Athens, Greece - Clothes and blankets hang-dry from the windows of two abandoned Olympic sports venues and on the chain-linked fence surrounding the perimeter of the Elliniko refugee camp on the outskirts of the Greek capital.

As the United Nations commemorates World Refugee Day on Monday, many Elliniko residents say they are struggling with overcrowding, unsanitary food and a lack of adequate medical services amid soaring illnesses in the camp.

More than 3,600 people from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere are stuck in the Elliniko camp in three impromptu sites: the baseball and hockey stadiums, as well as the arrival hall in the deserted airport

A sign at the parking lot's entrance reads: "Hockey. Baseball. Refugees."

While dozens queue for the food distribution in the hockey stadium, 15-year-old Marzia Kamali holds up a putrid portion of half-cooked rice topped with a few lentils and peas.

Along with her parents and younger sister, she fled Afghanistan and arrived in Elliniko five months ago.

They sleep on thin blankets on the concrete floor of a crowded corridor with dozens of others, while many of the camp's small children lie under the shade on the metal terraces when the tents get too hot.

In most camps, including Elliniko, the Greek army provides food, while the government is responsible for medical services. Numerous aid organisations also provide support.

Earlier this week, Marzia was sent to the hospital for what she says was food poisoning.

"We become very dizzy when we open the food," she says of the odor. "It's not for humans."

She continues: "We just want the borders to open so we can go. We didn't come here for food. We escaped from the Taliban, and we want to go somewhere to get some peace."

Because people waiting for asylum applications to be processed are barred from working, Marzia's family and most others have completely run out of money, leaving them unable to buy their own food from supermarkets.

"All the children grow sicker every day," she adds, arguing that authorities have failed to provide enough milk for the camp's high number of young children. "When we came hereâ¦ we saw that Afghan people are not [treated as] humans."

READ MORE: Refugee life at Greece's Hara HotelÂ

More than 57,000 refugees and migrants are bottlenecked in Greece, largely due to Macedonia's border closure in March following an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to send many of those fleeing war and economic devastation back to Turkey.

First suggested as a refugee site by the Greek government in December 2015, officials have stated their intent to clear out Elliniko in the near future.

As the summer day wears on, people try to sleep in the dozens of camping tents that fill each of the four, larger UN tents standing in the hockey stadium's parking lot.

On the hockey pitch, young Afghan boys fly a kite under the blazing sun, while others kick a football back and forth.

The kite flies high, flutters against the afternoon sky and nosedives into the terraces as two children bicker over its handle.

In April, a 17-year-old Afghan girl, who had previously suffered from rheumatic fever, died in the camp, prompting residents to accuse the government of partial responsibility.Â

Residents of the camp say access to better healthcare and more sanitary living conditions could prevent more potential deaths, as well as slow the spread of illnesses in Elliniko.

Speaking to the parliament last month, Yiannis Mouzalas, immigration policy minister,Â said the government plans to evict refugees from Elliniko, local media reported.Â

"Conditions at Elliniko are not unsuitable, but they are not good and certainly not the conditions we should have for refugees and migrants," he said.

A Greek government spokesperson for refugee affairs did not reply to Al Jazeera's request for a comment.Â

Acknowledging the government's efforts to make living conditions better, Stella Nanou of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, argues that Elliniko's three sites ought to be further improved "or there needs to be new solutions for accommodation".

Inside the hockey stadium, large mounds of rubbish dot the corridors and dirty water oozes from under the washrooms' doors.

Mohamed Asif, a 19-year-old who English teacher from Kabul, made the one-month journey to Greece five months ago.

Hoping to make it to France, he was sent back to the Elliniko camp after being turned away at the Macedonian border.

The young man has requested dental treatment for an abscessed tooth for several weeks, he says, opening his mouth and pointing to the infected molar.

Overwhelmed by the number of people in need of attention, the camp's medical staff told him to simply take Ibuprofen and wait at least two months for treatment.

"I just need it pulled," he says, shaking his head disappointedly and adding that he cannot afford to pay for the operation on his own. "We don't have money to even get water."

READ MORE: Anger on Greek islands as refugee registration stallsÂ

A group of children sit on the floor and study the English alphabet behind him, as other residents restlessly mull around the stadium.

Nineteen-year-old Sweeta Yousafzai, who made the trek from Afghanistan with her two sisters earlier this year, says requests for better food have fallen on deaf ears.

"They say to go and buy [food], and that 'We didn't invite you to come to Greece.'"

Both Sweeta and Mohamed have received one-year permits to stay in Greece, but they worry that they will be made to live in similar conditions even if they are moved from Elliniko.

In a third-floor room in the hockey stadium, 52-year-old Abdul Hakim, who was an office manager in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif, says that his asthma has worsened due to the overcrowding and dirty conditions.

"We had good lives in Afghanistan, but we escaped from the Taliban's killing," he tells Al Jazeera, pointing to the corner where he, his wife and six children now sleep.

"Now you see the situation we are living in here."

Around the stadium, tents sit closely to one another inside and outside other buildings. A family sits around a small fire, cooking on a frying pan.

Above them, an abandoned restaurant is crowned with a sign advertising Heineken beer.

Nasim Lomani, a 35-year-old member of the Athens-based Solidarity Initiative for Political and Economic Refugees activist group, came to Europe from Afghanistan as a child refugee 23 years ago.

Criticising the Greek government's decision to put camps on the city's outskirts, Lomani says that there are more than 4,000 empty buildings in Athens which could serve as accommodation for refugees.

"We never believed there is a refugee crisis; there is a European crisis to manage refugees," Lomani tells Al Jazeera.

"If [the government] wants to continue hiding them, they'll have to close the doors to the camps - and then you have another kind of problem with sicknesses. More children will die."

Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_

Summary: More than 3,600 refugees live in poor conditions in abandoned Olympic stadiums and an old airport in Athens.


The '90s were a perfect chunk of time that had the best music, TV and of course, movies.

SEE ALSO: Here's what Coconut Head from 'Ned's Declassified' looks like today

We had films like "Titanic," "Home Alone," and "The Lion King," all of which shaped our childhood for the better. One movie that most definitely made a lasting memory in all of our millennial minds was the hilarious "Heavyweights."

For those that don't remember, "Heavyweights" was a movie about a group of overweight kids who attend a fat camp, just to find out that the facility is actual hell. The camp is run by a psycho ex-fitness instructor, played by Ben Stiller and hilarity and mayhem ensue.

One of our favorite characters from the '90s hit was Gerry Garner, played by Aaron Schwartz. Gerry, front and center in the salmon colored T-shirt up above, was one of the young men visiting the camp.

Here he is pouring honey on one of the "camp counselors" alongside "Saturday Night Live's" Kenan Thompson. After a trip down memory lane, we started thinking, what does Gerry look like now?

Lucky for you, we found out what he's been up to and you are going to be SO happy we did -- just take a scroll below.

So yeah, you're welcome. Aaron has been busy since the 1995 film, having appeared in "Guiding Light," "Gossip Girl" as Vanya and has a few more projects in the works!

He also doesn't mind throwing it back with these Insta posts.

And of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't also mention that Aaron was a part of the other '90s cult kids movie, "Mighty Ducks!"

We leave you with this last picture of Aaron Schwartz while we go follow him on Instagram.

Check out more '90s stars you may have forgot about!

Gerry from 'Heavyweights' is no longer heavy, but super hot and ripped

Taran Noah Smith as Mark Taylor on "Home Improvement"

(ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images)

As Mark Taylor on the hit ABC sitcom "Home Improvement" Smith was often on the receiving end of major bullying and trickery at the hands of his older brothers Brad (Zackery Ty Bryan) and Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) until he finally went goth and had everyone in the Taylor household sleeping with one eye open. Since those days he’s stayed pretty much off the radar with a few appearances at events such as the TV Land Awards back in 2009.

(Gregg DeGuire via Getty Images)

Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner on "Roseanne"

(ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images)

As D.J. Conner on "Roseanne," Fishman will always be remembered for the episode where he did some serious self-discovery and found the results both gratifying and physically exhausting. And, in the years since playing D.J. (and playing with himself), Fishman has continued to pursue acting, with roles in the 2001 film "A.I," and more recently in, "Undrafted."

(Paul Archuleta via Getty Images)

Andrea Barber as Kimmy Gibler on "Full House"

(ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images)

As one of the most annoying characters in the sitcom history, Kimmy Gibler drove the entire Tanner household up a wall with her antics. Yet, as D.J.’s best friend, she always showed she had a kind heart when it really mattered. Since her time on "Full House" Barber hasn’t been in front of the camera much, but that could change if rumors of the 2015 "Full House" revival turn out to be true.

(Jason Merritt via Getty Images)

Josh Saviano as Paul Pfeiffer on "The Wonder Years"

(ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images)

Before there was Sheldon Cooper there was Paul Pfeiffer, who as a prepubescent youth enjoyed a boyhood bromance with Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) during the 1960’s and ‘70s, at a time when the world was immersed in the Vietnam War and the hippie revolution. Since then Saviano has been a bit of a recluse, choosing to remain out of the spotlight.

Madylin Sweeten, Sawyer Sweeten, Sullivan Sweeten as Ali, Geoffrey & Michael Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (Ron Galella via Getty Images)

For the Sweeten siblings, being cast as the Barone children Ali, Geoffrey, and Michael, on the CBS smash "Everybody Loves Raymond," gave them the chance to show off their family chemistry and talents to audiences around the world. Since those days Madylin has worked on several projects, including the films "Eagle Eye" and the soon to be released, S"pare Change," while her twin brothers have kept a lower profile out of the spotlight.

