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Police tape blocks off a home, as they investigate additional killings in the home, related to other Scottsdale, Ariz., victims killed over the past several days Monday, June 4, 2018, in Fountain Hills,... (Associated Press)

 Police tape blocks off a home, as they investigate additional killings in the home, related to other Scottsdale, Ariz., victims killed over the past several days Monday, June 4, 2018, in Fountain Hills, Ariz. As police closed in, a man suspected of shooting several people to death in the Phoenix area... (Associated Press)

 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A hunch from a retired detective helped lead police to a man suspected of shooting six people to death in the Phoenix area, some of whom were connected to his divorce, authorities said after the assailant killed himself with officers closing in.

 A round-the-clock investigation that began late last week led police Monday to an extended-stay hotel in suburban Scottsdale where 56-year-old Dwight Lamon Jones was staying. As officers approached, they heard gunfire and found his body.

 Jones' victims included a well-known forensic psychiatrist who testified against him in court in 2010, two paralegals who worked for the law office that represented the suspect's wife, a marriage-and-divorce counselor who was apparently targeted in a case of mistaken identity and another man and woman who have not been identified, authorities said.

 In an unexpected twist, the suspect's ex-wife, Connie Jones, said her current husband, a retired police detective, made the connection between her divorce and the crime scenes and notified police of his suspicion Saturday night.

 Connie Jones said in a statement that her ex-husband was a "very emotionally disturbed person."

 Jones was arrested in May 2009 at his family's Scottsdale home on a domestic violence charge after his wife said he backed her against a wall, hit her in the face and threatened to kill her, according to court records. The arrest was cited by his then-wife when she filed for divorce.

 "Personally, I have feared for my safety for the past nine years. I cannot express the emotions I feel for the innocent families touched by this senseless violence," Connie Jones said.

 "We started to see that Mr. Jones was visiting them in an effort to right some wrong based on what we could see," said Rich Slavin, assistant police chief in Scottsdale.

 The slayings began Thursday with the fatal shooting of Dr. Steven Pitt, who, according to court records, had evaluated Jones and testified in 2010 that he had anxiety and mood disorders and symptoms of a paranoid personality.

 Pitt said Jones did not conform to social norms and acted impulsively and aggressively. He lacked remorse and close friends and required excessive admiration, the records said.

 The testimony was cited in the couple's November 2010 divorce, which granted Jones' wife sole custody of their now 21-year-old son.

 "This is not a success story, but it's a story that has closure," Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said.

 The 59-year-old psychiatrist was well known in his field and assisted in high-profile murder cases, including the JonBenet Ramsey mystery in Colorado and a notorious Phoenix serial killer investigation.

 Paralegals Veleria Sharp, 48, and Laura Anderson, 49, worked at the law office that represented Jones' wife. Police believe Jones may have been targeting the attorney, but she was not present Friday when Jones went to the office in downtown Scottsdale.

 Sharp was shot in the head but ran out of the office to get help before collapsing on the street, police said. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

 Counselor Marshall Levine, 72, appears to have been mistaken for someone else who once occupied the same office. At one time, the space was used by a counselor who saw Jones' son as part of the divorce. Levine, who took over the space, was not involved in the divorce case.

 Police would not speculate why Jones tracked down people connected to his divorce so long after it happened. They say he had been living in extended-stay hotels for the past nine years.

 Analysis of shell casings found at Pitts' office, the law firm and Levin's office confirmed that the victims were killed with the same gun, police said.

 Jones' DNA was found on one of spent casings. And traffic cameras showed a vehicle fitting the description of Jones' gold Mercedes near the law firm 30 minutes before the double killing on Friday, police said.

 The suspect has also been linked to two additional killings in Fountain Hills, an affluent suburb in the northeastern corner of metro Phoenix. The man and woman found dead inside the home have not been named publicly.

 Jones, who was seen driving around Fountain Hills, was later seen dumping a .22-caliber gun stolen from the Fountain Hills home.

 Some neighbors who were home on Monday afternoon stepped out to observe the police presence that remained on the street, which is usually a serene area.

 "It's quiet around here," said landscaper Saul Ramirez, who stopped to take cellphone videos of the scene.

 As police shared new details of the case, several hundred people crowded into a chapel at a mortuary in Scottsdale to honor Pitt with music, humorous stories and a Hebrew prayer of mourning.

 He was remembered as a perfectionist in his work on major cases and a loving man who doted on his fiancee and family members. Phoenix police Lt. Bryan Chapman, who had become a close friend during their work on criminal cases, said Pitt volunteered countless hours to help investigate many lesser known crimes.

 "He was the hardest working person I ever met," Chapman said.

 ___

 Associated Press journalist Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report. ||||| The killings in Arizona began Thursday afternoon, and they continued with alarming frequency.

 First there was Steven E. Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist known for his work on high-profile cases like the JonBenet Ramsey investigation. He was shot outside his office in northeast Phoenix.

 The next afternoon, Veleria Sharp, 48, a paralegal who had been shot, was seen stumbling down a street and begging for help. When the police followed a trail of blood back to the Scottsdale, Ariz., law firm where she worked, they found Laura Anderson, 49, another paralegal who had been shot. Both women died.

 Just hours later, Marshall Levine’s girlfriend found him, a 72-year-old life coach and marriage counselor, dead of two gunshot wounds in his office. That brought the killings in this otherwise relaxed golf and spa hub to four.

 By then, ballistic evidence had convinced the authorities that the first two shootings were related. And at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, they got the most important of more than 100 tips — one that would lead them to Dwight Lamon Jones, a man who had a connection to all of the deceased through a bitter divorce proceeding several years ago.

 By Monday morning they felt they had a solid case against Mr. Jones, 56, and they also knew where he was. The police arrived at an Extended Stay America hotel in Scottsdale and surreptitiously began to evacuate guests.

 Image Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist, was killed outside his office in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Thursday. Credit Phoenix Police Department

 Mr. Jones figured out what was happening and opened fire on the police. He did not strike any officers. Just after 8 a.m., he was discovered dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his room.

 But those were not the only killings.

 On Sunday, the police learned of the deaths of a man and a woman at a home in Fountain Hills, about 15 miles east of the other shootings. Though the police later said they had not explicitly linked the deaths of the two — Mary Simmons, 70, and Bryon Thomas, 72 — to Mr. Jones, they said he may have been in the area sometime before the bodies were discovered. That brought the killings they believe he carried out to six in about 96 hours.

 “In law enforcement, we don’t have the benefit of saying we were successful when lives are lost,” Sheriff Paul Penzone of Maricopa County said at a news conference, calling Mr. Jones’s actions “the worst of humanity.”

 At the same news conference, Rich Slavin, an assistant chief with the Scottsdale Police Department, tied the first four deaths together. Mr. Jones, he said, had gone through “a divorce situation” eight or nine years ago, in which his now ex-wife, Connie Jones, had retained a lawyer at the firm where the paralegals were killed. As part of his divorce proceeding, Mr. Jones was also required to see Dr. Pitt; and his son was required to see a doctor who had used the office space Dr. Levine happened to be occupying the day Mr. Jones shot him.

 “We started to see that Mr. Jones was visiting them in an effort to right some wrong,” Chief Slavin said, adding that the suspect had probably intended to kill Ms. Jones’s lawyer.

 Image Dwight Lamon Jones, a suspect in six killings in Arizona, fatally shot himself on Monday morning, the police said. Credit Scottsdale Police Department

 “She wasn’t present in that law firm that day,” Chief Slavin continued. “Unfortunately, two employees were.”

 In a statement, Ms. Jones said she was “deeply saddened by the tragedy caused by my ex-husband,” who she called “a very emotionally disturbed person.”

 She also said her husband, a retired Phoenix police detective, recognized the connection between the divorce and the three crime scenes and he notified the police Saturday night, around the time the police say they got the crucial tip.

 “Personally, I have feared for my safety for the past nine years,” she said. “I cannot express the emotions I feel for the innocent families touched by this senseless violence.”

 A Facebook page belonging to a “Dwight Jones” contains posts from May in which he leveled several accusations against Ms. Jones and called her a liar. The authorities said he had posted YouTube videos, which, as of Monday, appeared to have been removed.

 Chief Slavin said Mr. Jones had been arrested around 2008 or 2009 on domestic violence charges alleging that he mistreated his wife and a child. He also said Mr. Jones had been residing at Extended Stay hotels for the past nine years.

 Ms. Jones was far from the only person who was on edge over the past several days. The killings, which had not appeared to be random, worried those in the medical and legal professions and prompted the police to blanket Maricopa County with officers who provided security for people who may have been at risk.

 “I personally fielded a lot of questions from those groups because they were concerned,” Sgt. Ben Hoster of the Scottsdale Police Department said. Among their inquiries, he said: “Should we go to work on Monday?”

 At a breakfast restaurant just steps away from the hotel where Mr. Jones shot himself, Peter Verros, the restaurant’s owner, noted how uncommon violence was in the area.

 “This is a suburb,” Mr. Verros, 40, said. “You’re not used to something like this — a four-, six-person murder spree in Scottsdale? Holy cow!”

 When asked Monday about the killer’s motive, Chief Slavin said it was impossible to totally understand.

