rally in Atlanta. \"I'm so excited. I just feel like when we run on that field as a team for the first time in that big stadium it's going to be the best feeling ever,\" Jinnies said. As male dancers, Peron thinks that the pair brings something unique to the Rams cheerleading squad. \"I think we bring a different energy,\" he said. \"I don't know, it's a dynamic energy and a strength that we all kind of vibe off.\" In a show of the squad's camaraderie, Peron turned to his teammates and quickly barked, \"Whose house?\" A chorus of cheerleaders responded, \"Rams House!\" \"Whose house?\" Peron roared a second time. \"Rams House!\" the chorus got louder. \"Aye!\" Peron ended the cheer on a whimsical note.", "The models say they have no job security or vacation pay and aren't allowed to collect tips. Organizers have said \"not just anyone can take their clothes off and hold a pose.\"", "Call it \"the Yao Ming effect.\" Following the success of the basketball giant in bringing millions of Chinese viewers to NBA games, talent scouts are scouring China for the next homegrown sports star to open up the world's largest consumer market. But for the NFL, it's an uphill battle. The league has launched an NFL China Web site, but the inaugural China Bowl, a preseason game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks that was scheduled for August in Beijing, has been delayed for two years. \"We looked at our market here in China, and we weren't ready at this point,\" said Kevin Chang, the NFL's international media manager. \"The fans ... didn't have enough awareness, didn't know enough about our sport to really become really hyped up and involved for the NFL China Bowl.\" There was a launch party for the new Web site at Shanghai's hottest bar, featuring Patriots cheerleaders in shiny blue jumpsuits waving silver pompoms. But one athlete who had hoped to be the face of the NFL in China was missing. Gao Wei, 20, wasn't invited to the launch, despite having just returned from six months overseas as one of four Chinese players handpicked to train as NFL place-kickers. NFL officials say Chinese athletes have the psychological focus to withstand the intense pressure that kickers face. However, observers have decried the kicker program as a stunt that exposes Chinese players to maximum publicity while shielding them from the contact nature of the sport. Gao Wei said he knew nothing about American football before last July. \"Before I started, I thought it was a very violent game,\" he said. \"Most Chinese think that. But now I see the game's beauty — from the strategy to the skills to the rules, they're all exciting. I haven't entirely grasped the game, but at least I can understand a match now.\" Gao Wei was plucked from Shanghai Sports University, where he was the college soccer team's goalkeeper. He said the training — first in Oregon, then at NFL development camp in Europe — was hard work but rewarding. But he said he's sorry he never got to play in a real competition, even after the kicker for the team he had been training with was injured. \"I prepared very fully, but before the game, the [manager] said the NFL had told him I'd never taken part in a game, and I could get injured,\" he said. \"It was a real pity, but maybe the NFL wanted to protect me, because they thought the China Bowl was more important.\" His experience illustrates the difficulties the NFL faces in its search for its own Yao Ming: The contact nature of the sport is alien and off-putting to many Chinese, and even touch football leagues are in their infancy in the country. Moreover, land for football fields is scarce, and equipment is too expensive for the average player. Despite that, Gao Wei said he sees his future in American football and he will keep training on his own — with the aid of DVDs — to get ready for 2009. Kathryn Kelly, the NFL's event manager, denies the would-be kickers have been let down. \"The kicker program has been a success. They've all reached the level of collegiate football playing in just the short nine months that they've played the sport,\" she said. \"We continue to work on an ongoing basis with all four kickers that have partaken in the kicker program, so it would be quite farfetched to suggest that they've ever been abandoned.\" But for the next two years, NFL fans in China will have to settle for televised games instead of the real thing. One disgruntled fan says it's like being told you've won the lottery, then having to wait two years to pick up your prize. For the wannabe kickers like Gao Wei, the stakes are higher still — they have abandoned the sports they were raised to play and put their futures on hold to pursue an American dream in China. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Well, call it the Yao Ming effect. The basketball giant has succeeded in bringing millions of Chinese viewers to NBA games. And now, talent scouts are scouring China for the next star to open up the world's largest consumer market for other sports. For the National Football League, it's an uphill struggle. As NPR's Louisa Lim reports from Shanghai. (Soundbite of song \"Wild Thing\") LOUISA LIM: The music is pumping at Shanghai's hottest bar. New England Patriot Cheerleaders in shiny blue jumpsuits are waving silver pompoms as they leap up and down. A cheerleader named Lindsey(ph) says they're here to celebrate. LINDSEY (New England Patriots Cheerleader): American football is very new. It's much newer here. But I think the people are being very receptive. So we're excited. It's going to be very big here. (Soundbite of song \"Play That Funky Music\") LIM: That's what the NFL is hoping as it launches its NFL China Web site. But despite those cheerleaders' (unintelligible), they've just suffered a big blow. The inaugural China Bowl, a preseason game between the Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks scheduled for August in Beijing has been delayed", "A lone cheerleader made it to the basketball tournament and did her routine courtside, WSB-TV reports. Coleman Middle School was between games, so their squad joined in and kept her company.", "Andrew Wallenstein of the <EM>Hollywood Reporter</EM> comments on the \"Lingerie Bowl,\" a pay-per-view event that will run opposite this year's Super Bowl halftime show.", "On Monday night, the New Jersey Nets basketball team held cheerleader tryouts for a squad made up of dancers older than 60. Thirty-four women and one man busted their finest moves for a spot on the dance squad. Judges will pare the field down to a lucky dozen who will dance for at least six games.", "With Ray Suarez On Wednesday, the NFL announced it would fine teams if their football players protest during the National Anthem. But, according to the new policy, players can skip the pregame ceremonies altogether, and stay in the locker room. President Trump praised the decision, stirring up the controversy yet again. Guest: Kevin B. Blackistone, ESPN panelist and professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. He writes sports commentary for the Washington Post. (@ProfBlackistone) From The Reading List: NPR.org: &#8220;All NFL Players &#8216;Shall Stand And Show Respect&#8217; For Flag And Anthem, League Says&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;Unveiling a new policy after months of controversy and debate over players taking a knee or otherwise making statements during the national anthem, the NFL says all of its athletes and staff &#8216;shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem&#8217; if they&#8217;re on the field. &#8216;Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room or in a similar location off the field until after the Anthem has been performed,&#8217; the league said in its new policy. The possibility that the NFL might issue a blanket restriction on protests during the anthem has been discussed for months, and the buzz gained new momentum this week. But the NFL Players Association says that &#8216;The NFL chose to not consult the union in the development of this new &#8216;policy.&#8221; The league&#8217;s decision goes against what the NFL had told players &#8216;about the principles, values and patriotism of our league,&#8217; the union said, adding that it will review the policy with an eye toward mounting challenges if elements of it contradict the current contract.&#8221;", "NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Liz Clarke of <em>The Washington Post </em>about her article where 15 former female employees spoke on the culture of sexual harassment within the Washington NFL team.", "NPR's Madeleine Brand talks to <EM>Slate</EM> contributor Ariel Levy about her time observing a taping of <EM>Girls Gone Wild</EM>, the voyeuristic party video series. Levy says many of the girls who bare their breasts for the video -- and sometimes much more -- view their actions as self-empowerment.", "Gloria Hillard sends us a noisy audio postcard from a cheerleading camp in Los Angeles." ]

[ "By . Anthony Hay . Follow @@Anthony_Hay . Queens Park Rangers striker Loic Remy has joined up with his team-mates following the collapse of his proposed move to Liverpool. France international Remy looked set to complete a permanent move away from Loftus Road before he failed a medical at Liverpool. Remy, who impressed while on loan at Newcastle last season by scoring 14 league goals, even travelled to America to finalise his move to Brendan Rodgers' side. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Redknapp and Rodgers talk about the Remy saga . Surprise arrival: Loic Remy is in Ireland to take part in QPR's pre-season training camp in Ireland . On his travels: Remy has flown back from the US to link up with his QPR team-mates ahead of the new season . Back in west London: Remy will now stay at QPR if he doesn't receive any other offers to leave the club . However the 27-year-old has now returned to QPR and is in contention to take part in his side's pre-season friendly match against Athlone Town on Tuesday evening. Harry Redknapp said he was willing to accept Remy back into his squad and questioned Liverpool's decision to pull the plug on the £8.5million move. The former Portsmouth boss will be hoping Remy can score the goals to help QPR consolidate their place in the Premier League this season. Added bonus: Harry Redknapp will be delighted to have Remy back at QPR after his move to Liverpool collapsed . VIDEO Newcastle have greater attacking threat - Pardew ." ]

[ "By . Joe Bernstein . QPR manager Harry Redknapp is to boost his Premier League squad by signing highly-rated midfielder Mark Davies from Bolton Wanderers this week. Redknapp is anxious to increase his numbers at Loftus Road after training with only 15 senior players last week, including Loic Remy who is heading to Liverpool. Davies, 26, also fits the younger age profile for new signings preferred by owner Tony Fernandes. The English Iniesta: Mark Davies is a target for Queens Park Rangers . Outbound: Loic Remy is on his way to Liverpool . Fernandes allowed Redknapp to sign Rio Ferdinand last week on a Bosman free but does not want the squad to be a Dad's army. Davies may initially join Rangers for a fee on a season-long loan until they see if they can preserve their top-flight status. Swansea City failed in a £5million bid to sign him a year ago but this time Championship club Bolton have agreed to let him go and a deal should be finalised by the end of the week.", "By . Dominic King . Follow @@DominicKing_DM . Liverpool are closing in on a deal for 20-year-old Atletico Madrid defender Javier Manquillo. Brendan Rodgers could secure the star on a season-long loan with a view to a permanent move to Anfield. Manquillo turned down moves to Getafe, Rayo Vallecano and Marseille to play for Liverpool in the Champions League. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Pile on! Moreno celebrates with Spain team-mates in training . Prospect: Liverpool are set to make a move for young Atletico Madrid left-back Javier Manquillo . First choice: Manquillo has turned down interest from other clubs in the hope of joining Liverpool . Rodgers has been on the lookout for defensive reinforcements since the transfer window opened. He is also keen on a deal for a left-back with Swansea's Ben Davies and Sevilla's Alberto Moreno on Liverpool's radar. But Davies is on the brink of a move to Tottenham - along with Michel Vorm - and is training with the north Londoners and Liverpool have been frustrated all summer by Sevilla's insistence on a high fee for their prized asset Alberto Moreno. The . hotly-tipped Manquillo made just four appearances for Atletico last . season. Loic Remy’s £8.5m move QPR will be completed in the next 36 hours. The France international began his medical in Boston last night and no problems are envisaged. Liverpool, meanwhile, are looking at Brazil goalkeeper Norberto Neto. Activity: Brendan Rodgers has already been busy in the transfer window this summer . Lazar Markovic and Adam Lallana are two of Liverpool's summer signings . Incoming: Liverpool still hope to bolster their defensive options with the signing of Dejan Lovren . VIDEO New Liverpool signing eyes Premier League trophy .", "By . Simon Jones . Tottenham will not give up on Wilfried Bony without a fight. Sportsmail revealed Liverpool's interest in the Swansea striker following Barcelona's move for Luis Suarez and talks are ongoing. However, Tottenham are ready to offer £18million for the Ivory Coast international. VIDEO Scroll down to watch some of Wilfried Bony's goals for former club Vitesse . On the move? Liverpool and Tottenham are both interested in signing striker Wilfried Bony from Swansea . Two's company: Tottenham also want to sign Ben Davies from Swansea . Part exchange: Gylfi Sigurdsson could be offered to Swansea in a swap deal for Bony and or Davies . They believe Bony is not Liverpool's first choice with manager Brendan Rodgers also interested in QPR striker Loic Remy among others. Tottenham want Bony after being rebuffed in soundings over Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku and will make their move having already spoken to Swansea about a possible exchange involving Gylfi Sigurdsson and left-back Ben Davies. The tangled web should unwind next week as the bids go in. Knocked back: Tottenham's interest in signing Romelu Lukaku was spurned by Chelsea . Keeping tabs: Liverpool are also considering a move for Loic Remy who spent last season on loan at Newcastle .", "By . Matt Morlidge . Follow @@MattMorlidge . QPR owner Tony Fernandes hopes sought-after striker Loic Remy remains with the Premier League new-boys this season so he can play FIFA 15 against him. The French international has been linked with a move away from Loftus Road all summer, famously failing a medical ahead of signing for Liverpool. And while Fernandes told talkSPORT it is their loss and QPR's gain, he also said he is ready to strengthen his 'special bond' with Remy playing the video game. Set to stay? QPR owner Tony Fernandes wants Loic Remy to stay at the club so he can play FIFA 15 against him . Big season: Fernandes was talking to talkSPORT ahead of QPR's Premier League reunion . 'It is Liverpool's loss and our gain,' he said on the Alan Brazil Breakfast Show. 'I have a special relationship with Remy from playing FIFA with him and I hope to continue playing FIFA 15 with him throughout the season! 'Nothing is ever cast in stone in football, but I am moderately optimistic Remy will be wearing the Hoops' shirt throughout this season.' No getaway: Remy failed a medical ahead of a move to Liverpool earlier this summer . QPR gained promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs last season, and Fernandes has praised the job Harry Redknapp has done at the club. The Malaysian owner is also happy with his dealings in the transfer market this summer, having attracted the likes of Jordon Mutch, Steven Caulker and Rio Ferdinand to west London.", "By . Dominic King . Follow @@DominicKing_DM . Liverpool are discussing Samuel Eto’o as a potential candidate as the club look to bring in a new striker. Eto’o is available following his release from Chelsea at the end of last season and would provide experience to Brendan Rodgers’ squad. Rodgers has been looking for a forward since a deal for Loic Remy collapsed but Eto’o, at this stage, is no more than just under consideration. VIDEO Scroll down for Eto'o: Mourinho's motivational skills are unique, he is incredible . Thumbs up: Samuel Eto'o could remain in the Premier League next season with Liverpool . From Blue to Red? Eto’o could be set to join Liverpool after leaving Chelsea . The 33-year-old does not fit the profile Liverpool have tended to sign under Fenway Sports Group’s ownership but he is a three-time Champions League winner and Liverpool, who will return to that competition after a five-season absence, are short of players with that experience. Inter Milan and Ajax have also spoken to the player's representatives in recent days. Liverpool expect Radamel Falcao to join Real Madrid from Monaco while Swansea's Wilfried Bony remains in Rodgers' thinking but would be expensive. Looking to strengthen: Brendan Rodgers is look for a striker after the deal for Loic Remy collapsed . VIDEO Positives heading into new season - Rodgers .", "Queens Park Rangers will revive interest in Kolbeinn Sigthorsson as they look to replace Loic Remy. The Iceland international, 24, held talks with QPR earlier this month but Rangers were unable to match the player's terms despite the clubs agreeing a £5million fee. Manager Harry Redknapp is also interested in Tottenham wingers Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend although the White Hart Lane club are reluctant to sell the latter. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Harry Redknapp express his shock at Loic Remy transfer . Wanted: Ajax striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson could replace Loic Remy as QPR's main forward this season . Deal: QPR had agreed to sign Sigthorsson for £5million earlier this month but could not match his terms . Interest: Harry Redknapp wants to sign Tottenham duo Aaron Lennon (left) and Andros Townsend (right) QPR have agreed a contract with Lassana Diarra after he passed a medical on Saturday. The former Portsmouth and Chelsea midfielder was sacked by Lokomotiv Moscow after a dispute with the coach which led to him refusing to train. But Redknapp has moved swiftly to bring in a player he has coached in the past. Late mover: Former Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Lassana Diarra has agreed a contract with QPR .", "By . Dominic King In Boston . Loic Remy had a medical in Boston on Tuesday as he closed in on a £8.5million move to Liverpool. Liverpool envisage no problems with his medical and expect the deal for the QPR striker to be completed in the next 36 hours having already agreed personal terms. The France international flew out to America - where Brendan Rodgers squad are training at Harvard University - and will become Liverpool's fifth signing of an increasingly busy summer. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Loic Remy in shooting practice during France training . Liverpool bound: Loic Remy is close to completing a move to the Reds . The Departed: Remy will be hoping to replace Luis Suarez and form a partnership with Daniel Sturridge . Remy will give Liverpool more striking options following the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and there is increasing confidence that he will be joined by Dejan Lovren, who has been Rodgers' top central defensive target all summer. Liverpool had a £20m bid for the Croat rebuffed in early June and though he was furious about that, threatening to stay away from St Mary's, Lovren reported back for pre-season training. But he has had his heart set on move to Merseyside and it appears that Southampton, who had been looking to command a bigger fee, will grant Lovren his wish and, in the process, take the fees they have received from Liverpool during this window to £47.6m. This will be the biggest outlay ever made by a Liverpool manager during one transfer window and Rodgers, after missing out on Swansea pair Ben Davies and Michel Vorm, is still looking for a left-back - a move for Sevilla's Alberto Moreno, who is a target for Napoli and Atletico Madrid, could yet be resurrected - and expects to add the promising young Belgium striker Divock Origi, who will be loaned back to Lille once his transfer is complete. Key target: Liverpool remain interested in Southampton's Dejan Lovren . Assuming all goes to plan with Lovren, he will link up with Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert, both of whom are among a squad of more than 30 - as is goalkeeper Pepe Reina - that have arrived in Boston. Lambert is still on a high after making his first Liverpool appearance in the 2-1 win over Preston at Deepdale on Saturday when he played 50 minutes of the friendly and wore the club's famous No 9 shirt. The England striker said: 'I was nervous before kick-off and I probably haven't been that nervous for a while. I've played in a lot of big games in my career and that's the most nervous I've been before a game for a while. 'I was a little bit disappointed not to get a goal but I thoroughly enjoyed it; it was a special moment for me and one I'll remember.' Dream come true: Rickie Lambert is delighted to be playing for his beloved Liverpool . VIDEO Borini off to Sunderland and Liverpool eye Remy .", "By . Craig Hope . Follow @@CraigHope01 . Harry Redknapp insists Loic Remy could not have failed a medical at Liverpool and says there must be another reason for his transfer falling through. The Queens Park Rangers striker was set to complete his move to Liverpool on Sunday having joined them on their US tour, only for the Reds to announce he had failed a medical. But Redknapp believes it is impossible for Remy’s fitness to be the real reason behind the collapse of the £8.5million deal. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Loic Remy in shooting practice during France training . It's off: Loic Remy was unable to complete his move to Liverpool but the club have not yet explained why . Spot on: Remy scores a penalty for QPR against Fulham last season . Bargain: Harry Redknapp signed Remy from Marseille for £8million in January 2013 . Loan ranger: Remy spent last season on loan at Newcastle, scoring 14 goals for the club . VIDEO Remy deal collapses . ‘I don’t see how he has failed a . medical. It doesn’t make sense,’ said the R’s boss at the unveiling of . new signing Rio Ferdinand on Monday. ‘He had a stringent medical here, one at Marseille, one at Newcastle and one with France before the World Cup. ‘He’s never had a problem with his fitness. You could not meet a fitter lad. There can’t be any issue with his fitness. ‘I . can’t see a medical reason. There must be other reasons. That (failing . medical) is not possible. There has to be another reason. ‘He has . never failed a medical before. He’s never had a problem and didn’t miss a . game at Newcastle (where he spent last season on loan). ‘They must have changed their mind or decided to go in another direction.’ Reunited: Harry Redknapp (right) and Rio Ferdinand worked together at West Ham . New start: Redknapp is delighted to have signed Ferdinand for QPR . New start: Ferdinand has signed for Redknapp's QPR after 12 years at Manchester United . No deal: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, seen here at the end of his team's 1-0 win over Olympiacos in Chicago on Sunday night, described the collapse of an £8.5m move for Remy as 'unfortunate' Confused: Redknapp was shocked that Remy had failed his medical at Liverpool . Remy could now return to Loftus Road, and that is something Redknapp would welcome. ‘He . will come back here,’ he said.‘Their loss is our gain. I have got a . fantastic striker capable of scoring 20 goals in the Premier League. ‘We need him now to come in here and get 20 goals. So from a selfish point of view I have got a great striker. ‘If he is here we will be delighted to have him back.’ Disappointment: Remy has been left devastated after his proposed £8.5m move to Anfield fell through .", "Brendan Rodgers has described the collapse of Loic Remy’s move as “unfortunate” but insisted Liverpool will be sticking by their decision. Liverpool had agreed personal terms after triggering a move with £8.5million bid for the France international and had even allocated a squad number for him but, at the last minute, they were forced to pull up stumps on the deal. The club have not given a specific reason over why they have chosen such a course of action but Rodgers, speaking after Liverpool had beaten Olympiacos 1-0 at Soldier Field in Chicago, offered his opinion and insisted his sympathies were with Remy. Scroll down for video . No deal: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, seen here at the end of his team's 1-0 win over Olympiacos in Chicago on Sunday night, described the collapse of an £8.5m move for Loic Remy as 'unfortunate' It's off: Loic Remy was unable to complete his move to Anfield but the club have not yet explained why it fell through . VIDEO Remy deal collapses . He said: ‘It's very simple we have made a decision as a club not to go ahead with the deal. It's unfortunate for the player. We are disappointed for the player but there’s nothing more to be said and we will move on and look at other targets.’ If the news about Remy was difficult to take, Rodgers did have a boost on Sunday when Dejan Lovren’s £20million switch from Southampton was confirmed and the manager is hoping Lovren will fill the void in his back four that has been there since Jamie Carragher retired in May 2013. Rodgers said: ‘He's right footed so he can play on the right but he prefers to play on the left. It will depend what needs must. The Important thing is that we have got the player and we will use him where we feel he needs to be. He’s a player who can still improve. Match winner: Raheem Sterling settled Liverpool's International Champions Cup match with Olympiacos after five minutes . Confirmed: Rodgers was boosted by the completion of Dejan Lovren's £20m move from Southampton . ‘I think Dejan is a really commanding central defender. I said since we lost Jamie Carragher we needed that leadership and he's a player who will gives us that. He's strong and can play. I was impressed by him when he was at Lyon and he was a big driving force for Southampton.’ Lovren will join up on Liverpool’s United States tour either in New York or Charlotte after agreeing a five-year contract and Rodgers believes his squad is now taking shape – and he is no longer mourning the sale of Luis Suarez. ‘I’m really pleased with how it's all coming along,’ said Rodgers, who should see Divock Origi become a Liverpool player in the next 24 hours, having agreed a £10million deal with Lille. ‘Our World Cup players have just come back. Nearly done: Liverpool are close to finalising a £10m deal for Lille and Belgium striker Divock Origi . Meet and greet: Rodgers signs autographs for some of Liverpool's American-based fans as they played Olympiacos in Chicago . ‘We have only just been together as a squad over the last week or so. I know the group well and I know those coming in will fit what we're trying to do. When the Southampton game (at Anfield on August 17) comes up, we will be ready for that.' Of the performance against Olympiakos, Rodgers added: ‘I was delighted with the team. As pre-season goes well, we will be getting sharper in our movements and passing but, at this time, we are building up the resistance of players and getting minutes under the belt. ‘In the first half, our passing was crisp and precise. We looked real threat at top end of the field. I was also very pleased with how we defended. We are in good shape and I am delighted.’", "Loic Remy's £8.5 million move to Liverpool dramatically collapsed on Sunday after he failed a medical. The France forward had flown out to Boston earlier this week after Liverpool had met the release clause in his contract and he had agreed personal terms and a long-term contract before beginning his fitness assessment. Given Liverpool, who also completed a £20million deal for Dejan Lovren on Sunday, have been based in unfamiliar surrounds, the medical had taken longer than normal to conduct but when the results came back, Liverpool decided they had no other option but to pull the plug on the move. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Loic Remy in shooting practice during France training . No deal: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, seen here at the end of his team's 1-0 win over Olympiacos in Chicago on Sunday night, described the collapse of an £8.5m move for Remy as 'unfortunate' It's off: Loic Remy was unable to complete his move to Liverpool but the club have not yet explained why . Match winner: Raheem Sterling settled Liverpool's International Champions Cup match with Olympiacos after five minutes . VIDEO Remy deal collapses . Liverpool have declined to comment on the specific reason they have withdrawn from the move but it is understood that the 27-year-old, who has a historical heart condition, is devastated his dream move to Anfield has fallen through. Manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed the deal was off after Liverpool beat Greek champions Olympiacos 1-0 in the International Champions Cup in Chicago. He said: ‘It's very simple we have made a decision as a club not to go ahead with the deal. It's unfortunate for the player. We are disappointed for the player but there’s nothing more to be said and we will move on and look at other targets.’ Having sold Luis Suarez to Barcelona, they must now decide whether they look for another forward as Daniel Sturridge and Rickie Lambert are the only senior strikers. They are in the process of sealing a £10million deal for Divock Origi but the Belgium forward will be loaned back to Lille next year. Liverpool have spent close to £100million this summer yet they have funds available. Manager Brendan Rodgers, however, will not make a decision in haste, preferring instead to consider his options. He may even wait until the winter transfer window to sign a striker. Confirmed: Rodgers was boosted by the completion of Dejan Lovren's £20m move from Southampton . Incoming: Liverpool are also close to wrapping up the signing of Lille and Belgium forward Divock Origi . Rodgers said: ‘There is money to spend, no question, but I won’t spend it for the sake of it. It has to be the right type. If that means I have to wait until January then that’s what I will do. The players at the moment are in great condition, they are working very well and very hard. ‘I have seen the development in some of the young players but if the right ones become available we would like to do something because i still have a lot to do on that front – but if they’re not available, I will wait.’ It is the second blow for Rodgers in the space of 48 hours after he lost Adam Lallana, his £23.6million signing from Southampton, for six week after he damaged his lateral collateral knee ligaments in training. Rather than flying back to England, Lallana – who does not need surgery – will stay with Liverpool’s squad for the remainder of their US tour in order to get to know his new team-mates but there is no disputing his frustration. Still, Rodgers feels it will not impact on Liverpool too severely. Disappointment: Remy has been left devastated after his proposed £8.5m move to Anfield fell through . ‘Last year if someone like Adam had gone down it would have really hurt us,’ Rodgers said. ‘It’s unfortunate for him but thankfully at this stage of the season, where he has got a good level of fitness, which means he can recover quicker. ‘He won’t be too far away after the start of the season, which is great news. This year is vital for us. You’re going to pick up injuries and we need to have the players who can step in and that’s what we are trying to build.’ There was, at least, something positive for Rodgers with the news that his pursuit of Lovren has reached a successful conclusion. The Croatia international has signed a long-term deal and will link up with Liverpool in either New York or Charlotte, their next stops on this American tour. Lovren, who has become the most expensive defender in Liverpool’s history, described the move as a “dream come true” and Rodgers believes he has the type of characteristics that will enable his side to vastly improve on the 51 goals they conceded last season in the Barclays Premier League. The manager believes Lovren can fill the void left in the back four that has been there since Jamie Carragher retired in 2013. Rodgers said: ‘He's right footed so he can play on the right but he prefers to play on the left. It will depend what needs must. The Important thing is that we have got the player and we will use him where we feel he needs to be. He’s a player who can still improve. Meet and greet: Rodgers signs autographs for some of Liverpool's American-based fans as they played Olympiacos in Chicago . Pride and passion: Liverpool fans show their colours during the friendly at Soldier Field in Chicago . ‘I think Dejan is a really commanding central defender. I said since we lost Jamie Carragher we needed that leadership and he's a player who will gives us that. He's strong and can play. I was impressed by him when he was at Lyon and he was a big driving force for Southampton.’ Lovren will join up on Liverpool’s United States tour either in New York or Charlotte after agreeing a five-year contract and Rodgers believes his squad is now taking shape – and he is no longer mourning the sale of Luis Suarez. ‘I’m really pleased with how it's all coming along,’ said Rodgers, who should see Divock Origi become a Liverpool player in the next 24 hours, having agreed a £10million deal with Lille. ‘Our World Cup players have just come back. ‘We have only just been together as a squad over the last week or so. I know the group well and I know those coming in will fit what we're trying to do. When the Southampton game (at Anfield on August 17) comes up, we will be ready for that.' Of the performance against Olympiakos, Rodgers added: ‘I was delighted with the team. As pre-season goes well, we will be getting sharper in our movements and passing but, at this time, we are building up the resistance of players and getting minutes under the belt. ‘In the first half, our passing was crisp and precise. We looked real threat at top end of the field. I was also very pleased with how we defended. We are in good shape and I am delighted.’", "Despite playing just 160 minutes of Premier League football so far this season, Chelsea striker Loic Remy already has as many goals as Liverpool's entire strikeforce. Remy has had to settle for a supporting role for Jose Mourinho's side this season following Diego Costa's brilliant start to life in a Chelsea shirt, but that hasn't stopped the Frenchman from bagging two Premier League goals in his limited time on the pitch. The former QPR striker, who has three goals to his name this season, was also forced to miss several games after picking up a groin injury during Chelsea's 6-0 win against Maribor in October. Loic Remy (centre) has scored as many goals as Liverpool's entire strikeforce . Remy sweeps the ball home to score his second Premier League goal of the season . Loic Remy: 2 in 160 minutes . Rickie Lambert: 1 in 445 minutes . Daniel Sturridge : 1 in 270 minutes . Fabio Borini: 0 in 156 minutes . Mario Balotelli: 0 in 685 minutes . Liverpool's strikeforce of Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini have managed just two Premier League goals between them after a difficult start to the season. £16million man Balotelli has endured a terrible start to life in a Liverpool shirt and is without a Premier League goal for his new club despite starting in eight of Liverpool's 14 games and playing 685 minutes. Brendan Rodgers has sorely missed the presence of star striker Sturridge, who has been ruled out since September with a thigh injury and scored just once before getting injured. Mario Balotelli is yet to score a Premier League goal for Liverpool . Rickie Lambert has scored just one goal for Liverpool since joining in the summer . Lambert's chances have been limited, but the former Southampton frontman bagged his first goal for the Reds during the 3-1 defeat against Crystal Palace in November. Remy, however, has scored three times in his nine appearances for the Blues this season and admits that he must keep it up. He told ChelseaTV: 'For me it's really important to score and the opportunity was there because Diego [Costa] was not involved tonight and Didier played well again and it's important to increase the level and keep going in this direction.' Daniel Sturridge has been out of action since September with a thigh injury .", "Fernando Torres has officially joined AC Milan in a two-year loan move that will allow the striker to see out the remainder of his Chelsea contract in Italy. The 30-year-old brought his three-and-a-half year stint at Stamford Bridge to an end after completing a medical in Milan on Sunday - the same day Chelsea announced the £8million signing of QPR's Loic Remy as a replacement. Torres, in the crowd for Milan's Serie A opener against Lazio at the San Siro on Sunday, was confirmed as their newest No 9 before the 3-1 win. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Jose Mourinho get visibly upset at losing Fernando Torres . Watching his new club: Fernando Torres spotted in the crowd at the Serie A match between AC Milan and Lazio . Confirmed: Torres joins Milan on a two-year loan deal to see out his Chelsea contract until June 30 2016 . Ready: Torres admitted he was excited to get going at Milan's newest No 9 after joining on loan from Chelsea . Pose: Torres has been handed the No 9 shirt and will become Milan's newest striker for the next two years . All good: Torres gives the thumbs up after completing his medical at AC Milan on Sunday ahead of his move . Arrival: Torres pictured arriving in Milan on Saturday ahead of his two-year loan move from Chelsea . ATLETICO MADRID (2001-07) Appearances & Goals: 244 & 91 . Goals per game ratio: 2.7 matches . LIVERPOOL (2007-11) Appearances & Goals: 142 & 81 . Goals per game ratio: 1.8 matches . Cost per goal (signed for £24m): £296,000 . CHELSEA (2011-14) Appearances & Goals: 172 & 45 . Goals per game ratio: 3.8 matches . Cost per goal (signed for £50m): £1.1m . SPAIN (2003-) Appearances & Goals: 110 & 38 . Goals per game ratio: 2.9 matches . Torres's deal with Milan ends in June 2016, which coincides with the expiry of his current Chelsea contract. The Spaniard, who joined Chelsea from Liverpool for £50m in 2011, stressed how keen he is to impress new manager Filippo Inzaghi. 'I cannot wait to start this new adventure,' Torres told the Milan Channel. 'I spoke to the coach yesterday and I am really pleased to work with a coach like him. 'He was a great goal-scorer and definitely understands what the role of a striker is. I am sure that he can teach me and help me a lot in this adventure.' 'I was close to joining Milan when I was at Atletico Madrid (in 2007), but we’re talking about many years ago, a long time has since passed. 'I’ve now finally arrived at Milan. Playing for Milan isn’t easy. It’s an honour and a privilege to wear this shirt. I want to give my best and help the side have a great season.' Torres, greeted by about 200 fans at the Milan Linate Airport on Saturday, will wear the No 9 shirt, as worn by Inzaghi and Dutch legend Marco van Basten. 'It would be a privilege to wear the number 9 jersey and to play at the level that everybody expects from me,' he continued. 'I thank the fans for the welcome. 'I am sure that it will all go well. I can promise that I will give 100 per cent and that with their help this experience will be fantastic and for many years I hope.' Pose: A supporter outside the 'Madonnina Clinic' takes a photo with the £50million Chelsea striker . New challenge: After seven years in the Premier League, Torres will head for Serie A for a hopeful fresh start . Selfie: Supporters tried to take pictures with the Spain international as he arrived for his AC Milan medical . En route: Torres with AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani just after his arrival at Linate Airport on Saturday . Click here to read Sportsmail's story about Loic Remy joining Chelsea for £8million . Torres - acting as a replacement for Mario Balotelli, who joined Liverpool for £16m in August - forced Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to look elsewhere before the transfer market closes on Monday. The Blues beat off a late intervention from Arsenal to secure their own £8m replacement in the form of Remy on a four-year deal, and confirmed the deal on Sunday afternoon. The striker's representatives were already in talks with Chelsea, before Arsenal tried the hijack. The former Marseille player told Chelsea's website: 'I feel very happy and very proud. When I heard Chelsea wanted me I said \"let's go\" because they are one of the best clubs in the world.' Transfer: Loic Remy signed for Chelsea on a four-year deal after the Blues met his QPR buyout clause . Remy: 'When I heard Chelsea wanted me I said \"let's go\" because they are one of the best clubs in the world' Done: Chelsea beat off competition from Arsenal to secure the £8m signature of Remy after Torres's departure .", "Barcelona hope to formally announce the signing of Luis Suarez on Thursday once Alexis Sanchez is confirmed as an Arsenal player. The signing could be delayed until Friday, however, as they await further clarification over his four-month ban from FIFA. Suarez has been suspended from all football activity for four months by FIFA after he bit defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's World Cup group stage match with Italy. VIDEO: Scroll down to watch Alexis Sanchez freestyling with Chile team-mates . Bye bye? Luis Suarez looks set to complete a £75million move to Barcelona from Liverpool . Controversy: Barca want to know more about Suarez's four-month suspension before signing him . Ouch: Suarez holds his teeth after biting Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay's World Cup win against Italy . Looking back: Luis Suarez looks poised to move to La Liga to join Barca in a deal worth a £75m . Anticipation: Futbolmania are already stocking 'Suarez 9' shirts ahead of his expected move to La Liga . Pulling up: Sanchez's mother used to wash fish and sell flowers in order to feed her four children . VIDEO Suarez in, Sanchez out at Barca . But with Arsene Wenger confident of concluding a £30million deal for Barcelona forward Sanchez imminently, then Suarez's £75m move to Catalonia could also be completed. Chile star Sanchez has opted for the Gunners ahead of Liverpool and Juventus and his representatives are in London to agree personal terms and conclude the deal. Sanchez is set to be offered a similar package to top-earner Mesut Ozil, who is paid £140,000 a week. Arsenal will meet Barcelona’s £30m valuation, allowing the Spanish side to complete a deal for Suarez. An £11m move for Newcastle defender Mathieu Debuchy is almost complete and an £8m swoop for QPR striker Loic Remy is held up only by his personal terms. Sportsmail understands Remy, who earns £75,000 a week at Loftus Road, and Arsenal are still some distance apart on terms but Debuchy is on the brink of completing his protracted switch to the Emirates after having a medical on Monday. He will replace Bacary Sagna, who has joined Manchester City, as the club’s first-choice right back. Choices: Sanchez opted for Arsenal ahead of Juventus and Premier League rivals Liverpool . Strengthening: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (bottom right) is looking to mount a title challenge . Formality: France international Debuchy is set to complete his £11m move to the Emirates . Treble? Loic Remy, who spent last season on loan at Newcastle, looks set to join Arsenal from QPR too . VIDEO Debuchy confirms Gunners move .", "Everton are exploring the possibility of signing free agent Samuel Eto'o, meaning they could face direct competition from rivals Liverpool for the Cameroonian forward. The 33-year-old's wage demands are an obvious stumbling block but as he is a free agent, Everton have shown an interest. Liverpool are also considering Eto'o as they ponder short and long-term replacements fro Luis Suarez. VIDEO Scroll down for 'Martinez: Aiming to maintain last year's form even with Europe' Thumbs up: Samuel Eto'o could remain in the Premier League next season with Everton or Liverpool . Tug-of-war: Eto’o could be set to move to Merseyside as Liverpool and Everton chase ex-Chelsea striker . The forward is available following his release from Chelsea at the end of last season and would provide experience to both Merseyside clubs' squads. CLICK HERE to register - for FREE - and start picking your £100m squad now... Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers wants to boost his forward line following the departure of Suarez to Barcelona and the collapse of the signing of Loic Remy. Inter Milan and Ajax have also spoken to the player's representatives in recent days, so Eto'o may not remain in England. Looking to strengthen: Brendan Rodgers is looking for a striker after the deal for Loic Remy collapsed .", "Arsene Wenger is confident of concluding a deal for Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez on Wednesday - and two more players could follow in a £50m spree. The Chile star has opted for the Gunners ahead of Liverpool and Juventus and his representatives are in London to agree personal terms and conclude the deal. Sanchez is set to be offered a similar package to top-earner Mesut Ozil, who is paid £140,000 a week. Arsenal will meet Barcelona’s £30m valuation, allowing the Spanish side to complete a £75m deal for Liverpool forward Luis Suarez. VIDEO: Scroll down to watch Alexis Sanchez freestyling with Chile team-mates . Pulling up: Sanchez's mother used to wash fish and sell flowers in order to feed her four children . VIDEO Suarez in, Sanchez out at Barca . An £11m move for Newcastle defender Mathieu Debuchy is almost complete and an £8m swoop for QPR striker Loic Remy is held up only by his personal terms. Sportsmail understands Remy, who earns £75,000 a week at Loftus Road, and Arsenal are still some distance apart on terms but Debuchy is on the brink of completing his protracted switch to the Emirates after having a medical on Monday. He will replace Bacary Sagna, who has joined Manchester City, as the club’s first-choice right back. Choices: Sanchez opted for Arsenal ahead of Juventus and Premier League rivals Liverpool . Strengthening: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (bottom right) is looking to mount a title challenge . Formality: France international Debuchy is set to complete his £11m move to the Emirates .", "By . David Kent . Brendan Rodgers is splashing his Luis Suarez cash - and the Liverpool boss looks more focused than ever as he looks to go one step better in the Premier League this season. Suarez's £75million sale to Barcelona has opened up a transfer war chest for Rodgers - and he is set to splash £28.5m over the weekend with the arrivals of Southampton's Dejan Lovren and French striker Loic Remy imminent. But back with his day-to-day work in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rodgers is looking to get the best out of his existing charges, as part of what will be a strong squad competing at home and in Europe. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Pepe Reina back in Liverpool training . Analysing: Brendan Rodgers casts his eye over his squad during training at Harvard University . Leading the way: Steven Gerrard gets to the front of the pack for a jog, fresh from international retirement . Issuing instructions: Rodgers barks out his orders to the Liverpool squad . Relief: Gerrard and Raheem Sterling had a miserable World Cup with England but are now back with Liverpool . Go again: Gerrard completes one of a series of drills set up by Rodgers and his team of staff . Static marker: Lambert gets away from his plastic counterpart . Liverpool are preparing for their fourth pre season game - against Olympiacos on Sunday evening - before being joined by Lovren and Remy next week once their paperwork goes through. And Steven Gerrard was right in the mix of things as he gets ready for a campaign without England duty after announcing his retirement from the international stage. Rodgers stood on the sidelines watching on intently - analysing where he next needs to splash the cash. Work rate: The players, including Jordon Henderson, Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, got a good workout . On top: Kolo Toure nips the ball away from new Liverpool No 9 Rickie Lambert during the session . Big year to come: Philippe Coutinho escapes from Jordan Henderson and has had an impressive pre season . Battle: Toure and Jordon Ibe fight it out for the ball in the Massachusetts heat . Hands up if you're worried about Remy: Lambert will have more competition for a place in the XI .", "Chelsea have stepped up their search for a new striker by turning their attention to Queens Park Rangers' Loic Remy. Jose Mourinho is keen to add another forward to his squad following Fernando Torres' move to AC Milan on a two-year deal. Torres' departure leaves Mourinho with just Diego Costa and Didier Drogba as recognised senior strikers. VIDEO Scroll down for Jose Mourinho visibly upset at prospect of losing Fernando Torres . Interest: Chelsea have enquired about QPR's Loic Remy following Fernando Torres' Stamford Bridge exit . Adios: Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has agreed a permanent move to AC Milan on a two-year deal . And the Stamford Bridge supremo is hoping to tempt Remy across West London with the promise of Champions League football. Chelsea have contacted QPR about the striker's availability on either a loan or permanent deal. The former Marseille man's versatility means that he could operate as a central striker or wide in a front three. Remy has made it clear that he wants to leave Loftus Road for a team playing in Europe's elite competition and it is believed the French international would jump at the chance to move to Stamford Bridge. The 27-year-old impressed on loan at Newcastle United last season, scoring 14 goals in 26 league games. Form: Remy scored an impressive 14 goals in 26 league games during a loan spell at Newcastle last season . Versatile: France international Remy would give Chelsea options both at central striker and in wide channels .", "Brendan Rodgers has warned his defenders that they must get better if Liverpool are to mount another challenge for the Premier League title this season. The free-scoring Reds came within two points of winning the championship last season, but conceded 46 goals along the way and the manager has identified his back-line as the main area that needs to be improved. '(Defence) is a place where we want to be better, there’s no doubt about that,' he told Sky Sports News. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Gerrard and Sturridge take selfies with fans in the crown . Case for the defence: Brendan Rodgers knows his back-line need to improve this season . Leaky: Liverpool eventually lost the title race to Manchester City after conceding 49 goals . 'It wasn’t good enough to concede that many goals, considering the amount of possession we had and amount of goals we scored. 'Generally of course the whole team will be looking to improve, and there are areas that we will specifically be looking at between now and August.' Liverpool will be tested more this season now that they have qualified for the Champions League, although Rodgers says their return to Europe's elite competition has made signing new players easier. Europe's elite: Champions League football has attracted top players like Adam Lallana . 'We’re in the Champions League, players want to come here and play and that’s great,' he said. 'It is easier to attract players but you’ve still got to do your work and convince players to come. 'The off-season wasn’t much of a holiday really! The scouting team, myself, the directors were flying all over Europe to get players in.' The Anfield club has confirmed the signings of Emre Can, Lazar Markovic and Southampton pair Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert - with Rodgers revealing there is likely to be more to come. 'At this level you have to be able to spend and the owners have been great,' he added. 'They’ve . backed us in terms of getting players in and hopefully we can get one or . two more in which will give us great depth going into all the . competitions.' 'The best players want to play at the best level.' Liverpool . are expected to complete deals for Southampton defender Dejan Lovren, . QPR forward Loic Remy and Belgium World Cup star Divock Origi before the . transfer window closes. I'll get my Croat: Dejan Lovren is close to completing a £20m move from Southampton to Liverpool . More to follow: Loic Remy (L) and Divock Origi (R) are also expected to arrive at Anfield imminently . Meanwhile, Rodgers has said that he will not rush the recovery of injured forward Lallana after the England international suffered lateral collateral ligament damage during a training session in the United States. 'Of course it was very disappointing - it's probably going to be four to six weeks,' Rodgers said at a media conference from Soldier Field in Chicago. 'He has looked fantastic in training; it was just a very simple exercise with no pressure. The medical team are looking closely at that at the moment. 'We're hopeful that he'll come back fairly quickly but there's no rush. He's a fantastic player, we just need to get him back fit and well because it's a long season.'", "By . Kieran Gill for MailOnline . Follow @@kie1410 . Jose Mourinho insists specialists have told him Loic Remy 'does not have a problem to play football' a month after the QPR striker's move to Liverpool collapsed due to a failed medical. The 27-year-old agreed personal terms with the Anfield outfit after his release clause was met by an £8.5million bid, but Liverpool pulled out of the deal following the results of a fitness assessment. Mourinho, though, says he recognises no problem with the France forward ahead of a potential medical with Chelsea to replace Fernando Torres, who joined AC Milan on a two-year loan. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Harry Redknapp express his shock at Loic Remy transfer . Fit: Jose Mourinho insists specialists have told him that QPR striker Loic Remy would be able 'to play football' On the move? Remy was absent from QPR's squad vs Sunderland on Saturday amid potential move to Chelsea . Medical: Remy failed a fitness assessment with Liverpool in July which led to the Anfield club pulling the plug . Born: France, Januar 2 1987 (age 27) Playing position: Striker . 2006-2008: Lyon (12 apps, 0 gls) 2008-2008: Lens (loan) (30, 3) 2008-2010: Nice (68, 26) 2010-2013: Marseille (68, 27) 2013-NOW: QPR (15, 6) 2013-2014: Newcastle (26, 14) 2009-NOW: France (24, 5) 'I told my people in the club that I have no news until the end of this game,' Mourinho told SkySports after Chelsea beat Everton 6-3 at Goodison on Saturday evening. 'They know I don’t like communicating before a game. 'I know that we’re trying since yesterday to get Loic Remy, since we knew Fernando was leaving. 'Now it’s time to make some calls and have news. We have a fantastic doctor and I trust him completely. They will identify any problem. 'He has lots of people working with him in different areas, and for sure we’ll try to identify clearly what the situation is. 'The information we have from specialists in different areas is that he does not have a problem to play football.' Torres ended his three-and-a-half year stint with Chelsea by joining AC Milan on Friday. The striker, having signed for £50m in 2011 from Liverpool, will see out the remainder of his contract in Serie A. Business: Mourinho says his information from specialists is Remy 'does not have a problem to play football' Move: Mourinho admitted he was in the market for Remy since Chelsea learned of Fernando Torres's departure .", "By . Simon Jones . Tottenham have struck a deal with Swansea to sign Ben Davies and Michel Vorm with Gylfi Sigurdsson and cash going the other way. The £15million arrangement sees Tottenham pip Liverpool to both targets. Davies, a 21-year-old Wales international, has moved to White Hart Lane despite Liverpool's overtures because he believes he will play more regularly. Holland international Vorm has also been watched closely by Liverpool as they wanted competition for Simon Mignolet. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Tottenham play American Football with NFL's Seattle Seahawks . Prospect: Davies has attracted the attention of several top clubs including Liverpool, but is set for Spurs . Promising: Davies impressed at full back for Swansea in the Premier League last season . Solid: Vorm has been a consistent performer in the Premier League over the last few years . New chapter: Sigurdsson is set to depart Tottenham after two years . However, their inability to move Pepe Reina to Napoli on a permanent deal slowed down their pursuit. The 30-year-old Vorm will provide competition for Hugo Lloris who recently signed a new five year contract. Liverpool have interest in Sevilla's Alberto Moreno which is threatened by Atletico Madrid. He is also considered over-priced and it could prompt a renewed bid for Chelsea's Ryan Bertrand. Playing time: The prospect of first team football led Davies to choose Tottenham over Liverpool . They have offered the buyout clause of £8.5million for Loic Remy at QPR, but he may have to drop his wage demands for the deal to be concluded. Sigurdsson, meanwhile, returns to Swansea, the club where he forged a reputation a goalscoring midfielder. Crystal Palace had agreed an £8million fee with Tottenham for the Iceland international but the player preferred a switch back to Wales.", "Jose Mourinho has declared his 'pride' at Chelsea's transfer business as he prepares to unveil Loic Remy as the 'perfect' addition to his attacking trio. Remy could make his debut against Swansea on Saturday after a £10.5million move from Queens Park Rangers, which was completed once Fernando Torres had joined AC Milan on loan for the final two years of his contract. The deal was the last step in Mourinho's overhaul of his strike options with Remy, Diego Costa and Didier Drogba replacing Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto'o, who scored just 19 Barclays Premier League goals between them last season. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Jose Mourinho: Diego Costa has a chance against Swansea . Summer signing Loic Remy, pictured in training, could make his Chelsea debut against Swansea on Saturday . Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, pictured on the touchline against Everton, is happy with his new-look attack . Fernando Torres was shipped out on loan to AC Milan to make space for Loic Remy in the Chelsea squad . 'Remy has just arrived and it is a new life for him,' said Mourinho. 'For Fernando, it would be the same life he'd had for previous years. His career here was not super successful but in important moments he was there many times and gave an important contribution to this club. 'We like him a lot but Remy was one of the players we had in our objectives. He was one of the players we were ready to try to get if a space opened. The club was ready to give us a striker we like and one perfect to be one of our three.' The Chelsea boss has no fears about Remy despite reports that he failed a medical at Liverpool. This triggered concerns about a heart condition, first noticed when he joined Marseille from Nice in 2010. 'We don't have Liverpool's report,' said Mourinho. 'In this club, medical responsibilities start with Dr (Paco) Biosca. He did his job, not on his own, surrounded by opinions from top specialists in different areas, and the conclusion was the same as France's medical department had before the World Cup, that the player has no problem.' After criticising his strikers last season, the Chelsea manager is pleased with the balance up front. 'We have a guy in Didier who is a penalty-box expert, the best of the three in the air,' he said. 'Remy is fast, attacks spaces and can play from the sides. Diego is a player we were chasing for a year because he is a player for the style we want. We changed three for three and we believe these three give us more.' Didier Drogba, pictured reacting to a missed chance at Burnley, has returned to Chelsea on a one-year deal . Jose Mourinho has praised the ability of Loic Remy after signing him in a £10.5million deal from QPR . Diego Costa, who arrived at Stamford Bridge from Atletico Madrid this summer, celebrates scoring at Everton . Mourinho applauded his club for selling Ba, David Luiz and Romelu Lukaku to fund moves for Costa, Remy, Cesc Fabregas and Filipe Luis, when UEFA are scrutinising balance sheets for Financial Fair Play (FFP). 'We did our job in a good way, something that is fundamental for us,' he said. 'It's not just a legal question. It's also a pride question and that's FFP. It is something Mr Abramovich is proud of. My club did it in a magnificent way with the income and the players we bought.' Costa, named on Friday as the Premier League's Player of the Month for August, is back in training after a hamstring injury picked up on international duty with Spain but may be given extra time to rest ahead of Wednesday's Champions League opener against Schalke. Jose Mourinho allowed defender David Luiz to join French champions PSG for £50million earlier this summer . Chelsea sold striker Romelu Lukaku (right) to Everton for £28million and have reinvested the money wisely . Mourinho has not won the Manager of the Month award for nearly eight years but was happy to concede defeat to Garry Monk of Swansea, who will be at Stamford Bridge today. 'I prefer my players to be players of the month,' said the Chelsea boss. 'Last season some of them really deserved it and never got it and, this month, if it wasn't Diego or Fabregas or Matic, I would be more disappointed. 'Finally we have a player of the month, which Diego deserved. The fact the decision went to the Swansea manager for manager of the month is fair.'", "By . Joe Bernstein . With convenient timing, Liverpool agreed on Saturday an £8.5million fee with QPR for French World Cup striker Loic Remy at the same time they were playing their first match on English soil since selling Luis Suarez to Barcelona. Manager Brendan Rodgers will now hope the deal can be concluded in time for Remy to play the majority of the club’s pre-season tour of America, which begins next weekend. Rodgers will hope with Remy and Ricky Lambert added to the squad, the 31 goals Suarez scored last season will be replaced. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Loic Remy during shooting practice in France training . On the move: Liverpool have given permission to speak to QPR striker Loic Remy after the clubs agreed a fee . Relegated: Remy was unable to stop QPR being relegated from the Premier League in 2012-13 . Pedigree: Remy spent last season on loan at Newcastle, scoring 14 goals for the Magpies . Remy enjoyed a successful loan spell in the top flight with Newcastle United last season. Boyhood Liverpool fan Lambert, who was released by them at 15, made his debut in yesterday’s 2-1 win at Preston. The contest was rendered meaningless by an avalanche of substitutions that saw a total of 47 players used. But . it was still a proud moment for 32-year-old Lambert to pull on the red . shirt of his local club and he admitted afterwards: ‘It was hard keeping . the emotions in check.’ Fellow . new boy Emre Can limped off only 21 minutes into his first game but . manager Brendan Rodgers insisted it was nothing serious for the . £10million midfielder signed from Bayer Leverkusen. ‘It . was precautionary. One of our objectives for the game was to develop . our fitness levels and it was important not to get any injuries,’ said . Rodgers. ‘He felt a . tightness. He hasn’t pulled anything and at this stage of pre-season . there’s no point in risking anything so he came off and seems fine.’ Reinforcements: Liverpool are short of cover following the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona . Options: Remy will compete with Rickie Lambert and Daniel Sturridge . Partnership: Sturridge struck up an excellent understanding with Suarez . Preparation: Brendan Rodgers is trying to build a side ready to compete in the Champions League . Preston’s promising youngster Josh Brownhill, watched by Arsenal, put the home side ahead on the stroke of half-time. But two of Liverpool’s many substitutes Suso and Kristoph Peterson turned the result around in the last 20 minutes. A . surprise inclusion was striker Fabio Borini. Liverpool have agreed to . sell him to Sunderland and the Italian is still discussing personal . terms.", "Arsenal are primed for another summer transfer battle with Liverpool, this time over Barcelona  forward Alexis Sanchez. Following the club record £42.5million capture of Mesut Ozil last summer, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wants to make another marquee signing with Sanchez his No 1 target. Barcelona are prepared to let the Chile international leave as new manager Luis Enrique stamps his authority on the club. VIDEO: Scroll down to see stunner Jhendelyn Nunez flash her bra after Sanchez scores . In demand: Arsenal and Liverpool both want to sign Chile star Alexis Sanchez . And the Gunners have opened talks with Barcelona with a view to making a £22m offer for Sanchez. However, Arsenal will probably have to raise their offer as Liverpool have already discussed a £30m bid. Barca officials, who arrived in London on Wednesday to start formal talks with Liverpool over Luis Suarez, are prepared to use Sanchez as a makeweight in their attempts to land the Uruguayan. However, the Suarez deal is not subject to Liverpool signing Sanchez, 25. Wednesday’s . talks, which were led by Barca trio Raul Sanllehi, Toni Rossich and . Jordi Mestre, are said to have been productive. World Cup star: Sanchez scored two and provided the same amount of assists . However, it is understood Sanchez’s representatives, if he is to leave the Nou Camp, want him to move to Arsenal though the decision ultimately rests with Sanchez. If Sanchez turns down an Anfield move it would mean only a straight Barca cash offer of around £80m would persuade Liverpool to sell Suarez. The fight to land Sanchez, who is also . interesting Manchester United, is the second time in 12 months Liverpool . and Arsenal have gone head to head in the transfer market. Last summer, Arsenal’s attempts to sign Suarez and their subsequent £40,000,001 offer for the Uruguayan infuriated Anfield chiefs. Barca bound: Luis Suarez is in talks over a move to the Nou Camp . Ironically, if Sanchez does move to the Premier League he would love to go to Old Trafford because he has been a fan of United since boyhood. Wenger has . a £100m transfer kitty to strengthen his side ahead of next season and . wants a striker, a central midfielder, a right-back and a back-up . goalkeeper. The . Gunners have an interest in Sanchez’s international team-mate Arturo . Vidal, but the midfielder’s £40m asking price is likely to prove . prohibitive despite Arsenal’s healthy financial position. Attracting interest: Sanchez's form in Spain hasn't gone unnoticed by the Premier League big guns . Their bid to persuade Bayer Leverkusen to part with Lars Bender is proving difficult, so the Gunners are now ready to turn to Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin in their search for a defensive midfielder. Arsenal, however, are confident of signing Queens Park Rangers striker Loic Remy. Liverpool did complete one deal on Wednesday, taking Kevin Stewart, 20, on a two-year deal after the defender left Tottenham. Goal machine: Arsenal are confident of landing QPR striker Loic Remy .", "By . Gerard Brand for MailOnline . Follow @@gedbrand10 . For all the moves before 11pm, click here . Fabio Borini's proposed £10million move from Liverpool to Queens Park Rangers is officially off after the west London club failed to agree personal terms with the striker. The Italian had been linked with a move back to Sunderland after spending last season on loan at the Stadium of Light, but that deal also completely collapsed due to the prohibitive cost of a permanent deal. VIDEO Scroll down for Harry Redknapp on QPR's desperate need for new players . Breakdown: Striker Fabio Borini's proposes move to join Queens Park Rangers is off . Steven Caulker (£8m), Jordon Mutch (£6m), Leroy Fer and Rio Ferdinand (free) have joined the Loftus Road club this summer. The Black Cats had wanted to take Borini on loan, but that option was ruled out once Sebastian Coates joined as Premier League rules don't allow clubs to sign more than one player on loan from the same team. QPR manager Harry Redknapp was in the market for a new striker after Loic Remy joined Chelsea. Meanwhile, Sandro is having a medical at QPR ahead of a £10million move to Loftus Road. Redknapp knows the 25-year-old well from his time as manager of Tottenham and is keen to nab Sandro, who seems out-of-favour with Mauricio Pochettino. Value: Liverpool want a return on the £12m they spent on Borini, rather than letting him leave on loan . Going? Sandro is wanted by QPR but price had been a sticking point between the two clubs .", "Each week Sportsmail gathers up the ratings from our team of reporters to provide the best starting XI of the day. Who said the FA Cup is dead? Premier League heavyweights Chelsea and Manchester City were eliminated from the historic cup competition as they fell to shock defeats to Bradford and Middlesbrough respectively. Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew maintained his 100 per cent record at the Eagles with a win at former side Southampton thanks to a double by Marouane Chamakh. So, here is our team of the day. GK - Adam Bogdan (Liverpool vs BOLTON) - 8.5 . Thwarted the hosts time and again with a number of fantastic saves to deny the likes of Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho. Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan made a number of key saves to deny Liverpool's attacking players . DEF - Stephen Darby (Chelsea vs BRADFORD) - 7.5 . Kept Loic Remy at bay with some fine defending before having to deal with Eden Hazard. Bradford defender Stephen Darby kept a close eye on Chelsea's Loic Remy during his side's shock win . DEF - Ben Gibson (Manchester City vs MIDDLESBROUGH) - 7 . Helped his side keep a clean sheet against the Premier League champions with a fine display against Sergio Aguero. Ben Gibson was tasked with the brief of trying to stop Manchester City ace Sergio Aguero . DEF - Tim Ream (Liverpool vs BOLTON) - 7.5 . The American defender stood firm to deal with the threat of Sterling, Coutinho and Co. Bolton's Tim Ream closes down Adam Lallana during his side's goalless draw with Liverpool . DEF - Dorian Dervite (Liverpool vs BOLTON) - 7.5 . Showed his true quality at Anfield by making several key interceptions to break Liverpool's play. Dorian Dervite attempts to win back possession for his side during the FA Cup fourth round match at Anfield . MID - Andros Townsend (TOTTENHAM vs Leicester City) - 7.5 . Impressed for the 64 minutes he was on the pitch despite eventually being on the losing side. Tottenham winger Andros Townsend scored from the penalty spot before being replaced in the second half . MID - Philippe Coutinho (LIVERPOOL vs Bolton) - 7.5 . Brendan Rodgers is right in saying the Brazilian is in form as he impressed once again. Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho attempts to dribble past Bolton's Liam Feeney . MID - Filipe Morais (Chelsea vs BRADFORD CITY) - 8 . The former Chelsea midfielder piled misery on Jose Mourinho's side with Bradford's second goal. Filipe Morais celebrates in front of the Bradford supporters after scoring his side's second goal . FWD - Jon Stead (Chelsea vs BRADFORD CITY) - 7.5 . The former Premier League striker got his side back in the match by scoring just before the interval. Jon Stead celebrates with Rory McArdle after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge . FWD - Lee Tomlin (Manchester City vs MIDDLESBROUGH) - 8.5 . Manchester City struggled to contain the lively playmaker, who was Middlesbrough's star performer. Manchester City right back Pablo Zabaleta watches on as Lee Tomlin runs with the ball . FWD - Marouane Chamakh (Southampton vs CRYSTAL PALACE) - 8 . Two goals on his first appearance since December 13 made it a perfect day for the Palace forward. Crystal Palace ace Marouane Chamakh scored a brace to ensure the Eagles remained in the FA Cup .", "Chelsea new boy Loic Remy trained at the club's Cobham training ground on Tuesday morning as the striker recovered from his international exploits with France. The former Queens Park Rangers forward will be hoping to be in contention for a place in Jose Mourinho's sqaud on Saturday as the Blues take on Swansea at Stamford Bridge. Remy could even be in line for a start on what will be his home debut as Mourinho's sweats on the fitness of star striker Diego Costa. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Loic Remy scoring for France against Spain . Ready: Loic Remy (left) stretches as he takes part in his first Chelsea training session . Blues brother: Remy signed a four-year deal with Jose Mourinho's side on the eve of transfer deadline day . The Spaniard, who has already scored four goal for Chelsea this season, left international duty with Spain kast week amid fears he had injured his hamstring. The same injury had threatened to keep Costa out of Chelsea's match against Everton last weekend, but the 25-year-old proved his fitness and then some by scoring twice in a brilliant 6-3 win for the Blues. Speaking on his competition, Remy told Chelsea's official website: 'We have two great strikers here already and I don't have a choice if I want to be in the team - I have to play at a very high level.' Star man: Diego Costa will be hoping to recover from a small hamstring injury to play against Swansea .", "QPR manager Harry Redknapp wants to sign two midfielders and a striker before the transfer window closes. Rangers have so far added four new recruits to the squad but Redknapp has been left short after players were released and last year's loanees returned to their parent clubs. Redknapp has already signed Steven Caulker and Jordon Mutch from Cardiff, Rio Ferdinand from Manchester United and Mauricio Isla on loan from Juventus. VIDEO Scroll down for QPR chairman Tony Fernandes talks Remy, Hoddle and transfers . New arrival: Jordon Mutch, centre, joined QPR from Cardiff City following an impressive season . 'We need to get a couple more in, we're short in some areas,' Redknapp said. 'I've got three central midfield players - Joey Barton, Alejandro Faurlin and Karl Henry - when you need six midfield players really at this level. 'So we're looking to get one or two midfielders in and maybe a front man as well because we need a bit of cover there. You need four strikers in an ideal world.' Redknapp added: 'If you look at the whole squad with everyone fit we've got 18 or 19 outfield players and that includes one or two lads who couldn't get in the squad last year.' Helping hand: West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison made a significant contribution to QPR's promotion . Rangers used the loan system to their advantage last season in the Championship as the likes of Tom Carroll, Niko Kranjcar and Ravel Morrison all made significant contributions. 'We'll probably use the loan system again. Maybe we'll buy one and loan a couple,' Redknapp said after QPR were beaten 1-0 by Hull at Loftus Road on Saturday. 'I think the chairman is close to doing a couple of deals today, I'm hoping he is. 'I spoke to him before the game and he's confident he'll get another couple that I'm after.' Uncertain: French striker Loic Remy could still leave the club before the transfer window closes . The future of Loic Remy, who came close to joining Liverpool earlier in the transfer window, is still uncertain. The French forward is keen to leave Loftus Road but is waiting to be approached by a club who can challenge for a Champions League spot. 'He's got a buy-out clause which is a problem, because if someone comes in and offers the money you lose him,' Redknapp said. 'If he goes you're looking for two strikers, which isn't easy to find, but if he's going to leave QPR, it's got to be to a big club - a top-seven club I would think. 'He didn't want to go back to Newcastle which is a massive club, so unless it's a club in the top seven I don't think he'll go.' On the move: Benfica are hoping to agree a deal to take Julio Cesar to the Stadium of Light . One player who does look set to leave is goalkeeper Julio Cesar. The 34-year-old, who joined Rangers in August 2012, was due to hold talks with Benfica over the weekend with a view to completing a transfer. Redknapp's side will be looking to bounce back from their opening day defeat when they travel to Tottenham on Sunday. The fixture means a return to White Hart Lane for Redknapp, who was sacked by Spurs in June 2012. 'It's a tough game but I'm looking forward to going back there,' Redknapp said. 'They'll be strong this year. With the money they spent last year they've got to be pushing for the top four.'", "Loic Remy is hoping to discover his best form under Jose Mourinho after almost certainly becoming Chelsea's final addition of the 2014 summer transfer window. Mourinho had long stated that the window was closed for the Blues, having completed deals for Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas, Filipe Luis and Didier Drogba earlier in the summer. Fernando Torres' departure to AC Milan for the final two years of his five-and-a-half-year Chelsea contract - in effect ending his time at Stamford Bridge following his £50million move from Liverpool in January 2011 - necessitated the arrival of another striker, but even then Mourinho moved swiftly to sign Remy from QPR for £10.5million. New arrival: Remy joined Chelsea from QPR for £10.5milllion this week . Target man: Remy says Jose Mourinho has set him goals for this season and can improve his game . It could be if an opportunity arises - like the one last year which saw Willian join despite passing a medical at Tottenham - Chelsea may make a further signing, but, for now, Remy completes the squad for the first half of the 2014-15 campaign. 'I spoke with him (Mourinho),' Remy told chelseafc.com after agreeing a four-year contract. 'He is very clever and he knows exactly what he wants. He has targets for me and I know I have a target for myself as well. 'Everybody wants the best so the discussion was really good. I know he can get the best out of a player and I'm looking forward to working with him.' International: Remy arriving at France training. The striker was part of the World Cup squad this summer . Prolific: Remy scored 14 league goals last season but didn't to score this year for QPR . Costa has scored four goals in three Premier League games so far this season after his double in the 6-3 win at Everton. Remy added: 'We have two great strikers here already and I don't have a choice if I want to be in the team - I have to play at a very high level.' Many of those not in contention for a first-team place have left on loan - 21 in all after Marco van Ginkel, the midfielder who spent most of last season out with a serious knee injury, joined Torres at the San Siro. Main man: Costa has made a great start at Chelsea with four goals in his first three Premier League games . Back home: Remy will have a tough time getting above club legend Didier Drogba in the Chelsea pecking order . The Dutchman's departure means Chelsea fulfil the Premier League's homegrown player rule and will have the maximum 17 foreign players in their 25-man squad. Of the loan group, only Patrick Bamford, whose initial loan runs until January, did not leave on a season-long deal.", "English Premier League club Liverpool have agreed a $36 million deal with Ajax for Uruguay striker Luis Suarez. Liverpool have been haggling with the Dutch outfit over the fee for several days but both announced on their websites that negotiations had proven successful on Friday. The Reds have now been given permission to discuss personal terms with Suarez and will aim to complete the transfer before the European transfer window closes on January 31. Liverpool reject Chelsea's bid for Fernando Torres . A statement on the official Ajax website read: \"Ajax and Liverpool have reached an agreement over the transfer of Luis Suarez. \"He will make the move to the English club immediately. The deal is worth up to a total of €26.5 million ($36 million).\" Suarez hasn't played a league game for Ajax since November last year after he was banned for seven matches for biting an opponent. The 24-year-old was infamously sent off during the World Cup quarterfinal against Ghana in July after saving a goal-bound attempt with his hands. His switch would mark the first signing Kenny Dalglish has made since he returned to Liverpool as manager. The Scot previously won eight league titles as a Reds player and manager. Liverpool posted a statement on their website that read: \"Liverpool Football Club announced this afternoon that they had agreed a fee of up to €26.5 million ($36 million) with Ajax for the transfer of Luis Suarez, subject to the completion of a medical. \"The club have now been given permission by Ajax to discuss personal terms with the player and his representatives.\" The deal comes on the same day Liverpool revealed they had turned down a multi-million dollar offer from Chelsea for Spain striker Fernando Torres.", "Liverpool have activated Lazar Markovic's £20million release clause as they move closer to completing a deal for the Benfica winger. Manager Brendan Rodgers is keen to spend the £75m he will recuperate from the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and he is nearing adding Markovic to his squad. The Anfield club have been in discussions with Benfica for weeks over a deal for the 20-year-old and there are a few details left to iron out before he can be unveiled as a Liverpool player. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Liverpool target Lazar Markovic scores beauty for Benfica . Done deal: Liverpool met the £20million release clause in Lazar Markovic's Benfica contract . Target: Markovic will undergo his medical at Anfield on Thursday ahead of his move . Chelsea have also shown an interest in the Serbian winger in recent months but Liverpool are confident they will sign Markovic within the coming days. Markovic has played 12 times for Serbia, scoring twice, and he netted seven goals in 49 appearances for Benfica last season. Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Emre Can have already been added to the playing roster at Anfield - for a combined total of nearly £40m - as Rodgers looks to build a side who can challenge for the Premier League title against next season. Markovic will be the fourth attacking addition at Liverpool but Rodgers is keen to bolster his defence and is still pursuing a deal for Southampton's Croatian centre back Dejan Lovren. In demand: Markovic was watched by the Premier League's top clubs, and Liverpool look close to signing him . VIDEO Lovren criticises Saints over Liverpool bid .", "Brendan Rodgers is prepared to push Liverpool’s search for a new striker to the last minute of the transfer window as he scours Europe for candidates of the highest calibre. When Liverpool wrap up the formalities of Alberto Moreno’s £12million move from Sevilla, Rodgers will have brought eight new faces in this summer but he still has one key area that he needs to fill. Having missed out on Loic Remy because of complications over his medical, Rodgers and his recruitment team have been discussing a number of names, including Samuel Eto’o, who is a free agent, and Monaco’s Radamel Falcao. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Brendan Rodgers say he is happy with his business so far . Waiting game: Brendan Rodgers will continue his search for striker right up until the final day . Denied! Liverpool came close to signing Loic Remy before the Newcastle striker failed a medical . Liverpool had initially accepted that signing Falcao would be difficult, given they had understood that Real Madrid were his chosen option, but they have not given up hope of possibly taking the Colombian before the window closes. There are other options being considered and Rodgers is hoping his search will be productive. Should he fail to find a suitable target, though, Liverpool’s manager is adamant that his squad has enough depth. ‘We just want to complete on Moreno so we have covered both full back positions and if we can get a striker on top of that, it will be it,’ said Rodgers. ‘It’s not easy, but we have to keep looking. ‘We certainly need something that is going to help us over the coming season. You never know sometimes you just never know happens with a few weeks to go in the window. Colombian connection? Liverpool have been linked with an audacious move for Radamel Falcao . ‘That last week, the window will always throw up something. We will just persevere, and the boys are working hard behind the scenes to see what information we can get on the availability of players and we will take it from there.’ Liverpool will have to adjust to not having brilliance of Luis Suarez this season but, as he prepares for Sunday’s opening fixture with Southampton, Rodgers feels his squad are better prepared for the campaign compared to how they were 12 months ago. ‘We haven’t just brought in a ton of players without thought,’ said Rodgers. ‘These are players who will be integrated into the squad, at 22, 20, and 19 that can play now and that can also be here for the future. The aim is to ensure this club is sustainable and that means on and off the field. Blues brother? A move for former Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o would be a cheaper option . ‘For us this year we are better equipped because of the depth of the squad. I see it in the training, young players they give energy to senior players and give that enthusiasm and I look in the training and it has given some of the older players that nudge as well. That’s been great to see.’ CLICK HERE to start picking your Fantasy Football team NOW! There’s £60,000 in prizes including £1,000 up for grabs EVERY WEEK… .", "By . Sam Cunningham for the Daily Mail . Follow @@samcunningham . Jermain Defoe is hoping for a move to the Barclays Premier League to rejoin Harry Redknapp at QPR. The striker has been at MLS side Toronto since July, but QPR are in the market for a forward after they lost Loic Remy to Chelsea and Defoe is ready to replace him on a permanent deal. Rangers also hope to tie up a loan deal for Sandro and are interested in Aaron Lennon, too. Both worked under Redknapp at White Hart Lane, but the club wouldn't be able to sign them both temporarily because of loan regulations. On his way? Sandro may be set to leave Tottenham and join QPR before the transfer window closes on Monday . Race against time: Sandro may move after seemingly falling out of Mauricio Pochettino's plans at Spurs . Going? Aaron Lennon (pictured) and Sandro were left out of Mauricio Pochettino's squad for Sunday's game . Charlie Austin has scored nine goals in his last nine games at Loftus Road. Redknapp signed Defoe, who has scored 15 goals in 16 league games for Toronto, while in charge at his previous two clubs Tottenham and Portsmouth. Sandro and Lennon were left out of Tottenham’s squad for Sunday’s defeat by Liverpool. Toronto FC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko confirmed on Sunday: 'We have received multiple offers for Jermain Defoe and we will make a decision on this in the next 24 hours.' Rangers have also bid for Dutch striker Jeremain Lens of Dynamo Kiev and are talking to Dnipro left-back Ivan Strinic. They have also revived interest in Ajax forward Kolbeinn Sigthorsson. After having to pull Remy out of his squad to face Sunderland at the last minute on Saturday when Chelsea triggered his release clause, Redknapp admitted he would be looking to strengthen in that area. He has only Charlie Austin, who scored his first Premier League goal in their win against Sunderland, and Bobby Zamora as available out-and-out strikers and both have been prone to injuries in recent seasons. After QPR’s first win of the season, Redknapp called for a rule to be put in place to stop clubs blaming medical tests when deals break down at the last minute. Remy was on the verge of a transfer to Liverpool in July only for the Merseyside club to claim he failed a medical. Hunting: QPR manager Harry Redknapp is keen to bolster his squad and is looking at the Tottenham pair . Familiar sight! Redknapp is known for his interviews through car windows on deadline day . Redknapp said: ‘Remy’s a fit lad, he’s never had a problem. That’s a rule that needs to be changed. ‘When there’s a fee agreed and you have the medical, if you don’t sign a player I don’t think you should say he has failed a medical. You should say you couldn’t agree terms. The medical side can finish people’s careers in some cases.’ Redknapp did not have Remy available after Jose Mourinho triggered his £10.5million release clause a few hours before the game. Remy’s absence did not matter in the end as QPR won their first points of the season when Austin scored from close range in first-half stoppage time. Redknapp said Liverpool’s allegation damaged QPR. ‘I think it did,’ he added. ‘It didn’t do us any favours.’" ]

[ "It's best to avoid using plastic or vinyl sheets alone to protect plants from frost, since these materials can trap condensation inside, which can freeze and damage the plant.Plastic can also get very cold, and transfer that cold to the plant. If you do want to use plastic, put a fabric sheet underneath it.0 hilariously insightful foreign words. The best way to protect plants from frost comes down to being aware of any pending freezes, knowing which plants are particularly vulnerable to damage, and using a suitable covering material to protect them." ]

[ "Individual plant covers are used to protect individual plants from frost. They are especially helpful if you grow tomatoes in containers or pots, if you grow tomatoes on a patio or balcony, or if you grow just a few tomato plants in the garden.ore on protecting tomatoes from frost and freezing. Protecting tomatoes from frost and freezing: the basics ... How to protect tomatoes on cold nights 1 ... Make sure plastic does not touch tomato plants. 2 Cold plastic will damage plants at the point of contact.", "Freeze damage: Frost can blacken the most exposed parts of the plant. Hardy perennials usually grow back after freeze damage, but, just to be safe, protect plants from unseasonable cold spells by temporarily covering them with old sheets or blankets. Don’t use plastic — frost goes right through plastic.", "1 Where the leaves of tropical plants touch the plastic covers they will freeze. ( 2 This does not happen as much with fabric covers.) It's typical for the outer leaves to look burned. 3 But, rest assured, the cover protected the inner part of the plant. If freezes are forecast for several nights in a row, plants can stay covered with blankets or sheets for days without harm. 2 But eventually the covers will need to be removed so the plants can get light. 3 Where the leaves of tropical plants touch the plastic covers they will freeze.", "For added protection, you can nestle gallon jugs of warm water into the mulch each night. This will help drive off some of the cold that can kill the roots. If you have time before a freeze happens, you can also create insulation barriers around a plant as a way how to protect plants from freezing.or added protection, you can nestle gallon jugs of warm water into the mulch each night. This will help drive off some of the cold that can kill the roots. If you have time before a freeze happens, you can also create insulation barriers around a plant as a way how to protect plants from freezing.", "More freeze tips: 1 If freezes are forecast for several nights in a row, plants can stay covered with blankets or sheets for days without harm. 2 Where the leaves of tropical plants touch the plastic covers they will freeze. 3 To minimize leaf burn, you can lift the plastic cover to keep it off the foliage. 4 Be extra careful when using electric space ... If freezes are forecast for several nights in a row, plants can stay covered with blankets or sheets for days without harm. 2 But eventually the covers will need to be removed so the plants can get light. 3 Where the leaves of tropical plants touch the plastic covers they will freeze.", "Winter Protection for Plants. One of the easiest and most effective ways to protect sensitive plants is by mulching. Mulching with an organic material will also help enhance the soil as the mulch decomposes and releases nutrients to the earth. swath of burlap is also useful to cover plants in the event of a freeze. These types of winter protection for plants may be left in place for the duration of the freeze. Covers should be removed during the daytime. Covers must reach all the way to the root zone to be the most effective.", "If a hard frost is in the forecast, covering your plants may be beneficial. Covering with sheets or groundcovers will not protect from freezing temperatures, but it will shield tender buds from the damage of a hard frost. Plastic covers can be disastrous, as they retain the moisture, which then freezes.pring-flowering trees and shrubs are particularly at risk when the temperatures plummet. First, the good news. A sudden brief late freeze is not likely to kill or cause long-term damage to your shrubs and trees, though the early leaves and blossoms may suffer some real damage.", "In addition, if the ground freezes, the underground water turns to ice crystals which cannot be absorbed by plant roots. Even dormant plants need and absorb water year-round. Water acts as an insulator. Plant cells that are plump with water will be stronger against cold damage. Likewise, moist soil will tend to stay warmer than dry soil, so a regular watering schedule in dry, cold weather can help protect plants from freezing temperatures. Follow these guidelines when watering plants in freezing weather: If your soil stays frozen all winter, then fall is your prime time – make sure everything is well watered before the ground freezes. If you experience freezing weather only occasionally, and you have had insufficient rain or snowfall, water deeply a day or so before a freeze is forecast.", "You can also plant through black plastic to help warm the soil in spring. New plants just out of a greenhouse need to be protected from freezing weather. Plant fall cabbage 6 to 8 weeks before the first frost. Growing plants that have been exposed to cool weather become “hardened” and are tolerant of frost. Cabbage that matures in cool weather is deliciously sweet. Like most vegetables, cabbage needs at least 6 hours of full sun each day; more is better.", "Fall is the best time to get out in the garden and secure your sensitive and tender plants. Protecting plants in winter can help prevent winter scald, frozen roots, foliar damage and even death.Cold weather plant protection takes a little pre-planning and some equipment in harsher zones. swath of burlap is also useful to cover plants in the event of a freeze. These types of winter protection for plants may be left in place for the duration of the freeze. Covers should be removed during the daytime. Covers must reach all the way to the root zone to be the most effective.", "10 hilariously insightful foreign words. The best way to protect plants from frost comes down to being aware of any pending freezes, knowing which plants are particularly vulnerable to damage, and using a suitable covering material to protect them.Generally speaking, you should start to cover plants in the late fall, and use breathable fabric to wrap them.0 hilariously insightful foreign words. The best way to protect plants from frost comes down to being aware of any pending freezes, knowing which plants are particularly vulnerable to damage, and using a suitable covering material to protect them.", "Typically, temperatures falling below freezing will quickly damage or even kill many types of plants. However, with prompt care, many of these cold damaged plants can be rescued. Better still, protecting plants from freezing cold and frost before damage occurs is generally a good idea.", "Protecting Yuccas from Frost Damage. The best way to help a yucca during cold weather is to make sure that as little damage as possible happens to the yucca plant during a frost or freeze. Cold-sensitive yuccas must be protected to avoid damage from frost and cold weather.he yucca plant has not had time to prepare itself for the freezing weather and may need protection for a little while until it hardens up some. Advertisement. To protect your yucca from cold, start by covering your yucca with a cloth sheet or blanket.", "Effects of Freezing Temperatures on Plants. For all but the most tender plants, it doesn’t matter whether the conditions produced a frost or a freeze. What’s important is how cold it got and for how long.ne of the biggest worries of gardeners is the threat of freezing weather and frosts that can harm or kill plants and damage crops. Here’s what you need to know to protect tender plants from freezing temperatures.", "Shrub Protection: To provide winter shrub protection for susceptible shrubs and trees, use plastic netting to cover and protect trees. Buy Shrub Guard netting bags and sheets.- - Spring Freezes. As spring arrives, plants leave the dormancy period. Sap flows up through the stems and branches of trees and shrubs.revention & Protection: Apply several inches of mulch on the ground around your plants. For container plants, bring them indoors, mulch several inches around and on top of the container, or bring them into a greenhouse, where they can over-winter.", "Freezing temperatures and frost can be damaging or deadly to certain plants that are not considered frost hardy. However, learning how to protect plants from frost is simple with these easy instructions and tips. Even I have been able to manage to protect my outdoor fruits and veggies from the cold!", "Overview. Tomato plants do not like freezing temperatures. Gardeners can take a number of steps to protect their tomato plants from damage, no matter what type of tomatoes they are growing. If that is not possible, the damage may also be mitigated by other means.verview. Tomato plants do not like freezing temperatures. Gardeners can take a number of steps to protect their tomato plants from damage, no matter what type of tomatoes they are growing. If that is not possible, the damage may also be mitigated by other means.", "However, if the temperature drops below freezing, the cells of plants that are not frost hardy may freeze, resulting in the death of the plant. As the weather has turned cold in my neck of the woods, I have again begun thinking about how to protect my plants from the cold.", "How to Cover Plants for Frost Protection. In areas where a late spring frost or even an early fall hard frost can threaten garden and landscaping plants, there are ways plant lovers can protect them. Weather is unpredictable, even in those areas where plants are suitable for their growing zone.overing. plants with cotton fabric or plastic to protect against cold and frost is a simple physical barrier against the elements, but be sure to remove in the mornings so sunlight can warm the soil and air can circulate around the plants.", "By: Julie Day. One of the biggest worries of gardeners is the threat of freezing weather and frosts that can harm or kill plants and damage crops. Here’s what you need to know to protect tender plants from freezing temperatures.", "In a pinch, you can use plastic sheets, but be sure to remove the plastic covers early in the morning to let the increasingly warmer daytime air reach the plants. If the threat of frost is prolonged and temperatures remain low during the day, be sure to use a fabric covering.", "When planting a Lychee, hole preparation is the same as for planting avocados. If planting marcots directly, most leaves should be removed. A round of hog wire covered with plastic gives excellent wind protection and also holds moisture in. In case of a freeze, one has only to throw a blanket over the top.", "1. Shut off the water supply to the irrigation system. The main shut off valve for your irrigation system needs to be protected against freezing. Make sure it is wrapped with insulation (foam insulation tape and a plastic bag) to protect it from harsh winter temperatures and prevent it from freezing.", "If the vegetables you are trying to protect are low-growing, covering them completely with a thick layer of straw or other light mulch may provide adequate protection from a light frost.", "n. A protective covering, usually of organic matter such as leaves, straw, or peat, placed around plants to prevent the evaporation of moisture, the freezing of roots, and the growth of weeds.", "Remove the back case from your cell phone and remove the battery from the cell phone. Place the battery in a sealable plastic bag and place it in the freezer. This plastic bag protects the battery from condensation. Allow the battery to freeze for 24 hours.", "Plant into beds covered with black plastic mulch to help warm the soil, and cover new plantings with row cover, which also protects the plants from browsing deer. Johnny's sells certified (inspected for disease and insect pests) sweet potato slips, which are shoots that have been sprouted from seed stock roots. 100%.", "1 Plant gladiolus bulbs in the spring once danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. 2 Ready your garden by using a garden fork or tiller and loosen the soil to about 12 to 15 inches deep.lads should be lifted in places that freeze (zone 7 and lower). If yours are in the ground, try to protect them with a greenhouse plastic covering. It will heat up the soil and speed the plant along while protecting from frost. If the corms are planted too soon in cold soil, they will rot.", "Black plastic is a good choice for northern areas, but in the extremely warm areas it can warm the soil too much. Organic mulches are good, too, but may provide shelter for pests like squash bugs. Foil mulches help prevent aphid problems. To prevent rot, support fruit on scraps of wood. Rotate crops so that no member of the cucurbit family (cucumbers, melons, and squash) is grown in the same place more often than every 4 years.", "For protection from freezing temperatures, trees can be covered with a tarp or other material. However, covers alone do not adequately protect fruit buds from damage, so a heat source must be used. Water from microjets used for irrigation will provide an excellent source of heat.", "Warm-weather plants and not frost-tolerant. Not treated with a fungicide, so do not plant in very wet or cold soil. Clear plastic helps raise soil temp early in spring. Dewitt Row Cover will keep plants warm at night. As a legume, capacity to fix nitrogen is enhanced by a bacterial inoculant which greatly increases plant vigor. Needs adequate available phosphorus and potassium more than an abundance of nitrogen.", "This makes pine straw a very environmentally friendly choice for a landscaping and mulching material. When applied correctly, pine straw prevents evaporation of water from the soil, reduces the growth of weeds, and helps to prevent soil compaction and erosion. Pine straw also protects plants from freezing conditions, helping keep the soil around the plants at a stable temperature." ]

[ "No, I would rather go for natural remedies... things like washing face with cold water at regular intervals, tea/coffee, eat light, etc.\\n\\nProvigil is used to improve wakefulness in people who have excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, or stopped breathing while sleeping or have difficulty breathing while sleeping (obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome), or shift work sleep disorder .\\n\\nCaution: Provigil can decrease the effectiveness of certain contraceptives including birth control pills and implantable contraceptives.\\n\\nIts side affects include headache infection, nausea, nervousness, feeling anxious, trouble sleeping, etc." ]

[ "Wow! I don't think anyone has ever thought to ask that question!\\n\\n\\nOh, wait:", "The biggest man in the world is my husband. He has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known.", "Yes, I took it for years and I recommend you stay away from it. It works but it's addictive and deadly. It's banned for a reason and the risks largely outweigh the benefits. Ephedra acts to vasoconstrict your blood vessels and can be hazardous to anybody's health. It has caused heart attacks and high blood pressure and has lead to bleeding in the brain in young fit people and even athletes. \\n\\nHere's a worthy link for your review:\\nhttp://preventdisease.com/news/articles/ephedra_debate.shtml", "You can't force God on anyone they have to except him on there own. Have you ever taken the time to see, if he would be interested in finding God.", "I kept having strings of breakouts and decided to give Proactive a try. After using it for a couple of weeks my skin had cleared up. I can only speak from my own personal experience but I have found it to work for me.", "I don't think anyone on here has ever given actual money to Israel so I doubt you'll get an actual answer.", "i haven't, but be careful. i'm assuming that the \"pro\" is prozac? if so, this is very similar to the fen-phen diet, and there were some serious complications with that one (as you probably know). make sure your doctor is a real doctor..ask for references if necessary. make sure you see the \"doctor\" every time..not just some medical assistant. and make sure they know what they're doing. you would be much better off just watching your diet and exercising.", "I don't know that anyone has ever tested that. Perhaps you should set up an experiment and find out.....", "NY Sucks dude. I also live here and own a Rottweiller. The biggest baby you will ever meet, however NY has deemed Them, Pit Bulls, and several otherdogs as dangerous and the insurance (if you can get it for these dogs) is outrageous. You should have taken pics and video of the kid playing tennis and golf andsent it into the insurance company. They may have been able to do something. Contact a Lawyer, maybe they can give you advice, go with an insurance lawyer, hewill know betterthan anyone.", "It a terrible statistic, but 100 percent of anyone who has ever eaten a carrot has or will die!!!!! another one might be \"death is proven to be caused by the slow ingestion of saliva over time\".", "That is the most intelligent thing I've ever heard anyone say. Ever.", "Take it, it is a hormone that you could possibly not produce enough of naturally which could cause miscarriage. It is completely safe. I took it with 2 pregnancies and have healthy children. I miscarried 3 times before and wished I had taken progesterone with those. It is safe. My Obstetrician has 34 years experience.", "Get tested asap and not sleep with them without protection ever again. How long has it taken them to mention it? It doesn't change them as a person, but you need to ask about their honesty from the beginning - the same with any relationship. If there has been a lot of secrets/lies you need to ask yourself if you can trust them ever again.", "Has anyone ever died during the Olympic Games? Yes, the 11 Israeli athletes who were kidnapped by members of a Arab terrorist group who were killed during the rescue attempt.\\n\\nHas anyone ever died because of Olympic competition? That's a more tricky question to answer. I am not aware of any deaths that have been directly linked to competition in the Olympics so far.", "heck no! bynes will never, ever have the depth of cheeks that jolie has. heck, you really can't compare anyone to jolie..one of a kind chick.", "My brother in law uses proactiv I swear it works for him you might want to give that a try.", "I was using Proactiv for about a year and is was keeping my skin clear then all of a sudden it stopped working, I think my skin got to use to it. I'm now using Retin-A, it is doing a great job. I have never tried Murad Acne.", "i have not......but luv trimspa citrus.....and only take 2 the entire day.....but not after 5 pm, or else awake late at night......i get no side effects like with the other.....it may be more pricey$$ but if its only 2 a day and it works....then worth it......good luck!", "I've never taken it, but I know it is a component used in prescription drugs for relieving pain. It is commonly referred to as Anaprox or Naproxan, and although it is supposed to be an effective method of pain relief, the person taking it runs the risk of internal bleeding in their stomach (this is a rare side affect that only occurs when it is taken in excess, or without food).", "I have used proactiv for about two years now. This is the only product that i have used that actually does what it says its supposed to do. I have no regrets about using it, i only wish i had heard of it sooner. I will never buy another product ever again. Complete waste of money.", "Whatever you do don't \"beat around the bush\" to say cause it can hurt to not know the truth. Just asked anyone who has ever been lied to.", "Honestly hunny, PROACTIVE. Works for anyone I've ever recommended it to. Trust me! Goodluck.", "I personally haven't, but my sister always goes with them. She seems to really like their treatments because they work. I too think you should do your research before but definitely give it a shot, I think it's worth it.", "no way he's passed every drug test he's ever taken and there's no evidence that he did", "I have had great results with it. I started taking it about 25 years ago as a result of gum disease. I was told I would lose my teeth within a few years and I still have my teeth. I also understand that it is can be used as a possible preventative for some heart problems. Common sense dictates that we need to contribute (be pro-active) with the physical care piece rather than just relying on medication for results.", "Some people really don't read the bible very well God and Jesus are not the same person God created Jesus and God has more power than anyone ever.", "That is honestly not a statement of opinion anyone has ever hurled at me but I've been TREATED as though the person thought I was dumb and it reallllllly ticks me off. I confront the offending party. You should too.", "I don't like to call anyone like that, but she has lost it.\\nshe spoiled her image and I don't know if she would ever come up with a different style.", "Yes, you can. It won't do anything adverse at all. I take compazine frequently, and have taken it with percocet.", "yes, it is , ever since Jan of 2005 ... but you can get good steriods easily from sweden online. you might aswell go for the real deal- prohormones are roid wanna be's. and if your scared about using roids then don't even think about prohormones.", "Anyone who has taken any type of Poly Sci class whatsoever should know that Hitler was a FASCIST. This is on the RIGHT side of the spectrum, NOT the LEFT. \\n\\nGet it straight!!! I don't care who you voted for!!\\n\\nStalin: Evil Communist (LEFT)\\nHiter: Evil Fascist (RIGHT)", "Did anyone ever like it in the first place?" ]

[ "trade and agriculture" ]

[ "Norm Smith Medal", "What a Friend", "What A Night", "What If It's You", "What Car?", "What If We", "What a Waste" ]

[ "UPDATE 3-Nestle takes food price rises in its stride\nZURICH, Aug 9 Nestle expects pressure from the rising price of ingredients for its products such as chocolate bars, coffee and soup to ease, helping it meet its target for increasing sales despite tough markets." ]

[ "DUBAI Feb 14 Here are some factors that may affect Middle East stock markets on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified the press reports and does not vouch for their accuracy.\nINTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL\n* GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares eke out 19-mth high, dollar holds firm\n* MIDEAST STOCKS-Arabtec drags down Dubai index, local sugar revival boosts Egypt food makers\n* Oil rises on OPEC-led cuts, but market remains range-bound\n* Syrian rebels cast doubt on Kazakhstan talks, slam Russia\n* Egyptian inflation hits highest level in more than a decade\n* Netanyahu non-committal on Palestinian statehood as he heads to U.S.\n* OPEC reports big Saudi oil cut, boosting compliance with deal\n* Islamic State leadership targeted in air strike, Baghdadi fate unclear - Iraqi military\n* Hundreds of Uber drivers in Qatar go on strike after price cuts\n* EXCLUSIVE-After Islamic State defeat, broken Iraqi farmers weigh heavy losses\n* ANALYSIS-Baghdad's bloody protests mark resumption of Shi'ite power struggle\n* U.N. chief says Fayyad right choice as Libya envoy despite U.S. objection\n* INTERVIEW-EBRD discussing co-investments with Gulf sovereign funds\nEGYPT\n* INTERVIEW-Egypt making good progress in IMF programme, Lagarde says\n* Inflows into Egypt banks $12.3 bln since pound float\n* Egypt's core inflation jumps to 30.86 pct yr/yr in Jan -c.bank\n* Egypt cabinet re-shuffle to include ministers of investment, agriculture\n* POLL-Egypt seen shrugging off inflation, leaving rates unchanged this week\n* Egypt issues $1.092 billion in dollar-denominated treasury bills at average yield of 3.62 percent -c.bank\n* Egypt's five- and 10-year bond yields fall at auction\nSAUDI ARABIA\n* Saudi Aramco inks first oil contract with China's Huajin\n* Saudi Aramco sets February propane price at $510 per tonne\n* Saudi's CMA approves listing of two companies on Saudi parallel bourse\n* OPEC reports big Saudi oil cut, boosting compliance with deal\nUNITED ARAB EMIRATES\n* Dubai Arabtec Q4 loss widens, seeks 1.5bln dirham rights issue\n* BUZZ-Shares in Dubai's Arabtec slump on wider Q4 net loss\n* UAE studying expanding Fujairah refinery capacity -energy minister\n* Shuaa Capital in acquisition talks, has 3 IPOs in pipeline - chairman\n* Tesla targets Middle East drive with Dubai debut\nQATAR\n* Hundreds of Uber drivers in Qatar go on strike after price cuts\nKUWAIT\n* BRIEF-Kuwait's Al Maidan Clinic 9-mnth profit rises\n* BRIEF-Independent Petroleum Group FY profit rises\n* MEDIA-Kuwait said to meet investors ahead of $9.5 bln debut bond - Bloomberg\n* Kuwait says oil prices to rise with higher level of output deal compliance\n* Kuwait's KPC to spend 35 bln dinars on oil projects in 5 years\n* BRIEF-Kuwait's Aqar Real Estate Investments FY profit falls\n* BRIEF-Kuwait's NAPESCO says Al Qurain's offer price to acquire remaining stake in co is unfair\n* BRIEF-Kuwait's Mezzan Holding FY profit falls\nBAHRAIN\n* BRIEF-Bahrain's BMMI FY profit falls\n* BRIEF-Bahrain Islamic Bank FY profit falls\n* BRIEF-Bahrain's Inovest posts FY profit\n(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom)", "DUBAI, April 9 Here are some factors that may affect Middle East stock markets on Sunday. Reuters has not verified the press reports and does not vouch for their accuracy.\nINTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL\n* GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil rises on Syria attack, dollar shrugs off weak jobs report\n* MIDEAST STOCKS-Dubai Insurance rises on Q1 expectations, Gulf stocks mixed\n* Oil rises after U.S. missile strike in Syria, weekly gain 3 pct\n* PRECIOUS-Gold rises to five-month high, gains capped by strong dollar\n* Middle East Crude-Steady ahead of more OSPs\n* Air strike kills 18 in Syria's Idlib province-Observatory\n* Russia warns of serious consequences from U.S. strike in Syria\n* FULL TEXT-Trump statement on U.S. military strikes in Syria\n* Iran's Rouhani wants chemical attack in Syria investigated\n* BREAKINGVIEWS-Trump's Syria strikes don't justify crude worries\n* UK's Johnson cancels Moscow visit after Syria gas attack\n* Baghdad says U.S. pledges continued support for Iraq's war against IS\n* State Dept memo shows unconstitutionality of Trump travel ban -ACLU\n* Despite tough talk, Turkey caught between U.S. and Russia in Syria\n* EXCLUSIVE-Situation in Syria constitutes international armed conflict - Red Cross\n* Turkey's Erdogan courts nationalists, Kurds alike with hard line on PKK\n* RPT-India's oil imports from Iran top 500,000 bpd in 2016/17- trade\n* MEDIA-Rosneft said to prepay about $1 billion for Kurdistan oil- Bloomberg\n* \"Fight to the death\": snipers slow down Iraqi forces in Mosul's Old City\n* National Oil Corp working for all Libyans - chairman\n* Air travel demand up in Feb, despite US travel restrictions\n* INTERVIEW-Iraq minister calls for war against graft in commodities\n* Somali pirates suspected of hijacking Tuvalu-flagged ship - security source\n* Head of Islamic finance body IFSB to retire\nEGYPT\n* Egypt calls on US and Russia to contain the conflict in Syria\n* Average yields on Egyptian six-month T-bills rise, one-year T-bill yields fall\n* Yields on Egypt's seven-year bonds rise, while three-year bonds fall\n* Egypt oil ministry delegation to visit Iraq soon to sign import deal -ambassador\n* Egypt's MM Group IPO covered more than 19 times\n* Egypt Oil Minister says talks to import Iraqi crude oil still ongoing\nSAUDI ARABIA\n* Saudi Arabia says fully supports U.S. military strikes in Syria\n* BRIEF-Saudi's Dar Al Arkan closes fourth tranche of USD denominated Islamic Sukuk Program\n* BRIEF-S&P affirms Saudi Arabia's ratings at 'A-/A-2' with a stable outlook\n* BRIEF-India talking to Saudi's Aramco for big Indian refinery -minister\n* Sovereign fund to invest in new Saudi entertainment city\nUNITED ARAB EMIRATES\n* Dubai's P&O Ports wins $336 mln port concession in Somalia's Puntland\n* Dubai exchange may launch gold contract for retail investors\n* Dubai's DSI to talk with banks about existing debt, new facilities -CEO\n* Greece asks investors to improve bids for Thessaloniki port sale\n* Italy proposes layoff assistance for 1,300 Alitalia staff - union\nQATAR\n* Deutsche Bank's $8.5 bln cash call marks end of era for cuts\n* TABLE-Qatar GDP growth slows in Q4 as oil and gas sector shrinks\n* Qatar Airways CEO says laptop ban will send militants elsewhere\n* Yield curve flattens in 1.25 bln riyal Qatar T-bill sale\n* FIFA appeal panel lifts ban on Qatari official Al-Mohannadi\n* QIA sells stake in Santander Brasil worth $737 mln\n* TABLE-Qatar M2 money supply grows y/y for first time in 13 months\nKUWAIT\n* BUZZ-Kuwait says Shuaiba refinery closure will not lead to higher crude output\n* Britain arrests wanted former head of Kuwait's social security fund\n* BRIEF-Zain Kuwait appoints Emre Gurkan as CEO for Touch Lebanon\nBAHRAIN\n* Motor racing-Bahrain rights groups call for F1 race to be cancelled\n* BRIEF-Aluminium Bahrain resumes operations after temporary power outage on April 5 (Reporting By Dubai Newsroom)", "Mahindra sold its 51% stake in Chinese tractor JV for 82 million renminbi, or around Rs80 crore. Photo: Reuters\nMumbai: Mint brings to you your daily dose of top deals reported by newsrooms across the country.\nNCLT admits RCom petition for Aircel merger\nThe National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday admitted Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom)’s petition for merging its wireless division with telecom firm Aircel Ltd, reports Mint. The tribunal has also admitted RCom’s petition for a 51% stake sale in its telecom tower arm to Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure. The tribunal will issue final orders on 13 September. Read more\nKolte Patil sells Pune land to Island star for Rs160 crore\nPune-based developer Kolte-Patil Developers Ltd has sold a land parcel in the city’s Wakad suburb to Island Star Mall Developers Pvt. Ltd, an investment platform of Phoenix Mills Ltd and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), for Rs160 crore, the companies said on Monday in separate BSE filings, reports Mint. Read more\nGreenko to buy stakes in Pennar’s renewables energy unit\nPennar Industries Ltd (PIL), a Hyderabad-based engineering company, on Monday said its board has agreed to sell a stake in its subsidiary Pennar Renewables Pvt. Ltd to Greenko Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd, the solar energy arm of Greenko Energy Holdings, reports Mint. Read more\nMars food to acquire US-based Tasty Bite that makes Preferred Brands\nMars Food, a unit of American chocolatier Mars Inc., said it has agreed to acquire another US-based firm that makes ready-to-eat products Preferred Brands International, reports Mint. Tasty Bite Eatables is listed on BSE and will continue to be listed after the acquisition is completed, Mars Food said in a statement on Monday. Read more\nAngry Birds maker Rovio soon to go for IPO at $2 billion value\nRovio Entertainment Ltd is planning an initial public offering as early as next month that could value the maker of the Angry Birds mobile games and movie at about $2 billion, said people familiar with the matter. Carnegie Bank A/S, Danske Bank A/S and Deutsche Bank AG are among banks advising on a potential listing. Read more\nMahindra sells entire stake in Chinese tractor JV\nTractor major Mahindra & Mahindra has sold its entire stake in its Chinese tractor joint venture to partner Yueda Yancheng, reports Times of India. The company sold its 51% stake for 82 million renminbi, or around Rs80 crore. The Chinese JV—Mahindra Yueda Yancheng Tractor—was set up six years ago and M&M invested in the entity through wholly-owned subsidiary Mahindra Overseas Investment Co. (Mauritius). Read more\nUber considers 3 offers to acquire company’s shares\nUber’s board has voted to move forward on proposals by two investment groups to buy shares in the ride-hailing service and is considering a third offer, with any final decision set to affect who gains the upper hand at the company, reports New York Times. Read more\nRBL raises Rs1,680 crore from CDC group, others\nRBL Bank (formerly Ratnakar Bank) has raised Rs1,680 crore through a preferential issue of equity shares to domestic and international investors led by CDC Group. The bank has said that it will use the money to pursue both organic and inorganic growth, reports Times of India. Read more\nHCL pumps $780 million in intellectual property tie-up with IMB\nHCL Technologies has taken an unconventional route to partially offset the slowing down of its traditional workhorse, infrastructure management services (IMS). India’s fourth-largest IT services firm has pumped $780 million into five intellectual property (IP) partnerships with IBM, reports Times of India. Read more\nBig IPOs yet to take place in India this year\nA slew of big-ticket initial public offers is set to hit the market over the next few months, with insurers including HDFC Life, ICICI Lombard and General Insurance Corporation along with government’s Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) among others gearing up to raise at least Rs30,000-40,000 crore by December, reports Economic Times. Read more", "Sembcorp Industries' wind turbines in India. Sembcorp has acquired distributed energy generator UK Power Reserve for £216 million (S$385.72 million) in cash, giving the conglomerate a foothold in the UK's flexible distributed energy sector.\nSEMBCORP Industries has acquired distributed energy generator UK Power Reserve (UKPR) for £216 million (S$385.72 million) in cash after a \"competitive process\", giving the conglomerate a foothold in the UK's flexible distributed energy sector.\nSembcorp said the deal brings onboard flexible assets and solutions, as well as merchant energy capabilities. It is part of the group's strategy to rebalance its energy portfolio towards developed markets.\nSaid to be the UK's largest flexible distributed energy generator, UKPR owns and operates a portfolio of distributed energy generation projects across 32 locales in England and Wales, with 533 megawatts in operation and a further 480 megawatts in construction and under development, Sembcorp said in its exchange filing.\nIts portfolio comprises of small-scale, fast-ramping power generation assts and rapid response batteries, which help to counter the intermittency of renewable power sources.\nsentifi.com Market voices on:\n\"Connected at the distribution level close to customer load, UKPR’s assets require less investment in large power infrastructure, and are more economical to develop and operate,\" Sembcorp noted.\nSembcorp bought out holding company, Repono Holdco 1 (Repono) from private equity investors Inflexion and Equistone - each holding a 42.5 per cent stake - through a wholly owned entity, and the remaining 15 per cent from members of UKPR management.\nThe consideration was finalised after taking into account discounted cash flows and relevant transaction multiples, Sembcorp said, and will be funded via internal cash resources and external borrowings.\nOnce the transaction is completed by the end of the week, Sembcorp will consolidate all assets and liabilities of UKPR, including net debt.\nOn a proforma basis, Sembcorp's 2017 earnings per share would have been lifted to 11.11 Singapore cents from 10.51 Singapore cents if the deal had been completed that year.\nSembcorp's group president and chief executive Neil McGregor said the deal will transform the group's UK business \"from a centralised utilities provider on Teesside, into an integrated energy business with operations across the country\".\n\"It will also build up Sembcorp’s merchant energy business, which we have identified as an area of focus for the group,\" he added.\nSembcorp's counter was trading at S$2.95, up 0.34 per cent, on Thursday before the mid-day break.", "YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan, who is currently in Bishkek on a working visit, participated in the Eurasian Economic Supreme Council session with other EEU member state heads of states – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Moldova Igor Dodon, who was invited to the session.\nChairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan was also present at the session.\nThe President’s Office told ARMENPRESS the narrow format and expanded format sessions were chaired by the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev – the country which chairs in the organization.\nAmong the dozen of agenda issues the EEU member state presidents were briefed on the 2015-2016 EEU international activity’s main direction report, the main guidelines of the macroeconomic policy of member states of 2017-2018 were discussed, and the documents on presenting candidates for EEC board members and making changes in the working procedure of the Eurasian Economic Commission.\nThe interim agreement draft, which is being designed, between the EEU and member states and Iran, aimed at creating a free trade zone, was also discussed.\nAmong other issues, the issue of granting Moldova a status of observer in the Eurasian Economic Union was also discussed.\nThe Presidents decided to hold the next session on October 11 in Moscow.\nPresident of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan delivered a speech at the Eurasian Economic Supreme Council session, saying:\n\"Distinguished Heads of State,\nColleagues,\nBefore referring to one or two issues presented for the discussions at the plenary session of the Supreme Council, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambaev for organizing today’s meeting at such a high level, as well as for the hospitality and warm welcome.\nThe shaping of our common economic area and its development for the second year in a row is taking place in a complex global economic situation which is manifested in the decreasing tempo of the global economic growth and geopolitical convulsions. All this on one hand creates certain problems for the full-fledged functioning of our Union, on the other hand it opens new opportunities for a closer cooperation of our countries.\nUnder these conditions, the concerted steps taken by our countries allowed the member state to stabilize to some extent the situation, to achieve the macroeconomic stability through the assistance to some areas and branches, which has translated into the tendency of growth in some countries in the areas of industrial and agricultural production. In particular, in 2016 the gross domestic product indicators in Armenia showed positive dynamics; there was registered the increase of activities in the production, agricultural, and service areas. Armenia’s turnover with the EAEU countries grew by more than 15%, and the export of the Armenian goods to the Eurasian market grew by 65%. There was registered the increase of the turnover with third countries as well.\nOur countries have similar goals for development which we, in particular, see in the introduction of industrial innovations, high technologies in the area of agriculture, digitalized economy, and renewable sources of energy. It is also important to make concerted efforts aimed at the implementation of the mutually beneficial cooperation programs. We have two main objectives: First, to fortify the Union from within, further liberalize our common economic area through the elimination of the barriers, reduce exemptions related to the free move of goods, services, capital, and labor. Second objective is the amplification of the EAEU’s international engagement. These two objectives complement each other and affect the efficiency and international standing of the Organization.\nFrom the viewpoint of further strengthening of the international standing of our integration union, we attach great importance to the invigoration of the EAEU cooperation with the third countries which are ready for a true partnership, and with pivotal integration units. In 2016, issues of cooperation with Iran, China, India, Egypt and some other countries were discussed in a constructive spirit. Armenia is interested in securing these agreements legally, particularly with the Islamic Republic of Iran with which we have pragmatic, mutually beneficial, and good neighborly relations.\nFrom this point of view, we assess positively the cooperation process between the Eurasian Economic Commission and European Commission as an important factor for the promotion of a dialogue between the two integration unions which will be conducive for the exchange of experience, exploration of the avenues for integration and cooperation, and a harmonious, complementary and mutually beneficial development.\nDistinguished Heads of State,\nThe efficiency of the EAEU is also dependent on the smooth and coordinated works of the state bodies of the member states, Eurasian Economic Commission, and business circles. With this regard, we expect that the Eurasian Economic Commission, within the scope of its authority, will provide proposals on the resolution of the problems facing the Union. We also view as important the creation and publishing by the Eurasian Economic Commission in cooperation with the state bodies of the member states of the so called White Book which will present by consent of the parties 60 barriers existing within the Union’s market. I hope that the road map for their elimination with the proper timetable will be created soon.\nArmenia will continue to implement the preset programs aimed at thwarting the negative tendencies present in the global economy, promoting sustainable development, including through the utilization of the integration potential of the Union.\nThank you.\"", "* Egypt aims to raise $4.6 bln from privatisations\n* First share offering in next 2-3 months -FinMin\n* Banque Du Caire, MIDOR, ENPPI to sell stakes (Adds finance minister comment)\nCAIRO, March 18 (Reuters) - Egypt announced on Sunday the names of 23 state companies that will sell stakes from this year under its plan to raise 80 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.6 billion) through minority share offerings on the Cairo bourse.\nThey included Banque Du Caire, one of the country’s largest banks, major oil companies Middle East Oil Refining (MIDOR) and Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI), as well as Misr Insurance Company.\nThe government had said that it intended to sell shares in dozens of state companies to boost public finances and draw more investors to the Cairo exchange, but had previously only identified a handful of companies as candidates.\nThe 23 companies range from banking and petroleum to real estate and will look to sell stakes ranging from 15-30 percent in the next two to two-and-a-half years, the finance ministry said in a statement announcing the list.\nFinance Minister Amr El Garhy told television channel CBC on Sunday that the first stake sale would be held within two to three months, without specifying which company.\nThe list includes some companies already traded on the exchange and others that will hold an initial public offering.\nEgypt’s economy has been struggling to recover since a popular uprising in 2011 drove foreign investors and tourists away, but a $12 billion International Monetary Fund lending programme signed at the end of 2016 has helped to spur growth and lure back foreign investors.\nThe state owns vast swathes of Egypt’s economy, including three of its largest banks - National Bank of Egypt, Banque Du Caire, the United Bank of Egypt - along with much of its oil industry and real estate sector.\nENPPI has been discussed previously as a candidate to be the first state company to offer shares this year, and others such as Banque Du Caire have been mentioned in recent years but their offerings have been delayed.\nThe last time state-owned companies were listed on the exchange was in 2005 when shares of Telecom Egypt, the state’s landline monopoly, and oil companies Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals and AMOC were floated.\nSidi Kerir Petrochemicals will now sell another stake and was included in the list announced on Sunday. (Reporting by Moemen Saeed Abdelkhalek Additional reporting by Ehab Farouk Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Susan Fenton)", "STUTTGART, Germany and QUEBEC CITY, July 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --\nAs a result of the ac quisition , GFT will enter the C anadi an insurance mark e t, expand its m ark e t position in Nor th America a nd gain a ne w site in Belgium\nV-NEO develops integr ated IT solutions a nd implement s Guidewire s ervices f o r leading insurance companies in C anada , Belgium and France\n160 employees will strengthen GFT's industry expertise with a focus on digital applications within the property, casualty and life insurance sectors\nGFT Technologies SE (GFT) today approved the full acquisition of all shares of V-NEO Inc. (V-NEO), based in Canada. The company is an experienced services provider of integrated IT solutions for the insurance industry. Its clients include numerous major insurers in Canada, Belgium and France. V-NEO has also acted as a service partner for the insurance platforms Guidewire and Oracle OIPA. Founded in 2011, the company employs 160 people at its three sites in Quebec, Toronto and Brussels. With the acquisition of V-NEO, GFT strengthens its expertise in the insurance sector, expands its market position in North America and gains a new location in Belgium.\n(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/640879/GFT_Logo.jpg )\n(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/714329/V_NEO_Logo.jpg )\nThe company is expected to generate revenues of around CAD 23.5 million in the current financial year (August 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018). Earnings before taxes (EBT) is expected to reach approximately CAD 4.3 million. The purchase price will be paid in cash and the two parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The full transfer of shares is scheduled for the end of July 2018. As a result of the first-time consolidation in August 2018, GFT expects additional revenues of around CAD 11 million for this financial year. Due to the acquisition-related expenses, V-NEO will not make a significant contribution to GFT earnings in 2018. Further details will be disclosed in the Half-year Financial Report published on August 9, 2018.\nAt the contract signing, Marika Lulay, CEO of GFT Technologies SE, stressed that: \"The acquisition underpins our international growth strategy and medium-term forecast for 2022. The technological know-how and the client base of V-NEO are a perfect fit for GFT - as are its highly skilled on-site client consultants in North America and Europe, as well as the nearshore development teams in Canada.\"\nReinforcement with regard to property, casualty and life insurance\nThe insurance industry is facing enormous challenges in the midst of the digital transformation process. According to Gartner, only a few insurers worldwide have initiated their digital transformation so far; and such changes can take up to ten years to achieve. V-NEO has in-depth expertise - especially regarding digital solutions for property, casualty and life insurance. This includes both strategic consulting as well as all steps from initial design to the implementation of solutions. The company boasts a high customer loyalty rate with national and international clients, driven by its bespoke architecture enterprise solutions and projects for process optimization and digital transformation. With this acquisition, GFT is able to complement its current services portfolio for property and casualty insurance with expanded and new solutions for the life insurance sector. V-NEO has already received numerous innovation awards for its agile integration of Guidewire services. As one of the largest independent North American services providers for the Guidewire insurance platform, the company currently generates around two-thirds of its revenue with this offering. V-NEO also works on a major Canadian life insurance project with OIPA Oracle platform. These services will now be combined with GFT's existing insurance services in order to expand its international client base.\nInnovation in the DNA of both companies\nV-NEO was the first North American firm to initiate an 'Insurance Innovation and Performance Center', which is specifically designed for innovation development and the training of employees in the insurance sector. The center puts into practice the development, piloting and market roll-out of new insurance solutions involving all aspects of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Combined with the existing global Digital Innovation Labs of GFT, the innovation management within GFT will be enhanced and taken to the next level.\nDiversification of client portfolio\nAlain Lamothe, CEO of V-NEO stated that: \"With our deep insurance know-how and our technological skills, we are not just a perfect fit for each other, but will also help diversify GFT's customer portfolio with our long-lasting client relationships. The international GFT presence enables us to recognize global industry trends at an early stage, tapping into the market potential together, both with our clients and our partners.\"\nLulay added: \"The acquisition of V-NEO is a decisive step towards positioning GFT as a leading IT partner for the digital transformation of the insurance industry, as it is already for the banking sector.\"\nhttps://www.gft.com/int/en/index/company/newsroom/press-releases/2018/gft-acquires-canadian-it-specialist-v-neo-focused-on-the-insurance-industry/\nTechnology Holdings advised V-NEO on the transaction", "Company reallocating capital as it continues focus on generating long-term shareholder value through commercialization of core technologies and new strategic acquisitions\nROGERS, AR--(Marketwired - April 17, 2017) - Ecoark Holdings, Inc. (\"Ecoark\") ( OTCQX : EARK), a provider of a suite of proprietary technologies and services that drive sustainability and facilitate sustainable growth for a wide range of clients, today announced it has completed a sale of the assets of its subsidiary, Eco3d, for cash and assets with a value of approximately $4.8 million. The transaction was completed on April 14, 2017. Proceeds from the sale consist of $1.9 million cash, 560,000 shares of Ecoark Holdings, Inc.'s common stock, returned to the company by the buyer's principals at $4.74 per share, the closing share price on the date of the transaction closing, and the assumption of liabilities, including $200,000 payable to Ecoark Holdings within four months.\n\"This transaction is another significant step in our strategic growth plan, as it allows us to further focus our efforts on the commercialization and eventual profitability of our core technologies, such as Zest Fresh, and to add additional strategic acquisitions to our portfolio that provide the greatest opportunity of generating long-term shareholder value,\" said Jay Puchir, CEO, Ecoark Holdings, Inc. \"Eco3d was a positive addition to our portfolio, as it had strong management and was well recognized as an industry-leader within its space. As Ecoark continues to hone its focus towards its core mission, we will continue to allocate new and existing capital toward investments that provide long-term shareholder value as we enter this exciting next phase for our Company and our shareholders.\"\nThe sale is one of several recent steps taken by the Company to further streamline operations and reallocate capital to achieve its core mission -- generate long-term shareholder value by establishing and developing a portfolio of subsidiaries featuring either stable, free cash flow positive businesses or opportunistic, scalable technologies. The Company will continue its production of commercialized solutions to solve the $35 billion dollar problem of fresh food loss within the supply chain, led by its wholly owned subsidiary Zest Labs and its fresh management solution, Zest Fresh. Zest Labs has an opportunistic, scalable technology that reduces waste and maintains freshness quality, consistency, and margins within the fresh foods supply chain, providing real-time feedback that empowers workers to maintain best practices.\nAbout Ecoark Holdings, Inc.\nBased in Rogers, AR and founded in 2011, Ecoark Holdings, Inc. is a growth-oriented company based in the retail and logistics hub of Northwest Arkansas. Ecoark's current portfolio of subsidiaries monetize the reduction of waste in Operations, Logistics, and Supply Chains across the evolving global economy.\nEcoark's vision is to deploy a company-first philosophy using radical transparency to optimize capital deployment via aggressive deal flow sourcing and vetting, and achieve financial objectives by hiring and developing strong, properly incentivized managers.\nEcoark addresses these vital economic factors through three active subsidiaries, Zest Labs, Pioneer Products, and Magnolia Solar.\nFor more information, please visit http://www.ecoarkusa.com/.\nForward Looking Statement:\nThis release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements concerning our business and possible or assumed future results of operations. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements for many reasons including: our ability to continue as a going concern; adverse economic changes affecting markets we serve; competition in our markets and industry segments; our timing and the profitability of entering new markets; greater than expected costs, customer acceptance of our products or difficulties related to our integration of the businesses we may acquire; and other risks and uncertainties as may be detailed from time to time in our public announcements and SEC filings. Although we believe the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, they relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made, and our future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements may not meet these expectations. We do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this document to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.", "BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (Armenpress)—Armenia attaches a great importance to boosting the Eurasian Economic Union’s (EAEU) cooperation with third countries and key integration units that are ready for real cooperation with the Union, President Serzh Sarkisian said at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council’s session in Bishkek on April 14.\n“It is already the second year the formation of our common economic space is taking place in the conditions of complex global economic conjuncture, amid the backdrop of reduction of global economic growth rates and geopolitical shocks. All this creates obstacles on the way of our Union’s full establishment on the one hand, and opens new opportunities for further cooperation of our states on the other hand,” the President said, adding that in these circumstances the actions taken and agreed by the EAEU states allow to stabilize the situation in the member states, to demonstrate macroeconomic stability.\n“In 2016 a positive dynamics was realized in Armenia’s GDP, an economic activity was registered in industry, agriculture and services fields. Armenia’s trade turnover with the EAEU countries increased by more than 15%. The export of Armenian products to the EAEU market increased by 65%. Growth was also recorded in trade turnover with third countries,” Sarkisian said.\nSarkisian stated that the EAEU states have development goals, and the way to reach them is in innovations in industry, high technology in agriculture, digital economy, renewable energy fields. He said it is necessary to make joint efforts aimed at implementing mutually beneficial cooperation programs.\n“We have two major goals. The first one is strengthening the Union from inside, the further liberalization of common economic space through elimination of barriers, as well as ensuring free movement of goods. The second goal concerns increasing the EAEU’s international engagement. These two goals are considered to be complementary, they affect the organization’s effectiveness and international reputation. We attach a great importance to boosting the EAEU cooperation with third countries and key integration units that are ready for real cooperation. In 2016 cooperation issues were developed with Iran, China, India, Egypt and other countries. Armenia is interested in legal implementation of the agreements reached, especially with the Islamic Republic of Iran with which we are linked with pragmatic, mutually beneficial and friendly relations. At this stage we positively assess the mutual partnership between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the European Commission” Sarkisian stated.\nHe expressed hope that in near future the roadmap on eliminating 60 barriers that exist in the Union’s market, as well as are enshrined in the White Book and demand solutions, will be created. “Armenia will continue to implement the preset programs aimed at thwarting the negative tendencies present in the global economy, promoting sustainable development, including through the utilization of the integration potential of the Union,” Sarkisian concluded.", "United Technologies Corp.’s boss has begun laying the groundwork for an exit in a few years, after seeing through the company’s blockbuster $23 billion union with Rockwell Collins Inc.\nChief Executive Officer Greg Hayes said he has told the board he expects to step down in about three to five years. The 57-year-old executive wants to complete the integration of Rockwell Collins and would also oversee a potential United Technologies breakup, a move the company promised to explore later this year.\nGreg Hayes Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg\n“If you stay around too long, you disenfranchise the next generation of leadership,” Hayes said in an interview at United Technologies’ new building-technology center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. “We have some good, solid leaders out there, the next generation coming up. My time will come and I’ll go off and do something else.”\nThe CEO’s remaining tenure, which he hasn’t previously discussed publicly, sheds light on the management succession path as United Technologies weighs a dramatic transformation. The comments also signify at least a few more years of consistent leadership at the maker of jet engines and elevators at a time when many of its industrial peers have undergone CEO turnover.\nIn a subsequent statement Monday, the company said the CEO’s remarks were “misinterpreted.”\n“In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, Greg Hayes, Chairman and CEO of UTC, was asked a hypothetical question about his potential tenure in his current role,” the company said in the statement. “His remarks were misinterpreted as having provided a definitive timeline for his retirement. To be clear, Mr. Hayes intends to continue to remain focused on executing UTC’s priorities for years to come.”\nAccording to a recording of the March 16 interview, Hayes said: “I’ve been very up front with the board, I said, ‘Look, I will be here three to five years, and not much beyond that.’”\nAggressive Dealmaker\nWhen he goes, Hayes will hand over a dramatically different company than the one he took over in late 2014. He’s reinvigorated the Farmington, Connecticut-based manufacturer by investing in new products and digital technology across its business lines of aerospace and building systems. Hayes, who also serves as chairman, has been an aggressive dealmaker as well, shedding the long-held Sikorsky helicopter unit and agreeing to buy Rockwell Collins.\nYet shares have lagged the broader market for most of Hayes’s run as the company contended with a slowing construction market in China and spent heavily to introduce a new jet engine. United Technologies fell less than 1 percent to $127.20 at the close in New York. The shares have fallen 0.3 percent this year, trailing the 1.5 percent advance in the S&P 500 Index.\nGeneral Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc. and Johnson Controls International Plc each have installed new top executives in the past year. This month, 3M Co. said CEO Inge Thulin would step aside in mid-2018.\nHayes, who joined United Technologies in 1999 and served as finance chief for six years, was thrust into the CEO’s chair after the abrupt resignation of Louis Chenevert. From the start, the new leader made clear his desire to make a splash with a big acquisition, a goal he achieved in late 2017 with the purchase of Rockwell Collins, one of the biggest aerospace deals ever.\nThe transaction is on track to close in the next few months, Hayes said. He wants to stick around long enough to ensure that the integration of Rockwell is successful, including getting “all the synergies recognized.” The process is likely to take about three years, he said.\nRealizing Synergies\nUnited Technologies anticipates more than $500 million of cost savings through the Rockwell tie-up as it capitalizes on lessons learned from its 2012 acquisition of Goodrich Corp. Hayes helped glean more than $600 million in cost synergies -- 50 percent higher than initial estimates -- from the Goodrich integration.\nThe CEO surprised investors last month when he said United Technologies would study whether a breakup would enhance shareholder value. While the company said it will consider all options, one outcome could be a three-way split creating independent aerospace, elevator and climate-control businesses.\nChief Financial Officer Akhil Johri said the timing of the announcement was driven mainly by the U.S. tax overhaul, which will allow the company to repatriate $3.5 billion of overseas cash.\nUnited Technologies now expects to use less debt in the Rockwell deal and have a lower cost for that debt, reducing the financial burden of the transaction. That would allow it to tackle the “significant” one-time costs that would come with a breakup, which Hayes estimates could be $2 billion to $3 billion.\nActivist Consideration\nBoth Hayes and Johri said the decision to explore a breakup was made internally and wasn’t driven by an activist shareholder. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management is building a stake in United Technologies, CNBC and Bloomberg reported last month, while there’s also been speculation of interest from another unidentified activist investor.\nHayes said he’s wary of investors looking to make a quick buck on United Technologies because that may be incompatible with the company’s focus on long-cycle businesses. Still, he sees the stock as undervalued at current prices and said he’ll consider options to bring it up to a more appropriate level.\n“There’s certainly value to be unlocked,” Hayes said. “If an activist wants to come into the stock and they’ve got some ideas, we’ll listen.”", "DUBAI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Here are some factors that may affect Middle East stock markets on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified the press reports and does not vouch for their accuracy.\nINTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL\n* GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares, dollar rally as N. Korea blinks\n* MIDEAST STOCKS-Qatar's IHG falls on listing, Dubai down on weak earnings, Egypt tests support\n* Oil prices steady after overnight tumble on dollar strength, China concerns\n* PRECIOUS-Gold dips as investors seek riskier assets amid easing N.Korea tension\n* Fighters, refugees, leave Lebanon enclave for Syria\n* UAE pushes for better ties with cleric Sadr amid efforts to contain Iran\n* Yemen records 500,000 cholera cases, nearly 2,000 deaths - WHO\n* Investigation into security breaches at Libya's Sharara field - NOC\n* Iranian drone comes close to U.S. aircraft carrier - U.S. Navy\nEGYPT\n* Egyptian train crews held following fatal crash, railway chief quits\n* INTERVIEW-Beltone Financial to launch $1 bln fixed income fund -CEO\n* Average yields fall on Egypt's five- and 10-year T-bonds\n* Italy to return ambassador to Cairo, ending standoff over murdered student\n* Egypt carries on tradition of steam-free \"foot ironing\"\nSAUDI ARABIA\n* EXCLUSIVE-Saudi Arabia to resume building mammoth Mecca hotel -sources\n* Saudi's Sadara commissions last plant of its Saudi petchem complex\n* Saudi Arabian developer Jabal Omar to raise 4 billion riyals via sukuk –sources\n* BUZZ-Saudi Aramco's trading arm buys gasoil cargoes for Aug-Sept -trade\n* Saudi Aramco to shut unit at Ras Tanura refinery in Oct -sources\n* Saudi Arabia's SAGO buys 660,000 T of barley in tender\nUNITED ARAB EMIRATES\n* DAMAC Properties' profits fall for second consecutive quarter\n* Dubai's Emaar Properties posts 14 pct rise in second-quarter profit\n* Dubai's Meraas Holding issues $200 mln tap of private sukuk due in 2022 -document\n* BUZZ-GFH Financial slides in Dubai despite strong Q2 earnings\n* BUZZ-Dubai builder DSI down on Q2 results, chief executive departure\n* UAE's Gulf Navigation Q2 profit rises\nQATAR\n* BUZZ-Qatar's IHG drops on listing\nKUWAIT\n* BRIEF-Kuwait Finance House completes stake sale in Specialities Group\n* Kuwait's crown prince had \"successful\" medical check-ups in U.S.-agency\n* Kuwait contains oil spill, power and water output normal - agency\nOMAN\n* Bank Sohar shareholders approve issue of 100 mln rials bonds (Compiled by Dubai Newsroom)", "(Adds PDVSA, New Mountain Capital LLC, Delphi Automotive Plc, Nokia, Telia, Glencore Plc, Thyssenkrupp, Scripps Networks Interactive, Ecoasis)\nMay 3 The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Wednesday:\n** PetroVietnam's joint venture with Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA remains stalled but the Vietnamese company hopes ongoing talks will lead to reactivation of operations, a top executive for the company told Reuters.\n** Private-equity firm New Mountain Capital LLC is in advanced talks to buy laboratory equipment supplier VWR Corp in a deal that could be valued at nearly $5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.\n** Automotive supplier Delphi Automotive Plc said it plans to spin off operations tied to internal combustion engines and focus on technology for electrically powered and self-driving vehicles, boosting its share price and highlighting the challenges for legacy auto industry players.\n** Finland's Nokia plans to sell its undersea cables unit, a business that underpins the global Internet, two union sources and a French government source told Reuters.\n** Nordic telecoms firm Telia said it was aiming to sell part of its stake in Turkey's Turkcell to institutional investors as part of its strategy to focus on its Nordic and Baltic operations.\n** Mining-trading group Glencore Plc has hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell a portfolio of royalty assets, including one for the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, four people familiar with the process have told Reuters.\n** Thousands of Thyssenkrupp steelworkers protested against the German industrial group's plan to merge its European steel operations with those of India's Tata Steel .\n** Scripps Networks Interactive said it has agreed to buy online food publication Spoon University, a startup it hopes will give its flagship cable channel, the Food Network, a foothold with younger audiences.\n** Ecoasis, a Canadian real estate developer, has started a strategic review of the Bear Mountain resort in British Columbia, which could lead to a potential sale, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.\n** Twelve parties, including local and foreign banks, have expressed interest in taking a stake in Kenya's Chase Bank, the central bank said late on Tuesday.\n** Turkey's new sovereign wealth fund has signed a framework agreement with an Islamic Development Bank (IDB) unit to develop Islamic mortgages and different types of cooperation with the bank will be on the agenda, the fund's head said.\n** New Zealand's competition regulator blocked the planned merger of NZME Ltd and Fairfax Media Ltd's New Zealand unit, saying the deal would have led to unprecedented local media influence and built the world's most concentrated newspaper market outside of China.\n** Italian investment fund Palladio Holding Group will buy Slovenian car parts maker Cimos after it pulled out of a similar deal in February, Slovenian daily newspaper Dnevnik reported.\n** The sale process for troubled flagship carrier Alitalia will kick off in the next 15 days, Italy's Industry Minister said.\n** German copper products group Wieland said on Wednesday it has taken over the copper and steel tube business of U.S. company Wolverine Tube Inc, as part of its plans to expand internationally.\n** Chinese conglomerate HNA Group has become Deutsche Bank's biggest direct shareholder, upping its stake in the flagship lender of Europe's top economy to just under 10 percent, according to a U.S. regulatory filing.\n** An application has been made to Turkey's competition authority for Austrian logistics company Austrian Post to take over a 50 percent stake in Turkey-based Aras Kargo from other shareholders, the authority said.\n** State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has started the sale of its medical services business in Jeddah, valued at around $500 million, as part of a drive to reduce non-core assets, sources familiar with the matter said.\n** Delek Group said that Israeli businessman Yonel Cohen will purchase a 130 million shekel ($36 million) stake in insurer Phoenix Holdings as part of a deal with China's Yango Group Co.\n** Jonah Energy, a natural gas company backed by investors including private equity firm TPG Capital, has agreed to acquire oil and gas-producing land in Wyoming from Linn Energy for around $580 million, the companies said on Tuesday.\n** Intact Financial Corp, Canada's largest property and casualty insurer, said it would buy U.S.-based specialty insurer OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd for $1.7 billion, creating a specialty insurer focused on small- and mid-sized businesses. (Compiled by Akankshita Mukhopadhyay and John Benny in Bengaluru)", "Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CDK Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDK) by 4.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,365,159 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 93,333 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CDK Global were worth $135,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.\nOther large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iridian Asset Management LLC CT purchased a new stake in CDK Global during the second quarter valued at about $141,644,000. Palestra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in CDK Global during the second quarter valued at about $26,802,000. Williams Jones & Associates LLC increased its stake in CDK Global by 34,491.2% in the second quarter. Williams Jones & Associates LLC now owns 420,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,322,000 after buying an additional 419,068 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in CDK Global by 39,891.2% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 300,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,687,000 after buying an additional 299,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in CDK Global during the second quarter valued at about $16,504,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.95% of the company’s stock.\nShares of CDK Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDK) opened at 59.69 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 36.24 and a beta of 0.72. CDK Global, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.67 and a 12 month high of $61.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.16.\nCDK Global (NASDAQ:CDK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 2nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. CDK Global had a return on equity of 59.26% and a net margin of 11.96%. The firm had revenue of $550.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that CDK Global, Inc. will post $2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.\nThe company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 20th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 16th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. This is a boost from CDK Global’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. CDK Global’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.94%.\nTRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: This piece was published by The Vista Voice and is the propert of of The Vista Voice. If you are viewing this piece on another domain, it was stolen and reposted in violation of US & international copyright and trademark law. The legal version of this piece can be accessed at http://www.thevistavoice.org/2017/01/02/principal-financial-group-inc-boosts-position-in-cdk-global-inc-cdk/1138042.html.\nCDK has been the topic of several recent research reports. TheStreet upgraded CDK Global from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 2nd. William Blair began coverage on CDK Global in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised CDK Global from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.75.\nAbout CDK Global\nCDK Global, Inc provides integrated information technology and digital marketing solutions. The Company’s segments include Retail Solutions North America, Advertising North America and CDK International. Through its Retail Solutions North America segment, the Company provides technology-based solutions, including automotive Website platforms, that help automotive retailers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other industry participants manage the acquisition, sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair and maintenance of vehicles.\nWant to see what other hedge funds are holding CDK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for CDK Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDK).\nReceive News & Ratings for CDK Global Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CDK Global Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.", "And the Treasury Department released an analysis of the Senate tax bill that suggested the $1.5 trillion plan would more than pay for itself — but only if the economy grows much faster than any independent analysis has projected.\n_____\nPhoto\n3. Alabama voters go to the polls tomorrow in what has become a national nail-biter: the special election for the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.\nRoy Moore, the arch-conservative Republican dogged by accusations that he made sexual advances on underage girls, is holding a rally with Stephen Bannon tonight. Doug Jones, his Democratic challenger, is getting a big assist from Democratic and liberal groups across the country.\nWe discussed the race with our political correspondent Jonathan Martin on “The Daily.”\n_____\nPhoto\n4. President Vladimir Putin of Russia took a whirlwind diplomatic tour of Egypt, Syria and Turkey, amid anger over President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.\nAbove, Mr. Putin, in car, waved goodbye to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The trip showcased Mr. Putin’s role as a global statesman just as he embarks on a campaign for another presidential term, his fifth and possibly last.\n_____\nPhoto\n5. When the Islamic State seized territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, it had the time and space to manufacture weapons on an industrial scale. We obtained extensive documents that show how the group built up its output levels “unlike anything we’ve ever seen” from a nonstate force.\nAt times the weapons were exceptionally cruel — booby-traps that blew up homes, heaters packed with explosives. Above, an area of Mosul recently recaptured from the group.\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n“They’re spreading this knowledge all over the world,” said an explosives expert. “It’s going to the Philippines, it’s in Africa.” He added, “This stuff’s going to continue to grow.”\n_____\nPhoto\n6. After reports that North Korea is developing the ability to launch submarine-based missiles, the U.S., Japan and South Korea are conducting drills to track such weapons.\nFears of a crisis on the Korean Peninsula are mounting. In China, a leaked document circulating online shows that a county along the border with North Korea is constructing refugee camps that could hold thousands of people.\n_____\nPhoto\n7. Mario Batali, the celebrity chef, apologized and stepped away from his food empire and ABC’s “The Chew” after four unnamed women accused him of sexual harassment.\nHe’s one of the country’s most high-profile chefs and restaurant owners, and also a best-selling cookbook author. The accusations were first reported by Eater, the food website.\nSeparately, The New Yorker fired its Washington correspondent, Ryan Lizza, after it said he had engaged in “improper sexual conduct.” He denied the charge.\n_____\nPhoto\n8. Firefighters in Southern California have been getting some of the fires in Los Angeles and San Diego under control. But the Thomas Fire is still threatening communities around Santa Barbara. Above, a scene in Carpinteria.\nSign up for our California Today newsletter to get the latest on the fires and other local news delivered to your inbox each morning.\nAdvertisement Continue reading the main story\n_____\nPhoto\n9. Talk about unintended consequences. Among the transformations Nafta brought to Mexico: a diet more like the U.S.’s, complete with lots of junk food, soda, meat — and an epidemic of diet-related illnesses. Above, a Sam’s Club in Chiapas.\nThe latest installment of our series “Planet Fat” tracks how the 1994 deal opened the floodgates to imports of cheap corn, meat and processed foods.\n“The only way that Mexico became a ‘first world’ country was in terms of diet,” said a trade expert.\nMarket Snapshot View Full Overview\n_____\nPhoto\n10. Finally, the Golden Globes nominations are out, led by Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy “The Shape of Water,” with seven. Octavia Spencer, second left, and Sally Hawkins, center, both earned nominations for their roles in the film.\nHere are the top nominees and a look at the surprises and snubs (no best screenplay for “Get Out”; “Wonder Woman” shut out; three nods for “All the Money in the World” — from which Kevin Spacey was eradicated).\nHave a great night.\n_____\nThe Evening Briefing by Email Get a nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered to your inbox every Monday through Friday.\nYour Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.\nAnd don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays.\nWant to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.\nIf photographs appear out of order, please download the updated New York Times app from iTunes or Google Play.\nWhat did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.", "Alibaba's international M&A activity will continue driving top line growth for years to come, diversifying revenue along the way.\nAlibaba Group (BABA) has tumbled over 10% from late March to early April, amid trade war fears revolving around recently imposed tariffs. New headlines coming out last Thursday placed further pressure on Alibaba stock in after hours trading.\nBABA data by YCharts\nWe believe the fears looming overhead are overstated by the market, and foresee Alibaba's rampant growth continuing into the future fueled by strategic M&A. As the company expands its operations across the globe, diversity among geographic regions and business segments will increase.\nSource\nAdditionally, Alibaba's valuation is attractive when considering growth prospects, and current performance. The negative news flow certainly does not help, but this dip in price presents an attractive opportunity for long-term investors to enter or add to a position.\nFinancial Overview\nThe company has grown at an impressive rate over the last several years, boasting a 5-year CAGR of over 40%. Revenue is primarily driven by core e-commerce, although segments like cloud computing are growing rapidly.\nSource: Morningstar\nThe best part is that it's not over yet, as Alibaba pushes forward with international expansion, exposing itself to a variety of markets. Many investors compare the firm to a venture capital fund - an understandable comparison given the countless investments the company has made in startups.\nThe M&A deals seem to be smaller pieces to a larger puzzle; one of a vertically integrated conglomerate-like corporation, spread out over the globe. The company pursues lower-risk revenue, diversifying across a multitude of industries and geographic regions. All this, without greatly compromising top line growth or margins.\nCash Is King\nSource: Morningstar\nAside from top line growth, the company has been able to generate strong free cash flow over the last several years. Free cash flow has remained strong, at ~46% of revenue in the past year. This is significantly higher than industry peers, which average ~14% in LTM FCF (% sales).\nThe strong FCF has contributed to a growing cash position, which now totals nearly $144 billion RMB.\nSource: Morningstar\nAs cash on hand grows, the financial position of the company strengthens. Alibaba's quick ratio provides a look at the company's health and ability to cover short-term liabilities with cash.\nSource: Morningstar\nThe ratio has bounced around over the last few years, yet remains well above 1, signifying the company is in a good position to cover current liabilities should the need arise.\nAlibaba remains a high quality company in our eyes, considering the number of industries the company is tapping into across the globe driven by M&A. Additionally, the company's cash flow performance is impressive to say the least, generating a free cash flow margin (% sales) multiples higher than the industry average.\nEle.Me Acquisition\nRecently, Alibaba released a statement disclosing that they will be acquiring the remaining stake in Ele.me, an online delivery and local services platform in China. As of the release, Alibaba and its affiliates owned ~43% of shares outstanding.\nSource\nAlibaba CEO, Daniel Zhang, stated that:\nWe are excited for Ele.me to become a part of the Alibaba ecosystem. Under the leadership of its founder and management team, Ele.me has achieved leading market share in China’s online food delivery and local services sector. Our shared belief that New Retail will create more value for customers and merchants has brought us together. Looking forward, Ele.me can leverage Alibaba’s infrastructure in commerce and find new synergies with Alibaba’s diverse businesses to add further momentum to the New Retail initiative. Source: 6-K Filing\nAs mentioned above, management envisions the acquisition propelling their New Retail vision forward, also standing to benefit Alibaba's payment service, Alipay. The online food delivery business benefits many of the restaurants they service. Here in the US, UberEATS - undoubtedly a top delivery service - is used by companies such as McDonald's (MCD), which have cited an increase in orders (and order sizes) as a result of the business.\nFor this reason, online food delivery is popular among both businesses and consumers. Alibaba's effort to acquire the leading company in this space positions them to better handle competition, and rewards them with strong contributions to revenue. Once Alibaba has a solid grip on the way things are run in the Chinese region, there's nothing stopping further expansion into other geographic areas.\nAlthough the Ele.me acquisition alone will not make it or break it for Alibaba, its just one piece of a very large puzzle. The seemingly endless number of investments Alibaba has made in growing businesses will certainly have an effect in the long-term success of the company.\nRelative Valuation\nAlibaba has faced some headwinds recently, which has placed pressure on the stocks valuation. When factoring the growth prospects for the company, the stock seems attractively priced with a PEG ratio of ~1.2.\nSource: S&P Capital IQ\nWhen compared to its peer group, the company trades below the average/median forward P/E at ~33x. Despite the lower valuation, the company's performance metrics are leaps and bounds higher than competitors.\nOn a historical basis, the stock also looks attractively priced. Over the last several years, the company has traded between 20x to over 50x earnings, averaging ~42x earnings.\nSource: Morningstar, S&P Capital IQ\nAlibaba's current multiple comes in just over 40x LTM earnings, below the historical average. On a forward-looking basis, an earnings multiple in low 30's showcases the strong bottom line growth expected for the year.\nGiven the heavy efforts to diversify revenue, and spread out over various geographic regions, we believe the company is deserving of a higher multiple. However, in our eyes, the market will continue to underestimate the potential of Alibaba until the results begin to come in.\nRisks\nEach company faces headwinds at some point, and Alibaba is no exception. Identifying whether headwinds are temporary is the crucial part; issues that drag out over long periods are dangerous, and eat up investment returns.\nGiven the vast number of VC-type investments, and M&A that Alibaba carries out, due diligence on behalf of Alibaba is critical. Should the acquisitions not turn up synergies as expected, the effort becomes meaningless. Potentially bad investments also inhibit Alibaba's growth, which can lead to lower than expected revenue, etc.\nIncreasing competition in the region is also something to take into account. As competitors position themselves to compete with Alibaba, and attempt push the company out of the picture, Alibaba may be looking at a smaller pie to eat from.\nExternal factors (e.g. trade war rhetoric) could certainly pressure the stock price, as has been recently witnessed. Even if the company remains on a straight path, investors fear such talks. Any legislation which is passed to regulate Alibaba's outreach would also be met by negative sentiment from investors.\nConclusion\nAlibaba remains a solid company, as it pours money into international expansion through strategic M&A. The wide array of companies Alibaba invests in will lead to revenue diversification down the line.\nManagement's focus on the synergies from these M&A deals is impressive, and we feel confident the ventures will pay off in the future. Alibaba is casting a wide net, yet doing so carefully. Investments are being made across the board, ranging from traditional brick and mortar retail, to ride sharing. The industries which Alibaba is exposing itself to are rapidly growing, with plenty of upside potential. Margins may fluctuate, but should remain strong in the long-run given the vertical integration efforts being made by management.\nWe feel that the company's future growth prospects are being underestimated by the market. When combined with recent trade-related apprehension, long-term investors are presented with an attractive opportunity to enter a position, or add to an already-existing position.\nDisclosure: I am/we are long BABA.\nI wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.", "LONDON, July 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --\nGresham Technologies plc, the leading software and services company that specialises in providing real-time data integrity and control solutions, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of B2 Group.\n(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/654184/Gresham_Tech_Logo.jpg )\nB2 Group adds cash management and payments integration solutions to Gresham's portfolio of Clareti applications, increasing Gresham's addressable market and advancing Gresham's strategic plan to create a global, enterprise financial technology business.\nAll B2 senior leadership and staff have joined Gresham and will continue to work together as a specialist team known as Gresham Cash Management Solutions. The B2 Luxembourg office will become a hub for growing Gresham's expanding business in continental Europe.\nIan Manocha, Gresham CEO, commented:\n\"We're delighted to be announcing today's acquisition of B2 Group. This exciting combination creates an industry leader in multi-bank integration and control solutions for corporates, banks, insurers and asset managers, it strengthens our cloud capabilities and gives us a platform to further accelerate our growth.\nWe have strategic plans for our combined organisation and remain committed to delivering innovative products, excellent support and industry expertise to our customers.\"\nHighlights of the acquisition:\n15 new customers, comprising corporates, banks, insurers, and asset managers, added to the Gresham customer base\nProvides an enlarged footprint in continental Europe\nBrings further expertise in cash management, securities and payments integration, straight-through-processing and secure cloud hosting solutions\nComplements Clareti Accounts Receivables Management and Clareti Transaction Control\nBrings proven, private cloud capability hosted at B2's trusted, secure, high-availability data centres in Luxembourg\nGresham will take B2 Group's full product set to the global market as part of the Clareti portfolio with B2's 'Multi-Bank Integrator' being renamed as 'Clareti Multi-Bank'.\nPhil Boland and Marc Binck, B2 Group Co-founders, commented:\n\"Joining with Gresham will enable us to take our innovative multi-bank solutions to a global market. Gresham shares our passion for customers and understands how to support the growth of a successful and talented financial technology team. We are delighted to be joining Gresham.\"\nAbout Gresham Technologies plc\nGresham is a leading software and services company that specialises in providing real-time data integrity and control solutions. Listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange (GHT.L) and headquartered in the City of London, its customers include some of the world's largest financial institutions, all of whom are served locally from offices located in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.\nGresham's award-winning Clareti software platform has been designed to provide financial institutions with complete certainty in their data processing. Clareti is a highly flexible and fully scalable platform for ensuring the integrity of data across an enterprise. It is designed to address today's most challenging financial control, risk management, data governance and regulatory compliance problems.\nAbout B2 Group\nB2 Group, based in Luxembourg and with offices in London, are specialists in bank-to-corporate integration and cash management software and focus on the growing multi-bank solutions market. B2 Group's core product is an innovative, proprietary, cloud-based software platform to connect corporates and asset managers with their bank partners. It provides organisations with real-time visibility of their cash position, improved control of outgoing payments and automated processing of incoming statements.\nFurther information can be found on the Gresham website greshamtech.com or on Twitter @GreshamTech\nSOURCE Gresham Technologies plc", "In seven months, Westfall Technik has made six acquisitions in injection molding, prototyping, and moldmaking.\nIn just seven months, an integrated group of injection molding, prototyping, and moldmaking companies with six operations from coast to coast, over 200 injection machines from 28 to 1000 tons, and nearly 1000 employees has emerged through a series of strategic acquisitions. The new holding company behind this burst of activity is called Westfall Technik, based in Chandler, Ariz., and founded last year by former Nypro CEO Brian Jones. Its managing director is Rick Shaffer, a plastics industry veteran with previous posts at Beloit, Demag, Van Dorn Demag, and Netstal. The firm is backed by two New York-based private-equity firms, Lee Equity Partners and Blackbern Partners. Between last October and this past May, Westfall took what the firm describes as “the first steps in the realization of a vision to build a market-leading group of plastics experts whose combined synergies and integrated network provides optimum engineered solutions throughout the plastics manufacturing process.” Westfall Technik plans to continue to grow through acquisitions and internal, “organic” growth. The company’s ambitions are reflected in referring to itself as a “global holding company.”\nThe firm launched itself into production operations with the acquisitions last October of Fairway Injection Molds Inc., a moldmaker in Walnut, Calif.; and Integrity Mold Inc., a full-service injection molder in Tempe, Ariz. That was followed in February by the addition of two prototyping and short-run molding businesses—10 Day Parts Inc. (formerly known as Advanced Technology Inc.), Corona, Calif.; and Elfy’s Inc., Hayward, Calif. In March, Westfall Technik purchased AMS Plastics Inc., a medical-oriented injection molder in El Cajon, Calif., with molding operations in Tijuana, Mexico. April brought the acquisition of AMA Plastics Inc., a fairly large injection molder in Riverside, Calif. And the group expanded to the East Coast with May’s addition of NPI Medical Inc., Ansonia, Conn.", "As a result of the acquisition, GFT will enter the Canadian insurance market, expand its market position in North America and gain a new site in Belgium\nV-NEO develops integrated IT solutions and implements Guidewire services for leading insurance companies in Canada , Belgium and France\n160 employees will strengthen GFT's industry expertise with a focus on digital applications within the property, casualty and life insurance sectors\nSTUTTGART, Germany and QUEBEC CITY, July 3, 2018 /CNW/ - GFT Technologies SE (GFT) today approved the full acquisition of all shares of V-NEO Inc. (V-NEO), based in Canada. The company is an experienced services provider of integrated IT solutions for the insurance industry. Its clients include numerous major insurers in Canada, Belgium and France. V-NEO has also acted as a service partner for the insurance platforms Guidewire and Oracle OIPA. Founded in 2011, the company employs 160 people at its three sites in Quebec, Toronto and Brussels. With the acquisition of V-NEO, GFT strengthens its expertise in the insurance sector, expands its market position in North America and gains a new location in Belgium.\n(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/640879/GFT_Logo.jpg )\n(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/714329/V_NEO_Logo.jpg )\nThe company is expected to generate revenues of around CAD 23.5 million in the current financial year (August 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018). Earnings before taxes (EBT) is expected to reach approximately CAD 4.3 million. The purchase price will be paid in cash and the two parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The full transfer of shares is scheduled for the end of July 2018. As a result of the first-time consolidation in August 2018, GFT expects additional revenues of around CAD 11 million for this financial year. Due to the acquisition-related expenses, V-NEO will not make a significant contribution to GFT earnings in 2018. Further details will be disclosed in the Half-year Financial Report published on August 9, 2018.\nAt the contract signing, Marika Lulay, CEO of GFT Technologies SE, stressed that: \"The acquisition underpins our international growth strategy and medium-term forecast for 2022. The technological know-how and the client base of V-NEO are a perfect fit for GFT - as are its highly skilled on-site client consultants in North America and Europe, as well as the nearshore development teams in Canada.\"\nReinforcement with regard to property, casualty and life insurance\nThe insurance industry is facing enormous challenges in the midst of the digital transformation process. According to Gartner, only a few insurers worldwide have initiated their digital transformation so far; and such changes can take up to ten years to achieve. V-NEO has in-depth expertise - especially regarding digital solutions for property, casualty and life insurance. This includes both strategic consulting as well as all steps from initial design to the implementation of solutions. The company boasts a high customer loyalty rate with national and international clients, driven by its bespoke architecture enterprise solutions and projects for process optimization and digital transformation. With this acquisition, GFT is able to complement its current services portfolio for property and casualty insurance with expanded and new solutions for the life insurance sector. V-NEO has already received numerous innovation awards for its agile integration of Guidewire services. As one of the largest independent North American services providers for the Guidewire insurance platform, the company currently generates around two-thirds of its revenue with this offering. V-NEO also works on a major Canadian life insurance project with OIPA Oracle platform. These services will now be combined with GFT's existing insurance services in order to expand its international client base.\nInnovation in the DNA of both companies\nV-NEO was the first North American firm to initiate an 'Insurance Innovation and Performance Center', which is specifically designed for innovation development and the training of employees in the insurance sector. The center puts into practice the development, piloting and market roll-out of new insurance solutions involving all aspects of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Combined with the existing global Digital Innovation Labs of GFT, the innovation management within GFT will be enhanced and taken to the next level.\nDiversification of client portfolio\nAlain Lamothe, CEO of V-NEO stated that: \"With our deep insurance know-how and our technological skills, we are not just a perfect fit for each other, but will also help diversify GFT's customer portfolio with our long-lasting client relationships. The international GFT presence enables us to recognize global industry trends at an early stage, tapping into the market potential together, both with our clients and our partners.\"\nLulay added: \"The acquisition of V-NEO is a decisive step towards positioning GFT as a leading IT partner for the digital transformation of the insurance industry, as it is already for the banking sector.\"\nhttps://www.gft.com/int/en/index/company/newsroom/press-releases/2018/gft-acquires-canadian-it-specialist-v-neo-focused-on-the-insurance-industry/\nTechnology Holdings advised V-NEO on the transaction\nSOURCE GFT Financial Ltd", "April 28 The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 1000 GMT on Friday:\n** One of Britain's biggest pension scheme investors has called on Dutch paintmaker Akzo Nobel to engage with U.S. suitor PPG Industries over a revised bid and criticised the board's handling of the issue.\n** A consortium led by private equity firms Hillhouse Capital Group and CDH Investments offered to buy Belle International Holdings Ltd in a deal valuing the entire Hong Kong-listed shoe retailer at about $6.8 billion.\n** The Delhi High Court has approved a settlement of the $1.18 billion dispute between Tata Sons and NTT DoCoMo, allowing the Indian firm to buy out the Japanese firm's stake in the telecoms joint venture, TV news channels reported.\n** Anglo-South African financial services group Old Mutual is selling its 26 percent stake in an Indian insurance joint venture Kotak Mahindra Bank for 156 million pounds ($201.75 million), as part of the group's planned break-up into four parts.\n** Bayer's chief executive acknowledged that he will face an uphill battle to improve Monsanto's reputation once Bayer completes the takeover of the U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company.\n** A leading advisor to pension schemes and other investors called for a review of Germany's rules around takeovers, in light of a planned takeover of U.S. agrochemicals company Monsanto by Bayer .\n** Zodiac Aerospace's chief executive has offered to resign after another profit warning from the French company, which said it continued to discuss a merger with Safran to end a crisis in its aircraft seats plants.\n** Hedge fund TCI Fund Management renewed pressure on France's Safran to suspend its bid to buy Zodiac Aerospace after the aircraft seats maker issued a second profit warning in as many months.\n** The world's biggest container shipping company, Maersk Line, will pay 3.7 billion euros ($4.02 billion) for its acquisition of smaller German rival Hamburg Sud, it said.\n** A group backed by KKR & Co said it would not undertake further work on a takeover offer for Australia's Tatts Group Ltd after its A$6.15 billion ($4.60 billion) cash bid was rejected by the lottery operator's board.\n** Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is in advanced negotiations to acquire U.S. telephone conferencing services provider West Corp, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.\n** China Shengmu Organic Milk Ltd said that a deal to sell a controlling stake to Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd was scrapped after it failed to get regulatory approval from Chinese authorities before a deadline last week.\n** Mexican breadmaker Grupo Bimbo said on Thursday it has entered the African market with the purchase of Adghal, a Morocco-based producer of baked goods.\n** The Federal Trade Commission gave a private equity firm approval on Thursday to sell to Dollar General Corp 323 stores that Sycamore purchased as part of a divestiture package two years ago, the agency said on Thursday.\n** Suncor Energy Inc, Canada's largest energy producer, is still evaluating opportunities for oil sands acquisitions in northern Alberta as foreign oil majors exit the high-cost region, Chief Executive Steve Williams said on Thursday.\n** Italy's Atlantia has agreed to sell 10 percent of its domestic motorway unit to a series of investors including Allianz for 1.48 billion euros ($1.6 billion) as it presses ahead with plans to bid for Spanish rival Abertis. (Compiled by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru)", "Get Daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe See our privacy notice Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nThe finalists have been chosen in the year's Business Insider Deals and Dealmakers Awards, with the judging panel selecting the shortlists from an interesting field.\nThe judging process again involved shortlisted entrants attending a short interview hosted by members of the judging panel who could put their questions to the businesses and individual entrants.\nUp to three representatives from each selected nominee were able to attend the final judging session before the finalists were selected.\nFrom the comments of the entrants I spoke to the judges interviews were testing but enjoyable.\nFinalists have been chosen in six categories, with the Dealmaker of Year and Deal of The Year categories being announced on the night of the awards.\nWinners are being chosen in categories Acquisition of the Year; Sale of the Year; MBO/MBI/IBO/EBO of the Year; Deal Transaction Support Award; Early Stage Risk Capital Deal of the Year; Legal Advisor of the Year; by a judging panel chaired by John Anderson, head of SME engagement at Strathclyde Business School.\nAcquisition of the Year\nLaings\nLaing Glasgow Holdings purchase of Laing The Jeweller and Parkhouse The Jeweller remerged two parts of the family business in a much talked about deal.\nMB Aerospace\nThe Motherwell-based business's deal to buy Taiwan-based Asian Compressor Technology Services Company for an undisclosed sum took the company to a new level as a player in the global market.\nThe Glenallachie Distillers Co Ltd\nThe multi-million pound takeover of the Glenallachie Distillery near Aberlour from Pernod Ricard marked the arrival of a new entrant to the market led by industry veteran Billy Walker.\nDeal Transaction Support\nDeloitte LLP\nThe private client transactions tax team at Deloitte provided tax advice to more than £1bn worth of deals over the year. The judges commented on the impact the team had on successful deal completion.\nGrant Thornton UK LLP\nThe Scottish corporate finance team at Grant Thornton advised on 18 deals over the year covered by the Awards. The judges commented on the impressive number of deals completed in the period.\nHall Morrice Corporate Finance\nThe corporate finance team at Hall Morrice was launched in April 2017 but the judges said, they were “providing great support to their clients” and had advised on eight separate transactions over the year with a combined value of £35 million.\nEarly Stage Risk Capital Deal of the Year\nLeapFrog Investments\nLittle known in the Scottish marketplace, LeapFrog invests in high-growth financial services and healthcare companies in emerging markets, with notable international deals being conducted from an Edinburgh base.\nOptoscribe Ltd\nThis spinout from Heriot-Watt University is a world leader and global supplier of glass-based integrated photonics components. Its Series B £1.8m investment round was led by the Archangels syndicate and supported by Par Equity, the Scottish Investment Bank and the management team.\nBDD Pharma\nThe Bio-Images Drug Delivery (BDD) business, which is based in Glasgow and Newhouse, attracted funding from Archangels and the Scottish Investment Bank. The judges commented on its business model.\nLegal Advisor of The Year\nBurness Paull LLP\nThe firm has 50 mergers and acquisition lawyers across offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow and worked on major deals over the year including the Weir Group's £98m acquisition of Singapore-based KOP Surface Products.\nMacdonald Henderson\nThe Glasgow-based corporate team at Macdonald Henderson worked on 51 deals in 2017 including on the completion of the Glenallachie Distillery acquisition from Pernod Richard.\nTurcan Connell\nEstablished in 2011 to service the commercial requirements of the firm's family business, entrepreneur and high net worth individual clients, the team has grown in terms of headcount, geography and value of deals advised on. Deals advised on included the sale of Sanquhar Tile Services.\nMBO/MBI/IBO/EBO of the Year\nMediascape\nAngus and Shona Knight sold the majority stake in their Glasgow-based audio visual systems company to their employees. The employee buyout was designed to guarantee the future of the business and the employees' contribution in building it up.\nMiller Homes\nThe MBO of Miller Homes was planned to realise the investment of the group's shareholders and continue the growth of the group via a management team that had a track record of delivering success.\nSearch\nThe private equity-backed MBO of the recruitment group delivered for the shareholders and now give the management team the backing of H2 Equity Partners to drive growth in the business to take it to the next level.\nSale of the Year\nSanquhar Tile Services\nThe company was sold to Shaw Industries, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, in a deal that keeps in a deal that kept the 111 jobs, added more and provided access to new technology for the business.\nLeapfrog Investments\nThe Scottish-based dedicated investor in healthcare and financial services for emerging markets sold a major stake in BIMA, an emerging markets mobile insurer to Allianz as part of a $96m transaction, in a deal led by Leapfrog partner Stewart Langdon.\nScotframe\nInverurie-based Scotframe Timber, the timber frame housing kit manufacturer, was sold to French multinational Saint Gobain in a move designed to continue the company’s expansion including onto the English housebuilding market.", "The Egyptian Commercial Service Office (ECS) has designed an ambitious plan to enhance Egypt’s presence in Africa, which Egypt has hedged its bets on for the coming period.\nAhmed Antar, head of the ECS, said that they are currently studying the possibility of taking part in international exhibitions in the African continent, as well as beginning negotiations on the establishment of a permanent exhibition in Djibouti, along with other talks to set up an Egyptian-African free trade zone.\nHow many commercial offices does ECS intend to open in the coming period, and in which countries?\nThe Ministry of Trade and Industry prepared a plan to restructure its commercial representation abroad, out of the belief that the coming period requires rapid actions to restore the competitiveness of Egyptian products.\nWe opened offices across Africa last year in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Tanzania. We plan on opening an office in Djibouti in 2017.\nMeanwhile we restructured other offices, and closed nine offices in Portugal, Chicago, Denmark, Australia, Ukraine, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Basra.\nWhat are the motives behind the reconfiguration of the trade representation offices abroad?\nThe changing economic reality in Egypt and our continuous search for new business partners were our primary motivations behind the preparation of market survey studies.\nThe studies concluded that closing some offices will not cause harm to the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s plan to increase exports by 10% per year.\nWhat are the main countries that cooperate with Egypt in Africa during 2017?\nKenya in the east, Zambia and Cote d’Ivoire in the west. A delegation from ECS will pay a visit to Cote d’Ivoire during the first half of 2017 to discuss the establishment of a logistics centre there to serve the common relations between the two countries.\nWhat are the obstacles that hinder the process of increasing trade exchange with the countries on the African continent?\nThis would be mainly caused by the weakness of the banking sector in many African countries—hence, we should find export financing programmes for operations carried out by Egyptian institutions.\nThe poor infrastructure in many African countries also makes things harder to trade.\nIn addition, the lack of maritime ports that help the flow of trade in Africa is a challenge, especially since many African countries are landlocked.\nThere is also the problem of a lack of logistical centres that makes establishing permanent exhibitions for Egyptian products more difficult, limiting our presence.\nIs there a trend for the business community to ensure the existence of guarantees to the risk of exporting to the African market?\nBusiness communities are looking for alternative means to achieve a guarantee from exporting to Africa through the Export Credit Guarantee Company of Egypt (ECGE).\nDo you believe the African market is best fit for exporting or investing?\nGiven the large consumption rates in Africa, the market is excellent for exporting, especially as the political problems and infrastructure put a cap on investment opportunities. Yet, African countries call for investments and offer incentives.\nWe aim to increase our exports to the African continent by 35% in 2017. In 2015, we registered some $4bn in exports to the continent.\nEgyptian investments in Africa continue, because we believe in investment opportunities across the continent.\nWhat are the main Egyptian products that compete strongly in Africa?\nEngineering industries, pharmaceuticals, chemical garments, food industries, and construction materials.\nHowever, pharmaceutical exports face some problems in accessing African markets driven by the obstacles of registering Egyptian medicine. Some exports are dealing with the problem by signing deals with African countries to enable registering medicine.\nDoes the focus on the African market mean that Egypt is neglecting other regions such as west Asia?\nNo, our focus on the African market does not come at the expense of other markets.\nWhat about Ethiopia—will Egypt increase its presence there despite the tension between the two countries?\nWe are in a state of stillness. But Ethiopia is a state of limited resources. It also has a large population of over 90 million, which makes Egypt’s presence in the market more attractive.\nWhat are the mechanisms followed by ECS to solve the problem of high transportation costs?\nOf the most important challenges facing Egyptians is improving shipping lines and finding shipping lines that directly target a large number of African markets.\nWorking to make Egypt a leading international trade centre in the Middle East requires work to increase the capacities of Egyptian ports in order to attract more container ships as well as working on the development of logistics capabilities and infrastructure to support this trend.\nCommercial offices abroad address the officials of government agencies concerned with the transport sector and the largest shipping companies to urge them to set up regular shipping lines to facilitate the flow of Egyptian exports.\nHow will ECS promote government projects abroad to increase investment opportunities?\nCommercial offices communicate with major companies in other countries to give advice on investment opportunities and the business environment in Egypt, next to coordinating with the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) to arrange visits to these companies. In this regard, we provided 301 investment opportunities in 2015.\nThe commercial representation offices also have more activities that directly impact investment in national projects, including training and capacity building.\nWe are working to increase joint investments with Korea, Japan, and China.\nWhich commercial representative offices had a role in attracting investments?\nThe Brussels office follows up on a number of files that are directly related to investment, such as the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and industrial cooperation.\nThe promotion of these projects also takes place in the United States and China.\nThese projects were accepted in France. A delegation of French investors conducted three visits to the New Administrative Capital and the Suez Canal Axis. The investment decision requires more time in order to prepare the necessary studies.\nAre you arranging any visits in 2017 to attract international companies?\nYes, there will be visits organised for companies operating in automotive industries, electronics, shipbuilding, yachts, leather, furniture, and textile.\nIn addition, representatives of non-traditional sectors, such as new and renewable energy, biotechnology, and nanotechnology will also come for visits.\nThis is done by communicating with foreign companies that want to relocate their factories to Egypt.\nWhat about the United States and European Union markets for Egyptian exports?\nThe United States and European Union countries are important markets for Egypt and in the field of economic cooperation, especially in the exports sector.\nEgyptian products compete strongly in sectors of textiles, yarn, agricultural products, chemical and furniture industries.\nHow does the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) handle Egyptian exports?\nThe COMESA is active on 85% of all exports. This leaves only 15% of exports blacklisted, subjected to conditions of each country separately.\nEgyptian exports to COMESA countries amounted to $1.7bn in 2015.\nWhat are the obstacles facing the African bloc’s implementation of the agreement signed in June 2015 in Sharm El-Sheikh?\nThere are no economic obstacles to completing the agreement, but we need political consensus for the implementation of it, in addition to the regular obstacles in dealing with African countries, such as maritime transport, risks of exporting, and the weakness of their banking sectors.\nIs there an intention to establish special or permanent international exhibitions in Africa to strengthen the presence of Egyptian products?\nEgypt takes part in many exhibitions. There are two in Zambia in April and August. We are also planning to take part in most international exhibitions in Kenya. We are in talks with the General Organization for International Exhibitions & Fairs to establish permanent Egyptian exhibitions in Africa.\nWhich countries will that plan focus on?\nWe are going to establish a permanent exhibition in Djibouti. It is a very important country in Africa with a privileged position.\nWe will meet with business communities and export councils to study the economic payoff of establishing permanent exhibitions.\nWhat about other efforts conducted by your office to improve economic cooperation with Africa?\nWe are cooperating with commercial agreements officials to discuss establishing an Egyptian-African free trade zone to enhance Egyptian exports.\nWhat is the volume of trade exchanged between Egypt and COMESA in 2015?\nThe value of Egyptian exports to COMESA member states during 2015 totalled $1.7bn, placing Egypt on top of the rankings of countries that export to COMESA states, with 22% of the sheer bilateral trade.\nAccording to statistics issued by COMESA, the bilateral trade volume between the COMESA countries dropped by 8% in 2015, driven down by the decline in oil prices.\nWhat are the exhibitions attended by ECS in the current year?\nWe agreed with Senegal that Egypt will come as a guest of honour at the Dakar International Fair (FIDAK) in 2017.\nAn exhibition of Egyptian products will be held from 13-18 May at the KICC Kenyan exhibition, in cooperation with the General Organization for International Exhibitions & Fairs.\nECS will also take part in two exhibitions in Zambia; one in Ndola, and the second in August in Lusaka.\nAre there talks to establish a joint free trade zone with the African countries?\nCertainly, ECS organised a visit to Djibouti with a delegation of businesspeople to meet with a number of government officials and chambers of commerce to discuss the possibility of establishing an Egyptian free trade zone there, similar to the one in Jebel Ali.\nElsewedy Electric, for instance, sent a delegation to Djibouti to discuss the establishment of a free zone in Djibouti. The company is at present following up with officials of the port to collect as much data as possible to help the company.\nIs there a programme followed by ECS to facilitate the export process for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?\nWe worked last year with the Federation of Egyptian Industries to facilitate exports, according to a programme prepared by meetings with importers and linking SMEs with major companies and investors abroad.", "Taxify, the Estonian company created by wunderkind Markus Villig and his brother Martin after they left Skype, has raised $175 million in a financing round led by Daimler that has pushed the company’s valuation to $1 billion, all the way up to the unicorn status. The company already has more than half a million drivers and ten million users in 25 countries in Europe and Africa, while Didi Chuxing holds a significant stake. The Chinese company is expanding rapidly through a global acquisitions strategy and is considered Uber’s greatest competition, with which it maintains a cross-share after the agreement that ended Uber’s presence in China.\nDaimler’s dominant presence in the investment round has prompted speculation about one of the world’s leading car companies, given its determination to acquire or participate in seemingly all companies playing a role in the transition from the automobile’s status as a product to a service. It bought RideScout and MyTaxi in September 2014, it created and incubated Car2Go, it is part of the acquisition and integration into MyTaxi of 60% of Hailo, Greece’s Taxibeat and Romania’s Clever Taxi, has taken shares in car-poolers such as Germany’s Flinc and Via in the United States, and teamed up with Turo in the field of car-sharing. In addition, it has consolidated its mobility offer with BMW’s, which includes the management or joint operation of popular services such as the aforementioned Car2go and DriveNow, taxi fleets such as myTaxi, Chauffeur Privé and Clever Taxi, parking products such as ParkNow and Parkmobile, services such as Moovel or ReachNow, and electric recharging solutions such as ChargeNow.\nDaimler, now worried about a nitrogen oxides emission scandal similar to Volkswagen’s dieselgate related to its Vito industrial vehicles and even perhaps its C-Class cars (under investigation now), is clearly positioning itself for a future where most of us will not bother owning a vehicle which will then spend most of its life parked, but will instead see cars as a service, thanks to a range of transportation formulas. Daimler’s stakes in car-sharing, car-pooling, ride-sharing, autonomous vehicles, taxi fleets or related services clearly indicate its conviction as to the direction the automobile industry is heading, even if the ETA is still a matter of discussion.\nMost automotive companies are trying to position themselves for the future of an industry that, as Mary Barra, CEO of GM, has predicted, will see more changes in the next five years than in the previous fifty. This will be a future with fewer vehicles on our roads, varied levels of specialization and adaptation depending on the needs of each trip, with a focus on the options for what users want to do while traveling, and characterized by technologies that replace human driving with autonomous vehicles. It’s just a matter of time.", "(Adds Linde, SCA, Anthem, Time, Frontline, Fortress Investment Group and Electric Co)\nApril 28 The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Friday:\n** Germany's Siemens has moved into journey planning with the purchase of privately-owned Hannover-based firm HaCon to complement its transportation business, which it has been talking about merging with Bombardier's.\n** CVC Capital Partners has agreed to take control of Swiss watchmaker Breitling in a deal that sees another iconic Swiss brand lose independence.\n** One of Britain's biggest pension scheme investors has called on Dutch paintmaker Akzo Nobel to engage with U.S. suitor PPG Industries over a revised bid and criticized the board's handling of the issue.\n** A consortium led by private equity firms Hillhouse Capital Group and CDH Investments offered to buy Belle International Holdings Ltd in a deal valuing the entire Hong Kong-listed shoe retailer at about $6.8 billion.\n** The Delhi High Court has approved a settlement of the $1.18 billion dispute between Tata Sons and NTT DoCoMo, allowing the Indian firm to buy out the Japanese firm's stake in the telecoms joint venture, TV news channels reported.\n** Anglo-South African financial services group Old Mutual is selling its 26 percent stake in an Indian insurance joint venture Kotak Mahindra Bank for 156 million pounds ($201.75 million), as part of the group's planned break-up into four parts.\n** Bayer's chief executive acknowledged that he will face an uphill battle to improve Monsanto's reputation once Bayer completes the takeover of the U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company.\n** A leading advisor to pension schemes and other investors called for a review of Germany's rules around takeovers, in light of a planned takeover of U.S. agrochemicals company Monsanto by Bayer.\n** Zodiac Aerospace's chief executive has offered his resignation after another profit warning from the French company, which is continuing talks with Safran to seal a merger and end a crisis in its aircraft seat factories.\n** Hedge fund TCI Fund Management renewed pressure on France's Safran to suspend its bid to buy Zodiac Aerospace after the aircraft seats maker issued a second profit warning in as many months.\n** The world's biggest container shipping company, Maersk Line, will pay 3.7 billion euros ($4.02 billion) for its acquisition of smaller German rival Hamburg Sud, it said.\n** A group backed by KKR & Co said it would not undertake further work on a takeover offer for Australia's Tatts Group Ltd after its A$6.15 billion ($4.60 billion) cash bid was rejected by the lottery operator's board.\n** Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is in advanced negotiations to acquire U.S. telephone conferencing services provider West Corp, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.\n** China Shengmu Organic Milk Ltd said that a deal to sell a controlling stake to Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd was scrapped after it failed to get regulatory approval from Chinese authorities before a deadline last week.\n** Mexican breadmaker Grupo Bimbo said on Thursday it has entered the African market with the purchase of Adghal, a Morocco-based producer of baked goods.\n** The Federal Trade Commission gave a private equity firm approval on Thursday to sell to Dollar General Corp 323 stores that Sycamore purchased as part of a divestiture package two years ago, the agency said on Thursday.\n** Suncor Energy Inc, Canada's largest energy producer, is still evaluating opportunities for oil sands acquisitions in northern Alberta as foreign oil majors exit the high-cost region, Chief Executive Steve Williams said on Thursday.\n** Italy's Atlantia has agreed to sell 10 percent of its domestic motorway unit to a series of investors including Allianz for 1.48 billion euros ($1.6 billion) as it presses ahead with plans to bid for Spanish rival Abertis.\n** German industrial gases group Linde's $65 billion merger negotiations with U.S. peer Praxair are \"on track\" although slightly delayed, Linde's finance chief said.\n** Once Sweden's SCA spins off its hygiene unit, that new company, to be called Essity, will be freer to bulk up in the growing market for consumer health and medical products, its chief executive said.\n** A U.S. appeals court blocked health insurer Anthem Inc's bid to merge with Cigna, upholding a lower court's decision that the $54 billion deal should not be allowed because it would lead to higher prices for healthcare.\n** Time Inc said it would not sell itself, but pursue a strategic plan to boost growth, sending its shares tumbling nearly 19 percent.\n** Oil tanker firm Frontline said the high court in the Marshall Islands has agreed to hear on May 17 its complaint against takeover target DHT Holdings, which is incorporated in the remote Pacific republic, over a rival deal with BW Offshore.\n** Fortress Investment Group LLC, the U.S. alternative asset manager to be acquired by Japan's SoftBank Group for $3.3 billion, is exploring divesting bond fund manager Logan Circle Partners, according to people familiar with the matter.\n** The U.S. Federal Trade Commission gave its blessing to Emerson Electric Co's acquisition of industrial valve manufacturer Pentair PLC on condition that it sells Pentair's switchbox business to Crane Co. (Compiled by Tamara Mathias and Divya Grover in Bengaluru)", "CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 30, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The German based SSI SCHAEFER Group, one of the world's leading suppliers of intralogistics products and solutions acquired Incas S.p.A.—a leading Italian automation and warehouse management software solutions provider.\nFrom left to right: Ermanno Rondi, CEO Incas and Benno Reichmuth, CEO South West Europe of SSI Schaefer\nEstablished in northern Italy in 1981, Incas offers its customers industrial automation solutions for logistics and production monitoring—as well as integrated software solutions. The deal between the two automation companies fosters the creation of the leading automation provider in Italy. Incas management will continue to manage daily activities, but will benefit tremendously from the expertise and the rich technology portfolio of SSI SCHAEFER thanks to this acquisition.\nBenno Reichmuth, CEO South West Europe of SSI SCHAEFER, commented, \"The acquisition of Incas, with its strong competence in system integration and IT software, fits perfectly into the overall strategy of SSI SCHAEFER. Incas strengthens our local presence in southwestern Europe substantially. With Incas being a member of the SSI SCHAEFER Group, we now become the strongest player within the Italian intralogistics market. Our customers within the region will benefit from the global power of the SSI SCHAEFER Group, while we provide professional and local expertise for after-market sales and customer service.\"\nIncas' CEO, Ermanno Rondi added, \"Becoming part of SSI SCHAEFER, where we share the same values and strategies, allows us to continue our efforts in developing an innovative product and service portfolio. This is extremely important due to today's need for digitalization and networking. This acquisition allows us to further our portfolio and guarantees stability and flexible operations as we fulfill these growing requirements from our local customers.\"\nBoth parties are on site this week during the international trade fair, Intralogistics, from May 29 to June 1. This venue provides a joint opportunity to meet customers and suppliers. During Aperitivo Tecnologico on May 31, Incas and SSI SCHAEFER will give an overview of cutting-edge logistics technology at 11 a.m. local time.\nAbout SSI Schaefer Systems International:\nSchaefer Systems International, Inc. is a leading supplier of innovative automation systems, integrated warehouse management technology, and storage solutions for various industries. Schaefer Systems International, Inc. provides end-to-end solutions for distribution and warehouse operation facilities including picking solutions, vertical lift storage, automated guided vehicles, and warehouse management software. Schaefer Systems International, Inc. is part of the SSI SCHAEFER Group, a global leader in intralogistics and material handling solutions. Founded in 1937, SSI SCHAEFER is a privately owned family company, with over 70 office locations, 10 manufacturing facilities, and over 10,000 associates worldwide. For more information, visit SSI SCHAEFER and WAMAS online.\nAbout Incas:\nIncase employs more than 200 people in the headquarter location of Vigiliano Biellese and northeast of Bologna. Incas specializes in design and development of turnkey solutions in intra- and factory-logistics. Experience gained through hundreds of systems completed since 1981 has allowed Incas to develop specific competences within the intralogistics and manufacturing flow processes. A software suite, that integrates the worlds of WMS, TMS, and a production flow monitoring system, answers specific needs for small- and medium-sized enterprises along with major corporations. A complete after-sales service—including predictive maintenance, coupled with carefully selected powerful machines and components—guarantee future-proof projects. For more information, visit Incas online.\nMedia Contact\nSharon Wahrmund\nSSI Schaefer International\n(704) 944-4500 ext. 5511\nsharon.wahrmund@ssi-schaefer.com\nwww.ssi-schaefer.com\nA photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f26ed157-0e9e-455c-b0d0-1f993fc0d280", "The Latvian airline airBaltic and the international tour operator Tez Tour Latvija this summer season will launch two new charter flights connecting Riga with Ancona (Italy) and Patras (Greece). In addition, airBaltic and Tez Tour Latvija will continue to offer several flights a week between Riga and Antalya (Turkey), Heraklion (Greece) and Burgas (Bulgaria).\nMartin Gauss, Chief Executive Officer of airBaltic: “We are delighted to continue our long-standing and successful cooperation with Tez Tour Latvija by offering people from the Baltic States wide variety of direct charter flights from Riga to sunny holiday destinations.”\nKonstantins Palgovs, General Manager of Tez Tour Latvija: “Tez Tour Latvija is happy to start its 16th season. Since 2008 Tez Tour in cooperation with airBaltic have operated 23 seasonal destinations and this year we are expanding our range of destinations by adding Ancona (Italy) and Patras (Greece) to our summer 2018 charter program. We are proud that all Tez Tour passengers will be traveling with comfort on the world’s most modern aircraft Bombardier CS300.”\nOn February 2 and February 3, 2018 Tez Tour Latvija and airBaltic will be presenting the summer season charter offer at 25th Baltic International Travel Trade Fair Balttour 2018 in Riga.\nAs informed previously, for the summer season of 2018 airBaltic will offer new services from Riga to Malaga (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Split (Croatia), Bordeaux (France), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Gdansk (Poland) as well as Sochi and Kaliningrad (both in Russia). airBaltic will also launch new direct services from Tallinn to London, Oslo and Stockholm. A complete schedule of airBaltic flights can be found on the company's homepage at www.airbaltic.com.\nairBaltic serves over 60 destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. From every one of these locations, airBaltic offers convenient connections via Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, CIS and the Middle East. In addition, airBaltic also offers direct flights from Tallinn and Vilnius.\nairBaltic in brief:\nairBaltic (AIR BALTIC CORPORATION) is the world’s most punctual airline connecting the Baltic region with over 60 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and the CIS. airBaltic is a joint stock company that was established in 1995. Its primary shareholder is the Latvian state, which holds 80.05% of the stock, while Lars Thuesen holds around 20% through his fully-owned Aircraft Leasing 1 SIA. The airBaltic fleet consists of 30 aircraft – 7 Bombardier CS300, 11 Boeing 737 and 12 Bombardier Q400Next Gen. airBaltic has received numerous international awards for excellence, innovative services, and achievements in reshaping its business. In 2012, airBaltic was ranked by Airlinetrends among the Top 10 airlines globally for innovations. airBaltic achieved the best on-time performance globally in 2014, 2015 and 2017.\nTez Tour Latvija in brief:\nTez Tour is the leading Latvian tour operator that organizes trips to different countries worldwide. Tez Tour organizes trips from Latvian to Italy, Austria, France, Spain, Andorra, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Cyprus, UAE, Thailand, the Caribbean, the Maldives and Sri Lanka resorts. According to BNS data, tour operator Tez Tour is the leader in the Latvian tourism market. Tourism industry representatives in the annual vote named Tez Tour Latvija the best company in the category “Entrepreneur of travel agencies and tour operators in 2015”. The company Tez Tour in 2016 opened its first sales office in Latvia for private service.\nFor further information, please contact:\nAlise Briede\nHead of Corporate Communications\nA/S Air Baltic Corporation\nMarupes Reg.\nTehnikas Street 3\nRiga International Airport\nLV-1053 Riga, Latvia\nE-mail: pr@airbaltic.lv\nSIA TEZ TOUR Latvija\n6 Ziedleju street, Riga district,\nMarupe, LV – 2167, Latvia\nE-mail: info@teztour.lv", "SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) - Brewing groups including Thai Beverage (TBEV.SI), Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR) and Kirin Holdings (2503.T) are gearing up to bid for a stake in Vietnam’s largest brewer, Sabeco SAB.HM, people familiar with the matter said, with the $5 billion sale process by the government opening this week.\nFILE PHOTO: Men drink Sabeco's Saigon beer on a roadside restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam November 29, 217. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo\nThe auction of up to 54 percent of Sabeco, in what is set to be Vietnam’s biggest privatization, offers brewers access to a fast-growing market with a youthful population and beer drinking culture.\nSabeco is seen as attractive as assets are scarce in a highly consolidated global beer market.\nThai Bev, controlled by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, is shaping up as a strong contender, the people said, as it is familiar with the Vietnam system and sees Sabeco as key to expanding outside its home market.\n“They have been around this situation for many years and are very keen to get this asset,” said one of the people, none of whom wanted to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.\nLast month, a Thai Bev unit bought a 49 percent stake in a Vietnamese company which, the people said, could be used as a vehicle to bid for Sabeco as a domestic player, giving it an advantage over international rivals.\nThai Bev had no immediate comment, but said in October it was keen to grow through acquisitions in markets such as Vietnam. Firms controlled by Sirivadhanabhakdi also hold a 19 percent stake in Vietnam’s Vinamilk VNM.HM.\nA spokeswoman for AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, said the company was committed to Vietnam and to growing its business for the long-term. A spokesman for Japan’s Kirin said it was carefully considering its options.\nOther potential bidders include Asahi Group Holdings (2502.T), San Miguel (SMC.PS) and Heineken (HEIN.AS), though several people said Heineken already had a strong business in Vietnam and could sit out an expensive auction that values Sabeco at about 36 times core earnings - more than double the trading multiples of around 15 for some global brewers, according to Reuters data.\nHeineken, which already owns 5 percent of Sabeco, did not respond to requests for comment.\nAsahi could not be immediately reached for comment, but the Japanese firm’s president told Reuters in September it was studying Sabeco.\nSan Miguel’s president Ramon Ang said the Philippine conglomerate was interested to bid for Sabeco. Kirin owns around half of its affiliate San Miguel Brewery.\nThe Sabeco auction is on Dec. 18, and bidders who are keen to own a stake equal to 25 percent or more of Sabeco’s shares need to inform local authorities a week before the auction.\nOWNERSHIP CAP\nForeign ownership in Sabeco is limited to 49 percent.That means overseas bidders can only bid for a minority stake of as much as 39 percent as foreign entities already own 10 percent.\nLack of control could put off some possible bidders, the people said.\n“Having control of the business is very important for these international brewers because the multiple is very high. If you’re going to pay that much you want to be able to institute your plans,” said one of the people, who expected international firms to sell their own premium beers like Budweiser, Heineken and Kirin through Sabeco’s distribution network, in addition to Sabeco’s beers, which include the Bia Saigon and 333 brands.\nVietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, which represents state shares in Sabeco, said foreign investors can link with Vietnamese firms to buy Sabeco shares, but have to comply with local laws and regulations.\nSabeco’s share price has nearly tripled since its listing a year ago, with analysts citing a small float as inflating its market value.\nThe brewer’s sky-high valuations and a complicated sale process could pose challenges for some potential bidders, the people said.\nThe Sabeco sale could also set the pace for peer Habeco BHN.HM, in which Danish brewer Carlsberg A/S (CARLb.CO) owns 17.3 percent.", "The European Union will consider offering the U.K. “improved equivalence” for financial services after Brexit, according to the bloc’s latest negotiating guidelines, a system Britain has rejected as “wholly inadequate.”\nIt’s not clear what \"improved\" would mean. What is clear is that the EU is rejecting the U.K.’s bid for its banks to have access to the EU on the basis of mutual recognition of rules. U.K. institutions would only be able to trade in the EU if British rules are deemed equivalent by the EU -- a unilateral approval that can be withdrawn at short notice.\nEquivalence means accepting rules without having a say in making them -- something the U.K. government and its banks reject.\n“Regarding financial services, the aim should be reviewed and improved equivalence mechanisms, allowing appropriate access to financial services markets, while preserving financial stability, the integrity of the single market and the autonomy of decision making in the European Union,” reads the draft, obtained by Bloomberg.\n“Equivalence mechanisms and decisions remain defined and implemented on a unilateral basis by the European Union,” it says.\nThe addition is in an annex to the draft guidelines and will be discussed by EU ministers meeting on Tuesday. Earlier drafts didn’t mention financial services explicitly although they made clear that the trade agreement the EU intends to strike with the U.K. wouldn’t make special provisions for services.\nU.K. banks and the government have long given up hopes of retaining passporting rights -- the single market access that allows them to trade across borders. But they are now pushing for a system of mutual recognition. They want a set of rules that are more durable and not subject to unilateral withdrawal.\nRead more: Britain’s Bid to Keep Post-Brexit Access for Banks: QuickTake\nChancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has tried to make the case that a good deal on financial services, which allows the City of London to remain a financial hub, is in both sides’ interest. He also argues that any trade deal with the EU that excluded services wouldn’t be fair. He has described equivalence as “wholly inadequate,” saying any arrangement has to be “reciprocal” and “reliable.”\nBut the EU has said the U.K.’s decision to leave the single market means it can’t pick and choose the bits of the EU internal market where it wants to maintain access. It argues that financial stability is at stake, as well as the integrity of the single market.\nRead more: City of London Doesn’t Want the Kind of Trade Deal May Cites", "The acquisition of Pennar Renewables by Greenko Solar Energy is part of the growing trend of mergers and acquisitions in the Indian renewable energy sector.\nMumbai: Pennar Industries Ltd (PIL), a Hyderabad-based engineering company, on Monday said its board has agreed to sell a stake in its subsidiary Pennar Renewables Pvt. Ltd to Greenko Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd, the solar energy arm of Greenko Energy Holdings.\nPennar Industries, established in 1988, is engaged in manufacturing precision engineering products such as cold rolled steel strips, precision tubes, railway coaches, pre-engineered building systems, sheet metal components and road safety systems.\nAccording to a statement issued by Pennar Industries, once the transaction is completed, its consolidated debt will be reduced by Rs101 crore. “The proceeds from the sale of transaction will be used by the company to expand its product base and addressable markets,” the statement added.\nPennar Industries’ consolidated long-term and short-term debt stood at Rs296.5 crore as of 31 March.\nFinancial details of the transaction were not disclosed.\nOn Monday, shares of Pennar Industries surged 8.76% to close at Rs53.4 on BSE, while the benchmark Sensex rose 0.75% to 31,449.03 points.\nThe acquisition of Pennar Renewables is part of the growing trend of mergers and acquisitions in the Indian renewable energy sector.\nGreenko itself has been an aggressive acquirer.\nOn 14 March, Mint reported that the Greenko group is looking to acquire hydro and wind power producer Bhoruka Power Corp. Ltd’s renewable energy portfolio of 310 megawatts (MW).\nLast year, Greenko acquired the Indian assets of US solar power firm SunEdison for $392 million. Greenko was also one of the suitors to acquire 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar assets of Welspun Renewables, which were eventually acquired by Tata Power Renewable Energy for around $1.4 billion.\nApart from strategic investors such as Greenko, the sector has also seen strong M&A action driven by financial investors.\nLast month, IDFC Alternatives, the asset management arm of the infrastructure-focused lender, announced the acquisition of American solar panel maker First Solar’s 200MW of renewable power assets.\nIn April, Mint reported that infrastructure fund of Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd had agreed to buy about 330MW of operational solar assets from power producer Hindustan Powerprojects Pvt. Ltd for an enterprise value of $600 million.\nFinancial investors Actis Llp and Equis Energy are also looking to sell their respective Indian renewable platforms—Ostro Energy Pvt. Ltd, and Energon and Energon Soleq.", "(Adds details on acquisitions, context)\nBy Davide Barbuscia\nDUBAI Feb 13 Shuaa Capital is working on a bolt-on acquisition of a financial services company based in the United Arab Emirates as part of the investment bank’s growth plans, chairman Jassim Alseddiqi told Reuters on Monday.\nThe price for the targeted company, which specialises in capital markets and securities, would be less than 200 million dirhams ($54.46 million), Alseddiqi said. He also said discussions were at an advanced stage and the transaction could be completed within the next six months.\nAlseddiqi is also the chief executive officer of the investment company Abu Dhabi Financial Group, which bought a 48.36 percent stake in Shuaa Capital last November.\nShuaa is considering financing options as part of its acquisition plans, Alseddiqi told Reuters, adding that debt funding options could be looked at specifically for the financial services company acquisition.\nShuaa Capital is also working on three initial public offerings (IPO), two of which are likely to be finalised within 2017, Alseddiqi said.\nThe two companies set to be listed this year are both UAE-based. One is a real estate company and the other a real estate investment trust (REIT). The market cap of the REIT company is three billion dirhams, and the size of the IPO will be 500 million dirhams, Alseddiqi said.\nThe third company working on a potential IPO with Shuaa Capital is in the financial services sector, he said.\nShuaa Capital’s balance sheet and total assets at the end of 2016 amounted to 1.3 billion dirhams, it said in a statement.\nThe company plans to have some five billion dirhams under management by the end of this year and a total of almost nine billion dirhams by 2020, the chairman said.\nThe bank will continue to focus on the UAE market, but also Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Alseddiqi said.\nShuaa Capital bought a 14 percent stake in Bahrain’s Khaleeji Commercial Bank for 9.6 million dinars ($25.49 million) in December. The Bahraini bank, an Islamic lender, has obtained approval to list on the Dubai Financial Market, which could happen over the next few months, Alseddiqi said. ($1 = 3.6724 UAE dirham) ($1 = 0.3766 Bahraini dinars) (Editing by Jane Merriman)", "Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE In today's political environment, a sale of Fiat Chrysler, the Italian-American automaker, to a Chinese company seems far-fetched. But analysts say it could happen. Here's why: Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press\nBuy Photo Yu Jun, general manager of Guangzhou Auto, talks before the reveal of the 2018 GS7 during the 2017 North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit on Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. (Photo: Romain Blanquart/Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo\nFiat Chrysler Automobiles, facing the need to catch up to its rivals on both electric vehicles and self-driving car technology, could turn to a Chinese buyer to solve its problems because it has few other alternatives.\nAnalysts say the idea may seem far-fetched — especially in today's political environment — but it could happen.\nFiat Chrysler, which essentially has been for sale for just over two years, was rebuffed by General Motors in 2015 while several other traditional automakers that might have been interested have either been besieged by their own troubles or have made other big acquisitions.\nMeanwhile, CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to retire in 2019 and has said the five-year plan he laid out for the company in 2014 will be his last.\nSaid Dave Sullivan, an automotive analyst for Auto Pacific: \"I've been saying for a couple of years that (Chinese automakers and other Chinese conglomerates) are the only ones with the cash to make it happen.\"\nOn Monday, Automotive News named Guangzhou Auto, Dongfeng Motor Corp., Great Wall and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group as potential buyers.\nA spokeswoman for Fiat Chrysler declined to comment and a request for comment from a representative of Guangzhou went unanswered.\nOf the automakers named, the most natural fit would appear to be Guangzhou Auto. Fiat Chrysler produces Jeep SUVs in China at two plants through a joint venture with Guangzhou Auto.\nGuangzhou unveiled three vehicles at the North American International Auto Show in January. It was the company’s second official appearance at the show in the past three years. A Guangzhou executive told USA TODAY in January that the company was considering plans to expand its ties to Fiat Chrysler in the U.S.\nGeely acquired Volvo in 2010 and vastly improved the Swedish automaker's lineup with an infusion of cash. However, Geely also announced a deal in May to acquire 51% of Proton's stake in British car maker Lotus, and may have its hands full for awhile, Sullivan said. Proton is Malaysia's unprofitable automaker and parent company of Lotus.\nWhile Fiat Chrysler is in solid financial shape today, the automaker still lags behind competitors when it comes to hybrid and electric vehicles and the development of autonomous technology.\nBoth German automaker Volkswagen and French automaker PSA Groupe have, over the past two years, been viewed as potential partners or buyers of Fiat Chrysler. But Volkswagen's management and finances have been in turmoil for more than two years because of a scandal tied to its diesel engine emissions and PSA Groupe agreed to acquire GM's European division in March for $2.2 billion.\nThat leaves Fiat Chrysler with few other options.\n\"The Chinese make a lot of sense\" as a prospective buyer, said Kristin Dziczek, director of labor, industry and economics at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. \"Chinese automakers have made no secret that they've got their mark set on the U.S.\"\nSuch a deal would likely face fierce political opposition. President Donald Trump has frequently criticized China for its trade practices. And on Monday, the Trump administration asked his trade office to consider investigating China for the suspected theft of American technology and intellectual property.\nIt's hard to imagine an acquisition by a Chinese auto company would create antitrust concerns for the U.S. Department of Justice, which considers whether an acquisition is a threat to competition.\nBut a deal could come under the scrutiny of the U.S. government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The committee is an an inter-agency group that reviews business deals that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign entity that could be viewed as a threat to national security.\nChina's automotive market became the largest in the world in terms of annual sales several years ago and the knowledge and capability of its automakers is improving rapidly.\nSo here are six reasons a sale of Fiat Chrysler to a Chinese company could happen:\nFiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne during a briefing at the North American International Auto show in Detroit in January 2017. (Photo: Carlos Osorio, AP)\n1. Time is running out\nWhen Marchionne laid out his five-year plan in 2014 for Fiat Chrysler, he vowed it would be the last five-year strategic plan of his career.\nMarchionne became CEO of Fiat on June 1, 2004. Fiat was in a financial free-fall at the time and had a thin management team. Marchionne engineered a successful turnaround, putting the company in a position to acquire a controlling interest in Chrysler in 2009.\nFiat's ownership of Chrysler has been far more successful than the fierce culture clash that occurred in 1998 when Daimler AG acquired Chrysler. Marchionne installed a new management team, integrated the global operations of the two companies and created a unified global automaker.\nIn April 2015, Marchionne stunned Wall Street when he presented \"Confessions of a Capital Junkie\" — a 25-page PowerPoint presentation that showed how automakers needlessly spend billions in capital every year on technology that is very similar and predicted that market realities would force automakers to partner with each other in the future.\nAnalysts saw it as a sign that Fiat Chrysler was for sale.\n\"I don't think that Mr. Marchionne has made any secret of the fact that he's looking for a buyer,\" Dziczek said.\nAnd Marchionne, 65, has said he plans to retire in early 2019. That gives Marchionne, a consummate deal maker, 18 months to secure a new owner for the automaker.\n2. Fiat Chrysler has been trimmed down\nIn 2015, Marchionne spun off Ferrari into a standalone company that is still majority-owned by Exor, an investment firm controlled by Chairman John Elkann, the great-great grandson of Fiat founder Giovanni Agnelli.\nMarchionne also has been shopping around Fiat Chrysler's parts division, Magneti Marelli, and has previously said he would consider some form of strategic partnership or sale of a stake of that division to another company.\nBoth of those moves help to streamline Fiat Chrysler into a more simplified automotive manufacturer that makes it a more appealing acquisition target, Sullivan said.\n3. A Chinese buyer could benefit Fiat Chrysler and its workers\nThis will seem counterintuitive to many, but an acquisition by a Chinese buyer flush with cash could result in an acceleration of product development, making Fiat Chrysler more competitive.\nThis could lead to job security or more jobs for engineers and, by making the company more competitive, provide job security for workers at U.S. plants.\n\"If a Chinese company were to come in and take over Chrysler … I would expect it to be a benefit in the end for Michigan,\" Sullivan said. \"You would likely see a lot more Chinese suppliers come in here and invest in Michigan, and I would expect there would be more investment in future cars and trucks.\"\n4. Better than other alternatives\nFor those concerned about preserving U.S. jobs, forcing Fiat Chrysler to sell to an American automaker might be a far worse alternative.\nBack when Marchionne was urging GM to consider a merger, most analyst thought such a deal, if it happened, would lead to plant closures, thousands of job cuts and the elimination of brands. Why? Because the two automakers would look for ways to cut overlapping resources and car and truck lines that compete with each other.\n5. Chrysler's bad history with private equity\nThere was a time, before the Great Recession, that private equity firms were snapping up multi-billion-dollar auto suppliers left and right.\nThe biggest deal of all in that era was when Cerberus Capital Management bought Chrysler for $7.4 billion in 2007. Less than two years later, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, obtained a federal emergency loan and Cerberus sold its controlling stake to Fiat.\nTo this day, Chrysler executives view the Cerberus years as the worst years of Chrysler's tumultuous past.\n6. A successful model: Geely revived Volvo\n\"Ten years ago, I would have told you it was a horrible idea,\" Sullivan said.\nBut today? Analysts point to Geely's successful acquisition of Volvo in 2010. When Ford sold Volvo to Geely, the Swedish automotive brand was struggling and sales were falling. Geely invested money in the company and largely allowed the existing management team to run the company.\nIn 2016, the Volvo XC90 was named 2016 North American Truck of the Year and in 2017 the Volvo S90 was named as one of three finalists for car of the year.\nFiat Chrysler would be a much larger and more complex company, making the management more complex. And the integration of three corporate cultures — American, Italian and Chinese — would also present challenges.\nBut John Murphy, an autos analyst with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in January the Chinese government is pushing its automakers to take that kind of a risk.\n\"One of the long-tail risks with Fiat Chrysler really making it is they have to partner with one of the Chinese companies which might be put in play by the Chinese government,\" Murphy said at an industry conference. \"I wouldn’t put it past the Chinese government to fund the survival and thriving of their industry in China. ... And a great entree would be to buy Fiat Chrysler to get a very good footprint here in the U.S.”\nContact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely. USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey contributed to this report.\nRead or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2w4UCnL", "Jamal will be arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) tomorrow.\nSHAH ALAM, July 4 — Fugitive Umno leader Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos will be arriving in Malaysia tomorrow as soon as his extradition process is completed, the police have said.\nSelangor Criminal Investigations Department chief, Senior Assistant Commissioner Fadzil Ahmat, confirmed the matter, saying Jamal will be arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).\n“We can confirm a team from the Selangor Criminal Investigations Department has gone to Indonesia to facilitate the extradition process,” he said.\nHowever, Fadzil said the police will make an announcement on the Sungai Besar Umno division leader’s time of arrival once it is confirmed.\nEarlier, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun confirmed that several officers have been selected and will depart this evening to begin the deportation process after receiving the all-clear from the Indonesian National Police.\n“They have rendered their cooperation and Jamal will be brought back to Malaysia within the week,” Mohamad Fuzi said after a Hari Raya open house at the Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent headquarters.\nAccording to Indonesian news agency Antara News, Indonesia National Police (POLRI) chief Police-General Tito Karnavian was reported as saying Jamal was arrested in Tebet, South Jakarta following a brief stop in Medan, North Sumatra yesterday.\nJamal fled the country after absconding from police custody here prior to being granted bail last month and has been a fugitive since.\nThe Umno grassroots leader has three charges pending against him, including one for smashing beer bottles with a sledgehammer outside the Selangor State Secretariat in Shah Alam last year.", "(Adds Nestle; Updates Unilever, Linde, Fincantieri, Sunoco)\nApril 6 The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:\n** Nestle's outgoing chairman said he could not predict what Nestle would do with its 23 percent stake in French cosmetics group L'Oreal after the termination of an agreement between the Swiss food company and the Bettencourt family, L'Oreal's biggest shareholder.\n** Sunoco LP said it would sell 1,110 convenience stores to Japan's Seven & i Holdings Co for $3.3 billion as the Texas-based company shifts its focus to its fuel supply business.\n** The labour and capital representatives on Linde's supervisory board stuck to their opposing positions over a planned merger with Praxair at a meeting, a supervisory board source told Reuters.\n** Car parts supplier and integrator Delphi Automotive announced investments and partnerships in three privately held companies to help carmakers profit from the increasing amount of data produced by the growing number of vehicles connected to the internet.\n** The French government said it had reached a preliminary deal clearing the way for Italy's Fincantieri to acquire a 48 percent stake in shipbuilder STX France, as Italian buyers aim to take control of the firm.\n** Amancio Ortega, founder of the world's biggest clothing retailer Inditex and Europe's richest man, has put a majority stake in the firm that owns the Zara fashion chain into a holding company to ensure family control remains unassailable after he dies.\n** Old Mutual has put up for sale its 50 percent stake in a Chinese insurance joint venture, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, as part of a revamp of the Anglo-South African financial group and amid a tough market for foreign insurers in China.\n** Qatar Investment Authority sold about 2.5 percent of Banco Santander Brasil SA for 2.3 billion reais ($737 million) in a restricted offering after banks exercised an option to buy extra units, the bank said.\n** WaveDivision Holdings LLC is exploring a sale that its private equity owners hope will value the regional U.S. provider of cable TV, internet and telephone service at more than $2 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said.\n** Community bank PacWest Bancorp said it would buy fellow California-based lender CU Bancorp in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $705 million, as it seeks to strengthen its presence in Southern California.\n** China's Shandong Gold Mining Co Ltd will pay $960 million for a 50 percent stake in Barrick Gold Corp's Veladero gold mine in Argentina, the Canadian miner said.\n** French group Saint-Gobain has extended until the end of this year its contract to buy a controlling stake in Swiss construction chemicals maker Sika from Sika's founding family and may prolong it again until the end of 2018, it said.\n** Britain's Co-operative Group, the mutually-owned supermarkets to funeral services group, wrote off the value of its stake in the struggling Co-operative Bank, citing uncertainty about the value of the bank during its sale process.\n** German billionaire Dietmar Hopp is preparing to put medical skin patch maker LTS Lohmann on the block as he reshuffles his portfolio, three people close to the matter said.\n** The board of Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest lender, has instructed management to explore options for selling off its credit card unit Isracard, the bank said.\n** German consumer goods group Henkel will keep looking for acquisitions to bolster its business, its new chief executive said.\n** U.S. drug distributor Cardinal Health Inc is nearing a deal to acquire medical device maker Medtronic Plc's medical supplies business for close to $6 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.\n** MGM Holdings Inc said it would acquire the 81 percent of premium U.S. channel Epix it does not already own from two of its partners, Viacom Inc and Lionsgate Entertainment Corp, for about $1 billion.\n** Turkish retailer Boyner Holding is looking to sell up to 60 percent of its online fashion site, Morhipo.com, and has mandated brokerage Unlu & Co to advise on the sale, two sources familiar with the matter said.\n** Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday he is selling about $1 billion worth of the internet retailer's stock annually to fund his Blue Origin rocket company, which aims to launch paying passengers on 11-minute space rides starting next year. (Compiled by Aishwarya Venugopal,Anya George Tharakan and Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru)" ]

