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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/21/queen-elizabeth-dinner-party-debate-eu-referendum-claims-biographer | http://web.archive.org/web/20160721005540id_/http://www.theguardian.com:80/politics/2016/jun/21/queen-elizabeth-dinner-party-debate-eu-referendum-claims-biographer | The Queen's great dinner party debate? The EU referendum, claims biographer | 1970-08-22T08:12:01.005540 | The Queen has reportedly been asking dinner party guests to give her “three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe”, in a move that has once again raised questions over her position on the EU referendum.
Her Majesty’s biographer, Robert Lacey, said she was “impeccably non-political in public”, but he argued that it was a very different story in private, where she could be “refreshingly outspoken among friends”.
He described how a comment at her recent birthday celebrations in favour of the “many benefits that can flow when people come together for a common purpose – as family, friends or neighbours” had been taken as a coded endorsement of the government’s remain policy.
Related: Sun editor defends 'Queen backs Brexit' headline as watchdog rules it inaccurate
But, writing for the Daily Beast, Lacey also revealed the question she had apparently been posing to friends.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: “We would not comment on private conversations the Queen may or may not have had, but the Queen is above politics, has remained politically neutral for the 64 years of her reign and we are very clear that the EU referendum is a matter for the British people.”
Sources pointed out that the monarch was reported to have asked a question and not made any statement about the referendum.
However, despite her neutral position, the Queen was seen as having intervened during the Scottish referendum on independence in 2014 by telling a member of the public in a way that would inevitably be reported that she hoped Scots would “think very carefully” before the vote.
Last month, the Sun was forced to apologise for a “Queen backs Brexit” headline. The tabloid newspaper had reported that the Queen had complained about the EU to Nick Clegg, when he was deputy prime minister. | Robert Lacey says monarch has been asking friends to give ‘three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe’ | 16.952381 | 0.857143 | 4.571429 | medium | medium | mixed | 800 |
http://time.com/money/4308204/prince-dies-without-will/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160721011747id_/http://time.com:80/money/4308204/prince-dies-without-will/? | What Happens When Someone Dies Without a Will | 1970-08-22T08:12:01.011747 | When a prince dies, there are very strict rules that dictate what happens to his fortune, set in stone long ago by the institution of monarchy. But not in this case.
Following Prince’s death last Thursday, his sister has filed documents that state the music icon did not have a will. Prince, it appears, died “intestate.”
So what’s going to happen?
According to two estate lawyers, it’s likely to be a mess that will take years to sort out. The fact that Prince died without official instructions on how to handle his estate is very unusual–even surprising, says Darren Wallace, an estate lawyer at Day Pitney, LLP, a Connecticut law firm. “With the amount of control he exercised throughout his life with respect to his contractual arrangements and protection his music and his image and his name change—clearly he understood a lot of these issues.”
A lesson, from Prince to you
If there’s one thing to learn here, it’s that everyone should have a will, and it’s never too early to make one. “I think everybody, regardless of the size of your estate, should have a will or at least a basic estate plan, so you can have some kind of control over what’s going on,” says Joseph K. Jones, an estate attorney based in New York. And if you don’t care about your own wishes, you might care that your survivors aren’t saddled with a mess.
“Anybody should have a will because it reduces the potential for controversy if your wishes are clearly set out,” says Wallace. “The process can be very straightforward, and it’s also important to note that those who are intimidated by the process, the timing or the mortality issues, you can even do something basic, just to have something in place and revisit it later. You can change your will as many times as you want.”
Even a simple will is better than nothing
At the very least, write down a basic outline of what you would want to happen to your assets in the event of your death. Wills don’t necessarily need to be notarized, but most states need the will to have two witnesses for it to be valid, and in the event of a death they may be called on to verify the document. If you don’t know if your witnesses will be around to validate it, you can have your will notarized.
Another option: Make something called a “holographic will,” which is simply a will in the testator’s handwriting. In many cases, these wills do not even need a witness. For all of these cases, however, it is important to check the rules in your state, or better yet—employ a professional who can codify your intentions better than any DIY option. If your wishes are simple, the cost could be just a few hundred dollars.
Here’s what’s likely to happen to Prince’s stuff
In absence of a will, spouse, or dauphin—Prince was royalty, after all—it’s up to Minnesota probate court to decide what happens, in this case by appointing a “special administrator” to oversee the estate, which is something that happens even if you have non-Prince money.
“Not having a will would mean a major impact for who would be in control of the assets, and it would also impact who receives the assets,” says Wallace. “So if Prince did not have a will, the property would pass to his siblings.” (Interestingly, both Wallace and Jones speak in the conditional when referring to the absence of a will, because there’s always a good chance that one will appear—and be contested.)
This is likely why his sister filed to open probate, which starts the process of divvying things up. In her filing, she aims to become the administrator of the estate and named herself and half-siblings as beneficiaries. For the will-less death of someone who’s not a fabulously wealthy pop star, the process would be the same—everyone goes through probate, and the same rules get honored. In a scenario without a will (and sans surprises), assets go to the closest relatives.
In Prince’s case, the assets here are probably huge—$300 million perhaps—potentially including property, music, unreleased music, and control of image and other intellectual property. “[They] would all be within the control of the person appointed by the court to have power to gather the assets, value them, pay taxes, and distribute them to the beneficiaries,” says Wallace.
The scope of the probate court may be limited
But it’s a lot more complicated than just that. According to the lawyers, not everything is within the reaches of the court.
“Not all of your assets pass through your last will and testament,” says Jones. “Your last will and testament deals with passing of assets that aren’t otherwise passing through another method, such as a contract or by operation of law.”
In other words, trusts, contracts, and operations like co-ownership of something supersede directives in a will. “If he had a bank account with a ‘paid on death beneficiary,’ then it would automatically go to [them] regardless of what the intestacy rules say,” says Jones. Similarly, if he had business contracts with the record company, they would decide—which may be the case given that artists frequently have contracts with record companies that include provisions for death.
The lack of a will might not matter that much
All of these legal instruments that go beyond the purview of a will or probate court could have significant impact on what happens to Prince’s estate.
“Just like it’s unusual for someone like Prince to not have a will, it’d also be unusual for them not to have an revocable trust,” says Wallace. “So it’s possible that even if the media is chomping at the bit at this news that Prince may not have had a will, it may be that other steps were taken to move this out of his estate during his lifetime.” This, Wallace says, would mean that the lack of a will wouldn’t have nearly the large and messy consequences that some high-profile deaths have seen.
“It’s also likely some portion some of his assets were structured through a corporate entity,” says Wallace, “There may be folks that are named as corporate officers or LLC managers that control the disposition of the music or unreleased tracks. So it’s very much to early to tell where this is going to shake out.”
It could still get ugly, of course
“If in fact Prince died with a mess, with wishes not clearly set out, it drives the potential for controversy way up,” says Wallace. “Now anyone who has an interest could assert certain rights to the property, starting with his sister.” As Jones puts it, “you open the door for more people to have a right to your estate by not having a will.” People stepping into the ring for a taste could be business partners, other family members, or others who Prince worked with who want to protect his legacy or profit, says Wallace.
There’s also the possibility that there’s…secret family. “I would be curious as to whether any undisclosed children pop up,” says Jones. “Or anybody coming forth—mistresses with agreements saying, ‘he promised to support me and here’s a written document.'” Actual wills could even make their appearance at probate court, potentially handwritten or ancient. “If a will is 30 years old and you don’t update it, it’s still a good will,” says Jones.
According to Wallace, a secret child would jump the inheritance line. “So it’s not completely unreasonable that somebody would assert that they were Prince’s child.”
Jones even raised another possibility: that Prince may not have much of an estate at all. “You’d be amazed how many people who are rich and famous aren’t really rich because they owe as much or more as they actually own.”
The mess could trickle past familial strife, too. As E! News notes, Prince gave heavily to charity, and for his legacy in death to reflect how he lived, his beneficiaries will have to be generous—for which there is no guarantee without a valid will.
So when are we going to see the Prince dust settled? “An easy estate for most people only takes 9 months to a year to close—if there isn’t anything too complicated,” says Jones. “Something like this is going to take years.” | This is why you should NEVER die without a will. | 156.090909 | 0.909091 | 1.636364 | high | medium | mixed | 801 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6240432/EU-calls-for-volume-limit-on-MP3-players.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160721113439id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/technology/news/6240432/EU-calls-for-volume-limit-on-MP3-players.html | EU calls for volume limit on MP3 players | 1970-08-22T08:12:01.113439 | Announcing the proposals, Meglena Kuneva, the EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner, said: "It's easy to push up the sound levels on your MP3 player to damagingly loud levels, especially on busy streets or public transport. And the evidence is that particularly young people - who are listening to music at high volumes sometimes for hours each week - have no idea they can be putting their hearing at risk.”
There are no current European standards on volume controls for MP3 players, though under French law personal music players must be limited to an output of 100 decibels (db). The Apple iPod, which can reach 130db, was briefly withdrawn from sale in France in 2002 until Apple updated the software to reduce the maximum volume. All iPods sold in Europe are now limited to an output of 100db.
The European Commission’s new proposals call for the default setting on all personal music players to be 80db. This would apply to MP3 players and mobile phones that are capable of playing music. However, the proposals apply only to the default setting, not to the maximum setting for the device.
Ms Kuneva said: “These standards make small technical changes to players so that by default, normal use is safe. If consumers chose to override the default settings they can, but there will be clear warnings so they know the risks they are taking."
The proposals must now be considered by the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Cenelec), a process that can take up to two years. | iPods and other MP3 players should have their volume controls limited to prevent hearing damage, the European Commission has said. | 12.652174 | 0.73913 | 1.173913 | low | low | abstractive | 802 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1545641/Al-Qaeda-mastermind-admits-planning-911.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160721121554id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/1545641/Al-Qaeda-mastermind-admits-planning-911.html | Al-Qa'eda mastermind 'admits planning 9/11' | 1970-08-22T08:12:01.121554 | Mohammed, who was arrested in Rawalpindi in 2003, also allegedly acknowledged responsibility for over 30 other terror attacks or plots, including plans to bomb other landmarks in the US and the UK, including Big Ben and Heathrow airport.
Mohammed said in the statement, read for him during a closed-door military hearing at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that the attacks were part of a larger military campaign. He also indicated that earlier statements he had made to the CIA were the result of torture, but said his confession on Saturday was not made under duress.
The presiding colonel said Mohammed's allegations of torture would be "reported for any investigation that may be appropriate" and would be taken into account in considering his enemy combatant status.
Hearings are being held into 14 of the most "high-value" suspects held in Cuba. Mohammed is considered the most important of the 14, who were moved to Guantanamo Bay last year from secret CIA detention facilities overseas.
Mohammed, a Pakistani national, claimed responsibility for dozens of the worst terror plots attempted or carried out in the last 15 years, including the 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia.
In a section of the statement that was blacked out, he confessed to the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, according to the Associated Press. Pearl was abducted in January 2002 in Pakistan while researching a story on Islamic militancy and Mohammed has long been a suspect in the killing.
The transcript also makes clear that al-Qa'eda wanted to down a trans-Atlantic aircraft during would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid's operation.
The September 11 terror attacks killed 2,972 people, destroyed the World Trade Centre and damaged the Pentagon. Speaking through a translator, Mohammed said he was "not happy" about the victims, saying he did not like to kill people, but justified his actions as part of a holy war against the United States.
The Pentagon released the redacted transcripts of the hearing along with those of two other captured suspected al-Qa'eda operatives - Abu Faraj al-Libi and Ramzi bin Al-Shibh. The hearings, which began on Friday, are to determine whether each detainee can be deemed an "enemy combatant." Such a designation would clear the way for a criminal trial in a US military tribunal under the new military commissions law signed by President George W Bush in October.
Around 385 men are being held in the Guantanamo Bay base on suspicion of links to al-Qa'eda or the Taliban. Legal experts and journalists have criticized the US decision to bar independent observers from the hearings. | The alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks has confessed to those and other al-Qa'eda attacks, according to an edited transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay released by the Pentagon late last night. | 13.342105 | 0.868421 | 1.552632 | low | medium | mixed | 803 |
http://fortune.com/2016/07/19/zenreach-ebay/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160721162854id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/07/19/zenreach-ebay/ | This Former eBay Executive Helps Stores Track Their Return Customers | 1970-08-22T08:12:01.162854 | One of Jack Abraham’s goals when he founded his startup Milo back in 2008 was helping bridge the gap between brick and mortar retailers and online search. His site, which he sold to eBay in 2010 for $75 million, told shoppers whether the products they wanted were available at local stores like Best Buy and Target.
After leaving eBay in 2013, Abraham still wanted to fill the gap from online to offline shopping, and on Tuesday, he revealed his next startup, Zenreach. It gives brick and mortar retailers and merchants the ability to track return customers in their stores and send them marketing messages
Zenreach, which has been in developing in secret for the past three years, has also raised $50 million in funding from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Formation 8, Bain Capital and First Round Capital. Thiel also sits on Zenreach’s board.
As Abraham explained to Fortune, “The majority of consumer’s time is being spent online, yet over 90% of purchasing still happens at brick and mortar stores.” Zenreach is attempting to help retailers by giving them more information about their repeat and loyal customers. How? Through Wi-Fi in these merchants’ stores and restaurants. “It’s similar to how Starbucks has Wi-Fi in their stores,” he added.
For more on startups, watch:
Zenreach’s retail customers plug in a device in their stores to provide Wi-Fi for shoppers. When people log into the free Wi-Fi, they are asked to enter their email addresses to opt into being contacted by the merchant with offers for discounts or other deals. Zenreach then automatically builds customer lists from these emails and tracks when these customers return to the store. Abraham says that Zenreach also provides the email addresses to merchants so they can contact customers directly, and learn which customers are repeat customers.
Abraham said that Zenreach has a number of retailers and merchants as customers including the Brixton Restaurant in San Francisco. He declined to reveal other customers. Over one third of the city’s population of over 800,000 people have logged into Wi-Fi through Zenreach’s customers, Abraham claimed.
Of course, many other companies are trying to help brick and mortar merchants with email marketing and loyalty, including payments company Square as well as Euclid Analytics. There are some privacy concerns with collecting users information in stores, but Abraham said that users opt-in to this when they agree to the terms and conditions for the Wi-Fi access.
But Abraham is optimistic by the “explosive growth” of Zenreach over the past year without providing any financial details. | Retailers want to learn as much as possible about customers. | 45.636364 | 0.727273 | 0.909091 | high | low | abstractive | 804 |
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-personhood-problem-ted-cruz-doesnt-know-how-solve | http://web.archive.org/web/20160721171834id_/http://www.msnbc.com:80/rachel-maddow-show/the-personhood-problem-ted-cruz-doesnt-know-how-solve?cid=eml_mra_20160415 | The 'Personhood' problem Ted Cruz doesn't know how to solve | 1970-08-22T08:12:01.171834 | Ted Cruz refused to answer eight direct questions Thursday about whether or not he’d support personhood bills – legislation that would give Constitutional rights to fertilized eggs – despite pledging to support it last year.
“I told you I’m not going to get into the labels, but what I will say is we should protect life. But I’m not interested in anything that restricts birth control,” he said after being pressed at length by Chuck Todd in the MSNBC town hall that will air in full Thursday at 8 p.m. “And I’m not interested in anything that restricts in vitro fertilization because I think parents who are struggling to create life, to have a child, that is a wonderful thing.”
Chuck Todd, to his credit, made a valiant effort to get a straight answer out of the Texas senator. Cruz, an experienced lawyer, wouldn’t budge.
In practical terms, as long-time readers no doubt recall, we’re not just talking about a policy that bans abortions – though that’s part of it. “Personhood” policies also put at risk common forms of birth control.
And so we’re left with something of a contradiction. On the one hand, Ted Cruz says he isn’t interested in “anything that restricts birth control” or IVF treatments. On the other hand, Ted Cruz has publicly pledged to try to change the United States Constitution to protect embryos as Americans with civil rights, which would very likely restrict birth control and IVF.
How does Cruz reconcile the competing positions? By saying he doesn’t want to talk about it.
The general election is bound to be interesting, isn’t it? | Ted Cruz wants to change the Constitution to give civil rights to embryos. He does not, however, want to talk about the practical effects of his position. | 10.419355 | 0.870968 | 1.709677 | low | medium | mixed | 805 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/19/trailers-for-the-new-us-tv-shows-ranked/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722024720id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/tv/2016/05/19/trailers-for-the-new-us-tv-shows-ranked/ | From Star Trek to The Exorcist: trailers for the new US TV shows rated | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.024720 | In a nutshell: Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell plays the daughter of a former US President. She likes to drink, take drugs, and sleeps with the secret service. In a wholly implausible set-up, New York’s District Attorney turns a blind eye to her latest cocaine bust, and instead offers her a job running his new Conviction Integrity Team.
It’s co-created by Liz Friedman, which makes sense: Friedman was an executive producer on House, the show which set the template for this genre. (See also: any show which includes the line “They’re a crazy, law-breaking maverick – but they’re damn good at their job!”)
Three word verdict: House meets Shark.
Creators: Phil McGraw, Paul Attanasio | This week, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox all released their autumn TV shedules, alongside a host of trailers for some of the biggest shows of 2016-17. | 4.545455 | 0.454545 | 0.454545 | low | low | abstractive | 806 |
http://time.com/4342985/donald-trump-nra-speech-guns/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722033456id_/http://time.com:80/4342985/donald-trump-nra-speech-guns/ | GOP Hopeful Talks Guns | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.033456 | Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will address the National Rifle Association (NRA) Friday afternoon at its annual conference.
Trump has been inconsistent in his positions on gun control from before and after he became a presidential candidate. In his book The America We Deserve from 2000, Trump wrote that he supported a ban on assault weapons and a longer waiting period to purchase a gun, ABC reports.
But the businessman has tacked far to the right during his run for president, saying he would end gun-free zones and often saying that terror attacks like the ones in San Bernardino or Paris could have been prevented if the civilians were armed.
In his Friday speech, Trump will likely continue boosting the Second Amendment to reassure the crowd and cast himself as tough on terrorism. | It's the gun lobby group's annual conference | 16.555556 | 0.444444 | 0.666667 | medium | low | abstractive | 807 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/realestate/31lizone.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722043719id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2009/05/31/realestate/31lizone.html? | The Price Range Strategy | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.043719 | THREE years ago, when someone knocked on the door of Adriana Karekinian’s waterfront home here, and offered her $1.4 million for it, she turned the person down. She had just redone the stucco exterior, installed an in-ground pool and replaced the windows. The house wasn’t even on the market.
Fast forward to this spring. In the midst of a divorce, Ms. Karekinian, a former circus performer, needs to sell.
“I wish I would have known” about the souring market, she lamented.
But even while kicking herself for not having grabbed the unsolicited offer, Ms. Karekinian has joined a small group of pricing pioneers on Long Island: Rather than settling on one number for her five-bedroom colonial, she opted for a “value range price” of $999,000 to $1,194,876. She decided to adopt the tactic in listing the property last fall with Carol Poetsch of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s East Meadow office.
“I am not just going to say I want $1.3 and that’s final,” Ms. Karekinian said, signaling her flexibility but vowing that she won’t sell below the range. “Now I’m flexible — not stupid flexible, but flexible.”
The value range marketing strategy was introduced by Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in 1996, which based it on common practice in Australian real estate, said Dottie Herman, president and chief executive of Elliman.
Ms. Poetsch described it as an attempt to lure buyers who tend to search for homes on the Internet “in chunks of $50,000” from lower price points.
According to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, 180 homes among the 10,000 available properties in Nassau County are currently listed by range — the average within the range being $775,293. In Suffolk, which has more than 13,000 available properties, 360 are listed by range; the average is $591,285.
“It opens the window for more buyers to preview the property,” Ms. Poetsch said. People looking in the range of $950,000 to $1 million may peek at a property that otherwise they might not have considered. Once they come through the door, she said, the hope is that the home’s features will wow them. “When the value is there, a buyer will spend more than they anticipate.”
Despite the given range, she added, there is no guarantee for the buyer that the owner will sell at the low end. Buyers need to anticipate that “the homeowner will give them a counteroffer.” And of course, she pointed out, there is always the optimistic possibility that multiple bidders could drive the price to the high end of the range, or above it.
Ms. Poetsch says that of her 23 current listings, she is using value ranges on 12 from East Meadow to Valley Stream — including a range of $299,000 to $349,876 on a three-bedroom colonial in Elmont. Since January she has sold five homes using the method.
She said she liked the “unique arrangement” of value range and thought it worked. “Instead of popping it up high and continually reducing it,” she said, “this is where the homeowner will entertain offers.” But she acknowledged that as an approach, “it is fairly new here in New York and not everyone has bought into it yet.”
Ms. Herman says that homes listed with a range tend to sell more quickly, and that ranges impel buyers to think more strategically. “Most people are not going to put the lowest offer in if they really want the property,” she said, likening the process to an auction in which the owner doesn’t have to sell. “They don’t want another buyer to come in and buy the property.”
In January Bill Groel, a police officer, paid $330,000 for a Massapequa Park two-bedroom ranch listed with a price range of $309,000 to $359,000.
Earlier, it had been listed at $375,000; he ignored it that time around, as “it was above what I was looking for.” But when he saw the price drop into a range, he took a look.
He started with an offer of $309,000.
“ ‘It couldn’t hurt to go from the lower price,’ ” he recalled thinking. “I liked the house and I wasn’t willing to pay $359,000 for it.” A counteroffer was made and a deal quickly sealed.
Describing what the price range had indicated to him about the sellers’ attitude, Mr. Groel said, “They are not set on one price, and they are able to bend more.”
Scott Donnellan, a sales agent with Re/Max Innovations in Wantagh, who sold Mr. Groel his home, said he sometimes used a range of prices to increase traffic to listings that had gotten “a little stale.”
“It is more exposure,” Mr. Donnellan said. “This tells people we are negotiable and opens up the house” to buyers just under or above a certain price threshold.
Matthew Arnold, an associate broker with Netter Real Estate in West Islip, explained that he had sometimes set a range — normally not as broad as in the Prudential strategy — because he and a client have differed on the best price to choose. He now has just such a listing: a two-bedroom colonial in Lindenhurst, priced at $299,000 to $310,000.
He says his preference is to set homes at a single number “that makes it attractive,” then entice buyers with offers to pay closing costs, or entice brokers with offers of a higher commission to generate traffic.
Since Nancy and Bryan Rogers’s East Meadow expanded Cape came on the market on April 1 with a price range of $399,000 to $458,876, they have received several offers. Ms. Rogers, a teacher, said she had previously listed the house at a static $459,000, adding that the range listing attracted people searching for homes from $350,000 to $400,000 who might fall in love with their deep backyard. Knowing there’s flexibility in the price, they “might stretch for it or see that they can negotiate a little more within their range.”
Ms. Poetsch, who has the listing, said the bids start at $399,000 and are being countered. “It never starts at the top, but that is understandable,” she said. “The buyer is looking for a bargain.” | A small group of pricing pioneers on Long Island are listing their homes with a range instead of a set price. | 56.954545 | 1 | 4.636364 | high | high | mixed | 808 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/us/16gideon.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722043913id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2013/03/16/us/16gideon.html | The New York Times | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.043913 | “In most countries, equality before the law means equality between those of high and low income,” remarked Earl Johnson Jr., a retired justice of the California Court of Appeal. “In this country for some reason we are concerned more with individuals versus government.”
