(CNN) -- If Marco Lavoie had not been rescued when he was, the Quebec man probably would have perished within 48 hours.

 He was hypothermic, dehydrated and near starvation in the unforgiving cold of northwestern Quebec when police rescued him Wednesday.

 Lavoie's survival might be called miraculous, as he had been in the wilderness for more than three months.

 The 44-year-old is an experienced outdoorsman, but an encounter with a bear changed his luck, Quebec police said

 At some point during a planned two-month canoe trek in the Lake Matagami area, a bear attacked Lavoie's campsite, eating his food and ruining his equipment, police spokeswoman Christine Coulombe said.

 The bear did not injure Lavoie but left him without the tools or resources to survive. Police say they have yet to speak with Lavoie to get details.

 Minnesota hiker falls from cliff to his death near Yosemite waterfall

 "In these parts, there's a subculture of people who go on these long trips into the middle of nowhere, but sometimes we forgot how dangerous it can be," Gerald Lemoine, mayor of a small town near Matagami, told the Montreal Gazette.

 The rescued canoeist began his adventure July 16, Coulombe said. It wasn't until three months later, on October 21, that his family called authorities because too long had passed without Lavoie's return.

 Police conducted searches for eight days, weather permitting, with no luck.

 Rescuers in a helicopter finally spotted Lavoie on Wednesday, but they could not safely land at that spot, Coulombe said. So officers had to hike in to pick him up and carry him more than a mile to the chopper.

 Lavoie's condition was such that he was barely able to speak and at first couldn't even drink water, the Gazette reported.

 Had he spent another day or two in the elements, he would have starved to death, police spokesman Ronald McInnis said.

 The man had lost half of his body weight, he said.

 It was Lavoie's German shepherd who scared the bear away on the day of the attack, but the dog did not survive the ordeal, McInnis said.

 "Up there, in the Canadian shield, there's little plant life to live off, so he would have been slowly, painfully dying when they found him. It's an amazing feat that he was able to keep himself alive this long with almost no equipment," survival instructor Caleb Musgrave told the Gazette.

 "When you start to go hungry, you get mood swings, your mind breaks, and you cramp up all over your body. Eventually, your body will start cannibalizing itself, eating away at the fat in your organs and then in your muscles. It takes someone who won't give up in the face of that," he added.

 Woman carries stranded, wounded pit bill down mountain ||||| MONTREAL — Outdoorsman Marco Lavoie, rescued Wednesday after three months in the deep woods near James Bay, made the heartbreaking decision to kill and eat his beloved German shepherd to stay alive.

 A source close to the amazing story told QMI Agency that Lavoie, 44, sacrificed his dog when he became stranded at the Nottaway River, roughly 800 km northwest of Montreal.

 A bear had eaten Lavoie's food and destroyed his boat in mid-July, leaving him alone with the dog.

 A few days after the bear attack, the person who spoke to QMI on condition of anonymity said Lavoie used a rock to kill his dog before eating the pet.

 By the time provincial police airlifted him out three months later, Lavoie was barely able to speak or eat. He suffered hypothermia and dehydration and had lost about 90 pounds.

 Survival expert Andre Francois Bourbeau said Lavoie did what he could to live.

 "He survived because he made good decisions. Eating his dog was one of them," said Bourbeau, author of a survival guide.

 Bourbeau has researched hundreds of similar stories, some of which include cannibalism.

 "You have to be desperate, but there's no shame in (eating the dog)," said Bourbeau. "He had to use reason."

 The survival expert says that after 30 days in the wilderness with no food, Lavoie's body would have gone into shock from starvation.

 "Hunger squeezes you so much that you would accept food that's not normally possible," said Bourbeau. "You can crave slugs and bugs."

 Lavoie is an experienced hiker who often spent weeks in the wilderness by himself. But the Nottaway River is considered too dangerous even for the hardiest outdoorsmen.

 Andre Diamond, a Waswanipi Cree who lives on an island at the mouth of the river, said he warned Lavoie to stay away.

 "He said it didn't scare him, but it's not a river to travel alone," said Diamond. "Other adventurers have gone there over 20, 30 years and never came back."

 Sydney Ottereyes, a local Cree who was part of the Lavoie search party, said the river is downright dangerous.

 "It's a complicated river with lots of rocks," said Ottereyes. "In some places, there's plenty of water while elsewhere there's none. The wind comes and there can be up to three currents in the same place."

 Lavoie is currently hospitalized in "very serious" condition. ||||| A hiker was rescued after surviving a bear attack and spending three months, exposed to snow and freezing temperatures, in a remote corner of northern Canada, police said.

 Police located Marco Lavoie, 44, in the wilderness near Waskaganish, Quebec, on Wednesday, 10 days after his family reported him missing and nearly a month after the experienced outdoorsman was expected to return from a two month hiking expedition.

 Police believe Lavoie survived the bear attack uninjured, sometime in August, when his German shepherd got in between the man and the bear, Sgt. Ronald McInnis, spokesman for the Quebec Provincial Police told ABCNews.com.

 "The bear ate the man's food and damaged his survival equipment," said McInnis, "But his dog went between the man and the bear and protected him. The man was not injured in the attack."

 McInnis would not say what became of the dog and would not comment on reports that Lavoie may have eaten the dog to survive.

 Lavoie suffered "hypothermia, dehydration and starvation," police said, but he is expected to survive his injuries.

 The hunt for Lavoie was initially hampered by heavy snow and high winds that grounded helicopters on Oct. 21, but on Oct. 30 a chopper crew spotted Lavoie and officers were dropped in the area that was described by McInnis as "wild."

 Lavoie was too weak to walk, and a QPP officer carried the man on his back for nearly two miles to the helicopter, a trip that due to snow and rugged terrain took three hours, McInnis said.

 Cops believed the man would have been dead within hours had he not been rescued. He was too weak to eat or drink water and is receiving fluids via IV.

 Police are waiting for the man to further recover in order to continue their interview and learn exactly why he was unable to escape the wilderness and the measures he took to survive. |||||

 The Canadian Press

 MONTREAL -- A man has been rescued after spending three months in a remote forest during which he survived a bear attack, and wound up emaciated and clinging to life.

 Police are sharing the improbable story of 44-year-old Marco Lavoie, an experienced hiker who set off on what was supposed to be a two-month excursion on July 16, 2013.

 Police can't say exactly when that bear attack occurred. But it's believed that in mid-August, halfway through his planned trip, the animal attacked his encampment, ate his food, and destroyed his survival gear.

 Given all his experience in the deep woods, his loved ones simply assumed when he didn't turn up last month that he'd extended his stay in the Lake Matagami region of northwestern Quebec.

 But they became increasingly alarmed in recent weeks and called the provincial police on Oct. 21. Police sent out a helicopter to rescue him.

 The helicopter couldn't land. So two police officers dropped down, and one carried Lavoie back up on his shoulders. They brought him to hospital.

 Police say he was rescued just in time.

 "We believe he might have died in a few more hours -- 24 to 48 hours more," said Sgt. Ronald McInnis, a provincial police spokesman.

 "He's in critical condition. He wasn't even able to drink water when we offered him some. He will be on an IV for several weeks.

 "He will gradually learn to drink, and then eat, again."

 The man had lost much of his body weight and was suffering from hypothermia when he was found: "It's already been snowing (up there) for two or three weeks. The nights are cold," McInnis said. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– An incredible story of survival out of northwestern Quebec, where a 44-year-old was rescued as few as 24 hours before officials believe he would have likely died. Marco Lavoie set off on July 16 for what he intended to be a two-month spell in the woods, reports the Canadian Press. The timeline of what happened between that date and Oct. 30 is somewhat mushy: About a month after his departure, a bear attacked his campsite, leaving him without food or gear. Sgt. Ronald McInnis tells ABC News, "His dog went between the man and the bear and protected him." Unconfirmed reports say Lavoie was later forced to eat the German shepherd; McInnis wouldn't comment on that detail other than to say the dog did not survive, reports CNN. But the details that have been confirmed are pretty jarring: Lavoie lost nearly half his body weight and had begun to suffer from hypothermia, having weathered snow and temps below freezing. He was essentially unable to eat, drink, or speak when he was found, having been spotted by helicopter along the Nottaway River on Wednesday, nine days after a missing persons report was filed (as an experienced outdoorsman, Lavoie's family wasn't initially concerned when he didn't return as scheduled). Lavoie is expected to recover after what will likely be weeks spent on an IV, and police are waiting to talk to him about his experience. One survival instructor, talking to the Montreal Gazette, had this to say: "Up there, in the Canadian shield, there's little plant life to live off so he would have been slowly, painfully dying when they found him. It's an amazing feat that he was able to keep himself alive this long with almost no equipment." (Click to read about another tale of survival involving a bear.)


