This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article below was originally published atInc.com.

Have you noticed there are people who always seem to be more likable?

In a recent episode of the new ABC drama Mind Games, one of the characters mentions an interesting personality trait that defines the most popular people: they more readily admit their weaknesses rather than waiting for them to be revealed over time. The show is about using cunning tricks to manipulate others and ensure a positive outcome, so it’s a bit ridiculous, but there’s truth in the observation.

In the office, it’s possible to exhibit traits that help you to be more likable. In my years as a corporate manager and developing my writing career, I’ve noticed when people appear more likable and I’ve tried to develop these traits myself. Here’s a few to cultivate.

1. Ask questions. I’ve noticed people who ask questions are often well-liked. It’s human nature to be helpful and we all have a great desire to share what we know. When someone appears to need our help, we tend to like them more because we like being the one who provides the answers.

2. Talk more, not less. A friend of mine is a small business owner and he is extremely well liked. One of his strongest traits is that he tends to talk constantly. You never have to guess what he’s thinking. He’s not blunt or rude, but he explains things in detail. (Being an introvert, I need to develop this trait more in myself–and use texting and e-mail a little less often.)

3. Give your time…gratis. A no-strings-attached approach to helping others also makes you more likable. Think of the person you like the most–usually, it’s someone who will help you with the copier machine or is willing to read through your business proposal in a pinch. Of course, those who help just to be liked always reveal a manipulative trait, so make sure you’re genuine.

4. Listen better. I mentioned how talkers tend to be more likable, and that’s true. Sometimes, over-communicating puts people at ease. But it’s also important to pause once in a while and listen. Good communicators take a breath once in a while! Likable people are always listeners who are curious to (genuinely) learn new things. The best communicators talk and talk–and then listen for a response. That makes them an office favorite.

5. Really and truly care. How do you develop the personality trait of caring? It can be difficult, especially in an age of social media where everyone is dangerously close to being a narcissist. Caring is an act of setting aside your own interests and ambitions for a while and helping others. It requires effort. You have to consciously decide you are going to care about someone else. When you do, and you are genuine about it, you’ll find that more people will like you.

6. Admit it, you don’t know everything. We all know how important it is to steer clear of the office know-it-all. Why is that? Part of the reason is we know that person won’t ask for our help, and we like to be helpful. More importantly, those who have all of the answers are usually pushing their own agenda. In their conceited attitude, they exhibit a sense of pride that’s not attractive to anyone.

7. Go for the laugh, every time. It’s hard to hate a jokester or someone who has a carefree approach to life. Usually, the most-liked people are those that can fill a room with laughter. It might not be in your nature to joke around, and that’s okay. Just make sure you are ready to see the humor in something. Be someone who can laugh easily and smile often. You’ll win people over.

8. Lighten up. I will admit to struggling with this one. I’m a serious person with serious concerns! (Most of the time.) But it’s better to see the big picture in life. Really serious people are essentially acting selfish because they focus too much on their personal issues. Highly likable people at work are those who can set aside their concerns and go with the flow. They’re selfless.

9. Don’t be pushy. Here’s an interesting one–and difficult trait to master. I went on a road trip with someone a few years ago, and I remember how he told me he doesn’t have highly distinct tastes. What does that really mean? For starters, he’s not that selfish and won’t push his preferences–he’ll go to lunch at any restaurant and listen to any form of music. He’s flexible. That makes him likable because he will adjust to the situation.

10. Admit your weaknesses. That character on the show Mind Games is right: Admitting weaknesses makes you more likable. People figure them out on their own anyway. Of course, it’s important not to act like a victim or share your problems with everyone you meet. At work, it’s okay to go into a meeting and lead with the challenges you face. People are more likely to suggest a few solutions, come to your aid, and even pat you on the back.

Read more from Inc.com: How 4 Entrepreneurs Started Up (Really) Young Firing an Employee–Even a Bad One–Is Hard to Do

Summary: This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article below was originally published…


ANTIGO, Wis. — An 18-year-old man opened fire with a high-powered rifle outside of a high school prom in northern Wisconsin, wounding two students before a police officer who was in the parking lot fatally shot him, authorities said Sunday.

Investigators did not say whether they believe the two students were specifically targeted or discuss a possible motive for the shooting. But a school administrator said it appeared that the gunman — identified by police as Jakob E. Wagner — intended to go into the dance and start shooting randomly.

The two prom-goers who were wounded were shot as they exited the building, according to Eric Roller, the chief of police in Antigo, a community of about 8,000 people roughly 150 miles north of Milwaukee.

“Officers were in the parking lot patrolling the activities and heard the shots and an officer immediately fired upon the shooter, stopping the threat,” Roller said. He said the gunman was then taken into custody. Wagner died at a hospital.

In a statement, the Unified School District of Antigo said Wagner approached the school with a high-powered rifle and a large ammunition clip. The district said the “quick actions” taken by police and district staff to secure the building “prevented what might have otherwise been a disaster of unimaginable proportions.”

Interim district administrator Donald B. Childs told The Associated Press on Sunday that it appears Wagner intended to go into the building and shoot at people at the dance.

“We have no reason to believe at this point it was targeting anybody specifically,” Childs said, adding that the shooting outside the entrance happened “from some distance.”

The female victim was treated and released and the male victim was undergoing surgery for injuries that weren’t life-threatening, police said. Childs said the wounded boy, who was shot in the leg, attended the high school but that his date, who was grazed in the shooting, was from out of state.

Gov. Scott Walker praised the police response to the shooting, saying in a statement the actions of the Antigo Police Department “undoubtedly saved lives.”

Friends said Wagner was a senior at Antigo High School in 2015, but Childs said he did not graduate with his classmates and was continuing to work on his diploma. He said the school of about 750 students will have counselors available when classes resume Monday.

Friends expressed shock that Wagner was the suspect.

“For him to do that, something just isn’t right. He was a good kid,” said Dakotta Mills, who said he had known Wagner since sixth grade and considered him a “foster brother.”

Wagner was interested in guns and wanted to become a hunter, Mills said, but he wasn’t sure Wagner could afford a gun. He said Mills was raised by his mother and grandparents and was still living at home.

Wagner loved video games and music, particularly violin and cello, and had been in the school marching band, Mills said.

Dylan Dewey, who graduated from Antigo High last year, said Wagner had been dating a girl at the school who broke up with him last month. He described Wagner as an “all-around good guy” who enjoyed hanging out with friends.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation has been asked to lead an outside review of the officer-involved shooting, agency spokesman Johnny Koremenos said.

Summary: ANTIGO, Wis. — An 18-year-old man opened fire with a high-powered rifle outside of a high school prom in northern Wisconsin, wounding two students before a police officer who was in the parking lot…


Photographer Alex Majoli has for years worked in some of the world’s most unsettled regions, crafting powerful portraits of the lives of men, women and children in places like war-torn Afghanistan, post-genocide Rwanda, and the poverty-ravaged favelas of Rio. But Majoli recently turned his lens on a world unlike any he’d chronicled before — namely, the tightly managed, downright secretive world behind the scenes of an acclaimed American TV show. The photographs seen here, made on the set of AMC’s Mad Men during filming of its final season, are the result of a full day spent with the show’s cast and crew. That Majoli was able to spend as much time as he did documenting what happens on a set as rigidly and famously controlled as Mad Men‘s — before and after the cameras roll — constitutes something of an entertainment coup.

“The whole shoot was fascinating,” Majoli told Lightbox. “[The show’s creator] Matthew Weiner is so meticulous in his job that you want to be equally diligent. It’s all about trust — the more trust you receive, the more responsible you feel to give it your very best.

“It was a privilege to be there,” he continues, “but in a sense I only really realized that at the end of the day, driving back to my hotel. I had been concentrating so hard on not invading ‘the environment’ of the set, and was working so hard to make strong photos that would not reveal the storyline for the next season, that I was sort of oblivious to how fortunate I was to even be there.”

One seemingly small detail of the shoot, meanwhile — considered in retrospect — reveals just how open Weiner and the crew were to helping make Majoli’s assignment a success.

“I work with flashes, and some people were bothered by them. But right away Matthew Weiner announced to the whole crew that I — and my flashes, of course — had full access. From that moment, not only was it easy for me to move around, but cameramen and others were curious about what kind of images I was making. As for the actors, they come on set when everything is ready and then leave immediately after the scene is done, so I didn’t really interact with them very much at all.”

In the end, Majoli’s marvelous black and white portraits of Hamm, Moss, Hendricks, Slattery and the rest harken back to those long-ago years when photographers routinely chronicled the off-camera lives of the stars and, every once in a while, given enough time, came away with pure gold.

Alex Majoli is a photographer with Magnum

Ben Cosgrove is the editor of LIFE.com

Summary: Alex Majoli's marvelous black and white portraits of the Mad Men cast harken back to long gone years when photographers worked and mingled backstage and, every once in a while, came away with pure gold.


updated 12/03/2015 AT 12:00 PM EST

•originally published 11/27/2015 AT 09:00 PM EST

The 23-year-old singer and actress revealed there have been some difficulties in her

that being a celebrity doesn't always have its perks especially when it comes to love.

"I hate it. It's hard," Gomez tells the mag about getting back into the dating game. "I'm weirded out by the idea that a guy has Googled me before we meet, and that has happened."

While she's grown up since her days as a Disney Channel darling, the star reveals, "I feel like I look 16 sometimes, which is a bummer because I would love to date older guys."

In the interview, Selena also shut down rumors she's dating

, telling Selenators that they would've been aware by now. "If he had asked me out on a date, I would be seen with him. Just kidding, but not kidding," she clarifies.

One thing she definitely wants to do is move forward from

"I'm just tired of talking about it. I never intended for my life to become a tabloid story," Gomez admits.

Although there was a recent

, there is no sight of a rekindled romance.