(Michael Kovac via Getty Images)

Marques Houston as Roger on "Sister, Sister"

As little Roger Evans on Sister, Sister, Houston’s hormones were always on overdrive when it came to his fondness for Tia and Tamera. Since then thanks to his successful music career first as a member of the group Immature and then as a solo R&B artist, Houston hasn’t had to do too much chasing when it comes to women.

(Araya Diaz via Getty Images)

Jenna Von Oy as Six LeMeure on "Blossom"

Von Oy showed she had plenty of personality when she played Six, the oddball, bestie to the equally odd, socially awkward "Blossom." After that show ended, she found new life as Stevie Van Lowe on the UPN comedy "The Parkers," where she got a chance to do some blossoming of her own and show more of her funny side. Her most recent project was 2012’s "Lukewarm."

(David Livingston via Getty Images)

Max Casella as Vinny Delpino on "Doogie Howser, M.D."

(Ron Galella via Getty Images)

On "Doogie Howser, M.D.," Casella played a weird, horny teenager who lived in the shadow of his pal Dr. Howser. He would then go on to play the gritty role of a soldier in the mob family of one Anthony Soprano on hit HBO series "The Sopranos" and more recently took his gangster to the next level with a role as Leo D’Alessio in "Boardwalk Empire."

(Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images)

Ashley Johnson as Chrissy Seaver on "Growing Pains"

(ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images)

Johnson played the adorable Chrissy Seaver from 1990-1992. After the show ended she appeared on several other sitcoms including "Wings" and "Roseanne." More recently she shed her wholesome image for more grown up roles in the series’ "Masters of Sex" and "Garfunkel and Oates."

(Paul Archuleta via Getty Images)

Andrew Lawrence as Andrew on "Brotherly Love"

(Ron Galella, Ltd. via Getty Images)

As the younger brother of former teen heartthrobs Joey and Matthew Lawrence, Andrew knew he’d eventually follow in their footsteps. He did that a lot earlier than many people expected, when in one of his first roles at age 6 he played a young Joey on an episode of "Blossom." Since then he’s enjoyed success on show’s including "Brotherly Love," "Oliver Beene," "Bones" and "Melissa & Joey."

(Jeffrey Mayer via Getty Images)

Marcus T. Paulk as Myles on "Moesha"

By the time Paulk landed the role of Myles on "Moesha" he had already appeared on a number of shows including, Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Grace Under Fire. After five seasons playing Brandy’s little brother he went on to appear in a number of films including "Roll," "Bounce" and "Take the Lead," and most recently in the critically acclaimed "Red Tails" (2012).

(Mike Coppola via Getty Images)

Deion Richmond as "Bud" on "The Cosby Show" (New York Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

For years Richmond was known to millions of "Cosby Show" fans as Rudy’s kind-hearted, misguided best friend Kenny aka “Bud;” a youngster whose chauvinistic views on women often landed him in the crosshairs of Rudy’s mother. After the series ended, he continued acting on the show "Sister, Sister" (1997) and in the comedy "Not Another Teen Movie" (2001). More recently he appeared in an episode of USA network hit series "Psych."

(Ethan Miller via Getty Images)

Bryton James as Little Richie on "Family Matters"

(ABC Photo Archives via Getty Images)

As the youngest cast member on the hit ABC sitcom "Family Matters," James didn’t get many storylines thrown his way, but after the show ended he continued on with his career and in 2004 landed a highly coveted role on the CBS soap "The Young and the Restless" where he has remained ever since.

(Tommaso Boddi via Getty Images)

Summary: One movie that most defintiely made a lasting memory in all of our millennial minds was the hilarious 'Heavyweights.'


One afternoon in late January, prominent New York restaurateurs, including Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio, took the stage at the Ford Foundation to celebrate the release of a new book by Saru Jayaraman, an outspoken leader in the food labor movement.

It was not an obvious pairing. “Forked: A New Standard for American Dining,” paints a grim picture of the food business today: Millions of service industry employees live in poverty, most big restaurants are not great employers, and many still pay servers $2.13 an hour, the federal minimum for workers who receive tips. But the book also makes the case that restaurants can survive and even prosper while paying workers well and offering them generous benefits.

Mr. Meyer, the entrepreneur behind Shake Shack, the Modern and Blue Smoke, has recently embraced this cause, pledging to do away with tipping at his restaurants, as a means to combat income inequality. He contends that paying workers well is not only the right thing to do, but is also good for business — well-compensated employees, the thinking goes, will be happy, loyal and hard-working.

That big-name restaurant owners are today willing to stand side by side with Ms. Jayaraman shows just how far she has come after 15 years of organizing. Even a few years ago, her message was falling on deaf ears.

“In the early days, if I heard Saru was coming, I ran the other direction,” Mr. Meyer said. “You cannot be in the restaurant industry and not have had Saru on your radar.”

Ms. Jayaraman earned the fear of restaurant owners with a mix of dogged organizing, costly lawsuits and nationwide lobbying. Today she is pushing to change the laws that she says enable restaurants to mistreat employees. She is a leading voice in the so-called Fight for $15, the national campaign to raise the minimum wage. She is struggling to eliminate the lower, tipped minimum wage. And she is campaigning for mandatory paid sick days.

In the beginning, however, she was just trying to lend a hand after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which brought down the World Trade Center and Windows on the World, the restaurant on the top floors of the north tower.

In late 2001, the union representing the Windows workers approached Ms. Jayaraman, then a budding organizer. With Fekkak Mamdouh, who had been the head server at Windows, Ms. Jayaraman founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, with the goal of helping the roughly 250 surviving Windows employees find new jobs and gain access to donations that had poured in from around the world.

But before long, Ms. Jayaraman had a fight on her hands.

The proprietor of Windows, David Emil, had pledged to help his former employees find work. But in 2002, when Mr. Emil opened a four-story restaurant in Times Square, only a handful of the Windows workers were offered jobs. Ms. Jayaraman organized a picket line, and soon Mr. Emil capitulated, hiring all of the former Windows servers who wanted jobs at his new venture.

Ill-treated workers around the country started calling Ms. Jayaraman, asking for help. R.O.C. began helping workers organize and sue their employers. The center says it has prevailed in 15 campaigns against restaurant companies, winning more than $10 million for workers in cases involving back wages, sexual harassment and stolen tips and wages. Ms. Jayaraman has secured pledges to improve working conditions with better pay, sick days and policies against sexual harassment.

Though Ms. Jayaraman is effective, her tactics can be off-putting to management and owners. After all, it is not good for business to have protesters outside fine dining establishments wearing chef’s aprons and holding signs that read “Hungry for Justice.”

But as restaurateurs like Mr. Meyer have grown more sympathetic to the needs of employees, Ms. Jayaraman has tried softer approaches as well. R.O.C. recently started a trade group to promote good actors in the industry. Restaurants Advancing Industry Standards in Employment, or Raise, counts Mr. Meyer’s company as an early member.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Ms. Jayaraman grew up east of Los Angeles. She was accepted to Harvard at 16, but her parents insisted she attend U.C.L.A. to stay closer to home. At Yale Law School, she studied with Jennifer Gordon, who won a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, or “genius grant,” for her efforts to organize mistreated immigrant workers. It was while employed at the organization Ms. Gordon founded, the Workplace Project, that Ms. Jayaraman received the call from the Windows employees.

“I marvel at her energy and creativity,” Ms. Gordon said. “She’s really an extraordinary leader in the movement for fair food and workers rights.”

After years of battle with the worst actors in the food industry, Ms. Jayaraman wanted to demonstrate how a restaurant should behave. So in 2006, R.O.C. rented a space near Astor Place in Manhattan and opened Colors, which bills itself as “a socially conscious restaurant.” Tipped workers are paid at least $9 an hour, offered paid time off and health care, and employees are promoted from within. During the day, the restaurant is an R.O.C. training site for workers seeking new skills. (The menu is gluten-free.)

“We wanted to show people that there’s another way of doing business,” Ms. Jayaraman said. Today, Colors restaurants operate in New York and Detroit, with plans to open in New Orleans and Washington.

But Colors has not quite proved the point; it operates at a slight loss. Margins could improve if the restaurant served lunch instead of offering training, but committing to pay high wages and benefits adds more pressure in an industry where profits can be elusive.

Ms. Jayaraman still faces plenty of challenges. The federal tipped minimum wage is still just $2.13. Lots of big restaurants have no interest in raising wages and enhancing benefits. But after more than a decade of tireless organizing, Ms. Jayaraman’s efforts are finally starting to pay off.

“While it’s been a long time coming, right now we are at an inflection point when it comes to transforming the restaurant industry,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, one of R.O.C.’s funders for nearly a decade. “She is the tip of the spear.”

A version of this article appears in print on February 21, 2016, on page BU5 of the New York edition with the headline: A Seat at the Table for Food Workers. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: Saru Jayaraman has waged a battle for decent pay and benefits for employees in the food industry, and her message is beginning to be heard.


Most Emoji enthusiasts would agree that selecting the right one is an art form — and rapper Yung Jake is truly taking that idea to the next level.

Using a new site called emoji.ink, he’s been creating impressively lifelike portraits of celebrities ranging from comedy icons like Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to rappers like Wiz Khalifa and Cam’ron. It may sound like a silly gimmick — but these portraits actually incorporate a striking attention to detail and a clear sense of creativity.

Naturally, when we reached out to Yung Jake for more information about his artistic process, his response was riddled with Emoji:

See some of the best portraits above and check out the rest on Yung Jake’s Instagram.

Summary: Featuring Miley Cyrus made of basketballs and cookies


Pakistan's Imran Khan has been described by some critics as "Taliban Khan", with claims he is too soft on the armed group. An accusation that Khan vehemently denies. The politician and former cricket star tells Mehdi Hasan in this week's Headliner that it is "absolute nonsense" that he supports "extremism".

