Yet that is how many are referring to the death in detention last month of Ta Mok, the one time military commander-in-chief of Cambodiaâs Khmer Rouge regime.

Led by Pol Pot, the so-called "Brother Number One", the four years of Khmer Rouge rule between 1975 and 1979 saw the genocide of between 1.5 and three million Cambodians in the notorious "killing fields".

Pol Pot himselfÂ died of apparently natural causes in 1998 in his jungle hideout.

NowÂ survivors and relatives of those massacred by his radical communist movement fear thatÂ Ta Mokâs death will only further undermine a long-delayed UN tribunal aimed at delivering them some semblance of justice.

CAMBODIA TIMELINE 1975 - Khmer Rouge seize power, Year Zero begins.At least 1.5 million Cambodians are murdered or starve to death over next four years1979 - Vietnam invades, ousting the Khmer Rouge from Phnom Penh1985 - Former Khmer Rouge member Hun Sen installed as prime minister1989 - Vietnam withdraws troops1991 - Paris peace agreement lays groundwork for first elections1994 - Thousands of Khmer Rouge fighters surrender in government amnesty1997 - Pol Pot dies in jungle hideout2001 - Cambodian senate approves laws creating genocide tribunal 2005 - UN approves funding for Khmer Rouge tribunalSupporters of the tribunal sayÂ the process is necessary for Cambodia to move on and reconcile itself with the horrors that were committed.

1975 - Khmer Rouge seize power, Year Zero begins.At least 1.5 million Cambodians are murdered or starve to death over next four years1979 - Vietnam invades, ousting the Khmer Rouge from Phnom Penh1985 - Former Khmer Rouge member Hun Sen installed as prime minister1989 - Vietnam withdraws troops1991 - Paris peace agreement lays groundwork for first elections1994 - Thousands of Khmer Rouge fighters surrender in government amnesty1997 - Pol Pot dies in jungle hideout2001 - Cambodian senate approves laws creating genocide tribunal 2005 - UN approves funding for Khmer Rouge tribunal

In early July this year, after much international hand-wringing, the tribunal process finally got under way with the swearing in of 17 Cambodian and 10 foreign judges.

They have a three-year mandate to investigate the few surviving members of the Khmer Rouge.

Those in the spotlight include 64-year-old Kang Kek Ieu, known as "Duch", the former head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison â a one-time high school converted into a Khmer Rouge torture center.

Duch is now the only senior Khmer Rouge leader currently held in detention.

Another senior "Brother" under investigation is Nuon Chea, Pol Potâs number two, who lives freely in Pailin, the regimeâs former capital near the Thai border.

Helen Jarvis, the chief of public affairs for the tribunal told Aljazeera that Ta Mokâs death would not impact on the daily work of the investigation, as he was not under the jurisdiction of the court.

'Brother Number One' Pol Pot died in 1998Making up the UN tribunal are two levels of court with the investigating judges due to begin their work in September before issuing preliminary requests of investigation.

'Brother Number One' Pol Pot died in 1998

Only then, if there is sufficient evidence, will trial proceedings begin against those indicted.

That could take place in early 2007, but a series of problems have beset the tribunal including haggling over the number of local judges while the Cambodian government is still to stump up their part of the $56.3 million budget.

Jarvis understands the frustration of those eager to see justice but expects to see defendants in the dock in the first part of next year.

The tribunal, she says, must be seen to be transparent and adhering to the letter of the law.

"Of course every time the course of justice is cut short it is a blow," she says. "But whatâs the alternative? Until indictments are issued the proper legal process needs to be followed. It is vital these people have the proper mandate."

It is not a feeling shared by Ta Mokâs former lawyer, Cambodian Benson Samay.

"I donât talk about the Khmer Rouge anymore," was his curt response to inquiries.

Ta Mok's bloody reputation earnedhim the nickname 'the Butcher'Youk Chhang, Director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, has dedicated many years working to ensure this sentiment does not become widespread and that Cambodians are able to understand the true horrors of their past.

Ta Mok's bloody reputation earnedhim the nickname 'the Butcher'

His centre has collected around 600,000 pages of documentation from the Khmer Rouge era, including thousands of photographs of detainees at the Tuol Sleng torture center â only a handful of whom survived.

Chhang agrees that the death of Ta Mok will have no practical effect on the justice process but says it has "had an impact on national reconciliation."

The judges, he says, must continue their work.

"There are still good reasons to push forward"Youk Chhang, Documentation Centre of Cambodia "People can find out what really happened, there are still good reasons to push forward."

"There are still good reasons to push forward"Youk Chhang, Documentation Centre of Cambodia

Around 25% of Cambodiaâs current population was not even born when the genocide took place.

Aljazeera journalist Stephanie Scawen has spent many years "chasing the Khmer Rouge" and says while most young people know either a relative or someone else who was killed, many "donât believe their own people could do this to one another".

Hundreds of thousands died inCambodia's 'killing fields'Presenting itself as a peaceful alternative to the pro-US government of General Lon Nol, Pol Potâs China-backed Khmer Rouge captured Phonm Penh in April 1975 and embarked on mass urban evacuation in an effort to transform the country into their vision of an agrarian utopia.

Hundreds of thousands died inCambodia's 'killing fields'

The start of what was dubbed "Year Zero" heralded a killing spree that targeted anyone associated with the old regime or perceived to be an opponent of the new one.

Many of those purged came fromÂ the educated classes. Some were killed for as trivial a sin as wearing spectacles because they were seen as a symbol of US intellectualism.Â As many as three million were eradicated, almost a third of the population at the time, with many dying from overwork and starvation.Â Some, including Chhang, equate Cambodia coming to terms with the "killing fields" with Germany confronting and reconciling itself with its Nazi past.

Pictures of victims adornÂ theformer Tuol Sleng torture centreHowever schoolchildren today are taught remarkably little about the period. The country is beset by social problems including poverty and the government faces increasing criticism for its record on human rights.

Pictures of victims adornÂ theformer Tuol Sleng torture centre

Ou Varek, a prominent human rights activist, told Aljazeera he suspects information about the true horror of the genocide is often suppressed by the current government to hide any involvement in the Khmer Rouge regime.

Hun Sen, the prime minister since 1985, was himself a member of the Khmer Rouge but fled to Vietnam. He was installed by the Vietnamese after their invasion of Cambodia in 1979 which ousted the Khmer Rouge from power.

In the years that followed, with the remnants of the Khmer Rouge fighting a bitter resistance war, many junior and middle-ranking Khmer Rouge officers were all but let-off as part of a government amnesty designed to erode the groupâs power.

When the movement was finally defeated in the late 1990s, only the few surviving cadres from Pol Potâs inner circle were detained.

In 1997, shortly before Pol PotÂ died,Â a Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force was finally created, but even then progressÂ remained painfully slow.

The large number of mourners at Ta Mokâs funeral and the fact that Nuon Chea and others live freely in the north-west of Cambodia near the Thai border are testament toÂ the challenges that remain.

Helen Jarvis insists current legal proceedings and the death of Ta Mok must be put in a wider international geo-political context and that the tribunal is still the best way to finally ensure justice is done.

"Everyone is frustrated and in a hurry, but you cannot make up for 30 years in a matter of weeks."

Summary: It seems strange to describe the passing of a man known as


One of the more memorable moments in 49ers' history was a thoroughly forgettable one for San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman.

Roman, who developed a close relationship with legendary NFL coach and former Bengals owner Paul Brown growing up, doesn't have fond memories of Joe Montana's last-minute pass to John Taylor in the 49ers' 20-16 win over Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII.

Then a high school student who was in Miami for the game as a guest of Brown, Roman was devastated by the defeat. Roman's uncle, Jack Clary, an author who helped write Brown's autobiography, has recalled his nephew being "lower than whale poop" after the Niners won their third Super Bowl title.

"I was most upset, as you can imagine, because I was on their side for Mr. Brown," Roman said Wednesday in advance of the 49ers' game against the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. "I really in many ways thought that would be his last chance at another championship. So that was a tough one."

Due to his uncle's connection to Brown, Roman served as a gofer for the late Bengals owner during training camps starting at age 11. He shagged kicks during Cincinnati's practices leading up to Super Bowl XXIII and sat with Brown in his luxury box when he was in college.

Brown used to affectionately call Roman, a nose guard in college, his "Little Chunk." Roman says Brown inspired him to become a coach.

"He had a profound influence on me as a young person," Roman said. He was "very fortunate to have been able to be around him. I've got a lot of respect for him, his family, and his legacy."

Briefly: After playing defensive end in college, rookie Bruce Miller is expected to make his first appearance at fullback in a regular-season game Sunday in place of Moran Norris, who is out with a fibula injury. "I think Bruce is going to see some action this week," Roman said. "We're excited to see. He's having a great week of practice."

E-mail Eric Branch at ebranch@sfchronicle.com.

Summary: Roman, who developed a close relationship with legendary NFL coach and former Bengals owner Paul Brown growing up, doesn't have fond memories of Joe Montana's last-minute pass to John Taylor in the 49ers' 20-16 win over Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII.  Roman's uncle, Jack Clary, an author who helped write Brown's autobiography, has recalled his nephew being "lower than whale poop" after the Niners won their third Super Bowl title.  Due to his uncle's connection to Brown, Roman served as a gofer for the late Bengals owner during training camps starting at age 11.  After playing defensive end in college, rookie Bruce Miller is expected to make his first appearance at fullback in a regular-season game Sunday in place of Moran Norris, who is out with a fibula injury.


Copper is the commodity most exposed to macroeconomic headwinds such as divergence of monetary policy, deflation -- which leads to lower costs of producing copper -- and deleveraging in China, which reduces demand, Goldman said. The industrial metal is currently trading at its lowest since the 2009 Global Financial Crisis levels.

