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MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Training young children in spatial reasoning can improve their math performance, according to a new study. The researchers trained 6- to 8-year-olds in mental rotation, a spatial ability, and found their scores on addition and subtraction problems improved significantly. The mental rotation training involved imagining how two halves of an object would come together to make a whole, when the halves have been turned at an angle. [sources] Past research has found a link between spatial reasoning and math, but the new study is the first to provide direct evidence of a causal connection—that when children are trained in one ability, improvement is seen in the other. The findings are published in the Journal of Cognition and Development. Kelly Mix, professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University, says the findings suggest spatial training “primes” the brain to better tackle calculation problems. Mix authored the study with Yi-Ling Cheng, a doctoral student in the College of Education. “What’s shocking is that we saw these improvements in math performance after giving the students just one 20-minute training session in spatial ability,” Mix says. “Imagine if the training had been six weeks.” Understanding the connection between spatial ability and math, she says, is especially important in the early elementary grades because many studies indicate early intervention is critical for closing achievement gaps in math. Spatial ability is important for success in many fields, from architecture to engineering, to meteorology, according to a Johns Hopkins University paper. An astronomer must visualize the structure of the solar system and the motions of the objects in it, for example, while a radiologist must be able to interpret the image on an X-ray. Some education experts have called for including spatial reasoning in the elementary math curriculum. But there are many forms of spatial ability and Mix says it’s important to first figure out how each of them may or may not relate to the various math disciplines. To that end, Mix is leading a larger study that tests elementary students on different forms of spatial ability and math performance. The Institute of Education Sciences, which is the research arm of the US Department of Education, funded the research. Source: Michigan State University

Brigham Young is well known in history as the founder of Salt Lake City, the first governor of the Utah Territory, and a leader in the Latter-day Saint movement. Thomas L. Kane, on the other hand, is not quite as known; he was an attorney born in Philadelphia. However, some would say Kane is the most important non-Mormon in the history of the Church of Latter-day Saints. Over the course of more than 30 years, these men corresponded on matters both personal and political. We sat down with Matthew Grow and Ronald Walker, co-editors of The Prophet and the Reformer: The Letters of Brigham Young and Thomas L. Kane, to learn more about these two men, why their letters are important, and what these letters reveal about American history. How did the correspondence between Brigham Young and Thomas L. Kane begin? Brigham Young and Thomas L. Kane first met in July 1846 after Kane had traveled to the Mormon refugee camps in Iowa to visit the Mormons who had been forcibly expelled from Illinois that year. Intrigued by the Mormons’ sufferings, Kane had drawn upon his family’s extensive political connections to assist a Mormon representative in Washington, D.C., in persuading President James Polk to commission a regiment of Mormon soldiers for the Mexican-American War. He then traveled to the Mormon camps to help raise the regiment and soon met Young, the forceful leader of the Mormon emigration. Kane soon became deeply impressed by the Mormons’ sincerity and concerned about their long-term prospects for peaceful coexistence within the United States. Encouraged by Young, who saw him as a potential ally, Kane began to envision a permanent relationship with himself as the Mormons’ self-appointed defender to the nation. Their correspondence began in August 1846, shortly before Kane left the Mormons’ camp to return to his native Philadelphia. Why are these letters important? The correspondence between Kane and Young reveals the strategies of the Latter-day Saints in relating to American government and culture during the crucial decades when controversy over the “Mormon Question” was a major political, cultural, and legal issue. The Kane-Young letters demonstrate the campaigns against the Mormons as well as the shifting tactics taken by the Saints in response. Kane’s position as the Saints’ unofficial lobbyist and image-maker on the East Coast additionally demonstrates how debates over Mormonism intersected with other national controversies over the development of the west, popular sovereignty, American Indians, government of the territories, and the sectional crisis. Indeed, with its focus on national concerns and the Saints’ relationship with the federal government, the Kane-Young correspondence illustrates that the “Mormon Question” was a major national issue that can be fully understood only within the context of these other national political debates of the mid-nineteenth century. In addition, the correspondence gives insight into most of the major controversies surrounding the Latter-day Saints between the late 1840s and the late 1870s. What kinds of things were they writing about? While the men also shared observations regarding American politics and news of their families, their correspondence centers on news relating to the Mormons’ political, legal, and economic challenges in the Utah Territory. What do these letters reveal about the men? Young and Kane are a study in contrast. While Young was born into poverty, Kane was born (in his own words) “with the gold spoon in my mouth, to station and influence and respectability.” While Young was regarded as a prophet by his fellow Mormons, Kane was a religious skeptic. They were in many ways an odd pair: the pragmatic prophet and the quixotic reformer, the millenarian who spoke in tongues and the skeptic of organized religion, the Yankee from humble origins and the aristocratic Pennsylvanian. Even their writing styles show their differences; Kane’s sentences can be learned, polished, and sometimes written in a complex manner. In contrast, Young’s style is more direct and pulsates with energy. Nevertheless, for three decades, Young relied on Kane, 21 years his junior, as his most trusted adviser outside of the Latter-day Saint community. As a result, Kane became the most important non-Mormon in the history of the Latter-day Saints. At the same time, Young deeply influenced Kane’s life. Kane’s wife Elizabeth commented that both men “had great magnetic power” and “each influenced the other strongly.” What do these letters reveal about the history of the Mormons? The correspondence opens a window into the inner workings of the new religious movement. Historians cannot understand such events as Utah’s troubled history with the national government, leading to the celebrated “Utah War” of 1857-58, without studying these letters. Nor can they understand Mormon efforts to build an ideal social order, which included their celebrated polygamy. For almost thirty years, Young and Kane talked and maneuvered, planned and plotted. No one can fully understand nineteenth-century Mormon history without reading this material. Image Credit: “Utah” by Moyan Brenn. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

My santa hit every possible mark this year! I'm so thankful to my SS! Not only did I recieve a new sketch book with some pencil sets, as well as a literal pile of notebooks to write in, I also got two new dice sets to replace the ones my cats have been trying to decimate by spreading them under every piece of furniture in the house! I love the colors and can't wait to see how well they roll! And speaking of those two troublesome devils, Avi Cadavi and Kiddy Kricket absolutely love their gifts! Kricket has laid claim to the crinkle tube and has been wrestling with it on and off all day! Avi adores swatting his catnip-filled jingle ball, but he also seems to enjoy swatting it under the couch! Heaven only knows how long it'll be till it vanishes! I'm saving their third gift- a literal TON of cat drugs- for Christmas. Thank you again Santa! You nailed it!

One of the most important aspects of the Minsk ceasefire for eastern Ukraine was the removal of heavy weapons from the front lines. Both sides were a bit slow in getting this going, with the rebels just finally starting the pullback over the weekend. The two sides were supposed to do the pullbacks within two weeks of the ceasefire, and the rebels were about a week in when they began. That’s far better than the Ukrainian military, however, which is now refusing to pull weapons out at all. The army is claiming that the rare skirmishes ongoing in the nation’s east justify them keeping their military assets on the front lines, even though that’s the opposite of what the ceasefire deal said. Ukrainian officials, as usual, sought to blame the fighting on Russia, and also claimed they had proof Russia is intending to attack Ukrainian cities soon. Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, dropped another 10% today on fear Ukraine’s military is going to sabotage the ceasefire with its determination to stay on a war footing. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz

Rob O'Neal, Florida Keys News Bureau/HO Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO KEY WEST, Fla. – Pedestrians, bicycles and cars are traversing a colorful new section of Key West’s Duval Street following the installation of four permanent rainbow crosswalks. Completed Thursday at the intersection of Duval and Petronia streets — in the heart of the island’s LGBT entertainment district — the crosswalks feature all six colors of the rainbow flag, an internationally recognized gay and lesbian icon. City workers laid pre-formed thermoplastic color blocks on the pavement, alternating with white stripes, and heat-treated them to permanently affix the colors. Article continues below The rainbow crosswalks exemplify the island city’s longstanding support for diversity. The city commission adopted the motto “One Human Family” in 2000, proclaiming equality and acceptance for all, and the island is a popular LGBT vacation destination. “Key West is very happy to be putting in the first thermoplastic permanent rainbow crosswalks in the state of Florida,” said Mayor Craig Cates. “It means so much to Key West to show our diversity, and also it goes perfectly with our ‘One Human Family’ motto.” “Accepting diversity has been going on for generations in Key West, mainly starting back when Key West was an island with no access but boats,” said Cates. “Everybody learned to live together, accept one another, so that has continued on through generations and is very evident today.” While the rainbow crosswalks opened to traffic early Thursday afternoon, their official debut is scheduled Wednesday, June 10, kicking off the June 10-14 Key West Pride festivities. This Story Filed Under

Disappointing in Spain's defeat to Chile, Diego Costa re-affirmed he is Chelsea bound. Diego Costa was one of the success stories of the La Liga season, but his World Cup is already a major disappointment. He came into the tournament as a player to watch, but also one with concern hanging over him. That was due to the injuries which hampered the end of his season, and forced him off early into the Champions League Final. In Spain's 5-1 loss to Holland and 2-0 defeat to Chile, Costa did not look sharp, and was entirely underwhelming. His £32 million transfer to Chelsea still appears to be on however, although yet officially unconfirmed. Spanish newspaper El Confidencial report Diego Costa was approached after the match in the mixed zone, and quizzed about his future, and if he was heading for Chelsea. He responded: "My future is more there than at Atletico". It's possible the ongoing transfer speculation has been a distraction for the striker, who has also had to contend with playing in the country of his birth Brazil, to represent Spain. Costa added: "It has been a very good year in many ways, but also very hard on others." The paper report that Costa's transfer could be made official within days, and importantly the striker has suffered no injury setbacks at least. His World Cup disappointment will give him a point to prove upon arrival in the Premier League, and that may just work in Chelsea's favour.

Don’t coupley photos like this just make you sick? Half sick with envy, and half sick with plain nauseating cuteness. This is Keisuke Jinushi, a bright-eyed young lover, obviously infatuated, being lovingly hand-fed and spoiled by his devoted girlfriend. Or is it? Let’s take another look. Actually, these photos are nothing more than cunningly framed selfies! But how did he do it alone? ▼Ah, the happiness of a loving relationship. What could be nicer than showing your love by feeding your lover choice morsels, like a baby bird? ▼Here we have our hero, Keisuke. Pondering how to achieve the photographic delights of coupledom while flying solo… These kind of photos capture timeless moments, telling a story we can all relate to. And then posted online because, you know, why keep that intimate moment to yourself when you can show everyone what a great time you’re having? “Mmm sweetie, this is so delicious, you have to try some! Here, open wide…” ▼”Oh, you have some ketchup on your face!” (giggle) Note the glazed look of joy as his girlfriend wipes off the sauce, about to lick it from her finger and kiss him to make sure none is left. ▼Now this is how it’s done as a single-person selfie! Pshaw, who needs a relationship anyway. This guy’s “lover” is his own right hand. While his right hand acts the part of “girlfriend”, his left presses the button on his smartphone to take the picture. ▼Here we have the amazing result! ▼…here’s the big picture! No shame in being single. ▼But how on earth did he get his hand looking so beautifully feminine? First, the skin tone is differentiated using pale foundation… ▼Then, carefully apply nail polish… Ooh, should’ve taken better care of those nails… ▼Tada! The finished product. As a final artistic touch, to avoid confusion a cute scrunchie is added. ▼Pro tip: it’s best to add a retro filter, or take the picture in cutesy Instagram style to make it a real “girlfriend” pic. There are tons of smartphone apps that will make your pic super-cute! ▼Here’s another thing: the expression on your face should naturally be an embarrassed grin. “Awww, she’s taking an embarrassing photo of me…” It’s perfectly possible to do this alone! How about other cute couple scenarios? Such as the classic picnic in the park. The guy falls asleep after their picnic lunch, and the girlfriend gets bored and amuses herself taking silly pics of him napping. She can’t wait to show him as soon as he wakes up! He’ll probably pretend to be annoyed, and they’ll have a little tussle… ▼This is how it’s done solo! ▼Finally, she started drawing on his sleeping face! What a minx. ▼Here we have the master at work, taking these “park” photos all by himself. When he uploads them to Facebook, everyone that sees them will be so jealous… ▼All those hours “we” spent messing round in McD’s, playing with french fries. Sigh. ▼And all that time it was really only me. Me and my imaginary girlfriend. Love is all you need. Inspired by the master’s efforts, I imitated them in the photo below. After all, it is the sincerest form of flattery. I wasn’t sure exactly how to create an imaginary “boyfriend” for the selfie, other than by gluing extra hair onto my hands, roughening them up and biting my nails to the quick. Then I had an idea! ▼Guys may find it difficult to express their true feelings… No imaginary girlfriends or boyfriends were harmed in the making of these photos. Photos by Keisuke Jinushi at Daily Portal Z, final photo by RocketNews24

At the last minute, when it seemed that a break was inevitable, the Greek government made a new proposal which included substantial additional concessions to the demands of Europe’s bankers and capitalists. It is not only that the Syriza government has been forced to abandon substantial points of its own election program, but even the famous “red lines” have been crossed. This is not what one would normally understand as a “negotiation”, in which both parts come together at a middle point. Rather, the Syriza government has been forced to accept and agree to every demand of the troika. The latest Greek proposal amounts to 8bn euro worth of austerity measures over 2 years. Summary of measures - click to enlarge Most of these are in the form of increases in the rate of VAT for different products and services. This accounts for 2bn euro and includes an end to the special VAT rate for Greek islands (which is likely to be opposed by Syriza’s government partner ANEL (Independent Greeks). VAT of course is a regressive tax, which hits working people harder. An additional 1.5bn is to be saved through cuts in pensions. These are not actual cuts in the amount pensioners receive, but they are cuts nevertheless as pensioners’ health and other contributions will be raised. There will be also a phasing out of early retirement schemes and an increase in the retirement age to 67 years by 2025. This breaks yet another of the government’s self imposed “red lines” and comes after cuts in pensions of up to 48% in the last 4 years. Another 1.7bn will be raised through taxing companies. This includes a 410 million increase in corporation tax next year, as well as a one-off 1.3bn profits tax for companies with profits over 500,000 euro. These are the only really progressive taxation measures in the whole package. Other aspects of the proposal which were already included in the document presented by Varoufakis to the troika last week are the maintenance of the regressive property tax (ENFIA) introduced under the Memorandum, as well as the continuation of the privatisations program. An end to privatisations and the immediate abolition of ENFIA were two key points of the Thessaloniki program on which Syriza stood in the election. Five months later, very little is left of the popular mandate which Syriza got on January 25 to put an end to austerity policies and the Memoranda signed by previous governments. One is justified in asking, even from the point of view of the supporters of the government’s negotiating tactics, whether it was worth waiting all this time, if in the end the demands of the troika have been met. What was the point of the report by the official Audit Committee on Public Debt which was presented last week by Parliament speaker Zoe Konstantopoulo which declared Greece’s public debt as “odious, illegitimate and illegal”? The report was very clear in its conclusions: ““All the evidence we present in this report shows that Greece not only does not have the ability to pay this debt, but also should not pay this debt first and foremost because the debt emerging from the Troika’s arrangements is a direct infringement of the fundamental human rights of the residents of Greece. Hence, we came to the conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is illegal, illegitimate and odious.” (Link). Now the government has committed itself to further austerity measures in order to continue paying this very same debt. Not only this, but as many observers have commented, this is an austerity package which will knock off the already battered economy 1.51% of GDP this year and 2.87% next year (which is in fact slightly more than the 1.5 and 2.5% demanded by “the institutions” (as the troika is now known). This will have a severe recessionary impact on the already fragile Greek economy, which in turn is likely to prevent the agreed targets for primary budget surplus from being met. This is an unmitigated disaster and the continuation of the failed policies of the last 5 years. Even despite all the concessions which the troika has extracted from the Greek government by using extreme pressure and blackmail, the deal has not been closed. A new meeting of the Eurogroup has been convened for Wednesday evening to iron out the last details. It is still possible that they will demand even more detailed commitments (read concessions) from the Greek government. Even this morning, the German Vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel declared “We will see if the Greek proposals are sufficient. If not, we’ll have to keep talking.” The deal, or proposed deal, means that Greece continues to be shackled to the chains of austerity and cuts. The question now is, how will society react to this? The great expectations created by the election of Syriza have been progressively dissipating over the last five months of endless negotiations with the troika which every day have brought ever greater concessions to its demands. There are already reports of opposition by pensioners who have called a demonstration against the deal this afternoon, as well as the Communist trade union front PAME. There is also opposition from within Syriza. Left Platform supporters within the government will now be faced with a stark choice: to oppose these measures and be kicked out of the cabinet, or cave in and backtrack on their earlier promise not to vote for austerity. There are media reports that even before the latest concessions, a prominent member of the Syriza leadership Vassilis Chatzilamprou, who was until recently a member of the majority faction supporting Tsipras, said: “We cannot accept strict, recessionary measures. People have now reached their limits.” Central Committee member Stathis Kouvelakis, from the Left Platform, commented: “The list of the measures of the new austerity package proposed by the Syriza government is absolutely depressing… Will this downward spiral stop before it's too late! It's more than time for the social movements and the combative forces of the Left to wake up and fight!” The Communist Tendency has correctly described the latest Greek offer as a new “Memorandum” and urged “members of parliament, officers and members of SYRIZA and all other trends and components to take a clear position and to resist the flagrant breach of popular mandate from the government and the party leadership. The party's MPs should commit to vote against the Memorandum agreement.” (Link) There is now talk by the European Union of providing Greece with 35 bn euro worth of aid programs, perhaps with the aim of softening the blow and helping the government get these measures passed. The truth is that this climb down is the result of the relentless pressure imposed by the troika, the representatives of the bankers and capitalists, on the Greek government for the past 5 months. All sorts of blackmail, threats, withholding of funds and dirty tactics have been used in order to force the Greek government to capitulate to their demands. Syriza was elected on the basis of a program of putting an end to austerity and the Memorandums, but European capitalists could not allow it to implement it. In reality, what this means is that within the limits of capitalism, there is very little room for implementing any other policy, other than cuts and austerity. From the very beginning, Syriza’s Communist Tendency warned that the Thessaloniki program was based on the false idea that the troika would agree to make substantial concessions. Now this has been proven to be a correct assessment. A sharp change of course is required, and this can only come from the mass mobilisation of the Greek working people, those who voted for Syriza together with the Syriza members and activists against this latest deal imposed by the troika. But we must speak clearly and honestly. The conditions for such mobilisation are now much worse that they were five months ago. At that time the government could count on rates of popular support of up to 80% and there were spontaneous mass demonstrations. Now there is a mood of shock, anger and confusion. Support for the government has slowly evaporated and there have even been sizeable anti-government demonstrations in Syntagma Square over the last few days, something which would have been unthinkable before. In reality, the only way to effectively mobilise Greek workers, pensioners, youth, the unemployed, is to offer a clear alternative to austerity policies. That can only be done on the basis of a program which would include the immediate repudiation of the debt, the nationalisation of the banks and key levers of the economy, the reversal of all austerity measures and a shock program of social emergency dealing with housing, healthcare, education and other basic needs - a socialist program. What the experience of Greece in the last five months demonstrates is that if one accepts the logic of capitalism then that is a slippery slope towards implementing austerity policies which make workers pay for the crisis of capitalism. The only way to break with austerity and cuts, to put an end to the Memoranda, is to break with capitalism.

Lisk, the blockchain application platform, has collaborated with distinguished design agency Taikonauten, in order to rebrand its ecosystem. With this partnership, the startup particularly aims to enhance the user experience and facilitate even greater user adoption. This collaboration is part of Lisk’s resilience phase, which aims to build a more elegant core system, an even better Lisk SDK, deploy various useful features, design beautiful and easy user interfaces, and continue to put a major focus on security. “This collaboration will help the Lisk project more efficiently to communicate the goals of our platform. It will improve the user experience of the Lisk client to a level not seen before in the blockchain space, marking a first step for common user adoption, and unifying our whole ecosystem visually,” Lisk Foundation President Max Kordek said. Taikonauten is a Berlin-based design agency that aims to shape the future of the Internet with its work. It uses digital design to promote key brands, position products and create new opportunities for cutting-edge businesses. Lisk will allow users to develop applications from scratch using JavaScript by deploying sidechains next to the Lisk blockchain. Registered in December 2016, the Lisk Foundation has a permanent mission to enable the project to develop into a widely used, next generation, blockchain application platform set out by its Founders. In its official release, Lisk said that the partnership will enable the Lisk Foundation to employ the creative talents of the team at Taikonauten to entirely redesign crucial aspects of its platform, such as its logo, website, blockchain explorer and client user interface (including desktop and smartphone). “Until now, Lisk has been concentrating its resources on the development of the back end. We have released many optimization, stability and security updates to date marking the significant progress the platform is making. Now, our attention moves to making visible changes to our current ecosystem,” added Kordek. The overarching aim of the collaboration, extending from March to August 2017, is to create a unified experience for Lisk users. Taikonauten will overhaul Lisk’s corporate design, developing a new logo and media kit. In addition, it will also design and develop a new website for Lisk. Finally, user interfaces for Lisk’s desktop, mobile clients and blockchain explorer will also be crafted and designed by the agency. “Our vision, together with Lisk, is to increase the visibility of this important platform. We aim to keep user needs at the heart of our approach and to make Lisk even more accessible to regular Internet users,” said Maik Fahldieck, Founder and Managing Director of Taikonauten.

It seems that every week, a new study comes out showing just how much damage we’re doing to our planet. This last one’s a doozy, though: according to Matthew Long, an oceanographer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, if we continue along the road we’re on, the ocean could begin to suffocate in about 15 years. Actually. The study was published in 2016 in Global Biogeochemical Cycles, which is not The National Enquirer and is a publication entirely based on science. Long’s not some quack, either. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool scientist with a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Stanford University, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering (Hydrology) from Tufts University, and a B.S in Environmental Engineering. That is a man who likes facts. According to Ocean Scientists for Informed Policy, “ocean deoxygenation refers to the loss of oxygen from the oceans due to climate change.” It’s not up for debate, either: it is a cold and hard fact that both climate change and ocean deoxygenation are happening, and no amount of climate change deniers stamping their feet will change it. “Long-term ocean monitoring shows that oxygen concentrations in the ocean have declined during the 20th century, and the new IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5 WG1) predicts that they will decrease by 3-6% during the 21st century in response to surface warming,” the website explains. “While 3-6% doesn’t seem like much, this decrease will be felt acutely in hypoxic and suboxic areas, where oxygen is already limiting. […] To put this in context, a highly optimistic emissions scenario of atmospheric CO2 levels of 550 ppm by 2100 would lead to a 1.2°C warming of the upper ocean. Therefore, these declines in oxygen are changes we should be prepared to see.” Advertisement While it seems obvious that an ocean deprived of oxygen is a bad thing, let’s break it down real quick: Almost everything in the ocean depends on the oxygen in the water to survive. Of course, there are a few things that don’t–whales, dolphins, turtles, and other creatures that surface to breathe–but for the most part, everything takes oxygen from the water. If those things die, that’s a pretty massive big ball rolling towards everything else being dead. So how does climate change affect the ocean? Well, the ocean is warming up, and a warm ocean doesn’t take in as much oxygen from the atmosphere, for starters. There’s the whole sea level rising issue, which is just way too big to go into here. But possibly the most concerning part of the whole thing has to do with phytoplankton, which are one of the smallest, most prolific, and really fucking important creatures on earth. If you believe National Geographic, “fish, whales, dolphins, crabs, seabirds, and just about everything else that makes a living in or off of the oceans owe their existence to phytoplankton, one-celled plants that live at the ocean surface. Phytoplankton are at the base of what scientists refer to as oceanic biological productivity, the ability of a water body to support life such as plants, fish, and wildlife.” Warmer water doesn’t mix well with colder water. As the surface warms, the phytoplankton that float around up there most of the time don’t get down deep as often, and those little guys are responsible for about half of the oxygen in the ocean. Advertisement Until the recent study, blaming climate change on the dropping levels of oxygen in the ocean was a tough sell, even to those who aren’t turning a blind eye to one of the hugest problems humans have ever faced. It was a tough sell because it was almost impossible to prove in nature. When it’s windy, for example, it churns everything up, making it nearly impossible to get an accurate measurement over a long period time. Long’s study cut out the variables of Mother Nature and all her vagaries. “This new study tells us when we can expect the impact from climate change to overwhelm the natural variability,” he said. Using simulations, he predicted and calculated ocean deoxygenation until the next century. And holy Christ, was it ever bad news. According to the predictive study, vast portions of the Pacific–Hawaii and the western edge of the Americas included–will be seriously deprived of oxygen somewhere between 2030 and 2040, which would most likely mean massive die-offs of very important creatures. Although Long’s study is far more telling than any other before it, it’s not really anything all that new. Back in 2010, Scripps Institution of Oceanography warned about the dangers of something called “oxygen minimum zones”, which are exactly what they sound like: large portions of the ocean, usually very deep, that don’t have enough oxygen to really sustain much life. “A major concern is that these so-called oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) will expand in the future as the upper ocean warms and becomes more stratified,” wrote Scripps scientist Ralph Keeling. What does it all come down to? Well, more and more, it seems we’re already too far gone. Every day, we’re passing tipping points. Long, who seems a little frustrated that no one in charge is listening to him or anyone else that has been screaming about a host of environmental issues, made his point very clear. “This inexorable force of human-induced warming will clearly result in widespread ocean deoxygenation in the future,” he said. And like it or not, our lust for carbon is causing it. “This latest study adds one more item to the list of insults we are inflicting on the oceans through our continued burning of fossil fuels,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University. “Ocean life and marine ecosystems must now simultaneously contend with the triple threat of warming waters, increased acidity, and now, we’re learning, lower oxygen levels. Any one of these challenges alone would be daunting. “We have yet another reason to be gravely concerned about the health of our oceans, and yet another reason to prioritize the rapid decarbonization of our economy.”

CBS 7 Sports has learned that Andrews Girls Golf Coach Mark Burgen has been suspended after attending golf practice last Friday. According to an Andrews Police Report, Burgen committed a Class C misdemeanor offense of using of wireless communication device in a school crossing zone or while operating a school bus with a minor passenger. The misdemeanor offense has now led to his possible suspension from his duties of head golf coach. In statement released to the Andrews County News, Andrews Superintendent Bobby Azam said “Andrews ISD cannot comment on individual student or personal matters. However, as always, the district’s primary purpose is the safety and security of all AISD students, faculty and staff. Therefore, the district will continue to take appropriate actions to ensure their safety and well being.” When CBS 7 reached out to the six-time state champion, Burgen said he would not be able to comment on the matter. There is now a petition going around the internet to reinstate Burgen at head golf coach.

Qtum is taking Bitcoin Core 0.13, integrating the Ethereum Virtual Machine, and adding an “ Account Abstraction Layer ” so that existing Etheruem contracts will work on Qtum with minimal changes. The exact way we are integrating the EVM is by adding new Bitcoin Script opcodes, and adding special processing conditions so that when these EVM using transactions are added to the blockchain, they are executed immediately (rather than only when attempting to be spent, as is normal). Along with this, the account abstraction layer allows for contracts to only worry about balances and sending funds. This is a bit more complicated to explain without going into a lot of technical detail, but I’ll try. Normally in UTXO based coins (such as Bitcoin of course), you can’t just say “I want to send 20 coins to X”, you say “I want to send this 10 coin output, and this 5 coin output, and this 8 coin output to X, and also send 3 coins back to Y, which is my wallet.” This is called coin-picking , and it is one of the reasons that smart contract implementations on top of Bitcoin have been so difficult up to this point. A coin output must be either spent completely or not spent at all. What we’ve done with this account abstraction layer is make it so that smart contracts on the blockchain have something similar to a wallet. When a user (or another contract) sends coins to a contract, the code will create a standard “funding transaction”, which is spendable only by the appropriate smart contract. It would be a great burden for smart contracts to have to pick their own coins (i.e., having to write your own algorithm in Solidity), so we have added a consensus-critical coin picking algorithm which all contracts must use. So, for a contract to “send 5 coins to X”, the miner will pick contract-owned coins (using the consensus-critical coin picking algorithm), and when it has enough inputs for the value to send, it will then construct the outputs of the transaction. In this case, it would be “5 coins to X, remaining coins to sending smart contract (change output)”. This transaction is then added to the current block. It’s important to note that these transactions are not broadcast on the P2P network, they are only added by miners (and it is consensus-critical that they add them if they put the contract transaction in the block) TL;DR; Qtum integrated the EVM onto a UTXO based blockchain, and writing contracts for this should be just as easy as Ethereum, but you get the benefits of the UTXO model. These benefits include mobile/light wallet support by SPV, a more stable model (whereas Ethereum has forked many times to fix problems with this), and compatibility with existing Bitcoin tools and protocols. -Jordan Earls (Earlz)

NSW farmer Ian Turnbull found guilty of shooting murder of environment officer Glen Turner Updated A New South Wales farmer who shot and killed an environment officer involved in land clearing prosecutions against his family has been found guilty of murder. Ian Turnbull drove out in search of Glen Turner, after learning that he was in the Croppa Creek area near Moree in July 2014. During his trial, Turnbull admitted taking his rifle and firing several shots at Mr Turner. The question the jury was told to answer was whether his actions amounted to murder or manslaughter. Members of Mr Turner's family, including his partner Alison McKenzie and sister Fran Pearce, embraced one another in court after the verdict was read out. Turnbull showed little emotion, but appeared to shake his head slightly as the jury left the courtroom. He had told the jury earlier in the trial that calmness came over him after he fired the first of three shots to hit Mr Turner, over a period of at least 20 minutes, at the side of a road. It happened in front of fellow environment officer Robert Strange, who pleaded with the 81-year old to let them go, so he could get help for his seriously wounded colleague. Turnbull refused, telling Mr Strange the only way Mr Turner was leaving was in a body bag. After firing his final and fatal shot, Turnbull said he was going home and the police would know where to find him. Defence argued for manslaughter conviction due to depression Prosecutor Pat Barrett told the jury during his submissions that the attack "was deliberate and considered and bares upon his state of mind at the time". The defence argued Turnbull should only convicted of manslaughter, because he was substantially impaired by a major depressive illness. Turnbull's barrister Todd Alexis SC said the ongoing litigation involving the Office of Environment and Heritage over land clearing, had created a "sea of paper". He said his client thought he was being persecuted and had become obsessive about Mr Turner, even though he had barely seen him during the two years before the shooting. "It was almost a fantasy in his mind," Mr Alexis said. "He became fixated with it." The jury started deliberating just after 2:00pm on Thursday afternoon, after a four-week trial. Mr Strange was also in court to hear the guilty verdict over the murder of his colleague. 'The murderer was portrayed as the victim' Mr Turner's widow Alison McKenzie said the verdict brought "sheer relief". "We're never going to be able to fill the void that's been left in our lives but we got the right result," she said outside the court. She said her partner's character had been "decimated" by Turnbull's defence team. "This whole trial has turned into a platform for the Turnbull's hatred of the native vegetation laws," she said. Mr Turner was remembered by his sister as "a man who was full of vitality and he had a passion for life". "The murderer was portrayed as the victim — a poor depressed respectable farmer, driven to despair by the Office of Environment and Heritage," Fran Pearce said. "In reality, he is a wealthy property developer who simply refused to accept the law applied to him. "Today's verdict does not bring Glen back, but we do take some comfort knowing that justice has been done." Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, courts-and-trials, croppa-creek-2411, moree-2400 First posted

Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. The overuse of certain antibiotics has dulled their ability to fight infections, leading to such maladies as untreatable “super gonorrhea.” When world leaders gathered in Germany for the first-ever G20 Health Ministers meeting in May, they called for a “coordinated global response” to antibiotic resistance, currently “one of the biggest threats to global health.” But in stark contrast to the G20 leaders’ efforts, President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers in the United States are instead proposing to make deep cuts to, and in some cases eliminate, the federal programs focused on battling this resistance. We could soon be in a world in which “modern medical advances such as surgery, transplants, and chemotherapy may no longer be viable due to the threat of infection.” At least 2 million Americans fight infections that are resistant to antibiotics every year, and 23,000 die from them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “As more strains of bacteria become resistant to an ever-larger number of antibiotics, our drug choices have become increasingly limited,” noted the White House’s “National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria” in 2014, adding ominously that we could soon be in a world in which “modern medical advances such as surgery, transplants, and chemotherapy may no longer be viable due to the threat of infection.” To address these concerns, in 2016 Congress funded the CDC to the tune of $160 million to create the Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative (ARSI) to try to improve detection and containment of resistant infections across the country. But that funding, and therefore the entire initiative, could soon vanish. Trump’s 2018 budget seeks to cut the ARSI budget by roughly $23 million, and it would shift the source of funding from the general CDC fund to its Prevention and Public Health Fund. Yes, that’s the very same fund that the Republican-controlled Senate is hoping to eliminate completely with its latest health care bill. In short, the combination of Trump’s budget and the Senate’s bill would effectively suffocate ARSI. “That would be not only a tremendous risk to patients and public health, but also a waste of the money that was spent over the past two years on this effort,” said Amanda Jezek, the vice president of public policy and government at the Infectious Diseases Society of America, a group that represents doctors, scientists, and other health care professionals. In late June, IDSA sent a letter to Congress signed by more than 60 organizations—including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pew Charitable Trusts—expressing concern about Trump’s proposed budget cuts. As the letter points out, Trump’s 2018 budget proposal would also eliminate more than $1 billion from the National Institutes of Health and cut $50 million from the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, which has been working on curbing the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture. (My colleague Tom Philpott wrote about how livestock practices give way to drug-resistant superbugs in this Mother Jones feature.) The most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance is simply the use of antibiotics—employing them over long periods of time allows the organisms they are designed to kill to adapt to them. And unfortunately, in the United States these drugs are prescribed incorrectly or unnecessarily up to 50 percent of the time. The national strategy to fight drug-resistant bacteria set forth under Barack Obama’s White House included the goal of halving this inappropriate antibiotic use by 2020 through a few different mechanisms, including the National Healthcare Safety Network, which tracks resistance patterns and infections at 17,000 of the country’s health care facilities. “How are we going to know those efforts are working if we’re not tracking antibiotic use?” Jezek says. At the conclusion of the G20 summit last weekend, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said the summit’s leaders had committed to building “a common front in the fight against antimicrobial resistance,” giving Jezek hope that at least “there seems to be recognition that this is a very serious issue.” Come Thursday, when the House subcommittee on Labor-HHS appropriations is set to mark up the 2018 funding bill, Americans will come closer to knowing whether its new government agrees.