"They care about each other and miss each other, but they're not getting back together right now," an insider recently

Summary: "I'm weirded out by the idea that a guy has Googled me before we meet, and that has happened," Gomez explains


If we assemble Dryden with our three recent American translations, let us see how the four deal with just one line. I choose the onomatopoeiac description of a thundering cavalry charge at the very end of the 11th book. The magnificent Amazonian Camilla is dead, slain by the hand of Arruns, and he has met his death at the hands of the nymph Opis - who is fighting on behalf of the grief-stricken goddess Diana. The battle is over, and Camilla's squadrons are cantering away - "Quadrupedumque putrem cursu quatit ungula campum". You can almost hear the horses' hooves thumping the broken earth of the plain - the soft thump, thump, and the final thud of the hoof that hits the "cam - poom". A wonderful line.

Frederick Ahl (Oxford) has - "Cloven-hoofed quadruped clatter kicks clumps, quivers plain at a gallop". This is a line that is saying: "Look at me, I'm writing poetry, guys!" There is a bit of Hopkins here. It does not exactly make sense. And horses are not cloven-footed, nor does Virgil say they are. He says that the hoof, "ungula", of the quadrupeds hits the crumbly plain.

Sarah Ruden (Yale) has "The speeding hoofbeats shook that soft-earthed plain". This surely conveys the sense much better, and in a much less intrusive way. The "putrem... campum" is a plain that is crumbly because it is dry earth over which many horses have ridden. "That soft-earthed plain" is just right. She has lost the rather odd Virgilian "quadrupeds", but at least she hasn't made them cloven-footed.

Fagels has "Galloping hoofbeats pound the rutted plain with thunder". He is trying to get the sense, while conveying the onomatopoeia, but I still think Ruden has the edge over him. Dryden takes his time, as he often does when unpacking a dense Virgilian parcel, and makes one line into a couplet: "The hoofs of horses, with a rattling sound/Beat short and thick, and shake the rotten ground".

Dr Johnson defines "rattle" as "to make a sharp noise with frequent repetitions and collisions of bodies not very sonorous". It is the last three words that count. "Thumping", though a coarse word, was an option for Dryden. It would have been better than "rattling". Hoof-beats simply do not rattle. On this analysis the best prize goes to Sarah Ruden.

When the fleeing rout meet the city gates, the melée is one of confusion and tragedy. Dryden here outsoars all the modern translators - "The vanquished cry; the victors loudly shout:/'Tis terror all within, and slaughter all without". Dryden can't be discarded - but which of the moderns would I choose?

It is a toss-up between Fagles (earthy and impressive, and with all those useful notes) and the quiet line-by-line modesty of Sarah Ruden whose version "grew" on me the longer I lived with it.

Summary: There have been three very striking translations of Virgil's Aeneid just recently. But which of them would A.N Wilson  recommend if forced to choose but one?


WASHINGTON, April 8 - Arthur J. Finkelstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has directed a series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel over the last 25 years, said Friday that he had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts.

Mr. Finkelstein, 59, who has made a practice of defeating Democrats by trying to demonize them as liberal, said in a brief interview that he had married his partner of 40 years to ensure that the couple had the same benefits available to married heterosexual couples.

"I believe that visitation rights, health care benefits and other human relationship contracts that are taken for granted by all married people should be available to partners," he said.

He declined further comment on the wedding, which was in December.

Some of Mr. Finkelstein's associates said they were startled to learn that this prominent American conservative had married a man, given his history with the party, especially at a time when many Republican leaders, including President Bush, have campaigned against same-sex marriage and proposed amending the Constitution to ban it. Mr. Finkelstein has been allied over the years with Republicans who have fiercely opposed gay rights measures, including former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and has been the subject of attacks by gay rights activists who have accused him of hypocrisy. He was identified as gay in a Boston Magazine article in 1996.

One of Mr. Finkelstein's associates, who declined to speak on the record, citing Mr. Finkelstein's desire for privacy, said Mr. Finkelstein did not view his marriage as a political statement and had specifically decided to have a civil ceremony rather than a religious one. This associate argued that over the past 20 years, Mr. Finkelstein had identified himself as a libertarian and an opponent of big government, distancing himself from social conservatives as they have gained political muscle and dominance in the party.

Mr. Finkelstein's associates declined to provide his spouse's name. He was married at his home by a gay state official, whose name and office were not released. The ceremony was attended by relatives of both men, a few friends and a state legislator, an attendee said.

None of Mr. Finkelstein's better-known political clients, among them Gov. George E. Pataki of New York and former Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York, attended, that person said. Several of Mr. Finkelstein's long-term political associates said that he had not told them about the wedding, and that they had learned about it from a reporter.

The wedding was disclosed by an associate of Mr. Finkelstein's, and he confirmed it in the interview.

Mr. Finkelstein has frequently come under criticism by gay rights groups for representing politicians who have been ardent foes of gay rights. He helped create the template for a line of attack he repeatedly invoked against Democrats, including Mario M. Cuomo of New York, describing them as liberal.

In Israel, Mr. Finkelstein used similar attacks against the Labor Party as an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and as a consultant to the winning and losing campaigns of Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister.

Mr. Finkelstein has regularly described himself as a libertarian who supports same-sex marriage and abortion rights while opposing big government. In an interview with Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, after the American elections last year, he criticized the Republican Party as growing too close to evangelical Christians, warning it could cause long-term damage to the party.

Details of Mr. Finkelstein's relationship have appeared in regular news accounts over the years, as they did in the Boston Magazine article, which reported that Mr. Finkelstein lived with his partner and two children in Ipswich, Mass.

Still, some conservative friends said Mr. Finkelstein's marriage would roil conservatives and highlight divisions among them over the importance of social issues to their movement.

"In recent years, Arthur hasn't pretended to be a social conservative," said one longtime conservative associate, who cited Mr. Finkelstein's aversion to publicity in declining to be identified. "But this is the same man who was the architect of Jesse Helms's political rise."

Summary: Arthur J Finkelstein, prominent Republican consultant who has directed series of hard-edged political campaigns to elect conservatives in US and Israel over last 25 years, marries his male partner in civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts (M)


Thanks to MTV and Girls Gone Wild, spring break in the late 20th century got a bit of a reputation. Between misplaced bikini tops, wet t-shirt contests and cheap beer flowing steady as the tide, the mid-March madness is often about as wholesome as Cinemax after midnight.

But it wasn’t always this way. Back in 1947, when LIFE accompanied 10,000 young men and women to Balboa Beach in Southern California for spring break, the shenanigans wouldn’t have scored any higher than a PG rating. Daylight brought beachside dancing, boat races, beauty pageants and sunbathing. The evening hours found students aglow in the warmth of bonfires as portable radios churned out the tunes of the day. (Top hits that year included “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” and “Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep).”)

In the following decades, the chasteness of spring break loosened with changing sexual mores. The 1960 movie Where the Boys Are, which followed four college women on a spring vacation to Fort Lauderdale, reflected a range of sexual attitudes in its characters’ hopes for a week on the beach. One was looking for a husband, while others considered the benefits of premarital sex.

The film, released during the winter, inspired throngs of students to flock to Florida, and for more than just the sunshine. Simultaneously, it frightened parents into exercising any remaining shred of authority to stand between their daughters and the debauchery depicted in the movie. Some, according to LIFE, shelled out to send their kids anywhere but Fort Lauderdale.

“I’m not sure the moral climate is any safer on these Bermuda cruises,” one mother said, “but at least she’ll get in trouble with a higher class of boy.”

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Summary: Girls (and boys) gone tame


The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized flying car company Terrafugia to start testing out prototypes of a flying car that could some day fit right into a one-car garage, wings and all. And the company says its flying car test flights could start whizzing around the Northeast in the coming months.

But don’t go clearing any space out in the garage just yet—Terrafugia’s only been approved to test mini versions of their TF-X flying car.

The TF-X is a 4-seater that “will look like a large car with wings,” Terrafugia spokeswoman Dagny Dukach says. The roughly 35-member team based in Woburn, Mass., is building out their ~2 ft. long FAA-approved models now, and they hope to have them flying around the company’s home base (just outside Boston) soon. The test cars also have a weight restriction: No more than 50 pounds.

While flying cars have been a dream of carmakers (like Henry Ford) and engineers (like Paul Moller) for decades, no one’s really been able to get out of prototype mode and into the consumer market yet. One French government-sponsored company has plans for a commuter plane called the “Xplorair.” They unveiled their half-size prototype at the Paris Air Show in 2013 (and are planning to show off a full-size model in 2017). But Xplorair seems a bit more drone-like than car, and seats just one.

Terrafugia’s been working on their own models and prototypes for roughly the past decade. Their TF-X is being engineered with semi-autonomous flight—the idea being that the flying car will require less training to fly than a professional airplane. Making the car a reality is going to require some new techniques in battery technology too. The company is planning to build the car as a plug-in hybrid-electric, but the battery technology for flying cars hasn’t been perfected yet. And of course, any full-scale model testing will require more rounds of approvals from the FAA.

“It’s really going to revolutionize the way that everybody gets around,” Dukach says.

Once it gets off the ground, that is.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

And watch more on why we’ll be waiting a long time for flying cars:

Summary: It's a bird! It's a plane! Nope, it's a flying car.


The trauma of surgery, part biological and part psychological, can be greatly eased by psychologically preparing patients for surgery, studies are finding. The techniques are proving to aid physical recovery and lessen the pain and anxiety that surgery brings.

A variety of preparations, ranging from hypnosis and relaxation training to educational videotapes, seem to help. The benefits, though, seem due to a psychological factor that underlies them all: heightening the patient's feelings that he has some control over his recovery, and that he is not just a passive victim.

Nevertheless, surgeons and anethesiologists seem slow to take steps to help patients prepare psychologically, according to researchers, some of whom view the delays as tragic.

