If you know anything about Donald Trump, you know that he isn’t afraid to get into it with his creditors. But largely those battles have fought fought in conference or court rooms, not Twitter.

That all changed Thursday when Trump tweeted a photoshopped picture of Fox News host Megyn Kelly standing next to a woman in an niqab and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud, one of the richest men in the world.

Though bin Talal is an investor in Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which owns Fox News, he owns just 7% of the company, while Chairman Rupert Murdoch controls the vast majority of the company’s voting shares, according to an SEC proxy filing.

The tweet motivated bin Talal to fire back at Donald Trump, pointing out the fact that he helped bail Trump out of financial difficulties back in the 1990s.

Bin Talal is referring to two deals that took place more than 20 years ago. The first was in 1991 when bin Talal bought a yacht once owned by Trump that he put up for sale during a period when his casinos were facing heavy financial pressure, and the second was a 1995 deal when bin Talal bought a stake in Trump’s Plaza Hotel.

Sky-high Manhattan real estate prices means that Trump is nowhere near the financial distress he found himself in in the early 1990s. But bin Talal’s tweets suggest that at least some of the global power elite that Trump rubs elbows with are not happy with the magnates fiery rhetoric. It’s also proof that really, really rich people get into Twitter fights too.

Summary: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Alsaud has the receipts.


A Texas college student who was interested in neither the dorm life or the life of a post-college debtor made an interesting choice when deciding where to live during his studies: a tiny house.

Joel Weber, a student at the University of Texas in Austin, was preparing to enroll in the school's design program when he realized he'd be spending more than $1,000 per month to live in the dorms and even more to live in off-campus housing.

Instead, he decided to build his own home that he could put anywhere he wanted.

Student ditches dorms for 145-square-foot tiny home to graduate debt-free

READ MORE: Inside the 'Silence of the Lambs' House That's Still For Sale

Weber created his own floor plan and, for around $20,000, he built his 145-square-foot home atop an 18-foot flatbed trailer.

"I wanted something that I could invest in, having the satisfaction and motivation of knowing the improvements I make would last for me or whoever came after me," 25-year-old Weber told INSIDE EDITION. "I don't see the majority of students learning that in a dorm or apartment."

Weber said he's not much of a partier and doesn't think he's missing too much by living in the tiny home, which some family friends allow him to park on their property.

READ MORE: Would You Buy This Vine-Covered, Dilapidated House For $475,000?

"The space is a cozy, inspiring, healing, fun, sustainable, efficient, ecological and nurturing," Weber said.

Though he clearly loves his tiny house, Weber said he's gotten multiple offers for the home and may one day sell it--possibly to live in an even stranger abode.

"As my budget allows, I may invest in a different living space that could have an actual foundation or have more square footage or even up in a tree," he said. "Most importantly are all the things that I have learned from the building process and from being in a smaller space. I will carry those with me for a lifetime."

SEE MORE: Take a Look Inside Michael Jackson's Restored Neverland Ranch

Summary: Joel Weber was preparing to enroll in a college design program when he realized he'd be spending more than $1,000 per month on housing.


QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct. 2 — With nothing more than a telephone and a fax machine, Tarir Khan transfers money almost anywhere in the world — no questions asked, no names used and no trail for law enforcement to follow.

Mr. Khan is a small cog in a far- reaching network of informal banking known as hawala, the Arabic word for trust. Although it is illegal in most countries, including here in Pakistan, authorities estimate that billions of dollars flow unseen by regulators through the hawala system worldwide.

A senior government official in Pakistan said law enforcement authorities were certain that Osama bin Laden's network used hawala to transfer money to agents outside Afghanistan, along with conventional means. But the nature of hawala will make tracking those particular exchanges almost impossible.

In the Kandahari bazaar here, many hawala dealers are concentrated in a five-story concrete building that resembles a bunker, its interior dark and its offices lighted by dim bulbs.

Outside, donkey-drawn carts vie for space with Toyota Land Cruisers, and three-wheel motorized rickshaws dodge bangled buses and pedestrians.

The absence of women, save a couple of beggars, is striking. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, money business is men's business.

Anyone can walk into a hawala shop in Quetta or a thousand other cities in southern Asia, put down a stack of cash and ask that the sum be transferred to a recipient in another country.

Mr. Khan and his associate, found sitting cross-legged on the floor of their sparse office and sipping tea, keep transactions in a brown notebook on Mr. Khan's desk. When he receives a telephone call or a fax to confirm that money has been picked up elsewhere in the world, the relevant page is torn out of the notebook.

Even the new scrutiny prompted by the terror attacks on Sept. 11 is highly unlikely to disclose all the details of how Mr. bin Laden's money moves through the ancient system. Mr. Khan, for one, refuses to divulge the cities where he has associates, saying he fears the authorities.

"This system is made for transferring enough money to get a pilot's license or make a deposit on an apartment without raising an eyebrow," Prof. Nikos Passas, an expert on transnational crime at Temple University and a consultant to government agencies, said in a telephone interview.

Finance Minister Shaukut Aziz, a former executive vice president of Citibank in New York, said $2 billion to $5 billion moved through the hawala system annually in Pakistan, more than the amount of foreign transfers through the country's banking system.

Pakistan is trying to draft laws to regulate the industry. But for now it thrives illegally in places like the Kandahari bazaar.

A United States Treasury Department study identified hawala as the principal means of money laundering from drug trafficking and other crimes in Pakistan. The report said Pakistan, India and Dubai on the Persian Gulf form the "hawala triangle" to move money secretly worldwide.

In hawala, sums large and small are sent halfway around the world on a handshake and a code word. Records of transactions are kept just until the deal is completed. Then they are destroyed.

No cash moves across a border or through an electronic transfer system, the places where authorities are most likely to spot or record the transaction.

The sender does not have to provide his name or identify the recipient. Instead, he is given a code word, which is all the recipient needs to pick up the same amount of cash from an associate of the original trader. The transaction can occur in the time it takes to make a couple of phone calls or send a fax.

The system was in place long before Western banking. The ancient Chinese used a similar method called "flying money," or fei qian. Arab traders used it as a means of avoiding robbery along the Silk Road.

Millions of Pakistanis, Indians, Filipinos and other people from southern Asia working in foreign countries use the system to send money home to relatives.

"They don't feel comfortable walking into a bank," Mr. Aziz said in an interview.

"It's very dangerous to talk about this, because it is illegal," Mr. Khan, who arrived in Quetta from Afghanistan many years ago, said this afternoon as a colleague shook his head and told him to keep quiet. "I can't tell you much."

Trust, he said, is the essential quality of a hawala trader. Most of his customers are from the same part of Afghanistan. So there is an innate sense of trust.

He said transfers were usually sent among family members and involved a few hundred dollars. Sometimes transactions are for as little as $50.

He provides a five-digit code word, a letter and four numbers, that the recipient takes to one of Mr. Khan's associates as far away as the United States, Germany or Russia. The same associates accept money for transfer to relatives in Quetta.

"They tell the code word, and we hand over the money," he said. "Then we tear up the records on both ends."

Most hawala merchants charge a small commission, usually $5 for transfers up to $500 and $10 for up to $1,000.

Their main profit comes from currency fluctuations and extra fees for moving money for big clients.

The system is used for far larger sums, often by drug traffickers, corrupt politicians and black market traders, according to local experts and law enforcement.

"The drug dealers, the politicians who get kickbacks and others with black money use this system," said Kamran Mumtaz, editor of The Daily Mashriq, a newspaper in Quetta.

Authorities have found evidence that hawala has been used for payments by smuggling rings and militant groups in the disputed territory of Kashmir and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, Professor Passas said. "This is the most convenient, common and cheapest system of moving money," he said. "It is also one of the most difficult to track."

Summary: Although it is illegal in most countries, including Pakistan, authorities estimate that billions of dollars flow unseen by regulators through the hawala system worldwide.


THE arraignment of the notorious New York landlord Steven Croman last month was a rare bit of good news for the tenants in his buildings, many of whom have said they have endured hazardous conditions designed to force them out of their homes. Mr. Croman was charged with 20 felonies related to his rental income (he has pleaded not guilty), and faces a civil suit accusing him of using illegal means to force tenants out of their rent-stabilized apartments, in order to renovate them and find new tenants to pay market rates.

Unfortunately, Mr. Croman’s alleged approach to emptying buildings is not at all uncommon. Altering or destroying a building in order to make it unsafe is the method of choice for many property owners operating in some of the city’s most rapidly changing neighborhoods. When tenants can no longer cope with the danger, they often reach out to city agencies for help, which plays right into the property owner’s hand: A city inspector pays a visit, observes the hazards and issues an order to vacate. Tenants then have mere hours to leave their homes, and once they vacate an apartment it is nearly impossible for them to get back in.

Even when housing court disputes are settled and a judge finds a property owner responsible for illegal construction, such decisions rarely involve criminal charges. Occasionally, city and state governments are able to work in concert to arrest a bad actor. But the number of bad actors far exceed the arrests. Brooklyn, which is undergoing an aggressive wave of gentrification, is rife with property owners who engage in these practices with impunity. Specific examples are easy to come by.