There are two reasons I am picking "All the Little Things..." (besides the fact that it is a very good article). One of them is that the generation of small, incremental, and largely "fair" advantages is my favorite aspect of playing Magic. I love deceiving my opponent and walking him into unexpected traps, or building my deck in anticipation of commonly played answer spells; I hate slow, reactive, "sit-there" cards but I love "proactive defense" or "aggressive reaction" like playing Faith's Fetters instead of Circle of Protection: Red or choosing Shock over Volcanic Hammer because I suspect opponents might run a Spell Snare. I'm not sure if this makes me a Jonny or a Spike but I love to win by being clever and wily and one step ahead, and I think that this article can help people to think a bit farther down the road then they normally do when preparing for Constructed, to their benefit. The other reason I picked this article is because they rebooted the forums and it lost most of its original posts (which if memory serves were generally positive), so I wanted to give "All the Little Things..." another chance at community life. Following is basically the scariest deck in the history of Magic: The Gathering: How Did Trix Work? Once upon a time, Trix was the next step in Necropotence combination deck technology. We looked last week at Tony Dobson's Skull Catapult, sometimes called "Cocoa Pebbles" in a time when all combination decks were named after breakfast cereals (hence the name Trix for this deck). Tony and the British used Necropotence in that deck to set up their Enduring Renewal combination. Trix did the same thing, except instead of a three-card combination (Enduring Renewal, Goblin Bombardment, and either Shield Sphere or Phyrexian Walker), Trix required just a two-card combination: Illusions of Grandeur plus Donate. With or without Necropotence, the Trix player would play Illusions of Grandeur and gain 20 life. Then he would Donate the aforementioned Illusions to the opponent, who would at some point (hopefully soon) fail to pay the Cumulative Upkeep and lose 20 life. Conveniently, players start with exactly 20 life. Now all the same things about having a ton of Necropotences (Demonic Consultation, Vampiric Tutor, sometimes Brainstorm, Necropotence itself) applied to this deck as well, but because it was only a two, rather than three, card combination, Trix had extra room for cards like Force of Will. This deck eventually forced out Cocoa Pebbles like Cro-Magnon kicking the last Neanderthal down into a valley of outmoded stegosaurus and dodo bones. Trix was just a tighter combination deck that could actually protect its Necropotence and moving parts with counterspells even after tearing the opponent's hand to shreds a turn or two earlier. Trix was the scariest deck in the history of Magic: The Gathering for several reasons. First of all, it had the best cards, tuned together the best way, and therefore held trump from the outset. Clunky Illusions of Grandeur combination aside, this was a deck packing Brainstorm, Demonic Consultation, Duress, Dark Ritual, Force of Will, Mana Vault, Necropotence, and Vampiric Tutor. No deck played in serious formats before or since has touched Trix's mana efficiency and raw card power from top to bottom. Second, it was a lightning fast deck, capable of winning in the early turns by luck, superb manipulation, or the overwhelming vigor of the Skull. Third, and possibly most importantly, it was a difficult deck for a beatdown player to defeat for the simple fact that it gained 20 life in the middle of the combination. For their part, control decks had real problems dealing with Necropotence (protected turn 1 by Force of Will or turn 2 by Duress) feeding purely threats… not to mention all the mid-game disruption. There were many, many successful, Trix decks. It felt in the spring of 2000 like that hated deck was even more popular than Vial Affinity in the summer of 2004 (it probably wasn't). I chose Scott's deck because unlike many that played Peat Bog or splashed Red for Firestorm, McCord's “Basic Trix” had a fairly high count of, surprise surprise, basic lands. This was important because one of the only ways Trix could be defeated at all was to disrupt its mana, either keeping it off the critical mass required to hit the combo or desperately costing it the cumulative upkeep over a two-turn Donate sequence. To give you an idea of its eventual significance, Trix was instrumental in getting any number of cards banned in Extended, even before the most recent rotations. Mana Vault, Dark Ritual, Demonic Consultation, and eventually Necropotence itself were all shown the door because the deck was so good that almost nothing could compete with it. Trix made for an un-fun Constructed season. I am beginning with Trix because, regardless of how unstoppably scary it was, people would still shake their heads and point at the possibilities where the deck could betray its evil master. They desperately, and in most cases laughably, tried to build against perceived inefficiencies. For the most part, they failed. What if the opponent has an Erase when Illusions of Grandeur is on the stack? What if there is an Elvish Lyrist or Seal of Cleansing already in play? You will take 20 points before your 20 free points resolve! Hoodwink? Really? What if the opponent has but a simple Spike Feeder? You'll have to go through it all over again... Then again you should have 20 extra life points to fuel your Necropotence, but that's not the point. The most legitimate criticism of the deck was simply that Trix could lose to a bad Consult. Demonic Consultation was conditionally dangerous, and I have seen some of the best players in the world deck themselves on turn 3 and pull their hair out afterward. But you know what? Not one of these was a good enough reason not to play the scariest deck in the history of Magic: The Gathering. Sure, you might lose one game per tournament to a bad Demonic Consultation (and I'm just counting the ill luck where two of your remaining three Donates are in the top six, and the third is the second-to-last card in your deck rather than the desperately greedy games where you go for the singleton Hoodwink after you have already passed the Illusions of Grandeur to the opponent in order to deny him a turn or need the Contagion to eat a Lyrist)... But the card - essentially an instant speed Demonic Tutor for one mana - will win you many more games than you give up to bad beats. The reason I am starting this week with this powerful and much hated deck is that after last week's article, which concluded with Terry Soh's 12-2 deck from Pro Tour--Charleston, I was met with a slew of emails... How could the onetime Magic Invitational Champion be so incompetent as to play Dark Confidant and Hit // Run in the same deck? Many Rakdos mages in Charleston made the same choice, and they for the most part said that the combination just didn't come up. Were they aware of the danger? Of course they were! Patrick Sullivan once flipped his Hit // Run and was forced to Hit his own Maher in order to preserve any chance to win the game... which he did. Even given the danger of the interaction, the ability to take out Simic Sky Swallower and punish his master for a couple of extra points (like, say, half his remaining life total) was too much to pass up for a risk that was never going to punish Terry or the others anyway. Imagine the worst has happened and you flipped Hit // Run with Dark Confidant. You go down eight life... But what happens when you tag that Simic Sky Swallower or Skeletal Vampire (presumably with Bats on the stack)? You are probably pretty happy with the seven or six you are dealing right back, while taking out some amazing threat. You're really only one or two points down in the relative race, and because your Rakdos deck is so aggressive, chances are you aren't behind at all. Then of course there is the huge percentage of games against methodical control or mana destruction decks where losing eight life has a negligible effect on game state, if any at all, and just ends up the difference between winning on 12 versus 20 life. No one is saying you leave in Hit // Run against Ghazi-Glare... But it proved a fine spell in the main, and let's remember Terry had probably the best overall Swiss record of the largest Pro Tour in history! In fact, it is all the little things, like bravely playing two seemingly disparate spells next to one another to form a more powerful deck that can sometimes give you the edge you need to succeed in tournament trials. Anyone can win a blowout, and most people know how to take advantage of a manascrew, but it is the little things that often draw the line between early exit and tournament victory. This article is dedicated to discussing some of those small elements and explaining why they make sense in the current Standard format. Henke's Howling Mine Howling Mine is one of those cards that seems to creep up every couple of years to kick butt at some National Championships or sneak a couple of roguish Izzet decks into the Top 8 of a Standard Pro Tour. It is a "symmetrical" card, and worse yet, gives your opponent the first chance to draw the extra card (back in the days of Turbo Stasis, the worst was when you played Howling Mine, the opponent drew two, and then Disenchanted your key engine piece - up a card - before you ever had a chance yourself). How can it be good? Isn't Henke's deck just a bad look at Boros? And what about Owling Mine from Honolulu? Is it any wonder that Antoine and Tiago got face planted as badly as they did by the tournament finalists? Certainly the recent Howling Mine decks would rather get, um, any other pairing than a burn or Boros or Zoo deck, but it is very interesting to look at the card outside the context of those decks. For instance many Standard Blue decks spend all kinds of mana on their own turns for Jushi Apprentice, Compulsive Research, Tidings, and even Invoke the Firemind. The majority of Standard Black decks have this awful 2/1, sort of like a personal Howling Mine, but one that makes you pay eight life to flip over your anti-Howling Mine card (see above). The point is other decks put tons of effort and main phase mana into their draw engines... Howling Mine equalizes the board. Frankly a B/W deck can't kill Howling Mine, at least in the main - they're pretty much stuck with it. All of a sudden you are keeping pace with Maher and Compulsive Research and they have so many cards they are discarding. They are discarding. If they're discarding, that means that they're not really getting any card advantage at all, that any extra cards they are drawing might be classified as better selection, still good, but no longer legitimately getting ahead of the game despite an investment in draw engines. Meanwhile Henke's deck is so mana efficient with its many one-mana threats that it is not discarding, and is in fact aiming Lava Spikes and Lightning Helixes annoyingly at the opponent's face every turn until he is dead. The trick, here, is that no Blue deck can realistically run with Henke and his Howling Mine. Today's counters, with the exception of Spell Snare, all cost as much or more mana than whatever Tobias would be playing or pointing. Furthermore, even the really heavy counter decks have maybe 16 appropriate answer cards, many of which are not permanent solutions to absurdly inexpensive problems. On the other hand, Henke is drawing two or more per turn, threatening all the way. The Blue deck, knowing it cannot keep pace defensively indefinitely has to at some point try to race. What is he supposed to do? Tap out for a Dragon? Recent versions of B/W Orzhov might have their Shining Shoals, but Henke's deck isn't a Sudden Impact build... It attacks with many small packets of burn, and is therefore less vulnerable to having an "all-in" reversed. They are spending all these cards and all this mana on card advantage from Dark Confidant and Ghost Council of Orzhova, but Henke's deck can just hang back, hold the ground with Scorched Rusalka (take one, friend), and send seven or eight damage for the same mana that the B/W player is spending on his Ghost Council. Definitely Howling Mine is a streaky card. It isn't always good, and in some metagames it looks flat-out funny. But in a diverse format with sometimes awkward mana and many dedicated sources of incremental card drawing, it can fit in especially to surprising success. Everything's a Strip Mine Even before we got the amazingBlock lands, the twenty dollar Steam Vents and all-star common Orzhov Basilica s, mana and non-basic lands in general were already a hot button issue. How many basics? How many Centers to this particular Sea? There was a short window when the Standard 'Tron decks - especially those with Breeding Pool for Simic Sky Swallower - were playing no basic lands at all! Why would they? By the time we hit the Top 8 of U.S. Nationals, Tim Aten and Ben Lundquist made a little change and were running two or three basic Islands each. Why would they? Right now you almost have to play some basics because of a previously overlooked Dissension card called Ghost Quarter. If you don't have any basics, Ghost Quarter is just Strip Mine. Even when you have basics, Ghost Quarter is an important anti-bomb card. It breaks up the 'Tron, kills Boseiju (often the only way certain decks can beat certain other decks), and defends its own master from Annex; the subtle "Ghost Quarter myself" strategy has actually bent mana bases by one or two basics, such that a deck that might actually only want Islands would play a single Plains with the outlook of running the Quarter like the worst Thawing Glaciers ever (still good). Another subtle and highly effective angle on the land department can be seen in the classic Vore listing. Let's look back at Nik Nygaard's deck from Honolulu that was the catalyst for most of the rampaging Magnivores we see today: Oboro, Palace in the Clouds. Check. Minamo, School at Water's Edge. Check. Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep... Not so much. Vore is a mana control deck that wants to keep the opponent at four or five lands so that when Wildfire hits, his mana base will be - hopefully irrevocably - crippled. Oboro and Minamo are generally played by control decks, decks that can fight Vore's land destruction and rob the deck of the tempo it needs to get the advantage required to win on Wildfire or Magnivore. Against these decks, Oboro and Minamo are just Strip Mine. However the decks that play Shinka are the decks that are most likely to kick Vore's butt. Vore can't get in an early game shootout with a beatdown deck. Rather than giving Vore a conditional Strip Mine as the blue Legendary Lands do, Shinka just puts Vore in the spot that it will be manascrewed at the wrong time. The little twist here is to not play an ostensible automatic inclusion because the land destruction deck sometimes doesn't want to trade lands. Tiered Mana Costs Tsuyoshi Fujita's burn base for Zoo Pants at Pro Tour--Honolulu was four Shock, four Volcanic Hammer, four Lightning Helix, four Char, and four Flames of the Blood Hand… one third of the influential 20/20/20 lineup that has been the baseline for any number of Boros and Zoo decks since. The introduction of Seal of Fire in Dissension might have had you thinking that Shock would get the boot (hey, that's how it works in Extended), or failing that, Flames of the Blood Hand (the least efficient of the group, and great only in a Hierarch format, which the post-Dissension Standard was never and is today not). However, in a maddening twist of tuning, it has been increasingly common to see Volcanic Hammer leave, Shock stay, and the lowly Giant Growth get played in recent lists. Giant Growth? Why? Zoo designers have identified a great big weak point in their strategy: Dissension's Spell Snare. While it is basically impossible to make a Standard deck that doesn't give the Snare, arguably the best card in the format, something to kill, they have rallied to the cause and tried as much as possible – that is, without losing their awesome Watchwolves or Lightning Helixes – to play around this card. Perhaps the most rewarding Zoo returns come in the mirror, when the opponent waits until the attack to try to burn an oncoming creature... only to eat an extra three from that lowly Giant Growth. An interesting similar change may be on the horizon for Blue mages themselves. Just as Blue's opponents have had to modify their mana costs to play around Spell Snare, it is entirely possible that Blue players will be chopping up their mana costs to better work with Coldsnap's degenerate Counterbalance. With Sensei's Divining Top still in Standard until Time Spiral, it will likely profit the Blue mages to float a two mana spell (of which they should still have plenty) the whole game, especially against opposing Blue players with their Rune Snags, Mana Leaks, and Remands... But running some Rewinds might suddenly be right [again?]... Thanks to Counterbalance (specifically Counterbalance / Top), Blue should be able to tap six or seven for the endgame bomb without fear of Wrath of God. Really, is there anything more disheartening to the opponent who has just attempted to play Wrath of God with a hand sculpted to fight a counter war with a two or three mana advantage, than just showing him a Rewind on top of your deck... And then maybe drawing it? ... Or maybe not? Can That be Right Rite? My friend Patrick Sullivan sometimes likes to do the unthinkable: In a surprising number of matchups, Pat sides out Lightning Helix in his Boros deck. "I suggest you start IM'ing your friends... I know I am." -Patrick Sullivan, after a Magic Online win on a mulligan to three This was really puzzling to me when he brought it up. Barring the awesome combination of Paladin en-Vec plus Umezawa's Jitte, Lightning Helix is like the best card in the deck! It burns! It keeps you alive! It makes for great television! As usual, Pat, the quintessential Red Deck player in the United States, had a really good reason: If you cut Lightning Helix, you have all even damage. Why exactly is it that you would want to have all even damage again? Well a few months ago, our style of Boros was siding in a little known but explosive, and surprising, and oftentimes humiliating spell against control, combination, and life gain decks: Hidetsugu's Second Rite. For Hidetsugu's Second Rite to work, and by "work" we mean "completely annihilate the opponent," he has to be on exactly ten life. When you have some even and some odd damage sources, it can be very difficult to put the opponent to exactly ten. Pat's "unthinkable" strategy just made it less difficult for him to sculpt the game state where he could successfully fire for ten. Why is Hidetsugu's Second Rite Good? Think of Hidetsugu's Second Rite as a Red Fact or Fiction . Scratch that. Think of it ascopies of Fact or Fiction Fact or Fiction, one of the most fearsome cards in the modern Blue arsenal, gets played because it is essentially three cards - with selection - for four mana. The piles are going to go 0-5 (only when he has some kind of Storm Seeker, let's be honest), 1-4 (the big Impulse), or 2-3 (the customary split)... You can always get three cards if you just want three cards. After spending a card (the Fact or Fiction), you end up +2. The Philosophy of Fire states that all Red burn spells are worth a baseline of two damage; with ten spells, you win the game. Hidetsugu's Second Rite, then, essentially acts as five Shocks, or +4 cards by Red's queer way of counting these things. Now of course a successfully struck Second Rite is just game most of the time, but even when the opponent has something, like a Shining Shoal for three or four of the damage, you are still getting twice the net card advantage (by Red's way of reckoning these things) as Fact or Fiction would have given you had you been a Blue mage. Now Hidetsugu's Second Rite loses a great deal of its potency when people know it's coming... They do annoying things like mana burn at the end of your turn or otherwise play around the boogeyman of your endgame strategy. Then again, recent Boros players have stopped playing Hidetsugu's Second Rite; in the future, they may, as Tsuyoshi Fujita has suggested, play just one copy. Anyway, Red players like it when people randomly damage themselves. That's like free cards, too. Fun with Cantrips When it started appearing in tournament decks, a disturbing number of forum posters didn't know why anyone would play it ("it's not a hard counter")... From there, Remand catapulted to "best spell in the format" status by the Japanese (if not best overall card) by Pro Tour--Honolulu. Remand is versatile, powerful, and best of all, cheap. It's obvious this card will be contributing to Blue's success - and ruining the turns of inefficient threat players - for the duration of Ravnica Block in Standard, and probably force through Psychatogs in Extended and even bigger formats for, um, forever. Why Exactly is Remand Good? First and foremost, Remand is cheap. Even if it is not a permanent counterspell, Remand answers a threat in the short term immediately and for just two mana. In this way, it is reliably, like Spell Snare, one of the only counters in Standard that is consistently less expensive than the card it is fighting. The cheap cost of Remand is a selling point in that Blue players can keep land light hands in the early game, buy a turn with Remand, and draw into additional lands. Because Blue players just need time to win (that is, they aren't being killed by a Scab-Clan Mauler), running this card as even a temporary measure gives them a tremendous advantage. Just countering a second turn Watchwolf against Zoo is often like drawing between four and seven cards for a Blue player because an unopposed Watchwolf might outright kill him... The additional time the Blue player buys with that little Remand literally gives him additional topdecks that he would not otherwise have. The permanence of Remand is something that is sometimes annoying and sometimes irrelevant. Many of the Standard decks that pack Remand, such as 'Tron, Heartbeat, and Vore, will just kill you the next turn, so the fact that you would otherwise get a chance to re-play your spell after a late game Remand is completely irrelevant. Remand is perfect because in the early game it gives control players the time and mana they need to get to the endgame, and on the second-to-last turn, it actually steal's the opponent's shot at an answer. Remand is also awesome in counter wars. Because it only costs two mana, Remand will often help a threat resolve, or win, or strategically lose, a counter war against an opposing dedicated Blue deck. While the opponent is setting up his turn with a Rewind - free in a second, but costed like that diamond in Titanic in the short term - Remand can shine... like, um, that diamond in Titanic. What many players don't realize is that in some counter wars, it is optimal to Remand your own spell! When you have a spell on the stack and the opponent decides he wants to pick a fight, if it looks like you can't win the counter war, it is often a better idea to Remand your own threat. Sometimes he has Hinder on the stack and three open... If you Remand him, he is just going to re-cast the Hinder. If you Remand your own spell, you at least have a chance of fighting another day. The economy here is awesome. The opponent is down his Hinder (and whatever other counters he has committed to this little war... who knows at what point you decided that Remand was the right course of action) and you get back your initial threat card (or some counter you would rather have back) and if not the Remand, whatever the Remand and your deck decide they want to give you. With Coldsnap, Remand is a cool combination with Mishra's Bauble, too. With two mana, you play Mishra's Bauble and Remand it. You spend nothing (Mishra's Bauble and the Remand replacement come back to your hand), and you can still re-play the Bauble. Why would you want to do this? It's not quite the classic Urza's Bauble or Lodestone Bauble and your own Arcane Denial, but there are certainly weaker plays to make than digging though your deck cheaply. Once you've actually sacrificed the Bauble, this play feels very much like a two mana Inspiration. One of the strong artifact interactions of the Kuroda-style Red deck that Josh Ravitz used to make Top 8 of last year's U.S. National Championship was Sensei's Divining Top plus Shrapnel Blast. Josh would flip the Top, and with the draw on the stack, sacrifice the Top to face the opponent for five. This didn't net card advantage, but it kept him even because even though the Top didn't actually make it to the top of Josh's library, the game still gave him a card. Two mana to deal five damage to a creature or player with no drawback and digging a card deeper in your deck? This is the kind of "little thing" that you have to know to get maximum advantage from your cards. Today, there is a similar tactic, reminiscent of both Mishra's Bauble plus Remand and Sensei's Divining Top plus Shrapnel Blast: Sensei's Divining Top plus Repeal. With this play, you flip your Top to draw a card, but with the draw on the stack, Repeal your own Top. You get your Top in hand, your Repeal replacement, and the card you were supposed to get from the Top. Rather than smashing the opponent for one quarter of his life total, this one just nets cards. Here's to drawing extra cards, dodging inopportune Strip Mines, and, of course, winning after you've accidentally dealt yourself eight.

Hey everyone, We’re down to the final minutes of the Kickstarter campaign-- it’s looking like we’re not going to reach our original funding goal. Because the project is not going to be successfully funded, your pledge will be voided and no money will be exchanged. Thank you all SO MUCH for helping us so far. Without your support, we couldn't have even dreamed of getting this far. We’re more than happy with the amount of traction and support we've gained from the Kickstarter. We truly believe in Tower Unite and we will do everything to see its creation. That's why we're currently looking into alternative options to help make the project a reality. WE'RE GOING TO BE DEVELOPING A NEW CROWD-FUNDING CAMPAIGN Taking what we've learned from our first crowd-funding campaign, we'll be spending the next couple weeks working on the next one. After that campaign we will be looking into Steam Early Access. We are very excited about this project and we hope you will follow us in the future and help make Tower Unite a reality. This project can only happen with your help. You’re probably asking a few questions right now: What's happening to Tower Unite? Tower Unite isn't going away, we will press on and do everything we can to make it happen. We will be adjusting the funding target for Tower Unite on our next campaign. What's happening to GMod Tower? We will still be running GMod Tower until Tower Unite is released. We will be re-enabling VIP donations during the time we're working on the new campaign. We heard your voice and based on your feedback we've decided that we’re going to create a system to help transfer your GMTower progress to Tower Unite. We will detail that in our next campaign. HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP US RIGHT NOW Since YOU are the most important part of our campaign, we want to hear what you’re thinking right now. We've set up a survey so we can collect your thoughts and use it as a reference for future decisions. Please take a moment to fill out our survey at this link: http://goo.gl/forms/J3bdXYAywI Even the tiniest of comments can help us get an idea. If you have any more questions, feel free to message us on Kickstarter or tweet @pixeltailgames. Additionally, we’ve set up a mailing list that will send out occasional emails about the future of the project; it’s a great way to keep caught up with the future of our projects. You can subscribe to the mailing list here: http://www.pixeltailgames.com/newsletter WHEN WILL THIS ALL HAPPEN? We can't give exact dates yet, but we will make an announcement soon. Be sure to follow our Twitter, sign up to our mailing list, join our forums, and like us on Facebook. Here’s some other ways you can keep in touch with us:

In 1989, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department released a cheesy music video encouraging kids not to do drugs or join gangs—or else. The video was shot on Universal Studios backlot, and was produced for the Substance Abuse and Narcotics Education program. The uploaded video begins with a disclaimer that policies on how the department now teaches drug prevention may have changed since 1989. It's pretty funny in 2015—and to be honest it was probably funny then, too. You know how it is. You and your friend are sitting on a bench in your quaint town, when all of a sudden your friend whips out a mirror and starts cutting up fat lines of blow on it. In broad daylight. For no apparent reason. You're about to snort up a big rail when you're saved by four Fifties doo-wop teens in poodle skirts who remind you, via song and dance, to not do drugs. (Meanwhile, some other teens are tumbling in your front lawn.) So you just blow the cocaine in your pal's face! That'll teach him to ever share anything with you again! They also warn about the dangers of joining gangs with a cautionary tale about a poor sap who was just trying to enjoy an ice cream cone when he fell victim to a drive-by shooting. Other scenarios include rampaging hordes of teenagers who are blatantly chugging domestic beers out of a convertible, and drug dealers who hang out in dingy alleys that you are know are bad news because someone painted a skull on the wall. The best line in the song goes, "Just say no [to drugs], and maybe you'll be happy if you do!" Maybe. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Maybe you'd be happier if you did, but we're not saying that. We're just saying there are a lot of possible trajectories your life could take. It's not quite as dramatic as their active shooter video, but it's a nice ditty for a mid-afternoon break.

Attorney General Eric Holder asked state leaders on Tuesday to enact “clear and consistent” reforms that would allow former prison inmates to vote. “There is no rational reason to take away someone’s voting rights because they committed a crime,” Holder said at a conference at Georgetown University. When laws prevent people from voting, Holder said, the country falls “short of the bedrock promise of equal opportunity and equal justice.” The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Holder said it was time to nix laws that disenfranchise those who are no longer under state or federal supervision. He called restoring the right to vote a fundamental part of the prisoner reentry process and said denying voting rights makes it more likely former inmates will commit future crimes. “These restrictions are not only unnecessary and unjust, they are also counterproductive,” Holder said. “By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.” Holder said such laws prevent about 5.8 million people from voting, including 2.2 million African-Americans. One in 13 blacks are banned from voting because of the laws, a ratio that increases to one in five in states like Florida, Virginia and Kentucky. Currently, 11 states deny former prisoners the right to vote, though 23 have enacted laws since 1997 that restore voting rights. Contact us at editors@time.com.

Please Note: This item will take 2-3 weeks to ship The Mage Knight Board Game throws you and up to three other Mage Knights into the sprawling and ever changing world of the Atlantean Empire, a land that is but a distant memory since your transformation into a mysterious Mage Knight. Build your armies, defeat bands of marauding enemies, and eventually conquer cities in the name of the mysterious Void Council. Designed by renowned designer Vlaada Chvatil, Mage Knight is a game of Epic Exploration and Conquest that mixes character development, intrigue, and the clashing of swords to create a truly unique gaming experience. As a Mage Knight you must control your reputation and walk the line or embrace the role of benevolent leader or brutal dictator. Accumulate Fame and experience to acquire powerful Spells and abilities, then use your power to influence units to join your ranks. Will you destroy an ancient Draconum and gain favor with the people, or burn down a monastery to steal the powerful artifact hidden there? Both paths may lead to victory, but the decision is yours to make. The Mage Knight Board Game comes with a variety of campaign options, allowing you to play both competitively or cooperatively. Will your path intertwine with your fellow Mage Knights as you quest to conquer the Atlantean cities, or will you be sleeping with one eye open?

White House press secretary Sean Spicer insisted President Trump's proposed border wall will be built, insisting it hasn't been delayed, during his daily briefing on April 25. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) White House press secretary Sean Spicer answered questions during Tuesday’s media briefing about President Trump’s sudden willingness to delay funding for his proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Except Spicer refused to acknowledge the delay is really a delay. No matter how hard reporters pushed, Spicer insisted that nothing had changed. We have annotated Spicer’s exchange with journalists, using Genius. To see an annotation, click on the yellow, highlighted text. [Trump softens border wall demands in bid to calm shutdown jitters] Q: I do want to ask you really quickly about the wall. Yesterday, President Trump reportedly said he is going to delay pushing the wall through. SPICER: He did not. Q: And so can you just clarify what the status of that is? Is it happening? When? SPICER: Yeah, yeah. Thank you. The president made it very clear — I think he tweeted about this earlier — his priorities have not changed. There will be a wall built. It’s important to prevent human trafficking, gangs like MS-13 from coming into the country, the flow of illegal drugs, illegal immigration. There is a national and economic safety issue by having a wall that ensures our country’s safety, and there’s plenty of planning that can be done in FY17. We are going to continue — our priorities are clear, going into FY17, the remainder of budgeting for that, and we’ll continue to ask for more in FY18. Q: So, it’s delayed for now until it’s — SPICER: No, I didn’t — no, no, no, no. I never — no one said delayed. No, no. There’s a sea of — no, no, there’s two budget processes: Right now, we’re going to end FY17 this week. We’re hoping to continue to get funding in that, as the president laid out, for both border security and Homeland Security and national defense, as we’ve always maintained. And then when we come to FY15 — excuse me, FY18 that starts at the end of Sept — or beginning of October, end of September, in that next budget we’ll go for the next group of money. But — Q: So you expect partial funding? SPICER: I, I think we’re going to make — we’ve made our priorities very clear, as we continue to negotiate, and I think nothing has changed on the president’s priorities. … Q: On the wall, just want to be clear: Is the president no longer insisting that there is money for the wall in this current appropriations bill? SPICER: The president’s priorities are clear for FY17. There’s a lot of things we can do in FY — in the remaining months, up until the end of September, for planning and making sure that we get everything that we need — funding that we need for that aspect of things, and then as we go into FY18, we’ll continue to ask for more. I don’t think anything has changed. Q: So, the president is not insisting that he has money for the actual construction of the wall? SPICER: Look, we’re going to — I’m not going to get — there are — we’re still in discussions with the House and Senate leadership, but I think the president’s been very clear that he wants a wall. He wants it done as soon as we can do it. He has — there are things that we need to do to protect our country, like human trafficking, the flow of illegal drugs and gangs, that are going to make sure that while we’ve achieved a significant drop in illegal alien border crossings — down 61 percent since January — this is something that’s in our country’s long-term national security interest. Q: The actual construction can wait until the fall. SPICER: No, that’s — it’s not a question of wait until the fall. I think there’s a lot of things that have to happen. It’s like any construction. Well, you’ve got to start doing some planning and things. And, so, we will take the first steps now and then we will continue to seek funding through the FY18 and further budgets to make sure that the actual — it is completed.

Rolls-Royce is designing an autonomous naval ship capable of patrol, surveillance, mine detection and fleet screening. The latest version of the ship is 60m long and capable of traveling for 100 days. With a top speed above 25 knots, the ship maintains a range of 3,500 nautical miles. The company is banking on a future where large, human operated, ships operate in consonance with smaller autonomous ships. Automating traditionally manual operations has the potential to simultaneously save money and increase safety. But without humans on board, nobody is physically standing by in the event of a malfunction. Rolls-Royce says it prioritized the reliability of its power and propulsion systems to reduce the number of unsolvable maintenance issues. This meant adding in some mechanical redundancies and implementing machine learning-powered predictive and remote maintenance capabilities. The Rolls-Royce ship is designed with solar cells to generate power to extend the amount of time the ship can remain in standby mode. The ship comes equipped with a fully electric propulsion system. Autonomous ships are nothing new. DARPA worked with Leidos to design and build an autonomous ship for quietly tracking submarines. The proof of concept showed that operation of the craft was significantly less expensive than its manned counterparts. Any autonomous ship needs to have sufficient protection from threats faced by cyber warfare. Rolls-Royce says it’s paying specific attention to these threats. With maturing computer vision and sensor technology, this, and downtime, remains one of the greatest challenges to implementation. It’s unclear at this time who might be interested in purchasing the ships. Rolls-Royce plc is based in the United Kingdom.

Kosovo's declaration met protests in Belgrade and in parts of Kosovo Bush on Kosovo Moscow said the comments were made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice. US President George W Bush earlier defended his move to recognise Kosovo. In Kosovo on Tuesday, Serbs opposed to independence attacked two border crossings in the Serb-dominated north of the territory, local police said. At least one border post was burned down. Nato peacekeepers were sent to help police at the Jarinje and Banja crossings. No casualties were reported among the border officers on duty there, who are reported to have evacuated their posts. On Monday, Serbia withdrew its envoy to Washington in protest at the US stance. Belgrade says Kosovo's Sunday declaration violates international law. The UN Security Council is divided over how to respond to Kosovo's move, and it has failed to agree on any action. Russia and China supported Serbian President Boris Tadic when he made an impassioned appeal to the Council at Tuesday's meeting. But Britain's representative said that with no prospect of agreement between Belgrade and Pristina the only way forward was supervised independence for Kosovo. Britain, France, Germany and Italy have all recognised the new state but others have not. 'Threat to stability' "We confirmed our principled position on the unacceptability of unilateral actions by Pristina declaring its independence," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, following talks between Mr Lavrov and Ms Rice. STANCE ON RECOGNITION For: Germany, Italy, France, UK, Austria, US, Turkey, Albania, Afghanistan Against: Russia, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus "We underlined the dangerous consequences of such a step, which threatens the destruction of world order and international stability which have developed over decades," the statement said. It added that the telephone conversation was initiated by Washington. The Russian warning came just hours after President Bush said the US would soon establish full diplomatic relations with Kosovo. Bush backs Kosovo Speaking during a visit to Tanzania, President Bush said history would prove Kosovo's independence to be "a correct move". KOSOVO PROFILE Population about two million Majority ethnic Albanian; 10% Serb Under UN control since Nato drove out Serb forces in 1999 2,000-strong EU staff to take over from UN after independence Nato to stay to provide security Full text: Kosovo declaration In pictures: Celebrations Anger mounts in Mitrovica He said there was "a disagreement but we believe as many other nations do that history will prove this to be the correct move". The president said the US supported Kosovo's independence because "we believe it will bring peace". In a letter to Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu, Mr Bush offered friendship to Kosovo, and said he supported "your embrace of multi-ethnicity as a principle of good governance". On Monday, the Serbian parliament passed a resolution condemning Kosovo's declaration of independence. The resolution also formally annulled the acts of the government in Pristina, saying Belgrade's sovereignty over Kosovo was guaranteed by the UN and international law. In a separate move, Serbia recalled its ambassadors to the US, France and Turkey because those countries had recognised Kosovo's independence. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has threatened to withdraw envoys from other countries which backed the territory's secession. At a meeting in Brussels, the European Union set aside differences over the recognition of Kosovo's independence, by stressing that the breakaway Serbian province was not a precedent for separatists elsewhere. All 27 EU foreign ministers agreed to leave recognition up to each member state. Spain and several other member states have withheld recognition because of concerns about separatist movements within their own borders. Protest rallies Serbia's interior ministry has filed criminal charges against Kosovo Albanian leaders instrumental in proclaiming independence, accusing them of proclaiming a "false state" on Serbian territory. HAVE YOUR SAY Kosovo has declared independence from Serbia, legally or illegally it is not for me to say which Peter, UK In Belgrade, about 10,000 students marched in protest at the independence declaration, and Serb enclaves inside Kosovo also saw big anti-independence rallies. In Kosovo's divided city of Mitrovica, three cars were damaged in Tuesday's grenade attack near the office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The incident was the latest in a string of hand-grenade attacks on property of international missions in Kosovo and government offices. Serbian security forces were driven out of Kosovo in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign aimed at halting the violent repression of ethnic Albanian separatists. The province has been under UN administration and Nato protection since then.

A strip club employee was stabbed in the torso in downtown Ottawa Tuesday night, and hours later another man was found stabbed on Montreal Road. The first stabbing happened at Barbarella's Cabaret, near the intersection of Queen and Lyon streets, just before 11 p.m. An argument inside the club led to an altercation outside, where the stabbing occurred, according to police spokesman Const. Chuck Benoit. The victim is a man who was working as a security guard for the club. The 44-year-old suffered a penetrating stab wound and was taken to hospital. Paramedics did not release his condition but his injuries were not considered life-threatening. A man was taken into custody and charges are pending. The victim was taken to hospital. (Stéphane Beaudoin/Radio-Canada) Montreal Road stabbing Then, at about 5:45 a.m., a man was found stabbed in the parking lot of a business on Montreal Road near the Vanier Parkway. He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators believe the stabbing occurred elsewhere, Benoit said. No arrests have been made.

“It seems that there’s a computer that makes most of the decisions for you — it changes a lot of the rules, it removes a lot of the skill,” said Ken Koury, a competitive Monopoly player and coach who informally settles rule disputes for others. “With this computer, I’m wondering what’s left for the player to decide — is it they just keep pushing buttons and wait for someone to win?” Hasbro is aiming at luring 8- to 12-year-olds back to these board games. Its executives say this age group, accustomed to video games, wants a fast-paced game that requires using their hands. To move forward on the new Monopoly board, players cover their game piece with their hands, and the tower announces how many spaces the player can move. Players also hold their hands over decals to buy or sell properties, insert “bank cards” into slots to check their accounts, and send a plastic car moving around a track to win money or other advantages (only when the tower instructs them to, of course). Hasbro executives also say that young players do not want to bother with reading instructions and toss rules aside. “For games, but really for anything you buy today, you need to be able to take it out of the box and play it,” said John Frascotti, Hasbro’s chief marketing officer. “You’re not ensconced in the rulebook.” To that end, Hasbro is shortening and simplifying many of its popular games, changing the formats of Scrabble and Cranium so they can be played in five-minute spurts. Rivals like Mattel are doing the same with games like Apples to Apples. Even video games often come in bite-size pieces, like the popular Angry Birds. "There is a recognition that people’s attention spans maybe aren’t as big as they used to be, or they don’t have the time to dedicate to this activity," said Sean McGowan, a toy analyst with Needham & Company. Ms. Ritson-Parsons said that while some aspects of the game had changed, Monopoly Live still emphasized social interaction. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “Getting rid of the instruction book encourages a lot more face-to-face interaction,” she said. “If you’re not having to read as much, you are all chatting more.” Photo Hasbro has kept key social elements, like allowing negotiation for property. The adherence to rules also speeds up the game and makes it more interesting, she said. For example, if a player lands on Marvin Gardens but decides not to buy it, the rules mandate that it be auctioned off right away — but a lot of players do not know or do not follow that rule. “People were saying, ‘It takes me a while to get to own properties,’ ” Ms. Ritson-Parsons said. “Well, it’s going to if you don’t auction it.” Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. The new version tries to combat board boredom in other ways. It sprinkles in random events, like a horse race where players must bet on winners. The computer also tracks how fast or slow play is going, and may intervene to make it lively. If, say, very little property is getting bought, it will announce an auction in the middle of turns. Hasbro executives said that the company would continue to sell classic Monopoly once the new edition came out. “It’s really just an extension of the brand, not a destruction of what was,” Mr. Frascotti said. Mary Flanagan, a game designer and distinguished professor of digital humanities at Dartmouth, said that games tended to reflect the societies that they were played in. For instance, the original Monopoly, issued in 1935 by Parker Brothers, now a subsidiary of Hasbro, reflected “American ingenuity, the sense of needing to have hope, and reinforcing capitalism in the face of real economic despair,” she said. This version, she said, seemed to be “less and less about financial awareness” — children do not need math skills in it— and more about social interaction. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Yet “when you say you can’t cheat, it means that there’s no sense of being able to socially negotiate the rules,” she said. Joey Lee, who studies games as an assistant professor of technology and education at Teachers College at Columbia University, said cheating could actually be instructional. “I wouldn’t necessarily even call it cheating,” he said. “In many cases a gamer’s mind-set is coming up with new and novel approaches to winning, and to a certain problem at hand. That’s exactly the kind of mind-set we need as far as 21st-century skills.” “Being able to negotiate with others, make up your own rules, argue with other players, that, to me, is part of what makes it a successful social game,” he said. The tower is “more of that blind adherence to following orders, versus being able to figure out and learn the game for yourself.” Though Hasbro is emphasizing social interaction with the game, some Monopoly players and academics said the new version sounded much less social — no arguing over whether a player could buy his neighbor’s “Get Out of Jail Free” card? “It takes away from the aspect of interpersonal negotiations if you have an electronic voice in the middle of the board telling you everything to do,” said Dale Crabtree, a finalist in the national Monopoly championships in 2009. “The first thing I said was, ‘The next thing they’ll do away with is the players.’ ”

Two preschoolers who wanted to visit their grandma stole the keys to their mom's SUV, according to police in Washington state. However, this is no modern day fairy tale and this story does not have a happy ending.The five-year-old and three-year-old are not old enough to see over the steering wheel and their feet cannot even reach the pedals. But they somehow managed to start the engine and drive the car into a nearby intersection where they T-boned a second vehicle.The Federal Way Police Department posted photos of the damage on their Facebook page.Neighbors heard the crash and ran outside to see what happened."(It sounded) like and explosion went off -- something, we really don't know. So I ran out and I saw it," neighbor Annemarie Warren told KOMO-TV . "I knew it was our neighbor's car, but I did not know she wasn't in the car. Only the two little ones."The children were uninjured, witnesses said. The driver of the second car had cuts and bruises."I held the kids both in their hands and I said, 'where's your mom?' (They said,) 'sleeping. I want to go to my grandma's house,'" said Warren. "I was waiting for the mother to come out, too, you know?"Authorities did not say whether the parents could face any charges.

While begging for his life, Daniel Shaver was fatally shot by an Arizona police officer in January. According to a newly released police report, Mesa Officer Phillip Brailsford killed the 26-year-old man, despite being unarmed and complying with police orders. Officer Brailsford has been fired from the department and charged with second-degree murder for the death of Shaver. So far, officials have refused to provide the officer’s body camera footage of the deadly incident. However, 911 calls, radio traffic, scene photographs, and a thorough report providing a detailed description of the events contained in the video have been released. Shortly after 9 p.m. on January 8, police received a call about a man pointing a rifle out the window of a La Quinta hotel. Witnesses at the hotel told officers that the man was in room 502 on the fifth floor. According to officials, Shaver was staying at the hotel and had invited a man and a woman to his room for drinks. At some point, the couple asked Shaver to open up a large case that was in the room. Shaver opened it and pulled out a pellet rifle, as well as a dead sparrow. Shaver explained to the couple that he was in the area on a business trip for Wal-Mart and that he was hired to get rid of birds inside their buildings. Afterwards, Shaver pointed the gun out of the window. When officers confronted Shaver in the hotel room, he was brought out into the hallway and ordered to go down on his knees. With his gun drawn, one officer asked if he understood the command. “No, please don’t shoot me,” Shaver responded. The report’s description of the body cam footage revealed Shaver was crying and complying with all police orders, even one that demanded he crawl toward the officers. One officer is heard warning Shaver not do anything that could be interpreted as a threat or he “may not survive.” “The male was instructed to crawl towards us with his hands in the air,” one officer wrote in a supplemental report. “As the male came close to us I saw him abruptly drop his right hand from above his head and reach back to the small of his back. I immediately perceived this as a threat and a movement to reach a handgun.” According to the report, Officer Brailsford’s body cam shows Shaver reaching behind his back and making small jerking motions. It was determined that Shaver did not have a gun, but was trying to adjust his shorts when Brailsford shot him five times with an AR-15 rifle. Some reports indicate that Shaver was intoxicated at the time and may not have understood the officer’s warnings. “Shaver was cooperative, but sometimes confused by the commands and because of his possible intoxication,” according to a court document released earlier this month. When police initially found Shaver, the woman was still in the hotel room with him. Officers ordered her out of the room and into the hallway. She was also asked to crawl towards officers and was apprehended. The man had left the room just before the cops arrived. When investigators searched the hotel room, they found two pellet rifles. Shaver was declared dead at the scene. Laney Sweet, Shaver’s widow, can’t comprehend why more details about her husband’s untimely death haven’t been released to the public. On Tuesday, she posted a YouTube video explaining her frustration. Officer Brailsford was fired by the Mesa Police Department on March 21. An internal report indicated the phrase “You’re F***ed” was etched into the side of the cop’s rifle, which is a violation of the department’s service weapons policy. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery viewed Officer Brailsford’s body cam footage and determined the shooting death of Daniel Shaver was “unjustified.” He also said the officer’s actions demonstrated an “extreme indifference to human life.” [Photo by Jill Torrance/Getty Images]

Kenny Anderson attends a Nets game in 2012. (Getty) MONTCLAIR, N.J. – Kenny Anderson is introduced to a crowd of moviegoers who have just watched his life story unfold in all its fits and foibles on the big screen. He strides over to join the film’s producer and director, Jill Campbell, smiling under a baseball cap pulled low enough to shield his eyes. Soon he is talking about his mother, who was primarily his savior but in certain ways, he can admit, was also his saboteur. Scroll to continue with content Ad The smile melts away into sobs. “My mother meant the world to me,” he says, his voice breaking through the tears and the recollections of her demons with alcohol, drugs and men who didn’t stick around. “My only thing was to take care of her. I really didn’t have a Plan B.” He is referring to how he conducted a basketball career that held the promise of professional greatness and by extension a life of surmounting the most daunting of socioeconomic odds. Nearly a quarter century ago, Joan Anderson sat in her living room in LeFrak City, a housing development in Queens in New York, and seemed, in retrospect, to be speaking from the future when she said, of the four children she raised alone, but mostly of the one who would earn tens of millions and spend it all, “I gave them life, but I couldn’t live it for them.” She died in 2005, the same year Kenny Anderson retired from the NBA after 14 seasons and filed for bankruptcy after earning roughly $63 million. The timing of it all sounds haunting, but, he says now, his tough New York City skin holding up to the years of piercing pain, “I don’t want no pity from nobody. My mother used to say, `You had eight kids? Did you have fun making them? You’re a knucklehead but take care of them.’ ” Story continues How does he take care – or repair – a complicated life he can so casually call “a walking mistake?” How does he make sense of it all? Four years ago, Anderson was approached by Campbell, a filmmaker and Long Islander with an appreciation for the game and for who he was, or had been. Once knighted by New York super-scout Tom Konchalski as “the greatest high school point guard” he’d ever seen, and selected by the New Jersey Nets with the No. 2 pick in the 1991 draft, Anderson had bottomed out with a DUI charge that cost him a coaching position at a private high school in Florida. Anderson walks in his neighborhood in Pembroke Pines, Fla., in 2010. (Getty) The job had been a baby step back into basketball, or what he calls “the part of my life that was always easy.” Campbell found him at a point in which the rest of it was plagued by a nagging and even injurious lack of purpose. With his mother gone, he was free to bare it all in living color, he said, and the result is a documentary, “Mr. Chibbs,” which premiered over the weekend at the Montclair Film Festival and will open Wednesday in Manhattan. The title is derived from the nickname his mother gave him as a toddler who became the precocious ball-handling wizard and first caught the eye of Kenny Smith, another prodigy of the LeFrak housing project, situated alongside the Long Island Expressway. The takeaway revelations – the womanizing and wallet-draining eight children by five women, the substantiation of excessive drinking rumors that followed him throughout his career and even his molestation as a youth by two men – including a youth coach – are not news-breaking. Anderson has alluded to all of it in interviews during his years out of the game. But what amounts to a revisiting with the people and places of his past – including two sons in New Jersey he has had little contact with – makes for a raw, uncompromising 86 minutes. Afterward, in the lobby outside the theater, Anderson chats with a few of the attendees, some of whom remember him well as the shifty and spindly Nets point guard who could make the ball dutifully obey the commands of his left hand, just a few miles east at a no-frills arena near the Lincoln Tunnel to Manhattan. Having heard him say on screen, “It’s difficult trying to figure out how to be selfless when you’ve been selfish your whole life,” they wish him well. Anderson walks away to greet a familiar reporter and to say that making the film, in his mind, is a start. “It was like my mother was an angel on my shoulder and I was talking to her, asking, ‘What should I do?’ ” he told The Vertical. “I’m at the crossroads of my life. Should I hold this in and keep it to myself or should I open up and be selfless and help somebody that might get my story? Because if one person walks out of a theater and says, ‘I’m going to get help. I’m going to get a therapist,’ then I did my job.” There is much evidence that the film has been therapeutic for him, too, a weapon against persistent depression that has had him in and out of counseling for years. A 72-year-old cousin reassures Anderson, now 46, that he still has as much to do as he has to be proud of. A visit to his high school, Archbishop Molloy in Queens, and his coach at Georgia Tech, Bobby Cremins, conjures up enduring legacies at those institutions. A day spent with his estranged New Jersey-based sons, Kenny Jr. and Devon, may be a staged, shallow attempt to make up for lost time, but when they accompany him to the LeFrak building of his youth, the suburbanized boys, sullen and uncertain in their edgier biological father’s presence, see and hear for themselves some of the hardships and horrors he overcame. “I didn’t know about that,” says the teenage Kenny, Jr. after Anderson tells of the evictions into the cold of winter, the crowded quarters that left him exposed to his mother’s destructive coping habits that much later, he told The Vertical, included “spending a lot of my money.” He spares the boys the most distressing memory, of the streets that led him to the male predators who touched him in a sexual way and would have done more had he not been as fast out of danger as he was on the court. Back in the theater lobby, Anderson wonders how “Mr. Chibbs” compares with the last documentary made about a New York City basketball prodigy, 2013’s “Lenny Cooke,” a Brooklyn scholastic legend on the LeBron James level who never made it onto an NBA roster. Cooke failed at basketball and the film found him struggling at life. Conversely, Anderson played those 14 seasons and was an All-Star in 1993-94, when he averaged career highs of 18.8 points and 9.6 assists. His Nets teams were talented but behaviorally and organizationally dysfunctional, and finally derailed by the 1993 car-wreck death of rising Croatian shooting guard Drazen Petrovic. What might have been had Petrovic lived, or, better yet, had Anderson not partied his way into the career of an NBA drifter? “I could’ve been great, but I stopped doing the things that gave me a chance to be great,” he told The Vertical. The film doesn’t sugarcoat the ongoing process of Anderson trying to figure out who he is vs. who he was. The opening scene – reminiscent of the Jake LaMotta bio-pic “Raging Bull” – finds him at a hotel pool, smoking a cigar, not hiding a middle-age paunch, and suggesting that two young women Google him to see he’s not lying when he says he was once someone special. A visit to the Washington office of his old agent, David Falk, results in Falk telling Anderson that he’d love to help him return to the game (his relationship with the NBA has been strained since he accompanied Dennis Rodman on his ill-fated 2014 trip to North Korea) but merely suggesting that he ask the players association to let him serve as a life coach to young players. On the subject of alcohol, he insists, “I don’t have a problem,” but the film several times finds him with a beer in his hand. Scenic and affectionate walks on the beach with his third wife, Natasha, near what he calls his “middle-class” home in Pembroke Pines, Fla., are darkened by her admissions of Anderson’s infidelities that have strained the decade-long relationship. Even coaching the AAU team of a talented teenage son who lives with him and Natasha makes for uncomfortable viewing when Anderson verbally erupts at the conclusion of a close defeat. That this son – like the one in New Jersey – is also a Kenny Jr. provides the film’s symbolic underlying premise. Two Kenny Andersons. One for whom basketball was easy. The other for whom life is hard. “My whole life,” he says, “has been hard.” Popular video from The Vertical:

One thing I’ve hated for a long time in Chrome is the downloads manager. There just isn’t an easy way to keep track of downloads once they’ve started. Sure, you get a downloads bar in the bottom of the screen. But if you hit the “Show all” button, it disappears. Then you’re left to search for the Downloads tab or dig down deep in the menus to find the downloads option. There has to be a better way. Like with Firefox, for example. Firefox has this clear cut download button in the toolbar that you can click to reveal all the downloads – right there. You can get this in Chrome now. Thanks to a simple extension. Downloads – Your Downloads Box The extension is called “Downloads – Your Downloads Box,” but you shouldn’t hold that against it. As I said above, once you install the extension it will replace the default downloads bar at the bottom and the download manager page with a simple drop-down extension. What Makes It So Great There are a couple of reasons why I like this extension. First of all, when you start a download, the extension animates to show that your download has now started, and you can find it by clicking the extension icon. When a download is in progress, the icon turns blue. When nothing is going on, it stays grey. When you click the extension icon, you see a list of all the downloads, and they are color-coded, so you instantly know which downloads are running, which are complete and which failed. Of course, there’s a progress bar. Right below the filename, you’ll see an option for opening it in the file explorer. Clicking on the file name opens it directly. More Powerful Options As you’d expect, Downloads isn’t the only download manager in town. In fact, you can find way more powerful options that follow the same drop-down aesthetic. If you want literally every download manager feature possible, try the download big daddy Chrono Download Manager. Personally, it’s a bit too much for me. The feature is overload, and the UI is messy. But Chrono does give you a lot, including a bulk image downloader, auto link detection, multi-link addition and a lot more. What’s Your Current Download Manager? Which download manager do you use right now? Share with us in the comments below.

A small college in California recently implemented a form where victims of sexual assault can report perpetrators anonymously. Given that most rapes are unreported due to the threat of massive negative consequences community members and police force can inflict on a victim on top of all the emotional and physical pain theyre already experiencing, this is a way for victims to speak out comfortably. It's also a way for the college to document trends in on campus crime. Note: if a perpetrator is named, this google docs form does not result in anyone being charged with any sort of crime and says so right in the first paragraph of the form. Teaming up with 4chan, they're now spamming the form with false information, because false accusations ruin lives. Wait shit, I meant false accusations against men ruins lives. They're falsely accusing women so its cool. "The quickest way to shut this one down is to anonymously report random women and let them sweat in the hot seat. This will be over before it begins." [+80] "That's awesome. I'd like to see one sent with the name of every member of the Dean of Students Office as the offender. Hey, it's anonymous and no evidence is required. Sometimes that's the only way fanatics learn." [+166] "I've already filled one out." [+44] "Was kind of fun. I swear to god though, if they track us down it would be terribly ironic, however it's mildly likely." [+5] "Step one: Get a list of every 'Feminist' at Occidental College who supported this system. Step two: Anonymously report them for rape. Step three: Watch them squirm as their lives are hanging in the balance over a false rape charge.