''From the surgeon's point of view, these psychological preparations matter little, while from the patient's they matter tremendously,'' Henry Bennett, a psychologist who works with patients undergoing spinal surgery at the University of California medical school at Davis, said in a telephone interview. Linked to Earlier Release

A review of 34 studies involving more than 3,000 patients, published in The American Journal of Public Health, found that patients who received psychological preparation were released from the hospital an average of two days earlier than those who received the usual presurgical treatment. The preparations ranged from brief psychotherapy or classes with a nurse two weeks before surgery, to listening to a tape.

''Psychological preparation can lessen medical complications, can soothe pain and fear and feelings of helplessness and anger, and can give the patient the sense that he has some small say in a matter so vital in his life,'' Dr. Bennett said.

Writing in the journal Advances, Dr. Bennett argued that surgeons and anesthesiologists too often see the patient as ''only a body.''

One recent study was conducted by Erling Anderson, a psychologist in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Iowa medical center. He reported in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology that 60 men undergoing coronary bypass grafts at the medical center were divided into three groups. One group received the hospital's standard preparation: a brochure on the procedures and a short visit from a nurse to answer questions.

The other groups watched a videotape called ''Living Proof'' that followed a patient through the operation and recovery. In addition, one group received advanced instructions in the physical therapy exercises - such as deep breathing to expand their lung capacity - they would be doing to help recovery. Tension Can Be Deadly

While 75 percent of those with the standard preparation suffered after the surgery from acute hypertension - a condition that can endanger coronary bypass patients in the first 12 hours after surgery - less than 45 percent of those who saw the tape had the problem.

The patients who viewed the tape also had less anxiety as they waited in the hospital before the surgery, and reported less stress and seemed more relaxed to nurses in the week after the surgery. The group that received extra instruction in the physical therapy went into surgery feeling less anxious than the other groups.

But Dr. Anderson added that information alone is not enough for patients. ''They need time to mull it over and ask questions,'' he said.

Patients having elective surgery often are briefed by a nurse or the anesthesiologist the day before. This may give patients too little time to absorb the information and to ask crucial questions, the experts say. Ask Questions Early

''When people gather information to handle stress, at first it raises their anxiety,'' Dr. Anderson said. ''But as they think it over and find ways to deal with it, they end up with a reassuring sense of control.''

Dr. Anderson suggested that patients begin to ask for information about their surgery as soon as it is scheduled. He also advised that they seek ways to ease their recovery, learning physical therapy exercises or relaxation techniques. He also suggested that patients learn as precisely as they can what they will experience during and after the surgery.

Of course, not all surgeons have been slow to adopt the new techniques. Dr. Nilima Patwardhan, a general surgeon at the University of Massachusetts medical school in Worcester, prescribes an instructional relaxation videotape that is available on the hospital's closed-circuit television system for patients who are anxious. In fact, when she had surgery for a cervical disc that had paralyzed her arm, she used the videotape herself.

''Relaxation training reduces the amount of pain medications that patients need,'' Dr. Patwardhan said. ''They can do something for themselves to help feel better.'' Some Cling to Denial

Not all patients are open to such preparations, Dr. Patwardhan added. Dr. Malcolm Rogers, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, writing in Advances in Psychosomatic Medicine, has proposed that the information and training given patients before surgery should fit their personality, some people naturally wanting as much information as possible, others preferring to deny the threat.

''There's nothing in the training of surgeons or anesthesiologists about psychological preparation for surgery,'' said Dr. William Hawke, a surgeon at the University of Michigan medical school. ''What each surgeon or anesthesiologist does depends on his personal preference. Some spend a great deal of time with patients, or have a nurse do so, while others see the patient as just another gall bladder to remove, not a person with feelings.'' The Videotape's Message What to expect before and after heart surgery as demonstrated in the videotape ''Living Proof.'' Tests and X-rays

* Electrocardiograms in which electrodes are attached to the chest, arms and legs to record electrical impulses in the heart.

* Treadmill tests to see how the heart responds to exercise.

* Echocardiograms, or ultrasound recordings, of motion of heart chambers and valves.

* Cine-angiograms, in which dye is injected into the coronary arteries and heart chambers to trace blood vessel conditions and heart's pumping action.

* Cardiac catheterization, in which a tube inserted in a vein or artery is threaded gently into the heart. Aids to recovery

* Demonstration of deep breathing to expand lungs

* Instruction in coughing necessary to prevent congestion.

* Instruction in use of incentivespirometer, a device to aid deep breathing, and respirator to assist breathing in recovery from anesthesia.

''Living Proof'' is available for $295 from Stacy Keach Productions, 5216 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood, Calif., 91607.

Summary: LEAD: The trauma of surgery, part biological and part psychological, can be greatly eased by psychologically preparing patients for surgery, studies are finding. The techniques are proving to aid physical recovery and lessen the pain and anxiety that surgery brings.


Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said the surprisingly weak U.S. jobs data for May released on Friday was “terrible” and a “bombshell.”

“Terrible jobs report just reported. Only 38,000 jobs added. Bombshell!” Trump said in a post on Twitter shortly after the U.S. government released the data.

The U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than five years in May, hurt by a strike by Verizon workers and a fall in goods producing employment, pointing to labor market weakness that could make it difficult for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest gain since September 2010, the Labor Department said on Friday. Employers hired 59,000 fewer workers in March and April. The government said the month-long Verizon strike had depressed employment growth by 34,000 jobs.

The goods producing sector, which includes mining and manufacturing, shed 36,000 jobs, the most since February 2010. Even without the Verizon strike, payrolls would have increased by a mere 72,000.

The Verizon workers, who were considered unemployed because they did not receive a salary during the payrolls survey week, returned to their jobs on Wednesday. They are expected to boost June employment.

The jobless rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 4.7% in May, the lowest since November 2007. The decrease in the unemployment rate was in part due to people dropping out of the labor force.

Summary: Only 38,000 jobs were added last month.


Gary Giordano and Robyn Gardner

Elton Malone/AP; Natalee Holloway Resource Center/AP

08/22/2011 AT 09:30 AM EDT

While Gary Giordano has told police that traveling companion

in Aruba after the two had gone snorkeling, a fisherman who saw them contradicts

The witness says the couple took a walk along the reef at 4 p.m. and then drove away a short time later without going into the water, reports

"We're investigating that material, seeing the relevance to the investigation," said Aruba Solicitor General Taco Stein.

Last week, Giordano, 50, was

in an Aruban jail for another 16 days while police investigate what they call "serious inconsistencies" in his story about the Aug. 2 disappearance of Gardner, 35. Police on the Caribbean island presume the Maryland woman is dead.

The search for Gardner resumes on Monday. The FBI is also looking into a $1.5 million American Express

taken out on her, naming Giordano as the beneficiary.

Over the weekend, FBI agents reportedly searched Giordano's Maryland home, seizing cell phones and laptops.

Aruba Police have requested that members of the public with possible information about Gardner's disappearance call 011-297-582-0695. The American tip line for the

, which is assisting with the case, is 407-237-2295.

Summary: A fisherman claims Robyn Gardner and Gary Giordano walked on the beach – and left


Bakery cafe operator Panera Bread said it will remove dozens of artificial flavors, sweeteners and preservatives from the retail line, called Panera at Home, which is sold at grocery stores across the U.S.

Some notable ingredients that are being eliminated include aspartame, sucralose, butylated hydroxyanisole, and saccharin. The line will adhere to the same “No No List” standards that Panera already outlined for the company’s restaurant locations. The commitment will be achieved at both channels by the end of this year.

Panera Bread pnra founder and Chief Executive Ron Shaich told Fortune he sees opportunity to deliver fresher, “cleaner” food with a clearer message than what Big Food corporations are serving shoppers. And Shaich argues consumers have been clamoring for disruption as well. “People want food that they respect,” Shaich says. “And they want food that they feel respects them.”

While Panera, with about 2,000 restaurant locations, is mostly known as a bakery cafe chain, the company is also making inroads serving branded items in grocery stores like Kroger kr and Safeway swy under the “Panera at Home” line. The business, which generates about $150 million in revenue annually, has posted a 50% compound annual growth rate over the last three years. Sales of Panera at Home items, which includes soups, mac & cheese, and salad dressings, jumped more than 20% last year.

As this business grows, it also is evolving.

“This is something we’ve been working on for 10 years,” says Shaich, pointing to past initiatives including a move to only use antibiotic-free chicken in Panera’s dishes. “I view this as an opportunity to help move the world along. It is the kind of food I like to eat.”

Panera has been very vocal about the evolution of the food standards it follows, part of a broader mission statement summed up by the rally call “Food as it should be.” Past initiatives have included drawing a line in the sand on antibiotics in meats, trans fat, removing artificial additives, and adding calorie information to all menus.

The removal of artificial flavors and sweeteners gives the company an opportunity to lure shoppers that have increasingly shown a certain level of distrust that has hurt sales of Big Food’s most popular brands. Amid that turmoil, hundreds of startups have invaded grocery aisles with their own alternatives, a trend that has accelerated to the point where some have become takeover targets by Big Food.

Shaich is so bullish about the opportunity that he says the Panera at Home line can one day grow to become a $1 billion business. Why is he so optimistic? He thinks that consumers are now demanding more from the brands they support and aren’t just lured by savvy marketing campaigns.

As a consumer, Shaich says he always looks at a food item’s label with high standards that he has cultivated over the past decade.

“I want to eat food that I feel good about eating and that I respect,” he says. “One of the big issues that some mass manufacturers have is that the brands have no promise relative to the integrity of the food. We are trying to be clear about what clean food means to us.”

Summary: Big changes coming to Panera items sold at grocery stores.


The Food and Drug Administration has warned Whole Foods Markets to resolve serious violations found at a regional food preparation facility in Everett after inspectors discovered condensation from ceiling pipes dripping on food, as well as evidence of the germ Listeria.