With law school graduates hurting for work, it may appear that there is a glut of lawyers. But many experts say that is a misunderstanding.
“We don’t have an excess of lawyers,” said Martin Guggenheim, a law professor at New York University. “What we have is a miserable fit. In many areas like family and housing law, there is simply no private bar to go to. You couldn’t find a lawyer to help you even if you had the money because there isn’t a dime to be made in those cases.”
Even in situations where an individual is up against a state prosecutor and jail may result, not every jurisdiction provides lawyers to the defendants. In Georgia, those charged with failing to pay child support face a prosecutor and jail but are not supplied with a lawyer.
Mr. Presley lost his job in the recession and fell way behind on support payments for his four children. In 2011, he was jailed after a court proceeding without a lawyer in which he said he could not pay what he owed. He was brought back to court, shackled, every month or two. Each time, he said he still could not pay. Each time, he was sent back.
A year later, he contacted a public defender who handles only criminal cases but who sent his case to the Southern Center for Human Rights. Atteeyah Hollie, a lawyer there, got him released that same day, helped him find work and set up a payment plan.
An important service lawyers can provide defendants like Mr. Presley is knowledge of what courts want — receipts of medical treatment, evidence of a job search, bank account statements. On their own, many people misstep when facing a judge.
In Adel, Ga., a town of 5,000, child support court meets monthly. On a recent morning, a dozen men in shackles and jail uniforms faced Chuck Reddick, a state prosecutor, on their second or third round in court.
“In most cases, they simply can’t pay,” said John P. Daughtrey, who was sheriff here until losing an election in November. “An attorney could explain to the judge why jail is not the solution and how to fix it. As a sheriff, I want criminals in my jail, not a debtor’s prison.”
Mr. Reddick and Judge Carson Dane Perkins of Cook County Superior Court in Adel both said they would welcome lawyers for defendants because it would make the process clearer and smoother.
“If we could extend the right to a lawyer to civil procedures where you face a loss of liberty, that would be good,” Judge Perkins said. “Lawyers can get affidavits from employers and help make cases for those who can’t pay.”
The Southern Center for Human Rights has filed a class-action suit seeking a guarantee of a lawyer for such cases in Georgia. Sarah Geraghty, a lawyer there, said the center had received thousands of calls from Georgians facing child support hearings. Among them was Russell Davis, a Navy veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who was jailed three times and lost his apartment and car while in jail.
Georgia also offers a case study on the mismatch between lawyers and clients at a time when each needs the other. According to the Legal Services Corporation, 70 percent of the state’s lawyers are in the Atlanta area, while 70 percent of the poor live outside it. There are six counties without a lawyer and dozens with only two or three.
Mr. Bloss, who faced eviction in New Jersey, went to legal services, which won for him the right to stay in his apartment while his case is under appeal.
In Baltimore, where Mr. Hymes was accused of shining a laser at a police officer and assigned bail of $75,000, first bail hearings do not include a lawyer. Tens of thousands are brought through Central Booking every year, facing a commissioner through a glass partition, who determines whether to release the detainee on his own recognizance or assign bail and at what level.
“For the poor, bail is a jail sentence,” said Douglas L. Colbert, a law professor at the University of Maryland. A study he conducted on 4,000 bail cases of nonviolent offenders found that two and a half times as many detainees were released on their own recognizance and bail was set at a far more affordable level if a lawyer was at the hearing.
Mr. Hymes was relatively lucky. When he eventually faced a judge with the help of a public defender, bail was slashed to $200 cash. It took his family a few weeks to pay. A student of Mr. Colbert’s, Iten Naguib, acted as an intermediary.
“If there had been an attorney involved at the initial stages,” Ms. Naguib said, “Mr. Hymes would likely have been released much earlier.”
A version of this article appears in print on March 16, 2013, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Right to Lawyer Can Be Empty Promise for Poor. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe | Fifty years after the Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright, the promise of legal representation for all is not fully realized. | 43.25 | 0.541667 | 0.625 | high | low | abstractive | 809 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/arts/television/review-nostalgia-for-a-1970s-british-adolescence-in-cradle-to-grave.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722050527id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/07/18/arts/television/review-nostalgia-for-a-1970s-british-adolescence-in-cradle-to-grave.html | Review: Nostalgia for a 1970s British Adolescence in ‘Cradle to Grave’ | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.050527 | “Cradle to Grave,” a BBC series making its American debut online Monday on Acorn TV, is a highly likable example of the my-magical-childhood sitcom, a first-person exercise in narrated nostalgia that recalls “The Wonder Years,” “The Goldbergs” and Chris O’Dowd’s (even better) “Moone Boy.”
The show is based on a memoir by Danny Baker, a British radio and television personality who writes the show with Jeff Pope (“Philomena”) and is played as a 1970s teenager by a charming young actor named Laurie Kynaston. The Bakers — Danny; his older brother and sister; and his parents, Spud and Bet (Peter Kay and Lucy Speed) — live in a working-class, pre-gentrified South London where your own wits get you from cradle to grave, with no help from the government.
For those old enough to remember, the 1970s references are thick and delicious, and sufficiently accessible for American viewers — platform shoes, enormous VCRs, the discovery of wine by non-Mediterranean middle-class households. Consistent instant gratification is provided by the soundtrack, which ranges from Led Zeppelin to the Spinners to pop relics like David Essex (“Rock On”!), with more contemporary interjections by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze.
The key thing about the time period, though, is the transition taking place from a hardscrabble postwar society to the new, button-down London. “Sorting something out,” in ways mildly to thoroughly criminal, is a way of life for Spud, who works on the docks. An early montage shows how merchandise of all sorts — pillows, shoes, puppies — finds its way from the holds of ships to the Baker house.
Much of the show’s humor and pathos (because this kind of series comes with a heavy dose of sentimentality, and “Cradle to Grave” tips to that side) is generated by Spud’s losing battle against the economic realities of globalization, as shipping moves to the Continent — to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, and to Hamburg, Germany — and the dock workers are offered increasingly attractive buyouts. Exploring alternatives, he moves even further back on the historical scale, trying his luck as a rag-and-bone man. With his expansive personality and gift for gab, he’s a natural at collecting and selling junk, but as he discovers when he tries to make a killing in horse manure, it’s too honest a profession for him.
Danny, a high schooler, is nominally the central character, and much of the plot is taken up with his efforts to free himself of his virginity, first with a neighborhood girl and then with a worldly photography teacher. Mr. Kay dominates the show as Spud, however, both because of his generous, blustering performance and because Spud is the one character Mr. Baker and Mr. Pope have fully imagined. The other Bakers are more standard-issue sitcom types, but the usual excellent British cast makes everyone on screen believable.
“Cradle to Grave,” with its loose, episodic structure (there’s a lot of “I remember when …” and “So there I was …”) and its wistful glow may seem beside the point at a time when the meta-comedy and the harsh non-comedy are in ascendance. But if your diet allows for the occasional toad-in-the-hole, it could be your dish.
A version of this review appears in print on July 18, 2016, on page C3 of the New York edition with the headline: Mining Nostalgia From Pre-Globalized 1970s London. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe | This comedy, based on Danny Baker’s upbringing, delightfully chronicles the travails of a working-class London family at the dawn of globalization. | 26.333333 | 0.777778 | 1.444444 | medium | low | abstractive | 810 |
http://fortune.com/2016/07/19/ackman-investors-withdrawals/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722055453id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/07/19/ackman-investors-withdrawals/ | Investors Pull More than Half a Billion Dollars Out of Ackman's Fund | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.055453 | Updated: 2:00 p.m., July 20
On Wednesday, Bill Ackman hosted a quarterly conference call for his investors, his first since serving a full quarter on Valeant’s board and following the recent Herbalife settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
In the past, investors and reporters have hung on every word, searching for nuggets of potential market-moving wisdom from the brash Ackman. Instead, Ackman this time around had to address tough questions about his losing bets on Valeant and Herbalife, as well as the dismal overall performance of Pershing Square’s funds.
Ackman’s portfolios have suffered through their worst performance patch in his career which, not surprisingly, is causing some investors to flee.
In the first six months of the year, investors yanked roughly $600 million out of Ackman’s funds, Fortune has learned. The money, including $360 million in the second quarter alone, equals roughly 5% of the just over $12 billion Ackman’s Pershing Square manages, and about 30% of the money that could have left the fund since the beginning of the year under Ackman’s strict withdrawal rules. (Ackman’s previous firm closed after it was hit with a wave of withdrawals following poor performance in 2002.)
On the investor call Wednesday, in a reference to this Fortune story, Ackman said that this year’s redemptions, as a percentage of capital, were the sixth lowest in terms of the amount of redemptions over the past eight years. Indeed, this year’s redemptions were 37% lower than the average of the last eight years.
“We benefit from a stable capital base,” he said. “Our investors have been incredibly supportive of us.”
Ackman’s most notable losing bet has been on troubled drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals vrx , which has seen its shares plunge 90% in the past year. Another loser has been Herbalife hlf , which Ackman very publicly bet against, defiantly predicting regulators would either shut it down or it would collapse under restrictions they impose on it. Either way, he has predicted the stock would “go to zero.”
(For the full story on Ackman and Herbalife, read Fortune’s feature story The Siege of Herbalife)
Instead, the company’s shares have gained 20% this year. On Friday, Herbalife settled an investigation with the FTC, which fined Herbalife $200 million and is forcing it to restructure some of the way it does business, but stopped short of calling the company a pyramid scheme. Herbalife’s shares rose 10% on the news, putting Ackman’s beleaguered bet an estimated $100 million further in the red.
All told, Ackman’s hedge funds have fallen roughly 40% since last August, the worst run of returns in Pershing Square’s 12-year history, and far worse than what the overall market has done in the same time. The S&P 500, for instance, is up 4%, including dividends, since last August.
Ackman has been losing his investors’ money hand over fist during the past year—the 40% decline equates to more than $7 billion in paper losses for Pershing Square investors.
Earlier this year, as many as eight out of 11 stocks in his portfolio were down for 2016. Some of those stocks have rebounded, and just four stocks are currently underwater for the year, but that hasn’t turned around the overall performance of the fund, which is still down 16% in 2016. (Ackman’s publicly traded investment vehicle, which uses leverage, was down 19% through July 12.) The S&P 500, meanwhile, is up 6% year-to-date as of Tuesday’s close.
The big surprise might be that redemptions aren’t larger for the 50-year-old billionaire. Given how bad his investments have done, observers might expect that more of Ackman’s investors would be running for the doors. One reason may have to do with the way Pershing Square’s “gates” its funds, requiring many of its investors to take their capital out over a two-year period, in quarterly increments, which means at most investors can only pull only 12.5% of their money a quarter. Other investors can pull their money out more quickly.
(For more on Ackman and Valeant, read Fortune’s feature story Bill Ackman and Michael Pearson: The Inside Story)
In addition, almost half of the fund is permanent capital, much of it raised by selling shares to investors when Ackman listed a public fund Pershing Square Holdings in Amsterdam in 2014. Unlike typical fund investors, when those investors want out, Ackman doesn’t have to give them their money back. They simply sell their stock, which is exactly what they’ve done. Pershing Square Holdings, which went public at $25, has been trading a little under $15, a 40% decline in line with the losses in the portfolio since last year.
But all indications are that most of Ackman’s investors plan to stick with him. The reason? Even with the current downdraft in performance, Ackman’s long-term track record—at around 15% annualized since 2004—is still one of the best in the business and more than double the S&P 500, including dividends. On top of that, Ackman tends to provide more transparency than other hedge fund managers, and he’s generally recognized as a good salesman.
Indeed, at the end of last year as Pershing Square fell 20%—at the time was the fund’s worst-ever year—redemptions were lower than normal in large part because investors were reluctant to ditch Ackman, and sell at such rock-bottom prices. The same thing happened during the first quarter.
“We have not lost faith in Bill Ackman,” said Bryan Schneider, managing director at EnTrust Capital, a fund of funds that has trimmed its Pershing Square position during the second quarter. Schneider said the firm has no plans to redeem any more from Pershing Square. Other activist hedge funds have seen larger redemptions as a percentage of assets.
At the same time, Ackman has been able to attract new money, wooing new investors by arguing that when he’s down is the best time to buy, given his ability to snap back in the past. His bang-up 40% 2014 followed a lackluster showing in 2013, when he lost a lot of money in both J.C. Penney jcp and Herbalife.
About $150 million in new money has been raised this year. Factor that in, and Pershing has only seen a net outflow of $450 million in investor assets.
Still, the fund, which had grown to around $20 billion in assets under management a little over a year ago, is a lot smaller than it used to be.
A number of Pershing’s clients admit, confidentially, their patience has been wearing thin. One thing that has raised red flags for some is Pershing Square’s risk management, given its Valeant stake that was at one time more than 20% of the firm’s capital. Some investors also say they have concerns about Ackman’s judgment on Valeant, especially his decision to add to his position last November, after the company’s questionable relationship with now-shuttered specialty pharmacy Philidor was exposed, sending the stock tumbling. Even Ackman admitted at a recent Senate hearing on Valeant’s drug pricing that there was a “failure in due diligence” on his part regarding Valeant.
Ackman declined to comment for this story.
Update: Sorry has been updated to income comments Ackman’s made about redemptions on a call with investors. | Patience with hedge fund manager growing thin. | 182.375 | 0.75 | 1.25 | high | low | abstractive | 811 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/business/media/un-campaign-asks-men-to-support-womens-rights.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722072243id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2014/03/07/business/media/un-campaign-asks-men-to-support-womens-rights.html?_r=0 | U.N. Women’s Rights Group Seeks Men’s Support | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.072243 | In a campaign from the United Nations that seeks to promote women’s rights, there is not a woman in sight – and that is deliberate.
The strategy behind the campaign, which is to begin on Friday morning, is revealed by its theme, “He for she” – in other words, men ought to stand up for the rights of the women of the world who are their mothers, sisters and daughters.
The centerpiece of the campaign is a website, heforshe.org, where visitors can watch a video clip meant to serve as a teaser that introduces the initiative. The clip features several famous men urging support for gender equality, including the actors Antonio Banderas and Patrick Stewart, Desmond Tutu and the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon.
“Sometimes I feel the best ideas are so obvious,” said Elizabeth Nyamayaro, senior adviser for strategic partnerships and outreach at U.N. Women, the unit of the United Nations that is focused on women’s rights issues.
“As women’s organizations, we tend to preach to the choir,” Ms. Nyamayaro said. “Women have been talking to women for such a long time.”
“We felt we really needed to reach out to as many constituencies as possible to move the needle,” she added, which meant “including men in the conversation.”
The campaign is starting ahead of the annual International Women’s Day, which is being marked this year on Saturday. After the video there will be “a huge outreach program,” Ms. Nyamayaro said, “to have more men involved in the dialogue.”
The campaign is being created on a pro bono basis by the Publicis Dallas agency. “It’s a deceptively simple premise, a women’s rights campaign without a single woman,” said Brad Roseberry, chief creative officer at Publicis Dallas, which is part of the Publicis North America division of Publicis Worldwide, owned by the Publicis Groupe.
Mr. Roseberry worked on the campaign with Natalie Lavery, an associate creative director and copywriter at Publicis Dallas. The subject is “well-trod ground,” Mr. Roseberry said. “We wanted to do something different.”
Among the next elements of the campaign, he added, will be an effort to “encourage people to change their profile pictures in social media to the ‘He for she’ logo.”
Ogilvy Public Relations in New York is also working on the campaign on a pro bono basis, seeking to draw attention in the news media and elsewhere to the “He for she” message.
“All this progress has been made” in the realm of women’s rights, “yet women have the same issues as they had 50 years ago,” said Jennifer Risi, managing director for Ogilvy media influence at Ogilvy Public Relations, part of the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide division of WPP.
The work that Ogilvy Public Relations will do is part of efforts on behalf of U.N. Women, which is led by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director at U.N. Women and undersecretary general at the U.N. She will ask the world’s citizens to devote themselves for International Women’s Day 2014 to the “SHE imperative,” Ms. Risi said, with “SHE” standing for “security, health, education and economic development.”
Another unit of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, created an attention-getting campaign for U.N. Women last fall, which presented actual suggested search terms from the Google autofill or autocomplete feature that were intended to highlight the continuing problem of gender inequality. For instance, the search phrase “Women shouldn’t” was completed with words and phrases like “vote” or “have rights.” | The campaign encourages men to stand up for the rights of the women of the world who are their mothers, sisters and daughters. | 28.64 | 0.96 | 17.84 | medium | high | extractive | 812 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/17/politics/campaign/familiar-roles-for-rather-and-his-critics.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722101945id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2004/09/17/politics/campaign/familiar-roles-for-rather-and-his-critics.html? | Familiar Roles for Rather and His Critics | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.101945 | The documents almost immediately came under question by document examiners who said they seemed to be more the product of a modern-day word processor than a Vietnam-era typewriter. Colonel Killian died 20 years ago.
In his first defense of his show, Mr. Rather attributed the questioning to partisans. It took him three more days to acknowledge that some questioners -- including forensic experts and other news organizations -- had no apparent political motive.
As the debate rages, Mr. Rather's 1988 tête-à-tête with the first President Bush is coming back to haunt him -- as is his appearance at a Texas Democratic fund-raiser two years ago, an appearance for which he later apologized. Both leave him open to Republican charges of partisanship as he defends the initial report and presses the case that the issues it raised about Mr. Bush's service remain valid.
On the Tony Snow show on Fox News Radio, Bob Dole said, "Dan Rather does not like anyone in the Bush family that I know of, unless maybe one of the dogs." Speaking of Mr. Rather and CBS, Mr. Dole added, "They are really losing a lot of credibility, because they won't let go."
Internally and externally, pressure on Mr. Rather is mounting, with some of his longtime colleagues and journalism ethicists saying that he and the network refused to take the questions seriously for too long. A longtime CBS News correspondent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "I can't understand why '60 Minutes' Wednesday didn't exercise more caution in checking the story out, and why they don't seem to have been the least bit skeptical of the documents."
Mr. Rather, whose nightly news program is ranked third among the major networks, and CBS News executives have vowed either to prove that the documents are authentic or, if they are fraudulent, to be the first to report who was behind the ruse. Yesterday, Mr. Rather -- after acknowledging that questions about the documents' authenticity have weight -- said he continued to stand by the story in its entirety. "This story is true," he said, adding, "I believe in the authenticity of the documents."
Mr. Rather also said he had no dispute with the Bush family. "I respected and admired, still do, what's now called Bush I," he said. "I don't know George W. Bush well, but from what I know about him, many things about him, I like."
Addressing the charges of liberal bias, Mr. Rather said: "Anybody who knows me knows I'm an independent, I'm not politically inclined, except I love to report on politics. My job is to follow important stories wherever they may lead me."
Mr. Rather's clash with Nixon at the height of the Watergate crisis won him the respect of many colleagues as much as it angered Nixon supporters. After Mr. Rather posed a question to Nixon at a National Association of Broadcasters convention in 1974, Nixon asked pointedly, "Are you running for something?" Mr. Rather shot back, "No, Mr. President, are you?"
Republicans were no happier with him during the Reagan administration. In 1985 Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina made a splash when he started a drive urging fellow conservatives to buy CBS stock to "become Dan Rather's boss."
Mr. Rather's dispute with Mr. Bush in 1988 started when he began interviewing Mr. Bush about the Iran-contra scandal. Mr. Bush complained on the program that he had been lured to the studio under false pretenses, believing he would discuss his presidential aspirations, though an aide was quoted as saying he knew questions about the scandal were coming.
Now, in the superheated era of cable television and blogs, criticism of Mr. Rather -- like that of other mainstream journalists -- fills its own media universe. There is a Web site devoted to his supposed biases, "Ratherbiased.com," and the conservative Media Research Center regularly runs commentary about Mr. Rather on its Web site.
"In an increasingly polarized time in this country," said Andrew Heyward, the CBS News president, "and in a polarizing election fueled by the Internet and 24-hour cable, anybody who has the temerity to report in a way seen as raising questions about either side, to be fair, can easily be demonized."
Some of Mr. Rather's colleagues are worried. "It is really, really a mess," said one correspondent. Mr. Rather yesterday cited his five decades in journalism and said, "As a reporter I do my best to get it right."
Mr. Heyward voiced confidence in Mr. Rather and his team. "I think people know we're making every effort to resolve these questions and I think there's enough good will here to give us enough time to do that," he said. | News analysis of situation involving CBS news anchor Dan Rather, whose report on program 60 Minutes II about Pres Bush's National Guard service has created brouhaha because of questions about authenticity of documents; cites examples of Rather's reporting through years that has caused conservatives to charge Rather with partisanship; Bill Kovach, Committee of Concerned Journalists, say CBS has not made case and should have been more careful about confirming validity of documents; photo (M) | 11.25 | 0.630952 | 0.892857 | low | low | abstractive | 813 |
http://www.people.com/article/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-gala-raised-45-million | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722115558id_/http://www.people.com/article/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-gala-raised-45-million | Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Raises $45 Million at Third Annual Auction Gala : People.com | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.115558 | Leonardo DiCaprio with his Mariah Carey at his star-studded fundraiser Wednesday night
updated 07/21/2016 AT 09:30 PM EDT
•originally published 07/21/2016 AT 08:10 AM EDT
sure knows how to throw a gala.
The stars were out on Wednesday as the 41-year-old actor and his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation hosted its third-annual gala in St. Tropez to support environmental awareness and research. The charity auction raised a record $45 million.
Since its start in 2014, the annual gala has boasted a slew of A-list celebrities, with the who's-who of Hollywood dressed their best for the event on the French Riviera – and this year was no different.
– as well as supermodels Constance Jablonski,
of Monaco was honored with the foundation's first New World Leadership Award.
Leonardo DiCaprio with Jonah Hill, Tobey Maguire and Edward Norton
Lana del Rey, the Weeknd and Andrea Bocelli performed at the star-studded soirée.
DiCaprio, 41 – and his foundation, which was created in 1998 – hosted a
with funds raised supporting environmental awareness efforts and research for climate change, conservation and preservation grants across the globe.
Bradley Cooper was among the A-List guest list for DiCaprio's event
In addition to the environmental causes, the event honored victims and survivors of the recent
with the foundation donating a portion of the evening's proceeds to
Some of the exclusive items up for bid were DiCaprio's Rolex, the diamond cufflinks he wore when he
and a seven-night stay at his Palm Springs property.
The actor also rallied his famous friends to donate items including a week on set with Martin Scorsese, a private game of Texas Hold 'Em with Edward Norton and Jonah Hill, an evening with Mariah Carey, a lunch with Margot Robbie as well as a Harley Davidson motorcycle and the
Since 1998, the foundation has funded over $59 million in environmental projects on every continent and every ocean. Earlier this month, the foundation announced their largest grant of $15.6 million for wildlife and habitat protection, ocean conservation, indigenous rights programs and innovative solutions to combat climate change. | The event honored victims and survivors of the recent tragedy in Nice, France with LDF donating a portion of the eveningâs proceeds to GiveforFrance.org | 16.4 | 0.76 | 4.52 | medium | low | mixed | 814 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/15/sports/pro-basketball-like-chaney-wilkens-has-a-calm-style.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160722131744id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2004/01/15/sports/pro-basketball-like-chaney-wilkens-has-a-calm-style.html | PRO BASKETBALL; Like Chaney, Wilkens Has A Calm Style | 1970-08-22T08:12:02.131744 | Herb Williams was a statuesque figure on the Knicks' sideline last night, pacing beside the court, making faces, hollering instructions. Mike Malone sat near him on a bench that looked oddly unfilled, the only assistant coach besides Williams remaining after Isiah Thomas purged the staff.