When asked if he believes the Taliban is a "terrorist group", Khan responds, "Yes, they are. Anyone who kills innocent people are terrorists."

In a wide-ranging interview, we also speak to Khan about allegations that Darul Uloom Haqqania, a university his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has funded, is a breeding ground for "extremism". He denies this, and adds: "If it was a university for jihad, it should have been shut down."

More from Mehdi Hasan's interview with Imran Khan, in which they discuss women's rights in Pakistan, will be available on July 30 at 19:30 GMT.

Summary: In a wide-ranging interview, the politician responds to critics who say he supports "extremism".


From fluctuating hormones to disrupted sleep, there are lots of factors that can contribute to brain fog around the menopause. “Aside from the physiological changes going on, it is often a time of great change in a woman's life – from children moving out to parents getting ill – and the stress and anxiety that might accompany those changes can also contribute to memory problems,” explains Priory consultant psychiatrist Dr Natasha Bijlani. The good news is that there is plenty you can do to soothe and sharpen your mind and start feeling like yourself again, putting the “me” back into the menopause.

“So much of the brain is made up of water that it is very sensitive to even small fluctuations in hydration,” says nutritionist Fiona Hunter. “When we are dehydrated we can’t think as quickly and we’re prone to fogginess and slowness. Drink a large glass of water first thing in the morning then keep your levels topped up throughout the day. Small regular drinks are better than infrequent larger ones. There are lots of apps you can download that will remind you to take a drink. If you don’t like plain water you can perk up the flavour by adding fruits such as berries and cucumber.” Try My Water Balance.

“Menopausal women often worry about their weight and may have cut out snacks in order to diet but if your blood sugar drops it can affect your mental agility,” says Hunter. “I recommend reducing meal sizes instead and introducing small, frequent, nutrient-dense snacks that will keep your blood sugar steady. You want to be eating every three to four hours ideally. Try dried fruit and nuts or a couple of oat cakes.”

“Every time we learn something new, we are developing and strengthening brain connections which improves the brain’s resilience and functioning,” says Dr Bijlani. “Don’t stop learning just because you are older. Try anything you enjoy – learn a new language or musical instrument or do puzzles. If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Check out brain training apps such as Lumosity and Cognifit Brain Fitness.

Give the girls a call. “A lack of socialising can be associated with depression, which can contribute to memory problems, so staying connected is really important,” says Dr Bijlani. “Reach out if you’re feeling lonely. Join a book club or start a new class.”

“If your mind is chaotic or you’re anxious or depressed, it’s hard to focus,” explains Dr Bijlani. “Regularly practising mindfulness or meditation – whatever technique works for you – helps the brain learn to focus as well as reducing levels of anxiety and releasing endorphins, our feel-good hormones.” Try using mindfulness app Headspace.

Dr Nerina Ramlakhan, a sleep and energy expert at Nightingale Hospital explains: “When we sleep it restores the body mentally as well as physically – our mental filing cabinets are sorted out – and we wake up feeling sharp and focused. I recommend going to bed at around 10pm at least four nights a week. You don’t have to be sleeping, but rest and pull back from the stimulation of life. Don’t take worrying phone calls, don’t check your emails and think about what you read before you go to sleep.”

The expert message is clear: you don’t have to put up with menopause-induced brain fog. By paying attention to your diet and lifestyle and embracing new experiences, a sharp, agile mind can be yours again.

Going through the menopause takes strength. The experience is different for every woman, but Neovadiol can help meet your unique skincare needs during this time. With 14 years’ research behind it, Neovadiol works to reduce the appearance of the signs of ageing that come with hormonal changes, while helping your skin feel intensely hydrated. Find your strength with Neovadiol, for the ‘me’ in menopause.

This article is intended as general information only. You should seek advice from a professional before altering your diet, changing your exercise or starting any new course of conduct.

Summary: We speak to experts about the best ways to keep your mind active and your memory sharp during the menopause


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Roundup is an herbicide so good at sending weeds "to the great beyond" that the WHO says it "probably" causes cancer — and now the FDA is finally taking measures to keep it out of food.

SEE ALSO: Virginia's voter ID law challenged in federal trial The specifics are still under wraps, but the agency has at least confirmed that sometime this year it will start testing foods sold in the U.S. for traces of the controversial weed killer. Glyphosate, as it's known generically, is the most heavily used agricultural chemical on the planet, more prevalent on farms than it is in driveways despite some tests showing it disrupts hormones and that frogs mistake it for a predator. See people protesting Monsanto:

The FDA will finally test food for traces of the weed killer roundup

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: Greenpeace Environmental activists storm the Department of Agriculture Head Offices in Manila, 20 June 2005 displaying banners denouncing BT Corn, a genetically engineered (GE) corn patented and owned by American company Monsanto. Greenpeace denounced Monsanto's claims, that the corn is increasing crop yield and reducing dependence on fertilizers after activists in their researchs revealed that BT-corn seeds cost more and require higher fertilizer input, hence damages the environment. Environmental damage is costing the Philippines at least two billion USD a year, the World Bank said. AFP PHOTO/JAY DIRECTO (Photo credit should read JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images)

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[UNVERIFIED CONTENT] A sign showing displeasure in the practices of agribusiness, Monsanto, rests on the head of an anonymous protester during a gathering in Holladay Park. Portlanders did their part in the worldwide march that took place on 05/25/13. Portland was one of nine Oregon cities to host anti-Monsanto protests to express concern over genetically modified foods.

Activists carry signs during a protest against chemical giant Monsanto in Durban on October 12, 2013. Marches rally against Monsanto and genetically modified organisms (GMO) food and seeds were held across South Africa and in other countries with protestors calling attention to the dangers posed by GMO food. AFP PHOTO / RAJESH JANTILAL (Photo credit should read RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images)

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA MAY 23(SOUTH AFRICA OUT): Protesters take part in a march against the American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on May 23, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. The protest forms part of a global day of action against the agricultural biotechnology company. (Photo by Nardus Engelbrecht/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA MAY 23(SOUTH AFRICA OUT): Protesters take part in a march against the American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on May 23, 2015 in Cape Town, South Africa. The protest forms part of a global day of action against the agricultural biotechnology company. (Photo by Nardus Engelbrecht/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

MUNICH, GERMANY - JUNE 04: An activist dressed as an ear of corn and protesting against the U.S. agriculture company Monsanto attends a rally following a protest march attended by approximately 30,000 people against the upcoming G7 summit on June 4, 2015 in Munich, Germany. The leaders of the G7 nations are scheduled to meet at nearby Schloss Elmau June 7-8. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Activists take part in a march against US agrochemical giant Monsanto and GMO food products, May 23, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. Thousands of people hit the streets in cities across the world Saturday to protest against the American biotechnology giant Monsanto and its genetically modified crops and pesticides. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

A masked individual holds up a sign reading 'Monsanto: this nightmare wants to sell your dreams' during a rally against global warming on November 29, 2015 at Place de la Republique in Paris, a day ahead of the start of UN conference on climate change COP21. AFP PHOTO / JOEL SAGET / AFP / JOEL SAGET (Photo credit should read JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

SANTIAGO, CHILE - JANUARY 22: Protesters took to the streets in downtown Santiago as part of a series of worldwide protests against the free trade agreement between Monsanto Co. and Trans - Pacific Partnership (TPP) on January 22, 2016 in Santiago de Chile, Chile. (Photo by SebastiÃ¡n Vivallo OÃ±ate/Agencia Makro/LatinContent/Getty Images)

Protesters walk, during a World March Against Monsanto, in Paris, France, during a global day of action against the agricultural biotechnology company, in Paris, Saturday, May 23 2015. Marches and rallies against Monsanto, a sustainable agriculture company and genetically modified organisms (GMO) food and seeds were held in dozens of countries in a global campaign highlighting the dangers of GMO Food. Banner reads 'Against Monsanto'. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Protesters participate, during a World March Against Monsanto, in Paris, France, during a global day of action against the agricultural biotechnology company, in Paris, Saturday, May 23 2015. Marches and rallies against Monsanto, a sustainable agriculture company and genetically modified organisms (GMO) food and seeds were held in dozens of countries in a global campaign highlighting the dangers of GMO Food. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Anti-GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) protesters hold banners as they march against Monsanto, in Helsinki, Saturday Oct. 12, 2013. Demonstrations against agricultural giant Monsanto are taking place around the world this weekend and the protesters are rallying against the companyâs reported use of genetically modified organisms. Placard at background reads 'Annihilate GMO' (AP Photo / LEHTIKUVA / Heikki Saukkomaa) FINLAND OUT

Protesters march to the Statehouse in Montpelier, Vt., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004, to call for a time out on genetically engineered crops. They went inside to listen to Monsanto lobbyists as they testify before the House Agriculture Committee. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

The FDA says the wait was because the methods available for testing were too "cost- and labor-intensive to implement" until now. The popular chemical has its defenders outside of Monsanto, and there's debate over how much glyphosate actually sticks around from field to plate, but the fact that a bottle of Roundup is no one's idea of a good condiment isn't under dispute.

Monsanto released a statement saying if and when the FDA starts testing, the company is positive it'll "reaffirm the safe use of this vital tool" used by farmers. It's tense: Lawsuits over the years have forced the company to quit pretending Roundup is "biodegradable," "safer than table salt," and "practically nontoxic" to living creatures.

More from Grub Street: A German City Banned Single-Serve Coffee Pods Because They're So Wasteful Petition for Mile End to Add This 35-Layer Smoked-Fish Cake to Its Permanent Menu There's Now an Ecofriendly Way to Carbonate Soda

Summary: The specifics are still under wraps, but the agency has confirmed it will start testing foods sold in the U.S. for traces of the controversial weed killer.