In 2014, for instance, tenants of the seven-unit building at 94 Franklin Avenue, which is owned by the Tiferes Yehuda Family Trust, were told that construction would soon take place in the backyard. When tenants asked the building manager about it, she explained that a new playground was in the works. Soon construction workers showed up and threw away tenants’ belongings — toys, grills, patio furniture — without warning. Jackhammering began and was so severe that exterior windows shattered and dust seeped into tenants’ homes, affecting an asthmatic child living inside. The dust, noise and debris became part of daily life for the next year.

In court affidavits, one tenant says that when she called the building manager about the situation, she denied that construction was taking place. And the work continued. A crew began putting up a wall just a few inches from the back of the building. The tenants called 311, and the Department of Buildings sent over an inspector. The work continued, and tenants called 311 again. When an inspector saw that the construction was eliminating egress and cutting off natural light, a stop work order and a vacate order were issued. The tenants were given hours to leave.

That was July 2015. The work continued and five months later, in December, another stop work order was issued. Since evacuating nearly a year ago, the tenants have had limited access to their apartments and had to arrange visits through the manager. Inside, they discovered water damage, a rat infestation and rotting floors. In court documents, lawyers for the property owner say that the manager has since been replaced and that repairs have been made, and continue to be made, to lift the vacate order. The Department of Buildings has brought criminal actions against the owners and the city is seeking to appoint an administrator to the building. Meanwhile, all of the tenants are still displaced with no guarantees that they will be able to move back into their homes. One family has entered the shelter system.

The case at 172 North Eighth Street, an eight-unit building in Williamsburg, is another example. In June 2009, tenants in the rent-stabilized apartments were ordered to vacate because of an illegal excavation of the basement by the building’s owner, listed publicly as 172 Realty Capital, that compromised the structural integrity of the building. The building had 76 open violations from the city, including 34 labeled “immediately hazardous.” Repairs were reportedly done and the order was lifted. Some tenants returned to find no running water, no electricity and no functioning sewage. Then, two cellar walls were found to have collapsed. Another vacate order was issued, forcing the tenants out yet again.

Summary: Landlords who endanger their residents rarely face severe punishment.


06/07/2016 AT 04:10 PM EDT

has already emerged as a

, but something about him worries Fletcher.

In an exclusive sneak peek at Tuesday's episode, the Bachelorette tells the 27-year-old former NFL quarterback that she still hasn't quite figured him out – and that scares her.

"There's something about you that makes me a little nervous," confesses Fletcher, 25.

"In a bad way?" he questions her. "Like what?"

"I don't know if it's a bad way," Fletcher, 25, admits, "I just get nervous around you."

"You said that, but it seemed like a good thing at first," Rodgers says.

"No, it's a great thing, because off the bat I was like, just ... not skeptical, it's just smooth and great, and so good so soon," Fletcher says. "I was like, 'Is this too good to be true?' I never expected to meet somebody so quickly and feel this comfortable and excited."

And Rodgers has some soothing words for JoJo, who was famously

on the last season of

airing a special extra episode this week Tuesday at (8 p.m. ET) on ABC.

Summary: "There's something about you that makes me a little nervous," Fletcher confesses to Rodgers in an exclusive sneak peek


Republicans in the first four states to weigh in on the GOP presidential nomination are not standing lockstep against gay marriage and largely support measures that protect LGBT people from discrimination, according to a series of GOP polls obtained by TIME.

Those fast-shifting attitudes could offer an opportunity for the Republicans presidential contenders to moderate their stances and better position themselves for a head-to-head contest against the Democratic nominee in 2016. By and large, Americans have shifted toward acceptance of gays marrying, and most candidates reflected that view in reacting to last week’s Supreme Court ruling that expanded marriage to same-sex couples nationwide.

While a few candidates reacted with fiery statements—former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called for civil disobedience and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called for states to pass a constitutional amendment to undo the ruling—likely Republican primary voters greeted it with a collective shrug. In New Hampshire, 55% of likely Republican primary voters said they would accept the Supreme Court’s ruling as the law of the land. In Iowa and Nevada, 46% of Republicans said they agreed. Forty-one percent of Republicans in South Carolina, which is the most conservative of the first four states, said they could accept the court’s ruling.

Of course, that means the majority in three of the first four states remain opposed to same-sex marriage. But the acceptance is still a remarkable development, with roughly half of Republicans willing to move past the same question that drove scores of voters to cast ballots against gay marriage in recent elections. Nationally, the poll found 39% of Republicans support gay marriage and, when the question is asked differently, 43% of Republicans say same-sex couples should have the same rights as straight couples. Only 33% of Republicans in the national survey would back an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriages in the states.

That is perhaps why some Republicans did not react strongly to the Supreme Court ruling. “While we have differences, it is time for us to move forward together respectfully and as one people,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Americans should “love our neighbor and respect others, including those making lifetime commitments.” Added Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida: “While I disagree with this decision, we live in a republic and must abide by the law.” None embraced same-sex marriage.

The next question, which is less clear among the Republican hopefuls, is anti-discrimination legislation to finish what the Supreme Court started. While the court ruled that gays and lesbians have the right to wed, many Americans live in places where same-sex couples can face legalized discrimination when it comes to housing, employment or finances.

In Congress, moves are underway to introduce a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill in the coming weeks. According to the same polls, such protections are popular among Republicans—as long as there are provisions that Americans would not have to betray their religious convictions.

Nationally, 59% of Republican voters say there should be laws banning discrimination against gays and lesbians in employment, housing, credit, education and public accommodations, such as hotel stays or restaurant service. Among Republican millennials—young voters—that number reaches 79% support. Twenty-three percent of Republicans surveyed said they would be more likely to support a candidate who endorses a non-discrimination bill.

In the crucial first four states, a majority of Republican voters support anti-discrimination laws as long as there were provisions that would allow, say, a Southern Baptist Church to refuse to marry a same-sex couple. A broad anti-discrimination proposal would have the backing of 67% of New Hampshire Republicans and 61% in Nevada.

The poll results, which are set to be released on Friday, were provided early to TIME. The study was conducted by a panel of respected GOP pollsters who have advised presidential candidates and their campaigns: Alex Gage (Mitt Romney), Jan van Lohuizen (George W. Bush) and Adam Geller (Chris Christie), as well as House Republicans’ survey mavens Brock McCleary and Robert Jones. The poll was funded by Project Right Side, an organization founded by openly gay former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. The other sponsor was the American Unity Fund, a project backed by billionaire investor Paul Singer, who publicly supports gay rights. Billionaires Seth Klarman, a Republican donor, and Dan Loeb, a Democratic donor, are backers of the groups, as well.

The national survey interviewed 2,000 voters, including 798 Republicans or Republican-leaning voters. Separately, the pollsters also asked 500 registered voters in each of the early nominating states their opinion, including 205 likely Republicans in Iowa, 216 likely Republican in New Hampshire, 232 likely Republicans in South Carolina and 194 likely Republicans in Nevada. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points; it is 4.4 percentage points for the state-specific samples. The surveys were conducted June 9 to 17, in the lead-up to the June 26 ruling.

Summary: Republicans survey voters on their attitudes about marriage, discrimination


Yet another player has returned to the game of thrones. Sunday night's hour of the HBO drama marked the return of Sandor (The Hound) Clegane, last seen left for dead after a beating from Brienne of Tarth in Season 4.

He was found by a religious man, head of a peaceful tribe and it seemed for a brief moment The Hound was turning away from his past of violence and hate. However, at the episode's end, he's forced back into his old ways after a group of vagabonds murdered his peaceful group.

Meanwhile, Sansa, Jon Snow and Ser Davos were working to rally support to take back Winterfell and save the youngest of the Stark siblings, Rickon. The remaining Wildlings after some convincing from Tormund and Jon have promised to fight alongside the Starks in their battle against the Boltons. Viewers were then granted a fun exchange between the 10-year-old Lady Mormont, the head of the Bear Island, and the Northern posse.

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 6 recap

Both Sansa and Jon discuss their connections to House Mormont, but in the end though, it's Davos who convinced the young leader to lend her support. The victory is short-lived, however. The young leader promises only 62 men, and the group was unable to get support from House Glover.

In King's Landing, religion continues to rule. Lady Oleanna scolded her granddaughter for siding with the faith militant but Magaery revealed she's only playing the game. At the end of their exchange, the Queen handed her grandmother a drawing of a flower, their house sigil, a symbol of her ever-strong allegiance to her family and her house.

Arya, last week after saving Lady Crane, seemed back to her old self, needle in hand. She had booked passage back to Westeros but the Waif stabbed her repeatedly before she could escape Braavos. Arya managed to get away with her life, but only barely. At the episode's close she was left wandering the streets, desperately trying to hold in the blood seeping out of her wounds.

Jamie this week made his way to Riverrun with the goal of reclaiming the castle on behalf of the Freys and quelling a potential rebellion in the North. The Blackfish had no interest in leaving his home peacefully however. He offered no concession to the Lannister. The most exciting aspect of this plot line is the potential reunion between Jamie and former travel-buddy Brienne. While they're almost-friendship was fun to watch, should they reunite it will be on different sides of the battlefield.

A look at how Daenerys Targaryen could end up a ‘GoT’ villain

"The Broken Man" offered viewers a unique perspective on the game of thrones. The constant strategy and networking in this episode was a nice change of pace after five seasons of constant violence. The tension-filled peace will be short-lived, though — this is the game of thrones after all.

