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Image copyright Getty Images Grammar schools perform no better than non-selective state schools, once their pupils' higher ability and wealth is taken into account, a study suggests. Academics at Durham University found the "apparent success" of these wholly selective schools was down to their brighter and more advantaged pupils. They say increasing the number of schools that select pupils by ability would be dangerous for equality. The government said it was working to widen access to grammar schools. Grammar schools have a reputation for high academic achievement and dominate the top of the school league tables. 'Social segregation' But this research, based on the detailed results of nearly 550,000 pupils, suggests once the ability and social background of pupils is taken into account, grammar schools are no more or less effective than other schools. The research not only looked at the social backgrounds of grammar pupils, but also: rates of chronic poverty ethnicity home language special educational needs age in the year group The findings suggest England's grammars take only a tiny proportion of pupils who are, or have been, eligible for free school meals. Image copyright Getty Images This is important, say the researchers, because such pupils' results tend to decline with every year they are on free meals. This means that other schools in selective areas are taking more than their fair share of the poorest and chronically poor pupils. The Conservative government had to abandon plans to allow new grammar schools to open, following its weak position in Parliament after the general election. But ministers are keen to continue to allow existing grammars to expand. 'No clear gain' An analysis of pupil numbers by the BBC showed the equivalent of 11 new selective schools had been created since 2010 as existing schools had expanded. Prof Stephen Gorard, from Durham's School of Education, said: "Dividing children into the most able and the rest from an early age does not appear to lead to better results for either group. "This means that the kind of social segregation experienced by children in selective areas in England, and the damage to social cohesion that ensues, is for no clear gain. "This is not to decry the schools that are currently grammars, or the work of their staff. "However, the findings mean that grammar schools in England endanger social cohesion for no clear improvement in overall results. The policy is a bad one." A Department for Education official said: "We want every child to receive a world-class education and to give parents greater choice when it comes to picking the school that's right for them - grammar schools are a part of this. "Around 60% of these schools already prioritise admissions for disadvantaged children, and we are continuing to work closely with the school sector to widen access further. "Research shows that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds make better progress across core subjects in selective schools, and attain better results." Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: "There is a wealth of evidence that selection at 11 works against the government's stated ambition of improving social mobility. "Creating new grammars schools is not the best way to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Instead, greater investment in high quality early years education would have a bigger impact on life chances - 11 is too late to bridge the gap."

​Абсолют Банк предложил заемщикам валютной ипотеки варианты реструктуризации долга и установил льготный курс доллара. Об этом говорится в сообщении банка, которое было опубликовано на его сайте в четверг, 28 января. Один вариант, предложенный банком валютным заемщикам, предполагает конвертацию долга по льготному курсу 65 руб. за долл. Для тех заемщиков, у кого есть трое и более несовершеннолетних детей, банк предлагает курс 57 руб. за долл. Кредит в рубли при этом будет конвертироваться по ставке 12% годовых. Воспользоваться предложенными банком вариантами смогут только те заемщики, кто соответствует условиям госпрограммы помощи должникам в трудной ситуации Агентства по ипотечному жилищному кредитованию (АИЖК). При этом сделать это можно будет до 1 мая 2016 года. Кроме того, Абсолют Банк предложил заемщикам полное погашение долга по льготному курсу 60 руб. за долл. Этим предложением можно будет воспользоваться до 1 марта 2016 года. Предложение банка было сделано после того, как рабочая группа представителей Абсолют Банка встретилась в центральном офисе с членами инициативной группы валютных ипотечных заемщиков.

Northwestern is determined to change the national narrative about its program this season. How will the Wildcats do that? ‘‘We worry about what we can control, and we’ll just keep winning,’’ coach Pat Fitzgerald said Wednesday at the Walter Athletics Center in Evanston. Even after NU won the Big Ten West last season, ESPN’s football power index has the Wildcats favored to win only four of their 12 games this season. Why is NU so consistently underrated? Fitzgerald has several theories. The Wildcats have struggled against lesser opponents early in their last few seasons. Since 2016, they have lost to Illinois State, Western Michigan and Akron and to Duke twice. But they have a combined 36-17 record the last four seasons, the third-best in the Big Ten West during that span. ‘‘Those who don’t cover us weekly or monthly or cover the Big Ten, they kind of define our team based on a handful of games, and they’re all losses,’’ Fitzgerald said. ‘‘I told the team, ‘If you guys want to change that narrative, you have to go out and earn it.’ ’’ NU also hasn’t had a high-scoring offense that runs up the score on opponents. In the last two seasons, the Wildcats are a combined 9-2 in games decided by eight points or fewer. ‘‘That may play into why, maybe, we don’t get a lot of national recognition from a respect standpoint,’’ Fitzgerald said. ‘‘I didn’t know the goal was to win by 80 points. I thought it was to win by one.’’ Most of the players don’t mind being underdogs. In fact, some prefer it. ‘‘Everyone is counting us out, and I like it,’’ linebacker Paddy Fisher said. ‘‘I’m big on laying low. When the time comes we’re exalted, and we show what we’ve been doing in the dark has come to light.’’ ‘‘We’re embracing it, knowing we have a target on our backs this year,’’ receiver Riley Lees said. ‘‘If we have that mentality, it’ll help us go into games like, ‘We’re the team that everyone in the West wants to beat.’ And I think that’ll help us attack and do what we have to do to win.’’ Repeating as Big Ten West champions won’t be easy. Six of NU’s first seven opponents are projected to be Top 25 teams this season. ‘‘We haven’t gotten the starts we wanted over the last few seasons,’’ Fitzgerald said. ‘‘We’re not going to overanalyze it, other than the fact that we have to prepare better and we have to play better. ‘‘You want to earn [respect] by playing the best teams you possibly can. The way the season sets up for us in the first couple of weeks, it’s going to be a daunting challenge. But it’s going to be an absolutely phenomenal opportunity.’’

Help Bring Trader Joe's to Omaha, Nebraska We've begun a petition that will be sent to the gentleman in charge of real estate acquisition for Trader Joe's to show him that we are serious about our request that they locate a TJ's in Omaha. You do NOT need to give your email address or donate to the petition site. You can place [email protected] in the email address slot. Thank you in advance. Petition to Help Bring Trader Joe's to Omaha, NE As we reported before, you can help bring Trader Joe's to Omaha by filling out a location request form on the Trader Joe's website. However, it appears things might be moving further along if this petition is a sign of anything.You can also join the Bring Trader Joe's to Omaha, Nebraska group on Facebook for further updates. While you're there, be sure to join the GFC fan page too if you haven't already. Labels: NOTICE, SHOPPING

In Romania exista 10 operatori de trenuri privati, insa doar 4 dintre acestia au legaturi intre marile orase din tara. Cat costa sa circuli cu trenurile private si in cat timp ajungi la destinatie, comparativ cu "performantele" trenurilor CFR, afli din tabelul de mai jos. Dati click pe harta pentru a mari imaginea. Pe ce rute castigi cu trenurile private O calatorie cu trenurile private este, in cele mai multe cazuri, la jumatate din pret comparativ cu una prin CFR. De exemplu, asa cum poti observa in tabelul de mai jos, un bilet pe ruta Bucuresti-Brasov costa 25 lei la companiile private Softrans si Regiotrans, pe cand la CFR ai plati dublu. Companie feroviara Ruta Timp Pret CFR (timp/pret) Softrans Bucuresti - Brasov 2:30 25 lei 2:42 / 50,5 lei (rang: InterRegio) Bucuresti - Craiova 2:52 30,5 lei 2:56 / 62 lei (InterRegio) Craiova - Brasov 5:45 47,5 lei 5:41 / 102,05 lei (InterRegio) Bucuresti - Constanta* 2:24 40 lei 2:25 / 62 lei (InterRegio) Regiotrans Bucuresti - Brasov 2:55 25 lei 2:42 / 50,5 lei (rang: InterRegio) Bucuresti - Craiova 3:41 30,5 lei 2:56 / 62 lei (InterRegio) Bucuresti - Pitesti 2:26 17 lei 2:00 / 36 lei (InterRegio) Bucuresti - Curtea de Arges 3:12 20,5 lei 2:45 / 16 lei (Regio) Craiova - Brasov 6:50 47,5 lei 5:41 / 102,05 lei (InterRegio) Brasov - Iasi 8:27 57,5 lei 9:39 / 123,65 lei (IR+IR+R) Brasov - Zarnesti 0:50 4,5 lei Nu exista rute Brasov - Intorsura Buzaului 0:46 5,5 lei Nu exista rute Bucuresti - Constanta* 2:42 45 lei 2:25 / 62 lei (InterRegio) Interregional Cluj-Napoca - Bistrita Nord 2:40 16 lei 2:43 / 31 lei (IR+R) Transferoviar Bucuresti - Buzau (Regio) 2:10 19 lei 2:43 / 19 lei (R) 1:54 / 41 lei (IR) Bucuresti - Galati 4:10 30,5 lei 4:08 / 62 lei (InterRegio) Galati - Barlad 2:38 16 lei Nu exista rute Titan Sud (Bucuresti) - Oltenita 1:46 9,5 lei Nu exista rute Cluj-Napoca - Oradea (Regio) 3:10 21,5 lei 3:55 / 21,5 lei (Regio) 2:38 / 46 lei (InterRegio) *Trenurile private pe ruta Bucuresti-Constanta circula doar vara. Timpul de calatorie cu trenuri private este mai mic Trenurile private castiga teren si la durata calatoriei. In multe dintre exemplele de mai sus, trenurile private ajung mai devreme cu cel putin 10 minute. Nu ar fi o diferenta foarte mare fata de trenurile CFR, insa daca revenim la criteriul pret, sesizam o "distanta" foarte mare intre oferta statului si oferta particularilor. In trenul Regiotrans, pe ruta Bucuresti-Brasov Facilitati in plus Trenurile private ies in fata cu o facilitate foarte importanta: vanzarea biletelor direct in tren. Daca la CFR nu putem cumpara biletul de la "nasu'", in trenurile private putem urca linistiti, fara sa mai stam la coada la casa de bilete, mai ales daca ajungem mai tarziu in gara. Biletele se vand in tren pentru ca, de fapt, nu pot fi cumparate din gari. Singura exceptie este Gara de Nord din Bucuresti, unde exista doua case ale companiei Regiotrans. Biletele nu sunt cu loc in tren, asa ca le poti cumpara direct de la controlor sau direct de pe site-ul companiei. Cel putin intre Bucuresti si Brasov, trenul a fost destul de gol intr-o zi de duminica. Atentie, insa, daca vrei sa calatoresti cu Softrans. Daca planuesti sa cumperi biletul direct din tren, s-ar putea sa nimeresti o cursa prea aglomerata si sa nu gasesti un loc pe scaun. Cel mai indicat ar fi in acest caz sa faci rezervare online. Am testat si noi trenul Hyperion al Softrans si am avut parte de o calatorie in picioare din Azuga pana in Bucuresti. Din fericire, calatoria a durat o ora si 40 de minute, mult mai putin decat cu un tren CFR. In trenul Hyperion al Softrans, pe ruta Brasov-Bucuresti In ce priveste confortul, trenul Regiotrans este similar cu trenurile Regio ale CFR, doar ca primul circula mai repede si opreste doar in localitatile mai mari. Lucrurile se schimba, insa, radical daca urci in Softrans. E un tren modern, cu design colorat la exterior si interior, dotat cu automate de cafea (1 leu paharul), sucuri si snacks-uri, ecrane pe care sunt derulate reclame si un sistem de anuntare a statiilor, ca la metrou. Diferenta este usor sesizabila la confortul scaunelor. Deci putem spune ca CFR nu este mai prejos. Dar designul si ambianta din Softrans iti dau senzatia ca te afli undeva prin Occident, nu ca traversezi Romania. Citeste si: CFR Calatori preia traficul de pasageri RegioTrans Sursa foto: Tren al companiei Softrans/Wall-Street.ro Te-ar putea interesa și:

Just beyond San Francisco’s city limits lies 640 acres of land that could help solve some of California’s biggest problems. A developer wants to build 4,400 new homes there — one of the largest projects recently proposed in one of the country’s most unaffordable regions. The development would overlook a railway that drops riders into the heart of San Francisco in 15 minutes, reducing the need for cars and cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that come from them. State and regional leaders have endorsed the project. But its fate rests with Brisbane, a city of 4,700 people that annexed the property 55 years ago. And no one, not even the developer, thinks Brisbane’s residents will approve all 4,400 homes. “Unfortunately, we believe that their ceiling is going to be below that,” said Jonathan Scharfman, the general manager for the developer, Universal Paragon Corp. The project, Brisbane Baylands, reveals how few incentives local governments have to accept large developments — even as the state is pushing to lower housing costs and funnel growth toward existing cities and nearby mass transit to combat climate change. Brisbane residents are wary of a project that could triple the city’s population. Under California’s tax system, Brisbane also earns more money if it rejects the current plan in favor of potential alternatives with more hotel rooms and space for businesses — but no homes. The Bay Area’s dire need for housing makes the debate over the Baylands project “particularly painful,” said Ben Metcalf, director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. “It is frustrating that as a state and as a constellation of local jurisdictions we are constantly making decisions that aren’t the best for alleviating poverty, housing affordability, furthering our state’s economy or meeting our climate change goals,” Metcalf said. For their part, some Brisbane residents feel besieged by pressure from housing activists, business groups, state lawmakers, San Francisco politicians, newspaper editorials and others beyond the city’s boundaries. An old rail yard and garbage dump contaminated the land, and opponents contend they want to protect anyone who might decide to live there even after regulators approve a cleanup. More than that, Brisbane residents say, outsiders don’t understand how much the Baylands project would upend their community. “We’re a small town,” City Councilman W. Clarke Conway said at a meeting on the project last fall, “and we’re a small town by choice.” Bill Dettmer, left, speaks with a group of men who regularly meet and discuss local politics and civic issues at Madhouse Coffee in Brisbane, Calif. Dettmer thinks a developer should be allowed to build housing on an old rail yard in the city. (Josh Edelson / For The Times) Brisbane’s main drag is Visitacion Avenue. It slopes upward for five blocks, starting at a city park and continuing through mom-and-pop shops, cafes and restaurants. The rest of Brisbane comprises office parks, a strip mall and mostly single-family homes built throughout the town’s hills. “This is the land that time forgot,” said Greg Lee, 55, an electrical engineer who has lived in the city for more than two decades. San Bruno Mountain, which rises a quarter-mile into the sky, is Brisbane’s landmark, and residents have fought to preserve it. In the 1960s, they blocked a developer from leveling the mountaintop and building enough new homes for 70,000 people. In 1980, after years of battling another massive project on the mountain, residents received a last-minute reprieve from the federal government, which declared San Bruno a critical habitat for the endangered callippe silverspot butterfly. Anti-development fervor has continued. About a decade ago, a city councilman suggested sidestepping a state housing law that requires cities to plan for growth by zoning for homes where nothing would ever get built — the bottom of Brisbane’s lagoon. Residents’ efforts to protect Brisbane’s small-town feel make large changes hard to accept, said Paul Bouscal, 58, a San Francisco water department employee who has lived in the area since 1982. The Baylands, he said, plays on fears of Brisbane getting big. “For our town to grow like that, it would be too much, too fast,” Bouscal said. It might be easier for residents and elected officials to welcome growth if the city received more tax dollars for doing so. But the opposite is true. Because of tax limits established in 1978 by Proposition 13, local governments generally receive more revenue from sales and hotel room taxes than property taxes. Proposition 13 limited property tax rates to 1% of a home’s taxable value and restricted how quickly that taxable value could increase after a purchase. Last year, Brisbane hired a consultant who found that the city would net $1 million a year in tax revenue by approving the Baylands. But if the city instead approved a project with lots more commercial space, a larger hotel and no housing, Brisbane would gain $9 million annually — an amount equivalent to more than half the city’s current day-to-day operating budget. Developers are always going to face opposition because of residents’ concerns about their communities changing, said Mark Stivers, a longtime state housing policy staffer. But the tax system is another big reason the state has a housing shortage, he said. “I’d like to think if just the fiscal incentives were reversed, if a city could make as much money off housing as they could retail, we’d be having a very different conversation in California,” Stivers said. Jonathan Scharfman, general manager of Universal Paragon Corp., describes the area where his company hopes to build a 4,400-unit housing development. (Josh Edelson / For The Times) Debate over the Baylands has divided the town and dominated Brisbane politics for at least a decade. More than half of Brisbane residents said in a 2015 city-sponsored poll that they were OK with some housing on the Baylands site. But just 3% backed a project of more than 4,000 homes such as the developer is proposing. Bill Dettmer, 63, spent a recent morning at Madhouse Coffee, one of the city’s main gathering spots, trying to convince skeptical neighbors that the city should support the housing. Dettmer moved to Brisbane 50 years ago and does maintenance work in the city. “I see a lot of stuff,” Dettmer said. “I see beds in garages. You have to increase the [housing] supply. If you really want to help out people, let them live in dignity. It just seems like a no-brainer.” Many local opponents cite the land’s history — not hostility to growth — for why they’re against the project. San Francisco used to dump its garbage on the site, and a railroad company repaired its trains there. Longtime residents remember watching tires burn. Scharfman, the developer’s general manager, said Universal Paragon Corp. will clean up the land and won’t begin building until all environmental agencies responsible say it’s safe. He likened the process to how an old rail yard at San Francisco’s Mission Bay was cleaned up and now has thousands of homes. Still, some Brisbane residents say they don’t trust regulators will get it right, because what’s known about the toxicity of chemicals can change over time. Even though they won’t live in the Baylands, opponents believe they have a responsibility to shield those who might. “Why do we have a seat belt law? Why do we have a helmet law? They’re anti-stupidity laws to protect the general population,” said Michele Salmon, 63, who was born and raised in Brisbane. Salmon said she understood housing problems were real and lamented the lack of space to accommodate a growing population. “I do feel sorry that the younger generation is not going to get to live the life that we did,” she said. “But it’s a different time.” State and regional officials have few tools to push Brisbane. Every eight years, the state tells every city and county to plan for the construction of a certain number of new homes to accommodate planned population growth. Between 2007 and 2014, Brisbane’s goal was 401 houses. Developers built a little more than a third of that target, but the city faces no consequences for the lack of home building. Similarly, regional agencies such as the Assn. of Bay Area Governments have to plan for urban growth as part of the the state’s climate change efforts. California won’t meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets, regulators have said, without a significant reduction in driving fueled by more people walking, biking and using mass transit. The Baylands project and its 4,400 homes next to a Caltrain station are written into the region’s climate change proposal, but that means nothing for the project’s actual approval. “This is a plan, an expectation of how we could grow,” said Leah Zippert, an Assn. of Bay Area Governments spokeswoman. “It is not a mandate to build. It’s not a mandate to do anything.” The Brisbane City Council plans to make a key decision on the Baylands this summer, including whether it supports any housing on the site. But the council expects to put that proposal on the ballot next year. Brisbane’s residents will be the ones with the last word. [email protected] @dillonliam ALSO Gov. Jerry Brown says the state’s housing crisis is his next priority, but reaching a deal won’t be easy California lawmakers have tried for 50 years to fix the state’s housing crisis. Here’s why they’ve failed California won’t meet its climate change goals without a lot more housing density in its cities Updates on California politics

After getting our unofficial Instagram app for Windows Phone, people’s eyes turned the next big thing in social media: Snapchat (www.snapchat.com). For those who don’t know (and who are over 25), Snapchat is a new messaging service that’s super popular on iOS and Android. It’s trick? Photos you send auto-delete themselves after a set amount of seconds. And yes, it’s coming to Windows Phone--unofficially and officially. Quick back story Much like Instagram, Snapchat relies on private APIs that controlled by the developers of the service. In theory, they could open it up to third-party developers, but like Instagram they want to control the experience. Part of that experience is disabling screen-captures of expiring photos—after all, that defeats the whole purpose. Indeed on iOS and Android, if you screen-cap the pic, it will tell the other person that you did. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more While iOS and Android both have official clients, Windows Phone is on the sidelines, again. But that's all about to change. The Unofficial Version(s) First look: Swapchat for Windows Phone We can tell you definitively that there are currently two groups of developers working on Snapchat for Windows Phone. How? Like Instagram, APIs can be cracked and it’s not exactly too hard to do so for such a simple service. One of those in development is Swapchat, made by two developers under SRC Apps. The app is in private beta now and it works, basically, as advertised. You can register, add contacts and yes, send photos (if the other party is on iOS and Android, it will notify you that they screen cap’d the image, but not vice versa). Notifications don't yet work, but we'll chalk that up to being a beta.

These are edited (and spoiler-free) excerpts from the conversation. This story started with an email from a listener named Tyler. What made you think it should be an episode of “Reply All”? PJ VOGT I think Alex and I both get really frustrated when something should be solvable and it’s not, or when it upsets our idea about how the world should work. Either this song should exist or the guy made it up. The fact that there was some evidence that it existed and yet it seemingly hadn’t been documented anywhere really bothered me. I also related to both the little problem of having a song stuck in your head that you can’t find and the bigger problem of having a snag in your brain that won’t go away until you fix it. In the episode, we follow along as you run into a number of dead-ends. How do you balance creating and maintaining suspense with delivering an ending that justifies the journey? VOGT I think if you can solve the problem too easily, or if solving it doesn’t teach you anything, than it’s not a good radio story. With this one, things just kept escalating. At one point I talked to a quantum physicist because Tyler had this theory that he’d somehow slipped into an alternate universe. I think you want to take the listener into an interesting world so that they feel good about spending time there. We eventually realized that this one was secretly a documentary about late ’90s alt-rock. ALEX GOLDMAN As long as you’re learning something about the world, we find that the process of reporting is generally pretty interesting. There are times when we’ll pursue something that ends up being both a dead end and boring, and those are the stories that don’t make it to air.

There is nothing like the adorable antics of otters to cheer you up if you're having a tough day -- or to simply entertain you when you need a mental health break in the mid-afternoon. We've gathered up some super cute videos of river otters and sea otters that are sure to make you giggle. Otter pups bounce and squeak like little rubber toys Who knew they could sound just like bouncing squeaker balls! This group of river otters seem like they're straight out of a cartoon. Otter juggles pebbles The best part is how it keeps grabbing more stones to make sure the juggling stays a challenge! Cute otters chasing a toddler Fun at the aquarium for the animals and the kids. We're sure this game of chase could have gone on for hours. Baby otter enjoys getting tickled! Need we say more?! Sea otter plays basketball to keep in shape This sea otter has a fun way of keeping healthy and young. Combine a ball, a basketball hoop, and some fish treats and you have one athletic otter! Otters at the Smithsonian National Zoo rocking out on a keyboard They may not be the most musically talented bunch, but they go at it with enthusiasm. Cheeky otter explores this couple's jeep Otters are curious and smart, and love to explore. And that includes the interior of tourist cars. This little guy hopped in to have a sniff and stayed for awhile! Orphaned sea otter pup gets adopted This last video will tug at your heart strings, and have you feeling pretty good about the world.

What better day to mourn our old republic than Memorial Day? Proclaimed by Civil War veterans in 1868 to commemorate the dead, today it evokes memories of past conflicts and those that are ongoing – all of which were (and are) the catalysts of this country’s degeneration into an empire. Yes, all of them, including especially World War II, the “good war” which even “antiwar” liberals valorize. It was that conflict that globalized the ambitions of our political class and put us on the road to empire. It was the one in which the modern precedent for outrageous incursions on our civil liberties was set: the mass internment of Japanese-Americans (and, yes, Germans and Italians), censorship of the press, and the series of “sedition” trials that targeted war opponents on the right as well as the left (which even the American Civil Liberties Union made no effort to oppose). The parallels with our own time are myriad: even as we observe this solemn holiday with barbecues and self-congratulatory parades, the Senate has just finished debating the extension of key elements of the “Patriot” Act, that “most unpatriotic of acts,” enacted at the peak of the post-9/11 hysteria. Section 215 of the Act has been interpreted by the government (and its Star Chamber known as the “FISA court”) to allow for the mass collection of Americans’ electronic communications and phone data: in effect, universal surveillance without an individual warrant. While there is still a chance the Senate will renew these provisions, including Section 215, before the deadline passes, that was made unlikely thanks to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and a group of two other Republicans and eight Democrats who effectively filibustered. Every American who values liberty and longs for the revival of the republic our forefathers left to us owes the Senator a huge “Thank you!” I’ve been critical of Sen. Paul, but in this very important case he deserves unequivocal praise and support. Of course, the real hero of this rearguard action against the new authoritarianism is Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who risked his life and liberty to reveal our government’s crimes against the Constitution. That he still is forced to live in exile in Russia is proof enough that the task of taking our country back from the War Party is very far from over. We can fight a rearguard action against the assault on the Constitution, and even win a battle here and there, but we cannot defeat them unless the motive power of their victories is cut off – that is, as long as America’s foreign policy of perpetual war continues unabated. This is the source of the malign energy that gave – and continues to give – the new authoritarianism its legitimacy and power. At the height of the post-9/11 madness, the answer to every objection to the Patriot Act and its successors was “Don’t you know there’s a war on?” Andrew Sullivan and his fellow “war bloggers” were particularly fond of this retort: it was supposed to silence us dissenters, and send us, shame-faced, into the shadows. And it did, to a large extent – except on this web site, of course. Those few who spoke out, like Noam Chomsky and Susan Sontag, were pilloried by the War Party for expressing any doubts about our elevated moral status as a nation. The left – or what passes for it today – was silenced, while on the right the militarist spirit went virtually unopposed but for Ron Paul and those few libertarians (and paleoconservatives) who refused to kneel before the altar of the war god. Those dark times seem far away, but rest assured they could return in an instant. We are but one terrorist attack away from their recurrence – with consequences that would make the immediate post-9/11 era look like a libertarian paradise. One thing is all too clear this Memorial Day: we’ve learned nothing from the past. Our armies continue to occupy foreign lands, while our drones torture those we have yet to invade. The blowback from these murderous expeditions is bound to be felt in the “homeland,” and so we’ve set up an entire department of government, with a huge and ever-growing budget, devoted to deflecting the blows aimed at us. Has there ever been a greater admission of guilt on the part of any aggressor? If we continue on this course, the future isn’t hard to predict. Sooner or later one of those blows will hit us again, perhaps in a way that will prove more devastating than 9/11 – and that will signal the beginning of the end. The end, I mean, of constitutional government in America: the end of the Founders’ dream and the beginning of a long slide into the abyss of tyranny. We’ll retain the forms of republican government, minus the content, and the Constitution will still be kept under glass as a relic to be worshipped but not observed. Yet there is hope. The American people are not quite the sheep many of the most embittered dissenters imagine them to be. Sure, they go about their own concerns, mostly indifferent to alarms rung by people such as myself: they like their pleasures and are not easily aroused. But once they are aroused – watch out! I am reminded of the words of that old prophet of doom, Garet Garrett, who wrote at the end of his prescient polemic, Rise of Empire (1951), the following words: “What you have to face is that the cost of saving the Republic may be extremely high. It could be relatively as high as the cost of setting it up in the first place, one hundred and seventy-five years ago, when love of political liberty was a mighty passion, and the people were willing to die for it.” I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does – well, then so be it. No, I don’t want it to come to that, but it very well may. That’s why I’ve devoted a good part of my adult life to this web site and the cause it champions: opposition to our foreign policy of relentless aggression and its domestic corollary, the steady erosion of the Bill of Rights. I don’t want to be a revolutionary, at least in the literal sense: I’d much rather be out in the back yard this Memorial Day barbecuing, as opposed to writing subversive tracts such as this. Unfortunately, these days it is subversive to be a traditionalist who reveres the legacy of the Founders. It’s considered treasonous, as I discovered when it was revealed that the FBI was – and maybe still is – investigating me because of what I write and what I believe. When I found out about that investigation I literally cried: I laid down on my bed and sobbed for a good twenty minutes, uncontrollably and unashamedly, as my astonished and bewildered significant other looked on. I cried for what has been lost. But I didn’t let my sorrow stop me from fighting back: indeed, it redoubled my determination to fight – and win. But I can’t win if I’m fighting all by myself. I need your help to win this battle. Antiwar.com can’t exist in a vacuum: we must have the support of our readers if we’re going to continue. And you know that a site such as this has never been more necessary than it is now. Our Spring fundraising drive is about midway through, and the going is rather slow. We’re getting lots of donations, perhaps more than ever, but the amounts are noticeably smaller. We are grateful beyond words for every penny, yet we must make our fundraising goal or else face draconian cutbacks that will have a deleterious and very obvious impact on our coverage. No, we don’t have any eccentric billionaires paying our bills, and for that I’m actually grateful: I don’t think either myself or the rest of the Antiwar.com staff would take too kindly to being told what to write and what to cover. That is the price we’d have to pay for foregoing these fundraisers, and it’s far too high for us to even consider it. We really need to pick up the pace of our fundraising, and soon, if we’re going to avoid what could be bad news for the many thousands of readers who have come to depend on this site for the real news about our endless “war on terrorism.” Your donation is one-hundred percent tax-deductible – and isn’t that a good enough reason to divert a portion of your involuntary contribution to the war machine to the cause of peace? Yes, the war clouds are gathering and the vultures are circling overhead – but all is not lost. Help us keep the spirit of hope alive – make your donation today. NOTES IN THE MARGIN You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud. I’ve written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008). You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.

Use the Graphics Rule Maker [citation needed] Use the Graphics Rule Maker Download and install the Graphics Rules Maker. Open the program and select The Sims 2 in the game dropdown menu. If it doesn't automatically find the game, browse to the latest installed expansion/stuff pack. Modify the settings under Game Tweaks to apply the desired fixes. Press Save Files... and click Yes in the window that appears. If despite using the tool the game cannot run above 800x600 resolution, or the game is locked to 4:3 aspect ratio, see 800x600 resolution fix. If using the Sim Shadow Fix manual method, the Enable Sim Shadows fix on Graphics Rule Maker will not work.

At a time when players like Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are making the headlines, a former navy trainee, Habib Bank Limited batsman Fakhar Zaman, has thrust himself into the spotlight with a remarkable hundred. His unbeaten 157 neutralised the hype surrounding the trio and changed the context of the game by handing HBL a hefty lead of 222 runs against Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), with ten wickets in hand at stumps on the third day at the National Stadium in Karachi. He was born in Katlang - a small town in Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - before moving to Karachi at the age of 16 to join the Pakistan Navy. He had a year-long schooling at Pakistan Navy School Bahadur in Karachi, where he learned how to survive the seas before parting ways to embrace cricket formally. His team-mates call him fauji (soldier). The left-handed batsman was the second-highest run-scorer in the Pakistan Cup earlier this year, with 297 runs in five innings at 59.40, including a knock of 115 that set up Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's 151-run win in the final. His ability to bowl left-arm spin makes him a utility player and he is in contention for a place in the national side after appearances for Pakistan A. In the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy season, he has already racked up 650 runs at an average of 54.16. His hundred gave HBL control of the game after they'd lost the first-innings advantage with WAPDA sneaking in a 42-run lead. Zaman was flawless with this stroke-making, hitting 19 fours and never letting his strike-rate fall below 70. But it was his discipline that stood out. "The idea was to play it like a one-day innings," Zaman told ESPNcricinfo. "It's really tough to judge the seam [of the pink ball] as it turns black after some time, so I was focusing on the ball fully, which was the main reason why I was playing freely. I am happy that I have contributed to the team and put us in the driving seat. We are optimistic now. There was always belief that and we didn't give up after the first-innings collapse." Zaman took 12 balls to score his first runs, in the seventh over, before taking off with three boundaries off Waqas Maqsood in the eighth over. The pitch had already started to slow down, but it wasn't really a flat track as much as, in Zaman's words, a "modest" one. After he whirled past his half-century, he took a nasty blow to his left index finger from a rising Mohammad Irfan delivery. But his only worry, he said, was to negotiate the shrewdness of Asif. He faced 14 balls from the medium-pacer and scored 12 runs against him, but was helped along by a drop when he flicked him to Zahid Mansoor at square-leg when he was on 125. "He is the kind of bowler who threatens with his tight line. He isn't quick but his line is teasing and he doesn't allow you to score runs. The first hour with the new ball was a bit tough but when he went off after three overs, I had more scoring options. I just played my natural game, the way I had when I scored 115 in the Pakistan Cup." When asked about the prospects of national selection, Zaman shyly pointed out that he would refrain from urging the selectors through the media. "Of course, playing for Pakistan is a dream for every player, but what can I say? From what I understand, they know everything and they've told me to be consistent and keep performing. So I will keep trusting my instincts and my performances and I am sure my number will come."