Last week, the federal agency sent a lengthy letter to Whole Foods citing an extensive list of food safety violations during multiple visits in February to the company’s kitchen in Everett, which makes ready-to-eat foods for 74 stores in Northeastern states.

The agency said Whole Foods’ initial response to the violations was unacceptable because the company did not offer sufficient documentation about how it would correct the problems at the 70,000-square-foot facility and ensure compliance with health and safety rules.

“FDA has serious concerns that our investigators found your firm operating under these conditions,” according to the June 8 warning letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

Whole Foods’ global vice president of operations, Ken Meyer, said in a statement issued Tuesday evening that he was “honestly surprised” by the warning and that the company has taken “thorough and tangible steps” to address problems. “We’ve been in close contact with the FDA, opened our doors to inspectors regularly since February, and worked with them to address every issue brought to our attention,” Meyer said.

FDA inspectors who visited the Everett plant, known as Whole Foods Market North Atlantic Kitchen, wrote that they saw condensation dripping onto surfaces where dishes such as pesto pasta and mushroom quesadillas were being prepared or stored, as well as uncovered barrels of egg salad “that were placed in an area below the condenser. Condensate was observed to be dripping at a rate of approximately once per second.”

The FDA inspectors also found a type of Listeria that indicated the presence of a more severe form of the germ when they tested swabs of more than 100 surfaces throughout the facility. The letter said it found Listeria welshimeri, a form of the bacteria that the FDA said is an indicator of the probable presence of Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly form of the bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is a particular threat to pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.

In one instance, the inspectors found that a hand-washing station did not have hot water, yet was used by employees returning from a break before they began preparing food. Inspectors also said they saw an employee spray ammonium-based sanitizer on an open colander of salad greens and found sheet pans used for raw meats and ready-to-eat food products soaking in tanks with inadequate levels of sanitizer.

The letter further cited problems with workers using improperly diluted disinfectant in heavier than necessary amounts to clean vegetables.

Whole Foods has 15 business days to respond to the FDA’s letter.

The Everett facility warning is a blow for a company that is generally known for the pride it takes in high-quality products, which typically come with a high price tag. The Austin, Texas based chain is also widely credited with helping to bring about the organic food revolution.

One of the most worrisome findings, said Mel Kramer, president of EHA Consulting Group Inc., a Baltimore firm that advises restaurants and food manufacturers on food safety, was the inattention to how vegetables were washed. The use of too much disinfectant, he said, can lead to serious gastric problems such as diarrhea.

“This is pretty serious from a major company that the public generally looks to as a good actor,” said Kramer, who said he had reviewed the FDA warning letter at the request of the Globe. “An inspection is a picture, and the picture during those inspections was pretty poor.”

FDA spokeswoman Lauren Sucher said the agency could not disclose what prompted the Everett inspection. The FDA is tasked with monitoring food intended for interstate commerce under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Sucher said she could not say how often the agency and its regional offices inspect facilities because those decisions are made and adjusted during the year and depend on a variety of factors, such as a company’s prior history of compliance and risks associated with a specific commodity.

A Whole Foods distribution center near Denver was issued at least one similar warning letter by the FDA in March 2014, according to the agency’s website.

“Your tuna, sardines, anchovy, mackerel, bluefish, mahi-mahi, and wahoo are adulterated, in that they have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health,” the letter said.

The Everett warning also comes seven months after Whole Foods voluntarily recalled products prepared and packaged in the same Everett kitchen facility, including curry chicken salad and classic deli pasta salad, after a routine inspection found possible Listeria contamination of the life-threatening sort, according to a list of product recalls posted on the FDA’s website.

Food safety problems have also plagued other Boston supermarkets. In April, the city of Boston shuttered a Roxbury Stop & Shop when workers failed to address unsanitary conditions in the store that included a mouse infestation. A subsequent Globe review of Boston food safety inspection data found that markets throughout the city had hundreds of violations, big and small, including 127 at the Whole Foods on Cambridge Street near Beacon Hill.

Summary: The FDA sent a lengthy letter to Whole Foods where it listed a number of food-safety violations during multiple visits.


A woman whose labium was torn off after her abusive boyfriend threw her off a speeding truck finally has her sex drive back and is hoping to start a family.

Megan Torio, from Jacksonville, Florida, was left paralyzed by the horrific incident, with doctors warning she would never walk again.

As well as a sliced left labium, which left her unable to have sex for a year, she suffered a broken back, shoulder, collarbone and six ribs — one more and she’d have died.

After the accident, Megan, 28, threw herself into her rehabilitation and slowly began to rebuild her strength.

Having suffered years of horrible abuse from her ex-partner, she was left feeling jaded about men and refused to even think about dating for over a year.

But in March 2011, she met now-husband Ron Torio, 38, and the couple are looking to have children.

Megan said, “I was nervous about having sex again. I was done with men. I thought no man would be interested in me.

“But I now have my sex drive back.

“Ron and I want children and I think we’ll start trying for a family later this year.

“I’ve been humbled by this experience. I will live in chronic pain and I miss running and dancing in high heels, but I’m very happy to be alive. I could have died that day.

“I continue to get stronger and better every day.”

Meet the granny who’s having the best sex of her life … with toy boys half her age on Tinder

Huge surge in women undergoing vagina surgery … to look good in swimwear

‘I never went to college a day in my life’: The woman behind Gwyneth Paltrow’s mind-altering ‘sex dust’

Prior to the accident, Megan had always been a keen gym-goer, having shed 100 pounds after gaining weight in her teens.

But in June 2010, she was thrown from her then-boyfriend’s truck while traveling at 65 mph, slamming into a speed sign.

After paramedics arrived, she was rushed to Halifax Hospital in Daytona, Florida, where doctors assessed her injuries.

Megan recalled: “I was awake and remember the whole thing. I couldn’t breathe as my ribs were broken.

“I blacked out at the hospital due to the pain.”

Once she was at the hospital, doctors discovered the extent of her horrifying injuries.

She had 18 hours of surgery to realign her back with metal rods, followed by a separate procedure to construct her new labium.

Megan explained: “They took skin from my back to make me a new labium, and you would never know in a million years I’d had surgery there.

“I had 15 stitches put in and was swollen for a fortnight.

“I was told I would never walk again.

“I was devastated. I’d been so independent, so this was a big deal.

“I’d lost the use of my bowels and bladder and was given a catheter.

After a month, Megan was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital for physiotherapy.

Though there was no guarantee she would ever walk again, she decided to buy a walker to help her get around during her recovery.

Having reached her physical peak a year previously, she was determined to get back on her feet.

After a difficult childhood, Megan turned to food to cope, and by age 19, she weighed 210 pounds.

When a friend mistook her for being pregnant, she joined a gym, where she attended cardio, spin and weight classes twice a day.

Within a year, she’d slimmed to 110 pounds and planned to pursue a career as a fitness model, but her dream was crushed after the accident.

Despite being barely able to walk, Megan headed to the gym after she was discharged.

She said: “I wanted to work on my legs. They were my favorite part of my body — long and lean.

“I put myself on the weight press. I knew I wouldn’t be able push it, but I wanted to pretend to.

“I wanted that ‘pushing’ feeling.”

But the workout left her in excruciating pain and she was rushed to a hospital, where doctors discovered her left quad muscle was twitching.

Megan explained: “It was only moving about an inch, but it seemed like a miracle.

“My surgeon asked, ‘What did you do?’

“After I told him about the gym, he said the twitch was all we needed to give us hope I’d have more mobility in my wheelchair.

“This was from a man who never gave me high hopes.”

The pain was caused by her nerves and quad muscles growing back — the harder she pushed herself at the gym, the more they developed.

Despite being wheelchair-bound and in agonizing pain, Megan continued with her strenuous regime until she was strong enough to ask her neurosurgeon to remove the rods in her back.

She began to wonder whether she could stand after all, despite what she’d been told.

Megan said: “One day I picked up my walker I’d bought during physio and thought, ‘What the heck, what do I have to lose?’

“I put my body weight on my left side. I had sweat running down my forehead from the pain.

“I stood up for a few seconds before sitting down. It felt weird and I was light-headed, but it was contagious. I wanted to do it again.”

Day after day, Megan tried standing again until she reached a point where she was able to stay on her feet for two minutes.

She then pushed herself to start taking steps, and before long, she was walking around the gym.

In 2011, she bought a cane to help her get around, and that March met her now-husband, after a friend played Cupid.

Megan was so anxious about the date that she almost canceled — but luckily, a friend persuaded her to go.

She admitted: “I thought no one would be interested in me. I was paraplegic and didn’t feel like a woman.

“I was embarrassed about being in a wheelchair, so I used my walker on our first date to walk from the car into the restaurant.

“On our second date, I was determined to use my cane.

“Though I was sweating and in a lot of pain, I wanted to show I was an independent woman and I didn’t need a man to look after me.

“After that, Rod encouraged me to use my cane. He was so supportive. He’s a good guy.”

Megan continued to go from strength to strength, regaining use of her bladder and bowels, until on her 25th birthday, a year after she was told she’d never walk again, she decided to stop using her cane.

She said: “We were going out to a restaurant to celebrate, and I wanted to walk on my own.

“It wasn’t pretty, and I think you’d have been able to tell something was wrong, but I woke up the morning of my birthday and decided I wouldn’t use my cane anymore.”

A photo posted by Megan Torio (@meganfitness) on Sep 5, 2014 at 4:40pm PDT

Megan managed to stand for her wedding photos and doctors have told her she is able to have children — and her sex drive has returned.

Speaking about her ordeal, she explained: “Miracles aren’t handed to you on a silver plate, you have to work for them.

“I think I was in denial that I would never walk again and I think that’s what got me to where I am now.

“After I was finally able to walk on my own, without a frame or cane, I went to see my surgeon and he was in tears.

“I believe in mind over matter and getting what you want.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun.

