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– In its latest execution video, ISIS threatened that its next victim would be an American aid worker named Peter Kassig. The 26-year-old is a former Army Ranger from Indiana who served in Iraq in 2007 before being honorably discharged for medical reasons, reports CNN. He enrolled at Butler University upon his return to the US, but traveled to Libya on his spring break to learn about the Syria crisis. "I wanted more of a challenge, more of a purpose," he told the network in a 2012 interview. Eventually, Kassig decided to stay full time to do humanitarian work and founded a relief group called the Special Emergency Response and Assistance, reports the Washington Post. In the last few years, he has been delivering food and medical supplies to refugees from the Syrian conflict. Kassig's parents today released a YouTube video pleading for his release. They refer to their son as "Abdul-Rahman, formerly known as Peter." The Kassigs have previously said that their son converted to Islam while in captivity. A few quotes from Kassig, from CNN and from an interview last year with Time: “This is real, and it’s scary stuff, and it’s sad what is happening to people here. People back home need to know about it, they need to know. Sometimes you gotta take a stand, you gotta draw a line somewhere.” "I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse. But I am a guy who can clean up bandages, help clean up patients, swap out bandages, help run IVs, make people's quality of life a little bit better. This is something for me that has meaning, that has purpose." "In five years, if I can look back on all of this and say that our organization is able to truly help people, that I was able so share a little bit of hope, and that I never stopped learning, then I will know this all stood for something."

Army Ranger veteran Peter Kassig is shown here delivering aid in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in May 2013. (Photo courtesy the Kassig family)

 The possible next victim of the Islamic State militant group is Army Ranger veteran Peter E. Kassig, who moved to the Middle East to do humanitarian work before being taken hostage.

 Kassig is shown at the end of a video released Friday that depicts the apparent beheading of Alan Henning, a British humanitarian aid worker who was taken hostage in Syria last year. Kassig started a small medical relief company known as Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, in 2012 that has headquarters in Gaziantep, Turkey, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. The city is close to the Syrian border and a way station of sorts for relief workers and journalists.

 Kassig also was an employee with TYR Solutions LTD, a British firm that provides security and consulting and training for individuals planning to go to war zones, according to his LinkedIn profile.

 Kassig enlisted as an infantryman, and was in the Army from June 2006 to September 2007 before being medically discharged as a private first class, Army officials aid. He was with the Army’s famous 75th Ranger Regiment from October 2006 to September 2007, and deployed with them to Iraq from April to July 2007.

 Kassig said in an interview published by Time magazine last year that he traveled to the Middle East in 2012 after leaving the Army and while on spring break from Butler University in Indiana. He wanted to learn about the humanitarian crisis in Syria firsthand and see what he could do to raise awareness about it.

 In a web page raising funds for his cause, the former soldier said he felt that more could be done to help the Syrians, and thought the most effective way was “through a close connection to those who were in desperate need, by meeting them where they were.”

 “We may not have much but I have always felt that the reasons why you do something are as important as what you do,” he wrote. “This is about making a difference not just through material goods, but also the exchange of ideas and experiences that the interanational [sic] community benefits from through this type of iniative [sic].”

 In a 2012 interview with CNN, Kassig said that he first traveled to the Lebanese capital of Beirut where he studied how complicated the conflict was. He said some people questioned what he was doing. He told CNN he also wondered whether America was doing enough to help, although he didn’t support military intervention.

 “This is real, and it’s scary stuff, and it’s sad what is happening to people here,” he told CNN. “People back home need to know about it, they need to know. Sometimes you gotta take a stand, you gotta draw a line somewhere.” ||||| This is a set of web collections curated by Mark Graham using the Archive-IT service of the Internet Archive. They include web captures of the ISKME.org website as well as captures from sites hosted by IGC.org.These web captures are available to the general public.For more information about this collection please feel free to contact Mark via Send Mail ||||| Kassig Peter Kassig, U.S. Army Ranger turned humanitarian.

 Peter Kassig is a former U.S. Army Ranger who deployed to Iraq in 2007. I met this 24-year-old Indiana native while taking an entry-level Arabic course in Beirut last year. Since then, Peter has gone on to help Syrian refugees in a Lebanese hospital and recently started his own aid group called Special Emergency Response and Assistance — SERA.

 SERA’s main focus right now “is providing Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Syria with medical assistance, medical supplies, and clothing for refugees, and non-perishable food as well as cooking fuel, cooking stoves,” and other supplies, according to its Facebook page. It wants to specialize in bringing in critical supplies to people in particularly dicey circumstances, which is an understatement when used to describe the refugee landscape within Syria.

 There are estimates that there are over 2.5 million internally displaced persons within the country, and nearly 500,000 who have left.

 The group recently finished its first week-and-half-long operation inside Syria.

 With just over $2,000 raised from donations, SERA set out to supply Syrian refugees in the north of the country with blankets. But the group soon realized that was not a pressing need when compared to the increasingly dire food situation. So SERA purchased two cooking stoves, 20 45-kilogram propane fuel tanks, a ton of rice and other food, and loaded it all into a truck its members drove across the border into Syria. They delivered it directly to the people in a Syrian refugee camp, according to Kassig’s debrief on the operation.

 “We learned first-hand through this process just how difficult it is to get supplies into Syria,” Kassig wrote, expressing frustration with delays. “Innocent lives were lost in the days we were in the area of Qah Refugee camp attempting to deliver aid.”

 While pledging to improve their effectiveness, Kassig wrote that he was inspired by the people in the camp: “I did not meet a single man woman or child who could not muster a smile and a message of strength and hope that was nothing short of earth-shatteringly humbling.”

 I asked Kassig a few questions about SERA and why he came back to the Middle East after his time in the Army.

 What drew you to Beirut?

 Originally, I came to Beirut on my spring break from [Butler] University last spring. I was interested in what I could learn about the Syrian crisis firsthand and what I could do to help and raise awareness about the crisis amongst my peers back at home in the United States. I was also interested in learning more about the Middle East in general from a civilian perspective. I wanted to better understand my role in the conflict in Iraq and its impact on the Middle East in general from a personal perspective and from the perspective of the Arab world. I hoped to gain insight into potential paths forward with regards to developing a new and improved relationship between my generation in both the Arab world and in the West.

 What have you been doing during your time in Lebanon?

 I started by travelling as much as possible throughout the country and focusing my efforts on volunteering on a small scale in a Palestinian refugee camp in South Beirut. I wanted to try and understand the full scope of the level of need and what role I could potentially have in meeting that need. I also volunteer in a hospital in Tripoli, Lebanon, offering my services as a trauma medic to Syrian refugees who have been wounded in the fighting in Syria. From these experiences I began the development of my NGO, SERA, which stands for Special Emergency Response and Assistance. I divide by time between my personal volunteer efforts, my organizations relief operations, which include the distribution of aid materials such as medical equipment and children’s clothing, as well as food and cooking materials in both Lebanon and Syria.

 Tell us about your group, Special Emergency Response and Assistance. What does it do and why did you start it?

 I designed Special Emergency Response and Assistance around a belief that there was a lot of room for improvement in terms of how humanitarian organizations interact with and cooperate with the populations that they serve. SERA is focused on the distribution of aid materials to populations with an acute and immediate need. We administer aid in the form of food and cooking materials, medical supplies, and clothing.

 The idea is for SERA to supplement the efforts of larger organizations by focusing on delivering aid materials that can do the most good for the most people over the longest period of time possible. I believe that how and why we do what we do is equal in importance to what we do. It’s about showing people that we care, that someone is looking out for those who might be overlooked or who have slipped through the cracks in the system for whatever reason.

 I started SERA because I felt that we could fill a niche as an organization that had not been filled. There are a lot of other wonderful organizations out there but we feel that by working directly with the people who are in need at a grassroots level allows for us to establish an invaluable personal relationship that not only allows us to effectively distribute material goods but also allows for an opportunity for an increased level of cooperation and an exchange of ideas between people from diverse backgrounds and experiences and that this enhances our ability to accurately meet needs. The personal connection is key.

 Does SERA team up with other organizations to help Syrian refugees?

 Yes. Part of our operational philosophy and founding principles is that there should be no wasted energy or redundancy in the operations we carry out. I believe in working as closely with the population in need as is possible. This allows for us to maximize our transparency and effectiveness of our operations based on the respect for and appreciation of the fact that people have the best understanding of what they need and many times, simply lack the means to carry out the ideas that they already have.