[ "Usually, yes — your car insurance coverage should extend to anyone else driving your car. ... This means even if your friend, sister or cousin have the best coverage possible, it would usually be your auto insurance that'd be covering the damages if they were at-fault in an accident while driving your vehicle." ]

[ "['Maiya – “I am the tomorrow you feared yesterday.”', 'Topaz – “I am a wounded healer.”', 'Realearlonline – “Ask both my friends and my enemies; they will paint a picture of who I really am.”', 'Celtics – “I am everything you wish you could be.”', 'KiD BuKid – “I am your emotional pitstop.”', 'Mrs.']", "['What types of car insurance do I need? ... ', \"What's my risk assessment? ... \", \"Who's covered to drive my car? ... \", \"What's the deductible amount? ... \", 'Am I entitled to discounts? ... ', 'What happens if I make a claim?']", "['Do I Have All the Coverage I Need? ... ', 'Am I Getting All the Discounts and Savings I Can? ... ', 'What Is Covered if My Car Is in an Accident or Gets Damaged? ... ', 'What is Covered if My Car Is in an Accident and Someone Is Injured or Dies?']", "['Who am I?', 'I am quirky.', 'I love with everything in me.', 'I am strong willed and independent.', 'I am very competitive.', 'I tell my family everything.', 'I help others.', 'I am extremely hardworking. I put my everything into my job and my projects. My name is getting put on these things so I make sure its the best it can be.']", "['Does my policy cover actual cash value or replacement cost? ... ', 'Is my diamond necklace fully covered under my homeowners insurance policy? ... ', 'Am I covered no matter how my home is damaged? ... ', 'What are endorsements, and do I have any on my policy? ... ', 'Am I fully covered if someone is injured in my home?']", "I have had my Grand am since 2005 its been a great car. ... Best car I've ever driven and have been happy driving it. Only a few little glitches, but overall a great car to drive.", "['I am grateful for your true friendship. Hope you birthday is amazing as you are my best friend!', 'I wish you love, hope and everlasting joy and happiness. Thank you for being my best friend!', 'I am so proud to be your best friend.']", "I am mentally divergent in that I am escaping certain unnamed realities that plague my life here. When I stop going there, I will be well. Are you also divergent, friend?", "['“When I think of you it makes me smile.” ... ', '“I feel special when I am around you.” ... ', '“When I wake in the morning, you are my first thought.” ... ', '“I am so lucky to have you in my life.” ... ', '“You are my favorite distraction.” ... ', '“Hey there handsome.” ... ', '“I appreciate you so much.” ... ', '“You are my best friend.”']", "Barry Allen : My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I am an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly with the help of my friends in S.T.A.R.", "I am passionate about my work. ... Example: “I am passionate about my work. Because I love what I do, I have a steady source of motivation that drives me to do my best. In my last job, this passion led me to challenge myself daily and learn new skills that helped me to do better work.", "Nice and Cheering Paragraphs to Send to Your Friend I love you, my beautiful friend. In my difficult times, you show your skills, when I am tired you give me a shoulder to rest on when I am in a problem you don't rest till I am out of it, you are wonderful, and you have always shown me I could count on you at any time.", "['\"I\\'m so happy for you and your new ring. ... ', '\"And so, your adventure begins my dear friend.\"', '\"Someone pop the champagne, because my friend\\'s changing her last name.\"', '\"My friend\\'s now engaged AF.\"', '\"I can\\'t keep calm.']", "How much vinyl do I need to fully wrap my car? Small size cars can be fully wrapped with 50 to 55feet / 15 to 16.8m of vinyl. Midsize cars can be fully wrapped with 60feet / 18.3m of vinyl.", "['5 Important Questions to Ask Your Car Insurance Agent. Want to save some cold hard cash? ... ', 'Am I Getting All the Auto Discounts I Can? ... ', 'How Much Coverage Should I Get? ... ', 'How Do I Know My Car Insurance Agent is Getting Me the Best Rates? ... ', 'Who Is Covered Under My Policy? ... ', 'If My Car is Totaled, How Much Will I Get?']", "['Is my gas light always on? ... ', 'Do I shift too quickly? ... ', 'Am I always on the brakes? ... ', 'Is my car usually packed with stuff? ... ', 'Do I have a lead foot?']", "['What steps can I take to restore a sense of hope to my life?', 'How can I start to love myself again?', 'What should I do to bring happiness back into my life?', 'What is the best thing I can do, to start feeling worthwhile again?', 'Which friends can help me most?', 'How am I sabotaging my self?']", "[\"What's covered and what's not? ... \", 'What is liability coverage? ... ', 'When am I covered? ... ', 'Are items stolen from my car protected under my policy? ... ', 'Will I need additional coverage? ... ', 'Does my policy cover my roommate(s) too? ... ', 'Is my dog covered under my plan? ... ', \"What's the difference between replacement cost and actual cash value coverage?\"]", "['How Safe Am I? ... ', \"Who's Driving Who? ... \", 'Do I Have Enough Cargo? ... ', 'How Many Passengers Can It Fit? ... ', 'Are The Controls Controlling? ... ', 'What About My Phone?']", "Birthday Wishes for Best Friend - Happy Birthday Best Friend I am grateful for your true friendship. Hope you birthday is amazing as you are my best friend! I wish you love, hope and everlasting joy and happiness. Thank you for being my best friend!", "And what my answer was that I am very good at multitasking skills , decision making. And my dream is to do a world trip so what other is better than to get paid for what you love. Also I am fond of cars and a luxury lifestyle and I am sure my this career will give me this, as a pilot is paid handsomely.", "['Risk is a Complex Business. ... ', 'Is this product right for me? ... ', 'Am I making the right choice? ... ', 'Is this ALL I need? ... ', 'Can I afford it? ... ', \"What if it doesn't work? ... \", 'What will my friends, family and peers say? ... ', 'Who are these people?']", "['How much can I afford? ... ', 'Should I make a down payment? ... ', 'Can I sell my car to CarMax? ... ', 'What kind of car do I need? ... ', 'Should I buy a new or used car? ... ', 'How much will my car depreciate? ... ', 'How much does it cost to own a car? ... ', 'Can I get financing?']", "['Diligent / Loyal / Reliable. I am always the first person that my friends call because they know I am always there for them. ... ', 'Creative / Innovative / Visionary. ... ', 'Motivated / Ambitious / Leader. ... ', 'Honest / Ethical / Conscientious. ... ', 'Friendly / Personable / Extrovert.']", "Sentence Examples I am the housekeeper, not his mistress. I am recording my settings. I am so hungry.", "[\"What's my motivation? ... \", 'Where am I going to live during the renovations? ... ', \"What's my remodeling budget? ... \", 'How am I going to pay for everything? ... ', 'Am I prepared to manage this project?']", "Tell Me About Yourself – Sample Response “I am a positive person who has an enthusiastic outlook on life. I love my job and I get a great sense of achievement from seeing my students develop and grow as individuals. If I can have a positive impact on their future, I feel I am doing my job well.", "['I love you my best friend because you are always there when I need you.', 'Somehow my best friend always knows when something is bothering me or I am upset.', 'When I am upset, you try to make me smile.', \"Even if we don't talk for weeks, when we do we always pick up where we left off.\"]", "It's reliable, gets ok gas mileage and I would buy another one just newer next time. I am a big fan of GM products and this car is great. I love the way it looks and the sound system is awesome. I have loved my car for the last 5 years i have had it, but then slowly I am starting to have probs.", "Tesla recommends charging between 50-90% for daily driving – depending on your needs – and to charge the car above 90% when you may need extra range on a longer trip. I don't fully charge my car.", "['I am a/ an …', 'I work as a/ an …', 'I work for (company) … as a/ an …', \"I'm unemployed./ I am out of work./ I have been made redundant./ I am between jobs.\", 'I earn my living as a/ an …', 'I am looking for a job. / I am looking for work.', \"I'm retired.\", 'I would like to be a/ an …/ I want to be a/ an …']", "['Am I ready? ... ', 'Am I truly over my ex? ... ', 'What did not work in past relationships? ... ', 'What worked in my past relationships? ... ', 'What kind of relationship am I looking for? ... ', 'Do they share my morals?']" ]

[ "Who owns the river? Everyone, it's a public resource and no one has a monopoly on it. It's managed by the government for issues like right of way, pollution dumping, and what you can use it for. Everyone owns it has has rights to use it. Like farmers can pull off so much water for crops. But what about the upstream little rivers that feed into it? Same thing. But what about the source that feeds into those little rivers? ....well that's rain water. Where water rights are a big deal, not letting water flow down stream is considered stealing from those people. And so rain water outs treated the same. Legally, the system is really old and a real mess. Read \"The Water Knife\" for a dramaticized account." ]

[ "Basically, it just means that they have done something to punish the other country, usually it's in the form of limiting certain exports to that country and certain imports from it. For example, the recent russian sanctions make it illegal in the US to do any business whatsoever with the Russian FSB as well as other Russian entities listed. So CISCO can't sell them a switch, Amazon can't let them use a server, and anyone that owes them money can't pay them. The EU also made it illegal for any EU company to offer tourism in Crimea, and made it illegal to import anything from Crimea unless it said it was made in the Ukraine. Also, thinks like oil and gas couldn't be sold from the EU to Crimea.", "In some countries the state provides campaign funds for any party that got over a certain percentage of the vote in the previous election. And then have laws limiting how much a person can donated to a party and makes it illegal for corporations to donate to politicians. The US system now is pretty much making open bribes legal.", "Cartels operate off of the concept of supply and demand. There is a large demand for certain illegal drugs in the US, which (since they are illegal) have a very small supply. This is why they exist. Hence, there are 2 ways to ever \"beat\" them for good. Reducing local demand, or increasing local supply. AKA, educating all people across the country to the point that they would not choose to use such drugs, or legalizing and producing them ourselves.", "Because the laws are written in such a way that things that would be illegal in some contexts are not illegal in others. This question can be phrased in a million ways. Why can a fire truck speed and go through red lights? Why can a police officer hit you? The laws are written in such a way that certain exceptions apply.", "Okay, first and foremost, the Constitution applies to ***everyone*** physically in the United States (whether they're a citizen or not), and to all U.S. Citizens no matter where they are. So if you are an illegal immigrant, or a tourist on vacation, you enjoy the same Constitutional protections as any citizen. Legally, the US can prevent anyone it wants from entering the country because, until they get here, they have no Constitutional rights. It would be illegal for the US Government to try and *deport* all Muslims (again, if you're here, you're covered), but keeping them out in the first place would be permissible. That said, there is no practical way to keep people of a certain religion out because people can lie. The only way you could even try would be to ban people from predominantly Muslim countries.", "It is not illegal to have a monopoly. It is illegal to obtain a monopoly by unfair competitive practises or to hold onto a monopoly by actively keeping competitors from entering the market. Comcast doesn't do that. The reason why comcast has regional monopolies in certain places is because setting up an ISP is ridiculously expensive. It takes a huge investment and the government can't make other companies invest in certain areas when they aren't even certain that is going to pay off.", "Because lying isn't illegal in the United States. Lying *in certain circumstances*, like in court, is illegal. But by default telling a lie is just fine. So they aren't prosecuted because there's nothing to prosecute. No one is legally required to be a decent person.", "Yes, but its been contaminated. Droplets form around particles in the air, which is why cloud seeding works. On the way down they collect more dust and gases that they impact. This is why it smells fresher after a storm. Even so, rainwater is much purer than groundwater, at least most places.", "AFAIK this only happens in the US. That's because there is no central census of voters. In most european countries there is one. When elections come you just get a letter in the mail that informs you of your polling station, whether you intend to vote or not. Actually if you don't get the letter up to a certain date (because you recently moved) you can ask the census to correct your address. Whatever reasons other people argue here about illegal voters and preventing people from voting twice... this is all easily prevented using a voters census. This is not the reason why you need to register in the US. Many countries have one, no voter registration required.", "> Why is it illegal to attempt committing suicide? It's not. It *used* to be, but it's not anymore. At least not in the US. If you had another country in mind, see if it's on [this list](_URL_0_).", "It is not illegal to have a monopoly. What is illegal is to use your monopoly in certain specific ways to stifle competition. So long as Comcast and AT & T don't do that, they do not violate the anti-trust act.", "It's complicated. Basically, Indian reservations are sovereign countries inside the United States. There are certain laws that they are required to observe, and citizens of most Indian nations are automatically citizens of the United States, but otherwise they are sovereign states and can build whatever they want on their land. And to be honest, they kind of got stuck with the short end of every stick. Indian land is largely undesirable territory with little or no natural resources and very low population. The only way they can bring in good revenue is to provide goods and services that are illegal in the surrounding area, most commonly gambling.", "They are considered \"stateless.\" Countries will likely grant him certain residency statuses or asylum after they consider what exactly caused his citizenship to be revoked. Statelessness due to political conflict and ethnic discrimination, particularly in central Africa, is actually a significant issue that burdens surrounding countries with refugees and illegal migrants.", "It won't work. It just...doesn't work. You can't use entangled states to send a message. Quantum entanglement doesn't mean that actions performed on one state will spontaneously appear in the matching entangled state. All it means is that the two states were rendered so as to have a certain collective property, and when they are next measured, they are always found to preserve that collective property no matter how far they are separated in space and time. When you measure one state, you'll know what the other one is by virtue of knowing what the collective property is. But if you change your state, that destroys the entanglement, and your state no longer bears any particular relationship with the other state.", "Most countries in the world do not have any kind of concept of unlimited free speech. The idea is that certain kinds of speech can be just as mentally harmful as violence is physically harmful, and thus they should be illegal just like violence is.", "U.S. law requires the country of origin of a product to be clearly displayed on the product, or on the product's container if it is enclosed. a lot of people also like to have this information available, especially in the US, because due to this law, countries build up a certain reputation for certain products.", "Businesses in the US aren't permitted to refuse service to to anyone for any reason; certain reasons to refuse service are illegal, such as on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, etc.", "Monopolies aren't inherently illegal. It's illegal to obtain or retain a monopoly by engaging in certain anti-competitive practices.", "[I found this article](_URL_0_) that says that sailors did fish during the trip. It mentioned water in passing as a less-preferred beverage, but nothing about collecting rainwater.", "The NFA isn't \"registration\", it applies an excise tax to certain types of firearms. Owning the firearms isn't illegal, not paying the taxes is illegal; illegal manufacture of a firearm is illegal. > \"...those kinds of weapons are not protected by the 2nd Amendment.\" The issue remains that the 2nd Amendment was misinterpreted by the SCOTUS to apply an artificial standard of \"sporting use\" to the Amendment; which clearly goes against the intent of the writers.", "So that a certain part of the country doesn't elect the leader. If we used popular vote, then the most populous areas/states would dictate our politics and the remainder of the country would not have a fair voice. The populous areas still have an advantage in the electoral college, but not so much so that they will outright win.", "Dealerships are forced by law so that price fixing isn't done to drive competition out of certain areas. Lets say Ford starts selling its cars at a loss in California thinking its marketing will lead to more sales else where for example. This would be bad. Tesla is a very small company when compared to the big 3, even foreign automakers. Therefore dealerships can't directly partner with it because they just don't move cars to be profitable (for the dealership). That's why Tesla has to sell directly to the customer, which in some states (in the US) is illegal.", "In some circumstances it is considered age discrimination. However depending on the local rules, this may be allowed. For example, certain US states do not allow \"ladies nights\" at bars (where women get a discount on something), because that is sex discrimination. However other states have decided to allow it. Discrimination is only illegal if its actually illegal. To further add on, many things that involve older folks--who are people who tend to vote-- get some preferential legal and governmental treatment. Don't piss off your voters, you may just lose your job.", "Yes. If you wonder why, ask yourself what a \"militia\" of this type really is. It's a group of people...nothing illegal about that so far. They have certain political beliefs; that's quite alright. And they own weapons--usually, also legal. The difference between a private militia and a sporting club is that the former says silly things and likes to dress in camouflage; that's not something you can legislate against. Now, a group that's legal in essence might venture into certain harmful activity, and that is something you can combat. To name one example, in Pennsylvania it is illegal to participate in weapons training \"intending that same will be unlawfully employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder.\" (18 Pa. § 5515) The key element here is the intent to further civil disorder; that crosses the line into criminal activity.", "The easy answer is that it's US Law to name where the product is from. We don't trade with certain countries...so if a product says it's from some country we don't trade with, it could be a counterfeit/illegal. Also from the countries perspective, they obviously want people to know where it came from for obvious reasons. And lastly, you give a shit if well...if you actually care where it came from. Some people like to support the US economy and by items made in USA. Some people want to buy products as cheap as they can, so they are drawn to China.", "You aren't affected. The United States does not recognize dual citizenship--if you are an American citizen, any other citizenship you may hold is not relevant. You're an American and that's the end of it. The Visa Waiver Program allows most citizens of certain countries to visit the United States without obtaining a visitor's visa. Previously, it was the rule that if you had citizenship from a country participating in the VWP, you were eligible (if you met the other requirements, e.g. you are not a felon), even if you also had citizenship from a non-eligible country. Now, you may be ineligible if you hold citizenship from certain countries such as Iran, even if you are also a citizen of a participant country.", "The concern is that, if evidence collected illegally is allowed in court, that will motivate police to collect evidence illegally when they *really* want someone to be found guilty.", "A lot of radio channels are reserved for military/emergency use. If you are broadcasting on a channel then they can't use it. It is illegal to broadcast on certain channels because you impede emergency services/military services, and that is generally frowned upon.", "It was for law enforcement. It is pretty easy to figure out which numbers are coming from a law enforcement agency, so caller ID would make it harder for them certain things, like undercover work. Law enforcement pressured telecoms to allow spoofing because think of the children, so it became a thing. Since there are so many telecoms and wireless and VOIP services were rapidly evolving, the technology was not particularly robust, and telemarketers and collection agencies soon figured out how to do it. Nothing said it was specifically illegal, and you don't get a lot of campaign contributions for siding with consumers against corporations, so the current laws are weak. They and subsequent court rulings say spoofing is only illegal if there is an intent to defraud, which is certain to deter fraudsters from committing additional crime.", "Legalization means it's free to openly use if you are of age. Decriminalizing is when it's still illegal, but you only face a fine instead of jail time, up to a certain extent", "In WW2 they were used because the US was the only country to possess them, they were a top secret super weapon Afterward, that’s exactly why they were not used. Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was the policy between USA and Russia in which they both understood a first strike would result in certain destruction of both powers", "From what I recall, the U.S. is actually the reason why it's illegal in so many countries. In the early 20th century, when the U.S. decided marijuana should be illegal, it also used its diplomatic muscle to strongarm other countries into criminalizing it as well. It's been a while since I read on this subject, so I could be a little off, but that's my basic understanding of the relevant history." ]

[ "Monday, 17 April, 2017 - 22:22\nTe Wānanga O Raukawa Pulse have leapfrogged into the lead of the ANZ Premiership with a self-assured 53-44 win over the Northern Stars in Manukau tonight.\nThe rivalries at both ends of the court were like a Who’s Who: Cat Tuivaiti up against Kayla Cullen, Sulu Fitzpatrick and Leana de Bruin; Maia Wilson and Malia Vaka versus Katrina Grant and Phoenix Karaka.\nBut in the end the difference was the Pulse’s exceptional full-court defence, with an impressive haul of intercepts shared amongst the team, to notch up their third win of the ANZ Premiership season. It meant they overtook the Magic at the top of the table by the slimmest of goal differentials, but the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel are poised to snatch top spot back again.\nThere were positives for the rookie Stars from tonight’s clash: their defence never quitting, and their passionate finishing stanza.\nBuoyed by a vibrant home crowd dressed in purple, the Stars began with a fierce determination and held the lead a number of times during the opening quarter.\nBut timely intercepts by Grant and wing defence Claire Kersten gave the Pulse a small buffer which they held at the end of the first break, 14-12.\nPinpoint passing from young wing attack Whitney Souness, who dictated the Pulse attack, kept the scoreboard ticking over in favour of the visitors.\nAt the opposite end, Wilson and Vaka showed that their relationship is growing in the shooting circle, but it was always going to be a tough task up against the Silver Ferns pairing of Grant and Karaka.\nA period of scrappy play from both teams slowed down the scoring and forced both to resettle, and by halftime, the Pulse had resumed the upper-hand with a seven-goal advantage, at 30-23.\nThe Stars had moments where they showcased their obvious flair, skill and craftiness, but at other times, struggled to make their connections, under pressure from the dogged Pulse defence.\nGoing into the final quarter ahead 42-33, the Pulse kept the pace up and made an artform out of transporting the ball down court to the crane-like right arm of Tuivaiti, who finished the match with 31 from 34 attempts. Her teenage sidekick, Tiana Metuarau, made a vital contribution too, of 18 from 22.\nThe Stars refused to take a loss lying down, though, and carried on fighting, especially on defence; Fitzpatrick in particular making her presence felt at goal keep, with four smart intercepts. In the end, they had their best quarter of the match, level-pegging with the victorious Pulse.\nOfficial Result and Stats:\nTe Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse 53 def Northern Stars 44\nShooting Stats - Stars\nWilson: 34/43 @79%\nRusivakula: 7/9 @ 78%\nVaka: 3/5 @ 60%\nShooting Stats - Pulse\nTuivaiti: 31/34 @ 91%\nAmaru-Tibble: 4/6 @ 67%\nMatuarau: 18/22 @ 82%\nMVP: Katrina Grant (Pulse)" ]

[ "A stellar romance is blossoming in a star system 370 light-years away, causing a star to make heartbeat-like pulses as its exoplanetary partner zooms close during its short orbit.\nThe discovery was made by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope that was monitoring very slight pulsations in star brightness. The star, called HAT-P-2, has a massive exoplanet — called a \"hot Jupiter\" — in orbit, which is around eight times the mass of Jupiter, and its orbit is causing the pulsations in the star's outer layers.\nAlthough these pulsations have been spotted in binary stars in the past — so-called \"heartbeat stars\" — this is the first time a similar effect has been spotted between a star and planet.\n\"Just in time for Valentine's Day, we have discovered the first example of a planet that seems to be causing a heartbeat-like behavior in its host star,\" said Julien de Wit, postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge.\nRELATED: Why Don't Super-Earths and Hot Jupiters Like Each Other?\nThe study of HAT-P-2 has been published today (Feb. 14) in Astrophysical Journal Letters.\nSince 2007, astronomers have known that the star system possesses an exoplanet (called HAT-P-2b), but this is the first time that its impact on the star's brightness has been seen. The interesting thing is that HAT-P-2b is 100 times less massive than its host star, causing some surprise that its gravity can have such an impact on the star's outer layers.\n\"It's remarkable that this relatively small planet seems to affect the whole star in a way that we can see from far away,\" said planetary scientist Heather Knutson, of Caltech in Pasadena, Calif.\nHot Jupiters are a special class of exoplanet that orbit super-close to their stars. They are typically more massive than Jupiter, but complete an orbit in a matter of days, sometimes hours. In the case of HAT-P-2b, it completes an orbit once every 5.6 days and its orbit is extremely eccentric — it zooms close to its star and then swings back out again.\nRELATED: Alien World Drives its Star Into Early Retirement\nWhen making its close approach, the exoplanet gives the star a gravitational \"kiss\", creating the brightness pulse.\nHowever, after analysis, astronomers are confused. The pulses — or \"heartbeats\" — are of a higher frequency than expected, revealing a gap in our knowledge of gravitational interactions between stars and orbiting hot-Jupiters.\n\"Our observations suggest that our understanding of planet-star interactions is incomplete,\" added de Wit. \"There's more to learn from studying stars in systems like this one and listening for the stories they tell through their 'heartbeats.'\"\nWATCH VIDEO: Giant Exo-Uranus Discovered!", "Bright Agindotan, manager of the Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory, holds a sample of chickpeas infected with a fungus called botrytis on Friday, June 15, 2018, at Montana State University in Bozeman. Credit: MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez Like a farmer scanning the horizon for coming changes in weather, in 2014 Mary Burrows looked to the future of Montana agriculture, and what she saw prompted her to start the Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory at Montana State University.\nIt was a prescient decision. That year, farmers planted about 702,000 acres of pulses—dried leguminous crops that include peas, chickpeas and lentils. Just three years later, they planted more than double that acreage.\nBurrows, a professor in MSU's Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, anticipated the change, \"but the exponential growth has been pretty surprising,\" she said.\nMore and more farmers, Burrows said, are seeing the benefits of planting pulses, which require little soil moisture, provide a cover crop that prevents weeds and fix essential nitrogen into the soil. In lieu of a traditional crop rotation that requires fallowing fields of wheat, a longtime staple of Montana agriculture, many farmers are instead getting extra income by pairing wheat with pulse crops.\nBut the benefits have come with new costs. \"Pulse crops are really susceptible to a lot of diseases,\" Burrows said. Luckily, \"many diseases can be prevented using integrated pest management, including using clean seed.\"\nIn 2014, no lab in the U.S. specialized in diagnosing pulse crop diseases. MSU's Schutter Diagnostic Lab, which identifies a variety of plant problems, was struggling to apply its expertise to the uptick in pulses.\n\"We established the pulse lab because we had a number of diseases and nobody in the region with the capability to quickly identify them,\" Burrows said.\nIn starting the lab, MSU had wide support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, industry groups including the U.S. Dry Pea and Lentil Council and the Northern Pulse Growers Association, the Montana Department of Agriculture and others, Burrows said.\nPulse pathogens include a variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes, which are tiny, worm-like parasites. Often, pathogens don't immediately reveal themselves but become a problem in future generations of plants.\n\"Some seeds look healthy, but have disease,\" said Bright Agindotan, assistant research professor in the plant sciences and plant pathology department and manager of the pulse crop lab.\nBright Agindotan demonstrates diagnostic equipment at the Regional Pulse Crop Diagnostic Laboratory on Friday, June 15, 2018, at Montana State University in Bozeman. Credit: MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez\nOver the past four years, with a few relatively small grants and funding from the Farm Bill, the facility has expanded its capabilities with advanced equipment that can, for example, quickly determine a pulse sample's genetic makeup.\n\"We look at what you can't see with your own eyes,\" said Muhammad Mahathar, a senior majoring in microbiology who works part-time in the lab.\nIf diseases go unchecked, they can reduce yields, undercut a grower's ability to sell seed and cut off avenues for export. According to the Montana Department of Agriculture, the state's export of pulse crops grew from $8 million in 2010 to more than $160 million in 2016. Many countries require certification that pulse products are free of nematodes and other pathogens, Agindotan said.\nIf significant levels of specific nematodes or other quarantined pathogens are widely discovered in Montana, Burrows said, a country like India could decide to decline the state's imports entirely. \"(The lab) is a really valuable resource for protecting the industry from trade barriers,\" she said.\nThis year, Agindotan received a sampling of chickpeas that had a high concentration, about 17 percent, of Ascochyta blight, a fungus that can decimate the crop. Much of it showed resistance to a commonly used fungicide, and he quickly contacted the grower to advise an effective alternative. The incident demonstrated the importance of catching a disease early and working with the farmer to develop a strategy, he said.\n\"Just like when you go to the doctor, the first step is to diagnose the disease,\" he said. \"Then you can treat it.\"\nLast year, the lab received more than 1,900 samples, mostly from around Montana. Agindotan and others also travel the state to proactively find diseases that are just beginning to get a foothold. In 2016, for the first time in the state, they found Aphanomyces, a root rot whose spores can persist in soil for as long as 20 years. Lab personnel are now educating farmers about prevention of the disease, and are researching the best way to manage it in Montana.\nAccording to Burrows, it's unclear whether the tide of pulse crops will continue to rise in Montana. Currently, the low price of wheat is helping to bolster pulses. Because farmers have seen the benefits of the crops and gained experience growing them, the levels may never never drop back to 2014 levels, she said.\nToday, MSU's diagnostic lab, which serves Montana as well as six surrounding states, remains the only one in the U.S. that specializes in pulse crops.\n\"It has proven its value,\" Burrows said.\nExplore further: Pulse crops may reduce energy use and increase yields for farmers", "Have your say\nDeeping Rangers manager Michael Goode is expecting a positive bounce back from his side in tonight’s top United Counties League Premier Division match (August 15, 7.45pm).\nDeeping are at Yaxley FC for a game between two teams expected to challenge for the title.\nDan Smith on the ball for Peterborough Northern Star at Harborough. Photo: Chantelle McDonald. @cmcdphotos\nBut Goode’s men received a jolt on Saturday (August 12) when losing at early-season surprise package Wellingborough Whitworth.\n“We didn’t play well on Saturday,” Goode admitted. “But if we beat Yaxley we won’t be far away from the target we set ourselves for the first few matches.\n“We won’t be panicking after one defeat. I’m expecting a much better performance at Yaxley.”\nDeeping have three points from their first two matches. Yaxley drew 0-0 in their opening game of the season at Leicester Nirvana last weekend.\nZak Munton equalises for Peterborough Northern Star at Harborough from the penalty spot. Photo: Chantelle McDonald. @cmcdphotos.\nWisbech Town are also in Premier Division action tonight at home to Sleaford.\nCurrent top-flight leaders Holbeach United host Peterborough Northern Star tomorrow (August 16). Star drew 1-1 at Harborough at the weekend thanks to an equaliser from the penalty spot from summer signing Zak Munton.\nSpalding United (v Corby) and Stamford AFC (v Carlton) play their first home games in Division One South of the Evo Stik Northern Premier League tonight.\nPeterborough Sports are at Lincoln United tomorrow.\nThere are a couple of big Peterborough Premier Division matches tonight as leaders Moulton Harrox entertain unbeaten Leverington and title fancies Netherton United travel to Sawtry, a team who won 10-1 at the weekend to make it three wins in three matches.\nFIXTURES\nTuesday, August 15\nEVO-STIK LEAGUE\nDivision One South: Spalding v Corby Town, Stamford v Carlton Town.\nCHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE\nPremier Division: Wisbech Town v Sleaford Town, Yaxley v Deeping Rangers.\nCHROMASPORT & TROPHIES PETERBOROUGH LEAGUE\nPremier Division: Ketton v Langtoft United, Moulton Harrox v Leverington Sports, Peterborough Sports Res v Warboys Town, Sawtry v Netherton United.\nWednesday August 16\nEVO-STIK LEAGUE\nDivision One South: Lincoln United v Peterborough Sports.\nCHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE\nPremier Division: Holbeach United v Peterborough Northern Star.\nDivision One: Pinchbeck United v Bourne Town.\nCHROMASPORT & TROPHIES PETERBOROUGH LEAGUE\nPremier Division: AFC Stanground Sports v ICA Sports, Deeping Rangers Res v Stamford Lions.\nDivision One: Crowland Town v Long Sutton Athletic, Kings Cliffe v Oundle Town, Oakham United Res v Stamford Belvedere, Peterborough Polonia v AFC Stanground Sports Res, Tydd St Mary v Moulton Harrox Res, Wittering Harriers v Uppingham Town.", "Artist impression of the triple star system PSR J0337+1715, which is located about 4,200 light-years from Earth. This system provides a natural laboratory to test fundamental theories of gravity. Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; S. Dagnello Einstein's understanding of gravity, as outlined in his general theory of relativity, predicts that all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass or composition. This theory has passed test after test here on Earth, but does it still hold true for some of the most massive and dense objects in the known universe, an aspect of nature known as the Strong Equivalence Principle? An international team of astronomers has given this lingering question its most stringent test ever. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, show that Einstein's insights into gravity still hold sway, even in one of the most extreme scenarios the Universe can offer.\nTake away all air, and a hammer and a feather will fall at the same rate—a concept explored by Galileo in the late 1500s and famously illustrated on the Moon by Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott.\nThough a bedrock of Newtonian physics, it took Einstein's theory of gravity to express how and why this is so. To date, Einstein's equations have passed all tests, from careful laboratory studies to observations of planets in our solar system. But alternatives to Einstein's general theory of relativity predict that compact objects with extremely strong gravity, like neutron stars, fall a little differently than objects of lesser mass. That difference, these alternate theories predict, would be due to a compact object's so-called gravitational binding energy—the gravitational energy that holds it together.\nIn 2011, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) discovered a natural laboratory to test this theory in extreme conditions: a triple star system called PSR J0337+1715, located about 4,200 light-years from Earth. This system contains a neutron star in a 1.6-day orbit with a white dwarf star, and the pair in a 327-day orbit with another white dwarf further away.\n\"This is a unique star system,\" said Ryan Lynch of the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, and coauthor on the paper. \"We don't know of any others quite like it. That makes it a one-of-a-kind laboratory for putting Einstein's theories to the test.\"\nSince its discovery, the triple system has been observed regularly by the GBT, the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands, and the NSF's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The GBT has spent more than 400 hours observing this system, taking data and calculating how each object moves in relation to the other.\nHow were these telescopes able to study this system? This particular neutron star is actually a pulsar. Many pulsars rotate with a consistency that rivals some of the most precise atomic clocks on Earth. \"As one of the most sensitive radio telescopes in the world, the GBT is primed to pick up these faint pulses of radio waves to study extreme physics,\" Lynch said. The neutron star in this system pulses (rotates) 366 times per second.\nThe Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands was one of three telescopes used to study the three-star system, along with the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Credit: ASTRON\n\"We can account for every single pulse of the neutron star since we began our observations,\" said Anne Archibald of the University of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and principal author on the paper. \"We can tell its location to within a few hundred meters. That is a really precise track of where the neutron star has been and where it is going.\"\nIf alternatives to Einstein's picture of gravity were correct, then the neutron star and the inner white dwarf would each fall differently toward the outer white dwarf. \"The inner white dwarf is not as massive or compact as the neutron star, and thus has less gravitational binding energy,\" said Scott Ransom, an astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, and co-author on the paper.\nThrough meticulous observations and careful calculations, the team was able to test the system's gravity using the pulses of the neutron star alone. They found that any acceleration difference between the neutron star and inner white dwarf is too small to detect.\n\"If there is a difference, it is no more than three parts in a million,\" said coauthor Nina Gusinskaia of the University of Amsterdam. This places severe constraints on any alternative theories to general relativity.\nThis result is ten times more precise that the previous best test of gravity, making the evidence for Einstein's Strong Equivalence Principle that much stronger. \"We're always looking for better measurements in new places, so our quest to learn about new frontiers in our Universe is going to continue,\" concluded Ransom.\nExplore further: Stronger tests of Einstein's theory of general relativity with binary neutron stars\nMore information: Anne M. Archibald et al, Universality of free fall from the orbital motion of a pulsar in a stellar triple system, Nature (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0265-1", "Newswise — June 14, 2017 - Farmers in Montana, and other parts of the Northern Great Plains, are shifting from cereal mono-cropping to a cereal-dry pea cropping system. This transition is not without its share of unknowns, however.\nYield and performance of pea crops depend on both their genetics and the environment. Environmental factors such as temperature and rainfall can vary greatly. Farmers in different parts of the Plains need to know which varieties of pea will do well in the area they are farming.\nChengci Chen of Montana State University is working to generate that information. He has been studying how pea genetics interact with the environment to affect crop yields, and pea protein and starch content.\n“Ultimately, I hope to be able to recommend which pea varieties to cultivate to growers in various environments,” says Chen.\nTo do that, Chen and his colleagues tested how nine different varieties of pea performed when grown in five locations across Montana. These locations were spread across the state and had different soils and climatic conditions.\nChen examined yield and protein and starch content of the different pea varieties. “These are characteristics that are important to growers and end users,” he says. Pea varieties that have higher yield can bring more profits to producers. Varieties that have higher protein or starch contents interest different end users.\nFor example, “dry yellow peas are fractionated into protein, starch, and fiber. These components are widely used in food ingredients, especially by health-food businesses,” Chen explains. “The market for pea protein is growing rapidly because it is non-dairy and allergen-friendly.”\nWhen the researchers evaluated the nine pea varieties grown in different environments, they found that “pea yield is affected by both genetics and environment, but environment has the larger effect,” Chen says. Pea protein content is largely affected by environment as well. However, one kind of starch – resistant starch – content is mainly controlled by genetics.\n“Resistant starch is important because it is beneficial to human health,” says Chen. It’s a type of starch that escapes digestion in the small intestine. Instead, it is fermented by intestinal bacteria in the large intestine into short-chain fatty acids.\n“These short-chain fatty acids can be absorbed by the colon or used by bacteria as energy, which provides many benefits to the colon and to the body,” says Chen.\nAlso, since resistant starch does not release glucose within the small intestine, it helps balance the body’s blood sugars. That helps everyone, especially individuals with diabetes.\nGrowing pea crops benefit the environment as well. “Pea is an excellent rotation crop for wheat,” says Chen. “It helps control weeds, diseases, and insects. It also fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere.” Pea crops require very little nitrogen fertilizer as a result, which reduces energy cost and greenhouse emissions.\nFinally, “pea-wheat rotations produce higher yield,” says Chen. “They provide farmers with more net returns than traditional cereal mono-cropping in the Northern Great Plains.”\nChen hopes his research will help guide growers on which varieties of peas will grow best in different environments.\n“Our findings will help farmers identify site-specific varieties of pea or select general varieties for a broader area,” says Chen. “Also, growers will be able to choose pea varieties with a specific trait, such as higher resistant starch content, and grow them for different end users.”\nChen continues to work with plant breeders to develop new varieties of pea with higher protein or resistant starch content. He also aims to overcome limiting factors to help peas thrive for optimum yield.\nRead more about Chen’s work in Agronomy Journal.\nDried peas are part of a food group known as pulses. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses (IYP). In celebration, the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) created a web page for the public about pulses, www.crops.org/iyp. Information provided includes K-12 Education, Beans in the News, Grown Your Own, and Delicious Ideas.\nSEE ORIGINAL STUDY", "Berwick Old Bridge is set to be transformed into London Bridge for a new film about Robert the Bruce.\nFilming for Outlaw King, starring US actor Chris Pine as the 14th century king of the Scots, is scheduled to take place in the Northumbrian town on Monday and Tuesday, October 9 and 10.\nBerwick Old Bridge.\nLocation manager Matt Risebrow told a meeting of Berwick Town Council on Monday night: “We are starting our preparation work on September 29 and then building up to shoot on October 9-10, when we will be turning the old bridge into medieval London Bridge and turning the dockside into a medieval Glaswegian market, so I hope it will be fun.\n“We will have a bit of a footprint around the town, so we hope we don’t disturb you too much. I hope you enjoy it.”\nMayor Gregah Roughead said: “It’s really positive news for our town and should be a great way to put us back on the map and show what Berwick can do.”\nIt is understood several road closures are planned while filming takes place.\nFilming got under way at Linlithgow Palace in West Lothian last month, with scenes due to be shot at locations across the country.\nAdvertising for the film describes it as “a true David versus Goliath story of how the great 14th century Scottish outlaw king Robert the Bruce used cunning and bravery to defeat and repel the much larger and better equipped occupying English army”.\nThe action takes place in 1306 as Ayrshire-born Bruce fights to regain control after being crowned king of Scots only to be defeated in a surprise attack and made an outlaw by the English.\nBerwick was pivotal in those times. In 1318, King Robert I, as he was by then, took control of Berwick and re-established it as a Scottish trading port.\nThe film is expected to be released on streaming site Netflix next year.\nIt is directed by Northumbrian-born David Mackenzie, nominated for an Oscar last year for Hell or High Water, also starring Pine, best known for playing James Kirk in the new Star Trek film series.\nIt also stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh and James Cosmo.\nCalifornia-born Pine, 37, is far from the first non-Scot to play one of the country’s heroes, following in the footsteps of Australian Mel Gibson as William Wallace in 1995’s Braveheart and Northern Irishman Liam Neeson in the title role of the same year’s Rob Roy.\nA previous film on the same subject, The Bruce in 1996, partly shot in Peebles and also featuring Brian Blessed and Oliver Reed, did star a Scotsman, however – Sandy Welch, and he was portrayed by a Scot, Angus Macfadyen, in Braveheart too.\nKing Robert I was born in 1274 and died in 1329. His body was buried at Dunfermline in Fife and his heart at Melrose.", "By raining down laser pulses on some 770 square miles of dense forest in northern Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered 60,000 Maya structures that make up full sprawling cities.\nAnd the new technology provides them with an unprecedented view into how the ancient civilization worked, revealing almost industrial agricultural infrastructure and new insights into Maya warfare.\n\"This is a game changer,\" says Thomas Garrison, an archaeologist at Ithaca College who is one of the leaders of the project. It changes \"the base level at which we do Maya archaeology.\"\nThe data reveals that the area was three or four times more densely populated than originally thought. \"I mean, we're talking about millions of people, conservatively,\" says Garrison. \"Probably more than 10 million people.\"\nThe researchers fired LiDAR technology, short for \"Light Detection and Ranging,\" down at the dense forest from an airplane. This research was organized by the PACUNAM LiDAR Initiative, and Garrison says the area's size is \"more than double any other survey that's been done with this technology.\"\n\"As it flies the laser pulses hundreds of thousands of times per second,\" Garrison adds. \"And every time one of those lasers hits a point of resistance it stops and sends back a measurement to the plane.\"\nSome of these pulses make it all the way down to the forest floor. The data is then used to visually strip away trees and plants, ultimately mapping only the structures that have been hidden by jungle. You can think of it as digital deforestation.\nLiDAR allows scientists to accomplish years or even decades worth of mapping in a single afternoon. For example, Garrison says he was part of a team that worked for some eight years to map less than a square mile at a site called El Zotz. The plane using LiDAR took data for 67 square miles in a matter of hours.\n\"It's very humbling,\" says Garrison. \"For those of us that spent our lives mapping and slogging around this area ... you just sort of have to bow before the LiDAR and accept the fact that it's better than you are.\"\nThe team surveyed 10 separate areas. It took months to process the data. As the picture became clearer, Garrison said he would sent emails to his colleagues expressing surprise at the magnitude.\nHe recalls seeing an initial image of one area in northern Guatemala. \"I saw this image and I said, the whole area is covered in Maya settlement. You won't believe it,\" he adds. \"And then once we got the actual data and saw the whole scope of it. We said, 'Wow, we're going to be able to really do something with this.'\"\nTogether, they are able to weave together a picture of individual city-states and their vast support network.\n\"Everything is amplified and made much clearer for us and we see how it all fits together in a way that we have not seen before,\" he says. \"We're seeing it all laid bare, and saying, 'OK, this is how all of this was connected and came together.'\"\nArcheologists, for example, knew that the Maya had agricultural fields. But he says this data show \"huge, huge expanses of these irrigated field systems in these low lying swamps.\"\nAnd they knew that the Maya fought, often with each other, because defensive walls had been previously spotted. But this new information reveals \"Maya fortresses and systems of interconnected watchtowers,\" raising the possibility of more sophisticated and large-scale warfare.\nThe civilization had a network of raised causeways stretching \"many, many kilometers.\" They also were \"channeling water for hundreds of meters or modifying hilltops so they become these impregnable areas.\"\nThe picture this paints, he says, is one that is to some extent more advanced than previously thought: \"This is like landscape engineering. They have molded the world around them to serve their purposes and survive.\"\nThe most important Maya city, Tikal, was found to be three or four times larger than the scientists had thought, with a previously undiscovered pyramid in its center. And Garrison adds that they're not totally sure they've surveyed the entire extent of that city.\nSuddenly having a broad view allows archaeologists to ask many new questions, he says. And there's plenty of forest to still explore — the study area is a fraction of the total area where the Maya lived.", "CAROLINE Flack allowed her curves to do the talking when she stripped off.\nInstagram CAROLINE FLACK INSTAGRAM: Love Island's host flashed the flesh in purple lingerie\nThe presenter causes boots to quake when she enters the Love Island villa, as she's often the bearer of bad news. But the starlet is known to have the opposite effect when it comes to her sizzling Caroline Flack Instagram updates. Taking to her profile story late last night, the 38-year-old shared a picture of herself kneeling on a wooden floor next to a pet cat. Looking as though she was preparing to hit the sack, the brunette bombshell flashed the flesh in a purple bra. With her shoulder-length locks tied in a high ponytail, Caroline cooed over her feline friend.\nLove Island's Caroline Flack Caroline Flack shows off curves in hottest pictures of the Love Island host. 1 / 70 Caroline Flack/Instagram Caroline Flack is excited to be turning Mrs Andrew Brady rocking a pre-wedding cap\nInstagram LEGS APPEAL: The 38-year-old is known to set pulses racing with her on-screen ensembles\nCaptioning the tender moment for her 1.6 million followers, she wrote: \"Waf,\" followed by a red heart emoji. Caroline and her fiancé, Celebrity Big Brother star Andrew Brady, 27, set tongues wagging earlier this week amid reports they had unfollowed each other on Instagram. However, the pair put on a united front last night as they — along with so many others up and down the country — watched England defeat Columbia in the world cup. The former X Factor host posted a picture of Andrew enjoying the match alongside two young boys. She titled the sweet snap: \"Fam.\"\nCelebs sexiest swimwear pics See all the hottest beach babes in pictures. 1 / 120\nInstagram PROUD BRIDE-TO-BE: Caroline is engaged to Celebrity Big Brother star Andrew Brady\n“I saw you on TV before we'd even met” Caroline Flack to Andrew Brady While Love Island continues to attract millions of viewers thanks to its explosive recouplings and relationship dramas, Caroline often steals the show with her eye-popping wardrobe choices. The starlet dropped jaws when she entered the villa wearing a plunging dusty pink dress, which featured a high-slit design. And on Love Island: Aftersun on Sunday, the Brit beauty stopped traffic in a teeny brown minidress, which only served to highlight her toned legs. While Caroline may report on the love life of others, she recently opened up about how she met beau Andrew, who proposed in April after a whirlwind three-month romance.\nLove Island 2018's sexiest moments Love Island is already hotting up as the 2018 contestants look for passion. 1 / 45 WENN Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham kiss in bed\nInstagram SHE SAID YES: Flack opened up about her engagement in an open letter addressed to her beau", "related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.\n4 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.\nThe Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a July 25 general election, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.\nISLAMABAD: The Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a July 25 general election, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.\nA survey by Pulse Consultant showed Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) ahead with 30 percent of the respondents nationwide, compared to 27 percent for its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was at 17 percent.\nAdvertisement\nA separate nationwide poll by Gallup Pakistan had PML-N on top with 26 percent, PTI with 25 percent and the PPP at 16 percent.\nBoth polls were commissioned by Pakistan's Jang Media Group and were published on Wednesday in its affiliated newspaper, The News. They each surveyed about 3,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent for the Pulse survey and 2-3 percent for Gallup.\nThe new polls indicate a swing towards Khan's party compared to similar nationwide polls in 2017, which put the PML-N 8-9 percentage points ahead of PTI.\nThe Gallup poll showed most of the PML-N's losses were to voters who responded \"undecided\" in the most recent poll, conducted between May 1 and June 6, while the Pulse poll indicated that most of PML-N's losses went directly to PTI.\nAdvertisement\nAdvertisement\nKhan's political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year over undeclared assets.\nSharif, who was disqualified from politics for life, now faces a verdict in an anti-corruption court on Friday along with his daughter Maryam, who is running for parliament. The case, which involves the purchase of luxury apartments in London, could see Sharif jailed and Maryam disqualified.\nSharif's has accused the military and courts conspiring to oust him and using legal cases and intimidation to help Khan's PTI party, accusations denied by Khan, the army and the judiciary.\nKhan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, has portrayed the legal cases as a long-overdue corruption crackdown on the PML-N, which he has labeled a graft-ridden \"mafia\".\n(Reporting by Asif Shahzad)", "By Leilani Haywood\nTribune Reporter\nAfter Kansas City's City Council defeated a proposed ordinance to cede 95 acres to Lee's Summit and the Paragon Star project, project architects deleted that land from their master plan. Kansas City stakeholders in the 95 acres adjacent to the planned development support the Paragon Star project but don't want to lose possible revenue that could benefit Hickman Mills school district and south Kansas City.\nKansas City Councilman Scott Taylor representing the 6th district which is south of I-470 going east from State Line Rd. to View High Dr. and south to 155th St. says, “Everybody in Kansas City thinks this is good development for Lee's Summit. The issue is really giving up land currently owned by Kansas City Missouri for nothing. The thought of giving up land to another community for nothing in return for potential lost tax revenue for the school district was one of the issues.”\nTaylor added that South Kansas City is enjoying a lot of momentum with the new Cerner campus that created thousands of jobs. “People are proud of South Kansas City with development that's happened last couple of years. We're looking forward to Cerner's next phase of expansion which should bring another 3,000 new jobs to the campus.”\nSouth Kansas City Alliance President Stacy Johnson said she was shocked that Kansas City was even considering ceding 95 acres. “It didn't make sense that our city would be willing to cede future tax dollars. Traffic was a big issue but the bigger issue was the loss of future revenue for our city for Hickman Mills school district.” The additional 95 acres would have created a parkway connecting I-470 and Bannister Rd which would have provided a northern access point into the development.\nAfter that defeat with Kansas City, Paragon Star regrouped with the city of Lee's Summit that approved forming a Transportation Development District (TDD) or the I-470 Western Gateway Transportation\nDevelopment District at the January 18 meeting. The TDD levies an additional 1% sales tax on Summit Wood shoppers and expands to 490 acres with the Paragon Star development and some tracts along I-470.\nLee's Summit Councilman Dave Mosby expressed concern that shoppers are bearing the burden of paying for the project. “We put the burden of many costs of this project on the shopper,” he said.\nMosby attempted to have five items related to development on private land removed from the proposed ordinance for the TDD that he thought shouldn't be paid by the sales tax but was defeated. The ordinance creating the TDD passed with a 5-3 vote. Councilmembers who voted in favor of the TDD include Rob Binney, Trish Carlyle, Craig Faith, Diane Forte and Diane Seif. Councilmembers Phyllis Edson, Dave Mosby and Fred DeMoro voted 'no' on the measure.\nThe projected 210-acre $400 million mixed use development at the intersection of View High Drive and I-470 is expected to generate an additional $7 million in sales tax revenue. The sports and recreation complex will include baseball fields, a clubhouse and cantina as well as a major trail head serving the Little Blue Trace and Rock Island Corridor Trails as well as a field house. There will also be bocce, pickleball and sand volleyball courts as well as a zipline and rope course and ferris wheel.\nThe development also includes two hotels, several restaurants and a shopping district. Developers and city officials broke ground in November 2016.\nLee's Summit is already providing an estimated $13 million in tax increment financing for the soccer complex and retail village.", "For the first time, astronomers have spotted a star that becomes ‘excited’ in response to its orbiting planet, letting out mysterious pulsations that line up with its orbital frequency.\nResearchers observed precisely timed pulsations in a star called HAT-P-2, which sits roughly 400 light years from Earth.\nHAT-P-2 is circled by one of the most massive exoplanets known to date, with mass eight times that of Jupiter – but, researchers still don’t know why the pulses are happening.\nHAT-P-2 is circled by one of the most massive exoplanets known to date, with mass eight times that of Jupiter – but, researchers still don’t know why the pulses are happening. While the exoplanet is relatively large, HAT-P-2 is much larger, at roughly 100 times the size of Jupiter\nWHAT THEY FOUND The observations revealed the star’s brightness is oscillating roughly every 87 minutes. And, it vibrates at exact harmonics – or, multiples of the rate at which the planet circles its star. ‘They were very tiny signals,’ Julien de Wit says. ‘It was like picking up the buzzing of a mosquito passing by a jet engine, both miles away.’ It's thought that the star's orbiting planet could be causing the phenomenon. But, this goes against most theoretical model-based predictions. The team suspects the planet’s transient gravitational pull could be to blame, and could be pushing its star toward a natural state of self-pulsating. They compare the effect to how adding salt to a simmering pot of water will cause it to boil over. Still, there may be a number of other explanations.\nIn the new study, MIT researchers analyzed more than 350 hours of observations captured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope between July 2011 and November 2015.\nWhile the exoplanet is relatively large, HAT-P-2 is much larger, at roughly 100 times the size of Jupiter.\nThe observations revealed the star’s brightness is oscillating roughly every 87 minutes.\nAnd, it vibrates at exact harmonics – or, multiples of the rate at which the planet circles its star.\nThis behaviour, however, goes against most theoretical model-based predictions.\nThe researchers say the gas giant may be large enough to distort its star, causing the surface to flare, or pulse, in response.\n‘We thought that planets cannot really excite their stars, but we find that this one does,’ says Julien de Wit, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.\n‘There is a physical link between the two, but at this stage, we actually can’t explain it. So these are mysterious pulsations induced by the star’s companion.’\nThe researchers initially set out to create a map of the exoplanet’s temperature distribution as it orbits its star, which would help them track how energy circulates through the atmosphere.\nIn turn, this can be telling of the atmosphere’s wind patterns and composition.\nHAT-P-2 was thought to be an ideal system, with its planet having an eccentric orbit that seesaws between temperature extremes based on the distance from the star.\n‘The star dumps an enormous amount of energy onto the planet’s atmosphere, and our original goal was to see how the planet’s atmosphere redistributes this energy,’ de Wit says.\nAfter processing the data and examining the window in which the planet made its closest approach, the researchers found something unexpected.\nFor the first time, astronomers have spotted a star that becomes ‘excited’ in response to its orbiting planet, letting out mysterious pulsations that line up with its orbital frequency. This 'heartbeat' is illustrated above\nThe team measured the brightness to determine the amount of energy transferred to the planet, and instead of finding a flat line, they noted tiny spikes in the star’s light.\n‘They were very tiny signals,’ de Wit says.\n‘It was like picking up the buzzing of a mosquito passing by a jet engine, both miles away.’\nWhile stellar pulsations are known to occur as the surface boils and turns over, these tiny signals are thought to be influenced by forces outside of the star itself.\n‘We think these pulsations must be induced by the planet, which is surprising,’ de Wit says.\n‘We’ve seen this in systems with two rotating stars that are supermassive, where one can really distort the other, release the distortion, and the other one vibrates. But we did not expect this to happen with a planet – even one as massive as this.’\nSCIENTISTS SPOT 60 NEW EXOPLANETS In the hunt for life outside Earth, researchers have discovered 60 new planets orbiting stars near our solar system. Among the new planets is a hot 'super-Earth', called Gliese 411b, which has a rocky surface and is located in the fourth nearest star system to the sun. Researchers say that the planet demonstrates that 'virtually all' the nearest stars to the sun have planets orbiting them, and some of these 'could be like Earth.' The discovery was made by an international team of researchers, led by the University of Hertfordshire. Along with the 60 new planets, the researchers found additional evidence of a further 54 planets, bringing the total number of potential new worlds to 114. The results are based on almost 61,000 individual observations of 1,600 stars taken over a 20-year period by US astronomers using the Keck-I telescope in Hawaii.\nThe researchers ran a number of models to rule out other influence as the cause, including effects from Spitzer’s instruments.\nThe team suspects the planet’s transient gravitational pull could be to blame, and could be pushing its star toward a natural state of self-pulsating.\nThey compare the effect to how adding salt to a simmering pot of water will cause it to boil over.\nStill, there may be a number of other explanations.\n‘It’s a mystery, but it’s great, because it demonstrates our understanding of how a planet affects its star is not complete,’ de Wit says.\n‘So we’ll have to move forward and figure out what’s going on there.’", "Pulses growth could mean India may have to import less by 2030. Express Pulses growth could mean India may have to import less by 2030. Express\nTill recently, there were two agri-commodities in which India was seen as being perpetually and increasingly import-dependent: edible oils and pulses. Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, the import value of the former soared from $4.72 billion to $10.89 billion, while from $2.25 billion to $4.24 billion in the case of the latter. During the fiscal ended March 2018, imports of edible oil rose further to $11.64 billion.\nBut now, there are signs of change at least with regard to pulses. The reason isn’t because of the value of imports falling to $2.91 billion in 2017-18, but domestic production finally coming into its own.\nThe last two years, as the accompanying table shows, have registered a substantial jump in the country’s pulses output to 23-24 million tonnes (mt). True, that looks huge compared to the 16-17 mt levels of the preceding two years, which, however, saw drought conditions in major pulses-growing areas. But even relative to the normal average of 18 mt in recent times, we are talking of a roughly one-third production increase, which isn’t small at all.\nIf 23-24 mt is, indeed, the “new normal” for domestic pulses output, it has significant implications.\nIn a just-published paper (‘Changing Consumption Patterns and Roles of Pulses in Nutrition, and Future Demand Projections’) for the International Food Policy Research Institute at Washington, three economists — Praduman Kumar, P K Joshi and Shinoj Parappurathu — have estimated the likely demand for pulses in India till 2030. They have projected the total domestic pulses demand under three different income growth scenarios: at current GDP growth rates, the demand is expected to go up from 18.02 mt in 2010 to 21.87 mt in 2020 and 26.58 mt by 2030. If GDP growth is “low” (25% below existing rates), the demand would rise to only 21.40 mt in 2020 and 25.22 mt in 2030. The corresponding numbers in a “high” growth scenario (25% above current rates) are 22.36 mt and 28.07 mt, respectively.\nALSO READ | A new problem of plenty: Government godowns are, for the first time, bursting at the seams with pulses on record procurement\nThere are two important things to note here. The first is that the 23-24 mt pulses production achieved by India in the last two years already exceeds the 22.36 mt demand projected in the Washington-based institute’s study. Secondly, even if output were not to rise further over the next decade, the country will not have to import more than four mt annually in 2030.\nIf production increases the way it has in the last two years, India, far from being an importer, may even end up being a net exporter of pulses. This is a scenario no one imagined — till quite recently.\nALSO READ | Breeding challenges: Hybrid rice clicks better in poor than agriculturally prosperous states\nFor all the latest India News, download Indian Express App", "Image copyright Reuters Image caption Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, died in March 2018\nThe seemingly \"disastrous\" story of the world's most endangered mammal - the northern white rhino - could be rewritten by IVF, scientists claim.\nThey used the method to produce rhino embryos with sperm from two dead males.\nThe embryos were made using eggs from a closely related sub-species, but the scientists say the method could save the northern white rhino.\nOne of the team said he hoped a baby that's fully northern white rhino would be born \"within three years\".\nThis could provide a way of \"rescuing valuable genes\" from a sub-species that is already functionally extinct; the last male northern white rhino, named Sudan, died earlier this year at the age of 45.\nOnly two females now remain, but the researchers who carried out this project say their carefully-developed method of assisted reproduction could work with eggs harvested from those two precious animals.\nHow do you carry out rhino IVF?\nImage copyright NAture Communications Image caption The researchers extracted microscopic eggs using a needle guided by ultrasound\nIn the journal Nature Communications, Prof Thomas Hildebrandt, from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, and his international team of colleagues, described the complexities of safely extracting an egg, or oocyte, from a two-tonne female rhino.\n\"You can't reach the ovaries by hand, so we developed a special device,\" Prof Hildebrandt explained to BBC News. \"We used ultrasound to very precisely inject a needle into [the area of the ovary that releases] eggs.\"\nThis was done while the female southern white rhino was under general anaesthetic, but the process is still very risky. Very close to the ovaries, Prof Hildebrandt explained, is a \"huge artery\" that if punctured would probably cause the rhino to bleed to death.\nBut once viable eggs were safely preserved, the team then had the challenge of fertilising them with sperm from male northern white rhinos - animals that died several years ago. They injected each egg with the sperm and used pulses of electrical current to stimulate the egg and sperm to fuse.\nThe result - viable embryos containing genetic material from a sub-species that is already functionally extinct.\n\"Everyone believed there was no hope for this sub-species,\" said Prof Hildebrandt. \"But with our knowledge now, we are very confident that this will work with northern white rhino eggs and that we will be able to produce a viable population.\"\nCould this bring back the northern white rhino?\nMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Last male northern white rhino dies in Kenya\nThese researchers think so, and others around the world who have been involved in efforts to save the northern white rhino say it is an important step.\nBut Dr Terri Roth, from Cincinnati Zoo, said the team's suggestion that they would have a \"new baby on the ground\" within three years was \"optimistic\".\n\"Embryo transfer [into a surrogate mother] in rhinos is in its infancy and has not yet been successful in any rhino species,\" Dr Roth told BBC News.\n\"And there are just two female northern white rhinos alive today, so acquiring white rhino [eggs] will be challenging and their number will be limited. Any embryos produced would likely need to be cryopreserved (or frozen) until a surrogate could be set up.\"\nWhy are there so few northern white rhinos left?\nAs Dr Roth explained, poaching is the primary threat facing all rhino species.\n\"The most effective way to save rhinos from extinction is to stop the poaching, however, that has proven difficult,\" she told BBC News.\n\"In the late 1990s, even the wild northern white rhino had a chance to recover from low numbers until civil unrest broke out in the DRC and the rhinos were all killed.\"\nLoss of habitat is the other primary threat to rhinos, and conservationists say that governmental protection of parks and reserves is now essential.\n\"The proper legislation must be passed, the resources to enforce the regulations must be provided and the law must be upheld,\" said Dr Roth, who has worked in rhino conservation for more than two decades.\n\"It is important that we learn from the plight of the northern white rhino and we make sure what happened to it does not happen to other endangered species.\n\"As impressive as science can be, we should not reach a point where these hi-tech approaches are the only source of hope for rescuing genes of valuable individuals, sub-species or entire species.\"\nFollow Victoria on Twitter", "An agreement in principle has been reached to restore the only land link, along with hope for a solid economic future, to the town of Churchill in northern Manitoba.\nThe federal government and a consortium of northern communities said Wednesday night they had reached a deal to transfer ownership of the area’s rail line and port from Denver-based Omnitrax.\n“The rail line is one of the foundational pieces of transportation infrastructure for the northern portion of the province,” Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said in a written statement.\n“The announcement today is a signal that negotiations are moving forward and a made-in-Canada solution is imminent.”\nThe rail line was severely damaged by flooding a year ago and Omnitrax said it could not afford the tens of millions of dollars to fix it.\nWithout rail service, goods and tourists have had to be flown in to Churchill at much higher prices and the port has been virtually idle.\nThe town of 900 people, known for its polar bear tourist season, has suffered economically and residents feared some of their neighbours would have no choice but to leave to find jobs elsewhere.\nChurchill Mayor Mike Spence said the agreement to transfer ownership of the rail line and port on the shore of Hudson Bay is historic.\nThe town shared the news with residents in a community update posted on Facebook.\n“The residents and businesses of Churchill have shown tremendous patience and resiliency during this very difficult time during the loss of rail service and reduced port operations,” reads the message.\n“The Town is pleased the federal government has recognized the importance and value of the port and rail line which are truly strategic assets of Canada.”\nOmnitrax had said the rail line was no longer viable and suggested it be run as utility, with government support likely needed.\nChristian Sinclair, co-chairman of One North – a consortium of northern communities – said details of the agreement still have to be finalized.\n“By next week, those details will go out and will be shared with the public,” Sinclair said.\n“But the fact that we’re at this point is great for us because it allows us to still salvage a season (at the port) this year.”\nAlso part of the agreement are Fairfax Financial Holdings and AGT Food and Ingredients Inc.\nAGT is a Regina-based supplier of value-added pulses and staple foods, and could replace some of the business at the Port of Churchill that was lost when the Canadian Wheat Board, the port’s biggest customer at the time, ended its monopoly on western grain and barley in 2012.\n“Over the last six months we have been working diligently with our many partners to come together, develop a business plan and satisfy the principles for successful new ownership,” Fairfax president Paul Rivett said in a written statement.\n“The federal government acknowledges the value and importance of our inclusive group and is supportive of our efforts to acquire the assets.”\nThe rail line was owned by the federal government until 1997, when it sold it to Omnitrax. The federal government has faced calls in the last year to buy it back.", "Drop a marble and a cannonball off the Leaning Tower of Pisa at the same time and they will hit the ground at the same time.\nThat fact is explained by Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity—general relativity—which predicts that all objects fall in the same way, regardless of their mass or composition.\nEven the Earth and the moon “fall” in the same way toward the sun as they orbit each other.\nEinstein’s theory has passed all tests in laboratories and elsewhere in our solar system. But scientists know that quantum mechanics behaves differently, so Einstein’s theory has to break somewhere. Does this principle also hold for objects with extreme gravity?\nThe answer is “yes,” according to an international team of astronomers, including one from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They have tested the question with the help of three stars orbiting each other in a natural “laboratory” about 4,200 light years from Earth.\nFindings from the team, led by researchers at the University of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), are published today in Nature.\nTriple star system\nTheir test subject is a triple star system called PSR J0337+1715, consisting of a neutron star in a 1.6-day orbit with a white dwarf. This pair is in a 327-day orbit with another white dwarf farther away.\nAbout the size of a planet, a white dwarf is a star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel and only the hot core remains. While white dwarfs are small and dense, nothing beats the density of a neutron star, which is a cinder left over after a burned-out star has exploded. Its gravity has crushed the massive remains into a remnant the size of a city.\nThe neutron star becomes a pulsar when it spins rapidly and has a strong magnetic field. Pulsars emit radio waves, X-rays or even optical light with each rotation.\nThe researchers made the measurement just by tracking the neutron star, a pulsar.\n“It rotates 366 times per second, and beams of radio waves rotate along,” said Anne Archibald, the paper’s first author at ASTRON and the University of Amsterdam. “They sweep over the Earth at regular intervals, like a cosmic lighthouse. We have used these radio pulses to track the position of the neutron star.”\nWhite dwarf gravity\nWhen the pulsar moves, something is causing it, said David Kaplan, an associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a co-author on the paper. “If Einstein is correct, it has to be the gravity of the white dwarf it’s circling that’s making the pulsar move.”\nThe team of astronomers followed the neutron star for six years using the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.\nIf the neutron star fell differently from the white dwarf, the pulses would arrive at a different time than expected. But as far as the researchers know, that didn’t happen. Archibald and her colleagues found that any difference between the accelerations of the neutron star and white dwarf is too small to detect.\nThis system offers the researchers the opportunity to test the nature of gravity with much more sensitivity, said Kaplan, who was among the researchers who first published on the system that was discovered in 2012.\n“We’ve done better with this system than previous tests by a factor of 10,” said Kaplan. “But it’s not an ironclad answer. Reconciling gravity with quantum mechanics is still unresolved.”\nCan’t ignore relativity\nA more precise description of gravity is important for other reasons too, said Kaplan.\n“If you ignored general relativity but then tried to use the GPS on your phone, you’d end up far from your destination,” he said. “But we’re also trying to understand how the universe works here. We still don’t understand how stars move.”\nAdvancements in radio telescopes offer more chances at finding the perfect triple system to test, said Jason Hessels, associate professor at ASTRON and the University of Amsterdam.\nIf the Square Kilometre Array is built in Australia and South Africa as planned, it would be the largest radio telescope in the world, capable of finding many more millisecond pulsars as are now known in our galaxy.\n“Among these yet undiscovered systems may lurk even more powerful tools for understanding the universe,” Hessels said. “Perhaps one of these may provide our first peek at a theory beyond Einstein’s.”", "Until the fried cheese tradition made it to northern and eastern Europe, where they fried things in schmaltz (animal fat).\n\"Obviously, with kosher rules,\" Frankel explained, \"you can't fry anything with cheese in schmaltz.\"\nMixing dairy and meat is banned in Jewish dietary laws.\n\"So they changed the cheese out for potatoes. It was something people ate a lot of; they were filling, they were plentiful.\"\nThis brings us to a shocking revelation. Though the original latkes were cheese latkes, the Ashkenazic Jews (who brought the latke to America) subbed potatoes.\nAnd thus was born the latke that we all love today.\nJudith's Cheese Pastries\nAdapted from \"A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking\" by Marcy Goldman, these pastries symbolize the cheese cakes that Judith served to Holofernes. Farmer cheese is a form of cottage cheese with most of the liquid pressed out, giving it a solid, crumbly texture. For best results, refrigerate the dough eight hours or overnight.\nMakes 24 to 30 pieces\nCheese pastry dough:\n2½ cups flour\n½ teaspoon salt\n¼ cup sugar\n2 tsp baking powder\n2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces\n1 cup farmer cheese\n2 tsp finely minced lemon zest\n1 tsp fresh lemon juice\n1 tsp vanilla extract\nFilling:\n½ pound cream cheese\n½ pound farmer cheese\n½ cup sugar\n1 tablespoon flour\n1 tsp finely minced lemon zest\n1 egg\n½ tsp vanilla extract\nPinch of salt\nTopping:\n4 tbsp melted butter\nPowdered sugar\nPrep: 1 hour, 45 minutes. Chill: overnight; cook: 25 to 30 minutes\n1. For the dough, sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl; cut in the butter until the mixture resembles small crumbs. Blend in the farmer cheese to make a soft dough; then the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. (For a food processor, pulse the dry ingredients together until combined. Add the butter; pulse until mixture resembles small crumbs. Add remaining ingredients; pulse until dough comes together. Knead on a lightly floured board to form a smooth ball.) Wrap the dough in plastic, and refrigerate overnight.\n2. For the filling, cream the cream cheese, farmer cheese and sugar together in a bowl until blended. Stir in remaining ingredients to make a thick filling. Refrigerate until ready to use.\n3. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.\n4. On a lightly floured surface, divide the chilled dough in half and roll each half into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly brush each rectangle with 1 tablespoon melted butter.\n5. Spread half of the cheese filling on each rectangle, leaving a 1-inch plain border all around. Fold in the two shorter ends on each rectangle. Beginning with the longer side, roll each piece into a log but stop halfway. Cut off the remaining half of each piece and repeat, making another log. Each portion of dough will make two narrow logs.\n6. Brush the tops of the four logs with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Chill, 10 to 15 minutes.\n7. Remove logs from the fridge; cut them into 2-inch pastries. Place the pastries on the baking sheets. Bake until tops are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool slightly, then dust with powdered sugar.\nPer serving (for 30 pieces): 179 calories, 12 grams fat, 7 g saturated fat, 39 milligrams cholesterol, 15 g carbohydrates, 7 g sugar, 4 g protein, 124 mg sodium, 0 g fibre\nChicago Tribune", "Mr Khan's political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as PM by Pak SC\nThe Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a July 25 general election, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.\nA survey by Pulse Consultant showed Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) ahead with 30 percent of the respondents nationwide, compared to 27 percent for its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was at 17 percent.\nA separate nationwide poll by Gallup Pakistan had PML-N on top with 26 percent, PTI with 25 percent and the PPP at 16 percent.\nBoth polls were commissioned by Pakistan's Jang Media Group and were published on Wednesday in its affiliated newspaper, The News. They each surveyed about 3,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent for the Pulse survey and 2-3 percent for Gallup.\nThe new polls indicate a swing towardsMr Khan's party compared to similar nationwide polls in 2017, which put the PML-N 8-9 percentage points ahead of PTI.\nThe Gallup poll showed most of the PML-N's losses were to voters who responded \"undecided\" in the most recent poll, conducted between May 1 and June 6, while the Pulse poll indicated that most of PML-N's losses went directly to PTI.\nMr Khan's political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year over undeclared assets.\nSharif, who was disqualified from politics for life, now faces a verdict in an anti-corruption court on Friday along with his daughter Maryam, who is running for parliament. The case, which involves the purchase of luxury apartments in London, could see Mr Sharif jailed and Maryam disqualified.\nMr Sharif's has accused the military and courts conspiring to oust him and using legal cases and intimidation to help Khan's PTI party, accusations denied by Khan, the army and the judiciary.\nMr Khan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, has portrayed the legal cases as a long-overdue corruption crackdown on the PML-N, which he has labeled a graft-ridden \"mafia\".\n© Thomson Reuters 2018", "July 25 general election +\nMilitary's shadow darkens media coverage of Pakistan elections The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, a think tank, said the electoral process appeared \"unfair\". Journalists believe they are \"facing restraints at the hands of a silent coup in place by the military and its intelligence affiliate, the ISI,\" it reported recently.\nWhat Imran Khan 'dreads' if he becomes Pakistan's Prime Minister If cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan wins elections this year to become Pakistan's Prime Minister, the one thing he \"dreads\" is having to meet US President Donald Trump, he told the Voice of America, a US government-funded media outlet.\nISLAMABAD: The Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.A survey by Pulse Consultant showed Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) ahead with 30 percent of the respondents nationwide, compared to 27 percent for its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was at 17 percent.A separate nationwide poll by Gallup Pakistan had PML-N on top with 26 percent, PTI with 25 percent and the PPP at 16 percent.Both polls were commissioned by Pakistan's Jang Media Group and were published on Wednesday in its affiliated newspaper, The News. They each surveyed about 3,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent for the Pulse survey and 2-3 percent for Gallup.The new polls indicate a swing towards Khan's party compared to similar nationwide polls in 2017, which put the PML-N 8-9 percentage points ahead of PTI.The Gallup poll showed most of the PML-N's losses were to voters who responded \"undecided\" in the most recent poll, conducted between May 1 and June 6, while the Pulse poll indicated that most of PML-N's losses went directly to PTI.Khan's political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year over undeclared assets.Sharif, who was disqualified from politics for life, now faces a verdict in an anti-corruption court on Friday along with his daughter Maryam, who is running for parliament. The case, which involves the purchase of luxury apartments in London, could see Sharif jailed and Maryam disqualified.Sharif's has accused the military and courts conspiring to oust him and using legal cases and intimidation to help Khan's PTI party, accusations denied by Khan, the army and the judiciary.Khan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, has portrayed the legal cases as a long-overdue corruption crackdown on the PML-N, which he has labeled a graft-ridden \"mafia\".", "Michael O'Neill will wait for the outcome of Saturday night’s World Cup qualifiers before deciding whether to protect some of his Northern Ireland squad from a playoff ban.\nO’Neill’s side head to Norway for their final Group C tie on Sunday evening with six players – captain Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Oliver Norwood, Josh Magennis, Jonny Evans and his brother Corry – on a yellow card.\nEven before the match kicks off in Oslo, Northern Ireland could be guaranteed a place in the playoffs as one of the eight best runners-up if Greece and Bosnia fail to win their group games on Saturday.\nMichael O'Neill will wait before deciding whether to protect some of his Northern Ireland team\nThe Norway clash could still be important in determining whether Northern Ireland are seeded, and avoid the more dangerous teams like Italy and Portugal.\nO’Neill confirmed that he will assess the situation over the weekend before making a decision about resting any players carrying yellow cards.\n‘We’re on a tightrope in terms of the bookings,’ he said after world champions Germany inflicted a second group defeat on Northern Ireland, winning 3-1 defeat in Belfast.\nO’Neill’s side go to Norway with six players - including captain Steven Davis - on yellow cards\n‘There were no bookings for either side and we’ll just have to evaluate the situation come Saturday night when everyone else has played. We’ll have to see what happens between now and when we play on Sunday.\n‘I don’t have four players from Bayern Munich on my bench, I’m sure you’ve noticed that. It’s not that easy to rotate my squad as it is for some other managers. We can’t allow ourselves to field an inexperienced team and be beaten, and then suddenly lose out on goal difference.\n‘There is a real importance to the result in Norway because obviously we want to go there and try and get three points, and we certainly want to make sure we’re not beaten. If we can get to 20 points it would be fantastic. If we can get to 22 points, even better.\nNorthern Ireland could be guaranteed a place in the playoffs if Greece and Bosnia fail to win\n‘We are second and that won’t change, whatever happens on Sunday. The playoff game will take care of itself regardless of what happens in Norway, providing we’re in it.\n‘Ultimately, whatever happens in the playoff, it’s a home and away tie. It’s a different scenario from qualification. If the result goes against us, I don’t think we would go into the playoff with any less confidence.\n'Our confidence comes from the qualification campaign we’ve had more than anything else. Equally, it would be nice to go through this campaign and say Germany are the only team that has been able to beat us.’", "The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is not quite over, the company leading the mission has said, despite the Malaysian government stating on Monday that it had ended.\nOcean Infinity said it was heading to one last spot of interest before it turned back for good.\nThe Guardian has learned that the seafront exploration company’s Seabed Constructor vessel will sail to the spot in the southern Indian Ocean where a Chinese patrol ship detected an ultrasonic pulse – which could have been consistent with that from a black box – in 2014.\nAnalysis of the movements of the Seabed Constructor estimated that it was still monitoring or recovering its submarine detection vessels early on Thursday morning local time.\nA spokesperson for Ocean Infinity confirmed the company was aware of the reports of the possible black box signal four years ago, and it was heading to the area to check it out for themselves “before we head to port and bring this search to a close”.\nThe Malaysian government at the beginning of the week said its search agreement with Ocean Infinity had ended and would not be extended.\nSpeaking on Monday, the transport minister, Anthony Loke, said the US-based company had requested an extension to conclude its undersea search for the missing plane.\nOcean Infinity’s arrangement with the Malaysian government was made on a “no-find, no-fee” basis, where the company would receive about US$70 million if it found the aircraft wreckage, and no payment if it found nothing.\nAfter five months of extensive searching, Ocean Infinity admitted defeat on Tuesday and its chief executive, Oliver Plunkett, said it was with “a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim”.\nHowever, it appears that in a last-ditch effort, the Seabed Constructor will continue for at least two more days to survey a spot 25 degrees south and 101 degrees east within the original 84,000-sq-mile search zone.\nThe pulse detected by the Chinese ship had a frequency of 37.5kHz, the same as is emitted by flight recorders, and it was seen as one of the few hopeful moments in the first few weeks of the search for the Boeing 777, which went missing in the early hours of March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.\nFamilies call for renewed search for MH370 as second effort to locate missing Malaysia Airlines jet in Indian Ocean ends\nChinese planes had also reportedly detected debris in the area but no wreckage has subsequently been found, despite an international hunt the past four years.\nSpeaking on Wednesday, Loke said the search for the MH370 had cost 500m ringgit (US$126 million) and Ocean Infinity would be releasing a full report on its findings by July.\n“We remain ever hopeful that we will be able to find the answers we seek and new information will come to light and that at some point in the future the aircraft will be located. We remain steadfast in our unwavering commitments to solving the mystery of MH370.”", "By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity\nThe Defense Department must restructure to unlock capability and capacity, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan told senior defense leaders in the Pentagon this week.\nIn an all-hands meeting Jan. 31 with general officers, admirals and members of the Senior Executive Service, Shanahan said the department faces myriad of complex, evolving challenges, especially from “great power” regimes that seek to insert “themselves, whether it is economically or militarily” into U.S. interests.\nIt is imperative, he said, that DoD move to work against those threats. The recently unveiled National Defense Strategy is about growing U.S. capability and capacity against these evolving security challenges, Shanahan said.\nThe deputy secretary highlighted three focus areas of change in the strategy: finding ways to move resources more quickly in the Joint Staff; supporting the services with better modernization plans; and generating more capability, to include autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence.\nOver the next six months, the department will put into work the priorities and start undertaking the change, he added.\nBudget Uncertainty Poses Risk to DoD\nIn briefing the group on the National Defense Strategy, Shanahan said that the biggest risk was dealing with security challenges in the face of budget uncertainty. But he praised Pentagon leaders for responding to an unprecedented number of natural disasters in the past year, undertaking leadership transition, implementing a new South Asia strategy, and defeating ISIS, all while operating under a congressional budget cap.\n“You would think in the midst of all this, resources would be pouring in,” the deputy secretary said, pointing to budget uncertainties that include years of continuing resolutions. He said he remains optimistic that the department will receive adequate funding.\nNew threats from cyber and unmanned aerial vehicles are emerging, he said. Despite the challenges, the defense machine keeps going, and the department is “on track to get resourced properly,” Shanahan said.\nGetting a Pulse, Shaping the Future\nThe aim of the all-hands meeting was to start a dialogue and get a pulse on what is happening in the Pentagon, the deputy secretary told standing-room-only crowd in the Pentagon auditorium.\n“The perfect outcome of this meeting is that we get better as leaders, because we are the ones who are really going to shape the place today and in the future,” he said.\nThe Pentagon has a world-class workforce, Shanahan said, adding that the “amount of work that people can do in this complex environment is remarkable.\"\nHe described his post as deputy to Defense Secretary James N. Mattis as the best job he has ever had.\n“I think about why it's the best job I've ever had, and it's really the people,\" the deputy secretary said, noting remarkable inclusiveness and cohesion among the staff.\nShanahan noted that the audience at the State of the Union “erupted” at the mention of Mattis’s name.\n“He represents this body here. It's a remarkable team,” he said.\n(Follow Lisa Ferdinando on Twitter: @FerdinandoDoD)", "It’s a system we’ve been tracking for the last several days. The latest update shows a northward shift in the storm’s path. This means that we will see more snow than in the previous forecast. Here are the latest details:\nTIMING\nWe are expecting scattered snow showers starting after lunch on Tuesday into the afternoon. The snow will push up from the south and then overtake the area Tuesday night. This will not likely be a constant snow for most of us.\nThe northern edge of the system will pulse northward and clip our area. This will create an on-and-off effect with the snow.\nAMOUNTS\nAt the moment, we are seeing anywhere from a dusting to over six inches of snow. The highest amounts will be in the southern portion of our viewing area. Here is the layout of what we expect for snow totals:\nColumbiana County: 4 to 6 inches of snow. Isolated spots could see higher amounts.\nSouth of Route 224: This area could see 2 to 4 inches of snow. Again, there could be higher amounts as you head into Columbiana County.\nBetween I-80 and Route 224: This area could see anywhere from an inch to 3 inches of snow.\nNorth of 1-80: This area will likely see the lowest amounts. Anywhere from a dusting to around 2 inches snow.\nTHESE SNOW TOTALS WILL CHANGE! (I highlight and caps that because it’s important!)\nModels will come into more agreement later tonight and into tomorrow morning, so we WILL change the snowfall totals several times over the next 18 hours.\nWe will continue to monitor this event and will keep you posted on further changes.\nWKBN is your source for the Valley’s latest weather information. Download our app for Apple and Android devices and sign up for weather text alerts.", "Alireza Marandi, left, and Marc Jankowski prepare to carry out experiments at the optical bench. Credit: L.A. Cicero Although critical for varied applications, such as cutting and welding, surgery and transmitting bits through optical fiber, lasers have some limitations – namely, they only produce light in limited wavelength ranges. Now, researchers from the Ginzton Lab at Stanford University have modified similar light sources, called optical parametric oscillators, to overcome this obstacle.\nUntil now, these lesser-known light sources have been mostly confined to the lab because their setup leaves little room for error – even a minor jostle could knock one out of alignment. However, following a counterintuitive decision, the researchers may have found a solution to this weakness that could lead to smaller, lower-cost and more efficient sources of light pulses.\nTheir work, published Feb. 1 in Physical Review Letters, demonstrates a new way to produce femtosecond pulses – pulses measured by quadrillionths of a second – in desirable wavelength ranges using this light source. The technology could potentially lead to better detection of pollutants and diseases by merely scanning the air or someone's breath.\nA counterintuitive innovation\nThe light source these researchers study consists of an initial step where pulses of light from a traditional laser are passed through a special crystal and converted into a wavelength range that's difficult to access with conventional lasers. Then, a series of mirrors bounce the light pulses around in a feedback loop. When this feedback loop is synchronized to the incoming laser pulses, the newly converted pulses combine to form an increasingly strong output.\nTraditionally, people could not convert much of the initial light pulses into the desired output with such a contraption. But to be effective in real-world applications, the group had to bump up that percentage.\n\"We needed higher conversion efficiency to prove it was a source worth studying,\" said Alireza Marandi, a staff member in the Ginzton Lab. \"So we just said, 'OK, what are the knobs we have in the lab?' We turned one that made the mirrors reflect less light, which was against the standard guidelines, and the conversion efficiency doubled.\" The researchers published their initial experimental results two years ago in Optica.\nCranking up the power in a conventional design usually results in two undesirable outcomes: The pulses lengthen and the conversion efficiency drops. But in the new design, where the researchers significantly decreased the reflectivity of their mirrors, the opposite occurred.\n\"We were thinking about this regime based on the standard design guidelines, but the behavior we would see in the lab was different,\" said Marc Jankowski, lead author of the paper and a graduate student in the Ginzton Lab. \"We were seeing an improvement in performance, and we couldn't explain it.\"\nAfter more simulations and lab experiments, the group found that the key was not just making the mirrors less reflective but also lengthening the feedback loop. This lengthened the time it took for the light pulses to complete their loop and should have slowed them too much. But the lower reflectivity, combined with the time delay, caused the pulses to interact in unexpected ways, which pulled them back into synchronization with their incoming partners.\nThis unanticipated synchronization more than doubled the bandwidth of the output, which means it can emit a broader span of wavelengths within the range that is difficult to access with conventional lasers. For applications like detecting molecules in the air or in a person's breath, light sources with greater bandwidth can resolve more distinct molecules. In principle, the pulses this system produces could be compressed to as short as 18 femtoseconds, which can be used to study the behavior of molecules.\nThe decision to reduce the mirror reflectivity had the surprising consequence of making a formerly persnickety device more robust, more efficient and better at producing ultra-short light pulses in wavelength ranges that are difficult to access with traditional lasers.\nGetting out of the lab\nThe next challenge is designing the device to fit in the palm of a hand.\n\"You talk with people who have worked with this technology for the past 50 years and they are very skeptical about its real-life applications because they think of these resonators as a very high-finesse arrangement that is hard to align and requires a lot of upkeep,\" said Marandi, who is also co-author of the paper. \"But in this regime of operation these requirements are super-relaxed, and the source is super-reliable and doesn't need the extensive care required by standard systems.\"\nThis newfound design flexibility makes it easier to miniaturize such systems onto a chip, which could lead to many new applications for detecting molecules and remote sensing.\n\"Sometimes you completely reshape your understanding of systems you think you know,\" Jankowski said. \"That changes how you interact with them, how you build them, how you design them and how useful they are. We've worked on these sources for years and now we've gotten some clues that will really help bring them out of the lab and into the world.\"\nExplore further: Highly efficient, high-power short-pulse lasers based on Tm3+ doped materials\nMore information: Marc Jankowski et al. Temporal Simultons in Optical Parametric Oscillators, Physical Review Letters (2018). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.053904", "Aggie tennis hosts Aggie Invitational, looks ahead to Northwest Regionals\nThe Aggie Invitational took place the weekend of Sept. 29, 2017 and had the UC Davis men’s tennis team hard at work. During a midday practice prior to the tournament at the Marya Welch Tennis Center, head coach Eric Steidlmayer was heard reminding his players to stay aggressive and complimenting them on their serves.\nThe Aggie Invitational, the first competition of the season for UC Davis men’s tennis, hosts 72 players from 10 universities. All Northern California Division I teams, Gonzaga University, Portland University and the University of Nevada, Reno will be represented.\n“It’s a great event to jump start our season,” Steidlmayer said. “It’s just going to be great tennis all weekend.”\nWith five new players on the roster, as well as a new assistant coach, Nathan Robinson, this is the first opportunity for the Aggies to compete as a new team. Senior Tommy Lam, who played both singles and doubles in the tournament, is looking forward to his last season on the team.\n“I’m feeling excited,” Lam said. “This is my last season and I want to do my best in it. My goal right now is to just try to stay healthy. I can’t really hit my two-handed backhand, which is one of my best shots, so I’m just trying to recover from [my wrist injury].”\nOn day one of the tournament, senior Everett Maltby and sophomore Mitchell Iwahiro won their first singles tournaments, with Maltby advancing to the Flight “A” round of 16 singles and Iwahiro the Flight “B” round of 16 singles. Doubles team sophomore transfer Jonathan Star and freshman Ivan Thamma qualified for the Flight “A” semifinals after defeating both Sacramento State and St. Mary’s University. Despite a loss to Portland University, doubles duo Maltby and sophomore David Goulak came back with an 8-2 win against Gonzaga University, advancing to the semifinals.\nSaturday saw the Aggies kick it into gear, with Maltby qualifying for the Flight “A” main draw semifinals after winning his matches against Nevada and Santa Clara. Goulak, Thamma and Star all won their matches in the first round of singles consolation play. Despite his injury, Lam and freshman Arjith Jayaraman were victorious in their singles matches against Saint Mary’s. Doubles team Goulak and Maltby continued to sweep the competition with a win against Santa Clara in the consolation draw. Duo Star and Thamma fell to Nevada in the main draw.\nFor Flight “B,” Iwahiro won his match against Gonzaga, but fell short in his quarterfinal match against Cal. In the first round of singles consolation play, Jayaraman, freshman Chethan Swanson and freshman Dariush Jalali all won their respective matches. Swanson also won his quarterfinals match against St. Mary’s. In the doubles consolations matches, the Aggies were victorious, with Iwahiro and Jayaraman winning their match against Santa Clara and duo Lam and Swanson defeating Stanford.\nOn the third and final day of the Aggie Invitational, Aggies Lam, Goulak, Thamma, Swanson, Jayaraman and Jalali earned victories in their consolation play matches. Maltby fell to Cal’s freshman Paul Barreto in the singles Flight “A” semifinals.\nFollowing the Aggie Invitational, the Aggies will travel to Pacific University for the ITA Northwest Regional Championships at the end of October. The competition will include Top-20 teams.\n“Every tournament in the fall is something to learn from,” Steidlmayer said. “I expect our guys to compete at their best and then review, whether they win or lose, figure out how to get better.”\nWritten by: Liz Jacobson — sports@theaggie.org", "ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani opposition party led by former cricket star Imran Khan appears to be gaining ground ahead of a July 25 general election, with one new poll showing it pulling ahead of the outgoing ruling party and another showing it only slightly behind.\nImran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), gestures while addressing his supporters during a campaign meeting ahead of general elections in Karachi, Pakistan, July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro\nA survey by Pulse Consultant showed Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, or Pakistan Justice Movement) ahead with 30 percent of the respondents nationwide, compared to 27 percent for its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was at 17 percent.\nA separate nationwide poll by Gallup Pakistan had PML-N on top with 26 percent, PTI with 25 percent and the PPP at 16 percent.\nBoth polls were commissioned by Pakistan’s Jang Media Group and were published on Wednesday in its affiliated newspaper, The News. They each surveyed about 3,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6 percent for the Pulse survey and 2-3 percent for Gallup.\nImran Khan (2nd R), chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party, gestures to clear the way among supporters during a campaign meeting ahead of general elections in Karachi, Pakistan, July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro\nThe new polls indicate a swing towards Khan’s party compared to similar nationwide polls in 2017, which put the PML-N 8-9 percentage points ahead of PTI.\nThe Gallup poll showed most of the PML-N’s losses were to voters who responded “undecided” in the most recent poll, conducted between May 1 and June 6, while the Pulse poll indicated that most of PML-N’s losses went directly to PTI.\nKhan’s political fortunes have improved since PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year over undeclared assets.\nSharif, who was disqualified from politics for life, now faces a verdict in an anti-corruption court on Friday along with his daughter Maryam, who is running for parliament. The case, which involves the purchase of luxury apartments in London, could see Sharif jailed and Maryam disqualified.\nSharif’s has accused the military and courts conspiring to oust him and using legal cases and intimidation to help Khan’s PTI party, accusations denied by Khan, the army and the judiciary.\nSlideshow (2 Images)\nKhan, a former cricket captain of Pakistan, has portrayed the legal cases as a long-overdue corruption crackdown on the PML-N, which he has labeled a graft-ridden “mafia”.", "Share this article with Google Plus\nNorthern Ireland need a point in Norway to secure a play-off spot (Picture: AMA/Getty Images)\nNorthern Ireland will be hoping to come back from a 3-1 home defeat by Germany as they head to Norway for their final World Cup qualification clash on Sunday.\nNorthern Ireland have already secured second place but a positive result on Sunday could ensure they enter the play-offs as one of the eight best runners-up from the nine UEFA groups.\nBayern Munich confirm Jupp Heynckes appointment until the end of the season\nThe runners-up with the fewest points will not make it through to the stage; Northern Ireland require one point to progress.\nGermany are the only team they have conceded a goal against this qualifying campaign – so Michael O’Neill will be fancying his side’s chances.\nNorthern Ireland prevailed 2-0 in reverse fixture in March.\n🎥 @Josh_Magennis on his 'special moment' tonight against the World Champions! 👊🏽 Now he's off to enjoy a bun with his Mum and Nan…💚 #GAWA pic.twitter.com/pNp7HrIgVP — Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) October 5, 2017\nWhen is Norway vs Northern Ireland?\nNorthern Ireland take on Norway on Sunday 8 October.\nThe match kicks off at 7.45pm.\nThe game will be played at the Ullevaal Stadion.\nWhat TV channel is Norway vs Northern Ireland on?\nSky Sports Football will be showing the game live, with coverage starting at 7.30pm.\nWhat are the odds for Norway vs Northern Ireland? (Courtesy of Betfair)\nNorway – 7/5\nDraw – 11/5\nNorthern Ireland – 21/10\nWhat is the Northern Ireland squad? Northern Ireland Michael McGovern, Alan Mannus, Roy Carroll Conor McLaughlin, Tom Flanagan, Jonny Evans, Lee Hodson, Ryan McLaughlin, Aaron Hughes, Daniel Lafferty Shane Ferguson, Steven Davis, Chris Brunt, Corry Evans, Stuart Dallas, Paul Paton, Oliver Norwood, Josh Magennis, Matthew Lund Niall McGinn, Conor Washington, Kyle Lafferty, Seamus McCartan\nWhat is the Norway squad? Rune Jarstein\nØrjan Nyland\nSten Grytebust Birger Meling\nJørgen Skjelvik\nTore Reginiussen\nGustav Valsvik\nOmar Elabdellaoui\nJonas Svensson\nMartin Linnes Håvard Nordtveit\nStefan Johansen\nMohamed Elyounoussi\nSigurd Rosted\nSander Berge\nOle Selnæs\nMarkus Henriksen\nPål André Helland Joshua King\nAlexander Søderlund\nTarik Elyounoussi\nAlexander Sørloth\nJo Inge Berget\nMORE: Bayern Munich confirm Jupp Heynckes appointment until the end of the season\nMORE: England vs Brazil tickets on general sale next week – when and where to get them", "• Six players one booking from one-match suspension in World Cup qualifiers • ‘We will evaluate situation when everyone else has played,’ manager says\nMichael O’Neill will risk having key players banned for a World Cup play-off should Northern Ireland need a result in Norway to seal their place.\nO’Neill’s team are well positioned to secure one of eight play-off berths having finished second in Group C behind the world champions Germany, who ended Northern Ireland’s four-year unbeaten home run in competitive matches on Thursday. Northern Ireland finish their group campaign in Oslo on Sunday and will kick off with a play-off place confirmed should Bosnia and Herzegovina fail to beat Belgium and Cyprus avoid defeat by Greece on Saturday.\nShould results go against Northern Ireland, however, they will need a positive result in Norway to be certain of reaching the play-offs next month and to increase their prospects of being seeded in the draw. They have six players one booking from a one-match suspension. The captain, Steven Davis, and the influential defender Jonny Evans are among the half-dozen who could miss the play-off first leg by collecting a yellow card in Oslo. But with the margins for qualification so fine and resources limited, O’Neill admits he cannot jeopardise Northern Ireland’s chances in Norway.\nGermany book their Russia 2018 ticket as Northern Ireland fall flat Read more\n“We’ll have to see what happens between now and when we play on Sunday,” the Northern Ireland manager said. “You look at the permutations in terms of the teams finishing second. There is no guarantee that 13 points will be enough. I don’t have four players from Bayern Munich on my bench, I’m sure you’ve noticed that, so it’s not that easy to rotate my squad as it is for some other managers.\n“There is a real importance to the fact that we make sure of the result in Norway because obviously we want to try and get three points, and we certainly want to make sure we’re not beaten. Equally, we can’t allow ourselves to field an inexperienced team and be beaten and then suddenly lose out on goal difference.\n“We’re on a tightrope in terms of the bookings. I thought the players were excellent against Germany and the referee was very good. Both sets of players showed an enormous respect for each other on the pitch, which makes the referee’s job a lot easier. No bookings for either side and we’ll just have to evaluate the situation come Saturday night when everyone else has played.”", "share tweet pin email\nTwenty-two years after your show goes off the air, what's it like to pick up with your fellow castmates at a television festival in Austin, Texas?\nFor several members of the cast of \"Northern Exposure,\" it's like no time has passed at all!\nClosed Captioning ON OFF apply | reset x Text Display\nBackground\nEnhancements font\nTimes New Roman Arial Comic Sans\nT T T T size\ncolor share link Reunited 'Northern Exposure' stars look back fondly at their quirky show Play Video - 4:54 Reunited 'Northern Exposure' stars look back fondly at their quirky show Play Video - 4:54\nTODAY's Jenna Bush Hager met up with a few of the guys and gals who populated the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska (actually Roslyn, Washington in the Cascade Mountains) while they were at the ATX Television Festival and revisited the story of a recently-graduated New York doctor (Rob Morrow) unwillingly obligated to practice in the hinterlands thanks to a clause in one of his student loans.\nEverett Collection The cast of \"Northern Exposure\" in the show's 3rd season.\n\"It's a classic fish-out-of-water story,\" said co-creator Joshua Brand (who now writes and produces on FX's \"The Americans\"). \"A fish out of water, it flops around.\"\nMorrow did a lot of flopping around as Dr. Joel Fleischman, but fortunately he had the beautiful, down-to-earth Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), a debutante turned pilot, as a love interest. As Turner remembers, their remote location helped the show's \"family\" atmosphere jell quickly.\nTODAY The stars of \"Northern Exposure\" Janine Turner (top left), Rob Morrow (top right), and Cynthia Geary (bottom right), reunited, along with the show's creator Joshua Brand.\n\"We were away from Los Angeles,\" she recalled. \"We were sheltered from Hollywood. And I think that gave us sort of a bond and a naiveté.\"\nGetty Images Morrow found his footing as Dr. Joel Fleischman with help from Turner as Maggie O'Connell.\n\"Exposure\" wasn't expected to be such a hit when it first aired in 1990 as a midseason replacement, but ultimately the show (which also launched future \"Sex and the City\" and \"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\" star John Corbett) lasted until 1995. And in 2004, it made a list of 10 greatest summer shows of all time.\nSo will there be a reunion, or reboot of the show? Nothing's official, but Jenna Bush Hager did reveal that the cast hinted to her that something is in the works!\nWell, we can't wait to put on our parkas and tune in for that!\nFollow Randee Dawn on Twitter.", "Editor's note: This is the 11th of 12 month-by-month recaps of Sarnia-Lambton's major local sports stories in 2016.\nVince Flamia figured his squad would have to play a perfect game in order to claim the Yates Cup in mid-November.\nInstead of perfect, they pulled off historic. The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks – Flamia was a defensive backs and special teams assistant coach – pulled off perhaps the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in the Cup's 109 years and upset the heavily-favoured Western Mustangs 43-40.\n“I don't think I've ever been a part of something like that,” Flamia, a 30-year-old Sarnia native, said to The Observer. “There's no right words for how the whole game went, it was great football.”\nThe Hawks executed four third-down conversions, recovered a crucial fumble and scored 24 straight points in the final eight minutes Nov. 12 at TD Stadium in London to secure the Waterloo school's first Ontario University Athletics football championship in 11 years. Mitchell Smiley, a 20-year-old Sarnia native, played for Western that season.\nOver at Norm Perry Park, the Northern Vikings and St. Patrick's Fighting Irish needed overtime to decide the Lambton Kent senior boy's high school football championship where quarterback Nick Iacobelli's six-yard touchdown scamper was the difference in a 14-7 St. Pat's victory Nov. 19. The Irish hosted the SWOSSAA final Nov. 23 where they lost 42-7 to Windsor's Herman Green Griffins.\nOn the basketball court, the Vikings were eliminated from the OFSAA girl's basketball AAA championship after a 49-43 loss to the No. 1 St. Mary Crusaders. Northern – the SWOSSAA champions went 1-2 at OFSAA – defeated Bolton's Humberview Huskies 52-50 earlier that day to earn a spot in the quarters. The school's junior girl's team also won a SWOSSAA title after slamming the St. Anne Saints 50-15 in Nov. 16's regional final.\nOver at Great Lakes, the newly amalgamated Sarnia high school won its first team championship as the junior boy's volleyball squad claimed the Lambton Kent AAA title with a thrilling five-set final over the Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks Nov. 11.\nIn off-field news, the Alvinston Indians minor ball association announced it was ditching the Indians nickname and logo in favour of a new version, while Lydia Hicks was named the Russell Division community service award winner as OUA announced its 2016 women's rugby awards and all-stars. Hicks, a Sarnia native who played for the McMaster Marauders, volunteered for several causes as an executive member and team representative of McMaster Athletes Care.\nOn the court, Madisyn Campbell of the Lambton Lions women's basketball team was named the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association player of the week Nov. 1 for her performance in two games against the Cambrian Golden Shield in Sudbury the previous weekend. Campbell, a nursing student, poured in 21 points and added seven rebounds in Saturday’s season opener, then added 14 points in Sunday’s contest while leading the Lions to a pair of victories.\nIn the Ontario Hockey League, Kevin Spinozzi was named Sarnia Sting captain Nov. 16, while teammates Nikita Korostelev and Jordan Kyrou were both picked to play in the 2016 CIBC Canada Russia Series. Former Sting defenceman Anthony DeAngelo scored a goal in his NHL debut as the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Colorado Avalanche Nov. 8, and ex-Sting captain Matt Martin netted his first goal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-4 shootout loss to former Sarnia skaters Pavel Zacha and Reid Boucher and the New Jersey Devils Nov. 23.\nAlso in pro hockey, Michael Leighton set more American Hockey League shutout records that month. The former Sarnia and Petrolia resident earned a league-best 48th career white wash as the Charlotte Checkers beat one of his former clubs, the Rockford IceHogs, 4-0. Leighton also set a new Checkers' shutout mark of 175:05.\nMeanwhile, Hockey Canada announced in November it was bringing its national women's team to Sarnia the following month for a series of practices and an exhibition game against its American counterpart.\nBack to basketball, Abby Whiteye signed a national letter of intent to play for the Eckerd Tritons, an NCAA Division II women's basketball team in St. Petersburg, Fla. The 16-year-old Petrolia resident, a Grade 12 student at Northern, penned the document Nov. 10.\nIn the boxing ring, local fighters Nolan Evans, Ashton Lavallee, Brecken Lavallee and Justine Honsinger competed at Golden Gloves, Boxing Ontario's provincial championships in Toronto Nov. 10-13.\nFinally, Emily Moore qualified to compete at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair's horse show in Toronto. Moore, 13, from Courtright competed at the fair for the first time, riding twice Nov. 4 and again Nov. 5 in the small pony hunter division.\ntbridge@postmedia.com\n@ObserverTerry", "GEOLOGISTS have unearthed evidence of rare minerals in western Queensland that could be used to develop cutting edge technologies worth \"trillions of dollars”.\nExperts from the Department of Natural Resources and Mines' and the University of Queensland found the evidence of platinum and gold as well as rare earth elements used in technologies from hybrid vehicle batteries to super-conducting magnets.\nNatural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham said the discovery could open up \"a whole new frontier for Queensland”.\n\"Beyond the potential economic boost for Queensland, the discovery brings a new understanding of mineral potential in a previously under-explored area,” he said.\nThe discovery, loosely being referred to as the Diamantina Minerals Province, covers an area from the copper, gold and platinum-rich Fifield in central New South Wales, through Queensland's north-west country and up to the Merlin diamond mine in the Northern Territory, where one of Australia's largest diamonds was discovered.\nUniversity of Queensland's emeritus professor Ken Collerson and the geologists found the potential resource when they discovered rare geological pipe structures in a remote area of western Queensland, south-west of Mount Isa and near the Northern Territory border.\nThe rare pipes originate from deep within the earth, when pulses of mineral-rich material are forced to the earth's crust.\nThese pipes have previously been found only in South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Finland, but the Queensland ones could be up to six kilometres in diameter.\nMinerals likely to be in the pipes include scandium, cobalt, nickel, copper, light and heavy rare earth elements, yttrium, niobium, hafnium, zirconium, tantalum, phosphorus, silver, gold and platinum group elements, as well as potential for diamonds.\nThe rare earth elements are a group of chemical elements that exhibit a range of unique properties which are used in many modern and environmental technologies.\nPredictions of rare earth elements demand and supply outside China show that several elements are likely to be in critically short supply in the next 10-15 years.\nGlobal rare earth element production is estimated at 112,500 tonnes, with an economic value of $4-6billion.\nHowever, technologies that rely on these elements are worth many trillions of dollars.\n\"The type of minerals found in the geological pipes are in high demand around the world, particularly in the development of cutting edge technology,” Dr Lynham said.\n\"Advanced technologies such as fuel cells (scandium), mobile phones (tantalum), super-conducting magnets (niobium) and hybrid vehicle batteries (cobalt) all rely on access to the minerals we believe are here.\n\"An opportunity exists for the right type of company to maximise this detailed geological information and take it to the next step commercially.”", "Getty\nTurkish media reported on Tuesday three Saudi Arabian military advisers flew to Kobani, a northern town in Syria, to meet their counter representatives of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The US-supported militia is mainly comprised of the Kurdish YPG but it also includes Arab fighters. It emerged the Saudi advisers held the meeting with the hope of creating a new union of Arab groups able to permanently defeat ISIS. The turkish report claimed Saudi Arabian authorities put up checkpoints in the northern Syrian towns of Al-Asakah and Al-Qamishli seeking to recruit Arab Fighters.\nAccording to the report all the new recruits would be paid $200 upon joining. The Wall Street Journal revealed last month President Donald Trump wanted to gather troops from Arab nations in order to boost the US-supported militia in Syria. Saudi Arabian foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom was \"in discussions with the US and have been since the beginning of the Syrian crisis about sending forces into Syria.\" Saudi Arabia is not known for deploying forces in the war-torn country. However, it joined Western nations and Turkey in supporting efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2011.\nPalmyra after ISIS Tue, August 22, 2017 Islamic State fighters in Syria have reportedly blown up the ancient ruins of Palmyra, an ancient World Heritage home to renowned Roman-era ruins. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 51 A picture of the Arc du Triomphe before and after it was destroyed\nAn investigation into the origins of ISIS’ weaponry in Syria and Iraq has found weapons supplied by the US and Saudi Arabia to the Syrian opposition in 2011 often ended up in the jihadis’ hands. In 2014, the US announced it was forming a coalition of nations to defeat the nascent extremist group that had taken over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. It withdrew assistance to Syrian opposition groups and started supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces in 2015. Syrian opposition groups, which are backed by Saudi Arabia, have suffered a number of defeats by the Syrian military which is supported by Russia and Iran.\nOther rebel groups have aligned with Turkey, which is also opposed to President Assad but has instead prioritised fighting against Kurdish groups such as the YPG. Turkey considers them terrorist organisations, but the US support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces has aggravated the relationship between Ankara and Washington. Saudi Arabia’s move to bolster the Syrian Democratic Forces could then further strain its ties with Turkey, which have already been tested by Ankara’s decision to work with Iran and Qatar.\nGetty\nGetty", "Matthew Rhys and Jamie Dornan are set to star in the BBC’s “Death and Nightingales,” a three-part historical drama set in 19th-century Northern Ireland.\nThe show marks a reunion for Dornan with writer-director Allan Cubitt, who he previously worked with on crime drama “The Fall” between 2013-2016. It will be the first time “The Americans” star Rhys has worked with Cubitt.\nAnn Skelly also stars in the show, which is produced by Imaginarium Productions and Soho Moon for BBC Two. It is adapted by Cubitt from a novel by Eugene McCabe.\nSet in Northern Ireland in 1885, “Death and Nightingales” is a story of love, betrayal, deception and revenge that follows a young woman’s struggles to control her own destiny. The action takes place over a 24-hour period during which Skelly’s character, Beth Winters, decides on her 25th birthday to escape her limited life and difficult relationship with her landowner stepfather (Rhys), with the aid of the charming Liam Ward (Dornan).\n“We are thrilled to combine the wonderful talents of Matthew Rhys and Jamie Dornan with the remarkable new star-in-the-making Ann Skelly,” producer Jonathan Cavendish said.\nRelated John Malkovich to Play Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's 'The ABC Murders' Richard Gere to Return to TV After Nearly 30 Years, in BBC Drama ‘MotherFatherSon’\nRhys, who is Welsh, last appeared on the BBC in the 2013 miniseries “Death Comes to Pemberley” and in an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” the year before that. The sixth and final season of critically acclaimed “The Americans” is currently airing on FX in the U.S. and ITV3 in the U.K.\nDornan will next be seen on the big screen as Will Scarlet in Otto Bathurst’s “Robin Hood,” which is set for release this fall. Skelly recently appeared in a supporting role in the BBC and PBS’ adaptation of “Little Women.”\n“Death and Nightingales” was commissioned for the BBC by Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two, and Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama. James Mitchell and Tommy Bulfin serve as executive producers for Soho Moon and BBC Two, respectively. Cavendish produces for Imaginarium Productions. The production is supported by Northern Ireland Screen.\nRed Arrow Studios International is handling worldwide distribution on the show, which is scheduled to begin shooting this summer on location in Northern Ireland." ]

[ "As Francis Scott Key High School students streamed into their cafeteria for the second lunch mod of the day, they initially bypassed the table filled with squares of flat bread pizza, eyeing the roasted vegetable toppings with suspicion.\nIt only took one student coming up to check it out before dozens rose like a tide to the claim the offering of “free pizza.”\n“Kids have a reputation for not liking veggies, so something healthy might be a turn off to them, but it hasn’t been,” said Laura Lienhard, diabetes educator at Carroll Hospital. “I am really pleased with the participation.”\n“This is nice,” noted sophomore Ethan Seiler, after grabbing a fourth, or maybe fifth slice. “The pizza’s good.”\nLienhard had come to Key as part of an outreach campaign of Carroll Hospital and The Partnership for a Healthier Carroll County in honor of March being National Nutrition Month.\n“We wanted to do something to encourage healthy eating,” said Barbara Walsh, community nutrition educator at Carroll Hospital. “That’s really the whole point of National Nutrition Month.”\nAnd the whole point of being a community nutrition educator, Walsh said, is to get out in the community and communicate the essentials of healthy eating.\n“One of the groups in the community we really wanted to reach out to with this campaign are younger people, adolescents, high schoolers,” she said. “Because that’s the age where kids start becoming more independent and making decisions for themselves. One of these decisions is what they eat and drink.”\nWorking with the food supervisors at Carroll County Public Schools, Walsh and others from the hospital and The Partnership came up with a recipe for flatbread pizza topped with roasted broccoli, red bell peppers, onions and cauliflower.\n“Only about 12 percent of Americans eat the recommended minimum of five fruits and vegetables,” Walsh said. “It’s a huge issue and we really wanted to show kids that you can very quickly and simply make a really healthy food item and incorporate vegetables into your meal.”\n“I might try it actually,” said sophomore Wyatte Johns, after trying his first piece of the pizza. “I actually enjoy cooking stuff, making eggs in the morning, stuff like that. I might enjoy making this.”\nFSK senior Noah Heffner spent time talking nutrition with Caitlin Cross of The Partnership, and taking a short quiz. He was well equipped, as a self-described “fitness connoisseur,” to correctly answer the question of which was a carbohydrate, eggs or a biscuit (It’s not the eggs).\n“I was an up-and-coming body builder but I hurt my shoulder eight months ago. I’m in the process of fixing myself,” Heffner said.\nWas he into the pizza?\n“Oh yes, 100 percent.”\nSeiler said he wasn’t sure if he was particularly moved by the vegetable content of the pizza, or if he would try to cook it on his own.\n“It obviously has smoked vegetables on it, but I mean, pizza is pizza,” he said. “It tastes the same either way.”\nHe grabbed another slice.\nRoasted Vegetable Flatbread Pizza Recipe\nIngredients:\n8 store bought Flatbreads 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 1 cup Prepared Pizza Sauce Olive Oil — 1TB 1/2 cup Shredded Carrots 1/2 cup Red and Green Pepper Strips 1/2 cup sliced yellow onion 1/2 cup Broccoli Florets 1/2 cup Cauliflower Florets Oregano,Basil and Black Pepper to taste\nDirections:\nVegetables\nPreheat oven to 375F. Toss Vegetables with oil and spices. Spread in a single layer on a baking pan. Roast for 10-15 minutes until caramelized. Cool.\nPizza\nPlace 2 TB of pizza sauce on flatbread. Top with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Top with 1/2 cup of the roasted vegetable mix. Place in oven until cheese is melted, approximately 5-10 minutes.\nMakes eight servings\nCAPTION Girl Scout Troop 1310 earns their Bronze Award teaching community about container gardening Girl Scout Troop 1310 earns their Bronze Award teaching community about container gardening CAPTION Girl Scout Troop 1310 earns their Bronze Award teaching community about container gardening Girl Scout Troop 1310 earns their Bronze Award teaching community about container gardening CAPTION Knorr Brake partners with Taneytown Elementary School for STEM night Knorr Brake partners with Taneytown Elementary School for STEM night CAPTION Students, educators participate in dance off during Jostens Renaissance Tour Students, educators participate in dance off during Jostens Renaissance Tour CAPTION Westminster East Middle School 6th graders created handcrafted bowls for The Shepherd's Staff Empty Bowls fundraiser Westminster East Middle School 6th graders created handcrafted bowls for The Shepherd's Staff Empty Bowls fundraiser CAPTION Tech Center to allow students from Pennsylvania into some programs. Next year, there are spots in a handful of courses, including masonry and automotive. Tech Center to allow students from Pennsylvania into some programs. Next year, there are spots in a handful of courses, including masonry and automotive.\njon.kelvey@carrollcountytimes.com\n410-857-3317\ntwitter.com/CCT_Health" ]