In the dark din of Sony's Gamescom booth, I was waiting patiently. Conditions were perfect. With only an occasional flicker of the spectres wandering through Until Dawn's creaking halls, my gaze was fixed on an unsuspecting person playing right next to me. This punter, headphones cranked up loud and deep in the throes of Supermassive Games' choose-your-own-Cabin-in-the-Woods adventure, was going down the very same road I had taken. Excellent. It's a setup that takes no time at all to grasp. Especially so if you enjoyed Quantic Dreams' cinematic Heavy Rain, from which, even down to the title screen's focus on a beautifully mo-capped Hayden Panettiere, it clearly takes a few pointers. And much like that divisive 2010 release, narrative and decision-making form the bread and butter of Until Dawn's appeal, where no single adventure is set to be quite the same. In turn, you command one of eight American teens during a mountain lodge getaway, which - would you believe it - takes a turn for the grim and gruesome. With dialogue trees, hidden clues and item pickups to be found, the story's course promises to adapt to your actions, often in some pretty bizarre ways. But crucially, once a character from this starting octet is gone, they're gone for good. Hundreds of possible endings are promised, whether they all survive, face a grisly end, or their fates fall somewhere in-between. How seamlessly each character's path ties up with the next is a mystery. That said, I did get to experience one strand of the tale, taking charge of the hysterical Ashley several hours in, having just lost her friend Samantha. Unlocking a dollhouse roof, I yank out a diary and rotate its cover using the DualShock 4's gyro controls, then flick its pages for clues with track-pad swipes. "I can't read this, it's so sad, Chris!" she wails to a nearby friend - the archetypal snob of the group, still in denial that something very nasty's afoot. From here, I'm set loose to pave my own way. With a knowing, playful wink, Until Dawn clearly embraces the tone of a teen slasher movie, and all the character tropes that tag along with it. Being thrown in mid-flight though, I couldn't really attach myself to Ashley or Chris so quickly (cynical me), so it was the silly moments that stood out to me most. The ludicrous choice to split ways on a whim, and later, bumping into a dangling clown costume for quick, cheap scare. It plays up the terror, but as with Sam Raimi's early Evil Dead classics, there's a healthy measure of comic relief too. The HUD is kept discrete, with item icons only appearing when I draw close to something of use. Meanwhile, major, tangential decisions are indicated through a blinking butterfly symbol to the top-right. This is a bit of a fourth wall breaker, but it tells me that picking up a pair of scissors is a something of a breakthrough for Ashley's future prospects. Or perhaps not. My choice to play it confident and venture down to the cellars is a potential fork in the road too, but what if I'd taken a more cautious tact? And how significant were the fake newspapers I found planted in the corridor corner? The visuals are on point with their eeriness so far, if still in need of polish on the lip-sync front. After a stint on PS3, the team boasts that dialogue and cut-scenes are re-done on PS4 using the studio's modified Killzone: Shadow Fall engine. Skin shaders and clothing details are really standout, as is the dynamic lighting streaming from Ashley's torch (also adjusted by the gyrometer as you move). In the end, I couldn't get much practical use from this feature, but I suspect it might open some doors for clue-finding later on. Reaching a nasty do-or-die cliff-hanger at the end of the demo, it's possible I may have made some wrong calls en route. The final scene sees us hanging on the words of a masked assailant, as both characters are bound on each side of a table. Chris is told he can either shoot Ashley with a ready-cocked revolver in front, or suffer a set of buzz-saws descending from the ceiling. Looking to the top-right, I know it's on. Quick-time events weren't in sight for the Gamescom demo, but dialogue options do feature a countdown clicker to spur you on. After a fade to black, my place in the story so far is dotted on a glowing line, each butterfly effect moment represented as dots across its length, where new lines spindle outwards to show the paths not taken. This zooms out fully to reveal a massive tapestry of branches, seemingly hundreds; a butterfly diagram which handily visualises every possible route in the game. And where's my path? Right there, barely perceptible as a slither on its wing. For me, this was where Supermassive Games' ambition for Until Dawn came across best. The dialogue is undeniably hammy, possibly by choice, and controls are a touch sluggish, but it stretches for a narrative breadth we rarely see outside of Quantic Dreams' efforts - and certainly in the realms of interactive horror. A gradual collection of clues sets it apart from its lineage too, a meta-game where Cluelines are built ip across multiple play-throughs, helping paint the bigger picture. It's genuinely jumpy as well, I'll admit, and got my shoulders jolting more than once. Annoyingly. Looking to the side at this unwitting player, I wondered if Until Dawn's balance between terror and horror would pay off just as well for others. A foggy hallway stretched ahead, and in complete silence they pressed forward - and then it hit. The sound of a sharp, ghoulish scream burst out from a pale, gurning face, on-screen for barely a split second. I see an upwards flinch, a fumbling of the PS4 pad, and then an embarrassed grin as they sheepishly scan the room for on-lookers. Damn it, they got me, the eyes said. It's still in need of a tidy-up before its 2015 release, but there's some real potential in Supermassive Games' re-fashioning of a proven template. At least from this short line of its massive web, Until Dawn is catching people out.

NINGGUO, China, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Officials in a Chinese province faced online ridicule for releasing a poorly doctored image of administrators meeting with a 103-year-old woman. The photo, captioned "love and consideration for the elderly is a cherished Chinese tradition. They should feel the warmth of the party and the government," depicts four Chinese Communist Party officials in Anhui province and the 103-year-old woman, but one of the men is cut off in the middle and all three men are towering over the elderly woman, Cheng Yanchun, who was clearly edited in from a different photo, The Mirror, Britain, reported Thursday. Officials said the employee responsible for the Photoshop disaster was ordered to write a "self-criticism report." The government said the photo may have been faked, but the visit was real. "Cheng was sitting on a chair on the balcony, under the sun. The balcony space was very small and the camera lens could not cover the whole scene," a government statement said. "When the employee of the municipal civil affairs department uploaded the photos, ... he simply merged two shots. We express deep regret to Internet users for its negative influence. We will learn from the experience, to improve civil affairs work."

The Chattanooga Film Festival loves everything about cinema: the films, filmmakers and audiences; the critics, collectors and curators; and most especially the popcorn. We share films that are unique, challenging, critically significant and a helluva lot of fun. We particularly love little films that feel like big films, because we like to think of Chattanooga as a small town with big ideas. Our ultimate goal is to remember, discover and cultivate cinema worthy of everyone’s love and respect. Here's what the press and a few of our past guests are saying about us! "The Southern Sundance. Given my experience at this year’s fest, I wouldn’t find it surprising if the Chattanooga Film Festival one day surpassed its elder cousin in the North. For the non-film nerds among you, this is a killer lineup. This is Haight-Ashbury in 1969." SOUTHERN LIVING MAGAZINE "The Chattanooga Film Festival [rated among the top 30 genre fests in the world] has rapidly developed a solid rep as a back-to-basics exhibition of noteworthy cinema. On the genre circuit, it has become a key destination for Southern fans in search of the best fear fare, shown in both its main CFFeatures and MES After Hours categories. It treats aspiring auteur attendees right, as well." MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE “The Chattanooga Film Fest has [quickly] done what many festivals strive for for decades: to collect an electric group of filmmakers and connect them to a community tremendously eager to meet them. The energy is palpable, the films exceptional, and the backdrop of Chattanooga’s arts and technology scene only serves to create one of the most attractive young festivals in the nation.” EMILY BEST, SEED&SPARK “Chris Dortch and his incredible team have crafted an excellent film festival with fantastic programming that brought everyone together in a celebration of cinema. I look forward to its continued growth and to hang out in Chattanooga again!” ELIJAH WOOD, ACTOR/PRODUCER “I was so fortunate as a youngster to find a productive place in the film and television industry, and when the Chattanooga Film Festival wanted to honor my 55 years of contributions to entertainment, I was humbled and proud. I’m not a center-of- the-bulls-eye kind of actor, so when a truly independent festival, run by independent folks, want to acknowledge me, it makes me realize that I’m doing something right. I love how the festival began, I love it that Chris Dortch has tremendous passion for film, and I love how the filmgoers in Chattanooga (and the surround-ing region) support and embrace projects three minutes to three hours.” CLINT HOWARD, ACTOR “In an era when film festivals have become bloated commercial bazaars full of hustlers, propagandists and job seekers, Chattanooga has a refreshing innocence as a place where movie lovers gather by the Tennessee River, expecting to be amazed by the art form itself. There’s a renewal going on here, a return to basics, and anyone who cares about the future of cinema should become part of it.” JOE BOB BRIGGS, FILM HISTORIAN/CRITIC “The Chattanooga film festival is more than just another fledgling, regional film festival. It is truly special and has the potential to become one of the mini-majors. The force that makes CFF a standout is founder Chris Dortch, who is both a serious and passionate cineaste and a civic-minded community builder. The movies are great, but as important is the support for regional artists. It was an honor to be a part of the festival program this year.” ALEX WINTER, DIRECTOR, DEEP WEB "An amazing festival! It was hard to believe how young it is!’ BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT, DIRECTOR, CALL ME LUCKY

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida who is leading the House's drafting of immigration reform, said that he thought it was "not appropriate" for Sen. Chuck Grassley to tie immigration to the manhunt for the Boston bombing suspects at this point. "Linking something like that to other legislation I think is probably not appropriate at this time," Diaz-Balart told ThinkProgress. "In the first place, we don’t have the facts. What I will tell you is, what is indisputable, is that we have an immigration system that is broken." Advertisement: He continued that, "If somebody is here today in the United States and commits a crime, it is under the current immigration system," so "what does that lead me to believe? That we have to fix the current immigration system, if in fact there is any connection between immigration at all." Grassley kicked off the Senate's Friday hearing on immigration reform by saying: “We also appreciate the opportunity to talk about immigration. Particularly in light of all that’s happening in Massachusetts right now and over the last week." “We are here trying to understand why these events have occurred,” Grassley continued. “It’s hard to understand that there are people in this world that want to do Americans harm, so this hearing is an opportunity to refocus on the issues at hand and the importance of remaining vigilant and secure in our homeland.” Watch:

Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister is proposing a major new public relations drive in Europe aimed at bolstering Israel's flagging image. The campaign, expected to launch early in the new year, would rely on teams of volunteers in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain to deliver Israel's message, while professionals from public relations and lobbying firms would also be hired to for the rebranding initiative. The campaign is the pet project of Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Moldovan-born Foreign Minister, who is better known for his public relations gaffes than for his diplomacy. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras. Nevertheless, the move also reflects a growing sense among Israelis that they are misunderstood and misrepresented overseas. Many have smarted at international condemnation of the Gaza blockade and have vociferously defended two soldiers convicted in Israel for their treatment of a civilian during the Gaza War two winters ago, arguing that they were operating in difficult circumstances. Moreover, Israeli officials have railed against media portrayals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an unwilling partner for peace with the Palestinians, contending that the Palestinian refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state is as much of a stumbling block as is ongoing settlement building in the occupied West Bank. "Israel's public image today is dismal," wrote Alon Ben-Meir, a New York University lecturer in a recent editorial in The Jerusalem Post. "The public relations problem is not due to a lack of attention. The entire world is watching Israel closely, but it does not like what it sees." Aryeh Green, head of the Israeli advocacy group MediaCentral, welcomed the new PR initiative, but said efforts should also remain focused on promoting accuracy of news reporting from Israel, rather than solely concentrating on putting across a message. The Foreign Ministry initiative, if it goes ahead, will join private advocacy efforts led by groups such as the Israel Project and British-led Bicom, which, among other things, lead tours examining threats to Israel's security and fly over foreign journalists and commentators to meet politicians, decision-makers and analysts. Other pro-Israel groups, such as Honest Reporting and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America scour media reports to root out what they perceive as biased or incorrect reporting, and lead email campaigns against journalists or organisations regarded as prejudiced. Whether Mr Lieberman's plans can do more remains to be seen. At least one Israeli official has argued that such initiatives have failed before: "With every change of season, there will be a politician announcing unofficially a big PR campaign that will change Israel's image," the official said. Others will likely question Mr Lieberman's suitability for the role. A former nightclub bouncer with an assault charge to his name, he has alienated many foreign officials. Many Israelis feel that there is little that can be done to improve Israel's international image, particularly in Europe, where anti-Israel sentiment is seen to be on the rise. In a recent poll conducted by Tel Aviv University, 56 percent of Israelis said they believed "the whole world is against us," while 77 per cent said the world would always criticise their efforts to resolve the decades-long conflict. We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads. Subscribe now

culture In Our Town: Ernest Hemingway in Toronto How the legendary writer got his start in T.O. Toronto in 1920 was nothing if not a clean, well-lighted place. In fact, the city’s puritan reputation rendered it so clean—at least in the spiritual sense—that it was near the point of sterility. Certainly, the church spires that dominated the city’s skyline did not inspire the type of exploration of the psyche’s darker elements typical of so many postwar novels. Yet it was in Toronto, in 1920, that one of the greatest of all modernist writers began his professional career. Ernest Hemingway is the most prominent writer ever to have called Toronto home, however reluctant he was to recognize the city as such. He didn’t achieve fame until the 1926 publication of The Sun Also Rises, two years after he quit his post at the Toronto Daily Star and moved to Paris. Nevertheless, his life in Toronto and the journalistic work he produced here offer an interesting—if unflattering—glimpse at postwar Toronto in all its sanctimonious frigidity. Not only that, but Hemingway’s dispatches for the Star make evident the evolution of the writer’s signature terse, bold prose. As the writer illuminates the city, so the city illuminates the writer. In Another Country It was, as you might expect, Hemingway’s proclivity for storytelling that landed him a job in Toronto. While cottaging with his family in Petoskey, Michigan, Hemingway was asked to deliver a speech at the local women’s club, sharing with the audience his experiences as a soldier with the Italian army during the First World War, from which he had recently returned. Of course, Hemingway had never fought with the Italian forces. He had been a volunteer ambulance driver with the Red Cross. He was handing out chocolates and cigarettes to Italian soldiers when his leg was seriously wounded by mortar fire. After extensive surgery and a long period of convalescence, he was sent home to the United States, having served for two months. This, however, did not make for a good story. So Hemingway procured a custom-tailored Italian officer’s uniform and cape, and made up a better one instead. Harriet Connable, a wealthy Torontonian who was vacationing in Petoskey with her husband, Ralph, was so moved by Hemingway’s speech at the women’s club that she asked if he would consider staying at the couple’s mansion in Toronto. Harriet believed that the courage and pluck Hemingway showed in recovering from his leg injury might serve as an inspiration to her invalid son, Ralph Jr., and so she offered him a position as the boy’s caretaker and mentor while she and Ralph Sr. travelled to Florida on holiday. Through the elder Ralph’s business connections, Hemingway was able to secure a job writing features for the Star Weekly. Hemingway was excited by the prospect of working for the Star, but less enthusiastic about taking care of Ralph Jr., whom he regarded as an irredeemable bore. The Connables insisted that Hemingway, who was adept at nearly every sport he tried, should attempt to interest their sickly son in athletics. One such attempt entailed taking Ralph to watch the Toronto St. Patricks, who, seven years later, would be renamed the Maple Leafs. Although the St. Pats were not a particularly skilled team in 1920, they were an undoubtedly truculent one, and Hemingway admired their scrappy style of play. That’s right: Ernest Hemingway was a Leafs fan. Incipient Greatness For the most part, Hemingway neglected his duties as Ralph’s mentor to focus on writing for the Star Weekly. His early work for the paper bears little resemblance to the minimalist prose that would eventually become his hallmark, perhaps in part because he was being paid less than a penny per word. His first piece, “Circulating Pictures,” published February 14, 1920, explains a peculiar trend that had emerged among the women of Toronto: The principle under which the circulating gallery is operating is this: the young matrons select the pictures they wish from the rich, semi-starving or impecunious artists, depending upon the degree of the artist’s modernity and his facility with advertising, and pay ten percent of the picture’s assessed value. They then have possession of it for six months. The present scheme has been for each of the young women to have two pictures and after their kick—to use a slang phrase—has worn off, or after it has become so intensified as to make an exchange advisable, to trade with her nearest fellow member of the gallery. The above passage, which rather long-windedly says that the women in question have devised a scheme whereby they may rent paintings from local artists and exchange them at will over a period of six months, is followed by a set of examples of how the scheme might play out in practice. Hardly vintage Hemingway. The young writer would soon find his voice, however. In “Lieutenants’ Mustaches,” written for the Star just two months after his initial offering, an inchoate form of the “Hemingway style” begins to emerge. The piece, like so much of Hemingway’s later short fiction, is composed mainly of dialogue. Its terse-speaking characters—two returned veterans—are stoic and masculine. Little of what they think or feel is spoken of directly or addressed by the narrator—a narrative technique that Hemingway dubbed the “iceberg theory” of composition, and on which he would expatiate in 1932’s Death in the Afternoon. Themes and leitmotifs that appear in Hemingway’s early novels and short stories (a reluctance to speak of the war directly, contempt for those who did not fight, and reflections on the pointlessness of war generally) are present in the short piece. “We didn’t get nothing permanent good out of the war,” one of the veterans remarks, “except for the lieutenant’s mustaches. Plenty of them about.” Hemingway’s more descriptive narrative passages are notable for their use of conjunctions in place of punctuation. These passages, juxtaposed as they are with Hemingway’s typically brusque dialogue, achieve an impressionistic effect. This technique, too, is apparent in several of Hemingway’s features for the Star, including “The Blind Man’s Christmas Eve,” published in December 1923. From that piece: He was feeling a strange tight feeling inside himself and he was seeing things. He saw broad fields sloping away and he smelt the odor of bacon being fried early in the morning. He heard the pounding that thoroughbred horses’ hoofs make as they sweep down in a pack toward a fence and he saw that glimpse of a pleasant country that a man gets as he is on rises over a fence full in a pounding gallop. He saw a big square bed with linen sheets and a small boy tucked in the bed listening while someone sat on the bed and stroked his head and talked to him. And he saw a small boy rising early in the morning and going downstairs to start out across the frost-rimmed fields with his dog and his gun. Compare with Hemingway’s more pronounced use of the technique in the descriptive opening passage of 1929’s A Farewell to Arms, In the late summer that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels. Troops went by the house and down the road and the dust they raised powdered the trees. The trunks of the trees too were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and the soldiers marching and afterward the road bare and white except for the leaves. In his later years, Hemingway would cringe to hear his early journalistic work mentioned alongside his novels. He believed that working as a reporter had the pernicious effect of eroding a writer’s memory, every day forcing him to forget and move on from all that he had written the day before. Still, it’s obvious that his career as a journalist had an appreciable effect on the pared-down style that typified his fiction. Departure and Return By May of 1920, Hemingway had fulfilled his duties as Ralph Connable Jr.’s nanny, and, free of his charge, he decided to go back to the cottage in Michigan. He continued to write features for the Star, including one entitled “The Hamilton Gag,” which offers a glimpse of what passed for humour in postwar Toronto. According to the article, every musical show in every theatre in the city would include what Hemingway calls the “Toronto-Hamilton gag”: Sooner or later you know that you will hear it. Before the evening is over you are confident it will make its appearance. It always does. It is the thousand-time perpetrated Toronto-Hamilton gag. Usually it comes out like this. First Comedian: “Do you live in the city?” Second Comedian, hitting him across the face with a sausage so the audience will not forget that he is a comedian: “No, I live in Hamilton!” Hemingway then proceeds to insult the intelligence of theatre-going Torontonians with the sarcastic assertion that any hackneyed dialogue coupled with comic violence may be considered a “comedy triumph” in Toronto: Combining the principle of comic violence with some really snappy local dialogue, visiting comedians should be able to add the desired “hometown” stuff to their performance without employing the old Hamilton wheeze. These are offered as suggestions to any members of either voadveel [sic] or the legit who care to make use of them: This would be very funny: First Comedian: “Have you a mayor here?” Second Comedian: “Ha, Haw!” First comedian then hits second comedian with a chair, knocking him over the footlights into the audience. Cheer after cheer rocks the house. Hemingway left cottage country a few months later, but, rather than returning to Toronto, he took up residence in an apartment in Chicago while still writing weekly features for the Star. In a piece dated November 6, 1920, Hemingway draws a number of comparisons between wild and bustling Chicago, and pious, soporific Toronto. One such comparison, ostensibly in Toronto’s favour, maybe be shocking to Torontonians today: “Now the reason that Chicago is crime-ridden and Toronto is not lies in the police forces of the two cities. Toronto has a force that for organization, effectiveness and esprit de corps is excelled nowhere in the world.” In Chicago, Hemingway would meet his first wife, Hadley Richardson. After marrying her in September 1921, he took a position as a foreign correspondent for the Star in Europe. He was enchanted by Paris, and his first literary work, Three Stories and Ten Poems, was well-received by the city’s expatriate artistic community, including one of the era’s greatest literary lights, Ezra Pound. But Hemingway was offered a position with the daily edition of the Star, and Hadley was pregnant with the couple’s first child. Toronto doctors had a reputation for delivering babies safely, and Hemingway was exhausted by his travel schedule as a foreign correspondent. Moving back to Toronto was the logical thing to do. “The people are all merde.” Unfortunately, Hemingway regretted his decision to leave Paris in the summer of 1923 almost immediately. When his ship approached the St. Lawrence, he resisted the urge to disembark at Montreal, where he believed he would be able to experience some semblance of the French lifestyle he’d come to love. In a letter to Ezra Pound, written from his room at a Sherbourne Street hotel, he whinged, “It couldn’t be any worse. You can’t imagine it. I’m not going to describe it.[…] I have not had a drink in five days.” Of Torontonians he wrote, “We have come to the right place to have a baby because that is the specialite de ville. They don’t do anything else.” Hemingway was bored, sober, and surrounded by Protestants. Worse still, he was despised by his new editor at the Daily Star. Harry Hindmarsh thought Hemingway an arrogant hothead, and was determined to crack him. Hemingway frequently worked 18-hour days, often embarking on out-of-town trips. He even missed the birth of his son, John Hadley, because he was on a train headed back to Toronto. This understandably vexed Hemingway, who wrote in a letter to Gertrude Stein: Was on train at a smut session with correspondents and titled coal barons in the press car while baby was being born. Two o’clock in the morning. Heard about it ten miles out of Toronto and came in intending to kill City Editor, Hindmarsh. Compromised by telling him would never forgive him of course and that all work done by me from now on would be with the most utter contempt and hatred for him and all his bunch of masturbating mouthed associates. By this time, Hemingway thought of Toronto as an odious puritanical burg, and perhaps unfairly extrapolated his opinion of the city to Canada as a whole. In another letter to Ezra Pound, Hemingway, annoyed that purchasing candy from the drugstore was prohibited on Sunday, wrote that Canada “is the fistulated asshole of the father of seven among Nations.” And Canadians, he claimed “are all merde [that is, shit].” Hemingway’s contempt for Canada was, by late 1923, not limited to his private letters. On December 15 of that year, two short pieces written by Hemingway—one titled “I Like Americans,” the other “I Like Canadians”—appeared in the Star. The latter piece backhandedly says of Canadians, “They go home at night. Their cigarettes don’t smell bad. Their hats fit. They really believe they won the war. They don’t believe in Literature. They think Art has been exaggerated. But they are wonderful on skates. A few of them are very rich. But when they are rich they buy more horses than motorcars.” (Interestingly, Hemingway’s perception of Canadians is generally consistent with your average Montrealer’s perception of Torontonians: artless, old-fashioned, and ruthlessly clean.) A number of Hemingway’s observations about 1920s Toronto can be transposed onto the present day. In an article from December 1923 called “Young Communists,” he writes, “Now what are Communists? Most Toronto people lump Socialists, Syndicalists and Communists vaguely together as Reds and let it go at that.” He could be describing the views of some of today’s city councillors. Of course, Hemingway’s prescience would prove limited, as evidenced by his statement that “No city in the world has a better-run and more comfortable streetcar system than Toronto.” The End of Something By late 1923, Hemingway was exhausted by the demands of his editor, Harry Hindmarsh, and had come to despise the Star, which he saw fit to use as paper towel. As he wrote in a letter to Ezra Pound, “[the cat] has moved her shitting place from the back of the bath tub and is taking example of this new Freedom. Later in the evening I will track down the piece of Merde by the smell and will carefully wipe it up with the aid of a copy of the Toronto Star.” He found little time to write fiction, and Canada offered him no inspiration. In December, he resolved to leave. But before tendering his resignation, Hemingway decided to make his feelings known to Hindmarsh. According to newsroom legend, Hemingway typed out a long and scathing letter, taped the sheets of copy paper together, and posted it on the newsroom bulletin board for all to see. Farcically, Hindmarsh pretended not to notice the letter, which is reputed to have been 16 feet long. Hemingway eventually wrote a more succinct letter of resignation, but he waited until December 27 to send it, so he would be assured his Christmas bonus. By early January 1924, he had returned to Paris. It was in Paris, of course, that Hemingway forged his brilliant literary career and his larger-than-life image. He held his journalistic work for the Toronto Star in low esteem, and was loathe to speak of it publicly. It’s unlikely that Hemingway ever acknowledged, even to himself, the importance of this city to his artistic and professional development. But isn’t it pretty to think so? Sources Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story by Carlos Baker Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, 1917–1961 (edited by Carlos Baker) Hemingway: The Toronto Years by William Burrill Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway Hemingway: A Biography by Jeffrey Meyers “The Art of Fiction No. 21” from The Paris Review (interviewed by George Plimpton) Dateline: Toronto (edited by William White)

Here’s a collection of things I wanted to talk about but don’t have a full post in me for. 1. Apparently, Ohio is also passing an abortion ban, presumably to create the jobs they keep saying is their priority. Miri has the details and is encouraging people to call John Kaisich and tell him to line-item veto that provision from the budget bill. I encourage you to go over there and get the details on how. I just did, and I don’t even think modern Republicans ever give a shit about public opinion, but it didn’t hurt me. The part that gets me, however, is this bit: Doctors must inform patients seeking abortions exactly how much money the clinic made from abortions within the past year, and how much money the clinic stands to lose if the patient chooses not to get an abortion. In case it’s unclear, the point of this is to warn patients that there is a “conflict of interest” involved in providing abortions because clinics can make money from them. This is ridiculous because any medical procedure can make money for doctors and hospitals. You’ll notice that with the advent of 501(c)4s and the GOP’s favorite Court ruling, Citizen’s United, that the opposite is true of them. If I were a principled Democrat in Ohio, every bill will have a proposed amendment that you cannot submit a bill in the state legislature without it saying how much you have received from the relevant special interest group and how much you stand to lose in campaign donations if the bill doesn’t pass. 2.Will Wilkinson talks about why Republicans would bother standing against immigration reform when it’s clear that even 86% of Republican voters think a “pathway to citizenship” is a good idea. And the answer is that they have a hard core base that really is dedicated to identity politics. The energetic ideological base of the Republican Party is a nationalist, identity-politics movement for relatively well-to-do older white Americans known as the “tea party”. The tea party is interested in bald eagles, American flags, the founding fathers, Jesus Christ, fighter jets, empty libertarian rhetoric, and other markers of “authentic” American identity and supremacy. That America is “a nation of immigrants” is a stock piece of American identity politics, but the immigrants that made America America were, well, not Mexican, and spoke English, or at least Pennsylvania Dutch. Sorry Mexicans! Even if each element of immigration reform, taken in isolation, is agreed to be a good idea by a solid majority of Republican voters, Republican politicians must nevertheless avoid too-enthusiastically supporting this package of good ideas, lest they fail to project sufficient appreciation for the importance of keeping America American and putting Americans first. This is where I think there is an element of cognitive dissonance present in a lot of GOP voters. They don’t think of themselves as hurting immigrants, they don’t want to hurt anybody, but they also want to feel more authentic, more American than somebody, and immigrants are a traditional target. They prioritize their desire to feel superior, better than, over their desire to help people who may have been raised in this country, entirely unaware that their parents brought them here illegally as babies. They aren’t entirely unfeeling toward other people, which is why they support parts of the bill, but a whole bill threatens their feeling of supremacy and that cannot happen. 3. This is the boy I wish I was when I was 13. In fact, this is the boy I wished I was when I was 13. Will Phillips has been a social justice activist since he was 10 years old. Matt Barber has questioned his motivations and suggested he’s been “brainwashed” (which is wingnut speak for “taught that other people matter”). He initially got famous for refusing to say the Pledge because he didn’t feel that we did have “liberty and justice for all.” Most recently, he spoke at the Northwest Arkansas Pride Parade. This kid is amazing and has a bright future ahead of him. Go read about him now. 4. TW: cults, murder, homophobia. “Lord” Pete Moses is the leader of a Judaism-based cult. And he has just been found guilty of murdering two of his followers, one of which was a 4-year-old boy who was killed because Moses thought he was gay. At the very least he will be going to jail, the sick fuck. Sentencing is next Friday. 5. If you have small children, you should fill out this form saying you would be interested in getting them this awesome toy to teach your youngsters about evolution. Even if you don’t have kids you should fill it out. This is not buying the product, they are gauging interest in it, and filling out the initial form will not ask you for credit card information, but will give you an opportunity to give comments. 6. If you remember me talking about Joe Klein and how he apparently doesn’t understand that atheists help people, there have been multiple updates. First, Klein himself tried to weasel his way out of his comments by claiming that he only meant organized atheist groups, which is still incorrect. Now Time has come out with its own statement, and basically they’re supporting Klein, which is why I highly suggest that you contact Time and let them know that this is utterly unacceptable, that inaccurate reporting has no excuse, and that you intend to cancel your subscription if you have one. On a side note, I was helping my friend with her baby yesterday. Funny how Joe Klein wasn’t there to help. 7. This baby duck was born with a deformed leg. So, rather than give him a peg leg or letting him suffer, science has found a solution. Using a 3D printer, people made a mold for a silicone prosthetic leg and foot for Buttercup. All the feels for this one. 8. I was torn about this for a whole 3 seconds before recognizing the problems with it. Basically, it’s a website that is encouraging a movement for “Christian Domestic Discipline” which we are told is a consensual arrangement that includes male domination and punishments like spanking. Christian Domestic Discipline is not BDSM. It is not a game. While we do not deny its sometimes erotic nature, it is ultimately not for erotic purposes. It is often much different than the domestic discipline you will find outside of the Christian faith. The thing is, it sounds a lot like BDSM. However, my experience has taught me that I can’t trust that Christianists aren’t lying when they say stuff like “consensual”, and there is a question of whether a lifetime’s worth of being told that this is the natural order of things leaves a person in a position to meaningfully consent or not. However, giving the women involved in this the benefit of the doubt, I see nothing on their website about wives who want to exit this “consensual” arrangement, or merely drop that aspect of it without getting a divorce. I also see no mention of safe words and very little in the way of safety instructions to keep husbands from going too far (I suppose god will stop them?), which means it is very, very, very not BDSM. Essentially, as a Dom/sub relationship with a religious play component, this could be really hot. As a lifestyle with no escape routes, no safety instructions, and no apparent care for the lives of women who get into this other than value paternalistic nonsense, it sounds both dangerous and abusive, despite claims that it is not (because saying that something is not abusive/racist/homophobic/otherwise awful totes makes it true). 9. #4 on this Fred Clark link list. Just go read it. I think that’s everything for now. Oh, if you haven’t, please go vote on my new tagline. It’ll only take a second and be really helpful. Advertisements

REBORN footballer Mitch Robinson continues to enhance his reputation, with the one-time bad boy handed the Brisbane Lions' captaincy for Sunday's NAB Challenge clash against Gold Coast. Robinson has turned his career around since he was delisted by Carlton at the end of 2014. The Lions have harnessed his aggression and the 26-year-old has become a leader of an inexperienced midfield group. Now Robinson will lead a young squad – 10 players could pull on the guernsey for the first time against the Suns – at Burpengary in skipper Tom Rockliff's absence. Exciting key forward Josh Schache is in line for his first match after wowing onlookers in intraclub hit-outs with his strong-marking and dead-eye set shot. The No.2 draft pick could also be joined by 2015 recruits Ben Keays, Eric Hipwood, Reuben William and Rhys Mathieson Rockliff, Pearce Hanley, Dayne Zorko, Daniel Rich and North Melbourne recruit Ryan Bastinac are among those rested who should play in the Lions' second pre-season match against St Kilda in Mackay.

Their disappearance has become one of the enduring mysteries of the war, two young journalists — like movie adventurers — riding their motorbikes into no man’s land and losing a bet against fate. Mr. Flynn, the dashing and glamorous son of the movie star Errol Flynn, had in fact briefly been an actor, and he brought an aura with him to Vietnam that gave his disappearance at the age of 28 a mythic quality. “Sean Flynn could look more incredibly beautiful than even his father, Errol, had 30 years before as Captain Blood,” wrote Michael Herr in his classic book about the war, “Dispatches.” “But sometimes he looked more like Artaud coming out of some heavy heart-of-darkness trip, overloaded on the information, the input!” Mr. Page had shared some of those journeys into darkness, and his visit to Pkhar Doung was the latest of many searches in what he called “a 25-year madness” in pursuit of the bones of the man he calls his brother. Weeks earlier two bounty hunters made a false claim to have found them, reviving interest in the disappearance and spurring American investigators to step up the search for the missing journalists. Mr. Page said, “I don’t like the idea of his spirit out there tormented,” a wandering ghost that could find rest, as many in Asia believe, only after proper funeral rites. “There’s something spooky about being M.I.A.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Page is also seeking a measure of peace for his own soul, scarred like his body from the traumas of combat, from nearly fatal wounds and from the loss of friends, trying to put together what he calls “an enormous jigsaw puzzle, bits of sky, bits of earth.” “I don’t think anybody who goes through anything like war ever comes out intact,” he said. “I suppose the closure of Sean’s fate also has to do with closure of the whole war experience.” Theirs was an intimacy forged by shared danger and by what Mr. Page calls the magnetic pull of two only sons searching for a bond. Photo “We could have been brothers, and felt as though we were,” Mr. Page wrote in a memoir, “Derailed in Uncle Ho’s Victory Garden.” “We would sit for hours in the same room, hardly speaking yet in total communication, a vibration as intimate as between lovers.” FOR Mr. Page a lonely intimacy has continued, and he hears what seems to be the voice of his friend from time to time, the voice of a tormented spirit. “We have conversations in strange moments, and often enough to remind me of the presence of his spirit,” Mr. Page said on his recent drive to Pkhar Doung. “It’s there but not there, and you’re aware that there’s something somehow lurking, just out of reach.” Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. As he drives past the rubber trees, whose rapid regular repeated rows create the illusion of some ghostly shifting world in the distance, he said, he often hears his friend’s voice: “What are you doing, man? What are you doing, boy? What are you doing, mate?” Mr. Flynn’s lost bones and wandering soul are not alone in Cambodia, where as much as a quarter of the population died in the late 1970s during the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge. Many of their remains, like those of Mr. Flynn, are still unidentified in killing fields around the country. Cambodia was a particularly dangerous place for foreign journalists during five years of war before the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975. At least 37 died or disappeared, including 15, along with Mr. Flynn and Mr. Stone, in a six-week period in 1970. Advertisement Continue reading the main story After pursuing various theories and false trails, Mr. Page said he now believed that Mr. Flynn survived for a year after his disappearance and might have been killed by lethal injection at a field hospital here. On a visit last year, Mr. Page recovered some medical vials and turned them over for analysis to the American military office in Hawaii that seeks to recover the remains of missing soldiers. This new visit to Pkhar Doung did little to solve the mystery. Since the bounty hunters ravaged the site with a backhoe, the American military office, known by its acronym, JPAC, has sealed it off. Mr. Page was turned away by the local police. In the future, he said, he planned to talk with nearby villagers who might have some memory of captive foreigners long ago and what became of them. Even if he never does succeed, Mr. Page said his search had helped him honor both Mr. Flynn and other journalists who had died or disappeared in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. HIS pursuit has inspired a documentary, a new memorial to dead and missing journalists in Phnom Penh, journalism courses for local reporters and most significantly a book titled “Requiem,” which includes the work of 135 photographers from all sides who died covering Indochina’s decades of war. Mr. Page, who grew up in Britain, taught himself photography and covered the war as a freelancer from 1965 to 1969, sending pictures to major American and French publications, including Time and Life, Look and Paris Match. He became known for his vivid combat pictures and also for the risks he took and the wounds he survived. At the time Mr. Flynn disappeared, Mr. Page had suffered his most severe injuries, from a mine explosion that sent shrapnel into his brain and body. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital, he said, but surgeons revived him for a long and painful recovery. The thin borderline between life and death still seems to draw him. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “At the end of the day, the mysticism of it — living, not living — becomes a mystery,” he said, “and I don’t think we are ever privileged except on death’s doorstep to actually understand it.” He hovers close, though, pouring his energies into his search for the unmarked grave of his friend, then sometimes finding comfort in the quiet of a cemetery. “It’s always peaceful in a cemetery,” he said. “Everyone there has found rest. All the tribulations of life are over, and you return to the peace of nothingness.”

by Hugh McQuaid | Jun 17, 2014 12:24pm ( ) Comments | Commenting has expired | Share Posted to: Courts, Election 2012, Election Policy, Ethics, Legal Federal prosecutors asked a judge this week to deny former Gov. John G. Rowland’s request to dismiss campaign corruption charges against him. Prosecutors called Rowland’s arguments “unconvincing,” but said he could make them to a jury. Last month, Rowland’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss seven federal charges relating to consulting work the former governor performed in 2012 for 5th Congressional District candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley. The work and Rowland’s $35,000 compensation weren’t reported to election regulators. The government says Rowland “devised a scheme” to work for Republican congressional candidates and even drew up phony contracts to hide his involvement from the regulators. However, Rowland’s lawyers challenged all seven counts of alleged wrongdoing and asked Judge Ellen Bree Burns to dismiss the case. They disputed the government’s claim that the former governor had executed any fraudulent contracts. Although the documents are cited in the government’s indictment, Rowland’s attorneys insist they were never signed and were written broadly enough to encompass any campaign consultant work he did. In one of six motions filed this week by the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Liam Brennan said Rowland could tell that to a jury. “This is an issue for trial. The defendant claims that the provisions of the draft contract are so wide ranging and open ended that they would encompass working on Candidate 2’s campaign. This argument, however unconvincing, is an argument that the defendant can make to a jury,” the document reads. The evidence against Rowland includes the texts of several emails sent from the former governor as he aggressively, but unsuccessfully, tried to involve another candidate, Mark Greenberg. In Greenberg’s case, Rowland proposed to work on behalf of his campaign while entering into a contract purporting to work for “The Simon Foundation,” Greenberg’s animal rescue center in Bloomfield. Last year, an attorney for Rowland sent prosecutors a copy of the proposed contract as evidence Rowland intended to work for the shelter, according to the recent court documents. “Indeed, the government expects to prove that the proposed contract was not only created to obstruct justice, but that it was actually used for that very purpose,” the document reads. Prosecutors also have communications between Rowland, Wilson-Foley and her husband, Brian Foley, as they drafted and entered a contract through the law offices of an attorney for Brian Foley’s nursing home company. Earlier this year, the Foley’s pleaded guilty to related charges and implicated Rowland. Court documents from the Wilson-Foley case suggest Rowland tried to conceal his involvement with the campaign while accepting payments for work he was purporting to do for Foley’s nursing home. “I am just a volunteer helping you and ‘many other Republican candidates’ in case anyone asks,” Rowland emailed Wilson-Foley in November 2011. “I want to stay under the radar as much as possible and get the job done.” Prosecutors insist the contracts described in the indictment are “tangible and real” and far from just a “thought crime,” as Rowland’s attorney’s have argued. Throughout the new court documents, the U.S. attorneys were often dismissive of arguments made by Rowland’s attorneys, which they characterize as far-fetched. They describe one argument as based on an “imaginary” premise and another an invitation to “enter a parallel universe and imagine” a scenario which the government was never trying to prove. In addition to Rowland’s motion to dismiss, prosecutors responded to a request by his attorneys for stricter jury selection tools. Rowland’s legal team has asked the court to issue a written questionnaire for the potential jury pool and permit individual interviews with jurors. They also want five additional peremptory challenges and at least four alternate jurors. The request is based on media coverage of Rowland’s case, which his lawyers contend has been unsympathetic and has often mentioned the former governor’s prior corruption charges. He served 10 months in federal prison on a conspiracy charge after resigning the governor’s office in 2004. Prosecutors accused Rowland attorney Reid Weingarten of “fueling” the news media coverage by making a statement to reporters on the steps of a federal courthouse in April. The U.S. attorneys also point out that Rowland’s lawyers are seeking more peremptory challenges than the number awarded to lawyers for Zacharias Moussaoui, a man who pleaded guilty to plotting the 9/11 terrorism attacks. “That is, in the prosecution of the most heinous crime in American history, the trial court awarded two additional peremptory challenges. The defendant in this case seeks five additional peremptory challenges,” the document said. Rowland was released from prison in 2006 and took a job as director of economic development for the city of Waterbury in 2008. Two years later he began working as the host of an afternoon drive political talk show on WTIC. Rowland resigned from that job in April amidst calls from many, including Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, for WTIC to remove him from the airwaves.

Lets look at reality and birth control. People use birth control for a reason. Because they don't want children right now, for whatever reason. According to these churches, birth control even inside marriage is "immoral". What they are apparently saying is that once you get married, you either must not engage in sexual activity with your spouse or you are supposed to have and raise all the children "God" has "blessed" you with. First... I think most spouses of both genders would be really annoyed if they could only have sex to procreate. Talk about a way to destroy a relationship! "No honey, we can't have sex anymore. We had twins from the one time we had sex and we can't handle anymore!". Sorry, In a normal, healthy relationship, I don't see that happening. The need for intimacy with the one you're in a relationship with is too essential to keeping that relationship alive and functioning. So, according to these churches, no sex unless you make a baby. How is that pro-"life"? Of course, if you and your spouse do give into those desires, you can not protect yourself from getting pregnant. At all. So if you get pregnant, oh well. You have a baby. Great. I've been married 23 years. That means I would have had the potential to have at LEAST 20 kids by now!!! Lets face the facts... the majority of couples in the entire world that could possibly support and raise that many kids these days is REALLY small. Financially alone most of us couldn't do it. These days, it takes both couples working their tales off just to afford 2 or 3 kids. But 20 kids? Not all of us are the Duggart family, we can't afford it and we wouldn't want it. Having that many kids means SOME one, usually the mom, has to stay home and be enslaved to the kitchen, laundry and nursery to care for them all. Which means, there is only one income to support all those mouths to feed. Good luck with that. Unless you are an executive with a golden parachute you'd be living in complete poverty. So would your children. How is that pro-"life"? The world already has a population of 7 BILLION. And that is with most couples in the "first world" nations only having a few kids per couple. Can you imagine if EVERYONE had 20 kids? Scientists are already in a panic because we have reached our limit for natural resources. They are now predicting major wars over water and land resources since we keep polluting them to attempt to provide for everyone on the planet. Without a major change, they are predicting major, terrible wars and mass starvation if something isn't done about our population. And yet.. these churches want you to constantly procreate. How is that pro-"life"? That is of course saying you can actually take care of another baby. Or any baby. Another fact.. sadly, there a lot of people out there, single and married, who should never have had kids. Child abuse and neglect occur every day, in ways we don't even want to consider. If those children are not killed outright by their parents (in ways that are just terrible to behold), then they live with the catastrophic effects of child abuse. Those effects can linger for life, causing depression, self hatred and criminal activity and that's just for starters. Their lives are a constant struggle with pain and self doubt and they often become under achievers.Without help, they will often go on to abuse others including their own children. How is that pro-"life"? Then there is the idea of "if you don't want it, put it up for adoption". For some reason, all these people think adoption is the perfect solution. I don't know who came up with that line of bullshit. It's sort of a solution, in SOME cases,but not all. The simple fact is, the only babies really in demand are healthy white ones. The kids that aren't that.. are of different races, born with disabilities or drug problems and such, are very hard to place even now! Never mind when we have an even larger number of them. So what happens to those babies no one wants? They are abandoned at hospitals until the state can find a foster home for them. Unfortunatly, the number of decent foster homes is going down dramatically, so they will be there a LONG time before a slot becomes available.Then they are dumped in foster home after foster home until they are 18, then kicked out of the system on their own with little or no support. Most of the kids this happens to end up with major mental issues, as well as having been abused. (See above). They are never really cared for, never get love from a "real" parent, never learn to love themselves, never have a stable background or upbringing. They are cast out on the world with no help and no safety net, with fewer skills and somehow are expected to hit the ground running... when all they usually do it hit the ground. How is that pro-"life"? It also occurs to me that these same people who say they are pro-"life" are the same people who scream about providing any kind of funding for children and families. They are constantly blaming their political enemies for allowing services such as welfare, medical care and food stamps. But how will families live and provide care for their children without it? Even when we are just having 3 kids per couple, if someone loses their job the whole family can be put in the poor house. So they are telling us essentially to have those 20 kids but they aren't going to help us provide for them. Once they are BORN, they are your problem, not their's. Again, sounds like pro BIRTH to me. They want to force you to have a child you either don't want or can't afford to feed. How is that pro-"life"? There are already countries in which access to birth control is rare or non-existent. In those places, women are forced to have child after child, since they often also have no say over if they will have sex or not. What happens to those children? As already stated, it takes a massive amount of resources to raise just 3 kids to adulthood - and that is in a first world country! In poorer countries its even worse!! Look at Africa. Do you know how many children die each day from starvation and lack of medical care? I can answer you. Thousands. They die a horrible death, slowly wasting away in agony because their parents can not afford to feed 15 kids. How is that pro-"life"? Let's continue to look at another side of this. What about children born with disabilities? Simple fact.. there are families (I know one) in which ALL of their children are disabled. What about the children? All are disabled enough that they will never have a "life" as we know it. They will have to be cared for their entire lives. At a VERY great financial expense to the families and to society. As the parent of a disabled person myself, you can not possibly know the pain we go through with our children. I look at my son, and know the hell he has been through. Schools that are abusive, not having a voice to speak up for himself. Living very little of life, because he's just not able to interact with it. Knowing he will probably never have a girlfriend, knowing he will have to be cared for by a society that often rejects him. More, a society that doesn't want to have to pay the 100,000 dollars a year it will take to house him in a decent group home for his life. But according to these churches, it doesn't matter. They still expect you to continue to have children even if that child will be born with life limiting disabilities. How is that pro-"life"? Everything I just covered above is dealing with the "no birth control inside of marriage" idea. What about the "no birth control" idea outside of marriage? What about that poor teen aged girl who was only given an abstinence only education by the same church? Who wasn't even given the most basic knowledge of exactly what sex IS, never mind the lesson on "how you get pregnant"? Essentially, that poor girl is sent out into the world with no education at all, no protection.. and gets taken advantage of by a boyfriend and gets pregnant? She is going to have hell to pay from her parents, who some how think she should have known better but didn't give her an education to know, Period. Then you are going to stick her with raising a baby that is a constant reminder of "how she screwed up" and how she is such an "embarrassment", "immoral" and a "slut" according to her parents and the church who refused to educate her in the first place? How nice of you. What about that woman who was minding her own business and gets raped and impregnated? Lovely that you want her to be reminded of something horribly traumatic and disgusting every day of her life! Let me guess she "deserved it" and it was "Gods will" that she was raped, right? What about that little 10 year old who "played a game with Daddy" and gets pregnant? Nevermind the fact that her little body can not handle a pregnancy with out permanent damage, or the fact that the child will be born from incest or the terrible mental damage it will do to her to be forced to have her own sibling. Congratulations all you pro-birthers. The idea that birth control should be non-existent and so should abortion just doomed all those innocent females to a living and perhaps life threatening hell. And doomed the baby as well. How is that pro-"life"? I could go on and on. There are a thousand issues on this topic. But what I see is this: Calling these people and churches pro-life is wildly incorrect. They are pro-birth. But they are also: Pro-child abuse Pro-women slavery Pro-starvation Pro-fear Pro-environmental destruction Pro-cruelty Pro-ignorance Pro-destruction of marriage Pro-poverty Pro-overpopulation Pro-war Pro-insanity Pro-self hatred Pro- "don't give them a chance" But they most CERTAINLY are not PRO LIFE!!!!!!!