"Today, Europe is not facing up to the humanitarian crisis of these refugees. Nor is our own country," Ms Hidalgo told reporters in a surprise press conference.

"I hear people say won't this act as a magnet. But I think of other countries, like Germany, where they have created conditions to welcome hundreds of thousands of migrants in dignified conditions.

"We must do the same by taking the full measure of this migrant flow that is flooding Europe," she added. "Paris will not sit idly by while the Mediterranean becomes a graveyard for refugees."

Her words came hours after the UN's refugee agency said that more than 2,500 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in rubber dinghies and rusting fishing boats so far this year, with 880 dying in shipwrecks in the past week alone.

The International Organisation for Migration put the figure even higher, at around 1,000 dead in the past six days.

So far this year, nearly 47,000 migrants have reached Italy, the vast majority of them sub-Saharan Africans from countries like Senegal, Nigeria and Gambia, who are classed as economic migrants, as well as many from Eritrea and Somalia, who are more likely to be viewed as asylum seekers.

With smuggling gangs operating along the Libyan coast with apparent impunity, the country’s ambassador to Italy, Ahmed Safar, yesterday admitted that the country is, for now, powerless to stop them sending their human cargo across the Mediterranean and had no idea how many were waiting to cross.

Summary: Paris is to open its first internationally recognised refugee camp


At 3 years 10 months, Colton Burpo was a sunny child, a preacher’s son certain of his faith and his eternal fate. Then his appendix burst, and as doctors failed to figure out what was wrong with him, he lay in a hospital bed until his father, Todd, saw “the shadow of death” cross his face. “I recognized it instantly,” Todd, a pastor, recalls. With Colton’s face “covered in death,” Todd and his wife, Sonja, took the boy to another hospital, where he was wheeled into surgery. “He’s not in good shape,” the surgeon said. As Colton screamed for his father, Todd fled, locked himself in a room and railed at God.

Less than two hours later, Colton was awake, still shouting for his father. “Daddy, you know I almost died,” he said. But only over the months following his recovery did his parents hear his whole story: that while in surgery, he went to heaven and met Jesus, who assigned him homework; he also encountered angels, a rainbow-hued horse, John the Baptist, God the father, the Holy Spirit, a sister his mother miscarried (unknown to Colton) before he was born and his great-grandfather, Pop, as a young man. Everyone in heaven had wings; Colton’s were smaller than most. He learned that the righteous, including his father, would fight in a coming last battle.

Many people, even religious people, would have dismissed this story as the medication-induced hallucinations of a severely ill toddler. The Burpos made it into a book.

“Heaven Is for Real” was published in late 2010, became a word-of-mouth best seller and has spent 59 (nonconsecutive) weeks as the No. 1 nonfiction paperback on The New York Times’s best-seller list. Recently the publisher, Thomas Nelson, spun off a children’s picture book, now also a best seller, with illustrations verified by Colton. And sometime in 2014, courtesy of DeVon Franklin, vice president of production at Columbia Pictures, who considers his faith “a professional asset,” a movie version should be released in theaters.

Colton, now 12, is an ardent spokesman for the story and its franchise, which he has promoted in a slick trailer and on various talk shows with his parents, including “Today” and “Fox and Friends.” But it was Todd who wrote the book (with Lynn Vincent, Sarah Palin’s ghostwriter). And it is a not-quite-4-year-old’s story they’re all selling.

In the end, Colton said, Jesus returned him to earth as a concession to Todd’s supplications. “We knew he wasn’t making it up,” Todd writes, because “he was able to tell us what we were doing in another part of the hospital. . . . Not even Sonja had seen me in that little room, having my meltdown with God.”

Colton’s awareness of his parents’ whereabouts is just one of many details that authenticate his story, according to Todd. Had Colton not gone to heaven, how would he have been able to recognize a photo of Pop, at 29, that he’d never seen? How would he know that angels had halos and that Jesus wore purple and had “markers,” which turned out to be marks, on his hands and feet? Why would Colton weep so copiously to a baby sitter about the sister he missed if he had not known this miscarried child intimately in some other world?

The visions children have in near-death situations often have a great deal to do with what they already believe. Culture to culture, these experiences involve bright light, celestial figures and a sense of watching your own body from above and sometimes all three. According to Kevin Nelson, a neuroscientist and the author of “The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain,” adults often have a sense of looking back over a life; young children, lacking that perspective, tend to report “castles and rainbows, often populated with pets, wizards, guardian angels, and like adults, they see relatives and religious figures, too.” It’s hard to convey to anyone who grew up without the idea of God just how fully the language, stories and “logic” of the Bible can dominate a young mind, even — perhaps especially — the mind of a toddler.

To some degree, I speak from experience. When I was not quite 4 — about the same age as Colton Burpo — my own newly born-again parents sat me down to impart the good news about Jesus, the son of God, who was born in a manger surrounded by sheep and donkeys and ended up being nailed to a cross on a hill and dying there. On the third day, he rose from the grave (you could tell it was he from the nail holes), and he did all of this to pay for my sins. If I accepted him into my heart, I would be rewarded with everlasting life in heaven. Otherwise, I would burn eternally with the Devil in hell. So we needed, urgently, to pray.

“Right now?” I said, or something like that. I remember not feeling 100 percent ready to ask this undead man, with his holey extremities, to dwell inside me.

“Well, yes,” I recall my mother saying. “Unless you’d like to spend eternity in the lake of fire, crying out for a drink of water.”

My father laid his hand on my shoulder. “We don’t want that, do we?”

“Daddy and I would hear you from our mansion up in heaven,” my mother said. “But we wouldn’t be able to help.”

So I repeated after them, inviting Jesus into my bosom. And then, for years afterward, I lay awake half the night, fearful of my own heartbeat, worried about what the savior might be doing in there. I was filled with doubt, which was a sin, and anxious enough about eternal damnation to endlessly beg the Lord’s forgiveness for doubting. Unlike the kids I met at church, I obsessed over the fiery pits of hell, not the pearly gates of heaven.

Todd Burpo, by his own description, is “not a holy-rolling, fire-and-brimstone guy by any stretch but not a soft-spoken minister in vestments, performing liturgical readings, either; I’m a storyteller.” Throughout the book, he maintains this everybody’s-welcome-in-my-big-tent, I’m-as-bowled-over-by-this-tale-as-you-are tone. Beneath the regular-guy varnish, though, lie some troubling evangelical tropes and veiled judgment.

Remembering the way he watched his church “gather around us in the eye of the storm,” he wonders about nonbelievers. “In times of crisis, where does their support come from?” After the operation, as the family faced down $23,000 in medical bills, Colton, “hands on hips,” emerged as the voice of wisdom: “ ‘Dad, Jesus used Dr. O’Holleran to help fix me. You need to pay him.’ ”

“Even weirder,” Todd says, “was what happened next”: their extended and spiritual family came through, almost to the penny, with the money to cover the bills. The implicit message is: Never mind health-insurance reform and other things of this world; just give all your cares to Jesus! Not long after his celestial journey, Colton interrupted one of Todd’s funeral services, pointing at the coffin, nearly shouting: “Did that man have Jesus?! . . . He had to! He had to! . . . He can’t get into heaven if he didn’t have Jesus in his heart!” The success of “Heaven Is for Real” has as much to do with the undercurrent of blame in these asides as it does with the feel-good, I-met-Jesus story. In the Middle Ages, Christians’ near-death narratives explicitly involved harsh judgment and infernal torment. All of that awaits the ungodly in Colton’s “nonfiction” story too. You just don’t notice it at first, what with Jesus, his rainbow steed and the seraphim.

If my parents had maintained a unified catechism, I might have wound up more like Colton. But my mother started speaking in tongues and casting out demons and then founded her own church, and my father, a more mainline evangelical, eventually divorced her, denouncing her as a fanatic. This schism began to underscore for me the arbitrariness of religious conviction, but even so, I loved my mother with a ferocious intensity and wanted her to be right. I wanted to see what she saw. She was visited by angels. Why wasn’t I? Because I doubted, she said. Because I failed to “walk by faith and not by sight.”

Uncertainty about connections between the brain and the spirit world stretches back millenniums, perhaps to the beginning of human evolution, but almost certainly to prehistoric societies, which used a primitive kind of surgery to open the skull. Contemporary neurologists have sophisticated ways to explain away the uncanny. Kevin Nelson, who’s far more sympathetic than most to religious experience, posits that the “light that beckons toward eternity” results from a defect in the switch regulating consciousness, which is “more apt to get stuck between the REM state and waking” in people who’ve had near-death experiences.

Summary: “Heaven Is for Real” is a toddler’s account of dying (almost) and meeting Jesus (and a rainbow-colored horse). It’s also a runaway hit. Believe it or not.


Boris Johnson has been asked to explain why he retracted evidence he gave to MPs about the Damian Green affair earlier today.

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, has demanded that Johnson clarify which version of events was correct after the mayor of London admitted an error in his evidence shortly after his grilling session by the committee was concluded.

Asked whether he had discussed the arrest of Green, the shadow immigration minister, with David Cameron on the day of the arrest, Johnson failed to mention a telephone conversation with the Tory party leader conducted at noon that day.

Vaz said that changing his evidence in such a way was a "serious matter".

Johnson, who is also the chair of the Metropolitan police authority (MPA), was called in by the committee, which is investigating the police action against Green, to explain his actions on the day that Green was arrested last November.

Johnson at first told the committee he did "not believe" he had spoken to Cameron about the arrest on the day it happened, before confirming that the pair had in fact spoken briefly at a memorial service for murdered teenager Damilola Taylor at Southwark cathedral that afternoon.