[ "Lucy's\nLogan Eats\nCity Rock Korean Kitchen\nMOD Pizza\nIf you've got fast food on the brain, you're in luck: we've found the freshest Chicago eateries to quell your cravings.Here are the newest places to check out the next time you're in the mood for burgers, pizza, and other quick eats. Lucy's food truck has settled into a brick-and-mortar location, offering burgers, fries and other quick bites.Husband and wife Jessica and Damian Warzecha, who run three food trucks, opened Lucy's in the space that previously housed their now-closed Pierogi Street eatery, per DNA Info The casual spot has a retro vibe and features a classic burger (double patties, American cheese and red onion on a brioche bun), a mozzarella veggie burger, barbecue pork shoulder, and cheese fries. Old-fashioned donuts, milkshakes and soda floats round out the menu.With a five-star Yelp rating out of one review, Lucy's has been getting positive attention.Yelper Nila R., who reviewed Lucy's on April 20, wrote , \"I was so excited to see that the food truck was now an actual restaurant! The food was amazing, as always. Unlike the food truck, the restaurant has more options. We ordered a chocolate shake, which was really good! Service overall was great and food was out super quick.\"Lucy's is open from 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. (It's closed on Monday.) Logan Eats is serving up flame-grilled chicken, burgers, gyros and more in the former location of Cemitas Puebla.The quick-service eatery says it \"takes fast food to another level\" with freshly prepared offerings made to order.On the menu, look for chicken kebab with rice, salad and pita, a single or double patty burger and a skirt steak sandwich on a toasted French bun. There's also a selection of hot dogs, salads and sides like cheese fries, mushrooms and Greek fries.Logan Eats currently holds five stars out of seven reviews on Yelp, indicating good reviews.Yelper Michael R., who reviewed Logan Eats on March 19, wrote , \"The food was amazing and the service impeccable! We tried out the many different options on the lunch menu, which suited our budget perfectly. It is a lunch I won't forget. Best in Chicago!And Jenny H. said , \"This place rocks! I've been twice (in two days because I'm obsessed), and have ordered the chicken kebab dinner both times. For $10 it's enough food to make a dinner and next day lunch for me.\"Logan Eats is open from 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. on weekdays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Saturday, and noon-8 p.m. on Sunday.In the mood for fast, fresh Korean fare? City Rock Korean Kitchen has taken a spot inside Thompson Center's food court, offering bibimbap and poke.On the menu, look for kimchi, Korean-style sushi or build-your-own bowls with protein, veggies and sauces served over glass noodles or greens.With a 4.5-star rating out of 12 reviews on Yelp, City Rock Korean Kitchen has been getting positive attention.Yelper Maritza V., who reviewed City Rock Korean Kitchen on April 19, wrote , \"A gem in a food court at the Thompson Center! Everything is affordable, filling, delicious and fresh.\"Yelper Emily H. wrote , \"Pretty good fast-casual place serving Korean-style food. Liked the sauce and the glass noodle base. The protein is good too.\"City Rock Korean Kitchen is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays. (It's closed on weekends.)The second Chicago-area locale for MOD Pizza specializes in individually sized artisan pizzas, salads and more.On the pizza menu, look for the Tristan (mozzarella, asiago, roasted red peppers, mushrooms and pesto), the Calexico (gorgonzola, chicken, jalapenos and hot buffalo sauce), and the barbecue chicken with red onions. Diners can also build their own pies, with a large selection of ingredients on hand. (You can check out the full menu here .)With a five-star rating out of 10 reviews on Yelp, MOD Pizza has been getting positive attention.Yelper Michael S., who reviewed MOD Pizza on Feb. 17, wrote , \"They have an extensive menu of different pizzas or you can create your own. The pizza was very delicious and for sure worth trying. They have fresh squeezed lemonade, which is also great. Definitely come give MOD a try and you will be glad you did.\"And Eve H. added , \"The pizza crust was extra thin and crisp, it was delicious! The staff was great, very eager to please and very knowledgeable about the product. This is a great place to stop in for a snack or bring your children.\"MOD Pizza is open from 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday and 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.", "Learn how you and your kids can learn to love vegetables - without trying to disguise them or hide them. (Photo: Shutterstock)\nMother nature created vegetables as an ideal delivery system for important nutrients, including vitamins A, C, D and K, as well as a slew of disease-fighting compounds. They’re also packed with water and fiber, which can help fill you up and keep you trim. Trouble is, for many people, these nutritional powerhouses aren’t a favorite food.\nFood preferences often stem from modeling behavior. So, if your parents didn’t eat or prepare veggies when you were growing up, you’re less likely to fill your plate with leafy greens as an adult. It also means you’re setting an example for your kids, if you have children in your household.\nThe good news: You (and even your kids) can learn to love vegetables – without trying to disguise them or hide them. Here are my top six strategies for adding more veggies to every meal – and making them tastier, too.\nUse a spiralizer. Spiralizing veggies can make them more fun – and tasty – particularly when you combine them with another element, such as whole grain pasta. Zucchini, carrots, bell peppers and sweet potatoes all make flavorful additions.\nRoast them in the oven. Roasting vegetables enhances their flavor and draws out natural sugars. Brussels sprouts, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, onions and carrots are all particularly tasty when roasted.\nAdd them to your favorite dishes. Grate zucchini into lasagna. Make homemade pizza with shitake mushroom caps. Add broccoli to macaroni and cheese and spinach to a can of soup. You can even shred kale, peppers and carrots into tacos.\nKeep them handy. When you return from the grocery store, wash and chop all of your veggies and put them in food storage containers. That way, when you’re hungry, there’s a healthy snack ready in the fridge. Dress up plain veggies with tasty dips like hummus, ranch dressing made with Greek yogurt and tzatziki sauce (a Greek dip made with nonfat yogurt, cucumber, garlic and mint). You can also keep shredded veggies on hand, including carrots, zucchini, squash and cabbage, to add to salads, stir fries, meatloaf and turkey burgers. You can even incorporate them into sauces and sides (squash mac and cheese, anyone?!) since they soften when cooked for a short period of time.\nGet saucy. Eating spaghetti? Add zucchini, onions and garlic in your spaghetti sauce. Making a sauce for chicken or beef? Add mushrooms, shallots or leeks. Looking for a simple way to dress up ground chicken or turkey? Smother it with tomato sauce. Better yet, boost your veggie quotient by adding shredded carrots and zucchini to the mix. Salsas are another tasty way to get more veggies on your plate. Just top your favorite lean protein with freshly diced tomatoes, onions, scallions, pepper, corn and cilantro.\nBe adventurous. Don’t get pigeonholed into cooking vegetables one way (like in the microwave). Sauté bitter greens, stir-fry broccoli, or bake kale and sweet potatoes into chips. And don’t forget to get creative with herb and spice blends. Garlic, ginger, oregano and even nutmeg all go well with vegetables.\nChallenge yourself to make half of your plate fruits and vegetables. So, whether you’re scrambling eggs, making a sandwich or preparing a casserole, amp up the number of veggies in your dish. Throw peppers, spinach and mushrooms into an omelet, top your sandwich with kale, tomatoes and sprouts and add broccoli and cauliflower to your favorite casserole. Soon you’ll discover that not only is veggie-laden food more flavorful, but thanks to the fiber, it’s more satisfying, too!\nAndrea Thelen, MS, RDN (Photo: Henry Ford Health System)\nAndrea Thelen, MS, RDN, is a registered dietitian who specializes in nutrition counseling and health coaching at Henry Ford Health System’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.\nCraving more healthy ideas? Subscribe to the Henry Ford LiveWell health and wellness blog for nutrition, fitness and lifestyle latest tips. Check out the many veggie-rich recipe videos in our LiveWell Cooking Demo section.\nMembers of the editorial and news staff of The Detroit News were not involved in the creation of this content.\nRead or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2AM8nr8", "Go out! Wausau area happy hours, food and live entertainment specials, Thurs.-Sun. August 14-17\nTreu's Tic Toc\n1201 W. Thomas St., Wausau 715-848-2465\nThomas Street is open to Treu's from 17th Avenue!\nMonday all day: Hot Beef Sandwich $4.29\nTuesday: Chicken Wings 11am-9pm\nWednesday: Burger Special 5-9pm\nThursday: Tenderloin Steak Sandwich from 5-9pm • FREE POOL\nTownies Grill/ Malarkey’s Pub\n412 Third St., downtown Wausau 715-819-3663\nTuesday Open mic 9:00ish\nHappy Hour Tues.-Fri.: First drink free with purchase of ANY appetizer, 3–6pm (for drinks up to $5 value)\nThursday LIVE MUSIC from Them Coulee Boys starting at 10pm\nChatterbox\n102 S. Second Ave., Wausau 715-842-3059\nMonday: Double points all day!\nTuesday $2.50 CHEESEBURGER 4-9pm\nWednesday Greek Invasion! Gyros & more!!\nThursday LIVE MUSIC from 7-10pm!\nStop in and Become a Club Member Today! Earn $$ while you Eat and Drink\nSconni's\n1239 Schofield Ave., Schofield 715-241-7665\nHappy Hour Mon.-Thurs.: $2 off all Craft Beer, 3-5pm\nCome check out our extensive Craft Cocktail Menu. We brew our own bitters, hand squeeze our own citrus and use only house-made syrup in our cocktails.\n2% Tuesdays: 2% of total sales donated to Neighbors’ Place of Wausau. Dine & drink with us and contribute to a good cause!\nThursday SURLY BEER specialty Tapping\nBunkers\n1001 Golf Club Road, Wausau 715-675-3663\nMonday $10 Burger and Pint of beer!\nWednesday $2 Old Fashioneds and fish fry features\nThursday 1/2 price appetizers and KIDS EAT FREE!\nThe Bar\n10302 Market St., Rothschild 715-355-7001\nEVERYDAY 9pm-midnight HALF PRICED Appetizers\nHAPPY HOUR Monday-Friday Buy One Get One for $1 3-7pm\nMonday & Tuesday 50 cent traditional wings\nWednesday 60 cent boneless wings\nThursday $9 2 topping 14-inch PIZZA • The SIMPSONS Trivia starting at 7pm\nArrow Sports Bar\n6202 Schofield Ave, Schofield 715-359-2363\nHAPPY HOUR Mon.-Thurs. 3-6pm\nMonday $6.95 gyros and fries with homemade tzatziki sauce. 11am-8pm • $4 Moscow or Irish Mules\nTuesday $6.95 taco specials! Taco melt, chicken quesadilla, burritos, taco salad! 11am-8pm • Cappy Tuesday $4 Tall Captain Morgan Mixers with Cappy Hour from 5-7pm with $3 Tall Captain Morgan Mixers\nWednesday $10 bottle of wine with purchase of $10 two-topping pizza & wings!\nThursday $6.95 meatloaf with mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies! 11am-3pm • $2 cheeseburgers! 4-8pm • $2 shots, $3.50 bombs", "Harvest of the Month just got serious. Earlier this month, 38 teams from five culinary classes competed in Nevada Union high school's Jr. Iron Chef Competition to craft the winning recipe featuring April's Harvest of the Month ingredient: Microgreens (pea shoots and sunflower greens).\nIn addition to being tasted in 300 classrooms across Western Nevada County through Sierra Harvest's farm to school program, these sassy sprouts were given the star treatment as the \"secret ingredient\" in this fun, inventive competition.\nThese special microgreens were grown by Natural Trading Company out of Newcastle, Calif., and other produce for the recipes were sourced through the Briar Patch Food Coop.\nCurious about what a microgreen is exactly? You're not alone.\nTechnically different than a sprout (sprouts are grown in water, not soil), microgreens are the first cotyledon leaves of an edible plant and are usually grown in a dense mat and cut fresh before they get too big.\nFilled with nutrients and enzymes, microgreens pack a healthy punch and are bursting with flavor. In short, they are an excellent secret ingredient.\nRecommended Stories For You\nThrough Kelli Morris's Nevada Union High School culinary program, 150 students showcased the pea and sunflower greens in a number of innovative ways including salads, pizzas, smoothies and wraps.\nThese budding chefs presented their recipes to a talented panel of guest judges from the community that included many accomplished restaurateurs and entrepreneurs: the mayor of Grass Valley, Howard Leving; the Assistant Superintendent of Nevada Joint Union High School District, Dan Frisella; a former Sunset Magazine writer and recipe creator, Stephanie Spencer; owner of Tess's Kitchen store, Steve Rosenthal; former San Francisco Restaurant owner, Kwong Chew; curator of local favorite Polly's Paladar, Megan Hart, and one of Sierra Harvest's best volunteers, Rick Baron.\nThe winning teams went on to put their recipes to the real test — a sampling of their recipes shared with their peers at lunchtime.\nThe winners? A turkey veggie wrap and pineapple bacon pizza with microgreens. The wrap will be featured in the school lunch program.\nIf you want to get in on the action, turn on an episode of Iron Chef, don your apron and get cooking. The winning recipes are here to inspire you.\nBacon & caramelized pineapple pizza with microgreens\n3 ounces bacon\n8 ounces pineapple chunks\n1 tablespoon brown sugar\n1 large prepared pizza crust\n1/2 cup pizza sauce\n4 ounces shredded Monterrey jack cheese\n2 green onions\n1 1/2 cup sunflower shoot micro greens\nSlice the bacon into one-inch pieces. Cook in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown on the edges, but still slightly soft in the center (about five minutes).\nThe bacon will finish cooking on the pizza. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and pour off most of the bacon grease from the skillet.\nDrain the canned pineapple well. Cut the chunks in half to make smaller pieces.\nAdd the pineapple chunks to the skillet along with the brown sugar. Sauté over medium heat until the pineapple gets brown and sticky on the edges (about five minutes). Remove from the heat.\nPreheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Stretch the pizza dough to fit a 14 inch pizza pan. Chop up 1/2 cup microgreens and mix in sauce.\nSpread the sauce over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the shredded Monterrey Jack cheese over the sauce.\nFinally, top the pizza with the cooked bacon and caramelized pineapple pieces.\nBake the pizza for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly on top. After removing the pizza from the oven, top with sliced green onions and 1 cup of microgreens, cut into eight pieces, then serve.\nTurkey wraps with microgreens\n1 whole wheat tortilla\n3 ounces deli turkey\n1/3 cup hummus\n2 slices cucumber\nHandful of fresh spinach\nSliced tomato\n1/4 of an avocado, sliced\nHandful micro greens\nSliced up basil leaves\nSpread hummus on the bottom 1/3 of wrap, about 1/2 inch from the bottom edge but spreading out the side edges.\nLayer cucumber, spinach leaves, tomatoes, avocado slices, micro greens, and basil.\nFold the wrap tightly, as you would a burrito, tucking in all of the veggies with the first roll, then rolling firmly to the end. Cut in half and enjoy.\nAmanda Thibodeau was the director of the Farm to School program for six years and now writes the Harvest of the Month article each month for Sierra Harvest.", "Free Pizzas for Blaze Pizza Fans in Columbia on Thursday, April 20\nLOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 17, 2017) - Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza, the fast-casual artisanal pizza concept known for its chef-driven menu and casually hip restaurants, announced today that it will open its second South Carolina location, in Columbia, on Wednesday, April 19th. To celebrate the grand opening, the Columbia restaurant will offer FREE build-your-own artisanal pizzas on Thursday, April 20th from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to anyone who follows Blaze Pizza on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. The highly anticipated restaurant, which features a 2,800 square foot interior with seating for 71 and an additional 52 seats on an outdoor patio, is located in the Columbia Towne Center, near Regal Theater in Sandhill (471-1 Towne Center Place).\nBlaze Pizza is a modern day \"pizza joint\" serving up artisanal pizzas that are both fast and affordable. Since its first restaurant debuted in 2012, Blaze has quickly become one of the nation's hottest restaurant concepts, with fans lining up each day for the custom-built pizzas, freshly made salads, blood orange lemonade and s'more pies. Each restaurant features an interactive open-kitchen format that allows guests to customize one of the menu's signature pizzas or create their own, choosing from a wide selection of fresh, artisanal ingredients -- all for about $8. The generously-sized personal pizzas are then sent to a blazing hot open-flame oven -- the centerpiece of the restaurant -- where dedicated pizzasmiths ensure that the thin-crust pies are fast-fire'd and ready to eat in just 180 seconds. Restaurants make their own dough from scratch using a recipe developed by critically-acclaimed Executive Chef Bradford Kent (the \"Pizza Whisperer\"), which requires a 24-hour fermentation period to produce his signature light-as-air, crisp crust. Almost all of the pizza and salad ingredients are free of artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and fillers and for pizza fans with specific dietary needs, Blaze Pizza offers gluten-free dough and vegan cheese. The new Columbia restaurant will also feature a selection of wine and draft beer.\n\"Our mission at Blaze is really simple -- we're taking pizza back to its roots, \"said Jim Mizes, president & COO of Blaze Pizza. \"By making dough in-house, carefully sourcing ingredients, and cooking by fire, we're giving guests a great way to enjoy artisanal pizza without the wait. It's changing the way people think about and eat pizza.\"\nBlaze's obsessive attention to detail extends well beyond the food, with a carefully considered, modern approach to restaurant design. Driven by its commitment to \"Intelligent Choices for Our Pizzas, People & Planet,\" the restaurant is constructed with recycled and sustainable materials, uses eco-friendly packaging, and features energy-efficient LED lighting. Additionally, many of the restaurant's unconventional design elements were inspired by the company's celebration of individual expression.\nBlaze Pizza is looking forward to continuing to build strong roots within the community. To that end, the company has developed a turn-key in-restaurant fundraiser program that returns 20% of an event's proceeds back to local organizations, and will be partnering with local schools, sports clubs and other organizations to host fundraising events at the new restaurant.\nAbout Blaze Pizza\nThe first Blaze Pizza® restaurant opened on Aug. 6, 2012, in Irvine, Calif., and quickly gained attention for its chef-driven recipes, thoughtful interior design, and a service culture that celebrates individuality. Now ranked as the overall #2 fast-casual brand in FastCasual.com's annual Top 100 list, Blaze Pizza is building momentum and developing a cult-like following as it expands across the country. The company currently operates 190 restaurants in 32 states and Canada, including the major metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Boston. Founded by Elise and Rick Wetzel (co-founder of Wetzel's Pretzels), the concept is backed by investors including LeBron James, Maria Shriver, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner and movie producer John Davis. For more information, please visit blazepizza.com and facebook.com/blazepizza or click here to view a company video.\nBlaze Pizza®, Fast-Fire'd®, the horizontal logo design, and the proprietary names \"Pizzasmith\", \"Intelligent Choices For Our Pizzas, People & Planet\" and related trademarks are the property of Blaze Pizza LLC.", "Braelynne Jacobson is a 6th grade student from our Forces of Nature team and the daughter of Mila and Charlie. She has four siblings named Jayden, Reagan, Camryn and Noel as well as a pet dog.\nBraelynne attended Parkside elementary and is active in softball, choir, and really likes gym class. Some of her favorites include language arts class with Mrs. McDuffee, eating pizza, the book One and Only Ivan, and listening to a variety of music. She really wants to travel to sunny and warm Florida.\nBraelynne is most proud of her grades in school this year and the people that she admires the most are her mom and dad because they are always there for her.\nMataeo Jarrell is a 6th grade student from our Forces of Nature team and the son of Annie and Tavis. He has three siblings named Malayah, Marcella, and Micaiah as well as a pet named Django.\nMataeo attended Roguewood elementary and is active in band, sports, and enjoys baseball, basketball, and WWE. Mataeo cheers for Michigan State and hopes to become a WWE wrestler one day. Some of his favorites include teacher Mr. Baker, eating steak, the movie the Sandlot, the book Elsewhere, and listening to music from Bon Jovi. Mataeo would like to take a vacation to Disney World.\nHe is most proud of his hard work in school and the person that he admires the most is his mom because she is a great\nrole model.\nEmily Schroeder is a 7th grade student and the daughter of Eric and Kristen Schroeder. She has one sibling named Ethan and attended both Belmont and South Meadows elementary schools.\nEmily is active in the drama club, yearbook, and Honors Choir. In her free time she enjoys collecting gemstones. Emily cheers for Michigan State and she aspires to become an actor one day. Some of her favorites include math class, teacher Mr. Barr, eating steak, the movie Clue, and listening to any kind of music except country. Emily would love to travel to any place that has a great gemstone museum.\nShe is most proud of her drive and her hard work in school and the person that she admires the most is her choir teacher Mr. Shear.\nOwen Guswiler is a 7th grade student and the son of Mike and Julie. He has three siblings named Ian, Olivia, and Pierce as well as a dog named Tango.\nOwen attended Roguewood elementary and is active in choir, soccer, and gymnastics. Owen cheers for GVSU. Some of his favorites include choir class, teacher Mr. Shear, eating pizza, the movie Pacific Rim, the book Mort(e), and listening to heavy metal. Owen would love to travel to Madagascar one day.\nHe is most proud of his good grades and his ability to maintain them. The person that he admires the most is his dad because he is a great role model and has pushed him to do and try many different things.\nOlivia Rook is an 8th grade student and the daughter of Meagan Rook. She has two siblings named Ava and Jaxson.\nOlivia attended Parkside elementary and is active in PE buddies at NRMS. She also is involved in her church youth group and enjoys traveling. Olivia cheers for the University of Michigan. Some of her favorites include teacher Mr. Anderson, eating pizza, the movie Spider Man- Homecoming, the book The Trail, and listening to a variety of music. She would love to travel to California one day.\nOlivia is most proud of her hard work in school and her grades and the person that she admires the most is her brother because he works hard, sets a good example and is just awesome.\nTy Maksimowski is an 8th grade student and the son of Brian and Jill. He has two siblings named Camryn and Cullen as well as a dog named Lenny.\nTy attended Belmont elementary. He is active in crew and enjoys reading, playing video games, watching TV, and swimming. Ty cheers for Michigan State and hope to become a pharmacist one day. Some of his favorites include algebra class, eating any kind of food that is in front of him, watching all kinds of movies, reading many different books, but does not have any favorite music. Ty would like to travel to Germany one day.\nHe is most proud of his good grades because he works hard for them and the person that he admires the most is his mom because of how she is able to handle any difficult situation with ease.", "What It Is: The Veggie Shack—Shake Shack’s first veggie burger\nWho Tried It: Jessica Fecteau, Writer/Reporter\nLevel of Difficulty: Zero\nWhy I Did It: I am a huge fan of everything Shake Shack offers so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try their newest menu item. Plus, I’ve been trying to eat more plant-based foods and less meat so the timing was perfect.\nShake Shack is expanding their menu in select cities and adding a veggie burger to their lineup.\nStarting last Thursday, Shake Shack locations in select New York City stores, West Hollywood and Glendale in L.A., and the Domain location in Austin began offering the Veggie Shack on their menu.\nThe burger, which is made with black beans, brown rice and roasted beets and topped with provolone cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles, and vegan mustard mayo, comes on a regular or gluten-free bun— and of course, we had to try it out.\nShake Shack\nI headed over to the West Hollywood location with not many expectations, but I assumed it would be good since Shake Shack’s menu never disappoints. And neither did this.\nIt felt like I was still enjoying their traditional burger (given the moist patty, classic toppings and those deliciously soft potato buns), but I didn’t leave feeling overly full or like my stomach was full of grease. The patty is also a bright purple color (from the beets) and it was well-incorporated with the other ingredients to create the perfect texture—no weird chunks of beans or rice falling apart when you take a bite.\nEven though I’m not a vegetarian, I would totally order this burger instead of the ShackBurger going forward—and that says a lot. I’ve also been a longtime fan of their iconic ‘Shroom Burger—a cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom patty that’s breaded and deep-fried— but I think if I was going vegetarian for the moment, I would opt for the Veggie Shack instead.\nFor those who are vegan, the sandwich can also be ordered in a lettuce wrap or gluten-free bun with no cheese. But I’d suggest keeping the regular bun and cheese, if you can, since it gives it that classic Shake Shack feel and taste you already love.\nIf the burger does well, a Shake Shack representative said it will become a nationwide, permanent item on the menu.\nTo get your hands on the burger, order through the Shake Shack app or order in-stores.", "Street Eats, the Shepherd Express’ popular mobile food festival, closes its summer season with a last huzzah this Friday, Sept. 15. The event takes place from 4-8 p.m. in beautiful Catalano Square, located between Menomonee, Erie and Young streets in the Historic Third Ward. This time around, the fest takes the theme “Milwaukee Craft Brewery League Tap Takeover,” meaning attendees can enjoy beers from five acclaimed local breweries, along with a wide selection of food. As event coordinator Rachel Repetti states, “Milwaukee’s craft beer culture is surging. With the help of the Milwaukee Craft Brewery League, we are able to showcase some of the best brewers in the city, alongside our signature food truck event.”\nParticipating breweries are Broken Bat, serving their apricot pale ale Straight Ahead Chedd, and Corre Corre, a Mexican lager infused with lime; District 14, serving ChocoMatic LoveMachine, a dark chocolate ale, along with Happy Hippie Hwheat, an American wheat beer; MobCraft, pouring their coffee brown ale Bat$h!t Crazy, and Oddball, a Kölsch style ale; St. Francis Brewery, serving their German Weissbier “Lust,” along with Munich Dunkel; and Explorium Brewpub pouring their Oktoberfest and Cherry Chocolate Stout.\nMake it a meal with food from an impressive array of local food vendors, including: ChillWaukee, Drift, Gypsy Soul, Hardwood Café, Ian’s Pizza, Jamaica Kitchen, Jericho’s BBQ, Marco Pollo, Pedro’s South American Food, Pig Tailz, Press (Belgian Liege Waffles), Punjabi Accent, Rich’s House of Cakes, Rolling Cones Food Truck, Shawarma House, Street-Za Pizza, Taqueria La Guacamaya, Tasty Café, The Fatty Patty, Tudo Sabor Brasil and Yellowbellies.\nEverdry Waterproofing, Sherper’s and Wiener Winks will also be onsite for attendees’ shopping pleasure. Entertainment comes in the form of a 4-8 p.m. set from the J. Ryan Trio, a Milwaukee band specializing in soulful jazz standards and down-home blues. The group features Alissa Weber, who has received multiple nominations for Best Female Vocalist in the Shepherd ’s Best of Milwaukee contest. All tips for the band and bar will go to support Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative.\nThe event is free and open to the public, with food available for purchase with cash, and in some cases, credit card. Beer tickets can be purchased on the day of the event with one ticket good for one drink. Single tickets are $6 each or two tickets for $10.\nTo learn more about the Milwaukee Craft Brewery League Tap Takeover Street Eats, visit shepherdexpress.com/streeteatsseptember.", "The smell of fresh, hot fried rice and some cool cooking tips from Chef Instructor Sean Conry drew a packed house at the Eagle’s Perch dining hall Nov. 28 at Feather River College.\nNearly 100 students from the athletics program and various majors filled the tables and there was standing room only at the back of the house for the brand new, free monthly “FRC Feast.”\nAn additional big draw for the evening was a pep talk on “Having a Career as a Physical Therapist or Athletic Trainer” from local physical therapist and sports medicine professional Kory Felker, MPT, MTC who owns and operates Quincy’s Plumas Physical Therapy.\nThe “Feast” series is a brainchild of Jaylyn Walker, Associated Students of FRC student body president, and the college’s student ambassadors, who saw the need for gatherings like this to bring together classmates, staff and faculty to explore common ground with food and engaging presentations.\nIn that spirit, Chef Conry demonstrated how easy it is to create a healthy meal with a steaming plate of rice, veggies, soy sauce and more, explaining the dish is economical on a college student’s budget. Every table was packed for his mini-workshop about “Eating on a Budget” and the students watched with anticipation of a hearty snack. After the demo, the chef was approached for recipes and more tips.\nPhysical Therapist Felker took the floor next to offer advice on what it takes to become an athletic trainer and enter the challenging career field of physical therapy. He talked about GPA requirements for grad school — Cs won’t help — education requirements for the profession, salaries one can expect (in the $70,000s) and more.\n“I went into the field because it’s fun and challenging,” Felker said, drawing upon his 14 years of PT experience. “I find it very rewarding to help people. Patients come from all walks of life and all ages and conditions. You might be helping someone be able to walk without pain or a patient with a bad back who can’t sit comfortably for even half an hour.”\nFelker explained that typical situations requiring physical therapy include care after knee or hip surgery, sports injuries or other mishaps that come up in life and can impact anyone at any age or condition.\n“There are many kinds of internships you can apply for,” Felker added. “You could work at out-patient clinics, hospitals, home health programs or skilled nursing facilities, just to name some. I have my master’s degree and you’ll need that. The field is moving toward Ph.D.s in physical therapy, as well. The most rewarding thing is that you’re helping to restore the patient’s ability to function.”\nFelker has owned his local PT practice since 2005 and was also acknowledged as a sponsor of the new “Feast” series.\nSeveral students from the FRC Nutrition, Food and Culinary Arts program created the free meal, arriving three hours early to do all the prep and have the chef oversee their work. The long serving line spoke volumes for their success.\nFuture sessions are planned with presentations on budgeting basics, health and wellness, building a resume and other topics that are relevant for FRC’s diverse student audience.\nFaculty support to launch the “Feast” series came from Michelle Petroelje, interim director of Student Success Programs, history instructor Stacey Svilich and Chef Conry.\n“The whole idea behind this gathering is that students wanted a chance to get together with others outside their usual social groups,” Petroelje said, smiling and looking around the crowded cafe as dinner was being served. “We’re so athletics-focused; you have your teammates and that’s who you hang out with. Tonight, we’re mixing the groups and it’s great.”\nThe program’s slogan is “The Campus that Eats Together, Succeeds Together.” Based on the turnout, they are off to a good start.", "click to enlarge Flickr user Susanne Nilsson\nTuesday\nWednesday\nThursday\nFriday\nSaturday\nSunday\nMarch seems to be going out like a lion, instead of a lamb, this go-round. If gray skies and shifting temps and Daylight Savings hangovers (still) have you groggy, fear not, there's a pop-up for that. From 'za to mezcal to special multi-course dinners featuring seasonal fare, there's plenty going on this week to keep your mind off of mercurial Mother Nature. Check out all the tasty happenings below:From 5 to 10 p.m. Dough Boyz Pizza pops up at 492. Feast on pies from Evan Romano and 492's Josh Keeler, plus pasta, porchetta, wood-fired clams, a meatball grinder, bomboloni, and more. Reservations are encouraged. Short Grain continues its Tuesday pop-up series at Edmund's Oast Brewing Co. starting at 5 p.m.Pancito & Lefty hosts a Mezcal Vago dinner from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with the Brand Ambassador from Oaxaca, Mexico Francisco Terrazas. Listen to the story of Mezcal Vago while tasting three selections of the small batch Mezcal paired with three courses from the kitchen. 2Nixons pops up at Craft Conundrum from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.Mercantile and Mash hosts a Rosé S'il Vous Plait wine social starting at 5:30 p.m. Local jewelry designer BR Designs, will be onsite with handcrafted clay and naturally dyed wooden and leather bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces.The Park Cafe hosts their monthly family meal starting at 6:30 p.m. This month's theme is \"throwback Thursday,\" so expect to feast on five courses of favorite dishes from over the years.More of a cider sipper than a beer guzzler? You're in luck — head to Cafe Craft in North Chuck for a cider and chocolate pairing featuring Carolina Apple with a caramel sea salt truffle, an IPA cider with a cinnamon truffle, pear cider with a pear truffle, and cider rose with a black raspberry truffle.Merc and Mash says you better \"turnip for a pop-up you can't beet.\" From 6 to 9 p.m. \"eat your f'n veggies\" with Greg Gettles Head to goat.sheep.cow.north starting at 5:30 p.m for the holy trinity: oysters, pearls, and rose. Mother daughter team Mindy and Michelle of Lorenza Wine join the g.s.c.n. team for a \"double dose of girl power.\" Seaborn Oyster Co. will be shucking local oysters, and McCarus Beverage will also be pouring bubbles and more rose.Chef David Schuttenberg continues his Kwei Fei residency at The Daily from 6 p.m. til midnight. Laura Alberts Tasteful Option s hosts a four course sommelier series dinner themed as a drive through Spain, France, and Italy on highway E70. Dishes will include Godello poached sea scallops with caramelized granny smith apples and a shaved Brussels sprout salad paired with Avancia Cuvee de O Godello, '16; smoked beef carpaccio with herb parmesan crostini, sauce gribiche, and toasted almonds paired with Sierra Cantabria, Rioja,'14; a mint and thyme cured Norwegian salmon with hibiscus tea broth, and pickled Maitake mushrooms paired with Clos la Coutale, Cahors Malbec '12; a coffee crusted duck confit with dried cherry demi, saffron polenta, sauteed broccoli rabe, and fried potato crisp paired with Ceretto, Barbaresco, '13; and a raisin walnut spice cake with caramelized black mission figs, and creme anglaise paired with Montresor, Acinum, Valpolicella Ripasso, '15.Put some First Name Basis 'za in your face hole at Tradesman Brewing from noon to 6 p.m. Rebel Taqueria pops up at Munkle Brewing for the first time starting at 5 p.m.Reserve a spot at the lovely Oyster Shed at Leon's for a guest chef series dinner featuring the culinary talents of Alison Roman. Dishes will be served family style, inspired by Roman's book,. Menu items range from little neck clams to turmeric roasted carrots to salted butter and chocolate chunk shortbread. The meal begins at 6 p.m.Get your late night cheesy pizza fix — The Dough Boyz sling the good stuff at Bar Mash from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.Pop into Bay Street Biergarten with your pooch for their Puppies and Pints brunch starting at 11 a.m.The New Gullah Supper Club aims to unite people from different walks of life with Chef Kardea Brown preparing her Southern, Gullah-inspired cuisine with a contemporary twist. From 5 to 7 p.m on Edisto Island enjoy Brown's menu of a Southern smorgasboard (with think homemade pimento cheese, fruit, bread, and pickled veggies), a seafood salad roll, fried fish and chicken, and peach cobbler hand pie.While you may typically frequent Fat Hen for the Southern/French cuisine, this Sunday you can expect to tuck into some bivalves. The Hen's oyster roast starts at 5:30 p.m. with a portion of proceeds going to the St. John's High Scholarship, an organization created to benefit students of St. John's.", "South Carroll High junior Allie Zolkiewicz's career ambition stands out.\nMany successful student athletes want to be doctors, lawyers or even accountants.\nBut Zolkiewicz has set her sights on something different — she aspires to a criminal profiler for the FBI.\n\"I have been really fascinated with psychology and criminology,\" said Zolkiewicz, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average. \"I think it would be just a fun and interesting job to do.\"\nIf Zolkiewicz's success in indoor track and track and field is any guide, she will likely be a successful criminal profiler.\nZolkiewicz, the Times Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year, shined in both relays and individual events this spring in county, regional and state championship meets.\n\"She had her best outdoor season in three years,\" South Carroll coach Bill Gerhold said. \"She ran faster in all her events from the beginning of the season to the end. She just continued where she left off indoors. She was really strong and then in our first meet outdoors, she ran some really fast times.\"\nThat proved to be true all the way through the Class 2A state championship at Morgan State University in late May. The 5-foot-6 Zolkiewicz ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x800 relay team that also included sophomore Megan O'Neill and juniors Jamie Anderson and Karly Eudy.\n2017 Carroll All County Girls Track and Field Team\nTheir time of 9 minutes, 20.22 seconds ranked as the third fastest ever at the 2A meet, and broke Carroll County's previous best by more than 12 seconds.\n\"She is just getting stronger and faster,\" Gerhold said of Zolkiewicz. \"She is really progressing. She is able to keep up her natural speed and carry herself further without tiring.\"\nGerhold said the key to South Carroll's relay team winning the state title was Zolkiewicz's kick at the end. Zolkiewicz and Hereford's Emily Konkus were even heading into the final stretch.\n\"For the last 200 meters, Allie just took off and we won by 50 or 60 meters,\" the coach said. \"She just opened it up and poured it on.\"\nZolkiewicz called her performance — and the title — the highlight of career.\n\"It was such an intense race to watch and be part of,\" she explained. \"It was so exciting to win. I think we all had PRs. It was well to have us all do so well as a team.\"\nZolkiewicz also placed second in states in both the 800 and 400. She ran the 800 in a blazing 2:16.99.\nThat's the fastest time ever for a Carroll County athlete in the 800 (2:16.99). Former Westminster star Steph Morningstar posted a 2:18.80 in 1992.\n\"Allie really loves that big stage,\" Gerhold said. \"She gets so revved up and her adrenalin really gets going. Sometimes, she can't control it. She gets really nervous. This year, she did a much better job of managing it.\"\nZolkiewicz's effort in two other postseason meets gave her a lot of confidence heading into states.\nShe repeated as county champion in the 200 and 400 dashes, won a 2A West crown in the 400.\nDYLAN SLAGLE/STAFF PHOTO / Carroll County Times South Carroll junior Allison Zolkiewicz is the Carroll County Times Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. South Carroll junior Allison Zolkiewicz is the Carroll County Times Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. (DYLAN SLAGLE/STAFF PHOTO / Carroll County Times) (DYLAN SLAGLE/STAFF PHOTO / Carroll County Times)\nZolkiewicz, who won 2016 indoor track state titles in the 500 dash and 4x800 relay, said she managed herself better as a runner better this spring, and improved results followed.\n\"I could recover between my events quicker,\" Zolkiewicz said. \"I got better times in the outdoor season than I was hoping for.\"\nGerhold valued Zolkiewicz for more than her running ability. Zolkiewicz emerged as a team leader and set the pace on and off the track.\n\"Her first two years, she had two really strong leaders ahead of her,\" said Gerhold, referring for SC grads Summer Bingaman and Erin Langille. \"They graduated last year. This year, there was that void there and Allie pretty much stepped up and took over their position. That was a big step for Allie.\"\nZolkiewicz said she wants to run in college. Virginia Tech, where both of Zolkiewicz's parents went to school, and Johns Hopkins top her list. She has made unofficial visits to both schools.\nZolkiewicz also has strong interest in UNC-Asheville, William & Mary, and Marist.\n\"They are looking for the right fit athletically as academically,\" Gerhold said of her family. \"She is one of the fastest girls in the state and runs unique distances. If she doesn't run in college, I would be surprised.\"\ntworgo@baltsun.com\n410-857-7896\nAll-County Girls Track & Field\nFIRST TEAM\nEvent;Name;School;Year\nSprints;Kaileigh Harrison;Westminster;Junior\nSprints;Allie Zolkiewicz;South Carroll;Junior\nMid-distance;Karly Eudy;South Carroll;Junior\nMid-distance;Lisi Hurst;Century;Junior\nDistance;Jamie Anderson;South Carroll;Junior\nDistance;Natalie Poulton;Century;Junior\nHurdles;Brooke Flanigan;South Carroll;Freshman\nHurdles;Megan O'Neill;South Carroll;Sophomore\nField;Summer Burton;Francis Scott Key;Junior\nField;Kelli Garriott;Manchester Valley;Junior\nField;Grace Fipps;South Carroll;Sophomore\nField;Sarah Pernell;Francis Scott Key;Junior\nField;Madison Reeser;Century;Senior\nField;Rachel Rogalski;Westminster;Senior\nField;Emma Taggart;Francis Scott Key;Sophomore\nSECOND TEAM\nCentury: Caroline Bresnahan, Emily Burleson, Gabrielle Cole, Mackenzie Ward. Liberty: Claire Burgoon, Yani Hawthorne, Sydney Scher, Abigail Potter. Man Valley: Julia Brocato, Veronica Schilling. South Carroll: Malayna Fowler, Megan Plummer. Westminster: Erin McGrath, Julia Wawrzynski. Winters Mill: Emma Kartalia.", "YouTuber Tom Scott has over 1.1 million subscribers. He’s launched an entire fireworks display at once, explored a European city with no street names and underwent Royal Air Force pilot training to sustain g-force pressures. And in his latest video, Scott decided to eat space garlic bread (baked dough sent to the edge of the atmosphere and back).\nWith the help of Steven Randall from Random Aerospace and \"My Virgin Kitchen\" host Barry Lewis — who baked the garlic bread — Scott wanted to test out how it would taste after travelling via weather balloon through extremely high and extremely low temperatures.\nWhy garlic bread? \"Because it’s delicious,\" Scott said in the video, adding that someone already sent pizza into space a few years ago. (This is true. A teenager also sent up, then ate a Twinkie.)\n\"This started as a conversation in a pub a few weeks ago, and turned into one of the more ridiculous videos I’ve ever done,\" Scott told BT. \"We [sent] home-made garlic bread skyward on a balloon; exposed it to the stratosphere, 35km up; successfully returned it to Earth in a protective box; and then ate it.\"\n\"As it goes up, the atmosphere is getting thinner and thinner and there’s less and less air pushing in — the balloon itself will get bigger and bigger,\" Randall, who’s done \"high altitude ballooning\" for about 10 years, explained in the YouTube video. \"So, eventually the balloon with pop and the equipment will parachute down to the ground, and we’ll go and recover it.\"\nRandall said they normally predict the landing to be within 5 miles of the launching point, but they tracked the balloon using a GPS, so the space garlic bread was easily retrieved. They also didn’t have to worry about where the bread landed — or animals getting to it — because once it reached 1,000 meters above the ground, the bread was sealed inside the box on which it was strapped.\nThe verdict: what did the space garlic bread taste like?\nCompared to normal \"Earth\" garlic bread, the space garlic bread didn’t easily rip apart. Instead, it broke off in even chunks. Scott said it was tough and had an \"icy middle,\" too because it had frozen in the stratosphere.\nAs he described so simply, \"It tasted… cold.\"\nWatch Tom Scott try space garlic bread\nThis space garlic bread experiment has already gotten almost 1.2 million views on YouTube since its publication on Monday, April 23. Watch below:", "One thing that hasn’t changed: The Star-Spangled Banner is still racist.\nInitially titled “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” the anthem was written in 1814 by a white dude named Francis Scott Key—a man who owned slaves and thought that they were an “inferior race of people,” who were untrustworthy and indolent.\nAs a lieutenant in the Battle of Bladensburg, Key and his men, got their behinds whooped on the battlefield by the Colonial Marines—runaway American slaves, who fought as sailors and soldiers for the British in return for their freedom. And in the little-known third stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key clapped-back at the black soldiers.\nIn his article, “Star-Spangled Bigotry: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem,” Jason Johnson, political editor at The Root, reintroduced this story to the nation’s memory.\n“Anyone who tries to reformat, and reboot, and reconstitute and play linguistic gymnastics, and view this stanza as something other than what it was, is trying to put their 2018 attitudes as a way to rationalize and justify what was endemic white supremacy, white nationalism and bigotry on the part of a man who lived to create what is supposed to be one of the most patriotic songs in American history,” said Johnson.\nAdvertisement\nSee the entire video above.", "Customizable Burger Franchise Continues to Expand with Berlin Restaurant Opening December 11\nBerlin, MA (RestaurantNews.com) MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes, a fast casual, “better burger” chain, is ready to satisfy the taste buds of burger enthusiasts in Berlin. The restaurant, opening on Monday, December 11, will be located at 48 Highland Commons East.\nThe new MOOYAH is being brought to Berlin by local friends and business partners Martin Lachance and Scott Belhumeur. Lachance and Belhumeur spent the past 14 years working together in the IT industry, and decided to diversify their revenue stream with a new venture in the franchise restaurant business.\n“We were looking at strong franchise system opportunities, and came upon MOOYAH after doing a ton of research,” said Belhumeur. “We got a great sense of the brand and knew we wanted to be a part of it.”\nThe MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes in Berlin opens in the Highland Commons on December 11, and Belhumeur and Lachance are excited for members of the community to get a taste of the unique MOOYAH Guest experience.\n“Martin and I both loved the food, but it really clicked when I took my kids to a MOOYAH in Connecticut and they just thought it was so much better than the competition,” said Belhumeur. “The brand is young and exciting. It’s so different than the other guys. It really is food people here will love.”\nThe Berlin opening comes on the heels of incredible growth throughout Massachusetts. The company opened locations in both Boston and Billerica, and MOOYAH sees even more opportunity to expand throughout the state and the region in 2018.\n“We love seeing the continued incredible reaction we are receiving in Massachusetts this year,” said Michael Mabry, president and chief operating officer of MOOYAH. “We know that Scott and Martin will be incredibly successful, and cannot wait for the great people of Berlin to experience firsthand what makes MOOYAH special.”\nAt MOOYAH, Guests have the advantage of choosing from a variety of bun options, such as baked-in-house artisan white or multigrain wheat non-GMO buns and hand-crafted lettuce buns called Iceburgers to accompany the never-frozen 100 percent Certified Angus Beef® brand burgers, all natural Jennie-O turkey, all natural grilled and hand-breaded chicken, and mouthwatering MorningStar Farms black bean veggie burgers. Each gourmet burger can be customized with five cheeses, Applewood smoked bacon, sliced avocado, along with nine free veggie toppings and 11 free sauces.\nMOOYAH’s hand-cut fries come together in a six-step process that takes a total of 24 hours to completely prepare. A delightful combination of constant attention and a little magic help transform U.S. #1 Idaho potatoes into perfect, crisp-on-the-outside and fluffy-on-the-inside fries. Guests also have the choice of savory sweet potato fries. Never one to forget dessert, MOOYAH offers 100% real ice cream shakes, allowing Guests to choose from 10 flavors ranging from vanilla to Hershey’s chocolate to Reese’s to strawberry banana and more.\nIn 2016, MOOYAH surpassed the all-important 100-unit milestone. The booming “better burger” brand entered several new states in 2016, while also expanding its presence in New Jersey, Virginia, Florida and New York.\nFor more information on the growing brand, connect with MOOYAH on Facebook at the MOOYAH Burgers & Fries Fan page, follow MOOYAH on Twitter @MOOYAHburgers and Instagram @MOOYAHburgers.\nFor franchising opportunities, please visit http://www.mooyahfranchise.com.\nAbout MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes\nMOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes is a fast-casual, “better burger” concept offering mouthwatering made-to-order burgers, French fries hand cut from Idaho potatoes, and real ice cream shakes. Founded in 2007, the Plano, Texas-based company serves fresh, lean Certified Angus Beef® brand burgers, all natural Jennie-O® turkey burgers, all natural chicken sandwiches, and black bean veggie burgers. Their non-GMO potato and multigrain buns are baked in-house daily, and Guests can choose from five real cheeses and toppings made from garden-fresh veggies. While many Guests dine in-restaurant, MOOYAH also offers online ordering and carry out for Guests on the go. In 2017, MOOYAH was ranked No. 11 in Fast Casual Magazine’s annual Top 100 Movers & Shakers, a list they have been included in for several years in a row. The brand also ranked 2nd in Best Fast Casual Restaurant Franchise Company, 4th in Best Restaurant Franchise Company, and 7th in Best Overall Franchises Company by Franchiserankings.com. For more information on MOOYAH, its menu or franchising opportunities, please visit www.MOOYAH.com. Connect with the brand on Facebook.com/MOOYAH, follow on Twitter and Instagram @MOOYAHburgers.\nContact:\nBrian Jaeger\nNo Limit Agency\n312-526-3996\nBrian@nolimitagency.com", "The video will start in 8 Cancel\nGet daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nSlimmer Nisha Khan thought Slimming World was not designed to fit around oily Asian curries and breads.\nBut the mum-of-four dropped four dress sizes and even made it through Ramandan and Eid while on the plan.\nNisha’s weight crept up after the birth of her kids and a fall that left her with a painful foot injury.\nThe Acklam stay-at-home mum tried the gym but due to her injury she said carrying on exercising was “unbearable”.\nShe joined Slimming World and the 29-year-old has now shed the pounds and plans to keep on going.\nWith the support of husband Khuram, she has lost over 3st.\n(Image: Collect Unknown)\nNisha said she struggled to walk through the doors the first time but it was one of the best things she could have done.\nShe said: “My husband said ‘I’ve been watching you for the last six weeks and you always say you want to do it but you don’t go’.\n“I thought it was all about English food.\n“I was a bag of nerves walking through the doors thinking I’m huge.\n“I got weighed after my first week and I had only lost a pound. I was so annoyed with myself.\n“But she said it’s not overnight it’s a lifestyle change.”\nNisha, who has four children aged eight, four and ten-year-old twins, said her focus was always on her family.\nThat meant she was often grabbing anything to eat, be it crisps or chocolate.\nBut with the guidance of her group she even managed to stick to the Slimming World plan during Ramadan.\nThis allows followers to eat as much ‘free food’ - staples like meat, fish, rice, pasta, fruit and veg - as they like. Then there is an allowance for milk and fibre called Healthy Extras plus syns which are used for foods high in fat and calories.\nThis means Nisha was able to create her own healthier versions of her favourite foods.\nShe attends the Slimming World group at St Francis Church, Acklam “I want to let other people know it’s not impossible to do it with Asian food,” she said.\n“The first couple of times it didn’t taste the same. I made a curry without the oil and my husband said ‘just don’t eat it!’\n“Syns are there to be used for whatever you want. We use oil and I spend my syns on chapatis.”\nNisha was voted Woman of the Year by her fellow members for her determination in keeping her healthy eating going through Ramadan and Eid.\nNisha’s tips for losing weight\n1. Put your own portion aside\nNisha cooks lots of curries for her family, but keeps a small portion aside for herself with less oil in it.\n2. Even takeaways can be healthy\nNisha still enjoys takeaways with her family, but instead of opting for pizza at 15 syns a slice, she now chooses something better.\nA portion of donner meat is only eight syns, and can be eaten with pitta or naan bread - some can be counted as a healthy extra option.\n3. You can still enjoy family occasions\n“With an Asian lifestyle there’s a lot of people coming and going in my house. There are lots of parties and weddings.\n“The first couple of months I struggled when I went into someone’s house.\n“But if it’s there, have something small and don’t try and make excuses up.”\n4. “You’ve got to live your life”\n“You get 105 syns per week. If you go over one week, it happens. You’ve got to live your life.”", "When Surly decided to close Brewer’s Table, its ground-breaking fine-dining restaurant that paired its beer with elegant dishes from acclaimed chef Jorge Guzman, those of us who love fine dining were sad.\nAnd when the company announced it would open a pizzeria upstairs, it seemed like replacing something that was different and special with something predictable.\nIn other words, I was predisposed not to like Surly Pizza Upstairs (520 Malcolm Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 763-999-4040; surlybrewing.com). Yet, the pizza is so good I can’t help but love it.\nIt helps that chef Ben Peine decided to make New Haven-style pizza, something that isn’t available in this area. The charred, crisp-chewy crust tastes great all by itself, but also takes on toppings well. The specialty pizzas (each with its own clever name that references a movie or TV show) are creative, but not so creative that they no longer taste like pizza.\nOur favorite on a recent visit was probably the I’m Your Daddy ($13), a combination of sweet and spicy peppers and little cups of pepperoni that are brilliantly drizzled with burnt honey so it pools inside of them.\nWe were also big fans of the taco pizza, Beast ($15), which combines pulled pork, salsa verde, pickled red onions, radishes, cilantro and Mexican cheeses. It’s not the taco pizza you probably pictured, but that’s a good thing. Tortilla chips and iceberg lettuce should have no place on a pie.\nAnother pizza we liked, that had salami, arugula and bits of giardiniera, is off the menu now, but you can add the kicky pickled veggies to any pizza, and we recommend doing so. Often.\nSalads are good here, too. A classic Caesar ($8) is made a little less classic and a lot more tasty with pickled red onions and Parmesan crisps, and a baby kale ($7), is topped with irresistible crispy chick peas. They are perfect sharing sizes to go along with your pizza dinner, too.\nThe space has been opened up a bit, and there’s a bigger, rectangular bar. The second-floor patio was hopping when we were there, too, even though the weather wasn’t great. If you can’t find a table upstairs, which is a very real possibility, you can always take your pizza “to go” and find a spot to sit in the brewery’s sprawling beer garden.\nRelated Articles New MOA theater is just the spot for from-scratch dinner and a movie\nNew Grand Avenue market is the place to shop local food makers and order fast pho\nSt. Paul’s Just/Us offers something new — a casual (and tasty) tasting menu Our one complaint wasn’t about the food — it was that we had to wait in a separate line if we wanted beer on tap. You can get canned beer when you order at the counter-service operation, but if you want draft beer, the separate bar is your only option.\nThat said, the Rosé, a beer that uncannily tastes like a dry, sparkling pink wine, is worth the wait.\nSmall Bites are first glances — not intended as definitive reviews — of new or changed restaurants.", "WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WCBD) – Lowes Foods will open its first Lowcountry-area store in Summerville.\nThe 49,500 sq. ft. store is expected to open in late 2017 and will employee approximately 150 hosts. Carolinas-based grocer is continuing the planning phase for a store location in Mt. Pleasant at the intersection of Hwy. 41 and Woodpark Drive.\nCharleston is South Carolina’s third new market for Lowes Foods as part of an overall company strategy to remodel all existing stores and expand into additional markets by 2019. Lowes Foods opened its first Greenville, South Carolina area store in Greer last September and will open in Lexington, South Carolina near Columbia this summer.\nLocated in the Oakbrook Square Shopping Center at the intersection of Dorchester and Old Trolley Roads, key features of the Summerville store will include special store areas called Lowes Foods Originals, which include the Chicken Kitchen, SausageWorks, the Beer Den, Pick & Prep, Sunmill Wines, the Cakery, Bread Crumb, Sammy’s, Spice Bazaar, Smokehouse, Dry Aged Beef and the Community Table. The Beer Den and Sammy’s areas of the Summerville store will offer seating for guests.\n“Our Summerville store will be very focused on supporting all things local,” Lowes Foods president Tim Lowe said. “Our commitment to local includes offering produce sourced through our partnership with more than 200 local farmers, and featuring a wide assortment of unique local products found throughout the store.”\nFor the ultimate in locally grown products, Lowes Foods will feature a “pick your own herbs” section in the front of the store where store guests can clip a fresh sprig of rosemary or thyme for that recipe that calls for just a pinch. In addition, the new Summerville store will feature a wide assortment of organics, chef-inspired prepared foods, bulk foods, the convenience of the Lowes Foods-To-Go online personal shopping service and a fuel center.\nLowes Foods Originals to be featured in the new Summerville store will include:\nThe Chicken Kitchen. Includes a variety of prepared chicken that is fresh and never frozen, locally sourced, and is raised with “no antibiotics ever”. When hot chicken comes out of the rotisserie oven, the animated chicken chandelier signals the start of Lowes Foods’ special chicken celebration, including a unique version of the Chicken Dance.\nIncludes a variety of prepared chicken that is fresh and never frozen, locally sourced, and is raised with “no antibiotics ever”. When hot chicken comes out of the rotisserie oven, the animated chicken chandelier signals the start of Lowes Foods’ special chicken celebration, including a unique version of the Chicken Dance. If Willy Wonka had made sausage instead of chocolate, his famous factory would have been SausageWorks at Lowes Foods. SausageWorks features locally made pork, beef and poultry sausages in an unbelievable number of flavors, from the familiar crowd-pleasers to the “are they insane?” combinations.\nThe Beer Den. Offering the finest selection of crafts and drafts that is fantastically varied, local and refreshing. There are seasonal offerings of unique beers, special events, tap takeovers, and Growler fills on-site.\nOffering the finest selection of crafts and drafts that is fantastically varied, local and refreshing. There are seasonal offerings of unique beers, special events, tap takeovers, and Growler fills on-site. Pick & Prep. Offering shoppers help by cutting prep time in the kitchen so they can enjoy a little more quality time at the table. Pick & Prep chefs cut, slice, dice, mince and cube your fruits and vegetables the way you prefer, while you shop. Pick & Prep also offers an array of packaged, grab-&-go fruits and veggies that are cut fresh throughout the day.\nOffering shoppers help by cutting prep time in the kitchen so they can enjoy a little more quality time at the table. Pick & Prep chefs cut, slice, dice, mince and cube your fruits and vegetables the way you prefer, while you shop. Pick & Prep also offers an array of packaged, grab-&-go fruits and veggies that are cut fresh throughout the day. Sunmill Wines will feature a menu of wine and cheese pairings, a wine steward, complimentary wine bottle gift wrapping and the Sunmill Club – a monthly wine subscription service sure to inspire taste buds and discover new favorites.\nwill feature a menu of wine and cheese pairings, a wine steward, complimentary wine bottle gift wrapping and the Sunmill Club – a monthly wine subscription service sure to inspire taste buds and discover new favorites. The Cakery. A whimsical bakery where being square is incredibly cool. The Cakery features “Scrumptiouslyumptiously” delicious square cakes in all sizes that are assembled before eyes, topped with icing made fresh in-store with real cream and real butter icing made fresh in-store.\nA whimsical bakery where being square is incredibly cool. The Cakery features “Scrumptiouslyumptiously” delicious square cakes in all sizes that are assembled before eyes, topped with icing made fresh in-store with real cream and real butter icing made fresh in-store. Bread Crumb brings the bakery experience to life by featuring fresh-baked artisanal breads that are hand-crafted, all natural and have no preservatives. Lowes Foods’ signature Cobblestone breads are baked using fresh ingredients throughout the day, and the Mooresville store’s Hot Fresh Bread program promises fresh-from-the-oven loaves from 4:30pm-7:30pm every day – perfect to pick up for dinner.\nbrings the bakery experience to life by featuring fresh-baked artisanal breads that are hand-crafted, all natural and have no preservatives. Lowes Foods’ signature Cobblestone breads are baked using fresh ingredients throughout the day, and the Mooresville store’s Hot Fresh Bread program promises fresh-from-the-oven loaves from 4:30pm-7:30pm every day – perfect to pick up for dinner. L’Oven Cookies features gourmet all-butter cookies in an assortment of flavors merchandised in a miniature “oven” box.\nfeatures gourmet all-butter cookies in an assortment of flavors merchandised in a miniature “oven” box. Sammy’s menu includes signature sandwiches that feature ingredients from the Lowes Foods Originals such as SausageWorks, Chicken Kitchen, and Smokehouse. There are also create-your-own sandwiches, pizzas, and paninis that can be heated and ready to eat in just 90 seconds.\nmenu includes signature sandwiches that feature ingredients from the Lowes Foods Originals such as SausageWorks, Chicken Kitchen, and Smokehouse. There are also create-your-own sandwiches, pizzas, and paninis that can be heated and ready to eat in just 90 seconds. Spice Bazaar features five categories of herbs and spices: leaves; seeds; flowers and fruit; roots, bulbs and bark; and special blends.\nfeatures five categories of herbs and spices: leaves; seeds; flowers and fruit; roots, bulbs and bark; and special blends. Smokehouse will offer daily rotations of wood-smoked meats – including beef, pork, chicken and salmon – using a variety of woods to infuse flavor.\nwill offer daily rotations of wood-smoked meats – including beef, pork, chicken and salmon – using a variety of woods to infuse flavor. The Community Table. A place where shoppers can gather to sample, enjoy and learn how to prepare local foods. Constructed of reclaimed wood from local barns, it also serves as the site for events such as recipe sampling, crafts for children, gluten free eating tips and couponing classes.", "CLOSE The students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are proving not only are they experts in social media, but e-commerce too. They've made over $180k in sales of '#MSDStrong' t-shirts to customers all over the world. USA Today\nStudents nationwide will be coming to Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018, for the March for Our Lives, which was organized by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Fla., to end gun violence. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images RHONA WISERHONA WISE)\nStudent groups, religious organizations and others in the Washington, D.C., area are opening up their homes and offering support to those who will pack the streets of the nation's capital Saturday to demand an end to gun violence.\nThe March for Our Lives was organized in response to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14 that left 17 people dead. While the main march is in Washington, sister marches are planned nationwide.\nA group of D.C. mothers founded March For Our Lives Lodging to help students find a place to stay. As of March 19, they have 1,200 available hosts and have found lodging for 400 people.\nA map of homes in the D.C. area that signed up to host students through March For Our Lives Lodging. Homes with purple pins have been matched with guests. (Photo: March For Our Lives Lodging)\nThe group asks potential hosts and students to fill out a background form. \"We have mothers sitting around looking at the information trying to find the perfect family to match them with,\" co-founder Elizabeth Andrews said. \"Our biggest concern is: We don’t want anyone who wants to come to the march decide not to come because they don’t think they can afford housing.\"\nMarch for Our Lives Lodging is accepting donations of rain ponchos, metro cards and food for bagged lunches to hand out to marchers.\nGabrielle Zwi, Kate Lebrun and Michaela Hoenig, students from the Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, Md., started a network to find students a place to stay. People can direct message @DCTeensAction on Twitter or email dcteensaction@gmail.com for help. They have already found housing for 300 people and still have 400 spots available.\nStudents Demand Action, a gun-violence prevention group, is working with DC Teens Action to help find housing for students. If marchers get into town early, the group is hosting a free pizza and poster making party on Thursday.\nThe Reform Jewish community in the D.C. metro area is offering a variety of resources. Temple Rodef Shalom, Temple Beth Ami, Washington Hebrew Congregation and Temple Sinai are all offering some type of lodging to travelers whether it be in a home or on the floor of a synagogue. The congregations are also offering Shabbat dinner and Shabbat services and some are providing breakfast the morning of the march.\nThe Episcopal Diocese of Washington will host an interfaith prayer vigil the night before the march and is providing housing and bagged lunches. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia is coordinating, along with its congregations, lodging and transportation options for students.\nThe Epiphany Episcopal Church is offering housing, two meals and a night of music and reflection at their Peace Gathering on Friday.\nLyft co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer wrote a letter to students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas after the shooting offering condolences and free rides to anyone attending the march in Washington or the sibling marches across the country.\nScott Coriell, a Lyft communications manager, said the company is working with march organizers on logistics of the promotion.\nFollow Kaplan on Twitter @yofisofi\nRead or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2FPv7MA", "Farming wasn’t the dream career Caroline Chiu’s parents had in mind for their daughter but the budding entrepreneur has found that organic Chinese veggies are a hit in Vancouver.\nThe 28-year-old started her half-an-acre farm in Richmond, called Riverside Farm, after completing farm school at Kwantlen Polytechnic University two years ago. She tapped into her own commnunity to find success in Vancouver’s rapidly growing local-food scene.\n“We grow Chinese vegetables, so a lot of our customers are Chinese because they want those organic Asian greens which you can’t really find anywhere here,” said Chiu.\n“When you go to farmers' markets, you don’t see a lot of baby bok choy or gai lan or choy sum, which is what I want to grow because that’s what I eat as a staple green at home.”\nBut growing Chinese greens, known as “choy,” in the Lower Mainland is not new.\nIn fact, more than 90 per cent of produce grown in the Lower Mainland in the 1920s was cultivated by Chinese farmers in a system segregated by racist policies of the time, according to historian Kay Anderson, author of Vancouver’s Chinatown.\nEven today, some Chinese households continue to cultivate vegetable gardens in their yards, especially in East Vancouver neighbourhoods.\nBut larger scale Chinese vegetable farms don’t usually follow organic practices, said Chiu.\nAt Riverside Farm, Chiu grows organic bok choy, gai lan, choy sum, gai choy, and siu choy – staples in any Chinese household.\nShe delivers those vegetables to 37 families throughout the growing season. She chose to go with a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) model because it would give her a secure form of income. In CSAs, customers pay for the goods upfront and receive product throughout the season.\nChiu also grows Western vegetables like squash and kale, but it was her decision to grow choy that earned her customers. Many of Chiu’s customers came to her specifically because they wanted local organic Chinese vegetables, she said.\nIt appears other farmers have noticed the demand, too.\nVancouver markets saw a five to 15 per cent increase in the sale of Asian vegetables and a 10 per cent increase in the number of Asian shoppers in 2016, according to Vancouver Farmers' Market.\nChiu sold her vegetables at the Kwantlen Street Farmers' Market last year and says she saw the demand growing first hand. She chatted with Chinese seniors and introduced them to the idea of organic and GMO-free produce.\n“There is interest because they come back every week and they say, you’re right the veggies are so much tastier,” she said.\nSelling produce at markets gives farmers the opportunity to chat with customers and get a sense of what the latest food trends are – and in Chiu’s case, discover an untapped niche in the local food scene.\n“I think the new immigrants, the next generation of Asian Canadians will start to be more active in this local food movement and will demand for healthier organic food.”\nBut persuading her immigrant parents to allow her to pursue her passion of farming was a challenge.\n“My parents, typical immigrant family, they wanted me to be a scientist,” she said.\nChiu was born in Richmond and spent her childhood in Hong Kong before returning as a 14 year old. Despite growing up in the city, Chiu wanted a hands-on job that tied nicely with her interest in food economics. So, she became a farmer.\nShe enrolled in Kwantlen’s farm school and leased a half-acre of farmland from their incubator program after she graduated. This past season, she and business partner Jennifer Cline made $10,000 growing local organic veggies.\nChiu also works full time at Kwantlen as the farm school’s director. The vast majority of students at the school have a similar background as her – city dwellers who have no family history in farming but are drawn to the craft.\nMany started by contributing to community gardens and then became fascinated with the idea of building their own farm, she said.", "In 2016, Simitrio and Evonne Cruz opened Nature’s Best Cafe in Naperville with a simple premise.\n“Our philosophy is to eat healthy, feel better,” Simitrio said, who worked in the restaurant business for more than two decades before he and Evonne decided to open their own restaurant.\nWith a focus on clean eating, Nature’s Best is a popular fast casual option for diners who want fresh, made from scratch sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads and hand-tossed pizzas. They also have many gluten-free and vegetarian options, and can tailor menu items to meet specific dietary requests.\n“We know firsthand how difficult it is to eat out since we have three people in our family with celiac disease (a disease where ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine),” Simitrio said. “I just enjoy clean eating and I think it is better for your health.”\nEating well can be delicious, and the Cruz’s have been sharing that mission with area diners for the past two years.\n“It has taken some time for people to notice us and find us, but it is going in the right direction,” Simitrio said. “Once they come in and see what we do and try our food, they come back and they refer us to others.”\nHere’s the dish on this Naperville cafe.\nWhat’s on the menu? The menu includes breakfast omelets, sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups and pizzas as well as fresh squeezed juices and probiotic frozen yogurt. Most items can be made gluten-free and they also have ample vegetarian options.\nAbout the owners: Nature’s Best Cafe is owned by husband and wife team Simitrio and Evonne Cruz. Simitrio runs the day-to-day operations while Evonne is a school teacher. This is their first restaurant, although Simitrio has been in the restaurant business since 1995, working at the Darden Group and Bloomingdales in New York City and Chicago.\nJane Donahue/Naperville Sun Walls of windows flood the cafe with natural light and the works of local artists displayed at Nature’s Best Cafe in Naperville. Walls of windows flood the cafe with natural light and the works of local artists displayed at Nature’s Best Cafe in Naperville. (Jane Donahue/Naperville Sun)\nA mission statement or philosophy: Eat healthy, feel better.\nWhat’s the decor like? It’s fitting that a cafe that boasts fresh food has a bright, fresh interior and open concept kitchen. Walls of windows flood the cafe with natural light and the works of local artists are proudly displayed on the other wall. Easy to understand menu boards help diners order at the counter and they can choose from tables (for small or large groups) as well as comfy recliners.\nFood specialties? The food specialties include fresh local produce so they change regularly. The mango salad is popular, featuring organic spring mix, sundried cranberries, chunks of fresh mango, oven roasted walnuts and goat cheese along with a homemade mango vinaigrette dressing. The portobello sandwich (with roasted bell peppers, goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette) is tasty as are the 12-inch hand tossed pizzas which are baked in a stone fired oven.\nWe’re different because: This locally owned gem prides itself on creating fresh, made from scratch items using locally sourced ingredients. And when it comes to pizza, Simitrio said, it’s the dough (made from scratch, of course) that sets them apart.\nExtras: They have carry out, catering and space to host private parties (like showers, birthdays and book clubs) and larger events as well.\nPrice range: Breakfast ranges from $2.50-$7, soup ($4), salads ($7) and sandwiches, wraps and hand-tossed pizzas are between $8 and $9. Smoothies and fresh squeezed juices are $5 and desserts range from $2.75-$4.\nLogistics: Nature’s Best is located at 1904 Brookdale Road, in the Brookdale Square shopping plaza in Naperville, just a half-mile east of Route 59. They are open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursdays, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays. They are closed on Sunday. Call 630-778-1081 go to www.naturesbcafe.com.\nJane Donahue is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.", "Alan, Sara and Kyle. AKA The Rye Truck Photo by Brian Feinzimer\nBread makes the world go 'round. Croissants for brekkie, sammiches at lunch and rolls for dinner. So when I started following The Rye Truck on Instagram, it was only a matter of time before I could chase them down to purchase pastry and request an interview. Sara Lezama is the luxe lonchera's voice, but the founding team includes her husband Kyle Titterud and brother Alan Lezama.\nHow did you decide on pursuing a career in pastry?\nI grew up loving the kitchen. I remember at a small age thinking that the oven was magical— all the amazing things that came out of it. I couldn't wait to do it on my own. I've been baking solo since the fifth grade.\nOne stereotype about your industry, and whether it's true.\nCurrently in the pastry and baking industry, you have a huge influx of extremely sweet and over-the-top products. I think a lot of people are associating most pastries and baked goods with being unhealthy/an indulgence. And for the most part it's completely true! We have made it our mission to drive baking in the opposite direction! 100% organic and solar-powered.\nWhat is your guilty pleasure food?\nPIZZA!\nWhat do you recommend for first-timers, and what are your best-sellers?\nFor first-timers I would recommend something savory and something sweet. It's the best way to get to know us. The Peruvian empanadas and bacon scones have been selling out; they would definitely be our best-selling savory items. The strawberry poppy seed tarts and our chocolate chip cookies are crushing the sweet game right now!\nThe brownie sounds so different. Tell me about how you came up with the flavor profile.\nHonestly, I was craving chocolate and blueberries! And I thought what better way to eat the two together; both are crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside.\nName a recent food find.\nOur most recent food find was this past weekend in San Francisco at The Mill by Josey Baker. They are making these giant pizzas with locally sourced fresh veggies on top, and they may be one of the best things we have ever tasted!\nYou're making breakfast for yourself; what are you having?\nBeing so busy, we really only get one day a week together to make a good family breakfast. So when we do, we go all out. We love making our whole grain, naturally leavened pancakes with blueberries and a fried egg. We have the cutest, old tangerine tree in our front yard, so when it's in season we juice that too!\nI noticed you carried Stumptown Coffee. How did you decide on them?\nThis question is complicated. We recently made the change to Arcade Coffee Roasters in Riverside. We want to collaborate with a smaller brand and people who are more local. Arcade is amazing! I encourage all coffee fans to try them out. They care a great deal about what goes into the product and what they are serving the community.\nGetting their hands dirty: Kyle and Sara Photo by Brian Feinzimer\nHow did you and Kyle meet?\nOur mutual friend asked me to come over and check out a comic book collection they had found (laughs).\nTell us something most people don't know about you.\nThat I decided to be a vegetarian at the young age of 10, and have been ever since.\nDo you have any skills that have nothing to do with food?\nI love to build! My husband and I are currently working on a beautiful wood pastry case.\nFavorite places to eat:\nCurrently, our favorite place is The Farmhouse at Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar. Chef Rich Mead is bringing farm-to-table (or as they like to say it, field-to-fork) to Orange County, and it's amazing!\nLast thing you looked up online:\nHow to build a wood-fired oven. Yes, that's our plan for baking bread this fall/winter season.\nHardest lesson you've learned:\nHow essential it is to find people who believe in what you're doing.\nWhat is your goal for The Rye Truck: A brick-and-mortar, another truck or something else?\nOur plans are to open up a brick-and-mortar sometime next year. In the meantime, we will be launching Rye Goods Co this fall. It will be a bakery delivery service and website that will showcase everything we are doing, in hopes to get more people on board with eating local and responsible. We will be milling fresh grains from the Tehachapi Project for all our goods.\nWhat profession would you like to try if you weren't in this business?\nMicro farming. Always dreamed of moving to a small town and growing beautiful things.\nGet to know their menu at www.theryetruck.com.", "Northeast Johnson County residents this week are mourning the loss of Rich Nitsch, the former FBI investigator who devoted himself to volunteering in local schools, introducing students to the sport of wrestling and advocating on behalf of the state’s K-12 education system.\nNitsch died unexpectedly Thursday at the age of 64.\nAfter retiring from the FBI, Nitsch — who started his career as a high school wrestling coach — and his wife Susan became pillars of their school communities, serving in key roles in the Belinder Elementary and Indian Hills PTAs and the Shawnee Mission East Band Booster Club.\nNitsch was also one of the founders of the group that became GameOn for Kansas schools, the advocacy organization that now plays a significant role in efforts to promote a strong public education system across the state.\nEric Mikkelson, the former Prairie Village city councilman, recalls that it was Nitsch who convened the first meeting of the GameOn group.\n“He was a ‘zero-to-one’ creator,” Mikkelson said.\nAmong his volunteer contributions, Nitsch helped build the Indian Hills wrestling program and served as its coach. The team won this year’s district championship.\n“Rich was an incredible man and role model not only students at Indian Hills but also the adults that he touched,” said Indian Hills principal Scott Sherman.\nAs one of the leaders of the Kansas City Wrestling Club, Nitsch organized summer camps that featured Olympian Melvin Douglas, who Nitsch had coached as a high schooler.\n“The only reason those camps happened is because Rich coached Melvin in high school,” said Marc Erickson, a friend and fellow KCWC coach. “Rich organized the camps himself and paid for everything so that all kids could go for free.”\nStories such generosity are abundant. With his daughter Natalie involved in SM East’s band, Nitsch has been a key volunteer for the program during director Alex Toepfer’s first years in the job. Toepfer said he saw Nitsch step up to help kids in need time and again.\n“Rich’s impact on at-risk kids was huge,” Toepfer said. “I knew of one kid whose lunch account Rich would donate $50 to, anonymously, just to make sure he was eating enough. He did stuff like that all the time.”\nHe was also a positive presence who had the ability to brighten the day of everyone he encountered.\n“He was so connected, so adored by everyone. No matter what was happening in your day, just a few short minutes with him left you smiling,” said Belinder Elementary principal Steve Yeoman. “He really went out of his way to build relationships with students and families and always believed in the good in everyone.”\nHis family is organizing a celebration of life. Details to come.", "The video will start in 8 Cancel\nClick to play Tap to play\nGet Great Deals updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nLunching at work can be an expensive pursuit.\nAccording to Visa Contactless, workers can spend more than £2,500 a year on lunch and snacks.\nSo, to help cut the costs, we made a list of 15 places in the city, where you can get lunch for under a fiver.\nFilter + Fox\nIts day menu offers a wide range of healthy and nutritious lunches, from smashed avocado on toast to a salmon bagel, both for £5.\nYou can also order a grilled cheese sandwich featuring mature cheddar, swiss cheese and gruyere for £4.\n27 Duke Street, Liverpool, L1 5AP, 0151 708 9458\nPaolo & Donato\nIf you're after an authentic but affordable Italian, Paola & Donato is the place to go.\nLocated near the Metquarter, you can get any Italian sandwich for £4.50.\nFor something more filling, a pizza starts at £4 and a lasagna costs £5.\n24 Richmond Street, Williamson Square, L1 1EF, Liverpool, 0151 708 7117\nThe Egg Café\nLocated just off Bold Street, The Egg Cafe is a firm favourite for vegans in the city.\nSoup of the day is priced at £2.75 and all main courses are under £5.\nThis includes tandoori mushrooms and a leek and creamcheese quiche.\nTop Floor, 16 - 18 Newington, Liverpool, L1 4ED, 0151 707 2755\nMerseyside Maritime Dining Rooms\nCheese fans will love the Maritime Dining Rooms as the Albert Dock restaurant offers a three cheese toastie.\nYou can also find a selection of sandwiches and a seasonal soup of the day for under £5.\nHartley Quay, Liverpool L3 4AQ, 0151 478 4056\nWake & Cate\nServing a range of deli style panini's with a choice of fillings from £3.50.\nTreat yourself to a Beef fillet panini with sliced beef fillet, goat’s cheese, humous, paprika and rocket salad.\n13-17 Tarleton St, Liverpool, L1 1DS, 0151 345 6413\nFrederiks\nFrederiks neighbourhood bar and kitchen is famous for its stonebaked pizzas, freshly made on site to order.\nAs part of its lunchtime weekday deals it has selected pizzas for £5.\nFrederiks, 32 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BX, 0151 708 9574\nCook Street Coffee\nOffering good value for money, nothing at Cook Street Coffee is over £5.\nFor lunch, you can choose from salads, sandwiches, omelettes, full English breakfast, toasties, baked potatoes and paninis.\n12 Cook St, Liverpool L2 9QU, 0151 236 6738\nRevolution\nFor a lunch with a difference, Revolution on the Albert Dock is the place to go.\nFeast on popcorn halloumi, calamari and nachos for less than £5.\nUnit 4M, Atlantic Pavilion Albert Dock, Liverpool ,L3 4AE ,0151 909 2777\nWalker Art Gallery\nIf you're in the area or on a cultural visit, it may be worth stopping at the Walker Art Gallery's cafe for a cheap lunch.\nFor £5 you can get a panini, sandwich, boxed salad and soups.\nWalker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EL, 0151 478 4199\nCafé Tabac\nAs part of its 'Take 5' lunch offer Cafe Tabac is offering a range of home cooked dishes at £5.\nThese items can also be ordered to take away, to make grabbing a cheap, hearty lunch even easier.\nIt serves a soup and sandwich, aubergine and butternut curry and rice and a tabac chilli and rice all under £5.\nCafe Tabac, 126 Bold Street, Liverpool L1 4JA, 0151 709 9502\nOut to Lunch\nLocated on Chapel St, Out to Lunch offer \"sandwiches of distinction\" from £2.30.\nIt also serves jacket potatoes, hot roasted meats and homemade soups - all under £5.\n2-4 Chapel St, Liverpool L3 9AG, 0151 236 9552\nMangetout\nIf you're wanting variety at an affordable price, Mangetout is a good option.\nSandwiches on barms and rolls range from Italian chicken and green pesto sauce pastrami and caramelised onion chutney.\nMangetout also sells paninis, jacket potatoes, salad boxes and soup - everything on the menu is less than £5.\n21- 23 Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L3 9BS, 0151 227 4878\nLucha Libre\nFor a spicy lunch, Lucha Libre has some of Liverpool’s best Mexican street food for less than a fiver.\nYou can choose from the brunch menu or main menu for lunch.\nOne of the most popular dishes on the main menu is the Veggie Enchilada, which can be made vegan, for £3.95.\nYou’ll get a 6.5\" flour tortilla filled with a mix of sweet potato, black beans, peppers, courgette, butternut squash and chipotle salsa, topped with melted cheese.\nOr if you really need a carbohydrate hit, Lucha’s Dirty Fries come in three types – Piggy Piggy Piggy, Dirty Veggie or Chilli Cheese for £4.95.\n96 Wood St, Liverpool L1 4DQ, 0151 329 0200\nChop'd\nThe salad specialists offer natural food using fresh ingredients.\nYou can create your own wrap for £4.95 or buy a ready to go salad such as falafel and hummus or feta, sweet potato and pomegranate for £5 or less.\n8a Dale Street and The Plaza 100 Old Hall Street, 0151 227 1280, 0151 236 8259\nDia + Noche\nBold Street’s new kid Dia + Noche is all about eating well and using great healthy ingredients.\n(Image: Dia + Noche)\nHead to the daytime Dia menu and you’ll find lots of brunch and lunch options.\nTwo favourites include the wild mushroom and spinach al benny, served with rich and creamy Picos blue cheese, hollandaise sauce and chives for £4.95.\nOr try the avocado and eggs - soft poached or scrambled served with smashed avocado spiked with chilli on toast for £4.50.\n77 Bold St, Liverpool, L1 4EZ, 0151 329 0222", "Get What's On updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nA race which encourages runners to eat pizza along the route has been scrapped in Birmingham.\nThe 5k Pizza Run - the first of its kind in Europe - was meant to be coming to the city this May.\nThe event, which is taking place at other locations across the UK, invited runners to collect slices of pizza as a reward.\nBut organisers revealed on Monday that the Birmingham edition had bitten the dust.\nPizza Run UK said on Twitter that the city council felt the race did not fit in with its \"current health and well-being programme\".\nBirmingham Live has asked the authority for a comment.\nOrganisers said: \"It is with a heavy heart that we must announce the cancellation of our much anticipated Birmingham, Pizza Run UK event, planned for May 13 2018.\n\"The Pizza Run UK events have been warmly received by council planning teams across the UK, as part of a promotion for the participation in sport and uptake of a healthy balanced lifestyle.\n\"We have also received innumerable compliments from the thousands of entrants.\n\"However, we're surprised to learn that Birmingham City Council feel 'Pizza Run is not endorsing the city council's current health and well-being programme'.\n\"Naturally, we struggle to understand this and are both confused and disappointed at the decision.\"\nBirmingham entrants have been refunded and invited to apply for a place in other locations.\nThe craze started on the east coast of the US and has now swept across to the UK are participants are encouraged to take part in fancy dress.\nOrganisers say the aim of the event is to encourage communities to find a healthy balance of fitness and their favourite foods.\nThe news is the latest blow to Birmingham runners.\nLast week, it was announced that this year's Birmingham International Marathon has been cancelled , with organisers blaming the city’s extensive roadworks for preventing them from designing an ‘iconic course’.\nThe Great Run Company launched the first full marathon in the city only last year, alongside the existing Birmingham half marathon.\nHowever, the company’s David Hart told Birmingham Live that last year’s runners hadn’t enjoyed the course, in part because of the impact of major roadworks and construction in the city. Efforts to find a better route for 2018 had foundered, he said.\n“We just couldn’t put together a course to show off the best of the city,” he said. “We had very robust feedback from last year’s runners that it simply hadn’t been an iconic course that reflected the very best of the city.”\nFollowing talks with Birmingham City Council, the company took the decision on Thursday to suspend entries to the 2018 marathon.\nIn a statement, the company said: “Ongoing redevelopment and roadworks at key areas in the city centre have restricted options for a new and improved route to make it the brilliant running experience the Great Run Company and Birmingham City Council are striving to deliver.\n”Everyone who has already entered would be given full refunds and discounted entry to the half marathon, which will go ahead as planned.\nMr Hart said: “It’s fully our ambition to hold a full marathon in the future, but we just couldn’t get the course together this year. The Simplyhealth Great Birmingham Run half marathon is still taking place on Sunday, 14 October, and moving back to its popular morning start time.”", "Get Daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email\nHave you got your tickets to the Exeter’s all-new music festival, Exeter Beats? This May Day Bank Holiday weekend, Exeter Food Festival is presenting three spectacular nights of live music at Exeter Castle.\nThe event, hosted by Radio Exe, will bring the historic courtyard to life with a full line-up of top quality acts plus regional street food and local ales, ciders and cocktails.\nHere are 5 things you simply can’t miss at Exeter Beats:\nIncredible live music\nFriday night headliners are the nationally acclaimed Mad Dog Mcrea, an exceptional band blending a unique mix of folk rock, pop, gypsy jazz and bluegrass who never fail to capture audiences attention with their infectious tunes. Prepare to get your groove on with Friday night support act Malavita! as they fuse funky Latin beats, skanktastic & chunky bass lines to create a heady mixture of feel good tunes. Devon based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Pete Falloon will also be taking to stage to kick-start the evening.\nSaturday night features the UK’s top Madness tribute band, One Step Behind, who will be supported by London eight-piece, The Brass Funkeys. The Brass Funkeys’ energetic live shows are set to kick-start the party with sounds of reggae, hip hop, gypsy, swing and Latin. Attendees can also admire the soulful sound of the Leigh Coleman band to begin their Saturday evening.\nGear up for a magnificent Sunday night finale with David Live, the UK’s most sought-after tribute to the late, much-loved David Bowie, with support from Devon based bands Soul Funktion and Soul Stroke.\nParty with an Otter\nThe Otter Brewery bar returns to the Castle courtyard to accompany the tunes with the flavour of summer. Be sure to swing by and grab a pint of your favourite local ale.\nFoodie goodness\nImbibe the festival vibes whilst devouring some irresistible street food from one of the delicious regional exhibitors. We’re talking cheesy pizzas from South Devon Pizza co., pastry delights from Tom’s Pies, meaty treats from Kenniford Farm, vegan and veggie delicacies from V Dorset plus fresh exhibitors Thyme & Tide.\nMarvellous cocktails\nFestival goers can sip on an extravagant cocktail crafted by the super-talented bartenders at Oddfellows. As well as cocktail classics, Oddfellows’ own creations are whacky, fantastic and absolutely delicious – a Festival must.\nA Festival undercover\nWhat if it rains? Do not fear, Exeter Beats has you covered. If drizzly British weather comes into play, a rain-proof cover will be installed over the entire courtyard to ensure that nothing prohibits the festivities. Come rain or shine, the show must go on!\nWith so many exciting things to sink your teeth into, it’s time to assemble your Festival squad for a Bank Holiday Weekend to remember at Exeter Beats. Going with a group? Purchase 9 tickets and get the tenth free.\nTickets are available now at https://exeterfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk", "Red Light Ramen\n414-837-5107 | redlightramen.com | $-$$\nArdent\n414-897-7022 | ardentmke.com | $$$-$$$$\nDanDan\n414-488-8036 | dandanmke.com | $$-$$$\nEsterEv\n414-488-8036 | esterev.com | $$$-$$$$\nMovida\n414-224-5300 | movidamke.com | $$\nThe Churro Shop\n414-224-5300 | thechurroshop.com | $\nVinchi’s Pizza\n414-384-8040 | $-$$\nThe Bubbler\n414-482-4941\nGypsy Taco\nfacebook.com/gypsytaco | $\nBoone & Crockett\n414-779-0818 | boonemilwaukee.com\nA new trend is taking hold in restaurants around Milwaukee that gives chefs the flexibility to explore cuisine apart from their everyday menus: restaurants within restaurants. Not quite a pop-up restaurant, which is sporadic in its appearance, these restaurants operate in the same space, from the same kitchen, but under a completely different name and concept.\nRed Light Ramen, an offshoot of Ardent (1751 N. Farwell Ave.), was one of the first successful examples of this meta restaurant concept. Originally only open on weekend nights after dinner service was over, Ardent’s Justin Carlisle transformed the restaurant space into a loud, bustling Japanese ramen shop, the exact opposite of calm, cozy Ardent. It was so popular that once the space next to the restaurant became vacant, Carlisle made Red Light Ramen (1749 N. Farwell Ave.) a permanent spot. Red Light is now open Wednesday-Saturday 6 p.m.-1 a.m.\nOther restaurants are now following Carlisle’s lead—though whether they will be moving into a separate permanent homes remains to be seen, and is probably unlikely thanks to restaurants with a larger footprint. DanDan (360 E. Erie St.), a Chinese American restaurant that opened in summer of 2016, also operates EsterEv in a private dining room. Available Thursday through Saturday nights for one seating, the 10-course menu ($80) from chefs Dan Van Rite and Dan Jacobs features dishes from around the globe, and generally doesn’t include a Chinese influence. The menu changes monthly and beverage pairings ($40), which usually include wines and cocktails, can be added. Past dishes have included steak tartare, sturgeon with oxtail and radish, and rabbit with gnocchi. Seating is family style and reservations are required.\nMovida (524 S. Second St.), a Spanish restaurant serving tapas and paella, fries up fresh churros in a mini meta restaurant. Called The Churro Shop, diners can order churros at the restaurant’s bar for take-out or dine-in, or you can even get them delivered hot to wherever you like. (Can you imagine an office party with fresh churros? Everyone would actually show up.) The Churro Shop is available Tuesday through Sunday evenings, with hours until midnight on Friday and Saturday for night owls. Churros ($5-$6) come with your choice of dipping sauce, including chocolate and raspberry. And if you’d like something savory to go with your sweet, they also offer croquetas. The little fried fritters ($10-11) are available stuffed with ham or veggie goat cheese, and come with garlic aioli.\nWhile the restaurant-within-a-restaurant trend is relatively new, many bars have had kitchens operating separately from the bar business for years. Vinchi’s Pizza, a clandestine South Side pizza spot, operates out of the Bubbler pub (3158 S. Howell Ave.). In this case, the kitchen space is leased out to a third party—namely, Paul Meka—that bakes some of the best Milwaukee-style thin crust around. You can order pies to eat in the pub, or call ahead for takeout. It’s cash only, so plan ahead.\nBoone & Crockett (2151 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) also has a permanent resident: Gypsy Taco. It started as a food truck, and technically it still is, though it’s parked in Boone’s backyard patio space. They generally serve the same hours as Boone, though they sometimes close for weather, given their al fresco location. The seasonal menu changes often, but you’ll almost always find their Dr. Pepper-braised pork shoulder taco ($4) and their take on Mexican street corn in a cup ($4) with Cotija cheese and arugula. No matter what you order, top it with their signature Gypsy Danger hot sauce.", "Of the 19 people gathered around a rectangle of tables in the Blue Room, there was a self-described flexitarian — mostly meat-free — who wanted to be able to cook Friday night meals for her vegetarian grandson;\nThere was a vegan newbie with a tote bag filled with cookbooks;\nThere was a 60-something couple that, for health reasons, has moved \"beyond vegan\" to a nutritarian diet, which is high in nutrients, plants and anti-cancer superfoods.\nAmbrosi, a longtime animal welfare activist and vegan, recently started the come-one, come-all group as a way to connect the veg-curious. The Vegan Cookbook Club meets the first Thursday of the month at the Mount Royal Branch of the Duluth Public Library and its hourlong meetings are part support group, part recipe exchange, part resource sharing, part food chatter.\nOne need not be vegan to apply.\n\"There is almost nothing for vegans in Duluth,\" Ambrosi said. \"It's a surprise how diverse and energetic this group is. My hope is that people come and teach each other.\"\nMelissa Boyle, who has been mostly vegan for 20 years, passed a copy of \"Thug Kitchen,\" a collection of veg-heavy recipes by bloggers-turned-bestsellers who pepper the text with comically naughty language.\nBoyle was drawn to the club because she loves to talk about food and meal planning, she said.\n\"I aspire to crafting and domesticity,\" she said. She also gardens and creates Wooly Wearables, slippers made from repurposed felted wool sweaters.\nThroughout the meeting she offered tips of freezable vegan burritos (squash, beans, onion, garlic, maybe quinoa), how to inexpensively make your own baked tofu (a mix of soy sauce and sugar), and when another group member wondered about B12 deficiencies among vegans, Boyle offered a B12 fix: \"Nutritional yeast,\" she suggested.\nHeidi Cottingham, who said she went vegan after Christmas, described herself as a \"nutrition nerd\" and shared a bag full of cookbooks — which she said she reads like they are book-books.\n\"I worried about getting a variety of tastes and textures,\" she said, then she went international. \"Japanese food, Indian food. Alternating in a soup. It's a journey, and I'm enjoying it,\" she said.\nSue Baker simply joined the group to find good recipes, she said. Then she offered up a simple one of her own: Take a date, cut it open, put it on celery.\nThat's the way it is with vegan cooking, which includes no animal products or byproducts.\n\"A lot of the things I eat don't require a recipe,\" Ambrosi offered. Toasted pumpkin seeds, she said, or smoothies made from raspberries, avocado and almond milk. But for those looking for direction:\n\"There are 182 vegan cookbooks at the Duluth Public Library,\" she offered.\nJim Naus, vegan since the 1990s, reminded the group to read the science behind foods — to not just believe the marketing reputation.\n\"Bananas don't have as much potassium as you think,\" he said.\nWhen someone asked who was familiar with the China Study — a 2013 book that considers links between a meat diet and chronic illness — more than half of the room raised a hand.\nDave Watson shared a story about a family reunion where one of his sisters provided all of the meat. His contribution: The advocacy documentary \"Forks Over Knives,\" which stresses a pro-plant, whole foods lifestyle.\n\"The room cleared out when I put the video on,\" he told the group.\nWatson has been vegan for more than a year, but citing heart problems — quadruple bypass surgery in 2008 — has taken it a step further to eliminate oils and processed foods.\nAs the meeting went on, recipes were passed to Ambrosi, who sends out an email with meeting notes each month.\nThe conversation shifted into other dietary considerations: whether a nutritarian could find something to eat at a certain local restaurant and how to make a good, vegan oil-free pizza crust, using something other than chickpea flour and applesauce.\nThe recent FDA change to nutrition fact labels that would require each sugar be listed separately earned cheers from Judy Breuer — who isn't vegan at all, but is interested in health and broadening her palate. She went off-topic with the kind of food joke the group could appreciate:\n\"Want to know the best way to get people not to eat sugar,\" Breuer joked. \"Take Hersey's Kisses and put 'Gluten free' on it.\"\nIf you go\nWhat: Vegan Cookbook Club\nWhen: First Thursday of the month\nWhere: Duluth Public Library Mount Royal Branch, 105 Mt. Royal Shopping Circle\nNext up: March 2\nOATMEAL JUMBLES\n3 large bananas\n2 cups rolled oats (regular)\n¾ cups chocolate chips, dates, raisins or any combination\n¼ cup oil (optional)\n2 dashes of salt\n2 teaspoon vanilla extract\nPreheat oven 400 degrees. Mash the banana with fork or potato masher. Mix in oats, vanilla, one dash of salt and dried fruit/chocolate of choice. Let rest for 15 minutes.\nOil or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a fork to create pingpong ball sized balls. Bake for 15 minutes or until the small oats begin to brown. Makes approximately 30.\nAdapted from \"The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life\" by Jim Naus\nROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES WITH TEMPEH AND LEMON PARSLEY TAHINI SAUCE\n7 cups of chopped root vegetables\n1 small delicata squash or similar small squash\n1 8-ounce package of tempeh, cut into small cubes\n2 tablespoon olive oil\n1 tablespoon maple syrup\n1 teaspoon dry mustard\n1 heaping teaspoon dried thyme\n1 tablespoon white wine vinegar\nPreheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the delicata squash in half the long way, remove the seeds. No need to peel, just cut the halves into crescent shapes. Use a large bowl to combine the veggies, onion, squash and tempeh.\nIn a separate bowl whisk together the olive oil, maple syrup, vinegar, thyme and mustard. Add to the veggies and mix thoroughly to coat.\nSpread onto two rimmed sheet pans ideally covered in parchment paper. Don't try to crowd everything onto one pan — they will steam rather than roast. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.\nRoast at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, stir and then continue roasting for another 10 minutes or until the veggies are nicely browned, but not burnt. Serve on top of brown rice with steamed or sauteed kale. Makes enough for 4-6 people\nSubmitted by Melissa Boyle\nLEMON PARSLEY TAHINI SAUCE\nSmall bunch (about 30 sprigs) flat-leaf parsley\n1/2 cup sesame tahini\n2-4 large cloves garlic\n4-5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice\n2-6 tablespoons water\n3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste\n1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)\nHolding the parsley in a bunch, trim off and discard an inch or so from the bottom of the stems. Cut the bunch crosswise into thirds. Place in a colander, rinse and drain. Shake off the excess water.\nPlace the tahini, parsley, garlic, 4 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water into the bowl of a food processor. Blend well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and adding enough additional water and/or lemon juice to create a sauce with a smooth consistency. (The amount of liquid you will need to add will depend upon the thickness of the tahini and how much water adhered to the parsley). Add the salt and cayenne.\nRefrigerate until needed or for up to one week. Or make lots and freeze in 1/2 cup containers. The sauce will thicken as it sits. Add a small amount of hot water to thin it out. Or use as a dip or sandwich spread. You can also make a quick hummus by adding about 1/2 cup of the thickened sauce to a can of drained garbanzo beans in the food processor.\nSubmitted by Melissa Boyle\nMOROCCAN CARROT SALAD\n3 extra large carrots\n1/2 cup golden or regular raisins\n3 tablespoon lemon juice\n1/2 teaspoon ground cumin\n1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon\n1/2 teaspoon salt\n1 pinch ground cayenne\n2 tablespoons olive oil\n1/4 cup toasted slivered or sliced almonds\nGrate the carrots on a box grater or food processor. Put them in a bowl with the raisins.\nIn a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour the dressing over the carrots and raisins and toss to mix. Add the almonds and serve. Will keep in the refrigerator 4-5 days.\nSubmitted by Melissa Boyle", "Screening of ‘Elf’ becoming holiday tradition\nBECCA MARTIN-BROWN\nbmartin@nwadg.com\nNicole Cotton-Leachman is big on family traditions. She remembers fondly her childhood holidays, with dinner on Christmas Eve with one set of grandparents and dinner on Christmas Day with the other, waiting until dark to open gifts and caroling around the neighborhood for hours.\n“It wasn’t the presents,” says Cotton-Leachman, who is managing director of the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. “It was everybody coming in town and eating and being together — that time of year when the house was full and busy, and everyone was so excited.”\nCreating a tradition at the fledgling arts center wasn’t on her agenda, but it happened in 2015, when she hosted a holiday screening of “Elf” starring Will Ferrell.\n“It was really cool, because we had people bringing their kids and their grandkids, we had women coming together as a girls’ day out, we had older couples out on dates — it was completely different than what we expected! We ended up reaching all ages!”\nCotton-Leachman built on that success in 2016, inviting participants to come dressed in their favorite holiday costumes and donating nonperishable foods for the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Campus Food Pantry. This year’s screening, set for Dec. 9, will be even bigger — and she’s got an even better reason to be excited. This is her first Christmas making memories with her new husband, Henry Leachman.\n“First, we went to the lighting of the square this year, which was so much fun! We also love having a sense of community, so we plan to bake holiday treats for all our neighbors with an invitation to a Christmas ugly sweater party at the home of the now Leachmans.”\nBut at Faulkner, events will start at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 9 for the 3 p.m. screening.\n“We will have free face painting and a magician starting at 1:30 p.m.,” she says. “We are also very excited that Marco’s Pizza is joining our partnership this year for some artistic fun. Marco’s Pizza is bringing blank pizza boxes for families to take home and decorate. Once you have it decorated you can take it into the store for a large one-topping pizza for $7.99. Also you can enjoy a performance by a string quartet from the Arkansas Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.\n“Our crowd is diverse and we see people from all walks of life! We would love for the people in the community to come up and get involved. There’s plenty to do for the kids, good free date time, or just watching a now ‘holiday classic’ on the big screen.”\nFAQ\n‘Elf’\nWHEN — 3 p.m. Dec. 9 with lobby activities beginning at 1:30 p.m.\nWHERE — Faulkner Performing Arts Center in Fayetteville\nCOST — Donation of canned food for the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Campus Food Pantry\nINFO — 575-5387\nBONUS — Parking in the Stadium Parking Garage is free that day.", "Sign-up for the Urban Milwaukee daily email\nAfter a quick look at the menu at Ka-Bobs, you will know this is not a Greek restaurant, as the name might suggest. In fact, it’s anything but. Owner Bob Nicholson says “it’s just a play on words,” on his first name.\nActually the wide-ranging but meaty menu offers four different kind of burgers, six meaty “Handhelds” or sandwiches, a variety of six entrees including Skillet Mac & Cheese, Pork Mignon and Shrimp Linguini, and Saturday night specials Aged Prime Rib and BBQ Ribs.\nBut the menu, true to its name, also features six different kabobs, and Nicholson nails the art of skewered meats. After two visits, friends and I had sampled each of the kabobs, a variety that includes beef, chicken, shrimp, and veggies, each accompanied by a special sauce. The B&B, slices of New York strip, interwoven with Nueske’s bacon, had so much beefy flavor they didn’t need the bbq sauce. “The meat tastes like filet,” my friend said, “and it’s even more tender and juicy from the bacon.” It came with a side, a large portion of roasted veggies, carrots, onions, asparagus, and potatoes. Other side choices include, house made chips, fries, rice, and a side seldom seen on a menu, grilled pineapple.\nThe Chicken Satay Ka-bob had an Asian twist from the spicy peanut sauce. Nicholson told us he makes it spicy with ground red pepper and Sriracha. He explained that he wants to give his customers the heat, without overwhelming the flavor of the grilled chicken. Like the New York strip, the chicken was almost impossibly juicy.\nFrom the Triple Threat kabob, we sampled the Veggie, the Ribs on a Stick, and the Cajun Shrimp. I need to pause here to say, you can anticipate every kabob on the menu will be a humongous plate of food, quantity combined with unabridged quality.\nThe chef paired the Cajun Grilled Shrimp with garlic butter; the ribs had such deep meaty flavor that the citrus bbq sauce seemed almost superfluous; the veggies grilled to crunchy deliciousness also came with a garlic-flavored sauce.\nOn a second visit, we arrived mid afternoon on a Sunday to find the restaurant almost full, with a TV on the wall turned to football, though no one appeared to be watching.\nKa-Bobs is a bright inviting space, with a few four tops and many high tops that face large windows on Becher and 68th Street. It has a fresh, uncluttered look that will appeal to families from the surrounding neighborhood, as well as sports fans who want to watch the TV in the bar area, and people like us, who come for the food. It’s located in West Allis in an area with more single family homes than businesses.\nWe were too late on one visit for brunch and the Sunday Omelet Bar, so we ordered the other Sunday Special, 50 cent wings. If you’re a wing person, these wings will confirm everything you like about that oft-overlooked part of the bird. Nicholson marinates them for 24 hours, then deep-fries them for crunch, and serves them with a choice of five sauces. The wings tossed with garlic-parmesan sauce needed only a napkin, while the naked wings came to life in the blue cheese dipping sauce.\nFrom Teasers, the Texas Flat Bread Pizza easily serves one as a meal, or two or three as an appetizer. It had a cracker-like crust, thin, yet sturdy enough to support a layer of smoked brisket and caramelized onions brushed with white cheddar sauce.\nThere’s more of that smoked brisket in the Bolo Brisket Wrap, a “Handheld,” where the meat is stretched around caramelized onions, smoked cheddar, wild mushrooms and more of that white cheddar sauce. The wrap that holds it together is a veggie tortilla wrap, a thin sheath which keeps the focus on the filling, not the packaging.\nThe Skillet Mac and Cheese fills a cast iron skillet, a three cheese sauce mixed with cavatapi pasta, Andouille sausage, and some pork belly. It adds calories and flavor to a this dish which could easily serve two or three.\nThe Pork Mignon, with a red pepper sauce, had good flavor, but wasn’t consistently tender. Some bites were more challenging than others, however the roasted carrots, asparagus, and potatoes were flawless.\nNothing on the menu, except Twin Peaks, at $18.00, costs more than $16.00, and that includes those meaty kabobs, which range from $10 to $13. Like the mac and cheese, the entrees reflect the best of classic comfort foods. For meat lovers, Twin Peaks sits on top of the mountain. Two tenderloin medallions, each perched on a mix of roasted veggies, if separated, could easily feed two. Because the tenderloin, almost fork-tender, had so much flavor, we had to ask Nicholson where he buys his meat. “Robert’s Specialty Meats in Waukesha,” he said.\nIf you come on a Wednesday, you can Build Your Own Burger, although it would be hard to improve on the Becher Burger — smoked bacon, provolone, jack cheese, jalapeno, straw onions, and Kabob sauce, all somehow balanced on a toasted bun. Thursday brings the All You Can Eat Pasta Bar. On Friday they serve a fish fry, and if you come on a weekend in time for brunch, you can order Eggs Benedict on flatbread, battered cranberry bread French Toast, or house-made honey sweet biscuits with sausage gravy and two eggs.\nYou will also find soup and salad on the menu at Kabobs, and of course dessert, as evidenced by the slice of tart Lemon Meringue Pie which I took home to enjoy later.\nOn the Menu\nPhoto Gallery\nThe Rundown", "This week in Denver you’ll be able to indulge in a fusion of beer, wine, and cocktails paired with eats from all across the globe. A special selection of perfectly paired spirits and snacks are waiting for you downtown in the following days. Indulge in an enticing taste of Italia or treat yourself to tantalizing tacos as you live it up in the Mile High. There’s no better way to spice up your life than a week full of sampling and drinking from sea to sea.\nMonday, August 14\nCraft Beer and Cheese Pairing\nWhen: Monday, 6:30 p.m.\nWhere: Alpine Dog Brewing Company — 1505 N. Ogden St., Denver\nCost: $20 for 4 pairings\nThe Lowdown: Sample on some perfectly paired beer and cheese at The Alpine Dog Brewing Company. Five ounces of beer will be served with deluxe Whole Foods cheese that’s been hand picked by the staff. A cheese expert will also be on the premises to teach guests about the art of wine and cheese matching.\nTuesday, August 15\nCharcuterie & Cider\nWhen: Tuesday, 6 – 9 p.m.\nWhere: Stem Ciders— 2811 Walnut St, Unit 150, Denver\nCost: $20\nThe Lowdown: Join Stem Ciders for a night of perfect pairings. Culture Meat and Cheese — known for RiNo’s famous “meat cones” at The Denver Central Market — is bringing four Old Major cured meats to pair with four Stem Ciders. Twenty dollars gets you a sample of both and no reservations are required. The party will last as long as the food does, so come early.\nBourbon Grill Reopens\nWhen: Tuesdays, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.\nWhere: Bourbon Grill —571 E. Colfax Ave., Denver\nCost: Free Admission\nThe Lowdown: The dearly beloved Bourbon Grill reopens on Tuesday in a new location. No specials have been announced yet, but regaining access to this gem is worth celebrating in its own right.\nWednesday, August 16\nNational Rum Day\nWhen: Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.- 12 a.m.\nWhere: Adrift – 218 S. Broadway, Denver\nCost: Free admission\nThe Lowdown: Join Adrift, a Hawaiian inspired tiki bar and restaurant, for National Rum Day. Sample the restaurant’s wide selection of international rums. Happy hour will also be going down that night from 4 to 6 p.m. where you can get $2 off a tiki drink of your choice.\nREAD: The Happiest Hour — A New Wave of Tiki at Adrift\nThursday, August 17\nCorks And Forks\nWhen: Thursday, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.\nWhere: Rooftop Terrace at Davita — 2000 16th St., Denver\nCost: $60 general admission — tickets here\nThe Lowdown: In the heart of downtown Denver, the 11th annual Corks and Forks event will bring together a plethora of Denver restaurants hoping to share in the spirit of wine tasting and good eats. Live music will also be featured, as guests sample gourmet specialties and sip on wine. A silent auction will be featured, and guests can share their voice by submitting a vote for their favorite wine. Guests will also be giving back— Corks and Forks benefits The National Sports Center For the Disabled.\nFriday, August 18\nBurrito Concert\nWhen: Friday, 8 – 11 p.m\nWhere: Barfly — 4255 W. Colfax Ave., Denver\nCost: $7.50-$10 — tickets here\nThe Lowdown: A night out exploring Denver’s local music scene just got even better with Burrito Concert. If all you can eat burritos, margaritas and live local bands are of interest, come indulge in Burrito Concert. Proceeds from this burrito bash benefit Denver Homeless Out Loud.\nSt. Rocco’s Feast\nWhen: Friday and Saturday, 5 – 10 p.m, Sunday 4 – 9 p.m\nWhere: Potenza Lodge — 1900 W. 38th Ave., Denver\nCost: Free Admission\nThe Lowdown: In commemoration of the birthday, and death of St. Rocco — a Catholic Saint who was known to have cured disease — the 124th annual Feast Of St. Rocca will be celebrated with a selection of Italian snack food favorites including pizza, meatballs and wine. Come pay homage to a prominent saint and fill your belly with Italian tradition.\nSaturday, August 19\nFood Rescue Ride\nWhen: Saturday, 9 a.m- 2 p.m\nWhere: Cherry Creek State Park — 4201 S. Parker Rd., Aurora\nCost: $25 for registration, $200 fundraising requirement — tickets here\nThe Lowdown: Get on your bikes and ride your way through Denver Food Rescue’s Annual Food Rescue bike ride. People of all ages and speeds can make a difference as they trek along a 15 or 20-mile path. A tasty breakfast and lunch will be offered to participants—all of whom are invited to come dressed as their favorite fruit or veggie. If you’re looking for a productive day of fundraising, exercise and family fun, come out to the beautiful Cherry Creek State Park to embark on an altruistic adventure. Fundraising and registration fees will go directly to Denver Food Rescue, which strives to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for all.\nBoulder Craft Beer Festival\nWhen: Saturday, 1 – 5 p.m\nWhere: North Boulder Park — 2801 9th St., # 2899, Boulder\nCost: $45 — tickets here\nThe Lowdown: The Boulder Craft Beer festival is celebrating its fourth year and hopes to sell out the event as they have every year since opening its doors. Enjoy unlimited samples from more than 30 breweries, live music and food available for purchase.\nBierstadt Lagerhaus Turns One\nWhen: Saturday, 1 – 5 p.m\nWhere: Bierstadt Lagerhaus — 2875 Blake St., Denver\nCost: Free admission\nThe Lowdown: Celebrate the very first anniversary of RiNo’s Bierstadt Lagerhaus with an afternoon of games and drinks. As a bonus, you can even enter to win a year of beer for free.\nSunday, August 20\nTacolandia\nWhen: Sunday, 3 – 7 p.m\nWhere: Civic Center Park — Colfax and Bannock\nCost: $25-75 — tickets here\nThe Lowdown: Get ready to celebrate some of the best and most authentic tacos Denver has to offer. At least 37 restaurants will roll out their tastiest street tacos while live music plays. There will even be a car show for you to enjoy. Don’t miss it.\nIncredible, Edible Gluten Free Food Fair\nWhen: Sunday, 10 a.m- 3 p.m\nWhere: Denver Merchandise Mart — 451 E. 58 Ave., Denver\nCost: $10 — tickets here\nThe Lowdown: Come sample a selection of gluten free eats at The Incredible Edible Gluten Free Fair. More than 100 vendors will showcase their edible options that are safe for our gluten intolerant, and celiac disease-affected friends to consume. Vendors will come from all over to offer samples, provide recipes and give away coupons. Gluten intolerant or not, there will be plenty of tasty options available at this fair for all different types of taste buds. Get full and take home some ideas of your own for only $10 at this gluten free extravaganza.\nMark Your Calendars\nDenver Brunch Fest\nWhen: August 27, 11 a.m – 2 p.m\nWhere: Bannock Street between 14th St. and Colfax\nCost: $65-$95 — tickets here\nTaste of Colorado\nWhen: Friday, September 1, 11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m., Saturday, September 2 and Sunday September 3, 10:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Monday September 4, 10:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.\nWhere: Civic Center Park — intersection of Colfax Ave. and Broadway\nCost: $15 food tickets for $10", "If you're planning on going out - or looking for something to snack on at home - to watch the Patriots take on the Eagles for Super Bowl LII, you're in luck. Plenty of restaurants and bars have special deals for Sunday's big game.\nOffers.com has rounded up some of the best. Here are the top deals for the big game:\nWith Super Bowl LII one coming up this weekend, Americans are gearing up for a day filled with fun, food and a little friendly competition for one of the biggest games of the year.\nBJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse - Get $10 off your $40 purchase online with this coupon code or in restaurants with this printable coupon. Both expire Feb. 8.\nBojangles' - Enter the Big Game Giveaway for a chance to win five $100 Bojangles' gift cards, a Pepsi Prize Pack and a mini football helmet signed by Matt and Ryan Kalil. To enter, upload a picture of you tailgating with Bojangles' during the 2017-2018 football season. Instructions for entry here.\nChipotle - Chipotle has a few catering options geared at Super Bowl parties that serve 20 to 200. The Catering Spread comes with make-your-own tacos or burrito bowls. You'll get three choices of meat, rice, beans and veggies. The option also comes with utensils, bowls, napkins and serving trays so you don't have to buy your own. If you're hosting a smaller group of people, Burritos By The Box will maximize your savings. Everyone will have the option to customize their own burrito, and for every two burritos you get, Chipotle will throw in chips, guacamole, salsa and sour cream. See all options here.\nDickey's Barbecue Pit - Dickey's Tailgate Party Pack includes brisket, pulled pork, various sides, plates and serving utensils. Available for delivery or pickup. Prices vary by location.\nDomino's - Domino's is running several specials overlapping Super Bowl Sunday, including two medium one-topping pizzas, Cinnamon Bread Sticks, 16-piece Parmesan Bread Bites and a two-liter Coca Cola for $19.99. You can also get two-topping pizzas and eight-piece wings for $5.99 each when you order two or more.\nHooter's - Hooter's offers Super Bowl Party Packs, which include various combinations of wings, sides and sliders. Menus and prices vary by location. Call and order and they'll have your order ready to go for pick-up.\nHungry Howie's - Buy a large one-topping pizza, get a medium pizza for $1 through Feb. 4. Available only for takeout orders placed online or via the Hungry Howie App. You must be a Hungry Howie Club member to get this special (you can sign up on the website).\nJack's - Cater your game-day meal with Jack's. Catering packages start at $32.99 (feeds 10). Feed up to 25 for $78.99. Packages include fried chicken and from-scratch biscuits. More details here." ]

[ "It has to do with coastal erosion. The seaward side of near-coast palms tends to erode away, and the trees gradually lean out. They always try to grow straight up. The net effect is a bowing of the trunk if the erosion is gradual, but it can be 90-degrees if the failure is rapid and the tree does not die. [90-degree palm bend](_URL_2_) [More gradual](_URL_0_) [Here is one that leaned over rapidly, then stopped and is now groing vertical again](_URL_1_)" ]

[ "The fibers of the trunks are different, palm trees have extremely stringy fibers with lots of room for movement where as most trees are made of a more timber like fibers that are tightley packed in and rigid. Imagine most trees are like matchsticks which will snap under pressure and imagine palm trees like extremely braided rope", "They're \"growth rings\". Most trees (not palm trees) grow during warm weather, and then stop growing during cold weather. They expand outward from the center of the trunk adding a new layer on the outside. Each new layer shows up as a ring when the tree is cut. When the tree has a good warm season and grows well, the ring is thicker. If it's a bad summer, the ring is thinner. We can use this to judge the age of a tree, and even time events that have occurred in the past based on tree rings.", "Trees grow up in response to two things mainly: [Phototropism](_URL_1_) and [gravitropism](_URL_2_). Plant cells contain a chemical called auxin, which causes cells to elongate when NOT near light, so the plant bends towards the light source. (There is also a process called negative phototropism where parts of the plant bend away; ex. roots.) Gravitropism occurs as the cells sense the direction of gravity and bend towards (roots again) or away (shoots and branches). Plants in zero-g... look [interesting](_URL_0_).", "Due to ocean currents much of the northern Island actually has subtropical weather for half the year despite being south of the general dividing line. This has allowed a distinct species of palm to evolve that is more tolerant of colder temperatures which in turn has allowed it to spread all across the north Island and to the northern side of the South Island. You also have the fact that many of the native Flora and Fauna of the island are older than in much of the rest of the world (like Australia) and the lack of competition from many of the types of trees native to other regions of the world gave the palm time to adapt to colder regions without being out competed for sunlight.", "Plants that bend towards the light do so because of a hormone called auxin. Auxin goes to the shaded parts of the plant and causes the cells there to elongate, making the plant face the sun. This is called positive phototropism. There are lot's of other things that go into it, but that's the basics. GCSE Biology is useful after all. :)", "This behaviour is called geotropism or gravitropism, and it is where plants either grow away from, or towards, a source of gravity. Roots grow towards gravity, and stems grow away from gravity. In both cases, the growth is caused by a type of chemical in the plants called auxins. These chemicals 'sink' according to gravity in the plant. In roots, this makes the lower side of the root grow less, and the top grow more, bending the root down. In the stem, it makes the lower side of the stem grow more, and the top side grow less, making it bend upwards. For different but similar reasons, this chemical also makes plants bend towards light (phototropism).", "Palm trees can survive at very low temperatures like most trees, especially when they are old and fully grown, the 'huge' palm trees that you are referring to likely do not even notice a few days below 40F. That being said, the reason you see palm trees on islands and tropical areas is because of tropical storms, most trees are unable to grow in that kind of condition. For example, a red wood or a tree you would find in say Oregon or Washington would not survive a tropical storm, but they are better suited the absorb frequent moisture and their environment. It's not exactly about temperature, but it is about environment, particularly other aspects of weather, animals, insects and other plants. Also, there are palm trees almost everywhere, even in NYC and NJ. They may not be native but they survive.", "They do this because bananas are negatively geo-tropic. This means that they grow away from the pull of gravity, as opposed to turning upward toward the sun. Because the Cavendish bunch is quite large and hangs almost straight down, the bananas generally have an even bend in them all the way round the bunch.", "The ring and little finger share tendons. Watch what happens when you stretch your fingers out, and then bend your little finger in towards your palm.", "Its to provide grazing land for cattle. And also for palm oil farms. They cut down the rainforest then plant either grass or lots of just one type of tree. Its not really for the wood that much at all.", "It has to do with gravity and light. Plant branches detect the gravity vector by the hormone auxin in their cells and grow against it. As the branch gets heavier, it \"sags\" if you will. This can lead to a wavy pattern. Secondly, branches serve as a point of growth for leaves, which gather sunlight and carbon dioxide to make glucose via photosynthesis. It is beneficial for plants to position leaves that aren't shaded to maximize photosynthesis. The leaves detect sunlight by proteins in their cell membranes and conduct a signal to tell the leaves and branches where to grow. How branches grow are determined by both gravity and the direction of light source. Sources: PhD in Plant Biology. My dissertation was focused on genetic mechanisms of light perception in plants. _URL_0_ _URL_1_", "Basically as the tree grows taller the lower branches fall off, leaving only the uppermost branches. This is a selective trait along with others such as the relative sponginess of the wood. The species exist in places that are exposed to the ocean meaning they have to survive hurricanes and other strong storms which makes the trait of losing the lower branches beneficial. Less likely to get pushed over or broken by the wind.", "Large monocots that resemble trees do not have bark, but rather a \"secondary anomalous growth\" which isn't really characterized. An example of this would be a palm tree. But technically speaking, these are not trees in the same sense that you would think an Oak or a Pine tree is a tree.", "Actually, pretty much all flowers and plants move towards the sun. The idea is pretty simple, and is called Phototropism. In simplified terms, these little chemicals called \"auxins\" are at the tip of a plant when it's growing. Now, when the sun is at an angle to the tip, the auxins move to the side further away from the sun. As they are more concentrated AWAY from the sun, the side AWAY from the sun grows FASTER but the side CLOSER to the sun grows SLOWER. This causes the plant to bend towards the sun.", "As far as palm trees, I believe they cannot survive below certain temperatures because they are not \"structured\" for cold. Freezing temperatures would pretty much expand the inside and break it. The bark on a pine tree is like a sweater. But they do live in places like Nevada. And pine trees do live in florida", "They're spinning, the momentum of which causes them to stretch out in the middle, due to centrifugal force. This actually happens with the Earth, too, which bulges towards the equator, but since it's solid it's a much less prominent effect.", "If you want a slight more detailed answer.... Plant cells have little granules in them called statoliths. These sink to the bottom and affect the the production of a hormone called Auxin. Auxin affects the direction cells growth. This \"detection of gravity\" is called geotropism. Roots grow down, shoots grow up. Light also influences cell growth as well in a similar manner causing shoot to bend.", "The light isnt getting \"sucked in\", the space bends toward the hole, the light follows the bend. When it passes the event horizon it is essentially heading toward the center at the speed of light, but space is bending faster. Thats why it never comes out again", "Plants sense gravity and then bend in response to it. This is called called gravitropism. One of the major gravity-sensing parts of the plant is the root tips. Plants also sense light, and bend to respond to it. This is called phototropism. Both processes act in concert to orient a plant appropriately. The bending is achieved through the action of a growth-regulating plant hormone called auxin. When it's secreted selectively, those regions with the higher concentration of the hormone grow and elongate more quickly, which causes a bend in the overall structure.", "It's where your palms bend. If the skin was tight, my guess is that it would snap when you made certain movements with your hand.", "Trees and other plants strike a balance between various growth direction cues, so it would be hard to control a tree's shape precisely using light alone. The stem will grow against gravity and towards light. When the two signals conflict, the plant often strikes a balance rather than relying completely in one input or the other. If you want to control a tree's shape accurately, you prune, bend, and restrain it while young. The art of building complex shapes, like chairs or bridges, out of living trees is called [tree shaping](_URL_0_).", "1) Geotropism, They feel the pull of gravity and send shoots the other way while their roots grow towards the pull of gravity. 2) Phototropism, The tree senses sunlight and grows towards it. There's a fascinating system in plants where a specific hormone is produced in the presence of direct sunlight that causes plant cells to grow shorter on the side of a branch/stem that the sunlight is on so that the tip points towards the light source. It's been a year since I studied that so I can't remember all the scientific words.", "Capillary action that draws water up from the ground has an upper limit. Trees like the coastal redwood get around this by drawing moisture from the moist air coming off the pacific. They are limited in size by the structural strength of wood. Eventually they just get blown over by a windstorm.", "Wearing a ring that's sized wrong will irritate that finger, causing it to swell a bit. Plus, if you push on your finger towards your palm you'll see it straightens and tightens up the skin, while pulling towards your fingertips causes the skin to bunch up around the knuckles (extra skin so you can bend your fingers). Then some folks get a bit of water retention in their extremities and the finger swells even more. As for tips for getting it off the finger, other than grease and massaging it down, I have no idea.", "Trees die of old age. Palms for instance only have about a 50 year life expectancy. Alaska Red Cedar can live up to 3500 years and some trees are even older, there is a 5000 year old tree somewhere i believe. & #x200B; If you have 10 palms, some will die after 40 years and some will die at the age of 60. They can die of sickness too just like animals, and just like animals they all have variation in genetics, strengths and weaknesses. & #x200B;", "The amount of melanin in the palms of your hands can't show through the skin there. It's a different type of skin (different nr. of layers) than the rest of the body (except palms of our feet). That's a trait shared by all humans. Same as why do we have two eyes. That's why you can't get tan palms of your hands, regardless of the colour of the rest of your skin.", "Because in the now moist environment they can move above land to environments they could not previously reach easily (the other side of the concrete barrier).", "They are cell phone towers, made to look like trees so that they don't look as ugly. I guess they tend to be installed in areas where people would complain about a normal looking cell tower being ugly. Personally I think they still look ugly and fake, but they do look better than a cell tower. Edit: I've also seen ones that look like a pine tree instead of a palm tree. Depends on what the real trees in the area look like.", "Soil. The open ocean has very little nutrients in it, so it's hard for plants to grow.", "As [xkcd](_URL_0_) points out, the last ice age was \"only\" 4.5 degrees Celsius colder than the global average. Just a reminder that the last ice age had continent sized glaciers sliding down North America. Two degrees is half of that, but we are going in the other direction. Nine degrees gets us palm trees on the poles. Two degrees is a little under a fourth of that. That change is ~20 percent of the way to Palm trees on the poles. So yes, 2 degrees is very significant for the global average.", "Phototaxis and thermotaxis. The photosensitive cells of the plant grow in the direction of the source they require; light. As light is used in photosynthesis and means energy/survival for the plant - the plant grows in the direction of an ingredient it needs to make food. So, they grow in the direction of sunlight/warmth. Here is a time lapse video showing it. _URL_0_ It just happens that the trees grow up, but can be angled if their light source was always angled away (not overhead or passing overhead). Coiled 'lucky bamboo' is a great example of this as growers control the light source to make the plant coil. **EDIT: coiled 'lucky bamboo'** _URL_1_ **grows like this as growers control the light source**", "They don't want to drown in the water that fills the soil where they are. So...they move topside. It's not a foolproof strategy, needless to say." ]

[ "Borders Group Inc. said Tuesday that it swung to a loss in the fiscal third quarter as fewer customers came to stores and best seller sales declined." ]

[ "Borders Group Inc. , the world's second-largest bookseller, on Tuesday posted a wider quarterly loss as sales at established stores fell.", "Book retailer Borders Group Inc. on Tuesday posted a quarterly loss versus a year-ago profit due to sluggish store traffic and a slowdown in sales of bestsellers.", "The Borders Group said Tuesday that it widened its net loss in the second quarter on heavy charges despite an increase in revenue from sales of the seventh book in the Harry Potter series.", "No 2. U.S. book retailer Borders Group Inc. BGP.N on Tuesday posted a quarterly loss versus a year-ago profit, hurt by sluggish store traffic and a slowdown in sales of bestsellers.", "Walloped by charges, Boston Scientific posts a loss for the quarter.", "As expected, the athletic-shoe retailer posts a loss in the first quarter.", "Viacom Inc., the media conglomerate that owns CBS and MTV, posted a third-quarter loss of $487.6 million Thursday as its earnings were hit by a $1.", "Borders Group Inc , the second-largest U.S. book retailer, said on Tuesday its quarterly loss widened as it continued restructuring.", "Former Prime Minister Tony Blair will be paid $5m a year for his part-time post at JP Morgan, the BBC learns.", "The student lender posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.6 billion, citing higher provisions for loan losses due to the weakening credit markets.", "Rite Aid (RAD:NYSE - news - research) swung into the red for its third quarter and lowered expectations for fiscal 2005. The drugstore chain said Thursday it posted a loss of $7.7 million, or 1 cent a share", "Intuit Inc. INTU.O, maker of the No. 1 U.S. tax presentation software TurboTax, on Wednesday posted a wider quarterly loss after taking a goodwill impairment charge during its seasonally weaker fourth quarter.", "The children's book publisher posts a wider loss in the historically weak quarter without Harry Potter.", "The mortgage lender posted a fourth-quarter loss of $509.1 million as it raised its loan-loss provisions to account for growing defaults and foreclosures.", "Losses are growing for the book retailer Borders Group Inc. as it faces a difficult sales environment and a shortage of exciting new releases.", "Student lending company Sallie Mae posted a fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday, citing higher provisions for loan losses due to the weakening credit markets.", "- Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. posted a narrower loss for the fourth-quarter, driven by an increase in subscribers.", "Qwest posted a third-quarter loss of $569 million after setting aside money to settle lawsuits stemming from a three-year accounting fraud.", "Borders Group Inc. made $120 million in profits in 2003, hauling in most of that money from its 450 Borders superstores in the United States.", "Borders Group Inc , the second-largest U.S. book retailer, said on Tuesday its quarterly loss widened due to charges although sales rose on record demand for \"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.\"", "The bank posted a fourth-quarter loss of $11.28 billion, and a loss for the entire year, besieged by investments in U.S. subprime mortgages. It said it expected more problems in 2008.", "The company said its net loss in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 1 was $84.8 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with a net profit of $1.1 million.", "Losses ballooned to $207.3 million for the third quarter, driven by lower extended warranty sales and restructuring costs.", "Productivity grew at a slightly faster-than-expected annualized pace in the 2nd quarter, the highest since the 3rd quarter of 2005, government data showed.", "Major bond insurer MBIA posts its biggest ever loss for a three month period last quarter.", "Bookseller Borders Group Inc. BGP.N on Tuesday slashed its financial forecast, saying sales were weaker than expected due in part to hurricanes, and that profits during the key holiday season would miss Wall Street estimates.", "American Airlines' parent AMR Corp. AMR.N on Wednesday posted a third-quarter loss as record-high oil prices battered its bottom line and threatened to make fourth-quarter losses even larger.", "The loss, which came to $3.41 a share, was in contrast to a profit of $45.4 million, or 97 cents a share, in the quarter a year earlier.", "The homebuilder reported a third-quarter loss of $513.9 million, hurt by falling home prices and hefty charges to write down land values.", "The investment bank said 3rd-quarter profit fell to $1.54 billion, hurt by a global credit crisis that cut into stock trading, corporate lending, and results from investments.", "Borders Group Inc. , the No. 2 U.S. bookseller, on Wednesday revised its profit forecasts for the 2004 and 2005 fiscal years to reflect a charge related to accounting practices on leases.", "America West Holdings Corp. AWA.N on Friday posted a quarterly loss and forecast a loss for the current quarter, citing high fuel prices and further pressure on airfares." ]

[ "LOVE the quinoa, cooks up beautifully, tastes awesome. The only problem I have with this product is the fact that the cooking directions are incorrect. I've been working with quinoa for years, and the standard method is 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water. For some odd reason, the instructions on the bag only call for one and 1/4 cups water to one cup of quinoa. I thought perhaps this company did something different during the drying process to make cooking require less water, so I tried it as per the directions the first time I cooked it - the quinoa was dry and badly under-done. When I tried again with 2full cups of water, it came out perfectly.<br /><br />The incorrect directions don't matter all that much to me, but for people who've never worked with quinoa before, this could be a pretty big problem. It won't stop me from repurchasing, however, b/c this brand is very economical & the quality of the product itself is perfect." ]

[ "I placed my order for one 56-oz bag of M&M's only to receive 18 bags of 3.27-oz peanut M&M's. Although that means I received 58.86-oz overall, this product listing is inaccurate.", "This is the best coffee-based energy drink. It has tons of caffeine (155 mg), only 50 calories, and no dairy. If you don't like espresso, this isn't for you, but if you hate the sugared-up taste of other energy drinks, check it out.<br /><br />The product description is inaccurate--there's no milk or cream in this.", "There were some reviews concerning the saltiness of this product. The nutrition panel on the tin appears to be inaccurate both in measure and sodium content. 1 tsp is not 10grams! Less than 3grams actually. Most commercial curry powders seem to add salt, why I don't know. I usually make my own but this has a good authentic flavor and is nice to have on the shelf ready to go.", "The easiest way to describe this is like it's Macallan, but with more complexity..there's nothing like finishing in oak, especially after aging in sherry. It does NOT have a 'Cinnamon' finish...let's leave the inaccurate metaphors to the uninformed... it is smooth and rich and complex with no smoke. If you like scotch, this one's for you.", "This has become our favorite espresso bean / blend. The price /value is excellent! I was both happy and somewhat disappointed to find this product here on Amazon. Happy because the price is only $2 higher than on the Coffee Bean Direct website and offers FREE SHIPPING. Disappointed because for over a year now I have been ordering their products direct, and paying $15 per 5lb bag of beans shipping. so about $90 in shipping costs that could have been avoided, (and applied to beans instead)down the tubes. Nevertheless, I will continue to enjoy this fine product, and will of course be ordering from Amazon instead of direct.", "We have previously been ordering direct from Omega Nutrition but decided to order from Amazon since we have had very good experience with Amazon. The product was identical to that which we have previously ordered, arrived as scheduled and in excellent condition.", "The sour jelly bellies are tasty; however, this item contains the 5-flavor mix. The description for 10 flavors is inaccurate and misleading. Amazon.com, please fix this!!! Either change the description or provide the 10-flavor mix.", "This is excellent tea and this vendor is maintaining the Eden Price, do not buy direct from Amazon they have it priced at double this cost. ron", "I purchased this as a Christmas present since I do not make seafood dishes. My family described this as excellent. Very creamy stuffing with good flavor. It looked good in the pan and cooked nicely, just as directed.", "<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010OQQ2Q\">More Than Gourmet Demi-glace Gold French Demi-glace, 16-Ounce Unit</a><br />My husband is an excellent cook and has been using this product with terrific results for many years. We were happy to find it cheaper on Amazon than purchasing it direct, especially after signing up for the regular refill option!", "The coffee bean direct dark house blend is excellent and no bitter aftertaste. Love the convenient 5 lb bags which is a great buy for a big coffee drinker. Love it!", "Brewing directions are right on tin so don't know what the negative review is about. Excellent for everyday green tea. When brewed properly (170) it's never bitter. Lovely aroma. I'm on my 3rd order.", "These mushrooms are most excellent for soup, stir fries and just about anything else. The seller did a great job of packaging them and included directions for reconstituting them with hot water.<br />I will definitly be buying more. Thanks for being there.", "I was so excited to try this cake after reading the reviews and was greatly disappointed. I followed the directions, mixing well, and the cake took longer to bake than the instructions indicated. The cake has a gritty texture and sort of a stale aftertaste. It definitely lacks rich chocolate flavor. ** A suggestion for anyone looking for an excellent gluten free chocolate cake... Pamela's Products is one to rave about, no one else would know it's gluten free.", "Extremely fast shipping. This hard to find dessert is sort of like a cross between jello and pudding, but easier to make and absolutely yummy. 2 cups of water in a microwave bowl, nuke 2 minutes, stir, nuke 2 more minutes, stir, and it's ready. Directions call for 6 minutes, but we only needed 4. I especially like it in a graham cracker crust, hubby likes it straight up. Excellant product.", "I purchased this item because I wanted the tea chest. The item description is completely inaccurate. It states that it is a \"Wood Grain\" tea chest. The chest is a cheap box that is very poorly covered with a wood grain contact paper. I say poorly because the faux wood contact paper has ripples and bubbles all over it. Please don't waste your money or time on this item like I did.", "This is my third purchase of the case of 12 and the flavors are cherry, grape, green apple, pineapple, and orange. In other words, there are no watermelon and raspberry. You can tell by looking at the package what the five flavors are. Just thought I'd mention that since the contents listed in the \"Product Features\" is inaccurate :. The sour apple and the pineapple taste the best. The grape has a chemical taste and the cherry tastes exactly like the Cherry Sucrets throat lozenges.<br />Oh, the ingredients are: Isomalt , Citric Acid , Natural and Artificial Flavors , Sucralose , Colors , (Red 40 , Yellow 5 , Blue 1) , Soy Lecithin and there are 30 Calories for 4 candies with 13.0g sugar alcohol.", "I have been ordering from this company for about 7 years. Excellent coffee, reasonable prices, prompt shipping... I will continue to order from Coffee Bean Direct... Jamaican Me Crazy, Eyes Wide Open, Creme Brule....", "After searching unsuccessfully in many grocery stores for whole wheat orzo, I was delighted to find this product at Amazon. Although you have to buy a lot, the shelf life is excellent, and the price is quite reasonable. I prefer the taste and texture to regular orzo, and the health benefit of whole grains is a plus. Although the directions tell you to boil and drain it like pasta, I cook it like rice. Simmer 1 cup orzo in 2 cups liquid stirring occassionally until liquid is absorbed and pasta is tender.", "I have a condition that limits the amount and kind of carbs I can eat, and these noodles are a very happy replacement for many recipes. If you prepare them according to package directions, they are excellent in any pasta dish. My favorite way to eat them is with chili topped with cheese. Yummy!", "Excellent bold decaf which you can buy direct from Green Mountain for $.46 each (6 boxes of 24 cups no shipping) v.s. Amazon price of $.77 each. (2 boxes of 24 cups no shipping) Even at Amazon, \"Let the Buyer Beware\".", "I haven't actually made anything with it yet, but this saffron is definitely fragrant and appears to be high quality. There's enough in the little box to last me for quite a while (if I had to guess, I'd say it's about 2 or 3 tablespoons, but that could be really inaccurate.) I had a few issues getting the box open without spilling the saffron everywhere, but I have a feeling that someone with a nice strong fingernail would be able to open it fairly easily.", "Jell-o brand pudding is a quick and easy to make product. Follow the directions on the box and you will have a consistent pudding every time. I find vanilla in general to be a bit plain on its own. However vanilla puddings can easily be used in a multitude of desserts. Use the pudding between layers of a layer cake, add the pudding to cake batter for a moister cake, or use in trifles. Homemade pudding is always the best, but when time or skill is lacking, this product is an excellent alternative.<br /><br />PROS:<br /><br />Easy and quick to prepare<br /><br />Consistent pudding every time<br /><br />Versatile product for use in many desserts<br /><br />CONS:<br /><br />It's a mix (But who regularly makes homemade pudding these days?)", "This is an excellent cake that tastes as good as any other chocolate cake I have ever had. I made cupcakes to freeze and remove individually as needed. They were moist, but not soggy the day after. They also froze very well. The directions are slightly involved. Not difficult at all but it does take a bit longer to mix up than the typical cake mix. The results are definitely worth the extra time though. Tastes great with peanut butter frosting!<br /><br />Many gluten free mixes contain soy; this one doesn't. Nor does it contain any of the other 8 common allergens. The only negative thing I have to say about this product is the cost. Limiting the servings per person helps compensate for the cost of this product.", "This hot chocolate tastes like hot sugar water with a pinch of coco in it. Although, even the sugary taste is weak, and tainted by the flavor of the artificial sweetener sucralose. The consistency is watery and bland. This is when I made the 8oz cup as directed by the directions on the box.<br /><br />I do not recommend this product.", "The thing that I like best about this product is the container. It is a compact, convenient way to use loose sweetener at home rather than all of those paper packets. The downside of the container is that measuring 1/4 tsp. can become more cumbersome and inaccurate than convenient. As for flavor, there is little advantage over other sweeteners on the market. Sugar is a significant ingredient along with erythritol. This sugar alcohol has minimal impact on diabetic blood sugar levels but can cause problems for people with IBS or sensitive guts. Other reviewers commented on the extreme sweetness but that was not my experience when using it with oatmeal. 1/4 tsp. of Nectresse was not discernable while 1 tsp. of sugar added just a touch of sweetness with no aftertaste. This product left a decidedly unpleasant residual taste when added to coffee. All in all there was little about Nectresse that would get me to consider buying it or to recommend it to anyone else. I suspect that this is more about increasing sales in a sweetner saturated market than it is about providing a particularly unique product.", "The red maple bonsai tree was received in excellent condition. Do not let it set in direct sunlight, it will burn the edge of the leaves. A wind gust turned the tree on its side and a large root broke in half. This caused a problem that would not allow the tree to set upright. I called the provider and he said to tie it down and the broken root would not cause the tree any problems. I did what he said and the tree seems to be alright, however it doesn't look very good because of the tie down. I was not offered a refund of replacement. Be careful not to set this tree where wind or direct sun will cause it harm.", "This kit comes with everything that you will need including the corks and labels. Following the directions I was able to create a wine that is very tasty. It is slightly dry and the flavor hits the tongue with a pleasant and slightly fruity flavor. The dryness of this wine disappears quickly after you swallow. This is an excellent wine for meals and should make a very good sangria when combined with fruit and a hot summer afternoon.", "I make for my wife capuccinno in the mourning befor she goes to work.<br />And I use flavored coffee in the esspreso machine and it is hard to find<br />Hazelnut flavored ground coffee at a reasonable price or finding just flavored<br />beans. This 5pound bag from Coffee Bean Direct was an excellent price and<br />the flavor was very good also. A great choice for paople who grind their<br />own coffee beans.", "I ordered this discounted food knowing the discount would off set the shipping. My cats LOVE this cat food, I've fed it to them for years and will keep buying it. Solid Gold is an excellent brand, never had any of the cat food recalls. So I felt I made a wise decision even though the product listed didn't include the size bag. Turns out the size was a 4 lb bag, still a savings with the discount. I've also ordered through PetFood Direct, never had a problem with their service or with their products. The drawback was the bag was expired. Ordered 12/10 and expired 2/10. I am very disappointed I spent the money on expired food which I will not feed my pets. There is a reason why a manufacturer puts an expiration date on their food. So no, I won't order this product again and I wonder if that was what the discount was all about - Getting rid of expired food the only way they could. I won't order dry cat food on line again, not through PetFood Direct, not when their people do this to a customer.", "My wife and I just love these instant potatoes. They are best with evaporated milk or evap. milk and fresh milk (50/50). We use cholestrol free/sugar free evap. milk and 2 percent fat fresh milk and it comes out really excellent. Don't chintz on the butter either! Follow directions exactly and you will be very, very pleased.", "I am a lifelong Marmite lover but this XO Marmite is in a class by itself and I am completely hooked on it. The box says it has a \"stronger taste\" than ordinary Marmite. I consider that to be somewhat inaccurate. It is more flavorful rather than stronger tasting. There's a wonderful tangy taste that is almost (but not quite) fruity and a lot less of the harsh burn that you get with the regular Marmite (e.g. when you spread it too thickly). If you like to spread your Marmite you should try this. If you just make drinks or add it to stews, I think the difference is less noticeable. Buying it here is quite expensive as the seller ships it from England - it's still worth it (but remember I am now addicted to XO). I hope Unilever makes this a permanent addition to the Marmite product range and that it becomes more readily (and more cheaply) available in the US." ]

[ "Father Donald Cozzens is the author of <EM>The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul</EM>. He is president-rector and professor of pastoral theology at Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland. He is also the editor of <EM>The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest</EM>. Father Cozzens will talk about the church's current sexual abuse scandals, and other crises facing the priesthood." ]

[ "In 1974, Donald Anthony Sterling was ordained as the first African-American priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, Md. Father Sterling is now the pastor of Baltimore's New All Saints Roman Catholic Congregation. He speaks with NPR's Farai Chideya about the pope's legacy and what it felt like to be the first black ordained priest in his archdiocese.", "With guest host Ray Suarez. Donald Trump Jr.’s stunning email chain. What has the president’s son has now revealed to the nation? And now what? Taken at face value, Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 emails with an associate about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton have become a problem for his father’s administration. The president’s son says it all amounted to nothing, even though he went ahead with a meeting with a well-connected Russian lawyer. A meeting he used to say never happened. This hour On Point: The Russians and Trump world. Truth, lies, and election law. &#8212; Ray Suarez Guests Mark Mazzetti, Washington investigations editor at the New York Times. (@MarkMazzettiNYT) Jill Wine-Banks, former Watergate special prosecutor. Former general counsel of the U.S. Army from 1977-1980. (@JillWineBanks) Lee Spieckerman, former presidential campaign advisor to Newt Gingrich. (@spieckerman) Gerald Seib, Washington bureau chief at the Wall Street Journal. (@GeraldFSeib) From The Reading List New York Times: Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said &#8212; &#8220;The June 3, 2016, email sent to Donald Trump Jr. could hardly have been more explicit: One of his father’s former Russian business partners had been contacted by a senior Russian government official and was offering to provide the Trump campaign with dirt on Hillary Clinton.&#8221; POLITICO: Trump calls son &#8216;high-quality person&#8217; amid Russian lawyer scandal &#8212; &#8220;President Donald Trump called his oldest son a &#8220;high-quality person&#8221; in a statement Tuesday after the White House was rocked by revelations that Donald Trump Jr. cheered the Russian government’s support for his father’s presidential campaign ahead of his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer.&#8221; Wall Street Journal: Trump Jr. Emails Create Short-Term Uproar, Long-Term Problem &#8212; &#8220;For months, the hope in President Donald Trump’s world—sometimes realistic, sometimes strained—was that the story of Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election would quickly shrivel up and blow away. That dream died on Tuesday.&#8221; Donald Trump Jr.&#8217;s Statement And Email Exchange\nArray", "Tavis Smiley speaks to regular commentator Michael Eric Dyson about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Dyson says now is the time for the church to reexamine its policies on celibacy, marriage and gender in the priesthood.", "Donald and Colleen Bordelon have been interviewed on <em>Morning Edition</em> since their home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Steve Inskeep checks in to see how things are going for the Bordelons. Their Mardi Gras celebration will be muted this year because of the down economy and the death of Donald's father, Jerome.", "Guest host Don Gonyea speaks with Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who oversees parishes throughout Syria where Catholics and Christians have been targets of violent discrimination because of their faith.", "Donald Trump Jr. was in the room when his father, the Republican Party&#8217;s presumptive nominee for president, fired his campaign manager this week. Ivanka Trump has been described as &#8220;the quiet power behind the Trump throne.&#8221; And Eric Trump, the candidate&#8217;s third child, has said he and his siblings—while more reserved than their bombastic father—are frequent advisers to the campaign. For a look at the older Trump children and their role in the campaign, Here & Now&#8216;s Jeremy Hobson talks to Michael D&#8217;Antonio, author of &#8220;The Truth About Trump.&#8221; Interview Highlights: Michael D&#8217;Antonio On the influence of Trump’s kids: I would say that they form the real kitchen cabinet, to borrow a term from the Reagan years. They&#8217;re the ones he turns to for advice that considers what&#8217;s best for Donald, but also what&#8217;s best for the Trump organization going forward. So they have in mind, I think, preserving the company but also protecting their father. On Ivanka’s importance: Well, she&#8217;s a very polished person who&#8217;s well educated, I think she moves in circles that Donald doesn&#8217;t understand. She&#8217;s a millennial, she&#8217;s just more likely to understand how people who aren&#8217;t Trump insiders might view her father. On Eric Trump’s background: Eric&#8217;s the youngest, he was a real small kid, 5 or 6, when the big sex scandal happened in the early 90s that really marked these kids, pretty much for life. For his part, Eric was probably least aware of all of that and I see him as the one who&#8217;s most devoted to the father&#8217;s image. The other two can see him in an almost ironic way, but Eric is pretty devoted. He even said to me, he thought his father was a lot like Winston Churchill or Teddy Roosevelt. This was a couple of years ago when the guy wasn&#8217;t even a candidate for office. On what recent moves, like hiring his family to run his campaign, mean: I think all of these moves indicate that there&#8217;s if not panic, really profound concern, that they&#8217;re losing control of this and the thing that Donald fears the most is being embarrassed and humiliated. That&#8217;s why he talks so much about how they&#8217;re laughing at us all over the world is because Donald really cares about whether people laugh at him. If he is absolutely clobbered by Hillary Clinton, it&#8217;s going to be very, very difficult for him to recover emotionally from it. So I imagine his kids are actually very concerned just about his well being going forward. On the dangers of depending only on his family: I think there is a risk here that Donald only relies on blood relatives and one in-law, Jared Kushner, and may not have the diversity of opinion he should be hearing. Now to their credit, I can see that the kids are having a positive influence on Donald&#8217;s style. He&#8217;s going to become somewhat presidential, finally. This is something that he&#8217;s promised for a couple of months but hasn&#8217;t done because of Corey Lewandowski . I think ultimately, you&#8217;re right, that the problem of isolation there is a serious one and could be very damaging over the long term because they&#8217;re just not going to get the inputs that they need. Guest Michael D&#8217;Antonio, author of &#8220;The Truth About Trump&#8221; and &#8220;Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success.&#8221;", "NPR's Tony Cox talks with Tim Pat Coogan, a journalist, historian and author of <EM>Ireland in the Twentieth Century</EM>, about the history of Ireland and its patron saint, St. Patrick.", "NPR's Madeleine Brand talks with Father Peter Grover, a Catholic priest in the Boston Archdiocese, about how the U.S. Roman Catholic Church's sex abuse crisis has impacted his congregation at St. Clement's Church in Boston, Mass.", "A first-of-its-kind court case in Pennsylvania is asking a big question: How long do people need to stay in prison before they get a second chance? More than 1,000 people are serving life without parole in Pennsylvania, even though they never intended to kill anyone. Seventy percent of those people are Black. I met Tyreem Rivers on the phone in November, when his voice was a little muffled. \"Well, I have two or three masks on,\" Rivers said with a laugh. \"I have at least two masks on, so I'm trying to stay safe.\" Staying safe is hard when you're confined with hundreds of other men during a pandemic. Rivers, 43, has spent more than half his life in prison. He grew up in a rough part of Philadelphia. When he arrived behind bars in 1997, he says he was hooked on drugs and could barely read. \"So I never really understood the concept of 'life without parole,' \" he said. \"You know, I didn't shoot nobody, I didn't stab anybody, I didn't rape anybody.\" Here's what he did do: snatch the purse of an 85-year-old woman. She died in the hospital, two weeks later, from injuries sustained when she fell. The evidence presented at trial suggests he didn't mean to kill her. But that didn't matter under a concept called \"felony murder.\" The effort to change the law \"The felony murder concept is, if a death occurs during the commission of another felony, that is considered a form of murder that's attributed to anybody who participated in the felony, regardless of whether they had any criminal intent in regard to the death of the other person,\" said Bret Grote, legal director at the Abolitionist Law Center. Grote, alongside the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Amistad Law Project, is suing the state on behalf of Rivers and five other people convicted in their late teens. They've already served a combined 200 years in prison. Their case argues the punishment for felony murder in the state is cruel and unconstitutional under Pennsylvania law. Grote said it means an effective life sentence. \"People in Pennsylvania who are serving life sentences do not have the possibility of parole,\" he said. \"And the only way they are being removed from prison in the overwhelming majority of the cases is in a body bag.\" Their lawsuit hopes to change that by forcing the state board to grant prisoners parole hearings — and to push the state Legislature to change the law. Attorney General Josh Shapiro is on the other side of the case. His spokeswoman sent NPR a statement saying that he's duty-bound to defend the law. But, she added that he supports efforts to remove the prohibition on parole in Pennsylvania's second-degree-murder statute. \"He has previously called on the General Assembly to change the law so that second degree murder is not an automatic life sentence and provide additional sentencing options, which would best address the concerns raised in this case,\" she said. Pennie Hockenberry, of the Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate, said the office surveyed surviving families in 2019 about parole eligibility in these cases — and 91% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the idea. But for experts who assert the U.S. prison population is already too large, especially in the middle of a pandemic, the movement to overhaul the criminal justice system won't get very far unless the country reckons with how and how harshly to punish people who engaged in violent crimes, sometimes decades earlier. Another lawyer for the plaintiffs — Quinn Cozzens — pointed out another problem with the way the law operates now. Cozzens says 70% of the people serving life for felony murder in Pennsylvania are Black, even though only 11% of people who live in the state are Black. \"So that's obviously a huge disparity and something that's indicative of how this punishment is imposed and who it is imposed on and what purpose it serves,\" Cozzens said. Petitioning for clemency There is one way for people like Tyreem Rivers to leave prison before they die. In Pennsylvania, a state pardon board considers those petitions and recommends clemency to the governor. At a public meeting last fall, the board considered the case of the Evans brothers. They've spent 37 years in prison. In 1980, the brothers took part in a car jacking, with an antique gun. They dropped off the man whose car they stole at a payphone booth. Later, the man died of a heart attack. The Evans brothers refused a plea deal. They've now served double the time they would have spent in prison if they had taken that deal. The man considered the ringleader in the car jacking is already free — has been for more than a year. In a familiar dynamic, the Attorney General and the corrections expert at the board meeting said they didn't have enough information about the men's culpability or their turnaround in prison. Another board member, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, said the stakes were too high to punt. \"And that's my been my point consistently is that we're going to err on the side of mercy ", "Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., stood accused of being complicit in covering up years of sexual abuse by priests. NPR talks to Joshua McElwee of the National Catholic Reporter.", "NPR's Andrea Seabrook is covering the story of the Rev. Maurice Blackwell, a suspended Roman Catholic priest in Baltimore, who remains hospitalized after being shot on Monday. The alleged assailant is Dontee Stokes, a young man who in 1993 accused Blackwell of sexually abusing him. Yesterday, Cardinal William H. Keeler of the Baltimore Archdiocese met with priests to discuss the clergy sex abuse scandal. It was Keeler who reinstated Blackwell in 1993 in the wake of the sex abuse allegations made by Dontee Stokes. He did so over the objections of a lay review council.", "Donald Trump Jr. has tweeted an email chain, showing that he was told that information he was about to receive about Hillary Clinton was part of a Russian government effort to help his father in the election. \nHere&#39;s my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ &mdash; Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017 \nHere is page 4 (which did not post due to space constraints). pic.twitter.com/z1Xi4nr2gq &mdash; Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017 Politico&#8217;s Darren Samuelsohn (@dsamuelsohn) joins Here & Now&#8216;s Robin Young to consider the implications of this development and what kind of legal problems Donald Trump Jr. might be facing as a result.", "As part of the House investigation into President Trump, House Democrats are requesting documents from dozens of entities and people — including the President&#8217;s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr. The Washington Post&#8217;s Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) talks with Here & Now&#8216;s Jeremy Hobson about how Donald Trump Jr. factors into the investigation, and his role as a powerful political surrogate for his father. This article was originally published on WBUR.org.", "Cardinal Donald Wuerl has been accused of covering up sex abuse scandals during his tenure in Pittsburgh. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a Catholic who still believes in God but questions the church.", "Michele Norris talks to Father Kevin Mullen of Saint Leo's Church in Elmwood Park, N.J., about what he will say to his parish in his sermon this Sunday, in light of the Pope's recent passing.", "NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Father Kevin Mullins, a priest in crime-plagued Juarez, Mexico, about what his flock is hoping to hear from Pope Francis this week.", "Ivanka Trump will introduce her father at the GOP convention Thursday night. She's been a close confidant and adviser to him, and some question whether she can help Donald Trump reach female voters.", "In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, Donald and Colleen Bordelon became familiar voices to millions of listeners of NPR's Morning Edition. They were the very open couple from St. Bernard Parish, near New Orleans, with voices that evoked gumbo, bayous and Mardi Gras, who repeatedly shared with ME host Steve Inskeep and NPR's audience their progress in rebuilding their house and lives after the deluge. It was the same house in which they rode out Katrina, even after the first floor filled with water. So many people will no doubt feel the same sense of loss I did when I learned this morning that Mr. Bordelon, 53, died of a massive heart attack Tuesday. His funeral was taking place on Friday as I started to write this posting; he was to be buried in his beloved parish. Read More >> Donald and Colleen Bordelon represented the thousands of Gulf Coast people whose decision to stay and remake their lives after Katrina struck a chord in many others. We recognized in them the human desire to go on, to persist, after loss, after tragedy. It's one of the oldest stories in the collective human narrative. But it's one of which we never tire. Now there's another loss for the Bordelons and their circle -- the passing of a husband, father, uncle and friend. We who listened raptly when the Bordelons shared their lives with the NPR audience would like his family and friends to know how saddened we are by their loss. They have our deepest sympathy. Morning Edition plans a remembrance of Donald Bordelon on Monday.", "Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday posted an email exchange that seemed to show he entertained an offer of Russian government help for his father to be elected president in 2016.", "Tim Kitzke, priest of the Three Holy Women Parish in Milwaukee, discusses how the pope's death has affected his church and some of the issues facing Catholics in America.", "This post was updated on July 22 at 12:30 a.m. ET Donald Trump has not had a good record with women this campaign, but on Thursday night his eldest daughter, Ivanka, described her father as a champion of working women and mothers. Introducing her father at the Republican National Convention — her biggest stage yet — Ivanka, 34, praised Trump's business sense and ability to \"see potential in others,\" and she offered personal anecdotes about his character as a father. A businesswoman in her own right, Ivanka Trump described the presidential nominee's record of hiring women before similar companies did. \"My father values talent. He is colorblind and gender neutral,\" she said to applause. \"When Donald Trump is in charge, all that counts is ability, excellence and effort.\" Ivanka, herself a mother, described the current wage gap for women, particularly for moms. \"As president, my father will change the labor laws that were put in place at a time when women were not a significant portion of the workforce,\" she said. \"And he will focus on making quality child care affordable and accessible for all.\" This is perhaps more typically a Democratic talking point, but as she noted at the beginning of her speech: \"Like many of my fellow millennials, I do not consider myself categorically Republican or Democrat.\" Next year, Ivanka will be releasing her second book — one focused on women in the workforce. In the announcement on her website last month, she wrote, \"If you ask me, there's nothing more incredible than a woman who's in charge of her own destiny—and working daily to make her dreams a reality.\" She is thought to be one of her father's most influential advisers, a person who can persuade him to hire or fire someone. She has also become one of his most forceful surrogates this election. The big question is, can Ivanka persuade some female voters to support her father? Libby Wuller, who recently attended a party hosted by RightNOW Women's PAC, which works to get Republican women into office, said in an interview before Thursday night's speech that although she is no fan of Donald Trump and his rhetoric about women, she is impressed with Ivanka. \"She's intelligent; she's strong-willed; she has an entrepreneurial spirit. Being a young woman working in the startup space, these are qualities I admire in her,\" Wuller said. Despite liking those qualities, however, Wuller said it's not enough to make her cast her vote for Donald Trump. However, another young woman, Larissa Martinez, said Ivanka could influence this campaign. \"I think she could actually help her father and her father's operation when it comes to outreach to women because I think there's a lot of Republican women that identify with some of the balances with family versus professional,\" she said. \"She's very eloquent, she speaks very well and I think that she could help mold the way he talks to women.\" At a town hall in Cleveland, Isabel Reid said she is not sure she will vote for Trump, but she does appreciate that Ivanka is one of his close advisers. \"She comes off as being intelligent, a smart businesswoman, and someone who's more informed than her father,\" Reid said. This goodwill for Ivanka may prove to be a powerful political weapon for her father. And while she might not be able to flip votes, she could very well solidify support for him.", "Steve Inskeep talks with Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which examines the role of religion in public life, about Trump's ties to Marble Collegiate Church.", "Father Anthony De Conciliis, a Catholic priest, was inaugurated president of Our Lady of Holy Cross College in New Orleans on Aug. 26, 2005. He spent two days and a night in the Superdome after the hurricane.", "Host Rachel Martin talks with Father Mike McGovern of the Church of Saint Mary in Lake Forest, Ill., about what the new pope means to his congregation, starting with the homily at Sunday's Mass.", "Donald Trump Jr. wrote in <em>The Telegraph</em> that British Prime Minister Theresa May should have listened to his father, and ensured that the split from the EU happened at the end of the month.", "NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Brian Walsh, a GOP strategist, about the party's presidential candidate, Donald Trump. He says his father's company was \"stiffed\" by Trump in the 1980s.", "Khizr Khan, a Muslim and father of a fallen American soldier, criticized Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention. Trump responded by criticizing Khan's wife's silence.", "In the their new book, Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money and Power, Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher of The Washington Post tell the story of Donald Trump's rise as a businessman, a political candidate, but above all, as a brand. This sentence from the book captures the proliferation of the Trump brand: \"Trump summoned reporters to a press conference at Trump's Bar, located on the ground floor of Trump Tower, close to Trump Grill, just steps away form Trump's Ice Cream Parlor and the Trump Store, which was then pushing a new cologne for men called, Donald Trump, the Fragrance.\" Kranish and Fisher write the point of that press conference was to announce Trump University. Some people psychoanalyze Trump and attribute this self-magnification of the man into a brand as a form of narcissism. But Kranish and Fisher take a more strategic view of him than that. The authors told NPR's Robert Siegel that Trump has encouraged an outsize image of himself so that he can profit from just being Donald Trump. \"Obviously, the Trump brand is what makes him,\" Kranish says. \"He has from his very early days been told by his father not to be a nothing, that he has to be something and something big. And Donald Trump has spent so much of his life trying to outdo his father and be his own man. So being Trump, being Trump on the buildings, Trump in universities, this is all part of who Donald is. \"He's written about the power of narcissism — there's a book by that title that he cites, glowingly — and he says, 'You have to look at the world that way as a businessperson. You have to put yourself front and center.' And that's the way he's operated.\" Use the audio player above to listen to the full interview. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: In their new book, \"Trump Revealed,\" Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher of The Washington Post tell the story of Donald Trump's rise as a businessman, a political candidate, but above all, as a brand. Here's one of my favorite sentences from their book. (Reading) Trump summoned reporters to a press conference at Trump's Bar, located on the ground floor of Trump Tower, close to Trump Grill, just steps away from Trump's Ice Cream Parlor and the Trump Store which was then pushing a new cologne for men called Donald Trump, the Fragrance. As Kranish and Fisher report, the point of the press conference was to announce Trump University. Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, welcome to the program. MARC FISHER: Thank you. MICHAEL KRANISH: Thanks for having us. SIEGEL: And some people psychoanalyze Donald Trump and attribute this self-magnification of the man into a brand as a form of narcissism. I read your book a little differently. You seem to be taking a more strategic view of him than that. He's encouraged an outsize image of himself so that he can profit from just being Donald Trump. Michael Kranish, do I have that right? KRANISH: Yes. I mean, obviously the Trump brand is what makes him. He has from his very early days been told by his father not to be a nothing, that he has to be something and something big. And Donald Trump has spent so much of his life trying to outdo his father and be his own man. So being Trump, being Trump on the buildings, Trump in universities - this is all part of who Donald is. He's written about the power of narcissism. There's a book by that title that he cites glowingly. And he says you have to look at the world that way as a business person. You have to put yourself front and center. And that's the way he's operated. SIEGEL: So, Marc Fisher, there is some psychoanalyzing here, but also some strategizing. FISHER: Absolutely. This is a man who from the very beginning has decided that he would build his business empire around his personality, around his reputation. He worked this from the media from a very early age. He had a mentor, Roy Cohn, the infamous New York lawyer and fixer, who taught him to not only counterattack harder than you were ever attacked but also to use media to bring publicity, that all publicity is good publicity in a sense. And so he created this image of himself as a playboy which turned out, reporting showed, was really something that he kind of manipulated and was always working to get the gossip columnists to romantically link him with particular pretty models and celebrities. And in the end, it turned out that was just for show. When the TV cameras went off, he wanted to go upstairs by himself and watch TV. SIEGEL: One assist he has gotten in creating the image of Donald Trump, the Trump brand, was a credulous press. You cite an early profile of him that had him graduating first in his class from the Wharton School which just isn't true. And then of course, estimates of his wealth - how rich is Donald Trump? Which one of you wants to tackle that thorny question? FISHER: It is a thorny question. And it's a question that often leads to lawsuits. And Donald Trump in his dealings with us for this book was very frank. He was always gracious and g", "Russian leaders are downplaying the latest controversy about links between the Trump campaign and Russia. An email exchange released by Donald Trump Jr. reveals the president's son knew of Russian efforts to support his father's campaign.", "Robert Siegel talks with Father Joseph Towle, a Jesuit priest who works in the South Bronx in New York City, whose court testimony was key in freeing a man who had served 12 years for murder. Father Towle came forward on behalf of Jose Morales, because another man had told Towle that he had committed the murder, not Morales.", "NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with retired coal miner Ronnie Hipshire about a picture of his father that was used without permission by Russian trolls to promote then-candidate Donald Trump.", "Donald Trump's estranged niece, Mary Trump, has long been uncomfortable with her last name. \"It's not a very common name,\" she said in an interview with Fresh Air on Tuesday. \"If I paid with a credit card, I invariably got asked if I was related [to Donald]. And I always said no.\" Before her uncle entered politics, that's usually where the conversation ended. But Donald Trump's political career changed things. \"It was a bit of a shock, you know, to hear my name being mentioned dozens of times a day,\" Mary Trump said. Mary Trump said she was devastated when her uncle was elected president: \"I knew he was unfit,\" she said. \"And whether other people knew that aspect of the situation or not, they certainly had ample evidence that he was sexist, if not misogynist, racist and not truthful about his alleged success in business.\" Mary Trump's father, Fred Trump Jr., was Donald Trump's older brother and the black sheep of the family. After Fred Jr.'s death in 1981, Mary Trump's grandfather changed his will to exclude Mary and her brother. She writes about her family's tangled history in the new memoir, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. Mary Trump described Donald Trump as a \"belligerent and uncontrollable\" youth whose sister did homework for him when he was a student at Fordham University. Years later, Mary Trump realized how toxic the relationship was between her uncle and her father. Writing the book, she said, helped her better understand her father's place in the family. In the interview, Mary Trump described her dad as a man whose kindness was seen as weakness in a power-driven family. \"The tale they spun [was] that he was just this failed guy who just couldn't accomplish anything,\" she says. \"When my family did talk about my father, it was to say that, essentially he was handsome and kind — and 'kind' was always said as if it were not really a compliment.\" As for her uncle, Mary Trump said: \"One thing we can say about Donald is he has been consistently himself for decades. ... I can't really think of any way in which he's evolved or changed from the person he was when he was a teenager.\" Interview highlights On getting access to the Trump family finances when she and her brother sued her grandfather's estate After my brother and I were disinherited, we, after several fruitless months of negotiation, decided to sue my grandfather's estate. In the course of that lawsuit ... we were entitled to all of the documents pertaining to his [Fred Trump Sr.'s] personal finances, his personal tax returns, and all of the financial documents relating to all of his entities, which would have been in excess of four dozen buildings in Queens and Brooklyn. On her decision to hand over the documents to The New York Times, which published an exposé of the Trump family finances in 2018 [Times reporter Susanne Craig] over time, despite my intransigence, made a very good case that I might actually have something that could help concretely, as she put it, \"rewrite the financial history of Donald and my family.\" Before then, I had completely forgotten about the existence of those documents. It had been almost 20 years in the past. I didn't think about it anymore. It had ended very badly for me and there was no reason to revisit it. But when she made it clear that those documents, if they were still in the possession of the attorney who had handled the lawsuit for me, could be analyzed properly, there could be a lot of really valuable information. So finally, for the first time, I felt like I could do something tangible. So within a few weeks of deciding to call [Craig], I had gone to my former attorney's office and gotten all 19 boxes, which included 40,000 pages or so of all of the documents. ... In the next year, the investigative team did this extraordinary job of forensic accounting and hardcore digging into all sorts of other sources and contacts. And they came up with what I think is one of the most brilliant pieces of investigative journalism I've ever seen. ... They put it in numerical terms that were quite honestly mind-boggling to me. When my grandfather died, we were told that his estate was worth about $30 million and it turns out it was closer to a billion. So that's hardly a rounding error. For the first time in my life I understood just how much money my family had and just how much money my grandfather's business and properties were worth. On why she believes her trustees, Maryanne, Robert and Donald Trump, weren't looking out for her best interest after her father died They had used egregiously misrepresented valuations of properties I had a share in to craft a settlement agreement [in her lawsuit against the Fred Trump Sr. estate] that, as it turns out, was much to my disadvantage. ... That's been one of the more eye-opening things, because Maryanne, Robert and Donald weren't just my aunts and uncles — which should have been enough for them to look out for my interest" ]

[ "I really dont think that is possible. \\nYou will have to partition the drive while installing linux. I think that is because linux uses its own type of a file system other than windows. \\nWhen i installed Mandrake on a pc that was already running windows 2k, the mandrake installation made a partition of its own n installed. However, it was dual boot." ]

[ "You can definitely have Linux and Windows Xp as dual boot on ur system. I have 2 linux distros and Windows Xp on my 40GB harddisk. 250 GB is a very high amt of hard disk space.. You can have anything you want installed on it..\\n\\nBefore going for dual boot, you need to know how to patition the disk for linux installation, and on what steps you should take before doing it..(as you say you are a newbie to linux).. Refer http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/install-guide/ch-x86-dualboot.html\\n\\nWhile partitioning, dont allow it to do autopartition, as it would eat up all the free space u have.. Choose \"Manual Partition with diskdruid\" option and partition it as follows..\\n\\nYou may assign some 10GB for linux, where the partitioning may be as follows:\\n\\nMount Point ----- Size\\n------------------------------\\n/ ------ 5GB\\n/home ------ 5GB\\n/boot ------ 100MB\\nSWAP ------ 3 x RAM_SIZE if ur RAM is less than 512MB if RAM is >512 MB, have ur SWAP as 750MB (This is my personal opinion after a lot of performance testing and optimization)\\n\\nYou can mount your FAT or NTFS format drives(windows drives) with linux.. so, u dont neeed to assign much extra space to linux, as ext3(linux format) drives cant be seen from windows. You can instead use the mounted windows drives itself for data storage on linux also. This way you can have the maximum amount of hard disk usable on both OSes.\\n\\nTo start with, Mandriva or Fedora should be good options, as regards to distro.\\n\\nHope this helps you in installing a dual boot system succesfully.\\n\\n(PS: Remember that installing Windows XP first and then installing linux is the easiest way, as linux would detect windows and boot it, whereas windows wont detect linux. Though there are other ways to recover linux partition if u install linux before installing windows, its not the recommended way for a newbie)", "Converting to NTFS Using the Setup Program\\nThe Setup program makes it easy to convert your partition to the new version of NTFS, even if it used FAT or FAT32 before. This kind of conversion keeps your files intact (unlike formatting a partition).\\n\\nSetup begins by checking the existing file system. If it is NTFS, conversion is not necessary. If it is FAT or FAT32, Setup gives you the choice of converting to NTFS. If you don't need to keep your files intact and you have a FAT or FAT32 partition, it is recommended that you format the partition with NTFS rather than converting from FAT or FAT32. (Formatting a partition erases all data on the partition and allows you to start fresh with a clean drive.) However, it is still advantageous to use NTFS, regardless of whether the partition was formatted with NTFS or converted. \\n\\nTop of page\\nConverting to NTFS Using Convert.exe\\nA partition can also be converted after Setup by using Convert.exe. For more information about Convert.exe, after completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER. In the command window, type help convert, and then press ENTER.\\n\\nIt is easy to convert partitions to NTFS. The Setup program makes conversion easy, whether your partitions used FAT, FAT32, or the older version of NTFS. This kind of conversion keeps your files intact (unlike formatting a partition.\\n\\nTo find out more information about Convert.exe\\n1.\\n After completing Setup, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then press ENTER. \\n \\n2.\\n In the command window, type help convert and then press ENTER. Information about converting FAT volumes to NTFS is made available as shown below. \\n\\n\\n\\nConverting FAT volumes to NTFS\\n\\n \\n\\nTo convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt\\n1.\\n Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. \\n \\n2.\\n In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs \\n \\n\\nFor example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format. You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.\\n\\nImportant Once you convert a drive or partition to NTFS, you cannot simply convert it back to FAT or FAT32. You will need to reformat the drive or partition which will erase all data, including programs and personal files, on the partition.", "can you still read from the partition,\\nwhat were you trying to do, move or resize the partition\\nif you cannot read the partition ie if it is the boot partition can you load windows.\\n\\nif not it will bw quite difficult without specialist software", "The data on your hard drive is stored in a quite complicated structure. The largest block of this structure is a partition. It is an area of the physical disk, separated from the remaining disk space. There can be more partitions (separated areas) on one disk. The partitions are independent from each other and they appear as individual disks under Windows. Each partition can be formated to another file system(NTFS,FAT32...) and can be used completely separately (You can have more operating systems on more partitions.).\\nMostly the disk is separated into two partitions, one for the OS and one for the data, but you can create as many partitions as you want to use them separately for storing different types of data.\\nThe advantage of more partitions is that if you want to format one of them, you still maintain the data on the other one. Or you can put more operating systems on your PC by creating a partition for each OS.\\nManaging partitions is quite easy. There are many programs to do this (one of them is even a part of the Windows installation).", "You can delete the partition, but you cannot reclaim it without repartitioning it, under which case it will appear under a different drive letter than your other partition.\\n\\nTo rejoin the partition to your Windows partition, you need to either repartition the entire disk -- which will destroy all data -- or use a partitioning program.", "just simply Delet the partition & make the partition again Instal the window then you wont see this problam", "the utility partitiom is for hardware diagonastics , <200 mb partition \\n\\nand the ~4 gb partition is the windows Image which would restore your computer to the state the day it was opened.", "I had 2 version of WINDOWS XP on 2 different partitions of my hard drive once. Did it to try and fix some problems and save some files. After I was done I deleted both partitions and installed a fresh copy of XP", "The good news is that you can install Ubuntu Linux as they have a PowerPC version available, Macs can't use the x86 version. Ubuntu and most Linux distros come with bootloaders which will allow you to dual boot OSX and the Linux distro, in this case Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installer should be able to partition and format your drive while keeping the OSX installation intact. Once you have installed Ubuntu you should be able to select from either Ubuntu or OSX to boot with. Ubuntu shouldn't take more than 3GB for the install but you will want to give it at least a 10GB partition to work with.\\n\\nI know next to nothing about dual booting a Mac but that is how it would work on Windows.", "it should replace it automatically , unless u install at a different directory , then u need to format the hard disk partition , take care if u intall two windows at one partition , that formatted all , no delete for windows ,", "As long as the partition table is intact you should be able to remove the hard disk, attach it to another desktop mac and copy yur files to it. You could also remove the disk and place it in a firewire enclosure and do the same. I recommend strongly not to back up to a windows machine, but if you do, make sure it is saved on an ntfs partition or your files will be damaged.", "Because your C: drive contains Windows and all the programs you have installed (if you didn't choose to install them on the D: drive). I am also assuming that these are two hard drives and not just separate partitions because Windows will see a partitioned drive as two drives also.", "Find a program called Partition Magic. It will let you re-allocate your E drive to make your C drive bigger. The other option is to reinstall windows again and partition right this time.", "Process of Dual booting Windows 98 with Windows 95:\\n\\nIt is recommended that at least two partitions be created, one partition for Windows 95 and the other for Windows 98. Information about creating partitions can be found on document CH000345. If the partitions need to be deleted, information about deleting a partition can be found on document CH000344. \\nOnce at least two partitions have been created on the computer, if you have an OEM version of Windows 98 install it first as it will search for pre-existing operating systems. If you have a retail version of Windows 98 you can either install Windows 95 or Windows 98 first. \\nNote: If you have a Windows 98 Retail or OEM it is also important to know that you can boot from this CD and install Windows.\\n\\nOnce one of the Operating Systems has been installed in the computer, boot the computer from a bootable floppy diskette and at the MS-DOS prompt install the other operating system onto the other partition. Note: you do not want to install Windows 95/98 through Windows, it must be done from MS-DOS. \\nOnce both Operating Systems have been installed onto the computer it will boot to the last installed operating system. To boot to the alternate Operating system you will needed to edit the msdos.sys file and change the WinDir= and the WinBootDir to the appropriate drive letter. If you find yourself needing to boot between the operating systems often it may be easier to create two different msdos.sys files and then use a batch file to switch between these msdos.sys files. \\nAdditional information on editing the msdos.sys can be found on our MSDOS.SYS page. \\nAdditional information about batch files can be found on our batch file page.\\nhttp://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000346.htm#01", "Use Fdisk to delete the partition then Reinstall Windows. Doubt its a dead harddrive", "If you want to duel boot the two opertating systems you will either need two harddrives or 2 partitions on the one drive.\\n\\nIf you wish to keep all of your documents when you install windows 98SE you will need a program such as partition magic, to repartition the drive while saving all your files (You will need at least a few Gig's off space on the new partition), making sure to format the new partition as FAT32 not NTFS\\n\\nYou should then be able to restart with the 98 CD in the drive and install to the new partition you've created, however if you're orignial installation was on an NTFS partition you will not be able to access any files on the XP installation.\\n\\nIf you simply wanted to install windows 98SE on the computer as a clean install you would need to reboot teh computer and using either the CD or a windows bootdisk run FDISK and delete the current hardrive partiton, (THIS WILL REMOVE ALL DATA ON THE HARDRIVE), create a new partition on the drive\\n\\nThe drive will then need to be formated as FAT32 (X:format c:&#92;) from the boot disk. Booting up with the CD in will then allow you to install windows 98 on the system, however you will loose any data / files and programs, settings etc you had before.\\n\\nI would strongly not reccoment installing windows 98SE on any system unless it was the only OS it would support...", "There might be multiple partitions, i.e a 2GB C: drive and a 18GB D: drive. If this is the case then you can, of course, still use all of the drive the way it is, but if you wanted to make it all one partition you'd need to format the drive and reinstall windows.", "Either your backup drive is going down for the count, or you need to do repair your boot sector. Here's how to repair a boot sector: put your Windows XP/2000 cd into your cd/dvd drive, and restart your computer. Then pretend like you're going to load Windows, but don't. When you get to the point where it will let you create/delete partitions, type this in: \"D:&#92;FIXMBR\" (without the quotation marks!)\\n\\nIf the Master Boot Record Fix doesn't work, you'll have to buy another drive, assuming it's not a new drive, that you have never partitioned. If it is, then just create a partition on D: (or whatever the new drive would be), then immediately \"format full\", and once you get back into Windows, it will be usable.", "partitioning hard drive was used on early days of computer because older operating system had a limit on addressing/accessing hard disk in terms of size. e.g windows nt 4.0 can only installed on 4gb hard drive, what will you do then if you had 40gb hard drive? the answer is partition your harddrive.", "First off you can not format your main \"Boot Partition\" unless you are going to create a Ghost disk to install after you FDISK or format and keep the OS still. Once you format / FDISK your Boot Partition it is gone and you have to reinstall your O/S from scratch. (I format my system about once every 6 mo. to make sure crap is cleared up anyway.)\\n\\nThe difference between a \"Boot\" and a \"System\" partition is the boot partition has your MBR (Master Boot Record) loaded on it. Which in all means the Boot information for your O/S. (You can have multiple bootable partitions called a Dual/Tri/or even now I've seen Quade boot systems.) And is your system has to have this partition to boot into any OS.\\n\\nThe \"System\" partition is a partition doesn't have to be on a system but can be setup if you have a large hard drive. (i.e. 300GB drive and you want to make 3 partitions 1-100G \"Boot Partition\" 2-100GB \"System Partitions\") This type of partition doesn't have an MBR.", "yes with partition magic you can specify the start and end of a partition and make any the active partition.", "You can use the Microsoft Windows XP Setup program or the Fdisk and Format tools to partition and format System and startup partitions.\\nBefore you install your operating system, you must first create a primary partition on the hard disk (disk 1) on your computer, and then format a file system on that partition. The Fdisk tool is an MS-DOS-based tool that you can use to prepare (partition) a hard disk. You can use the Fdisk tool to create, change, delete, or display current partitions on the hard disk, and then each allocated space on the hard disk (primary partition, extended partition, or logical drive) is assigned a drive letter. Disk 1 may contain one extended partition, and a second hard disk may contain a primary or extended partition. An extended partition may contain one or more logical MS-DOS drives. \\n\\nAfter you use the Fdisk tool to partition your hard disk, use the Format tool to format those partitions with a file system. The file system File Allocation Table (FAT) allows the hard disk to accept, store, and retrieve data. Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2), Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), and Windows 2000 support the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. When you run the Fdisk tool on a hard disk that is larger than 512 megabytes (MB), you are prompted to choose one of the following file systems: • FAT16: This file system has a maximum of 2 gigabytes (GB) for each allocated space or drive letter. For example, if you use the FAT16 file system and have a 6-GB hard disk, you can have three drive letters (C, D, and E), each with 2 GB of allocated space.\\nFAT32: This file system supports drives that are up to 2 terabytes in size and stores files on smaller sections of the hard disk than the FAT16 file system does. This results in more free space on the hard disk. The FAT32 file system does not support drives that are smaller than 512 MB\\nWhen you run the fdisk and format commands, the Master Boot Record (MBR) and file allocation tables are created. The MBR and file allocation tables store the necessary disk geometry that allows hard disk to accept, store, and retrieve data\\n\\nAfter you create the partitions, you must format the partitions: 1. Restart your computer with the Startup disk in the floppy disk drive. \\n\\nNOTE: If you are using a Windows 95 Startup disk, a command prompt is displayed and you can skip to step 2. If you are using a Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me Startup disk, select the Start computer without CD-ROM support menu option when the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed. \\n2. When a command prompt is displayed, type format c: /s, and then press ENTER. This command transfers the system files and should only be used when you format drive C (or your \"active\" drive). For all other partitions, type format drive: (where drive is the letter of the partition that you want to format). \\n\\nNOTE: If you receive a \"Bad command\" or \"Bad file name\" error message, you may need to extract the Format.com tool to your boot disk. To do this, type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER: \\nextract ebd.cab format.com\\nAfter the Format.com tool is extracted to your boot disk, type format c: /s t a command prompt to format your active partition, or type format drive: if you want to format a partition that is not your active partition. \\n3. When you successfully run the Format.com tool, you receive the following message:\\nWARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST! \\nProceed with Format? \\n4. Press Y, and then press ENTER to format drive C. \\n5. After the format procedure is finished, you receive the following message: \\nVolume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)? \\nNOTE: This is an optional feature that you can use to type a name for the drive. You can either type an 11-character name for the drive, or you can leave it blank by pressing ENTER. \\n\\nIf you want to add a second hard disk (s", "a possible solution is to make partitions to your harddrive\\nAdvantage:\\n1. you got a specialized partition for each part of your life, work, program testing, gaming etc\\n2. window can deal with less resident program, lower work load\\n3. easy to identify problem if it come up\\n4. you go back up system to work with if you got 1 partition really act up on you\\n5. make the most of this day monster size drive\\nDisadvantage:\\n1. time to do the set up\\n2. software to invest", "What exactly do you mean? Do you mean the index of the files in your ntfs partition? Do you mean the boot.ini file that determines which partition you boot from? Or something else?", "Windows has to address each partition with its own letter. Otherwise, it can't write to the disks.", "okey!\\n\\nhere is a very nice app that lets you execute some window files/executables from within linux.\\nhttp://www.winehq.com/site/download\\nYou'll probably also find it inside the linux CD.\\nBut first did you mount the windows file systems to linux?\\nIf not install the NTFS kernel module for your kernel:\\nPls search the internet for the following:\\nkernel-module-ntfs RPM packages for Red Hat/Fedora\\n\\n*If you want to find out what kernel you're running, you can open a terminal and type:\\nuname -r\\n\\nnow after installing the module try to mount your NTFS partition/Windows Patrtition.\\nIf you see any prob then do:\\nman mount\\n\\ncheers", "I have used more than one copy of windows on the same hard disc, on different partition. When I boot my computer, windows will list the different copies of windows and allow selection of one to use. Must be on different partitions. Also, be careful when asked what location to store files, as windows will get confused sometimes and try to store files from one copy with other copy of windows. Be aware that your second copy will not use \"drive C\" as the main drive. I have 2 copies now and my second copy recognizes \"Drive F\" as my \"C\" drive. It will work though. Be safe to backup your files before starting.", "Hi Funguy,\\n\\nYou can try Microsoft Virtual PC / Microsoft Virtual Server (Latest) to make a virtual OS installation without partitioning your hard drive.\\n\\nIt creates a FILE with extension .vhd which acts as a hard drive for your virtual OS.\\n\\nwhich can be Linux, Windows 2003, or Win98 \\n\\nRegards,\\nYatin Bhatt", "goto recov con, and look if there is a boot.ini file in you c:&#92; or where ever you installed you xp, \">edit boot.ini\" most probably the boot default= is set to the wrong partition, else it could be bad sector, bad disk format, no space on disk available...many more.\\ngood luck.\\np.s: default= multi(0)disk(0)rdisk( 0)partition(1)&#92;WINDOWS\\nis set to boot from the first partition on the disk, if you copy and past this make sure to remove the space in rdisk( 0).", "If OS in on one partition only,you can merge 2 partitions with no problem at all.I don't think Partition Magic offer free trial.If you are going to buy it,you should buy PC BEGINNER from www.download.com.Program contains Partition Magic and some other usefull software,such as Drive Image.It costs the same price as to buy Partition Magic alone from local stores", "Is this the only drive in the computer or is it an added drive (new slave)? Is the OS Windows XP or something else?\\nUsually the required sequence is partition first, set active (if not a secondary drive), reboot, format and then install software. If you have three partitions, then you also need to set the logical drive and format them before they can be used.", "Yes you can ... all you need to do is assign that 15 Gb to extended partition and then create 1 or multiple logical drives in it and there you can use it.\\n For Win 200/Xp/2003 Type Compmgmt.msc in Start/Run and follow the above mentioned procedure . refer windows Help for more info\\n Also you can convert From FAT to NTFS/FAT32 but vice-versa is not possible. also Converting from FAT32 to NTFS is not possible and also vice versa." ]

[ "Residents were forbidden to ask for their mail before 11:00 a.m." ]

[ "The clerk did not mind getting the resident their mail early.", "I live in Plano in an apartment.", "There are almost no buildings where I live.", "I live in California where we have lots of immigrants.", "It's easy to do if you're living in an apartment building.", "I sat at the desk at 11:01.", "I could have been ripped apart.", "A desk clerk is signing guests in.", "Work is not allowed before 11 a.m.", "Please come and see me at 11:00 tomorrow.", "Where are we? Bork asked.", "I live in an apartment and I am engaged.", "There were three clerks at the reception desk.", "We live very far apart.", "Where will we do it? asked Adrin.", "This is where I live.", "People are at an apartment building.", "Eating establishments give out lunch between the hours of 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and then dinner at about 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.", "We lived in a condo before this.", "We have several options of pizza places near where I live.", "It is uncommon to have cold weather where we live.", "We never been there before.", "Where are we going? asked Ca'daan.", "A ranch is where I live.", "I have never been to Maryland before.", "He's living on his own in an apartment and I always know where he is.", "Those questions are new and have never been asked before.", "This could be not compatible with your email system.", "The postal service has postage.", "I have been to some games before.", "I never have been to Houston before.", "A person is inside of a building." ]

[ "Iran's pro-reform movement has been dealt a serious blow since the June 12 presidential elections. Hundreds of people have been arrested and detained in a government crackdown to suppress the opposition. There have been few demonstrations since the June uprising. But as Bahman Kalbasi of the BBC's Persian Service tells NPR's Robert Siegel, the movement perseveres. Thousands of demonstrators gathered Monday in Tehran and dozens of other Iranian cities to show their opposition to the government. Chants of \"death to the dictator\" were reportedly heard as protesters clashed with riot police. Monday's demonstrations were the largest in months. The government continues its hard-line stance on dissident activities. In October, 47-year old Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American academic, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for his role in the June post-election protests; 100 other people were also sentenced at that time. Kalbasi also cited the suspicious death of whistleblower Ramin Pourandarjani, which has been a warning for agitators. The 26-year-old doctor witnessed and publicly exposed the torture of opposition detainees. He was found dead on Nov. 10. Iranian authorities initially said he was in a car crash, had a heart attack or had committed suicide. A Tehran prosecutor later said that he died of poisoning from an overdose of a blood pressure drug placed in a salad. Official Iranian media said investigators are now trying to determine whether Pourandarjani's death was a suicide or murder. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: For more on Iran's opposition movement, we're joined by Bahman Kalbasi. He is a Washington correspondent for the BBC's Persian service. Welcome to the program. Mr. BAHMAN KALBASI (Correspondent, BBC): Thank you. SIEGEL: And at first, help us put today's demonstrations into context. What has the opposition movement in Iran been up to since the summer when we saw so many mass demonstrations after the Iranian elections? Mr. KALBASI: Well, this is a movement that is evolving as it marches ahead. The first week obviously was mainly a spontaneous reaction to the results of the election, massive protests that gave more sense to the movement itself of how much power it has. But it wasn't as planned as it is now - but as the crackdown obviously occurred and it was clear to everybody that the government is using all tools available to it to control the population and the crowds, they have been strategizing their moves to see how they can proceed without paying too much of a political and social price, you know, networking via social media and using every available tool that is to organize for a next move. SIEGEL: How have the Iranian officials - how have the authorities reacted to that use of social media and the Internet generally to organize protests? Mr. KALBASI: Well, I think their first and foremost priority is to make sure that these demonstrations don't happen, which seems to not have been working as much as they like. So, the tool to do that is mainly cut off communication. The first move - the very first days, they were under this illusion, in fact, that if they arrest the leadership that this will not be able to organize itself, and that failed. But the next step obviously was to make sure that the people, the youth, the ones that are actually forming these protests can't communicate, can't organize. So, some of it has been through blocking almost every Web site that outside the country is part of the Green Movement or - and for weeks, the text messaging was cut off. The last three days, the Internet has been very, very slow, to the level that some people cannot connect at all. SIEGEL: And yet it seems as though a great many people are out on the streets, nonetheless. Mr. KALBASI: True. The interesting part about it, that while they're using the very sort of cutting-edge technology, Internet and other ways, to try to get the message out, they used the very traditional ones as well. So, you know, as this - the chanting over the roofs at 10 p.m. that basically the whole city is hearing, the sense of solidarity is there and everybody knows that something is to come up. So, that chanting happened last night. Everybody knew there was a protest to be held today. SIEGEL: I want you to tell us about one other case, the mysterious death of a whistleblower in Iran, the young doctor who came out and said that the government was torturing protesters. Tell us about that case. Mr. KALBASI: Well, he was one of the doctors that who was at the sites of the jail that now is known as Iran's Guantanamo. And the allegations of rape surfaced by the - one of the leaders of their movement, Mr. Karoubi. He apparently was working as a doctor there and had valuable information for the parliamentarians, who were looking into this and a small committee that was formed in the judiciary. So, there seems to have been a push to make sure that that information is suppressed, that they came out and strongly denied " ]

[ "Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate who ran against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, has not been heard from much since the country's presidential election June 12. But many want to know his political background, what he stands for — and what he might do next. Joe Klein of Time magazine, who interviewed Mousavi in Tehran the day before the election, says Mousavi is a \"very soft-spoken man.\" \"He was very quiet, very polite, not very charismatic,\" Klein tells NPR's Robert Siegel. \"But he did say several things that distinguished him even from some of the other reformers in terms of his willingness to negotiate with the United States if he were elected.\" Mousavi has held the position of foreign minister, as well as prime minister of Iran — a position that no longer exists — and he's an architect by training and a painter. Klein says he thinks Mousavi differs from Ahmadinejad in both his views of the Iranian economy and his style of campaigning. \"Mousavi wanted to take the oil revenues and use it to invest in a more sophisticated economy of the future,\" Klein says. \"Ahmadinejad has been taking the oil revenues and redistributing them directly.\" Regarding style, Klein says Ahmadinejad has directly attacked people associated with Mousavi, including his wife. Similarly, Mohsen Sazegara, a former deputy prime minister of Iran and now a dissident living in exile in Washington, D.C., calls Mousavi \"noble.\" \"I remember Mousavi from 1977, when I was a student [in] Chicago, Illinois, and an active member of the Muslim Student Association,\" Sazegara says. \"In a seminar we had in Texas, he was invited with his wife from Iran. They had a very good speech about [the] Quran, both of them, in that seminar. Later, when I was at the head of the biggest industrial organization of Iran during [the] '80s, while Mousavi was prime minister, I worked with him. He's a noble man. ... Maybe I don't agree with some of his ideals right now. Somehow he believes in an ideological version of Islam.\" Sazegara disputes a CQpolitics.com article that cites former U.S. intelligence sources who say Mousavi was involved in attacks against the U.S. in the 1980s, such as the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and of a U.S. naval base in Italy. \"No, he was not involved in these affairs,\" Sazegara says, adding that Mousavi was not a member of the Revolutionary Guard or the Iran army. Klein adds that Mousavi has been part of the \"generation that made the revolution. He's been part of the generational transformation that's taken place over time. They've become far more moderate. ... The real generation gap in Iran is between people like Mousavi, the revolutionary generation, and people like Ahmadinejad, the generation that fought the Iran-Iraq war, who are far more military in their orientation.\" Sazegara says he agrees. \"My generation is [a] generation of revolution,\" Sazegara says. \"We were all revolutionary in those days. We were anti-U.S., anti-capitalism. We believed in socialistic ideas. Mousavi, like many other people in my generation, we have changed our ideals somehow, more or less.\" Klein says Mousavi's behavior since the election has surprised him. \"He seemed to be someone who was not the sort of guy who would get out in the streets with a speaker horn and lead a public movement,\" he says. Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not give in to pressure over the disputed presidential election, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition. \"Neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price,\" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with lawmakers Wednesday. But the wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was defiant, saying protesters refused to buckle under a situation she compared to martial law. Witnesses said protesters and riot police clashed in the streets around Iran's parliament Wednesday afternoon. Three witnesses said hundreds of protesters gathered in a square next to the parliament building in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election. They said police beat the protesters with batons, fired tear gas and shot in the air. Some demonstrators fought back while others fled to another Tehran square about a mile to the north. Amateur video showed young men and women throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street. Others shouted, \"Death to the dictator!\" Severe restrictions on reporters made it almost impossible to independently verify the video, as well as other reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered journalists for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets. Mousavi's Web site called the protest independent and stated that it had not been organized by the reformist candidate. Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, a former university dean who campaigned beside him, said on another", "With Eric Westervelt Automobiles, gold, steel. The Trump administration reimposes financial sanctions on Iran, with those on oil to come. Where might this hard-line policy lead? Guests Thomas Erdbrink, Tehran bureau chief for The New York Times. (@ThomasErdbrink) Reuel Marc Gerecht, senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Former director of the Middle East Initiative at the Project for the New American Century and Middle East specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations. Jarrett Blanc, senior fellow in the Geoeconomics and Strategy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Former State Department coordinator for Iran nuclear implementation at the U.S. Department of State under President Obama, where he was responsible for the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program. (@JarrettBlanc) [Youtube] From The Reading List New York Times: &#8220;Protests Pop Up Across Iran, Fueled by Daily Dissatisfaction&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;Across Iran’s heartland, from the sweltering heat of its southern cities to the bustling capital, protesters have taken to the streets with increasing intensity in recent months, much to the satisfaction of the Trump administration, which is hoping the civil unrest will put pressure on Iranian leaders. &#8220;Some demonstrations — about the weak economy, strict Islamic rules, water shortages, religious disputes, local grievances — have turned deadly. The protesters have shouted harsh slogans against clerical leaders and their policies. The events are broadly shared on social media and on the dozens of Persian language satellite channels beaming into the Islamic republic. &#8220;On Thursday, protests were held in the cities of Arak, Isfahan, Karaj and Shiraz, as people — in numbers ranging in the hundreds, perhaps more — took to the streets, chanting slogans like “death to high prices,” but also criticizing top officials. A smaller protest was held in Tehran, where some people were arrested, according to videos taken at the scene.&#8221; The Weekly Standard: &#8220;The Preeminent Challenge: For President Trump and His Foreign Policy Team, Cracking the Islamic Republic is Job One&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;The biggest foreign-policy challenge before Donald Trump isn’t North Korea, where the usual pattern of diplomacy and deception persists. Nor is it Russia; it doesn’t have the muscle to take on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which isn’t dead yet. Nor is the most imminent problem China, which doesn’t have the navy and air force to tempt fate in the South and East China Seas. It will one day really challenge the United States and East Asia’s democratic and anti-Chinese authoritarian states—the type of fascist confrontation that could lead to carnage—but Washington probably has years to check Beijing’s ambitions. &#8220;The most troublesome, immediate challenge comes from Iran. Trump’s decision to walk away from his predecessor’s deeply flawed arms-control agreement will likely soon consume the administration’s attention since, depending on what the mullahs do, war may once more be on the horizon. If the president fails to corral the clerics and the Revolutionary Guards through sanctions and the threat of force, the reverberations will surely weaken, if not gut, the administration’s capacity to play hardball elsewhere. Barack Obama punted the Iranian nuclear problem down the road slightly (and didn’t really pivot to Asia). Trump has probably eliminated the possibility of punting. He now may have to deal with Iran more decisively than his predecessors.&#8221; The Trump administration is reimposing economic sanctions on Iran, putting new pressure on the Shiite power and fraying relations with European allies. In a tweet the president today warned, &#8220;Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!&#8221; Others worry Trump&#8217;s hard-line policy will only worsen regional and world tensions. This hour, On Point: America and Iran &#8212; the way forward. — Eric Westervelt", "&nbsp; In 1978, the original pride flag was created by artist, activist and drag queen Gilbert Baker. And now, 43 years later, a fragment has been discovered and is coming home to San Francisco. Charles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation and friend of Baker’s, recalls how Baker came up with the idea. At the time, there wasn’t a strong symbol within the LGBTQ community, leading many to express the desire to create one. Among them was Harvey Milk, city supervisor of San Francisco and the first openly gay official in the U.S. Milk, along with friend Cleve Jones, approached Baker to get his thoughts on creating a potential symbol. It was Baker, Beal says, who proposed that the symbol actually take the shape of a flag. Later, Baker was out dancing at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco when he became inspired for how the flag should look. “He just was so impressed by the diversity of the crowd that this idea of this rainbow of humanity hit him like a brick,” Beal says. “And he said, ‘Our flag should be a rainbow.’ ” A few months later, Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. Milk had been in office for less than a year. Following Milk’s death, Beal says many people had a hard time coping with the loss. But there were some like Jones and Baker who continued to work and fight for equal rights. The following year, Baker asked the committee for the 1979 Gay Parade to hang 400 pride flags on the light posts along the parade’s route on Market Street. The flag served as a beacon of hope, which is what Milk had tasked Baker with designing. “That flag is a beacon and it&#8217;s shining,” Beal says. “They&#8217;re saying take that first step from darkness out into the light.” To this day, the symbol continues to be used in protest. Last month, an Iranian man was beheaded by his family for coming out. In reaction, LGBTQ activists waved pride flags through the streets of Iran in protest. It’s an example that shows the significance of the flag. “That flag has power,” Beal says. “It has meaning, and it gives people hope all around the globe.” Watch on YouTube. Mark Navin produced this interview and edited it for broadcast with Tinku Ray. Jeannette Muhammad adapted this interview for the web. This article was originally published on WBUR.org.", "Analysts say the speech Friday by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could be an effort to divide the opposition and defuse any future confrontations. But they also warned that a major showdown between government forces and protesters in the streets of Tehran could be inevitable. In the Friday sermon aimed at silencing dissent over Iran's disputed election, Khamenei rejected charges of election fraud and declared that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won. The ayatollah also issued a thinly veiled threat to opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi that he would be held accountable if mass protests continue. \"It was a remarkably tough speech, and he made it very clear that he is in total charge,\" said Mohsen Milani, a professor at the University of South Florida who studies Iranian politics. Another opposition rally in Tehran was planned for Saturday. Khamenei, hinting at a possible government crackdown, said in his speech: \"If they don't stop, the consequences of the chaos would be their responsibility.\" Rafsanjani A Key? But Khamenei also reached out to one of the opposition's behind-the-scenes leaders — Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, whom Ahmadinejad accused of corruption during the campaign. Milani says Khamenei was remarkably conciliatory toward Rafsanjani, calling the former president \"one of the main pillars of the Islamic Revolution\" and one of his \"closest confidants.\" Rafsanjani has been one of the major supporters of Mousavi's bid for the presidency, but he has been publicly silent in recent days. Milani says Khamenei's overtures appear to be an effort to divide the opposition. But Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center on Middle East Policy, said Khamenei's speech \"made it clear that the regime is not trying to find some kind of creative compromise.\" A Battle Of Wills? Maloney says she thinks a crackdown is inevitable, in part because of the toughness of the two main adversaries, Khamenei and Mousavi. Compared with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's first supreme leader following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Maloney says Khamenei is more powerful and more assertive. Mousavi, too, has a history of toughness, Maloney says. He was prime minister when Khamenei was president during the Iran-Iraq war. \"He's been out there on the street during the demonstrations,\" she says, adding that is something previous reformers would not have done. \"Mousavi knows exactly what he's up against, and what the regime has done to previous opponents,\" Maloney says. A key to Khamenei's ability to ease dissent will be whether he is able to woo Rafsanjani, who holds influential posts in the government, Milani said. During the campaign, the incumbent Ahmadinejad accused Rafsanjani of corruption. It is significant that Khamenei rejected those charges in his speech, Milani said. Milani believes that Khamenei was signaling to Rafsanjani that Ahmadinejad will not be able to pursue those allegations during his second term as president \"because Rafsanjani wants concrete assurances that Ahmadinejad will not be allowed to clean up the house.\"", "Iran's leadership on Wednesday accused the United States of instigating political unrest after last week's disputed election that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power amid accusations of vote fraud by his reformist rival. Iranian officials summoned the Swiss ambassador — who represents U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran — to complain about \"intolerable\" meddling by the United States in Iran's internal affairs, the country's state television reported. President Obama has said the U.S. respects Iran's sovereignty, but he has expressed \"deep concerns\" about the legitimacy of the election. The Iranian television report came on the same day that thousands of people gathered in Tehran for a fifth straight day of protests by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. The opposition leader stepped up a challenge to the country's all-powerful Islamic leadership by urging another mass rally Thursday. The call to protest defies Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has warned Mousavi to pursue his demand for a new election through official channels and to halt demonstrations. Thursday's rally was also billed as a national day of mourning for seven people killed in clashes with pro-government militiamen earlier in the week. \"In the course of the past days and as a consequence of illegal and violent encounters\" against protesters, \"a number of our countrymen were wounded or martyred,\" Mousavi said on his Web site. \"We are after a peaceful rally to protest the unhealthy trend of the elections and realize our goal of annulling the election results,\" he said, asking his followers to wear black in memory of those slain and the alleged voting fraud. Mousavi has charged Ahmadinejad with stealing the election, but the incumbent said the victory in Friday's vote was based on his government's \"honesty and service to the people,\" according to a statement released by the semi-official ISNA news agency. ISNA and the private ILNA news agency also reported that scuffles broke out between a reformist lawmaker and a hard-line legislator in an open session of the Parliament after they exchanged verbal attacks over the vote results. On Wednesday, protesters — many clad in black and wearing headbands in the signature green of Mousavi's campaign — assembled in and around Tehran's Haft-e Tir square. The opposition street protests, combined with dissent from powerful clerical and political figures, present one of the gravest threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged from the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power. Blogs and Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests and violence after the government banned foreign reporters. The Revolutionary Guard, an elite military force answering to Khamenei, said through the state news service that its investigators have taken action against \"deviant news sites\" that encouraged public disturbance and street riots. Mousavi condemned the government for blocking Web sites, saying it did not tolerate the voice of the opposition. Iran's most senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, said that the ruling Islamic system had no political or religious legitimacy because of widespread vote fraud. In a statement on his Web site, he said \"no sound mind\" would accept the results. \"A government that is based on intervening in [people's] vote has no political or religious legitimacy,\" said Montazeri, who had been set to succeed Khomeini as supreme leader, until he was ousted because of criticisms of the revolution. From NPR staff and wire services" ]

[ "well, billions of years ago, when stars and planets were forming, there were millions of rocks floating around. So space was pretty crowded back then. Now they are all space out, it's very rare we will get hit." ]

[ "why don;t you tell her", "why don`t u try malacca aviation academy...", "HAVE YOU TRIED READING THE EXPLANATION OF WHY THEY DIDN`T GO THROUGH ABOVE THE EMAIL WHEN IT DOSEN`T?", "You just end it. It really doesn´t matter why, the point is: you don´t want it anymore and it´s enough. Break up with the person, cry and be sad the time you need and then, be happy again :-)", "why don\"T you try Familyradio.com\\n\\nthis station is an incredible christian radio station", "With - means something is not what you hoped it would be\\nat - doesn`t exist\\nin - used with `love` meaning you were in love but it didn`t work out", "if you truly love your wife/husband, you wil undoubtedly want to keep them. if you don;t know then you don;t love. counseling won;t work. seperation might give u a chance to fall in love with this person again. if you're not game for that, divorce them. it's unfair to both of you to stay married if there is no love.", "This is the big problem with the Mexican argument for legalizing illegals in the US... they say that we are an immigrant nation BUT what they don´t consider is that, for example, my German, Irish, Russian and French ancestors came to the US and became AMERICANS... they learned English, didn´t send all the money they made back to their home country and didn´t consider themselves still of their original country... these illegals and otherwise legal immigrants still root for Mexico in soccer games! They don´t consider themselves Americans but want our rights and our benefits, at our expense!!! This is not fair to us. We have nothing to gain. They are not entitled to the rights of US citizens - they are breaking the law.", "i don,t now ,maybe they are sleeping like myself", "Don`t use powder as this blocks the pores.Hense why you smell .Try washing with an unperfumed soap.Sounds strange but it will work.", "I don´t know,\\n\\nI have a hunch it was Ronaldo in 1994 in the United States, even though he didn´t play one single match. He was 17 at the time. But Pelé could also be the record holder, because in 1958, in Brazil´s first championhip run, he was a starter and won the world cup in Sweden against the hosts, when he wa also 17.", "Why don`t you try the good ol` King James version of the Bible?It has been working for a LONG time!And it will be working when a lot of other reading material is gone and forgotten.", "I am a christian.I understand the muslims are maybe more religious than others.So why do they offend these people?Why don t they just let them be?The muslims never offend other religions but we \"westerners\" provoke them.", "I don’t like this serial that much because there are so many similarities in here with other serials. I don’t know why many are crazy over it. To me, it is only an average serial. \\n\\nIt did average in the box office. If youn need to read the whole story just click http://www.spcnet.tv/reviews/review.php?rID=167", "T Tauri stars have bipolar outflows, to the best of my knowledge. They form Herbig-Haro Objects when the collide with slower matter from the interstellar medium. They might not always show up with T Tauri stars because of nearby nebula, but my astronomy professor (James Kaler, UIUC) assures me that they are there.\\n\\nIf you're talking about mass outflows that the T Tauri stars outputs in addition to the bipolar flows, then I'm sure Doppler shifting can be used. The speeds for the regular outflows should be pretty similar to that of the T Tauri itself, whereas the bipolar flows (depending on orientation to earth, of course) should be much higher. I hope this helped!", "They didn´t win in 1988, they won in 1984.", "It's not that strange, why would you expect the Earth's orbit to be a perfect circle.\\n\\nEverything revolve in a elliptical orbit, because they can't all start moving in perfect circles, that's impossible, so when Earth got closer to the Sun, it basically falls and accelerates because of gravity, but because it's now faster, it can bypass the Sun so it won't crash into it.", "No we all don't do that anymore, but it would be nice if we all did. I think that is why so many people divorce because we don;t do things as a family anymore................", "Ohh, congratulations to drcysto, i didn´t know.", "I don´t know many Americans personally but in our minds there is the picture of Bush (if a people vote for a president like this...?), \\nthe picture of hamburger-eating, milk-shake drinking, fanatically christian patriots who live in a house with garden in a suburb of a small town in the middle west, and all the girls wanna be a cheerleader and marry the captain of the football team.\\nThat´s what first comes up to my mind when I think of an American. I don´t know why...\\nAlthough I know that the majority of Americans isn´t that way...\\nPerhaps it comes from TV...", "Britain and proud of it . But i don`t hate america you guys helped us out in world war two and kept soviets out of western europe i why salute you!!", "Csc (t) = 1/sin(t)\\ntan (t) = sin(t)/cos(t)\\n\\nTherefore, Csc^2(t) = 1/sin^2(t)\\n\\ncsc^2(t)tan(t)sin(t) = [1/sin^2(t)][sin(t)/cos(t)]sin(t)\\n = [sin^2(t)]/[sin^2(t)*cos(t)]\\n = 1/cos(t)= sec(t)\\n\\nI do not know why they always make it complicated, why not just right sec(t)!", "For the first two questions:\\n1.The largest deposits of mineral, human and agricultural resources are in Russia.\\n\\n2. Development declines in Eastern Europe, because their countries don´t have the money and resources than Western Europe countries have. Remember that, 10 years ago, those were almost Communist countries, were free trade and freedom doesn´t exist.", "As it falls to the earth at an incredibly fast speed, the friction of the earth's atmosphere will cause the object to heat up to a point where it starts to burn and disintegrate. If there is anything left to hit the earth, it was nowhere near the size it was when it hit the atmosphere. That is why the space shuttle has heat tiles...otherwise, it would never make it back to earth, and all its astronaughts would die.", "Let´s say there is a bubble of radio signals moving away from earth at the speed of light. It should have an average radius of about 100 lightyears since radio came into use about 100 years ago (tv about 30 years later). Most of the earliest transmissions didn´t last very long so they would make a coneshaped bubble expanding from earth as earth would block it going in all directions. As more radios came into use the cones would combine to form a highly irregular radio bubble. A radio cloud would be a more accurate description. But let´s just say it is a sphere with an average radius of 100 ly.\\n\\nI haven´t been able to find a chart with more than 34 of the nearest stars (you may have more luck). They are all within a 13.05 lightyear radius of earth. Let´s say that the density of stars within a 100 lightyear radius from earth is uniform (it isn´t) then there could be as many as 15300 stars within that radio bubble. So if there are any ham radio alien dudes on a planet among those 15300 stars then they would know we are here...", "mt kilimanjaro was discovered in 1848 but no record is available to date about t its age however, my guess is as old as the planet earth. the beauty of mt Kilimanjaro was part of the design God made when He created the earth", "What,there were 60 million people killed in that war why don`t you interview one of the Russian survivors of the death camps.20million Russians were killed in that war.All you here about is the jews! It is offensive!", "Be happy that they remembered your birthday. Don´t feel spoiled, sometimes parents don´t understand the hints we give them for birthday presents :-)", "No, it´s not weird ... I do that do ... e.g. on public toilets which are dirty, I don´t wanna sit down - that´s why I pee standing up.\\nI also like it.", "A) It´s false! The capacity of the human brain hasn´t been properly measured, so, saying that we use 10% is like saying that you know 10% of the universe when you don´t know how big it really is!\\nb)\"More\" is not the answer I would look for. We should start with \"better\".", "Yes. Here's the proof: There has been talk that the asteroid 1997XF11 will crash into the Earth in the year 2028. The bottom line is that this asteroid poses no threat to the planet Earth in the next century. But, it will pass by the Earth over and over again in the next centuries, so it is worth knowing what our countermeasures are if it ever gets too close!\\n\\nRight now, they have the technology to divert a comet or asteroid coming towards the Earth. Our rockets and explosives would be sufficient to break apart even a large object of about 1 kilometer in diameter. We would of course need some lead time (10 years would be a nice minimum notice). Blowing up an asteroid or a comet too near to the Earth, would just create a chaotic mess of smaller pieces flying towards the Earth. If we were to discover an object coming towards the Earth with only 1-2 years notice before impact, our technologies might not be adequate. The best we could hope to do would be to evacuate the impact site. So the best plan right now is to continue surveying for Near Earth Objects, so that we will know where these asteroids and comets are in time to prepare any countermeasures that might be necessary.", "drink a lot of water, and don´t eat after 5pm, after he sun goes down you don´t burn those calories.." ]

[ "FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) -- Matt Forte remains focused only on winning, no matter what anyone else thinks.\nSo, when some New York Jets fans suggest the team is tanking the upcoming season - or, should - to get a high draft pick next spring, the veteran running back completely disagrees with the notion.\n''It's a good thing we don't operate off of what the fans think and what everybody on the outside thinks,'' Forte said Wednesday before the team's second minicamp practice. ''What we think as a team, that's what's going to happen. And none of us on the team think that we're going to tank.\n''So all I have to say about that is: Bring it.''\nThe Jets are coming off a 5-11 season and parted ways with several productive and popular veterans in the offseason to cut some big salaries. Gone are the likes of Darrelle Revis, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Nick Mangold, David Harris and Nick Folk.\nWhen asked if he thinks the Jets have a competitive roster, Forte laughed.\n''What kind of question is that?'' he said. ''This is a professional football team. We have athletes on this team. In the league, it's not about the team that has the most talent on the roster. It's about the guys who have a brotherhood together. They play on the field, not next to each other, they play for each other. They make sacrifices on the field so the other guys can make plays.\n''That's the kind of culture that we've been creating throughout the offseason here.''\nThe 31-year-old Forte is one of the few remaining vets. And he hasn't been assured that he'll be around for this season.\n''I don't worry about stuff like that,'' said Forte, whose 813 yards rushing in his first season with the Jets were the lowest of his career. ''Nobody has come to me about any of that stuff. I'm pretty sure if they did, my agent would've called me. I go out and practice every day to attain a goal, which is reaching the championship and being the best I can be.''\nForte echoed the sentiments of coach Todd Bowles, who on Tuesday dismissed the ''tanking'' notion.\n''Lucky for me, I don't read the media,'' Bowles said, ''but my expectations are high and the team's expectations are high and that's really all that counts.''\nWhen asked what he's looking to accomplish in a season with such gloomy outside predictions, Bowles insisted nothing has changed.\n''I'm trying to get to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl,'' the coach said. ''It's no different than any other year.''\n---\nFor more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL" ]