 What would you like to see SERA doing that it isn’t already and what do you need to make that happen?

 I would like to see SERA responding to a variety of needs throughout the region in as short amount of time as possible. Our aim is to be a rapid response organization that can help to fill gaps in supply chains, or assist those who have fallen through the cracks. I would love it for SERA to be able to impact conditions on the ground in places like Lebanon and Syria in a more comprehensive and efficient way.

 To make this a reality we need to make sure we maintain our focus and our drive internally, we also need to make sure we maintain an operational tempo that allows for us to have good visibility on the conditions that the populations we serve are facing. Of course we definitely need more funding. Right now we have very little and so our operational scope is very small. We have the ability to serve much larger populations in a really effective way but we need a stronger budget to be able to conduct these sorts of operations.

 Where do you see yourself in five years?

 That is a good question. I believe that if you are passionate about something and you put the necessary effort into making it work (such as SERA) that it is ultimately up to you how long you can keep it viable. The work speaks for itself to some extent I think. I certainly plan on continuing to try and serve those who are in need for as long as I live.

 The truth is sometimes I really think I would like to do something else, but at the end of the day this work is really the only thing that I have found that gives my life both meaning and direction. In five years, I certainly hope to have seen SERA grow into an international relief organization capable of helping hundreds of thousands of people around the world. I would also like to be able to say that I was able to give something back to everyone who helped along the way.

 This work is important for the message that it sends to people back home, that one of the best aspects of the American way of life is our ability to come together in the face of adversity and to stand beside those who might need a helping hand. In five years, if I can look back on all of this and say that our organization is able to truly help people, that I was able so share a little bit of hope and that I never stopped learning then I will know this all stood for something.

 If people want to help SERA, what’s something they can do?

 We can accept donations at a temporary account at:

 Epworth United Methodist Church

 6450 Allisonville Road

 Indianapolis, IN 46220

 Checks should be made out to Epworth United Methodist Church. In the memo line, people can put either “SERA Relief Effort” or “Peter Kassig Relief Effort.”

 It’s not a religious thing, but my hometown neighborhood set this up for us in the meantime as a transparent and monitored donation system. SERA is a fully incorporated NGO, but our 501c3 [federal non-profit tax status] is still pending. ||||| Story highlights American Peter Kassig, 26, helped treat wounded Syrians

 He served in the U.S. military in Iraq but looked for a "game changer" after returning home

 His parents in Indianapolis, Indiana, confirmed he'd been taken hostage

 Kassig converted to Islam while being held hostage, family says

 Peter Kassig first went to the Middle East as a U.S. soldier and returned as a medical worker, feeling compelled to help victims of war.

 "We each get one life and that's it. We get one shot at this and we don't get any do-overs, and for me, it was time to put up or shut up," he said in a 2012 interview with CNN.

 Now Kassig, 26, is being held hostage by ISIS.

 His life was threatened Friday in an ISIS video that showed the apparent beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.

 In a statement Friday, Kassig's parents, Ed and Paula Kassig of Indianapolis confirmed that he was being held hostage by ISIS but provided no other details. They had maintained silence about his capture since he was taken hostage in 2013.

 "The Kassig family extends our concern for the family of Alan Henning," Kassig's parents said. "We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe."

