kind of military campaign - a bombing run on Hawaii's Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on Earth, as it erupted in 1935.

As the lava began flowing at a rate of one mile (1.6km) a day towards the city of Hilo, then-director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Thomas Jaggar suggested bombing lava tubes.

Lava tubes are cooled and hardened outer crusts of lava which provide insulation for the faster-flowing, molten rock inside. Such a conduit enables lava to move farther and faster.

In theory, bombs would destroy the lava tubes, robbing lava of an easy transport channel and exposing more of the lava to the air, slowing and cooling it further.

But in practice, while bombs created craters in parts of the tubes, they were soon filled again by the lava. Hilowas instead saved when Mauna Loa stopped erupting.

Image copyright AP Image caption Lava tubes allows molten rock to move farther than it otherwise would

Later tests by the US Air Force suggested newer, larger bombs could make more of a difference if they were targeted at the most vulnerable sections of the flow.

Cool it with water

One of the most successful lava stops came in the 1970s on the Icelandic island of Haimey. Lava from the Eldfell volcano threatened the island's harbour and the town of Vestmannaeyjar.

For almost five months in 1973, frigid sea water was blasted through cannons towards the advancing lava. As the water hit the superheated rock, it turned into steam, allowing the lava's heat to dissipate.

Image copyright USGS Image caption Lava stopped in the middle of


a street in Vestmannaeyjar

A fifth of Vestmannaeyjar was destroyed before larger cannons were brought in, but enough of the lava flow was slowed and redirected to save the harbour.

In all, 1.5 billion gallons (6.8 billion litres) of water were used.

But conditions were right for such an intervention to work - the lava from Eldfell was particularly slow moving and an inexhaustible supply of water was available, Dr Nawotniak says.

Build a barrier

Back at Mount Etna, an eruption in March 1983 threatened three towns. Barriers of rock and ash were constructed in an attempt to divert the lava.

"They were trying to slow it down and direct it downhill," Dr Nawotniak says.

One of the first barriers, 18m high and 10m wide, was overrun, but a second barrier blocked lava from movingfurther west.

Image copyright USGS Image caption The Sapienza barrier in 1983

Two other major barriers kept the flow from reaching the main tourist area of Etna on the eastern side of a valley.

The lava missed buildings by metres. One of the barriers, known as Sapienza, had six feet added to it by the lava. But Sapienza and the others held until the eruption ended in August.

Add concrete

Almost 10 years later, Etna erupted again, and Italian officials used the lessons of the earlier eruption to save the town of Zafferana. In addition to barriers, workers created an artificial trench to catch lava redirected from a breach made with explosives. That only pushed away part of the lava, so concrete blocks were dumped into the remaining flow, fully diverting its path.

But


losing battle.

A better focus, she says, is improving the prediction of volcanic eruptions.

"That way we can give people the best possible chance to move on their own terms," she says.

More from the Magazine

Image caption A house submerged in ash

The Icelandic eruption 41 years ago buried hundreds of houses. Archaeologists have been uncovering what remained of the buildings, giving the island the nickname "Pompeii of the North". An entire museum has been built around the remains of one of the homes. For some people on the island, however, uncovering the remnants of a traumatic past has been difficult.

Iceland's 'Pompeii' emerging from the ash"We don't judge," says Tracie McClendon–Cole, director of Kansas City's (KC's) violence prevention initiative Aim4Peace. This impartiality allows McClendon–Cole and her staff of street workers to approach Kansas Citians caught up in violence with compassion and hands-on help, instead of punishment and blame. Using the Cure Violence model pioneered by epidemiologist Gary Slutkin, Aim4Peace treats violence as a communicable disease that must be interrupted to eliminate its spread.1

McClendon–Cole says an epidemiological approach made sense for KC, which has a history of challenges related to racial segregation and associated health disparities.

Public health was also the catalyst for bringing the issue of violence to the city's attention. In 2000, after the Kansas City Health Department (KCHD) released a report on homicide as the third leading cause of death in the


use of violence interrupters or "credible messengers," who have lived in or are known in neighborhoods where the program is being applied. McClendon–Cole, who holds a law degree from the University of Missouri–Kansas City and a master's in public education from the University of Kansas, likes to say these workers have a "doctorate in streetology" that is as valuable as any of her credentials. "I call them public health workers," she says.

Aim4Peace workers receive a cadre of trainings on conflict resolution and mediation, mental health, and trauma. They have one-on-one weekly meetings with a supervisor and are required to document incidents in which they have intervened. First and foremost, their task is to reduce the risk of violence among Aim4Peace participants from high to low.

Workers show up atperiod combination generating faces up to head high (1-4 ft) or anything with a period less than 11 secs.

PACIFIC OVERVIEWOn Thursday (8/21) Northern CA surf was head high and reasonably clean though still a bit warbled and foggy. South facing breaks in Santa Cruz were up to chest high but kinda warbled mid-day. Central California surf (Morro Bay) was waist high and blown out mid-day. Surf in Southern CA from Santa Barbara to just north of LA was near flat but reasonably clean. The LA Area southward to Orange County was knee to thigh high and lightly textured. South Orange County down into San Diego best breaks were waist high and lightly textured mid-day. The North Shore of Oahu was flat and clean. The South Shore was flat


and clean. The East Shore was maybe knee high.

North/Central California was getting a nice pulse of Gulf of Alaska windswell providing something to ride. Southern California was effectively flat. Hawaii's North Shore was near flat. The South Shore was near flat. Almost no east windswell was occurring on the East Shore.

For Central California semi-real swell is expected early Friday from the Gulf, then fading slowly through the weekend into next week. Southern CA to remain essentially flat until maybe some energy from the Gulf of Alaska filters in Friday into Saturday. The South Shore of Hawaii might get a little pulse of background southern hemi swell Friday, fading out early Saturday. Maybe some minimal tradewind generated east windswell can be expected on the East Shore starting Friday andwith more weak low pressure pushing through the Gulf, but unproductive from even a windswell generation perspective.

Second Gulf Gale
On Monday AM (8/18) a 984 mb low was starting to form in the Northern Gulf of Alaska while tropical energy from what was tropical storm VonFong moves in from the west. 30 kts west winds built at 45N 152W, getting traction on the oceans surface and generating 17 ft seas at 46N 155W. By evening pressure dropped to 976 mbs in the Northern Gulf with a thin small fetch of 40-45 kt northwest winds confirmed at 52N 152W aimed down the 310 degree path to the San Francisco area. Seas started to build from 20 ft over a tiny area at 53N 157W while the original fetch of 17


to build off California at the same time forming a small pressure gradient and 30 kt north winds off Cape Mendocino Tues-Thurs (8/28) possibly setting up some windswell for the coast south of there.

MJO/ENSO Update: As of Thursday (8/21) the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) was transitioning from the Active phase to the Inactive phase. The Daily SOI index was 7.83. The 30 day average was down to 0.39 and the 90 day average was 1.73, neutral. Winds at at the surface and the 850 mb level (approx 1000 ft up), indicated the building of the Inactive phase of the MJO over Asia (north Indian Ocean to New Guinea) though a small weak area of westerly winds associated with the fading Active Phase of the MJO continued confined tothem at birth. (2009, 251) Weiss: Persons and a Metaphysics of the Navel Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Vol. 1: 2018 2 Philosophy-and science fiction-has long been interested in the question "what is a person?" It has seldom begun its exploration of this matter from the standpoint of the navel. And yet, for Baier, the navel represents key elements of her view of persons. We persons are animals, first and foremost, situated in a biological realm, akin to other animals, especially mammals. We are born of other human beings and come into the world dependent upon care, usually still provided today by mothers. Our personhood is slowly formed in the company of other persons, from whom we learn the arts of personhood. The navel serves to remind


that changes the size, shape or position of the bellybutton. It seems that even our metaphysics may need a nip and tuck every now and then. Or consider the following scene from Marge Piercy's science fiction novel He, She, and It, in which one of the protagonists of the novel, Shira Shipman, confronts for the first time the nakedness of an artificially constructed cyborg named Yod: She glanced at him, poised uncertainly on the water's edge. His body was exactly the same color all over, a rich olive. He had pubic hair, although almost no chest hair. He had been given a navel, absurdly, and also a penis, which she quickly looked away from. (101) Yod is an artificial being created by the eminent A.I. scientist Avram Steinto serve and protect the Jewish free city of Tikva. And he was created with a navel. And oh yes, a penis. The central dilemma of He, She, and It, as suggested by the very title of the novel, has to do with the status of Yod. What is Yod? Is he/it a person? What is his/its place in the community of Tikva? Yod presents a challenge to Shira, who ultimately recognizes Yod as a "he," engages in an affair with him, and falls in love with him. Yod as well presents a challenge to the people of Tikva, as they wonder about his economic status and even whether, in this Jewish community, he could make up a minyan (the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for some