[ "FILE - In this May 23, 2017, file photo, New York Jets' Matt Forte runs a drill during the NFL football practice in Florham Park, N.J. When some Jets fans suggest the team is tanking the upcoming season, or, should, to get a high draft pick next spring, the veteran running back completely disagrees with the notion. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File) (Photo: The Associated Press)\nFLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Matt Forte remains focused only on winning, no matter what anyone else thinks.\nSo, when some New York Jets fans suggest the team is tanking the upcoming season — or, should — to get a high draft pick next spring, the veteran running back completely disagrees with the notion.\n\"It's a good thing we don't operate off of what the fans think and what everybody on the outside thinks,\" Forte said Wednesday before the team's second minicamp practice. \"What we think as a team, that's what's going to happen. And none of us on the team think that we're going to tank.\n\"So all I have to say about that is: Bring it.\"\nThe Jets are coming off a 5-11 season and parted ways with several productive and popular veterans in the offseason to cut some big salaries. Gone are the likes of Darrelle Revis, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Nick Mangold, David Harris and Nick Folk.\nWhen asked if he thinks the Jets have a competitive roster, Forte laughed.\n\"What kind of question is that?\" he said. \"This is a professional football team. We have athletes on this team. In the league, it's not about the team that has the most talent on the roster. It's about the guys who have a brotherhood together. They play on the field, not next to each other, they play for each other. They make sacrifices on the field so the other guys can make plays.\n\"That's the kind of culture that we've been creating throughout the offseason here.\"\nThe 31-year-old Forte is one of the few remaining vets. And he hasn't been assured that he'll be around for this season.\n\"I don't worry about stuff like that,\" said Forte, whose 813 yards rushing in his first season with the Jets were the lowest of his career. \"Nobody has come to me about any of that stuff. I'm pretty sure if they did, my agent would've called me. I go out and practice every day to attain a goal, which is reaching the championship and being the best I can be.\"\nForte echoed the sentiments of coach Todd Bowles, who on Tuesday dismissed the \"tanking\" notion.\n\"Lucky for me, I don't read the media,\" Bowles said, \"but my expectations are high and the team's expectations are high and that's really all that counts.\"\nWhen asked what he's looking to accomplish in a season with such gloomy outside predictions, Bowles insisted nothing has changed.\n\"I'm trying to get to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl,\" the coach said. \"It's no different than any other year.\"\n___\nFor more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL\nCopyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "As the Jets go for their third straight win, let’s take a look at the Jets’ mailbag:\nRichie V (@RVSavagePlay)\nWhat do you think about Teddy Bridgewater as an option next year if the jets continue to play themselves out of the QB lotto? #nyj\nThis is an interesting option if the Jets don’t wind up taking a quarterback in the first round. Bridgewater looked like he was on his way to being a good starter before a devastating knee injury in 2016 that still has him sidelined.\nFirst of all, the doctors would have to sign off on it. Is his knee healthy enough to play? There was some discussion of that knee injury being career-ending when he suffered it, so it is a huge question.\nIf the doctors give him the OK (a big if), then his contract demands would be a question. If he does not play at all this season, that’s two years away from football. He won’t have much leverage. A team should be able to get him on a one-year, “prove it” deal where he can earn a big contract the following year. It would probably be filled with playing-time incentives.\nIf the Jets strike out on the quarterbacks in the draft, Bridgewater deserves a look. But that knee would scare me.\nMike Simlescu (@mjsimu)\nIsn’t it time for Ken O’Brien to be inducted in the Jets Ring of Honor? He’s probably the second or third best QB Jets ever had. #NYJ\nO’Brien is probably the second- or third-best quarterback the Jets have ever had, but that’s a bad list. I can’t see the Jets ever putting O’Brien into the Ring of Honor. Yes, he is second all-time in many franchise passing categories behind Joe Namath, but his career was so up-and-down. He was fantastic in 1985 (25 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 3,888 yards), but he had no other seasons like that. O’Brien is probably underrated because of the inevitable comparisons to Dan Marino, who was picked after him in 1983. Still, I don’t think he belongs in the Ring of Honor.\nHal Paul (@hpjr)\nDid Bowles save his job with the coaching staff tweaks he’s made? At DB, LB, DL and offensive coordinator?\nJets Tourettes (@SportyQuips)\nIf the season ended today, does Bowles keep his job?\nTodd Bowles’ job security is an issue we’ll be looking at all year. Yes, if the season ended right now, I think he’d be safe. They are a .500 team and has shown improvement in the past two weeks. But there are 12 games to go. It’s hard to see the Jets maintaining this stretch of good play beyond this week against the Browns. The schedule gets much tougher. Let’s see how they look against the Patriots, Falcons, Chiefs and Broncos.\nThe point about his coaching staff is a good one. This looks like a better-coached team than last year. Dennard Wilson has made a big difference as the secondary coach. Passes are no longer sailing over DBs’ heads. I also think offensive coordinator John Morton has done a really good job. Give Bowles credit for making those fixes on his staff.\nra (@_radavis)\nis Leonard’s slowish start cause for concern?\nNo. Leonard Williams does not have any sacks yet, but he played really well last week. He nearly got Blake Bortles in overtime, but Bortles scrambled away from him and ended up throwing it away to avoid the sack. Williams was hampered by a wrist injury early in the season, but I think he’s feeling better. His play has improved in recent weeks. He has been a beast against the run.\nMatt Giola (@giolabeans)\nIf Jets get pick from 7-10 would they draft Josh Allen or would they maybe try to trade a 2nd round pick for Jacoby Brissett?\nAllen all the way. Why would you give up a second-round draft pick for a player who shows promise but has not really proven himself?\nAdam B. (@wa2k_1999)\nThe special teams play seems to have improved from last year. Is this due more to new players, Brant Boyer improving, or both? #NYJ\nThe special teams had a good game last week, but don’t forget that they had a huge gaffe in Oakland. I think Boyer is a very good coach, but he’s only as good as his players. Chandler Catanzaro and Lachlan Edwards came through with big plays in overtime last week after struggling earlier in the game. The coverage teams have been good. But isn’t it time the Jets get a kick or punt return for a touchdown? It’s been a long time (2012 for both).\nChiqui Rodriguez (@chiquirods19)\nWhy hasn’t Forte to Vikes happened yet?\nRick Jobin (@JOBES72)\nonce healthy does Forte have any trade value, even for a low (6th) round pick? You’d think the Vikes would be interested?\nI think everyone can forget about Matt Forte getting traded now that he has a turf toe. Those injuries linger. I can’t see him being 100 percent before the trade deadline. Plus, he has not been that impressive when he’s played. Teams that need running backs will go with cheaper options in free agency like the Vikings just did by signing Stevan Ridley.", "FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Matt Forte is getting closer to returning to the New York Jets' backfield.\nThe 31-year-old running back has not practiced fully since injuring a hamstring during practice on July 31. Forte participated in individual drills Monday, but was held out of the team periods.\n\"I'm feeling good, but not good enough to be in full practice yet,\" Forte said. \"So, I'm just going through what the trainers tell me and easing back in. I don't want to go back out there immediately and get injured again. Hamstrings are tricky.\"\nCoach Todd Bowles said Forte, expected to be the starter, remains day to day. The running back missed a chunk of time last summer when he hurt the same hamstring and came back too soon, aggravating the injury and needing a few weeks to fully heal.\n\"It's something to learn from,\" he said, \"so this year I definitely have to let it heal so I don't have any setbacks.\"\nForte had a career-low 813 yards rushing last season, his first with the Jets, but got off to a solid start. He rushed for 261 yards in the first three games, but a torn meniscus in his right knee diminished his production as the season went along.\nForte sat out the Jets' 7-3 preseason-opening win over Tennessee on Saturday night, and has found himself getting antsy while waiting to get back on the field.\n\"For me, it's real tough, honestly,\" Forte said of trying to stay patient. \"Especially with the offence out there grinding through camp. A lot of people are like, 'You're a vet, get your time off and rest yourself.' But, I don't like to rest. I like to go out there and prepare for the season. It's just tough. I'm not used to doing that, but it's just something you've got to deal with.\"\nNeither Forte nor Bilal Powell, who's also day to day with a sore neck, played against the Titans and the Jets' running attack was stifled. They finished with 56 yards rushing, with Romar Morris leading the way with 20 yards on 12 carries.\n\"I'm out there running routes and stuff now, but the nature of my position, I can't go half-speed, especially with pads on,\" Forte said. \"I'm pretty close to being out there, but you've got to take precautions and be careful. You could sprint one time and have it pull worse than before and that's another couple of weeks. I don't want to have that linger into the season.\"\nIn other injuries:\n— Bowles confirmed that safety Doug Middleton has a torn pectoral and will be out \"for some time\" after getting hurt against Tennessee. Middleton will likely need season-ending surgery, but Bowles said the second-year safety is seeking a second opinion.\n— Wide receiver Lucky Whitehead, who's a candidate to be the primary punt returner, left practice with a foot injury. Bowles was uncertain of the severity.\n— Linebacker Freddie Bishop sat out practice with what Bowles said was a neck stinger.\nNOTES: Tempers flared during practice when LB Lorenzo Mauldin and OT Kelvin Beachum brawled, with Mauldin appearing to punch Beachum's helmet several times while he was on the ground. Bowles and both players downplayed the melee. \"It's training camp, man,\" Beachum said. \"If you don't have a fight during training camp, I don't think you're on a good team.\" Added Bowles: \"There's one in every camp that we have. This just happens to be the one. So, officially, training camp starts today.\" ... The Jets waived WR Deshon Foxx and signed WR Daniel Williams, who had 184 catches for 2,497 yards and 19 TDs in four seasons at Jackson State.\n___", "The New York Jets sit at 2-2 despite all the offseason predictions of doom and gloom and talks of tanking pervasively permeating every summer discussion.\nThe Jets have not been above .500 since the end of the 2015 season, but have a golden opportunity to get there Sunday against the winless Cleveland Browns.\nMost predicted the Jets wouldn't sniff three wins all season after they jettisoned veteran contracts and traded assets for draft picks. Players said throughout the offseason that they blocked out all those 0-16 forecasts. Now the team is using them as a motivational factor.\nAccording to Connor Hughes of NJ Advance Media, players were greeted with notes reminding not to \"forget what they stated about us.\"\nWhen every #Jets player walked in the locker room this morning, they found this note on their stool. The story: https://t.co/Vzh3B7Kzv2 pic.twitter.com/WYFWJAMitb — Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) October 5, 2017\nJets players railed against those predictions of futility.\n\"It was all offseason: 'The Jets are going to be 0-16,'\" linebacker Jordan Jenkins told Hughes. \"That's pretty much on my mind before every game.\n\"I looked at [the note], and in my head, I was like, 'Don't worry, I ain't forgot what the heck nobody said.' I still remember all that kind of stuff. I don't need any reminder in the slightest.\"\nAdded Austin Sefereian-Jenkins: \"I posted mine up. I mean, I'm not forgetting. [The preseason 0-16 talk] is disrespectful to everybody in the locker room. I'm not forgetting that. They didn't think we were good enough to win one game, so they definitely don't think we're good enough to win three games. We take that [expletive] to heart.\"\nAnd finally, Kony Ealy: \"I was one of the people who came into this season hearing 0-16,\" the defensive end told Hughes. \"I was disgusted by it. For you to make bold predictions like that, about any professional team? It's bad on you.\n\"No team is the same as before. Everybody is professional. You should never underestimate any team. Ever. Looking at that, it reminds me of what was a part of this organization, but not what will be going forward.\"\nSure there is still 11 games left for the Jets to crater, but for now the players will use predictions by people they claimed didn't matter to fuel their drive towards respectability.\nThe lesson: Never underestimate the lengths a sports team will go to create bulletin-board material to use as motivation.", "FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Brandon Marshall knows exactly where he wants to play next season. The question is whether the New York Jets want the veteran wide receiver back.\nMarshall, who turns 33 in March, finished with just 59 catches — the second-lowest total of his 11-year career — for 788 yards and three touchdowns. He also played through a sprained knee ligament, sprained foot and toe injury for most of the season, which ended with him being inactive Sunday because of a sore hip.\n\"It was probably my most frustrating year,\" Marshall said during a 23-minute session with reporters Monday as the Jets players cleared out their locker for the off-season .\n\"I've been in the league 11 years and never made the playoffs, but I've always been productive,\" he added. \"So, this was a new challenge for me: losing, but not being productive. So, it was a struggle all year.\"\nThat comes after Marshall set franchise marks last year with 109 receptions and 1,502 yards receiving.\n\"I'm still extremely confident that I'm an elite receiver,\" he said. \"I still demand double-coverage, still demand a lot of attention. ... I think I'm still at that level where I can demand that type of respect, that type of coverage. The numbers weren't there, and that's new for me. I think this is a year that most receivers can hang their hat on, but not for me.\n\"The bar's set high, and it's unacceptable.\"\nMarshall's future with the franchise is uncertain since he is due $7.5 million next season and the team can save the entire amount on the salary cap if it cuts him.\nHe hopes to play until he's 38 or 39, so retirement isn't in his immediate plans. But Marshall is one of a handful of veterans who could be salary-cap casualties during the off-season .\n\"It's not about the money anymore,\" he said. \"It's all about winning. But I know what I'm worth. I think this team knows what I'm worth, as far as the organization. But it's not about the money. I'm good. I'm good with the money. I just want to win. That's all I want to do is win. So I don't care about anything but winning. That's it.\"\nMarshall said he would \"love to be back\" and indicated he would accept a pay cut to return to the Jets.\n\"I'll play for free,\" he said. \"My bills are paid.\"\nMarshall previously said that the Jets would be his last stop, that he didn't picture playing anywhere else after beginning his career with Denver, Miami and Chicago.\nHe has been working as an analyst for Showtime's \"Inside The NFL\" the past three seasons, so he already is planning for his post-playing career.\n\"I have options,\" he said. \"I have television, so that's always good. I'm glad a couple of years ago, I took it serious, so I have options.\"\nIt remains to be seen, though, if Marshall will have the Jets as one of those options.\nHe and defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson had a feud that began during a loss at Kansas City in Week 3. After the Jets' 30-10 win over Buffalo on Sunday, cornerback Darrelle Revis said the team had a \"dark cloud\" over all season.\nOther players mentioned that the locker room had issues, with in-fighting a problem — and Marshall at the centre of some of the strife as his motivational speeches fell flat on some teammates and irritated others.\n\"For me, with Brandon, I always make sure that I hear the message rather than the delivery of the message,\" wide receiver Quincy Enunwa said. \"That's not easy for everybody.\"\nEnunwa attributed Marshall's messages to him desperately wanting to win and make the playoffs, but he thinks the lack of overall harmony in the locker room hurt the Jets as the losses piled up.\nMarshall acknowledged that there was tension within the team, but added that he thought he did \"a great job\" with handling the adversity.\n\"I think in retrospect, I can work on my timing, but I'm totally fine with my approach this year,\" he said. \"My only motive is to win ballgames. I'm tired of going home right after the season. I'm tired of watching the playoffs on my couch. I'm tired of it. It's just a frustrating year. It's been a frustrating career from that aspect.\n\"Hopefully, things change moving forward.\"\nNOTES: Coach Todd Bowles said RB Matt Forte had arthroscopic surgery Friday to repair the torn meniscus in his right knee. ... RT Breno Giacomini will have surgery to repair a herniated disk, with a recovery period of about four months. ... Bowles said QB Bryce Petty will have surgery this week on the torn labrum in his left shoulder. ... The Jets signed five players to reserve/future deals: DL Kenny Anunike, WR Darius Jennings, DL Claude Pelon, FB Chris Swain and TE Jason Vander Laan.\n___", "FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2016, file photo, New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) warms up before playing against the Los Angeles Rams, in East Rutherford, N.J. Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald, Miami's Mike Pouncey and the New York Jets' Brandon Marshall are among the 32 players eligible for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Named for the late Hall of Fame running back, the award recognizes a player's community service and performance on the field. The NFL announced the players on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)\nFLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) -- Brandon Marshall knows exactly where he wants to play next season. The question is whether the New York Jets want the veteran wide receiver back.\nMarshall, who turns 33 in March, finished with just 59 catches - the second-lowest total of his 11-year career - for 788 yards and three touchdowns. He also played through a sprained knee ligament, sprained foot and toe injury for most of the season, which ended with him being inactive Sunday because of a sore hip.\n''It was probably my most frustrating year,'' Marshall said during a 23-minute session with reporters Monday as the Jets players cleared out their locker for the offseason.\n''I've been in the league 11 years and never made the playoffs, but I've always been productive,'' he added. ''So, this was a new challenge for me: losing, but not being productive. So, it was a struggle all year.''\nThat comes after Marshall set franchise marks last year with 109 receptions and 1,502 yards receiving.\n''I'm still extremely confident that I'm an elite receiver,'' he said. ''I still demand double-coverage, still demand a lot of attention. ... I think I'm still at that level where I can demand that type of respect, that type of coverage. The numbers weren't there, and that's new for me. I think this is a year that most receivers can hang their hat on, but not for me.\n''The bar's set high, and it's unacceptable.''\nMarshall's future with the franchise is uncertain since he is due $7.5 million next season and the team can save the entire amount on the salary cap if it cuts him.\nHe hopes to play until he's 38 or 39, so retirement isn't in his immediate plans. But Marshall is one of a handful of veterans who could be salary-cap casualties during the offseason.\n''It's not about the money anymore,'' he said. ''It's all about winning. But I know what I'm worth. I think this team knows what I'm worth, as far as the organization. But it's not about the money. I'm good. I'm good with the money. I just want to win. That's all I want to do is win. So I don't care about anything but winning. That's it.''\nMarshall said he would ''love to be back'' and indicated he would accept a pay cut to return to the Jets.\n''I'll play for free,'' he said. ''My bills are paid.''\nMarshall previously said that the Jets would be his last stop, that he didn't picture playing anywhere else after beginning his career with Denver, Miami and Chicago.\nHe has been working as an analyst for Showtime's ''Inside The NFL'' the past three seasons, so he already is planning for his post-playing career.\n''I have options,'' he said. ''I have television, so that's always good. I'm glad a couple of years ago, I took it serious, so I have options.''\nIt remains to be seen, though, if Marshall will have the Jets as one of those options.\nHe and defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson had a feud that began during a loss at Kansas City in Week 3. After the Jets' 30-10 win over Buffalo on Sunday, cornerback Darrelle Revis said the team had a ''dark cloud'' over all season.\nOther players mentioned that the locker room had issues, with in-fighting a problem - and Marshall at the center of some of the strife as his motivational speeches fell flat on some teammates and irritated others.\n''For me, with Brandon, I always make sure that I hear the message rather than the delivery of the message,'' wide receiver Quincy Enunwa said. ''That's not easy for everybody.''\nEnunwa attributed Marshall's messages to him desperately wanting to win and make the playoffs, but he thinks the lack of overall harmony in the locker room hurt the Jets as the losses piled up.\nMarshall acknowledged that there was tension within the team, but added that he thought he did ''a great job'' with handling the adversity.\n''I think in retrospect, I can work on my timing, but I'm totally fine with my approach this year,'' he said. ''My only motive is to win ballgames. I'm tired of going home right after the season. I'm tired of watching the playoffs on my couch. I'm tired of it. It's just a frustrating year. It's been a frustrating career from that aspect.\n''Hopefully, things change moving forward.''\nNOTES: Coach Todd Bowles said RB Matt Forte had arthroscopic surgery Friday to repair the torn meniscus in his right knee. ... RT Breno Giacomini will have surgery to repair a herniated disk, with a recovery period of about four months. ... Bowles said QB Bryce Petty will have surgery this week on the torn labrum in his left shoulder. ... The Jets signed five players to reserve/future deals: DL Kenny Anunike, WR Darius Jennings, DL Claude Pelon, FB Chris Swain and TE Jason Vander Laan.\n---\nFor more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL", "Devin Hester, who officially retired with the Chicago Bears on Monday, said he's not happy about the possibility the NFL could soon eliminate one of his fortes -- the kickoff return.\n\"Kickoff and punt return is one of the key aspects of the quality of football,\" Hester said. \"You've got to let these guys play football. It is what it is.\nEditor's Picks Future of kickoff to be discussed at NFL summit The future of the kickoff in the NFL will be discussed at a planned summit that is being finalized to discuss player safety.\n\"You try to find ways to eliminate injuries. But the minute you step on the field, you're bound to get hurt somewhere. That's just the nature of the beast. And I think taking that out of the game is big. I don't like to see it happen.\"\nHester and running back Matt Forte both signed one-day contracts with their original team Monday at Halas Hall so they could retire as Bears, and an emotional ceremony capped careers rich in highlight-reel material for the former second-round draft picks.\nFor Hester it might mean a spot someday in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.\n\"Every athlete wants to be in the Hall of Fame,\" Hester said. \"If there's one out there that says they don't really care about it, then they're playing the wrong sport.\"\nNo other player is in the Hall based solely on returns, but Hester's league record of 20 touchdown returns could make him a candidate. He had 14 punt return TDs, five on kickoffs and one on a missed field goal.\nNot included in those 20 returns is his most well-known -- the 92-yard return for a TD on the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLI in February 2007.\nWhether a special-teams player should be in the Hall is a question for voters, but Hester pointed out that kicker Morten Andersen recently made it.\n\"I don't really look at it like, 'Will he make it as [the first] return man?'\" Hester told reporters when asked about his chances. \"Sometimes you've got to put guys in the Hall of Fame for being the most dangerous person out there on the field.\"\nIf Hester eventually gets in, he might be the only returner considered because the number of diagnosed concussions in the NFL last season (291) has the league considering the future of the kickoff. At last month's owners meetings, the league's medical department presented statistics showing that concussions are five times as likely to happen on kickoffs as on an average play, according to Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy, who is a member of the competition committee.\nThe NFL is finalizing plans for a summit to be held May 1-2 at league headquarters in New York to discuss player safety, including a focus on the future of the kickoff.\n\"It's one of the most exciting plays when you're playing this game of football,\" Hester said. \"If I'm the last to be, the one who's the best to be at the return game, that's an honor. But at the same time, I want to see it continue to play out.\"\nLike Hester, Forte is a player whose impact may soon be a rarity. In an age when many teams feature multiple backs, Forte retired after 10 years with 14,468 yards from scrimmage, the most by any NFL player during the past decade.\n\"Going into the NFL, I knew it was a production-based league and consistency is better than peaks and valleys,\" Forte said. \"So I wanted to be the best at all times and be available at all times for my teammates and my team.\"\nForte's consistency was so great, he managed to finish second only to Hall of Famer Walter Payton in franchise rushing with 8,602 yards. After eight Bears seasons and two with the New York Jets, Forte had 9,796 yards rushing, 4,672 receiving and 75 TDs.\n\"Given how great Walter Payton was, it just didn't seem right that my name was just right there next to his,\" Forte said. \"It's just kind of surreal to me that my name is right there with him in this organization.\"\nForte decided to retire after an injury-filled 2017 season with the Jets. He deflected much of the credit for success to teammates on both sides of the ball, and recalled being frustrated going against Hall of Fame inductee Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman at his first practice.\n\"Playing against a defense like that from a young rookie groomed me to know I'd just arrived here and I hadn't made it and I had to work very hard to continue to be very consistent in my production,\" Forte said.\nESPN's Kevin Seifert and The Associated Press contributed to this report.", "As if the 0-4 Browns didn’t need more motivation to win this weekend, the Jets’ social media team offered some up Friday. In the early afternoon, the official Jets Twitter account put up a post intended to troll Cleveland.\nThe post was a cartoon picture based on the Browns’ alternative logo of a tenacious dog. In the Jets’ post, the cartoon dog has a sad face, wearing both a post-surgical ‘cone of shame’ and a collar with a Jets charm on it. Beneath the cartoon was a single word: “Sit.”\nThe Jets deleted the post about an hour later. According to the Associated Press, the post was re-tweeted 300 times in that hour.\nBowles couldn’t have been happy with that. On Thursday he said that the Jets, at 2-2, have “nothing to brag about.”\nThe Demario Davis who came back, in trade from Cleveland, for a second stint with the Jets has been very good so far. The linebacker has taken well to calling the defensive signals and leads the Jets with 49 tackles.\nDavis, who left the Jets after the 2015 season and signed a two-year deal with the Browns, was acquired in June for Calvin Pryor.\n“He’s meant a lot. He’s been a vocal leader,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “His overall leadership and understanding of the game has helped out the younger guys a lot.”\nDavis sees the difference in his play from the last time he was a Jet.\n“Night and day — you turn on the tape you can see it,” he said. “I’m better in a lot of ways, as far as a personal standpoint and a player standpoint. I think if you look at it you can see it. … [In Cleveland] I grew as a person and I grew as a player. Being there I think everything kind of helped me be more prepared for this season right here.”\nHe wasn’t sure how he was going to feel going back to face the Browns on Sunday.\n“I won’t know until Sunday when I’m out there,” he said. “I’m tight with a lot of guys there. I’ll see those guys after the game, shake their hands, show some love.”\nDefensive lineman Kony Ealy again was unable to practice because of a shoulder injury and will not play Sunday. He said he had gone for X-rays and doesn’t believe it will keep him out for a second game.\n“It’s something that’s going to be ready to go next week,” he said. “I’m doing the things necessary and taking precautions that nothing is nicked up.”\nRB Matt Forte (knee, toe) missed another day of practice and is out for Sunday’s game, as are LB Josh Martin (ankle) and CB Darryl Roberts (hamstring). CB Juston Burris (foot) and DE Muhammad Wilkerson (shoulder) were limited and are listed as questionable. … Bowles said he has not decided whether WR Jalin Marshall, who was suspended the first four weeks, will be activated for the game.\n— Additional reporting by Mark Cannizzaro", "BY TAYLOR ALLEN\nThe Winnipeg Jets haven’t lost four games in a row this season and on Monday night they were determined to keep it that way.\nDespite not playing their best hockey in the opening period, the Jets prevailed 5-1 over the Vancouver Canucks at Bell MTS Place.\n“There are times in the National Hockey League you need to survive, and we did that. And then got better and stronger. But there wasn’t anything about that game that was easy for us,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice on Monday’s victory over Vancouver.\n“We had to fight hard to make any kind of pass, we had some difficult reads. So that was a hard, hard game, with our schedule, with some illnesses in here. So I’m not necessarily keeping the video for structure or for things like that, but that’s a darn good NHL win.”\nThe game ended the Jets’ recent marathon of games, as the club has played 15 games in 28 days. The team was able to survive the tough stretch, as they finished with a 9-4-2 record.\nThe team might be in for another tough stretch moving forward with veteran defenceman Dustin Byfuglien being out until after Christmas with a lower body injury. But on Monday night, the Jets were able to get the win without Buff, and Maurice was pleased with how his defencemen played without one of their players. Rookie defenceman Tucker Poolman suited up for the Jets on Monday night for the first time since Oct. 17.\n“You can’t replace (Byfuglien), obviously, and that’s not what we are going to try and do as a back end,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, who scored a third period goal.\n“We all want to pick up some of those minutes. I thought, as a whole, (Poolman) came in and played awesome, and that’s one of those things where you try to pick up those minutes. Everyone has to try and do a little bit more and help collectively as a back end.”\nIt appeared home cooking was exactly what the Jets needed to end their losing streak. Their recent three game road trip did not go to plan, as they were only able to pick up one out of a potential six points. The lone point came in a tough overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday — the first place team in the NHL.\nThe win over the Canucks got the Jets back in the win column and improved their home record to 11-2-1 on the year. Bell MTS Place continues to be kind to the Jets, as they haven’t lost a game in regulation at home since Oct. 17 versus Columbus.\n“Coming home and playing in front of this crowd every night is pretty amazing. Seeing it now with three games away with three loses, we needed the extra energy and the crowd gave us a boost today,” said Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers. “We came with the right mindset in the second and third period and we’re pretty happy with that.”\nThe key to the Jets win was getting their power play rolling again. In the past three games, the Jets were only able to score twice on 14 power play attempts. On Monday night, the Jets were one for three on the power play, but on they were only one second away from being two for three. Mathieu Perreault’s second period goal came just as Canucks forward Sam Gagner came out of the penalty box for his holding penalty. Ehlers fired home a power play goal later in the second to increase the team’s lead to 3-1. Perreault scored the final goal of the game with 44 seconds left, deflecting a Matt Hendricks shot after a terrible turnover by Markstrom that left the net empty. It was the 100 th career goal for Perreault.\nThe Jets did not look like a team eager to put an end to a three-game losing streak in the first period. Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom gifted the Jets an early lead by letting a Dmitry Kulikov wrist shot from the point squeak between the pads just over a minute into the game.\nAfter the Kulikov goal, the Jets looked flat. Vancouver was able to regroup from the weak goal, as they outplayed the Jets for the rest of the period. The Jets were only able to register four shots on Markstrom in the first. It was the lowest amount of shots the Jets have had in a period at home since the second period of their Nov. 4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.\nMaurice said he was hopeful the team would start strong, but with their hectic schedule he feared the team would be in tough on Monday. He said captain Blake Wheeler played through an illness and that the team has a lot of players who don’t have “a lot in the tank” right now.\n“We knew the first period wasn’t going to be super pretty, which it wasn’t, but we found a way to grind and started to get our game going and sort of got better as the game went on,” said Morrissey. “It’s a big win for us.”", "By Jason Keidel\n» More Columns\nSunday’s game between the Jets and the Buffalo Bills was an emblem in woes between two forlorn franchises.\nIt showed why neither team made the playoffs this year, why the Bills haven’t reached the playoffs this century, and why the Jets haven’t played in a Super Bowl since man landed on the moon.\nThe Bills didn’t start the quarterback they wanted because he could get hurt, putting the club on the hook for $30.75 million next year. Instead, Buffalo trotted out a messy amalgam of E.J. Manuel and Cardale Jones, the former a first-round bust, the latter a variable.\nThe Jets started a quarterback they don’t want, because the QB they wanted to start was hurt.\nThe Bills just fired their head coach, who also coached the Jets. Buffalo was 7-8 when it gave Rex Ryan the axe. The Jets finished 5-11 with the man who replaced Ryan. If Gang Green posts a similar record next year, Todd Bowles will surely see the very pink slip the Bills just slipped Ryan.\nThe Jets can’t even get their on-field personnel right. Fitzpatrick-to-Marshall was a winning tandem last year, a tune that topped the NFL charts. That would be Brandon Marshall, of course, not Jalin Marshall, who hauled in the pass that put the Jets up 17-3 on Sunday.\nBut if the first day of 2017 unearthed a hit song for next season, it’s in the Jets’ backfield.\nIn the spirit of New Year’s Day and the slew of college football games just played, the Jets essentially hosted the Bilal Powell Bowl.\nEvery year it seems the Jets are desperate to unveil their bellweather running back, the all-world workhorse to pound the rock, line, and opponents until they wave the white flag in the fourth quarter. First it was Chris Ivory, who ran like a rhino for most of 2015, until he lost his legs. Then they signed Matt Forte, who has a sprawling résumé that at least plants him somewhere in the Canton chat. But Forte is a bit long in the tooth and, to paraphrase Bill Parcells, has lost some tread on his Pro Bowl tires.\nPowell ran the ball 22 times, for 122 yards (5.5 yards per carry), and scored a touchdown on one of his two receptions, putting some positive punctuation on the Jets’ 30-10 victory over the Bills. In the four games since Dec 11, Powell has rushed 82 times for 411 yards (5.0 per rush) and three touchdowns. It’s quite counterintuitive for the Jets to actually draft offensive talent, but they did back in 2011 when they took Powell in the fourth round out of Louisville.\nBut his 137 total yards on Sunday couldn’t erase the stains of a lost season. As soon as the faerie dust of the victory blows away from the Meadowlands, the Jets will have to face the meat-hook realities of next season.\nThere’s the curious case of Darrelle Revis, who made the most surreal plea perhaps in franchise history, imploring the Jets to show some “class” by bringing him — and his salary — back next year. Surely, it was all about Revis’ commitment to the Jets and the area, not the $15 million cap number he’s due to devour next year year. This is clearly about cash, not cachet. Yeah.\nMORE: Report: Revis Seems Ready To Take Pay Cut To Stay With Jets\nPerhaps the NFL’s most prolific and profitable mercenary, Revis has some stones asking any team to show him monetary largesse after he’s held teams over a barrel during his splendid career. If anyone should understand the zero-sum calculus of NFL performance, it’s Revis, who is guaranteed about $6 million next season. If he agrees to shave his salary down significantly, he’s likely to be welcomed back.\nWith Revis and the re-signing of Muhammad Wilkerson, who came into the season flanked by two behemoths in Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams, the Jets were at least supposed to have an ornery defense this season. Yet only the Browns, Saints, and 49ers gave up more points than the Jets (409). And Revis Island, once the most exclusive real estate in the sport, now has too many tenants to count.\nThe good news is the Jets will have over $70 million in cap space … in 2018. According to Spotrac, the Jets have barely $1 million in cap room in 2017. They have no idea who will lead the team in the huddle or the locker room. Usually one man assumes both roles, but Bryce Petty didn’t show us nearly enough to leave you warm this winter. And the Jets have protected Christian Hackenberg like the Manhattan Project. If the Jets look like a mess, that’s because they are.\nIt’s odd putting a postmortem on a season that died two months ago, but the Jets too often put sportswriters in that position. But at least we’re paid to do it. Jets fans actually pay money to watch the autopsy.\nFollow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel", "By Alexandria Sage\nLAS VEGAS, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Two bullets fired during the mass shooting in Las Vegas struck a large jet fuel storage tank at the edge of McCarran International Airport, and one round pierced the tank, but there was no fire or explosion, an airport spokesman said on Friday.\nAirport authorities declined to speculate on whether the gunman, Steve Paddock, was aiming to hit the cylindrical 43,000-barrel fuel tank or whether the vessel was struck by two stray rounds in the midst of the shooting spree.\nBut the position of the fuel tank, about twice as far from Paddock's high-rise hotel perch as the country music festival he strafed, and at a different angle to the hotel, suggested he deliberately aimed at the tank.\nThe fuel storage vessel lies along the airport's western perimeter at a distance, according to the Las Vegas-Review Journal newspaper, of roughly 1,100 feet (335 m) from the outdoor concert ground where 58 people were killed.\nThe tank was also about 2,000 feet from the gunman's 32nd-floor windows in the Mandalay Bay hotel on the Las Vegas strip, the Review-Journal reported.\nRegardless of the distance, or velocity of the gunfire, and contrary to popular belief, there is virtually zero likelihood of rifle shots triggering a fire or explosion at such a facility.\nAirport spokesman Chris Jones said this is because jet fuel, while combustible, is not a flammable liquid that is easily detonated by gunfire. Moreover, commercial fuel tank storage facilities are engineered so that any flames that occur are vented upward into the air, rather than blowing out the tank walls, he said.\nMike Boyd, a Colorado-based aviation consultant quoted by the Review-Journal, agreed with that assessment.\n\"A machine gun is not going to blow up a tank of fuel,\" Boyd said. \"Jet fuel itself sitting there in a big wet pile is very hard to ignite. You have to be a very amateur terrorist to think anything like that.\"\nAs a precaution, however, the tank was being drained and will be reinspected and repaired, the airport said in a statement. The tank, penetrated by one round and a second round lodged in its outer skin, was partially filled at the time.\nPolice and federal authorities investigating Sunday night's carnage, which ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, were not immediately available to comment on the gunshots that struck the fuel tank. (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Andrew Hay)", "Don Wagner\nArmy News Service\nFORT MEADE, Maryland — Soldiers Broadcasting is launching its newest video series called “Soldiers,” Tuesdays on Defense TV, YouTube and the new Soldiers webpage.\n“These videos showcase the American Soldier in action, preparing for and conducting missions every day around the globe,” said Maj. Gen. Malcolm B. Frost, Army chief of Public Affairs. “Soldier skills, grit, commitment and character will be on full display. You will be inspired by the Soldiers who defend our nation as part of the greatest team on earth.”\nThe first episode of the series will follow an M-1 tank crew training and showcase the readiness and enduring value of Army forces.\n“The series aims to excite and inspire viewers as they experience the dedication and excellence of this nation’s Army Soldiers, family members and veterans,” said Peter Ising, one of the show’s producers. “(The series) displays Soldiers in their element and their readiness to defend the United States and its allies.”\n“Soldiers’ stories are exciting, inspiring; they move. We want people to feel the way we feel about Soldiers,” said Lance Milsted, Soldiers Broadcasting executive producer. “When we created the ‘Soldiers’ series, we wanted to create something different, something original and, above all, something compelling.”\nThe first season consists of four episodes that will debut on a monthly basis, February through May:\nFebruary. “Seeding Excellence (Sullivan Cup)” follows an M-1 tank crew training at Fort Stewart, Georgia, through its competition at the biannual Sullivan Cup gunnery competition at Fort Benning, Georgia.\n“Seeding Excellence (Sullivan Cup)” follows an M-1 tank crew training at Fort Stewart, Georgia, through its competition at the biannual Sullivan Cup gunnery competition at Fort Benning, Georgia. March. “Best Medic” follows two Soldiers as they compete in the Army Best Medic competition at Camp Bullis, Texas. The competition tests their abilities as Soldiers and as medics in scenarios they might encounter in the real world.\n“Best Medic” follows two Soldiers as they compete in the Army Best Medic competition at Camp Bullis, Texas. The competition tests their abilities as Soldiers and as medics in scenarios they might encounter in the real world. April. “Workforce Warrior” takes a close look at the process of transitioning from active duty to the civilian workforce and examines how work-study programs are helping veterans. The segment highlights a Soldier who is taking advantage of one such program while also working in a bakery and the Soldier for Life program.\n“Workforce Warrior” takes a close look at the process of transitioning from active duty to the civilian workforce and examines how work-study programs are helping veterans. The segment highlights a Soldier who is taking advantage of one such program while also working in a bakery and the Soldier for Life program. May. “Empire Shield” explores the work of members of the New York National Guard who have been assisting the New York City Police Department and Department of Homeland Security safeguard New York City as part of Task Force Empire Shield. The segment highlights individual readiness and homeland defense.\n“Our team of Soldiers and civilians will go where Soldiers and their families live, train and work to support and defend America and American interests – wherever that is – Alaska, Africa or Afghanistan,” explained Michael Burnette, Soldiers Broadcasting chief. “This new original feature series is their story.”\n• Soldiers Show\nThe show can be viewed on Defense TV. The Defense TV app can be downloaded for free on iOS mobile devices, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Google Chromecast.\nVisit www.army.mil/soldiers or https://www.youtube.com/USarmy.\nCategory: Army News Service, Education, News", "FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Jets safety Doug Middleton likely will miss significant time after suffering a pectoral tear in the fourth quarter of the team’s first preseason game, coach Todd Bowles said Monday.\nMiddleton, who played with the second-string defense Saturday, injured himself while making a tackle on punt coverage in a 7-3 victory over the Titans. On Monday — the Jets’ first practice since that game — Bowles confirmed it did not look good.\n“He’s going to get a second opinion first and come back and discuss that,” he said when asked if Middleton is destined for injured reserve. “But he’s going to be out for a while.”\nThe Jets already have filled his position, claiming Robenson Therezie off waivers from the Saints on Sunday. Therezie assumes the third spot on the Jets’ depth chart behind rookie Jamal Adams and Shamarko Thomas.\nForte close\nRunning back Matt Forte (hamstring) did not participate in a full practice but believes he is close to a return. He said the team is being cautious after he injured the same hamstring (in a different place) last year.\nadvertisement | advertise on newsday\n“I don’t want to go back out there immediately and go and injure it again,” he said. “Hamstrings are tricky. I had one last year and I came back out to practice and ended up injuring it. That’s why it took multiple weeks, so I had to have it heal. I guess that was something to learn from. This year, I definitely have to let it heal all the way so I can go out there and not have any setbacks.”\nCatanzaro struggles\nThe kicker competition between Chandler Catanzaro and Ross Martin seemed all but decided after Catanzaro struggled during practice Monday, but Bowles said not to read too much into it. Catanzaro missed field-goal tries of 25, 40 and 55 yards; Martin made all his attempts. Catanzaro also missed a 55-yarder in Saturday night’s game. “If he performs under the lights, it’s not a concern,’’ Bowles said. “If he doesn’t, then it is.”\nJet streams\nRunning back Bilal Powell (neck) participated in drills but not the full practice. . . Linebacker Freddie Bishop (neck) didn’t practice and receiver Lucky Whitehead suffered a foot injury . . . The Jets signed receiver Dan Williams and waived receiver Deshon Foxx.", "HIGHLIGHTS Quincy Enunwa says locker room discord affected their play\nBut Todd Bowles downplays personality clashes\nFLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Locker room bickering and lingering resentment derailed what the Jets had hoped would be a special season.\nInstead of preparing for a playoff run, Todd Bowles’ players were busy stuffing their belongings into black garbage bags on Monday morning and lamenting their missed opportunities and maturity issues.\nThe infighting began as early as Week 3, when a blowout loss in Kansas City featured six Ryan Fitzpatrick interceptions, sideline squabbling and a locker room blowup between Brandon Marshall and Sheldon Richardson. But the tension between the Jets stars never subsided and it helped to erode a tenuous locker room dynamic.\n“It didn’t help us,” young receiver Quincy Enunwa said of the locker room discord. “When you look at our record, it really hindered our play.”\nIf there’s a silver lining to be found in the Jets’ 5-11 record, it is this, Enunwa said. The locker room “can be fixed and we know what we need to do. Hindsight is 20/20. Looking at it now, we know, coach Bowles knows. It’s going to be a lot of changes, and, I think, it’s going to be for the better.”\nThose changes will likely include a staff shake-up and plenty of roster moves — Richardson and Marshall could be gone after this offseason. Their ongoing issues became public fodder as the losses piled up. “In retrospect, I could work on my timing,” said Marshall, 32, whose leadership style annoyed some teammates, “but I’m totally fine with my approach this year . . . My only motive is to win ballgames.\nadvertisement | advertise on newsday\n“I’m tired of going home right after the season,” added the receiver, who hasn’t made the playoffs in 11 seasons. “I’m tired of watching the playoffs on my couch. It’s just a frustrating year. It’s been a frustrating career.”\nBowles downplayed the personality clashes, adding that his 1987 Redskins team argued every day, even after wins, and still won a Super Bowl. But his Jets weren’t able to rise above the friction.\nEnunwa admitted he “got really frustrated” as the season progressed and even stopped practicing on the JUGS machine and working on his footwork after practice. “It can be [hard to remain focused],” he said. “A big reason for that is when you see bad things going on, you kind of feel like, ‘Wow.’ You almost lose your purpose, I think. You go into the season and you don’t want to play for self, you want to play for team. But when the team doesn’t feel like a team, then you’ve got to start playing for self. And you’ve got to realize what are you doing this for? What’s your purpose? And you’ve got to play better. And I’ve got to make sure, regardless of what’s going on, that I’m always doing what I can to help the team.”\nJets videos\nInjuries only exacerbated things. Eric Decker’s shoulder injury in that pivotal Chiefs game led to his placement on injured reserve. Seventeen more players would follow, including key offensive players Ryan Clady, Nick Mangold, Brian Winters and Matt Forte. And while the Jets were dealing with constant roster flux, players kept waiting for that “spark” to jump-start a winning streak.\n“I was just telling myself, we did it last year, we’ll come back, we’ll jump out of this lull that we’re in,” said outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin, who missed the final five games because of a high ankle sprain and a partially torn ligament in his ankle. “After a while it was just . . . we don’t have that same spark that we did last [season].”\nThe Jets finished 10-6 in 2015, winning five in a row before their playoff hopes were dashed by a Week 17 defeat in Buffalo. Failing to clinch a postseason berth stung, they said after last season, but they expressed optimism about their future under Bowles. But a year later, players were forced to answer for their shortcomings, collectively and as individuals. “We didn’t fight like we did last year,” Mauldin said. “Everything just fell apart. We gave it our all, but it just wasn’t enough.”\n“For everybody in this locker room, losing takes its toll,” said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is not expected to be re-signed after throwing 17 interceptions and 12 touchdowns.\nRichardson and Muhammad Wilkerson’s benching for lateness, Richardson’s Snapchat incident, the ongoing feud between he and Marshall and the constant questioning of teammates’ effort only highlighted the fissures in the Jets’ chemistry. But the fault for their wayward season rests primarily on the players, Enunwa said, not the coach.\nadvertisement | advertise on newsday\n“I applauded coach Bowles’ effort,” he said. “He did what he was supposed to do, what we needed to do, but we also have to be able to police the locker room.”", "Elijah McGuire took his shot Sunday — and didn’t miss.\nIn a huge day for the Jets’ rushing attack, even with the injured veteran Matt Forte inactive, the rookie McGuire found the end zone for the first time on a 69-yard touchdown run that helped spark a 23-20 overtime win against the Jaguars at MetLife Stadium.\n“It felt great, man. I scored a lot of college touchdowns, but to get the NFL touchdown, it’s different,” said McGuire, who scored 52 touchdowns over four years at Louisiana-Lafayette. “I wouldn’t take it back. I enjoyed it with my teammates.”\nIt took just one cut for McGuire to break free through a big hole and find the end zone. His feeling seeing green?\n“You could cancel Christmas,” McGuire said, grinning ear to ear.\nMcGuire finished with 10 carries for 93 yards and two receptions for 38 yards. Along with Bilal Powell’s 163 rushing yards (including a 75-yard touchdown) and 38 receiving yards, the Jets’ two-headed running attack had no trouble slicing through the Jaguars’ front seven for 321 all-purpose yards.\n“Both of those guys did a great job popping through and running the football,” coach Todd Bowles said. “It’s a tough defense to run against. We needed every big play they got. Those guys did a heck of a job.”\nPowell wasn’t surprised by McGuire’s success.\n“You can’t even tell [McGuire] is a rookie, just by the way he approaches it,” Powell said. “He’s just so explosive, so smart and so coachable.”\nMcGuire and Powell combined to average 8.0 yards per carry and it marked the first time in franchise history the Jets had two touchdown runs of 60-plus yards in the same game.\n“That’s two dynamic backs,” McGuire said. “That’s what you want.”\nOnce McGuire got beyond the line of scrimmage, only a safety stood between him and the end zone. He turned on the jets and ran around him to find a path to the end zone and a 17-10 Jets lead in the third quarter.\nMcGuire, who saw plenty of reps during the preseason when Forte and Powell were sidelined with injuries, entered Sunday with 13 carries for 63 yards but made the most of his opportunity.\n“I felt like I proved on a lot of things, but it’s not just me, it’s the coaching staff for even trusting me,” McGuire said. “They trusted me and they know what I’m capable of doing. I just gotta go out there and put everything on film.”", "GETTY Las Vegas shooter tried to kill MORE civilians\nGunman Stephen Paddock fired at least two bullets at a jet fuel storage tank near McCarran International Airport during his massacre in Las Vegas on Sunday. An explosion from the tanks could have caused even more death and destruction as victims fled the scene of the worst mass shooting in modern US history. An airport spokesman said one round pierced the tank but there was no fire or explosion. Meanwhile investigators are still struggling to discover the killer's motives almost a week after the attack.\nPaddock killed 58 people and wounded almost 500, but the position of the fuel tank and the distance from the gunman's hotel room suggest he deliberately aimed at the tank. He opened fire on the Route 91 music festival from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino. The tanks were located 2,000 feet away from where Paddock opened fire. Bullet holes in the tanks have been repaired since the attack but no motive has been uncovered.\n59 killed at Las Vegas mass shooting: Photos Tue, October 3, 2017 59 people were killed and at least 527 injured when a crazed gunman opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 40 Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest festival mass shooting aftermath\nThe FBI inspected the tanks but declined to comment on their ongoing investigation, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Airport authorities declined to speculate on weather Paddock, was aiming to blow-up the fuel tank. Local blood banks have called for members of the public to donate as hospitals work tirelessly to treat the wounded. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said: “This is a crazed lunatic full of hate. \"What we ask for is blood now.\"\nGETTY Paddock killed 58 people and wounded almost 500\nPresident Donald Trump condemned the shooting as an “act of pure evil” and called for unity in the aftermath. Mike Boyd, an aviation consultant said: “A machine gun is not going to blow up a tank of fuel. “Jet fuel itself sitting there in a big wet pile is very hard to ignite. \"You have to be a very amateur terrorist to think anything like that.”\nGETTY President Donald Trump condemned the shooting\nThe aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting Thu, October 5, 2017 Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, opened fire from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the music festival, leaving at least 59 people dead and over 527 injured Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 25 Personal belongings are gathered on the ground at the venue of the Route 91 Harvest Festival venue where FBI investigators continue work in the aftermath of the worst modern mass murder in US history in Las Vegas", "A Black Hawk helicopter crashed onto a golf course in Maryland during a routine training flight Monday, killing one crew member and injuring two others, the U.S. Army said.\nThe cause of the crash is under investigation, the U.S. Army Military District of Washington said in a statement Monday evening.\n\"We are deeply saddened by this loss within our community,\" said Maj. Gen. Bradley A. Becker, commanding general, Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. \"Our condolences go out to the families and friends affected by this tragedy, and our team is focused on supporting them during this difficult time.\"\nThree crew members were aboard the UH-60 Blackhawk. The Army said one person is in serious condition and one is in critical condition.\nThey are being treated at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.\nFighter jet crashes near home in D.C. area According to authorities in the D.C. area, a fighter jet has crashed in the woods near a neighborhood. (Inform) According to authorities in the D.C. area, a fighter jet has crashed in the woods near a neighborhood. (Inform) See more videos\nThey were not identified, pending notification of relatives.\nThe aircraft was from the 12th Aviation Battalion, stationed at Davison Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Va.\nKevin Bowen, who works in the pro shop of the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club, said he saw the helicopter \"flying kind of low\" and then \"saw it spinning\" before it went down between the third and fourth holes of the course in Leonardtown, about 60 miles southeast of Washington, D.C.\nDorothy Harper, who lives across the street from the golf course, said she saw the helicopter just before it crashed.\n\"I was outside in my front yard when I saw the helicopter come over right across the street from my house. I saw pieces actually falling off the helicopter,\" she said.\nHarper said she didn't see smoke or flames, \"just pieces falling out of the sky.\"\nShortly after, emergency vehicles started rolling in, she said.\nArmy investigators were driving around the course in golf carts Monday evening, placing evidence markers near pieces of debris.\nA team from the Army Combat Readiness Center, in Fort Rucker, Ala., will be on site Tuesday to conduct the investigation, the Army's statement said.\nThe incident comes less than two weeks after a military jet crashed in a wooded area just outside a suburban Washington neighborhood. The pilot, who was on a training mission, ditched his jet. He was treated for minor injuries, and no one else was injured in that incident.", "Investigators walk on a golf course as they examine debris that fell at the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club when an Army UH-60 helicopter from Fort Belvoir, Va., crashed, Monday, April 17, 2017, in Leonardtown, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Investigators walk on a golf course as they examine debris that fell at the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club when an Army UH-60 helicopter from Fort Belvoir, Va., crashed, Monday, April 17, 2017, in Leonardtown, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)\nA Black Hawk helicopter crashed onto a golf course in Maryland during a routine training flight Monday, killing one crew member and injuring the two others on board, the US Army said. The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Army Military District of Washington said in a statement Monday evening. One witness described pieces falling from the aircraft and another said it was spinning before it went down. “We are deeply saddened by this loss within our community,” said Maj. Gen. Bradley A. Becker, commanding general of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region and the US Army Military District of Washington. “Our condolences go out to the families and friends affected by this tragedy, and our team is focused on supporting them during this difficult time.”\nThree crew members were aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk for what the Army said was a training exercise when it crashed in Leonardtown, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Washington, DC, about 1:40 pm. They were not identified, pending notification of relatives. One person is in serious condition and one is in critical condition, the statement said. They are being treated at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.\nThe aircraft was from the 12th Aviation Battalion, stationed at Davison Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Kevin Bowen, who works in the pro shop of the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club, said he saw the helicopter “flying kind of low” and then “saw it spinning” before it went down between the third and fourth holes of the course. Dorothy Harper, who lives across the street from the golf course, said she saw the helicopter just before it crashed. “I was outside in my front yard when I saw the helicopter come over right across the street from my house. I saw pieces actually falling off the helicopter,” she said. Harper said she didn’t see smoke or flames, “just pieces falling out of the sky.” Shortly after, emergency vehicles started rolling in, she said.\nArmy investigators were driving around the course in golf carts Monday evening, placing evidence markers near pieces of debris. A team from the Army Combat Readiness Center, in Fort Rucker, Alabama, will be on site Tuesday to conduct the investigation, the Army’s statement said. Black Hawks are mainly used for transporting troops, supplies and equipment, according to the Army. But other missions include training and support of disaster relief. The incident comes less than two weeks after a military jet crashed in a wooded area just outside a suburban Washington neighborhood. The pilot, who was on a training mission, ditched his jet. He was treated for minor injuries, and no one else was injured in that incident.\nFor all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now", "This new normal suits Connor Hellebuyck just fine.\nSure, there are still going to be games when he needs to do more than just make the routine saves, but the Winnipeg Jets have made a concerted effort to tighten things up and are making life a lot easier on the men between the pipes.\nOn Saturday, Hellebuyck made 25 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.\nWhile rock-steady, Hellebuyck didn’t need to be spectacular, which suits him just fine.\n“I thought we controlled (the game). Kept the shots to the outside and I was able to control my rebounds,” said Hellebuyck, who picked up his career-high 27th win in his 43rd appearance this season. “The team is playing really well in front of me. They’re bringing it every night and you can tell. Everyone is together on this. You can see the success that comes from it and we’re all buying into it and we’re loving to play that way.”\nThe Jets, who improved to 31-13-9, continue a 10-game homestand on Tuesday against the Arizona Coyotes.\nThe best chance for the Avalanche came on a rare two-on-zero rush while shorthanded during the second period.\nAfter Matt Nieto passed the puck over to him, Garbriel Bourque wired a one-timer over the net.\n“I think I might have intimidated him a little bit,” said Hellebuyck, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. “Let’s just say I got a piece of it and we’ll go with that.”\nObviously, the Jets were fortunate not to give up a shorthanded goal for the second time in as many games.\nFor the most part, the second period was another example of the growth the Jets have shown this season.\nDespite carrying the play and limiting the Avalanche to only four shots on goal, the Jets were unable to extend the lead or put their opponent away.\nInstead of cheating or straying from their structure, the Jets simply stuck with it and were rewarded during the third period.\nThe Jets caught a break when they extended the lead 5:27 into the third period when captain Blake Wheeler’s shot from the slot went off the pants of Jack Roslovic, caromed into the air and ended up behind Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov and in the net.\n“We’ve built leads this year and been comfortable in tight games,” said Wheeler, who had two assists to give him 14 goals and 58 points in 53 games this season. “Down the stretch, we’re going to be playing teams that are fighting and good teams that are fighting. Every team we play is fighting for something. You can’t expect to come in and blow away every team. That shouldn’t be the expectation. The more we stay with those games, the more success we can look to have down the stretch.\n“Being comfortable in those type games, the swing in momentum in those games is important for a young team that hasn’t been through a lot of that. Learning how to stay with it mentally.”\nGoing into the season, the Jets spoke at length about the need to be more committed to keeping the puck out of the net.\nOffensive firepower was not going to be an issue, but in order to get above the playoff line, improved defending was going to be critical.\n“There’s a certain amount of confidence building in the style of hockey and knowing we’ve had success,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “We haven’t had to chase a lot of games, we’ve been in this position a fair amount of times and we’re getting more comfortable.”\nNikolaj Ehlers rounded out the scoring with an empty-netter with 17.4 seconds to go in regulation time.\nEhlers snapped an eight-game goal-scoring drought hours after Maurice was raving about his improved defensive play.\nPatrik Laine got the Jets on the board with a power-play goal at 2:27 of the opening period, taking a beautiful cross-ice pass from Wheeler before blasting home a one-timer.\nIt was the team-leading 24th goal of the season for Laine, who moved back into a tie for the league lead in power play goals with Pittsburgh Penguins centre Evgeni Malkin.\nThe Jets lost veteran centre Matt Hendricks to a suspected back injury before the midway point of the first period.\nHendricks, who was limited to just two shifts in the contest, was involved in what looked to be a relatively harmless knee-on-knee collision in the offensive zone with Avalanche defenceman Patrik Nemeth.\nBut after Hendricks made his way to the Jets bench, he doubled over and had to be helped down the tunnel.\nLate in the third period, after the Jets killed off a power play, forward Brandon Tanev left the game with an upper-body injury.\nMaurice called both players day-to-day, though it sounded like Tanev’s issue might keep him out a bit longer.\nAlthough the Jets are expected to welcome a player or two back from the injured list in the coming games, dealing with guys going in and out of the lineup is simply part of the game.\n“We’ve had injuries for the last how many games and we’ve got guys stepping up,” said Ehlers, who is up to 20 goals and 39 points in 53 games. “That’s the thing about this team. We like the way that we’re playing right now and we have to continue this.”\nkwiebe@postmedia.com\nTwitter.com/WiebeSunSports", "Connor Hellebuyck is an elite goaltender. His 44-11-9 record, 2.36 goals-against average (GAA) and .924 save percentage (SV%) are massive reasons for the Winnipeg Jets’ success this year. His case for capturing the Vezina is a compelling one, as his team simply wouldn’t be where they are without him.\nHowever, he hasn’t had much success this season against one certain squad — which happens to be the one the Jets find themselves facing in the second round.\nHellebuyck’s Nightmares Against Nashville\nHellebuyck’s had some problems when playing the Nashville Predators. His numbers against the league’s top team aren’t exactly a dream.\nIn five games and four starts against the Predators in 2017-18, his GAA was 3.91 — the worst figure versus any team he faced more than once. He gave up a total of 19 goals in those five games. He also posted a SV% of .882, well below his sparkling overall number.\nOn Nov. 20, in the two teams’ first matchup of the season, Hellebuyck allowed five goals on 29 shots in a 5-3 loss, including two that slid along the ice and through his five-hole.\nOn Feb. 27, he had arguably his worst start of the season in a 6-5 loss. He looked bad and was torched for six goals on 26 shots, including three straight in the third as the Jets squandered a 5-3 lead.\nA rare off night for goalie Connor Hellebuyck as the Jets fall to the Predators 6-5. He didn’t look very good on at least 4 of the goals scored by Nashville. But he’s been the Jets best player in most of the games this season. He’ll bounce back. — Joe Pascucci (@Pascucci015) February 28, 2018\nAfter that game, Hellebuyck didn’t talk to reporters. When he did speak two days later, he refused to discuss the game.\n“I do mind going back to it. I don’t want to bring it up,” Helleybuyck said in the interview. “There’s no need — it’s in the past. There are 82 games and I’m focusing on the next one. We’ve had a good run, so far, and we want to continue it.”\nHellebuyck Shaky Even in Wins\nEven in his two wins against the Predators, Hellebuyck wasn’t his usual brick-wall self. On Dec. 19, he made 30 saves in a 6-4 win. However, the win was more thanks to Brandon Tanev’s unlikely late-game goal than Hellebuyck’s performance: he gave up a sharp-angle stinker and a softie he should have been able to squeeze but didn’t that trickled through him and just over the goal line.\nOn Mar. 25, when the Jets punched their ticket to the playoffs with a 5-4 shootout victory, Hellebuyck allowed a couple he would probably have liked to stop, including one with less than a second left in the first period. Overall, though, he was decent, saving 32 and not allowing a shootout goal.\nHellebuyck Bounce-Back Ability — and He Knows It\nEven with his suspect numbers against the team the Jets will soon face for four or more, fans shouldn’t be too concerned. Hellebuyck has uncommon levels of mettle, maturity, and confidence.\nConnor Hellebuyck performance immediately after allowing 5+ goals in the previous game this season: 7-0-1\nGAA: 1.37\nSave %: .955\nShutouts: 2 pic.twitter.com/ORcrXOesPG — Wiser Fans (@WiserFan) April 18, 2018\nHe’s a hard worker who doesn’t wallow in a bad performance or let a bad night snowball into a free fall. After allowing five goals or more in a game, he has — without exception — rebounded with a great performance. His ability to do that is one of the things that makes him so valuable.\nHis bounce-back ability was never more apparent than it was in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After a rough 6-2 loss in Game 3, Hellebuyck didn’t panic, but instead turned his net into Fort Knox, posting back-to-back shutouts. Paul Maurice praised his goalie for the trait after his Game 4 shutout.\n“You knew, five to 10 minutes into that game, he was right and feeling good,” Maurice said after Game 4. “It’s really good for our hockey team to see that from him. To see that he can come back and rebound – those kind of confidence builders in the playoffs are critical.”\nHellebuyck Needs to Look Forward, Not Back\nHellebuyck is emerging at just the right time and needs to keep his momentum going. He needs to put his regular-season struggles against the Predators in the rearview and focus on doing what he did in Round 1 and the vast majority of the regular season. His team will need him at his best in what’s bound to be a dogfight between two of the NHL’s very best.\n“I’m going to have to look to the future and remember this,” Hellebuyck said to Darrin Bauming after the series-clinching Game 5. “That this was a big building stone and a step in my career. That I can do this, and if things falter, I have a good foundation to fall back on.”\nIf big No. 37 can push aside his struggles against the Predators — which by all indicators he can — the Jets will have a good foundation to build on for a Round 2 victory.", "A day before he and his teammates opened the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mark Scheifele was talking about pressure and the Winnipeg Jets.\n\"Hey, in any Canadian city there's going to be pressure to succeed,\" said Scheifele, perhaps the biggest star the greater NHL public has yet to discover. \"That's what makes you better. That's what makes you motivated.\n\"You don't take that pressure and crumble under it. We're all competitive people. We all use that pressure as motivation.\"\nStory continues below advertisement\nForty-eight hours later, Scheifele and his fellow Jets had all the motivation they needed. Despite swarming the Leafs out of the gate on Wednesday night, the Jets proved to be terrible in all of the areas they vowed they were fixing in training camp – taking bad penalties and then failing to kill them off, sloppy defensive play compounded by mediocre goaltending – and were embarrassed by a 7-2 margin in front of their own fans.\nThe Bell MTS Place is the smallest arena in the NHL by capacity but all of those 15,321 seats are sold for every Jets game and no team can boast louder or more passionate fans. They are also known for their inventive chants. When an instant rivalry sprang up last season between rookie sensations Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs and Patrik Laine of the Jets, the Winnipeg crowd took up the chant \"Laine's better, Laine's better\" one year ago in their first NHL confrontation when the young Finn outscored Matthews with three goals, including the overtime winner.\nBut there was only silence and a few boos by the end of Wednesday's season opener, which left Laine saying he was \"embarrassed\" and \"ashamed.\" He was not paying lip service. There is a strong sense, from the players' dressing room up to team co-owner Mark Chipman's suite, that this is the season, six years after the Thrashers fled Atlanta to become the Winnipeg Jets, the team rewards the fans' loyalty and patience.\nWith Scheifele emerging as one of the best young forwards in the NHL and Laine giving Matthews a good run for last year's rookie-of-the-year honours, plus a few other young offensive stars, the Jets were considered a playoff team. But injuries, along with the above-mentioned problems, stalled the drive at ninth place in the Western Conference, seven points out of the last playoff spot with a 40-35-7 record. The Jets are expected to make a better challenge this season, even if they do play in the tough Central Division.\n\"I think that's the way we're all looking at it,\" Chipman said. \"I think last year we thought we had a chance to take a step forward. A number of things didn't go our way.\"\nOne NHL general manager told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman he considers the Jets \"a sleeping giant.\" This provoked some mirth in the Jets dressing room, although it is clear the players are keenly aware of their fans' expectations. That is hard to miss in this city of 812,000 where the Jets elbowed aside even the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL as the most popular team.\n\"Somebody better get us some coffee, then,\" Jets centre Bryan Little said when apprised of the GM's assessment. \"I don't know what to make of that comment. I think it's kind of a fair analysis. I think we had the team last year to do something good and it didn't work out. On paper we're a team that should be in the mix for the playoffs.\nStory continues below advertisement\nStory continues below advertisement\n\"The fans want to see a team in the playoffs. They want to have a team to cheer for and we haven't given them a lot since we've been here. You can tell the fans want to see a winning product on the ice. They deserve a team that goes out there to compete every night for a spot in the playoffs. We owe that to them as well as to have a good season.\"\nChipman thinks the honeymoon period is still on with the fans, though. Losing the original Jets to Phoenix in 1996 was a trauma that lingered, so there are lots of fans just happy to have an NHL team.\n\"I think losing this team back in '96 left a real mark on this community,\" he said. \"I think people recognize now that it's an honour for our community to be playing in the National Hockey League.\n\"Obviously our fans want us to succeed and I don't think anybody feels that more than we do. There's an awesome sense of responsibility that we carry to make people feel good about the investment they made in the team.\"\nThe string of sellouts that began with the Jets' first game continues and there is a waiting list of 4,000 for season's tickets. Chipman says the season-ticket renewals remain strong as does the commitment by local sponsors.\nHowever, the lack of any playoff action is getting worrisome, not to mention aggravating to at least some fans, although Chipman thinks there is a difference between those who call talk-radio shows and those who buy season's tickets.\nStory continues below advertisement\n\"You're always going to have detractors, and some people say it hasn't come soon enough and I can accept that,\" he said. \"I think for the most part our fans who are season-ticket holders are in lock step with us.\"\nSince the Thrashers became the Jets in the 2011-12 season, they have only one playoff appearance, in 2014-15 after finishing out of the running in their first two years in Winnipeg. They lost in the first round and then missed the playoffs again for the next two seasons.\nBut this was just a continuation of what the Thrashers did in Atlanta. Since joining the league in 1999-2000, they made the playoffs once in 11 seasons and were swept in the first round.\nWhat people tend to forget is that, while Winnipeg landed an existing NHL team rather than an expansion franchise, it was a franchise with a history of mediocrity and few prospects in the system. The rebuilding plan is now into its seventh year and only four original Thrashers are still regulars on the roster – Little, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom.\n\"I think as informed as we are as Canadians, or as we think we are as hockey fans, there wasn't an understanding of the extent to which that asset had been diminished,\" Chipman said. \"There was nobody in the minor system we brought that is with us. There are a couple of guys still around but that is one thing we didn't get. The cupboards were bare in terms of developable assets. We really had to start from square one.\"\nThe plan is for this season to be the payoff to the fans. The weaknesses were addressed in the off-season and training camp. Free agent Steve Mason was signed to allow Connor Hellebuyck, the designated goaltender of the future, to develop at a slower pace, retired NHL referee Paul Devorski was brought to training camp to show the Jets how to avoid bad penalties and head coach Paul Maurice spent a lot of time on the defensive game and penalty killing.\nMore commitment to the fans was shown this week when winger Nikolaj Ehlers, 21, another of the Jets' young scoring stars with 64 points last season, was signed to a seven-year, $42-million (U.S.) contract.\nMaurice said a lot of work was put into teaching players such as Laine and Ehlers \"they're not going to score less\" once they learn how to play a good defensive game.\n\"They've learned on the offensive side as well but, as their games round out, they become pros,\" Maurice said. \"So we've invested two years in a lot of young players and we can see it in how they practise, how they're able to get through the driving parts, the hard parts of practice they can drive through. The next day they come back and they're fresh again, they're stronger men.\n\"So we believe we're stronger. Last year, we had over 900 games by players under the age of 25. We're expecting those players to be better incrementally in all parts of the game.\"\nThe loss to the Leafs showed the lessons still need more time to sink in. After a strong start that was rebuffed by Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen, the Jets' discipline and defensive game collapsed, with Mason causing some worries with a mediocre night that resulted in the hook. Even the reputable power play was snuffed out by the Leafs, going 0-for-8.\nAs embarrassing as it was in front of the home crowd, Maurice can argue it's a young team and there are still 81 more games to show what they have learned. It's also a good idea the team got out of town Saturday for a three-game road trip. But just to make sure he expects them to learn quickly, the coach gave his players a good old-fashioned bag skate the morning after the loss.\n\"So we're not sitting and waiting three weeks,\" Maurice said. \"Got to get it going. I told them we'll deal with this every day, all year. Because this franchise doesn't move forward until it can defend.\n\"You can put all the talent in the world on the ice, and you're not winning a damn thing until you've got a real good comfort level to defend.\"", "Last season, the Jets -- including acting owner Christopher Johnson -- linked arms during the national anthem, in a show of unity.\nOver the past two seasons, as players around the NFL (first Colin Kaepernick and then many others) have peacefully protested by kneeling during the anthem -- in order to bring attention to social and racial justice causes -- no Jets player has kneeled. They have all stood.\nIn 2018, with the league's new anthem policy in place, left tackle Kelvin Beachum expects the Jets to continue what they did last season -- the arm-locking show of unity during the anthem.\n\"Yeah, most likely,\" Beachum, one of the Jets' veteran leaders, told NJ Advance Media. \"At the end of the day, we as a team committed to do things in the community. Our way of showing unity is doing what we've done in the past, and we'll probably continue doing it this year.\"\nBeachum, who spoke Tuesday after the Jets' fourth organized team activities practice, said he isn't sure when the Jets will meet to finalize their anthem plans for 2018.\nLast season, they met as a team and came up with the arm-locking show of unity. They are expected to meet as a team again this year and decide on what to do. (And it sounds like it'll probably be the arm-locking thing again.)\nThey obviously have plenty of time, since their first preseason game isn't until Aug. 10. They open the regular season Sept. 10 in Detroit.\nBeachum and wide receiver Jermaine Kearse on Tuesday both called the NFL's new anthem policy \"disappointing.\"\nUnder the policy, teams are fined if players don't stand while on the field for the anthem. (Players are now allowed to remain in the locker room for the anthem, if they don't want to stand.) Teams can punish players (including fines) for not standing on the field during the anthem -- passing along a fine imposed by the league. Johnson said he will not do this.\nJohnson voted for the new policy, but he met with the Jets' players last week and told them he will support whatever they do. He will not punish players for refusing to stand during the anthem. Johnson is willing to absorb any potential fine.\nKearse, meanwhile, openly criticized other NFL owners Tuesday, regarding the policy.\n\"Me personally, I think they're kind of missing the point,\" he said. \"For us, as a team, nobody on our team kneeled. Yet that doesn't mean we don't support the causes of why people are kneeling.\"\nBeachum and quarterback Josh McCown are involved in the Players Coalition, a social justice advocacy group of NFL players that has communicated with the owners during the anthem protest discussion. The Jets refused to make McCown available to reporters Tuesday.\nGrading Jets' 2018 NFL Draft picks\nJohnson is the Jets' acting owner because his older brother, Woody Johnson, is currently serving as President Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Kingdom -- a position Woody received after prominently supporting Trump's election.\nTrump has vulgarly criticized NFL players who kneel during the anthem. He has said players should be required to stand. He continued to rip protesting NFL players after the league's new anthem policy came out last week.\nDarryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.", "LEONARDTOWN, Md. (AP) - A Black Hawk helicopter crashed onto a golf course in Maryland during a routine training flight, killing one crew member and injuring the two others on board, the U.S. Army said.\nThe cause of the Monday crash is under investigation, the Army Military District of Washington said in a statement. One witness described pieces falling from the aircraft and another said it was spinning before it went down.\n\"We are deeply saddened by this loss within our community,\" said Maj. Gen. Bradley A. Becker, commanding general of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. \"Our condolences go out to the families and friends affected by this tragedy, and our team is focused on supporting them during this difficult time.\"\nInvestigators examine debris that fell on the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club after an Army UH-60 helicopter from Fort Belvoir, Va., crashed, Monday, April 17, 2017, in Leonardtown, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)\nThree crew members were aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk for what the Army said was a training exercise when it crashed in Leonardtown, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Washington, D.C., around 1:40 p.m. They were not identified, pending notification of relatives.\nOne person is in serious condition and one is in critical condition, the statement said. They were being treated at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.\nThe aircraft was from the 12th Aviation Battalion, stationed at Davison Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.\nKevin Bowen, who works in the pro shop of the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club, said he saw the helicopter \"flying kind of low\" and then \"saw it spinning\" before it went down between the third and fourth holes of the course.\nDorothy Harper, who lives across the street from the golf course, said she saw the helicopter just before it crashed.\n\"I was outside in my front yard when I saw the helicopter come over right across the street from my house. I saw pieces actually falling off the helicopter,\" she said.\nHarper said she didn't see smoke or flames, \"just pieces falling out of the sky.\"\nShortly after, emergency vehicles started rolling in, she said.\nArmy investigators were driving around the course in golf carts Monday evening, placing evidence markers near pieces of debris.\nA team from the Army Combat Readiness Center, in Fort Rucker, Alabama, will be on site Tuesday to conduct the investigation, the Army's statement said.\nBlack Hawks are mainly used for transporting troops, supplies and equipment, according to the Army. But other missions include training and support of disaster relief.\nThe incident comes less than two weeks after a military jet crashed in a wooded area just outside a suburban Washington neighborhood. The pilot, who was on a training mission, ditched his jet. He was treated for minor injuries, and no one else was injured in that incident.\nPeople examine an Army UH-60 helicopter from Fort Belvoir, Va., after it crashed at the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club after Monday, April 17, 2017, in Leonardtown, Md. (Rebecca Updegrave Cline via AP)\nInvestigators examine debris that fell on the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club golf course after an Army UH-60 helicopter from Fort Belvoir, Va., crashed, Monday, April 17, 2017, in Leonardtown, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)\nA St. Mary's County sheriff's deputy stops non-residents from entering the area after an Army UH-60 helicopter from Fort Belvoir, Va., crashed on the Breton Bay Golf and Country Club, Monday, April 17, 2017, in Leonardtown, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)", "Should Broncos Country cheer for a winning streak or a losing streak?\nKiz: The Broncos made beating the New York Jets look so easy it was easy to wonder how Denver ever lost eight games in a row. And now the Broncos have a chance to win twice in five days, because Indianapolis is no better than the Jets. You play to win the game. (Herm Edwards taught me that.) But would it be better for the franchise’s long-term health to lose out, finish 4-12 and get the best possible pick in the NFL draft?\nJhabvala: I will never vote for tanking over winning. Never. The draft is always a crapshoot and having a higher pick doesn’t necessarily ensure a team will make the RIGHT pick. The Broncos have plenty of options this offseason, with an impressive quarterback class in the draft and very little dead money on the books. They have many difficult decisions awaiting them when the season ends, from the coaching staff to the roster, but general manager John Elway‘s priority has always been to win. That was Pat Bowlen‘s ultimate goal, too. The franchise shouldn’t stray from that now.\nKiz: Any suggestion the Broncos should actively tank is wasted breath, because Denver players and coaches with jobs on the line have very real motivation to win. The Broncos game against Indy, however, is a toss-up, and they will almost certainly be underdogs against Washington and Kansas City. Close with three losses and no worse than a top-five pick in the draft is assured. But every victory drops Denver down the draft board, which would probably remove the possibility of taking a quarterback in the first round.\nJhabvala: Not necessarily. Besides, wasn’t that Dak Prescott guy drafted in the fourth round? He turned out OK. Plus, as former NFL agent and current CBS analyst Joel Corry recently wrote, more often than not, first-round QBs fail to meet expectations. Carson Wentz is a rare breed. Tanking now for a non-guarantee in the future is foolish, and I imagine it would only erode the locker-room chemistry and destroy the trust between current players and the front office.\nKiz: I’m not certain Elway’s competitive fire meshes well with the patience required to develop a young quarterback. So I expect the Broncos to scour the market for a veteran QB. If Denver drafts No. 7 or No. 11 in the first round, Elway could well have a chance to take an offensive lineman (Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson) or a defensive lineman (Bradley Chubb of North Carolina State) that figures to be safer Pro Bowl bet than any rookie quarterback. Broncos Country can cheer for victories down the stretch without guilt.\nJhabvala: I still think it’s fascinating how Elway — the Hall of Fame quarterback — has fared so well in finding defensive players but has struggled to find offensive talent in the draft. The Broncos’ problems will not be solved through free agency. It’ll help, sure. We saw that in 2014, when Elway opened the books to sign DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and Emmanuel Sanders. But the team needs a developmental pipeline. Simply put: They have to get better at drafting.", "It’s confirmed. Carson Wentz tore his left ACL Sunday in Los Angeles, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson announced Monday.\nAt least no other ligaments were damaged, as also feared.\nThus ends the season for the second-year quarterback, who leads the NFL in touchdown passes with 33, whose blossoming skillset took him to the verge of superstardom, and who led the Eagles to their first NFC East title and playoff berth in four years.\nAs a benchmark of his stunning Year 2 improvement, Wentz’s TD-to-interception ratio as a rookie was 16-to-14. This season, it was 33-to-7, which is more than double the TDs and half the picks.\nCan Pederson’s team overcome this?\n“It sure can, heck yeah,” he said, in point out that the Eagles are 11-2 despite having already lost for the season their Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, top linebacker Jordan Hicks and versatile running back Darren Sproles, among others.\n“This is no different. Yeah, (Wentz) is the quarterback of our football team. Each one of these guys that I mentioned is tough to replace. But you know what, the reason we went out and got (QB) Nick Foles was for reasons like this, and situations like this.\n“I’m excited for Nick. I hate it for Carson Wentz. I hate it for the career, the season, I guess, that he’s been having. But at the same time, it’s been the next-man-up mentality, and that’s how we approach it this week.”\nMcCOWN GOES DOWN\nNew York Jets QB Josh McCown is lost for the season, after breaking his left (non-throwing) hand at Denver, the team announced. The 38-year-old over-achieved as much as any QB this year for a Jets team everyone thought was tanking for the No. 1 overall draft pick. New York is 5-8.\nUNDER REVIEW\nThe NFL was reviewing incidents from the last minute of the Seattle-Jacksonville game, when Seahawks defensive linemen smashed into Jaguars offensive linemen on two kneel-downs. That precipitated numerous personal-foul penalties and got two Seahawks ejected, including Quinton Jefferson, who nearly climbed into the stands in Jacksonville to confront those who heckled and threw drinks at him. ESPN reported that no suspensions will result from the stupidity.\nEXTRA POINTS\nTennessee QB Marcus Mariota suffered only a sprained left knee Sunday at Arizona, and should play Sunday at San Francisco … New Orleans rookie RB Alvin Kamara, although still in concussion protocol, told NOLA.com he expects to play Sunday against the Jets … Buffalo QB Tyrod Taylor is closer to returning from a knee injury and will be day-to-day this week, head coach Sean McDermott said. If healthy, he’ll get the starting nod over Nathan Peterman, the coach said.\njokryk@postmedia.com", "Fighter jets flew overhead in the missing-man formation during a Southern California memorial for a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot who was killed in a crash during training.\nFighter jets flew overhead in the missing-man formation during a Southern California memorial for a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot who was killed in a crash during training.\nThe Air Force Thunderbirds on Tuesday resumed operations over the Nevada Test and Training Range near Las Vegas.\nThe Air Force Thunderbirds on Tuesday resumed operations over the Nevada Test and Training Range near Las Vegas.\nMaj. Nick “Khan” Krajicek will return to the Thunderbirds. (Source: U.S. Air Force)\nA veteran U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot is returning to the aerial demonstration team to replace a colleague who died during a training flight three weeks ago.\nAn Air Force statement said Thursday that while Maj. Nick Krajicek requalifies, the six-member team has canceled plans to appear at air shows this weekend in Charleston, South Carolina, and next weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.\nAir Force Master Sgt. Christopher Boitz at Nellis Air Force Base confirmed that Krajicek is returning to the Thunderbird 4 slot position he held in 2016 and 2017.\nThe Air Force is investigating the April 4 crash of an F-16 Fighting Falcon that killed Maj. Stephen Del Bagno in the remote Nevada Test and Training Range north of Las Vegas.\nCopyright 2018 Associated Press. All rights reserved.", "Local airline Calm Air has flown in to avert a looming fuel crisis in Churchill.\nExecutives of Omnitrax Rail told CBC News on Friday the company was forced to cancel a shipment of gas scheduled for the northern town because the province of Manitoba would not certify the storage tanks it operates near the port.\nThe company sent a letter to the province saying the gas shipment was cancelled. Omnitrax estimated there was only enough fuel in storage to last until late Febuary.\nBut a solution to the dilemma came quickly from airline company Calm Air. Company president Gary Bell said he got a call from the province Friday afternoon, desperate for a solution.\n\"We said look, don't panic, we're a stakeholder in the town, and we will make sure that the fuel gets there and if it means we have to take less jet fuel and fly a jet [with aviation fuel] there later, that's fine,\" Calm Air president Gary Bell told CBC News Friday afternoon.\nCalm Air flies regularly scheduled flights into Churchill. The rail line to the community was damaged by a flood in May and remains unrepaired.\n​Bell says \"it's important that, with all the things going against Churchill, that someone has to be looking out for them in this.\"\nOmnitrax executive Peter Touesnard says 'to suggest those people [its employees] and the company wasn't supportive of the community of Churchill is awfully disappointing.' (CBC)\nThe aviation company, which is owned by Winnipeg-based Exchange Industrial Group, will use capacity in its own storage facility normally set aside for jet fuel to bunker gasoline for the town's use. It will replace the approximately 300,000 litres of aviation fuel it needs with multiple flights in a specially fitted airplane, if the rail line to Churchill isn't repaired by the spring.\n\"A combination of ourselves and the province will pick up the tab for that. The amount that the town will be on the hook for is they will get charged the regular margin for the fuel that we'll sell them, so there won't be any increase in price,\" Bell says.\nBell says it will cost roughly $250,000-$300,000 to fly the aviation fuel up to Churchill.\nOmnitrax says fuel hasn't left yet\nThere is a discrepency about whether the fuel is actually in transit or hasn't left for Churchill yet.\nOmnitrax executives Peter Touesnard, the chief commercial officer, and Merv Tweed, the president, told CBC News on Friday the ship containing not only the gas, but diesel and aviation fuel as well, hadn't left for Churchill.\nOmnitrax's Merv Tweed says 'from Day 1 ... we presented the government with the best option and guarantee the people of Churchill fuel.' (CBC)\nTouesnard says the cut-off for the decision on whether to approve the shipment of fuel was Friday and they would have to \"cancel the order for gasoline because we have no place to put it.\"\nHowever, Calm Air's Bell says the ship — containing not only gasoline for the community but diesel and jet fuel his company had ordered — was already at sea and on its way to the town.\nTank safety an issue for months\nOmnitrax and the province's Sustainable Development department had been mired in a back-and-forth correspondence for months over the safety of what the company called \"legacy tanks\" in its storage facility.\n\"The early indication was this was the plan we were going to use because it made sense and suddenly it didn't and yet they\nA Calm Air freighter aircraft. (www.calmair.com)\n[the existing fuel tanks] are being utilized as we speak,\" Tweed said.\nUltimately the province ordered Omnitrax to empty five of the tanks and take them out of service by Oct. 13.\nThe Omnitrax executives say they tried to get provincial approval to use the existing storage tanks. The company is in the process of installing new tanks at the facility.\n\"We made a proposal to the province where we would use a couple of legacy tanks that we had inspected by an engineer and approved; said there was no leakage and the integrity of the tanks were good,\" Tweed says.\nCBC News obtained a letter from Manitoba Sustainable Development to Omnitrax from last June indicating the province was willing to extend permits for several tanks in the community until October, subject to certain conditions.\nHowever, a further letter was sent by Manitoba's Sustainable Development to Omnitrax on Oct. 6 ordering the company to empty six of its older tanks and take them out of service.\n​The arrival of a saviour in the form of Calm Air prompted Omnitrax to respond. The company sent a statement to CBC News late Friday.\nWe're pleased that a resolution has been found, ... We are disappointed that we were not included in the discussions that facilitated that solution. - Omnitrax president Merv Tweed\n\"We're pleased that a resolution has been found, because our priority has always been to arrive at a solution that benefits the people of Churchill and addresses the challenges they are facing for the winter ahead. We are disappointed that we were not included in the discussions that facilitated that solution,\" wrote Merv Tweed.\nChurchill mayor Mike Spence and the town's council wrote a message to the community on Friday reassuring residents the fuel problem had been averted and took a swipe at Omnitrax.\n\"The latest announcement by Omnitrax is just another unfortunate example of not supporting efforts to ease the crisis the community is facing,\" says a message on the town of Churchill's social media pages.\nCommunity Update for Friday October 6, 2017. pic.twitter.com/YG8l6Y8puz — @TownofChurchill\nPremier Brian Pallister has been scathing in his comments about how Omnitrax has acted in the preceding year of isssues surrounding the port and the rail line. A late-Friday statement on the fuel issue matched that tone.\n\"This latest gamesmanship by OmniTRAX is more than unfortunate, and the people of Churchill deserve better,\" wrote Andrea Slobodian, a spokesperson for Sustainable Development.", "NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Josh McCown has been through this plenty during his NFL career.\nThe New York Jets are the 10th team the veteran quarterback has been with since 2002, so he’s sort of an expert in getting acquainted with teammates in new surroundings.\n“It’s always good to get back started, especially when you are coming to a new team,” McCown said Monday in quotes issued by the team, which reported for its first day of the offseason program at its training facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. “It’s good to meet everyone and get acclimated. But it’s the first day in a long process and I’m excited to be part of it.”\nMcCown was signed in March to a one-year, $6 million contract to try to help stabilize the Jets’ shaky quarterback situation. Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith became free agents and weren’t re-signed, leaving New York only with the unproven Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg at the position.\nMORE: Lichtenstein: McCown Signing Signals Jets Have Already Given Up On 2017\nThe 37-year-old McCown, who spent the past two seasons in Cleveland, is the front-runner for the Jets’ starting job.\nBut the quarterback spot is far from settled. New York holds the No. 6 overall pick in the draft and could opt to take one of the top available passers — perhaps Clemson’s Deshaun Watson or North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky — at the spot.\nAfter Fitzpatrick struggled mightily and was benched for the second time, Petty took over and did little to cement his status as the team’s potential starter before a shoulder injury ended his season. The 2015 fourth-rounder out of Baylor spent the offseason rehabilitating his left (non-throwing) shoulder and recharging.\n“I’m excited on all fronts,” Petty said. “It’s always good to get some time away, but then you come back in the building and see old faces and see the guys. It’s the kind of adrenaline you don’t get anywhere else.”\nSeveral familiar faces are no longer in New York’s locker room after last season’s 5-11 campaign, with the Jets in what appears to be a clear rebuilding mode. Cornerback Darrelle Revis, wide receiver Brandon Marshall, center Nick Mangold, left tackle Ryan Clady and kicker Nick Folk were among the well-established veterans who were let go to slash some high salaries.\nMcCown, offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum, kicker Chandler Catanzaro and cornerback Morris Claiborne are among the newcomers settling in. According to photos posted on the Jets’ website, wide receiver Eric Decker (hip, shoulder) and running back Matt Forte (torn meniscus), both recovering from offseason surgeries, were also in attendance Monday.\nMORE: Keidel: Will The Jets Eventually Ax Eric Decker, Too?\nNFL teams continue their offseason programs, which include classroom work and strength and conditioning, through mid-May, when organized team activities begin. Minicamps are held in June, with training camp starting in late-June.\n“It feels like the first day of school, walking around seeing smiles on everybody’s face,” said defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who made his first Pro Bowl last season. “It feels great to be back to work with all of my teammates.”\n(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)", "FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A former congressman from Northeast Indiana used to play on the GOP congressional baseball team. Former third district Representative Marlin Sutzman played on the GOP team for six years. That team was targeted during a shooting Wednesday morning at a practice. Five people were shot including Representative Steve Scalise.\nFor Stutzman the baseball team was a family affair. He would often bring his sons to the morning practices. He said we need this game now more than ever.\n“There were times I thought there were a lot of congressional members out [at practice],” Stutzman said. “We could be sitting ducks.”\nFor the six years Stutzman played on the GOP congressional baseball team it wasn’t often they were without security at practices.\n“[House Republican Majority Whip] Steve Scalise, who was shot, was part of leadership so he would have his security there but generally if there were 15 members or more from Congress there would be some sort of security,” Stutzman explained. “We never really thought there’d be anything like this even if there were times we thought–boy if somebody knew.”\nAfter Wednesday’s shooting, Stutzman is thinking of the good times.\n“It’s just always fun to be out with your colleagues doing something different than what you do on the Hill every day,” Stutzman said.\nStutzman praised the work of the Capitol Police on scene Wednesday. So did Congressmen Jim Banks and Todd Young.\n“It was due to [police] heroic efforts that the shooter was brought down,” Rep. Banks (R-3) said.\n“They’ll be getting a few extra handshakes from me today and I know a few others will do the same,” Sen. Young (R) said.\nNeither Congressmen play on the team. Senator Joe Donnelly plays on the Democratic team, and was practicing the morning of the shooting in D.C. On Twitter he said he was okay, and that his thoughts are with Rep. Scalise and those who were hurt.\nStutzman hopes to see the game played Thursday, which is still the plan. It’s a critical time for the camaraderie.\n“I think it’s such an important piece to bringing civility and bringing both sides together, and realizing we have so much more in common that we do different,” Stutzman said.\nThere was at least one child at practice. Stutzman said he and his wife gave their sons an extra hug Wednesday morning.", "CLOSE SportsPulse: The Yankees and Red Sox look loaded heading into the season, but who will come out on top? USA TODAY Sports\nUnder the watchful eye of Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez (right), Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel throws a bullpen session at Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers, Fla. (Photo: Steve Mitchell, USA TODAY Sports)\nComing off perhaps the best season of his career, Boston Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel battled what he called \"the toughest thing\" he's ever experienced.\nIt began in November, when his daughter, Lydia Joy, was born with a heart condition -- one that will require three surgeries to help correct.\nKimbrel had permission to leave the team three weeks ago to be with his daughter and wife Ashley in Boston for the second of those surgeries, but there was good news to report when he returned to Red Sox camp in Fort Myers, Fla., on Monday.\n\"There's no denying it's been the toughest thing we've ever been through,\" he told reporters. \"In the last week her recovery has been unbelievable, and she's showing great signs.\"\nAt an emotional news conference, Kimbrel expressed his gratitude to the staff at Boston Children's Hospital, where the surgeries took place. He also thanked his teammates, who wore red T-shirts with the slogan #LydiaStrong while he was gone.\nToday we’re wearing #LydiaStrong shirts as we continue to keep the Kimbrel family and their daughter, Lydia, in our thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/eb2pifQGBh — Red Sox (@RedSox) March 11, 2018\n\"My family comes first and then baseball comes,\" he said, though he did get an opportunity to work out and throw batting practice to a college team while he was in Boston.\n\"Stepping away for a few hours was definitely a release. It did help to get in the weight room. It did help to throw the ball. But that's not going to take away the emotions we went through in the hospital.\"\nKimbrel, who went 5-0 with 35 saves and a 1.43 ERA last season, threw live batting practice at Red Sox camp Monday and insisted he'll be ready when the Red Sox open the regular season March 29 at Tampa Bay.\nLydia Joy is scheduled to be released from the hospital in another two weeks, which is right around the time the Red Sox return for their home opener at Fenway Park on April 5.\nFollow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner", "GLENOLDEN >> Interboro coach Steve Lennox quickly called to mind the last time his Bucs had a four-game losing streak.\n“Never happened,” he said. “Never.”\nAnother first was not accomplished Friday, as the Bucs ended that skid with a 31-28 victory over Chichester in Del Val action. Interboro (3-4, 1-1) rushed for 223 yards to account for essentially all of its offense.\nBoth teams, though, scored four touchdowns. The difference? Interboro connected on three two-point conversions and an extra point. Chichester (3-3, 0-2) missed an extra point and a two-point conversion. The peculiar victory will serve as motivation going forward. Or, as running back Joe Forte put it:\n“Hopefully just a flame under our butts,” he explained. “That’s how we take it.”\nForte, the fullback in Lennox’s I-Formation attack, rushed for 78 yards and a score. Kalie Kuyateh, the tailback, had 73 and a touchdown. Mike Moore, the other tailback, added 28 yards, two scores, an interception and two sacks.\nIt was typical Interboro, at least offensively. It ran with power, it ate up yards, it ate up clock. Forte’s one-yard touchdown run capped a 10-play, 40-yard drive. Moore’s first score, a three-yard run, ended a 15-play, 61-yard drive.\nThere was a 12-play, 85-yard drive during the third quarter, also finished by a Moore run.\n“I’ve really got to give it up to my blockers, it all starts up front with them,” Moore said. “I can’t move until they move. Once they go, I can go.”\nInterboro led 16-14 at the half and 24-20 after three quarters. Sometimes the deficit was two possessions, but Chichester was never out of the game.\nThe Eagles received a stellar performance from Andrew Rodriguez, who passed for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those strikes were to Andre Dean, who hauled in 81 yards on four receptions.\nBoth of those scores came during the first half. Dean added a 33-yard touchdown off a jet sweep during the third quarter. Two possessions later, after Moore’s interception, Kuyateh raced in from five yards out to give Interboro a 31-20 lead and seemingly put the game away.\nBut eventually, Rodriguez put something together and struck on a four-yard pass to Rashaad Shaw. With 103 seconds left, Chichester was alive.\nAlas, its pooch kick, instead of an onside kick, faltered. Interboro ran out the clock from there.\n“(Ryan Smith) has done a very nice job,” Lennox said. “The staff, they’ve done a really nice job. They executed really well. I think you gotta give them some props. (Rodriguez) was throwing the ball. They had a couple of drops.”\nInterboro will take all the drops it can get. The Bucs finally got healthy this week. They were able to effectively run counters and fakes, Forte explained, to offset their ground-and-pound. The defense did enough. Most of all, they got a win.\nThe Bucs locker room was loud after the game, as it should be. But there will be no extended celebration. There will be no huge sigh of relief. Work, a lot of it, remains to be done.\n“We just try to build on it,” Lennox said. “Just keep working hard. We can’t get a fat head. We put ourselves in a corner with the Del Val, but we’re not out of it. If Penn Wood runs the table, we have the playoffs to maybe shoot for. We have something to shoot for.”", "Israel's Defense Ministry Property Director, together with the IDF's ground forces and the Yad Lashiryon Organization, has announced a project to restore a variety of historical displays, including historical tanks which fought in all of Israel's wars.\n158 tanks and other armored vehicles of different makes and periods are displayed near the Latrun Police Department's Tegart Fort. Tegart Fort was built under the British Mandate, in 1940.\nThe project will include at least fifty tanks and armored vehicles, and will give each one a cleaning, a rust treatment, and a coat of new paint in the tank's original color.\nSome of the tanks which will be restored are: Merkava tanks of all four types, Sherman tanks, Centurion tanks, M48 Patton tanks, the Magach and Shoot Kal tanks, and the Churchill Infantry Tank.\nArmored personnel carriers and other armored vehicles, including armored cars, jeeps, self-propelled guns, and other historical weapons will also be included in Yad Lashiryon's attempt to tell the story of generations of Israeli weapons and wars.\nThe plan's first stage is scheduled to be completely by early summer 2017." ]

[ "One megabyte is equal to eight megabits, but the terms are used in specific ways: Megabits per second (mbps) are generally used to describe the speed of an Internet connection, whereas megabytes (MB) usually refer to the size of a file or storage space." ]

[ "There are the same 5G speeds but in bytes instead of bits: 5G peak download speed: 2.5 GB/s (gigabytes per second), or 2,560 MB/s (megabytes per second) 5G peak upload speed: 1.25 GB/s (gigabytes per second), or 1,280 MB/s (megabytes per second)", "As we'll see further below, there are three different type of LPT ports, SPP, EPP and ECP, each supporting different speeds and features, but all use the same direct cable connection. A standard LPT port will provide speeds of 40Kb/s to 60Kb/s while the faster ECP ports will deliver up to 1.1 Mb/sec or 8.8 Mbps.", "The writing speed of the 850 EVO and 860 EVO SSD is exactly the same. The maximum read speed of the 860 EVO is 550 MB / s and that of the 850 EVO is 540 MB / s. This makes the 860 EVO slightly faster than its predecessor.", "['CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200, or Intel i5-4460.', 'GPU: Radeon RX 570, or Nvidia GTX 700.', 'VRAM: 2 GB.', 'RAM: 8 GB.', 'HDD: 150 GB.', 'Internetspeed: 5 Mbps (0.6 MB/s)']", "In our CrystalDiskMark testing, the Lexar had read speeds up to 244 MB/s and write speeds of 203.5 MB/s. Those speeds ended up being slightly higher than what we got from the more expensive SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II, by 6.3 MB/s for read and 3 MB/s for write.", "DDR2 and DDR3 are types of RAM, Random Access Memory. DDR RAM offers speed of 1600 MB/s, DDR2 RAM offers speed of 3200 MB/s and DDR3 offers speed of 6400 MB/s.", "2mb/s is usually the max I get, normally sits at 1.7 though. Hangs around between 1.4 - 1.8 mb/s, but can spike close to 3.0 occasionally. you people should all take a basic math class what units are we even talking about MB/s or Mb/s I download on steam at around 7 MB/s which is exactly what maxes my 50 Mb/s internet.", "For the bandwidth consumption of an IP camera, use 1-2 Mb/s as a rough rule of thumb. Many factors impact total bandwidth consumption. You can certainly stream an IP camera as low as . 2 Mb/s (or 200 Kb/s) and others as high as 6 Mb/s.", "H stands for HSPA, or High Speed Packet Access, with a maximum theoretical speed of 14 Mb/s, or 42 Mb/s with HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access). H+ stands for HSPA+, or Evolved HSPA, with a maximum theoretical speed of 168 Mb/s.", "Re: How long does the sims 4 take to download?? This is either measured in Mbps or MB/s, and can be found out from your internet provider or using a website such as speedtest.net. For example, 16Mbps speed would mean the file takes about 1 hour - 2 hours to download.", "Omrekenen megabit naar megabyte Het daadwerkelijke verschil tussen de twee eenheden is de factor 8, oftewel: 1 megabyte (MB) = 8 megabit (Mb). Als je wilt weten hoeveel MB's je per seconde kunt downloaden kan je dus de Mbps door 8 delen.", "One gig internet runs at 940 Mbps, downloading data at a rate of 112.06 MB/second. At this speed you can download a 500 MB video conference in approximately 4 seconds. With fiber-optic internet, upload speeds increase up to 840 Mbps, freeing up bandwidth. 1 gig can support up to 100 workers without lag.", "300 Mbps internet delivers 37.5 MB/second download speeds. To put this into perspective, at this speed you can download a 255 MB iTunes update in about 7 seconds, and with fiber-optic internet you get upload speeds to match.", "1. Roughly 700 Mb, if you are on a non-broadband speed. (Less than 1 Mbps) or if you force YouTube to stream on a lower resolution, less than 360p or lesser.", "With HDDs, the speed ranges from 0.1 to 1.7 megabytes per second (MB/s). SSDs and NVME SSDs, however, operate at much faster speeds of 50-250 MB/s in 4K reads/writes.", "Faster SDXC memory cards will have the UHS rating, or Ultra High Speed, represented by a number inside the letter “U.” U1 means it's 10 MB/s; U3 means it's rated at 30 MB/s.", "The USB 3.0 standard is becoming increasingly popular. This drive has a write speed of 60 MB/s and a read speed of 120 MB/s, making it faster than the USB 2.0 standard.", "Presently, Sony and Lexar are the only manufacturer of XQD cards. Sony's G series XQD cards offer read speeds of 400 MB/s* and write speeds of 350 MB/s* which is three times faster than their N series XQD cards.", "If you want to copy 2 GB of data and the interface can support 1 MB/s, then it is going to take 2000 seconds. However, 4 GB at 100 MB/s will take only 40 seconds.", "Synology DiskStation DS1517 NAS drive Thanks to its quad-core CPU and up to 8GB of RAM, this NAS can reach sequential speeds of 111.4 MB/s write and 110.3 MB/s read without any trouble.", "hPa to mb units The hPa (hectopascal) unit has exactly the same value as mb (millibar) unit, so the conversion is one to one, 1018 hPa = 1018 mbs exactly.", "Transferring these files on a USB 2.0 connection (with a transfer rate of 60 MB/s) will take 97 minutes. Using the USB 3.0 standard (with a transfer rate of 640 MB/s), however, will take just 9 minutes. Depending on your data transfer speed and image quality, you might have to be patient.", "PCIe flash is basically an SSD that doesn't use a SATA connection, so it's actually even faster than a standard SSD. SATA 3 has about a 600 MB/s bottleneck. In terms of usage they are the same.", "The point of installing games on an SSD is the drastic reduction in load times, which occurs because the data transfer speed of SSDs (over 400 MB/s) is significantly higher than that of HDDs, which generally deliver under 170 MB/s. SSDs can also reduce 'hitching' in open world games.", "So assuming 1TB is as usual 1024GB → 1048576 MB. It would take 1048576/60=17476.2666667 seconds, or 291.271111111 minutes, around 4.9 hours. For USB 3.0 the maximum if 5Gb/s, translating to 625MB/s. Same math: 1048576/625=1677.7216 sec, 27.9 minutes.", "Upload speeds of 10 Mbps or higher are generally considered fast internet speeds for upload because they can easily handle the common upload activities of the average user. ... Uploading a large file, like 700 MB file (about the size of a CD-ROM) should take less than 10 minutes with a 10 Mbps upload connection.", "DWDM works by combining and transmitting multiple signals simultaneously at different wavelengths on the same fiber. In effect, one fiber is transformed into multiple virtual fibers. ... DWDM-based networks can transmit data in IP, ATM, SONET /SDH, and Ethernet, and handle bit rates between 100 Mb/s and 2.5 Gb/s.", "As it sits, the Patriot LX has as good of build quality as one could expect from a microSD solution. ... It can stand on its own at 93 MB/s read and 83 MB/s write putting it in the top tier for UHS-I class solutions.", "2 2242 products support the PCIe Gen3x2 interface and can reach up to 1,550/950 MB/s sequential read/write performance. Offered with hardware encryption and DRAM, M. 2 2280 products support the PCIe Gen3x4 interface and can reach up to 3,470/3,000 MB/s sequential read/write performance.", "USB 2.0 has a raw data rate of 480Mbps, but the fastest typical usage usually tops out around 40 MB/s. Given that a terabyte has 1,048,576 megabytes, you just do the math. If you could achieve the theoretical 60 MB/s transfer, you could do it in slightly over 4 hours and 45 minutes.", "If you opt for Verizon-network Straight Talk, you'll benefit from Verizon speeds. The same goes for the comparatively speedy T-Mobile and AT&T CDMA Networks. On average, Straight Talk speeds clock in at 31.1 Mbps downloading and 15.6 Mbps uploading. Verizon is much speedier at a 53.3 Mbps download and 17.5 Mbps.", "Performance jumps from 60 Mbps to 75 Mbps, Performance Pro increases from 150 Mbps to 175 Mbps, Blast! will jump from 250 Mbps to 275 Mbps, and Extreme will increase from 400 Mbps to 500 Mbps." ]

[ "Tottenham Hotspur deservedly beat AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro on Tuesday after a performance that was slick in attack and determined in defense." ]

[ "Thanks to a brace from Martin Caceres, Juventus beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro in the first leg of the Coppa Italia football semifinals on Wednesday.", "MILAN -Juventus beat bitter rival Inter Milan 2-1 in an entertaining match at San Siro to provisionally extend its Serie A lead to 12 points on Saturday.", "MILAN -Seven-time European champion AC Milan limped to a scoreless draw against Belgian side Anderlecht in Tuesday's Champions League opener in front of a more than half-empty San Siro.", "Gennaro Gattuso scored a rare goal as AC Milan beat Juventus 1-0 to extend their Serie A lead to eight points.", "Financially weakened AC Milan is feeling the pressure ahead of Tuesday's Champions League opener against Belgian side Anderlecht at the San Siro.", "Arsenal sent holders Milan packing from the Champions League on Tuesday as the English Premier League leaders booked a quarter-final place with a 2-0 win at the San Siro.", "Palermo hold the upper hand in their Coppa Italia semi-final with AC Milan after claiming a 2-2 draw in the first leg at the San Siro on Wednesday night.", "Tottenham Hotspur ace Jermain Defoe has vowed to score his 100th goal for the club against AC Milan on Wednesday night.", "Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho says that he will feel like he is ''going home'' when he travels to the San Siro on Wednesday evening to face AC Milan in the Champions League.", "Champions Inter Milan thumped hapless Werder Bremen 4-0 in Champions League Group A at the San Siro on Wednesday.", "Tottenham beat Southampton 2-1 Sunday in the Premier League for its first ever victory at St. Mary's Stadium.", "Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has accused AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic of slapping goalkeeper Marco Storari following the Bianconeri's 2-1 win in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final at San Siro on Wednesday.", "AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso will not travel to London for the second leg of their Champions League tie with Tottenham.", "AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri has said that his side deserved the victory against Napoli on Monday at San Siro.", "El Shaarawy marked his 20th birthday by scoring the late goal which gave ailing AC Milan a 1-0 win over Genoa, although the pressure on embattled coach Massimiliano Allegri is unlikely to ease.", "MILAN -Lazio beat Chievo Verona 1-0 Sunday to share first place in the Serie A with defending champion Inter Milan.", "MILAN -Ronaldinho scored twice to help AC Milan beat Juventus 3-0 in the Serie A on Saturday, a day after coach Leonardo and Milan agreed this would be his last match in charge.", "AC Milan won a record sixth Italian Super Cup on Saturday, rallying past city rival Inter Milan 2-1 at the Bird's Nest stadium.", "Napoli beat Bari 2-0 on Sunday to keep the pressure on Serie A leaders AC Milan.", "AC Milan captured its first Italian soccer league championship since 2004 following a 0-0 tie at Roma.", "Tottenham Hotspur midfielders Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart are expected to be fit to face AC Milan in the Champions League last 16 second leg on Wednesday, manager Harry Redknapp said on Friday.", "Inter Milan advanced to the UEFA Champions League semifinals for the first time in seven years, beating CSKA Moscow 1-0 on Tuesday.", "AC Milan scored three times in the second half against Napoli to bag a 3-0 win that moves them five points clear at the top of Serie A.", "ARSENAL will have to do it the hard way if they are to advance in the Champions League after being held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by AC Milan in today's last 16 first leg.", "AC Milan playmaker Andrea Pirlo will make his first start for the club since December in the Italian Cup semifinal, first leg against Palermo at the San Siro on Wednesday, coach Massimiliano Allegri said.", "AC Milan and Inter Milan both earned their first wins of the season on Saturday to surge clear of the relegation zone.", "AC Milan secured third spot and a place in the Champions League after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Siena on Sunday in the final Serie A round of the season.", "Juventus and AC Milan both won yesterday to share the second place and to stay in touch with Serie Aleaders Inter Milan.", "MILAN -David Beckham played for 76 effective minutes to help AC Milan beat Genoa 5-2 and rise to second in the Serie A on Wednesday.", "AC Milan midfielder Riccardo Montolivo will wear personalised boots against Chievo at San Siro on Saturday, the Italian international designed the Adidas Predator Lethal Zones himself.", "Goalkeeper Brad Friedel made a number of crucial saves to help Tottenham beat Fulham 3-1 Sunday and stay level on points with fourth-place Chelsea in the Premier League.", "Tottenham marched into the knockout rounds of the Champions League here Wednesday, sweeping aside German outfit Werder Bremen with an emphatic 3-0 victory at White Hart Lane." ]

[ "it is geographically located in the north caucasus region of southern russia and is administratively part of the north caucasian federal district karachay cherkessia has a population of 477 859 2010 census cherkessk is the largest city and the capital of the karachay cherkess republic karachay cherkessia is one of russia s ethnic republics primarily representing the indigenous karachay people and cherkess people karachays form the largest ethnic group at around 40 of the population followed by ethnic russians 30 and cherkess 12 the republic has five official languages russian abaza cherkess karachay balkar and nogai the majority of the republic s territory is within the caucasus mountains except for a small strip at the northern edge of the don steppe karachay cherkessia is bordered by krasnodar krai to the west stavropol krai to the north east kabardino balkaria to the south east and an international border with georgia to the south west mount elbrus the highest mountain in europe is located on the border with kabardino balkaria the republic is located at the slopes of northwestern caucasus and borders with krasnodar krai in the west and northwest the kabardino balkar republic in the southeast georgia including abkhazia in the", "they are the descendants of persian jews from iran the mountain jews community became established in ancient persia from the 5th century bce onwards their language called judeo tat is an ancient southwest iranian language which integrates many elements of ancient hebrew it is believed that they had reached persia from ancient israel as early as the 8th century bc they continued to migrate east settling in mountainous areas of the caucasus the mountain jews survived numerous historical vicissitudes by settling in extremely remote and mountainous areas they were known to be accomplished warriors and horseback riders the main mountain jew settlement in azerbaijan is q rm z q s b also called jerusalem of the caucasus in russian q rm z q s b was once called translit yevreyskaya sloboda jewish village but during soviet times it was renamed translit krasnaya sloboda red village mountain jews are distinct from georgian jews of the caucasus mountains the two groups are culturally and ethnically different speaking different languages and having many differences in customs and culture the mountain jews or jews of the caucasus have inhabited the caucasus since the fifth century a d being the descendants of the persian jews", "vilayet kbk has been a member of the caucasus emirate group since 2007 the group drew most of its early members from the balkars a small ethnic minority in the republic however their long time leader between 2005 and 2010 anzor astemirov emir sayfullah was a kabardin members come from other ethnic groups including the karachays and ethnic russians the group was named after the 7th century battle of yarmouk the group began as a moderate non violent organization named the islamic center in 1993 the group was renamed the jamaat of kabardino balkaria when it was not allowed to re register under the original name in 1997 the focus of the group gradually changed because of persecution by valery kokov the long time ruler of the republic of kabardino balkaria who labeled all alternatives to the local branch of the spiritual board of russia s muslims operating the only official mosque in the republic as wahhabis and indiscriminately and brutally harassed them yarmuk was founded as a unit of around 30 balkars and kabardinians led by muslim atayev emir sayfullah which trained at the chechen warlord ruslan gelayev s camp in pankisi gorge georgia in 2002 the group helped", "the native philosophy was influenced by hellenic religion and philosophy the belief system takes its name from the circassian epic nart saga originally orally transmitted which has heavily contributed to the shaping of circassian values over the centuries although historically christianised and islamised the period of the soviet union contributed to a severe weakening of religions in the area especially among the circassians during this time and after the fall of the soviet regime the revival of habzist worldview was supported by circassian intellectuals as part of a rise in nationalism and cultural identity in the 1990s and more recently as a thwarting force against wahhabism and other islamic fundamentalism the movement has developed a following especially in karachay cherkessia 12 and kabardino balkaria 3 according to 2012 statistics practitioners and advocates have faced radical islamist persecution on 29 december 2010 a prominent kabard circassian ethnographer and habze advocate arsen tsipinov was murdered by islamist radical non circassians who had accused him of mushrik idolatrous disbelief in islamic monotheism and months earlier threatened him and others they accused as idolaters and munafiqun hypocrites who are said are outwardly muslims but secretly unsympathetic to the cause of islam to stop reviving", "they selected their participant alongside kabardino balkaria on 1 december 2013 a national selection was held in the karachay cherkessia capital cherkessk at the avenue restaurant a total of 12 artists competed the winner was eldar zhanikaev with adamd bizni at b z the contest in 2013 was broadcast on channel 9 the wave as elbrusoid the organiser of the nations participation is not a television station on 20 july 2014 it was announced that karachay cherkessia would make their second appearance at the turkvision song contest 2014 to be held in kazan tatarstan in november 2014 it was announced that an open national selection would be held songs would be submitted to the ministry of culture of kabardino balkaria and karachay cherkessia with the songs going on to perform in a selection in cherkessk it was announced that online voting would help select the winner however due to low submissions this did not occur the final took place on 28 september 2014 10 artists competed eldar zhanikaev was selected with the song barama", "in 2006 he became rector of financial university under the government of the russian federation in 1976 he graduated from the credit and economics faculty of the moscow financial institute from 1976 to 1981 he attended graduate school at the university from 1981 1982 he served as assistant department of political economy moscow financial institute in 1981 he became deputy dean of the faculty of finance and economics and assistant senior lecturer at the department of political economy from 1982 1984 he headed the personnel department from 1984 1987 he was dean of the faculty of international economic relations from 1987 1991 he headed the group of soviet teachers of the university of aden from 1991 2002 he served as vice rector for academic affairs first vice rector for academic affairs and professor at the department of world economy and international monetary and credit relations from 2002 2006 he served as first vice rector of the financial academy in 2006 he became rector of the financial academy eskindarov initiated and led the process of transforming a university into a multi disciplinary one and modernizing the content of its educational and scientific activities as well as its structure he established the", "it is the oldest church in this settlement it was built in two steps construction began in the early 10th century and finished in 932 when christians were banished from the empire the second stage finished around 950 960 when alans returned to christianity with only small changes made from the original plan the lower arkhyz settlement was located on an important trade and military route connecting the steppes of northern caucasus with transcaucasia and black sea the settlement was an important spiritual and economic center of alania a residence of the metropolitan bishop more than 10 churches and supposedly a greek factory were there the middle church is located 800 meters to the south of the northern church the southern church was in the central part of the settlement and survives in reconstructed form construction started not long before the banishment of christians from alania in 932 it was constructed by abkhazian masters in the form of a latin cross with the addition of a southeastern compartment after the return of christianity in the middle of the 10th century the construction was finished by masters from anatolia supposedly cappadocia with the addition of a northeastern compartment stone chairs were" ]

[ "the adygeans of adygea speak the adyghe language the adyghe people are one of the circassian peoples along with the cherkess of karachay cherkessia and kabards of kabardino balkaria from whom they are geographically separated by the slav inhabited laba region the languages of the adygheans cherkess and kabards are mutually intelligible however there is a consensus that these are typologically distinct languages the standard literary adyghe language is based on the dialect of the temirgoy tribe the adygheans known as western circassians per soviet terminology from the 1930s use a written language separated by soviet policy from those of the cherkess central circassians and kabards eastern circassians despite the possibility to have a unified one the adyghe cherkess autonomous oblast was established in july 1922 cherkess being dropped from the name in august 1936 the circassian peoples are divided into tribes or clans tlapq there are ten adyghe tribes or subgroups out of which four are identified as speaking mutually intelligible adyghe dialects abzakh bzhedug temirgoy and shapsug the shapsug were counted as a separate ethnic group in the censuses according to the 2010 census of russia the number of self declared ethnic adyghe is 124 835 0 09", "it is located in the central and southern parts of the republic the area of the district is its administrative center is the town of karachayevsk which is not administratively a part of the district as of the 2010 census the total population of the district was 30 376 within the framework of administrative divisions karachayevsky district is one of the ten in the karachay cherkess republic and has administrative jurisdiction over two urban type settlements novy karachay and pravokubansky and seventeen rural localities the town of karachayevsk serves as its administrative center despite being incorporated separately as a town of republic significance an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts as a municipal division the district is incorporated as karachayevsky municipal district the two urban type settlements are incorporated into two urban settlements while the seventeen rural localities are incorporated into thirteen rural settlements within the municipal district the town of republic significance of karachayevsk is incorporated separately from the district as karachayevsky urban okrug but serves as the administrative center of the municipal district as well", "starting in 1951 the soviet union used karachay as a dumping site for radioactive waste from mayak the nearby nuclear waste storage and reprocessing facility located near the town of ozyorsk then called chelyabinsk 40 today the lake is completely infilled acting as a near surface permanent and dry nuclear waste storage facility according to a report by the washington d c based worldwatch institute on nuclear waste karachay is the most polluted open air place on earth from a radiological point of view the lake accumulated some 4 44 exabecquerels ebq of radioactivity over less than one square mile of water including 3 6 ebq of caesium 137 and 0 74 ebq of strontium 90 for comparison the chernobyl disaster released 0 085 ebq of caesium 137 a much smaller amount and over thousands of square miles the total chernobyl release is estimated between 5 and 12 ebq of radioactivity however essentially only caesium 134 137 and to a lesser extent strontium 90 contribute to land contamination because the rest is too short lived the sediment of the lake bed is estimated to be composed almost entirely of high level radioactive waste deposits to a depth of roughly the", "they are said to be one of the four largest houses of circassians in terms of population they are found all over the historical circassia in the present day in adygea krasnodar krai karachay cherkessia and kabardino balkaria as well as in republic of turkey and hashemite kingdom of jordan due to circassian genocide there are two distinct explanations of the roots of the surname the first and the less famous explanation is that the word comes from two different roots and being the name of the village where the house had emerged and literally meaning to live translating as those who live in tkhaghapsh the widely accepted translation simply means god bless them in circassian it tells about the story of three brothers of house of nartyzh living in the village of tkhaghapsh present day tkhagapsh lazarevsky city district krasnodar krai russia where a tyrannical feudal prince ruled over the region the three brothers decided that the reign of the prince must end and he must pay for the atrocities he had committed with his life they ambushed the prince and killed him therefore the residents of the region praised them with words may god bless them may god", "the church was built at the end of the tenth century and is located on the territory of modern karachay cherkessia republic russia the building has a crossed dome plan with an inscribed cross which is a variation of the north zelenchuk church the church is located on the southeastern spur of mount shoan on the left bank of the kuban river in a strategically important place not far from confluence of the two rivers kuban and teberda the church is located 7 km to the north from the city of karachayevsk above the ossetian village named after kosta khetagurov the church is constructed according to the byzantine architectural tradition it has three apses which are a little bit narrower than naves of which there are also three it is a cross domed building with four square pillars bearing three stage arches and a cupola the length of the building from west to east is 12 9 m the height is equal to the length the width along the western facade is 8 9 m the church has two closed vaulted narthexes at the northern and southern end it is not clear what was the original form of the roof", "population it was founded in 1929 as georgiyevskoye and by the resolution of the all russian central executive committee of august 26 1929 the name of mikoyan shahar was approved and the town was given the status of a city from october 5 1944 to january 1 1957 when the karachays were in exile into the central asian deserts by the decision of the council of people s commissars of the ussr of november 6 1943 for alleged collaboration with the germans who occupied the town and area from august 1942 january february 1943 for the armies and until november 1943 for the abwehr mikoyan shahar was renamed klukhori kluchori and the territory of the former karachay karatschai autonomous region was assigned to the georgian ssr the vicinity is rich in early medieval monuments such as the ruins of skhimar schimar and the early 10th century shoana church schoenenkirch within the framework of administrative divisions karachayevsk serves as the administrative center of karachayevsky district even though it is not a part of it as an administrative division it is together with one town teberda three urban type settlements elbrussky ordzhonikidzevsky and the resort settlement of dombay and two rural localities", "it existed from 1922 to 1991 cherkess adyghe autonomous oblast was established within the russian sfsr on july 27 1922 on the territories of kuban black sea oblast primarily settled by the adyghe people at that time krasnodar was the administrative center it was renamed adyghe cherkess autonomous oblast on august 24 1922 soon after its creation on october 24 1924 it became part of new north caucasus krai it was renamed adyghe autonomous oblast in july 1928 on january 10 1934 the autonomous oblast became part of new azov black sea krai which was spun off north caucasus krai the city of maykop and surrounding areas were added to the adyghe ao and maykop designated the administrative center of the autonomous oblast in 1936 adyghe ao became part of krasnodar krai when it was established on september 13 1937 on april 28 1962 the district of tula krasnodar krai was added to the adyghe ao and the autonomous region became its present form on july 3 1991 the autonomous oblast was elevated to the status of a republic under the jurisdiction of the russian federation and renamed republic of adygea", "it is the ancestral homeland of the circassian people the name circassia is a latinisation of cherkess modern turkish erkes the turkic name for the adyghe people and according to r g latham originated in the 15th century with medieval genoese merchants and travellers to circassia another opinion is that circassia and cherkess are distorted variants of kerketh or toreatae one of the names of the tribes of the adyghe people the name cherkess is traditionally applied to the adyghe by neighbouring turkic peoples principally crimean tatars and turkish people another historical name for the country was zyx or the zygii who were described by the ancient greek intellectual strabo as a nation to the north of colchis at the end of the 15th century a detailed description of circassia and of its inhabitants was made by genoese traveller and ethnographer giorgio interiano circassia was located in eastern europe near the northeastern black sea coast before the russian conquest of the caucasus 1763 1864 it covered the entire fertile plateau and the steppe of the northwestern region of the caucasus with an estimated population of between 3 and 4 million circassia s historical great range extended from the taman peninsula", "mustafa azret aliyevich batdyyev born december 24 1950 is a karachay politician of karachay ethnicity who was the second president of karachay cherkessia serving from 2003 to 2008 mustafa batdyyev was born to an ethnic karachay family in kazakhstan his family repatriated in 1957 mustafa batdyyev finished a boarding school in cherkessk and served in the soviet army from 1970 to 1972 in 1978 he was graduated from the faculty of economics of moscow state university and in 1981 he got his doctorate there batdyyev is married and has two children after his studies mustafa batdyyev returned to karachay cherkessia where from 1981 to 1986 he worked as an economist in the rodina kolkhoz from 1986 to 1992 he successfully headed the economics department of the oblast communist commettee 1992 to 1997 mustafa batdyyev worked in the government of karachay cherkessia dealing with economic affairs in 1997 mustafa batdyyev was appointed as a chairman of the national bank of karachay cherkessia which was recognized as the best in russian federation on august 31 2003 mustafa batdyyev defeated the first president of karachay cherkessia vladimir magomedovich semenov in the presidential elections in the summer of 2008 batdyyev was replaced as president", "they reside mostly in the cities of armavir and maykop the total number of cherkosogai is about 50 000 people 2008 estimate according to the russian 2002 census 230 armenians speak lowland adyghe and 222 speak kabardian adyghe natively notable cherkesogai include the first soviet millionaire artyom mikhailovich tarasov prix goncourt winning writer henri troyat n lev aslanovich tarasov merchant nikita pavlovich bogarsukov and ballerina olga aslanovna tarasova since the early medieval period many armenians have lived as diaspora due to foreign invasions of armenia national and religious persecution genocide and wars the formation of the present day armenian diaspora in the north caucasus took place during the 17th and 18th centuries although the first hemshin armenians arrived during the 8th century the migrations of armenians to the kuban took place in a series of waves the first took place from the late 1780s to the 1860s when around 3 000 armenians came to the region from the russian towns of astrakhan kizlyar and mozdok as well as around 300 persian turkish armenians during this period the first armenian settlements in the kuban were founded including armavir founded in 1839 considered to be the first armenian communities were also established", "it is located in yaroslaviv val street 7 close to the golden gates of kiev and is considered to be one of the remarkable monuments of architecture and artwork in kiev nowadays it is known as the ukrainian house of actors karaite synagogue designed by w adys aw horodecki was built from 1898 to 1902 in the moorish style the building was decorated with a magnificent dome of great beauty with stucco decorations of italian sculptor emilio sala using quite expensive at the time material cement it was constructed on funds of tobacco kings of south western land the name of ukraine during tsarist times solomon and moses kogen karaites first appeared on the territory of modern ukraine in the 1230s almost immediately after the mongol invasion of kievan rus in 1795 the legislation of the russian empire established a distinction between the karaites and jews freeing the former from the discriminatory double taxation in 1896 the karaite community of kiev consisted of 292 persons for the purchase of land for construction of kenesa and a dwelling house the proceeds of which would go to the benefit of karaite community solomon kogen has issued 35 000 rubles despite the fact", "the circassians mainly speak the circassian languages a northwest caucasian dialect continuum with three main dialects and numerous sub dialects many circassians also speak turkish russian english arabic and hebrew having been exiled by russia to lands of the ottoman empire where the majority of them today live most circassians are sunni muslim in its narrowest sense the term circassian includes the twelve historic adyghe circassian adyge princedoms of circassia three democratic and nine aristocratic abdzakh besleney bzhedug hatuqwai kabardian mamkhegh natukhai shapsug temirgoy ubykh yegeruqwai and zhaney each star on the circassian flag representing each princedom historical circassia has been divided by soviet and russian administrations into the modern day titular circassian republics of adygea kabardino balkaria karachay cherkessia and krasnodar krai as well as southwestern parts of stavropol krai and rostov oblast accordingly circassians or adyghe have also been designated as the following adygeans in adygea kabardians in kabardino balkaria cherkess in karachay cherkessia and shapsug in krasnodar krai although all four are essentially the same people about 800 000 circassians remain in historical circassia while others live in the russian federation outside these republics and krais the 2010 russian census recorded 718 727 circassians of whom 516", "in august 2016 he was appointed as head coach of the russia national team and helped his team reach the quarter finals of the 2018 fifa world cup cherchesov played for russia at the 1994 world cup and 1996 euro he made 39 appearances for a national team cherchesov also made one appearance for the fifa team in the charity game against america in 1995 and for europe vs africa in 1997 cherchesov was the manager of fc kufstein from january to november 2004 and the manager of fc wacker tirol from november 2004 to may 2006 in june 2006 june 2007 he was the sporting director of fc spartak moscow from 19 june 2007 to 14 august 2008 he was the manager of fc spartak moscow manager of amkar perm since june 2013 to april 2014 on 8 april 2014 cherchesov leaves amkar perm on 9 april 2014 cherchesov was named as manager of fc dynamo moscow replacing dan petrescu he left dynamo by mutual consent on 13 july 2015 on 6 october 2015 he became the manager of polish side legia warsaw that season he did the league and cup double for legia warsaw in august 2016 cherchesov", "black ax russian and is a city and municipality on the kara balta river in chuy region kyrgyzstan the capital of jayyl district it was founded in 1825 under the kokand khanate and received city status in 1975 under the soviets its city population was officially 37 834 in the 2009 census the municipality had a population of 54 200 according to the soviet 1989 census kara balta is located on the northern slopes of the kyrgyz ala too in the western part of chuy region 62 km west of the capital of bishkek the road continues west through kaindy toward taraz kazakhstan another road goes south through the t ashuu pass and then splits one branch going west to talas province and the other south and then east through the suusamyr valley to balykchy on lake issyk kul it has a temperate climate the terrain is flat with a slight slope downwards from the south to the north the chuy valley has been settled since the fifth century but after the invasion by genghis khan the area was inhabited mostly by nomads and pastoralists however the settlement became a town and flourished under the khanate of kokand kara balta", "it is geographically located in the north caucasus region in southern russia and is administratively part of the north caucasian federal district stavropol krai has a population of 2 786 281 2010 stavropol is the largest city and the capital of stavropol krai and pyatigorsk is the administrative center of the north caucasian federal district stavropol krai is bordered by krasnodar krai to the west rostov oblast to the north west kalmykia to the north dagestan to the east and chechnya ingushetia north ossetia alania kabardino balkaria and karachay cherkessia to the south it is one of the most multi ethnic federal subjects in russia with thirty three ethnic groups with more than 2 000 persons each the western area of stavropol krai is considered part of the kuban region the traditional home of the kuban cossacks with most of the krai s population living in the drainage basin of the kuban river the krai encompasses the central part of the fore caucasus and most of the northern slopes of caucasus major it borders with rostov oblast krasnodar krai kalmykia dagestan chechnya north ossetia alania kabardino balkaria and karachay cherkessia the krai was established as north caucasus krai on october", "their karachay balkar language is of the ponto caspian subgroup of the northwestern kipchak group of turkic languages the modern balkars identify as a turkic people who share their language with the karachays from karachay cherkessia and kumyks from dagestan the ethnogenesis of the balkars resulted in part from an invasion of alania during the 11th century by kipchak turks and their cuman allies alania had its capital in maghas which some authors locate at arkhyz in the mountains currently inhabited by the karachay balkar while others place it in either what is now modern ingushetia or north ossetia during the 14th century alania was destroyed by timur many of the alans cumans and kipchaks migrated westward into europe timur s incursion into the north caucasus introduced the remainder to islam in the 19th century russia annexed the area during the russian conquest of the caucasus on october 20 1828 the took place in which the russian troops were under the command of general georgy emanuel the day after the battle as russian troops were approaching the aul of the karachay balkar elders met with the russian leaders and an agreement was reached for the inclusion of the karachay balkar", "he served as a judge on the constitutional court of russia from 1991 to 2008 and as president of karachay cherkessia between 2008 and 2011 ebzeyev was born on february 25 1950 in the village of janga jere kyzyl askerskogo frunze district of the kirghiz ssr where his family like other karachays were expelled in 1944 he returned home with his family in 1957 he graduated from high school in karachiyivske where he then worked there as a carpenter later on as a concrete worker in a construction organization to earn some experience for admission to the law institute in 1976 he fulfilled his military service in 1972 he graduated from the saratov state academy of law with an honors degree and later on studied for a doctorate in legal sciences although ebzeev is a lawyer and judge by profession he is the author of more than 200 scientific works including 25 books monographs textbooks scientific and practical comments on 12 august 2019 the anti corruption foundation and lyubov sobol accused boris ebzeyev of illegal enrichment according to the investigation boris ebzeyev has a grandson arthur borisovich ebzeev he was 4 years old when he entered into a contract of", "they live mostly in turkey egypt and in karachay cherkessia and stavropol krai in the north caucasus region of russia the tapanta a branch of the abaza lived between the besleney and kabardian princedoms on the upper kuban the abazin originally inhabited the sadzen region in the western part of abkhazia and migrated from abkhazia to abazinia in 14th and 15th centuries they later migrated to various regions of the former ottoman empire in the 18th and 19th centuries since the late 18th century their dominant religion is sunni islam hanafi abaza people speak the abaza language a northwest caucasian language closely related to abkhaz and circassian there are two dialects of abaza spoken in karachay cherkessia ashkharua and tapanta the culture and traditions of the abazin are similar to those of the circassians on many old maps abazin territory is marked as part of circassia adygea according to the 2010 russian census there were 43 341 abazins in russia an abazin diaspora exists in turkey egypt and in middle eastern countries such as jordan and syria most of which are descendants of muhajirs from the caucasian war with the russian empire there is a significant abazin presence in turkey", "it is the capital of cherkasy oblast province as well as the administrative center of surrounding cherkasky raion district within the oblast the city itself is designated as a city of oblast significance and does not belong to the raion it is not to be confused with the russian city of cherkassk which is on the don river to the east population the city is the cultural educational and industrial center of cherkasy oblast and central economical region of ukraine cherkasy has been known since the 13th century and played a great role in the history of ukraine cherkasy was the center of cossacks citizens took part in khmelnychchyna and koliyivschyna cossacks and peasants rebellions the city is located on the right bank of dnieper river specifically at the kremenchuk reservoir about south of the nation s capital kiev the city is divided into 2 boroughs raions sosnivskiy with orshanets village and pridniprovskiy in june 2011 the city celebrated its 725th anniversary cherkasy is situated on the high right bank of the dnipro river in the middle of the kremenchuk reservoir relief of the historical part of the city was influenced by zamkova castle mountain where cherkasy castle was situated", "his surname translates as circassian in 1702 prince cherkassky held a post of senior stolnik tsar s personal assistant and was soon assigned to assist his father prince mikhail yakovlevich cherkassky who had been a voivod in tobolsk at that time tcherkassky served under his father for 10 years and in 1714 was summoned to saint petersburg there he was appointed member of the urban construction commission in 1719 peter the great sent aleksey to siberia as governor in 1726 he became a senator during the election of anna ivanovna for the russian throne in 1730 cherkassky the richest man in russia in terms of the amount of serfs he owned at that time was in charge of the gentry party which had been in opposition to the verkhovniki members of the supreme privy council for his services to the crown he was appointed one of the three cabinet ministers and was promoted to the rank of grand chancellor in 1740 as a cabinet minister tcherkassky signed a trade agreement with great britain in 1734 in his post as chancellor he signed a treaty with prussia in 1740 and great britain in 1741 a baroque palace built for prince cherkassky", "he is a sunni muslim he joined the soviet army in 1958 he completed the baku military college in 1962 the frunze military academy in 1970 and the general staff academy in 1979 he is a professional military commander in 1988 vladimir semyonov was appointed as the head of the transbaikal military district in 1991 he became a commander in chief of soviet land forces and deputy minister of the ministry of defence from 1992 to 1996 vladimir semyonov headed the russian ground forces he was dismissed from his post by the russian defence minister igor radionov in 1996 but returned to duty in 1998 as chief military adviser to the minister of defense of russia in may 1999 he won the presidential elections in karachay cherkessia which caused ethnic tension between karachays and cherkesses the tension was pacified without bloodshed vladimir semyonov tried to solve socio economic problems of the republic but in vain on august 31 2003 he lost in the general election and left his post to mustafa batdyyev semyonov is married with one daughter this article is sourced from russian wikipedia", "it flows northeast into the caspian sea its drainage basin covers its source is in the greater caucasus in the republic karachay cherkessia west of kislovodsk it flows in northeastern direction through stavropol krai towns mineralnye vody zelenokumsk budyonnovsk neftekumsk and further east through the caspian depression as the natural border between kalmykia and dagestan that part of the kuma s valley forms the eastern part of the kuma manych depression separating the east european plain from the caucasus region the kuma flows into the kizlyar gulf of the caspian sea near the border between dagestan and kalmykia most of the rivers that flow north from the caucasus mountains are caught by the kuban river and terek river it rises between the basins of those two rivers so the kuma is mainly a steppe river it is much used for irrigation if the plans for the proposed eurasia canal linking the caspian sea with the black sea are ever implemented it will likely follow the kuma river valley in its eastern section", "most are found in northern dagestan and stavropol krai as well as in karachay cherkessia and astrakhan oblast some also live in chechnya they speak the nogai language and are descendants of various mongolic and turkic tribes who formed the nogai horde there are two main groups of nogais in the 1990s 65 000 were still living in the northern caucasus divided into aq white nogai and qara black nogai tribal confederations nogais live in the territories of dagestan chechnya stavropol district and astrakhan oblast from 1928 there was a nogaysky district republic of dagestan and from 2007 a nogaysky district karachay cherkess republic a few thousand nogais live in dobruja today in romania in the town of mihail kog lniceanu karamurat and villages of lumina kocali valea dacilor hendekkarakuyusu cobadin kubadin an estimated 90 000 nogais live in turkey today mainly settled in ceyhan adana ankara and eskisehir provinces the nogai language is still spoken in some of the villages of central anatolia mainly around the salt lake eski ehir and ceyhan to this day nogais in turkey have maintained their cuisine ken b rek kas k b rek tabak b rek r b rek k bete and nogay", "strckc was responsible for the selection process of their participant for karachay cherkessia debut entry at the bala turkvision song contest 2015 and planned to joint participate with kabardino balkaria in the bala turkvision song contest however they were forced to withdraw from the contest on 30 november 2015 due to the russia turkey relations in the aftermath of the 2015 russian sukhoi su 24 shootdown near the syria turkey border on 24 november 2015 bala turkvision is an annual song contest based on the similar format of the junior eurovision song contest bala turkvision focuses primarily on participating turkic countries and regions a juror from each nation awards between 1 and 10 points for every entry except their own in the grand final the jury determines the winner unlike the junior eurovision song contest in which the winning country proceeds to host the following year s event hosting of the bala turkvision song contest takes place in the country or region that is also hosting the turkish capital of culture the karachay cherkess national broadcaster announced on 1 june 2015 that they would be making their bala turkvision debut at the 2015 contest in istanbul turkey on 15 december", "located about 8 km north of safed it falls under the jurisdiction of merom hagalil regional council in it had a population of the circassians arrived in the middle east after they were pushed out of their homeland in the north caucasus the circassians who fought during the long period wherein the russians captured the northern caucasus were massacred and expelled by tsarist russia from the caucasus in an incident that became known as the circassian holocaust the ottoman empire absorbed them in their territory and settled them in sparsely populated areas including the galilee in beirut vilayet ottoman syria the area where they settled was called burak alma pools of alma the village of rehaniya was established in 1873 but only in 1878 did circassian families arrive from the abazah tribe in the northern caucasus a region where today is located the adygea and karachay cherkessia in the russian federation in the 1922 census of palestine conducted by the british mandate authorities rihania had a population of 211 all muslims increasing slightly in the 1931 census to 222 still all muslims in a total of 53 houses in the 1945 statistics the population was 290 and the total land", "the expulsion was ordered by nkvd chief lavrentiy beria after approval by soviet premier joseph stalin nearly 70 000 karachays of the caucasus were deported from their native land the crime was a part of a soviet forced settlement program and population transfer that affected several million members of non russian soviet ethnic minorities between the 1930s and the 1950s officially the deportation was a response to the karachays supposed collaboration with occupying german forces originally restricted only to family members of rebel bandits during world war ii the deportation was later expanded to include the entire karachay ethnic group the soviet government refused to acknowledge that 20 000 karachays served in the red army greatly outnumbering the 3 000 estimated to have collaborated with the german soldiers the deportation contributed to between 13 000 and 19 000 deaths resulting in a 19 mortality rate for the deported population the karachays were the first north caucasus ethnic group targeted by stalin s policy of complete resettlement which later encompassed five other groups they were rehabilitated in 1956 after nikita khrushchev became the new soviet premier and undertook a process of de stalinization in 1957 the karachays were released from special", "krasnodar krai is often referred to as kuban both officially and unofficially although the term is not exclusive to the krai and accommodates the republics of adygea karachay cherkessia and parts of stavropol krai the settlement of kuban and of the adjacent black sea region occurred gradually for over a century and was heavily influenced by the outcomes of the conflicts between russia and turkey in the mid 18th century the area was predominantly settled by the mountainous adyghe tribes after the russo turkish war of 1768 1774 the population of the area started to show more pro russian tendencies in order to stop turkish ambitions to use kuban region to facilitate the return of the crimea russia started to establish a network of fortifications along the kuban river in the 1770s after the russian annexation of the crimea right bank kuban and taman in 1783 the kuban river became the border of the russian empire new fortresses were built on the kuban in the 1780s 1790s until the 1790s these fortresses and the abandoned cossack settlements on the laba river and in taman remained the only indication of russian presence in the area more intensive settlement started in 1792", "located in the southwest of the county it covers an area of 2 929 kilometres with a population of 8 010 2010 census the main ethnic group is kyrgyz the township has a community 3 administrative villages as of 2018 and 8 unincorporated villages under jurisdiction its seat is at karaqi village the name of karaqi was from the kyrgyz language meaning dark green achnatherum calamagrostis the township is located in the southwest of the county 45 kilometers west of the county seat akqi town it was formerly part of the 2nd district in 1950 and the 3rd district in 1954 karaqi commune was established in 1958 and renamed to fanxiu commune karaqi commune in 1978 it was organized as a township in 1984 the township is located in the southwest of the county animal husbandry is its main industry combined with agriculture there are about 80 000 livestock all year round the main crops are wheat hemp and rape the provincial road s306 passes through the township", "it was the main christian shrine of the don cossack host in the 18th century it is situated in the stanitsa of starocherkasskaya the former city of cherkassk rostov oblast russia in 1650 during the siege of azov the defending cossacks vowed to build a wooden cathedral on the square where the cossack leaders held assemblies because of frequent fires in cherkassk the former name of the town the cathedral burned twice the stone cathedral had been being built from 1706 to 1719 it was constructed in contrary with peter i s decree banning the construction of stone buildings anywhere except for st petersburg however in view of political necessity peter himself contributed to construction works helping with money and gifting utensils and is said to have personally taken a symbolic part in the process of construction putting a few bricks on the plaster this fact is stated on the commemorative inscription made however already in the 19th century it is also believed that the main construction works were carried out by architects from moscow who were specially sent by the tsar moreover it is known and this information is confirmed by present day studies of foundation of the cathedral", "it was originally established in 1922 as the cherkess adyghe autonomous oblast within the russian sfsr for the adyghe circassian majority that lived in the area as of the 2010 census adyghe people accounted for 25 2 of the republic s population 107 048 people while russians accounted for the majority 63 6 270 714 people since establishing and maintaining the structure of the administrative divisions of the federal subjects is not explicitly specified in the constitution of russia as the responsibility of the federal government this task falls within the scope of the responsibilities of the republic of adygea itself changes to the administrative territorial structure of the republic are authorized by the state council the republic s administrative divisions remained largely unchanged from the structure used during the soviet era with the notable exception of selsoviets a low level administrative unit type abolished after the new law on the administrative territorial divisions had been adopted in may 2000 as of 2014 the republic s administrative territorial divisions include seven administrative districts raions and two republican urban okrugs the districts have administrative jurisdiction over the inhabited localities located on their territory territories of the republican urban okrugs are separate", "it is located in the cherkasy raion district of the cherkasy oblast province right next to the city of cherkasy on its northwestern side and about away from the city s center the name of the village is related to the former cherkasy starosta elder and voivode of volhynia and according to the tales about populated localities of kiev governorate of 1864 by lavrentiy polkhylevych it was founded sometime in the 18th century in 1930 in the village was established ogpu collective farm kolkhoz along with the communist party cell during the world war ii heronymivka was occupied by the nazi germany in 22 august 1941 to 17 november 1943 the village was retaken by the soviet troops among the first liberators was a self propelled battery su 122 commanded by lieutenant a native of tarashcha who perished three days later near the cherkasy train station and later was buried in heronymivka for quite sometime an important role in the village played in 1950 ogpu kolkhoz merged with other artels of neighboring villages and was renamed as radianska ukrayina soviet ukraine in 1982 kolkhoz was turned into a soviet farm", "it runs through ten federal subjects rostov oblast krasnodar krai stavropol krai republic of adygeya karachay cherkessia north ossetia ingushetia chechnya dagestan and kalmykia the headquarters are in rostov on don the network comprises grozny krasnodar makhachkala mineralnye vody and rostov passenger and freight railways as well as two children s railways in vladikavkaz and rostov there were 6315 9 km of railtrack and 403 railway stations the railway is operated by the russian railways and employs 80 757 people the black sea resorts of sochi gelendzhik and anapa are the principal passenger destinations on the railway the sochi line running for many miles along the coast of the black sea is especially busy in summer with regular extra direct express trains for holiday makers the oil ports at novorossiysk and tuapse are significant destinations for rail freight traffic in 1937 the north caucasus railway was renamed after the soviet party leader sergo ordzhonikidze but soon reverted to its traditional name it was in the late 1950s that most of the railway network was electrified" ]

[ "Originally Answered: what are antiderivatives used for? It can be used to find the area under a given curve. You can also use it to find the sun of all the dy/dx i.e the differential elements in a from a particular value to another." ]

[ "An antiderivative of a function f is one function F whose derivative is f. The indefinite integral of f is the set of all antiderivatives of f.", "Antiderivatives are related to definite integrals through the fundamental theorem of calculus: the definite integral of a function over an interval is equal to the difference between the values of an antiderivative evaluated at the endpoints of the interval.", "DTT is used as a reducing or \"deprotecting\" agent for thiolated DNA. ... DTT is oftentimes used along with sodium dodecylsulfate in SDS-PAGE to further denature proteins by reducing their disulfide bonds to allow for better separation of proteins during electrophoresis.", "Advertisement. Antihistamine and decongestant combinations are used to treat the nasal congestion (stuffy nose), sneezing, and runny nose caused by colds and hay fever. Antihistamines work by preventing the effects of a substance called histamine, which is produced by the body.", "H2 antagonists are a type of antihistamine, although in common use the term \"antihistamine\" is often reserved for H1 antagonists, which relieve allergic reactions.", "Indefinite integral means integrating a function without any limit but in definite integral there are upper and lower limits, in the other words we called that the interval of integration. The antiderivative of x² is F(x) = ⅓ x³.", "['Ingredient.', 'CLEANING AGENT. ... ', 'ANTIREDEPOSITION AGENT. ... ', 'Some Concern: skin irritation/allergies/damage, acute aquatic toxicity, respiratory effects, biodegradation; Disclosure Concern: non-specific ingredient.', 'ETHANOLAMINE. ... ', 'PROPANOL, BUTOXY- (MIXED ISOMERS)', 'SULFURIC ACID ALKYL ESTERS (C12-18), SODIUM SALTS.']", "In general, “Integral” is a function associate with the original function, which is defined by a limiting process. ... The antiderivative of x² is F(x) = ⅓ x³. The indefinite integral is ∫ x² dx = F(x) = ⅓ x³ + C, which is almost the antiderivative except c. (where “C” is a constant number.)", "Since √2 is constant with respect to x , move √2 out of the integral. The answer is the antiderivative of the function f(x)=√2 f ( x ) = 2 .", "One type of antispasmodics is used for smooth muscle relaxation, especially in tubular organs of the gastrointestinal tract. The effect is to prevent spasms of the stomach, intestine or urinary bladder. Both dicyclomine and hyoscyamine are antispasmodic due to their anticholinergic action.", "Antiandrogens, also known as androgen antagonists or testosterone blockers, are a class of drugs that prevent androgens like testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from mediating their biological effects in the body.", "The fundamental theorem of calculus is a theorem that links the concept of differentiating a function with the concept of integrating a function. ... This implies the existence of antiderivatives for continuous functions.", "While differential calculus focuses on rates of change, such as slopes of tangent lines and velocities, integral calculus deals with total size or value, such as lengths, areas, and volumes. ... As a result, much of integral calculus deals with the derivation of formulas for finding antiderivatives.", "Some are used together with antacids or other medicines in the treatment of peptic ulcers. Others are used to prevent nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness.", "\"What for\" and \"for what\" can often be used interchangeably to mean \"for what reason?\" \"What for\" can be used in any sentence if the speaker wants to know what the reason is, but \"for what\" is looking for a more specific answer. \"What for\" includes \"for what,\" but \"for what\" does not necessarily include \"what for.\"", "Medications for the treatment of vertigo are used to target structures in the brain that process these at times conflicting signals. Antihistamines like dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and meclizine (Antivert) can be useful treatments for vertigo.", "['Arithmetic operators.', 'Comparison operators.', 'Logical operators.', 'Operators used to negate conditions.']", "The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, Part 1 shows the relationship between the derivative and the integral. ... The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, Part 2 is a formula for evaluating a definite integral in terms of an antiderivative of its integrand. The total area under a curve can be found using this formula.", "While first-generation H1 antihistamines have a central effect and, thus, are also used as sedatives, second-generation H1 antihistamines have less central effects and are primarily used as antiallergic drugs.", "Similar to loratadine, desloratadine is a nonsedative antihistamine with (selective activity against histamine (H1) receptors. In nasal histamine animal models, desloratadine was more effective than terfenadine or loratadine in blocking histamine-mediated responses.", "Integration goes the other way: the integral (or antiderivative) of 1/x should be a function whose derivative is 1/x. As we just saw, this is ln(x). However, if x is negative then ln(x) is undefined!", "[' What is Autocad? ... ', ' What are the uses of Autocad? ... ', ' What are the fields where you see maximum use of Autocad? ... ', ' What is the file formats used in design? ... ', ' How you can create a user interface in Autocad? ... ', ' What is the function of vertical integration? ... ', ' What is the use of variant in Autocad?']", "The first part of the theorem, sometimes called the first fundamental theorem of calculus, states that one of the antiderivatives (also called indefinite integral), say F, of some function f may be obtained as the integral of f with a variable bound of integration.", "Antispasmodics can be divided into two main classifications: antimuscarinics and smooth muscle relaxants. Antimuscarinics (formerly termed 'anticholinergics') reduce intestinal motility and are used for gastro-intestinal smooth muscle spasm.", "In acute asthma inhaled beta₂-agonists are often administered by nebuliser to relieve bronchospasm, but some have argued that metered-dose inhalers with a holding chamber (spacer) can be equally effective. Nebulisers require a power source and need regular maintenance, and are more expensive in the community setting.", "Diphenhydramine and hydroxyzine, primarily antihistaminic agents, are used to treat extrapyramidal side effects from antipsychotics. They are also used to treat agitation, anxiety, and aggression. Benztropine and trihexyphenidyl are used to treat extrapyramidal/parkinsonian side effects from antipsychotic medications.", "They are indicated for use in cycloplegic refraction (to paralyze the ciliary muscle in order to determine the true refractive error of the eye) and the treatment of uveitis. All cycloplegics are also mydriatic (pupil dilating) agents and are used as such during eye examination to better visualize the retina.", "[' What is active directory? ... ', ' What is DHCP and what it is used for? ... ', ' What is the scope and super scope? ... ', ' What is DNS? ... ', ' What is forward and reverse lookup in DNS? ... ', \" What is 'A' record and what is 'MX record'? ... \", ' What is the IPCONFIG command? ... ', ' What would you use to connect two computers without using switches?']", "Third-generation antihistamines are defined as being metabolites or enantiomers of previously available drugs and can therefore lead to an increase in efficacy and/or safety. In Canada these include: fexofenadine and desloratidine [4].", "interjection Slang. what's going on or happening; what's up (used as a greeting).", "['\"What would result if...?\"', '\"What facts would you select to show...?\"', '\"What approach would you use to...?\"', '\"How would you use...?\"']", "Theoretical is used to discuss what we think we know. Hypothetical is used to discuss what we want to know. Theoretically is for when we build on what we know. Hypothetically is used for what we guess or won't admit to knowing." ]

[ "This freeware can be used for professional use as well. Those in the media will understand that MPG is a format that is recognized in the web and hence, this tool can prove to be very handy. The Free VOB to MPG Converter allows users to convert a number of VOB files in a single instance." ]

[ "A .vob is a DVD video file file type, which along with other file types is used for standard DVDs. It is a special type of mpg video file, and an isolated .vob file will play on only some players. If you have other players installed, first see if it will play on one of them.", "Best Free VOB Player Precisely Shoots for Every VOB Files. The best free VOB player is designated to play .VOB file in all forms on Windows 10 and Mac (El Captain). Unlike most VOB file player which only recognizes online VOB videos, your all-in-one choice to handle DVD VOB, play damaged DVD VOB and play HD VOB files online would be 5KPlayer.", "WinX Free VOB to MP4 Converter is the best free VOB to MP4 video converter that helps you convert VOB to MP4 for playback on MP4 compatible video players. Besides, this free VOB to MP4 converter also can grab images and save as PNG pictures.", "Step 1: Download 5KPlayer setup for Mac or Windows. This easy-to-use free VOB video player is a clean DVD VOB player which plays VOB file videos without interruption. Step 2: If your best free VOB player is associated with local DVD VOB files, double click the file to play.", "Read this review and choose a proper one to help you convert VOB to AVI with ease. WinX Free VOB to AVI Converter – Convert VOB to AVI on Windows. WinX Free VOB to AVI Converter is a Windows-based video converter serving to free convert VOB to AVI format.", "Best free VOB player is able to play VOB files in all its three forms: with uplifted playback effect to Blue-ray standard. Its versatile utilities to play 4K DVD video, play online VOB, DVD VOB and all mainstream video format including MKV, MP4, MOV earn itself upsurging popularity compared to bare-bone VOB video players.", "Free VOB to AVI Converter v.1.0. Free VOB to AVI Converter accepts any VOB files and converts them to AVIs in just a few clicks. This conversion software gets the job done quickly. It's designed to be fast - 400% faster than other converters - with no fuss and a simple interface.", "If you want to free play VOB files on PC/Mac directly and smoothly, 5KPlayer is the best way out. Besides acting as a VOB player, it is also a versatile video player, audio player, DVD player, radio player. And it can also extract audio from VOB file as MP3 and AAC.", "Free Video to GIF Converter is a free software to make animated GIF from video files. It lets you convert video from various common video formats including MPG, AVI, FLV, MOV, VOB, 3GP etc. to animated GIF. You can trim the favorite scene and then create GIF from it.", "VOB To MPEG Converter 1.0. VOB To MPEG Converter is a very easy to use video conversion software. It can convert almost any video with VOB extension. It can convert multiple videos at once. The interface is too simple. It also has advanced options which allows you to set bitrate, framerate, frame size, aspect ratio, also crop or pad black strips at outer part of video.", "MPL also supports H.264 DivX, XviD and Flash Video. Playing VOB On Windows – No Codecs Designed to open VOB files on Windows XP, Vista & 7 without the need of VOB codec packs. Music playlists (mpl and m3u) can also be created, making it easy to open albums. Minimalistic and Lightweight MediaPlayerLite is a simple interface to make playing files easy and lightweight.", "This answer is wrong. There are two different container formats for MPEG: MPEG-PS (program stream) and MPEG-TS (transport stream). MPEG-PS files can be .mpeg, .mpg, .vob, etc. MPEG-TS files can be .ts, .mts, or something else. You cannot simply change the file extension to convert between them.", "The best free VOB player renders all-round improvements to play DVD VOB movies. In relating to the digital front, it upgrades to play DVD on Windows 10, play H.264, H.265 as well as play MKV files on PC without hassle.", "VSDC Free Video Editor. This editor comes with a wide range of advantageous features. Besides supporting MOV files, it also supports MKV, AVI, VOB, MPG and many others. It is very easy to use and thus, cutting and splitting task will be done without any hassle.", "VOB Player-Play VOB video files. Get Final Media Player if you are tired of messing with codecs or tired of seeing the dreaded Windows can't open this file error message. VOB files are video files in DVD format.The VOB standard is based on the widely used MPEG compression to keep the file sizes down.Final Media Player will allow you to play them on your Windows PC.OB Player-Play VOB video files. Get Final Media Player if you are tired of messing with codecs or tired of seeing the dreaded Windows can't open this file error message. VOB files are video files in DVD format.", "Simply launch the player, drag and drop target VOB file into the interface, and then you can watch high-quality VOB video without any glitches. No matter what OS you are running, Windows XP, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, or Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, 10.11 El Capitan, you can play VOB files in one click. Besides playing a single VOB file, 5KPlayer also allows you to play VIDEO_TS folder, ISO image file, as well as home-made and encrypted DVD disc.", "With ClearReplica you can replicate whole VOBs, portions of VOBs, a single or select files, replicate a single or select branches, replicate multiple VOBs in to single VOBs, replicate multiple VOBs in to single VOBs, single VOBs to multiple VOBs and replicate VOBs to other VOBs within the same ClearCase region.", "Select videos on your computer to add to your review. You can upload 1 video in .3gp, .asf, .avi, .flv, .mov, .mp4, .mpg, .vob, .wmv format, which is up to 5 minutes in length.", "A VOB (DVD Video Object) file is a file container format that DVDs use. A VOB file contains the actual movie from a DVD and its audio and streaming data that allows a user to scroll through the video. VOB files are essential to DVDs and can be taken from a disk in order to place a copy of a movie on a user’s computer. VOB file can be opened on a computer by playing it with most modern media players. For example, VLC Media Player and Windows Media Player 12 or higher play VOB files, even though they may claim that the file is not supported. If the user experiences problems playing a VOB file, a VOB player may be necessary.", "With this Flash Video Converter, you can convert DVD to Flash, WMV, AVI,,MPEG\\MPG, 3GP, MP4, MOV, DVD(vob), MOD, TOD(JVC Vidicon), MKV to Flash, even convert HD video as M2TS, TP, TRP, TS to flash FLV/SWF with many attached functions.eawo video converter is an all in one video converter which can 1, Convert videos and audios between popular formats: AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG, WMV, MOV, DivX, Xvid, VOB, ASF, MPG, MP3, WMA, 3GP, RM, RMVB, DV, TS, etc. 2, Burn videos to DVD with DVD menu.", "If you are tired of messing with codecs and want to play VOB files on Windows and Mac directly, here we will introduce a free VOB player for you; if you want to play VOB files on iPhone, iPad, Android or other devices, you can also get the best solution here.", "The files from the camera created on the DVD discs are VOB files. Does VS 11.5 or X2 edit VOB files? I have used Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 and it doesn't seem to want to edit the Vob files. Both the other video editing programs I use can edit the files but it is slow to edit the files. These Vob files are extensions of MPEG 2 so you would think most video editors now would be able to edit these files. When I'm shooting the videos I use the highest quality setting which allows around 18 minutes of video on one side of a 1.4 GB disc.", "Cute Video to GIF Converter is a free and easy to use software to make animated GIF files from videos. It supports various popular video formats including AVI, MPG, FLV, MP4, 3GP, VOB, WMV etc. You can set the trim start and trim end for selecting your favorite part.", "Add SRT subtitle to other video format, such as embed srt subtitle to VOB, MPG, FLV and more. Before the tutorial starts, install and run this free HD video converter. A clean interface will appear right in front of you. Step 1 - Press Add File to import MP4 file you want to add subtitle to.Step 2 - Click T sign and choose Add subtitle to import SRT subtitle you've downloaded. You can make a preview by clicking the window on the left. Step 3 - Select MP4 format in the expanded list of Output Format.dd SRT subtitle to other video format, such as embed srt subtitle to VOB, MPG, FLV and more. Before the tutorial starts, install and run this free HD video converter. A clean interface will appear right in front of you. Step 1 - Press Add File to import MP4 file you want to add subtitle to.", ".mpg Extension-List of programs that can open .mpg files. In the following table, you can find a list of programs that can open files with .mpg extension.This list is created by collecting extension information reported by users through the 'send report' option of FileTypesMan utility.", "A .vob file is a container file used as the standard format for DVDs. If you want to watch the movie on a DVD player, all you have to do is burn the files onto a disc. If it'll fit on a CD, i'm pretty sure you can just burn it onto a CD and the DVD player will read it just like any other DVD. VOB stands for DVD Video Object. It is basically one of the core files found on DVD-Video discs and contains the actual movie data. Basically VOB file is just a basic MPEG-2 system stream -- meaning that it is a file that contains multiplexed MPEG-2 video stream, audio streams (normally AC3 and DTS formats) and subtitle streams. In order to view stand-alone VOB files, you need to have a DVD player software that supports VOB playback.", "VOB stands for DVD Video Object. It is basically one of the core files found on DVD-Video discs and contains the actual movie data, including an MPEG-2 video stream and support audio (MP2, AC3, DTS etc.) In order to view stand-alone VOB files, you need to have a DVD player software that supports VOB playback. IFO.", "Part 1: What is .vob File? Part 2: Why do you Need Convert VOB to MP4? Part 3: FonePaw Video Converter Ultimate – A Professional VOB to MP4 Converter Part 4: Convert VOB to MP4 on Mac and PC. Part 1: What is .vob File? If you got some VOB files somehow, chances are they are copied or extracted from DVDs.", "The VOB format is based on the MPEG program stream format, but with additional limitations and specifications in the private streams. The MPEG program stream has provisions for non-standard data (as used in VOB files) in the form of so-called private streams.", "Asker's rating. 1 A VOB file (Video Object) is a container format contained in DVD-Video media. 2 A .vob file is a container file used as the standard format for DVDs. 3 VOB stands for DVD Video Object. 4 Standard DVD players read the .Vob format, the files you have now are in AVI format.. . 5 vob files are MPEG video files.", "Use 'zillatube'. This is the easiest (and also the fastest) way. Zillatube produces mpg/mp3 video or sound formats from youtube that are compatible with windows movie maker(or windows media player), and more. Also for high quality conversion, use vcd mode to get good quality mpg file.", "We explain what VOB files are and recommend software that we know can open or convert your VOB files. VOB stands for Video Object. Files that contain the .vob extension are container files. A container file is a shell of a file that is able to hold a variety of other files within it. This means that the .vob file can hold multiple files that are merged into a single file location on a user's computer." ]

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[ "One important thing to remember, is that it was not only the KGB that were active in the USA. In all probability it was the military intelligence [GRU](_URL_21_] that were the most active in the foreign \"markets\"." ]

[ "Related question: Is it true the KGB targeted civil rights activists for recruitment?", "How about a conspiracy... *inside* a conspiracy. Conspiracy-ception. According to Vasili Mitrokhim in his book *The Sword and the Shield* the KGB led conspiracy theories surrounding the Assassination of JFK. The one charge is that the KGB help fund a noted conspiracy author, Mark Lane to write conspiracy charges against the CIA. The goal was to discredit the United States government as a whole. The author, mark Lane, denies allegations that he was in works with the KGB or the Soviet Union. This then begs the question, is Mitrokhin starting another conspiracy on top of a conspiracy about a conspiracy? Or is the author just denying his involvement. Either way, it is interesting the ways the KGB acted during the Cold War, playing a long term game with discrediting the American government.", "Related question - did the moles every uncover eachother? i.e. KGB mole within the CIA got told about the CIA's mole in the KGB and reported that?", "Related question (unsure if that's allowed in the comments or not): Is there evidence of the KGB actually doing what they did in the show? Were they actually trying to keep other reactors from being fixed?", "As a follow-up question, how many archives actually were opened? In his *Decline and Fall of the Soviet Empire*, journalist Fred Coleman describes how the KGB archives were inherited, intact and closed, by the Russian Federation security service. They tried unsuccessfully to make a deal with *Newsweek* to publish a few selected records; when the deal fell through, virtually everything remained closed. Was this typical? Or were even the KGB archives later opened?", "There were also the Forest Brothers who operated in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania after the end of World War II in the 1940s and 1950s and are believed to have numbered around 50,000. They were largely run to ground by the early 1950s by the KGB (assisted by moles such as Kim Philby), although some continued to fight on beyond that time period.", "> GRU Defector Stanislav Lunev said in his autobiography that \"the GRU and the KGB helped to fund just about every antiwar movement and organization in America and abroad,\" and that during the Vietnam War the USSR gave $1 billion to American anti-war movements, more than it gave to the VietCong. Lunev described this as a \"hugely successful campaign and well worth the cost\". According to Time magazine, a US State Department official estimated that the KGB may have spent $600 million on the peace offensive up to 1983, channeling funds through national Communist parties or the World Peace Council \"to a host of new antiwar organizations that would, in many cases, reject the financial help if they knew the source.\" This is from his book: Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Autobiography of Stanislav Lunev [Wikipedia](_URL_0_)", "I'm actually reading [The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin](_URL_0_) right now. For the most part, he did not seem to do many operations. No sexy spy work. He was stationed in Dresden, East Germany and mainly involved in monitoring communications. The book points out possibly the biggest event of his KGB career was when the Berlin Wall fell. He was at his Dresden headquarters when mobs began to surround the building. Putin, the others at the office, and his guards could not get information from Moscow on how to handle the situation, and the guards refused to do anything about the protestors until they received orders from Moscow. Nervous that the mob would overtake his building and the KGB files fall into the wrong hands, Putin calmly walked out to the fence and spoke to the protestors, saying (and bluffing) that if anyone came toward the building the guards had orders to shoot. He then turned around and walked inside, and the crowd dissipated.", "I read “the romanovs” by simon sebag montefiore, its an easy to read history book but it only narrates the romanov dinsaty, from 1600 (ish) to 1918, so nothing to to with the KGB or Cold War. However if you are into Russian History i think its a good book to start with.", "For the most part, nothing really happened to them, and many of them remained active in Russian politics after the USSR dissolved. For example, Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the premier of the Soviet Union at the time it dissolved, remains to this day a very relevant and active player in Russian politics. Also, Vladamir Putin was a KGB agent and later became president and prime minister of Russia. In many ways, Russian military and political institutions are just continuations of Soviet institutions which simply play by different rules and sometimes exist under a new name. i.e. The Federal Security Service as the main successor to the KGB.", "So I'm slightly confused as to what you're looking for as the KGB and MI5 would have shared some tasks and not others. The KGB was divided into multiple directorates who had their own responsibilities from foreign intelligence gathering to domestic counter-intelligence. MI5 was responsible for the latter. The Ministry of State Security would then be your equivalent branch in the PRC. [An article about a defector from them.](_URL_3_) The PLA also maintains its own intelligence gathering organization, the Second Division, in case you were looking for military spying organization. Again mentioned in the article above. There's also a book on Chinese spying efforts 'Tiger Trap' by David Wise, which while I'm unsure of its exact academic merits (and reviews seem to be mixed) is at least an interesting read.", "He's ex KGB aka Russian secret service. He has strong influences and values from the Soviet era.", "It's been over a decade since I read it so I can't give you exact details, but Victor Cherkashin's memoir, *Spy Handler*, does feature a section where he describes his training. Cherkashin is the guy who recruited and ran Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, so a more-accomplished KGB officer is difficult to find.", "If you want to look at the role of artists (writers, painters, etc...) during the Great Depression in the USA, Michael Denning's book really is the best. He looks at how intellectual labour, most prominently from the creative class, had similar ideals and functions to the rising force of the industrial working class as emblemized by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) link to the book's Google preview is here: _URL_0_", "Follow up question: Do we know if any US spies were living in the Soviet Union at the time, and potentially what happened to them?", "Follow up questions, would the establishment of the Moscow-Washington hotline have had an impact on this? Was it public knowledge at the time that there was now a link for direct communication between the USSR and the US?", "Although much of what he said should be treated with skepticism, a short 2000 *Guardian* piece written by the KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky asserts that the British school system produced spies with the necessary interpersonal skills to become a good agent. He ranked the British as the most competent, the CIA as middling due to the competition from the private sector, and French intelligence as incompetent. _URL_0_ Keep in mind though that Gordievsky does need to be treated with skepticism. He made a number of unsubstantiated claims about Soviet infiltration of the West that resulted in a libel suit settled out of court. And since MI6 handled his defection, it is in his interests to play up their efficacy. And the admiration for the British was not universal among Soviet intelligence. One of the KGB's historians Mikhail Lyubimov is more dismissive of British efforts, especially after the Philby affair.", "Yes, Australia's population is smaller than England and USA but is similar in population to Canada and larger than all the other English speaking countries (Wales, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa) When Australian's are most active online, people's of USA and UK and mostly sleeping, so posts from Australians are more prominent on Reddit. Edit - thank you for the gold, it's my first time!", "I'm assuming you're talking about \"within the United States.\" Because, otherwise, the answer is probably the Cambridge Five, who ended up in some of the upper reaches of the British Government including * Kim Philby -- 1st Secretary to the British Embassy to the United States and chief British intelligence representative to the United States. * Donald Maclean -- Secretary of the Combined Policy Committee on atomic energy matters. Later he was appointed head of Chancery for the British embassy in Cairo and took a key role in planning to secure the region for the West should war break out with the USSR. * Guy Burgess -- Assistant to the British Minister of State in the Foreign Office. He was also eventually posted to the UK embassy to Washington DC. * Sir Anthony Blunt -- Passed information from the codebreaking efforts at Bletchly Park to the Soviets. Also served as the Surveyor of the Queen's (King's) Pictures.", "Hard to say, would depend completely on how it's implemented. In Canada, you average family doctor makes about $271,000. ($206,000 USD). In USA, average family doctor makes $219,000. Specialists make a lot more in USA. Nurse salary seems similar between USA and Canada as well, with USA being slightly higher. The billing rates in Canada are definitely lower than USA, but the doctor know with almost 100% certainty that they're going to get paid. In USA, doctor bills insurance company and it might be accepted, rejected, partially paid, or the rate disputed. It would be interesting to see how much bargaining power doctors would have. If they don't get the rates they want in Canada, doctors can just threaten to leave for USA. Not sure what doctors in USA could threaten with, not a lot of countries they could go to and get similar wages.", "Do you mean the Italian Mafia in Italy or the Italo-American Mafia in the USA? In Italy, the Mafia isn't particularly associated with unions, and in fact many labour movements and other left-wing activist associations are some of the most prominent anti-mafia groups", "To be noticed by the Committee and invited for an interview/appointment in the first place you need to have exceptional record - no criminal records, no relatives living abroad, no bad habits, strong healthy marriage (relationship) and good references. Another thing that you must know, that in USSR national service was mandatory for all 18 years old boys (for 2-3 years). Like everywhere else in the world, military service allows quickly verify and test people for their qualities. And if you got certain talents, skills and qualifications then it was common to be asked having career within KGB. And without repercussions you could decline this offer if you want. Military service was and still is universal tool for training all kind of specialists - combat and civil. You could spend your 2 years on secret base as radio guy and have civilian record as a talented engineer and this could lead to invitation from KGB office for an interview.", "The deaths of Brezhnev, Andropov, and Cherneko all within a relatively short time (about 3 years) had more internal effects then foreign. The CPSU realized that it needed a \"young\" and fresh face to lead the Party instead of the geriatric ward that the Politburo had become. The old guard of ex-Stalinists had become too old to effectively rule anymore. This (among other things, such as economic stagnation) helped propel Gorbachev into a position of power. Thus in terms of Soviet foreign relations, it helped cool tensions with the US due to Gorbachev's policies.", "The \"universal language\" of the world is the language that the most powerful country/countries in the world uses as a trade language. During the Roman era that was Latin and that is why it has so many descendant languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian). For English it came into uses as the global trade language when the British Empire was the most powerful and largest nation of the planet, and when the British Empire was replaced as primary power after WWII it was replaced by the USA which also spoke English. When the USA eventually falls from its position of prominence, as will happen given enough time according to history, the language used by the country that takes over the position of most powerful nation will take over as the global trade language.", "Vladimir Putin was a KGB officer in East Germany and then he entered politics after the collapse of the USSR working in the office of the Mayor of St. Petersburg. He later worked as a deputy chief of staff for President Boris Yeltsin in the Kremlin. Yeltsin appointed him the head of the FSB (successor to the KGB) and then acting Prime Minister. Yeltsin basically picked him as his successor, and when he suddenly resigned in 1999 Putin became acting President according to the constitution, and later won his own full term in the presidential election of 2000.", "Don't they still teach about the Rosenbergs in history class these days? There were a whole mess of Soviet spies. Google \"atomic spies\" and you'll get a deluge of information. Theodore Hall, Klaus Fuchs, Greenglass, Allan May, Sobell, George Kovall, all of them worked on the project and were convicted of spying. Some of them were even recognized publicly by the USSR or even present day Russia for their roles in spying. Many of the Soviet spies were American born, but were members of the communist party and sent information to the USSR. It kind of puts a lot the 'witchhunts' in perspective, since there was an honest to goodness profile of son of Jewish or Eastern-European immigrants, members of the communist party, spy that popped up an awful lot.", "Recently, it's been going around that McCarthy was right, that there were thousands of Soviet agents working within the US government. This sounds pretty juicy.", "If I can ask a follow up question, Varys' \"little birds\" are loyal to him and him alone, not the current head of state. Is that consistent with organisations like the CIA, MI5/6, KGB etc?", "Good Question. The CIA had an extensive influence along with the British MI6 in the 1953 coup since during the early cold war years the U.S. and the British wanted to have as much influence and control as possible against the Soviets due to fear of possible Soviet takeover and of course oil interests mainly that of Britain's Anglo Persian Oil Company. After doing a little digging I found that the CIA apparently organized mass pro Shah protests against Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1952 and 1953 as well as bribing many Iranian politicians, security and high ranking army officials. Here is some further reading of the sources I read from if you're interested. _URL_0_ _URL_1_ _URL_2_", "Do you mean a Soviet embassy located in Washington, DC?", "This photo was taken during the Moscow Summit of 1988: _URL_0_. Reagan made this visit at the beginning of the end of the Cold War, about a year after his \"Tear down this wall!\" speech and two years after the Reykjavík Summit with Gorbachev. So he had already met with Gorbachev and discussed bringing the Cold War to an end. His issue was with how Gorbachev treated his citizens, not with the Russian citizens themselves. He wanted Russian citizens on his side -that is why he is being friendly and shaking hands with them. I don't see the \"massive smile\" on Reagan's face you describe though, only a polite smile. If the people he met were undercover KGB, he didn't know. This photo is circulated with the photographer's claim that the blond man is Putin, but it could be anyone (or any KGB agent).", "You might be interested in reading up on prominence and isolation. Prominence is basically the height of a peak above the lowest contour line that circles the peak but does not circle a higher peak. Prominence can also be broken down into wet- and dry-prominence, where wet prominence treats permanent water surfaces as if they were land. You might then think that prominence is somehow related to determination of a base for a mountain, but, as it turns out, you'd be wrong. I tried to find correlation between prominence and height/tallness, but was unable to do so, until I found this quote at _URL_0_ > There is no precise definition of surrounding base, but... So the answer to your question is, \"it's determined arbitrarily.\" The [wikipedia page on prominence](_URL_1_) goes into nice detail about the technical prominence of Everest, but if you use science, then your fun fact is no longer valid, because from a prominence standpoint, Everest is taller." ]

[ "Supplex® is: Supplex® is a fabric made by DuPont that is a technologically developed material known for high quality athletic performance. Supplex® fabric is as strong as it is soft making it abrasion, puncture and tear-resistant as well as breathable, odor, wind and water-resistant." ]

[ "The sweater has undergone an update that incorporates a supplex shell material. Other than that it is still the same reliable garment. We call this a sweater since it replaces a sweater. It is extremely light in weight. The front zipper is backed by a draft baffel.", "Material Master - Introduction and What Material Types are there? The material master is the starting point for the rest of the modules. What Material Types are there? The material types that you use are configured in Customizing for the Material Master under", "What does UMR stand for? UMR stands for Urgent Material Release. Q: A: How to abbreviate Urgent Material Release? Urgent Material Release can be abbreviated as UMR. Q: A: What is the meaning of UMR abbreviation? The meaning of UMR abbreviation is Urgent Material Release. Q: A: What is UMR abbreviation? One of the definitions of UMR is Urgent Material Release. Q: A: What does UMR mean? UMR as abbreviation means Urgent Material Release. Q: A: What is shorthand of Urgent Material Release? The most common shorthand of Urgent Material Release is UMR.", "Sports Fabric Breathable Supplex® LYCRA®. High quality Supplex® LYCRA® stocked in solid colours. Superior natural Cotton handle due to the use of jet air textured Nylon yarn. Features like its breathability and faster drying than Cotton, makes Supplex® the ideal choice for active sportswear and dancewear. Also used in fashion and intimate apparel.", "I made a couple of running skirts from that knit. Recently, a little pop up / showroom of Lululemon opened in Baltimore. Wile browsing thier $120 hoodies, I read in a book that the fabric they used was called ‘supplex’. A quick internet search showed that supple x is breathable, holds its shape and retains color.", "Tilley Men's LTM6 Airflo Supplex Hats. The LTM6 has a wide, down-sloping brim for ample sun protection and shelter from the rain. The Airflo design has an open-mesh crown that lets air in and sweat out. Sizes: 6-7/8, 7, 7-1/8, 7-1/4, 7-3/8, 7-1/2, 7-5/8, 7-3/4, 7-7/8, 8.", "What is the most strongest material that can take impact? If diamond is the world's hardest material, which is the world's softest material? What's the strongest material known to mankind? What material sticks to other materials?", "For example, it is important to know not only the name of the material, but also how the material was used in the creation of the work (MATERIALS-ROLE), what color it is, where the material comes from, and what identifying marks can be found on the material (MATERIALS-MARKS).", "ThermoFlex Plus is a durable polyurethane based material that is highly flexible. It has a soft hand, strong grip and is specially engineered for applying to shirts! The images shown to the right are applications of multiple layers of ThermoFlex Plus.", "Sugilite (/ˈsuːɡᵻlaɪt/ SOO-gi-lyt), also known as lavulite, royal azel, cybeline, and wesselite, is a relatively rare pink to purple cyclosilicate mineral with the complex chemical formula KNa2(Fe, Mn, Al)2Li3Si12O30. Sugilite crystallizes in the hexagonal system with prismatic crystals.", "What materials were originally used to make the telephone? 90% - What materials were originally used to make the itouch? 15% - What materials were originally used to make the digital cameras?", "Siser North America is on all of the major social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and more! We're excited to talk to you about what projects you're working on, what your favorite material is, and what you're using our materials on.iser North America is on all of the major social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and more! We're excited to talk to you about what projects you're working on, what your favorite material is, and what you're using our materials on.", "What is the most common material used in deck construction? Different material use for civil construction ...? What is the most common material used in deck construction? More questions Will the mass of planet earth change if materials are used for construction on other planets? Did Ilúvatar really used songs as construction material? Answer Questions", "(August 2008) Tolex is a trade name for a flexible, water-proof, vinyl material used as a cover material for books, upholstery, guitar amplifiers, cases, and other products. It has been used in Henney-Packard hearses and ambulances of the 50's and Fender amplifiers, and guitar cases from various manufacturers.", "Flooring Materials Buying Guide. Flooring materials you can choose -- what they are, what they cost, and what each can add to the overall feel and look of a remodeling project.", "Spandex is a synthetic or man-made fiber manufactured from polyurethane. It is lightweight, highly stretchy and elastic, strong, durable and non-absorbent to water and oils. First produced in the United States in 1959 by DuPont, it was marketed under the trademarked name Lycra.", "What are 'Raw Materials'. Raw materials are materials or substances used in the primary production or manufacturing of goods. Raw materials are often referred to as commodities, which are bought and sold on commodities exchanges around the world. Raw materials are sold in what is called the factor market, because raw materials are factors of production along with labor and capital.", "The material master is the starting point for the rest of the modules. What Material Types are there? The material types that you use are configured in Customizing for the Material Master under. Logistics Master Data : Material Master -> Material -> Control data -> Define material type attributes. The following list shows you the material types contained, for example, in the standard SAP R/3 System, and what their different roles are: DIEN (services) Services are procured externally and cannot be stored. A material master record of this material type can always contain purchasing data.", "Definition of materialize in the Definitions.net dictionary. Meaning of materialize. What does materialize mean? Information and translations of materialize in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web.", "NanoFlex™ is a novel proprietary technology platform that provides the unique material properties on which the ALTRAZEAL product line is based.anoFlex powder interacts with wound exudate and hydrates when applied. Hydration with exudate causes NanoFlex particles to aggregate and form a moist wound dressing which seals the wound and conforms to the surface of the wound bed.", "Armaflex Insulation. Armaflex Insulation is a flexible elastomeric thermal. insulation, black in color, supplied as unslit tubing, in. nominal wall thicknesses of 3/8 inch,1/2 , 3/4 inch, and 1 inch (10, 13, 19 and 25 mm) in popular. sizes up to 2-1/8 inch IPS. The expanded closed-cell. structure of Armaflex Insulation makes it an efficient.", "material requirements planning (MRP/MRP-I) Computerized ordering and scheduling system for manufacturing and fabrication industries, it uses bill of materials data, inventory data, and master production schedule to project what material is required, when, and in what quantity.", "Definition. Materiality is a concept, a threshold, an intangible. What makes misstatement material to one user of the accounts may not be material to another user.", "Ecoflex is a pre-insulated pipe system at its best — versatile, flexible and durable. Ecoflex consists of Uponor crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe encased in closed-cell, PEX-foam insulation and covered by a watertight, corrugated HDPE jacket.coflex is a pre-insulated pipe system at its best — versatile, flexible and durable. Ecoflex consists of Uponor crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe encased in closed-cell, PEX-foam insulation and covered by a watertight, corrugated HDPE jacket.", "bill of materials meaning, definition, what is bill of materials: a document showing a list of all the materials and parts that are needed to produce…. Learn more.", "ThermoFlex Plus. ThermoFlex Plus from Specialty Materials is a heat transfer vinyl designed to be used with a vinyl cutter and heat press for decorating T-shirts and other apparel. ThermoFlex Plus is one of our most popular heat transfer films because it is easy to apply and very durable. Specialty Materials Tech Guide.", "Lurex fabric is made using metal fiber, manufactured mostly from silver and gold. The end fabric can be coated with either metal or plastic, but metal has to be present either as the outer covering or at the fabric's core.", "PVC Foam Sheet (Foamex) PVC foam sheet (Foamex) is a lightweight material with good mechanical and insulation properties. It has good chemical resistance with low water absorption and is suitable for indoor and outdoor use. It has low impact strength and due to its range of colours it is often used for signage and displays.", "What is Materials Science? Materials Science involves the study of the relationships between the synthesis, processing, structure, properties, and performance of materials that enable an engineering function.", "To craft Warframes you need materials. Here is a list of Warframe planets and what materials you find there:", "The material is mixed with UV inhibitors and color blending compounds and granulated into a form that is used to mold the parts that are used to make an ecoFLEX based product.he material is mixed with UV inhibitors and color blending compounds and granulated into a form that is used to mold the parts that are used to make an ecoFLEX based product.", "I mainly work with the termoplastic materials Worbla or Wonderflex. Wonderflex is the grey stuff, Worbla the brown one that looks like cookie dough. In addition I usually add a layer of craft foam between two layers of Worbla or Wonderflex to make them more sturdy and controllable.onderflex is the grey stuff, Worbla the brown one that looks like cookie dough. In addition I usually add a layer of craft foam between two layers of Worbla or Wonderflex to make them more sturdy and controllable." ]

[ "Step 2- Interventions. A multifactorial and interdisciplinary team approach is needed to improve pressure injury prevention and management. It is important to identify both intrinsic and extrinsic interventions. Interventions and plan of care will be determined by the risk assessment and risk factors identified." ]

[ "While they are not causes of macular pucker, certain eye conditions can increase a person's chance of developing a macular pucker. Eye injury. Most people with macular pucker risk factors will not develop a macular pucker. It is also possible that people without macular pucker risk factors will develop a macular pucker.", "(Erosive lichen planus is a chronic, painful condition which affects mucous membranes-mainly the mouth and the genitals.). A risk factor is something which increases the likelihood of developing a condition or disease.For example, obesity significantly raises the risk of developing diabetes type 2.Erosive lichen planus is a chronic, painful condition which affects mucous membranes-mainly the mouth and the genitals.). A risk factor is something which increases the likelihood of developing a condition or disease.", "Lymphoma Risk Factors. Lymphoma risk factors are those behaviors or conditions that researchers have linked to the development of the condition. Risk factors are merely suggestive of the possibility of developing lymphoma – there is no guarantee that a person will or will not develop a tumor.", "Risk factors are conditions or habits that make a person more likely to develop a disease. They can also increase the chances that an existing disease will get worse. Important risk factors for heart disease that you can do something about are: 1 High blood pressure.2 High blood cholesterol.nother reason for the increasing risk is that middle age is a time when women tend to develop risk factors for heart disease. Family history of early heart disease is another risk factor that can't be changed.", "A number of factors increase the risk of developing grand mal seizures. Not all people with risk factors will get grand mal seizures. Risk factors for grand mal seizures include: 1 Family history of certain genetic conditions. 2 Family history of epilepsy. 3 Recent brain surgery. 4 Recent head injury. 5 Recent infection of the brain.", "In more than 90% of cases, the cause of high blood pressure (hypertension) is unknown but several factors can increase your risk of developing the condition. Where there is no specific cause, high blood pressure is referred to by doctors as primary or essential hypertension.", "The exact cause of arthritis is unknown. However, there are a number of risk factors associated with various arthritic conditions. A risk factor increases the chances that a person will develop a disease or condition.Risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA) include heredity and the wear and tear of aging.he exact cause of arthritis is unknown. However, there are a number of risk factors associated with various arthritic conditions. A risk factor increases the chances that a person will develop a disease or condition.", "Understanding Your Risk for Heart Disease Risk factors are conditions that increase your risk of developing a disease. Risk factors are either modifiable, meaning you can take measures to change them, or non-modifiable, which means they cannot be changed. Risk factors for heart disease are discussed below. You may also wish to calculate your risk of developing heart disease with our risk assessment tool. Non-modifiable Risk Factors Age", "Certain diseases and medications (as described below) can cause high blood pressure, and there are a number of general risk factors for hypertension, including:7. Obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure and other cardiovascular conditions.", "Sprycel may increase the risk of developing a rare, but serious condition in which there is abnormally high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs. This condition is called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).", "Strabismus can be caused by problems with the eye muscles, the nerves that transmit information to the muscles, or the control center in the brain that directs eye movements. It can also develop due to other general health conditions or eye injuries. Risk factors for developing strabismus include:", "Blood pressure of 140/90 mm Hg or above (or home/ambulatory readings 135/85 mm Hg or above). If your blood pressure is always in this range you will normally be offered treatment to bring the pressure down, particularly if you have: 1 A high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (see below).7. High blood pressure (hypertension) is a risk factor that can increase your chance of developing heart disease, a stroke, and other serious conditions. As a rule, the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk.", "Less commonly, the cause of peripheral artery disease may be blood vessel inflammation, injury to your limbs, unusual anatomy of your ligaments or muscles, or radiation exposure. Risk factors. Factors that increase your risk of developing peripheral artery disease include: Smoking; Diabetes; Obesity (a body mass index over 30) High blood pressure", "HOME REMEDIES FOR ARTERIOSCLEROSIS OR ATHEROSCLEROSIS. Arteriosclerosis is known to be a condition that is associated with the hardening of the arteries that carry blood away from the heart. The major risk factors for developing this condition are age, gender, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes.", "Risk factors for bladder cancer. A risk factor is something that increases the risk of developing cancer. It could be a behaviour, substance or condition. Most cancers are the result of many risk factors. Smoking is the most important risk factor for bladder cancer. The risk of developing bladder cancer increases with age. It usually occurs in people older than 65 years of age. Bladder cancer is most common in Caucasians, and men develop this disease more often than women.", "A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of developing a condition. However, a person who has some of the risk factors for dementia will not necessarily go on to develop it, and avoiding risk factors does not guarantee that a person will be healthy-although it does make it more likely.", "Risk factors for pancreatic cancer. A risk factor is something that increases the risk of developing cancer. It could be a behaviour, substance or condition. Most cancers are the result of many risk factors. But sometimes pancreatic cancer develops in people who don’t have any of the risk factors described below. Precancerous conditions of the pancreas include mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN).", "1. 1 a condition, behavior, or other factor that increases risk: Smoking is a major risk factor for cancer; ( 2 med) a factor, such as a habit or an environmental condition, that predisposes an individual to develop a particular disease.", "The exact cause and mechanism of dermatofibroma is unknown although some risk factors have been identified such as: 1 Injury – Previous skin injuries such as thorn pricks or insect bites may lead to dermatofibroma. 2 Gender – Women are more prone to develop the skin condition than men.", "Treatments may include: 1 A medicine to lower blood pressure if it is 140/90 mm Hg or higher. 2 A medicine to lower your cholesterol level. 3 A daily low dose of aspirin if you also have angina. 4 Where relevant, to encourage you to tackle lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, lack of physical activity, diet, and weight.7. High blood pressure (hypertension) is a risk factor that can increase your chance of developing heart disease, a stroke, and other serious conditions. As a rule, the higher the blood pressure, the greater the risk.", "Lacunar stroke is caused by lack of blood flow in smaller arteries that supply deep brain structures. The most important risk factor for the development of lacunar stroke is chronic high blood pressure. The condition can cause the arteries to narrow.", "Having high blood pressure, also know has hypertension, increases your risk for heart disease, stroke and other serious conditions, such as kidney disease and blindness. If you have high blood pressure, keeping it controlled (below 140/90 mm/Hg) can reduce your risk. diet rich in fruits and vegetables can prevent the development of and reduce high blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. When people eat more fruits and vegetables, their blood pressure goes down.", "Which of the following is a controllable risk factor of infectious diseases? A. drug abuse A risk factor can be defined as anything that increases the likelihood of injury or disease.", "Gum disease, heart disease and stroke all produce inflammation in the body. The conditions share some risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, age and diabetes, which is why they often develop in the same people.…and my father was a smoker.um disease, heart disease and stroke all produce inflammation in the body. The conditions share some risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, age and diabetes, which is why they often develop in the same people. …and my father was a smoker.", "Many different factors can contribute to high blood cholesterol, including lifestyle factors like smoking, an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise, as well as having an underlying condition, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Your lifestyle can increase your risk of developing high blood cholesterol.", "Peyronie's Disease. Causes of Peyronie's Disease. The causes of and risk factors for Peyronie’s disease are not fully understood. In many cases of sudden Peyronie’s disease, the condition seems to be caused by injuries to the penis. However, in cases that develop more gradually the causes are not always clear.", "Where there is no specific cause, high blood pressure is referred to by doctors as primary or essential hypertension. Factors that can raise your risk of developing primary hypertension include: 1 age – the risk of developing high blood pressure increases as you get older.", "Several factors increase the risk of developing abnormal calcification. Not all people with risk factors will get calcification. Risk factors for calcification include: 1 Alcoholism. 2 Autoimmune disorders. 3 Genetic history of a calcium metabolism disorder. 4 Internal tissue injuries that cause inflammatory reactions. 5 Previous. 6 2.", "Regular physical activity improves health in the following ways22: 1 Reduces the risk of dying prematurely from heart disease and other conditions; 2 Reduces the risk of developing diabetes; 3 Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure; 4 Reduces blood pressure in people who already have high blood pressure;", "“Diet can play a major role in the development of high blood pressure. Diets high in fat and calories can result in obesity, which is a common risk factor for the development of high blood pressure. By the same token, diet can also play a very important role in the treatment and control of blood pressure.", "Besides aging, factors which may increase the risk of developing osteoarthritis include: 1 injury to joints. 2 repetitive use of joints. 3 being overweight. 4 stressing the joints. 5 family history.", "All NSAIDs (including COX-2 inhibitors) have been associated with the development of acute kidney injury. Acute kidney injury is more likely to occur in patients with other risk factors — particularly hypovolaemic states. Renal function should be monitored in at risk patients." ]

[ "Mary Poppins" ]

[ "Come In from the Rain", "A New Day Has Come", "Songs from the Mountains", "Come From Away", "Songs from the Basement", "Songs from Benediktbeuern", "Someone has come back", "Song of the Thin Man", "Songs from the Wood", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "Dreams from My Father", "The Man from Barbarossa", "Where I'm Coming From", "Come On Come On", "The Man from Blackhawk", "The Man from Nowhere", "A-ha", "man from clay", "Songs from the Big Chair", "coming to assistance from behind", "Song of Songs", "Songs from Dawson's Creek", "The Coming", "The Man from Hong Kong", "Far From Everything Films", "Songs from the Mardi Gras", "HA", "The Young Man From Atlanta", "Songs from the West Coast", "ComEd", "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave", "The Man from Snowy River" ]

[ "Bad Boy Records" ]

[ "Fernwood Records label", "P&S", "S&P 500", "The S&P 500", "What's Your Mama's Name", "What Yo Name Iz?", "label", "The S&P CNX 500", "Labelle", "The Naming of Names", "S&P Global 100", "names", "S&P Dow Jones", "without the push of a major record label", "name ''", "S&P 400 Index", "a label or marker", "their names", "Patti LaBelle", "naming", "No Name", "A&P", "P", "a circle with a label", "commodity labels", "nutrition labelling", "Orfeus label", "The Tyre Label", "s", "White label", "name number", "name change" ]

[ "Current name of the National League team that started out in the ... Jul 6, 2016 ... A current in the Indian Ocean bears the name of this rainy summer weather it helps # Quiz # Question. 0:29. FirstAmVideo. No views...", "Monsoon of South Asia - Wikipedia The monsoon of South Asia is among several geographically distributed global monsoons. It affects the Indian subcontinent, where it is one of the oldest and most anticipated weather phenomena and an economically .... A monsoon with excess rain can cause floods, and one with too little rain can lead to widespread drought...", "Game dynamics - J! Archive Apr 22, 2005 ... >A current in the Indian Ocean bears the name of this rainy summer weather it helps bring, <tr> <td> <span style=\"font-weight: bold; color:...", "Season - Wikipedia A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology and hours of daylight ... Hot regions have two or three seasons; the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) ... At the March equinox, the northern hemisphere will be experiencing spring as ... When it is summer in the northern hemisphere, it is winter in the southern...", "Weather & Climate | Kenya | Expert Africa The best time to take a Kenya holiday or a safari in Kenya: when to go for the best ... in Kenya: the onshore monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean, and altitude. ... There's a second rainy season, the 'short rains', for a few weeks in .... Cape of South Africa climate A very different, pronounced summer-winter weather pattern." ]

[ "Monsoon | Define Monsoon at Dictionary.com the seasonal wind of the Indian Ocean and southern Asia, blowing from the ... southwest monsoon blows, commonly marked by heavy rains; rainy season. ... obsolete) < Portuguese mono, earlier mouo < Arabic mawsim season .... Note: The Asiatic monsoon brings heavy rains to Southeast Asia in spring and summer.", "Indian Monsoon Current - Wikipedia The Indian Monsoon Current refers to the seasonally varying ocean current regime found in the ... The seasonally reversing open ocean currents that pass south of India are referred to as the Winter ... In the northern hemisphere tropical regions of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, surface winds blow predominantly from the...", "Monsoon Current | ocean current | Britannica.com Surface current of the northern Indian Ocean. ... north of the Equator, the northern Indian Ocean has surface currents that change with the seasonal monsoon.", "monsoon nedir, ne demek, monsoon anlam - Sesli Szlk Tropical rainy season when the rain lasts for several months with few ... monsoon blows, bringing heavy rains: a seasonal wind in southern Asia; blows from ... southern India The name is derived from the word mausim, Arabic for season This ... in southeast Asia which in summer is southwesterly and brings in heavy rain;in...", "El Nio - body, used, water, Earth, life, type, air, parts El NioSpanish for \"the child\" because it often occurs around ... in a small portion of the Pacific, it can affect the weather in large parts of Asia, Africa, ... between the atmosphere and the oceans create wind and ocean currents. ... The warm, moist air that slams into the South American coast brings heavy rains and storms.", "Monsoon - Wikipedia Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding ... The south-west monsoon winds are called 'Nairutya Maarut' in India. .... causes sea breezes to blow from the ocean to the land, bringing moist air inland. .... The rainy season occurs from September to February and it is a major...", "Atlantic hurricane season - Wikipedia The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year when hurricanes usually form in the ... It is currently defined as the time frame from June 1 through November 30, ... the defined hurricane season, special Tropical Weather Outlooks will be issued. ..... North Indian Ocean tropical cyclone season South-West Indian Ocean...", "Peru Current | ocean current | Britannica.com Peru Current, also called Humboldt Current, cold-water current of the southeast ... but also helps to keep the coast one of the most intensely arid areas in the world. ... grounds for anchovies and the larger fish (e.g., tuna) that feed upon them. .... Suboceanic basin of the western Atlantic Ocean, lying between latitudes 9 and...", "Ocean Currents of The word and their effect on Weather - Drishti IAS May 8, 2015 ... (i) Cold currents bring cold water into warm water areas. These currents are usually found on the west coast of them .... Part of the Kuroshio, called the Tsushima Current, flows through Tsushima Strait, between Japan and Korea, and the ... coast of South America as the Peru Current or Humboldt Current.", "CHAPTER 31 OCEAN CURRENTS Definitions. The movement of ocean water is one of the two ... changes in speed or direction due to seasonal winds. The ... The stress of wind blowing across the sea causes a surface ... The Ekman surface current or wind drift current ... noticeable in the Indian Ocean and along the South China coast ... the monsoons. 3105.", "Ocean Motion : Background : Wind-Driven Surface Currents- Gyres In this section, we examine the characteristics of wind-driven surface-ocean currents, ... coupling of wind and surface waters can cause upwelling and downwelling. ... varies more than the others in response to seasonal reversal of monsoon winds. ... the southern edges of the gyres in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.", "High School Earth Science/Changing Weather - Wikibooks, open ... List the differences between stationary, cold, warm, and occluded fronts. ... As you might expect, air masses that form over oceans contain more water ... Ordinarily, when fronts meet, one air mass is lifted above the other. ... If the temperature gradient between the air masses increases, wind and rainy weather will result.", "Humboldt Current - Wikipedia The Humboldt Current is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the west coast of South America from the southern tip of Chile to northern Peru. Also called the Peru Current, it is an eastern boundary current flowing in the ... Upwelling occurs off Peru year-round but off Chile only during the spring and summer...", "Peru Current | ocean current | Britannica.com Peru Current, also called Humboldt Current, cold-water current of the southeast ... the Peru Current brings fog to the nearby coast but also helps to keep the coast one of the ... as the Peru (Humboldt) Current off South America, the Benguela Current off western ... 7 References found in Britannica Articles ... It's All in the Name.", "monsoon comes from the Arabic word mausim, meaning season Basically, it describes a seasonal wind shift over a region that is usually accompanied by ... Many of us are familiar with the Indian-Asian monsoon that brings heavy rains during the summer months over widespread areas of India and SE Asia.", "Indian Ocean and its Best Beaches | Indian Ocean Feb 4, 2016 ... While there are over thirty islands in the Indian Ocean, it is quite a break ... This beach may not be very big, but it is as welcoming as calm and private. ... the sun, the blue lagoon, the perfect weather (depending on season). ... service, we'd suggest looking at St Gilles Les Bains hotels in Reunion Island.", "CHAPTER 31 OCEAN CURRENTS along shallow coastal areas to a maximum of 45 in the ... between this oceanic circulation and the general circulation ... currents, but those shown are representative. ... Currents in the Atlantic, and the Peru Current in the Pacific. ... When the warm Gulf Stream water encounters cold .... sometimes called the Japan Current.", "Jeopary Question, WEATHER WORLD - TriviaBistro.com Jeopardy Question: WEATHER WORLD - In addition to helping commerce, these ocean winds bring pleasant weather to islands like Hawaii.", "Caribbean Sea - New World Encyclopedia Apr 2, 2008 ... The Caribbean weather is influenced by the Gulf Stream and Caribbean Current ocean currents. ... flows into the Caribbean Sea from the east along the coast of South America. ... A Caribbean beach in Isla Margarita, Venezuela. ... Disney World attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, which among other things...", "Monsoon - Wikipedia Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in ... Calendar seasons ... Portuguese mono, ultimately from Arabic mawsim ( \"season\") and/or Hindi \"mausam\", .... The moisture-laden winds on reaching the southernmost point of the Indian Peninsula, due to its...", "Translation of El nino in English More: English to Spanish translation of el nino ... The cyclical warming of East Pacific Ocean sea water temperatures off the western ... in significant changes in weather patterns in the United States and elsewhere. ... (hypernym) ocean current ... (From the child (i.e., the Christ child)) The name of a southward-flowing ocean...", "California Current - Wikipedia The California Current is a Pacific Ocean current that moves southward along the western coast ... This translates into cold coastal waters during the summer, stretching from Oregon ... There is a warm water anomaly off San Diego (Mann and Lazier, 2006). ... is a topic of interest among those who study the California Current.", "El Nin - definition of El Nin by The Free Dictionary American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. ... [C20: from Spanish: The Child, i.e. Christ, referring to its original occurrence at ... central Pacific Ocean, occurring every 4 to 12 years and causing unusual weather patterns. ... El Nino - (oceanography) a warm ocean current that flows along the equator...", "Weather in Peru - Lonely Planet The best time to go to Peru, including current weather conditions, ... Peru. The Guianas. Uruguay. Venezuela. See All South America. Essential ... Go AprOct ... for clean up High season for the coast and beach activities Very rainy in the Amazon, ... for less-crowded visits September to November for good rainforest trekking...", "Indian Ocean - Wikipedia The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2 ... Its deepest point is Diamantina Deep in Diamantina Trench, at 8,047 m .... The Indian Ocean accounts for the second largest share of the most .... The archipelago of Indonesia and the island nation of East Timor border the...", "Social Studies For Class 9th [CBSE]: Climate ... these (ii) The wind blowing in the northern plains in summers is known as: ... India. July and August are wet almost all over the country. In spite of their vagaries, the ... Ans. The bulk of rainfall is concentrated over the months of June-September. ... India. May is the season of loo. These hot and dry winds cause intense heat.", "Free Flashcards about BODIES OF WATER - StudyStack A NEW DEAL AGENCY CREATED IN 1933 SOUGHT TO PROVIDE ELECTRICITY FOR RESIDENTS OF ... THIS ARCTIC SEA IS NAMED FOR THE BRITISH NAVAL OFFICER WHO DEVISED A WIND SCALE, BEAUFORT SEA .... CHANGING MONSOON WINDS CAUSE SEASONAL REVERSES OF SURFACE WATER...", "23rd parallel north - Wikipedia The 23rd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 23 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. At this latitude the sun is visible for 13 hours, 33 minutes during the summer ..... Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article...", "Monsoon - Wikipedia Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding ... The term is sometimes incorrectly used for locally heavy but short-term rains, although these ... The south-west monsoon winds are called 'Nairutya Maarut' in India. ..... North-easterly winds flow down Southeast Asia, are turned...", "Brazil facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about ... Its daring venture, nearly three decades ago, of carving a new capital city out of almost ... relative humidity varies from 50% to 70% during the summer's rainy season. ... Bring a variety of clothes for a warm climate, from casual to semi-formal. ... Local clothing prices vary from city to city and U.S. sizes are not always available.", "El Nio - Wikipedia El Nio /l ninjo is the warm phase of the El Nio Southern Oscillation (commonly called ... In American Spanish, the capitalized term \"El Nio\" refers to \"the boy\", ... Originally the term El Nio applied to an annual weak warm ocean current that .... El Nino affects the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns,...", "Ocean Currents - sea, depth, oceans, effects, temperature, important ... Although the current system is complex, ocean currents are driven by two forces: the Sun .... by southward flow in the East Greenland and Labrador Currents and in the ... This process takes place in several regions of the world's oceans, the most ... Sea can be identified flowing through the Argentine and Brazil Basins below..." ]

[ "Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Tuesday that it would launch a new service on its phones that would allow full music downloading, initially focusing on new and up-and-coming artists." ]

[ "Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said it had signed deals with 10 music labels to add content to its PlayNow service, which lets users download music via their mobile phones.", "Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson entered into the already-crowded online music store market on Tuesday by introducing M-BUZZ, a service aimed at promoting new and up-and-coming artists.", "Sony Corp. next week will launch a marketing blitz in Europe for its new Connect music download store, its latest effort to derail the runaway momentum of Apple Computer's iTunes service.", "Sony Ericsson launched two new music phones in its popular Walkman range and two new camera phones in Berlin on Thursday.", "Japanese-Swedish mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson is to launch music-playing mobiles under the Walkman brand.", "A mobile music service that enables users to download music to many cell phones has been launched by a British startup.", "Sony Ericsson is about to launch six new phones, including a Walkman music phone with 9GB of built-in Flash memory.", "Gracenote announced a new service that will become available on phones introduced on Thursday by Sony Ericsson.", "Yesterday, Swedish mobile phone company Sony Ericsson announced deals had been inked with 10 major record labels, adding over 5 million tracks to the company's forthcoming over-the-air download music store", "Amazon announces that it will add music from Sony BMG to its Amazon MP3 digital music download service.", "In a deal aimed at rivaling Apple’s iTunes and Nokia’s Ovi, Sony Ericsson will offer more than five million music tracks on it PlayNow Internet and mobile phone service.", "World number four mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson plans further to develop its PlayNow service, currently used for downloading ringtones, a spokesman for the Japanese-Swedish group said on Wednesday.", "A new music service that allows consumers to directly download an unlimited number of tracks to their cell phones for a small weekly fee from wherever they are will launch in Europe on Thursday.", "Nokia launches a music download service that challenges both rival handset makers and network providers.", "MySpace.com is launching a new music download service that emphasizes music from independent artists, the latest in a string of services announced in recent weeks that hope to topple iTunes from its crown.", "Internet music download company Napster Inc. on Tuesday launched a Japanese service aimed at tapping a growing market for music-to-go, the company said.", "The new music phones are Sony Ericsson's thinnest yet, the company says.", "Music download company Napster launches a service in Japan, the world's second largest music market", "British telecoms company Omnifone on Thursday launched MusicStation, a new music download service for mobile phone users in Sweden, beating Apple&#39;s iPhone to the global marketplace by two weeks.", "Online music service Napster teams up with Virgin Radio to launch a music download chart.", "The world's biggest music companies, including Warner Music Group Corp and Sony BMG, denied that they have agreed to license songs for a free download service that was launched by Qtrax on Monday.", "Paid music and movie download service launches today.", "Online retailer Play.com launches a music download service that aims to take on market leader iTunes.", "Supermarket giant Tesco is hoping to take a slice of Apple&#39;s pie with the launch of a new music download service. The service will launch as part of Tesco.", "Sony Ericsson is the latest company to throw its hat into the rapidly expanding ring of digital music providers. What this cell phone provider will offer is Sony's expansive arsenal of artists, whose songs and videos will be available in full-length.", "Yahoo Japan replaced a Sony-affiliated music download service with Apple's iTunes Music Store.", "The high-quality music download service is making the logical progression into high-quality downloadable video with the launch of VideoGiants.", "Record labels including Universal and SonyBMG have begun selling music through a new download service.", "Omnifone will launch MusicStation Max, a service that will give people unlimited free music downloads to their cell phone.", "Virgin has become the latest company to launch an online music download service, but UK music fans will have to wait before they can give it a try.", "Microsoft's music download service launches in eight new countries as the software giant bids to takes on Apple's market leading iTunes.", "By MARK PRIGG A SERVICE for downloading songs on to mobile phones that experts say could rival that of Apple's iTunes Music Store was launched today." ]

[ "Some people have narrow drainage angles, putting them at increased risk of angle-closure glaucoma. Angle-closure glaucoma may occur suddenly (acute angle-closure glaucoma) or gradually (chronic angle-closure glaucoma). Acute angle glaucoma is a medical emergency. It can be triggered by sudden dilation of your pupils." ]