 Joined the Army in 2006

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 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees board a boat bound for Turkey at a port in Kyrenia, Cyprus, on Sunday, November 23. Some 220 Syrian migrants crammed onto a fishing boat were rescued by a cruise ship off Cyprus' northern coast after their vessel hit rough seas in the Mediterranean Sea, authorities said. Hide Caption 1 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish child looks through the ventilation hole of a tent at a camp in Suruc, Turkey, on Wednesday, November 19. Tens of thousands of people fled the Syrian city of Kobani, alson known as Ayn al-Arab, because of the militant group ISIS. Hide Caption 2 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A fly lands on the toe of 8-year-old Mahmut Munir, a Syrian Kurdish refugee boy from Kobani, inside a tent in Suruc on November 19. The boy was reportedly injured in a mortar attack by ISIS militants. Hide Caption 3 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Kurdish children from the Kobani area speak after receiving food rations at a camp in Suruc on Tuesday, November 18. Hide Caption 4 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish refugee pins a picture of her son on a wall in Suruc on Tuesday, November 11. She says he died during a battle in Kobani. Hide Caption 5 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian Kurdish refugees collect clothes and shoes donated by civilians at a camp in Suruc on November 11. Hide Caption 6 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian Kurdish refugees sit outside tents at a camp in Suruc on November 11. Hide Caption 7 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee wraps herself in a blanket as she stands near tents near Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Thursday, October 2. Hide Caption 8 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian Kurds wait behind border fences to cross into Suruc on Sunday, September 28. Hide Caption 9 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Kurdish woman crosses into Suruc on Tuesday, September 23. Hide Caption 10 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish boy is vaccinated as he arrives in Suruc on September 23. The United Nations estimates that more than 2.5 million Syrians have fled their country since an uprising in March 2011 spiraled into civil war. Hide Caption 11 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A woman carries belongings across the border between Turkey and Syria on September 23. Hide Caption 12 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee watches the sunrise Wednesday, April 2, after sleeping outside the Center for Temporary Stay of Immigrants in Melilla, Spain. Hide Caption 13 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Mustafa Ahmad, who lost his leg in 2011 when government warplanes bombed his neighborhood in Syria, is fitted with a prosthetic leg at a refugee camp Thursday, March 27, in Jib Janine, Lebanon. Hide Caption 14 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East delivered humanitarian aid packages to the Yarmouk refugee camps in Syria on Friday, March 21. Hide Caption 15 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A boy uses a tool to dig a hole at the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan on Saturday, March 15. Hide Caption 16 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees enter Turkey via the Cilvegozu border gate in Hatay, Turkey, on Saturday, January 18. Hide Caption 17 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children cross the border at the Cilvegozu gate on January 18. Hide Caption 18 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children walk on the street after attending school January 18 in Hatay. Hide Caption 19 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child looks through a window while food and aid is distributed at a refugee center in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday, December 17. Hide Caption 20 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A man feeds his child in the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Sunday, December 15. Hide Caption 21 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children play with snow in the Arsal refugee camp on December 15. Hide Caption 22 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Snow covers the ground at a refugee camp in Arsal on Friday, December 13. Hide Caption 23 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees build a snowman following a storm in the Lebanese village of Baaloul on Thursday, December 12. Hide Caption 24 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee widow Ikhlas Halawani feeds her daughter breakfast during a snowstorm in Amman, Jordan, on December 12. Hide Caption 25 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – After crossing into Jordan's Ruweished camp on Thursday, December 5, a Syrian boy searches for his mother while other refugees board a Jordanian military vehicle. Hide Caption 26 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Newly arrived Syrian refugees carry their belongings and children after crossing into Jordan's Ruweished camp on December 5. Hide Caption 27 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees wait in line to receive winter aid kits at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq, Jordan, on Tuesday, December 3. Hide Caption 28 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Refugees watch a new trailer being placed in the Zaatari camp on December 3. Hide Caption 29 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian child looks out from his tent at a refugee camp in Arsal on Friday, November 29. Hide Caption 30 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A girl crosses a puddle during the first snowfall of the season in a refugee camp in Harmanli, Bulgaria, on Wednesday, November 27. Hide Caption 31 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees play at the recently opened Vrazhdebna shelter in Sofia on Friday, November 22. Hide Caption 32 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees warm themselves near open fires at a refugee camp in Harmanli on Thursday, November 21. Hide Caption 33 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees go about their daily lives in an Istanbul park on Sunday, November 3. Hide Caption 34 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee uses a rope to climb a tree at the Vrazhdebna shelter on Tuesday, October 29. Hide Caption 35 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees are turned back after being refused entry into northern Iraq on Wednesday, October 23. Hide Caption 36 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Refugees wait to get medical attention at the Vrazhdebna shelter on Saturday, October 19. The shelter is a former school. Hide Caption 37 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee begs with her children on a street in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday, October 18. Hide Caption 38 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Kurdish women grieve during a visit to a cemetery in Derik, Syria, on Tuesday, October 15. Hide Caption 39 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees from Aleppo sit with their mother on the steps of a Beirut bank in September 2013. Hide Caption 40 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Two Syrian refugees sit on a Beirut street in September 2013. Hide Caption 41 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Young Syrian refugees sit with their father as he prepares coffee to sell on a street in Beirut in September 2013. Hide Caption 42 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee boy practices taekwondo at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq in September 2013. Hide Caption 43 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A young Syrian girl washes a pan at the Atme refugee camp along the Turkish border in September 2013. Hide Caption 44 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee children watch Korean and Syrian taekwondo instructors during training at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in September 2013. Hide Caption 45 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian woman carries her baby across the border into Turkey at the Cilvegozu border gate in September 2013. Hide Caption 46 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl stands with her mother in a makeshift tent as they wait to enter an official refugee camp at the Oncupinar border gate in Kilis, Turkey, in September 2013. Hide Caption 47 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl eats a tomato at a temporary refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese town of al-Faour in September 2013. Hide Caption 48 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee girl drinks water from a hose near a temporary refugee camp in an eastern Lebanese town in September 2013. Hide Caption 49 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – In September 2013, Lower Saxony's Commissioner for Migration and Participation Doris Schroeder-Koempf, along with German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, center, greet the first of many Syrian refugees that have been granted temporary asylum in Germany. Hide Caption 50 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee boy sits on the ground at a temporary refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese town of al-Faour in September 2013. Hide Caption 51 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee children run near their tents at a temporary refugee camp near the Lebanese border in September 2013. Hide Caption 52 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Mustafa Abu Bekir, who was wounded while fighting with the Free Syrian Army, smiles as he meets relatives after crossing the Cilvegozu gate border in Turkey's Hatay province in September 2013. Hide Caption 53 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee family of 26 people shares one room in the Eminonu district of Istanbul in September 2013. Hide Caption 54 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Two Syrian refugee children sit outside a house in Istanbul in September 2013. Hide Caption 55 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee money-changer exchanges currency at the main market at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq in September 2013. Hide Caption 56 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A woman from an Alawite neighborhood in Syria holds her son in September 2013 at the Pir Sultan Abdal foundation in Istanbul. Hide Caption 57 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian refugee displays second-hand shoes for sale at the main market at the Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq in September 2013. Hide Caption 58 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Photos: Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees arrive at the Pir Sultan Abdal foundation in Istanbul in September 2013. Hide Caption 59 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee workers fix cart wheels at their shop at the Zaatari refugee camp in September 2013. Hide Caption 60 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian boy sits beside his family's belongings in September 2013 as they wait for a vehicle to pick them up after entering Turkey. Hide Caption 61 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees who failed to find shelters at a refugee camp eat and rest by the side of a road a few feet away in September 2013. Hide Caption 62 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees arrive at the Turkish border gate of Cilvegozu in September 2013. Hide Caption 63 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Photos: Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees gather in the village of Salkin after crossing the Syrian-Turkish border in September 2013. Hide Caption 64 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A young Syrian refugee boy sells canned tuna and other food items in the Zaatari refugee camp in September 2013. Hide Caption 65 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Children run past tents at a Syrian refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey, in September 2013. Hide Caption 66 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child pulls a suitcase as Syrian refugees arrive at the Cilvegozu crossing gate in Turkey in August 2013. Hide Caption 67 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A family arrives at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in August 2013. Hide Caption 68 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl stands behind a fence at Bulgaria's shelter near Lyubimets in August 2013. Hide Caption 69 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A wounded Syrian child is treated in August 2013 at the Israeli Ziv hospital, which is in the northern town of Safed, Israel. Hide Caption 70 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian Kurdish man carries a mattress at sunset at the Quru Gusik refugee camp in Iraq in August 2013. Hide Caption 71 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees listen to safety instructions at the Quru Gusik refugee camp in August 2013. Hide Caption 72 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees walk at the Zaatari refugee camp in July 2013. Hide Caption 73 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The expanse of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, as seen from an aerial view in July 2013. The camp was opened on July 28, 2012. Hide Caption 74 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugee children walk in the Bab al-Salam refugee camp in Syria's northern city of Azaz in July 2013. Hide Caption 75 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A boy walks with jugs of water in a Beirut neighborhood with a high concentration of Syrian refugees. Hide Caption 76 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian refugees stand with their belongings on June 20, World Refugee Day, at Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Hide Caption 77 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian woman and child look out of a refugee camp window in Alman, Lebanon, in June 2013. Hide Caption 78 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child whose family fled violence in Syria stands at the Arsal refugee camp in Lebanon in June 2013. Hide Caption 79 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A woman uses a fence to dry laundry at the Domiz refugee camp near Kohuk, Iraq, in May 2013. Hide Caption 80 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A boy carries a jug for water at the Maliber al-Salam refugee camp in April 2013. The camp, near the Turkish border, houses internally displaced Syrian families. Hide Caption 81 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A makeshift refugee camp is seen near Syria's border with Turkey in April 2013. Hide Caption 82 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Row after row of temporary shelters fill the Maiber al-Salam refugee camp in Syria in April 2013. Hide Caption 83 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria arrive at the Jordanian border in February 2013. Hide Caption 84 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl stands at the entrance of a makeshift home near ruins in Serjilla, Syria, in February 2013. Hide Caption 85 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, near the Syrian border. Hide Caption 86 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee collects apples and some bread at the Azaz refugee camp along the Syrian-Turkish border. Hide Caption 87 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A refugee visits a clinic with his child at the Azaz refugee camp in February 2013. Hide Caption 88 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A child gets a haircut at a makeshift barbershop at the Azaz refugee camp in February 2013. Hide Caption 89 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian girl looks through the window of a bus where she has lived with her family for the past eight months in February 2013. Hide Caption 90 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Clothes dry at the Qah refugee camp near the Turkish border in January 2013. Hide Caption 91 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A man shows off his pet birds as new Syrian refugees arrive at the Zaatari refugee camp in January 2013. Hide Caption 92 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrian children gather around women washing in the Zaatari refugee camp in January 2013. Hide Caption 93 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – Syrians put up tents at the Zaatari refugee camp in January 2013. Hide Caption 94 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees supplied tents in Al-Marj, Lebanon. Hide Caption 95 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian boy attends school in the Turkish town of Kilis in December 2012. Hide Caption 96 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – A Syrian jumps across the border into Turkey's Sanliurfa province in November 2012. Hide Caption 97 of 98 98 photos: Photos: Syria's refugee crisis Syria's refugee crisis – In November 2012, a Syrian refugee waits at a hairdresser's shop inside the Oncupinar camp in Kilis, Turkey. Hide Caption 98 of 98

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 Kassig's journey began when he joined the U.S. Army Rangers in 2006 and deployed to Iraq in 2007. He was honorably discharged for medical reasons after a brief tour and returned to the United States to study political science and train for 1,500-meter races. But something wasn't right.

 "I was going to school with kids who look the same, were the same age as me, but we weren't the same," he said. "I wanted more of a challenge, a sense of purpose."

 In 2010, Kassig took time off and began his certification as an emergency medical technician.

 In the two years that followed, he fell in love, got married and quickly divorced. Devastated and heartbroken, he went back to school, but he couldn't shake his depression.

 "I needed a game changer," he said.

 He decided he would head to Beirut, follow the situation in Syria and try to help. So, on his spring break this year he packed his medical kit and flew into the Lebanese capital.

 The next two weeks were filled with eye-opening misadventures as Kassig began to scratch the surface of the complexities of the Syrian conflict and the Middle East as a whole.

 Founded a humanitarian aid organization

 "I had learned enough to know that I didn't know anything," he said.

 After finishing the semester back in the United States, he returned to Lebanon, only this time with a plan.

 "The way I saw it, I didn't have a choice. This is what I was put here to do. I guess I am just a hopeless romantic, and I am an idealist, and I believe in hopeless causes."

 Kassig founded SERA (Special Emergency Response and Assistance), a nongovernmental organization. In summer 2013 he moved its base of operations to Gaziantep, Turkey.

 Kassig's family said SERA was dedicated to providing first-response humanitarian aid for refugees fleeing the widening civil war in Syria. Kassig found and delivered food and medical supplies to the growing camps on both sides of the Syrian border, his family said, and provided primary trauma care and trauma care training to civilian casualties inside Syria.

 "I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse," he said in the 2012 interview. "But I am a guy who can clean up bandages, help clean up patients, swap out bandages, help run IVs, make people's quality of life a little bit better. This is something for me that has meaning, that has purpose."

