* U.S. stocks data expected show to fall - Reuters poll

* Oil prices steady after six-week sell-off

* Most analysts expect oil prices to remain low

* EIA U.S. stocks data at 10:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT)

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Wednesday ahead of U.S. oil data expected to show falling crude and gasoline stockpiles, raising hopes of increased demand for crude.

Prices consolidated after a six-week rout driven by global oversupply and concerns about falling demand in Asian economies and the United States.

U.S. government data on crude stockpiles is due at 10:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) on Wednesday. A Reuters poll estimated on average that commercial U.S. crude stocks fell by just under 800,000 barrels in the week to Aug. 14.

The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks had fallen by an even greater margin - by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 14.

U.S. crude oil futures, also known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), were down 25 cents at $42.37 a barrel by 1140 GMT. The front-month, September, U.S. crude oil contract is due to expire on Thursday. North Sea Brent crude was up 5 cents at $48.86 a barrel.

U.S. oil production is at record levels and producer costs appear to be declining, with no output scale-back anticipated.

Bearish sentiment was exacerbated last week when repairs at a large refinery in Whiting, Indiana caused a large stock build at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for U.S. crude futures. 1/8ID: nL1N10O1B9 3/8

Oil has lost about a third of its value since June and prices have been hovering just above six-year lows for the past week. The downward trend has been driven by global oversupply and record stockpile levels, analysts say.

"The recent drop in the price of oil confirms ... the global commitment producers have to their current levels of (high) output," said Scott Cockerham, managing director Houston-based Conway MacKenzie's Energy Advisory Services.

Many analysts said they expect some temporary price stabilisation as people take profits from short positions. But they said the downward price trend was likely to continue unless there was a significant reduction in global supply.

"I think the market has pushed too low and too fast," ABN Amro energy economist Hans van Cleef said. He added that, although he could see oil prices rebounding in the coming weeks, he thought they would remain low into next year.

ANZ bank said: "Any recovery in WTI prices from a six-year low may be short-lived with the U.S. entering the slow demand period in September."

(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Christopher Johnson)

Summary: LONDON, Aug 19- Oil prices steadied on Wednesday ahead of U.S. oil data expected to show falling crude and gasoline stockpiles, raising hopes of increased demand for crude. The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks had fallen by an even greater margin- by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 14. U.S. crude oil futures, also known...


Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

09/23/2015 AT 04:15 PM EDT

's honeymoon with new bride

might not have been as conventional as some might have imagined, but

was just what they envisioned – and "really special."

"It was a fantastic honeymoon, Theroux, 44,

. "We had thought about it – we could just do a normal honeymoon, or we could go with some friends, keep the party going, relax and have fun."

The newlyweds jetted off to the French Polynesian paradise just after they

on Aug. 5 – and were joined by

, along with the stars' respective families.

The group stayed at the

, where they indulged in beachside yoga, boat rides and plenty of R&R.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

"It was really special," Theroux told

. "It was really beautiful."

The actor also answered another question that was on people's minds: Would the woman known to millions as Jennifer Aniston be changing her name?

"I made her change both names, so she's now Justin Theroux," he joked, before clarifying, "I don't think it would be great if she did. I think 'Aniston' is going to stick with her if she likes it or not."

Theroux portrays Kevin Garvey on

, which follows citizens of Mapleton, Texas, who are mysteriously left behind following the disappearance of majority of the world's population. The show films in Austin, Texas, which just happens to be the hometown of another leading lady who is close to the newlyweds:

The actor confirmed he and Jen have gone on at least one

, Bryan Randall – and it seems they had a blast.

"She's got a beautiful little restaurant there called Bess," he says after extolling the virtues of the Lone Star city. "It's delicious!"

Summary: Justin Theroux says his Bora Bora honeymoon with new wife Jennifer Aniston and pals was "fantastic"


Managing tight spaces is nothing new for dentists, but fitting a practice into a tiny Manhattan office requires some creativity, and for one practice, a lot of technology.

With digital imaging and 3-D printing using a Cerec system, manufactured by dental product maker Sirona, plus a handheld GLO tooth-whitening gadget, the cosmetic and implant dentists at Core Dental have managed to squeeze their practice into a 590-square-foot space. And they're saving money, according to Dr. Michael Gulizio, an owner and dentist at Core Smiles.

Using traditional methods, creating a porcelain crown would require dentists to take impressions of a patient's tooth, send the impression to a lab and receive a crown a week or more later, said Dr. Steven Cordoves, a dentist at the practice.

"Today we use a computer and a camera, and within a few seconds we can image a tooth, and produce a restoration in under two hours," Gulizio said in a CNBC interview.

Summary: Managing tight spaces isn't new for dentists, but fitting into a tiny office requires some creativity, and a lot of technology.


09/29/2015 AT 12:30 AM EDT

Trevor Noah has finally taken a seat behind the desk.

"I can only assume this is as strange for you as it is for me," the new

host told his audience at the top of Monday's premiere.

"This is surreal for me. Growing up in the dusty streets of South Africa, I never dreamed I would have – well two things really: an in door toilet, and a job as the host of

throughout the episode, calling Stewart America's "political dad."

"Dad has left. Now it feels like the family has a new stepdad. And he's black. Which is not ideal," Noah joked.

He thanked Stewart for believing in him, and promised to work hard to live up to his legacy.

"And I will make you not look like the crazy old guy who left his inheritance to some random kid in Africa," Noah said.

Noah comes to the show with big shoes to fill. So what'd he keep from the Stewart-era, and how is he shaking things up so far?

Noah's first episode kept a lot of the Stewart trademarks – from playing the straight man to correspondent Jordan Klepper to ending the show with a Moment of Zen.

Don't expect a more international

, with him dismissing speculation that the show would have a new global perspective because of his South African origins.

Noah tackled the hot topics Stewart would have discussed if he were still hosting, including the

, but put his own spin on things – making a few risqué jokes that got groans from the audience, including one about

's death and another about the Pope having a big penis. He wasn't farid to show he's his own comedian with his own perspective.

His age also is poised to change the tone of the show. By the time Stewart, 52, wrapped his run, he was an elder statesman of comedy. At 31, Noah's youth showed when he interviewed

, 36. Likely because of how close they are in age, Hart acted like more of a peer to Noah than when he was interviewed by Stewart last year.

Ahead of the taping, Hart revealed he immediately agreed to be Noah's first guest when the new host asked, saying heâs a big fan of his standup.

"It's a big deal," Hart told PEOPLE of Noah's new job.

Hart showed his affection for Noah by bringing him a box full of ties as a congratulations gift.

"It's a thoughtful gift," Hart said, adding he thought Noah would have a bigger reaction to it. "I thought you were going to dance or something."

marks the end of an 18-month game of late-night host musical chairs, which saw

all transition into new late night gigs in the wake of the retirements of Stewart,

airs weekdays at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.

Summary: How did the new Daily Show Host's first show go?


In its new report, "The Scoring of America," the organization outlines how these secret consumer scores can threaten privacy and fairness. And it calls on federal regulators to police this relatively new industry of predictive scoring.

"Not all scores are bad, but any score that's secret is a problem because it's a simple matter of fairness not to have a secret score," Dixon said. "I'm really concerned about potential discrimination lurking in scores that we don't see and don't know what goes into them."

You will never know when a predictive score was used or how it affected the offers you did or did not receive. And even if you did find out, you can't change that score.

Robert Gellman, a privacy and information policy consultant who worked on the report, said these scores can be based on thousands of factors, including race, religion, age, gender, household income, ZIP code, medical conditions and purchase history.

"There could be a discriminatory effect here—some kind of redlining that isn't visible on the surface," he said.

Read MoreWhy we're not satisfied with social media sites

And that's the rub. Whether you get a discount coupon isn't a big deal, but if consumer scoring keeps you from receiving credit card offers or makes you a target for subprime loans—because of your ZIP code, household income or race—well that's another matter.

The companies that create and market this ever-expanding treasure-trove of personal information don't see a problem or the need for any additional regulation. They say the marketing information they gather and analyze is used to offer people relevant ads and money-saving deals.

"Marketers want the most accurate information possible," said Rachel Nyswander Thomas, executive director of the Direct Marketing Association's Data-Driven Marketing Institute. "But at the end of the day, if the data is wrong and the predictive analytics is wrong, the worst thing that can happen to a consumer is that the ad or offer they get is not relevant."

Thomas stressed that the Direct Marketing Association's code of conduct does not allow any marketing that is disparaging or discriminatory in any way.

Jennifer Barrett Glasgow, chief privacy officer at Acxiom, one of the country's biggest data brokers, explained that a marketing score really isn't all that personal.

"It's a mathematical computation that puts a group of individuals into a defined audience for a marketing campaign," she said. "And these scores aren't static in the same way that credit scores are. Their lifespan may be milliseconds."

We live in a world of scores

Credit scores are based on information in your credit file. Federal law aims to prevent discrimination by prohibiting certain information from being included in those files, such as race, national origin, religion, gender, marital status and sexual orientation.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to check your files and correct errors. If this information was used to deny your application for credit, you must be told.

The marketing databases used to determine consumer marketing scores are virtually unregulated, so they can legally contain all sorts of sensitive information that cannot be included in your credit files—including health and medical information gleaned from Web searches, purchases and public postings.

Privacy advocates worry that this could allow discrimination, unfairness and bias in the marketplace.

Read MoreBig data used to catch fraudulent tax returns

The World Privacy Forum Report suggests that some predictive scores are being used in place of credit scores in order to get around the restrictions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

"If I can peek at a credit score equivalent, not a credit score that's regulated, but one that is not regulated, and decide whether to hire you or make you an offer of credit, that may be a problem," Gellman said.