China is copper's largest consumer, but as the country realigns its economy and transitions from government spending and investment-fueled growth to private-sector consumption, demand has inevitably fallen, said Goldman.

Goldman isn't alone in its dreary outlook for copper.

Deutsche Bank, in a July commodities report, has also cut its copper forecasts due to sluggish Chinese demand.

"The anti-corruption checks that the government implemented for large projects has delayed orders for cable from state-owned power firms," said Grant Sporre, head of metals research at Deutsche Bank, in the report.

Read MoreI see 'makings of protracted bear market': Gartman

Copper has also taken a hit from a drop-off in loan-related demand, as previously the metal was used as collateral for financing loans in China. Last year, authorities found that the same physical metal has been used to back up multiple loans.

Deutsche Bank also anticipates a copper supply hump in 2016 due to several new mine commissions, and that copper will "remain vulnerable to periodic bouts of 'shorting'."

For copper producers, Goldman's recommendation is to "increase the hedging of their copper exposure, and investors either reduce long exposure or outright short position in copper."

--Leslie Shaffer contributed to this article.

Summary: Copper is headed for a seven-year-long bear market cycle, Goldman Sachs said in a report Wednesday, slashing its medium to long-term.


NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Vince Holding Corp. (NYSE: VNCE), a leading contemporary fashion brand, today announced that it plans to report its second quarter 2015 financial results after-market on Thursday, September 3, 2015. The Company also plans to hold a conference call to discuss its financial results on the same day at 4:15 p.m. ET. During the conference call, the Company may answer questions concerning business and financial developments, trends and other business or financial matters. The Company's responses to these questions, as well as other matters discussed during the conference call, may contain or constitute information that has not been previously disclosed.

Those who wish to participate in the call may do so by dialing 877-201-0168, conference ID 2962840. Any interested party will also have the opportunity to access the call via the Internet at http://investors.vince.com/. To listen to the live call, please go to the website at least fifteen minutes early to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who cannot listen to the live broadcast, a recording will be available for 30 days after the date of the event. Recordings may be accessed at http://investors.vince.com/.

VINCE is a leading contemporary fashion brand best known for modern effortless style and everyday luxury essentials. Established in 2002, the brand now offers a wide range of women's and men's apparel, women's and men's footwear, and handbags. Vince products are sold in prestige distribution worldwide, including over 2,500 distribution locations across 44 countries. With corporate headquarters in New York and its design studio in Los Angeles, the Company operates 32 full-price retail stores, 12 outlet stores and its ecommerce site, VINCE.com. Please visit www.VINCE.com for more information.

This press release is also available on the Vince Holding Corp. website (http://investors.vince.com/).

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vince-holding-corp-reporting-date-for-second-quarter-2015-financial-results-300134294.html

Summary: NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2015/ PRNewswire/-- Vince Holding Corp., a leading contemporary fashion brand, today announced that it plans to report its second quarter 2015 financial results after-market on Thursday, September 3, 2015. The Company also plans to hold a conference call to discuss its financial results on the same day at 4:15 p.m. ET. During the conference call,...


Can American Airlines skyrocket once again? To find out, Cramer sat down with American Airlines Group CEO Doug Parker.

The CEO explained that the airline industry has changed dramatically in the past few years and this isn't the old days. In fact, he is so confident that this change has taken place that he made the decision to be compensated in American Airlines stock.

Parker outlined there were two reasons for this decision: "One as a CEO I think that I should be compensated in the same currency that you are compensated in, which is our stock. Second thing is that I think it is a great indication of how the industry has changed," he said.

The fact that an executive is willing to accept airline stock as a currency, is something that Parker would not have dared to do even just five years ago. However he remains confident that American Airlines stock will not be as volatile as it has been in the past, and considers his stock real currency.

Cramer noted that he has seen an increase in competition among airlines recently, which worries him that the old days of vicious competition and slashed fares could come back.

---------------------------------------------------------- Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: The world needs these stocks Cramer: Merger mania—Get ready for more Cramer: Shake Shack = Tesla for burgers ----------------------------------------------------------

"We are in a competitive business, and we are good at it," Parker said.

Parker thinks that a lot of what has happened relates to the price of oil. Now that fuel prices have fallen, this has given American Airline competitors the chance to add more capacity. When the capacity becomes excess of the growth in demand, then unit revenues fall. However, he assured that American Airlines would not be the ones to add capacity.

"Our largest cost has fallen 30 to 40 percent, that's not an insignificant change in the economics of the business," he said.

The CEO also commented on recent concerns that have arisen in the news based on the FBI's recent report that a man was able to hack into computer systems up to 20 times and control an aircraft engine while in flight.

"We worry about all these things, but that's not an issue.That particular issue is not a safe issue. The inflight entertainment system is not at all connected to the controls of the aircraft, so there was no issue there whatsoever but we worry about them all and looking at them all the time."

Summary: Jim Cramer spoke to the CEO of American Airlines Group, who is putting his whole paycheck into his company stock.


"The prime minister will be in Brussels tomorrow with the Greek proposal in his luggage," the official said.

Tsipras, who has vowed not to surrender to more austerity, tried to pre-empt a take-it-or-leave-it offer by the creditors, sending what he called a comprehensive reform proposal to Brussels on Monday before they could complete their version.

Euro zone officials branded the Greek text insufficient and said it was not formally on the table.

The Greek leader faces a backlash from his own supporters if he has to accept cuts in pensions and job protection to avert a default and keep Greece in the euro zone.

Despite defiant rhetoric and face-saving efforts, he seems likely to have to swallow painful pension and labor reforms, facing the choice between putting them to parliament at the risk of a revolt in his Syriza party, or calling a snap referendum.

Read MoreGreek crisis: 2,400 hours of brinkmanship

Starved of aid and access to bond markets, Athens is precipitously close to running out of money. It has threatened to default on an IMF payment this week without a deal, though it also says it will reject any ultimatums.

Failure to reach agreement this month could trigger a Greek default and lead to the imposition of capital controls and a potential exit from the euro zone, dealing a serious blow to Europe's supposedly irreversible single currency.

The euro zone source said the Greek document contained no significant concessions on the main outstanding issues of pension and labor market reform, fiscal targets and the size of the civil service.

The European Union's economics chief said earlier Athens had put forward first proposals for pension reform as the talks reach a crunch point this week with Greek funds drying up.

The chairman of euro zone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who was not at the Berlin meeting, said there were growing indications that Greece wanted a deal, but that required the Greek government to tell its voters the truth, that it will not be able to deliver on all its election promises.

"There are signs that Greece and Tsipras are motivated to achieve a breakthrough," Dijsselbloem told RTL Nieuws. "We aren't far enough along and time is pressing."

Read MoreGreek talks 'progressing'…so where's the deal?

"The bottom line is that we are not going to meet them halfway," he said. "The package as a whole must make sense in budgetary terms."

The Berlin meeting showed that national and international leaders have taken the battle to keep Greece in the euro zone into their own hands after months of insisting it was a matter for technical negotiations among experts.

A Greek government official said Athens would make a 300 million euro ($329.58 million) repayment to the IMF on Friday as due if there was an agreement with the creditors, hinting it might otherwise withhold the money without saying so explicitly.

Summary: Greece's creditors drafted an agreement to put to the Greek leftist government to conclude four months of acrimonious negotiations and release aid.


Dentists have the best job in the U.S., according to U.S. News and World Report's rankings, which were released on Tuesday.

The jobs selected are based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' predictions on which 100 jobs will grow the most between 2012 and 2022, the report said. "Those top 100 jobs, from the industries of business, creative, construction, health care, social services and technology, are then ranked based on projected openings, rate of growth, job prospects, unemployment rates, salary and job satisfaction," the report said.

Read More Quite a dilemma: Too young to retire, too old to rehire

Dentists have the best job in the U.S. for four reasons, the report said. "One, a low unemployment rate of 0.9 percent. Two, decent work-life balance, especially compared to other health-care jobs. Three, the take-home pay is simply phenomenal," according to the report. Dentists earned an average wage of $168,870 and a median hourly wage of $72.74 in 2013, according to the BLS.

Read More United Airlines may outsource 2,000 airport jobs

The fourth reason dentists took the top prize is because of their employment outlook, the report said. The BLS projects employment for dentists will grow 16 percent between 2012 and 2022, adding 23,300 jobs.

Summary: U.S. News and World Report released its rankings for the ten best jobs in the United States. Here are the jobs that took top honors.


* Raises full-year EPS forecast to $1.92-$1.98 from $1.90-$1.95

* Second-qtr earnings $0.44/shr vs. est. $0.39/shr

* Identical supermarket sales up 5.3 pct vs est 4.7 pct

* Shares up 4.8 pct in early trading

Sept 11 (Reuters) - Kroger Co, the biggest U.S. supermarket operator, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by lower operating expenses and higher fuel margins.

The company's shares were up 4.8 percent at $37.10 in early trading, after Kroger also raised its forecast for earnings and identical supermarket sales growth for the fiscal year ending January 2016.

Total operating expenses fell 35 basis points as a percentage of sales compared to last year, the owner of Ralphs, Smith's and Food 4 Less grocery chains said.

"Because retail fuel prices are typically slower to react than their wholesale counterparts, Kroger's fuel margins tend to expand during periods of falling prices," JP Morgan analyst Ken Goldman wrote in a pre-earnings note.

Net income attributable to the company rose to $433 million, or 44 cents per share, in the second quarter ended Aug. 15, from $347 million, or 35 cents per share, a year earlier.