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– It's not much of a surprise that Travis Kalanick was left off Glassdoor's list of the top 100 CEOs, based on opinions from the employees they manage. But what may come as a surprise are those on the top of the list, who inched past Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. The 10 highest rated CEOs and their approval rating: Benno Dorer, Clorox Company: 99% Jim Kavanaugh, World Wide Technology: 99% Michael F. Mahoney, Boston Scientific: 99% Craig B. Thompson, Memorial Sloan Kettering: 99% Martin Rankin, Fast Enterprises: 99% Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA: 99% Bob Bechek, Bain & Company: 98% Elon Musk, SpaceX: 98% Brian Halligan, HubSpot: 98% Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook: 98% Click for the full list or see which executives pull in nine figures. (Compare to last year's list here.)

This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Highest Rated CEOs feature six distinct categories across the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. In the U.S., Glassdoor has revealed the 100 Highest Rated CEOs (honoring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees), and the 25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies (honoring CEOs at employers with less than 1,000 employees).

 The top ten Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the U.S. are:

 1. The Clorox Company's Benno Dorer (99 percent approval)

 2. World Wide Technology's Jim Kavanaugh (99 percent approval)

 3. Boston Scientific's Michael F. Mahoney (99 percent approval)

 4. Memorial Sloan Kettering's Craig B. Thompson (99 percent approval)

 5. Fast Enterprises' Martin Rankin (99 percent approval)

 6. NVIDIA's Jen-Hsun Huang (99 percent approval)

 7. Bain & Company's Bob Bechek (98 percent approval)

 8. SpaceX's Elon Musk (98 percent approval)

 9. HubSpot's Brian Halligan (98 percent approval)

 10. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (98 percent approval)

 The top five Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies in 2017 in the U.S. are:

 1. Sprout Social's Justyn Howard (99 percent approval)

 2. Slingshot's Taylor Olson (99 percent approval)

 3. Eliot Management Group's Brady Harris (99 percent approval)

 4. Illuminate Education's Lane Rankin (99 percent approval)

 5. Skuid's Ken McElrath (99 percent approval)

 "CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honors they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honor," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

 Glassdoor's 100 Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning consumer goods, technology, health care, manufacturing, retail and more. The Clorox Company's Benno Dorer (No. 1, 99 percent approval) is among 52 CEOs debuting as a Highest Rated CEO, along with SpaceX's Elon Musk (No. 8, 98 percent approval) Cheesecake Factory's David Overton (No. 34, 94 percent approval) and General Motors' Mary Barra (No. 65, 91 percent approval). Of the eight women CEOs who make the top 100, the three highest rated women are Enterprise Holdings' Pamela Nicholson (No. 21, 96 percent approval), In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder (No. 36, 94 percent approval) and Deloitte's Cathy Engelbert (No. 40, 94 percent approval).

 On the 2017 list of the 25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies, the top five CEOs are all newcomers to this list.

 This year, there are 17 CEOs who are recognized by employees in multiple countries, including only three CEOs who have made four lists: EY's Mark Weinberger (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, Germany), Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, UK, France, Germany) and SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, Canada, France, Germany).

 When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.

 Among the more than 700,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 67 percent.

 Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2017 Highest Rated CEOs and Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by U.S.-based employees between May 2, 2016 and May 1, 2017. At a minimum, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 100 company reviews, including at least 100 CEO approval ratings and at least 100 senior management ratings, while employers eligible for the small & medium list must have received at least 35 company reviews, including at least 35 CEO approval ratings and at least 35 senior management ratings, respectively, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth place to determine final rank order. Complete report methodology can be found and downloaded here.

 SEE THE 2017 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting:

 100 Highest Rated CEOs – U.S.

 25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small and Medium Companies – U.S.

 25 Highest Rated CEOs – Canada

 50 Highest Rated CEOs – UK

 10 Highest Rated CEOs – France

 10 Highest Rated CEOs – Germany

 WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance.

 VIDEO + CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE COMMENTARY: Glassdoor is showcasing interviews with winning CEOs, revealing best practices into how they lead, fun facts about their journey to the top, and insights into what makes them tick in and out of work. Download, embed and see our video interview with the #1 CEO at The Clorox Company. Plus, see interviews in various Glassdoor blog posts featuring winning CEOs at SpaceX, Hilton, Sephora and Enterprise Holdings, among others, or request them by emailing pr@glassdoor.com. Employee commentary about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request.

 About Glassdoor

 Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.

 "Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.

 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/glassdoor-unveils-employees-choice-awards-for-highest-rated-ceos-in-2017-300477197.html

 SOURCE Glassdoor

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News article:

July 4 (UPI) -- A court in California sentenced a woman arrested for human trafficking at the age of 16 to 13 years in prison for organizing a prostitution ring of 14- and 15-year-old girls, court records indicate.

 Police arrested Jelinajane Bedrijo Almario, whose 18th birthday was on July 1, in May 2016. She was tried as an adult on charges of human trafficking of a minor, sending threatening emails to a family member of one of the victims and making terrorist threats in Kings County Superior Court. She was sentenced Monday.

 Prosecutors argued that Bedrijo trafficked four girls between the ages of 14 and 15 for a few weeks by posting their pictures on websites that carry prostitution ads and then driving them to meet clients at motels in central California's Tulare County area.

 Although Bedrijo was a minor at the time of her crimes and a year or two older than the victims, Hanford police Detective Richard Pontecorvo accused her of manipulating young girls' minds.

 "These people are great at locating kids with low self-esteem and trying to be their friend, and then it obviously changes once they started working for her," he said, according to the Fresno Bee.

 "We were able to get these girls back home and get them the help they needed," he added. "But these pimps are ruining these kids' lives at an early age." ||||| An 18-year-old Hanford woman was sentenced to 13 years in prison for her role in the pimping and human trafficking of younger girls.

 Hanford police detectives arrested Jelinajane Bedrijo Almario in May 2016. Though a juvenile, she was tried as an adult for human trafficking, sending threatening emails to a family member of at least one of the girls and making terrorist threats.

 She was sentenced on Monday in Kings County Superior Court, two days after her 18th birthday.

 Almario’s scheme, which last a few weeks, involved posting pictures of the younger girls on different websites for prostitution, then taking the girls to motels off Highway 99 in Tulare County, said Hanford police Detective Richard Pontecorvo.

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 Almario was the prime suspect, he said. The ring involved four girls between the ages of 14-and-15-years-old, Pontecorvo said.

 These pimps are ruining these kids’ lives at an early age. Richard Pontecorvo, Hanford police detective

 “These girls would run away for weekends or work a couple of nights,” he said.

 Almario found the girls through friends or acquaintances and social media.

 “These people are great at locating kids with low self-esteem and trying to be their friend, and then it obviously changes once they started working for her,” said Pontecorvo.

 The human trafficking and prostitution ring went on for several weeks last spring, he said.

 During that time, one of the mothers of one of the victims was looking for her daughter, and Almario sent her threatening text messages, Pontecorvo said.

 “We were able to get these girls back home and get them the help they needed,” he said. “But these pimps are ruining these kids’ lives at an early age.”

 The case was surprising for Hanford, Pontecorvo said, considering that Almario was both a juvenile and the prime pimping suspect.

 “It was a huge eye-opener for us,” he said. “But we caught her case very early, so we were able to pull those girls out of that.” ||||| HANFORD, Calif. -- An 18-year-old central California woman was sentenced to 13 years in prison for pimping and trafficking younger girls.

 Jelinajane Bedrijo Almario was arrested in the city of Hanford in May 2016, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported. Though a juvenile, she was tried as an adult for human trafficking, sending threatening emails to a family member of at least one of the girls and making terrorist threats.

 She was sentenced Monday, two days after her 18th birthday.

 Hanford police Detective Richard Pontecorvo said Almario was the prime suspect in a pimping ring that involved girls who were 14 and 15.

 Almario would post pictures of the girls on different websites for prostitution and then take them to motels to have sex, Pontecorvo said.

 She often found the girls through friends and acquaintances or social media, he said.

 "These people are great at locating kids with low self-esteem and trying to be their friend, and then it obviously changes once they started working for her," Pontecorvo said.

 During that time, a mother of one of the victims was looking for her daughter, and Almario sent her threatening text messages, Pontecorvo said.

 The case was surprising for the city, considering that Almario was both a juvenile and the prime pimping suspect, Pontecorvo said.