Summary: Sunday's episode marked the return of Sandor (The Hound) Clegane, last seen left for dead after a beating from Brienne of Tarth in Season 4.


Chris Spivey, the dad caught on camera disciplining his son with a belt on "Jo Frost: Nanny On Tour," is threatening legal action against the show after getting flooded with death threats.

Spivey tells TMZ the footage of what sounds like him whipping his 9-year-old with a belt as the child screamed in pain is "bogus" because it was grossly edited, and he was only hitting the bed. He says producers took the isolated incident and created a whole show around it, but never gave him a heads up it was airing Thursday night.

TMZ broke the story ... Frost called child services in November on Spivey after she saw the disturbing footage captured by the show's surveillance cameras. Spivey says DCFS investigated but found no wrongdoing.

Spivey watched last night and says the show "sucked." He says right after it aired he started getting Facebook threats.

He says his family is considering legal action -- they've retained an attorney -- because "we are not people that beat their kids. We are leaders in our community and this has put a strain on our family.”

Summary: Chris Spivey, the dad caught on camera disciplining his son with a belt on "Jo Frost: Nanny On Tour," is threatening legal action against the show…


I recently got back from a 10-day trip to Cuba. And during those days I gained some insight into what thousands of Americans are going to find when they leave their luxury hotels and lavish supermarkets and spend significant amounts of money to travel to an island hobbled by embargo and food shortages. In a nutshell, it’s going to be a huge, huge mess. But (probably!) worth it, particularly for the adventurous and culinarily unambitious.

The trip I went on was a “people-to-people” educational group voyage, in compliance with U.S. State Department guidelines. I like to think of it as the last government trip to Cuba, before normalized tourism takes hold. The group spent most of its time in Havana, but we also visited Viñales in the west and Trinidad on the Caribbean coast. Cuba is a fascinating and outrageously photogenic place. Here’s what I saw.

The food is bad, but the plumbing is worse

Part of traveling is pretending that the food everywhere you go is some of the best in the world. But not everywhere can be above average on the culinary front. Mince pie and fermented shark are indigenous to somewhere, after all.

Cuban cuisine is based on imported rice, black beans, government issue cheese product #1 and enough sugar to give you diabetes in a week. It tastes about as good as it sounds.

I’m not blaming Cuba for this. The country is desperately poor, the embargo means nothing is quite fresh, and restaurants have only been legal since 2013. That’s hardly enough time to make a proper sauce, let alone develop a restaurant scene.

But that doesn’t stop travel writers from pretending the food is good. The most recent example of this was The New York Times’ 36 Hours in Havana piece, which fawned over all of the “hot” new restaurants in city. The article came out while I was there, so I made a point of going to as many restaurants as I could in search of a decent meal. They were perfectly lovely restaurants with attentive service, hip decor and food that would make a Red Lobster manager blush.

The one upshot to Cuban food is you don’t find yourself overeating, which is good since properly functioning flush toilets are almost unheard of.

Labor is free and capital is dear

Eighty percent of Cuba’s workforce is employed directly by the state. For them, the official wage is 500 Cuban pesos per month — or about $20. Professionals in sectors facing an acute labor shortage make a bit more: doctors earn three times the standard wage. But however you slice it, the average salary is extremely low relative other countries in the hemisphere.

Sure, there’s a big safety net: the government provides free housing, healthcare, and education. The ration book provides for about 15 days of food per month, as well as staples like soap and cooking oil. (beyond that, food is subsidized.) So we’re not exactly talking about World Bank $1.25 a day levels of poverty, but buying power in the country is limited. And to make matters worse, anything that can’t be produced on the island needs to be imported, often via the black market thanks to the embargo, leading to higher than average prices for clothes, electronics, building materials, and the vast majority of consumer goods. Internet access is $2 per hour, texts 5 cents per message.

The high cost of goods and low cost of work lead to labor practices that would seem insane anywhere else. Jobs like plowing fields and weaving textiles that have been mechanized for decades in the rest of the world are done by hand in Cuba — sometimes by people with college degrees. Productivity is handicapped because employers (read: the state) are also short on cash. Cuba imports all its energy and most of its food, leaving very little to put towards machines that might improve efficiency. Cuba’s “modern” infrastructure and equipment dates from the end of the Soviet Era, and much of it from before the revolution (see: classic cars).

The result is a country where a full-time employee might cost $100 a month in the embryonic private sector, but a five-year old Kia runs $100,000.

Old cars were kind of terrible

The reason we don’t drive 55 Chevys around America anymore is that they were terrible cars. On every measure aside from sheer bulk, classic cars were drastically worse than what we drive today. They were slow; got terrible fuel economy, and were almost-certain-deathtraps in any sort of accident. Perhaps worst of all: they lack catalytic converters. Only 5% of Cubans own private cars, and a not all of those are 55’ Chevrolets. But even the small number of old cars tooling around Havana’s empty highways spew so much particulate that the air in New York’s Times Square seems fresh and clean by comparison.

Cuban agriculture is 100% organic and a total catastrophe

In college, I took a course about Cuban agricultural systems that in retrospect was nothing more than an excuse to get around hyper-strict Bush-era travel bans. I didn’t go on the Cuba trip then (it involved mandatory farm work), but I remember the thesis quite clearly: It was that Cuba shows how a whole country can be not only GMO free, but also free of pesticides and fertilizer. Michael Pollan’s wet dream.

If Cuba is the example, we’re all going to starve.

While it’s true that all the food produced in Cuba is totally organic, the agricultural system is a complete shambles. Nobody can afford a tractor, let alone fertilizer or pesticides. The revolution capped farms at 40 acres making them too small to effectively mechanize even if you could afford machines. People pick insects off tobacco leaves by hand and plow fields with donkeys. Some 14% of the country is stuck working in agriculture, which contributes just 4% of GDP and doesn’t produce nearly enough to feed everyone. More than 80% of food has to be imported.

All of the buildings are falling down

One of the most striking things about Communist Cuba is how little communist architecture there is. There is the revolutionary square — a vast parking lot with a scattering of dumpy post war buildings around it. But aside from that, most of the built environment dates from a several decade timespan around the turn of the 19th century. There are very few of the concrete apartment blocks that blanket Eastern Europe.

It makes for a lovely old-world feel on the surface, but the problem with a building stock that’s over 100 years old and hasn’t seen a drop of paint since 1989 is that buildings are starting to fall apart — everywhere, and at the same time.

According to one government architect, Havana sees four buildings collapse per-day. Apartments are privately owned (sales are restricted and only became legal at all in the past few years), but ownership of the buildings is ambiguous. A gallon of paint costs a month’s salary. Don’t even think about new appliances. The parts of the old city that haven’t already fallen down look as though they soon might.

One sliver of hope is the recent relaxation of remittance rules by the Obama administration. Some buildings are being renovated — which could suggest the owners have relatives in Miami.

Cuba seems to realize it’s time to increase income inequality

When nearly every job pays 500 Cuban pesos ($20) a month, it’s really hard to get people to fill jobs that are grueling or require years of training. The result is labor shortages and weird labor distribution, a problem exacerbated by two factors:

1: The United State’s policy of open immigration from Cuba siphons off some of the wealthiest, ablest, and most educated workers to the U.S.

2: Extraordinarily low state wages and the premium on foreign currency makes tourism-related jobs, where you can earn a tip, the most desireable in the country. The result is that cab drivers have Ph D.s and are some of the richest people around.We met an economist from a university in the country who explained some of the recent reforms aimed at addressing this crisis. Farmers are now allowed to sell 10% of their harvest to private parties (the remaining 90% is sold to central government). Wages for doctors were tripled, and requirements to become a teacher have been drastically lowered (Cuba’s great educational system is talked about exclusively in the past tense).

There’s no racism and Cuba’s a democracy, technically

I’m not sure if it’s the repressive government or the lack of Internet access, but a lot of Cubans come across as a particularly by-the-book, party-line lot. We were told by several different people that despite a history of slave plantations, racism wasn’t an issue at all in Cuba. The Revolution technically abolished it in 1959! How glorious. Why didn’t we try that, comrade?

We heard similar double speak about elections and press freedom. If there’s an election commission, the elections must be free and fair. The law says so!

Everyone in Cuba desperately wants the embargo lifted

As a tool of regime change, the American trade embargo has been a complete failure. The Castro government is now the longest serving in the world. But as an exercise in immiserating a small country, it has been a smashing success. Turns out that locking 11.5 million people out of the world economy does, in fact, result in radically higher prices, crumbling infrastructure and widespread human suffering.

Let’s not pretend the embargo is some great principled position. We count the Saudis among our closest allies and we resumed trade with China — an opening that has helped lift 500 million people out of poverty (while benefiting western consumers too!). The difference between China and Cuba is the Guomindang fled to Taiwan when they lost the revolution. Batista supporters went to Miami, where they have been enormously successful at advancing grudge politics against the revolutionaries ever since.

Cuba relations are something of a historical curiosity for most Americans, but for Cubans they are the only thing that matters. Almost everyone you encountered — save for the employees at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, who set the global standard for surly hotel staff — were genuinely excited to find out we were Americans. People would assume we were Canadian, we’d correct them, and their face would light up with joy. Cab drivers would give us a high five. Street merchants would beam and ask how we liked Cuba. It’s not just that Americans tip better than our neighbors to the north, but that our presence means the embargo might end soon.