[ "Misshapen pupil due to Iritis-caused synechia in the left eye A synechia is an eye condition where the iris adheres to either the cornea (i.e. anterior synechia) or lens (i.e. posterior synechia). Synechiae can be caused by ocular trauma, iritis or iridocyclitis and may lead to certain types of glaucoma.", "morphine poisoning, adverse effect of injection or ingestion of opioids, marked by symptoms of pinpoint pupils, drowsiness, and shallow respiration.", "Due to their effect on the part of the brain which regulates breathing, opioids in high doses can cause respiratory depression and death. An opioid overdose can be identified by a combination of three signs and symptoms referred to as the “opioid overdose triad”. The symptoms of the triad are: pinpoint pupils.", "Because an OxyContin overdose can be fatal, it is important that those who use the drug (or know someone who does) are able to recognize the signs and symptoms of overdose when they occur. The key to surviving an overdose is early intervention. OxyContin overdose signs and symptoms include:2,4. Pinpoint pupils.", "The following are signs Narcan should be used: 1 A person can’t be woken up or seems unusually sleepy. 2 They are experiencing breathing problems. 3 If someone has pinpoint pupils or very small pupils, Narcan may need to be used.", "Causes of Pupil dilation that are common. Causes of Pupil dilation that are uncommon. Causes of Pupil dilation that are rare. The offical US government definition of a rare disease is one that affects 200,000 people or less. Causes of Pupil dilation that are very rare.", "In answer to your question James, I was on Tamsulosin for several years and suffered no serious side effects other than a reduction in ejaculate, a slight lowering of BP and pinpoint pupils.", "Symptoms of opioid overdoses include slow breathing, heart rate and pulse. Opioid overdoses can also cause pinpoint pupils, and blue lips and nails due to low levels of oxygen in the blood. A person experiencing an opioid overdose might also have muscle spasms, seizures and decreased consciousness.", "Medicare and Glaucoma Screenings. Although Medicare does not cover regular vision screenings or routine eye exams, it does pay for health screenings for glaucoma. In the year 2000, Medicare developed an office visit code for glaucoma screenings.", "Causes of Pupil constriction. This section discusses 8 medical conditions causing Pupil constriction. A simple discussion of these causes with additional information is below. Causes of Pupil constriction: The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Pupil constriction." ]

[ "The hosts smashed their way to an 11-point interval lead with tries by Mamuka Gorgodze, Leigh Halfpenny and Romain Taofifenua.\nToulon survived two TMO decisions early in the second half before Guilhem Guirado secured the bonus point.\nKen Owens and John Barclay scored for Scarlets with Wales international Halfpenny claiming 16 points.\nScarlets struggled to handle Toulon's power, with France international centre Mathieu Bastareaud crashing through would-be tacklers as he set up the opening two tries.\nThe win lifts three-times champions Toulon to nine points in the pool, five behind defending champions Saracens.\nScarlets started well, but kicked attacking possession away and from their first attack Toulon set the tone for the game with giant centre Bastareaud crashing through to set up Gorgodze.\nThe Bastareaud battering ram again laid waste to the defence before Halfpenny strolled over on the left and within two minutes Taofifenua appeared to end the match as a contest as he stretched out a long left arm to claim Toulon's third try.\nScarlets hit back when hooker Owens charged over from close range after a fluid move.\nThe Welsh region came out fired-up for the second half with scrum-half Gareth Davies denied a try after television replays, even though Toulon's Jocelino Suta appeared to tackle him illegally.\nMoments later, wing Steff Evans crossed wide out only to have the try disallowed when Scott Williams was adjudged to have knocked the ball on in the build-up - again after the television match official had a look.\nToulon weathered the storm, and when Guirado touched down after a powerful drive the contest was over, with Barclay's late try briefly raising hopes of a losing bonus point for the Scarlets.\nScarlets head coach Wayne Pivac: \"There was a massive swing in the game at 24-13 and I thought the [Steff Evans'] try was a fair try. I asked the referee afterwards 'how far backwards does the ball have to travel for you to award a knock-on'.\n\"I thought it was a good try and if it's awarded at 24-20 we're in the game. As it turned out there was a couple of errors that left them to get in with a try. Clearly a player is tackled on the ground and he's allowed to get up and carry on - there's a few things I wasn't happy with.\"\nThe teams do it all again at Parc y Scarlets on Sunday, 18 December (13:00 GMT).\nToulon: Leigh Halfpenny; James O'Connor, Mathieu Bastareaud, Ma'a Nonu, Bryan Habana; Pierre Bernard, Jonathan Pelissie; Xavier Chiocci, Guilhem Guirado, Marcel van der Merwe, Jocelino Suta, Romain Taofifenua, Charles Ollivon, Mamuka Gorgodze, Samu Manoa.\nReplacements: Jean-Charles Orioli, Laurent Delboulbès, Levan Chilachava, Juandre Kruger, Maxime Mermoz, Jimmy Yobo, Eric Escande, Duane Vermeulen.\nScarlets: Liam Williams; DTH van der Merwe, Hadleigh Parkes, Scott Williams, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens (capt), Werner Kruger, Jake Ball, Tom Price, Tadhg Beirne, James Davies, John Barclay.\nReplacements: Ryan Elias, Rob Evans, Samson Lee, Lewis Rawlins, Will Boyde, Jonathan Evans, Aled Thomas, Gareth Owen\nReferee: Greg Garner (England)\nAssistant referees: Luke Pearce and Nigel Carrick (Both England)\nTelevision match official: Rowan Kitt (England)" ]

[ "Gloucester back-row Moriarty and Exeter tight-head prop Francis are dual-qualified for Wales and England.\nBut Wales coach Warren Gatland has moved first to claim the uncapped pair.\nMoriarty's Gloucester team-mates James Hook and Richard Hibbard are included, while Bristol fly-half Matthew Morgan is rewarded for his strong end-of-season performances.\nFrancis' Exeter team-mate Tom James - last capped in 2010 - is also an unexpected inclusion. The 28-year-old wing is set to rejoin Cardiff Blues next season.\nPremiership Rugby has confirmed the English Premiership clubs will release players immediately for Wales' World Cup camps and warm-up matches - after coming to an agreement with World Rugby.\nThere had been concerns England-based Welsh players would miss training and warm-up games because of issues such as insurance.\nThe new agreement applies to all players called up by any nation for the 2015 World Cup.\n\"Premiership Rugby is pleased to confirm that we have come to an agreement with World Rugby to release all our players called up by any nation for the Rugby World Cup from this week,\" said a Premiership Rugby spokesperson.\n\"We are grateful to World Rugby for this co-operation in this matter as we had to ensure all our clubs and players are properly protected when players are released on international duty. \"\n\"This variance to our policy to only release players within the confines of Regulation Nine will only be applied for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.\"\nWith centre Jonathan Davies ruled out of the World Cup by a serious knee injury, Tyler Morgan - withdrawn for the Wales Under-20 squad heading for the World Rugby U20 Championship - adds depth to the midfield options.\nBut there is no place for Ospreys centre Ben John or Cardiff Blues back-row Josh Navidi, although his Blues team-mates Rhys Patchell, Gareth Anscombe and Cory Allen do get the nod.\nMoriarty, 21, has played for England Under-20s, but qualifies for Wales through his father - former dual code Welsh international Paul - while his uncle Richard is a former Wales captain.\nEngland's official second team is the Saxons, so Moriarty is still eligible to play for Wales.\nThe uncapped pair of Bath lock Dominic Day and Wales Under-20s captain Rory Thornton are also included, although Osprey Thornton will link up with the squad after the U-20s Championship.\nThe squad will be trimmed to a final 31 at the end of August, following training camps in Switzerland, Qatar, Poland and north Wales, plus two warm-up games against Ireland.\n\"We are extremely happy with the blend of the squad in terms of the experience we are able to include as well as the young talent that has really impressed us,\" said Gatland.\n\"The easy part for the players has been done in terms of being selected, the hard work will begin from day one with a huge schedule of preparation ahead of them.\n\"The 47 players all have the opportunity to make that 31-man party and I'm sure they will all be eager to feature in a World Cup on these shores.\n\"We believe the longer we are together the better we perform and this summer of preparation will give us every opportunity to be at our best come the Rugby World Cup.\"\nWales will face hosts England, Australia and Fiji in Group A after an opening game against Uruguay on 20 September in Cardiff.\nBacks: Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), James Hook (Gloucester Rugby), Matthew Morgan (Bristol Rugby), Rhys Patchell (Cardiff Blues), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), Jack Dixon (Newport Gwent Dragons), Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Tom James (Exeter Chiefs), George North (Northampton Saints), Eli Walker (Ospreys), Liam Williams (Scarlets).\nForwards: Rob Evans (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Paul James (Bath Rugby), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester Rugby), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), Dominic Day (Bath Rugby), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Rory Thornton (Ospreys), Dan Baker (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt).", "The New Zealander wants them to finish as the top Welsh team in the table and also stake claims for places for Wales' summer tour Tests against Samoa and Tonga.\nScarlets have secured a top-four finish and Ospreys are all but assured of qualifying for the play-offs.\n\"One of the team goals was to be the top Welsh region,\" said Pivac.\nHe continued: \"So to finish top, we need a win on the weekend.\"\nThe Pro12 title will be decided after semi-final play-offs in which Scarlets or Ospreys will travel to Ireland to face either Leinster or Munster.\nThe leading Irish teams go into round 22 first and second in the table respectively.\nThe team finishing top will play the fourth-ranked team with second hosting third meaning, as things stand, Scarlets would go to Munster while Ospreys would be at Leinster later in May.\nPivac said the clash with the Ospreys, \"is not a cup final\", however, adding: \"In isolation, it's one of our team goals is to finish top Welsh team on the ladder.\n\"We were able to do that last year and we want to replicate that.\n\"There's also the small matter of a tour to the southern hemisphere for Wales to play two Test matches.\n\"Part of our role is to get results for the club.\n\"It's also to help promote players to that next level so there's a lot to play for in this weekend's game.\"\nPivac also highlighted how finishing highest among Welsh teams can affect which group they would play in during the 2017-18 Champions Cup.\nHe said: \"There is pressure. The top four is put to bed, but we certainly are looking at finishing as high up as we can because it impacts on the pool we have for Europe next year, which is important.\"\nWales lock Jake Ball and Scotland back-rower John Barclay are doubts to face their local rivals as the regular season ends.\nBall came off with a shoulder injury in Scarlets' win at Connacht on Saturday, and Pivac says he is \"50-50\" to be fit to face Ospreys.\nBarclay was withdrawn before kick off in Galway after suffering a hamstring twinge in the build-up and Pivac says he will not be tempted to select any injured players.\nHe added: \"We are selecting to achieve our team goals and to do that we're up against a strong Ospreys team who have similar goals, I would imagine.\n\"And their players are playing for positions on the tour as well so will be equally motivated.\n\"We'll be putting out the strongest team possible without being silly.\n\"If there are players carrying injuries we have that luxury of the semi-final to think about as well.\"\nScarlets won what was then called the Celtic League title in the first season of Welsh regional rugby in the 2003-04 campaign but they have not won it since.\nTheir most recent semi-final play-off appearance came in 2013, when they lost at that stage to Ulster.", "It will be Wales' first appearance in the prestigious Under-20 competition, which starts on 29 May in France.\nForward Woodburn, 17, and 20-year-old winger Wilson could be in Wales' senior squad which will travel to Serbia for a World Cup qualifier on 11 June.\n\"These are the players available to me,\" manager Robert Page told BBC Wales Sport.\nThe Liverpool youngsters were both on the bench for Wales' most recent qualifier, a 0-0 draw with Ireland, in Dublin.\nManchester United defender Regan Poole and Chelsea's Cole Dasilva are included in the Under-20 squad for Toulon.\nFull-back Dasilva scored for Chelsea's youth team in their 5-1 second-leg win over Manchester City last month to clinch the Blues' fourth successive FA Youth Cup.\nWest Bromwich Albion striker Tyler Roberts and Swansea City's Daniel James and Joe Rodon have also been selected.\nBut Exeter's 16-year-old defender and defensive midfielder Ethan Ampadu is too young for the tournament.\nRhys Norrington-Davies, Mitchell Clark and David Brooks have withdrawn from the squad having been selected initially. The Football Association of Wales says \"replacement call-ups will follow in due course\".\nWales will face hosts France, Ivory Coast and Bahrain in their group.\nThis will be the 45th edition of Toulon with 12 teams taking part in three groups of four, and the group winners as well as the best second-placed team will qualify for the semi-finals.\nEngland won the competition last year and will return to defend their title, while Scotland will also participate from the home nations.\nMeanwhile former Wales defender Paul Bodin has joined the international coaching staff as Page's full time assistant, with ex-Watford goalkeeper Alec Chamberlin named goalkeeper coach.\nEx-Wales defender Bodin, capped 23 times for his country, rejoins fellow Welshman Page, having assisted him at Port Vale.\nWales squad\nGoalkeepers: Lewis Thomas (Swansea City), Luke Pilling (Tranmere Rovers).\nDefenders: Cole Dasilva (Chelsea), Cameron Coxe (Cardiff City), Regan Poole (Manchester United), Aron Davies (Fulham), Rhys Abbruzzese (Cardiff City), Joe Rodon (Swansea City).\nMidfielders: Matthew Smith (Manchester City), Nathan Broadhead (Everton), Jack Evans (Swansea City), Mark Harris (Cardiff City), Rhyle Ovenden (Watford).\nForwards: Tyler Roberts (West Brom), Daniel James (Swansea City), Liam Cullen (Swansea City), George Thomas (Coventry City).", "Open-side flanker Warburton, out since 30 April, replaces the injured Dan Lydiate and is one of five changes to the team beaten by England last month.\nSecond row Alun Wyn Jones will win his 100th cap for Wales at Eden Park.\nProp Gethin Jenkins, hooker Ken Owens and lock Bradley Davies return, as does centre Jonathan Davies.\nWales have not beaten the All Blacks in 26 matches since 1953.\nRoss Moriarty retains his place at blind-side flanker, while uncapped flanker Ellis Jenkins is named on the replacements' bench after being called into the squad following Lydiate's injury.\nJones, who has also won six caps for the British and Irish Lions, becomes Wales' fifth centurion.\nJenkins replaces Rob Evans at loose-head prop, Owens comes in for Scott Baldwin and Bradley Davies takes Jake Ball's place.\nJonathan Davies, who comes in for Scott Williams, missed the defeat at Twickenham because he was on Top 14 duty with Clermont Auvergne.\n\"We are under no illusions how tough the Test series will be against the back-to-back world champions but the players are also aware how important this tour is,\" head coach Warren Gatland said.\n\"It's an opportunity for a couple of boys to start and we are bringing in experience with Gethin, Ken and Bradley.\n\"In the midfield it's nice to have that experienced combination back and the players who move to the bench will still have an impact on game day.\"\nNew Zealand are unbeaten at Eden Park since 1994 and the match will be their first since beating Australia 34-17 in the 2015 World Cup final.\nHead coach Steve Hansen has named a side showing six changes from that victory at Twickenham in October.\nWales team to face New Zealand: Liam Williams (Scarlets), George North (Northampton Saints), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, captain), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).\nReplacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Rob Evans (Ospreys), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets)." ]

[ "Brain plasticity is a relatively new discovery in brain science that has amazing implications on the way we think and on the way our brain works.Essentially, brain plasticity refers to the fact that the brain appears to be 'plastic' in that it is adaptable and can change shape in order to deal with a new scenario.rain plasticity is a relatively new discovery in brain science that has amazing implications on the way we think and on the way our brain works." ]

[ "Thru plasticity, the brain forms new synaptic connections to reroute information around the damaged areas. What this means is if a certain set of cells are there to do one action, and those cells are damaged, other sets of cells may have to take over that action which is part of will brain heal itself.", "Whoa! In the simplest terms, neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain and central nervous system to change form and function specifically when stimulated by various physical activities. So what does that mean for you.Hint: It’s very good news! The brain is not fixed and unchanging as once was thought.hoa! In the simplest terms, neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain and central nervous system to change form and function specifically when stimulated by various physical activities. So what does that mean for you. Hint: It’s very good news! The brain is not fixed and unchanging as once was thought.", "Of course not. Plasticity, or neuroplasticity, describes how experiences reorganize neural pathways in the brain. Long lasting functional changes in the brain occur when we learn new things or memorize new information. These changes in neural connections are what we call neuroplasticity.ACT 3: Neuroplasticity occurs in the brain under two primary conditions: 1. During normal brain development when the immature brain first begins to process sensory information through adulthood (developmental plasticity and plasticity of learning and memory). 2.", "The term Neuroplasticity is derived from the root words Neuron and Plastic. A neuron refers to the nerve cells in our brain. Each individual neural cell is made up of an axon, dendrites, and is linked to one another by a small space called the synapses. The word plastic means to mold, sculpt, or modify.Neuroplasticity refers to the potential that the brain has to reorganize by creating new neural pathways to adapt, as it needs. Think of the neurological changes being made in the brain as the brain's way of tuning itself to meet your needs.he term Neuroplasticity is derived from the root words Neuron and Plastic. A neuron refers to the nerve cells in our brain. Each individual neural cell is made up of an axon, dendrites, and is linked to one another by a small space called the synapses. The word plastic means to mold, sculpt, or modify.", "What does brain death mean? Brain death is a legal definition of death. It is the complete stopping of all brain function and cannot be reversed. It means that, because of extreme and serious trauma or injury to the brain, the body's blood supply to the brain is blocked, and the brain dies. Brain death is death.", "1 What does it mean for a sticky tumor. 2 What does it mean having a tumor on your pancreas. 3 Can ranitidine cause menstrual. 4 What is the treatment for esophoguas and stomach cancer. 5 Can melatonin cause sore tongue. 6 What is a shadow on the brain mean with a brain tumor. 7 What causes smegma in men.", "What does it mean that alcohol is a disinhibitor It slows brain activity that controls judgement and inhibition Why, biologically, does alcohol relax the drinker", "The word plastic means to mold, sculpt, or modify. Neuroplasticity refers to the potential that the brain has to reorganize by creating new neural pathways to adapt, as it needs. Think of the neurological changes being made in the brain as the brain's way of tuning itself to meet your needs.", "What Does BPA-Free Mean? - Care.com Community BPA stands for Bisphenol-A, an estrogen-imitating chemical used to produce reusable plastic products, such as baby bottles, toddler sippy cups and plastics you might use for storing leftover food.", "What does de mean? What does derecho mean? What does esta mean? What does Juez mean? What does poder mean? What does por favor mean? What does puede mean? What does que mean? What does ser mean? What does su mean What does tener mean? What does tiene mean? What does un mean? What does usted mean? workers compensation", "Where does brain electricity come from and what does it mean? Measuring Electricity in the Brain. Current methods of measuring electricity in the brain utilize probes either on the scalp (the least intrusive method), below the skull coverings such as the Dura at the edge of the brain, and deep inside the brain.", "What does it mean to have Stage 4 breast cancer? Stage 4 breast cancer means that the cancer has spread to other areas of the body, such as the brain, bones, lung and liver.hat does it mean to have Stage 4 breast cancer? Stage 4 breast cancer means that the cancer has spread to other areas of the body, such as the brain, bones, lung and liver.", "How does a thermo-plastic or a thermosetting resin or plastic, differ from each other? What are some examples of flexible thermosetting plastics? What are some products made from thermosetting plastics? What properties define thermosetting plastics?", "What does the c in iPhone 5c mean? Some people say that the 'c' stands for cheap, because the iPhone 5 is made out of plastic (polycarbonate frame reinforced with steel). There is no answer to what the 'c' … means but it is presumed that it means colour because the 5c comes in 5 colors.", "Plastic bottles and containers are usually marked with the Resin ID Number on the bottom (1 to 7 ) within a triangle with three chasing arrows. That sign does not mean it can …be recycled. It merely tells what kind of plastic has been used. All plastic can be recycled, even styrofoam and cling wrap.", "What Does T Mean? What Does The Below Sentence Mean? What Does This Mean? What Does Swipe And Ficky Mean In This... What Does This Word Mean? ? Re: What Does It Mean? What Does This Phrase Mean: Burst Into The Seams? What Does It Mean? What Does The Statement Mean? What Does White-Out Mean? What Does Knock Me Clean Over Mean? What Does 'Want' Mean In The Below Example? What Does State To The Left Below Mean? What Does Sloppy-Joe Mean In Below Lines? What Does Jeopardy Mean?", "What does THOT mean? What does IANAL mean? What does MCM mean on Instagram? What does Ayy LMAO mean? What does WCW mean? What does TBT mean? What does OOTD mean? What does SMH mean? What does OOH KILL ‘EM mean? What does TLDR mean? TL;DR; Plural of Crisis; What does igers mean on Instagram? What does FOH mean on Instagram; What does FBF mean on Instagram? What does FML mean?", "What does the phrase “to add insult to injury” mean and Where does it come from? Do geniuses have bigger brains than everyone else? What should you do when you’re caught in a lightning storm? Where does the word “ketchup” (catsup) come from and What does ketchup mean in Chinese? Where Is the Largest Glacier on Earth?", "What temperature does the human brain melt? The brain does not melt, but brain damage will occur at temperatures above 107.6... what temperature does brain matter melt Brain damage will not occur unless the temperature is over 107.6 degrees F (42C)...", "in text what does WEG mean; what does mbn mean in texting; what does b4n mean; what does tmb mean; guess the text answers; what does fam mean in text; what does selfie mean; what does bsns mean in texting; hmu meaning; what does emo mean in texting; what does kc mean in texting; qpsa text meaning; what does lulz mean; what does selfie mean in texting; what does sol mean in texting", "So what does that mean? Recycling means making waste, or already used things, into brand new products. An example of this is making a plastic bottle that you drank out of into a plastic toy. Things that we use every day like paper, plastic, glass and cans are all made by materials that are taken from the earth. By recycling these things it means that less stuff has to be taken from the earth which is great! The sign for recycling looks like three arrows in a circle like this.", "what does dzuma mean - what does dzuma mean in polish - what does dzuma mean in english - what does drum mean in german - what does duma mean in polish - what does dzuma mean definition - what does dzuma mean in hooked - what does dupa mean in polish - what does duma mean in russian - what does zuma mean -.", "Your guide to figuring out what those recycling codes on plastics mean. Also see How to Avoid Phthalates and Bisphenol A in Plastics. Your guide to figuring out what those recycling codes on plastics mean.", "» friend of the court definition. » media consultant: pronunciation in phonetic transcription. » What does fashion consultant mean? » extension agent definition. » Meaning of brain truster.", "Related Questions. where does the phrase 'knock you block off' come from Knock your block off was an 80's game where two plastic men throw punches at... Where does the phrase knock on wood come from and what does it mean?", "1 Research into brain plasticity has proven that your brain continues to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity, which means that cognitive function can be improved, regardless of your age, and cognitive decline can be reversed.", "Dictionary entry overview: What does brain-stem mean? • BRAIN-STEM (noun) The noun BRAIN-STEM has 1 sense: 1. the part of the brain continuous with the spinal cord and comprising the medulla oblongata and pons and midbrain and parts of the hypothalamus Familiarity information: BRAIN-STEM used as a noun is very rare.", "Neuroplasticity is the brain's amazing capacity to change and adapt. It refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment.europlasticity is the brain's amazing capacity to change and adapt. It refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment.", "what does embed post mean; what does embed post mean; What does Embed Post mean? What does it mean to embed a post; Related Help Center FAQs; What does it mean to see first? What does active mean in messages on Facebook? What does it mean to Like something? What does it mean to unfollow someone? What does it mean to follow someone or a Page? What does it mean if the pixel status says No activity yet...", "The neural tube is the embryonic predecessor of the brain and spinal cord. Which means, most of what it does is develop into a brain and spinal cord. The neural tube is init … ially formed almost exclusively of stem and progenitor cells.", "Both utilize electricity in different ways. In fact, there are many different sources of electricity in the brain. If consciousness in nature, and the human brain, is in the form of information, electromagnetic or otherwise, it is not clear yet how this could work. Where does brain electricity come from and what does it mean? Measuring Electricity in the Brain Current methods of measuring electricity in the brain utilize probes either on the scalp (the least intrusive method), below the skull coverings such as the Dura at the edge of the brain, and deep inside the brain.", "Last Updated: Neuroplasticity, capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections and behaviour in response to new information, sensory stimulation, development, damage, or dysfunction." ]

[ "Trend analysis is the practice of collecting information and attempting to spot a pattern, or trend, in the information. In some fields of study, the term trend analysis has more formally defined meanings." ]

[ "For example: 1 Law enforcement agencies can use data mining to look for crime patterns. 2 Retailers can predict buyer behavior and shopping trends, as well as analyze marketing results and customer loyalty patterns. 3 Financial firms can identify loan repayment patterns and any outlying activities that might point to fraud. 4 Medical researchers can 5 ... Te", "Trend estimation is a statistical technique to aid interpretation of data. When a series of measurements of a process are treated as a time series, trend estimation can be used to make and justify statements about tendencies in the data, by relating the measurements to the times at which they occurred. This model can then be used to describe the behaviour of the observed data, without explaining it. Linear trend estimation expresses data as a linear function of time. In particular, it may be use", "Annual summary of financial and structural data back to 1934 for all FDIC-insured institutions. These data can be used to identify and analyze long-term trends and to develop benchmarks to evaluate the current condition of the banking and thrift industries.", "As in most improvement initiatives, lasting improvement in HCAHPS scores requires hospitals to collect, analyze and act on data about the patient experience. At the basic level, hospitals can examine HCAHPS surveys to identify trends and problem areas.", "New trended data products. The credit bureaus are using their trended data to create new products they can sell to lenders that better analyze consumer risk. Experian sells a trended data product called Trended Solutions, Equifax offers something called Dimension, and TransUnion has a product called CreditVision.", "The researchers stopped routine contact precautions for patients with MRSA and VRE at their center on July 1, 2014. To identify trends in infection rates, the team analyzed data on lab-identified hospital-acquired infections from July 2013 to December 2014.", "When EHR data is coded, it can be used for trending, alerts, health maintenance, and decision support; it can be accurately identified and electronically compared by computer. Document image data required a human being to read the information.", "Definition of Predictive Analytics. Predictive analytics involves extracting data from existing data sets with the goal of identifying trends and patterns. These trends and patterns are then used to predict future outcomes and trends.", "Content analysis is a tedious process due to the requirement that each data source be analyzed along a number of dimensions. It may also be inductive (identifies themes and patterns) or deductive (quantifies frequencies of data). The results are descriptive, but will also indicate trends or issues of interest.", "You can use a PivotTable report to summarize, analyze, explore, and present summary data. PivotCharts complement PivotTables by adding visualizations to the summary data in a PivotTable, and allow you to easily see comparisons, patterns, and trends.", "Optimize your health with charts & graphs. Get instant heart rate readings all day, every day. Analyze your heart rate over time to identify trends and manage stress. Review resting heart rate trends to see when health and fitness are improving.ptimize your health with charts & graphs. Get instant heart rate readings all day, every day. Analyze your heart rate over time to identify trends and manage stress. Review resting heart rate trends to see when health and fitness are improving.", "Trend line is a straight line which connects two or more points. It is basically used to analyze a data. Trend lines are one of the basic tools for trading in all markets. Trend lines use a mathematical modal to help accentuate patterns in current data and to help predict future patterns.rend line is a straight line which connects two or more points. It is basically used to analyze a data. Trend lines are one of the basic tools for trading in all markets. Trend lines use a mathematical modal to help accentuate patterns in current data and to help predict future patterns.", "It can be identified as to why these questions are asked. All these three questions combined give a picture of the customer service and what improvements are needed. He will hit the data warehouse every time to get the results and will consolidate this and arrive at solutions. Another important factor is that data warehouse provides trends. It has the history of data from a series of months and whether the product has been selling in the span of those months. If that trend is spotted, it can be analyzed and a decision can be taken.", "Criminologists compare, contrast, and analyze data from these two sources to identify and assess current crime trends in the United States. Taken as a whole, these studies represent a highly useful but nonetheless incomplete picture of crime in our nation. Learn more about Crime and Victimization in the United States.", "Current Trends in Data Mining. Data mining is based on complex algorithms that allow for the segmentation of data to identify patterns and trends, detect anomalies, and predict the probability of various situational outcomes.", "Short for Online Analytical Processing, a category of software tools that provides analysis of data stored in a database. OLAP tools enable users to analyze different dimensions of multidimensional data.For example, it provides time series and trend analysis views.OLAP often is used in data mining.LAP tools enable users to analyze different dimensions of multidimensional data. For example, it provides time series and trend analysis views. OLAP often is used in data mining.", "Other common operations that Excel can be used for include: Graphing or charting data to assist users in identifying data trends; Formatting data to make important data easy to find and understand; Printing data and charts for use in reports; Sorting and filtering data to find specific information;", "JOB SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS. 1 Technical Skills: Business intelligence analysts use complex computer programs to mine data sources and look for trends. 2 Analytical Skills: A major part of the job is to determine what data trends mean. 3 Being able to analyze the data is crucial.", "How to Write an Empirical Research Paper. Empirical research papers attempt to simultaneously respond to and propel current research in a given...resent and analyze all the data you collected during the course of your research. Empirical research focuses on data gathered with the senses or data that can be confirmed with the senses. Data analysis involves identifying and describing trends in data that could potentially indicate natural laws or principles.", "The goal of statistical analysis is to identify trends. A retail business, for example, might use statistical analysis to find patterns in unstructured and semi-structured customer data that can be used to create a more positive customer experience and increase sales. See an introductory Statistics tutorial:", "Linear trend estimation - Trends in random data. 1 Before considering trends in real data, it is useful to understand trends in random data.", "It’s pretty common to see people talk about the ‘empirical turn’ in economics: new datasets and the methods used to analyse them have…", "Use this market information to research and analyze growth rates and the Funeral Homes industry trends and market outlook based on quantitative research and economic data. Charts and graphs can be copied to Microsoft Word and Powerpoint presentations.", "SPSS is a comprehensive system for analyzing data. SPSS can take data from almost any type of file and use them to generate tabulated reports, charts, and plots of distributions and trends, descriptive statistics, and complex statistical analysis..", "Writing an empirical research paper requires you to format your paper in a way that first reflects contemporary research, details your analysis methods and finally points out the findings of your research. Other People Are Reading.resent and analyze all the data you collected during the course of your research. Empirical research focuses on data gathered with the senses or data that can be confirmed with the senses. Data analysis involves identifying and describing trends in data that could potentially indicate natural laws or principles.", "Market trends are any significant changes to your market. If you identify the market trends early enough then it is easier to plan for changes. So you can grow your business successfully. Knowing what market trends affect your market also allows you to take advantage of positive changes. And guard against negative ones. The key with working with trend data is to know which ones are important and to keep and eye on them. That way there are no surprises and saves you from reacting when it is too late.", "Analyze your data by cost type, location, user, mail class, or cost code. View your data as a bar chart to see historical trends, a pie chart to see a snapshot in time, or export it and use your own charts. If you want to the detail behind the numbers you can easily drill down with just one click.", "Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application which lets your organize, analyze, and store data. Excel is used for calculations, charting/graphing, identifying trends, building reports, etc. MS Access is a small scale database used for small applications. Microsoft Access is entirely different from Microsoft Excel, one is a Database Programming tool and the other is a spreadsheet application.", "• analysis of accident causes and trends; • training aids, programs and materials to assist in the. control of exposures; • industrial health and environmental services; and. • loss information to assist you in analyzing accident. causes and in identifying accident trends.", "Use this market information to research and analyze growth rates and the Telecommunications industry trends and market outlook based on quantitative research and economic data. Charts and graphs can be copied to Microsoft Word and Powerpoint presentations.", "Analysis of ATP test result trends is key to the evaluation and ongoing improvement of the sanitation system in place. Using the SureTrend Data Analysis software, you can monitor and assess ATP test results, perform trend analysis, identify trouble zones, correct improper cleaning procedures and eliminate risk.", "The Benefits of Using Sales Trend Analysis. Performing sales trend analysis can give you valuable insight into the inner-workings of your business. You can use your data to make informed decisions, like when to raise or lower prices on your products. These decisions shouldn’t always be just a “gut” feeling." ]

[ "Nora Charles" ]

[ "Did It for the Party", "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing", "JP Did This 1", "Playing with Fire", "Simpsons Already Did It", "Google Play", "I Did It for Love", "Play That Song", "Playing with the Boys", "playing the bagpipes" ]

[ "We know some people who might not be tuning into the Super Bowl this weekend: these Jeopardy! contestants.\nThursday night's episode saw contestants Ryan, Sara, and Justin save the \"Talkin' Football\" category until there was absolutely nothing else left on the board. Then, adding insult to injury, they managed to miss all five questions, by not venturing a single guess.\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nThe trio apparently didn't know what an option play is, whom Tom Landry coached, what a fair catch is, what offsetting penalties are, or which defensive line took the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowls.\nHost Alex Trebek poked fun at the contestants for their lack of expertise. After they failed to answer the first question, he joked, \"I can tell you guys are big football fans.\"\nAfter they missed the $400 question, he dryly commented, \"Do you think we should go to commercial?\"\nMost Popular\nWhen it came down to the last question, he continued ribbing them. \"Let's look at the thousand dollar clue, just for the fun of it,\" he said. After the clue was read, he continued, \"If you guys ring in and get this one ... I will die.\"\nBut the quips didn't stop there. The official Jeopardy! Twitter account threw another good-natured barb at both the contestants and the Cleveland Browns.\nFun fact: Our contestants answered as many clues in this category as the @Browns had wins this season. pic.twitter.com/KMaR8otIHe — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) February 2, 2018\nNaturally, several of the responses to the tweet were equally hilarious.\nThis was just painful as hell to watch, much like a Browns game. — Dapper Cardinal (@GobertOrGoHome) February 2, 2018\nIn the end, despite totally failing at the football category, Ryan Fenster, a banker from SeaTac, Washington won $22,799 and continued his four-day streak on Jeopardy!.\nWe'll see him at the snack table at this year's Super Bowl party." ]

[ "FILE - this Oct. 22, 2007 file photo shows game show host Alex Trebek at the 17th annual Broacasting and Cable Hall of Fame awards dinner in New York. Trebek remains in a Los Angeles hospital recovering from a mild heart attack. But Sony Pictures Television spokeswoman Paula Askanas said Monday, June 25, 2012 that Trebek is \"up and about and in good spirits\" while doctors complete their tests. He has been moved to a regular room, she said. The 71-year-old Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)\nJeopardy! contestants frustrated watchers and Coach Trebek alike when they couldn’t muster a single answer about America’s most watched sport.\nI understand, not everyone is into football. Sometimes, the lingo you hear on the broadcasts coming from the football heads in the booth can be confusing. Most of it probably sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown if you’re not a football fan. But, you would think that Jeopardy! contestants who are notoriously well informed would manage even a single answer about football. They couldn’t. Not a single answer was attempted. Watch this catastrophe.\nIf nothing else, maybe you now go into Super Bowl Sunday with a little knowledge you didn’t previously have!", "Of all the trivia game shows to exist, Jeopardy! has the reputation as the crème de la crème. It’s contestants often come with vast educational backgrounds and they are generally seem as bright, well-read and knowledgeable on a multitude of topics. Sometimes the world of sports is left behind when they are soaking up information. On the occasions where one contestant is well-versed in the world of athletic competition it turns into a lucrative advantage whenever a sports category is in play.\nWere the contestants trying to avoid this category? Or saving the best for last? #TodayOnJ! pic.twitter.com/xEsfJWOyJk — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) February 1, 2018\nWhen none of the contestants could tell host Alex Trabek simple things such as there are field goals in both basketball and football, embarassing hilarity ensues.\nLast week, Jeopardy! released this clip of a football category gone wrong. Check out the cringe-worthy silence as an entire series of clues are revealed and no one, well, has a clue.\nWatch below.\nFun fact: Our contestants answered as many clues in this category as the @Browns had wins this season. pic.twitter.com/KMaR8otIHe — Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) February 2, 2018\n.", "Share On more Share On more\nYoooooooo, Alex Trebek is the coldest dude in the game, lololololol. I'm dying laughing. @DragonflyJonez… https://t.co/XvcSCPpVs3\n0 for 5 on the football category. Trebek is embarrassed. I love this.\n\"Let's look at the $1,000 clue, just for the fun of it,\" Trebek said, to laughter, to close out the round.\n\"If you guys ring in and get this one, I will die,\" Trebek said, before supplying the answer.\nPeople online were here for it.", "Drag icon RuPaul and famous Canadian Alex Trebek are each making guest appearances on the other’s TV competition show. RuPaul, host of RuPaul’s Drag Race on VH1, showed up on Monday night’s episode of Jeopardy! the long-running trivia game show Trebek has hosted since it was rebooted in 1984.\nThe two hosts announced their guest spots Monday in a video shared on Twitter by the official Jeopardy! account, in which RuPaul said he would be presenting clues on Jeopardy! and Trebek added, vaguely, he would be “doing something” on Drag Race, which is in the midst of its 10th season.\nRuPaul’s contribution to Monday night’s episode was presenting clues via pre-recorded videos in a category about drag on film. The category, as befits a punny show like Jeopardy! was called “A RuView of Movies,” and Ru quizzed contestants about movies like Mrs. Doubtfire and The Birdcage. So far, no details have been released about what Trebek will do in his guest appearance on Drag Race, but here’s hoping he’ll get the chance to develop a drag alter-ego.\nTrebek, who took a brief medical leave after surgery in December for a subdural hematoma that resulted from a fall, has seemed to enjoy the chance to poke fun at his own show. In 2012, he told the Hollywood Reporter he “loved” Will Ferrell’s portrayal of him in the recurring Saturday Night Live’s “Celebrity Jeopardy!” sketches, and in 2016 even offered to make a cameo appearance in the skit as “Turd Ferguson,” a long-running joke within the sketch.", "FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2011, file photo, Alex Trebek, host of the \"Jeopardy!\" quiz show, speaks to an audience of primarily media about an upcoming \"Jeopardy!\" show featuring IBM's \"Watson\" in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. New York City bartender Austin Rogers extended his run of wins to eight on the show that aired Oct. 5, 2017, and boosted his total winnings to more than $300,000. Rogers' on-screen antics are winning him a cult following. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)\nNEW YORK (AP) — A New York City bartender's on-screen antics and big bets while competing on \"Jeopardy!\" are winning him cash to go along with a cult following.\nBy the end of Thursday's show, Austin Rogers had won eight days in a row and more than $300,000. \"Jeopardy!\" says that total put him at fifth on the show's list of all-time regular season money winners. Rogers has done it while sporting wild hair and a bushy beard and making animated gestures after correct answers.\nHe's also making big wagers. Rogers won a whopping $34,000 bet on the show's \"Final Jeopardy\" segment Tuesday.\nFans are singing his praises on Twitter by using the hashtag #AustinOnJeopardy.\nRogers tells \"Good Morning America\" that the secret to his success is uncovering patterns in clues by watching hundreds of \"Jeopardy!\" episodes.", "In this undated handout photo provided by Jeopardy Productions, Inc., Austin Rogers waves during a taping of \"Jeopardy!\" in Culver City, Calif. Rogers, a New York City bartender, extended his run of wins to eight on the show that aired Oct. 5, 2017, and boosted his total winnings to more than $300,000. Rogers' on-screen antics are winning him a cult following. (Jeopardy Productions, Inc. via AP)\nRelated View Larger FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2011, file photo, Alex Trebek, host of the 'Jeopardy!' quiz show, speaks to an audience of primarily media about an upcoming 'Jeopardy!' show featuring IBM's 'Watson' in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. New York City bartender Austin Rogers extended his run of wins to eight on the show that aired Oct. 5, 2017, and boosted his total winnings to more than $300,000. Rogers' on-screen antics are winning him a cult following.\nThe Associated Press", "Please enable Javascript to watch this video\nThe super bowl is nearly here, but it seems the NFL is taking a big hit to its core audience. These days, it seems like a lot of people aren`t watching as much as they used to.\nThat doesn`t mean people won't be watching in big crowds this Sunday. In fact, nearly 14 million people will be watching so hard on Super Bowl Sunday that they`ll be celebrating #SuperSickMonday as well.\nA survey by Mucinex says millions of people will likely call in sick on Monday. However, it`s not clear if all of those people are actually sick or just hungover.\nHealthy or not, you can bet those people know at least a little about football.\nThat's something you can`t say about a group of jeopardy contestants who competed Thursday. Not one of the contestants even attempted to hit their buzzer for any of the clues from the \"talking football category\".\nIt's safe to say those three, at least, will show up for work on Monday; a coin flip for everyone else.", "Champion Austin Rogers is the second hit on a Google search for Jeopardy! right now. Why? Because he's a refreshing no-holds-barred contestant on the famously dry TV game show.\nThe gregarious Rogers is a New York City-based bartender with a 70's anchorman look who's made headlines of late, thanks to his wacky demeanor and subsequent success: he racked up $69,000 in a single episode, and has been the show's champion for the last eight nights with winnings totaling $306,900.\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nBut it's his charisma—not so much his winning streak—that's enchanted viewers on the internet:\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nOver the course of his still-going eight-episode run, Rogers has deadpanned his way through nearly every correct answer with the finesse of a comedian.\nAlex Trebek introduced the champion best: \"He's got hair, he's got chutzpah, and broad-based knowledge. He's got quite the showman in him.\"\nYou can watch Rogers ham it up on 'Jeopardy!' tonight at 7pm EST.", "You have to go through some pretty impressive testing to get on the game show Jeopardy.\nYou have to be not just smart, but, well versed on a vast array of subjects including pop culture.\nWelp, these contestants on “Jeopardy” don’t seem to know anything about football.\nSo, in honor of it being Superbowl weekend, let’s enjoy knowing more about something than these super smart people.\nEven if it is just for a minute….lol", "“Let’s look at the $1,000 clue just for the fun of it,” host Alex Trebek joked during the category.\nComments", "RuPaul sashayed away from her duties as the host of RuPaul's Drag Race and joined game show host Alex Trebek for a night of trivia on Jeopardy! .\nDuring Monday night's (April 23) episode, Mama Ru was a special guest presenter and provided clues to contestants from her very own category titled \"A RuView of Movies.\" Naturally, the category featured notable actors who had undergone some sort of transformation for their role, with nods to John Travolta in his Hairspray role , Robin Williams's performance as Mrs. Doubtfire, as well as Tyler Perry's recurring role as Madea.\nFollowing the episode, social media took to their timelines to express appreciation for RuPaul's special appearance, especially the team up between two such iconic hosts. \"The RuPaul-Jeopardy cross over was absolutely the best cross over I've ever seen,\" one user tweeted. Another follower was particularly excited and used caps-lock to express their excitement, tweeting: \"RUPAUL ON JEOPARDY IS THE MASH UP I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED AND NOW MY LIFE IS COMPLETE.\"\nUnfortunately, not everyone was supportive of the appearance. Users on Facebook left a number of homophobic comments on a Jeopardy! video, mirroring a similar incident that had occurred when someone had trolled Christina Aguilera for an appearance she made on Drag Race earlier this season. Despite the negative comments, others were more than happy to shut the haters down and have fun with the special evening, dubbing it \"iconic\" and emotional.\nThe duo's work together might not end there though. Users have shared on Twitter that Alex announced he'd be guest judging on a future episode of Drag Race . Nothing has been officially confirmed or announced, but we'll keep our fingers crossed for an appearance from Alex soon.\nWe'll take Worlds Collide for $800 while we wait.\nRelated: RuPaul's Drag Race Troll Got Shut Down By Netflix\nCheck this out:", "02/02/18: A Behind the Scenes Look at New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady\n18:10 | 02/02/18 | NR | CC\nFrom the rambunctious to the devoted: Meet some of Philadelphia Eagles' fans; 'Jeopardy!' contestants hilariously fail entire football category", "After auditioning four times, Zach Dark of Hoover recently satisfied his lifelong dream of competing on the trivia game show \"Jeopardy!\"\nNot only that, the investment analyst at Regions Bank was a two-day champion on the show last week, winning a whopping $50,201.\n\"It was exciting,\" Dark said of competing on the show that he grew up watching. \"It went fast. It was over before I realized it.\"\nDark said he and his wife, Lauren, a math teacher at Homewood High School, flew out to Los Angles in December to film the show. They had never been to Los Angeles before, so they decided to make a vacation out of the experience. They saw the Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame, the Ronald Reagan Library and walked on the beach in Malibu.\nOn the day he was set to film, Dark's name was drawn first, he said. Five \"Jeopardy!\" Shows are filmed in a day.\nDark said he was nervous to compete, at first, but the \"laidback environment\" and the practice the contestants received before filming helped calm him down.\n\"The excitement of actually competing took over,\" he said, of filming. \"You just forget about the cameras really.\"\nDark's three episodes were shot in succession with him having to change clothes in between shows.\n\"The first day I did really well,\" he said, of his $29,000 first game win. \"I don't want to sound like I was bragging. It was just never really in doubt. I got off to a fast start.\"\nDark's strongest categories are math, American history, politics and sports.\nHe won his first game by answering, Medicare, to this Final Jeopardy! question: \"In 1982, when Bess Truman died, she had been enrolled in this government program for about 17 years, longer than anyone else.\"\nSince the show airs at 2:30 p.m. in Birmingham, Dark said he watched his first show on March 12 with friends and colleagues at work. That night he had a watch party with friends from church.\nWhat does Dark plan to do with his winnings?\nDark said he and his wife's young family, which includes a 2-year-old son and dog, have outgrown their home. They plan to buy a bigger home in the area.\nUpdated at 2:50 p.m. to correct the amount of Dark's \"Jeopardy!\" winnings.", "Even Jimmy Fallon wants to party with viral “Jeopardy” contestant Austin Rogers.\nRogers — a New York City bartender who has accumulated over $300,000 during an eight-day winning streak on the show — was spotted drinking at The Gaf West, where he works, when the “Tonight Show” host joined him for a round.\nWe’re told Fallon has been to the Midtown bar a few times and knew Rogers before he became an overnight internet sensation.\nA spy tells us Rogers was chatting with a group of women about the secret to his “Jeopardy” success and how he has to “ride out the fame while he has it.”\nFallon and Rogers, who taped his episodes earlier this year, left together to drink at another bar.\nLast week, Fallon wished Rogers luck on the show, tweeting, “Austin, give my best to Trebek. Proud of you! #OG #OriginalGaf’r”\nDuring a “Good Morning America” segment on Thursday, Rogers explained, “I’m not going to say there’s a system or a code, but if you watch enough, you’ll start seeing things repeat. … If it ever says “Romanian poet,” it’ll be [Eugène] Ionesco. I have no idea who Ionesco is, but I’ve seen that come up three times in episodes across the decades.”\nEnjoy your moment, Austin.", "Popular game show Jeopardy isn’t know for its prevalence of sports trivia.\nBut at the same time, most Jeopardy contestants aren’t totally clueless in the realm of athletics.\nOr maybe they are.\nContestants on Thursday’s episode had a clean sweep completely whiffing the “Talkin’ Football” category during the Double Jeopardy round.\nNot only did the trio not get a correct answer — none of them could even utter a guess.\nHost Alex Trebek was at a loss for words.\nFormer Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Mora could probably related.\n“Playoffs? You’re talking about playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? I was just hoping we can win a game,” the coach infamously said after a bad game.\nTrebek was just hoping for a guess. The first question for $200: “Your choice: do or don’t name this play in which the QB runs the ball and can choose to pitch it to another back.”\nCrickets.\n“An option play,” Trebek said flatly. He only got a nervous chuckle from the contestant as a response.\n“I can tell you are big football fans,” quipped the host before delivering the next prompt.\nThe second question, worth $400: “Tom Landry perfected the shotgun formation with this team.”\nAgain, silence. Deep down, you could hear all of Texas screaming the answer to their television.\n“Dallas Cowboys,” Trebek stated, clearly seeing where things were going. “Do you think we should go to commercial?”\nNumber three, worth $600: “By signaling for one of these, a returner can reel in a kick without fear of getting tackled.”\nNo answer.\nTrebek raised his right arm as a kick returner would. “A fair catch.”\nIt didn’t get much better for the contestants.\nThe fourth question, worth $800: “These ‘penalties’ are simultaneous violations by the offense and defense that cancel each other out.”\nThe contestants again froze.\n“They are called offsetting penalties,” Trebek informed the panel. “Let’s look at the the $1000 clue just for the fun of it.”\nIt was the only one left on the board — and it was a video clue.\n“As U.S. Bank Stadium prepares to host Super Bowl 52, I’m looking at the Ring of Honor with the names from this defensive line that took the [Minnesota] Vikings to four Super Bowls,” the show’s Jimmy McGuire said on a video from the field in the stadium.\n“If you guys ring in and get this, I’m will die,” Trebek declared dramatically.\nThe contestants chuckled, but the host didn’t give them a chance to answer — for good reason.\n“Who are the Purple People Eaters.”\nThere is one person who may feel Trebek’s pain.", "Photo: Jeopardy!\n​I was beginning to think I was falling out of love with Jeopardy! Earlier this year, for the third time, I auditioned for the show. And, for the third time, they didn’t take me. They never confirm you’re not wanted — they just never call. Gutting.\nStill, I couldn’t stop watching, hoping to learn something by examining which prospectives the show did take. The dull retirees; the pale nerds; the “New Mexico’s Foremost Collector of Pyrite” types … what could they possess that I lack? Not youth, not game-playing skill, not flair. Why were they there, while I was here? And then along came Austin Rogers.\nRogers, who describes himself as a bartender from New York, has won the show’s last eight nights. His cash winnings total $306,900. And he is like no champion who has come before him. First off, no one has won that much money that quickly. He steamrolls through categories and brings derring-do to Daily Doubles. He wagers boldly and answers correctly. On Tuesday night, he won $69,000, providing 24 correct responses and no incorrect ones.\nNumbers cannot explain, though, how Rogers’s style has upset the game’s natural order. Wearing a misshapen pile of hair atop his head and a thick beard on his face — but sharp coats and ties, always — he is both unkempt and natty by the show’s drab standards. And the clothes are just the beginning. Rogers plays with joy and an attitude. During the show’s opening, when each (silent) contestant is introduced by announcer Johnny Gilbert, Rogers mugs and pantomimes. He’s a showman. When he had to reply to a clue with “the Eagles,” he grumbled. When he aced a Daily Double, he punched his arm across his body in exaltation.\nAnd then there’s his banter with host Alex Trebek. Clearly each has boundless contempt for the other. Trebek can’t stand Austin’s jokes. Austin can’t stand Trebek’s presentation. When a sneering Trebek asked Rogers how he “got to be so smart,” Rogers deadpanned: “Genetics. Luck. Karma.” What about school?, Trebek asked. Pfft, Austin replied.\nI watch Jeopardy! because I love trivia, and the show’s trivia offerings are better than those of any competitor. But what makes the show unique (and uniquely aggravating) is its solemn punctiliousness, enforced by Trebek, who delights in humbling contestants. The show styles itself as syndicated TV’s last refuge for sophisticates — I mean, sure, but anything would be, compared to Maury and Inside Edition — and a meritocracy, too. No Wheel of Fortune–style free money here! Cash comes by way of studying. The game’s great champions are teachers, accountants, lawyers. They wager conservatively; they play and dress modestly. The audience is meant to believe their knowledge is but a fraction of what makes them excel, that dutiful reverence for the game matters, too.\nBut Rogers is a rapscallion. He’s a 38-year-old man whose get-to-know-the-contestant interviews have included stories about getting drunk with his buddies, and falling asleep at a Korn/Disturbed show. He is precisely the sort of person who is not supposed to win on Jeopardy! And he is winning like no one ever has before. Marooned on my couch, 3,000 miles from Culver City, I feel like I’m winning, too.", "RuPaul made a guest appearance on Jeopardy! last night, challenging contestants with drag-related questions about movies.\nTyler Perry, Nathan Lane and Gene Hackman, Robin Williams, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, and John Travolta, all came up. No doubt most of you will know the answers to these. The Jeopardy! contestants did too.\nWatch the clip above.\nJeopardy! host Alex Trebek revealed, at the end of the segment, that he’d be appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race as a guest.\n(via nnn)", "“The thing is, all he (Lynch) has to do is stand up for two minutes and he can still have whatever beliefs he wants. Go with what looks good for the game and to the people,” Olson said. “He (Goodell) makes rules and, ‘You do this, you do that,’ why can’t he just say ‘You stand up. You can believe what you want or do what you want. Just stand up like a man.’”", "Jeopardy! has been on the air, in one form or another, since the 1960s. The modern Alex Trebek-hosted incarnation of the show—whose famous theme song is now in your head (sorry!)—began in 1984 and still airs about 230 episodes every year.\nThere is an art to a Jeopardy! clue. Its answers-in-search-of-questions exude a certain tone and tenor that’s different from trivia offerings from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, HQ, The Weakest Link, or even a throwback like You Bet Your Life. But the writer’s room is also a factory, one that must churn out 61 clues per episode, which adds up to hundreds of thousands of clues aired during the show’s long run.\nA good question has to get one of three reactions\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nBilly Wisse joined the show 28 years ago and worked his way through the ranks, first as a researcher, then as a writer. Wisse, who has been the head Jeopardy! writer for the past seven years, walks us through how to think about a clue, and what goes into an episode of \"America’s Favorite Quiz Show.\"\nThe Spark of an Idea\n“There’s a saying in quiz shows,” Wisse says, “that a good question has to get one of three reactions: ‘I knew that,’ or ‘darn I should have known that,’ or ‘I didn’t know that, but now I’m glad I do.’ That’s basically what we’re looking for.”\nHe oversees a staff of eight writers. Another eight researchers to double-check the facts. Researchers ensure that the facts are independently verified, and that spellings and other details are correct. This usually requires two or more independent sources per question. Both the researchers and writers work on what is called “pinning” in the jargon of Jeopardy!. Pinning means sorting out that there is for sure only one possible answer. Of course, sometimes as we’ve seen in the show, the judges will accept one of two answers, but that’s the upper ceiling of multiple choices.\n“If you find that there are half a dozen other rodents also acceptable based on that description you gave of that one squirrel, then you need to rewrite the clue and tighten it up so it’s just the one squirrel,” Wisse says. “Pinning is really a tricky thing [...] in my experience, I would not have thought it was such a problem, but there are an amazing number of facts and qualities and assertions that apply to many different kinds of the same thing.”\nThe spark of an idea might come from anywhere—current events, a chance event—but once it does, the writer is responsible for writing that out into a whole category. Thankfully, there are thousands upon thousands of books in the Jeopardy! library, stretching back to the Art Fleming era, though Wisse admits there’s still plenty of Internet research that goes into your average question. Still, travel guides and textbooks are regularly updated to ensure they aren’t too out of date.\nWisse oversees the order of the questions, though the writers do sometimes end up in contentious debates over that order. “We hash it out, and hopefully you put the easiest clue at the top,” Wisse says. “The number one should never really be missed, and when it is, it’s annoying.”\nTrue Clue\nHow does a clue get made? I ask Wisse to talk us through one in particular.\nThe episode in question aired on July 4, 2000. The category is “Let’s Have a Ball.” The clue: “Sink it and you’ve scratched.”\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nDid you get it? The answer (or the question, rather) is, “What is the cue ball.”\nThe other clues in this category are somewhat more straightforward. For $200, “This demolition tool swings from a cable attached to a crane” (a wrecking ball). For $400, “It's a naphthalene sphere to repel a lepidopteran” (a moth ball.) “Sink it and you’ve scratched,” was the $100 clue, but it has a little more guile to it than the others, Wisse says.\n“It's a naphthalene sphere to repel a lepidopteran”\n“In that category, the title is ‘let’s have a ball.’ The nice thing about having [a] category title that gives that much information is that then you can have shorter clues,” Wisse says. “If that category was just in a more random category, like ‘games’ or something like that, it would be tougher. But since you’re already telling them it’s a category about balls, you can have a short clue and the information needed is still going to be conveyed.” There’s a little more flexibility to be clever or coy.\nThen there are the core subjects Trebek reliably revisits—Shakespeare, the dreaded opera category, geography. On October 17, 2017, the show aired what The Ringer called “The worst game in Jeopardy! History” after the winner walked away with a single dollar. All three players whiffed on the Final Jeopardy clue: “It’s the only country that borders both the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.” One contestant responded with “What is Tibet,” which is not an independent country and far from the Caspian Sea. Another guessed Azerbaijan, which borders only the Caspian. Manny Abell bet $999 on the response “What is Iraq?”\nHe was one letter off. The answer was Iran. At least he saved that last dollar.\n“In geography, obviously, there are only so many places so we do end up covering the same ground regularly,” Wisse says. “Where we can we try to find an interesting fact if something has come into the news.”\nCategories within the arts often stay relatively the same. Unless a new fact emerges, a piece of literature or other work isn’t going to change much. “Sometimes we’ll have a glut of anagrams or Shakespeare or something, and those will sit around for literally years,” Wisse says. “It sort of depends on what the needs are of the material at any given time.” But science questions tend to be updated more regularly, as science is ever-changing. Statistics, facts, and figures tend to move over time as more data accumulates. This is why the writer’s room also keeps their science book supply regularly updated.\nWeirdly, “What is Popular Mechanics?” was a recent correct response, though Wisse says that clue is a couple years old, so it’s entirely coincidental to our interview.\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nBetting Big\nThree Daily Doubles lurk during each episode. Strategically minded fans know these are make-or-break moments. Wager aggressively, answer correctly and you can jump ahead in the game. Go big and get it wrong and you’re way in the back of the pack.\nWhen Wisse and the writers choose one of the clues in a round (or two in the second round) to be a Daily Double, they’re looking for something that stands our from its category, a clue with a higher degree of difficulty or a bit of a twist to it. When a player is laying extra money on the line, he or she should be get a challenge.\n“Maybe you have to have another piece of knowledge to get you to what we’re going for, rather than just ‘do I know that or do I not,’” Wisse says. “They’re not always clues that lend themselves to that, but that’s the theory of a Daily Double.”\nThe very last question in a game—Final Jeopardy—has an art to it, and are written separately from the rest of the game. They’re also debated among the writing team in their own special meetings. “Everybody is always writing Final Jeopardies, and we’ll have a whole separate meeting where we’ll go over Final Jeopardies and figure out if they’re too hard or too easy, if they need to be tweaked.”\nThose Final Jeopardies then go on to executive producer Harry Friedman to approval before they can be cycled into the regular writing of a game. The writers, relatively complete Final Jeopardies in hand, are then chosen for their uniqueness when contrasted with the rest of the game that day. This is the final assembly on the part of the writers before the episode moves on to the next step.\n“If you have a history category in Double Jeopardy, you probably won’t have a history category in final,” Wisse says. “We try to balance the game and have the Final Jeopardy be on something else that the game is not heavy in.”\nSo what if—theoretically—everyone goes into Final Jeopardy with a negative score? The Jeopardy! website states, “In the event all three contestants have $0 (zero) or minus amounts at the end of Double Jeopardy , no Final Jeopardy round would be played.” But this has never happened, so the rule has yet to be put to the test, and the site suggests that they might make up a rule on the fly should this happen.\nThere has been a Final Jeopardy with just one contestant. It was … awkward.\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nThen there’s Celebrity Jeopardy. (No, not the Saturday Night Live skit. The real thing.) Sometimes it’s written with a little more cunning and fun. One episode with Pat Sajak required celebs to combine singer and president names into a cohesive name. (“\"B-B-B-B-Bennie!\" Bennie Franklin! You & I negotiated peace with Britain in the 1780s.” Correct response: “Who is Elton John Adams?”) This is also when, for instance, Wisse and his writers have inserted a category with different clues but the same answer—sometimes with one just a little bit different. (Though this has also happened in normal Jeopardy! as well.)\nWisse says part of this intentional tomfoolery is because the celebrities don’t have as much to lose. “In celebrity games, you don’t want to trick the celebrities, but you can be playful because they’re playing for charity so you’re not going to mess with anyone’s livelihood,” he says.\nActors James Denton, Bebe Neuwirth and Neil Patrick Harris during a rehearsal for Celebrity Jeopardy at Radio City Music Hall on October 08, 2006 in New York City. Getty Images\nNo Chicanery\nOnce the Jeopardy! team has assembled an entire game, the whole thing goes into a “black box” of sorts at the Compliance and Practices division, which uses an outside company to ensure maximum fairness to the contestants. Wisse says this happens to eliminate any appearance of “chicanery,” the sort of rigged quiz games of yore. In the 1950s, the game show Twenty One was discovered to be rigged, resulting in a lengthy and public fallout that went all the way to Congress and was fictionalized in the 1994 movie Quiz Show.\n\"If you have history in Double Jeopardy, you probably won’t have a history category in final.\"\nCompliance and Practices sends back a randomly selected game for the day and a list of contestants. They also sit in on filming to ensure fairness if a question proves controversial or to have more than one answer.\n“There are only a certain number of people showing up that day, but they randomly select which contestants are going to play which games, so there’s no linkage between any of the material. then, the person who’s there all through shooting, so if there’s alternate answer that we have to accept or reject, it’s done in a way that’s fair to all three contestants.\nGetty Images\nAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below\nJeopardy! isn’t filmed every day. The crew shoots five episodes at a time, two days per week, from July to April. This is when Trebek is around the office, working 7 a.m. to the end of filming. The writers are on stand-by in case any last minute conflicts arise. Trebek has a final veto of every question that goes into the show.\n“He’ll often ask that a clue be reworded,” Wisse says. “He’ll sometimes say that a clue is in questionable taste or derogatory toward someone, and he doesn’t want to do it. He’s fairly sensitive to that.”\nPerhaps surprisingly, given the intensive production schedule that requires up to 13,800 clues and 230 Final Jeopardies per season, is that there’s not much overtime to the job. At the end of film days, the writers and researchers may go over the episode in a given day and figure out any room for improvement in the future. There’s no real chaos, no late night meetings. When I first called Wisse, he was just on his way to work, waiting to arrive by 9 a.m. and put in his eight hours.\n“We’re very lucky,” he says, “we’ve got a pretty good routine day. Toward the end of the taping year, when we’re putting materials together closer to when we’re taping it, we put in 9 or 10 hour days, but otherwise it’s a 9 to 5 job.”", "TONIGHT: While Stephen is super excited for this weekend's big game, it seems like the President is doing his best to avoid it. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/afHylg0bo9", "The knowledge of two Ellicott City natives will be tested on \"Jeopardy\" this week during the College Championship, as they compete for $100,000 and a spot in the Tournament of Champions.\nCentennial High School graduates Clarissa Santori, 20, and Gary Tse, 18, filmed their \"Jeopardy\" episodes for the two-week tournament alongside 13 other contestants last month in Los Angeles. Quarterfinals began on Monday, with Santori's episode airing today and Tse's episode scheduled to air on Friday, Feb. 17 on the Fox network.\nSusie Eun, publicity manager for \"Jeopardy,\" said nine contestants will advance to the semifinals next week, with three contestants competing in the two-day finals.\nJeopardy photo Centennial High School graduate Gary Tse, 18, filmed his “Jeopardy” episode for the two-week tournament alongside 14 other contestants last month in Los Angeles. Centennial High School graduate Gary Tse, 18, filmed his “Jeopardy” episode for the two-week tournament alongside 14 other contestants last month in Los Angeles. (Jeopardy photo)\nPotomac resident Alex Bourzutschky, a junior at California Institute of Technology, is also representing Maryland.\nSantori, a senior at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., described the experience on the show as \"surreal,\" especially after meeting game show host Alex Trebek for the first time on-air. Last fall, the 2013 Centennial High graduate said, she decided to take the show's online test for a chance to be on the show. Following more testing and a rigorous 100-person audition process in October in New York City, Santori said she got the final call in December.\n\"I was like, 'Oh my goodness' [and] trying to play it cool while I'm celebrating in the dorm hallway,\" Santori said. \"It was so much fun. I thought I was going to be nervous, but once I got there, the game went so fast that I felt like I didn't even have time to be nervous. I got into my question-and-answer mode.\"\nHer two competitors are students at California Institute of Technology and Stetson University.\nSantori said she played trivia in high school in the It's Academic Club and participated in quiz bowl tournaments that test students on topics such as history, science, art, sports and pop culture.\nWhen Santori was a senior at Centennial, Tse said he was a freshman and new member of the club. Now a midshipman 4th class, Tse said he will compete against a University of Kentucky student and a Georgetown University student.\nJeopardy photo Centennial High School graduate Clarissa Santori, 20, filmed her “Jeopardy” episode for the two-week tournament alongside 14 other contestants last month in Los Angeles. Centennial High School graduate Clarissa Santori, 20, filmed her “Jeopardy” episode for the two-week tournament alongside 14 other contestants last month in Los Angeles. (Jeopardy photo)\n\"I've been watching \"Jeopardy\" since middle school and I always wanted to be on the show,\" Tse said. \"It was more like a vague dream until some of my friends were chosen for the College Championship last year. That really inspired me. … To get in as a freshman was pretty cool because I had every intention to try every year if I didn't make it.\"\nMaggie Speak, \"Jeopardy\" contestant coordinator, said they were surprised to learn they had two contestants from Ellicott City, who were both \"terrific contestants.\" After passing the online quiz, Speak said, contestants are randomly selected.\nThe former classmates said they were proud to represent their hometown on \"Jeopardy\" and excited to watch their episodes with family and friends.\n\"I'm definitely excited to see it. There's so much I don't even remember,\" Santori said. \"It'll definitely be interesting to see. Everyone is just so excited to see me be a part of this.\"\nTse said his Naval Academy company will host a viewing party for his episode on Friday.\n\"It's going to be fun watching it with friends,\" he said. \"… The whole experience was a blur for me, so it's going to be cool to watch that.\"", "Austin Rogers is not your typical Jeopardy! champion.\nSure, he's got brains — answering rapid-fire trivia in the form of a question to the tune of $278,000 in winnings.\nBut Rogers, a New York City bartender, has also got plenty of flair (not to mention hair!). His goofy contestant intro segments are far from the stiff pose and awkward smile that have become a mainstay of America's Favorite Quiz Show. In one, he pretends to be talking on a phone; in another, he shifts to profile and mimes opening a bottle.\nWhenever he gets an answer correct, he breaks into what he describes as \"celebratory histrionics.\"\nAnd to top it all off, he bets big!\nSome say he's the best thing to happen to the game show since IBM's Watson trounced its human Jeopardy! opponents six years ago. Rogers has even spawned his own trending hashtag, #austinonjeopardy.\nMy boyfriend and I desperately want to have #AustinonJeopardy make us a hipster cocktail. Who do I call to make that happen? — Sarah A (@_SarahAir) September 29, 2017\nThere are two types of people in this world: people that like #austinonjeopardy and people that don’t matter. — Jay Bennett (@JayBennay) September 29, 2017\n\"He's got hair; he's got chutzpah. He's got broad-based knowledge,\" Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek says.\nElsewhere, Rogers has been described as a cross between actor Zach Galifianakis and Martin Prince, the teacher's pet character from The Simpsons.\nShorn of his signature mop-top, Rogers told ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday that he doesn't own a television but nonetheless found ways to watch \"hundreds upon hundreds of episodes\" of the game show in preparation for his first appearance.\n\"I'm not going to say that there's a system or a code, but if you watch enough, you'll start seeing things repeat,\" he says.\nExample? \"If it ever says 'sculptor' it's probably going to be Auguste Rodin. If it ever says 'American sculptor,' it'll probably be Alexander Calder. If it ever says 'Romanian poet,' it'll be Eminescu.\"\n\"I have no idea who Eminescu is, but I've seen that come up three times in episodes across the decades,\" he says.\nAsked by Trebek how he got to be so smart, Rogers replies drolly: \"Genetics. Luck. Karma.\"\nWhat about school? \"School? Nah!\" he scoffs with a wave of the hand.", "Luke McGarry\nThere's savagery, and then there's artist Luke McGarry and his Orange Feathers this week. I asked him to tackle the release of OJ Simpsons from prison; he responded by not only doing that, but playing off those ridiculous Nissan \"Heisman House\" commercials that has former Heisman Trophy winners mug for the cameras as they stand in front of colored screens.\nAs usual, Luke is too much of a savage to offer an artist's statement, so I will: HAHAHAHAHA! BRILLIANT!", "Trump thinks the U.S. should create a space fleet, Rugby League Commission Chairman doesn't know the teams, TV presenter has a X rated slip up.", "\"Frankly, the judging was just off,\" George Shea, the longtime Coney Island announcer, told the Associated Press. \"Joey said, 'Look at my plates' and Carmen said, 'Look at my plates.' We counted the plates that they had eaten and it was 64 and 74.\"", "Cadets Alan Hang, Jackwin Hui, Albert Gu and Raymond Sun from Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego, compete at the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Leadership and Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., June 24. (Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank)\nThe Air Force took top honors for the third year in a row at the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Leadership and Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., June 23-25.\nThe Air Force Junior ROTC team from Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego, battled it out to take home the trophy for a third time.\nEven for returning champions, there was still a level of uncertainty on the tough competition from the other services.\n“For me the most difficult part was definitely not knowing how the other teams are doing - what their strengths and weaknesses are,” said Cadet Jackwin Hui, from Scripps Ranch High School. “So going into each new game it’s an entirely new scenario and really just approaching what needed to be done”\nTelevision host Alex Trebek and his production team from the game show “Jeopardy” added to the excitement of this year’s competition, interviewing cadets for an upcoming teen version of the show. While the Junior ROTC Academic Bowl is an educational program designed to prepare students for high school exit and college entrance exams, it also served to educate Trebek.\nTelevision icon Alex Trebek speaks to cadets participating in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Leadership and Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., June 24. Trebek and his production team from the game show “Jeopardy” interviewed participating cadets for a chance to qualify and be selected for the Jeopardy Teen Tournament. (Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank)\n“This event for me is an eye-opener,” Trebek said. “I had heard of ROTC. I had not heard about Junior ROTC and all of the goals that it tries to fulfill for the young students before they get to college.”\nThe Junior ROTC Academic Bowl is a multi-level competition for high school Junior ROTC units to participate in throughout the school year. Following online qualifying rounds, 16 teams traveled to Washington, D.C., to compete for the chance to represent the Air Force in the championship round. This year, 327 Air Force Junior ROTC teams participated, an increase of 80 teams from last year’s competition.\nThe competition includes a mix of Junior ROTC curriculum, English, Math and Science, all skills that contribute to the Air Force Junior ROTC core mission of developing citizens of character.\n“Our goal is to support our country,” said Col. Paul Lips, Director Air Force Junior ROTC. “But, these are high school kids and they are learning what it takes to succeed by showing hard work and dedication to a team, putting the team first, and going out there and competing.”\nRepresenting the Air Force from Scripps Ranch High School were cadets Raymond Sun, Albert Gu, Alan Hang and Jackwin Hui, led by their Junior ROTC instructors, Lt. Col. Michael Sheldon and Master Sgt. Ferdinand Toledo.\n“This competition is a true testament to the word teamwork,” said Scotty Lewis, deputy director of Air Force Junior ROTC. “To prepare a winning team took countless hours of preparation, discipline and studying from the team, as well as guidance provided by the instructors and team mentors, to compete at the level required.”\nCadets Alan Hang, Jackwin Hui, Albert Gu and Raymond Sun from Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego, celebrate their third win at the Junior ROTC Academic Bowl in Washington, D.C., June 25 with Col. Paul Lips (left), director of Air Force JROTC, and instructor Lt. Col. Michael Sheldon (right), Junior ROTC instructor at Scripps Ranch High School. (Photo: Courtesy photo)\nRead or Share this story: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2018/07/03/air-force-jrotc-soars-third-win-row-bowl/757444002/", "When Republican senators heard about Montana congressional candidate Greg Gianforte body-slamming a reporter who was so rude as to ask him a question about health care, they apparently said to themselves, \"We need to make sure that never happens to us.\" So the answer they came up with was to minimize the terrifying prospect that they'd have to answer questions from the press when they didn't want to.", "If you doubt that New York City breeds the smartest...\nA. This New Yorker left a dozen “Jeopardy” opponents crying in their beer.\nQ. Who is Manhattan bartender Austin Rogers?\nThe 39-year-old quiz king, who won $411,000 and the admiration of millions during a 12-game winning streak on “Jeopardy” last fall, is still slinging suds Fridays and Sundays at Gaf West in Hell’s Kitchen.\nHis goofy gesticulations, unkempt hair and wild wagers resonated with “Jeopardy” diehards like 30-year-old Maryland mortgage analyst Amanda Sparks, who traveled to the 48th Street gin mill recently to get a glimpse of her game-show gladiator.\n“Oh my god, it really is him!” Sparks gushed. “My hands are sweaty, my heart’s racing!”\nRogers — fifth all-time on the show’s leader board — stopped to pose for a photo with a beaming Sparks, who explained his appeal.\n“He had a bit of personality to go along with the way he was kicking everybody’s ass,” she recalled.\nIn between Bud Lights, Ryan Doyle, 23, tried to stump Rogers with an HQ trivia question about the earliest form of contraception.\n“The Egyptians used crocodile dung!” Rogers correctly crackled.\nHost Alex Trebek once described Rogers to viewers: “He’s got hair, he’s got chutzpah and broad-based knowledge.”\nRogers mixes minutiae and cocktails simultaneously at his 12-stool stage, as patrons pepper him with queries about his favorite book (“Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898”); whether he has a photographic memory (“I do not, but I just remember everything.”); and what’s Trebek like offstage (“There is no offstage. He only interacts onstage.”).\nRogers, grew up in Westchester the son of a park ranger and veterinary worker. He attended Macalester College in Minnesota where he studied music and history. He was an events planner with the Asia Society on Park Avenue for a decade and worked in digital advertising for two years before a company merger left him unemployed.\nThe Spanish Harlem resident began bartending out of necessity — he was out of work for about two years.\n“This was my local bar for 16 years. I used to live right around the corner,” he said. So instead of crying in his beer, he decided to serve it.\nHe asked owners Pete Smith and Pat Heenan about his training. “They said, ‘Just bartend, Austin,’ ” he recalled.\n“He’s hilarious!” said Gaf West regular Rohan Kamerkar, 32, who knew Rogers before his “Jeopardy” star turn. “He’s the same guy. … He always knew the most useless information. Or what I thought was useless.”\nRogers believes he won big on “Jeopardy” — $463,000 total, counting $2,000 the day he lost, and $50,000 during November’s “Tournament of Champions” — because he didn’t get flustered when the cameras rolled.\n“I’ve been under the lights before. I’ve been a musician, I’ve done standup,” he said. He has even hosted trivia nights at the pub.\nRogers confessed some guilt in that he played up the bartender “narrative” for the quiz show.\n“A corporate events planner from New York? Or a digital advertising douchebag from New York? But a bartender from New York, everyone is like, ‘He’s one of us!’ And I’m like, “actually not, I’m super educated. But you can believe it — if you really want!’” he laughed.\n“ You know what sucks? Desks.”\nRogers said the other question people ask the most is why he continues to bartend. The answer is easy.\n“I am so happy, the second I get behind the bar. … You hang out with your friends all night — and they pay you for it.”", "“It would be nice if he clues us in, because sitting out the national anthem is a big deal. While waiting for word from Planet Marshawn, here’s my wild guess:\nThe sit-down wasn’t unintentional or accidental. Lynch has a distinctive style. He runs hard into people on the field, and he runs hard into authority off the field, and he makes no apologies.\nIf he is protesting, here’s one thing I would like to know: Lynch’s sit-down took place a few hours after the violent ugliness in Charlottesville, Va., and after the president of the United States declined to condemn the hate groups responsible for the deadly violence.\nIs Lynch protesting that violence? Is he protesting in support of Colin Kaepernick, who remains unemployed even though NFL teams are now signing backup quarterbacks from beach pickup games?\nIf Lynch chooses not to explain his sit-down, he surrenders any power a protest might have.”", "This morning, Karen & Jeffrey talked to Austin Tyler Rogers, the NYC native who has gone viral after winning eight games in a row on Jeopardy.\nAustin talked about whether he thought the other contestants are hating on him, his betting style and whether he will continue bartending in the city after winning $306,900 in prize winnings.\nListen above to hear Austin play some Jeopardy with Karen & Jeffrey!\nRead more about Austin Tyler Rogers HERE.\n-Producer Tarin/Karen & Jeffrey", "How did President Trump do when it came to responding to the crises of Puerto Rico and Las Vegas? And NFL Quarterback Cam Newton is taking the heat for his sexist comments to a female reporter. Did his apology suffice? Bob Reid weighs in on this week’s Touchdowns and Fumbles.", "A New York City bartender's on-screen antics and big bets while competing on \"Jeopardy!\" are winning him cash to go along with a cult following.\nBy the end of Thursday's show, Austin Rogers had won eight days in a row and more than $300,000. \"Jeopardy!\" says that total put him at fifth on the show's list of all-time regular season money winners. Rogers has done it while sporting wild hair and a bushy beard and making animated gestures after correct answers.\nHe's also making big wagers. Rogers won a whopping $34,000 bet on the show's \"Final Jeopardy\" segment Tuesday.\nFans are singing his praises on Twitter by using the hashtag #AustinOnJeopardy.\nRogers tells \"Good Morning America\" that the secret to his success is uncovering patterns in clues by watching hundreds of \"Jeopardy!\" episodes." ]

[ "The Welsh government has commissioned the study to improve the commercial performance of historical and culturally important places.\nIt is expected to report back to ministers by the end of March.\nBaroness Jenny Randerson, who is leading the review, said Wales needed a more unified image of its heritage.\nThe Welsh Liberal Democrat peer added the fact that Wales is a small country had pros and cons in the promotion of its attractions.\n\"The disadvantage is that we don't have a vast number of tourist visitor sites, we don't have a vast number old houses, shall we say, in comparison with England,\" she said.\n\"But we do have huge quality and we have the advantage of being able to work closely together in a way in which it's difficult to do in a country as big as England.\"\nShe added it was \"vital that our heritage organisations work closely together to maximise our cultural influence and the success of our tourist industry\".\nBaroness Randerson was appointed parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Wales Office in 2012 and her portfolio includes culture and tourism.\nShe was minister for culture, sport and the Welsh language in the Welsh government from 2000 to 2003." ]

[ "Director general David Anderson told the assembly's culture committee he feared a loss of effectiveness.\nThe Welsh Government is looking to merge the commercial functions of both bodies under the banner Historic Wales.\nEconomy Secretary Ken Skates has said that he wants to see the institutions become more financially resilient.\nMr Anderson told AMs on Wednesday: \"If we lose management control of key functions we are being tied by the legs at that point.\n\"It becomes very hard to be effective as an entity\", he added.\nHe said while it may look as though only certain functions are being taken, commercial activity and core work are \"deeply integrated with each other\", citing the example of a recent dinosaur project.\nMr Anderson questioned how good it would be as a way of resolving financial problems - he said the organisation had had its budget cut by 33% in real terms since 2010.\nMr Anderson said the process of drawing up the report which led to the proposals for Historic Wales was also \"problematic\".\nA steering group has been set up by Mr Skates to look at the Historic Wales plan and examine whether to include other organisations, such as the National Library of Wales.\nBut Mr Anderson suggested that a decision was made already on the plans going ahead.\nHe said that \"if the statement has been made that Historic Wales will be created and its said to be a manifesto commitment by government, and also that it will merge most of the commercial functions of the museum and Cadw, those look very much like decisions, as opposed to open reviewing of options\".\nBethan Jenkins asked for clarification that Mr Anderson was not against the creation of another body \"but that you would be concerned that it would between Cadw and taking away your commercial functions as opposed to discussing the whole mix of the heritage sector in Wales\".\nMr Anderson said she was right.\nThe museum has warned the Welsh Government to respect its independence, while the proposals have attracted criticism from the UK museum sector.\nFormer Arts Council of Wales chairman Dai Smith also said he was alarmed by the plan.", "A weak pound is expected to make the UK a more attractive holiday destination, especially with American and Canadian holidaymakers.\nBut Prof Brian Garrod said more spending in marketing was needed along with improving Wales' tourism offer.\nThe Welsh Government said Wales' tourism had seen record-breaking years.\nBut Prof Garrod said: \"We have really good hotels here in Wales but we don't have the best.\n\"While we have some good theme parks in Wales, we don't have the best and we're always competing against our neighbours in England and Scotland.\"\nProf Garrod from Aberystwyth University's Business School added: \"We need to do a bit more to attract people to Wales, especially from overseas.\n\"We need to redouble our marketing efforts. We need to think a bit more about investing in making Wales known.\"\nProf Garrod, a member of the Tourism Society, the group representing the sector, claimed Visit Wales spent about £10m on marketing each year whereas Scotland invested about £55m.\n\"A lot of foreign visitors know a lot about Scotland and head up to Edinburgh and Glasgow and the Highlands and leave Wales out of their itinerary,\" he said.\n\"They just don't know about us.\"\nEconomy Secretary Ken Skates said \"tourism in Wales was in a strong position\".\nHe highlighted the International Passenger Survey, published by the Office for National Statistics, which showed Wales received 856,000 overseas visitors in the first nine months of 2016, up 12% on 2015.\nWales also recorded a 9% increase in expenditure compared to 2015.\nMr Skates also highlighted opportunities this year with the launch of the 2017 Year of Legends campaign, a Welsh Government promotion to sell Wales' culture and heritage.\n\"Campaign work continues to convert early interest and opportunities from the weak pound into bookings for the summer,\" he said.\nProf Garrod said the Year of Legends was an opportunity to cash in on Wales' castles with research showing over 40% of overseas visitors knowing about them.\n\"This is a good move,\" he added, referring to the campaign.", "Economy and Transport Minister Edwina Hart said attracting more visitors to places of worship and other sacred sites would give tourism a competitive edge.\nBut she said increasing the £12m UK tourists already spend visiting faith venues would be difficult.\nIt comes as the government launched its Faith Tourism Action Plan.\nMrs Hart said the plan sets out a \"challenging vision for exploiting the full potential of Wales places of worship\".\nIt said places of worship are already amongst the most visited attractions in Wales.\nVisit Wales figures showed tourists from across the UK spent £12m while visiting such venues in Wales in 2012.\nSt Davids Cathedral - 262,000 visitors\nNorwegian Church, Cardiff Bay - 148,547\nBrecon Cathedral and Heritage Centre - 120,000\nTintern Abbey - 69,631\nLlandaff Cathedral - 40,372\nBut the Welsh government said improving that figure would be hard because many places of worship are closed or appear closed to visitors; there is no coherence between faith tourism projects and no organisation adequately funded to promote it.\nThe faith action plan, which was launched at St Asaph Cathedral in Denbighshire, is part of the government's wider tourism strategy.\n\"This is the first action plan of its kind in the UK with a specific focus on faith tourism,\" Mrs Hart said.\n\"Some of Wales' places of worship are truly iconic and attract huge numbers of visitors every year. This action plan will not only focus on the iconic sites.\n\"Churches and chapels have a presence in every community and the activities within Wales' places of worship have helped shape its language, culture and way of life. Temples of all religions, holy sites and pilgrim trails also have their place.\"\nOne element of the action plan is to develop a pilgrims' walking trail across south Wales to the cathedral.\nSt Asaph Cathedral was chosen as the site for the launch of the action plan, which was welcomed by the Bishop of St Asaph, the Right Reverend Gregory Cameron.\n\"Across this diocese we have holy sites and ancient places of worship which have been visited by pilgrims for generations and this initiative is a new opportunity to share our rich Christian heritage with locals and tourists alike,\" he said.\nA working group has been set up in order to achieve the objectives of the plan and their work will focus on promoting faith tourism, help tourism businesses to make the most of faith tourism.", "The two bodies' commercial functions may combine under a new umbrella body called Historic Wales, ministers said.\nNMW said it was \"actively seeking clarification\" of the plans, which had \"significant implications\".\nAny potential changes should be \"carefully considered\", NMW said.\nThe creation of Historic Wales was a commitment in Labour's 2016 assembly election manifesto, written by the then culture minister Ken Skates.\nNow promoted to economy secretary, he has established a working group to consider the best way to maximise the commercial potential of Wales' heritage bodies and organisations.\nThe committee will also examine whether to include other organisations, such as the National Library of Wales.\nChaired by National Trust in Wales director Justin Albert, the committee will publish a business case by January 2017.\nBut, in a strongly worded statement on Wednesday, NMW said the announcement had \"significant implications\" and \"any potential changes will need to be carefully considered before being widely consulted on with the public and the cultural sector in Wales and beyond\".\n\"We are actively seeking clarification from the Welsh Government on its proposals for the creation of Historic Wales including its role and purpose.,\" it said.\n\"Any outcome needs to respect the independence, individual identity, integrity and core purpose of Amgueddfa Cymru [National Museum Wales] as a National Museum, a registered charity and limited company, operating under a Royal Charter.\"\nThe statement concluded: \"As an emerging nation, Wales needs strong national institutions to develop a deeper understanding by its citizens of their identity and their place in the world, and to inspire the creativity of current and future generations.\n\"For over 100 years we have been caring for the nation's collections - a role which we will continue to fulfil on behalf of the people of Wales.\"\nThe heritage sector in Wales supports nearly 40,000 jobs and generates £749m - 2.6% of the Welsh economy - and is twice the size of the agricultural sector.\nPlaid Cymru's culture spokesman Dai Lloyd called for an assembly debate on the plan for Historic Wales, claiming it threatened the museum's independence from government.\nHe said he was also concerned about \"the lack of engagement and discussion\" with the heritage sector on the matter.\n\"We are talking here of key national institutions and I would have expected far greater dialogue prior to any policy announcement,\" Dr Lloyd said.", "It estimates only a quarter are currently sustainable with \"systemic shortcomings on a significant scale\".\nThere are 120 museums in Wales and more than a third are managed by councils.\nTen recommendations include creating three regional bodies and a national museums' council to improve management.\nAn expert panel was commissioned by the deputy culture minister last autumn.\nLocal museums attract 2m visitors a year, a 24% increase since 2004, with half receiving some support from local councils.\nThey look after a million artefacts, employ 1,300 staff and have more than 2,100 volunteers.\nBut the 70-page report found many were in difficulty with major challenges that needed to be addressed.\nFindings included:\nIt warned unless action was taken, the decline would continue.\nIt called on the Welsh government to develop a museums' charter and National Museum Wales to provide expert help.\nVice president of National Museum Wales Dr Haydn Edwards, who chaired the panel, appealed for local councils to look beyond standard responses as they faced financial hardships.\nHe said they believed councils should decide the immediate future of their museums but the Welsh government should help enable \"a major upgrade\" of the service.\nThe Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales said it was pleased to see the report looked at radical changes.\nDavid Anderson, director general of National Museum Wales, said all museums needed to adapt in order to become more resilient in times of economic hardship, adding: \"We have a lot to learn from each other.\"", "A bid was submitted last year by supporters who say the industry has shaped the social, political, economic and cultural landscape of Wales.\nA World Heritage Site is chosen for its outstanding universal value to culture, history or science.\nWelsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said heritage status would boost tourism.\nGwynedd's slate industry is one of the final 11 contenders announced by UK Tourism and Heritage Minister John Penrose to form the new tentative list for potential nominations for the status.\nThe 11 sites have been whittled down from 38.\nNominations from the list will be submitted from 2012 based on the strength of their case.\nMrs Gillan said the slate industry had played a dominant role in shaping the landscape and economy of north Wales since the 19th Century.\n\"Tourism is vitally important to the north Wales economy,\" she said bringing in up to £1.8bn of income to the region and supporting around 37,000 jobs.\n'Global significance'\n\"Heritage status would help show the world just what Wales has to offer - from areas of outstanding beauty to dramatic industrial heritage.\"\nGwynedd council leader Dyfed Edwards said: \"I am delighted that the government has recognised the global significance of the Gwynedd slate quarrying industry, and am now looking forward to working with Gwynedd's slate communities and our partners to develop our submission to Unesco.\"\nThe entire process of being selected for world heritage status can take between five and 10 years.\nThe bid must now move onto a nomination list where it will be assessed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).\nIf successful, the application is then judged by the World Heritage Committee, which meets once a year to decide which sites will be inscribed on the world heritage List.", "A new visitor centre and accommodation has been developed at Harlech Castle, and a new footbridge installed.\nThe Cadw scheme, funded by the Heritage Tourism Project, is expected to attract more tourists to the area.\nThe West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce said it would create \"robust\" economic benefits.\nExecutive director Colin Brew said the development had \"already had a positive impact in terms of opportunities for local businesses and boosting the local supply chain\".\nAnd he believes it will continue to boost the economy by attracting more visitors, in turn establishing itself as a \"key visitor attraction\" in north Wales.\nHis comments came as First Minister Carwyn Jones visited the site on Thursday.\n\"In 2014, the heritage economy in Gwynedd employed over 8,000 people — 15% of all employment in the county,\" Mr Jones said.\n\"It's therefore vital that we continually improve the heritage tourism offer to attract even more visitors.\"", "They say there are \"too many people\" promoting Wales, including the Welsh government's Visit Wales, councils, tourism groups and heritage body Cadw.\nThe businesses in Snowdonia say this means they are \"losing their message to potential customers\".\nThe Welsh government has agreed to the businesses' request for a meeting.\nAttractions of Snowdonia works with about 30 tourism operators to promote attractions in the area,\nIts chair, Jonathan Williams-Ellis, said: \"There are too many people - all with their fingers on the buttons.... we're losing our message to potential customers.\n\"We're unhappy with the way the tourism industry is being governed or being looked after by the [Welsh] government at the moment.\n\"We're always working with different people and we don't seem to have a single message.\n\"We see duplication of work, different ideas, different PR [public relations] organisations working and something's got to happen.\n\"It's not good.\"\nThe Welsh government has set a target to increase earnings from tourism by 10% or more by 2020.\nHowever, there are also concerns in north Wales that there has not been sufficient consultation.\nChris Chance, secretary-manager at Conwy Golf Club, said: \"We weren't asked for any feedback.\n\"If you're going to consult then you need to consult the actual attractions, not just the bodies they report to.\"\nAttractions of Snowdonia also thinks marketing should be improved at Liverpool and Manchester airports to attract visitors to Wales.\nThe businesses have written to Economy Minister Edwina Hart calling for a meeting, which the Welsh government says will be arranged in the near future.", "That is the proposal being championed by software entrepreneur Walter May.\nOriginally from Pontypool, he started work as an apprentice with British Steel and left Wales to study for an MSc at Cranfield University.\nHe built a successful career in the software sector and since returning to Wales has been a business support advisor for tech companies in their early stages and is involved in peer-to-peer mentoring.\nMr May is also conducting a feasibility study for the Welsh government into how five different nations - India, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal and Scotland - have benefited from tapping into the success of exiles.\nMinisters will get a sight of that report next month.\nOne of the most successful countries in terms of getting money, influence and experience from its ex-pats is Ireland.\nKingsley Aikins set up Diaspora Matters four years ago . He wanted to reverse the brain drain and form networks of successful people across the world who wanted to help their home country's economy. It has been hugely successful and he now advises groups across the world.\nWalter May, inspired by Aikins, is now building a network of Welsh exiles who he hopes will be interested in using their experience and connections to help the Welsh economy.\nOne person he is talking to is Warren East, former chief executive of ARM Holdings - a UK multinational and one of the world's most successful technology companies.\nHe comes from Newport originally but has built his career in Cambridge and around the world, although he regularly returns home.\nMr East is particularly interested in inspiring young people to take up a career in engineering and he says networks and connections can make a difference.\n\"Comparing Wales to where I've been working in Cambridge and all over the world you can see the economy is not in a good state.\n\"Business happens between people and this kind of networking effect that Walter is talking about is a necessary condition for inward investment and trade.\n\"Government initiatives are great but actually it's other businesses that businesses do business with and if you don't create that environment then things don't happen.\"\nHe adds that if he is connected with other people from Wales then he is more likely to think of doing business with Welsh companies.\nMr May is planning a Global Welsh conference at this year's Hay Festival and hopes to attract top Welsh business exiles.", "It comes as the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) confirmed on Friday it is awarding £11.5m to St Fagans National History Museum, near Cardiff.\nA further £6m has been awarded by the Welsh government. More than 600,000 people visit the site every year.\nA £1-per-visitor appeal is under way to help plug the £7.5m shortfall.\nThe appeal is similar to scholar and poet Iorwerth Peate's call for financial support to set up St Fagans in 1946.\nPlans to renovate St Fagans were first revealed in January.\nDetails of the HLF and Welsh government funding emerged in May when the museum \n applied for planning permission from Cardiff council\n.\nThe museum currently allows visitors to learn about life in Wales over the last 500 years.\nHowever, with new buildings, galleries and projects, it hopes to explore life in Wales over the last 200,000 years.\nNew attractions will include a recreation of the Iron Age settlement Bryn Eryr, on Anglesey.\nOne of the courts of the Princes of Gwynedd, Llys Rhosyr, will also be recreated.\nDavid Anderson, director general of National Museum Wales, said: \"With the generous support of the HLF as well as the backing of the Welsh government, we will be creating another national institution for Wales.\n\"For the first time, Wales will have its own National Museum of History that will tell the story of everyone in Wales, from the past to the present.\"\nMr Anderson said more than 130 organisations and societies had been involved in the plans for the future of the museum so that they, as well as others, can help us tell the story of Wales in one place.\n\"St Fagans will then act as a gateway to other heritage attractions across Wales.\"\nDr Manon Williams, chair of the HLF committee for Wales, said the project would ensure the people of Wales and visitors had a \"truly inspirational and memorable encounter\".\nShe added: \"Making History - Creu Hanes will become an exemplar project for us, demonstrating how lottery money can have a positive impact on heritage, economic development, tourism, regeneration and skills.\"\nPlans for the revamp and expansion of St Fagans include upgrading the visitor facilities and making space for two new permanent exhibitions.\nA new environmentally-friendly building will illustrate the story of Wales from 230,000BC, when the earliest Neanderthal teeth found in the country, to the present.\nVolunteers and students will build the 90m-long hall, which will be built in woods at the south west end of the site.\nA new building will be constructed on the site of the current Celtic village, which will be moved to another site at the museum.\nIt will include an exhibition that looks like the relationship between humans and the environment.", "Social services and health minister Rebecca Evans said it was a \"neutral act\" following \"matters which have emerged in recent days\".\nA review of Sports Wales seen by BBC Wales Sport has warned it must undergo a major overhaul.\nHowever, Wednesday's decision is not directly linked to today's leaked review, BBC Wales understands.\nThe decision to suspend the activities of the board was taken in agreement with the Sports Wales chair Paul Thomas and vice-chair Adele Baumgardt.\nMr Thomas replaced Laura McAllister as chair in March and has been overseeing a review of the organisation.\nSport Wales, a Welsh Government-sponsored body, advise ministers on sporting matters.\nThey also distribute National Lottery funding in Wales.\nA statement from Ms Evans added: \"The decision has not been taken lightly, but I am satisfied it is a necessary move while my officials conduct a rapid review of these events, which has already commenced.\n\"I am unable to give any further details at this stage but I will update (assembly) members further as soon as I am in a position to do so.\n\"My expectation is that the board's activities will remain suspended until at least the end of the year, depending on the outcome of the review.\n\"Sport plays a vital part at the heart of our national life, both at the elite and grassroots level. It is equally vital, therefore, that we have a well-functioning and cohesive body charged with promoting this.\n\"Today's action is solely aimed at ensuring that Sport Wales is properly placed to deliver this in the future. In the meantime, its day-to-day operational activities will continue as normal.\"\nResponding, a Sports Wales spokesperson added: \"We have no further comment other than to say we will continue to work with Welsh Government on this matter.\"", "It may ultimately impact on other institutions such as the National Library of Wales and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.\nBut its creation is the result of a study, undertaken by PwC in March 2016 and published in the summer, to examine ways of maximising the potential commercial revenue of Cadw, the Welsh government body that looks after many of Wales' historic castles and monuments.\nThe report made a number of recommendations, from loose collaboration to a complete merger of national heritage bodies such as the museum and library.\nA steering group, with representatives from the heritage sector as well as unions representing staff, is currently considering areas where greater collaboration could be achieved.\nThere is widespread agreement that collaboration can enhance the sector, but it is the prospect of formally merging some activity that has made the proposal so controversial.\nOfficially, the final form will be decided by the Welsh Government once the organisations and the unions have had their say.\nThat is likely to be early in 2017, after which a public consultation will be carried out.\nThe Welsh Labour government said it made a manifesto commitment to establish Historic Wales and the economy secretary said closer collaboration was vital if the bodies are to increase their commercial success.\nContinued public funding for the institutions is not under threat, but the government says only a closer working relationship can generate more private income and present a united front in marketing Wales' heritage to the world.\nFor many of those who have objected, any new organisation that takes functions away from the national museum will be undermining its independence and stripping it of its ability to raise its own commercial income.\nThe Museums Association has warned that any commercial merger would have a wider negative impact on NMW's exhibition programming and on its ability to form partnerships with communities and museums across Wales.\nThe Welsh Government insists it is taking a pragmatic approach and is keen to listen to expert voices and the public before Historic Wales is established.", "Flint Castle, which attracts about 30,000 people each year, has been made a priority by the Welsh government.\nThere are plans for improvements and new activities.\nDeputy Minister for Tourism Ken Skates said the Welsh government recognised \"its potential to attract even more visitors due to its proximity to the English border and links to other Edward I castles in north Wales\".", "In a lecture at Swansea University, he said the buildings must be better protected by public bodies behind \"some of the worst cultural damage\".\nHe accused cultural and heritage chiefs of being \"castle, cathedral and country house obsessives\".\nThe Welsh government said chapels were a vital part of Wales' history.\nThe Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) has put together a register of more than 6,600 19th and 20th Century chapels.\nMore than half have shut with the others closing at the rate of one a week.\nMr Edwards is already leading a campaign to save Jewin Presbyterian Church, the oldest Welsh chapel in London, where he is a worshipper.\nMr Edwards's lecture called for the role of chapels in Welsh culture, history, and society to be recognised and rehabilitated.\nHe said: \"Chapels can be championed in several meaningful ways.\n\"Their story can be retold and presented to a new audience, their place in the education curriculum must be revised, and the fabric of chapel buildings must be protected in a much more rigorous way.\"\nHe said the Welsh government, its heritage arm Cadw, and local conservation bodies and local authorities \"who have often sanctioned some of the worst cultural damage\" each had roles to play.\n\"It is already too late for some of our best chapel buildings,\" Mr Edwards said.\n\"Future generations will wonder what on earth we were doing. But it is still possible to save some for the benefit of their local communities.\"\nA spokesperson for the Welsh government said: \"Churches and chapels are a vital part of the country's history and culture and central to helping our understanding of the past.\n\"This year, grants of up to £375,000 in total have been awarded by Cadw to 13 projects to repair and restore historic places of worship across Wales.\n\"Cadw is also developing new guidance to support the care, conservation and sensitive development of places of worship.\n\"Cadw recognises that repair and restoration costs of chapels can sometimes be costly but a high standard of work is an investment which helps to safeguard the historic character of chapels for the future.\"\nMr Edwards is a trustee of the Welsh Religious Buildings Trust, a committee member of Capel - the chapels heritage society - and author of The Chapels of Wales.\nThe event was organised by the Learned Society of Wales.", "His comments follow criticism of the policy from the body representing Welsh universities and opposition parties.\nMr Jones told BBC Wales he was \"not attracted to the idea\" of \"putting huge amounts of debt on other students\".\nA policy review by Prof Sir Ian Diamond is due to be finished in September.\nStudents from Wales currently only pay £3,810 towards their tuition fees, wherever they study in the UK.\nThe rest, up to £5,190 a year, is paid for by the Welsh government.\nThe chair of Universities Wales has said tuition fee grants should be replaced by a means-tested grant to help poorer pupils.\nProf Colin Riordan has warned the policy threatens the future of higher education in Wales because tens of millions of pounds ends up in the coffers of universities in England.\nBut, in an interview with BBC Wales Today, Mr Jones said: \"Means testing is not where we are going on this.\n\"We will have to look at what the Diamond review says but I am not attracted to the idea of simply doing what England does, and means testing and putting huge amounts of debt on other students.\n\"What we will never do is put Welsh students in the same financial position as their colleagues in England.\n\"That is the fundamental principle of what we will do in future.\"\nThe Welsh Conservatives have said they would scrap tuition fee subsidies and pay half of students' rent instead.\nPlaid Cymru would also scrap the grants, and instead pay Welsh students working in Wales after graduation £6,000 a year, up to a maximum of £18,000.\nThe Welsh Liberal Democrats' policy is to replace tuition fee subsidies with maintenance grants, while UKIP says it would like to cut tuition fees.", "Dr Ruth Williams said ministers needed to provide direction \"at a time when Wales is trying to promote itself more than ever on the global stage\".\nA response to the review's findings has been delayed after several conservation groups criticised its contents.\nMinisters said the report was a draft and discussions were ongoing.\nA working group, chaired by Lord Elis-Thomas and involving figures from Wales' national parks and councils, as well as business and environment groups, had been considering how to implement the findings.\nThe review had called for national parks and other protected beauty spots to do more to \"foster vibrant rural communities\", attracting green businesses and affordable housing.\nA draft of the report, obtained by BBC Wales, stated \"its desire is to unlock the full potential of all landscapes in Wales\", and that national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty have a pivotal role to play in the future prosperity of the country.\nThe Alliance for National Parks Cymru, which includes a number of conservation bodies, branded the draft \"a mess\" and said it made no mention of the main statutory purpose of national parks being to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area.\nDr Williams, an environmental consultant who has previously held senior roles with both the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and the Wye Valley area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), said she too was concerned at the omission.\n\"Unless we have that fundamental conservation safeguard then any additional development may very well kill off the goose that lays the golden egg,\" she said.\n\"There is a risk that if the conservation safeguard is removed then we would lose that international flagship for Wales.\"\nDr Williams also said the report needed to be clearer about who would take charge.\n\"There has been review upon review and inevitably this report is now recommending certain things have further reviews,\" she said.\n\"I think the Welsh Government now needs to make a decision on behalf of these really important assets that we have, and either say, it's business as usual, you're doing a great job, or to say very clearly but very carefully - here are the new steps that we're going to take but building in those safeguards.\"\nMore funding would be required to implement changes, Dr Williams added, pointing out that unless protected landscapes were well managed \"we're actually going to be devaluing these very special assets\".\nDesignated landscapes cover about 25% of Wales - with three national parks and five AONBs.\nA Welsh Government spokesman said: \"It is important to remember this is a draft version of the report.\n\"The Future Landscapes Wales Programme has been highly collaborative in nature and has involved a wide range of partners, who have contributed to the discussions and the drafting.\n\"These discussions are ongoing as a final report is prepared for publication before the summer recess.\"", "More than 7,000 people signed a petition calling for plans for the £395,000 sculpture at Flint Castle to be scrapped.\nFlintshire council urged the Welsh Government to talk to the community before any \"further action is taken\".\nEconomy Secretary Ken Skates has now announced a \"pause\" to review plans.\nHe said: \"We have listened and recognise the strength of feeling around the proposed art installation at Flint Castle and feel it is only right that we now take a pause and review the plans for the sculpture.\n\"Working closely with local partners we will continue to work on proposals for developments at Flint, including reviewing new visitor facilities.\"\nThe design, said to represent the relationship between the Medieval monarchies of Europe and castles, was selected by a panel following a nation-wide competition.\nThe architects behind the design said it demonstrated \"the unstable nature of the crown\" but it has been criticised for symbolising the oppression of Welsh people.", "He was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele on 31 July 1917.\nSome weeks later his poem won the prestigious chair prize at the Welsh National Eisteddfod cultural festival held in Birkenhead, Wirral.\nA new chair will be presented at an event to mark the 100th anniversary.\nHedd Wyn, the bardic name of Ellis Humphrey Evans, born on 13 January 1887 in Gwynedd, was already a poet of some renown.\nHis death represented so many who marched off to war never to return, according to the Merseyside Welsh Heritage Society and the Welsh National Memorial and Hedd Wyn Society in Flanders.\nIn September, Hedd Wyn and others from Wales who fell in battle will be remembered in a poetry and arts festival to be held in Birkenhead Park.\nA stone marks the spot where the eisteddfod was held 100 years ago and where Hedd Wyn won his posthumous prize - the Black Chair of Birkenhead.\nThe centrepiece of this year's event will be the awarding of a new chair designed by students in Flanders, a gift from the Flemish Hedd Wyn Society - a group of people who honour his memory.\nDr D Ben Rees, chairman of the Merseyside Welsh Heritage Society, said the 1917 eisteddfod had been a \"huge occasion\" due to the numbers of Welsh people living in the area.\n\"Wales was very much part of our heritage here on Merseyside,\" he said.\nThe society is to restore the stone and incorporate details of Hedd Wyn.\nDr Rees said the festival was being used to \"remind people of the sacrifice made by Welsh lads from the churches and chapels on Merseyside\".\nAbout 220 men, members of a Welsh chapel in Bootle, fought in World War One, he said.\nThe initial intention had been to donate the Hedd Wyn Centenary Chair to this year's National Eisteddfod to be held on Anglesey, but that did not prove possible.\nThe design has come from a competition involving furniture design students at the Thomas More University in Mechelen, between Brussels and Antwerp.\nThe chair was originally planned to be a unique commission but, after learning about it, the Flemish government asked for a second to be made which it plans to give as a gift to the Welsh Government.\nErwin Ureel, from the Welsh National Memorial and Hedd Wyn Society in Flanders, said Hedd Wyn's Black Chair was \"highly symbolic\" because it was designed by a Flemish furniture maker living as a refugee in Birkenhead.\n\"We thought at the centenary this is a perfect moment to more or less repeat the story and bring another chair to Wales as Hedd Wyn's Centenary Chair,\" he said.\nThe chairs will be made from railway sleepers which were found buried in a farmer's field near the battlefield.\nHedd Wyn died at a crossroads just outside the Flemish town of Langemark.\nThe place is known now as the site of the Dragon Memorial, dedicated to all those from Wales who served in World War One.\nHe is buried not far away at Artillery Wood Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.\nBoth locations will be the focus of events in July to mark the centenary of his death.\nMr Ureel said: \"Hedd Wyn is a symbol for all the Welsh men who fought in the area.\n\"In commemorating Hedd Wyn we are commemorating all the people of Wales who were here with us in Flanders and fought here nearly 100 years ago.\"", "Victoria Tower Gardens, London's smallest royal park, is a popular haunt for dog walkers, joggers, families - and also picnicking office workers, who use it to soak up the sun and get a breather from the hustle and bustle of city life.\nBut that could be about to change because this narrow strip of parkland is set to become home to a national Holocaust memorial with an underground learning centre.\nBy Holocaust Memorial Day 2021, organisers anticipate the £50m scheme will transform the park, which dates back to the 1870s and is fringed by trees and benches, into a tourist destination and education resource attracting more than a million visitors a year.\nA shortlist of 10 architects are currently competing in an international design competition launched by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation to create the new structure, with the winning team to be announced by the end of May.\nFormer Prime Minister David Cameron said the new monument would \"show the importance Britain places on preserving the memory of the Holocaust\", claiming it would represent \"a permanent statement of our values as a nation\" and something that would be visited \"for generations to come\".\nBut not everyone is happy about the plan. Some local residents, MPs and peers say that while they are fully behind the creation of a Holocaust memorial - and in particular a learning centre - they believe the project will destroy the park.\nBarbara Weiss, the architect who refurbished the Russell Square headquarters of the Wiener Library - the oldest institution for the study of the Holocaust and genocide - questioned why it could not be placed with it. \"I'm not against the memorial, I just don't want any building in our park, not even a hospital or an art gallery.\"\nMs Weiss is a leading light in the Save Victoria Tower Gardens campaign. She says the park is \"absolutely unique, historic and gorgeous - to put something else there will totally change its character completely\".\n\"It doesn't make a lot of sense to build a learning centre underground in an area beside a river in a flood area.\n\"The organisers are talking about one million extra visitors there - that's a lot of extra security. We would have people with machine guns and bag checks, and I know people who work in Parliament don't want that. They go to the park to get away from that pressure of feeling constantly monitored.\"\nLucy Peck, a retired architectural historian who lives nearby, said: \"I'm not against a memorial at all, but there are bigger places in London that could take a project of this size much more easily. There's a superb Holocaust gallery less than a mile away at the Imperial War Museum, so why build another fairly similar thing here?\"\nThe Imperial War Museum, a 15 minute walk from Parliament, was one of three locations out of 50 in the running as a Holocaust memorial site - until January 2016 when Mr Cameron named Victoria Tower Gardens as the preferred option.\nLucy Donoughue, the IWM's assistant communications director, said the museum - which is spending £15m on renewing and expanding its renowned Holocaust Exhibition and already attracts a million visitors a year - was not deemed central enough.\n\"While we were disappointed by this decision, we still remain hugely supportive of the initiatives laid out by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation,\" she said.\nVeteran Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley, who has lived near Victoria Tower Gardens for more than 25 years, says he is unhappy two other sites - Potters Field on the south bank of the Thames between Tower Bridge and City Hall, and Millbank, next to Tate Britain - were ruled out.\n\"Somewhere, somehow some unnamed person in Number 10 decided to substitute these three with Victoria Tower Gardens,\" he said. \"You can't have a prominent memorial here - you've got to keep the garden. I would urge the government to pause, reopen the debate and rethink.\"\nThe park, which is listed Grade II and is partly inside a Unesco world heritage site, is no stranger to significant structures including August Rodin's bronze The Burghers of Calais, a statue of the Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, and a fountain commemorating the abolition of slavery.\nA spokeswoman for the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, which is chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette, said its mission had been to find \"the most iconic location\" for a national memorial and learning centre - and Victoria Tower Gardens, next to Parliament \"fulfils that aim better than any of the almost 50 sites we examined\".\nShe declined to say specifically why other sites had not been chosen except that \"a lot of those were for commercial reasons\".\n\"With cross-party support, we have made a promise to survivors that in Victoria Tower Gardens we will create a fitting national memorial as a permanent site of remembrance and an education centre to act more broadly as a voice against hatred and prejudice in the modern world, while respecting and enhancing the existing green space,\" she said.\n\"There can be nowhere more meaningful for such a powerful statement of our national values than next to Parliament, at the heart of our democracy. We want Britain's Holocaust survivors to know that we will not break our promise.\"\nBut Jewish Conservative peer Lord Wasserman, one of David Cameron's closest political allies who lives quite near the gardens, says it is not the right location for such a symbolic and important project.\n\"In particular, I am concerned that this will lead to massive resentment on the part of those ordinary Londoners who will be seriously inconvenienced by the additional traffic (vehicular and pedestrian) which the museum will generate,\" he said. \"I'm also concerned about the the additional security risk associated with such a site.\"\nMaja Turcan, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, says while a learning centre is needed \"particularly at a time where anti-Semitism and hate crimes are increasing\" - she questions why it could not be placed somewhere like Manchester \"where there's a big Jewish community, but is also multi-ethnic and multi-cultural\".\nAviva Trup, who manages Jewish Care's Holocaust Survivors Services - a centre which offers a programme of social, cultural and therapeutic events for Holocaust survivors in the UK - said \"legacy and education is of upmost importance to our members\".\nShe would not be drawn on whether Victoria Tower Gardens was the right place for the project, saying that \"the most important thing is that the memorial is built in a central London location and is easy to access\".\nThe UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation is currently running a public consultation exercise, with exhibitions across the UK featuring the proposed schemes until the end of April.\nThe winning design will be announced before the end of May by Sir Peter's jury, whose members include: London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid, TV presenters Loyd Grossman - also chair of the Royal Parks - and newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky.\nThe project should be open to the public by Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2021.", "Ex-civil servant Lord Burns will head the cross-party review, with input from senior Tory and Labour politicians.\nIt will look at whether current disclosure rules, in force since 2005, are working in the public interest.\nFOI campaigners said ministers' desire for secrecy would conceal \"bad decisions and policy mistakes\".\nThe passing of the Freedom of Information Act in 2000, which gave anyone the right to access recorded information held by government and other public sector bodies, is regarded by many as one of the landmark achievements of the last Labour government.\nIt obliged public authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and UK-wide authorities based in Scotland, to publish certain information about their activities.\nBut former prime minister Tony Blair has since described the law as one of his \"biggest regrets\", arguing it has had the effect of denying civil servants a \"safe space\" to properly advise ministers for fear their conversations will later become public.\nConservative ministers have expressed concerns that exemptions included in the original law, including those relating to policy formulation, and the exercise of a ministerial veto in the public interest, have been eroded by recent tribunal and court judgements - including the Supreme Court's decision to quash the ban on the release of correspondence between the Prince of Wales and ministers.\nDowning Street said the review, to be completed by November, would weigh up whether there was the right sort of balance which fully facilitated policy development, implementation and frank advice.\nIt will be headed by Lord Burns, a crossbench peer who was the most senior civil servant in the Treasury between 1991 and 1998 and is currently chairman of Channel 4.\nAmong those sitting on the independent commission will be Lord Howard, who was Conservative leader when the law came into effect and Jack Straw, the former foreign and justice secretary who helped draft the original law.\nOther members will include Lib Dem peer Lord Carlile of Berriew, the former Independent Reviewer of terrorism legislation, and Dame Patricia Hodgson, chair of the broadcasting regulator Ofcom.\nThe Cabinet Office, which has assumed departmental responsibility for the issue from the Ministry of Justice, said the review would examine, among other things:\n\"We fully support the Freedom of Information Act but after more than a decade in operation it is time that the process is reviewed to make sure it's working effectively,\" said Cabinet Office minister Lord Bridges.\nThe review was announced on the same day as a FOI request by the campaign group Reprieve revealed that British military personnel have taken part in bombing raids against Islamic State targets in Syria as part of missions conducted by allied forces.\nThe Campaign for Freedom of Information said the existing law already provided \"adequate protection\" for policy advice and MPs on the Commons Justice Committee had reviewed the act as recently as 2012 and found it was working well.\nIf the existing FOI exemptions for policy formulation were made \"absolute\", rather than subject to a public interest test, it said this would mean key information would only become public 20 years later when official papers were released.\n\"Ministers want certainty that policy discussions will not only take place in secret but be kept secret afterwards,\" its director Maurice Frankel said.\n\"They don't like the fact that the Act requires the case for confidentiality to be weighed against the public interest in disclosure.\n\"The Information Commissioner and Information Tribunal give substantial weight to the need to protect ongoing government discussions and the frankness of future exchanges. But after a decision has been announced they sometimes order disclosure where exchanges are anodyne, the material is old or the case for openness is overwhelming.\n\"If that balancing test is removed mistakes, bad decisions and policy failures caused by deliberately ignoring the evidence will be concealed for 20 years.\"", "Ms Randerson, a UK government minister in the Wales Office, was speaking to mark the launch of Wales Tourism Week.\nLast year, 84 million tourism day visits were made by British residents to Wales, spending £2.5bn.\nAnd there were 121,400 employed in the tourism sector - 9,000 more since 2010.\n\"Wales has some of the best beaches, landscapes, castles and cuisine in the UK,\" said Ms Randerson.\n\"We need good roads and a strong rail network for the industry to continue to thrive.\n\"The UK government has already invested in the rail infrastructure but we need to work in partnership with Welsh businesses and the tourism industry to make the improvements needed to grow our economy in the future.\"\nThere are plans for a £1bn motorway relief road for the M4 in south Wales along with a metro system serving Cardiff and south east Wales, while there have been calls to improve the A55 in north Wales.\nThe London Paddington and Swansea train line will also be electrified.", "The money is available to improve amenities, increase marketing and develop new attractions.\nPrivate firms, charities and public sector bodies can all apply for the cash, which is part of the £1bn part-EU funded Rural Development Programme.\nEconomy Secretary Ken Skates said he hoped to build on two \"record-breaking\" years for tourism in Wales.", "The Wales Bill promises new powers for Wales over energy, elections and more.\nBut peers warned the bill could lead to \"repeated\" referrals to the Supreme Court of laws made in the Senedd.\nThe UK government's Wales Office has been approached for comment.\nIn a report, peers sitting on the delegated powers and regulatory reform committee said the bill's \"failure to spell out more clearly\" the boundaries of the assembly's law-making abilities could lead to referrals to the Supreme Court.\nIt said this \"could sow the seeds of future discord between the assembly and Welsh ministers on the one hand and the UK Parliament and government on the other\".\nIt was unclear, the report said, whether the combined effect of changes in the bill \"will result in the assembly gaining legislative competence in new areas, or losing competence in areas where it currently has competence\".\nThe Wales Bill is being considered by the House of Lords as part of the process of the law entering the statute books.\nIt will establish a new system for how the assembly makes laws, defining what is held back to Westminster set out in a list of reservations.\nCurrent law states what the power of AMs are but not what is held back.\nPrevious rows over what the assembly can make law on has led to the Supreme Court deciding on the scope of AMs' legislative powers.\nThe Wales Bill aims to provide a clearer separation of powers between what is devolved and what is not.\nMinisters had revised the bill from a previous draft following criticism that it would reduce the assembly's powers, but AMs have warned that even the revised version threatens a roll-back in capabilities.\nThe House of Lords committee report said there was an \"absence of an obvious rationale\" for the inclusion of certain reservations.", "The Welsh Government marketing campaign aims to promote Wales' culture and heritage, and follows on from the 2016 Year of Adventure.\nA \"rich and inspiring\" programme of events includes Dylan Thomas tours and trails, the unveiling of two major artworks and one of the world's biggest sporting events.\nFunding is also available for projects.\nEconomy Secretary Ken Skates said 2017 is not about looking backwards, but \"bringing the past to life\" with \"cutting-edge innovation.\"\n\"It's about creating and celebrating new Welsh legends, modern-day personalities, products and events that are made in Wales, or enriched by coming here,\" he said.\nThe Welsh Government said £150m is spent on holidays in Wales every year where culture and heritage is the main activity, with 61% of overseas visitors citing Wales' historic sites as a key reason for their visit.\nVisit Wales has already approved £1.28m for 35 projects as part of the Year of Legends, including:\nOther highlights are the release of a new film about King Arthur and the UEFA Champions League final which will be held at the Principality Stadium in June.\nThere will also be a recognition of global talent inspired by Wales, from Roald Dahl to Dylan Thomas to J.R.R. Tolkien with tours and trails, as well as exhibitions and collections by Amgueddfa Cymru and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.", "It comes as all activities of the Sport Wales board were suspended.\nIt claims Sport Wales, which promotes Welsh grassroots and elite sport, \"lacks transparency\" and risks being broken up unless it agrees to change.\nSport Wales said: \"We will continue to work with Welsh Government on this.\"\nThe review was commissioned and led by Sport Wales' chairman Paul Thomas, who was appointed in March, in consultation with Welsh Government ministers.\nThe findings are based on research by an independent firm, which provided the information for the 26-page document.\nSport Wales is in \"danger of stagnating\", suffers from a managerial \"unwillingness to listen\" and does not do enough to engage with people outside its Cardiff base, according to the findings.\nIssues highlighted as needing to be addressed include communication, leadership, strategy, organisational structure and processes, relationships, governance and funding and collaboration.\nThe recommendations are to be formed into an action plan to be presented to the Welsh Government, with a view to implement them from January and April 2017 onwards.\n\"Fundamental change is not an option but a necessity,\" Thomas wrote in the review.\n\"The choice facing Sport Wales is very clear.\n\"Respond to the challenges faced by Wales and its Government and by communities and individuals in a way which acknowledges the views and needs of stakeholders as well as the key national objectives.\n\"Or, face being broken up into an elite organisation and a health driven body geared to increasing physical activity and wellbeing.\"\nSport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and active lifestyles.\nWorking alongside partners such as governing bodies for sport and local authorities, it says its aim is to achieve shared aspirations of getting every child \"hooked on sport\" for life and Wales being a nation of champions.\nSport Wales is the main adviser on sporting matters to the Welsh Government and is responsible for distributing National Lottery funds to elite and grassroots sport in Wales.\nWelsh Government funding for sport is channelled through Sport Wales, which has a number of grants schemes to increase levels of physical activity and sport.\nFor 2016-17, the Welsh Government has provided Grant in Aid funding of £22.4m to Sport Wales.\nSport Wales has 160 staff members based across four locations in Wales - a head office in Cardiff and regional offices in Carmarthen, Deeside and Caernarfon.\nAn Olympic and Commonwealth Games coach was among those to speak anonymously in the review.\n\"Elite sport would function without Sport Wales, and we do, as I produce several Olympic and Commonwealth medallists, without any help from Sport Wales,\" the coach said.\n\"It is about time that this review has been created, as a nation to roll our sleeves up and make change happen for our communities and citizens and sport in Wales.\"\nAnother source speaking anonymously, the chair of a national governing body (NGB), said: \"During my time, over 20 years, as a stakeholder in Sport Wales I have been repeatedly surprised by how insular Sport Wales is as an organisation.\n\"I do not believe the organisation is fit for purpose nor can it recognise the need to change indeed it has become institutionalised by its own insular culture.\"\nSport Wales has set medal targets for the past Olympics and Commonwealth Games, which were surpassed to produce Wales' most successful multi-games in history.\nBut writing in the review, Thomas argues medal targets should only be one part of the governing body's objectives.\n\"In all of this it must be stressed that the winning of medals at major games is not an overriding priority but one that must be balanced against all other competing priorities,\" he says.\n\"Sport Wales must satisfy a complex set of political, economic and social objectives.\n\"Sport Wales must have a culture of openness and transparency. A reliance on the status quo is probably the most significant risk facing this organisation over the next decade.\n\"The successful work Sport Wales has done in the past has meant sport already plays a significant and varied role in many people's daily lives in Wales and will continue to do so under my leadership. However this is no longer enough.\"", "The Carneddau Landscape Partnership has been awarded £198,700 Heritage Lottery funding to help it manage the natural and cultural heritage of the area.\nIt claims the mountains' archaeology, ecology, peatland and Bronze Age cairns are among the things \"under threat\".\nFunding has also been set aside to improve the heritage of Holy Island, off Anglesey.\nThe initial funding approval for the Carneddau Landscape Partnership means the seven-year project can now seek the full £1.9m grant.\nThe project, led by Snowdonia National Park Authority, will cover 81 sq miles (210 sq km) which features Carnedd Llywelyn as its highest peak.\nJonathan Cawley, the national park authority's director of planning and land management, said: \"We are truly excited about working on such an important project which will be of enormous benefit to the local communities and to the natural and cultural heritage of the mountains.\"\nOf the funding set aside to improve Holy Island, Anglesey council has been awarded £117,200 to develop plans on behalf of the Tir a Mor Landscape Partnership.\nThe plans will be presented to the Heritage Lottery Fund at a later date to seek final approval for the full £1.2m grant.\nThey include projects which celebrate Holy Island's culture and landscape, involving people who live and work there.\nRichard Bellamy, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales, said: \"Heritage Lottery Fund money works hard to ensure all of our important heritage is looked after.\n\"But it's not all about grand old buildings, castles and museums. There is natural heritage all around us, especially here in Wales, which is vital to our economy, our livelihoods and our wellbeing.\"", "London-based OysterWorld is setting up its development, marketing and research centre on Melin Corrwg Business Park, Treforest near Pontypridd.\nThe inward investment is being backed by £1m business funding from the Welsh government.\nEconomy Minister Edwina Hart said it was a significant boost for the county's digital media sector.\n\"Wales was in competition with Canada for this project so I am delighted to welcome OysterWorld to Wales,\" she said.\n\"The Welsh government is fully committed to accelerating the growth of digital media businesses in Wales and the development of the games industry is an integral part of this aim.\n\"We have a growing pool of talent in games development, with universities becoming increasingly aligned to the needs of the sector and spinning out a large number of micro businesses.\"\nShe said attracting OysterWorld sent out a strong message to the industry that Wales \"has the skills and talent to support this niche sector.\"\nThe announcement of the investment coincides with the Wales Games Development Show taking place at the Wales Millennium Centre on Wednesday when more than 50 companies are exhibiting their latest games and interactive projects.\nOysterWorld says it aims to grow into a major force in development, publishing and electronic distribution of interactive entertainment software and online content services.\nCommunications manager Tony Bailey said: \"We look forward to creating a dynamic new operations hub in Wales and building a new team to expand the business.\n\"We are very impressed by the availability of talented and skilled people in Wales and will be looking to recruit experienced staff as well as taking on talented young graduates.\"\nThe company said it was already working with the University of South Wales and said support from the Welsh government was another deciding factor in choosing Wales for its first major expansion.", "Church Commissioners said selling works by Spanish Baroque artist Francisco Zurbaran would have funded Church efforts in poorer areas.\nBut the donation by investment manager Jonathan Ruffer means the paintings can stay in Auckland Castle.\nCommissioners also want the castle to become a major tourist attraction.\nThe paintings, which depict Jacob and his sons, have hung in Auckland Castle, in a room specifically designed and built for them, for 250 years.\nIn a statement, the Church Commissioners said: \"It is intended that Auckland Castle shall become a leading public heritage site, bringing tourism and economic regeneration to the North East.\n\"The proposals have been made possible thanks to a £15m donation by investment manager Jonathan Ruffer.\n\"Discussions are now continuing with Durham County Council, the National Trust, the Department for Media, Culture and Sport, the Art Fund and the National Gallery about the broader future for Auckland Castle.\"\nNicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, said: \"It is excellent news that the Zurbarans remain in their historic home and that the castle will be more accessible to the public.\n\"We hope to be able to support this exciting venture in the future with loans from the National Collection.\"\nDr Richard Chartres, acting chair of the commissioners, said: \"Jonathan Ruffer's generosity has made that rarest of scenarios possible.\n\"There is now an opportunity to create a leading arts and heritage centre in the North East.\"\nMr Ruffer's contribution was made through a new charitable trust called the Zurbaran Trust.\nThe Marlborough and Cambridge-educated financial expert will continue to chair his firm, but plans to spend more time in the North East helping people.", "The activities of the body's entire board, including chair Paul Thomas and vice-chair Adele Baumgardt, were suspended in November after concerns that it had become dysfunctional.\nOn Tuesday, Ms Evans announced that the rest of the board would be re-instated.\nShe said that a review by ministers had revealed a \"significant breakdown\" in relations at a senior level.\nSport Wales, originally called the Sports Council for Wales, was created in 1972 to promote elite and grassroots sport.\nThe minister also said that a number of new complaints had been received about the Sport Wales board after the review was completed.\nIn a statement, Ms Evans said: \"I do want to make clear, for the avoidance of doubt, that the conclusions are principally related to a significant breakdown of some interpersonal relationships at a senior level within Sport Wales.\n\"There are some outstanding issues to be addressed as a result of the assurance review process.\n\"In addition, a number of formal complaints have been received by the Welsh Government subsequent to the review being finalised.\"\nShe said Mr Thomas had been suspended for a \"proper and formal process to be undertaken as a result of the complaints received\".\nShe also said Ms Baumgardt had been suspended due to separate concerns about the \"cohesive functioning of the board\".\nLawrence Conway, a former private secretary to Rhodri Morgan when he was first minister, has been appointed as interim chair.\nJohn Taylor, a former chief executive of conciliation service ACAS, will act as a consultant so that the board can begin functioning again, including setting the budget for 2017-18.\nMs Evans ordered the review of Sport Wales after board members had passed a vote of no-confidence in Mr Thomas as chairman.\nMr Thomas, who has been in the role less than a year, had written a damning internal review into the organisation, which receives £22m a year in public funding.\nHe said the organisation lacked transparency, was too bureaucratic and focused too much on winning medals in major championships.\nHe was also unhappy at the £140,000 bill for running the board in the 2015-16 financial year, although board pay is set by the Welsh Government.\nIn addition to the chair and vice-chair, the other Sport Wales board members are:\nAnalysis by BBC Wales political editor Nick Servini\nIt is difficult to see where this goes now. Even Rebecca Evans is reluctant to give a date for matters to be resolved.\nAnd even in the context of the dry language used in a ministerial statement at the Senedd, it is obvious to all that there has been a dramatic breakdown in relations at the top of this organisation.\nAway from the personalities, there is an unresolved policy difference as well.\nPaul Thomas wrote a highly critical internal review of Sport Wales, and it is unclear whether the Welsh Government agree with the findings.\nAn independent review will be competed in the coming weeks and it will be interesting to see whether ministers back Mr Thomas's judgement.\nIn the meantime, the re-instatement of the board under an interim chair does at least mean that Sport Wales can get on with the job of planning the distribution of funds in the next financial year.", "There has been a drop of 14% in students from Wales training in medicine across the UK between 2015 and 2017.\nAlso only 30% of students in the two Welsh medical schools are from Wales.\nDr Dai Lloyd, chair of the Assembly's health committee said there was a \"clear case for increasing medical school capacity within Wales\".\nThe committee has been looking at the whole issue of medical recruitment in Wales and how best to fill vacancies.\nIt included support for students and the issue of work-life balance for medical staff.\nIt wants universities in Wales to do more to make sure students who achieve the necessary grades from Wales secure those places.\nDespite some improvements, the number of Welsh students studying medicine is still lagging behind the other UK nations.\nThere are currently two medical schools providing undergraduate medical education in Wales - Cardiff and Swansea. The former also works in partnership with the universities in Bangor and Wrexham, with hospital placements in north Wales.\nBut there has been a drop of nearly 15% over the last two years in the number of Wales-based students applying to study medicine in the UK, a steeper decline than in other UK nations.\nThere is also a low number of Welsh medical students staying at home to study - and there is generally a tendency for students, once qualified, to stay to work in the area where they qualify.\nOnly 30% of Welsh medical school undergraduates were from Wales, compared to 80% in England and 55% in Scotland.\nThe committee wants the Welsh Government and the Wales Deanery, which is responsible for medical training, to look at key pressure areas.\nIt welcomed the Welsh Government's efforts to address recruitment issues, including the \"train, work, live\" campaign.\nBut it said there was still further work to be done to address \"the wide range of factors that could attract new medical staff to Wales and retain the existing workforce.\"\nThe committee makes 16 recommendations in its report, including a new centre for medical education in Bangor.\nThe findings have been welcomed by medical bodies, who gave evidence to the committee's inquiry.\nVanessa Young, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, which represents health boards, said working in Wales needed to be made as attractive as possible.\n\"This is a country that has so much to offer in terms of career prospects and lifestyle for those working or aspiring to work in health and social care,\" she said.\n\"Encouraging individuals to train in Wales so they are more likely to stay and pursue their careers here is key.\"\nDr Charlotte Jones, chair of BMA Cymru Wales's GP committee said it had previously highlighted concerns that recruitment challenges are often more acute in more rural parts of Wales.\n\"Therefore the committee's call to develop an action plan for rural and medical training and education is also to be welcomed,\" she said.\nDr Gareth Llewelyn, vice president of the Royal College of Physicians in Wales said: \"Implementing these recommendations will need a drastic change in mind-set and our doctors are clear that we want to work with Welsh Government and NHS Wales to improve patient care and solve this workforce crisis.\"\nHe said the RCP had already highlighted a 40% vacancy rate for consultants in 2015/16.\n\"There are ongoing major trainee rota gaps in every one of our hospitals. This cannot continue as it impacts directly on the quality and efficiency of patient care.\"", "The Welsh Government is looking to merge the commercial functions of National Museum Wales and Cadw under the banner Historic Wales.\nEconomy Secretary Ken Skates has said the aim was financial resilience.\nPlaid's culture spokesman Dr Dai Lloyd accused ministers of an \"unacceptable\" lack of consultation, and threatened to block the merger.\n\"Such institutions represent the custodians of Welsh heritage,\" he said.\n\"They play a key role in our national identity and for that reason the Labour government must approach their independence as a red line in any reforms carried out.\n\"Failure to do so will undermine the integrity and purpose of these treasured institutions.\"\nMr Lloyd added that he would be asking for a Senedd debate on the plan for Historic Wales and urged Mr Skates to \"pay heed to the heritage sector's concerns\".\nReferring to the deal under which Plaid supports Labour's right to govern Wales, Mr Lloyd said: \"There are various things we are unhappy about in the loose compact arrangement with Labour. This is right up there.\"\n\"I wouldn't have thought it would come to a vote [in the Senedd]. But we remain against it.\n\"And if it comes to a vote we would be voting against it. It is one of those red lines.\"\nEarlier in October, National Museum Wales director general David Anderson warned AMs that a partial merger would see the museum \"tied by the legs\", saying its commercial and other activities were \"deeply integrated with each other\".\nFormer Arts Council of Wales chairman Dai Smith has also said he was alarmed by the plan.", "The year-long celebration of Wales' past will promote the nation's heritage and culture with events covering everything from food to sport.\nTourism body Visit Wales has already approved £1.2m for 35 projects as part of the project.\nNow, Matthews and Rheon have thrown their weight behind the campaign.\nBorn in Carmarthen and raised in Cardiff, Rheon shot to fame in smash hit TV show Game of Thrones.\n\"I'm really excited to be a part of this project, I was so lucky to have Wales' stories, history and culture as part of my upbringing,\" he said.\n\"I'm looking forward to sharing Wales' epic story.\"\nFormer Catatonia front-woman, Matthews, said she too was excited by the idea of sharing Wales' rich history and culture with the world.\n\"Wales' myths and legends have been huge inspiration for creativity from music, art to literature,\" she said." ]

[ "The Electric type is one of the 18 types in Pokémon. It is super-effective against Water and Flying types, not very effective against Dragon, Electric, and Grass types, and ineffective against Ground types. It resists Electric, Flying, and Steel-type moves, while taking super-effective damage from Ground-type moves." ]

[ "EditIt's Super Effective. Some types are strong against others and cause twice (2x) the damage compared to neutral types. For example: an Electric-type move on a Normal-type Pokemon causes neutral damage (1x), but an Electric-type move on a Water-type Pokemon causes twice (2x) the damage.", "Which types of Pokemon attacks are effective against which types of Pokemon? Bug Type Good against Grass, Psychic, Dark Bad against Fire, Fighting, Poison, Flying, Ghost, Steel. Dark Type Good against: Ghost, Psychic Bad against: Fighting, Dark Steel. Dragon Type Good against: Dragon Bad against: Ice, Steel. Electric Type Good against: Water, Flying", "Defense pros & cons. Dual-type attack pros & cons. This chart shows the strength of the Electric type against every type combination. The fraction of damage a Electric type move will deal is shown - ½ means 50% damage (not very effective), 2 means 200% (super-effective) and so on.", "Type: Rock/Ground. Most effective against: Fire, Poison, Rock, Electric and Ice Pokémon. No matter if your attacking moves are Rock or Ground types, the rolling, geological, turtle-like Golem is super-effective against the many Fire Pokémon you’ll encounter in gyms.", "Electric-type attacks on a water/flying-type Pokemon mix for 4x damage. This is because Electric-types are strong against both Water- and Flying-types. Fighting-type attacks on a Flying/Poison-type Pokemon mix for .25x damage. This is because Fighting-types moves aren't strong against either Flying- or Poison-types.", "This chart shows which Types are Super Effective against certain Types, but weak against others. For example, in the second row form the top, Fire, Fighting and Ground Types are Super Effective against Steel. Steel is Super Effective against Ice, Rock and Fairy.", "It is super effective against the Rock and Steel types, which generally have high Defense, and is the only type that deals super-effective damage against Normal. It is super effective against Ice types, a key offensive but low defensive type. It is also one of only three types that are super effective against Dark.", "What is the weakness of dark type Pokemon? Fighting types and Bug types. Certain dark Pokemon are also immune to electric types. _______________________________________________________________________ Dark Pokemon… are immune to Psychic types. They're weak against Fighting and Bug Types, and resist Dark and Ghost Types.", "Flying Type Pokemon are countered by Electric Type. For Example, Electrode (Electric type) will deal increased damage to Zubat when using any Electric Moves against him in Gym Battles. Additionaly, since this Pokemon is also a Poison Type. It will suffer increased damage from Psychic Type Pokemon, such as Slowpoke or if damaged by any Psychic Type Moves.", "What is dark super effective against? What is super effective against machamp? Machamp is a fighting type Pokemon all fighting Pokemon are weak against flying types and psychic types that use flying type and psychic type moves so Pokemon like pidgeot or …alakazam will do good against machamp.", "Psychic and flying types are super effective against fighting types. Psychic and flying types are super effective against fighting types.", "In Generation I, the Bug type is super effective against Poison-type Pokémon, while the Poison type is super effective against Bug-type Pokémon. As such, this was the only case when two different types were super-effective against each other.", "Jolteon is the Electric-Type Lightning Pokemon pokémon and one Of'eevee s final evolution, forms and can only be obtained through use of A Thunder. Stone jolteon is strong Against, vaporeon due to the fact That-Electric Type pokemon pokémon abilities are super Effective-Against Water. type pokemon pokémon", "1 They're weak against the Ice and Water types in reference of erosion, which cause this elements to the ground. They're immune against the Electric type because in real life, the ground is a natural sink of electrons.", "The weakness of electric type Pokemon is ground type Pokemon. The weakness of electric type Pokemon is ground type Pokemon.", "Answer to Against which organisms are disinfectants effective? Against which type of organism may they not be effective? What....", "Some types are strong against others and cause twice (2x) the damage compared to neutral types. For example: an Electric-type move on a Normal-type Pokemon causes neutral damage (1x), but an Electric-type move on a Water-type Pokemon causes twice (2x) the damage.", "What is Pokemon GO Golbat Weak Against It's Weak to PsychicIce and Electric Type Moves. However, it will take less damage from and is resistant to Bug, Fairy, Fighting and more Type Moves. Weak Against", "Pokemon Go Types. What do you think poison type pokemon are weak against? If your first thought was Fire Type, you’re wrong, they are weak against ground type and psychic type in pokemon go. This is how it works, we explain this and other pokemon weaknesses in our PoGo Type Chart below. Fighting Type are super effective against Normal Type and inflict increased damage.", "This is shown in the type matchup of Fairy-type -- having immunity to Dragon-type moves, being super effective against Dragon-type, Fighting-type and Dark-type Pokémon, as well as weak to Poison-type and Steel-type attacks. This table shows the effectiveness of Fairy-type moves against other types of Pokémon. This table shows the effectiveness of other types of moves against Fairy-type Pokémon. Here is a list of currently obtainable Pokémon that belong to this type.", "Against which organisms are disinfectants effective? Against which type of organism may not be effective? What disinfectant(s) is used in your laboratory? -Disinfectants are effective against vegetative cells but not endospores. -Staphene is used as a disinfectant in the lab. A disinfectant is used on your work surface what three times?", "(Types that can cause a Super-Effective Hit on magneton) -Fire -Fight -Ground (Most Effective)", "Good against: Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, Steel Bad against: Poison, Flying, Bug, Ghost , Psychic. Fire Type Good against: Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel Bad against: Water, Fire, Dragon, Rock. Flying Type Good against: Grass, Fighting, Bug Bad against: Electric, Rock, Steel. Ghost Type Good against: Ghost, Psychic Bad against: Dark, Steel. Grass Type Good against: Water, Ground, Rock Bad against: Fire, Grass, Poison, Flying, Bug, Dragon, Steel. Ground Type Good against: Fire, Poison, Electric, Rock, Steel Bad against: Grass, Flying, Bug. Ice Type Good against: Grass, Ground, Flying, Dragon Bad ...", "Ineffective against Pokémon of the types: . A type chart displaying the weaknesses and resistances of a Pokémon when damaged by a move. Empty fields are moves that do normal damage. There are no Elite Four members that specialize in the Electric type. 42 Pokémon are Electric type. (5.83% of all Pokémon)", "What is good against dragon type moves in Pokemon? Dragon Pokemon are weak to ice and dragon type moves, and resistant to electric, fire, grass, and water type moves (By resistant I mean that when those type moves hit a dragon… Pokemon, they will only do half the damage that they normally would). (This answer only applies to pure dragon Pokemon.", "What types is fairy good and weak against? fairy type was introduced in Pokémon x and y there super effective against dragon howether weak against Poison and steel for example sylveon vs luca…rio? lucario as an advantage over sylveon .", "The type is one of the 18 Pokémon elemental types. It is one of the 3 main types, along with Fire and Grass, because all starter Pokémon belong to one of these 3 types. It is also the most common type among all 802 Pokémon. Water-type attacks are super effective against Fire, Rock and Ground, but weak to Electric and Grass.", "In pixelmon witch is the best starter Pokemon. Choose piplup or turtwig to start. Turtwig-the turtle, is a grass type and... What is super effective against Exeggutor in Pokemon Yellow Fire, bug, poison, and flying type Pokemon are all effective against Exeggutor....", "What's it like shooting Gotham in the city? What type of Pokemon can beat a water Pokemon? A Water Pokemon's weaknesses are Electric and Grass. Basically any type of Pokemon can beat a water Pokemon if it's strong enough, but Electric and Grass attacks do 2X… damage against Water types.", "Dark moves are super-effective against: Psychic Ghost. Dark moves are not very effective against: Fighting Dark Fairy. Defense pros & cons. These types have no effect on Dark Pokémon: Psychic. These types are not very effective against Dark Pokémon: Ghost Dark. These types are super-effective against Dark Pokémon: Fighting Bug Fairy", "Waterfall Type effectiveness. Waterfall is super effective against: fire, ground, and rock, but it's not very effective against: dragon, grass, and water.", "Super effective against Pokémon of the types: and . Not very effective against Pokémon of the types: and . Ineffective against Pokémon of the types: . A type chart displaying the weaknesses and resistances of a Pokémon when damaged by a move. Empty fields are moves that do normal damage. 72 Pokémon are Psychic type. (10.28% of all Pokémon) 32 Pokémon are pure Psychic type." ]

[ "The U.S. government said on Friday it will charge $28 annually to process background checks on each airline passenger who joins a privately run traveler registry aimed at speeding the trip through airport security." ]

[ "Ever-changing lists of prohibited airplane carry-on items make the Registered Traveler program sound great, but government fees could price it out of existence.", "The Justice Department is being asked to investigate new Northwest Airlines fees that added $7.50 to the cost of a round-trip ticket purchased through systems used by travel agents.", "United Airlines is adding a $15 fee for booking frequent-flier trips by telephone.", "Travel agents, their trade association and at least one reservation system are challenging Northwest Airlines Inc.&#39;s plans to pass on a new fee to travel agents next week, a move that soured", "A fee charged to airline travelers to help pay for airport security would more than double under President Bush's spending proposal for the Homeland Security Department.", "Given the routine at airport checkpoints, it is no wonder 27,000 people signed up in Florida for the Registered Traveler program.", "Spiraling costs and a missing long-term strategy bedevil the US-VISIT program, which screens incoming travelers to the United States for terrorist links. Luke O'Brien reports from Washington.", "Nervous fliers use pills to round the edges of jet travel.", "United Airlines' said on Tuesday its new $25 fee to check a second bag offers \"customers choice, flexibility and low fares,\" but travelers were not buying the explanation and took to blogs to protest.", "More travelers are thinking of frequent-flier miles as a little like Monopoly play money, and online booking sites, are thinking up new ways to both earn and use the miles.", "Brussels suggests making US diplomats vet visas, as many EU citizens still need them to travel to the US.", "Northwest Airlines&#39; new fee on tickets bought through travel agents will drive up passenger costs a lot more than the $7.50 charged by the airline, critics said Wednesday.", "In what it calls a first in international air travel, Finnair says it will let its frequent fliers check in using text messages on mobile phones.", "Northwest Airlines late last week rescinded a policy to levy fees on travel agent bookings made through global distribution systems.", "Business travelers will soon take advantage of airborne internet if two companies have their way. Boeing and software maker iPass plan to use satellite and Wi-Fi to connect high fliers to the office.", "U.S. regulators told airlines and travel agents on Monday to include new fees for booking on the phone or in person to advertised fares, concerned that carriers are improperly listing the cost separately to keep base fares low and attract business.", "Travelers will have to pay up to $10 more for a roundtrip ticket on UAL Corp's United Airlines and $14 more on Continental Airlines , as the airlines seek to offset the rising cost of jet fuel.", "The company will begin payments ranging from $25 toward a future flight to a round-trip ticket to passengers kept waiting by the airline’s own mistakes.", "Thanks to new technology, it will soon be easier to find out what is available in the murky realm of frequent-flier travel redemption.", "American Airlines says it will begin charging a service fee of $5 or $10 to buy a ticket over the phone or at an airport counter, copying a similar move by Northwest Airlines.", "A winter storm moving south across California is making one of the busiest travel weekends of the year even tougher. Fliers and road travelers alike may be affected by the storm that started moving in to southwestern California on Saturday night.", "UAL Corp's United Airlines said on Monday it will charge some passengers a fee to check more than one bag, a move that could generate $100 million annually as the carrier attempts to offset soaring fuel costs.", "The US homeland security department is announcing an expedited-access program for certain foreign travelers.", "Philadelphia, December 28 - Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has ordered an investigation of Comair and US Airways for problems that seriously hampered holiday travel.", "“Mileage runners” seek out the longest flights and the most connections hoping to game the airlines’ frequent flier rewards programs.", "Northwest Airlines said it would begin charging a $10 fee for issuing a ticket at its airport check-in desks.", "Continental Airlines and United Airlines yesterday joined a string of major carriers in charging service fees for airline tickets booked at reservations centers or airport ticket counters in the United States.", "The test program that allows pre-screened travelers to zip through airport security is being extended. The Registered Traveler Program had been scheduled to run for 90 days at each of five big airports.", "Airlines are bilking passengers and the government out of more than $50 million a year by keeping fees and taxes that they should be refunding, alleges a Framingham attorney who hopes to press a class-action lawsuit against 15 airlines.", "The Nederlander Organization has announced the creation of Audience Rewards, an awards program that will be similar to frequent flier miles and credit card points.", "Alaska Airlines revised its third-quarter profit down by 7.9 percent because of a clerical error in accounting for a frequent-flier program.", "The U.S. government has enrolled 10,000 travelers nationwide to test a program for speeding passengers through airport security checkpoints, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Friday." ]

[ "Veterans Benefits Administration" ]

[ "veterans", "Veterans Day", "disabled veterans", "Veteran", "tax benefits", "Department of Veterans Affairs", "Veterans Health Administration", "Bereavement benefit", "cash benefits", "The Veterans Bill of Rights", "Providence", "company benefit", "Providers", "payments for benefits", "Who", "Providence ''", "fringe benefits", "the public benefit", "Provider", "Secretary of Veterans Affairs", "the Who", "common benefit", "The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs", "social security benefit", "Who Made Who", "military healthcare", "Who?", "United War Veterans Council", "The Great War Veterans Association", "A major", "Florida Department of Veterans Affairs", "Veterans Field" ]

[ "LONDON An extension of OPEC-led oil production cuts into the second half of 2017 would help bring global crude inventories back to a five-year average by the end of the year and support prices at about $55 a barrel, BP's chief financial officer said Tuesday.\nOil stocks have steadily built for nearly three years amid sharp production increases in the United States, Iraq, Iran, Brazil and other regions, sparking a slide in oil prices from above $100 in 2014 to $30 last year.\nTo reduce inventories to their five-year average, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers agreed to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of 2017, a deal that helped lift prices to their current level of about $52. [O/R]\nWith stockpiles still high, OPEC states have indicated those cuts could be extended to December.\n\"If OPEC cuts roll into the second half of the year we anticipate crude oil stocks would get back into the top end of the historical range,\" BP Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said after the company reported a jump in profit.\n\"I wouldn't describe it as being majorly bullish, but it would certainly firm up and underpin prices from where they are today,\" he told Reuters. \"If you look at total stocks right now, they are starting to decline.\"\nOil stockpiles in industrialised nations were 3.055 billion barrels at the end of February, about 330 million barrels above the five-year average but with the market showing more balance, the International Energy Agency said last month. [IEA/S]\n\"If the OPEC cuts get rolled into the second half of the year that will underpin oil prices. If they don't get rolled into the second half of the year we will continue to see more volatility,\" Gilvary said.\nOPEC and non-OPEC states meet on May 25 to discuss whether to extend cuts for another six months after June.\n\"From BP's perspective we're managing things around $50-55 a barrel, that's probably the range we would expect for the rest of the year,\" he said, adding that prices could climb to the upper end of the range around $55 if the cuts were extended.\nGlobal oil demand is expected to grow by 1.3 million barrels per day this year, he added.\n(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Edmund Blair)" ]

[ "Oil slipped to the lowest since November as weaker demand at the start of the summer driving season led to another increase in gasoline stockpiles.\nFutures closed 3.7 per cent down in New York. Gasoline inventories rose 2.1 million barrels last week, and diesel supplies also increased, according to the Energy Information Administration. Crude inventories fell by 1.66 million barrels, less than the 2.45 million barrels that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected.\nAdding to the market pessimism, the International Energy Agency said new production from OPEC’s rivals will be more than enough to meet growth in demand next year, overwhelming the oil group’s efforts to reduce supplies.\n\"A gasoline inventory build is the last thing the bulls need,\" John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund, said by telephone. \"It’s really counter to what we should be seeing this time of year.\"\nOil has extended its slump below US$50 a barrel as concerns grow that rising U.S. supplies will offset the production curbs by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia. Output at major American shale fields will reach a record in July, according to the EIA. OPEC should have agreed to cut an additional 1 million barrels a day for 90 days when the group met last month to bring the market back into balance, Gary Ross, founder of PIRA Energy, a unit of S&P Global Platts, said in London.\nWest Texas Intermediate for July delivery slid US$1.73 to settle at US$44.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since Nov. 14. Total volume traded was about 71 per cent above the 100-day average.\nBrent for August settlement fell US$1.72 to end the session at US$47 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of US$2.07 to August WTI.\nFront-month gasoline futures declined 4.5 per cent to settle at US$1.4327 a gallon, the lowest since late November.\nGasoline inventories climbed to 242.4 million barrels last week, the highest level since mid-March, while demand fell to the lowest since April, according to the EIA report. Distillate supplies surged to 151.4 million barrels and refinery utilization rose to 94.4 per cent, the data showed.\n“We’ve been running at historically high levels on the refinery side, which is pushing out more product. The gasoline build was negative as well and that’s one of the things the market has been watching,” Nick Holmes, director at Tortoise Capital Advisors LLC in Leawood Kansas, which manages US$16 billion in energy-related assets, said by telephone. “Obviously again, disappointing crude draw today relative to the market consensus.”\nThe U.S., Brazil, Canada and other producers outside OPEC will increase output next year by the most in four years, the IEA said in its first forecast for 2018. As a result, the need for crude from OPEC won’t be high enough for the group to reverse cuts that it’s currently making to drain a global glut.", "The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Tuesday said it would achieve the re-balancing of the crude oil market at a “slower pace,” stressing that even its own output in May jumped as a result of increased production by Nigeria, and Libya, which were exempted by the agreement to reduce production.\nIn its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for May, OPEC said its output rose by 336,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May to 32.14 million bpd as a result of increased production by Nigeria and Libya.\n“Demand for OPEC crude in 2017 was revised up by 100,000 bpd from the previous month. This upward adjustment was mainly due to the downward revision in non-OPEC supply as world oil demand remained unchanged. Within the quarters, the first quarter remained unchanged, while the second quarter was revised down by 100,000 bpd. Both the third and the fourth quarters were each revised up by 200,000 bpd. Demand for OPEC crude this year is projected to increase by 300,000 bpd to average 32m bpd. Compared to the same quarters of last year, the first quarter is expected to increase by 100,000 bpd, while all other quarters are estimated to remain unchanged,” OPEC said in the report.\nThe OPEC production figures were for 13 members and did not include Equatorial Guinea, which joined last month.\nOPEC added that crude oil inventories in industrialised countries dropped in April and would fall further in the rest of the year, but a recovery in United States production was slowing efforts to get rid of excess supply.\n“The rebalancing of the market is under way, but at a slower pace, given the changes in fundamentals since December, especially the shift in US supply from an expected contraction to positive growth,” OPEC added.\nOPEC noted the continued high compliance by its members with the supply deal, adding that inventories in industrialised countries dropped in April, even though they were still 251 million barrels above the five-year average.\nSaudi Arabia reported to OPEC that it reduced output further by about 66,000 bpd in May to 9.88 million bpd.\nThe cartel reduced its estimate of oil supply growth from producers outside the group this year to 840,000 bpd from 950,000 bpd, following the decision to extend the cut by nine months.\nThe group also cut its forecast for growth in the United States, where shale producers have gained impetus from the higher prices brought about by the cut.\nAccording to the MOMR, US output is still expected to rise by 800,000 bpd in 2017, contributing almost all the increased output by the non-OPEC members.\nOPEC raised the forecast demand for its crude this year by 100,000 bpd to 32.02 million bpd, below its May output.\nThe Secretary General of the cartel, Mr. Mohammad Barkindo had said it was too early for Nigeria, Libya’s output to be capped.\nOPEC is curbing output by about 1.2 million bpd, while Russia and other non-OPEC producers are cutting 600,000 bpd under an accord that was extended until March 2018.\n[ThisDay]", "Is ending the cut-deal suicide for OPEC in 2017? Or will extending the cut lead to OPEC's demise in 2018 and beyond? For OPEC members, particularly Saudi Arabia, it depends on which risk it wants to take.\nWhen Saudi Energy Minister Kahil Al-Fahil spoke in March, he was quite firm that the kingdom would not support \"free-loaders\" at its expense. By that he meant countries which benefit from higher oil prices that do not contribute their fair share to the production cuts.\nKhalid al-Falih. © Bloomberg.\nThe biggest \"free-loader\" is America's oil producers, which have been increasing production at OPEC's expense and benefiting from higher prices. OPEC's Secretary General has called the deal \"incomplete\" without American oil producers, and expressed hope that they would join in future deals, but such an action would violate U.S. antitrust laws and will not happen.\nRussia has been a free loader to the extent that its output reduction has thus far only been about 200,000 of the 300,000 b/d it had promised. The agreements were intended to go into effect January 1.\nAnd then there are a few countries, such as Kazakhstan, which have increased production (by 78,000 b/d from October), instead of reducing it by the 20,000 b/d it had promised. Energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev has called the pledge \"symbolic.\"\nTwo Criteria\nMr. Al-Falihh mentioned two criteria will drive his decision in May about whether to support the extension of the cut to the second half of the year: The degree of compliance by other producers and how close (far) global OECD inventories are to the five-year average.\nBut I think the real question is how KSA weighs short-term risks (2017) against longer-term risks (2018 and beyond).\nThanks to a huge revision by the Energy Department, it now estimates that global OECD stocks ended 2016 at 2.965 billion barrels. That figure was 105 million barrels lower than it estimated in its March report. As a result, the size of the surplus is estimated to be 201 million barrels, instead of the 285 million barrels, as previous estimated, a major difference.\nAnother factor is seasonality. Stocks in the first half of this year are likely building due to normal seasonality. But stocks in the second half of the year would draw by almost 100 million barrels if OPEC were to keep production at March levels. The size of the glut would therefore be reduced to about 100 million.\nBut this would likely provide support futures prices, enabling shale producers to lock in profitable hedges for 2018 and beyond. The effect would be to enable American producers to keep ramping up production in 2018 and 2019, taking market share away from Saudi Arabia, prolonging the continuation of a surplus. This could mean that KSA has to continue to run budget deficits, further drawing down its currency reserves.\nIf it were to not extend the deal, oil futures prices might drop sharply, thereby denying American producers further hedging opportunities for 2018 and 2019. While a sharp drop in prices would temporarily deepen Saudi Arabia's budget deficit, it would likely bring forth a faster rebalancing of global supplies with demand than if KSA supports prices by extending the production cuts.\nConclusions\nWhile it might have been logical to cut production to bring forward a rebalancing of global oil supply and demand, it may not be the most effective strategy. That is because there is a factor that the Saudi Minister did not consider viable in December when non-OPEC countries agreed to join OPEC's production cuts. He specifically said that he did not expect to see any production increases in 2017 by American shale producers.\nInstead, we now know that U.S. crude production bottomed in September 2016 and believe it has been ramping up rather quickly since. The Energy Department estimates that crude production is over 9.2 million barrels per day and will reach new record-high levels in 2018.\nThe Saudi minister will likely favor short-term higher prices v. longer-term risks. But this new factor could tilt the Saudi decision toward short-term pain for longer-term gain.\nI have introduced a new Premium Service in Seeking Alpha's Marketplace. For more information and background, click here.", "Crude oil prices slipped 1 per cent on Monday in subdued trading after a long Easter holiday weekend, on news of rising US shale production and profit-taking following three straight weeks of gains.\n[NEW YORK] Crude oil prices slipped 1 per cent on Monday in subdued trading after a long Easter holiday weekend, on news of rising US shale production and profit-taking following three straight weeks of gains.\nOn Monday, the Energy Information Agency (EIA) said US shale production in May was set for its biggest monthly increase in more than two years, adding to worries that these increases would undermine efforts of the world's top producers to rein in a glut.\nRobert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Americas said market conditions encouraged profit taking. Speculators in the week to April 11 also increased bets on strong performance in both contracts. \"The market was overbought so these people are definitely booking profits at this point,\" Mr Yawger said.\nBenchmark Brent crude futures ended the session 53 cents lower at US$55.36 while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled down 53 cents at US$52.65 a barrel.\nsentifi.com Market voices on:\nVolumes were thin, with about 152,000 Brent futures contracts and about 296,000 WTI contracts changing hands, less than half of Thursday's trading volumes.\nWith financial markets closed across Europe, the focus was on geopolitical tensions.\nThe Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet on May 25 to consider extending output cuts beyond June to reduce a glut that has depressed prices.\nIran fed hopes that Opec and non-Opec producers would extend the cuts, but Saudi Arabia's energy minister said it was too early to discuss an extension.\n\"While the Saudis and the Russians have been complying with their cuts we've seen Iraq and a number of other countries produce more than their share of the quota,\" Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, said. \"So that gives the market pause at how effective they're going to be at taking oil out of the market.\"\nAnother source of instability is in North Korea. US Vice-President Mike Pence on Monday warned North Korea that US strikes in Afghanistan and Syria, one of North Korea's few close allies, showed that the country should not test the resolve of President Donald Trump.\nFighting in Libya has cut oil output, but state oil company National Oil Corporation has reopened at least one field.\nMany analysts remained positive on oil prices.\n\"We remain constructive on oil prices for the balance of 2017 as second quarter 2017 should see markets tighten as a result of the current Opec/non-Opec deal whilst an expected extension of the deal on May 25th should keep oil inventories drawing in the second half of the year,\" Citi analysts said in a note. \"This should push Brent to US$60-65 per barrel.\"\nREUTERS", "Oil analysts have grown more unsure that OPEC's supply cut will be enough to offset the increase in U.S. production and do not believe prices will reach $60 a barrel until early next year, according to a Reuters poll on Friday.\nBrent crude LCOc1 is expected to average $57.25 per barrel in 2017, slightly lower than last month's forecast of $57.52, the poll of 32 economists and analysts showed.\nForecasts for Brent in 2017 range from a high of $73 by Raymond James to a low of $51 by Commerzbank.\nGrowing U.S. supply is expected to partly offset cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their partners, said Rahul Prithiani, director at CRISIL Research.\n\"If U.S. producers keep on increasing output at the same pace then rebalancing in the oil markets is expected to get delayed beyond 2017,\" he said.\nU.S. shale production is expected to rise by 109,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.96 million bpd in April, its biggest monthly increase since October, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report this month.\nAnalysts said OPEC's first accord on supply curbs since 2008 could be challenged by poor adherence from participants outside the group, even as OPEC states have been broadly compliant.\n\"Poor commitment from outside the group could threaten the remainder of the agreement as Saudi Arabia is pulling most of the weight, while Russia, which in many cases is a direct competitor, has failed to deliver the promised cuts,\" said Giorgos Beleris, analyst at Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.\nOPEC oil output is likely to fall for a third straight month in March, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday, as the United Arab Emirates made progress in trimming supplies.\nMeanwhile, maintenance and unrest have hampered output from Nigeria and Libya, which are both exempt from the supply deal.\nOPEC, which meets on May 25 in Vienna, pledged last year to reduce output by about 1.2 million bpd for the first half of 2017. Non-OPEC producers agreed to cut about half that amount.\nBrent crude has fallen about 5 percent so far this month, the biggest percentage decline since July. Record high U.S. stocks have led speculators to cut holdings of U.S. crude oil futures and options to the lowest since December.\n\"The initial liquidation in net long positions is a concern; it reflects weaker market confidence in oil prices, amid rising U.S. shale investment and production,\" said Cailin Birch, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.\nThe risk of an even faster sell-off will be seen as a major risk by most oil-producing countries, providing further motivation for the OPEC deal to be extended, Birch added.\nThe Reuters survey forecast U.S. WTI crude futures CLc1 would average $55.29 a barrel in 2017, marginally lower than last month's forecast of $55.66.\n(Additional reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Edmund Blair)", "New York — Oil futures plunged 3% on Friday, and were set to end Brent’s longest multi-week rally in 16 months following profit-taking and the return of over-supply concerns.\n\"Yesterday, we had Russia and the Saudis talking about extending co-operation, and today we saw a little bit of backtracking with respect to additional cuts in production,\" said Houston-based consultant Andrew Lipow. \"What the market gained yesterday is clearly being given back today.\"\nOn Friday, Russia clarified remarks made by President Vladimir Putin about the oil market earlier this week, saying he did not propose extending a global oil output cut deal, but said he recognised it was a possibility.\nBenchmark Brent crude futures were down $1.73 at $55.29 a barrel by 1.53pm GMT, set for a 1.8%loss on the week and snapping a five-week winning streak that was the longest since June 2016.\nUS West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $49.23, down $1.56 or 3% on the day. It was set to close the week down more than 4%, the biggest weekly loss in four months.\nThe prospect of extended oil production cuts by oil cartel Opec, and other producers led by Russia, had supported prices in recent sessions. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Thursday that he was \"flexible\" about prolonging the production-curbing pact until the end of 2018.\nHowever, concerns linger about growing US crude exports, due to a hefty WTI discount to Brent prices, which makes US oil more competitive.\n\"We have a couple of bearish factors such as a new record for US crude exports, the re-opening of Libya’s biggest oil field, a new year-high in US crude production, and the recent strength of the US dollar,\" said Frank Schallenberger, head of commodity research at LBBW in Stuttgart.\nA stronger dollar, which makes greenback-denominated commodities more expensive for buyers in other currencies, also led to further losses in the oil market on Friday. The dollar hit a 10-week high after data showing the largest gain in US wages since December 2016 bolstered bets on an interest rate hike by year-end.\n\"I expect Brent to drop below $55 a barrel and WTI below $50 in the next couple of days,\" Schallenberger said.\nUS government data showed this week that crude exports had risen to a record of nearly 2-million barrels per day (bpd) as domestic production grows.\nThe Baker Hughes’ report on the US oil drilling rig count, an early indicator of future output, will be released later.\nInvestors were also watching Tropical Storm Nate as companies shut down some oil production in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of its expected arrival in the area as a hurricane on Sunday.\n\"The biggest impact [from Nate] could be on gasoline prices, depending on how many refineries are forced to shut down. But I don’t think we will see another bull run,\" Schallenberger said.\nIn the Gulf of Mexico, BP and Chevron were shutting production at all platforms, while Royal Dutch Shell and Anadarko Petroleum suspended some activity. Exxon Mobil, Statoil and other producers have withdrawn personnel.\nAdditional production cuts are expected as the forecast track cuts through the heart of Gulf oil production, Lipow said.\nReuters", "LONDON/DUBAI OPEC oil output fell for a fourth straight month in April, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, as top exporter Saudi Arabia kept production below its target while maintenance and unrest cut production in exempt nations Nigeria and Libya.\nBut more oil from Angola and higher UAE output than originally thought helped OPEC compliance with its production-cutting deal slip to 90 percent from a revised 92 percent in March, according to Reuters surveys.\nThe Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pledged to reduce output by about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for six months from Jan. 1 - the first supply cut deal since 2008. Non-OPEC producers are cutting about half as much.\nOPEC wants to get rid of excess supply that is keeping oil LCOc1 below $52 a barrel, half the level of mid-2014. With the oversupply proving hard to shift, OPEC is expected to prolong the agreement.\nCompliance of 90 percent is still higher than OPEC achieved in its last cut in 2009, Reuters surveys show. Analysts including those at the International Energy Agency have put adherence in 2017 even higher, with the IEA calling it a record.\nApril's biggest production gain came from Angola, which scheduled higher exports and where output started at the East Pole field in February. The increase brought Angolan compliance down to 91 percent, from above 100 earlier in the year.\nOther, small increases came from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the survey found, although their compliance was the second-highest and highest respectively in OPEC.\nEven with April's increase, the total curb achieved by OPEC's top producer Saudi Arabia is 574,000 bpd, well above the target cut of 486,000 bpd.\nIran's production rose slightly. Tehran was allowed a small increase in output under the OPEC agreement.\nThese increases offset lower supply in Iraq, which exported less crude from its southern terminals - and Venezuela, where exports also fell month-on-month, according to tanker data and shipping sources.\nOutput in the United Arab Emirates fell, but production in March was higher than originally thought. The UAE, which has been focusing on expanding oil capacity in recent years, has been slower than other Gulf members to trim supply.\nThe UAE says it is complying 100 percent. It has blamed suggestions that it is failing to do so on discrepancies between its own production figures and those estimated by the secondary sources that OPEC uses to track compliance.\nLower output in Nigeria and Libya, which are exempt from the curbs, helped bring down overall OPEC production.\nMaintenance continued at Nigeria's Bonga field for part of the month and loading delays affected the country's biggest export stream, Qua Iboe.\nIn Libya, output fell as protests blocking a pipeline prompted the shutdown of the Sharara field. Output there resumed in late April, suggesting May could see higher production if no further unrest emerges.\nOPEC announced a production target of 32.5 million bpd at its Nov. 30 meeting, which was based on low figures for Libya and Nigeria and included Indonesia, which has since left the group.\nThe Libyan and Nigerian reductions mean OPEC output in April averaged 31.97 million bpd, about 220,000 bpd above its supply target adjusted to remove Indonesia.\nThe Reuters survey is based on shipping data provided by external sources, Thomson Reuters flows data, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consulting firms.\n(Editing by Dale Hudson)", "Opec achieved the best compliance rate in its history at the outset of its accord to cut production, a plan that’s being supported by strong demand, the International Energy Agency said in a February 10 report. In the past, Opec had often struggled to fully deliver promised cuts due to a reluctance to lose income and market share. Former Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said on December 2 that, in the history of Opec deals, “the unfortunate part is we tend to cheat.” Meanwhile, US producers last week extended the biggest surge in oil drilling in more than four years as the prolific shale plays of Texas and Oklahoma lure investment from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Continental Resources Inc.\nUS crude output climbed to 8.98 million barrels a day in the week ended February 3, according to the Energy Information Administration. That’s an increase of about half a million barrels a day from last year’s low, and the agency expects production to keep climbing to reach 9.53 million a day next year, the most since 1970. Tight range Hedge funds cut their net-long position, or the difference between bets on a price increase and wagers on a decline, by 5.4 per cent in the week ended February 7, US commodity futures trading commission data show. WTI slipped 1.2 per cent to $52.17 a barrel in the report week, and closed at $53.86 on February 10. It was trading at $53.80 a barrel, down 6 cents, on Monday at 1:04pmin Hong Kong. Money managers’ net-long position in WTI decreased by 20,540 futures and options to 359,387. Longs fell 1.8 per cent, while shorts climbed 26 per cent, the biggest gain in three months. Willing Investors “The shorts increased, which shows that there are investors willing to bet that the Opec production cuts are fully priced into the market and that the oil bulls are vulnerable to bearish news,” Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York, said by telephone. As they boost output, US oil producers are hedging their price risk for this year and 2018. Producers’ short positions, protecting against a drop in prices, increased to 707,498 futures and options, the most since August 2007, according to the CFTC. Pioneer Natural Resources Co. plans to continue being a “heavy hedger,” Chief Operating Officer Tim Dove said last week. The company raised its drilling budget more than expected and is expanding its fleet of rigs in the Permian Basin. Pioneer’s hedges provide upside to about $62 a barrel, Dove said. Opec implemented 90 per cent of promised output cuts in January, the first month of its agreement, according to the IEA. Eleven non-Opec members who joined the agreement have made about half their pledged reductions, the agency said. “I think that we will be looking at the reverse of this report in a week,” Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, said by telephone. “The IEA report on compliance has dispelled doubts about Opec’s adherence.” More from Markets Law on dissolving Dubai Economic Council\nApple shares hit record close\nMarka fails to meet promise of profit in 2016\nDar Al Takaful swings to net profit in 2016", "Increasing production from US and non-Opec countries means growth in oil supply will outstrip demand in 2018\nThe world’s oil glut is likely to persist next year in a blow to efforts by major producers to shore up the oil price by cutting output, according to a leading energy authority.\nGrowth in oil supply will outstrip growth in demand during 2018, driven by increasing production from US shale and other countries outside Opec, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.\nThe watchdog said its first forecast for 2018 made “sobering reading for those producers looking to restrain supply”.\nOil price slides as Opec production cuts fail to impress markets Read more\nOil prices have fallen by about 10% since Opec and non-member countries including Russia recently agreed to extend production cuts until the end of March 2018. The deal was meant to prop up prices, but markets have been unimpressed by the continued curbs.\nThe price of a barrel of oil fell further to $47.12 on Wednesday after new data from the American Petroleum Institute showed US crude stocks had risen 2.8m barrels in the week to 9 June. They had been expected to fall by a similar amount.\nThe IEA has revised its forecast upwards for US oil production this year, and said Brazil and Canada were also expected “to make further gains”. As a result, despite the Opec deal, oil stocks might not fall to the cartel’s desired level “until close to the expiry of the agreement in March 2018”, the agency said.\n“‘Whatever it takes’ might be the mantra, but the current form of ‘whatever’ is not having as quick an impact as expected,” the IEA said in a reference to Saudi Arabia’s promise to do “whatever it takes” to rebalance oil supply and demand.\nEfforts to combat the oil glut have not been helped by figures this week that showed Opec as a whole increased production in May because of higher output by Nigeria and Libya, which are not covered by the recent cuts deal.\nHowever, the big problem is the US and the speed at which it is adding new oil rigs. “It’s a huge resource, it’s changed everything,” said Gary N Ross, global head of oil at energy analysts Pira, of US shale.\nThe number of US rigs has climbed to 927, according to the oil services firm Baker Hughes, up from 414 this time last year. The rise has been driven by the oil price climbing back up after an initial deal by Opec and allies last year to cut production by 1.8m barrels of oil a day from January 2017.\nRoss said surplus oil stocks were being drawn down, “but not at the rate Opec would like to see” because of US production. He said he believed the price of international benchmark Brent crude would have to drop to $45 a barrel before US rig growth slowed.\nThe analyst also said that the cartel should have “done more” at its meeting last month, and added that he thought it was in for a period of “perpetual [production] cuts”.", "U.S. energy companies this week added oil rigs for a third week in a row, the longest string of increases since summer, as higher crude prices prompt drillers to return to the well pad after a break in the autumn, reports Reuters.\nDrillers added two oil rigs in the week to Dec. 8, bringing the total count up to 751, the highest level since September, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday.\nThe U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is still much higher than a year ago when only 498 rigs were active after energy companies boosted spending plans for 2017 as crude started recovering from a two-year price crash around the same time OPEC agreed to the production cuts a year ago.\nLast week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia agreed to extend oil output cuts of about 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of 2018 as they try to finish clearing a global glut of crude.\nThe increase in U.S. drilling lasted 14 months before stalling in August, September and October as some producers trimmed their 2017 spending plans after prices turned softer over the summer. Energy firms started adding rigs again in November as crude prices rose.\nSo far in 2017, U.S. crude futures have averaged over $50 a barrel, easily topping last year’s $43.47 average. This week, futures traded near $57 a barrel, just below their highest since June 2015.\nLooking ahead, futures were trading near $57 for calendar 2018 and $54 for calendar 2019.\nIn anticipation of higher prices than in 2016, exploration and production (E&P) companies increased their spending on U.S. drilling and completions in 2017 by about 53 percent over 2016, according to U.S. financial services firm Cowen & Co.\nIn addition, Cowen said 17 of the 64 E&Ps they track, including Chevron Corp, have already provided capital expenditure guidance for 2018 indicating a 17 percent increase in planned spending over 2017.\nChevron this week said it planned to boost U.S. upstream capital expenditures to $6.6 billion in 2018 from $5.7 billion in 2017.\nAnalysts at Simmons & Co, energy specialists at U.S. investment bank Piper Jaffray, this week boosted their forecast for the total oil and natural gas rig count to an average of 876 in 2017, 1,001 in 2018 and 1,128 in 2019. Two weeks ago, it forecast 874 in 2017, 927 in 2018 and 1,074 in 2019.\nThere were 931 oil and natural gas rigs active on Dec. 8. The average number of rigs in service so far in 2017 was 873. That compares with 509 in 2016 and 978 in 2015. Most rigs produce both oil and gas.", "* Rouble has risen by over 10 pct since November\n* Oil price in rouble terms retreats to Nov levels\n* Russia yet to decide on oil cut extension\nBy Oksana Kobzeva and Vladimir Soldatkin\nMOSCOW, April 13 A strong rouble is deflating Russian oil producers' and government hopes for a revenue boost from a global deal to curb output that was designed to lift prices and reduce inventories.\nThe price of Russia's flagship Urals oil blend has risen around 20 percent since OPEC and 11 other large producers, led by Russia, agreed late last year to cut production in the first half of this year.\nIn the same time though, the rouble has climbed by more than 10 percent versus the dollar, eroding gains for Russian oil. The Russian government's budget revenues from oil exports also shrink when the currency strengthens.\nThe price of a barrel of Urals oil blend URL-NWE-E was just under 3,000 roubles per barrel on Thursday, the same level it was at the end of November. It fell to as low as 2,686 roubles on March 24.\n\"The rouble has let the (oil) companies down - the first-quarter results will be worse because of the strong rouble,\" Alexander Kornilov of Moscow-based Aton brokerage said.\nRussian mid-sized oil company Russneft, which produces around 140,000 barrels per day (bpd), said the oil price rise had not compensated its efforts to curtail output in rouble terms.\n\"In comparison to the fourth quarter, the price of a barrel of oil in roubles has been almost unchanged,\" the company said in emailed comments to Reuters, adding that oil prices should be between 3,400 roubles and 3,600 roubles per barrel.\nGazprom Neft, one of Russia's top three oil producers, said it was sticking to its plans for 2017 to extract 89.2 million tonnes of hydrocarbons (1.7 million bpd), up 3 percent year-on-year. It declined to comment on the rouble.\nRosneft and Lukoil declined to comment. Surgutneftegaz and Tatneft did not reply to Reuters requests.\nThe energy ministry said in emailed comments to Reuters that a price of $55 to $60 was \"absolutely comfortable\" for all oil producers. Benchmark Brent crude futures were around $56 a barrel on Thursday.\nThe ministry declined to comment on whether the strong rouble made the output cut deal less attractive for Russia.\nOPEC is curbing its output by about 1.2 million bpd from Jan. 1 for six months. Russia, the world's top oil producer, and the other non-OPEC producers agreed to cut half as much. Russia's compliance with the cuts is around 83 percent.\nBUDGET WORRIES\nAfter the pact was signed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the federal budget could yield 1.750 trillion roubles ($31 billion) in additional revenue due higher oil prices and that companies could earn 750 billion roubles.\nBut if the rouble remains steady at current levels this year, the extra oil and gas revenue for government coffers would be 1 trillion roubles, according to Russian Finance Ministry calculations seen by Reuters. The finance ministry has estimated that the rouble is overvalued by 10 to 12 percent.\nEnergy minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday he had received no complaints from oil companies so far and that he planned to meet producers this month.\nOPEC meets on May 25 and is considering whether to extend the deal beyond June. Most members are leaning towards this if all producers, including non-OPEC ones, also agree, OPEC sources told Reuters last month.\nRussia has not publicly said whether it supports extending the supply cut, but is wary about the revival of U.S. shale output due to the higher oil prices.\n\"If not for the OPEC deal... the situation could have been worse off even under a weak rouble,\" Aton brokerage's Kornilov said.\n($1 = 56.9300 roubles)\n(Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Katya Golubkova and Susan Thomas)" ]

[ "Moist" ]

[ "That sounds like a real pain in the neck.", "Sounds like real life tbh.", "Based on their performances solely, I can tell Adriana Chechik is dirty slut in real life too.", "How do we know whats real is real?", "Two great choices. And your love sounds like the real deal.", "\"No no no, what's your real name?\"", "T", "Damn, the grudge is real.. what happened?", "T-Pose", "T Rex", "Sounds like what one of them would say", "what do you mean he’s not real", "B E G O N E T H O T", "Jeans and a t shirt...", "now here's the real question...\n\n#what is love?", "The real question is: \n\nWhat did we do to not deserve it?", "Do you know what the word \"faith\" means?", "T-rex hugs", "Be young, edgy and have real no investment in anything, and the idea of society setting itself alight sounds appealing.", "A t-shirt with pie on it", "The real question is: what aren't I insecure about?", "T pose in the lake.", "Shrek t-shirt", "T-posing on a sucka", "The at&amp;t lady", "E. T. For the Atari", "T-35 tanks" ]

[ "This morning's meeting was kicked off by \"Juror No. 10,\" aka Managing Editor Bill Marimow. Bill just returned from jury duty and informed us that he and the other 11 angry men (and women) in their case reached a verdict in just 45 minutes. The jury in the Moussoui trial will likely have a tougher time. The defense presents its case today. The big question at the meeting: Will Moussoui take the stand? Immigration: NPR's Jennifer Ludden is working on a piece about efforts to bring African-Americans into the immigrant rights movement. Rumsfeld: Another general has joined the list of retired officers demanding the resignation of the secretary of defense. Gen. John Batiste who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq says the Pentagon needs new leadership. All of the NPR shows are pursuing the general. Place your bets on who gets him first. Science: The mumps are back (cue the theme from Jaws). Normally, there are about 300 cases a year in the U.S. More than 500 cases have been reported in Iowa alone. Six other Midwestern states are also reporting heavy outbreaks. Health officials say this mumps manifestation may have originated with just two airline passengers. Listen for a report tonight on NPR. Remember, mumps is highly contagious. Wash your hands after reading this." ]