 "It was a huge eye-opener for us," he told the newspaper. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– She met four teen girls through social media and acquaintances and quickly tried to befriend them. But it wasn't their friendship Jelinajane Bedrijo Almario was after, say police in Hanford, Calif. Over the next few weeks in 2016, Almario, then just 16, pimped the girls, aged 14 and 15, by posting their photos on prostitution websites and driving them to meet clients at motels in Tulare County, Detective Richard Pontecorvo tells the Fresno Bee. Thankfully, "we caught her case very early," he adds. Almario was arrested in May 2016 and charged as an adult with human trafficking and making terrorist threats. On Monday, two days after her 18th birthday, she was sentenced to 13 years in prison. "It was a huge eye-opener for us," Pontecorvo says of the case, heard in Kings County Superior Court. "We were able to get these girls back home and get them the help they needed … but these pimps are ruining these kids' lives at an early age." Pimps like Almario, he adds, per UPI, "are great at locating kids with low self-esteem and trying to be their friend, and then it obviously changes." For example, Almario once sent threatening emails to the mother of one of her victims who was simply looking for her daughter, reports the AP. Pontecorvo explains the girls Almario targeted "would run away for weekends or work a couple of nights." (A teen says she was forced to have sex with 1,000 men at this hotel.)


Researchers who test cognitive performance may want to take heed of a recent study that suggests older adults who are tested in the morning - their optimal time of day - perform better on cognitive tasks.

 Morning people: researchers found that cognitive performance is better in the morning for older adults, compared with in the afternoon. Morning people: researchers found that cognitive performance is better in the morning for older adults, compared with in the afternoon.

 The researchers, from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences and the University of Toronto in Canada, publish their results in the journal Psychology and Aging.

 "Time of day really does matter when testing older adults," says lead author John Anderson. "This age group is more focused and better able to ignore distraction in the morning than in the afternoon."

 He and his colleagues note that their study provides the strongest evidence yet that there are measurable differences throughout the day in brain function for older adults.

 To conduct their research, the team observed 16 younger adults between the ages of 19-30 and 16 older adults between the ages of 60-82 as they took part in a sequence of memory tests between 1:00 and 5:00 pm.

 For these tests, the participants needed to study and recall a set of picture and word combinations that appeared on a computer screen. As a means of distraction, the researchers programmed irrelevant words linked to certain pictures and irrelevant pictures linked to certain words to appear on the screen.

 While the participants were completing the testing, the researchers scanned their brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allowed them to observe which areas of the brain were activated.

 Older adults tested in morning activated same brain areas as younger group

 The researchers found that the older adults were 10% more likely to focus on the distracting information than the younger adults, who largely blocked out this information successfully.

 Additionally, the data gleaned from the fMRI scans showed that the older adults showed significantly less activity in the attentional control areas of the brain in the afternoon, compared with the younger adults.

 The older adults who were tested in the afternoon showed signs of "idling," the researchers say, which means they were showing activations in the default mode - a set of regions that are activated when a person is resting or thinking about nothing in general.

 This could indicate that the adults were having a hard time focusing, because when a person is fully aiming their attention at something, resting state activations are suppressed.

 But there is a silver lining for older adults. The team found that when another group of 18 older adults was tested in the morning between 8:30 and 10:30 am, they performed significantly better.

 In detail, they focused on fewer distracting items than their peers who were tested in the afternoon, and they even closed the age difference gap in performance with the younger adults.

 When the older adults were tested in the morning, the researchers observed that they activated the same brain areas as the young adults did to ignore the distractions. And this could suggest that time of day when older adults are tested is an important factor in how well they perform and what kind of brain activity researchers can expect from them.

 Commenting on the findings in the older adult group, Anderson explains:

 "Their improved cognitive performance in the morning correlated with greater activation of the brain's attentional control regions - the rostral prefrontal and superior parietal cortex - similar to that of young adults."

 Older adults should schedule mentally taxing activities for morning

 Dr. Lynn Hasher, senior author on the paper, says their research "is consistent with previous science reports showing that at a time of day that matches circadian arousal patterns, older adults are able to resist distraction."

 She adds that ignoring time of day when testing older adults on certain tasks "may create an inaccurate picture of age differences in brain function."

 In light of their findings, Anderson recommends that older adults schedule their most mentally difficult tasks - such as doing taxes, taking a test, seeing a doctor about a new condition or cooking a new recipe - in the morning.

 Medical News Today recently reported on a study that suggested people who can quickly process visual information in later life are more likely to stay mentally acute as they age. ||||| A new study provides strong evidence of noticeable differences in brain function through the day for older adults.

 Canadian researchers discovered older adults perform better on demanding cognitive tasks in the morning. Moreover, brain imaging shows that during this time of the day, elders also activate the same brain networks responsible for paying attention and suppressing distraction as younger adults

 The study, as published in the journal Psychology and Aging, has yielded some of the strongest evidence yet that there are noticeable differences in brain function across the day for older adults.

 “Time of day really does matter when testing older adults. This age group is more focused and better able to ignore distraction in the morning than in the afternoon,” said lead author John Anderson, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Toronto’s Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences.

 “Their improved cognitive performance in the morning correlated with greater activation of the brain’s attentional control regions — the rostral prefrontal and superior parietal cortex — similar to that of younger adults.”

 Asked how his team’s findings may be useful to older adults in their daily activities, Anderson recommended that older adults try to schedule their most mentally challenging tasks for the morning time.

 Those tasks could include doing taxes, taking a test (such as a driver’s license renewal), seeing a doctor about a new condition, or cooking an unfamiliar recipe.

 In the study, 16 younger adults (aged 19 – 30) and 16 older adults (aged 60-82) participated in a series of memory tests during the afternoon from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

 The tests involved studying and recalling a series of picture and word combinations flashed on a computer screen. Irrelevant words linked to certain pictures and irrelevant pictures linked to certain words also flashed on the screen as a distraction.

 During the testing, participants’ brains were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which allows researchers to detect with great precision which areas of the brain are activated.

 Older adults were 10 percent more likely to pay attention to the distracting information than younger adults who were able to successfully focus and block this information.

 The fMRI data confirmed that older adults showed substantially less engagement of the attentional control areas of the brain compared to younger adults.

 Indeed, older adults tested in the afternoon were “idling” — showing activations in the default mode (a set of regions that come online primarily when a person is resting or thinking about nothing in particular) indicating that perhaps they were having great difficulty focusing. When a person is fully engaged with focusing, resting state activations are suppressed.

 When 18 older adults were morning tested (8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.) they performed noticeably better, according to two separate behavioral measures of inhibitory control.

 They attended to fewer distracting items than their peers tested at off-peak times of day, closing the age difference gap in performance with younger adults. Importantly, older adults tested in the morning activated the same brain areas young adults did to successfully ignore the distracting information.

 This suggests that ‘when’ older adults are tested is important for both how they perform and what brain activity one should expert to see.

 “Our research is consistent with previous science reports showing that at a time of day that matches circadian arousal patterns, older adults are able to resist distraction,” said Lynn Hasher, Ph.D, senior author on the paper.

 Experts believe the findings should inform those who study cognitive function in older adults.

 “Since older adults tend to be morning-type people, ignoring time of day when testing them on some tasks may create an inaccurate picture of age differences in brain function,” said Hasher, senior scientist at the University of Toronto.

 Source: Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care |||||

Write a summary.

– Older adults who want to take a crack at the Sunday Times crossword or try a Food Network recipe may want to do it first thing in the morning. A small study by Canadian researchers and published in the journal Psychology and Aging found that adults between the ages of 60 and 82 were less distracted and better able to perform cognitive tasks between the hours of 8:30am and 10:30am than in the afternoon, when their brains started "idling," reports Medical News Today. “Time of day really does matter," says the lead author. "This age group is more focused and better able to ignore distraction in the morning." Using a sample of 16 older adults and 16 younger ones ages 19 to 30, researchers had participants play a memory game of sorts, taking brain scans of the subjects as they were shown picture-word combos on a computer screen—interspersed with unrelated, purposefully distracting pictures and words—and then asked to recall the combinations. During testing between 1pm and 5pm, the older adults were 10% more likely than the younger ones to lose focus, Psych Central notes. However, a different group of 18 older adults tested in the morning showed increased action in the same regions of the brain as their younger counterparts and tightened the performance gap between the two groups. "Our research is consistent with previous reports showing that at a time of day that matches circadian arousal patterns, older adults are able to resist distraction," says another of the researchers. (If you want to keep your mind sharp, try learning a new language.)