Unfortunately, I doubt it will.

And they think your concern about McDonald’s is patronizing nonsense

The Cuban culture that we romanticize today developed during a period when the country was utterly and completely dominated by American companies. The idea that the arrival of McDonald’s will somehow suffocate a culture that survived United Fruit, the Batista regime, the mafia, and a communist command economy strains credulity, to say the least. Some of the state officials we talked to found the idea patronizing.

Cuba has more than enough crumbling commercial real estate to go around and the Cuban people seem to desperately want access to the same goods and services everyone else in the world enjoys. I personally find dilapidated buildings and ration centers photogenic, but pretty much everyone would be better off with a McDonald’s there instead. Plus, Cuban breakfast could really benefit from the introduction of the McMuffin.

Most of the embargo is rigorously enforced, but some aspects are total bullshit

Thanks to Cuban Expat Lobby, the U.S. embargo of Cuba has been more ruthlessly enforced than any other trade sanctions we’ve imposed, but even so, the part about air travel seems to be kind of bullshit. American air carriers aren’t allowed to fly to Cuba — you have to take a special charter from one of a handful of approved cities.

The thing is, my charter was an American Airlines plane with an American Airlines Crew that offered American Airlines frequent flier miles for a trip to a country American Airlines is ostensibly not allowed to fly to.

Wally Nowinski is the director of e-commerce at custom photo printing company, Collage.com.

Summary: First off, the food stinks.


I’d actually feel sorry for Monica Lewinsky — if she weren’t so damn infuriating.

She’s America’s favorite beret-wearing former intern, whose very name has become a synonym for a sex act she eagerly performed on her knees, a dame who rocketed to fame for failing to dry-clean a blue dress stained with the seed of the then-leader of the free world.

Now, Lewinsky, 40, wants our pity and, perhaps, a job she can perform while sitting upright. And — drum roll, please — she doesn’t blame former President Bill Clinton, the alpha male before whom she famously knelt.

The pair’s sexploits took place in and around the Oval Office, including in a bathroom and a hallway, in 1995, when Lewinsky was a willing pup of 22. This brought about Clinton’s impeachment — although the Senate acquitted him of lying under oath and obstruction of justice in 1999 — and caused strife in his marriage. Ultimately, public sympathy may help catapult his wife, Hillary Clinton, to the presidency in 2016.

As for Lewinsky, she will not be ignored.

Photo: Sam Jones exclusively for Vanity FairAfter a decade of precious near-silence — after she blabbed to Barbara Walters, after her handbag company failed, after a pitchwoman stint for Jenny Craig diets, after she hosted a dating reality-TV series that lasted five episodes on Fox TV, authorized a biography, participated in a self-serving HBO TV documentary and graduated from the London School of Economics with a master’s degree in social psychology — Lewinsky has hunted unsuccessfully for a job from New York to Los Angeles to Portland, Ore.

Now, she wants a payday.

In an exasperatingly tone-deaf piece in Vanity Fair, set to be released digitally Thursday and hit newsstands May 13, she gave the scoundrel Bill Clinton a free pass for romping with her in a particularly degrading fashion.

In excerpts released on the magazine’s website and in a press release, she wrote, “Sure, my boss took advantage of me.’’ Ya think? “But I will always remain firm on this point: It was a consensual relationship.’’

“It seems that nothing will stop Lewinsky from making a big Lewinsky of herself.”

In an egregiously offensive plea for understanding, Lewinsky compared her situation to that of cyberbullying victim Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old New Jersey college freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge in 2010, killing himself. This after his roommate set up a webcam and watched with friends as Clementi kissed another man.

What an imbecile. Lewinsky potentially wounded Clementi’s family, folks who’ve already suffered so much. And she wrote that she didn’t even attempt suicide! Lewinsky just thought about it. Her mom feared for her life, too.

It seems that nothing will stop Lewinsky from making a big Lewinsky of herself.

She got in a good dig at Hillary Clinton, who, according to the files of her late pal Diane Blair, once called Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon’’ and partly blamed herself for her hubby’s cheating ways. Lewinsky found Hillary’s impulse to blame the women in her husband’s life “troubling.”

The ex-intern faulted a long list of people for the “abuse’’ she said she suffered after the Clinton scandal became public — “the Clinton administration, the special prosecutor’s minions, the political operatives on both sides of the aisle and the media.’’

Lewinsky, I’d recommend that you use your special talents to forge an exciting new career in whatever it is you do best.

Summary: Make her go away! I’d actually feel sorry for Monica Lewinsky — if she weren’t so damn infuriating. She’s America’s favorite beret-wearing former intern, whose very name has become a synonym for a …


How will future historians explain it? How will they possibly explain why President George W. Bush decided to ignore the energy crisis staring us in the face and chose instead to spend all his electoral capital on a futile effort to undo the New Deal, by partially privatizing Social Security? We are, quite simply, witnessing one of the greatest examples of misplaced priorities in the history of the U.S. presidency.

"Ah, Friedman, but you overstate the case." No, I understate it. Look at the opportunities our country is missing -- and the risks we are assuming -- by having a president and vice president who refuse to lift a finger to put together a "geo-green" strategy that would marry geopolitics, energy policy and environmentalism.

By doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world. That is, we are financing the U.S. military with our tax dollars and we are financing the jihadists -- and the Saudi, Sudanese and Iranian mosques and charities that support them -- through our gasoline purchases. The oil boom is also entrenching the autocrats in Russia and Venezuela, which is becoming Castro's Cuba with oil. By doing nothing to reduce U.S. oil consumption we are also setting up a global competition with China for energy resources, including right on our doorstep in Canada and Venezuela. Don't kid yourself: China's foreign policy today is very simple -- holding on to Taiwan and looking for oil.

Finally, by doing nothing to reduce U.S. oil consumption we are only hastening the climate change crisis, and the Bush officials who scoff at the science around this should hang their heads in shame. And it is only going to get worse the longer we do nothing. Wired magazine did an excellent piece in its April issue about hybrid cars, which get 40 to 50 miles to the gallon with very low emissions. One paragraph jumped out at me: "Right now, there are about 800 million cars in active use. By 2050, as cars become ubiquitous in China and India, it'll be 3.25 billion. That increase represents an almost unimaginable threat to our environment. Quadruple the cars means quadruple the carbon dioxide emissions -- unless cleaner, less gas-hungry vehicles become the norm."

All the elements of what I like to call a geo-green strategy are known:

We need a gasoline tax that would keep pump prices fixed at $4 a gallon, even if crude oil prices go down. At $4 a gallon (premium gasoline averages about $6 a gallon in Europe), we could change the car-buying habits of a large segment of the U.S. public, which would make it profitable for the car companies to convert more of their fleets to hybrid or ethanol engines, which over time could sharply reduce our oil consumption.

We need to start building nuclear power plants again. The new nuclear technology is safer and cleaner than ever. "The risks of climate change by continuing to rely on hydrocarbons are much greater than the risks of nuclear power," said Peter Schwartz, chairman of Global Business Network, a leading energy and strategy consulting firm. "Climate change is real and it poses a civilizational threat that [could] transform the carrying capacity of the entire planet."

And we need some kind of carbon tax that would move more industries from coal to wind, hydro and solar power, or other, cleaner fuels. The revenue from these taxes would go to pay down the deficit and the reduction in oil imports would help to strengthen the dollar and defuse competition for energy with China.

It's smart geopolitics. It's smart fiscal policy. It is smart climate policy. Most of all -- it's smart politics! Even evangelicals are speaking out about our need to protect God's green earth. "The Republican Party is much greener than George Bush or Dick Cheney," remarked Mr. Schwartz. "There is now a near convergence of support on the environmental issue. Look at how popular [Arnold] Schwarzenegger, a green Republican, is becoming because of what he has done on the environment in California."

Imagine if George Bush declared that he was getting rid of his limousine for an armor-plated Ford Escape hybrid, adopting a geo-green strategy and building an alliance of neocons, evangelicals and greens to sustain it. His popularity at home -- and abroad -- would soar. The country is dying to be led on this. Instead, he prefers to squander his personal energy trying to take apart the New Deal and throwing red meat to right-to-life fanatics. What a waste of a presidency. How will future historians explain it?

Summary: Thomas L Friedman Op-Ed column criticizes Pres Bush for ignoring energy crisis and choosing instead to spend all his electoral capital on futile effort to privatize Social Security; urges administration to adopt 'geo-green' strategy that would marry geopolitics, energy policy and environmentalism; holds that by doing nothing to lower US oil consumption, we are financing both sides in war on terrorism and strengthening worst governments in world (M)


All Americans should be outraged by Donald Trump’s advocacy of a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Jews have special reason to be concerned.

I am the grandson of immigrants who came to America in search of freedom from Czarist oppression. I am a historian well aware of the pain and suffering inflicted on countless generations of Jews who were expelled from countries they had long called home and denied entry to other nations because of their religion. And I am a Jew commanded by the Bible to deal fairly with strangers (such as refugees) because “you were strangers in the land of Egypt”—and because our tradition holds that every human being is created in God’s image and is therefore entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.

The lesson of the Exodus, taught again and again by the prophets of the Bible, is that we all have responsibilities to add justice and compassion to God’s world. The lesson of America is that we are all descended from immigrants, and that our country thrives on our coming together: Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others; left, right, and center. Everyone.