It was a surprise to many when Mike Cammalleri chose to sign with New Jersey – and when the Devils chose to sign him. For both parties, the deal was about faith. The Hockey News At the risk of sounding blasphemous, Mike Cammalleri’s deal with the Devils was all about faith. He chose the team that believed in him most and the team he believed in most. Calgary fans were disappointed but not surprised when he left in free agency after a resurgent 26-goal campaign. After all, team president Brian Burke retained Cammalleri’s expiring contract at the trade deadline. Burke tried to deal his veteran, but he felt the offers weren’t good enough. He decided to risk losing Cammalleri for nothing and stated his desire to keep him. Burke and new GM Brad Treliving made offers this summer to Cammalleri for a long-term pact, but they couldn’t compete with what Lou Lamoriello and the New Jersey Devils tabled: five years and $25 million for a 32-year-old who’s missed 15 or more games in four of his past five seasons and is six years removed from his best numbers. That didn’t matter to Lamoriello, who says he followed and admired Cammalleri’s game all the way back to the University of Michigan. “He played with an edge and had results,” Lamoriello said. “He’s very diligent and he competes. When you see that in a player, it naturally sticks out. When we were looking at the potential free agencies and the type of player we needed, we felt we needed a scorer. Mike stood right out, and he was one of the top players we looked at, if not the top player.” The money and especially the term were a huge vote of confidence to Cammalleri, who says the courtship lasted longer than the free agent negotiating period. His best years are behind him, but he remains a useful scorer who can play among the top six forwards. The Devils are taking a leap of faith on him, but it works both ways. “What attracted me to the Devils was the success they’ve had, the template, the way they do things,” Cammalleri said. “I have a belief in how things are done that leads to successes.” The Devils haven’t personified success in recent seasons, missing the playoffs twice in a row. But Cammalleri believes they can right the ship. That the Devils ranked fourth in the NHL in Corsi Close, and that they were a bit unlucky losing all 13 shootouts last season, suggests he’s right. New Jersey only missed the playoffs by five points. For Lamoriello and the Devils, the contract isn’t as risky as it looks on paper, because they’re not demanding a 30-goal effort for it to be worthwhile. They love Cammalleri’s mind – and mouth – as much as they love his game. “When I had a chance to sit down and talk to him, I couldn’t be more impressed with what his thoughts were, his knowledge of the game and the questions he asked,” Lamoriello said. “It was a face-to-face meeting, and you can accomplish a lot in a short period of time when that transpires.” Lamoriello says “there’s no question” the Devils view Cammalleri as a leader, and they believe he was the strongest voice in the Flames dressing room, even if he didn’t wear the ‘C.’ It’s no stretch to call Cammalleri a human megaphone. He’s among the game’s most quotable players, known to speak his mind and also to toss a joke in here and there. He doesn’t disappoint when asked if he’s checked out his new home state, including the Jersey Shore. “Is that because I’m Italian?” Cammalleri said. “The Jersey Shore? Are you stereotyping me? Just wondering.” Kidding aside, he’s visited the Garden State and found a house for his family. With that out of the way, he can prepare to reward Lamoriello’s trust. And he can dream about playing with Jaromir Jagr. Lamoriello calls the idea a “coaching decision,” but he can see Cammalleri sliding to the left wing to suit up with Jagr and Travis Zajac. “He’s one of the greatest legends of our game of all-time,” Cammalleri said. “He’s an iconic sports figure. To play on the same team as him will be a unique and special experience.” If it’s on the same line, Cammalleri will surely have a lot more to say about it. Matt Larkin is an associate editor at The Hockey News and a regular contributor to the thn.com Post-To-Post blog. For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, subscribe to The Hockey News magazine. Follow Matt Larkin on Twitter at @THNMattLarkin This is feature appears in the Sept. 15 edition of The Hockey News magazine. Get in-depth features like this one, and much more, by subscribing now.

​With hundreds of cannabis supporters in attendance, the Tacoma City Council on Tuesday night agreed to a compromise plan that would allow established medical marijuana dispensaries to continue selling to patients until the Washington Legislature spells out more clearly how patients can legally access the herb. “The Tacoma City Council is not opposed to safe and legal access to medical marijuana for patients with legitimate need,” Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland said, reports Lewis Kamb of the Tacoma ​The city’s business licensing office, acting on advice from its attorneys, on Friday threatened to force the dispensaries out of business if they continued to provide medical marijuana to “more than one patient,” reports Susan Kelleher at. Doing so violates state law, claimed Jodie Trueblood, Tacoma’s tax and license manager. The issue arose, Trueblood claimed, when her office investigated “traffic and odor complaints” against five of the Tacoma dispensaries. “They need to stop their dispensing to multiple people,” complained Trueblood, whose office sent cease and desist notices to the eight affected businesses on Friday. The notices specifically cited part of Washington state’s medical marijuana law, saying that designated providers are allowed to serve “only one patient at a time.” “In light of the above information, you are not to engage in this activity in the City of Tacoma effective October 24, 2010,” the letter read, adding that failure to comply would subject each dispensary to revocation of business license and potential civil and criminal penalties. But Friday’s cease and desist letters, which came with the subject line “Notice to Cease Dispensing Marijuana,” seemed to come as a surprise to the City Council. “It was a bit of a surprise,” Councilman Marty Campbell said. The Council had already said it intended to ask the Legislature to clarify gray areas of the medical marijuana law that have become frustrating for patients and law enforcement throughout Washington state. Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano apologized to Council members Tuesday for the letters being sent without staff first consulting the Council. The letters also came as a shock to the dispensaries and cooperatives that have sprung up in Tacoma over the past year or so, according to Philip Dawdy, vice chair of marijuana advocacy group Sensible Washington The city agreed to suspend taking any action toward shutting down the eight dispensaries openly operating there, as long as each of the shops file an appeals to the cease and desist letters. Tacoma will delay setting hearings on those appeals until the end of the 2011 state legislative session, during which lawmakers are expected to clarify portions of the medical marijuana law after citizens approved a 1998 ballot measure. “We’re just starting to hear details about (the plan) now,” Dawdy said. “It’s mildly encouraging — but the city should just drop the whole thing.” Even with the city’s commitment to suspend the dispensary crackdown, “There’s still latitude there for law enforcement abuses,” Dawdy said. “The way the current law is written is confusing,” Mayor Strickland said, noting that the council recently adopted language in the city’s legislative policy manual that encourages the state to clarify the law. Strickland said she met with Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell and others to discuss the compromise after medical marijuana advocates from across the state said Monday they would converge on Tacoma City Hall Tuesday night to protest the cease and desist letters sent to local dispensaries. ​At least two state legislators, Sen. Debbie Regala (D-Tacoma) and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), are expected to take up the dispensary issue in the 2011 legislative session. Law enforcement and patient advocates both want clear-cut rules, even if they don’t agree on what the rules should be or who should oversee them, according to Regala. “Many of the people caught up in the confusion are patients in legitimate need of medicine to ease their pain,” Regala said. “The citizens have said this should be legal in our state. I’m going to be optimistic that we’re going to be able to do this.” “A lot of legislators are worried about voting on anything involving marijuana,” Kohl-Welles said. “There’s not a cohesive community of activists.” “I run a legal business,” said Emiel Kandi, director of COBRA Medical Group, one of the dispensaries the city threatened to shut down. “I knew at some point this would be a huge political fight,” Kandi said. “The Legislature wrote a bad law. I’m a creative guy, and I drove a truck through it. But I haven’t broken the law.” The 800 patients he serves would have a hard time getting their medicine if the city banned businesses like his from operating, according to Kandi, who opened COBRA in July. A growing number of patient cooperatives and small dispensaries have cropped up in Western Washington over the past couple years, supplying marijuana to authorized patients by having the patients designate them as “caregiver” for the time it takes to transfer the cannabis and collect a donation to defray expenses. The question of whether caregivers can supply only one person at a time in succession has created confusion for law enforcement and patients. In King County, home of Seattle, some co-ops match up patients who grow their own cannabis with patients who don’t or can’t grow. They’ve been largely left alone to serve patients.

For many Javanese Indonesians, bird-keeping is in their DNA. A long-held tradition, the popular pastime has spread beyond Java as natives of the island were relocated to less densely populated islands in the country under the Indonesian government’s transmigration program. In urban centres on Java and Sumatra, the trading of caged-birds is rampant, with a report estimating an average of 614,180 native songbirds trapped and traded annually throughout the two islands. Besides the “peace of mind” and relaxation songbirds bring to their owners with their rich and melodic voices, bird keeping also signifies status and offers financial gain for the keepers through the many organised singing contests. An avid collector of songbirds, President Joko Widodo, earlier this year, offered more than US$40,000 to buy a prize-winning bird from its owner. In July, for the first time in almost 20 years, the Indonesian government expanded its list of wildlife species banned from trading and hunting. This new list revises the appendix of a 1999 regulation listing plant and animal species endemic to the country that have small populations in the wild and are on the decline because of overhunting and habitat loss. The list also struck off species whose populations are recovering or which are already extinct. The birdkeepers’ uprising Bird species make up most of the newly added 242 protected species, bringing the nationally protected species number up to 919 from 677. This includes species typically caught and caged for the songbird trade. Overnight, the released list sparked concerns that thousands of bird owners would be vulnerable to penalties, despite the ministry’s statement that it would not be enforcing the new list immediately. Under the Indonesian 1990 law on natural resources and ecosystem conservation, persons convicted of trading or keeping protected flora and fauna can face up to five years in prison or be fined up to US$6,724. The release of the new list triggered protestations by owners of songbirds from all over the country, with some coalitions demonstrating outside the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Central Jakarta. Their argument: the ban on buying and selling commonly traded songbirds lacks scientific and cultural bases, with several species included on the list currently being bred on a large scale and far from being endangered. Within weeks, the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry removed three popular songbirds - kucica hutan (white-rumped shama), cucak rawa (straw-headed bulbul) and jalak suren (Javan pied starling) - from the newly revised protected species list due to pressure from bird-keeping communities. The first two delisted bird species are categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered and critically endangered species, respectively. According to the ministry’s Biodiversity Conservation Director, Indra Exploitasia, the delisting is based on a social and economic study conducted by her office following the protests. Source: IUCN and BirdLife International. The voice of silenced birds While populating cages in homes, the trading of songbirds has gradually silenced the song of these magnificent birds in forests. An assessment of the trading of black-winged mynahs or Achridotheres melanopterus by Vincent Nijman, an anthropology professor at Oxford Brookes University, England, found that while some of the birds were bred in captivity, many were harvested from the forest as it was cheaper than breeding. Nijman, who studies the interactions between humans and wildlife, said that after visiting and observing bird markets in Indonesia for over 25 years, he noticed that as mynahs became more common in these markets, they grew ever scarcer in the forests. “It became very clear that the decline was at least in part due to trade,” Nijman was quoted as saying to National Geographic. As Indonesia nears its general election, the voice of bird owners seems loud and vital. For bird owners, the listing of their beloved pets as nationally protected species may seem like an infringement on their right to an inherited tradition handed down through the generations, and giving them their identity. But for the delisted songbird species, this could have been their last chance for survival. Without the protection of the government, these endangered species could now hurtle towards extinction. Related articles: Saving Vietnam’s bile farming bears Where have all the Tarantulas gone? Indonesia smugglers stuffed exotic birds in pipes: police

Share this: As readers will know, my Facebook account was suspended for three days last week, because the censors determined that comments I made about racist Israeli rabbis were not “respectful.” I have posted a query to Monica Bickert, FB vice president for global standards asking why my anti-racist speech was determined to be disrespectful. She has not replied to my message. I also opened a case through Facebook’s Support unit asking why my account was suspended and who made this determination about what I posted. Neither has replied. Today, I’m writing because the beleaguered folks at Facebook have committed another bit of face-palm censorship. They slapped a three-day suspension on the account of my friend, Prof. Muhammad Sahimi. His “crime?” He posted a Latuff cartoon from Mondoweiss which was a take-off on the infamous photograph of King Salman, Donald Trump and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi laying their hands on a shining globe. In the cartoon, Trump, Salman and Bibi Netanyahu gleefully fondle a glowing missile aimed at a map of Iran. Sahimi is an engineering professor at USC. He is also a noted expert on Iranian politics who’s been quoted in the NY Times. He co-founded the PBS Iran media portal, Tehran Bureau. How the hell did FB catch him up in its net?? While I’m not a special fan of Latuff’s sledge-hammer style as a cartoonist, or Mondoweiss, I had to scratch my head to figure out what a Facebook reviewer might find offensive about the image. The only aspect I could figure might upset someone was the Star of David on Netanyahu’s tie. If I’m right (which I may or may not be), it might mean that Facebook has determined that the use of the Star of David is offensive when used in the context of criticizing Israel. I suggest this as a possibility in the aftermath of the horror show that was the Artunes cartoon featuring Netanyahu as a dachshund with a Star of David around his neck, leading a blind Donald Trump with a yarmulke on his head. The benighted NY Times caved to right-wing pressure and ‘executed’ the cartoon and the cartoonist with dramatic public statements and even an editorial denouncing the image as anti-Semitic. Critics of the work of art determined falsely that the Star of David is a religious symbol and that use of it in the cartoon defamed Jews. In actuality, the Star of David is the national (not religious) symbol of the State of Israel. It was used in both cartoons to associate Netanyahu with Israel and not Judaism. So has Facebook’s AI algorithm been tweaked to catch Jewish symbols that could conceivably be used in speech critical of Israel? I’ve just e-mailed Facebook’s press unit asking these questions. If I’m even partially right, this raises immense problems with the manner in which Facebook is policing speech on its platform. Returning to my own suspension, might it be possible that the FB AI protocol found the term “rabbi” associated with “sick and twisted” and automatically determined this was anti-Semitic speech? If so, the most horrible aspect of this is that a computer algorithm appears to lack the linguistic ability to analyze the statement I made and its context. In other words, instead of a fine-tuned algorithm, they have code that is as refined as a sledge-hammer. No one is happy these days with the job the company is doing. On both the right and left, users and politicians are up in arms regarding the heavy hand of censorship used in applying its so-called community standards. A brilliant essay by Facebook co-founder, Chris Hughes, calls for the break-up of the company into at least three separate units. He also calls for a federal agency which would monitor social media platforms both for competitive business practices and content. This would remove Mark Zuckerberg and his minions from the role of determining on our behalf what is good and bad speech. As Hughes says, while it’s not entirely welcome to have government determine standards on these matters, at least government agencies are accountable to the people. Facebook and its executives are accountable to no one but Mark Zuckerberg and, to a much lesser extent, the stockholders. I agree with Hughes’ proposals, which are also being advocated on the campaign trail by presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren. As Zuckerberg and his company come under increasing fire for their ham-handed approach to almost every major business decision they make, they’re running scared regarding content as well. That is why Prof. Sahimi and I were in Facebook Jail this week and last. The net Facebook is casting is oppressive, arbitrary and full of holes, which permit real racists and anti-Semites to slip through with ease.

Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI — In August 2013, as Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) laid the groundwork for his wildly successful run for Prime Minister in the 2014 Indian election, his campaign research advisor Prashant Kishor suggested they start a women’s empowerment NGO as part of a discreet voter outreach programme. For Modi, Kishor’s job was to use voter data and poll research to professionalise the BJP’s ground game and its online presence on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. The NGO would have no visible connection to Modi, Kishor or the BJP, according to two people with firsthand knowledge of the matter, and would work with acid-attack survivors as a precursor to building a network of influential supporters who could be translated into votes as the Lok Sabha elections drew close. On 10 August 2013, the Sarvani Foundation — another name for the Hindu goddess Durga, venerated by Modi — was registered in Ahmedabad with a former Jet airways flight attendant and former sales support specialist for Adobe listed as its owners. One owner was the wife, and the other was the sister of a graphic designer in Kishor’s employ. The foundation never got going; Modi won the summer of 2014 elections, Amit Shah was named party president soon after, and Kishor and the BJP parted ways soon. The Sarvani Foundation went dormant for three years, company records show, only to be revived soon after the BJP suffered a shock defeat in the Bihar state elections. SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY BRIEF FROM HUFFPOST INDIA Get our top news delivered to your inbox every morning, Monday to Friday. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements. Privacy Policy Newsletter Please enter a valid email address Thank you for signing up! You should receive an email to confirm your subscription shortly. There was a problem processing your signup; please try again later Facebook Twitter Youtube Snapchat Flipboard CLOSE The Sarvani Foundation — now renamed the Association of Billion Minds — tasked Dipak Patel, a discreet Gujarati businessman, and Himanshu Singh, a 31-year-old former McKinsey consultant, with assembling a cohort of IIT engineers, consultants, lawyers and young professionals, to become BJP party president Shah’s personal election consulting unit. Since then, the Association of Billion Minds or ABM, is a big reason why most of Modi’s tenure has felt like one eternal election campaign. India’s ruling party has tasked this secretive quorum of nerds with running sophisticated misinformation campaigns to spread fake news and false claims on social media and WhatsApp and in staged conversations in public gatherings. ABM’s campaigns — which are often communal and divisive — are ramped up on the eve of critical elections and throttled down in the interludes between polls, even as the BJP has maintained a public distance from the firm. In March 2018, Amit Malviya, the head of BJP IT Cell, was asked if the BJP worked with ABM, at an India Today event. “I don’t know who ABM is,” Malviya said at the time. Meanwhile, ABM’s team of at least 161 full-time employees in 12 regional offices across India provides the BJP with feedback on its key political moves, helps shortlist candidates for vital elections, and manages a phalanx of paid field workers who introduce themselves to party cadre as “Amit Shah’s team”. The group conceives, designs, executes and memeifies many of the party’s campaigns — including “Main bhi Chowkidar”, “Nation with NaMo”, and “Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat” — and makes them viral across a network of Facebook pages with millions of followers. Nation with NaMo and Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat are co-ordinated online and offline campaigns in which speeches, rallies and public events in the physical world are quickly turned into digital content for online platforms. The pages are designed to look like Modi fan pages, rather than the work of ABM or the BJP. This isn’t unique to the BJP, but the ruling party is simply better funded and better organised than the opposition. Two ABM-managed pages are the top two biggest spenders on Facebook, a fact disclosed once the social network rolled out its advertiser transparency campaign in February 2019. Yet, ABM’s covert online presence shows how Facebook’s transparency campaign is easily subverted. HuffPost India analysed hundreds of pages of company records, election expenditure statements and website registries, and interviewed 20 people, including former and serving ABM employees, former associates of the company’s founders, and on-ground staff, to illustrate how India’s cash-rich ruling party has married Silicon Valley tech platforms with a deep pool of paid workers and unpaid party cadres to assemble a formidable election machine. The machine has many moving parts but a single purpose: to bombard India’s 900 million voters with a relentless stream of real and fake information to ensure all attention is always focused on one man—Narendra Modi. To this end, ABM plays a role in every aspect of the BJP’s election planning. The firm compiles detailed dossiers on potential candidates from each constituency, prepares poll booth-level political intelligence reports, plots out routes for teams canvassing for votes, runs polling day war-rooms, and designs and manages online propaganda campaigns. ABM isn’t even the only such firm employed by the BJP, but it is the most secretive and has the deepest relationship with Shah, the party president. Yet, India’s toothless election funding laws have allowed parties like the BJP to keep their financial relationship to entities that are canvassing on their behalf, like ABM, under wraps. Under current laws, the BJP does not have to disclose how much money it pays ABM. Nation With NaMo A Nation With NaMo job advertisement “I would characterise the use of consultancies by any political party as an act of subterfuge, but it cannot be termed illegal,” said Jagdeep Chhokar of the Association of Democratic Reforms, an election watchdog group. “It is immoral but not illegal.” Sahana Udupa, who teaches digital politics at the University of Munich, said using data analytics companies for political campaigning “has caused devastating effects across the world.” “The collusion between data surveillance capital and political power is deeply damaging for democracy, since voters’ behavioral patterns are traced, plotted, predicted and played upon in surreptitious and covert ways,” Udupa said. “A voter can recognize a roadside billboard coming from a political party, and trace an advertisement in newspapers and television to their sponsors,” she said. “But the silent work of algorithms and analytics is hard to recognize without sustained investigative exposés. They largely go unaccounted.” All of HuffPost India’s ABM sources requested anonymity, citing non-disclosure agreements that forbid them from discussing their work with the company. HuffPost India emailed a list of questions to ABM, and senior BJP functionaries and party spokespersons. We will update this copy when they reply. Fake News Factory In May 2018, when the Karnataka state elections were in full swing, fact-checking website BOOM Live identified a number of websites posing as news outlets. The sites, which had names like Express Bangalore, Bangalore Herald, Bengaluru Mirror and Bengaluru Times, “peddled political propaganda” and posted “inflammatory content” directed at non-BJP parties. The Bangalore Herald websitepublished multiple articles with fake survey results that were attributed to fictitious polling agencies, predicting a massive victory for the BJP. A screenshot of a fake Bharat Positive post claiming that Modi's opponents stole money donated to the family of a young girl who was raped and murdered in Kashmir. The BJP lost the elections, and these websites vanished immediately after the polls. Bangalore Herald, BOOM Live found, was redirecting to Bharatpositive.in, a website and Facebook page with close to 1 million followers that consistently publishes pro-BJP content and fake news directed at the ruling party’s opponents. In November 2018, for instance, Bharat Positive published a Facebook post claiming that money donated to the family of an eight-year-old Muslim girl, who was brutally gang-raped and murdered, had been stolen by Shehla Rashid — a vocal opponent of Prime Minister Modi. The claim was patently false. HuffPost India used website registry records and interviewed one current and one former ABM employee to establish that Bharatpositive.in, and its Facebook page, are managed by ABM. Bharat Positive was set up in August 2017 by Nikhil Mehra, who was an ABM employee at the time, according to publicly available company records. A month before the Karnataka elections, the page’s ownership in the registry was updated and transferred to an ABM administrator account with the email [email protected] and the phone number of Mukul Jindal, a software engineer and a former ABM employee. A day after the BOOM Live story was published, the registry was changed again to conceal the digital trail leading back to ABM. HuffPost India used a service offered by DomainTools, a cyber-forensics firm, to retrace how Bharatpositive.in changed hands. Mehra and Jindal denied any connection with the website when HuffPost India contacted them. That’s not all. The consultancy registered at least two more websites with addresses intended to look like legitimate newspaper sites. Website registry records show that bangaloreherald.in and bengalurumirror.in are also owned by ABM. Bharat Positive apart, ABM runs at least seven other popular pages for the BJP: Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat (300k likes), Nation With NaMo (1.1 million likes), Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar (2.7 million likes), Mahathugbandhan (480k likes), India Unravelled (152k likes), My First Vote For Modi (74k likes) and Modi11, a new page launched last week. This cluster of Facebook pages act as BJP mouthpieces, but allow the party to formally distance itself from the false information propagated by these pages. Nation With NaMo, the anchor for many of ABM’s online activities, has posted at least four heavily edited videos that misrepresent opposition leader and Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s statements on the tragic killing of at least 40 Indian troopers in Pulwama, Kashmir, on 14 February, and on loan waivers to indebted farmers. While the misleading clip on Pulwama garnered over 21,000 likes and 13,000 shares, the false video on loan waivers was shared over 67,000 times. Posts on ABM-managed sites, a current employee told HuffPost India, are optimised for virality. “The more outrageous a post the better,” the ABM employee said. “This is why they spread poison on Facebook.” http://whois.domaintools.com/ Web registry showing that Bharat Positive is registered to an ABM administered domain. The playbook is simple. “Nobody cares whether the content is true or not. Just put one line out of context,” the employee continued. “It may be true, it may not be true. Doesn’t matter. It’s all about getting your content shared.” ABM’s Network of Pro-BJP Sites on Social Media ABM-managed Facebook pages go to great lengths to conceal their connections to India’s ruling party. In December 2018, Facebook said all accounts that place political advertisements must display a verified postal address and a valid phone number as part of the company’s election transparency initiatives. For three ABM-managed Facebook pages — Nation With NaMo, Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat and My First Vote For Modi — the only indication of their connection to the BJP is their listed postal address, which maps to the BJP headquarters in Delhi. Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar, MahaThugBandhan and Modi11 declare addresses that do not show any connection with the party or ABM. None of the phone numbers provided by the six pages can be reached, but current and former ABM employees confirmed that ABM manages these pages. These sites create the appearance of a vibrant online community of independent Modi supporters that are, in reality, a team of ABM employees paid to put up post after post about the many virtues of the Indian Prime Minister. This dissimulation — incorrect contact details, out-of-service phone numbers — appear to go against Facebook’s political advertisement transparency initiatives. Facebook has said the new rules are meant to give “people more information about who’s responsible for the ads they see”. As part of the initiative, Facebook requires mandatory verification of physical postal addresses provided by political advertisers on its site — it doesn’t always work. When a HuffPost India reporter registered himself as a political advertiser, Facebook’s third party verifier OnGrid simply texted the reporter saying he was verified. “If someone calls you,” OnGrid’s verifier texted. “Just say you were verified in person. Otherwise your Id may be blocked.” Earlier this week, Facebook removed hundreds of pages and accounts for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that were run by supporters of both the BJP and the Congress. “Facebook’s recent takedown of accounts from India was related to the behavior of the accounts than the content posted,” said Kanishk Karan, a research associate at the Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council, Facebook’s research partner in combating election-related propaganda. Misrepresentation is a violation of the platform’s policies, Karan explained, just like posting false information is a violation of the usage of the company’s services. The pages running political advertisements should be transparent in their page descriptions, Karan added. “If the funding for pages is for online political campaigns, then the page should be explicit with party or organization affiliations in their page information section that is visible to followers,” he said. “Community standards on platforms require users to be explicit when it comes to authenticity and representation.” ABM-run properties do not appear to follow these standards. HuffPost India has shared its findings about ABM’s network with Facebook. “We believe our efforts to bring greater authenticity and transparency to ads on Facebook have helped better protect elections,” said Katie Harbath, Facebook’s Public Policy Director, Global Elections, in an emailed response. “There will always be bad actors that will try to game our systems but we’re committed to continuing to strengthen our safeguards and making it harder.It’s important that we keep taking these steps to protect people. Our investigations into this type of activity are ongoing and we will take actions against any Pages or accounts that are found to violate our policies.” Toothless Campaign Finance Laws The Association of Billion Minds has been intimately involved in the BJP’s state election plans since the Uttar Pradesh state elections in March 2017, yet the company finds no mention in the party’s campaign expenditure statements filed before the Election Commission of India. Company annual reports filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs offer the barest of details on the company’s financial workings. In financial year 2016-17, when ABM ran its first campaign for the BJP, it posted a revenue of Rs 16.9 crore — nearly half of which went in paying salaries, buying laptops and mobile phones; travel and hotel bills accounted for the rest. In 2017-18, revenue rose to Rs 23.5 crore with salary costs rising sharply as more employees came on board. These numbers may seem low, but given ABM’s role as a consultant, the company does not pay for election-related costs directly off its balance sheet. For example, ABM worked with MangoData, which describes itself as “India’s First AI based adtech company”, to place political ads on Facebook, according to acurrent employee. The BJP’s expenditure statement for the Karnataka elections record a payment of Rs 16,83,622 to MangoData’s legal holding entity Crescent Data Technologies Pvt Ltd. To be sure, routing payments in this manner is not illegal. Several international firms help companies in diverse sectors (including the media) optimise their Facebook spend. But Chhokar, from the election watchdog ADR, said such arrangements made it hard to establish exactly how much political parties and candidates spend on running for office. “We have not been able to regulate physical stuff like paid news,” Chhokar said. “Social media is not traceable and so it is extremely hard to regulate.” The tiny amounts of traceable money highlight just how opaque election expenditure in India really is. The Election Commission’s Transparency Guidelines of 2014 require political parties to submit a “true and correct statement of their election expenses.” But there is no prescribed format for reporting these expenses, no legal consequences for not doing so, and no verification mechanism to ensure these expenses tally up. MangoData did not respond to a request for comment. Election Commission Of India The BJP's submission to the Election Commission of India showing a payment to MangoData's parent company, Crescent Data Technologies Pvt Ltd. From CAG To Nation With NaMo The page history of the Nation with NaMo Facebook page offers a short history of ABM and political consulting in India. The Nation With NaMo page was originally called Indiacag when it was set up on June 11, 2013. A week later, the page was re-named Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG). Back then, CAGwas Modi’s campaign manager Prashant Kishor’s brainchild to first covertly, and then openly, recruit young professionals to help Modi become Prime Minister. In 2013, the BJP was among the first Indian political parties to adopt modern campaigning techniques like data-driven decision making, covert advertising and using paid professionals, rather than volunteer party workers, to manage campaigns. Kishor first gained attention for his work on Modi’s 2012 campaign to be re-elected as Gujarat Chief Minister. At the time Modi tasked a Gujarati businessman named Dipak Patel to assist Kishor, according to two people close to Patel. “He provided logistical and material support — cars, drivers, places to stay, things like that,” said one of the two sources. Patel was also part of Kishor’s plan to set up the Sarvani foundation — the organisation that would eventually become ABM — to attract women voters. “The idea was to do genuinely good work for women, and then see where it takes us,” said the same source, explaining the rationale behind Sarvani. CAG dissolved in 2014 after Modi won the general election. Four former CAG workers told HuffPost India that Modi and party president Amit Shah sidelined Kishor as they felt he was taking too much credit for BJP’s electoral success. When Kishor decided to work with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) for the Bihar state election in 2015, the press took notice. “Nitish has got hold of Modi’s brahmastra of the 2014 campaign and is trying to use it against Modi himself,” political analyst Prof. Nawal Kishor Chaudhary told Telegraph journalist Sankarshan Thakur in a 2015 piece titled Modi’s Ace versus Modi’s ex-Mace. The BJP lost, Nitish won, and Kishor’s legend was further burnished. “That was the intent for us,” said a former CAG worker who now works at Indian Political Action Committee, Kishor’s new consultancy. “In 2014, everyone said Modi would have won anyway, what did you guys do?” After the elections, three people with first-hand knowledge of the matter told HuffPost India, Amit Shah reached out to Patel, the businessman once tasked with assisting Kishor, and asked him to tap his contacts and put together a political consultancy to work exclusively for the BJP. The new entity would be housed in the now-defunct Sarvani Foundation. On February 10, 2016, company records show, the Sarvani Foundation applied to Gujarat’s registrar of companies to change its name. “Citizens for Hope and Change”, “Citizens Clinic for Change Association”, “Foundation for Belief Optimism Courage Conviction Action”, “Association of Citizens Ready for India’s Acceleration and Empowerment” were some of the names suggested in the application. On May 24, 2016, the company registrar signed off on “Association of Billion Minds”. The owners of the company are Reshma Alkesh Rochwani, and Bhavna Sanjay Chhabaria — the wife and sister, respectively, of Alkesh Rochwani, Kishor’s graphic designer who soon joined ABM. Rochwani and his sister Bhavna (whose Facebook profile lists her as a former Jet Airways flight attendant) also work for Shatayu—an organ-donation NGO supported by the Govindbhai C. Patel Foundation which, in turn, is supported by Ganesh Housing Corporation Limited, Dipak Patel’s family business. Dipak Patel, according to Shatayu publicity material, was moved to support organ donation after he received a successful heart transplant. Patel asked Himanshu Singh, a young aerospace engineer from IIT Kanpur who had quit his job at McKinsey to work for the Modi campaign as part of CAG in 2014, and Sunil Kanugolu, another CAG alumnus, to run the new firm. Kanugolu and Singh left CAG after Modi’s victory in 2014 following differences with Kishor. Singh went on to launch Flont, a fashion rental startup, and Kanugolu managed M.K. Stalin’s failed bid to unseat Jayalalithaa in the 2016 Tamil Nadu elections. Many ABM employees were legacy CAG so they had access to the Citizens for Accountable Governance Facebook page. The new organisation quickly changed the passwords and took over the page and its 1.5 million followers. On January 10, 2018, as the Modi government entered the last stretch of its tenure, the page was renamed Citizens for Modi Government, then Nation with Modi on February 2, 2018, and then finally Nation with NaMo on February 14, 2018. Alkesh Rochwani and Chhabaria refused to comment on ABM when HuffPost India spoke to them on the phone. Singh and Patel did not reply to an emailed questionnaire. Kanugolu could not be reached for a comment. Amit Shah’s Personal Team ABM’s management was determined to avoid Kishor’s publicity-driven style of consulting. Unlike Kishor, the new entity would work exclusively for the BJP, would avoid the media at all costs and would never ever try to claim credit for the BJP, Shah, or Modi’s successes. Instead, the organisation sought to position itself as an extremely low-profile in-house sounding board with a licence to speak truth to Amit Shah. Rather than rely on local party cadres and leaders who would, most likely, have their favourites and biases, Shah wanted ABM to work at a remove from the party bureaucracy and be objective in assessing the party’s preparedness for critical polls. For their first campaign in the Uttar Pradesh elections of 2017 ABM tested many of the strategies that have now become part of their 2019 tool kit. “We were known as ‘Amit Shah’s team’,” said a former ABM employee, describing his experience of working on the Uttar Pradesh campaign. “In the first two months, we gathered ground intelligence and information. ABM conducted surveys to understand the sentiment around the BJP, various political leaders and figure out winnability of potential candidates.” ABM used historical election data to find polling booths that may swing the election; and suggested the names of the candidates the party should poach from their rivals. In each constituency, ABM conducted extensive ground interviews to understand voter sentiment and identify local influencers. All this surveying resulted in the preparation of detailed dossiers recommending likely candidates. ABM has since quantified the process by creating a points-based scorecard to evaluate each candidate. A current ABM employee explained how this data could be put to use. “The report must be actionable. We use a consultancy framework,” he said. “Say, in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, we consolidated the non-Jatav Dalit vote, and the non-Yadav OBC vote behind the BJP. Now, as voting day 2019 draws closer, how do we ensure these groups don’t desert us?” Once a question is framed in this manner for a particular constituency, the reports are intended to help the party leadership solve that problem. Selecting the right candidate for a particular constituency is any campaign’s hardest problem, so two former and one current ABM employees were careful to note that ABM only passes on inputs and suggestions to the party. ABM also started the Nation With NaMo campaign — which is now garnering much national attention — in the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017. At the time, the campaign was advertised on an IIT Kanpur Facebook page as a “community organising initiative by a group of young professionals from varied backgrounds”, rather than an initiative paid for by the BJP. “In a meeting with Amit Shah, when the idea of Nation With NaMo was presented, he clearly stated that the programme should refrain from publicly associating with the BJP,” said a former ABM employee with direct knowledge of the matter.