(1978, 15). On a naturalist view, persons develop and have a history in which they are recognized and responded to as persons. It is our social nature, the fact of mutual recognition and answerability and our responsiveness to other persons, that shapes and makes possible our personhood. Baier observes that all persons start out as children, born to earlier persons from whom they learn the arts of personhood. "The more refined arts of personhood are learned as the personal pronouns are learned, from the men and women, girls and boys, who are the learners' companions and play-mates. We come to recognize ourselves and others in mirrors, to refer to ourselves and to other" (1991, 13). Persons, then, begin as small persons who first learn from older persons bytelling of personhood as well. He, She, It? As the title of Piercy's novel suggests, a key question it raises is the status of the artificial being Yod. The status of robots, androids, and cyborgs is, of course, a familiar trope in much science fiction, including especially the cyberpunk genre in which Piercy situates her novel. But in much the same way that Baier and Grene offer a distinctive take on the question of personhood by beginning from the standpoint of maternity and infants, Piercy too situates her exploration of Yod's personhood in a matrilineal tale that emphasizes genesis, development, history, and mutual recognition. In doing so, Piercy enacts an extended philosophical debate over Yod's status that explores many of the same themes as Baier's and Grene's naturalist


account of persons. Weiss: Persons and a Metaphysics of the Navel Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Vol. 1: 2018 7 The drama behind He, She and It unfolds in 2059 largely in a Jewish town, Tikva, situated on the margins of official society in a typical cyberpunk dystopic environment in which government has stopped functioning, the environment has been ruined, nuclear war has obliterated the Middle East, and there have been periods of famine and plague. Large multinationals have taken the place of functioning governments and pose a continuing threat to the well-being and security of Tikva. Around 2040, people begin to find robots disturbing and there has been a luddite outbreak of machine bashing. Since that time, it has been illegal to create a robot shapedsleeping, Malkah and Yod communicate via the net; through Malkah, Piercy interweaves Yod's story with that of the creation of a golem in 17th century Prague. Malkah spins something of a Jewish fairy tale for Yod. Indeed, the third chapter of the novel is titled "Malkah Tells Yod a Bedtime Story," and begins to recount Rabbi Judah Loew's own efforts to master another form of technology and create a golem, Joseph, whose task to protect the ancient Jewish ghetto of Prague mirrors Yod's. Joseph is literally midwifed by the Rabbi's daughter, who is a midwife, and who helps to socialize and humanize Joseph, much as Yod is humanized by the women in his life. With these references to midwifery, bedtime stories, intimacy, and friendship, Piercy situates her tale


of Yod's personhood in the context of many of the same themes explored in Baier's naturalist account of persons. The elements introduced by Malkah into Yod's programming are further developed by Malkah's granddaughter Shira Shipman, who is brought in to further Yod's development. Her area of specialization is the interface between human beings and A.I.s and her task is to help Yod blend in well with humans. As Avram explains, "It will be necessary for him to pass time with humans, and he must seem as much like them as possible" (71). Shira's job Weiss: Persons and a Metaphysics of the Navel Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Vol. 1: 2018 8 then is to socialize Yod. In Baier's terms, she is to school him in the artsof personhood. At first, she sees this as merely a programming task as she is convinced, as is Avram, that Yod is merely a machine, a complicated mechanism simply posing at being human. Over the course of the novel, though, Shira comes to accept Yod as a person and enters into a romantic and sexual relationship with him. She and Yod are both portrayed as evolving and developing. Yod helps Shira come to terms with her complex relationship with her mother Riva, a difficult divorce from her husband, the separation with her son, and a disastrous affair she had as a young woman. Shira in turn helps Yod to understand the complexity of human relationships and human emotions. His abilities and capacities develop as he interacts with her.


Rather than the cold, controlling and fearful relationship he has with Avram, Yod's relationship with Shira is characterized by the deep interpersonal connections she learns to forge with the cyborg, and he learns to exercise as part of his original constitution. With Baier, we might say that Yod's personhood is called into full expression through Shira's treating him as a person. The figure at the center of this triangle is of course the cyborg Yod, and here too Piercy undermines our traditional expectations of how cyborgs ought to behave. While the reader is given no doubt that Yod exercises his ability to protect and is exhilarated when given the opportunity to enter into battle, he also exhibits a number of tendencies that are characterized in the novel asfeminine. Shira notes, for instance, that he is like a woman in his desire and need to be touched. She points out that his desire for intimacy and the need to join with and understand others is also typically feminine. As she comments, "You want telepathy. It's a prominent human fantasy, usually a fantasy of women, who wish they could understand what men want and tell men what they want" (184). While Shira suspects that men were "put together mentally as well as physically on some completely different principle than herself," she finds this is not the case with Yod. She comments that his desire for connection and his need to communicate his feelings is not characteristically male. Yod is also interesting because of his own self-doubts and


inner conflicts. As a cyborg, a unique creation, attempting to pass as human, he is regularly confronted with doubts about his place in the world. He comments, "What I feel most is loneliness, although for a being who is unique, one of a kind, to feel lonely must appear ironic" (119). He is aware of his own unique nature and the problems this presents for his status. After Shira comments that she loves to hear Malkah talk about her childhood, Yod replies: "You are embedded in history in a sense that I can't be. What leads to me? Legends, theories, comic books. All my destroyed brother machines" (269). Never having had a childhood, he finds Shira's son mysterious and as a cybernetic being he finds it hard toand multinationals pushing the limits of techno-science, Piercy would seem to knock the legs out from under Baier's and Grene's view. After all, Yod is built not born, is not the product of a pregnancy or a mother, doesn't share our biological plan, hasn't had a childhood in which he got to play, lacks a history, doesn't age and won't get old, and yet engages in an intimate and loving relationship with Shira, who comes to be convinced that he is a person and who defends his personhood to the other citizens of Tikva. Furthermore, Piercy's novel seemingly suggests that Baier's own emphasis on mothers, reproduction, and birth is itself outmoded in a world characterized by significant techno-scientific changes. Baier suggests that persons begin with the birth of


tools in the context of their use-artifacts which are in a way extensions of ourselves, but which in turn we actualize in our personal lives" (1974, 358). Grene refers to this as the natural artificiality of persons. Secondly, Piercy also situates her exploration of Yod's status in Shira's story, including her story of being a daughter to Riva, who she believes abandoned her, her relation to her grandmother Malkah, who raised her, and her efforts to rescue her son Ari who is being held captive by her former employer. Indeed, the novel opens with Shira fighting for custody of her son. We learn that Shira insisted on natural child birth, resisting the common practice of technologically mediated reproduction and birth. Shira herself is presented as relatively unenhanced. AsPiercy describes her, "She was commonplace, banally human, as natural as seaweed and mud. She felt ashamed, as if her unaltered, unenhanced body were something gross" (124). Shira has been raised in Tikva, outside the official system of multinational corporations, where she was surrounded by nature and animals and warm friendships, none of which were present in her life in the multinationals. And she longs to secure custody of her son so that she can in turn raise him in the same environment. The backdrop to Piercy's novel is a world devastated by global climate Weiss: Persons and a Metaphysics of the Navel Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Vol. 1: 2018 11 change, rapacious capitalism, and lives that mean very little. Against this backdrop, Shira's matrilineal tale,


seen, that humans are embedded in history in a way that he cannot be. He is a cyborg who is weary of his uniqueness. He is disturbed by comparisons to the unnatural and doubts his own nature and must regularly be reassured by Shira. Ari, Shira's son, remains a mystery to Yod, as Yod was never a child (377). And while Yod possesses that navel, he finds the birthing and bonding process somewhat hard to understand, as in this conversation with Shira: "I am not fragile at all. Humans are surprisingly fragile, if I understand your specs correctly." "Now, the idea of design specifications for humans is metaphorical language, Yod, since we are not engineered or built but rather born." "I am trying to understand the bonding processcreated by the birthing process. It's quite strong?" "There's no stronger bond." (91) When Shira discovers that Yod and Malkah had earlier been carrying on a sexual affair, Malkah argues in her defense, "Of course Yod has no prejudice against a woman because of age. He was not breaking any Oedipal taboos, for he was not born of woman. He was not born at all, and he does not sully his desire with fear or mistrust of women the way men raised by women do" (162). That Malkah ended her affair with Yod, because he fatigued a woman "of her age," further underscores his uniqueness, his eternal youthfulness. He does not age. He does not forget and observes, "Humans don't understand what a blessing it is that you


"What kind of question is that?" Riva bristled.... "Is she a machine or human?" She was wondering if Nili could be a cyborg. "That's a matter of definition," Riva said mildly. "Where do you draw the line? Was she born from a woman?" "That's a start." "Of course. Nili bat Marah Golinken." "She matrilineal, like us," Shira said, surprised. (190–91) Shira, who remains all-too-natural in her femininity and Jewishness, and Nili, the IsraeliJewish cyborg born of and trained in the arts of personhood by women, represent something that Yod can never attain and Shira's final act, destroying all possibility of resurrecting her lover, settles the debate that has been staged throughout the novel. Gods, recall, denied childhood, cannot be persons. Nor apparently can Yod. Weiss: Persons and aaccommodate ourselves to and her novel points the way to some of the complex debates we may all be engaged in before too long. Both Malkah and Shira repeatedly affirm that Yod is a person, but not a human person. As Shira comments at the end of the novel, after the death of Yod, "No one who did not know him can understand how thoroughly he was person, although not a human one" (421). But Piercy is ambivalent regarding this science fiction future and suggests that naturalizing technology is fraught with complexities. While Piercy presents Yod as a fully human character, by the end of the novel, he destroys himself and his "father" and creator Avram. Malkah travels to the Middle East (the Black Zone) with the Jewish


feminist cyborg Nili to receive her own cybernetic implants. And in the final chapter, "Shira's Choice," Shira flirts with the idea of rebuilding Yod but concludes that "she could not manufacture a being to serve her, even in love." She dumps Yod's memory cubes into the trash and "sets him free" (429). Grene and Baier, in their naturalist view of persons, eschew science fiction and give little attention to the role of techno-scientific developments that may transform what we mean by persons. Piercy's rich and detailed novel and her exploration of the status of the unnatural personhood of Yod reconciles some of these tensions and offers us an ambivalent tale about the varieties of persons that may emerge from our techno-scientific labs and the challenges they may presentus sometimes navel-gazing humans. We may witness the emergence of new kinds of persons and new questions about the ontology of personhood and the metaphysics of the navel. Weiss: Persons and a Metaphysics of the Navel Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Vol. 1: 2018 14 Works Cited Baier, Annette. 1985. Postures of the Mind. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Baier, Annette. 1991. "A Naturalist View of Persons." Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 65, no. 3 (Nov. 1991): 5–17. Baier, Annette. 1994. Moral Prejudices. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Baier, Annette. 2009. Reflections on How We Live. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DeGrazia, David. 2005. Human Identity and Bioethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Print. Graham, Elaine. 2006. "The 'End' of the Human or the End of the