Identical supermarket sales, excluding fuel, rose 5.3 percent, beating the 4.7 percent growth expected by analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix. Sales rose 0.9 percent to $25.54 billion.

Analysts on an average had expected earnings of 39 cents per share on revenue of $25.5 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Kroger raised its full-year earnings forecast to $1.92-$1.98 per share from $1.90-$1.95 per share it had estimated previously.

The company said it now expects identical supermarket sales growth, excluding fuel, of 4-5 percent, compared with its previous forecast of 3.5-4.5 percent.

Up to Thursday's close, Kroger's shares had gained 10.3 percent this year.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

Summary: Sept 11- Kroger Co, the biggest U.S. supermarket operator, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by lower operating expenses and higher fuel margins. The company's shares were up 4.8 percent at $37.10 in early trading, after Kroger also raised its forecast for earnings and identical supermarket sales growth for the fiscal year ending...


Aug 13 (Reuters) - Instructure is planning an initial public offering later this year that could value the education software company at $500 million to $800 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instructure, based in Salt Lake City, has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to help prepare for the IPO, which has been filed confidentially, the people said. They requested anonymity because the news of the IPO was not public.

Under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, new companies that generate less than $1 billion in revenue can file for IPOs with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission without immediately disclosing details publicly.

Instructure, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Instructure was founded in 2008 and makes Canvas, a tech platform that helps colleges and school districts manage their classrooms.

The company's learning management systems are used by 18 million students and teachers from more than 1,400 educational institutions, including Virginia Tech, the University of Auckland and the public schools of North Carolina.

This year Instructure also rolled out a corporate learning product called Bridge, in which it said it would invest some of its latest venture funding.

The company in February raised a $40 million round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners. A previous round of $30 million in 2013 was led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

OpenView Venture Partners and Epic Ventures have also invested in the company, which has a total of $90 million in venture funding.

Instructure is one of a number of companies that have sprung up in recent years to compete with established education software makers such as Blackboard Inc. Reuters reported last month that Blackboard was exploring a sale that could value it at more than $3 billion, including debt.

Education software and services have been an active area of consolidation as institutions facing increasing competition for students start to upgrade their learning tools.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that buyout firm TPG Capital LP was in advanced talks to acquire Ellucian Co LP in a deal that could value the U.S. provider of software to universities and colleges at $3.5 billion, including debt. 1/8ID: nL1N10N2ZG 3/8

Instructure Chief Executive Officer Josh Coates previously founded online storage startup company Mozy.com, which EMC Corp acquired in 2007 for $76 million.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Lisa Von Ahn)

Summary: Instructure, based in Salt Lake City, has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to help prepare for the IPO, which has been filed confidentially, the people said. Instructure, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company's learning management systems are used by 18 million students and teachers from more...


A $5million bounty has been placed on the head of a sinister ISIL 'gatekeeper' who may have helped six Paris suicide bombers travel from Syria to France to carry out their deadly mission.

US intelligence has identified Tarad Mohammad al-Jarba, also known as Abu-Muhammad al-Shimali, as a key puppet master who leads ISIL's ominously named immigration and logistics committee.

Al-Jarba plays a critical clandestine role moving western terrorist fighters from Europe, Australia and elsewhere to Gaziantep in Turkey, and onto training camps and battlefields in Iraq and Syria.

US offers $5 million reward for ISIL'gatekeeper' Tirad al-Jarba who arranges terrorists' safe passage from Syria.

Here, the jihadis are skilled up with combat experience and weapons and explosives training, before often being returned to urban centres in their homeland.

US investigators have turned the spotlight on al-Jabar as the inevitable quest for answers over how the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 132 dead were able to happen.

Three suicide bombers entered Europe as fake 'refugees', French investigators now believe, and questions are also being asked over how the mastermind of the Paris attacks was able to move into France.

Serious accusations of security failures have been levelled at French intelligence agencies and police.

The most disturbing allegations is Paris police failed to pass a note to the country's intelligence services that warned a group of six were preparing a major attack on the capital 10 days before November 13.

A senior official in Turkey has said they alerted France twice of an imminent attack, and Associated Press has reported Iraqi intelligence also contacted French counterparts with potentially useful information.

Political inquiries will no doubt eventually reveal the veracity of the finger pointing, but the facts indicate France faces the most challenging anti-terror operation of any country in Europe.

France has sent more fighters to Syria and Iraq than any of its European neighbours. It is believed roughly 6000 jihadi fighters from Europe have travelled to Syria, and nearly 2000 are from France.

A specialists team of nearly 600 intelligence agents is stretched trying to physically follow and monitor thousands of terror suspects, according to the Telegraph.

"The task we’ve been given, measured simply by the number of people we now need to keep tabs on, is so enormous in certain ways, it’s just become impossible," a French counterterrorism official said in an interview in September. "You can’t watch everyone. We’re swamped."

France has recently beefed up legislation to conduct domestic surveillance, but, like all of western Europe, its powers pale in comparison to the post 9/11 Patriot Act in the US.

There have been calls among EU member states to redraw the Schengen Zone – a region that allows passport-free travel across multiple borders.

This is a soft underbelly that ISIL 'gatekeeper' al-Jarba has been able to exploit.

ISIL terrorists who are able to successfully pose as refugees and enter Greece via Turkey can move freely into France, Belgium, Germany and other prized western targets.

An emergency EU meeting in Brussels on Saturday will discuss re-drawing the Schengen Zone, tightening borders and enforcing strict passport checks.

It has always been one of ISIL's primary ambitions to draw 'western infidels' into a ground war in Syria and a final showdown in the city of Raqqa.

Brutal attacks like those inflicted on Paris will test the resolve of Barack Obama and other leaders to keep dropping bombs from the air and avoid putting boots on the ground.

In just a few short weeks, ISIL has flexed its muscle and ratcheted up the climate of fear.

They claimed responsibility for the October bombing of a Russian passenger plane that killed 224, and an ISIL suicide bomber is thought to have killed 44 people in Beirut just days before the attacks on Paris.

With the festive season coming, Europe is nervous and intelligence agencies across the continent will be on high alert.

Summary: US expose sinister puppet master who moves ISIL terrorists across Europe


's relationship as the two

in the wake of Caitlyn's public transition.

As it stood, Kris, 60, was

and "thrown under the bridge" by the comments Caitlyn made about the family in her

. Kris also still hadn't met her ex-spouse, formerly known as

, since she officially introduced herself to the world as Caitlyn.

The incentive for a reconciliation between the two was their youngest daughter

's upcoming 18th birthday in August. The episode showed the days leading up to the big day as Kylie

with each of her parents to discuss how she didn't "want to deal with the drama" as the two struggled with their relationship – and as a result, Kylie was considering just celebrating with her friends.

Both Kris and Caitlyn, 66, were on the same page that it was Kylie's day and that she deserved a fun get-together with the whole family.

"I think you have to let adults do their thing, and we'll figure it out," Kris told her daughter, before adding in an on-camera interview that she was "heartbroken."

"I have to be strong enough to create a good relationship with Caitlyn since my kids' feelings are more important than mine right now," Kris said.

ended up reaching out to Caitlyn via phone (for the first time in months!) to invite her to the family birthday dinner they were planning for Kylie's birthday and to suggest that the two get together and talk things through.

"Sooner or later I'm going to have meet Caitlyn and right now I think the time has to be sooner," Kris said.

drove over with Kris to support her during her first in-person meeting with Caitlyn, which took place at the former Olympian's house and

Going into the meeting, Kris was nervous but said she would be glad to finally meet Caitlyn since she wanted the two of them to be able to get to a place where there was no longer tension.

"Bruce was super stubborn, maybe Caitlyn is going to be a little different," Kris said.

The sit-down between the two exes was difficult and uncomfortable at times and meeting Caitlyn was "surreal," Kris described later in an on-camera interview. "I feel like it will take me a second to get my bearings, but I've got to hand it to her – she looks great."

After some back-and-forth about the

piece and the fact that Kris didn't invite Caitlyn to Kylie's

the two parted ways on a somewhat awkward note.

Though they smiled and took a few pictures together before saying goodbye, Kris said later in an on-camera interview that after their meeting it seemed "nothing really has changed."

"I don't think I have ever met anyone as stubborn as Bruce Jenner until I met Caitlyn," Kris added, though she admitted their talk was "a good first step in the right direction to a better relationship for the sake of the kids."

, 36, called their mom to hear about how the meeting went.

"Well, she did not have one ounce of empathy for my feelings," Kris said, leading Kim to speculate that from Kris' tone it didn't sound like the two "found the common ground they're looking for."

"Guess what? It's not your problem anymore," Kourtney told her mom. "Now you can get taken care of, and you don't have to deal."

Meanwhile, Kris and Kim were experiencing some drama of their own as they struggled to adapt to living together under Kris' roof. (Kim, her husband

and their daughter North, 2, had recently

with Kris due to construction in their home. Since Kim was expecting her son – who

on Saturday – the family decided they would stay with Kris until after they welcomed the new baby.)

Pregnant Kim – who revealed during the episode she was already

– was constantly criticizing her mom's household for being too loud, while the momager complained her daughter was taking over the entire home.

The two ended up sitting down for lunch with Kris' boyfriend

to establish boundaries, which included "minimizing the amount of human beings" in Kris' bathroom every morning.

While the Kris-Caitlyn and Kris-Kim house drama was going down,

was also going through her own issues in regards to her estranged husband

from the former NBA star in 2013. As it stood, Khloé and Odom, 36, had just

and the reality star admitted that while she didn't know if she would ever find peace in their failed marriage, she had done "every single thing" that she could do to try to save it.

"I still very much love Lamar, but I need to move forward," Khloé said.