Critics drudge up vocabulary to describe The Last of Us that's rarely used in game criticism: "emotionally grueling," "I wanted to fight for them." Beyond just being a thoughtfully told story in a video game, The Last of Us takes a bold step in largely skipping combat. Most encounters can be outright ignored, traded for tension while the game's two main characters (Joel and Ellie) slip past "infected" or, worse, the terrible other human beings in the post-apocalyptic future. The Last of Us is the rare triple-A game that dares to be emotionally engaging and eschew violence as the only form of gameplay. "We were unsure if people would get into it or not," Druckmann told us in an interview last week. We'd asked about the cinematic moments -- the giraffe scene, that gut-wrenching ending -- and why Naughty Dog had bothered with so many combat scenarios in such a story-focused, risky game. "We were pleasantly surprised to see that people are very much into it." In fact, the criticism heard most loudly by the TLOU team specifically focused on combat: too much, too often, and too arduous. "For ourselves, compared to previous games we've made, this has way fewer encounters, and those encounters you fight way fewer enemies," Druckmann said. That reticence to move away from combat isn't unique to Naughty Dog, though -- the majority of so-called "triple-A" games feature combat as the primary interaction (last year's holiday hits, for instance: Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, etc.). The Last of Us -- though bold in many ways -- still featured combat as the primary interaction. Rather than focusing on combat as a means to achieve objectives, it was more a necessary evil to lead the game's fragile protagonist duo to safety. "A lot of developers, not just triple-A, but a lot of developers do use combat as a crutch," Straley told us. He defended its use in TLOU, however, as a vehicle for contrast against the game's emotionally resonant moments. "The contrast for us is more about trying to balance the two so that you have both ends of the spectrum, because you have to have the dark to have the light." Would The Last of Us work without combat? Perhaps, Druckmann said, but it'd have to tell a different story. "Say you wanted to tell a story about an archaeologist that doesn't involve Nazis. As soon as you have conflict, where someone's taking out the guns trying to kill you, then as people you would rise to that conflict," he said, in reference to Indiana Jones. He argued that we accept the fantasy of that world (and the murderous protagonist who comes with it), and the same happens in games: Nathan Drake is acceptable in Uncharted because he's built into a world where Nathan Drake makes sense. Given the response to TLOU from players and critics alike, Druckmann and Straley explored the possibility of throwing away combat altogether in the game's final playable addition: a side story prequel featuring Ellie and a new character, titled "Left Behind" (available this week). In the end, they decided against that, though the Left Behind addition features even less combat than the main game. Druckmann explained: "What if there were no infected in this game? What if there was no combat at all in this additional chapter? And we feel like we would lose something that's really integral to The Last of Us, which is that contrast. The giraffe sequence works because of all the horrible things you've done and experienced in the Winter section. Otherwise I think the giraffe sequence would feel pretty flat without the surrounding bits to it. The ending works well because, as Joel, you've done really horrible things in that hospital. Maybe we could argue about the number of encounters, or how many enemies should've been in the hospital, but we definitely feel strong that there should've been a fight, a kind of murdering spree to get to Ellie, because that says something about Joel and what he would do to save someone he loves. Because ultimately that's what those arcs of the character were: how far they were willing to go to save someone they really care for." Though TLOU is finished (read: no sequels, no more DLC -- Naughty Dog's calling it one and done), the lessons learned in the process are far reaching. "We have to check in with ourselves as developers and figure out what are we after here," Straley told us. Will the next Naughty Dog game still feature combat as the main form of interaction? Perhaps; it all depends on the story that the team wants to tell. "As long as we're still flexible to check in on what we think is acceptable and what kind of stories and experiences we want to deliver, then we'll constantly push ourselves. And that's exciting," he said. Like Naughty Dog, we can't predict if what they make next will be a success, but we sure do want to play it -- whatever it is.

With a new de facto American Embassy in Taiwan nearly completed, a spokesperson announcing the opening of the 161,000-square-foot, privately run compound said last week that U.S. Marines have periodically protected the organization’s headquarters since 2005 and did not rule out future deployments. For years, the U.S. had not commented on the presence in Taiwan of any military personnel, who are said to have operated discreetly inside the compound of the American Institute in Taiwan rather than standing guard at entrances. The vague acknowledgement from a spokesperson for the American Institute in Taiwan could ruffle feathers again in China, which has long claimed that Taiwan is a part of its territory. It is the latest in a series of incidents over the past year with the potential of further roiling U.S.-China relations. Over the last nine months, U.S. Navy ships have passed five times through the Taiwan Strait separating the island from China. And less than a month ago, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said her government had asked Washington for a package of American-made F-16V fighter jets. China, meanwhile, flew two fighter jets March 31 over its median line with Taiwan, a surprise to defense officials on the island. A Chinese report the next day said the flyover was prompted by the actions of Washington, not Taipei. Over the years, the U.S. has taken a series of measures demanded by Beijing to avoid a formal diplomatic presence in Taiwan. The American Institute is a nonprofit organization composed of former U.S. government officials who “retire” or take leave to work there — processing visas and handling other consular services — so as not to upset relations. With each generation, the people of Taiwan feel more Taiwanese — and less Chinese » Across the globe, more than 1,000 Marines work in a security group guarding more than 175 missions. But any military presence whatsoever in Taiwan remains a touchy subject. China would express “anger” and sound “warnings” to the United States if more Marines reach Taipei, predicted Alexander Huang, a strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. But it might temper any protestations if the only presence remains Marines guarding the de facto embassy, he said. A sale of American-made F-16Vs fighter jets, on the other hand, would more certainly outrage Beijing, said Alex Chiang, international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “Whether that goes forward or not is an indicator” of strength in U.S.-Taiwan ties, Chiang said. U.S. officials technically have 120 days after a sales request to evaluate which military hardware best matches Taiwan’s needs and reports have emerged that the White House has put the sale of jets on hold until a major trade agreement is reached between the U.S. and China. A trade deal and the timing of a Taiwan arms sale “may be correlated,” Huang said, but the sale is unlikely to hinge on Sino-U.S. agreements. “The bargaining chip is not the fighter jets, it’s the timing,” he said. President Trump has particularly championed closer Taiwan relations, in part to pressure China over trade issues, political scholars have said. His administration has approved two other arms sales to Taiwan, including a $1.42-billion package announced in June 2017. U.S. officials see Taiwan as part of a chain of Western-allied democracies in East Asia. The American Institute spokesperson said in late March that Taiwan “plays a key role in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region” and that its “efforts to maintain its self-defense capability are critical to regional stability.” U.S. officials have called out China over its diplomatic and military pressure against Taiwan since 2016, when voters on the island elected Tsai. The president, backed by a pro-independence party, rejects unification with China. “Now with China escalating the pressure on Taiwan, the atmosphere here in D.C. is one that points to rising support of Taiwan,” said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate with the Stimson Center think tank in Washington. China had flown military aircraft near Taiwan a dozen times before the most recent median line incident and has sent aircraft carriers through the Taiwan Strait. It has also persuaded five countries to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing since 2016. Sorties by “ships and aircraft in ways that signal hostility toward Taiwan are relatively low-cost for China,” said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Center, a research organization in Honolulu. “These will probably continue and might intensify.” Taiwan would support any deployment of Marines at a U.S. diplomatic property, a Cabinet spokesman said in mid-2018. Tsai said last month that Taiwan will become “more active in aligning ourselves with other like-minded countries” facing issues with China. “We are taking a much more aggressive approach to counteract the Chinese government’s infiltration of our society and economy, as well as their interference in our domestic affairs,” she said in a speech hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. Jennings is a special correspondent.

OpEd Black Metal: The Shoegaze Wave Band Photo: Burzum (?) Back in 2005, Alcest released a two song EP called “Le Secret,” a gem that eventually would cause a stir in the hornet nest that is the black metal community. If you didn't gather by the title, Alcest is a French band, and one masterminded by front-man Neige. With a strong pedigree in the French black metal scene, Neige was a musician who not only came forward in the 00s with multiple acts in Alcest and Amesoeurs, but also made contributions to essential French albums from the likes of Mortifera and Peste Noire. While Norway and the adjacent Scandinavian realms are often thought of as the wintery fortress of black metal, the French have long held their own with a melancholic and melodic take on the genre including the infamous Les Légions Noires whom you can read about in a previous Metal Underground Sunday Old School article. So, what was so special about Neige’s little two song EP? Well for one it wasn’t little at all. It was nearly 30 minutes long and an infusion of 90s shoegaze, post-rock, and perfectly distilled black metal. Of course the reason any of this is important now in 2011 is that we seem inundated with bands with this mix. Latest act to sign to Candlelight Records? Glasgow’s folk/post-rock mixup Falloch (and before that Altar of Plagues). Most hype of last year? Well if not for Burzum’s “Belus” it’d have to go straight to Agalloch’s “Marrow of the Spirit.” And I’ll be damned if the popularity of the once obscure Wolves In The Throne Room hasn’t exploded out of nowhere. Add to that the growing popularity of Fen, Lantlos, Krallice etc. and it’s obvious that many are riding another mini-wave in metal, one worthy of a discussion. Way back the early 90s the now ludicrously infamous Varg Vikernes diverged his music from the violent and extreme beasts like Mayhem, expanding the raw chainsaw buzz of black metal and incorporating transcendental ambient offshoots. A bold move, but the dream-like atmosphere that replaced much of the music’s aggression with lighter aesthetics struck a chord with many; even surprised indie journalists embraced the new sound. All pretty common knowledge stuff right? Well that gets us half way through this history lesson. The early 90s were also a time when a genre of music called shoegaze struck a high with bands like Ride, Slowdive, and (the poorly named but I assure you excellent) My Bloody Valentine cementing names for themselves in the big book of influential bands. Although short lived, at the time the washed out and psychedelic take on punk/rock was a hit. Perhaps more importantly, towards the end of the 90s saw post-rock bands like Mogwai, Sigur Ros, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor take shoegaze and indie music to the logical extreme: 15 minute long build ups, noise fuelled epics, and albums drowned in delay effects and crash symbols. OK, so even ignoring Power Rangers and tribal tattoos that's an extremely simplified version of the fertile days of the 90s. The important thing is we arrive at the turn of the millennium and the now highly regarded album “Dead As Dreams” by the Californian band Weakling. The album was a progressive mix of post-rock, psychedelica and black metal that largely helped birth the “suicidal-depressive black metal” scene best associated with bands like Xasthur, Leviathan and Silencer. A sound that has a lot in common with the post-rock bands we’re hearing now. Another critical force that emerged at this time was of course Agalloch. While too much of a chameleon over the years to pin as anything but a progenitor, Agalloch's lyrical themes, post-rock leanings, clean vocals and folk infusions have all had strong influences on many bands today. In the end when it comes to newer underground acts like Austere or Heretoir we get to a similar situation, normal fans throw some sort label on it and call it a day leaving nitpickers to fight down the pointless details. But instead of me painfully picking these strands apart, let’s go back to the very distinctive sound of Alcest which is definitely being milked. The “Les Secret” sound (vs. Xasthur if you need a telling comparison) seems to be a truly telling sign that a band is riding the current shoegaze wave - hell, take a look at the logos from half of these acts and that’s enough to see the common thread of whispery hand written text, perhaps inspired by the other of Neige’s shoegaze projects, Amesoeurs. And could Falloch’s logo be any more Agalloch-y? The basic musical sound takes the intense build ups and soundscapes of the post-rock/shoegaze template and injects black metal staples - blast beats, distant screamed vocals, and those well-known necro punky chord changes. Arpeggiated clean guitars, ambient sections, and clean vocals are also common features of the music many of these bands tend to fall more on the post-rock side of the fence rather than metal. To be fair, I did invert the black and white for Onryo's logo Another interesting commonality in the wave of newcomers is that of naturalism. Perhaps it only makes sense that bands choosing to eschew rigid black metal musical customs would also be accompanied with more liberal thematic topics. The new direction could also be attributed to a combination of the rise environmentalism over the 00s and the fact that pantheism, ecologicalism, feminism, and general “hippie shit meets black metal mysticism” is far more palatable to general audiences than the violent and satanic face of 90s black metal. Also, it doesn't take much for artistic types to revolt against a scene that had grown distinctly less “evil”, and a lot more comedically overblown with machismo and rockstardom as it rose to prominence. ...oh boy, where do I even start? Of course, with the more palatable musical traits of shoegaze and post rock comes an extended fan-base. Initially all factions generally seemed happy enough to celebrate acts like Agalloch and Alcest, with many hailing them as success stories that metal could evolve new branches without bending over to the mainstream. But as indie kids and metalheads go together like oil and water (and a probably a lighter), Alcest’s prominent explosion in popularity brought a good amount of elitist rage at the notion of socialist hipsters sipping their mild green tea in cardigans emblazoned with a Wolves In The Throne Room patch. Although contributing nowhere near as much as the Wolfmother ilk to the term “hipster metal,” that and other phrases such as “nigel hipster” (humorously coined by Nachtmystium frontman Blake Judd) have quickly become communal molotov cocktails all too easily flung by metalheads trying to distinguish friend from foe and defend the walls of metal from artistically bankrupt delay pedal bedroom bands. "Nokturnal what? Hellhamm-who?" So to the average Bathory emblazoned, Marduk blasting black metal fan, post-rock/shoegaze black metal may be an unacceptable step down of aggression and evil. But with the conjoined popularity of depressive black metal, the new guard has generally received a warm welcome over time; especially in comparison to the “we ride at dawn!” response to anything with a -core suffix got in the last decade. So where to from here? Well I can only guess we are experiencing the heyday of this post-rock/shoegaze mini-wave. I’d expect to see another few bands make their bid to be among the roster of the larger labels, especially seeing the way many are struggling to sell anything that isn’t a current sound. Germany is definitely getting in on the deal with bands like Lantlos, Thränenkind, and Soliness staying true to the formula, and others such as Dopamine, Onryo, Les Discrets and Fen have popped up worldwide. On the other hand, with Caina and Ludicra already bowing out of the game, I would say the limelight will be brief. Final thoughts? Spinning Alcest's full length may or may not endanger you by attracting vapid hipsters, but fear not - blasting some Slayer will still send them scattering.

* 1 . INFORMED CONSENT SHEET: Cultural Contact & Social Ties The Department of Psychology at Brunel University requires that all persons who participate in psychology studies give their written consent to do so. Please read the following and sign it if you agree with what it says. I freely and voluntarily consent to be a participant in the research project entitled "Cultural Contact & Social Ties" to be conducted at Brunel University, with Noelia Sayavedra as supervisor or principal investigator. The broad goal of this research program is to explore the variation of several demographic characteristics across nations, particularly those related to the individual and their wider social network. Specifically, I have been told that I will be asked to answer various survey questions, indicating characteristics that apply to myself and my social network. The session should take no longer than approximately 15 minutes to complete. I have been told that my responses will be kept strictly confidential. I also understand that if at any time during the session I feel unable or unwilling to continue, I am free to leave without negative consequences. That is, my participation in this study is completely voluntary, and I may withdraw from this study at any time. My withdrawal would not result in any penalty, academic or otherwise. My name will not be linked with the research materials, as the researchers are interested in broad variations in the demographics of social networks by region and country in general -- not any particular individual's characteristics or traits in particular. I have been given the opportunity to ask questions regarding the procedure, and my questions have been answered to my satisfaction. I have been informed that if I have any general questions about this project, or ethical issues relating to the project, I should feel free to contact Noelia Sayavedra at [email protected]. If I have any concerns or complaints regarding the way in which the research is or has been conducted I may contact one of the Co-Chairs of the Psychology Research Ethics Committee, Professor Taeko Wydell at [email protected] or Dr Tara Marshall at [email protected]. I have read and understand the above and consent to participate in this study. My signature is not a waiver of any legal rights. Furthermore, I understand that I will be able to keep a copy of the informed consent form for my records (available upon request).

When Joel Gascoigne launched his start-up, he outlined some founding values of the fledgling company. One of the most important, he stressed, was openness. But Gascoigne's commitment to this principle went further than most, and resulted in him implementing a pay program at Buffer - the social media publishing platform he co-founded in 2010 - that breaks the most entrenched of workplace taboos: revealing one's salary. Now, rather than clandestinely speculating with colleagues at the water cooler, each employee knows exactly how much their colleagues earn, and Gascoigne is even considering making their salaries public. "We have run Buffer with a focus on self-improvement since the beginning, where co-workers talk regularly about what they are working on to improve themselves," he told CNBC. "It's this openness and transparency which led to salary transparency feeling like simply a natural progression for us." (Read more: $2,800 a month for every Swiss person …even if you're in work) Buffer is one of a small – but increasing - number of businesses making the move towards complete pay transparency. U.S.-based data analysis company SumAll, design consultancy Peer Insight and Switzerland's Alternative Bank Schweiz have all implemented a system where employees know each other's salaries. This push for openness is in sharp contrast to a number of companies – especially the U.S. and U.K. – where discussing a colleague's salary is at the very least frowned-upon, and in some cases a sackable offence. Indeed, some argue that this level of openness causes more problems than it solves. Chris Charman, director of reward and talent management at professional services company Towers Watson, is far from convinced by the benefits of salary disclosure. "People always talk about pay transparency as though it's a very noble idea – it's heralded as the ideal," he told CNBC. "But the reality is very different." (Read more: Where the wealthy get their income) There are commercial considerations, with different market values of some roles, Charman said. For example, the cost of a lawyer would usually be more than an HR professional, even if they were at the same level in an organization. And it is difficult for employers to articulate why some employees earn more than others, with metrics like performance and experience hard to quantify. "A lot of organizations we work with talk about pay transparency, but very few take steps towards implementing it," he said. "It carries a lot of risks." And the benefits of salary disclosure are unclear, Charman added. "I understand why it's good for employees to have a full understanding of their own salary," he said. "But their colleagues' salaries? I'm unconvinced." Formulaic solution Buffer's Gascoigne, however, said that although there was some initial hesitation about pay transparency, it now actually attracted new recruits to the company. "They key benefit is trust. There are no unanswered questions such as how much others make, or who may have negotiated higher salary," he said. "It encourages responsibility, fairness and helps us to keep the company flatter." (Read more: Setting up shop: Watch out for these pitfalls) To overcome some of the stumbling blocks outlined by Charman and others, Buffer introduced a formula to work out all employees' pay, taking into account experience and different roles' market values. Gascoigne gave his own salary as an example: Joel = Founder (job type) x Advanced (experience) + San Francisco (location) = $80,000 x 1.2 + 22,000 = $118,000. Scaling up However, while full disclosure may work on a small scale – Buffer, for instance, employs 13 people – there is an issue of scale, according to Towers Watson's Charman. "With larger organizations, you would have to deal with past pay practices, for instance, and mergers which could result is very diverse pay situations," Charman said. "In practice, that's virtually impossible to manage." But Buffer's Gascoigne is convinced that pay transparency is the future of a happy workplace – even in larger companies - and has even made its salary formula public so other companies can implement it. "It will be painful to put in place - some may not be comfortable with it, and some salaries may need to change - but the benefits make it worthwhile," he said. Swedish lessons In fact, Gascoigne is so convinced by the merits of complete openness that Buffer is already "taking the steps" to share salaries publicly. This radical step draws comparisons with Sweden's tax system, where all tax returns (and so residents' incomes) are available to the public. (Read more: Yellen's No. 1 theory: The badly paid don't work hard) However, Fredrik Gustafsson, a tax partner at DLA Nordic law firm in Stockholm said the system was not hugely popular in the country, particularly as tabloid newspapers regularly publish lists of the highest earners. "My wife – who is American - says it's basically a shopping list for criminals. She doesn't understand the system at all," he added. "I think that when it comes to things like this, Sweden is quite naive. I honestly can't imagine it working somewhere like the U.S." But Gascoigne said Buffer salaries were already pretty transparent - you can take their formula and calculate fairly accurately each person's salary – and to date, there had been no problems or backlash. "I think there are some great benefits of going completely public with salaries, beyond just making them accessible within the company," he said. "The more we can share, the greater loyalty we have among our audience."

One has to wonder why we are dodging this truth about what we've become: a nation that turns a blind eye to skimmers, scammers and legal looting. As in the story of the Emperor's new clothes, the onlooker who declares the obvious-- in this case, that the stock market is rigged--shatters the consensus lie.In the current saga, author Michael Lewis plays the role of the truth-telling boy, and everyone who went along with the fiction that the Emperor's high-frequency trading finery was resplendent is revealed as credulous, complicit or worse. Lewis' new book is Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. The high-frequency trading (HFT) scam is old news, and a number of fine books have addressed the mechanics of the skim, for example Dark Pools: High-Speed Traders, A.I. Bandits, and the Threat to the Global Financial System by Scott Patterson. Many in the alternative financial media have written about HFT for years. Here are two of my own entries on the topic: The Stock Market Is an "Attractive Nuisance" and Should Be Closed (August 22, 2012) We Need a New Stock Market (September 14, 2012) Interestingly, Mr. Patterson outlined the solution that the heroes of Lewis' book ended up pursuing. Here is a Q&A I conducted with Patterson in September 2012: CHS: While there are various regulatory “tweaks” that could be put in place, I wonder if we don’t need a more fundamental “re-set” that asks what role the market should play in finance and the economy inhabited by everyday investors. Scott: I think there are a lot of people in the industry wondering about whether there needs to be a massive overhaul. But it’s probably not a good idea for that to be imposed on the market by the SEC. The uncertainty would be potentially destabilizing. And I just don’t see it happening. I think the change needs to come from within the market and needs to be imposed by its most important users--I mean, not the high-frequency traders, who are running the show at the exchanges in many ways--but the institutions, the giant mutual fund companies, the pension funds, the long-short hedge funds. They need to exert pressure on the exchanges to stop giving advantages to high-frequency firms. If we pull back from the media frenzy about HFT, we find the market is rigged in many other ways. The Federal Reserve's policies, stripped of Orwellian mumbo-jumbo, are all about rigging the market to go in one direction--up. Consider this chart, courtesy of long-time contributor Harun I., of the Dow Jones Industrial Average: I call it the tale of Two Dows. In the Great Bull Market of 1982 - 2000, a market fueled by an extraordinary economic expansion, the DJIA gained an average of 610 points a year. In the anemic "recovery" of 2009 - 2013, the DJIA gained an average of 2,500 points per year. While the Fed rigged the 1990s Bull Market with low interest rates and other policies, it pulled out all the stops in the last five years: The stock market is only the tip of the iceberg of what's being rigged. For a taste of what's rigged, ask yourself this question: if Mr. Elite Insider perpetrates a scam, and Mr. John Q. Citizen breaks similar laws, is there any difference between the treatment each receives? Let's go even deeper and ask: why is looting legal, even though it is obviously crooked? Why is high-frequency trading legal? Why is it legal for the Fed to offer money at 0% to its buddies but not to Mr. John Q. Citizen? Why is it legal to issue student loans to future debt-serfs that is unlike all other debt in that it cannot be discharged in bankruptcy? Since the legal looting continues unabated regardless of what party or toady is in office, then what actual difference is there between the Demopublicans and Republicrats? It's not just the stock market that's rigged--the entire Status Quo is rigged. There are two sets of laws and two sets of opportunities: one for those holding the concentrated wealth and power, and the other for the rest of us debt-serfs. If the system isn't rigged, then why are insolvent banks and bankers protected from the creative destruction of capitalism that befalls John Q. Citizen when his risky bets go bad? Why do we as a nation keep insisting the Emperor's new clothes are splendid when he is in fact parading around buck-naked? One has to wonder why we are dodging this truth about what we've become: a nation that turns a blind eye to skimmers, scammers and legal looting. Perhaps, in Joseph Conrad's phrase, we hope to escape the grim shadow of self-knowledge. Here is the passage from Chapter 7 of Lord Jim: I gave no sign of dissent. I had no intention, for the sake of barren truth, to rob him of the smallest particle of any saving grace that would come in his way. I didn't know how much of it he believed himself. I didn't know what he was playing up to--if he was playing up to anything at all--and I suspect he did not know either; for it is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge. The Nearly Free University and The Emerging Economy: The Revolution in Higher Education Reconnecting higher education, livelihoods and the economy With the soaring cost of higher education, has the value a college degree been turned upside down? College tuition and fees are up 1000% since 1980. Half of all recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed, revealing a deep disconnect between higher education and the job market. It is no surprise everyone is asking: Where is the return on investment? Is the assumption that higher education returns greater prosperity no longer true? And if this is the case, how does this impact you, your children and grandchildren? We must thoroughly understand the twin revolutions now fundamentally changing our world: The true cost of higher education and an economy that seems to re-shape itself minute to minute. The Nearly Free University and the Emerging Economy clearly describes the underlying dynamics at work - and, more importantly, lays out a new low-cost model for higher education: how digital technology is enabling a revolution in higher education that dramatically lowers costs while expanding the opportunities for students of all ages. The Nearly Free University and the Emerging Economy provides clarity and optimism in a period of the greatest change our educational systems and society have seen, and offers everyone the tools needed to prosper in the Emerging Economy. Read Chapter 1/Table of Contents print ($20) Kindle ($9.95) Things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart: 1. Debt and financialization 2. Crony capitalism 3. Diminishing returns 4. Centralization 5. Technological, financial and demographic changes in our economy The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart: 1. Debt and financialization2. Crony capitalism3. Diminishing returns4. Centralization5. Technological, financial and demographic changes in our economy

'You're not experienced at all to take a leadership position as mayor,' Guthrie says to Mlynarz Cam Guthrie jumped at the opportunity to point out the inexperience of his sole competition for the mayor's seat in the Oct. 22 election during a mayoral debate Wednesday night. Roughly 350 people packed into a room at the Italian Canadian Club for the debate between Guthrie and Aggie Mlynarz, with the two fielding prepared questions from event organizers then questions from the audience submitted in written form. Sparks flew during an otherwise civil 90 minutes during responses to a question about about private sector employment and if the candidates would protect secure, decently paid jobs for public service workers. Mlynarz talked about the city "working bus drivers to the bone," wage rollbacks at the Waste Resource Centre and then struck a nerve with Guthrie when she turned to the city's ongoing contract negotiations with its firefighters. "Why are we taking our firefighters to arbitration when they've asked for a 7 per cent increase, and taking them to that negotiating table?" Mlynarz asked. Guthrie bristled in response. "The fact that you know some inside information from the fire union and you negotiating with that in the public right now just shows me that you're not experienced at all to take a leadership position as mayor, because you shouldn't be negotiating with labour in the public realm. That's unacceptable and that's not what you do," Guthrie said. Mlynarz tried to interrupt the mayor, saying "that's public information." But her attempt to further respond was cut short by the debate moderator, University of Guelph vice-president Charlotte Yates, who pointed out that the rules of the debate dictated it was Guthrie's turn to have the last word. Maynard later tweeted a newspaper article indicating firefighters were awarded a 7.47 per cent raise by an arbitrator, an award the city appealed. Mlynarz would actually address the issue of her lack of political experience at the end of the night during her closing remarks. "I recognize that I'm a different type of candidate," she said. "Over the last two weeks or so, what I've been hit with the most is the question of experience." She said her generation, the "millennials," is that they feel they are not properly represented. In the last 10 years Mlynarz has held several jobs, earning two university degrees in the process. "I think what this experience has taught me .... is that my passion wasn't being met and I have so much more fire to offer. And that was my motivation in running for office. "This generation's voice matters, my voice matters, and I think we do deserve a seat at the table because we offer an incredible perspective on what is happening to us now and also an unrelenting hope to make it better." Guthrie highlighted his accomplishments during his term as mayor in saving the city millions of dollars. "Guelph is on the right track, but I know there is work to be done," Guthrie said. "A stronger and safer community requires the whole community." Mlynarz got her own barb in late in the evening after Guthrie espoused his support for the building of the new main branch library. "I'm glad you changed your mind," Mlynarz said dryly, referring to Guthrie's position from years past. "So am I," Guthrie replied. "It was the right thing to do." Most of the questions on the night covered familiar ground that both candidates have repeatedly stated their positions on, including answers straight from their platform: housing affordability, protecting the water supply as Guelph expands south, addressing the opioid crisis among them. Mlynarz repeated several times the issues with Guelph Transit and drivers being "worked to the bone." Guthrie responded that it was a result of new hires not making the grade during driver training that led to a situation of increased overtime and dropped routes. He said the ongoing service review of Guelph Transit that he initiated would also help improve the system. Both candidates support the removal of single-use plastics, such as bottled water, from city facilities. The recent hot topic of Guthrie going door to door campaigning with certain candidates also came up. Mlynarz said it would lead to divisiveness for the next council and was introducing a "party mentality" to the council horseshoe. Guthrie said he did it because certain council candidates were "misrepresenting themselves" at the door and saying they are in favour of Guthrie's "stronger and safer" platform that includes spending an additional $700,000 a year on more police officers. "And yet on October 23rd, when the lights are on with the camera, they're going to completely switch things around. They're using me as an association to try and get votes at the door," Guthrie said, which drew a loud reaction from members of the audience. "I go to the doors and I do my own communication," Mlynarz said in response. A second mayoral debate, hosted by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, is planned for Monday, Oct. 1, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Guelph City Hall.

A Chinese satellite has identified another object in the Indian Ocean that could be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The object is about 22.5 metres long and 13 metres wide. The high-definition earth observation satellite Gaofen-1 spotted the object at around midnight on March 18, according to China’s State Administration of Science Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND). Chinese ships and planes were heading towards the area on Saturday night.