'Human'?" In: God and Human Dignity. Edited by R. Kendall Soulen and Linda Woodhead, 263–281. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grene, Marjorie. 1974. "People and Other Animals." In The Understanding of Nature, 346– 360. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company. Grene, Marjorie. 1976. "To Have a Mind..." Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 1, no. 2 (1976): 177–199. Grene, Marjorie. 1978. "The Paradoxes of Historicity." The Review of Metaphysics 32, no. 1 (1978): 15–36. Grene, Marjorie. 1995. A Philosophical Testament. Peru, Illinois: Open Court. Print Grene, Marjorie. 2002. "Intellectual Autobiography of Marjorie Grene." In The Philosophy of Marjorie Grene. Edited by R. Auxier and L. Hahn, 1–28. Carbondale: Open Court Publishing Company. Grene, Marjorie and Niles Eldridge. 1992. Interactions. New York: Columbia University Press. Haraway, Donna.1991. "A Cyborg Manifesto." In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, 149–182. New York: Routledge. Piercy, Marge. 1991. He, She and It. New York: Ballantine Books. Print. Wilkes, Kathleen. 1988. Real People: Personal Identity without Thought Experiments. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Print. Wolfe, Cary. 2010. What is Posthumanism? Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Print. Weiss: Persons and a Metaphysics of the Navel Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy Vol. 1: 2018 15 1 I would like to thank Dr. Steven Scalet and Dr. Greg Stoutenburg, the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft of this essay and their suggestions for improvement. 2 In Real People Wilkes abjures thought experiments in favor of concentrating upon the sorts of things that can (really, actually)


Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), Bill McKibben's Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age (Owl Books, 2004), Jurgen Habermas' The Future of Human Nature (Polity Press, 2004), the President's Council on Bioethics report Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (Washington: Regan Books, 2003), and Mihail C. Roco and William Sims Bainbridge, eds., Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003). Notes:Weight of the world Lyrics

Weight of the world
Woman, she's moving to the weight of the world
Momma, she's carrying the weight of the world
All the time she breathing in the weight of the world
Bring it on home
Bring the soup-bone home

Well, poppa, too, he got the weight of the world
Man is moving in to the weight of the world
And all the time, along with the soup he's bringing home
The weight of the world

Bring it on home
Bring the soup on home

Children, too, fall to this weight of the world
All the time they they fall... right there into the weight
And all the time they're trying to shake
The weight of the world

Bring it on home
Bring the soup on home

Everybody's going to the wake of the world
We're all dressing up fine for the wake


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Dauenhauer Team Discovers High-Yield Method for Producing Plastics from Biomass

Dauenhauer Team Discovers High-Yield Method for Producing Plastics from Biomass

A team led by Paul Dauenhauer of the Chemical Engineering Department has discovered a new, high-yield method of producing the key ingredient used to make recyclable plastic bottles from biomass. The process is inexpensive and currently creates the chemical p-xylene with an efficient yield of 75-percent, using most of the biomass feedstock. The research is published in the journal ACS Catalysis. Dauenhauer says the new discovery shows that there is an efficient, renewable way to produce a chemical that has immediate and recognizable use for consumers.

The research is published in the journal ACS Catalysis. Dauenhauer says the new discovery shows that there is an efficient, renewable way tocatalyst, which we were able to optimize and achieve 75-percent yield," Fan says. Computations conducted by the team have been instrumental in understanding the reaction mechanism and the role of the catalyst as well as making alteration to the catalyst to improve the yield of the process.

Besides Dauenhauer and Fan, the research team is made up of UMass Amherst’s C. Luke Williams and Chun-Chih Chang, doctoral students in chemical engineering, and their collaborators, professors Raul F. Lobo, Dionisios G. Vlachos, and Stavros Caratzoulas, as well as doctoral student Nima Nikbin, and postdoctoral fellow Phuong Do from the University of Delaware.

This discovery is a part of a larger effort by the Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) to create breakthrough technologies for the production of biofuels and chemicals from


lignocellulosic biomass. The center is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Energy Frontiers Research Center (EFRC) program which combines more than 20 faculty members with complimentary research skills to collaborate on solving the world’s most pressing energy challenges.

The discovery for the production of plastics adds another dimension to the portfolio of accomplishments of CCEI. In 2010, a CCEI research team led by Mark Davis of Caltech discovered a new catalyst, called Tin-Beta, which can convert glucose into fructose. This is the first step in the production of a large number of targeted products including biofuels and biochemicals, including p-xylene, from the building block of cellulose, the major constituent of trees and switchgrass.

In addition, a team led by Ray Gorte and John Vohs atEverton scout Andy De Smet has confirmed that the club are keeping tabs on Club Brugge defender Bjorn Engels.

The 21-year-old has been linked with the Toffees in the past few weeks, with Belgian journalist Kristoff Terreur stating that Everton were watching the centre-half.

The Blues are looking to add to their defensive ranks this summer as speculation continues to surround the future of England international John Stones.

And De Smet, who has been an Everton scout since the summer of 2014, revealed in an interview with Sports/Football Magazine, via the Liverpool Echo, that the Goodison Park-based side’s interest was true.

Everton are closely following Belgian defender Bjorn Engels. #EFC have watched him several times. No offers as yet. pic.twitter.com/0jGau3MBs4 — Kristof Terreur 📰 (@HLNinEngeland) May 6, 2016

He said: “He is in


Edwards-Helaire Leading LSU

By BJ Bennett

SouthernPigskin.com

Follow us at Twitter.com/SouthernPigskin. Become a fan at the SouthernPigskin.com Facebook Page

Each step Clyde Edwards-Helaire takes, deliberate and forward, is the pulse of the purple-and-gold.

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is very likely going to win the Heisman Trophy. Wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase leads the nation in receiving. Safety Grant Delpit is poised to be a top ten NFL Draft pick. For all of the remarkable talent on the Tigers' roster, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire deserves a stage all his own. It’s a spotlight he has earned. Scoring four total touchdowns in LSU's famed win at Alabama, the junior quickly became a leading part of the national narrative; his role has long been the same for a team that may soon be the national champs.

The peakof the Tigers' production this season has largely mirrored that of Edwards-Helaire. LSU emerged as the nation's number one team during a remarkable mid-season stretch that included wins over Florida, Auburn and at Alabama. In those three games, Edwards-Helaire ran for 373 yards and six touchdowns, adding 16 combined catches against the Tigers and Crimson Tide alone. For good measure, Edwards-Helaire then set a new career-high with 172 rushing yards at Ole Miss, then, most recently, another career-high with 188 yards and three scores against Arkansas -- on eight carries.

Entering the final week of the regular season, still with three, or four, more games to play, Edwards-Helaire has 1,146 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns, all at 6.99 yards per carry. He also has 39 receptions. Notably, Edwards-Helaire


leads the SEC in rushing scores and also ranks in the top 15 in the conference in catches, doing so, mind you, for a record-setting offense averaging 561.1 yards per game and a top-ranked, undefeated team. His impact, needless to say, has been incredible.

There just aren't many parallels, even historically, to Edwards-Helaire's proficiency and production. This millennium, the only Power Five running backs with 15 rushing touchdowns, 6.9 yards per carry and 35 receptions in a single season are greats Reggie Bush from USC, Larry Johnson from Penn State and Edwards-Helaire. Should he maintain his YPC average and reach more than 45 catches, a very real possibility, Edwards-Helaire would be the first player in 20 years to meet those minimums.

Entering the final traditional week of the schedule, thereare eleven players in college football averaging at least 130 yards from scrimmage per game, Edwards-Helaire included. Of that group, just two members are averaging over seven yards a play: Clemson’s Travis Etienne and Edwards-Helaire. In fact, the last SEC player to finish with 130 scrimmage yards per game and seven yards per play was now-NFL starter Nick Chubb in 2014.

For immediate point of reference, Edwards-Helaire has more rushing yards than Georgia’s D’Andre Swift and more receptions than Florida’s Van Jefferson, two of the top playmakers, at running back and wide receiver, in the entire SEC. Simply put, and relatively-quietly somehow, Edwards-Helaire is having a season for the ages. Regardless of what happens over the next month-plus, this is already a year to remember.

Beyond just the national discussion,


Edwards-Helaire is now part of his program’s proud legacy.

What Edwards-Helaire means to LSU goes well beyond merely the numbers, even as rare as his are. There is a passion and pride to Edwards-Helaire, a determination that always seems to deliver. When the Tigers won in Tuscaloosa, he, literally and figuratively, willed them to victory. Relentless effort, from Edwards-Helaire, with his own motivational story, inspired his sidelines and his state. The persistence of Edwards-Helaire, not only the fact he makes plays but the way in which he does, has become a defining aspect of this LSU team. Yards gained are a measure of more than just production.

Each step Edwards-Helaire takes, deliberate and forward, is the pulse of the purple-and-gold.