 “Taking the lives of innocent people,” Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said, “should never make any sense.” |||||

– A suspect who killed himself as police closed in Monday is now believed to have killed six people in the Phoenix area, police say—and at least four of them were linked to his bitter 2010 divorce. Police believe 56-year-old Dwight Lamon Jones, who shot himself at a Scottsdale motel early Monday, killed all six people in around 96 hours starting early Thursday, the New York Times reports. Police say Jones started the spree when he killed prominent psychiatrist Steven Pitt, whom he'd been required to see as part of divorce proceedings. On Friday, he allegedly killed Veleria Sharp and Laura Anderson, two paralegals at the firm his wife used during the divorce. Hours later Jones allegedly killed Marshall Levine, a marriage counselor who used the same office as a counselor Jones' son saw during the divorce. Police believe Jones also killed Mary Simmons, 70, and Bryon Thomas, 72, in Fountain Hills, around 15 miles away from the other shootings, but their connection to him is still unclear. Jones left around 10 hours of YouTube video in which he outlines an alleged conspiracy to steal custody of his son, who's now 21 years old, the Arizona Republic reports. Ex-wife Connie Jones says Jones was a "very emotionally disturbed person" and she divorced him after he hit her and threatened to kill her. She was granted sole custody of their son. The AP reports that Jones says her new husband, a retired police detective, was the one who made the connection between the divorce and the shootings and told police of his suspicions.


Article:

The Celebrity 100 is based on entertainment-related earnings plus media visibility (exposure in print, television, radio and online). We consider film and television actors, TV personalities, models, athletes, authors, musicians and comedians.

 To compile our earnings numbers, we talk to industry insiders, including agents, lawyers, producers and other experts, to come up with an estimate for what each celebrity earned between May 1, 2011, and May 1, 2012. Earnings consist of pretax gross income. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted.

 Online exposure is measured using Google blogs. Print media mentions come from Factiva, and we use Lexis/Nexis to find out how many times each star was mentioned on television and on the radio. We comb through dozens of magazines from the past 12 months to count how many times each star appeared on covers. Covers are an important part of our fame algorithm but their rankings do not show up on celebrity profiles.

 Twitter followers and Facebook fans are measured using Twitter and Facebook searches.

 All of the data is processed through an algorithm that creates our power ranking. We then divide the celebrities into categories like musician, actor, actress and personality.

 Sources: Google, LexisNexis, Factiva, The Nielsen Co., Pollstar, Box Office Mojo, Euromonitor International, Publishers Weekly and IMDBPro.

 The Project Team

 Editor: Dorothy Pomerantz

 Reporters: Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Kurt Badenhausen, Meghan Casserly, Jenna Goudreau, Jeff Bercovici, Clare O’Connor, Chris Barth, Erin Carlyle, Ryan Mac and Brian Solomon.

 Interns: Natalie Robehmed and Sean Kilachand

 Research: Susan Radlauer and Julia Bricklin

 Product: Andrea Spiegel, Christian Wolan ||||| It used to be enough for a celebrity to act or sing or swing a bat really well. Now to be considered a real success, he or she needs to sell clothes, hawk fragrances--maybe even invest in technology startups.

 While she hasn’t stormed Silicon Valley just yet, Jennifer Lopez is a state-of-the-art celebrity success story. With $52 million in earnings over the last 12 months and a massive amount of fame, Lopez lands at No. 1 on our Celebrity 100 list for the first time.

 A few years ago it looked like Lopez was done. Her albums, like the all-Spanish Como Ama una Mujer, failed to find the broad audience she once enjoyed. Her movies, like El Cantante, flopped.

 Then in 2010 the singer landed a judge's chair on American Idol. The job gave her a platform to promote her music and turn her image around. It didn’t hurt that she also split from her husband, Marc Anthony. Suddenly a single mother, Lopez lapped up the media attention and scored lucrative endorsement deals with companies like L’Oreal and Gillette. She now has a line of clothing at Kohl's, a top-selling fragrance and she was able to secure a nice bump—to $20 million--on her Idol salary for a second season. With 6.6 million followers on Twitter and 12 million fans on Facebook, she’s also proved a master of social media.

 Lopez unseats Lady Gaga, who topped the list last year. The pop star slides to fifth place this time around with $52 million in earnings, down from $90 million last year (Gaga didn’t tour much in the last 12 months). Her new album, Born This Way, was still a smash hit, selling 1 million copies its first week out.

 Cover Story: Justin Bieber, Venture Capitalist

 In second place is Oprah Winfrey, whom Gaga unseated for No. 1 last year. Winfrey had a rough 12 months. Her 25-year syndication run ended in May but she still managed to earn more than anyone else on the list ($165 million) thanks to her empire of spin-off shows (Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray) her magazine and her radio deal with Sirius XM. Winfrey doesn’t earn any money from the struggling OWN cable network. The talk-show legend will now turn her full attention to trying to improve things at OWN.

 Ranking third: Justin Bieber. Only 18, Bieber is making his second appearance on our list. The star earned $55 million in the past year thanks to touring and record sales, but as he explains in our cover story, Bieber is more than just a pop star. He’s also a budding venture capitalist. Bieber has used his fame and fortune to invest in startup companies like Spotify, Tinychat and Enflick.

 With most of our lists we keep it strictly on the money: earnings or net worth. The Celebrity 100 is a little different. This list--which includes film and television actors, TV personalities, models, athletes, authors, musicians and comedians--is based on money and fame. We define fame as media visibility in print, television, radio and online, plus social media power, which we measure by looking at each celebrity's presence on Facebook and Twitter. The earnings consist of pretax income between May 1, 2011, and May 1, 2012. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted. Forbes has been publishing the list annually since 1999.

 Crunching all those numbers always ensures we have an interesting slew of new people on the list; this year, Kim and Khloe Kardashian made the cut. Say what you want about the sisters, they know how to stay famous and earn millions. Thanks to the money she earned from her wedding (and the publicity she earned from her divorce just a few months later), Kim ranks seventh with $18 million. Khloe, who now has her own successful spin-off show (Khloe and Lamar), ranks 73rd with $11 million.

 Another newcomer: Ashton Kutcher. The actor, who took over the lead on Two and a Half Men following Charlie Sheen’s very public meltdown, is now one of the highest-paid men on television. (Sheen failed to make the list this year.) He’s also a savvy tech investor who managed to get in early on companies like Skype, Spotify and Airbnb, which is now worth a reported $1 billion. Kutcher, who is a Twitter superstar, got plenty of press attention this year for his personal life as well as his professional life. He split from his wife of six years, Demi Moore, last fall. The actor debuts in 51st place with $24 million.

 Full List: The Celebrity 100

 Follow me on Twitter at DorothyatForbes. |||||
What is a summary?

– Jennifer Lopez went from superstar to has-been … and has now apparently swung back to superstar. The American Idol judge tops the latest Celebrity 100, Forbes’ annual list of the stars with the most money and fame, with $52 million in earnings over the past year. In addition to her new Idol gig, she’s gotten quite a bit of publicity thanks to her divorce, big endorsement deals, a clothing line and fragrance, and tons of fans and followers on social media. Last year’s No. 1, Lady Gaga, is all the way down in fifth place, while Oprah Winfrey—who was No. 1 the year before Gaga—is No. 2 this year. (But Oprah didn’t make it on Time’s Most Influential People list for the first time ever this year.) Here’s the full top 10, which may make you a little bit sad if you're not 13 years old: Jennifer Lopez Oprah Winfrey Justin Bieber Rihanna Lady Gaga Britney Spears Kim Kardashian Katy Perry Tom Cruise Steven Spielberg See Forbes for all 100.


Article:
We use cookies to collect and process data. We may use this data for analytics, advertising, and improving user experience. By using this site, you consent to these cookies being placed on your browser. If not, you can disable cookies in your browser settings or stop using the site. Cookie Policy here. ||||| Puerto Rico's Anthony Weiner is much more thrilling than ours: Last week, images from Puerto Rican senator and GOP cheerleader Roberto Arango's alleged profile on gay hook-up app Grindr surfaced. When a Puerto Rican TV show confronted him, Arango neither confirmed nor denied making the profile but offered this excuse:

 You know I've been losing weight. As I shed that weight, I've been taking pictures. I don't remember taking this particular picture but I'm not gonna say I didn't take it. I'd tell you if I remembered taking the picture but I don't.

 All an innocent mistake. Simple misunderstanding. I thought "Grindr" was a community for trading work-out tips? I've been having trouble toning my torso. Also, this area right here, lemme get the angle right so you can see it —

 Aahh, there, much better. Really been trying to tone my grundle these days! Better post this picture on Grindr, too. Need advice on how to lose these three extra pounds from the inside of my asscrack.

 Arango, a member of the Puerto Rican Senate, vice-chaired George W. Bush's 2004 Puerto Rico campaign. [Guanabee] |||||Summary:

– Another day, another politician who cannot keep his clothes on around cell phones. This time, the exhibitionist seems to be Puerto Rican conservative Sen. Roberto Arango, who had several anatomically vivid pics show up on popular gay cruising app Grindr, reports Gawker. When asked about the photos by a Puerto Rican TV station, Arango responded with an Anthony Weiner-esque non-denial: "You know I've been losing weight. As I shed that weight, I've been taking pictures. I don't remember taking this particular picture but I'm not gonna say I didn't take it. I'd tell you if I remembered taking the picture but I don't." Even more damning than the initial photo, which showed a shirtless man with his face covered (but wearing a necklace similar to one Arango commonly wears), was a second pic apparently found on the same Grindr account, showing a nude man bent over, from behind. Several prominent Puerto Rican politicians, including the governor, called on Arango to resign if the photos are of him. Arango, who was vice-chair of George Bush's re-election committee in Puerto Rico in 2004, is known for opposing gay rights legislation.


Image copyright Family photo Image caption Rachel and Steven Park's triplets spent the first few months of their lives in hospital

 Tributes are being paid to a mother of triplets who died after spending her first Christmas at home with her children.

 Poppie, Mollie and Evelyn Park were born prematurely in March and spent several months in hospital in Newcastle and Whitehaven.

 Their mother Rachel, 39, died at the family home in Bransty, Whitehaven, on Tuesday.

 Police described her death as "unexplained but not suspicious".

 Online appeals have been launched to help Mrs Park's husband Steven care for the youngsters who were born 14 weeks early.