The College Football Live crew breaks down the advantages of the Arizona job as well as candidates like Kevin Sumlin who would be a good fit in Tucson. (2:15) The Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday fired football coach Rich Rodriguez after six seasons in the wake of a sexual harassment allegation the university began investigating in October and a recent notice of a hostile-workplace lawsuit to be filed against Rodriguez. "After conducting a thorough evaluation of our football program and its leadership, both on and off the field, President [Robert] Robbins and I feel it is in the best interest of the University of Arizona and our athletics department to go in a new direction," athletic director Dave Heeke said in a statement. In a letter to the Arizona community, Heeke and Robbins said Arizona's Office of Institutional Equity retained the law firm of Cohen Dowd Quigley to investigate the allegation, which was made by the former administrative assistant to the 54-year-old Rodriguez. ESPN generally does not identify a person who has reported sexual harassment. After the investigation began, the former employee hired an attorney and declined multiple requests to participate in the investigation into her allegation and was "unwilling to turn over communications that she alleged provided support for her allegations," the letter stated. The investigation, which concluded Dec. 28, determined the allegation could not be substantiated, but, according to Heeke and Robbins, "Arizona Athletics did become aware of information, both before and during the investigation, which caused it to be concerned with the direction and climate of the football program. "As a result, we have been reviewing the finding and deliberating our course of action. While this is a difficult decision, it is the right decision. And it is a decision that lives up to the core values of the University of Arizona." Rich Rodriguez, who went 43-35 in his six seasons at Arizona, said he was "very excited about the trajectory of our young team, and looked forward to 2018 and beyond." James Snook/USA TODAY Sports Rodriguez issued a statement Tuesday night saying he found out about his firing by email. In the statement, he admitted to having an extramarital affair with someone not affiliated with the university, but Rodriguez denied any allegations of harassment. He also said the former employee threatened a $7.5 million lawsuit against him. "The University initiated a thorough outside investigation. I fully cooperated with the investigation, including voluntarily taking and passing a polygraph," Rodriguez said. "The University determined that there was no truth to her accusations and found me innocent of any wrongdoing. "This was a thorough investigation that lasted over 10 weeks and included multiple members of my current and former staff. Notably, the complainant refused to cooperate with the investigation. It was comforting to be reassured of what I already knew, the claims were baseless and false." The former employee on Thursday filed a $7.5 million notice of claim with the state's attorney general's office alleging Rodriguez ran a hostile workplace. A notice of claim is a legal document that signals a lawsuit will be filed. According to a copy of the notice of claim obtained by ESPN, the woman says Rodriguez forced her to keep his extramarital affair a secret while also groping and attempting to kiss her among other actions that made the woman uncomfortable. The claim includes an allegation that players on the team sent the woman screenshots of their genitalia and illicit overtures via text message and that when she went to Rodriguez to intervene, he ignored her. After a January 2017 incident during which the woman alleged Rodriguez "touched the side of her breast and tried to kiss her," he offered her $300 and "begged" her not to tell her husband or his wife about the incident, but she declined to take the money. The university said it would honor the separation terms of Rodriguez's contract, which was set to run through May 31, 2020. Arizona is required to pay 100 percent of what remains on what it refers to as his "university-funded compensation" -- an amount that totals $5.46 million. Arizona will hire a search firm to assist with "a national search" to find a new coach. "We'll move through the coaching search in an effort to identify a head coach that will build a solid foundation for our program and create an identity of Arizona football that the University, Tucson and Southern Arizona communities can be proud of," Heeke said in the statement. "We're excited about the future of our football program and we look forward to introducing our new head coach at the completion of the search process." Rodriguez guided the Wildcats to a 6-2 start in 2017 before finishing 7-6, losing 38-35 to Purdue in the Foster Farms Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27. Overall, he went 43-35 at Arizona, averaging less than six wins over the past three seasons. Before joining the Wildcats, he coached at Michigan in 2008-10 (15-22) and West Virginia in 2001-07 (60-26). Rodriguez took the Wildcats to five bowl games during his tenure, including the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. Before his arrival, Arizona reached only three bowl games in 13 seasons. "My coaching staff and I were very excited about the trajectory of our young team, and looked forward to 2018 and beyond," Rodriguez said in his statement. "... To my players, staff and supporters, it's been an honor to lead and serve you. As I'm sure that you would expect me to do, I will vigorously fight these fabricated and groundless claims. "... I am not a perfect man, but the claims by my former assistant are simply not true and her demands for a financial settlement are outrageous. I am saddened that these accusations and investigation have caused my family additional stress." As of Tuesday, with the firing of Rodriguez, the Pac-12 will have five new football coaches when the 2018 season begins. Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State and UCLA have also made moves this offseason. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

A police captain from Orange was critically injured Tuesday after he was struck on his motorcycle while leading a funeral procession in Middlesex County, authorities said. Capt. William Boggier, 58, was leading the procession in the Avenel section of Woodbridge when the crash occurred. Boggier was taken to University Hospital’s intensive care unit in Newark with injuries considered life threatening, according to police. “He is in critical condition. That’s all we can say,” Orange city spokesman Keith Royster said in an email on Tuesday. Woodbridge police confirmed the crash occurred in the township and referred media calls to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office. “It was during the funeral escort and procession,” said Andrea Boulton, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office. Boulton said the crash occurred near Minna Avenue and Avenel Street but she did not know when the crash occurred or who the funeral was for. Robin Lavorato, coordinator of the Essex County Opioid Task Force, said Boggier has been active in the fight against Opioid addiction. “Capt. Boggier is an amazing man and top-notch law enforcement officer,” Lavorato said. “He is not only a well-respected law enforcement officer, he is a devoted husband and dad to his cherished daughters,” Lavorato said. “(He is) a friend and supporter to our efforts of addressing individuals and families suffering from substance use disorder.” Boggier took part in overdose training with other law enforcement agencies and was skilled in the use of Narcan, which police officers have successfully used to revive victims of narcotics overdose. Committed to the fight against NJ's opioid epidemic, along with community partners The Overdose Prevention Agency... Posted by Ammon Labs on Thursday, November 29, 2018 Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Wenn in Syriens Hauptstadt ohne Sicherheitsprobleme eine internationale Wirtschaftsmesse stattfindet, gibt es keine Fluchtgründe mehr. Die AfD-Bundestagsfraktion brachte am 6. November 2017 einen Antrag (19/32) für ein Rückführungsabkommen mit Syrien in den Deutschen Bundestag ein. Darin wird die Bundesregierung aufgerufen, „mit der syrischen Regierung in Verhandlungen über ein Rückführungsabkommen betreffend die in Deutschland aufgenommenen schutzsuchenden Syrer“ einzutreten. Ziel ist, dass Rückkehrer in Syrien „aufgenommen und … in sicheren Gebieten untergebracht werden, dass ihre Versorgung … gewährleistet wird und dass sie wegen eventuell gegen die Regierung gerichteter Aktivitäten vor und während ihrer Flucht einschließlich im selben Zeitraum eventuell begangener Straftaten gegen die Pflicht zur militärischen Dienstleistung nicht verfolgt werden“. Von der Rückführung betroffen sein sollen „zunächst vorrangig arbeitsfähige Männer, deren eventuell in Deutschland befindlichen Familien – falls gewünscht – bis zur Konsolidierung der Lebensverhältnisse in Syrien weiterhin Aufenthalt in Deutschland gewährt werden soll“. Dabei soll die deutsche Botschaft in Syrien das Recht erhalten, „Zugang zu den Rückkehrern“ zu haben,um überprüfen zu können, „ob die syrischen Zusicherungen eingehalten wurden“. Schulpflichtige syrische Kinder sollen auf ihre Rückkehr nach Syrien dahingehend vorbereitet werden, dass ihnen in Deutschland syrischer Schulunterricht von Personen erteilt werden soll, „die sich entweder schon in Deutschland aufhalten oder die von der syrischen Regierung nach Deutschland entsandt werden“. Die Rückkehrbereitschaft von aufgenommenen schutzsuchenden Syrern soll durch „attraktive Anreize in Form von Starthilfen gewährt werden“ und die Rückführung „in Zusammenarbeit mit der syrischen Seite für die Rückkehrer kostenfrei sein“. Die Bundesregierung wird zudem aufgefordert, nach Abschluss des Abkommens das Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge damit zu beauftragen, bei nicht rückkehrwilligen Syrern zu „prüfen, ob die Paragrafen 73 ff des Asylgesetzes (AsylG), Widerruf der Asylberechtigung und der Flüchtlingseigenschaft, Widerruf des subsidiären Schutzes, anzuwenden sind, und gegebenenfalls Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, um den Aufenthalt zu beenden“. Begründet wird der Antrag, dass „ein Land, das – wie Syrien – in der Lage ist, in seiner Hauptstadt ohne Sicherheitsprobleme eine gut besuchte internationale Wirtschaftsmesse auszurichten, seinen Bürgern keine Veranlassung mehr biete, wegen seiner Sicherheitslage massenhaft in das Ausland zu fliehen. Für die meisten in Deutschland aufgenommenen Syrer sei damit der Aufnahmegrund entfallen, weshalb Widerrufsverfahren nach den §§ 73 ff. AsylG einzuleiten sind.

Shockingly, the ladies of Team Bounty Hunter didn’t spring into existence upon meeting The Heroes. If you’ve been paying attention, you already caught a glimpse of their origin story back in “Dropping Some Knowledge.” In retrospect however, we thought it deserved more attention than a belated update. That’s because first impressions are crazy important, and their effects reverberate throughout a campaign. When it comes to the setup in session one, everybody at the table has an agenda. GMs want to show that they’re more creative than “you all meet in a tavern.” Players want to establish their intraparty relationships. New groups want to make a good impression with an unfamiliar table of gamers, and characters want to advance their personal goals. There’s a lot of pressure to get all the gears to align, and it’s easy to psyche yourself out. As is so often the case, a well-designed session zero can come to the rescue here. Taking the time to bring all stakeholders into the planning phase of the campaign gives players and GMs alike a sense of ownership, and is an easy way to build enthusiasm coming into session one. Take my group’s Dead Suns game. It may be an AP, but that didn’t stop my players from comparing notes and creating a unique take. “So,” I said. “Did any of you guys know each other before the adventure?” “Sure!” they chorused. “We all did!” “Well then how did you meet?” “We’re journalists! We work for the National Enquirer!” “What? I mean, there isn’t a National Enquirer per se…” “There is now! We’re gossip journalists! We’re joining the Starfinder Society to scoop the competition! We’re desperately poor because of all the libel lawsuits!” There was laughter, back-and-forth brainstorming, and a crazy amount of creative energy in the room. It helped that we were planning this during the 2017 solar eclipse and were all in the mood for a sci-fi game, but I think that the group-sourced concept made all the difference. Getting everyone to buy into a unique premise transformed a standard-issue adventure into our adventure. It’s the same if you decide that you’re mystery-solving teens, part owners in a traveling carnival, or press-ganged students at Miss Spine Eater’s School for Unruly Young Ladies. Collaboration is key in TRPGs, and it’s a wise group that fosters that sense of teamwork from the start. So how about it, guys? Have you ever created the premise for your campaign as a group? What crazy concepts did you come up with? Let’s hear about your wackiest opening premises down in the comments! ARE YOU AN IMPATIENT GAMER? If so, you should check out the “Henchman” reward level over on The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. For just one buck a month, you can get each and every Handbook of Heroes comic a day earlier than the rest of your party members. That’s bragging rights right there!

Adorable indeed! >w< I love the way she's blushing, and that adorable smile :3 Beautiful work on her eyes and mane, too ^^

The money will arrive to your account in mere minutes after the transaction with no extra fees or commissions. Keep in mind that the time of operation varies based on a payment method. One more benefit for gamers is the fact that every week our service offers free Dota 2 items through our giveaway. Show all Our support team is available 24/7 in a live chat window in case you encounter any issues that need assistance. The Internet is overwhelmed with variety of services that offer you to trade Dota items, so what makes us different? Instant payments (average processing time = 9 seconds) 100% secure, guaranteeing that your inventory will be safe during the trading process with our service Incredibly easy to use, which makes our service one of the most convenient on the market The highest level of service is our top priority. That's why we have a Trustpilot widget on our website which shows the overall rating and the latest feedback from our users. We encourage you to leave your comment after your Dota 2 skins sale. Did everything go according to your expectations? Did you receive your money on time? We hope you'll enjoy your trading experience and become a regular user. Please don't hesitate to contact our support team with any questions you have about the service.

UPDATE: Man accused of donut-carving joyrides at Trump’s golf course and Taylor Swift mansion break-in to face court in N.J. A Hunterdon County man is accused of visiting President Trump’s Bedminster golf course twice this month and driving his car onto the greens and doing “donuts,” causing more than $20,000 in damage. Richard Joseph McEwan appears to prefer celebrity and spectacle, having just been charged with breaking into Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island home late last month. In McEwan’s latest case, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael Robertson said police were called to the Trump National Golf Course twice this month. Around 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 3, an employee called police to report a vehicle doing “donuts” on the grass around the 11th hole, Robertson said in a news statement. The employee was standing on the fairway and looked out to see the spinning car, and heard loud music playing. Cops searched around the 11th hole and found a plastic piece with a Ford label on it. McEwan allegedly struck again on Sunday, around 3:30 p.m. Bedminster cops arrived at the course, where a witness reported seeing a blue Ford with a Rutgers sticker, driven by a younger man described as white. He was doing donuts on the course, this time around the 13th hole. The officers could read part of the license plate number and later identified the driver as McEwan, 26, of Milford. He was arrested Tuesday and charged with third-degree criminal mischief before being release with a pending future court date. The Sept. 3 incident caused more than $10,000 in damage and the damage Sunday is estimated at $7,000 to $9,000. “He will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” a Trump Organization spokesperson said. McEwan is also facing charges in Westerly, Rhode Island after police there say he scaled a wall around a mansion belonging to pop star Taylor Swift. She was not home at the time on Aug. 30 when McEwan triggered a burglar alarm, drawing police to the 5-acre property. Officers found him standing in the foyer and arrested him after a short chase. McEwan later told investigators he took off his orange shoes when he got inside because he was taught it was polite to remove shoes when a guest in someone’s home. Trump visited the course for the first time this year in July, staying for a weekend. The president was not on the Bedminster course for either donut incident, according to his public schedules. An NBC News analysis found he has spent 90 days at the property during his presidency, his second-most popular destination after Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Joe Brandt can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.

“You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War “I have absolutely no doubt that when the time comes to reduce the size of the balance sheet we’ll find that a whole lot easier than we did when expanding it” Sir Mervyn King, February 2012 In September, 2017 the Fed announced that it would start paring back its multitrillion-dollar balance sheet. The reduction will start modestly with USD 6 billion in Treasury bonds and USD 4 billion in mortgage backed securities a month. By the end of 2018 the pace of reduction is expected to reach USD 50 billion a month. Ever since the Fed indicated its intention to gradually begin selling some of its bonds portfolio, opinions on the possible consequences of the balance sheet reduction have been divided. The equity bears argue that quantitative tightening will lead to a severe tightening of monetary conditions causing a recession and a stock market crash. The bond bears on the other hand argue that the added supply of Treasury bonds, at a time when foreign central banks are retreating from the Treasury market, will overwhelm the market, causing bond prices to fall sharply. While there are others that curiously argue that just as quantitative easing was expected to be inflationary but ended up being deflationary, quantitative tightening, which is expected to be deflationary, will cause inflation to spike. We wonder, however, if quantitative tightening will turn out to be a non-event? Prior to the global financial crisis, the Fed through the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) used open market operations – the buying and selling of government securities – as its primary tool to regulate money supply in the economy. The open market desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York would buy securities to increase the level of reserves held by banks – increasing money supply – or sell securities to remove reserves – to reduce money supply. There were also no interest payments on excess reserves. As banks, in the ordinary course of business, try to maximise income on the given level of available funds, the opportunity cost for holding excess reserves prior to the crisis was high. Instead of holding excess reserves, banks, by lending or investing their assets, attempted to maximise earnings by reducing liquidity to as close to the statutory minimum as possible. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, from 1959 to just prior to the financial crisis, the level of reserves in the banking system remained stable, growing at an annual average of 3.0 percent over the period – in line with the growth rate of deposits. Excess reserves’ share of total reserves, outside periods of extreme uncertainty or economic stress, was also stable, rarely exceeding 5.0 percent. Under the circumstances prior to the financial crisis, banks did not hold surplus funds needed to buy bonds from the Fed. Their only option to generate funds was to sell other assets or call in loans. So when the Fed sold bonds to the banks, the banks sold other financial instruments, driving down the price of financial assets and pushing up interest rates. This selling tightened monetary conditions and served to cool economic activity. In response to the global financial crisis, the Fed injected large amounts of reserves into the banking system and introduced new mechanisms that encouraged banks to increase their level of excess reserves. Since December 2008, the Fed pays interest on all banking reserves, including excess reserves, thereby increasing the marginal benefit of holding excess reserves as compared to before the crisis. At the same time, the heightened levels of risk in other securities and lending combined with an increasing regulatory burden reduced the marginal benefit of the alternatives to parking money at the Fed. The decision to pay interest on banks’ excess reserves also ensured that the mass injection of liquidity did not result in short-term rates falling below zero, thereby putting a floor on short-term rates. Interest on Excess Reserves vs. Fed Funds Rate and 90 Day T-Bill Discount Rate Source: Bloomberg A number of liquidity-easing programs to alleviate some of the stress in the financial system were also implemented by the Fed. The largest of the liquidity programs implemented, quantitative easing, involved the Fed purchasing Treasury securities, federal agency debt and mortgage-backed securities primarily from non-banks. These purchased assets were then converted into deposit liabilities at the banks. As a consequence of these asset purchases and their conversion to deposit liabilities, excess reserve balances at the Fed expanded greatly and as of 25 October, 2017 stood at USD 2.14 trillion. Excess Reserves of US Depository Institutions (USD million) Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis To undertake quantitative tightening, the quantitative easing process will have to be reversed. This will involve the Fed selling the securities it purchased to banks in order to absorb the excess funds in their current accounts. As bond bears postulate, this selling of government bonds should, in theory, cause their price to fall, driving up interest rates. In practice, however, if the Fed does not shrink its balance sheet by more than the level of excess reserves in the banking system, quantitative tightening will not be a “tightening” of monetary policy. In a tightening phase, the Fed would be selling bonds to banks to soak up market liquidity and reduce the volume of money circulating. However, for any level of quantitative tightening up to the USD 2.14 trillion in excess reserves, the funds are already available in the banks’ accounts with the Fed. As banks will not need to raise funds elsewhere, the operation, in our opinion, is unlikely to have the negative impact of a standard tightening operation, and interest rates should not rise as a direct consequence of quantitative tightening. The next question that comes to mind then is why undertake quantitative tightening now? The answer to that, we think, lies in the very reason many feared quantitative easing would cause inflation to spike. Quantitative easing did not result in high levels of inflation as there was little demand for debt financing, other than for corporate share buybacks and mergers & acquisitions. As long as there is no demand from would be borrowers, no amount of quantitative easing will result in inflation. However, as we argued in The Case for a Pickup in US Inflation, the capital expenditure cycle may be picking up and that may spur an expansion in credit issuance. Of the aggregate reserves of depository institutions held with the Fed, only around USD 127 billion, as of 25 October, 2017, are required to satisfy reserve balance requirements. Accordingly, the USD 2.14 trillion in additional reserves can potentially support a level of money supply much larger than that exists today. By absorbing these excess reserves, the Fed will reduce the possibility of a drastic expansion in bank lending and money supply that could destabilise the economy. Investment Perspective Much like Pavlov’s dog, we, as market participants, have been conditioned by the pairing of a neurologically potent stimulus, such as directional market action, with a neutral stimulus, such as the Fed’s policy decisions, to elicit a response. The nature of our response is ultimately conditioned by our most formative experiences within markets. The direction of market action that was most recurrent subsequent to the application of a particular Fed policy during this time is most likely to become our default expectation whenever the policy is implemented again. The market regime experienced by the vast majority of market participants today is the one where banks’ excess reserve levels were modest and the Fed selling bonds resulted in interest rates rising. Quantitative tightening involves selling of bonds by the Fed, ipso facto, financial conditions will tighten and interest rates will rise so sell bonds. We consider this to be a systematic error caused by conditioning under an altogether different market regime. Quantitative easing was a compelling reason to buy long-dated government bonds. Quantitative tightening, on the other hand, is not a sound reason to be selling or shorting long-dated Treasury securities. This post should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation to purchase any particular security, strategy or investment product. References to specific securities and issuers are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as, recommendations to purchase or sell such securities. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed.

Fast zwei Tage nach der Niederlage gegen Bremen trifft Wolfsburg eine Entscheidung in der Trainerfrage. Valérien Ismaël muss die Bank räumen. Sein Nachfolger soll schnell präsentiert werden. Fast zwei Tage lang hatte die Entscheidung reifen müssen. Die Einsicht, dass Valérien Ismaël nicht mehr der richtige Trainer für den VfL Wolfsburg ist, war erst nach einer höchst unangenehmen Hängepartie gefallen. „Über mich ist von Anfang an diskutiert worden“ – mit dieser leicht verbitterten Erkenntnis ist der Cheftrainer eines Vereins abgetreten, in dem derzeit nur sehr wenig stimmt. Drei Übungsleiter und zwei Sportdirektoren in einer Saison: Das ist eine Bilanz, die zum sportlichen Elend bei den Niedersachsen passt. Dass es in Wolfsburg statt um den erhofften Einzug in die Champions League in dieser Saison nur um den Verbleib in der Fußball-Bundesliga geht, macht alle Beteiligten nervös. Die Quittung dafür hat jetzt Ismaël ausgestellt bekommen, der am Sonntagabend von seinen Aufgaben entbunden wurde. Mehr zum Thema 1/ Rund vier Monate lang hatte Ismaël als Nachfolger von Dieter Hecking versucht, eine formschwache Mannschaft zu beflügeln. Immer mal wieder gab es einen Funken Hoffnung. Aber die Leistungsschwankungen und Rückschläge waren zu groß. Bestes Beispiel war die 1:2-Heimniederlage am Freitag gegen Werder Bremen. Die Wolfsburger hatten die Partie dominiert, sich eine Vielzahl an Torchancen herausgespielt – und scheiterten. Ismaël musste sich hinterher wohl auch eingestehen, dass selbst drastische Veränderungen nicht gegriffen hatten. Gegen Bremen hatte der Deutsch-Franzose gleich fünf Stammspieler zunächst auf die Ersatzbank gesetzt – darunter auch Mario Gomez. Wer so einschneidenden Maßnahmen trifft, riskiert viel. Ismaël ist gescheitert, weil die Vereinsführung schließlich das Vertrauen in seine Arbeit verlor. Sie sieht nach 20 Jahren Erstliga-Zugehörigkeit des VfL Wolfsburg das Große und Ganze akut gefährdet. Die Entscheidungshoheit hinter den Kulissen hat sich verschoben. Mit dem Scheitern von Geschäftsführer Klaus Allofs, der Mitte November entlassen wurde, nimmt der Aufsichtsrat der VfL Wolfsburg Fußball GmbH wieder deutlich mehr Einfluss. Nach Rücksprache mit dem Gremium, das mehrheitlich mit Managern des VfL-Hauptsponsors Volkswagen besetzt ist, musste gehandelt werden. Als Nachfolger von Ismaël soll ein Trainer installiert werden, der auf eine gute Teamarbeit mit Sportdirektor Olaf Rebbe vertraut. Unter dessen Regie ist der Spielerkader während der Winterpause erheblich verändert worden – ohne dass es bisher gelungen wäre, eine Mannschaft mit Stabilität und einer funktionierenden Hierarchie zu formen. Die Mehrheit der Wolfsburger Stammspieler spielt weit unter ihren Möglichkeiten. Das immer wieder neu sortierte Team ist schwer zu delegieren. „Es ist eine katastrophale Situation“, meint Mittelfeldspieler Christian Träsch. Er spricht stellvertretend für eine Mannschaft, die eigentlich mit Ismaël weiterarbeiten wollte und die an diesem Montag offiziell erfahren soll, wer ihr neuer Cheftrainer wird.

The tone was set, admittedly, in a pre-discussion video that voiced many Deadpool fans' frustrations by making fun of the decision to sew the character's mouth shut for his big screen debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine; considering the comic book incarnation's nickname is "the merc with the mouth," with a reputation for being a wisecracking a-hole, it was a choice that seemed surprising at best, and downright contrary at worst. Either way, it was a sign to the hardcore fan base that that Deadpool wasn't the character they fell in love with, and this movie's willingness to poke fun is a sign that this Deadpool very much is the version they know and love. The full-length trailer shown in Hall H was more of the same, opening with a somber tone as Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson faces a cancer diagnosis with an appropriately dramatic, slow-pan response filled with mysterious figures offering him the chance to live — something that felt not unlike the tone of Marvel's first Ant-Man trailer, right up to when Reynolds starts demanding that no one give him a green, animated costume. (Something with which Reynolds has painful firsthand experience.) It's another sign that the R-rated movie Deadpool isn't just the fourth wall-breaking character comic fans recognize; he's someone who'll make the same comments and demands of the movie that fans will. That continues throughout the rest of the trailer — Reynolds pointing out Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld in a cameo appearance (just before Stan Lee fulfills his cameo potential as a strip club DJ, playing with the veteran creator's cuddly public image in the way that fans will likely enjoy), or responding to learning Negasonic Teenage Warhead's name by breaking character to tell her how cool it is. And, to be fair, it is. It's a movie that feels like the next generation of the metatextual referentiality that's made Marvel Studios' offerings so successful with fans — and been shared on social media by fans countless times following release. Now, instead of Easter eggs, we have a movie that will openly talk about the things created just to thrill the faithful, pointing them out and saying Yes, we get it too, we're just like you. With an attitude like that, it's unsurprising that the Hall H audience demanded a second screening by stamping its collective feet and chanting. The real question is whether non-Comic-Con audiences will react in the same way.

The order also forbids Americans from doing business with any other sector that the authorities consider pertinent. Before an audience comprised of migrants from different Latin American countries, Bolton recognized that many have endured “horrors” at the hands of the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments. He said that the Trump administration is committed to fighting dictators performing atrocities in neighbouring countries. In response to such allegations, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro said the sanctions are “crazy” and “schizophrenic.” He added that his country is not going to kneel down before the American imperialism. In a televised announcement, Maduro said his government is now certifying 32 gold fields that “are going to set Venezuela as the second largest gold reserve on Earth”. The politician said the massive mining project will be financed by both the public and the private sector and is expected to generate $5 billion in 2019. As a reference, in the first nine months of 2018, Venezuela sold 23.62 tonnes of gold to Turkey for about $900 million. Maduro also said that his government is installing 54 gold processing plants. The first one already in operation, named Sarrapia, is located in the southeastern Bolívar state and it is currently able to process 45 kilograms of gold. However, the expectation is that it reaches the mark of 90 kilos of gold processed by July 2019.

Is Measles Here To Stay? Enlarge this image toggle caption solidcolours/Getty Images solidcolours/Getty Images In 2000, the Pan American Health Organization announced a monumental public health achievement: Widespread vaccination efforts, overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had effectively eliminated measles from the United States. The disease, which before the vaccination era affected 3 million to 4 million people in the U.S. each year, was now isolated to small, contained outbreaks connected to international travel. This year's record-setting outbreak threatens that achievement. Since January, over 700 cases of measles have been reported in 22 states. Most of the affected had never been vaccinated. Sixty people have been hospitalized, and the case numbers continue to climb, although in some regions, like the Pacific Northwest, outbreaks have subsided. Though the current numbers are dwarfed by the scale of cases in the first half of the 20th century, they're still meaningful, says René Najera, an epidemiologist and the editor of the vaccine education website History of Vaccines. "We are getting very close to a tipping point. If cases continue to escalate, the U.S. could lose its elimination status," says Najera. Loading... Don't see the graphic above? Click here. A disease is considered eliminated from a country when it can no longer be contracted within its borders, though cases tied to international travel — like those that have happened since 2000 — can still occur. Losing elimination status would mark a failure of one of the biggest public health achievements in our history. Before the 1960s, "measles was basically a universal experience of childhood," says James Colgrove, a public health historian at Columbia University. Essentially everyone got it. Of the millions infected each year in the U.S., 400 to 500 would die, tens of thousands would be hospitalized and hundreds would face serious complications, like encephalitis, according to the CDC. "People had experienced the harm measles could do and so were receptive to the vaccine when it came out," says Najera. The first steps toward a measles vaccine were taken in 1954, when John F. Enders and Dr. Thomas C. Peebles collected throat swabs and blood samples from children at a Boston school that had just experienced an outbreak. Enders and his lab managed to isolate and culture the measles virus and eventually adapted it to chicken embryos, later resulting in the release of a vaccine in 1963. In 1968, a more effective vaccine was developed by Maurice Hilleman and colleagues, and this is the same measles vaccine (combined with a mumps and rubella vaccine) used in the U.S. today. "The measles vaccine was widely accepted and welcomed," says Najera. Between 1964 and 1974, the number of measles cases in the U.S. plummeted. During this time, states began adopting laws requiring proof of immunization to enroll in public schools. "These kinds of laws helped drive the immunization effort," says Colgrove. Loading... Don't see the graphic above? Click here. By 1978, vaccination efforts had been going so well that the CDC set the goal of eliminating measles from the U.S. by 1982. Amesh Adalja, a physician and an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, explains that achieving elimination requires "herd immunity," or a level of immunity among a population such that the chances of vulnerable people (like infants or the immunocompromised) contracting the virus are exceedingly small. "Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases, which means that you need more than 93% immunity to protect a population," says Adalja. "One dose of the vaccine turned out to not be quite enough." In 1989, measles surged to 18,193 cases, around 40% of which occurred in vaccinated children. After that outbreak, public health officials began recommending two doses of the measles vaccine. That recommendation, in conjunction with redoubled efforts to vaccinate lower-income communities, worked. Measles rates continued to drop, allowing the Pan American Health Organization to declare the disease eliminated from the U.S. in 2000. "It was an enormous public health achievement, particularly because measles is so contagious," says Colgrove. Of course, in the years since, measles outbreaks have occurred, but all have stemmed from international travel. In 2014, 383 cases were reported among Ohio's Amish community, which has low vaccination rates. Two Amish men returned from typhoon relief work in the Philippines and unknowingly brought back the virus, fueling the outbreak. In 2015, an outbreak occurred at Disneyland, where 147 cases were suspected to have originated from a traveler from the Philippines. Every outbreak since elimination was declared has eventually fizzled out, as the virus hit the wall of herd immunity, keeping the elimination status of the U.S. intact. But now, public health officials worry that the country's elimination status could be cracking as measles mounts a comeback. "If things don't change, we could be back in a United States where measles is not eliminated," says Najera. That would not mean that the U.S. would go back to having 3 million to 4 million people affected each year; vaccination levels are high enough to prevent that. But outbreaks would become more common. Unvaccinated young children have the highest risk of contracting measles and developing rare but serious complications from the disease. "Statistically speaking, once we get above 1,000 cases of measles, we're going to have a death," says Najera. "For an entirely preventable disease, that's unacceptable." "We aren't there yet, but we are getting very close," says Najera. "If these numbers continue to climb and new cases pop up that aren't associated with foreign travel, we're there." Most cases in the current outbreak are linked to travel, but Adalja says the longer the outbreak goes on, the harder it is to trace any given case back to an introduction by a traveler. As the outbreak simmers, the concern is that the domestic reservoir of measles is growing, making it more likely for vulnerable people to pick up an infection within U.S. borders. The U.S. could reach that point within several months, according to Adalja. "If these chain of outbreaks continue burning for a year, we'd be in a position to question the elimination status," he says. The cause? Vaccine refusals. "We hadn't been threatened with losing our elimination status before vaccine refusal rates went up," says Adalja. "Because of the inaction of certain individuals, they've allowed measles to come back. These are completely preventable outbreaks." State-by-state measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine coverage varies, ranging from 85% in Missouri to 98% in Massachusetts, according to 2017 data from the CDC. And some local communities have even lower rates. Najera says states and local governments should be taking action now. Many already have. On April 9, the New York City health commissioner ordered all unvaccinated individuals living or working in Brooklyn to get vaccinated or face a $1,000 fine, and on April 19 a judge upheld the order. The Washington state legislature is currently considering bills to remove personal exemptions for the MMR vaccine. "If we do everything possible to get people vaccinated, we might contain this outbreak," says Najera. "But we're not there yet." "The 200-year history of vaccines has shown that it's always a challenge to maintain high levels of immunity because any vaccination program will inevitably become a victim of its own success," says Colgrove. "The better vaccines work, the more people think they don't need them anymore." Jonathan Lambert is a freelance science journalist based in Washington, D.C. You can follow him on Twitter: @evolambert.

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WASHINGTON — At least 18 infants and toddlers younger than 2 years old were separated from their parents for at least 20 days because of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy at the southwestern border, according to a report released on Friday by a House committee. Those findings were gleaned from records that the House Oversight and Reform Committee obtained under subpoena on at least 2,648 children who were separated from their families, the youngest being just 4 months old. Some of the children were kept apart for as long as six months and 241 of the children were kept in Border Patrol custody longer than 72 hours, some as long as a week. Under federal regulations, migrant children must be transferred to shelters managed by the Department of Health and Human Services after three days in Border Patrol custody. “My hope is that we can all agree on several basic points,” Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the committee chairman, said on Friday. “Anyone in the custody of our government — especially a child — must be treated humanely and with respect.”

Ex-Dortmund boss reveals Aubameyang's bad behaviour in bid to force Arsenal move Peter Stoger has admitted that the Gabon international refused to attend team meetings during his final weeks at the club Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed team meetings and refused to run during training as he sought to force through his £56 million ($73.5m) move from to , according to the side’s former coach. Peter Stoger took over at Dortmund in December 2017 following the sacking of Peter Bosz, by which time Aubameyang was being heavily linked with a move away from the club during the January transfer window. The Gabon international has made a promising start to life in north London, recording 19 goals in 26 appearances as the club had made its transition to life under Unai Emery, but Stoger says he was always fighting a losing battle to keep Aubameyang in . “He left me no other choice,” the Austrian told Sport Bild . "He trained well four days of the week. But to underline his wish for a transfer, he skipped team meetings before games or refused to run during the final training. “We did our best to keep him for at least another half a year, but Auba wasn’t ready for that.” Aubameyang had been linked with a move away from the Bundesliga before joining the Gunners. In 2015 he was heavily tipped to be on the verge of moving to but the switch never materialised, and the former forward went onto have his most prolific season the following year, netting 40 goals in all competitions during 2016-17. Aubameyang’s goals helped Emery’s side to 11 consecutive wins in the early weeks of the season, with Sunday’s strike in their 2-2 draw with - his seventh in the league this season - moving him level with Eden Hazard at the front of the race for the Premier League Golden Boot “Honestly, I got along well with him although he kept me pretty busy for four weeks" said Stoger, who stepped down at Dortmund in the summer after guiding the side to fourth in the Bundesliga. "But Auba personally apologised to me before joining Arsenal. “He told me that his behaviour had nothing to do with my person and that he had felt my support.” Arsenal will be hopeful they will not need to call Aubameyang into action when they host Blackpool in the on Wednesday, instead giving him some rest ahead of Saturday's crunch clash with .

1 of 3 jailed Pussy Riot members freed Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press | AP MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow appeals court on Wednesday unexpectedly freed one of the jailed Pussy Riot members, but upheld the two-year prison sentence for the two others jailed for an irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin. All three women were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. They argued in court on Wednesday that their impromptu performance inside Moscow's main cathedral in February was political in nature and not an attack on religion. The Moscow City Court ruled that Yekaterina Samutsevich's sentence should be suspended because she was thrown out of the cathedral by guards before she could remove her guitar from its case and take part in the performance. "The punishment for an incomplete crime is much lighter than for a completed one," said Samutsevich's lawyer, Irina Khrunova. "She did not participate in the actions the court found constituted hooliganism." Dressed in neon-colored miniskirts and tights, with homemade balaclavas on their heads, the women performed a "punk prayer" asking Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin as he headed into a March election that would hand him a third term. "If we unintentionally offended any believers with our actions, we express our apologies," said Samutsevich, who along with Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova spoke in court from inside a glass cage known colloquially as the "aquarium." "The idea of the protest was political, not religious," she said. "In this and in previous protests we acted against the current government of the president, and against the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution of the Russian government, against the political comments of the Russian patriarch. Exactly because of this I don't consider that I committed a crime." The case has been condemned in the U.S. and Europe, where it has been seen as an illustration of Putin's intensifying crackdown on dissent after his return to the presidency after four years as prime minister. Putin, however, recently said two-year sentence was justified because "It is impermissible to undermine our moral foundations, moral values, to try to destroy the country." The appeal was postponed from Oct. 1 after Samutsevich fired her lawyers. Prosecutors criticized the move as a delaying tactic. Her father, Stanislav Samutsevich, attributed his daughter's release mostly to the change in lawyers. He said he was deeply sorry for the two others, who are expected to be sent to a prison colony to serve out their sentences. Defense lawyers said Putin's remarks amounted to pressure on the appeals court. "I want a ruling on President Putin on the inadmissibility of his meddling in a court decision," defense lawyer Mark Feigin said. The Russian Orthodox Church had said the appeals court should show leniency if the three women repented. But the defendants said Wednesday that they could not repent because they harbored no religious hatred and had committed no crime. Their protest, they said, was against Putin and the church hierarchy for openly supporting his rule. Patriarch Kirill has expressed strong support for Putin, praising his leadership as "God's miracle." He described the punk performance as part of an assault by "enemy forces" on the church. The judge repeatedly interrupted the defendants when their statements turned to politics, but they persisted in speaking their minds. "We will not be silent. And even if we are in Mordovia or Siberia (where prisoners in Russia are often sent to serve out their terms) we won't be silent," Alekhina said. A lawyer representing cathedral staff, Alexei Taratukhin, said the verdict should be upheld because the women's actions "had nothing to do with politics, democracy or freedom." Tolokonnikova appealed to Russians for understanding. "I don't consider myself guilty. But again I ask all those who are listening to me for the last time: I don't want people to be angry at me: Yes, I'm going to prison, but I don't want anyone to think that there is any hatred in me." Defense lawyers asked the court to take into consideration that Tolokonnikova and Alekhin both have a young child. The Moscow City Court began Wednesday's hearing by dismissing two defense motions, including one to call more witnesses to the performance inside Christ the Savior Cathedral.