It was a strange night indeed at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks made the best of it against the Orlando Magic until meeting their new head coach, Lenny Wilkens, who is to arrive today.
When it becomes Wilkens's turn to patrol the sideline tomorrow against Seattle, he will do so in much the same way as his predecessor, Don Chaney. Calm and mellow, Wilkens won't run to midcourt and scream for his point guard to ''slow it down,'' as many of the more demonstrative coaches do. Wilkens will let the players play, and ultimately that is what Thomas said got him the job over the runner-up, Mike Fratello.
Defying the book on coaching that says management replaces a players' coach with a control freak or a screamer with a cool customer, Thomas placed his team in the hands of Wilkens. ''That surprises me,'' said one Eastern Conference official, speaking on condition of anonymity, ''because usually if you had a coach who is mellow and low-key, you bring in someone with more intensity. That's wild.''
Thomas admitted that Wilkens's similarity in manner to Chaney gave him pause. ''Yes, but that's a positive because both men are gentlemen, very classy men,'' Thomas said of Wilkens and Chaney. ''You don't need to have a fiery disposition to be a competitive person. Allan Houston and Penny Hardaway are very competitive people, but they don't have fiery dispositions. Lenny Wilkens and Don Chaney are very competitive people, but they are also very classy individuals.''
Class and calm are not what made Wilkens, 66, the coach with the most victories (1,292) and losses (1,114) in National Basketball Association history. Comparisons between Chaney and Wilkens stop at deportment.
''Don Chaney is a great guy, but I don't think you can compare him to Lenny Wilkens in terms of coaching,'' said another Eastern Conference official, also speaking on condition of anonymity. ''Lenny Wilkens has been successful everywhere he has coached. He's just on a whole different level than Don Chaney. I think he's going to be terrific for the Knicks.''
Those who believe coaching ability is measured by the number of bruised egos a coach leaves on the practice court or by how many times he calls a play himself don't put Wilkens among the elite of his profession. Fratello is that kind of coach, an animated shouter who appears to be working harder and doing more coaching during a game.
That type of coaching also tends to overshadow players, earning the coach more credit than the players for winning and less blame than them for losing. But that style has a short shelf life, eventually breeding resentment in the locker room.
''Lenny respects that it's a players' game,'' said one former league official who worked with both coaches. ''He doesn't try to upstage the players.''
Fratello also slows the pace, a style that might have stifled Stephon Marbury, the team's new point guard. ''I thought Lenny Wilkens was a better fit for our team,'' Thomas said. ''I think the tempo that we want to play at and I think his relationship with Stephon will be very important as far as Stephon's maturity and continued growth in this league.''
Wilkens, a Brooklyn native and one of the first great New York City point guards, has coached in the finals twice, winning it once with Seattle in 1979. He is also the only person besides John Wooden to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
Wilkens has coached five different teams and has won at every stop except Portland (1974-76). Even in Toronto, where he was fired last year after going 24-58 without a healthy Vince Carter, he took the Raptors within a shot of the Eastern Conference finals in 2001.
The ugly way his time in Toronto ended has also put a chip on Wilkens's shoulder. His résumé will give him something else that Chaney seemed to lack: authority. While Chaney was merely the guy who was pegged after Jeff Van Gundy quit, Wilkens, voted one of the greatest 10 coaches of all time in 1996, is a pillar of the game.
''Lenny will get the players' respect,'' one league official said. ''Guys will play hard for Lenny.'' | New York Knicks new head coach Lenny Wilkens's cool demeanor is very much like that of ousted coach Don Chaney; photos (M) | 35.5 | 0.769231 | 1.230769 | high | low | abstractive | 815 |
http://time.com/4372962/iphone-6-china-beijing-patent/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723052556id_/http://time.com:80/4372962/iphone-6-china-beijing-patent/ | China Imposes Ban on Apple's iPhone 6 in Beijing | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.052556 | Regulators in China are ordering Apple to stop selling its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones in Beijing due to a patent infringement, according to reports.
The two phone models are said to infringe on an exterior design patent held by Chinese firm Shenzhen Baili for a smartphone called the 100C, The Wall Street Journal reports. Apple is filing an administrative litigation to reverse the ban.
“iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as well as iPhone 6s, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone SE models are all available for sale today in China,” Apple said in an emailed statement to TIME. “We appealed an administrative order from a regional patent tribunal in Beijing last month and as a result the order has been stayed pending review by the Beijing IP Court.”
The order comes after Chinese regulators shut down Apple’s iBooks Store and iTunes Movie services in China, the company’s second biggest market worldwide. In its earnings report from April, Apple also revealed that its revenue in China fell by 26%, worrying some investors. Still, Apple CEO Tim Cook said when speaking to CNBC’s Jim Cramer that he “could not be more optimistic about China.” | The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus infringe on a design patent, say regulators in China | 14 | 0.9375 | 2.0625 | low | medium | mixed | 816 |
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/07/exit-poll-conservatives-win-david-cameron-general-election-labour | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723104622id_/http://www.theguardian.com:80/politics/2015/may/07/exit-poll-conservatives-win-david-cameron-general-election-labour | Cameron on track to remain PM after electoral triumph | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.104622 | David Cameron is on course to secure an astonishing electoral triumph as the Conservative party headed towards an overall majority and unseated a raft of senior political opponents including the Labour shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, and the Lib Dem business secretary, Vince Cable.
The result – devastating Labour and the Liberal Democrats, and leaving Scotland a near one-party state under the control of the Scottish National party – probably represents the biggest surprise in a general election since 1945.
Cameron is to head to Buckingham Palace at 12.30pm to meet the Queen and is expected to make a statement on his return to Downing Street.
On a night of heavy losses, Balls, Douglas Alexander, the Labour election chief, and Jim Murphy, the Scottish Labour leader, were among the senior party figures to lose their seats. A roll-call of Liberal Democrat ministers, including Cable, were also defeated, leaving a forlorn Nick Clegg to admit it had been a cruel and punishing night. Clegg narrowly survived in his own Sheffield Hallam seat but will return to Westminster to meet fewer than 10 fellow MPs, down from 57.
Related: Election 2015: the winners and losers
Across the Midlands, Scotland and even in London, the swings Labour needed in order to make gains simply failed to appear, and far from a swing to Labour, the results revealed the Conservative party strengthening its vote. The current predictions suggest Cameron will have a small majority, with his party on course to have around 329 seats.
Ed Milband, speaking from Doncaster, effectively conceded defeat as he said he was “deeply sorry” about the result.
He said: “The results are still coming in, but this has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour party. We haven’t made the gains we wanted in England and Wales, and in Scotland we’ve seen a surge of nationalism overwhelm our party. Now, I want to say to all the dedicated and decent colleagues in Scotland who have lost their seats that I am deeply sorry for what has happened.”
He made no mention of his own leadership but is heading for Westminster to await the rest of the results. It was expected that Miliband would announce plans to resign on Friday morning, but he may stay on as an interim leader in the manner of Michael Howard to mount an effective opposition while the party mounts an inquest.
It has been argued that a weakened party should not immediately turn in on itself with a divisive leadership contest, something that in 2010 gave room for the Conservatives to shape the political debate.
If the exit poll is borne out in the final Westminster tally, Cameron may be able to govern without the need for the support of the devastated Liberal Democrats or even the Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland.
However, Cameron is facing the very serious challenge of how to unite the UK after such a comprehensive victory by the Scottish National party in Scotland, where it won all but three seats.
Speaking from his Witney seat in Oxfordshire, Cameron said it had been a “very strong night” for the Conservatives, showing there had been a “positive response to a positive campaign”.
Despite having warned against the threat of Scottish nationalism in Westminster during the campaign, he said now was the time to mend divisions between England and Scotland.
“Above all, I want to bring our country together, our United Kingdom, implementing as fast as we can devolution both for Wales and Scotland,” he said. “I want my party and a government I would like to lead to reclaim the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom. That is how I will govern if I am fortunate enough to form a government.”
Boris Johnson, newly returned for Uxbridge, suggested a radical possibility for the union, saying: “I am sure there is scope for a federal offer to be made to Scotland.”
However, George Osborne, the chancellor, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the offer to Scotland would not go beyond the proposals for devolution set out in the Smith Commission.
He said that governing for the whole of the UK would be one of the very big challenges all MPs would face and there was no simple and easy answer.
While Cameron and Osborne were stressing the need to bring the UK together, their political rivals accused them of having put the union at risk.
Balls, having lost his seat in Morley and Outwood, said he now feared for the union, the UK’s future in the European Union and the state of the NHS over the next five years.
The result would appear to be a total vindication of Cameron’s decision to campaign on the threat posed to England by a Miliband government dependent on the support of the Scottish National party.
On a night of carnage for Labour, made worse by the expectations raised by optimistic opinion polls, Miliband appeared to have performed worse than Gordon Brown, losing as many as 20 seats held in 2010.
In a seismic result that brings Scottish independence closer, Labour held on to just one seat in Scotland with the SNP winning all but three of the 59 seats north of the border. Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, was the most prominent casualty – losing on a 34% swing to the SNP from Labour, destroyed by a 20-year-old student, Mhairi Black. Alexander said Scotland had chosen to oppose the Conservative government but not to place its trust in Labour.
A second casualty was the Scottish Labour leader, Murphy, who in a dignified concession speech said the troubles facing the Scottish Labour party for many years could not be rectified in five short months. He made clear he would like to continue to lead Scottish Labour.
A shellshocked Labour at first challenged the accuracy of the exit poll, but started to admit as the night wore on that it was broadly accurate. David Blunkett, the former Labour cabinet minister, said: “The exit polls were right, it’s a very bad night for us. We are being swept by the tsunami north of the border.”
But Labour also failed to win key target seats in the Midlands, north-west and Yorkshire, as Ukip voters went to the Conservatives, depriving the party of the swings it needed. In the south, in seats such as Southampton and Swindon, the Lib Dem vote collapsed but did not go to Labour. Miliband’s staff blamed the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s rhetoric vowing to hold sway over a Labour minority government drove English voters back into the arms of the Conservatives. “She ended up in an alliance with the Conservative party,” one said.
Sturgeon was unrepentant, blaming Labour’s failure to win seats in England. She said: “What we’re seeing tonight is Scotland voting to put its trust in the SNP to make Scotland’s voice heard, a clear voice for an end to austerity, better public services and more progressive politics at Westminster. That’s what we now intend to do.” She also repeated her reassurance that the election had not been about Scottish independence.
Alex Salmond said a Scottish lion had roared. But SNP plans to combine with Miliband to lock Cameron out of Downing Street are now redundant.
The initial exit poll projection, greeted with gasps of disbelief, left the Tories 77 seats ahead of Labour, with the combined Labour-SNP tally on 297, still behind the Conservatives. Labour had been hoping the Tories could be pinned back to 280 or 290, enough to block Cameron’s path to securing a majority for a Tory Queen’s speech.
As the night continued, it became apparent that the exit poll may have underestimated the scale of the Tory triumph and the Conservatives were on the brink of an outright majority.
The Liberal Democrats fell as low as 10 seats, beyond their worst nightmare and taking the party back to the Liberals’ status in the 1970s. Clegg,who in 2010 took the party into coalition with the Conservatives, is almost certain to resign at some point on Friday and faces ridicule after he had claimed his party was going to be the surprise success story of the night.
Tim Farron, one of the Lib Dems tipped to succeed Clegg, said he believed fear had won the day, both sides of the border. He insisted Clegg “had done a blinding job”, arguing that Clegg had formed the coalition in the national interest, knowing it was not in the party’s interest.
A cast list of famous Liberal Democrats were defeated including Cable, Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, , former leader Charles Kennedy, education minister David Laws, the energy secretary, Ed Davey, the justice minister, Simon Hughes, the business minister, Jo Swinson, the Home Office minister, Lynn Featherstone, and the veteran Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell. The results suggested the idea that Liberal Democrat MPs would benefit from their incumbency and campaigning track record proved to be a myth.
Ukip was expected to collect two seats, and Nigel Farage, facing a high turnout, was struggling to overcome a tactical vote against him in South Thanet. If he loses, he has said he will quit politics, despite the signs that Ukip was positioning itself as second behind Labour across the north.
An angry Farage said: “I want to congratulate the editors of the Sun and Mail. They’re geniuses. They said the Ukip vote would split the Tory vote. God help us.”
The astonishing nature of the result was partly due to the exit poll being so far out of line with national opinion polls that had showed the two main parties neck and neck, and if anything Labour benefiting from a late surge.
The results were greeted with euphoria at Conservative headquarters. The chief whip, Michael Gove, told the BBC that if the exit poll was accurate it would be the first time a government had increased its majority since 1983 and would represent an unprecedented vote of confidence in Cameron.
He said: “If it is the case that the exit poll is right, then David Cameron has won a very handsome victory in this election. He will have secured both an advance on seats and outperformed the expectation of almost every commentator.”
Gove said the path was set for a stable government, adding that Cameron now had a mandate to press ahead with a referendum on UK membership of the European Union by 2017.
Miliband had led a campaign promising a more equal society, and if he has lost net seats, albeit largely due to the Labour wipeout in Scotland, he will be under pressure to resign. Some of his aides were preparing to argue that he may need to stay if Cameron had only a fragile majority and there was a possibility of a second election. But he will have been decisively rejected and the task of Labour rebuilding in Scotland will be gargantuan. | Conservatives heads towards overall majority in UK general election as swings to Labour fail to materialise and Lib Dems face huge losses | 95.545455 | 0.818182 | 1.181818 | high | medium | abstractive | 817 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10670157/Ears-and-noses-could-be-grown-in-lab.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723144501id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/science/science-news/10670157/Ears-and-noses-could-be-grown-in-lab.html | Ears and noses could be grown in lab | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.144501 | Then they fashion the shape of a nose or an ear by hand, before placing this 'scaffold’ under the skin of a patient.
However, using the new technique, doctors would simply be able to 'grow’ a new ear or nose from scratch that would ultimately be biologically indistinguishable from the real thing.
To achieve the breakthrough, researchers took stem cells from a child’s abdominal fat and then combined them with a polymer 'nano-scaffold’ – almost a microscopic netting.
They then managed to manipulate this composite in a laboratory so that human cartilage tissue grew into the tiny holes within the polymer.
The technique could now be used to help treat a number of conditions. For patients with 'microtia’ for example, the stem cells that make the cartilage tissue could be placed in a mould so that it grew into the shape of an ear.
This 'cartilage ear frame’ would then be inserted under a flap of skin on a patient’s head which would mould around the shape. When a biodegradable polymer scaffold is used, it would dissolve over time, leaving only human cartilage present.
Although it would not help with other functions, such as hearing, the ear would be biologically indistinguishable from a real outer ear.
A paper on the new technique has now been published in the Journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine. Neil Bulstrode, Consultant Plastic Surgeon, at Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the authors of the research, said: “It is such an exciting prospect with regard to the future treatment of these patients and many more.
“Currently I take the rib cartilage from the chest to make an ear. I carve a framework in the shape of an ear. Then I will place that framework in a pocket under the skin, which is sucked down with a vacuum so that the skin conforms to the contours of the ear framework.
“But if we could produce a block of cartilage using stem cells and tissue engineering, this would be the Holy Grail for our field.”
The research could also have far wider reaching implications for the future of transplants.
Significant advances have been made since the first synthetic tracheal transplant was carried out in 2011 using a plastic windpipe that was coated in stem cells. Development of the new technique means that a trachea could be created from cartilage made from a patient’s own fat stem cells making rejection unlikely and lessening the need for drugs to suppress the immune system
In the Nanomedicine paper, the authors said the procedure could ultimately “help to improve stability, integration and functionality of engineered transplants while avoiding tissue rejection.
“In addition to auricular (ear) and nasal (nose) cartilage reconstruction they could be used for example to improve the quality of tracheal transplants.”
The technique harvests 'mesenchymal’ stem cells from abdominal fat, which can turn into cartilage cells. Ultimately, the scientists believe it could be used to create bone and other types of tissue.
Dr Patrizia Ferretti, Head of Developmental Biology at UCL, said the technique was particularly useful for children.
“One of the main benefits is that, because they are the patient’s own cells, you don’t have to do any immune suppression which would not be desirable for a sick child,” she said.
“At the moment we take cartilage out of the ribs which means a major additional surgical procedure that creates a permanent defect, as the rib cartilage does not regrow. But with this technique you could seed the stem cells onto a mould of a healthy ear, or use 3D printing to make the ear shaped scaffold-containing cells that can then be turned into cartilage. That would reduce the number of severe procedures hence be greatly advantageous for the child.
“This is just step one, we have just shown proof of principle that cartilage can be made from children stem cells on a clinically approved biomaterial, but we haven’t yet made a complete ear with a related material that is biodegradable, but I am hopeful we will in the not too distant future.”
This new approach could also allow children to have facial reconstructive surgery earlier. At the moment surgeons have to wait until the child’s ribs have grown enough to provide sufficient cartilage for reconstructing the ear. But Dr Ferretti said: “Our goal is that over time the synthetic component of the grafted ear would disappear and the grafted tissue will continue to grow with the child.”
For patients like Sam Clompus, 15, of Bristol, who suffers from 'microtia’, it would mean that one simpler operation could have restored his ear. Sam was born with just a nub where his right outer ear should have been.
“Growing up, at times he was self-conscious,” said mother Sue, 50, a senior lecturer in nursing .
“Lots of people used to stare at him which made him feel uncomfortable. Most of his childhood he had longer hair to cover it but when he went to secondary school he wanted his hair short so then it was more noticeable.
“His schools have always been supportive, he was just known as the kid with the funny little ear, and everyone got on with it.
“When he was younger they offered Sam a prosthetic ear but we thought that was a bit too Frankenstein.
“We had looked at other options over the past few years. At first we were quite reticent because as a family we believe that you shouldn’t change you appearance to fit in with what is considered normal.”
Around 7,000 people are affected by 'microtia’ in Britain but tens of thousands of babies are born with other kinds of facial abnormalities each year. And it could help people who have suffered accidents or trauma.
Sam’s surgery was carried out by Mr Bulstrode at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Sam is 'delighted’ with his new ear.
But the procedure would be far less invasive using the new technique.
“At the moment is quite gruelling, particularly where they go in and take out the rib cartilage,” added Sue.
“That is a big operation and he was sore for quite a while after that. So the new stem cells technique would mean that a fairly large part of the procedure would not be necessary, which would be a good thing.”
Last year scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston proved it was possible to grow a human-like ear using animal tissue.
Previously the researchers had grown an artificial ear, the size of a baby’s, on a mouse. | British scientists have developed a process to grow ears and noses in a laboratory by turning stem cells from body fat into living cartilage, through tissue engineering | 42.233333 | 0.633333 | 1.1 | high | low | abstractive | 818 |
http://fortune.com/2015/06/18/brian-williams-demoted/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723144558id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/06/18/brian-williams-demoted/ | NBC’s Brian Williams Gets a Substantial Pay Cut in New Role | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.144558 | The embattled former NBC Nightly News anchor has been demoted and will receive reportedly less money in his new role, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Williams is being replaced by Lester Holt, who took over for him after he was handed down an unpaid six-month suspension for making factually incorrect comments and “misremembering” details spoken about on-air.
The newspaper reported that Williams will receive “substantially” less money when he returns to the network as a breaking news and special reports anchor for MSNBC, a division of NBC. He had been making at least $10 million a year for the last five years.
“I’m sorry. I said things that weren’t true,” said Williams in a statement. “I let down my NBC colleagues and our viewers, and I’m determined to earn back their trust.”
Unsurprisingly, Williams’ move to MSNBC was met with harsh criticism on social media. | He's also being attacked on social media for the move. | 15 | 0.75 | 1.416667 | low | low | abstractive | 819 |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/postal-service-is-on-track-to-gain-larger-share-of-holiday-deliveries-1450832100 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723154445id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/postal-service-is-on-track-to-gain-larger-share-of-holiday-deliveries-1450832100 | Postal Service Is on Track to Gain Larger Share of Holiday Deliveries | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.154445 | This holiday season, the letter carriers for the U.S. Postal Service have been busier than an army of elves, operating practically 24/7 to try to take a significant share of a record-breaking online shopping season.
So far, USPS is on track to scale a new high in holiday deliveries, as its volume is up more than 15% compared with a year ago and is forecast to reach more than 600 million packages between Black Friday and New Year’s... | This holiday season, the letter carriers for the U.S. Postal Service have been busier than an army of elves, in a bid to take a significant share of a record-breaking online shopping season.The service’s ambitious holiday plans are just the latest in the battle for online shipping. | 1.618182 | 0.854545 | 11.8 | low | medium | extractive | 820 |
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/06/brexit-anti-immigration-ukip-poster-raises-questions-160621112722799.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723162657id_/http://www.aljazeera.com:80/indepth/features/2016/06/brexit-anti-immigration-ukip-poster-raises-questions-160621112722799.html | Brexit: UKIP's 'unethical' anti-immigration poster | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.162657 | "BREAKING POINT" screams the red lettering on an anti-immigration poster from the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).
The poster was released days before Thursday's EU Referendum, when Britons will decide whether to remain in or leave the European Union.Â
Set over an image of thousands of refugees in Slovenia in 2015 who had just crossed the border with Croatia on their perilous journey, many of whom were fleeing war and persecution, the poster has been likened to anti-Semitic propaganda in the 1930s and been condemned by a number of politicians and observers.
A caption calling on voters to tick "Leave the European Union" on June 23 reads: "We must break free of the EU and take back control of our borders."
@UKIP When you get so involved in your British nationalism that you slip into acting like Nazis. #JustUKIPthings pic.twitter.com/pgWfizUGel
British Prime Minister David Cameron of the ruling Conservative Party, who is leading the Remain campaign, said the poster was "wrong in fact and in motivation".
Opposition Labour MP Chuka Umunna said UKIP's poster "stands contrary to the values Britain has fought for".
Jo Cox, the pro-Remain Labour MP who was stabbed and shot dead in her constituency one week ago by a suspect with links to the anti-immigration far-right Britain First group, would have "responded with outrage" to the poster, said Stephen Kinnock, a Labour MP.
Her husband, political activist Brendan Cox, called the poster "vile", just a day before she was killed.
UKIP did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment.
Brexit Q&A: All you need to know
Aside from condemnation, the poster raises questions of ethics.
Is it fair to depict vulnerable people in a political campaign without their explicit consent? Can the photographer object to the use of the image? What is the purpose of documenting the refugee crisis? And does it incite hatred?
The image was taken by Jeff Mitchell of Getty Images, who refused to comment directly to Al Jazeera.
"It is always uncomfortable when an objective news photograph is used to deliver any political message or subjective agenda, however the image in question has been licensed legitimately," said Getty Images, but did not comment further.
Al Jazeera asked a few experts to weigh in.
[If it were my photo] at first I would feel terrible, since any decent journalist produces work to present a situation as it happens. In my work, I try to present the viewer with an image of reality and leave it up to them to decide how they perceive the image.
It is something else, to present an image and tell the viewer what they are seeing. By linking cause and effect, migration and your country's economic hardship, is to misguide the audience because real life is much more complicated than A equals B ... It takes the blame off our shoulders, but to use my own photos to misguide the public, no, that would be offensive and counter to everything I stand for as not just a journalist, but as a human being.