'I've had enough' - Canterbury caravan mum JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/The Press Trina Nesbitt is living in a caravan with her two children. A tiny stray kitten hides under Trina Nesbitt's borrowed caravan. It has wide eyes, fearful of coming out. Nesbitt decided to adopt it. "I know how it feels," she said. READ MORE: * Housing recovery neglects the poor * Squatting in abandoned quake buildings * Pensioner living in his car * 15 Filipino rebuild workers living in one house Nesbitt has lived at a north Canterbury caravan park with her two children for four months, unable to find an affordable home to rent. It is in stark contrast to her once settled life. She rented a home for 10 years and had a steady job as a receptionist. The change has broken her. John Kirk-Anderson Trina Nesbitt and her two children In front of her children she is bright and bubbly, but today, the magnitude of where she is living, from where she has been, overwhelms her. Tears course down her face. She tries to apologise for them. She never thought she would be living in a "trailer park". It costs $300 a week. "I've just had enough. I get just so sad and that's not me," she said. John Kirk-Anderson Inside Trina Nesbitt's home for three months - reading is her only escape route. Nesbitt cannot find a rental. "I never dreamed it would be so hard to get a home. "A mum with children? You don't get a look in. It's the prices of housing. It's just so expensive." After the 2011 earthquake Nesbitt was forced to move from her rental home because the landlord tripled the rent after renovations. She found a series of short-term homes and then a permanent one, but had to move out when the owners needed it for their own daughter, who was homeless. Nesbitt lost her job. A crash claimed the family car. The caravan is cold, which eats at Nesbitt's arthritis. She and her children share beds. Her daughter has anxiety. It was getting better until they moved into the caravan. Nesbitt gets up five times during the night to walk her children to the communal showers and toilets. "I know I'm probably being an over protective mum, but I just can't let them go by themselves," she said. On school days, Nesbitt buses with her children to their schools. She chats to the teachers to make sure her children are doing OK. From there, she walks to the Kaiapoi library to house and job hunt until it is time to pick up them up. She does not like going back to the caravan - a reminder of her "failure as a mum". "It breaks my heart because I feel like I've let them down. Every day they say to me 'Have we found a house?'" she said. She misses her "old life". "It's the small things like having people over for a barbecue. Or, this sounds silly I know, cleaning the house. "My sister, every time she leaves here she cries. She hates coming here and hates seeing us like this." Nesbitt reads to distract her from her surroundings. At least for those few hundred pages, she can pretend her children do not live in a caravan. It is nearing 3pm. Nesbitt wipes away her tears to get ready to go meet her children. She must remain upbeat for them. It is what mothers do, she said. A month later, Nesbitt is still at the caravan park. She is no closer to finding a home. This week, Canterbury's post-earthquake housing problems will be illustrated through a number of articles and videos showing people living in desperate circumstances. Social and health agencies say there is no bigger crisis facing the region than the security and affordability of housing. This is Home Truths. - Stuff

Photo credit: FOXQ13 There's was an active manhunt underway in and around Milton, Washington for a man that Police say killed his sexual partner. The woman, 25-year-old Wendi Traynor had an active life, and that was cut short by the hands of 27-year-old Joshua Kioni Ellis, according to Milton Police. The body of Traynor was found in her apartment by her uncle, who went to check in her this past Friday and found her corpse. <img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/c9983b2cd0ac7cad3aab52bf74cdd5a12bd086160544beae07ada7e8ff407660.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;"> Officials say officers with the Milton Police Department went to the apartment at the Surprise Lake Village Apartments off Queens Way. <iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d10834.330705474591!2d-122.2999268!3d47.2443084!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x0:0x80dae9bc6a41ccb7!2sSurprise+Lake+Village!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1510567603026" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen></iframe> “They hadn’t heard from her in a period of time, and it was uncommon for them not to have communication from her, so they went to check on her,” said Sergeant Russ Hume with the Milton Police Department. According to Traynor’s father, she attended Eastside Catholic High School and got her degree in law and justice from Central Washington University, with the anticipation to become an FBI agent. Now it's likely the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be involved in investigating her murder because she was once a TSA Agent at Sea-Tac Airport and had just recently passed the examinations for her air traffic controller promotion. Her family and friends say Traynor had a “heart of gold”, and her dad remembered her for having a “smart and sassy” attitude; something he hoped she'd use to follow his career path as an air traffic controller himself. Milton resident Kejuan Jones also lived in the apartment complex where the murder occurred, and he's shocked that this could happen so close to him. “It makes me want to go to the office on Monday and say I want out of here,” Jones said. Police had originally issued an arrest warrant for Kioni Ellis, and they warned that he was known to carry firearms, an obvious thug, so there was a “do not approach” caution for those who may have encountered him. “He’s local to the area - not local to Milton as far as we know, and between the two of them, they had some sort of domestic relationship,” Hume said. Once again an example of a woman choosing poorly in her dating life, has apparently resulted in her death. I think there's a saying for that. Meanwhile, the family has covered the windows of Traynor’s apartment with black covers, until they can go and collect their now deceased daughter's belongings. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This man is wanted in the Milton murder, police say he is known to carry firearms, do not approach him, call 911 if you see him. The connection he has to 25 yr old Wendi Traynor who was found dead, tonight at 9/10p <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Q13FOX?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Q13FOX</a> <a href="https://t.co/aztJ4iMyZT">pic.twitter.com/aztJ4iMyZT</a></p>— Tatevik Aprikyan (@TatevikAprikyan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TatevikAprikyan/status/929552534280138752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> “There’s caution tape all over my complex. It’s not something the everyday person doesn’t see, you see it on the news, you see it on the movies, but when it’s a few feet away from you, it’s a whole different experience,” Jones said. On Saturday night the Milton Police announced they had a suspect in custody, so it's now assumed Kioni Ellis is incarcerated. Police did not go into detail as the relationship between Ellis and Traynor but are describing the case as domestic violence homicide. Surprisingly enough Kioni Ellis has no prior criminal record, he just automatically escalated to murdering a woman. Really makes you think. If you have any information about the homicide of Wendy Traynor or Joshua Kioni Ellis you're urged to contact authorities at (253) 922-8735. —<i>[email protected]</i> <i>On Twitter:</i> <a href="https://www.twitter.com/IWillRedPillYou">@IWillRedPillYou</a> Tips? Info? Send me a message!

Bloodbath in Cairo: More than 120 dead and 1,000 injured after police 'shoot to kill' in violent clashes which have rocked Egypt WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Hundreds of thousands turned out across Egypt for pro-army demonstrations They clashed with supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi who also lined the streets Morsi has been formally accused of conspiring with Palestinian group Hamas and of murdering prison officers The fighting is the country's bloodiest incidence of violence since the army deposed Morsi earlier this month Advertisement More than 120 people are believed to have been killed at a protest in support of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi, according to the Muslim Brotherhood. Security forces are reported to have started shooting demonstrators shortly before pre-dawn morning prayers at a round-the-clock vigil in Cairo being staged by backers of Morsi, who was removed from power by the army three weeks ago. Makeshift field hospitals around the area near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque were overwhelmed, with one doctor telling the BBC that more than 1,000 had been injured. Scroll down for videos Anguish: Up to 120 people are reported dead in Cairo after defiant supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi were protesting his removal from power Battleground: Central Cairo looked like a warzone as residents walked home around the makeshift road blocks Clashes: Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted president Mohamed Morsi fighting with opponents to Morsi in the distance Another round of violence: Flowers are placed next to a trail of blood at the scene of clashes in Cairo yesterday Deadly violence: The bodies of killed supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in a field hospital at Rabaa Adawiya mosque following clashes with security forces in Cairo Makeshift morgue: The Muslim Brotherhood are putting the death toll at around 120 people Grief: Relatives mourning outside a field hospital at Rabaa Adawiya mosque on Saturday Followers: This image released by the Egyptian army of Friday evening's pro-army rally shows the strength of support for the security forces and against the ousted president Morsi Demonstration: Hundreds of thousands took to the streets as supporters of the army heeded a call to rally Support: Demonstrations like this pro-army gathering in Tahrir Square on Friday night were met with counter-protests by Morsi followers The state health ministry currently says that only 65 people had died and 750 suffered injuries. However, Al Jazeera Egypt reported that some 4,500 may have been injured in the early morning violence. Military-backed authorities were feeling emboldened today after millions turned out for nationwide rallies on Friday called by the army chief. A leading figure of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed el-Beltagy, blamed the violence on army chief General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's call for rallies on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people came onto the streets after army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who played a central role in overthrowing the president, called for Egyptians to rally to give him a mandate to tackle 'violence and terrorism'. Support: A Egyptian man waves national flags as an army helicopter flies over supporters of the army in Tahrir Square Show of strength: Supporters of the army gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday Lights: Hundreds of laser lights were shone into the sky by demonstrators in Tahrir Square who rallied to show support for the army Reporters at the scene said firing could still be heard hours after the troubles started. ' They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill,' said pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad. The deaths occurred hours after supporters and opponents of Morsi staged mass rival rallies across the country. Ragab Nayel Ali, one of the pro-Morsi protesters, said security forces fired first with tear gas and birdshot. 'Protesters replied by hurling rocks and started building walls,' said Ali, who was injured in an accident as he ferried wounded on his motorcycle from the fighting to a field hospital. Clash: Security forces fired rounds of teargas at pro-Morsi supporters at a vigil in Cairo Barricade: Supporters of the deposed president throw stones from behind a makeshift wall as they take cover from the police during clashes in Cairo Explosion: Fireworks are set off near police and pro-army protesters by supporters of Morsi Warzone: The streets of Cairo descended into chaos as supporters of the army clashed with pro-Morsi demonstrators Confusion: Security forces said they had fired teargas at pro-Morsi supporters but denied shooting at them Aftermath: Supporters of President Morsi lay flowers near a puddle of blood, while a woman cries outside a field hospital in the Nasr area of the city Destruction: Stones and flowers are laid next to a trail of blood that has splattered across a tiled floor during the clashes in the early hours of Saturday The fighting is the country's bloodiest incidence of violence since the army deposed Mohammed Morsi earlier this month. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: 'I am deeply concerned by recent events in Egypt, and condemn the use of force against protesters which has led to the loss of lives.' But Muslim Brotherhood supporters also staged mass counter-rallies, demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, who was placed under investigation on Friday for a raft of crimes, including murder. More than 200 people have died in violence since the overthrow of Morsi, including at least nine on Friday, most of them Brotherhood supporters. Mr Haddad said the latest deaths came after police started firing repeated rounds of teargas around 3am at protesters who had spilled out of the main area of the Rabaa sit-in. 'Through the smog of the gas, the bullets started flying,' he said. Security: A military helicopter patrols the skies above Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands of supporters of the army gathered on Friday Flares: Fireworks were let off above the crowds at the presidential palace in Cairo Split: Both the army and the ousted president have thousands of supporters in Egypt Conflict: Police stand back as teargas is fired into a crowd in Cairo in the early hours of Saturday morning He claimed 'special police forces in black uniforms' were firing live rounds and that snipers shot from the roofs of a university, buildings in the area, and a bridge. State news agency MENA quoted an unnamed security source as saying that only teargas was used to disperse protesters. He said no firearms were used. Mr Haddad said the pro-Morsi supporters had used rocks to try to defend themselves. On the podium outside the Rabaa mosque, a speaker urged people to retreat from the gunfire, but Mr Haddad said 'men stayed to defend themselves because women and children are inside the sit-in'. Accusations: The clashes came as Morsi was accused of crimes including murder Distress: An injured supporter of Morsi kneels on the ground after clashes with riot police in the capital Injuries: A supporter of the ousted president is rushed to a field hospital in the Nasr area of Cairo Attack: A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood claimed hundreds of people were injured when security forces shot at them in the early hours on Saturday Treatment: At least 70 people are thought to have died, while scores of the injured were rushed to a field hospital Makeshift: An injured man is rushed through the crowds to a field hospital on the back of a moped Help: A pro-Morsi supporter is treated in a field hospital following clashes between security forces and demonstrators Senior Brotherhood politician Saad el-Hosseini said: ' I have been trying to make the youth withdraw for five hours. I can't. They are saying have paid with their blood and they do not want to retreat.' Egypt's army-installed interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said on Friday that the month-old Cairo vigils by Morsi supporters would be 'brought to an end, soon and in a legal manner', state-run al Ahram news website reported. Yesterday the country's new rulers accused Morsi of conspiring with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and plotting to attack police stations, army officers and prisons during the 2011 uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak. During the 2011 struggles, he had escaped from a prison and has now been accused of the 'premeditated killing of officers, soldiers and prisoners'. Ousted: Former president Mohammed Morsi has been formally accused of a raft of crimes and is expected to be charged Backing: Supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi take part in a demonstration in the city of Alexandria, where at least five people died The announcement by prosecutors of the investigation against Morsi is likely to pave the way to a formal indictment and eventually a trial. It was the first news of his legal status since he was deposed by the military on July 3. Since then, the Islamist leader has been held incommunicado in a secret location. Besides Morsi, five other senior figures from the group have been detained. Hassan Mohammed, a 30-year old teacher who came from southern Egypt to join the pro-Morsi rally, remained steadfast.

Welcome to Defense with Boss decks! We are happy to release the first major update to Labyrinth that includes a first taste of Defense gameplay. You can now play against other people. Although much may still change, this is a taste of the new features: Build a boss deck in the Deck Editor, then set it active on the Defense screen. Start Raid randomly matches you against other players' boss decks, one at a time. Or practice against your active boss deck. Watch raids against your boss in Replays. In the tutorial video above, Bradley shows you how to build defense decks. Highlights include: Defense cards have a star cost and type. You can't build over your star limit and you need at least 5 Spell cards. Perk and Lair cards play immediately. Spell cards draw randomly every time. In our opinion, this system drastically improves the pace of the raid. New Content Most cards have changed significantly and there are lots of new cards. We are also introducing a new boss, the Giant Queen. You even get a glimpse of card backs if you watch replays. Report Bugs With this build we are turning on the servers for the first time and they have never had any significant load on them. There will be bugs--even hangs and crashes. If you get stuck, restart Labyrinth. Please let us know about any bugs you find. Not sure it's a bug? Join the discussion on our Discord channel. This link will last for about 20 hours: https://discord.gg/0qQZOLrkMMegpOeA What's Next? Look forward to progression, loot?, scoring, and new heroes and bosses soon! After you have a chance to play Labyrinth, please write a review on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/412310

Asked whether Hillary Clinton's conduct made them worried about what the former secretary of state would do as president, 57 percent responded that it did. | Getty Poll: Majority disapproves of FBI's Clinton decision A double-digit majority of Americans disapproves of the FBI's decision last week to not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton in the investigation into her private email server, according to the results of the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll out Monday. More than half—56 percent—said they disagreed with FBI Director James Comey's recommendation to the Justice Department to not charge Clinton with any crime, even as he remarked that she and her colleagues were "extremely careless" while slightly more than one-third, or 35 percent, said they approved. Story Continued Below Asked whether Clinton's conduct made them worried about what the former secretary of state would do as president, 57 percent responded that it did, while 39 percent said the issue is not related to how she would perform as commander in chief. A majority, 58 percent, said the decision would make no difference in whether they would support Clinton, while 28 percent said it would make it less likely for them to support her, while only 10 percent said it would make them more likely. The poll was conducted July 6-7 via landlines and cellphones, surveying a random national sample of 519 adults with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Synopsis Edit Production Edit Music Edit Meaning Edit Reggio stated that the Qatsi films are intended to simply create an experience and that "it is up [to] the viewer to take for himself/herself what it is that [the film] means." He also said that "these films have never been about the effect of technology, of industry on people. It's been that everyone: politics, education, things of the financial structure, the nation state structure, language, the culture, religion, all of that exists within the host of technology. So it's not the effect of, it's that everything exists within [technology]. It's not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe ..."[3] According to Hopi Dictionary: Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni, the Hopi word koyaanisqatsi ( Hopi pronunciation: [kojɑːnisˈkɑtsi]) is defined as "life of moral corruption and turmoil" or "life out of balance". The prefix koyaanis– means "corrupted" or "chaotic", and the word qatsi means "life" or "existence", literally translating koyaanisqatsi as "chaotic life". The film also defines the word as "crazy life", "life in turmoil", "life disintegrating", and "a state of life that calls for another way of living".[28] In the score by Philip Glass, the word "Koyaanisqatsi" is chanted at the beginning and end of the film in an "otherworldly"[29] dark, sepulchral basso profondo by singer Albert de Ruiter over a solemn, four-bar organ-passacaglia bassline. Three Hopi prophecies sung by a choral ensemble during the latter part of the "Prophecies" movement are translated just prior to the end credits: "If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster." "Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky." "A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans." During the end titles, the film gives Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich, David Monongye, Guy Debord, and Leopold Kohr credit for inspiration. Moreover, amongst the consultants to the director are listed such names as Jeffrey Lew, T.A. Price, Belle Carpenter, Cybelle Carpenter, Langdon Winner, and Barbara Pecarich. Releases Edit Reception Edit Influences Edit See also Edit Notes Edit

Earlier this year, Open Whisper Systems was served with a federal subpoena for records on its users, according to documents published today. Prosecutors were seeking data on two suspects who used Signal, an encrypted chat app produced by Open Whisper. Unfortunately for the government, Signal keeps only minimal logs on users, so the vast majority of the requested information was unavailable. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Open Whisper Systems in the fight, has published a number of court filings related to the the request. Portions of the filings are redacted and much about the subpoena is still secret — including the case number, the date it was served, and the details of the underlying case — but it’s clear that the government sought detailed information on the users including subscriber name, payment information, and associated IP addresses. Filed under gag order It’s also clear that almost none of that information was ultimately produced. One of the phone numbers named by the government did not correspond to a Signal account, and logs on the other number showed only when the user first signed up for the service and when they most recently logged in. Crucially, the request was filed under gag order, and Open Whisper was only able to publish the documents after a significant legal fight. That has become standard practice for such requests, although many legal scholars believe widespread use of the tactic presents a threat to free speech. Open Whisper Systems wrote the encryption software that powers WhatsApp and Allo’s Incognito mode, but all of the associated hardware is run by Facebook and Google, respectively. As a result, many of those apps have different logging practices, and could be vulnerable to such an order. WhatsApp was rumored to have resisted a similar wiretap order earlier this year, although the details of the case are still unknown.

For information on how to beat the banks visit our donate page. For further information on the banking blockade against WikiLeaks download this PDF. A kit with full information on the blockade and tools to assist WikiLeaks through it can be downloaded here. Created: 24th October, 1pm GMT WikiLeaks has published the biggest leaks in journalistic history. This has triggered aggressive retaliation from powerful groups. Since 7th December 2010 an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade has been imposed by Bank of America, VISA, MasterCard, PayPal and Western Union. The attack has destroyed 95% of our revenue. The blockade came into force within ten days of the launch of Cablegate as part of a concerted US-based, political attack that included vitriol by senior right wing politicians, including assassination calls against WikiLeaks staff. The blockade is outside of any accountable, public process. It is without democratic oversight or transparency. The US government itself found that there were no lawful grounds to add WikiLeaks to a US financial blockade. But the blockade of WikiLeaks by politicized US finance companies continues regardless. As a result, WikiLeaks has been running on cash reserves for the past eleven months. The blockade has cost the organization tens of millions of pounds in lost donations at a time of unprecedented operational costs resulting from publishing alliances in over 50 countries, and their inevitable counter-attacks. Our scarce resources now must focus on fighting the unlawful banking blockade. If this financial attack stands unchallenged, a dangerous, oppressive and undemocratic precedent will have been set, the implications of which go far beyond WikiLeaks and its work. Any organization that falls foul of powerful finance companies or their political allies can expect similar extrajudicial action. Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and other international NGOs that work to expose the wrongdoing of powerful players risk the same fate as WikiLeaks. If publishing the truth about war is enough to warrant such aggressive action by Washington insiders, all newspapers that have published WikiLeaks’ materials are on the verge of having their readers and advertisers blocked from paying for their subscriptions. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has openly criticized the financial blockade against WikiLeaks, as have the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. The blockade erects a wall between us and our supporters, preventing them from affiliating with and defending the cause of their choice. It violates the competition laws and trade practice legislation of numerous states. It arbitrarily singles out an organization that has not committed any illegal act in any country and cuts it off from its financial lifeline in every country. In Australia, a formal, US triggered investigation into our operations found that WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange have no case to answer. In the US, our publishing is protected by the First Amendment, as has been repeatedly demonstrated by a wide variety of respected legal experts on the US Constitution. In January 2011 the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy C. Geithner, announced that there were no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks. There are no judgements, or even charges, against WikiLeaks or its staff anywhere in the world. The most powerful players in the banking industry have shown themselves to be a politicized arm of Washington. This collusion has occurred outside of any judicial or administrative process. The reach of these companies is global and violates the most basic principles of sovereignty. In Europe, VISA and MasterCard together control 97% of the card payment market. Alternatives have been aggressively opposed by VISA and US embassies. The European Central Bank announced plans in 2008 to introduce a European card system. A similar 2010 proposal in Russia together with a bill banning individualized VISA transaction records from going to the US were met with intervention by the US Embassy in Moscow. VISA calls itself the world’s largest currency, but every transaction is controlled by the VISA corporation and the groups that influence it. VISA is a national security problem and a threat to state sovereignty. No state, individual or organization has full economic autonomy or privacy if they rely on VISA. It is able to provide significant intelligence on not only individual behaviour and economic relationships but on large sections of the entire microeconomy and the movement of labour. The Bank of America is one of the principle promoters of the WikiLeaks financial blockade; it is also the creator of VISA, which until 1976 was called the “Bank Americard”. In February this year, it was revealed in detail that the Bank of America had commissioned, through Washington lawyers Hunton & Williams, a consortium of three US intelligence contractors, including HBGary, to propose a systematic US $2 million/month multi-pronged attack to hack and smear WikiLeaks. HBGary was referred to the bank’s lawyers by contacts within the US Department of Justice. The correspondence and proposals, which include plans to target journalists and lawyers supporting WikiLeaks, are now public. An extract from the proposal to sabotage WikiLeaks can be found on page 16 of plan 6: Feed the fuel between the feuding groups. Disinformation. Create messages around actions of sabotage or discredit the opposing organizations. Submit fake documents and then call out the error. Create concern over the security of the infrastructure. Create exposure stories. If the process is believed not to be secure they are done. Cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters. This would kill the project. Since the servers are now in Sweden and France putting a team together to get access is more straightforward. Media campaign to push the radical and reckless nature of WikiLeaks activities. Sustain pressure. Does nothing for the fanatics, but creates concern and doubt among moderates. In order to ensure our future survival, WikiLeaks is now forced to temporarily suspend its publishing operations and aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents. We have commenced pre-litigation action against the blockade in Iceland, Denmark, the UK, Brussels, the United States and Australia. We have lodged an anti-trust complaint at the European Commission and expect a decision by mid-November as to whether the European Competition Authority will open a full investigation into the wrongdoing of VISA and MasterCard. Our battles will be costly. We need your support. A handful of US finance companies cannot be allowed to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket. Graph Showing Donations Successfully Transferred to WikiLeaks: Financial Blockade: Chronology - 27 November 2010: United States - US State Department intentionally and wrongfully imply (but do not formally state) illegal conduct by WikiLeaks in a letter to lawyers for Julian Assange, which they then immediately leak to the press - 29 November 2010: Global - Cablegate publication starts with New York Times, Der Spiegel, El Pais & the Guardian, expanding eventually to over 90 publications in over 50 countries. - 29 November 2010 and following days: United States - Assassination calls and declarations of war by US senators, pundits and media against WikiLeaks. - 1 December 2010: United States/Global - Amazon stops hosting WikiLeaks - 2 December 2010: United States/Global - EveryDNS stops wikileaks.org domain service - 3 December 2010: United States/Global - Paypal discontinues service - 4 December 2010: Germany - PayPal blocks Wau Holland Stiftung’s (WHS, the foundation receiving donations for WikiLeaks) access to its account and freezes remaining money for 180 days. The money is released immediately by PayPal after a WHS lawyer intervenes. - 6 December 2010: Switzerland - Swiss Post Finance freezes Julian Assange Defence Fund account in Switzerland - 7 December 2010: United States/Global - Visa and MasterCard stop processing payments to WikiLeaks. Germany - A letter from the FA Kassel (Kassel tax department) to WHS Foundation, which receives donations for WikiLeaks, asked whether donations have been transferred to WikiLeaks. WHS responded promptly, with data detailing transfers to WikiLeaks - 8 December 2010: United States/global - Updated Statement about WikiLeaks from PayPal General Counsel - 9 December 2010: Global - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns blockade - 12 December 2010: Iceland - Icelandic Parliament Considers Revoking Visa/MasterCard Licenses For Wikileaks Ban - 15 December 2010: Germany - FA Kassel (tax department) announces WHS (the foundation that receives donations for WikiLeaks) charitable status may be revoked (pending investigation). - 16 December 2010: Global - Amnesty International examines Human Rights at stake when blocking WikiLeaks payments - 18 December 2010: United States/global - Bank of America discontinues any services intended for WikiLeaks - 20 December 2010: United States - Apple removes WikiLeaks application for iPhones - 21 December 2010: United States/Global - Western Union adds WikiLeaks to 'Interdiction List' Global: UN and OAS Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression issue a Joint Statement Condemning the Blockade against WikiLeaks - 26 December 2010: United States: New York Times Editorial Condemns Blockade - 30 December 2010: Denmark/Global - Denmark-based contractor for VISA Europe and MasterCard, Teller AS, reports that WikiLeaks has not violated any VISA regulations, Icelandic or Danish laws. - 1 January 2011: Germany – WHS Foundation, which receives donations for WikiLeaks moves its office from Kassel to Hamburg - 13 January 2011: United States - US Treasury finds no grounds to blacklist WikiLeaks - 17 January 2011: UK - WikiLeaks Press conference with Rudolf Elmer - 19 January 2011: Switzerland - Elmer is handed suspended sentence. He is the arrested without charge in connection with WikiLeaks press conference. - 9 February 2011: United States/Global - Bank of America, who hired data intelligence firms HBGary, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies, is revealed to have commisioned a proposal of a systematic attack against WikiLeaks. The proposal is leaked. - 24 February/1 March 2011: United States – Ethics complaint filed at the DC Bar against law firm Hunton&Williams and members of Congress call for probe into illegal conduct by the firm (hired by Bank of America to sabotage WikiLeaks and target WikiLeaks’ supporters) - 14 February 2011: Germany: FA Hamburg-Nord (tax department) drops Kassel investigation into WHS Foundation’s (which receives donations for WikiLeaks) charitable status, but initiates a new investigation on different grounds. - 9 June 2011: EU - WikiLeaks & Datacell announce prospective EU Commission Complaint against VISA and Mastercard - 7 - 8 July 2011: Iceland/Global - DataCell: Credit card donation to WikiLeaks is accepted again but VISA closes payments hours after - 14 July 2011: EU - WikiLeaks & Datacell file a Complaint to the European Commission for infringement of the EU Anti Trust Laws - 25 July 2011: Switzerland - Rudolf Elmer is released after 187 days in detention. He had not been charged. - 24 October 2011: Global - WikiLeaks suspends publication to invest all resources in fighting the blockade. Germany - Decision on revoking WHS (the foundation that receives donations for WikiLeaks) status is still pending; WHS has been prevented from opening new bank accounts in Switzerland and Germany for the past 9 months. For information on how to beat the banks visit our donate page. For further information on the banking blockade against WikiLeaks download this PDF. A kit with full information on the blockade and tools to assist WikiLeaks through it can be downloaded here.

PHILADELPHIA -- Authorities say a Buddhist monk chased and grabbed a man who had stolen his wallet at a South Philadelphia gas station. The Philadelphia Daily News reports that the 61-year-old victim, dressed in an orange robe, was accosted while he was at a lottery machine at the gas station on Jan. 3. A police spokeswoman confirmed that he is a Buddhist monk. Surveillance video posted by police shows another man grabbing the monk's wallet and running out of the store, and the victim struggling with him outside before being pushed to the ground. CBS Philadelphia reports that the suspect took off in a dark silver car. The victim was cut on his leg during the scuffle. The robber escaped with the victim's wallet, which police said contained $350. Authorities are asking for the public's help in identifying him.

The first non-stop flights from the UK to Taiwan in five years will launch in December, courtesy of China Airlines. From its 100 peaks above 3,000 metres to a toilet-themed restauurant, here are 15 reasons why you should concern yourself with visiting the Asian island. 1. There's a museum of 696,422 exhibits The sixth most visited museum in the world (6.1m people each year), and home to an impressive 696,422 exhibits, the National Palace Museum in Taipei is a tremendous repository showcasing more than 8,000 years of Chinese art. John O’Ceallaigh, who visited for the Telegraph in 2017, said it boasts “some of the most exquisite artworks in existence”, while the building itself, on a verdant hillside on the outskirts of the city, is a “dramatically beautiful, multi-tiered complex”. Its vast galleries are dedicated to luminescent jades, lustrous lacquerwares and paraphernalia ranging from snuff bottles to rare bronzes to intriguing oddities such as an intricately detailed miniature boat carved from an olive pit. Marble columns at the National Palace Museum in Taipei Credit: getty 2. A gigantic gold bar In the mountain town of Jinguashi is the Gold Ecological Park where visitors can learn about the history of gold mining in the region, and marvel at one of the original tunnels. And at the park’s museum, you can touch one of the largest gold bars in the world - weighing in at 222kg. 3. And a toilet-themed restaurant For a different kind of cultural experience, head to Modern Toilet, a lavatory-themed restaurant. “Diners sit on loos decorated with cartoon toilet seats and tuck into novelty dishes – including chocolate ice cream styled to resemble faeces – eaten from miniature cisterns and bedpans: a truly weird culinary experience that’s a big hit with young Taiwanese,” wrote Sally Howard for Telegraph Travel. Each to their own. 4. But Taiwanese food is actually very good Toilet establishments aside, the cuisine is reason enough to visit Taiwan. Enjoy spicy pork dumplings and beef noodle soup bought from street vendors or gorge on platefuls of xiaochi or “small eats” at one of the nation’s 300 night markets. Enjoy spicy food in one of 300 night markets Credit: getty 5. It has a fascinating history First inhabited by indigenous Taiwanese before it was colonised by the Dutch and then the Spanish in the 17th century, Taiwan came under Japanese rule after the Qing Dynasty lost the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The Republic of China then took the island back in 1945. Today, its political status is somewhat ambiguous, having been the safehouse for the ousted Republic of China government after the People's Republic of China won the Chinese Civil War. Its cultural heritage, therefore, is a blend of Taiwanese, traditional Chinese and Japanese. 6. They love their night markets Hustling, bustling, buzzing and brightly lit, the night markets of Taiwan are quite an experience. From the best-known Shilin Night Market to Tainan Flowers Night Market, these open-air festivals of sound, smell and taste take place on different nights around the island so be sure to research ahead. There is around 300 to choose from. 7. You can soak in a hot spring “The result of being located on a tectonic join, the springs come in various colours, temperatures and mineral make-ups, and their popularity among visitors is another legacy of the Japanese,” wrote Ben Lerwill for Telegraph Travel in 2013, of the springs mostly found in the east of the country. “I visited the Ruisui springs, which were warm enough to boil me into an afternoon-long submission. I wallowed until the stars came out.” 8. It has a green and lush valley Taiwan’s East Rift Valley runs along the island’s eastern coast and boasts acres of rich, lush countryside. Ben Lerwill writes: “While much of the west holds industrial zones and urban settlements, the opposite coast is far quieter. The last portion of my trip was spent in the East Rift Valley, a deep green landscape sliced in two by the Tropic of Cancer, marked by rice paddies and a continuous wall of enormous broken ridges. It is countryside crying out to be explored, a fact aided by a comprehensive network of cycle trails. I spent hours circling the farming town of Guanshan on a hired bike, disturbing little other than flocks of egrets and the occasional water buffalo.” 9. And a bling monastery “Retail opportunities are not typically associated with monastic orders, but there is nothing typical about the gargantuan Chung Tai Chan Monastery in Puli Town, where tourists are escorted by saffron-robed monks sporting photo identity cards and earphones and by microphone-wired security guards,” says Anthony Lambert, a regular contributor to Telegraph Travel. “The $190,000 woodcarvings in the shop seem to be the least of their worries. If Mecca is turning into Las Vegas, as a report once suggested, the Chung Tai Chan Monastery is more Canary Wharf meets Las Vegas. “The colossal structure, finished around the year 2000, dominates the surrounding countryside. Its gold-topped stupa on a 37-storey tower is flanked by sloping barrack blocks for the 1,600 monks, ending in wings with faux battlements, machicolations and arrow slits.” Chung Tai Chan Monastery Credit: getty 10. But plenty more arresting places of worship The island has more traditional religious buildings, too, not least the Unesco-recognised Baoan Temple. 11. There is a gnarly railway Speaking of Unesco, the world heritage group is mulling over awarding World Heritage Status to the Alishan Forest Railway, an 86km network of narrow gauge railways running throughout the mountain resort of Alishan. Opened in 1912, passengers enjoy dozens of switchbacks, 50 tunnels and more than 70 wooden bridges. 12. Plus a high-speed network At the other end of the rail spectrum is Taiwan’s high speed network, which opened in 2007 and links the capital, Taipei, to the southern city of Kaohsiung (reaching speeds of 186mph along the way). 13. Taipei was once home to the tallest building in the world The tallest building in the world between 2004 and 2010, when the Burj Khalifa in Dubai took over, Taipei101 (the figure denoting the number of floors) towers over the capital, serving as an icon for the modern evolution of the country. Its lifts reach speeds of 37.6mph, flinging passengers from the fifth to the 89th floor in 37 seconds. There is an observation deck on the 91st floor, some 1,285 feet above the ground. Taipei's 101 building was once the tallest in the world Credit: Getty 14. The opportunities for hiking are vast Taiwan, despite its fairly small size, is home to nine national parks, including Yushan, in which the nation’s highest peak - of the same name - resides. Its maximum height of 12,966 feet gives it the fourth highest elevation of any island in the world. More than 20 per cent of the country is protected land - in the form of either national park, forest or state reserve - while another 30 per cent is forest. Its network of hiking trails is a paradise for walkers, especially the highly regarded Taroko Gorge routes, while the 100 Peaks of Taiwan (each above 3,000 metres) is a lifetime's work for mountaineers. Taroko Gorge is popular with walkers Credit: Getty 15. There's nationwide free internet Taiwan rolled out free Wi-Fi in 2011, allowing residents to log on to the island's network, ITaiwan, at thousands of hotspots.

The discovery of toxic agents manufactured by US and UK companies in the territories liberated from terrorists has once again revealed the hypocrisy of the US-led coalition, Ammar Waqqaf, a Middle East expert told Radio Sputnik, adding that it is not the first time jihadists have been spotted using poisonous substances in Syria. The Syrian Foreign Ministry revealed Wednesday that the US and Great Britain could have been involved in supplying CS and CN toxic agents to extremists in Syria. As it turns out, the chemical substances found in jihadists' storehouses in Aleppo and eastern suburbs of Damascus were manufactured by British and American companies. "The chemical munitions were produced by the Federal Laboratories company in the US. The toxic agents were produced by Cherming Defense UK and NonLethal Technologies (US)," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told a press conference in Damascus. Mekdad drew attention to the fact that under the Article 5 of the of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the use of the toxic agents is allowed only for preventing civil disorder and prohibited for use in warfare. The Syrian Foreign Ministry accused the US-led coalition of providing assistance to terrorist organizations in Syria and providing them with prohibited chemical substances. Radio Sputnik got in touch with Ammar Waqqaf, a Middle East expert, the Founder and Director of the analytical organization Gnosos, asking him to comment on the issue and share his views on what the consequences of the recent disclosure could be. "In a sense, this is significant because suddenly we now realized that at least a lack of control if not clear intent caused these rebels to have access to toxic agents," Waqqaf told Radio Sputnik. "Even though it is likely a low-grade tear gas material still somebody is supplying them [militants] with these canisters containing these gases without really asking what they would do with them and, you know, they [could] develop them even further to produce something even more toxic," the expert pointed out. Waqqaf underscored that the disclosure shows the hypocrisy of those who are seeking to incriminate the Syrian government for an alleged use of chemical weapons while turning a blind eye to the use of poisonous substances by the so-called Syrian rebels. "There have been numerous occasions when rebels used clearly toxic gases," Waqqaf said, "There are even videos, for example in Sheikh Maqsood a couple of years ago where Jaish al-Islam used chlorine gas. There was a clear yellow cloud over there, they even admitted it and later denied it. But nobody speaks about all these things." © Sputnik / Nour Molhem Canisters found at a terrorist chemical weapons factory in Aleppo In answer to a question about what consequences the situation will have, particularly for London and Washington, Waqqaf assumed that both the US and UK governments are likely to turn a blind eye to this episode and keep it swept under the rug. "What consequences will it have?… Nobody [in the US and UK] is even talking about it. It is highly unlikely that they will say anything," the Middle Eastern expert said. © AP Photo / Hassan Ammar Syria Has Right to Address UN as Alleged Western Chemical Weapons Found, Russian MP Says However, if the issue is raised in the UN Security Council with ample evidence presented the US and the UK "might want to respond," Waqqaf highlighted. In any event, the US and EU are very reluctant to investigate anything that could incriminate the opposition, the expert said, referring to the Khan Sheykhun chemical incident and the unwillingness of the US-led coalition to thoroughly examine the case. Commenting on the issue Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the Russian lower house of parliament's International Affairs Committee, told reporters that Damascus has the right to turn to the United Nations after US and UK-made CS and CN substances were found in Aleppo and Damascus suburbs. "Syria now has all the reasons and the right to address the United Nations over western-produced chemical weapons found in the territories liberated from terrorists," Slutsky stressed. "The information released by the Syrian Foreign Ministry once more demonstrates in full the hypocrisy of the members of the western US-led coalition, and proves that the entire goal of the whole operation is to remove the regime of President Bashar Assad," the Russian parliamentarian told journalists.

Introduction AMD Ryzen 5 Market Segment Analysis Pentium G4560 Core i3-7100 Ryzen 5 1400 Core i5-7400 Core i5-7500 Ryzen 5 1500X Ryzen 5 1600 Core i5-6600K Core i5-7600K Ryzen 5 1600X Ryzen 7 1700 Cores / Threads 2 / 4 2 / 4 4 / 8 4 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 8 6 / 12 4 / 4 4 / 4 6 / 12 8 / 16 Base Clock 3.5 GHz 3.9 GHz 3.2 GHz 3.0 GHz 3.4 GHz 3.5 GHz 3.2 GHz 3.5 GHz 3.8 GHz 3.6 GHz 3.0 GHz Max. Boost N/A N/A 3.4 GHz 3.5 GHz 3.8 GHz 3.7 GHz 3.6 GHz 3.9 GHz 4.2 GHz 4.0 GHz 3.7 GHz L3 Cache 3 MB 3 MB 8 MB 6 MB 6 MB 16 MB 16 MB 8 MB 6 MB 16 MB 16 MB TDP 54 W 51 W 65 W 65 W 65 W 65 W 65 W 91 W 91 W 95 W 65 W Process 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm 14 nm Socket LGA 1151 LGA 1151 AM4 LGA 1151 LGA 1151 AM4 AM4 LGA 1151 LGA 1151 AM4 AM4 Price $80 $120 $170 $190 $200 $190 $220 $240 $240 $250 $315 AMD is back in the desktop CPU game with its Ryzen family of processors, thanks to successes with per-core performance and energy efficiency brought about by its "Zen" micro-architecture. The company launched its Ryzen processor family with the top-end Ryzen 7 series, which consists of eight-core models that start at $329 and go all the way up to $499. These chips do manage to make you think twice before choosing an Intel Core i7-7700K quad-core chip, and makes the Core i7 "Broadwell-E" series look terrible, all the way up to the $1,199 i7-6900K. On the brink of Summer 2017, AMD launched the Ryzen 5 line of performance-segment processors to capture key price-points ranging between $170 and $250.The Ryzen 5 series from AMD competes with the entire spectrum of Intel's Core i5 quad-core "Kaby Lake" series, at prices ranging from $170 to $250. This puts Intel's high-volume Core i5-7600K and value-oriented i5-7400 in its crosshairs. Carved out of the same 14 nm "Summit Ridge" silicon as the eight-core Ryzen 7 series, the Ryzen 5 series consists of six-core and quad-core SKUs, which are further bolstered by SMT (simultaneous multi-threading) and unlocked base-clock multipliers across the board. SMT (and its Intel implementation, Hyper-Threading) is something quad-core Core i5 parts lack, and unlocked multipliers is reserved only for the i5-7600K quad-core and $189 i3-7350K dual core. What's more, the six-core Ryzen 5 parts feature a staggering 16 MB of L3 cache (compared to the paltry 6 MB of the price-comparable Core i5 quad-core parts), and the quad-core Ryzen 5 1400 a decent (on paper) 8 MB. Given AMD has made significant strides in improving per-core performance and the software ecosystem finally taking advantage of more than four logical CPUs, the Ryzen 5 series chips are extremely exciting on paper.The Ryzen 5 1400 quad-core chip we're reviewing today has an enviable premise - a quad-core chip with SMT enabling 8 threads, 8 MB of L3 cache, and slightly lower clock speeds than the 1500X, yet an unlocked multiplier, for just $170. If you've read our Ryzen 5 1500X review, you'll note that we found it to be a very compelling alternative to the Core i5-7400. At its price, the Ryzen 5 1400 targets the upper-end of Intel's Core i3 dual-core lineup, and maybe even disrupts its entry-level quad-core Core i5 lineup. Dual-core Intel chips still make for decent entry/mainstream gaming PC chips for those who want to game at 1080p with reasonably dialed up settings. AMD is changing the game here by offering up four cores, eight threads, and more than double the cache, besides the freedom to overclock.AMD made the Ryzen 5 1400 by disabling two cores per quad-core complex (CCX) on the 14 nm "Summit Ridge" silicon, resulting in four cores. In addition, AMD halved the L3 cache per CCX to 4 MB. This is unlike the 1500X, where it left the L3 cache untouched, giving you 16 MB. So you have 8 MB of shared L3 cache and 512 KB of L2 cache per core. The chip is clocked at 3.20 GHz, with 3.40 GHz of TurboCore frequency. It lacks XFR (extended frequency range) in the real sense. A vestige of the feature overclocks the chip up to 50 MHz beyond the rated boost frequency. It doesn't appear to have any real price-matched competitor from the Intel stable. You get the Core i5-7400 at $190, but that's already sorted out by the Ryzen 5 1500X at the same price. Intel recently slashed the price of the overclocker friendly Core i3-7350K dual-core chip to $150, but we haven't had a chance to test it yet.On popular demand, we decided to also run our entire selection of games at HD resolution (1280 x 720 pixels). You will likely not game at this resolution, but it provides useful insights into the CPU's performance since games get extremely CPU limited at this resolution.