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– Watch what you tweet: A diner was kicked out of a Houston restaurant for calling the bartender a “twerp” on her Twitter feed, the establishment’s owner tells KPRC Houston. When a manager with the night off saw the comment, he called the restaurant and asked the woman to leave. “Any business is allowed to set the tone of their establishment,” says the owner. “If you go to someone's house and start calling them names, I wouldn't really expect to stay too much longer after that." For her part, Allison Matsu tweeted: “Left Down House in tears after the GM called up and asked the bartender to hand me the phone. He proceeded to curse at me and ask me to leave.” Now, Twitter is all a-twitter about the incident. “I think Down House owes Allison Hiromi a big apology. Welcome to a PR nightmare,” noted one user. But a PR expert says the discussion will put the restaurant on the map. See HoustonPress for more.

Ever since Te House of Tea and its sister restaurant, the now-defunct Saute World Bistro, signed up for Twitter accounts in August 2008 -- the first two restaurants in Houston to do so -- it's become not only de rigeur but almost necessary for a restaurant to have a Twitter account.

 It's not enough now to have just a website or just a Facebook page: Customers want to interact with their favorite restaurants and chefs on Twitter, share mini-reviews or photos of dishes with their friends, namecheck hot restaurants and call out establishments that aren't up to par.

 "Tweeting and eating go hand-in-hand these days," says Paula Murphy, whose firm -- Patterson & Murphy -- handles PR for a number of Houston restaurants.

 "Restaurateurs and bar owners really want people to be in the moment and enjoy where they are and what they're eating and what they're drinking. Social media has changed all that," she elaborates. "Now, the way you show you're enjoying it is that you Tweet about it. You post it on Facebook. You have that other dimension of depth, the Twitterverse. But just as quickly as they could say something positive, they could say something offensive and negative."

 So what happens when a customer is Tweeting something negative about a restaurant as they're dining in it? In the case of one local diner, it can get you kicked out.

 Photo by Troy Fields Allison Matsu was having drinks at Down House on Sunday night when she posted a Tweet, since deleted, wherein she called a bartender a "twerp" for quoting Bobby Heugel -- the owner of Anvil Bar & Refuge -- and appended her statement with the hashtag #jackass #jackoff.

 Matsu has achieved mild, local notoriety for her late-night Tweets, even recently winning a Houston Press Web Award for that very activity. Down House, for its part, has achieved a reputation in the short time that it's been open for having capricious service. The two collided in a Twitter-fueled spectacle that resulted in general manager Forrest DeSpain calling the bar, speaking shortly with Matsu, and asking her to be ejected from his establishment.

 "She called him a twerp," DeSpain said by phone yesterday afternoon. DeSpain runs the Twitter account for Down House and was agitated that someone would bully his bartender, as he saw it, and took action despite not being at the restaurant that night. "I immediately called up here and talked to her for a few minutes and asked her if she had any kinder words." She didn't, DeSpain said, so he asked her to leave.

 Matsu responded by posting a series of Tweets, most of them in the same vein: "Left @DownHouseHTX in tears after GM called up & asked the bartender to hand me the phone. He proceeded to curse a me & ask me to leave. Wow."

 Asked to comment on the story yesterday, Matsu said she wouldn't be available until sometime today. If we get in touch with her, we'll update this story. [Edit: Click to the third page to see Matsu's full response.] However, she did post an update yesterday: "No surprise that @DownHouseHTX blocked and unfollowed me. I will NEVER return to that place as long as Forrest still works there."

 Although it's far from the first time that a patron has been asked to leave for disruptive behavior, the incident on Sunday night marks one of the first times that a diner has been asked to leave for being disruptive online.

 The incident also raises the question: Which group of people is more important to a restaurant? The diners who are physically present to witness another patron's disruptive behavior? Or the masses of potential diners who are virtual witnesses to that behavior on social media?

 Both. ||||| POSTED: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

 It may be the first-ever case of its kind: A diner was kicked out of a restaurant not for something she did, but apparently for something she said online.

 The social media smackdown happened at the Down House restaurant in the Heights, located at 1801 Yale Street.

 The Down House owner Chris Cusack said the customer called the bartender a "twerp" on Twitter, and the manager showed her the door.

 One of the restaurant's managers, who wasn't working that night, read the "twerp" comment on Twitter. He called the bar and asked to speak to the customer. Over the phone, he asked her to leave.

 "Any business is allowed to set the tone of their establishment," Cusack said. "If you go to someone's house and start calling them names, I wouldn't really expect to stay too much longer after that."

 The kicked-out customer is Allison Hiromi. On her Twitter page, she described herself as opinionated, extroverted and feisty.

 After being ask to leave the restaurant, she tweeted: "Left Down House in tears after the GM called up and asked the bartender to hand me the phone. He proceeded to curse at me and ask me to leave."

 A lot of people on Twitter are talking about what happened.

 One person said they'll never go to Down House again, and another customer called it a disappointment.

 A third person wrote, "I think Down House owes Allison Hiromi a big apology. Welcome to a PR nightmare."

 But Barbara Magana-Roberston, a public relations representative who owns Magana Media, said all the talk, whether positive or negative, may actually be a good thing for the restaurant in the long run.

 Copyright 2011 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 "There may be people who never hear about this restaurant or know about this restaurant," she said. "They do now." |||||


Write a summary based on this article:

A murder suspect remains on the run following a weekend shooting in Montpelier. It left a former Vermont Frost Heaves basketball player dead. WCAX News is learning the victim and the shooter may have been friends. It appears to have been a night out at the bar gone wrong.

 Jayveon Caballero, 29, is wanted for second-degree murder. Nearly 48 hours after he allegedly shot a man to death in Montpelier, police still don't know where he is.

 "He may have gotten on a bus yesterday morning in White River Junction, a Greyhound bus, heading south," said Maj. Glenn Hall, Vermont State Police.

 Police say Caballero fatally shot Markus Austin, 33. A friend told investigators Austin was invited out with friends to join Caballero, who he called "my boy Jay." But at the end of the night a fight broke out.

 "We do know from the investigation that there was an altercation outside Gusto's bar in Barre," said Hall.

 The alleged shooter's girlfriend, Desiree Cary, 22, told police that she got mad and hit Austin as they left the bar. Austin allegedly hit her back, injuring her jaw bone. Court documents show Caballero appeared upset and then went to find Austin at a Barre Street apartment.

 "He walked over to the victim's car and shot him and walked back," said Jeff Sarpong, witness.

 Sarpong says he woke up to someone yelling outside and a gunshot, and then looked out his window.

 "I see him turn around, wave with a gun," said Sarpong.

 He said Caballero appeared to show sympathy just seconds after pulling the trigger.

 "He then just kept on asking, 'Are you OK?'" Sarpong said.

 "After he noticed what he had done and that he wasn't responsive, he just drove away," said Sarpong.

 In an attempt to locate Caballero, police raided his apartment early Monday morning but he wasn't there. Neighbors say they've dealt with constant problems from the property in the past.

 "Drag racing up and down. Cars constantly in and out," said a neighbor.

 Late Sunday, Caballero's girlfriend was taken into custody on charges unrelated to the shooting.

 "She was a target of an ongoing drug investigation," said Hall.

 Meanwhile, the search for Caballero continues.

 Authorities say the bus Caballero may have gotten on was headed for New York City. They're unsure if he got off at a stop before that and are now reaching out to other states to help.

 They're also asking anyone who may know where he is to contact them.

 Related Story:

 Former Frost Heaves player fatally shot in Montpelier ||||| MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A man has been shot dead outside an apartment complex in what police say is the first murder in the nation's smallest capital city in almost a century.

 An arrest warrant was issued for Jayveon Caballero on a murder charge following the Sunday morning shooting in Montpelier, police said. Police were seeking Caballero in the killing of Markus Austin, whose body was found in the apartment complex's parking lot.

 Caballero is believed to have boarded a bus on Sunday in White River Junction. Police said the bus was headed to New York City but had several intermediate stops where he could have gotten off.

 Caballero and Austin had been involved in an altercation outside Gustos bar in Barre earlier Sunday morning, police said. During the altercation Austin assaulted Caballero's girlfriend, witnesses said. Caballero later confronted Austin outside Austin's apartment and shot him, police said.

 Caballero's girlfriend, Desiree Cary, was arrested Sunday evening in Barre, where Caballero lives. She appeared in court Monday, pleaded not guilty to drug charges and was released.

 Montpelier has about 7,500 residents, making it the nation's least populous capital.

 Police Chief Anthony Facos said the shooting death of Austin was the first murder in the city since the 1920s, when a woman shot her husband. He did not have additional details of that case. ||||| MONTPELIER — A judge has granted police an arrest warrant for the killing of a Montpelier man early Sunday morning, but the suspect remains at large and may have fled the state, according to police.

 Vermont State Police Maj. Glenn Hall said police have an arrest warrant for Jayveon Caballero, 29, of Barre, for second degree murder. Bail has been set at $500,000.