He told MPs: "If you're asking me did I give the leader of the opposition any kind of tip-off or advance warning or favour the leader of the opposition with any sort of news that I might have or valuable information that I might have ... not only did I not have any valuable information but I certainly didn't furnish him with it," he told MPs.

Johnson said that the conversation with Cameron had been made "perfunctory" because he had been forced to change seats at the cathedral at the request of Gordon Brown, the prime minister, who was "appalled" at the idea of sitting next to the mayor, according to Johnson.

He said: "It might have cropped up at the cathedral but whatever conversation took place was exceedingly brief, since Gordon Brown decided that it would be quite wrong for me to be sitting next to him and so I was moved somewhere else."

Johnson added: "So any conversation that might have taken place between me and the leader of the opposition was made very perfunctory thanks to the sensitivities of our great leader."

Downing Street denied this claim.

Speaking outside the committee, Johnson recalled that he had in fact spoken to the Tory leader by telephone that afternoon as well as at the cathedral.

"It is in fact true that I had two conversations with David Cameron about it, once at Southwark cathedral and once briefly by telephone after we had both been informed [about the arrest] by Sir Paul Stephenson." Stephenson was then acting commissioner of the Metropolitan police; he has since been appointed commissioner.

"After I had been informed that he [Green] was about to be arrested, I did not inform David Cameron that this was to happen. I briefly conferred with him after we had both been told."

Vaz wrote to Johnson this afternoon and warned him that he could be recalled by the committee.

The Labour committee chair wrote: "You spoke to me immediately after today's committee meeting to say that you had made an error in your oral evidence concerning the time at which you had spoken to the leader of the opposition, David Cameron, about the arrest of Damian Green MP.

"You gave evidence that you first had contact with David Cameron at 3pm at Southwark cathedral on the day of Mr Green's arrest. After the completion of the session you approached me and told me that you had contacted David Cameron earlier at 12 noon and you mentioned the words 'Ladbroke Grove station'. I would be grateful if you could confirm whether your initial evidence or your subsequent recollection is accurate."

Vaz gave Johnson until noon tomorrow to decide whether "there are any further facts you wish to place before the committee".

A spokesperson for the mayor insisted that he had not altered his evidence. "The mayor made it clear to the select committee that he had spoken to David Cameron, but that he could not remember the exact details of when and where the conversation had taken place. He promised to check the facts at the earliest opportunity and did so – consulting a senior member of staff immediately after the hearing.

"He then instantly informed the chairman in the committee corridor of the Commons."

The spokesperson added that Johnson had confirmed in writing that he had had a "brief" telephone conversation with Cameron.

Johnson's attendance this morning was mired in confusion after the mayor was last week asked by Vaz to attend to the evidence session today, only to be sent a message last night telling him not to turn up until next week because the MPs thought the mayor would be too busy dealing with the transport chaos caused by the heavy snowfall in London.

But Johnson's office did not receive the message in time and the mayor turned up as promised earlier today, to the surprise of committee staff.

Giving evidence, Johnson revealed how he was first told by Stephenson to brace himself for "a controversy involving an MP" at 10am on the day of the arrest.

At around 1pm, Stephenson called the mayor's team while they were on a press event to inform him that it was Green who had been arrested, he said.

Johnson said he called Stephenson back to establish the full facts and to tell him there would be "a hoo-hah or a kerfuffle or a commotion or a controversy".

"I think the phrase I used was that 'this thing will go off like a rocket' and that we would need to have pretty good reason to think that the arrest of an MP was not a disproportionate response."

Johnson told the home affairs committee: "I think it was right for me to state that to him as the chairman of the MPA."

Johnson also explained why he had subsequently spoken to Green about the inquiry. He said that he had had a conversation with Green after the MP's release because he wanted to check that his "instincts" about the case were correct.

After Green was arrested last year in connection with an inquiry into the leaking of Home Office documents, Johnson criticised the police for overreacting.

But critics complained that, as chairman of the MPA, he should not have spoken out about an ongoing police investigation, and some Labour MPs were particularly angry when they found out that Johnson had actually spoken to Green, a close friend and colleague, about the investigation.

Johnson already faces a City Hall standards inquiry over the matter, triggered by Len Duvall, the leader of the Labour assembly group and Johnson's predecessor as MPA chairman, who lodged a formal complaint in which he accused the Conservative mayor of a "serious breach of the codes of conduct" by discussing the case with Green, who was by then a suspect in a criminal investigation.

Johnson told the home affairs committee today that, although he was told in advance that the police were about to swoop on Green, he did not tell Green he was about to be arrested.

But Johnson did speak to him four days later.

"I thought it would be prudent and for the good of the Metropolitan police authority if I took the trouble briefly to substantiate my instincts simply by a quick telephone call," he said.

He said that he wanted "to ascertain the evidence briefly, on the balance of probabilities," he said.

Asked if he was speaking to Green as mayor of London, as chairman of the police authority or as a friend, Johnson said he would invoke the "doctrine of the trinity". He went on: "It was difficult to make any meaningful distinction between my roles."

Green, who has not been charged, denies any wrongdoing. He has admitted using leaked information in his role as a frontbench spokesman, but has insisted that that was part of his job as an opposition politician.

Summary: Chairman of home affairs committee asks mayor of London to clarify which version of events is correct after he admits error


Finishing touches have been made to the biggest arts events in the UK.

The Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe are about to get under way.

Both festivals are in their 69th year and will stage thousands of shows over the next three weeks.

BBC Scotland's arts correspondent Pauline McLean has been to see what audiences can expect.

Summary: The Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe are about to get under way with thousands of shows lined up over the next three weeks.


NEW YORK -- Some independent investment advisers who do business with Charles Schwab Corp. have begun to see the San Francisco brokerage company as more of a competitor than a service provider.

After a year-long test run, the firm announced in May that it is ramping up its private-client business, in which Schwab's own stockbrokers cater to individuals with at least $500,000 to invest. It's another step by Schwab to broaden its...

Summary: Some investment advisers have begun to see Charles Schwab as more of a competitor than a service provider following the brokerage's moves to ramp up its private-client business and its acquisition of U.S. Trust.


Online advertising firm Yieldbot has raised $35 million to grow its ad targeting and tracking software, the company said Wednesday.

The funding round was led by new investor Staley Capital, with participation from existing investors, and brings the company’s total funding to over $60 million to date.

The investment is a sign Yieldbot’s “performance-based” ad products are resonating with marketers, according to chief executive Jonathan Mendez, especially at a time when funding for online ad companies is getting harder to find.

“It is the most difficult time I’ve ever had fundraising. In this environment there’s a lot of people who don’t believe any more, or have made bets that have lost in the past 5 years,” Mr. Mendez said.

The company’s valuation in the latest funding round wasn’t disclosed.

The company plans to use the funding to grow its sales and marketing presence across the U.S., and will also explore potential acquisitions. The company currently has offices in New York, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, and plans to open more.

Yieldbot specializes in targeting online advertising to specific users based on their real-time intentions, the company says. For example, it might help a retailer target a consumer while they’re browsing for home-improvement products.

Unlike some online advertising companies, Mr. Mendez said Yieldbot is now profitable.

It is susceptible to many of the challenges facing the online ad industry, however, including U.S. consumers’ growing use of online ad-blocking tools.

Write to Jack Marshall at Jack.Marshall@wsj.com


President Barack Obama on Sunday denounced the tenor of the presumptive GOP nominee’s campaign, without ever mentioning Donald Trump by name, during a commencement speech at Rutgers University.

Obama told graduates at the New Jersey school that “building walls” is not the way of the future.

“The world is more interconnected than ever, building walls wont change that,” he said, clearly taking aim at the only candidate who has turned a facade into a plank.

“To help ourselves we’ve got to help others, not pull up the drawbridge and try to keep the world out,” Obama said.

He said building walls that prevent trade deals “won’t boost our economy,” and walls that keep out Muslims would alienate “the very partners in our fight against extremism.”

Obama also attacked the general stance of conservatives on climate change, saying the issue was “not subject to political spin.”

“There is evidence,” Obama said. “If we don’t follow through on the progress we made in Paris, your generation will feel the brunt of this catastrophe.”

“If you were listening to today’s political debate you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from,” Obama told the group of about 12,000 graduates. “In politics and in life ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know that you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness.”

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Obama pointed out that people usually value experience: They seek out doctors when they’re sick and pilots when they want to take a flight, “and yet, in our public lives we suddenly think, I don’t want somebody who’s done it before.”

“The rejection of facts, the rejection of reason and science that is the path to decline,” Obama said, warning that in an age of an influx of information, not everything should be taken as fact.

“Facts and evidence matter,” Obama said. “Hold our leaders accountable to know what the heck they’re talking about.”

While Obama acknowledged that the current political climate is frustrating, he told the graduates not to lose faith in democracy.

“The system isn’t as rigged as you think and not as hopeless as you think,” Obama said, urging the class to take part in the political process. “If you vote and you elect a majority that represents your view you will get what you want. It’s that simple. It’s not that complicated.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

Summary: Without mentioning the presumptive GOP nominee by name, Obama attacked walls and 'anti-intellectualism' during a commencement speech at Rutgers University.


As ridiculous as it sounds when describing a nine-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer, Carmelo Anthony has a game that may be more suited to the Olympics than the NBA.

Even his college coach, Jim Boeheim, agrees with that opinion.

"He's probably even a little better international player," said Boeheim, a USA Basketball assistant coach.

Anthony averaged 13.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 18.4 minutes while shooting 44.6 percent from the three-point line and 53.7 percent overall in 16 Olympics games in 2008 and 2012. Most memorably, he nailed 10-of-12 threes en route to scoring 37 points in just 14 minutes against Nigeria in 2012.