 More than £4,500 has been donated towards a £5,000 target on Go Fund Me while £4,900 has been raised through Paypal.

 Family friend Lucy Dawson told BBC Cumbria: "Rachel had the girls back in March this year and I fell pregnant with triplets just after.

 Image copyright Family photo Image caption The Parks said they had been looking forward to celebrating the triplets' first Christmas at home

 "I got in touch with Rachel online and she supported me through every step because she knew what I was going through. I wouldn't be where I am without her support.

 "She was a good friend to me and a good support to other ladies who had triplets in the area and across the UK as well."

 Julie Hodgson, who also helped set up the appeals, said on her Facebook page its aim was to give Mrs Park's "beautiful family the support they need now and in the coming months".

 Dozens of tributes have been posted with one describing her death as "totally tragic and heartbreaking".

 The Parks spoke last week of their joy at having the children home for Christmas and told the BBC they were "three little bundles of miracles".

 Mrs Park said their combined weight was less than two bags of sugar, adding: "They were really tiny. You were terrified to touch them in case they snapped or they broke." ||||| Tiny triplets who spent months in hospital are home in time for Christmas

 Weighing a combined weight of two bags of sugar at birth, miracle triplets Poppie, Mollie and Evelyn Park faced a fight for their lives.

 Born at 26 weeks, the sisters spent 111 days in hospital as their parents Steven and Rachel were “told to prepare for the worst”.

 Issues over their prematurity meant the Bransty couple were scared their girls wouldn’t make it this far.

 But now the triplets have made great strides and the parents can’t wait to spend Christmas at home with their three special gifts.

 “They each took a turn at being quite poorly,” said mum Rachel. “It was touch and go with all three at some point but they’re all out of hospital and fine now.

 “We were told to prepare for the worst. They’ve had quite a tough journey but they’re growing now and doing well. We’re looking forward to Christmas – there are toys everywhere!”

 Born on March 11, the triplets spent over three months in Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

 Throughout the babies’ treatment at the infirmary, Steven, 37, and Rachel, 39, were supported by The Sick Children’s Trust, which provided free ‘home from home’ accommodation at its Crawford House site.

 Rachel said: “Crawford House meant we were only a phone call away, and could be there in five minutes if they were poorly – which happened a few times.

 “The Sick Children’s Trust has been an absolute lifeline on more than one occasion; without Crawford House we would have had the financial burden of hotel stays, or over a two-hour journey home to Whitehaven each day.”

 After leaving Newcastle, the girls were admitted to West Cumberland Hospital as they still had feeding issues. But now Poppie, who weighed 1.9lb, Mollie, who weighed 1.75lb, and Evelyn, who weighed 1.6lb, are home and weighing “roughly 14 pounds each”.

 Steven said: “When we look back on how poorly the girls were and where they are now – they’ve come so far and we’re just full of pride.

 “They do have blips, but nothing life-threatening and they’re heading in the right direction.

 “They’re happy, smiling and starting to show their emotions and exploring everything the world’s got to offer.

 “Our girls have been on a huge journey so far and because of that we’re going to make sure their first Christmas will be extra special. We were so scared that they may not make it this far, and will therefore be really celebrating the festive season.” ||||| GoFundMe has verified that the funds raised will go directly to the intended recipient.

 What does verified mean? ||||| Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email

 The mum of tiny triplets has died suddenly at home after spending her first Christmas with her children.

 Rachel Park 39, and her husband had hailed their children as Christmas miracles after they were allowed home for the first time in ten months after they were born prematurely.

 But it has emerged today that Rachel died suddenly at home in Bransty, Whitehaven, on Tuesday, says after talking about how excited she was for Christmas.

 A Facebook appeal has now been set up to help her husband Steven look after his young family.

 Police have described Rachel's death as "unexplained but not suspicious", the BBC reported.

 Steven wept tonight as he said: “She idolised those little girls, they were her world.”

 He was too upset to say any more, as local mums rallied around to help.

 Julie Hodgson, of Dearham, wrote on Facebook: “We have set up a PayPal account to try and raise money and give her beautiful family the support they need now, and in the coming months.

 “We understand that it is an expensive time of year for everybody, but every little helps in this situation, please feel free to donate via PayPal to Parktriplets@gmail.com.”

 The combined birthweight of the triplets was just 5lb 2oz – three tiny sisters weighing together as much as one small newborn alone.

 Born 14 weeks early, triplets Poppie, Mollie and Evelyn fought for their lives in hospital for the first two months.

 (Image: Collect Unknown)

 Their terrified parents told the Daily Mirror before Christmas how they never heard the doctors say: ‘When your girls come home’.

 Day after day, it was always ‘if’.

 Rachel, 39, said one week before Christmas: “I remember the consultant telling us: ‘All we have is time. It is up to them, and how much of a fighter they are’.”

 She also told the News and Star last week how the family was “ looking forward to Christmas, there’s toys everywhere!”

 Following the news of Rachel's death, tributes have now been paid to the mum.

 (Image: CHRIS NEILL/MAVERICK PHOTOGRAPHY)

 Lucy Dawson told BBC Cumbria: "Rachel had the girls back in March this year and I fell pregnant with triplets just after.

 "I got in touch with Rachel online and she supported me through every step because she knew what I was going through. I wouldn't be where I am without her support.

 "She was a good friend to me and a good support to other ladies who had triplets in the area and across the UK as well."

 For Steven and Rachel, their triplets were much longed for first babies, conceived on the fourth cycle of IVF .

 They imagined this first Christmas over and over as the fun family occasion they had always dreamt of.

 (Image: CHRIS NEILL/MAVERICK PHOTOGRAPHY)

 But when their girls arrived unexpectedly early on March 11 at just 26 weeks and five days it seemed highly unlikely all three, if any, would make it.

 Admin manager Rachel and Steven, a chef, married in 2009 and tried for six years to start a family.

 They had three failed rounds of IVF on the NHS before a fourth done privately proved successful last summer.

 “At six weeks I found out I was pregnant at last,” said Rachel. “At first they only found two heartbeats, so we were over the moon to be expecting twins.”

 Two weeks later came the shock news the ‘twins’ were non-identical triplets. “We felt kind of numb,” Rachel admitted.

 “It was disbelief, shock,” adds Steven. The triplets appeared healthy at every scan and the couple were excited at the thought of their ready made family.

 “We could see them all on the scans, hear all three heartbeats,” says Rachel.

 (Image: MDM)

 “Last Christmas we began buying things for them – a pram for three, three Moses baskets.”

 The triplets were due on June 12, but at 22 weeks Type 1 diabetes sufferer Rachel began to show signs of high blood pressure caused by potentially fatal pre-eclampsia. Her kidneys and liver were failing.

 By 24 weeks the mum-to-be of Whitehaven, Cumbria, was sent to Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle nearly 100 miles away for specialist care where she suffered a serious bleed.

 “They stopped it but after two days I had another,” she recalls. “

 They found a problem with blood flow from the placenta too. They told me my babies would be safer out than in.”

 Rachel was taken for an emergency caesarean . “It was a blur,” she said. “I just wanted them out and to know they were OK.”

 Due to heavy sedation and an infection, the new mum – who needed three transfusions – didn’t see her daughters for three days.

 It is Steven who recalls their birth.

 “There were so many people in that room, about 26,” he says.

 “They lifted the babies up one by one and a team was allocated to each one. They let me touch Poppie. I kissed her on the head.

 "But it was so frantic. I heard another cry, that was number two, Mollie. It was very emotional, the reality sunk in as they were rushed to the special baby unit.”

 Poppie, Hollie and Evelyn weighed 1lb 9oz, 1lb 7oz and 1lb 6oz respectively and were put in incubators and on ventilators as their lungs were so tiny.

 Speaking before Christmas, Rachel recalled her first sight of them.

 “They wheeled me down. I met Evelyn first. I put my hand in to hold hers. It was so hard not to be able to give them cuddles, to have the glass between you. I read them nursery stories.”

 An online fundraising page has now been set up to help her baby girls. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A UK mother who made the news for having extremely premature triplet girls who all survived has herself died unexpectedly. Rachel Park, who died at age 39 just days after taking her 9-month-old babies home from the hospital for Christmas, became pregnant after six years of trying with her husband, Steven, and on her fourth round of IVF. "She idolized those little girls," her husband said. "They were her world." The cause of death is still unknown, but police say the circumstances are not suspicious, reports the BBC. During the pregnancy, Park, a Type 1 diabetic, developed pre-eclampsia, and her blood pressure got so high that her kidneys and liver began to fail. At just 24 weeks' pregnant, she was sent to a hospital in Newcastle 100 miles from her home, where she suffered what the Mirror calls "a serious bleed." Doctors found a problem with blood flowing to the placenta, and performed an emergency C-section when the triplets were 26 weeks and five days along. Due June 12, the girls were put on ventilators upon their birth on March 11 and, weighing 5 pounds combined, spent two months fighting for their lives. "It was touch and go with all three at some point," Rachel told the News & Star just a week ago. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Steven and his daughters Poppie, Mollie, and Evelyn. (Just days before the Park triplets were born in the UK, a mother of newborn triplets died in Kansas.)


Article:
Superhero sequels are always more of the same, and “Deadpool 2” continues the practice smoothly, transitioning into something more gory, bizarre, offbeat and even obscenely funny than the original, which opened in 2016 to quite justified acclaim and stratospheric profits. While the protagonist, a smart-mouthed, obnoxious, unkillable mutant assassin, is a runt of the Marvel litter, his absurdly violent comedies know how to bark and bite and wag a tail for attention.

 This is a very self-aware bag of tricks. Most films are self-aware, but they work hard to keep that out of sight. “Deadpool 2” revels in its self-referential perspective, relishing jabs at old John Hughes movies, “The Passion of the Christ” and, most of all, its own “lazy writing.”