There are nearly 650 million users in India -- and over 300 million of them have a For these users, Chinese players became the first choice this year as they launched devices with compelling features, thus dominating the budget and mid-range price segment in the country. Chinese vendors captured 49 per cent of the Indian handset market in the first quarter of 2017 -- with a 180 per cent (year-on-year) revenue growth -- threatening to wipe out domestic players from the overall handset segment. Among the top Chinese brands, witnessed the biggest growth this year. With a market share of 23.5 per cent and having shipped 9.2 million smartphones in the third quarter this year, became the fastest-growing brand with a growth rate of nearly 300 per cent (year-on-year) in the third quarter this year. According to IDC, had 23.5 per cent market share in India, similar to Xiaomi, the Lenovo- combine was at 9 per cent, at 8.5 per cent and at 7.9 per cent. For Xiaomi, its Redmi Note 4 device that was launched in January at Rs 9,999 for the base model (2GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage) proved to be a game-changer and its best-selling too. The company shipped approximately four million units of the device in this quarter, said IDC. Chinese brands like (which sells its youth-centric sub-brand in India), Vivo, (a Lenovo brand) and OPPO's performance remained strong and contributed to more than half of the total smartphone shipments in the country. Aiming to push its position up in the highly competitive Indian market, launched flagship products at "unbeatable prices", like the highly-successful 8 Pro (Rs 29,999) and Honor 7X (starting at Rs 12,999). and OPPO's aggressive marketing spends also paid them hefty dividends. With smartphone growth nearing saturation in metros, Chinese players were also busy building their base in tier II and III cities. When it comes to manufacturing in India, announced its third plant in the country based out of Noida and the first facility for power banks in partnership with Hipad Spread across 230,000 square feet, the Noida unit is a dedicated facility for Xiaomi power banks where the Mi Power Bank 2i will be assembled. The company already has two smartphone manufacturing plants in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, where more than 95 per cent of its smartphones sold in India is assembled locally. Meanwhile, South Korean giant also announced that it would invest Rs 4,915 crore in expanding its Noida manufacturing plant to double the production capacity of both and consumer electronics. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board approved OPPO's request to open single-brand retail stores in the country. With this decision, became the first smartphone company to get this opportunity in India. The Chinese players also handled the post-demonetisation ripples well with high decibel marketing, increased credit line to distributors and efficient channel management. Global vendors, led by Samsung, were able to withstand the aggressive Chinese players post-demonetisation owing to their good distributor coverage and penetration in the Indian market. Aiming to gain a further foothold in the offline smartphone market, Xiaomi opened its first "Mi Home" store in Bengaluru in May and plans to add 100 such stores in the next two years. Similarly, Lenovo-owned opened six "Moto Hubs" in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai and plans to open 50 more by the end of this year. Huawei's sub-brand Honor announced opening four more exclusive service centres in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Guwahati. Its service centres are already operating in 17 cities. India this year surpassed the US to become the second-largest in the world after Yet, according to Counterpoint Research, only one fourth of India's population uses smartphones, thus making the country an attractive destination for Chinese players in the mobile ecosystem. Highlights

8.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard Fox News head honcho Roger Ailes claims that Sarah Palin’s life is in danger because Democrats and the left want her dead. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ailes was asked why he hired back Sarah Palin. His answer was that Sarah Palin is a marked women, The only two people I knew who got worse press than her were Richard Nixon and George W. Bush — some of it unfairly, much of it unfair to her family. She’s recognizable, she’s attractive, and she still has the message of stop raising taxes. The Tea Party started as a group that [the government] could make go home to bake meatloaf at any point in the last three years by simply doing two things: Stop raising taxes and stop stealing their money. Congress can’t stop spending money. I’m not a defender of everything she says. I don’t hear everything she says. But I know she represents a certain group of people who rose up against their own party, which you rarely see. I probably hired her back, if you really want to get to the bottom of it, to give her a chance to say her piece and piss off the people that wanted her dead. Let’s be clear. When Ailes referred to people in America who she pisses off and who want her dead, he was talking about the left and Democrats. What never occurs to the conservative mind is that maybe people like Sarah Palin get bad press because they are uninformed, racist, vile excuses for human beings who are getting back exactly what they put out there. According to Roger Ailes, Sarah Palin has been persecuted by bad press. He leaves out the fact that Sister Sarah creates her own bad press every time she opens her mouth. As far as people wanting Palin dead, I wish someone would ask Ailes who exactly wants Sarah Palin dead? It certainly isn’t Democrats. Sarah Palin remains one of the best fundraisers that the Democratic Party has. As soon as she gets involved in an election, donations to her endorsed candidate’s opponent skyrocket. Liberals don’t want Palin dead. She alternates between being unintended comedy and a source of shame for all Republicans on a daily basis. Palin makes all Republicans look bad. For that, Democrats are thankful that Ailes keeps her employed. Sarah Palin has created a myth that the left wants her dead. The truth is that nobody cares enough about the half-term governor, failed VP candidate, and D list celebrity to want her dead. Ailes worked for Nixon, so no one understands how to appeal to the conservative mind’s need for victimization, threat, and persecution like he does, but what he was saying in this interview was total nonsense. Ailes hired Palin back because she tried to make it on her own and vanished into Facebook oblivion. Palin couldn’t survive without Fox News, so she came back to Ailes grovelling on her hands and knees and took a massive pay cut. That pay cut is why Palin is back on Fox in a reduced role. As long as Sarah Palin keeps getting media attention, Democrats will keep winning elections. Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving, and there’s no way that Democrats would ever want that to end. If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:

Misadventures in Labeling American Flags, Bare-Breasted Women, Red-Nosed Reindeer and Other Things You May Not Slap on a Beer Bottle All About Beer Magazine - Volume 31 , Issue 4 Greg Kitsock Getting a beer label to market is an intricate dance fraught with more missteps than the brewing of the beer itself. At the very least, it means navigating a gauntlet of federal and state regulations that can be confusing, contradictory and vague. At worst, it can entail defending your label against a charge of trademark infringement brought by a large mega-corporation (not necessarily even a beer company), and deflecting criticism—sometimes even bomb threats—if you’ve stepped on someone’s toes. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is the federal agency that regulates alcoholic beverage labeling. Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations spells out, in sometimes nitpicking detail, what you may print on a beer label, what you may not print and what you must print (and in what typeface, print size and color). The Devil is in the Details Uncle Sam frowns on even the slightest deviations. Epic Ales, a microbrewery in Seattle, WA, had a label disallowed because the mandatory warning statement (the one about alcohol impairing your ability to drive or operate heavy machinery) lacked a period. In grammar school, a mispunctuated sentence might get you a rap on the knuckles from your teacher. But for a recent start-up trying to get its products on the market, far worse is a delay of weeks (or months) until a revised label can be submitted. There are certain statements that the TTB clearly and unequivocally forbids. You can’t say that beer has any health benefits. Stating that your beer contains vitamins or minerals (even if backed up by laboratory analysis) is considered a de facto health claim and not allowed. (But the TTB will permit you to list the protein, carbohydrate and fat content.) Terms that bespeak of high alcohol content, like “strong” or “high test,” are also verboten. The original label for Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale was disallowed because it contained the phrase “powerfully hopped.” Apparently, the feds neither knew nor cared that hops have no influence on the alcoholic content of a beer. What vexes brewers, however, are arbitrary decisions over matters not mentioned in the regs. “They don’t always set out their expectations in clear terms,” says Cody Morris, brewer/manager of Epic Ales, which in its brief lifetime (construction began in December 2008) has already accumulated a stack of rejections. His label for Terra-saurus was shot down because of the description “a meaty ale.” Notes Morris: “They rejected it because they thought ‘meaty’ implied I put meat in my beers.” (His Terra-saurus does contain one unusual ingredient—shiitake mushrooms—but no meat.) Morris changed “meaty” to “toothy” and the TTB nixed that adjective as well as a “non-accepted term.” A second label, for a spiced ale called Solar Trans-amplifier, was rejected because of the phrase “an invigorating ale.” The TTB gave the thumbs down on a third label, for a coffee and cardamom-flavored brew called OTTO-Optimizer, because the label described it as “swarthy.” Finally, a frustrated Morris submitted paperwork for a product called Simple Ale, whose label is printed in a generic black and white with simple block lettering and no extraneous designs. That one sailed through. The whole thing makes you want to crawl up in a fetal position on a sack of malt,” sighs Morris. Mind Your Design The TTB’s labeling code also specifies what designs you can and can’t display on the label. Anything obscene is forbidden. You’re also not allowed to print a crest, coat-of-arms or insignia if it might falsely imply an endorsement from an individual or group using that symbol. Brian Owens, brewer for O’Fallon Brewery in O’Fallon, MO, recently had a label for his Hemp Hop Rye beer rejected because it had a picture of a spiky-leaved hemp plant. “They said you can’t advertise a controlled substance,” he says of the TTB’s response. Although it’s legal to import sterilized hempseed (as long as contains no more than traces of the psychoactive chemical THC), you can’t grow hemp in any form. “Oddly enough, we had to take the picture of the healthiest ingredient off the label,” commented Owens. You’d think that it would be safe to display the American flag on your label. And you’d be wrong. In the early 1990s, Jack Joyce of Rogue Ales in Newport, OR, submitted his American Amber Ale for label approval. The government rejected the label, which showed an Uncle Sam-like figure hoisting a beer with the American flag fluttering in the background. Rogue, it seems, had run afoul of U.S. Code Title 4, Chapter 8, Item 1: “The U.S. flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.” So Joyce redesigned the label to portray a generic pattern of red and white stripes with a single row of stars as a border. However, he continued to use the flag design for glasses, T-shirts, tap handles, etc. until 2005, when a TTB agent, vacationing in Oregon, spotted a Rogue truck painted with the original logo. Ordered to cease and desist, Joyce repainted his trucks and destroyed or gave away between $15,000 and $25,000 worth of promotional items. He was able to salvage his tap handles by painting out the stars. “We solved that by basically desecrating the flag,” he observed ironically. The prohibition against the flag’s use in ads is meant to keep consumers from thinking that the government endorses products. At least, that’s what the U.S. Department of the Treasury said at the time of the controversy. But the national code for displaying the flag, in effect since 1923, cites another reason for not depicting the Stars and Stripes on a beer label: The flag’s image should never be used on items that are customarily used once and tossed into the garbage, like napkins or candy wrappers. Trashing even a picture of the flag is considered an insult to Old Glory. Technically, postage stamps that portray the flag are also a violation. But even though the United States Postal Service gets a free pass, Joyce declined to protest the TTB’s decision. “Ours is not to reason why, ours is to comply,” he says, noting gratefully that the government did not exercise its option to fine him $70 for every item that violated the code. Just because the TTB grants you its approval, that doesn’t mean you’re cleared to sell your beer from coast to coast. “We’ve had more trouble with the states than with the federal government,” grouses Dan Shelton of Shelton Brothers importers in Belchertown, MA. One of the Shelton’s celebrated tussles involved Les Sans Culottes, a bière de garde from the French brewery Les Choulette. The label features a scene from the Eugène Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People, which commemorates the July 1830 revolution that overthrew King Charles X of France. In the center of the painting is a bare-breasted representation of Miss Liberty holding aloft the French tri-colored flag. Although the original hangs in the Louvre and Miss Liberty’s pose is suppose to have inspired our Statue of Liberty, Maine was one of several states to ban the label, alleging that it contained “an undignified or improper illustration.” Maine also refused to approve another Shelton product: Santa’s Butt Winter Porter, one of a series of irreverent yuletide beers from the Ridgeway Brewing in Oxfordshire, England. The label portrays Santa squatting on an immense barrel of beer, holding his nice-and-naughty list in his left hand and a foaming mug in his right. The name, notes Dan Shelton, is a pun: “butt” can mean one’s posterior or a barrel containing 108 gallons. “That was the one that caused the real stir,” Shelton says. Maine authorities objected because the image of Santa might appeal to children. “We said that made no sense. A 5- or 6-year-old is not going to be able to purchase a bottle of beer.” Maine eventually backed down after Shelton, a graduate of Yale Law School, filed a suit with the help of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, attracting national media attention. “We got a lot of hostile mail from people all over the place saying we were going to rot in hell for doing that to Santa Claus,” he says. However, he adds, “There is such a thing as freedom of commercial speech. We do have rights under the First Amendment.” Say What? Say Who? Say Why? Once you’ve dotted all “i’s” and crossed all “t’s” to the governments’ (federal and state) satisfaction, you can still get worked over in the court of public opinion. Sometimes, the most innocuous labels can generate the most controversy. In 2009, Gene Muller, president of Flying Fish Brewing Co. in Cherry Hill, NJ, began releasing his “Exit” series of experimental, one-off beers in 750-ml bottles. As Muller explained, New Jersey lacks geographic features like towering mountain ranges or mighty rivers, so residents size up one another by asking, “What exit are you from?” The series, however, hit a speed bump when both the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and Mothers Against Drunk Driving registered their protests. “The combination of a roadway and advertising for any kind of beer doesn’t make any kind of sense,” charged Mindy Lazar, executive director of New Jersey’s chapter of MADD. “This is almost a mockery.” Muller was taken aback. “Did MADD feel that kids were going to buy the beer and party at the exits? What kid is going to buy a $10 bottle of beer?” Nevertheless, he placated his critics by posting the disclaimer on his website: “The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has no affiliation with the Exit Series. Both the Turnpike Authority and Flying Fish agree that you should never drink and drive.” Sex sells products, but it can also get you covered up. In 2007, a Reading, PA, microbrewery called Legacy Brewing Co. began marketing a product called Hedonism Ale, which it claimed was “brewed with an orgy of ingredients.” The label showed an assortment of cartoon characters engaging in public displays of affection (nothing beyond kissing and hugging, really). However, one Lancaster distributor called Beer Ink viewed the brand as pornographic and began wrapping cases in plain brown paper. Poking fun at someone’s religion is another way to inflame public opinion. About 2005, Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, CA, introduced a product called Indica IPA. On the label was an elephant-headed Hindu deity called Ganesha, shown grasping a beer with his trunk and one of his four arms. Ganesha is worshipped by millions of Hindus, Buddhists and Jains who revere him as the remover of obstacles and a patron of the arts and sciences. Many were offended enough to complain to the brewery and organize boycotts. Some emailed bomb threats. One angry Hindu even filed a lawsuit, calling the label “a hate crime.” Brij Dhir, identified in the press as a Golden Gate University law student and licensed attorney in India, said $1 billion in damages would be an appropriate sum to compensate Hindus around the world for their emotional distress. Lost Coast subsequently redesigned the label, removing several of the elephant’s limbs to make him appear more nonsectarian. But to this day the controversy remains a sore point with the brewery. Lost Coast doesn’t even mention Indica IPA on its website. “This way we feel like we’re not rubbing salt in anyone’s wounds,” says sales director Briar Bush. “We’re not trying to profit off of anyone’s religious preference.” On the other hand, Greg Schirf of Wasatch Beers in Salt Lake City was actively courting controversy when he premiered his Polygamy Porter (slogan: “Why have just one?”) in 2001. Schirf brews in a state whose population is more than two-thirds Mormon. More properly called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the religion outlawed its controversial practice of plural marriage in 1890 and has since tried to integrate itself into the American mainstream. However, some breakaway sects still allow men to take multiple wives. We’re not making fun of anyone’s religion, just saying this is a part of Utah’s heritage,” insisted Schirf in an interview several years ago. Not long after the brand’s introduction, however, Utah raised its state beer tax—already the highest in the nation—another $1.88 to $12.88 a barrel. That act of retaliation continues to cost Schirf around $50,000 extra per year. On the plus side, he’s made a small fortune in T-shirt sales, raking in $100,000 in the first three months after the wire services picked up on Polygamy Porter. In 2005 Schirf made headlines once again, this time with an amber beer called Evolution Amber Ale. A “Darwin Approved” seal specifies that the beer was “Created in 27 days, not 7.” The brand, Schirf explained, was inspired by a Utah state senator who tried to pressure state schools into teaching intelligent design theory as an alternative to Darwin’s theories. It might appear to be risky policy to tweak the powers-that-be, but as Schirf once explained, Mormons don’t drink alcohol, and “you can’t lose a customer you’ll never have.” Do the Right Thing Even if a label resonates well with the public, however, corporate America might have a bone to pick with you. With an estimated 13,000 beer brands on the market today, it’s inevitable that cases of trademark infringement will arise. Sometimes breweries ought to know better. Back in the late 1980s, one faltering Midwestern regional tried to revive its fortunes with a brand called Korr’s Original Steam Beer. The only reason Fritz Maytag (who zealously defends his trademark Anchor Steam) didn’t voice his objection is that another larger brewery, by the name of Coors, pounced first. That brewery is long defunct. Getting sued by two different people is never a good business strategy. Usually, however, trademark infringement is inadvertent. And sometimes it can be settled amicably, without resorting to lawyers at 10 paces. In 2001, Adam Avery of Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, CO, and Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa, CA, realized that both of them were making a strong, Belgian-inspired ale named Salvation. There was, however, no overlap in marketing territory (at that time anyway), and “we realized that neither of us had any issue with it,” says Avery. In fact, the two brewers decided to create a new brew by blending their respective beers. During an evening of much convivial elbow-bending at the Russian River brewpub, Natalie, Vinnie’s wife, came up with the name Collaboration Not Litigation. The two beers that share the name Salvation—Avery’s is a hoppy, golden ale, Cilurzo’s is darker, more of a dubbel—”blend extraordinarily well,” says Avery. “They create a completely different beer.” Batch No. 4 of Collaboration Not Litigation was bottled at Avery’s brewery and released this past winter. The two brewers continue to brew their own versions of Salvation and remain fast friends. In such trademark disputes, the party claiming injury isn’t always another brewery. Bethlehem Brew Works, a brewpub in Bethlehem, PA, used to brew a strong, spiced ale called Rudolph’s Reserve for the Christmas holidays, bottling a small amount. The label depicted Santa Claus saddling up the famous red-nosed reindeer popularized in the 1949 Gene Autry song. Just before the holiday season in 2003, Bethlehem Brew Works received a cease-and-desist letter from a Wilton, CT-based firm called The Rudolph Co. L.P. and its merchandising agent, Gt Merchandising and Licensing L.L.C. The company claimed a trademark to “any design of a reindeer with a shiny nose and the design of a red-tipped nose on any fanciful deer-like animal.” Jeff Fegley, the brewpub’s owner, changed the color of the reindeer’s nose from a bright red to dull black and tweaked the name ever so slightly to Rude Elf’s Reserve. The 2009 version of the beer won a bronze medal in the Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer category at the most recent Great American Beer Festival. Some trademark disputes can reach almost absurd levels. You wouldn’t think that you could trademark an animal, would you? But Bjorn Nabozney, co-founder of Big Sky Brewing Co. in Missoula, MT, fought a 10-year battle with the Canadian brewer of Moosehead that began when Big Sky attempted to trademark its flagship beer, a brown ale named Moose Drool. Attorneys for Moosehead claimed that the brand was creating “confusion” in the marketplace. We were spending thousands of dollars a month; we had a team of five lawyers,” says Nabozney, who decided to settle three years ago. Under the terms of the agreement, Big Sky agreed to limit sales of Moose Drool largely to states west of the Mississippi. You would think that the average consumer could tell the difference between a beer and a women’s fashion magazine. Yet the publishers of Elle, recalls Adam Avery, brought legal action over a brand called Elle’s Brown Ale, named after the brewer’s late Labrador retriever. Avery resolved the dispute by adding an “i” to make Elle “Ellie.” We were in the right,” says Avery, “but I didn’t want to spend time in court. Some people might say, ‘I’m going to fight tooth and nail,’ but not me. The problem with trademarks is that you’ve got to spend a lot money to keep them.” Matt Nadeau, president of Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville, VT, decided enough is enough when Hansen Beverage Co., a large soft drink firm based in California, threatened to sue over one of Rock Art’s brands, an American-style barley wine called the Vermonster. Hansen claimed that the beer brand would “create a likelihood of confusion” and “dilute the distinctive quality” of Monster Energy Drink, one of Hansen’s major labels. Nadeau found the claim totally worthless. His research revealed that there were already 25 alcoholic beverages registered with the TTB that included the word “monster” in their names. Among them was Brooklyn Brewery’s The Monster barley wine, which preceded the energy drink. “They never had a problem with that.” Nadeau believes that large companies, in monopolizing trademarks, often start by bullying the littlest guys first so they can build up a folder full of “precedents” that they can present to a court. Rather than give in or let himself become bankrupted by attorneys’ fees, Nadeau sent out a plea for support over the Internet. A local paper, the Stowe Reporter, picked up on the David vs. Goliath angle of the story, and soon media across the country, from the Boston Globe to the Associated Press, were following suit. “We got over a million tweets within days,” says Nadeau. A big swell of negative publicity for Hansen built up,” he relates. He got emails from stores as far as away as Long Island―”stores we didn’t even distribute to”―saying they were pulling Monster Energy Drink from their shelves in protest. Eventually, Hansen was forced to back down. The corporation agreed not to challenge Rock Art’s trademark as long as the microbrewery agreed not to get in the energy drinks business. That was a compromise Nadeau had proposed at the beginning of the dispute, but which Hansen had initially rejected. A Small Victory It’s not over yet. In the aftermath of the controversy, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill (S. 2968) calling for a review of current trademark law and the litigation tactics used by large firms to exploit the system. We saw a high-profile case… in Vermont last year involving a spurious claim against Rock Art Brewery,” wrote Leahy in a press release. “When a corporation exaggerates the scope of its rights far beyond a reasonable interpretation in an attempt to bully a small business out of the market, that is wrong.” The bill should be law by the time you read this. What will come out of the study can’t be predicted, but as Nadeau boasts, “Vermonster was saved by the people.”

WARSAW (Reuters) - The United States is reviewing its military presence in Europe as a result of Russia's intervention in Ukraine, the White House said on Tuesday at the start of a four-day European trip by President Barack Obama. Obama will call on Congress to support a "European Reassurance Initiative" of up to $1 billion to increase U.S. military rotations on the continent, it said. The effort would involve increased participation by the U.S. Navy in NATO naval force deployments, including "more persistent deployments" to the Black and Baltic seas, it said. "We are reviewing our force presence in Europe in light of the new security challenges on the continent," the White House said in a statement. "These efforts will not come at the expense of other defense priorities, such as our commitment to the Asia Pacific rebalance." (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by John Stonestreet)

National scheme encourages irresponsible housebuilding on regions exposed to flooding and storms, warns Lloyds By Kieran Cooke Lloyd’s, one of the world’s biggest insurance companies, says the US government must stop providing insurance subsidies to homeowners building on flood plains and in coastal areas exposed to mounting risks related to climate change. According to a report in London’s Financial Times, Lloyd’s says the US government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which subsidises insurance cover for householders in regions vulnerable to floods and storms, encourages irresponsible house building. Lloyd’s also says the NFIP subsidy regime is financially unsustainable. Because of claims related to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and superstorm Sandy in 2012, the NFIP has now run up debts of more than $24 billion. Insurance companies have been among those at the forefront of analysing the financial implications of climate change and assessing climate-related risk worldwide. Concerted action In the run-up to the UN conference on climate change in Paris last December, insurance companies pressed for more concerted action on global warming, saying it posed a serious threat to the future of the industry. Insurers say rising payouts related to climate change and weather in heavily-insured western countries such as the US result in less money being made available to provide affordable insurance in developing countries, where it is most needed. A report by Munich Re, one of the insurance industry’s leaders in analysing climate change, says the world’s most deadly and costly catastrophe in 2015 was the Nepal earthquake in April, resulting in at least 9,000 dead and billions of dollars worth of damage. “As is so often the case in developing countries, only a fraction of the $4.8 billion in overall losses caused by the quake and the aftershocks was insured – $210 million,” says Munich Re. The situation in the US is the reverse, with heavy NFIP subsidies and other local, state-controlled schemes for too many homes built in areas exposed to storms and flooding. “Intended as a disaster relief programme, the federal flood insurance scheme is really a land development policy” The most glaring example is along the coast of Florida, a region that is regularly hit by hurricanes and giant storms. Coastal lands are also threatened by sea level rise related to climate change. Yet despite these risks, the area has seen a steep rise in population and housebuilding. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit the Florida coast, causing an estimated 65 deaths and causing $25 billion of damage to housing and businesses. With encouragement from insurance schemes subsidised at federal and state levels, the damaged areas have all been redeveloped. And insurance experts say that if a similar storm were to hit the Florida coast now, more lives could be at risk and losses would amount to $50 billion. Bargain prices Professor Omri Ben-Shahar, an expert on insurance law at the University of Chicago, argues in an article in Forbes magazine that government subsidies mean that flood policies are being sold at bargain prices. He says the system is hard to justify, with middle-class taxpayers living inland having to subsidise mostly upper-income owners of coastal homes. “Government-provided insurance made sure that premiums were low enough to sustain ongoing development and a massive relocation of population to regions which, we now know, are borderline inhabitable,” says Ben-Shahar. “Intended as a disaster relief programme, the federal flood insurance scheme is really a land development policy.” After the government had to pay out massive amounts in claims in 2012 in the aftermath of super-storm Sandy, the US Congress decided to phase out the NFIP scheme and its insurance subsidies. As a result, insurance premiums in some coastal areas rose tenfold. An intense lobbying campaign followed, and much of the NFIP scheme is now back in place. This article was produced by Climate News Network

Canadian hostage was beheaded, officials in Philippines confirm BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Philippine officials have confirmed that Abu Sayyaf militants have beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage killed by Abu Sayyaf militants in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/canadian-hostage-was-beheaded-officials-in-philippines-confirm-34799086.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article34799085.ece/08eaf/AUTOCROP/h342/PANews%20BT_P-4301921d-394d-40b2-8de6-4068d0407c91_I1.jpg Email Philippine officials have confirmed that Abu Sayyaf militants have beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage killed by Abu Sayyaf militants in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. Robert Hall was abducted from a marina last September with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. The other Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma condemned "the brutal and senseless murder" of Mr Hall. He had been held by Abu Sayyaf in the jungle in southern Sulu province for nine months. The government has vowed to end the militants' "reign of terror". Mr Coloma said: "This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry." A militant video obtained by Philippine police officials showed Mr Hall in an orange shirt kneeling in front of a black Islamic State-style flag before he was killed in a jungle area. An Abu Sayyaf deadline for the payment of a large ransom passed on Monday and police later found the severed head of a Caucasian man outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu province's main Jolo town. In Ottawa, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said there was "compelling reason to believe" Mr Hall had been killed by his captors, and that the Canadian government was working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. "We have every reason to believe that the reports are unfortunately true," Mr Trudeau said. He added he was "horrified" by the killings and reaffirmed Canada's refusal to pay ransoms. "The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians," Mr Trudeau said in a statement. "We are more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes." He recently urged leaders of other members of the G7 to reiterate their opposition to paying ransoms. After being abducted from the marina on southern Samal Island last September, the hostages were taken by boat to Sulu, where Abu Sayyaf has held hostages for years in mountainous jungle camps. Mr Ridsdel was beheaded on April 25 after a ransom demand of 300 million pesos (£4.5 million) was not paid. In an Abu Sayyaf video posted on YouTube after Mr Ridsdel's death, Mr Hall and the two other hostages, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor, pleaded to Canadian and Philippine officials to negotiate their release. "We live like this every day, go to bed like this," Mr Hall said, raising his arms to show he was handcuffed. "We have a hundred people heavily armed around us all the time that dictate to us and talk to us like children. We've been humiliated in every way possible. One of us has already been murdered." Mr Hall spoke later in the video for a second time, sounding resigned to a tragic fate. "I would also like to thank my family for the effort they put in - my family and friends for the effort they put in - to get me out of here. I know you did everything you can, and I truly appreciate it. I'm sorry I got you in this mess," he said. Mr Trudeau extended his "heartfelt condolences" to Mr Hall's relatives and friends. The US and the Philippines have both listed Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organisation for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings. The group emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the country's south.

The enthusiasm surrounding craft beer these days has some breweries putting odd ingredients in their batches, from beard yeast to oysters. Innovation can be exciting, but it inevitably comes with the backlash to seek something authentic. Breweries seeking to go old school might take note: There’s a recipe out there for a very authentic ale brewed and enjoyed by none other than George Washington himself. The recipe is penned in Washington’s notebook, kept during the French and Indian War, writes Hillary Brady for the Digital Public Library of America. The original notebook rests in the collections of The New York Public Library and details the 25-year-old Washington’s daily life as a colonel in the Virginia Regiment militia. The pages include lists of supplies, "sundry things to be done in Williamsburg," outlines for memos and letters, and on the final page, a recipe for "small beer." The term "small beer" refers to lower-quality, lower-alcohol content brews typically drunk by paid servants. Soldiers in the British Army probably also enjoyed small beer. The recipe is simple, as Brady transcribes it: Take a large Sifter full of Bran Hops to your Taste — Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gall. into a Cooler put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler. Strain the Beer on it while boiling hot let this stand til it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold cover it over with a Blanket. Let it work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask. leave the Bung open til it is almost done working — Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed. Washington wasn’t the only founding father with a penchant for brewing his brew. Thomas Jefferson joined his wife Martha in making home brews and bottled his first batch at Monticello in 1812, after his presidency, reports "Chris" at Draft. James Madison may or may not have considered a national brewery, based on a proposition in a letter he received from an entrepreneurial businessman. And Benjamin Franklin's recipe for making spruce beer, writes Lisa Grimm for Serious Eats, has inspired modern imitations. Though there was the brief period in U.S. history in which all alcohol was frowned upon (i.e., Prohibition), it seems that imbibing is certainly one of America’s longer-lived pastimes.

The Annual Pauhana Surf Contest Playa Encuntro, Cabarete, Dominican Republic This slideshow requires JavaScript. Photos by Chameleon Creative Arts Fall is an exciting time for Cabarete as surf season and local competitions begin. The annual Pauhana Surf contest is the first weekend of October and we’re excited to cover the details. With community in mind, Pauhana has made the same entrance fee across the board for all categories: 500rd. The fees are used to create the atmosphere for the event and put together some kind of cash prize for the winners of the Open Men and Open Women category. Female Equality in Surf Contests What makes the Pauhana contest unique is their commitment to award the Open Men and Open Women winners the same cash prize. Most surf competitions in the world have huge cash prizes and sponsorships awarded to the men, while women get less than half that. What this means is ladies, you better go out there and represent! Cabarete Tourism Pauhana considered cancelling their contest due to lack of funds from supporters of the event in Cabarete. We spoke with Chepe Gomez, co-owner and operator of the school. He said, “Even though things seem slow at the moment, we want to have a fun Pauhana party for the community and things are going to change for the better really soon.” Despite the decline in tourism that economically sustains the Cabarete community, the DR is expecting more tourism than usual starting in November. High season for visitors to the Caribbean is in the winter months and most of our Caribbean neighbors were destroyed by September storms. You can read more about that here. Surf Competition Categories The Categories for the Pauhana contest are what make it a really fun event for the community. Unlike other surf competitions that are focused on determining the best athletes in an area, the Pauhana event is pure surfing fun – with prizes! Our favorites to watch are the Doggy Surfers and the Surf Family heats, it’s all smiles and a really heartwarming experience. Here are the Categories for the competition: Juniors Boys (12-18 years old) Juniors Girls (12-18 years old) Mini Juniors (9-12 years old) Peewees (6-9 years old) Surf Family (Parent and kid together, no rules) Bodyboard Open (men and women no age limits) Longboard Men (no age limits) Longboard Women (no age limits) Open Men (any age, on shortboard) cash prize Open Women (any age, on shortboard) cash prize Doggy Surfers (no rules) As you can see some of the categories have no rules and are just for fun. Cash prizes are only given to two of the categories but other prizes like gear, apparel, and gift certificates can be expected by winners of the other categories too. Hippie Market on the Beach There will also be a Hippie Market on the beach during the contest. Cabarete has many jewelry makers, clothes designers, and savvy shoppers who sell their item in local markets. There is no charge to participate in the market, just bring your own setup and merchandise. Sign up for the weekend event begins Thursday Oct. 5 at Gorditos Fresh Mex in Ocean Dream Plaza. The contest is Saturday and Sunday the 7th and 8th.Awards and prizes will be given at the El Encuentro Surf Lodge Sunday night the 8th starting at 5pm.

This is one of those nights that sports fans endure. Whether it's baseball, football, basketball ... whatever. At some point, your team plays so badly that you become physically ill. Or near enough, anyway. That's what Jurgen Klinsmann's team just did down in Antigua with their ugly 2-1 win on Friday night. And the painful part is that it's not really a surprise. Klinsmann is, quite possibly, a great "big picture" coach. He might be the right guy to shake up the USSF and institute a more progressive, enjoyable style. He might be the guy who destroys what remains of the "old boy network." He may be the guy who can write a curriculum that turns the US into the Brazil of the northern hemisphere. He is not the guy to coach a team through qualifying. Period. Carlos Bocanegra is still a liability at left back Hey, Boca's been a fantastic servant for US soccer. He's relentless, responsible and has a knack for timely goals. He's also a giveaway machine when he plays wide. Bruce Arena learned that to his detriment in the 2006 World Cup — anybody remember that "clearance" vs. Ghana? — and Bob Bradley had his own trip down that path from 2007 through 2009. CORRECTION: D.C. United has not yet clinched Carolina Challenge Cup championship. I apologize for the confusion. #MLS — Andrew Wiebe (@AndrewWiebe_MLS) March 3, 2012 Somehow, it's 2012 and we're still learning that lesson. Yes, Klinsmann was handicapped by the injuries to Fabian Johnson and Edgar Castillo, but a good coach compensates by finding the right solution, not any solution. Klinsmann, on the other hand, compensates by putting Bocanegra in a position to fail. And that's exactly what he did on the turnover that led to the Antigua goal. Possession doesn't necessarily mean chances Throughout the game, we were treated to analysis highlighting the US dominance in possession. Problem was, that possession wasn't leading to chances. It wasn't even leading to half-chances. The US put one shot on goal from the run of play over 90 minutes against Antigua & Barbuda. Anyone who's making reservations for Brazil two summers from now needs to internalize that, understand it and choose a second favorite team right now. It's not because the US lacks creators, certainly — just look at how the game opened up once Sacha Kljestan came on. Quite simply, it's because the creative attacking players we have are, for some undisclosed reason, in Klinsmann's doghouse. For years many of us have railed against the perception of the US as a "defense only" team, pointing to games like the 2002 World Cup vs. Germany, the 2009 Confederations Cup vs. Egypt (and Brazil) and the entire run of the 2010 World Cup. But under Klinsmann, the US are defense only. The possession they hold in midfield isn't used to create chances, and as a result, the only time they're consistently dangerous is on set pieces. Eddie Johnson has a place in the roster ... and so does Alan Gordon I questioned EJ's inclusion despite his great production for the Sounders. And truth be told, he was more of a liability in possession than any of the other midfielders. However, he gets open on set pieces, and he finished two of his three looks (of the five total looks the US had on the night, which kind of makes me want to die). There's a place for that, especially against minnows. I still don't think he's the answer long term because he takes too long on the ball in the run of play, but hell, beggars can't be choosers. CORRECTION: D.C. United has not yet clinched Carolina Challenge Cup championship. I apologize for the confusion. #MLS — Andrew Wiebe (@AndrewWiebe_MLS) March 3, 2012 As for Gordon, he's the best-passing big man in or around his prime in the US national team pool. I've been pointing this out for quite a long while, and he vindicated me on Friday. Center forwards, like d-mids and goalkeepers, tend to develop later in their careers (Gordon is the age Brian McBride was when he transferred to Fulham). It's very, very nice to see a guy like Gordon stick with it as long as he has and, eventually, find his moment in the sun. And it's a reminder: Over the past three cycles, MLS players have done the bulk of the heavy lifting for the US national team. Klinsmann would be wise, on Tuesday and — hopefully — in 2013, to remember that much. Follow@MLS_Analyst

Mötley Crüe drummer and occasionally nude PETA member Tommy Lee has issued a sternly worded letter to SeaWorld on behalf of infamous orca Tilikum (also known as the killer whale who’s been involved in the deaths of three people) arguing for Tilikum’s release into the wild. Lee’s chief complaint: that the park claims no human will have direct contact with Tilikum ever again, despite the fact that Lee just knows that the whale is SeaWorld’s “chief sperm bank,” with trainers keeping him in captivity so they can continue to extract future whales by “having someone get in the pool and masturbate him with a cow’s vagina filled with hot water," which sounds extraordinarily messy. And lest you think Lee is hypocritically accusing SeaWorld of the sort of thing that might have been a common backstage occurrence during the Welcome To The Theatre Of Pain Tour, Lee counters, “Even in my wildest days with Mötley Crüe, I never could've imagined something so sick and twisted,” so there. Here’s the entire letter courtesy of TMZ, signed by Tommy Lee with a “Mötley Crüe” so you know it’s official. Advertisement SeaWorld has since responded, calling Lee’s allegations the result of PETA’s usual carelessness with the facts and deeming them “beyond ludicrous.” Uh, what’s so ludicrous about jacking off a whale with a water-filled cow vagina? [via Vulture]

Former Butler star David Goldsmith (right) is carving out a role with the Indy Eleven. (Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski/Indy Eleven) Story Highlights Indy vs. Jacksonville, 6:30 p.m., Saturday, WISH-8 INDIANAPOLIS – David Goldsmith was used to starting and putting up gaudy numbers while setting the Big East ablaze at Butler last year. The rookie Indy Eleven forward quickly learned things don’t come so easily at the next level. Goldsmith, Big East Co-Offensive Player of the Year, went unselected in the 2017 Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The Eleven, who play a tier lower in the North American Soccer League, brought him in for a preseason trial. The 23-year-old had to earn his spot. And he did. “When he first came in on trial, he caught the coaching staff’s eye quite quickly,” said Eleven captain Colin Falvey. “Right off the bat, he made an impression that he was a good finisher. I think it took him a little bit of time when the season started to adjust to playing professional football. Coming from college is never easy.” Former Butler star David Goldsmith (left) is carving out a role with the Indy Eleven. (Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski/Indy Eleven) During Indy’s first six NASL matches this season, Goldsmith appeared just once for a total of two minutes. Since then, he’s made a cameo off the bench in eight of the past nine games. “Every player wants to play every minute,” Goldsmith said. “They’d be lying to you if they said they didn’t. I’m just trying to work hard on the training field and sort of try to take my opportunities when I get on the field to make an impact on the game.” Eleven coach Tim Hankinson bragged about Goldsmith’s development at practice this past week, hinting the former Butler attacker has recently been the MVP on the training grounds. Hankinson specifically cited shooting drills as Goldsmith’s area of expertise. While he’s not yet stuffing the scoresheet — Goldsmith has just one assist so far — his performance in practice suggests that the goals, assists and created chances will come with more minutes. He’s also got two of the best forwards in the NASL to mentor him in Justin Braun and Eamon Zayed. “You’ve got two good, experienced forwards ahead of him,” Falvey said. “The boys have been leaning on him and helping him. He’s very willing to learn to try to get better.” Buy Photo FILE – Butler's David Goldsmith protects the ball from Indiana University's Grant Lillard during their match at Butler University, Sept. 16, 2015. (Photo: Matt Detrich/IndyStar) Goldsmith credited facing Indy’s defenders in training, Falvey among them, for the rapid improvement of his game. “It really helps me every day playing against players like Colin and (Daniel) Keller, these center backs that we have on our team. Myself being a rookie, I understand that my time will come. I have to be patient and just learn from the older, more experienced guys.” Goldsmith, from Bristol, England, originally wasn’t sure what to make of the sport called “soccer” across the Atlantic Ocean. “I didn’t really know what to expect exactly,” said Goldsmith of hearing U.S. soccer stereotypes prior to moving stateside. “I can’t say I watched too much American soccer. Being from England, I watched a lot of Premier League. “(The stereotypes were) disproven. Especially in the last couple of years, MLS has really sort of grown with these great players who come from America and overseas.” Indy will complete the spring season Saturday against Jacksonville Armada FC at Carroll Stadium, then it has a weekend off before starting its NASL fall campaign July 30 at FC Edmonton. If the Eleven are searching for a breakout player to provide the club a lift this autumn, they should look no further than their bench — at a rookie wearing the No. 20 jersey. NEWSLETTERS Get the IndyStar Motor Sports newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong The latest news in IndyCar and the world of motor sports. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-888-357-7827. Delivery: Sun - Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for IndyStar Motor Sports Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters “I think it’s only a matter of time before you see him come off the bench and grab a goal,” Falvey added. “He’s definitely a natural goal-scorer.” IF YOU GO: Indy Eleven vs. Jacksonville Armada FC Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Carroll Stadium. TV: WISH-8.