Kris, meanwhile, revealed that she occasionally received text messages from Odom apparently realizing his past mistakes and wanting a fresh start.

"[Khloé] was in so much pain for so long and would have given anything for that, and now it's too late," Kris said.

When Kris asked her daughter about how the divorce proceedings were going, Khloé said that while they had both signed the papers, "it takes a long time for things to go through the system and to get in the judges hands." As it turned out, the backlog in court documents

to support and care for Odom, who

The episode also briefly touched on another breakup within the famous family: Kourtney and her partner of nine years,

went down earlier this season, Kourtney revealed that Disick, 32, had yet again failed to show up after promising he would come over.

When Kim asked her sister if she would ever get back together with him, Kourtney said she didn't think so, adding that Disick had "so much work to do" before they could consider being a family again. (As it currently stands, the two remain broken up but have been

as Disick continues to receive outpatient treatment from a rehab center in Malibu).

Finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for arrived as Kylie celebrated her birthday dinner at Nobu in Malibu with her siblings and both of her parents – marking the first time Kris and Caitlyn were seen together publicly, as well as the first time the rest of the family witnessed them interacting.

The tension at the meal was apparent as the two exes

over the fact that Caitlyn was over an hour late, prompting Kris to say Caitlyn was "probably working on her hair and her look" before ordering another vodka drink.

"I can't believe my mom is acting like this," Kylie said later in an on-camera interview. "This is exactly what I wanted to avoid with inviting both of my parents."

However, the family got through the meal,

"Should we hold hands when we leave?" Caitlyn joked to Kris at the end of the dinner.

The party (and extravagant presents!) continued late into the night as Kylie celebrated with a star-studded bash at Bootsy Bellows where her boyfriend

"Tyga and I have always been friends. Now I'm a little bit older and we're together, and I guess we'll just see where it goes," Kylie said in an on-camera interview as shots of the two kissing and hugging at the party aired.

"Tyga is just the most selfless, generous nicest person, and I am so happy," she continued, adding that it was "for sure" one of the best nights of her life.

airs Sunday (9 p.m. ET) on E!

Summary: Plus, Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom sign their divorce papers


The costs to implement a sweeping new software system have started to drag down earnings at Partners HealthCare, the state’s largest network of doctors and hospitals.

Partners finished the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31 with operating income of $12.8 million, down from $74.1 million a year earlier. Overall, Partners lost $37.5 million because of investment losses, reversing a net gain of $40.6 million the year before.

Chief financial officer Peter K. Markell said Partners expects a $200 million hit to profits over three years from the expenses tied to implementing the new electronic health records system.

The system, purchased from Epic Systems Corp. of Verona, Wis., requires not just new software and hardware, but intensive training for every employee who uses it. Partners hired 600 employees, as well as hundreds of consultants, to launch the system.

“[It’s] training costs, the costs of elbow-to-elbow support to get people to really learn and use the system,” Markell said. “You need people to do all that work.”

Information like patients’ vital signs will now instantly flow from bedside monitors to their computerized health record.

Partners’ revenue in the quarter grew 6 percent to more than $3 billion. But operating expenses rose 9 percent on higher spending for wages and benefits, pharmaceuticals, clinical supplies, and medical insurance claims.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital lost business when it implemented Epic software in 2015, because the hospital had to reduce its schedule while employees got used to it. Massachusetts General Hospital also plans to reduce its schedule when it launches the program this year.

Meanwhile, finances at Partners’ insurance subsidiary, Neighborhood Health Plan, continue to stabilize after two years of severe losses, but Neighborhood still lost $12 million on operations during the quarter.

Partners includes Brigham and Women’s, Mass. General, and eight other hospitals, as well as some 6,000 doctors.

Summary: The state’s largest network of doctors and hospitals said quarterly operating earnings fell to $12.8 million from $74.1 million a year earlier.


The report, prepared by the office of the inspector general of Iraq's oil ministry, said the only solution is a crackdown by Iraq's government.

"The corruption in the oil sector and smuggling of oil products to neighbouring countries are the most important reasons behind the loss of billions of dollars, and these two problems are the biggest threat to Iraq's economy," the report said.

Corruption and smuggling, combined with frequent attacks on oil pipelines in the north by insurgents, have prevented Iraq from rebuilding its battered oil infrastructure, said the report, released by Assem Jihad, the spokesman for the inspector general's office.

"For example, about 20 percent of the oil products that Iraq imported last year, worth US$4.2 billion, were smuggled to neighbouring countries," the report said.

"Crude oil produced in Iraq also was stolen from its pipelines."Action urgedThe report urged Iraq's parliament and Jawad al-Maliki, the prime minister-designate, to crack down on the corruption and smuggling, and to better protect oil plants and pipelines from attacks by insurgents.

Al-Maliki is trying to form a cabinet from Iraq's complex mix of Shias, Kurds and Arab Sunnis, and one of the more important portfolios will be oil minister.

Oil production has stagnated, averaging 2.05 million barrels a day in mid-March, short of the 2.5 million-a-day US goal and far short of Iraq's production peak of 3.7 million in the 1970s.

Fewer than one-quarter of the American-funded rehabilitation projects for the oil industry have been completed.

Iraq's proven oil reserves, estimated at 110 billion barrels, are the world's third largest after Saudi Arabia and Canada.

But Iraq's oil production is so poor that the country is forced to import oil.

Summary: Corruption and smuggling in Iraq's oil industry have become the biggest threat to the country's economy, a report says.


The new steamship Evening Star, Capt. BELL from New-Orleans, arrived yesterday morning, after a passage of five days and twenty-two hours. She brings no news of interest.

Mr. W.H. FIELD, the Purser of the ship, will please accept our thanks for the prompt delivery of our correspondence, and for late dates of papers.

The United States transport steamer Thomas A. Scott, Capt. WM.P. O'BRIEN, from New-Orleans Aug. 8, also arrived last evening, in six and a half days from New-Orleans.

The Scott is a new screw steamer, built in Philadelphia, this being her second trip. She brings home the Twenty-fifth Connecticut Volunteers, Col. BISSELL, a nine months' regiment, which, as will be seen by the following brief history of its career, has borne an active and honorable part in the in Louisiana.

The Twenty-fifth Connecticut Volunteers was chiefly recruited in Hartford County, one company coming from Tolland. They numbered when they embarked for the south 735 men. The regiment went on board transports and sailed on the 29th of November and 6th of December, 1862. The passage from New-York to New-Orleans was about 15 days, including a brief stop at Tortugas and Ship Island, landing in good health and without loss -- the right wing at Baton Rouge on the 17th, and the left wing at Carrollton on the 16th of December. The regiment were reunited at Baton Rouge on the 10th of January, 1863, where they remained until the 10th of March. On that day they were ordered to Bayou Monte Sano, where they constructed a field work and covered the building of a bridge preparatory to the advance of the main army upon Port Hudson. Here the regiment lost the first man, who was killed on picket duty. The rebel who shot him, however, was killed at the same time. They took part in the first reconnaissance of Port Hudson, and afterward returned to Baton Rouge.

On the 29th of March they were ordered to Donalsonville, and thence down the La Fourche to Thibadeux, Bayou Boeuf, and Brashear City, from which point they marched with the whole division, proceeding by steamer up Grand Lake, landing at Porter's plantation on the 13th of April, and on the 14th opened the battle of Irish Bend as skirmishers. They were under fire the whole day. Their loss, out of 400 who went into the fight, was ninety-six. Two officers were killed, and five wounded in the field. The entire loss was about 400. The enemy were defeated with the loss of artillery, flags, and about one thousand prisoners. During these operations the gunboat Diana, with a large supply of provisions for the rebel army was blow up. On the 15th, the march was resumed up the Teche country, the enemy rapidly falling back as far as Vermilion Bayou, where he burned the bridge and escaped under cover of a very heavy artillery fire. Alter the bridge had been reconstructed the march was continued without halt through Opelousas, the Twenty fifth being ordered to Barry's Landing. They remained there some time, protecting the shipment of immense quantities of cotton. They then moved through Washington toward Alexandria, and encamped about thirteen miles below the town, which had about the same time been occupied by the naval fleet, which moved simultaneously up the Red River. The regiment retraced its steps in part to Simmsport, on the Atchafalaya, and thence by transports proceeded to Bayou Sara. On the 25th of May they advanced to Port Hudson, skirmishing with the enemy and forcing the passage of Thompson's Creek. The following day, being still in the advance of the army, they met a body of GRIERSON's cavalry -- the advance of Gen. AUGUR's column, which thus completed the investment of Port Hudson.

On the 24th of May, they constituted a part of GROVER's advance, which carried the first line of rifle-pits on the Jackson road, directly in the centre. The following day they drove the enemy from the woods, and held them until the 27th. On that day, with the whole brigade, they were ordered to the right to reinforce Gen. WEITZEL, and immediately joined in the assault of the works. The Twenty-fifth lost heavily in this affair, the wounds of the men being of a serious character. Afterwards they returned to their regular tour of duty in the rifle-pits until the 14th of June, when they cooperated in the second assault of that day.

On the 19th of June, the brigade being pretty badly cut up, they were sent to cover the rear of Gen. WEITZEL on the Bayou Sara road, furnishing constant working parties until the surrender of the place on 8th of July.

By this time the regiment had less than 150 men fit for duty -- the remainder being either on the sick list or among the killed.

On the 11th of July they left camp for Donaldsonville, arrived the same night, and immediately took advance picket duty. On the 12th, they were thrown to the front in the engagement, then going on with TAYLOR's forces, who retreated. This closed the active duties of the Twenty-fifth Connecticut. Their term of service having about expired, they were ordered to New-Orleans, whence they embarked on the 8th inst. for home.