 It stays true to the mission of lampooning earnest comic-book action movies with enormous creative chutzpah. It embraces everything that should make it lousy, calling out itself for aping the genre’s bad ideas and then shattering the fourth wall with meta precision. We’ve seen superhero satire before in films like “The Mask” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but this is different, cross-the-line material by shock jocks and provocateurs.

 It delivers so much over-the-top mayhem that we wonder if the crew was rising to a dare, and the title character’s fast, cheeky, very funny commentary covers every inch of the convoluted plot. A refresher course on old Marvel comics isn’t needed to sharpen your appreciation of what’s happening on-screen. When the fertilizer hits the fan, as it frequently does, it’s pretty clear what’s happening.

 Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool, whose special power is quickly healing to cartoonish effect when he’s sliced, diced, shot or subdivided by a hand grenade. Reynolds introduces us to his character’s typical day, traveling from Japan, across Europe, to his nameless Hometown to jump down buildings, crash through windows and relentlessly lay carnage on evildoers like a steamroller in overdrive.

 Wearing scar makeup to hide his typical pretty-boy looks, Reynolds radiates a bizarre charisma. Throwing his impish Alfred E. Neuman smile at the camera to make us feel weird, he sails through each nonstop raunchy verbal riff. He is like a swizzle stick continually stirring up a double Mickey Finn.

 Ryan Reynolds in a scene from "Deadpool 2."

 The story at hand is breathtakingly simple, yet complicated to the point of lunacy. Bad guys separate Deadpool from his love, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), putting him in a suicidal funk. At least very briefly, because of that instant healing, remember? Trying to construct a substitute family, Deadpool becomes a trainee at the X-Men academy, where almost every studio-valuable character hides from him and the gallery of heroic portraits on the wall includes an impressive image of Karl Marx.

 Deadpool tries to mentor another mutant academy’s defiant teen fire starter, Firefist (delightfully played by Julian Dennison, so fine in the charmingly odd “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”). Grappling with orphanhood, 14-year-old angst and a chubby physique, he hasn’t found a mentor to help him control his abilities because, as he says, there’s no demand for plus-size superheroes.

 They wind up side by side in a Supermax prison where a Terminator-like soldier from the future, Cable (Josh Brolin), arrives to eliminate Firefist before he reaches his destiny as a supervillain. And then things begin to get a bit complicated. Joining the mess is Domino (Zazie Beetz), whose superpower is, basically, luck. She adds such a delightful performance that you feel the movie was lucky for getting her.

 On the surface, “Deadpool 2” follows the antihero’s crime-fighting antics. One layer down, there’s a lot more going on. It launches an indictment of pop culture and its addicted fans. The film mocks sincere good taste, showing us terrifying things we should not feel comfortable about while sophomorically asking, “Are you enjoying this?” and scoffing, “Of course you are!” The movie addresses topics as diverse as rampant gun violence and how gloomy DC superhero movies have become.

 There are perhaps two believable human moments in the script. Otherwise, most of it is focused on samurai sword slicing, putting dirty lyrics in a Carmina Burana-style doomsday choral piece and “how did they afford him?” celebrity cameos. If you love films that keep you guessing, laughing and surprised on the edge of your seat, this is a must-see. ||||| But while the sequel benefits from Reynolds’ superhuman charisma as the charmingly annoying, katana-wielding protagonist, the film nevertheless feels too much like more of the same: more of the same gross-out gags, more of the same irreverent jokes, more bits where Deadpool has to regrow severed limbs to the disgust of everyone around him, more running commentary on the movie he’s in…. ||||| After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Miami's hottest bartender, while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor - finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World's Best Lover. |||||Summary:

– Now pondering fatherhood, Deadpool is back to kick butt and crack jokes in Marvel's Deadpool 2, featuring Ryan Reynolds and more than a few F-bombs. Its predecessor ruled the box office in 2016, but does this sequel from David Leitch—which cost a stuntwoman her life—have the power to do the same? It seems so, with the movie getting a solid 85% positive rating from critics and audiences alike at Rotten Tomatoes. Here's what critics are saying: "If you love films that keep you guessing, laughing and surprised on the edge of your seat, this is a must-see," writes Colin Covert at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "More gory, bizarre, offbeat and even obscenely funny than the original," the film "revels in its self-referential perspective" while Reynolds "radiates a bizarre charisma," Covert writes. Not to be outdone is a "delightful" Zazie Beetz as lucky superhero Domino. "There's no way it could equal the freshness and irreverence of the 2016 original. Fortunately, the sequel comes off as much more than a cash grab," writes Calvin Wilson at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He mostly credits Reynolds. In "the role of his dreams," the actor "totally sells the character's blend of reckless self-absorption and reluctant heroics." Even so, "another sequel really isn't necessary, but it's in the works anyway." Jen Yamato wasn't as impressed. "While the sequel benefits from Reynolds' superhuman charisma," it "merely rehashes and recycles the same wink-wink barbs that worked the first time around" and offers "uninspired plotting," she writes at the Los Angeles Times. Thank goodness for Celine Dion. Her music brings "new life, emotion and a winking, self-aware wit into the action," Yamato says. The movie "comes blazing out of the shoot, but dips in its second hour, like a stretched-out piece of taffy," writes Adam Graham at Detroit News. "Still, there is a lot left to like here, and Reynolds and company crank out better, more outrageous laughs than most pure comedies. You'll laugh loud and you'll laugh hard."


– Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who survived captivity as an ISIS sex slave, was named a UN goodwill ambassador Friday—the first time a human trafficking survivor was named as such, Time reports. Murad has another distinction: a high-profile human rights lawyer helping her cause of bringing ISIS criminals to justice. That attorney is Amal Clooney, wife of George Clooney, and she tells People the couple conferred before she decided to take on the case. "This is something I discussed with my husband," she says, adding that George was also "moved" when he spoke to Murad and that they know the risks. But, Clooney adds, "I don't think anyone can feel that they're being courageous compared to what Nadia is doing. I met her and I just thought, I can't walk away from this." Clooney gave a heartfelt speech at the UN Friday, relaying the story of how Murad was one of 6,700 Yazidis captured by ISIS in 2014. Her mom and six brothers were executed, and Murad was pushed into a revolving door of ISIS "owners" who abused and raped her, once until she was unconscious. She escaped after "three hellish months," per NBC News, though she still gets threats from ISIS, and she's now working with Clooney to bring her attackers to justice for crimes against humanity—a daunting task, as Iraq isn't part of the International Criminal Court. "I am ashamed, as a supporter of the UN, that states are failing to prevent or even punish genocide, because they find that their own interests get in the way," Clooney told the UN. (Barbara Walters has picked Clooney as her "most fascinating person.")

Expand this summary.

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 / Updated By Cynthia McFadden, Jake Whitman and Hannah Rappleye

 Amal Clooney sat in a tent in a refugee camp in northern Greece, surrounded by members of Iraq's Yazidi community, who have been driven from their homes in a genocidal campaign by ISIS.

 "I think the international community should be ashamed that they haven't done more for the Yazidis," Clooney, a human rights lawyer, told the men, women and children huddled around.

 Over the last two years, ISIS terrorists who overran parts of Syria and Iraq have enslaved, raped and murdered Yazidis because of their ancient religion, which centers on a figure known as the Peacock Angel.

 Amal Clooney visits with Yazidi refugees at a camp in northern Greece. Jake Whitman

 More than 5,000 have been killed and at least 3,200 others are still being held, according to a recent U.N. inquiry. Families have been ripped apart, and survivors and escapees have been forced to take shelter in crowded, rundown camps, one of them near Mount Olympus.

 For the refugees, Clooney, who is married to movie star George Clooney, represents a ray of hope — that the world will recognize their suffering and that the fanatics who uprooted and brutalized them will be brought to justice.

 Clooney was persuaded to take the case by survivor Nadia Murad, 23, who was captured by ISIS in 2014 but escaped after a hellish three months in which she was raped by a dozen men and prayed for death.

 Together, they are trying to persuade the international community to start gathering evidence — from interviewing survivors to excavating mass graves — so the perpetrators can be tracked down and held accountable in a courtroom.

 Amal Clooney talks with Yazidi activist Nadia Murad at a refugee camp in Greece. Jake Whitman

 The ultimate goal is to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute the crimes committed by ISIS commanders against the Yazidis, for what the United Nations and U.S. State Department agree is genocide.

 "Victims have all said they actually want their day in court," Clooney told NBC News in an exclusive interview over the weekend. "It's not going to be easy, but we're working on multiple fronts."

 Last week, the two women made the rounds at the United Nations in New York, meeting with officials — including the U.S., Russian and Iraqi ambassadors — in hope of persuading the world body to refer the Yazidi slaughter to the ICC.

 Watch: Yazidi Refugees Tell Chilling Tales of ISIS Atrocities

 The ICC was set up in 2002 to prosecute crimes against humanity, but because Syria and Iraq are not members, the court says it cannot investigate unless Iraq invites it in or the U.N. Security Council sanctions an investigation. The Security Council has taken such an action only twice before, for crimes in Darfur in 2005 and Libya in 2011.

 China and Russia, permanent members of the Security Council, have previously voted against asking the ICC to open an investigation into war crimes in Syria. Clooney says the Russians told her they are "open" to discussing an investigation, and she plans to meet with Chinese officials this week.

 The diplomatic challenge does not daunt Clooney, an Oxford-educated lawyer who works for a London firm with offices in The Hague. Last year, she took on the government of the Maldives and won the freedom of the island nation's jailed ex-president, a pro-democracy activist.

 That case had intense moments — her co-counsel was stabbed in the head — but this time, Clooney's adversary is one of the most bloodthirsty organizations in human history.