The World Privacy Forum report estimates there were fewer than 25 consumer scores back in 2007. Today, there are hundreds and forum researchers believe there are probably thousands of custom scores that are beyond their ability to confirm. A few examples cited in the report:

Some big data brokers, such as Acxiom, Spokeo, Intelius, eBureau and ID Analytics make it possible for you to see what's in your file—the information used to create various consumer scores, but the process isn't always easy.

For its recent report on Big Data, the National Consumer Law Center had 15 volunteers try to get their own information from four large data brokers.

"We found that there's a lot of bad data out there," said attorney Persis Yu, co-author of the report.

The reports the volunteers received about themselves were full of inaccuracies. Some of the mistakes were minor: a wrong email address or phone number. Some were significant: incorrect occupation, salary or level of education.

Privacy advocates would like to see federal regulators establish some rules for the use of consumer scores to make sure they are not being used unfairly or to discriminate.

They believe the companies that collect this data should be required to take steps to ensure that it is accurate.

They want companies to disclose that a predictive score was used, if that score adversely impacts someone's employment, credit, insurance or any significant marketplace opportunity.

Read MorePayday loans trap people in 'spider webs of debt'

Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have all been studying the impact of the collection and use of consumer data on the marketplace.

Even if the decision is made to regulate this industry—and that is far from certain—it won't be easy to do. The World Privacy Forum estimates that there are now more than 4,000 databases collecting and analyzing every bit of information they can gather on us.

There are ways to stop some of this data collection. You can use Web browsers that don't track where you go, or you can shop with cash. You could even stop sharing all of your personal information on social media—fair game for the data collectors.

But there are so many sources of personal information beyond your control that it's really a losing battle. Your data are now a commodity, bought and sold, whether you like it or not.

—By CNBC contributor Herb Weisbaum.

Summary: Secret consumer scores threaten privacy and fairness. Consumer advocacy groups call on regulators to police this new industry of predictive scoring.


"We expect that the BOK will keep interest rates steady until the end of this year," said Moon Hong-cheol, a fixed-income analyst at Dongbu Securities. "China's devaluation of the yuan can be one of the factors for a BOK rate cut, but other factors should be satisfied to cut rates."

Markets shrugged off the decision as it was widely expected.

Traders were instead focused on a news conference by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), which market participants expected to provide explanation over China's decision this week to devalue the yuan in the wake of weak economic data.

Read MoreIs this darling economy in Asia losing its lustre?

Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said on Wednesday the move was taken by China partly to boost its export competitiveness, which is in turn expected to prop up exports from South Korea.

The central bank Governor said on Thursday that the BOK was monitoring the yuan's progress.

"We are being cautious and closely observing exchange rates as one-sided movement or excessive movements in the market are undesirable," he said.

Read MorePBoC: We won't drop yuan 10%

The BOK has cut rates four times since last year, the last time in June, as weak exports and sluggish domestic demand drag on the economy.

The South Korean central bank is now expected to sit pat for the coming months as the Fed gears up to make its first interest rate hike in nearly a decade. Policymakers have voiced confidence that even if U.S. rates are raised, it will have limited impact on financial markets in South Korea.

The BOK Governor said that the central bank had made preparations in case the Fed decision set off global financial jitters, but that it expected outflows after a rate hike to be limited.

Exports have fallen throughout this year amid uneven global demand, and analysts have said it will be difficult to see a firm recovery in shipments until the fourth quarter of this year.

"The global economy is expected to keep improving centred around advanced economies like the U.S., but changes in the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy and increased financial market turmoil after the devaluation of the yuan by China may affect growth, along with weak growth in emerging market economies," Lee Ju-yeol said.

Summary: South Korea's central bank kept interest rates unchanged at 1.50 percent as it assesses the effect of previous policy easing on the struggling economy.


While Sainsbury's sales figures were "by no means a horror show," according to Bryan Roberts, director of Retail Insights at Kantar Retail, this year would be a challenging one for the retailer.

"Lacking Tesco's buying power and Asda's efficiency, Sainsbury's margins are set to be under further pressure. This might prompt some focus on costs, but we can only hope that any action in this regard focuses on back-end efficiencies rather than instore," he said in a note.

Sainsbury's is the first of the major grocers to publish Christmas figures, with Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Tesco due to report sales on Thursday.

Tesco's figures will be particularly closely watched. The U.K.'s biggest supermarket is battling a high-profile accounting scandal and issued a number of profit warnings in 2014; as such, it is expected to announce early plans for a strategic revamp along with its Christmas trading figures.

Tesco's like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, are expected to be around 3.5 percent lower over the Christmas period than in the previous year, according to Pradeep Pratti, analyst at Citi.

Summary: Sales at U.K. supermarket J. Sainsbury fell in the last three months, the company said on Wednesday, after a tough Christmas for Britain's grocers.


A home in Serbia has taken in 450 homeless and mistreated dogs, allowing them to live and play together in the open air every single day.

A video of the dogs frolicking in the sunshine together at the Sasa Pejčić’s shelter in Nis, Serbia, was posted to YouTube and already has more than 12,300 views.

The dogs are housed by a charity called the Harmony Fund.

“This is no ordinary rescue centre,” the fund wrote on YouTube.

“Rather than being warehoused in cages and kennels, the dogs here play all day long. They experience joy, good food and human kindness - often for the very first time.”

Many of the dogs reportedly arrive at the sanctuary malnourished or with broken bones and are nursed back to full health by their new carers.

The fund relies on donations to feed the dogs and maintain the sanctuary.

“The cost of care for each dog here is $15 a month, yet we only have sponsors for 88 dogs,” it wrote.

The sanctuary said it is stock-piling food for winter because it refuses to reduce the food intake of each dog despite a lack of funds.

The fund welcomes both one-off donations or monthly sponsors on its website.


When Hogarth visited France in 1748, joining the trippers flooding to the newly opened continent after the war of the Austrian succession, he was arrested as a spy while sketching in Calais. Enraged, he immediately dramatised the event in The Gate of Calais, later turned into a bestselling print. In his painting, the town walls act as a great proscenium arch, framing a brightly lit stage where a fat cleric licks his lips as the cook carries the "Roast Beef of Old England" to the British inn - and Hogarth himself peers over a wall, like a stagehand making notes in the wings. Given his disdain of France as a land of "poverty, slavery and insolence", it's a surprise to learn that the Hogarth exhibition in Paris, due to reach Tate Britain in February, has been the Louvre's most successful autumn exhibition for years. Instead of launching cries of xenophobia, French critics and visitors have simply accepted Hogarth's polemic as inevitable for his time.

In Britain, we are embarrassed by Hogarth's chauvinism and overlook his greatness, partly because we know his works so well. His images have been borrowed by artists, advertisers and cartoonists; his Progresses adorn history books, pub walls and dentists' waiting rooms, and have been turned into pantomimes, plays and operas, and now into radio and television dramas. His lasting resonance is vividly illustrated in the current show by the inclusion of work on Hogarthian themes by Paula Rego, David Hockney, Yinka Shonibare and the Chapman brothers. It is hard, with this long history of adaptation, to appreciate how novel his work originally appeared. To wake us all up, the curators of the Tate exhibition, Mark Hallett and Christine Riding, present Hogarth as the most innovatory British artist of the 18th century. Their focus is his "variety", in terms of both output and his aesthetic philosophy, which lauded observed detail against idealising "high art". But another aspect that emerges strongly from this stunning show, which presents the whole range of his work, is his sheer theatricality.

Hogarth's relationship to the theatre and literature is one aspect of his novelty, illustrating the way he took new subjects, developed new genres and addressed new markets, reflecting a new commercial age. He was born in 1697, less than a decade after the Glorious Revolution: he was 10 when the Act of Union with Scotland was passed. In this proudly Protestant, mercantile "Great Britain", the balance of power shifted from the royal court to Westminster and the City, and the aristocratic culture seemed outmoded and exclusive. Questions of taste were canvassed in new journals such as the Spectator, and in London's mushrooming coffee houses. The many-throated hubbub of "public opinion" was another new force in the land.

Hogarth was the first to bring us a sense of this swirling crowd. In his prints - as in the flâneur poems of Swift and John Gay, or in Ned Ward's The London Spy - we walk London's streets, plunging into the city's smells, tastes, sights and sounds, the street-seller's cries, the ballad-singer's lament, the knife-grinder's screech (Henry Fielding said that his print The Enraged Musician, showing a virtuoso shouting from his window at the cacophony without, was "enough to make a man deaf to look at it"). Hogarth's London is vibrant, chaotic, crime-ridden, flamboyant, glittering and filthy. He had no illusions about the virtues of the crowd, but from the start of his career he spoke for the gullible mass against those who would exploit them. Having grown up in Smithfield, and seen his father thrown into the Fleet prison for debt, he knew what it was like to be poor. In 1721, he launched his career with a satirical print of the South Sea Bubble, attacking foreign-style speculation and corruption. It was one of many satires inspired by current Dutch prints, but the way in which Hogarth brought iconic city buildings together - the Guildhall, the Exchange, the Monument, St Paul's and the poorhouse - transformed London into a stage, the setting for a cruel drama of power.

Hogarth loved the stage. He enjoyed drawing performers, like the musicians rehearsing so hard their wigs fly off, and he was a keen observer of audiences, laughing at the play or grimacing at the pit. The folly of audiences - standing for the general public - was the theme of another early work, The Bad Taste of the Town, or Masquerades and Operas (1724). Here Hogarth took aim at the cabal introducing the Palladian style in architecture in place of the old English baroque: at the back of his print, above the gate to the Earl of Burlington's new Piccadilly mansion, a statue of his protégé William Kent struts over Michelangelo and Raphael. On the left is the theatre staging Italian operas, its banner displaying singers receiving bags of gold from fawning nobles, while the Swiss impresario Heidegger leans out of the window, watching the queues for his fashionable masquerades. Opposite, crowds flock to see the pantomime Harlequin Doctor Faustus at Lincoln's Inn theatre. But in Hogarth's work, details always speak. In the foreground an old woman trundles a wheelbarrow, shouting, "Waste paper for shops" - we can just make out some books, marked Shakespeare, Otway, Congreve, Dryden and Addison.