She may hail from Pennsylvania and draw the strongest associations with Nashville, but Taylor Swift is New York City’s newest ambassador for tourism. NYC & Company, the city’s official marketing and tourism organization, announced Swift’s new role this morning, launching a series of promotional videos in which the singer defines essential New York vocabulary — such as “stoop” and “bodega” — and explains her connection to the city.

“New York kind of pulled me here like a magnet,” she says. “I was intimidated by the fact that it was bright and bold and loud. And now I know that I should run towards things like that.” Swift says the city was integral to the development of her new album, 1989, inspiring her songwriting and providing the backdrop for a period in her life characterized by possibility and excitement. If the album’s first track, “Welcome to New York,” wasn’t written in anticipation of this new gig, it certainly sounds like it could have been.

As Swift herself sings, “Haters gonna hate,” and the response to her ambassadorship for a city she’s barely lived in has been mixed. Swift moved to New York only recently, and she splits her time between Manhattan, Beverly Hills and Nashville. New Yorkers are notoriously stingy in awarding the label “New Yorker” to anyone who wasn’t born and raised among them, and Swift’s recent arrival gives her more in common with the tourists she’s attempting to attract than the residents of the city itself.

So no, she’s by no means a logical choice, if we’re basing logic on street cred alone. There are countless entertainers with strong ties to the city who might have better appeased New Yorkers (see Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, whose New York-themed anthem is among the most beloved in years). But that’s just it: NYC & Co. is not looking to appease the people who already live here. They’re looking to draw the people who don’t — 55 million each year, to be precise.

And besides, New York is a city of immigrants and transplants, made interesting by its intermingling of newcomers and originals. NYC & Company’s press release makes ample use of the word “welcoming,” a preemptive retort to those who would be anything less than hospitable to one of its newer residents. As Swift sings in “Welcome to New York,” “Like any real love, it’s ever-changing.”

Summary: "Welcome to New York" is not just a song title


Nothing says First World city like Seattle does. Come for the cachet, stay for the Seahawks, and give a nod to the Starbucks and the Amazon and the mothership that is Microsoft just to the east. There’s nothing this so-hip-it-hurts town lacks, it seems—except perhaps for common sense. If you’re looking for that, the developing world is a far better bet.

That’s the inescapable conclusion on what should be a very good week for public health—and childhood health in particular—with the World Health Organization and other groups announcing on July 24 that Nigeria has gone a full year without a single reported case of polio. Pending further certification, the country will be removed from the dwindling list of countries in which the disease is endemic, leaving just Pakistan and Afghanistan. If Nigeria’s caseload remains at zero for two more years, it will be officially declared polio free.

How did the country that as recently as 1988 saw 30,000 children—a stadium’s worth—paralyzed or killed by polio every year achieve such a stunning turnaround? No surprise: vaccines—the same vaccines that have saved the lives and health of millions of children around the world, and the same vaccines that saw polio eradicated entirely in the U.S. in 1979.

So it came as a head-slapping development that earlier this month, Seattle news outlets reported that polio vaccination rates in their city have hit a low of just 81.4%, or worse than the rates in Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Algeria, El Salvador, Guyana, Sudan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Yemen, according to the WHO. Why? Because Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Algeria, El Salvador, Guyana, Sudan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Yemen may have a lot of problems, but they don’t have the anti-vaccine crazies.

Vaccine denialism is a perverse affliction of people who should be smarter than they act—the well-educated, high-income folks who know just enough to know too much, and to assume that simply because they haven’t seen a disease in a long time it’s gone away. And hey, if it does turn up, they’ve surely got the resources to deal with it.

That’s the reason that in the U.S., anti-vaxxers tend to cluster in wealthy, blue-state communities like Silicon Valley, New York City, Columbus, Seattle and it’s down-coast little sister Portland. It’s the reason too that the nonsense that animates the anti-vaxxers—the idea that vaccines are toxic or overprescribed or nothing more than a cash grab by big pharma and big government—is a lot likelier to gain traction in other wealthy countries around the world than in ones that have only recently done away with scourges like polio or are still struggling with them, and either way have images of sick or dying children still fresh in their minds.

“Polio is nonexistent in the states, so if you’re going to travel, it makes sense to do it,” said one Washington State resident interviewed by Seattle’s KUOW radio station on July 14. “We are doing vaccines based on our family’s needs, not based on what doctors say we need to follow.”

Never mind how abjectly ridiculous that thinking sounds if you shift its frame even a little: “We are fire-proofing our home based on our family’s needs, not based on what the fire department say we need to follow,” or “We are fastening our seat belts during turbulence based on our family’s needs, not based on what flight attendants say we need to follow.”

Never mind, too, that that the very reason polio is non-existent in the states is because people have been good about getting vaccinated and that, as an outbreak in an unvaccinated Amish community in 2003 showed, there is no virus in the world that isn’t just an incoming airline flight away. If it lands in a community where vaccine rates are low, it will find plenty of people to infect.

What’s more, while polio may indeed have been KO’ed in the states years ago, measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough and more are all very much still at large, and outbreaks of those diseases have been on the rise thanks to the anti-vaxxers. The vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella specifically is below 90% among Seattle kindergarteners, dangerously short of the 95% rate needed to keep communities as a whole protected.

For most people, living in the developed world is a mere accident of birth and geography—a demographic freebie that gets you started in life far ahead of people born in less lucky places. Privilege can be part of that first world birthright, as can wealth and freedom and the opportunity for good heath. But smarts, it seems, have to be earned. That, clearly, is something Nigeria and Rwanda could teach Seattle.

Summary: Vaccine rates continue to fall in the Pacific northwest


In the early hours of 10 June 1886, Mount Tarawera, a volcano on the North Island of New Zealand, erupted with astonishing force. The explosions may have been heard as far afield as Christchurch, more than 400 miles (640km) to the south-west.

The eruption killed 120 people, most of them Maoris – native New Zealanders – living in small villages in the surrounding countryside. But it is not just because of its high death toll that the Tarawera eruption is firmly lodged in the collective memory of New Zealanders. Most people also remember the eruption because it robbed the island nation of a treasured natural wonder: the Pink and White Terraces of Lake Rotomahana.

The terraces were the two largest formations of silica sinter – a fine-grained version of quartz – ever known to have existed on Earth. They were located on opposite shores of Lake Rotomahana, situated six miles (10km) to the south-west of Mount Tarawera. And they were extraordinarily beautiful.

The terraces are sometimes even described as the eighth wonder of the world. One was a brilliant white colour, while the other, due to an unknown chemical impurity, was tinged a light shade of pink. Either would easily have constituted a geological marvel on its own merits. But to have two such wonders within sight of each other, and in complementary colours, made the Pink and White Terraces greater than the sum of their parts.

Watercolour paintings from the 19th Century – particularly those of Charles Blomfield – offer a sense of their magnificence.

By the time the eruption died down, sometime around dawn, Lake Rotomahana had vanished

"It's hard to describe to non-New Zealanders what the terraces mean to us," says Cornel de Ronde, a geologist at GNS Science, a state research institute in New Zealand.

Which explains why the events on that cool June morning have become so infamous.

Shortly after 3am, about an hour after Mount Tarawera rumbled to life, the eruption spread to Lake Rotomahana, and a cluster of volcanic craters opened up on the lake floor.

In 1886 Lake Rotomahana was not visible from any of the surrounding villages, meaning most of the locals could only hear the eruption. But by chance, one person, who happened to be spending the night in the countryside seven miles (11km) to the east, had an unobstructed view of Lake Rotomahana.

The Pink and White Terraces had been destroyed, or at best permanently entombed

Two days later the man, Henry Burt, told a journalist that during the eruption the lake had resembled "a huge boiling cauldron, bubbling [over] in all directions".

By the time the eruption died down, sometime around dawn, Lake Rotomahana had vanished. The water had literally been blasted into the air, combining with the erupted volcanic ash to form a muddy sludge that buried the surrounding countryside up to 46ft (14m) deep.

The newly-formed volcanic craters that had blown apart the floor of Lake Rotomahana were still belching out mud and rocks two days later, when the first expedition party arrived to survey the damage.

Not only was the lake gone, but so too it seemed were the Pink and White Terraces. They were nowhere to be seen; the area where they had once stood was caked in volcanic mud. And the white chunks of sinter which some people found mixed in with the volcanic debris did not inspire hope.

The shocking state of Lake Rotomahana and its surroundings after the 1886 eruption led New Zealanders to believe that the Pink and White Terraces had been destroyed, or at best permanently entombed.

Secretly, some of the researchers were hoping to resolve the mystery that had surrounded the terraces

In the months after the eruption, Lake Rotomahana grew back. Water from surrounding streams began to flow into in the volcanic craters which had blown apart the old lake, gradually forming a new lake four times deeper and covering an area approximately five times the size of the original.

By the end of 1886, the area where the Pink and White Terraces had once stood was under tens of metres of lake water. It seemed like they had been lost for good.

It would be 128 years before the world learned their true fate.

Between 2011 and 2014, scientists from GNS Science led a series of expeditions to map and study the floor of Lake Rotomahana. The expedition was not related to the Pink and White Terraces directly. The team's goal was to discover how the 1886 eruption had affected the geothermal system that had formed the terraces.

But secretly, some of the researchers were hoping to resolve the mystery that had surrounded the terraces since that dark day in 1886. In their more optimistic moments, some of the scientists may even have hoped to find physical remains.

"I did quietly wonder what we might find in the areas where the terraces had once sat," says de Ronde, who led some of the lake expeditions.

But that was dreaming. In the meantime there was important science to be done.