 He was undertaking a project for SERA when he was "detained" on October 1, 2013, on his way to Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, according to his family's statement.

 "For the past year, the Kassig family has maintained silence at the wish of those who have held their son," the family statement said. "His family, along with friends and colleagues inside and outside Syria, have worked tirelessly, and quietly, to secure his release."

 Converted to Islam

 Kassig's family said he converted to Islam while being held hostage and now goes by Abdul-Rahman.

 The family said it "understands from speaking to former hostages that Kassig's faith has provided him comfort during his long captivity."

 While working in hospitals, some of those Kassig helped treat were rebel fighters, all who vowed they would return to the battlefield as soon as they could.

 Others were the innocent victims of a spiraling conflict.

 One patient, 24-year-old Louliya, said she and her three children were run over by a military jeep as they tried to escape the Syrian military siege of their village. Her spinal cord was crushed, leaving her unable to move from the neck down. She was smuggled across the border to Lebanon for surgery.

 She smiled bravely but was unable to stop the tears from rolling down her face.

 "All I want is to be able to hold my children in my arms again," she said softly, trying but failing to imitate the cradling of a child.

 He bonded with doctors, patients

 Kassig said his direct exposure to what was something of an alien conflict and culture before transformed his perspective.

 "There is this mentality from where I come from back home that I have a little bit of a problem with," he said. "I don't want to get on a political soap box, but at the same time we have to think about why as a country we choose to help certain people and not others.

 "We have to think about why we just chalk up the Middle East [as] this complex enigma that we will never understand because they are so different from us. But at the end of the day, they are really not. It's just about whether or not you're willing to go out on a limb and understand something," he said.

 "Peter can tell the American people who we are," said Marwan, a Syrian nurse he worked with. "We are not what the regime says we are -- terrorists and al Qaeda. Peter knows we are good people, who love joking and laughter. We just want to live."

 Kassig was struck by the resilience of the Syrians he met, by their ability to smile and somehow joke even in the darkest of circumstances.

 "This is real, and it's scary stuff, and it's sad what is happening to people here," he said. "People back home need to know about it, they need to know. Sometimes you gotta take a stand, you gotta draw a line somewhere." |||||


Here is a news article: Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 As the University of California’s Board of Regents met Thursday at U.C.L.A. and approved a plan to raise undergraduate fees — the equivalent of tuition — 32 percent next fall, hundreds of students from campuses across the state demonstrated outside, beating drums and chanting slogans against the increase.

 Isaac Miller and Irene Van, who traveled to U.C.L.A. late Wednesday night in a bus caravan from Berkeley, said they worried about how higher fees would affect illegal immigrant students, who are not eligible for financial aid, and minority students, already dwindling in number since Proposition 209 prohibited affirmative action.

 “Diversity is central to this,” Mr. Miller said. “It’s at stake here.”

 Mr. Miller and Ms. Van wore shreds of the red armbands adopted at a Sept. 24 walkout, when more than 5,000 students demonstrated outside Sproul Hall at Berkeley.

 After Thursday’s vote, as news trickled out to students rallying outside, the chants grew louder and students linked arms to block regents from leaving the building. The police intervened, and as one regent left, about 100 students clustered around him, yelling “Shame on you!”

 Mark Yudof, the university president, said the state budget cuts had left the university no choice but to raise fees, and noted that the system received only half as much, per student, from the state as it did in 1990.

 “My biggest fear,” Mr. Yudof said, “is an exodus of faculty.”

 At U.C.L.A. on Wednesday, 14 demonstrators, including 12 students, were arrested for disrupting the Regents meeting. Some demonstrators barricaded themselves inside Campbell Hall, where they spent Wednesday night; others spent the night in tent cities on campus.

 Rodrigo Verdugo, 18, a freshman at Cal State San Marcos and the first in his family to go to college, carried a sign that said “no fee hikes.” He said he worried that if his parents, migrant farm workers from Mexico, could not afford state university fees, his younger siblings “might have to work in the fields, too, if this becomes so expensive.”

 Standing next to him, Maria Isabel Rocha mentioned ways the budget cuts were already being felt. “The library has cut hours, we can’t print, staff have been furloughed and T.A.s have been cut,” she said, referring to teaching assistants. “So there is less instruction and less office hours, but we’re still responsible for the same amount of material.”

 Ms. Rocha, 19, said she already worked two jobs, and higher fees would mean taking on another. “I might have to take a quarter off to make money to afford tuition,” she said. ||||| Amid loud student protests that roiled the UCLA campus, the UC Board of Regents this afternoon approved a 32% increase in student fees.

 The fee hike of $2,500, or 32%, will come in two steps by next fall. That would bring the basic UC education fees to about $10,300, plus about another $1,000 for campus-based charges, for a total that would be about triple the UC cost a decade ago. Room, board and books can add another $16,000.

 Only student regent Jesse Bernal voted against the undergraduate fees.

 The noise of protesters came through the window as the regents voted. It was only lightly discussed, with UC President Mark G. Yudof urging that students explore all the financial-aid possibilities so they don’t get scared away or drop out.

 Groups of UC students from several other campuses arrived in Westwood to join a demonstration against the fee hike, and a group of protesters was occupying a UCLA classroom building.

 UCLA officials declared Campbell Hall, where the sit-in continued, closed for the day. Inside, about 40 to 50 students who had chained the doors shut shortly after midnight were issuing e-mail statements.

 “We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university,” their statement said. Campus police surrounded the classroom building, but no arrests were made. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Student protesters chanted “Shame on you! Shame on you!” on the UCLA campus today as the University of California board of regents approved a whopping 32% tuition hike. A year at a UC school—not including room and board—will now cost $10,300, three times the price in 1999. The moves comes as the university system struggles with draconian cuts in funding from the state's strapped government. After the demonstrators learned of the decision, many told the LA Times they worried about having to drop out. “I’m on my own,” said one student. “I can’t ask my family. In this economy, no one is stable.” The state cut its funding for the 10-campus system by 20%, or $813 million, this year, notes the New York Times.


News article:

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you'll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings. ||||| Please study this quote from Lincoln's inaugural, @ realDonaldTrump. It inspired me every day I was Governor, and I hope it inspires you.pic.twitter.com/QRoOFTZfQ9 ||||| Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got "swamped" (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for.... ||||| NBC's Celebrity Apprentice returned to television on Monday night with a new host and a new catchphrase . But Arnold Schwarzenegger's hosting debut wasn't enough to give the network a ratings win for the show's premiere.

 The latest iteration of Comcast-owned NBC's Apprentice reality TV franchise—which featured now president-elect Donald Trump as host for more than a decade—lost the ratings battle with rival networks ABC and CBS ( cbs ) during the 8 p.m. ET primetime slot on Monday night. With Schwarzenegger now in the hosting chair, The New Celebrity Apprentice averaged roughly 4.9 million total viewers across its two-hour premiere, according to Nielsen's tracking numbers.

 ABC's two-hour The Bachelor premiere pulled in nearly 6.6 million viewers by comparison, while CBS averaged more than 6 million viewers between four half-hour sitcoms that aired between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

 While NBC heavily promoted Schwarzenegger's Apprentice takeover ahead of the show's January debut, the movie star and former California governor's reality TV turn got off to a mediocre start, especially when compared with the ratings of his predecessor. The ratings for last night's Celebrity Apprentice premiere were down more than 22% from the debut episode of Trump's most recent season hosting (2014-2015). The show averaged 7.6 million nightly viewers in that season, and the ratings for the key demographic (viewers aged 18 to 49) across that season was roughly 46% higher than what Schwarzenegger's debut scored on Monday.

 The network has been pushing the show's new host and new season for months, including weathering last month's controversy over the fact that president-elect Trump will continue receiving an executive producer credit on the show going forward. (As Fortune reported at the time, Trump has a large stake in the show that he co-created with fellow producer Mark Burnett, but will reportedly be compensated by MGM, which owns the majority stake in the production company that owns the rights to the Apprentice franchise.)

 To be fair, the Celebrity Apprentice premiere faced stiff Monday night competition that included The Bachelor premiere as well as a thrilling college football game in the Penn State-USC Rose Bowl matchup on ESPN ( dis ) . Still, NBC ( cmcsa ) was likely hoping for a more impressive start to the post-Trump era of its Apprentice franchise, even though some early reviews for the Schwarzenegger-led show were not particularly kind .