Hogarth set out to identify with this grand literary tradition. In the same year, he published A Just View of the British Stage, in which Ben Jonson's ghost rises through a trapdoor and literally pisses on the idiocies of the theatre managers. Two years later, Hogarth turned for subjects not to the stage, but to the great satirists. In one anti-Walpole satire, the hapless figure of Swift's Gulliver stands, as Mark Hallett puts it, as a "metaphor for a benign but gullible Britain". Another set of prints illustrated Samuel Butler's Hudibras, castigating the delusions of the English civil wars. Such references continued, and all through his life Hogarth allied himself with writers.

In 1746, at the height of his fame, he painted a portrait designed to be engraved as the frontispiece to his prints. He portrays himself in artist's gown and cap, within an oval frame flanked on one side by his pug and on the other by his palette carrying the serpentine "Line of Beauty". The frame sits on three books: Milton, Swift and Shakespeare. Following Milton, author of the great Protestant epic, Hogarth aspired to the high status of a history painter; like Swift, his satire would demolish hypocrisy; most of all, however, inspired by Shakespeare's mixed comedy and tragedy, he strived for a new visual drama.

Hogarth loved the smell of grease-paint, and produced fine portraits of his theatrical friends, like the mobile Garrick and the jovial, peppery James Quin. He studied their art carefully, and in 1753, in The Analysis of Beauty, he explained the formal choreography of his own art in terms of the patterns of the dance, "seen at one view, as at the playhouse from the gallery", or in the different actions of the Harlequin, Scaramouch, Pierrot and Punchinello. The theatre had been part of his life since childhood, for Smithfield was the site of St Bartholomew's Fair, held there in late August since the middle ages. As a child running among the fair's stalls and kiosks, he knew that the "show" was often paper thin, and that chaos could lurk behind the scenes. Among his liveliest single engravings is the action-filled Southwark Fair, a rolling tapestry of disorder, where the makeshift stage for The Fall of Bajazet collapses noisily on to a china stall beneath. In Strolling Actresses Dressing for the Stage, the theatrical illusion is again undermined, as Juno, with her starry head-dress and old master pose, stretches out her leg for Night to darn her stocking.

As a novice painter in the late 1720s, Hogarth learned his craft by painting theatrical scenes in a way that no one had attempted before. His Falstaff Examining his Recruits, depicting a scene from Betterton's adaptation of Henry IV: Part II, is the earliest known painting of a Shakespearean scene. At the same time, he painted scenes from The Beggar's Opera, Gay's wildly successful satirical drama of the highwayman Macheath, which - as Hogarth's prints would also do - used low-life scenes and popular melodies to target the corrupt administration and the follies of fashionable society. Hogarth painted several versions of these scenes, showing an increasing smoothness and subtlety, designed to appeal to a cultured audience, and bearing, as Mark Hallett points out, "a striking resemblance to the polite, highly theatrical conversation pieces", the portraits of groups of family and friends, on which Hogarth was now also embarking. The culture of "politeness", employed to smooth the bumps in the new, mixed power-base of courtiers and money men, involved a mode of performance, complete with pattern books for gesture and dress. The supreme art was "conversation", and this, too, involved acting a part. While Hogarth's innovatory conversation pieces celebrated polite ease, they also drew attention to the staginess of such groups, often introducing subversive details, such as the ruffled rug, exuberant child and toppling pile of books in The Cholmondeley Family, 1732. He unmasked their actors, and pointed to their life as a play. Indeed, his finest conversation piece, A Performance of the Indian Emperor, also 1732, actually shows a play: as the children of the great and good perform Dryden's drama of love and conquest, the aristocratic audience enact their own comedy of manners beneath the grave gaze of Isaac Newton's bust.

When portraits and conversation pieces failed to bring in sufficient cash, Hogarth decided, he said, to "turn my thoughts to a still more new way of proceeding, viz painting and engraving modern moral Subjects, a Field unbroken up in any Country or any age . . . my Picture was my stage and men and women my actors who were by Means of certain Actions and expressions to exhibit a dumb shew". These new subjects, Hogarth's two-dimensional dumb shows, were the startling series A Harlot's Progress and A Rake's Progress. And in this decade he became the acknowledged leader of London artists. Sculptors, painters and engravers - and actors - met together in Old Slaughter's Coffee House and aspiring artists joined Hogarth in the academy he founded in St Martin's Lane. He fought for the first copyright act, the Engraver's Act of 1735, and manoeuvred for artists to exhibit in public spaces, at Vauxhall Gardens and the Foundling Hospital in Coram Fields.

Determined to assert the right of British talent over favoured continental painters, he set to work on the great murals for St Bartholomew's hospital. Even these smacked of the stage - the large canvases were almost certainly painted at Covent Garden, where Hogarth's friend the landscape painter George Lambert was then the principal scene painter - and when installed, they shocked onlookers by including the poor and maimed of the streets in "holy" scenes. Hogarth yearned for fame as a history painter, a master of grand biblical and classical themes, but, as in his St Bartholomew's murals, the observed world kept breaking in, disrupting the ideal. Not surprisingly, his boldest early ventures in this vein were based on his literary heroes, a scene from The Tempest, and Satan, Sin and Death, from Paradise Lost

In the packed decade of the 1730s Hogarth's varied work often had the air of a manifesto, and his cultural battles were not shared with visual artists alone. Like the Wyndham Lewis of Blast! (although the analogy can't be stretched too far), he and his fellow campaigners were deliberately sending shockwaves through the establishment. They formed a clique, of a loose and almost inevitably theatre-based kind, meeting in a parodic club, the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks, in the painting room at Covent Garden Theatre. And in these years, Hogarth's greatest ally, Henry Fielding, was also a man of the stage. Ten years Hogarth's junior, Fielding was tall, patrician and elegant, educated at Eton and Leiden: Hogarth was short, snub-nosed and scar-faced, educated in the streets, the engraver's workshop and the painters' academies. But they had much in common. Fielding's first satire of 1728 (signed "Lemuel Gulliver, Poet Laureate to the King of Lilliput") poked fun at Heidegger's masquerades, just as Hogarth had done. When Hogarth was publishing his Progresses, Fielding was a star playwright, notorious for his "irregular dramas" like The Author's Farce and Tom Thumb (for which Hogarth drew a frontispiece). These mixed topical satire, burlesque, ballad opera and street puppet shows. Like Hogarth in his prints, Fielding blended realistic and symbolic styles - the "Emblematical mode", as a character in his play Pasquin describes it. He turned to prose only after Walpole's Licensing Act of 1737, designed to curb just such satirical onslaughts.

When I mentioned this recently to Riding, the exhibition's co-curator, she conjured a vivid picture of Hogarth, Fielding and cronies in the pub, egging each other on, inventing new genres, puffing each other's work. In Tom Jones, as she points out in the Tate catalogue, Fielding feels no need to describe Bridget Allworthy, the Squire's spinster sister "for that is done already by Mr Hogarth himself ... and has lately been exhibited by that gentleman in his Print of a Winter's Morning, of which she was no improper emblem." ("Morning" was the first of Hogarth's scenes of The Four Times of Day, 1736, widely distributed in print form.)

While Hogarth's Progresses are still theatrical - telling Moll's story, for example, through a sequence of "dramatic" moments, such as her seduction by the bawd, Mother Needham; the crash of the table when her sponsor discovers her infidelity; the tiptoeing of the magistrate through the door - their suggestive use of detail and complex creation of character also link them to the emerging novel. One reason for the enduring appeal of the Progresses is their ambivalence, their reservation of judgment. Hogarth shrewdly marketed his prints, tabloid style, as moral lessons rather than prurient stories, but - rather as Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones are unlikely "heroes" - he also created a heroine, Moll Hackabout, and a hero, Tom Rakewell, who rise above typecasting to complex individuality. Each is both victim and predator: their fate draws our sympathy, rather than acquiescence in rightful punishment. Yet Hogarth is less optimistic than Fielding: his ironic titles, echoing Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, suggest that hectic urban society is more conducive to madness and decline than to spiritual progression.

In 1740, in his journal The Champion, Fielding praised Hogarth as "one of the most useful satirists any age hath produced". "In his excellent works," he continued, "you see the delusive scene exposed with all the force of humour, and on casting your eyes on another picture you behold the dreadful and fatal consequence." Two years later, in the preface to Joseph Andrews, he gave a name to Hogarth's engraved narratives, by contrasting them to exaggerated caricatures and calling him rather "a comic history painter", whose art consists in "the exactest copying of nature". When Fielding was experimenting with his new novel form in Joseph Andrews, he was attacking what he saw as the sham morality of Richardson's Pamela (which has itself been seen as a response to A Harlot's Progress), and was eager to draw the artist to his cause. Hogarth acknowledged the compliment in Characters and Caricatures, the subscription ticket for Marriage à la Mode in 1742, which shows the artist and writer, laughing side by side.