In documenting the refugee crisis for English-language media and trying to present what is happening in refugee camps, I find myself constantly countering the toxic rhetoric coming from so many British papers and tabloids, which are full of hateful talking points and easy-to-swallow slices of racism that bit by bit can render a casual news consumer completely insane.
[As for consent], there is a difference between being vulnerable in private and in the public. In general, each photojournalist must set their own ethics in regards to consent and if they feel they are doing something wrong, then they probably are.
Can the photojournalist complain about the use of this photo? Probably not, stock photo agencies have photographers sign lengthy contracts to cover themselves in case of such issues.
When I saw the poster I was not pleased at all. The EU Referendum campaign has been all about limiting immigration to a certain extent; this is inherently unethical but unavoidable in a world divided by nation states. It's not a humanistic idea.
The refugee crisis is one thing - it is massively different from economic migration. Mixing the two is not fair, it's terrible. We are talking about two immoral issues - the nation state can never be fair to humans.
Using that imagery of refugees to refer to gradual immigration that happens over the years as a threat is plain wrong. It's a provocation, part of a strategy.
The problem we have with the Brexit campaign is that it has a clear image, a very drastic image which appeals to fears such as overcrowded cities, feeling like a foreigner in your own country. The In campaign has nothing to counter, in terms of powerful images. They are working with the economic consequences of leaving the EU - how can a normal person imagine that?
I wasn't surprised that the rhetoric got more extreme towards the last days. UKIP's poster wasn't surprising given the rhetoric they have used before - plain tasteless.
In Austria [and elsewhere across Europe] you see the same rhetoric from the far-right parties. It's all about immigration - those people born in the country are by birth better. It goes down the nation-state route. This is a difficult moral dilemma we are facing.
UKIP's use of refugee images in their campaign is extremely unethical. The photo demonises refugees, a vulnerable group who deserve our compassion and empathy not our blame.
The image suggests that refugees are somehow to blame for financial issues in the United Kingdom and this is simply not the case. Framing the photo in this way turns the image into a piece of political propaganda. It fuels race-based discrimination and hatred.
The UKIP image has important similarities with some Nazi propaganda from the 1930s. Both use images to suggest that foreigners are coming in overwhelming numbers and they threaten our culture, our way of life and our economic prosperity. They are both based on the same core lie. The lie at the heart of much Nazi propaganda was that "Others" â Jewish citizens, foreigners, and minority groups â were to blame for Germany's problems. The same lie is at the heart of the UKIP [poster].
There are important differences as well. It's important not to overstate the similarity. Nazi propaganda rarely held back from blatant racial stereotyping and vilification. UKIP images work on a more subtle level to suggest that foreigners should be feared.
Ethics become a great concern when storytelling is adopted for the promotion of political views ... It is unlikely that already vulnerable voters will resist the power of stories in general and political, mediates stories in particular. This reinforces the need to restrict voters' exposure to this type of political advertising, especially in situations in which these vulnerable people are likely to be lost in the story.
[But] political advertising has been exempt from the Advertising Code of the Advertising Standards Authority, the UKâs independent regulator for advertising across all media.
The Electoral Commission, which oversees British elections and referenda, has rejected the idea of regulating political ads.
[As for privacy of the refugees depicted], a right to privacy exists in the UK law, ironically as a consequence of the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, it is legal to photograph anyone on any public property. A photographer at Getty Images took the picture. Getty Images has licensed the picture to UKIP legitimately.
Neither side of the debate has really covered itself in much glory. The arguments to remain part of the European Union or to leave have been aggressive, poisonous and based largely on fear-mongering storytelling, rather than facts.
Whether they contributed to the murder of [Jo Cox], an elected Member of Parliament , which in itself is an affront to democracy, as well as a human tragedy, it is too early to speculate. However, sadly, the awful scenes in Birstall, West Yorkshire, seem to sum up a country that has been tearing itself apart, spurred on by negative storytelling.
While these stories were temporarily suspended following Coxâs death, and before the vote on Thursday, there is a strong argument that political storytelling should be stopped for good.Â
Follow Anealla Safdar on Twitter: Â @anealla | Experts weigh in on whether UKIP EU Referendum poster, which was likened to Nazi propaganda, breaks moral code. | 77.428571 | 0.952381 | 1.428571 | high | high | abstractive | 821 |
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2015/06/chinese-filipinos-ties-bind-150630083731078.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723163436id_/http://www.aljazeera.com:80/indepth/inpictures/2015/06/chinese-filipinos-ties-bind-150630083731078.html | Chinese Filipinos: The ties that bind | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.163436 | Manila, Philippines - In 1861, a villager from the Chinese province of Fujian, sailed across South China Sea to start a new life in the Spanish colony of the Philippines.
Settling in his adoptive home, Co Yu Hwan became Catholic, and adopted the name Jose Cojuangco. He would become the great-grandfather of the first female Philippines president, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, mother of the current president, Benigno Aquino III.
For centuries, migration and trade have bound the Philippines and China. Long before Spanish, American and Japanese colonisers conquered its shores, Chinese junks plyed the seas between mainland Asia and the islands the would become the Philippines.
In 1594, the worldâs first Chinatown was established in the Philippine capital Manila.
The Chinese influence has become embedded into the countryâs identity, becoming distinctly Filipino - from countryâs national hero, Jose Rizal to its Fujian-style noodles, pancit canton.
Unlike Spain, the US and Japan, China has never fought any war against the Philippines.
And yet today, Manila and Beijing find themselves on opposite ends of a geopolitical conflict, with the Philippines on the side of its two former occupiers, the US and Japan.
During a recent visit to Tokyo, President Aquino even made reference to Nazi Germany while denouncing Chinaâs reclamation activities at the Mischief Reef, a territory also claimed by the Philippines.
On July 7, an arbitration court in The Hague formally took up the Philippine case against China. But Beijing has refused the court's jurisdiction. Â Â Â
The dispute, with protests and calls for a boycott against China, has also brought forth a debate on the allegiance of Chinese Filipinos.
One prominent novelist, F Sionil Jose was denounced for suggesting that Chinese Filipinos cannot be trusted in the event of a conflict with China. One US-based Filipino called the statement "dangerous".
Another Filipino scholar, Caroline Hau, in condemning the "scare tactics"Â wrote, "I consider myself a Filipino above all, and am proud of both my Filipino and Chinese heritage."
Follow Ted Regencia on Twitter @tedregencia | The worldâs first Chinatown was established in the Philippine capital Manila in 1594. | 29.071429 | 1 | 9 | medium | high | extractive | 822 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/8190410/Antarctic-cruise-ship-tossed-by-massive-waves.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723171708id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/antarctica/8190410/Antarctic-cruise-ship-tossed-by-massive-waves.html | Antarctic cruise ship tossed by massive waves | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.171708 | The Clelia II declared an emergency on Tuesday, reporting it had lost an engine amid heavy seas and 55 miles per hour winds when it was northeast of the Shetland Islands and about 500 miles from Ushuaia.
The ship, operated by Polar Cruises of Bend, Oregon, has 100 passengers and 60 crew members aboard, according to the Argentine Navy. All were reported safe.
The Navy said the cruise ship was heading for the port of Ushuia at the extreme south of Argentina at four knots (about five miles per hour) on Wednesday and was accompanied by a naval vessel.
The ship set out from Ushuaia on November 30 and was scheduled to return on Wednesday. | Dramatic amateur footage of a cruise ship being buffetted by 30ft waves in high seas off the Antarctic peninsula has been captured by passengers aboard a nearby vessel. | 4.0625 | 0.46875 | 0.59375 | low | low | abstractive | 823 |
http://fortune.com/2016/07/20/celebrities-tribute-garry-marshall-social-media/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723172339id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/07/20/celebrities-tribute-garry-marshall-social-media/ | Celebrities Pay Tribute to Garry Marshall on Social Media | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.172339 | This story originally appeared on ew.com.
Hollywood lost an icon Tuesday evening with the death of Garry Marshall. The influential filmmaker died from complications of pneumonia following a stroke at a hospital in Burbank, California. He was 81 years old.
Marshall’s list of credits spans across decades and includes such accomplishments as creating Happy Days, transforming The Odd Couple from a Broadway play to a five-season TV show, and helmingPretty Woman and The Princess Diaries.
The New York native touched many lives in and outside of Hollywood.
“Thank you for my professional life,” wrote Happy Days alum Henry Winkler on Twitter. “Thank you for your loyalty, friendship and generosity.”
Here’s a sampling of reactions from those mourning Marshall’s death:
GARRY MARSHALL Rest In Peace .. Thank you for my professional life. Thank you for your loyalty , friendship and generosity .
— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) July 20, 2016
Oh, man. RIP Garry Marshall. Sad. Just talked to him. Great guy.
— marc maron (@marcmaron) July 20, 2016
R.I.P. Garry Marshall. A great, great guy and the best casino boss in the history of film. #lostinamerica
— Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) July 20, 2016
Worked with Garry Marshall on the new Odd Couple. I was so excited to meet him. He was gracious,kind & very funny. #GarryMarshal #legend
— Dave Foley (@DaveSFoley) July 20, 2016
RIP Garry Marshall. You forever changed my father's life, and thus, mine. Thank you for capturing so much joy on film, over and over.
— Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) July 20, 2016
My heart is broken. Comic genius, Garry Marshall has died. A cultural icon who was brilliant till the end. Always kind. Always funny! RIP
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) July 20, 2016
A comedy genius has passed on… #RIP #GarryMarshall … I sat & watched everything you created one day hoping it could be me on that screen
— Sherri Shepherd (@SherriEShepherd) July 20, 2016
I lost a friend & mentor. We lost a beautiful man & masterful story teller. Gary Marshall I love you. I hope I get to go where you are.
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) July 20, 2016
I will never be the same. I can't even put into words what #GarryMarshall has meant to my life. I am just heartbroken. #RIP kind Sir.
— yvette nicole brown (@YNB) July 20, 2016
What the world has lost! He was such a dear man. I was so excited about getting to see him again soon. I am inconsolable. #GarryMarshall
— yvette nicole brown (@YNB) July 20, 2016
Garry Marshall would always say (and lived by this) "It's nice to be important, it's more important to be nice." RIP Legend
— donal logue (@donallogue) July 20, 2016
Very sorry to hear of loss of Garry Marshall. Those who grew up when I did remember a TV schedule filled with his humor and inspiration.
— Jane Espenson (@JaneEspenson) July 20, 2016
Click here for the original story. | His work touched so many lives. | 91.428571 | 0.857143 | 1.142857 | high | medium | abstractive | 824 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/07/the-eu-has-revealed-its-true-nature-a-federalist-monster-that-wi/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723180646id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/2016/04/07/the-eu-has-revealed-its-true-nature-a-federalist-monster-that-wi/ | The EU has revealed its true nature: a federalist monster that will not stop until nations are abolished | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.180646 | Inevitably, nothing in the EU plans involves bringing back internal borders or strengthening external frontiers. Essentially there are two options, both involving more central control. One is to keep the existing Dublin scheme, but introduce a “corrective mechanism” so that refugees could be redistributed around the EU at times of crisis to take the pressure of the Mediterranean states like Italy and Greece. The second more radical option is to scrap the Dublin rules and instead impose a mandatory scheme for redistributing migrants, through quotas based on the wealth and population of each member state.
In accordance with federalist dogma, both schemes involve a massive increase in EU power and a further erosion of national sovereignty. The migration crisis might be a nightmare for the peoples of Europe, but it is a dream for the federalists. They cannot even disguise their delight at the prospect of a tightening grip on the members states. “We need a sustainable system for the future, based on common rules ad a fairer sharing of responsibility,” says the Commission's First Vice President, Frans Timmermans. The Belgian politician and federalist fanatic Guy Verhofstadt goes even further, demanding a “fair distribution scheme” that will “put in place a much needed collective European response to the refugees crisis.”
The direction of EU policy is absolutely clear. The march towards the superstate is accelerating. For decades, the Europhile brigade has tried to pretend that we stay in the EU and keep our national integrity. Indeed, when Ted Heath’s Tory Government signed us up to the Common Market in 1973, they claimed that the move would involve “no essential loss of sovereignty”. But, after the migration crisis, the deceit cannot go on.
The Remain camp will no doubt claim that the new EU migration policy will have little impact on Britain because we have an opt-out, but that is just another deception. For a start, the EU could bully us into accepting quotas by threatening not to accept any deportations of EU migrants from Britain or by imposing fines. Or the EU could just ignore our opt-out, as it so often does with policies it does not like. That would especially be true if the Referendum vote is to Remain. In that case, Britain will have absolutely no leverage, no bargaining power. And whatever the formal rules, the fact is that EU migration has a massive impact on Britain; in the year to December 2015, no fewer than 630,000 EU migrants were issued with National Insurance numbers here.
The Commission’s decision on refugee policy is bound to have a profound impact on the Referendum debate. The choice is now more stark than ever: we either regain control of our own national borders, or we become sucked further into a system that dictates how many foreigners are allowed to settle here. The Remain camp likes to present the two alternatives as either a “leap into the known” or the reassuring stability of the status quo under Brussels rule. But there is nothing remotely certain about the EU’s future.
The current migration looks certain to worsen, especially once the EU fulfils its goal of enlargement by giving membership to Turkey and Bosnia, with their 80 million-strong Muslim population. Some EU supporters even want enlargement to extend to the strife-torn, Islam dominated countries of North Africa. This would be “the most effective policy tool that Europe possesses to deal with instability on its borders,” claims one pro-EU analyst.
The real leap into the unknown lies in our continued membership. Brexit would be a return to a known position that existed for centuries before 1973, when Britain was a successful, independent nation. | At the entrance to the Visitors Centre of the European Parliament, there is a plaque with these words: | 35.2 | 0.65 | 1.05 | medium | low | abstractive | 825 |
http://time.com/4415634/ohio-mom-daughter-rape-drugs/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723180855id_/http://time.com:80/4415634/ohio-mom-daughter-rape-drugs/ | Ohio Mom Sentenced for Allowing Daughter to Be Raped | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.180855 | A Cincinnati mom will spend at least 51 years in prison after she was sentenced this week for sexually trafficking her daughter – 11 at the time – for heroin, PEOPLE has confirmed.
“I can honestly say that, in three and a half years on the bench, this is by far the worst thing that has come before this court,” Judge Leslie Ghiz of Ohio’s Hamilton County Pleas Court said Tuesday at April Corcoran’s sentencing, according to the Washington Post.
Corcoran, 32, was sentenced to prison for 51 years to life, following her guilty plea in June, prosecutors tell PEOPLE. She admitted she let her drug dealer perform sexual acts on her preteen child, in exchange for drugs, prosecutors say.
Corcoran also admitted to forcing the girl to take heroin, prosecutors say, after which the girl reportedly would vomit.
Corcoran pleaded guilty to four counts of trafficking in persons, four counts of complicity (rape), one count of endangering children and one count of corrupting another with drugs, prosecutors say.
According to the Post, the drug dealer allegedly raped the preteen, sodomized her and forced her to perform oral sex, sometimes recording the acts on video, over four separate occasions. The incidents occurred between February and June 2014, according to the Cincinnati Inquirer.
“I made selfish, horrible choices that will affect [my daughter] for the rest of her life,” Corcoran said in a statement to the court Tuesday, according to the Inquirer”.
“I am consumed by guilt and shame every day,” she said.
However, Ghiz said to Corcoran, “You showed no kind of mercy” – and never apologized to her daughter.
PEOPLE could not immediately reach Corcoran’s attorney for comment. The accused drug dealer is her case, Shandell Willingham, 42, is awaiting trail in August, according to the Inquirer.
Willingham faces the same charges as Corcoran; and, in an unrelated Indiana case, he was previously convicted on drug charges and child pornography charges, according to the Inquirer.
It was not immediately clear if he had entered a plea in this case.
Corcoran’s daughter, now 13, is living with her father, stepmother and two siblings, according to reports. WKRC reports she has suicidal thoughts and is on medication, according to the judge’s paperwork.
This article originally appeared on People.com | April Corcoran will spend at least 51 years in prison | 46.5 | 1 | 6.8 | high | high | mixed | 826 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/britains-healthiest-company/10991591/workplace-health-uk-report.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723182507id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/sponsored/business/britains-healthiest-company/10991591/workplace-health-uk-report.html | Workplace health: UK report concludes ‘could do better’ | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.182507 | The analysis of the results from the research, which was carried out by the University of Cambridge and RAND Europe who collaborate on health research through the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research, provide a fascinating snapshot of the UK’s workplace well-being – there are some hopeful trends, but also some clearly worrying numbers, too.
• 87pc of the participants had a Vitality Health Age older than their actual age
• 88pc of employees had at least one risk factor (such as poor nutrition, BMI or smoking) outside the recommended healthy range, while 13pc had four or more
• Only 20pc had all three screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose in the preceding 12 months
• Around one in five (19.3pc) reported at least one existing diagnosed lifestyle-related health condition, such as heart disease or high blood pressure
The 25,102 responses to the survey were voluntary and self-selecting from more than 204,143 employees invited to take part – more than twice the number who responded last year. But as the survey was not compulsory, it is likely that the actual results are worse, with volunteers likely to be healthier (and more interested in well-being) than average. The overall picture suggests a high prevalence of lifestyle and clinical risk factors that could have a damaging impact on life expectancy and quality of life.
The most worrying finding was perhaps the difference between workers’ Vitality Ages and real ages. The concept of a Vitality Age has been developed by VitalityHealth from a meta-analysis of more than 5,000 published studies, representing 75 million life years of data.
Vitality Ages are derived by reviewing a person’s key clinical measurements such as BMI, cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure levels, and depression and lifestyle factors, including smoking, alcohol and nutrition intake and physical activity.
87pc of employees report work-related stress
In the new survey, 20,501 respondents had a Vitality Age that was higher than their actual age. The average actual age of the respondents was 36, yet their average Vitality Age was 40 years. And about one in seven (13pc) of all the workers surveyed were found to be more than eight years older than their chronological ages.
The gap was found to be worse among males in the workforce than in their female counterparts, with the Vitality Age gap of males an average of nearly 11 months higher.
Low-income earners (below £30,000 pa) also fared badly, with the data showing Vitality Ages that were on average almost nine months older than people in higher-income positions.
The most at-risk group was workers aged over 60 years, who had an average difference between their Vitality and actual ages of 4.27 years – just ahead of the 4.26-year difference for staff aged between 51-60.
And while most participants were in the "healthy" range for some risk factors (81pc for alcohol consumption, 50pc for BMI, 61pc for smoking [including ex-smokers] and 64pc for physical activity), only 48pc were considered to be "healthy" when their diets were analysed so there is still room for improvement.
However, we shouldn’t be devoid of hope. The organisers of Britain’s Healthiest Company say that corporate Britain can really make a difference, with employers utilising their direct access to captive populations to drive behavioural change.
64pc are satisfied with their current job
And companies will benefit, too: healthy employees are more motivated and less prone to long-term sickness, have low staff turnover and improved morale all round. Recruitment is easier when companies are known to care for their staff – whether it’s organising a free flu jab or a seminar on healthy eating.
Moreover, the study shows that there is real enthusiasm among participants when it comes to being inspired to make change – especially around activity and weight loss: 56pc said they were motivated to lower their BMI and 50pc wanted to increase levels of physical activity. Less promising was the percentage of workers who wanted to improve nutrition (25pc), smoking (40pc) and alcohol consumption (2pc).
Although only half of UK companies have set aside budgets to deal specifically with "wellness", more are getting the message. However, while companies are offering a wide range of initiatives, there is a lack of co-ordination, which directly impacts on their effectiveness.
Managers are also not being trained to roll out programmes across the organisation on the ground with only 35pc of companies providing line-manager training in health and well-being. Health programmes that are offered are also not being communicated effectively, although things are improving.
Last year, only 21pc of those surveyed, for example, said they carried out general health-related communication or education with their staff, through either internet-based or printed materials. Cut to 2014 and nearly half of all companies – both large and small – are actively promoting health by using outbound communications from senior leadership (42pc).
Even more (73pc) are using newsletters or emails to promote programmes or campaigns, and 72pc rely on visual reminders at the workplace, for example posters, flyers and video displays. Over a third of companies (37pc) are using schemes based on peer-based champions to promote programmes and initiatives while only 16pc have no active promotional activities.
There is greater emphasis on health-related services: 68pc provide stress-management programmes.
Nutrition is being considered, too: 68pc are offering healthy eating information, with 61pc backing that up with healthy food alternatives at canteens, and 38pc providing healthy food alternatives in vending machines. Fresh fruit and vegetables in the workplace were offered by 63pc of companies and 29pc went even further by providing dietician/nutritionist services.
And even when companies address those obvious areas where health can be improved thanks to workplace interventions, how do we help the five per cent who are getting fewer than six hours of sleep nightly or the 34pc who report working more than 40 hours in the week before the survey? For that, a corporate culture change may be needed.
• Find out more at britainshealthiestcompany.co.uk | Nutritional values on canteen meals and regular health checks can result in a healthier workforce and in turn a healthier bottom line | 53.454545 | 0.590909 | 0.590909 | high | low | abstractive | 827 |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/euterpes-daughters-1466192573 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723185448id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/euterpes-daughters-1466192573 | Euterpe’s Daughters | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.185448 | When the Metropolitan Opera announced that it would be performing “L’amour de loin” by Finland’s Kaija Saariaho in its coming season, headlines blared that this work was the first by a woman composer to be performed at the Met in more than a century. The last, forgettably, was “Der Wald” by Ethel Smyth in 1903.
I’m not sure which detail was the more regrettable—the inexcusable hiatus or the bad journalism that zoned in on a composer’s gender. A woman may, in 2016, direct the Large Hadron Collider or serve as chief... | Norman Lebrecht reviews “Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music” by Anna Beer. | 5.5 | 0.25 | 0.35 | low | low | abstractive | 828 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3631590/Why-are-we-so-afraid-of-Turkey.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723195228id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/features/3631590/Why-are-we-so-afraid-of-Turkey.html | Why are we so afraid of Turkey? | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.195228 | That sentence was taken out of context, flashed round the world, and soon there were riots everywhere from Jakarta to Qom.
The doors of churches were stoved in by mobs. Morocco recalled its ambassador to the Holy See.
Most wretchedly of all, Somali gunmen were so stoked up by the anti-Papal imprecations of the local imam that on Sept 16, shortly before lunch, they pulled up outside a Catholic-run hospital in Mogadishu and fired seven shots into the back of a sweet-faced, 62-year-old Italian nun called Sister Leonella.
It was no accident that the head of the Roman Catholic Church should quote the despairing words of the father of the last Roman emperor.
The views of the present Pope about Islam, or at least the views he cited and from which he at no point dissented in his speech, are very old indeed. They are at least partly dictated by deep underlying accretions of phobia and anxiety.
It is these subconscious layers of prejudice that help to explain how we think about everything from Islamic terrorism to Turkish membership of the EU.
To understand how these attitudes came to be formed, we need to look right back to the time of Manuel II Palaeologus, and the role of Islam in the death throes of the Roman Empire.
Manuel was not a "Byzantine", or at least he would not have understood what you meant by that polemical term, coined in 16th-century Germany.
He was a Roman, a Romaios, and though he spoke in Greek, that was because Greek was a Roman language. His coins still called him "king" and "autocrator", and he was the direct titular heir of Augustus Caesar, in an unbroken tradition going back 13 centuries.