 When reached for comment, NBC ratings guru Tom Bierbaum noted that last year's season premiere of the Celebrity Apprentice did not face major sports competition and that Monday's premiere still managed to provide a strong lead-in for new NBC gameshow The Wall , which retained most of the Apprentice's viewers to share the top ratings in the 10 p.m. time-slot among the key younger demographic. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to think Donald Trump needs a lesson in making friends after the president-elect chose to criticize his Celebrity Apprentice successor. "Wow, the ratings are in and [new host] Arnold Schwarzenegger got 'swamped' (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT," Trump tweeted Friday after the Trump-less show premiered Monday to 4.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The last season hosted by Trump averaged 7.6 million viewers, per Fortune. "So much for … being a movie star," Trump continued. "But who cares, he supported [John] Kasich & Hillary [Clinton]." Schwarzenegger offered up a reply on Twitter, tweeting, "I wish you the best of luck and I hope you'll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings." He next shared a video he made after the election in which he quotes Abraham Lincoln's inaugural speech, beginning, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies." "Please study this quote ... @realDonaldTrump," he tweeted with the video. "It inspired me every day I was Governor, and I hope it inspires you." (The New York Times is unimpressed with the new season.)


Summarize this article:

Economy 3 Depressing Findings From A Huge New Study Of The Gender Pay Gap CREDIT: Shutterstock

 On the whole, the average woman with a year-round full-time job can expect to make just 79 percent of what a man doing the same makes in a year. There are many factors that go into the disparity. Some conservatives even argue that these factors — that women getting grouped into different jobs than men or perhaps not pursuing education and advances as aggressively — are really what’s behind it.

 But new data released from PayScale on Thursday tells a different story. The numbers come from a survey of about 1.4 million full-time employees over the course of two years. The company doesn’t just report the raw numbers, but also controls for various factors such as marital and family status, job, industry, seniority, geography, education, and generation.

 What it found is that even with all of these variables taken into consideration, women in the survey made 2.7 percent less than men. And they make less even in a number of areas where one might think the gap would be nonexistent.

 Women make less than men in every industry and job

 Overall, women tend to be clustered in lower paying jobs than men. Male-dominated jobs pay a lot more per week than female ones. But women still can’t escape the pay gap by taking a job in a new area. Even when controlled for different factors, there is no industry where women earn equal or more than compared to men. Women make between 1.3 percent less than men in the real estate industry and 5.4 percent less in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas.

 The same holds true when looking at groupings of occupations. In fact, women make less than men in nearly every one of the hundreds of jobs tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 Women make less than men even with more education

 Young women are currently outpacing men in getting college degrees, which in theory could be a good sign for their pay given that college-educated people on the whole make more. But they still can’t escape the wage gap by becoming more educated. There is a gender wage gap at every education level, even when controlled for different factors. Worse, it’s even wider at the highest levels: the 2.2 percent gap in earnings between similar men and women with Associate’s degrees widens to 4.7 percent for those with an MBA and 5.1 percent for those with a PhD.

 CREDIT: Andrew Breiner

 Women make even less the further they get ahead at work

 Some also posit that women make less because they lack enough ambition to get ahead. But women can’t outrun the wage gap by climbing to the top. The controlled gap exists at every job level and even widens as they get further ahead. Entry-level women make 2.2 percent less, while executives make 6.1 percent less.

 There are some other factors that go into the gap. The controlled pay gap is highest between married men with children and married women with children. That may in part be because discrimination against mothers tends to lower their pay, while fathers get a boost. But it also likely reflects that women are much more likely to interrupt or adjust their careers in order to care for family than men.

 It’s also important to remember that while white women make 22 percent less than men, the wage gap is much wider for women of color. ||||| Bloomberg Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has encouraged women to “lean in” to their careers, but even women who make it to the top don’t make as much as men, new data shows.

 The average female worker makes the most money she’ll ever earn a full 25 years before she’s likely to retire.

 Between the ages of 20 and 40, the median pay for women ticks up slightly every five years until topping off at $49,000, where it stays through age 65, according to data released by salary comparison site PayScale on Thursday. But men see their salaries grow all the way until they’re at least 50, when their median earnings hit $75,000.

 But the reason for the divergence at middle age isn’t simply the “obvious explanation” -- that women take time off from work to have kids and return lacking the necessary skills to move up -- as Heidi Hartmann, the president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, puts it. Instead there are other factors at play that result in women reaching their peak earnings potential well before men, Hartmann says.

 One major explanation for the trend: Female-dominated jobs, like teaching and nursing, tend to be less specialized, so they don’t demand the string of promotions and pay premiums that firms typically use to keep their best performers around, says Hartmann. Though professions that fit this bill, such as law and engineering, have certainly become more open to women than in previous years, they’re still not as gender-integrated as they could be, Hartmann says.

 “It’s not really a wage gap, it’s a jobs gap,” says Katie Bardaro, PayScale’s lead economist.

 Read: Gender wage gap narrows by just 1 cent

 But even when men and women choose the same types of jobs, women get paid less, PayScale found. What’s more, the gap in pay only grows as men and women climb the corporate ladder. Women executives get paid 6.1% less on average than their male counterparts, PayScale found. Regular rank-and-file workers have a pay gap of just 2.2%.

 “There’s discrimination,” Hartmann says. “I think that a lot of pay is still based on the head of household model.” In other words, men get paid more because the expectation is that they’re earning money for their families, whereas women’s salaries are thought of as simply a “nice to have” for a family, she says. “There’s a heck of a lot of inefficiency the way supervisors set wages,” Hartmann says.

 That dynamic may in part explain why women appear to be more shy about voicing their commitment to their families. PayScale found that 52% of men say they prioritize their home life over work at least one or two times a month, versus 46% of women. “Women -- even if they do it -- don’t want to say that they do it, because they’re worried they’re being judged for it,” Bardero said.

 More from MarketWatch ||||| 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. |||||

– Women's earnings continue to rise slightly every five years between the ages of 20 and 40, at which point the median salary peaks at $49,000. From there until retirement 25 years later women's earnings remain flat, while men's salaries continue to grow until into their 50s, at which point the median salary is around $75,000, reports Marketwatch. This discrepancy persists even when men and women hold the same jobs, according to numbers released by salary comparison site PayScale, with a regular pay gap of 2.2% for most workers and an even higher one, 6.1%, for executives. ThinkProgress notes that the study shows the wage gap persists in every industry, at every educational level, and at every job level. "There’s discrimination," says Heidi Hartmann, the president of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. "A lot of pay is still based on the head of household model, where expectations that men earn to support their families while women earn money that's just "nice to have" persist, she says. "There’s a heck of a lot of inefficiency the way supervisors set wages." And while more women do tend to take some time off of work to start a family, this doesn't explain the stalled increase in earnings a full decade before men see the same plateau. Hartmann says that at least some of the difference may be more in the kinds of jobs women are currently taking versus men, and Payscale's lead economist backs that up. "It’s not really a wage gap, it’s a jobs gap," Katie Bardaro says. Fast Company has a more detailed breakdown, ranging from a gender wage gap of 9.4% in farming, fishing, and forestry, to 1.4% in personal care and service. (See why Jennifer Lawrence thinks she's paid less than her male co-stars.)


Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 Dunkin' is dropping the donuts — from its name, anyway.

 Doughnuts are still on the menu, but the company is renaming itself "Dunkin'" to reflect its increasing emphasis on coffee and other drinks.

 The change will officially take place in January, when the new name will start appearing on napkins, boxes, and signs at its U.S. stores. The name change will eventually be adopted by international stores.

 Dunkin' has more than 12,500 restaurants globally.

 The 68-year-old chain says its new logo will still have the familiar rounded font and orange-and-pink color scheme that the company has used since 1973.

 Canton, Massachusetts-based Dunkin' says the name change is one of several things it's doing to stay relevant to younger customers. It's also simplifying its menu and adding dedicated mobile ordering lanes. ||||| Just call it Dunkin'.

 Starting in January, Dunkin' Donuts will drop the "Donuts" from ads, packages and signage at new and remodeled stores, as well as its social media accounts.

 The makeover is part of Dunkin' Brand's efforts to relabel itself as a "beverage-led" company that focuses on coffees, teas, speedy service and to-go food including -— but not limited to — doughnuts.

 Dunkin' says that beverages, especially coffee, make up 60% of the company's US sales.