Marriage à la Mode took its title from Dryden's play of 1672, looking back to two staples of Restoration drama, the hostile yet mutually exploitative relations between the landed aristocracy and the "cit", and the comedy of the ill-matched couple (perhaps also another Fielding-like dig at the unequal match in Pamela). This tale, however, is no comedy, mounting an attack both on the dissolute aristocracy, desperate for cash to keep up their crumbling mansions, and on the snobbish aspirations of the merchant, happy to sell his daughter to gain the glamour of a family tree. The series looked back, too, to Hogarth's early targets, the domination of British taste by French fashions, a key strand in Dryden's original play. The central scene, "The Toilette", reflects this not only in its title, but in the way it displays almost every possible foreign vogue, showing the walls hung with Italian paintings and the floor littered with auction-rooms loot. As well as employing "the dumb rhetoric of the scenery", as Charles Lamb called it, Hogarth ranges his characters across the scene like the full cast of a play: a warbling Italian castrati; a French dancing master sipping chocolate; a fashionable woman swooning at the music, while the black servant proffers her cup; a French hairdresser grooming the countess as she listens to her lover, who has laid aside his book, Crebillon's erotic novel Le Sofa, newly published in Paris and London.

Another triumph of these years was more directly theatrical, the astonishing portrait of David Garrick as Richard III. Painted in 1745, when Garrick took over the Drury Lane theatre, this showed the role that had started his meteoric rise four years before. Hogarth depicts Richard waking in his tent from his nightmare before the Bosworth Field, capturing Garrick's famous expressiveness yet also paying homage to Shakespeare's vision and, like a history painting, portraying a critical moment in Britain's past. Garrick, like Fielding, became one of Hogarth's closest friends, often using his noted charm to intervene diplomatically when Hogarth became caught in a row of his own making. Their friendship can be felt in one of Hogarth's most elegant, and eloquent, late portraits, David Garrick and his Wife, of 1757.

In his mature portraiture, however, Hogarth's love of theatre usually informed his technique rather than dictated his subject matter. His great portraits of the 1740s, clear, bold and moving, do not, on the whole, show the fashionable world, but the professional and commercial classes he knew well, all portrayed with a moving directness and consummate skill. His sense of drama and his wit are evident in such works as the portrait of Captain Coram, the brave and determined instigator of the Foundling Hospital, seated on his platform like a French courtier but wearing his own white hair instead of a wig, and his good broadcloth coat instead of a velvet robe. They are employed, too, in The Graham Children, painted in the same year as the paintings of Marriage à la Mode. Here the young actors - like five-year-old Anna Maria, raising her fine embroidered skirts to dance - relish their poses and celebrate life, yet we know now that the baby, reaching for his rusk, died during the period of the painting. Hogarth's art allowed him to be remembered as he lived, creating a tender, paradoxical image of vitality and mortality, transience and timelessness.

Hogarth had no children, but was a governor of the Foundling Hospital, and much of his later work, such as Industry and Idleness, is driven by concern for the next generation. At the end of the 1740s, Hogarth and Fielding (by now a campaigning magistrate) put forward a very different manifesto, directed not at the smart folk of the "Town", but at the London poor, the victims of the gin craze, and of the city's rampant cruelty and violence. In Gin Lane, 1751, an image of almost vertiginous power set against the backdrop of the slums of St Giles, the stupefied woman lolls on the steps down from a veritable stage, dropping her baby over the abyss between payers and audience. In The Four Stages of Cruelty, a fierce onslaught on the culture of violence, the climax comes in the anatomist's dissecting room, where the corpse of Tom Nero is disembowelled before a gaping audience.

This is a theatre of horror, the work of a man who has seen dark undercurrents behind the scenes of life. Much brilliant work was yet to come: the dazzling Election series; the elegant Piquet; or Virtue in Danger, based on Cibber's comedy The Lady's Last Stake; the great, squinting engraving of John Wilkes; the ironic self-portrait, painting The Comic Muse

But Hogarth's late bid for greatness in 1759, Sigismunda - its subject taken from Dryden's retelling of The Decameron - was cruelly mocked. In his last years, he was embattled and embittered. In his final print, The Bathos, the artist's palette lies broken. The main actor, old Time himself, lies prone, croaking: "Finis"; the backdrop is a gallows on a lonely plain, the scenery is collapsing in ruins. Yet even this bleak print shows Hogarth as a man of theatre. In 1766, two years after his death, his long, intricate, back-and-forth relationship with the stage, as well as his bluff nationalism, received due tribute in Garrick's prologue to The Clandestine Marriage, which drew on Marriage à la Mode:

Tonight your matchless Hogarth gives the thought, Which from the canvas to the stage is brought. And who so fit to warm the poet's mind As he who pictur'd morals and mankind? ... The painter dead, yet still he charms the eye; While England lives, his fame can never die.

· Hogarth is at Tate Britain, London SW1, from February 7 to April 29. Tickets: 020-7887 8888

Summary: Inspired by the satire of Swift and Fielding, and the mixture of tragedy and comedy in Shakespeare, Hogarth was the most literary and theatrical of painters, writes Jenny Uglow.


poisoning case@ (Changes headline, first paragraph to show Monsanto liable, not "guilty", in the civil court ruling)

LYON/PARIS, France, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A French court upheld on Thursday a 2012 ruling in which Monsanto was found to be liable in the chemical poisoning of a French farmer, who says he suffered neurological problems after inhaling the U.S. company's Lasso weedkiller.

The decision by an appeal court in Lyon, southeast France, confirmed the initial judgment, the first such case heard in court in France, that ruled Monsanto was "responsible" for the intoxication and ordered the company to "fully compensate" grain grower Paul Francois.

Monsanto's lawyer said the U.S. biotech company would now take the case to France's highest appeal court.

Francois, who says he suffered memory loss, headaches and stammering after inhaling Monsanto's Lasso in 2004, blames the agri-business giant for not providing adequate warnings on the product label.

Lasso, a pre-emergent soil-applied herbicide that has been used since the 1960s to control grasses and broadleaf weeds in farm fields, was banned in France in 2007 after the product had already been withdrawn in other countries such as Canada, Belgium and Britain.

Monsanto phased out of Lasso in the United States several years ago for commercial reasons, its spokesman in France said.

Though it once was a top-selling herbicide, it gradually lost popularity, and critics say several studies have shown links to a range of health problems.

Monsanto said in a statement after the ruling that experts, including those nominated by the French civil court, had not found any causal link between the alleged accidental exposure and the alleged damages for which Francois claims compensation.

The company's lawyer, Jean-Daniel Bretzner, said a potential fine to compensate for the farmer's loss would be decided after the decision of the highest court but he said that in any case it would be very low.

"We are speaking about modest sums of money or even nonexistent. He already received indemnities (by insurers) and there is a fundamental rule that says that one does not compensate twice for a loss, if any," Jean-Daniel Bretzner said.

Lasso is not Monsanto's sole herbicide accused of being harmful.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), said in March that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, one of the world's most used herbicides, was "probably carcinogenic to humans."

Monsanto reacted to the finding in June by demanding a retraction, labeling the findings by a team of international cancer scientists as "junk science."

(Reporting by Catherine Lagrange and Sybille de La Hamaide, editing by Gus Trompiz and Susan Fenton)

Summary: LYON/ PARIS, France, Sept 10- A French court upheld on Thursday a 2012 ruling in which Monsanto was found to be liable in the chemical poisoning of a French farmer, who says he suffered neurological problems after inhaling the U.S. company's Lasso weedkiller. The decision by an appeal court in Lyon, southeast France, confirmed the initial judgment, the first such case...


Though Star Wars: Rogue One doesn’t hit theaters until December 2016, Disney released the first photo from the film during its D23 Expo on Saturday. The first glimpse features cast members Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.

Jones, who was nominated for an Oscar for The Theory of Everything this year, was up until now the only known cast member. Director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) confirmed in a video from the set in the U.K. that Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen would also be joining the cast.

The movie is a prequel that focuses on the people who stole the Empire’s plans for the Death Star in the original 1977 Star Wars film.

“It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement.

Summary: Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker will join Felicity Jones in the film


12/21/2015 AT 11:35 AM EST

made a conscious decision to be single.

"Some people said, 'Oh. You don't want to be alone.' And I said, 'I'm not alone! I'm with myself. And myself is fabulous,' " the former

star says in the current issue of PEOPLE.

Even when she was the sole single on a European couples trip, Longoria, 40, felt no qualms about being on her own.

"People went, 'Aw. Did you feel weird?' And I said, 'No! I had so much fun! These are my best friends,' " she says. "It's not like you change because you became a single person. It's not like you become an alien."

, but the actress says that time as a single gal was essential to preparing her to meet her

"I learned to be content on my own," says Longoria, whose new NBC comedy

premieres Jan. 4. "I think I needed that to be ready for what I have with Pepe."

Summary: "I learned to be content on my own," Longoria tells PEOPLE


The big day is almost here.

When the Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday, 40-plus advertisers will be vying for the attention of roughly 114 million viewers. After paying $4.5 million for a 30-second spot, advertisers are really hoping to have the ad everyone will be talking about Monday morning.

Here are 10 Super Bowl ads you should watch out for:

Audi pulls at the heartstrings with its spot about an astronaut driving its R8 sports car to the tune of David Bowie’s ‘‘Starman’’

Budweiser says they chose Helen Mirren to star in its anti-drunk driving PSA because she has the ability to ‘‘chide and charm’’ at the same time. She calls drunk drivers colorful names in the ad — such as ‘‘pillocks,’’ which is British slang for idiots.

BUD LIGHT ‘‘Bud Light Party’’

Fans will be able to watch it on CBSSports.com from their computers or tablets.

Amy Schumer and Seth Rogan canvass America to try to drum up support for their Bud Light party. A cameo by Paul Rudd adds to the fun.

People dressed up like ketchup bottles frolic in a field with wiener dogs dressed like hot dogs to Harry Nilsson’s ‘‘Without You.’’

Kickstart’s out-there ad shows a group of guys hanging out with a ‘‘puppymonkeybaby’’ creature to show three things can go together to create something good. It’s supposed to highlight Kickstart’s three components: Mountain Dew, juice and caffeine.