 But Caballero may have fled the state, according to Hall. Police are not sure if Caballero is traveling by vehicle. Anyone with information about his location or the shooting is asked to contact the Vermont State Police.

 The victim, 33-year-old Markus Austin, was shot outside his apartment at 191 Barre Street in Montpelier around 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Hall said Monday that they have since learned that Caballero and Austin knew each other and were involved in an altercation outside the Gustos bar on Prospect Street in Barre prior to the shooting.

 Hall said the altercation involved several others, some of whom have been interviewed by police. Hall said detectives received information during their investigation that Caballero’s girlfriend, Desiree Cary, was assaulted by Markus Austin during the altercation at the bar.

 Hall said Caballero then confronted Austin outside the Montpelier apartment building and shot him.

 Cary, 22, who was the target of an ongoing drug distribution investigation by the Vermont Drug Task Force, was taken into custody following a motor vehicle stop in Barre Sunday evening, Hall said. She has been held in custody for lack of $10,000 bail and faces charges of selling crack cocaine and heroin. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Washington County Superior Court Criminal Division this afternoon.

 Cary lives with Caballero at 1099 South Barre Road in Barre, where a Vermont State Police Tactical Services unit and detectives executed a search warrant early Monday in an attempt to take Caballero into custody.

 Austin is a former member of the Vermont Frost Heaves, a now-dissolved team in the American Basketball Association, a semi-pro league. |||||

– Police in the country's smallest state capital are investigating something that hasn't happened there in living memory: a murder. Police in Vermont say they have issued an arrest warrant for 29-year-old Jayveon Caballero, who is accused of fatally shooting Markus Austin in Montpelier early Sunday after an altercation, the Times Argus reports. Witnesses told investigators that Austin, 33, assaulted Caballero’s girlfriend, Desiree Cary, during the altercation outside a bar in the nearby city of Barre early Sunday. Police say Caballero later confronted Austin outside his apartment and shot him dead. The body was found in the parking lot of Austin's apartment complex. A Vermont State Police spokesman says Caballero, who knew Austin before the shooting, fled the town and probably the state after the shooting, WCAX reports. The police spokesman says Caballero is believed to have boarded a Greyhound bus bound for New York City on Sunday morning, which made numerous stops in other states along the way. Later Sunday, Cary, 22, was arrested on apparently unrelated charges of selling heroin and crack cocaine. With around 7,500 residents, Montpelier has the smallest population of any state capital, the AP notes. Police Chief Anthony Facos says this is the city's first murder since a woman shot her husband in the 1920s.


News article:

Image copyright Blaine Alan Gibson Image caption This piece of possible debris was found in Madagascar in June

 I've not seen anything like it before.

 An aircraft accident investigation driven not by experts, but by a group of the bereaved and an amateur American sleuth who hankers for the truth.

 As I write, eight people who lost loved ones on board missing Malaysian flight MH370, together with self-funded traveller and mystery solver Blaine Alan Gibson, are trawling remote beaches in Madagascar, finding what might be parts of the plane.

 They've been there for a week and have come across a number of possible pieces so far.

 Grace Subathirai Nathan's mother vanished without trace in March 2014. She was one of the 239 people aboard the routine Malaysian flight.

 Grace has posted these photos on her Facebook page:

 Image copyright Grace Subathirai Nathan/Facebook

 "NEW Piece of potential mh370 DEBRIS found on Riake Beach, Isle St Marie by one of our next of kin Jiang Hui two hours ago! First time a piece was found by one of us. Such mixed feelings now for all of us - pain, sadness, confusion, hope," she writes.

 One of those pieces, or a combination of them, could eventually hold the key to unlock this mystery. So far it's the debris washed ashore and found by the public, not the huge underwater sea search, that has given us the best idea of what may have happened on board.

 Parts of the wing flap system found on beaches have allowed investigators to surmise that the aircraft came down quickly and out of control, rather than in a gentle controlled glide.

 When I spoke to Grace on the phone she told me about their incredible, unique trip.

 "Only one local person had even heard of MH370. Some had probably never seen an airliner, but they all understood the pain of loss," she said.

 They want locals to become their eyes and ears, looking out for possible plane debris long after the families have returned home.

 "We've had brochures printed in English, French and Malagasy. It's a step-by-step guide to what to do. How to handle debris if you find out. To photograph it, and how to get it to the right people.

 "It's laminated so fishermen can have it on board without it getting wet. The local tourist board also helped us make a video in Malagasy that we can show people. Some might not be able to read".

 Image caption Grace Subathirai Nathan is one of those campaigning to make sure their relatives are not forgotten

 They've also recruited the local mayor, who will look after pieces in his office until they can be shipped to experts in Malaysia.

 For months now, the families have been questioning why it's down to them, rather than Malaysian officials, to co-ordinate the beach search around the world.

 Grace is in Madagascar with a group of relatives from Malaysia, China and France. None of them knew each other before the tragedy. Now they've formed a team that's determined to keep the hunt for clues alive.

 The sea search is being wound up soon, so in a couple of months, they'll be the only people looking. The bits they are finding still need to be analysed by experts to see if they are from the missing airliner.

 They're washing up thousands of miles from where investigators are convinced the aircraft came down, yet it makes sense when you know how the oceans work.

 After months of experiments, scientists have shown that the currents and winds would have carried small, floating parts across the Indian Ocean, to the coasts of South Africa, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique and Reunion Island.

 The very places bits are turning up.

 It's likely that thousands of clues are lying around undiscovered, because no one is looking for them. Some might be personal effects from passengers. Others might hold small clues to what happened. If it's fire damaged for example, that could point to an accident, not a deliberate act.

 It's one the world's biggest mysteries, yet it's coming down to the loved ones, the bereaved, and an American who craves the truth, to keep this search alive. ||||| Piece of board found by one of seven relatives who flew to Indian Ocean island to raise awareness of need to hand in debris thought to be from plane

 A Chinese man who travelled to Madagascar in search of answers to the disappearance of his mother on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has found a possible piece of debris from the plane during a search of the country’s beaches.

 Jiang Hui, 44, is one of seven relatives who flew to the Indian Ocean island on Saturday to raise awareness of the debris that has been washing up on its beaches in ever-increasing amounts and conduct preliminary searches.

 The man on a solo mission to find the wreckage of flight MH370 Read more

 He found a small white and sand-coloured piece of board in a rocky cove at the end of Riake beach on north-eastern Île Sainte-Marie, where a significant amount of the debris thought to be from MH370 has already been discovered. “I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening,” he said. “It is a small piece and will not really be able to show what happened to the plane but I hope so much that the authorities of Malaysia, China and Australia will try to find more so they can find out.”

 The piece has been handed to an official from the Malaysian investigation, said Blaine Gibson, a Seattle lawyer who has found 16 pieces of debris thought to be from the plane in Mozambique and Madagascar.

 Following Jiang’s discovery, Gibson said he had stumbled upon a larger object in the same area. He said both pieces appeared to be from the cabin of a large airliner.

 “[The find] just shows how important it is that these beaches are checked daily, and that local people keep their eyes open,” Gibson said. “It also shows how important this visit by the families is for raising awareness.”

 Jiang lost his 73-year-old mother, Jiang Cuiyun, on the flight and has been prominent in the relatives’ campaign amid a lack of openness – and seemingly of action – from the Malaysian-led official inquiry.

 Relatives of those who were on MH370, which disappeared while flying to Beijing on 8 March 2014, have criticised the Malaysian investigation for failing to collect debris found on Madagascar six months ago. Malaysia is now sending investigators to Madagascar but insists the timing is a coincidence.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Relatives of some of the passengers on MH370 who are searching for debris from the plane in Madagascar. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

 Jiang spoke briefly at a press conference held in the capital, Antananarivo, on Sunday as the relatives began their search. “In order to look for my mum, I have come here but my English is poor,” he said, before switching to Chinese to appeal for help in finding more evidence of the plane.

 Grace Nathan, spokeswoman for the Voice370 campaign group, said the discovery of debris potentially from the plane brought “mixed feelings” for the whole group.

 What happened to MH370? Malaysia Airlines flight 370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished on 8 March 2014. There was no trace of the plane until a flaperon washed up on Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 2015. Several pieces of debris found around east and south Africa have since been assessed to be from the missing aircraft. A seabed search led by Australia, backed by Malaysia and China, is due to continue until early 2017. Theories – all unproven – have ranged from crew involvement or hijacking to onboard fire or catastrophic technical failure.

 “First time a piece was found by one of us. Such mixed feelings now for all of us – pain, sadness, confusion, hope,” she wrote on a Facebook page where the relatives share updates with others bereaved by the incident.

 It is thought unlikely the small fragment found by Jiang would ever be definitively linked to MH370, but Gibson said it was washed up on the same part of the beach where he found items including a seat back – complete with coat hook and frame for an in-flight television screen.