According to Boeheim, the international game plays to Anthony's strengths because it's more offensively oriented. There are fewer shot blockers around the basket, so Anthony can finish at the hoop. The three-point line is closer.

As a result, Anthony's name is etched in the Olympic record books. In U.S. Olympic history, he ranks No. 1 in three-pointers made (39), No. 4 in points scored (239), No. 4 for rebounds (83) and No. 4 in free throws made (40).

On the international level, Anthony, the 6-8, 230-pounder, represents the ultimate mismatch for opposing teams.

"He shoots like a 2-guard. He posts up like a 5-man," Venezuela coach Nestor Garcia said. "That's really hard for our players."

And unlike the situation during his NBA career with the Knicks and Nuggets, there is less pressure on him to carry his team.

"Anytime you go out there and play with the best guys in the world," Anthony said, "it's fun, you enjoy it and the game comes easy."

In his fourth Olympics in Rio, Anthony is aiming to become the first men's basketball player to win three gold medals.

"This is something I look at as a legacy thing," he said. "To go have a chance to win three gold medals and play in four Olympics, just to represent the country, I feel good doing that."

But his joining the 2016 team was not a given, especially after his close friends from the past two Olympic games -- Chris Paul, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade -- did not participate.

Anthony spoke with the Syracuse coach while mulling the decision. After Anthony's Knicks missed the playoffs the past three years while winning only 86 cumulative games, they came to the conclusion that returning to a high-level, winning environment would be good for him.

"I thought at the time it would be a great experience for him to come back basketball-wise," Boeheim said, "because the last couple of years haven't been very good."

His international experience has been rewarding, and it's appropriate that Anthony could become the men's player with the most gold medals.

When Jerry Colangelo became the managing director of the newly organized USA Basketball men's senior national team program, Anthony was the first member of the so-called "Redeem Team" to commit to play.

"And he's the last man standing," Colangelo said. "For him to be in a position to win another gold medal is a great story in itself."

Coach Mike Krzyzewski praised Anthony as the team's vocal leader. Older than Kyle Lowry by two years, the 32-year-old Anthony is one of only two players on the team in their 30s.

"He's getting all the old jokes," said Team USA center DeMarcus Cousins, who will turn 26 on Aug. 13. "He's been a great leader for us. He's obviously the most experienced guy here, so we're going to follow his lead."

During practice Anthony stood at the elbow of the court and drained shot after shot. As his teammates missed, Anthony chided them: "Don't blame it on the rim."

"He's a scorer. That's what he does," Boeheim said. "If you get him in a position where he gets the ball in open spaces, he's gonna make shots."

Anthony may have more room to operate on the NBA level this coming season as well. In hopes of taking the burden off him, the Knicks, who have a rising star in second-year player Kristaps Porzingis, traded for Bulls point guard Derrick Rose and signed Bulls big man Joakim Noah. Knicks president Phil Jackson said those moves will reinvigorate Anthony.

He already has had a socially active offseason, supporting Freddie Gray marches in Baltimore, where he grew up, making a passionate post on Instagram and advocating for an end to violence during an appearance on the ESPYs.

"I'm gonna continue speaking out about it," Anthony said. "I'm comfortable with it."

Anthony occupies a similar role on Team USA where coaches and staff have repeatedly praised how he has helped his younger teammates and how well they respond to him.

"We're happy to have his leadership," Colangelo said. "We're happy to have his scoring ability. He's very successful in international play … He'll be one of the key factors for us in attempting to win the gold medal."

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Follow Jeff Fedotin on Twitter @JFedotin.

Carmelo Anthony, NBA, New York Knicks, Olympic Basketball, Olympics, Syracuse Orange, USA Basketball

Summary: Carmelo Anthony is a perennial All-Star, but his game is actually more suited for success in the Olympics.


In hospitals, summer is the season when newly minted medical school graduates start their first year of residency, taking on patient care with little hands-on experience. For patients, that means a visit from a doctor who might look young and untested.

To make sure residents ask for help from a senior doctor, more hospitals are developing formal “escalation-of-care” policies with clear guidelines on when it’s time to call one. Residents may fail to ask for help due to overconfidence, lack of knowledge or fear of seeming incompetent, studies show.

Communication breakdowns between residents and the attending physicians who supervise them are common contributors to patient injury. The issue is particularly acute on thinly staffed nights and weekends. That said, studies are mixed as to whether medical errors spike with the arrival of new residents, with some suggesting the risks are higher and others finding no evidence of the so-called “July effect.”

Escalation-of-care guidelines are part of a broader effort to improve the way residents are trained and change a medical culture that sometimes fosters intimidation of new residents by senior physicians.

Four Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, have developed new communication standards. They’ve also issued residents a pocket card listing 15 situations that require prompt notification or approval of a senior colleague, such as a patient’s transfer to the intensive-care unit.

They made these changes in response to research conducted at surgery departments and published in the Annals of Surgery in 2009. This research found that 33% of critical patient events weren’t communicated by residents to attending surgeons.

Joshua S. Jolissaint got the card when he started his surgical residency in June at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after graduating from University of Virginia School of Medicine. The cards “are very useful reminders for very specific reasons when you should escalate,” he says. But during orientation, “they really try to impress on us that no concern of a resident is ever unwarranted, and anyone, no matter where they are in the chain of command, can feel comfortable escalating care to someone more senior.”

For junior residents, that typically means going to the chief resident first, rather than directly to the attending physician. Soon after Dr. Jolissaint started work, however, there was an instance when his chief resident was briefly unavailable and told him that if anything happened, he should feel comfortable calling the attending directly.

A radiology report showed possible free air in the abdomen of a patient, which could indicate a perforated organ. He immediately paged the attending physician, concerned that the patient’s life might be in danger. It turned out to be a false alarm.

Dr. Jolissaint says he had no qualms about bringing the case to the attending physician. Had the situation been serious and he had been unable to escalate care, “that patient may have waited for an hour or two with a surgical emergency.”

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, known as ACGME, accredits close to 10,000 residency programs at about 800 institutions. ACGME requires residency programs to have guidelines for situations that require residents to communicate with supervising faculty members, such as the transfer of a patient to an intensive-care unit. Chief Executive Thomas Nasca, a nephrologist, says one aim is to overcome any inhibitions or barriers to requesting supervision.

Residents need to be taught to “err on the conservative side when it comes to asking for help,” Dr. Nasca says. But senior doctors also need to “demonstrate by our actions and not just our words” that they are receptive.

In a report ACGME issued in May based on surveys at 297 institutions from September 2012 through March 2015, most had residents and fellows who said they have personally experienced or witnessed inadequate supervision.

At the same time, many faculty and program directors expressed worry that residency programs might restrict the amount of patient care residents can perform without direct supervision. This could impede residents from being prepared to practice medicine independently after training. Moreover, hospitals rely on residents to perform many basic patient-care duties.

Atul Gawande, the surgeon and author who led the initial research at the Harvard-affiliated hospitals that identified the communication barriers for residents, says that commonly, residents didn’t call attendings because they felt they could handle a critical situation. They also showed a reluctance to appear weak or get dressed down for incompetence.

The four hospitals subsequently cooperated on the program to improve communication and develop the guidelines for the pocket cards, and took steps to change the culture. At meetings, chiefs of surgery made it clear to residents “that it’s OK to call even when they think it is dumb to call,” Dr. Gawande says.

The chiefs were also asked to tell their senior attending physicians, “These are the things we are telling residents they have to call you for, and we really expect you are going to take the call and not bite anybody’s head off.”

A study of the program from August 2007 to March 2009 at the four hospitals, published in the Annals of Surgery in 2011, found that the proportion of critical events that weren’t conveyed to an attending decreased to 2% from 33%.

Dr. Gawande, director of Ariadne Labs, a joint project of Brigham and Women’s and Harvard’s School of Public Health, says the 2011 study showed that in critical situations where residents reached an attending physician, there was a change in the patient’s care in one-third of cases, often significant.

“We want the residents to learn how to take care of problems on their own. But they also have a responsibility to escalate care,” says Douglas Smink, a gastrointestinal surgeon who leads the surgical residency program at Brigham and Women’s.

Some of the situations on the card are fairly obvious, like calling a senior doctor in case of a cardiac arrest. Others might seem like situations a resident could handle, but could signal or invite complications, like blood transfusions, Dr. Smink says.

In an editorial in the March 2016 issue of Annals of Surgery, Dr. Smink recommended that all surgical educators incorporate escalation-of-care training into the curriculum for residents. He also urged senior surgeons to abandon any lingering belief in the subtle message to junior residents: “Call me any time, but remember, it’s a sign of weakness.”

Ann Smith, who is in her fourth year of clinical residency at Brigham and Women’s, says the pocket cards issued to junior residents there have helped them understand that “not only is it OK to call for help, but in fact you must call for help,” especially at night.

When she first became a resident, she says, “I definitely didn’t know where the boundary was.” As chief resident on the trauma surgery service, she says she takes pains to make herself easily accessible and erase any barriers junior residents may feel to calling her.

“Having poor judgment, including not knowing when to call for help, is a problem,” Dr. Smith says. “Our residents are judged by whether they make a good decision for the patient.”

Write to Laura Landro at laura.landro@wsj.com

In an earlier version of this article, a video caption referred incorrectly to Brigham and Women’s Hospital as Brigham and Young Hospital.

Summary: A Harvard program coaches new medical residents to ask veteran doctors for help more often, and older doctors to offer that help more readily.