The team was able to build up the sharpest image of the floor of Lake Rotomahana ever made

One of the researchers' many aims whilst at Lake Rotomahana was to construct high-resolution images of the lake floor, a task which was carried out by de Ronde and his colleagues from New Zealand and the United States. They hoped that by mapping the lake floor in unprecedented detail, they would somehow be able to discover the fate of the lake's geothermal system.

The team obtained the images using, amongst other gadgets, two high-resolution ‘side-scan' sonar instruments. They strapped these onto a pair of torpedo-shaped AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles), which they then remotely manoeuvred through the lake, travelling 31ft (10m) above its floor, mapping the lake floor as they went.

The team performed the sonar survey in February 2011. In order to cover the almost 3.5 square miles (9 sq km) of lake floor, the researchers directed the AUVs along a series of parallel, linear paths – each of which imaged a long but narrow strip of the lake floor, almost as if mowing a lawn.

By combining many such scans – which totalled approximately 186 miles (300km) of scan lines – the team was able to build up the sharpest image of the floor of Lake Rotomahana ever made.

The sonar images are not what you would see with your eyes down there (which, thanks to the gloom and sediment, would not be much anyway). Instead, the images were in black and white – the dark areas represented sediment, while the brighter parts generally represented rocky material or gases.

The picture of the lake floor that emerged on the sonar scans was dominated by sediment, as the team had expected. But there were plenty of interesting features on the sonar images too.

The team saw what appeared to be a long, thin rocky outcrop

Some showed what looked like cracks – geological faults – crossing sections of the lake floor. de Ronde thinks these were probably formed during the 1886 eruption.

Elsewhere on the sonar map of the lake floor, the team saw ghostly-looking clouds of bubbles rising from small craters on the lake floor, proof that volcanic gases are still emanating from the floor of Lake Rotomahana today.

De Ronde was used to seeing features like these on sonar scans. He had carried out similar analyses of volcanoes on the seafloor. But on one of the sonar images, taken in the north-western corner of Lake Rotomahana, de Ronde and his team saw something they had never seen before, on a sonar image or on any kind of image.

Jutting above the lake floor, the team saw what appeared to be a long, thin rocky outcrop, stretching for a horizontal distance of around 197ft (60m).

The scientists did not know what they had found. The feature clearly was not a fault: faults are sharply delineated, whereas the mystery outcrop had a misshapen, lumpy appearance.

But it was the location of this strange feature that really grabbed the team's attention. They were in the area of the lake floor where the Pink Terraces had once stood.

With the eye of faith they even looked a little pinkish

The researchers knew that the lumpy outcrop they had discovered could not possibly be the whole of the Pink Terraces; it was only a fraction of their size. But could it be a fragment? This thought alone was enough to get the scientists' pulses racing.

The team wanted a photograph right away. Sonar was one thing, but to determine whether the feature might actually be a section of the Pink Terraces, they needed to examine it visually.

They had to wait three years. When the researchers first spotted the possible terrace remains in 2011, they had been too caught up with completing the rest of their surveys to deploy their deep-water camera. But when the team returned to Lake Rotomahana for their next round of surveys, in February 2014, they positioned their boat above the possible terrace remains and dropped down the camera.

Most of the photographs the team took showed sediment and not much else. But to be safe, they took thousands. And on two of those photographs, de Ronde and his colleagues found something that definitely was not sediment. It also made them smile.

The photos showed a rounded, rocky-looking outcrop, sloping gently to one side. And the parts that were not draped in sediment had a bright, pale appearance. With the eye of faith they even looked a little pinkish.

This photographic evidence, coupled with the fitting location of the rocks on the lake floor, was enough to confirm it: de Ronde and his colleagues were looking at a section of the Pink Terraces. They had suddenly resurrected a natural wonder.

But the best was still to come. Buoyed by their re-discovery of the Pink Terraces, the team re-deployed the aquatic camera approximately 0.6 miles (1km) to the north-east: the relative location, in the pre-1886 landscape, of the White Terraces.

Amazingly, these photographs showed much the same thing. In the location where the White Terraces had stood before the 1886 eruption, the camera showed a large lump of pale rock.

If anything, this second outcrop looked even more terrace-like than the first. The whitish rock seemed to have the same vertical, columnar texture that is apparent in pre-eruption photographs of the White Terraces. De Ronde likens its texture to candle wax.

The team had chalked up another discovery, and Lake Rotomahana had suddenly regained pieces of both of its famous terraces. They had been amputated, drowned and buried by over a century of sediment, but somehow, incredibly, they had partially survived the eruption of 1886.

The photographs and sonar images showing the terrace remnants are published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research.

They certainly were just fragments of the terraces – only 10% of the Pink Terraces seem to have survived, and even less of the White Terraces – but that fact almost added to the rarity of the discovery for the researchers.

Technically speaking, the terraces had always been a sidebar to the group's mission – a romantic distraction, but nothing of scientific substance. But in other ways, the terraces meant a great deal to the scientists – and to New Zealanders more generally.

Burt would probably have been amazed that anything at all could have survived

"I suppose it's a bit like Americans finding evidence for a long-lost Grand Canyon," says de Ronde.

At the end of their 2014 expedition, the researchers left Lake Rotomahana for the last time. The group had achieved their scientific goals: they had established that the geothermal system at the lake was still active, and they had produced a bathymetric map of the lake floor that was 400 times sharper than any other.

But they had also helped shed new light on the events of 10 June 1886. From his viewpoint seven miles away, Henry Burt – the only eyewitness – probably saw relatively little. The volumes of ash already coming from Mount Tarawera, and the volcanic mud that was about to issue from Lake Rotomahana itself, would soon have blocked his view.

But the new discoveries made at Lake Rotomahana provide a second witness to what happened that night. The fact that only fragments of the Pink and White terraces remain today strongly suggests that the majority of these old wonders were indeed destroyed by the eruption, probably soon after it began.

But Burt would probably have been amazed that anything at all could have survived the catastrophe he witnessed.

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Summary: The stunning terraces of Lake Rotomahana were obliterated by a volcanic eruption in 1886, but geologists have now found traces of them hidden at the bottom of the lake


Terrorism, health care, and immigration top the list of concerns that Americans want government to address, a new poll found—and a majority have little to no confidence that the U.S. can actually do anything about them.

The Associated Press and NORC (National Opinion Research Center) asked Americans to cite up to five issues they think the government should address this year, and their confidence in government’s ability to resolve them. The most commonly mentioned were terrorism, health care, immigration, education, and unemployment; others included guns, race relations, and national security.

But a whopping 61% of those polled have little to no confidence in the government’s ability to resolve any of these issues; 30% are moderately confident. Just 8% are very or extremely confident, and the remaining 1% either don’t know or refused to answer.

The poll found Republicans and Democrats agree that unemployment and health care should be two of our top priorities, but the two parties tend to disagree on other issues. Republicans were more likely to mention a foreign policy issue as one of the country’s biggest concerns, while Democrats appeared to be more concerned with domestic issues.

Over two-thirds of poll-takers identified at least one economic issue as one of their top priorities. Unemployment, which was named by both parties equally, was the top concern with 24%. Aside from that, the two parties disagreed on which economy-related issues were most important. Poverty, mentioned by 13%, was a bigger concern among Democrats, while taxes and the budget deficit, which were mentioned by 13% and 12% of those surveyed respectively, were more highly prioritized by Republicans.

Nearly a third of people identified health care as a top domestic issue, followed by education (25%), climate change (18%), and guns (15%). Other domestic issues, identified by less than 10%, included income inequality, race relations, policing matters, welfare reform, and social security. About 80% of all those polled named at least one domestic issue as a top priority.

Terrorism was the most commonly mentioned foreign policy issue with 34%, and immigration followed as a close second with 29%. National security was a priority for 9% of people, and war was a priority for 6%.

Summary: But few think the government can actually solve them.


Italians are big fans of the seaside, escaping to local beaches for the day or often returning to the same resort town year after year for an extended holiday.

That said, with a few exceptions, Italy does not have a surfeit of glorious beaches. Nor is it particularly well served by the UK’s traditional big sun and sea tour operators, at least when compared with Spain, Greece or Turkey. But you can still have a great time on the Italian coast.

Where it can hold its own is Sardinia, which has some of the best beaches in Europe, never mind Italy. This makes it more than usually popular with Italians (and Germans and Scandinavians), so book Sardinian beach holidays, as well as any flights or ferries, well in advance.

The dune-backed beaches at Piscinas, in Sardinia, are some of the best sands in Italy.

Even for mainland Italians, Sardinia is a world apart, so it is worth seeking guidance from a specialist such as Sardatur (see “Tour operators”). Choose between small, boutique and luxury hotels on tiny bays, with sickles of white sand, or chic, family- and couple-friendly resorts with activities, such Forte Village, Chia Laguna, Le Dune, Romazzino and the Flamingo.

A similar profile is emerging on Sicily, with the opening of the Verdura Golf & Spa, Donnafugata and other resorts and hotels, although here there are fewer good beaches. Again, it pays to contact a specialist such as Think Sicily (see “Tour operators”).

Hill-town Taormina is the island’s best-known resort. It is attractive, but expensive, and has relatively poor beaches on the coast immediately below the town. Cefalù is a pleasing resort town with a fine historic core. The south coast has many empty beaches, notably at Eraclea Minoa (plus Camerina, Donnalucata, and Punta Secca), but is a rather flat, lifeless shore. Key emerging destinations are the smaller islands, particularly Pantelleria and the Egadi and Aeolian archipelagos.