The NFL’s stark PSA shows a text conversation when one texter realizes the other might be a victim of domestic abuse.

Christopher Walken somehow keeps a straight face telling a regular Joe to add excitement to his life by driving an Optima. ‘‘It’s like the world’s most exciting pair of socks, but it’s a midsize sedan,’’ he explains.

Singer Steven Tyler gives advice to his Skittles portrait on how to sing the classic Aerosmith hit ‘‘Dream On.’’

SQUARESPACE ‘‘Real Talk with Key and Peele’’

Comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele play characters who are dying to do commentary on the big game, but who can’t — for legal reasons — mention the word Super Bowl or any details about what’s happening on the field.

Execs from an anonymous telecom try to make Drake change the lyrics to his song ‘‘Hotline Bling’’ to sound like a phone contract.

Summary: Advertisers are paying $4.5 million for a 30-second spot.


The father of Fatma Samir, 3, who was killed in a chemical attack, shows a phone picture of his daughter in Taza. (AAP)

The Islamic State group has launched two chemical attacks near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing three-year-old girl Fatma Samir and wounding some 600 people, Iraqi officials say.

Security and hospital officials say the latest attack took place early Saturday in the small town of Taza, which was also struck by a barrage of rockets carrying chemicals three days earlier.

"There is fear and panic among the women and children," said Adel Hussein, a local official in Taza. "They're calling for the central government to save them." Hussein said a German and an American forensics team arrived in the area to test for the presence of chemical agents.

The wounded are suffering from infected burns, suffocation and dehydration, said Helmi Hamdi, a nurse at the Taza hospital. He said eight people were transferred to Baghdad for treatment.

US and Iraqi officials said US special forces captured the head of the IS unit trying to develop chemical weapons in a raid last month in northern Iraq.

People exposed to a chemical attack wait for treatment at a hospital in Taza. (AAP)

The US-led coalition said the chemicals IS has so far used include chlorine and a low-grade sulfur mustard which is not very potent. "It's a legitimate threat. It's not a high threat. We're not, frankly, losing too much sleep over it," US Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters Friday.

The coalition began targeting IS' chemical weapons infrastructure with airstrikes and special operations raids two months ago, Iraqi intelligence officials and a Western security official in Baghdad told the AP.

Airstrikes are targeting laboratories and equipment, and further special forces raids targeting chemical weapons experts are planned, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief reporters.

The extremist group is believed to have set up a special unit for chemical weapons research made up of Iraqi scientists who worked on weapons programs under Saddam Hussein as well as foreign experts.

The group is believed to have created limited amounts of mustard gas. Tests confirmed mustard gas was used in a town in Syria when IS was launching attacks there in August 2015.

There have been other unverified reports of IS using chemical agents on battlefields in Syria and Iraq.

Summary: Islamic State has launched two chemical attacks, killing a young girl and wounding some 600 people near Kirkuk, Iraq officials say.


The lawsuit alleges that the conspiracy in the animation industry dates back to 1986, when Lucasfilm Ltd and Pixar, now both part of Disney, agreed not to cold call each other's employees and not to outbid each other's pay offers, according to the complaint.

Other defendants entered into similar agreements with one another by the mid-2000s or even earlier, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit points to numerous emails from company executives referring to no-raid agreements. In one 2007 email, Pixar president Ed Catmull is quoted as saying that poaching each others' employees with higher pay offers "seriously messes up the pay structure."

Read More Want robots at McDonald's? Hike minimum wage: Zell

In another email, Catmull is quoted as saying that the animation companies had "avoided wars" because they had "conscientiously avoided raiding each other."

Catmull acted as an enforcer, according to the complaint, urging other companies to stick to the no-raid rule even when they weren't directly threatening Pixar.

In addition to the no-raid agreements, the lawsuit alleges that the companies' senior human resources and recruiting personnel met yearly to compare employee pay.

Read MoreFast-food strike gets supersized over wages

The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.

The new lawsuit comes about a month after U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose refused to approve a proposed $324.5 million settlement in the broader tech industry suit, partly because she found recovery for the class members would be too low compared with the Disney settlement approved earlier. Defendants in that case, including Google Inc and Apple Inc, are appealing her ruling.

The case is Nitsch v. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 5:14-cv-04062.

Summary: A federal lawsuit filed on Monday accuses Walt Disney Co, Sony Pictures and others of conspiring to suppress wages in the industry through "no-raid" agreements.


After their family home in Monson was hit by the tornadoes last June, Caitria O’Neill and her sister Morgan decided to launch Recovers.org, a website platform for towns needing to rebuild after disasters.

Now recovers.org is one of 125 finalists revealed on Tuesday by MassChallenge, the Boston-based nonprofit that offers more than $1 million in annual prizes and services to promising start-ups from all over the world.

“We’re trying to start a business, but we’re not business people,” Caitria O’Neill said. “What we’ve got is a social mission, a really awesome set of tools, and now we have to make it something sustainable. That’s what MassChallenge represents to us.”

This year’s MassChallenge class will participate in a three-month “accelerator program” that includes mentoring services, free office space, access to funding, and legal advice.

The start-ups will also compete for $1.1 million in cash prizes, to be split between the top 10 to 20 start-ups in the class. The funding, which will be awarded in October, is funded from multiple sources, including grants from the John W. Henry Foundation and the Perkins School for the Blind. The winning companies will also receive “privileged access” to investors looking to fund “high-growth” companies, according to a statement released by MassChallenge.

The finalists were chosen from among 1,237 applicants from 36 states and 35 countries -- up 69 percent from last year. Ninety of the 125 finalists are based in Massachusetts; the rest included start-ups from, among other places, California, Texas, Israel, India, and Russia. Applications were open to any start-up, anywhere in the world, that has the potential to invigorate the economy and create new jobs.

Many of the start-ups are categorized as high tech, life sciences/health care, or social impact companies.

MassChallenge launched its first accelerator in 2010; the nonprofit said the first class of finalists has collectively raised more than $100 million in outside funding and created at least 500 jobs.

Summary: After their family home in Monson was hit by the tornadoes last June, Caitria O’Neill and her sister Morgan decided to launch Recovers.org, a website platform for towns needing to rebuild after disasters. Now recovers.org is one of 125 finalists revealed Tuesday by MassChallenge, the Boston-based nonprofit that offers more than $1 million in annual prizes and services to promising start-ups from all over the world. “We’re trying to start a business, but we’re not business people,” Caitria O’Neill said.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rick Santorum withdrew from the race for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday and said he would endorse Senator Marco Rubio in the race for the White House. SEE ALSO: Cities worldwide petition to ban 'pro-rape' blogger

Santorum, a 57-year-old former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, won the Iowa caucuses four years ago but managed only 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa contest on Monday.

Santorum, in an appearance on Fox News announcing his withdrawal and endorsement of Rubio, called the Florida senator "a tremendously gifted young man and ... a born leader."

He said Rubio "can bring this country together, not just moderates and conservatives but young and old."

Rubio, 44, finished third in Monday's Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the state-by-state battle to decide who will be the Republican nominee in the November presidential election.

Republican Santorum drops out of White House race, endorses Rubio

GARNER, IOWA - AUGUST 24: Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum continues to campaign through Iowa on August 24, 2015 in Garner, Iowa. Here he stops at Stellar Industries for an informal 'town hall' style meeting with locals and employee's. (Photos by Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, waits to speak at a news conference on the immigration system at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015. Santorum discussed the need to secure the border, reform visa programs, reduce current legal immigration levels by 25% and create a workable program for America's agricultural sector. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

UNITED STATES - August 15: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum mans the grill as he cooks pork chops at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, August 15, 2015. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)

Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, holds a glass of beer he poured during a campaign stop at Confluence Brewing Co. in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. Santorum will speak at Iowa State Fair's politics soapbox on Aug. 15. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum speaks during the Republican presidential primary debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Seven candidates are debating before the top 10 candidates face off during prime time. AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Republican presidential hopeful and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum is seen at the Quicken Loans Arena ahead of the Republican presidential primary debate on August 6, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 22: Republican candidate for USA President and former Senator from Pennsylvania , Rick Santorum visits 'Cavuto: Coast To Coast' at FOX Studios on July 22, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

AMES, IA - JULY 18: Republican presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit at Stephens Auditorium on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. According to the organizers, the purpose of The Family Leadership Summit is to inspire, motivate, and educate conservatives. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Republican U.S. presidential hopeful and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) speaks during the 'Road to Majority' conference June 19, 2015 in Washington, DC. Conservatives gathered at the annual event held by the Faith & Freedom Coalition and Concerned Women for America to discuss politics and address current events. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during an appearance on Bloomberg Television's 'With All Due Respect' in New York, U.S., on Thursday, June 11, 2015. Santorum, whoÂ opposes a path to legalization for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., stopped short last week of calling for their deportation. Photographer: Louis Lanzano/Bloomberg via Getty Images

CABOT, PA - MAY 27: Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) announces his candidacy for the 2016 Republican nomination for president at Penn United Technologies May 27, 2015 in Cabot, Pennsylvania, This is the second run for Santorum, who finished runner-up in 2012 to nominee Mitt Romney. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas finished first in Iowa, putting a dent in real estate tycoon Donald Trump's standing as the Republican front-runner.

Santorum's withdrawal leaves nine Republican candidates in the 2016 White House race, with the next contest in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky announced earlier on Wednesday he was suspending his campaign after a fifth-place finish in Iowa. SEE ALSO: $1 billion-plus 'blockbuster' drugs seen reaching market in 2016

A favorite of the Christian right, Santorum announced his White House bid in May with an eye on economic issues.

He campaigned on a promise to boost the middle class,eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and crack down on illegalimmigration.