 The find comes after the families divided into three groups to visit the stretches of coastline where current and wind analysis has predicted most debris could wash up.

 In Nosy Be, Tamatave and Île Sainte-Marie, they have met local officials, tourism and fishery associations as well as journalists to raise awareness about the need to pick up and hand in potential debris.

 One local boat owner lent his vessel for free to Nathan and her father so they could search offshore islands. Homemade fliers she printed showing what the debris looked like and how it should be preserved have run out and had to be reprinted.

 Ghislain Wattrelos, a French national who lost his wife and two teenage children, said the relatives had been moved by the outpouring of public sympathy.

 “It was the right move to come,” he said. “We have had a very nice response from everyone, we have been very well-received.” ||||| SOLVING the world’s greatest aviation mystery, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, has come down to one boat, a last “deep dive” on a few places of interest and the weather.

 Search vessel MV Fugro Equator left Fremantle last night to conduct a final sweep of deep sea ravines that may be hiding the remains of the ill-fated jet that disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people aboard.

 The Chinese vessel, Dong Hai Jiu 101, is heading home, leaving the Fugro Equator as the only dedicated vessel scouring the 120,000 sqkm search area.

 If MH370 is not found in the next few weeks, the search will be abandoned by late January or early February.

 Rather than using deep-tow vehicles with sonar scans and multi-beam echo sounders that can search big areas at a time, the search has come down to about 200 small areas which were either too deep for the first sweep or have not been properly examined because of bad sonar readings.

 The Fugro Equator will use its autonomous underwater vehicle to re-examine these few remaining spots in the hope of finding a trace of MH370 in an area almost 3000km south-west of Perth.

 media_camera Onboard Dong Hai Jiu 101 with the Phoenix search crew. Picture: Supplied

 This sweep has been deemed a “last series of mission”.

 The Fugro Equator recently completed a series of AUV searches that averaged 23 hours each but with no sign of MH370.

 Under an agreement between Australia, Malaysia and China approved in July, if there is no “credible new evidence” of a specific location for the plane the search will be called off.

 It would resume if new information emerged.

 Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester said he remained hopeful the search, conducted in conditions that have included 20m waves, would turn up some details of the missing plane.

 media_camera Remnants discovered along the way. Pictures: Supplied

 He said the Government was always mindful of the anguish facing the family and friends of those lost when the plane disappeared.

 “It has been an heroic undertaking but we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect that we may not find MH370 in the coming weeks, although we remain hopeful,” Mr Chester told The West Australian.

 One insider said the search region was the equivalent of an area between Sydney and Melbourne, including the terrain of the Great Dividing Range.

 The resolution of images taken during sonar sweeps of the seabed shows the extent to which investigators have used cutting-edge technology to pursue every possible lead.

 media_camera Ship debris including an anchor from a wooden vessel circa 1850s-1860s discovered during the search. Picture: Supplied

 media_camera A ship from 1850s-1860s was discovered during the search. White sea stars can be seen on some of the debris and black objects believed to be lumps of coal. Picture: Supplied

 The search has uncovered the wrecks of two ships — one wooden-hulled vessel dating from the 1850s or 1860s and an iron-hulled ship from the early 1900s.

 These ships have not been properly identified but the fact searchers have found wooden-hulled sunken vessels but not chunks of a modern airliner has greatly frustrated the search team.

 Only last month the search team discovered a 200-litre oil barrel at a depth of 3.7km.

 Debris from MH370 has washed up in Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar, Reunion Island and Mauritius.

 Some of the parts have had burn marks. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Dutch vessel Fugro Equator is the only ship still involved in the search operation

 The one remaining ship still looking for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has begun what is likely to be its final search.

 Dutch-owned Fugro Equator left the Australian port of Fremantle on Monday.

 Several ships have combed the seabed of a vast search area in the Indian Ocean since the plane disappeared in 2014.

 The Fugro Equator is expected to finish scouring the final portion of the search area by early 2017.

 Officials say they will suspend the search if the plane is not found by then.

 Not a single piece of wreckage or any clues to the whereabouts of the plane have been found so far by the operation.

 Image copyright EPA Image caption The search for the Malaysia Airlines plane is due to end in early 2017

 "It has been an heroic undertaking but we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect that we may not find MH370 in the coming weeks, although we remain hopeful," Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester told the West Australian newspaper.

 Several countries including Australia and China have taken part in the underwater search.

 Earlier this month the Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 completed its mission and is returning to Shanghai, leaving the Fugro Equator as the last ship scouring the vast 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) search area.

 Whether the Fugro Equator's voyage is the ship's final month-long deployment would depend on the weather, the office of Mr Chester told AP news agency.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Passengers' families looked for clues on Madagascar's beaches last week

 MH370 was carrying 239 people when it disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Many of the passengers were Chinese.

 Last week family members of some passengers journeyed to Madagascar to look for clues on the plane's whereabouts.

 A few aeroplane fragments confirmed to be from MH370 had been found by members of the public on the East African and Madagascan coasts in recent months.

 The location of the debris is in line with drift modelling patterns based on the theory that MH370 went down in a part of the Indian Ocean near Australia.

 The families have expressed frustration at the lack of concrete evidence turned up by the official search, and have called for a coordinated effort to search beaches for debris. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 After more than two years, an estimated $150 million, and not a trace of wreckage found, the final ship searching for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departed Tuesday for likely the last time.

 Four specialist vessels have been scouring the Indian Ocean for debris from the Boeing 777, which vanished in March 2014 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing with 239 people on board.

 Three of the ships have since left the search, and on Tuesday the final vessel, run by Dutch company Fugro World Wide, left the Australian port of Fremantle on what's likely to be its final outing.

 The Fugro Equator returns to Fremantle for resupply in August 2015. Paul Kane / Getty Images

 Australian Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester said in a statement Tuesday that this would depend on the weather, as the search area contains some of the world's roughest seas.

 The ship, the Fugro Equator, is set to complete its mission early next year.

 "In the absence of credible new evidence," the statement added, the voyage would be its last in the hunt for the airliner.

 Chester's office confirmed to The Associated Press that the ship had departed Tuesday.

 Exactly what happened to MH370 is still confounding experts. It vanished from radar but was confirmed to have crashed after several pieces of debris from the airliner washed up on Indian Ocean islands. This has led families of the victims to call for the search to be extended.

 But the detailed underwater search — which officials hoped would uncover the fuselage and black boxes — has so far returned no trace of the plane.

 The four ships, three from Fugro and one supplied by the Chinese government, have been searching in some of the roughest seas in the world and using sonar to scan the seafloor more than three miles under the surface.

 They have searched an area of some 46,000 square miles, around the size of Pennsylvania, and the total cost of the operation is estimated to be around $150 million, according to the Australian government, which is coordinating the search. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A Pennsylvania-sized patch of the Indian Ocean has been combed in a $150 million search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370—and that search is now coming to a close with the mystery still unsolved. The last boat still looking for the plane left the Australian port of Fremantle on Tuesday to scan areas that might have been missed during the initial search because of sonar issues or too-deep water, reports Perth Now. If no fresh evidence or trace of the plane has been found once its month-long mission wraps up, no future search missions will likely follow, reports NBC News. Though officials "remain hopeful," Australia's transport minister says that "we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect" that MH370, which disappeared in March 2014, will not be found, per the BBC. Relatives of MH370's 239 victims plan to continue hunting for evidence of what happened to their loved ones, however. Frustrated by a lack of activity from Malaysian officials, family members from Malaysia, China, and France have banded together to search for debris, including on remote beaches in Madagascar, where Jiang Hui, 44, of China says he recently found a possible plane part. "I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening," he tells the Guardian. "It is a small piece and will not really be able to show what happened to the plane, but I hope so much that the authorities … will try to find more." Relatives have also handed out brochures in three languages that explain to locals what to do if plane parts are found, per the BBC. (Here's what debris has revealed so far.)


Facebook users are rallying around a campaign to boycott Spirit Airlines, after the carrier refused to refund the cost of a dying veteran's flight.

 Jerry Meekins, a 76-year-old former marine, requested a refund on his $197 flight to New Jersey from Florida, to visit his daughter during a surgery. Meekins's doctor told him not to fly because he is suffering from terminal esophageal cancer.

 The "Boycott Spirit Airlines" Facebook Page, which had about 700 likes earlier in the week, has more than 18,000 likes as of Thursday morning, Fox News reports. The page was initially started in 2010 when the airline announced it would begin charging for checked luggage.

 Much of the backlash on Facebook against Spirit Airlines is coming from current military members and veterans.