This is a storybook run for Edwards-Helaire, a Baton Rouge-native. Hislegacy started early at Catholic High School as Edwards-Helaire became the first freshman ever to play varsity football in head coach Dale Weiner's 29 years with the program. Edwards-Helaire would go on to be named the class 5A Championship Most Outstanding Player after pacing the Bruins to a 31-28 triumph with 249 total yards. With his hometown in the college football spotlight, Edwards-Helaire's career is suddenly coming full-circle.

Remarkably, Edwards-Helaire is only getting better and becoming more important down the home stretch. He leads all SEC running backs with 463 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, a number that also paces all of college football, in November. Edwards-Helaire, this month, is the only player in the country averaging over nine yards per carry with more than 40 attempts. Additionally, he


is tied for third in the league in receptions in November with 20, the exact same total as LSU’s top wide receivers Chase and Justin Jefferson.

There isn’t a player in college football quite like Edwards-Helaire, performance or personality. His energy has helped the Tigers run their gauntlet of a schedule; a dramatic sprint to the finish remains. For Edwards-Helaire, the big stage, performances against Florida to Alabama, has often been where he has been at his best. Along with Burrow and others, the role Edwards-Helaire has, clearly, is a starring one. As the Bayou Bengals chase a national title, he will be one of the forerunners out in front.

Since the start of his career back in 2017, there has always been something special about Edwards-Helaire, the hometown star.War Crimes Court Not Necessary Now

IT IS A fact today that The Hague Conventions adopted in 1899 and 1907 focus on the prohibition to warring parties to use certain means and methods of warfare. Several other related treaties have been adopted since then.

BOTH HAGUE Law and Geneva Law identify several of the violations of its norms, though not all, as war crimes.

THE LIBERIAN civil war which started in 1989 and subsided as a result of election which brought in former president Charles Taylor into power has many stories. It later erupted in 2003 which led to several death and destruction.

THE WAR CAME to an end following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord in Accra, Ghana by all the parties to the conflict. One of the institutions put


forward and agreed by all parties was the establishment of TRC.

THE LIBERIAN TRC was mandated to conduct investigations and publish a report documenting «gross human rights violations, violations of international humanitarian law as well as abuses that occurred, including massacres, sexual violations, murder, extra-judicial killings and economic crimes, such as the exploitation of natural or public resources to perpetuate armed conflicts» in Liberia between January 1979 and October 14, 2003.

THE FINAL REPORT listed 57 people or entities recommended for further investigation; 19 corporations, institutions, and state actors responsible for committing economic crime; 21 individuals for committing economic crime; 98 of the most notorious people that committed gross human rights violations; the eight leaders of the warring factions; and, lastly, a list of 50 persons recommended for sanctions.

ALSO, THE              error for which Gase should have received post-conviction relief.

                                   Facts and Procedural History

          On September 25, 2008, Gase sold Oxycodone, a Schedule II narcotic, to a

confidential informant. On September 26, 2008, and again on October 21, 2008, Gase sold

Hydromorphone, a Schedule II narcotic, to a confidential informant. On April 21, 2009, the

State charged Gase with three counts of Dealing in a Schedule II Controlled Substance, as

Class B felonies. On August 4,


16 Mass. App. Ct. 337 (1983)
451 N.E.2d 446
BLANCHE C. MAGUIRE'S CASE.
Appeals Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.
December 14, 1982.
July 6, 1983.
Present: BROWN, ROSE, & DREBEN, JJ.
Steven Babitsky for the employee.
Richard N. Curtin for the insurer.
ROSE, J.
The plaintiff, a teacher in the vocational education program of Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, brought an action in the Superior Court against her employer's insurer, seeking review of a decision of the Industrial Accident Board (Board). A Superior Court judge affirmed the decision of the Board, which included a determination that the injuries the plaintiff received in an automobile accident did not arise out of or in the course of employment. We agree.
The evidence presented before the single member of the Board was as follows: On September 9, 1976, while attending a teachers' workshop,the plaintiff injured her tooth as a result of biting into a hard object in a sandwich supplied by her employer. The next day, with the approval of her supervisor, she was treated by a dentist, who prescribed penicillin and codeine. A few days later the tooth was *338 extracted following the administration of a mixture of xylocaine and epinephrine as an anesthetic. Following the extraction, as she drove back towards school, where she was expected for the balance of the day, she began to feel sick, weak, and tired. She pulled her car over to the side of the road just as she reached the school driveway, and, after looking in her purse, realized that she had forgotten her codeine. On the way home to retrieve her


medication, she was involved in an automobile accident in which she sustained a severe concussion to her head, requiring hospitalization. She presently suffers from loss of memory, loss of hearing, difficulty with balance and coordination, and difficulty in "word-finding and production," all of which, she claims, developed subsequent to the accident. She has been diagnosed as aphasic and has not returned to work since the automobile accident.
At the hearing before the single member of the Board, the plaintiff attempted to prove that her injuries were caused directly by the anesthetic administered by the dentist. In a decision issued on June 4, 1981, the single member concluded that the tooth injury was compensable but that the employee had failed to sustain her burden of proving "that any disability sheDive Brief:

Los Angeles ranks No. 1 in the nation for its use of solar energy, according to a new report by the Environment America Research & Policy Center and its state affiliates. The city moved up from last year’s No. 2 spot, overtaking San Diego.

The cities of Honolulu, Phoenix and San Jose, CA, made up the rest of the top five in the report, entitled, "Shining Cities 2018: How Smart Local Policies Are Expanding Solar Power in America."

Honolulu stayed in the top spot for solar energy use per capita. In a statement, Mayor Kirk Caldwell said it will play a "huge role" in helping the city’s public and private transportation use only renewable energy by 2045. "This technology is rapidly improving and becoming even more widespread," he said.

Dive


Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Emperor Akihito, seen here with Empress Michiko, has said his age has made it difficult to fulfil duties

Japan's ageing Emperor Akihito will step down in April 2019, marking the end of an imperial era for Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the abdication date shortly after a government and royal panel met to discuss the timing.

The 83-year-old emperor had said last year that his age and health would make it difficult to fulfil his duties.

The timing of his abdication, the first in more than two centuries, has been the subject of debate in Japan.

The Imperial Household Council, made up of Mr Abe, lawmakers, and members of Japan's royal family, convened on Friday to set the date of the abdication.

Mr Abe later met reportersbriefly to announce that they had decided the emperor would step down on 30 April 2019.

His abdication will mark the end of the Heisei era, and he would be immediately succeeded by his son Crown Prince Naruhito on 1 May, which would start a new imperial era.

What does the emperor do? The emperor has no political powers but several official duties, such as greeting foreign dignitaries. Japan's monarchy is entwined in the Shinto religion and the emperor still performs religious ceremonies.

What do Japanese people think? Most support the emperor's desire to abdicate - a survey by the Kyodo news agency after Akihito suggested he wanted to step down found more than 85% saying abdication should be legalised.

Why is the abdication timing contentious? Earlier reports said the emperor could


abdicate on 31 December so that his son would start his era on 1 January, thus synchronising the imperial calendar - which is still used for formal announcements - with the Gregorian calendar widely used in Japan. But the royal household reportedly rejected this as ceremonies to mark the succession would then clash with year-end and new year royal events, reported Kyodo news agency citing government sources.

The emperor, who has had heart surgery and was treated for prostate cancer, has been on the throne in Japan since the death of his father, Hirohito, in 1989.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption The council met at the Imperial Household Agency on Friday

In a rare address to the nation last year, Akihito said he was "worried that it may become difficultfor me to carry out my duties" with his declining fitness, and expressed concern for the strain imposed on his family and Japanese society if he fell ill and died while on the throne.

His statement was widely interpreted as a wish for abdication, which at the time was not provided for under the law.

Public sympathy grew for the emperor, and the Japanese government moved to enact a bill this year to allow him to step down. It is a one-off piece of legislation, and does not allow Naruhito or his successors to abdicate.


Robert Pattinson thinks Katy Perry is 'hot'

The 'Twilight' hunk was spotted flirting with the 'Roar' hitmaker at the after-party for his new movie 'The Rover' in Los Angeles earlier this week, before reportedly telling his friends that he has a crush on the brunette beauty.

A source, who witnessed the duo's cosy behaviour at Whiskey Blue at the W Hotel, told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "They were heavily flirting. At one point, Robert sauntered to the bar with a pal and was heard saying, 'She's so hot,' nodding in Katy's direction."

This isn't the first time the pair have sparked romance rumours as they also set tongues wagging at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California in April when they spent the whole weekendtogether.

A source said previously: "Katy and Rob are the best of friends with a very strong sexual chemistry ... Friends genuinely want to see them get it together properly. They think they bring out the best in each other."

However, Katy, 29 - who split from her on/off boyfriend John Mayer in February - admitted last year that she see's Robert, 28, more as a brother than a lover.

She said: "He's my bud, I'm like his big sister. We just hang out."

Meanwhile, Robert is still in contact with his ex-girlfriend Kristen Stewart, whom he split from last year after it was revealed she'd been having an affair with her 'Snow White and the Huntsman' director Rupert Sanders.


it was "totally inappropriate" for kids to worry about coming back and getting tested.

Orange County -- just south of Los Angeles -- has a population of over three million people.

Essential exceptions to the order in the California county include all services needed to ensure the operation of government agencies and provide for the health, safety, and welfare of the public.

Hospitals, emergency responders, grocery stores, food banks, gas stations and other businesses selling essential activities are also exempt from the order and will remain open, the order said, according to Fox 11 in Los Angeles.