Santorum won a reputation as a strong social conservative in Congress, where he opposed same-sex marriage and the teaching of evolution in schools.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; additional reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters' editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. More from AOL.com: Police bust massive heroin ring with ties to Mexican cartel New 'hybrid' plane could make travel greener and cheaper Terrible report says seltzer slowly rots your teeth

Summary: The 57-year-old former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday


For-profit college ITT Technical Institute has received a demand from its accrediting body that the school justify its accreditation amid allegations of bad behavior involving a loan program.

ITT’s parent company, ITT Educational Services Inc., announced in financial disclosures Wednesday that the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools had asked the company to “show cause at the next ACICS meeting why its current grants of accreditation should not be withdrawn by suspension or otherwise conditioned.”

Maintaining this accreditation is a requirement for ITT to receive federal student loan funding. These funds compose 80% of ITT’s revenue, and the company has said that without access to federal funding it wouldn’t be able to continue operations. A delay in access to federal funds in 2014 was the first domino to fall for Corinthian Colleges Inc., another for-profit college chain that ultimately collapsed and liquidated its assets.

ITT called the action by the council “unexpected and unfortunate” but added that it will comply and is confident that it can address any of the council’s concerns.

“We are disappointed that our accrediting body is asking for a public rehashing of allegations widely known to be heavily promoted by activists, unions and select politicians working in concert to undermine educational options for non-traditional students,” ITT spokeswoman Nicole Elam said in a statement Thursday.

ITT says that the accrediting council’s request for information has questioned “the Institutions’ administrative capacity, organizational integrity, financial viability and ability to serve students in a manner that complies with ACICS standards,” but added that it “strongly believes that the facts it provides in response to ACICS’s request will continue to demonstrate the Company’s and Institutions’ compliance with regulatory and accreditation criteria.”

“The Council has been monitoring ITT’s performance data intensely prior to issuing the directive and this is a natural next step within their oversight authority,” the accreditation council said in a statement.

Recently, the counsel has begun updating and improving its standards for accreditation and plans to complete a new criteria by July 1.

The demand comes as ITT faces lawsuits and investigations from state attorneys general, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It has also been placed on a more strict financial status, called Heightened Cash Monitoring, by the U.S. Department of Education.

The actions from regulators largely stem from an old student loan program implemented by ITT during the 2009 financial downturn. The CFPB has claimed that ITT prodded students into high-cost student lending programs held off the company’s balance sheet and the SEC says that ITT didn’t disclose the poor performance of the loans to investors. ITT has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Criticisms and allegations surrounding high debt obligations and low job placement rates for their students have plagued the for-profit college industry for several years. Amid the fallout from the Corinthian Colleges collapse, the U.S. Department of Education has begun forgiving the loans of students claiming they were unfairly lured into debt.

In 2012 and 2013, more than 18% of ITT students had default on their loans within three years of entering repayment and hundreds of former ITT students have applied for forgiveness under the federal program.

Based in Carmel, Ind., ITT was started in 1969 and now has 130 campuses in 38 states. The schools offer degrees in information technology, criminal justice and nursing.

Write to Stephanie Gleason at stephanie.gleason@wsj.com


Kings dancers Photo: Rocky Widner

Cavaliers dancer Photo: Rocky W. Widner

Lakers dancers Photo: Andrew D. Bernstein

Rockets dancer Photo: Thomas Shea

Wizards dancers Photo: Ned Dishman

Bucks dancer Photo: Gary Dineen

Cavaliers dancers Photo: Rocky W. Widner

Suns dancer Photo: Christian Petersen

Cavaliers dancer Photo: Rocky W. Widner

Hornets dancers Photo: Kent Smith

Bulls dancer Photo: Jonathan Daniel

Magic dancer Photo: FERNANDO MEDINA

Grizzlies dancers Photo: Joe Murphy

Nuggets dancers Photo: Garrett Ellwood

Pacers dancer Photo: Ron Hoskins

Summary: Images of NBA dancers.


Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. officials hope to use an aerospace conference that kicks off Monday to promote their uphill bid to acquire the Pentagon’s leading satellite launch provider, according to people familiar with the matter.

When military and defense-industry officials gather at the Air Force Association’s air and space conference in suburban Washington, a major topic of discussion on the sidelines is likely to be Aerojet Rocketdyne’s $2 billion offer for United Launch Alliance LLC, a 50-50 rocket venture between Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.

Aerojet Rocketdyne officials hope to discuss the bid with the joint venture’s parents, as well as Air Force brass, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We might see some movement” after those efforts, one person said, “either positive or negative.”

As of Saturday, the joint venture hadn’t allowed Aerojet Rocketdyne representatives to conduct due diligence on its books, according to this person.

The offer has been pending for weeks. Aerojet Rocketdyne initially had hoped to wrap up negotiations in time to make a big splash with an announcement during the aerospace conference. But disputes over valuation and questions about possible responses by the Pentagon have complicated the process, according to people familiar with the details.

In addition, Boeing has balked at selling, according to several people, partly because United Launch’s leadership has held out the possibility of granting Boeing lucrative contracts to produce components for the Atlas V rocket.

The parts could be manufactured at a government-owned facility in New Orleans where Boeing already builds parts for a different rocket being developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to one person.

If successful, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s bid would shake up a global rocket industry already reeling from the emergence of low-cost launches offered by entrepreneur Elon Musk ’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp; aggressive marketing efforts by Europe’s Arianespace SA to sell bargain launches on Russian-built Soyuz rockets; and increasing indications that the U.S. Air Force eventually wants to purchase most of its satellite launches as a straight commercial service, rather than invest taxpayer dollars to develop a new generation of rockets.

All told, United Launch is expected to have to invest more than $2 billion through the beginning of the next decade to replace its current fleet of Atlas V and Delta IV launchers with a family of lower-cost rockets containing all domestic content. The venture, however, confronts congressional pressure to phase out use of Russian-built main engines on the Atlas V before then.

Meanwhile, United Launch faces eroding profits and reduced financial support from its parents, who have been unwilling to make long-term commitments to fund the new rocket, dubbed Vulcan.

Tory Bruno, United Launch’s chief executive, abruptly changed the complexion of the venture’s rocket development strategy last week by announcing an agreement with a startup company run by Amazon.com Inc. Chairman Jeff Bezos, to ramp up production of the BE-4 engine. Choosing between the BE-4, offered by Mr. Bezos, and a rival engine being developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne had been slated to occur in late 2016.

Mr. Bruno has been unwilling to comment on Aerojet Rocketdyne’s interest in United Launch, except to say on Twitter that he expects to “see a very bright future for ULA and for the future of space.”

Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com

Summary: Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings officials hope to use an aerospace conference that kicks off Monday to promote their uphill bid to acquire a Boeing-Lockheed venture that is the Pentagon’s leading satellite launch provider, according to people familiar with the matter.


A 41-year-old man has been arrested in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, the residence of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, after scaling a perimeter wall.

The suspect was in the grounds for seven minutes before being arrested on Wednesday night, police said.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were inside at the time and have been informed of the security breach.

The man was held on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site shortly before 9pm.

He had climbed the outside perimeter wall to enter the grounds, leading the alarm to be raised. No weapons were found.

Commander Adrian Usher, head of the Met's Royalty and Specialist Protection unit, said: "I am content that our security measures worked effectively on this occasion and at no time was any individual at risk."

A Palace spokesman said: "We never comment on security, which is a matter for the police."

Former royal protection officer Dai Davies said that the arrest came "very quickly" after the alarm was raised, considering the size of the grounds.

He said: "He was caught by the police very quickly and the system seems to have worked, which is the main thing."

The Queen had earlier attended the State Opening of Parliament and will be at a garden party in the grounds of the Palace on Thursday afternoon.

A number of trespasses have taken place at the site in recent years, and the walls have been scaled several times.

Fathers' rights campaigners used a ladder to climb on the roof of the Queen's Gallery in November and spent almost eight hours on top.

In September 2013, a 37-year-old man got into the Palace building itself and was found in a room which was open to the public during that day.

The most high-profile breach came when Michael Fagan broke into the Queen's bedroom in 1982, spending around 10 minutes talking to her.

He too had climbed over the Palace walls before scaling a drainpipe.

Summary: A man was arrested by protection officers after he scaled a wall at Buckingham Palace and entered the grounds; the Queen was in residence at the time.


Fasten your seat belt snugly if you're motoring in these burgs! The following gallery shows the 20 American cities reporting the highest average speeds in accidents involving one or more fatalities.

Fasten your seat belt snugly if you're motoring in these burgs! The following gallery shows the 20 American cities reporting the highest average speeds in accidents involving one or more fatalities.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 54.08 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 54.08 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 55.08 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 55.08 mph

No. 18. — Baton Rouge, La.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 55.94 mph

No. 18. — Baton Rouge, La.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 55.94 mph

No. 17. — Newport News, Va.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.08 mph

No. 17. — Newport News, Va.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.08 mph

No. 16. — San Diego

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.15 mph

No. 16. — San Diego

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.15 mph

No. 15. — Long Beach, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.18 mph

No. 15. — Long Beach, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.18 mph

No. 14. — Durham, N.C.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.94 mph

No. 14. — Durham, N.C.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 56.94 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 57.39 mph

(Above: The intersection of California State Highways 46 and 41, where actor James Dean died in 1955.)

Average speed in fatal accidents — 57.39 mph

(Above: The intersection of California State Highways 46 and 41, where actor James Dean died in 1955.)