After Sardinia, many Italians plump for the Adriatic coast, lined for most of its length south of Ravenna with good sand, safe seas and unpretentious small-town resorts. If you want a gentle, Italian family-style seaside holiday, this is the place. Just avoid Rimini, a big and sometimes brash resort. Beaches near Monte Conero, near Ancona, are standouts.

Scroll down for a list of tour operators offering beach holidays to Italy

Positano has the best beach on the Amalfi Coast.

Puglia, too, the “heel” of Italy’s “boot”, has a decent but often rocky coastline. While the Gargano peninsula is busy, the almost Greek-looking Salentino peninsula is quieter, with especially good beaches around Gallipoli and south of Otranto.

The big package operators are branching out into some of these regions, but they mostly stick to traditional areas: the Neapolitan Riviera (including Amalfi and Sorrento – though beaches on the Amalfi Coast are small: Positano has the best); the Venetian Lido and nearby Lido di Jesolo (the “Venetian Riviera”), which have big beaches but are more developed in the manner of the Spanish Costas (Caorle is the choice here for a more intimate stay); and the Tuscan Riviera, notably celebrity favourite Forte dei Marmi (which is not as chic as its reputation suggests) and the belle époque resort of Viareggio.

Most Italians holiday in August, which means that other summer months are often cheaper. For example, Thomson has seven nights’ half board, including flights, at the popular Principe Palace Hotel, on the Lido di Jesolo, for £582pp in mid-June; this rises to £861pp in August. Tim Jepson

The companies below are mostly large tour operators who offer conventional packages to the main coastal resorts (and other destinations). Nevertheless, many tour operators under “Cities”, notably Citalia and Kuoni, can also tailor-make beach holidays.

Cresta (0844 800 7020; crestaholidays.co.uk) has good selections of hotels in Sorrento, the Amalfi coast and islands.

First Choice (0203 451 2720; firstchoice.co.uk) has a coastal programme of all-inclusive holidays that focuses on a handful of resorts – Sorrento, Alghero (Sardinia), and Cefalù and Giardini-Naxos (near Taormina) in Sicily.

Monarch Holidays (0843 227 1466; monarch.co.uk) has keenly priced mid-range holidays to the Neapolitan and Venetian rivieras.

On the Beach (onthebeach.co.uk) is often competitive for flight-and-hotel bookings to the Neapolitan Riviera.

Thomas Cook (01733 224800; thomascook.com) focuses on mid-range hotels in Sorrento and the Lido di Jesolo, including all-inclusive options, with a scattering of other options countrywide; best deals can often be found online at airtours.co.uk.

Thomson (0871 230 2555; thomson.co.uk) offers hotels, apartments and villas on the key coastal rivieras, and in Amalfi, Sorrento, Sardinia and Sicily.

Western & Oriental (020 3588 6028; wandotravel.com) can tailor-make varied Italian trips, but its coastal collection of hotels includes key, large upmarket resorts, such as the Verdura Resort in Sicily, and Forte Village, Chia Laguna, and the Hotel Romazzino in Sardinia.

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Summary: Read our insider’s guide on how to book the best Italy beach holiday, as recommended by Telegraph Travel. Find expert advice and great pictures of top hotels, restaurants and bars.


Things have gone pretty well for Tom Brady in his athletic career: Two NFL MVPs, three Super Bowl MVPs, 11 Pro Bowl selections and top-five placing in the all-time passing yards and passing touchdowns lists, to name a few achievements.

But even for a man already in the "Greatest of All-Time" conversation despite not having finished his career, it's hard not to wonder "what if?" sometimes.

To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the 1995 MLB Draft, Brady – who was selected in the 18th round of that year's draft by the Montreal Expos – took the opportunity to reflect on a possible alternate career path:

Although Brady was selected ahead of eventual All-Stars like Mike Lowell, Aaron Rowand, Brad Lidge and Mark Mulder, he chose to stick with football, and we can't blame him for the decision.

But if Brady – who trails only former 49er and Cowboy Charles Haley with four Super Bowls won as a player – did go with baseball, his winning pedigree would've been put to the ultimate test. The Expos, which became the Washington Nationals at the start of the 2005 season, are one of only two MLB franchises (joining the Mariners) to have never made a World Series appearance.

More Tom Brady: -- What Tom Brady and Wife Gisele Completely Disagree On -- How a Dishwasher Called 'The Beav' Connected Tom Brady and Jim Harbaugh -- Will You Buy Tom Brady's $200 Cookbook?

Alternate, draft, MLB, Montreal Expos, New England Patriots, NFL, Tom Brady

Summary: On the 21st anniversary of the 1995 MLB Draft, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reflected on how he almost became a Montreal Expo on Facebook.


The music world was captivated by the surprise release of Beyoncé’s sixth studio album Lemonade, especially for its seemingly autobiographical nature and the belief that its songs discuss the long-rumored infidelities of husband Jay-Z.

But Lemonade isn’t just compelling for reasons of gossip. The album has been streaming exclusively on Tidal, a service partially owned by Beyoncé and Jay-Z, which means Lemonade is a real-time experiment into whether exclusive album deals for streaming services like Tidal can help them catch up with rivals Spotify and Apple Music in the race to lock up subscribers.

So far, the results have been pretty good for Tidal. According to a report in the New York Times, the exclusive deal “has resulted in 306 million global streams for songs from the album,” with about 75 percent of those coming from the United States. The report continues:

Tidal said that it gained 1.2 million user sign-ups, including free trials, in the first week that “Lemonade” was available; the service had said in March that it had 3 million users. As for its competitors, Spotify said that it had 30 million paying subscribers globally; Apple Music said it had 13 million.

So although Lemonade has been a success in raising Tidal’s profile, the service still has a long way to go. “While exclusives from artists like Beyoncé are enough to give Tidal a boost, they probably aren’t going to make the difference between success and failure because there simply won’t be enough of them,” Fortune’s Mathew Ingram wrote in a recent analysis of exclusive streaming deals. “That poses a very real existential problem for the music service as it tries to survive in a chaotic marketplace for music.”

Summary: She's a business, man.


CHICAGO— The day Nick Anderson last saw Benjy Wilson, his closest friend and one of his high-school basketball teammates, it was sunny but cold in Chicago, and it was windy.

The date was Tuesday, Nov. 20, 1984. The wind was blowing down South Vincennes Avenue, where the lunch-time crowd of students had spilled out from Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, a three-story red brick building that is a converted cookie factory.

Anderson was a 6-foot-4-inch junior and Wilson a 6-8 senior. Wilson, at 17, was widely considered the best high-school basketball player in the country. Anderson, 16, was not far behind.

The happy shouts and cries of high school kids on the street that day eight years ago seemed to hang in the brittle air, as did the roar of the train from the nearby Illinois Central tracks, which run overhead and sweep in front of the school at 83d Street.

Now, eight years later, Nick Anderson is a starting guard for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association. But the memory of what happened that day on that crowded, windblown street remains vivid for him.

Anderson, who had gone into a candy store, heard screams outside. At first, he thought there had been a car accident. "Then someone started hollering: 'Benjy's been shot!," he said. " 'Benjy's been shot!' "

Anderson ran out of the store and saw a crowd gathering on the sidewalk about 100 feet away. He raced over and saw Wilson slumped against a wire fence in front of a one-story house. Wilson was wearing a new trench coat, a knit cap in the school colors of blue and gold and white sneakers. "He was bleeding through the coat and gasping for air," Anderson recalled recently. "I didn't know what to do. I was so scared. And things get a little hazy, but I remember that the ambulance was there almost immediately."

Amid the hysteria, Anderson learned that two teen-age boys from another school had shot Wilson. It turned out that Wilson had bumped into one of those teen-agers, who turned to his companion and said, "He pushed me; pop him." The other teen-ager took out a .22-caliber pistol and fired it at Wilson.

Soon after the shooting, paramedics loaded Wilson into the ambulance and rushed off to St. Bernard Hospital, about three miles away.

Wilson lay in the emergency ward, his aorta severed and his heart and liver punctured from the bullet shots. He was eventually wheeled into an operating room, where doctors worked for several hours in an attempt to save his life.

"We stayed up all night, wondering whether Benjy would live or die," said Robert Anderson Sr., Nick's father. "Nick was crying. Finally at about 6 in the morning, the phone rang. It was Benjy's mother. Nick took the call. She told him Benjy had passed."

Ben Wilson's death made national headlines. The random, senseless, terrible tragedy of a young man of huge potential touched people everywhere, and seemed to symbolize the awful direction in which much of the country, particularly the inner cities, was headed. "The Chicago public schools and the city of Chicago have lost one of their best hopes for the future," said the Chicago School Superintendent, Ruth Love.

There were also high hopes for Nick Anderson. And now every time he slips on his No. 25 jersey for the Magic, every time he goes out to play in bright N.B.A. arenas filled with cheering fans, he thinks of Ben Wilson, his laughing and intense high-school friend.

When he was a college star at the University of Illinois, Anderson chose to wear No. 25, the number Wilson wore in high school, and he continues to wear it in memory of his friend.

Three days after the shooting, at a wake in the school gym on Friday, members of Congress, state senators, Mayor Harold Washington and college basketball coaches like Joey Meyer of DePaul and Lou Henson of Illinois, who had hoped to recruit Wilson, were among the 8,000 people who stood in line in the cold outside, then filed past Wilson's coffin, which was strewn with flowers.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke at Wilson's funeral. He called for gun control and it brought cheers from the mourners. "But his demands that parents take responsibility for their children brought foot-stomping agreement and deafening applause," The Chicago Tribune reported.

Mary Wilson, Ben's mother, would go before the Chicago City Council and appeal for gun control and an end to gang violence. The council listened and promised action. "Nothing really was done," she later recalled.