Summary: A woman whose labium was torn off after her abusive boyfriend threw her off a speeding truck finally has her sex drive back and is hoping to start a family. Megan Torio, from Jacksonville, Florida,…


Aging baby boomers are smoking and drinking less, but overweight and obesity are on the rise, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s especially concerning when you consider the many other diseases and disabilities—including arthritis, type-2 diabetes, heart disease and hindered mobility—that can come with excess body weight.

The percentage of overweight and obese Americans 65 and older has grown: 72% of older men and 67% of older women are now overweight or obese. Baby boomers started reaching age 65 in 2011, and the report, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, also shows many of these older Americans are not financially prepared to pay for long-term care in nursing homes. That’s concerning, since America’s aging population, which is now around 40 million, is estimated to double by 2050.

What’s the best way to handle overweight and obesity in people 65-plus?

“There are not many studies of weight loss among the elderly. It’s a rich and fertile area,” says Dr. Adam Bernstein, research director at the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute. “The prescription would not be the same for a middle-aged person or youth.” Bernstein, who was not involved in the report, says it is possible for older men and women to lose weight, though doctors are likely to immediately focus on the consequences of excess body fat, like high blood pressure and erratic blood sugar. “If the clinician makes the determination a person is overweight and no other comorbid conditions, then what seems appropriate is a diet and exercise plan,” he says.

Past research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine has shown the baby boomer generation has its share of pervasive health problems, including high rates of cholesterol and hypertension. The authors concluded that there’s a need for policies that encourage prevention efforts and healthy-behavior promotion among boomers.

This new report adds urgency to the call for better health among boomers. Indeed, the costs of not taking action could be severe.

The new Census Bureau report shows that the average cost of a private room in a nursing home in 2010 was $83,585 a year—and less than one fifth of older men and women have the finances to live in a home for more than three years. Medicaid covers long-term care for qualified, low-income seniors, but as the number of people in that group grows, the costs will hurt.

“Most of the long-term care provided to older people today comes from unpaid family members and friends,” Richard Suzman, director of National Institute on Aging’s division of behavioral and social research, said in a statement. “Baby boomers had far fewer children than their parents. Combined with higher divorce rates and disrupted family structures, this will result in fewer family members to provide long-term care in the future.”

The findings highlight the need to make healthy changes early. And if we want to cut long-term healthcare costs in the future, Americans need to get healthier.

Summary: Though aging baby boomers are smoking and drinking less, a new U.S. Census Bureau report shows the vast majority of baby boomers are overweight or obese, which may cause diabetes and arthritis, among other conditions


Adele won big at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, but it was her new look that had people talking.

The curvy singer, who in the past has said she’s “proud” not to look like a model, appears quite slim in the video for “Send My Love (To Your New Lover),” which she premiered at the awards show.

Reports speculate that in recent months, the singer has dropped around 30 pounds from her 5-foot-9 frame, thanks to “The Sirtfood Diet,” a book released in the UK in January.

Adele’s longtime trainer, Pete Geracimo, is a fan of the meal plan, which focuses on foods that activate sirtuins — proteins in your body that studies have shown help regulate metabolism. Co-authors Glen Matten, a certified nutritionist who specializes in nutritional medicine, and Aidan Goggins, a nutritionist and pharmacist, call out 20 “sirtfoods” that are rich in sirtuin-activating polyphenols, which Matten says “mimic the effects of exercise and fasting.”

The foods are your typical healthy hitters. Dieters nosh on kale, strawberries, dates, olive oil and dark chocolate while drinking green tea, coffee and red wine, among other plant-based treats. Meat is not considered a sirtfood, but dieters are allowed to consume it; the plan focuses on adding sirtfoods to your diet but doesn’t prohibit other foods.

However, it does start out pretty strictly. For the first three days, dieters are limited to just 1,000 calories: one sirtfood-heavy meal recipe from the book (such as salmon with greens, or buckwheat noodles with tofu and vegetables) and three matcha- and kale-packed green juices. For the next four days, the daily allowance is increased to 1,500 calories, with two sirtfood-focused meals and two juices.

After that seven-day entry period, followers eat as many sirtfood-heavy meals as they like. Matten says that after the first week, the diet is more of a gradual shift than a total overhaul, and he hopes readers make small lifestyle changes instead of going all-out and failing. “Our ambition is that in the long term, people are adjusting diets to include these ingredients,” he says.

The results are pretty dramatic, and the weight loss is nearly immediate.

But, Matten says, the results are pretty dramatic, and the weight loss is nearly immediate. When he tested the plan on gym-goers, they lost an average of 7 pounds in those first seven days, he says, and looked more toned, thanks to the foods’ supposed muscle-boosting properties.

Although the sirtfood premise is alluring (who wouldn’t want to eat foods that shed pounds and boost muscle?), Grace Fjeldberg, a registered dietitian at the Mayo Clinic, says it’s too early to tell whether the science is accurate.

“The research is promising, and likely uncovers some of the mystery behind why plant-based diets are so beneficial,” Fjeldberg says, but more research is needed. Not everyone will see Adele-like results.

“We’re all very unique, and what our bodies need is going to be very different,” says Fjeldberg.

But, thankfully, most of us don’t have to worry about slimming down for our next music video or red carpet appearance.

Summary: Adele won big at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, but it was her new look that had people talking. The curvy singer, who in the past has said she’s “proud” not to look like a model, appears qu…


A scientist recently pointed me out to his colleagues. “That is not Carl Zimmer,” he declared.

The scientist was Mark Gerstein. He was sitting at a table in his office at Yale University, flanked by two members of his lab. “Really,” Gerstein said, pointing to a slim hard drive on the table, “this is Carl Zimmer.”

By “this,” he meant the sequence of my genome, which was being transferred from the drive onto a MacBook.

“I’m quite serious,” Gerstein said. “In about five minutes, he will be in this computer.”

I had come to Yale to give Gerstein and his colleagues my genome to explore. I wanted them to help me find out what was in there.

I was doing something far different than getting a conventional genetic test from a doctor or sending my spit to a genealogy company. Those tests typically only determine snippets of a person’s DNA, providing the sequence of less than 1 percent of the genome. Instead, I had gotten my entire genome sequenced and had then managed to get hold of all the raw data — the information that scientists use to understand how people’s genes help make them who they are.

If you could have read the data flowing into Gerstein’s MacBook, you would have seen a spreadsheet from hell. Each row contained a string of A’s, C’s, G’s, and T’s in various combinations, running a couple hundred letters long, accompanied by a few cells containing short numbers and codes. All told, there were 1.2 billion rows.

Watching my genome flow into Gerstein’s computer made me a little giddy. I began writing about DNA sequencing in the 1990s, at a time when sequencing the human genome — any human genome — seemed about as easy as a manned mission to Mars.

It took hundreds of scientists — and about $3 billion — to assemble the first human genome sequence in 2001. Since then, the cost of DNA sequencing has crashed, while the accuracy has skyrocketed. Scientists have now sequenced the genomes of an estimated 150,000 people.

Nevertheless, very few of the people who have their genomes sequenced get their hands on their own genomes. And those few people typically only get a highly filtered report. To get the raw data is almost unheard of. I am, to my knowledge, the first journalist, to do so.

Over the past several months, I enlisted Gerstein and two dozen other scientists to help me see what’s lurking in my own genome. They have volunteered their time and expertise, acting like scuba diving guides, leading me through undersea canyons.

The experience has revealed to me quite a lot about myself — but also, more importantly, about human genomes in general, and the advances scientists are making in understanding them.

Perhaps just as importantly, I’ve learned just how hard it remains for experts to make sense of anyone’s genome.

I had initially had my genome sequenced by Illumina, the leading manufacturer of DNA-sequencing machines.

The process was straightforward: An Illumina team took a sample of my blood, cracked open my blood cells, and then extracted their DNA.

But DNA can’t just be read from one end to the other. A human genome is so big that it would take too long. The DNA might also snap apart into pieces during the process.

Instead, Illumina team members do something counterintuitive: They smash the DNA into lots of fragments, make lots of copies of those fragments, read them all, and then try to put the sequences back together.

To do so, they take advantage of DNA’s own capacity to make copies of itself.

Each DNA molecule is actually a pair of strands assembled from building blocks known as bases. The bases are like the alphabet in which our genes are written. Instead of our 26-letter alphabet, there are only four different kinds of bases in DNA: A for adenine, T for thymine, C for cytosine, and G for guanine.

When our cells divide, they build a new copy of their DNA. They do so by splitting the old molecule into its two strands, and then building a new strand for each one. This process is remarkably simple. Each base can only pair with one other base: A with T, C with G. To read my DNA, Illumina mimicked this chemistry.

A few weeks after having my blood drawn and shipped off to Illumina, I got a call from a genetic counselor. She had my results back from Illumina.

Illumina found that I might not respond well to certain medications, but didn’t find any firm evidence that I suffered from a genetic disorder. I was also a carrier for two diseases, but they were based on mutations that were nothing for my family to worry about.

I felt relieved. But after the relief passed, the whole experience made my genome seem very boring. That seemed wrong.

Luckily, before I had my genome sequenced, I had an inkling that I would be let down. A few years ago, I was having lunch with some geneticists.

“You know what you should do someday? You should get your genome sequenced,” one declared. “But then you know what you should do? You should get your BAM file. If you do that, you can bring it to scientists like us. Then you can really see what’s going on.”

I didn’t have the courage at the time to admit that I didn’t know what a BAM file was. But now it was time to find out.

A BAM file, I learned, is all the raw data that comes out of genome sequencing. It’s a tremendous chunk of information, weighing in at 70 gigabytes, the equivalent of more than 400 feature-length movies. As big as it may be, nothing less will do for scientists who want to explore a genome in its full complexity.

Yet getting your own BAM file can be surprisingly hard.

Illumina, for example, states that it will provide BAM files “solely for use in clinical research.” It’s not surprising that companies like Illumina are wary of simply handing over BAM files to the public. Customers struggling to interpret a BAM file may mistakenly self-diagnose themselves and run after treatments they don’t need.