 "I believe Spirit Airlines owes a debt to the Veteran and an apology. Being a good corporate citizen seems not to be in their culture. I will not fly them because of this. I am a proud U.S. Navy Veteran," wrote one Facebook commenter, Robert Twigg.

 SEE ALSO: 10 Tech Innovations That Streamline Air Travel

 Spirit Airlines didn't respond to a request for comment.

 In addition to the Facebook campaign, the Veterans of the Vietnam War and the Veterans Coalition wrote a letter to Spirit Airlines Tuesday.

 Is Facebook the right channel to call for airline boycotts? Do you think there's a better way to build a strong campaign?

 Image via Spirit Airlines ||||| Starting November 6, Spirit Airlines will charge a whopping $100 for carry-on bags stored in overhead bins when purchased at the airport gate, according to a notice on the airline’s website.

 The current fee is $45 for both domestic and international fliers.

 Overall it will cost fliers $5 to $10 more in carry-on bag fees when purchased online, at a reservation center, an airport kiosk or counter or as a $9 Club Fare member, Spirit said.

 The new fees will range from $25 to $100 per carry-on bag, up from $20 to 45.

 Spirit said the new structure will streamline its bag fees, making them identical for domestic and international travelers.

 For a database of airline fees and options, click here. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Now that other airlines are jumping on the fees-for-carry-ons band wagon, Spirit Airlines wants you to be sure and remember that they were the first. The airline is jacking up its carry-on fees, which will now range from between $20 a bag all the way up to an eye-popping $100, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. The cheaper rates are for fliers who pay the fee online; wait until you get to the gate, and it'll cost you c-note. Appalled? Then maybe you should join the burgeoning boycott on Facebook. The boycott isn't about bag fees though; it's about the airline's refusal to refund the ticket of 76-year-old veteran Jerry Meeks, who had to cancel a flight on doctor's orders because he's suffering from terminal esophageal cancer, Mashable reports. It gets worse: This dying ex-marine was flying in the first place to see his daughter, who was having surgery. As of this writing, the boycott page has more than 20,000 likes.


Here is a news article: It's Official: Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' Sells 1.11 Million

 By Keith Caulfield, Los Angeles

 Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 1,108,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's only the 17th album to sell a million in a week since SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991, and the highest sales week since 2005.

 "Born This Way" also marks Gaga's first No. 1 album -- "The Fame" debut peaked at No. 2, while "The Fame Monster" EP reached No. 5 and dance effort "The Remix" hit No. 6.

 "Born This Way" reaps the largest sales week of any album since 50 Cent's "The Massacre" did 1,141,000 in its first week, in March of 2005. The last time we had a million-plus frame was when Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" premiered at No. 1 with 1,047,000 in November of 2010. The SoundScan-era record week is held by NSYNC's "No Strings Attached," when it debuted at No. 1 with 2,416,000 in 2000.

 Additionally, Gaga is only the fifth woman to notch a million-plus week. The record frame for a woman is held by the bow of Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again," which started with 1,319,000 upon its release in May of 2000. "The Bodyguard" soundtrack, driven mostly by Whitney Houston songs, was the first SoundScan-era album to shift a million, and it did so over the busy Christmas shopping week of 1992 (1,061,000). Later, Norah Jonas' "Feels Like Home" debuted with 1,022,000 in 2004, and then the aforementioned Swift sizzled just last year.

 While there wasn't any doubt as to whether Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" album would debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 -- that's been an assumption for months -- its first-week number was always in question. A month ago, executives at Gaga's record company, Universal Music Group, were expecting a first week total of around 400,000.

 That number escalated to 650,000-700,000 by its release on Monday, May 23 -- the same day AmazonMP3 announced its controversial decision to sell the album for 99-cents for one day only. By last Wednesday (May 25), sources indicated that a million-unit week seemed quite plausible. Once Amazon opted to again sell the set for 99-cents on Thursday, May 26, "Born This Way's" million-unit week was all but guaranteed. It's estimated that Amazon sold upwards of 440,000 downloads of its 99-cent "Born This Way" album.

 Gaga's total downloads haul from all digital retailers was 662,000 -- the biggest week for a digital album in SoundScan history. It represents 60% of the set's overall first week.

 A full recap of the week's top 10 selling albums and digital songs will follow on Wednesday morning (June 1). ||||| Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" sold 1.11 million copies its first week in North America, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving the pop singer the largest sales week since 2005.

 View Full Image Everett Collection Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' sold 1.11 million copies in its first week.

 Sales of the album, launched on May 23, were helped by Amazon.com Inc., which offered a digital-download version of "Born This Way" for just 99 cents on Monday and Thursday last week. The low price drew attention, created technical problems and helped sell an estimated 440,000 downloads, according to an estimate posted on the website of trade magazine Billboard. That appeared to be about double the number of albums sold by Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store, which normally commands a dominant share of paid digital downloads.

 The first day of Amazon's promotion, which was designed to draw attention to its new Cloud Drive online storage service, the retailer was forced to apologize for delays in delivering the album. Three days later it repeated the offer, telling customers: "This time we're ready."

 Apple sells the same album for $11.99. Both services offered an expanded edition of the album for higher prices.

 Amazon paid the album's full wholesale cost, about $9, to the singer's record company, Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, and absorbed the cost.

 The last album to sell more copies in a week was rapper 50 Cent's "The Massacre," which notched 1.14 million copies its first week out, in 2005.

 Albums that sold a million copies in a week have never been common. Since SoundScan started in 1991, the service has reported only 17 albums that achieved that sales record.

 More Lady Gaga Mixes It Up With Bollywood

 But as music sales have declined under pressure from digital piracy and other forces, they have become even rarer. Last December, Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" sold just over 1 million copies its first week out.

 Apple is expected to start iCloud, its competitor to Cloud Drive, next Monday. The service is expected to include more features than Cloud Drive, thanks to a set of licensing deals it recently reached with Universal and other major music companies.

 Write to Ethan Smith at ethan.smith@wsj.com |||||
A summary of this is?

– Lady Gaga's new album Born This Way has zoomed to mega-hit status with sales of 1.11 million copies in its first week, making it the hottest-selling debut for an album since 50 Cent's The Massacre in 2005, according to Billboard. Only 17 albums in the last 20 years have hit a million in their first week of sales, although Gaga had a huge boost from an Amazon promotion, notes the Wall Street Journal. Amazon, in a bid to draw attention to its new Cloud Drive online storage service, offered downloads of the album for just 99 cents twice last week. The money-losing promotion helped sell an estimated 440,000 copies of Born This Way, crashing Amazon's servers in the process. The total number of downloads from all digital retailers was a record-breaking 662,000.


(CNN) A federal court ruled against a Virginia school district on Tuesday, holding that federal law protects a transgender student who sought to use the boys' bathroom at his school.

 The ruling is a victory for Gavin Grimm -- a transgender male -- who began his legal fight four years ago and has since graduated from the school. The court denied a motion filed by the school district to dismiss Grimm's lawsuit.

 Grimm's lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Title IX -- a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs -- includes discrimination based on gender identity.

 "After full consideration of the facts presented and the compelling scope of relevant legal analyses, the Court concludes that Mr. Grimm has sufficiently pled a Title IX claim of sex discrimination under a gender stereotyping theory," wrote Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

 A federal appeals court based in Chicago issued a similar ruling in a different challenge in May 2017.

 Read More ||||| NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal judge in Virginia has sided with a transgender teen who claims a school board's bathroom policies discriminated against him.

 U.S. District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen on Tuesday declined the Gloucester County School Board's request to dismiss the case. The judge in Norfolk ordered lawyers for the school board and former student Gavin Grimm to schedule a settlement conference.

 Grimm identifies as male but was barred from using the boys restrooms in high school before graduating in 2017. Grimm sued in 2015, claiming the policy violated his constitutional rights as well as federal protections against sex discrimination.

 He took the case to an appeals court before it was sent back to a lower court last year. In September, the school board argued that the case should be dismissed. |||||

Write a summary.

– A federal judge in Virginia has sided with a transgender teen who claims a school board's bathroom policies discriminated against him, the AP reports. US District Court Judge Arenda Wright Allen on Tuesday declined the Gloucester County School Board's request to dismiss the case. Allen found that federal law protects the student, CNN reports. "After full consideration of the facts presented and the compelling scope of relevant legal analyses, the Court concludes that Mr. Grimm has sufficiently pled a Title IX claim of sex discrimination under a gender stereotyping theory," Allen wrote, ordering lawyers for the school board and former student Gavin Grimm to schedule a settlement conference. Grimm identifies as male but was barred from using the boys restrooms in high school before graduating in 2017. Grimm sued in 2015, claiming the policy violated his constitutional rights as well as federal protections against sex discrimination. The Supreme Court last year declined to hear the case and sent it back to a lower court. In September, the school board argued that the case should be dismissed. "I feel an incredible sense of relief," Grimm said in a statement Tuesday. "After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it was against the law. I was determined not to give up because I didn't want any other student to have to suffer the same experience that I had to go through."