He was the Vice Gerent of God on Earth, the ruler of the Roman Empire - though the Roman Empire over which he ruled had been sliced down to a tiny rump.
By 1391 the position was so bad that Manuel had to give himself up as a hostage to the sultan, the appalling Beyazit, and to go out and watch the Turks on their dreadful business.
He was made a spectator of the Turkish destruction of what had been the heartland of civilisation, and of the Roman world, and Manuel's anti-Islamic appeal has a resonance today, because Turkey is again being considered for membership of the EU.
In so far as there is a problem with the Turkish application, it is little to do with economics. Turkish per capita GDP is bigger than some previous EU entrants'.
It's not about Cyprus, or poverty, or population. It's not even that the Turks have sallow skin, thick eyebrows, or low foreheads, or whatever other prejudiced stereotype you choose.
No, my friends, the reason the richest nations on earth have havered for so long about admitting Johnny Turk to their club is all about - you know - "values".
As the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, put it breathily on the Today programme: "Surely a European Union has to be more than economic? It has to have common values and so on..."
And as for the Holy Father, Pope Benedict, here is what he said when he was just Cardinal Ratzinger, back in 2004. "Turkey is in permanent contrast to Europe," he said, and admission to the EU would be a mistake.
What these politicians mean, with their nudge-nudge remarks about "values" and "culture" and "Europeanness", is that in the course of that thousand years something rather fundamental happened to the Roman Empire and to Constantinople. That something was Islam.
Adolf Hitler was not a noted classical scholar, but he took a professional interest in the rise and fall of Reichs. "I often wonder," the dictator mused, "why the ancient world collapsed." It is a very good question, and much depends on what you mean by collapse.
Hitler was too busy conquering Belgium to read the works of its greatest historian, but in 1935 Henri Pirenne had produced an answer to the Führer's question. It was called Mahomet and Charlemagne, and though hardly anyone is now willing to defend the argument in its entirety, it has proved one of the most influential works of our time.
Henri Pirenne looked at the barbarian invasions of the western Empire. Where others have seen breakdown and disaster, he was more struck by the continuities.
In spite of their name, the Vandals did not destroy all the Roman villas.
They liked to live in them, and even if there were a few tiles missing, the agricultural system was recognisably Roman. There were still land taxes, and the same latifundia - the big farms - and the same tolls at the markets.
Above all, they benefited from the same great Roman unity - the economic system that was based around Mare Nostrum, the Mediterranean.
Herodotus once came up with a fine metaphor for the Greek cities that ringed the Mediterranean: they were like frogs around a pond, he said; and in many ways that metaphor was still accurate.
The frogs were larger, perhaps, and they were more like Greco-Roman frogs, but they were still all the same species, croaking and communicating across the prosperous inner sea.
And then, says Henri Pirenne, there came the Muslim invasions of the seventh and eighth centuries.
The Persian Empire fell. Egypt was lost. Africa was lost, the breadbasket of the Roman world. The Arabs were completely different in their war aims from the Germanic tribes who had pushed down from the north and sacked Rome.
They didn't want to integrate. They didn't want to buy into that gorgeous Roman civilisation. They didn't aspire to Romanitas, let alone Christianitas. The Germans became Romanised as soon as they entered Romania.
As Pirenne puts it, the Roman became Arabised as soon as he was conquered by Islam.
Onwards and upwards roared the Muslims.
They conquered Spain. They burst through the Pyrenees, capturing Anjou and Arles and what had been Roman Provence.
Thanks to the Muslim embargo on trade with the infidel, and their possession of Spain and North Africa, the western Mediterranean became a Moorish lake from which sea traffic had all but disappeared.
Pirenne quotes the 14th-century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldoun, who says gloatingly that, except for the bit nearest Constantinople, "the Christians could not float a plank upon the sea".
The result was the destruction of the Roman Economic Community, and the collapse of trade.
Papyrus disappears, Pirenne points out. Gold becomes far scarcer. Half the frogs around the Mediterranean pond were turned into Muslim frogs.
The vital point is that they croaked in Arabic, and they had nothing to do with the Greco-Roman frogs. It was the end, says Pirenne, of the unity of the Roman system. It marked a steep decline in prosperity.
There are many who now say that this brilliant thesis is a gross oversimplification.
But even if it is only half-true, even if Pirenne's critics are right to say that these transformations were well on the way before the Muslim invasions, one can hardly doubt the profound psychological and emotional pull of what he says.
Deep in the European subconscious is the memory of a war with the Muslims; how Sicily was lost, how half of Spain was conquered and finally how Constantinople was sacked on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, a date that lives in infamy.
The Turks battered down the doors of churches and enslaved people on the spot.
Women were ravished; girls and boys were raped on the altar tables. Hundreds of severed heads bobbed in the waters, reminding one Venetian of rotten melons in the canals of his native city.
Knowing that the city was lost, Manuel's son, Constantine XI Dragases, cast off his imperial raiment and charged into the fray. When his savaged body was recovered, it is said that the sultan, Mehmet II, had his head stuck on a pole.
For 900 years, a gilt cross had been seen on the vast dome of Hagia Sophia. Now Mehmet commanded a senior imam to ascend the pulpit, and as the slashing of throats and smashing of pictures continued all around, he announced in the name of Allah the All-Merciful and Compassionate that there was no God but God and Mohammed was his prophet.
It was the end of Rome, in the sense that Constantinople was still the imperial capital.
It was the end of Christianity as the dominant religion of what was to become Istanbul. From that date, Turkey joins Egypt and North Africa and the huge tracts of the former Empire which our Popes and prelates and politicians think are not culturally congruent with modern, western Europe - because they fell to Islam.
The French object to the Turks because of the Armenian massacres, as though France were guiltless herself. Brussels occasionally launches another of its sermons about gender equality, though it should be remembered that Turkey gave women the vote before Belgium.
Far more important is the Turkish record on human rights, and this is very far from perfect.
But then neither was the Greek human rights record when she was admitted to the EEC; and it is one of the most important reasons for keeping the Turks on the tram-tracks to EU membership, surely, that we thereby help the progressive forces in Turkey, and stop the country drifting backwards.
There is no doubt that the present west European snootiness - all this blather about "values" from the Popes and the priests and the politicians - is beginning to turn the Turks off. The more pro-Islamic mood in Turkish politics is starting to impress other countries in the Middle East, and Turkish influence is spreading in the area for the first time since the dissolution of the Islamic caliphate in 1924. The number of flights from Istanbul to Damascus has doubled since 2000. Arab visitors to Turkey have trebled between 2001 and 2005, and in that year one million Iranians flew for their hols to the Turkish Riviera.
Now: what would be better for the long-term health of the planet - a Turkey increasingly apathetic about Europe, and interested in forging links with Iran? Or one firmly entrenched in the European Union, reaching out to provide a stabilising influence in what will remain, in our lifetimes, the most dangerous region of the world? I know what I want. So why does everyone hesitate? As the Pope indicated, the problem is religious, or "cultural". It won't do.
We need reconciliation, not repulsion. We need reciprocity, not rejection. Instead of intensifying the differences, by burbling on about alien "values", we should see that we are coming to a critical moment in our discussions with Turkey. We either shore up the Ataturk achievement, and reinforce Turkey's huge success in becoming a secular democracy with a Muslim population. Or we wrinkle up our noses at the Turks because of their religion.
And if we do, what are we saying to moderate Muslims all over the world? What are we saying to those who believe it is possible to make an accommodation between Islam and democracy? What are we saying to the millions of Muslims who have made their homes and lives in western Europe, including Britain? Are they a kind of geographical error?
Should they be barred, by their alien "culture", from living here? We would be crazy to reject Turkey, which is not only the former heartland of the Roman empire but also, I see, one of the leading suppliers of British fridges. One Turkish company alone has 15 per cent of the UK fridge market.
Think of all those Turkish fridges, thundering through the passes of the Balkans to Germany and Britain. Think of the intimate interdependency it sets up between the workers of Turkey and the kitchens of Britain.
Think of the colossal numbers of Britons now buying property in Turkey.
I am not saying that a lively trade in fridges or timeshares means political union. Nor am I saying that this process should happen quickly, or that we should soon allow unlimited migration from Turkey to the UK. Absolutely not.
But what do we gain by continually asserting some "cultural" gulf between us and this "alien" people?
One day, if we get it right with Turkey, we could rebuild the whole ancient harmonious union around the Mediterranean, the rich and free dissemination of produce described by Henri Pirenne, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Bosphorus; from Tunis to Lyons.
We could heal the rupture created by the Muslim invasions. We could create, once again, the Roman Economic Community built around Mare Nostrum.
Over time, we need to develop a new and deeper relationship between the EU and the Maghreb countries of North Africa, based on the old Roman idea of tolerance.
It is time we all grew up and recognised that there is not a cat's chance in hell that Islam will build a new caliphate in western Europe; and it is time the Muslims got with the programme, and recognised the irreversibility of female emancipation, and also that there is no disgrace in being altogether apathetic on the question of whether or not Mohammed is the sole Prophet of God, and that if a religion is truly great it does not matter a damn whether people draw pictures of its prophet.
That will never happen as long as Muslims feel demonised, as long as their very sense of identity and belonging is created by a sense of rejection and inferiority.
One of the reasons the Roman system worked so well for so long was that different religions and races were a matter of curiosity and respect, not paranoia.
That is a dream worth reviving - and not just because it holds out the hope of reuniting the two halves of the Roman empire around the shores of the Mediterranean.
If we can achieve a reconciliation between Islam and Christianity, I suppose we might also save the lives of innocent people like Sister Leonella. | In a new extract from his brilliant book on Rome, Boris Johnson argues that our anxieties about Islam must not jeopardise the reconciliation between East and West. | 94.37931 | 0.724138 | 1 | high | low | abstractive | 829 |
http://time.com/4342952/zika-cape-verde-africa-brazil-virus/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723212608id_/http://time.com:80/4342952/zika-cape-verde-africa-brazil-virus/ | First Brazil-Type Zika Circulation Confirmed in Africa | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.212608 | The strain of the Zika Virus raging in South America that has been linked to birth defects has been confirmed in Africa for the first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday.
Researchers sequenced the virus from a sample from Cape Verde, Reuters reports. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Africa director, said she does not recommend travel restrictions as a means of stemming the spread of the disease.
“The findings are of concern because it is further proof that the outbreak is spreading beyond South America and is on the doorstep of Africa,” said Moeti.
This strain of Zika has been linked to neurological problems and babies being born with microcephaly, but the virus as it originated in Africa has not been known to cause the defects. | A Cape Verde sample was positive for the type of Zika in Brazil, the WHO said. | 8.055556 | 0.777778 | 1.444444 | low | low | abstractive | 830 |
http://time.com/4389939/barack-obama-donald-trump-populism/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160723215026id_/http://time.com:80/4389939/barack-obama-donald-trump-populism/ | Barack Obama Reveals His Populist Blind Spot | 1970-08-22T08:12:03.215026 | At a press conference in Canada on Wednesday, President Obama indulged himself in what he referred to as “a rant” about the meaning of the word “populist.” Like most rants, it was more spirited than factual—and it revealed an interesting blind spot in the way American liberals construe U.S. history.
Obama’s trigger was the use of the word “populism” to describe the divisive and conspiratorial politics of Donald Trump. “I’m not prepared to concede the notion that some of the rhetoric that’s been popping up is populist,” the president declared during a joint appearance with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
Populism, he insisted, has to do with protecting the little guy against powerful corporate interests, guaranteeing educational opportunity regardless of wealth, and insuring a fair shake for workers. “I suppose that makes me a populist,” Obama said.
“They don’t suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes,” he said. “That’s not the measure of populism; that’s nativism or xenophobia … or it’s just cynicism,” he continued. “Somebody who labels us versus them, or engages in rhetoric about how we’re going to look after ourselves and take it to the other guy, that’s not the definition of populism.”
In fact, the history of American populism is full of nativism and xenophobia, not to mention racism and religious bigotry. This used to be widely understood.
Populism, American-style, has its roots in the economic upheaval of the early industrial age, when subsistence farming gave way to modern trade-based society. In the late 19th century, farmers found themselves increasingly dependent on railroads to take their crops to distant markets. Controlled by trans-Atlantic financiers and their hand-picked elected officials, the railroads were exactly the sort of powerful corporate interest that Obama had in mind.
The Farmers Alliance movement of the 1870s and 1880s—with support from some labor organizations—evolved into a Populist party that surged to national prominence in the 1896 presidential election. Stoked by resentment over the crushing recession of 1893, the Populists helped to lift William Jennings Bryan to the Democratic nomination at a convention where Bryan denounced international financiers in his famous “Cross of Gold” speech.
“The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer,” declared Bryan, in the egalitarian tones that earned him the nickname, “the Great Commoner.” “The merchant at the cross-roads store is as much a business man as the merchant of New York; the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day … is as much a business man as the man who goes upon the Board of Trade and bets upon the price of grain; the miners who go down a thousand feet into the earth … are as much business men as the few financial magnates who, in a back room, corner the money of the world.”
On this note, modern liberals like Obama bring their account of Populism to a ringing end. In this, they’ve followed the lead of author Thomas Frank, whose 2004 bestseller “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” spun a theory of modern politics from a potted history of Midwestern populism. The trouble is, Populism did not end with the 1896 campaign.
By marrying into the Democratic Party, which was dominated by the Jim Crow South, the Populists hitched their wagon to the politics of racism, nativism, and xenophobia. Their conspiratorial view of economics originally led them to reach out to downtrodden African-Americans and oppressed immigrants as fellow soldiers in the battle between us-and-them. But in the first two decades of the 20th century, those same attitudes became entangled with notions of nefarious Yankees, Jewish manipulators, and wage-draining immigrants.
This was the zenith of the Ku Klux Klan, which rose in the years after World War I to political influence from California to Indiana, Oregon to Colorado. “The Klan of the twenties might be best understood as a populist organization,” writes Shawn Lay, editor of “The Invisible Empire in the West.”
Thomas Watson of Georgia epitomized the rancid turn. Starting out as a friend of the little guy, the Populist firebrand morphed into a hateful, xenophobic, and deeply divisive figure. Bryan, too, experienced this ugly evolution. A generation after his 1896 triumph, Bryan climbed the stage at the 1924 Democratic Convention to deliver a speech against a platform plank that would have repudiated the Klan. In helping to defeat the progressive measure, Bryan spoke “with his old-time fire and enthusiasm,” eyewitness Elmer Davis reported in the New York Times.
Populism is not an agenda; it is a way of viewing the world. It can come from the left or the right. It can be progressive or reactionary—or both, in an incoherent mix. It is simply the political expression of the free-floating sense that power corrupts, that those who have power conspire to keep it at the expense of humane and patriotic values. There is a streak of populism is virtually every American—it’s no accident that the opening words of the Constitution are “We the people.” But as long as people are capable of hatreds, resentments, and small-mindedness, populism will never be as simple as Barack Obama would like it to be.
And that, alas, will be a long, long time. | A misreading of history from the presidential podium | 133.125 | 0.75 | 1 | high | low | abstractive | 831 |
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/jessica-williams-signs-daily-show-article-1.2695901 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160724032843id_/http://www.nydailynews.com:80/entertainment/tv/jessica-williams-signs-daily-show-article-1.2695901 | Jessica Williams signs off from ‘Daily Show' | 1970-08-22T08:12:04.032843 | Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” has said goodbye to longtime correspondent Jessica Williams, who is working on a new project with the cable network.
Williams joined the program in January 2012 under former host Jon Stewart. At 22, she was the show’s youngest correspondent ever and also the first black woman in the role.
Williams wrapped up her tenure Thursday night with a piece about disappointed Bernie Sanders supporters opting to vote for Republican Donald Trump this fall. After the piece aired, host Trevor Noah paid tribute to Williams , calling her “the coolest, most awesome person.” Williams didn’t say much during the segment and appeared to be fighting back tears.
Williams signed a development deal with Comedy Central in March. She’s working on a pilot for a half-hour scripted series. | “Daily Show” has said goodbye to correspondent Jessica Williams, who is working on a new project with Comedy Central. | 6.73913 | 1 | 9.26087 | low | high | extractive | 832 |
http://www.tmz.com/2012/12/31/asap-rocky-sued-lawsuit-drugs-assault | http://web.archive.org/web/20160724062550id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2012/12/31/asap-rocky-sued-lawsuit-drugs-assault | A$AP Rocky Sued -- Rapper Got High and Beat the Crap Outta Me! | 1970-08-22T08:12:04.062550 | did a bunch of illegal drugs before violently attacking an innocent man in a NY clothing store back in July -- this according to the alleged victim, who's now suing Rocky for assault.
You'll recall, A$AP -- real name Rakim Mayers -- was arrested in July following a fight between the rapper and two amateur photogs, who had been filming Rocky while he was involved in an altercation with another person.
Now the guy who was being filmed has filed a lawsuit against Rocky, claiming he saw the rapper get high in the clothing store (using unspecified illegal drugs) ... and Rocky unleashed a ferocious beatdown.
The alleged victim -- Shenick Alcine -- claims Rocky noticed the two photogs filming him and then quickly re-directed his fury at them.
As we first reported, Rocky has already struck a plea deal in the photog-beating case -- pleading guilty to attempted grand larceny for trying to take their cameras. The assault and robbery charges were dropped.
Calls to Rocky's people weren't returned. | Rapper A$AP Rocky did a bunch of illegal drugs before violently attacking an innocent man in a NY clothing store back in July -- this according to the… | 6.6 | 0.966667 | 21.033333 | low | high | extractive | 833 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/07/23/inter-stark-marriage-hodors-return-and-samwell-tarlys-dream-demi/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160725003437id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/tv/2016/07/23/inter-stark-marriage-hodors-return-and-samwell-tarlys-dream-demi/ | Inter-Stark marriage, Hodor's return and Samwell Tarly's dream demise: 10 things we learned from the Game of Thrones Comic-Con panel | 1970-08-22T08:12:05.003437 | Among the cast members in attendance was Kristian Nairn, aka Hodor, the loveable giant whose tragic demise devastated fans early in Season 6. So naturally people were very pleased to see Nairn at Comic-Con, and share their pain. Deadline reports that audience members were quick off the mark to pay tribute:
“When Nairn was brought out onstage for the panel, someone in the audience shouted, ‘Hold the door!’ — which prompted many others to yell out ‘Hodor! Hodor! Hodor!’”
Nairn appeared visibly moved while discussing the extent of the fan reaction following Hodor’s death.
During Season Six there was rife speculation that Sansa would betray Jon at a crucial moment after failing to tell him about her negotiations with Littlefinger. But when the Knights of the Vale came riding in and saved the day during the Battle of the Bastards, it was clear that Sansa was just quietly proving that she understood battle strategy better than her emotive half-brother. Turner conceded as much during the panel, saying: “she wanted all the credit … and it makes for really good television.”
As for Snow’s ruling capabilities, Turner said: “I’m not sure she believes Jon is capable of running Winterfell in the North. He doesn’t have the intellect, the knowledge, the experience that she has.”
Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, showed what kind of Queen of the North she might make by forcing everyone to have a shot of vodka before they went on stage. | Game of Thrones cast and crew members turned up at Comic-Con on Friday night to delight fans and attempt not to give away any information that would breach their contracts during a panel. | 8.083333 | 0.583333 | 0.916667 | low | low | abstractive | 834 |
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/01/why-us-brain-drain-harms-developing-countries-201411553847358568.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160725031703id_/http://www.aljazeera.com:80/indepth/opinion/2014/01/why-us-brain-drain-harms-developing-countries-201411553847358568.html | Why US brain drain harms developing countries | 1970-08-22T08:12:05.031703 | The same companies that have exported or outsourced American jobs and industries to low-wage countries are now ferociously lobbying Congress to enact legislation to more than double the number of skilled professionals they can import annually under H-1B visas from the developing world. Greased by campaign contributions, this expanded brain drain drive on Capitol Hill and in the mass media is led by the super-profitable, tax-subsidized corporate welfare Kings of Silicon Valley â otherwise known as Google, Facebook, Oracle, Intel, Cisco and their northern neighbour, Microsoft.
Over the objections of labour groups, these companies and their allies, including banks, IBM, Pfizer, and General Electric, have persuaded the U.S. Senate to increase the yearly H-1B visas from 65,000 to 110,000, and as high as 300,000 under certain
The companies that have exported or outsourced American jobs and industries to low-wage countries are now ferociously lobbying Congress to enact legislation to more than double the number of skilled professionals they can import annually under H-1B visas from the developing world.
Greased by campaign contributions, this expanded brain drain drive on Capitol Hill and in the mass media is led by the super-profitable, tax-subsidised corporate welfare Kings of Silicon Valley - otherwise known as Google, Facebook, Oracle, Intel, Cisco and their northern neighbour, Microsoft.
Over the objections of labour groups, these companies and their allies, including banks, IBM, Pfizer, and General Electric, have persuaded the US Senate to increase the yearly H-1B visas from 65,000 to 110,000, and as high as 300,000 under certain conditions. Foreign workers trained in science, technology and engineering are preferred to their US counterparts because, in the words of economist Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute, they are indentured "people who could not switch employers to improve their wages or working conditionsâ¦. Too many are paid at wages below the average for their occupation and location: over half of all H-1B guest workers [there are already 500,000 such workers] are certified for wages in the bottom quarter of the wage scale".
Bringing more such workers from abroad, says Eisenbrey, "would obviously darken job prospects for America's struggling young scientists and engineers" trying to find jobs commensurate with their skills.
In fact, reflecting the surplus, the pay is so low that of the nine million Americans who have degrees in a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) field only three million have a job in their speciality.
All these facts do not stop New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, and many other pundits and politicians, from demanding many more H-1B visas and immediate permanent residence for foreign students earning US advanced degrees.
Isn't it fortunate for the people of Bangladesh and others that a young Muhammad Yunus was not lured away to Wall Street and stayed in Bangladesh to start the now famous micro-credit movement in thousands of villages?
But there is a more stunning indifference by corporate lobbyists, pundits and members of Congress to the consequences of the brain drain on developing countries. While the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is stressing the need for developing countries to build up their "human capital", back in the US, the corporate powers-that-be and their political allies are undermining this tenet of US foreign economic policy.
If "human capital" means anything in the poorer areas of Africa, South America and Asia, it means civil engineers, scientists, physicians, nurses, computer and communications specialists, logistical experts, architects and entrepreneurs. They all are in short supply in these regions that have already lost so many skilled people to the West.
When a wealthy nation like the United States allows its giant corporations to turn their backs on the American labour force, impoverished societies overseas are also exploited unconscionably, often with deadly results.
In Africa, human beings die or become seriously sick for lack of physicians, nurses and indigenous scientific laboratories searching for ways to prevent or deal with infections and other diseases ignored by Western nations. Moreover critical public services are not maintained for the necessities of life.
Look at this problem from another perspective. Isn't it fortunate for the people of Bangladesh and others that a young Muhammad Yunus was not lured away to Wall Street and stayed in Bangladesh to start the now famous micro-credit movement in thousands of villages? Or wasn't it better for Brazil that Paulo Freire was not lured to Berkeley but instead remained in Brazil to create and apply his brilliant world-famous literacy programme for impoverished rural Brazilians?
Wasn't it better that an aggressive brain drain did not bring Hassan Fathy to our land instead of him becoming Egypt's "people architect" to show poor Egyptian peasants how to build small homes from the soil beneath their feet and stimulate architectural counterparts in other developing countries?