PENCE UPDATES CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE, SAYS THERE WILL BE 'TENS OF THOUSANDS OF TESTS' IN COMING DAYS, WEEKS

All businesses were also told to enact "social distancing," which is maintaining six-feet of separation from all people exceptHealth Insurance Cutbacks Squeeze The Insured

Hide caption Amber Cooper lives in Modesto, Calif., with her son, Jaden, 5, and her husband, Kevin. She had a liver transplant when she was 10 years old and needs daily medication so her body won't reject her liver. Previous Next Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR

Hide caption When Amber's employer changed health care plans, she could no longer afford the blood tests that monitor her liver. She also had trouble paying for her medication. A charity, Healthwell Foundation, stepped up to help pay her health care costs. Previous Next Deanne Fitzmaurice for NPR

Hide caption Jaden climbs into a kitchen cabinet, removing the food from the shelves so he can fit. Amber says she can't afford to buy him new shoes or clothes because of


i View slideshow

Amber Cooper and her husband were doing OK. They had jobs, a healthy 5-year-old son, a house in Riverbank, Calif., and health insurance from her job in the accounting department of a small manufacturing company.

Then one day everything changed.

"We were in a conference room ... and I had heard rumors but didn't know if it was true, and I started crying in front of everyone and actually had to excuse myself to gather myself together and go back in. It was devastating for me," Cooper said.

Devastating because the rumors — her worst fears — had come true. She was in that conference room for a meeting about her health insurance.

Cooper had a liver transplant when she was 10. She takes a drug twice a day soHackers robbed a Bank Akhmetov media

Natspolitsiya investigating the interference of hackers in the job Bank, which “caused significant damage” to the financial institution.

The main investigation Department of national police is investigating the criminal proceedings, in which it is established that the hackers stole from the accounts of Bank a considerable amount of money. It is reported Finbalance with reference to the decision of Pechersky regional court of Kiev, contained in the Unified state register of court decisions.

In a criminal case States that “from 19 to 25 January 2019 unidentified persons acting by prior agreement, committed unauthorized interference in the operation of the automated system JSC First Ukrainian international Bank (FUIB), which led to the fake information, and caused significant damage to the banking institution”.

the investigation obtained evidence that


went through a mock-up of the experiment, including a placebo injection — to provide a baseline for the behavioural assessments.

The researchers then released the rats into an activity chamber to measure their activity levels one day after injury, 3 days later, and a week after injury. The cage was equipped with infrared sensors to measure how far the rats travelled, where they moved to, and how fast.

The PEG treatment was found to improve behavioural results for the rats treated within 4 hours of injury. Those treated after a six-hour delay did not recover any more behavioural performance than the untreated rats.
Clinical applications

The behavioural test was innovative, says David Brody of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, because previous studies with PEG and a related compoundPrevalence and perception of nocturnal enuresis in children of a rural community in southwestern Nigeria.
Nocturnal enuresis after the fifth year of life is a distressing problem. In Nigeria, there is a dearth of information about the condition. This cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence and perception of the condition among children in Igbo-Ora, a rural community in southwestern Nigeria. Four hundred parents/guardians were interviewed and information obtained on 644 children aged 6-12 years. Overall enuresis prevalence was 17.6% (19.9% among boys and 14.9% among girls). The reported causes of nocturnal enuresis included urinary tract infection (33.5%), excessive play (27.5%) and deep sleep (25%). A majority (74.5%) of the respondents would use herbs or traditional medicine to treat enuresis, while only 6.8% of the respondents sought


Bring your hat, your sunblock and a sense of adventure! A Dean Jackson Guided Tour through the Top End of Australia is an experience you'll never forget.Dean's knowledge of the most spectacular locations in the Northern Territory is unmatched. A born and bred Territorian, he has been designing and leading tours for more than 20 years.With Dean at the helm, you'll see the unique wonders of the Top End—some not too far off, others in remote locations. You'll be in the confident and experienced hands of a tour guide with an encyclopedic knowledge of the native wildlife, flora,fish, as well as a canny understanding of local culture and eco-tourism.

customised

Your Top End experience will be further enhanced thanks to the company's high-quality equipment, including quiet electric motors, allowing you(album) - 1981

*Please pardon the appearance of this page. More pictures will be added soon.*

The Cars' fourth album provided a title track that has become their best-known party song. The album itself was more upbeat, and attracted new listeners as well as drawing old ones back. But, critics couldn't understand how the Cars' came to release such a light-hearted album immediately after one so morbid ("Panorama"). But the fact is that the Cars had a lot of problems at that time, and it was reflected in the music. "Shake It Up" came out in happier times, which also showed.

This album produced two singles, both accompanied by videos. The title track, "Shake It Up" was years in the making as it was written a long time ago, but never


recorded since it never sounded right when The Cars played it. But finally, it was redone, and out came a hit that everyone could agree on. It also became the highest ranking song for The Cars at the time, reaching #4 on the charts.
Since You're Gone" followed, though it's not as well known today. But it is one of the most unique lesser known singles. There was also a third single, "I'm Not the One" however, it wasn't released until 1986. Also, on this album, Ric Ocasek paid tribute to his long-time musical idol, Buddy Holly, by naming two songs "Think It Over" and "Maybe Baby" after two of Buddy Holly's classics.

Two songs from this era were not included on the album, but can now be found onthe anthology. Unlike, all the other Cars' songs, these two are cover songs, and started out as regular Cars songs, until Bebe Buell erased the lead vocals and replaced them with her own. She left the backing music and the songs were placed on her album, "Cover Girl." "The Little Black Egg," which was originally done by the Nightcrawlers is which is strange for even a Cars song.

But even stranger is Iggy Pop's "Funtime", which Ben Orr now uses as a joke song at his concerts with his new band, ORR, since it was never meant to be played in concert.

Even the tour for "Shake It Up" a lot more cheerful than the one they went on during "Panorama"'s time. This time, their set was highlighted with pastel


Trinamool councillor evades CID officers

After launching investigations into the Garden Reach incident, detectives of the criminal investigation department (CID) believe that Muqtar — accused in Tuesday’s incident — is still in the area while Muhammad Iqbal, alias Munna, also an accused, has escaped.

On Friday evening, a CID team went to Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar to discuss the case with police officials.“According to intelligence we gather, it appeared that Muqtar has remained in his locality while Munna fled the area,” said a CID officer, on the condition of anonymity.

After taking charge of the investigation, CID went to the spot on Thursday night where they raided the homes of both the accused. On Friday afternoon, a CID team, headed by special inspector general (IG) Vineet Goel and other officers,Neqstent (both Cerus Endovascular, Fremont, California), with reducing degrees of intra-aneurysmal mural contact by deploying across the lower aspect of the aneurysm and neck only in a disc-like format.^[@bib69]^ Continuing the theme of intrasaccular placement of flow disrupting surfaces but deviating towards a more conventional coil-like delivery is the Medina Embolization Device (Medtronic), which combines braided mesh petals to loops of core wire, allowing sequential delivery of the petals into the aneurysm.^[@bib70]^ Moving further away are the extrasaccular noncylindrical-stent designs, such as the pCANVAS device (phenox), which represents an evolution of bifurcation devices, such as the pCONus (phenox) and Pulserider (Pulsar Vascular, Los Gatos, California), in that an additional flow diverting membrane is deployed across the waffle-cone-like aneurysmal neck interface with the bifurcation. While the pCONus itself has


about player... Federer's 17th and last Grand Slam win was at Wimbledon two years ago. Will that tally go up?

Federer’s amazing. His mind and technique are phenomenal, but people did have questions about his body. Did he, at 32, have the resolve to put in the hard yards? This year, he’s worked on his fitness and, so, his recovery from a five-setter against one of the big guns may not take that long. However, to win another Grand Slam, he’ll have to beat three-four of the top guys. It’s going to be tough, but Federer could win at Wimbledon or at the US Open... Credit to his family and his management team for giving him the space to focus on his game. He’s been given what he needed.

AsA DRUNKEN woman had to be dragged from her burning car after it hit three other vehicles on the A46 near Stratford before leaving the road and bursting into flames.

And Victoria Parry heard a judge remark that, with two previous convictions for drink-driving, if she was a man, ‘it would have been straight down the stairs’ to prison.

But the judge at Warwick Crown Court then gave the 30-year-old, of Grange Road, Bearley, who had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, a chance to escape being jailed.

Judge Sarah Buckingham deferred sentence on her for three months, setting down various conditions Parry, who was getting through two bottles of wine a day, has to meet to avoid custody.

Prosecutor Tim Sapwell said at 6.50pm on May 23 last year Parry’s Fiat Stilo


hit three other vehicles on the A46 Stratford by-pass near the Marraway island.

She overtook on the cross-hatchings in the centre of the road, into the face of oncoming traffic, and other drivers had to take avoiding action.

She caught the rear bumper of a van, the wing mirror of a Vauxhall Insignia, and then the side of a BMW – the latter with such force the rear wheel was knocked off and the car was written off.

It caused the Fiat to spin and go down the embankment into woodland where it caught fire.

Other drivers stopped and rushed to her aid, including an off-duty police inspector who released her from her seat belt and pulled her out of the burning car.

He noticed she smelled of drink, and Parry told himthat she had had a bottle of wine and ‘I shouldn’t be driving.’

That was not only because of the amount she had had to drink, but because she had been banned from driving for three years in July 2015 for her second excess alcohol offence.

Parry was arrested, and when she took a breath test at the police station almost two hours later, the reading was only just under three times the legal limit, added Mr Sapwell.

Lucy Tapper, defending, said there was “deep and genuine regret” on Parry’s part.