 "Our new branding is one of many things we are doing as part of our blueprint for growth to modernize the Dunkin' experience for our customer," said Dunkin' Brands (DNKN)CEO David Hoffmann in a statement Tuesday.

 The company said last year that it was considering the change. It tested out a store in Pasadena, California, that used the shorter name.

 The company later unveiled another store in Massachusetts that adopted the "Dunkin'" moniker as well. That store also included digital kiosks, an expanded Grab & Go section and a drive-thru that let customers cut the line if they ordered ahead on the app.

 Dunkin' also has plans to get bigger. Executives reiterated on a conference call Tuesday that the company plans to open 1,000 new US stores by the end of 2020. |||||

Write a summary.

– First WW, now another high-profile name change. Dunkin' Donuts will as of January be known simply as Dunkin', in what NBC News reports is a rebranding designed to reflect its broadened focus on coffee and other beverages and up its appeal to a younger audience. CNN describes it as wanting to be seen as a "beverage-led" company. The logo may be down a word, but the company says it won't otherwise look different: It will still use orange and pink and the rounded font it has had in use since 1973, with the pink part now becoming the apostrophe. And yes, stores will still serve doughnuts.


– Russian hackers' apparent infiltration of the White House computer network in October wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring, even though it was the unclassified portion of the system that was breached. Now US officials say some of the unclassified information that made its way onto hackers' screens was related to President Obama's itineraries—not classified knowledge, but not exactly public knowledge, notes CNN. The Hill points out that although the press has access to "a general outline" of Obama's daily routine, there are still phone calls and meetings that aren't made public, and that foreign spies would apparently love to know about. Obama's exact location at any given point during the day is also often kept on the down-low, and certain parts of the White House are off-limits to the press, the Hill adds. Besides the White House scheduling and press offices, others who use the hacked system include the general counsel's office and the budget and legislative liaison offices, ABC News reports. The hackers are believed to have accessed the White House network by first hacking State Department files, according to investigators, which leads to the fear that hackers have gotten back into the State Department system. One official tells CNN that the hackers have "owned" the network "for months." "There's always vulnerability," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes noted at a press conference, per CBS News. "The fact is that's why we have a classified system because there's less risk in the classified system, and that is secure." (The FBI is going after one Russian hacker in particular.)

Expand this summary.

Russian hackers who hit the White House infiltrated an unclassified computer system and apparently accessed details about President Obama's schedule.

 While the White House previously sought to downplay the seriousness of the hack, which took place last year, the intruders were able to see information about the president that was not publicly available, CNN reported Tuesday.

 Officials briefed on the investigation told CNN that the incident was connected to a Russian cyberattack that also breached the State Department's network.

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 The breach of Obama’s schedule is notable because the White House maintains tight control over information about the president’s activities.While a general outline of the day’s events is available to the press, Obama takes many meetings and phone calls throughout the day that are not publicly disclosed.The president’s precise whereabouts are also not always known, and the press pool that covers Obama on a daily basis is restricted from accessing many parts of the White House building and grounds.Intimate knowledge of Obama’s activities would be seen as valuable to foreign intelligence agencies like Russia’s.Officials with knowledge of the investigation told CNN that Russian hackers were able to break into the White House system through their foothold within networks at the State Department.The intrusion began when hackers sent what is known as a "phishing" email from a State Department account, infecting a White House computer with malware, the investigators said.The State Department has been battling its own highly sophisticated cyber intrusion for months, though exactly which portions of its network remain breached is unclear.Private security experts had suspected there was a link between the State Department and White House break-ins.Russia is a key adversary of the United States in cyberspace, and is believed to have infiltrated most U.S. critical infrastructure, including installing malware in software that controls everything from oil and gas pipelines to wind turbines to nuclear power plants.The White House breach made headlines last year as a sign of hackers’ increasing access to the highest levels of the U.S. government.White House officials confirmed in October that its unclassified system had been breached. Computers and systems were not damaged, officials said, though some services were disrupted as cybersecurity experts sought to limit hackers’ activity in the months that followed.The “vast majority” of systems were back online as of late February, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at the time.

 —Last updated at 6 p.m. ||||| Washington (CNN) Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.

 While the White House has said the breach only affected an unclassified system, that description belies the seriousness of the intrusion. The hackers had access to sensitive information such as real-time non-public details of the president's schedule. While such information is not classified, it is still highly sensitive and prized by foreign intelligence agencies, U.S. officials say.

 The White House in October said it noticed suspicious activity in the unclassified network that serves the executive office of the president. The system has been shut down periodically to allow for security upgrades.

 The FBI, Secret Service and U.S. intelligence agencies are all involved in investigating the breach, which they consider among the most sophisticated attacks ever launched against U.S. government systems. The intrusion was routed through computers around the world, as hackers often do to hide their tracks, but investigators found tell-tale codes and other markers that they believe point to hackers working for the Russian government.

 National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh didn't confirm the Russian hack, but he did say that "any such activity is something we take very seriously."

 "In this case, as we made clear at the time, we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity," he said. "As has been our position, we are not going to comment on [this] article's attribution to specific actors."

 Neither the U.S. State Department nor the Russian Embassy immediately responded to a request for comment.

 Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the White House's use of a separate system for classified information protected sensitive national security-related items from being obtained by hackers.

 "We do not believe that our classified systems were compromised," Rhodes told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.

 "We're constantly updating our security measures on our unclassified system, but we're frankly told to act as if we need not put information that's sensitive on that system," he said. "In other words, if you're going to do something classified, you have to do it on one email system, one phone system. Frankly, you have to act as if information could be compromised if it's not on the classified system."

 To get to the White House, the hackers first broke into the State Department, investigators believe.

 The State Department computer system has been bedeviled by signs that despite efforts to lock them out, the Russian hackers have been able to reenter the system. One official says the Russian hackers have "owned" the State Department system for months and it is not clear the hackers have been fully eradicated from the system.

 As in many hacks, investigators believe the White House intrusion began with a phishing email that was launched using a State Department email account that the hackers had taken over, according to the U.S. officials.

 Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in a speech at an FBI cyberconference in January, warned government officials and private businesses to teach employees what "spear phishing" looks like.

 "So many times, the Chinese and others get access to our systems just by pretending to be someone else and then asking for access, and someone gives it to them," Clapper said.

 The ferocity of the Russian intrusions in recent months caught U.S. officials by surprise, leading to a reassessment of the cybersecurity threat as the U.S. and Russia increasingly confront each other over issues ranging from the Russian aggression in Ukraine to the U.S. military operations in Syria.

 Sen. Susan Collins said the revelations of the Russian hack "are troubling and further expose that our nation's defenses against cyber-attacks are dangerously inadequate." The Republican senator from Maine said the breach showed the need to pass legislation to encourage the government and private companies to bolster their cyber defenses.

 The attacks on the State and White House systems is one reason why Clapper told a Senate hearing in February that the "Russian cyberthreat is more severe than we have previously assessed."

 The revelations about the State Department hacks also come amid controversy over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server to conduct government business during her time in office. Critics say her private server likely was even less safe than the State system. The Russian breach is believed to have come after Clinton departed State.

 But hackers have long made Clinton and her associates targets.

 The website The Smoking Gun first reported in 2013 that a hacker known as Guccifer had broken into the AOL email of Sidney Blumenthal, a friend and advisor to the Clintons, and published emails Blumenthal sent to Hillary Clinton's private account. The emails included sensitive memos on foreign policy issues and were the first public revelation of the existence of Hillary Clinton's private email address now at the center of controversy: hdr22@clintonemail.com. The address is no longer in use. ||||| A new report says Russia was behind a hack of a White House computer network last year that exposed sensitive information about President Obama. Now, federal agencies are investigating the breach, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Plante.

 The White House would not say who they think is responsible, but sources told CBS News it did come from Russia. The White House has two computer systems: one that handles classified information, the other non-classified information. The unclassified system is the one that was reportedly breached.

 "There's always vulnerability," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said at a press conference. "The fact is that's why we have a classified system because there's less risk in the classified system and that is secure. On the unclassified system we take regular actions to prevent vulnerabilities and to enhance security."

 Rhodes did not provide specifics about reports that the Russians were behind that hack of the White House's unclassified system last year. That system contains non-public information, including Mr. Obama's sensitive, unpublished schedule.

 The reported hack happened during a tense time between the White House and the Kremlin when Mr. Obama and Russian President Putin were at odds over Moscow's involvement in Ukraine.