No. 12. — Salt Lake City

Average speed in fatal accidents — 58.33 mph

No. 12. — Salt Lake City

Average speed in fatal accidents — 58.33 mph

No. 11. — San Bernardino, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 58.82 mph

No. 11. — San Bernardino, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 58.82 mph

No. 10. — Hesperia, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 59.00 mph

No. 10. — Hesperia, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 59.00 mph

No. 9. — Kansas City, Mo.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 59.50 mph

No. 9. — Kansas City, Mo.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 59.50 mph

No. 8. — Rocky Mount, N.C.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 61.14 mph

No. 8. — Rocky Mount, N.C.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 61.14 mph

No. 7. — San Jose

Average speed in fatal accidents — 61.49 mph

No. 7. — San Jose

Average speed in fatal accidents — 61.49 mph

No. 6 — Davie, Fla.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 61.53 mph

No. 6 — Davie, Fla.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 61.53 mph

No. 5 — St. George, Utah

Average speed in fatal accidents — 62.15 mph

No. 5 — St. George, Utah

Average speed in fatal accidents — 62.15 mph

No. 4 — Victorville, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 62.71 mph

No. 4 — Victorville, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 62.71 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 64.04 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 64.04 mph

No. 2 — Corona, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 65.07 mph

No. 2 — Corona, Calif.

Average speed in fatal accidents — 65.07 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 68.13 mph

Average speed in fatal accidents — 68.13 mph

In Auto Insurance Center's ranking of fatal accident speeds by state, Georgia, Texas and Montana lead the nation. Iowa and Washington clocked the slowest average speeds.

In Auto Insurance Center's ranking of fatal accident speeds by state, Georgia, Texas and Montana lead the nation. Iowa and Washington clocked the slowest average speeds.

Three California interstates are in the top 20 of Auto Insurance Center's "fastest roads" for fatal accidents.

Three California interstates are in the top 20 of Auto Insurance Center's "fastest roads" for fatal accidents.

As they age, motorists tend to ease off the accelerator. But when they are involved in an automobile accident, they are more likely to die because of their frailty and advanced years.

As they age, motorists tend to ease off the accelerator. But when they are involved in an automobile accident, they are more likely to die because of their frailty and advanced years.

Oakland Police chased a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed at about 10:30 am this morning, which ended as a three vehicle accident, with a 63 year old woman traveling as a passenger in the white car being killed and the suspect's vehicle overturned, at the corner of 62nd Ave. and Foothill Blvd., in Oakland, Ca. on Thursday December 31,2009.

Oakland Police chased a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed at about 10:30 am this morning, which ended as a three vehicle accident, with a 63 year old woman traveling as a passenger in the white car

Zoom and doom: 11 Calif. cities on top-20 speeding fatality list

Speeding is the second leading cause of car crashes in America, but it's especially dangerous in some California cities.

Auto Insurance Center studied the average speed of more than 12,000 fatal car crashes across the country to find out which cities' drivers are putting the pedal to the metal before colliding with other cars or smashing into roadside objects.

The car insurance comparison site's findings showed that California dominated the list of cities with the highest average speed in fatal crashes. In fact, 11 of the top 20 cities are in the Golden State. Two of those are in the Bay Area.

None of them, however, can claim to be the Leadfoot Capital of America. That dubious honor goes to Dallas.

For the full list, please see the above gallery.

A Facebook page shaming reckless drivers in the Dallas area was shut down in February. The page's administrator reportedly used open records to match names to license plate numbers from submitted photos and posted the information.

Auto Insurance Center also ranked the fastest deadly roads in America — highways with the highest average speed in fatal crashes. Three California interstates made the top 20: I-10 (68.66 mph), I-580 (68.26 mph) and I-5 (68.81 mph). Only South Carolina had as many.

Interstate 95 in South Carolina was deemed the most dangerous highway in the nation with an average speed of 74.65 mph in fatal crashes. (The speed limit on the road is 70 mph.)

Interestingly, while Texas and Montana have highways with 80-mph and even 85-mph speed limits, those roads did not make the top-20 list.

Certainly high speeds are a factor in many fatal crashes, but low-speed crashes also take their toll. In Iowa and Washington, the average speed in crashes involving the death of drivers and passengers were 21 mph and 25 mph respectively, compared to Georgia's 70.08, tops in the nation.

Auto Insurance Center's study looked at 2014 data (the most recent) from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For the most speeding-related crashes by state, only those crashes where the listed speed of the vehicle was above the posted speed limit were included.

The "fastest cities" list comprises cities reporting at least 10 vehicles involved in a fatal crash.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Transportation listed speeding as the second leading cause of car crashes in America, accounting for a third of all crashes. No. 1 was distracted driving. Drunken driving came in third.

Summary: California dominates the list of cities with the highest average speed in fatal crashes, according to a new study.


Returning to the same stage where he brought his acerbic sense of humor to Hollywood, Ricky Gervais will host "The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards," set for January 10, 2016, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The three-hour ceremony serves as the official kickoff to awards season and will be aired live coast to coast 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. ET on NBC. Gervais, an Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner, previously hosted the Globes for three consecutive years from 2010-12. The star-studded awards show celebrates the best in television and motion picture achievements.

Denzel Washington is this year's recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, chosen by the HFPA Board of Directors. The annual award honors talented individuals who have had a significant impact on the world of entertainment. This year's Golden Globe nominees include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Matt Damon, Amy Schumer, Will Smith, Melissa McCarthy and more.

Actress Corinne Foxx, daughter of Golden Globe Award winner Jamie Foxx, is this year's Miss Golden Globe.

"The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards" will be seen in more than 236 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that spans both television and motion picture achievements.

NBC will air the "2016 Golden Globe Arrivals Special" pre-show (4:00 - 5:00 p.m. PT, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. ET) just prior to "The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards" on Sunday, January 10 (5:00 - 8:00 p.m. PT; 8:00 - 11:00 p.m. ET). The "TODAY" show's Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Willie Geist and Tamron Hall will host the pre-show, featuring interviews with the biggest stars from television and film, and revealing the eagerly awaited red carpet fashions worn on Hollywood's biggest night.

Lorenzo Soria is President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Allen Shapiro, CEO of dick clark productions, Mike Mahan, President of dick clark productions and Barry Adelman, Executive VP of Television at dick clark productions, will serve as executive producers of "The 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards" and the "2016 Golden Globe Arrivals Special." In addition, Marilyn Seabury will serve as executive producer of the "2016 Golden Globe Arrivals Special."

Summary: Ricky Gervais hosts the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards on NBC. The awards are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to recognize excellence in TV and film.


With 7:27 left in the game, Jose Calderon spotted Derrick Williams steamrolling toward the Knicks’ basket. So Calderon unleashed an alley-oop that Williams stuffed.

Calderon was at the Bulls’ 3-point line.

Transition defense — actually, any defense — was not on the Bulls’ menu Thursday at the Garden. But defense, aggressive plays, fun plays, were definitely on the Knicks’ side — along with Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.

Anthony scored 26 points, added seven rebounds and four assists while Porzingis, in a 19-point and 10-rebound effort, notched his 20th double-double of the season and second in two nights as the Knicks topped the Bulls, 106-94, at the Garden. The victory gave the Knicks a home-and-home sweep and consecutive wins for the first time in over two months.

“I thought the level of energy we played with, the way we got off to fast starts and then multiple guys contributed out there,” said Anthony when asked to explain how the Knicks, bordering on official playoff extinction, could come up with successive victories over a team trying for the playoffs.

And those victories left the Bulls, who were without Pau Gasol (knee), searching.

“I have never been so frustrated before. It was disappointing,” said Chicago’s Taj Gibson, who scored 10 points in support of a game-high 30 from Derrick Rose and 19 from Jimmy Butler.

But while the Bulls (36-35) were frustrated and disappointed, the Knicks (30-43) were ecstatic, near giddy. You know, 68-foot alley-oop pass plays can do that. And defense that stopped the Bulls in their 41.6 percent shooting tracks can do that, too.

“We realized what the game plan was. We really focused on defense,” said the 7-foot-3 rookie Porzingis, who shot 7-of-15 from the floor, one night after registering his personal high of 29 points. “We knew that was going to win us the game, and I think we did a better job in the second half. And offensively, the game was going our way.”

A good example was right before halftime. After Calderon nailed a left-corner 3-pointer at 4:43 of the second quarter, the Knicks led 45-36. But Chicago rallied, pulling within 47-45, when Gibson scored at 2:35. So then came the ball movement that interim coach Kurt Rambis extolled.

“Their ability to get to spots on the floor, get organized, allows them to be efficient offensively,” Rambis said.

Enter offensive efficiency — from Williams, who scored 13 points off the bench, from Arron Afflalo, who scored 11 in his fifth turn in six games as a reserve after 56 starts, from Sasha Vujacic, who scored all nine of his points on a triple of 3s in the first quarter and of course from Anthony and Porzingis.

Twice taking feeds from Anthony, Porzingis banged home two 3s 30 seconds apart, and the Knicks waltzed into halftime leading 53-45.

“It was just a matter of taking advantage of what they were doing. We knew they were coming on the dribble in the post, to double-team,” Anthony said. “Somebody was open. A lot of times it was KP. So it was a matter of me making the right decision.

“A lot of times, in his position, he’s trailing and his man is in the paint,” Anthony said. “So it’s a matter of him actually making the shot.”

Said Porzingis, who had been slumping (shooting .333 over nine games before Wednesday), “I’ve been working a lot on my shot.”

Now, as effective as those shots were, the two that got the biggest rise from the crowd were those Calderon-to-Williams feeds.

“It was nice. We have a good connection out there every time we play together. So it was the right play to make,” Calderon said, agreeing the first heave was “your basic 68-foot” alley-oop.

“He’s an amazing passer,” Williams said. “We don’t get to practice that much. The practice is in the game.”