Here is a news article: (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)

 NEW ORLEANS - Taking a detour from his campaign battleground tour, President Obama today surveyed a Louisiana neighborhood hit hard by the floods of Hurricane Isaac, reassuring victims of federal recovery aid and hailing the first responders who ensured no lives were lost.

 Obama got a first-hand look at the devastation in St. John the Baptist Parish, one of the hardest hit in the storm, situated roughly 30 miles west of downtown New Orleans.

 His motorcade passed streets lined with mounds of debris, uprooted trees, ruined furniture and appliances piled in yards and along the curb. The air smelled of trash and sewage as it baked in the 100-degree heat. He later went house to house in the Ridgewood neighborhood of La Place, shaking hands with residents and hearing their stories.

 "There is enormous faith here, enormous strength here," Obama said after his tour. "You can see it with these families - they were just devastated a few days ago and they are already smiling and laughing and feeling confident about the future and pulling together."

 Disaster response coordinators who briefed Obama on the recovery effort said that facilitating the return of more than 3,900 evacuees to St. John's Parish and providing them with temporary housing and transportation remains the most urgent challenge. Officials said they were also scrambling to reopen public facilities, like schools and fire stations.

 "Right now we're still in recovery mode. And that means that our biggest priority is helping to house people who have been displaced," Obama said.

 "We're also going to make sure at the federal level that we are getting on the case very quickly on figuring out what exactly happened here and making sure it doesn't happen again," he added, referring to the failure of a local levee meant to protect the area.

 Flooding caused by Isaac was unprecedented and unexpected for St. John's Parish, flowing in quickly from two directions at the height of the storm and cutting off access on Interstate 10.

 "Some of the folks we just walked by literally had to be saved by boat. They were in their homes trapped, the waters came in so quickly. And this is an area that hadn't been flooded in 17 years, so as a consequence folks just weren't anticipating and accustomed to the scale and scope of the destruction," Obama said. "But because of the great work of law enforcement, National Guard, Coast Guard, making sure that folks were out in rescue mode rapidly… no lives were lost."

 Obama flew to New Orleans after attending a Labor Day campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, part of a tour leading to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., which begins Tuesday. He had planned to continue across the state for a second event in Cleveland, but cut the trip short to head south instead.

 The president denied political motivations behind his trip, telling first responders and members of the press that visits to disaster areas are "not just for photo-ops" - a point he later underscored in live, televised remarks.

 "When disasters like this happen, we set aside whatever petty disagreements we may have," Obama said. "Nobody's a Democrat or Republican. We're all just Americans looking out for one another."

 A bipartisan contingent of state and federal leaders accompanied Obama for the visit, including Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, a top surrogate for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. Democrats Sen. Mary Landrieu and Rep. Cedric Richmond and Republicans Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Jeff Landry also joined the presidential tour. ||||| 1 of 10. U.S. President Barack Obama (front L) is joined by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) as they tour Hurricane Isaac damage in the Ridgewood neighborhood of LaPlace, Saint John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana, September 3, 2012.

 LAPLACE, Louisiana (Reuters) - President Barack Obama toured hurricane-stricken Louisiana on Monday and promised federal recovery help as he sought to show his administration was on top of the disaster response on the eve of his Democrats' national convention in North Carolina.

 Obama was preceded by his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who diverted from the campaign trail to Louisiana on Friday to inspect the fallout from Hurricane Isaac a day after accepting his party's nomination for the November 6 election.

 Flying into New Orleans on a hot, sunny day, Obama traveled by motorcade to nearby St. John the Baptist Parish, one of the hardest-hit communities, where he met federal, state and local officials and then surveyed the area.

 He saw evidence of the storm's fury - twisted road signs, toppled trees, blown-down fences, debris piled high and pools of water beside the road. Stepping out of his limousine, he paused to comfort a few residents and hear their stories.

 "There has been enormous devastation in St. John's Parish," Obama told reporters. He cited similar destruction in other parts of Louisiana as well as neighboring Mississippi and praised emergency officials for limiting the loss of life.

 The White House has taken pains to depict Obama as deeply engaged in the government's handling of Isaac and its aftermath. His Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, was heavily criticized for the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

 Being cast in the role of consoler-in-chief could have political benefits for Obama, who is locked in a tight race with Romney and will accept his party's nomination in a prime-time speech on Thursday night in Charlotte, North Carolina. The convention begins on Tuesday.

 "How y'all doin'?" Obama asked Trebor Smith, wearing shorts and high rubber boots, outside his storm-damaged house.

 "Better now," Smith said.

 One woman told Obama the water rose so fast that she and her family had to be rescued by boat.

 Isaac was the first hurricane to strike the United States this year, hitting New Orleans almost exactly seven years after Katrina hit, causing an estimated 1,800 deaths.

 But Isaac was a much weaker storm. It was blamed for six deaths in Louisiana and two in neighboring Mississippi, and both states suffered from widespread flooding.

 ABOUT 125,000 STILL WITHOUT POWER

 Even as the fading remnants of Isaac moved east, about 125,000 people remained without power in Louisiana, the governor's office said. With floodwaters not yet receded in some areas, about 2,600 people remained in emergency shelters. Obama has declared disasters in Louisiana and Mississippi.

 Isaac's passage through the Gulf of Mexico last week forced cancellation of one day of the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, and took some attention away from it.

 Obama, staying away from the region while emergency officials were occupied with the height of the crisis, waited until Monday for his visit. He went ahead with a Labor Day rally with union workers in Ohio but freed up time in his campaign schedule by scrapping a second event in the battleground state.

 Romney, a wealthy former private equities executive who has struggled to show that he can connect with ordinary Americans, detoured to the disaster zone the day after his convention.

 Obama, overheard by news photographers allowed in for a few minutes while he was being briefed, said such presidential visits to disaster zones were "not just for photo-ops."

 The White House sought to play down any political implications of the two visits at the height of election season, and highlighted the fact that Louisiana's Republican governor, Bobby Jindal, accompanied both of the men.

 But White House spokesman Jay Carney, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, echoed Democrats who have pointed out that Romney's running mate, congressional fiscal hawk Paul Ryan, had earlier proposed sharp cuts in disaster relief spending.

 "Our biggest priority is helping to house people who've been displaced ... to make sure they have the kind of support they need to get restarted," Obama said on the ground.

 Carney's comments did not sit well with the Ryan camp, which expressed outrage that the administration would raise the subject of political differences during a disaster area tour.

 "Apparently there's nothing the President's team won't politicize," said Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck. "Paul Ryan believes providing aid to victims of natural disasters is a critical obligation and should be treated as a high priority within a fiscally responsible budget."

 Obama made a point of praising the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying "in the past we haven't seen the kind of coordination that is necessary." FEMA was a focus of criticism for what was seen as the botched response to Katrina in 2005.

 Obama also hailed the first successful test of New Orleans' new $14.5 billion flood defenses, a reinforced network of government-built levees. But he said flooding in St. John the Baptist Parish and elsewhere showed the need for further work and pledged federal efforts to find out what went wrong and expedite solutions.

 Meantime, oil operations that had been interrupted along the Gulf Coast were coming back on line. The Energy Department said the Exxon Mobil Corp's joint-venture 192,500 barrel per day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery was restarting on Monday.

 The department also said Exxon's 502,500 bpd Baton Rouge refinery has returned to normal production after reducing throughput because of Isaac. Only Phillips 66's 247,000 bpd refinery in Alliance, Louisiana, remained shut on Monday due to flooding and power loss from the storm, the agency said.

 (Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Eric Walsh) |||||
A summary of this is?

– Just a day before the start of the Democratic National Convention, President Obama toured a storm-ravaged Louisiana neighborhood, promising federal aid and hailing rescuers. He drove to St. John the Baptist Parish 30 miles west of New Orleans, and went house to house in one neighborhood, reports ABC News. “There is enormous faith here, enormous strength here,” Obama said after his tour of battered houses, twisted road signs, and toppled trees yesterday. “You can see it with these families. They were just devastated a few days ago, and they are already smiling and laughing and feeling confident about the future and pulling together.” Obama's visit was designed in part to highlight the president's concern for local suffering, and his deep engagement in the government's handling of Isaac's destruction, in contrast to George Bush, who was lashed for the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina, which caused an estimated 1,800 deaths. Isaac was a much weaker storm with only six deaths. Mitt Romney visited Louisiana last week.