But all this caution puts curious people in a difficult spot.

For help, I turned to Robert Green, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School. Green is running a study called PeopleSeq, designed to find out how healthy people respond to getting their genome sequenced.

Most people in the study are only getting information about their genome filtered through their doctor. Some are looking at a carefully curated website that Illumina created. But Green had expanded the study to let participants get their hands on a hard drive with their own BAM file.

“We have created the protocol to return the hard drives, but have actually never done it yet!” he e-mailed me. “You might be the first.”

I joined the PeopleSeq study, and Green’s team then asked Illumina for the BAM file. They also had me sign a form stating that I understood that the data hadn’t undergone the quality checks that Illumina had used to generate my clinical report.

Months later, a UPS box arrived at my house. Inside was a tube of green bubble wrap, inside of which was a black fabric case shaped like a kidney bean. I unzipped the case, and inside I found a hard drive with a brushed-metal gleam. The process might be clunky, but it had worked.

I was ready to enlist scientists to look at my BAM file.

DNA sequencing is so familiar to us now, in the news and on TV crime shows, that it’s easy to get the impression that reading a genome is as simple as pulling a book off a shelf and thumbing through its pages. It is not.

“Biology is complex,” Konrad Karczewski, a young bioinformatics expert at the Broad Institute and the first scientist to examine my BAM file, told me. “We already knew that, but I don’t think I really appreciated how ridiculous the problem is until I started doing this.”

When Illumina sequenced my genome, what it actually did was read the sequence of 1.2 billion fragments of my DNA. At this stage, these fragments (known as reads) are like loose jigsaw puzzle pieces waiting to be put together. Some of those fragments also contain mistakes due to bad chemical reactions.

Scientists like Karczewski have a way to crack this puzzle called the human reference genome. It’s a highly accurate sequence of a single person’s genetic material. Since all people have relatively similar DNA, Karczewski could use the human reference genome to pinpoint the location of many of my own reads.

But because the reads are so short and the human genome is so long, Karczewski didn’t want to simply run a brute-force search for matches. That would have taken centuries to complete. Instead, using some shortcuts, Karczewski needed only 30 hours to figure out where most of the reads belonged.

Next, Karczewski stripped errors out of the reads. In one step in this cleansing, he took advantage of the fact that Illumina produces so many reads that they overlap on my genome many times over.

That redundancy allows Karczewski to spot the errors in DNA sequencing. If one read has an A at one spot, while the other 30 have a T at the same spot, you can safely conclude that my genome has a T there.

After two weeks of this scrubbing and fixing, Karczewski allowed the Broad Institute’s servers to write out my genome sequence.

When I went back to Cambridge and sat down with Karczewski, he opened a special kind of browser. Think of it as Google Chrome for DNA — one that showed me his reconstruction of my own genome.

To demonstrate to me how good it was, Karczewski navigated to a gene called HTT.

HTT is not just any gene. Certain mutations in HTT cause Huntington’s disease, a devastating disease that starts in middle age, leads to dementia, and ends with death. Unfortunately, these mutations can also be hard to recognize.

The problem with HTT is that the mutations strike a region of the gene that is made up of the bases C, A, and G, repeated over and over. Healthy people have a wide range of CAG repeats. It’s only when people get 37 or more in HTT that they are at risk of developing Huntington’s.

Repeating DNA is very hard to sequence accurately with short reads, because there aren’t any distinctive sequences to anchor them.

When Illumina sequenced my genome, it had not been able to reconstruct my HTT gene completely. Rather than make a bad guess, it simply left parts of it blank.

But now, thanks to Karczewski, I was looking at a complete sequence of my HTT gene. If I wanted to, I could just lean forward and count my CAG repeats.

“You know . . . I should have probably started with a crap-ton of genetic counseling before we did this,” Karczewski said.

Such are the risks you face when you take your genome into your own hands.

Nonetheless, I quickly did some bioethical calculations. It takes just one defective copy of HTT to cause Huntington’s disease. But none of my ancestors that I knew of suffered from the disorder, making it unlikely they could pass it down to me.

I was pretty confident that I would have a normal HTT gene. But in the unlikely event that I did have Huntington’s disease, I decided, I’d rather know now than wait to be horribly surprised.

The reference genome has 19 CAG repeats. We counted only 17 in mine.

If Karczewski’s reconstruction was accurate, then I don’t have to worry about developing Huntington’s disease.

Whole-genome sequencing is not yet accurate enough to serve as a reliable medical test for a particular disease like Huntington’s. People who have relatives with Huntington’s and want to see if they carry the mutation should get precise tests that determine only the sequence of HTT, ignoring the rest of the genome.

But just because whole-genome sequencing isn’t 100 percent accurate doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. And, thanks to the careful assembly by Karczewski and other scientists, I at last had a reconstruction of my genome that I could explore.

Summary: I had come to Yale to give Mark Gerstein and his colleagues my genome to explore. I wanted them to help me find out what was in there.


At Christmas many of us like to splash out on a bit of luxury, if we can afford it. And there is no shop that says “Christmas splurge” more than Fortnum & Mason, home to £5,000 hampers, a whole counter dedicated to serving candied fruit and two royal warrants.

At the other end of the grocery market is Iceland, which specialises in cheap, frozen ready meals, not least the famous doner kebab-topped pizza. Just 3.4 per cent of its customers come from the “middle class” AB socio-economic category, compared with 17 per cent at Tesco and over 50 per cent at Waitrose.

Its list of ingredients is alarmingly long, but in fact they were almost identical to Fortnum & Mason’s Iced Cherub Christmas Cake, which weighs slightly less, but costs distinctly more. In fact, it costs six times the price on a per-gram basis at £40, and weighing 1.1kg.

The main difference between the cakes was that the Fortnum’s one had thicker icing and marzipan, and tasted more strongly of alcohol.

We asked 25 members of the public out shopping near the Telegraph offices in central London which cake they prefered, without telling them the identity of the stores from which they came, nor their prices.

One of the passersby was Ben McCormack, a restaurant critic and editor of Square Meal magazine. He said of the Fortnum cake: “It’s a bit one-note, a bit synthetic”. After it was revealed that was his preferred choice the Iceland one, he said it was “well worth £7”.

Lorraine Kelly, the ITV presenter who happened to be shopping, said she prefered the Fortnum’s.

Many tasters said they could barely tell the difference between the two, but some pointed out that the Iceland cake was a bit more moist than its expensive rival. But at the end of the tasting session, Iceland were the winners, with 14 votes compared with Fortnum’s 11.

Which proves neatly, that when it comes to Christmas cheap and cheerful is sometimes best.

Also watch Harry Wallop's Aldi's finest versus Waitrose's Heston Blumenthal's mince pies:

Summary: Harry Wallop gets 25 members of the public, including Lorraine Kelly, to taste   a £7 Iceland Christmas cake and a £40 one from Fortnum and Mason


Shark deterrent technology will be installed on five NSW south coast beaches before summer, the state government has announced.

The 4G listening stations, which provide real-time updates and the movements of tagged sharks, will be installed at Kiama, Sussex Inlet, Mollymook, Batemans Bay and Merimbula.

If a tagged shark swims within 500m of the device, an alert will be issued with the location.

Five more listening station are also planned for Crescent Head, Old Bar, Hawks Nest, Redhead and Bondi, adding to the 10 already installed between Tweed and Forster.

"When it comes to preventing shark attacks we need to give beachgoers better information, and the fact that listening stations provide real time information of sharks' movements means people can make informed decisions before getting into the water," Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said in a statement on Wednesday.

Summary: Five beaches along the NSW south coast will get 4G listening stations that detect tagged sharks, as part of a $16m shark management strategy.


Barron Hilton, 80, whose father Conrad founded the Hilton Hotel chain in 1919, will donate most of his fortune to the Conrad N Hilton Foundation. Only three per cent - $69 million - will be left to his heirs.

Paris, who had stood to inherit an estimated $100 million, will now receive about $5 million after tax.

Mr Hilton, the chairman of the foundation, said he was "proud to follow my father's example". On his death, in 1979, Conrad Hilton left 97 per cent of his money to the foundation he had founded in 1944. But his son challenged the will and reached an accord dividing ownership of the shares with the foundation.

Paris had no immediate comment. According to Forbes magazine, the socialite earned $6.5 million last year.

There have been conflicting reports about her relationship with her grandfather, who is said to be embarrassed by Paris, who gained notoriety for an internet sex tape and was jailed for probation violation in a drink-driving case.

Other reports say he is impressed by her money-making abilities.

Summary: The future fortune of Paris Hilton, the hotel heiress, has taken a hit after her grandfather said that he would give 97 per cent of his $2.3 billion (£1.15 billion) wealth to charity.


The unverified amateur video appears to confirm that Colonel Gaddafi's son Mutassim was killed after being captured alive by National Transitional Council forces, just like his father.

Footage shows Mutassim propped up on the back of a truck following his seizure in Sirte. Later, Mutassim, whilst clearly injured, is seen to sit up and then stand before apparently being led to an alternative vehicle.

The video, like the clip of his father Muammar Gaddafi being manhandled following his capture, is sure to prompt questions about the death of Mutassim and whether it could have been avoided.

Summary: Colonel Gaddafi's son Mutassim, who was seized by NTC fighters along with his   father in Sirte and has since been pronounced dead, is filmed alive   following his capture


Europe’s biggest oil producer, Royal Dutch Shell RDSA , reported a hefty $8.2 billion charge Thursday, equivalent to around 5% of its market value, as it wrote off uneconomic projects in the Alaskan Arctic and Canada.

The write-off is even bigger than the $7.5 billion charge taken by Germany’s Volkswagen AG VLKAY to cover the cost of its diesel emissions scandal, and underlines how investments in marginal, high-cost projects have been ravaged by the collapse in crude prices over the last year.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major’s third-quarter current cost of supplies earnings, the company’s definition of net income, came in at $1.8 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion and 70% lower than a year ago.