Today we made the difficult decision to temporarily close comments on stories about indigenous people. We hope to reopen them in mid-January after we've had some time to review how these comments are moderated and to provide more detailed guidance to our moderators. I want to explain our rationale for taking this unusual step. But let me begin by explaining why we have comments on our news site. If you follow industry trends, you'll know that the value of commenting on media websites has been debated for years. Many publishers, including some newspaper sites in Canada, have shut comments down. Others have turned the commenting function on their websites over to third-party social media platforms such as Facebook. As Fortune's Mathew Ingram recently wrote, there are common complaints cited whenever a publisher makes this move: comment sections breed trolls and "garbage"; the proportion of readers that leaves comments is small compared with the general audience; it costs a lot of money and time to manage and moderate this community; and there are social media platforms better suited for this type of conversation. Much of that is true. But at CBC News, we also see many positives. We believe our comment section helps answer our mandate as a public broadcaster to reflect the country and its regions to itself. We believe it's important to provide the public with a democratic space where they can freely engage and debate the issues of the day. Research shows that our audience not only expects comments on a news site like ours, but values them -- even if readers don't participate directly in the comment threads. Those who do leave comments consume far more of our content than average users, so they're a highly engaged segment of our audience. We also have one of the most active comment spaces of any media organization in the country. In the last few months, we set records for the number of comments left on our pages, topping one million comments in September and October. We've seen thoughtful, insightful and moving comments on our pages. We've seen ignorant, ill-informed and objectionable comments as well. All of it is acceptable, in our view, in a marketplace of ideas where the issues of the day are freely debated and tested. For that to work, the debate must be respectful, even if it's vigorous and pointed. But as our guidelines make clear, we draw the line on hate speech and personal attacks. While there are a number of subjects and groups of people who seem to bring out higher-than-average numbers of worrisome comments, we find ourselves with a unique situation when it comes to indigenous-related stories. We've noticed over many months that these stories draw a disproportionate number of comments that cross the line and violate our guidelines. Some of the violations are obvious, some not so obvious; some comments are clearly hateful and vitriolic, some are simply ignorant. And some appear to be hate disguised as ignorance (i.e., racist sentiments expressed in benign language). This comes at the same time CBC News has made a concerted effort to connect with indigenous communities in order to improve our journalism and better reflect these communities to a national audience. The success of our Aboriginal unit and our investigative journalism around missing and murdered indigenous women are just two examples of that commitment. We don't want violations of our guidelines by a small minority of our commenters to derail our good work or alienate our audience. So we're taking a pause to see if we can put some structure around this. We will reopen comments as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience in the meantime. Brodie Fenlon Acting director of digital news CBC News and Centres

Ponad połowę transmisji z meczów mundialu TVP pokaże w 4K (fot.pixabay.com) Telewizja Polska ponad połowę meczów Mistrzostw Świata w piłce nożnej pokaże w technologii 4K. Maciej Stanecki z zarządu TVP mówi, że wszystkie mecze mundialu będą dostępne w 4K, ale w TVP zobaczyć będzie można ponad połowę z nich. TVP pokaże spotkania w nowym kanale TVP 4K, dla którego wystąpiła już o koncesję do Krajowej Rady Radiofonii i Telewizji. Stanecki nie chce potwierdzić, czy TVP 4K będzie oferowany wyłącznie klientom Orange Polska. Komentarza odmawia również rzecznik Orange Polska Wojciech Jabczyński. Klienci Orange mają ponad 106 tys. dekoderów 4K. Mistrzostwa Świata w piłce nożnej rozpoczną się 14 czerwca i potrwają do 15 lipca. (KOZ, 25.04.2018) * Jeśli znajdziesz błąd, zaznacz go i wciśnij Ctrl + Enter

Prove it. Let the American voters, the press, and the global public see and read the fine print of this so-called "free trade" deal. That's the basic message contained in a new statement released by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) after President Obama said earlier this week that she and other opponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) were "wrong" when it came to their objections to the pending 12-nation agreement. "We’ve all seen the tricks and traps that corporations hide in the fine print of contracts. We’ve all seen the provisions they slip into legislation to rig the game in their favor. Now just imagine what they have done working behind closed doors with TPP." —Sen. Elizabeth Warren"The Administration says I'm wrong – that there’s nothing to worry about," Warren wrote in a blog post addressed to constituents and the general public on Wednesday. "They say the deal is nearly done, and they are making a lot of promises about how the deal will affect workers, the environment, and human rights. Promises – but people like you can't see the actual deal." Warren's statement came as members of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday evening—despite an attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders to slam the brakes on the process—voted to pass trade promotion authority, or Fast Track, that would give President Obama and his administration the ability to negotiate the final terms of the TPP (as well as a similar deal with Europe), while relegating the congressional role to "all or nothing" up-or-down votes on the trade pacts. Passed by a vote of 20-6, the Fast Track measure received support of seven Democrats on the committee and all but one Republican. In addition to Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), who co-sponsored the bill, the other Democrats who voted in favor of Fast Track were Sens. Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Tom Carper (Del.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Michael Bennet (Colo.). In his recent comments, Obama has called the TPP the "most progressive trade deal in history," but critics like Warren have responded by saying if that is true—if the deal is so great and wonderful—why won't the administration release the details so the American public can see for themselves? Though lawmakers have received numerous briefings and can see draft versions of the agreement, they are forbidden from disclosing the details of what it contains. So why hasn't the deal—other than through bits and pieces of un-sanctioned leaks—been made available to the general public even though corporate interests have had a seat at the table throughout the multi-year negotiating process? According to Warren, and despite assurances from Obama and others, the reason is simple: "We can’t make this deal public because if the American people saw what was in it, they would be opposed to it." She continued: For more than two years now, giant corporations have had an enormous amount of access to see the parts of the deal that might affect them and to give their views as negotiations progressed. But the doors stayed locked for the regular people whose jobs are on the line. If most of the trade deal is good for the American economy, but there’s a provision hidden in the fine print that could help multinational corporations ship American jobs overseas or allow for watering down of environmental or labor rules, fast track would mean that Congress couldn’t write an amendment to fix it. It’s all or nothing. Before we sign on to rush through a deal like that – no amendments, no delays, no ability to block a bad bill – the American people should get to see what’s in it. Sen. Warren also appeared on The Rachel Maddow show on Wednesday night to explain her opposition. When mentioned by Maddow that the White House has now promised that there would be a "public comment period" after the TPP was approved by Congress but before President Obama signs it, Warren laughed out loud. "They're asking [Congress] to vote now on greasing the skids," Warren said in response, "so that we give up any chance to be able to amend it, any chance to be able to block it, any chance to be able to slow it down. [The White House is saying,] 'Give all that up and then you'll get to see the deal on the other side.' I just don't think that's reasonable." Watch: With a separate vote on Fast Track scheduled for Thursday in the House Ways and Means Committee, the debate in Congress—and across Capitol Hill—has now reached a fevered pitch. In extended comments from the Senate floor on Wednesday, Sen. Sanders explained his ongoing opposition to TPP and his attempt, though only briefly successful, to slow down the legislative push by TPP proponents who are currently moving as fast as they can to ram the deal through: And as Sen. Warren concluded in her latest statement, "We’ve all seen the tricks and traps that corporations hide in the fine print of contracts. We’ve all seen the provisions they slip into legislation to rig the game in their favor. Now just imagine what they have done working behind closed doors with TPP. We can’t keep the American people in the dark."

James Wickham looks at mass immigration and the growth of inequality and shows why it is important to link immigration to changes in an economy’s occupational structure. The claim that immigration is economically beneficial appears to be an article of faith amongst those who consider themselves progressive. However, mere changes in total GDP often mean little in terms of the lived reality of society. Much more important is whether or not mass immigration changes the social structure and the pattern of economic inequality. Economic inequality (in the distribution of income and wealth) has been growing in virtually every developed society. It is clear that there is no single cause, but one important driver is changes in the occupational structure. In some countries, but especially in the UK and the USA, occupational growth has polarised: there are more well-paid high-skilled jobs, there are more low-paid jobs, but there are fewer moderately well-paid secure jobs in the middle. A growing social science research suggests that the reason for the existence of low-paid jobs has been precisely the availability of a large pool of immigrant labour. Low-paid jobs have expanded simply because there are people prepared to do them. If this labour supply did not exist and, crucially, if there was no alternative labour supply, then the jobs would not exist. The argument that immigrants are ‘needed’ to fill existing jobs takes the existing jobs and hence the occupational structure for granted; furthermore, it accepts that immigrants are the only possible source of additional labour. Join our growing community newsletter! "Social Europe publishes thought-provoking articles on the big political and economic issues of our time analysed from a European viewpoint. Indispensable reading!" Polly Toynbee Columnist for The Guardian Thank you very much for your interest! Now please check your email to confirm your subscription. In some sectors enterprises’ business model depends upon paying low wages. The transformation of agriculture in the USA and more recently in the UK has involved a shift to forms of production and even to crops that are only viable because of low wages. Employers, sometimes supported by immigration advocates, now argue that food production can only occur if there is cheap immigrant labour. Mass immigration and new servants Until the 1980s domestic servants were declining in numbers. Today professionals and managers expect to employ domestic labour to clean their houses, mind their children, etc. These jobs are overwhelmingly taken by immigrants who are often illegals. Intriguingly, the particular beneficiaries are women earners at the upper end of the income distribution – purchasing labour in the home enables them to devote more time to their remunerative career. Thus, one US study shows that, in areas with a high immigrant population, high income women spend more time at work than in areas where there are fewer immigrants. Such privatised domestic employment ensures that there is less pressure on men to contribute to domestic labour – and certainly reduces the demand for effective publicly funded childcare. The new availability of low wage labour has contributed to the survival and even expansion of low technology manufacturing. One US study shows that engineering firms are likely to use less capital in production in areas with high immigrant populations. Indeed, in some areas the availability of low wage labour is facilitating technological regression – the replacement of capital by labour. Instead of driving the car to a self-service car-wash, you get the car ‘valeted’ by workers who use nothing more advanced than a bucket and mop. Away from such public view, in many European cities there is a revival of the clothing industry, based on micro-workshops using only the very simplest technologies and immigrant workers with very long hours and low pay. This relationship between mass immigration and occupational change cannot be generalised to all periods and places. The mass European migration in the second half of the 19th century to the USA and other areas of new settlement did not have this result, nor in fact did the mass immigration to Western Europe in the post-world war period. It is, however, clear that today those who call for ‘open borders’ – the unrestricted entry of unskilled workers into the EU – are facilitating a more polarised occupational structure, more low paid workers and greater social and economic inequality.

Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress's Shashi Tharoor campaigns in Thiruvananthapuram Congress leader from Kerala Shashi Tharoor, whose long-letter wordplays on Twitter in the past won him fans as well as critics, is caught in a farrago of criticism for a recent tweet about the fisherfolk community. While campaigning at a fish market in his constituency Thiruvananthapuram, he wrote a series of tweets, one of which was: "Found a lot of enthusiasm at the fish market, even for a squeamishly vegetarian MP!" Then a massive backlash followed, with many, mostly his detractors slamming him for allegedly "insulting the fishing community" and a "savarna attitude" - referring to caste-based preference for vegetarianism. In a tweet, writer NS Madhavan criticised the Congress parliamentarian, who is looking to score a hat-trick from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, saying, "Deconstruction: I'm a vegetarian, therefore I'm a savarna." The BJP weighed in on Mr Tharoor's tweet. "A considerable population of Thiruvananthapuram are people who live by selling fish. They have no option but to live with that smell. Such statements can be expected only from people like Tharoor who live immersed with perfume worth lakhs," the BJP posted on its official Facebook page. Reacting strongly, Mr Tharoor in a press conference denied allegations that he hurt the feelings of the fisherfolk. "When I said squeamishly vegetarian, I was making a joke of myself, of my lifestyle choice. Most of the people in my family, including my sisters and one of my sons eat fish. I have nothing against it. I in no way pointed to the fishing community. And to say I am a casteist is ridiculous. Everyone knows I have written books on this and I grew up in a family where my father even dropped his surname", the Congress leader told reporters. "My political rivals have nothing to raise their fingers against me and that's why they have indulged in false opportunism, weaved around lies. Let us face it. They are trying to eat into some of my votes. These lies will not work," he said. "I have worked for and lived with the fishing community. I was the first one to call Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the floods and I repeatedly raised questions, demanding funds for cyclone Ockhi victims as well as drawing attention to the failure of Doppler radars," Mr Tharoor said. In 2014, he won from Thiruvananthapuram with a narrow margin of 15,000 votes against BJP's O Rajagopal. It was the votes from the coastal belt that had come to Mr Tharoor's rescue in the last rounds. Mr Tharoor is not new to controversies with his choice of words. In 2009, his comment on traveling "cattle class" was criticised even by some top Congress leaders.

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Back in December, you hopefully thoroughly immersed yourself in The Map of Physics, an animated video--a visual aid for the modern age--that mapped out the field of physics, explaining all the connections between classical physics, quantum physics, and relativity. You can't do physics without math. Hence we now have The Map of Mathematics. Created by physicist Dominic Walliman, this new video explains "how pure mathematics and applied mathematics relate to each other and all of the sub-topics they are made from." Watch the new video above. You can buy a poster of the map here. And you can download a version for educational use here. Would you like to support the mission of Open Culture? Please consider making a donation to our site. It's hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. Also consider following Open Culture on Facebook and Twitter and sharing intelligent media with your friends. Or sign up for our daily email and get a daily dose of Open Culture in your inbox. Related Content: Free Online Math Courses, a subset of our collection, 1,500 Free Online Courses from Top Universities Free Math Textbooks Mathematics Made Visible: The Extraordinary Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher Citizen Maths: A Free Online Course That Teaches Adults the Math They Missed in High School

WILMINGTON, Vt. — Just after sundown on a Thursday in early December, Chris Harrison — host of “The Bachelor” and its spinoffs — stood in a mountaintop lodge in this Vermont ski town. The cavernous room had been draped in the fashion typical to “Bachelor” cocktail parties; candles burned, sequined pillows beckoned, and a stocked bar stood at the ready. Mr. Harrison’s eyes scanned a cluster of sofas, all of them at that moment, empty. “Who’s not here for the right reasons?” he said, invoking a “Bachelor” catchphrase as he looked out intensely at no one. Mr. Harrison was rehearsing a scene for the ABC series, “The Bachelor Winter Games,” in which he would ask the cast to choose someone to send home that night. His script was familiar to any fan of the franchise, except for a tweak to the ending. Tonight, Mr. Harrison went on, the eliminated contestants would be “on a plane — back to whatever country you came from.” “Winter Games” — which will debut Feb. 13, in direct opposition to NBC’s prime-time coverage of the Winter Olympics in South Korea — combines 26 alumni from both domestic and international versions of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” The twist is a first for the franchise, and a gamble. “Bachelor” shows tend to feature the same faces, with talent hopping from one of the flagship shows to the other, then surfacing again on a spinoff, like the bacchanalian “Bachelor in Paradise.” With “Winter Games,” the franchise is challenging a fan base not particularly open to change to embrace a cast filled with contestants from outside the United States (and some who don’t speak much English).

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - The West Nile virus has been detected in Connecticut for the first time this season. The state’s Mosquito Management Program announced Thursday that three mosquitoes trapped in East Haven tested positive for the potentially deadly virus. Philip Armstrong, a medical entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, says West Nile is typically detected in mosquitoes from late-June to mid-July so this year’s detection is later than usual. He says further buildup of the virus from now through September is expected. The West Nile virus has been detected in Connecticut every summer for the past 30 years. There were 23 human cases of West Nile last year, with one fatality. Authorities encourage residents to cover skin and use insect repellent, especially at dusk and dawn, to protect against the virus. Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC.

As a junior in college, Delaney Dunne took an internship for class credit and $10 an hour at co-working company TekMountain in Wilmington, N.C. On graduation day this year, she received a letter from TekMountain’s parent asking about her employment status and reminding her she had signed a noncompete agreement with TekMountain in November 2017 that restricted her employment options. “I burst into tears hours before I was set to graduate from college,” Ms. Dunne, 22, said. “That noncompete (agreement) that I signed when I was 20 years old was still haunting me.” Internships have long been an opportunity for inexperienced workers to try out different industries and build valuable contacts. For companies, it is a way to attract future talent. But increasingly interns are being asked to sign noncompete, nondisclosure and forced arbitration agreements, restrictions once reserved for higher-ranking employees.

If you have been watching Kathleen Lights for a while now, you will know her love for Nail Polish!! So guess what now she has come out with her own line of polish called the “KL Polish”, it is cruelty-free, USA-made nail polish line that she has created. As of right now she just launched six on-trend lacquers as part of her line KL Polish in available NOW for preorder on KL Polish.com in the colors- Zoey, Gumption!, Snickerdoodle, Brick Sidewalk, Carmello, and Broccoli & Chocolate. Shhh…She had been snapping and tweeting, sneek peeks about something that was coming out that she had been working on for a while and was close to her heart. Well now we know what she was talking about…her own freaking line of NAIL POLISH!!! I'm JUST gonna leave this picture of some of my favorite fall red polishes right here for you………………………………………………………………….….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. #staytuned #ThatsAllImAllowedToSay #thatsallicanshowyou A photo posted by kathleenlights (@kathleenlights) on Nov 1, 2016 at 1:22pm PDT She had been posting a lot of her nail polish photos on her Instagram and now it is confirmed why! The five chic & beautiful KL Nail Polishes are – Gumption! “I actually named it this because of the movie The Holiday.” Brick Sidewalk The KL Polishes will be sold exclusively on KLPolish.com for $8.50. (The pre-sale for the December 5 launch date starts today!) I know I have my eyes on Snickerdoodle & Zoey for sure! What about you?

It is difficult to describe the predicament facing the people of Kinglake. On the one hand they are deep in grief over the loss of friends and relatives, neighbours and acquaintances from their town. They have got a massive clean-up in front of them, funerals to attend and children to care for. And then there are other old echoes of their previous lives. Different banks seem to have different ideas about how the bushfire survivors should go about resuming mortgage repayments on houses that no longer exist. Matt Falla says he is lucky his house survived, but just when he is getting back on his feet, he has had to worry about his mortgage. "My wife went to the Commonwealth Bank who we have a mortgage with and spoke to the manager about some relief assistance with our mortgage," he said. "I'm a sub-contract carpenter so I am unable to work at the moment. "My wife does work part-time but she is unable to work. We are caring for our daughter because there is no schooling. "We've been told that we can have a suspension of repayments for a period of three months, but at the end of that three months we need to repay the interest in full." Mr Falla says should his mortgage line of credit go over its limit during that time, the excess amount will be charged at double the normal rate of interest. "I relayed the story to our neighbour, Justin, who we fought the fire with on Saturday. He banks with the Bendigo Bank and they have suspended their mortgage for a period of three months on their principal and interest and they don't have to pay anything after that period." Commonwealth Bank's national spokesman Steve Batton says the bank assesses each customer on an individual basis. "Some customers have different needs to others," he said. "What we are looking at in the interim is a three-month moratorium. "However as mentioned, we will look at individual customers' needs and assess whether or not there is a requirement for an extension." Fiona Leadbeater, who lost her home in the fires, said her mortgage was the last thing on her mind. "I have been too concerned about friends and family who have lost loved ones and just trying to help get the community back on its feet," she said. "I am in a fortunate position that I don't have a house any more but only have a small mortgage. "I feel very sorry for people that have got a large one because it must be a huge burden on top of everything else that has happened to them." Mr Falla says a compulsion to stay and help his fellow residents outweighs any pressure to earn money to pay off his mortgage. "I can't with my conscience, hop into my car, drive down to Melbourne to work to pay for a mortgage when I have got dead friends still on the ground," he said. "Others who have no home. Others who are hurting and are injured and I am a builder and a carpenter and I can help here. "I just can't do it."

I’m happy to announce some exciting news — Mycroft is working with Aditya Mehra from our community and the KDE Desktop developers to become part of their Plasma environment! KDE Plasma In case you don’t know, KDE is one of the most widely used desktop environments in the Linux world. It can run on a variety of Linux distributions including the popular Kubuntu (KDE + Ubuntu) and Fedora KDE. A 2016 survey by LinuxQuestions.org found KDE to be the most popular Linux desktop environment (so did the 2015 and the 2014 surveys, BTW). It is it is a shining example of a successful community-driven open source project. And the KDE Plasma Desktop is simply a useful and beautiful interface. KDE + Mycroft Aditya (known as ”aix” on the Mycroft Slack channels) is a Mycroft community member. He got the Mycroft bug last year and started working early last summer on building GUIs for Mycroft. He initially created a Gnome-based extension, and more recently became enthralled with the KDE Plasma Desktop environment. So he decided to try his hand and building a Plasmoid for it. His work on the Mycroft Plasmoid caught the attention of the KDE Development team. Over the last few months we have been working with Aditya and the KDE developers figuring out how we can work together. This weekend he officially moved his development repo onto the KDE servers as the first step in building an official Mycroft Plasmoid. Community for the Win! We are thrilled to be collaborating with the KDE Community on this project! This is perfect example of what happens when open development tools and technologies are made available to smart people. They make beautiful and interesting things! Try It Out So you want to give it a shot? Installing Mycroft and the Plasmoid on KDE Neon The Plasmoid is built on some of the latest technologies, so you need to be running KDE Plasma Desktop 5.9 or later. If you aren’t using that yet, you can try it out easily using a VM. Head over to the KDE Downloads page to get an ISO. You can use that to either create and old-school installer CD, or you can create a VM and load the ISO directly into the virtual disc drive. Once you have KDE, you can simply download this script and run it. Here is a step by step: Go to the Konsole (KDE’s terminal) Type: cd ~ Type: wget http://mycroft.ai/to/install_plasmoid_kde.sh Type: bash install_plasmoid_kde.sh That’s it! You’ll be prompted a couple times to enter a password and the compile process will take a while, but it is straightforward. Installing Mycroft and the Plasmoid on Fedora KDE Fedora KDE users can try this too. All you need to do is: Go to the Terminal Type: cd ~ Type: wget http://mycroft.ai/to/install_plasmoid_fedora.sh Type: bash install_plasmoid_fedora.sh Adding it to your Desktop After the install completes right click on the desktop and select “Add Widget…”. Scroll through the list until you see “Project Mycroft”, then just click and drag it to your desktop. Using the Plasmoid Click on the Mycroft icon to open it up. You”ll need to click the ▶️️ button at the top to tell Mycroft to begin listening. Then you can say “Hey Mycroft, register my device” to create your pairing with home.mycroft.ai. You’ll immediately notice the text is both spoken and displayed on screen in the widget. In the alpha there were special handlers for “What’s the weather like?” that began to show the possibilities of combining voice interaction with a screen, combining voice and visuals. We’ll be exposing those capabilities to our Skill API soon for other developers to explore. Join us on Slack to help shape the future of desktop computing in the #mycroft_desktop channel!

As President Trump gears up to reveal a sweeping new immigration plan, Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said the country is in dire need of immigration laws that "look like somebody designed it on purpose." During an interview with "America's Newsroom" on Thursday morning, Kennedy said he liked what he'd seen thus far regarding President Trump's new immigration plan, but needed to read the full proposal. He added that he feels there's a problem with Democrats in Washington who perceive the border as a "nuisance" and illegal immigration as a "moral good." "Let me state the obvious. Illegal immigration is illegal, duh," Kennedy said. "Part of the problem is there are people in Washington, D.C. in positions of power to whom the border is just a nuisance, and I think some of them believe that illegal immigration is a moral good. "It is not. It undermines legal immigration," Kennedy continued. "The president is trying to fix it long-term and again I want to read the bill. But we need a system that looks like somebody designed it on purpose." GRAHAM UNVEILS BILL TO CHANGE ASYLUM LAW, SEND MIGRANTS BACK HOME TRUMP ADMIN PUSH TO STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION HAMPERED BY DISTRICT JUDGES, DESPITE SURGE: US ATTORNEY President Trump's proposed plan, the Build America Visa system, would reportedly quadruple the number of immigrants admitted on the basis of their work skills, and slash the numbers admitted based on family ties. Kennedy expressed his support for this type of merit-based system and highlighted the success Canada has had with similar policies. "Canada has a merit system. We've got -- we admit people sometimes legally on the basis of a lottery. It is just like playing bingo," he said. "That makes no sense. I hope we can fix it." Getting any type of immigration passed will take cooperation on both ends, something Kennedy isn't sure he'll see from his Democratic colleagues. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "I could be convinced but I'm not convinced right now that all of my colleagues on the Democratic side really want to fix it," he said. "Some see this as a great political issue. We have to start thinking about the next generation and stop thinking about the next election so much," he concluded.

Hundreds of Syrian refugees who have been waiting at the border for days to cross into Greece have dispersed a day after their representatives met with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who said Turkey could not open its borders for the security of the migrants unless European countries granted access.Davutoğlu previously said that Turkey would fly the refugees to wherever they wanted once the receiving countries agreed to accept them. During the meeting, he told the refugees' representatives that Turkey would gladly host them and care for all their needs as guests, but argued that it could not allow them to cross into Greece or Bulgaria because it feared for their safety if Europe did not legally allow them in.Hundreds of mostly Syrian migrants who had been blocked for days by police in the northwestern city of Edirne while trying to reach the nearby Greek border have agreed to abandon their roadside protest.A group of around 500 people, who had been engaged in a standoff with the police on the road leading into the city since Tuesday, lifted their makeshift camp Saturday night and left the area in buses provided by local authorities.Some joined a larger group of around 1,500 migrants still waiting inside the city for the chance to continue their journey over land to Greece, a mere 10 kilometers away, or Bulgaria, which is about twice that distance.Others took buses back to Istanbul, about 250 kilometers to the east.At a meeting with a delegation of refugees Saturday evening Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had appealed to the refugees to "end their protest by Monday," he wrote on Twitter."The voices of our Syrian brothers have been heard by the entire world. They must now return to a normal life," Davutoglu wrote, promising more aid to the more than 2 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey to prevent them from trying to illegally cross into Europe.Prime Minister Davutoğlu met with the representatives of the Syrian refugees in Ankara Çankaya Palace on Saturday, calling on them to end their efforts to illegally cross the border, assuring them that he would be sending a letter to world leaders communicating their demands. "I will call on them to accept you. My request is for you to go back to your normal lives after making your demands heard by all through your protests."Davutoğlu talked to the members of the delegation after meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and Syrian National Coalition (SNC) member Khalid Hodja. The delegation, consisting of three representatives from refugees in Edirne and three more from Istanbul, was received by Davutoğlu, who was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, Interior Minister Selami Altınok, the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) Chairman Fuat Oktay, Director General of Migration Atilla Toros and the prime minister's adviser on refugees Murtaza Yetiş.At the meeting, Davutoğlu assured the representatives of the refugees that all their needs would be addressed, but argued that as long as no country officially opened their doors to them, Turkey could not allow them to cross the border. "We are ready to send people to countries who open their doors to them, but unfortunately no country has given a favorable response so far," said the prime minister.Davutoğlu said he would be highlighting their plight at the United Nations General Assembly, which he is scheduled to visit to attend this year's opening of the session later this week. "We don't want Syrians to die in the Aegean Sea or on the roads," he told the representatives.The refugees gathered in Edirne, including a large number of children, had been demanding to be allowed travel to Europe by land instead of risking their lives in overcrowded migrant boats in the Aegean Sea.

President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton are mourning the loss of rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry, who died at the age of 90 on Saturday (March 18). The Clintons wrote in a statement that they are longtime fans of Berry’s music, and that the rock legend performed at the president’s inaugurations, and at the White House for his 25th Georgetown reunion. “The man was inseparable from his music -- both were utterly original and distinctly American. He made our feet move and our hearts more joyful. And along the way he changed our country and the history of popular music,” the statement reads. During his storied career, Berry's revolutionary sound and hits like “Maybellene,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Memphis,” “My Ding-a-Ling," “Sweet Little Sixteen" and “Johnny B. Goode” inspired many, and had a profound impact on the Billboard charts. Read their full statement below. “Hillary and I loved Chuck Berry for as long as we can remember. The man was inseparable from his music -- both were utterly original and distinctly American. He made our feet move and our hearts more joyful. And along the way he changed our country and the history of popular music. Chuck played at both my inaugurations and at the White House for my 25th Georgetown reunion, and he never slowed down, which is why his legend grew every time he stepped on stage. His life was a treasure and a triumph, and he’ll never be forgotten. Our hearts go out to his family and his countless friends and fans.”

With plans for a full plebiscite doomed to fail in the Senate, PM Malcolm Turnbull says the Coalition is ready to spend $122 million of taxpayers' money on a postal vote starting from September 12. Look back over the live blog.

If such a conflict goes away, we'll then be able to accept projects based on a particular brand or license. ... Resolved Past Licensing Conflicts We now welcome projects based on the following licenses that used to have conflicts: Doctor Who - February 2014 Last updated February 25, 2014 Sometimes we have to turn down project submissions that refer to specific brands or licensed properties. We do this to avoid getting your hopes up for something we know we aren't able to make. In these cases, we already know the LEGO Group can't secure licensing rights to produce construction toys based on a particular brand or property, due to a conflicting interest with a third party.If such a conflict goes away, we'll then be able to accept projects based on a particular brand or license....We now welcome projects based on the following licenses that used to have conflicts: (with thanks to Andrew Barnick) Many fans ofand thebuilding toy sets have long wished for Doctor Who Lego toys. Now, a post on Lego's Cuusoo crowdsourcing design site suggests thatLego sets may be coming soon. Lego Cuusoo is a crowdsourcing platform where people can submit and vote on designs for Lego toy sets. If a project receives 10,000 votes of support, it is considered by a Lego review board, which decides whether the project is suitable to be produced commercially. Previous sets which have made it through this process include sets based on the Mars Curiosity rover,, and(available this summer).In the past, Lego Cuusoo proposals based onhave been rejected due to conflict with Character Building's license to producetoys. Character has produced Lego-compatible building toys since 2011 . It is not known whether Character's license has changed or expired, but today Lego posted the following on the Lego Cuusoo website:This does not mean that Lego is definitely going to license and producetoys, but it does mean that they no longer consider it impossible.

Image copyright Reuters Ryanair's information to customers about compensation for cancelled flights is "woefully short", consumer group Which? has said. Ryanair has stepped up efforts to deal with the 2,100 flights it has cancelled during the next six weeks. But Which? said it should make its compensation obligations clear. Meanwhile, Italy's competition regulator has opened a probe into the cancellations which it said the low-cost airline could have prevented. Ryanair is the biggest carrier in Italy, outstripping even Alitalia, which it is trying to buy. The Irish airline could be fined as much as 5m euros. The cancellations may have been "largely due to foreseen organisational and management reasons... not random, external causes outside of (the company's) control", said the Italian Competition and Market Authority (AGCM). Cancellations Ryanair said all 315,000 affected customers received emails on Monday, advising them of the flight changes and offering alternative flights and refunds, after it decided at the weekend to cancel 40 to 50 flights every day for the next six weeks. It has blamed the fiasco on its own mistaken decision to force its pilots to take their remaining annual leave before the end of this year, rather than by the end of the financial year next March, which has left it without enough pilots to fly all its scheduled planes this month and next. The airline said that by the end of Wednesday, it expected to have reassigned 55% of the customers - 175,000 - to other Ryanair flights. More than 63,000 refunds will have been processed, it said. However Ryanair pilots have knocked back a proposal from the carrier to pay them bonuses to encourage them to work through the enforced holiday leave. 'Blow to passengers' The airline's current advice to customers on its website does not mention the word "compensation", to which customers are entitled under European legislation. The Ryanair website only says: "We understand that flight cancellations may cause distress and we will accommodate your option of choice wherever possible, while complying with EU Regulation 261/2004." Which? took a dim view of this oblique approach and said compensation should be paid automatically. Its spokeswoman, Alex Neill, said: "Ryanair's approach to informing affected passengers about compensation falls woefully short. "It is legally required to spell out compensation rules when a flight is cancelled and, in our view, has so far failed to do that, leaving passengers hunting around for information. "This is another blow for the thousands of passengers who have already had to endure huge inconvenience as a result of this fiasco," she added. Image copyright PA Image caption Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary announced full details of his airline's flight cancellations on Monday 18 September, 2017 Ryanair estimates that the cancellations will cost it up to 20m euros (£17.7m), though this figure could eventually be higher, as the airline's estimate amounts to only 63 euros per affected passenger. The total number of passengers now affected is, however, lower than the airline's original figure of 390,000 because Ryanair's planes were only 70% booked in October, compared with 90% full in September. The airline also said it had taken on extra office staff to deal with the backlog of flight changes and compensation requests. It added that it hoped to have dealt with more than 95% of the affected customers by the end of this week. Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's chief marketing officer, apologised again for its mistakes. "We have taken on extra customer service teams to speed up the rate at which we accommodate and action alternative flight requests or refund applications," he said. "We expect to have the vast majority of these completed by the end of this week. "The vast majority of these requests are being dealt with online, but as our call centres and chat lines are extremely busy, we ask affected customers to bear with us as we do everything we can to respond to their requests and try to resolve any problems we have created for them, for which we again sincerely apologise," he added.