Wednesday is the third day of Hanukkah, a holiday which—more than any other on the Jewish calendar—celebrates religious freedom. Antiochus Epiphanes, who promulgated the decrees against Jews that led to the Maccabean revolt in 165 BCE, was neither the first tyrant nor the last to argue that religious difference could not be tolerated. Jews are only one among many religious and ethnic minorities to have suffered from the argument that all members of the community should be punished for the misdeeds of a few, or that their religion itself constituted a threat to the wellbeing of the nation or the world.

Words matter greatly, according to Jewish tradition, and must be carefully weighed. Judaism’s sages taught that three sins are so grave they are not only punished in this world, but bar entry to the world to come: idol-worship, forbidden sexual relations, and murder—“and wicked speech is equal to all of them.” This holds true even for the weakest form of slanderous speech, for it destroys the reputation of those against whom it is deployed.

We’ve all seen words translated all too quickly into violence; Jews and many others have learned through atrocity that aspersions on our character lead to persecution. It is wrong and dangerous to imply that every Muslim is a potential terrorist, just as it is wrong and dangerous to say, because of the killings at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last week, that every Christian should be viewed as a potential murderer.

Our country, like every other, needs to take concerted action to safeguard its borders and its citizens. Terrorists wreaking havoc on every continent from their base in the Middle East must be stopped before they spread so much fear that civilized countries sacrifice the ideals that are the most important guarantors of our security.

During Hanukkah, Jews light additional candles every night to dispel darkness, to counter fear, to encourage faith. Donald Trump’s proposal is a vote for darkness.

Arnold Eisen is the chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary

Summary: The chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary responds to the Republican frontrunner’s proposal to ban Muslim entry to the U.S.


Good lighting is critical for good photography. The right light can make a property look bigger. And when it comes to what buyers want in a home, space is second only to location. Plus, more simply, people have to be able to see a home before they'll think about buying it.

"I think it's important to have as many lights on as possible," O'Connor said. "Even in broad daylight, we encourage people to turn on the lights. It gives a different feeling and can help, unless the light is so bright it washes out the rest of the photo."

Bright photos can also look more "crisp," which emphasizes quality.

To lighten and brighten a home for a photo, draw back the curtains, replace old window treatments, replace heavy draperies with mini-blinds, increase the wattage of the bulbs in your fixtures and consider painting the walls in a light, neutral color.

Summary: Now more than ever, good photos are essential for getting buyers to consider your house -- and for getting the best price


Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney speaks during a press conference at the Oakland Museum of California, in Oakland, CA Friday, April 22, 2016.

Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney speaks during a press conference at the Oakland Museum of California, in Oakland, CA Friday, April 22, 2016.

Oakland councilwoman broke city, state rules, report says

An Oakland city councilwoman broke state and city ethics rules by interfering with the approval process for a five-unit town house development planned for a lot next door to her home, according to a civil grand jury report released Tuesday.

The councilwoman inappropriately wielded her position and used city resources to contact a department head to argue her objections and cause a re-evaluation that stalled the project, according to the report of the Alameda County grand jury. Although the report does not name the councilwoman, a source with knowledge of the grand jury probe identified her as City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, and city documents show the address of the project lot as 530 32nd St. in West Oakland, which is next door to McElhaney’s home.

The interference by the councilwoman led to several revisions and downsizing of the building plans, and the project was approved in 2014, according to the report. But the project has not been built. Instead, the property owner is offering the lot for sale.

“The property owner is concerned that further battles with the city may occur while attempting to obtain permits and constructing the town house project,” the report states. “Witnesses to the grand jury testified that developers are reluctant to purchase the property due to the council member’s interference.”

McElhaney did not return calls seeking comment.

“As public servants, elected officials are precluded from seeking to influence a decision in which they have a financial interest,” the grand jury report stated.

The report noted that “the councilmember had a material financial interest in governmental decisions based on the proximity of the town house project to her residence and the likelihood that her privacy would be adversely impacted.”

The saga began in January 2014 as the property owner, who is not identified in the report, was in the midst of working with the city planning department on a design for the five-townhouse project with downtown views in a part of Oakland long starved for development. The property owner was contacted by a “next-door neighbor who stated that his wife was an Oakland city councilmember and further stated that he and his wife would be working to stop the project if the design was not changed to their liking,” according to the report.

Shortly afterward, the report states, the councilwoman contacted Oakland Planning and Building Department chief Rachel Flynn to complain about the town house project. It says Flynn visited the lot, decided the design was subpar and pressured the property owner to make several modifications to mollify the councilwoman and her husband.

Flynn also installed herself as a point person for the project and urged the property owner to submit the revised plans to the councilwoman and other neighbors before turning them in to the city, the report stated.

At Flynn’s urging, the owner decreased the height of the building, reduced the number of dwellings from five to four and diverted the views away from McElhaney’s house, instead directing them toward a freeway wall and another neighbor’s home, according to the report.

The grand jury found that the councilwoman “directly violated ethics rules” by calling Flynn and that Flynn’s involvement “gave the appearance that the department head was an advocate for the council member.” The councilwoman also used her influence to attack Flynn and suggest that the planning staff had flouted city procedures in approving the town house development, the report said.

The grand jury report states that an email it reviewed showed the councilwoman telling the planning director that the town house project approval raised “a series of serious concerns for your department, including how well you track and enforce the city’s procedures.”

Flynn referred questions to the city administrator’s office, which issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging the ethics rules and promising to work with Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission to ensure that rules are followed.

The city planning and zoning commissions ultimately approved the modified design on March 21, 2014, but it still did not placate McElhaney and her husband, who filed an appeal two weeks later. Oakland’s Planning Commission denied their appeal on Dec. 17, but the project has not been built.

In its report, the grand jury recommended that the Public Ethics Commission conduct its own probe of the councilwoman’s interference with the project and that the commission “reinforce” its ethics training for city officials and employees. The grand jury also encouraged the City Council to consider censuring the councilwoman for using her office for personal gain.

Public Ethics Commission head Whitney Barazoto said the commission opened an investigation on Feb. 18, 2015. That investigation is continuing.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Summary: An Oakland city councilwoman broke state and city ethics rules by interfering with the approval process for a five-unit town house development planned for a lot next door to her home, according to a civil grand jury report released Tuesday.  The councilwoman inappropriately wielded her position and used city resources to contact a department head to argue her objections and cause a re-evaluation that stalled the project, according to the report of the Alameda County grand jury.  Witnesses to the grand jury testified that developers are reluctant to purchase the property due to the council member’s interference.  “As public servants, elected officials are precluded from seeking to influence a decision in which they have a financial interest,” the grand jury report stated.  The report noted that “the councilmember had a material financial interest in governmental decisions based on the proximity of the town house project to her residence and the likelihood that her privacy would be adversely impacted.”  The grand jury found that the councilwoman “directly violated ethics rules” by calling Flynn and that Flynn’s involvement “gave the appearance that the department head was an advocate for the council member.”  The grand jury report states that an email it reviewed showed the councilwoman telling the planning director that the town house project approval raised “a series of serious concerns for your department, including how well you track and enforce the city’s procedures.”  Flynn referred questions to the city administrator’s office, which issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging the ethics rules and promising to work with Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission to ensure that rules are followed.  In its report, the grand jury recommended that the Public Ethics Commission conduct its own probe of the councilwoman’s interference with the project and that the commission “reinforce” its ethics training for city officials and employees.


Vancouver will find a way to tax its vacant homes, possibly by treating them as business investments, to ease the Canadian city's housing affordability crisis, Mayor Gregor Robertson says.

If implemented, the tax could drive up costs for many foreign investors who have helped make the west coast city Canada's most expensive property market and send new investors to other countries, including Australia.

Robertson said the city would give the British Columbia government until August 1 to respond to its plan to tax nearly 11,000 empty homes in Vancouver.

If Vancouver fails to win provincial backing, Robertson said, the city would begin drafting its own regulations to create a business tax on empty homes that are held as investments.

"We are going to make sure that those who treat housing as a business are treated and taxed accordingly for that use," Robertson told reporters.

A tax rate has not been decided, but it needs to be high enough that there is an incentive for owners to rent out their homes, Robertson said, adding that vacancy rates in Vancouver are close to zero.

Robertson said the city's preferred option was to work with the province, which already has data on whether properties are vacant.

If it goes it alone, the city would also have to enact a new business tax by-law, something that could take time and be expensive to administer and enforce.

In a tweet, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said the province was reviewing the city's report and would respond quickly.

If high enough, the tax could make housing markets elsewhere in the world more attractive for foreign investors and cool blistering demand for Vancouver real estate, said CIBC economist Benjamin Tal.

"It might make the difference between Sydney and Vancouver," he said.

More than 90 per cent of detached homes in Vancouver are worth more than C$1 million ($A1.04 million), compared with 19 per cent a decade ago, according to a study released last week.

In the Greater Vancouver region, home prices have risen 46.9 per cent in the last five years. Despite this rise, the province has hesitated to intervene, and only recently took small steps to start tracking foreign buyers and to slow aggressive flipping activity.

Summary: Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says the city will find a way to tax vacant homes amid a housing affordability crisis.


An intruder at a FIFA press conference stunned the organization’s embattled president on Monday by hurling what appeared to be fistfuls of cash at Sepp Blatter, drawing attention to a sweeping corruption scandal that has prompted Blatter to step down.