People in solitary confinement have been loudly awakened by guards every 30 minutes 24/7 since the night of August 2nd! Please help stop this sleep deprivation torture. 119th day of interrupted sleep 48 times a day, about 20 people took part in an EMERGENCY PROTEST so-called “security/welfare checks” On Nov 30th, theof interrupted sleep 48 times a day, about 20 people took part in anat CDCr headquarters in Sacramento to stop thesebeing done every 30 minutes in the Pelican Bay SHU and other solitary units in CA prisons. Sleep deprivation is torture, and that is what these loud, intrusive checks are causing. For people in solitary cells 23-24 hours a day, the noise and disruption every 30 minutes is unavoidable, endless torture. Prisoners are experiencing severe stress, weight loss, dizziness, nausea, headaches, eye problems, stomach and bowel problems, faintness, depression, and sped-up heart rates. They cannot concentrate, exercise, read, do legal work- the things that help them survive- and they can’t sleep! SEND EMAILS to STOP the 30 minute ‘checks’ This link will help you easily send an email to Gov. Brown and the Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees to stop the so-called security and welfare checks! http://bit.ly/1keDTUG MAKE CALLS to STOP 30 minute ‘checks’ in Pelican Bay SHU Governor Brown: 1.916.445.2841 CDCR Secretary Jeffrey Beard: 1.916-323-6001 (If you can’t get through, call CDCR number* for Beard) Pelican Bay State Prison: 1.707.465.1000 CDCR Ombudsman 916.445-1773 *CDCR: 1.916.445.7688 Tell all of them : Stop the 30 minutes welfare checks in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison. Sleep Deprivation is Torture.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — San Francisco will become the first place in the nation to require businesses to provide fully paid leave for new parents. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of the measure after supporters said six weeks of fully paid leave is needed because too many families can’t afford to take time off after a child is born or adopted. The measure awaits the signature of Mayor Ed Lee. Spokesperson Christine Falvey said Mayor Lee would sign the measure after two amendments were added. One increased the amount of time an employee had to work at a company in order to qualify from 90 days to 180 days. The second would give smaller businesses an additional year to implement the measure. Advocates say the issue is gaining momentum across the country much like the debate over a higher minimum wage. Small business owners countered that it’s the latest in a long list of city mandates— including paid sick leave and health coverage— that unfairly targets them. The U.S. lags other countries in providing parental leave. Federal law grants workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. California, Rhode Island and New Jersey provide partial pay, with the money coming from employees. Legislators in New York last month approved up to 12 weeks of partial pay. The state of California currently allows workers to receive 55 percent of their pay for up to six weeks to bond with a new child. The money comes from a state insurance program funded by workers. The San Francisco measure requires employers with at least 20 employees to make up the rest. Some private employers such as Netflix are generous with leave as a way to retain workers, and people who work for the city and county of San Francisco are entitled to 12 weeks of full pay. Supervisor Scott Wiener, who pushed for paid leave, has said the benefit is another step toward addressing income inequality, much like the $15 hourly minimum wage legislation that California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Monday and San Francisco approved for workers in 2014. “The vast majority of workers in this country have little or no access to paid parental leave, and that needs to change,” he said at a news conference before Tuesday’s vote. Among the dozen or so attendees was Kim Turner, a nonprofit attorney who took advantage of the state parental leave program. She says full paid leave would have been better. “I do think employers should be pitching in more,” she said. “I think we all need more help. It’s just so hard to make ends meet with little ones in the house.” A group representing small businesses disagreed. “They don’t necessarily have the resources, they can’t absorb the increases in cost, and they feel like it’s kind of relentless, it’s one thing after the next,” said Dee Dee Workman, vice president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Once Mayor Lee signs the measure into law, businesses with at least 50 employees must comply starting in January 2017. Businesses with at least 20 employees have until January 2018 to comply. ___ TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

On Jan. 12, Metro faced yet another crisis. Smoke flooding a stopped train on the Yellow Line had left one passenger dead and dozens of others in the hospital. So the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Agency did what any other huge institution does went it has a disaster: They hired some spin doctors. As the public and media fumed at another fatality on the transit line, Metro contracted with two crisis firms, O’Neill and Associates and Hill + Knowlton Strategies. Documents obtained by LL through an open records request show the agency and its consultants scrambling to respond to the January smoke incident—and, for some reason, keeping tabs on a critical Twitter account along the way. The work didn’t come cheap. In March, for example, Hill + Knowlton’s work alone cost more than $60,000. WMATA spokeswoman Sherri Ly says that the firms cost Metro roughly $250,000, all of which was paid out of the transit agency’s insurance policy. WMATA staff didn’t intend to provide LL with all this information. Earlier this month, the agency mailed LL a CD that held some files that were redacted and open, along many more that were password-protected. After WMATA staff gave LL the passwords for the restricted files, they realized too late that they contained unredacted files. Earlier this week, WMATA asked LL to return the CD in exchange for redacted copies of the files. No thanks, said LL. The unredacted files provide a look at how the agency struggled to recover from the smoke death while also not violating National Transportation Safety Board rules about discussing details of the accident while the investigation was ongoing. That limited WMATA’s ability to push back on the bad news. As Hill + Knowlton’s presentation to the agency noted in fluent PR-speak, news about WMATA “continues to progress unfettered into negative spaces.” It didn’t help, the firm noted, that Metro had such a bad reputation even before the smoke fatality. Or that, just as the system had killed one of its passengers, WMATA was ready to raise fares and reduce service for the rest. The presentation noted that the smoke incident wasn’t so abnormal in passengers’ estimations, just “what many have come to expect from Metro.” In response, Hill + Knowlton offered a plan where “media volume and negative tone [would be] reduced.” That meant “daily monitoring” of social media and “media and competitor analysis,” plus establishing interim WMATA General Manager Jack Requa as “a leader in control.” O’Neill and Associates, which tried to win WMATA’s business by showing how it had previously helped spin for a Chinatown bus line that had been shut down by the Department of Transportation, offered its own form of Internet pushback for the embattled agency. The firm could, according to its presentation, help WMATA with “adverse search results” and follow Metro discussion on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and, uh, Google+. (WMATA might want its insurance money back on that last one.) O’Neill and Associates had something else to offer: Peter Goelz, the former managing director of the NTSB, works there. At an hourly rate of $350, Goelz helped WMATA staff navigate the NTSB investigation. Most curiously, the crisis response involved taking an interest in at least one individual Twitter user. One of Hill + Knowlton’s staffer, compiling her work on a time sheet, noted that she had “researched and provided analysis on @fixmetro blogger.” That’d be Chris Barnes, the prolific Metro watcher who tweets as @fixmetro. When LL reached Barnes, he was surprised to learn he earned personal notice from WMATA’s spinmeisters. “What a fricking waste of money,” Barnes says. Barnes is puzzled that the transit agency would have to spend money analyzing him, given that he says he regularly exchanges emails with Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. In other words, he says, figuring him out didn’t exactly require extensive research. “I’m happy to sit down and answer whatever questions they’ve got,” Barnes says. “And that’ll be free.” Hill+Knowlton's Proposal: View on DocumentCloud O'Neill and Associates' Proposal: View on DocumentCloud Hill+Knowlton Timesheet: View on DocumentCloud File photo by Darrow Montgomery

FLOTUS Sends Out Well Wishes to Hurricane Irma Victims – Disgusting Liberals Trash Her Hurricane Irma is a monster category 5 storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean with sustained winds reaching north of 185 mph. It is the biggest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic. Many people in Florida are evacuating their homes as Irma approaches the United States. President Trump is working with Florida Governor Rick Scott to get supplies to people affected. A state of emergency has been declared in Florida. The First Lady sent out a heartfelt message, “If you are in or near projected path of Hurricane Irma please listen to local law enforcement in the area. Stay safe!!!” If you are in or near projected path of #HurricaneIrma please listen to local law enforcement in the area. Stay safe!!! — Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) September 8, 2017 Like clockwork, disgusting liberals attacked FLOTUS: Don’t forget your stiletto heels though — Fraracci (@fraracci) September 8, 2017 P.S. “Please help me escape Donald!” — Parry Headrick (@pheadrick) September 8, 2017 WHAT FOOTWEAR DO YOU SUGGEST — Brook Lundy (@brooklundy1) September 8, 2017 Get out of our WH with your treason husband! Where’s the peeped tapes? Enjoy? — John Miller (@realjohnmil) September 8, 2017 As if you give a crap. Seriously. — I RESIST (@charlottecicale) September 8, 2017 Please you and Donald, go #Mir-a-lago now while there is still time. — Brian Drourr Photo (@BrianDrourr) September 8, 2017 Will you please go down there? Don’t wear a jacket. Just your heels… — Steve Hernandez (@steveahernande1) September 8, 2017

(Newser) – The largest solar energy plant in the world could bring a surprising array of dangers to the Mojave Desert when constructed is completed, reports the LA Times. First off, it's huge: 170,000 large mirrors will be installed at the Ivanpah plant, heating water in three 45-story towers to 1,000 degrees. Critics say no one can specify the dangers because no solar plant has been bulit on this scale—but it might vaporize birds, blind drivers miles away, flip small airplanes, or even attract Air Force heat-seeking missiles. With a new airport for Las Vegas proposed just six miles away, heat plume interference from the solar plant could be a deadly threat. "If you hit a plume dead center, you have one wing in and one wing out of it. It would flip an airplane in a heartbeat," says the operator of the nearby Blythe airport, who adds that his complaints have been ignored. "It was a joke." Even if Ivanpah is safe, there are applications pending for 100 other solar plants in the Mojave. "It's an experiment on a grand scale," says one scientist. (Read more Mojave Desert stories.)

Opinion Trump policies will move California’s berry production to Mexico TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Leila Macor, US-politics-immigration-Internet Migrant workers harvest strawberries at a farm in this March 13, 2013 file photo near Oxnard, California. A new system that will require all US employers to check if job applicants are authorized to work, risks being a bureaucratic nightmare for immigrants and US citizens alike, critics say. The E-Verify system, part of a comprehensive immigration reform package passed by the US Senate last month, draws on official databases to decide if an individual has the right to work in the United States. The reform package -- which must still be approved by the House of Representatives -- also calls for the US-Mexico border fence to be bolstered as well as implementing E-Verify nationally. AFP PHOTO/JOE KLAMARJOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images less TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Leila Macor, US-politics-immigration-Internet Migrant workers harvest strawberries at a farm in this March 13, 2013 file photo near Oxnard, California. A new system that will require all ... more Photo: JOE KLAMAR Photo: JOE KLAMAR Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Trump policies will move California’s berry production to Mexico 1 / 1 Back to Gallery Two hundred years ago, British economist David Ricardo outlined a theory of international trade based on the notion of comparative advantage. The idea is that each country does something relatively well, and therefore can specialize and trade with others to their mutual benefit. Economics has since gone well beyond Ricardo’s analysis, but it remains instructive when it comes to agricultural products. That brings me to strawberries. The red fruit is produced for U.S. markets primarily in two states, California and Florida. In my part of the country, the Southern California coast, I admire the strawberry fields and think, “There is Ricardo’s comparative advantage.” Southern California has a mild climate, moist sea breezes and fertile soil: perfect for growing strawberries. The climate that makes Ventura County ideal strawberry territory does not end at the Mexican border. On the Baja California coast near San Quintín, you also find strawberries. With the expansion of cultivation in the states of Baja, Guanajuato and Michoacan, Mexican production and Mexican exports have been increasing in recent years. Both countries are major exporters of the crop. According to the California Strawberry Export Report, farmers in the Golden State exported about $400 million of fresh and frozen strawberries in 2016. Mexico exported approximately the same amount as California. Here’s where things get interesting. Mexican exports tend to be to the United States; the U.S. exports to Canada and other countries. Why does the U.S. both export and import strawberries? One reason is the different harvesting season in Mexico, and the perishability of fresh berries. There’s another defining quality of strawberries: They are hard to harvest. You have to stoop down and remove each fruit one by one. Machines would damage the delicate berry and fail to separate ripe from budding fruits. So it is up to people, typically immigrants, to pick strawberries. According to the Los Angeles Times, a good strawberry picker in Southern California can earn $150 per day during the harvest season. That translates to $18.75 per hour. According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, between 25 and 30 percent of all non-strawberry pickers in the same region earn less than $12.50 per hour. So why are these less well-paid folks not clamoring for jobs in the strawberry fields? Strawberry picking is hard, seasonal labor and must be pieced together with other fieldwork. In Baja, strawberry harvest workers make much less than they do in Southern California: about $11 a day. So why doesn’t more of the strawberry business move south across the border? The labor price difference isn’t yet so much as to force the move south. Strawberry farms here still can find people to work in the fields. But there is an issue: The people willing to pick strawberries in Ventura County for $18.75 per hour are not Americans. They are Mexicans willing to brave the hazards of living in the United States without legal permission. The delicate balance that allows both Californian and Mexican strawberry operations to prosper is under pressure. The Trump administration has pledged to deport unauthorized residents. And where more effectively to deploy the limited resources of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement than where there is a concentration of the undocumented: in the strawberry fields? The immediate impact of deportations will be a shortage of labor. In the short run, California and the United States will have fewer strawberries picked and the berries in the market will command higher prices. In the longer run, farmers either will pay pickers more, or plant crops that can be harvested by machines. The result: even fewer strawberries and even higher prices. And the same people who have been picking strawberries in California still will be picking our strawberries. They just will be doing it south of the border. The shift of the strawberry business further south should be a boon to Mexican agriculture, food processing and trucking. For the agriculture in the U.S., profits will be lower as land ideally suited for strawberries will be used for feed corn. And, though President Trump campaigned on closing the trade deficit with Mexico, the deportation policy will expand it, as more profits from the strawberry trade accrue to Mexican land barons. So it is a policy of “pick your poison.” You can engage in mass deportations with consequent lower income for American farmers and their Mexican farmworkers, and increase the trade deficit. Or you can forgo mass deportations, increasing the income of American farmers and their Mexican farmworkers, and keeping the trade deficit with Mexico no greater than it is today. But you can’t do both. And this is only strawberries. In 2015, Mexico exported almost $22 billion of agricultural produce to the United States. Strawberries are just the tip of the iceberg. Jerry Nickelsburg, an economist at UCLA Anderson School of Management, writes the Pacific Economist column for Zócalo Public Square. Email: jerry.nickelsburg@anderson.ucla.edu Twitter: @jnickelsburg To comment, submit your letter to the editor at http://bit.ly/SFChronicleletters.

The Barrett Model 82A1 C-Q .50 BMG rifle system is a semi-auto rifle with a close range 20" barrel. Included is a rolling compatmentalized Pelican hard case, one 10-round magazine, carry handle, flip-up iron sights, M1913 optics rail, owner's manual. Perfection isn’t accomplished overnight. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Model 82A1. For more than two decades, this short-recoil, semi-automatic series rifle has been carefully honed, studied and then refined again. The result is a feat of engineering so impossibly precise, it’s hard to believe it’s man-made. Unlike other semi-automatic .50 BMG rifles, the Model 82A1 is completely reliable. Its chamber is chrome-plated and dimensioned for both civilian and military ammunition. The extractor and ejector are proven to work under any condition, and close tolerances on every part allow it to function in all environments. Its re-engineered muzzle brake, dual barrel springs and long mainspring design make the 82A1 comfortable and — dare we say — exciting to shoot. The Model 82A1 fits into a regular sized carrying case. Although it’s transported as a disassembled upper and lower receiver, it can be ready to fire in under a minute by simply inserting two assembly pins through both receivers. The scope remains mounted on the upper receiver, maintaining scope zero. The rifle’s M1913 optics rail is tapered 27 MOA to take full advantage of the scope’s elevation travel.

Samsung is toughening up its line of wearables with the new Gear S3. The company unveiled its latest smartwatch on Wednesday at IFA 2016, Europe's annual gadget convention. The Gear S3 is the company's follow-up device to the sleek Gear S2 model, which CNNMoney has called one of the best smartwatches we've tried to date. Now, Samsung (SSNLF) is branching out with three outdoors-friendly versions of the S3: the Classic, and the Frontier, which comes in two choices -- an LTE connected model and standard Bluetooth connection only model. Compared to its predecessor, the latest model is noticeably bigger at almost 2 inches (46mm) in diameter, up from 42mm. The bulk comes with a bevy of new upgrades for added ruggedness and flair. But the Gear S3 isn't meant to replace the S2. Instead, Samsung is looking to keep both in its product line -- last year's model toward people who prefer a sleeker style. With its latest addition, Samsung has a lot more options for consumers, which may be more appealing approach compared to the one-style-fits-all Apple Watch. Here's a closer look at the Gear S3: Three options While the Classic design has a stainless steel finish, the Frontier style is more rugged looking. The latter is available with two connectivity options: one that pairs with a phone over Bluetooth and another that works with an LTE subscription, so you can make phone calls and stream music directly to the device. Samsung has not yet announced pricing or availability. However, the Gear S2 ($300) will still get updates and be sold in stores. Durability The Gear S3 can handle the elements. To start, it's waterproof up to 5-feet deep for about a half an hour. It'll ward off scratches too, thanks to its Corning Gorilla Glass display. And for the extremists among us, the device can handle very hot and cold temperatures. In fact, to prove its durability during a product preview event last week, Samsung placed its watch under a heat lamp for hours, with temperatures reaching more than 120 degrees. Meanwhile, another Gear S3 sat in a cold water bath with dry ice at 27 degrees. Samsung says it can handle temperatures well below 0. The battery life received a nice upgrade, too: the Gear S3 lasts about three to four days on a charge and kicks into a power saving mode when it hits 15%. Design Samsung spent a lot of time working on the design of the S3, and enlisted Swiss watchmaker Yvan Arpa and industrial designer Arik Levy to help. The results of the collaboration are evident in details like the small lines that indicate where the hour hands are positioned, also known as the index markers on the bezel. This makes it look more like a traditional analog watch. It also comes with a special set of digital watch faces that pair with matching straps. Related: Fitbit unveils two new fitness trackers -- including one you can take in the pool When the Gear S3 launches, there will be thousands of digital watch faces to choose from, as well as ones that users can create themselves. The smart design approach goes beyond the physical aesthetic, too. The ability for the screen to dim in low-light settings make it easier to see in dark environments and adds a sense of refinement. Loaded features Overall, the Gear S3 is stacked with features to make the experience easy and intuitive for users. For example, all three versions of the Gear S3 have built-in speakers, making it possible to hear notifications and use audio controls. The devices also come with Samsung Pay, so you can leave your wallet at home if you're headed out for a quick jog. There's also a solid SOS safety feature that lets you send for help in case of an emergency, similar to what's already available on the Apple Watch. Samsung has once again made a smartwatch that stands out from the competition, but its appeal may be limited to those who want all the extreme features in a large, slightly bulky device.

Genome Biology has published research investigating the effect of lifetime stressors on DNA methylation-based age predictors. We asked co-author Anthony Zannas to explain more about what it means. Stress may change DNA methylation patterns Flickr What is meant by epigenetic aging? Epigenetic aging is a measure that uses DNA methylation levels to predict an individual’s age. It takes into account the methylation levels of many sites from different parts of the genome. What these sites have in common is that they correlate strongly with chronological age. Several DNA methylation-based predictors of age have been developed. The most widely used is the multi-tissue predictor developed by Steve Horvath. Using this marker, DNA methylation-predicted age correlates strongly with chronological age at a population level. However, in some individuals DNA methylation age differs substantially from the actual age, and we posit that the difference between the two is a measure of accelerated aging. This epigenetic age acceleration appears to be a promising biomarker for aging research, as it has now been linked with a number of aging-related diseases, including physical and cognitive decline, obesity, lung cancer, and all-cause mortality. Can you briefly describe how stress factors can lead to altered DNA methylation? Stress has many ways of ‘getting under the skin’. Stress has many ways of ‘getting under the skin’. One way is through the secretion of glucocorticoids, hormones that are secreted from the adrenal gland into the blood when people are under stress and affect nearly every organ and cell in the body. The main glucocorticoid in humans is cortisol, which binds to and activates glucocorticoid receptors that act as transcription factors. Specifically, these receptors bind to specific DNA response elements and regulate the expression levels of a large number of target genes. Interestingly, glucocorticoid receptors not only affect gene transcription, but upon binding to target genes they can also change their DNA methylation state, and in some cases these changes can last long after cessation of the stressor. What were your main findings? We examined a highly traumatized cohort of African American individuals and found that exposure to more stress throughout the lifetime was associated with accelerated epigenetic aging. This effect was not seen with only childhood or recent stress and the effects were most pronounced in older individuals, so it appears that stress exposure accumulates to eventually affect the epigenome as one grows older. This effect was also more evident for personal stressors – stressors that affect the individual directly, for example; divorce, unemployment, and financial stressors. Whereas it was much weaker for network stressors – stressors affecting the individual’s social network, such as knowing someone who was robbed. Moreover, we also found that many of the age-related DNA methylation sites used to calculate epigenetic aging are located at glucocorticoid binding sites and undergo changes in methylation when individuals are exposed to a synthetic glucocorticoid, called dexamethasone. So it could be that high levels or dysregulated cortisol secretion in individuals exposed to more stress are driving these effects on epigenetic aging. Lastly, we found that genes near these age-related sites also undergo changes in expression following dexamethasone and many of these genes are implicated in aging-related diseases, including coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, and leukemias. How does this build on what is currently known from the literature? It has been known that chronic or excessive stress can increase the risk for aging-related diseases, but the molecular mechanisms that explain this relationship have been unknown. It has been known that chronic or excessive stress can increase the risk for aging-related diseases, but the molecular mechanisms that explain this relationship have been unknown. So how does stress ‘get under the skin’ to increase the risk of certain diseases? It is also known that DNA methylation changes occur with increasing age and are associated with aging-related diseases. So it seemed likely that the effects of stress on aging-related disease could be in part mediated via changes in DNA methylation induced by glucocorticoid receptor activation. Our study supports this hypothesis, since it shows that stress accelerates epigenetic aging, and further suggests that this effect could be mediated by the molecular effects of cortisol. What are the implications of your findings? Our findings suggest that epigenetic changes could be an important, but by no means the only, contributing factor to the detrimental effects of stress on declining health as one grows older. These effects can be cumulative and lasting, and they might be evident in particular vulnerable populations such as those prone to high levels of stress. For example, we know that individuals exposed to high levels of childhood maltreatment are also likely to have high levels of adult stress later in life. This lifelong accumulation of stressors in highly traumatized individuals may eventually exceed the capacity of the epigenome to maintain itself and contributes to worse physical health that is observed in these populations. Monitoring epigenetic age may be a possibility to target early intervention in high-risk individuals. Understanding the mechanisms of accelerated epigenetic aging could also allow the development of strategies for prevention or even reversal of such effects and, hopefully, a reduction in stress- and aging-associated disease risk.

So who’s looking forward to noon on Friday when Barack Obama leaves office once and for all? (I could probably pause here for several hours while our various readers weigh in.) The President has his fans and supporters to be sure, as demonstrated in the most recent polling, but there are plenty of other citizens who won’t be sorry to see the end of these two terms. One notable group in the latter category seems to be the nation’s police, at least in the opinion of the leader of one of the profession’s larger advocacy groups. The executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations pulled no punches this week in saying that as far as the cops are concerned, nobody will be terribly sad to see this guy heading off into retirement. (Daily Wire, emphasis added) A leading voice for the nation’s police officers who has bluntly challenged President Obama for his lack of support for police, issued a truly blunt assessment of how police felt about Obama leaving 0ffice, snapping, “No one is sorry to see this guy go.” Speaking to The Blaze, William J. Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said Johnson said Obama’s public statements have only offered “lip service” to the idea that targeting police officers is wrong, while he has demonstrated repeated support for groups that blame police for incidents involving minorities. Johnson added that Obama’s actions have demoralized police, leading to a reticence among officers to become actively engaged with communities for fear of being unjustly accused. He offered this aphorism: “Don’t get involved, smile, wave, drive by.” There’s one other quote from Johnson which is worth including and it has to do with the President’s history of “taking sides” in the public standoff between law enforcement and Black Lives Matter. Johnson continued, “He knows what he’s doing. He’s aware who his audience is. In terms of violence against police, his audience was not police or survivors, his audience was leaders of Black Lives Matter, protesters and agitators. … He sent a clear message: ‘I’m on your side.’” This is obviously a fairly antagonistic stance to take, but he’s certainly holding more than a few cards to support his position. You may recall the recent, exhaustive poll of law enforcement officers around the nation which found that nearly nine in ten cops felt that their jobs were both more dangerous and more difficult than eight years ago. Even more depressing is the perception that working in law enforcement was “no longer worth it” and a tendency to not tell their own kids that going into the police academy was a good career choice. These feelings were even more pronounced among cops in the nation’s large cities than in the suburban and rural precincts. There have been other, less subtle signals which police officers have no doubt caught wind of. They’ve had to watch a very public and embarrassing battle take place in the press as elected legislators battled over a painting hanging within a stone’s throw of the halls where Congress meets. It’s a piece of “art” which depicts police officers as pigs who are oppressing African American residents in Ferguson. That’s a telling bit of social commentary and it ties back into the interview with Johnson. He specifically calls out Ferguson and the response of the Obama administration in a matter where it was eventually revealed that the cop in question did nothing wrong. Police have also sat by and watched two consecutive Attorneys General who seemed more interested in holding some sort of tribunal where the nation’s police officers were being investigated than figuring out why gangs are driving up the murder rates in major cities. None of these things happen in a vacuum and such policies flow down from the top. In short, it’s difficult not to place the credit or blame, depending how you view it, at the feet of the Oval Office occupant. The remaining question is whether things will change significantly under Trump or if he’ll fail to live up to the cop supporting speeches he gave on the trail.

the bear in the DreamWorks Animation Kung Fu Panda Advertisement Forget Po and Master Shifu - this is the real life Kung Fu Panda! Following the release of the third Kung Fu Panda film, this cuddly panda bear was caught on camera practising his best karate moves. The amazing pictures were captured by photographer Shingo Nakamura, from Japan, at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. Scroll down for video Following the release of the third Kung Fu Panda film (right), this cuddly panda bear (left) was caught on camera practising his best karate moves The amazing pictures were captured by photographer Shingo Nakamura, from Japan, at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo Nakamura, 49, said: 'I went to the zoo to take some photos of the panda - but I never imagined I'd see something like this! 'It looks so cute walking on two legs - in one picture it looks like he's chasing food with a stick. 'I think he was actually doing some leg training - they do training with the panda every day keep him fit, but it looks more like martial arts! 'When most people see it they wonder what the panda is doing, it looks quite bizarre. 'It was an adorable moment, I'm so happy I was there to see it.' Nakamura said she thinks the incredible moves were part of the bear's daily leg training which keep him fit The third Kung Fu Panda film follows the character of Po as he is reunited with his father and discovers a long-lost panda paradise. However, his newfound happiness is threatened with the emergence of a supernatural villain (J.K. Simmons), and he has to go from student to teacher to train a village of bears to master the martial arts.

DPA A German pensioner could face criminal charges for clear-cutting the forest at his Baltic Sea vacation home. Unhappy with the obscured view at his property near the Baltic Sea coast, a German pensioner struck back at nature -- with a chainsaw. Police reported on Thursday that the 80-year-old man admitted to having illegally cut down 122 trees because they obstructed his view of the coast at his vacation home in an expensive part of the town of Scharbeutz near Lübeck in northern Germany. The police investigating the crime said the tops had been cut off of 66 beech, ash, oak and wild cherry trees and that an additional 55 had been sawed to the ground completely. All of the trees were over 30 years old. The local forestry office is estimating damages at €15,000 ($22,000). Meanwhile, prosecutors are exploring their options for charging the man for property damage and violating both state and federal nature conservation laws. However, some local neighbors have come to the defense of the would-be Baltic Paul Bunyan, telling the local newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten that trees had been completely removed from certain properties before some new houses in the area were built. "Maybe he got a bit carried away with 120 trees," said one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. "But what's all the fuss about?" dsl/dpa

It’s hard to say how much knowing what happens in a story affects our enjoyment of it. We live in the age of the spoilerphobe, where nerds like me abandon social media in the days leading up to a major release for fear of having significant plot points or major twists revealed too soon. But in Shakespeare’s day, everyone more or less knew the ending ahead of time, and the lack of novelty didn’t lessen the draw. That’s a reminder that what the story is need not, and arguably should not, overshadow how the story is told. Which is to say, I’m not sure how much the greater effect of Spotlight was lost on me given that I already knew a decent amount about the molestation scandal within the Catholic Church that played out in the newspapers and on our television screens for years after the time depicted in the film. The movie is, if not exactly a mystery, then certainly a story of the intrepid reporters of the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team starting a small investigation and slowly but surely uncovering how widespread a pathology there was. Much of the film is framed as the Spotlight team investigating something seemingly isolated and being shocked to find how far the tendrils stretch out, reaching areas and individuals they never would have expected. But the impact of this gradual discovery is blunted when you already know how deep the rabbit hole goes. Sure, there’s something to the characters’ realizations that tries to drive the magnitude of the discovery home, but as horrible as what they uncover is, the film loses some of its narrative punch when its big developments are telling you something you already know. Which is why the film’s most vivid and poignant scenes are those involving the Spotlight team interviewing the victims of the abuse. There’s a stark quality to these sequences, which feature straightforward but moving recountings of how these men were taken advantage of as boys, that make them stand out. The film as a whole has a Wire-esque sparseness in the production design and cinematography that makes these scenes, and the horrors they represent, more palpable, awful, and affecting. But they also reveal a difficult hurdle for the film — the story of what happened is more striking than the story of the people who found out what happened. But that’s a sprawling, very individual story, splintered across thousands of victims and abusers, leaving director/co-writer Tom McCarthy to focus on the newspaper investigation in an attempt to tie it all together. The unfortunate side effect is that this mediates the terrible events that the film is concerned with, mixing them up with didactic discussions of psychological pathology and the personal effect that learning all of this has on the reporters who discover what happened. There’s a fair attempt made both to educate about this crisis and to bring its wide-ranging impact home by showing how it affects Mike Rezendes’s (Mark Ruffalo) connection to his faith, or Sacha Pfeiffer’s (Rachel McAdams) relationship with her grandmother, or Matt Carroll’s (Brian d’Arcy James) sense of the safety of his children in his neighborhood. And yet even as the film is about the Catholic Church’s molestation scandal, at a broader level it’s just as much about the way that communities close ranks in the face of a potential crisis, and in how there’s a certain complicity to it, a sometimes unconscious acceptance of how things are that invites horrific actions to be swept under the rug. A laudable performance from Michael Keaton as Spotlight editor Walter Robinson anchors the latter theme in the film. As Robinson hunts down old leads and sources, he encounters resistance from well-meaning fellow journalists who believe the story was culled from the crank file, less-than-subtle suggestions from friends and community leaders who urge him not to rock the boat for the good of the city, and disdain from veteran soldiers in the fight to expose the abuse who chastise him, and by extension The Boston Globe, for not doing more and not doing it earlier. Carpetbagging editor-in-chief Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber, who makes a strong impression with a textured performance in a smaller role), represents the way an outsider can cut through the status quo and see the collective shame for what it is without the history in the community or the stomach to ignore it. It’s legitimate material to explore in a film of this sort, and yet it ultimately feels very paint-by-numbers in the attempt. Spotlight has all the trapping of the prestige picture. It hits on a Big Issue; it features palatable protagonists fighting against something abhorrent; and it boasts an impressive cast who are given more than enough room to underline the film’s major points. Every scene seems to end with a line or an exchange that ties a very obvious bow on whatever the audience has just witnessed. Ruffalo gets his Oscar reel moment to bang on the table and demand justice. And the end of the film features the predictable moment of self-questioning, the inevitable bit of triumph, and the white text on a black background explaining the real life consequences of the “Based on True Events” story the viewer has just witnessed. That means that the film gets every opportunity to make its statements, to throw in standard-if-creditable character moments, and to work in small but salient details of the scandal. It fails, however, to make this all feel like something other than a movie going through the motions in the lead up to the Academy Awards. The film has something to say, and it’s worth saying, but it doesn’t delve particularly deep into these ideas and doesn’t offer anything especially novel or creative in how it presents them either. Spotlight is a good enough film. It has a sturdy structure, quality acting across the board, and locks in on some worthwhile thematic material. It’s not a movie I’m sorry to have watched, but it’s also not a movie I’m likely to ever watch again, because even if I haven’t seen this exact film before, I’ve seen this type of film 100 times before. It’s a solid take on the “dogged reporter breaking a scandal” story, and it hits all the right notes for an Oscar hopeful. But Spotlight never goes a step beyond that commendable-yet-spiritless flavor to the proceedings that seems to persist through so many movies in the same vein.

Muhanna Fala'ah / Getty Ten years after the invasion of Baghdad, major American oil companies are staying away from investing in Iraq's oil resources, McClatchy's Sean Cockerham reports. Instead, many of Iraq's newest oil fields are now controlled by Chinese. Iraq possesses the second-largest oil deposit in the world, in the West Qurna region. Forbes says the country could easily become the second-largest oil producer in the world after Saudi Arabia. Only Exxon and Occidental have active stakes in Iraqi oil fields. The reason for America's relative absence, Cockerham writes, is that the country is still too unstable. Chinese firms don't seem to mind that as much, he says: one third of all future Iraqi oil production is expected to come from Chinese-owned fields. There are in fact many U.S. drillers, including Halliburton, operating in the fields themselves, Cockerham notes. But folks like Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Suncor are nowhere to be seen. This does not mean the U.S. is not receiving zero oil from Iraq. We still import more than 173 million barrels of oil from there a year. But that's actually not all that much — about 4.4 percent of our entire import base, according to EIA data. And that's down from about ten years ago — once the country's economy came back online — when we were taking in 240 million bby. It's certainly not the situation many predicted we'd be in in 2013.

The CrossFit competition year doesn’t end with the CrossFit Games. While the Games are in the offseason, CrossFit will host the CrossFit Team Series. The two-part series starts in early September, and ends in mid October. The first set of workouts will be released Sept. 8, and the second and final set of workouts will be released Oct. 6. In the Team Series, any two men and two women can form a team. You and your teammates don’t have to train at the same affiliate or even live in the same state or country. You do have to complete all of the Team Series workouts together, though. This freedom led to several incredible rosters in 2014. Rich Froning, Sam Briggs, Jason Khalipa, and Julie Foucher formed the powerhouse team Rogue Fitness Black, only to be beaten by Ben Smith's Team Reebok East. Affiliates also put forward teams that challenged the Games elite, earning spots in the top 10 and taking home part of the $151,000 prize purse. The Team Series proved to be a lot like the CrossFit Invitational, only anyone could sign up and compete with the world's fittest. WATCH Week 1 with Rogue Fitness Black Week 2 with Rogue Fitness Red Week 3 with Rogue Red and Rogue Black Week 3 with Team Reebok East 2014 Team Series Events In 2015, teams will be able to choose between the Rx'd and scaled version of each workout. Choosing scaled for one workout will not prevent a team from doing the next workout as prescribed. Teenagers (14-17) and Masters (40+) will be included, as well. Registration begins on Aug. 18 at Games.CrossFit.com. Send your team captain to the site to register the team. As part of the process, the captain will pay and send email invites to their teammates. Registration costs $80 for all teams except those that are sponsored. Sponsored teams pay $500.

Nepal trekking tours are perhaps the best tours of their kind offering a myriad of attractions for true nature connoisseurs seeking excitement, stunning mountain views and exhilarating climbing experiences. In addition, trekking in Nepal can give you a chance for spiritual exploration introducing you into Himalayan Buddhist culture and the unique nation of Sherpas who have been successfully inhabiting high altitude regions for many generations. Read on to learn more about top 10 places for trekking in Nepal: 1. Langtang Trek is perhaps the easiest and most enjoyable among Nepal treks taking you through the picturesque Langtang Valley. This particular trekking in Nepal adventure will take 9 days to complete walking about 4-5 hours daily. You will be able to trek through Langtang forests passing yak pastures and ending up in the Tibetan village of Langtang. Beware of the yaks as they might get aggressive and were known to push trekkers off the steep slopes. Stay safe and keep away from cliff edges. 2. Annapurna Trek to its base camp is a spectacular 14 day adventure taking you through principal peaks of the Annapurna Himal such as Hiunchuli, Fang, Annapurna South and many more. This Nepal trek will introduce you to multiple climates, ecosystems and cultures along the way. The highlight of the trek is reaching a gigantic gorge between Hiunchuli and the Fish Tail (Machhepuchare) peaks following through dense bamboo forests into the Modi Kola river valley. This area is best known under Annapurna Sanctuary name and remains one of the most popular Nepal trekking tours. 3. Annapurna Royal Trek is the shortest and sweetest of all Nepal taking tours taking mere 9 days and not requiring any particular fitness levels. This became pretty famous in the 1980’s when England’s own Prince Charles made this trip. This Nepal trek is perfect for people who can not spend a lot of days trekking and simply want a relaxing and easy vacation surrounded by stunning mountain sceneries while being immersed in alluring local culture and lifestyles. Trekking in Nepal will allow visitors to see many of the different mountainous peaks of the Himalayas. You don’t have to be experienced at mountain trekking in order to enjoy the Annapurna Royal trek. This trip usually lasts several days. There are no villages or accommodations so the best course of action is to book a guided trekking group. You will see majestic mountain views as well as colorful fauna and soaring eagles. 4. Everest Base Camp Trek is an experience of a lifetime enabling you to view the tallest mountain on Earth. Without a doubt this 17 day adventure will stay in your hearts forever as it is definitely a journey off the beaten path. The lengthy duration is necessary to get acclimatized to high altitude changes warding off many unpleasant illnesses. The trek will not only offer you the most stunning views of the glaciers, mountains and valleys, it will also introduce you into the lives of amazing people of Sherpas. They have inhabited this mountain region for generations miraculously adjusting to harsh high altitude conditions. 5. Rara Lake Trek will take your through spectacular National Park that is home to many rare species of animals like Himalayan black bear, red panda, wild boar, snow leopard, black panther and numerous kinds of birds and smaller animals. The highlight of this amazing 16 day trek is reaching the Rara Lake located at an altitude of almost 3,000 m. Trekkers can enjoy the remote wilderness of Western Nepal while enjoying the adventure of the Rara Lake trek. Trekkers can enjoy the views of Rara Lake which is Nepal’s largest lake measuring at 3062 meters. This is a picturesque high altitude lake that is surrounded by gorgeous alpine meadows and pine forests complete with Juniper and Spruce. Participating in the Rara Lake Trek is truly a once in a lifetime experience and shouldn’t be missed if visiting Nepal and the Himalayas. 6. Mustang Trek or “Forbidden Kingdom” is like stepping back in time. The trek was open to westerners only back in 1992 holding a lot of mysteries for you to uncover. The Mustang trek is located in the North Central part of the country in Nepal, just bordering Tibet. The Mustang area presents Tibet culturally and geographically more than it does Nepal due to Chinese occupation. The trek permits are being issued under strict surveillance from the Nepal Department of Immigration in the attempts to preserve the cultural and ethnic heritage of the region from the western influence. While enjoying the Mustang trek, trekkers can enjoy the views of the Kali Gandaki River which is known to have served as a major trade route between Tibet and India. In addition to the beautiful plateau landscapes, the Mustang trek offers the opportunity to enjoy traditional Nepal culture. There are many trekking companies that offer the Mustang trek as part of their itineraries. During this 15 day journey you will encounter bare mountain landscape, steep up and down rocky terrains and panoramic views of Nilgiri, Annapurna and many other peaks. 7. Manaslu Trek will take you to the 8th highest peak of the world area. Manaslu trek is definitely not a walk in the park and is considered one of the roughest and challenging treks in Nepal. Only the more experienced trekkers should attempt to make the Manaslu trek. You will have a rare opportunity to witness the untouched primal beauty of Nepal’s mountain scenery, rich cultural and historical heritage and introduction to different flora and fauna. Whoever chooses the Manaslu Trek will enjoy pure Himalayan beauty as well as the rich cultural experiences. There are many breathtaking Himalayan mountain views available during the Manaslu trek. While trekking through some of the villages, visitors will get a glimpse of the traditional Himalayan culture of the local population. 8. Dhaulagiri Trek is only for well experienced or professional trekkers due to its demanding terrain and rough landscape. This 24-day challenging trek will take you beyond the beaten trekking paths most tourists take into the Nepal wilderness and remote villages. The trekking around Dhaulagiri region is very strenuous and requires additional climbing skills to get through some high passes. Along the way you will be rewarded by stunning sceneries of untouched beauty of Nepal. The Dhaulagiri trek is one of the more challenging treks as it is the seventh highest peak in the world rising above the Kali Gandaki River. During the Dhaulagiri Trek, you will enjoy magnificent views of many Himalayan Peaks as well as White Water Rivers. Many of the trekking guides will allow trekkers to camp on a glacier. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience! 9. Lower Dolpo Trek trekking in Nepal is unique in its kind providing you with an opportunity to tour some of the isolated areas of western Nepal. You will encounter charming locals who still practice Bon Po religion that had been widely spread in pre-Buddhist Nepal. While enjoying the Lower Dolpo trek, visitors will be able to experience traditional Himalayan culture as well as visit some traditional Buddhist Monasteries. Those enjoying the Lower Dolpo trek will be able to enjoy the magnificent views of Shey Phoksundo Lake as well as various rare and endangered species of wildlife as well as plants. The trek will take 25 days to experience the primal wilderness of Nepal and get through 3 major passes along the way, namely, Kagmara La, Baga La and Numa La. 10. Ghorepani Trek 9-day trek is the best for novice trekkers introducing them to trekking in Nepal. The trek will elevate you to the highest point of 3200m and open up stunning panoramic views of Annapurna Himal and many other famous peaks in Nepal. The Ghorepani trek is a good trek whether you are a beginner or more experienced trekker. There are many adventure companies that offer trekking tours to enjoy. Trekkers will also enjoy the picturesque landscape of the beautiful fauna during their trip. In addition to the beautiful views may also experience traditional Gurung culture. Discussing your Nepal vacation packages with your travel agent will help you get the most of Nepal treks for your money. Trekking in Nepal can run up a considerable sum of money if you consider expensive mountaineer gear, equipment, supplies and multiple permits and fees you will have to pay up front.

This article is over 5 years old Mark Stone and cameraman, Andy Portch, were held for not displaying passes as they filmed in Tiananmen Square Reading on mobile? See the video here Sky News correspondent Mark Stone was detained by Chinese police while filming in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Stone and his cameraman, Andy Portch, were filming live on air when they were approached by a police officer on Friday morning who asked them to stop filming in the square. The pair broadcast live from the back of the police van as they were taken to a nearby station. It is not clear whether they have been formally arrested. Stone told Sky News viewers on his way to the police station: "This is just a little insight really into the way reporting works in China. "Most of the time things are fine and for most of the day no problems at all, but then every now and then this happens. "The police have been entirely civil with us, but they are detaining us nonetheless." Stone and Portch were released shortly before 1pm UK time after over three hours in police custody. According to a Sky News spokeswoman, police told the pair they were detained because they were not properly displaying their press accreditation badges. The journalists have returned to the Beijing bureau where they are preparing a film on the incident to run on the Sky News bulletin at 5pm. A report on the Sky News website said the pair had received permission to film in the square, where they were reporting on China's leadership transition. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@guardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.

. Otro caso de crueldad animal que conmociona a toda la ciudad bonaerense de Berazategui. Un hombre, de nacionalidad boliviana, ató a su perro a una moto y lo arrastró a la fuerza durante varias cuadras a lo largo de la calle República de Francia, de esa localidad. Un vecino, que circulaba con su auto, advirtió la situación y logró detenerlo entre la Avenida Calchaqui y Belgrano, según manifestó en diálogo con Crónica. El joven publicó en su Facebook el momento de la captura. "Lo quemaste de lo que lo arrastraste hijo de p..., tiene toda la espalda pelada, está completamente deshidratado el animal", se escucha en el video compartido en la red social. Mientras tanto, el hombre se justificó diciendo que el perro había mordido a un nene.

HyperHamlet: the cultural history of Shakespeare's play in quotations Who quoted these famous lines? Which lines have been quoted most frequently? When was it especially fashionable to quote Hamlet? Do people know they are quoting Hamlet when they say "There's method in his madness"? Search four centuries of Hamlet quotations in context – a completely new kind of evidence for the cultural position held by Shakespeare and his language. Find quotations by 3467 authors from different periods, languages and genres. Find out which texts use quotation marks or indicate Hamlet as their source. Browse the core collection of 9454 quotations, attached to the lines they refer to or sorted by the characters and scenes they mention. Or investigate the complete collection of 10813 entries, which includes indirect references, vague anonymous traces and even earlier occurrences of phrases found in Hamlet. Have you come across any Hamlet quotations recently? Contribute your findings to the database!

Lavoy Finicum was shot and killed after a highway stop with the FBI and Oregon police late Tuesday evening. Finicum was the spokesman for the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom group that was occupying the Malheur Wildlife Center in Burns. Ryan Bundy was injured during the police shootout, a total of eight “Oregon Militia” members were arrested during and after the roadside incident. Ammon Bundy, Ryan’s brother, was among those handcuffed and taken into custody. A recording shared on the Bundy Ranch Facebook page claims to be relaying statements from witnesses to the shooting. The audio recording maintains that Ammon Bundy still had his cell phone when place in the back of a cruiser and was able to call his wife Lisa and give details of the shooting scene. According to the relayed message from Ammon Bundy, Finicum was unarmed and surrendering when he was “cold blooded murdered.” An investigation into the “enforcement action” is currently underway. The Oregon State Police have only stated publicly that the Lavoy Finicum death and Ryan Bundy injuring were the result of an “officer-involved shooting,” NBC reports. In this composite with handout images provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, suspects (Top L) Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Ryan Waylen Payne, Brian Cavalier, (Bottom L) Peter Santilli, Joseph Donald OShaughnessy , and Shawna Cox pose for a mugshot photo after being arrested by U.S. Marshals January 26, 2016 in Oregon. Ammon Bundy and seven others were arrested in a traffic stop along Highway 395 outside Burns, Oregon. (Photo by Multnomah County Sheriff's Office via Getty Images) Cliven Bundy, the father of both Ryan Bundy and Ammon Bundy, released a statement on Wednesday morning claiming that Finicum was murdered in “cold blood” by law enforcement agents. According to the Nevada rancher who garnered nationwide headlines when taking on the BLM over grazing rights, Lavoy exited the vehicle with his hands up in a surrender position. Lavoy Finicum, 54, was a Mormon rancher from Arizona. He was a father of 11, grandpa to 19, and was married to his wife for 23 years. The details surrounding the fatal shooting along Highway 395 near Burns, Oregon, remain slight. Ryan Bundy took a round to the arm and was treated and released from the hospital. Finicum, who previously stated he would prefer death to being arrested and locked up behind bars, was on his way to a community meeting with area residents about an hour from the Malheur wildlife refuge when he was mortally wounded. LaVoy Finicum, reportedly killed in Oregon standoff, said he was willing to die for cause. https://t.co/8WbMcCVCok pic.twitter.com/hCaJrngHwh — FOX 12 Oregon KPTV (@fox12oregon) January 27, 2016 When the media deemed “Oregon Militia” took control over the Malheur wildlife center, Finicum reportedly opted to keep guard and slept outside in the cold January air in his sleeping bag with a rifle. During an interview with MSNBC from his little outpost at the refuge, Lavoy said he was “prepared to defend freedom.” Finch Finicum, one of Lavoy’s daughters, told the media that her father and the other Citizens for Constitutional Freedom members were committed to not firing upon FBI agents. “We all thought it would end but not like this. My dad did stress that they wouldn’t pull a gun on them unless they pulled a gun,” she added. Lavoy Finicum Gives Oregon Standoff Update On January 22 — Video The day before being fatally shot along the highway, Lavoy Finicum granted an interview with the Oregonian. He maintained that the tone of the FBI had changed when the two groups held discussion. According to Finicum, the federal agents had become more “hardened.” “They’re doing all the things that show they want to take some kinetic action against us,” Lavoy added. “And we’re saying, ‘Why be so unfriendly?’ “ Oregon Governor Kate Brown is urging patience as law enforcement officials work toward a “swift and peaceful resolution” to the standoff in Burns. LaVoy Finicum, the man (with his family) killed by the Feds at bogus traffic stop…. pic.twitter.com/7TyYvZ0S4z — ~ Billy Black ~ (@BillyBlac) January 27, 2016 Here is a photo of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who was killed Tuesday, from a few weeks ago. #OregonStandoff pic.twitter.com/arKqfLuPRD — Gordon Friedman (@gordonrfriedman) January 27, 2016 Concerns that the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom standoff would lead to another Waco or Ruby Ridge may have been the primary reason that federal agents did not storm the refuge during the 3-week occupation. At least for now, the occupiers are still standing their ground in Burns and have not been met with an armed response by law enforcement on the grounds. What do you think about the Oregon militia arrests and the death of Lavoy Finicum? [Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

Cats can be bizarre and may be that’s why subconsciously we love these creatures. Whether it’s chasing the invisible, defying gravity, or just getting poofed up for no reason at all, cats are endlessly entertaining. Of course, the best part is that they are unaware of how cute they can be when they’re doing these moves which leaves us speechless. These few cats are stepping up their game with a variety of slick and stealthy moves that would put leave even IP Man wondering. Are they Plotting? Playing? Secretly conspiring something. We don’t know! May be they are just as confused as we are about all this. You should decide. Please comment on what you think these cats are upto? 1. “Human! WTF you lookin at? I’m Ninja-Cat B**CH” 2. “Soon…” 3. “One day. One day.. I’ll become the Shaolin-Ninja Cat. 4. “No Flex Zone, No Flex Zone — They Know Better, They Know Better… 5. “Hidden Kitty Crouching Kitty” 6. Proposed Ninja-Costume. Costume Designed by — CatLady MaMa 7. Ninja Cats are born with power of extreme Concentration and Focus 8. Levitation Mode (level 9) – Real ninjas look serene even in midair. 9. Of course, any ninja mission is always fraught with peril. 10. Gravity does NOT apply to Ninja-Cats 11. “SOON…” 12. The perfect vantage point before the kill 13. This dog made a mistake of offending a ninja-cat 14. Some missions require a whole squad of ninjas. 15. “I keep an eye on you 24/7/365” 16. Ninja cats can identify texture/objects of similar color and can contort to become invisible. 17. “Invisible Mode ON” 18. When enemies approach, it’s best to take evasive action. This dog wouldn’t even know what hit it. 19. Well, house made of cork board is MY practice ground. Thanks Owner! 20. SOON….after am done with my upside-down meditation session. I’ve heard of pet- and baby-proofing a house, but I don’t think there’s much you can do to ninja-proof. Please comment on what you think these cats are up to?