 Asked about putting herself in danger, Clooney said, "I don't think anyone can feel that they're being courageous compared to what Nadia's doing and and what all the women who've suffered what Nadia's suffered are doing."

 Amal Clooney comforts a Yazidi woman at a refugee camp in northern Greece. Jake Whitman

 Before agreeing to take Murad's case, Clooney says, she discussed it with her husband, himself an activist.

 "He met Nadia, too, and I think he was moved for the same reason," she said. "He understood I have spent my career working on international justice and this is a clear case of genocide and genocide that's gone completely unaddressed and ignored."

 Murad, whose mother and six brothers were killed by ISIS, continues to get threats aimed at silencing her. One was sent through a young niece who was still being held as a slave and was subsequently killed, she said. Another came from a nephew who she said was brainwashed by ISIS after his capture at age 11 and enlisted as a "cub of the caliphate"

 "Yes, I put my own life at risk, but I didn't have a life without giving hope to other victims," Murad said.

 Since her escape, Murad has shared her story over and over, recounting how ISIS slaughtered her family and turned her into a sex slave, how her "owner" turned her over to six guards who raped her into unconsciousness.

 She has become the face of the Yazidi plight through her organization — addressing the United Nations last year and testifying before Congress in Washington. She was nominated this year for a Nobel Peace Prize. Last week, after she was named a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, she said she was born to be "a simple Yazidi farm girl," not to make speeches, but would continue her work until her people received justice.

 Clooney also spoke at the session, delivering fiery remarks in which she said she was appalled that the world has failed to act against what she called "a bureaucracy of evil on an industrial scale."

 "Genocide doesn't happen by accident," she said in her challenge to U.N. leaders.

 Her remarks, she told NBC News, "were born out of a sense of outrage" stoked by the testimony she has taken from women in the refugee camps, accounts that are now evidence in her case file.

 "It's been harrowing to hear the testimony of girls as young as 11 and 12 talk about what's happened to them. And still we haven't been able to do anything about it," Clooney said.

 Amal Clooney visits a Yazidi refugee camp in Greece. Jake Whitman

 In Greece, one woman told Clooney how she was taken to a school in the mountains after her 2014 capture. Families were separated, with the youngest girls taken to the top floor.

 "I saw them kill my cousin," she said.

 For 10 days, her captors starved her, raped and beat her, and forced her to read the Koran, she said. She and six others finally escaped from a bathroom while a guard was high on drugs and hid in a cave until British and Syrian forces spirited them to safety.

 "Is it important to you that those responsible for these crimes are brought to justice?" Clooney asked.

 "That's what we wish," the woman answered.

 Watch: Yazidi Women Sold by ISIS Tell of Slave Auction

 After visiting two camps in Greece, Clooney and Murad traveled to an innovative German program that took in 1,100 Yazidi survivors from Iraq and is giving them shelter and a chance to obtain asylum and start new lives.

 There, Clooney took testimony from a 46-year-old woman who was pregnant when ISIS captured her and who gave birth while she was a prisoner. She hugged the woman's little girl and noted a tiny coincidence between them.

 "My name means 'hope' in Arabic, and I was born when there was a war in Lebanon," Clooney said. "And she was born in ISIS captivity, and her name means 'hope' in Kurdish."

 Murad said that for her people, hope is the thought that those who tried to wipe the Yazidis off the face of the Earth will be charged with crimes.

 "When we see them in court and see them held accountable for their crimes, that will make all survivors happy, not only myself," she said.

 Clooney said Murad, who speaks softly and simply, told her that before ISIS came to her village what she treasured most was "her mother and her dignity."

 "She still has her dignity," she said.

 While they may have an uphill battle ahead of them, Clooney said, neither she nor Murad will give up.

 "She can't think about her own life or safety until she knows that there's some process where ISIS is going to be held to account for their crimes. And, unfortunately, we're still far away from that happening," she said.

 Citing the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after World War II, she added: "I believe in international justice. I believe it's important that you don't just turn the page without people being held to account." |||||


Write an article based on this summary:

– A 43-year-old car-crash victim in Italy who fell into a "minimally conscious state" to the point where he could no longer speak suddenly started chatting again after receiving a sedative, LiveScience reports. A study published in November in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience said it's the first case showing "the 'awakening' effect of midazolam," a drug typically used to induce sleepiness before surgery. The man was in a coma for 40 days after his accident, then a "vegetative state" for four weeks. He was discharged after 10 months, but his condition worsened: Two years after the accident he couldn't say a single word or respond to simple commands and was performing "aimless repetitive behaviors" like clapping. Doctors treated him with various meds to no avail but then gave him midazolam instead of the usual propofol (the same drug that killed Michael Jackson) before a CT scan. The man suddenly "began to interact with the anesthetist," then with others, the study notes. The effect wore off after two hours, but doctors were able to replicate the results during a second midazolam dosage. The study notes that patients with catatonia (a state of unresponsiveness they're not sure this man suffered from) have responded to this drug before. Because midazolam can only be used in a hospital setting, doctors switched the patient over to carbamazepine (an epilepsy drug), which has since helped the man "maintain the improvement of his ability to interact and communicate with people," a study co-author tells LiveScience. Interestingly, zolpidem (often sold under the brand name Ambien) has been "well documented in literature" as evoking response in similar patients, but it didn't work this time, the study notes. (Midazolam has also been cited in botched executions.)

Description and Brand Names

 Drug information provided by: Micromedex

 US Brand Name

 Versed

 Canadian Brand Name

 Midazolam

 Descriptions

 Midazolam is used to produce sleepiness or drowsiness and to relieve anxiety before surgery or certain procedures. Midazolam is also given to produce amnesia (loss of memory) so that the patient will not remember any discomfort or undesirable effects that may occur after a surgery or procedure . It is also used to produce loss of consciousness before and during surgery. Midazolam is sometimes used in patients in hospital intensive care units to cause unconsciousness. This may allow the patient to withstand the stress of being in the intensive care unit and help the patient cooperate when a machine must be used to assist with breathing.

 Midazolam is given only by or under the immediate supervision of a doctor trained to use this medicine. If you will be receiving midazolam during surgery, your doctor or anesthesiologist will give you the medicine and closely follow your progress.

 This product is available in the following dosage forms:

 Solution ||||| A man in Italy who was in what doctors call a "minimally conscious state" for nearly two years unexpectedly regained full consciousness and the ability to talk, according to a new report of his case.

 The man woke up after he was given a drug normally used as a sedative before surgery and other medical procedures, the case report showed.

 The 43-year-old man was admitted to a hospital after a car accident, and was in a coma for 40 days. People who are comatose are completely unconscious — they have no sleep/wake cycles, and do not respond to their surroundings in any way.

 The man awoke from the coma but remained in a "minimally conscious state," which means that although he remained largely unable to communicate or move, he was able to voluntarily open and close his eyes, and reach for and touch objects. He also had a sleep-wake cycle.

 When he was discharged from the hospital 10 months later, he still did not talk or communicate with other people, nor did he respond to simple commands asking him to, for instance, close his eyes.

 Over the next year, the man's cognitive ability started to decline; his movements became abnormally slow; and he began to engage in aimless, repetitive behaviors, such as clapping.

 But then, about two years after the accident, the man's doctors wanted to examine his brain using a CT scan. To do the scan, they gave the man a mild sedative called midazolam. [7 Mind-Bending Facts About Dreams]

 A few minutes later, the man began to talk and interact with others.

 "He talked by cellphone with his aunt and congratulated his brother when he was informed of his graduation; he recognized the road leading to his home," the researchers who treated the man wrote in the case report. However, the man did not remember the accident, and he was not aware of the way it had affected his health, they wrote.

 This is the first report of midazolam having an "awakening" effect, the researchers said.

 However, the effect wore off after about two hours, and the man returned to his previous state, unresponsive to the environment, according to the study.

 To see whether it was indeed the drug that caused the brief improvement in the man's condition, the researchers gave the man midazolam again. Several minutes following the administration, the patient began to interact with his brother and answered questions the researchers asked him. He was also able to calculate simple math problems, such as 100 minus 7, as well as read and understand simple sentences, such as "Close your eyes."

 This time around, the researchers scanned the man's brain before, during and after the administration of midazolam, and identified the locations within the brain that were affected by the drug. They found that those regions previously had been linked to the symptoms of catatonia, which is a state of unresponsiveness to stimuli that is often associated with schizophrenia.

 Moreover, the researchers noted, patients with catatonia have been reported to respond to midazolam in the past. The symptoms of the man in this report were similar to those of catatonic patients, which may mean that he was indeed catatonic and therefore responded to the drug, according to the study.

 However, it is not completely clear whether the patient did indeed suffer from catatonia or whether his condition merely included certain catatonic symptoms, the researchers wrote.

 Although midazolam was effective as a short-term method of treating the man's symptoms, the researchers said they could not keep giving it to him. Usually, the drug is given only to people in intensive-care units, where they can be monitored continuously, said Dr. Maria Chiara Carboncini, medical director of the Brain Injury Unit in the University Hospital of Pisa's Department of Neuroscience in Italy, who treated the patient and was a co-author of the report.

 The researchers tried treating the man with another drug called lorazepam, which belongs to the same class of drugs as midazolam but can be administered more easily, as the patient does not have to be monitored continuously, Carboncini told Live Science.

 However, after several days of therapy with lorazepam, the man became agitated and aggressive. His doctors switched him to carbamazepine, a drug used to treat people with epilepsy. This drug allowed the man to "maintain the improvement of his ability to interact and communicate with people," Carboncini said.

 The study was published in the November issue of the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.