“Where is my security?” Blatter could be heard asking shortly before guards dragged away the prankster, David Brodkin, a British comedian who made headlines earlier this summer for crashing a live performance by Kanye West at Glastonbury, Sky News reports.

Blatter dismissed the prankster’s “lack of education” and cleared the stage at the organization’s Zurich headquarters so attendants could sweep up the paper bills.

FIFA will hold an election for Blatter’s successor on February 26, 2016.

Summary: A British prankster threw the cash at the embattled FIFA head


They don’t look dangerous – not like a knife or open flame – but the cords on window blinds and shades can be just as deadly when they get wrapped around a child’s neck.

Almost every month, on average, another child dies from window cord strangulation, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). These cords are on the commission’s list of the top five “hidden hazards” in the home.

The industry for years has said that voluntary manufacturing standards and its own educational programs were enough to reduce the death toll.

But the government now thinks that may not be enough. The CPSC voted unanimously on Wednesday to start the rulemaking process that could eventually lead to mandatory safety standards for all new window coverings.

“Keeping children from being strangled to death is first and foremost for me when it comes to window covering cords,” said CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye in a statement. “No matter the final approach – whether it is a comprehensive federal standard or a vastly improved voluntary standard – I feel the urgency to having this hazard addressed, so families with young children and businesses can have confidence in the safety of these products.”

The commission’s action was in response to a petition filed in May 2013 by seven consumer groups, including Parents for Window Blind Safety. Linda and Matt Kaiser of St. Louis, Missouri, started the non-profit after their one-year-old daughter Cheyenne Rose was strangled to death by a window blind cord in her room.

“We’ve been fighting for 12 years to get the industry to take the outer cords off of all window coverings,” Linda Kaiser said. “There’s really no excuse. The technology is there. You see cordless window coverings in every store. The industry just doesn’t want to make the change because they’re not being forced to do it and I think the government has finally seen that.”

The Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA), the industry’s trade group, said it was “extremely disappointed” by the CPSC’s decision, but remained confident the commission will ultimately conclude that the industry’s voluntary standards are working and there is no need for government action.

Executive director Ralph Vasami said there is no “universal technological fix that exists today” that would cover the wide-variety of window coverings on the market.

“The petition’s proposal to ‘eliminate accessible cords or make cords inaccessible’ would only result in removing safe products from the market and cost thousands of jobs throughout the United States,” Vasami said in a statement after the CPSC’s decision. He said a rule that banned corded window covering products could cause consumers to hold onto unsafe products longer.

“This would create a less safe environment because the CPSC’s own data show that more than 80 percent of incidents occur with older products that don’t meet current standards or where the consumer did not install or use the product properly,” Vasami added.

Two-year-old Cormac Thomas died in March due to asphyxiation from a window covering cord. This is one of at least 7 such deaths since the beginning of the year. Erica Thomas

For years, the industry has warned parents about the strangulation hazards posed by corded blinds and shades.

The CPSC estimates that between 1996 and 2012, 1,590 children were treated for injuries, including brain damage, caused when they became entangled in these cords. Data collected by Parents for Window Blind Safety show there were 285 deaths and serious injuries during this same time period. The group says it knows of seven deaths so far this year.

Two-year old Cormac Thomas of Bethesda, Md. was one of those seven.

Erica and Stephen Thomas said they tried to make their toddler’s room as safe as possible. They said they bought shades that met the industry’s voluntary safety standards. The cord was always tied up to a hook on the ceiling, so Cormac couldn’t reach it.

On March 1, Erica came into the room and found Cormac lying underneath his window with his two favorite stuffed animals.

As she got closer, she noticed his lips and fingernails were turning blue. He didn’t have a pulse. She called 9-1-1 and started CPR. But, it was too late. Cormac was pronounced dead at the hospital.

As best she can tell, Cormac put his head into the shades to look outside the window and got caught in the cords inside the shades.

“I would rather hang a garbage bag or sheet over my window, than put something there that would harm my child,” Thomas said.

There is no way to tell if the CPSC will adopt new mandatory safety standards for window shades or when that might happen. It could take years.

The CPSC recommends that only cordless window coverings be used in homes where children live or visit. If you have corded window shades, the CPSC and the industry’s own Window Covering Safety Council have information on what to do to reduce the risk.

The Parents for Window Blind Safety has produced a PSA, In An Instant, which depicts the common window covering accident scenario. It explains that these strangulation accidents are quick and quiet and can happen even when parents are extremely safety conscious.

Erin Shero’s son Colton died on October 17, 2013, just two days shy of his second birthday.

She left Colton alone in his room, just long enough to get him a snack. She said she was gone less than two minutes. When she returned, Colton wasn’t moving. She thought he was asleep, until she found the cord around his neck.

Little Colton lost his life just two days away from his second birthday. The blinds in his room met voluntary safety standards. “My son should not have died this way,” his mother said. Erin Shero

“My son should never have died this way,” Shero said. “We baby-proofed everything, but I had no idea how dangerous these cords are.”

Shero, of Hixon, Tennessee, said the blinds met voluntary industry standards and had a breakaway cord, but they didn’t protect her son.

“I will struggle with this for the rest of my life. I will never forget what that looked like, what he looked like, how horrible it was and how helpless I felt.”

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.

Summary: Almost every month, on average, another child dies from window cord strangulation. The federal government wants to stop that.


MANHATTAN: PROTEST OVER HOSPITAL LAYOFFS -- Dozens of unionized health care workers picketed outside Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday, continuing a weeklong protest against layoffs of about 70 long-term employees. The union, 1199/SEIU, New York's health and human service union, accused the hospital of laying off the workers without the required 30-day notice, and of laying off long-term employees before probationary workers. In a statement, Mount Sinai said it regretted the layoffs, saying they were imposed to hold down costs.

BROOKLYN: DRUGS AND GUNS ARE SEIZED -- The office of the city's special narcotics prosecutor yesterday uncovered what officials said was a wholesale and retail drug market. Agents led by the deputy chief investigator, Bill Cook, searched 347 Linden Street in Bushwick, where officials said they found more than 18 pounds of cocaine, 10 pounds of marijuana, 100 doses of LSD and 30 bundles of heroin, said the office's spokeswoman, Magda Gandasegui. She said they also found five handguns, including two 9-millimeter handguns and a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. William K. Rashbaum (NYT)

MANHATTAN: SUIT OVER FIRE -- The family of a New York man who was among 156 people killed in a cable car fire in Austria in November is suing the company that designed the cable car system. Lawyers for the family of the man, Erich Kern, 25, of Dobbs Ferry, filed the suit in Federal District Court in Manhattan last week, saying that the design by Leitner Lifts U.S.A., based in Golden, Colo., failed to include adequate safety measures. The suit states that after the cable car stalled in a tunnel and the fire started, passengers could not escape because exits were blocked.

MANHATTAN: CHILD DIES OF INJURIES -- A 9-year-old boy who jumped from a third-floor apartment window on Friday after dreaming that his parents were being murdered has died, hospital officials said. The boy, Edward Amonte, of Washington Heights, died at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Babies and Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, a spokeswoman said. The boy fractured a hip and his spine and injured his brain in the fall. The police had said he opened the window and jumped out to try to escape the murder he dreamed was happening in the apartment. The child's nightmare may be been caused by medicine, the police said. (AP)

MANHATTAN: SENTENCING POSTPONED -- A federal judge yesterday postponed the sentencing of Dana C. Giacchetto, a money manager once known as ''the investment adviser to the stars,'' who pleaded guilty in August to a charge of financial fraud. Judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. of Federal District Court in Manhattan rescheduled the sentencing for Feb. 7 to give a bankruptcy trustee and securities officials time to depose Mr. Giacchetto on what happened to millions of dollars he stole from clients. Edward Wong (NYT)

ALBANY: NURSING HOME CUTS FAULTED -- Nursing home operators say they cannot absorb a $300 million cut in financing proposed by Gov. George E. Pataki in his budget Tuesday. If the money is not restored by the Legislature, the New York Association of Homes and Services for the Aging warned, several nursing homes could close because they will be unable to attract enough workers. Saying that the demand for beds is expected to rise sharply, the association also warned that nursing home rates could rise. (AP)

THE BRONX: SCIENCE CONTEST SEMIFINALISTS -- The 300 semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, a national contest, were announced yesterday. The Bronx High School of Science led in semifinalists with 17, followed by Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan with 16; Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, on Long Island, with 12; and Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., with 11. The semifinalists, who were among 1,592 entrants, received $1,000. The 40 finalists are to be announced on Jan. 31. (NYT)

ATLANTIC CITY: MORE DEAD GEESE -- State wildlife officials said yesterday that about 310 Atlantic brant died since last weekend from a mysterious illness that also killed 700 geese in November. The infected geese have been found in southern Ocean County and along the shoreline of Atlantic and Cape May Counties. The results of tests done this week are due in a few weeks. (NYT)

NEW BRUNSWICK: EMPLOYEES SUE PROSECUTOR -- A county investigator and a former assistant prosecutor say the Middlesex County prosecutor's office is a hostile workplace for women. A lawsuit by the investigator, Cora Cashman, and the former assistant, Joanne Mongon, closely follows two other suits against the office, which is headed by Prosecutor Glenn Berman. Those two involve Detective Richard Scott, who claimed he was passed over for promotions because he is black, and a former assistant prosecutor, Kenneth Lebrato, who said he was wrongly dismissed after being subpoenaed as a character witness on behalf of a police officer being tried by the office. (AP)