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is investigating two additional cases of measles. The new cases, in an unimmunized child and an immunized adult, were contacts of a previous measles case. Cases such as these are not unexpected as measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease where virtually all those who are not immune and come into contact with the virus will become infected. There have been four confirmed measles cases in Ottawa since March 5. People who were present at the following locations and times were potentially exposed to the measles virus and OPH advises these individuals to contact their health care provider if they are unsure about their immunization status: March 18, 2014, 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Businesses at 411 Legget Drive March 18, 2014, 1:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m: Subway Restaurant, 700 March Road March 20, 2014, 6 p.m. – 8:40 p.m.: Shoppers Drug Mart, 1300 Stittsville Main Street March 21, 2014, 6:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue March 21, 2014,11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m : Quizno’s Restaurant, 4048 Carling Avenue March 21, 2014, 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Businesses at 411 Legget Drive OPH asks those who were present at the locations and times listed above to contact OPH at 613-580-6744 if you: Are unimmunized; Have a weakened immune system; Are pregnant or; Work in the health care or child care sector; Had a child under age 1 with you when you visited one of the above locations. Early symptoms of measles may include fever, cough, and tiny white spots in the mouth. Within three to seven days, a red blotchy rash will appear, first on the face and then spreading to the body, arms and legs. If you believe that you have measles, you should isolate yourself by staying home and avoid all contact with unimmunized persons. Call before visiting your doctor so they can take precautions to protect other patients. The measles virus is transmitted by airborne droplets or direct contact with an infected person. Measles is more severe in adults and infants than in children and can lead to ear infections, pneumonia, swelling of the brain and even death. We strongly encourage all residents to consider vaccination as a way to protect yourself and your family against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. If you are unsure of your vaccination status or that of your children, please discuss this with your health care provider. For more information about measles or immunization, you can also visit our website or call OPH’s information line at 613-580-6744 to speak with a nurse. For information and health tips, connect with us on Twitter @OttawaHealth. For additional information on measles and immunization, visit ottawa.ca/health or call Ottawa Public Health Information at 613-580-6744 (TTY: 613-580-9656). You can also follow OPH on Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest. For more information: Media contact 613-580-2450 Public inquiries: ottawa.ca | 3-1-1

The above photo might look like something from Ripley's Believe It or Not — but believe it. Some populations of spinner dolphin that live in the eastern tropical Pacific have bizarre backwards dorsal fins, a phenomenon that has left scientists and marine biologists scratching their heads. "We've known about these dolphins for 50 years," said Matt Leslie, a graduate student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in an interview with Scientific American. "but not a lot has been done to actually study why it's on backwards." Leslie is currently raising funds for an experiment that he hopes will shed some light on the mystery. His plan is to build a model of the dolphin and put it in a flow tank. As water moves over the model, Leslie will be able to observe whether the backwards fin affects the mechanics of the dolphin's swimming ability. Though the experiment has yet to be completed, there are a few key clues from aeronautical technology that suggest how the backwards fin may aid the dolphin's maneuverability. Take, for instance, the illustration below exhibiting the unique, anti-intuitive aerodynamics of the Grumman X-29 experimental fighter plane: Like the spinner dolphin's fin, these fighter planes showcase backwards wings. The design allows airflow around the wings to terminate at the body of the plane rather than at the wingtips, providing better stability and maneuverability. Could this also explain the dolphin's fin? It's possible — but it turns out that the nautical efficiency of the dolphin's backwards fin is only half the mystery. The really peculiar thing about these dolphins is that only adult males exhibit the odd trait. Females and juveniles have normal-shaped fins. This leaves open an important question: Even if the backwards fin is proven to provide benefits for the dolphin, why would the trait only be seen in adult males? Leslie has a hunch that the fin discrepancy has something to do with mate selection and/or sexual competition. Sexual dimorphism — phenotypic differences present between males and females of the same species — is common among animals in which one sex uniquely competes to attract a mate. Peacocks are a good example. Male peacocks exhibit flamboyant tail feathers that they use in their mating displays used to attract females. Since only adult male spinner dolphins have the backwards fins, it's likely that females prefer males that feature them. It may also be important to remember where spinner dolphins get their name: they are known for making acrobatic, playful leaps, often twisting their bodies around many times before falling back to the water. It's therefore possible that their dramatic leaps are actually mating displays, and that their backwards fins evolved because they help males make more theatrical aerial maneuvers. Until Leslie completes his flow tank experiment, it will be impossible to know for sure. He offers a presentation regarding the mysterious backwards-finned dolphin, and a plea for funding, in the video below: Why does this dolphin have its fin on backwards? Baffled scientists are looking for hints from aeronautic technology to help solve the mystery.

The head2head archery app lets archers from around the world compete against each other in live matchplay, no matter their location, timezone or ability. Click the links below to download the app now… How? Players register, upload bow profiles and challenge other players to live head2head archery matches. The arrows an archer shoots in real life are recorded in the app, either end-by-end, or in advance, while his opponent does the same. (You can even ask for picture evidence!) Over time, players build up a global head2head record! Through World Archery’s extensive competition results database, Olympic and World Archery Champions past and present can also be challenged in historical replay head2head contests. Features The head2head archery app is available now: Live match scoring Match record database Historical matches Invite and challenge friends Opponent finder Reviews “I absolutely love the app. I’m telling every archer I know about it. It’s such a brilliant idea. I’ve started incorporating it into my daily training in preparation for the Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in Shanghai” – Louise Redman, Australia (April 2016) Future We’re going to be developing the functionality of head2head archery from player feedback. You can leave your feedback by contacting the support team through the contact page. Features to be added to head2head archery soon: Push notification Intelligent matching Expanded bow bios and more… The head2head archery application was developed by Ken Sentell in partnership with World Archery IT and Communications.

When the Detroit Red Wings first acquired Kyle Quincey just prior to the trade deadline, I was singing both parties’ praises; a late first round pick in a shallow draft seemed like a minimal price to pay for a talented point-accumulating defenseman. Now having played in 16 games with Detroit, the deal doesn’t seem to be working out quite as well as expected. What has Quincey brought the Red Wings so far? Three points and 29 penalty minutes. 17 of those penalty minutes came last night, 15 as a result of the play that got him suspended. Just eight seconds after his team had tied the game at one 5:38 into the third period, Quincey launched into a flying check that found his elbow connecting with former teammate Tomas Kopecky’s face. Quincey left his feet and the principle point of contact was Kopecky’s head. A suspension was inevitable. As expected, Quincey claimed no malicious intent and expressed relief that Kopecky wasn’t injured on the play. “I just tried to make a good body check and I’m glad he’s OK.” While Quincey may have intended to make a clean play, a clean play is not what he made. At least that’s the way Brendan Shanahan (Senior Vice President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations) saw it, deeming Quincey’s hit to be a violation of Rule 42: Charging, and worthy of a one-game ban. The game Quincey is to miss is a crucial one for his team, Wednesday against the division winning St. Louis Blues. The Wings find themselves just 1 point ahead of Nashville and Chicago in the race for 4th in the West (a home ice advantage spot Detroit covets dearly) knowing that every point from here on out counts and desperately looking for some momentum heading into the post-season. The loss of Quincey, though, wont hamper them in the slightest. In fact, just one game prior Quincey found himself a healthy scratch as head coach Mike Babcock began rotating defensemen saying, “He probably mirrors our team. Our team hasn’t been great.” And during an intermission interview on Sunday, Quincey admitted to not yet being comfortable with the new system he’s learning in Detroit. That fact has been painstakingly obvious. Through 16 games with the team Quincey has harmed more than helped. In fairness to Kyle, he hasn’t exactly found himself in the easiest of circumstances thus far, becoming injured shortly after joining the team and then juggling different defensive partners on a nightly basis thanks to more injuries and finally continuing the act with Babcock’s rotations. He’s had no opportunity to build rhythm or chemistry with anyone and that lack of consistency has been heavily reflected in his game. Even if his suspension had reached two or three games as many predicted it would, the Wings wouldn’t have been reeling from the loss. The announcement of this one-game slap on the wrist has merely decided which D-man Babcock will sit out on Wednesday.

The Spain striker has suggested referee Felix Brych was not up to the job after he was dismissed for two yellow cards at Camp Nou but Luis Suarez escaped a similar fate Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres says hit out at Uefa after being sent off against Barcelona, suggesting referee Felix Brych was not ready for such a big game. Torres was given his marching orders after picking up two yellow cards in the first half at Camp Nou, with defending champions Barca eventually emerging 2-1 victors against 10 men. The former Liverpool striker took responsibility for his side's defeat but accused Uefa of being more interested in potential kit clashes - with both sides wearing their away strip on the night - than competent refereeing. "It's a shame that UEFA are so preoccupied with changing our kits and putting a referee that has failed to be at the level of a Champions League quarter-final," Torres told reporters after the match.

Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) campaign committee has signed a conciliation agreement with the Federal Election Commission calling for a $8,000 civil penalty for campaign finance violations in her 2010 Congressional campaign. Bachmann for Congress committee failed to disclose accurately $208,502 in receipts and $206,499 in disbursements covering five reporting periods in 2009 and 2010. The committee contends it discovered these problems in a self-initiated examination of its records. The committee has since filed amended reports for those periods. View conciliation agreement in Thecommittee failed to disclose accurately $208,502 in receipts and $206,499 in disbursements covering five reporting periods in 2009 and 2010. The committee contends it discovered these problems in a self-initiated examination of its records. The committee has since filed amended reports for those periods. View conciliation agreement in MUR 6709

The most devastating reproach historians are likely to make to Barack Obama’s record in the White House is his devastating failure in foreign policy — a failure that stems from his willingness to leave the warrior ideologues of the State and Defense Departments in place after he became president. To them he added ideologues of a new and equally interventionist persuasion, which he found congenial: that of humanitarian action, scarcely relevant in resisting the Islamic caliphate that emerged as a major force in the concluding half of his second term. By then he also faced a Republican congressional majority distinguished by its ignorance — worse than his own in foreign policy matters — and its vindictiveness. He arrived in office to a military leadership lacking a political strategy to shape its tactics in the Middle East and Afghanistan. When he asked for options and political counsel on ending the Mideast wars — as he had promised the electorate — he was insolently given settled plans by the generals for prosecuting the wars to victory. Iraq in fact was eventually abandoned in a condition of political wreckage and sectarian conflict, and Kabul’s leaders have convinced the United States to remain in Afghanistan to prevent the same outcome, which we may fear will nonetheless eventually arrive. He and the military leadership insisted on a useless and destructive intervention in Libya, with devastating consequences throughout northeastern Africa, and in the Syrian civil war they searched in vain for “moderate” rebel allies to overturn Bashar Assad. Obama would later rue the lack of Assad’s cooperation when the forces of the Islamic State group arrived. With respect to Israel, Obama accepted complaisantly — until one week ago — the defiance and disdain of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He left dealings with Europe, and with the U.S.’ most important and dangerous interlocutor, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, under the controlling influence of a neoconservative cabal in the State Department, committed to reckless policies of American and NATO expansion in Northern Europe. However, if Obama is to be blamed for these errors, it is also true that his policies have reflected a consensus in the U.S. governing class and popular opinion alike that America must always be “first.” This has been the guiding presupposition of the nation and its elite, the majority of its foreign policy intellectuals and its mainstream newspapers and other makers of opinion. The invasion of Afghanistan, the search in Iraq for the weapons of mass destruction that “had” to be there, the destruction of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, and disbanding of Iraq’s Ba’ath Party, army and the existing Sunni apparatus of Iraq’s government — all were welcomed by most of the American policy community. But history’s judgment of Obama’s foreign policy will likely hang on the outcome of the American-backed coup in Kiev in February 2014. It was intended to bring about Ukraine’s eventual adhesion to the European Union and ultimately to NATO (despite earlier U.S. assurances to the contrary). The cease-fire between Ukrainian forces and Russian insurgents that precariously prevails today was brought about by Franco-German diplomatic intervention to pre-empt declared American intentions to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons to expand the war against the insurgents. The circumstances surrounding the instigation of this crisis have yet to be seriously investigated by the American press, and Russian claims that it was a hostile American act have been dismissed without solid evidence by American and NATO spokesmen and officials. European opinion and most of the European press, accustomed to follow the American lead in major foreign policy matters, have expressed notable doubt about the origin and purpose of the current American and NATO roles in Ukraine, which seem to have been to provoke an unwelcome war with Russia. Last weekend, the German weekly Der Spiegel published an investigation of the frequently inflammatory statements of NATO’s commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove (a U.S. officer), regarded by the German government as the leading figure in an American effort “to thwart European efforts at mediation.” Much of what he says is regarded in the chancellery in Berlin as “dangerous propaganda,” which Germany’s Foreign Ministry has protested to the NATO secretary general. Spiegel writes that “Obama seems almost isolated. He has … done little to quiet those who would seek to increase tensions with Russia and deliver weapons to Ukraine. Sources in Washington say that Breedlove’s bellicose comments are first cleared with the White House and Pentagon. … (The general’s role) is that of increasing the pressure on America’s more reserved trans-Atlantic allies.” But to what purpose? Surely not war? Or regime change in Russia? This is a question for which it seems impossible to find an answer — or even a discussion — in the American media. Europe has no answer. Perhaps even Obama doesn’t know. Is it to be left to the historians? William Pfaff writes frequently on foreign affairs. © 2015 Tribune Content Agency

Tenth Annual Lock Show Click thumbnail to see how cool lock collecting is! The Lock Show On Saturday July 13, 2019 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM we expect this to be the largest lock show in history. Anticipating more than 100 Collectors and Dealers from all over the world setting up for the show. Whether selling locks, buying locks, or just to browse, we want YOU to be to have a successful show Lancaster Lock Show The Lancaster Lock Show is actually in nearby Morgantown, Pennsylvania. While our roots were in the historic city of Lancaster, PA our show has moved to a much nicer hotel with convenient access along the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Rt. 76). Lancaster County Heritage Lancaster is broadly known for the rich farming community of the Amish and Mennonite settlers from Europe. You might be surprised to learn that over the past 160 years there have been more than a dozen lock manufacturers based in Lancaster! Sadly, none of these companies make locks in Lancaster anymore. However, because of the enduring materials that antique locks where constructed from, many of the locks have survived! These intricate little devices are historic reminders of times long past. Whether you collect locks, or like to browse antiques, we welcome you to the Lancaster Lock Show!

A few weeks ago, we showed the in-line editing prototype we had built for Spark, which has now blossomed into Edit module. Additionally, we also pointed out that we were in the process of selecting the WYSIWYG editor to use in Spark. This selection process was performed in the public Spark issue queue, in order to gather community feedback and to attempt to reach consensus. 73 people followed that issue, about two dozen of whom contributed to the discussion as well. Spark has a well-defined goal for its choice in WYSIWYG editor: we want authors to be able edit content directly on the page while it has the exact same styling that it will have when it is being viewed by a site visitor, also known as “true WYSIWYG.” However, Spark’s WYSIWYG editor also needs to support a more “traditional” WYSIWYG model which injects the editor into a textarea form field, such as on the node add/edit form. We want to use Aloha Editor for in-line editing, but also on the back-end — I think nobody is looking forward to having to use two WYSIWYG editors. On the back-end, it of course can’t be “true WYSIWYG”, it will be “structural WYSIWYG”. Today, we’d like to share our WYSIWYG editor choice for Spark: Aloha Editor. After several feedback rounds from the community in the aforementioned issue, the consensus started gravitating towards Aloha. We then had a call with Aloha’s development team that answered many of the community’s questions and concerns. They have even offered to host a sprint in their offices in Vienna in mid-July for key members of the Spark and Drupal community to collaborate with their development team on making Aloha Editor integrate more cleanly with Drupal. Aloha Editor is definitely not perfect, and to correct the biggest problems (most notably: its sheer size), the Aloha team currently have some major changes underway — much like Drupal. The biggest change is a move to jQuery UI from ExtJS, which will drop the code base size considerably. Next they plan to make sure it’s possible to not load the additional JavaScript that is needed for compatibility reasons only. This means that e.g. Google Chrome users will need to load far less data. As the internet population moves on to newer and better browsers, we’ll need to load fewer files! Despite not being as mature an editor as some other contenders such as TinyMCE or CKEditor, Aloha Editor does have much going for it. It has solid cross-browser support (including IE8), a very complete feature set, great support for pasting from Word, RTL support, a proven plug-in system, the ability to completely override the UI, an abstraction for dealing with “islands of content” inside textual content for e.g. image captions, media and tokens (Aloha Blocks — this is what shows the flexibility of their plug-in system), unit tests, and asynchronous loading (they use RequireJS) for performance. If you’d like to learn more about Aloha Editor, or have questions or criticism, please see the two aforementioned issues. The issue summaries should guide you to the information you’re looking for. Soon, we’ll start working on integrating Aloha Editor with Drupal in Spark. Keep an eye on the Edit module and Spark distribution project pages!

Improve the Health of Your Family With Your Own Cooking. Clean Eating is a positive lifestyle change that works. The Family-Friendly Clean Eating Cookbook will change the relationship your family has with food. Unlike a standard diet that you follow to reach a short-term goal, Clean Eating is a common sense strategy to achieve permanent and lasting good health, without depriving yourself of flavorful food, or feeling guilty after every meal. I share the recipes we've fallen in love with and use on a daily basis. With nutritional information for every recipe and healthy desserts for demanding kids (Desserts they’ll love, trust me), this cookbook got you covered. After you’ve read this book and tried the recipes, you’re going to be as hooked as I am. You’ll never crave fast food again, eating healthy foods keeps you feeling energized and full throughout the day. And the best thing, you’ll never ever feed your family with processed foods again. In this cookbook I share; -12 Delicious Breakfast Recipes. -14 Incredible Lunch Recipes. -15 Lovely Dinner Recipes. -6 Mouth Watering But Healthy Dessert Recipes. -5 Quick and Easy Recipes For When You’re In a Hurry. Buy your copy today! Tags: Clean eating, clean eating cookbook, clean eating recipes, easy clean eating recipes, simple clean eating recipes, fast clean eating recipes, clean eating cookbook for beginners, clean eating for beginners, clean eating cookbook for families

Mauricio Pochettino insists Tottenham can still challenge for the title this season Danny Rose scores Tottenham's winner against Burnley Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino reckons his side can still challenge for the Premier League this season after the 2-1 victory over Burnley. Danny Rose clinched all three points with a superb second-half strike after Dele Alli had earlier cancelled out the opening goal form Burnley's Ashley Barnes. Pochettino's side endured a sticky period through October and November but they appeared to have turned a corner, having won four out of their last five matches. Tottenham now sit fifth in the table, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea, who stretched their winning run to 11 games with a victory at Crystal Palace. Highlights of Tottenham 2-1 Burnley Highlights of Tottenham 2-1 Burnley "Are Chelsea out of sight? No, it's true that we have a 10-point gap with Chelsea," Pochettino said. "But in football anything can happen. There are lot of games to play. Not only because last season was a similar gap with Leicester, eight or nine points in that period. Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says his side fully deserved the three points after coming from behind to beat Burnley Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says his side fully deserved the three points after coming from behind to beat Burnley "I think our position is good. Now we are winning games, keeping the gap now a little bit closer to second position. "It is not tomorrow, not in a few weeks, that the Premier League finishes. I think it's still a long way until the end of the season."

Many women have come to accept the uncomfortable aspects of their periods as facts of life. Once a month, you'll worry about making it to the end of yoga class without bleeding through your tights. You wear your least favorite underwear just in case your pad leaks. And at the end of the week, you'll experience the discomfort that comes along with removing a dry tampon. In search of a better way, I tried menstrual cups...and I'll never, ever go back. I eased my way in at first. I went to my local drugstore and purchased a package of Softcups. Softcups are disposable menstrual cups that last throughout your period but are discarded afterward. After one cycle, I was in love with the concept so much that I ditched the throw-away cups and bought my first reusable menstrual cup. There are a variety of brands such as The Lily Cup, The Diva Cup, Lunette, Lena Cup, MeLuna, and Mooncup to choose from, each one unique in its shape, size, and firmness. I opted for the Lena Cup. Most menstrual cups come in two sizes, small and large, and it's usually recommended that women who have not given birth go for the smaller choice, while those who have kids go for the larger. Firmness is more of a personal preference—this helps the cup to expand and form a seal in your vagina, so the firmer it is, the more easily it opens. My personal favorite has been the Lena Cup Sensitive. It's the same size and shape as the regular Lena Cup, but it's slightly less firm and even more comfortable. (Did you know wearing a menstrual cup may motivate you to exercise?) A menstrual cup is virtually painless and relieves the discomfort of having to remove a tampon during light flow days—no more cotton to stick to the walls of your vagina! Menstrual cups are also great if you're someone who wants to avoid a mess as you wait for your period to arrive—just pop in your cup, and you're ready for anything. Every cup comes with instructions and options for inserting the device, so you'll just figure out which way works best for you. There's a learning curve at first for new users, as the concept of inserting and emptying a ribbed plastic cup seems a little foreign. But you'll quickly get the hang of it. The best part? You only need to empty your cup twice a day (or every twelve hours), so there's no more worrying about running out of tampons or stopping whatever you're doing to run to the bathroom. You can swim, shower, practice yoga, or run as you normally would and it feels amazing, unlike what you'd feel with a tampon string or a bulky pad between your legs. Oh, and there's no risk of TSS—double bonus! (ICYMI, periods are sort of having a moment. Here's why everyone is obsessed with periods right now.) Menstrual cups are not only beneficial to your health but also your wallet and the environment. One cup can last between five and ten years (yes, years) with proper care, putting an end to the monthly cost of tampons or pads. Cups usually come in nice cloth bags for storing. Caring for your menstrual cup is simple—boil it in water for five to seven minutes between periods and you're set for next month. You'll be saving approximately 150 pounds of waste from tampons and pads over your menstruating lifetime. (Yuck!) Essentially, menstrual cups are much less costly and produce far less waste than tampons and pads, but the benefits don't end there. "For women who are traveling—particularly abroad or where access to stores might be limited—a reusable menstrual cup can eliminate the need to find tampons or pads," says Kelly Culwell, M.D., chief medical officer at WomenCare Global, a nonprofit focused on providing healthy, affordable contraception to women. "Women who find they have issues with vaginal dryness or irritation with tampons might have a better experience with menstrual cups, which do not absorb vaginal fluid or alter the vaginal pH." (Read up on everything you ever wanted to know about tampons and some stuff you probably didn't.) Using a menstrual cup also gives you a unique, although somewhat too close for comfort, look at your cycle and your health. You can see if you've had a light or heavy flow, the color of your blood, or if you're clotting. For me, it was empowering to understand my cycle and to know how much I was actually bleeding. I was able to actually collect my blood rather than have something absorb it. I was always under the impression that my period was pretty heavy, but the first time I saw how much I bled, I was surprised how little blood collected throughout the day. Even if you're not into learning about the inner workings of your vagina, the comfort of a menstrual cup is life-changing. Once I experienced a period with a smooth, soft menstrual cup, I couldn't imagine a future period without one.

Who Will Win The Tour de France? Having looked at the other jerseys, now it’s time to assess the contenders for cycling’s ultimate prize, the yellow jersey and the overall win in the Tour de France. Chris Froome is everyone’s pick and it’s easy to see why. But who are his rivals and how can he be beaten? Also the quantity of top-10 contenders stands out, promising a battle in the mountains. Chris Froome (Team Sky) is the first choice. He can climb and time trial with the best. Second in 2012, this year’s route suits him better and he’s got a very strong team riding in his service. He’s improved technically, has experience of leading races and enjoyed a strong season from the Tour of Oman to the recent Critérium du Dauphiné. In this last race he was so far ahead he was trying to set up team mate Richie Porte for stage win. If you want to quantify his status the bookmakers price his chance of winning at worse than evens, odds even shorter than Bradley Wiggins this time last year. The certainty is a concern for those wanting a show in the mountains given Wiggins’ win last year was a triumph of pacing and power over panache. But Froome is more able to attack in the mountains, the tempo riding of 2012 was designed for Wiggins. Still the fear is Sky will play it safe and set a pace to deter others from attacking until Froome launches a late moves to steal seconds. How to beat Froome His rivals can try two strategies. First is to disrupt Team Sky’s mountain pace-setting, even going as far as chopping and flicking riders out of the pace-line, for example taking an awkward line through hairpin bends. All’s fair in love and war. Second is to embrace Team Sky’s pacing and tuck in whilst playing on Froome’s attacking instincts and hope he launches a move that ejects his team mates and then others can gang up on him. Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) is a strong candidate but is this thanks to reputation or form? Banned this time last year he came back to win the Vuelta. But we wondered how big his margin of victory would be only he needed a surprise move on a medium mountain stage to take the race. It was an great result but not the domination many had expected. This year he’s had only one win and in the modest Tour de San Luis, an early season race in Argentina. It’s now all about improving on his performance in the Dauphiné. He took second on the stage to the ski resort of Valmorel behind Froome and complained of allergies during the race. The late spring this year in western Europe means pollen levels are still high; perhaps the variety that bugged him in June has gone but he could still suffer in July. A podium is possible but he’s over 30 now and not the same rider when he had the sulphurous Jose “Pepe” Martí as coach but if anything he’s more aggressive and willing to take risks. We’ll know a lot more after the Stage 11 time trial where a top-20 position would suggest he’s on track. He’s had a lite team in years past but the arrival of Russian tycoon Oleg Tinkov has meant Roubles to sign riders like Nico Roche, Roman Kreuziger plus Mick Rogers has transferred from Team Sky, bringing the inside scoop on Sky’s marginal gains. All the talk is about Chris Froome but team mate Richie Porte was second in the Dauphiné. Climbing and time trialling with ease, he’s won Paris-Nice this year and has ambitions for the 2014 Giro. Visions of two Sky riders on the podium are déjà vu thanks to the Wiggins-Froome combo last year but there’s a difference as Froome and Porte are friends and train together regularly and we’re likely to see the 1-2 combo at work rather than the tandem ride of last year where the Froome-dog was called to heel. Which brings us to Nairo Quintana (Movistar). A theme of 2013 is the resurgence of Colombian cycling but in 2012 Quintana was already leaving Sky trailing in the mountains to win a stage of the Dauphiné. His problem is one of experience, I can see him on the podium but leading the world’s biggest race is a lot for a 23 year old. Plus any haematological advantages from the past few months spent living at home in Colombia will fade by the third week of the Tour. That said he got stronger in the spring as he raced more, he was second on the Col d’Eze time trial of Paris-Nice in March and won the Tour of the Basque Country in April. Notionally Quintana is supposed to ride in service of Alejandro Valverde. It’s hard to assess the Spaniard. He was off the pace in the Dauphiné but look back across the season and he’s been superbly consistent, finishing in the top-10 in the majority of races he’s completed, whether on GC or stages and one day races. He was seventh in the Dauphiné but once the time trial result delayed him he seemed to be playing with tactics a bit more. Movistar also come with Rui Costa who has just won the Tour de Suisse for the second time. He was impressive and won the race with a much more powerful display that last year. The Portuguese rider was 18th in the Tour and should do better this year. The impressive thing is the collective force of these riders in the mountains, the team will have plenty of options and many will count on them to disrupt Team Sky’s linear efforts. Garmin-Sharp are also promising chaos. Ryder Hesjedal, Dan Martin and Andrew Talansky can all crack the top-10 and go higher. The team plan is to see where the cards fall and then back the best rider. The lack of hierarchy is intrinsic to the Slipstream philosophy. Each rider has their qualities, Martin is the climber who has come good this year with Liège-Bastogne-Liège and wants to prove himself in a stage race. Ryder Hesjedal’s looked good this until things fell apart in the Giro and Tour de Suisse, he’ll have some freshness for the final week and is reputed to be lighter than ever. Meanwhile everything is going to plan for Talansksy, the Tour is his target this year and he’s useful all rounder. Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez has been targeting the Tour. In 2012 he was on the podium of the Giro and Vuelta and was close to winning these races outright. But the Tour is something else, unlike the Giro there are no time bonuses for him to snipe nor are there a succession of steep climbs for him to dance up as he did in the Vuelta. Above all the level is higher in the Tour plus he’s 34. He should not be dismissed outright and his punchy style helps liven up the race. He comes as package with Dani Moreno who arguably is having a better year with a win in the Flèche Wallonne and his third place in the Dauphiné bodes very well too. If Rodriguez is 34, BMC Racing’s Cadel Evans is a still a contender at 36. If he were to win he’d overtake 1922’s Firmin Labot title as the oldest winner of the race. He was seventh last year but ill and his third place in the Giro was achieved after a late entry. Is he too tired now? In the past he’s been one to target races but if he’s in form his ability is proven by his 2011 Tour win. If not team mate Tejay van Garderen sets out on a quest to get the world to spell his name right and is a stealthy pick for the podium. He’s been fourth in Paris-Nice, third in the Criterium International and won the Tour of California. If he was on team duty in the Tour de Suisse this might have allowed him to ride tempo rather than burn out. All is building well and he’s a steady rider, a smooth running diesel whose powers of recovery should suit the final week. Bauke Mollema is Belkin’s leader with Robert Gesink for support. The newly branded team needs a result to win more sponsors and Mollema’s momentum from the Tour de Suisse could be just what’s needed. His lively riding in Switzerland was a pleasure to watch but behind the spectacle it took big power to ride away for the win on Stage 2. Lotto-Belisol’s Jurgen van den Broeck has to be mentioned. Fourth overall in 2010 and 2012 but do you remember it happening? Clearly it takes big talent and dedication to achieve this result but he’s made one victory salute during his 11 years as a pro and its rare to see him attack. He’ll have to work hard as Lotto-Belisol come equipped with more wagons for André Greipel’s sprint train than mountain helpers. By now we’re firmly into outsider territory. Jacob Fuglsang and Janez Brajkovič bring options for Astana and you can see them in the top-10 . Ag2r’s Jean-Christophe Péraud leads the brown-short brigade, he’s a likeable rider but exploring the frontiers of his talent to make the top-10 again. Thibaut Pinot can climb with the best and was tenth overall last year on a route that didn’t suit him. He’s better this year and wants “to confirm” as they say in French, I can see him in the top-10 with ease and taking a stage or two in the mountains but he’ll have to avoid being caught out at the back of the bunch, le placement is his weakness. Consensus says Andy Schleck should be left to himself. But his results over the years and past ease in the mountains means if he hadn’t had such a tumultuous 12 months he’d be a nailed-on podium pick given the mountain overload this year. Radioshack-Leopard also come with Andreas Klöden and Haimar Zubeldia who was sixth last year but would you know if he walked past you in the street? Any others for the top-10? Cofidis’s Rein Taaramäe has the clichéd big engine but it’s prone to breakdowns and overheating whilst new recruit Dani Navarro is a top climber. Vacansoleil-DCM’s Lieuwe Westra seems their best bet with Thomas de Gendt as a more random factor and Wout Poels remains a talent and it’s nice to see him back after his critical injuries last year. Europcar’s Pierre Rolland is still having trouble with the time trials so a prestigious mountain stage win seems more likely than a high overall place but win in the mountains and you soar up the leaderboard too. Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Igor Antón is another climber to watch but again stage wins and the polka-dot jersey seem to be the goals although remember the Basque teams needs ranking points to stay in the top division. Przemyslaw Niemec had a strong Giro and could be Lampre-Merida’s best bet but the Tour is new for him. Orica-Greenedge’s Cameron Meyer impressed in Switzerland and should find the steady climbs of the Tour to his advantage. Conclusion Chris Froome is so far ahead do the others have to settle for second place? No, the Tour brings 20 stages where a crash or a puncture can be enough to ruin anyone’s chances and he’s as prone as anyone to have a bad day, it happened in Tirreno-Adriatico where the weather iced him and Vincenzo Nibali and Contador Rodriguez rode away. Froome is my pick to win the race but I would not bet with the prices now. What’s striking is the number of riders capable of a top-10 finish. Richie Porte, Tejay van Garderen and Alberto Contador seem to be the safe choices but what of all the others? It’s this uncertainty that promises plenty. Who will win the White Jersey? Tour de France: Who will win the Mountains Jersey? Tour de France: Who will win the Green Jersey?