“In headline terms, this was a challenging quarter,” said Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry in a video statement.

However, Shell said its bumper $70 billion deal to acquire smaller gas-focused rival BG Group Plc BGG remained on track for completion early next year, as it awaits regulatory approvals from China and Australia.

“The underlying performance does give us confidence to capture the significant value that is available in the BG combination and over time we will deliver that value back to shareholders,” Henry said.

Shell’s $8.2 billion charge included a $2.6 billion write-off due to its withdrawal from the Alaskan Arctic, as well as an additional $2 billion charge made on the Carmon Creek oil sands project in Canada, which the company suspended on Tuesday. It also reflected other impairment charges of $3.7 billion triggered by the downward revision of the long-term oil and gas price outlook.

Shell’s London-listed A shares were down 1.8% at 0725 ET.

Shell’s upstream oil and gas production division, swung to a loss for the first time in years. Its downstream refining and marketing division, however, benefited from weak prices to run refineries more profitably, with its net income up 46% at $2.6 billion.

“It’s a rather messy set of results, but it’s what I expected given some of the portfolio steps they have taken and it cleans up the balance sheet in advance of the BG merger,” said Jason Gammel, oil and gas equity analyst at Jefferies.

Italian rival ENI E also announced a huge hit from weak oil prices on Thursday, reporting a net loss in the latest quarter, while French group Total TOT fared better than expected and raised its production forecast.

Unlike some of its rivals, Shell made no further change to its $30 billion capital expenditure forecast for this year, which it cut earlier in the year from $35 billion.

More information on Shell’s strategy is expected at a management briefing next Tuesday.

Summary: Shell swings to a massive 3Q loss after painful exits from Alaska and Canada.


The Russian Prime Minister, who is often filmed engaged in apparently daring adventures, emerged from the water with an urn from the 6th century BC.

"It's my trophy," he said as he walked towards the waiting cameras.

The trip took place seven months ahead of Russia's presidential elections, when Putin is expected to stand for election.

Neither Putin nor incumbent President Dmitry Medvedev have declared their intention to stand, but there is strong speculation that Putin will seek the presidency again.

Summary: Wearing a wetsuit and showing off his scuba diving skills Vladimir Putin   collects ancient artefacts from the bottom of the Black Sea as he continues   to portray an action man image to the Russian public.


Dozens of civilians have been killed inÂ US-led air strikes against areas in Syria held by the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), a monitoring group said.

At least 56 civilians, including 11 children, were killed in air strikes on the Tokhar area in the northern city of Manbij in the Aleppo governate on Tuesday, according to theÂ Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Ten others, including four children, were killed in coalition strikes on the village of Hamira, in the southern suburbs of Manbij.

The UK-based Observatory has put the total number of civilians killed by coalition strikes on Manbij since the Democratic Forces of Syria (DFS) launched their campaign there at the end of May, at 167.

Among the dead were about 44 children, 17 women and eight prisoners, the Observatory said. Â

"The US central command has confirmed to Al Jazeera that it was conducting air strikes in the area and says it needs to investigate allegations of whether civilians were injured or killed in this incident," Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, said.Â

READ MORE: Syria Civil War - 'The sky is falling in Aleppo'

Director of the Observatory Rami Abdel-Rahman told German news agencyÂ DPA:Â "We believe that the raids which were carried out Tuesday were by US [or] allied planes, but it was by mistake."Â

@TimInHonolulu We're aware of these reports. Reviewing all information we have to determine credibility & next appropriate steps 1/2

Residents in the area say the death toll could be upwards of 200.

"It seems that the Syrian Democratic Forces under the leadership of the International coalition which is in charge of planning have decided to adopt a scorched earth policy," Hasan al-Nifi, a community leader in Manbij, told Al Jazeera.Â

"Manbij is full of residents, a quarter of a million residents, used by ISIL as human shields. Yesterday the coalition struck al-Zahuna neighbourhood, where more than 23 people were killed. Then it struck the western gate of the city, killing people.Â "Today the residents of Tokhar woke to a horrific massacre. The death toll rose to 212 and the numbers are rising."

The Manbij area has seen intense US-led air strikes in support of Kurdish-led forces who are trying to seize the city from ISIL, so as to block the armed group's access to the nearby Turkish border.

The SDF, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters backed by the US, launched an offensive against ISIL to retake the city of Manbij late last month.

They have besieged the town and are advancing to the city centre under the cover of air strikes by the US-led international coalition.Â

ISIL has held the city since 2014, the year that the armed group seized control of large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and declared its "caliphate".

On Monday, Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said a driver who works for the agency in Syria was killed after suffering a shrapnel wound in the northern city of Aleppo.

Gunness said Yaser Mahmoud Shuaeeb, a 45-year-old father of six, died on Sunday.

Aleppo has witnessed some of the worst fighting in Syria over the past months. On Sunday, government forces besieged rebel-held neighbourhoods of the contested city.

READ MORE: Pressure mounts in Aleppo after supply line cut

Gunness said that UNRWA reported two other incidents on Sunday.

In one, a mortar shell landed 600 metres from the UN agency's office in Damascus. In the other, a missile hit close to the Nairab refugee camp south of Aleppo. The incidents caused no injuries, he said.

The death toll in the Syrian conflict, which began with mostly unarmed demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, has risen to more than 280,000 people, while half the country's population have been forced from their homes, according to UN estimates.

Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy to Syria, estimated last month that the actual death toll could be as high as 400,000 people.

Source:Â Al Jazeera and agencies

Summary: Coalition strikes on northern Manbij kill 56 civilians, bringing death toll to 167 in past two months, monitor says.


The drought-stricken city of Wichita Falls could soon give its residents more bad news.

Even though the 100,000 residents of this northwest Texas city have substantially cut their water use, their dry lawns may no longer continue to save them money on their water bills. Instead, they will be asked to pay more; the city lost $4.5 million in water sales last year because of the conservation efforts.

“It’s tough to tell the consumer that ‘Yeah, well, you guys did a great job out there conserving water, but lo and behold, we got hurt financially, so we’ve got to raise your rates,’ ” the assistant city manager, Jim Dockery, said.

Wichita Falls, whose total rainfall over the last three years was 33 inches below normal, is not alone in its water conservation conundrum. Several Texas cities have collectively lost tens of millions of dollars by restricting outdoor water use, which has been a main source of revenue. At the same time, most of their expenses, like paying off debt and infrastructure maintenance, have increased, forcing utilities to raise rates for everyone, regardless of their water use.

The losses have prompted credit ratings agencies to look closer at the finances of public utilities in Texas. One agency, Fitch, downgraded some of Fort Worth’s water and sewer debt last year, and last week the firm downgraded the debt of the city’s wholesale water supplier. Fort Worth lost $11 million last year because of water conservation.

“This business is extremely weather-dependent,” said Mary Gugliuzza, the Fort Worth water utility’s spokeswoman. Rainy summers can also hurt a city’s bottom line because residents do not need to water their lawns as much.

Fort Worth’s goal, like that of many other cities in Texas, is to change its rate structure to avoid such ups and downs. Today, about 17 percent of the utility’s revenue comes from fixed monthly charges that all water customers pay regardless of how much they use; by 2018, Ms. Gugliuzza said, 25 percent of its revenue will come from such charges. Mr. Dockery said Wichita Falls is considering a similar transition.

Still, the changes will be hard to swallow politically. Consumers have underpaid for water for decades, said Sharlene Leurig, a program director at Ceres, a nonprofit sustainability advocacy group with which many Texas cities have consulted on water rate structures.

“People truly don’t understand that the cost of having reliable water is not the cost of the water itself,” Ms. Leurig said. “It’s the cost of all the infrastructure you have to put in place to provide that water reliably and safely.”

Wichita Falls is spending about a million dollars on a pipeline that will deliver treated wastewater to a large manufacturing company, and the city will lose an additional $100,000 a year by selling the reused water at a discount.

“We’re paying to save water, is what we’re doing,” Mr. Dockery said. He added that the city has had to defer important maintenance projects because of the lost revenue.

Cities across Texas hope that utility revenues will bounce back once the rain returns. But even if the drought lifts, officials know that water users’ habits have changed. They will never be the water-guzzlers they might have once been.

While that is good news for conservationists, the phenomenon that credit ratings agencies call a “drought shadow” will result in higher costs for all users, even the most water-conscious.

A version of this article appears in print on February 9, 2014, on page A29A of the National edition with the headline: Texans Answer Call to Save Water, Only to Face Higher Rates. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: Several Texas cities have lost tens of millions of dollars by restricting water use, a main source of revenue, and they are now raising rates to offset the losses.


A scooter with a wooden chopping board tied to it is the latest item linked to the death of a woman whose body was found in a suitcase in Perth's Swan River.

Despite the body being found on July 2, the woman is yet to be identified.

Police divers retrieved the Blade scooter and Maxwell & Williams timber chopping board from the same location as the tiles found last month, which matched the tiles found inside the suitcase.

Police are urging anyone who may have seen suspicious activity near the Fremantle Traffic Bridge between June 27 and July 1 to come forward.

The victim was between 30 and 50-years-old, 160cm tall, 59kg, had a red shade in her hair and was wearing a Kathmandu vest and Tokyo Disneyland t-shirt.

She had tattooed eyebrows and dental work, including a crown on her top front left tooth that made it lighter than the rest of her teeth.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tom Mills said people might not know her by name, but may have seen her around.

"If she does (look familiar), we urge you to come forward and tell us where you recognise her from, and the last time you saw her," he said.

Summary: A scooter with a chopping board tied to it has been connected to a body found in a suitcase in the Swan River in Perth.


The FBI has identified Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, as the gunman who killed four Marines and wounded three others in attacks on military centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Thursday. The gunman was shot dead by police the same morning.