Several EU member states helped the Central Intelligence Agency and other U.S. authorities in a program of rendition, torture and the secret detention of people as "terror" suspects by the U.S., according to Amnesty International.The revelations by the human rights organization came on Wednesday after the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee released a report which disclosed the CIA tortured people it had detained in a brutal manner, which led to scant intelligence information of any value.Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said in a press release: "This report provides yet more damning detail of some of the human rights violations that were authorized by the highest authorities in the U.S.A. after 9/11.""Despite much evidence having been in the public realm for years, no one has been brought to justice for authorizing or carrying out the acts in these CIA programmes.''The Senate committee's report summary detailed how the CIA used techniques such as "waterboarding" - to simulate the sensation of drowning in a victim - mock execution, sexual threats and other forms of torture and degrading treatment against detainees who had been forcibly "disappeared".The effects of the techniques and detention conditions led to detainees suffering "hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia and attempts at self-harm and self-mutilation", the report revealed.Amnesty International said in its report that Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden, and the UK were among EU states which worked with U.S. intelligence agents in carrying out the detention and torture program.Rosas added: "The declassified information contained in the (report's) summary, while limited, is a reminder to the world of the utter failure of the U.S.A. to end the impunity enjoyed by those who authorized and used torture and other ill-treatment.""This is a wake-up call to the U.S.A.; they must disclose the full truth about the human rights violations, hold perpetrators accountable and ensure justice for the victims.""This is not a policy nicety, it is a requirement under international law," he said.Ben Emmerson, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights, said the Senate report had confirmed what the international community had long believed-that there was a clear policy orchestrated at a high level within the administration of George W. Bush which allowed gross violations of international human rights law to be committed.Emmerson said in a statement: "The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today's report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.""Now it is time to take action."The report, released on Tuesday, found that CIA officials had misled the U.S. Administration, Justice Department, Congress and the U.S. public over its torture program, which had been more brutal and ineffective than they had disclosed.The European Parliament called on EU member states to investigate their roles in the operations in 2012 and 2013.Amnesty said a 2007 report by the European Parliament led by then-rapporteur Claudio Fava had faced major opposition in the European Parliament, resulting in virtually no real accountability among EU countries.Governments which allegedly colluded with the CIA have an obligation under international human rights law to ensure an independent, impartial, thorough and effective investigation is carried out, according to the organization.EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement on Wednesday that "much remains to do" in tackling the use of torture.She said: ''The Convention against Torture was adopted by the UN 30 years ago today, and yet torture is still widely practiced around the world. This demands our urgent attention."

The first implementation of a privacy-preserving and account-based blockchain. By Osuke(@zoom_zoomzo) We are very excited to announce Zerochain which is a privacy-preserving blockchain on Substrate. Zerochain is basically designed to store encrypted data. Usually, all data on blockchain is public and everyone can see it, while the data on Zerochain is encrypted so that no-one can see the data without the key for decryption. Zerochain is built on Substrate which is the blockchain framework developed by Parity, and also using the bellman library developed by Zcash for zero-knowledge proof system. I appreciate these great implementations. All implementations of Zerochain is an OSS, so you can see all of the code on GitHub and try running it, sending confidential transaction. Basic features of Zerochain A goal of Zerochain project is to be the infrastructure for developing decentralized applications using lots of kind of privacy-preserving computation and encrypted data. The most obvious example of “the decentralized application for privacy-preserving” is confidential payment. For instance, the balance stored in smart contracts on ethereum is public, it is like the details of your bank account made public via the Internet. All balances on Zerochain are encrypted to solve the above privacy problems. Encrypted balance on Zerochain Similarly, all transferred amounts are also encrypted, so anyone cannot see it. Confidential payment on Zerochain All information tied with accounts would not be public because the additive homomorphic property allows computation on ciphertexts for updating the encrypted balances. It is a basic idea for privacy-preserving in Zerochain that all data on blockchain would be encrypted (quite simple, isn’t it?). Some of the most famous examples of privacy-preserving blockchains would be Zcash, Monero, and Grin. These take different zero-knowledge approaches, but all of these are UTXO-based blockchain. On the other hand, Zerochain is an account-based blockchain. The point is that the elements of Key-Value mappings are encrypted. Zerochain is a first account-based blockchain implementation for privacy-preserving. In addition, the pros of account-based are followings. The optimization for the zero-knowledge proving cost The cost of zero-knowledge proving usually represents as a number of constraints (similar to a number of multiplication gates in an arithmetic circuit). The zero-knowledge proving in Zcash(Sapling) is 106,604 constraints. On the other hand, it is 18,278 constraints in Zerochain. It achieves reducing by 83 %! (w/o address anonymity) The optimization for the on-chain storage cost One of the big problem in UTXO-based is that the storage cost would be getting bigger and bigger because of the increasing UTXO and other metadata. But Zerochain is not the case because it is account-based, the encrypted balances are just overwritten for each transaction. The flexibility for the privacy-preserving applications UTXO-based is highly suitable for only payment. As I said above, Zerochain aims for being infrastructure for privacy-preserving Dapps, so more flexibility would be needed. Account-based is so much easier to add various functionalities like confidential whitelists for assets, anonymous voting, and hopefully arbitrary computation. However, there are some cons for account-based which are like complex implementation for anonymous transactions and necessity protecting from front running attacks. Zerochain and Substrate As I said above, Zerochain is based on Substrate which is basically a blockchain framework. In particular, the core blockchain logics like the p2p network and consensus algorithm are provided by Substrate, and the privacy-protecting logics are provided by Zerochain top of it. Zerochain on Substrate Zerochain is a first implementation of privacy-preserving blockchain on Substrate. In the future, Zerochain would work as a privacy-preserving blockchain connecting to Polkadot network. You can find more details of substrate here: https://docs.substrate.dev/ Dive into Zerochain Zerochain has mainly three core techniques which are key components, encryption algorithm, and zero-knowledge proof system. I will describe these high-level schemes. Key components In Zerochain, a couple of key pairs are provided in order to get a privacy-preserving property and various authorities. Key components Basically, the authority level for keys is getting weaker as it goes bellow and each key has the specific features. Origin Key: same as the secret key of usual blockchain(e.g. ethereum) Proof Generation Key: the key for using computing zero-knowledge proofs Signing Key: one-time key for signing a transaction to get anonymity Verification Key: one-time key for verifying a signature to get anonymity Decryption Key: the key for decrypting the transferred amounts and balances Encryption Key: the key for encrypting the transferred amounts and balances (alias for address) The separating authorities for keys allow these to specify their own features. For instance, you cannot steal the other’s balance just by getting the Decryption Key. You can only decrypt the balance and see what amount of coin he or she has. In other words, Decryption Key works as an auditable key to a specific account. Additive homomorphic encryption As I said above, all transferred amounts and balances are encrypted in Zerochain, but you have to compute(add or sub) these with encrypted at the time of the payment. Zerochain achieves it by using the special encryption algorithm called “Additive homomorphic encryption”. As you can guess from the name, it can compute the addition(or subtraction) with encrypted. More specifically, Zerochain uses “Lifted-ElGamal encryption” to get efficient encryption and additive homomorphic property. (You can think it’s like Pedersen commitment in terms of additive homomorphic property, but Lifted-Elgamal is an asymmetric key encryption algorithm, not a commitment.) Encryption You can compute the ciphertext like bellow. ciphertext: where v: transferred amount, r: pseudorandomness, G: generator point, s: secret key (the corresponding public key: sG) Decryption You can decrypt it by using the given ciphertext and secret key. Then, you realize you have to solve the discrete logarithm problem to get the amount “v”. Practically, “v” would be just a small bits integer (like 32bits) and vG(v=1,2,…) are computed in advance. (On the other hand, the secret key “s” and pseudorandom “r” will be a huge number so that one cannot solve the discrete logarithm.) The decryption of Lifted-ElGamal is not efficient like this, but we chose it as an encryption algorithm in Zerochain due to the efficient encryption and the good compatibility with zero-knowledge proof. Additive homomorphic Let’s think the case the user has encrypted 10 coins as his balance, then is transferred encrypted 5 coins. That is the addition of ciphertext with v = 10 as balance and v’ = 5 as amount. This is the same form as the ciphertext you see above. You can get the amount “15” by using secret key “s” in the same way. All the additions of ciphertext are computed on-chain at the time of updating the balance. Zero-knowledge proof What is Zero-knowledge proof? From the post of Zcash here. “Zero-knowledge” proofs allow one party (the prover) to prove to another (the verifier) that a statement is true, without revealing any information beyond the validity of the statement itself A bit confusing though, basically that is getting the validity for the data sending to on-chain in the context of the blockchain. Let’s think the case Alice sends encrypted 10 coins to Bob. In practice, Alice sends just a byte array(64 bytes) to on-chain because it’s encrypted. Can the nodes on the blockchain network validate whether the transaction is valid or not? In other words, does Alice actually encrypt the “10 coins”? Does Alice have more than “10 coins” in her encrypted balance? In addition, can the ciphertext be decrypted only by Alice or Bob? All the above is impossible for nodes to validate these, just by giving “bytes array”. However, zero-knowledge proof makes it possible. It means zero-knowledge proof can give the validity for the above things without revealing the number of “10 coins”. zk-SNARK which is a kind of Zero-knowledge proof systems is used in Zerochain. Particularly, the following things are proved and verified in the confidential payment. A transferred amount is within a valid range. (The amount is not negative.) A sender balance is within a valid range. (The remaining balance is not negative.) An encryption algorithm is correct by using the sender’s encryption key and the encrypted amount is correct. An encryption algorithm is correct by using the recipient’s encryption key and the encrypted amount is correct. (It should be the same value as 3.) An input balance proving in 2. is actually corresponding to the sender’s remaining balance. A signature verification key is computed correctly. The zk-proof proving the above things with the encrypted amount are sent to blockchain and verify it on-chain. BTW, I highly recommend you to watch the Zero Knowledge Summit #3 Videos (especially Harry’s talk for understanding the low-level SNARKs) to get the picture of Zero-knowledge Proofs. As a summary, here is a high-level overview of the Zerochain scheme. For more details, you can find it in the code. Feel free to submit issues and PRs. What’s coming next? The alpha-level implementation for confidential payment using zk-SNARKs have been already done, but lack of many basic features like… Protecting from security issues like DoS and front running attacks Computing zk-proofs on a browser as a wasm wallet(it gets better UX but additional security issues might come up) An anonymous payment which is hiding addresses Other zero-knowledge proof systems for mitigating the trusted setup (SONICs, Bulletproofs, zkSTARKs) Feel free to ask any question. You can find me on Twitter or Gitter.

The St George Illawarra Dragons have granted Gerard Beale a formal release from his current playing contract. Beale has been granted an early release to take-up a multi-year opportunity with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Beale made his first-grade debut for the Club in opening round of the 2013 campaign against the Melbourne Storm and made 29 appearances in total. “Gerard has been provided an opportunity to join the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on a multi-year contact which he has accepted ahead of next season,” said Head Coach Paul McGregor. “The Dragons would like to thank him for his services to our Club and wish him the very best for his future.”

Set to celebrate its silver anniversary next year, LUSAT-1 — which is also known as OSCAR 19 or LO-19 — appears once again to be functioning, sort of, when not in sunlight. At this point, OSCAR 19 is only transmitting telemetry; its digital transponder has not been reported to be operational. “We knew that our LUSAT started transmitting again a couple of years ago, but only when illuminated by sunlight and was not heard during the night,” Pedro Converso, LU7ABF, reported to the AMSAT-BB. During a recent nighttime pass, though, he was surprised to hear “the usual strong 900 mW continuous carrier on 437.125 MHz,” 22 minutes after LO-19 had emerged from Earth’s shadow. “It’s almost a miracle that after almost 25 years, LUSAT’s vintage Ni-Cd batteries can receive and hold [a] charge,” he said. Launched in 1990 from Kourou, French Guyana, on an Ariane 4 vehicle, the satellite — Argentina’s first — has completed more than 128,000 orbits, and is one of the oldest active Amateur Radio satellites. The satellite carries a digital store-and-forward packet transponder with uplink frequencies at 145.84, 145.86, 145.88, and 145.90 MHz 1200 bps FM, with AX.25 protocol downlink at 437.125 MHz SSB. An audio clip, tracking information, and listener reports are available via the AMSAT-LU website. Reports are welcome via e-mail.

Guest writer: Cathy Hornback, Community Volunteer Support Senior Specialist at Geocaching HQ A geocache description is the information you write for other geocachers on your cache page about your cache and its location. It’s also a good way to share information about interesting things to see while there, things to avoid, and what kind of equipment you’ll need. A good cache description can attract more people to visit and find your geocache. Below are two examples of a geocache description. Which cache would you want to visit? Cache description one: Cache description two: Did you choose the second one? Most people would because it makes the cache location sound beautiful and inspiring, with interesting things to see. Here are some additional tips to help you take your cache descriptions to the next level and inspire people to choose your cache as the next one they will visit. Describe the experience finders will have Tell people why they should visit your cache. Describe the location (hopefully you chose a nice one), or explain why the place inspires you. Do you have a great story about the cache? Tell that story! Describe your cool container, or the theme of your gadget cache. Do you have a surprise for them and don’t want to share the secret until they get there? That’s OK, tell them you have a fun surprise waiting for them. Don’t make it too long. No one wants to read a wall of text. Try to be concise, and break it into paragraphs if it is still seems long. If you have a lot of history and information to share, consider adding a link to a web page that has the information instead of writing it all in the description. Then people who want to know more can follow the link and those who just want a smiley can get the information they need, find the cache and carry on. Consider including photos. A picture paints a thousand words, and they can help divide sections of text. A photo of your beautiful location will make people want to go there. An amusing image that matches the theme of your cache will make them want to go there and see what the joke is. Do you have an especially good cache description that you have written? Or maybe one you have read for a cache you’ve found? Share it in the comments! Share with your Friends: Tweet More Print

David Villa was named New York City FC’s Most Valuable Player for the 2015 season. The Captain led the team with 18 goals and five assists. Villa’s 18 goals landed him fourth overall in goals scored for Major League Soccer. The Captain had six game-winning goals and had seven penalty kick goals, which led all of Major League Soccer. "It is an honor for me to receive this award, thank you very much," said Villa. "I will try to keep working hard to win again next season and especially to help improving the collective result of the team." Villa was named Major League Soccer player of the week twice. Villa’s first player of the week nod came in week two, when the forward scored the first New York City FC goal at Yankee Stadium on March 15 against the New England Revolution. The second time he won the award, came in week 15, he scored a goal and had an assist against Montreal on June 13. Villa’s most productive month came in July when he scored six goals and registered an assist. For his effort, Villa was named New York FC’s Etihad Airways Player of the Month for July. RELATED: Best Images of David Villa from the 2015 Season Villa also was named a Major League Soccer All-Star and scored a goal in the match. In the final game of the season, Villa had the lone goal in the Club’s 3-1 loss to New England on Oct. 25.

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 small red onion, finely diced 3 (4-ounce) cans diced green chiles 1/4 cup crumbled bacon 1 cup tomato puree 1 tablespoon salt-free Mexican seasoning 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 cup low-sodium beef stock 1 scallion, sliced

Kakvo srce, kakav povratak! Hrvati će igrati u finalu EP-a Nevjerojatan podvig napravili su mladi Hrvati. Ova je portugalska generacija pobjeđivala i Španjolce, koji su svijet za sebe, neokrznuta je prošla kroz skupinu, ali onda joj se ispriječila Hrvatska <p><strong>Hrvatska </strong>je u finalu Europskog prvenstva u futsalu do 19 godina! U pravoj polufinalnoj drami u Rigi nakon penala (5-4) izbacila je moćni <strong>Portugal </strong>i subotu u 19 sati igrat će za naslov prvaka protiv Španjolske koja je očekivano izbacila Poljsku (3-1).</p><p>Nevjerojatan podvig napravili su mladi Hrvati. Ova je portugalska generacija pobjeđivala i Španjolce, koji su svijet za sebe, neokrznuta je prošla kroz skupinu, ali onda joj se ispriječila Hrvatska. I hrvatsko srce koje se dvaput vratilo iz bezizlazne situacije. Prvi put dvije sekunde prije kraja utakmice, a onda i pretposljednjoj minuti drugog produžetka. Pa sve naplatila projektilima sa šest metara.</p><p>Zašto je Portugal bio veliki favorit za finale, vidjeli smo u većem dijelu utakmice kojom je dominirao, stvarao brojne prilike pred našim golom koji je spašavao <strong>Čizmić </strong>ili, pak, loše reakcije portugalskih igrača.</p><h2>Jurlina za produžetak</h2><p>Nije da ni Hrvatska nije stvarala opasnosti, samo ne u tolikoj mjeri iako je za golmana <strong>Paca </strong>moglo biti još opasnije da su reakcije Jurline, Mužara i ostalih bili malo brže i točnije.</p><p>Onda se dogodila 31. minuta. Jurlina je previše čekao u dobroj poziciji za udarac, Paco je uzeo loptu, povukao preko cijelog terena i na desnoj strani uposlio Celija koji je prizemnim udarcem našao prostor kroz Čizmićeve noge. Nažalost, gol ide na dušu našeg golmana.</p><p>U završne tri minute izbornik je naredio maksimalan rizik. Čizmić je izašao s gola, igrali smo bez golmana i potrošili pola vremena samo se dodavajući na deset metara od protivničkog gola. Vrijeme je curilo i onda dvije sekunde prije kraja naš najbolji igrač Jurlina opalio je ljevicom s osam-devet metara. Takav se "špic" ne brani. </p><p>Na našoj klupi nastao je delirij i na tim krilima u prvim sekundama produžetka skoro smo i poveli, ali Jurlinin udarac prošao je nekoliko decimetara kraj gola. </p><p>Dok je istjecala posljednja minuta prvog produžetka Portugalci su iskoristili trenutak naše nepažnje i opet poveli. Imali su udarac sa strane, Mužar nije gledao svog igrača koji mu se prikrao i matirao Čizmića.</p><h2>Dajte sve što imate</h2><p>Istim receptom kao u regularnom dijelu napali smo Portugalce kada se opet nije vidio izlaz. Tri minute prije kraja opet smo zaigrali golmana. Vukelić je u jednom napadu, koji nije previše obećavao, u pretposljednjoj minuti htio ubaciti s boka, ali uz puno sreće lopta je završila u golu za novo izjednačenje.</p><p>Preživjeli smo novi portugalski udar i odveli utakmicu do izvođenja šesteraca. Prostora za greške nije bilo jer izvode se samo tri serije.</p><p>- Sve što imate, dajte u taj udarac - govorio je prije trenutaka odluke svojim igračima izbornik Mavrović.</p><p>Upalilo je. U prve dvije (Mudronja, Cvišić) nitko golmanima, kojima svaka čast na hrabrosti, dao šanse, a onda je u trećoj <strong>Neves </strong>opucao kao po kazni i Čizmić mu je to lagano skinuo. Loptu odluke uzeo je, a tko će drugi, Jurlina i pogodio za pobjedu. Za finale!</p><p>Tako se to radi!</p><p><strong>Europsko prvenstvo, polufinale:</strong></p><p><strong>Hrvatska </strong>- Portugal 5-4 (1-1; 2-2)</p>

Okay, we’ve been dormant awhile, not that Enemy Central ever rests. But the last few years everyone knew who the Enemy of Week, day, year, was. No use naming names when it’s the same name that kept coming up. Lady Hillary, ever truthful in her claims against the VRWC, lapped the field – by November 8, she was at least 500 laps ahead, a first for anyone competing in Indiana or any other NASCAR location, but let’s not veer off course. It didn’t help that she didn’t have a good 9/11 this year. We can be cruel at Enemy Central, but not when it comes to picking on someone when they’re down, and out, and dragged into an ugly black van. We thought it pathetic, when she trotted out the Billy Bush tapes in a desperate attempt to tarnish Mr. Trump’s boy scout past. But then it’s been an old Democrat habit to spread fake news. Remember John Kerry, the pro-Hanoi antiwar traitor pretending to have been a Swift Boat hero in his run for the White House? So now Hillary was going after a guy said to hit on women. She’d never heard of such behavior before! (Except, of course, in the case of that one guy who turned out to be her meal ticket — but let’s not go there. “Zone of privacy,” we think it’s called.) It never ceases to amaze what some machismos get away with when they’re standing atop the proverbial glass ceiling. Now Mr. Trump, being the boy scout that he at heart is, tried to do the gentlemanly thing and post-election said many nice things about the woman he defeated. He even suggested he may not sic the Feds on her for all her Clinton Foundation criminality. How did she thank him? She began to underwrite someone named Jill Stein’s efforts to bring about a recount in three upper Midwest states that Trump carried and Hillary, in final testimony to her ineptness, failed to secure. Maybe she’s just desperate, knowing she’s collected hundreds of millions from very fat cats who don’t like to be made fools of. How to repay them even ten cents on the dollar? Hang around until she can run again in 2020, that’s how, evidently. Yesterday she showed up at Dingy Harry’s farewell and confirmed she’s in the 2020 race for good now, unleashing even harsher talk on the fake news front. You may not know it, she let on, but the real reason she lost last month was that wackos were accusing her and David Brock of running a child sex delivery service out of a pizzeria in Washington, D.C.’s NPR country. That’s kind of funny, given that the only comparable story we heard during the campaign involved her dear husband’s cavorting with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The fake news mainstream media has judged that story too real to use. So what next for Lady Hillary? Her hair at the Harry event was expensively made up, a far cry from the cheapo hippie look she sported in her previous post-election appearance, at the Children’s Defense Fund gala, when the official line was that she’d lost not because of fake news but because of FBI Director James Comey’s actions, the same Comey who had let her off the hook last summer. Hillary, we have learned, has always been a hard one to please. Everything about her may be fake, but has ever there been such utter perfection in so false an American pol? If she wants to go another four years, we’re standing by.

VIDÉO - L'entreprise Theranos et sa patronne prétendaient révolutionner les analyses sanguines. Ils ont en fait trompé les investisseurs pour lever des centaines de millions de dollars. La SEC, le gendarme boursier américain, a accusé mercredi Theranos, sa dirigeante-fondatrice Elizabeth Holmes et son ancien président Ramesh Balwani, d'être parvenus à lever «plus de 700 millions de dollars auprès d'investisseurs au travers d'une fraude élaborée qui a duré plusieurs années, pendant lesquelles ils ont exagéré ou menti à propos de la technologie, des activités et des performances financières de l'entreprise» de biotechnologie. À lire aussi : Ces femmes du numérique qui ont changé le cours de l'histoire Ce dénouement, que la SEC présente comme une «leçon» pour la Silicon Valley, vient acter la chute d'Elizabeth Holmes, que certains comparaient à Steve Jobs, le défunt patron-fondateur d'Apple. En lançant Theranos en 2003, à 19 ans, elle promettait des diagnostics plus rapides et moins chers que ceux des laboratoires traditionnels aux États-Unis, grâce à des méthodes présentées comme révolutionnaires, permettant jusqu'à 200 analyses avec une toute petite quantité de sang. Mais une série d'articles parus fin 2015 dans le Wall Street Journal avait commencé à semer le doute sur la véracité de ces affirmations. Quelques mois plus tard, le ministère de la Santé avait lui aussi fait part de ses réserves. À lire aussi : Le rêve de la start-up Theranos tourne au cauchemar En réalité, affirme la SEC dans son communiqué mercredi, le système vanté par la start-up - basée à Palo Alto, en plein cœur de la Silicon Valley - «ne permettait de réaliser qu'une toute petite quantité de tests, et la société réalisait l'immense majorité des tests des patients avec d'autres dispositifs fabriqués par d'autres» entreprises. «Dire la vérité» Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes et Ramesh Balwani avaient même affirmé que leurs produits étaient utilisés par le ministère américain de la Défense sur le terrain en Afghanistan et que l'entreprise aurait un chiffre d'affaires de 100 millions de dollars en 2014: en fait, le gouvernement n'a jamais utilisé ces produits et Theranos a dégagé en 2014 un revenu de... 100.000 dollars. Pour la SEC, cette affaire doit servir d'exemple à la Silicon Valley, qui fourmille de start-up cherchant des financements et d'investisseurs aux poches pleines, avides de parier sur des entreprises qui se présentent presque toutes comme révolutionnaires. Cette affaire «est une leçon importante pour la Silicon Valley», selon Jina Choi, directrice du bureau de la SEC à San Francisco, citée dans le communiqué de la SEC. «Les innovateurs qui cherchent à révolutionner et à bouleverser un secteur doivent dire aux investisseurs la vérité sur ce dont sont capables leurs technologies aujourd'hui, et non ce qu'ils espèrent qu'elles pourront faire un jour», ajoute Jina Choi. Theranos et Elizabeth Holmes ont signé avec la SEC un accord amiable, aux termes duquel la dirigeante accepte de payer une amende de 500.000 dollars, cède le contrôle de l'entreprise et n'a pas le droit de diriger une entreprise cotée pendant dix ans. Elle devra aussi rendre à Theranos près de 19 millions d'actions qu'elle détient dans la start-up, qui était encore valorisée à près de 10 milliards de dollars en 2014. Cet accord, qui ne vaut pas aveu, n'empêche pas des poursuites judiciaires. L'ancien président Ramesh Balwani sera poursuivi en justice par la SEC en Californie, a en revanche précisé un responsable de la SEC, Steven Peikin, pendant une conférence téléphonique. «L'entreprise se réjouit de voir se clore cette affaire et a hâte de faire progresser sa technologie», ont indiqué dans un communiqué les «membres indépendants» du conseil d'administration de Theranos. Sur la sellette depuis plus de deux ans, Theranos avait frôlé le dépôt de bilan et licencié l'an dernier 155 personnes, près de la moitié de ses effectifs, après avoir dû fermer fin 2016 laboratoires et centres, mettant au chômage du même coup 340 salariés. La chute d'Elizabeth Holmes, jeune femme blonde à l'esprit combatif et brillant, est d'autant plus marquante qu'elle figura en 2015 sur la liste des 100 personnalités les plus influentes de la planète du magazine Time. Sa fortune était en 2014 évaluée à 3,6 milliards de dollars par le magazine Forbes, faisant d'elle la plus jeune milliardaire n'ayant pas hérité de sa fortune.

(NaturalNews) As the debate over health care reform remains stalled in Congress, many U.S. residents are taking matters into their own hands by simply driving to Mexico for affordable care and prescriptions."I'm very lucky to live near enough to Mexico to get good healthcare at a reasonable price," said retired police officer Bob Ritz, who lives in Tombstone, Ariz. Although Ritz does have insurance, many of his medical costs are simply not covered, or the co-pays and deductibles are so high that he cannot afford them on his fixed income."I pay $400 a month for my health insurance, and it's still cheaper to come to Mexico," he said.In contrast to Ritz, approximately 46 million U.S. residents live without any medical insurance at all.According to a study by the University of California-Los Angeles' Center for Health Policy Research, roughly one million people go to Mexico for dental or medical care or prescriptions every year from California alone.The primary difference between Mexican and U.S. health care is the cost -- with many U.S. doctors having trained at Mexican medical schools and vice versa, and similar hygienic standards in place. Responding to the influx of people from the U.S. seeking affordable care, clinics in Mexican border towns now offer everything from regular dental care to cosmetic and weight-loss surgeries or other major procedures like hysterectomies.In Naco, Mexico, Dr. Sixto de la Pena Cortes charges roughly $20 for a standard checkup. He says he gets about 15 patients from the United States every week. The most common complaints that he treats are "bronchitis, pneumonia and stomach problems," he said, but he has also treated broken bones. Once, he referred a patient to a hospital for an appendix removal operation that cost $2,000."I waste up to four hours coming to an appointment, but it's worth it as we'll save thousands of dollars," said Beatriz Iturriaga of Eastlake, California, who paid $6,500 for bariatric surgery in Tijuana.A typical bariatric surgery in the United States costs as much as $40,000.Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com

Students will sometimes ask me — often hesitantly, out of fear of offending — if it’s true what they’ve heard, that I’m a liberal. “Don’t you ever call me a liberal again,” I tell them, feigning outrage. “I’m a leftist and a radical feminist.” Once they realize I’m not angry, I explain the important differences between left and liberal. A distinction between left and liberal may seem esoteric or self-indulgent given the steady ascendancy of right-wing ideas in U.S. politics. Is now the time for this conversation? Liberals ask leftists to put aside differences toward the goal of resisting the reactionary right, and I’m all for pragmatic politics (coalitions are necessary and potentially creative) to mount challenges to dangerous policies. (Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan pose serious threats on ecological, social and economic fronts.) But strategies should be based on a clear understanding of shared values. And with a carnival-barker president leading a party so committed to a failed ideology that it’s willing to risk ecocide, radical left ideas have never been more compelling. In the face of conservative and liberal failures to deal with our most basic problems, leftists offer reality-based solutions. Let’s start with a general distinction: Liberals typically support existing systems and hope to make them more humane. Leftists focus on the unjust nature of the systems themselves. Two of these key systems are capitalism (an economic system that, to a leftist, celebrates inequality and degrades ecosystems) and imperialism (a global system in which First World countries have long captured a disproportionate share of the world’s wealth through violence and coercion). Liberals don’t oppose capitalism or U.S. imperialism, arguing instead for kinder-and-gentler versions. Leftists see the systems as incompatible with basic moral principles of social justice and ecological sustainability. Things get more complicated with white supremacy (historical and contemporary practices rooted in white or European claims of a right to rule) and patriarchy (men’s claim to a natural role over women in systems of institutionalized male dominance). Leftists disagree among themselves about how these systems interact with capitalism and imperialism. Some on the left focus on class inequality and decry “identity politics,” which they define as reducing all political questions to race, gender or sexual identity. Others reject putting economic inequality alone at the center of politics and argue for an equal focus on white supremacy or patriarchy. Complicating things more are leftists who disagree with radical feminist opposition to the sexual-exploitation industries of prostitution, pornography and stripping, arguing that women’s participation means the industries can’t be challenged and shifting the focus away from why men choose to use women. What is a leftist? If this all this is getting a bit bewildering, welcome to left politics. Rather than generalizing about what “real” leftists should believe, I’ll summarize my views: Capitalism is an unjust wealth-concentrating system that is ecologically unsustainable. Either we transcend the pathology of capitalism or dystopian science fiction will become everyday life in the not-so-distant future. There is no credible defense of the obscene inequality or disregard for the larger living world that’s inherent in capitalism. The assertion by the U.S. that it’s the world’s exemplar and natural leader is a dangerous delusion that must yield to meaningful diplomacy and trade policies based on moral principles. not raw power. There is no hope for global cooperation when the U.S. maintains hundreds of military bases and facilities in other countries, designed not for defense but to assert U.S. dominance. Liberals and conservatives disagree about how government policy should constrain the sociopathic nature of capitalism, but both embrace capitalist ideology. Liberals and conservatives disagree about how the U.S. should run the world, but neither challenge the country’s right to dominate. What do leftists propose as an alternative to a global capitalist economy undergirded by military might? I’m not a revolutionary utopian, preferring innovative ways to work toward left values. Two examples: The worker cooperative movement helps people establish worker-owned and worker-managed businesses within capitalism, creating spaces for real democracy in the economy. An example in my hometown of Austin is ATX Coop Taxi, owned and managed by the drivers. The most well-known cooperative enterprise is Mondragón, a Spanish federation of cooperatives with thousands of worker-owners. These businesses offer a model for a transition out of capitalism. National health insurance, sometimes known as single-payer or Medicare-for-all, would lower health care costs while rejecting the cruel capitalist assertion that people without money are expendable. Most developed countries have adopted this, but U.S. politicians routinely reject it, even though polls show a majority or a plurality of U.S. voters like the idea. This kind of commitment to collective flourishing challenges obsessions with amoral individualism so common among U.S. capitalists. Untangling white supremacy The history of white supremacy cannot be untangled from the history of capitalism and imperialism, in Europe or the U.S. Ideologies of racial superiority have been used to justify imperialism abroad (the infamous “white man’s burden” to civilize the natives), while at home, racism is a key component of the wealthy’s divide-and-conquer strategy to suppress worker organizing across racial lines (offer white workers a sense of racial superiority so that they focus their anger at nonwhite people rather than the bosses). A critique of patriarchy, the oldest of these domination/subordination systems, is at the heart of any credible left politics, though it is the social system most routinely ignored by leftists. The patriarchal claim that such hierarchy is inevitable is one of the most dangerous myths in human history, long used to justify men’s control of women’s reproductive power and sexuality. Defending women’s reproductive rights, including abortion, is a core principle, and just as central is challenging men’s claim to a right to buy and sell objectified female bodies for sexual pleasure. We must confront men who buy women for sex as we act in feminist solidarity with prostituted women (what liberals call “sex workers”), supporting programs that help women and vulnerable men exit the sexual-exploitation industries. Men’s claims to own or control women’s sexuality are also at the heart of the oppression of lesbians (who dare to opt out of male dominance in intimate relationships) and gay men (who are targeted for their perceived threat to patriarchy’s rigid sexual norms). Lesbian/gay liberation is inseparable from women’s liberation. Liberals and conservatives are all over the political map on racism and sexism, but consistently fail to face the depth of the depravity of white supremacy and patriarchy, or the degree to which those systems continue to define everyday life. Leftists strive to face these realities. Realistic solutions What kind of leftist am I? I don’t call myself a Marxist, communist, socialist or anarchist, though all of those traditions offer insights along with lessons from their failures. I don’t belong to what are called “left sectarian” organizations, which typically remain committed to 19th- or 20th-century doctrines and political figures (such as Marxist-Leninist or Maoist groups). I call myself an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist leftist rooted in a critique of white supremacy and a radical feminist critique of patriarchy. Not the pithiest label, but accurate. My left politics also focus on the human species’ intensifying assault on the larger living world — multiple, cascading ecological crises that we can’t afford to ignore. Modern humans’ arrogance puts us all at risk. The naïve assumptions of the high-energy and high-technology industrial world — especially the idea that we can solve all problems with more energy-intensive technology — must be abandoned as we struggle to understand how many people can live sustainably on the planet. There’s not a widely used term for going beyond liberal environmentalism’s half measures, but some people call it “ecospherism,” the understanding that humans must find our place in the ecosphere rather than try to dominate. Ecospherists reject the idea that humans really “own” the Earth and fight to end the accompanying abuse and exploitation of land, water, air and other creatures. Liberals and conservatives typically ignore ecological realities, but so does much of the left. The overwhelming nature of the challenge scares many into silence, but problems ignored are not problems solved. For example, research on renewable energy is important, but no combination of so-called clean energy sources (and let’s remember that wind turbines and solar panels are industrial products, which can’t be manufactured cleanly) can power the affluence of the First World. The solution is dramatically lower levels of consumption in the developed world. Many people in the U.S. disagree with this kind of left/radical feminist analysis. Many people have told me that these views make me unfit to teach at a state university. I welcome serious challenges, but left political positions are too often dismissed as crazy because that’s the one thing both liberals and conservatives agree on. The U.S. is a dramatically right-wing society when compared with other industrialized countries, illustrated by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign. He offered no foundational critique of U.S. systems, opting instead for a traditional social democratic platform to make our institutions more humane. Yet in America, such policy proposals were seen by many as revolutionary and Sanders was often dismissed as a wild-eyed radical. In a recent call to action, Sanders supported a single-payer plan for health care and stated “our current economic model is a dismal failure,” but he did not dare use the term capitalism or even hint at a deeper structural critique. His discussion of the ecological crises stopped with a weak call for renewable energy, and there was no mention of racism, sexism or U.S. foreign policy. I realize politicians shape rhetoric to win votes, but let’s not pretend this is a left agenda. (For the record, I’m not a Democrat, but I’m also not purist in electoral politics; I voted for Sanders in the Democratic primary and Hillary Clinton in the general election.) Sanders’ success suggests more people might support a candidate with an even deeper critique of illegitimate structures of authority. If in the short term the best we can hope for is reform of existing systems, we can pursue those reforms with an eye on more radical long-term goals. It’s hard to imagine a decent human future — perhaps any human future at all — if these radical ideas are not part of the mix. “Radical” is often used as a political insult, suggesting people who focus on violence and destruction. But the word simply means “going to the root,” and at the root of our contemporary crises of justice and sustainability are capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and the human willingness to destroy the world in pursuit of affluence. Leftists are told that we have to be realistic, and I agree. But how realistic is it to expect solutions to human injustices and ecological crises to emerge from the systems that have created the problems? If you want to be realistic, get radical. Ed. note: This post also appeared in the Dallas News. Teaser photo credit: The old Co-operative building behind the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne. CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=341058

How to come up with an architectural concept Creating and developing architectural concepts is something a lot of students and indeed many architects struggle with. This may be due to project pressures, writers block, limited inspiration, or just the fact that for many students their architecture schools particularly in the first couple of years, don’t teach and stress the importance of them. As we discuss here in “How to develop an architecture concept”, the best conceptual approaches should always aim to provide the backbone and foundation to a new project, and form part of the initial process as much as your site analysis should do. There are many methods of coming up with a concept, and by following the process’s described in the above articles, they can be derived from almost anything; personal experiences and influences, emotions, perceptions, research, analysis …there are many Here we provide a list of 21 concept ideas that can be used as starting points for your conceptual development and help steer you in the right direction as your project develops. Note though, that to create a meaningful approach these listed ideas must be tied back to your own thought processes, interpretations and analysis, in order for them to be bespoke to your project …there is not a one size fits all. Following each description we provide a Pinterest link to a list of examples that demonstrate how each concept can be used in a real world scenario, or how it can be explained through concept sketches and models.