[ "The director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service, a news agency affiliated with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has reportedly been pushed out of his position after an outcry over tweets endorsing LGBT rights. Two prominent Catholic news outlets have reported that Tony Spence resigned this week at the request of an official in the bishops conference. Spence, who has headed the CNS since 2004, was active on Twitter — tweeting mostly about news within the Catholic Church, but occasionally sharing stories on the journalism industry, world news and pop culture. He tweeted about sainthood dates, the pope and refugees, Flannery O'Connor's faith and the infuriating failures of the D.C. metro. But it was tweets about the gender identity legislation in North Carolina and what supporters call the \"religious liberties\" measure in Mississippi, and related issues of LGBT rights, that reportedly led to his dismissal. The National Catholic Reporter writes: \"In recent days Spence had been attacked by conservative Catholic blogs for tweets he had posted about controversial religious freedom bills in North Carolina and Georgia. These sites accused Spence of 'promoting the LGBT agenda.' \" 'The far right blogsphere and their troops started coming after me again and it was too much for the USCCB,' Spence told NCR in an interview Thursday. ... \"Spence attended a regularly scheduled staff story meeting at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Sometime later, after meeting with Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, the general secretary of the bishops' conference, Spence was escorted from the conference office building without being allowed to speak to his newsroom staff.\" One conservative Catholic site that wrote about Spence this week said he \"promotes LGBT 'rights' \" and \"openly sided with the homosexual agenda.\" In addition to his tweets stating a position on the state laws, they cited several other tweets related to LGBT issues. In one case, the Lepanto Institute wrote that Spence \"warned that homosexual adoptions in Italy were at risk, calling them 'rights.' \" That language came from the headline of the Reuters piece he was sharing; Spence had added, \"Opposition from church cited.\" Spence spoke to America: The National Catholic Review on Thursday: \"Spence said he did not believe his Twitter comments would provoke such a backlash — 'obviously' — but that he had been to his mind merely commenting on developing news on a subject frequently covered by CNS staff. \"Spence said that he had anticipated ending his career at CNS. 'Sixty-three and unemployed; not the brightest prospects,' he said with a grim laugh. 'My plan now is to go home to Tennessee and start over,' he said. \"He added, 'My 12 years at CNS have been the best 12 years of my professional life; my staff is just amazing and I'll miss it.' \" An NPR inquiry to CNS was directed to the bishops conference, which declined to comment, saying it was a personnel matter.", "The business editor of the Los Angeles Times made a triumphant return to the newsroom to applause Thursday after several days away, telling colleagues she had been whisked away and suspended as part of the newspaper's investigation into the leak of taped remarks made by the paper's editor-in-chief in November. According to several staffers, Business Editor Kimi Yoshino told members of the LA Times business desk that the then editor-in-chief, Lewis D'Vorkin, personally walked her to human resources offices last week. Yoshino said she was then grilled over a conversation she had with New York Times reporter Sydney Ember in advance of a story published in that paper. That story revealed that reporters clashed with D'Vorkin at a November newsroom meeting over his handling of the Walt Disney Co.'s condemnations of the LA Times for its coverage of financial breaks given by the City of Anaheim to the entertainment giant. D'Vorkin had not publicly defended the LA Times' reporting even as Disney blocked LA Times reporters and critics from advance screenings of its films, inhibiting cultural coverage and movie reviews. The company lifted the ban after a meeting with D'Vorkin and LA Times Publisher Ross Levinsohn. Yoshino denied sharing any audio with the New York Times reporter, telling colleagues she simply had an innocuous conversation with Ember shortly before the story. The leak of the staff meeting and the subsequent story in the rival New York Times incensed D'Vorkin and LA Times Publisher Ross Levinsohn, who called New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet to complain, according to a spokeswoman for the New York paper. (Levinsohn did not respond to requests for comment.) In a second staff meeting in November, called in response to the New York Times piece, D'Vorkin said the leaks of the audio to Ember were \"unethical,\" adding that \"whoever was involved was morally bankrupt.\" Audiotapes of those remarks at the second November meeting were obtained and first reported by NPR. As described by her colleagues, Yoshino warned staffers on Thursday that the LA Times could well extend its investigation into the source of the leak to others in the newsroom. A spokeswoman for the newspaper's parent company, Tronc, told NPR Friday morning there was no current investigation into the leak of the audio. D'Vorkin did not respond to detailed questions seeking comment. Two LA Times staffers spoke to NPR about what Yoshino said; several posted highlights on Twitter as news of what Yoshino told her business desk colleagues started to break. Separately, Levinsohn was placed under corporate investigation two weeks ago after NPR reported on accusations about his past workplace behavior. D'Vorkin was shifted to a new corporate job Sunday after a brief and rocky tenure that included the newsroom voting to unionize for the first time in the paper's 136-year history. He has been replaced by Jim Kirk, who has served as a news executive and troubleshooter for Tronc. Kirk is a former Chicago Sun-Times editor and publisher. He served briefly as an interim editor at the LA Times last fall. \"Kimi is back to work,\" Tronc spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said in a written statement to NPR. \"We know Jim and his team want to help the entire staff get back to work doing what they do best — covering the news that matters most to readers of the Los Angeles Times.\" Yoshino had overseen coverage of Disney's relationship to Anaheim and also its reporting on the paper's own troubles, including the labor vote and the accusations against Levinsohn. Yoshino's staffers last week signed a public statement of protest in her defense; she did not return a message seeking comment but wrote on Twitter of her appreciation for their support on Thursday. \"Throughout my career, I have held myself to high professional and journalistic standards, treating people with kindness and respect,\" Yoshino tweeted. \"Under the leadership of @kirkjim12, I expect the L.A. Times newsroom will move forward guided by those same values.\"", "Good morning. For the first time ever, a U.S. president will chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council when President Barack Obama assumes that role this morning in New York. The session is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. ET. We're planning to live-blog the highlights, so check back as the time draws near. On Morning Edition, NPR's Don Gonyea talked with host Steve Inskeep about the Security Council meeting and about what Obama has been saying this week as he meets with leaders at the U.N. (and prepares for the opening later today of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh). As Steve says, Obama's message so far has basically been \"we're changing, now it's your turn\": For more on the Security Council session and Obama's agenda, there's The Washington Post account of how the president \"will use the forum of the U.N. Security Council ... to press his efforts to slow the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce global stockpiles.\" And The Wall Street Journal wraps up the news with this: A draft nuclear-safeguards resolution, expected to be adopted unanimously Thursday by the United Nations Security Council, would begin to lay the legal framework for military and diplomatic action against nations that use civilian nuclear technology for military purposes. Last night at the U.N., Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- speaking to a mostly empty chamber -- renewed his verbal attacks on Israel and claimed his country has one of the most democratic governments in the world. NPR's Michele Kelemen filed this report for Morning Edition: Ahmadinejad, in an interview yesterday with reporters and editors from The Washington Post and Newsweek, said Iran \"is willing to have its nuclear experts meet with scientists from the United States and other world powers as a confidence-building measure aimed at resolving concerns about Tehran's nuclear program,\" the Post writes. Among the other stories making headlines this morning: -- Reuters -- \"U.N. Agencies Say AIDS Vaccine Results Are Promising\": \"Two U.N. agencies said on Thursday promising results with an experimental AIDS vaccine in Thailand gave 'new hope' in the fight against the disease, but more work was needed to see if it could be used elsewhere.\" Related video report from ITN News: -- Morning Edition -- \"FBI Not Showing Cards\" As Terror-Plot Suspects Prepare For Court. \"Three men arrested in connection with a possible terrorist plot are scheduled to be back in court for detention hearings Thursday in Denver and New York.\" NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports on the case investigators are building: Related story in The Denver Post -- \"No More Arrests Expected In Colorado.\" -- Dow Jones Newswires -- \"TARP Watchdog Questions Whether Taxpayers Will Be Repaid $700B\": \"The U.S. government's $700 billion financial rescue program has improved market stability but has fallen short on broad goals, highlighted by the likelihood that U.S. taxpayers won't get 100% of their investment back, a watchdog will tell lawmakers Thursday. Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said in prepared testimony for a Senate Banking Committee hearing that Treasury has frequently ignored suggestions to increase the transparency of the program and has never solved the difficult issue of what to do with the toxic assets that still remain on banks' balance sheets.\" -- Los Angeles Times -- Rallies, Walkouts And Teach-Ins Across UC System Today: \"Rallies, walkouts and teach-ins are scheduled today across the University of California system, with professors, students and staff expected to protest state cutbacks in higher education funding and UC's handling of the crisis. The extent of the protests was hard to predict; many faculty and students said they were reluctant to skip classes today, the first day of fall classes for the seven undergraduate UC campuses on the quarter calendar.\" -- Boston Globe -- New Mass. Senator To Be Announced This Morning; Signs Point To Kirk: \"Governor Deval Patrick huddled with a small group of trusted advisers last night to finalize his choice for an interim US senator, with indications pointing to former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., who has the strong backing of the immediate family of the late Edward M. Kennedy, as the overwhelming favorite. ... The governor will announce the appointment at an 11 a.m. press conference today at the State House.\" -- Morning Edition -- Biden Decries \"Hokum\" About Health Care Overhaul And \"Death Panels\". NPR's Julie Rovner reports: Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.", "The draft agendas for each of the below meetings along with the times of the open/public sessions for each will be posted approximately seven days prior to each meeting. Upcoming Meetings 2021 September 8, 2021Wednesday, by Web Conference1:30-2:30 D/I Committee September 9, 2021Thursday, by Web Conference11a-12:30p Membership Committee 1-2:30p Finance Committee 3-4:30p Governance Committee September 10, 2021Friday, by Web Conference11a-12:30p Development Committee 1-2:30p Audit Committee September 13-14, 2021 Monday – Tuesday, by Web ConferenceBoard of Directors Meeting September 14, 2021Tuesday, by Web ConferenceAnnual Membership Meeting November 9, 2021Tuesday, by Web Conference11a-12:30p Membership Committee1-2:30p Finance Committee3-4:30p Governance Committee November 10, 2021Wednesday, by Web Conference11a-12:30p Development Committee1-2:30p Audit Committee3-4:30p D/I Committee November 18-19, 2021Thursday – Friday, Washington, DC 2022 February 16-17, 2022 Wednesday – Thursday, Washington, DC May 4-6, 2022 Wednesday – Thursday, Washington, DC September 15-16, 2022 Thursday – Friday, Washington, DC November 17-18, 2022 Thursday – Friday, Washington, DC Guidelines for Public Participation in Meetings of the NPR Board of Directors Regular meetings of the NPR Board and its committees are open to the public, although some portions of those meetings may be held in closed executive session. *For call-in information for open sessions of the Board meetings held by web conference or teleconference, please contact the NPR Board Liaison at boardliaison@npr.org at least one day before the meeting begins. Pursuant to Section 396(k)(4) of the Communications Act, meetings of the NPR Board and its committees may move into executive session and be closed to the public \"to consider matters relating to individual employees, proprietary information, litigation and other matters requiring the confidential advice of counsel, commercial or financial information obtained from a person on a privileged or confidential basis, or the purchase of property or services whenever the premature exposure of such purchase would compromise the business interests of [NPR].\" For additional information regarding NPR Board meetings or to request written statements explaining the reasons for closing meetings of the NPR Board or its committees, Contact Us.", "Fighting continued in Syria Thursday, despite a truce brokered by Russia and the U.S. NPR&#8217;s Greg Myre talks with Here & Now&#8217;s Robin Young about whether diplomats will meet their goal of building support for a political transition to end the Syrian civil war, which began five years ago. Guest\n\nGreg Myre, digital editor for international news at NPR. He tweets @gregmyre1.", "Updated at 10:04 a.m. ET More than 300 news publications across the country are joining together to defend the role of a free press and denounce President Trump's ongoing attacks on the news media in coordinated editorials publishing Thursday, according to a tally by The Boston Globe. The project was spearheaded by staff members of the editorial page at the Globe, who write: \"This relentless assault on the free press has dangerous consequences. We asked editorial boards from around the country – liberal and conservative, large and small — to join us today to address this fundamental threat in their own words.\" Marjorie Pritchard, the Globe's deputy managing editor of the editorial page who led the effort, told NPR's Morning Edition, \"This editorial project is not against the Trump administration's agenda. It's a response to put us into the public discourse and defend the First Amendment.\" She said the reason to publish the editorials now was \"because the press needs to have a voice on this. ... We've done individual editorials, but I think it's, there is some strength in numbers of just defending a constitutionally enshrined pillar of democracy.\" Editorials are typically written by opinion writers and are considered separate from organizations' news coverage. NPR, for example, has a separate \"opinion\" category. But unlike many media outlets, NPR does not have an editorial board, and did not take part in Thursday's coordinated effort. In a column called \"A Free Press Needs You,\" The New York Times' editorial board writes that \"Criticizing the news media — for underplaying or overplaying stories, for getting something wrong — is entirely right. News reporters and editors are human, and make mistakes. Correcting them is core to our job. But insisting that truths you don't like are 'fake news' is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the 'enemy of the people' is dangerous, period.\" Small publications across the country participated as well. Charlie Smith of The Columbian-Progress of Columbia, Miss., wrote that newspapers \"are the ultimate friend of the people. To attack them is to attack our own selves.\" \"Americans may not like the news they see or hear but they should not hold that against those who report it,\" TriCorner News from The Lakeville Journal Co. in Lakeville, Conn., writes. \"In short, don't shoot the messenger.\" Other newspapers supported the mission but declined to take part. The San Francisco Chronicle's editorial page editor, John Diaz, pointed to previous editorials in the paper denouncing attacks on the press, but said \"answering a call to join the crowd, no matter how worthy the cause, is not the same as an institution deciding on its own to raise a matter.\" The Slidell Independent in Slidell, La., participated in the coordinated editorial — to criticize the endeavor and defend the president. \"The national media still doesn't know what to do with President Trump, so now they are crying to the American people about the names they have been called,\" the paper wrote. \"Maybe if they focused on doing their jobs instead of worrying about their precious reputation the American people might start getting real, honest journalism again.\" Jack Shafer argues in Politico that the current effort \"is sure to backfire.\" \"It will provide Trump with circumstantial evidence of the existence of a national press cabal that has been convened solely to oppose him. When the editorials roll off the press on Thursday, all singing from the same script, Trump will reap enough fresh material to whale on the media for at least a month.\" Trump has made bashing the news media — \"horrible, horrendous people\" — a staple of his candidacy and a constant throughout his presidency. He has tweeted at least seven times since June referring to the news media in some way as the \"enemy of the people.\" On Thursday morning, the president returned to the topic. \"THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY,\" Trump wrote on Twitter, adding that it is \"pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people.\" In a poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University, a slim majority of Republican respondents, 51 percent, said they consider the news media the \"enemy of the people.\" Thirty-six percent of Republicans thought the media were \"an important part of democracy.\" The question asked, \"Which comes closer to your point of view: the news media is the enemy of the people, or the news media is an important part of democracy?\" Overall, 65 percent of U.S. voters say the media are an important part of democracy, according to Quinnipiac. The poll asked respondents if they were concerned that the president's attacks would lead to violence against people who work in media. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they were not concerned, while 44 percent said they were. Some reporters themselves have said they increasingly feel at risk of violence. \" 'I hope you get raped and killed,' one person wrote to me just this week", "People protesting the agenda of the world leaders meeting at the G-20 summit in the south of France are being kept well away from the event. So Thursday, several hundred of them staged a peaceful demonstration in a super wealthy suburb near Monte Carlo. Amid the fabulous villas of the wealthy, the protesters asked why the Greek people have to suffer an austerity program — while the rich benefit from tax havens like Monaco.", "Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Pyongyang on Thursday, meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss the state of talks with South Korea — and inviting Kim to visit President Vladimir Putin in Russia. \"I highly value the fact that Putin's administration strictly opposes the U.S.' dominance,\" Kim said, according to Russia's state-run Tass agency. Kim also told Lavrov, according to Tass: \"Your visit comes at a time when the situation on the Korean Peninsula is rapidly moving towards talks and consultations in accordance with the interests of the two countries' people.\" Instead of being held behind closed doors, much of their meeting took place as photographers snapped photos and filmed the session. Video footage showed Kim, seated next to an interpreter, sitting across from Lavrov and his entourage at a long table. As NPR's Lucian Kim reports from Moscow, Lavrov passed on \"warmest regards\" from Putin as he invited Kim to visit Russia. \"Lavrov's meeting with Kim Jong Un was the first by a senior Russian official since the North Korean leader came to power in 2011,\" Lucian says, adding that the Kremlin has traditionally had close ties to leaders in Pyongyang. Lavrov's visit to Kim comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is meeting with a senior North Korean official in New York, where they tried to work through recent problems to get the U.S. and North Korea back on track for a June 12 summit between President Trump and Kim in Singapore. Russia's Foreign Ministry says that Lavrov also spoke to Pompeo by phone on Wednesday, the first day of the American's talks with Kim Yong Chol, North Korea's former military intelligence chief. There is no sign yet whether Lavrov discussed his pending visit to Pyongyang with Pompeo; the Russian ministry said the two diplomats \"exchanged views on several aspects of the joint agenda,\" citing the Syrian crisis and Ukraine. Thursday morning, Pompeo said in a tweet that the on-again, off-again summit would bring North Korea \"a great opportunity to achieve security and economic prosperity.\" Pompeo also said he had a \"working dinner\" with Kim Yong Chol, adding that their menu included steak, corn and cheese. The timing of Lavrov's visit seems to have caught some by surprise: The Russian ministry posted a short public notice about Lavrov's trip on Wednesday, one day before the meeting with Kim. Despite Lavrov's invitation to the North Korean leader, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that it's \"too early to speculate\" about a Putin-Kim summit. In Pyongyang, Lavrov's agenda included a meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, and laying flowers at several spots in the capital: The Mansu Hill Grand Monument — which features gigantic statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il; The monument of the Soviet Army, which helped liberate Korea from Japanese occupation during World War II; A bas-relief plaque outside of the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang that honors Ambassador Andrei Karlov. A former envoy to North Korea, Karlov was assassinated in Turkey in 2016. Moscow seems intent on inserting itself into the conversation about the future of the Korean Peninsula. The topic came up last week in Moscow, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Putin. On the eve of that meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova was asked about the Kremlin's push to be included in wider talks on the two Koreas. Zakharova replied that Russia had \"planned a number of initiatives,\" adding, \"I think that I will be able to share more information on this subject in the near future.\"", "Updated at 6:30 p.m. ET The revered 65-year-old Sports Illustrated magazine is in a state of bedlam. In meetings Thursday afternoon, managers told staff members that about half the newsroom would be laid off, according to two people present at the meetings. NPR obtained a petition signed by approximately three-quarters of Sports Illustrated's journalists asking its new owners not to deliver control of the publication to a digital publisher named TheMaven network. \"TheMaven wants to replace top journalists in the industry with a network of Maven freelancers and bloggers, while reducing or eliminating departments that have ensured that the stories we publish and produce meet the highest standards,\" the petition reads. \"These plans significantly undermine our journalistic integrity, damage the reputation of this long-standing brand and negatively [affect] the economic stability of the publication.\" The new controlling executives include Ross Levinsohn, the controversial former Los Angeles Times CEO. The plan as described in the journalists' petition appears to echo an earlier strategy by Levinsohn, who was appointed by Maven. As publisher of the Los Angeles Times and an investor in a digital outfit called True/Slant, Levinsohn embraced a strategy he termed \"gravitas with scale\" — a model that was based in part on unpaid contributors and meant job losses for the traditional newsroom journalists in the Tribune publishing chain. Levinsohn and his frequent business partner James Heckman, the founder of Maven, were the subject of an earlier investigative report by NPR over their business practices. Levinsohn, Heckman and several associates met with the newsroom Thursday afternoon. The uncertainty surrounding the magazine's status had caused chaos for the newsroom over the previous 24 hours. Meetings that had been scheduled for midday Thursday were called off minutes before they were due to begin. On recordings heard by NPR, the magazine's editors apologized for the uncertainty. \"We're pushing to find out as much information as we can,\" Steve Cannella, promoted just this week to be co-editor in chief, said in brief remarks to the newsroom, according to audio tapes reviewed by NPR and verified by two people present. \"We know exactly how hard this is for you guys. We know the strain this is on the entire newsroom. We know that lives are at stake.\" \"That's all we can say right now. We're really, really sorry. And you have as much information as we do,\" Cannella says, on the recording. \"The anger, I understand it. I'd also be angry. We just ask for a little bit of patience as we try to find out what's going on.\" Until the meeting with Maven executives, the question of who controls the magazine had not been clear, as it has been subject to a series of major transactions in a short period of time: Meredith Corp. bought SI last year along with other Time Inc. titles and then sold the magazine in late May 2019 to a brand and marketing firm called Authentic Brands Group. Meredith, a major magazine publisher, was set to operate Sports Illustrated for two years. Several weeks later, in June, Authentic Brands struck a licensing deal cutting Meredith's involvement short and giving Maven the right to operate the publication for up to 100 years. But that deal was only finalized on Thursday. Meredith confirmed to NPR that Authentic Brands finished the transfer of editorial control of Sports Illustrated to Maven from Meredith, its formal owner. According to Meredith, the layoffs it announced were conducted at Maven's behest. \"As the new licensor of ... Sports Illustrated, Maven made the Sports Illustrated personnel decisions that Meredith communicated to the SI employees today,\" Meredith said in a statement. \"Going forward, the remaining SI employees will work at the direction and at the pleasure of Maven.\" NPR is seeking comment from Authentic Brands and Maven.", "About a thousand people joined Bill and Melinda Gates Thursday night to celebrate the opening of the foundation's new campus in Seattle. \"You know when you work on a project like this you start with a goal,\" Melinda Gates said. \"And at the end of the day, this campus is about us having an impact on the world for the people we serve, whether they are in Bangladesh or in Boston or in Botswana or Nigeria.\" The foundation spends most of its money on global health, with sizable sums going to global development and efforts to improve public schools in the U.S. In order to keep its tax-exempt status, the foundation has to give away about $3 billion a year. Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, says the foundation's influence goes far beyond that. Taking Over? \"They're influencing governments in lots of different ways — and corporations, and really everybody else in society, and it's not just about writing checks,\" she says. It's about setting agendas, framing debates, advocating the foundation's point of view and taking action. Palmer says the foundation has changed the perception of what a private organization can do. \"And that is a good thing,\" she says. \"Because it's getting more people involved. But if you don't like what their agenda is — then it's an unchecked way of getting things done and that bothers a lot of people.\" Right now, for example, there's a lot of talk about the foundation's effort to improve public schools. It's focusing on better classroom instruction and is using data — including student test scores — to gauge how well teachers are doing. \"I have no doubt that the movement Bill Gates has launched has created enormous hostility toward teachers,\" says Diane Ravitch, who has been studying American education for 40 years. The New York University professor has emerged as the most outspoken critic of the foundation's approach. \"It's like all accountability for educational failure is suddenly plopped on the heads of teachers, and this is wrong,\" she says. Moreover, Ravitch contends that when the foundation supports think tanks, academics and others who agree with its point of view, it drowns out other voices. Referring to Bill Gates, she says, one man shouldn't have so much power. Achieving Objectives \"I think Diane is really underestimating the number of voices that are out there, including her own,\" says Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Gates Foundation. He dismisses Ravitch's contention that the foundation has commandeered the education debate. At the same time he makes no apologies for the organization's doggedness in trying to achieve its objectives. \"We do think a very important part of our role is to really shine a spotlight on the key issues that lead to inequity in the world,\" he says. \"And I always like to say that even if our grants don't always succeed, the only failure is if we don't learn because part of what we have to do in order to contribute to society is, we have to take risks,\" Raikes says. Like most foundations, the Gates organization works with partners and grantees — thousands of them — who do the heavy lifting on the ground. And having strong relationships with them is critical. But in an independent survey last year, many partners said the foundation didn't understand their goals, was inconsistent in its communications and often unresponsive. Raikes says those things have prevented the foundation from reaching its full potential. Thursday night Melinda Gates talked about the need for honest feedback from partners; Raikes talks about it too. And both say they hope the new headquarters' design, with its many informal meeting spaces and wide-open architecture, will lead to more collaboration and a richer exchange of ideas. NPR is among the organizations that receive money from the Gates Foundation.", "NPR's senior management and board members faced skepticism as they sought to rebuild trust with the network's workforce following the release of a report on the network's failure to curb inappropriate behavior by former top news executive Michael Oreskes. On Thursday, NPR board members faced tough questions from NPR employees at an open Board of Directors meeting and then a tense all-staff meeting. Senior management is seeking to reassure staff that it is tackling NPR's workplace culture issues. At the board meeting, CEO Jarl Mohn described the tumultuous past few months as \"humiliating and humbling, because it happened on my watch.\" \"I wish I had seen the pattern earlier,\" he added, expressing a wish that the changes being made could \"set the standard\" for public media and other industries. An independent legal review of the way senior managers handled allegations against Oreskes, released to staff earlier this week, revealed that leadership repeatedly received information about inappropriate behavior. That included a warning about Oreskes during the hiring process, and concerns raised throughout his time at NPR. Oreskes repeatedly pursued \"conversations and dinner meetings with women inside and outside of NPR that were inappropriate and served a nonbusiness purpose,\" according to the report. He also repeatedly expensed these meals to NPR. The NPR board stated Thursday that it has full confidence in Mohn and his team. It also agreed to implement recommendations from the law firm, such as conducting background checks during hiring and retaining an outside firm to look into sexual harassment complaints for \"some period going forward.\" NPR had already committed to some of the recommendations, such as conducting a pay equity study and clarifying its complaint process for harassment. The board also said it will be more actively involved in HR matters and has changed the management structure so that the head of HR reports to the CEO rather than its chief operating officer. But the network's executives face a tough sell among some staffers in its newsroom. \"I want to believe that they are committed to fixing the problem. I believe that there are lot of people here who are committed to fixing the problem,\" said Alicia Montgomery, senior supervising editor/producer for Morning Edition. However, she added, \"I'm not sure that the people in leadership are more committed to solving the problem than committed to ending the public and embarrassing conversation about it.\" Montgomery said she wants to see accountability for those responsible for \"mistakes that hurt people, that hurt women.\" She added, \"No one has been fired or demoted, reassigned, who was involved in this chain of — if you want to call them mistakes that's fine — [and that] does not speak to me of being held accountable.\" The report by the law firm Morgan Lewis adds further detail to previously reported incidents of Oreskes' misconduct and how management handled those reports. Grace Speights, a Morgan Lewis attorney, told the all-staff meeting that investigators did not find any evidence management had attempted to protect Oreskes or cover up his actions, according to three people in the room. This reporter did not attend the meeting as it was designated off the record. For many staffers, the report raised major questions about the sheer number of chances senior managers gave Oreskes to alter his behavior, despite the fact that the attempts to counsel him were, according to the report, \"unsuccessful.\" Morgan Lewis identified seven occasions where Oreskes met with General Counsel Jon Hart, Mohn, or CFO Debbie Cowan to speak about concerns over his behavior — a striking detail that multiple staffers brought up during Thursday's public comment session to the board. \"I think in order to really address this problem we have to take a look at that culture that feels like the higher up you go in this organization, the more protection you have,\" Emily Ochsenschlager, a Morning Edition producer, told board members. Some staffers questioned whether NPR management is doing enough to address what they see as the root causes of sexual harassment. The all-staff meeting Thursday appeared to do little to assuage those concerns. NPR Board Chairman Paul Haaga stated at the meeting that NPR does not have a culture of sexual harassment, but individual offenders, according to multiple meeting attendees. That was met with boos and scoffs — and Haaga later in the meeting apologized, saying that he had chosen his words poorly. He declined to commit to a zero tolerance policy on harassment, calling that \"harsh,\" according to the attendees. Staff already had a \"very prominent distrust\" of management, the independent report found. And in some NPR journalists, Haaga's comments appear to have stoked fresh anger. \"His language is different than our language. I don't feel like he's working with the same definitions that we are,\" said home page editor Carol Ritchie after the meeting. Ores", "Updated at 3:05 a.m. ET Friday Plans for a speedy Senate vote on gun legislation crumbled Thursday as Senate leaders announced plans to move on to long-planned banking legislation, while congressional Republicans struggle to make sense of President Trump's wishes on guns. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Thursday that the Senate will move on to the banking bill after voting on several nominations this week. McConnell said he hopes to vote on changes to the background check system for most gun purchases but did not provide a timeline or any further details. \"We'd love to do that at some point,\" McConnell said. \"I'm hoping there is a way forward.\" The lack of commitment is the surest sign yet that Congress does not plan to quickly address gun access, despite pressure from the White House and survivors of last month's deadly shooting at a Florida high school. There is no plan for any action on gun legislation ahead of the two-week Easter recess at the end of March. The Senate will next take up Idaho GOP Sen. Mike Crapo's bipartisan legislation to ease bank regulations. The Senate also plans to vote this month on Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman's legislation to combat sex trafficking, and Congress must pass a sweeping spending package by March 23. There is no room in the agenda for guns, unless senators reach agreement on legislation that could move through the Senate via an expedited process known as unanimous consent. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who is opposed to any new restrictions on gun rights, said he did not believe that kind of consensus was within reach. \"Look, we've got a lot of disagreement on the Republican side, and I would be surprised if something moved anytime soon,\" he said. Widespread confusion The sharp departure was the result of widespread confusion on Capitol Hill over guns. Republicans spent the day Thursday struggling to respond to a set of vague instructions Trump laid out during a televised meeting at the White House. That meeting followed a familiar pattern for many lawmakers who are trying to write and pass legislation that can meet Trump's shifting approval. Even many Republicans responded to the White House meeting with confusion and frustration over the lack of clear guidance from the president. Over the course of the hourlong broadcast Trump seemed to embrace plans to expand background checks and increase age limits for purchasing long gun rifles, positions generally anathema to congressional Republicans. He also suggested pre-emptively taking guns away from potentially dangerous people, a policy that might draw significant legal challenges. \"I don't know, you saw it, right? It was wild,\" said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a Republican. \"I think the president is going to have to narrow his list of what he'd like to see addressed and figure out what's realistic.\" The disconnect between Trump and congressional Republicans on core philosophical issues on display this week, coupled with the lingering partisan anger between the two parties following the failed immigration talks, is quickly lowering already dim expectations that 2018 will result in much legislative output. Adding to the confusion, however, Trump and Vice President Pence met Thursday with Chris Cox, the executive director of the National Rifle Association's lobbying arm. The president tweeted that it was a \"Good (Great) meeting ...\" and Cox said in a tweet after the meeting that \"POTUS & VPOTUS support he Second Amendment, support strong due process and don't want gun control.\" The only must-pass measure on the agenda is the spending bill still being drafted to finalize the appropriations process for the year that, once passed, will free up lawmakers to focus their efforts on what is quickly overtaking Capitol Hill: the battle for control of Congress in the midterm elections. Republicans say they all agree that something needs to be done to curb gun violence, but there is little, if any, consensus on the best way to do that while still maintaining gun rights. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters Thursday that he is not inclined to support any of the numerous gun-related bills that have been floated in recent days. \"I'm not inclined to do anything right now except to see what comes up,\" Shelby said. \"We all are interested in our children being safe in schools; we're all interested in the communities being safe. It's how do we get there?\" Trump often acknowledges that it's hard to pass any legislation in Congress, let alone laws to curb gun rights. But many lawmakers, including some Republicans, say Trump's own statements make the already difficult task of passing gun legislation even harder. The meeting concluded with Trump asking lawmakers to go back and talk about the extensive list of proposals floated at the meeting, and without a White House endorsement of any specific plan. \"Element of unpredictability\" Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Ryan Costello told NPR's Morning Edition that he worries that k", "As the countdown to Election Day continues, we're hearing from more of you with complaints about campaign coverage and bias. Emails and phone calls express concern that one party or another is under-represented and that NPR reporters are \"cheerleading\" for candidates. \"It seems to me that the great majority of people you interview are Romney supporters,\" Pemala Mejia from Castro Valley, CA wrote. \"I get the uneasy impression that this is a program doing subtle campaigning.\" But listener Kevin Baker from Arlington, VA had the exact opposite experience. \"Every Democrat interviewee recorded is universally positive about Obama with no challenges offered from the interviewer. Everything is taken at face value,\" Baker wrote. I took these complaints and others to Managing Editor David Sweeney. I asked what guidelines or procedures were being followed in the campaign coverage to assure accuracy, fairness and impartiality in the coverage of the two parties and their many November candidates, beginning with President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. The good news is that I came away with answers; the bad news is that they probably won't leave many satisfied. Read More Neither balance nor bias is easily measured. Hard numbers are difficult to come by. But Sweeney did share the principles that guide the newsroom's coverage of politics and the election. They began with looking at that aggregate of coverage – and not a single story—in judging balance and fairness, Sweeney said. \"If people listen at a particular moment they may not be aware of everything that has gone before and everything that comes after,\" he said. \"It's not as if NPR is a monolithic broadcasting and digital structure. There are many streams of coverage coming out of here.\" A listener may feel frustrated by a segment they hear on the air and that one story may well be representative of just one side. But Sweeney says that if you look at the full package--all of the segments on air, the Web stories and blogs--the reporters and editors working under him, as well as the producers of the shows, are trying to paint a full picture of the candidates and parties. \"We make a determined effort to be fair, accurate and representative of the campaigns. The only agenda we have is to cover the news and be as accurate as we can,\" he said. When asked if there's any kind of formal checks and balances system in place when deciding coverage, the answer was no. But Sweeney believes that the there's an organic one at work in the newsroom. \"There are enough editors in this building to challenge everything that we say,\" Sweeney said. \"There's a pretty diverse group of editors and reporters in this network that will speak up if they don't think we're covering a story well. Also, we take note of what listeners and online readers are saying.\" To prove his point, he invited me to anonymously call-in to a morning news meeting that he runs. At the daily gathering–which is also a conference call for people on the road or not in the office–senior desk editors, show producers and news leadership discuss the top stories of the day. They decide how those stories will be covered by newscasts, Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered, the following day's Morning Edition, as well as by bloggers and online media. I found a robust conversation, as Sweeney promised. It was Thursday and Gov. Romney's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention was the top story of the day. One editor reported that correspondent Ari Shapiro would file a segment for that evening's All Things Considered. Another said that Mara Liasson, who had filed an eight-minute story that morning, was preparing another one for Friday's Morning Edition. And someone else suggested an update on Ron Paul. The conversation continued and was low key and factual--a divvying up of responsibilities and ideas. No one knew that I was on the line, but I didn't hear any endorsements, criticisms or diatribes. No one mentioned filing a story about the Democratic Party, but it was the last day of the Republican National Convention. It will be the Democratic Party's time in the sun next week during their convention. Even so, Scott Horsely filed a four-minute segment for Friday's Morning Edition about President Obama's visits to college campuses. NPR has about 60 people working to cover the campaigns, in addition to member station reporters and specialist correspondents--such as science or economy reporters--who might cover an issue-oriented campaign story related to their beat. \"Right now until Election Day we have a correspondent traveling with both presidential candidates,\" Sweeney said. \"It means we are on the campaign trail, on the bus, on the plane. We are one of a small group of media organizations committed to covering the campaign in-depth like this.\" In addition to following the candidates, NPR's First and Main series features individual American voters. These segments, however, are not always well receiv", "Updated Thursday, June 28 at 8:19 a.m. ET President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues when they meet in Helsinki on July 16. The meeting will follow a NATO summit in Brussels on July 11. \"I think we'll be talking about Syria. I think we'll be talking about Ukraine. I think we'll be talking about many other subjects,\" Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. \"Maybe something positive will come out of it,\" the president said. \"I've said from day one, getting along with Russia and with China and with everybody is a very good thing. It's good for the world. It's good for us. It's good for everybody.\" Plans for the summit came into focus after Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, met with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. Bolton told reporters in Moscow the summit agenda would include a variety of issues, including arms control, but the meeting would not necessarily produce any specific agreements. He acknowledged that any meeting with Putin is likely to generate some \"political noise\" in the U.S., where Trump has been dogged by a special counsel's probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. \"A lot of people have said or implied over time that a meeting between President Trump and President Putin would somehow prove some nexus between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, which is complete nonsense,\" Bolton said. \"The president recognizes there may be some criticism of this decision to have the meeting. You've heard some of it here today. But what must guide his conduct of American foreign policy is the pursuit of American national interests. And he judges — correctly in my view — that this bilateral summit between himself and President Putin is something he needs to do and will do, regardless of political criticism at home.\" Bolton said he discussed Russia's election meddling during his meeting with Putin and he expected that it would come up again when Trump and Putin meet. U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia intervened in the campaign to boost Trump's chances, although Putin denied that when the two leaders have met in the past. Before a G7 meeting earlier this month, Trump suggested that Russia should be invited to rejoin the group. Russia was kicked out of what was then the G8 in 2014, in retaliation for the country's invasion of Crimea. Bolton said he didn't discuss G8 membership with Putin but it could come up during the summit with Trump. Most other G7 leaders have rejected the idea of letting Russia back in, although Italy's new prime minister appeared to entertain the suggestion. Despite international sanctions against Moscow for its actions in Ukraine, Syria, and elsewhere, Bolton noted that world leaders have continued to meet with Putin. Bolton himself was critical of engaging with Russia before he joined the Trump administration. But he suggested reporters shouldn't dwell on his earlier commentary. \"I don't really address what I've written in the past or what I've said on television,\" Bolton said during his Moscow news conference. \"Right now, I'm an adviser to President Trump. It's his agenda that we're pursuing. And that's the agenda that I intend to advance.\"", "British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced backlash Thursday over his decision to suspend Parliament next month, increasing the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit. The move limits legislative time before Britain leaves the European Union on Oct. 31. Protesters took to the streets in England after Queen Elizabeth II approved Johnson&#8217;s motion on Wednesday. An online petition against the suspension garnered over a million signatures. More from The New York Times: His new timetable has Parliament resuming work on Oct. 14, after the political parties hold their annual conferences — and several days later than previously expected. In addition, he has scheduled an address to Parliament on that date by the queen, laying out his government’s agenda, which lawmakers must then debate, taking up several critical days. Elsewhere in the E.U., far-right political parties are on the rise. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, is expected to win key state elections in Saxony and Brandenburg. This could bring simmering tensions in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union to the surface and hasten her departure from German politics. In Italy, normally adversarial political parties are joining forces to thwart a common enemy. The Five Star Movement, normally anti-establishment, and the center-left Democratic Party reached a deal to form a new government. This thwarted a power play for the position of prime minister by far-right Northern League party leader Matteo Salvini (https://thehill.com/policy/international/459163-italy-forms-new-coalition-government). Here’s some of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s address from the The Guardian: It’s a delicate period for the country and we need to exit the political uncertainty soon,” Conte said after a meeting with [Italian President Sergio] Mattarella on Thursday. “This will be a new season, a time for relaunch … it won’t be a government ‘against’, but one that is for the citizens and modernizes the country. What’s the future of far-right parties in Europe? What’s fueling their rise? The G7 Summit was held in France this weekend. President Donald Trump was in attendance and made headlines for several comments. Trump floated the idea of bringing Russia back to the G7. The rest of the leaders at the summit disagreed. The president also suggested that next year’s summit be held at Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort in Florida. Critics panned the president’s proposal. Democrats announced they will investigate the president’s suggestion, saying that the comments prove his financial interest are shaping his decisions as president. What will that investigation look like? Will Russia ever make it back to the table? French President Emanuel Macron prioritized wildfires in the Amazon rainforest at the G7. The member countries agreed to a $22 million fund to fight fires raging in the rainforest. However, a row between Macron and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro initially derailed the aid. Macron suggested that Brazil did not have sovereignty over the rainforest. Bolsonaro then said Brazil would only accept the aid if Macron withdrew the claim. Brazil eventually accepted a $12 million aid package from Britain. Next month, countries that house sections of the Amazon are expected to meet to discuss how to protect the habitat. What will the conclusion of that meeting bring? How much of the rainforest is truly in danger? Can we rebuild it? Meanwhile, a U.S. cyberattack carried out in June hurt Iran’s ability to target oil tankers. The attack targeted a database run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps that was reportedly involved in an attack on an American oil tanker earlier this year. The White House has not commented on the attacks. How will this affect negotiations between the two countries? What does Iranian retaliation look like? Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, is sinking. The government, led by President Joko Widodo, has announced it will create a new capital on the island of Borneo. Here’s NPR’s Bill Chappell:: Widodo&#8217;s announcement has met with a broad range of reactions, from concerns about the environmental impact on Borneo to support — and suggestions that the president should focus more on Indonesia&#8217;s economy and its energy and health needs rather than on building a new capital. Experts say that Jakarta’s residents have extracted so much groundwater that the level of the ground is changing. We recap the global news that made headlines this week. GUESTS Simon Marks, President and chief correspondent, Feature Story News, serving audiences in the U.K., South Africa, New Zealand, Asia and elsewhere; @SimonMarksFSN Jennifer Williams, Foreign editor, Vox; co-host of Vox&#8217;s foreign affairs podcast, &#8220;Worldly&#8221;; @jenn_ruth Ron Nixon, International investigations editor, Associated Press; author of &#8220;Selling Apartheid: South Africa&#8217;s Global Propaganda War&#8221;; @nixonron Luiza Franco, ", "Representatives from nearly 100 countries at the first U.N. General Assembly meeting on climate change signaled strong support for talks on a new international deal to tackle global warming. There was so much interest among worried nations - many facing drought, floods and searing heat - that the two-day meeting was extended for an additional day. \"We now have the momentum,\" General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa told delegates at the closing session Thursday evening. \"What we do with this is more important. We need to ensure that we agree an equitable, fair and ambitious global deal to match the scale of the challenges ahead.\" Clinching that deal will likely take several years of difficult negotiations, expected to start at a December meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali. It will focus on a replacement for the Kyoto protocol, which requires 35 industrial nations to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, when the accord expires. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has made climate change a top priority since taking the reins of the U.N. on Jan. 1, urged all countries to reach a comprehensive agreement by 2009, which would leave time for governments to ratify the accord so it could take effect in 2013. In an effort \"to build on existing momentum\" and \"galvanize political will\" for the negotiations, Ban said he was convening a high-level meeting on climate change on Sept. 24, a day before the General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting begins. The question of what to do to tackle climate change has become increasingly complex because of competing environmental, economic and energy concerns from countries with different priorities. The United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not a party to the Kyoto agreement, and large developing countries such as China, the second-largest emitter, India and Brazil are exempt from its obligations. They are afraid they will be called on to reduce emissions after 2012, which would hurt their economic growth and poverty-eradication efforts. At the same time, small island states in the Pacific are demanding action to deal with rising sea levels that could wipe them off the map, while oil-producing countries are concerned that a major source of revenue could be harmed by climate change action in the future. Koji Tsuruoka, the Japanese Foreign Ministry's director general for global issues and point man for climate change, said inviting world leaders to the Sept. 24 meeting was important because unless new negotiations start \"under top leadership, you can't expect any progress or results.\" He said it was critical to get all countries to participate in negotiations and avoid the mistake of Kyoto where proceedings were rushed and \"the most important passengers\" were not on board. After the Sept. 24 meeting, Tsuruoka predicted that climate change \"will become top priority agenda politically to each and every nation.\" The two-week Bali meeting will then hopefully agree on a negotiating agenda, perhaps with a roadmap leading to a post-Kyoto agreement, he said. China's deputy U.N. ambassador Liu Zhenmin called for restrictions of \"luxury emissions\" by rich countries and said negotiations \"on targets of further emission reduction by developed countries beyond 2012\" must take place in the Kyoto framework. The Group of 77, which represents 132 mainly developing countries and China, said the Bali conference will be successful if it takes \"fully into account the needs and concerns of all developing countries.\" From NPR reports and The Associated Press", "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is meeting Thursday for the first time with a new group he formed to address safety concerns after the mass shooting earlier this month in El Paso. The Texas Safety Commission includes politicians, law enforcement, school leaders and others. Here & Now&#8216;s Tonya Mosley speaks with Ben Philpott (@BenPhilpottKUT), senior editor at KUT in Austin, about how the efforts after El Paso differ from Abbott&#8217;s actions following the mass shootings in Santa Fe and Sutherland Springs. This article was originally published on WBUR.org.", "Meetings are probably the biggest punching bag and punchline in the world of office jobs. Scads of articles have been written about their overpreponderance and ineffectiveness. But what happens when offices across the world shut down and millions of employees disperse to work from home? For many people in 2020, the answer was even more meetings and worse ones, riddled with new distractions and technical hurdles. Let's resolve to meet better in 2021. These tips were compiled by NPR staffers in an effort to make our lives better while working from home. Now we're sharing them with you. Meeting is never the goal. Try to identify a clear objective for bringing people together. If you can't, there shouldn't be a meeting. Ask yourself the following questions: What problem am I trying to solve? What outcome do I hope to achieve by bringing this topic in front of a group? Who needs to be there to accomplish this objective? (Even for recurring meetings, this may not be the same people every time!) Remember, the purpose of your meeting is to achieve a goal. The meeting itself is not the goal. Consider the alternatives. Meetings are just one of the tools in your toolbox. Even when your objective is clear, you should consider whether a live gathering is going to be your most effective option. There are many other ways to get things done. Asynchronous collaboration offers more flexibility with everyone's time and schedules. A little more flexibility and time can mean more runway for people to shape and articulate their best ideas. Converse, collaborate and post updates in a shared Slack channel. You can still put a deadline on the period for feedback and collaboration, but you don't have to limit work to the narrower time frames that live meetings require. Brainstorm and edit in a shared doc. Anyone who has attempted wordsmithing during a live meeting knows it's generally not the best. Circulate a shared doc, and communicate expectations and deadlines to the people you want to join in on editing or commenting on the work. Send an email. Must-see information should be communicated in writing. If collaboration or live Q&A and discussion aren't crucial, what you have is an update, not a meeting. Just email people with what you need them to know. Ask for quick individual check-ins. If all you need is a progress update, it doesn't have to be a big production. A DM or a phone call might be all that's required. If you gotta meet, you gotta plan. Meetings aren't inherently bad. Poorly planned and executed meetings are bad. Even when it feels like there's no time, advance planning is essential. Know why you're meeting. Identify specific aims, and give participants a concrete reason for devoting time out of their day. Use goal-oriented language (e.g., determine, decide, approve, define). Avoid softer, squishier words like \"discuss.\" Note for attendees: If you're unsure what the purpose of a meeting is or why you've been asked to join, don't be afraid to ask! You'll be doing a service to yourself and everyone else who is invited. Outline what you plan to accomplish. Hosts should distribute an agenda and any helpful reading materials in advance. Attendees should arrive having read them. Value everyone's time. Try imagining a dollar sign next to the name of each person on your invite list. Think of it as a real cost (because it is!), and then consider whether you're investing people's time wisely. Harvard Business Review built a meeting cost calculator if you want to get literal with this. Create role clarity. Once you've determined who needs to meet and why, communicating those roles and responsibilities will help things run smoothly. The agenda is your friend. If you organize meetings and aren't already in the habit of creating agendas, let this be your most important takeaway. Circulating the agenda a day ahead of time is ideal, but even taking the time to write one out an hour in advance greatly increases your odds of having an effective meeting. Create a summary list of agenda items.&nbsp; For each item on the agenda, indicate a length of time and who will be leading the discussion (make sure to notify presenters in advance so they can prepare). Allocate time in the agenda to clarify action items and assign them to people — every problem raised or next step needs an owner and a deadline! If the meeting is recurring, develop a template. You can edit the format as needed, but you shouldn't need to start from scratch each time. Be a good host. Advance planning goes a long way, but you need hosting skills to carry it all across the finish line. Remember, the host sets the tone. Speak calmly, and pause between topics so others feel comfortable asking questions or commenting. Guide people through the conversation, be mindful of the clock and don't forget to capture those next steps and action items! Be inclusive. The constraints of videoconferencing can make equal, open participation even more difficult. Pay attention when ot", "Moments after former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was declared dead Thursday, editor Kamal Siddiqi of the Karachi News reports that it's not clear whether Bhutto was killed by bullets from someone who then blew himself up, or whether she was killed by shrapnel from the blast. Siddiqi says many in Pakistan welcomed Bhutto's return from exile in October. \"With her came the hope of democracy, and also the hope that Pakistanis would once again be known for their moderate Islam,\" he says. \"Her return to Pakistan was an occasion for a lot of people to cheer.\" Back in Pakistan, Bhutto took on President Pervez Musharraf, pushing for him to step down as head of the army, to hold elections and to lift the state of emergency he had imposed. Bhutto got all of those things. \"She was very much aware of what was at stake,\" Siddiqi says. Talks between Musharraf and Bhutto had broken off, he says, but Bhutto's supporters hoped that she and her Pakistani Peoples Party would win a majority in general elections and force Musharraf to continue an agenda of reform. That was not to be. The hours after Bhutto's death have been marked by protest, some of it destructive. \"We will see violence initially,\" Siddiqi says, \"but hopefully that will calm down.\"", "President Obama comes back to Washington Saturday from the G-20 summit in France. NPR's Scott Horsley examines what the president achieved at the meeting, considering an agenda heavily overshadowed by the European debt crisis.", "An Arab summit concluding in Saudi Arabia Thursday has revived a plan for Mideast peace embraced by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The summit also produced a statement of unity among Arab states. Alex Chadwick speaks with Khaled al-Maeena, editor of Arab News, about the highlights of the meeting.", "President Obama met Saudi Arabia&#8217;s King Salman in Riyadh today. The president&#8217;s final visit to the kingdom comes during a time of strained relations. The Saudis are concerned about the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran and the fight against ISIS. On President Obama&#8217;s agenda are questions about Saudi Arabia&#8217;s human rights record. Here & Now&#8217;s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Greg Myre of NPR about the issues involved in the talks. Guests\n\nGreg Myre, digital editor for international news at NPR. He tweets @gregmyre1.", "Spot the next plague before it arrives. Predict the next swine flu outbreak before it makes headlines. Even detect a biological weapon before it's launched. These are the goals of an ambitious initiative, launched Thursday, to build a worldwide surveillance system for infectious diseases. Spearheaded by the U.S. government, the Global Health Security Agenda brings together 26 countries, the World Health Organization and several other international group. It aims to stop epidemics and bioterror agents before they spread. Why is such an early warning system needed? Because the U.S. and the world are at greater risk than ever before from biological organisms, says Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. \"Viruses are just a plane ride away,\" he says. Bird flu could spread out of Asia. Ebola could emerge out of central Africa. Or drug-resistant Staphylococcus can sweep through hospital wards. \"In today's globalized world, an outbreak anywhere is a threat everywhere,\" Frieden says. The Global Health Security Agenda is an attempt to make the world better prepared to confront those threats, he says. \"We want to make sure we do everything we can to prevent emerging organisms from becoming outbreaks and outbreaks from becoming epidemics.\" And the Obama administration seems to agree. It has placed several high-ranking officials on the project, not just from the medical side of the government, but also from the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security. Three top officials wrote an opinion piece Thursday on CNN's website to make the case that biosecurity is a key element of national security. In the piece, Secretary of State John Kerry; Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; and Obama's assistant on homeland security and counterterrorism, Lisa Monaco, argued that infectious diseases have the potential to cause massive economic damage and loss of life, similar to nuclear, chemical or cybersecurity attacks. They offered two examples to illustrate their point: the economic loss from the H1N1 swine flu in Mexico in 2009 and lives lost from the SARS epidemic in Asia in 2002 and 2003. The Obama administration has been concerned that many countries don't have the capacity to monitor potential biohazards and emerging diseases, said Laura Holgate, the senior director for weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and threat reduction at the National Security Council. \"In 2012 we were really struck by the reality that 80 percent of the countries didn't meet the WHO deadline to be prepared for disease threats,\" Holgate said Thursday at a media briefing. In a world where viruses and other biological agents don't respect national borders, she said, the U.S. can't do this alone. The Global Health Security Agenda plans to build a structure for biosurveillance so that, hopefully, other countries will be able to quickly detect the next major epidemic. The program also will set standards for national laboratories and outline the diagnostic tools needed to spot and contain modern diseases. The participating countries have committed to creating emergency disease centers that can respond within two hours to an outbreak or other crisis. They also have agreed to link data from this global biosurveillance network through the WHO. It's unclear how much the Global Health Security Agenda will cost the U.S. Other countries, such as China, are spending their own money on the parts they're implementing themselves. But the Obama administration did say it's committing an extra $45 million to the CDC's 2015 budget to help low-income countries participate in the network. The money will mainly go to improve surveillance systems, update diagnostic equipment and train staff. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: The U.S. is spearheading an international effort to set up a new early warning system for disease outbreaks and potentially dangerous pathogens. The network would track new diseases and, it's hoped, contain organisms that could be used in bio-warfare and terrorist attacks. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports. JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: The Global Health Security agenda brings together 26 countries, the World Health Organization and several other international organizations to try to make the world safer from emerging diseases and biological threats. On the U.S. side, the initiative involves the military, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and the CDC. TOM FRIEDEN: We want to make sure that we do everything we can to prevent emerging organisms from becoming outbreaks, and outbreaks from becoming epidemics. BEAUBIEN: Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the U.S. and the world are at greater risk today than ever before from biological organisms. Bird flu can spread rapidly out of Asia. Ebola can emerge out of central Africa. Totally drug-resistant staph infections can sweep through hospital wards. FRIEDEN: In today's globalized world, an outbreak anywher", "President Trump meets with Mormon leaders on Monday during a trip to Salt Lake City. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Hal Boyd, opinion editor of the <em>Deseret News</em>, about what to expect from that meeting.", "Updated Friday at 6:23 p.m. ET On Friday afternoon, Hachette Book Group announced publicly and to its employees that it will not publish Woody Allen's memoir, Apropos of Nothing, as planned next month. In a statement to NPR, the publisher said: \"Hachette Book Group has decided that it will not publish Woody Allen's memoir A Propos of Nothing, originally scheduled for sale in April 2020, and will return all rights to the author.\" \"The decision to cancel Mr. Allen's book was a difficult one. At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly. We have published and will continue to publish many challenging books. As publishers, we make sure every day in our work that different voices and conflicting points of views can be heard.\" \"Also, as a company, we are committed to offering a stimulating, supportive and open work environment for all our staff. Over the past few days, HBG leadership had extensive conversations with our staff and others. After listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG.\" The decision was announced to HBG's employees as well at a brief town-hall meeting on Friday afternoon. On Thursday afternoon, dozens of employees of the publishing imprints Grand Central Publishing and Little, Brown staged a walkout in both New York and Boston to protest Grand Central's decision to publish Allen's book. Both imprints are owned by Hachette Book Group, the same house that published journalist Ronan Farrow's Catch and Kill. The walkout comes after Farrow announced on Tuesday that he felt he could no longer work with HBG after the Allen acquisition. On Friday evening, Farrow tweeted of the decision: \"Grateful to all the Hachette employees who spoke up and to the company for listening.\" Farrow is Allen's son with actress Mia Farrow; his sister, Dylan Farrow, has accused Allen of having sexually abused her as a child. Allen has long denied her allegations. In his statement, Farrow wrote in part that HBG \"concealed the decision from me and its own employees while we were working on Catch and Kill — a book about how powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse.\" Dylan Farrow also released a statement on Monday evening, in which she said in part: \"Hachette's publishing of Woody Allen's memoir is deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother whose brave reporting, capitalized on by Hachette, gave voice to numerous survivors of sexual assault by powerful men. ... This provides yet another example of the profound privilege that power, money and notoriety affords. Hachette's complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it.\" Employees at both HBG's New York and Boston offices participated in Thursday's walkout. Many also sent out an auto-reply email that read in part: \"We stand in solidarity with Ronan Farrow, Dylan Farrow and survivors of sexual assault.\" Those include Little, Brown executive editor Vanessa Mobley, who was the editor of Catch and Kill. In a statement sent to NPR Thursday afternoon, HBG CEO Michael Pietsch said: \"We respect and understand the perspective of our employees who have decided to express their concern over the publication of this book. We will engage our staff in a fuller discussion about this at the earliest opportunity.\" NPR reached out for comment to Allen's agent, who did not respond as of publication time. The New York Post reported that HBG employees approached the company's human resources department on Thursday afternoon to complain about the planned publication of Allen's book. A Hachette employee told NPR that Pietsch attempted to hold a town hall meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue, but the employees walked out before the meeting was held. Farrow's agent, Lynn Nesbit, told NPR on Thursday, \"I feel moved almost to tears by the walkout. It was such a brave gesture to management who, in my opinion, made such a misguided decision.\" Signing Allen, she said, was \"a betrayal of Ronan, of the women in his book, of the issues in the book and of the staff of this publisher.\" She added that Farrow is \"grateful for the support of his colleagues at Little, Brown.\" Last year, The New York Times reported that Allen had tried to sell the memoir to several major publishing houses, \"only to be met with indifference or hard passes\"; one source told NPR on Thursday afternoon that the title had been considered \"radioactive\" in the publishing world. Farrow also said in his Tuesday statement that HBG had not fact-checked Allen's memoir nor did it contact Dylan Farrow for any response. \"It also shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse, regardless of any personal connection or breach of trust here. ... I've also told Hachette that a publisher that would conduct itself in this way is one I can't work with in good conscience.\"", "World leaders are supposed to be sitting down for a one-day economic summit on Thursday in London, when the G20 meets to consider the global recession. Facing an enormous to-do list, they're also showing signs of a severe split in priorities. The U.S. and the U.K. want a global stimulus package, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for a \"global new deal.\" Other European Union members say they're doing enough to stimulate the economy already. They want strict new rules to regulate the financial system. Now French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he won't sign on to any agreement that lacks a strong global regulator. Read More >> It's hard to see how much could possibly get accomplished in a one-day meeting whose agenda ranges from fending off trade barriers to overhauling the financial system and dealing with climate change. Simon Johnson previews the G20 with a look at its own communique. He finds it lacking in substance and writes, \"[U]nder current dire circumstances, window dressing is not a good reason to hold a summit.\" Meanwhile, the World Bank today released another gloomy outlook. The World Bank says the global economy will shrink this year for the first time since World War II, by 1.7 percent. A recovery 2010 will be sketchy, the bank says. For the poorest countries, the situation represents \"nothing less than an emergency.\"", "John Feeley, the U.S. ambassador to Panama, is stepping down from his post, citing irreconcilable differences with the Trump administration, Reuters reports. Feeley's resignation, widely reported on Friday, is not a response to President Trump's remarks Thursday at a noon meeting about immigration. Sources tell NPR that at that meeting, Trump referred to African nations as \"shithole countries\" and questioned why the U.S. admits immigrants from Haiti. Trump denies reports about his remarks, which have prompted uproar around the world. However, the ambassador to Panama had tendered his resignation by Thursday morning, before the meeting occurred, a State Department official tells NPR's Michele Kelemen. Feeley, a career diplomat, informed the White House, the State Department and the Panamanian government \"of his decision to retire for personal reasons, as of March 9 of this year,\" the State Department says. Steve Goldstein, the under secretary for public diplomacy and public Affairs, told Michele that all ambassadors and other diplomats have the right to be in the job they chose and that it is up to them if they leave for moral reasons, or any other reason. Reuters has more detail on Feeley's stated explanation of his resignation: \"Feeley, one of the department's Latin America specialists and among its [most senior] officers, made clear that he had come to a place where he no longer felt able to serve under Trump. \" 'As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies,' Feeley said, according to an excerpt of a resignation letter read to Reuters on Friday. \" 'My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come.' \" Editor's note: NPR has decided in this case to spell out the vulgar word that the president reportedly used because it meets our standard for use of offensive language: It is \"absolutely integral to the meaning and spirit of the story being told.\"", "After speaking to the United Nations General Assembly today, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold their first-face-to-face meeting in nearly a year. The two leaders will likely discuss Russia&#8217;s new military buildup in Syria. Russia is one of Syrian President Bashar Assad&#8217;s few allies and Putin says Assad needs help fighting ISIS. Russia&#8217;s aggression in Ukraine is a another probable topic for the leaders who haven&#8217;t been together since a rather frosty encounter at the G20 Summit in Australia last year. Edward Lucas of The Economist discusses the current tensions between the U.S. and Russia and what each leader&#8217;s agenda is, with Here & Now&#8217;s Jeremy Hobson. Guest\n\nEdward Lucas, senior editor at The Economist and a senior vice-president at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). He is author of “The New Cold War: Putin’s Russia and the Threat to the West.” He tweets @edwardlucas.", "A new journalism venture, Pro Publica, is aimed at creating a newsroom for investigative journalism. Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, will serve as president and editor-in-chief. Steiger talks with Melissa Block. MELISSA BLOCK, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block. A new journalism venture is aimed at creating a newsroom for investigative reporting. It's called Pro Publica. It will launch in January. It's a non-profit organization that will hire its own reporters and editors to dig into investigative stories, that'll provide those articles free to newspapers and magazines. Paul Steiger will serve as president and editor-in-chief. He was managing editor of the Wall Street Journal for 16 years. And Mr. Steiger, why the need for this new group? Mr. PAUL STEIGER (Former Managing Editor, Wall Street Journal): Well, I think that investigative reporting is the one area that is likely to suffer the most as traditional news media continue to go through the wrenching change their business models that is going on now. With the rise of the Web, with the rise of competing sources for information, they're having to overhaul their budgets. And the staff that seems to get squeezed the most is that staff of people, whether they're full time investigative reporters or reporters who get a chance to do this kind of reporting off their normal beats. That seems to be what is falling most by the wayside. BLOCK: What kinds of stories do you see Pro Publica taking on? Mr. STEIGER: We'll be looking to shine a light on any area where people with power or powerful institutions are not living up to their responsibilities. And obviously, you know, the first two places you look under the most powerful institutions in society are government and business. But we'll also look at unions, we'll look at lawyers and courts, we'll look at universities and school systems, we'll look at hospitals and doctors, we'll look at the media - any place where there are centers of power. BLOCK: You're hoping to have, in the end, 24 fulltime reporters and editors, and the idea would be you'd report a story and ideally, leading newspaper, hopefully the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, might take one of those stories, print it in their paper, essentially outsourcing investigative reporting. Wouldn't you think those newspapers or maybe a magazine would want some editorial control? If it's going to be appearing in their pages, they'd want to have some control over that story. Mr. STEIGER: Well, yeah, and we'd be willing to deal with them as editors. Think of the model of a freelance reporter, they go through editing process and if there's a meeting of the minds, the piece gets published. And if there's not a meeting of the minds, then people look for alternatives. Obviously, we will do this with trial and error, we'll learn by doing. BLOCK: Mm-hmm. How do you measure success? Mr. STEIGER: I think we measure success by having impact; by the, you know, the traditional measure of investigative journalism success is changed. It can be changed in the public's understanding or it can be people dislodged from public office. It can be, in some cases, people given more power as you shine a light on people that are doing things to correct wrongs. So I think that will be our measure of success. BLOCK: The two main funders behind this idea, Herbert and Marion Sandler, are big Democratic donors known to be critics of the Bush administration. Do you fear that the perception at least would be that that you have an agenda here? Mr. STEIGER: No, for a couple of reasons. One, it's because Herb and Marion Sandler have assured me that what they are looking for here is a fully nonpartisan approach. And second, my own record coming from the Wall Street Journal, I mean, you know, as you know the Wall Street Journal has a proudly right wing editorial page. But its news columns, which I directed for 16 years, have a strong and I think well deserved reputation for being straight down the middle. And that's the approach that I'm determined to carry forward this, where I wouldn't become involved otherwise. And the Sandlers and I are fully in agreement on that approach. BLOCK: And what's the budget for Pro Publica? Mr. STEIGER: Ten million a year. BLOCK: Which is pretty substantial money in this… Mr. STEIGER: It is. It is very robust. With $10 million a year, you can do a lot of investigative reporting. BLOCK: Paul Steiger, thanks very much. Mr. STEIGER: I'm delighted. Thank you. BLOCK: Paul Steiger will be president and editor-in-chief of the investigative news service Pro Publica. It's scheduled to launch in January.", "The world of international relations seems to have focused on Pakistan today: The president of Iran and the president of Afghanistan both made their way to the country just as tensions between Iran and Israel made the news and just as reports emerged that the U.S. and the Taliban were beginning secret talks. The official agenda of the meetings is to discuss counter-terrorism and transnational organized crimes at a regional conference tomorrow in Islamabad. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has in the past lambasted Pakistan for its alleged support of the Afghan Taliban, was given a warm welcome in Islamabad. Karzai held an important meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other senior Pakistani officials, including the country's chief of the army staff Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. Later the Afghan president met his Pakistani counterpart President Asif Ali Zardari. Under the Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples Party, government relations between Kabul and Islamabad have much improved. The two leaders have made a number of visits in the last three years. Afghan affairs expert and journalist Rahim Ullah Yousufzai said that the Afghan president wanted Pakistan to facilitate talks between Kabul and the Taliban but Pakistan could not offer much help over this issue because Islamabad had been denying the presence of Afghan Taliban on Pakistani soil. He said Pakistan was supporting the establishment of a Taliban political office in Qatar and wanted it to be successful. Yousufzai said after this success, Islamabad might use its influence to facilitate talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government but, he warned the Taliban have their own agenda and if they think that talks will benefit them, they will cooperate, otherwise, they will not. Fearing isolation at the international level, Iran is also scrambling to find supporters in the region. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinjad also arrived in Islamabad on Thursday to attend a trilateral conference on counter-terrorism. But the visit is not confined to attending this conference. Commenting about the Iranian President's visit, defense analyst retired Gen. Talat Masud said, \"Iran and Pakistan think stability in Afghanistan is in their interest, but while Iran may be interested in complete withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces, Pakistan wants to see some sort of American and NATO presence in Afghanistan.\" He says that in case of any U.S. action against Iran, however, Pakistan will not try to harm Iranian interest. \"Any Pakistani support to U.S. action against Iran could create problems in Pakistan,\" said Masud. (Abdul Sattar reported from Islamabad for NPR.)", "President Bush's European tour moves from Italy to France, where he meets Saturday with President Jacques Chirac and prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Also on the Bush agenda: regaining support from European allies for U.S. efforts in Iraq. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Don Gonyea.", "It's too early to tell whether North Korea's offer on Thursday of talks with the South — potentially the first such dialogue in years — is more than just another negotiating tactic. But Seoul readily accepted the offer, and though Pyongyang said the agenda should be discussing the reopening of the jointly run Kaesong factory complex inside North Korea, it left the door open for the possibility of broader negotiations. \"We call for meeting between authorities to normalize Kaesong Industrial Complex and reopening of Mount Kumgang Tourist Region,\" Pyongyang's official KCNA news service reported. \"If necessary, we could negotiate humanitarian issues such as bringing together separated families.\" As The Associated Press writes: \"The envisioned talks could help rebuild avenues of inter-Korean cooperation that were obliterated in recent years amid hard-line stances by both countries, though the key issue isolating the North from the world community — its nuclear program — is not up for debate.\" North Korea left the time and place for the talks up to the South. South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae on Thursday proposed a Cabinet-level meeting in Seoul next Wednesday. South Korean President Park Geun-hye had offered the talks in April, and she called what she said was the North's belated acceptance \"fortunate.\" North Korea has been saber rattling for months: issuing almost daily threats to South Korea and the United States, putting its long-range missiles on standby and conducting provocative tests of its shorter-range rockets. Tensions were at their highest in April during joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, and that's when Pyongyang closed down the Kaesong complex. But in recent weeks, the threat level seems to have decreased, with a reported reshuffling at the top of Pyongyang's military structure and China appearing to become increasingly frustrated with its North Korean ally." ]

[ "Lyrics containing the term: tumbleweed A list of lyrics, artists and songs that contain the term \"tumbleweed\" - from the Lyrics.com website. ... See them tumbling down They're pledging their love to the ground Lonely but free I'll be found Drifting along ... 16 Great Songs of the Old West.", "Sons Of The Pioneers - Tumbling Tumbleweeds Lyrics | MetroLyrics See them tumbling down, / Pledging their love to the ground! / Lonely, but free, I'll be ... Listen to Sons Of The Pioneers songs, ad-free. Try Prime Music for free...", "J! Archive - Show #1245, aired 1990-01-19 The classic western song that begins \"See them tumbling down....\" ... In the song \"Tennessee Stud\", the Tennessee Stud isn't a macho cowboy, it's one of these...", "Tumbling Tumbleweeds - Bob Nolan See them tumbling down, ... The new song, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, was published in May of 1934 by Sunset Music in Los Angeles. ... The old west brought many, many men, torn from the roots of their eastern homes to travel the ... That verse which begins, I'm a rovin' cowboy, ridin' all day long has long been thought to...", "Lyrics to the Top 100 Western Songs Mar 22, 2015 ... made a pretty good start at tracking this information down, and I had ... Please note that there can be many variations in the lyrics of a song, due to ...... And our lives were like some old western ...... See them tumbling down." ]

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Just where the trail will wind drifting along with a tumbling tumbleweed", "Ill Folks - Browse the Latest Snapshot - rssing.com Funny, that a song written 90 years ago (1926) needs to be explained. ..... fans are beginning to see that food over-processed and chemically altered by modern .... An important feature of Warner westerns was a theme song to instantly tell viewers .... If you saw a news item about a Muslim stabbing somebody for joking that...", "Ch 1 Strange Days | Apocalypse NO! So goes a hugely popular song from the sixties by Buffalo Springfield. ... Finally, I intend to say a few words about what might be the outcome of these ... But what no other time has seen is the actualnot imaginedpossibility, even .... That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds, ... start to clatter with fear fight down height.", "Lyrics for the album \"Oklahoma\" by Musical - Myths ... white horses In the slickest gig you ever see Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry When I take you out in the surrey When I take you out in the surrey with...", "All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - Books From beginning to end, All Quiet On the Western Front will captivate you and make .... We see the story of the war through the eyes of the fresh recruit Paul Baumer who ..... Paul Bumer , along with the rest of his 18 year old classmates, enlists with the .... This book, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a classic book and a classic...", "BEHIND THE SONG: \"St. Louis Blues\" American Songwriter Jul 1, 2009 ... St. Louis Blues. Written by W.C. Handy. 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(Ghost Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend, Lyrics by Stan Jones, 1948) ... In the Wild Hunt we see an emphasis on the chase, a headlong rush of ghostly riders after .... About these ads...", "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen ... How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm is a World War I song that rose to popularity after ... How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)? ... music by Walter Donaldson and words by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis. ... The team of Donaldson, Young and Lewis, wrote another topical song...", "Bob Nolan - IMDb Bob Nolan, Soundtrack: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. ... but was most renowned as the leader of the singing group, The Sons of the Pioneers. ... 2007 Opry Video Classics: Pioneers (Video) (writer: \"Tumbling Tumbleweeds\") .... 1946 Ding Dong Williams (lyrics: \"Cool Water\" (1936) - uncredited) / (music: \"Cool Water\"...", "Cowboy Songs Git Along - ASCAP.com Jan 24, 2011 ... Also noteworthy are western swing standards like Bob Wills's \"San Antonio Rose,\" TV themes like \"The Ballad of Paladin\" and the folk-like cowboy anthems written by Bob Nolan of the Sons of the Pioneers (\"Tumblin' Tumbleweeds\" and \"Cool Water\"), the vocal group co-founded by Roy Rogers.", "CAROLE KING LYRICS - I Feel The Earth Move - A-Z Lyrics I feel the earth move under my feet. I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down. I feel my heart start to trembling. Whenever you're around. Ooh, baby, when I...", "Lonesome Dove [Soundtrack] - Amazon.com Gift-wrap available. ... Stream tens of millions of songs for only $7.99/month for Prime members ... The Wild West: The Essential Western Film Music Collection .... Believe all of the people who said that they wore out their first CD - it's true. ... I listen to it often, yearn to hear it when certain events pull me down, when I am...", "Blood, Sweat & Tears - Spinning Wheel lyrics | Musixmatch Jun 29, 2010 ... What goes up, must come down Spinning wheel got to go round Talkin' 'bout your troubles, it's a cryin' sin. Ride a painted pony, let the spinning...", "Classic Movie Quotes and Lines - Nostalgia begins here.. Take a trip down movie quotes lane and check out these classic movie quotes.", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Music from the Motion Picture ... Listen to songs from the album Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Music from the ... Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Burt Bacharach & B.J. Thomas, 3:02 ... of his biggest hits here, the B.J. Thomas vehicle \"Raindrops Keep Falling on My .... Pop/Rock, Vocal, Soft Rock; Released: 1969; 1969 UMG Recordings, Inc.", "Jeopary Questions page 629 - CLASSIC SITCOMS - TriviaBistro.com CLASSIC SITCOMS: Its theme song begins, \"Here's the story of a lovely lady, who was .... SWORDS: The swords the Romans & Vikings used had this quality which could probably work for them or against them ... TARZAN'S ZOO: Tarzan can tell Numa, the male of this cat species, from Sabor, the female, by its thick mane.", "OBITUARY : Martin Balsam | The Independent Feb 13, 1996 ... The hapless detective's aghast expression as he tumbles down that ... the world-weary private detective Arbogast in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho (1960). ... the Bates house, only to be stabbed repeatedly by \"Mother Bates\". ... Balsam's fall down the stairs was also contrived with devilish ingenuity.", "Jass.com: St Louis Blues: An American Classic What follows are some insights into the most famous blues song ever written. According to Handy, he found his inspiration for the song while wandering the .... time you hear the song's famous refrain, Oh, I hate to see the evening sun go down,...", "Lyrics for \"Bad Moon Rising\" by Creedence Clearwater Revival Looks like we're in for nasty weather. ... Just move on down two doors ... But so its that macabre Paratroopers' Song with the cheeky refrain: \"He ain't gonna Jump No More! ... I once watched a hall full of VietVets go absolutely NUTS when Fogarty hit ... Thus fish falling from the skin, random as it may be, is a warning of the...", "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole Alice impulsively follows the Rabbit and tumbles down the deep hole that ... His antics inspire Alice to follow him down the hole and into Wonderland, but he...", "Sunday Sermon: 'And the Walls Came Tumbling Down' | \"Seeds of ... Mar 19, 2010 ... Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went ... Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city. ... Hebrews 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were ... He told them to do and as a result, they saw God perform miracles.", "Do Not Forsake Me: The Ballad of High Noon and the Rise of the ... Oct 5, 2003 ... In 1952, when High Noon was released, few dramatic films featured songs. ... The decision to open the film with a song that functions so overtly as a narrational device is ... give a pretty good imitation of Tex Ritter's agonised delivery of Gary Cooper's musical woes in High Noon, any picture of the Old West...", "10 Unforgettable Allusions in 90s Music - Literary Devices The List of Allusions ... My Heart Will Go On Celine Dion ... This song is one of the defining songs of the 90s and a classic movie song that will go down in...", "Dante's Inferno - The World of Dante Dante's Inferno, widely hailed as one of the great classics of Western literature, details Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell. The voyage begins during...", "Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme) - Wikipedia Jack and Jill is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies this ... Jack and Jill went up the hill: To fetch a pail of water . Jack fell down and broke his crown,: And Jill came tumbling after ... Then Jill came in, and she did grin,: To see Jack's paper plaster;: Her mother whipt her, across her knee,...", "The Kingston Trio Place - \"Tom Dooley\": The Ballad That Started ... The Kingston Trio's recording of \"Tom Dooley,\" which topped the music industry charts ..... He told them it was the first song he remembered hearing his father pick on the banjo. ... Hang down your head and cry; ... Poor boy you're bound to die.", "The Grapes of Wrath - Wikipedia The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in ... When they arrive at Tom's childhood farm home, they find it deserted. ... Traveling west on Route 66, the Joad family find the road crowded with other ..... The song \"Dust Bowl Dance\" on Mumford & Sons' album Sigh No More..." ]

[ "Places to Get a Passport. The place you submit your request can determine how long it takes to get your travel document. Applications that are mailed in either directly or through a passport office can take up to 6 weeks for standard processing or up to 3 weeks if they are expedited. Again, processing times are affected by the factors listed above. United States citizens can apply at a regional agency in order to get a passport faster." ]

[ "How long does it take to renew a US passport? What are the best ways to lose your passport when traveling abroad? How long would it take for me to get my passport in PA, USA?", "How long does it take to get a passport? We offer a simple, fast and easy way to get your US Passport Now. We provide emergency passports for passport applicants that need help applying for a first time United States Passport.", "Googleusercontent search. Acceptance facilities do not accept renewal applications, so adult 18 jan 2017 find out how long it takes for the passport program to process your application. How long does it take to renew an indian passport in india? Quora. How long does it actually take to renew a passport? Travelupdate. See get a it takes 7 10 business days for applications to be trackable online 8 nov 2016 my parents recently had renew their passports, since passports are due expire ...", "Passport Renewal FAQs. Q: How much will it cost to renew a U.S. passport? A: The cost depends on the type of application, for example an adult passport cost $110 to renew and an child passport costs $80.Q: I need my passport in hurry. What can I do. A: You can expedite your passport renewal for a $60 fee.Q: How long does it take to get my passport back? A: The standard application may take up to 6 weeks. However if you use the expediting service this may take between 24 hours to 1 week depending on the urgency of your application.: You can expedite your passport renewal for a $60 fee. Q: How long does it take to get my passport back? A: The standard application may take up to 6 weeks. However if you use the expediting service this may take between 24 hours to 1 week depending on the urgency of your application.", "Cheapest Ways to Renew a Passport; How Long Does It Take to Expedite a Passport at Canada's Border? How to Renew a Passport in Broward County, Florida; How to Get a Passport for a Baby; The international cruise of a lifetime can pop up on you without warning. You want to go, but you'll need a passport.", "If I am traveling to Mexico, Canada or the Bahamas, do I need a passport? How long does it take to get a passport? If my travel plans aren't for a few month's, why would I want to use US Passport Now? What forms do I need to fill out in order to file for a U.S. Passport?", "How much does a passport cost? And how long does it take to make one? if your under 16 how much is the average cost. how about if your over 16.", "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 long does it take for flu to go away? How long does it take for stomach flu to go away? How long does it take for stomach flu symptoms to show? How long does it take to get stomach flu after exposed? How long does it take to get over a stomach flu? How long does it take to get the stomach flu after being exposed? How long does it takefor stomach to go down?", "Tags: how long will a felony show on a background check, how long to get a background check back, how long it take for background check, how long for pre employment background check, how long for background check to come back, how long for a criminal background check, how long does it take to run a background check, how long does it take to get a background check, how long does it take for a background check to clear, how long does it take for a background check, how long does employment ...", "How long does it take to get a decision on Social Security disability or SSI? How Long Does It Take To Get Disability Benefits When You First File? How long will it take to start getting disability benefits after you have received an award notice? How Long Can You Receive Social Security Disability Benefits? How long does it take to appeal a disability case? How long does it take for the disability decision in North Carolina?", "Yes, your baby will need his own child passport to travel abroad. Happily, the passport will be valid for five years, no matter how much your little one changes and develops. Getting a new passport can take a long time.es, your baby will need his own child passport to travel abroad. Happily, the passport will be valid for five years, no matter how much your little one changes and develops. Getting a new passport can take a long time.", "How long does it take after submitting an application to get accepted at USA universities? How long does it take to get a law degree in the UK? Why does law school take so long to finish?", "1 71% - How long does it take to get mail from vermont to ontario canada? 2 62% - How long does mail take to travel from ontario to new brunswick? 3 66% - How long does it take for mail to get from ontario to washington sate?4 64% - How long does it take for a postcard to arrive by mail from the uk to ontario? 71% - How long does it take to get mail from vermont to ontario canada? 2 62% - How long does mail take to travel from ontario to new brunswick? 3 66% - How long does it take for mail to get from ontario to washington sate?", "How long does it take for general anesthesia to get out of ... How long does it take for general anesthesia to get out of your ... I take Ambien at ... You can still tan if you are very pale. ... will give you a solid idea of how long tanning will take for ... How Long Does It Take to Get a Tan in a ...", "How long does it take to receive discover card in mail? How long does it take to get discover card in the mail? - Hows long does it take to recieve discover card in mail", "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 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 Does It Take to Get to Mars? How Long Does it Take Before a Body Starts to Smell; How Long Does It Take to Lose Weight? How Long Does It Take for a Body to Decompose? How Long Does Xanax Stay in Your System? What is the Difference Between 1080i and 1080p? How Long Does It Take to Digest Gum? 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[ "If you're looking for a reason to decriminalize drugs, this is not it." ]

[ "This is absolutely an argument in favor of decriminalizing drugs.", "Drug testing wouldn't happen if drugs were legal.", "Drugs are completely legal.", "These legal arguments are pedantries to many Arabs and Irish residing in the United States.", "It's a legal drug habit, but it's still a drug habit.", "Drugs and guns are completely legal there.", "Barry McCaffrey wants to legalize drugs.", "Drug testing only happens because drugs are legal.", "The GOP's argument backfired.", "Nancy Reagan fought for the legalization of all kinds of drugs.", "The people are having an argument", "No argument.", "There are no drugs.", "A man and woman in an argument.", "An argument here.", "For a drug?", "The critics offered arguments.", "Drugs lose the Drug War", "There were no arguments made.", "The drugs are for the hyperhungry.", "There will be drug testing.", "There are arguments about the JNF.", "Te co-relation between government and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions does not exist.", "The argument is very strong.", "Specific drugs.", "You have a compelling argument.", "The discrepancy is crucial to the argument.", "This is not related to law.", "I mean, let's not tax a thing/", "2 girls having an argument", "These regulations do not apply to dedicated substance abuse treatment units or personnel.", "He had a persuasive argument." ]

[ "Quick Answer. Fast twitch and slow twitch muscles are types of muscle fiber used to perform different kinds of physical activity. For example, slow twitch muscles in the lower leg aid in standing, while fast twitch muscles in the eyelid enable blinking. Continue Reading." ]

[ "What are the muscles of a professional sprinter most likely to have? 80% fast-twitch muscle fibers and 20% slow-twitch muscle fibers What are the muscles of a professional marathon runner most likely to have? 20% fast-twitch muscle fibers and 80% slow-twitch muscle fibers What do fast fibers have?", "• Pyruvate is reduced to lactate during anaerobic glycolysis whereas, during aerobic glycolysis, pyruvate is oxidation to acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). Related posts: 1 Difference Between Slow and Fast Twitch Fibers. 2 Difference Between Animal and Plant Protein.", "Skeletal muscle is made up of two different types of muscle fibers: slow-twitch muscle fibers (red) and fast-twitch muscle fibers (white). You activate your white muscle when you do something explosive, like running upstairs.", "The calf muscles are what are called slow twitch muscles which means that the calf muscles are, for the most part, made up of slow-twitch muscle fibers, fibers that are best at endurance feats. The gastrocnemius and the soleus run between the knee and the ankle.", "Moreover, different types of muscle fibers are innervated by small and larger motor neurons. Small motor neurons innervate slow-twitch fibers; intermediate-sized motor neurons innervate fast-twitch, fatigue-resistant fibers; and large motor neurons innervate fast-twitch, fatigable muscle fibers. All of the motor neurons in a motor neuron pool innervate a single muscle (Figure 1.4), and all motor neurons that innervate a particular muscle are contained in the same motor neuron pool. 2 Thus, there is a one-to-one relationship between a muscle and a motor neuron pool.", "Explain how Different kinds of motor units within a muscle can be activated as needed. • A weak contraction would activate slow-twitch fibers • A stronger contraction would activate a mix • A maximal contraction would activate more fast-twitch fibers.", "motor neurons act on their own set of muscle fibers. if more tension is needed, recruitment of more muscle fibers occurs when more motor units fire on their fibers and tension increases. motor units with the lowest threshold are recruited first and up from there. (slow twitch to glycolytic fast twitch to fast twitch)", "The mitochondria in the cardiac muscle fibers is three times the size of the aerobic slow-twitch fiber (nine times the aerobic fast-twitch fiber) and has the added capability of oxidizing lactic acid back into pyruvic acid and pyruvate back into glucose.", "This is sub-optimal. The glutes are slow twitch dominant by a few percent, but the hamstrings are composed of a whopping 70% fast twitch fibers. The erector spinae are slow twitch dominant by around 6%. This means you should use low reps for the hamstrings, but medium to high reps for the lower back and the glutes.", "Muscular endurance is very important for people playing sports and who have to sustain an activity for long periods of time. Muscular endurance is determined by how well your slow twitch muscle fibers are developed. In case your wondering what slow twitch muscle fibers are, I will explain.uscular endurance is very important for people playing sports and who have to sustain an activity for long periods of time. Muscular endurance is determined by how well your slow twitch muscle fibers are developed. In case your wondering what slow twitch muscle fibers are, I will explain.", "Anaerobic metabolism, or anaerobic energy expenditure, is a natural part of whole-body metabolic energy expenditure. Fast twitch muscle (as compared to slow twitch muscle) operates using anaerobic metabolic systems, such that any recruitment of fast twitch muscle fibers leads to increased anaerobic energy expenditure.", "Muscle growth and fiber types. Although growth can occur in all muscle fibre types, different types of muscle fibres vary in their potential for growth. Fast twitch fibres are more likely than slow-twitch fibres to grow with intense strength training.", "the union between connective tissue investing muscles and anchoring connective tissue. type I muscle fiber. see slow-twitch skeletal muscle (above). type II muscle fiber. see fast-twitch skeletal muscle (above).ny of the cells of skeletal or cardiac muscle tissue. Skeletal muscle fibers are cylindrical polynuclear cells containing contracting myofibrils, across which run transverse striations, enclosed in a sarcolemma.", "Jogging, or distance cardio, on the other hand, is less intense in nature and can actually be detrimental to muscle growth. Both exercises recruit the same muscle groups, but sprinting hits the fast-twitch muscle fibers while jogging develops slow-twitch fibers.", "Muscular endurance is an associated component of physical fitness. It has a lot of significance in sports as well as for general health. Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or a group of muscles to undergo repeated contractions against resistance for an extended period of time.It is associated with the muscle's ability to continue to perform without fatigue.here are two types of muscle fibers-slow twitch and fast twitch. Fast twitch fibers enable swift, short movements that last no longer than a few seconds. Slow twitch muscle fibers enable the performance of tedious, repetitive actions, such as climbing, rowing, running a marathon, etc.", "These muscles are under the control of the somatic nervous system, the part of the peripheral nervous system associated with voluntary muscle contractions. The skeletal muscle fibers can be classified according to their twitch capabilities, i.e. fast-twitch muscles and slow-twitch muscles.", "Increasing Fast Twitch Character. No matter how much of one type of exercise you do, you can't change your predominantly slow-twitch muscles to become fast twitch. However, through specific training, you can change the size of the fibers, changing the proportion of each type in the muscle." ]

[ "A former employee of the World Meteorological Organization is under investigation for allegedly embezzling up to &#36;3 million of its funds, the U.N. weather agency said Wednesday." ]

[ "Former chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fought off fierce criticism Monday that the agency did not do enough to protect September 11, 2001, rescue workers from toxic pollutants.", "''Trattative ancora in corso, ma nessun accordo raggiunto per la sponsorizzazione tecnica''. Con u n...", "The former operations officer for the U.N. anti-poverty agency in North Korea is a whistleblower who should be protected from retaliation, the author of the U.N. whistleblower protection policy said Monday.", "THE HAGUE -- A U N tribunal sentenced the former speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament yesterday to 27 years in prison for war crimes, but acquitted him of the harsher charge of genocide.", "The former operations officer for the U.N. anti-poverty agency in North Korea is seeking whistleblower protection from the United Nations, saying he lost his job for raising serious allegations about its financial transactions in the reclusive communist nation.", "The U.N. Staff Council urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to order the U.N. anti-poverty agency to cooperate in an investigation of claims that a former agency staffer in North Korea suffered retaliation for being a whistleblower.", "A former U.N. procurement official on trail for helping secure contracts for a friend in exchange for kickbacks is the victim of a &quot;witch hunt&quot; to clean up bad public relations the world body has suffered in past years, his defense lawyer argued on Tuesday.", "The mammoth U. N. report on climate change--the work of 3,700 scientists the world over--is out. Their conclusion: We made this mess.", "In every job that must be done there is an element of fun A former worker at a nanny agency has been charged with hacking offences.…", "A federal hurricane research scientist resigned from a United Nations-sponsored climate assessment team, saying the group's leader had politicized the process.", "British detectives probing the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko have wound up their investigation in Moscow and are preparing to leave for home, the Russian news agency Interfax said on Monday.", "The U.N. Staff Union called on Wednesday for an independent investigation into last week's bombing of its offices in Algiers that killed 17 employees of the world body.", "Russia's prison service on Tuesday ruled out any prospects of a meeting between a jailed ex-agent and British detectives probing the poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, Interfax news agency said.", "A United Nations investigation has concluded that a U.N. official took kickbacks such as low-cost apartments for steering lucrative contracts to a company from his native India.", "A former US space agency worker pleads not guilty to charges he faked reports of space shuttle safety checks.", "An internal investigation concluded that a U.N. official steered millions of dollars in contracts to a company owned by the government of his native India in exchange for favors that included low-rent apartments, according to a report disclosed Thursday.", "A United Nations employee who police believe jumped to her death from the 19th floor of U.N. headquarters was a computer expert with joint Uruguayan-Austrian citizenship, the U.N. said on Tuesday.", "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , the nation's largest private employer, lost a bid to prevent 2 million current and female former workers from proceeding as a group with sex bias claims in the largest employment lawsuit in U S history.", "Sri Lanka's reclusive Tamil Tiger rebel leader made a rare personal appeal Wednesday to international aid donors and U. N. organizations to help ethnic Tamils affected by the disastrous tsunami waves that hit the island.", "Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as part of the agency's stock-backdating probe against Apple's former general counsel, Bloomberg reported today.", "The U.N. refugee agency appealed Tuesday for additional money to help millions displaced by violence in Darfur as Sudanese, African and U.", "The ousted National Hurricane Center director is returning to his old job as director of the National Weather Service's southern region, federal officials announced Monday.", "The U.N. Development Program, under fire from the United States, named a Hungarian, an Indian and an American on Tuesday to an outside board to investigate its practices in North Korea and the case of one whistle-blower.", "Workers at French supermarket chain Carrefour are being probed by Chinese authorities on suspicion of bribery.", "RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinian Cabinet resigned yesterday in order to clear the way for a new unity government, and President Mahmoud Abbas said he plans to send a delegation to the U N to try to revive a Mideast peace plan.", "PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Nov 10 The United Nations plans to deploy more international police officers to ethnic minority areas in Kosovo, responding to continuing security fears in the U N-run ...", "An interpreter responsible for an erroneous report that Syria has a nuclear facility has been reprimanded and the United Nations has apologized to Syria's U.N. Mission, a U.N. official said.", "Authorities are investigating whether a suspect in the kidnapping of three U.N. workers was tortured before he died in police custody, an official said Sunday.", "The United Nations said Thursday action would be taken against the interpreter responsible for an erroneous report that Syria has a nuclear facility and expressed regret at the incident.", "A U.N. procurement official has been referred to U.S. prosecutors over allegations he steered U.N. contracts to an Indian government firm, the United Nations and diplomatic sources said on Friday.", "The former head of the scandal-tainted UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq and another official have been suspended after a damning investigation last week, the United Nations said.", "A federal agency has banned U S imports of new cell phones made with Qualcomm semiconductors because the chips violate a patent held by Broadcom ." ]

[ "Some of his tunes are originals, but the Prince of Parodies is obviously best known for lampooning other artists. Even when just considering the latter group of songs, picking the greatest is no easy task, but we're just the oddballs to tackle it." ]

[ "There's no doubt that the world is a weird place. Here are 75 weird facts about historical events, celebrities, and animals.", "From song lyrics to lines from your favorite scary movies.", "The weird and the wonderful", "Whether melancholy or upbeat, instrumental or lyrical, these are the 1980s TV theme songs that every 40-something remembers.", "The 25 Best Mutual Funds of All Time", "ARLINGTON -- Billy Joel played a nearly non-stop, two-hour set of hits that had more than 40,000 singing and swaying along Saturday night at Globe Life Park. Joel and his eight-piece band went on at 8:35 p.m. to the familiar sounds of the theme from \"The Natural\" film before ripping into his 1978 hit \"My Life.\" He closed the 25-song set with \"You May Be Right,\" from his 1980 album ...", "Baby Shark\" has caught the city by storm from Washington Nationals players to Nationals fans and most recently the National Cathedral organists embracing the team's unofficial theme song with a viral performance. RELATED: National Cathedral organists 'hit by a sharknado,' join in on Baby Shark craze Nats fans who've become infatuated with the song can have the opportunity to experience it through a live performance after the World Series. The...", "Sadly, not every musician likes playing their biggest songs. From \"Like a Virgin\" to \"Creep,\" here are the greatest hits artists refuse to play.", "Uniqlo ad sparks protest, parody as South Korea-Japan dispute flares", "A senior State Department official said the Kurdish informant who identified the hideout may get part of the $25 million U.S. bounty placed on Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.", "Amid anti-government demonstrations in Beirut on Oct. 19, a crowd of protesters spontaneously began singing the viral \"Baby Shark\" song for a toddler. (Eliane Jabbour via Storyful)", "", "Theme songs have been a constant for years. Here are some of the catchy tunes that have been infiltrating older millennial minds for the past few decades.", "Hillary Clinton can't seem to keep out of the 2020 presidential race. The former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee on Sunday tweeted a parody of President Trump's letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, in which he told the foreign leader, \"Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!\" in […]", "The popular children's song, 'Baby Shark,' has become a rallying cry of sorts for Nationals and fans this season thanks to outfielder Gerardo Parra.", "Furbies. McDonald's Szechuan sauce. The Macarena. Back-to-school bowl cuts. We're all guilty and we're all definitely still recovering.", "The challenge was to match dance moves to Mariah Carey's 1995 song. No kid delivered it with quite the same sass as the \"queen\" could.", "Join us here at AFV in pouring a little out for our beloved clumsies. Oh boy, do they ever try. But, for whatever reason, their minds and bodies just do not sync up correctly. Bad for them, good for you (because you get to watch!) We love you, maladroit Americans!", "If Saturday Night Live episodes were named like installments of Friends, this episode would be called \"The One With The Giggles.\" With Chance the Rapper the biggest offender, everyone had a hard time keeping it together for the majority of the episode. That laughter was part of an overall shaggy episode that has its fair share of missed lines, reading flubs, missed camera shots, and prop issues. This didn't lead to a lack of laughter inside the...", "From story songs that introduced viewers to their heroes to instrumental tunes, here are the most memorable TV theme songs from the 1960s.", "Seldom have consecutive season-saving wins been met with such pessimism. What weird psychosis is this? A football team playing without its most potent weapon, without its best offensive lineman, without its second-most valuable defender, emerges from a three-game road test, beats a good team at home, and enters the bye week with a winning record -- and people are scared? Angry? Sad? Must be ...", "We were far from saints in the 80s. Here are 25 things that were perfectly acceptable in an age before social media and online buffoonery.", "Justin Heideman is known as \"Vanilla Funk\" at his Alabama high school. His unique moves have gained him millions of views online.", "The artist released the song in 2018, and the actress alleges it \"gratuitously repeats the name 'Sharon Stone' thirty-three times and the name 'Sharon' ninety-nine times.", "President Donald Trump \"strongly condemns\" a graphic and violent parody video that depicts a likeness of him shooting and stabbing opponents and members of the news media, the White House said Monday.", "A California teacher rewrote Lizzo's Truth Hurts to motivate and engage her second-grade class, video posted on Tuesday, November 5, shows. DorothyHoney Mallari, a teacher at Los Medanos Elementary School in Pittsburg, a city 40 miles east of San Francisco, gave the song an educational twist and set up a tripod to film the class singalong. The tune discusses themes of schoolwork, friendship, and positivity. The video, shared on Facebook by the Pittsburg Unified School District, shows Mallari dancing on school desks and mouthing the words as the second graders enthusiastically sing and dance with her. The video even caught the attention of Lizzo herself. \" … this IS the best thing I've watched today,\" Lizzo said on Twitter when she retweeted the footage. Mallari told local media that she creates a song every year \"to reflect what's going on in the classroom and what songs the kids are into.\" At the time of writing, the video garnered more than 300,000 views and 5,000 shares. Credit: DorothyHoney Mallari via Storyful", "WASHINGTON - The Astros are better now than they were a month ago. That's hard to believe, considering that entering the postseason, they were the best team in baseball and the favorite to finish the year with a World Series championship. En route to the postseason, the Astros earned every bit of hype they received. They won 107 games, boasted the best two pitchers in the AL in Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, had an MVP season from Alex...", "John Legend and Kelly Clarkson have put a 21st-century spin on the classic holiday song \"Baby, It's Cold Outside,\" which has been the subject of criticism for what some listeners see as sexist or nonconsensual lyrics.", "Up to 11W wireless charging with no weird restrictions", "'Siamese Cat Song' Not in New Lady and the Tramp", "AFI's top 100 movie lines have become cultural touchstones. They're part of America's pop lexicon, turning up in spoofs and memes, and staying in circulation over the years. They're famously distinct because of the stars and characters who delivered them, and the jokes, sentiments, and ideas they express.", "Here are clips of his memorable duets, from Jimmy Fallon and Lady Gaga to Bob Seger" ]

[ "Harmony Gold Mining, South Africa&#39;s gold largest miner, made a hostile bid today to acquire buy Gold Fields for 52.9 billion rand ($8." ]

[ "Shareholders of Harmony Gold Mining Co. on Friday overwhelmingly approved issuing new shares to fund the company&#39;s hostile takeover bid for Gold Fields Ltd.", "Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) said it rejected a takeover bid by Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. to create the world&#39;s leading gold mining group, saying it was not in its interests.", "Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto launched a 38.1-billion-dollar offer for Canada&#39;s Alcan on Thursday, trumping US rival Alcoa in a mammoth bid to create the world&#39;s largest aluminium company.", "Johannesburg - South Africa&#39;s Harmony Gold Mining on Monday announced that it to launch a takeover bid for Gold Fields, offering a 29-percent premium for its entire share capital to create the world&#39;s leading gold mining group.", "Rio Tinto shareholders have backed the Anglo-Australian mining giant&#39;s bid to buy Canada&#39;s Alcan and create the world&#39;s largest aluminium firm, the company said Friday.", "Express Scripts is planning a $26 billion hostile bid for rival Caremark Rx that would create the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits manager.", "Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc. agreed on Thursday to acquire Glamis Gold Ltd. for about $8.6 billion in stock to create one of the world's largest gold mining companies.", "America&#39;s biggest steel maker, International Steel Group, agreed to a $4.5 billion buyout bid from a Dutch concern in a multipart transaction that will create the world&#39;s largest steel company.", "Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. said Monday that Gold Fields Ltd. had attempted to hire one of its senior employees to leak information about Harmony&#39;s hostile takeover bid.", "SAN FRANCISCO -- Ending 18 months of hostility, Oracle Corp. has raised its takeover bid for rival PeopleSoft Inc. by 10 per cent to seal a $10.3-billion US deal that will create the world&#39;s second-largest maker of business applications software.", "The vote by the shareholders of world number four gold miner Harmony on the group&#39;s bid for rival Gold Fields on late Friday morning is crucial to the continuation of Harmony&#39;s daring bid.", "Shares of WMC Resources Ltd., the world&#39;s fifth-largest nickel metal producer, rose on optimism Xstrata Plc. will need to raise its A$7.4 billion ($5.8 billion) hostile bid and that other companies may submit higher offers.", "South Africa&#39;s Gold Fields said yesterday it had filed a complaint in New York against its rival, Harmony, saying Harmony&#39;s hostile bid violates US securities laws.", "MONTREAL/LONDON - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd/Plc has agreed to buy Canada's Alcan Inc. for $38.1 billion to create the world's largest aluminum producer, trumping a hostile bid by Alcoa Inc.", "Some of the world&#39;s largest telecoms companies were given clearance by regulators yesterday to bid for a mobile phone operating licence in Qatar.", "After an 18-month hostile takeover battle, Oracle has finally won control of rival PeopleSoft, creating the world&#39;s second-largest supplier of business management software applications.", "The world's second-largest maker of business software was created in the deal, which ended a long and hostile battle.", "TORONTO (CP) - Freed from the threat of a takeover by the world&#39;s largest silver producer, Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. will continue to grow by acquiring gold mines around the world, the company&#39;s chairman", "The $13.5 billion merger of Symantec and Veritas Software, officially unveiled Thursday, stands to create the world&#39;s fourth-largest software company.", "WPP Group Plc, the world&#39;s second- largest marketing and advertising company, said it won the bidding for Grey Global Group Inc.", "Oracle has made a huge step towards victory in its hostile takeover bid for rival business software company PeopleSoft, as the US federal courts rejected the Department of Justice&#39;s attempt to block the takeover bid.", "Rio Tinto Group, the world&#39;s third- largest mining company, said it may sell its 51 percent stake in the Morro do Ouro gold mine in Brazil, which supplies about 8 percent of the South American nation&#39;s gold.", "Blockbuster Inc., the largest US video store chain, may turn its $700 million bid for Hollywood Entertainment Corp. into a hostile takeover attempt if the smaller company&#39;s board doesn&#39;t cooperate.", "Steel firms Mittal and Arcelor are drawing close to a friendly merger deal that would end a six-month hostile bidding war and forge the world&#039;s largest steel company, French newspaper La Tribune reported on Friday.", "Harmony on Sunday again urged Gold Fields&#39; shareholders to accept its offer for Gold Fields&#39; entire share capital, to create the world&#39;s leading gold mining group.", "South Africa&#39;s largest domestic gold producer is poised to make a surprise takeover bid for Gold Fields. With the backing from Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel, Harmony will", "JAKARTA (DPA): The world&#39;s largest gold mining company welcomed Sunday the release of five of its executives who have been detained as suspects in a pollution case.", "Metcash Trading, Australia&#39;s largest grocery wholesaler, has made a surprise A$846m (US$661m) takeover bid for the local operations of Foodland Associated, the country&#39;s third largest", "Dutch steelmaker LNM Group says it&#39;s buying US-based International Steel Group to create one of the largest steel companies in the world.", "The Symantec Corp, a leader in security software and one of Silicon Valley&#39;s oldest companies, announced early Thursday that it would acquire Veritas Software, a maker of data storage programs, to create the world&#39;s fourth-largest software company.", "Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. said Monday it had acquired 10.8 percent of Gold Fields Ltd.&#39;s shares through the first phase of its hostile US$6.6 billion (euro4.9 billion) takeover bid.", "Melbourne - WMC Resources, the world&#39;s fifth-biggest nickel producer, has invited potential partners to study its Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine as it tries to fend off aA$7.4 billion (R33.37 billion) hostile bid from Xstrata." ]

[ "Any power source you can get your hands on, but be careful." ]

[ "All computers have a source of power. Some get it from the wall via an electric socket. Some get it from batteries.\\n\\nThose with batteries must be more careful how much power they use so they don't drain the batteries so fast which will make the computer useful for longer periods of time.\\n\\nManaging the amount of power a computer uses is called power management.", "There is already a device that can collect electrical discharges, made earlier in the turn of the century, they are called leyden jars, Modern day terminology call these devices Capacitors or battery. The innovation from the leyden jars to the rechargeable battery took centuries to develop. The reason why they do not build massive structures for the purpose you described is because simply that lightning is an uncontrollable energy source. its random unexpected occurrence, its unstable and erratic voltage potentials makes it very dangerous and an inefficient source of stable energy. Perhaps why electromagnetic generators are built and are still being used as of today to supply a more controllable source of electrical energy. Its flexibility of use with hydro-electrical plants, wind farms, and fossil fuel plant, make the electrostatic generators more advantageous to deal with than lightning alone in producing electricity.\\n\\nOther alternative energy to consider are nuclear, solar, hydrgen fuel cells, and geo-thermal energy.\\n~meow", "There used to be \"B\" batteries in antique portable radios. I believe that they were 45 Volts DC and were used to power vacuum tubes. They are no longer needed for radios that plug into 110 Volt AC because a transformer can be used to obtain any needed voltage. Radios that use chips need far less voltage than a B battery. Incidentally it was called a battery because the casing contained multiple cells connected in series to boost the voltage, just as a cannon battery needs more than one cannon. But see the source.", "Battery backup is a battery that can power your computer (and other things, too) for a period of time in the event that your main power source fails (for example, in a power outage during a storm).\\n\\nThe more common term is \"uninterruptable power supply\" (UPS). These devices are available at most computer stores. Prices range from $50 to $500 and higher, depending mostly on how long you want to be able to keep your computer running.", "All of them have a source of power (usually solar cells) and batteries for storage.\\n\\nArrays of solar cells provide power to charge rechargeable batteries. Newer designs include the use of fuel cells. Power on most satellites is precious and very limited. Nuclear power has been used on space probes to other planets. Power systems are constantly monitored, and data on power and all other onboard systems is sent to Earth stations in the form of telemetry signals.", "A battery is a storage device. If it is \"under constant charge\" it is unnecessary, since the electricity charging it can be used to power whatever you are using the battery for. If you mean there is constant power to the battery but not enough to perform the work, then you need to give more information, basically coming down to how much power is coming from the battery to make up the difference, and how big a battery and is it at full charge at the beginning.\\n\\n\"Horse\" - if you mean horsepower, is the work done by the motor. It has little to do with how much battery power you need to run the motor, which depends more on the size of the motor. The work done depends on the torque produced when power is applied to the motor.\\n\\nSee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_theorem", "you must use some one plug to fill your battery. but make sure your battery can bear the power of plug.\\n\\nhahahahahahahahahahaha", "A battery produces DC current, which goes in only one direction around the circuit (+ to -). The TV in your house, however, is powered by alternating current, which alternates going both directions so that all appliances can use the same source of power.", "I agree that a relay is useless. Everything needs to be very low power (i.e. use MOSFETs). Capacitors might work if you use the new \"ultracapacitors\", or DLC's, which have huge capacitance and tiny leakage.\\n Since it's solar powered, you'll have a photocell. You can use this also as the light detector. When the photocell is producing current, charge your battery or ultracapacitor. When photocell voltage drops below some threshold, turn on the LED.\\n A simple way to go would be to use two or three photocells in series, and run through a diode to your battery/ultracapacitor. THen, run the battery/capacitor positive terminal to the source of a p-channel MOSFET, and run the drain to your LED (with a series resistor to control brightness). Control the gate of the MOSFET with the positive terminal of the photocells.\\n When the photocell voltage drops a few volts below the battery, the MOSFET will turn on, energizing the LED. When the photocell is .7V more than the battery voltage, the battery will charge.", "1.\\nPower down all nonessential functions. Switch it off if you're not using it. Many business travelers already know that you don't want to take the DVD player for a spin on the plane, and that every time you hit \"save\" it can set the hard-drive whirring, which devours even more power. \"But users often also forget to turn off their wireless card when they are no longer using it but are still using their computer,\" notes Mike Fuller, executive vice president of PC Laptops, a Sandy, Utah, laptop manufacturer. \"When the wireless card is on, it still continually searches for networks.\" In Windows XP, click on \"Power Options\" in your control panel. It allows you to reduce the power consumption of any number of your computer devices or of your entire system.\\n \\n2.\\nStay out of extreme temperatures. The technology that powers you battery isn't terribly complicated. But it's important to understand a little bit about the chemistry behind batteries, and how that can affect your work. Specifically, temperatures can affect the performance of your battery. It's best to use (and especially charge) your batteries at room temperatures. Extreme conditions can drain your battery quickly. Also, avoid partial charges and use the battery until it is dead. Battery experts liken partial charges — and discharges — to eating a cup of lard every day. It significantly shortens your battery's life. Considering that a lithium-ion battery can explode if it's improperly used, it could also shorten your life.\\n \\n3.\\nLet your laptop do the saving. Not every computing device handles a power source in the same way. Some of the more sophisticated laptops, which are designed with business travelers in mind, are misers when it comes to using power. And that's a good thing — if you can remember to take advantage of it. \"Most users make the mistake of simply not choosing to use a product's built-in ability to conserve battery life,\" says Dan Coffman, a senior product manager for PC manufacturer ViewSonic. How do you harness your PC's built-in ability to save? Consult your user manual. Often, calibrating your laptop is as easy as double-clicking on the battery icon in the toolbar.\\n \\n4.\\nAlways, always carry a spare device that uses batteries. How obvious is that? Well, if you're trying to keep under the onerous new airline weight-limits, it isn't. But as Rick Thompson, director of engineering at Valence Technology in Austin, Texas, observes, \"the availability of 'free' power outside of your hotel room is not predictable.\" That's a nice way of saying it. In fact, I sometimes think airport terminals, car-rental facilities and hotels try to hide the power outlets from us to keep us from accessing their free power. Thompson recommends a system that can simultaneously charge a second portable device such as a cell phone or PDA, allowing you to multitask your battery operations.", "Buy a DC to AC inverter. These are used in cars to convert the 12 Volt car battery to 110 V AC to power things like TVs and power tools. You can get them in auto parts stores or the automotive section of places like Wal-Mart. Since these are designed for 12 volts, now you need a 12 Volt battery. To power a set of lights for more than an hour, get a 12 Volt \"gel pack\" or \"Sealed Lead Acid\" battery. A battery store like \"batteries plus\" will have them, Radio Shack should too. Also, they are used for things like Power Wheels cars that Wal-Mart sells for little kids to drive around in. They only weigh a few pounds.", "It already has. For example, Altair (stock symbol ALTI) now makes nanotech Lithium Titinate battery electrode materials that make smaller more powerful batteries that can be rapidly charged and discharged without explosions and at a wider range of operating temperatures. The battery life is also long eneough that if used in a say a golf cart for example, when the cart wears out you can reuse the same battery in the new cart.", "Semiconductors are used all over the place, as others mentioned. \\n\\nSuperconductors have a number of applications, too, but their need for extreme cooling in order to operate limits their use. \\n\\nSome currently used applications for superconductors:\\n\\nSMES systems (Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage) used in the power grid and at certain high power raw facilities. \\n\\nMagnets for MRI systems. Superconductors make for fantastic electromagnets since the current moves through the coil without resistance\\n \\nElectromagnets in particle accelerators. All modern particle accelerator facilities use superconducting magnets.\\n\\nHTSC SQUIDs. These are \"high T-sub-c Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices\" which are a very sensitive sort of electromagnetic sensor based on a Josephson junction device. These are used by the military, specifically the navy, to sense mines and submarines by the electromagnetic disturbance a large piece of metal makes in seawater. HTSC SQUIDs also have brain sensor applications and may someday result in technology that makes it possible to very accurately observe human brain activity with an easily transportable device.\\n\\nSuperconducting generators. Just as superconductors make for excellent electromagnets, they also make great electrical generators. The use of them is limited, but demand is growing.\\n\\nUltra high power electric motors. Although not in widespread use, superconductors can be used to make very powerful electric motors. The record so far is a 5000 horsepower motor. \\n\\nRapid discharge of a SMES has also been used to make an \"e-bomb\". This is an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) type weapon that can disable electronics and communication devices. SMES make a perfect basis for EMP generation because of the huge energy density and rapid discharge. The first field use of a SMES based e-bomb was in Iraq in 2003.", "I will tell you a solution for a similar problem, hopefully it may be useful to all. \\nIf the cursor is stuck/frozen when we use the touchpad it can be solved by the following method.\\nSwitch off the laptop, disconnect it from power, remove the battery and keep pressing the Power switch for 30 seconds.\\nThen reconnect battery and the external powere in that order and power on the laptop. the cursor will be moving again.\\n\\nProbably you can try this and let us know.. My laptop was a toshiba satellite series one..", "Advantage: Can be mounted to the desk or monitor in the form of a Boom or Gooseneck. Microphones that utilize the bias power from the sound card do not need an external or battery power supply which is an advantage if you are trying to use one with an older model laptop.\\nDisadvantage: Is typically a condenser microphone requiring an external DC power source. The sound quality is lower", "if you have a laptop it is a bit more involved. there is still a motherboard battery that is separate than the main power battery. bios can be purged in much the same way as described above by removing the battery, however you will need to gain access to the motherboard. you will need to go the the computers manufacturer and request a \"Tear-down Guide\" for your model of computer, open up the laptop in the manner described and than you may remove the battery. now unless you have done this before, powering up the system can be difficult. my recommendation is with both the motherboard battery and the main battery disconnected try to find the power button and press it. this should drain residual power from the board and erase bios. put it back together and you should be good to go. \\n\\nif this procedure makes you nervous please contact your local computer tech and have him do it.", "Absolutely, but you will want to find a linux that has built in power saving settings. Windows has features that will detect if the computer it is on is running on battery or on direct power. When on battery, certain things are done to save energy: CPU is run at slower speed, consuming less power and running cooler. The CPU fan is run less often. The screen is run at a lower light level. And the drives are parked and slept when not in use. All these extend the life of the battery greatly. You will want to find a version of linux that can perform these functions or the battery life on the notebooks will be very short. Even more so since the batteries are very old by now. If you plan on running the laptops on power all the time, then it will come down to your preference as to what version of Linux you should use.", "It is a car that has more than one source of energy in order to get it moving. The common cars use gasoline as their main source of energy and the electric cars uses batteries. The commercial hybrid cars uses both, it has a small gasoline engine and one electric engine that works with batteries.\\nSince thay work toghether the result is going to be a more efficient car and less fuel consuption.\\nIf you still are interested i would suggest \\nwww.howstuffworks.com", "you seem to be asking two separate questions so...\\n\\n1. yes it is possible on psp but only on hubs with 500 mAh i believe otherwise you risk overloading it like i did.\\n2. it doesnt really charge faster but seems to because as long as the screen is on, it sucks power directly from the battery as it is charging but when the screen is off it doesnt use power making it seem like it is charging faster\\n\\nalternatively you can use a faster charging battery like a 3rd party one by Datel.", "Monolithic microwave amplifiers are widely used in the industry for signal amplification. The majority of these amplifiers are specified to operate with fixed current. In the real world of low voltage supplies, fixed current is difficult to realize. Normally, a constant-current source is approximated by a voltage source, RF choke and a resistor.\\n\\nthe typical specifications of these amplifiers. One significant feature is that they can be operated over a wide voltage range, 2.8 to 5V. This makes them useable for battery powered applications\\n\\n\\n\\nhttp://360.yahoo.com/jcbroogley", "If you're storing them then it will improve their life because it slows down the rate of chemical reaction but it won't improve their power.\\n\\nA warm battery works better than a cold one because the chemical reaction is quicker. If you take a torch out on a cold night the light will fade much quicker than if you took it out on a warm night.\\n\\nFreezing won't recharge a battery , once the energy's been used it's gone for good. The law of energy conservation tells us that \"Energy can never be created or destroyed only converted from one form to others\".", "keulenae is right: none of them. Coal, oil and uranium all come in limited supplies. As for Hydrogen fuel cells, they're not an energy SOURCE, but a means of storing it, like a battery. However, unlike regular batteries, hydrogen fuel cells are designed to be recharged and used indefinitely. Just keep in mind that, while you can use them forever (theoretically), the energy has to come from somewhere else, like a power plant, and they also need an external supply of hydrogen and oxygen.\\n\\nGood examples of renewable energy are solar and wind power, as well as lumber. A bad example, but an example nonetheless, would be poop. Poop is stinky, and burning it to create power is not fun.\\n\\nAnd the most incredible energy source in the solar system, for your information, is not the sun, but Chuck Norris.", "the way the resistors and or other components are set in respect to the source or battery.", "Hey.. you need to check the battery of the UPS, as it got week. When the power off, Normally the output of UPS is depend up on the source of battery power inside. when power exists then, it keeps on charging and holds it with average voltage of 12.0 + - 5.0, but when power off, then the charging section will be off, leading the voltage of the battery reduced to 11.5 + - 5.0, if the battery is good condition. if it is in bad condition then, the battery power would be below to 9.0 volts. in such situation the out put will be stoped for a while and the modem gets disconnected as power gets off for a while that is 1.2 secs. The PC will continuesly work without shut down. so you need to change the battery of the UPS or have a Advanced technology API UPS so it have low voltage fecility to rum the UPS. hope it works with you.. all the best.", "Natural gas is a very good source for energy, but it is non-renewable with our current technology. \\n\\nHydro-electric is a viable energy source for electricty. It will always be available unless the water cycle ends.\\n\\nCoal is a good source for heat and power, but it does have some polluting characteristics in its natural state.\\n\\nNuclear is good for electricity production, steam generation and heat (from steam), it does leave residual waste, that is more concentrated radioactivity than what occurs naturally.\\n\\nFuel cells require power to produce but they work very well. They use readily available materials and can be scaled to the power output that is needed.\\n\\nGeothermal is good for heating houses and on a large scale in some areas for producing electricity. It is also a renewable power source.\\n\\nWind and solar are two more options that are becoming readily available for the end user. They are generally coupled with a battery system for calm periods of weather and night time.", "Solar or light can be converted into current and batteries can be made at a smaller scale. Example is, small calculators are powered by solar cells.\\n\\nAs for as construction of those batteries they are made of smaller cells and then smaller cells are joint with other smaller cells to make little large cells. Its very expensive to make them on commercial level thats why we are addicted to oil.\\n\\nCheap things sometimes don't come cheap.", "Pros: Alpha radiation sources can be used as power sources in things like pace makers and I think they are also used in smoke detectors. Also it can be used to kill cancer cells.\\n\\nCons: radiation can kill people or make them very ill. Can cause people to loose hair and become infertile.", "my brother's gateway has the same problem...after a while pc batteries run out of power...you drain a battery by using the laptop not plugged in until the computer goes to sleep because it has no power...", "CANDLE POWERED RADIO\\nFrom Pakistan comes the \"heat\" powered radio. Uses a simple, home made thermoelectric battery for power.", "An electromagnetic bomb or E-bomb is a weapon designed to disable electronics on a wide scale with an electromagnetic pulse. The electromagnetic pulse was first observed during high altitude nuclear weapon detonations. An electromatic pulse lasts for less than a nanosecond, and travels outward in every direction as an electromagnetic shock wave.This shock wave will induce heavy currents in all electronic gadgets that mainly contain semiconducting and conducting materials.This produces immense heat that simply fries the circuitry inside and destroys them. As such, while not being directly responsible for the loss of lives, these weapons are capable of disabling electronic systems on which industrialized nations are highly dependent.\\n\\nElectromagnetic weapons are still mostly classified and research surrounding them is highly secretive. It is generally thought that E-bombs use explosively pumped flux compression generator technology as their power source.", "Generally laptop and notebook refer to a portable computer but more specifically, a notebook is considered to be smaller than a laptop. Notebooks are also smaller and lighter than laptops but they have less power but more battery life. Laptops will generally have more features, more powerful processors but less battery life. There are two types of PDA's, those made by Palm which use the Palm OS and PocketPCs which run the Windows Mobile OS. That's the main difference between Palm PDAs and a PocketPC.", "California electricity is generated by several sources, including hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and nuclear (in addition to the more traditional natural gas). The question is why these other sources aren't used more, and the answer is that historically, they've either been more expensive or have environmental risks of their own (esp. for nuclear). As petroleum and natural gas sources start to get used up, and world demand for energy increases, the cost of electricity from natural gas will go up and the other sources will become more cost effective and more prevalent.\\nIncidentally, solar power is another source used in California, but it's provided by individuals, not power companies. If your house has solar power and you have the right equipment, you can sell your surplus electricity to the power company and your electric meter will literally run backward." ]

[ "Three foreign UN workers held hostage in Afghanistan were freed unharmed today, almost four weeks after they were abducted at gunpoint on the streets of the capital Kabul." ]

[ "GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taliban guerrillas freed four more South Korean hostages on Wednesday in Afghanistan, taking to 12 the number of the captives they have released as part of a deal with Seoul, witnesses said.", "South Korea says it expects the remaining seven hostages held in Afghanistan to be freed in the day.", "The US-led military in Afghanistan expressed hope that three foreign UN employees being held hostage by suspected Taliban remnants would be freed soon.", "Three more South Korean hostages are freed in Afghanistan, leaving four remaining in Taleban hands.", "GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents freed three South Korean women hostages on Wednesday, the first of 19 Christian volunteers the Taliban agreed to release after South Korea said it would pull its troops out of Afghanistan.", "Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in the Gaza Strip, was freed on Wednesday after a deal between the ruling Hamas Islamists and the al Qaeda-inspired clan group that kidnapped him in March.", "ALTAGRACIA DE ORITUCO, Venezuela - Armed Venezuelan bank robbers fled in an ambulance with a handful of hostages from a police siege in a deal that freed dozens of other captives on Tuesday after a two-day standoff.", "Two hostages freed by Colombian rebels arrive in Venezuela after several years in captivity.", "GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents freed eight South Korean hostages in two separate batches on Wednesday, the first of 19 Christian volunteers the Taliban agreed to release.", "A German woman freed this week after being held hostage in Iraq since early February called on her government to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or said her still-captive son would be executed.", "KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - US and Afghan forces have apparently freed three UN workers who were kidnapped in Kabul on Oct. 28. On Monday, US and Afghan forces raided a house in Kabul, in what appears to have been part of an operation to free the hostages.", "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 29 -- Three of 19 South Korean church volunteers were freed Wednesday after six weeks in Taliban captivity, wire services reported. Negotiators in Afghanistan said the remaining hostages would be released within days, apparently ending a hostage crisis that has gripped b...", "Taleban militants holding 23 South Koreans hostage in Afghanistan extend the deadline for reaching a deal.", "A group of 20 Afghan women offered on Thursday to replace the three foreign Un hostages held hostage in Afghanistan for the past two weeks.", "GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Taliban insurgents freed five more South Korean hostages on Wednesday, taking to eight the number set free after reaching an agreement with South Korea on the release of all 19 Koreans held for nearly six weeks.", "Afghanistan&#39;s hardline Taliban movement freed the last of its 19 South Korean hostages late Thursday bringing an end to the six-week kidnapping drama.", "After releasing three women, the Taliban said that some of the remaining 16 hostages may be freed this afternoon.", "Two Italian aid workers freed after being held hostage in Iraq receive a rapturous welcome in Rome.", "Four foreign hostages are freed unharmed in oil-rich southern Nigeria, after several weeks in captivity.", "Nineteen newly freed South Korean hostages were expected to fly out of the Afghan capital on Friday after a six-week kidnap drama, sources close to the arrangements said, after a deal critics fear could spur more abductions.", "A group of 24 Filipino seamen held hostage in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region are freed after weeks in captivity.", "Two Egyptian hostages were freed after a month in captivity, their employer, the telecom giant Orascom, revealed.", "Three people believed to be the UN hostages seized by militants in Afghanistan have appeared in a video shown by Arabic TV Al-Jazeera.", "KABUL, Afghanistan -- Militants threatening to kill three UN hostages in Afghanistan have said they will extend the noon deadline so that talks can continue.", "KABUL, Afghanistan A US military spokesman says the US won&#39;t &quot;release anyone&quot; in response to a hostage situation involving three UN workers kidnapped in Afghanistan.", "A Colombian woman freed last week after six years in rebel hands goes home with news of fellow hostages.", "Militants holding three UN workers hostage in Afghanistan have offered to consider extending a three-day deadline for their beheading.", "Two French journalists freed after four months held hostage in Iraq are set for an emotional welcome home.", "Two Italian military intelligence officers kidnapped in Afghanistan were freed on Monday during a raid by NATO-led troops in which nine kidnappers and an Afghan hostage were killed, Italy's defense minister said.", "Militants holding three UN workers hostage in Afghanistan have said they will give officials until Friday to meet their demands. The group had previously suggested it would start killing the hostages on Wednesday", "A freed hostage tells of bandits, betrayal, and men in black hoods", "A militant group is threatening to kill three UN hostages kidnapped in Afghanistan, including a British woman, unless all Taliban prisoners are released." ]

[ "This study examines the engagement of two secondary school students participating in a compulsory gymnastics unit within a physical education class. Using Dewey''s notions of engagement, interest, occupation and purpose, the student experience has been considered. An important element of the outcome has been the consideration of the occupations of the student-gymnast and gymnast- student. These arise as important factors in the planning and teaching of secondary school gymnastics." ]

[ "Graceful gymnastics sport is very popular among college students. Matches between colleges are frequently held. However, it is very easy for the college students to get injured in this sport. The factors causing injuring range from the college students' poor physical quality to the interruption of training and the assault of race. It is critically significant to promote the development of graceful gymnastics sport in college, analyze the main reasons of the harm of motion, adopt strong measurement and improve the method of training and the competition skills to guarantee the sportsmen's physical safety in the sport.", "By using the method of documentary,experimental and questionnaire,this paper puts an emphasis upon researching the effects of self-efficacy on the students of general gymnastics course in institute of physical education.Through the contrastive analysis of the before and after test data,the results show that self-efficacy has an impact on the students' learning effects.Meanwhile,self-efficacy,which is one of psychology concepts,can be applied to gymnastics lessons so as to improve teaching effect.", "AbstractThis study used narrative inquiry to understand the retirement experiences of rhythmic gymnasts. Eight female former competitive gymnasts (M age = 24.5, SD = 8.33) each participated in four life-history interviews. Following dialogical narrative analysis, three narrative typologies were outlined: Entangled Narrative, Going Forward Narrative and Making Sense Narrative. The entangled narrative shows an individual with a monological athletic identity, who is unable to develop a new identity following her retirement to the detriment of her well-being, and wishes to return to being a gymnast. The going-forward narrative describes those former gymnasts who were able to develop multiple identities during their gymnastics career, and are now flourishing in their life post-retirement. The making sense narrative is an emergent narrative, which transcends the previous two narratives. Findings expand narrative research by providing new narrative resources to understand the experience of retirement from gymnas...", "This paper reports an analysis of videotape and interview data from four Year 8 mathematics lessons from the perspective of student cognitive engagement. The study extends our understanding of cognitive engagement by locating empirical evidence for its occurrence within the classroom. On the basis of the data we have examined, it appears that cognitive engagement can be consistently recognised by specific linguistic and behavioural indicators and is promoted by particular aspects of the classroom situation, the task, and the individual.", "The participation percentage and the changing tendency of basic gymnastics participated by Chinese sports population were studied on the basis of investigation and documents of mass exercises participation by Chinese people.The results show that:the highest rate of participating was that of basic gymnastics which was loved by lots of people and was adapted to the need of social development,because basic gymnastics was relevant to life,keep-fit,entertaining and selective.Basic gymnastics which was based on school sports,emphasized on worker sports and characterized by community sports.", "Calisthenics is a new form of sports items. Combined with gymnastics,dance and music and aimed at bodybuilding,shaping-up and mind-building,it has become a major component of college campus culture. It as played important roles in the construction of college campus culture and promotion of the students' all-round development.", "Based on the asynchrony of physical education major students’ capacities development, the author analyzes the teaching of rhythmic gymnastics which follows the rule of competition and puts forward the following opinions: With the advantages, including an expansion of teaching space, a learned competition experience, inspiring cultivation and development, positive relations between various skills, and development of comprehensive abilities, etc., the simulative competition classes provide reference to the reform of teaching methods.", "It is bases that this text Israel aerobics and rhythmic gymnastics sport are regarded as important content and means of improving the health,adopt the law of documents and materials,observe the law,inves- tigation analytic approach to carry on the analysis and research,focus on the common point existing between the aerobics and rhythmic gymnastics correctly and carry on the discussion.Make practitioner correct understanding relation between the two,in order to train the lasting interest,really lay a foundation for realizing lifetime sports.", "Theories of involvement and quality of effort posit that student engagement in academic activities is critical to success. College officials invest substantial resources in activities and facilities to encourage student involvement, yet some reports find that many students study few hours per week and commit little time to academic activities. A critical question we must ask is: Does involvement lead to authentic gains in student success? Results from the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement at one research university found that higher levels of engagement in a variety of curricular and cocurricular activities significantly contribute to cumulative GPA and students’ perception of the overall academic experience. Females and full-time students who spent more time preparing for class or otherwise engaging in academic tasks earned a higher GPA and reported higher satisfaction with their overall academic experience. Implications for program planning and resource allocation are discussed.", "Student engagement is a known contributor to student success. In the ever increasing channels for online learning, both engagement and success has been seen to struggle particularly in the STEM subject areas where dropouts are high and grades are lower. Student engagement has been known to be measured in lengthy questionnaires at the end of a semester, whereas we propose and design a microlevel approach to timely capture student engagement that adds the cognitive and emotional dimensions to the more widely used behavioural engagement data. In this paper we present a data capture design we have carried out to re-design the conventional method of retrospective and lengthy engagement questionnaires into a more dynamic, timely method that uses micro-surveys at strategic points in a virtual learning environment using a newly developed data capture module. We discuss our findings based on a pilot study carried out at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain.", "The main application of the paper literature of stand—yoga and fitness exercims for theoretical analysis,research. The results showed:stand-yoga and fitness exercises both existing differences,and the same point,both between and links. Recommended in the teaching of modern gymnastics fully understand the relationship between the two,to improve teaching gymnastics laying the foundation for modern gymnastics good classroom teaching reform proposals.", "Countermeasures which motivate schodairls of college to actively and forwardly take part in the extracurricular athletic sports are put forward in this paper through investigating the extracurricular athletic sports which slhoolgirls of college take part in. The aim of these countermeasures is to cultivate the athletic consciousness, gymnastic consciousness, organizational ability and social ability of students. In the meantime, a mode of extracurricular athletic sport corner which is fit for schoolgirls of college is given.", "By using the methods of observation, interview, statistics, and logic analysis, combining with the last gymnastics rules, this paper analyzes the female competitive gymnastics of a series of Shanghai female juvenile gymnastics award contest in 2001. Results indicated that there are some problems in the present development situation of Shanghai juvenile gymnastics and then put forward some propose.", "ABSTRACTRecent research has emphasized the key role of engagement in helping students succeed in school and beyond. Given the academic struggles that many English learners (ELs) face as they transition to middle school, exploring the facets of engagement in middle school ELs is needed. We established reader profiles for eight sixth grade Hispanic ELs and examined the relationship between these students’ profiles and their engagement using teacher-, student-, and observer-reported data. We further examined the observer data (i.e., coded video) to determine if there were differences in individual students’ cognitive and affective engagement in four different reading activities. We found that, although engagement in the different activities varied by student, guided reading seemed to be the most engaging activity for most of the ELs in the study.", "For the \"ball gymnastics\" praticcting methods in regular college basketball classes,the preparative activities and specialized study was carried out.It compared and analyzed the results of experiments between the comparison groups and the experiment groups.Results showed that the \"ball gymnastics\" teaching model in basketball is viable and effctive use of technology in teaching and the quality of teaching is more significant.", "Based on the characteristics of the teaching of gymnastics,this paper deals with the application of psychological knowledge to the whole teaching process.And good results have been achieved in practice.", "This paper discusses and describes engagement of the students, as the outcome of the motivation, supports the success of the lesson in the class. All types of engagement (behavioral, cognitive, and affective) works together so that the students could be an active learner. The researcher used Classroom Action Research (CAR) method in conducting the research in SOK ABC, a private Christian School in Batam. Qualitative descriptive analysis was used for data analysis. The data results showed that there was an improvement of students' behavioral engagement after the implementation of role play teachings strategy. Moreover, the implementation of role play teaching strategy for grade Ill students was found to be optimum if the time allocation, written rules procedures, and also encouragement of the students in asking questions were in notice. The conclusion was supported by the findings of all instruments in the research.", "Gymnastic teaching process is a process involving the bilateral activity of both the teachers and the students.Teaching and studying integrating with as well as restraining each other,forms an information transmitting system,in which the teachers take an active and leading position,while the students become the passive and principal parts.Unit-combination functional teaching method alrers the ole teaching method based merely on the experience to control teaching process randomly to free the studets from the passive position,thus with the instruction and help of the teacher,the students will be able to practise or train themselves individually or in small unit with purpose in accordance with their own studying process,and the assignment,content,requirement,steps,and measures put forward by the teachers,and the whole teaching process will also be much more scientific and systematic and achieve better resule within short period.", "Student engagement is an ongoing concern for educators because of its positive association with deep learning and educational outcomes. This article tests the use of a social networking site (Facebook) as a tool to facilitate asynchronous learning opportunities that complement face-to-face interactions and thereby enable a stronger learning ecosystem. This student-centered learning approach offers a way to increase student engagement and can have a positive impact on academic outcomes. Using data from a longitudinal quasi-experiment, the authors show that students who participated in both face-to-face on-campus classes and asynchronous online learning opportunities were more engaged than students who only attended face-to-face classes. In addition, the findings show that participation in the asynchronous setting relates significantly and positively to students’ academic outcomes (final grades). The findings have notable implications for marketing education.", "As educators strive toward improving student learning outcomes, many find it difficult to instill their students with a deep understanding of the material the instructors share. One challenge lies in how to provide the material with a meaningful and engaging method that maximizes student understanding and synthesis. By following a simple strategy involving Active Learning across the 3 primary domains of Bloom's Taxonomy (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor), instructors can dramatically improve the quality of the lesson and help students retain and understand the information. By applying our strategy, instructors can engage their students at a deeper level and may even find themselves enjoying the process more.", "This paper reports the re-design of assessment criteria and learning activities so that the development of communication skills is integrated into the engineering curriculum. This re-design was specifically for the benefit of engineering students, and resulted from a partnership between engineering academics and literacy teachers. It has been informed by measures of student performance (primarily), staff observations about student engagement, and student feedback about engagement. Engineering students can be both emotionally and intellectually engaged in a positive way when completing tasks of a written or spoken nature. This engagement is generally true even for struggling and reluctant students. Improvements have been observed in students' organisation of information, understanding of the respective purposes of different texts, compliance with grammatical rules, use of English expression, reflection on their own abilities, and pursuit of further improvements to their communication skills.", "In the teaching of gymnastics,how to enhance the height,waving,farness,beauty and stability of falling to the ground of the action of second jump in jump with legs open over horizontal horse? As to this question,the author,through the statistics of the observation of all skill circles of jump horse by girl-student and the analysis with the theory of sports bio-machanism,explores the changes of the motive track of human barycentre at the different times of pushing-hand and the roles which are played in exercise adopting the teaching methods with the different skill circles,and offers the theoretical foundation for improving the motive teaching of jumping horse deeply", "This paper introduces a pedagogical method designed to actively engage calculus students in the building of functions which satisfy designated criteria. The method fosters understanding of concavity, local extrema, and points of inflection. Students gain intuition into curve sketching and develop a physical understanding of core calculus concepts that are largely visual.", "The purpose of this article is to promote the study of budgerigars in aviary settings in order to engage primary students in working scientifically. Studying budgerigars provides an opportunity for students to learn inquiry skills and develop deeper understandings of living things.", "Drawing upon longitudinal research undertaken with Further Education students who visited an art exhibition, this article retheorises organised gallery learning. We argue that the significance of the gallery visit for students – and of their engagements with the exhibition and artworks – is elaborated and remediated over longer periods of time and through multiple ‘interfaces’. These include: the school or college; the gallery and the contingency of gallery events; the exhibition; internet websites, social media and mobile applications; the artwork and images of it; and an understanding of the self and other people (including the artist, teachers and gallery staff). Each of these has different possibilities that structure engagement, and sometimes interfaces ‘fail’ because of mundane contingencies or students’ dispositions. Also, interfaces don’t stand alone and need to be considered relationally for a more holistic and complex picture of ‘learning’ to emerge.", "Creative K-12 health teachers can engage students in large classes by utilizing active learning strategies. Active learning involves engaging students in higher-order tasks, such as analysis and synthesis, which is a crucial element of the movement toward what is commonly called “learner-centered” teaching. Health education teachers who develop student learning outcomes based on higher-order objectives on Bloom's taxonomy often construct more engaging, learner-centered activities to facilitate achievement of those outcomes. Relatedly, current best practices in health education emphasize the use of strategies designed to personalize and engage students in developing the essential health skills necessary to adopt, practice and maintain health-enhancing behaviors. There are multiple teaching strategies that can be employed in large classes to preserve an active learning environment that fosters student engagement. The purpose of this article is to describe some of the strategies that would be most applicable...", "As enrollments in cyber charter schools grow, it becomes increasingly important to understand how parents engage in their students’ learning. Researchers have hypothesized that parental engagement is even more critical when online students learn from home, but few researchers have examined parents’ engagement behavior—especially parents of adolescent learners. In this case study we addressed this gap using parent and student interviews at a full-time online charter school. Our analysis of 19 interviews with 9 parents and 10 interviews with 10 students identified five primary types of parental engagement within this setting: (1) nurturing relationships and interactions, (2) advising and mentoring, (3) organizing, (4) monitoring and motivating student engagement, and (5) instructing. We also identified obstacles to effective parental engagement, and in this paper we discuss how programs can work with parents to foster more collaborative relationships.", "This pedagogical project focuses on urban environmental issues, encouraging students to explore historical events that inform contemporary environmental challenges through archival research, digital photography, and critical analysis. By examining social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions, students better understand the complex interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues and gain valuable field experience that bolsters engagement and facilitates action. Building on intellectual and reform traditions that recognize a link between narrative and action, this experiential education project encourages students to explore, define, and understand historic and contemporary environmental challenges in an urban context.", "This article compared and studied FIG(Federation International Gymnastics) Code of Point for male Gymnastics of the new rule.The revision of new rule is a unprecedented undertaking in gymnastics history,and its aim is offering reference for establishment development stratagem in the future of male gymnastics of China.", "By means of literature analysis,statistic analysis,questionnaire and observation,this paper studies technology examination content of compulsory gymnastic course for men from the grounds of selection off contents,specification of action and examination content.According to the typical action analysis of technology examination for men,it puts forward some suggestions to improve teaching method and quality.", "The new course standard points out definitely: The athletics and healthy courses of the senior high school is a course that takes the body practice as the main means. For letting student participate the athletics fulfillment activity more, raising the student's understanding to the athletics and healthy course, making the good athletics course reform completely, raising the student's body character thoroughly, we must value the research and control the student's mental foundation, and use the modern athletics consciousness to change the students' the study mindset . The research method of this topic mainly through a questionnaire , the establishment athletics reform in education project, test and analysis comparison. The purpose is a persistence to face to the student body, full develop the educational workout function of athletics, promote student mind and body health and raise the body character level.", "'Coat of Many Pockets: Managing Classroom Interactions' is intended for beginning and returning teachers as well as educators wanting to enhance their behaviour management skills. The book is a handbook for understanding the aims and developing the practical techniques involved in managing individuals and groups in the classroom, based on a synthesis of major behaviour management thinkers. The book shows teachers how to replace their customary reactions to difficult behaviour with skilled responses that contain the behaviour while engaging the student. The reader will learn practical social, emotional and cognitive responses to any challenging or confronting behaviour. The writing style is engaging and collegiate. Engagement, containment and consequences replace 'discipline'. The underlying ethos is that students should be allowed to develop within boundaries that enhance their individuation." ]

[ "Eric Byrnes wanted to stay with the Oakland Athletics so he could be close to home, and the A's decided to keep the popular outfielder." ]

[ "Two gun firms agree to pay more than $2m to the families of victims of the US sniper shootings in 2002.", "CBC SPORTS ONLINE - The Los Angeles Dodgers landed a dandy Thursday in free-agent infielder Jeff Kent. Kent, 36, agreed to a two-year contract, but financial terms were not disclosed.", "Getting over contract losses Business Systems Group has dragged itself back into the black after the loss of a £2m contract hit the company hard.…", "Dallas Burn defender Cory Gibbs agreed to a 4 1/2-year contract with Feyenoord Rotterdam on Thursday.", "NEWSWEEK’s Brian Byrnes chooses his favorite spots in the cosmopolitan Argentine capital.", "After Luis Gonzalez agreed to a contract 2 1/2 months ago to play in Los Angeles, he purchased a bunch of Dodgers hats for his workout buddies in Arizona.", "Free agent lefthander Steve Kline and the Baltimore Orioles agreed to a $5.5 million, two-year contract on Monday. Kline went 2-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 67 appearances for the Cardinals last season.", "Tommy Byrne was the longtime Yankees left-hander who was named the American League’s comeback player of the year in 1955.", "A baby died 36 hours after his birth as a result of contracting the super bug MRSA, a coroner concludes.", "Outfielder Frank Catalanotto and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed Monday to a $5.4 million, two-year contract extension through 2006. Catalanotto will make $2.", "John A. Byrne, executive editor of BusinessWeek, was named Thursday to lead the magazine’s Web site.", "Dominik Hasek and the Detroit Red Wings agreed to terms of a one-year contract Thursday that is worth more than $2 million in base salary and gives the 42-year-old goalie a chance to earn an additional $2 million in bonuses.", "You don't have to play with fire to get Byrne.", "Del Piero al 36'.Bianconeri 2/i scavalcano Fiorentina e Roma", "Major League Soccer and its players' union tentatively agreed on a five-year labor contract Thursday, ending nearly 1 1/2 years of negotiations.", "Luis Gonzalez singled to drive in Eric Byrnes with one out in the 18th inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Colorado 2-1 Tuesday night in the longest game in Rockies history.", "Brian Cashman said that terms of Andy Pettitte’s contract were agreed to 10 days before the contract was announced, up to a week before Pettitte said he learned about the report.", "William Hill Plc, the UK&#39;s No. 2 bookmaker, said first-half profit jumped 36 percent as fewer favorites won at events such as the Euro 2004 soccer tournament.", "The Miami Heat rode a spectacular 36-point performance by guard Dwyane Wade to crush the Dallas Mavericks 98-74 and level the NBA Finals at 2-2 on Thursday.", "Negotiators for the U.A.W. and General Motors have agreed on the framework for a health care trust, G.M.’s key demand in talks on a new contract.", "Wentworth England - Ernie Els won the World Match Play championship for a record sixth time when he beat Lee Westwood 2 and 1 in Sunday&#39;s 36-hole final.", "Eric Byrnes hit his third home run in two days and then Conor Jackson added a three-run shot as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Mets 7-2 on Tuesday night.", "No, really: You don't have to play with fire to get Byrne.", "CHICAGO - DePaul men&#39;s basketball coach Dave Leitao has agreed to a six-year contract extension, the university announced Friday.", "The San Francisco Giants and catcher Mike Matheny agreed to a $10.5 million three-year contract Monday, the latest move to upgrade the team&#39;s defense.", "Right-hander Cory Lidle returned to the Philadelphia Phillies, agreeing Tuesday to a $6.3 million US, two-year contract. The 32-year-old Lidle was 5-2 with a 3.90 ERA in 10 starts with", "Hollywood’s movie and TV directors have agreed to a new contract with production companies in a settlement that also sends a message to striking screenwriters.", "The Red Sox agreed to a contract with a Japanese pitcher &#151; no, not that one.", "The widely expected merger between Sprint Corp and Nextel Communications has been agreed in a $36 billion deal likely to end Vodafone&#39;s chance of gaining an independent foothold in the American market.", "The Maldives expresses regret over a European parliament resolution to block a $2m aid package.", "Nomar Garciaparra agreed to a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs.", "Turkey&#39;s prime minister on Tuesday oversaw the signing of a contract for his country&#39;s national carrier to buy 36 jets from European manufacturer Airbus for almost US$3 billion - a deal in which Turkey balanced friendship with the United States with its" ]

[ "Last year's Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) show wasn't bad but the greatest natural light display in a decade is coming this December, according to NASA. Solar activity will hit the peak of an 11-year cycle at the end of the year -- and the more intense the solar flares, the more magnificent the aurora display. \"The vast majority of auroras occur in a band known as the Auroral Zone,\" says Alistair McLean, founder of a similarly named tour agency -- the Aurora Zone -- that specializes in Northern Lights trips. \"This band can expand when solar activity is high.\" The best chance to see the Northern Lights will be somewhere between 66 to 69 degrees north -- a sliver of the world that includes northern Alaska and Canada and bits of Greenland, northern Scandinavia and northern Russia. Before venturing into any of these freezing wildernesses, it's worth checking out the kp index, a measure of electromagnetic activity in the atmosphere. A reading of two or higher is considered good for Northern Lights spotting. You can also head south, for the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights), lighting up from around March 2014 onwards. Here are some of the places the auroras will be showing up. Jokulsarlon, Iceland . Best spot: By the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. \"You can see the Aurora everywhere in Iceland,\" says Moyan Brenn, who's spent the past year photographing the Northern Lights. \"You just need to stay within the boundaries of the Arctic circle, find a clear sky and check for electromagnetic activity on the kp index.\" For him, the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, on the southeast coast of Iceland about 250 kilometers from Reykjavik, makes for a perfect shot. The iceberg-filled lagoon reflects the lights, making the experience all the more awesome. On a boat tour of the lagoon ($31 per person) you can concentrate on looking upwards and marveling. Brenn recommends checking the weather forecast before setting off. Rain or snow -- both common in Iceland -- tend to dampen the experience. Fairbanks, Alaska, United States . Best spot: In a hot spring. Two major challenges when hunting the Northern Lights are the cold and fatigue. Watching them in a hot spring asolleviates both. The city of Fairbanks, in Alaska, is often cited as the best place to see the Northern Lights in the United States. It's home to the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, which issues forecasts on Aurora viewing conditions. If you fancy soaking while you watch, Geophysical Institute researchers recommend Chena Resort and Manley Springs. Chena is better equipped and better connected with Fairbanks's airport. The resort also provides an aurora alarm service, alerting guests if the lights \"switch on\" in the middle of night. Chena Resort, Chena Hot Springs Road, Fairbanks; +1 907 451 8104; rooms from $189 per night; return bus tickets from the airport to the resort cost $150. The resort in the tiny village of Manley Hot Springs went bust but you can watch the lights for a small fee from spring-fed hot tubs provided by a local couple. More information from the Fairbanks-Alaska.com website. More: CNNGo in Reykjavik -- Thermal pools and comfy sweaters . Paatsjoki, Finnish Lapland . Best spot: From the Paatsjoki Bridge, Nellim, near the Finnish-Russian border. \"Paatsjoki Bridge provides unparalleled Aurora sightings,\" says McLean. \"The chances of success here are at least 90%,\" writes Markku Inkila, an Aurora photographer and guide, on the Aurora Zone blog. Aurora Zone's four-night Nellim Aurora Quest tour runs from December to the end of March; from $2,700 for two people. Muonio and Kilpisjarvi, Finnish Lapland . Best spot: A cabin in the Lapland wilderness. Aurora viewing is so good around these two Finnish towns that one of the best aurora photographers and guides in the world -- by McLean's estimation -- Antti Pietikainen, is based here. Aurora Zone runs a trip between the two towns, following the lights. Adventurous options on the tour include a snowmobile safari to the shared border of Sweden, Finland and Norway, husky-sledding with a stay in a cabin in the wilderness, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. \"Sometimes, the dogs start howling when the aurora appears here,\" Mclean says. \"It's so primeval, it sends shivers down your spine.\" The seven-night Muonio to Kilpisjarvi tour is available in 2014 from Feb 23, March 2 and March 23; prices from $3,540 for two people. For families, McLean suggests tours around the reindeer-herding village of Menesjarvi and the ski resort of Luosto, both run by the company Activities Abroad. More: Not just for Christmas -- 10 reasons to hit Finnish Lapland . Kangerlussuaq, Greenland . Best spot: On a dog-sledding expedition. With the only international airport in Greenland, Kangerlussuaq is the gateway to the rest of the country. With an average 300 clear-sky days per year, it's also another top location for aurora hunters. World of Greenland -- Arctic Circle (Wogac) offers short Northern Lights tours from October to April, but from February to April it also has a three-day dog-sledding expedition to the west coast town of Sisimiut. Hotel Kangerlussuaq (rooms from $290), at the airport, is a convenient place to stay. Keep your curtains open and you may even see the Northern Lights from your room. The hotel also organizes an ice cap tour nearby. Wogac's short Northern Lights tour costs $65 per person, the dog-sledding expedition $1,445. Yellowknife, Canada . Best spot: On a heated viewing chair. Not only do you have a great chance of seeing the Northern Lights around the city of Yellowknife, but the surroundings -- and seating -- are especially congenial. A 25-minute drive from the city center, Aurora Village is a teepee campground where you lounge in specially designed, heated viewing chairs, with guides offering background in various languages on the lights. You'll need your warm seat -- it can hit 40 C below zero here. Aurora Village also has daytime activities such as dogsled riding and snowmobiling. Follow the village's activities on Twitter or visit astronomynorth.com for Aurora updates. More: 27 sights that remind you how incredible Earth is . Tromsø, Norway . Best spot: On the deck of a traditional steamer ship. Sometimes called the \"Paris of the North,\" the city of Tromsø is a beautiful and accessible location for catching the Northern Lights. The Norwegian tourism board recommends a voyage on the Norwegian Coastal Steamer Hurtigruten to see the lights along a fjord. An Astronomy Voyage runs from September to March, following the Aurora Borealis, with astronomy lectures on board. The trip also includes a visit to the Northern Lights Planetarium, in Tromsø. Another option is the village of Ersfjorden, 40 minutes from Tromsø, in the countryside between towering snow mountains and a fjord. A bus service between Tromsø and Ersfjorden runs until midnight. Or you could join a Northern Lights chase with knowledgeable bus drivers. The Astronomy Voyage costs from $1,900 per person. More information about Northern Lights viewing can be found on Tromsø's official site. Abisko, Sweden . Best spot: While tucking into a four-course Swedish dinner. Cloud cover -- the aurora hunter's arch enemy -- shouldn't trouble you around the village of Abisko, in northern Sweden. \"Mountains and favorable prevailing winds combine to create some of northern Scandinavia's most cloud-free skies,\" McLean says. Aurora Zone's tour there includes a night's stay at an Ice Hotel. Travelers can also spend a night at the Aurora Sky Station, arriving by chair-lift and having a four-course dinner before stepping out to view the Aurora. The Abisko Aurora and IceHotel four-night tour, running from December to March, costs $2,811 for two people. A night visit to Aurora Sky Station costs $95 or from $260 including dinner. Gallery: How to build a Swedish ice hotel . Southern hemisphere . Best spot: At the end of a continent. Antarctica's the best spot to view the Aurora Australis -- the Southern Lights -- but it's also the most inaccessible, unless you're a scientist or a supporting person (cook, doctor, pilot, etc) on a research expedition. However, you can still see the lights from the southern tips of South America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand's Stewart Island (\"Rakiura\" in Maori, meaning the land of glowing skies) is a good option. It has only 400 inhabitants and is covered with great wildlife and natural scenery. More: World's top 12 hotels for stargazing ." ]