 "It is a demonstration that the Russians are willing to up the ante in the cyber games against the United States and they're willing to demonstrate their capabilities against the White House itself, the center of American power," CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate.

 Last October, officials confirmed suspicious cyber activity was detected on the White House computer network around the same time the State Department system was compromised. According to reports, that's how the hackers slipped into the White House system.

 "The reality is that Russia, China and other competitive nation states have at their command, impressive and potentially detrimental cyber tools and they are willing to use them," Zarate said.

 In February, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a Senate committee that the Russian cyber threat is more severe than previously assessed. ||||| Russian hackers penetrated the White House non-public, non-classified computer system for several months last year, forcing the White House to shut down the system for several days, U.S. officials said.

 The hacked system is not used for classified information, but is used by the White House advance and press office, the general counsel’s office, and officials in the budget and legislative liaison offices.

 One person briefed on the hacking said the Russian invaders were difficult to detect and difficult to remove from the White House computer network, and some believe the hackers could still be hiding inside the system tonight.

 Ben Rhodes, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, declined to confirm the breach to CNN, which first reported it today.

 “We’ve spoken to the fact that there was an event last year,” Rhodes said. “There’s always vulnerability and the fact is, that’s why we have a classified system, because there’s less risk on the classified system that is secure.”

 The White House National Security Council released a statement saying it disclosed the malicious activity last year and said, “any such activity is something we take very seriously.”

 The White House hack comes after the State Department struggled for months to evict hackers from its own non-classified systems, also suspected to be the work of Russian hackers. That hack prompted the State Department to shut down its unclassified email system in March.

 US officials briefly referred to the White House cyberattack when they said last fall it was "connected" to the State Department hack. |||||


Write a summary based on this article:

Fall is still a great time to be single. This fall special is for that single person who is happy with who they are. This 925 Sterling Silver Ring can be worn on any finger but is usually worn on the right ring finger. The origination of the Venus and Mars, female and male symbols date back to the 1700's. The interlocked male and female symbols prominently displayed on the rings signify the attraction to others. ||||| Give a dead marriage

 its proper, final resting place. The Wedding Ring Coffin is the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one for bringing closure after a divorce. It’s time to...

 Bury the past and move on to a new tomorrow

 Latest News

 The View says Wedding Ring Coffin is amazing Social Links

 Who Gets The Coffin? Who gets the coffin? Katie or Tom? Cast your vote!

  ||||| His rings, which resemble traditional wedding bands except for a gap in the center, sell for $200 to $500. They have a “dual purpose,” according to the company’s Web site, not only as “attractive jewelry,” but also as “a healing tool for broken hearts.”

 Photo

 Never married? No worries. The Ah Ring, which stands for “available and happy,” is a $350 band with diamonds that is meant to be worn on the pinky. The ring’s meaning is hard to discern, because it looks like a silver band sprinkled with diamonds.

 And the Web site that sells it, apparently not wanting to ward off any potential customers, says that while the Ah ring was “originally created for confident and joyful single women,” others can wear it because the “Ah” can also stand for “attached and happy.”

 Della Beaver, who lives outside Philadelphia and manages operations for a medical referral service, bought herself an Ah Ring for her 50th birthday last June. She has never been married.

 “Usually men buy you diamonds, and I was like, ‘Why can’t I just buy my own diamond?’ ” Ms. Beaver said. “So the ring was liberating for me, because I don’t need others to tell me that I’m beautiful, I’m sexy, I’m intelligent, I’m fabulous just as I am.”

 Women are not the only buyers in this category. Tim Gould, the president of My Single Ring, said that of the nearly 1,000 rings he has sold since starting the online business last year — at $40 each — about 30 percent have been to men.

 One customer, Brian Chapman, a 31-year-old real estate agent in Chicago, said that his ring has been an “icebreaker” because women strike up conversations about it, and that it has led to as many dates in the four months he has worn it.

 Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 Mr. Chapman, who wears the ring on his right ring finger, said that some dates followed women approaching him and joking that he had his ring on the wrong finger, suspecting that he’d put his wedding ring on his other hand to disguise being married.

 Photo

 Andrea Helms, 36, an operations manager at an insurance company who is from Chicago, said she wears My Single Ring “to say that I’m comfortable being single” but in a way that is more discreet than “a neon sign on my forehead that says ‘single and looking.’ ”

 It did indeed get her a date: Ms. Helms was at a Chicago Cubs game wearing her My Single Ring when she was approached by Scott Gilbert, an owner of the company, who naturally was also wearing the ring. He asked her out, and they dated for a couple months — though not anymore — during which time Mr. Gilbert continued to wear his single ring as a “marketing tool,” Ms. Helms said.

 She said that some of her friends think wearing a ring that telegraphs one’s availability has its downside. If an unwanted suitor won’t leave you alone, it’s hard to play the boyfriend card.

 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.

 In that case, a woman might prefer the Ms. Taken ring, which at $30 is more of a gag gift. Also introduced in 2009 — and scheduled to be featured in Snuggie-like infomercials in June — it is a silver-and-crystal engagement-ring look-alike that can be slipped on as needed to thwart the advances of pushy guys.

 Then there is a more serious emerging category: specialty rings for gay men and lesbians. When Jeffrey Hames, 48, and Kenneth Daniel, 36, who live in Memphis and will be married in September on Cape Cod, decided to wed, “I did not want to go the traditional route, like Zales or other jewelers, where their wedding rings are tailored to being for a straight man and a straight woman,” said Mr. Daniel, a payroll administrator.

 The couple shopped at LoveAndPride.com, which sells wedding and commitment ceremony rings for same-sex couples by the jewelry designer Udi Behr. They selected matching white gold rings, each costing $1,895 and consisting of two interlocking bands bearing the classic male gender symbol (a circle with an arrow pointing up and to the right). Mr. Hames and Mr. Daniel are both wearing one of the bands during their engagement and will exchange the second during their ceremony.

 Meanwhile, the resale market for used engagement and wedding rings is booming, with popular online auction Web sites like IDoNowIDont.com, which Josh Opperman helped found after his fiancée broke off their engagement, and ExBoyfriendJewelry.com (tag line: “You don’t want it. He can’t have it back.”).

 For those who prefer not to part with them, however, the Wedding Ring Coffin is a casket-shaped box for decommissioned rings. According to Jill Testa, the founder of the company that sells them, the personalized engraved messages that customers have ordered for the coffins include, “He broke my heart but I broke the bank” and “The end of an error!” |||||

– Not engaged, but just dying for an oh-so-special ring to call your own? Great news: Thanks to today’s brilliant jewelry marketers, there’s a ring for every relationship status you’d like to broadcast to the world, be it “available and happy” or “divorced, available, and happy.” Websites like MySingleRing.com offer you a silver band that promises to deliver the message, “I am an intelligent, empowered individual”…who also just so happens to be single and looking. The trend goes even further, reports the New York Times, with more divorced people starting to turn their wedding bands into “divorce rings” (picture a severed band with a stitched-together gap). If you just can’t bear the sight of your wedding band, no problem: D Jewelry Company will sell you a brand-new divorce ring. Want to go one step further? Consider the Wedding Ring Coffin.


News article:

June 27, 2011

 The purpose of this analysis is to shed light on the operation of the debt limit in case Congress does not raise the limit before the federal government runs short of cash and is no longer able to meet all of its obligations.

 In particular, we have addressed three questions:

 What is the date past which the government will be unable to honor all obligations? If that date is passed without a debt limit increase, what will be the effect on federal spending? If that date is passed without a debt limit increase, what are the potential consequences in the market for Treasury securities, as well as in other markets and in the broader economy?

 Please note that the analysis has been updated to reflect recent Treasury data. The daily outlook has been extended through the end of August and a new "layers of defense" slide has been added. Additional information about August securities has also been updated.

 Read in your web browser below:

 Try It Yourself

 The federal government has an estimated $306.7 billion in payment obligations for August 2011 after the 2nd of the month. The U.S. will take in $172.4 billion in revenue from August 3 to 31, 2011. Check out the following tools to make the difficult choices that would prioritize programs and balance the books:

 News

 Attached files

 Report, Economic Policy Project ||||| What happens if President Obama and Congress don’t strike a debt deal?

 On Aug. 3, the nation would find out, with Obama forced to make a set of extraordinarily difficult choices about what to pay or not pay. By then, the government’s savings account would be nearly empty and the president would be relying on daily tax revenue to pay the nation’s bills.