 Follow Agata Blaszczak-Boxe on Twitter. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science. |||||


Article:
We begin with the three words everyone writing about the election must say: Nobody knows anything. Everyone’s guessing. I spent Sunday morning in Washington with journalists and political hands, one of whom said she feels it’s Obama, the rest of whom said they don’t know. I think it’s Romney. I think he’s stealing in “like a thief with good tools,” in Walker Percy’s old words. While everyone is looking at the polls and the storm, Romney’s slipping into the presidency. He’s quietly rising, and he’s been rising for a while.

 Obama and the storm, it was like a wave that lifted him and then moved on, leaving him where he’d been. Parts of Jersey and New York are a cold Katrina. The exact dimensions of the disaster will become clearer when the election is over. One word: infrastructure. Officials knew the storm was coming and everyone knew it would be bad, but the people of the tristate area were not aware, until now, just how vulnerable to deep damage their physical system was. The people in charge of that system are the politicians. Mayor Bloomberg wanted to have the Marathon, to show New York’s spirit. In Staten Island last week they were bitterly calling it “the race through the ruins.” There is a disconnect.

 But to the election. Who knows what to make of the weighting of the polls and the assumptions as to who will vote? Who knows the depth and breadth of each party’s turnout efforts? Among the wisest words spoken this cycle were by John Dickerson of CBS News and Slate, who said, in a conversation the night before the last presidential debate, that he thought maybe the American people were quietly cooking something up, something we don’t know about.

 I think they are and I think it’s this: a Romney win.

 Romney’s crowds are building—28,000 in Morrisville, Pa., last night; 30,000 in West Chester, Ohio, Friday It isn’t only a triumph of advance planning: People came, they got through security and waited for hours in the cold. His rallies look like rallies now, not enactments. In some new way he’s caught his stride. He looks happy and grateful. His closing speech has been positive, future-looking, sweetly patriotic. His closing ads are sharp—the one about what’s going on at the rallies is moving.

 All the vibrations are right. A person who is helping him who is not a longtime Romneyite told me, yesterday: “I joined because I was anti Obama—I’m a patriot, I’ll join up But now I am pro-Romney.” Why? “I’ve spent time with him and I care about him and admire him. He’s a genuinely good man.” Looking at the crowds on TV, hearing them chant “Three more days” and “Two more days”—it feels like a lot of Republicans have gone from anti-Obama to pro-Romney.

 Something old is roaring back. One of the Romney campaign’s surrogates, who appeared at a rally with him the other night, spoke of the intensity and joy of the crowd “I worked the rope line, people wouldn’t let go of my hand.” It startled him. A former political figure who’s been in Ohio told me this morning something is moving with evangelicals, other church-going Protestants and religious Catholics. He said what’s happening with them is quiet, unreported and spreading: They really want Romney now, they’ll go out and vote, the election has taken on a new importance to them.

 There is no denying the Republicans have the passion now, the enthusiasm. The Democrats do not. Independents are breaking for Romney. And there’s the thing about the yard signs. In Florida a few weeks ago I saw Romney signs, not Obama ones. From Ohio I hear the same. From tony Northwest Washington, D.C., I hear the same.

 Is it possible this whole thing is playing out before our eyes and we’re not really noticing because we’re too busy looking at data on paper instead of what’s in front of us? Maybe that’s the real distortion of the polls this year: They left us discounting the world around us.

 And there is Obama, out there seeming tired and wan, showing up through sheer self discipline. A few weeks ago I saw the president and the governor at the Al Smith dinner, and both were beautiful specimens in their white ties and tails, and both worked the dais. But sitting there listening to the jokes and speeches, the archbishop of New York sitting between them, Obama looked like a young challenger—flinty, not so comfortable. He was distracted, and his smiles seemed forced. He looked like a man who’d just seen some bad internal polling. Romney? Expansive, hilarious, self-spoofing, with a few jokes of finely calibrated meanness that were just perfect for the crowd. He looked like a president. He looked like someone who’d just seen good internals.

 Of all people, Obama would know… ||||| Well, not everyone can be right. Here’s POLITICO’s rundown of the top pundits who got it wrong and predicted a Mitt Romney win. Oops:

 Newt Gingrich:

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 reset Pundit predictions: They blew it Play Slideshow Top 2012 takeaways

 “I believe the minimum result will be 53-47 Romney, over 300 electoral votes.” – Oct. 25, on Fox News.

 Karl Rove:

 Romney 285, Obama 253. “If crowds at his recent stops in these states [NV, WI and PA] are any indication of his supporters’ enthusiasm, Mr. Romney will likely be able to claim victory in these states as well.” — Nov. 5, on his website.

 Fox News contributor Dick Morris:

 Romney 325, Obama 213. “It will be the biggest surprise in recent American political history. It will rekindle the whole question as to why the media played this race as a nailbiter where in fact I think Romney’s going to win by quite a bit.” — Nov. 4, on Fox News.

 Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham:

 “I think he’s going to win New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and a few other surprises. I think this thing is going to be close.” — Oct. 31, on the Laura Ingraham Show.

 The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol:

 “I’m cautiously optimistic that Romney’s going to win.” — Oct. 31, on the Laura Ingraham Show.

 Conservative columnist George Will:

 Romney 321, Obama 217. “The wild card in what I’ve projected is I’m projecting Minnesota to go for Romney.” — Nov. 4, on ABC’s “This Week.”

 UnskewedPolls’ Dean Chambers:

 Romney 311, Obama 227. “Despite the pattern of skewed polls, most of them commissioned by the mainstream media, the overall electoral landscape is looking more and more favorable for Romney.” — Nov. 1, on examiner.com.

 The Washington Examiner’s Michael Barone:

 “Bottom line: Romney 315, Obama 223. That sounds high for Romney. But he could drop Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still win the election. Fundamentals.” — Nov. 2, writing in The Washington Examiner.

 House Speaker John Boehner:

 “I think Ohioans vote with their wallets. That’s why I think Romney’s going to win on Tuesday.” — Nov. 4, on CNN.

 Sarah Palin:

 “I do believe that enough Americans have awakened and understand it’s time for a shift.” — Nov. 2, on Fox News.

 Fox News’s Sean Hannity:

 “I got this, Romney three points.” — Nov. 2, on Fox News.

 CNBC’s Larry Kudlow:

 ”I am now predicting a 330 vote electoral vote landslide. Yes, that’s right — 330 electoral votes.” — Oct. 25, on CNBC.

 Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer:

 “Romney, very close. But he’ll win the popular by I think about half a point, electoral college probably a very narrow margin.” — Nov. 2, on Fox News.

 Rush Limbaugh:

 “All of my thinking says Romney big. All of my feeling is where my concern is. But my thoughts, my intellectual analysis of this — factoring everything I see plus the polling data — it’s not even close. Three hundred-plus electoral votes for Romney.” — Nov. 5, on his radio show.

 The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan:

 “I think it’s Romney. … While everyone is looking at the polls and the storm, Romney’s slipping into the presidency. ”— Nov. 5, on her Wall Street Journal blog.

 Former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer:

 “My prediction: Romn 50.1%-49.5%. Romn w minimum 271 EVs (FL, VA, CO, WI, NH). 309 EVs if he takes OH&PA. Pres-elect Romney.” — Nov. 4, via Twitter. ||||| With President Obama's re-election, New York Times blogger Nate Silver has reason to smile.

 Silver became a near-god for nervous Democrats, and, as the campaign entered its final stretch, a sudden subject of scorn and derision for some pundits who doubted his polling forecasts, which consistently showed Obama in the lead. His bet with Joe Scarborough (who had dubbed him a "joke") only stoked the controversy further.

 As it turned out, Silver came through with flying colors, as Obama performed nearly exactly the way he said he would. The public recognition was immediate.

 "You know who won the election tonight? Nate Silver," Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC. Even Fox News tipped its cap to Silver.

 Others said that the results could force a bit of a sea change in political journalism.

 "What does this victory mean?" Mashable's Chris Taylor wrote. "That mathematical models can no longer be derided by "gut-feeling" pundits. That Silver's contention -- TV pundits are generally no more accurate than a coin toss -- must now be given wider credence."

 For his part, Silver cheekily plugged his new book:

 Silver's wasn't the only forecast that had a good night: |||||Summary:

– The official results from Florida aren't in yet but it looks like Nate Silver—whose blog accounted for a fifth of the New York Times' web traffic Monday—correctly called 50 out of 50 states after getting 49 right in 2008. "You know who won the election tonight? Nate Silver," said Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, a sentiment echoed even by Bret Baier at Fox News, the Huffington Post reports. But while Silver triumphed, there were plenty who got it wrong, notes Politico, which lists more than a dozen pundits who predicted a Romney win with varying degrees of confidence. Among them are assorted Fox pundits, Sarah Palin, and Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal, who wrote "I think it’s Romney ... While everyone is looking at the polls and the storm, Romney’s slipping into the presidency." Rush Limbaugh was also way off. "All of my thinking says Romney big," he said Monday. "My thoughts, my intellectual analysis of this—factoring everything I see plus the polling data—it’s not even close. Three hundred-plus electoral votes for Romney."


Article:
Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| A male black widow spider. (Image: K. Korlevic)

 Male widow spiders often end up as a tasty meal for their partners after sex, but new research shows that some males are employing a rather unsettling strategy to prevent this from happening, and it’s a little bit twisted.

 New research published in Biology Letters shows that a significant portion of male widow spiders copulate with immature females, who are still too young to capture and consume their mate. These females have functioning reproductive organs, but their genitals are still internal and protected by a tough shell. Undaunted, the males penetrate right through this exoskeleton to deposit sperm. The young females, apparently not worse for wear, produce the male’s offspring once they’ve matured.