[ "(CNN) -- NASA scientists revealed Friday a first-of-its-kind image from space showing reflecting sunlight from a lake on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. It's the first visual \"smoking gun\" evidence of liquid on the northern hemisphere of the moon, scientists said, and the first-ever photo from another world showing a \"specular reflection\" -- which is reflection of light from an extremely smooth surface and in this case, a liquid one. \"This is the first time outside Earth we've seen specular reflection from another liquid from another body,\" said Ralf Jaumann, a scientist analyzing data from the Cassini unmanned space probe. Jaumann said he was surprised when he first saw the photos transmitting from Cassini, orbiting Saturn about a billion miles from Earth. \"It was great because if you look at photos of planets, you mostly see nothing is happening. But in two hours we saw a glint of light getting brighter.\" Titan's similarities to Earth have attracted NASA's attention for decades. It's the only body besides our own in the solar system that is believed to have liquid on its surface. Like Earth, Titan has an atmosphere which is mostly nitrogen. Experts believe the presence of liquid on a planet or moon improves the chances that some kind of life could develop there. The photo comes from the spacecraft Cassini, which has been searching for this kind of reflection since it began circling Saturn in 2004. Scientists with the University of Arizona were able to use previous data from Cassini to learn details about the reflection's location on Titan. The glint appears to be coming from the southern edge of a lake called Kraken Mare -- a massive body of methane that covers about 150,000 square miles (400,000 square kilometers). That's larger than the Caspian Sea, which is the largest lake on Earth. The hunt for the specular reflection took five years, NASA said, because the moon's northern half had been shrouded in winter darkness. \"Next, we want to find out more about Titan's liquid,\" said Jaumann. \"Do we have some kind of weather there? Do we have changes with seasons? Does it rain? How does the liquid methane run across the surface?\" But Jaumann sounded a note of caution regarding the prospect of life in this case. \"The temperature on Titan's surface is something like minus-180 degrees Celsius,\" he said. \"That means it's very cold. But you never know.\" The project is based out of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This is not the first evidence of liquid on Titan. In 2008, project members used infrared technology to discover a large lake in the moon's southern hemisphere. But this recent discovery is a sure sign that liquid exists on the moon's northern half. That region is believed to include larger basins that could hold more liquid.", "(CNN) -- Remember that giant grizzly in Alaska that came inches from your face? Or those magnificent northern lights on that winter night in Finland? No? OK, maybe neither of those amazing photo ops have passed in front of your lens just yet. But when they do, you'll want to be ready. The best photography tours not only put you in the right place at the right time to capture magic moments, they impart the skills to turn them into photos worth sharing. The tours below feature award-winning photographer-instructors, exclusive experiences and even the use of $100,000 worth of camera gear. Alaska's Coastal Grizzlies: Kodiak to Katmai Photo Tour . \"Coming within feet of these giant creatures in 100% safety is difficult to fathom, and the photos you can get as a result are unparalleled,\" says Ted Martens of Natural Habitat Adventures, a travel partner with the World Wildlife Fund. Those \"giant creatures\" Martens speaks of are Alaskan brown bears, the world's largest coastal grizzlies. Natural Habitat Adventures' eight-day Alaska photo tour is a luxe, eco-friendly trip for a maximum of eight travelers that gets close to the famed and feared bears. The draw is exclusive floatplane access to the remote waterways of bear-filled Katmai National Park and Preserve. The tour also makes a stop on wild Kodiak Island, home to Kodiak bear (brown bear) and animals such as whales, otters and puffins. Alaska's Coastal Grizzlies: Kodiak to Katmai Photo Tour, Natural Habitat Adventures; departures from June to September in 2015; from $8,895 . Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia: A Photographer's Journey through Southeast Asia . Lane Nevares of Art Photo Expeditions, which leads a unique photo tour through Southeast Asia, talks about his company's equipment-laden tour in terms of a high-performance vehicle. \"It's like Ferrari offering a trip through southern Europe that allows participants to drive Ferraris in various locations,\" he says. That's Nevares' description of the 14-day tour led by ace photographer Tim Gerard Barker, which features loaner gear provided by Swedish luxury camera brand Hasselblad. \"Photographing people in Asia is a wonderfully rewarding experience,\" says Barker. \"A wave of the camera and a smile is often enough to gain acceptance into their space.\" Participants get the benefit of Barker's years of experience. \"I frame dynamically and look for the best angles and the best light,\" he says. \"I like to work with wide lenses, so I'm often in very close.\" Travelers bring their own gear but they can try H5D-50c and CVF-50c medium format cameras, and all Hasselblad's H lenses on the trip. Vietnam, Laos & Cambodia: A Photographer's Journey through Southeast Asia, Hasselblad Xcursions and Art Photo Expeditions; November 10-23, 2014; from $11,900 . Torassieppi Aurora Photography . Even if you're lucky enough to catch the northern lights, you can't brag about it back home if you can't photograph them right. The Aurora Zone guarantees those bragging rights, as long as you're lucky enough to see the aurora in Lapland, the northernmost region in Finland. \"In addition to a passion for searching for the northern lights, our expert guides have a comprehensive knowledge of Lappish culture, people and landscape,\" says Alistair McLean, founder of the Aurora Zone, a company that specializes in northern lights tours. Gareth Hutton, a Lapland-based photographer, will lead a tour to Torassieppi in early 2015. \"The tour embraces that quintessential feeling of what winter should really be like -- powdery snow, snow-capped trees and those amazing skies,\" says Hutton. \"Not only are the northern lights spectacular, but the long winter sunsets are pretty magical, too.\" Participants learn the most challenging aspect of photographing the northern lights -- having the right combination of camera settings and adapting these as the night sky changes. The group stays in cottages on a reindeer farm during the trip. Torassieppi Aurora Photography, The Aurora Zone; departures from January to March 2015; from £2,108 ($3,440) Shikumen Tour in Shanghai . \"All of this used to be old shikumen (stone-gate houses), but they've been demolished now,\" says Gang-feng Wang, photographer and tour guide, standing outside a construction site in Shanghai. \"But don't worry, we'll build you lots of nice museums so you can see how it used to be,\" he cracks. Wang is the irascible guide of the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai's four-hour photography tour through the disappearing shikumen houses of the city's British Concession. It's a great way to pry into the local community. After photographing the maze-like alleys -- garnished with clotheslines, chatting neighbors and cages of messenger pigeons -- travelers are taken inside some of the houses. Originally built for British traders, the houses -- each now occupied by multiple local families -- are still adorned with imported British floor tiles. \"This one houses more than 30 families,\" says Wang, as the group walks up a set of squeaky wooden stairs to a rooftop, where the tour finishes with a panoramic view of the Shikumen complex. Shikumen Tour, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai; available throughout the year; from RMB2,400 ($390) Tundra Lodge polar bear photo expedition . Natural Habitat Adventures claims it offers the world's best polar bear viewing/photographing tour. It may not be exaggerating. The company holds exclusive permits to tour the entire Churchill Wildlife Management Area in Manitoba, Canada. It also has a mobile hotel, called the Polar Rover. With a gourmet kitchen, lounge area and sliding windows, travelers can photograph polar bears without leaving the Polar Rover's toasty rooms -- except when they want to head to the moving hotel's open observatory deck. According to the company, curious bears often wander up the lodge, allowing travelers to photograph them from inches away. Tours last eight days. Tundra Lodge Photography Expedition, Natural Habitat Adventures; departs in November in 2014 and 2015; from $7,995 . Destination in Focus: Miraval, Tucson, Arizona . Leica and Exclusive Resorts have teamed up to host a series of photography expeditions. Destination in Focus: Miraval (based at the Miraval Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona) is the last of 2014's four-night excursions still available for booking. Participants bring their own gear, but they also have access to the newest equipment from Leica, including the recently launched Leica X Vario camera, and more than $100,000 worth of equipment. They also get to interact with Leica Akademie's team of instructors. Participants learn to shoot sunrises and motion photos at a Navajo Hoop Dance Performance. The trip wraps up with photo-editing classes. Destination in Focus: Miraval, Tucson, Arizona; Exclusive Resorts and Leica; November 12-16, 2014; from $3,599 . National Geographic Expeditions . Desert sunsets and snake charmers in Morocco. Leopards and rare desert-adapted black rhinos in Namibia. Giant tortoises and other wildlife on the Galapagos. Winter snowscapes and Old Faithful geyser erupting in Yellowstone. The photo ops on National Geographic-organized expeditions are reliably world-class, and so are the celebrated photographers who join trips and lead lessons. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers on the star-studded trips -- which range from one to two weeks -- include Ken Geiger and Jay Dickman. Winter Wildlife in Yellowstone Photography Expedition; departures in January and February 2015; from $3,645 . Galapagos Photo Expedition; departures between Febrary and June 2015; from $5,490 . Namibia Photo Adventure; December 4-16, 2014; from $8,595 . Morocco Photo Expedition; departures in May and October 2015; from $5,995 . Wildlife Photo Master Class at Mayakoba, Mexico . \"The winning aspect of photographing birds at Mayakoba is the world-class mangrove forest within the resort, which houses more than 200 species of wildlife,\" says Steve Winter. One of the star photographers who leads Banyan Tree Mayakoba's photo master class in Mexico's Riviera Maya, Winter has been a photographer for National Geographic for more than two decades. \"Transportation (through the mangrove) is via beautiful, silent mahogany electric boats, so you don't disturb the wildlife,\" says Winter. Photographer-instructors provide one-on-one coaching with students, \"whether that be working on composition out on the boat or reviewing the day's images back at the hotel,\" according to Winter. In addition to photography skills, tour guides share knowledge of the birds and other wildlife of the area. Boat-billed heron, little blue heron, roseate spoonbill, egrets, cormorants and anhingas are some of the birds students can expect to photograph. Wildlife Photo Master Class at Mayakoba; Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Mexico; available until the end of 2014; from $2,499 . Zooming in on Cambodia . If there's a new way to photograph Angkor Wat, this tour will find it. Belmond La Residence d'Angkor offers photography packages that include two-night stays, a three-day pass to the Angkor temple complex and a full-day excursion with an in-house photographer. A standard photography itinerary includes a longboat tour along the Kompong Phluk water village bordering Southeast Asia's largest lake, a private kayaking tour through the eerie floating forest and shopping at a local market. For an additional cost, guests can add photography experiences such as trawling down the Siem Reap River on an elephant or taking a helicopter ride over the Angkor temple complex. Zooming in on Cambodia; Belmond La Residence d'Angkor; available throughout the year; from $1,400 .", "Nasa has revealed one of the most complete maps of an asteroid ever created - and it helps reveal how the huge body was formed. Images from Nasa's Dawn Mission have been used to create a series of high-resolution geological maps of the large asteroid Vesta, revealing the variety of surface features in unprecedented detail. They show the towering mountains at the south pole — more than twice the height of Mount Everest, and huge craters that litter the surface. This high-resolution geological map of Vesta was made using data from the Dawn spacecraft. Brown colors represent the oldest, most heavily cratered surface. Purple colors in the north and light blue represent terrains modified by the Veneneia and Rheasilvia impacts, respectively. Light purples and dark blue colors below the equator represent the interior of the Rheasilvia and Veneneia basins. Greens and yellows represent relatively young landslides or other downhill movement and crater impact materials. Asteroids like Vesta are remnants of the formation of the solar system, giving scientists a peek at its history. Asteroids could also harbor molecules that are the building blocks of life and reveal clues about the origins of life on Earth. Vesta is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System, with a mean diameter of 525 kilometres (326 mi). It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, the virgin goddess of home and hearth from Roman mythology. The peak of Vesta's tallest mountain rises up nearly 13 miles (22 kilometers) above the rough surrounding terrain. 'The geologic mapping campaign at Vesta took about two-and-a-half years to complete, and the resulting maps enabled us to recognize a geologic timescale of Vesta for comparison to other planets,' said David A. Williams of Arizona State University, who led the study. The mapping was carried out using images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, which orbited Vesta between June 2011 and September 2012. The images let scientists create high-resolution geological maps, revealing the variety of Vesta's surface features in unprecedented detail. 'The geologic mapping campaign at Vesta took about two and a half years to complete,' says Williams. 'The resulting maps enabled us to construct a geologic time scale of Vesta for comparison to other planets and moons.' The geologic map and timescale appear in a paper by Williams and others in the December 2014 issue of the journal Icarus. Scientists discovered through these maps that impacts from several large meteorites have shaped Vesta's history. Asteroids like Vesta are remnants of the formation of the solar system, giving scientists a peek at its history. Asteroids could also harbor molecules that are the building blocks of life and reveal clues about the origins of life on Earth. Vesta's geologic timescale is determined by the sequence of large impact events, primarily by the Veneneia and Rheasilvia impacts in Vesta's early history and the Marcia impact in its late history. The oldest crust on Vesta pre-dates the Veneneia impact. A previous mission created these images of the Northern (left) and southern (right) hemispheres. The 'Snowman' craters are at the top of the left image; Rheasilvia and Veneneia (green and blue) dominate the right. Parallel troughs are seen in both. The relative timescale is supplemented by model-based absolute ages from two different approaches that apply crater statistics to date the surface. 'This mapping was crucial for getting a better understanding of Vesta's geological history, as well as providing context for the compositional information that we received from other instruments on the spacecraft: the visible and infrared (VIR) mapping spectrometer and the gamma-ray and neutron detector (GRaND),' said Carol Raymond, Dawn's deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Dawn spacecraft is currently on its way to Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt. Dawn will arrive at Ceres in March 2015. The mappers found that Vesta's geologic time scale has been shaped by a sequence of large impact events. The biggest of these were the impacts that blasted the large Veneneia and Rheasilvia craters early in Vesta's history, and the Marcia crater late in its history. The towering mountain at the south pole — more than twice the height of Mount Everest — is visible at the bottom of the image. The set of three craters known as the 'snowman' can be seen at the top left. In mapping an extraterrestrial object, scientists begin by studying its surface features to develop a relative chronology of events. They look to see which feature interrupts or disturbs other features, thereby placing them in a relative time sequence. Then, crater by crater, fracture by fracture, scientists build up a chronology of events. 'Figuring out an actual date in years is a step-by-step-by-step process,' explains Williams. 'We work with rock samples from the moon, mostly from Apollo missions decades ago. 'These give actual dates for large lunar impacts.' The tricky part, he says, lies in creating a model that links the lunar impact time scale to the rest of the solar system. In the case of Vesta, scientists have developed two different models to estimate surface ages. One is based on the lunar impact rate, the other on the frequency of asteroid impacts. Thus scientists can use two approaches with crater statistics to date Vesta's surface, but these yield two different age ranges. Applying the models to Vesta, Williams' team concluded that the oldest surviving crust on Vesta predates the Veneneia impact, which has an age of 2.1 billion years (asteroid system) or 3.7 billion years (lunar system). The Rheasilvia impact likely has an age of around 1 billion years (asteroids) or 3.5 billion years (lunar). 'Vesta's last big event, the Marcia impact, has an age that's still uncertain,' says Williams. 'But our current best estimates suggest an age between roughly 120 and 390 million years.' The difference, he explains, comes from which cratering model is used.", "America's East Coast was frequently battered by hurricanes as damaging as Katrina at a time when Europe was going through the Middle Ages. This is according to sediments found beneath Salt Pond in Massachusetts which suggests that between the years 250 and 1150 more than 20 huge storms hit the area. Scientists believe a change in sea surface temperatures in the western North Atlantic caused the storms — and they say climate change could cause them to return. America's East Coast was frequently battered by hurricanes as damaging as Katrina during a time when Europe was going through the Middle Ages, according to a new report. In this image waves crashed ashore in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, during a 1938 hurricane . 'These records suggest that the pre-historical interval was unlike what we've seen in the last few hundred years,' said Jeff Donnelly, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, who led the research. The prehistoric hurricanes were likely category three storms, such as Hurricane Katrina, or category 4 storms, like Hurricane Hugo, that would be catastrophic if they hit the region today. The study is the first to find evidence of historically unprecedented hurricane activity along the northern East Coast of the United States. The most powerful storm to hit Cape Cod in recent times was Hurricane Bob in 1991, a category 2 storm that was one of the costliest in New England history. The left image shows a sediment core section. The light-coloured shows evidence of an intense past storm. Pictured on the right is an aerial image of Dauphin Island, Alabama, following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 . Storms of that intensity have only reached the region three times since the 1600s, according to Professor Donnelly. The intense prehistoric hurricanes were fuelled in part by warmer sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean than have been the norm off the U.S. East Coast over the last few hundred years. However, as ocean temperatures have slowly inched upward in recent decades, tropical North Atlantic sea surface temperatures have surpassed the warmth of prehistoric levels--and are expected to warm more over the next century as the climate heats up, Professor Donnelly said. 'We hope this study broadens our sense of what is possible and what we should expect in a warmer climate,' he added. Scientists believe a change in sea surface temperatures in the western North Atlantic caused the historic storms — and they say climate change could cause such storms to return. Pictured is a satellite view of Hurricane Earl as it threatens the U.S. East Coast in 2010 . The research is based on  sediments found beneath Salt Pond in Falmouth which suggests that, between the years 250 and 1150, more than 20 huge storms hit the area. 'We may need to begin planning for a category three hurricane landfall every decade or so rather than every 100 or 200 years. 'The risk may be much greater than we anticipated.' The team looked at sediment deposits from Salt Pond near Falmouth on Cape Cod. The pond is separated from the ocean by a 4.3 to 5.9 ft (1.3 to 1.8 metres) high sand barrier. Over hundreds of years, strong hurricanes have deposited sediment over the barrier and into the pond where it has remained undisturbed. The researchers extracted 30ft (9 metre) deep sediment cores, which they then analysed in a laboratory. Similar to reading a tree ring to tell the age of a tree and the climate conditions that existed in a given year, scientists can read a sediment core to determine when intense hurricanes occurred. They found evidence of 32 prehistoric hurricanes, along with the remains of three documented storms that occurred in 1991, 1675 and 1635. The sediments showed that there were two periods of intense hurricane activity on Cape Cod -- from 150 to 1150, and 1400 to 1675. Droughts in the US Southwest and Central Plains during the last half of this century could be drier and longer than drought conditions seen in those regions in the last 1,000 years. This is according to a Nasa study which combined projections from climate models, to find human-produced greenhouse gas emissions drives up the risk of severe droughts in these regions. Natural droughts, like the 1930s Dust Bowl, and the current drought in the Southwest have historically lasted maybe a decade or a little less, said Ben Cook, a Nasa climate scientist. 'What these results are saying is we're going to get a drought similar to those events, but it is probably going to last at least 30 to 35 years,' he said. According to Cook, the current likelihood of a megadrought, a drought lasting more than three decades, is 12 percent. If greenhouse gas emissions stop increasing in the mid-21st century,Nasa projects the likelihood of megadrought to reach more than 60 per cent. However, if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase along current trajectories throughout the 21st century, there is an 80 per cent likelihood of a decades-long megadrought in the Southwest and Central Plains between the years 2050 and 2099. In this image, scientists collect a sediment core; the sediment shows intense storms going back 2,000 year . The earlier period of powerful hurricane activity matched previous studies that found evidence of hurricanes during the same period in more southerly areas of the western North Atlantic Ocean basin - from the Caribbean to the Gulf Coast. Powerful storms also battered more southerly U.S. coasts . These early storms were more frequent, and in some cases were likely more intense, than the most severe hurricanes Cape Cod has seen in historical times, including Hurricane Bob in 1991 and a 1635 hurricane that generated a 20-foot storm surge, according to Donnelly. The hurricane activity continued in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico until 1400, although there was a lull during this time in New England. A shift in hurricane activity in the North Atlantic occurred around 1400, when activity picked up from the Bahamas to New England, until about 1675. 'These records suggest that the pre-historical interval was unlike what we've seen in the last few hundred years,' said Jeff Donnelly, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, who led the research. Pictured is a home in Union Beach, New Jersey, destroyed by a Hurricane Sandy in 2012 .", "(CNN) -- Quick -- name a planet with rings. Easy, right? But Saturn and others are not alone: Now scientists have added another celestial body to the short list of objects in our solar system that have rings around them. The remote asteroid Chariklo orbits between Saturn and Uranus in the outer solar system. Researchers published a study in the journal Nature showing evidence of rings around it. Lead author Felipe Braga-Ribas of the Observatorio Nacional/MCTI in Rio de Janeiro said the discovery came as a complete surprise. \"We weren't looking for a ring and didn't think small bodies like Chariklo had them at all,\" he said in a statement. Chariklo is fairly small -- 250 kilometers (150 miles) in diameter. It is classified as a \"centaur,\" an object that has an unstable orbit and crosses giant planets' orbits. Mythological centaurs had both human and horse features, while centaurs in the solar system may have both comet and asteroid characteristics. The asteroid is only the fifth solar system object whose rings have been detected. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also have rings. Telescopes at seven different locations, including the European Southern Observatory's La Silla site in Chile, saw a star seem to disappear for a few seconds on June 3, 2013. This happened because the star's light was obscured by Chariklo. The star's brightness also diminished a few seconds before and after that main blocking of light. Astronomers discovered that rings were responsible, and calculated their size, shape and orientation. The two rings orbiting the asteroid are relatively narrow: 7 kilometers and 3 kilometers across. They are separated by a gap of 9 kilometers. Scientists are informally calling these rings Oiapoque and Chui, after rivers near the northern and southern ends of Brazil. The gravitational interactions from small moons may be keeping the orbiting material in ring form, scientists said. \"So, as well as the rings, it's likely that Chariklo has at least one small moon still waiting to be discovered,\" Braga-Ribas said in a statement. And someday the rings themselves may lead to a moon being formed, scientists said. On a larger scale, a similar process could have been involved in the making of our own moon, as well as other planetary satellites. How these rings came to be is mysterious. One idea is that a collision created a disc of debris, the European Southern Observatory said. \"This discovery suggests that the event(s) responsible for the origin of the rings is relatively recent, or that a fortuitous balance of forces have combined to help sustain them,\" said Ed Beshore, deputy principal investigator for NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, which aims to visit a near-Earth asteroid and bring a sample back to Earth. Beshore was not involved with this study. Scientists planning OSIRIS-REx, targeting an asteroid called Bennu, are finding challenges with the dynamics of small celestial bodies, Beshore said. The Nature study reinforces the idea that asteroids, comets and other relatively small bodies are \"no longer second-class citizens in our solar system,\" he said. \"Indeed, they may harbor important clues about the origins and mechanisms that helped create our planet Earth, and the processes that supported the rise of life here,\" he said. Follow Elizabeth Landau on Twitter at @lizlandau .", "(CNN) -- Wondering where to go for your next holiday? Experts explain which destinations we should be checking out in 2014. Brazil: The World Cup . The modern game of football, or soccer, may have been born in England's public schools, but many will claim its soul has settled in Brazil. It has the world's most successful international team, winning the World Cup five times. It calls what many claim to be the world's greatest player, Pele, one of its own. And company managers and bosses are known to demand their employees skip work to watch the big games. The World Cup next year then, to be hosted over June and July in 18 cities across the country, is likely to be memorable, to say the least. Throw in the rest of the country, which includes rainforests, beaches and a party culture that makes most New Year's Eve soirees look decidedly po-faced, and you have the makings of an epic trip. Daisy Parker from ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) suggests visiting some of the country's more remote areas. \"The Brazilians' love of a party is going to make it a must-visit long haul destination for 2014,\" she says. \"Once fans have flown that far we predict many will stay on to check out areas like the Amazon basin and the amazing Iguazu Falls. Brazil's beaches are also some of the best in the world.\" Explore offers a 14-day Pure Brazil tour, which starts from $5,913 per person (not including flights). Panama: Canal's 100th birthday . The Panama Canal's 100-year anniversary arguably is not, in and of itself, a top five reason for visiting the country in 2014. But the events surrounding the big day and Panama's other attractions certainly are. \"August 2014 marks 100 years since the completion of the Panama Canal, and that's likely to attract more attention to the destination,\" says Mary Moses, general manager at PEAK South America. \"However, Panama has a lot more to offer travelers than just the canal -- volcanoes, rainforests, coffee plantations and beautiful beaches on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.\" Peregrine Adventures offers a 10-day Panama Highlights tour. Prices start from $2,171 per person (excluding flights). Myanmar: Tourism 'Master Plan' Myanmar has been touted as \"the next big tourism destination\" for a few years already, but getting around the country has proved tricky. ATMs have been absent or limited to locals only, the Internet was something nobody appeared to have heard of and travel was restricted to places the government was happy for you to see. That's started to change already, and next year it's going to accelerate. \"The Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has prepared a 'Master Plan' and 'Responsible Tourism Policy' to map out the future of tourism in the country,\" says Professor Donald E. Hawkins, Eisenhower Professor of Tourism Policy at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. \"The goal in 2014 is to maximize tourism's contribution to national employment and income generation while ensuring the social and economic benefits of tourism are distributed equitably.\" Explore offers a 14-day Myanmar highlights tour. Prices start from $2,324 per person (excluding flights). Lake Myvatn, Iceland: Best Northern Lights for years . \"With NASA scientists predicting that an 11-year cycle of solar activity will peak this winter, for the first few months of 2014 the Northern Lights are expected to put on their most spectacular display for the next decade,\" says David Phillips, operations manager for Explorers Astronomy Tours. \"Although a viewing of the aurora borealis can never be guaranteed, you can boost your chances by heading to the beautiful and more remote areas such as northern Iceland so that you are well away from light pollution.\" Discover the World offers a range of Iceland-based tours, with prices starting from $329 per person (excluding flights). Ecuador: Becoming a 'tourism powerhouse' In the last few months Ecuador's new Minister of Tourism, Vinicio Alvarado, announced a $600 million investment in tourism over the next four years, a hike of more than 300%, as part of a plan to become a \"tourism powerhouse.\" Earlier this year a new international airport opened in Quito. A new luxury train just started operations and the country continues to be the world's best place to retire, according to International Living. In short, it's probably the best vacation spot you haven't yet considered, unless your name's Julian Assange. \"Ecuador is evolving fast, and a visit to this Andean nation has never been more tempting,\" says Rough Guides editor Eleanor Aldridge. \" \"The re-launch of the Tren Crucero, a century-old railway between Guayaquil and Quito, garnered one of the British Guild of Travel Writers' top awards for 2013.\" GA Adventures offers an eight-day Ecuador Quest tour. Prices start from $1,067 per person (excluding flights). New Zealand: 2,500-kilometer cycle trail . If doing more exercise is one your 2014 resolutions (and this time you mean it), an extended trip to New Zealand could provide the means. In 2014 the country will complete its enormous Nga Haerenga cycle trail, designed to showcase the best of the country's landscape, culture and heritage. The 2,500-kilometer network is made up of 23 shorter trails covering both the North and South islands, and the final two will be completed in January. The New Zealand government threw $50 million into the construction of these trails, which snake through lush rainforests, glacial-fed lakes and along old railway lines once used by miners during the Gold Rush. New Zealand-based tour operator Natural High offer a 17-day cycle tour from Auckland on the North Island to Christchurch on the South island. Prices start from $4,223 (excluding flights). Playas de Nosara, Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica: Officially approved beaches . If you're the type that likes awards and official stamps of approval before buying your vacation, the beaches in Nosara in Costa Rica just winked at you. They're likely to become popular in 2014, thanks to the recent award of a Blue Flag -- an international certification awarded to beaches that offer top quality and environmentally friendly experiences. Alvin Rosenbaum, an expert in tourism and senior visiting scholar at George Washington University's International Institute of Tourism Studies, says: \"Its pristine beaches are responsible for the introduction of an array of new activities for families with children, ranging from toddlers' programs to educational and volunteer programs for older children. \"Nosara prides itself on its beaches and wildlife refuges and is now one of the most environmentally-aware communities in Latin America.\" Hands Up Holidays offers a 10-day Nicoya Explorer tour. Prices start from $3,745 per person (excluding flights). Japan: Brand new festivals . The 50th anniversary of the bullet train, several new festivals (in a country already in possession of some bizarre ones), a new luxurious cruise train called Seven Stars offering visitors a spectacular new way to explore the prefecture of Kyushu -- there are plenty of reasons to visit Japan in 2014. \"The first official International Cool Japan Awards and POP Matsuri (festival), will take place in Osaka between March 21 and 30, 2014,\" says Kylie Clark from the Japanese National Tourism Organisation. \"Categories will include manga, anime and gaming, and during the festival numerous events will be held throughout the city tied to Japanese pop culture.\" Inside Japan Tours offers a 14-night Best of Japan tour. Prices start from $3,104 per person (excluding flights). East Africa: One visa, three countries . Spotting gorillas in Uganda and rhino in Kenya will become a less complicated affair in 2014 after changes to visa regulations come into effect. \"Visiting the mountain gorillas in Rwanda is a trip of a lifetime, but the magical experience itself lasts just one hour once you get up close to them,\" says Brad John-Davis, general manager for PEAK Africa. \"From January 1, travelers to East Africa will be able to visit Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda on a single visa, which will make it much easier to combine gorilla viewing with other incredible wildlife experiences across East Africa, such as tracking chimps in Uganda and spotting the big five in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park.\" Intrepid offers four-day gorilla safaris starting from $4,120 per person, excluding flights. San Sebastián, Spain: A future 'world's best city'? It's already tied in fifth place on one list of the world's best cities, and it's likely to get even more popular soon, as San Sebastián will be the European Capital of Culture in 2016. \"I think it's important to get there before the masses discover this destination,\" says Daniel Fesenmaier from Temple University's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. \"It's next to France and some of the best wine regions, including Rioja, located just to the south, and Bordeaux in France, just to the north. The food is San Sebastián is also fantastic.\" If you don't know what a pintxo is, or how it tastes, now's the time to find out. Intrepid Travel offers an eight-day Northern Spain Overview tour. Prices start from $2,543 per person (excluding flights). Tallinn, Estonia: Tunnels and Titanic meals . Tallinn's beautiful old town is reason any year to head to this under-visited city, but in 2014 its most popular tourist attraction will become significantly more accessible, thanks to plans to complete excavation of the tunnels beneath the famous bastion walls. The city also has a number of relatively new attractions, including the Lennusadam Seaplane Harbour Museum, where visitors can check out several seaplanes housed within spectacular hangars. The museum has recently opened a Titanic Artefact exhibition that examines the history of the doomed ship; in early 2014, the museum will host several gala dinners inspired by the last night in the first-class area of the ship. Baltic Tours offer a two-night city break in Tallinn. Prices start from $225 per person.", "Nasa claims we'll find aliens in the next 10 to 20 years – and now the agency is revving up its efforts to track them down. The group has put together a team of 'extraterrestrial experts' to see if any of the planets discovered outside our solar system are habitable. And it says that amateur astronomers could help with its 'unprecedented' search for ET by accessing research data online. Scroll down for video . The Nexss team, includes those who study Earth as a life-bearing planet (lower right), those researching the diversity of solar system planets (left), and those on the new frontier, discovering worlds orbiting other stars in the galaxy (upper right) The initiative, dubbed Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (Nexss), will include scientists from 10 universities including Stanford, the University of California and Yale. The study of exoplanets is a relatively new field, and began with the discovery of the first exoplanet around a star like our sun in 1995. Since the launch of the Kepler space telescope six years ago, more than 1,000 exoplanets have been found, with thousands of additional candidates waiting to be confirmed. Nasa has set up a website for the public called Planet Hunters which allows anyone to search the data gathered by Kepler, which launched six years ago. Scientists are also developing new ways to confirm the habitability of these worlds and search for biosignatures, or signs of life. During a talk last month, Nasa said humanity will encounter extra-terrestrials within a decade. 'I believe we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years,' said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for Nasa, (pictured) at a Washington panel discussion . By applying a 'system science' approach, the team hopes to understand an alien planet's biology interacts with the atmosphere, geology, oceans, and interior of a planet. The announcement comes just weeks after Nasa's top scientist predicted we could be on the verge of finding life on one of them. During a talk in Washington last month, the space agency announced that humanity is likely to encounter extra-terrestrials within a decade. Alien hunters from the University of Berkeley, California and Stanford are tasked with answering the question: 'What are the properties of exoplanetary systems, as they relate to their formation, evolution, and potential to harbour life?' They will combine astronomical observations of exoplanets and forming planetary systems with powerful computer simulations and cutting-edge microscopic studies of meteorites. The team from Arizona State University in Phoenix will take a similar approach. This research group will place planetary habitability in a chemical context, with the goal of producing a 'periodic table of planets.' Researchers from Hampton University, Virginia, will be exploring the sources and sinks for volatiles on habitable worlds. This research will help determine the past and present habitability of Mars and even Venus. The team centered at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies will investigate habitability on a more local scale. It will examine the habitability of solar system rocky planets through time. The team from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, will design new spectrometers - optical instruments that measure the spectrum of light - with the stability to reach Earth-detecting precision for nearby stars. A group led the University of Nebraska-Kearney will explore the existence and evolution of exospheres around exoplanets, the outer, 'unbound' portion of a planet's atmosphere. From the University of California, Santa Cruz, a group will investigate how novel maths equations can be used to extract information from light that is emitted and reflected by planetary atmospheres. 'I believe we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years,' Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for Nasa, said. 'We know where to look, we know how to look, and in most cases we have the technology.' Jeffery Newmark, interim director of heliophysics at the agency, added: 'It's definitely not an if, it's a when.' 'We are not talking about little green men,' Stofan said. 'We are talking about little microbes.' The announcement was prompted by the recent discovery of water by Nasa in surprising places. Jim Green, director of planetary science at Nasa, noted that a recent study of the Martian atmosphere found 50 per cent of the planet's northern hemisphere once had oceans a mile deep. Scientists using the Hubble recently provided powerful evidence that Jupiter's moon Ganymede (pictured) has a saltwater, sub-surface ocean, likely sandwiched between two layers of ice . The same study found that water had been present on the red planet for up to 1.2 billion year. 'We think that long period of time is necessary for life to get more complex,' Stofan said. Nasa associate administrator John Grunsfeld said he is excited about seeing what form life beyond Earth may take. In their hunt for alien life, astronomers have so far focused on looking for Earth-like planets around smaller, cooler suns. But these exoplanets - despite having a chance of holding water - are believed to be locked in a rotation around their sun which causes only one side of their surface face the star. Now astronomers claim that such exoplanets actually rotate around their stars, and spin at such a speed that they exhibit a day-night cycle similar to Earth – increasing the chance of finding alien life. Planets with potential oceans could have a climate that is much more similar to Earth's than previously expected,' said Jérémy Leconte, a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) at the University of Toronto. 'If we are correct, there is no permanent, cold night side on exoplanets causing water to remain trapped in a gigantic ice sheet,' he said. 'Whether this new understanding of exoplanets' climate increases the ability of these planets to develop life remains an open question.' 'Once we get beyond Mars, which formed from the same stuff as Earth, the likelihood that life is similar to what we find on this planet is very low,' he said. 'I think we're one generation away in our solar system, whether it's on an icy moon or on Mars, and one generation [away] on a planet around a nearby star. At the same conference last year, Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden made a more conservative estimate. He claimed that we will find life within the next 20 years - with a high chance it will be outside our solar system. Nasa next Mars rover, scheduled to launch in 2020, will search for signs of past life and bring samples for a possible return to Earth for analysis. Nasa also hopes to land astronauts on Mars in the 2030s, which Stofan says is crucial key to the search for Mars life. 'I'm a field geologist; I go out and break open rocks and look for fossils,' Stofan said. 'Those are hard to find. 'So I have a bias that it's eventually going to take humans on the surface of Mars — field geologists, astrobiologists, chemists — actually out there looking for that good evidence of life that we can bring back to Earth for all the scientists to argue about.' The space agency is also planning a mission to Europa, which may launch as early as 2022. It hopes to find out whether the icy moon is habitable. Meanwhile, the agency's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will launch in 2018 to scope out the atmospheres of nearby 'super-Earth' alien planets. New Horizons took this image of the icy moon Europa rising above Jupiter's cloud tops. The space agency is planning a mission to Europa, which may launch as early as 2022, to find out whether the moon is habitable .", "By . Mark Prigg . The bizarre six-sided storm churning Saturn’s north pole has flummoxed astronomers ever since it was first spotted thirty years ago. Now, astronomers believe they may have solved one of its biggest mysteries by working out how it operates - and discovering the rotation period of Saturn in the process. The giant storm operates rather like the jet stream on Earth they say - explaining why it never appears to move. Scroll down for video and animations... The animation above shows a view from directly over Saturn's north pole, keeping up with the rotation of the planet so that all the motion seen on the screen is the motion of the storms inside the hexagon. The mysterious six-sided hexagon on Saturn’s North Pole has long captivated astronomers is thought to be is nearly 20,000 miles (30,000 kilometers). The hexagon is made of a band of . upper-atmospheric winds which creates its six-sided shape. A polar . cyclone can be seen at its centre. First seen by Voyagers 1 and 2 over 30 years ago the hexagon it thought to be fixed with Saturn’s rotation. Last year, the Cassini spacecraft . provided scientists with the first close-up, visible-light views of a . behemoth hurricane swirling within the hexagon. Thin, . bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane were estimated to be . travelling at around 330 mph (150 metres per second). The unusual structure with a hexagonal shape surrounding Saturn's north pole was spotted on the planet for the first time thirty years ago. The hexagon is a wavy jet stream of 200 mph winds and spans 20,000 miles (30,000 kilometers) across - more than twice the diameter of Earth. Nothing similar with such a regular geometry had ever been seen on any planet in the Solar System. The Planetary Sciences Group has now been able to study and measure the phenomenon and, establish its rotation period, and that of Saturn - the only planet in the Solar System whose rotation time remains unknown. Researchers found seasonal variations do not affect the hexagon and its jet stream at all, so concluded both are part of an extensive wave, deeply rooted in Saturn's atmosphere. The UPV/EHU researchers suggest that the hexagon and its stream are the manifestation of a 'Rossby wave' similar to those that form in the mid-latitudes of the earth. On our planet the jet stream meanders from west to east and brings, associated with it, the system of areas of low pressure and anticyclones which we have been seeing regularly on weather maps. On Saturn, a hydrogen gas planet, ten times the size of the Earth, cold in its upper clouds, without a solid surface, and with an atmosphere as deep as that of an ocean, 'the hexagonal wavy motion of the jet stream is expected to be propagated vertically and reveal to us aspects of the planet’s hidden atmosphere,' said Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, Head of the Planetary Sciences research group. Saturn's storm in action: Scientists have announced a breakthrough in understand how the storm is created . 'The movement of the hexagon could therefore be linked to the depths of Saturn, and the rotation period of this structure, which, as we have been able to ascertain, is 10 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds, could be that of the planet itself,' he added. Saturn is the only planet in the Solar System whose rotation period is not yet known. Due to the tilt of approximately 27º of the planet Saturn, its polar atmosphere undergoes intense seasonable variations with long polar nights lasting over seven years, followed by a long period of 23 years of variable illumination. In 1980 and 1981 NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 space probes passed for the first time over the planet Saturn, located 1,500 million km from the Sun. Among their numerous discoveries they observed a strange, hexagon-shaped structure in the planet’s uppermost clouds surrounding its north pole. The new analysis allowed astronomers to track the hexagonal storm for the first time to see how it rotated, and work out how it was formed . The hexagon remained virtually static, and images captured by the Voyager probes found that the clouds were moving rapidly inside the hexagon in an enclosed jet stream and were being dragged by winds travelling at over 400 km/h. Thirty years later –the equivalent of one Saturn year, in other words, the time the planet takes to go all the way around the Sun– and over more than six consecutive years, researchers in the UPV/EHU’s Planetary Sciences Group, in collaboration with astronomers from various countries, were able to observe Saturn's northern polar region in detail once again and confirmed that the hexagon continued in place. After measuring the positions of the hexagon vertices with great precision, they determined that its movement remains extremely stable, and on the basis of the cloud movements, that the jet stream inside it remains unchanged. It comes just months after footage captured by the Cassini spacecraft using colour filters, showed researchers a complete view of the top of Saturn for the first time. ‘A hurricane on Earth typically lasts a week, but this has been here for decades - and who knows - maybe centuries,’ said Andrew Ingersoll, at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. This animation above shows a view from directly over the north pole, keeping up with the rotation of the planet so that all the motion seen on the screen is the motion of the storms inside the hexagon. This older, colour composite image - showing false shades - has been created from raw images taken by Cassini from a distance of 379,268 miles away . Weather patterns on Earth are interrupted when they encounter friction from land forms. Scientists suspect the stability of the . hexagon has something to do with the lack of solid land forms on Saturn, . which is essentially a giant ball of gas. Better views of the hexagon are available now because the sun began to illuminate its interior in late 2012. Cassini captured images of the hexagon over a 10-hour time span with high-resolution cameras, giving scientists a good look at the motion of cloud structures within. Scientists saw the storm around the pole, as well as small vortices rotating in the opposite direction of the hexagon. Some of the vortices are swept along with the jet stream as if on a racetrack. The largest of these vortices spans about 2,200 miles (3,500 km), or about twice the size of the largest hurricane recorded on Earth. The footage captured by the Cassini spacecraft is the first of its kind, using colour filters, to show a complete view of the top of Saturn . Scientists analysed these images in false colour, a rendering method that made it easier to distinguish differences among the types of particles suspended in the atmosphere inside and outside the hexagon. ‘Inside the hexagon, there are fewer large haze particles and a concentration of small haze particles, while outside the hexagon, the opposite is true,’ said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at Hampton University in Virginia. ‘The hexagonal jet stream is acting like a barrier, which results in something like Earth's Antarctic ozone hole.’ The Antarctic ozone hole forms within a region enclosed by a jet stream with similarities to the hexagon. Wintertime . conditions enable ozone-destroying chemical processes to occur and the . jet stream prevents a resupply of ozone from the outside. At Saturn, large aerosols cannot cross . into the hexagonal jet stream from outside and large aerosol particles . are created when sunlight shines on the atmosphere. Only . recently, with the start of Saturn's northern spring in August 2009, . did sunlight begin bathing the planet's northern hemisphere. ‘As . we approach Saturn's summer solstice in 2017, lighting conditions over . its north pole will improve, and we are excited to track the changes . that occur both inside and outside the hexagon boundary,’ said Scott . Edgington, Cassini deputy project scientist.", "(CNN) -- There's nothing like a beautiful winter scene to get you in the mood for Christmas, and the following sights are some of the most spectacular. Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany . If this beautiful castle looks familiar, don't be surprised, because Neuschwanstein inspired Disney Land's Sleeping Beauty castle. It's perched on a rocky outcrop high above the Bavarian village of Hohenschwangau and more than 60 million people have visited since it was opened to the public in 1886. King Ludvig used his personal fortune to build the castle to avoid spending public funds, and for two decades the construction site was the area's principle employer. \"Surrounded by the majestic Alps and pristine Bavarian Forests, King Ludwig II's enchanting Neuschwanstein is the world's most picturesque castle, mesmerizing onlookers' minds and transporting them into a fairy tale dreamland,\" says photographer Sheri Vitullo, founder of sherivitullophotography.com. \"It is, in the words of Ludwig II, 'a true blessing to the world.'\" How to get there: The castle is a short walk from the center of Hohenschwangau village, which is 75 miles from Munich. More: 15 of the best European castle hotels . Diana's Baths, North Conway, New Hampshire, United States . Diana's Baths are a series of small waterfalls on the edge of Bartlett, a town in New Hampshire. This historic site is protected by the U.S. Forest Service and is located within the White Mountain National Forest. The pools are fed by Lucy Brook, which was named after the Lucy family who operated a sawmill next to the stream in 1892. \"What I find so enchanting about Diana's Baths is the multi-layered nature of the cascading falls,\" explains photographer Shawn Brace. \"Between the ledges, pools, and rock formations there's endless beauty for the curious mind and hungry eye.\" How to get there: Diana's Baths are located on the outskirts of the village of Barlett, 14 miles from the town of North Conway in New Hampshire. More: 10 things the U.S. does better than anywhere else . Jigokudani Yaen-koen, Japan . Jigokudani Yaen-koen has it all -- steaming hot springs, beautiful snow-covered landscapes and impossibly cute (and snow-covered) monkeys. The Joshinetsu-Kogen National Park is buried in snow for a third of the year, and although the clouds of steam rising from the springs, combined with the dramatic, steep cliffs, have led locals to nickname this area \"hell valley,\" the Japanese macaques (known as snow monkeys) certainly love it here. \"Winter time is when Jigokudani Yaen-koen becomes really special,\" says photographer Jasper Doest, founder of jasperdoest.com. \"When the outside temperatures drop below freezing and thick layers of snow cover the mountains the hot springs attract many macaques who come here to enjoy an \"onsen\" in this surreal world of fog and snow.\" How to get there: The park lies to the north of the city of Nagano, which is a 90-minute train journey from Tokyo. More: Gratuitous photos of monkeys in hot springs . Aiguille du Midi, French Alps, France . Aiguille du Midi translates as \"needle of noon.\" The mountain gets its name from its tapered shape but also from the fact that if you view it from Chamonix, it's approximately noon when the sun passes over the summit. For the best views, take the Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi to the summit. This cable car was the world's highest when it was built in 1955. You'll ascend 9,186 feet (2,800 meters) in 20 minutes and from the top the views over the Swiss, French and Italian alps are incredible. On a clear day, it's possible to see the Matterhorn on the border between Switzerland and Italy. \"The Aiguille du Midi is an amazing place,\" says photographer Colin Woods, founder of colinwoodsphotography.co.uk. \"The real beauty of it is the fact that it is one of the few places where the non-climber can get an idea of the high altitude world that is normally only accessible to the alpinist. \"At 12,476 feet above sea level, it's an airy summit on which the visitor is perched between two worlds. On one side, far below, is the comfortable world of Chamonix town. On the other is the beautiful but hostile world of eternal ice, of glaring sun and blinding wind driven snow, giant glaciers and granite spires.\" How to get there: Take the Aiguille du Midi cable car from the resort of Chamonix, which is 49 miles from the city of Geneva. More: Europe's best budget ski resorts . Tallinn, Estonia . With its narrow streets, medieval buildings and quaint Christmas markets, the city of Tallinn resembles a scene from a Christmas card. The Christmas market in the Town Hall Square is one of Europe's prettiest, and the city's old town area -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site often referred to as the \"medieval pearl of Europe,\" is also worth checking out. The narrow streets are lined with old warehouses, churches and barns, many of which date back to the 11th century. \"There is something about the light in Tallinn, says photographer Paul Adams, founder of padams.co.uk. \"It's amazing, almost Mediterranean but not -- I can't quite put my finger on it. The blue skies in winter are such a deep blue -- nothing like you get in the UK.\" How to get there: Tallinn's Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport is well connected to most European cities, although visitors flying from the U.S. or Asia should expect a stopover in Moscow. More: 8 top Christmas markets in Europe . Northern Lights, northern Norway . NASA experts believe the current period of solar activity will reach its peak in December, making this month the best time to spot the Northern Lights. The lights can be seen from Alaska, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Canada, Russia and Scotland, but visitors who head to northern Norway stand the most chance of spotting them, thanks largely to the lack of light pollution and dry weather. The northern lights belt first hits the Lofoten Islands and follows the coast all the way up to the North Cape. \"In a nutshell, I think that the Auroras are spectacular not just because of the fact that they are one of our planets' most amazing and awe-inspiring natural phenomena, but also because of the fact that they are ever changing,\" says Andy Keen from aurorahunters.org. \"No one aurora is the the same as another, which makes them completely unique. Viewing the Northern Lights is somewhat like looking through a kaleidoscope -- they're captivating, mesmerizing and free-spirited.\" How to get there: The northern lights can be viewed from several countries, but this year, visitors to Reykjavik in Iceland, Kiruna in Sweden and Tromso in Norway stand the best chance of spotting them. Read more: Spotlight on best Northern Light spots . Yorkshire Dales, England . In winter, the remote Yorkshire Dales in northern England transform into a bleak yet somehow welcoming swathe of hills and fields, with church spires, cozy, glowing pubs and the occasional sheep jutting out of the blanket of snow. You might even catch a glimpse of the North Yorkshire Steam Railway, which runs from Pickering to Whitby. Wharfedale, with its picturesque hamlets and rock-strewn hills, is one of the most beautiful areas, and the limestone crags of Malhamdale are equally spectacular. \"I have always felt a strong attraction to the unspoiled purity of the Yorkshire Dales,\" says photographer Chris Ceaser, founder of chrisceaser.com. \"During winter months this feeling of peacefulness is compounded by the arrival of the snows which add a sense of isolation, making the photographer feel at one with his surroundings.\" How to get there: The Yorkshire Dales are located 243 miles from London, or 65 miles from Manchester. One of the area's largest towns is Richmond, which is well connected to most of the UK's cities by rail. More: Britain's oldest pub -- who deserves the crown? Big Mountain, Whitefish Mountain Resort, Montana, United States . One of the most popular spots at Whitefish Mountain Resort is the summit, which lies 7,000 feet (2,133 meters) above sea level. From here, the views of the jagged peaks of Glacier National Park are breathtaking. But it's the snow-covered trees -- known locally as snow ghosts -- that really stand out. When the weather's right, what's known as a cloud inversion can take place. The clouds below become locked within the valley and visitors on the summit can look down upon a sea of white. \"Winter in Whitefish is so magical probably because the mountain weather is so dynamic and extreme,\" says Brian Schott at Whitefish, Montanta Visitors' Bureau. \"Winter storms race in from the west coast and bump up along the continental divide, sitting over us for days dumping snow. When at last there is a clearing and you ride the chairlift to the summit, it's as if you have been transported to another world.\" How to get there: Whitefish resort is located 14 miles from Glacier Park International Airport. More: 7 swanky U.S. ski hotels .", "Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz and Smart cars, has announced that it will start selling a self-driving car by 2020. It is thought the car will be able to drive on its own in most situations but will still hand control back to the driver during difficult situations such as dealing with traffic lights. The move could help Daimler regain its position as the leading luxury car market from its rival BMW. Scroll down for video... It is thought the car, which will be able to drive on its own in most situations, will still hand control back to the driver during difficult situations such as dealing with traffic lights . ‘We want to be the first to launch autonomous functions in production vehicles. You can be sure: we will accomplish that in this decade,’ said Daimler head of development Thomas Weber. The technology featured at this week's Frankfurt car show but won’t come to market for another 10 years. The German car maker has been working on improving its driverless technology over the past few years and recently became the world’s first car manufacturer to demonstrate autonomous driving in rural and urban traffic. Last month, a Mercedes Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle, drove autonomously through a 100-kilometre-long route from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany. Last month, a Mercedes Benz S 500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle drove autonomously through a 100-kilometre-long route from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany . The driverless S-Class was able to deal with some difficult situations involving traffic lights, roundabouts, pedestrians, cyclists and trams . A particular challenge for autonomous vehicles is the way in which they communicate and interact with other cars. Coming to an agreement with an oncoming vehicle on who should proceed first around an obstruction is something that requires a very great deal of situational analysis. 'Where a human driver might boldly move forward into a gap, our autonomous vehicle tends to adopt a more cautious approach,' said  Prof Ralf Herrtwich, head of driver assistance and suspension systems at Daimler. 'This sometimes results in comical situations, such as when, having stopped at a zebra crossing, the vehicle gets waved through by the pedestrian – yet our car stoically continues to wait, because we failed to anticipate such politeness when we programmed the system.' The research vehicle was equipped with production-based sensors for the project. Developers taught the technology platform to know where it is, what it sees and how to react autonomously. With the aid of its highly automated 'Route Pilot', the vehicle was able to negotiate its own way through dense urban and rural traffic. The driverless S-Class was also able to deal with some difficult situations involving traffic lights, roundabouts, pedestrians, cyclists and trams. Existing technology already partly automates driving to assist during, for instance, traffic jams, by maintaining a safe distance with the car in front. In July, the UK government said it will allow driverless cars on public roads for the first time during trials to take place this year. During the ground-breaking road tests, an expert will have to remain in the driving seat. Scientists at Oxford University are working with Nissan in Sunderland to create ‘robotcars’ that can drive themselves independently using details of the road they are driving on stored in on-board software. The Nissan self-drive Leaf electric car is controlled by an iPad, and the Oxford team behind it claim the technology could be installed in mainstream cars as a £60 option. The future: Most big car-makers are already developing self-drive technology and incorporating elements of it into cars already on the road . Cameras and lasers built into its chassis map a 3D model of its surroundings when it is driven manually, which is fed into a computer stored in the boot. The car can then ‘remember’ routes. It prompts the driver via an iPad on the dashboard to engage the autopilot and, at a touch of the screen, the car assumes control. A laser at the front scans 164ft ahead 13 times per second for obstacles, such as pedestrians, cyclists, or other cars in an 85-degree field of view. If it senses an obstacle, it slows and comes to a controlled stop. The driver can tap the brake pedal to regain control of the vehicle from the computer. Sweden’s Volvo, Vauxhall’s U.S. parent General Motors, and Germany’s Volkswagen are also working on the technology.", "By . Lillian Radulova . An abandoned Australian gold mine could help solve one of the great mysteries of the universe. The Stawell Gold Mine in Victoria is currently undergoing tests by The Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics (CoEPP) to determine if it would be suitable for an underground laboratory. If it is, the study of the 1,500-metre deep mine would focus entirely on locating and studying dark matter, and the laboratory would be the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The old Stawell Gold Mine could be the site of an underground laboratory for The Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics, which would search for dark matter . A deep underground mine is believed to house the perfect conditions for the identification of dark matter - which, if found, would be a world-first discovery - because the environment filters out other particles and cosmic rays which are present on the Earth's surface. More... Has the mystery of glowing Norwegian orbs been solved? Expert claims natural 'battery' creates the amazing light show . See the Northern Lights on Saturn: Astronomers capture best ever view of auroras and find phenomenon forms in same was as Earth's magnetic light show . CoEPP Director, Professor Geoffrey Taylor, said a laboratory in the Stawell Gold Mine could be used by researchers to determine exactly what dark matter consists of. While the existence of dark matter has been hypothesised for years, scientists are yet to identify and study it. 'There is probably four or five times more dark matter in the universe than what there is ordinary matter, which means there is still a huge amount of the universe which we don't know anything about,' he told The Age. Dark matter is thought to make up almost 95 per cent of the mass of the universe, yet scientists know very little about it . Scientists hope experiments using the Large Hadron Collider - the world's most powerful particle collider - will help identify and unlock the mysteries of dark matter . Professor Elisabetta Barberio, of the University of Melbourne, said she hoped conditions inside the  abandoned mine shaft would be perfect for spotting dark matter. 'To search for [dark matter] we need to be in an environment that is very quiet and very dark, because if we would put our equipment on the surface of Earth, there would be so many particles coming from the sun, from the atmosphere, from even the galaxy that we call cosmic rays, that would disturb the measurement and we would be swamped by all these particles and we would miss the dark matter particle,' she told the ABC. Dark matter surrounds galaxies across the universe, and is invisible because it does not reflect light. It . cannot be seen directly with telescopes, but astronomers know it to be . out there because of the gravitational effects it has on the matter we . can see. The European Space Agency says: 'Shine a torch in a completely dark room, and you will see only what the torch illuminates. 'That does not mean that the room around you does not exist. Similarly we know dark matter exists but have never observed it directly.' Scientists are fairly sure it exists, but they do not know what it looks like or . where to find it. The benefits of identifying dark matter are yet to be determined, but Professor Barberio is enthusiastic that advantages would soon be found. 'It's like the usual issues with fundamental science; at the beginning there are no applications,' she said. 'But if you look back to a little bit more than 100 years ago when they discovered the first elements of electricity and people didn't know what to do with it, eventually electricity is making most of our lives more comfortable.’ But even if the benefits of the research look as if they won't appear until the very distant future, the experiments, which hope to kick off in the next year or so, are likely to have benefits for the local economy. 'It would be the only facility nationally, Stawell would become a world leader,' Professor Taylor said. 'An underground laboratory with financial support, developed over many years would support technical skills and employment for engineers, electronics technicians, computer technicians etc.' The Stawell mine, 240kms from Melbourne, has been out of use since 2013 and is believed to house the perfect conditions for identifying dark matter .", "The world needs to prepare itself for a rapid increase in the speed of climate change, scientists have warned. US researchers claim that the fast onset of global warming is set to alter the way people live, even over short time scales. This is according to new evidence which suggests the rate at which temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere could be 0.25°C per decade by 2020 - a level not seen for at least 1,000 years. New evidence suggests the rate at which temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere could be 0.25°C per decade by 2020 - a level not seen for at least 1,000 years. The Arctic (purple) will be have the most dramatic increase, followed by North America (brown), Europe (black) and Asia (red) The analysis, based on a combination of data from more than two dozen climate simulation models from around the world, looked at the rate of change in 40-year long time spans. 'We focused on changes over 40-year periods, which is similar to the lifetime of houses and human-built infrastructure such as buildings and roads,' said lead scientist Dr Steve Smith, from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington. 'In the near term, we're going to have to adapt to these changes.' Overall, the world is getting warmer due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions that trap the sun's heat. But, given natural climate variability over short times scales, the likely effect of global warming over humanly relevant periods such as the length of a person's life is not so well understood. 'We focused on changes over 40-year periods, which is similar to the lifetime of houses and human-built infrastructure,' said lead scientist Dr Steve Smith, from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington. The graph shows the predicted changes under different scenarios of climate change . The new study started off by calculating how fast temperatures changed between 1850 and 1930, a period when the amount of fossil fuel gases collecting in the atmosphere was low. This was compared with temperature data for the past 2,000 years obtained by studying tree rings, corals and ice cores and predicted 40-year rates of change between 1971 and 2020. Over the 900 years preceding the 20th century, 40-year warming trends rarely showed an average rate much higher than 0.1°C per decade, the study found. But by 2020 the rate was expected to have risen to an average of 0.25°C per decade, give or take 0.05°C. Different scenarios of future emissions showed that even at the lower end of greenhouse gas generation climate change picked up speed in the next 40 years. Dr Smith added: 'In these climate model simulations, the world is just now starting to enter into a new place, where rates of temperature change are consistently larger than historical values over 40-year time spans. 'We need to better understand what the effects of this will be and how to prepare for them.' The findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The US National Oceanic and Atmosopheric Administration has detected warmer than average water temperatures around the equator of the Pacific Ocean (shown above) which indicates the arrival of El Niño . The world is finally in the grip of a long-awaited El Niño event that could alter global weather patterns - but the phenomenon is far weaker than expected. El Niño is caused by a shift in the distribution of warm water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator. Scientists have announced that sea surface water temperatures have been warmer than average in the western and central Pacific Ocean and have started to alter wind patterns. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now predicts that there is now a 50 to 60 per cent chance El Niño will continue through the summer. However, they say that the El Niño conditions are currently 'extremely weak' and come at a time of the year when the influence of El Niño on weather patterns usually declines. The NOAA said that it was unlikely the phenomenon would bring enough rain this spring to break the three-year record-breaking drought that is currently affecting California. Some meteorologists, however, have warned this El Niño could combine with another slow movement of water in the Pacific Ocean called the Pacific Decadal Osciallation (PDO). The PDO reached record levels in December last year and January this year, and should it stay strong, it may combine with El Niño to increase global temperatures.", "It's the holy grail for Harry Potter and Star Trek fans, but it seems a bright blue headed lizard has already developed its own invisibility cloak. Biologists were baffled as to how male Iberian emerald lizards have evolved their vivid blue and green colouring. While the brightly coloured skin it useful for attracting a mate, it should also make them easy for predators to spot. However, researchers from the University of Valencia in Spain and the Unviersity of Porto, Portugal, have found that these 15 inch long lizards have a secret weapon against hungry birds of prey - their own cloaking device. Iberian emerald lizard's skin makes the invisible from above but gives them bright colours at ground level . They discovered that the lizards' skin is iridescent and reflects light in different ways depending on the angle it is viewed from. Scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered a way to hide large objects from sight using inexpensive and readily available lenses. Their device, called the Rochester Cloak, uses four lenses in a line at specific distances from each other to make objects at the right distance appear invisible. It is one of the first cloaking methods to hide objects in three directions when viewed at varying angles in visible light. They constructed the £600 device they aligned the lenses at a precise length. The lenses then need to be paired up and separated by the sum of their focal lengths - which is the distance from the lens that an object comes into focus. Doing this will make objects that are placed between the third and fourth lens, or specific positions between the others, invisible. The background behind the equipment, however, will remain visible when viewed through other lenses. Scaling up the sizes of the lenses can then also increase the size of the cloaking effect. When viewed from above, the creatures blend into their background and become almost invisible to birds. However, when viewed from ground level, the lizards still stand out brightly - meaning fellow lizards can easily spot those looking for mate. Dr Guillem Pérez i de Lanuza, a biologist at the University of Porto, say their findings are the first evidence of iridescent colours being used by animals to alter their visibility depending on viewing angle. He said: 'Our results suggest that the blue heads are less striking for a bird above the lizard than a lizard in the same plane. 'Birds see a less UV pure colour that is more whitish and less chromatically conspicuous when seeing the lizards from above. 'It seems that birds may be the more probable predators of these relatively large lizards - some snakes and probably mammals, which see lizards horizontally, can also predate on lizards, but more probably only on young lizards, which do not show the conspicuous blue heads.' Iberian emerald lizards, also named Lacerta schreibeiri, are mainly found in the open rocky shrubland in the mountainous areas of northern Spain and Portugal. They are currently classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List and mainly eats insects and other small lizards. While the females tend to remain fairly well camouflaged against the rock and shrubs that fill the landscape where they live, the males develop vivid green bodies and bright blue heads as they reach sexual maturity. As these reptiles hunt during the day, it means the males should be highly conspicuous. The male Iberian emerald lizard has a blue head and green body that the plain brown and green females find irresistible, but these bright colours actually help them blend into their background when viewed from above . The scientists measured the light reflected from the skin of male Iberian emerald lizards (labelled L) from different angles and found that birds of prey (labelled P), which normally see the lizards from above, find harder to see than female lizards (C) which will tend to be on the same level on the ground with the males . The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Naturwissenschaften, used 10 captured adult males from the Tejera Negra Mountains in Spain and measured the light reflected from their skin at different angles. They found that when viewed from the same level, the lizard's skin reflected the widest spectrum of light, making them appear more colourful. However, when viewed from above, their skin appeared far duller and reflected less light, particularly in the blue and ultraviolet end of the spectrum. As birds tend to see far more ultraviolet light than humans, this should make the lizards harder to see. However, the difference in reflection is difficult for human eyes to see vision in birds is quite different from our own. Physicists have been trying to create material that works like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak for decades but it appears the Iberian emerald lizard has cracked the problem already to hide itself from avian predators . The scientists then compared the amount of contrast the lizards had against different backgrounds found in their habitat, such as rock, wood and the laurel-leaved rock rose and the dried leaves from the Pyrenean oak. They found that the lizards' blue heads were far more conspicious to other lizards on the same plane as the lizards than to birds of prey flying above. This suggests their brightly coloured iridescent skin actually helps the male lizards to blend into their background. Dr Pérez i de Lanuza said their results suggested that if birds were able to view the lizards from the ground, however, they would find them easy to spot, while lizards would struggle to find potential mates if they viewed from above. This ability to direct certain colours of light in specific directions is what has allowed the lizards to develop such bright skin for attracting partners without being targetted by predators. Dr Pérez i de Lanuza said the iridescence is thought to be caused by pigments that are produced in the skin rather than the structure of the scales themselves. Although the lizard seems to stand out against the rocks shrubs of its normal habitat in the mountains of northern Spain and Italy, to birds that see more in the ultraviolet spectrum, they become hard to spot . This could allow scientists to develop new types of camouflage for the military if it can be adapted. Dr Pérez i de Lanuza said: 'Based on the data available, skin structures responsible for structural colours don’t change seasonally. 'These colours are developed during lizard development and often appear at maturity and may be modified with growth also in adults. 'Probably, the seasonal changes in this kind of colours is caused by the pigment components that interact with structures to generate animal structural colours.' Dr Pérez i de Lanuza said that their findings could also provide new ways of looking at iridescence in other species such as butterflies, snakes, birds and fish. He said: 'Assuming that the iridescence of blue heads is selected positively by the interaction of natural selection and sexual selection, we can hypothesize that the fact that birds can see the UV spectrum is one of the causes that favour iridescence. 'We think that this phenomenon may be more widely distributed. For instance, more insects and birds show iridescent colours, often with more striking changes in colour appearance depending on the angle of vision than lizard blue heads.'", "Vibrio bacteria can cause gastroenteritis and cholera in humans . Normally found growing in warm and tropical waters, the bacteria now thrives in the Baltic Sea as a result of rising temperatures caused by climate change, scientists say . A temperature rise of one degree resulted in a 200 per cent increase in the number of Vibrio cases . Chances of getting a Vibrio infection still 'relatively low', say experts . By . Kerry Mcdermott . PUBLISHED: . 04:31 EST, 23 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:32 EST, 23 July 2012 . Thriving: Vibrio bacteria strains will continue to appear in new areas as ocean temperatures rise, experts say . The unexpected outbreak of a group of bacteria in northern Europe that can cause infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis is largely down to man-made climate change, new research shows. A study by a group of international experts has provided some of the first firm evidence that the warming patterns of the Baltic Sea have coincided with the emergence of Vibrio infections in northern Europe. Vibrios - a group of bacteria that is normally found growing in warm and tropical marine environments - can cause an array of infections in humans ranging from cholera to gastroenteritis-like symptoms from eating raw or undercooked shellfish, or from exposure to seawater. Symptoms of gastroenteritis include diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and stomach cramps. A team of scientists from Britain, Finland, Spain and the U.S. found the number and distribution of Vibrio cases in the Baltic sea area was strongly linked to peaks in sea surface temperatures. Each year the temperature rose one degree, the number of Vibrio cases rose almost 200 per cent. 'The big apparent increases that we've seen during heat wave years...tend to indicate that climate change is indeed driving infections,' Craig Baker-Austin from the UK-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science told Reuters. The team of scientists examined sea surface temperature records and satellite data, as well as statistics on Vibrio cases in the Baltic. Climate studies show that rising greenhouse gas emissions made global average surface temperatures increase by about 0.17 degrees Celsius per decade from 1980 to 2010. The scientists focused on the Baltic Sea in particular because it warmed at an unprecedented rate of 0.063 to 0.078 degrees Celsius a year from 1982 to 2010, or 6.3 to 7.8 degrees a century. '(It) represents, to our knowledge, the fastest warming marine ecosystem examined so far anywhere on earth,' said the paper, which was published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday. Many marine bacteria thrive in warm, low-saline sea water. Climate change has also resulted in more frequent and heavier rainfall, which has reduced the salt content of estuaries and coastal wetlands. As ocean temperatures continue to rise and coastal regions in northern areas become less saline, Vibrio bacteria strains will appear in new areas, the scientists said. Rising temperatures: The Baltic Sea represents the 'fastest warming marine eco-system examined so far anywhere on earth' Vibrio outbreaks have also been recorded in temperate and cold regions in Chile, Peru, Israel, the northwest U.S. Pacific and northwest Spain, and these can be linked to warming patterns, according to the research team. 'Very few studies have looked at the risk of these infections at high latitudes,' Mr Baker-Austin said. 'Certainly the chances of getting a Vibrio infection are considered to be relatively low, and more research is focused on areas where these diseases are endemic or at least more common,' he added. Previous Vibrio outbreaks in colder regions have often been put down to a sporadic event or special conditions rather than a response to long-term climate change. This is because the effects of global warming can be more pronounced at higher latitudes and in areas which lack detailed historical climate data, the study said. The scientist said there was a growing awareness that climate and the emergence of some infectious diseases are closely linked, but added that there are 'huge data gaps in that area which need addressing'.", "Solving the mystery of how 900-year-old African coins ended up in remote Australia could not only recast the history of foreign contact Down Under, but shed light on Aboriginal rock art. How the ancient Kilwa coins, believed to date from about 1100, came to be discovered on the Wessels Islands off the Northern Territory in 1944 has long posed questions about foreign visits to far off Australian shores. Australian Ian McIntosh, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University in the United States, said rock art found on the islands -- which includes one image which appears to show a type of European sailing vessel -- could hold some clues. The Kilwa coins were discovered lying in the sand by Royal Australian Air Force radar operator Maurie Isenberg during World War II . Isenberg initially tried to sell the coins but was unsuccessful. He put them away for decades and it wasn't until 1979 that he sent them to a museum for identification . 'A big part of the next stage will be documenting, dating and interpreting (the art), together with indigenous peoples,' McIntosh told AFP from his home in Indiana. The Kilwa coins were discovered lying in the sand by Royal Australian Air Force radar operator Maurie Isenberg during World War II when he was stationed on the island as the Pacific conflict raged. He found nine coins in all, five African copper pieces and four Dutch coins of European origin which are not nearly as old. Isenberg initially tried to sell the coins but was unsuccessful. He put them away for decades and it wasn't until 1979 that he sent them to a museum for identification, along with a map showing where he had found them. McIntosh said there were several theories on the coins, including that they were washed ashore after a shipwreck. The coins - believed to have originated in the medieval sultanate of Kilwa- have led to speculation that parts of northern Australia were visited by other mariners from as far away as the Middle East and Africa . One explanation could be that a known Indonesian, a shipwreck survivor who lived his life on the Wessels Islands, could have brought the coins to the area . European sailors are known to have sailed the coast of Australia in the 1600s, but it wasn't until captain James Cook landed in Sydney's Botany Bay in 1770 that the British laid claim to the country. The coins -- believed to have originated in the medieval sultanate of Kilwa, an area which is now in Tanzania -- have led to speculation that parts of northern Australia were visited by other mariners from as far away as the Middle East and Africa. As McIntosh wrote in a recent paper for the journal 'Australian Folklore', in terms of the chain of events in the discovery, 'the argument for the involvement of Kilwa traders and also the Portuguese is quite compelling'. He notes the sea route from Kilwa in east Africa to Oman and then onto India, Malaysia and Australia's close neighbour Indonesia was well established by the 1500s and probably for many hundreds of years before that. The coins were found on a beach on the Wessel Islands. The islands, pictured here at marker A, are off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. They were a key strategic position during the Second World War . Aboriginal Australians are thought to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by boat from the Malay Archipelago between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago. However, the first known landing in Australia by Europeans was by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606. Other Dutch navigators explored the western and southern coasts in the 17th century, and dubbed the continent 'New Holland.' In 1770, British explorer Captain James Cook explored the east coast of Australia. The British penal colony was then first established at Botany Bay in January 1788. During the following century, the British established other colonies on the continent. This reduced the number of indigenous Australians because of conflict with the colonists and new diseases bought over from Europe. Australia fought with the British during both world wars. McIntosh said a number of his team felt the coins had simply been washed ashore but admitted 'we're still toying with a whole bunch of ideas here'. The academic said one explanation could be that a known Indonesian, a shipwreck survivor who lived his life on the Wessels Islands, could have brought the coins to the area. The coins, he speculates, may have represented this man's 'worldly wealth'. McIntosh said an expedition he led in July to the site where the coins were discovered, which involved an intensive search in the harsh terrain, had not uncovered any further coins. 'Over the past couple of years, we've developed a whole series of hypotheses to explain how those coins might have got from East Africa to northern Australia,' he said. 'The whole point of this initial site survey was to try and get enough evidence to push us in particular directions.' What the researchers did uncover was the Aboriginal rock art and some potential evidence of shipwrecks -- a not unlikely proposition given the dangerous reefs off the islands -- in the form of a six-foot piece of timber from a boat. McIntosh said the scientists would work with indigenous people to look at the art and see whether it matches any known ship types, adding that there were multiple stories of interaction in the past with 'different people -- black and white from somewhere else, not Aboriginal.' For now the mystery remains. 'These coins probably remained in circulation for a couple of hundred years but only in the vicinity of East Africa, beyond that they didn't have value,' McIntosh said, adding that other coins of this type had only been found in Zimbabwe and Oman. 'Nowhere else in the world have they been found, except for northern Australia,\" said McIntosh. \"Very unusual. That's had everybody puzzled.' Australian scientist and professor at Indiana University, Ian McIntosh, points to the location where the copper coins were found .", "Anaesthetic gases used to send patients to sleep during surgery are accumulating in the Earth's atmosphere where they are contributing to climate change. Scientists say they have detected the gases used in anaesthetic as far a field as Antarctica and concentrations have been rising globally in the past decade. The gases - desflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane - are potent greenhouse gases that have 2,500 times the impact on global warming compared to carbon dioxide. Anaesthetic is used to send patients to sleep during surgery (above) but it may also be warming the planet . Atmospheric scientists who have been monitoring the gases say that while the concentrations in the atmosphere are low, they are having an increasing effect on the climate. Dr Martin Vollmer, who led the study at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology in Dubendorf, Switzerland, said the anaesthetic gases were capable of storing far more energy from the sun than carbon dioxide. The world needs to prepare itself for a rapid increase in the speed of climate change, scientists have warned. Researchers have found evidence that suggests the rate at which temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere could be 0.25°C per decade by 2020 - a level not seen for at least 1,000 years. The analysis, based on a combination of data from more than two dozen climate simulation models from around the world, looked at the rate of change in 40-year long time spans. Over the 900 years preceding the 20th century, 40-year warming trends rarely showed an average rate much higher than 0.1°C per decade, the study found. But by 2020 the rate was expected to have risen to an average of 0.25°C per decade, give or take 0.05°C. Different scenarios of future emissions showed that even at the lower end of greenhouse gas generation climate change picked up speed in the next 40 years. He said: 'On a kilogram-per-kilogram basis, it's so much more poten . 'Modern halogenated inhalation anesthetics undergo little metabolisation during clinical application and evaporate almost completely to the atmosphere.' The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that concentrations of desflurane reached 0.30 parts per trillion in 2014. Isoflurane, sevoflurane and halothane have reached 0.097, 0.13 and 0.0092 parts per trillion in the atmosphere respectively. By comparison, carbon dioxide gas currently makes up 400 parts per million in the atmosphere. However, one kilogram (2.2lbs) of desflurane produces the same greenhouse effect as 2,500 kg (5,512lbs) of carbon dioxide. The researchers estimate that anaesthetic gas emissions currently combine to produce the equivalent effect in the atmosphere of 3.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The research team did not examine the impact of nitrous oxide, another major component of anaesthetic, as it is released by many other sources. The researchers have been taking air samples from remote sites around the Northern Hemisphere since 2000 while they have also obtained air samples in the North Pacific and the South Shetland Islands in Antarctic. The gases escape through vents in operating rooms (pictured) when breathed out by patients and from masks . The team also used two hourly measurements at a high altitude observatory at Jungfraujoch, Switzerland since 2013 to track anaesthetic gases. They then used computer modelling to produce global estimates for the concentrations of these gases. The gases escape from hospital operating rooms via air vents during surgery. An estimated 280 tonnes of anaesthetic gases are used every year. Jodi Sherman, an anaesthesiologist at Yale University who reviewed the paper, said hospitals should consider using other chemicals in anaesthetic. She said: 'There's nothing unique about desflurane that we can't do with other drugs. 'Desflurane we could live without, and every little bit makes a difference. 'Health care in and of itself in the US is one of the worst polluting industries. Scientists say that hospitals should consider alternative anaesthetics when performing operations like above . 'It generates eight percent of US greenhouse gases according to one study. 'Add to this the fact that climate change has been recognized by the World Health Organization as the number one health issue of the 21st century, and it behooves us to do a better job with emissions.' However, Edmond Eger, an anaethesiologist at the University of California San Francisco, said: 'What the report fails to note is that a major factor determining the environmental effect is the manner in which the anesthetics are used. 'Many anesthetists deliver sevoflurane or isoflurane in a two - three liters per minute flow but deliver desflurane in a lower flow - 0.5 to one liter per minute. 'Some believe that desflurane has clinical advantages that argue for its continued use.'", "There may be fewer hours of sunlight as we head towards winter, but it could still be possible to get your daily dose of Vitamin D thanks to a revolutionary mushroom. Eating just three of the Active Health mushrooms, sold by M&S, provides 100 per cent of an adult’s recommended daily allowance. The store spent five years developing the mushrooms, which taste just like the regular variety and also contain Vitamin B5 to fight fatigue and potassium to help maintain normal blood pressure. Scroll down for video . Marks & Spencer says eating just three of its new mushrooms will give you your daily dose of Vitamin D . The mushrooms, which sell for £1.20 for 200 grams, are grown in County Monaghan, Ireland, and naturally enriched with the vitamin by exposure to light. Studies have shown that UV light stimulates the mushrooms to convert natural sterols into Vitamin D. Normally mushrooms are commercially produced in dark warehouses as they do not need sunlight to grow, but the M&S mushrooms receive a carefully-measured amount of bright light to simulate sunlight and trigger the Vitamin D-producing action. The main source of the vitamin for humans is sunlight but it also occurs in some foods such as oily fish and eggs and is necessary for strong bones and teeth. M&S spent five years developing the mushrooms . As many as 70 per cent of Britons are thought to have a Vitamin D insufficiency, which is believed to be caused by diet and the country’s poor weather and short winter days. Claire Hughes, M&S nutritionist, said: ‘It’s taken us over five years to bring these mushrooms to our shelves, but it has been worth the wait – they provide 100 per cent of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin D and are a delicious way of making dinner even healthier.’ Last year scientists presented a study at the American Society for Biochemistry and Microbiology meeting in Boston showing that any mushrooms could be enriched with Vitamin D by placing them in sunlight between 10am and 3pm for 30 to 60 minutes. Cooking did not remove the nutrient and even harvested mushrooms would continue to produce it as long as they were placed in direct sunlight, according to lead author Dr Michael Holick. He said: ‘Yes, we are talking about regular mushrooms. Just take them out of the packaging and place them in the sunshine. It doesn’t matter which way up they are, after about 30 minutes they should produce a good source of vitamin D.’ Growers in the U.S. and Australia have been using the practice for some years, but the M&S mushrooms are believed to be the first in Europe to have been produced with increased Vitamin D levels in mind. The brand’s Active Health range already includes eggs, milk, yoghurt and cheese with added Vitamin D. Its Brussels sprouts enriched with selenium, which helps thyroid function and could help protect against cancer, will go on sale on October 17.", "From working sunrise until sunset to a heart-warming embrace between a girl and her horse - these stunning pictures give city dwellers a glimpse into the life and hardships faced by Australians who live in our country's most regional areas. Run in conjunction with an annual cattlemen's conference, the photography competition was designed to illustrate the Northern Territory's unique outback lifestyle as well as their distinctive people and landscapes. Locals describe the amateur competition as a chance to showcase the best the bush has to offer. Winner: Marie Muldoon's heartwarming shot took out the competition, also snagging the People's Choice award . Marie Muldoon won this years competition with a touching photo of her daughter cuddling up to a horse, titled True Love. The moving photograph which speaks to the intrinsic link between man and animal was voted the overall winner, also snagging the People's Choice award. Tracey Hayes, chief executive of the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association, told the ABC that the competition provides a platform for people from remote communities to illustrate what it's like to live in rural Australia. 'It's an insight into the lives of people living on the land and a way of connecting the bush to the broader urban community,' she said. Veronica Elliot won the best portrait of person or animal with her photograph Eric. Eric: 'It's an insight into the lives of people living on the land and a way of connecting the bush to the broader urban community.' The raw image captures the expressions of a rural man during an intimate moment of vulnerability. The winner of the 'Industry at work or play' category goes to Jacynta Coffey for her stunning shot titled Sunrise Draft. The photograph captures a farmers black silhouette against an amazing haze of orange light during a Northern Territory sunset. The competition asks for images that will illustrate the Northern Territory's unique outback lifestyle as well as their distinctive people and landscapes. Lastly, the 'NT landscape' category was won by Anna Weir for her amazing photograph of waterlogged farm land called No.11 Ammaroo. The photograph explores the intense impact mother nature can have on workers in regional areas. The annual competition was held at the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association's conference. Anna Weir took out the landscape category with her photograph of a flooded field called No.11 Ammaroo . Jacynta Coffey had an amazing year in 2014 as she took out the whole competition with a photo titled Trucking which depicts a convoy of trucks parading through a lush green pasture. Ms Coffey also won the People’s Choice category with her photo Feeding the Bulls and the NT Landscape category for her photo Sunset Storm. Trucking: This shot which represents typical station life won the competition for Jacynta Coffey back in 2014 . Sunset storm: This breathtaking shot of a storm against green pastures won the 2014 landscape category . Feeding the bulls: A photo of a small child standing by as bulls rush towards a feeding trough won the People's Choice award in 2014 . The relationship between man and animals remains a constant theme through the photography competition . Tania Brooks snagged 2014's best portrait with her shot 'Noo Noo and Toby'", "In just a decade, the caterpillar of the horse chestnut leaf-mining moth has munched its way across most of England and Wales, turning leaves brown months early and shrinking conkers. Scientists say there is no way of controlling the tiny but insatiable pest – and we will have to get used to seeing fewer horse chestnut trees. The warning follows a project in which thousands of ‘citizen scientists’, including schoolchildren, helped researchers monitor the moth’s march. The leaf-miner moth has eaten its way through greenery in most parts of England and Wales in the past decade . Information from the volunteers showed that the Greek invader has spread to most of England and Wales since first being spotted in Wimbledon, south west London, in 2002. The caterpillars, which are no bigger than a grain of rice, burrow through the leaves of conker trees, causing them to turn brown and autumnal in appearance, even in the height of summer. Although this doesn’t kill the horse chestnut outright, there are fears about the long-term health of the trees which can live for several hundred years. It is already known that the average conker has shrunk in size from 1.25 inches in diameter to just one inch. One of the keys the pest’s success is the speed at which it breeds. Within just one summer, a single female can give rise to 5,000 moths, and a tree will appear to shimmer with activity as the young emerge from their silken cocoons. The citizen science project, reported in the journal PLoS ONE (MUST CREDIT), also revealed that it takes just three years from the first moth arriving in an area for the majority of horse chestnuts to turn brown before their time. Michael Pocock, of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Oxfordshire, said: ‘It looks like autumn has come early. Scientists say there is no way to stop the pest which turns leaves brown months early and shrinks conkers . ‘They are going brown in August, rather than in November.’ Experiments done by the volunteers showed that although Britain does have parasitic wasps that prey on the caterpillars, there are not enough to them to keep the pests under control. Dr Pocock said that ultimately, the disease could cause horse chestnuts to disappear. This is because as the trees die from other causes, they are being replaced with other species because people don’t want to see ugly, brown pitted leaves. The moth, which was first spotted in Macedonia, northern Greece in the 1970s, is a poor flier and is thought to hitch lifts on cars and lorries. Dr Pocock, who worked with Hull University on the study, said: ‘There has been quite a lot of research money spent and scientists have had to say there is nothing that can be done to stop its spread. ‘Although, what is interesting is that it got to Newcastle in 2011 and doesn’t seem to have got any further north – I was expecting it to get to Scotland about two years ago. It hasn’t yet and I’m intrigued.’", "Smog in China has become a threat to national security because surveillance cameras guarding sensitive sites can’t film through the thick haze, experts claim. The smog that blankets the country for much of the year is getting worse and now the central government fears terrorists may choose a smoggy day to launch attacks. Concerns were voiced as it was reported that an eight-year-old girl had become the youngest person in China . to contract lung cancer which doctors claim was caused by the country's . horrendous air pollution. Before: A view of the Chinese city of Nanjing shrouded in smog which is having a devastating affect on people's health . A breath of fresh: An image showing the very same shot of Nanjing on a clear day . Terrible legacy of industrialisation: An eight-year-old girl has reportedly become the youngest person in China to contract lung cancer which doctors in Nanjing (above) claim was caused by horrendous air pollution . Time to change: The same view in the previous picture looks beautiful on a smog-free day . The . girl, who has not been named, lives nears a busy road in the eastern . province of Jiangsu, according to AFP which cited Xinhuanet, the website . of China's official news agency. The . report quoted a doctor at Jiangsu Cancer Hospital in Nanjing who said . the girl had been exposed to harmful particles and dust for an extended . period. Referring to the effect on CCTV cameras, Kong Zilong, a . senior project engineer and an expert in video surveillance technology, . said: 'As the visibility drops below three metres, even the best camera . cannot see beyond a dozen metres.' The security fears come just days . after suicide bombers protesting against oppression in the western . Muslim province of Xinjiang drove a car into a crowd of tourists in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square - the site of . the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters by government troops and . tanks. The car exploded . into a fireball, killing the three occupants and two tourists and . injuring 40. Five people have been arrested in connection with the attack. Watch where you're going: Cyclists ride amid heavy haze in Xingtai, Hebei province earlier this month . Walking on: A woman wearing a mask walk through a street covered by dense smog in Harbin, northern China . According . to government advisers, existing technology, such as infrared imaging, . can help cameras see through fog or smoke at a certain level, but the . smog on the mainland has reached apocalyptic proportion. The . particles are so dense, they block light almost as effectively as a . brick wall but ‘the security devices that could function in heavy smog . had yet to be invented’ Mr Kong said. Like Britain, Beijing has invested . heavily to build up a nationwide surveillance network that lets police . watch every major street and corner in main cities. The government has now turned to scientists to come up with a solution. The . National Natural Science Foundation of China funded two teams, one . civilian and one military, to study the issue and has told the . scientists involved to find solutions within four years. Fireball: The security fears come days after alleged suicide bombers drove a car into a crowd of tourists in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (above), killing its three occupants and two pedestrians as well injuring 40 others . What did they pick up? A police officer seen walking past CCTV cameras (top right) near to the site of the attack days before experts revealed their fears that smog is hampering the country's war on terror . Professor Yang Aiping, an expert in digital imaging, said she was facing tremendous pressure because of the enormous technological challenges. It comes as China's top negotiator at international climate talks said on Tuesday that air pollution in his own country - the world's biggest carbon emitter - is harming its citizens. 'China indeed is suffering from severe air pollution,' said Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning body. Smoggy conditions have 'now become the norm which has severely affected the mental and physical health of the Chinese people', he added - but voiced hope for improvement in the next decade. Xie, speaking to reporters before global climate talks in Poland next week, attributed China's air problems to the country's 'obsolete development model', its 'unreasonable industrial and energy structure\" and discharge of pollutants by some companies 'in a very extensive way'. The root cause, he added, is the 'use of fossil fuels'. Blanketed: Buildings are seen through thick smog in Beijing in 2007. Experts say air pollution has got even worse since to the point where CCTV cameras are struggling pick up images even a few metres away . Damning: Recent Nasa satellite images reveal the terrifying extent of China's air pollution. The thick haze of smog is clearly visible in murky grey . Pollution is becoming a major source . of public anger in China and authorities vowed in September to reduce . levels of atmospheric pollutants in Beijing and other major cities by as . much as 25 per cent by 2017 to try to improve their dire air quality. The government said pollution levels . would be cut by slowing the growth of coal consumption so that its share . of China's energy sources fell to 65 percent by 2017. Last month, choking smog forced Chinese authorities to shut down one of the country's largest cities.The . dense pollution in Harbin - a city of more than 10 million people – . meant that visibility was reduced to less than 10 metres. The . smog forced schools to suspend classes, caused snarling traffic and . closed the airport, in what was the country's first major air pollution . crisis of the winter. The cold weather typically brings the worst air . pollution to northern China because of a combination of weather . conditions and an increase in the burning of coal for homes and . municipal heating systems. China is the world's biggest coal consumer and is forecast to account for more than half of global demand next year.", "Mysterious rumbles thought to be coming from strange activity deep beneath the ground in Italy have been traced to a rather more mundane source - machinery in cement factories. Scientists have been baffled by a series of tremors that were being detected by Italy's extensive network of seismic sensors in recent years. They had attributed the vibrations to movements of magma bubbling near the surface of the Earth's crust beneath the country, despite occurring in areas that were not volcanically active. Geologists detected 342 tremors with epicentres within 150 metres (492 feet) of a cement plant in Ghigiano, Umbria in northern Italy, a location that is not volcanically active yet was being hit with mysterious rumbles . But now geologists believe they have found a more concrete answer for the weird seismic activity - the country's extensive network of cement factories. Italy is one of the largest producers of cement in Europe and has at least 57 full cycle plants and dozens more processing plants. The researchers now believe that these enormous factories could be responsible for producing vibrations across almost half of the country. Mysterious floating orbs, which have been linked to UFOs by some, could provide an early warning to earthquakes according to scientists. They have found that these lights, which are seen just before or after an earthquake, tend to occur on or near a rift in the Earth's crust - elongated troughs that are bounded on both sides by normal faults. Electrical charges flow along stress lines the crust and when they reach the surface, ionise the air molecules to produce light. Looking back at 65 of the best recorded incidents of earthquake lights in America and Europe since the 1600s, scientists found 85 percent appeared spatially on or near rifts while 97 per cent appeared adjacent to a type of fault known as a subvertical fault . Scientists believe it may be possible to detect the electrical charges that create the lights to help them detect earthquakes before they happen. They calculated that each factory can shake the surrounding countryside up to 18 miles away. Dr Diana Latorre and her colleagues at the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcananology in Italy said that thousands of tremors, or microearthquakes, are recorded very year in Italy. However, they said their findings suggest that many of these are not natural. Dr Latorre said: 'We have shown that these signals are not due to earthquakes, neither to quarry blasts since they have different spectral properties with clear harmonic signature and low-frequency content. 'Looking at the time distribution, it appears that low frequency event occurrence is often characterised by a regular behavior, suggesting a human control of these sources. 'In a single cement plant, there are several machines capable of inducing tremors to the ground. 'Each of these machineries involves strong vibrations - some of them are installed underground to minimize the outdoor effect, possibly increasing the coupling to the ground below. 'If we assume that every cement factory produces seismic vibrations detectable in an area of at least 1250 km, a radius of 20km, to 2800 km, radius 30km, we find that a very significant portion of Italy (23% to 51%) is affected by industrial noise as that analyzed in our study.' The National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanaology seismic sensors detected thousands of low frequency tremors between 2010 and 2012 (marked by red dots), so researchers focused on events in the black boxes and were able to trace them to cement factories (marked by green diamonds) in Varese (VR), Pordenone (PN), Padova (PD), Arezzo (AR), Gubbio (GB), Sesto Campano (SC), Potenza (PZ), Matera (MT), and Ragusa (RG) The vibrations appeared to follow regular patterns, often becoming less frequent in August and at night . Italy is one of the most seismically active regions in the Mediterranean as it sits on the boundary where the Eurasian continental plate meets the African continental plate. A small tectonic plate, known as Adriatic Plate formed around the boot of Italy between 140 and 70 million years ago and resulted in many of the active volcanoes that are dotted around the country. The National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanaology monitors these with a network of 350 seismometres that are capable of detecting tremors with a magnitude of just 0.5. For years scientists have been unable to explain thousands of low frequency tremors that were occuring in parts of the country where there should be little or no activity. In 2008, Geologists attempted to explain this as vibrations coming from magma filled cracks in the upper crust. Italy sits at the boundary between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates where the small Adriatic plate (marked by red dotted line) is being deformed, causing volcanos to appear in the south of the country . Italy has 57 full cycle cement factories and dozens of other processing plants invovled in the industry that could be responsible for thousands of mysterious tiny tremors that have been detected around the country . However, Dr Latorre and her team found the signals from these events seemed to centre around cement factories and seemed to match vibrations from industrial activity. The researchers analysed the patterns of hundreds of low-frequency rumbles detected by seismic sensors around the country over three years. In one example they discovered 342 events had their epicentre within 500 feet of a cement factory in Ghigiano, in Umbria. This factory, run by the firm Colacem, has the capacity to produce around 1.25 million tonnes of cement a year. At another site around Caravate, in Varese, northern Italy, seismic sensors more than 4 miles away from the Colacem cement factory detected up to 100 of low frequency rumbles a day. These tended to be limited to one to three months of the year, however. At other sites, the researchers detected up to 250 events a day. The researchers, who have published their findings in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, also found that fewer tremors occurred at night and at weekends. The scientists examined the location of seismic events (red dots) detected by sensors (yellow triangles) and analysed the pattern they produced on seismographs (middle). Green diamonds show the position of huge cement plants operating in the same areas, which appear to be the epicentres for the tremors . There were also periods when the tremors were more intense, usually at times when the factories are thought to be most active such as the winter and less activity during the summer months. Nationally Italy produces between 29 million and 48 million tons of cement a year with its factories using a range of heavy machinery to crush and grind the raw material into the final product. These include using enormous rotary kilns that are hundreds of metres long, mills that use conical rollers to crush the raw rock and cement mills that steel balls to turn the product into powder. However, details of when and how these are used is often limited as the companies do not publish their production schedules, according to the researchers. Dr Latorre said that although the tremors were generally less than Magnitude 1 on the Richter Scale, it was important to understand their source to help monitor seismic activity in Italy. She said: 'We still believe that in Italy geological processes might generate unconventional earthquakes and tremors due to fluid mobilization in the mantle and in the crust. 'However, in such a complex and noisy environment, ongoing investigations searching for natural tremors, should take into account and isolate all possible sources of man-made noise.'", "(CNN) -- Sectarian violence has sparked a \"serious\" human rights situation in western Myanmar, a U.N. envoy said. Tomas Quintana, the U.N.'s human rights rapporteur for Myanmar, called for an independent investigation into allegations that authorities are using excessive force and committing other human rights violations while trying to restore order in Rakhine state. \"While I am in no position to be able to verify these allegations at this point in time, they are of grave concern,\" Quintana said Saturday after completing a six-day visit to the country that included a trip to the western state, where a surge in sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in recent months has left dozens dead and displaced thousands. Rakhine is home to the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority who say they have been persecuted the Myanmar military during its decades of authoritarian rule. On Saturday, Quintana said an investigation in Rakhine is important to guarantee accountability. \"Reconciliation will not be possible without this, and exaggerations and distortions will fill the vacuum to further fuel distrust and tensions between communities,\" he said. Quintana also called for the release of six United Nations staff members in prison who were detained \"in connection with events\" in the state. \"I am of the view that the charges against them are unfounded and that their due process rights have been denied,\" he said. Their detention comes at a time that Myanmar has released hundreds of political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and instituted a series of political reforms after decades of repressive military rule. Western governments have responded to the efforts by easing sanctions on the country. Violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in Rakhine in June, after police detained three Muslim men in relation to the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman. Two of the men were sentenced to death, the government-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported on its website. A third man hanged himself while in detention on June 9. News of the crime appears to have motivated several hundred people to attack a bus in Rakhine in early June, killing 10 Muslims who were on board. Violence between Buddhists and Muslims then spread across the northern part of the state, resulting in the destruction of thousands of homes and the deaths of about 50 people, according to the government. The national government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine, bringing in the military to help restore order. The unrest has tested the efforts of President Thein Sein's administration to seek reconciliation with Myanmar's different ethnic groups and move the country toward more democratic governance. CNN's Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.", "Experts may be concerned that a faulty thruster on the Philae lander could potentially scupper the Rosetta mission, but its lead scientist is so confident of success that he already has the triumphant moment of landing tattooed on his leg. British scientist Dr Matt Taylor is one of the most important people involved in the European Space Agency's mission to land on a comet for the first time and has become a Twitter sensation. The Rosetta Project Scientist has caused a stir on the social network because of his unorthodox appearance, involving bright shirts and an array of body art - including a tattoo on his leg of the space probe landing on the comet, which he got in January. Scroll down for video . Dr Matt Taylor, Rosetta Project Scientist, has caused a stir on Twitter because of his unorthodox appearance, involving bright shirts and an array of body art (pictured) Dr Taylor, from north east London, is so positive that the mission to land on the comet will be successful that he has already had the moment permanently etched on his body. He told BBC Breakfast: ‘I'm incredibly confident that we're going to nail this landing. I'm confident enough to have it drawn on my body.’ As he showed off the design on his right thigh, Dr Taylor said: ‘That's my prediction for later today, that we get the lander on the comet.’ The scientist is so positive that the mission to land on the comet will be successful that he has already had the moment permanently etched on his body (pictured) Earlier this morning, Esa's Rosetta probe released its Philae lander to attempt the first ever landing of a spacecraft on the surface of a comet. The separation was confirmed at 9.03am GMT, with pictures of Philae approaching the comet expected throughout the day before it lands on the surface at 3.30pm GMT. But the success of the mission now hangs in the balance after a thruster on Philae was found to be faulty. Mission controllers say there is a 50 per cent chance the cold thruster positioned on top of the lander will work, and without it, Philae will have to rely solely on harpoons to attach to the surface of the comet. The cold thruster was designed to push Philae closer to the comet. Dr Taylor, the son of a brick layer, was reportedly told to cover his tattoos at media events in the past, but his appearance seems only to have increased his popularity. Twitter users praised Dr Taylor for being ‘a proper cool scientist’ and ‘definitely not boring’ after he appeared on the European Space Agency live stream and BBC Breakfast wearing a multi-coloured shirt emblazoned with illustrations of glamorous women, which he teamed with shorts, which showed off his tattoos. To convince his new team of his dedication, Dr Taylor promised that if Rosetta woke up from its hibernation, he would get a tattoo to commemorate the event. This video shows the creation of the tattoo . Esa has successfully made contact with the Philae lander after it separated from the Rosetta spacecraft this morning at 08.35am GMT. It is now heading towards the comet and is expected to attempt to land on the surface at 4pm GMT. Pictured right is Paolo Ferri, Head of Mission Operations, celebrating making contact . When Philae touches the surface of the comet it will fire harpoons into the surface to keep it anchored there. To keep it attached to the surface a thruster at the top will push it down as the harpoons fire. But at the moment the thruster does not appear to be working. This means the lander will have to rely solely on its harpoons to stay attached to the surface. It will have to hope they grab the surface immediately and keep the lander anchored there. If they don’t, the force of firing them could send it floating off into space. 'We’ll need some luck not to land on a boulder or a steep slope,’ said Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the DLR German Aerospace Centre. One Twitter user wrote: 'Dr Matt Taylor is what every scientist should look like - rad shirt, sleeve tattoos. Rad,' while another said: ‘Matt Taylor causing thousands of people to choke on their cornflakes this morning.’ Dr Taylor studied at the University of Liverpool and Imperial College London, winning a PhD in space plasma physics . He has worked at the European Space Agency since 2005 and was given the top scientific job on the mission in the summer of 2013. The role was a real change from his previous job, which was studying the physics of the northern lights, The Guardian reported. Professor Mark McCaughrean, senior science advisor at ESA, who appointed Dr Taylor, said that he took a chance on the young scientist as he would have to come up to speed with the mission quickly and gain the trust of older experts who had been working at ESA for decades. To convince them of his dedication, Dr Taylor promised that if Rosetta woke up from its hibernation, he would get a tattoo to commemorate the event. In January this happened, and a school friend turned tattoo artist etched a reminder of the ambitious mission on his leg. In his profile on the Rosetta project website, Dr Taylor says: ‘The opportunity to work on Rosetta was huge and I cannot begin to describe the excitement associated with this mission. It really is just so cool.’ Rosetta has chased comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko through space for more than ten years in what has been described as 'the sexiest, most fantastic mission ever'. After a four billion mile (6.5 billion km) journey, it is now positioned in an orbit 19 miles (30 km) away from 67P .", "(CNN) -- Stargazers crossed their fingers Thursday as NASA attempted to revive the planet-hunting Kepler probe, idled since a piece of critical equipment gave out in orbit two months ago. Kepler has been sidelined since mid-May, when a reaction wheel that helps aim the spacecraft's telescope failed. Controllers launched a series of tests that will determine whether that device can be restarted, or whether another reaction wheel that quit in July 2012 can be reactivated. Controllers have remained in communication with the craft, which is about 45 million miles from Earth. It takes about four minutes for a radio signal to traverse that gap. In the first round of tests, telemetry from the craft indicated the wheel that shut down in May spun counterclockwise, but didn't respond to commands to turn clockwise, NASA reported. Controllers will go ahead with tests scheduled for next week on the other wheel while they study the results of Thursday's effort. Kepler project manager Roger Hunter called Thursday's findings \"an interesting development.\" \"While this is a positive start, it is very early in the multi-stepped process to characterize the performance of the reaction wheels and to determine if one could return to operation,\" Hunter said in a written statement. \"The team will remain focused on the upcoming tests and report the cumulative test results at the end of the month.\" The 15-foot, 2,300-pound spacecraft was launched in 2009 to search for Earth-size planets circling stars like our sun. The roughly $600 million mission has so far confirmed 134 planets and identified nearly 3,300 possible planets beyond our solar system. Kepler was built with four reaction wheels and needs three to keep the spacecraft aimed precisely at its targets -- one to fine-tune the spacecraft's position on each axis. After May's failure, only two remained in service and the probe went into a low-powered state to preserve fuel. \"We're kind of hoping for the best, but planning for the worst,\" said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kepler's observations have focused on a sliver of the cosmos around the Northern Hemisphere constellations Cygnus and Lyra. They have led scientists to believe that most stars in our galaxy have planets circling them. The craft's light-recording photometer has shown that the intensities of as many as two-thirds of stars are more variable than our sun. And in April, researchers reported that they had identified three planets that could potentially host life. Two of those -- Kepler 62e and 62f, located about 1,200 light-years away -- are considered the best candidates so far. \"We really want Kepler to be able to return to be able to operation in the same way that it was before the wheel failed,\" said Seager, a former member of the Kepler science team. \"That's the ultimate hope.\" But the probe has already surpassed its three-and-a-half-year minimum expected lifespan, and it has collected enough data to keep scientists busy for up to two years. And even if Kepler can't regain the kind of steady precision required for its observations to date, NASA may be able to use the spacecraft for other purposes, Seager said.", "On first glance they appear to simply be bland, bleach-white seashells, but when viewed under ultraviolet light they are transformed. Scientists have used a new technique to reconstrcut the colourful patterns on 28 fossilised cone snail shells that are up to 6.6 million years old. The technique has allowed researchers to look millions of years into the past to see how these once elaborately decorated shells would have once looked. The fossilised cone snail shells have bleached over time, like the one labelled A, but under ultraviolet light traces of pigment still in the shells are revealed, labelled B, allowing their colours to be reconstrcuted (C) Instead of being a simple white colour, they were infact covered in streaks of orange, purple, blue and even large pokadots. The scientists now believe the cone snail shells, which come from the northern Dominican Republic, include 13 entirely new species. A deadly tropical sea snail uses a super-potent form of insulin to subdue its fish prey, scientists have discovered. The geographic cone snail (Conus geographus) uses the chemical to cause a plunge in blood sugar, leaving the fish sluggish and unable to swim to safety. In this way the snail is able to entrap whole schools of small fish. C. geographus is one of the most venomous creatures on Earth, and known to have killed dozens of people in accidental encounters. It hunts in two ways, both by releasing toxins into the water and by firing a harpoon-like poison-tipped tooth into its prey.No antidote exists for a cone snail sting, which contains a mixture of nerve agents. The new research has uncovered one highly unusual ingredient in the cone snail's venom cocktail - weaponised insulin. In tests, a synthetic version of the hormone - made from shorter protein chains than normal insulin - lowered the blood sugar levels of adult zebrafish. Injected into water, it also reduced the movements of fish larvae. There are about 30 recorded instances of people being killed by cone snails, some of which have attractive and collectible shells. Dr Jonathan Hendricks, a paleontologist at the San Jose State University who led the research, said that the lack of colouration in many fosisilised cone snail shells made them difficult to identify. He said: 'Original coloration patterns — if not the actual colors themselves —sometimes become visible when fossil shells are illuminated with ultraviolet light, which causes formerly pigmented regions of the shell to fluoresce. 'Once a specimen has been photographed under UV light, it is possible to use photoediting software to reconstruct the original shell coloration pattern. 'This is done by creating a reversed, negative image, which causes bright, fluorescing markings to become darkened, corresponding with regions that were once pigmented.' Dr Hendricks used the ultraviolet technique to examine a range of fossilised shells that were discovered in the Cibao Valley of the northern Dominican Republic. Although it is now a rich and fertile inland valley, millions of years ago during the Neogene it was covered by ocean. All cone snails are venomous and predatory, with many species still around today. They use a harpoon like tooth that injects venom into their prey. In some cases the cone snail toxins are lethal to humans while many have a painful sting. Due to their bright colours and patterns they are often handled by unwary humans, leaving them vulnerable to stings. There are around 700 species of cone snail still living in tropical seas worldwide and around 1,000 species have been found in the fossil record. This image shows three of the fossil shells studied by the scientists as they currently appear without colour . Scientists used UV light to reveal tiny traces of the pigment left in the shell and the patterns they once had . However, identifying these can often be tricky as over time the bright pigments in the shells fade. Exposing them to ultraviolet light causes any remaining organic matter in the shells - like pigment - to fluoresce. It is thought that these compounds in the shells oxidise over time and so light up when UV light is shined on them. Dr Hendricks, whose work is published in the journal Public Library of Science One, compared the cone snail shells he examined with the patterns of those of modern Caribbean cone snails. He found that many of the fossils showed similar patterns, indicating that some modern species belong to lineages that have survived in the Caribbean for millions of years. UV light allowed scientists to peer back millions of years to reconstruct shell patterns and colours as above . Dr Hendricks said: 'This approach — combined with the exceptional Neogene fossil record of the Dominican Republic, as well as other regional fossil deposits — has the potential to provide a detailed understanding of the evolutionary and biogeographic development of the modern western Atlantic cone snail fauna. 'Clearly much more work needs to be done to better understand the compounds responsible for shell coloration. 'That said, it seems that oxidation - caused either naturally by exposure of shells to sunlight over prolonged periods of time, or artificially by soaking in bleach for several days - plays a role in causing formerly pigmented regions of fossil shells to fluoresce under UV light, though the reason is not currently understood.' C. geographus (above) is one of 700 existing cone snail species and is one of most venomous living animals .", "Authorities are bracing for nudity, drugs and general free-spiritedness during a counterculture gathering that began near Salt Lake City this week, compelling a pair of nearby Mormon church-owned girls' summer camps to move elsewhere. The first attendees are setting up camp at the annual Rainbow Family gathering, where attendance is expected to total about 10,000. They have begun building kitchens and setting up tents in advance of their July 4 celebration. Most visitors have come without incident through the closest town of Heber City, said Wasatch County Sheriff's Deputy Jared Rigby. A total of around 10,000 people are expected to attend this years Rainbow Family festival in northern Utah, with attendees already starting to arrive for the July 4 celebrations. Here participants attend festival at Oscala National Forest in Florida in 2012 . The Rainbow Family are committed to peace and egalitarianism and have thrown annual events every year - almost always in out-of-the-way parks and forests - since the 1970s . The Rainbow Family has no formal structure or leaders. An informal council decides each year where the gathering will be held. For years, the decisions have sparked court battles with the Forest Service over the group's right to gather without a permit . But even just a few menaces have rankled locals in the town of 12,000, which is dotted with churches and bordered by vast fields and ranches. Some revelers have already crashed a nearby wedding reception in search of food. Police also expect to find marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in coming weeks, but aren't saying whether the drugs have already turned up. They have doubled their force with help from the state. 'We don't deal with a lot of panhandling, people asking for handouts,' Rigby said. 'We don't have a lot of lewdness or public urination.' With only about 200 participants, the gathering Sunday logged one death when a 39-year-old New Hampshire woman was found on the site hunkered around a bend in the Duchesne River, Rigby said. She apparently died in her sleep, he added. For the most part, participants have cooperated with officials, asking how they can limit their toll on the land at the spot about 40 miles east of Salt Lake City, said Dave Whittekiend of the Forest Service. Flashback: The Rainbow Family gathering of 2006, which took place in Colorado. The festival is known for choosing a different state for each year, with members traveling from all over . Last year the Rainbow Family gathered in Montana¿s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest . Video taken by attendees of the 2013 Rainbow Family Gathering show people arriving at but Montana¿s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest . 'People have approached and asked, ''How can we be lighter on the ground; how can we minimize those impacts?'\" he said. They have 'been very open' to requests of biologists, who barred the group from setting up camp within 200 feet of the river, Whittekiend said. It's the first year the annual event has come to Utah since 2003, when it set up on the northern side of the same mountain range. It has convened every year since 1972. Last year, the group chose Montana's Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, where law enforcement costs related to the gathering totaled $575,000, according to the Forest Service. Officers issued hundreds of citations but only arrested two people out of 10,000. Officials there compiled a list of lessons learned, advising their counterparts in other states to make clear where participants may camp, set up fires and retrieve water. The Rainbow Family has no official leaders and no one website or member list. Members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light prepare for the upcoming annual gathering outside of Heber City, Utah . Wasatch County EMS Director Clair Provost (center) and Sheriff Lt. Jeff Winterton share a laugh during the meeting between the members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light and the U.S. Forest Service about safety concerns on Tuesday, June 17, 2014 . 'Mint' (left) and 'Sibling# (right) draw the map for the event on the forest service lands for the upcoming annual Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering on Tuesday, June 17, 2014 . Authorities are preparing for the nudity and free-spiritedness they expect to take over a corner of national forest about 40 miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 4 . Its creed revolves around nonviolence, inclusiveness and praying for peace, according to a number of websites asserting ties to the group. The gatherings take the name 'rainbow' because they aim to incorporate a spectrum of people and cultures, says one website. Jan Olpin, co-owner of the Dairy Keen, spotted a group in recent days rummaging through the eatery's garbage, 'so I said, ''Here's your cheeseburger with some soup, fries and a drink''.' That's a one-off, she said: Police are urging against such donations. At a community meeting, officials said the festival would boost local business, quelling anxiety, Olpin said. Some pledged to welcome the visitors but also vowed to lock their cars. 'The whole audience kind of agreed we need to do what's best for Heber and make these people feel welcome,' Olpin said, 'yet be vigilant'.", "Whenever an endangered animal dies at the San Diego Zoo, researchers race out, regardless of the hour, to remove its sperm or eggs, maybe a bit of ear or eyeball, and carefully freeze the cells in liquid nitrogen. Today, the survival of the northern white rhinoceros and dozens of other species could hinge on the collection amassed over nearly 40 years that has become the largest gene bank of its kind: The Frozen Zoo. The icy vials may someday even be used in experiments to resurrect recently extinct animals, like the Hawaiian Po'ouli bird. The stainless steel tanks hold the genetic material of more than 10,000 individual animals from more than 1,000 species and subspecies. Scroll down for video . Futuristic: Barbara Durant, director of reproductive physiology at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, a.k.a. the Frozen Zoo, takes a peek at her stock . On a mission: Durant stands by a nitrogen-cooled stainless steel vat holding hundreds of vials of animal cells - The vats hold the genetic material of more than 10,000 animals from more than 1,000 species . The Frozen Zoo's work has taken on renewed urgency since the San Diego Safari Park lost 42-year-old Angalifu to cancer in December, leaving only five northern white rhinos left in the world - and all unable to reproduce. Scientists are racing against the clock to find the best way to utilize the bank's frozen sperm to produce another one before the northern white goes extinct, which could happen within a decade. Critics question whether it's worth spending millions of dollars on species that are down to so few. The bank is valued as a genetic archive that has helped advance artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, cloning and stem cell technology. But debate is stirring over how far such research should go. 'The frozen zoo is basically re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,' said Paul Ehrlich, a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. He noted the world needs to address the problem's root causes, such as population growth and climate change. Process: Durant submerges a tray holding vials of cells into liquid nitrogen - The bank is valued as a genetic archive that has helped advance artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, cloning and stem cell technology . Preservation: A small vial containing frozen animal cells is shown to the camera . 'Screwing around with science to save a white rhino might be fun and I would like to see it preserved and am all for biodiversity, but it's so far down the list of things we should be doing first,' he said. With species going extinct at a faster rate, zoos are taking on greater conservation roles and facing deciding which animals are worth focusing efforts on saving. Some may be extinct by the time another one is reproduced and possibly never live in the wild. The northern white's natural habitat is in war-torn countries like Sudan and Congo, which have been unable to stop poachers. The horn is coveted in Asia as an aphrodisiac, creating a market that threatens all rhino species. There's also the hurdle of producing enough offspring to avoid inbreeding. 'We can do all kinds of razzle dazzle things but it's one thing to make another animal or two or three, but it's quite another to make a sustainable population from a genetic standpoint,' said George Seidel, a Colorado State University professor who has written about resurrecting the woolly mammoth. The challenges, however, are not insurmountable for critically endangered species or possibly recently extinct species, said Barbara Durrant, director of reproductive physiology at The San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, which houses the Frozen Zoo. 'We're not so much interested in bringing back dinosaurs or mammoths,' she said. 'There's really no place for them now.' The Frozen Zoo holds the cell cultures from 12 northern white rhinos - more than the living population: . 'There have been other species that have come back from numbers that small so we think there is good reason we can do this with the northern white rhino,' she said. Sperm from the Frozen Zoo has been used in artificial insemination to reproduce endangered animals from the giant panda to the Chinese monal pheasant. Its frozen cells also were used to clone two endangered types of cattle. On the brink of extinction: The northern white's natural habitat is in war-torn countries like Sudan and Congo, which have been unable to stop poachers . In high demand: The rhino's horn is also coveted in Asia as an aphrodisiac (above, the only northern white left in the United States, 40-year-old Nola at the San Diego Zoo) The gaur lived only a few days while the banteng survived for seven years before being put down after breaking a leg. Both animals, however, had genetic defects. The northern white rhino and the drill monkey were the first endangered animals to have their cells transformed into stem cells and stored at the Frozen Zoo. Theoretically stem cells can produce any body tissue. That means thawed stem cells from a male rhino could produce both sperm and egg in the lab, but the method has been done only once - in a mouse. Artificial insemination has seen success in producing other rhino species. Northern white rhino semen could be used to impregnate the closely related southern white to make a hybrid. Scientists are also looking at in vitro fertilization but that technique has never been done on any rhino species. On a recent day, the only northern white left in the United States, 40-year-old Nola, munched on apples at the San Diego Safari Park. When she dies, there is talk of placing her in the Smithsonian so future generations can see a northern white rhino.", "Scientists have claimed that our best chance of finding alien life is not looking for living animal organisms but rather plant life. Two astrophysicists have said we should be looking at exoplanets for signatures of chlorophyll, which plants use to convert sunlight into energy. And they say this could be done by a future telescope planned by Nasa to study habitable exoplanets. Princeton University scientists have suggested looking for chlorophyll on exoplanets. They say if found this would be a strong indicator a planet has vegetation. This in turn would suggest it has plant life - and maybe animals as well. This could be performed by a future Nasa telescope called Atlast . Princeton University astrophysicists Dr Timothy Brandt and Dr David Spiegel made the suggestions in a paper called 'Prospects for detecting oxygen, water and chlorophyll on an exo-Earth.' They say that it might be possible to detect signatures of water, oxygen and chlorophyll on an alien planet. One hundred million worlds in our galaxy are able to host alien life, according to a 'conservative' prediction by Nasa. And the space agency claims that we will be able to find that life within the next 20 years, with a high chance it will be outside our solar system. During a public talk in July in Washington, the space agency outlined a roadmap to search for life in the universe using a number of current and future telescopes. 'Do we believe there is life beyond Earth?' said former astronaut and Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden during a talk earlier this month in Washington. 'I would venture to say that most of my colleagues here today say it is improbable that in the limitless vastness of the universe we humans stand alone.' The latter would be the most difficult of the three but, if found, would be a pretty clear indicator that a distant world has plant life. To find it they propose that a future telescope could have a capability to detect the unique reflection of light from chlorophyll. However they write: 'Photosynthetic extraterrestrial life may use a different family of pigment molecules than their terrestrial [counterparts], and the understanding that any claimed detection would be extremely controversial.' They add that while detecting chlorophyll would be an indicator - if not definitive proof of life - we should also first look for oxygen and water. 'Water is a very common molecule, and I think a mission to take spectra of exoplanets should certainly look for water,' said Dr Brandt, the lead study author, reports Space.com . 'Indeed, we have found water in a few gas giants more massive than Jupiter orbiting other stars.' Once these have been found, however, they say that chlorophyll should be searched for on the most promisingly habitable world. In addition it would only be detectable when an exoplanet had a lot of vegetation and cloud cover. One telescope that could be used to do this would be Nasa's proposed Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (Atlast). 'The goal of a future space telescope will be primarily to detect water and oxygen on a planet around a nearby star,' Dr Brandt said. 'The construction and launch of such a telescope will probably cost at least $10 billion [£6.2 billion] and won't happen for at least 20 years - a lot of technology development needs to happen first - but it could be the most exciting mission of my lifetime.' Last week astronomers detected water vapour in the atmosphere of a planet 124 light years from Earth. The planet, HAT-P-11 b (illustrated), is about the size of Neptune and is the smallest outside the solar system known to contain H2O molecules . This artist's rendition shows a possible design of a potential successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Nasa is now investigating the viability of this conceptual mission, called the Advanced Telescope Large-Aperture Space Telescope (Atlast), which looks quite similar to 2018's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)", "So, got any ideas for what to do with a used space telescope? NASA hopes to find a new job for its planet-hunting Kepler probe after efforts to restore precision control of the orbiting telescope have failed, the space agency announced Thursday. Kepler has been sidelined since mid-May, after the second of four devices used to aim the spacecraft's telescope gave out. Controllers have been trying to restart at least one of those two devices, known as reaction wheels, since July. \"The wheels are sufficiently damaged that they cannot sustain spacecraft pointing control for any extended period of time,\" Charlie Sobeck, Kepler's deputy project manager, told reporters Thursday afternoon. That means Kepler's original science mission -- the search for Earth-like planets far beyond our solar system -- is over, said Paul Hertz, the head of NASA's astrophysics division. But the space agency is trying to figure out whether it can find other missions that don't require that kind of pinpoint control -- and if so, \"whether that science is compelling enough to justify continued investment in Kepler operations,\" Hertz said. The roughly $600 million mission has so far confirmed 135 planets and identified nearly 3,500 possible planets. It findings have led scientists to believe that most stars in our galaxy have planets circling them. Two of them -- found about 1,200 light-years away -- are considered the best candidates so far for hosting life. Controllers have remained in communication with the craft, which is more than 45 million miles from Earth. And since scientists still have more than two years of data to comb through, NASA doesn't consider the mission over, said Bill Borucki, the project's principal scientist. \"We have all this data we have not yet analyzed, and we expect many, many more discoveries,\" he said. Kepler needs three of its four reaction wheels to tweak the telescope, which is aimed at a sliver of the cosmos around the Northern Hemisphere constellations Cygnus and Lyra. The No. 2 reaction wheel failed in 2012, while the No. 4 unit quit in May. In a series of tests that began in mid-July, controllers got both reaction wheels to turn. In early August, they stopped tests on wheel No. 4 after finding high levels of friction, but continued testing the second until encountering the same problem last week, Sobeck said. Sobeck said the probe can still be aimed using the two remaining reaction wheels, and its thrusters -- just not as finely as it could by reaction wheels alone. The thrusters still have enough fuel remaining to last several years if used carefully, he said. The probe was launched in 2009 and has already surpassed its three-and-a-half-year minimum expected lifespan. Borucki said NASA has asked scientists to propose alternatives within a few weeks. The agency will then decide \"which of these will be practical and which of these we can do for a reasonable cost.\"", "The world's getting hotter, the sea's rising and there's increasing evidence neither are naturally occurring phenomena. So says a report from the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change, a document released every six years that is considered the benchmark on the topic. More than 800 authors and 50 editors from dozens of countries took part in its creation. The summary for policymakers was released early Friday, while the full report, which bills itself as \"a comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change,\" will be distributed Monday. Other reports, including those dealing with vulnerability and mitigation, will be released next year. Here are the highlights from Friday's summary: . Man-made climate change is almost certain . Climate scientists are 95% confident -- that is to say, surer than ever -- that humans are responsible for at least \"half of the observed increase in global average surface temperatures since the 1950s.\" This is the major headline from the report, as it marks a stark spike in confidence over the last 12 years, as scientists were 90% confident in 2007 and 66% confident in 2001 of the same conclusion. An increase in carbon dioxide concentrations that is \"unprecedented\" in the last 20,000 years, along with increases in other emissions, have driven up average temperatures by about 0.6 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) since 1950, the report states. Worst-case predictions are that by 2100, temperatures could increase by as much as 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.6 Fahrenheit), the report says. Climate change is already affecting extreme weather . Since 1950 we've seen a dramatic increase in extreme weather. This is especially true of record heat and heavier precipitation events. While it's difficult to determine the exact role climate change plays in an individual event, such as Hurricane Sandy or the EF-5 tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma, because there are so many ingredients necessary to brew a single storm, the links are clearer when you look at overall patterns. According to a study released this month in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, scientists found strong links between global warming and extreme weather around the globe in 2012. Among the 2012 events were the July heat wave in the northeastern and north-central United States, the spring heat wave in the eastern United States, the Great Plains drought, the winter drought in Spain and Portugal and the heavy rains and flooding in Europe. According to a paper in the journal Nature, this year, weather events that have previously been classified as \"storms of the century\" could become the storm of \"every 20 years or less.\" \"Climate change will probably increase storm intensity and size simultaneously, resulting in a significant intensification of storm surges,\" the paper said. The last 30-year period is \"very likely\" the warmest in the last 800 years . Scientists are 90% sure that 1981-2010 was the warmest such span in the last eight centuries, and there's a 66% chance that it was the warmest 30-year period in the last 1,400 years. While the last 15 years have not warmed as quickly, we've seen steady warming over most of the globe, and we haven't seen a below-average temperature month since February 1985. Scientists are also 99% certain that we will see more hot days and nights -- and fewer chilly ones -- as the 21st century progresses. \"Each of the last three decades has been significantly warmer than all preceding decades since 1850,\" according to the IPCC report. To give you an idea of how the Earth has heated up, the combined land and ocean temperature increased by about 0.8 degrees Celsius between 1901 and 2010, yet between 1979 and 2010, the temperature spiked about 0.5 degrees Celsius. Sea level rise will increase due to warming oceans and loss of ice . Better climate models give scientists more confidence that sea level rise will accelerate in the 21st century. Scientists are 99% sure that sea level rise has accelerated over the last 2 centuries at a rate higher than at any time in the last 2,000 years. They're also highly confident that if the global surface temperature increases by more than 2 degrees Celsius over present temperatures we could see \"a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in late summer.\" The report further notes that there is increasing evidence that ice sheets are losing mass, glaciers are shrinking, Arctic sea ice cover is diminishing, snow cover is decreasing and permafrost is thawing in the Northern Hemisphere. As for the rise in sea level, scientists asserted in the IPCC report that tide gauges and satellite data make it \"unequivocal\" that the world's mean sea level is on the upswing. Even if we end emission tomorrow, climate change could continue for centuries . This may be one of the more harrowing findings in the report, as it suggests we're too far gone to effect any meaningful change in our lifetimes. Even if we end carbon dioxide emissions today, effects could linger for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. And certain changes may already be irreversible. \"Many aspects of climate change will persist for centuries even if concentrations of greenhouse gases are stabilized. This represents a multicentury commitment created by human activities today,\" the report states.", "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.'", "The latest specialist equipment from the Gemini Observatory in Chile has used infrared imaging to capture striking images of the Swan Nebula situated around 6,000 light years from Earth. The second-generation FLAMINGOS-2 camera has also snapped unique high-resolution images from the heart of a spiral galaxy as well as a ring of star formation. FLAMINGOS-2 is spectroscopic, which means it has been designed to specifically study and record matter and radiation energy in space. Scroll down for video . This FLAMINGOS-2 image shows part of the Swan Nebula, called M17, situated around 5,200 light years from Earth. It shows ultraviolet radiation streaming from young hot stars that forms a region of dust and gas. M17 is found in the constellation Sagittarius and is one of the biggest star-forming region's in the local galaxy . The Gemini Observatory is an astronomical observatory made up of two 8.19-metre telescopes at sites in Hawaii and Chile. Together, the twin telescopes provide almost complete coverage of both the northern and southern skies. One telescope, called Gemini North, is located on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano. This location was picked because it has a stable, dry, and rarely cloudy atmosphere above the 4,200-metre-high dormant volcano. The other telescope, Gemini South, is located at around 2,700 metres high on a mountain in the Chilean Andes called Cerro Pachon. There are only two small regions neither telescope can capture near the celestial poles: Gemini North cannot point north of declination +89 degrees which Gemini South can't point south of -89 degrees. After significant redesign and . rebuilds on the Gemini South telescope, . FLAMINGOS-2 is taking images as part of various commissioning phases with the hope it will be sent onto missions exploring the most distant and energetic explosions in our universe. The instrument includes an extreme sensitivity to infrared (heat) radiation from the . universe, high-resolution wide-field imaging and a combination of . spectroscopic capabilities. FLAMINGOS-2 is the second-generation infrared instrument to be built by the team at the Gemini South observatory. The first, called FLAMINGOS I, suffered damage to its . lens when it cracked during a planned final commissioning . in early 2012. This was caused by temperature changes that occurred as the area around the lens switched masks in order to capture multiple spectroscopic images. The second-generation instrument has had design modifications that significantly reduces the risk of these temperature changes to the lens's integrity and functionality. FLAMINGOS-2 will continue to be tested and will carry out more commissioning phases before being made available to astronomers later this year. The heart of spiral galaxy NGC 253, pictured, which lies about 11.5 million light years from Earth. The FLAMINGOS-2 instrument captured this whirlpool of dust spiralling into a nuclear region, where star formation is thought to be occurring around a supermassive black hole . 'It's already one of our most requested instruments at the Gemini telescopes,' said Nancy Levenson, Gemini's Deputy Director and Head of Science. 'We see a long and productive life ahead for FLAMINGOS-2 once astronomers really start using it later this year.' 'It has not been an easy journey,' added Percy Gomez Gemini's FLAMINGOS-2 Instrument Scientist, but thanks to the dedicated work of Gemini engineers and scientists very soon astronomers will be able to use a reliable and robust instrument.' Work still remains on some of the instrument's spectroscopic features, as well as refining imaging at the edge of its large field of view. Kevin Stevenson of the University of Chicago already has plans to use FLAMINGOS-2 later this year to study the exoplanet WASP-18b. This exoplanet is being . strongly heated by its ultra-nearby host star and according to . Stevenson, 'it's even hotter than some of the coolest, low-mass stars . known.' Stevenson and his team hope to . determine the abundances of water vapor and methane when the planet is . eclipsed by its host star. NGC 6300, pictured, is a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Ara. This image, taken by FLAMINGOS-2, shows the galaxy's arm structure forming a ring of star formation. The galaxy's bar also has a vein of dust that almost obscures its bright nucleus in the centre . 'Our plan is to compare the system's light immediately before and during an eclipse to measure the contribution from the planet. 'When we do this over several parts of the infrared part of the light spectrum, we can piece together the planet's spectrum and learn about its temperature and composition.' Once the instrument has finished testing an adaptive optics (AO) feed for extremely high-resolution imaging from GeMS (Gemini Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System) may be added. This technology is capable of removing atmospheric distortion - or blurriness - when taking pictures of space, making images much clearer. It is expected that this system will be fully integrated in 2014 with imaging and long-slit spectroscopy available now. The next round of observations with FLAMINGOS-2 are set to begin on 1st September. FLAMINGOS-2's latest commissioning phase captured this image of spiral galaxy NGC 7582. It is the brightest member of the Grus Quartet of galaxies, situated around 60 million light years away. Plans are to make the instrument available to astronomers later this year ." ]

[ "Things like meth started out in government regulated or funded labs that would produce medicines or whatever related chemicals. A lab would make something like meth then it would hit the streets more so then it's intended purpose so the government would make it illegal to produce. Illegal drug producers will identify the process in the lab and recreate that with legal subsistences to make a worst version of the drug. For example a illegal drug producer might use battery acid or lighter fluid to replace a chemical in meth that he could not otherwise add without expensive lab equipment which only makes the drugs worst for the users. Overall, a chemist or some scientist will produce a drug. The drug will become illegal so some thug or black market chemist will mock him with different supplies." ]

[ "The energy is not really created. Instead, a small part of the mass of the fusion ingredients is converted into energy. You know Einstein's famous E = mc^2 equation? It tells you how much energy you get for each bit of mass. It turns out if you were to convert 1kg of mass to energy, you would get 1kg*c^2 energy. That's 89875517900000000 Joules. That's like about 20 Megatons of tnt! That's why nuclear weapons are so powerful and why nuclear power is so attractive. Of course, to completely convert matter into energy is really difficult. Nuclear Fission and Fusion just combine a certain mass of ingredients into a slightly lighter end-product and a fair chunk of energy.", "> when churches and religious groups were obviously created to get the Tax Break? How so? Churches and religious groups existed before the US did, so they can't have been created to get US tax breaks. They were created because people share certain religious beliefs. Simple as that.", "The name brand version is typically that did all the research, development, testing, and patenting. The extra costs of that drug are associated with the cost of development of said product. Once a patent expires, the generics come out that typically use the same active ingredient. The inactive ingredients though can vary. These inactive ingredients can affect people differently. Because of that, some people can only use the name brand of a specific drug and some people can only use the generic of specific drugs. For most of us, it doesn’t really matter.", "For most food: It's not made kosher, it either is or it isn't. Certain ingredients aren't kosher no matter what, and any food that contains them isn't. Certain combinations (like meat + dairy) isn't kosher. For meat: The animals has to be healthy, and it has to be killed in a certain specific way. For wine: Weird ass rules I don't know all of. \"Making food kosher\" is just a matter of making food that follows all of the rules.", "Subliminal messages works because your subconscious has created an idea of certain things. For example a simple form of subliminal would be color psychology. How certain colors create certain emotions and mentalities. Our subconscious connects certain colors with certain emotions as we grow older. Blue gives us the sense of security, some people say because a blue sky represents clear and safe weather, so our subconscious makes blue a safe color which gives a safe emotion. So you can use blue in ads of a risky product to make it feel more safe. There are a variety of other, more complex, forms of subliminal messages, but at it's basics thats how it works.", "Yes, but you just get the raw ingredients. But what you are mixing together and how you do it is important. Recipes arent just a list of ingredients. So they may have a certain mixture or way of making the product.", "Most drugs, including caffeine, have very poor transdermal absorption on their own. This can be overcome by combining the drug with a carrier solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Indeed, this is how nicotine patches work. As for the body soap, none of the ingredients on the brands I examined are common carrier molecules. Thus, I am skeptical that these would work the way they claim. For the above reasons, rubbing a caffeinated beverage on your skin would result in only a negligible amount, if any, being absorbed.", "As stars get further away they appear dimmer. One technique exploits that by identifying stars as being of certain types. If you know that a star of that type would be of a certain brightness at a certain distance, you can compute its distance if you know how bright it appears to be instead.", "It's an FDA requirement. The full details of side effects, conflicts with other drugs, results of certain clinical trials, etc. have to be published and it is impossible to attach that stuff to a radio or TV ad so the FDA allows companies to just tell you where you can go read it. They'd much rather (I am certain) tell you to just visit a website but the FDA isn't down with the interwebz yet and fears that some people won't know how to use a website.", "We might be able to. The more important questions, I think, would be why. While Nicotine is the addictive ingredient in tobacco that is the ingredient that people smoke for, generally speaking. Essentially what you are asking is why isn't alcohol free beer more popular. The fact is that, at least to a certain extent, doing so removes the point.", "Legalized marijuana would be competition to pharmaceutical companies that have invested a lot of money into the research and development of certain drugs, like ones that treat the nausea of patients undergoing chemotherapy. It would also decrease the number of people sentenced to jail on drug charges, which would impact the per-head contracts of the private prison industry.", "Companies are required to list ingredients by order of amount used. They are not required to list how much of each ingredient there is. Plus there are certain listed things they don't have have to go into detail on, particularly things like \"natural flavoring\" or \"artificial flavoring\".", "When you scratch certain people on certain spots, they start convulsing and emitting a high pitched \"huf huf huf\" sound. We know this as \"tickling\". It's very similar to dogs, except it's not tickling them. It's creating a sensation that we don't quite understand but can relate to.", "The main theory is the \"peacock theory\", for lack of a better term. Basically, everyone has their own identity, and wishes to locate others with similar identities. How do we do that? By wearing certain clothing, speaking certain ways, frequenting certain areas, etc... If I was gay, I would be very interested in making sure that other gay people could detect that I was gay too. So, just like rappers and country musicians have certain ways of talking to let you know what kind of person they are, so do gay people. Just like hippies and business people have certain ways of dressing to let you know what kind of a person they are, so do gay people. Everyone wants to be understood and known, and we all try very hard to give off those signals.", "Most anti-virus software uses a combination of techniques. One is comparing a file or program on your system to its definitions database, a collection of files/programs that are known to be or install malware. The second is \"heuristics\" - basically algorithms and profiles it applies to files and programs on your computer to determine how likely something is to be malware. If something is a certain percentage of a match, it gets quarantined and flagged for deletion. In the terms of cops 'n' robbers (apologies for the not so politically correct analogy)... The first one would be like taking a suspect's fingerprints and seeing they're wanted for a crime. The second would be like police profiling/stereotyping of suspected drug dealers in certain neighborhoods.", "There could be literally thousands of reasons including but not limited to: 1) driving sales during a slow period or season 2) certain ingredients only available during certain times of the year 3) certain ingredients are only affordable during certain time of the years 4) it comes from a factory that does batches of product 5) it keeps brands relevant as you have to think when something you want is available Etc", "A lot of the times, drug abuse/addiction causes your body to create a new standard of homeostasis which revolves around taking the drug. So your new \"normal\" state is dependent on the substance and tolerance begins to develop to certain effects. Once you stop taking the drug abruptly, that's when withdrawal occurs and why symptoms are usually so severe. Basically, your body doesn't know what to do with itself because it's missing something it once considered normal to function.", "In some aspects, yes, but not always. Different drugs do different things to your brain. Weed activates certain receptors because it has the input for a specific type of receptor in your brain, but alcohol does not do this. Addiction itself is a genetic trait, but its not like when you were in middle school learning about genetics and did punnet squares; addiction is caused by a combination of different genes.", "When fonts are made there are certain bits of information encoded along with the letter shapes that tell the computer how much space is supposed to be between different characters. That's how the computer knows that, for example, the period after a P should go very close to the P and in some cases in the P's space itself. In addition to spacing information, there is also information that tells when to combine certain letters into single characters that represent those multiple letters. You'll see this, in some fonts, in combinations like fi (the dot of the i will merge into the top of the f) and ff (the bars of the f's might combine into a single shape), etc.", "Because nothing prevents it from doing it. If it did (obstacles, deviation, etc) it wouldn't arrive (or it would arrive modified, a thing we know sometimes happens and we actually measure to know what's between a certain star and us).", "It is a myth. Twinkies expire after a certain time. The myth was created as metaphor for the fact that Twinkies contain so many artificial ingredients that they should basically last forever (like plastic). And while its true that they do contain a lot of artificial ingredients and are generally very bad for you-- the absolutely do expire (in fact after just 25 days).", "We have an ingredient list, but we are still lacking certain steps in the recipe.", "Common reasons: 1) Some dishes are seasonal - e.g., the McRib is available when pork prices are low. 2) Market testing a new item - the restaurant genuinely doesn't know how well it will be received so doesn't want to add it to a permanent menu yet 3) Adding variety to keep regular customers from getting bored with a fixed menu 4) They need to use up certain ingredients quickly to avoid them going to waste 5) Simply creating false sense of urgency to draw in customers", "What you think of as 'energy' is really controlled in your brain by many different chemicals. You can think of these chemicals like gasoline in a car (although some of them are more like the brakes in a car). So when something exciting happens, your brain triggers the gasoline (dopamine, epinephrine, serotonin) to release and it does things like make your heart go faster, make certain parts of your brain responsible for pleasure work harder, etc. We don't really know specifically why certain combinations of musical notes tend to do this for people but it has something to do with association of these combinations with memories that were created when we were very young. We know this because the musical notes that make people in the west feel stimulated are different than those that make people in eastern countries like Afghanistan and China. There is probably SOME genetic factor involved but a lot of it is learned after we are born.", "I did a little bit of research into it and it seems they are not as \"perfect\" as it seems. For a traditional web that most will imagine it starts with a single \"bridge thread\" where the spider throws a line of silk hoping to get it to connect. The spider would then work on creating a frame and finish off with a spiral on the frame. Here's a video that helps explain: [link](_URL_1_) If you wanted to understand how spiders know how to spin webs it is hard to say for certain. However it is more than likely that it is part of a spiders genome [Reddit link](_URL_0_)", "As others have said, they find melodramatic, attention-seeking and narcissistic people and then ply them with combinations of alcohol, competition, sexual frustration, personality clashes etc etc. They watch as the dynamics develop and then push the 'storyline' in certain directions by combining people, choosing activities that they think will generate certain reactions, etc etc. Finally (but by no means least importantly) they scour the many hours of footage for clips, reactions, moments etc that they can then edit to present certain characters in certain ways to fit the 'storyline'. Pretty easy to take a shot of someone looking aggrieved because they, eg, have a headache, and paste that after a shot of someone they 'dislike' saying something.", "There are huge profits to be made in policing the drug trade, as well as jailing \"criminals.\" jails make a fuck ton of money off of drug related offenses and in some cases have deals with governments that they will keep a certain level of inmates in there at all times..... I know.. sounds crazy, in the near utopian society that we live in, doesn't it? In addition that the above there are also the issues of how it will all be regulated/dispensed and so forth.", "I’ll explain it here the same way I did to my daughter when she was 5: Ignorant people are always very sure of themselves. Their world is small, simple, and doesn’t grow. Intelligent people are always looking for more so their world gets bigger all the time. It’s easy to be certain when you think you know everything and hard to be certain when you know you don’t. Edit: Thank you for the gold!", "> ...so anything digestable should have more than zero calories? Correct. The food product contains many ingredients that are not digestable. Depending on your location, the law allows foods to be advertised as \"zero calorie\" if the caloric content is below a certain amount. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration guideline allows the use of the word \"zero\" if the product is [less than 5 Calories per serving](_URL_0_).", "Part of the price is the rate at which it's consumed, jewelry, electronics, etc. Knowing how much is available will also play into value setting, look at bitcoin. We know exactly how many bitcoins there are, and the cost to mine them increases as people build more powerful rigs. The same applies to gold. We can calculate how much is available, with certain caveats, based on historical mining operation yield rates. Combine consumption rate and yield rate, throw in some FUD about political climate, and speculation... You get today's market rate for gold.", "I'd like to add a question based on bullet point two. I've often heard people claim the US only joined the war after it was almost certain that the Soviets would defeat the Germans, and joined to prevent a complete communist makeover of post war Europe. How accurate are these claims? I know that Stalin had been asking the United States to open a second front long before they did, but were the Russians winning by the time the Americans joined the European theatre?", "A tip in horse racing can mean that a fix is in. A horse or horses have been drugged or doped. This means the tipee can go put money down on the race knowing that certain horses will be underachieving." ]

[ "Not expecting much, I picked this up, but found it really engaging as well as interesting. There is also a triteness to counter culture, like two year olds who go against whatever, and people who become known seem often to have an obviousness. Although a few years younger than Patti, I found many of her experiences were familiar, as were the way she relates her sense of the times. I read the same Rimbaud books, saw similar kinds of people, hung out on 10th St, Central Park, etc, and her observations rang true, and fresh with feeling. There was that disconnect with the conventions and values of the establishment, the boredom of their lives that made one move in other directions. Her genuine curiosity and poetic sensibility moved her in a new one. Sympathetic, original, a surprise. A very informative and honest read. Attuned." ]

[ "If you love rice krispies treats, get this cereal.\n\nWho would have thought rice krispie treats with milk would be so amazing.\n\nA+++", "I got this for my cousin who is a golf nut. He has been to the old course, so I thought this would be a great gift for Christmas.", "This is geared to people who are far more technical than I am. I've found it both helpful and educational, and amazingly I've now gained a much better understanding of Windows 7 on my personal laptop than I would have thought possible.", "This remote works perfect once I spent hours online looking for the instructions on how to program it. I really wish the seller would have given me a link to it or had included the instructions. For those who need to know, look at the Insignia website for a TV that this remote comes with, then look at the TV instruction manual to find out how to program it. You would have thought that Insignia would have separated the instructions for the remote but alas they include it with the TV, not the remote.", "I purchased this for my 10 year old son for Christmas. He thought they were great. Some of the songs can be annoying to adults if you're not in the mood to hear nonsense, but most of them are pretty funny and are good for a laugh. I would recommend this to you if you have a child who LOVES Hank the Cowdog like mine does.", "Great waist shaper no doubt there! Great material and genuine Ann Chery. I did have to return it because of the length. Im 5'1 and thought this would work but its just way too long. It cuts into the bottom of my bust and goes halfway down my hips. I am pretty proportionate so not a short torso just short overall and this sadly didn't work. I would definitely recommend this to others though who may have a longer torso.", "I bought this doll for a friend who just had a baby. It is very cute and extremely soft. It is a little bigger than I thought it would be, but a great toy for a new baby.", "The earrings are very pretty I little bit bigger than I thought they would be. But I have good use for them The earrings are very pretty I little bit bigger than I thought they would be. But I have good use for them", "This thing is pretty amazing. My cats are not afraid like I thought theyd be. Also they are total slobs who would shed and get gross saliva goop all over their previous bowls.. soo this is awesome that their drinking fountain is always clean. Would recommend to everyone with pets.", "Great book! I think a lot of people who have an interest in the correct philosophies and thoughts of Hinduism should read this book rather than a distorted view of someone who has no experience of the religion!", "I first read this book in 3rd grade, and I have read all the other books in the series since! I would highly recommend this series to younger girls who love a book about a fun adventure or are a fan of the Nevergirls series. It has a lot of creativity and imagination put into it. It puts a nice, thoughtful twist on a classic fairytale. Overall, super great!", "I bought this for a dear friend named Janet, who really needs to have it.\nThis book cultivates warm thoughts better than any other.\nA true delight.", "For some reason I thought this book wasn't long enough for all the events crammed into it. I did not figure out who the killer was until the end and I did like all of the characters. I would enjoy reading the next book in the series", "This handbook will teach you everything you need to doodle or draw. I love the way they explain everything how to start to the finish. Even the shading chapter was great. I have learned things that I never knew, and I thought I could not do this. It is a step by step instructions. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in doing there own creativity. Wonderful Book.", "Thought we would have to buy a new microwave oven, but this worked great.", "Sabbath's music interpreted by this quartet seems a lot more repetitive and ordinary than I would have thought it would. Maybe another quartet could give it more depth. But what do I know? It's a nice novelty - I recommend buying it if you have been listening to Sabbath as much as I have. But, I have to agree with the fellow who pointed out the hack assembly line quality of this quartet series. Also, I am not sure they picked the more orchestral Sabbath songs to perform (i.e. Killing Yourself to Live, or Spiral Architect).", "It is now my third week wearing these boots and they are very comfortable now that they are broken in. I have a bit of a wider foot so the first few weeks the small toe rubs a bit. And if you are a big guy like me you may have some rubbing or chafing at the back of the leg where the top of the boot is. They are pretty scuffed up already I thought they would hold up a bit more on the looks side but they are work boots so who cares right.", "My kids who are 8 and 12 really enjoyed the Pokemon card game. Since they are into My Little Pony right now, I thought this would be a great game for them. The rules are so complex that it takes the fun out of the concept. Total dud for us.", "Deeper than I thought it would be. The chocolate pops out easily, and I have no trouble cleaning it.", "the only thing i do not like, is that the way the hose attaches to the canister makes it impossible to go in every direction. You have to continuously reposition the vacuum. Who thought that up?", "My boyfriend and I have watched all of the Paranormal Activity movies, and we thought this movie was the worst of the \"found footage\" genre, much less of the series! First of all, it took about 40 minutes for anything remotely \"scary\" to happen, and even that was a crapshoot. The only thing about the film that I liked was the Xbox Kinect ir lights, because at least THAT was something different. The ending was horrible, we get it supposed t be about a cult, but it didn't even make sense! (Don't want to include spoilers...then again I can save anyone who reads this about 13$) Overall, this movie was only made for the suckers, (i.e. my boyfriend and I) who would buy this movie thinking it would be as good as the others. Wait for netflix to have it, it's just not worth the money." ]

[ "If that new apartment rents for less than 30 percent of your income, you should be in good financial shape. The cost of paying for a place to live is usually the largest single monthly expense for any household, whether you own or rent your home." ]

[ "What is the company's net profit margin percentage for Year 2? b. What is the company's gross margin percentage for Year 2? c. What is the company's return on total assets for Year 2? d. What is the company's return on equity for Year 2? a. Net profit margin percentage = Net income ÷ Sales = $27,600 ÷ $1,310,000 = 2.1% (rounded) b.", "Gross Income Vs. Net Income Purpose: Students should be able to explain the difference between gross and net income. Students should be able to calculate net income when giving a gross income and necessary tax information.Students should have an understanding of what happens to their tax dollars.Definitions: Gross income is the amount of money that a person earns.tudents should be able to calculate net income when giving a gross income and necessary tax information. Students should have an understanding of what happens to their tax dollars. Definitions: Gross income is the amount of money that a person earns.", "Updated December 25, 2016. Definition: Vacancy and Credit Loss in real estate investing is the amount of money or percentage of net operating income that is estimated to not be realized due to non-payment of rents and vacant units.", "The net profit margin formula looks at how much of a company's revenues are kept as net income. The net profit margin is generally expressed as a percentage. Both net income and revenues can be found on a company's income statement.he net profit margin formula looks at how much of a company's revenues are kept as net income. The net profit margin is generally expressed as a percentage. Both net income and revenues can be found on a company's income statement.", "Vacancy and credit loss is an estimated amount or percentage that will be lost in rental income due to property vacancies and non-payment of rent. Vacancy and credit loss is an estimated amount or percentage that will be lost in rental income due to property vacancies and non-payment of rent.", "The terms profit and income are largely interchangeable when discussing net and gross figures, although there is a real difference between net income and net profit after taxes. Gross vs. Net. No matter what the context, gross numbers are always used in the calculation of net numbers. For business accounting, gross income includes all revenue that a company earns over the course of the year. Gross income incorporates all cash, checks, credit charges, rents, interest earned and dividends, among others.", "What is 'Return On Equity - ROE' Return on equity (ROE) is the amount of net income returned as a percentage of shareholders equity. Return on equity measures a corporation's profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. ROE is expressed as a percentage and calculated as: Return on Equity = Net Income/Shareholder's Equity. Net income is for the full fiscal year (before dividends paid to common stock holders but after dividends to preferred stock.)", "Present Value. Future Value. Compound Interest. Simple Interest. The net profit margin formula looks at how much of a company's revenues are kept as net income. The net profit margin is generally expressed as a percentage. Both net income and revenues can be found on a company's income statement.resent Value. Future Value. Compound Interest. Simple Interest. The net profit margin formula looks at how much of a company's revenues are kept as net income. The net profit margin is generally expressed as a percentage. Both net income and revenues can be found on a company's income statement.", "As a manager or an investor, it is important that you understand what net income, or net profit, is and where to find this information. You should also understand what effects taxes have on a company's profits. To do such, you can examine the net income before taxes and the net profit after taxes.", "The gain (loss) from the sale, exchange or disposition of property used to produce net. income (loss) from rents, royalties, copyrights and patents should generally be reported. as income from the sale, exchange or disposition of property on PA-40 Schedule D.", "Does the Bible require me to give 10 percent of my income to my church? Should my offering be computed on gross or net income? The Bible does not require Christians to give any certain percentage.", "The Net to Gross Paycheck Calculator will help you to determine how much you need to make in gross income to bring home the amount of money that you want to make (net income).The first step that you need to take is to enter the amount that you want to make in net income.Then you should enter your current income and your current deductions. The calculator will then determine what gross income you need to make to meet your net income goal.he first step that you need to take is to enter the amount that you want to make in net income. Then you should enter your current income and your current deductions. The calculator will then determine what gross income you need to make to meet your net income goal.", "1 What percentage of your yearly income should you spend on your only daughter's wedding? 11/20/2013 5:59AM. Reply. 2 RE: What percentage of your yearly income should you spend on your only daughter's wedding? 11/20/2013 6:12AM - in reply to Ganesh. Reply.", "Income is different to net income. Net income is defined in the tax laws to mean net income as calculated for tax purposes. Income is not defined. To apply section 97 it is necessary to know what the income of the trust is and what a beneficiary’s share of that income is.", "Because assets will tend to have swings over time, an average of assets over the period to be measured should be used. Thus the ROA for a quarter should be based on net income for the quarter divided by average assets in that quarter. ROA is a ratio but usually presented as a percentage.", "overall rate (OAR) Definition. The direct percentage ratio between net annual operating income and sales price. The overall rate is calculated by dividing the net income by the price.", "Related to Net operating margin: Net profit margin, Net operating income, Operating profit margin. The ratio of net operating income to net sales. A measure of how well a company controls its costs. It is calculated by dividing a company's profit by its revenues and expressing the result as a percentage.", "Profit Margin Ratio. The profit margin ratio, also called the return on sales ratio or gross profit ratio, is a profitability ratio that measures the amount of net income earned with each dollar of sales generated by comparing the net income and net sales of a company.he profit margin ratio directly measures what percentage of sales is made up of net income. In other words, it measures how much profits are produced at a certain level of sales.", "Section 8 is a federal assistance program to help low-income people pay their rent. People with Section 8 vouchers find their own housing and pay a percentage of their income for rent. Section 8 pays the landlord the rest of the rent. These are the steps involved in renting to a Section 8 tenant: A family with a current Section 8 voucher views your apartment and wants to rent it.", "Net profit margin is a measure of profitability that indicates how much of every dollar of your business' sales is profit. Net profit margin is normally calculated as a percentage, and you can find the net profit margin of your business with a simple equation, requiring only your business' total sales and net income. 1 1. Determine what your total sales are for your business. 2 2. Find the net income your business has generated.", "integrated oil companies. Second, depletion may only be claimed up to specific daily American production levels of 1,000 barrels of oil or 6,000 mcf of natural gas. Third, the deduction is limited to 65% of net taxable income. Fourth, the net income limitation requires percentage depletion to be calculated on a property-by-property basis. 2 It prohibits percentage depletion to the extent it exceeds the net income from a particular", "The profit margin ratio formula can be calculated by dividing net income by net sales. Net sales is calculated by subtracting any returns or refunds from gross sales.nalysis. The profit margin ratio directly measures what percentage of sales is made up of net income. In other words, it measures how much profits are produced at a certain level of sales. This ratio also indirectly measures how well a company manages its expenses relative to its net sales.", "Hospital Financial Indicators. American Hospital Directory. Indicator / Sources from cost report Formulae. EBITDAR net income + interest + depreciation + lease cost. (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization, & Rent) Net Income - G-3.", "The payout ratio is the percentage of net income that a company pays out as dividends to common shareholders. A payout ratio of 10% means for every dollar in Net Income, 10% is being paid out as a dividend.", "1 Note that you can determine your net profit margin by calculating the percentage of a sale price that ultimately becomes profit. 2 In other words, divide the operating profit by the net income and convert this figure to a percentage.", "In an attempt to estimate operating leverage, one can use the percentage change in operating income for a one-percent change in revenue. The product of the two is called Total leverage, and estimates the percentage change in net income for a one-percent change in revenue.", "If the amount is high as a percentage of sales or as a percentage of net income compared to the amount similar restaurants are spending, the company might be spending too much money on SG&A.", "The key difference between operating income and net income is that while operating income is the income caused by the conducting business operations, net income is the profit left after considering all the expenditure incurred. CONTENTS 1. Overview and Key Difference 2. What is Operating Income 3. What is Net Income 4.", "To contribute to the Roth IRA you need to have taxable income and also the adjusted gross income should be less than $110000 individually $160000 if you are married and file a joint. return and $100000 if you What Percentage Of Paycheck Should Go To 401k are married but file separate returns.he issue of how much the benefit is taxable has a lot What Percentage Of Paycheck Should Go To 401k to do with all of the other sources of your retirement income. Generally if Social Security is your only source of income in retirement then it is most likely to be tax free.", "About Net Income. Net income is what remains of a company's revenue after subtracting all costs. It is also referred to as net profit, earnings, or the bottom line.Net Income that is not paid out in dividends is added to retained earnings.Increasing (decreasing) net income is a good (bad) sign for a company's profitability.bout Net Income. Net income is what remains of a company's revenue after subtracting all costs. It is also referred to as net profit, earnings, or the bottom line.", "Definitions of the term can, however, vary between the UK and US. In the US, net profit is often associated with net income or profit after tax (see table below). The net profit margin percentage is a related ratio.This figure is calculated by dividing net profit by revenue or turnover, and it represents profitability, as a percentage.efinitions of the term can, however, vary between the UK and US. In the US, net profit is often associated with net income or profit after tax (see table below). The net profit margin percentage is a related ratio.", "In an income statement, profit is the bottom line. Its objective is to show you how much income or loss was earned during a given accounting period. Margin of safety is used to determine what percentage that sales can decrease before a business generates a net loss." ]

[ "Frank Coppola" ]

[ "Doctor Who", "Amjet Executive", "executive management", "advertising executive", "business executive" ]

[ "Italy has summoned Libya&#39;s ambassador for talks on efforts to tackle illegal immigration after hundreds of arrivals on Italian shores at the weekend." ]

[ "Libya said today it had deported 1,000 Egyptian migrants back home after their controversial expulsion from Italy. Italy airlifted illegal immigrants to Libya this week in a bid to deter would-be asylum seekers", "MELLITAH: Libya, a key transit point for Africans trying to sneak into Europe, said overnight it had deported 1000 Egyptian migrants back home after their controversial expulsion from Italy.", "Italian military planes carried 360 would-be migrants from the Italian island of Lampedusa to Libya on Wednesday, a move that officials here described as an emergency response", "The UN refugee agency condemns the way Italy is handling boatloads of migrants arriving on its southern outpost.", "On a visit to Libya this week Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi discussed the proposal with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.", "The European Union (EU) agreed in principle Wednesday to lift an arms embargo on Libya after pressure from Italy, which wants to help Libya close its borders to illegal immigrants, diplomats said.", "TRIPOLI, Libya Libya said Thursday that it had sent 1,000 Egyptian immigrants home after their expulsion from Italy. Italy airlifted illegal immigrants to Libya this week in an effort to deter would-be asylum", "The European Union has said it may follow the US in lifting sanctions against Libya, as long as Tripoli shows willingness to curb illegal migration.", "Italy says it will lift anti-terror sanctions on Libya unilaterally if the rest of the EU fails to back the measure next week.", "SIRTE, Libya - European nations should pay 10 billion euros ($12.7 billion dollars) a year to Africa to help it stop migrants seeking a better life flooding northwards into Europe, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Saturday.", "ITALY has begun airlifting migrants back to their point of departure after its southern outpost was swamped by hundreds of new arrivals.", "Migrants wait in Libya for calmer spring seas before risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean", "Two boats carrying would-be migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe sank Wednesday between Italy and Libya, leaving five people dead, including a child, Italian officials said. Eleven others were missing and presumed dead.", "Following a wave of criticism from opposition parties and human rights organisations, Italy has stopped its wholesale deportation from Lampedusa of more than 1,300 refugees to Libya, where Italy believes they have come from.", "European Union (EU) officials agreed in principle to lift an arms embargo on Libya after pressure from Italy.", "Polish police join the hunt for more than 100 Polish migrants feared to have been criminally abused in southern Italy.", "A summit of African leaders in Libya seeks a solution to the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur.", "ROME, Oct 31 (IPS) - Regular migrants have reached 6.2 percent of the population of Italy, above the European average of 5.6 percent. In the next 20-30 years, Italy is destined to become one of the EU countries with the highest population of migrants and people of migrant origin -- more that 10 million -- according to an annual report on migrations released Tuesday.", "A boat sailing to Italy sinks off Tunisia killing at least 17, as a row grows over Rome's moves to send migrants back.", "Italy has begun airlifting illegal immigrants back to Libya, as hundreds continue to arrive on the southern island, Lampedusa. Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu says the repatriations will continue, in an", "The leaders of Italy, France and Spain sent a letter to the European Union on Monday, urging the bloc to approve measures to help them cope with the flood of illegal migrants from Africa.", "BRUSSELS : European Union (EU) officials agreed in principle to lift an arms embargo on Libya after pressure from Italy. Italy has for several months been pressing its EU counterparts to lift the embargo imposed", "· Farmers say soft fruit may be left unharvested· Fewer EU migrants seeking farm jobs", "The anniversary of his political system comes as Libya seeks to improve its image in the West.", "An Italian warship has intercepted a vessel full of migrants in international waters south of Lampedusa and summoned the Tunisian navy to escort it back to the North African coast, Italy's ANSA news agency ...", "ITALY&#39;S Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said this weekend he would meet Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday to discuss clandestine immigration and also reparation claims covering nearly two decades of Italian occupation of Libya.", "African migrants whose small boat was intercepted Saturday off the coast of Sicily said eight people died during their grueling, 10-day trip, the third deadly sea journey by migrants trying to reach Italy in less than a month.", "1540CET-- The European Union ambassadors have agreed to recommend lifting the EU bloc&#39;s arms embargo on Libya following pressure from Italy and", "ROME Huge numbers of migrants from Africa have showed up in rickety boats on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in the last few days, and the government is responding quickly and contentiously, sending most of them back to Libya, almost immediately, by", "The African Union and the United Nations will chair talks in Libya to seek a \"road map\" for peace in Darfur.", "Libya will be violating local and international and law if it deports 1m illegal immigrants, a rights group says.", "The French president's wife and a top EU official visit Libya to seek the transfer of six medics to Bulgaria." ]

[ "AF PAYMENTS, Inc. has partnered with Coins.ph to allow the reloading of “beep” cards using the application.\nThe contactless payment provider partnered with digital wallet and mobile payment app to allow users to load their beep card with funds from their Coins.ph wallet by tapping the card on their phone. Coins.ph digital wallets can be loaded in 33,000 locations nationwide.\nUsers have to download the latest Coins.ph app on their Android phones, and log in to their account. They can load as low as P10 with no extra fee.\n“Coins.ph provides beep cardholders the ability to load their cards anytime, anywhere just by tapping their card on their smartphone. This added convenience means no more falling in line to add load during the busy rush hour,” Peter Maher, president and CEO of AF Payments, Inc. said in a statement.\nMr. Maher told reporters the company is adding about 1 million users per year since it introduced beep cards in 2015. The figure is expected to decline with many users reloading previously bought cards.\nRon Hose, CEO of Coins.ph, said in a statement, the partnership with AF Payments “represents a catalytic step forward in a vision that we share with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas of forging an advanced digital economy by 2020.”\nBeep cards are accepted at the Light Rail Transit-1, LRT-2, and the Metro Rail Transit-3, the Manila-Cavite Expressway, North Luzon Expressway, select bus lines, and in select FamilyMart, Robinsons Movieworld, and Wendy’s branches. It is reloadable and valid for four years.\nCoins.ph was founded in 2014 and operates in Thailand and the Philippines. It is a mobile blockchain-enabled platform that enables anyone, including those without bank accounts, to easily access financial services directly from their phone.\nAF Payments, Inc. is a consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Ayala Corp. that provides contactless payment solutions in the Philippines.\nHastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo" ]

[ "ALTBalaji, the digital platform from Balaji Telefilms, has joined hands with Airtel Payments Bank to provide wallet services via Airtel Money to consumers.\n\"Convenient digital payments over mobile are an integral part of India's growing digital ecosystem and we are delighted to partner ALTBalaji to offer customers the convenience of making quick and secure cashless payments through Airtel Payments Bank,\" Airtel Payments Bank MD and CEO Shashi Arora said.", "There are several mobile payment platforms out there but if you have a higher-end Samsung device, then you’re probably using Samsung Pay (well, if you like their products of course). Last year they said that they are partnering with Paypal so you can use your digital wallet to make online and offline payments. However that didn’t materialize soon after the announcement and it is only now that they have finally made the support available. Users can now connect their Paypal to their Samsung Pay account.\nIn order to use your PayPal wallet on your smartphone, you will have to create a top-up card on your Samsung Pay app. On the home screen, tap on the + button and then “Add Paypal” in the “Add payment card” section. If you already have OneTouch on your phone, you will already have all your details there. If not, you’ll have to manually input your credentials. Press next and then you will have to create a pin for your in-store purchases. Choose your debit or bank finding source to top up your account. After that, you’re all set.\nAfter that, you can now use your smartphone to pay for your purchases in brick and mortar stores, as long as they support either NFC or MST, meaning anywhere you can tap or swipe a card. Paypal still won’t send your actual payment information to the merchants. Instead they use a virtual account number to represent your account information. Samsung Pay also employs biometric authentication, tokenization of payment credentials and of course the Knox security platform.\nWhen you use Paypal through your Samsung Pay, you’ll be able to earn points for your Samsung Rewards program. So if you like collecting rewards through it and you also like your PayPal, then this will be an ideal solution for you.\nSOURCE: Samsung", "Mobile and online wallets are emerging as the most sought after service, says a study carried out by FIS, a global banking and payment technology provider.\nMobile is now the main branch with all generations in urban areas banking on their phones and tablets, more than via desktop personal computers, ATMs or physical branches. Around 58% of all contact with Indian banks is being done digitally. And its not just the young as older customers above age 53 are using digital channel more frequently. A majority of around 86% of Indian consumers are using mobile apps more than they did a year ago. And consumers are not waiting for their banks to deploy digital technologies and are using alternative financial services.\nMobile and online wallets are emerging as the most sought after service, says a study carried out by FIS, a global banking and payment technology provider. So banks could be losing out to third parties for mobile and online payments. A majority of banking customers surveyed are using financial mobile apps mainly to check their bank accounts and make financial transaction which is more than what they did a year ago, says the FIS study.\nThe FIS Performance Against Customer Expectations (PACE) study surveyed 1,018 banking consumers in India for their report. The report provides a snapshot of how well banking providers are meeting the expectation of customers.", "Digital payments and commerce platform Paytm is entering the traditional meal voucher market. In what is being called food wallet by the Noida-based company, it has partnered with about 10 companies where these firms can top up wallets of their employees. This can be claimed for tax sops as per government approved rules, the company said in a statement.\nThis makes Paytm a direct competitor to companies like Sodexo, Ticket Restaurant, Zeta among others. RBI has also said that all meal-voucher companies must switch over to electronic formats by year-end.\nWith backing of investors like Alibaba, Paytm could change the status quo in market but much would depend on how many employers it can get on its platform for this business.\nAccording to a senior executive in the company, the meal voucher solution being digital removes hassles of procuring, handling and distributing bulky coupons and cards.", "March 29 Seamless Distribution Ab\n* Seqr integrates Masterpass to create the first digital wallet for shopping in all channels across multiple markets\n* Masterpass is a digital payment service from Mastercard Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Stockholm Newsroom)", "News in brief\nPARTNER NEWS: Mahindra Comviva has won an Aegis Graham Bell award for TerraPay, an international payment network that offers wholesale remittance services to mobile wallet providers. TerraPay connects all payment service providers “in a single global clearing and settlement network” to enable cross-border funds transfers “from any instrument and to any instrument, all identified by the individual’s mobile number,” the company says. Mahindra Comviva was also awarded for its Radar and Mobiquity Wallet platforms.", "Credit cards are both awesome and terrible at the same time. They can be crazy helpful for big purchases that you need to make, but between hidden fees, outdated mobile apps, and plenty more, credit cards can often be a pain to use. If you're looking for a reliable alternative to traditional credit cards, the Affirm app could be just the thing you need.\nWhat's new with Affirm?\nMarch 19, 2018 - Affirm now allows you to secure credit in-store and then use it during checkout\nLove Affirm but wish you could use it in brick-and-mortar stores to pay for your purchases? I've got good news: according to a announcement released by the company this morning, you can now secure financing options in seconds for purchases you're about to make in meatspace.\nNow, when you're in a participating store about to make a large purchase, you can apply for financing right there by filling out a easy five-field application within your Affirm app. In seconds, you'll receive a real-time credit decision. Once you're approved, you simply enter the amount you'd like to spend, then choose the monthly payment plan that's easiest for you (the usual plans offer financing over 3, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months). Affirm will pay the merchant in full at the time of settlement, taking on all the fraud risk for the purchase — that means you can buy that new digital camera or Betty Draper-style fainting couch you've always wanted without having to shell out all the cash right away.\nIn addition, the startup also announced that Affirm users can now add their Affirm virtual card to their Apple Wallet. That way, they can immediately use it to make a purchase anywhere Apple Pay is accepted, giving it all the functionality of a \"real\" credit card.\nRob Pfeifer, Chief Retail Officer at Affirm, cited consumers' medley of shopping preferences as basis for the new features in a statement:", "Mobile e-wallets are slowly being morphed into rich customer engagement platforms, thus offering reach and the opportunity for marketers to borrow mobile moments to better serve their customers, a Forrester research said on Tuesday.\nAlipay and WeChat in China show marketers the future of mobile wallets.\nWhile mainstream Western mobile wallets primarily focus on payments, pioneer mobile wallets in China have taken aggressive steps and become powerful customer engagement tools with innovative features such as WeChat’s social gifting and Alipay’s augmented reality (AR) coupons and red packets.\n“Emerging mobile wallets will develop features like Alipay and WeChat. We expect mobile wallet innovations to happen more quickly in emerging markets with less legacy and competition. Paytm in India is a good example,” senior analyst Xiaofeng Wang said in a blog post.\nThe successful marketing use cases developed on Alipay and WeChat Wallet will inspire third-party players like Apple and PayPal to morph their mobile wallets into more powerful customer engagement platforms, Wang added.\nThe marketers need to smartly leverage the mobile ecosystem to borrow mobile moments from the popular apps that their customers already use every day, the analyst suggested.", "India’s leading banks, digital payment companies and global payments technology company, VISA have lined up plans to give discounts in excess of Rs 100 crore to Snapdeal users over the next 12 months (April 18 – March 19).\nSnapdeal has tied up with 12 banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Citibank, American Express, Axis Bank, HSBC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank) and 2 digital wallets (FreeCharge and Mobikwik) to provide great deals to users who opted for digital payments (credit/debit cards and wallets) for their online purchases at Snapdeal.\nBesides tying up with banks and digital wallets for the next financial year, Snapdeal has partnered with Visa to let visa cardholders of all banks benefit from opting to use the digital payment mode. Visa cardholders will get instant discounts using a unique code every time they shop on Snapdeal. Digital payment discounts are on top of all other offers that Snapdeal would be running throughout the year.\nAll customers who pay for orders on Snapdeal using credit/debit cards, EMI or any of the wallets get cash back or instant discount of up to 25 percent depending upon the offers live at that time. Snapdeal expects up to a million transactions to benefit from these offers each month; almost 32 percent of these being first time digital payment users.\nAccording to a Snapdeal spokesperson, “We plan to make each and every digital payment a rewarding and money saving opportunity on Snapdeal. We are proud to be the platform with the highest number of such offers. The increased adoption of digital payments is a win-win proposition for our users, banking and digital payment partners and will be a significant boost to the digitization efforts in the economy.”\nSnapdeal plans to tie up with more partners to provide discounts and offers and expects to partner with at least 15 banking and 5 digital payment companies in FY 18-19. Snapdeal is working with various partners to make digital payments a highly seamless and convenient experience for its millions of users.\nSnapdeal HDFC Bank credit card, which was revamped in Dec’16, has rapidly grown to 1.52 lakh users. In January 2018, these co-branded credit cards clocked monthly spends exceeding Rs. 100 crore. Snapdeal HDFC Bank credit card holders get 5 percent instant discount + 10X rewards each time they shop on Snapdeal.", "PLDT’s digital wallet PayMaya is optimistic of bringing more institutions on board its platform following the central bank’s launch of a new electronic fund transfer service.\nOn Monday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) introduced InstaPay, which allows customers to transfer peso funds between accounts of participating BSP-accredited banks and electronic money issuers (EMI) in the country.\nIn a statement on Tuesday, PayMaya said it expects to have “more bank and non-bank partners in the coming months as they get accredited by the BSP to be part of InstaPay.”\nWith the new system, depositors of Asia United Bank, BDO, China Bank, Chinabank Savings, Equicom Savings Bank, Security Bank, and UnionBank may now send money to their PayMaya accounts.\nOrlando Vea, president and chief executive officer of PayMaya Philippines, said the initiative would help consumers to “take advantage of the growing digital economy here and around the world.”\nPayMaya has recently allowed its users to add money to their accounts via the online bills payment facilities of Unionbank, RCBC, and BDO, among others.\nThis is on top of the more than 15,000 “Add Money” touchpoints already available to PayMaya users nationwide, including 7-Eleven branches, SM Business Centers, Robinsons Business Centers inside department stores, Touchpay Kiosks, UnionBank ATMs, Shopwise, Wellcome, 2Go, ExpressPay, Cebuana Lhuillier, Palawan Pawnshop branches, and Smart Padala centers, to name a few.\nPayMaya has said it targets to cover at least 30 million Filipinos by 2020. PayMaya and Smart Money reportedly have 8 million users at present.\nThis is in line with the BSP’s vision to increase digital transactions in the Philippines to 20 percent from the current one percent.", "Paytm has rolled out a first-of-its-kind Food Wallet to provide tax saving opportunities for corporate employees. This new innovation will help companies pass on food allowance to employees under the Govt approved tax-redemption bracket.\nThe Food Wallet will be available in the Paytm app and the food allowance passed on to employees will be digital. This would eliminate risks of loss and expiry.\nPaytm’s Food Wallet comes with a unique interface where employees can see a real time balance in the passbook and can locate the closest food outlet in the ‘nearby’ feature on the app.\nThis wallet can be used at office cafeterias and also at a wide range of online and physical merchants including small standalone outlets. The list includes KFC, Burger King, Zomato, Pizza Hut, Café Coffee Day and Big Bazaar among others. In addition to the unmatched ease and convenience, customers can also enjoy added benefits like exclusive deals, discounts and cashback.\nEmployers can instantly transfer money to the Food Wallets of employees based anywhere in the country with a click of a button without any hassles of procuring, handling and distributing bulky coupons and cards. This solution is already live at some corporate offices.\nSpeaking at the launch, Senior Vice President – Paytm, Kiran Vasireddy, said, “Paytm food wallet will revolutionize the traditional meal voucher space and will benefit all stakeholders – employers, employees and food retailers. Corporate employees can now pay for their food and beverages using their mobile on the go and keep a track of all payments made on the app. This will offer great convenience when compared to the traditional instruments like paper vouchers and will have tax benefits too.”\nIndia’s Rs 25,000 crore tax-free allowance market sees 12 million salary returns filed every year. With this innovative product, Paytm can touch the lives of the six million employees who struggle to file their food voucher claims every year. This is in line with its vision of making cashless transactions a way of life across India.", "In a first for in-car convenience features, Jaguar is teaming up with Shell to launch a new payment feature that lets you use Apple Pay or PayPal (with Android Pay coming later on) to easily pay for gas right within their vehicles at the pumps. The feature is coming to the UK first, but will roll out around the world after that.\nThe feature requires installation of the Shell app to make the payments possible, but it’ll show up on your Jaguar’s in-car infotainment touchscreen display once installed, You can then pay using either your PayPal or Apple Pay credentials as mentioned, and all of this is available as of Wednesday in the UK – provided you’ve got a new model Jaguar XE, XF and F-PACE car.\nThe app lets the driver select how much gas they want, then pre-pay for their fuel. It also shows a receipt of the payment on the display itself, and forwards along a copy to your email address.\nIt’s true that a lot of pumps support payment at the pump via credit or debit card, but this is an even more convenient system since you never even have to take out your wallet. It’s also a sign of things to come – in-car payment methods that use retailer and service provider apps, combined with stored digital payment methods like Apple and Android Pay, as well as instant receipts and transaction records seem like a huge opportunity, now that vehicles are increasingly networked and equipped with geolocation services.\nHere’s hoping Jaguar owners aren’t the only ones who get to enjoy this luxury for long.", "Hong Kong smartcard provider Octopus announced a deal with Samsung to integrate its app into Samsung Pay, increasing the use cases for both payment systems in the country.\nOctopus – through its card and app – is already widely used across Hong Kong for a range of online and offline payments, including travel services through a physical card and person-to-person cash transfer on its app.\nFollowing the deal, announced today (11 December), Octopus users with Samsung handsets will also be able to make NFC-based retail payments using their Octopus accounts – a move hailed by the card company as making mobile payment “more comprehensive than ever” and “spurring progress towards becoming a smart city”.\nAs a result of the tie-up, Samsung Pay will be given a significant boost with the large base already using Octopus.\nThe service – branded Smart Octopus – will be available to Samsung Pay users on 14 December.\nOctopus Card CEO Sunny Cheung (pictured, right, with Samsung Electronics HK VP Yiyin Zhao) said: “Our partnership with Samsung represents a significant milestone for Octopus to introduce NFC payment via smartphones, offering our customers a fast, simple and seamless over-the-air mobile payment solution.”\n“We believe Smart Octopus will become the new norm to smartphone users seeking greater convenience while carrying less. We are thrilled to have Samsung support us in making Smart Octopus possible, in turn bringing more value to customers.”", "While Android Pay may have stolen the thunder in terms of Google's various methods of moving money from one party to another, Wallet is still up and running for those times when you've just got to move a few bucks between friends. The latest update looks basically identical to the last few versions, but a teardown of the app shows there are going to be a few changes to the security model that should reduce a little bit of friction and make the app much more convenient than it was in the past.\nTeardown\nDisclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are totally and completely wrong. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that plans could change or may be canceled entirely. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released. Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are totally and completely wrong. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that plans could change or may be canceled entirely. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released. The features discussed below are probably not live yet, or may only be live for a small percentage of users. Unless stated otherwise, don't expect to see these features if you install the apk.\nFingerprint support\nThe fingerprint scanner on most modern phones is a massive time saver for those of us that have our phones secured. In fact, it has become a pretty standard feature for apps that handle financial transactions. Actually, I bet most people would doubt me if I said the Google Wallet app doesn't currently allow speedy access with a fingerprint, but it's true. But fortunately, that won't be the case for much longer. Some new strings in the v20 update show that fingerprint scanner support is coming soon.\ncode Fingerprint enabled\nSet up fingerprint on your device first\nFingerprint\nConfirm your fingerprint\nUnlock Wallet\nTouch sensor\nFingerprint not recognized\nFingerprint recognized\nIts a quick, easy way to unlock Wallet\nTurn on fingerprint\nTouch sensor to turn on\nThe new lines look consistent with similar apps, so there's nothing special to reveal beyond simply saying fingerprint support is coming. Of course, that's enough to significantly improve Wallet since the PIN entry gets to be quite annoying, especially if you're using it so infrequently that the PIN becomes forgettable. And that happens to be a perfect lead-in to the next topic...\nChanging the PIN rules and switching to a Google Account PIN\nPIN codes are often used to add a little more security to debit and credit cards, bank accounts, and various other systems that deserve a little more protection than just a password. The problem with attaching PIN codes to everything is that they are easy to forget, especially if there are too many and they aren't used frequently. This is probably a common problem with Google Wallet, which requires a PIN code to access the app.\nIt looks like Google recognizes that too many separate products use distinct PINs and decided to do away with Google Wallet's dedicated system. Taking its place is the Google Account PIN, a more universal system that has been adopted across a handful of Google's other services and apps. Google Play and G Suite already support Google Account PINs, so many people may already have one. If not, Wallet will offer to set one up.\ncode Google Wallet will no longer use the Payments PIN. If you'd like to continue using a PIN to access your Wallet app, you'll need to create a Google Account PIN. This PIN is used for other Google apps, too.\nGoogle Wallet will no longer use the Payments PIN, which means one less PIN for you to remember. Since you already have a Google Account PIN, you'll just need to switch over.\nSwitch to Google Account PIN\nCreate Google Account PIN\nFrom now on, you'll use this PIN to access your Google Wallet app. You can also use fingerprint.\nFrom now on, you'll use this PIN to access your Google Wallet app.\nSwitched to Google Account PIN\nWallet supports the Google Account PIN\nAs Google's text points out, the major advantage of this is that many people will have one fewer PIN to remember. Of course, there are plenty of people that don't have a Google Account PIN, so this won't change much for them.\n\"Your Google Account PIN is different from PINs you might have for other Google products, like Google Voice, Google Wallet, and AdWords.\" - From the current Google Accounts PIN support page\nSeeing as Google's support pages currently specify Wallet as one of the apps that uses a different PIN, it's safe to say the conversion hasn't begun yet, but it's probably not too far off.\nThat's not where things stop, though; Google appears to be relaxing the security rules in another way. Two final lines make it look like Wallet users may finally get the option to drop the PIN code requirement entirely.\nDon't use pin anymore\nYou no longer need a PIN to access Wallet.\nThis will be the perfect solution for those that keep their phones securely locked most of the time or don't have any payment methods set up in Wallet. For everybody else, it's probably still advisable to keep security enabled, but that shouldn't be nearly as annoying once we can use a fingerprint for security.\nDownload\nThe APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.\nVersion: 20.0.158862257", "The mobile wallet competition just got hotter, when, on December 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), an Aadhaar-based mobile payment application.\nThe launch of BHIM app, the first government promoted mobile wallet in the country may be a decisive turning point for existing wallet players fighting for a larger market share since demonetisation.\nThe ban of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes has been the biggest opportunity for e-wallets to make their presence felt. Paytm, MobiKwik and Snapdeal-owned Freecharge have become the poster boys of the online payments industry with Paytm leading the marketshare.\nWith 150 million users on the platform, Paytm has become synonymous to e-wallet. It added five million new users and registered over seven million transactions worth ₹120 crore everyday. Mobikwik with a user base of 40 million has seen a growth of 40% in daily app downloads.\nThese players have constantly up against the other with new launches and tie-ups to attract more users.\nRead more: Demonetisation: Are mobile wallets safe enough?\nThe BHIM app, which is a re-branded version of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is named after Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and aims to promote digital transactions.\nThe app can currently be downloaded only from the android app store, with a maximum transaction limit of Rs 20,000. However, the app is to some extent different from the existing mobile wallets. Here’s how:\nCurrently, unlike the existing mobile wallets that also support some local languages, BHIM works only in Hindi and English. The app will be launched in regional languages soon.\nUnlike other payment wallets, which ask you to first add money to the wallet and then start transacting, BHIM app allows you to send and receive money directly through online banking.\nBHIM app works on feature phones, without internet connectivity. All you need to do is to dial *99# from any mobile phone and follow the instructions. Currently, FreeCharge, Oxigen and Paytm already allow feature phone users to use their services, while Mobikwik is working on a similar.\nYou can download the BHIM app and link it to a bank only on your mobile number registered with the bank.\nOn BHIM, users can check their bank balance and transactions details too, unlike other mobile wallets. The others only help you track expenses done through your wallet.\nNow, all eyes are on strategies of the private mobile wallet players to retain their market share.", "Cuscal has struck a deal to allow credit unions and banks to offer Samsung Pay in addition to Apple’s rival mobile wallet technology.\nThe payment solutions provider said 38 financial institutions would offer Samsung Pay via Cuscal, including Defence Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank, Credit Union Australia and Woolworths Employees’ Credit Union.\nAbout 1.7 million cardholders will be able to avail themselves of Samsung Pay, assuming they have compatible Samsung mobile or smartwatch devices.\nCuscal last year struck a similar deal to bring Apple Pay to a range of smaller banks and credit unions.\nSamsung Pay is also available through Westpac, Citibank and American Express.\nSamsung said it had struck “more than 870 bank partnerships worldwide” for its Pay service and said there had been “more than 240 million transactions processed over the past year and a half.”", "From the payment ecosystem point of view, digital payments as a percentage of overall payment in the ecosystem are around 12% to 15%.\nFacebook-owned WhatsApp recently expanded beyond its core area of communication to offer a platform to use (and buy) services, with the launch of its UPI-based payment feature and a separate WhatsApp Business app. It is not the only player to tread this path; last year, we saw Hike and Truecaller joining the UPI bandwagon with P2P (peer to peer) offerings, with Hike also offering services such as Ola Cab and Auto, bus tickets and bill payments.\nConversely, Google has also announced a chat feature for its UPI-based payment app, Tez.\n“We believe every transaction between people happens after a conversation, whether it is over a call or SMS. The idea behind Truecaller Pay was to create a solution which seamlessly integrates transactions with conversations on a unified platform,” says Alan Mamedi, co-founder and CEO, Truecaller. The platform has more than 150 million users in India.\nHike, which reported over 100 million users in 2017, has a fairly young user base (15-24 years) and launched Hike Wallet last year incorporating features like free and instant money transfer and UPI transfer. It claims to have crossed 10 million transactions per month in December last year since the launch, of which around 70% were on recharge and the remaining 30% were P2P transactions.\nAll this is not new. Globally, WeChat in China, also known as the bellwether of the mobile messaging space, has built a whole ecosystem of services around itself.\nWhat is more, Facebook Messenger too announced a tie-up with PayPal for P2P payments in the US last year.\nSo, why are messenger apps tapping payments? Experts say the idea is to further engage their user base with add-on services in commerce and finance, enabling consumers to maximise the mobile real estate by edging out standalone payment apps.\nBeyond communication goals\nThe closer payments is to your engagement platform, the higher the possibility of adoption. Messaging apps have very high engagement levels. For example, WhatsApp currently has over 200 million monthly active users in India.\n“Chat apps are best poised to integrate payments as they are already downloaded and all one has to do is plug-in payments to build more stickiness,” says Ritesh Pai, senior president and country head, digital banking, YES BANK. This is unlike a mobile wallet app which has to be downloaded separately.\nFrom the payment ecosystem point of view, digital payments as a percentage of overall payment in the ecosystem are around 12% to 15%. The market is huge. “Chat players will carve a niche, especially in the P2P space,” says Jose Thattil, founder, Phi Commerce.\n“We see many small businesses benefitting from WhatsApp payment services and accepting payments via UPI. Thus far, these were purely cash transactions,” Thattil further adds.\nAlso, considering the popularity of chat apps, the P2P service has a sizeable population to reach which will further aid in monetisation goals for these players. For WhatsApp, monetisation is not difficult. It is already running experiments in the enterprise messaging space with MakeMyTrip and BookMyShow. “Businesses now have options to list store addresses and access user metrics (like the number of messages read). The version also helps companies chat with users and address their queries,” says Ujjwal Chaudhry, engagement manager, RedSeer Consulting.\nHowever, compared to WeChat, Indian chat apps are at a nascent stage. WeChat is able to create an open ecosystem around its messaging app, allowing other businesses to ride atop its platform. “This is where local messaging apps can learn from WeChat,” says Saurabh Mathur, head, strategy and planning, VML India.\nBut compared to WeChat, Indian chat apps may opt for a different monetisation strategy as Chinese customers are more advanced tech users. “Private spending per capita in China is at least thrice that of Indian consumers. Also, WeChat has over 5,80,000 mini-apps on the platform. It will take some time before that kind of system evolves in India,” says Chaudhry. Adding payments will also give chat apps additional data of users such as financial data and data about their affluence level, in addition to social data, which chat apps already have. And here, WhatsApp clearly has the advantage of the volume of transactions.\nBut then, Paytm has a very strong presence when it comes to offline payments. The maximum percentage of large scale B2B transactions is still happening through RTGS/ NEFT till now. When those start shifting to the likes of Paytm, WhatsApp or UPI, is when things will get interesting.\nThe late-mover advantage?\nThe entry of messenger apps will not only further boost the adoption of digital payments in India but also in turn will get benefitted by customer education done by the incumbents, mostly mobile wallet players. As pure wallet companies feel the pinch of RBI guidelines, they may not be able to scale in the future unless they diversify into other services. “Within four-five months of the launch, Google Tez has overtaken Paytm in terms of total payment value. Wallets are going to face difficult times as consumers get more comfortable with UPI,” observes Chaudhry. Furthermore, there is a difference of four-five times in the average transaction value of the wallet versus UPI payment.\nThe entry of chat apps into payments will make digital payments more mainstream, though. “Currently, only a single digit percentage of GDP is in digital payments,” says Bhaktha Keshavachar, co-founder and CTO, Ezetap.\nAlso, the new RBI rules may weed out non-serious users of wallets. “It is also a function of at what point in time you start. Players like Mobikwik, FreeCharge and Oxigen started as pure-play stored value methods, and invested in a large ecosystem of merchants and users, which now seems like a write-off in terms of cost,” notes Pai of YES BANK. “Now they are left with the merchant ecosystem as non-serious users get weeded out.”\nBut there is another scenario to consider. There are multiple stages of maturity in payment and P2P payment is stage one. On the other hand, payment companies, which have used wallet at one point of time, will move on to UPI. “Their core is the payment business as opposed to a messenger app whose core business is to remain socially relevant,” says Vivek Belgavi, leader, Fintech, PwC India. “The new RBI guidelines will further push towards making the usecase of wallets sharper for low value transactions, making mobile wallets the ‘sachet’ of the payment world.” Whereas high value, infrequent transactions are the sweet spot for UPI.\nIn case of chat apps, the real game changer is likely to be P2M payments, which will involve building dispute resolution mechanisms and adequate security features.\n@rankita", "The app rose to the number three spot in Finance category of the App Store this weekend as part of a bitcoin frenzy that saw exchange Coinbase top Apple's free download list in the U.S. In this case, however, it is important to note this app is not official so users should avoid downloading it.\nThe app developer — who is listed as Nam Le — has three other apps with Apple, including two panda fighting games, but no history of crypto or bitcoin services.", "Jio's '200 per cent cashback offer' in detail\n1. Via Jio tariff plan recharge\n2. Via partnered digital wallets recharge\nReliance Jio's '200 per cent cashback offer' gives a total cashback of up to Rs 799 on every recharge of Rs 398 or above. Jio's '200 per cent cashback offer' is available only for Jio Prime members, according to the official website of Jio (jio.com). Subscribers can avail total cashback of up to Rs 799 in two ways- Jio tariff plan recharge worth Rs 400 and cashback via partnered digital wallets recharge up to Rs 399. This cashback offer is valid till February 15.Jio is offering 100 percent cashback vouchers worth Rs 400 in the form of eight vouchers of Rs 50 on every recharge of Rs 398 or above. Secondly, Jio has partnered with leading digital wallets to bring instant cashback of up to Rs 399. This raises the total value of the offer to Rs 799 (Rs 400+Rs 399).How to avail Jio's '200 per cent cashback offer'?Jio guarantees 100 per cent cashback for Jio Prime members. Members get a cashback worth Rs 400 in the form of eight vouchers of Rs 50 denomination each on every recharge of Rs.398 or above. This is credited immediately in customers' accounts and is visible under My Vouchers in MyJio app.Jio has partnered with leading digital wallets to offer an instant cashback of up to Rs 399. Subscribers get a cashback of up to Rs 399 when the payment is done through select digital wallets like FreeCharge, Mobikwik, PayTM, Amazon Pay, PhonePe and BHIM.When the recharge is done through MobiKwik, users get a cashback of Rs 399 (both new and existing Jio Prime members). Amazon Pay users get Rs 50 cashback (both new and existing Jio Prime members). Paytm is offering Rs 50 as cashback to new customers and Rs 20 to existing customers. PhonePe wallet is also offering cashback where new Jio users get Rs 75 while existing ones get Rs 30. Jio has also announced the offer for BHIM app users where new users get Rs 100 as cashback while existing ones get Rs 30. Freecharge is offering cashback of Rs 50 (for new users) and Rs 30 (for existing Jio users).", "As India leaps towards a digital economy, the adoption of digital wallet services is on the rise as well. Given the basic purpose of digital wallets – to allow seamless financial transactions through an app – there are several such that can be used to make the transactions on different occasions. One of the short-comings of using such is that none of them offer a comprehensive set of services, making it hard to use just one app for all digital transactions.\nWoohoo, an app that provides a unique platform to retailers, currency partners and consumers, addresses this issue by aggregating the balance of digital wallets at one place that can be used to send gifts, make transaction at retail outlets, dine out and buy tickets online. Also, Woohoo enables users to store digital from 150-plus partnered brands and from banks in one single app, thus allowing users to seamlessly manage and under one umbrella.\nOf late, the app has been updated and now offers secondary market trading facility for buying and selling This new update allows user to trade their gift cards, in secondary market for digital money, which can then be used for services like sending gifts, transacting at retail outlets, dining out and buying tickets online – at selected Woohoo merchants. Also, the app sends a reminder before the saved gift card expires so that the user can use it or sell it in the secondary market.\nThe is easy to use as well. The user can register through his mobile number and log in within seconds. Once logged in, the app provides on-screen guidance that helps understanding the tools and features of the options.\nThe app has six primary tabs or utility tools on the home screen: discounted cards, sell gift cards, buy gift cards, redeem Woohoo, manage and send free greetings.\nOther app settings can be accessed through top left, and the app notifications can be checked by clicking on the top right bell icon.\nThe app is not without its limitations. While it allows aggregating the sum of wallets balance, not all digital wallets are supported. In fact, the list of wallets supported is very thin and big names like PayTm and FreeCharge are missing.\nThere is no direct way to transact at the vendors using the sum of aggregated wallets amount. The amount aggregated in the app can primarily be used to buy of over 100 brands. These can be redeemed at the brands. Also, the usage of the app is limited to Woohoo supported merchants only.", "March 30 TIETO OYJ:\n* HAS SIGNED A FOUR-YEAR DEAL WITH SWEDISH ENGINEERING AND CONSULTANCY FIRM ÅF TO MODERNIZE THE COMPANY’S IT INFRASTRUCTURE AROUND THE WORLD\n* CONTRACT EXTENDS TIETO’S STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH ÅF\n* THE NEW DEAL GOES INTO EFFECT ON JULY 1 Source text: bit.ly/2oAZLMD Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)", "Brand View: Image capture opens up new applications, and can scan printed or digital barcodes from coupons, loyalty cards, vouchers, mobile wallets and QR codes\nAt Verifone, we’re constantly looking for ways to take the POS to new levels. A great example of this is the new built-in camera/scanner for our V240m mobile payments device.\nPerfect for small and mid-sized businesses that take payments-on-the-go, it accepts all traditional payment formats and, with its built-in camera, can scan printed or digital barcodes from coupons, loyalty cards, vouchers, mobile wallets and QR codes. It can also conveniently capture images such as identity cards, bank cheques and even license plates.\nThe new device is already proving a hit in first-out markets. In Spain for issuing tax refunds, Norway for inventory scanning, Chile for barcode scanning, and Malaysia for Alipay support.\nWe’re very excited by these new opportunities and hope that it will soon be opening up new POS applications and vertical markets for our partners, helping them to boost loyalty and revenue for their customers.\nDiscover more about V240m\nVideo of POS PLUS CAMERA\nFor receiving our monthly newsletter to find out more about Verifone and payment systems industry please contact i.verifonemena@verifone.com\nBrand View allows our business partners to share content with Arabian Business readers.\nThe content is supplied by Arabian Business Brand View Partners.\nFor all the latest UAE news from the UAE and Gulf countries, follow us on Twitter and Linkedin , like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.", "BEIJING, April 12 Ant Financial, the finance affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, and Indonesian media company Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek) are to form a joint venture to offer payment and financial services in Indonesia.\nThe Emtek tie-up is Ant's fifth international payments deal since November, seeking to tap Asia's third-largest country by population as the company continues to extend its mobile finance empire outside China.\nThe new venture will initially take the form of a payments platform within BlackBerry's messaging service, which has about 63 million users in Indonesia, the two companies said in a joint statement.\n\"Ant Financial has proven know-how in delivering payment and other financial solutions to a large and growing mobile audience in China ... and we are looking forward to replicating and creating this success in Indonesia,\" Emtek CEO Alvin Sariaatmadja said in the statement.\nAnt's Alipay payment app has 450 million users, the vast majority of which are in China, where it is the country's most popular mobile wallet. The company also has an internet banking licence and offers financial services including insurance products and mutual funds.\nReuters first reported that Ant and Emtek were in talks last month.\nAnt has already struck deals with Thai payment company Ascend Money, South Korea's Kakao Pay Corp and Philippines-based fintech business Mynt. It also has plans to close further deals in Asia this year.\nThe Indonesian venture also comes as Ant faces off against U.S. company Euronet Worldwide to acquire Dallas-based Moneygram International, a remittance business that could play a significant role in linking Ant's other payment assets in Asia.\nEmtek, an investor in online marketplace Bukalapak.com and travel portal Reservasi.com, signed a strategic alliance with BlackBerry last June and will help Ant Financial to roll out a range of payment products anchored in the BlackBerry social messaging system (BBM) as well as payment services for unspecified e-commerce platforms in Indonesia.\nAn Ant Financial spokeswoman declined to comment on a timeline for when services by the new joint venture will be rolled out.\n(Reporting by Cate Cadell; Editing by David Goodman)", "State leaders say Louisiana is leading the way with a new smartphone app that displays a digital driver’s license.\nLouisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced the new app called “LA Wallet” Tuesday. Although the app is free to download for Apple and Android devices, there is a $5.99 in-app purchase that activates a citizen’s license or ID.\n“Most people never leave home without their smartphone and with this app, they will never be without their driver’s license,” Edwards said.\nThe digital license has the same expiration date as the user’s physical driver’s license. When the physical license expires, citizens must renew their license with the Office of Motor Vehicles and purchase another digital license through the app.\nThe app was developed with the help of Louisiana State Police, the Department of Public Safety and OMW. Edwards said state police requested a “hands-off and no-touch” procedure that would not require officers to hold a user’s phone.\nOMW Commissioner Karen St. Germaine said that the app is secured by a pin number and does not track a user’s location at any time. If your phone is lost or stolen, the OMV says users can log into an online portal to unlink their license from their smartphone.\nThe app was created under Louisiana law Act 625 by Baton Rouge Rep. Ted James. Edwards touted the app as the first digital driver’s license app to be fully launched in the United States.\nFor more information or to download the app, click here to visit the LA Wallet website.\n© 2018 WWL", "Singtel’s goal is to bring the Philippines’ Globe, Indonesia’s Telkomsel and India’s Airtel on board from the second half of 2018 onwards, pending regulatory approval.\nTHE Singtel Group plans to roll out mobile wallet interoperability across its network of regional associates in Asia by mid-2018, it said on Tuesday.\nMobile wallet customers of Singtel and the group's various associate telcos would then be able to make cashless payments in their home currency, using their home telco's app, at physical merchants while abroad.\nThailand's AIS will be the first regional associate to join the programme.\nSingtel's goal is to bring the Philippines' Globe, Indonesia's Telkomsel and India's Airtel on board from the second half of 2018 onwards, pending regulatory approval.\nsentifi.com Market voices on:\nRegulators have already given the green light for the partnership between Singtel's Dash payments app and Thai counterpart myAIS, said the CEO of Singtel's International Group, Arthur Lang.\nGlobe has a GCash service, while Telkomsel's is called TCASH and Airtel offers the Airtel Money wallet.\nMr Lang told The Business Times over the phone: \"Rather than just hold stakes in various companies and leverage on the core businesses, we want to do more.\"\nSome 50 million of the Singtel Group's more than 590 million regional mobile customers use their telcos' mobile wallets. This includes the more than half a million Singtel Dash users in Singapore.\nThe group also has about one million merchant points that accept these telcos' mobile wallet payments regionwide.\nHolidaymakers and business travellers are a key target for the expanded payments service, as are small and medium-sized merchants in South-east Asia.\nMr Lang noted that the new service serving physical merchant points follows the Singtel Open Platform, which is for online transactions across the group.\nSaying that the latest move would see group members \"hunting as a pack\", he added that \"there's nothing stopping other partners from joining\" the interoperable wallet network.\nBut Mr Lang remarked that \"we definitely have our hands full this year\" and he could not commit to a timeline for extending the interoperable wallet service to Australian subsidiary Optus or to associates in Africa.\nHe called the mobile wallet market in both Singapore and the region \"fragmented\" and argued that Singtel can differentiate itself by being interoperable across several different telcos across Asia.\n\"We don't profess that we're everywhere, but these wallets talk to one another,\" said Mr Lang.\nMeanwhile, Somchai Lertsutiwong, CEO of AIS, said in a statement: \"The interconnectivity enhances AIS, offering our customers greater convenience and ease in transacting with their Rabbit Line Pay wallet within myAIS app when they travel to Singapore.\"\nRiriek Adriansyah, CEO of Telkomsel, said: \"Cross-border mobile wallet interoperability is crucial to the digital economy and will further support our government in promoting financial inclusion for the Indonesian people. Today's announcement is a significant step in the right direction.\n\"Once we obtain regulatory clearance, we can provide TCASH customers greater convenience whether they are transacting locally or overseas, and give our local merchants new income opportunities from regional travellers.\"", "Smart transaction technology company and HW Tech100 winner Ventanex has launched PaymentIQ, a new solution that powers auto-posting and smart workflow of exception items.\nPaymentIQ uses artificial intelligence and advanced imaging to streamline processing of complex, paper-centric payments, including bankruptcy checks, payoffs, wires, money orders and rejected items, the company said, adding that it is now in operation at a top-20 mortgage servicing company.\n“One of our clients’ biggest headaches is the lack of intelligence and automation for rejected and one-time items within cash groups,” said Chris Sanders, Ventanex CEO. By enabling the application of powerful processing methodology to cash services, PaymentIQ eliminates much of the manual work needed to correctly route, process and post exception items, the company said.\nSponsor Content\nPaymentIQ is able to be integrated with servicing platforms, imaging platforms, banks and third-party databases to digitize and contextualize items for analysis, review and decision-making, resulting in a significant increase in straight-through payments, Ventanex said.\nWhen a payment is unable to be auto-posted, PaymentIQ enables customizable workflows to assign and track items to the appropriate person or group. Because all items are imaged, companies are able to distribute workloads across locations, regardless of where the physical item originated, the company explained in a press release.", "PURCHASE, NY – Mastercard has announced a significant expansion of its longstanding partnership with digital payment provider PayPal into Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and Africa.\nThe deal will offer greater customer choice and make Mastercard a clear payment option within PayPal across the globe. With the addition of these markets – and following the recent expansion of their partnership into the U.S. and Asia Pacific – Mastercard and PayPal have now reached a global agreement.\nMastercard operates the world’s second-largest credit card network behind Visa.\nThe global expansion will create a number of joint growth opportunities that will advance Mastercard and PayPal’s shared vision to offer consumers greater choice and flexibility to manage and move their money:\nMastercard will be presented as a clear and equal payment option within the PayPal Wallet, making Mastercard and their issuers easily identifiable to the consumer when transacting. Consumers will also see a familiar digital representation of their Mastercard from their chosen issuer. Additionally, consumers will be able to choose Mastercard as their default payment method to allow for quick and easy check-out.\nMastercard and PayPal will work together to leverage new Mastercard payment flow technologies, providing increased value to Mastercard cardholders, financial institutions, and PayPal customers. Through collaborations with Mastercard bank partners, consumers will be able to seamlessly add Mastercard cards into PayPal from banking apps.\nPayPal will have the opportunity to expand its presence at the point of sale by utilizing tokenization services from Mastercard, allowing consumers to use their tokenized Mastercard in their PayPal Wallet to make in-store purchases at more than 6.5 million contactless-enabled locations across the globe. Consumers will also have the ability to quickly cash out funds held in their PayPal accounts to a Mastercard debit card.\nMasterpass will be presented as a payment option for merchants that process payments via Braintree in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and Africa – in addition to the U.S. and Asia Pacific. These merchants will see the benefits of more choice and will be able to easily integrate Masterpass into their checkout experiences to provide a seamless user experience for consumers.\n“Today’s news is the latest in a line of great partnership developments with Mastercard,” said Gary Marino, Chief Commercial Officer at PayPal. “Together we expect to accelerate digital payment adoption across the world, improve the payment experience online, in-app and in store, and empower millions of consumers to seamlessly manage and move their money.”\n“People everywhere know and trust the familiar Mastercard brand, whether they’re paying in the physical or digital world,” said Ann Cairns, President International, Mastercard. “Our expanded partnership with PayPal affirms our commitment to our billions of cardholders across the globe to deliver the simple, speedy and secure payment experience they’ve come to expect from Mastercard, across devices and channels.”", "Google is adding a new way to let you purchase goods and services through Android Pay. On Tuesday, the company announced a new partnership that lets consumers use PayPal as a payment method, be it in-store, in-app, or online. Now shoppers in the U.S., instead of using a debit or credit card, can use PayPal.\nUsing services like Android Pay, Samsung Pay, and Apple Pay was predicated on the fact that people had to have a credit or debit card. But what about those who prefer alternative means of payment? Google has made Android Pay more accessible to those that want to experience the tap-and-go experience without linking their card by partnering with PayPal.\nThe integration is rolling out “soon,” and at launch, consumers will only be able to pay using their PayPal balance. Eventually, support for cards stored within PayPal will be added, which will be enabled through the payment processor’s tokenization partnerships with major card providers.\nWorking with Google isn’t new for PayPal; they collaborated on a transactional deal with Google Play three years ago.\nToday’s partnership will work only for those devices with Android OS 4.4 or higher installed.", "The Google Pay app is getting a handy new feature: transit tickets.\nAt launch, this feature is only available for the Las Vegas Monorail, but Google plans to roll out support for transit systems in other cities \"soon.\"\nHere's how it works in Sin City: head over to the Las Vegas Monorail site and purchase a ticket, then save it to the Google Pay app. Note that this feature only currently works on Android phones with the latest version of Google Pay.\nOnce you save your ticket, you'll see helpful info in the app, like the location of the nearest Monorail station, your recent transactions, and trips. When you're ready to ride, wake up your phone, hold it to the fare gate, and wait for the blue check mark to appear on your device—no need to wait in line, rifle through your wallet for your ticket, or even open the Google Pay app.\n\"Crowded public transportation can completely derail your day—especially when you're standing in line to buy a ticket and the train whizzes by,\" Google Pay Group Product Manager Prakash Hariramani wrote in a blog post. \"But the next time you're traveling around Las Vegas, you can skip the line and get there faster with Google Pay.\"\nFor more information on how to use Google Pay to ride the Las Vegas Monorail, check out this support article.\nGoogle in February unified its payment systems—including Android Pay and Google Wallet—into one brand, Google Pay, to make the checkout experience \"simpler, safer and more consistent.\" Aside from serving as your digital transit pass for the Las Vegas Monorail, Google Pay lets you store virtual versions of your payment cards, then use your phone to buy goods at participating retailers.", "It's impossible to predict how long consumers around the globe will cling to using plastic cards for payments, but not uncommon to hear predictions of the product's demise.\nEntrust Datacard, which serves both sides of the physical and digital payments spectrum, sees the categories' fates as intertwined. The more momentum digital and mobile wallets have, the more opportunity they create for their plastic counterparts.\n\"Cards are here to stay, that's all we say about it,\" said Alyssa Arredondo, director of financial vertical marketing at Entrust Datacard.\nAlyssa Arredondo, director of financial vertical marketing at Entrust Datacard.\nIt's an important mantra for Entrust Datacard, which is four years into identification card manufacturer Datacard Group's acquisition of digital identity and information provider Entrust. The deal was designed to bolster identity-based security solutions for mobile, but Datacard's core business of instant card issuing and transaction security plays a key role.\nAn ongoing trend of mobile channels also offering a plastic card as a payment option, such as the recently announced Venmo card, gives Entrust Datacard more reason to believe its core business with cards has a healthy future.\n\"It's interesting as to what types of vehicles are going to the card business,\" Arredondo said. \"Many P2P apps, such as Venmo, mPesa, Square Cash and PayPal, all issue cards.\"\nAnother example is cryptocurrency cards, she added. \"Everyone is mining cryptocurrency, but what value is it if you can't actually spend it to buy what you need?\"\nCryptocurrency companies have been partnering with Visa to produce credit and debit cards on which bitcoin can be converted to a local currency and loaded, but Visa also shut down many bitcoin wallets this year after it determined issuer WaveCrest was not following Visa rules.\nAs the use of cards to complement mobile or crypto channels continues to shake out, Entrust Datacard points to other trends that indicate the physical card world is indeed bullish.\nWhen speaking to the Entrust Datacard sales staff or making a presentation to card networks and other providers, Arredondo makes the point that the compound annual growth rate of cards shipped globally is a positive 3.3%, with debit cards and dual-interface cards driving that growth.\nEntrust Datacard also predicts that contactless cards will become more popular than paying with mobile devices at the point of sale, because they are faster and easier to use. Part of that rests with the growing number of city transit networks turning to contactless cards as a key payment tool, while also introducing mobile ticketing apps.\nIn the mobile realm, the growth of QR codes, especially in China and India, will fuel growth in cards because the main goal is merchants seeking ways to accept non-cash payments, Arredondo said.\nOnline-only financial companies such as Transferwise, Kabbage and Hyperwallet (recently acquired by PayPal) also offer payment cards.\nBut a key aspect of the physical card doesn't get mentioned as often as how mobile and other digital technology will interact with it in the coming years.\n\"The card remains an important showcase for the bank and the card network,\" Arredondo said. \"It's a brand tool and a marketing tool.\"\nBecause of this, many issuers have begun issuing metal cards or cards with colored cores to make their products stand out more prominently in a customer's wallet.\n\"Nothing can replace the 'clink' of putting that metal card down on the table to pay for a business dinner, or a consumer taking out a card and placing it on a counter at the POS,\" Arredondo added. \"That would all be lost if it is digital and loaded onto a phone.\"", "After several weeks of speculation and leaked details, today Google officially unveiled its first big foray into mobile payments in Asia. The Android and search giant has launched Tez, a free mobile wallet in India that will let users link up their phones to their bank accounts to pay for goods securely in physical stores and online, and for person-to-person money transfers with a new twist: Audio QR, which uses ultrasonic sounds to let you exchange money, bypassing any need for NFC.\n“Send money home to your family, split a dinner bill with friends, or pay the neighbourhood chaiwala. Make all payments big or small, directly from your bank account with Tez, Google’s new digital payment app for India,” Google notes in its information portal about the new app.\nTez is Google’s play to replace cash transactions and become a more central part of how people pay for things, using their mobile to do so. But it’s also a chance for the company to push out some new technologies — like audio QR (AQR), which lets users transfer money by letting their phones speak to each other with sounds — to see how it can make that process more frictionless, and therefore more attractive to use than cash itself. More on AQR below.\nTez is launching today on iOS and Android in the country and will see Google linking up with several major banks in the country by way of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) — a payment standard and system backed by the government in its push to bring more integrated banking services into a very fragmented market. There will also be phones coming to the market from Lava, Micromax, Nokia and Panasonic with Tez preloaded, the company said.\nGoogle has confirmed to me that payments made and taken using UPI are free for consumers and small merchants. “Google is not collecting any payments from transactions,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. It is unclear how and if that will change when Google turns on functionality to upload cards to the Tez wallet, which is coming “in the next few weeks and months.” Card usage could come with a transaction fee.\nTo be clear, Tez is not a mobile “wallet” in the same way as PayTM offers a mobile wallet, where money is stored in the app and needs to be topped up to be used; it’s more like Apple’s Wallet or other mobile wallets in the west: a place that links up your phone with your bank accounts to let you use your phone as a way to deduct payments from those accounts.\nSupported banks include Axis, HDFC Bank, ICICI and State Bank of India and others that support UPI. Online payment partners include large food chains like Dominos, transport services like RedBus, and Jet Airways. And tellingly, to help address one of the many ways that the Indian market is fragmented, the app has support for English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.\nFor money transfers, there is a limit of ₹1,00,000 in one day across all UPI apps, and 20 transfers in one day.\nGoogle says that AQR — the sound-based format for transferring money securely between devices — is its own proprietary technology. This appears to be the first time that Google has used it for payments, although it has used ultrasonic sound for transferring information between devices before: for example, the tech has been used in Chromecast to connect devices since 2014. Other startups that have used audio-based “codes” to transfer payments and other data before include Lisnr, and Chirp.\nWhile AQR might seem like a neat technical twist, there are some practical reasons behind why Google might opt for this in Tez. For starters, it obviates the need for NFC in the device, and in the payment devices of merchants or whoever else a person is planning to transact with. While we are seeing a greater proliferation of NFC and bluetooth across consumer electronics, it’s still not completely ubiquitous and when considering low-cost smartphones in countries like India, may not always be present.\nThe other thing is that it makes any kind of contactless transaction with the device fairly flexible and easy. Services like Airdrop on iPhones require Bluetooth and if you’ve used it before isn’t that seamless and foolproof to turn on (even though it works like a charm when it does). QR codes, meanwhile, require you to turn on the camera on your device and physically align it with a code on another screen, a potentially fiddly and difficult process. Using audio taps into some of the most basic features on even the most basic phones, a speaker and a microphone.\nWhile the service is launching in India this week, Google has also trademarked the name in other Asian countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, so there seems to be a wider strategy to expand this to other regions.\nIndia, the second-most populated country in Asia after China, is a ripe market for mobile payment services, with a rapidly expanding middle class with more disposable income and a wider population that is very tech-focussed, with an estimated 300 million smartphones in use today. Digital payments are expected to reach a volume of $500 billion annually by 2020, according to a report from BCG and Google.\nAt the same time, the market is challenging. India has to date had a very low credit card penetration, with many services based around cash payments. The general population has been resistant to changing those habits, and the regulatory framework up to now has not made it easier.\nBut as many know, using cash comes with its own price, so to speak. Users cannot build credit histories — which can be a problem when they need to make larger purchases or take out loans — and are cut out from buying certain things as a result. (Consider how many things today are, if not only, are certainly easier to buy with cards or online, like airplane tickets).\nSo times are now changing, and initiatives like UPI have led to the rise of newer services like Tez, with the government standing behind them. It was the Finance Ministry, in fact, that was responsible for one of the leaks ahead of today’s launch.\nAnd in a sense, developing markets like India have even more potential for mobile-based payment services than more mature countries like the U.S., where there is already widespread use of cards for payments: there isn’t a useful and easy cash replacement service in use already that Tez is trying to disrupt. Tez, fittingly, is Hindi for “fast” — another pointer to how Google is pitching this as more convenient than what exists today.\nThere is also a separate business portal for online companies to integrate as sellers to accept Tez payments. This will not only let companies lay the groundwork to accept Tez payments for their goods and services in-store and on mobile, but comes with a larger merchant services backend: businesses get their on channels on the app to build potentially in place of their own apps, where they can create special offers, subscriptions, loyalty programs and other services to drive more sales.\nWe’re still asking Google more questions and will update the story as we get more information. For example, Google has confirmed to us that, initially, Tez will not work with enterprise accounts if you use them as your phone profile.\nVia Techcrunch", "Samsung Pay has on Thursday become available to the customers of 38 financial institutions in Australia, thanks to a partnership with independent payments provider Cuscal.\nCuscal boasts more than 100 clients in Australia, with Bank Australia, Bank of Sydney, CUA, Defence Bank, Firefighters Mutual Bank, People's Choice Credit Union, Police Bank, QT Mutual Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank, and Unity Bank among those now offering Samsung's wallet.\nSamsung expects partnering with Cuscal to enable mobile payments for a total of 1.7 million cardholders.\nSamsung Pay is available wherever near-field communication (NFC) payments are accepted, and is compatible on Samsung devices such as the Gear S3 smartwatch and the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones.\nThe announcement comes as Samsung Pay marks its first anniversary in Australia, with Cuscal joining Westpac, Citibank, and American Express as Samsung Pay partners in the country.\nThe Cuscal partnership sees Samsung now partnered with over 40 payment card brands and more than 100 different loyalty cards loaded onto Samsung Pay.\n\"Every partner we bring on board, whether it be a financial institution or retail brand through our Samsung Pay loyalty functionality, brings us a step closer to helping customers replace their wallets with their Samsung smartphone or smartwatch,\" said Richard Fink, VP of Samsung Australia's Mobile Division.\nFintech analyst Juniper Research estimates that the number of users of Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay will exceed 100 million for the first time during the first half of this year, and hit 150 million by the end of this year.\nApple Pay is predicted to reach 86 million users by the end of 2017, while Samsung Pay is forecast by Juniper to reach 34 million, and Android Pay 24 million.\nAlthough Apple Pay has been flagged as the most popular wallet, its adoption in Australia has been stifled, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) the only member of the big four banks to adopt the iPhone maker's wallet.\nWestpac, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the National Australia Bank, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank have been seeking regulatory approval since mid-last year to collectively negotiate with third-party mobile providers such as Apple on conditions relating to competition, best practice standards, and efficiency.\nThroughout the process, the banks claimed they wanted access to the NFC controller in iPhones and reduced their argument earlier this year to solely focus on it, as Apple currently does not allow any other entity direct access to its technology.\nThe group argued that access would enable them to offer their own integrated digital wallets to iPhone customers in competition with Apple's digital wallet without using Apple Pay -- something Apple wanted to avoid.\nThe banks lost their fight in March, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) handing down a determination denying authorisation.\nPrior to the determination from the ACCC, the banks baulked at settling for payment alternatives such as Samsung Pay, calling them \"unrealistic\" in the Australian market." ]

[ "WASHINGTON — President Bush says Harriet Miers asked him to withdraw her Supreme Court nomination because of Senate pressure to release internal White House documents in which she offered him confidential advice. But the president's nomination of his White House counsel, who had no prior experience as a judge, faced opposition almost from the moment it was announced. Much of the opposition came not from Democrats but from conservatives in Mr. Bush's own party. Pro-life activists in particular complained that Miers had no track record of publicly opposing abortion. They considered her an unreliable choice to help overturn the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Even after the White House released a dozen boxes of documents, including a questionnaire in which Miers indicated her support for overturning Roe v. Wade, conservative Christians remained unsatisfied. The questionnaire, after all, was filled out just months after Miers sent a contribution to both Al Gore's 1988 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Such opposition from within the conservative movement was all but unheard of before Miers was nominated. But from the moment she was named, \"a lot of conservatives filed for divorce from this administration,\" said Ramesh Ponnuru, editor of the National Review magazine. \"They are no longer seeing its fortunes as their fortunes and its setbacks as their setbacks.\" Some conservatives even launched an advertising campaign critical of the president's pick. \"Even the best leaders make mistakes,\" said a woman in a recent TV ad from a group called Americans for Better Justice, which includes conservative activist Linda Chavez and former Bush speechwriter David Frum. \"Conservatives support President Bush, but not Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.\" Their reasons for opposing Miers extended beyond the abortion issue. Conservative legal scholars, such as former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, complained that Miers had no experience with constitutional law and no known judicial philosophy to guide her thinking on important issues, such as private property rights and religious freedom. \"With a single stroke — the nomination of Harriet Miers — the president has damaged the prospects for reform of a left-leaning and imperialistic Supreme Court, taken the heart out of a rising generation of constitutional scholars, and widened the fissures within the conservative movement,\" Bork wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece. \"There is, to say the least, a heavy presumption that Ms. Miers, though undoubtedly possessed of many sterling qualities, is not qualified to be on the Supreme Court.\" Moreover, some critics complained that Miers' nomination had less to do with her qualifications than with her close relationship with Mr. Bush. \"If one omits the jobs that were given to her by President Bush ... all you have left is a corporate attorney who has shown an ability for administration,\" Ronald J. Pestritto, of the conservative think tank, The Claremont Institute, recently noted in one of a slew of negative web postings on the Miers nomination. \"The substantial weight of the evidence of her capacity to be a justice — that is, the key government positions she has held — are all the fruits of her continuing relationship with the president. If this doesn't raise serious questions about cronyism, I'm not sure what does.\" In the end, however, it was a growing drumbeat of concerns voiced by Republican senators that doomed Miers' nomination. Among those were religious conservatives like Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who complained to that President Bush had nominated a \"blank slate.\" \"I'm disappointed he wanted to nominate someone like that instead of someone with a record,\" Santorum told the Public Opinion newspaper in Chambersburg, Penn., in mid- October. Others were similarly circumspect about Miers qualifications, such as Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, who said he \"cannot get excited about her selection.\" Democrats, too, voiced concern over Miers' qualifications. Yet many were happy to let the Republicans sink the nomination on their own. Some even defended Miers against the increasingly sharp criticisms from conservatives. \"The way she's been beaten up by the far right is very sexist,\" Sen. Dianne Feinstein told CNN. \"People should hold their fire, and give people an opportunity to come before a hearing.\" Yet the release of a 1989 survey of her views on abortion, in which Mier not only vowed to back a constitutional amendment against abortion, but also to take to the streets in support of it, turned even Feinstein against the nominee, while at the same time failing to assure conservatives of her intentions. Meanwhile, Senators Arlen Spector and Patrick Leahy, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voiced their disappointment in Miers' 56-page response to questions about her judicial experience and philosophy. Calling her answers \"incomplete\" and \"insulting,\" " ]

[ "Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. appeared headed toward confirmation Thursday after fending off repeated efforts by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to pin him down on divisive constitutional issues, including abortion and executive power. Alito finished 18 hours on the witness stand shortly after noon on Thursday, with Republicans praising his performance and confidently predicting his confirmation. Democrats, meanwhile, criticized him for evading direct answers and several began to lay out grounds for voting against his nomination to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. \"We started these hearings seeking answers,\" Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) said in a sharply worded prepared statement after wrapping up his questioning of Alito. \"We come away with even more questions about Judge Alito's commitment to fairness and equal justice for all.\" But Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said Democrats had raised \"phony issues\" in questioning Alito. \"You've been straightforward here, you've honestly answered the questions,\" Hatch said, addressing Alito directly. \"I don't think you've been fairly treated.\" While talk of a filibuster to block the nomination had faded by week's end, the contrasting party-line perspectives on Alito will be put to the test next week when the 10 Republicans and eight Democrats on the panel are scheduled to vote on whether to recommend Alito's confirmation to the high court. Republican leaders hope that the full Senate will consider the matter before the end of the month. Frustrated Democrats An appeals court judge, Alito was Bush's pick on Oct. 31 to succeed O'Connor after his earlier nominee, White House counsel Harriet Miers, withdrew in the face of withering criticism from conservative interest groups and commentators. As Thursday's hearings concluded, President Bush called Alito from Air Force One to congratulate him \"for doing a great job,\" White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters. Democrats say the Miers episode raises questions about the politics of his selection, and in the hearings, they voiced their strongest complaints about Alito's refusal under persistent questioning to give a clear statement about his views of the Supreme Court's key abortion rights decision, Roe v. Wade. With slight variations, Alito answered consistently that Roe was entitled to respect as a legal precedent but he declined to call it \"settled\" law. Several Democrats said Alito appeared to be leaving the door open to overturning or substantially modifying Roe if confirmed. Republicans discounted warnings that Alito's prior statements as a Reagan administration lawyer opposing a constitutional right to abortion signaled his likely vote if confirmed. Democrats were also frustrated in their efforts to probe Alito's views about executive power, including the legality of President Bush's post-Sept. 11 program of domestic eavesdropping without judicial authorization. Alito said that he was required to give \"no hints, no previews\" about how he might rule on a future case. Personal Issues Queried Alito also faced sharp questions on two personal issues: his initial failure to step out of a case involving the financial services company where he has a six-figure mutual fund and his membership in a controversial conservative Princeton alumni group. On the recusal issue, Sen. Kennedy echoed other Democrats' complaints when he said that Alito had offered \"series of explanations\" for his actions. In his clearest statement on the matter, Alito acknowledged Thursday that it was \"an oversight on my part\" not to step out of the 2002 appeal of a case involving the Vanguard investment company. But he also said he rectified the problem by recusing himself later and asking for the appointment of a new appeals panel to hear the case. \"When the recusal issue was brought to my attention, I did everything that I could that nobody could come away with an impression that Mrs. Maharaj [the plaintiff in the case] got anything other than a completely fair appeal,\" Alito said. Later, witnesses from the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Judiciary said the group found no reason to question Alito's ethics. \"We accepted his explanation that he had simply made a mistake,\" said Washington, D.C., lawyer John Payton. The committee gave Alito its highest rating: \"well qualified.\" Documents Defuse One Debate Democrats used Alito's membership in the now defunct Concerned Alumni of Princeton to question his views on diversity. The group -- which formed not long after Alito's graduation from Princeton in 1972 -- was widely known to oppose efforts to increase the number of women and minority students. Alito listed membership in the group in a 1985 job application for a promotion within the Justice Department, but repeatedly told the committee he had no recollection of having been active. After a brief flare-up between Kennedy and Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) on Wednesday, the co", "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Judiciary Committee favorably recommended Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate on a party-line vote Tuesday, ensuring prospects the conservative jurist will join the high court bench. All 10 Republicans voted for Alito, while all eight Democrats voted against him. The partisan vote was almost preordained, with 15 of the 18 senators announcing their votes even before the committee's session began. The full Senate expects to take a final vote on Alito's nomination before the end of the week. That vote is also expected to follow along party lines, with only one Democrat -- Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- coming out so far in support of Alito. Republicans hold the balance of power in the Senate 55-44, with one independent. Senate Republicans say Alito is a good choice for the nation's highest court. \"Like America's founders, Judge Alito clearly believes in self-government, that the people and not judges should make law, and that judges have an important role but must know and stay in their proper place,\" said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). But Democrats are fretting that the 55-year-old jurist and former lawyer for the Reagan administration will swing the court to the right and help overturn precedent-setting decisions like Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's abortion rights case, although he refused to talk about that decision at his confirmation hearing. \"He still believes that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion, but does not want to tell the American people because he knows how unpopular that view is,\" said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY). In a statement after the vote, the White House said: \"The negative tone, relentless attacks and distortion of Judge Alito's career confirmed what we already knew from the hearings: Judge Alito had an open mind but the Democrats, beholden to their interest groups, did not.\" \"Democrats have repeatedly twisted and distorted Judge Alito's positions to the point where they are unrecognizable,\" said spokesman Stephen Schmidt. \"Democrats' relentless politicization of a process that has traditionally been above partisan politics is disappointing.\" Alito was picked last October by President Bush to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She was the high court's first female member, and a key swing vote on contentious issues such as abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty during her career on the court. Alito was the White House's second choice for that seat. White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew from consideration last year after conservative criticism of her nomination. Republicans and Democrats are preparing to use the partisan battle over judicial nominations as a campaign issue in the midterm election this year. Republicans say the Democratic filibuster of lower-court judge helped them knock of former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle of North Dakota two years ago. If Democrats want to make judges a campaign issue, \"we welcome that debate on our side. We'll clean your clock,\" said Sen. Lindsey Graham(R-SC). And Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), warned that Republicans would remember the party-line Alito vote in future Supreme Court nominations, considering several Republicans voted for Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who were nominated by President Clinton. \"It is simply unrealistic to think that one party would put itself at a disadvantage by eschewing political considerations while the other party almost unanimously applies such considerations,\" Kyl said. \"So I say to my Democratic friends: Think carefully about what is being done today. Its impact will be felt well beyond this particular nominee.\" Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), said things are different from when the Senate considered Breyer and Ginsburg, who were confirmed 87-9 and 96-3 respectively. \"There was not the polarization within America that is there today, and not the defined move to take this court in a singular direction,\" Feinstein said." ]