 There wouldn’t be enough — in fact, there would be a $134 billion shortfall in August alone.

 As Obama decided what to pay, he would choose among Social Security checks, salaries for members of the military and veterans, unemployment benefits, student loans, and many other government programs, according to administration officials and an independent analysis by a former senior Treasury Department official in the George H.W. Bush administration.

 To protect the nation’s creditworthiness, Obama would have to balance those priorities with the imperative of making payments to investors in U.S. government bonds — ranging from domestic pension funds to the Chinese government.

 “You can move the chess pieces around all you want,” said Jay Powell, a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center and an author of the analysis. “You’re going to lose.”

 For months, the president has been pressing Congress to raise the federal limit on borrowing, now at $14.3 trillion. Members of both parties have balked, saying they first want a plan to tame the growth of the debt.

 On Wednesday, with negotiations over raising the debt ceiling hung up, Moody’s said it might downgrade the U.S. government’s top-of-the-line credit rating, which helps keep U.S. bonds the global gold standard, “given the rising possibility that the statutory debt limit will not be raised on a timely basis, leading to a default.”

 Obama says he must reach an agreement by July 22 to get legislation through Congress and meet an Aug. 2 deadline, after which the Treasury Department projects it will no longer have enough money to pay for all U.S. obligations. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has warned that a default would deal a severe blow to the economy.

 Some skeptics in Congress and conservative economists say that Obama has overstated the risk of not raising the debt ceiling and that tax revenue could pay for up to 60 percent of government operations.

 “You do not have to default and you don’t have to shut down the government if you choose not to,” said Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland. If Congress raises the debt ceiling without a long-term plan for reducing the federal deficit, he added, “they’ll never solve the problem, and we’ll end up like Greece.”

 Obama’s advisers have said that prioritizing some payments over others is impractical and would be chaotic. Money comes in and flows out at an inconsistent rate.

 “You would have to make heinous choices about which bills you would pay,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.

 On Wednesday night, several Republican leaders were briefed on the Bipartisan Policy Center report as concern grew in the party about the potential impact of not raising the debt ceiling.

 According to the center’s analysis, the government would have to cut 44 percent of spending immediately. Through August, the government could afford Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense contracts, unemployment insurance and payments to bondholders.

 But then it would have to eliminate all other federal spending, including pay for veterans, members of the armed services and civil servants, as well as funding for Pell grants, special-education programs, the federal courts, law enforcement, national nuclear programs and housing assistance.

 After the debt ceiling was breached, there would be no delay in the tough decisions.

 On Aug. 3, the Treasury is set to receive about $12 billion in tax revenue — mainly from people paying their taxes late — and is slated to spend $32 billion, including sending out more than 25 million Social Security and disability checks at a cost of $23 billion, according to Powell’s analysis.

 Obama could decide to pay half of the Social Security checks and ignore other bills coming due that day, which include $500 million in federal salaries and $1.4 billion in payments to defense contractors.

 Or he could decide not to make any Social Security payments and instead hoard tax revenues to pay investors in U.S. bonds. A failure to pay those investors would severely destabilize the financial system, analysts say. (Some also argue that the Treasury could engage in a never-before-tried swap of government bonds that would allow it to pay for Social Security. But Treasury officials say it is highly unlikely to work and may not be legal.)

 Aug. 4 could prove even more difficult. The government is slated to spend $10 billion and raise only $4 billion in revenue.

 More worrisome for government officials is the $100 billion in Treasury bonds that come due on Aug. 4 and must be paid off. Ordinarily, Treasury would pay off those bonds and issue new bonds.

 But if the debt ceiling isn’t increased, Treasury could run into trouble “rolling over” this debt. Ratings agencies are threatening to downgrade U.S. bonds if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. If the bonds are downgraded, many investors — such as retirement funds — can’t buy them.

 As a result, there could be far fewer buyers of Treasury bonds and the U.S. government would have to pay much higher interest rates.

 Government officials and analysts say a spike in rates would dramatically increase the cost of funding the government and lead to far higher interest rates on mortgages, credit cards and other types of debt. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– If Washington doesn’t manage to raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, Tim Geithner’s going to have some angry people on his hands. That’s the date the Bipartisan Policy Center predicts the government will run out of money, leaving the US to pay its bills with incoming tax money. In August, that amounts to $172.4 billion in revenue to pay $306.7 billion in obligations, meaning someone—be it seniors, soldiers, the unemployed, or bondholders—will be getting shafted, the Washington Post observes. “You can move the chess pieces around all you want,” says the former Treasury official who ran the analysis. “You’re going to lose.” Paying for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense contracts, and unemployment, for example, would leave the government unable to pay courts, police, soldiers, veterans, and so on. At the same time, Treasury must pay bondholders, or its credit rating will drop—making future borrowing even costlier.


Singers Justin Bieber and Usher (R) pose together after performing on NBC's ''Today'' show in New York in this November 23, 2011, file photo.

 Justin Bieber and Usher were ordered by a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to face a $10 million lawsuit claiming the singers illegally copied parts of a song composed by two Virginia songwriters.

 By a 3-0 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond revived a May 2013 lawsuit by Devin Copeland, an R&B; singer known as De Rico, and his songwriting partner Mareio Overton, saying a lower court judge was wrong to dismiss it.

 The plaintiffs claimed that three versions of the song "Somebody to Love" recorded by Bieber, Usher or both shared the beat pattern, time signature, and similar chords and lyrics with their song with the same name.

 "After listening to the Copeland song and the Bieber and Usher songs as wholes, we conclude that their choruses are similar enough and also significant enough that a reasonable jury could find the songs intrinsically similar," Circuit Judge Pamela Harris wrote for the appeals court.

 Among the other defendants were publishers such as Vivendi SA's Universal Music Publishing Group and Sony Corp's Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

 Defense lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 Duncan Byers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, in an interview said the panel "recognized what my clients have said all along: it's the same melody and the same chorus."

 The lawsuit will return to the lower court.

 One version of "Somebody to Love," recorded by Bieber and credited to him as a co-writer, peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2010.

 The plaintiffs alleged that music scouts had played their song, which was written in 2008, for Usher, who liked what he heard and then brought it to Bieber.

 U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen dismissed the lawsuit in March 2014, saying no reasonable jury could find copyright infringement.

 Harris, though, said even the lyric "somebody to love" was delivered in an "almost identical rhythm and a strikingly similar melody."

 The judge also said it did not matter that the Bieber and Usher versions qualified as "dance pop, perhaps with hints of electronica" while the Copeland version was "squarely" R&B.;

 She said to rule otherwise could give artists too wide a berth to profit from others' songs, such as through unlicensed reggae or heavy metal versions of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" that had a different "concept and feel."

 The case is Copeland et al v. Bieber et al, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-1427.

 (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr) ||||| 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. ||||| Bieber, Usher We Need Somebody To Love ... On A Jury

 Justin Bieber, Usher -- We Need Somebody to Love ... On a Jury

 Justin Bieber and Usher are on the hot seat again for their song, "Somebody to Love," because some pretty powerful judges just ruled ... the duo may have ripped off another artist.

 The Bieber/Usher collaboration is "Somebody to Love," recorded in 2010. A guy named Devin Copeland, known as De Rico, and his songwriting partner Mareio Overton claim the famous pair ripped off their 2008 song by the same name.

 Problem for Copeland and Overton ... a federal judge ruled the songs weren't similar at all and booted them out of court in 2014.

 But a federal appeals court just ruled, the first judge was way off base, concluding, the Bieber/Usher hook have an "almost identical rhythm and strikingly similar melody."

 So the case now goes back for a full-blown trial where they're seeking $10 million in damages. Listen to the songs. If you were on the jury, would you nail the Biebs? |||||

Write a summary.

– Justin Bieber and Usher might be on the hook for $10 million after being accused of ripping off a song. An appeals court in Virginia today ordered the pair to stand trial over "Somebody to Love." An R&B singer named De Rico claims that he and his songwriting partner played their version for Usher, and then Usher took it to Bieber, and the pair stole it, reports Reuters and TMZ. A lower court dismissed the case, but the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals today put it back in motion. "After listening to the (De Rico) song and the Bieber and Usher songs as wholes, we conclude that their choruses are similar enough and also significant enough that a reasonable jury could find the songs intrinsically similar," wrote Judge Pamela Harris. She added that the lyric "somebody to love" has an "almost identical rhythm and a strikingly similar melody."