Officials said Abdulazeez was not on any terror watch lists, although he was arrested on April 21 for driving under the influence according to a Hamilton County Jail booking report. U.S. attorney Bill Killian told reporters that officials were treating the attacks as an act of “domestic terrorism.”

Although the investigation is still at an early stage, Abdulazeez appears to be a “lone wolf” acting without clear links to terrorist groups. Experts say lone wolves are likely to suffer from social isolation and mental health problems, but those who knew Abdulazeez have described him as “a good kid”, a handsome, outgoing, polite young man.

Here’s what we know so far about Abdulazeez:

– He was of Jordanian descent and was born in Kuwait in 1990, according to a federal official quoted in the New York Times. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen after moving to the country with his mother, who is from Kuwait, and father Youssuf Abdulazeez, who is Palestinian, reported the SITE Intelligence Group.

– The family moved to a two-storey house in the middle-class, suburban neighborhood of Hixson, Tennessee, a short distance from Chattanooga. Hixson police are currently searching the house for evidence. Neighbors told reporters Abdulazeez and his siblings were well-behaved and polite.

–The New York Times cited unnamed law officials saying Abdulazeez’s father was briefly subject to investigations some years ago in relation to possible ties to a foreign terrorist group but his name was later removed from a terror watch list.

—Counterterrorism officials are investigating a trip Abdulazeez took to Jordan in 2014 that lasted seven months, people familiar with the investigation told the Wall Street Journal. Officials are examining whether anything that occurred on the trip contributed to Abdulazeez’s act of violence.

– Abdulazeez graduated from Red Bank High School, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The young man’s senior yearbook page read: “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do? –Hijabman”

– Karan Wagner, who attended high school with Abdulazeez, called him friendly, funny and kind and added that his family seemed normal. “I never would have thought it would would be him,” she told the Chattanooga Free Press. “They were your average Chattanooga family.”

– Another high-school friend agreed. Terry Jones, a 25-year-old engineer from Knoxville, described Abdulazeez a sociable, smart and having a sharp sense of humour. He also noted that Abdulazeez was deeply religious, observing prayers five times a day and fasting during Ramadan. “He had a really easy-to-get-along-with personality,” said Jones to the LA Times. “He was kind of the funny guy in … class.” Jones never knew Abdulazeez to drink, smoke or do drugs.

– Muscular and over six feet tall, Abdulazeez wrestled during his last two years of high school. His wrestling coach, Kevin Emily, told the LA Times that he was popular, humble and had many friends. “He always did what I asked him to do; he never gave me any problems,” said Emily, “All the guys seemed to like him. He was not an outsider.”

– Abdulazeez was also an amateur mixed martial arts fighter. Chet Blalock, owner of Blalock International Mixed Martial Arts Academy, told the Times that some of his students trained with Abdulazeez. “He was a tough guy, he wouldn’t tap out; he elected to pass out,” said Blalock. A clip online shows Abdulazeez defeating Timmy Hall in a 2009 fight.

– According to a resumé posted online, Abdulazeez graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Tennessee in 2012 and was searching for work as an electrical engineer as recently as March, when the resumé was updated.

– Little is known about Abdulazeez’s motives and if or when he became radicalized. He does, however, appear to have shown more signs of religiosity in recent months. Dr. Azhar S. Sheikh, a founding board member of the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga, told the Times that Abdulazeez began to regularly attend Friday prayers at the mosque a couple of months ago, but showed no signs of extremism.

– According to the SITE Intelligence Group, Abdulazeez maintained a blog containing two posts focused on Islam, both published July 13. The first used the metaphor of a prison to demonstrate the need of studying one’s faith in order to be rewarded after death and quoted a hadith calling the world “a prison for the believer and a paradise for the unbeliever.”

“Don’t let the society we live in deviate you from the task at hand,” the author M.Y. Abdulazeez wrote, adding: “This life is short and bitter and the opportunity to submit to Allah may pass you by.”

The blog also urged Muslims to not listen to “other prisoners”, including so-called ‘scholars’ or even your own family members. It may be a reference to the Muslim clerics who speak out against militant violence and relatives who may have tried to intervene in Abdulazeez’s life.

– The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was “enhancing the security posture at certain federal facilities, out of an abundance of caution.”

Read next: The rise of the lone wolf terrorist

Listen to the most important stories of the day

Summary: The 24-year-old engineering graduate opened fire at two military facilities in Chattanooga killing four marines


Cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win eight Olympic medals with victory in the team pursuit in a new world record time.

Wiggins, 36, has five golds, one silver and two bronzes to surpass fellow cyclist Sir Chris Hoy's tally of seven.

He combined with Ed Clancy, Owain Doull and Steven Burke to complete the 4km race in three minutes 50.265 seconds to beat Australia by almost a second.

"It was gold or nothing. I'll be hungover tomorrow," said Wiggins.

"I'm trying to soak it all up. It was a horrible race to be in. It's over in a flash.

"It's a relief. Eighteen months ago there were doubts about whether I could come back and do this."

Asked whether he will now retire, the 2012 Tour de France winner said: "My kids need a proper dad in their lives. My wife needs a proper husband.

"I wanted to go out on top, and it was one of the best finals ever. Hats off to the Australians.

"I'm not doing Tokyo 2020. I'm happy and content with everything I've achieved."

GB's second track gold of the Games, following the men's team sprint victory, came in thrilling fashion, as world champions Australia led by 0.7 seconds at the halfway mark, before GB reeled them in and then pulled away in the final 500m to win by 0.83 seconds.

It cemented Britain's recent dominance in this event at the Olympics, having won gold at the past three Games. Wiggins was part of the 2008 success, but focused on the road to take time-trial gold at London 2012.

Clancy and Burke were part of the team that set a new world record at London 2012 and, along with Doull and Wiggins, sent that mark tumbling twice in Rio - in the semi-final victory over New Zealand and then again in the final.

Australia came into the contest on the back of a victory over Britain at the World Championships in March, but Wiggins said at the time he would "put my house" on his team claiming gold in Rio - and he was proven right.

Denmark won the bronze medal-race against New Zealand while, earlier in the session, Britain's defending individual sprint champion Jason Kenny progressed to the second round, where he will be joined by team-mate Callum Skinner.

Clancy, 31, now a three-time Olympic gold medallist, said: "This is the best gold of them all. If truth be told we haven't won a fat deal between London and now.

"We had some big downs and crossing the line there has made every single pedal revolution and every training session worthwhile."

Welshman Owain Doull, 23, said: "It's surreal. To pull it off now is unbelievable."

Burke, 28, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, said: "I really wanted to defend the title. It all came together at the right time. We've got the best team ever."

Wiggins celebrated with hugs for BBC Sport pundits Hoy and Sir Steve Redgrave - three Britons who have 21 Olympic medals between them - before performing an impression of British sprint cyclist Philip Hindes and sticking his tongue out during the national anthem on the podium.

Wiggins' tally of five gold medals is still one fewer than Hoy's six, with the Scot winning all of his on the track, but he draws level with rower Redgrave.

Sir Chris Hoy, six-time Olympic track cycling gold medallist: "Sticking his tongue out during the medal ceremony showed what a release of pressure it was. He's happy, relaxed and loving the moment.

"He's the greatest British cyclist of all time because of what he's done across the board in so many disciplines. Chris Froome has won three Tours de France, which is no mean feat, but Bradley has won road world titles, Tour de France, track titles and set the world hour time record.

"Tonight hasn't really changed that because he was the greatest before tonight."

Sir Steve Redgrave, five-time Olympic rowing gold medallist: "It was fantastic to be here. The atmosphere was very special. I wanted to be here to see the team pursuit win and to see Brad win.

"I admire him so much. For his character - he's very different, fresh and special.

"I am getting annoyed these cyclists are pushing me down the list!"

British Olympic Association chief executive Bill Sweeney: "Amazing, fantastic achievement. Our most decorated Olympian of all time and to do it in that fashion, one of the tightest men's pursuits you are ever likely to see.

"He is a great leader, fantastic athlete. He keeps coming back, the ultimate professional, always staying in shape and he inspires people to come in the sport and do the same."

Wiggins' move to the top of the combined British medal charts comes in the event in which he claimed his first Olympic medal 16 years ago.

Aged 20, Wiggins joined Paul Manning, Chris Newton and Bryan Steel to take team pursuit bronze at Sydney 2000.

He added three more in Athens four years later, taking individual pursuit gold, team pursuit silver and Madison bronze with Rob Hayles.

Beijing 2008 produced double gold in the individual pursuit and team pursuit and, with 10 world track medals to his name, Wiggins opted to change discipline and prove his skills on the road.

It was a spectacularly successful move, culminating in 2012 when he became Britain's first Tour de France winner and then took Olympic time-trial gold at the London Games 10 days later. He is the only cyclist to win both the Tour and an Olympic gold in the same year.

Wiggins' celebrity was launched in Britain, not only for his superb victories, but for his cool, laid-back demeanour. The trademark sideburns and his penchant for the mod style, made famous by bands such as The Who and The Jam, contributed to "Wiggomania" in the summer of 2012, as did his vibe of working-class boy done good.

His popularity with the British public was reflected by his BBC Sports Personality of the Year victory in 2012 and in the next year he was knighted to become Sir Bradley, although he admitted he felt "a little bit inferior" to others who received the title.

The relationship with Team Sky, with whom he won his Tour title, would become strained as Chris Froome's emergence pushed him to the sidelines, but he won the World Championships time trial title in 2014 before moving back to track racing and breaking the gruelling one-hour record.

Earlier this year he won a second Madison track world title with long-time friend and team-mate Mark Cavendish, before sealing his legacy as one of Britain's greatest ever Olympians by helping GB to team pursuit gold at Rio 2016, claiming the fifth gold of his career.

Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox.

Summary: Sir Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British athlete to win eight Olympic medals as GB win team pursuit gold.