A quick glance at the annual report of the Ashoka Community of Fellows, founded by Bill Drayton, showcases the kind of skilled people from developing countries who became "change makers" because they remained in their own countries where they learned their many talents and refined their motivations.
Sure, nobody is forcing skilled workers from less developed countries to come to the US other than dictators, but if the US wants peace, stability and better livelihoods to have a chance, it has to tell its giant corporations to pull back on their gluttonous appetite to recruit the "cream of the crop" from these countries and invest in American skills.
These companies should display a little American patriotism by getting off Congress's back, hiring or training more Americans and finding some "cognitive empathy", in the words of Drayton, towards other far less privileged societies.Â
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author.Â
Follow him on Twitter: @Ralph_Nader | US companies lure highly skilled, and cheap, foreign workers at the expense of Americans with the same skill sets. | 50.545455 | 0.727273 | 1.090909 | high | low | abstractive | 835 |
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/07/2010748131864654.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160725041154id_/http://www.aljazeera.com:80/news/2010/07/2010748131864654.html | Jordan is not Palestine | 1970-08-22T08:12:05.041154 | George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, has recently expressed his frustration at the lack of progress in the stalled "peace process".But it may be time for Mitchell to move aside, as Geert Wilders, the leader of the Netherlands' third-largest party, seems to have found a 'creative solution' to the conflict: Jordan should be renamed Palestine and become a homeland for the Palestinians.
Unfortunately for Wilders - and the Israeli right - this 'solution' is neither original nor acceptable and Jordanian officials have responded with a resounding condemnation of the proposal.The 'Jordan option'
The plan to turn Jordan into a Palestinian homeland and to give Israel complete control over the historic land of Palestine is regularly rehashed by the Israeli right whenever there is international pressure, however minimal, on Israel to stop its expansionism.
Last month, around half of the 120-member Israeli knesset, submitted "a two states for two peoples on both sides of River Jordan" proposal for discussion. In practice the proposal entails an expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan so that the kingdom becomes a de facto Palestinian homeland. The forceful revival of what has historically been referred to as the "Jordan option" comes amid growing international pressure over the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli right, many of whom belong to the Likud party of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, see the Jordanian option as an adequate and practical solution to plans to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Dying 'two-state' solutionThe Israeli right's fear of a Palestinian state comes at a time when many Palestinians, including officials, believe that the two-state solution is all but dead.The rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, the erection of the separation wall, and the ongoing annulment of residency permits for Arabs in East Jerusalem, has left little room, if any, for a Palestinian state.
But many in the Israeli right are concerned by the plan of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, to establish a de facto state by building institutions and housing across the lands of the West Bank, including in areas where Israeli forces remain.While many Palestinians are concerned that Fayyad's plan will only serve to transform the currently fragmented Palestinian territories into an entity that lacks contiguity and sovereignty, the Israeli right are afraid that any kind of Palestinian state, however distorted, will threaten their claim to the entire historic land of Palestine.Buffer state
The "Jordan option" is deeply rooted in the idea that the eastern part of Jordan is part of the historic land of Palestine. Consequently many Israeli leaders, mostly but not solely from the Likud party, argue that the Palestinian population should be transferred "to that part of Palestine".The idea, however, was given little credence before 1977, when the Likud party came to power for the first time. The Likud promoted the idea as an alternative to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In 1982, Yitzhak Shamir, who became the Likud prime minister in 1983, wrote that, "reduced to its true proportions, the problem is clearly not the lack of a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs. That homeland is Trans-Jordan, or Eastern Palestine .... A second Palestinian state to the west of the River is a prescription for anarchy."
But the "Jordan option" contravenes the tacit understanding reached by the founders of Israel and King Abdullah I that Israel would accept the establishment of a Hashemite-run state in east Jordan.
In fact, Israel's early leaders saw the Hashemite entity as both a buffer between Israel and the rest of the Arab world, and a state that could absorb those Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the Six Day war in 1967.
But it is precisely the fact that Israeli leaders intentionally turned Jordan into the absorber of the largest Palestinian refugee population that is now being used to justify transforming it into a substitute homeland for the Palestinians and forcibly sending more.Immoral and illegalToday Jordan is home to about 1.9 million Palestinian refugees, more than 337,000 of whom live in the country's 10 official refugee camps.
The argument that the majority of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin and that Jordan is therefore already the de facto homeland of the Palestinians is hypocritical and erroneous.
There are no precise statistics but it is true that at least half of Jordan's population of about 6.2 million people are of Palestinian origin. But that is a result of Israeli expansionism and a deliberate policy of emptying Palestinian lands of Palestinians.If Jordan was the original home of the Palestinian people, Israel would not have had to demolish around 450 Palestinian villages or to devise policies to expel the Palestinian population.
Moreover, there was already a community with its own traditions, costumes and dialect specific to the east of Jordan before the establishment of Israel.
Furthermore, the whole principle of evicting a population, erasing their villages, and bringing in settlers so as to change an area's demographics is simply immoral and illegal under international law. Perpetual war
The fulfillment of the right wing dream of turning Jordan into Palestine cannot happen without a gradual or mass expulsion of Palestinians from Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the use of force against Jordanians.It presents, therefore, a scenario of continuous war and conflict that cannot possibly end Israel's "Palestinian problem".But even though this 'vision' cannot be easily fulfilled without resorting to all out war, it must be taken seriously as it offers an excuse to force yet more Palestinians from their homeland.Over the years, two variations of the "Jordan option" have developed. The first is based on "transferring" the Palestinian population of the East Bank and even Israel "proper" to Jordan, where the Palestinian homeland is to be established. The second scenario is based on establishing a Palestinian state in Jordan, which would also include the Arab-populated areas of the West Bank.Both options have been rejected, but the proposals have remained alive as a stick with which to threaten the Palestinians and the Jordanians and to counter perceived threats or the international community's verbal support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. In other words, Israeli leaders use the "Jordan option" whenever Israel is in time of crisis.Dispossessing 'infiltrators'
The fact that 53 knesset members have been strongly pushing the "Jordan option" is testimony to the level of isolation Israel currently feels. But, instead of addressing the core issue of Palestinian national rights, the leaders of the Israeli right are raising the spectre of further dispossession of the Palestinian people.
What has made this proposal more threatening to both Jordan and the Palestinians is that was preceded by a new military order that allows Israel to expel those deemed not to have the 'right' Israeli paperwork as "infiltrators". As the Israeli daily Haaretz reported, according to this order residents of East Jerusalem, Palestinian citizens of other countries and even those who hold Israeli passports could be classified as "infiltrators" and expelled.Under the guise of assuring "judicial oversight of the extradition process", Israel has effectively established a new plan for the gradual but large scale expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan, thus making the "Jordan option" all the more real.In rationalising his controversial proposal, Wilders argued that "the West has to protect Jerusalem" and "to stop the offensive by leftists and Muslims to destroy Israel".Spoken in the tradition of his party's anti-Muslim views, Wilders both exposed and echoed the concept underlying the "Jordan option": That, like so many other racist ideas, it cannot be implemented without resorting to force and the exclusion of "the other".
Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. | The threat posed by the revival of the | 192 | 0.75 | 1.25 | high | low | abstractive | 836 |
http://www.nytimes.com/es/2016/07/14/turquia-en-la-encrucijada-una-sociedad-polarizada-busca-su-identidad/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160725061020id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/es/2016/07/14/turquia-en-la-encrucijada-una-sociedad-polarizada-busca-su-identidad/ | Turquía en la encrucijada: una sociedad polarizada busca su identidad | 1970-08-22T08:12:05.061020 | ESTAMBUL — Umit Engin, dueño de una pequeña librería ubicada en la maraña de callejones del antiguo distrito de Beyoglu, se sentó hace poco a leer en su tienda durante una tarde tranquila.
El negocio comenzó a ir en picada el año pasado, desde que comenzaron los bombardeos, cuando el flujo de turistas disminuyó. Ahora Engin, de 42 años, está muy preocupado por el futuro de Turquía y pasa los días mirando hacia la calle con la esperanza de que llegue algún cliente.
“Nos sentimos perdidos”, comentó. “Ahora no hay energía. No sabemos adónde iremos. Estamos esperando algo, pero no sabemos qué”. Hizo una pausa. “Es como Esperando a Godot”, añadió irónicamente, refiriéndose a la obra de Samuel Beckett: “Esperando a Turquía”.
Son tiempos extraños. Los bombardeos en las grandes ciudades son habituales por estos días y la sociedad está tan polarizada que algunas personas hablan en secreto de un conflicto civil armado.
La vieja guerra con los kurdos separatistas ha vuelto a empezar y exacerba los ánimos en la región fronteriza del sureste del país, al mismo tiempo que los países del sur, Siria e Irak, se convulsionan en medio de la violencia.
Sin embargo, cambios más profundos se han iniciado en esta sociedad, y Turquía debe agradecérselos a su presidente, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan está despedazando el rígido sistema secular impuesto por Mustafa Kemal Ataturk en la década de 1920, al darle poder a la clase marginal islámica, oprimida durante mucho tiempo; también ha logrado que la sociedad turca se vuelva mucho más equitativa al implementar políticas económicas que han mejorado el nivel de vida en las regiones más pobres. Pero en el camino, Erdogan se ha vuelto cada vez más autocrático y su círculo cercano se ha enriquecido. A muchos turcos, entre ellos parte de su base política, les preocupa lo que están construyendo en remplazo del sistema que están desmantelando.
“Es como El señor de los anillos: ahora tenemos el anillo, pero nos hemos vuelto sus esclavos”, dijo un joven activista islámico, refiriéndose al dinero y al poder. El joven tuvo que cerrar su cuenta en Twitter después de ser atacado por blogueros afines al gobierno, tras haber criticado la severidad con que se reprimieron las manifestaciones en 2013, que se convirtieron en un importante movimiento de protesta en contra de Erdogan.
“No se trata de los kemalistas, no se trata de los protestantes seculares, es una prueba sobre nosotros mismos. Y se puede decir que no la estamos aprobando”.
Los liberales como Engin dicen que se sienten desesperanzados porque Erdogan reprimió las manifestaciones de 2013. La oposición volvió a crecer luego de que su partido perdiera la mayoría en el parlamento en las elecciones de junio de 2015, pero Erdogan recuperó su ventaja al convocar a elecciones antes de lo previsto.
“Hemos intentado de todo, pero no hemos logrado nada”, afirmó Engin. “De hecho, perdimos muchas cosas. Perdimos amigos. Ahora es imposible organizar protestas como esas. La gente cree que el resultado será el mismo”.
Turquía va a la deriva, viaja por aguas desconocidas. Algunos turcos se preguntan hacia dónde va su país y cómo será cuando llegue ahí.
Los cambios han sido profundos y algunos argumentan que la nación, fundada por la élite como un proyecto que pasaba por encima de las diferencias étnicas y religiosas para crear la idea de una Turquía moderna, tendrá que pasar por un periodo de incertidumbre, y posiblemente de caos, para reencontrarse consigo misma.
“¿Quiénes somos y qué hacemos todos juntos aquí?”, preguntó Cengiz Candar, un intelectual turco, al explicar el problema de su país. “Solíamos ser una república secular. Ahora no sabemos qué somos. ¿Qué proyecto nos une? ¿Cuál contrato social?”.
Hasta ahora, la sociedad turca parece la misma. A las mujeres no se les ha pedido que usen velos y aunque un mandato como ese parece poco probable, algunos liberales como Engin están preocupados de que eso pueda ocurrir, sobre todo después del reciente pedido de Erdogan a las mujeres turcas para que tengan más hijos.
A los turcos tradicionales les gusta su visión, quizá más por la postura combativa que toma ante Occidente que por sus referencias al pasado otomano.
“Europa está resquebrajándose, pero Turquía sigue de pie”, declaró Mahmoud Atlas, de 47 años, propietario de una empresa de limpieza en Mersin que asistió a una gran cena de Ramadán en Estambul, donde Erdogan dio un discurso. “Perdón, pero ni Estados Unidos ni Europa lo pueden quebrar”, dijo sobre el presidente.
Erdogan también recibe un gran apoyo por sus raíces de clase trabajadora. “Viene de abajo, como nosotros”, dijo Emre Bozkurt, de 22 años. “Puede sentarse y tomar té con la gente pobre. Esas cosas hacen que lo queramos. Cuando las personas lo miran, se ven a sí mismas”.
Erdogan y su partido han recibido de manera legítima entre 40 y 50 por ciento de la votación durante su ejercicio de casi 15 años. Una parte de este apoyo viene de votantes pragmáticos que están más interesados en su cartera que en la política.
“Temen una crisis económica más que cualquier otra cosa”, aseguró Hakan Altinay, director de la Escuela Europea de Política en la Universidad de Bogazici en Estambul. “El trato es: tú no te metes con la forma en que gobierno y te entrego los productos. Si no te los entrego, me mandas una factura vencida con los intereses”.
El empresario textil Kurtulus Turan contó que le solía gustar el partido de Erdogan debido a su postura a favor de los negocios. Sin embargo, pareciera que ahora el presidente solo le habla a los turcos sunitas, se quejó, y añadió que, como miembro de la minoría chiita de Turquía, se sentía discriminado. “Eso no pasaba al principio”, dijo.
¿Hacia dónde se dirige Turquía, entonces? Sus intelectuales no se están quedando para averiguarlo. Candar, quien fue acusado formalmente de insultar al presidente en artículos que escribió sobre el conflicto con los kurdos, ahora es profesor visitante en Estocolmo. Incluso algunos turcos de la clase media alta están comprando propiedades en el extranjero. Portugal es una opción popular.
Los que no se pueden ir, siguen a la espera. Engin comparó estos tiempos con una tormenta que golpea al pueblo turco. Él cree que habrá daños, pero falta ver cuán graves serán.
“Tenemos que esperar a que esto termine, a que el aire se aclare”, dijo. Engin no sabe si el cambio llevará un mes o una década, pero cree que llegará porque las “cosas no pueden seguir así”. | En un país donde los bombardeos se han hecho frecuentes, algunos turcos ven con ansiedad el giro que ha tomado el gobierno de Recep Tayyip Erdogan, quien ha producido cambios profundos en el viejo sistema político, pero se ha vuelto cada vez más autocrático. | 26.854167 | 0.854167 | 2.145833 | medium | medium | mixed | 837 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3540558/Mumbai-attacks-Were-they-financed-from-Britain.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160725132557id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/asia/india/3540558/Mumbai-attacks-Were-they-financed-from-Britain.html | Mumbai attacks: Were they financed from Britain? | 1970-08-22T08:12:05.132557 | A major fund-raiser for the group is already in jail in Britain.
Mohammed Ajmal Khan, 33, from Coventry, described as a "person of authority" in Lashkar-e-Taiba who acted as a "quartermaster" for the group, was jailed for nine years at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London in March 2006.
He had £2,500 in cash but police believe he had access to up to £20,000 that they were unable to find.
Officers believe he had attended training camps in Pakistan, was responsible for foreign recruits and planned to return to fight himself.
The equipment he bought included 1,000 square metres of Kevlar, bullet-proof material, which he sent to Pakistan, and he was trying to buy night vision goggles when he was arrested.
The Indian authorities believe the Kashmir earthquake of October 2005 provided the perfect cover to raise money for the extremists cause.
LeT is outlawed in Britain and anyone attempting to send large amounts of money to the organisation is likely to fall foul of systems designed to halt terrorist money-laundering, but in the wake of the earthquake the opportunities multiplied.
A large number of unregistered charities sprung up, supplying money, clothing and young volunteers to the shattered region.
The Metropolitan Police are aware of a number of terrorists who worked in the area at the time, posing as aid workers.
Many Pakistanis in Britain come from Kashmir or the nearby Punjab and the separatist cause is well supported.
Transfer of money is helped by a system of informal banking that exists in Muslim communities where money is loaned and re-paid without interest and transported, a few thousand pounds at a time in cash or by money transfer.
Paul Cruickshank of New York University said: "Despite being banned in 2002, LeT still operates quite freely in Pakistan under the name of its political wing Jamaat-ud Da'awa.
"It is also thought to receive funding from donors in the Gulf, the UK and other Western countries."
Tobias Feakin of the Royal United Services Institute said: "It is probably impossible to say how much money is going from communities in Britain abroad, but with at least 750,000 Muslims from Pakistan in Britain, it is bound to be substantial.
"Much of it will be in relatively small amounts by non-traditional means and will not trigger the mechanisms designed to stop it."
The Metropolitan Police have sent a team to assist the Indian authorities in the investigation, which so far has found no direct link to Britain.
A police source said: "We know that we face difficulties in identifying what money is for genuine charity in the case of a huge disaster like an earthquake and what might be diverted to terrorist sources." | Indian investigators will ask the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command to look into whether the Mumbai bombings were financed from Britain. | 23.130435 | 0.521739 | 0.869565 | medium | low | abstractive | 838 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/china/beijing/articles/beijing-shopping/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160725132839id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/travel/destinations/asia/china/beijing/articles/beijing-shopping/ | Beijing shopping | 1970-08-22T08:12:05.132839 | The two best spots in the city for tourists are the Silk Market (8 Xiushui East St, Chaoyang) and the giant Yashow Market next to Sanlitun. If you only have time for one, head to Yashow, which is slightly less modernised.
In both you’ll find several floors of clothes, electronics, toys, local knick-knacks and tailors who will offer to knock you up a suit for £50 or so. Haggle hard: the real price of whatever you are looking for is around 30 per cent of the initial quote.
Elsewhere Beijing is a shopper’s paradise, with all the major brands having flocked here to try to tap the Chinese market. Sanlitun village is a good place to pick up designer clothes while sipping on a Starbucks, as is the China World Mall Summit Wing.
If you want to come back from China with tea, meanwhile, head to the Maliandao Tea Market, where you can taste a variety of loose leaf teas at 900 or more stalls. Vendors invite you to sit down for a taste and there is no obligation to buy, and tea sets and even tea flavoured dumplings are available.
At the weekend, anyone looking to bring back something antique, or at least something that looks antique, should head to Panjiayuan, a sprawling market where vendors lay out their goods on blankets. The market is divided into sections, and look out for the poster shops which sell old Chinese propaganda prints. | Our guide to Beijing offers recommendations for the best shops and boutiques as well as suggestions for things to buy, from our expert Malcolm Moore | 10.807692 | 0.538462 | 0.846154 | low | low | abstractive | 839 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/07/24/how-do-you-spot-a-fake-delaroche/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160726142807id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/tv/2016/07/24/how-do-you-spot-a-fake-delaroche/ | How do you spot a fake Delaroche? | 1970-08-22T08:12:06.142807 | I was therefore both hopeful and wary. In trying to authenticate the painting, we had to explain the apparently unexplainable. For example, how did it end up in Britain? If we were going to prove this picture we would also need to explain anomalies in its appearance when compared to known authenticated copies in existence, such as differences in colour and detail, which at first glance make absolutely no sense at all.
And this was far from just an academic quest. The personal story made it a particularly moving episode for me. If there is an aspect to a painting’s attribution which has a human consequence, what can be rather opaque academic questioning becomes highly charged. People’s lives can alter as a result of what you find. Becky’s painting was a perfect example of that. I could relate to Neil, because Neil was an art world man like myself. And he had faith in the authenticity of the painting.
I thought I’d remembered meeting Neil a long time ago, and when I saw photographs of him I realised his was a face I’d seen at auction rooms. I saw a little bit of myself in him. I’ve got pictures which I haven’t proved, which I believe, so I knew exactly how Neil would have felt. Here was a chance to vindicate a man who was no longer around to do it for himself.
But we’ve done 20 episodes, and there have been a lot of dashed hopes. You always have to remind yourself, however deep your certainties, art world outcomes are unforeseeable.
Fake or Fortune is on BBC One tonight at 8pm | The best way to measure Paul Delaroche’ | 44.857143 | 0.285714 | 0.285714 | high | low | abstractive | 840 |
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/abu-sayyaf-blood-drugs-conspiracies-160724090604857.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727105901id_/http://www.aljazeera.com:80/news/2016/07/abu-sayyaf-blood-drugs-conspiracies-160724090604857.html? | Inside Abu Sayyaf: Blood, drugs and conspiracies | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.105901 | Sulu, Philippines - The young man, with a defiant expression, looks unflinchingly at the camera.
"Aquino, watch this. This is what happens when you don't do what we told you to do [pay ransom]. And if I catch you, I will cut your head off too," he said, brandishing a sharp hunting knife.
He was addressing former Philippine president Benigno Aquino.
The man then slowly decapitates his hostage, methodically hacking away with the blade. It takes only seconds for his victim to die.Â
All of this was uploaded to YouTube in an excruciating 92-second video a few months ago. The executioner did not even hide his face.
Tourists abducted in southern Philippines
For decades, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has been considered the most notorious bandit organisation in Southeast Asia.Â
It carried out the biggest act of terrorism in the country when it bombed a ferry in 2004, killing more than 100 people. But the recent video clearly shows a whole new level of brutality not seen in the Philippines in recent years.
Beheading is one of the most obscenely brutal ways of executing someone - even more so when it is not done in one fell swoop of a sword, but with slashes and hacks from a hunting knife.Â
This atrocity happened recently in Sulu, a southern backwater island province in the Philippines. It has gained notoriety in Southeast Asia's "kidnapping capital", a jungle terrain where the Abu Sayyaf is known to operate.Â
For such a scenic place, its reputation is one of the darkest in the world.Â
About 70 percent of the population in Sulu is poor, according to the latest government census. Many children are out of school, roads and bridges remain unfinished, and medical facilities and clean water are virtually non-existent.
Jobs are hard to come by. Most of the food available in Sulu is shipped in from its more affluent neighbour Zamboanga City, or from Sabah in eastern Malaysia. Developing Sulu's agriculture industry is difficult, despite its fertile soil.
People are unable to till their land out of fear. Others say their farmland and homesteads have been taken forcibly from them and occupied by armed groups such as Abu Sayyaf.Â
It is the perfect petri dish in which to grow a secession, a place long held back by four decades of armed conflict and government neglect, yet one with a population that continues to grow and need.
To the rest of the country - and the world - Sulu is like a black hole. For most Filipinos, the word "Sulu" is synonymous with "terrorism". The place only makes global headlines when hostage-beheading videos go viral.
This is how discontent is fomented, fermented and kept alive.
Abu Sayyaf frees ex-Italian priest in the Philippines
Abu Sayyaf was born more than a decade and a half ago in Basilan, one of the most impoverished provinces in the southern Philippines. Its name literally means "bearer of the sword".Â
Its founder, Abubakar Abdurajak Janjalani at first sought to create a separate Islamic state for the Muslim minority. He was killed in a military operation. Its co-founder Radulan Sahiron is still one of the most-wanted men in the country. He was once a member of the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front, which has since brokered peace with the government.
Abu Sayyaf started ideologically but shifted to criminal activities a few years after to sustain itself.Â
The group has engaged in countless kidnappings for ransom, attacks, and even drugs and weapons smuggling.Â
The Philippine military puts the number of Abu Sayyaf fighters at about 400, but they triple in numbers when hostages are taken.Â
Abu Sayyaf is a loose organisation. There is no single, unifying force of leadership. There are several Abu Sayyaf factions spread across different territories in the Sulu archipelago.
Yet, it is quite disciplined financially and militarily. Most of its money goes to weapons purchases. It doesn't buy gold or build expensive homes within the provinces, according to Philippine military intelligence sources.
Atrocities committed are part of their "jihad", leaders say, but the apparent motivation is about money through "terror" activities.