EAST ORANGE: CHIEF SUSPENDED FOR SCUFFLE -- The police chief in East Orange was suspended Tuesday after he was reported to have scuffled with a city lawyer during a meeting. Mayor Robert L. Bowser said the Jan. 8 dispute appeared to have been a personal matter and was started by Chief Charles Grimes, who has headed the 172-member department for a year. He declined to comment. The lawyer, Lucas Phillips, who represents the city in police matters, was not disciplined. Charlotte Smith, an assistant Essex County prosecutor, said no charges had been filed, but that an investigation by her office was continuing. (NYT)

BRANFORD: TRAIN HITS BOULDER -- A Shoreline East commuter train was damaged yesterday after hitting a large boulder on the tracks near the Branford-Guilford town line. Officials said no serious injuries were reported, but there was significant damage to the train. Passengers were taken back to New Haven aboard a westbound Amtrak train. (AP)

Summary: NEW YORK    MANHATTAN: PROTEST OVER HOSPITAL LAYOFFS -- Dozens of unionized health care workers picketed outside Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday, continuing a weeklong protest against layoffs of about 70 long-term employees. The union, 1199/SEIU, New York's health and human service union, accused the hospital of laying off the workers without the required 30-day notice, and of laying off long-term employees before probationary workers. In a statement, Mount Sinai said it regretted the layoffs, saying they were imposed to hold down costs.      Steven Greenhouse (NYT)


Costis Mitsotakis was the only resident of Sodeto left out of the Spanish town's historic lottery win. (ABC News)

When news of Sodeto winning a big slice of El Gordo - the fattest lottery on earth - reached this tiny Spanish town of 250 people, Greek filmmaker Costis Mitsotakis was asleep, but not for long.

"I started hearing lots of noise, lots of movement so I grabbed the camera," Mitsotakis said, remembering the night of December 22, 2011.

Unlike every other household in Sodeto - seventy to be precise - Mitsotakis did not buy a "participation," a slice of the winning ticket. The local housewives association had gone door-to-door selling them, but forgot to knock on his.

It didn't matter to him. Costis wanted to immortalize this unprecedented moment in Sodeto's history. With camera in hand, he headed to the town's square and began rolling.

What he captured may be the perfect portrait of pure ecstasy.

"Chaos was broken loose everywhere. Champagne. People were dancing, screaming," he said.

For this agricultural town where drought and economic woes have bitten hard, last year's lottery drawing was certainly an unexpected Christmas present, a true blessing. Each of the households got at least $130,000.

After the initial frenzy, there was something else that caught Mitsotakis' attention, but did not surprise him.

People were "pretty calm," he said. "I don't think you're going to see crazy stuff. A few cars, but that's it. ?"

In these parts, people are more interested in new tractors, paying for irrigation systems and paying off mortgages.

This is the spirit that Mitsotakis hopes a film he has in the works will embody. It will be a movie-documentary combo, with residents acting based on true events coupled with interviews on what the future holds for this lucky village.

Money is known to change people, often not for the better, but it seems here in Sodeto residents are determined to continue to enjoy life as always.

"People are as they were before," said Mitsotakis. "Happier," he added with a smile.

Watch "20/20: Lotto Frenzy" online here.

Summary: Costis Mitsotakis is making a documentary about Sodeto's historic El Gordon win.


01/17/2008 AT 09:00 PM EST

Lily Allen has suffered a miscarriage, her rep confirms to PEOPLE.

"She and her partner Ed Simons will be making no further comment," the rep said in a statement. "And we ask that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."

In December, the singer, 22, had

with her boyfriend Simons, 37, of the electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers.

The news was first reported by the U.K.'s

Summary: The British pop star and boyfriend Ed Simons had announced the pregnancy in December


The commodore in charge of the two US Navy boats that strayed into Iranian waters, leading to the capture of his 10 sailors for 16 hours in January, will be relieved of command, likely putting an end to his career, Fox News has learned.

Capt. Kyle Moses, commodore of Commander Task Force (CTF) 56, was responsible for the two riverine boats and Kuwait-based crew. The chief of naval operations, Adm. John Richardson, is set to release a long-awaited report on June 30 about the events surrounding the January incident now that the investigation is complete.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces captured the two high-speed patrol boats near Farsi Island, a well-known Iranian base, hours after the boats left Kuwait on Jan. 12 to sail to Bahrain. Five sailors were aboard each boat.

Watch Iranian TV footage of the captured American sailors:

The Navy crew was inexperienced and running late to make a rendezvous at a refueling point in the Persian Gulf when the capture took place, according to officials.

The detention of the American crew came the same day as President Obama’s State of the Union address and came at a sensitive time for the administration, days before formally implementing the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers led by the United States.

Days after the incident, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Navy patrol boats had “misnavigated” into Iranian territorial waters. The second-in-command of the riverine squadron, Cmdr. Eric Rasch, was fired from his job last month.

Multiple defense officials tell Fox News a “multitude of errors” led to the capture of the US Navy crew.

First, there was no navigation brief, a major violation of Navy protocol. When any Navy ship gets under way, even for something as minor as shirting berths from one pier to another, it is standard for a Navy crew to conduct a navigation brief discussing issues such as hazards to navigation or, in this case, an Iranian base near the planned course.

Second, the chain of command was not well defined on the two boats. While a young lieutenant was the highest-ranking individual on either of the two 50-foot boats, when the order was given to evade the Iranian forces, the helmsman refused the order.

Third, defense officials tell Fox News the Navy had become too complacent with its treatment by Iranian forces in the months leading up to the January capture.

“The story here is these guys had gotten so used to Iranians doing stupid s—, having weapons pointed at them all the time, they didn’t know they were being captured until the Iranians boarded their boats,” one defense official said, describing the lack of situational awareness by the Navy crew. “They messed up pretty bad.”

It was not immediately clear whether Richardson would announce punishments during the release of his report or a short time later. Other sailors aboard the two ships likely face disciplinary action as well, but Navy officials have refused to disclose the number.

The detention of the US sailors created an uproar on Capitol Hill as Iran released a videotaped apology from the Navy lieutenant. Many in the military questioned whether the Code of Conduct, which forbids any captured American troops from making such statements, was violated. Under terms of the code, American service members are required to give only a name, rank, service number and date of birth to captors.

Other video clips showing some of the 10 sailors crying sparked additional international outrage. Secretary of State John Kerry had thanked the Iranians for their treatment of the sailors before the video showing the apology and crying was released.

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei awarded medals to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard crew who detained the American sailors. In February, a re-enactment of the sailors’ capture was displayed during parades around Iran celebrating the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

On the same day the sailors were taken captive, Iran flew a drone over the USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf. And when the aircraft carrier sailed past the Strait of Hormuz in late December, a group of Iranian missile boats fired unguided rockets only 1,500 yards away, in a move the Navy called “highly provocative.”

This article originally appeared on Fox News.

Summary: The commodore in charge of the two US Navy boats that strayed into Iranian waters, leading to the capture of his 10 sailors for 16 hours in January, will be relieved of command, likely putting an e…


A shipment containing “hundreds of kilograms” of weapons-grade nuclear materials has left Japan for the U.S., according to a statement from the U.S. Energy Department on Friday, and represents “one of the largest shipments” of such materials ever transported internationally, a department official said. In some editions Saturday, a World News article about a project to send nuclear materials from Japanese facilities to the U.S. incorrectly...

Summary: Corrections & Amplifications for edition of April 4, 2016


A Japanese company hired to build new passenger railcars for regional Amtrak service has fallen years behind schedule and likely won’t complete the order before federal funding expires.

The stalled production undermines an ambitious plan to upgrade Amtrak service in California, Illinois, Michigan and Missouri and has highlighted the complexities foreign companies face in complying with made-in-the-U.S. requirements. Funding for about...

Summary: The company hired to build new passenger railcars for regional Amtrak service in the Midwest and California has fallen years behind schedule and likely won’t complete the order before funding from the federal economic stimulus bill expires.


When Mara Wilson was welcomed into the 20th Century Fox family, someone told the 5-year-old that they planned to make her the next Shirley Temple.

“I remember feeling enormous pressure because I didn’t want to be Shirley Temple,” said Wilson, now 26. “Shirley Temple was Shirley Temple, and I didn’t ever feel like I could live up to that.”

Temple, who died at age 85 Monday, Feb. 10, set the precedent for all child actors. She was the first, the most successful, and seemingly the happiest. Temple might have entered the Hollywood elite at a young age, but she left it young as well — and unlike many modern young stars, she escaped more or less unscathed.

Although Wilson didn’t reach Shirley Temple levels of fame — and, to our knowledge, didn’t inspire any mocktails — her roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street (“which is funny because I’m Jewish,” she said), and Matilda made her a ’90s icon. But Wilson, too, went into early retirement — fueled in part by her mother’s death during Matilda’s post-production. That was when things stopped being fun and turned into a chore.

“Very slowly I realized, too, that I was getting older,” she said. “And I wasn’t exactly aging gracefully. I was kind of awkward, and I didn’t feel like I really belonged there anymore, and Hollywood didn’t really want me either. So I consider it something of a mutual breakup: I was pretty much over Hollywood, and it was like, ‘Well, you aren’t really cute anymore, so we don’t know what to do with you.’ And it was fine with me.”