[ "Scissor jumps are a whole-body exercise that also give you a good cardiovascular workout. They may also be known as scissor hops or runs. This exercise typically is associated with interval training." ]

[ "The jump lunge – also known as an alternating split jump lunge or a scissors lunge – is a great exercise for strengthening your lower body and improving coordination.", "Did you know that there is a different way to do a full scissor on a poodle other then using a skip tooth blade? It is hand scissoring You will see the difference.", "A scissors case is an excellent way to keep the sharp scissor blades safe away from you. The case prevents accidental poking and the blades won't rub against anything else in storage.", "Cheerleading jumps are often compulsory in competitive routines, and good jumps get better marks. There are lots of jumps, but this article will give tips for toe touches and front hurdlers.", "The split jump is a move that combines a lunge with a vertical jump. It's a great exercise for your quads, relying on core strength. Mastering the split jump is a result of strengthening your body's core and thigh muscles.", "A tuck jump is a basic gymnastics jump in which the gymnast jumps into the air and pulls their knees to their torso. It is often one of the first skills new gymnasts learn.", "Trampolines are spaces where children and even adults can jump and play. People who jump on trampolines often enjoy doing tricks and at times, showing off their moves to a nearby audience. \"", " The Waltz Jump is the first jump most figure skaters learn. It is a half revolution jump and is a gateway to many more complex jumps. ", "A flip jump is a toe jump. It is performed in competitions and shows. It begins with a mohawk or outside three-turn and takes off from a toe pick. It can be completed as a half revolution all the way to a quad jump.", "Jumping jacks are a basic exercise almost everyone has done as a child, but did you know how beneficial jumping jacks can be to your heart and lungs?", "Jump ropes are a lot of fun and a great way to exercise. Jumping rope builds muscle, stamina and it's a great cardio workout. It's way cheaper than buying a membership to the gym and you can bring a jump rope anywhere.", "Jumping with pointe shoes on is one thing. However, performing jumps en pointe is a whole different story. This means jumping and landing while on pointe, no extra steps.", "Jumps are one of the keys points of being a cheerleader. To get the jumps that the crowd \"ooh\"s and \"ahh\"s over and the rest of the squad envies, practice some of these exercises.", "Making homemade cross country or show jumps for your model Breyer or other model horses is not that hard and these little jumps can look very authentic provided you use the right materials.", "The long jump requires certain techniques an lots of practice. It may sound intimidating at first, but once you know what to do, you will have better chances of winning long jump competitions.", "Mad Air jumps are a special kind of jump off a swing. It is pretty airy and fun. The air kind of holds you in the sky for a moment. If you want to do one of these, read this article.", "One of the most common but effective moves in soccer is the scissor. Used in games from junior varsity to the World Cup, this fluid move uses the outside of your feet to fake going one way before cutting to the other.", "Keen on trying out some gymnastics jumps? There are various core jumps in gymnastics which can help improve the height, speed and agility of the gymnast when performing her or his routines.", "A good pair of sewing scissors is a pleasure to use. A bad pair of sewing scissors is miserable and ineffective. Scissors are fundamental to sewing, so take the time to get the good kind.", "Rock, Paper, Scissors is a hand game played by two people. Both people would say \"rock, paper, scissors\" and then simultaneously form one of three objects (rock, paper, or scissors) with an outstretched hand.", "If you've seen people doing crazy jumps over railings and through cities, these trained experts are probably practicing either parkour, or free running.", "Have you always wanted to be a cheerleader? Are tryouts coming up? Can you not do the jumps? You can still become a cheerleader even if you can't do the jumps, but it is hard.", "Over time and with consistent use, all scissors will eventually dull and loose the sharp edges they once possessed when you first bought them. If you are having trouble cutting with dull scissors, you might consider going out and buying another pair, since scissors are relatively inexpensive.", "Do you want to see your pony jump without a saddle? Or do you not have tack but want to jump your horse? Well why not try free jumping? Free jumping should not be an unattainable feat.", "A moment of frustration with a poorly-fitting belt sometimes tempts a person to attack it with scissors or knives, but there are much better ways to do the job.", " So you want to be doing 720's off jumps, backflips, etc. it all starts with hitting jumps. ", "You can learn any trampoline trick you like, but there are safety concerns. Trampoline tricks are a progression of one trampoline move to the next. From the basic tuck jump, to the double front somersault - just learn one at a time.", "Should you use a scissors or rotary cutter in your sewing projects? Learn about the pros, cons and features of sewing scissors, shears, and rotary cutters.", "You may have difficulty getting in your cardio exercise, especially if you aren't a member of a gym and don't have much space or equipment at home. Jumping exercises, referred to generally as plyometrics, can give you a cardio workout without requiring more than a few feet of space.", "If you want to be a cheerleader, dancer, or acrobat a split is very helpful thing to be able to do. Keep in mind that your hamstrings, although strong, are also very delicate.", "In Urban Terror, jumping is a skill that demands the quick and precise movement of your mouse and your learned muscle memory to successfully pass through, over, and between obstacles by using correct jumping techniques.", "This dress involves hardly any stitching. All you need is an old sock and a pair of scissors and a needle and thread for a neater finish! Kids will love doing it!" ]

[ "Under a new deal that was announced on Monday, Tommy Hilfiger will purchase collections that Karl Lagerfeld designs, with the objective of building a worldwide brand." ]

[ "“Lagerfeld Confidential,” a new documentary on Karl Lagerfeld by Rodolphe Marconi, opens at the Film Forum in Manhattan.", "Troubled singer Amy Winehouse is now the new muse of fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld", "FASHION designer Tommy Hilfiger has become the latest business tycoon to cash in on the reality TV phenomenon. Hilfiger will star in a contest series based on property mogul Donald Trump&#39;s reality TV hit, The Apprentice.", "Top fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz reported record profitability in the fourth quarter, helped by a collection from Karl Lagerfeld, the first showing of a U.S. profit and tight cost control.", "Tommy Hilfiger agreed to sell his biggest clothing lines exclusively at Macy’s, a deal that could rattle the department store industry.", "Those seeking career advice about how to become an emperor of fashion will find little if any useful information in “Lagerfeld Confidential.”", "Karl Lagerfeld is selling two of his collections of Art Deco vases made in an art pottery near Biarritz and pieces of neoclassical furniture cast in bronze from about 1917.", "Celebrities lined the runway at Tommy Hilfiger's presentation of his H Hilfiger collection, and the stars saw plenty of styles appropriate for those who do their party-hopping from yacht to yacht.", "Macy's Inc said on Friday that it signed a deal with Tommy Hilfiger USA Inc for Macy's to be the exclusive department store retailer of Tommy Hilfiger men's and women's sportswear in the United States.", "Lagerfeld propone scarpe basse e stile fresco", "Ona giant H&amp;M billboard at 31st Street and 10th Avenue in Manhattan, Karl Lagerfeld looms like a stern Inquisitor, wearing a black frock coat, white collar, dark glasses and an expression", "It was a one-two encounter between Axl Rose and Tommy Hilfiger.", "The Moment's fragrance expert reviews Tommy Hilfiger's latest, Dreaming ...", "CBS has designs on a new reality series featuring fashion maven Tommy Hilfiger.", "Business & money: Fashion label Tommy Hilfiger has abandoned plans for a £1.5bn stock market float in Amsterdam", "As reality fever continues, CBS has announced a new series with fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, The Cut, that will pit 16 contestants against each other in a competition to find America's fashion trendsetter of tomorrow. Hosted by Hilfiger, the winner will be given the opportunity to design a collection of clothing under the Tommy Hilfiger label and become the next great American designer.", "NEW YORK - Celebrities lined the runway at Tommy Hilfiger's presentation of his H Hilfiger collection, and the stars saw plenty of styles appropriate for those who do their party-hopping from yacht to yacht. Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Sean \"P...", "Shares sink as a federal grand jury continues its investigation into commission rates, tax benefits. CHICAGO - Shares of Tommy Hilfiger Corp.", "When it came to presenting the story of his own life, Karl Lagerfeld stayed out of the editing room.", "Part of women's fashion label Paul Costelloe, which dressed the partners of Europe's Ryder Cup golf team, is up for sale.", "The US House of Representatives today solidly defeated the Marriage Protection Amendment, formerly the Federal Marriage Amendment.", "Tommy Hilfiger Corp. said Tuesday it will move its New York operations and eliminate one of its four distribution centers in New Jersey.", "Tommy Hilfiger Corp. Wednesday said it would delay the filing of its quarterly report while it reviews issues related to a government investigation.", "German sports goods maker Adidas-Salomon launched a sportswear collection with designer Stella McCartney on Wednesday, expecting to boost sales by at least 10 million euros ($12 million) next year.", "Actress Rebecca Gayheart, who first gained popularity as the \"Noxzema girl\" in the skin care company's ads, has married actor Eric William Dane.", "Retailer Macy's Inc said on Friday it signed an accord with Tommy Hilfiger USA Inc to be the exclusive U.S. department store retailer of the design company's men's and women's sportswear, starting in fall 2008.", "Want to buy glamorous attire from a luxury store or rather get it off the high street? Fans of Dutch duo Viktor and Rolf can have it both ways this autumn.", "Tommy Hilfiger Corp. TOM.N said on Wednesday its quarterly pretax income tumbled 59 percent, hit by weak demand for its preppy fashions.", "It was a one-two encounter between Axl Rose and Tommy Hilfiger. The rocker and designer capped a Thursday evening out at a new club called The Plumm in Manhattan&#039;s Chelsea neighborhood with midnight fisticuffs.", "On Thursday, Oct. 7, the same day the pop star finalized her marriage to dancer Kevin Federline, she also broke with her manager of nine years, reports Reuters.", "\"Desperate Housewives\" star Eva Longoria and basketball ace Tony Parker married in a civil wedding ceremony on Friday, but well-wishers and photographers got only a fleeting glimpse of the celebrity couple.", "Clothing maker Tommy Hilfiger suffered a mauling on Wall Street yesterday after disclosing it was the subject of a federal investigation that analysts said appeared to focus on tax avoidance." ]

[ "(57) Abstract: The present invention, oxide - useful in inhibiting squalene cyclase formula I: Heterocyclic derivatives, pharmaceutical compositions containing the manufacturing process and their. Further, the present invention inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis, therefore relates heterocyclic derivatives which can reduce cholesterol levels in the plasma. The present invention also such heterocyclic derivatives, diseases and main treatment conditions, methods of using, for example hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis." ]

[ "We report the development of a new trifluoromethyltriazolobenzoxazepine series of squalene synthase inhibitors. Structure-activity studies and pharmacokinetics optimization on this series led to the identification of compound 23 (DF-461), which exhibited potent squalene synthase inhibitory activity, high hepatic selectivity, excellent rat hepatic cholesterol synthesis inhibitory activity, and plasma lipid lowering efficacy in nonrodent repeated dose studies.", "Inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis at post-squalene steps provide the alternative to classic statin therapy. Sterol-14α-demethylase (CYP51) is one of potential targets for such inhibition. In this study screening of potential ligands of human CYP51 (CYP51A1) among natural low-weight compounds containing steroid-like moiety has been performed by means of integration of surface plasmon resonance and spectral titration methods. Four compounds (betulafolientriol, holothurin A, theasaponin, capsicosine) exhibited high affinity to the active site of CYP51A1. These data extend the known range of compounds, which may be used as specific inhibitors of CYP51.", "The identification of indeno[1,2-c]pyrazol-4-ones as inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) has led to the discovery of a series of novel and potent compounds. Herein, we report the effects of substitutions at C3 of the indeno[1,2-c]pyrazol-4-one core with alkyls, heterocycles, and substituted phenyls. Substitutions at the para position of the phenyl ring at C3 were generally well-tolerated; however, larger groups were generally inactive. For alkyls directly attached to C3, longer chain substituents were not tolerated; however, shorter alkyl groups and cyclic alkyls were acceptable. In general, the heterocycles at C3 gave the most potent analogues. One such heterocycle, 24j, was examined in detail and was determined to have a biological profile consistent with CDK inhibition. An X-ray crystal structure of one of the alkyl compounds, 13q, complexed with CDK2 was determined and showed the inhibitor residing in the adenosine 5'-triphosphate pocket of the enzyme.", "Purpose: In cavernous smooth muscle nitric oxide (NO) activates soluble guanylate cyclase, which catalyzes the synthesis of cyclic guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate, leading to smooth muscle relaxation, increased blood flow and penile erection. The pyrazolopyridine derivative BAY41-2272 (5-cyclopropyl-2-[1-(2-fluoro-benzyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine-3-yl]pyrimidin-4ylamine) was identified and found to stimulate soluble guanylate cyclase in a NO independent manner. We investigated the effect of BAY41-2272 on human and rabbit corpus cavernosum.Materials and Methods: We investigated the effect of BAY41-2272 on the tone and nitrergic relaxation responses of human and rabbit cavernous strips in the absence and presence of the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ (1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4-3a]quinoxalin-1-one) or the NO synthase inhibitor L-NAME (N-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester HCl). The potency of BAY41-2272 was compared to that of another soluble guanylate cyclase activator YC-1, and the NO releasing compound sp...", "The invention discloses a heterocyclic ketone-containing N-substituted phenyl pyrazole compound, a preparation method thereof and application thereof in prevention and control of plant diseases and insect pests. A series of heterocyclic ketone-containing N-substituted phenyl pyrazole compound is obtained by performing etherification of substituted aryl pyrazole serving as a raw material and benzyl halogen-containing heterocyclic ketone under the action of an acid-catcher. The compound of the kind has excellent sterilizing and insecticidal activity and is applied in the prevention and control of diseases and insect pests for various plants.", "Methods for synthesizing new heterocyclic compounds based on 1,3,4-thiadiazoles were developed. It was shown that these compounds possessed pronounced antifungal activity and could be recommended for further investigation as potential antimicrobial agents with fungicidal activity.", "Compounds of the following formula (I), for example: (1), wherein R1, R2, R3, and R 4 are described herein, are useful as inhibitors of plasma carboxypeptidase B. Pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds, methods of using these compounds as antithrombotic agents and processes for synthesizing these compounds are also described herein. ® KIPO & WIPO 2009", "The present invention relates to novel compounds of formula (I) (W, X, Y, Z , A, B, D, Q 1, Q 2 and G have the meanings indicated in the specification.), A plurality of methods and intermediate products for this preparation, pesticides and / or their use as herbicides and / or fungicides, and 3'-alkoxy-spiro cyclopentyl of formulas (I) - select comprising compounds to improve the substituted tetramic acid and tetronic acid and at least one tolerance of the plants on herbicides. Also disclosed is, by addition of ammonium salts and / or phosphonium salts or by adding ammonium salts or phosphonium salts and penetration enhancers, formula (I) 3'alkoxy spiro cyclopentyl - substituted tetramine acid and method of increasing the effect of the crop protection products containing drug class of tetronic acid, the corresponding drug, these production methods, as well as their use in crop protection.", "It discloses a polycyclic heteroaryl group may be substituted triazoles for inhibiting the activity of the Ax1 receptor protein tyrosine kinases, and pharmaceutical compositions containing said compounds. Also disclosed is a method of using such compounds to treat diseases associated with activity or Ax1 disease state.", "Abstract A series of substituted 3,6-diphenyl-7H-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]thiadiazines were prepared and analyzed as inhibitors of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4). Synthesis, structure–activity relationships, and the selectivity of a highly potent analogue against related phosphodiesterase isoforms are presented.", "Abstract The synthesis and the biological activity of a series of benzyl or aryl substituted 1,2,4-oxadiazole derivatives of phenylalanine are described. A base-promoted intermolecular cyclization reaction was performed using racemic tert -butyloxycarbonyl-protected phenylalanine methyl ester and an amidoxime. After deprotection of the amino function the compounds were evaluated for their affinity to rat brain NK 1 -receptors and as inhibitors of a specific substance P cleaving enzyme, substance P endopeptidase (SPE), isolated from human cerebrospinal fluid. The results indicate that several compounds are weak inhibitors of SPE. However, all compounds lacked appreciable NK 1 -receptor affinity.", "A focused set of heterocyclic quinones based on the benzothiazole, benzoxazole, benzimidazole, indazole and isoindole was prepared and screened with respect to the inhibition of the phosphatase activity of CDC25C. Benzoxazole- and benzothiazole-diones were at least 50 times more potent in inhibiting CDC25C than their benzimidazole-indazole- or isoindole-dione counterparts. These in vitro activities were in good correlation with the anti-proliferative effects observed with Mia PaCa-2 and DU-145 human tumor cell cultures. The IC(50) values obtained by WST-1 colorimetric assay ranged from 0.10 to 0.50 microM for the benzoxazole- or benzothiazole-diones and were above 10 microM for the other heterocyclic diones. This study further illustrates how the activity of the quinone pharmacophore can be selectively modulated by changing the type of five-membered heterocycle fused to the quinone ring.", "The present invention of formula (I): In which the variables A, L, Z, R3 and ring B are as defined herein] The compound or a stereoisomer shown in, tautomers, pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate form. The compounds of formula (I), selective inhibitors of serine protease enzymes of the coagulation cascade and / or contact activation system; useful such as thrombin,-Xa factor, XIa factor, IXa factor, as factor VIIa and / or plasma kallikrein . In particular, it relates to compounds that are selective factor XIa inhibitors. The present invention also relates to methods of treating these pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds and thromboembolic and / or inflammatory disease using the same.", "The present invention relates to compounds of the general formula (I) wherein R1 is-OR1,-SR1 or is a heterocycloalkyl group; R1 is lower alkyl, lower alkyl substituted by halogen, or is-(CH2)n-cycloalkyl; R2 is-S(O)2-lower alkyl or-S(O)2NH-lower alkyl; R3 is aryl or heteroaryl, which are unsubstituted or substituted by one to three substituents, selected from the group consisting of lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, CN, NO2,-C(O)-lower alkyl,-C(O)O-lower alkyl, halogen or lower alkyl substituted by halogen; n is 1 or 2; m is 1 or 2; and to pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts thereof. It has been found that the compounds of general formula (I) are good inhibitors of the glycine transporter 1 (GIyT-I).", "Disclosed herein are nitrogen-heterocyclylgold(I) compounds wherein the gold is bonded directly, or via a p-phenylene group, to carbon of the heterocyclic nucleus, and a process for their preparation comprising reacting a heterocyclyllithium compound with a trihydrocarbyl-phosphorus, -arsenic, or -antimony-gold halide. The compounds are useful for gold plating and for printing electrical circuits.", "Introduction: Numerous heterocycles occur as recurring motifs in the design of kinase inhibitors. Pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine has proved particularly versatile due to its ability to interact with kinases via multiple binding modes. As such, this scaffold has been claimed for kinase inhibition in many patents originating from several companies and universities, and these cover a broad range of kinase targets. Areas covered: Patents from 2008 to the present in which pyrazolo[3,4-b] pyridine is utilized as a key element for inhibitor binding are included. This scaffold typically binds to the hinge region of the kinase, but examples in which other key interactions are formed are included in this review. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals that supplement information provided in the patent literature are highlighted. Expert opinion: Several bicyclic heterocycles are capable of forming a hydrogen bond donor–acceptor pair. This interaction is common among kinase inhibitors, particularly at the hinge region....", "Purpose: Nitric oxide (NO) donors and NO synthase (NOS) substrates were tested for their use to stimulate protein secretion from cultured lacrimal gland acinar cells, through activation of guanylate cyclase. Method: Rabbit lacrimal gland epithelial cells (RLG cells) were incubated with NO donors and/or NOS substrates and the protein released into culture medium was determined with bicinchoninic acid assay. Guanylate cyclase activation by NO precursors was determined by measurement of c-GMP produced. Results: Both NO donors and NOS substrates were able to stimulate protein release from RLG cells. Among 6 compounds studied, sodium nitroprusside, isosorbide dinitrate and Na-benzoyl L-arginine ethyl ester (BAEE) were most potent to release protein over 100% of the basal release. The guanylate cyclase activity was stimulated by these NO precursors and was inhibited by guanylate cyclase inhibitor, [1,2,4]oxadiazolo-[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ). Conclusion: NO donors and NOS substrates were able to stimulate pr...", "Nitric oxide (NO) signaling mediates many important physiological processes through the receptor soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC). Under disease conditions sGC heme can be oxidized resulting in NO insensitivity. Here, we show that the therapeutic compound cinaciguat (Cin) rescues dysfunctional sGC by direct displacement of the oxidized heme.", "Abstract Versatile syntheses of 5-imino or 5-acylidene substituted 1,3-thiazolidin-4-one derivatives are reported from α-dioxothiazole systems and phosphoranes via Wittig reactions. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of the compounds were evaluated. 5-Carbonylmethylene substituted 2-thioxo-1,3-thiazolidines have better antioxidant properties than the 5-arylimino substituted ones. The % inhibition value of the compound 3 (90.8%) was near to that of standard BHT (93.6%) at the same concentration. Compounds 5 and 15, which have the alkyliden-amide group at the C-5 position of the 1,3-thiazolidine ring showed the highest antimicrobial activities among the synthesized compounds.", "N-(Cis-2-phenyl-cyclopentyl)azacyclotridecan-2-imine-hydrochloride (MDL 12330A), considered an inhibitor of adenylyl cyclase, has been tested on the enzyme activity of neuronal and non-neuronal tissues from the freshwater snail Planorbarius corneus. The drug dose-dependently activates the basal as well as agonist-stimulated adenylyl cyclase in the ganglionic preparations, while it exerts an inhibitory effect on the enzyme present in the non-nervous tissues examined. SQ 22536 and forskolin, respectively an inhibitor and activator of adenylyl cyclase, behave as generally reported both in central and peripheral tissues of the snail. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of a stimulatory action of MDL 12330A on an adenylyl cyclase system.", "The present invention relates to Formula I N- (hetero) aryl - pyrrolidine derivatives: such as JAK inhibitors which are selective inhibitors of JAK1, for the treatment of JAK- associated diseases, including for example, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and cancer.", "The last few decades have seen significant developments in the use of heterocyclic compounds in dyestuff and pigment chemistry. The design of newer heterocyclic systems has been a major target area and has focused on economically viable synthesis, absence of effluent problems and freedom from carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. The present article reviews the chemical and patent literature on the chromophoric potential of the 4(3H)-quinazolinone ring system, including dyes, pigments, fluorescent brightening agents, luminescent inks, electroluminescent devices, photographic couplers, colour formers and photographic fog inhibitors.", "Abstract Positive behavioral responses to 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol, methyl salicylate , and squalene individually are reported for Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille), domestic pest and vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Phenolics acted as attractants by recruiting 60–67% of ticks and squalene acted as an arrestant by causing up to 77% of ticks to cluster on treated surfaces in short-range petridish bioassays. Compound concentrations were consistently most effective at 0.01 M and 0.05M without a dose-response. Other known tick attractants 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and o-nitrophenol, however, did not elicit a response. Of interest is that squalene elicited a different set of behavioral responses (arrestment instead of attraction) and more heightened activity than did the phenolics.", "Compounds of the Formula I, which are in equilibrium with their 4-hydroxy tautomers and are in the form of diastereomeric mixtures, and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts are potent GARFT inhibitors: (I) wherein A, Z, X, and R1 and R2 are defined in the specification. These compounds and their salts are useful as antiproliferative agents. The invention also pertains to pharmaceutical compositions and methods employing such compounds as GARFT inhibitors or antiproliferative agents. The invention also relates to compounds useful as intermediates for preparing such compounds, and to their synthesis.", "Various newly prepared and previously known vitamin B12 derivatives have been studied as potential soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) activators. All compounds tested were found to activate the sGC enzyme, although to differing extents. The best results were obtained with the derivatives synthesized from c-lactone and possessing aliphatic amides in the c- and d-positions.", "Thiophene, a five membered heterocycle is considered as biologically important dynamic scaffold that holds wide range of biological activities. The fruitful application of Cephoxitin as antimicrobial, Thenaldine as anti inflammatory, Ralitrexed as anticancer and Erdosteine as antioxidant proved the potential of thiophene moiety. Diverse biological response profile has pulled in consideration of many researchers to investigate this heterocycle to its multiple potential against several activities. This review is complementary to previous reviews and focuses to review the work reported on antimicrobial activities of thiophene derivatives.", "Heterocyclic compounds have been recognized as the prospective entities in the mostly rising chemical world of organic compounds having promising and almost all types pharmacologically, chemically as well as useful agrochemicals activities. These Heterocyclic organic compounds are synthesized by using different type of synthetic routes those permit differentextentsofdiversepharmacological activities. Theinformationofdifferent type ofsyntheticprocesses and the different physicochemical factorsfor synthesizingof various organic heterocycliccompoundsand drawsthe remarkable attention of chemists or researcher to produce combinatorial library and carry out comprehensive efforts in the explore ofnew and leadsmolecules. This reviewprovidedoutlook of the synthesis ofsome heterocyclic compounds using microwave technology and compared with conventional synthetic methods.", "In the present invention, the general formula (I) Wherein, A is an oxygen atom, or an alkyl-substituted may nitrogen atom,, R This indole derivatives have useful chymase inhibitory activity.", "Abstract A series of oxadiazole derivatives possessing morpholine 6a–l were synthesized by nucleophilic substitution reaction of key intermediates [1,3,4]-oxadiazole-2-thiol derivatives 5a–l with 4-(2-chloroethyl) morpholine. Compounds 6a–l were evaluated for their in vitro and in vivo antitumor potential in Dalton’s Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) tumor cells. Among 6a–l series, compound 6a with concentration ∼8.5 μM have shown extensive cytotoxicity in vitro and 85% reduction in tumor volume in vivo , attributing an excellent anti-proliferative capability towards the cancer cells. Compound 6a has extensively inhibited the Microvessel Density (MVD) or tumoral neovasculature which was evident from the CD31 immuno staining and peritoneal H&E staining. The major reason for the antiproliferative activity of compound 6a was due to the repression of tumor vasculature.", "The invention relates to the use of compounds of formula (1) wherein R R R B is an optionally substituted C D is an optionally heteroatom containing organic radical having 1 to 600 carbon atoms, X, Y are independently O or NR R M is a cation mean as gas hydrate inhibitors.", "Suitable for synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, one or both of the R It discloses the manufacturing method of such intermediate products are also disclosed the use of the intermediate products in simple and fast way in the solid phase for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds. [Formula 1]", "The present invention provides sphingosine-1-phosphate analogs that are potent, and selective agonists at one or more S1P receptors, specifically the S1P1 receptor type. The compounds invention include compounds having a phosphate moiety as well as compounds with hydrolysis-resistant phosphate surrogates such as phosphonates, alpha-substituted phosphonates, and phosphothionates." ]

[ "Ieri sera \"anteprima\" con il Gazometro illuminatoOggi il via alle 21: musei gratis, concerti e spettacoli fino alle 6 Roma, al via la Notte Bianca Attesi 2 milioni di persone Il centro chiuso alle auto. Per i mezzi pubblici biglietto unico a 1 euro di RENATA MAMBELLI" ]

[ "EUROPA/ITALIA - 55a GIORNATA MONDIALE DEI MALATI DI LEBBRA - Attualmente circa 10 milioni di persone hanno la vita segnata dalla lebbra Roma (Agenzia Fides) - Sono ancora 259.000 i nuovi casi di lebbra registrati ogni anno, pari a circa 750 casi al giorno. Attualmente circa 10 milioni di persone hanno la vita segnata dalla malattia, benché da essa si possa guarire. Il prossimo 27 ge...", "Aprirà Napoli il 2 gennaio. Seguiranno Roma, Milano e Palermo il 5Coinvolte dodici milioni di famiglie. Il vademecum per comprare bene Al via i saldi, sconti dal 40% Un giro d'affari da 6,5 miliardi", "Roma, 8 dicembre 2004 - La fame e la malnutrizione uccidono ogni anno più di 5 milioni di bambini e costano ai Paesi in via di sviluppo miliardi di dollari in termini di perdita di produttività e di reddito nazionali.", "La CSC diretta da Bjarne Riis avrebbe offerto al vincitore del Giro 2007, Danilo Di Luca, 2 milioni ...", "(ANSA) - ROMA, 25 NOV - Oltre 4 milioni di euro e&#39; il conto che presenta la Rai a Baudo dopo il contenzioso iniziato nel luglio scorso. Nell&#39;atto di citazione depositato ieri al Tribunale civile di Roma, la", "Nel posticipo della prima giornata di serie A, la Roma ha vinto a Palermo 2-0 (2-0). Gol di Mexes al...", "Tiziano Ferro e la Pfm al Porto Antico. Crozza e Gino Paolia piazza De Ferrari. E Mauro Pagani rende omaggio a De Andrè Notte bianca tra musica e vicoli 500mila per le strade di Genova di DONATELLA ALFONSO", "Dani Pedrosa &egrave; tra i protagonisti più attesi del motomondiale al via sabato in Qatar. ''Dopo ...", "Dal 18/1 al 22/2,attesi cantante francese Ducros e Arigliano", "EUROPA/ITALIA - Come rispondere alla “notte oscura epocale” dell’umanità: 31° Convegno di Vescovi amici del Movimento dei Focolari Roma (Agenzia Fides) - Sono attesi oltre 80 Cardinali e Vescovi dai cinque continenti al Centro Mariapoli di Castel Gandolfo per partecipare, dal 3 al 9 febbraio, al 31° Convegno di Vescovi amici del Movimento dei Focolari. Dal Libano sull’orlo di un...", "L'iniziativa si è concretizzata durante la notte bianca del 10 settembreE l'amministrazione ha pagato 120 mila euro al press agent Lele Mora L'idea innovativa di Reggio Calabria star della tv a spasso per le strade", "Dal Trattamento fine rapporto attesi 20 milioni inizio 2008", "ROMA, 6 DICEMBRE 2004 - Via libera all&#39;estensione ai lavoratori privati della cessione di un quinto dello stipendio - al momento limitato a 6 milioni di dipendenti pubblici - da destinare ai consumi &quot;di media entità&quot;.", "La polizia postale è riuscita a sventare nella notte una maxi-truffa ai danni delle Poste Italiane, per 20 milioni di euro. Undici persone sono state arrestate in Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Campania e Calabria.", "ROMA - Tre anni di sviluppo, un team di 65 persone al lavoro per 600 mila ore, quasi due ore di colonna sonora originale, 20 milioni di dollari investiti, senza contare il marketing. Sono numeri da colossal", "LURAGO D&#39;ERBA - Felicità allo stato puro ieri sera nella centralissima via Roma a Lurago d&#39;Erba dove il 5+1 al Superenalotto giocato alla ricevitoria Mirabella ha permesso di incassare all&#39;anonimo giocatore la bellezza di 3 milioni e 700 mila euro.", "Non ce l&#39;ha fatta la piccola Ilaria, la bambina di 4 anni che ieri era rimasta schiacciata da un cancello nel cortile dell&#39;Istituto materno Colle dei Frati a Zagarolo (Roma). . La bimba si e&#39; spenta nella notte al Policlinico Gemelli di Roma.", "Dopo la cerimonia dei Golden Globes, il divo minaccia di boicottare il gala degli AcademyE le perdite dell'indfustria per lo sciopero ammontano già a 343 milioni di dollari Clooney al fianco degli autori in pericolo la notte degli Oscar di SILVIA BIZIO", "EUROPA/ITALIA - ‘L'intolleranza ti isola’: Giornata Mondiale del Rifugiato 2007. Aumentano i milioni di persone in tutto il mondo costrette ad abbandonare la propria terra Roma (Agenzia Fides) - Come ogni anno, si celebra oggi, 20 giugno, la Giornata Mondiale del Rifugiato, un’occasione per portare all’attenzione dell’opinione pubblica la drammatica condizione dei rifugiati: milioni di persone in tutto il mondo, costre...", "Via libera a esborso massimo di 150 milioni", "ROMA (6 nov. 2004) - Si è conclusa all&#39;alba - con la denuncia di 96 persone ed una serie di perquisizioni e di sequestri - un&#39;operazione dei carabinieri tesa a contrastare la pornografia minorile via Internet", "Roma, 21 dic. (Adnkronos) - Un vigilante e&#39; rimasto ucciso in un misterioso agguato al quartiere Eur di Roma. La vittima, Gianluca Pes, di 39 anni, stava nel cortile della sua abitazione in via dei Georgofili", "Urne aperte nello stato meridionale dove una larga fetta di elettori è afroamericanoI primi exit poll attesi per la notte ora italiana, è l'ultima tappa prima del \"supermartedì\" Democratici al voto nel South Carolina Obama in testa ai sondaggi con il 38%", "OGGI SU INTERNET/ITALIA - Centro Italiano Femminile: Per una università aperta al dialogo Roma (Agenzia Fides) - Proprio mentre l’Europa dedica l’anno 2008 al Dialogo interculturale, Roma, si rende protagonista di una incredibile chiusura culturale impedendo nella sostanza al Santo Padre, guida spirituale per milioni di persone e vescovo ...", "L'appello di un gruppo di mamme per la preparazione al parto al Sant'Eugenio di Roma, la giornata dell'amore, la terra nativa", "Venti milioni di neonati nascono sottopeso. Su 852 milioni di persone sottoalimentate, 815 vivono nei paesi sottosviluppati. ROMA - Il rapporto della Fao del 2004 si intitola «Lo stato dell&#39;insicurezza alimentare", "Per via libera definitivo attesi pareri Ue e Antitrust", "La Balti, volto nuovo delle passerelle, ha cominciato con le promozioni nei supermarketIn due anni è diventata ricca e famosa. \"Al lusso non saprei più rinunciare\" Bianca, la top model venuta da Lodi \"Un tempo facevo cose di sinistra\" In \"Go Go Tales\", il nuovo film di Abel Ferrara, è la moglie di Scamarciodi giorno insospettabile, di notte ballerina di lap dance in un locale", "Casa Bianca, le azioni di Al Qaida aumenteranno a settembre", "La facoltà di Scienze della Comunicazione dell'Università La Sapienza di Roma ha avviato un'indagine via Internet rivolta agli studenti universitari e ai laureati Sondaggio sulla riforma universitaria Cosa pensate del modello \"3 +2\"?", "Roma, 24 settembre 2004 - Quest&#39;anno l&#39;influenza colpirà un milione di bambini e complessivamente 2,5 milioni di persone. La stima viene dal professor Fabrizio Pregliasco dell&#39;università di Milano, dai pediatri", "Roma, 18 nov. (Adnkronos) - Duecentomila, per gli organizzatori. Quarantamila, per la Questura. Al di la&#39; del rituale balletto di cifre sono tantissimi i teenager stretti lungo via dei Fori Imperiali per assistere" ]

[ "Using a sample of 97 countries spanning the period 1980?2008, we estimate that financial crises have a large negative impact on unemployment in the short term, but that this effect rapidly disappears in the medium term in countries with flexible labor market institutions, whereas the impact of financial crises is less pronounced but more persistent in countries with more rigid labor market institutions. These effects are even larger for youth unemployment in the short term and long-term unemployment in the medium term. Conversely, large upfront, or gradual but significant, comprehensive labor market policies have a positive impact on unemployment, albeit only in the medium term." ]

[ "In contrast to the existing literature that focuses only on high unemployment driven by labor market regulations, this study emphasizes the impact of labor market regulations on wage payments in 15 European countries over the period 1985 to 2009. Through a simultaneous system of labor demand and supply, we find that the effect of labor market institutions on the behavior of labor demand outweighs the effect on labor suppliers, which pushes up the wage rate and mitigates the unemployment problem. By detailed investigations into all the responses of players in the labor market, it is plausible for policymakers in Europe to figure out the most efficient method for lowering the unemployment rate without hurting wage payments or discouraging labor supply.", "Many governments have initiated public employment programs or expanded the existing ones in response to high unemployment. However, in many middle-income countries, a relatively large government coexists with persistently high unemployment. This paper explores the question of whether public employment gives rise to distortions in the labor market in the medium to long-run. Our findings do not provide any evidence that public employment reduces unemployment rate. The analysis in this paper shows that large public employment does significantly affect labor market outcomes in middle-income countries and leads to job destruction in the private sector. The extent of the impact is largely influenced by the degree of substitutability between public and private production and the size of the rents in the public sector.", "This paper explores the principal characteristics of a 'sunbelt' labour market as a particular type. While there are advantages of this and similar regions where these have developed in attracting population growth, the labour market in this case exhibits relatively high rates of unemployment, part-time employment and low rates of labour force participation. Demographic changes and industry and occupational structure appear to interact with relatively low labour market clearance. The findings are consistent with building a profile of different types of labour markets and point to the need for more directed policies to minimise unemployment.", "This study addresses the social, economic and financial importance of public sector employment and wages in the Senegalese economy. It describes and analyzes the appropriateness of Senegal's pay and personnel policies in both civil service and public enterprises in light of the crises in public finance and of educated unemployment. The paper is primarily concerned with facts and institutions of the modern-sector labour market, especially as they affect and are affected by employment and wages in civil service and public enterprises. Civil service pay and personnel policies are found to be excessively personalized at the hiring stage, and thereafter excessively rigid, encouraging rent-seeking while discouraging initiative. The effects on the wage bill of changes in civil service employment, such as in grade level, average educational attainment and average age, are described, and recommendations are made for implementing such changes.", "Unemployment and Lay-off is a sensitive problem in today's society. First of all, this paper analyzes reasons of unemployment and lay off under the requirements of economic growth and the everlasting growth. Secondly, deal with those relationships to solve the unemployment and lay off problem, such as the relationship between economic growth and employment, reform of enterprise and adjusting industrial framework, reform of labor system and social guarantee system. At last, the author of this paper provides six rationalization proposals to solve the unemployment and lay off", "Monetary policy may play a substantial role in mitigating the effects of financial crises. In this paper, I suppose that the economy occasionally but infrequently experiences crises, where financial variables affect the broader economy. I analyze optimal monetary policy under such financial uncertainty, where policymakers recognize the possibility of crises. Optimal monetary policy is affected during the crisis and in normal times, as policymakers guard against the possibility of crises. In the estimated model this effect is quite small. Optimal policy does change substantially during a crisis, but uncertainty about crises has relatively little effect.", "Unemployment insurance (UI) laws have recently come under considerable criticism for fostering employment disincentives. Imperfections in the experience rating tax schedule has been the primary causal factor behind most of these allegations. In particular, the insurance subsidies created by the tax schedule have been blamed for distorted labor markets and for increased layoffs.", "Through the practical analysis of correlation between fiscal policy and employment(or unemployment),the paper analyses the effect of fiscal policy on employment in the process of the development of economy,and brings out that,in the transmission from a planned economy to a market one,the Chinese government must withdraw the positive fiscal policy to develop the level of economy and employment.", "This paper examines indicators of labor demand which are used in empirical work using micro data. The paper tests whether using alternative indicators of labor demand affects the conclusions in situations where the labor market is segmented, in this case, by gender. Alternative indicators were used in a model of probability of reemployment after being long-term unemployed. Total unemployment rates and men's unemployment rates suggested that demand effects were significant on men's reemployment probabilities, but that demand effects were insignificant on women's reemployment. In the same model, measures of women's labor market conditions were mainly significant, whereas men's measures were not significant. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.", "In the search for policy solutions to rising inequality and precariousness in the U.S., this essay argues for the central role of labor market regulation. It presents research and policy evidence for a three-pronged approach: (1) strengthening the floor of labor standards (wages, health and safety, and right to organize chief among them); (2) vigorously enforcing that floor; and (3) leveraging government contracting and grants to build a base of good jobs on top of that floor. The essay concludes that getting to scale in the current political climate will require ratcheting up from state and local policy campaigns to federal reform.", "In this paper, the role played by institutions in labour markets and their effects on labour Qutcomes are presented. The results show that, first, the flexible and rigid labour market models do not exit, instead, there are intermediate labour market models. Second, many features of the labour market, usually viewed as serious rigidities, have slight impact on unemployment. And finally, a wide range of Labour market institutions have cumulative effects on unemployment and employment creation, wich can be amplified under specific combination of institutions.", "The establishment of appropriate policy measures for fighting unemployment has always been difficult since causes of unemployment are hard to identify. This paper analyses an approach used mainly in the 1960s and 1970s in economics, in which classification is used as a way to deal with such a complex, multiple causal phenomenon like unemployment. The method is based on decomposing unemployment into classes of unemployment and the measurement of each of these classes by reference to stable, measurable macroeconomic relationships like the Phillips curve and the Beveridge curve. In this way economists were able to ‘diagnose’ unemployment and make policy recommendations for fighting unemployment without making explicit reference to the underlying singular causes of unemployment.", "All developed economies have unemployment benefit programs to protect workers against major income losses during spells of unemployment. By enabling unemployed workers to meet basic consumption needs, the programs protect workers from having to sell their assets or accept jobs below their qualifications. The programs also help stabilize the economy during recessions. If benefits are too generous, however, the programs can lengthen unemployment and raise the unemployment rate. The policy challenge is to protect workers while minimizing undesirable side effects.", "The impact of economic crises on macroeconomic policies in the United States (US), Mexico, Ireland and Sweden at the start of the 1980s is discussed. The independence of politics and economics is highlighted and helps in the understanding of the process of policy change.", "High unemployment is widely regarded as the most important challenge facing European policy-makers today. At unemployment rates of between 6.5% and 25% across the countries of the Union, Europe's performance compares particularly unfavourably with that of the United States. But does this answer for an inability to understand the fundamental causes of the problem, being them economic, social or political or a failure to find the economic policies that will solve it? Or is there merely a lack of political will in the social system application? Is ‘social dumping’ still present under a common EU social policy of the Lisbon Treaty and if so, which is its ‘face ’now? Is social dumping to be welcomed, as a healthy energy which will oblige countries to lighten the excessive and harmful regulations imposed on EU labour markets? How should the circumstances of the new EU member states be taken into account when applying labour legislation concerning social policy and when tackling unemployment?", "Denmark is often highlighted as a “flexicurity” country characterized by lax employment protection legislation, generous unemployment insurance, and active labor market policies. Despite a sharp and prolonged decline in employment in the wake of the Great Recession, high job turnover and wage adjustments worked to prevent increased long-term and structural unemployment. Most unemployment spells were short, muting the effects on long-term and youth unemployment. Recent reforms boosted labor supply and employment, targeting the young, elderly, and immigrants. Employment recovered to its structural level around 2015 and has since increased due to a favorable business cycle situation and structural reforms (particularly increases in retirement age).", "Previous static analyses of the work disincentive effects of welfare programs are extended to a dynamic context. Using a sample of continuous longitudinal labor market histories, estimates are derived for welfare-nonwelfare differences in labor market flows among the states of employment, unemployment, and nonparticipation. The estimates are used to identify the main sources of the lower employment and labor force participation rates and higher unemployment rate of welfare recipients. The findings indicate that welfare programs have substantial effects on virtually every labor market transition examined but that the primary source of the static work disincentive effect is slower entry into employment.", "Since 1980s, western countries has began to make overall reforms in their social security policies in order to use a more positive social security policy to take place the negative provision of welfare. The essence of this active policy reform from providing welfare to offering work is to replace social security and social welfare by a labor policy in order to send the unemployed to labor market, to solve the issue of unemployment which is increasingly inflated and to reduce the dependence of the unemployed on welfares. At the same time, under the background of globalization, China is also facing with broad issues of unemployment and of constructing system of social security. There are other hills whose stones are good for working jade. Many pieces of enlightenment and experience of reforms in western countries' social security policies can be used for reference to construct system of social security in China by using a new mind", "This chapter focuses on unemployment. The first section will discuss unemployment in the transition economies, looking into flows between alternative labour market states. Subsequently, we shall use this approach to summarize the main factors that may affect unemployment levels. Finally, we shall offer a brief overview of the empirical econometric results on the differences between the labour market characteristics of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU member states.", "Analyses trends in the labour market in Estonia during the 1990s and assesses labour legislation concerning work relations and unemployment. Investigates collective bargaining at the national, regional branch and enterprise levels and examines active and passive labour market policy measures.", "Abstract Using a dual-economy model with urban unemployment and rural labor monopsony, this paper shows that the first-best optimum can be achieved by different rates of wage subsidies, in which the subsidy to rural wage is adjusted upward in accordance with the amount of exploitation by rural producers. It is also shown that the policy of either import substitution or export promotion has merit, depending on whether the distortion of urban unemployment exceeds that of rural labor monopsony or not. The theoretical results obtained in this paper justify the observation of the policies adopted in many countries.", "Although one would expect the unemployed to be the population most likely affected by immigration, most of the studies have concentrated on investigating the effects immigration has on the employed population. Little is known of the effects of immigration on labor market transitions out of unemployment. Using the basic monthly Current Population Survey from 2001 and 2013 we match data for individuals who were interviewed in two consecutive months and identify workers who transition out of unemployment. We employ a multinomial model to examine the effects of immigration on the transition out of unemployment, using state-level immigration statistics. The results suggest that immigration does not affect the probabilities of native-born workers finding a job. Instead, we find that immigration is associated with smaller probabilities of remaining unemployed, but it is also associated with higher probabilities of workers leaving the labor force. This effect impacts mostly young and less educated people.", "In this paper we analyze actual labor market changes under a transitions approach, in other words, through individual changes in the position between activity and inactivity, formal and informal employment and open unemployment. The empirical analysis in this paper is based on data extracted from the National Urban Employment Survey. This survey provides panel data on changes in the economically activity and inactivity population. We use activity life expectations because these indicators resume the age of insertation in the in active population. The analytical strategy consists to separate the temporal change on the life the temporal change of the life expectancy in three factors: Mortality, Propension to insertate in activity and changes in labor markets.", "Like most capitalist crises, today's challenges economists, journalists, and politicians to explain and to overcome it. The post-1930s struggles between neoclassical and Keynesian economics are rejoined. We show that both proved inadequate to preventing crises and served rather to enable and justify (as “solutions” for crises) what were merely oscillations between two forms of capitalism differentiated according to greater or lesser state economic interventions. Our Marxian economic analysis here proceeds differently. We demonstrate how concrete aspects of U.S. economic history (especially real wage, productivity, and personal indebtedness trends) culminated in this deep and enduring crisis. We offer both a class-based critique of and an alternative to neoclassical and Keynesian analyses, including an alternative solution to capitalist crises.", "This paper investigates how women's migration and labor supply behaviors respond to changes in welfare policies and labor market conditions, controlling for endogenous initial residence and unobserved heterogeneity. It also traces out how these responses influence educational inputs and child outcomes. The simulation results show that poor and low-educated single women with children do change their residential locations in response to changes in welfare policies and labor market conditions. The magnitude of this response in the form of migration is rather modest. More importantly, however, such policy changes often have large and important impacts on particular at-risk groups.", "This paper will focus on the impact of the recent global financial crisis on migration. Section one deals with a brief introduction; section two gives an overview of migration trends before the crisis among the MENA countries; section three assesses the impact of the global crisis on international migration in the MENA region by industry, gender, and remittances; section four tackles the policies adopted in both countries of destination and origin to face up the crisis and to absorb the returning skilled labor. Finally, I provide policy recommendations.", "Taiwan's female labor force participation rate has revealed cyclical movement in the short run since the 1960s. The cyclical variation in labor market seems related to recent industry structural shifts in Taiwan. We adopt Lilien's (1982) method to calculate the natural rate of unemployment, taking into account the shifts of demand for labor among different sectors. We then use Pancavel's (1986) method to run the regression of female labor force participation on the natural rate of unemployment. We find that the decision of female laborers is significantly sensitive to sectoral shifts, especially for the group of age 15-44.", "New Keynesian models with unemployment and incomplete markets are rapidly becoming a new workhorse model in macroeconomics. Such models typically require heavy computational methods which may obscure intuition and overlook equilibria. We present a tractable version which can be characterized analytically. Our results highlight that - due the interaction between incomplete markets, sticky prices and endogenous unemployment risk - productivity shocks may have radically different effects than in traditional NK models, that the Taylor principle may fail, and that pessimistic beliefs may be self-fulfilling and move the economy into temporary episodes of low demand and high unemployment, as well as into a long-lasting \"unemployment trap\". At the Zero Lower Bound, the presence of endogenous unemployment risk can create inflation and overturn paradoxical properties of the model. We further study financial asset prices and show that non-negligible risk premia emerge.", "This paper develops a model to study the aggregate effects of labor market frictions in a small open economy where firms grow slowly and make fixed export investments. The model features interactions between dynamic investments in exporting and search frictions with job-to- job mobility. A calibration to Argentina's economy matching data on firm growth, worker transitions between firms, and export dynamics suggests that the gains from lowering frictions in job-to-job transitions are considerable, and may outweigh those from lowering frictions in hiring from unemployment.", "This paper develops a model of equilibrium unemployment with duration-dependent unemployment insurance (UI) payments. As the government does not observe job offers, there is a moral hazard problem because the option of receiving further UI payments raises the job-seeker's value of remaining unemployment. Extending the duration of UI payments while reducing the level of payments, to hold total generosity constant, results in higher negotiated wages. Simulations suggest that a generosity neutral switch from a six-month UI scheme to a one-year scheme has small effects, but a switch to an indefinite scheme has a large impact on wages and unemployment.", "Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Key Principles of Economics 3. Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium 4. Elasticity: A Measure of Responsiveness 5. Production and Cost 6. Perfect Competition: Short Run and Long Run 7. Monopoly 8. Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly, and Antitrust 9. Market Failure: Imperfect Information, Pollution, and Public Goods 10. The Labor Market 11. Measuring a Nation's Production and Income 12. Unemployment and Inflation 13. Why Do Economies Grow 14. Aggregate Demand and Supply 15. Fiscal Policy 16. Money and the Banking System 17. Monetary Policy and Inflation 18. International Trade and Finance", "In view of the expansion of college enrollment, the shortage of labor force and the difficulty of employment, the paper shows that the expansion of college enrollment is one of the reasons for the shortage of labor force and employment. The main reason is the supply of the labor market changed for university enrollment expansion, and the lack of the ability to configure labor market human resources, and existing industrial structure solidify. By this revelation, the paper discusses that the adjustment of the higher education policy, need to deal with the relationship between “dynamic” and “fixed”, the scale and structure of higher education and industrial structure, then puts forward the policy should reduce interference of the high-level university and high-level human training, and the scale and structure of higher education should guide the adjustment of industrial structure." ]

[ "Registering a company is not difficult at all. First check with your state requirements, which is primarily name registration. There are lots of companies that provide these services for you -www.mycorporation.com, but they usually charge a premium. As an IT company, make sure you get your domain name secured, again, lots of companies out there to assist -www.godaddy.com, is my favorite.\\nTaxes are based on your corporate structure, and vary greatly. Make sure you go to www.irs.gov to research the differences, you can set yourself up as a C-corp (company pays its own taxes) S-Corp (shareholders pay their portion of taxes), LLC (Limited Liability) or Partnership, or you can stay simple by being a sole propreitor. What all this determines is whether you will be filing an 1120 corporate tax return on March 15, or if all your taxes go on your personal tax return. Now if you have employees, payroll taxes will have to be considered. But this comes later.\\nRunning a business to start is not complicated, but make sure you have invested in a good accounting product. For brevity, Quickbooks is a pretty good bookkeeping tool, the training tutorial is pretty easy and the interface is user friendly. Trademarking and patenting can be done but don't need to be done first.\\nMost importantly, devise a strong business plan. Although this helps investors, it helps you, the owner more. It places all your thoughts down into concrete black and white. It brings out your strengths and weakness, and determines if now is the right time to jump in. Palo Alto has good software to assist with this.\\nYou may also want to meet with a local SCORE representative to pick their brain.\\nGood luck" ]

[ "Snow plough drivers own the plough. So ofcourse they just step outside and start with their own driveway, and take it from there.", "The best work-at-home idea is starting your own business. That is not something you find on the internet - but something you create on your own.\\n\\nLegitimate work-at-home program should tell you - in writing - what's involved in the program they are selling. Here are some questions you might ask:\\n\\n * What tasks will I have to perform? (Ask the program to list every step of the job.)\\n * Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?\\n * Who will pay me?\\n * When will I get my first paycheck?\\n * What is the total cost of the work-at-home program, including supplies, equipment and membership fees?\\n * What will I get for my money?", "over my dead body what the hell are we supposed to do sit back and take this crap we cant even take care of our own race never mind anyone Else's i am disabled and we don't get that much my husband had to give up work to look after me he worked all his life to start keeping a bunch of no hope rs trust TONY BLAIR he should go live with his pal in the states GET ALL ILLEGALLY IMMIGRANTS OUT AND START TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN OH I BETTER STOP", "The best work-at-home option is starting your own business. If you are looking at one of the endless \"opportunities\" out there be careful - most are scams. Here are a few questions you should ask to help figure out if the one you are looking at is for real or not.\\n\\nLegitimate work-at-home program should tell you - in writing - what's involved in the program they are selling. Here are some questions you might ask:\\n\\n* What tasks will I have to perform? (Ask the program to list every step of the job.)\\n* Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?\\n* Who will pay me?\\n* When will I get my first paycheck?\\n* What is the total cost of the work-at-home program, including supplies, equipment and membership fees?\\n* What will I get for my money?", "While I walk through the woods, stepping on the red leafs that have fallen from the trees. Step a moment, see the full moon and think about my last wish before I meet my death. I wish I were in my boat with my sail and my rudder and jump to my board and let the waves take me anywhere and stop controlling my life or I wish I could take a plane or travel by train and go to Mexico, take my hat off, leave the wind play with my hair then have my favorite taco in company of my tall man. Well no, I think I'll just call you on the phone and tell you how much I appreciate this 10 points or should I say thank you by e-mail?\\n\\nLots of love!!!", "If you are starting your own business, it may work. If you are looking at one of the endless \"opportunities\" out there be careful - most are scams. Here are a few questions you should ask to help figure out if the one you are looking at is for real or not.\\n\\nLegitimate work-at-home program should tell you - in writing - what's involved in the program they are selling. Here are some questions you might ask:\\n\\n* What tasks will I have to perform? (Ask the program to list every step of the job.)\\n* Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?\\n* Who will pay me?\\n* When will I get my first paycheck?\\n* What is the total cost of the work-at-home program, including supplies, equipment and membership fees?\\n* What will I get for my money?", "Well, it's not like evrey single guard is going to be an arab. There will still have to be American citizens. It's just that the company that will oversee those guards will be owned by the Saudi government. Just the same, I'm against it, too. I'd be just as much against it if I had known that the company was previously owned by a British company. Yes, they are both our allies. So what. They're not US. Not only should Americans be the guards, the company in charge should be American as well.", "I believe she should be seated with the \"friends of the groom\" section. I'm saying this because of my own feelings. I am estranged from my mother. My step mother and I are very close. (by the way I am 35 so I am speaking from a adult perspective) and if I were to ever get married again or renew my vows with my husband I would want my step mother (the one who has always been there for me) to be close to me on my special day. I don't want to be forced to be polite to someone I really care nothing about on what is suppose to be my day.", "I could make a fortune working from home if there really was an answer to that question!\\n\\nMost companies that hire telecommuters still require that you go in one or more days a week. They hire them the same way they hire any other employee.\\n\\nAnother option would be starting your own business - not something you find off the internet, but something you create for yourself.\\n\\nAssuming that you will be looking at some of the \"opportunities\" on the net - Legitimate work-at-home program should tell you - in writing - what's involved in the program they are selling. Here are some questions you might ask:\\n\\n * What tasks will I have to perform? (Ask the program to list every step of the job.)\\n * Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?\\n * Who will pay me?\\n * When will I get my first paycheck?\\n * What is the total cost of the work-at-home program, including supplies, equipment and membership fees?\\n * What will I get for my money?", "Starting a small business takes a lot of courage. But, as they say, courage does not pay the bills. To be successful – to stay in business – you need more than courage. You need a combination of hard work, skill, perseverance, and lots of luck. \\n\\nSome things you need to consider:\\n- \"How can I support my family while I build up by business?\" \\n- \"What are my abilities?\" \\n- \"Is there a market for the product or service I have chosen?\" \\n- \"How long will it take this business to reach the financial goal I have?\" \\n\\nYou may want to read the article \"How to Start a New Business Successfully\" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol51/launch.htm , which lists six steps to launch a new business successfully:\\n\\n1. Provide a benefit.\\n2. Determine the fit with your market.\\n3. Right timing is everything\\n4. Be ready to support your business\\n5. Develop a blueprint for success\\n6. Market, market, market\\n\\nI recommend that you read the following books:\\n\\n- What No One Ever Tells You About Starting Your Own Business : Real Life Start-Up Advice from 101 Successful Entrepreneurs \\n- Starting From Scratch: How To Start A Business When You Don't Have Money \\n- If You're Clueless About Starting Your Own Business and Want to Know More \\n- On the Move : How to Succeed and Survive As an Entrepreneur \\n- How to Make 1000 Mistakes in Business and Still Succeed \\n\\nThere is so much to learn about starting a business that it is hard to put everything here. I suggest that you to check out the following websites and learn from their content:\\n\\nEntrepreneur http://www.entrepreneur.com\\nInc.com http://www.inc.com\\nSBA http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/\\nPowerHomeBiz.com http://www.powerhomebiz.com\\n\\nYou may also want to check out the ebook called \"Checklist for Starting a Small Business\" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/Index/checklist.htm that provides a step-by-step guide for those starting their own businesses. It starts with determining if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur to financing your business to managing its growth.", "I am a step parent myself, along with my husband. The both of us had children from previous marriages. My husband treats and cares for my (our) children as well as I do his (ours) We have custody of all of our children. We actually took custody of his from their mother because a judge decided that our home was the best place for them. In my eyes, they are MY children. I feed them, I wash their clothes, I sit up with them when they are sick, I take them to their sporting events and school activities, which is more than their natural mother does for them. And my husband the same...the father of my oldest daughter didnt show up to any of her school activities until my husband started going with me...my ex-husbands family had to throw it in his face that her step father went to watch her and her own father didnt. So in my opinion, YES, a step parent is a family member!", "Because in most corporate companies, your not seen as a \"person\", your seen as a robot, number, etc. Take your pick. That's why my hubby and I own our own business. When I had our son, I just stopped working! :)", "I know at least two people from India who are using the company listed below. I use it, too. My own site is http://www.writershelper.com\\n\\nThe site that got me started is http://inquire-sbi.com", "I had this exact assignment for university three semesters ago. I'll give you an idea of the tought process I followed to get to my philosophy. First I started to think about how I think students learn, their different styles of learning; and my own teaching style. I try to back all my points by examples, from books or from my own teaching experience, to prove what I believed in. I think the most important part is to write about what you really believe in. I'll e-mail you the first draft of my philosophy so you get a better idea of what I'm talking about. Take into consideration that I'm an ESL teacher in Guatemala and that there are several experiences that deal with my own private teaching.", "eBay offers a list of buyer protection steps. Did you pay using PayPal? If so, they offer their own buyer protection. Was their email correspondence? Try emailing them there. I would suggest taking a look at the list of actions you can take by following the provided link. If all else fails, the last step is to contact your credit card company. \\n\\nSecondly, be sure that you check user ratings and comments before purchasing anything from them. I know I'm probably just stating what you already know, but you can often tell a lot about a user based on their ratings and reviews (and the longevity of their account, too!).\\n\\neBay has excellent customer support, so if all else fails, you should definitely contact them. Even if a user is no longer registered, there is information on him or her in the system. Visit the \"contact us\" link from your 'My eBay' page for more information there.", "When will people start taking steps of their own to end this kinda bull. Why can't people just like someone for who they are as a whole and not have to single out which race they like better? Come on...be a part of the solution!", "2 (Elizabeth and Charles)\\nBut in my opinion Prince Charles should just step down and let William take his place.", "I agree with the last answer, however, guaranteed income doing any business on your own is not possible. If u want guaranteed income, be an employee...There are lots of companies looking for someone part time etc., who can telecommute. It comes down to your skill level...What are they? What industries do u know anything about? What is your level of education etc.? i have worked from home as an employee 5 years out of 6, and then 1 year in an office, and then started my own business- which is by far best of all...", "I own my own DJ service now, but I started working for someone else. I started just running a camera and jumped thru the ranks. Decided it's better on my own. It's not that expensive to get your own stuff. I recommend www.musiciansfriend.com great prices and selection.", "i think you should take the risk...i started going out with one of my good friends, and we ended up falling in love. since you guys started out as good friends, i think no matter what happens you'll always be close. who knows, maybe he'll be your true love", "I started by cutting my protions in half. I also got a pedometer. Its a device that counts your footsteps. 10,000 steps is 4 miles. This is really not that many steps... once u measure what your daily average steps are.. make a realistic goal for yourself... I started at around 7,000 steps.. when i made the goal of 10,000 it started melting off. I lost 45 pounds in 1 year, and have been able to successfully keep it off. Please keep in mind, that MOVEMENT is key. I'm not so much a walker, nor to I gym.. getting that pedometer help me obtain a goal that i set for myself..... Dont starve between meals, or skip meals, or eat 1 time a day... your blood sugar levels get bad, and you start to have headaches.... and GRUMPINESS....... Goodluck...", "I started by getting crappy lil jobs in very small companies doing support work (my printers broken, how do i do this on word .etc) do that for a few years getting to know the companies IT system until your like the network admin or just well respected.\\nthen start looking outwards towards IT solution companys(SME's) (I was forced to look outwards due to IT outsourcing and redundancy). No serious IT company will take you on without a few years experience, they usually don’t care to much about qualifications(except mcse's and mcp's) either (although its good to have one), you just have to impress with what u've learned over the past few years.", "It can take some time to overcome, but the first step I can think of is that you have to let it go. I have learned that if we hold on to the bad things that people do, we will turn away from society and become introverted - sometimes at the expense of our own happiness. \\n\\nAs far as \"trusting men\" goes, remember that each one of us is different in our own right, and none should be judged via the actions of another. \\n\\nThese \"rules\" have helped to heal me and bring my life back to balance with society. I am 38.", "Have your doctor write the company a letter explaining the need for the surgery. I have never heard of a supervisor tell an employee to wait until the manager gets back from\\nvacation when surgery is needed. Go to your human resources office and find out what the company policy is about taking time off for surgery. Get a copy of the policy and take it to your doctor. Then find a good attorney to write your supervisor a letter. My be you should look for a better company to work for. They sure wouldn't get away with that if I were in your shoes.\\nGood Luck.", "I won't take my life for whatever reason because my situation can't be the worst ever. There is somebody somewhere enduring what is worst than what I may consider the reason to take my own life. Remember, winners never quit and quitters never win. I would rather join the winner's league.", "I hate having deadlines! That is the reason I chose to own my own business. I answer to nobody but myself, and I'm compensated well. This is the happiest I've ever been in my life!! There's no backstabbing in my company!!", "Over the last decade, my whole career has been affected by computers. I left my \"real\" job back in '96 to start an Internet Design company, which everyone told me was insane. I worked and slaved over it for years, gained lots of clients, respect, awards, an office full of employees and then sold the company 2 years ago for a lot of $$$, and now I work out of my home as a freelancer helping other start-up companies do the same thing. \\n\\nWhen I was in college in the 80's, I never ever dreamed my life would turn into what it has.", "I run in track and have it. You just have to take everything step by step. If you can't run 2 miles, then take your time. You dont have to be better than anybody else. A way to get rid of asthma is to exercise and go at your own pace.", "Why yes. I don't think I know, step dads hit their step kids. But if you mean should they? My answer is no. I'm not just saying step parents, I'm saying all parents shouldn't hit their kids.", "NO but I started a trauma of my own with my children I tell them there is a camera recording what they do ,It always helps me get the truth of who did what in the house.I just tell them I'm going to review the tape and I get my answer immediately", "You have to setup Samba and yes I am going to tell you to go read the manual but here is a step by step manual, slightly dated but should get you going.\\n\\nI would also suggest not doing such projects yourself unless you fully understand the technology and it's what the business pays you to do. The typical small office is much better served to have an outside vendor complete such task who knows the product. The reason for this is simple. If you take the time you have worked on this plus the mistakes you will make and the time they take to correct and actually give that time a value based on what you should have been doing to earn the business money most businesses will find that having outsourced the work is cheaper. Time is money and even in the small office taking time away from what makes the company money has a value and needs to be added into the cost of doing the deployment yourself.", "High School Diploma if starting you are starting your own Company. \\n\\nIf you want to become a CEO in a multinational company I suggest getting a Science Undergraduate degree (Like a B.Sc) or even a Masters and after some industry experience persue a Bussiness Graduate degree (Like a MBA). a Graduate Diploma in LAW on top of this wont hurt either.\\n\\nTheir is no right answer. Although education is a very important factor their is a lot of other variables to take in account." ]

[ "Coca-Cola" ]

[ "S-A", "A-G-A-S-S-I", "U S S Arizona", "U S S Missouri", "S-curve", "S", "S (for south)", "the 1960's", "S Ag", "S&L", "commercials", "\"'S Wonderful\"", "the 30's", "the Olmec(s)", "Beefeater(s)", "the tricep(s)", "S-H", "F & S", "1920's", "symbolism", "P-S-O-R-I-A-S-I-S", "the 1970's", "45's", "\"paddy\"s", "S-E-X-E-S", "the 90's", "rock(s)", "O-S-I-R-I-S", "the 50's", "S-T-A-R-S-K-Y", "He Said, She Said", "soft" ]

[ "Kris Kristofferson writes the kind of songs that people love to sing: songs like \"Help Me Make It Through The Night,\" from 1970. Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version, as did Joan Baez — and even Elvis. Kristofferson has had a long career, writing songs covered by the likes of Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin. He's a country music Hall of Famer with a few movies to his name, too. He's 76 now, and still writing songs. When he's not out touring, he's back home in Hawaii. Success, he says, has not gone to his head. \"I spend most of my time on my tractor, mowing the grass around there,\" Kristofferson says. \"That's my therapy. No one can mess with me on the tractor.\" He's off the tractor for the time being, performing new music. His latest album is called Feeling Mortal, and he discusses it — as well as some of the pleasant surprises that have come with old age — here with NPR's Rachel Martin. Interview Highlights On being a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University \"I wanted to be a creative artist. It was a kind of a blessed existence, you know. I'd gotten to be in college and gotten to play football and box and do the things I loved to do. And I think what Oxford did was, you know, rather than a liberal arts education where you have to study a lot of different things, I got to get really involved in William Blake and Shakespeare.\" On being in the country supergroup The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash \"Every time that I'd be standing there on stage, at least at some point in the show, I had to just pinch myself to realize that I was really up there on the stage. Every one of these guys was my hero before I even knew them, you know? Because really, the first time I ever heard Waylon [Jennings], I was a janitor at the recording studio at Columbia Recording in Nashville. And I volunteered to do a Saturday [cleaning shift] when Waylon was doing a demo, and I'd never heard anything like him. It was a real eye-opener to find myself on the same stage with these guys. Because Johnny Cash, as human as he is — or was — he was always larger than life. He always felt like something right off of Mount Rushmore.\" On hearing other musicians perform his songs \"Every performer that's performed my songs has done them better than I did. I guess Janis doing \"[Me and] Bobby McGee\" was one that moved me profoundly, because of our relationship. ... I got to know her not too long before she died. But we were close. [The first time I heard her version,] unfortunately, she had just died. And it blew me away.\" RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Kris Kristofferson writes songs that people love to sing. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT\") MARTIN: Songs like \"Help Me Make It Through The Night,\" from 1970. Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version. So did Joan Baez, even Elvis. So the voice on the radio often belonged to someone else. But it was always Kris Kristofferson's music - and his words. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT\") MARTIN: Kristofferson has had a long career, writing songs covered by the likes of Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin. He's a Country Music Hall of Famer with a few movies to his name, too. He is 76 now ,and still writing songs. When he's not out touring he's back home in Hawaii. But success hasn't gone to his head. KRIS KRISTOFFERSON: I spend most of my time on my tractor, mowing the grass around there. (LAUGHTER) MARTIN: You would think that Kris Kristofferson could pay someone to mow his lawn, no? KRISTOFFERSON: Oh no, that's my favorite therapy. Nobody can mess with me, on the tractor. (LAUGHTER) MARTIN: He's off the tractor, for the time being, performing new music. His latest album is called \"Feeling Mortal,\" and this is the title track. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"FEELING MORTAL\") MARTIN: I spoke with Kris Kristofferson while he was in Nashville, the city that launched his career so long ago. And I asked him why he started to really feel those years. KRISTOFFERSON: Well, you know, every album that I've done since they let me start doing them has always been, for me, sort of a summation of what I'm going through, at the time. And this is that time of my life when you start becoming aware of mortality. And it's a lot more pleasant than I thought it would be. (LAUGHTER) MARTIN: Really? KRISTOFFERSON: Yes. MARTIN: Why? KRISTOFFERSON: I - well, I don't know. I have no regrets. I feel very grateful for the life that I had - you know, family I live with; and I've been doing work that I love, ever since I came to Nashville. MARTIN: There are things I didn't necessarily know about you, when I was doing a little bit of background reading - and some of our listeners may not know, including the fact that you were a Rhodes Scholar... KRISTOFFERSON: Hmm. MARTIN: ...a long time ago. KRISTOFFERSON: Yeah. MARTIN: But back then, that young Kris Kristofferson who went to Oxford, what was going through his mind? What did that young guy want to do with his life? KRISTOFFERSON: Well, I wanted to be a " ]

[ "Kris Allen won America's biggest popularity contest Wednesday night. A record 100 million votes were cast for the winner of this year's American Idol. And the outcome? An absolute upset. Kris Allen, 23, is a sweetly sincere former missionary from Arkansas. He was competing against flamboyantly powerful singer Adam Lambert, a gilded glam rocker who appeared to have the competition sewn up. The show did its best to establish the two as opposite personas. \"The guy next door versus the guyliner,\" as host Ryan Seacrest put it. But upon learning of his victory, Allen seemed floored — even apologetic. \"This was an absolute shocker of a finale for American Idol,\" says Michael Slezak, senior writer for the Web site of Entertainment Weekly. \"I did not expect Kris Allen to beat Adam Lambert, and I don't think Kris Allen expected to beat Adam Lambert. I mean, honestly, saying 'Adam deserves this, I'm sorry.' I've never heard that kind of quote from an Idol winner.\" Slezak credits Lambert with completely rejuvenating the American Idol franchise. \"Trying to imagine season eight without Adam Lambert would be like trying to imagine your bowl of cereal without milk: hard to swallow and dry,\" Slezak says. Lambert's performances and song choices were always intelligent, often audacious and consistently thrilling. With his anime haircut and feline eyes, Lambert seemed poised to redefine rock-and-roll masculinity. All the judges, including Paula Abdul, bestowed him with an aura of inevitability. There is speculation that Lambert lost the title because he presents — very deliberately — as gay. But Slezak says viewers just went for the underdog. \"I have to think there's a slight backlash against the show's producers and judges, who have a tendency to push very hard for the contestant they want to win,\" Slezak says. Another backlash of sorts came from the contestants themselves. The American Idol machine did its best to pit the folksy country Christian against the showy, sophisticated dandy. But the two men formed a friendship that transcended typical reality show expectations. \"I think we need as many indicators to young men in America that someone like Adam is the kind of guy who can be their best friend as we do to little 8-year-olds watching Adam Lambert as the kind of performer they could grow up into being themselves,\" says Shana Naomi Krochmal, contributing editor for Out Magazine. Krochmal says she took real pleasure in watching what seems to be an authentic mutual affection develop in such an artificial environment of constant hype and relentless product placement. But Allen and Lambert had better be friends. They have a 50-city tour to get through this summer. (Soundbite of TV show, \"American Idol\") Unidentified Man (Announcer): This is \"American Idol.\" STEVE INSKEEP, host: Last night, Kris Allen won America's biggest popularity contest. (Soundbite of music) Mr. KRIS ALLEN (\"American Idol\" winner): (Singing) …every step you climb another mountain, every breath it's harder to believe, you make it through the pain, whether the hurt came… INSKEEP: A record one hundred million votes were cast, we are told, for the winner of this year's \"American Idol.\" NPR's Neda Ulaby reports this was an absolute upset. NEDA ULABY: Chris Allen is a sweetly sincere 23-year-old former missionary from Arkansas. He was competing against a flamboyantly powerful singer, Adam Lambert, a gilded glam rocker who appeared to have the competition sewn up. \"American Idol\" did its best to establish the two as opposite personas. (Soundbite of TV show, \"American Idol\") Mr. RYAN SEACREST (Host): The guy next door versus the guyliner. ULABY: When Ryan Seacrest announced Kris Allen's victory last night, Allen seemed almost on the verge of turning it down. (Soundbite of TV show, \"American Idol\") Mr. SEACREST: How does it feel? Mr. ALLEN: It feels good, man, but Adam just - Adam deserves this. I'm sorry, I don't even know what to feel right now. This is crazy. ULABY: Allen was not the only person utterly floored by his win. Michael Slezak writes for entertainmentweekly.com. Mr. MICHAEL SLEZAK (Entertainmentweekly.com): I did not expect Kris Allen to beat Adam Lambert and I don't think Kris Allen expected to beat Adam Lambert. I mean, honestly, saying Adam deserves this, I'm sorry, I've never heard that kind of quote from an \"Idol\" winner. ULABY: The \"American Idol\" franchise says Slezak was completely rejuvenated by Adam Lambert. Mr. SLEZAK: You know, trying to imagine season eight without Adam Lambert would sort of be like trying to imagine your bowl of cereal without the milk. It would be hard to swallow and kind of dry. (Soundbite of TV show, \"American Idol\") Mr. ADAM LAMBERT (\"American Idol\" contestant): (Singing) (Unintelligible) ULABY: Adam Lambert's performances and song choices were intelligent, audacious, and consistently thrilling. With his anime haircut and feline eyes, Lambert seemed poised to redefine rock and roll mascu", "Donnie Fritts knows what it's like to be held in the silver shimmer of celluloid, and he's had years of experience playing wingman to a heartthrob. That's why \"Errol Flynn,\" a song written by the cabaret raconteur Amanda McBroom for her actor father, David Bruce, works perfectly as the lead single from Oh My Goodness, Fritts' new album. Contemplating the tattered poster she's tacked to her wall of her dad standing with the song's titular leading man, McBroom ponders fame and mortality and cautions listeners to treasure personal connections over Hollywood fantasies. The song's tenderness extends to the imaginary world, however: McBroom's dad returns to late-night cable, a benign spirit preserved by Hollywood, still fourth in the movie's credits but No. 1 in his daughter's heart. Though he's immortalized in several Sam Peckinpah Westerns, appearing alongside his friend and most frequent musical collaborator, Kris Kristofferson, Donnie Fritts is no ghost. He's a charming, beloved presence in the music community of Muscle Shoals and Florence, Ala., where he was born in 1942 — and where, in the 1960s, he helped create the swampy sound that lent depth and fun to the rock and soul of that era. As Kristofferson's longtime keyboardist, he's essential to that country legend's rough but urbane sound. Fritts also wrote or co-wrote some indelible songs, including Dusty Springfield's sexiest number, \"Breakfast In Bed.\" Fritts has only recorded a few solo albums — his syrupy drawl is an esoteric pleasure — but those who love him know that few can frame a tale the way he can. He takes \"Errol Flynn\" to the intimate, slightly seedy place where it can really come alive. His touch on the Wurlitzer 200a piano is that of a veteran of many long nights in a carpeted cocktail lounge. His vocal is reflective; you can imagine him on a sofa, holding a cold one. When some murmured backing vocals come in along with John Paul White's delicate guitar twang and Ben Griner's mournful trombone, it's as if the picture in Fritts' mind went to Technicolor right before those credits rolled. He leaves listeners with a bit of advice, suited to our mixed-up world of projected realities: \"Love one another, and stand close together / as close as my dad did to Errol Flynn.\"", "When someone says \"trucker,\" many stereotypes often come to mind. A bearded Kris Kristofferson in the 1978 film Convoy or a hollerin' Jerry Reed from Smokey and the Bandit are just some of the mental images associated with the word. Traditionally, trucking has been an industry dominated by men. But increasingly, that's changing. The American Trucking Associations says the industry is short about 30,000 truckers nationwide. It expects that shortage to surge more than 200,000 truckers in the next decade. The industry is increasingly looking at other demographics — particularly women — to close that gap. Judy Sanchez is one of those women. She's training to become a truck driver at the Dootson School of Trucking in Arcadia, Calif. Beginners start with a bus and move on to a truck. And Sanchez is as green as it gets. This is only the third time she's driven a stick shift. Still, she's not lacking for confidence when it comes to parallel parking between a set of orange cones. \"Oh yeah, and I see a lot of women having a hard time and I'm like, really? Let me help you out,\" Sanchez says. \"Oh, we have a cocky one on us here today,\" her instructor jokes. Sanchez nails it after a couple of tries. \"Why trucking?\" she says. \"Because I've been looking for a job where I can get good benefits, actually good pay. And why not? You know? It's fun. I like it. Women can do it too.\" Erica Arvizu, an admission supervisor at Dootson's, says more and more women are getting interested in the field. \"I've been working here for 18 years,\" she says. \"And in the last three years, there are so many more women coming and obtaining their commercial class A license.\" Arvizu says most come in for the same reasons as Sanchez. \"A lot of them are single women trying to support their families, or just trying to help their partner because of the economy and everything — to survive,\" she says. The median pay for a tractor-trailer driver is a little more than $38,000 a year. Long haul truckers can make a lot more. Not bad, considering you can get a license in a matter of weeks or months. Still, the industry has struggled with filling its ranks since it shed tens of thousands of jobs during the Great Recession. Many in the industry blame government regulation. Others blame wages that haven't risen with inflation. Most point to an aging workforce and a generation of young workers who aren't exactly enticed by a career like trucking. \"And not just the trucking industry,\" says Ellen Voie, president of Women in Trucking, a group that tries to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry. \"I think all trades are suffering from the same situation where everyone wants their kids to go to college and not get their hands dirty,\" she says. Voie's been in trucking most of her life, and she says that the industry is far more receptive to women than it ever has been before. But it still has a long way to go in terms of attitudes and numbers. Attitudes because, Voie says, sexism and harassment are still problems. \"There's still drivers out there who think women shouldn't have a place in the trucking industry,\" she says. \"They're few and far between, but unfortunately they're vocal.\" And numbers, because the most recent labor statistics show that just over 5 percent of the trucking workforce are women. Voie thinks it's a little higher than that, but not by much. And she thinks that it's in the industry's best interests to change that. \"I would venture to say that if we could double the percentage of women working in the trucking industry, we could solve the immediate qualified driver shortage,\" Voie says. And those perceptions of what a trucker should look like might change with it. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: When you're driving on the freeway, it may not feel like it but there is a shortage of truckers. The American Trucking Association says they're short about 30,000 truckers nationwide, and the shortage is expected to grow to more than 200,000 in the next decade. NPR's Nathan Rott reports that the industry is increasingly looking to women to close that gap. NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: OK, I say trucker, you think - what? - a bearded Kris Kristofferson in \"Convoy.\" (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, \"CONVOY\") KRIS KRISTOFFERSON: (As Martin Penwald) Hey, love machine. You ain't hauling go-go girls, are you? ROTT: Or maybe a hollering Jerry Reed from \"Smokey And The Bandit.\" (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, \"SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT\") JERRY REED: (As Cledus) I'm the brother of a truck driving mother - boogie, boogie, boogie. ROTT: There's long been a stereotype of truckers, and maybe deservedly. Traditionally, trucking has been an industry dominated by men. But increasingly, that's changing. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JUDY SANCHEZ: So let me start with the seatbelt first. UNIDENTIFIED INSTRUCTOR: Seatbelt first - safety always. ROTT: Judy Sanchez gets pointers from her instructor as she takes her position behind the wheel of a big, yellow bus at the Dootson School of Trucking in Arcad", "Johnny Cash knew well how to hold on to the songs and people he loved. One of those songs was Bob Dylan's \"One Too Many Mornings.\" Three of those people were Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Together with Cash, they formed the country supergroup The Highwaymen, whose legacy has now brought forth one last instance of Cash's long love for Dylan's song. \"One Too Many Mornings\" was in the background of Cash's career for a while. In February 1969, he joined Dylan in Nashville for the famed recording sessions that produced Nashville Skyline's opening track: an ambling duet rendition of \"Girl From The North Country,\" promoted from its second-place spot on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. During those same sessions, Cash and Dylan twice recorded \"One Too Many Mornings.\" Fifteen years on, in late 1984, Cash convened the group that would become The Highwaymen while recording a Christmas special in Montreux, Switzerland. A little over a year after that, he released a new \"One Too Many Mornings\" on his album Heroes with newly-minted Highwayman Waylon Jennings. (The album is notable for, among other things, its cover art figuring the two singers as gunslingers.) In 2014, 11 years after Cash's death, Nelson and Kristofferson — who'd been left at the side of the road for the Heroes version — added their own vocals to the track. That version is now seeing light, thanks to the upcoming box set Live: American Outlaws. The new version strips away the grating strings and choral vocals of Cash and Jennings' original recording. It remains, nonetheless, a delightfully cheesy piece of '80s mainstream country, uplifted by the rakish glee of the four Highwaymen. The singers take turns on the verses before joining in a final refrain. Each singer recasts Dylan's pensive lyrics in his own significantly more country style. As with his original duets with Dylan and with Jennings, Cash reserves the first verse for himself, digging deeply and playfully into the phrase \"The dogs are barking.\" Songs with this sort of instrumental live and die by their vocals, and The Highwaymen, separate in time but not spirit, prove more than up to the task. Theirs is a far cry from Dylan's original \"One Too Many Mornings,\" a song of lost love in the gallant vein of \"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right\" and \"Girl From The North Country.\" Dylan's narrator stands on his doorstep, facing an empty street. The song is in a reflective, internal mode; it dances around the loss at its center and externalizes it through the speaker's observations of the isolating scene before him. Therein lies the reimaginative justification for The Highwaymen's cover. If Dylan mused on a vacant street from a quiet doorstep, Cash, Jennings, Kristofferson and Nelson are striding jauntily down that street together. In a lonely song about lonely rumination, the four men of outlaw country found a song they could sing across decades — one by one, then all at once. The Very Best Of and Live: American Outlaws come out May 20 on Sony Legacy.", "A few overeager AT&T employees brought demo phones to \"American Idol\" viewing parties in Arkansas and helped fans text their votes, but their actions did not affect the outcome between native son Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, the company said Wednesday. Allen, 23, of Conway, Ark., won by an undisclosed margin over Lambert, 27, of San Diego, a powerful singer who'd been cast by the show's judges as the front-runner. Host Ryan Seacrest said nearly 100 million votes were sent by phone or text message after last Tuesday's final performance, but did not mention how those votes were divided. While anyone in the United States could phone in votes, only AT&T customers were allowed to text. About 20 phones were brought to two separate parties in Arkansas, and two of those phones were capable of sending multiple votes by so-called \"power texting,\" a person familiar with the gatherings said. A second person, with knowledge of the voting results, said Allen won by a large enough margin that a handful of voters could not have swayed the outcome. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the voting process or the Arkansas parties. \"Idol\" prohibits \"power voting\" by text or phone, and has internal safeguards against the practice. In a joint statement, Fox and producer FremantleMedia said the results were \"fair, accurate and verified\" by an independent, third-party monitor to protect the integrity of the voting process. \"In no way did any individuals unfairly influence the outcome of the competition.\" \"Kris Allen is, without a doubt, the American Idol,\" Fox and FremantleMedia said. According to AT&T, \"a few local AT&T employees\" were invited to attend local viewing parties in Arkansas for the \"American Idol\" finale, parties the company said were similar to other, \"countless\" ones held in \"homes, bars and other public places\" nationwide. \"Caught up in the enthusiasm of rooting for their hometown contestant, they brought a small number of demo phones with them and provided texting tutorials to those who were interested,\" AT&T said in its statement. Dallas-based AT&T, the country's largest telecommunications company, is one of the show's main sponsors, though it did not sponsor the parties in question. \"Going forward, we will make sure our employees understand our sponsorship celebrates the competition, not individual contestants. That said, it's quite a leap to suggest that a few individualsm could have impacted the final results,\" the company said. An AT&T spokesman declined to address how many employees were invited or how many people attended the Arkansas parties. One of the parties attended by AT&T was at the University of Central Arkansas' Estes Stadium, with about 2,000 people in attendance, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last week. The paper said display phones and company representatives were on hand to teach multiple \"power texting\" there, with phones and representatives also available at a watch party at the Peabody Little Rock hotel. Sonja Keith, part of the \"Kris Allen Kick Awesome Task Force\" that helped organize watch parties, said she contacted AT&T about coming to the party at the stadium in Conway because she'd heard some people were having difficulty getting through on the toll-free number. \"A suggestion was made that we needed to get in touch with the phone carriers to see if there was a problem - if there was something that they could do to ensure that our calls were getting through.\" Keith said the business was one of many that participated at the event, and did so with \"good intentions.\" \"I don't think anybody was trying to do anything underhanded or be unfair. I would think that the people in San Diego (Lambert's hometown) have the same resources available to them that the people in Conway do. I don't know that they were as organized as we were in terms of their support.\" \"Idol\" has been inconsistent in its disclosure of vote totals: Last year, Seacrest said during the finale that 12 million votes was the difference between winner David Cook and runner-up David Archuleta. Other results have been vaguely referenced as \"close,\" while some - like this year's finale - have not been officially addressed at all. For his part, Lambert said he didn't know the results of the final vote, and \"didn't ask.\" But he was more suspicious of the \"Gokey factor\" - the migration of church leader Danny Gokey's votes to the more conservative Allen - than any kind of grassroots effort. \"I knew that (losing) was a possibility,\" Lambert said Tuesday. \"I knew that Kris had just as much of a chance as I did. You know, it was gonna come down to the two of us, and the people that had been voting for more of the conservative choices up until then were probably going to default more to Kris than to me.\"", "Musician and songwriter Stephen Bruton played guitar for nearly 40 years with Kris Kristofferson. He recorded five solo albums and his songs have been covered by such greats as Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson. Bruton died of cancer on May 9 at the home of his longtime friend, music producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett. Bruton was 60 years old. Bruton and Burnett had just completed work on a soundtrack to the film, Crazy Heart. The two had actually lived together off and on throughout their careers. \"We were living up on Redpath in Laurel Canyon in the late 1960s, going to the Troubadour every night, living on peanut-butter sandwiches,\" Burnett says. \"I remember my mother came one time, and there was this long flight of stairs up to the house and she had this big box. It looked heavy, and we thought it was filled with food. We went down to get it, and it was filled with scotch.\" Burnett has often called Bruton the \"soul of Texas music.\" \"He immersed himself more deeply in the history of the place where we came from than anyone I know, especially around Forth Worth,\" Burnett says. \"Stephen dug up that the first electric guitar was made in Weatherford — one of the guys stuck a needle from a phonograph into the top of the guitar to act as the microphone and ran it through the phonograph to make it louder with the Texas swing band.\" Burnett thinks that specific guitar was for a certain Texas musician. In an interview with Liane Hansen, Burnett says that's why he needs Bruton around — he would know that name better than anyone else. He was the keeper of the history. \"He kept breathing life into these old, classic forms of music.\" LIANE HANSEN, host: Musician and songwriter Stephen Bruton played guitar for nearly 40 years with Kris Kristofferson, recorded five solo albums, and his songs have been covered by such greats as Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson. (Soundbite of song \"Getting Over You\") Mr. WILLIE NELSON (Musician): (Singing) Why do I still write? Why do I still call? HANSEN: Stephen Bruton died of cancer on May 9th at the home of his longtime friend, music producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett. Bruton was 60 years old. The two had just completed work on a soundtrack to the film \"Crazy Heart,\" starring Jeff Bridges. T-Bone Burnett joins us from The Village studios in Los Angeles, California. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today. Mr. T-BONE BURNETT (Music Producer, Songwriter): Thank you very much. HANSEN: What's your fondest memory of Stephen? Mr. BURNETT: My fondest memory? One night we were restless and he decided we were going to drive up to San Francisco. John Fleming, and he and I were in the car. And I woke up about four o'clock in the morning, I looked up and I said, where are we? And he said, we're just in southwestern Colorado. (Soundbite of laughter) Mr. BURNETT: He had decided to go see his girlfriend. (Soundbite of laughter) Mr. BURNETT: Without consulting us, you know. HANSEN: Oh my. What did you mean when you said he was the soul of Texas music? Mr. BURNETT: He immersed himself more deeply in the history of the place we came from, especially, you know, centered around Fort Worth. And he studied you know, Washington Phillips and Huddie Ledbetter. Like, I didn't know that Huddie Ledbetter had been a street singer in Fort Worth, but Stephen dug that up. He dug up the first electric guitar was made in Weatherford. Wasn't it Milton Brown and the Brownies? See, this is where I need Stephen right now. He would get this all straightened out for me. (Soundbite of laughter) HANSEN: He was the keeper of the history, huh? Mr. BURNETT: Yeah. And he didn't look for the surface of the thing. He looked for where it came from, what it meant. You know, he kept breathing new life into these old classic forms of music. HANSEN: Is there a song of his that we should go out on? Mr. BURNETT: Yeah. I would say \"Too Many Memories\" would be the great way to go out. (Soundbite of song \"Too Many Memories\") Ms. PATTY LOVELESS (Musician): (Singing) Gave you a memory that you'll have till you die. Mr. BURNETT: It has a great line in it - and the lesson you learn you must never forget. It's what makes you grow old. It's turning love into regret. (Soundbite of song \"Too Many Memories\") Ms. LOVELESS: (Singing) And you don't dare forget... HANSEN: T-Bone Burnett joined us from The Village studio in Los Angeles, California. Thanks so much for sharing your memories of Stephen Bruton with us. Mr. BURNETT: You're welcome, Liane. Thank you. (Soundbite of song \"Too Many Memories\") Ms. LOVELESS: (Singing) When there's too many memories for one heart to hold. Once a future so bright now seems so distant and cold. And the shadows grow long and your eyes look so old when there's too many memories...", "You can almost smell Bad Blake — an aging country music star played by Jeff Bridges — as he performs in Crazy Heart. Approaching 60, he's bearded, grizzled, drenched in sweat — and completely drunk. His drink of choice is \"McClure's\" — and if you don't recognize that as a tried-and-true brand of whiskey, that's because it's not. \"The great whiskeys like Wild Turkey and Jack Daniels ... didn't want to be associated with an alcoholic like Bad,\" Bridges tells NPR's Melissa Block. \"So we had to come up with our own. And we named it McClure's — which happens to be our director Scott Cooper's middle name.\" Though it's tempting to get drunk to play a drunk, Bridges advises against it: \"You don't want to work drunk,\" Bridges says. \"I've made that mistake in the past.\" 'That's His Throne' Listening back to his performances as Bad Blake, Bridges says he can hear how much fun he's having — and he appreciates how the film's music producer, T-Bone Burnett, crafted songs just for him: \"T-Bone [told] me, 'We're gonna make you sound good, Jeff. We're gonna have songs that are gonna be in your wheelhouse. ... We're gonna tailor-make the songs to fit you and Bad.' \" Bridges says Burnett allowed him to feel his way into the character of Bad Blake. \"Like most good directors — and that's really what he is — he wouldn't say too much,\" Bridges says. \"He'd let you discover it for yourself, and that was very helpful.\" Burnett has said that watching Bridges in Crazy Heart — with his grizzled, bearded, country outlaw look — is reminiscent of watching country legends like Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. \"One of the first directions that Scott Cooper gave me was that if Bad was alive and was a real character, that he would be the fifth Highwayman,\" Bridges says, referring to the country supergroup made up of Johnny Cash, Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson. \"So I took that to heart. ... I could watch those guys and see what that [onstage] stance was. Sometimes pictures are better than words and description.\" Bridges says he and his friend Kristofferson screened the film together. \"We were laughing together [about] how much we looked alike,\" Bridges says. \"Put our heads together, looked in the mirror and had a good laugh.\" Though Bridges was anxious leading up to his performances as Bad Blake, he says that by the time he was onstage, like Blake, he just \"let it go.\" \"When he's up there, that's his throne,\" Bridges says. \"He's totally comfortable.\" The Dude Abides Though die-hard Big Lebowski fans would love to see Bridges come back for a sequel as The Dude, Bridges won't make any promises. \"I don't know about the Dude,\" he says, \"but I'll be working with the Coen brothers again coming this March. ... I'm looking forward to working with those guys again — they're real masters.\" Bridges and the Coen brothers will be collaborating on a new version of the 1969 Western True Grit — with Bridges playing the John Wayne character, Rooster Cogburn. \"I just love Westerns,\" he says. \"I love riding horses and dressing up like that.\" Bridges says he did his share of playing \"cowboy\" as a kid, and his mother encouraged his imaginative games of pretend — whether it was playing cowboys or space aliens under the dining room table. \"She had this thing called 'Time,' \" Bridges recalls, \"where every kid had an hour a day of my mom's undivided attention. ... She'd always encourage us to put on plays. ... Pretend was a big part of my childhood.\" Now, decades into his Hollywood career, Bridges' childhood games continue to pay off. \"There's a bit of the kid in me,\" he says. \"Sometimes I think of movie acting as advanced pretend. You get to wear all those neat costumes and play with all the cool kids and use all the cool toys.\"", "One of America's best storytellers, Chicago-based songwriter John Prine was discovered by Kris Kristofferson. Prine's self-titled debut still stands as one of the best singer-songwriter albums of all time, but he hasn't stayed in the public eye, instead sticking around the margins of cult fame. For a new generation of fans, that's likely to change, thanks in part to a new tribute album titled Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine. The collection features some of the best young singers in America, as they tackle some of Prine's finest works: Josh Ritter performs \"Mexican Home,\" Conor Oberst sings \"Wedding Day in Funeralville,\" The Avett Brothers' members tackle \"Spanish Pipedream\" and so on. I was at a music conference when I first heard this album's version of \"Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow),\" recorded by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. I heard the song blindly -- without knowing in advance what the song was or who was singing it -- but I thought it was brilliant. In the liner notes to Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows, Vernon writes a short essay on Prine, whose music he first heard when he was a kid on car rides with his parents. Short of hearing Prine's music, Vernon's words say it best: Songs. Songwriters. You have your craftsmen, your flashy ones, the ones that are great or the ones that are genius. We talk about it, form up our own sort of academia, with cliques and blinders and deconstructions. But every John Prine song dismisses the desire to even break it down like that. His singing voice and his literary voice are one. This is so rare among even the greatest in the echelons of western-song. The humble, heart-broke and beautifully playful disposition of his songs feels more his nature than his art. And thus we believe everything he sings. \"Hello in There\" somehow reached into my 12-year-old frame and allowed me to feel the quiet devastation of the old man and Loretta. The simple and modest veracity of these words and vocals not only conveyed the pain of the characters in the song, but every lonely loose-ends feeling ever -- even ones I was too young to know. A few chords, some jotted words, and you had a lifetime. You wonder how -- or if -- John Prine will feel about this album. If it will make any sense. Sometimes a tribute becomes less a salute than a mismatched group of shout-outs. After all the years gone, you wonder if John Prine feels a distance between the songs and the listeners. If these old songs seem folded over by now. But then it’s back to another element of Prine songs -- humility. A delicate humility, not to be confused with weakness. And that is how we offer these songs, Mr. Prine: humbly, with gratitude, our tuppence to honor you and your life's works. Your songs are still here, John, beautifully breathing and beating us up. Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine will stream here in its entirety until its release on June 22. Please leave your thoughts on the album in the comments section below.", "Between 1993 and 2003, Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin recorded a series of songs — mixtures of Cash's favorites by other writers and Rubin's selection of tunes he thought Cash would approach with a fresh perspective. Rubin's strategy yielded some attention-getting results — most notably, perhaps, Cash singing the Nine Inch Nails song \"Hurt.\" Rubin's ideas could have been mere stunts, but more often — thanks to the sincerity of both men — they turned into interesting music. For this latest collection, there are fewer of those leaps of genre. The song \"Ain't No Grave\" has a poignancy that goes beyond the obvious — and thanks to Cash's spirited singing, it transcends easy irony. Some of the songs on American VI: Ain't No Grave don't work. It's not that Cash's voice, weak from illness, wasn't up to the challenge of a composition such as Kris Kristofferson's \"For The Good Times.\" It's just that \"For The Good Times\" is a maudlin, overrated song — I thought that when Ray Price made a hit of it in 1970, and still think so now, as Cash tries to give himself over to Kristofferson's mawkish sentimentality. Much more satisfying, if also problematic, is Cash's cover of \"I Don't Hurt Anymore.\" The song was a No. 1 hit for Hank Snow in 1953, and it's a fine example of a country song that says one thing but means the opposite. In this case, the singer announces, \"It don't hurt anymore,\" that he's getting over the heartbreak of losing a lover, yet the entire song belies that notion — the whole point is that we're supposed to realize that the narrator does indeed still hurt, a lot. Cash's death overtakes certain lyrics on this album — it makes you unable to hear the songs for what they are. In this case, I think Cash sings a lovely version of \"I Don't Hurt Anymore.\" But instead of a song about lingering heartache, it becomes a song about escaping pain through death — which brings us to the bigger problem with the American Recordings series. There's been some criticism of these final recordings from those who suggest that Rick Rubin was reshaping the Cash legacy. Instead of remembering Cash as a vital, sometimes wild, often defiant figure, people who listen to him here experience a man weakened. I understand the argument against some of these recordings now released posthumously, but I'll defend Rick Rubin in this way: There's a huge body of Johnny Cash work that dwarfs these six collaborations with Rubin. You should go off and listen not just to Cash's famous At Folsom Prison live album but also to 1958's Songs That Made Him Famous, for his Sun Records prime, or 1961's Now Here's Johnny Cash, for a remarkable range of expressiveness spread over a dozen songs. There's a grand legacy of Johnny Cash music that American VI: Ain't No Grave does not by any means trash. It simply presents the man in his final phase, reflective but also active; wanting, needing to make more music. You must choose the way you want to interpret the sentiments that he has left behind. TERRY GROSS, host: Seven years after the death of Johnny Cash, producer Rick Rubin has selected another 10 songs from the many he produced for Cash late in the singer's life. The result is \"American VI: Ain't No Grave.\" Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review. (Soundbite of song, \"Ain't No Grave\") Mr. JOHNNY CASH (Singer): (Singing) There ain't no grave can hold my body down. There ain't no grave can hold my body down. When you hear that trumpet sound I'm gonna rise right out of the ground. Ain't no grave can hold my body down. Well look... KEN TUCKER: Between 1993 and 2003, Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin recorded a series of songs mixtures of Cash's favorites by other writers and Rubin's selection of tunes he thought Cash would approach with a fresh perspective. Rubin's strategy yielded some attention-getting results most notably, perhaps, Cash singing the Nine Inch Nails song \"Hurt.\" Rubin's ideas could have been mere stunts, but more often thanks to the sincerity of both men they turned into interesting music. For this latest collection, there are fewer of those leaps of genre. The song that began this review, \"Ain't No Grave,\" has a poignance that goes beyond the obvious. Thanks to Cash's spirited singing, it transcends easy irony. There are also songs that compliment the weakening of Cash's voice, such as the 1950 anti-war song \"Last Night I had the Strangest Dream.\" (Soundbite of song, \"Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream\") Mr. CASH: (Singing) Last night I had the strangest dream I've ever known before. I dreamed that all the world agreed to put an end to war. I dreamed I saw a mighty room. The room was filled with men. And the papers they were signing said they'd never fight again. And when... TUCKER: Some of the songs on \"American VI\" don't work. It's not that Cash's voice, weak from illness, wasn't up to the challenge of a composition such as Kris Kristofferson's \"For The Good Times.\" It's just that \"For The Good Times\" is a maudlin, overrated song. I though", "by Sarah D. Bunting I have a problem. I founded an online true-crime book club, but believe it or not, that isn't the problem -- it is highly unseemly, and bound to make my parents regret picking up the tab for my college education (I've still never read Hamlet), but the actual problem is that I prefer to consume my true crime via audio book. While it does make long trips in a teensy car without cruise control more palatable to listen to faraway detectives bungle a murder case, it has an unwanted side effect, to wit: at some point in the duration of the narrative, I will unconsciously but inevitably begin mimicking the book's narrator in my own speech. I can't help it. It's an issue for me generally, this accent-sponginess. I grew up in Jersey, but somehow, I don't have an accent of my own -- so it's as though other speech styles rush in to fill the void. A 45-minute conversation with a Louisiana friend leaves my speech studded with chicken-fried might-coulds and my-starses for a full day afterwards (and she doesn't even use these expressions herself); a conference call with my British boss and his IT team...if I don't learn to tone down the tally-ho-guvnah, I'll lose my job. But the true-crime speech-pattern absorption is far more ridiculous, because it's impossible to explain without appearing bonkers -- but then if I don't explain it, I seem even more bonkers. Phony Italian accents and surprising Kris Kristofferson references, after the jump... Read More >> Take a recent road trip to Cincinnati for a wedding (...please!). I'd downloaded the unabridged version of recent true-crime hit The Monster of Florence. Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi's narrative is a corker, and it's read with gusto by Dennis Boutsikaris, whom you'd probably recognize as recurring defense attorney Al Archer on Law & Order. The book, though written by an American, in English, is about a notorious Italian serial-killer case. Almost everyone in the book except the author is Italian; the listener naturally assumes that Preston translated the Italians' quotations into English. But just in case the listener doesn't assume that, Boutsikaris reads all the Italian speakers' dialogue with an Italian accent...the same way that Nazis in English-language films always speak to each other in German-accented English. And it's not just any Italian accent; it's the most stereotypical, Chef Boyardee, \"that's-a one-a spicy meat-a ball-a\" nonsense you can imagine. When I emerged from the car in Cincinnati, I'd spent so long with Boutsikaris's accent that I found myself doing it without even really realizing it. \"Sorry I'm-a late-a -- got stuck-a in-a the tra-fee-chay!\" \"Buongiorno, bridesmaid-a!\" One pair of giant white gloves away from turning into Super Mario, I was. A similar thing happened last year when I downloaded John Grisham's foray into nonfiction, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. The book concerns a mentally imbalanced man named Ron Williamson who winds up on death row for a murder he didn't commit, so as you can imagine, Ron has a lot of dialogue -- and Craig Wasson, a Bill Maher doppelganger probably best known for his lead role in Body Double 25 years ago, dips Ron's lines in bourbon and tops them off with crazy cheese before reading them. I listened to the book while commuting, and my co-workers came to accept, if not enjoy, my daily impressions of Kris Kristofferson getting kidnapped, angrily, by pirates (angry pirates). By the time I got to the epilogue, I'd grown sideburns. And after listening to Will Patton's reading of Mikal Gilmore's classic genre memoir, Shot in the Heart, I found myself using the same sorrowing, whispery Western twang Patton uses. The Gilmore family -- Mikal is of course the brother of Gary Gilmore, who famously petitioned the state of Utah to go on and carry out his death sentence -- is a benighted one, even their lighter-hearted stories tinged with rue, and Mikal Gilmore frequently ends anecdotes with bleak sighs of \"I guess I'd always known it\" or \"in my heart, I realized the truth\"...which is how I came to feed the cats, slowly, the patter of kibble in their silver bowl like the cold rain of November, while intoning, \"Your hunger...it is a secret I cannot live with. And yet. Live with it I must.\" Sarah D. Bunting, chief cook and bottle-washer at Tomato Nation.com, is in the middle of the newest Ann Rule -- in book form, thank goodness.", "Stephen: Hi, Linda Holmes! Linda: Look, it's Stephen Thompson! Stephen: It's-a me! [That was to be read in the voice of Mario on those old Nintendo ads.] Linda: Oh, that's very much the way I read it. Stephen: More like, \"Eeeet's-a meeeee!\" Linda: Speaking of incredibly affected ways of saying things, I asked you here today to discuss American Idol. Stephen: Wait, what? No. Linda: You were hoping it was about French cinema. Stephen: Well, I... sort of assumed as much. If there's one general subject on which I am an expert, it is All Things Fancy. The name of my new NPR program! Linda: All Things Fanc-sidered. Stephen: YES! Holmes FTW! Linda: Okay. ANYWAY. We're down to the Top 24, and this is traditionally the moment where we try to figure out who's going to win. I should add that at no point last year did either one of us think that there was any chance that eventual winner Kris Allen would win, so that's the context. Stephen: Well, yes. It's worth noting that the BIG reason you and I are trying to figure out who will win is that we participate in a friend's American Idol pool, which necessitates that we pick three (3) aspiring Idols and two (2) artists whose music we expect them to perform. And, as you noted, NO ONE thought Kris Allen was going to win last year. Not a single person in the pool picked him, and yet here we are, a country absolutely CONSUMED with all things Kris Allen in 2010. It's Kris Allen's pop-culture marketplace, and we're livin' in it! Linda: Correct. But it's also the point where we try to figure out what, if anything, you can tell about where the crass marketing of completely commercial music is headed, based on the composition of the top 24. Stephen: Right! You get a sense of where the great minds behind American Idol think we MIGHT be, as a listening public. And that's worth thinking about, because those people have squillions of dollars, which they obtained by more or less correctly guessing what people might like and/or unhealthily obsess over. Linda: I would say that my first observation this year is that a surprising number of these people actually appear capable of singing. Stephen: There's that, for sure. I noticed an uptick in the number of frontrunners who appear to at least aspire toward some level of authenticity -- or at least \"authenticity.\" Crystal Bowersox can SING. Andrew Garcia is a less polished vocalist, but seems to have an advanced-level understanding of how to stand out on a show like this. Casey James has some of that, too, and all of the three people I just named are at ease holding at least one musical instrument. Linda: I would say there are already three or four of them who, if I heard them in a non-American-Idol setting, I would think, \"That's a talented and/or polished person.\" The ones you named, and also Lilly Scott with the white hair, and Didi Benami, who made even a Kara DioGuardi song sound good. Stephen: Which: Wow. Janell Wheeler had a terrific run at \"American Boy,\" too, though I'm not sure I'll be able to fully abide her week in and week out. There's definitely a pretty broad cross-section of people, also, in terms of race, age, ethnicity, and so on. They're throwing a lot of people against the wall to see what sticks. Interestingly, what seems to be in shorter supply than usual is people with very clear-cut youth appeal. Picking in the pool, I kept thinking, \"Dude, you can't pick nothing but instrument-wielding sex-havers. There's going to be a wee, non-threatening boy, because there has to be.\" Which is why, in the interest of full disclosure, I picked Bowersox, Garcia, and tiny 16-year-old Aaron Kelly. WHO HAD BETTER NOT LET ME DOWN, DAMMIT. Linda: Yeah, I don't know if he's actually a good enough singer, though. That formula isn't foolproof. He could go out there and sing \"Part-Time Lover\" like former teen contestant Kevin Covais. Stephen: I've had Covais' face in my nightmares ever since I made the decision to pick Aaron Kelly! You hope he's David Archuleta, with whom he possesses a bit more of a physical resemblance. That tween/elderly vote that coalesced around David Archuleta -- and, yes, angry emailers, I know that David Archuleta's fans come in all ages, shapes, and sizes -- will coalesce around someone. Linda: I think one of these years, the tween/elderly vote will gather around a girl, like Katie Stevens. Who is good, a teenager, and weirdly out of time, given that her favorite artist is Whitney Houston. And she's 17! I don't really get that. Stephen: Yeah, I thought about picking her for the same reason. It's been a while since a Diana DeGarmo type broke through. God, I am such a geek. Linda: I think you make an interesting point, though, in that there's a slightly more world-weary vibe to this year's group, I think. And interestingly, after last year's Adam Lambert phenomenon, there's really nobody who's like, \"I'M DIFFERENT AND EDGY!\" And that surprised me. Stephen: For a while, I was trying to figure out who was going to be the", "Recently, we marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's sonnets on Morning Edition. It gave us an excuse to think about the next 400 years: Could any words of love from our time possibly last as long as Shakespeare's poetry? We put the question to you, our listeners. We asked you to suggest a modern love poem or song that's good enough — enduring enough — to be remembered 400 years from now. Several hundred people sent suggestions, and it turns out a lot of you are Bob Dylan fans. For great love music, you also recommended the Beatles' \"In My Life,\" Janis Joplin's performance of Kris Kristofferson's \"Me and Bobby McGee,\" Leonard Cohen and Joan Baez. You also voted for the love lyrics of Billy Idol, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam and 50 Cent. Many of you suggested great romantic dialogue from the movies, though who knows if the movies will even exist in 400 years. There were the usual suspects, like Casablanca, but there were also some surprising choices, such as this line from Jerry Maguire: \"You had me at 'hello.' \" And some of you waxed poetic about plain old poetry. Gwendolyn Brooks, E.E. Cummings and Pablo Neruda — below is a tiny sampling of some of the more literary suggestions submitted. Read more listener responses here, and if you missed the chance to submit your ideas, you still can! Share them with us in the comments section below. Remember, we're looking for words of romance that might last the next 400 years. And when you have forgotten the bright bedclothes on a Wednesday and a Saturday, And most especially when you have forgotten Sunday -- When you have forgotten Sunday halves in bed, Or me sitting on the front-room radiator in the limping afternoon Looking off down the long street To nowhere, Hugged by my plain old wrapper of no-expectation And nothing-I-have-to-do and I'm-happy-why? And if-Monday-never-had-to-come -- When you have forgotten that, I say, And how you swore, if somebody beeped the bell, And how my heart played hopscotch if the telephone rang; And how we finally went in to Sunday dinner, That is to say, went across the front room floor to the ink-spotted table in the southwest corner To Sunday dinner, which was always chicken and noodles Or chicken and rice And salad and rye bread and tea And chocolate chip cookies -- I say, when you have forgotten that, When you have forgotten my little presentiment That the war would be over before they got to you; And how we finally undressed and whipped out the light and flowed into bed, And lay loose-limbed for a moment in the week-end Bright bedclothes, Then gently folded into each other -- When you have, I say, forgotten all that, Then you may tell, Then I may believe You have forgotten me well. Tonight I Can Write Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example, \"The night is starry and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.\" The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Through nights like this one I held her in my arms. I kissed her again and again under the endless sky. She loved me, sometimes I loved her too. How could one not have loved her great still eyes. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her. To hear the immense night, still more immense without her. And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture. What does it matter that my love could not keep her. The night is starry and she is not with me. This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance. My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her. My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer. My heart looks for her, and she is not with me. The same night whitening the same trees. We, of that time, are no longer the same. I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her. My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing. Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses. Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes. I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her. Love is so short, forgetting is so long. Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her. Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer and these the last verses that I write for her. somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond any experience,your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which i cannot touch because they are too near ,your slightest look easily will unclose me though i have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skilfully, mysteriously)her first rose or if your wish be to close me, i and my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending; nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility: w", "This month, several old albums are getting a fresh start and a new chance to capture the imagination of listening audiences. All Things Considered host Melissa Block recently spoke to music critic Tom Moon about the re-release of albums from The Rolling Stones, Kris Kristofferson and Otis Redding. The first, long considered a masterpiece in the world of rock 'n' roll, is Exile on Main Street. When The Rolling Stones' classic was first released in 1972, critics were put off by its raw sound. It's something Moon, author of 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, calls a \"sloppy\" rock 'n' roll album. The Stones don't often revisit the old stuff. But with this reissue, they offer fans a remastered, tightened version of the original and then some -- with bonus tracks from the band's archive. The new version of Exile on Main Street pays homage to the original, but leaves the mixes and the essence of the album alone. There's still chaos, but at its core, it's the same Stones, through and through. Kris Kristofferson is also issuing a new release of his collection from the late '60s, Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends. The songs featured on the album were not intended for release, but instead served as publishing demos. The sessions feature Kristofferson's voice and a guitar, and were meant to give singers an idea what the song was like. The release includes his iconic song \"Me and Bobby McGee,\" made famous by Janis Joplin. Finally, Otis Redding's Live on the Sunset Strip compiles live performances from the legendary L.A. club the Whisky A Go-Go, originally released in 1966. At 24, Redding epitomized the idea of the human voice as instrument. The soul singer covered the Stones song \"Satisfaction\" on the album that made him famous, and left many wondering what could have been. Redding died in a plane crash a year after the album's release. Each of these records has a raw quality that provides a welcome break from overproduced music. Moon says it's enough to make listeners question whether the computer age of recording is a good thing. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. MELISSA BLOCK, host: And I'm Melissa Block. (Soundbite of song, \"Plundered My Soul\") THE ROLLING STONES (Rock Band): (Singing) I thought you needed my loving, but it's my heart that you stole. I thought you wanted my money, but you plundered my soul. BLOCK: That's who else but The Rolling Stones with the song \"Plundered My Soul.\" It was recorded during the Stone's \"Exile on Main Street\" sessions, but the song never made it to the original 1972 release. Well, this week, that seminal album is reissued in a remastered and expanded version. It contains 10 songs that didn't make the original. Music critic Tom Moon joins us to talk about \"Exile on Main Street\" and a couple of other old recordings just coming out now. Hey, Tom. TOM MOON: Hi. BLOCK: And, Tom, this album, a lot of people would say, is the Stones' best - a double album. Why would you go back and mess with the original? MOON: Well - and, of course, people think of it as perfection, but it's a very sloppy kind of perfection. And the Stones have been very careful not to do too much in the way of revisiting old stuff. They haven't added extra tracks to a lot of their reissues as they've come out. And so, part of this, it seems to me, is simply saying this is an amazing unit, this 18-song original. And they didn't seem to do that much to the mixes. They didn't futz with the sort of core of the record. So part of what I think they wanted to do was represent it in the best way it could be without sort of getting all glossy and taking it out of its context because, let's face it, it's a sloppy rock 'n' roll record. BLOCK: A sloppy rock 'n' roll record. But Tom, let me tell you, my favorite juxtaposition on this new album, I think, is listening to the original version of the song \"Loving Cup.\" Let's take a listen. (Soundbite of song, \"Loving Cup\") THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Yes, I am nitty-gritty and my shirt's all torn. But I would love to spill the beans with you till dawn. Give me little drink from your loving cup. BLOCK: Okay. So, maybe a little raggedy, but still, you know, compared to what we're about to hear, really, really tight. Here is the previously unreleased outtake of \"Loving Cup.\" (Soundbite of song, \"Loving Cup\") THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) But I would love to (unintelligible) with you (unintelligible). Give me little drink from your loving cup. Give me little drink and I'll fall down drunk. BLOCK: Tom, I'm just picturing them falling down drunk, falling off their stools in the studios like, 4 a.m., I think. MOON: Yeah. And, you know, the thing about the Stones is they were able to create in an environment that was otherwise chaotic. So, even when what's on top does feel like it's falling down and falling apart and everyone's just sort of shouting lyrics, the core of the thing is still there. And", "Pioneering country music artist Ray Price — who created hits like \"Heartaches by the Number\" — died Monday of pancreatic cancer. He was 87 years old. Price was born in Cherokee County, Texas, in 1926. When he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, he was described by musician Kris Kristofferson as a living link from Hank Williams to the country music of today. He worked with Hank Williams' band, and helped give several country performers their starts. Early in their careers, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush played in Price's band, the Cherokee Cowboys. He recorded albums for decades — and when Terry Gross interviewed Price in 1999, he was about to release another one, Prisoner of Love. DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, sitting in for Terry Gross. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER\") TERRY GROSS, HOST: Pioneering country music artist Ray Price died Monday of pancreatic cancer. He was 87 years old. Here's one of his biggest hits, \"Heartaches by the Number.\" (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBER\") RAY PRICE: (Singing) Heartache number one was when you left me. I never knew that I could hurt this way. And heartache number two was when you come back again. You came back and never meant to stay. (Singing) Now I've got heartaches by the numbers, troubles by the score. Every day you love me less, each day I love you more. Yes, I've got heartaches by the numbers, a love that I can't win. But the day that I stop counting, that's the day my world will end. BIANCULLI: Ray Price was born in Cherokee County, Texas in 1926. When Price was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, he was described by musician Kris Kristofferson as a living link from Hank Williams to the country music of today. He worked with Hank Williams' band, and helped give several country performers their starts. Early in their careers, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Johnny Paycheck and Johnny Bush played in Price's band, the Cherokee Cowboys. He recorded albums for decades - and when Terry Gross interviewed Price in 1999, he was about to release another one. Here's \"Ramblin' Rose,\" a track from his then forthcoming CD, \"Prisoner of Love.\" (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"RAMBLIN' ROSE\") PRICE: (Singing) Ramblin' rose, ramblin' rose. Why you ramble, no one knows. Wild and wind-blown, that's how you've grown. Who can cling to a ramblin' rose? Ramble on, ramble on. When your ramblin' days are gone, who will love you with a love true? When your ramblin' days are gone? (Singing) Ramblin' rose... (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED INTERVIEW) GROSS: That's Ray Price from his new CD \"Ray Price.\" Welcome to FRESH AIR. I'm really anxious to hear why you decided to record \"Ramblin Rose.\" And I'll preface my question by saying that, you know, I know Nat King Cole's recording. And although I love Nat Cole, that's one recording I never loved. Yet, I really love the way you do the song. So what did you hear in the song? PRICE: Well, it's just a great song really. It's kind of like a young girl that might be heading in the wrong direction, I think. And that's the way I look at it. I'm trying to make it sound as real as I can. GROSS: Mm-hmm. One of the people who helped you a lot early in your career was Hank Williams... PRICE: Right. GROSS: ...the great country singer. PRICE: We became real close friends, and he got me on the Grand Ol' Opry. And he and his wife were getting divorced and I lived with them... GROSS: Hank Williams got you on the Grand Ol' Opry. PRICE: Yes. GROSS: Mm-hmm. PRICE: Mm-hmm. And then we lived together. We had a house there in Nashville, and I would stay - I had the upstairs, he had the lower for about a year and then, of course, he passed away. GROSS: And you're saying that you started living together after he and his wife separated? PRICE: Oh, yeah. You know, he had to have somebody. He had a problem with alcohol. GROSS: What would you do for him? PRICE: Oh, just whatever needed to be done, like go to the store and things like that. GROSS: Would you try to keep him from alcohol or keep him comfortable with it or? PRICE: Well, yeah, but you just don't do - oh, no, I wouldn't give him anything. No way. You know, like any of your friends, if they got into it too far you'd try to help them if they were ill. GROSS: Now, I read someplace, and you can tell me if this is true, because there are so many legends surrounding famous people, but I read that Hank Williams tried to shoot you a couple of times. That he shot at you a couple of times. PRICE: No, honey, that is a real big fabrication. GROSS: OK. PRICE: Real big. No way. GROSS: OK. PRICE: What, I - it had to come from somebody that may have been a little envious back there somewhere. GROSS: Right. PRICE: It really didn't happen. The reason why that Hank and I stopped living together right at the last was he was in the hospital so many times and having so much trouble. And one of the times I was ordered by the m", "In 2002, the country star Waylon Jennings died of complications from diabetes, leaving behind a handful of unfinished recordings that now, a decade later, have been completed and released on an album called Goin' Down Rockin'. On NPR's All Things Considered, you can hear an interview with Jennings' widow, Jessi Colter, and Robby Turner, the producer who put the finishing touches on the songs. ATC Producer Melissa Gray worked on the story, but her time with Jennings doesn't end when she leaves the office. My preschooler is an outlaw ... at least in his little three-year-old head. From what my husband and I can tell, Thomas thinks he's part of the 1980's country supergroup The Highwaymen. He's sort of the 5th Highwayman — along with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and, of course, Waylon Jennings. \"I told Willie a joke the other day and he busted out laughing,\" Thomas told me one morning. \"Johnny didn't laugh, though, because his belly hurt and Kris was just a baby. Waylon laughed and then he drank all the apple coffee.\" Though I still haven't figured out what exactly apple coffee is, I have learned other curious details from my imaginative son: The four Highwaymen once lived in our neighborhood. Willie did not clean out the cat box, but he did the dishes. Waylon liked hugs. Johnny hung out with Kris on the porch. Then there are the Waylon Days. Other three year olds are Spider-Man. My kid is Waylon Jennings, toy guitar strapped to his shoulder, singing \"Luckenbach, Texas\" at the top of his lungs. I laid the groundwork for this obsession (it's always the mother's fault, isn't it?). When he was a baby, I played and sang the Willie/Waylon duet \"Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.\" In my defense, I also played and sang The Boswell Sisters and played a lot of Yo Yo Ma for him. But Waylon Jennings stuck like superglue, and I think for a very simple reason: Waylon helped Big Bird. When Thomas was two years old, we got the DVD of the 1985 Sesame Street movie, Follow that Bird. In one scene, Big Bird, trying to get back to Sesame Street, hitches a ride on a turkey truck. Waylon Jennings is the driver. They share a meaningful song about having the confidence to get to where you need to go. And that's it. Unless you live at our house — because there is no more movie at that point, just that song over and over again. Trying to spare my nerves, I broke out my Waylon Jennings Greatest Hits CD. Thomas would listen to nothing else for over a month. Then after a long car trip, my husband decided to introduce Thomas to the Highwaymen concert DVD, in hopes we could work Johnny Cash into the soundtrack of our household. This brings us to the present. Every morning, Thomas sets up his Little People figurines on the table — or, stage, as he calls it — and gives a performance. He's now apt to sing \"Ring of Fire\" as much as \"I've Always Been Crazy\", but he's also introduced to that Cash/Jennings classic \"There Ain't No Good Chain Gang.\" It's full of wisdom and, when there's nothing more to say to each other, my husband and I will sometimes sign off with \"don't go writin' hot checks down in Mississippi.\" Thomas' obsession can be charming. And maddening. But when I consider the alternative — Barney, anyone? — Willie, Waylon and the boys are a lot easier to live with, even when Waylon drinks all the apple coffee and Willie won't clean the cat box.", "If you saw Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach meeting with half a dozen supporters in an Kansas bar recently, you might think that he hadn't come all that far from his childhood in Topeka, where his dad owned a Buick dealership. But this smiling, enthusiastic guy holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Yale, and he's a national stalwart of the anti-immigration movement. \"I have been involved in restoring the rule of law in immigration,\" he says. \"That means trying to stop the lawlessness in the Obama administration, and that also means defending states like Arizona.\" Kobach is a conservative Republican in a deeply red state, but this year, he is struggling to win reelection, and some of his GOP brethren are turning against him. Kobach not only wrote the Arizona immigration law, the toughest in the country, he defended it before the Supreme Court. \"Kris Kobach is really, in many ways, the national poster boy for tough-minded anti-immigration legislation across the country,\" says Burdett Loomis, political science professor at Kansas University. \"He has aggressively moved into writing ordinances and then defending those ordinances in city after city, state after state.\" Kobach's far-flung immigration battles have left some Kansans wondering if his heart is really in his secretary of state job. Absolutely, Kobach says. \"It's about the rule of law for me, and that's a common thread with respect to my duties as secretary of state, because there, too, we want to see legal, fair elections where there's no voter fraud,\" he says. Under Kobach, Kansas became the first state to require proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote. Kobach says the requirement has blocked the registrations of a dozen or so non-residents. But the law has also kept at least 18,000 would-be Kansas voters from registering, and that has sparked a backlash against him. \"I appreciate his interest, but I don't think he's protecting me from anything,\" says Mark Buhler, a Republican who has served in the state Senate. Buhler says he voted for Kobach last time, but this year he is supporting the Democratic challenger. Jean Schodorf was a moderate Republican state senator. Ousted by the conservative wing of the party, Schodorf is now a Democrat, running against Kobach on a pledge to ease voting restrictions and to stay close to the secretary of state's office. \"I will be a full-time secretary of state, full time, for the people of Kansas, and not Arizona!\" she said at a recent pool-side fundraiser. Schodorf is polling about even with Kobach, which is remarkable: In Kansas, Republicans outnumber Democrats almost 2-to-1. Some see a swing back toward the center in Kansas politics. If that happens, it could dislodge Kobach and other national mainstays of the conservative movement. \"In the state of Kansas, a Democrat can't win just by depending on Democrats and unaffiliated,\" says Bob Beatty, political science professor at Washburn University. \"He or she has to have those moderate Republicans.\" Beatty says Kansas moderate Republicans are peeling away to support Democrats, and not just in the Kobach race. The state's incumbent Republican governor, Sam Brownback, and three-term U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts are also in trouble this election. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The U.S. secretary of state is the country's top diplomat on a state level. A secretary of state is often the top election official. Now, Kansas has a secretary of state who's become known across the country as a crusader against illegal immigration, Kris Kobach. He's a conservative Republican in a Republican state, but he has been struggling in his reelection campaign. Frank Morris of member station KCUR reports on why some Republicans seem to be turning against him. FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: To see Kris Kobach meeting with half a dozen supporters in an Overland Park Kansas bar, you might not think he'd come all that far from his childhood in Topeka, where his dad owned a Buick dealership. But this smiling, enthusiastic guy holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Yale, and he is a stalwart of the anti-immigration movement nationwide. KANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE KRIS KOBACH: I have been involved in trying to restore the rule of law in immigration. That means trying to stop the lawlessness in the Obama administration, and that also means defending states like Arizona. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Six days after Arizona gained notice and notoriety with the toughest anti-immigration law in the country, protests are building... MORRIS: Kobach not only wrote the Arizona immigration law, he defended it before the U.S. Supreme Court. BURDETT LOOMIS: Kris Kobach is really, in many ways, a national poster boy for tough-minded, anti-immigration legislation across the country. MORRIS: Burdett Loomis is a political science professor at Kansas University. LOOMIS: He has aggressively moved into writing ordinances and then defending th", "If you were trying to start a music career in the early 1970s — when so many songs were aimed at the rising tide of young people — a producer probably wouldn't advise a young talent to \"write a song about old people.\"But that's what John Prine did. He was in his twenties then, a mailman during the day, who spent his nights carrying his guitar and a notebook of songs to work Chicago's folk clubs. His family was part of the migration from the Kentucky hill country that came to work in Chicago's factories. John said he always had a guitar over his shoulder the way some kids grew up carrying a baseball bat. He told me once that as he carried his mailbag through neighborhoods with small, one-story wooden homes he often saw old faces, peering through the blinds of front windows. He realized that those two or three times he stopped by each week, if only with bills and junk mail, might have been just about the only visits the people inside ever got. And then, one day, the mail might begin to pile up and the phone ring with no answer until a friend, neighbor, mailman or police officer noticed and might knock on the door to call out, \"Hello! Hello in there!\" \"Hello In There\" became one of John Prine's best-known songs. \"Old trees just grow stronger,\" he wrote, \"And rivers grow wilder ev'ry day/Old people just grow lonesome/Waiting for someone to say, 'Hello in there, hello.'\" John Prine's voice was as rough as flint but caught fire. He was acclaimed the next Bob Dylan and never quite matched Dylan's fame. But John became revered as a favorite of American folk legends including Dylan, Steve Goodman, Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson and Bonnie Raitt, who called his songs in Rolling Stone \"as pure and simple as rain.\" After treatment for cancer on his neck in the late 1990s, a doctor told Prine he might never be able to sing again. Prine said to the doctor, \"You obviously have never heard me sing.\" Prine won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in January after surviving another round of cancer. He was 73 when he died of complications from coronavirus this week. His passing might make you think of the powerful song he sang for some of those who might feel most uneasy and overlooked in these times: Someday I'll go and call up RudyWe worked together at the factoryBut what could I say if asks \"What's new?\"\"Nothing, what's with you? Nothing much to do\"So if you're walking down the street sometimeAnd spot some hollow ancient eyesPlease don't just pass 'em by and stareAs if you didn't care, say, \"Hello in there, hello.\"", "As it was for many of us, 2016 was a helluva year for Margo Price — except while we were trying to keep our heads from spinning over presidential politics and mourning the deaths of one beloved musician after another, she was also having one of the biggest artistic breakthroughs of the year. After a decade of trucking away with various bands in the East Nashville scene, Price finally released her masterful debut, Midwest Farmer's Daughter, via Third Man Records. She received the Americana Music Association's Emerging Artist award, played with idols Kris Kristofferson and Loretta Lynn and earned the fierce loyalty of many a hard-country fan. But through everything that happened last year, Price continued to pursue her songwriting, encouraged by Third Man founder Jack White. \"He was like, 'I know you're really busy right now, but keep your ear to the ground and keep writing,' \" she says. So she did keep writing — and some of the fruits of her labor can be heard on her new EP, Weakness. It's a four-song collection that reveals Price's eagerness to stretch her craft, both musically and lyrically. It also finds her returning to an old haunt, in a sense: Midwest Farmer's Daughter was recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tenn., where record man Sam Phillips once helped launch the careers of Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. For these new songs, Price and her band (including her husband and longtime cowriter, Jeremy Ivey) returned to Memphis, this time working out of the larger studio where Phillips had moved his operations after outgrowing Sun in 1960. Price says it's impossible to ignore the space's history. \"When you're alone in there at night, you can feel this kind of energy radiating in the halls,\" she says. \"To go in and look at Etta James' name on the side of a roll of tape and know that Etta James recorded in there ... It definitely has some spirits walking around.\" Price is performing a few upcoming dates with John Prine and preparing to go on tour with fellow country luminaries Chris Stapleton and Brent Cobb. In the meantime, NPR asked her to talk us through some of the stories behind Weakness, track by track. Weakness \"It started out as just a poem that I wrote one day, or one night — I think it might have been a late-night scribble in my notebook. And my husband just found the first couple lines. I had written, 'Sometimes I'm Virginia Woolf / Sometimes I'm James Dean.' ... It's probably something that nobody would have heard, had it not been for him going back through my notebook and telling me what was salvageable and what was not. ... We're always very critical of each other. So if something's good, we tell each other that it's good, and if something's s***, then we toss it out the window. \"I definitely feel the counterplay of feeling like — sometimes things feel really nice, as far as where we're at now. But there still is pain and temptation and all of these things that kind of make up a human.\" Just Like Love \"Those words came from definitely a darker place, just questioning what's going on in the world and what goes on with humans and their inner turmoil that they face — 'Why are we here, no one knows.' \"I've been traveling more in the past two years than I have in my whole entire life, and just kind of seeing things and looking a little bit more outside of myself. ... You can only write so many songs about your personal struggle. I think it's a little more about what's going on outside than what's going on inside.\" Paper Cowboy \"I've been hearing that song for a really long time, back when I played with my rock and roll band Buffalo Clover ... My guitar player, Matt Gardner — I remember him showing me that song and thinking it was just such a smart song. ... And the way that he did it was the way that it is in the first verse — he did it all in that 3/4 time. There was no picking up the tempo on it at all. And so it just developed in practice, where we made it this really psychedelic, kind of funky — this country-funk, gritty thing. I remember sending it to him — I actually sent him the performance from NPR — and I don't know if he likes it that way, but he's given me the blessing to perform it either way. ... One night I'm gonna have to do it just in that waltz tempo, just for him. \"I'm just so proud of my band and the players that I have with me. They've worked really hard and stuck with me throughout thick and thin. ... Luke Schneider plays the snot out of the pedal steel on that one. ... There's a lot of people [in Nashville] playing really smart, classic licks on the pedal steel, even young cats, and I chose Luke because he wasn't afraid to put pedals on there and make things gritty and psychedelic and weird, and just kind of rough it up a bit.\" Good Luck \"I was out on the road and my husband, Jeremy, sent me a demo of that song. ... He wrote that song speaking to a friend of ours that we hadn't really seen in a long time — and we'd kind of had a falling out, felt really distant from him. ", "In March, country music star Jason Aldean is playing Madison Square Garden. Tickets sold out in 10 minutes. Fans want to hear his latest No. 1 song, \"Take a Little Ride.\" The song was written by by Rodney Clawson, Dylan Altman and Jim McCormick — who still chuckles when he hears it. McCormick says a No. 1 song is life-altering. \"I've had all the other numbers, and this is a better number to have than the others,\" McCormick says. \"Doors open. The phone rings. You're in a little club. You now have a sort of three-minute calling card: 'He's the guy that wrote that song.' \" Before he became that guy, McCormick took one of the most unusual paths to country music since Kris Kristofferson finished his Rhodes scholarship and wound up a janitor at a Nashville studio. In 1990, McCormick graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and went home to New Orleans to teach and write poems. The son of a merchant marine turned business owner and a stay-at-home mom, he'd hoped to give his poems a kind of everyday language. He looked up to poets like Jack Gilbert, James Wright and his friend and mentor Roland Flint — a poet laureate of Maryland and a Georgetown professor. \"He taught me how to read poetry, and how to think of poetry, and how to think of myself as a poet — which is not to think of myself as a poet at all,\" McCormick says. Sometime around Flint's death in 2001, McCormick committed to music full time. Scott Aiges, who directs cultural programming for the nonprofit New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and has known McCormick for 20 years, says he picked the right genre. \"If you want to make a living as a songwriter, then country is probably your best option,\" Aiges explains. \"In rock music, people are expected to be singer-songwriters who create their own material. There are plenty of singers out there who are singing songs that other people have written. But typically people assume that folks are following the Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen model of artists performing their own compositions. Country music is still very much expected to be a professional craft in the way that the writers of Tin Pan Alley were.\" So McCormick began commuting between New Orleans and Nashville — sleeping on sofas — and writing three to four songs a day for anybody who'd take them. \"I've spent the past 12 years in Nashville learning how to smile while I was getting my teeth kicked in,\" McCormick says. \"The nature of what songwriters do is to hear the word 'no' more than anything else. We become accustomed to that and continue to work hard and write like our lives depended on it. And have a great time doing it. Paradise is the road to paradise, right?\" McCormick began writing the Nashville way, in teams. In 2008 he, Kris Bergsnes and Patrick Jason Matthews co-wrote a song that Randy Travis knew exactly what to do with: \"You Didn't Have a Good Time.\" Nowadays, it's kind of eerie to hear Travis sing the lyrics, given his recent legal troubles in Texas — he's been charged twice with public intoxication. But McCormick was the true inspiration for the song: When the team sat down to write one morning, the others joked he was hungover from drinking the night before. That made McCormick angry. \"It took me 'til lunch probably to come around to really cooperating,\" he recalls. \"But they were going to have that song whether I was going to do it with them cooperatively or not. And I'm so glad they held my feet to the fire. We wrote it in that direction, from the voice of the conscience, from the very beginning. And that was the truth of why I didn't like hearing it.\" Hundreds of songs later, McCormick celebrated his first No. 1 country hit, \"You Don't Know Her Like I Do,\" with singer and co-writer Brantley Gilbert. Aiges says McCormick's success is a testament to his talent and tenacity. \"I think it's the greatest thing in the world,\" Aiges says. \"So now, with a couple No. 1 songs, he could be living the dream. He could very well buy a nice house with the royalties from those songs. You probably could have a pretty good beer hall debate about whether he would have had that same level of success had he stuck to poetry on the page.\" But the upside of writing poetry is that no one asks you for product placement. When the Coors Brewing Co. signed on to sponsor Aldean's tour, McCormick and his co-writers made the song \"Take A Little Ride\" more Coors-friendly: They erased the name of competitor Shiner Bock and penciled in \"rocky tops.\" \"From our point of view, the artist came to us and asked us to help him make this transition as fitting as possible for the song. He didn't have to do that. It's certainly understandable. I'm sure it's not a small sponsorship. What little we can do to help is absolutely fine with me,\" McCormick says. \"The detail we're talking about altering is, 'Could you make it a Dodge Charger instead of a Trans Am?' No problem.\" That's commercial songwriting. But McCormick has also been working on an album of his own; Th", "In this week's edition of This, That or the Other, contestants are given the title of a book and must guess if it was written by an FBI agent, an Olympic athlete, or a participant on The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Heard on Judy Gold: Very Special Episodes OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: Coming up, we'll find out if you know your Mark Felt from your Michael Phelps from your Juan Pablo Galavis when we play This, That Or The Other. Let's meet our next two contestants. First up, Gina Gullo on buzzer number one. (SOUNDBITE OF BELL) GINA GULLO: Hello. EISENBERG: Hi. You're joining us from Lehigh Valley, Pa. And you're working on a dissertation in educational leadership. GULLO: I am. EISENBERG: Welcome, welcome. Your opponent is Kris Sunderic on buzzer number two. (SOUNBITE OF BELL) EISENBERG: And you're finishing a Ph.D. in bone tissue engineering. Welcome. KRIS SUNDERIC: Thank you. It's good to be here. EISENBERG: Remember, Gina and Kris, the first of you who wins two of our games will move on to the final round at the end of the show. Gina, would you rather be on \"The Bachelor\" or on \"The Bachelorette?\" GULLO: I'm going to have to go with \"The Bachelorette.\" I mean, I don't want to be chasing after a guy, so let's have them chase after me. EISENBERG: Yeah, that's right, a whole bunch of them. GULLO: Oh, yeah. EISENBERG: Kris, would you rather be on \"The Bachelor\" or \"The Bachelorette?\" SUNDERIC: I think I'm very indecisive by nature, so I'm going to have to go with \"The Bachelorette\" as well. EISENBERG: Yeah. SUNDERIC: I don't think I can pick a woman every episode. That's just - it's too much to handle. (LAUGHTER) JONATHAN COULTON: It is a lot of pressure. EISENBERG: (Laughter) That is. All right. So first, you'll play a guessing game called This, That Or The Other. I'm going to give you a book title, and you just have to guess who wrote it from one of three possibilities. Jonathan Coulton, what are the possibilities? COULTON: Each book was written by either an FBI agent or an Olympic athlete or a participant on \"The Bachelor\" or \"The Bachelorette.\" (LAUGHTER) EISENBERG: We're going to go back and forth, so no need to buzz in. Let's give it a shot. Here we go. Gina - \"Endless Enemies,\" is that the title of a book of an FBI agent, Olympic athlete or participant on \"The Bachelor\" or \"Bachelorette\" - \"Endless Enemies?\" GULLO: I know it sounds like an FBI thing, but I'm going to go with Olympic person athlete. EISENBERG: No, I'm sorry. Kris, can you steal? SUNDERIC: I'm going to go with FBI agent. EISENBERG: You got it. (LAUGHTER) EISENBERG: That's right. You went FBI agent, then you said, no, Olympic, but it was FBI agent. Although, it would be great if it was a bachelor. All right. Kris, \"Age Is Just A Number.\" SUNDERIC: Olympic athlete. EISENBERG: Yeah, that's right, Olympic athlete. (APPLAUSE) EISENBERG: Dara Torres - the first competitive swimmer to represent the U.S. in five sets of Olympic games. On \"The Bachelorette,\" that number, by the way, is 27. (LAUGHTER) EISENBERG: Gina - \"Nobody's Perfect.\" GULLO: \"The Bachelor\" or \"Bachelorette.\" EISENBERG: (Laughter) Yes, that is correct. GULLO: Oh, thank God (laughter). EISENBERG: That was a - by two \"Bachelor\" contestants. Yeah, they had to get together to write that one. (LAUGHTER) EISENBERG: Kris, the book is \"What Every Body Is Saying.\" SUNDERIC: FBI agent. EISENBERG: That is right. Yeah, it's about how to speed-read people. Gina - \"Landing On My Feet.\" GULLO: OK. I'm going to go with Olympian. EISENBERG: You're going to go with correct. GULLO: Yes. EISENBERG: Yeah. (APPLAUSE) EISENBERG: Kerri Strug - a member of the Magnificent Seven Olympic gymnast team. In 1996, she completed her vault but then had an ankle injury and actually was carried to the podium. But she landed on her feet, and I guess that's all that matters. Kris - \"Chocolate Socks.\" (LAUGHTER) SUNDERIC: I'm going to go with \"Bachelor\" or \"Bachelorette.\" EISENBERG: Well, you got that one. Yeah, that's right. (APPLAUSE) EISENBERG: It's a children's book about socks made out of chocolate. GULLO: Children's book. SUNDERIC: Sounds good. EISENBERG: It's written by season 12 contestant Holly Durst. According to her website, her two favorite things are chocolate and socks. COULTON: You know, write what you know. EISENBERG: Yeah. (LAUGHTER) EISENBERG: All right. These are your last clues. Gina - \"For The Right Reasons.\" GULLO: \"For The Right Reasons\" - I hope it's an FBI agent. EISENBERG: (Laughter) You would hope, yeah, but as we know from recent news, that's not right, is it? (LAUGHTER) EISENBERG: OK. Kris, can you steal - \"For The Right Reasons?\" SUNDERIC: I'm going to go with \"Bachelor\" or \"Bachelorette.\" EISENBERG: Yeah. I'm afraid that is correct, yeah. (APPLAUSE) EISENBERG: It's Sean Lowe, who was often referred to as the virgin bachelor. All right, Kris - \"I Didn't Come Here To Make Friends\" - FBI agent, Olympic athlete or bachelor or bachelorette contestant. SUNDERIC: Sounds like a very competitive t", "A Star Is Born begins with Bradley Cooper, as successful country-rock singer Jackson Maine, doing his uninspired but high-octane brand of guitar work in front of a screaming audience of fans. When he's done, drunk and exhausted, he pours himself into a big black SUV, now alone with his nearly empty bottle, his flushed face, and his lungs that sound like they're filled with ash. He is in rough shape. Jackson, in search of anywhere he can drink more, winds up at a drag bar. There, knowing she's a guest among the queens, Ally (Lady Gaga) swans around the bar singing \"La Vie En Rose,\" clearly doing what she has been, well, born to do. He recognizes her talent — and, like all emotional vampires both malicious and merely negligent, he recognizes a shimmering life force he might be able to pump into his own veins to restore himself. He sets out to bring her brilliance to the attention of the world. He continues to drink. He is spiraling. She is blooming. For Cooper, as a director making his feature debut — and, to a lesser extent, for his co-stars and for Eric Roth and Will Fetters, the two men who co-wrote the script with him — the existence of three previous versions of this story hangs over the project. The 1976 version had Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne as two of its screenwriters; the 1954 version was written by Moss Hart and directed by George Cukor; the 1937 screenplay even brought in Dorothy Parker. Why poke the bear of comparison? To put it another way: What is it about this story? Why has the story of A Star Is Born been told again and again in most of the same broad strokes: with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in 1937; with Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954; with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson in 1976; and now with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in 2018? The basics remain the same: a talented newcomer to show business meets a seasoned veteran who also happens to be an alcoholic, and they fall in love. He is redeemed by her love, up to a point, but as she finds success and his power slips, he cannot bear it. There is ambiguity, though, about whether he cannot bear the drag that he has become on her greatness, or whether he cannot bear to be eclipsed and reminded of how far he has fallen. He doesn't know the difference anymore between his regrets and his resentments. He is a mess now, and she is a star. Which one of those things makes it too much? There are two ways to structure the story. In 1937, we met Esther (Janet Gaynor), the newcomer, first. We saw her dream of going to Hollywood to become an actress (in only this version, the newcomer is not a singer). She is warned by her family that fame will come at a terrible price that she may or may not want to pay. But in 1976, we began with John (Kris Kristofferson), the addict and star, showing up late to mollify an impatient crowd. When you see the man first — and you do in Cooper's version as well — the narrative balance shifts toward the part of the story that is about the difficulties of fame for those who already have it, rather than the pains of its acquisition for someone who doesn't have it yet. Fortunately, the focus on Cooper benefits from one of his strongest performances. Jackson Maine (who, it's true, could have benefited from a slightly less \"Rugged G. Desperado\" name) is allowed to be fully in the grips of his addiction. In fact, there is a point when he and Ally seem to be approaching an intimate moment, and the film isn't afraid to tempt viewers to think that he — he, Bradley Cooper, a movie star — seems entirely too gross to sleep with right then. His condition prevents the scene from being sexy; it's just kind of depressing. Cooper looks leathery, clammy, haunted; Lady Gaga looks pretty but, obviously, much less glam than she's usually appeared in public. She's very good here too, making Ally appropriately wary from the beginning of this man whose attention flatters her even as she flatly refuses to get on the back of his motorcycle when he's been drinking. She adores him, but she is never unaware of what she's getting into. It's hard to tell until you see it all together, but there's a reason why one of the most important refrains of the soundtrack's first single says, \"I'm off the deep end; watch as I dive in.\" It is that, exactly, and the spread of her arms when Ally sings it is not just for a stage show. The casting helps the film quite a lot across the board; the role you might reasonably think of as \"the Sam Elliott role,\" Jackson's significantly older brother, is played by none other than Sam Elliott, and there is a moment — hard to describe in the abstract — in which his performance and Cooper's click together, so much that the audience I was with nearly gasped with recognition. There are moments that seem a bit visually cliched; one of the notes I scribbled during my screening was simply, \"Directors love wind farms.\" (They do, by the way.) But Cooper credibly builds a love story that's fraught from the b", "Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released. However, you can still listen with the Spotify or Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. What makes a song personal? Obviously, songwriters are often confessional, but only some go deep enough to expose bone. They're as likely to mine details from distant sources: fiction, overheard conversations, someone else's memories. A listener can make anything personal, anyway, so maybe the question's moot. If a soda commercial is playing while you fall in love, it's your song. A few musical souls, however, do seem exceptionally bonded to the personal. These are the singers who somehow perfectly balance openness with self-possession, the writers who turn mundane details into epiphanies. Brandi Carlile is that kind of artist. Since 2005, with her longtime collaborators Phil and Tim Hanseroth, Carlile has written music redolent of the moments after someone leaves a room, of walks alone, of the preoccupations that jolt you awake. Her bare, beautiful alto has an arresting immediacy; though she's well-versed in country's modulations, rock's punch and pop's shine, Carlile stands as wholly herself within her music, one woman seeking love and its complement, freedom. People relate. On her 2007 album, The Story, Carlile teamed with the producer T-Bone Burnett to burnish a particularly resonant group of songs, expressions of longing, loneliness and hope that gained Carlile a new audience and remain favorites today. The Story hit like that moment in the movie Breathless where Jean Seberg looks directly at the camera – this was a level of revelation, of risk, that few singer-songwriters take. Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years Of The Story returns to that breakthrough and surrenders the spotlight to 14 Carlile fans who happen to be some of contemporary music's most revered stars. Most tracks were recorded specifically for this project, though its inspiration, Adele's recording of \"Hiding My Heart,\" was originally released in 2011. The superstar's pristine rendition sets the album's tone, honoring Carlile as a peer and a role model. Pearl Jam takes \"Again Today\" to the garage; Kris Kristofferson, his genius well-worn, makes \"Turpentine\" a full-daylight squint at heartbreak. (Chris Stapleton and Kristofferson's daughter Kelly lend him tender assistance.) Margo Price's \"Downpour\" finds the homespun, emotional center of country, while Dolly Parton's climb to the heights of her vocal range on the title track reminds listeners that Carlile can write a blockbuster. Recorded in studios from North Carolina to Carlile's native Pacific Northwest, with a long stop in Nashville for sessions with producer Dave Cobb, Cover Stories forms a circle of people connected by Carlile's songs, but finding their own paths through them. Ruby Amanfu's 2015 version of \"Shadow On The Wall\" is as icy hot as a James Bond theme, while Torres turns down the flame on the earnest \"Until I Die\" to an existential glimmer. The Indigo Girls, who played on the original version of \"Cannonball,\" return to it like a favorite memory. Anderson East, with help from Miranda Lambert, finds the sacred thread in the hymnlike \"Josephine.\" Each take – from Old Crow Medicine Show, Jim James, Shovels & Rope, The Avett Brothers and The Secret Sisters – feels like an original, with all the quirks and key elements that makes these artists special. Delving into this material enriches them. The musicians on Cover Stories joined the project, in part, because they believe in the cause Cover Stories benefits – all proceeds go to War Child UK, a non-governmental organization supporting children affected by conflict – but they inhabit it because Carlile's music feels right in their hands. She sets the standard for so many listeners. One notable fan even provided a foreword that appears in the album's liner notes: Barack Obama, who extols Carlile's passion for War Child and refugee relief, but who might also have a future as a music critic. \"Brandi Carlile tells stories that encourage us to see ourselves in one another,\" he writes. In other words, she inhabits a sense of the personal that is political, expansive, and profound. Cover Stories, benefitting a cause that Carlile believes is crucial, beautifully serves this young old soul's legacy, too.", "In music and the culture it reflects, 2017 was predictably unpredictable: idols fell, empires shook, consensus was scarce. This conversation is one of five on The Record with artists, makers and thinkers whose work captured something unique about a chaotic year, and hinted at bigger revelations around the bend. On the first night of Jason Isbell's December residency at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, he chose to share the stage of CMA Theater with only one other performer: his wife, Amanda Shires, a member of his band The 400 Unit and a singer-songwriter in her own right. He was clad in loafers and a blazer, she in sneakers and a leather jacket. Midway through the show, she offered an impish explanation for why she was dressed-down in pants: She'd tired of wearing pantyhose earlier in the day, thanks to a family photo shoot with their young daughter. The two were operating without the safety net of a set list. He'd pluck gems from his celebrated songwriting catalog, and she'd guess from the initial chords where he was headed, embellishing his storytelling with her wild-eyed, lyrical fiddle solos and fluttery harmonies. They played songs they'd co-written for each of their most recent albums, then he asked her to do another from her repertoire. Between selections, they bantered like highbrow vaudevillians about language use, literary influences and the editorial roles they sometimes play in each other's songwriting process. Though it was Isbell's name attached to the series, an honor shared by the likes of Tom T. Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Rosanne Cash and Guy Clark before him, the interaction between him and Shires felt like that of artistic and intellectual equals. In life and music, the couple has a partnership that's closely observed and widely admired (it's even inspired Halloween costumes). Separately, each of them piled up professional accomplishments in 2017, she headlining her biggest solo tour yet and winning Americana Emerging Artist of the Year on the heels of her 2016 album My Piece of Land, and he besting his previous sales records with The Nashville Sound and raking in award nominations, including his first for CMA Album of the Year, a category otherwise populated by major label, mainstream releases. But beyond those achievements, Isbell and Shires also helped set a tone this year for how art, commerce and politics intersected in and beyond Nashville, working against the backdrop of Americana music's reckoning with representation and diversity and country music's careful treatment of potentially polarizing issues. Isbell recorded a song in which he, as I wrote on its release, \"implicated himself, and those like him, in a pattern of unexamined privilege, owning his former blindness to how he benefited from and helped perpetuate racism and sexism.\" Shires walked the CMA Awards red carpet in a shirt bearing a line from that song that referenced male domination of the industry — \"Mama wants to change that Nashville Sound\" — and tweeted and talked on other occasions about country music's marginalization of female voices. She also spearheaded a benefit in Nashville to raise funds for voting registration efforts, while Isbell played a free show in his native Alabama in support of Doug Jones' senate campaign. This fall, when Shires posted a series of videos in which Isbell read solemnly to her from grocery store gossip rags, the joke — that Victoria Beckham's dental work and Cindy Crawford's familial quarrels are hardly the matters their fans imagine them discussing behind the scenes — was obvious. \"We wake up like most married couples, I think: reading the news, talking about things together and trying to sort out our little world,\" Shires told me when I reached them on the phone. (\"Yeah, we had to stop talking about politics to do this interview,\" Isbell seconded.) Speaking from their front porch in a pastoral Nashville suburb, they shared their reflections on, and wisecracks about, what's had their attention in 2017. Jewly Hight: Why did it matter to you to take part in timely conversations this year? Jason Isbell: For me, it's because a lot of things seem to be going to s*** right now. I don't speak for Amanda, but I think both of us feel like if we're not talking about the things that we believe, then we're not really using our voices to their full potential, and we're not really making art. If we're riding down the middle of the road pretending these things don't exist, then I think we're pretending to entertain people and distract them rather than attempting to make things a little bit better. Hight: And your take, Amanda? Amanda Shires: It really is what he said about it all intersecting all at once. We are people that speak our minds and say what's up when we have a problem with something. It seems like we had to do that a lot more this year. Isbell: Also, there's momentum. The situation for women in the workplace, certainly it's not solved, but I think a", "The voice of country singer-songwriter Blaze Foley sounds familiar, even if you've never heard it. It has a timbre, an ache that doesn't slow a song — as if to say, \"Look how sad I am\" — but drives it. Foley was one of those artists who, however unruly his life, could center himself in his writing and playing long enough to sit in judgment on himself. That's what the director Ethan Hawke and the star Ben Dickey capture in the new film Blaze — and whatever else they miss it's more than enough. Dickey is a musician who has never acted before. Although he doesn't have that iconic country baritone, he makes you believe he wrote Foley's songs. When Dickey performs, the movie is great. Hawke plainly loves hanging out with him, the way musicians — and Hawke is one, too — sit around for hours, playing, talking, drinking. Cinematographer Steve Cosens frames shots in ways that seem loose but capture both the grain of a place and its aura, how it seeps into people. Throughout the film, Hawke keeps returning to Foley's last show at Austin's legendary Outhouse bar, where he's at the end of his tether but not — even whiskey-addled — his talent. Sadly, the rest of Blaze doesn't have that simplicity. It has fancy-pants technique — it's a flashback full of flash-forwards — and a limited vantage, that of Sybil Rosen, who co-wrote the screenplay with Hawke. Rosen met Foley in 1975 while working as an actress in a Georgia artist community. She lived with him in the woods in a tree house — hence her 2008 memoir's title, Living in a Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley. Alia Shawkat, who plays Rosen, is an excellent actress, and she shores up the novice actor Dickey the way I imagine Sybil Rosen shored up Blaze. That's how Rosen presents it, anyway. She and director Hawke view Foley's life as a struggle between two poles: the nurturing life force symbolized by that tree house; and the death-driven road, where Foley wanted to be a legend, falling in with the drug-fueled singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. Van Zandt is played in Blaze by the charismatic musician Charlie Sexton. In one of the film's threads, he tells stories about Foley to a clueless radio host played by Hawke, seen only from behind. Van Zandt insists musicians need to \"turn their backs on their families\" and find a sphere apart, to the point of courting chaos. This is not, however, a film about the romance of self-destruction. If anything, it goes too far in the opposite direction, so that Foley and Van Zandt seem rudderless. Their scenes together are blurry, dull. They don't spark each other. Dickey's Foley is soft. While other characters allude to his frightening temper, he's more like a wayward teddy bear fated to stagger into a trap. Meanwhile, Hawke's syntax — the jumps from the Austin Outhouse concert to Van Zandt's radio interview to life in the tree house and back — muddles the momentum. He even inexplicably jumps forward and back within scenes. He's like a film student fiddling around in the editing room, and he makes a hash of the events leading up to Foley's violent death. The magic in Blaze is when time stops. In one scene, Foley, Rosen and Foley's sister, played by the musician Alynda Segarra, visit Foley's once-abusive, near-senile father, played by Kris Kristofferson. When Foley and his sister sing a sad, sweet duet for the old man, you can imagine Kristofferson hearing it on two levels, as the now childlike father and also as the singer-songwriter who knew the real Foley, Van Zandt and other musicians who burned themselves out, supposedly for art's sake. That's what Hawke accomplishes in Blaze, for all his silly directorial stutter steps: He makes you believe in the power of music to summon ghosts. TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. The Texas-raised country singer-songwriter Blaze Foley is the subject of the new film \"Blaze,\" directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke. It's based on a memoir by Foley's ex-partner, Sybil Rosen, and stars musicians Ben Dickey and Charlie Sexton, with Alia Shawkat as Rosen. Before we hear David Edelstein's review, let's listen to a bit of the real Foley singing his song \"Clay Pigeons.\" (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, \"CLAY PIGEONS\") BLAZE FOLEY: (Singing) I'd like to stay, but I might have to go to start over again. Might go back down to Texas, might go to somewhere I've never been, and get up in the morning and go out at night and I won't have to go home. Get used to being alone, change the words to this song, start singing again. DAVID EDELSTEIN, BYLINE: Blaze Foley - the voice sounds familiar even if you've never heard it. It's the timbre, the ache that doesn't slow the song - as if to say, look how sad I am - but drives it. Blaze Foley was one of those artists who, however unruly his life, could center himself in his writing and playing long enough to sit in judgment on himself. That's what the director Ethan Hawke and the star Ben Dickey capture in \"Blaze.\" And whatever else they miss, it's more than enough. Dickey is a ", "For its first shows of 2009, Mountain Stage pays tribute to the memory of some notable artists who've appeared on the show. Host and artistic director Larry Groce hand-picked these performances from the show's 26-year history. Artists include Hacienda Brothers, Stephen Bruton, Sean Costello, Dave Van Ronk, John Stewart, Bob Gibson and the late folksinger Odetta. In this performance by Hacienda Brothers, accordion player, singer and songwriter Chris Gaffney led the group on Mountain Stage in September 2006. Gaffney and company were touring with legendary songwriter Dan Penn, who co-wrote \"Cry Like a Baby\" with his longtime songwriting partner Spooner Oldham. Gaffney died on April 17, 2008. Stephen Bruton, a famed guitarist and producer who worked with Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and Elvis Costello, among many others, made two appearances on Mountain Stage before his untimely death in May 2009. This performance of \"Make That Call\" was recorded on March 6, 2002. Sean Costello had only begun to realize his commercial and artistic potential when he died in April 2008. His bright career was cut short, but Costello's diverse tastes expanded way past the blues, as evidenced by this cover of Bob Dylan's \"Simple Twist of Fate,\" recorded in March 2005. Dave Van Ronk left an indelible mark on the folk music of the 20th century. A heralded interpreter of songs — this one written by Ian Tyson — Van Ronk performs \"Four Strong Winds\" in this recording from July 1995. John Stewart was a member of the 1960s folk group The Kingston Trio. His songs have been covered by many greats; \"Runaway Train,\" for example, was recorded by Rosanne Cash. This performance comes from his June 1988 appearance on Mountain Stage. Steward died in January 2008 in San Diego. Bob Gibson was a folksinger and songwriter who became a mainstay at the folk club Gate of Horn in Chicago in the mid-1950s. His songs have been recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds and The Kingston Trio. \"Let the Band Play Dixie,\" written about the atmosphere surrounding the end of the Civil War, is a favorite of host Larry Groce. Odetta was an unmistakable force in the world of folk music, influencing Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, among many others. The Alabama native made seven appearances on Mountain Stage, beginning in 1988. This performance of \"Rich Man Blues\" was recorded in Bristol, Tenn., in 2006. Odetta died in December 2008.", "In the early 1970s, Rita Coolidge won fans as a backup singer for Delaney and Bonnie, Stephen Stills, Leon Russell and Joe Cocker. She also won awards for country duets with former husband, Kris Kristofferson. In 1977, her first solo album, Anytime Anywhere, sold millions of copies. Three singles made the top charts, including \"We're All Alone.\" Now, nearly three decades later, Coolidge is singing that same tune on a new recording of jazz standards. She tells Liane Hansen about the CD, And So Is Love. LIANE HANSEN, host: In the early 1970s, Rita Coolidge was winning fans as a back-up singer for Delaney & Bonnie, Steven Stills, Leon Russell and Joe Cocker. She also won awards for her country duets with then-husband Kris Kristofferson. Coolidge's talent and success as a versatile vocalist led to a contract with Herb Alpert at A&M Records. In 1977, her first solo album \"Anytime, Anywhere\" sold millions of copies, and three singles made the top charts. One of them was this one. (Soundbite of \"We're All Alone\") Ms. RITA COOLIDGE (Singer): (Singing) Outside the rain begins, and it may never end. So cry no more on the shore, a dream will take us out to sea forever more, forever more. HANSEN: Rita Coolidge has just released a new record \"And So Is Love.\" It's her debut on the Concord label. And on it, some 30 years later, she sings the same song. (Soundbite of \"We're All Alone\") Ms. COOLIDGE: (Singing) Close your eyes and dream, and you can be with me. 'Neath the waves through the caves of hours, long forgotten now. We're all alone, we're all alone. Close the window, calm the light, and it will be all right. No need to bother now. Let it out, let it all begin. Learn how to pretend. HANSEN: Rita Coolidge joins us from NPR West. Welcome to the program. Ms. COOLIDGE: Thank you so much, Liane. HANSEN: Why did you want to revisit \"We're All Alone?\" Ms. COOLIDGE: It was kind of suggested by a Japanese record company who had had a big part of this album. And I think that they wanted me to re-record one of my hits to possibly serve as a bridge for people who had been longtime fans to realize, you know, that \"We're All Alone,\" it's Rita Coolidge, now she's singing jazz. For me, it was breathing new life into a tune that I've sung for years and years. And I've loved it. I love the whole process. HANSEN: Did your delivery change? Did you approach this as you would a standard? Ms. COOLIDGE: Well, I think that the arrangement, we tried to have the arrangements be suitable and compatible with the rest of the record, and it does work for me. The fact that I'm singing this song all these years later with a lot of life experience under my belt... HANSEN: Yeah. Ms. COOLIDGE: ...and in my heart I think has made the difference. HANSEN: In arranging this song, \"We're All Alone,\" is there deliberate space that is left for the other members of the troupe as well as your voice to present it a way that says this is different, this is jazz? Ms. COOLIDGE: Well, going into this record, it was important for me to realize the space. Space has always been important to me. And it seems in the past, we would record with the rhythm section and then every empty, little spot would have a string or something or voices or something put in. And when we began recording this record, we agreed that the fact that we were recording with a trio really allowed us some beautiful space that we wanted to hang on to. I really loved it for the songs to breathe and to be able to sing a word and to be able to understand that word and for it to have its moment. And it happens in a lot of the tunes on this CD. (Soundbite of song) Ms. COOLIDGE: (Singing) I'm gonna love you like no one's loved you come rain or come shine. High as a mountain, deep as a river come rain or come shine. I guess when you met me, it was just one of those things. But don't ever bet me 'cause I'm going to be true if you let me. You're gonna love me like no one's loved me come rain or come shine. Happy together, unhappy together, and wouldn't it be fine? Days may be cloudy or sunny, we're in our we're out of the money. Now I'm with you always, I'm with you rain or shine. HANSEN: Are there lessons you learn from singing back-up that you are applying as a solo vocalist, and particularly doing jazz? Ms. COOLIDGE: Well, I believe that I was a back-up singer when I was born because I'm told that I sang before I spoke words or before I walked, I could sing melodies as a seven-month-old baby, which I find hard to believe. And you know how family stories can be enhanced. But it's a good story. But I t", "Jerry Lee Lewis was often referred to as \"The Killer\" in his 1950s heyday. He'd slay audiences with his rambunctious piano playing, while his striking looks sent female fans keeling over. His wildest days may be behind him, but old age hasn't kept him from his keys. On Sept. 29, Lewis will celebrate his 75th birthday in the afterglow of a new album, Mean Old Man. \"I got a ways to go yet,\" Lewis tells Weekend Edition host Liane Hansen. \"I've been up and down the road. It's been some hard living, some hard rocking and some hard rolling. But I'm still rocking on.\" Lewis recorded about 50 songs for the record. With the help of co-producers Jim Keltner and Steve Bing, 18 were selected for the final mix. Initially, the three were intent on avoiding a duets record, but there was an outpouring of requests to join in on their music-making. Among the collaborators was Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones' frontman who, like Lewis, enjoyed plenty of crazy days in the past. The two recorded a cover of the Stones' track \"Dead Flowers.\" \"It was a lot of fun, listening and watching Mick do his bit,\" Lewis says. \"Singing the song was thrilling.\" Lewis goes solo for three tracks on Mean Old Man. One of these is his cover of the Kris Kristofferson classic \"Sunday Morning Coming Down.\" In pre-production, Keltner felt uneasy about the track. He wasn't sure if the bluesy tune was a good fit for Lewis. But then they started laying it down in the studio. \"When we got to the point where we were actually recording, I could feel it all throughout my bones,\" Keltner says. \"He just takes you right there, tells you exactly what this guy is thinking and where he is. It's just amazing how he made that song his own.\" Outside the studio, Lewis hasn't avoided the spotlight. On Sept. 10, he made an appearance in Million Dollar Quartet, the hit Broadway musical based on the legendary jam session among Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. \"What an amazing thing that Jerry Lee actually got to be around to see something like this, a hit Broadway show of his life,\" Keltner says. \"It brought back a lot of memories,\" Lewis says. \"It was touching.\" LIANE HANSEN, host: (Soundbite of song, \"Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On\") Mr. JERRY LEE LEWIS (Rock 'n' roll, country music singer, pianist): (Singing) Come on over baby, whole lot of shakin' goin' on... HANSEN: Jerry Lee Lewis has earned his rock 'n' roll nickname, \"The Killer.\" As a young man in the 1950s, his cinematic good looks and impossibly wavy blond hair killed the ladies. And his energetic pounding on the piano keys killed his audiences. And because of Lewis and other rock pioneers, there indeed was a whole lot of shakin' goin on. (Soundbite of song, \"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On\") Mr. LEWIS: (Singing) I said shake it, baby, shake it. Let it shake, baby, shake. Come on over, whole lot of shakin goin' on... His wavy hair now bares streaks of gray and his face is etched with lines, but Jerry Lee Lewis can still bring the house down. He's been performing in support of his new record, called \"Mean Old Man,\" and he joins us from our New York bureau. Welcome to the program. Mr. LEWIS: Well, thank you very much, Liane. Happy to be here. HANSEN: I'm glad to have you. And I should mention that in the studio with you is a legendary drummer and producer, whose name may not be as familiar to our listeners as Jerry Lee Lewis. But for decades, I know that theyve heard his work on countless recordings. Jim Keltner, who is a producer of Jerry Lee's new CD, welcome to the program. Mr. JIM KELTNER (Drummer): Thank you, and nice to be here. HANSEN: Great to have you. Mr. Lewis, you have a birthday coming up, September 29th, right? Mr. LEWIS: Yes, I have a birthday coming up. I'll be 35. HANSEN: You'll be 35. Well, you know... (Soundbite of laughter) HANSEN: ...it happens to be my birthday, too, on September 29th. And I was going to say, tell you how many candles are on my cake if you'll tell me how many candles are on yours. Mr. LEWIS: Well, it'll be 75 on mine. HANSEN: Well, it's going to be 59 on mine. (Soundbite of laughter) HANSEN: So now that weve got all that straightened out, you know something? You dont hear the 75 years on this new recording. (Soundbite of song, \"Mean Old Man\") Mr. LEWIS: (Singing) If I look like a mean old man, that's what I am. If I look like a mean old man, that's what I am. If I look like a mean old man, take you any way he can. Break your heart and kiss your hand, that's what I am. HANSEN: The opening track itself, which is the title track, \"Mean Old Man,\" a song written by Kris Kristofferson. (Soundbite of laughter) HANSEN: Why do you like this song, Mr. Lewis? Mr. LEWIS: I dont know. I just heard it, and I just figured it would be a hit. (Soundbite of song, \"Mean Old Man\") Mr. LEWIS: (Singing) If I look like a good old friend who's good at bending with the wind, to be your friend right to the end, that's what I am. And if I look like a voodoo doll", "When Willie Nelson was a young hustler selling songs to Patsy Cline's people, he probably never thought he'd become the crowd-anointed sage of country music. But that's what happened as the Redheaded Stranger went gray, turned smoking weed into a brand and a virtue, and produced a discography that added up to its own American Songbook. Nelson's gentle persona and approach has always somewhat masked his fire: to have hits; to play his legendarily worn guitar, Trigger, with killer precision; and to sing, in that quiet voice, with skill that matches the jazz greats who've inspired him. On Band of Brothers, Nelson's first album of mostly original material in 18 years, he calmly asks listeners to consider his whole person. He still embraces his Yoda role. (Nelson can't avoid it; someone's even made a paper doll of Nelson and the Star Wars sage, combined.) \"Bring It On\" opens Band of Brothers with a cowboy lope and an inspirational salvo: \"It's written in the Good Book that we'll never be asked to take any more than we can,\" Nelson sings, his reedy tenor growing declarative. \"Sounds like a good plan.\" Within this first track, he's gotten the guru job out of the way. Then come other moods. \"The Wall\" is confessional without being in the least bit sappy, reminiscent of the writing of Nelson's friend Kris Kristofferson. \"Wives and Girlfriends\" and \"Crazy Like Me\" bring the bawdy honky-tonk humor, giving Nelson's band of unfussy virtuosos a chance to pick up the pace. \"Hard to Be an Outlaw,\" a Billie Joe Shaver song (originally recorded as a duet with Nelson) about aging out of the country bad-boy role, becomes wry in Nelson's hands, more like the reflections of Mad Men's Roger Sterling than a Game of Thrones-style howl of the Hound. Band of Brothers is a self-portrait of a long, up-and-down life — specifically the life of an artist. The title track pays tribute to the community (\"a band of brothers, and sisters, and whatever\") that Nelson has built with his fellow players and his fans. \"The Git Go,\" another Shaver song performed here as a bluesy duet with Jamey Johnson, adds in the element of protest against the capitalist straight life. \"The Songwriters,\" co-written by another soft-spoken country veteran, Bill Anderson, offers a bit of gloating about the bohemian life. \"Guitar in the Corner\" acknowledges the darker times, when inspiration doesn't come. Nelson, who recently turned 81, lets his voice wobble at times, which mostly adds pathos. But his phrasing remains the best — not only in country, but arguably in all of popular music. No one drifts as purposefully as Willie Nelson when he's letting a melody settle in his bones. His voice is the thought process personified. The players and longtime producer (and co-writer) Buddy Cannon give that voice plenty of room on Band of Brothers, letting it shape arrangements that contrast with most mainstream country the way a clear evening sky contrasts with a crowded nightscape of electronic billboards. The thing about Nelson inhabiting that Yoda role is that he refuses to make it a cliché. The man possesses actual wisdom — the musical kind, more than anything, but the philosophical kind, too. Band of Brothers is a gift to all of us who look to Nelson for impeccable craft and tender insight. Sage? Sure. Here, though, he's also wonderfully relatable.", "Introduction In 1994, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson spent four days together in a Los Angeles studio making what would be their third and final album as the Highwaymen. Among their repertoire of outlaw songs and road ballads, they launched into an old favorite: Gene Autry's \"Back in the Saddle Again.\" These four icons of country music, born during the Great Depression, had grown up with Gene Autry as their hero. He was their Public Cowboy No. 1. \"I saw him in the movies when I was five years old,\" Johnny Cash wrote in 1977, \"and haven't stopped loving him and his kind of movieland dreams. More than that, I took part of Gene Autry home with me in my heart and sang it out in the cotton fields, songs like 'Be Honest With Me,' [and 'The] Last Round-Up' . . .\" Serving as a road map out of rural poverty for Cash — and for so many other future artists — Gene Autry shone as the singing cowboy star whose radio programs, recordings, and movies in the 1930s and '40s made him one of America's most celebrated entertainers. For Highwaymen producer Don Was, a visit one day from eighty-six-year-old Gene Autry to the sessions \"was very revealing.\" Over the course of their careers, according to Was, each of the Highwaymen had \"adopted variations on the cowboy persona, and that's the guy they got it from.\" Captured in a 2006 documentary, American Revolutions: The Highwaymen, Cash, Nelson, Jennings, and Kristofferson — then in their fifties and sixties — \"turned into little kids,\" Was related. \"It was as if John Lennon came to my session. . . . Gene Autry is just sitting there with four of the most intimidating tough guys ever, and they're marshmallows next to him.\" As children, each of the Highwaymen, like so many others, had gone to Gene Autry movies on Saturday afternoons, listened to his music on the radio, and learned to play guitar on a Gene Autry Roundup Guitar ordered from the Sears catalogue. They, just like millions of other Americans who were born between the 1920s and the 1940s, bought his records and went to see him at rodeos, city auditoriums, and county fairs. Again, in the words of the Man in Black, \"Reflecting upon . . . the great people I have known, as an All-American image of goodness, justice, good over bad, nothing or no one comes closer than Gene Autry.\" Who was this man that exerted such an influence over Cash, his fellow Highwaymen, and countless others who experienced the Autry phenomenon from the thirties into the fifties? Born Orvon Grover Autry in 1907, he was a second-generation Texan. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents were among the frontierspeople who left the South after the Civil War and traveled west. Gene Autry embraced the tools of the twentieth century to make his way in the world — cutting phonograph records, broadcasting over the radio, appearing in motion pictures and, later, television — yet he found stardom by reinventing the saga of the cowboy and the West through his music and image. Growing up on the final vestiges of nineteenth-century pop culture — minstrel shows, dime novels, and Buffalo Bill's Wild West — he came of age during the heyday of vaudeville, whose stars Al Jolson, Gene Austin, and Will Rogers had profoundly influenced him. Gene Autry merged old sensibilities with new ideas to create a persona that bridged the gap between the two centuries. His ingenuity, ambition, and chameleonic artistry enabled him to develop further by adapting the sonics of yodeling bluesman Jimmie Rodgers and visuals of cowboy star Tom Mix. As a recording artist, Autry evolved from a hillbilly-style Rodgers soundalike to the trend-setting crooner of cowboy songs to the progenitor of Yuletide perennial \"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer\" to children's balladeer. Between 1929 and the early 1960s, he made some 640 recordings, totaling sales of more than 100 million copies. Gene Autry's vocal and visual approach, with his eyecatching Western wear, shaped the sound and look of early country music and helped it grow from a regional favorite to a national sensation. After Autry's musical Westerns began screening in theaters across the country, the companion discs of songs featured in the movies became strong sellers nationwide. Eventually, the label \"hillbilly music\" was displaced by \"country & western.\" First finding local fame as the Oklahoma Yodeling Cowboy on Tulsa radio, Autry attracted a larger audience as star of Chicago's WLS National Barn Dance. In Hollywood, his singing cowboy character successfully made the transition to film, where Autry and Republic Pictures created the prototype of the musical B-Western genre in the mid-1930s. His reassuring presence and unassuming boyishness provided a salve to audiences struggling with the Great Depression. Beginning with Tumbling Tumbleweeds in 1935, Autry's movies reinvigorated the Western with the addition of his country songcraft to action-packed morality plays. In those simpler times, good versus evil wa", "It's tempting — and, really, accurate — to describe Rosanne Cash's new album as a literary effort. The singer-songwriter is also a published author, and her last album, 2009's The List, was a writer's game: Its 12 tracks abridged her famous father Johnny's 100-song lexicon of essentials, which he gave to his then-teenaged daughter as a legacy and a challenge. A set of originals, The River & The Thread features a similarly strong formal structure, but it expands where The List contracts. Each song is rooted in the Southern soil connecting the old Cash homestead in Arkansas to the family's ancestral Virginia homeland, expanding to survey the family's artistic roots in Alabama and Tennessee. Some narratives are fictional, while others mine family lore. Each unfolds in a subtle arc made three-dimensional by Cash's introspective lyrics and the genre-dissolving blend of country, soul and torch songs that she and her husband and producer, John Leventhal, cultivate. So go ahead, compare The River & The Thread to Lee Smith's hardscrabble domestic tales or historical fiction like Cold Mountain. But you can also approach the album as an interactive map, the kind that lights up when you touch it, revealing hidden details along the stopping points on a regional pilgrimage. From the bluesy opening salvo \"A Feather's Not a Bird\" through the peaceful, countrified \"Etta's Tune\" and the majestic \"When the Master Calls the Roll\" — an original take on sentimental Civil War balladry that has Cash enlisting an inter-generational choir which includes her ex-husband (and the song's co-writer) Rodney Crowell, Kris Kristofferson, Tony Joe White, John Prine and Levon Helm's daughter Amy Helm — Cash matches styles to stories, showing her mastery of Southern music's many dialects. The contemporary \"Night School\" has a jazzy feel, but it also looks back to Stephen Foster; \"50,000 Watts\" is gospel with a spirited vocal by the young vagabond Cory Chisel. The overall effect of the album's gentle turns is rich and deep, like the rivers that define Cash's trajectory. The most clearly autobiographical songs on The River & The Thread mesh seamlessly with Cash's fictions; at 58, she fully understands herself as both creator and character. Nothing feels forced or too clever. The delicacy of Cash's vision and Leventhal's production allows them to tell a Southern story that never gets lost in broad accents. \"All you did was figure out how to take the long way home,\" she sings in her resolute, empathetic alto. On The River & The Thread, she lights the way so that we can follow.", "\"Your everlasting summer, you can see it fading fast,\" sang Steely Dan in their 1973 hit \"Reelin' in the Years,\" \"So you grab a piece of something that you think is going to last.\" If you believe that 1973 marked the real end of the 1960s as a cultural era, it's a fitting sentiment — the year was the last gasp of an age of possibility, when sunny idealism gave way to economic recession and cynical disillusionment. Or as Andrew Grant Jackson writes in his fascinating new book, 1973: Rock at the Crossroads: \"If the cultural reformation of 1965-72 was a bomb, 1973 was the aftermath. The debris rained down. The sun streaked through the smoke onto the road ahead. Like everyone else, the musicians tried to process what had just happened and figure out what was next. They did so through a series of albums and singles that represent the zenith of classic rock.\" Jackson's book paints a vivid portrait of the year through the lens of popular music — mostly rock, but also country and hip-hop, the latter of which was essentially invented in 1973 in New York. The music of that year still remains present in today's culture; citing the website FiveThirtyEight, Jackson points out that \"classic rock stations today play more songs from 1973 than any other year.\" The book is structured chronologically, beginning with the winter releases of such still-legendary albums as Dream On by Aerosmith, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. by Bruce Springsteen, and Aladdin Sane by David Bowie, who gets more ink than any other musician in the book. That's no surprise — Bowie was responsible for some of rock's greatest innovations, and 1973 was the year he retired his Ziggy Stardust persona, which helped bring glam rock into the mainstream. Bowie was also, as Jackson writes, \"possibly the first rocker\" to come out as gay (although he would later identify variously as bisexual and \"closet heterosexual\"). Throughout the book, Jackson writes about the social trends and historical events of the 1970s, and his analysis of sexuality and rock music is particularly interesting — he writes movingly about Lou Reed's \"Walk on the Wild Side,\" released just weeks before 1973, which he notes \"became the theme song for New York after midnight in the era between Stonewall and AIDS.\" Jackson also takes a fascinating look at gender and rock music. It was 1973 when the Supreme Court handed down their landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, and also the year Helen Reddy memorably won a Grammy for her feminist anthem \"I Am Woman.\" (Reddy's producer, Jackson writes, insisted that Reddy appear on television shows while pregnant to demonstrate to the world that she could \"get a man,\" so it wasn't all good news for women.) Jackson intersperses his writing about woman musicians like Suzi Quatro, Joan Jett, Dolly Parton and members of the rock band Fanny with history of the feminist movement during the early '70s, providing useful context for readers curious about the rise of women in rock. While 1973 is chiefly concerned with rock, Jackson also includes well-researched chapters about the year in other genres, writing beautifully about Stevie Wonder's landmark R&B album Innervisions and Gram Parsons' progressive-country record GP. He deftly discusses the sea change in country music that occurred around 1973, when the genre's Nudie-suited old guard gave way to \"outlaw\" songwriters like Kris Kristofferson and a newly long-haired Willie Nelson. Jackson also proves to have a real talent for evoking the places that made 1973 such a consequential year in music. He writes about such legendary venues as L.A.'s short-lived Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, Austin's late lamented Armadillo World Headquarters and New York's iconic Max's Kansas City. (The latter bar was particularly important to popular music, as Jackson writes, playing host to acts as diverse as Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, Tom Waits and Charlie Mingus.) It's clear that the intended audience for 1973 is rock aficionados, and they'll absolutely find much to admire in its pages — the book is the product of a tremendous amount of research, and Jackson writes with an enthusiasm that any music fan will find instantly contagious. He's as comfortable explaining the rise of new radio formats as he is dissecting the lyrics of some of the year's most famous songs, and he clearly loves the subject matter. But it's also a book that will appeal to anyone with an abiding interest in (relatively) recent American history. Rock music has never existed in a vacuum, and in Jackson's hands it proves to be a fascinating mirror of society as a whole — particularly in an America when the Age of Aquarius was transitioning, awkwardly, to the Age of Watergate. Jackson is a wonderful writer and a knowledgeable guide to the America of the early 1970s, and 1973 is an engaging look at the music that changed our culture forever.", "Even people who are not Crystal Bowersox partisans might be inclined to admit that she blew Lee DeWyze off the stage last night on the final performance episode of American Idol. He's not without talent, but his pitch problems were worse than ever, and he seemed utterly adrift with his performances, in particular, of REM's \"Everybody Hurts\" and U2's \"Beautiful Day.\" (\"Everybody Hurts\" was really, really problematic, pitch-wise.) More than that, something or other (I suspect nerves) made it impossible for him to moderate his singing at all. There were no changes in intensity, or dynamics, or mood. Everything was at about a level 7, all night long. Crystal, meanwhile, had maybe her best night of the season (aside from her \"People Get Ready\"). She struggled a little with \"Black Velvet,\" which forced her into a less interesting version of her gravelly-voiced delivery, but she rallied with \"Up To The Mountain,\" which she -- like Kris Allen last year when he performed \"Heartless\" -- performed in a stripped-down manner that avoided the temptation to crank everything up to a massive level of production. I'm still pretty confident that she's not going to win. Pessimism takes over, after the jump. Why? Well, I have a theory. As Stephen and I noted yesterday, this season has really failed to break through with a wide audience. Ratings are down, it feels like nobody cares, and there's very little enthusiasm about the show. That leaves even more of the voting to die-hards than you'd otherwise find. It's always a die-hard sort of pursuit, voting for a show like this, but the less the casual fan is paying attention, the more you leave the entire thing to power-voting superfans. And power-voting superfans of American Idol will always be more available to good-looking young men than to bohemian moms. There simply is not a subculture that creates the kind of fan bases for people like Crystal that gets created for guys like Lee. She doesn't have his access to the subset of Idol fans made up of the women and girls who are the underwear-throwers of the future. Again, this is not Lee's fault. He didn't create society, Idol's marketing efforts, or fandom as a force of nature. And before you e-mail me, of course not all of Lee's fans or voters are future underwear-throwers, by any means. Preferring him does not make you a power-voting lovesick swooner. But power-voting lovesick swooners are an entire, very enthusiastic subset of fans who are likely to vote a lot and are available to him far more than they are to her. And the thing about superfans is that they do not react to the quality of individual performances. Superfans do not vote any less if you have a very bad night, as Lee did. They vote for you just as enthusiastically no matter how you sing, because they aren't voting for your performance; they're voting for you. So for these people, having a rough final night of performances makes absolutely no difference. Won't hurt him at all. It's not a factor that can't be overcome, but it's a factor. Crystal is not the kind of person who inspires superfandom. What really wins this show is your ability to accumulate people who would say that their fandom of you is the most important thing they're doing right now and to avoid being so polarizing that people will vote against you. (Oh, and preferably, don't face off against anyone from the South, because they will beat you.) Lee doesn't inspire anti-Lee voting, but he does inspire enthusiastic superfans, far more than Crystal does. She was better than he was on Tuesday, just as she has been all season, but that's unlikely to make her the winner, when it comes right down to it." ]