Summary: With 7:27 left in the game, Jose Calderon spotted Derrick Williams steamrolling toward the Knicks’ basket. So Calderon unleashed an alley-oop that Williams stuffed. So what? Calderon was at the Bul…


LOS ANGELES - As a 1960s-era underground musician, Phil Pearlman Gadahn had a cult following. Now his funky homemade recordings are hot commodities again - thanks in no small part to his son's notoriety as an Al Qaeda mouthpiece. Adam Yahiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old convert to Islam who now calls himself Azzam al-Amriki, or "Azzam the American," was indicted last week on charges of treason and providing material support to terrorists. He could be sentenced to death if convicted of treason. While the FBI seeks Adam Gadahn, European music buffs are hawking bootleg copies of his dad's 1967 psychedelic album, "Beat of the Earth," on the Internet. Phil Pearlman Gadahn, now in his late 50s, lives far from the spotlight in rural Riverside County, Calif. Neither he nor his wife, Jennifer, could be reached for comment. "The family is not doing any interviews," said his sister, Nancy Pearlman. When the Daily News called Pearlman's home, a man who refused to identify himself ranted that the number was unpublished and warned, "Don't ever call this number again!

" But a colorful portrait of the musician-turned-goat farmer and father of the country's No. 1 jihadist emerged through the recollections of former bandmate Karen Darby. "Phil was unique even for the all-time uniqueness of the '60s," Darby told writer Patrick Lundborg in 2004. Darby described Pearlman, the son of a Jewish doctor dad and a Christian mother, as "always a contrarian.

" He wore his hair and beard long, burned incense and drove a hippie-type Volkswagen bus, but "he was very against drugs," Darby said. Pearlman also had a strong anti-establishment streak. "He invented a prank called 'reverse shoplifting' where he would walk into a record store with his own LP and unnoticed, place it among the other albums for sale" said Lundborg, editor of the Web site Lysergia.

com. The self-produced 1967 "Beat of the Earth" recording originated as a project for an art class. "The music was free-form, original and unrehearsable, since it was all ad-lib and spontaneous . . . the steady thrum one experienced when you went to a love-in," said Darby. "Pearlman wasn't an imitation, but a true original," said Lundborg. In all, Pearlman made four indie records between 1965 and 1976. The first was a 45 rpm parody of surf-hot-rod songs by "Phil & the Flakes.

" "Beat of the Earth" followed in 1967, "Electronic Hole" in 1970 and "Relatively Clean Rivers" in 1976. For a time, Pearlman and his records vanished from the music scene after he married in the late 1970s and began raising children and goats on a farm with no electricity. The couple home-schooled their four kids. During this phase, Pearlman adopted the surname "Gadahn" (derived from the biblical Gideon) and became religious after finding a Bible on the beach, according to his son Adam Gadahn's 1995 essay, "Becoming Muslim.

" Pearlman made his living as a halal butcher who slaughtered his goats in a manner acceptable to Muslims. "He once had a lot of Muslim friends," the son wrote. In the late 1980s, a music collector stumbled on a used copy of "Beat of the Earth" in a bargain bin, liked it and tracked Pearlman down, buying up all unsold copies of the disk. The record made the rounds with rare music dealers and soon a cult classic was born, Lundborg said. In 1994, Pearlman visited Darby when he was about to release a "new" album using outtakes from their 1967 recording sessions. He complained about "consumeristical society," she recalled. A year later, Adam Gadahn, who had moved in with his grandparents, ditched his self-described obsession with "demonic heavy metal music" and converted to Islam. Adam Gadahn, who is believed to be in Pakistan, has appeared in several Al Qaeda videos since 2004, including one released last month. "It's tempting to find some sort of relationship between Phil's unusual lifestyle and what happened to his son," said Lundborg. "But I tend to look at it more as a sad coincidence.


Private equity firm KKR & Co kkr reported its second loss in quarterly earnings in less than a year on Monday as volatile financial markets dragged on the value of its investments.

The New York-based asset manager posted an economic net loss of $0.65 between January and March, after earning an economic net income of $0.62 a year ago. Analysts had expected an economic net loss of $0.35 in the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

ENI is a key earnings metric for U.S. private equity firms that accounts for unrealized gains or losses in investments, also known as the mark-to-market value.

“The first quarter of 2016 was a challenging environment with pronounced volatility across global capital markets,” KKR said in a statement.

Known some eight years ago for multi-billion-dollar corporate takeovers, the U.S. private equity industry has been off to a slow and quiet start this year.

Dealmaking has moderated as the market for high-yield bonds and loans, the lifeblood of buyouts, struggles to recover after stumbling late last year when investors shunned risk.

In a sign of the times, KKR said its first-quarter loss was driven by unrealized losses in the falling share price of First Data Corp., a U.S. payment processor controlled by KKR.

KKR had taken First Data private for about $29 billion in 2007, before listing the company in a $2.6 billion initial public offering that was the largest in the United States in 2015.

In line with its policy of distributing a fixed dividend every quarter, KKR reiterated that shareholders would receive a cash distribution of 16 cents per share.

The last time KKR posted a loss was in the third quarter of 2015, when a stock market rout weighed on the value of its assets.

Summary: As volatility hit global markets


France has beaten Japan and Germany to win a A$50 billion ($40 billion) deal to build a fleet of 12 new submarines for Australia, one of the world’s most lucrative defense contracts, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Tuesday.

The victory for state-owned naval contractor DCNS Group underscored France’s strengths in developing a compelling military-industrial bid and is a blow for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to develop defense export capabilities as part of a more muscular security agenda.

Reuters earlier reported that DCNS would be announced as the winner, citing sources with knowledge of the process.

“The recommendation of our competitive evaluation process … was unequivocal that the French offer represented the capabilities best able to meet Australia’s unique needs,” Turnbull told reporters in the South Australian state capital of Adelaide where the submarines will be built.

Australia is ramping up defense spending, seeking to protect its strategic and trade interests in the Asia-Pacific as the United States and its allies grapple with China’s rising power.

Japan’s government with its Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries boat had been seen as early frontrunners for the contract, but their inexperience in global defense deals and an initial reluctance to say they would build in Australia saw them slip behind DCNS and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp AG.

Industry watchers had anticipated a decision to come later in the year, but Turnbull’s gamble on a July 2 general election has sped up the process.

The contract will have an impact on thousands of jobs in the shipbuilding industry in South Australia, where retaining votes in key electorates will be critical for the government’s chances of re-election.

“The submarine project .. will see Australian workers building Australian submarines with Australian steel,” said Turnbull.

DCNS, which traces its roots to 1624 and is 35% owned by defense electronics giant Thales SA, proposed a diesel-electric version of its 5,000-tonne Barracuda nuclear-powered submarine. DCNS enlisted heads of industry and top government figures to convince Australia of the merits of its offering and the benefits to the broader relationship.

Japan had offered to build Australia a variant of its 4,000 tonne Soryu submarine, a deal that would have cemented closer strategic and defense ties with two of Washington’s key allies in the region but risked antagonizing China, Australia’s top trading partner.

Under Australia’s previous Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who wanted to pick the sub builder without a competition, Japan was seen as almost certain to secure the submarine contract, helped by a close personal relationship with Abe and with the tacit backing of the United States.

When Abbott was ousted by Turnbull in a party coup, however, criticisms of the Japanese bid, its inexperience and dearth of industrial ties grew.

Paul Burton, Defense Industry and Budgets Director at IHS Jane’s said it was a surprise from a strategic standpoint that Japan didn’t win.

“Japan is very keen to secure a significant piece of overseas business following the relaxation of its export legislation, and this Australian submarine deal was widely regarded as becoming a landmark trade,” he said. “The tradecraft required to convince a sophisticated domestic buyer that Japan’s was superior to that offered by France was lacking.”

ThyssenKrupp was proposing to scale up its 2,000-tonne Type 214 class submarine, a technical challenge that sources had previously told Reuters weighed against the German bid.

Both losing bidders said they were disappointed by decision but remain committed to their Australian businesses.

“Thyssenkrupp will always be willing to further contribute to Australia’s naval capabilities,” said Hans Atzpodien, Chairman of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.

Japan’s Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani described the decision as “deeply regrettable.”

“We will ask Australia to explain why they didn’t pick our design,” he added.

America’s Raytheon Co, which built the system for Australia’s aging Collins-class submarines, is vying for a separate combat system contract with Lockheed Martin Corp , which supplies combat systems to the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet. A decision on the weapons system is due later this year.

Summary: It's a big blow to Japan, which was also in the running.


On Thursday, Scottish musician Caitlin McNeill posted a picture of a dress on micro-blogging website Tumblr with the caption “guys please help me — is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can’t agree and we are freaking the f*** out.”

The Internet freaked out as well, after BuzzFeed posed McNeill’s question to its readers. The post, entitled “What Colors Are This Dress?”, has already been viewed nearly 21 million times and sparked off a heated global debate that saw celebrities, sportspeople and, well, pretty much everyone weighing in.

“What happened was two of my close friends were actually getting married and the mother of the bride took a photo of the dress to send to her daughter,” McNeill, whose band Canach performed at the wedding on the tiny Scottish island of Colonsay, explained to Business Insider. “When my friend showed the dress to her fiancée, they disagreed on the color.”

The band (which McNeill told BuzzFeed almost didn’t make it on stage for their performance because they were so busy arguing about the dress) posted the article to their Facebook page with the caption “It seems like we’ve caused quite the stir online! This is madness!”

Of all the celebrities that tweeted about the dress, McNeill said she’d love to meet Taylor Swift the most. “That would be something,” she told Business Insider.

As for the dress, which she actually saw on the bride’s mother at the wedding: “Obviously it was blue and black.”

Read next: This May Be Why You’re Seeing the Dress as White and Gold

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

Summary: Caitlin McNeill had no idea what her post would do to the Internet.