By25-year-old Dhanashri Godave was on her way to work when she apparently lost her balance between Dombivali and Koper.Overcrowding of locals on the Central Railway claimed another life on the stretch between Dombivali and Koper on Monday. Dhanashri Godave died after she fell off a CSTbound train during peak hours.The fatal mishap occurred around 8.35 am. According to the General Railway Police (GRP) officials, the 25-year-old woman might have boarded the 8.31 CST fast from Dombivali. The GRP was alerted about the accident at 8.42 am.DCP Rupali Ambure said Dhanashri was taken to the hospital, but was declared dead on arrival. The Dombivali resident was an employee of a private firm at Cuffe Parade and was on her way to work on Monday morning.“It was like any other working day for Dhanshri. Little did she know that the ride would be her last,” said her brother Subham. Her father, who runs a printing press, was not in a state to talk to the media.Over the years, the rail route between Kalyan and Thane has emerged as the killer stretch. Out of 545 deaths on the Central line, over 200 people died in train-related accidents on this part of the network. Since January, 16 people have fallen off local between Thakurli and Diva.The death of 21-year-old Bhavesh Nakate, another Dombivali resident, between Kopar and Diva in November 2015 had raised safety concerns of commuters using a transport system that is operating way beyond its capacity.Nakate’s fall, which was recorded by a fellow commuter, had shocked the conscience of the city. In the clip, he could be seen slowly losing grip of the grab rod and pleading for help. He is then hit by a signal pole close to the tracks.The incident had prompted Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to set up a high-level committee to identify the problems faced by rail commuters in Mumbai – about 70 lakh people use the city’s local train network daily. The committee is expected to submit its report in this week.“The trains at Dombivali are always overcrowded. She must have thought that missing a train would not make any difference. No matter how many of them you miss, it is always this crowded,” said Anil Kale maternal uncle of Dhanshri.While Dombivali, as per information obtained under RTI, has emerged as the most crowded station on CR with roughly 2.34 lakh passengers, the number of services catering to this burgeoning commuter base is 56, one up from the count in 2010 – when the footfall at the station was about 2 lakh.Asked why the frequency of locals has remained unchanged in the last five years, particularly between Kalyan and Thane, a senior Central Railway (CR) official pointed to an as-yet unfinished project. “Work on 5th and 6th lines between Diva and Dombivali is still incomplete. That's why we have not been able to add new services that start from Dombivali.”“We are also going through the CCTV footage at Dombivali station, from where Dhanashri had boarded the train. It will help us understand her journey better,” said a GRP officer.Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee member Subhash Gupta said the suburban railway network was on the verge of collapse. “A local train's capacity is around 1,700 people. But during rush hours, it carries around 5,000 people. You can imagine the plight of the commuters. It's a miracle that people don’t die of suffocation inside the compartments.”In another incident, a commuter, Manoj Gauda, sustained serious injuries after he fell off a moving train near Thane around 11.30 am. The police said Gauda, who was standing on the footboard, was commuting in a CST-bound fast local when he lost balance after complaining of giddiness.

Liberals’ anti-Conservative ideology overrides common sense, whatever the reason behind it Joe Oliver: In their single-minded determination to overturn almost every Tory initiative, perhaps the Liberals envisage Trudeau as Han Solo battling the Galactic Empire

Laser cooling and trapping are central to modern atomic physics. The most used technique in cold-atom physics is the magneto-optical trap (MOT), which combines laser cooling with a restoring force from radiation pressure. For a variety of atomic species, MOTs can capture and cool large numbers of particles to ultracold temperatures (less than ∼1 millikelvin); this has enabled advances in areas that range from optical clocks to the study of ultracold collisions, while also serving as the ubiquitous starting point for further cooling into the regime of quantum degeneracy. Magneto-optical trapping of molecules could provide a similarly powerful starting point for the study and manipulation of ultracold molecular gases. The additional degrees of freedom associated with the vibration and rotation of molecules, particularly their permanent electric dipole moments, allow a broad array of applications not possible with ultracold atoms1. Spurred by these ideas, a variety of methods has been developed to create ultracold molecules. Temperatures below 1 microkelvin have been demonstrated for diatomic molecules assembled from pre-cooled alkali atoms2,3, but for the wider range of species amenable to direct cooling and trapping, only recently have temperatures below 100 millikelvin been achieved4,5. The complex internal structure of molecules complicates magneto-optical trapping. However, ideas and methods necessary for creating a molecular MOT have been developed6,7,8,9,10,11 recently. Here we demonstrate three-dimensional magneto-optical trapping of a diatomic molecule, strontium monofluoride (SrF), at a temperature of approximately 2.5 millikelvin, the lowest yet achieved by direct cooling of a molecule. This method is a straightforward extension of atomic techniques and is expected to be viable for a significant number of diatomic species6,7. With further development, we anticipate that this technique may be employed in any number of existing and proposed molecular experiments, in applications ranging from precision measurement12 to quantum simulation13 and quantum information14 to ultracold chemistry15.

For most people, learning to read Chinese is incredibly intimidating. The characters are complicated and are easily mistaken for each other. It’s easy to rely on pinyin as a crutch and focus on other areas of study. However, learning to read Chinese will have significant benefits that carry over to more than just reading. It will help improve your grammar and sentence structure, along with vocabulary, which will carry over into your speaking and listening skills. And, as someone who loves to read, it’s just fun to do. Like anything, it just takes some practice. Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to find places to practice reading Chinese. As you’re learning, it’s important to find texts at an appropriate level to practice with. If you try reading native texts too early, you’ll get frustrated, spend too much time looking up words, and won’t enjoy reading. Likewise, if you read stuff that’s too easy, you won’t progress as quickly as you’d like and end up bored. Don’t underestimate the importance of reading about topics you enjoy. Even if your Chinese level is equivalent to that of a four-year-old, that doesn’t mean you have to read texts written for four-year-old kids. You can find articles about music, science, current events and Chinese culture, among other things, written at a degree of difficulty that matches your Chinese level. This post is going to introduce you to a variety of resources, both free and paid, that you can use to practice reading Chinese. Paid Resources Like most resources, the paid ones tend to be more convenient and user-friendly. However, there are high-quality free resources to practice reading Mandarin as well. First, though, we’re going to look at the paid resources. Apps Making full use out of the available apps is a great way to squeeze in extra study time. It’s also likely to be the most efficient. You can instantly look up words and save them to a flashcard list to review later. Du Chinese – Du Chinese is an incredibly well-designed app. You’ll find articles across six different difficulty levels. Every article includes Traditional and SImplified characters, pinyin and audio that’s perfectly synced to the text. There’s also sentence by sentence English translations that make it more approachable for beginner students. Articles are interesting to read and usually discuss various aspects of Chinese culture. You can also find free sample articles to read. Use the coupon code “alr10dc” to get 10% off a subscription to Du Chinese. The Chairman’s Bao – TCB is a simplified Chinese newspaper for people learning Mandarin. It’s available as an app or online. Lessons are organized based on HSK level and center around current events – both in China and worldwide. Every article is available in both Traditional and Simplified characters and includes audio. They release a ton of content but there aren’t English translations. Use the coupon code “alr10” to get 10% off any individual subscription. Decipher Chinese – Decipher is a very similar app to TCB. Here, you’ll also be able to read short news articles that are organized according to the difficulty level. I find the app design and usability to be less intuitive than both Du Chinese and TCB. There’s a new article released about once per day which is far less than TCB and similar to Du Chinese. You can read new articles for the first couple days for free. Beelinguapp – This app provides bilingual stories written in many languages. You can read a story in Chinese and have the text of another language included for your reference. There’s also audio for every story. Some stories are free and other ones can be purchased for $1 each. This app is really cool if you’re learning Chinese and another language. I’m a native English speaker with a high level of Spanish and learning Chinese now. Being able to study Chinese and review Spanish at the same time is extremely helpful. However, you can’t look up the words individually which is a major downside to this app. LingQ – I’m not a huge fan of LingQ but it’s a fairly popular app. I feel like they try to do too much and then don’t particularly excel in anything. They do have a fairly large amount of material for reading and listening practice. However, a lot of it is user added content that originally came from other sources like The Chairman’s Bao, ChinesePod, Slow Chinese and others. One major benefit is that you can import your own content. Read my LingQ Review here. Graded Readers Using graded readers is an awesome way to practice reading because they’re written simply for language learners – often restricting vocabulary to a set number of characters. I find them to be a major confidence boost as it feels great to read and understand longer stories. Mandarin Companion – Mandarin Companion books are based on stories that you’re probably familiar with – The Monkey’s Paw, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Rip Van Winkle, just to name a few. They’re divided into two levels. Level one is written using around 300 unique characters and level two is written at a lower intermediate level. Also, reading on a Kindle or a phone makes looking up unfamiliar words really easy. The Monkey’s Paw was my first experience reading Mandarin and I started it far before knowing the recommended 300 characters. At first, I was constantly looking up words. However, by the time I neared the end of the book, I was flying through the pages. The books are genuinely enjoyable to read and you’ll find yourself “studying” far more than you intended to. Chinese Breeze – Chinese Breeze is a graded reader series that has been around a bit longer than Mandarin Companion. There are many books spread across eight difficulty levels. Level one starts at 300 base words and level eight uses 4500 bases words. Personally, I’ve preferred the stories at Mandarin Companion but Chinese Breeze covers intermediate and higher level students better. Free Resources Learning Chinese doesn’t have to be expensive. There are plenty of places that offer free practice reading and sometimes listening practice as well. The downside is that they’re usually not as convenient as the paid options. They’re often older websites. But, if you’re looking to save money and still practice your reading, they’re worth checking out. Chinese Reading Practice – This is an older site that hasn’t had many updates in recent years. However, it’s a great resource for you to use. The stories are timeless and are just as useful now as when they were originally published. The creator took the time to explain many difficult parts of the stories, making it easier to use for reading practice. The site uses a pop-up dictionary and has English translations included. Just Learn Chinese – This site has many stories from beginner to intermediate level. They’re split into small parts with many stories actually being quite long. One even has 54 parts! Most stories include audio with Simplified and Traditional Characters. Some have pinyin and English translations as well. All Language Resources – This is my site. It’s still pretty new but there are many stories with varying lengths and difficulty levels. Many have audio included and you can read with a pop-up dictionary. I’ve also posted lyrics and translations to some of my favorite Chinese hip-hop songs. Xiao Gushi – This is a Chinese website with a massive amount of children’s stories on it. Even though the site is in Chinese, it’s not particularly difficult to navigate – especially if you use a pop-up dictionary for your web browser (I’ll mention later). Because the stories are written for Native Chinese speakers, they’re a bit tougher than the graded readers. However, they’re fairly short and most use simpler language than you’ll find elsewhere. National Foreign Language Center – This site is incredibly dated but is still a lot better than many of the newer sites. There are 140 articles in total in both SImplified and Traditional Chinese. There are also activities that go with the readings to check your comprehension. umich – This site has a bunch of texts available to read or download from many different genres. There is classical literature, song lyrics, film scripts, children’s stories, among many others. It’s older but has some really interesting content. Chinese at Ease – This site has many short stories for beginner and intermediate levels. They also include pinyin, vocab, English, and many have audio. My Chinese Reading – Here’s another site that’s completely free and pretty good. Many stories explain vocab and difficult translations. Some have audio as well. There is a diverse mix of articles ranging from songs, history, science, biography and more. Marco Polo Project – There are quite a few articles focused on diverse topics. Many can be quite lengthy and difficult, but interesting to read. You can help translate stories into your own language as well. New York Times – You can read current articles from NYT in Chinese, English or split with side-by-side text. Obviously, it’s only suitable for advanced students. But, if you’re at that level, it’s a great place to improve your Chinese while staying informed on what’s happening in the world. Useful Tools I feel fortunate to be studying Chinese when things like pop-up dictionaries are prevalent. I can’t imagine how frustrating and time consuming it must have been to look up words in a physical dictionary back in the day. With browser extensions, you can hover over any Chinese word and see the definition and pinyin. It makes any material easier to read and combines very well with some of the websites listed earlier. You should download the extension that matches the browser you use. Chrome – Zhongwen Firefox – Perapera Safari – Frill Pleco’s Clip Reader – Pleco is the go to dictionary app for most people learning Chinese. One free feature is that you can copy and paste any text into the Clip Reader. From there, you can look up each word, see example sentences, pronunciation and much more. Final Thoughts Don’t be intimidated to start practicing reading in Chinese. It’s not as difficult as many people imagine it to be. Even if you only know a couple hundred characters, you can find something suitable for your level. Not only that, you can find articles that are interesting enough that you may forget you’re actually studying. 加油

(ANSA) - Venice, March 17 - There were moments of panic in Venice's St Mark's Square on Friday when a gang of robbers set off two big smoke bombs to provide cover as they attempted a hold-up on a jewelry. One was set off near the bell tower and another in the centre of the square, creating huge amounts of smoke and causing people to run for cover, amid fear it was a terrorist attack, sources said. Carabinieri and State police arrived quickly and the robbers fled before they could pull off the heist.

A Crypto-Decentralist Manifesto 2016/07/11 Arvicco Blockchains are going to rule the world, providing a mechanism for scaling social and economic cooperation to an unprecedented level — a truly global scale. Such cooperation will involve not only human beings, groups and associations but also a growing multitude of increasingly independent artificial agents. Every blockchain creates a social network around its applications, with network value growing exponentially with the number of participants in accordance with Reed’s Law. This value isn’t extracted by intermediaries or controllers, as with previous centralized models. Instead, it’s shared among participants, providing economic incentives for cooperation without coercion. Not all blockchains are created equal. There are three key characteristics that make scalable blockchain-enabled cooperation possible: openness, neutrality and immutability. Openness is necessary. It goes without saying that the rules of the game should be open for anyone to see and understand. Anyone should be able to participate in any layer of the system without asking for any permission whatsoever. Anyone should be able to use the network in accordance with its rules. Anyone should be able to create their own client implementing the open protocol. Anyone should be able to contribute to network security, and so on. No registration, identification or other preconditions should limit participation. All such limitations prevent the network from scaling and their enforcement creates centralization risks. Neutrality is necessary. It’s important for anyone participating in blockchain-enabled cooperation to be on an equal footing with everyone else. It doesn’t matter if you wield huge economic power or only a tiny amount. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a saintly Mother Theresa or a vicious drug dealer. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a human or a refrigerator. It doesn’t matter what you believe in, what political theory you subscribe to, or whether you’re a moral or immoral person. A participant’s ethnicity, age, sex, profession, social standing, friends or affiliations, make or model, goals, purposes or intentions — none of this matters to the blockchain even a bit. The rules of the game are exactly the same for everyone, period. Without neutrality, the system is skewed towards one set of participants at the expense of others. In that case, it’s less likely to gain universal acceptance and maximize network value for everyone. Immutability is necessary. The blockchain is a truth machine preserving one universally accepted version of history, one immutable sequence of events. What’s true once is always true, regardless of political or business interests, and no amount of lobbying can change that. If it’s simply not possible to change history, then no resources are wasted on the effort. If there are any loopholes at all, then sufficiently motivated and determined interest groups will exploit them at the expense of others, diminishing network value for everyone. The rules governing the blockchain network are known in advance. They’re exactly the same for everyone and not subject to change other than with 100% consensus. Yes, it must be 100%. Because any change to the system’s rules that not all participants freely agree to creates a network split, diminishing network value for everyone. It’s impossible to achieve these blockchain characteristics without the system being truly decentralized. If any aspect of the blockchain system becomes subject to centralized control, this introduces an attack vector enabling the violation of one or more of the key blockchain characteristics. It may be possible to limit participation (such as by enforcing AML/KYC rules), thus violating openness. It may be possible to enforce discriminatory policies (such as by filtering “illegal” transactions), thus violating neutrality. It may be possible to rewrite the history of events (such as by confiscating or “redistributing” funds), thus violating immutability. Introducing centralized chokepoints creates a precondition for the introduction of “blockchain intermediaries or controllers” who can siphon value out of the system at other participants’ expense. So decentralization is the most important feature of blockchain systems, the one everything else depends on. With decentralization, blockchains will come to rule the world. Without it, they’ll be “contained” and railroaded into niche applications. We decentralists are committed to keeping blockchains open, neutral and immutable. We’re committed to keeping blockchain systems decentralized. This informs all our actions and positions towards any developments in the crypto world and beyond. All attempts to violate any of the key blockchain characteristics should be fought. All changes to a blockchain’s rules that introduce new centralization risks or strengthen existing ones should be fought. Only developments that are clearly beneficial to decentralization or strengthen the three key blockchain characteristics should be supported and encouraged. The blockchain revolution won’t be centralized. Let’s make sure of it. Onward. Source: https://medium.com/@bit_novosti/a-crypto-decentralist-manifesto-6ba1fa0b9ede#.2m5ro5rr9

Scandinavian Men Say No, Thanks to All-male Panels Even in Scandinavia, well known for its large female political representation, public debate is dominated by men. Business conferences with a 100 percent male speaker lineup are not rare. Some of these men are tired of debating only men, and are taking action to change it. In Sweden and Norway, male speakers are now refusing to participate in conferences and panel discussions without female representation. The idea is that men, when they are invited to speak at a conference or participate in a debate panel, will ask whether women are represented on the programme. If not, they will turn the invitation down say no, thanks. In Sweden the campaign, with the hashtag #tackanej, was launched in November 2013 by three men, supported by the organization Equalisters. It has attracted more than 250 signatures, ranging from established media personalities to university professors and successful entrepreneurs. – It’s time for us men to stand back, realizing how increased equality benefits not only justice, but actual competitive advantage for companies and organisations, says Fredrik Wass, co-founder of #TackaNej in Sweden. – There is a lot of talk about gender equality, but we decided to do something about it. These kind of initiatives can make organizers find the best and most competent persons to put on stage, Fredrik Wass continues. In Norway the campaign, with the hashtag #TakkNei, has launched. The Norwegian list of signatories is currently growing, so far ranging from lawyers, CEOs to writers and politicians. 70-80 percent of all the experts in media today are men, and if we continue to organize all- male panels and jurys we keep reproducing the image of an expert as a man. Saying no to all-male panels is an easy way to let more people contribute to a concrete change. The Norwegian initiator Benja Stig Fagerland, Founder and CEO of Women Sp3akers, sees the Say No campaign as part of a new, international wave of feminism that is driven by social media. – All over the world, we see strong, digital networks that are challenging stereotypes and renewing the debate on gender, says Fagerland. – Our goal is to turn Say No, Thanks into a Say Yes, Please. Yes to more female speakers and more diversity in debates and conferences. For more information, please contact, The Founders of #TackaNej in Sweden: Thomas Frostberg, senior business columnist at Sydsvenskan [email protected], @thomasfrostberg, +46 706 30 37 11 Fredrik Wass, market researcher, journalist and tech blogger [email protected], @bisonblog, +46 707 92 30 70 Marcin de Kaminski, internet researcher at Lund university [email protected], @dekaminski, +46 768 04 51 51 Swedish webpage: http://tackanej.se/ Supported by Equalisters: http://rattviseformedlingen. se/equalisters Frida Mörtsell, project manager/community manager frida.mortsell@ rattviseformedlingen.se, +46 0703977257 #TakkNei in Norway: Benja Stig Fagerland, Founder, [email protected]/ + 47 90955620 Ingvill Bryn Rambøl, Head of Publishing, , [email protected]/ +47 92452944 Home page: www.womensp3akers.com Campaign page: www.womensp3akers.com/takknei

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 25-year-old man was found guilty Friday of carjacking in a 2014 Jacksonville case. Deano Deangelo Eliam now faces up to 30 years in prison as a prison release re-offender. In January 2014, the victim was leaving a grocery store when Eliam approached her and threatened to kill her if she didn’t take him to her car. Eliam then demanded that she unlock the car, give him the keys and get in the passenger seat. As Eliam got into the victim’s car, the victim managed to run away to get help. Eliam then fled the scene in the victim’s car. Eliam will be sentenced the week of July 18.

California is moving to eliminate what state legislators call an outdated Wild West law requiring that citizens help police upon demand. Lawmakers on Thursday sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a measure eliminating the California Posse Comitatus Act of 1872. The nearly 150-year-old law makes it a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 for failing to help police make an arrest or catch a fleeing suspect. Democratic Sen. Bob Hertzberg of Van Nuys says his interns initially proposed eliminating a law that he says “belongs in the history books, not the law books.” Democratic Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove of Los Angeles says it was also used to help apprehend runaway slaves. She calls it “a visage of a bygone era” now that California has plenty of professionals to catch criminals.

Signing users in to a mobile or web app isn’t necessarily hard, but keeping their credentials safe is something that’s often best left to specialists. The OpenID Foundation today announced the launch of OpenID Connect, the organization’s latest standard for authenticating users and building distributed identity systems. The standard has the backing of Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Deutsche Telekom, TechCrunch parent AOL and numerous other companies and mobile network operators. With this, developers can create a straightforward sign-in process for their users by outsourcing the actual sign-in and identity verification to companies like Google or Microsoft. Using OpenID, developers don’t have to store and manage passwords on their own servers. The OpenID Foundation argues that the new protocol will ensure that developers won’t have to worry about keeping their users’ accounts safe. Instead, this data will be managed by “operators who continually invest in sophisticated authentication infrastructure and who have the specialized skills required to securely manage sign-in and detect abuse.” Unlike previous versions of the OpenID Foundation’s login standards, OpenID Connect uses OAuth in addition to using the secure SSL connections. The previous version used XML and a custom message signature scheme that was often difficult for developers to implement. In the new version, all of this is now based on OAuth 2.0, which handles the secure connection and the exchange of data. So why not just use OAuth instead of this new layer that was built on top of it? OpenID Foundation chairman Nat Sakimura notes that OAuth is an “access granting protocol,” but it doesn’t have any notion of identity. Facebook uses OAuth this way, but with the help of tokens and an extension called “signed requests,” which is quite similar to what OpenID Connect does (with the difference that it only works with Facebook). Most developers are already familiar with using OAuth, as Google’s Group Product Manager for Identity Eric Sachs stressed when I asked him about the advantages of Connect. This new protocol, which is based on technologies developers have probably already implemented in their services to talk to various APIs, should make implementing Connect very easy for them. He noted that Google will throw its full weight behind the standard and will support OpenID Connect through its Google+ Sign-In libraries, for example. Indeed, Google will consolidate all of its federated login solutions onto the OpenID Connect standard and will deprecate support for previous versions of OpenID over the course of the next year. Sachs recommends that developers switch over to the new libraries as soon as possible, though. One of the biggest recent wins for OpenID Connect was actually announced earlier this week (before the protocol was fully ratified). The GSMA, the association of over 800 mobile operators and the organization behind the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, unveiled Mobile Connect. It’s an initiative to develop new applications that allow users to securely access online services using their mobile phone account for authentication. OpenID Connect, the network operators hope, can provide a standard for creating interoperability between the different operators.

Given the campaign had already delivered such a cathartic moment on Wednesday, when the brain-dead belligerence of a tabloid newspaper prompted Bill Shorten to go for broke and express his vulnerability, the final leaders’ debate was always going to feel anticlimactic. The spectre of what had occurred earlier in the day trailed the two leaders into the event at the National Press Club. Both were noticeably restrained. Shorten was drained of exuberance. Morrison, who can be punchy, was slightly on egg shells rather than encroaching on his opponent, which has been his style during their campaign head-to-heads. It was a peculiar atmosphere. Two men who, if truth be told, are now heartily sick of the sight of one another, gathered in Canberra to try and hit their talking points, understanding this last debate might actually have an audience. Yet they were strangely solicitous of one another as well, as it something might break if it got stretched too far. Punches were thrown, because there was a job to do, and the partisan entourages had gathered at the press club for an hour’s gratification, but none of them had any particular sting. The net effect of all this was an atmosphere of solemnity – and the debate was a draw. There were some interesting moments. Morrison, who has been escalating his presidential pitch, minimising his own organisation, barely referencing his mostly invisible colleagues, was asked how he would keep the Liberal party’s restive conservative faction in check if he won the weekend after next. It was a question about the lessons he might have learned from the current dispiriting era, from the cycle of bloodletting that resulted in his elevation to the top job. “I will lead, as I always have, from the middle,” Morrison said, suddenly summoning a whole government back into view – a collegiate concept that has been absent since the proroguing of a parliament that nobody will mourn in April. The ghost of government past lingered when Morrison, on the hop, was forced to promise he would keep the current environment minister, Melissa Price, in her portfolio, despite her being such an abject disaster she’s been in hiding through much of the campaign. There, in those brief moments, reality pierced the strange boys’ own adventure of political campaigning; the state of being where the political leader is both in the fray and suspended above it, moving frenetically, yet free from the burdens of governing that now crush incumbents. Morrison’s reveries were a breadcrumb trail leading us to those same problems, waiting, unresolved, in the event the voters give the Coalition three more years. Perhaps it was the sense of shared melancholy the two carried into the room that brought that all back into view. Shorten looked tranquil, as he has for much of the campaign. He assumed an equality of status with Morrison in this last encounter, either lacking the energy to fight for it, or perhaps imagining he was now at the point of the contest where he had proven his mettle sufficiently not to need a ritualised display of dominance. The most notable thing about Wednesday night was the Labor leader wasn’t seeking approval. Throughout this contest, Shorten has visualised a path to victory that has involved him trying to communicate both who he is, and what he will do with power. He has streamlined and pared back his communications and leaned into the risks he wants to take, both with the agenda and with the way he wants to present leadership. Rather than imagining a leader Australians want to see, and trying to project that product, Shorten has elected to be himself, and put his faith in the institution he leads to bring this contest home. The courage of being himself is the last bridge Shorten will cross in this period of leadership, because whatever happens, this era, when he learned to lead, is coming to an end. Shorten’s basic intuition is simple: self acceptance is the natural pre-condition of community acceptance. In 10 days’ time, we’ll see if his political instincts have served Labor’s cause.

Crazy ass bootleg from Joke Inc, check it out for yourself. Here’s a hard-hitting bootleg from Joker Inc to "Mutate" by Sidney Samson & Lil Jon… Using elements from Hardwell’s upcoming bomb "Spaceman" (out Jan. 23rd), this is sure to have the crowd in a frenzy! Check it out!!!!! DOWNLOAD HERE ***All references to music (video) are presented only for listening for fact-finding purposes and are not located on our server. All files reside on foreign servers to which site lifestylesdefined.com is not liable. Our site is the only site on which users spread references to these files that are publicly available. After listening you must delete the downloaded file and obtain a legal copy.