Police statistics in 1984 showed that 119 young people between the ages of 11 and 20 had been murdered in Chicago by the end of October. Wilson's death was one of more that increased that figure. Similar numbers were recorded in cities across the country.

In 1993, the problem remains critical. In 1991, the latest year for which statistics are available, 229 people between 10 and 19 were killed in Chicago. Nationally that year, there were 2,992 murder victims in that age group. By that time, homicide had become the leading cause of death of young people in the inner cities. Nightmare Intrudes On the Dream


His own co-workers are glad he’s getting the boot. Staffers at “Piers Morgan Live” are actually relieved that CNN has canceled the show, sources tell Confidenti@l.

“He was always such an a------ to people working for him,” one insider says of the bombastic Brit. Morgan’s last show is likely to be this week, but no specific date has been set. We hear it was low ratings and a bad attitude that killed it, and the decision was made by network boss Jeff Zucker. “The makeup girls suffered the worst — he was rude and belligerent,” says our source. “The general feeling is Morgan didn’t show any respect to anyone working under him — the people who were trying to make him look good.”

Last Thursday, “Piers Morgan” was seen by just 364,000 total viewers, according to Nielsen. That was easily beaten by Fox News’ “The Kelly File” (1.9 million) and MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” (925,000). Morgan was questioned in November in London by cops investigating phone hacking, but a CNN spokeswoman said that interview was not a factor in his show being canned.

Morgan was the editor of the U.K’s Mirror newspaper from 1995 until he was fired in 2004 over the publication of pictures that were claimed to show Iraqi prisoners being abused by British soldiers; it turned out the photos were fakes.

A rep for Morgan didn’t get back to us.


David Cameron has had a tough week, as his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal has led to sharp criticism and calls for his resignation. Things got a bit stranger today, as an opposition MP called him “Dodgy Dave,” causing a sustained commotion in the House of Commons before he was removed from the proceedings.

The MP in question is Dennis Skinner. Skinner has been in the Commons since 1970, and is a relic of the pre-Tony Blair Labour Party; he’s a socialist with deep ties to trade unions.

Skinner was given the option of taking back the adjective, but declined to do so, at which point he was removed from the proceedings for the rest of the day.

Summary: So much for the prim and proper British.


French fries may seem the least of all evils when perusing a bar food menu. Potatoes are a health food, and what’s a French fry but a potato heated with a little oil? A record number of experts weighed in on this one—we didn’t want to take no for an answer—but regretfully, 7 out of the total 9 give French fries a big thumbs down.

For starters, fries are nutritionally unrecognizable from a spud, says Jonathan Bonnet, MD, a family medicine resident physician at Duke University. “They involve frying, salting, and removing one of the healthiest parts of the potato: the skin, where many of the nutrients and fiber are found,” he says. “The fry you eat is much different than the potato from which it came”—a scary thought, considering that by 15-18 months of age, French fries are the number-one vegetable consumed by toddlers.

Many of those come from a drive-thru. A medium order of fries has 365 calories along with 17 grams of fat, a full 26% of your daily value. Sodium clocks in at 246 mg, or 10% of the upper limit you should eat in a day. Sugar and trans fat may even make appearances in small quantities. “Here we have an extremely starchy vegetable dipped in a fryer that then loads on the unhealthy fat, and what you have left is a food that has no nutritional redeeming value in it at all,” says Kristin Kirkpatrick, RD, manager of wellness nutrition services at Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute.

What’s more, French fries are often the super-fatty side dish to a burger—and both are often used as vehicles for things like sugar-laced ketchup and fatty mayo, says David Katz, MD, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. Things escalate quickly from there. “Let’s face it: it is very hard to stop eating these things,” says Katz. Foods high in fat and refined carbohydrates are likely to be addictive, found one study.

On a much stranger note, French fries may mess with your…eyes? Chung-Jung Chiu, PhD, a scientist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University found a link between popular Western-diet foods—including French fries—and age-related macular degeneration. “When people are older, they become even more vulnerable to these dietary insults,” he says.

All of which makes a compelling case for fries as a selective treat, says Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University.

Nearly half of the experts we talked to warned about the carcinogen acrylamide, a chemical that forms in some foods when they’re cooked at high temperatures by frying, roasting or baking. To make acrylamide, a food needs sugars, an amino acid called asparagine and hot temperatures—all of which are involved in the making of the fry. Along with potato chips, it’s the most often-cited source of dietary acrylamide.

It’s not yet definitive what acrylamide means for human health, but the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) just released its scientific two cents, saying that acrylamide “potentially increases the risk of developing cancer for consumers in all age groups.” The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives has named acrylamide a human health concern in the past and called for more studies. “At very low concentrations, it will accumulate during the years of childhood and adolescence and will contribute to serious diseases, including cancer,” says Allal Ouhtit, professor at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman and author of a recent review on acrylamide. You should limit your intake of French fries, says Eric Morrissette, spokesperson for Health Canada, but eating them occasionally isn’t likely to be a health concern.

One way to cut down on the toxin is to cook fries for less time. “When the product is overdone—beyond the ‘golden yellow’—the amount of acrylamide in French fries increase exponentially,” says Vincenzo Fogliano, chair of food quality and design group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. People who eat a diet high in acrylamide may have a slightly increased risk of cancer, he says, but if fries are prepped in good oil that hasn’t been reheated, cooked for not-too-long and naked of mayo and ketchup, they’re a-ok. “French fries per se are not that bad as people think,” he says.

So agrees Steve Elmore, PhD, senior research fellow in the department of food & nutritional sciences at the University of Reading in the UK. “They are delicious, natural and like most foods, harmless in moderation,” Elmore says. He’s researched acrylamide since 2002, but doesn’t think there’s enough evidence to prove that it causes cancer in humans. He does have a French fry preference, however: thick-cut over thin-cut, which yields a lower fry-to-oil ratio.

For those of us with a French fry fetish, it’s tough news to hear. But on the plus side, any food this bad for you must taste oh-so-good—a fact you’ll savor when you sparingly treat yourself to a small order of fries.

Read next: Should I Eat Corn?

Summary: Tough news for those of us with a French fry fetish


They include Airvana, an arm of the US networking giant Commscope, which specialises in so-called “small cell” technology that allows mobile signals to operate in tight spaces.

Plans to bring mobile coverage to the London Underground network form part of a nationwide overhaul of communications for the emergency services.

A bespoke radio network, Airwave, will be replaced by standard 4G mobile technology, saving hundreds of millions of pounds a year and providing high-speed internet access to police, paramedics and fire crews in the field.

The switch-over is due to begin next year and to be completed by the end of 2020, with the new signal to be provided by BT’s EE mobile network.

London is the last region due to be switched over to the new system, in part because of the challenges on the Tube network.

An industry source involved in discussions with TfL said it was not yet clear how mobile coverage will be delivered underground.

He said: “It could be controlled by TfL, by one of the operators, or by some independent infrastructure provider. It could be piggybacked on some of the Wi-Fi infrastructure that is already down there.”

Another source said: “The heart of this is the emergency services network, but once it is done, the Government want commercial mobile operators to connect the Tube.”

A TfL spokesman confirmed officials were investigating how to introduce mobile coverage on the Tube, initially for the emergency services.

He said: “We do not currently have plans to introduce mobile phone coverage for customers. The introduction of such coverage would need to be commercially viable and would be subject to consultation.”

The London Underground gets a new managing director this month, Mark Wild, former chief of an Australian transport authority.

Summary: Transport officials in London are in talks to bring mobile coverage to the Tube network, as a project to update police communications underground gets under way.


Beleagured pop queen Madonna reportedly embarked on a bizarre, boozy tirade at her Melbourne, Australia concert over the weekend, knocking back swigs of tequila as she beckoned to the crowd to take care of her.

The "Like A Virgin" singer appeared to have trouble composing herself at the sold-out show, according to British tabloid The Sun, and at one point was photographed on the ground with a liquor bottle in her hand after falling off a tricycle.

"Somebody take care of me please," she told the Rod Laver Arena crowd, according to reports. "Who is going to take care of me?"

The 57-year-old singer, who is currently waged in a drawn-out, contentious custody feud with ex-husband Guy Ritchie, also reportedly took sips out of a flask in between songs.

And in another profanity-laced rant, the Material Girl surveyed the audience and pleaded "someone please f--- me."

Likewise, Madonna admitted to the intrigued audience that she'd "messed up" a couple songs before joking she figured they'd be embedded in her DNA, according to The Sun.

Earlier in the week, Madonna dressed as a clown for her first Melbourne performance, where she emotionally opened up about her drawn-out legal battle with Ritchie and dedicated a song to her estranged son Rocco.

Many surmised that Madge was drunk at the show, as she reportedly slurred her words and downed a Cosmo on stage as she addressed the audience. But her flack told TMZ the mid-show vodka cocktail was the only thing Madonna drank that night.

Madonna has regularly spoken about her ongoing custody war at shows since the 15-year-old Rocco ditched her "Rebel Heart" tour in December to move in with his father in London.

A Manhattan Supreme Court justice ruled in December that Rocco had to return to his mother's Manhattan home, but the wayward teen and his director father ignored the court order. The judge has since said Rocco, who prefers to live with his father, can remain in England until his parents come to a custody agreement.

Guy and Rocco Ritchie each attended a High Court hearing on Thursday, but Madonna was unable to attend due to her shows in the Land Down Under.

The highly complicated saga appears to have taken a major toll on Madonna, and People magazine reported last week that Ritchie is "treading on eggshells" to avoid upsetting her in hopes of finally reaching a settlement.

Summary: Embattled pop star Madonna embarked on another bizarre, boozy tirade at her Melbourne, Australia concert over the weekend.