Abu Sayyaf's main motivation is to create a state of terror in the areas it controls.The rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Middle East has helped fuel Abu Sayyaf violence.
The beheading broadcast over YouTube has helped spread propaganda through easily available handheld phones.
According to military sources, some members of Abu Sayyaf are as young as 15. These teenagers are born impoverished - mostly orphaned by rebels - and have never had the chance to go to school.Â
In Sulu, these boys are called Anak Itu - or orphans of war.Â
For many of those recruited, it is all about identity and a sense of belonging. They have lived all their lives under siege. In Sulu, long forgotten by the national government, so many young people say they feel left out. They say they are judged for being Moro, judged for being poor. Then comes a group that gives them weapons and a sense of community. It's a warped version of reality.Â
However perverted it may seem, it is the only irresistible draw in an otherwise bleak existence.Â
It is the only life they know.Â
How does Abu Sayyaf maintain its influence? Ties of blood and money - with a dash of political convenience to keep operations running smoothly.
The group buys a lot of weapons - millions of dollars' worth. Military reports show multimillion-dollar procurements shortly after every ransom pay-out.
A classified document seen by Al Jazeera also reveals Abu Sayyaf members went on a shopping spree for weapons shortly after their release of 14 Indonesian hostages a few weeks ago. Ransom is paid, which means more money to expand operations.
Military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to go on record, say Abu Sayyaf buys weapons and ammunition from local government officials, smuggled mostly from nearby countries.
On lean days, when they have no hostages and ransom to collect, military intelligence officers say Abu Sayyaf's members work closely with local politicians and police who are blood relatives.
Abu Sayyaf has also been buying tracts of land to expand its territory.
18 soldiers killed by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines
An impoverished farmer, marginalised and intimidated by armed groups, is an easy target. Often poor families are forced to sell their land to the group.
Bud Pula, or Red Mountain, in Patikul has some of the most rugged terrain in the Sulu archipelago. This is where most hostages are hidden, according to army sources.
Another approach the group uses to gain influence is through clan ties. Military officials say that intermarriage is a strategy.Â
Abu Sayyaf factions are composed mostly of their own family members. They intermarry to solidify their connections. It is not unusual for a widow of an Abu Sayyaf member to be pressured by relatives to marry another fighter to keep their affinities strong. It is also easier to recruit new members through clan ties.
By paying dowries, they are able to buy loyalty from the families into which they marry and expand their influence. Looking at the Abu Sayyaf's connections in Sulu is like looking at several intertwined family trees.
The families that compose the group are in connivance and, in that sense, they are stronger. This is how they have survived.
This has made it difficult for the intelligence community to penetrate the group. It is almost impossible for any outsider to be part of the inner circle of the Abu Sayyaf.
The policy of leader Radullan Sahiron is to never allow outsiders into his immediate circle. This is how he has remained in hiding for more than 15 years. He, too, is protected by his family members. There are practically zero outsiders. Once a member leaves camp, the rule is simple - he cannot come back.
But leaving the hinterlands does not mean a member is no longer useful to the group.
The member can still maintain alliances as part of Abu Sayyaf's urban force.These are members who live and work in nearby towns with their families.
They serve as "sparrows", or urban spies, mostly monitoring the military's movements.
They help procure and deliver ammunition and even spot potential kidnap-for-ransom victims as far as Sabah in eastern Malaysia and in the Celebes Sea, close to the border of Indonesia.
The "urban" membership has expanded, which is why Abu Sayyaf has also lately been able to conduct more abductions by broadening their operations as far as Palawan on the western front, the Davao Gulf, and as far as Malaysia's Sabah.
The proliferation of narcotics is a daunting problem, too.
According to the Philippine military, the much younger members of the group are usually supplied with methampethamine hydrochloride - commonly called "shabu" or crystal meth. They are given the drugs days before they are sent to the frontlines to fight the Philippine military.
In an interview with Al Jazeera last year, the late Colonel Paolo Perez of the Philippine Army, who commanded a battalion in Basilan, said: "The youngest ASG [Abu Sayyaf] member we captured while fighting in the frontlines was only 14. He was like a bull when he was fighting but when he was wounded, he started crying. The next day, he couldn't remember what he did. He admitted he was given drugs before fighting - he was just a boy really."
Philippines: Abu Sayyaf group beheads Canadian hostage
How is the Abu Sayyaf able to do all this? Not without support of local government officials, military officials say.
Cocoy Tulawie, a politician and member of an influential family in Sulu, said this has long been the norm and local government officials have been in connivance with Abu Sayyaf for decades.Â
He said younger members are ignorant of Islam, yet they are extremely fanatical about representing it. Their version of Islam is flawed simply because the dawas - or Islamic schools - are usually in the main towns and they do not get the chance to study the Quran "properly".
That ignorance, he said, is what makes them dangerous.
Tulawie also criticised religious leaders in Sulu for not speaking out against Abu Sayyaf's actions, noting that no one has condemned the violence as anti-Islam.
"Local politicians lack the political will," Tulawie said. "The priority is money and to maintain power. It is not their priority to run after the ASG, because they do not want to be seen as the enemy of the ASG. And because local politicians, just like Abu Sayyaf, share the same interests. They are also involved arms dealing and weapons smuggling of drugs and food from Sabah, Malaysia and other neighbouring countries.
"Newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte must realise that if he wants to fix the problems of Sulu, he has to isolate the local politicians. He needs to see that those government officials must be put under investigation," Tulawie said.
"The president will have to work directly with military and police forces based outside Sulu, because police officers there have been corrupted. Duterte cannot allow himself to be befriended by Sulu's local politicians, because those same politicians are part of the problem. They must be investigated for their involvement in drug smugglings and corruption."
He alleged some local officials have taken shares of ransom money from hostage-taking for decades. It is a multimillion-dollar industry, he added, that has been profiting from the chaos and violence in Sulu.Â
Newly appointed Armed Forces Chief Ricardo Visaya also said he believes local government officials in Sulu have been involved in kidnap-for-ransom operations. "Governors, vice-governors, down to village chiefs," he said in a recent interview with a local journalist.Â
A report by Rand Corporation, a US-based think-tank that has studied military operations in Sulu, reinforces this. Â
"The ARMM [military] headquarters, located in central Mindanao, did not prioritise the Sulu archipelago, and money intended for development rarely reached this island," the report said.Â
"To get aid and money, local politicians there allowed the ASG to engage in infractions with the expectation that they would receive resources that they could exploit for political reasons."Â
Philippine special forces are seen to be the most proficient of all Southeast Asian commandos, especially when it comes to counter-insurgency operations.
The Philippine military has been fighting various rebel groups in Sulu for decades.
The Sulu problem is complex - and one that requires political will and a long-term strategy. President Duterte has said he is contemplating putting the entire Sulu archipelago under martial law - an approach supported by a majority of those in the military's top brass. Â
Retired Brigadier-General Juancho Sabban, who spent five years in Jolo trying to contain the threat, said bombing communities is not the solution.
"Right now the communities are no longer cooperative. In any insurgency ... the centre of gravity is the people. When you get the people on your side, you win the war. But over the last few years, the leadership of the military thinks that only military operation is the right solution," Sabban told Al Jazeera.
One way to get people onside is to address their needs and grievances, he added. Doing that will help deny the enemy the logistics and support it needs.
"We had only about 20 percent military operation, and those were intelligence-driven combat operations - which is the key to a successful operational intelligence. If you keep doing combat operations with flawed intelligence, you are not only able to achieve your target, you are also endangering the lives of your men, because you are exposed and they don't know who the enemy is," Sabban said.
"If you look at the casualty rate now compared to the period of 2006-2010, there were a lot of encounters that were initiated by government forces. While recently, it is now the Abu Sayyaf leading the offensive against us. We had a policy then - find them, fix them, finish them."
Philippine troops kill 40 Abu Sayyaf fighters
Philippine military spokesman General Restituto Padilla said there has been no degradation when it comes to providing social services from the military. "Kidnap-for-ransom earnings that pour into communities are so much bigger lately that people tend to gravitate towards the ASG. That's a hard reality on the ground.
"Eliminating the Abu Sayyaf within a year is doable for us. But the military will need the support from local and government officials. What is needed here is political will."
An entire generation has already been born into armed conflict since the Philippine government started its offensive against the Abu Sayyaf decades ago.
Residents of Sulu say they cannot remember a single day without fighting erupting in their communities.
Sulu has seen some of the most horrific atrocities committed against civilians that go back as far as the 1970s, when martial law was implemented during the time of then president Ferdinand Marcos. There has been no let-up in violence since. People are war-weary.
The land of Sulu is soaked in the blood of both the oppressor and the oppressed. | Philippine group continues its insurgency and beheadings as military sources accuse local officials of lending support. | 177.470588 | 0.823529 | 1.058824 | high | medium | abstractive | 841 |
http://time.com/4420884/california-wildfire-body-found/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727114650id_/http://time.com:80/4420884/california-wildfire-body-found/? | Man Found Dead as Fire Burns | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.114650 | (LOS ANGELES) — Thousands of homes remained evacuated Sunday as two massive wildfires raged in tinder-dry California hills and canyons, and authorities said a burned body was found in one neighborhood swept by the flames.
Firefighters have been working a fire up and down ridgelines since Friday that has blackened 31-square miles of brush on the edge of Santa Clarita and the Angeles National Forest. About 300 miles up the coast, crews were battling another blaze across 10-square miles north of the majestic Big Sur region.
The body of a man was discovered inside a burned sedan Saturday evening outside a home in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles. There was no evidence the death was crime-related, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday as the investigation continued.
The area was among those ordered evacuated as the fire raged through brush withered by days of 100-degree temperatures as Southern California sweltered through a heat wave.
After flames driven by gusty winds swept through an evacuated neighborhood, firefighters reported that some buildings had been engulfed, but it was not immediately clear whether they were homes, outbuildings or garages, said Nathan Judy, a spokesman for the U.S. Fire Service.
The area was still unsafe, he said late Saturday night.
“You’ve still got hotspots in that area, a lot of smoldering stuff,” and trees that might fall because their roots had burned, Judy said.
More than 900 firefighters and water-dropping helicopters battled the flames overnight on several fronts.
“It’s not a one-direction type of fire,” Judy said. “It’s going in different directions depending on which way the wind is blowing. It’s doing what it wants.”
Despite firefighters’ efforts, the blaze destroyed sets at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, which has Old West-style buildings used for movie locations.
“It was a horrific firestorm,” owner Derek Hunt told KABC-TV. “At some point, you know you’re defeated and you have to step back and save what you can. We fought as best as we could.”
Smoke and ash from the fire cast a pall over neighboring Los Angeles. Air quality officials advised people with respiratory problems to stay indoors.
Bengal tigers and a mountain lion were among several hundred animals evacuated Saturday as flames partially ringed the Wildlife Waystation, a nonprofit sanctuary for rescued exotic creatures in Sylmar. Volunteers showed up with trucks and trailers to help with the rescue. Later in the day, firefighters managed to beat back the threat.
More than 200 horses along with goats, rabbits and other animals also were removed from fire areas.
Sunday’s forecast called for low humidity with afternoon and evening winds gusting to 25 mph or more that could once again fan the fires’ explosive growth.
Up the coast, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters battled the blaze in rugged mountains north of Big Sur. The fire 5 miles south of Garrapata State Park posed a threat to about 1,000 homes and the community of Palo Colorado was ordered evacuated, Cal Fire said.
Jerri Masten-Hansen said she and her husband watched the fire creep in toward them. “We felt threatened this morning and decided we needed to go,” Masten-Hansen told KSBW-TV.
Her sister also left her home down the road. “I grabbed all the pictures of the kids, and then I took the paintings of my parents that had been done by a local artist,” Ellen Masten said. | He was found inside a burned car | 96.857143 | 0.857143 | 2 | high | medium | mixed | 842 |
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/25/airbnb-taxes-doubt-amid-baker-opposition/1yerxvtICFfOvlZR71WvOM/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727131228id_/https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/25/airbnb-taxes-doubt-amid-baker-opposition/1yerxvtICFfOvlZR71WvOM/story.html | Airbnb taxes in doubt amid Baker opposition | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.131228 | A proposal to tax Airbnb.com and other short-term home rentals faces an uncertain future on Beacon Hill after Governor Charlie Baker said he was having second thoughts about the move.
Some supporters said Monday that they still hoped to craft a home-rental tax that Baker might approve. But the Legislature has just a week left on its schedule, putting pressure on lawmakers to move quickly.
Baker said he was sympathetic to complaints from traditional hotels and motels that private home rentals are eating into their business, calling it “a legitimate issue and one that’s worth discussing.”
But not one he is ready to fix with a new tax.
“I’m not interested in raising taxes. I am interested in leveling playing fields,” Baker told reporters Monday. “At this point in time, on this particular issue, those two things seem to be in conflict.”
Earlier in July, Massachusetts Senate leaders unveiled a plan that would require property owners to collect state and local hotel-related taxes, which can total around 15 percent, on short-term rentals through Airbnb and online vacation sites.
The taxes would apply to rentals of private residences that last 31 days or less. Longer rentals would be governed by tenant agreements, similar to traditional apartment rentals, and not subject to the taxes.
Baker had initially said he would support the broadened lodging taxes. But he quickly changed course and said Monday he shouldn’t have endorsed the plan without reading it first.
The governor’s opposition complicated the odds for a tax package that was supported by both Airbnb and its competitors in the traditional lodging industry.
“It would be terrible to let short-term rentals to go yet another year without being taxed,” said Paul Sacco, chief executive of the Massachusetts Lodging Association.
An Airbnb spokeswoman, Crystal Davis, said the company hoped to continue working with lawmakers on the issue. “We remain positive that something can be done for us to pay our fair share of taxes for our hosts and our guest community,” she said.
Senate officials said the tax would generate up to $20 million per year to help raise the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit — a Baker priority — from 23 percent to 28 percent.
But Baker worried that expanding the taxes to all private rentals “would impose burdensome taxes and government bureaucracy on folks who utilize short-term vacation rentals popular in the Commonwealth,” spokesman Billy Pitman said.
Baker also pointed out that the new lodging taxes wouldn’t immediately cover the cost of expanding the tax credit — expected to be about $50 million per year in 2019, its first full year under the Senate plan.
Senate officials had planned to fund the credit by collecting the expanded lodging taxes for two years before paying out the earned income credits. Lawmakers also hoped to generate up to $10 million per year for the tax credit by restricting the full benefit to Massachusetts residents only.
In a statement, Senate president Stan Rosenberg said he was “disappointed” in Baker’s objections but remained hopeful that some compromise might emerge.
“I would be happy to work with him on a solution to get to what Governor Baker and I have agreed we need to do: help working families by continuing to raise the Earned Income Tax Credit,” Rosenberg said.
Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, claims more than 2 million rental listings worldwide. The company has worked with regulators to extend lodging taxes to its service in several states, including Florida and California.
But the company also has clashed with officials who have proposed broader regulation of its service, including a San Francisco law that only allows Airbnb listings from people who have registered with the city. | Governor Baker changed his earlier support of the plan, saying he hadn’t read it first. | 40.111111 | 0.833333 | 1.388889 | high | medium | abstractive | 843 |
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/07/26/17/05/greyhound-trainer-suspended-over-assault | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727135229id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/07/26/17/05/greyhound-trainer-suspended-over-assault | Greyhound trainer suspended over 'assault' | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.135229 | A fight has broken out between a greyhound trainer and a racing steward at a track in Bathurst as tensions rise over the sport's impending ban.
It's alleged trainer and breeder Keith Selten physically assaulted the Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) steward after being questioned over a threat he made to a vet inspecting his dog on Monday.
"During the inspection, it is alleged Mr Selten threatened that he may as well euthanase his dog if it was issued with a 30 day period of incapacitation," a statement from GRNSW said on Tuesday.
The one-month ban which prevents a dog from racing was issued after the greyhound was injured during a performance trial at Bathurst Greyhound Racing Club, it said.
Mr Selten allegedly assaulted the GRNSW steward after he was called in to explain his threatening behaviour.
The trainer's licence has been suspended, pending the outcome of a steward's inquiry, and the matter was also referred to NSW Police.
Interim GRNSW CEO Paul Newson has called on the industry to remain calm as the fallout from the NSW government's decision to ban greyhound racing by 2017 continues.
"I recognise this is a very difficult time for industry participants; however, I cannot tolerate any abuse towards GRNSW staff while they undertake their important role to protect the welfare of greyhounds and run race meetings under the strict rules that must be followed by all participants," he said.
GRNSW staff need the support of the industry over the next 12 months as they go through an equally difficult time, Mr Newson said.
"They have been just as shocked as everyone else about the government's recent decision and are also trying to deal personally with the implications of the decision," he said.
The Baird government announced plans to ban the sport earlier this month after a Special Commission of Inquiry report found up to 68,000 greyhounds had been killed in the past 12 years and nearly a fifth of trainers used live animal baits.
Premier Mike Baird has promised to pump an estimated $30 million into helping the industry through the ban, which will be effective from July 1, 2017. | A greyhound trainer has been suspended after he allegedly assaulted a Greyhound Racing NSW steward at a Bathurst racing track. | 19.47619 | 1 | 2.238095 | medium | high | mixed | 844 |
http://time.com/4419104/tim-kaine-hillary-clinton-running-mate/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727135309id_/http://time.com:80/4419104/tim-kaine-hillary-clinton-running-mate/? | Meet Hillary Clinton's New Running Mate | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.135309 | The veepstakes are over: Hillary Clinton has chosen Tim Kaine as her vice presidential running mate. The former Virginia governor and current Senator brings a wealth of experience in foreign policy, executive experience and electoral politics to the Democratic ticket. Kaine endorsed Clinton early in the primary and campaigned for her in several states.
Here are five things to know about the potential next vice president.
His father was an ironworker
And Tim Kaine worked with his father at his shop in Kansas City. Kaine was born in Minnesota but grew up in Kansas City. He graduated from the University of Missouri and Harvard Law School.
He got his start fighting for equal housing laws in Virginia
As a private attorney, Kaine worked on legal cases that advocated for fair housing for African-Americans in Richmond, Va. In 1993, he worked on a federal case with Housing Opportunities Made Equal that alleged landlords were steering black renters away from their properties. The case was settled out of court.
He has continued that advocacy in the U.S. Senate.
A majority-black city council made Kaine the first white mayor of Richmond in a decade
Kaine was elected mayor of Richmond by the city council in 1998, after he had served four years on the body (city lawmakers used to directly elect the mayor). At the time, it “signaled a shift in political power in the city, and perhaps racial reconciliation,” Style Weekly, Richmond’s alternative weekly, said in a 2009 profile of Kaine.
Kaine is pro-choice, but personally opposes abortion for religious reasons
Kaine is a devout Catholic. Between college and law school, he went on a year-long mission trip to Honduras. In 2005, as Virginia governor, he said he would “work in good faith to reduce abortions.” Earlier this month, Kaine said he is a “strong supporter” of Roe v. Wade. “I have a traditional Catholic personal position, but I am very strongly supportive that women should make these decisions and government shouldn’t intrude,” he told CNN.
Kaine is fluent in Spanish
In 2013, he made history as the first senator to deliver a speech in the Senate entirely in Spanish. | The Virginia Senator is joining Clinton in the campaign against Donald Trump | 35.583333 | 0.583333 | 0.75 | high | low | abstractive | 845 |
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/07/27/03/34/weather-finally-improves-in-victoria | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727140512id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/07/27/03/34/weather-finally-improves-in-victoria | Weather finally improves in Victoria | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.140512 | A severe weather warning for much of Victoria has been cancelled, as strong winds and rain ease.
The SES received about 50 calls for assistance since 9am on Tuesday, significantly less than the hundreds received on Monday and the weekend.
The Bureau of Meteorology previously said winds around 50 to 60 km/h were expected to develop on Tuesday evening and into the morning but the danger passed quickly.
"There will still be the odd shower or two about for the coming days but it won't be as windy or as cold," senior forecaster Dean Stewart told AAP on Tuesday.
Temperatures will progressively rise in the second half of the week, with Saturday and Sunday expected to reach 17 degrees in Melbourne. | Strong winds and rain have subsided and conditions are improving, after Victoria was lashed by wild weather for days. | 6.666667 | 0.52381 | 1.095238 | low | low | abstractive | 846 |
http://www.aljazeera.com/secretiraqfiles/2010/10/2010102217631317837.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160727150737id_/http://www.aljazeera.com:80/secretiraqfiles/2010/10/2010102217631317837.html | WikiLeaks releases secret Iraq file | 1970-08-22T08:12:07.150737 | In the biggest leak of military secrets in history, WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website, has released 400,000 secret US files detailing every aspect of the war in Iraq, copies of which have been obtained by Al Jazeera.
The sheer magnitude of data contained in the secret files reveals a graphic narrative of the war that goes far beyond any information about the conflict ever released into the public domain.
Using thousands of classified US military reports, Al Jazeera is now able to tell the inside story of a war which left thousands dead and a country fractured along sectarian lines.
Working with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London for the past 10 weeks, Al Jazeera has analysed tens of thousands of documents, finding facts the US has kept hidden from public scrutiny.
What has been uncovered often contradicts the official narrative of the conflict. For example, the leaked data shows that the US has been keeping records of Iraqi deaths and injuries throughout the war, despite public statements to the contrary.
The latest cache of files pertains to a period of six years â from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2009 â and shows that 109,000 people died during this time. Of those, a staggering 66,081 â two-thirds of the total â were civilians.
The figures are much higher than previously estimated and they will inevitably lead to an upward revision of the overall death toll of the conflict.
As a result of the information contained in the war logs, the Iraq Body Count (IBC) â an organisation that kept records of the number of people killed â is about to raise its death toll estimates by 15,000: to 122,000 from 107,000.
The new material throws light on the day-to-day horrors of the war. The military calls them SIGACTs â significant action reports â ground-level summaries of the events that punctuated the conflict: raids, searches, roadside bombings, arrests, and more. All of them are classified âsecretâ.
The reports reveal how torture was rampant and how ordinary civilians bore the brunt of the conflict.
The files record horrifying tales: of pregnant women being shot dead at checkpoints, of priests kidnapped and murdered, of Iraqi prison guards using electric drills to force their prisoners to confess.
Equally disturbing is the response of the military to the civilian deaths caused by its troops. Excessive use of force was routinely not investigated and the guilty were rarely brought to book.
We understand that lives could be put at risk with the publication of such sensitive data, so you'll notice we've redacted almost all the names that appear in these cables â the exception being very well-known figures, people like Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. Our media partners have done the same.
But working alongside the New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and the UK's Channel 4 TV, Al Jazeera is clear that releasing the Iraq files â despite their secret nature â is vital to the public interest. | Al Jazeera accesses 400,000 secret US military documents, which reveal the inside story of the Iraq war. | 30.210526 | 0.947368 | 2.315789 | medium | high | mixed | 847 |
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24446046 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160728021341id_/http://www.bbc.com:80/news/technology-24446046 | BBC plans to help get the nation coding | 1970-08-22T08:12:08.021341 | The BBC's director general, Tony Hall, has announced plans to "bring coding into every home, business and school in the UK".
It comes 30 years on from a BBC push to make computing mainstream by putting BBC Micro computers in the majority of schools.
In a speech to staff, Mr Hall said that the initiative would launch in 2015.
"We want to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology," he said.
Government and technology experts are becoming increasingly worried that vital computing skills are no longer being taught in schools.