The FSB Breaks Left A second anarchist from the mythical organization Network (Set) has been remanded to police custody at the request of counterintelligence. Viktor Filinkov and Igor Shiskin are suspected of planning an armed insurrection to seize power Alexander Yermakov Fontanka.ru January 27, 2018 The purge of the anarchist movement in Petersburg is due to no more and no less than alleged plans to violently overthrow Vladimir Putin. This is the background the FSB has invoked as it has arrested the young men. They are accused of involvement in a terrorist association about which the courts, the Justice Ministry, and the National Anti-Terrorist Committee have never heard. Anarchist Igor Shishkin was sent to the pretrial detention center on Shpalernaya Street in Petersburg on the evening of January 27. He was detained two days earlier by FSB officers, taken to their regional headquarters on Liteiny Prospect, and interrogated for nearly twenty-four hours, except for short breaks. His interrogators focused on Shishkin’s involvement in the anarchist movement and alleged plans for violent acts whose objective was overthrowing the current government via an armed insurrection. As someone suspected of involvement in a terrorist network (Criminal Code Article 205.4 Part 2), the 26-year-old Shishkin was detained only this morning. After Petersburg’s Dzerzhinsky District made its ruling, he joined Viktor Filinkov, a 23-year-old programmer and Kazakhstani national, who had been remanded to police custody a day earlier, in the pretrial detention center. According to police investigators, Shiskin, Filinkov, and unidentified persons who espoused the anarchist ideology were involved, allegedly, in the so-called Field of Mars (aka Mars) branch of the terrorist organization Network no later than August 2016. Their purpose was to plan crimes and engage in terrorist activists that the Criminal Code defines quite clearly: the violent seizure of power and armed insurrection. There is no mention of Network (Set) on the web, unless, of course, you do not count the eponymous organization set up by the pro-Kremlin youth organization Nashi. You will also not be able to find Network in official documents. The Unified Federal List of Terrorist Organizations, as established by court rulings, contains twenty-seven organizations, including foreign and international organizations, but you will not find Network on the list, a list that is published, in particular, on the websites of the FSB and the National Anti-Terrorist Committee. Fontanka.ru has learned that the Petersburg anarchists were detained due to possible links with the failed albeit highly publicized “revolution of November 5, 2017,” as promised by Vyacheslav Maltsev, leader of the banned movement Artillery Barrage (Artpodgotovka). Residents of Russian cities were urged to engage in mass protests. Most of the oppositionists were detained preventively two days before the event. The day passed peacefully in Petersburg, except for the comic arrest of a pacifist in a car chockablock with weapons, and a small gathering near the Smolny, Petersburg city hall. Five people were given jail time for not complying with lawful orders of the police: they refused to show police officers the contents of their bags. Maltsev himself lives abroad, where he has been granted political asylum, but a wave of detentions has rolled across Russian cities. Among others, the Petersburg native Arman Sagynbayev was arrested in Penza. According to the human rights website OVD Info, Sagynbayev has also been charged with involvement in a terrorist organization. He has, allegedly, made a full confession. According to our information, FSB officers asked Shiskin and Filinkov whether they knew Sagynbayev. Attorney Igor Mangilev, who has been representing Shishkin, corroborated that a transcript of Sagynbayev’s interrogation was included in the case file used at his client’s remand hearing. According to other sources, Filinkov and his wife Alexandra, who is currently located in Ukraine, met Sagynbayev around a year ago, in early 2017. Criminal charges were filed against Filinkov and Shishkin on January 24, 2018. The case file contains testimony from a large number of witnesses, many of whom are classified. The media have reported that the FSB managed to chat with another supporter of leftist views [sic], Igor Kapustin. Apparently, he was also interrogated and then released. He has told the press about the threats made by investigators. Documented proof that the FSB used prohibited methods to pressure a suspect or witness in the case is available only with regard to Filinkov. He was detained on the evening of January 23 at Pulkovo Airport, and was identified formally as a suspect in the case around midnight on January 24. For over a day, he was in the hands of the FSB without any outside oversight. Yesterday, January 26, Filinkov was visited in the pretrial detention center by members of the Public Monitoring Commission, who filed a report substantianting numerous recent injuries to Filinkov’s body, including burns on his thigh and chest, produced by a electric cattle prod. Filinkov confirmed in writing that he had been subjected to violence, and that FSB officers had demanded he memorize his testimony and the names of people whom he, allegedly, knew. Attorney Viktor Cherkasov confirmed to Fontanka.ru that his client was forced to confess his involvement with the Field of Mars branch of the terrorist organization Network. Filinkov and Shiskin have been remanded to police custody until March 23, 2018. In all likelihood, theirs will not be the last names on the list of Petersburg “Networkers.” According to our sources, the FSB has possession of electronic media [sic] that Filinkov tossed in trash containers before heading to Pulkovo Airport. As for Vyacheslav Maltsev, the criminal case against him has been under investigation since November. He has been named as the organizer of a terrorist network (Criminal Code Article 205.4 Clause 1) and has been accused of pubicly calling for extremist activity (Criminal Code Article 280). Several suspects in his case have been charged with planning a terrorist act. Translated by the Russian Reader NB. Although Fontanka.ru has long been Petersburg’s most popular news website (or, at least, it has long claimed to be), the foreign reader should bear in mind that its founders, publishers, and editors have backgrounds in military intelligence and the Soviet and Russian police’s criminal investigative divisions. While this has no doubt come in handy over the years and permitted the website’s reporters to do what the name of its founding organization (AZhUR or Investigative Reporting Agency) suggests, there are other times when it is not clear whether Fontanka.ru believes the mallarkey which Russia’s so-called siloviki are capable of spinning from whole cloth or whether it is mocking their incompetence. In this article, Fontanka.ru seems to want to have its cake and eat it, too. They seem to suggest that the FSB has invented a nonexistent terrorist network from scratch while at the same hinting that the FSB has plenty of evidence the young men so far arrested in the case were actually involved in this nonexistent organization. Even a local reader with average intelligence and a healthy amount of skepticism would find this story and how it is reported by Fontanka.ru perplexing, to say the least. TRR Call for help arrested activists DETAILS FOR TRANSACTIONS TO SUPPORT ARRESTED PayPa l: [email protected] ABC Moscow In case you want to support a particular prisoner, add a note about that. In case you want to donate to St. Petersburg and Penza case, write a note For "St. Petersburg and Penza". We recommend to send euros or dollars, as other currencies are automatically converted to euro according to PayPal rates. l: [email protected] ABC Moscow In case you want to support a particular prisoner, add a note about that. In case you want to donate to St. Petersburg and Penza case, write a note For "St. Petersburg and Penza". We recommend to send euros or dollars, as other currencies are automatically converted to euro according to PayPal rates. Yandex-wallet of Anarchist Black Cross St. Petersburg 41001160378989 of Anarchist Black Cross St. Petersburg 41001160378989 Bitcoin 1EKGZT2iMjNKHz8oVt7svXpUdcPAXkRBAH 1EKGZT2iMjNKHz8oVt7svXpUdcPAXkRBAH Litecoin LNZK1uyER7Kz9nmiL6mbm9AzDM5Z6CNxVu LNZK1uyER7Kz9nmiL6mbm9AzDM5Z6CNxVu Etherium 0x1deb54058a69fcc443db2bf9562df61f974b16f7 0x1deb54058a69fcc443db2bf9562df61f974b16f7 Monero 4BrL51JCc9NGQ71kWhnYoDRffsDZy7m1HUU7MRU4nUMXAHNFBEJhkTZV9HdaL4gfuNBxLPc3BeMkLGaPbF5vWtANQn4wNWChXhQ8vao8MA 4BrL51JCc9NGQ71kWhnYoDRffsDZy7m1HUU7MRU4nUMXAHNFBEJhkTZV9HdaL4gfuNBxLPc3BeMkLGaPbF5vWtANQn4wNWChXhQ8vao8MA Zcash t1dX9Rpupi77erqEbdef3T353pvfTp9SAt1 In case you need another option for money transfer, please contact the Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow: [email protected] All material on the case can be found on this section: Case of anti-fascists of St. Petersburg and Penza

Chile, one of only six countries that still refuse abortions under any circumstances, is one step closer to allowing them. A law introduced two years ago by President Michelle Bachelet herself is ready for a full-Senate vote after a constitutional commission narrowly agreed to advance it. The Senate panel passed the measure Monday with a 3-2 vote. The new law would decriminalize abortion until up to 12 weeks if the mother's health is at risk, if the fetus would not survive the pregnancy and if the pregnancy is the result of a rape. Also, the 12-week limit would extend to 18 weeks in cases when the mother is 14 or younger. Although Chile’s 1931 health code legalized abortion in limited circumstances, a law passed in 1989 banned it under all circumstances. In addition to Chile, the procedure continues to be fully banned in El Salvador, Malta, the Vatican, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Pro-choice advocates point out that nearly 200,000 unsafe abortions occur each year in Chile. In 2008, according to the Chilean Ministry of Health, more than 33,000 women were hospitalized due to abortion complications. However, many right-leaning politicians and interest groups in Chile continue to oppose a change in the legislation and last year Chile's Catholic Church released an 18-page statement against decriminalized abortion. It warned that by approving the bill the country would be fostering a "culture of death." The controversial bill was approved by the lower chamber in March 2016 and again in September 2016 by the Senate Health Commission. Since 1990, 15 abortion-related bills have been submitted by legislators to Congress.

El presidente venezolano, Nicolás Maduro, salió en defensa de su ministro Tareck El Aissami, al señalar que Estados Unidos y "traidores" a su gobierno pretenden involucrarlo con el movimiento chiita libanés Hezbolá. Durante un acto al que asistió El Aissami, ministro de Industria, Maduro dijo que el gobierno de Estados Unidos "se la pasa atacando al funcionario porque es hijo de un matrimonio árabe y lo quieren vincular a Hezbolá, cuando nunca ha tenido contacto con nadie de esa organización". "Todos los días el Departamento de Estado y los traidores que se han ido para allá a ponerse al servicio del imperio gringo lo atacan porque es un hombre valiente, que no tiene precio, es un verdadero patriota, revolucionario", recalcó Maduro. Además, Maduro subrayó que el movimiento libanés es un partido político legal, auqnue Estados Unidos lo considera una organización paramilitar. Hezbolá, aliado de Irán, también se encuentra en la lista de 'organizaciones terroristas' de Estados Unidos, que a su vez lidera la presión internacional para sacar a Maduro del poder. Maduro ha salido en defensa de El Aissami, de 44 años, desde febrero del año pasado cuando fue incluido por Estados Unidos en su lista de narcotraficantes. Además, dos semanas después de que Guaidó se declarara presidente interino tras considerar un "fraude" la reelección de Maduro, el jefe de la diplomacia de Estados Unidos, Mike Pompeo, sostuvo que Hezbolá estaba activo en Venezuela. Para Maduro, las acusaciones son una forma de manchar el nombre de su gobierno y de relacionar a todos los opositores de Estados Unidos con narcotráfico y terrorismo. Mientras que Estados Unidos considera al gobierno de Maduro como una dictadura corrupta. En todo caso, hasta ahora ningún funcionario estadounidense ha afirmado públicamente que El Aissami tiene vínculos con Hezbolá. *Con información de AFP

Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, July 17, 2018 Under the Soviets, you could be punished for dissenting from the ruling ideology, even in private. Yet it’s hard to imagine being punished for expressing agreement. That level of tyranny had to wait for 2018 in America. “Papa” John Schnatter, founder of Papa John’s pizza, has resigned as Chairman of the Board of the company he founded. He stepped down immediately after the appearance of a July 11 report in Forbes that he used the “N-word” during a conference call in May. He also resigned from the board of trustees of the University of Louisville, which quickly removed the Papa John name from its football stadium. The John H. Schnatter Center for Free Enterprise at the Louisville College of Business also promises to change its name. Philanthropy can take a man only so far these days. The Miami Marlins baseball team terminated a promotional relationship with Papa John’s. After the scandal had percolated for a few days, the company’s board kicked Mr. Schnatter out of his office at its Louisville headquarters, ordered him not to speak to the media, and said it would no longer use his image in advertising. The board also announced an “audit” of the company’s “culture” to make sure it is practicing “diversity and inclusion” with sufficient zeal. Perhaps the next step will be to rename the company Nelson Mandela’s Pizza. Reporter Noah Kirsch bragged about the scalp he had claimed. BREAKING: John Schnatter has resigned as chair of Papa John’s in light of our story — Noah Kirsch (@Noah_Kirsch) July 12, 2018 The story seems absurd on its face. Every white American knows saying anything that might offend a non-white or member of any other privileged class will bring on the media and nationwide hysteria. The idea that a CEO would call someone the N-word or refer to blacks that way on a conference call is absurd. It’s especially ludicrous because Mr. Schnatter was accused of racism in late 2017 when he criticize NFL players who refused to stand for the National Anthem. He apologized for that, which suggests he had learned his lesson. It appears that Mr. Schnatter pronounced the forbidden word during an on-the-phone training session with a PR company called Laundry Service. The purpose of the training was to teach Mr. Schnatter how to avoid controversy. During the call, Mr. Schatter reportedly downplayed his earlier remarks about the NFL protests and noted that “Colonel Sanders called blacks n***ers” without getting in trouble. As soon as the Forbes story appeared — three months after the conference call — Mr. Schnatter confirmed that “reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true . . . .Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society.” Now that the axe has fallen, Mr. Schnatter has changed his story. He says that Laundry Services pushed him to use the word: “They were promoting that kind of vocabulary.” He even claims someone at the PR company than tried to blackmail him, saying that unless he paid them $6 million they would report his use of the word to the media: “They tried to extort us and we held firm and they took what I said and ran to Forbes . . . .” Obviously, we don’t know the full story. However, it’s clear that Mr. Schnatter was not expressing hatred of blacks. He was giving an example of something he thought people should not do. What’s more, even if he did this in a clumsy or offensive way, that was why he was getting media training. The real implication is that the “N-word” — a word I’m not even typing here lest search engines and “safety” applications begin blocking this site — has a magical power all its own. The NFL, the NAACP, and the New York City Council have all tried to ban the word, but blacks use it all the time. You can hear it in virtually any convenience store or fast food joint in a “vibrant” part of town. But if a white person uses it, even in private conversation, it’s a national scandal. Every so often some hapless young white is caught on video using the word and the sky falls. It is now increasingly common to suggest that if a non-black calls a black person the forbidden word it certainly justifies violence and maybe even murder. The rich and famous are particularly vulnerable. After he was caught on video using the word, “Hulk Hogan,” arguably the most famous professional wrestler in history, had his very name wiped from the history of World Wrestling Entertainment, the company he put on the map. The wrestler’s career-ending video came to public attention only because the website Gawker published a sex tape of him. The tape with the racial slur emerged because of the Hulkster’s lawsuit, bankrolled by Peter Thiel, to punish Gawker. Mr. Schnatter’s case is even more shocking. No one’s private conversation should be aired publicly, but Hulk Hogan did use the word to refer to blacks. In a normal society, this wouldn’t be news, but we don’t live in a normal society. Mr. Schnatter not only had his privacy violated but has become a non-person — just like Hulk Hogan — simply for pronouncing the word out loud. Apparently, whites have the power to work terrible evil simply by vocalizing two forbidden syllables. In his book Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt, Paul Gottfried calls the system emerging in the West a “secular theocracy,” and the reaction to Mr. Schnatter’s faux pas suggests he committed blasphemy. His apology and declaration of faith (“racism has no place in our society”) hasn’t saved him any more than prayers would save a man who cursed God in pre-Enlightenment Europe. Yet faith in an absurd egalitarian creed does not fully explain what happened to Mr. Schnatter. Many people are no doubt sincere in their “anti-racism.” Yet the doctrine of equality can also be used as a powerful weapon in the competition for status. In ages past, it was possible to destroy a competitor in the battle for prestige by producing evidence of (or simply charging him with) heretical beliefs or sexual foibles. Today, a verbal slip that can be construed as “racism” serves the same purpose. Defining a competitor’s speech or behavior as “racist” is a source of great power. The rules of proper behavior change so quickly and have become so arcane that sophisticated “anti-racists” can convict practically anyone of this modern heresy. As Mr. Schnatter has learned, “racism” is not meant to be eradicated — even as he, himself, was actively trying to eradicate it. The careers, self-conception, and moral purpose of millions depend on its eternal survival. Victory can never be declared in the war against “racism” lest anti-racists undermine their own priestly authority. John Schnatter — even while engaging in one of the religion’s tired rituals, even while reciting its sacred dogmas — uttered a forbidden word and was swiftly excommunicated. Mr. Schnatter’s pleas for forgiveness and professions of unshaken faith served no purpose. The people he tried to buy indulgences from with his lavish donations have already denounced him. In liberalism’s church without salvation, even martyrdom serves no purpose — except as evidence of the power of dogma.

Pinterest Inc. has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, as the online-image search company joins a parade of highly valued technology startups planning to list their shares in 2019. The company and its underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are eyeing a late-June listing, some of the people said. They warned that, as always with IPOs and unpredictable markets, the timing could shift.

Secret CIO Enterprise IT departments have been reduced to personal shoppers at best and checkout clerks at worst. You want extra lock-in on those chips, sir? I say this because IT departments just don’t make anything anymore. When was the last time you were required to actually make a new thing as part of an IT project? As the application development world continues to commoditise, why do enterprise IT departments still live by the “buy it off the shelf” mantra? Lack of skills is the main reason. There are no longer enough enterprise IT people who understand enough about how applications are built to know that when a vendor offers them comfortable memory gel knee rests, a barrel and some brightly coloured silk scarves that they're about to sign a lock-in contract for a set of proprietary technology. This unintentionally complicit behaviour leads to a great many “we can’t do that because of our contract with (insert service provider's name here)” conversations, followed by “the nerve of (insert service provider's name here) eh?”, tut-tutting and finally some fist-waving along the lines of “just wait till their contract comes up for renewal”. None of which has any effect: The next contract with the next service provider is equally debilitating (“but this one has the grape flavoured astro glide”). Of course technology vendors don’t help, they're the ones standing behind the CIO limbering up, stroking his hair and whispering “this means we can truly be together now, it won’t hurt a bit”. Lock-in, which prevents the realisation of benefits from the commoditisation of technology, is the single biggest threat to the relevance of IT departments today and it is the one the least effort is put into combatting. Too many CIOs use lock in as a reason why they can’t adopt public cloud but then once they are finished they zip back up the mouthpiece of their latex suit and climb back into the gimp box with (insert service provider's name here) on it. There is not enough discussion on the extensibility of data. How many RFP’s have a section with “please provide documentation on all API’s available for us to use, for our own purposes, with this product”? The knowledge gap is gone. IT no longer has the “technical” badge all to themselves and this is a good thing as, sheesh, didn’t they go on about it! We are seeing a tipping point where demands from the business are more technical than the retained IT function can handle.

I rattle off phrases all of the time without knowing where they really come from. Lots of times you can decipher their origins pretty easily - muffin top, for example, doesn't take a whole lot of brain power to figure out. But I could have never guessed the origins of some of these phrases, which I now know thanks to Barbara Ann Kipfer's Phraseology book. I've written about this book before - it's endlessly fascinating. 1. "At the drop of a hat" comes from the days of gunfights on the frontier, when the drop of a hat was the signal for the shootout to begin. 2. "Beat the tar out of" is thought to have come from sheep farmers, who would slather tar on a sheep's cut when it got nicked from shearing. Later, they would have to beat the tar out. 3. "Buckle down to work" originally meant a knight buckling down all of his armor before a battle. 4. "As fit as a fiddle" used to be "as fit as a fiddler," because a fiddler jumped and danced around so much while playing, he had to be in good shape. 5. "To skin a cat" doesn't actually mean a feline. It means a catfish "“ the skins of catfish are notoriously tough and hard to remove for cooking. 6. I always thought "start from scratch" referred to baking, but I suppose even the baking reference had to come from somewhere. It came from handicapping competitors during races: a line is scratched in the dirt; the person who starts there gets no special advantage. 7. "Under the weather" is a sea-faring term which means you're at sea when the weather changes for the worse. 8. "Paddywagon" is really a not-very P.C. term "“ it refers to the old stereotype that Irish people ("Paddy" being a common Irish name/nickname) tend to get arrested the most because of their hot tempers. 9. "Kick the bucket" comes from slaughterhouses, where, after slaughter, hogs would be hung up by a pulley with a weight called a bucket. I wonder if this goes back even further "“ perhaps a bucket was actually used for the weight once upon a time. 10. "Eating humble pie" came from "umble pie," a meat dish made of entrails and other animal leftovers. Women and children, AKA "umbles," had to eat these parts because all of the best cuts of meat went to the man of the house. If there's a particular phrase that has you stymied, let me know in the comments - I'll try to find its origins (whether it's in Phraseology or not) and feature it in a future post. I can't promise anything, but I'll try!

Article content Have you ever wondered what the most expensive annual budget item is for the average Canadian family? If housing is the first thing that comes to mind, then you’d be surprised to find out you’re wrong. In reality, the average Canadian household spends more on taxes than any other single expense—more, in fact, than housing, food, and clothing all combined. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or LAMMAM: Average Canadian family spends over $37,000 per year on taxes Back to video It’s easy to be misled into thinking that the income and payroll tax deductions on our paycheques are the extent of our tax burden. But that’s a mistake. To understand the full cost of taxation, you must consider all the taxes—both visible and hidden—that we pay throughout the year to federal, provincial and municipal governments including sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes, import taxes, alcohol taxes and much more. All these taxes add up and make our family’s total tax bill expensive. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Specifically, in 2017 the average Canadian family (including single Canadians) earned $85,883 in income and paid $37,058 in total taxes. That’s 43.1% of income going to taxes.

Training camp for my fight against Hatsu Hioki started like any other: with a weigh-in to see how much I would have to cut over the course of the next six weeks. Care to guess my weight? It was 175 pounds, heavier than I’ve ever been to start a training camp in my entire career. Which normally wouldn’t be a problem. But there’s a little wrinkle this time around: For the first time in my six-plus years in the UFC, I’m going to fight at featherweight instead of lightweight, which means I have to make it down to 145 pounds by January 26, not 155. Why do this? The answers are many, but it really came down to a group decision that I landed on after speaking with my brother Jason, my coaches at Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA, and my management team at VFD Sports Marketing . As we looked at where my career has been and where it’s headed, we saw that I had beaten some of the best in the lightweight division and lost a few close battles, including my last two fights against arguably the two toughest dudes at 155: current champ Benson Henderson and Gray Maynard. Both of those losses were close decisions and could have gone either way, but at the end of the day, I can’t rewrite my own history. It became time to create a new destiny, and, simply put, that destiny is to be a UFC champion. Serious weight-cutting is something that virtually every fighter outside of the heavyweight division has to go through. But not me. A guy my size would normally fight in the featherweight division, but when I came into the UFC in 2006, there was no featherweight division, so I fought at 155. I would have fought at 170 if I had to. Starting over at featherweight has given me the vigor and excitement that I felt when I first entered the UFC years ago. My focus has never been better and I feel like a jolt of energy has hit my career and is ready to catapult me into a huge 2013. But, in the meantime, there’s the issue of all this extra weight. Since I’ve never cut serious weight before, the first thing I did was go about cleaning up my diet. It’s not that I ate like shit before, but this time I had to do away with the fancy cheeseburgers and skip the sushi bars and BBQ joints after long practices. Do I miss that stuff? Hell yes! Anyone who knows me knows that I could fill in for Guy Fieri tomorrow. There’s nothing that sucks worse than finishing a long practice and having to stare at four ounces of salmon and eight almonds instead of a chicken burrito. But that’s simply not an option anymore. Realizing that there was no way I could do this on my own, I decided to reach out to my friend George Lockhart, the diet guru over at FitnessVT. He’s helped a bunch of my teammates like Jon Jones and Brian Stann get ready for their bouts, and he explained to me that as a result of this diet, not only will making weight be no issue; I will also be stronger than I was at 155 pounds and recover faster. George laid out a plan for me, and I’ve had to stick with it, even though there have definitely been times I've wanted to forget it all, break down, and run to Rudy’s BBQ joint just a few minutes from our gym. God, I miss that place. As many of my fans know, I live in an RV, and as any RV owner knows, just about the last thing you want to be doing is constantly turning on your gas oven and stove just a few feet from where you have to sleep every night. I realized that I had a big dilemma on my hands: I needed to follow this diet plan, but there was no way I could pull it off given my living conditions. It just wasn’t possible unless Martha Stewart herself knocked on my RV door and decided to move in with me (and trust me, she would not approve of my lack of fanciful doilies). This is where Momma D comes in. She is my conditioning coach and owner of Momma D’s Dungeon in Albuquerque, and now has become my personal chef. Every day, I pick up meals from her and now I don’t even have to think about what I’m putting into my body. Plain turkey or chicken for one meal, four ounces of salmon for another, twelve walnuts here, two cups of spinach there: It’s all ready to go. Granted, this is no In-N-Out burger, but at the very least, I’m eating throughout the day, something I never really did before. During a normal camp, I would just stuff myself after training and not really eat again until I was hungry. Now it’s about following an easy plan and making meals and snacks a scheduled part of my overall training plan, much as I would do with my striking or grappling. The good news is that because I’m eating smaller meals five or six times a day, I’m not really hungry and have plenty of energy for practice and all the conditioning work I do. The other benefit is that I don’t crash like I normally would after having a big post-practice meal. Do I miss certain things? Of course I do. Albuquerque is known for having amazing Southwestern food, and unfortunately most of those things do not fit into The Dude’s meal plan. The thing is, if you are able to mentally get to a place where you can step in a cage and fight another man who wants to bash your brains in, you can also mentally get to a place where you watch what you eat. Nobody likes going to the gas station to fill up (especially when you own an RV), but now food has to be nothing more than gasoline to me. I put it in as needed and burn through it until I need more. I don’t focus on the ribs or enchiladas that I may be missing down the street because I know my opponent is probably skipping them too. We are just focused on kicking the crap out of each other in three weeks. I’m proud to say that all of this work is beginning to pay off. My weight as of January 6: 155 pounds, and that is with 3 weeks to go until my fight, and before the serious cutting begins. Guida 2.0 is being built, and I can’t wait for my hometown fans in Chicago to see the finished product!

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After last night’s spirited march against police violence and in solidarity with the rebellion in Ferguson, we felt it might be useful to share some resources with people in Tucson. We hope folks can use these to continue building momentum for ongoing struggle against the police here in Tucson. More resources geared toward alternatives to policing and incarceration are being compiled now, so keep an eye out for those. Also, this list will be updated regularly, so feel free to contact us with suggestions for more content. It’s also worth noting that there’s an outrageous English-language bias in these materials – if anyone can help with translation, we will do layout for versions in other languages. We can get free hard copies of zines and posters (including in larger quantities) to people in the Tucson area. Send us an email at [email protected]. Something is happening, let’s not drop the ball. Tactics What Is Security Culture? Blocs, Black and Otherwise Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back Banner Drops, Stencils, Wheatpaste & Distributing Information How to Do It (poster) Let One Hundred Flowerpots Bloom 10 Points on the Black Bloc This zine is a rough transcript of Harsha Walia’s defense of black bloc tactics during a debate following actions against the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Video of her half of the debate can be seen here. Ferguson and Other Recent Anti-Police Struggles Dispatches from Ferguson, Vol. 1 What They Mean When They Say Peace & The Making of Outside Agitators Unforgiving and Inconsolable (Durham, 2013 – 2014) The Flatbush Rebellion (New York, 2013) Don’t Die Wondering: Atlanta Against the Police (2011 – 2012) Denver Fights Back (2010 – 2011) Burning the Bridges They Are Building: Anarchist Strategies Against the Police (Seattle, 2011) Unfinished Acts (Oakland, 2009) Historical Moments in Policing, Violence, and Resistance Series The zines below are borrowed from http://project-nia.org/resources.php. There, you can also find tons more resources on policing, incarceration, and alternatives. The Police Execution of Oscar Grant by Olivia Perlow and Lakeesha J. Harris Chicago’s Red Summer of 1919 by Elizabeth Dadabo An (Abridged) History of Resisting Police Violence in Harlem by Mariame Kaba “We Don’t Want this to Look Like a Massacre”: The Danziger Bridge Shootings by Mariame Kaba Other Related and Reccomended Reading Against Innocence: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Safety Anarchy Works: Crime Why Riot? Posters You Only Live Once Too Many Cops, Too Little Justice A.C.A.B. The Police Seven Myths About the Police FTP, Find Each Other, Fight Back

Fifteen-year-old midfielder Alphonso Davies on Saturday became the second-youngest player ever to start an MLS game, when the Vancouver Whitecaps included him in their lineup for their match at BC Place against the Colorado Rapids. Davies, a Homegrown Player from Edmonton, Alberta, had been a member of the Whitecaps' residency program and had been playing for the Whitecaps FC 2 reserve team when he signed with Vancouver on July 15, the same day the team announced midfielder Kekuta Manneh had undergone surgery to correct a broken bone in his foot. Davies was the third-youngest player ever to sign an MLS contract. A 5-10, 155-pounder who has featured for the Canadian Under-15, Under-18 and Under-20 teams, Davies had previously come off the bench in six league matches this season for the Whitecaps. He also played four games in the Amway Canadian Championship, including two starts. D.C. United's Freddy Adu, at 14 years, 334 days old, was the youngest player ever to play and start an MLS game, when he was included in DC's starting XI against the San Jose Earthquakes back on May 1, 2004.

In celebration of Ghostbusters Day over the weekend, our friends at Spirit Halloween unleashed a brand new decoration for this year’s Halloween season, recreating the Terror Dog from the original Ghostbusters for a life-size replica measuring 30″ tall and 59″ long! The officially licensed replica weighs just under 50 pounds(!), and it’s made of latex and foam. Its eyes even light up a glowing red, and it comes with the batteries it needs to come alive. Spirit details, “Your favorite Ghostbusters character is alive! This life-size Terror Dog replica will make all of your guests stare in fear and give them a thrill as its eyes light up a glowing red. Once the beast is unleashed, we suggest you run while you can! It could be too late once this demonic dog has you in its grip!” The cost? $499, with a shipping date of on or before 8/21/19. Pre-order yours today!

Yvonne Leonardi 1/4 Die Leidenschaft ist weg: Barbara Schwager ist von ihrem Nadeem schwer enttäuscht. Yvonne Leonardi 2/4 In Italien zeigte Nadeem sein wahres Gesicht. «Eine gute Frau denke und spreche nicht. Er beschimpfte mich, war jähzornig oder er liess mich hocken – verschwand für Stunden, ohne zu sagen, wo er hinging», sagt Barbara Schwager. Yvonne Leonardi 3/4 Dabei wollten die beiden im Spätsommer heiraten. Yvonne Leonardi 4/4 Sie flüchteten nach Italien, wo BLICK sie besuchte. Es ist aus! Barbara Schwager (56) kann es noch gar nicht fassen. Sie und Nadeem Akram (26) wollten im Spätsommer heiraten. Jetzt ist ihr Lover weg. Die Zürcherin ist allein in ihrem Liebesnest in San Giovanni Valdarno (I). «Ich bin am Boden zerstört», sagt die Schlepperin aus Leidenschaft. «Er war gemein zu mir und hat mich sogar ins Gesicht geschlagen», erzählt sie BLICK. Nadeem habe in Italien sein wahres Gesicht gezeigt: «Er sagte, eine gute Frau denke und spreche nicht. Und beschimpfte mich, war jähzornig oder liess mich hocken – verschwand für Stunden, ohne zu sagen, wo er hinging.» Nadeem begann sich zu betrinken Nadeem bricht den Fastenmonat Ramadan ab, beginnt zu trinken, wird gewalttätig. «Ich bekam richtig Angst vor ihm. Er schien nicht mehr normal», so Barbara Schwager. Yvonne Leonardi Dabei wollten die beiden im Spätsommer heiraten. Als die gelernte Sekretärin wegen eines Bandscheibenvorfalls ins Spital muss, begleitet er sie nicht. «Das hat mir wehgetan.» Nadeem half ihr nicht mehr. Einen Job suchte er sich auch nicht. «Ich musste alles bezahlen. Zu den Rückenschmerzen kam noch der Herzschmerz dazu.» Doch Barbara Schwager hat auch kein Geld. «Pakistanis heiraten nicht aus Liebe, hat man mir gesagt», so Barbara Schwager. «Nun weiss ich, dass es offenbar so ist.» Für den Flüchtling wurde sie zur Schlepperin Was hatte sie nicht alles für ihren Flüchtling getan! Erst nahm Barbara Schwager den Asylbewerber in ihrer Wohnung in Ennethausen TG auf. Als sein Asylantrag Ende Februar 2017 abgelehnt wurde, folgte sie ihm in die Toscana. Wurde zur Schlepperin. Auf einer Ferienreise Anfang Mai, die von Italien über Österreich nach Deutschland führte, wurden Barbara Schwager und Nadeem Akram von der deutschen Polizei angehalten. Schwager kam 16 Tage in U-Haft, wurde zu sieben Monaten Gefängnis auf Bewährung verurteilt. Akram landete in Abschiebehaft. Im Juni tauchte Nadeem wieder in Ennethausen auf. Seine Bobo, wie der Pakistani Barbara Schwager nannte, schleuste ihn mit ihrem Auto über die Grenze in Domodossola (I) zurück nach Italien. In San Giovanni Valdarno mietete die Zürcherin eine romantische Dachgeschosswohnung (BLICK berichtete). Jetzt muss Barbara Schwager das Liebesnest räumen Die muss sie nun räumen – schweren Herzens. «Auch wenn ich Nadeem noch immer liebe, werde ich jetzt in die Schweiz zurückkehren», sagt Barbara Schwager.

Randers-virksomheden Naturli' Foods har netop lanceret et plantebaseret alternativ til kyllingekød kaldet 'Pipfri'. Plantebaseret 'kød' ser ud til at være kommet for at blive. I hvert fald lancerer Naturli' Foods fra Randers nu endnu et produkt i kategorien - 'Pipfri', der er et plantebaseret alternativ til kylling. - Det er et alternativ til kylling, som er 100 procent plantebaseret. Det er baseret på ærter fra danske landmænd. Den er høj på protein og lav på fedt, og skal bare steges på panden som almindelig kylling, siger direktør hos Naturli' Foods, Henrik Lund, til TV2 ØSTJYLLAND. Han forventer, at der er et marked for det nye produkt. - Vi ved, at mere end halvdelen af de danske forbrugere har et ønske om at spise mindre kød. Det vil vi gerne hjælpe dem med, siger Henrik Lund. Sådan ser en pakke Pipfri ud. Foto: TV 2 ØSTJYLLAND Har taget godt imod det For et år siden kom virksomhedens plantebaserede 'hakkekød' på markedet, og nu er 'Pipfri' at finde i alle landets Rema 1000-butikker. Et af stederne er hos købmand Michael Gertsen i Risskov. Kunderne har taget godt imod produktet. Jeg tror, at det er en trend, der kommer mere og mere af. Michael Gertsen, Rema 1000 Risskov - Kunderne har taget godt imod produktet. Jeg tror, at det er en trend, siger han til TV2 ØSTJYLLAND og fortsætter: - Jeg tror, at vi kommer til at se meget mere af det især i storbyer som Aarhus, København og Aalborg. Michael Gertsen fortæller, at man i Rema 1000 i Risskov går meget op i alternativer til kød. Foto: TV 2 ØSTJYLLAND Nye forsyninger på vej I et års tid har Rema 1000 i Risskov solgt plantebaserede produkter, og her i begyndelsen af januar kom 'Pipfri' så i køledisken. - Mange er glade for det og har en kødfri dag. Flere og flere bliver jo også veganere, lyder det fra Michael Gertsen. Siden kyllingen baseret på ærter fra Naturli' kom i Remas butikker den 2. januar, har de ifølge direktøren solgt godt og er udsolgt mange steder. - Der er dog nye forsyninger på vej, lover Naturli' Foods-direktør Henrik Lund, der generelt glæder sig oer et stigende salg af de plantebaserede produkter Vi besøgte Naturli' Foods for et år siden, hvor de glædede de sig over succesen med salg af plantefars. Video: TV 2 Østjylland Har indtaget fem procent af kødmarkedet - Vi har opnået en markedsandel på cirka fem procent i forhold til det hakkede oksekød, der sælges i Salling Group, oplyser Henrik Lund til TV 2, der af konkurrencemæssige årsager ikke vil komme det nærmere end det. Under Salling Group - tidligere Dansk Supermarked - er produkterne til salg i butikker som Netto, Føtex og Bilka. Naturli' Foods eksporterer dog størstedelen af produkterne. I sommer landede firmaet en aftale med Storbritanniens næststørste supermarkedskæde, Sainsbury's, hvor produktet nu sælges i 400 butikker. Også her går salget "helt forrygende", siger Henrik Lund. Naturli's største eksportmarked er dog Australien, hvor virksomhedens produkter kan købes i kæden Woolworths. Det næste store mål er at indtage USA.