Monday 25 February 2013 Australians love a drink, and some see no problem at all with drinking to excess. But now doctors, police and paramedics have called "time", warning that alcohol-fuelled violence has reached crisis levels. "We are not facing a crisis, we're in a crisis. It's occurring right now." Read the statistics and it's hard to argue with these dire warnings. The latest figures show that each year as many as 70,000 people are involved in alcohol-related assaults. In all, it is estimated that alcohol-related violence costs the community $187 million each year. Four Corners also reveals there's a growing body of evidence that shows a link between binge drinking and brain damage. As one expert explained: "You will face assault, you will assault, you will have falls. You will find yourself with a brain injury as a result of the long-term use of alcohol." While the overall incidence of alcohol-related violent crime varies in each state in Australia, one thing is clear: the violence associated with alcohol abuse is getting more extreme. Indeed one key judicial figure has taken the unusual step of opening his court to the cameras and telling Four Corners: "One day someone is going to sit down and weigh up the benefit in terms of taxes to government from the sale of alcohol, against the detriment or the cost to governments of servicing the consequences of violence." Next on Four Corners, reporter Janine Cohen tells the story of one young man who did nothing more than take his girlfriend out to a club. Without provocation he was attacked, his skull fractured and his life changed forever. The story of alcohol abuse didn't end there. His attacker, who'd consumed 10 cans of bourbon and cola, was arrested, found guilty and sentenced to six years jail. His family was devastated. Despite such occurrences, the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) argues that alcohol isn't the only cause of violence and its increasing intensity. The organisation claims that drugs are the real problem and that people must take more personal responsibility. "Well it's a society problem, it's not the AHA's problem. The AHA work closely with the community, work closely with government, works closely with police to ensure they provide safe venues." Out on the streets Four Corners found a rather different picture. Accompanying police on patrol, it soon became clear that alcohol and violence are close companions. The cameras captured the moment when police themselves are attacked, and go with the paramedics who are forced to clean up the carnage after violence flares. At the hospital emergency ward things are no better. Doctors and nurses are forced to tend to a constant stream of people who've become victims of alcohol-related violence. Why won't government do more to reduce the amount of alcohol sold? For some the answer is clear: they are frightened to take on the powerful liquor industry. Meanwhile the level of violence is intensifying. "Punch Drunk", reported by Janine Cohen and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 25th February at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed Tuesday 26th February at 11.35pm. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners Transcript "Punch Drunk" Monday 25 February 2013 (Shots of uniformed police wrestling with drunk men outside pubs) KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: In our streets, in our hospital emergency wards... (Police trying restrain a man in a hospital) ...a lethal cocktail of alcohol and violence. (Long shot of a young man in a wheelchair on a beach) MARGARET FORD, MOTHER: What's your life like now, Sam? (Sam makes a thumbs down gesture) Not very good? SAM FORD, BASHING VICTIM: Nah... KERRY O'BRIEN: A national pastime that's got well out of hand. Welcome to Four Corners. Alcohol is not only often seen as a rite of passage in Australia, it's also embedded in our culture. It's when the drinking gets out of hand and the drinker loses all sense of judgement that bad things can happen. Tonight's program will contend - through the eyes of police, paramedics, doctors and nurses - that in Australia, public drinking and the aggression it often generates have reached crisis proportions. About 70 per cent of police street work is consumed with alcohol related incidents, and hospital emergency departments are often overloaded at weekends. There are about 70,000 alcohol-fuelled assaults across Australia each year. While alcohol related assaults are not on the increase in all states, it seems drinkers are now inclined to drink more spirits and trauma doctors say the severity of assaults has dramatically increased. Tonight we show the terrible ripple effect, not only on the victims and their families but also on the perpetrators. Janine Cohen is the reporter. (Long shot of Coolangatta skyline at night) JANINE COHEN, REPORTER: It was a typical busy Saturday night in Coolangatta on Queensland's Gold Coast. Eighteen year old Sam Ford was walking to a nightclub with his girlfriend. (Superimposed photograph of Sam Ford with his girlfriend) RYLAND FORD, SAM'S BROTHER: Sam was actually walking to the nightclub to meet me. It was his first time going out clubbing since he turned 18. (Shot of a street at night with muffled jeers and shouting) CRAIG BLANCH, QLD POLICE DETECTIVE: Sam and his girlfriend heard a male voice from behind and he was yelling abuse towards him, trying to entice Sam to fight him. MICHAEL FORD, SAM'S FATHER: Sam was trying to avoid a fight at any cost. He was trying to protect his girlfriend. DETECTIVE CRAIG BLANCH: Sam was backing away from the incident, trying to text on his phone to his brother to tell him what was going on. JANINE COHEN: Sam's girlfriend tried to shield Sam and was knocked to the ground. (Shadows of people fighting) MICHAEL FORD: This man swung violently at Sam. (Thud of a punch) MARGARET FORD: The punch was so forceful, when Sam's head hit the ground witnesses said it sounded like a log cracking open. (Mobile phone video footage of the street after the incident) JANINE COHEN: A crowd quickly gathered. These scenes were captured on a mobile phone. Several people rang triple zero. (Excerpts from Triple 0 calls) MAN: Can I please get someone as soon as possible at Greenmount Beach? There's a guy that got knocked out on the road and he's- I think he's having a fit, he's snorting... WOMAN: Oh my god. OPERATOR: What I need you to do is actually wave the ambulance down when they get there. I'm going to let them know where you are. WOMAN: I will, I will. But there's actually now about I'm saying probably 15 to 17 teenagers. It's not looking good. (Confused footage of kids milling about the accident scene) MICHAEL FORD: Sam's brother Ryland came, got there after he received the text and found Sam on the ground. RYLAND FORD: I got on the phone. I was actually yelling a bit - someone call an ambulance. I made a call myself. MICHAEL FORD: There's Sam's girlfriend screaming, people yelling, running everywhere and all he could do was hold Sam in his lap while they waited for an ambulance to come. RYLAND FORD: I just remember leaning over him and just holding the sides of his head gently and just continuously talking to him - 'Sammy, can you hear me?' Trying to get any response. 'I am here', you know, 'Blink your eyes - just let me know you can hear me'. There was nothing. JANINE COHEN: Still clearly intoxicated, the attacker returned to the scene of the crime and was confronted by Sam's friends. (Confused footage of the scene and people running) WOMAN (speaking to Triple 0): Stop, stop. There was a bloke who just committed the crime is coming back to the scene now. It's not pretty. Okay, can we actually have some police here as well? OPERATOR: Yep. We'll need to get the ambulance there first... WOMAN: Oh my god. OPERATOR: If you can move away from the noise so I can actually talk to you and hear you. RYLAND FORD: The attacker had drunk 10 cans of bourbon and coke that night, obviously was heavily intoxicated when the attack happened. (Sirens wail) JANINE COHEN: Sam was rushed to Tweed Heads Hospital in a critical condition with a fractured skull and massive brain damage. MICHAEL FORD: I could only look through the doors of the emergency and I could see him. He was obviously unconscious, he looked a mess. He looked... (sighs) He looked dead. (Still of Sam Ford intubated in a hospital bed) MARGARET FORD: It was horrific. I had no idea that it was going to be as bad as what it was. He was covered in blood and vomit and his ears were bleeding. (Different shots of Sam in the hospital) MICHAEL FORD: The doctor said Sam wouldn't make it through the night. They said he needed emergency surgery, that his skull would have to be opened to relieve the swelling. RYLAND FORD: We were taken into a small room where we just had to just sit and wait - hope, pray. (Close up of stitches all the way along Sam's hairline) MICHAEL FORD: We had to sign a release to say that they wouldn't revive him if it got to a certain point because it was virtually pointless, and that's probably the hardest thing I have ever done. (Bows his head) JANINE COHEN: It is unlikely that the attack on Sam would have happened without vast quantities of alcohol. (An ambulance with sirens on speeds through the night streets) Police, paramedics and trauma doctors across the country are frustrated and tired of alcohol-fuelled violence. Tonight we are on the front line with Sydney's Rocks Police. (Paramedics talk over the radio in the ambulance) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL, NSW POLICE: Those people have to know that what they are doing is going to do some sort of damage. I don't care how drunk they are. (Shots of drunken revellers) CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY, NSW POLICE: Sometimes in the heat of the moment I don't think they are thinking, you know? They've had that much alcohol. (Constable Burnell speaking to a drunk man on the street) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Where's your ID? Get your wallet out. MAN: Wow! JANINE COHEN: Police say about 70 per cent of their street work is taken up with alcohol-related cases... MAN: That guy over there... CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Get your ID out. We've asked you three times - get your ID out, please. JANINE COHEN: ...some of it petty, much of it not. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: I am Katie. This is Shane. We are from the Rocks Police. Alright, you approached us before and kept asking for lifts home and we asked you to leave. MAN: Yes... CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Now you're back. Okay. MAN: Yes, and I'm trying to help you. The guy over there is trying to argue with me and he's trying to fight we me over there. He is drunk. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Maybe you started it, Samuel. MAN: I started it? CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Maybe. Please go and get a taxi, please. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: I think it is part of the Australian culture to go out and have a drink. It's just knowing when to stop, when enough is enough. And people at the moment, they don't know it. And they keep going and keep going. (Drunk man shouting after the police) MAN: Why do you care about drunkards? CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: And a lot of the times when we turn up to jobs, people are that incoherent they don't even know where they are. And I think a lot of the onus has to be put on licensed premises as well. They need to be more vigilant, they need to be standing in there and looking at who they are serving. (Outside a different establishment) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: What's happened? CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: You've been asked to leave a venue. (inaudible response) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Mate I've seen enough, alright? It's obvious that you're argumentative. (Man falls over) MAN: Woah! CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: You're blind! Get up. You're blind drunk. Look at you! Let's go, let's go to the station. Up, up... (Police help man up and walk him away) JANINE COHEN: How often do you get called to cases where people simply are drunk and won't leave the premises? CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Just about every one, just about everything that we come across on a Friday and Saturday night is called a 'fail to quit', which means that the person will not leave the licensed premises. JANINE COHEN: Drunk? CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Drunk. They've been asked to leave because they're either quarrelsome, disorderly, just misbehaving in some regard. JANINE COHEN: Violent sometimes? CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Yep. Definitely. MAN: I don't even know what happened... JANINE COHEN: After 12 warnings, this man has been given an official move on direction but still won't go home. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Reg, I am so over you. I've got to tell ya. I'm done. REG: Don't say that 'cause I will fucking go over there... CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Are you threatening me? Are you threatening me? REG: Are you a butch girl or what? CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Are you threatening me? REG: Are you a butch girl or what? CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: What's 'butch' got to do with it? I have got a job to do. JANINE COHEN: For 10 minutes Reg refuses to leave the entrance of the Rocks Police Station. REG: You guys need to pull your head out of your arse. There are other trouble makers around. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Okay... (Reg walks across the street to another pub) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: He's going to go straight over there. POLICEMAN: Straight back over! CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Alright, let's go and lock him up. He's got to get locked up. JANINE COHEN: This is the third time Reg has returned to the hotel. (Constable Katie Burnell follows Reg to the pub, where he is arguing with a security guard) SECURITY OFFICER: I asked you to take your drink inside... There you go. (Police escort Reg away and he falls again) See you later. Oh here we go again. JANINE COHEN: Reg is given a $550 fine and put in the police lock up. He has taken up the time of five police officers, some for over an hour. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY (to Reg): It would only take me, trust me... REG: Are you joking? NICK KALDAS, NSW POLICE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER: Alcohol imposes a huge cost on emergency services. It's not just the police, it's the ambulance, paramedics, the hospital workers - doctors, nurses and so on. An enormous amount of effort and anguish is expended on people who have simply got themselves in such a drunken state that emergency services have to become involved to look after them or patch up the mess that they leave. (Shots of girls dressed up and on the town. The constables walk down the street) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL (getting out of the police car): It's very frustrating... JANINE COHEN: Thirty minutes after locking Reg up, Constable Lindsay and Constable Burnell see a drunken scuffle outside a bank and pull over. (The constables approach a couple at an ATM) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Our mate's obviously been annoying these guys, which is fine, and this bloke just pushed him to the ground. WOMAN: He was harassing us. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Straight to the ground. WOMAN: He tried to push us as well. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Just get them to move on. (to the other party) How much have you had to drink. MAN: Me? CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Fair bit? MAN: Yeah. Yeah. (Put's his hand on Constable Lindsay's shoulder) I-I... CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Don't touch me, bro, just relax. MAN: Sorry, sorry, sorry. I am not a bad bloke... CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: I don't think you are. I just think you've had too much to drink. You need to go home. MAN: No, no that's fine but this bloke over here... CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Yeah. MAN: ...has dead set just shoved me around like I am a little bitch all night. And I just want to go home and go to bed. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: I reckon that is just the best thing you've had. My name is Constable Lindsay from Rocks Police. I am giving you an official move along direction. You are not to be in the city for another six hours, alright man? MAN: No worries, no worries. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Enjoy your night. Go home. MAN: No worries. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Go that way. See ya. MAN: Yep, no worries. Thanks very much, officer. (Constable Lindsay walks back over to the couple standing near the ATM with Constable Burnell) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Get out of here. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Go that way, man. I'd much rather turn up and break it up and get them on their own way than turn up and someone be injured or in a worse way. So it was good work by Katie. (Whooping on Oxford Street, Constable Lindsay speaking to a man) Hey, talk to me, don't talk to him. JANINE COHEN: For every good result the young constables get, there's a bad one just around the corner. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: You're acting like a child, mate. Grow up. (Outside another venue) My name's Constable Lindsay from the Rocks Police. Get your license out... JANINE COHEN: It's 3am and a man is refusing to leave the Argyle Hotel at the Rocks. (Police struggle with a large drunk man, someone tries to block the camera) MAN: Get on the ground! You touch me? JANINE COHEN: Constable Lindsay takes the man outside, who suddenly becomes violent and attacks him. (Several police subdue the man on the street) CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: My name is Constable Lindsay. You are under arrest for assaulting police. Do you understand that? MAN: Oh yeah... CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Anything you say or do, I will record. Do you understand that? MAN: Yes. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY (panting): Right, now he's got to get handcuffed. POLICE: He's resisting. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Pull your arm out! MAN: Pull your arm out, dickhead! CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Why are you here? JANINE COHEN: Outside the police station, Constable Burnell has to deal with the offender's drunken friends. FRIEND 1: He was ganged up upon and taken away so that's why I am here. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: 'Ganged up upon?' FRIEND 1: Yes. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: He just had me pushed up against the wall up there. I have got a sore elbow. FRIEND 1: I'm sorry that you have got a sore elbow. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: So I want you to go away. FRIEND 1: He's the... CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: We don't get paid enough money to get bashed, okay? We're not here to be assaulted. FRIEND 1: That guy is just the most pure of soul that you will ever meet in your life. I promise you that. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: I'm telling you now, from what I just saw he is feral. FRIEND 2: No he's not. Respect to everything you do but he's not like that. (Inaudible comments from another friend) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Look at him up there! We had to get three cops to get his hand down to handcuff him. FRIEND 1: That's just stock standard what you do, though. CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Really?! JANINE COHEN: Tonight the cells at the Rocks police station are full, mostly of drunk and violent people. (Three police approach the station with a shirtless man) CONSTABLE KATIE BURNELL: Shirt off, never a good sign. Why do guys always want to take their shirt off when they fight? JANINE COHEN: This man was also charged with assaulting police after he refused to leave a hotel. POLICE OFFICER: Just letting you know, you're under arrest for assaulting police, like we said before... JANINE COHEN: Thousands of police across the country are assaulted each year in alcohol-fuelled attacks. CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: You can't go in there. WOMAN: This is my boyfriend - please! CONSTABLE SHANE LINDSAY: Just wait! DEPUTY COMMISSIONER NICK KALDAS: The most frustrating and probably distressing thing is when you get up in the morning and you read the reports and you realise that some of your officers have been hurt. And they've been hurt by someone who is so drunk that they couldn't exercise proper judgement in what they were doing. It's unnecessary. It's unacceptable. (Close up of hospital chart for Sam Ford) JANINE COHEN: Sam Ford survived the alcohol-fuelled attack three years ago in Coolangatta but it has left him profoundly disabled. (Video footage of Sam being massaged on a hospital bed while in a coma - 18 Oct 2009) After 38 days in a coma, doctors thought he would never leave his hospital bed. (Close up of Sam's eyes staring blankly) MARGARET FORD: Sam has severe brain damage. He can't walk, he can't talk. He's deaf in his left ear. He has double vision. He can only see with one eye patched. He can't smell. He can't do anything for himself, really, and it's very difficult for him to communicate. So for the first two years I continued to work and visit the hospital every night. (Talking to Sam in the present day) Good morning, buddy. (Sam smiles, his father leaning against him on the bed) MICHAEL FORD: Are you ready to get up, okay? SAM FORD: Mm. MICHAEL FORD: Going to have a shower? (Michael pulls Sam up out of bed) Ready, set, up. JANINE COHEN: Margaret and Michael have given up their careers to look after Sam. MICHAEL FORD: There you go... JANINE COHEN: He needs 24 hour care. JOEL FORD, SAM'S YOUNGER BROTHER: Sam's life now... to describe it is pretty hard. Every day is more of a job. Every day is a routine for Sam. It's wake up in the morning, have breakfast and dad has to come and shower him and put him on the toilet. JANINE COHEN: Sam is paralysed down one side and has seizures. (Margaret Ford chopping watermelon) MARGARET FORD: So I have to chop everything up for him. He has to sort of have everything just in bite size pieces. (Sam eating watermelon pieces from a tray) Just one piece of watermelon at a time, buddy. You are going to choke on it! See? It's too big. And it always makes you cough. Because, you know, the watermelon juice. Alright? One piece at a time. Okay. (Sam nods) Alright. Good. (Home videos of Sam before the accident, fit, tan and leaping off a cliff into the sea) JANINE COHEN: Before the attack, Sam was a natural athlete. JOEL FORD: He just lived in the water and since we were really young, when Dad used to take us up the beach, it was just always hard to get him out. (Still photograph of Sam at the beach) MARGARET FORD: He was really well liked. He was good at sport, he was good at everything. He made everyone laugh, just loved life. Everyone loved Sam - heaps of friends. The girls loved him too. He's such a handsome boy. PHYSIOTHERAPIST: Again, just standing on that right knee... JANINE COHEN: Now Sam is trying to learn to walk again. He needs several intensive therapies, including three 90 minute sessions of physiotherapy a week. (Physiotherapist supports Sam as he walks haltingly along a path) PHYSIOTHERAPIST: Chest out - lovely job... MICHAEL FORD: Physiotherapy is incredibly important to Sam's recovery and I feel he would not be out of bed - or if he was, he'd be just sitting in a corner somewhere and we won't let that happen. PHYSIOTHERAPIST: Good job... heel-toe, heel-toe... JANINE COHEN: Financially, the family are struggling with the huge medical costs. At one point they thought they would lose their home. Friends have set up a trust to pay for some of Sam's expenses. RYLAND FORD: Sam's journey over the last three years has been very rocky, an uphill battle really. (Shot comes into focus on a ceiling mounted CCTV camera, muffles shouts and screams in the background) JANINE COHEN: The night of October 10, 2009 has also changed another young man's life. (Still shots of Damian Ford in handcuffs) The day after the attack, police arrested 18 year old Damian Ford - no relation. He was jailed for six years and nine months but with good behaviour served only two. (Mug shot of Damian Ford's face with a black eye) Damian Ford was a promising local footballer whose life changed forever in a moment of drunken rage. (Police video of the interview with Damian Ford) POLICE OFFICER: So how long have you been diabetic now? DAMIAN FORD: Since I was ten, so eight years. POLICE OFFICER: Alright... JANINE COHEN: In his record of interview, Damian Ford told police that Sam didn't attempt to throw even a punch. DAMIAN FORD: I don't really like drinking that much because stupid stuff happens. POLICE OFFICER: Yep. MICHAEL FORD: Like there's no excuse, drunk or not drunk. There's no excuse for picking someone out in the street and just... going after them. What is that? I don't understand that violent action. (Police video of the interview with Damian Ford) DAMIAN FORD: I've seen on the news about the guy that got punched and... died from it... JANINE COHEN: It wasn't the first time Damian had been drunk and angry. DAMIAN FORD: Because I've been in a few fights before and knocked a couple of guys out cold and I've always been scared that I was going to hurt someone too much, like from someone trying to fight me. Just, kind of... I just wish I didn't do it, really. POLICE OFFICER: (inaudible) DAMIAN FORD: I don't know, like, I have always been brought up just to look after myself and never really, if someone comes at me, never back down. MICHAEL FORD: There's nothing I can do. I could go and out and kill this guy - I mean, really. And what would that do? It won't help Sam. We have to live with it and so does he. (Photograph of Damian Ford's family) JANINE COHEN: Living with it has been challenging for Damian Ford and his family. (Phone rings) ANNETTE FORD, DAMIAN'S MOTHER: He has learnt a very hard lesson. He just wants to try and move on the best he can. JANINE COHEN: Why did he want you to talk? ANNETTE FORD: He wants to let people know his remorse. He is sorry. LUKE FORD, DAMIAN'S BROTHER: If he could do it himself he would, but obviously he can't. But he wants everyone to know what he has done, he never intended and he's really sorry about it. JANINE COHEN: And it was wrong? LUKE FORD: It was wrong. He'll feel sorry about it for the rest of his life now, so... (Exterior of Sam Ford's house) JANINE COHEN: Do you feel sorry in a way for the young man that attacked Sam? SAM FORD: No... JANINE COHEN: You don't feel sorry for him, Sam? SAM FORD: No... nup. MARGARET FORD: Of course... sort of in ways, I guess I do. JANINE COHEN: As a mother? MARGARET FORD: As a mother. (Sam shakes his head and moans, visibly distressed) MARGARET FORD: No, darling, no... I know. It's just to think that someone so young is in jail and that you know, their life has changed forever - no. But of course I don't feel sorry for the fact that he's been sent to jail because he has, you know, destroyed Sammy's life. But you know, to see someone so young in jail is... you know, is pretty hard. SAM FORD: Mm mmm... MARGARET FORD: I know, babe. No. JANINE COHEN: Sam, are you alright? I don't feel sorry for him that way, darling, because he's done terrible things to us. He's done terrible things to our life, but you know... JANINE COHEN: The devastating effects of alcohol-fuelled violence is something that New South Wales Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson sees every day. JUDGE GRAEME HENSON, NSW CHIEF MAGISTRATE (in court): This offense, the charge of affray, carries a maximum jail sentence of ten years imprisonment... JANINE COHEN: He allowed Four Corners into his court where he is sentencing a 22 year old man who admits, along with three other men, to attacking a stranger in the city. DEFENCE LAWYER: Although he doesn't recall very much of the incident, he doesn't want to use his intoxication as an excuse for what has happened. And he's truly remorseful over what he has done and... JUDGE GRAEME HENSON: Tell me why, Mr Kwon, why he shouldn't be sent to jail today. DEFENCE LAWYER: This is a first offence and... JUDGE GRAEME HENSON: You don't get one free go. The police couldn't even interview you because you were so drunk and then without reason, without cause, setting upon some other innocent member of the community, knocking them to the ground, stomping on their head - in company with three or four other peoples - causing the person sufficient injuries for them to be carried away to hospital. Now the prevalence of violence within the community, particularly upon our streets, where it is alcohol related violence, has reached such epidemic proportions and the consequences of such violence in terms of injury upon people within the community has reached such a stage, that society - and rightly so - is fed up with people such as yourself and your colleagues. You're set and convicted, sentenced to imprisonment... JANINE COHEN: The student was sentenced to nine months in prison and will be eligible for parole after four. JUDGE GRAEME HENSON: Fifteen, 20 years ago a common act like this would be one punch, and then people would walk away or run away, as the case may be. Now the violence tends to be ongoing, it tends to involve knocking people to the ground, it tends to involve kicking and stamping on somebody who's curled in a foetal position on the ground. (Shot of a police man bending over an injured man on the ground) What possesses somebody to do something such as that? I don't know. I think what happens now is there are more people out for a longer period of time in licensed premises, so that the potentiality for people right across the social spectrum to get involved in alcohol-related crime has increased correspondingly. JANINE COHEN: There is a growing body of research that shows people who drink a lot are more likely to end up in the court system. John Eyer sees the links between violence and brain damage from alcohol abuse every day at Arbias, an organisation that looks after people with an acquired brain injury. JOHN EYRE, EXECUTIVE MANAGER, ARBIAS: The injury or the damage to the brain is such that a person progressively and insidiously over time loses the ability normally to be able to make those sorts of decisions that would have you walk away from confrontation, for example. In fact. you'll do the opposite, you'll engage in it. (Police officers arresting a man) POLICE OFFICER: You're under arrest for assault. You don't have to say anything... JOHN EYRE: You will face assault, you will assault, you will have falls, you will find yourself with a brain injury as a result of long-term use of alcohol. There's too much evidence on this that verifies it. (Footage of drunken revellers on the street) JANINE COHEN: A large number of John Eyer's clients have a brain injury from binge drinking. And the concerning news is that they are getting younger. JOHN EYRE: We are now seeing people who are aged between 20 and 30, which is a significant drop, suggesting that people in that age group are drinking far too much, far too much. (Shot of police helping a drunk man into an ambulance) JANINE COHEN: But the powerful lobby group, the Australian Hotel's Association, claims it's drugs mixed with alcohol which is causing most of the problems. PAUL NICOLAOU, CEO OF THE AUSTRALIAN HOTELS ASSOCIATION NSW: You're not going to like it but drugs is an issue and you just have to look at the mixing of drugs and alcohol is causing problems. JANINE COHEN: What evidence do you have for that? PAUL NICOLAOU: Well, I don't have to tell... see you, you just have to pick up the newspapers, you just have to click on the radio. No one has done any full on research when it comes to the mixing of alcohol and drugs. JANINE COHEN: So no evidence? PAUL NICOLAOU: No. No evidence. JANINE COHEN: There's been claims that increased violence is really not about alcohol, it's caused mostly by illicit drugs. JUDGE GRAEME HENSON: Well I think that claim was made by the Hotels Association and I think that's, just as I said at the time, ludicrous. It may be that illicit drugs are part of the problem but they are not the problem itself. PAUL NICOLAOU: Drugs are a major problem and the concern... JANINE COHEN: The Chief Magistrate is saying that's a ludicrous argument and that alcohol is the major problem. PAUL NICOLAOU: Well, I'd like to see the Chief Magistrate's statistics. (Ambulance sirens wail) JANINE COHEN: It's Friday night in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and Four Corners is on the road with the NSW Ambulance Service. (Outside Hotel Bondi, paramedics work on a man in the ambulance) Call after call to the paramedics is alcohol-related. This man has been hit over the head with a glass inside Hotel Bondi. His head has a deep gash requiring stitches. LUKE, VICTIM'S FRIEND: Just having a quiet drink and the next thing you know this guy got really aggressive because we were sitting close to where he was, and then he got the glass and he smashed the glass into my friend's head. The next thing you know there was like blood coming down and this sort of stuff. JANINE COHEN: Police caught the alleged offender. Minutes later another call to another Bondi pub, the Beach Road Hotel. GILES BUCHANAN, PARAMEDIC: I would say half of our assaults would be inside a pub or directly outside. JANINE COHEN: This man was knocked unconscious for a few seconds with a punch to the head from another person inside the hotel. JUDGE GRAEME HENSON: One day someone is going to sit down and weigh up the benefit in terms of taxes to government from the sale of alcohol against the detriment, or the cost to governments, of servicing the consequences of violence. (Camera pans across a street scene with pubs and nightclubs) JANINE COHEN: What responsibility does the AHA take for the amount of alcohol-related violence and injury? PAUL NICOLAOU: Well it's a society problem, it's not the AHA's problem. The AHA work closely with the community, work closely with government, works closely with police to ensure that they provide safe venues for patrons to go and visit. JANINE COHEN: What responsibility should the AHA and the liquor industry take for the amount of alcohol-related crime and injury? A/PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER, PRESIDENT, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION NSW: Well, I think they should take more responsibility than what they're taking at the present time. (to a young man) No wheelchair today? PATIENT: No, not any more. PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: All gone. JANINE COHEN: Neurosurgeon Brian Owler is the head of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association. His association has joined forces with police, hospitals, nurses, paramedics and universities. They want new restrictions on the availability, price, sale and promotion of alcohol, which is more affordable and available than ever before. PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: The severity of the violent attacks has been on the increase. Now, the number of glassings that we see these days and the number of severe head injuries, the types of king hits that we never used to see before, have been on the rise for the past few years. And so that's a real worry. (Exterior of St Vincent's hospital) JANINE COHEN: What happened to you tonight Steve? STEVE MITCHELL: I just got glassed. (Removes gauze from his face to show cuts) JANINE COHEN: Oh god! It is Saturday night and Stephen Mitchell is in St Vincent's Hospital Emergency in Sydney. DOCTOR (dressing Steve's wounds): Have you got some scissors, or grab my scissors? JANINE COHEN: Stephen was having a few drinks at the Sydney Star Casino when an argument broke out with some other men. STEVE MITCHELL: There was a group of them, kind of had a bit of a disagreement about a chair. I told them 'You know, don't worry about it' and then boom one of his mates hit me with a glass. I was supposed to go to the Cross tonight but I thought I'd give it a miss, you know? Too many drunk people out and the casino was definitely going to be a bit safer - but obviously not. JANINE COHEN: It is not the sort of thing expect to happen on a Saturday night? DOCTOR: You expect it whenever you go these days. You don't really expect it to happen to you but you expect it. DRUNK PATIENT: Ahh... my lord! (inaudible) JANINE COHEN: The vast majority of people brought into Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital this Saturday night are heavily intoxicated. (Man vomiting into a bag) One woman's blood alcohol level was seven times the legal driving limit. PARAMEDIC (to woman on a stretcher): You can't even walk, that's why you were falling up the stairs before. DRUNK WOMAN: I know I am at the hospital but can I leave like in the next hour or..? PARAMEDIC: If you sober up you can. MAN: Oh... can't breathe... JANINE COHEN: A man is rushed in after reports that he had been attacked by a group at a city bus stop. STEPHEN ZEITCH, PARAMEDIC: He's had a fair bit to drink. (Patient on stretcher behind him hold up two victory signs) He thinks he's okay so in terms of his obvious broken nose there, he thinks he's fine. He wants to go home. So he does need some medical attention and quite intoxicated, so needs to be here. But yeah, nothing too serious by the looks of it. (Patient struggles to sit up) Lie down, lie down! JANINE COHEN: But as the night moves on, things do become serious. (Security guards attempt to restrain the patient as he tries to leave) JOHN: You've got no right to touch me! I know the law, mate! JANINE COHEN: John, who is still very drunk, is caught by security guards trying to escape. JOHN: Just relax boys, mate... I'm going home to watch Neighbours... (struggling) Youse can just [expletive] relax! Don't touch me like that! (inaudible) Let go of me! What are you doing? (Guards wrestle John to the ground) By far and away alcohol is the biggest offender when it comes to these sorts of violent incidents that occur within hospitals, particularly in our emergency departments. JOHN: I can't breathe! PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: And I think if your talk to any doctor or nurse in an emergency department, I think you'll find- it would be very difficult to find one that hadn't directly experienced alcohol-related violence on a regular basis. JOHN (restrained on the floor): My neck's sore, my neck's sore - my neck is sore! JANINE COHEN: As the situation escalates, Four Corners is told to turn off its cameras. John's blood is cleaned from the hospital floor. (Hospital worker wipes up blood) HOSPITAL WORKER: I haven't seen it quite as bad as this, to be honest. JANINE COHEN: The security guards are covered in blood too. And this is just a typical Saturday night in Australia for many emergency departments. WOMAN PATIENT (off camera): Oh, plee-ease... PAUL NICOLAOU: It's a society problem. If you just look at just recently you've had a number of house parties where people are consuming alcohol at their home, where they've had to call in extra police because the police are being bashed or things are being thrown at them. We believe it is a society problem and we need to be looking and working together with society to resolve the problems of alcohol and drugs that are in our community. JANINE COHEN: Okay, why is there so much alcohol-fuelled violence in your opinion? PAUL NICOLAOU: Well... there isn't. JANINE COHEN: Back in emergency, things have gotten even worse for assault victim John, who had to be physically restrained earlier. A/PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX, ST VINCENT'S HOSPITAL, SYDNEY: If you are very aggressive and the staff are at risk of being injured, the safest thing to do is to be intubated and paralysed. So unfortunately for this chap, during that process he vomited and inhaled his own vomit. JANINE COHEN: After a breathing tube is inserted, John is sent to the hospital's intensive care unit. SCOTT WEBER, PRESIDENT, POLICE ASSOCIATION OF NSW: They tie up our entire emergency service system, and especially on Friday and Saturday nights. JANINE COHEN: Is the country facing a crisis? SCOTT WEBER: Well we are not facing a crisis, we're in a crisis. It's occurring right now. It costs the community over $15 billion a year. But that's not even the ripple effect. What about the families that have to deal with the aftermath? (Paramedics help a groaning man out of a car) PARAMEDIC: Use you legs - that's it. PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: I think we've been in a crisis for a long time. And when you see 70,000 cases of alcohol-related assaults, 24,000 cases of alcohol-related domestic violence and 20,000 cases of alcohol-related substantiated cases of child abuse, Australian society has a crisis with harmful effects of alcohol. PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX (looking at a head x-ray): Is there any blood in the fissure? JANINE COHEN: Back in St Vincent's intensive care unit, John is in a serious condition. PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: So he's punched in the nose, fell back and hit his head... JANINE COHEN: He is in the care of neurologist Steven Faux, an expert on brain injuries. PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: The main problem here is this fracture and it's at the back of the brain. And then what we will see is some development over time. Well, we're just going to go and have a quick look at him. JANINE COHEN: The vomit in John's lungs has led to pneumonia. He also has a fractured skull, broken nose and facial bones, and possible bleeding on the brain. PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: You've had a bit of a fracture at the back of your head and you might have a little blood around your brain. (Footage of John in the Emergency ward) JANINE COHEN: One of the reasons for his aggressive behaviour in emergency, besides the fact that he was very drunk, may have been his head injury. PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: By the time he was admitted he was cerebrally irritated and he began to lash out, so difficult to manage. JANINE COHEN: Now we've been told he was actually assaulted. How common are alcohol-fuelled assaults? PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX (laughs): They are every weekend. They are par for the course. We do our rounds. We start on Mondays and we see these guys, they usually wake up by Thursday. JANINE COHEN: Professor Faux is called to see yet another assault victim back in the emergency department. There's been a drunken brawl in the city. One man was stabbed and this man was punched and kicked to the head before losing consciousness. (Professor Faux rolls a patient over on a hospital bed) PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: Do you know what year it is? PATIENT: No... PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: Okay. Have you been kicked there? Yeah... JANINE COHEN: Doctors have to wait until this man and his friend sober up before possibly operating. While assault rates in some states are falling, the injuries are becoming more serious. PROFESSOR STEVEN FAUX: And what we are finding is the numbers haven't increased but their length of stay has, which indicates the severity of the injuries has increased. I think people are drinking more, there's a lot more focus on spirits and shots, so they are getting a little bit more aggressive. And I think people are becoming much more violent in those sorts of settings. (Long shot of boys fighting on the street) JANINE COHEN: Back in 2008 in Newcastle, local police and residents lobbied for a mandatory trial to help combat alcohol-fuelled violence. Most hotels were forced to close at 3.30am rather than 5am. Lock outs were introduced after 1.30am and there was a ban on shots and doubles after 10pm. This resulted in a 37 per cent drop in assaults. If Newcastle works, why isn't it rolled out across the country? SCOTT WEBER: This is the thing that police officers across the country can't understand. Look, we've had other states look at this. It's the best practice. It's the best model. JANINE COHEN: New research to be published soon shows that Newcastle hospital admissions have fallen by 26 per cent and general street offences have dropped by 50 per cent. PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: Clearly Australia has a problem alcohol-related violence and the only way we are going to change things is to use evidence that's been gathered from trials like this and apply it to other communities. JANINE COHEN: Did the Newcastle model work? PAUL NICOLAOU: No it didn't. What you've seen is a decimation of the night-time economy in Newcastle. You've also seen the number of hotels drop from fifteen down to nine. And in addition to that, what you're seeing is people coming down to Sydney, going to other places and you're dispersing the problem. PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: There's been no evidence to say that people are going to other areas. To the contrary, they actually looked at the patterns of consumption in the surrounding areas and found that people weren't going out of area to consume more alcohol. JANINE COHEN: Critics say a raft of reforms are desperately required but governments will need courage to take on the alcohol lobby. SCOTT WEBER: There just seems to be such an issue with this powerful industry actually maintaining governments and saying 'Hang on a minute, you're not taking away our trading hours, you're not taking away our business'. JANINE COHEN: Now some of your critics claim that the reason that governments across the country aren't doing anything is because your industry is too powerful. PAUL NICOLAOU: Well... so is the mining industry, so is hundreds of other industry-based organisations. (Exterior of a pub with noisy revellers) PROFESSOR BRIAN OWLER: Clearly there are close personal relationships between people in government and the industry. I think they've donated quite large amounts of money to political parties on both sides, and we know that this has been a problem for a long period of time. How we reverse this problem is going to be very challenging. (Ryland and Sam Ford talking in Sam's bedroom) RYLAND FORD: Home Aussie? (Sam laughs) What's your name, Aussie? Want to sing your song? (sings) My, my, my, my - why, why, why, why... JANINE COHEN: The challenge is to take action now and stop any more horrific attacks like the one on Sam Ford. RYLAND FORD: Why what? SAM FORD: Lilah... RYLAND FORD (enunciating clearly): De-li-lah. SAM FORD: Deni-nah... RYLAND FORD: He knows how he wants to respond but he just can't. He is just trapped in the body that he can't use. He knows exactly what is happening but he just can't respond to it. SAM FORD: ...li-lah... RYLAND FORD: Oh, a bit more enthusiasm, buddy! (Sam laughs) JANINE COHEN: And it is not just Sam that has to live with the devastating results of alcohol fuelled violence. That night had a terrible ripple effect on the whole family. (The Ford family around the pool at home) RYLAND FORD: Dad actually asked us not to go out that night and we still did. It is hard. Had we not gone out that night, it wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't be in the situation we are in. I blamed myself for it for a long time but you've got to stop that, move on. (to Sam) What movies have we got? What movie do you want to watch? JANINE COHEN: Like the rest of his family, Ryland has struggled. RYLAND FORD: I felt depressed. I was at rock bottom. It was a real grind just getting through the day. I mean I just had, at work, just photos and photos I would just stare at for half the day, old footage from when we would go on holidays and stuff and just watch it over and over. JANINE COHEN: Sam's youngest brother Joel was 16 at the time of the attack and about to start year 12. (Home video of Joel and Sam after the attack) JOEL FORD: At my worst I just shut down completely, basically, and every time I'd try and do some work I'd just pick up the pen and all I could see in my head was Sam so I was just like writing his initials, just SJF and all that. JANINE COHEN: Where were you writing his initials? JOEL FORD: Just like on my hand, on my legs like just... wherever, wherever I had free skin. Some days I was coming home from school and mum was upset cause I had- I'd just drawn on myself all day, like up my arms and up my legs. JANINE COHEN: Joel did badly in his HSC but blames no one, especially not Sam. (Joel talking to Sam in the pool) JOEL FORD: Oh words can't even describe how much I love Sam. He's everything in our lives. Normally, like, brothers fight and brothers do all these things but it takes something like this to realise how much you actually do love him and how much you actually um... enjoy his company (crying). Sorry. JANINE COHEN: Like Joel, Margaret and Michael have battled depression. (Long shot of the family on the beach with Sam in a wheelchair) MARGARET FORD: I still wake up every morning and wish it hadn't happened and I wake up sort of thinking 'Oh my god, it wasn't a dream'. And I feel really, really sad first thing in the morning and... I just wish I could take it away from Sam. If I could take over the injury I would, you know in a split second. (Crying) I struggle. I struggle all the time. Some days it's really hard. You just have to pick yourself up and we pick each other up because we all struggle. It's just like a rollercoaster. You've just got to keep picking yourself up and you've just got to keep saying, 'I'm doing this for Sam. I'm doing this so he can get back'. JANINE COHEN: Any changes to the liquor laws in Australia will come too late for Sam and his family. MARGARET FORD: What's your life like now Sam? (Makes the thumb down sign) Not very good? SAM FORD: No. MARGARET FORD: And Sam what is the message for other young people thinking of drinking and going and punching people? What would you say to them? (Puts his thumb down) SAM FORD: No. Mm mmm... (shakes his head) MARGARET FORD: No, it's devastating isn't it - devastating to lives like yours. (Sam nods) KERRY O'BRIEN: It's worth nothing that trials like that in Newcastle have occured in Northbridge, Western Australia, Whyalla, South Australia, and in limited form in Inner City Melbourne. Both the Northbridge and Whyalla trials led to reduced alcohol-related offenses and arrests. The Melbourne trial fell away after 25 per cent of licensed venues took legal action to exempt themselves from the trial. Next week on Four Corners, a salutary tale for anyone with investment savings. Don't miss it. Until then, good night. END OF TRANSCRIPT Background Information RELATED NEWS AND MEDIA A brief history of alcohol consumption in Australia | The Conversation| 25 Feb 2013 - Although most Australians would probably say we've always been a heavy-drinking nation, the consumption of alcohol has followed a roller coaster curve since European invasion. Social acceptance of alcohol allows us to ignore its harms | The Conversation| 25 Feb 2013 - Alcohol-related health information should be delivered in a way that generates discussion and consideration of its personal relevance, so it's not easily dismissed as an issue for other people. State's anti-boozing site links children to online dating, peptides webpages | SMH | 20 Feb 2013 - Children have been directed to websites containing adult relationship advice, instructions on taking peptides and other inappropriate content through a new government site that is supposed to raise awareness about alcohol misuse. Drugs, grog blamed for more attacks on police | ABC News | 20 Feb 2013 - The top police officer in the Kimberley says drugs and alcohol are to blame for a blowout in assaults against police in the past year. Media Release: Small Bars Legislation introduced in Parliament | Minister for the Arts | 20 Feb 2013 - The purpose of the new licence is to provide an alternative for patrons who prefer a small, intimate venue and a quiet night out. The introduction of a small bar licence also recognises that larger venues which attract significant numbers of patrons can contribute to alcohol-related violence and anti-social behaviour. [PDF 94Kb] Media Release: Increased physical assaults in 2011-12 | Australian Bureau of Statistics | 19 Feb 2013 - The number of physical assaults in 2011-12 rose to 2.2 million, up 44 per cent since 2010-11, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released today. Media Release: UK expert backs AMA call for tighter controls on alcohol marketing | AMA | 18 Feb 2013 - The AMA is calling on the Federal Government to launch an inquiry into the marketing of alcohol amid an unprecedented push by the industry to lure young people into early and potentially harmful drinking patterns. The perfect cocktail...and other tips for safer, healthier alcohol regulation | Crikey.com | 18 Feb 2013 - At an alcohol policy forum hosted by the Australian Medical Association in Canberra, Sir Ian, the Royal College of Physicians' Special Advisor on Alcohol and Chair of the United Kingdom's Alcohol Health Alliance, described how a mix of persistent advocacy, serendipity and evidence created a cocktail for change in alcohol policy. Audio: My Intoxicating Career | Radio National | 17 Feb 2013 - Whether they're actors, musicians or poets there can be repercussions from taking to the stage night after night in pubs and theatres. We'll hear some performers strut their stuff on stage and we'll find out what goes on in the dressing rooms, behind the front and in the minds, of these entertainers. Media Release: Alohol Advertising and Children - Call for Action | MCAAY | 12 Feb 2013 - A Jim Beam Racing children's clothing product has been described as the most shocking example of alcohol advertising yet seen in Australia. The McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth has called for urgent action by the Federal Government to end alcohol advertising targeting or using children and young people. [PDF 200Kb] Jim Beam brand driven home to children | SMH | 11 Feb 2013 - Jim Beam-branded clothing is being sold to children as young as four, in what public health experts have said is one of the most shocking examples of alcohol advertising they have seen. KEY REPORTS DANTE Report: Dealing with Alcohol-related harm and the night time economy | NDLERF | Dec 2012 - 'The estimated cost of alcohol to the community is $15.3 billion, including crime, violence, treatment costs, loss of productivity and premature deaths in 2004-05.' 'Alcohol has been identified as a factor in three quarters of assaults, and offensive behaviour on the street.' Read more in this report from the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund. [PDF 7.6Mb] Draft Report Exploring the Public Interest Case for a Minimum (floor) Price for Alcohol | ANPHA | Nov 2012 - View the full report from the Australian National Preventative Health Agency, plus summary and submissions, here. Young adults' experience of responsible service of alcohol in NSW: 2011 update | Crime and Justice Bulletin | Apr 2012 - Aim: To determine whether the provision of responsible service of alcohol (RSA) changed in NSW licensed premises between 2002 and 2011. [PDF 477Kb] Inquiry into Alcohol-Related Violence - Final Report | Qld Law, Justice & Safety Cttee | Mar 2010 - This Parliamentary report focuses on alcohol related violence around licensed premises. [PDF 531Kb] The Range and Magnitude of Alcohol's Harm to Others | Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation | 2010 - This study represents a sustained and comprehensive effort to quantify alcohols harm to others. According to the report, almost three-quarters of all adults in Australia were negatively affected over a one-year period by someone elses' drinking, in ways ranging from minor annoyance to physical violence or death. MORE INFO AND LINKS The Alcohol Policy Coalition is a collaboration of health agencies with shared concern relating to the misuse of alcohol and its health/social impacts on the community. alcoholpolicycoalition.org.au/ Arbias provides support services to people with an acquired brain injury, specialising in alcohol and other drug related brain injury. www.arbias.org.au/ Binge drinking | @ReachOut_AUS - Information on short and long term effects of binge drinking on your physical and mental health. au.reachout.com/All-about-binge-drinking Centre for Alcohol Policy Research | @CAPRAustralia - An innovative, world-renowned research facility at the forefront of informed alcohol policy development. www.capr.edu.au/ Cringe the Binge | @CringeTheBinge - A national campaign to reverse youth binge drinking. www.cringethebinge.com.au/ Drink Tank | @DrinkTankAu - Aims to generate meaningful commentary and debate about alcohol policy, and to provide a platform for all members of the Australian community to share their views and concerns. drinktank.org.au/ DrinkWise Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation focused on promoting change towards a healthier and safer drinking culture in Australia. www.drinkwise.org.au/ FARE Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education | @FAREAustralia - An independent, charitable organisation working to prevent the harmful use of alcohol in Australia. www.fare.org.au/ Help and Support | DrugInfo - For information about alcohol and other drugs browse the DrugInfo website or call 1300 85 85 84. www.druginfo.adf.org.au/.../help-and-support Last Drinks Campaign - A campaign launched by concerned emergency service workers, aimed at lessening the burden that alcohol-related violence places on their services, and the greater community each year. lastdrinks.org.au/ McCusker Centre for Action on Alcohol and Youth - The aim of MCAAY is to reduce levels of drinking, harmful drinking and alcohol problems among young people. www.mcaay.org.au/ National Alliance for Action on Alcohol is a national coalition of over 70 health and community organisations from across Australia that has been formed with the goal of reducing alcohol-related harm. www.actiononalcohol.org.au/ The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre | @NDARCNEWS - Conducts research to increase the effectiveness of treatments for drug and alcohol related harms. www.ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/ NHMRC - Federal Government guidelines on safe drinking. www.nhmrc.gov.au/your-health/alcohol-guidelines The Police Association of NSW | @PoliceAssocNSW - Represents the professional & industrial interests of around 16000 police officers in the state of NSW. www.pansw.org.au/ ReGenUC | @ReGenUC - To promote health and reduce alcohol and other drug related harm. www.regen.org.au SMART Recovery Australia is a voluntary self-help group that assists people in recovering from alcohol, drug use and other addictive behaviours. smartrecoveryaustralia.com.au/ Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre was established in 1994 to provide leadership to the alcohol and drug field in Victoria. www.turningpoint.org.au/ Youth Off The Streets is a non-denominational community organisation working for young people who are disadvantaged, homeless, drug dependent and or recovering from abuse. www.youthoffthestreets.com.au/

Get the biggest celebs stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email 50 Cent spent Monday evening ‘making it rain’ in a strip club just hours after he announced he was bamkrupt. Making it rain is a term used to describe throwing a wad of cash around in a strip club. The 53-year-old - who announced he was broke after losing a £3.2 million sex tape case – can be seen holding dollar bills while at the Ace of Diamonds in West Hollywood. (Image: Film Magic) His appearance at the club – being so casual with money – may come as a surprise after the hip hop star , real name Curtis James Jackson III, issued papers in the US Bankruptcy Court in Hartford, Connecticut on Monday. It came three days after was ordered to pay Lavonia Leviston £3.2 million when a jury determined the rapper had intentionally acquired an X-rated video she made with her boyfriend, added himself as a crude commentator and posted it online without her permission to embarrass his rap rival Rick Ross. The rapper has been ordered to show proof of his income and worth so that the jury can deliberate. TMZ reports that Fiddy claims that his assets are valued between $10 million and $50 million but his debts amount are in the same range. Last weekthe rapper was seen partying with what appeared to be $100 bills hanging out of his jeans pocket during a club appearance. According to TMZ, he was carrying a total was $5,000 in $100 bills. Fiddy will be in London on Friday for a show with G Unit at the O2 IN London.

Tanna (also spelled Tana) is an island in Tafea Province of Vanuatu. Geography [ edit ] It is 40 kilometres (25 miles) long and 19 kilometres (12 miles) wide, with a total area of 550 square kilometres (212 square miles). Its highest point is the 1,084-metre (3,556-foot) summit of Mount Tukosmera in the south of the island. Siwi Lake was located in the east, northeast of the peak, close to the coast until mid April 2000 when following unusually heavy rain, the lake burst down the valley into Sulphur Bay, destroying the village with no loss of life. Mount Yasur is an accessible active volcano which is located on the southeast coast. History [ edit ] Cannibal Feast on Tanna by Charles E. Gordon Frazer c. 1885-9 by Charles E. Gordon Frazer c. 1885-9 Tanna was first settled about 400 BC by Melanesians from the surrounding islands. The glowing light of Mount Yasur attracted James Cook, the first European to visit the island, in August 1774, where he landed in an inlet on the southeastern tip of the island that he named Port Resolution after his ship HMS Resolution. He gave the island the name of Tanna, probably from the local name for earth, tana in the Kwamera language.[1] In the 19th century, traders and missionaries (chiefly Presbyterian) arrived. The Tannese stuck to their traditions more strongly than other islands; there remain fewer Christians in comparison with the other islands of Vanuatu. Tanna was not a principal site of World War II, but about 1,000 people from Tanna were recruited to work on the American military base on Éfaté. Exposure to First World living standards may have led to the development of cargo cults. Many have died out, but the John Frum cult remains strong on Tanna today, especially at Sulphur Bay in the south east and Green Point in the South West of the Island. A recent documentary Waiting for John (2015) by Jessica Sherry provides a history and overview of the current scene regarding these beliefs.[2] A secessionist movement began in the 1970s, and the Nation of Tanna was proclaimed on 24 March 1974. While the British were more open to allowing its holdings in Vanuatu to achieve independence, it was opposed by the French colonists and finally suppressed by the Anglo-French Condominium authorities on June 29, 1974. Flag of the Island of Tanna In 1980, there was another attempt to secede, declaring the Tafea Nation on 1 January 1980, its name coming from the initials of the five islands that were to be part of the nation (Tanna, Aniwa, Futuna, Erromango and Aneityum). British forces intervened on 26 May 1980, allowing the island to become part of the newly independent nation of Vanuatu on 30 July 1980. Tanna and nearby Erromango were devastated by cyclone Pam in mid-March 2015, with reports of an unknown number of deaths, complete destruction of the island’s infrastructure and permanent shelters, and no drinking water.[3] Following this, an El Niño-spurred drought further impacted on the people of Tanna.[4] Culture and economy [ edit ] Population [ edit ] It is the most populous island in Tafea Province, with a population of about 29,000,[5] and one of the most populous islands in the country. Isangel, the provincial administrative capital, is on the west coast near the island's largest town of Lénakel. Tanna is populated almost entirely by Melanesians and they follow a more traditional lifestyle than many other islands. Some of the higher altitude villages are known as kastom villages, where modern inventions are restricted, the inhabitants wear penis sheaths (Bislama: nambas) and grass skirts, and the children do not go to public schools. According to anthropologist Joël Bonnemaison, author of "The Tree and the Canoe: history and ethnography of Tanna," their resistance to change is due to their traditional worldview and how they "perceive, internalise, and account for the dual concepts of space and time." [6] John Frum movement [ edit ] The island is the centre of the John Frum religious movement, which attracts tourist interest as a cargo cult. The first John appeared at night as a spirit at a place called Green Point and told the people to return to their traditional way of life, or kastom. From that time kastom on Tanna has been seen as an alternative to the modernity encouraged by many missionary denominations. Yaohnanen is the centre of the Prince Philip Movement, which reveres Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the prince consort of the United Kingdom. The cult is examined by British writer Matthew Baylis in his 2013 book Man Belong Mrs Queen: Adventures with the Philip Worshippers.[7] Christian missionary John Gibson Paton served in Tanna in the mid 1800s. Cannibalism was practiced before Christianity swept the island. In the biography of Paton the horror of the pagan practice of abusing and murdering disobedient wives is detailed. Language [ edit ] There are three main languages spoken on Tanna: the southern language of Kwamera, the South-Western language adjacent to the slopes of Tokosmera, of which there are many dialects spoken by very small groupings, constitute two of the languages. The remaining majority of Tanna islanders speak four dialects, being North Tanna in the northwest, Lénakel in the west-central area near Lénakel, and the middle bush dialect in the central plateau of the island, which is very close to Lenakel Whitesands in the northeast near Whitesands. These are generally grouped into the Tanna languages family, which is a subgroup of the South Vanuatu languages, an Austronesian language branch. According to Ethnologue, each is spoken by a few thousand, and Lénakel, with 8,000 speakers, is one of the dialects of Vanuatu with the most speakers. Many people on Tanna also speak Bislama, which is one of Vanuatu's three official languages (together with English and French). Economy [ edit ] The island is one of the most fertile in Vanuatu and produces kava, coffee, coconut, copra, and other fruits and vegetables. Recently, tourism has become more important, as tourists are attracted to the volcano and traditional culture.[8] To help preserve the integrity of culture as a tourism asset, only local people are permitted to act as guides. There are various types of accommodation on the island. The active volcano, Mount Yasur, at dusk. Children from Yankel Village. Coast of Tanna after rain. Cultural references [ edit ] Five men from Tanna's Prince Philip Movement cargo cult, which considers Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh a god, were brought to the United Kingdom as part of the Channel 4 reality show Meet the Natives in 2007. Part of their itinerary included an off-screen meeting with the prince.[9] In An Idiot Abroad, Series 2, Episode 1, Karl Pilkington visited Tanna and discussed the Prince Philip Movement and met those who visited Windsor Castle. In 2009 the Travel Channel aired Meet the Natives: USA, which brought five men from another group from Tanna to the United States.[10] Their tribe reveres Tom Navy, an American World War II sailor who generations ago had taught the inhabitants to live in peace. The Tanna ambassadors were taken across, visiting five states, and eventually meeting former United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and verifying with him that the spirit of peace taught by Tom Navy lives on in then U.S. President, Barack Obama. While visiting with a family on Fort Stewart, US Army Major-General Tony Cucolo conferred a World War II Victory Medal and an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal upon the chief in representation of the contribution the people of Tanna in World War II. Tanna, a film depicting the true story of a couple who decided to marry for love, rather than obey their parents' wishes, is set on the island,[11][8] and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.[12] Transportation [ edit ] The island is served by Whitegrass Airport. References [ edit ]