Visionary architect Zaha Hadid, who died at the age of 65 on Tuesday, had a bold vision for the future of building. She was named one of the most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine in its 2010 TIME 100 issue. In 2015, TIME interviewed the TIME 100 alumna about the future of architecture. Hadid said she pictured a world in which architects pursued riskier and more creative designs.

“For excuses that are valid—like the recession—there has been a return to very banal and conservative ideas in architecture,” she said. “It’s not like people will come back in 40 years and say these buildings are terrible. We know that now. And that is a tremendous shame considering the progress we’ve made in terms of ideas and innovation in technology, material, fabrication and construction. I hope this does not have a very negative impact on what the future holds.”

The Iraqi-British architect, known for the London Aquatics Centre, the Guangzhou Opera House in China and the Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in the profession.

Summary: The famed architect, who died at 65, pushed for bolder buildings


Great Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning successfully defended their Olympic title by winning gold in the women's pair at Rio 2016.

The world champions, who won Britain's first gold of the London Games in 2012, led from the start as they finished 1.2 seconds clear of New Zealand in a time of seven minutes 18.29 seconds.

Denmark finished third to take bronze.

It was Great Britain's 17th medal of the Games and moved them up to fourth in the table, ahead of Australia.

Watch: TV wildlife presenter Steve Backshall breaks down in tears as fiance Helen Glover takes gold

Britain's 18th medal came just 20 minutes later as Alex Gregory, George Nash, Moe Sbihi and Constantine Louloudis took victory in the men's four.

Glover and Stanning are now unbeaten in 39 races, a run that stretches back five years.

They became the first British female rowers to win an Olympic title when they won four years ago, but Stanning said Friday's victory in Rio eclipsed their London success.

"This means so much more," she said. "We have been so emotional this week and it means so much to us."

Glover added: "The pressure was immense. London was a home games and there was nothing more special but this is defending a title - it means so much."

Find out how to get into rowing with our special guide.

Glover and Stanning dominated from the start, building up a 3.58s lead at the halfway mark.

New Zealand surged late on but the Britons had enough in hand to take victory.

"I think they had another gear," said retired rower Sir Steve Redgrave, who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games.

"It is difficult to repeat what they did four years ago when they had a big lead because you have to keep going through the motions of it."

Singer Pixie Lott: Yessssss golden girls!!!! You're amazing

BBC presenter Dan Walker: Glover and Stanning have ripped this race to bits. What a performance. Solid gold... again

Former world and European champion rower Polly Swann Amazing job by @Helenglovergb and Heather! So commanding. Double Olympic champions has a nice ring to it! Well done girls. Xx

Summary: Great Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning successfully defend their Olympic gold by winning the women's pair at Rio 2016.


Ayr United's return to the Scottish Championship ended in defeat against Raith Rovers.

Ross Callachan opened the scoring when he firmly headed a pinpoint Bobby Barr long ball, delivered from his own half.

The Honest Men battled gamely, with Paddy Boyle, Alan Forrest and Daryll Meggatt all giving Kevin Cuthbert cause for concern in the Raith goal.

But Ross Matthews doubled Raith's lead on the rebound after substitute Rudi Skacel's shot had been saved.

Ayr United are back in the second tier following a four-year absence after winning promotion via last season's play-offs.

Summary: Ayr United's return to the Scottish Championship ends in defeat at home to Raith Rovers.


The Obama administration is planning to remove a major roadblock to marijuana research, officials said Wednesday, potentially spurring broad scientific study of a drug that is being used to treat dozens of diseases in states across the nation despite little rigorous evidence of its effectiveness.

The new policy is expected to sharply increase the supply of marijuana available to researchers.

And in taking this step, the Obama administration is further relaxing the nation’s stance on marijuana. President Obama has said he views it as no more dangerous than alcohol, and the Justice Department has not stood in the way of states that have legalized the drug.

For years, the University of Mississippi has been the only institution authorized to grow the drug for use in medical studies. This restriction has so limited the supply of marijuana federally approved for research purposes that scientists said it could often take years to obtain it and in some cases it was impossible to get. But soon the Drug Enforcement Administration will allow other universities to apply to grow marijuana, three government officials said.

While 25 states have approved the medical use of marijuana for a growing list of conditions, including Parkinson’s, Crohn’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, the research to back up many of those treatments is thin. The new policy could begin to change that.

“It will create a supply of research-grade marijuana that is diverse, but more importantly, it will be competitive and you will have growers motivated to meet the demand of researchers,” said John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The new policy will be published as soon as Thursday in the federal register, according to the three officials, who have seen the policy but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

It is unclear how many additional universities would receive licenses to grow marijuana, but the new policy does not set a cap on the number who could qualify. Any institution that has an approved research protocol and the security measures needed to store dangerous drugs can apply.

Researchers will still have to receive approval from federal agencies to conduct medical studies of marijuana, including from the D.E.A. and the Food and Drug Administration. Those whose projects are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse will also need its consent.

But drug policy advocates, experts and researchers predicted that increasing the number of institutions growing marijuana will have a significant practical effect. The University of Mississippi’s monopoly on that role has been a barrier.

“It’s clear that this was a significant hurdle in limiting the quantity of clinical research taking place in the U.S.,” said Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Researchers often had difficulty getting some kinds of marijuana, including ones with large amounts of THC, the main ingredient in the drug that gets people high. Under the University of Mississippi monopoly, Mr. Hudak of Brookings said: “If you were a researcher who thought a product with high THC would help someone with a painful cancer, you were out of luck. You couldn’t access high THC marijuana in the same way you could buy it in a market in Colorado,” where it is legal.

As recently as June, Dr. Steven W. Gust, a special assistant to the director of National Institute on Drug Abuse, had disagreed with critics who say the monopoly has stifled research. “In the past, NIDA has been able to provide marijuana for every federally qualified research project,” he said recently in an emailed response to questions.

Earlier this year, the D.E.A. had suggested that it would possibly remove marijuana from the list of the most restricted and dangerous drugs by end of June. But this week, the agency did not take such a step.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at New York University Langone Medical Center called it “deeply disappointing” that the agency had not done so. He said the scientific data overwhelmingly indicated it should not be listed as such a dangerous drug.

The federal government still classifies marijuana as a highly addictive drug without medical value, as it has for 46 years. The D.E.A. did not say when it will answer two petitions demanding a change of that policy, filed separately in 2009 and 2011.

Others were relieved that the D.E.A. had moved to allow more institutions to grow marijuana for research, but not taken it off the list of the most dangerous drugs.

“They’re looking at the science, taking a nuanced view,” said Kevin A. Sabet, a former Obama administration drug-policy adviser and president of the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “It’s a good day for science.”

A version of this article appears in print on August 11, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Obama Administration Will Lift a Barrier to Marijuana Research. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: The new policy could spur broad scientific study of a drug being used to treat dozens of diseases despite little rigorous evidence of its effectiveness.


Suriye'de Halep'in doğusunu elinde tutan isyancı güçler, hükümet güçlerinin bölgede klor gazı saldırısı yaptığını iddia etti.

Associated Press haber ajansına konuşan Suriyeli bir askeri yetkili ise Halep'te muhaliflerin kontrolündeki bölgelere klor gazı saldırısı düzenlendiği iddialarını yalanladı.

Birleşmiş Milletler, zehirli gaz saldırısına dair kanıtları inceliyor.

BBC bölgedeki bir hastaneden, saldırı sonrası çekilmiş olan özel görüntülere ulaştı.

Summary: Suriye'de Halep'in doğusunu elinde tutan isyancı güçler, hükümet güçlerinin bölgede klor gazı saldırısı yaptığını iddia etti. BBC, saldırı sonrası bölgedeki bir hastanede çekilmiş olan özel görüntülere ulaştı.


My headache is gone and the Juice Master himself, Jason, has dropped in to give us a talk. His approach is two-pronged: cut out the rubbish and put in the good. “Of course, it would be great if people ate all these vegetables. But the reality is most people aren’t going to do that!” Me neither, I admit to myself, and slurp my green juice.

I rather like these juices. But I wouldn’t mind a snack and am spotted by a housekeeper as I eye up a mandarin tree near the pool. “Not ripe yet,” she tells me, with the air of someone who has to repeat this daily.

I’m enjoying being kept busy by the (optional) programme of Pilates, yoga, walks and exercise classes run by the friendly staff. I catch myself bouncing on a mini-trampoline outside as the sun sets with a huge grin on my face. It quite shores me up for the low point coming – a fellow guest explaining in solemn detail the day’s bowel movements (apparently, some find their systems shocked into standstill by an all-juice diet). I spoon up my green soup and think of my thighs.

Sceptics of juice fasts (“a juice feast…” Jason corrects) argue that you’re starving yourself; crash-dieting. Yet, while I’m far from stuffed, I am happily doing an hour or two of exercise each day on liquids alone with none of the light-headedness or drop in energy I feared.

But if I feel fine, today I also feel hungry. “Ah,” say the old-timers. “But are you hungry or are you thirsty?” I down two glasses of water, then yet another herbal tea for good measure. I wait. I am hungry. “It’s beautiful here! I’m hungry,” I text my nearest and dearest, looking for sympathy. There’s not much of that, as I’ve spent the past four days sending them pictures from the hot tub on my balcony, capturing just how the morning mist over the river sparkles in the Mediterranean sunshine.

I turn for succour to a rainforest massage, during which I am hosed down by something rather like the sprinkler arms irrigating the nearby fields. It’s surprisingly pleasant. I’d doze off, were I not worried about drowning.

Tonight I dream of pizza.

We juicers are being encouraged to use our week of raw, unadulterated juice to “reset” ourselves with better eating habits at home. Everyone scribbles away. I’m not immune. “But how do you feel about Greek yogurt?” I find myself asking. Sheep’s milk or coconut, is the reply.