 Normally, mature female widow spiders engage in sexual cannibalism—an evolutionary strategy that improves a species’ reproductive fitness as a whole. But in this case, the male widow spiders, who are normally monogamous, have adopted a strategy that’s allowing them to have sexual liaisons with multiple partners. It’s a completely selfish act but also one that improves an individual male’s reproductive success. As the researchers from University of Toronto Scarborough point out, this tactic is changing the sexual preference of male widow spiders, and it has the potential to change the evolutionary trajectory of this normally cannibalistic species.

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 To perform the dastardly deed on the immature female, the male uses its fangs to cut through the exoskeleton. He then very carefully deposits his seed in the female’s sperm receptacle, called spermatheca. As far as the researchers can tell, this isn’t causing any injury to the female. The male has to be precise about the timing, doing it just a few days before molting when the female’s genitalia and sperm storage organs are fully developed but not yet exposed.

 Spider sex with minors isn’t a rare occurrence. When the researchers went out into the field to collect immature females, they found that one-third of them had been violated in this way.

 This sexual tactic is clearly a “thing” among the species, but only time will tell if it will become more popular over time. Sexual cannibalism evolved for a reason, so this kind of sexual experimentation may be peaking. For now, it remains a fetish among a species already known for its extreme and violent sex acts.

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 [Biology Letters] |||||Summary:

– No one—but no one—likes to get killed for having sex, and as that is often the fate of male black widow spiders, the critters are evolving a mating tactic that is, anthropomorphically speaking, more than a little creepy. Researchers found a startling, and slightly unsettling, mating shift in a study titled "Copulation with immature females increases male fitness in cannibalistic widow spiders," published in Biology Letters and translated into English as "Dirty old men spiders avoid violent death, increase number of babymamas by chasing jailbait female spiders." Essentially, Gizmodo notes, the males of the species have noticed that they keep getting killed when mating with sexually mature females. But if they chase young spider-skirt, the immature females aren't capable of killing them. Here's how it works: The young females' reproductive organs are functional, but internal, and protected by an exoskeleton. The dirty old man spiders cut through the exoskeleton with their fangs, and leave a special sperm delivery in the female's sperm receptacle. It's a narrow window in her development, but when the female matures, she pops out the male's spider babies. Writes Gizmodo: "Spider sex with minors isn’t a rare occurrence. When the researchers went out into the field to collect immature females, they found that one-third of them had been violated in this way." It's an evolutionary win-win for the male, who is a) still alive, and b) free to go out and mate again, thereby increasing his progeny. (Here's a graphic description of what it's like to get bitten by a black widow. Hint: Not fun.)


Published on Apr 12, 2015

 Hillary's running for president because everyday Americans need a champion—and she wants to be that champion. Watch her announcement video to kick off the campaign. http://hillaryclinton.com/join/

 ABOUT HILLARY CLINTON

 Hillary Clinton has served as Secretary of State, Senator from New York, First Lady of the United States, First Lady of Arkansas, a practicing lawyer and law professor, activist, and volunteer, but the first things her friends and family will tell you is that she’s never forgotten where she came from or who she’s been fighting for throughout her life. Hillary was raised in a suburb of Illinois where she attended public school and was raised a Methodist by her parents. She attended Wellesley College, and went on to study law at Yale. After attending Yale Law School, she went to work for the Children’s Defense Fund, going door to door in New Bedford, Massachusetts. After serving as a lawyer for the Congressional Committee investigating President Nixon, she moved to Arkansas where she taught law and ran legal clinics representing poor people. She co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, one of the state’s first child advocacy groups. As First Lady under President Bill Clinton, Hillary tenaciously led the fight to reform our health care system so that all our families have access to the care they need at affordable prices. Hillary led the U.S. delegation to Beijing to attend the UN Fourth World Conference on Women and gave a groundbreaking speech, declaring that “human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all”—inspiring women worldwide and helping to galvanize a global movement for women’s rights and opportunities. Hillary was then elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman senator from New York. She repeatedly worked across the aisle to get things done, including working alongside Republicans after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When Congress wouldn't do enough for rural areas and small towns, Hillary didn’t back down. She launched innovative partnerships with the tech industry and provided support to local colleges and small businesses. When President Obama asked Hillary to serve as his secretary of state, she answered the call to public service once again. She was a forceful champion for human rights, internet freedom, and rights and opportunities for women and girls, LGBT people and young people all around the globe. Now she’s running for President because everyday Americans need a champion and she want to be that champion.

 ABOUT THE HILLARY CLINTON YOUTUBE CHANNEL

 Welcome to Hillary Clinton’s YouTube Channel. This channel is the official hub for videos related to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, and where you’ll find small glimpses into the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Learn all about Hillary’s platform, and where she stands on the issues facing America today. Connect with Hillary on the problems that matter to you: climate change, immigration, healthcare, inequality, education, and the economy. See the pivotal moment that began it all, with the Getting Started video announcing her candidacy. Watch important speeches and event highlights, such as Hillary’s official campaign launch speech on Roosevelt Island, New York. Stay up to date with the campaign ads and video everyone will be talking about on social media. Follow Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail leading up to the democratic primaries and caucuses in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and many more states. Explore Hillary’s background and bio, and learn how she has always been a forceful champion for human rights, internet freedom, and rights and opportunities for women and girls, the LGBT community, and young people all around the globe. Get inspired and fired up about becoming a volunteer, and donating to the campaign. Hillary is running for President because everyday Americans need a champion and she want to be that champion.

 This account is run by Hillary for America. Get updates from the campaign by going to our website: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/join ||||| Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her presidential bid on Sunday, but odds are the event won’t be remotely as entertaining as SNL’s latest cold open, in which Kate McKinnon gave her own take on how Clinton should declare her candidacy.

 McKinnon’s raucous impression is as monomaniacal as ever (“Citizens! You will elect me, I will be your leader!”) but the sketch gets even better when Darrell Hammond shows up as “First Dude” Bill Clinton. ||||| Mr. Podesta said that Mrs. Clinton would meet soon with voters in Iowa and host a formal kickoff event some time next month.

 The announcement effectively began what could be one of the least contested races, without an incumbent, for the Democratic presidential nomination in recent history — a stark contrast to the 2008 primaries, when Mrs. Clinton, the early front-runner, ended up in a long and expensive battle won by Barack Obama. It could also be the first time a woman captures a major party’s nomination.

 Regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign will open a new chapter in the extraordinary life of a public figure who has captivated and polarized the country since her husband, former President Bill Clinton, declared his intention to run for president in 1991. Mrs. Clinton was the co-star of the Clinton administration, the only first lady ever elected to the United States Senate and a globe-trotting diplomat who surprised her party by serving dutifully under the president who defeated her.

 She will embark on her latest — and perhaps last — bid for the White House with nearly universal name recognition and a strong base of support, particularly among women. But in a campaign that will inevitably be about the future, Mrs. Clinton, 67, enters as a quintessential baby boomer, associated with the 1990s and with the drama of the Bill Clinton years. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Hillary Clinton is now, officially, at long last, Ready for Hillary. She jumped back into presidential politics today as a top adviser announced her much-awaited second campaign for the White House. The adviser, John Podesta, told alumni of her first presidential campaign in an email: "It's official: Hillary's running for president." Clinton followed with a video released on YouTube that depicts people going through life challenges like moving, job-hunting, and starting a family, the New York Times reports. "I'm getting ready to do something too," Clinton says, appearing a minute-and-a-half in. "I'm running for president. ... Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion." Clinton is expected to face pressure from progressives to adopt a more populist economic message focused on income inequality. The GOP, meanwhile, has already started attacking her, jumping on Clinton's use of a personal email account and server while secretary of state. Clinton is the first Democrat to get into the race and is not expected to be seriously challenged, the Times notes, but there are some lower-profile Democrats who may toss a hat in the ring, including former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. If elected, Clinton would become the first woman to serve in the Oval Office. (Meanwhile, Kate McKinnon's version of Hillary Clinton made her announcement last night on Saturday Night Live.)


News article:

Image copyright Reuters

 Japanese authorities are trying to identify eight people whose badly decomposed remains were found on a wooden boat that washed up on a beach.

 The discovery took place in the northern Akita prefecture.

 It comes days after a group of men claiming to be North Korean fishermen washed onshore in the same area.

 Crew-less boats or vessels with bodies on board, known as "ghost ships" and thought to be North Korean fishing boats, regularly wash up in Japan.

 They have usually been found on the western coast, which faces North Korea.

 In the latest incident, Japanese broadcaster NHK said the boat, measuring about 7m (23ft) long, was found on a beach near Oga city on Sunday. The vessel was missing a rotor blade and navigational devices.

 On Monday officials found the remains of eight people, some reduced to bones, while inspecting the boat.

 Kyodo news agency reported that the coast guard suspected the boat and its occupants had come from North Korea.

 The discovery is the latest in a string of similar incidents. On Friday, a wooden boat carrying eight men - alive and in reasonably good health - washed up at Yurihonjo city.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The boat found last week had bare light bulbs commonly used to attract fish at night

 The men said they were North Koreans fishing for squid, who had ended up drifting into Japanese waters when their boat experienced difficulties.

 Reuters news agency reported that two bodies were also found over the weekend at Sado island, with a pack of North Korean cigarettes and other belongings with Korean lettering.

 Japan regularly sees North Korean fishing boats straying into its territory, and its coastguard has occasionally had to rescue fishermen.

 The BBC's Celia Hatton says the appearance of "ghost ships" is thought to be a consequence of North Korea's attempts to satisfy hunger by demanding huge quotas of seafood.

 That forces fishermen to board aging ill-equipped vessels and to venture far out to sea, with no equipment to issue a distress call if their boats run into trouble, says our correspondent. ||||| Eight decomposed bodies have washed up on a Japanese beach in a small wooden ship - raising speculation they could have come from North Korea.

 The vessel was found by the Japan Coast Guard on Monday, just days after two similarly skeletal male bodies were found on the same western shore of Sado - an island in the Sea of Japan.