She explained Parry had been in an abusive relationship for 15 years, and for the last five years had found herself with a considerable drink problem.

Miss Tapper said Parry had got her drinking under control and was no longer drinking two


KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese police clashed with mourners at the funeral of a 60-year-old man who died on Friday from a gunshot wound as escalating protests against veteran President Omar al-Bashir entered a fifth week.

A man stands on top of a car flipped over and damaged by mourners outside the home of a demonstrator who died of a gunshot wound sustained during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid Abdelaziz

Demonstrators originally took to the streets from Dec. 19 to complain about bread prices and cash shortages, but the protests quickly turned into calls for an end to Bashir’s 30-year-old rule.

Around 5,000 mourners turned out for the funeral of Moawia Othman, who died early on Friday from gunshot wounds sustained the day before during a demonstration inpose one of his most sustained challenges as the ruling party prepares to change the constitution to allow him to seek another term.

The official death toll in five weeks of protests stands at 26, including two security forces personnel.

Rights groups have said over 40 have died.

Sudan is mired in a deep economic crisis that now requires radical reforms or a bailout from friendly nations.

Critics blame years of economic mismanagement.

The government announced an emergency 15-month austerity program in October, but it still heavily subsidizes basic goods. The inflation rate rose to 72.94 percent in December.

Sudan’s economy was also weakened when the south seceded in 2011, taking about three-quarters of the country’s oil wealth.

The United States lifted 20-year-old trade sanctions on Sudan in 2017. But many investors continue to shun


Cirby Ranch Real Estate

Cirby Ranch is an intimate yet sprawling neighborhood nestled at the corner of Cirby Way and Sunrise Avenue and bordered by Twin Oaks and Crestmont Avenues. The streets are clean and wide with numerous cul-de-sacs and ample sidewalks. Established trees provide plentiful shade.

Homes are spacious with larger yards; many containing swimming pools to enjoy on hot summer days. Oakmont High School sits on the edge of the neighborhood, with Crestmont Elementary just blocks away.

There are several parks nearby, including Maidu Regional Park, a 152-acre oasis of recreational, historical, and natural attractions and opportunities. Convenient amenities are abundant, with several grocery stores, coffee shops, and restaurants within easy driving (and even walking) distance. Interstate 80 is easily accessible for commuters and travelers.Nicolas Cage

Entertainment entrepreneur Ryan Kavanaugh, the financial whiz who piloted his own helicopter and sought to rewrite the Hollywood rules of engagement, has been grounded. The highflying, hard-living mini-mogul, unable to make payment on $320 million owed to lenders, has begun laying off staff from his Beverly Hills-based Relativity Media. The studio behind movies such as "The Social Network" and "The Fighter" filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday, the company said. It's a violent return to Earth for one of the movie industry's youngest and flashiest power players, who at 40 boasts more than 60 film producing credits and friendships with...

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Peter Fonda suited up and slung his leg over the LiveWire, a prototype electric superbike from Harley-Davidson.
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"Left Behind" should have been left behind.
This execrable reboot of the film series — no critical darling itself — is based on the bestselling, faith-based novels. It's a shoo-in to clean up at the next Razzie Awards.
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Nicolas Cage is officially an outcast in China.
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Sega of America announced today that Ian Curran is its new president and chief operating officer. Curran has worked for major gaming companies like THQ and Acclaim Entertainment.

Curran’s last position was at Gioteck, which focuses on gaming accessories. He will report to Tatsuyuki Miyazaki, the chief executive officer of Sega West.

Image Credit: Sega

“It is with great excitement we welcome Ian to the Sega family in this new COO role and as president of Sega of America, roles necessary for our burgeoning success in the Americas,” Miyazaki noted in a press release sent to GamesBeat.

Curran will also serve on the board of Atlas U.S.A., a subsidiary of Sega.

“Coming off the success of Persona 5, Sonic Forces, Sonic Mania Plus, and the Yakuza series, and with so much more onthe horizon, including Valkyria Chronicles 4, it is an incredible time to join the team,” Curran notes in the press release. “As part of the Sega family, we are inheritors of an expansive body of work and opportunity which I plan to help reach its full potential.”

Curran replaces John Cheng, who had served as president and COO since 2012. Under his tenure, Sega of America saw a relocation in 2015 from San Francisco to Irvine and Burbank. He also helped the company with its then-new focus on PC gaming.


It said the capital allocation to the Army in the budget estimate was Rs 25,254 crore against a projection of Rs 42,500 crore while the Navy was given Rs 37,841 crore when the demand was Rs 51,065 crore.

Similarly, the Air Force was allocated Rs 59,672 crore against its projected requirement of Rs 92,496 crore for the year 2017-18, leaving a major shortfall, the panel said.

The panel, headed by Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri also mentioned that Rs 6,170 crore remained unspent by the Army during the first four years of the 12th five year plan (2012- 17), and called the under utilisation of the funds an indication of an "apathetic" attitude towards modernisation of the force.

The committee said fund crunch was impacting the three forces and itmay even hit operational preparedness of the forces. It expressed unhappiness over the "customary nature" of the reply by the defence ministry to these critical issues.

"A budget deficit of nearly 25 per cent will indeed have cascading affect on operational preparedness and technological upgradation of the Navy," it said referring to the inadequate allocation to the Navy.

The defence ministry, in its reply to the panel, said it was taking up the matter of funds shortage for the three forces with the finance ministry so that additional money can be given to them.

It said according to the IAF, 14 squadrons of the MiG 21, MiG 27 and MiG 29 are due for retirement in the next 10 years which will bring down the fighter squadron strength to 19 by


2027 from the current 33.

The strength may further reduce to 16 by 2032, it said, adding that the panel was informed about plans to induct new fighter jets in the coming years.

Referring to the modernisation plan of the Navy, the committee expressed deep disappointment over delays in several mega procurement projects including induction of Scorpene submarines and various war ships.

"It is disheartening to find out that repeated delays have become an inherent part and parcel of the projects. Such an approach is needed to be rectified and strict compliance to the stipulated timelines is the need of the hour," the committee said.

The committee asked the defence ministry to address the delays with seriousness and find solutions.

Talking about the delays, it also mentioned the delay in the delivery ofnaval offshore patrol vehicles due to the change in management of the supplier company and its takeover by the Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd.

It also talked about series of accidents involving naval platforms and said accidents are a continuous feature in the Navy.

The shortage of arms and ammunition being faced by the Army also figured in the panel's report. It said the Army is facing a shortage of 8,370 officers.

The committee also spoke about the need for enhancing security at defence installations across the country following the Pathankot and Uri terror attacks.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


Hegel and the Metaphysical Frontiers of Political Theory(Paperback)

Synopsis

For over one hundred and fifty years G.W.F. Hegel's ghost has haunted theoretical understanding and practice. His opponents first, and later his defenders, have equally defined their programs against and with his. In this way Hegel's political thought has both situated and displaced modern political theorizing. This book takes the reception of Hegel's political thought as a lens through which contemporary methodological and ideological prerogatives are exposed. It traces the nineteenth century origins of the positivist revolt against Hegel's legacy forward to political science's turn away from philosophical tradition in the twentieth century. The book critically reviews the subsequent revisionist trend that has eliminated his metaphysics from contemporary considerations of his political thought. It then moves to re-evaluate their relation anddefend their inseparability in his major work on politics: the Philosophy of Right. Against this background, the book concludes with an argument for the inherent metaphysical dimension of political theorizing itself.

Goodfield takes Hegel's reception, representation, as well as rejection in Anglo-American scholarship as a mirror in which its metaphysical presuppositions of the political are exceptionally well reflected. It is through such reflection, he argues, that we may begin to come to terms with them. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and readers of political theory and philosophy, Hegel, metaphysics and the philosophy of the social sciences.

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Global 3D Concrete Printing Market Outlook

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In 2016, the pedestrian bridge was built


for the first time in the world printed in 3D developed by ACCIONA. The bridge was 12 meters long and 1.75 meter in width. The world’s largest printed construction was designed by Universal Architecture, a Dutch company, which used sand to create stone-like material. The WinSun, a Chinese company, recently constructed 10 houses in 24 hours using 3D concrete printing with per house costing US$ 5000.

The major players operating in 3D concrete printing market include WinSun Global, Universe Architecture, Sika, Carilliom Plc., Fosters + Partners, Skanska, DUS Architecture, and LafargeHolcim.

Global 3D Concrete Printing Market: Key Developmentssomething else move in circles, but that isn't the case. Although some objects follow circular orbits, most orbits are shaped more like "stretched...more

In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved a new classification scheme for planets and smaller objects in our Solar System. Their scheme includes three classes of objects: "small solar...more

Pluto is a frigid ball of ice and rock that orbits far from the Sun on the frozen fringes of our Solar System. Considered a planet, though a rather odd one, from its discovery in 1930 until 2006, it was...more

Makemake is a dwarf planet in our Solar System. Makemake was discovered in March 2005 by a team of astronomers led by Mike Brown. Makemake officially became a dwarf planet in July 2008. There were three...more

Eris is a


dwarf planet in our Solar System. Eris was one of the first three objects classified as a dwarf planet, along with Pluto and Ceres. Eris was first spotted in January 2005. Eris is a large sphere...more

You may think that most objects in space that orbit something else move in circles, but that isn't the case. Although some objects follow circular orbits, most orbits are shaped more like "stretched...more

Kepler's second law he again discovered by trial and error. Kepler realized that the line connecting the planet and the Sun sweeps out equal area in equal time. Look at the diagram to the left. What Kepler...morescary indication of the extent of his dissociation and the unfeeling state of his Rand personality.