I am so desperate for crunch that I eat my salad provided for the flight home (airline food is not part of the Juice Master plan) on the drive to the airport. Once back, however, I find I have lost five pounds and my friends comment on how bright my skin looks. I’m also buzzing with energy. Having vowed to cut down on caffeine, I treat myself to a weak instant coffee to celebrate and am wide-eyed awake until two in the morning. The week was indeed a reset, I conclude.

Still, I’m glad of the time: I’ve got something to do online.

Reader, I buy a juicer.

A seven-night stay at Juicy Oasis (in the Vale do Serrão, central Portugal, a two-hour drive from Lisbon) costs from £845 (based

on twin room). Bookings: 01234 480280, www.juicyoasis.com

DESTINATION DETOX: SEVEN SHINING SPAS

Set in woodland overlooking Lake Garda, this innovative spa resort offers short-break detoxes involving algae wraps, saltwater treatments and mud massages.

A holistic “bio-spa” resort in Alsace offering invigorating skin scrubs, massages, daily group activities and fitness classes.

Sweat away toxins in the resort’s treehouse spinning studio, while paddle boarding, Hobie Cat-sailing – or, less strenuously, in the Caribbean’s largest spa, where treatments include body wraps, deep tissue massages and hydrotherapies.

Currently undergoing a huge expansion to double its size, this hillside clinic outside Alicante is the perfect place to tackle health problems or lose weight; the seven-night detox plan involves yoga, tai chi, a healthy cookery course and luxury spa treatments galore.

For a full gut cleanse, hit the daddy of medi-spas. Michael Gove spent a week here and lost two stone.

Perched on the Mayan riviera, this 'bikini bootcamp’ – which has hosted Charlize Theron and Jade Jagger – runs Destination Detox, a five-day raw-food programme designed to cleanse, nourish and take off weight.

A good all-round choice for first-time detoxers, this Koh Samui hideaway combines Traditional Chinese Medicine with fusion cuisine, fitness classes and Oriental spa treatments.

Summary: For The Telegraph's 'spring cleansing’ detox special, Emma Rowley went on a   juice feast at the Juicy Oasis in Portugal


Neymar scored twice, including the fastest goal in Olympic history, as Brazil coasted into the final of the Rio 2016 football event with a 6-0 thrashing of Honduras at Rio's iconic Maracana stadium.

Brazil's Neymar has not yet won his country a gold medal, but on Wednesday he at least pocketed an Olympic record - the fastest football goal, at a dazzling 15 seconds into the game.

The semi-final had barely kicked off when Barcelona forward Neymar intercepted the ball, charged towards the Honduran side, tripped over the goalkeeper and put the ball in the net, sending the stadium into a frenzy of cheers.

"Neymar's goal, 15 seconds in, is the fastest in the history of Olympic football, 5.42 seconds more than Usain Bolt," the Rio 2016 Spanish-language account tweeted in reference to the Jamaican sprinter.

#Futbol El gol de Neymar, a los 15 segundos, es el mÃ¡s rÃ¡pido de la historia del fÃºtbol OlÃmpico, 5.42 segundos mÃ¡s que @usainbolt ?

The hosts now have the chance to ease some of the pain caused by a 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany on home soil at the 2014 World Cup by delivering Brazil's first football gold medal.

A mouthwatering rematch with the Germans is in store should the world champions see off 1996 winners Nigeria in Wednesday's other semi-final later in Sao Paulo.

In the women's tournament, Sweden beat Brazil 4-3 to reach the final in a penalty shootout after the sides were goalless following extra time on Tuesday.

Sweden, whose previous best showing at an Olympics was fourth place in 2004, will now face Germany in the final on Friday.

Summary: Captain scores his side's opening goal after just 15 seconds as Honduras routed 6-0 in the semi-final.


SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich., Nov, 10 (UPI)—The Coast Guard began a search lite Monday for a 729‐foot cargo ship carrying 30 to 35 persons and repotred missing on windswept Lake Superior.

A Coast Guard spokesman said the Edmund Fitzgerald was last seen at 7:10 P.M. 15 miles off Crisp Point, about 50 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Fitzgerald, eastbound with a load of taconite, began taking on water through its vents as winds of more than 50 miles an hour whipped up, 10‐foot waves on the lake, the Coast Guard spokesman aid.

The Fitzgerald's officers asked another vessel, the Arthur M. Anderson, to follow it in case of trouble, but the Anderson reported it lost radar contact with the Fitzgerald at 7:10 P.M. Attempts to estatelish radio contact failed, the Coast Guard spokesman said.

The vessel, owned by the olgevay Norton Company, of New York, was bound either for Detroit or Toledo the spokesman said.

The Fitzgerald was reported missing in Michigan's worst windstorm of the year, with gale force winds as high as 70 miles per hour.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this archives appears in print on November 11, 1975, on page 18 of the New York edition with the headline: LAKE SUPERIOR SHIP WITH 30‐35 MISSING. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: USCG repts that cargo ship Edmund Fitzgerald, carrying load of taconite, is missing on Lake Superior, where 60-mi winds and 10-ft seas are reptd; says ship began taking water through its vents and that officers asked vessel Arthur M Anderson to follow ship in case of trouble; says Anderson reptd it lost radar contact with Fitzgerald and attempts to establish radio contact failed; Fitzgerald is owned by Olgevay Norton Co (S)


Darryl Hannah as a mermaid in Splash

08/22/2016 AT 12:25 PM EDT

Ariel, we're ready to join you under the sea.

As a response to the controversial

, women are instead celebrating their

, with #MermaidThighs taking over social media.

All over Instagram and Twitter, women are posting photos of their thighs with the trending hashtag to promote body positivity (and share in a common desire to be a mermaid).

"If your thighs touch, you're one step closer to becoming a mermaidâ¦" wrote

100% okay with #mermaidthighs trend. God bless the clever gal who created it and the it who created mermaids. pic.twitter.com/qqJphYLkLO

"I would never wear a romper because the shorts are too short for me and I get major chub rub,"

. "But I am closer to being a mermaid by having my thighs touch."

#mermaidthighs for days over here

started after women began showing off the space between their thighs, and quickly turned to backlash, with many celebrities speaking out on social media.

with the caption "no thigh gap here" in response to body shamers, while

, "Let's focus on the #PayGap. Not the #thighgap."

Fingers crossed being a mermaid in real life still comes with a hunky Prince Eric.

Summary: After backlash against the thigh gap trend, #MermaidThighs celebrates legs that touch together for a body positive hashtag


The already slim window for prescribed burns in Western Australia's thickly forested south is narrowing as bushfire season approaches, with wet weather continuing into spring.

"It certainly needs to stop raining before much can be done and it looks like we're going to get halfway through October before it might even think about drying out," Augusta-Margaret River Mayor Ian Earl told AAP.

"That's going to narrow the window of opportunity for controlled burns and some of the mitigation work.

"But we'll be trying as hard as we can to get there."

Mr Earl said the surfing and foodie mecca, where 39 homes were destroyed after a burn-off escaped boundaries in November 2011, was otherwise "as prepared as you can be".

Extra firefighting resources were added to the region after the disaster, which tore through the coastal community at Prevelly beach and razed the historic Wallcliffe House, built in 1865.

The Barnett government had been lashed for missing all of its prescribed burning targets during its eight years in power, but that may be unfair criticism, Mr Earl said.

"It's more what you burn, not how much you burn," the experienced volunteer firefighter said.

"If you can get your burns and your other protections in and around your towns and critical infrastructure, that's what's going to help."

He said he agreed with bushfire expert Euan Ferguson, who wrote in his report into the lightning-sparked blaze at Yarloop in January - which killed two men and almost wiped out the historic town - that all community members had a role to play with fire mitigation work.

"We need to get that done at the front end rather than at the back end when the fire's getting away and we're all running around flat out for days trying to put it out," Mr Earl said.

He welcomed the state government's acceptance last week of all 17 of Mr Ferguson's recommendations, including establishing a critical messaging system that will issue warnings to communities under threat, but added people needed to be observant and use their common sense.

In his report, Mr Ferguson noted that while many Yarloop residents had a general awareness that a major fire was burning to the east, a lot of locals were waiting for a final official message to leave.

"Walk outside and have a look, and when you've got a bloody great pyrocumulus cloud going up ... people should be getting themselves prepared rather than wait for a message," Mr Earl said.

Summary: With wet weather in WA's south dragging into October, the already slim spring window for prescribed burns is narrowing further as bushfire season approaches.


Everybody get up: It's time to slam again.

Seriously, it is. With the 20th anniversary of Space Jam falling on Nov. 15, Fathom Events and Warner Bros. are bringing the film back to 450 U.S. movie theaters for three showings: Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. (all local times).

We're still three years away from what should be a wild 23rd anniversary, but this will more than suffice for the two-decade mark.

Of course, this Space Jam revival can also serve as an appetizer to a sequel that is in the works. Space Jam 2 will have Justin Lin as director and LeBron James as the star. But Michael Jordan would have made a different casting choice.

The defending champion Cavaliers open the NBA season on Oct. 25 when they raise the franchise's first title banner to the Quicken Loans Arena rafters in front of the visiting Knicks.

Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.

Basketball, Bill Murray, Bugs Bunny, Charles Barkley, Chicago Bulls, Daffy Duck, Danny DeVito, Larry Bird, Larry Johnson, Looney Tunes, Michael Jordan, Muggsy Bogues, NBA, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Bradley, Space Jam, Space Jam 2, Washington Wizards, Wayne Knight

Summary: Space Jam is celebrating its 20th anniversary and returning to 450 U.S. theaters for three screenings in November.