 Local police and the coast guard believe the two bodies found over the weekend may have been from North Korea, which is 450 miles from the shore, with what appeared to be cigarettes from the country and life jackets with Korean lettering found nearby.

 The officials are working to confirm where they - and the eight found on Monday - came from.

 Last week, eight fishermen who claimed to be from North Korea were found 44 miles south of Monday's discovery, with their boat appearing to have run into trouble during what is a season of hostile weather.

 Professor Yoshihiko Yamada, from Japan's Tokai University, said: "During the summer, the Sea of Japan is quite calm. But it starts to get choppy when November comes. It gets dangerous when northwesterly winds start to blow."

 Other experts have said the recent accidents could be down to food shortages in North Korea, with smaller and older ships forced to sail beyond its coastal waters.

 Seo Yu-suk, research manager of North Korean Studies Institution in Seoul, said the rogue state - subject to greater sanctions from the United States after President Donald Trump designated it a state sponsor of terrorism - was pushing "so hard" for its people to gather more fish to make up for the shortage.

 Forty-four wooden ships believed to be from the Korean peninsula have washed up on Japanese shores - or drifted off the country's coast - so far this year, compared to 66 in the whole of 2016.

 The crew is often already dead when they wash ashore, a phenomenon leading them to be referred to in the local media as "ghost ships". |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Just days ago, a boat washed ashore in northern Japan. Aboard were eight men who said they were from North Korea. Now, another boat has been found just 45 miles north of the first, and it also held eight—except all are dead. The 23-foot wooden "ghost ship" was discovered Sunday on a beach near Oga. It had no navigational devices and had lost a rotor blade. Some aboard had been "reduced to bones," and Kyodo News reports that the coast guard suspects it originated in North Korea, which sits about 450 miles away. Sky News reports foreign ships aren't an uncommon occurrence in Japan: 44 have washed ashore this year; 66 did so in 2016. The BBC presents a theory as to why: Some believe North Korea has been calling for more seafood to be fished in order to feed a hungry population. The increased demand may be leading its citizens to take boats that are in subpar condition far off its shores. And as a professor with Japan's Tokai University tells Sky News, the Sea of Japan "starts to get choppy when November comes. It gets dangerous when northwesterly winds start to blow." Kyodo notes the boat that carried the eight live men has vanished; police are reviewing both cases. (This ghost ship was found gutted by fire.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– Bob Dylan acknowledged his Nobel Prize win—but only momentarily. The musician has been oddly quiet about winning the literature prize, but a fan noticed that his official website added a line to this page that said "Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature." But by Friday morning, the reference had been removed from the site, NBC News reports. Per USA Today, the Nobel board has given up attempting to confirm whether Dylan plans to attend the December ceremony at which he would theoretically accept his award.

Skip in Skip x Embed x Share The Nobel committee is giving up trying to contact Bob Dylan about his recent Nobel Prize win. Video provided by Newsy Newslook

 Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature on Oct. 13. (Photo: ABIR SULTAN, EPA)

 Bob Dylan fans rejoiced when the singer-songwriter made history, becoming the first musician to win the Nobel Prize for literature last week.

 But will he accept the honor?

 Speculation swirled Friday when mention of the Nobel Prize was scrubbed from the musician's website, where the phrase "winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature" had previously been added to the page promoting a book of his lyrics.

 Now, it's not there.

 Add to that, NBC News reports the Swedish Academy told local media its board has given up trying to confirm whether he'll even attend a Stockholm banquet honoring him and other Nobel winners in December.

 Dylan, 75, is known for shying from awards recognition and has yet to publicly acknowledge the prestigious win.

 When the Nobel Prize was announced, the Swedish Academy said they were honoring Dylan "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

 Dylan's Nobel Prize for literature marks the first time the award has gone to someone who is mainly seen as a musician. He is the first American to win the prize for literature since Toni Morrison in 1993.

 Dylan, whose songs include Blowin’ in the Wind and The Times They Are A-Changin, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

 The ceremony for Nobel Prize winners takes place on Dec. 10.

 Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2eZteip ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 / Updated By Erik Ortiz

 Bob Dylan recently added Nobel Prize laureate to his list of accomplishments — but fans of the famously elusive singer-songwriter wouldn't know it by looking at his official website.

 BobDylan.com has quietly scrubbed the one mention of him as the "winner of the Nobel Prize in literature" in "the lyrics" section of the site following his surprise win last week.

 The 11-time Grammy winner — on tour in support of a new album — has made no public mention of the prestigious prize. But the simple online acknowledgement seemed as if he were changing his tune about accepting the honor.

 PHOTOS: Rock Poet Bob Dylan’s Life in Pictures

 Despite the increased attention showered on him, the Swedish Academy said it tried unsuccessfully to make contact with his reps. The board said Monday it had given up trying to confirm whether he'll even attend a Stockholm banquet honoring him and other Nobel winners in December.

 Dylan, 75, is the first songwriter to win the Nobel literature prize. He is known for taking his time to recognize awards. |||||


Summarize this article:

The word yowza appears in the new edition of Merriam Webster's "Official Scrabble Players Dictionary," in New York, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. It is among more than 300 additions in the latest edition.... (Associated Press)

 The word yowza appears in the new edition of Merriam Webster's "Official Scrabble Players Dictionary," in New York, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. It is among more than 300 additions in the latest edition. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) (Associated Press)

 NEW YORK (AP) — Scrabble players, time to rethink your game because 300 new words are coming your way, including some long-awaited gems: OK and ew, to name a few.

 Merriam-Webster released the sixth edition of "The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary" on Monday, four years after the last freshening up. The company, at the behest of Scrabble owner Hasbro Inc., left out one possibility under consideration for a hot minute — RBI — after consulting competitive players who thought it potentially too contentious. There was a remote case to be made since RBI has morphed into an actual word, pronounced rib-ee.

 But that's OK because, "OK."

 "OK is something Scrabble players have been waiting for, for a long time," said lexicographer Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster. "Basically two- and three-letter words are the lifeblood of the game."

 There's more good news in qapik, adding to an arsenal of 20 playable words beginning with q that don't need a u. Not that Scrabblers care all that much about definitions, qapik is a unit of currency in Azerbaijan.

 "Every time there's a word with q and no u, it's a big deal," Sokolowski said. "Most of these are obscure."

 There are some sweet scorers now eligible for play, including bizjet, and some magical vowel dumps, such as arancini, those Italian balls of cooked rice. Bizjet, meaning — yes — a small plane used for business, would be worth a whopping 120 points on an opening play, but only if it's made into a plural with an s. That's due to the 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles and the double word bonus space usually played at the start.

 The Springfield, Massachusetts-based dictionary company sought counsel from the North American Scrabble Players Association when updating the book, Sokolowski said, "to make sure that they agree these words are desirable."

 Sokolowski has a favorite among the new words but not, primarily, because of Scrabble scores. "It's macaron," he said, referring to the delicate French sandwich cookie featuring different flavors and fillings.

 "I just like what it means," he said.

 Merriam-Webster put out the first official Scrabble dictionary in 1976. Before that, the game's rules called for any desk dictionary to be consulted. Since an official dictionary was created, it has been updated every four to eight years, Sokolowski said.

 There are other new entries Sokolowski likes, from a wordsmith's view.

 "I think ew is interesting because it expresses something new about what we're seeing in language, which is to say that we are now incorporating more of what you might call transcribed speech. Sounds like ew or mm-hmm, or other things like coulda or kinda. Traditionally, they were not in the dictionary but because so much of our communication is texting and social media that is written language, we are finding more transcribed speech and getting a new group of spellings for the dictionary," he said.

 Like ew, there's another interjection now in play, yowza, along with a word some might have thought was already allowed: zen.

 There's often chatter around Scrabble boards over which foreign words have been accepted into English to the degree they're playable. Say hello to schneid, another of the new kids, this one with German roots. It's a sports term for a losing streak. Other foreigners added because they predominantly no longer require linguistic white gloves, such as italics or quotation marks: bibimbap, cotija and sriracha.

 Scrabble was first trademarked as such in 1948, after it was thought up under a different name in 1933 by Alfred Mosher Butts, an out-of-work architect in Poughkeepsie, New York. Interest in the game picked up in the early 1950s, according to legend, when the president of Macy's happened upon it while on vacation.

 Now, the official dictionary holds more than 100,000 words. Other newcomers Sokolowski shared are aquafaba, beatdown, zomboid, twerk, sheeple, wayback, bokeh, botnet, emoji, facepalm, frowny, hivemind, puggle and nubber. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||

– Scrabble players, time to rethink your game because 300 new words are coming your way, including some long-awaited gems: OK and ew, to name a few. Merriam-Webster released the sixth edition of "The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary" on Monday, four years after the last freshening up. The company, at the behest of Scrabble owner Hasbro Inc., left out one possibility—RBI—after consulting competitive players who thought it potentially too contentious. There was a remote case to be made since RBI has morphed into an actual word, pronounced rib-ee. But that's OK because, "OK." "OK is something Scrabble players have been waiting for, for a long time," says lexicographer Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster. "Basically two- and three-letter words are the lifeblood of the game." There's more good news in qapik—a unit of currency in Azerbaijan— adding to an arsenal of 20 playable words beginning with q that don't need a u. "Every time there's a word with q and no u, it's a big deal," Sokolowski tells the AP. "Most of these are obscure." There are some sweet scorers now eligible for play, including bizjet—a small plane used for business and some magical vowel dumps, such as arancini, those Italian balls of cooked rice. Yowza is now in play, along with a word some might have thought was already allowed: zen. Other newcomers Sokolowski shared are aquafaba, beatdown, zomboid, twerk, sheeple, wayback, bokeh, botnet, emoji, facepalm, frowny, hivemind, puggle, and nubber.