While previously Rand did at least as much good as bad, if not more, the growing influence of his link to Moridin and the corruption from using balefire has led to his doing more harm than good, to the extent that he can’t deny it:

Each time he'd conquered a kingdom before, he'd left it better than when he'd arrived. Rand had removed Forsaken tyrants, brought an end to warfare and sieges. He'd cast out Shaido invaders, he'd delivered food, he'd created stability. Each land he'd destroyed had, essentially, been saved at the same time.Arad Doman was different. He'd brought in food—but that food had drawn even more refugees, straining his supplies. Not only


had he failed to give them peace with the Seanchan, he had appropriated their only troops and sent them up to watch the Borderlands. The seas were still unsafe. The tiny Seanchan empress hadn't trusted him. She would continue her attacks, perhaps double them.The Domani would be trampled beneath the hooves of war, crushed between the invading Trollocs to the north and the Seanchan to the south. And Rand was leaving them.

The Gathering Storm, Before the Stone of Tear

Nor can he justify the extent he has made things worse.

He used Arad Doman to deal with the Seanchan, and to track down Graendal, and he took its troops and general to defend the Borderlands. No wonder Arad Doman is now such an Arid Domain.

Rand decides he will be moreSitter or the Amyrlin - is around. Her tactics are sensible and reasonable. She orders Captain Chubain to be Healed, and to organise his men to use bows and also to scout, and to get poor fighters such as the Yellows or Browns to form a body of Healers in the command centre and to roam the fighting groups. All the while, Saerin feels embarrassed at how poor the Aes Sedai are at defending themselves, and how disunited they are.

The Black sister Katerine tries to take control and go on offensive but Saerin’s summary of the danger and their poor showing makes her back down. Was she going to make the Seanchan raid more successful as part of her instructions from the Black Ajah? Or was she just


for Egwene.

Egwene POV

Egwene used herself up defending the Tower. She thinks:

I was a burning warrior, a hero called by the Horn. They won't dare face me again.

-The Gathering Storm, A Fount of Power

But she is wrong: the Seanchan will come again. Egwene reckons that more to’raken escaped than were killed. (The Seanchan sent hundreds.) Her losses were thankfully light: three novices died out of more than sixty, and one Aes Sedai out of forty. Ten damane were captured. It was probably Saerin who organised sisters to put the fires out.

The success of the raid is physical proof of the parlous state of the Aes Sedai; while Egwene protected them from their own inadequacies as best she could, they still came out badly.

Gawyn and Siuan completely misunderstand what hasinsufferable. The Seanchan may have to take Elaida’s Foretellings on sufferance.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The changing POVs in this chapter rapidly increase action and tension.

Chapter Title

The Tower physically shakes under the Seanchan attack, but also spiritually, since the Aes Sedai are ill-prepared and quite helpless and the organisation is crumbling due to being undermined by the Black Ajah and Elaida’s mismanagement.

The attack illustrates the motif of the lightning struck tower popular in Renaissance thought. In one fifteenth century Tarot card deck, the Tower is a large crumbling stone structure with flames emerging from its side (Robert M Place, The Tower: History, Symbolism and Divination) as shown in the Charles VI Tower tarot card right.

The Tower card

represents the fire that purifies – the process of destruction that is necessary before


she has forbidden it. Siuan feels she must rescue her because Egwene was so traumatised by her Seanchan enslavement as we see confirmed almost immediately in Egwene’s POV.

Egwene POV

Egwene’s first reaction is to flee from the Seanchan:

Egwene shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. The cool, seamless metal. The nausea, the degradation, the panic, despair, and—shamefully—guilt at not serving her mistress to the best of her abilities. She remembered the haunted look of an Aes Sedai as she was broken. Most of all, she remembered her own terror.The terror of realizing that she would be like the others, eventually. Just another slave, happy to serve.

The Gathering Storm, The Tower Shakes

but she pulls herself together. She promises to protect Nicola even though she can barely channel. Nicola is comforted despiteby now, assuming they've taken any women Elaida taught."

The Gathering Storm, The Tower Shakes

Egwene is prepared to kill captive Aes Sedai to prevent the Seanchan gaining Travelling. The Seanchan will get it; and actually it is Elaida herself who betrays it.

Adelorna realises Egwene could have left the Tower at any time. Egwene says if she did she would be abandoning Tower, since she knew the Seanchan would attack.

Egwene aims to make the Seanchan lose more damane in their raid than they gain captive Aes Sedai.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Egwene thinks Verin only recently returned to the Tower from somewhere. Verin says she dropped Tomas off to his family and implies it was a short while before. It has been about 27 days since Verin left Mat. Sanderson said that


he is found guilty.

- Maude Grieve, A Modern Herbal

It generally kills within an hour.

The explanation for the survival of the innocent is that they trustingly drank the poison straight down and their body reacted to the rapid dose with intense vomiting and diarrhoea, thus purging the poison from their system before it was absorbed. The guilt sipped their poison and this slower dose was absorbed through the gastro-intestinal tract without being violently ejected as a large dose would be and they died of cardiac arrest (Malcolm Stuart, Colour Dictionary of Herbs and Herbalism).

Verin’s actions in sipping her poison not only allowed her to hand on her report and explanations, but reflect that she accepted her guilt in swearing to the Dark One and for her actions (however reluctant)as part of the Black Ajah and was prepared to pay the price.

And Verin did evil acts as a Darkfriend:

“Light knows I've done enough to require a very special kind of redemption. But it was worth the cost. Worth it indeed. Or perhaps that is simply what I must tell myself."

The Gathering Storm, A Visit From Verin Sedai

Certainly Sheriam was convinced that Verin was a committed Darkfriend.

Verin gives Egwene one book plus the cipher key, yet in The Path of Daggers she thinks of the many books of enciphered notes she has:

One day she would have to write out the cipher she used in her notebooks - a lifetime's worth of them filled cupboards and chests in her rooms above the White Tower library - one day, but


her censure, or else she would lose what support they are prepared to give her. Elaida was not deposed because Egwene said she did not want the Red Ajah to fall. Egwene suspects Elaida did a deal with Tsutama to submit to the will of the Hall in exchange for Silviana being punished but to a lesser degree. Therefore Elaida still had influence in her Ajah. Via the Black, perhaps, since the Black probably didn’t want Elaida deposed.

Egwene is determined every suspected Darkfriend will be given the chance to prove herself. She realises the gathering of rebel sisters in Salidar and then their procrastination was probably a part of the Shadow’s plan. She believes the same of her own raising, but actually the latter was used by theany future.

And then it is on to the divided Tower in Tel'aran'rhiod, divided against other Aes Sedai and against itself. Egwene stands before the White Tower under a boiling sky (the influence of the Dark One) and a shadow from the Tower falls directly on her, indicating the direct threat of the Black Ajah and also the Seanchan. She feels she is holding the Tower upright, staving off imminent collapse. Egwene’s actions are what do hold the Tower up against the Shadow and the Seanchan.

Silviana is apparently being used as a scapegoat, punished for not controlling Egwene since Elaida can’t prove Egwene is a Darkfriend:

"Indeed," Katerine said. "If the novices are out of control, then should not the blame fall on the one who was to train them?"So


Elaida had realized that she could not prove Egwene was a Dark-friend. Deflecting attention to Silviana was a clever move; if Elaida was punished for using the Power to beat Egwene, but Silviana was punished far more for letting Egwene get out of control, it would save face for the Amyrlin.

The Gathering Storm, News in Tel’aran’rhiod

Katerine has promoted further division – this time in her own Ajah – for the Shadow’s cause.

A Red Amyrlin turns on a highly regarded Red Mistress of Novice, the ultimate madness in Aes Sedai terms (the ultimeate expressions of the theme of wrongness in the Tower, as Aes Sedai would see it). Aes Sedai and Sitters are more likely to rebel. The Reds too have lost face and they know it:

“Most of thedevelopment and his forging and dreaming talents and where this may lead next. Then in the Wheel of Time graphic novel panel Team Jordan member Maria Simmons explained her role as continuity editor. New Spring is now complete and quite a few issues of the Eye of the World have been published. Volume 1 of The Eye of the World graphic novel was released today. I asked Maria what her favourite scene was in The Eye of the World graphic novel, but there are many scenes she likes.

The WOT track had two Wheel of Time costuming panels, held on consecutive days: one for the Westland nations, and one for the “others” - Seanchan, Shara, Aiel and Sea Folk. WOT costume is something I have written about extensively here.


I talked about the Empress’ cloth of gold dress – a reference to the Machiavellian Byzantine empire, which was renowned for cloth of gold, a fabric made of a silk warp and either thin gold weft threads or silk wrapped with gold weft threads. There are also influences of China (the hair styles of the Low Blood and dress of the public servants) and Ancient Egypt (pleated garments and wigs and also the attire of the dacovale) in Seanchan costume.

Sharan costume also shows influence of China, as well as Africa, and the Sea Folk are dressed like corsairs and also have a strong Indian influence. The Sharan who was trying to sell the technology of sericulture is a parallel of those who smuggled silkworms to the West. SomeoneBy Adriana Aumen, College of Arts and Sciences

A strategic plan to realign two departments and several degree programs in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Washington State University promises new opportunities in education, research and outreach for students and faculty university-wide.

Approved by the WSU Board of Regents on Friday, the realignment will combine personnel and resources in the Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures (FLC) with those in the Department of Critical Cultures, Gender and Race Studies (CCGRS) and the interdisciplinary General Studies Humanities and Social Sciences programs to form a new School of Languages, Cultures and Race.

