user: IN: Watch Cricket Player Chris Gayle Ask TV Presenter for a Date
Jamaican-born international cricket player Chris Gayle has been fined $7,200 for asking a sports reporter out on a date during an interview on live television.

The incident took place during an Australian league match Monday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports. During the interview, broadcast on Australia’s Ten Network, Gayle says to the visibly uncomfortable presenter Mel McLaughlin: “I want to come and have an interview with you as well.”

He adds: “To see your eyes for the first time is nice. Hopefully we can win this game and have a drink after. Don’t blush baby.”

Gayle’s team, the Melbourne Renegades, has formally apologized to McLaughlin on behalf of Gayle, who has a track record of propositioning female journalists according to the ABC.

The head of Cricket Australia James Sutherland was meanwhile quoted by the BBC as saying that a cricket match was “not a nightclub.” He said: “I think one of the things that perhaps hasn’t dawned on everyone is it’s actually a workplace,” and added that Gayle’s behavior constituted workplace harassment.

Gayle holds several world records in the sport of cricket and captained the West Indies squad in the three years to 2010. He told reporters later, “There wasn’t anything meant to be disrespectful or offensive to Mel. If she felt that way, I’m really sorry for that.”
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: Things get super awkward.


IN: Getting Started - Series - The New York Times
In New York City real estate, the word “prewar” speaks volumes, and “postwar” can mean different things to different buyers.

Choosing a real estate agent for selling a home may seem simple, but there is much to understand about the role of the agent and how the relationship works.

Both current and prospective owners would be wise to read the co-op’s financial documents. Here are questions that can guide you in analyzing the statement.

Beyond the tipping questions that surface every Christmas, the year-round etiquette of dealing with a doorman is complex, unwritten and, for some, intimidating.

If you are looking for temporary housing in New York City, the city offers a variety of options.

WITH the median price of an apartment in Manhattan topping $1,000 a square foot, homeownership is often far out of reach. But there are options for those who cannot afford the market rate, including co-op apartments for buyers who earn a certain percentage of the area median income, or A.M.I. These buildings are scattered all over the city. Some date to the 1950s; others are brand-new and still looking for buyers. Some are limited to those who earn less than the median income -- 60 or 80 pe...

New York City has a few homeownership options for those who cannot afford the market rate, including co-op apartments for buyers who earn a certain percentage of the area median income.

Renters have more than one avenue to getting help with a repair, starting with an e-mail to the landlord.

Getting out of a lease is no small thing. The tenant is generally responsible for the rent for the duration of the contract.

Many who skip the expense of renter’s insurance are under the mistaken impression that their landlord’s policy will cover them.
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: Articles in the "Getting Started" series from The New York Times.


IN: A decade in, DHS program to detect bio-threats may not be able to detect bio-threats, auditors say
More than a decade after the Department of Homeland Security began a program to fight biological terrorism, “considerable uncertainty” remains over whether the system can reliably detect biological threats, a new federal audit says.

The report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office is the latest blow to DHS’s BioWatch system, the agency’s marquee post-Sept. 11, 2001, effort to detect pathogens that could signal a devastating biological attack. After scientific studies and media reports raised concern about BioWatch’s effectiveness, DHS last year canceled the system’s planned next generation of sensors.

{Homeland Security cancels plans for new BioWatch technology}

Now, GAO says the government still lacks reliable information about the current generation, first deployed in 2005, to determine if it is capable of detecting a biological attack. DHS’s testing of the current system — known as Generation-2, or Gen-2 — has been flawed, leaving the department unable to properly determine how to improve it, GAO found.

“DHS lacks reliable information about BioWatch Gen-2’s technical capabilities to detect a biological attack and therefore lacks the basis for informed cost-benefit decisions about possible upgrades or enhancements to the system,” the report said. “The nation’s ability to detect threats against its security requires judicious use of resources directed toward systems whose capabilities can be demonstrated.”

DHS officials defended BioWatch program, which consists of aerosol collectors deployed in more than 30 cities nationwide that draw in air through filters. The filters are collected and taken to laboratories for analysis to check for the presence of anthrax and other pathogens. The system was first deployed in 2003, in response to Sept. 11 and the anthrax attacks that followed.““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

{Costly weapon detection plans are in disarray, investigators say}

“The Department of Homeland Security’s BioWatch program is the only federally-managed, locally-operated nationwide bio-surveillance system designed to detect select aerosolized biological agents and remains a critical part of our nation’s defense against biological threats,” said S.Y. Lee, a DHS spokesman. While the department “does not agree with all of GAO’s characterizations of our BioWatch efforts,” Lee said, it concurred with all of the recommendations in the report.

Those recommendations included not allowing DHS to pursue upgrades or enhancements to BioWatch until it establishes “technical performance requirements” to better determine how well the current system works.

The report illustrates the difficulties the government has faced since Sept. 11 in developing a reliable and easy way to detect deadly pathogens, even though the bio-defense research industry has spent billions of dollars on the effort.

{Audit slams DHS for canceling technology to fight bio-threats}

A 2011 report by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council concluded that BioWatch faced “serious technical and operational challenges” and had been rushed into deployment before it was properly tested.

The new GAO report also found fault with DHS’s testing procedures, saying that even as the agency commissioned several tests of the current Generation-2 of BioWatch, it had “not developed performance requirements that would enable it to interpret the test results and draw conclusions about the system’s ability to detect attacks.”

DHS disputed that in a response contained within the report, saying that evaluations are done “to provide confidence in the precision and reliability of the system’s capabilities.”

Jerry Markon covers the Department of Homeland Security for the Post’s National Desk. He also serves as lead Web and newspaper writer for major breaking national news.
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: "Considerable uncertainty" about BioWatch system, audit says


IN: Delhaize May Find Ahold Merger Difficult to Swallow
For shareholders of Delhaize, the company’s combination with Royal Ahold may not be safe to consume.

The supermarket companies’ all-stock deal is billed as a “merger of equals.” But the structure doesn’t look terribly equitable. Before the deal closes, Ahold will add to its debt levels and use a reverse stock split to return €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to its own investors.

The payback seems to be that Delhaize shareholders get...
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT:

assistant: Ahold and Delhaize are billing their supermarket deal as a merger of equals. For Delhaize shareholders, that is worrying on several fronts.