Many child actors experience the puberty push-out. Jeff Cohen’s iconic “truffle shuffle” (see below) when he played Chunk in The Goonies might be an audience favorite, but he was left unwanted when he started losing his baby fat.

But Cohen recalled that even Shirley Temple suffered a similar fate when she grew up and her blonde curls turned brown. Temple wrote in her autobiography how her agent Lew Wasserman, a mogul at MCA, pulled the actress into his office and told her that she was through — “washed up.” When Temple began to cry, Wasserman offered her only a tissue and the salty line, “Have one on me.”

“After making the studio enormous amounts of money, her usefulness was at an end. She was discarded,” Cohen told TIME via email. “Such is the nature of many businesses, including show business.”

Luckily, Goonies director Richard Donner gave Cohen an introduction to the business side of Hollywood, rather than a Kleenex. This helped lead Cohen to a career as a high-profile entertainment attorney, with a biography page that asks clients not to hold his “dubious” past as a child actor against him. Cohen admires Temple’s seamless transition into the second chapter of her life.

“Much like the optimistic heroines she played in her films, she did not become embittered,” he said. “She chose to transcend the darkness and build a beautiful and productive life.” Indeed, as has been vividly recalled in the days since her passing, Temple went on to be a mother, a prominent Republican fund-raiser, a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and a diplomat to Ghana and Czechoslovakia before the fall of Communism.

Ilan Mitchell-Smith, best known for his starring role in Weird Science, found inspiration in Temple’s ability to be so wildly successful at one thing and then deciding that it was no longer for her.

“For her to end up successfully doing a job that was so unrelated, I think it’s kind of a model for what is possible,” said Mitchell-Smith. “I think one of the benefits of winning that lottery when you’re young is that you can have that moment and can still decide,what will I really enjoy and be fulfilled doing. I was always talking to people about history and very old stories — basically it was a result from being a really big Dungeons and Dragons nerd. I just wanted to pursue it as much as I could and maybe teach it.”

He is now an English professor at Cal State Long Beach.

Josh Saviano, who played Paul on the Wonder Years, decided that the end of high school (which coincided with the end of the series) would be his time to step back and reassess if he wanted to act. “I wanted to live a ‘normal’ life for a little bit and see where that led me,” he said. “If during the course of the next four years during school or after school the pull would bring me back in, I would do it. And it just didn’t.”

So Saviano became an intellectual property lawyer, largely dealing with corporate and celebrity branding. “Shirley Temple is one of the people who created her own brand, She took all this notoriety and became a leader for diplomacy and advocacy,” he said. Saviano believes he has managed a similar shift — “although not nearly to the same degree of success,” he said. “But it seems like a proper brand to go from child actor to this protector of brands and talent.”

Of course, not all former child stars feel as satisfied with their transition out of Hollywood. Like Temple, Sheila Kuehl was discovered in a tap-dancing class at Meglin Kiddie Studios. She went on to star in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis between 1959 and 1963.

“I was pretty deeply in the closet, but I had been gay since about the age of 18 — at least that’s when I knew it,” she said. After the president of CBS saw her pilot for a Dobie Gillis spinoff, Kuehl remembers, “He said, ‘I think she’s just a little too butch — let’s not try to sell it.’ I assumed that meant people knew, and my phone just stopped ringing.”

Kuehl found fulfillment as a law school student in the ’70s and became the first openly gay person elected to the California legislature in 1994. After 14 years serving as a state senator and assemblywoman, she is now running for a position in the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Many former child actors flirt with the idea of going back to Hollywood. Wilson continued to study theater at NYU, a “home for former child actors” — in which she’d avoid awkward eye contact with Haley Joel Osment or an Olsen twin in the halls, Wilson joked — and currently works at a nonprofit organization called Publicolor when she isn’t writing and doing comedy. “I had two or three flirtations to rekindle the flame, but it never really panned out and I wasn’t sad that it didn’t,” she said.

“Would I be tempted to win the lottery again?” Mitchell-Smith asked. “Like, yeah, that would be great. But the real work of it, of maintaining a professional network, and maintaining an agent who’s working for you, and going out on auditions, and making sure you have expensive haircuts?” He’ll stick to teaching Beowulf.

Summary: Shirley Temple retired from acting at age 21 and found a new life in politics — and she paved the way for many successful child stars who chose careers outside of Hollywood


Cries for help from Tasmania's flood-affected farmers have been answered with Canberra agreeing to provide natural disaster funding.

Swathes of agricultural land across the state was left underwater by heavy rain in early June and property owners are still reeling from the damage - some of which they have described as irreparable.

On Tuesday, more than seven weeks after the flood peak, state and federal governments offered joint support of $5.5 million, with grants of up to $10,000 available to help farmers with clean-up and restoration activities.

"These farmers need help and providing financial assistance for removing debris, disposing of dead livestock, salvaging crops, grain and feed, and repairing plants and equipment can make all the difference," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Premier Will Hodgman said in a joint statement.

Primary producers through central, west, east and northern Tasmania may be eligible to apply.

In some cases pastures have been carved open by floodwaters or falling trees, or buried by up to a metre of river silt.

Dead livestock has meant setbacks in genetics.

"We are pleased to hear that the state government has acknowledged our concerns about the social, economic and environmental impacts that the floods have had on our farming communities," Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief Peter Skillern said.

Assessment of the flood damage will continue and the grants could be increased and extended to other local government areas.

Summary: Tasmanian farmers still reeling from the June floods will be able to access natural disaster funds, the state and federal governments say.


“Well, I hadn’t thought of doing it, but if you want I can give you some of the names…. Walid Phares, who you probably know, PhD, adviser to the House of Representatives caucus, and counter-terrorism expert; Carter Page, PhD; George Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy; the Honorable Joe Schmitz, [former] inspector general at the Department of Defense; [retired] Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; and I have quite a few more.

“But that’s a group of some of the people that we are dealing with. We have many other people in different aspects of what we do, but that’s a representative group.”

Kori Schake, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a former official in the George W. Bush State Department, told Politico of Trump’s team, “I don’t know any of them. National security is hard to do well even with first rate people. It’s almost impossible to do well with third rate people.”

Post publisher Fred Ryan asked Trump if he would consider using a tactical nuclear strike against the forces of the Islamic State, were he president. Trump responded that he didn’t want to “start the process of nuclear,” then reminding the editors that he was “a counter-puncher.”

“Remember, one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counter-puncher,” Trump said. “Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. He spent, by the way – he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me. That’s putting…”

Ryan jumped in. “This is about ISIS,” he reminded Trump. “You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS?”

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Trump replied. “This is a very good looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?”

At that point, people went around the table introducing themselves. Trump never got around to answering the not-at-all-difficult question.

Pretending to be a qualified candidate for national office is difficult, but it’d be nice if the Republican frontrunner at least made an effort.

Summary: Pretending to be a qualified candidate for national office is difficult. The Republican frontrunner doesn't even seem willing to make an effort.


There is a small confluence of competitive music in Boston June 23: The Boston International Piano Competition, a biannual contest for amateurs, has its final round at Longy’s Pickman Hall, while at Jordan Hall, the finals of the 2013 GuitarFest Performance Competition close out that five-day six-string summit. Both events are open to the public.

Musical competitions have been around as long as there have been musicians. The ancient Greeks were holding organized competitions as early as the sixth century BC, when the Pythian Games were inaugurated at Delphi. Depending on the legend, the Games were instituted either to commemorate the feat of Apollo killing Python, the earth-dragon who lived at Delphi, or to expiate the blasphemy of his chasing Python into the sacred temple in order to do it. Either way, the singing of a Hymn to Apollo was the Pythian Games’ first contest; according to the historian Pausanias, the first champion was Chrysothemis, son of Carmanor, who (in some accounts) cleansed Apollo after his slaying of Python. But the era’s most famous musician thought the Games beneath him. “[T]hey say that Orpheus, a proud man and conceited about his mysteries,” writes Pausanius, “refused to submit to the competition in musical skill.”

More standard athletic contests, like those at the Olympic Games in Athens, eventually became part of the Pythian Games. But sports and music were not necessarily considered equals. Plutarch recorded that Alexander the Great, while instituting many prizes for musicians and poets, refused to do so for pursuits such as boxing or wrestling. “Alexander,” Plutarch concludes, “appears to have been averse to the whole race of athletes.”

Boston International Piano Competition, 508-393-6740, www.bostonpianoamateurs.org; GuitarFest Performance Competition, 617-971-8643, www.bostonguitarfest.org

Summary: There is a small confluence of competitive music in Boston June 23: the Boston International Piano Competition, a biannual contest for amateur pianists, will have its final round at Longy’s Pickman Hall, while at Jordan Hall, the finals of the 2013 GuitarFest Performance Competition will close out that five-day summit.  Musical competitions have been around as long as there have been musicians. The ancient Greeks were holding organized competitions as early as the sixth century BC, when the Pythian Games were inaugurated at Delphi. Depending on the legend, the Games were instituted either to commemorate the feat of Apollo killing Python, the earth-dragon who lived at Delphi, or to expiate the blasphemy of his chasing Python into the sacred temple in order to do it.