Courses in the new school will be offered on the Pullman, Tri-Cities, Vancouver and Global campuses beginning in the fall semester.

Multiple advantages expected

“The new school will build upon the


a range of additional benefits from the realignment,” said Ana Maria Rodriguez-Vivaldi, CAS associate dean for student affairs and global education, acting chair of CCGRS, and associate professor of Spanish.

“Our undergraduate and graduate students will gain access to more courses addressing important current issues and providing the skills and diversity training that so many employers seek today,” Rodriguez-Vivaldi said.

The graduate program in American Studies and the master of arts in Hispanic Studies will be greatly enhanced by the “cross-pollination” of FLC and CCGRS faculty whose expertise addresses these areas from different perspectives, she said.

Numerous meetings and conversations with faculty, staff, and graduate students in the affected areas and elsewhere in the college led to broad support for the final plan, said FLC chair Jolyon Hughes.

New structure similar toother institutions

Of current CCGRS faculty, seven now in the Comparative Ethnic Studies program will become part of the new school. Six others, mostly from the Women’s Studies program, elected to join either the English or history department based on their strong academic backgrounds in those areas. They will form a new, interdisciplinary degree and certificate program, tentatively titled Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, to be housed in the Department of English.

By putting these study areas under the English department umbrella, WSU joins numerous other universities utilizing a similar structure, said Todd Butler, department chair. At the same time, combining these areas at WSU will encourage innovative new approaches, he said.

“This faculty-led transition reflects the rich range of connections and longstanding relationships we already share. At the same time,


with our large digital footprint, together we are well equipped to engage questions in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, not only historically but also across the many forms of contemporary culture.”

Likewise, the new school focused on languages, cultures, and race also mirrors broad, interdisciplinary schools at other institutions, such as the School of Language, Culture and Society at Oregon State University and the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University.

Focus on student success, global context

The vision for the new school centers on cultivating deeper, transdisciplinary understanding of linguistic, cultural, national, social, and racial perspectives in a global context, and on providing students the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to thrive in an increasingly diverse and integrated global society.

Faculty of the new school and program are expected to selectby illuminating it with light emanating from a controlled illuminator. An optical image of the reticle is constructed based on the portion of the light reflected, transmitted, or otherwise directed to a light sensor. Another way to inspect a reticle is accomplished by directing a beam of electrons from a scanning electron microscope towards the reticle. An image of the reticle is constructed based on secondary and backscattered electrons emitted from the reticle in response to the beam of electron towards a detector. Such inspection techniques and apparatus are well known in the art and are embodied in various commercial products such as many of those available from KLA-Tencor Corporation of San Jose, Calif.
During a conventional inspection process, a target image of a test structure on the reticle


legal errors in the district court's decision which require reversal of its standing decision.  The United States Postal Service (USPS) argues there was no error but that dismissal of the complaint could also be upheld on the alternative ground that the arbitrator's award should be enforced.  We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

2
Raul D. Smith, a motor vehicle operator at the Los Angeles Post Office, was discharged for allegedly operating a postal vehicle without a valid driver's license.  The Local filed a grievance on Smith's behalf in accordance with the grievance-arbitration provisions of the National Agreement, asserting the USPS lacked just cause for discharging Smith.  After USPS management denied the grievance at the first three steps of the grievance procedure, the Local Union's authorized Western Regional Representative,Raydell Moore, certified the grievance for arbitration.

3
An arbitrator scheduled a hearing for July 15, 1985, but the Local Union claims not to have received notice of the hearing.  On the day of the hearing Jose Nunez, President of the Local, came to the hearing in response to a telephone call to explain that the Local had been unaware of the scheduled hearing and was unprepared to proceed.  Nunez asked for a continuance.  The arbitrator determined that notice had been sent to the Local and denied the request for a continuance.  Nunez left the hearing and the arbitrator took evidence only from the USPS.  The arbitrator offered the Local an opportunity to submit arguments within two weeks but it did not do so.


On August 20, 1985, the arbitrator issued his award sustaining the discharge.

4
On November 21, 1985 the Local filed its complaint in district court, seeking to vacate the award on the ground the arbitrator should have granted the continuance.  The USPS moved for dismissal or summary judgment on the grounds that the Local Union did not have standing to challenge the arbitration award and that the award was entitled to judicial deference even if the Local did have standing.  The district court determined the Local did not have standing because it did not have written authorization from the National President and dismissed the action.  The Local Union timely appeals.

ANALYSIS
I. Standard of Review

5
Standing is a question of law reviewed de novo.  Bruce v. United States, 759lacks constitutional standing but contractual authorization to bring suit, which is akin to the capacity to sue.  Postal Workers, 823 F.2d at 477.

10
There are several possible sources of the Local Union's claimed authority to seek to vacate the arbitration award in this case.  The district court considered only the terms of the collective bargaining agreement to reach its conclusion that the Local must have written authorization from the National Union and that such authorization was lacking here.

11
The district court held that oral authorization conveyed in a telephone conversation between the Local's counsel and the National Union's counsel, unsupported by any written authority in the constitution or by-laws, was legally insufficient to confer standing on the Local Union, relying on Pittsburgh Metro Area Postal Workers Union v.


assessed the need for written authorization to seek judicial review of an arbitration award by reviewing the collective bargaining agreement, Art. 15.4A(2), which states:

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No grievance may be arbitrated at the National level except when timely notice of appeal is given the Employer in writing by the National President of the Union involved.  No grievance may be appealed to arbitration at the Regional level except when timely notice of appeal is given in writing to the appropriate Regional official of the Employer by the certified representative of the Union in the particular Region.  Such representative shall be certified to appeal grievances by the National President of the Union to the Employer at the National level.

14
The district court read this passage to say that "in order for acase, the parties to the arbitration as defined by the collective bargaining agreement are the National Union and the USPS.  The Local Union argues that it was a party to the arbitration as an agent of the National Union.  In Local 13 we concluded that the contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union identified only the International union, not the local union as a party to the agreement.  441 F.2d at 1064.    The local union represented the employees' grievance during the first three steps of the grievance procedure and we decided that Local 13 "must be regarded as having acted as the International's agent in the first stages of the proceeding."    Id.


to the arbitration procedure.  The arbitrator's award lists the Local Union's President, Jose A. Nunez, as having made an appearance for the Los Angeles American Postal Workers Union.  See Postal Workers, 823 F.2d at 477 (where arbitrator's awards are directed to the locals and the same union representatives prosecuted the arbitration as conducted the lawsuit in district court, it is not clear that the National Union is the entity that was a party to the arbitration awards).

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The Local Union also argues that it had the implied authority to seek to vacate the award because the duty of fair representation necessarily creates authority to seek judicial review of arbitration awards.  See NLRB v. International Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's Union, 514 F.2d 481, 483 (9th Cir.1975)(it is establishedBut we saw it first in "Goodfellas" (which in fairness owes a little something to "Diner" in this regard). Take another look at the wonderful and weird scene where Henry, Tommy and Jimmy (Robert DeNiro) hang out at Mrs. DeVito's house — Tommy telling his mom he needs to borrow her butcher's knife to, uh, cut the hoof off a deer, his mom berating Henry for being too quiet, all the men fawning over the elderly lady's painting of two dogs on a boat. And all the while, there's a dead body (or mostly dead, anyway) in the trunk of their car outside.


A U.S. military airstrike Sunday struck an Al Qaeda leadership and training facility in northern Syria where militants were “plotting external attacks” against American citizens, officials said.

The U.S. Central Command said Monday in a statement the strike occurred near the northern province of Aleppo.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, said Monday the strike killed eight members of the Al Qaeda-linked Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for “Guardians of Religion.”

THOUSANDS MOURN AL QAEDA-LINKED TERRORIST - DUBBED 'INDIA'S MOST WANTED' MILITANT - KILLED IN KASHMIR

The Observatory said the dead included six commanders: two Algerians, two Tunisians, an Egyptian and a Syrian.

Al Qaeda-linked militants control wide swaths of northern Syria, mostly in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.

U.S. military officials said– a key commandment to emerge from this story – appears no fewer than 36 times in the Biblical text, and serves as the basis of derivation of countless later customs and laws. The relevance of the Exodus story goes beyond mere factual truth; its true significance lies in what we've built on it and how it has molded us as a people who, in every generation, have made it our own.

After a career in security and intelligence, Yael Shahar now divides her time between researching trends in asymmetric conflict and learning Talmud. She is the author of “A Damaged Mirror: A story of memory and redemption,” recently published by Kasva Press, and a sought-after public speaker. Her writing on Jewish education and philosophy can be found at


The U.S. is withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced late Tuesday afternoon. After a year of reassessing the council, Haley said the U.S. has determined the 47-member body is in worse shape now than it was before, and because of that, the U.S. is leaving.

"Human rights abusers continue to serve on and be elected to the council," Haley said as she made the announcement. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing and scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in their ranks. Therefore, as we said we would do a year ago if we did not see any progress,the United States is officially withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council."

Haley also cited with the U.S. sees as the body's unfair bias against Israel. The withdrawal is not a surprise -- the Trump administration has mulled an exit for the greater part of a year. National Security Adviser John Bolton, who joined the White House earlier this year, has also consistently opposed the body.

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Less than two weeks ago, Haley publicly said the U.S. would leave the body if changes weren't made, declaring the council's "relentless, pathological campaign" against Israel "makes a mockery not of Israel, but of the council itself." Haley has placed the blame for the Gaza strip conflict on the Palestinians, and says Israel has a "strong human rights