Meanwhile interest in higher-education IT and computing courses is falling, giving rise to fears about a massive skills gap.
From September 2014 children in schools in England will start learning computer coding from the age of five, so today's announcement from the BBC is timely.
After mounting criticism of ICT as a subject concentrating on office skills rather than anything more in-depth, the government acted to scrap the curriculum in search of something better.
From Codecademy to Raspberry Pi to CoderDojo, all kinds of initiatives are springing up with the aim of transforming the way children understand computers.
But there's a problem - many teachers feel they lack the skills and the materials needed to teach coding.
Exactly how the BBC's year of coding will work is still to be decided - but there may be a role in acting as the glue to bring all these different initiatives together.
The Corporation will have to be careful that it doesn't tread on anyone's toes - one previous educational venture BBC Jam had to be cancelled after complaints from commercial companies.
But if the BBC can use its creativity to make coding cool that could have a big impact, giving the UK skills that are vital for a modern economy.
This term a new computer science curriculum has been introduced to schools in England, and Education Minister Michael Gove has made it clear that he wants to see coding taught as a priority.
Ralph Rivera, director of future media at the BBC, said: "The BBC has played a hugely important role in inspiring a generation of digital and technology leaders in the past, and now it's time to reignite that creativity."
"We want to transform the nation's ability and attitude towards coding," he added.
Details of the programme were limited, but the BBC said that it would partner with government, educators and technology companies.
"From working with children and young people, to stimulating a national conversation about digital creativity, the BBC will help audiences embrace technology and get creative," the corporation said in a blog post.
A range of tools would be made available to give people "the skills to solve problems, tell stories and build new business in the digital world", it added.
Experts appearing in a video to accompany the speech, agreed that action was needed.
Martha Lane Fox, charged with getting more people online via her organisation Go on UK, said: "We are going to need a million more people who can work in the technology sector over the next 10 years. We don't have them. We've got to help to encourage people to go into that sector."
Meanwhile, Eben Upton - founder of the Raspberry Pi budget computer project - said he looked forward to seeing how the scheme developed.
"A generation of UK developers got their start thanks to the original BBC Computer Literacy Project and the BBC Micro," he said.
"This initiative represents a welcome return to computing education from the organisation that was responsible for my interest in the subject."
However, the comparison of the project to the BBC Micro raises potential controversy.
The broadcaster's decision to partner with Acorn Computers three decades ago angered Sir Clive Sinclair as he prepared to launch a rival machine, the ZX Spectrum.
"They are marvellous at making programmes and so on, but by God they should not be making computers, any more than they should be making BBC cars or BBC toothpaste," he told Practical Computing magazine in 1982.
"They were able to get away with making computers because none of us had sufficient power or pull with the government to put over just what a damaging action that was. They had the unmitigated gall to think that they could set a standard - the BBC language. It is just sheer arrogance on their part."
However, Apps for Good - an organisation which has helped students research, design and make software for three years - was not concerned by the new scheme.
"The BBC is entering a market where there's a number of players, but players who already work quite collaboratively," said Debbie Forster, the organisation's chief operating officer.
"Because there is such a big issue at stake and it is so important to so many different organisations what we are finding is that partnerships are formed more easily and more positively.
"Obviously the devil is in the detail in making it work - it always is - but it's a fascinating space and we look forward to hearing more and would be delighted for the BBC to join forces with everyone who is in here doing something."
Learning Tree International - a firm which makes money from running programming training courses - was also unworried about the idea of the BBC becoming a competitor.
"From the point of view of getting people more inspired about IT and into that world, as such, it can only be a positive thing," said the firm's marketing director Christian Trounce. | The BBC will launch an initiative in 2015 to get coding more widespread in schools and homes. | 60.444444 | 0.888889 | 1.555556 | high | medium | mixed | 848 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7280578/Mossad-the-Keystone-spooks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160728120246id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7280578/Mossad-the-Keystone-spooks.html | Mossad: the Keystone spooks | 1970-08-22T08:12:08.120246 | But now the doubts have started to creep in. Was it really so flawless? True, even for a camera-saturated, rolling-news age, what happened in Dubai’s hideous Al-Bustan Rotana hotel was pretty special: the world’s first televised secret service assassination. But isn’t that a bit of a contradiction in terms? Are not highly trained Mossad intelligence operatives supposed to avoid getting themselves on camera, especially while engaged in the delicate task of bumping other people off?
From both sides of the Arab-Israeli divide, criticism is growing. “It looks unprofessional to me,” said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst at Dubai’s Gulf Research Centre. Amir Oren, of Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, wrote: “What must have seemed to its perpetrators as a huge success is now being overshadowed by enormous question marks.”
Few, inside Israel or elsewhere, seriously doubt that, given the target and methods, this was a Mossad, or Mossad-directed, hit. The Dubai police chief, Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan, says he is “99 per cent” sure. But it was probably not supposed to be so obvious. The method of killing – suffocation – was probably chosen in the hope that it would look like natural causes (and it nearly did: the pathologist who examined the victim said that pronouncing him murdered was the most difficult judgment he’d ever had to make).
There would always, of course, have been strong suspicions about the sudden death of an Israeli enemy, but a note of ambiguity and mystery would have served Mossad well. And, especially without a definite crime, the expectation must have been that the Dubai authorities would not investigate very thoroughly, pull all the CCTV footage or comb through the immigration records.
For all Dubai’s permissiveness (by Arab standards), its reputation as a look-the-other-way staging-post for arms and illegal money, it appears to have grown tired of being a venue for other people’s vendettas. Last year, the authorities were distinctly annoyed when Sulim Yamadayev, the former Chechen leader, was shot dead in one of their underground car parks.
So they investigated, hard, and the result, shown to the world on Monday, was the bumbling spectacle of Team Mossad going into toilets and emerging with fake beards, but still perfectly recognisable. Far from being secret agents, they are now the Keystone Spooks, the most famous 11 spies on the planet, their faces in every newspaper and media website, and completely unemployable in any field capacity ever again.
Then there is the even trickier matter of those passports. One can, of course, sympathise with Mossad’s difficulties. Although Israeli passport-holders are not absolutely banned from Dubai, they are rather noticeable. Totally fabricated travel documents won’t work any more, either. These days, border police have near-instant access to international passport databases, so the fake passports used by spies have to match the real ones in the databases.
According to British sources, the Israelis got hold of the real passport details of six UK citizens living in Israel by taking their passports for “examination” as they passed through Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, copying the details and returning the original passports after a few minutes. The six fakes, along with German, French and Irish passports, were used to leave Dubai.
And thus it was that, on Tuesday morning, half a dozen angry Brits woke up to find their names on an Interpol “red list” – and the Israelis had more than some embarrassing television pictures on their hands: they had a major diplomatic crisis.
The victims included Michael Barney, a 54-year-old writer of software manuals who has had heart bypass surgery. As he put it: “I’m not exactly spy material.” Then there was Melvyn Mildiner, 31, an IT consultant. “I went to bed with pneumonia and woke up a murderer,” he said. “It’s been horrific.” A third “spy,” IT worker Jonathan Graham, 31, protested: “It’s not me. I’ve got enough of my own life to deal with.”
The angriest Brit of all, however, was David Miliband, a 44-year-old Foreign Secretary. Any abuse by Israel would be an “outrage”, he said, as anonymous British officials briefed that “relations were in the freezer before this. They are in the deep freeze now.”
The Foreign Office denied claims that it had been tipped off about the use of British passports before the hit, insisting: “We only received details of the British passports a few hours before the [February 15] press conference held by the police in Dubai.”
But the Irish foreign ministry has confirmed that it knew Irish passports had been used by the hit squad as early as February 4 – and it would seem surprising if Britain did not know at least that soon too. The use of “European” passports in the hit was being claimed by the Dubai authorities as early as January 29. Not for the first time, the British government may not be being wholly frank about what it knew and when it knew it.
The fact that Britain may have waited to get angry until the story got on TV tends to support the view of one Israeli government source that the UK is merely “going through the motions of outrage to mollify the media”. According to one former intelligence source, MI6 has been reassuring Mossad that everything “would blow over”.
But if it can live with the anger of David Miliband, Tel Aviv may have created some more serious problems for itself. Hamas is sure to retaliate. Relations with moderate Arab states like Dubai, which were gradually warming up, have been damaged. And the operation cynically endangered at least six Israeli residents – with the possibility of parliamentary inquiries, legal action by the victims and political controversy.
There’s not much lost sleep in Israel over Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. As the Jerusalem Post?’s leading article put it: “Mabhouh deserved to be killed.” But there is some concern that murdering him might not have been, in the words of Ben Caspit of the Maariv newspaper, “worth” the aggro.
Yoram Schweitzer, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, makes the point that Mabhouh was not an absolutely central leadership figure in Hamas. “He had a very specific job, therefore the blow [to Hamas] is much less severe and the vacuum he left is easier for Hamas to fill,” he said.
Appointing Mossad’s current head, Meir Dagan, in 2000, the then prime minister, Ariel Sharon, ordered him to run the spy agency “with a knife between its teeth”. We still don’t know whether the Keystone Spooks have plunged that knife into Hamas – or their own feet.
Additional reporting: Richard Spencer in Dubai and Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem | Mossad’s hit in Dubai initially seemed like a textbook assassination, but now awkward questions are being asked of Israel’s government. Andrew Gilligan reports | 50.333333 | 0.555556 | 0.703704 | high | low | abstractive | 849 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/reviews/9651424/Hands-on-the-new-LG-Nexus-4.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160728122839id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/technology/reviews/9651424/Hands-on-the-new-LG-Nexus-4.html | Hands on the new LG Nexus 4 | 1970-08-22T08:12:08.122839 | The Nexus 4 has 4.7” display, with 320 pixels per inch that are indistinguishable from the iPhone 5’s 326ppi.
It runs an updated version of the current version of Android 4.1, Jelly Bean on a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor.
The handset measures 68.7 by 133.9 by 9.1 millimetres, thicker than its Apple rival’s 7.6 millimetres or the Samsung Galaxy S3’s 8.6mm.
It also features Photosphere which enables the phone to take 360-degree panoramic pictures.
Google has previously used its Nexus own brand as a proving ground for new Android features before they are included in handsets from other manufacturers, such as Samsung's bestselling Galaxy S range. | The Telegraph's Consumer Technology Editor Matt Warman says the technically impressive LG Nexus 4 smart phone offers a taste of the future. | 5.12 | 0.4 | 0.56 | low | low | abstractive | 850 |
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/07/28/08/01/frydenberg-affirms-renewable-commitment | http://web.archive.org/web/20160728142846id_/http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/07/28/08/01/frydenberg-affirms-renewable-commitment | Frydenberg affirms renewable commitment | 1970-08-22T08:12:08.142846 | Josh Frydenberg may have once been dubbed "Mr Coal" but the new federal environment minister has a message for doubters: he's highly supportive of renewable energy.
Mr Frydenberg insists he accepts the science of climate change and recognises Australia needs to do its part to tackle carbon emissions.
His goal is to create an affordable, accessible and reliable energy supply.
"But we also want a transition to a lower emissions future," he told ABC radio on Thursday.
"It's my job to try to smooth that transition."
However, the minister believes households are sensitive to higher electricity prices, and slammed Labor's renewable energy target because it did not come with modelling.
Coal was in transition but had an important part to play in Australia's energy mix. | Josh Frydenberg says coal is in transition and it's his job to smooth the way to a lower-emission future. | 6.652174 | 0.826087 | 1.434783 | low | medium | abstractive | 851 |
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-leicestershire-36889201 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160728152519id_/http://www.bbc.com:80/news/live/uk-england-leicestershire-36889201 | BBC Local Live: Leicestershire | 1970-08-22T08:12:08.152519 | Seven organisations and institutions, including the Labour Party, have previously been made core partipants.
The status has also now been granted to two individual police officers, including the current Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon, who investigated Lord Janner while working for Leicestershire Police in the early 1990s.
Lord Janner's family have not applied for core participant status but Mr Emmerson said there is "ongoing correspondence with their legal representatives" who have provided a "detailed representation on a range of issues." | The latest news, sport, travel and weather for Leicestershire on Tuesday 26 July 2016 | 5.875 | 0.4375 | 0.5625 | low | low | abstractive | 852 |
http://www.theguardian.com/science/ng-interactive/2015/jan/23/where-i-went-right-interactive | http://web.archive.org/web/20160729092617id_/http://www.theguardian.com:80/science/ng-interactive/2015/jan/23/where-i-went-right-interactive | Where I went right - interactive | 1970-08-22T08:12:09.092617 | Anyone can change everything, but to be successful you need to make the most of the time you have. From the battle for the open web to comet landings, via polar expeditions and a giant diplodocus, celebrated innovators Tim Berners-Lee, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Ranulph Fiennes and Alice Roberts provide unique insights into the formative moments that have shaped their remarkable careers.
Click here to launch the interactive | Celebrated innovators Tim Berners-Lee, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Ranulph Fiennes and Alice Roberts provide unique insights into the formative moments that have shaped their careers | 2.689655 | 1 | 27.068966 | low | high | extractive | 853 |
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/24/trump-supporter-says-he-accidentally-retweeted-anti-semitic-comm/21438090/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160729204331id_/http://www.aol.com:80/article/2016/07/24/trump-supporter-says-he-accidentally-retweeted-anti-semitic-comm/21438090/ | Trump supporter says he accidentally retweeted anti-Semitic comment | 1970-08-22T08:12:09.204331 | Donald Trump's name has been tied to another anti-Semitic comment, except this one didn't come from his own Twitter account.
Michael Flynn, a retired military general and vocal Trump supporter, says he was trying to retweet a CNN video of the Hillary Clinton campaign blaming the recent Democratic National Committee email leak on Russia.
"Other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump," Hillary for America campaign manager Robby Mook said.
RELATED: See photos of Trump's big address
Donald Trump delivers speech at GOP convention
U.S. Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump arrives onstage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is greeted by Ivanka Trump after his introduction at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young
Ivanka Trump, daughter of Republican Presidential Nominee Donald J. Trump, waves as she walks off stage after introduction her father during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Thursday, July 21, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives two thumbs up to the crowd during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Donald Trump, 2016 Republican presidential nominee, speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., on Thursday, July 21, 2016. This evening marks the last night of a four-day Republican National Convention that has been defined by disorderly floor activity, divisions within the party, a plagiarized speech delivered by the nominee's wife and scattered protests in the streets of Cleveland. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump preapres to deliver his speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
The mouth of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is seen on a big screen as he speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
A CODEPINK protester is removed while US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Delegates listen as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the final night of the Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, July 21, 2016. / AFP / Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump formally accepts the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump formally accepts the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Attendees listen to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump deliver his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Deligates stand and cheer as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: An attendee stands and cheers as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Rudy Giuliani, right, former mayor of New York City, applauds as Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump addressed the audience during the final day of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, July 21, 2016. (Photo by Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: (L-R) Tiffany Trump, Barron Trump and Melania Trump listen to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump deliver his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his family acknowledge the crowd on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (C L) and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence (C R) are joined by their families at the end of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump embraces his wife Melania on the final night of the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on July 21, 2016. / AFP / Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence stand with their families on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Balloons descend on the delegates as the families of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his nominee for vice-president Mike Pence appear on stage at the end of the last day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio. / AFP / DOMINICK REUTER (Photo credit should read DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 21: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump embraces Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence after his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party's nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
But he actually retweeted a comment, which included an anti-Semitic message.
Flynn later deleted the tweet and tried to explain it away as a mistake.
Trump has received allegations of anti-Semitism before.
SEE MORE: Star Of David Meme Tweeted By Trump Previously Posted On Racist Site
He tweeted a graphic of Clinton, calling her the "most corrupt candidate ever." Some said the six-pointed star and pile of money echoed Jewish stereotypes. Trump eventually tweeted a version of the image without the star.
Trump also started using the slogan "America First," which some say echoes an anti-Semitic political group from World War II.
Trump has had prominent supporters accused of anti-Semitism before, too, including David Duke, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.
This incident with Flynn comes less than a week after the former general gave a speech supporting Trump at the Republican National Convention.
"Donald Trump knows that the advantage in life, in business and in wartime goes to the competitor who does not flinch," Flynn said.
More from Newsy: Ted Cruz's Trump Snub: On Twitter Vs. On The Convention Floor Parents Of Kids Killed By People Who Illegally Immigrated Speak At RNC Politicians Pandering To Voters With Sports Is Often A Swing A Miss | Michael Flynn, a retired military general and vocal Trump supporter, says he was trying to retweet a CNN video. | 116.818182 | 1 | 20.090909 | high | high | extractive | 854 |
http://time.com/4346173/clinton-trump-election-hell/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730013555id_/http://time.com:80/4346173/clinton-trump-election-hell/? | Clinton, Trump and the Death of Civility | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.013555 | As a professional focus group moderator, I’m about to make an admission that could cost me clients and even a career: I’ve lost control.
Northeastern moms are mad. California Tree Huggers are ticked off. Born Again Iowans are irate. I’ve led three dozen focus groups in more than a dozen states this year, and trying to moderate and mediate a sensible discussion about politics has become like feeding time at the crocodile enclosure. The moment a contentious topic is introduced, a cacophony of voices spew forward in rapid crescendo, each one louder and more breathless than the last. Within minutes, everyone is yelling, no one is listening and nothing is resolved. The public may despise most members of Congress, but we’ve sure gotten good at emulating them.
Welcome to the election from hell.
Moms used to be my go-to group when clients needed information relevant to their product or service and I needed to hear some sanity, empathy and common sense. No longer. The session I hosted for CBS This Morning earlier this month with mostly moms was an utter train wreck. Many of the exchanges ended up on the cutting room floor because three, four, even five women talked at the same time with a critical tone usually reserved for their husbands. I entered the studio with excitement and anticipation, and left with a headache.
Today, our politics reside in an intellectual cul-de-sac. People only want to hear themselves pontificate, or listen to those who confirm, affirm, and validate. Proof? How many Democrats regularly listen to Fox News? How many Republicans frequently tune into MSNBC? Thirty years ago, voters rewarded politicians who spoke with vision and compassion about a “shining city on a hill,” “a thousand points of light,” or ”I feel your pain.” As recently as four years ago, we sought presidential candidates who were ultimately respectful, presidential, and statesmanlike.
Yet today, both presumptive nominees are so equally distrusted and despised by polarized sections of the electorate that their most effective message is: well, at least I’m not [insert other candidate]. As for the voters, they demand that politicians speak as angrily and as disrespectfully as they feel. Anything less, in their words, is politics or pandering.
A good illustration occurred a few days before the decisive Indiana primary when Donald Trump crushed the remaining, flailing opposition to his candidacy. I hosted a GOP focus group of Republican voters for The Kelly File. What happened below never made air, but it should have:
I asked, “Be specific with me. Are you ‘MAD’… or ‘ANGRY’ at what’s going on in both parties?”
“ANGRY!” they shouted, without hesitation and in near unanimity.
“Why? What’s the difference between ‘angry’ and ‘mad?’”
“Because angry is way more than mad. Angry is what happens you’ve been kicked around like a dog for too long, and you’re ready to fight back,” said a female Trump voter.
Remember, these were Hoosiers. The people of Indiana are among the friendliest, most gentle-natured people in America (Bobby Knight excluded). But when it comes to politics in ‘16, the mood is anything but gentle: Everyone’s angry, everyone has a target for that rage—and everyone wants revenge.
The underlying principle that explains candidate messaging and voter rancor this year: someone has to be punished. I call it the American Anger Agenda—a litany of people and policies that have wronged us in some way and need to be held up for mockery and ridicule.
Similarly, voters endorse candidates whose mission is to inflict pain, not feel it; candidates who give voice and volume to their outrage. Hillary Clinton gets the most applause when she attacks her opponents, rather than putting forward her own agenda. The same with Trump, obviously, and even Sanders. The mentality of the 2016 voter is both clear and contagious: It’s our turn now, and we don’t care if we offend you. In fact, we have been so ignored and so disrespected for so long that we actually WANT to offend you. You’re all the same. But what they mean is, You are nothing like me. You don’t understand my life or what it’s like to walk in my shoes.
I asked that Indiana Republican focus group if they would accept or reject a Republican Congressional candidate who refused to endorse Donald Trump. The answer: an emphatic rejection. And it’s about more than party unity. It was because a refusal to endorse Trump—in their minds—just shows such candidates are trying to protect their own careers, the establishment and the status quo. They’re afraid Trump’s going to blow Washington up, and they’re cowards who don’t fight for people like them. Trump voters are matched by Sanders supporters—who together form a majority of all Americans—in believing there is no real difference between the two parties, that both are gripped by professional politicos and special interests that are choking off the foundations of democracy. That is why the salience of both Trump and Sanders turning their back on the rivers of gold from Super PACs and Wall Street is so strong—and it unites the supporters of these seemingly diametrically-opposed candidates.
What I see and hear, night after night is all about passion, not compassion. It’s about catharsis, not consensus. Payback, not progress. Posturing, not policy.
In today’s social media, talk radio, cable news-driven campaigns, where reason and emotion collide in politics, emotion usually triumphs. And we are in the midst of a campaign of demonization and destruction—and every topic and person is fair game thanks to voter encouragement. From “Low Energy Jeb” to “Little Marco” to “Lyin’ Ted,” Donald Trump has taken character-labeling and personal attacks to a new level— and straight to the Republican nomination. To my shock, the more Trump insulted and excoriated those who stood in his way, the more laughter and head-nodding I saw from Republicans. When I reminded participants of Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “thou shalt not attack another Republican,” they were unmoved. “These establishment Republicans deserve it,” was the most common response.
On the Democratic side, it has gone beyond harsh words to actual violence. At the Nevada Democratic convention earlier this month, over a dozen police officers had to be called in to keep the peace. The party’s state headquarters was vandalized the next day, and the state party chairwoman had to accept a security detail because she was receiving death threats from people nominally on her own side. At Trump rallies coast-to-coast, liberal activists openly embrace screaming over their opponent in an attempt to silence him. And it’s only May. We still have two conventions, three debates and more than five months to go.
I am fearful of expressing my concern publicly about the poison and toxicity of American politics. Democrats will claim I’m shedding crocodile tears, and Republicans will say I’m a wimp. So allow me to close with the hopeful words of one of my Hoosier participants, a rare voice of reason in a dark sea of negativity:
Many of us in this room disagree with each other, and it’s been loud tonight. But when we walk out of this room, we will all walk out together – as Hoosiers. And Hoosier values are what should matter most, not politics. We can disagree, but eventually we all need to come together.
Can the American people come together after a race which will be as divisive and destructive as it is car-crash compelling? Don’t hold your breath. | Payback, not progress. Posturing, not policy. Catharsis, not consensus. | 100.933333 | 1 | 8.333333 | high | high | extractive | 855 |
http://time.com/4381184/uk-brexit-european-union-referendum-cameron/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730013832id_/http://time.com:80/4381184/uk-brexit-european-union-referendum-cameron/? | These 3 Facts Explain Why the U.K. Held a Referendum | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.013832 | The U.K., along with many other parts of the world, woke up Friday morning to the news that it had voted to leave the European Union in a historic referendum by a margin of 52% to 48%.
But the now official ‘Brexit,’ as it was dubbed in the media, has been a long time in the making. Here’s how and why the question of whether to remain within the E.U. or not was put to the British people in the first place.
1. The last time a similar referendum was held was 40 years ago
In 1975, the ruling Labour government held a referendum on whether Britain should leave what was then known as the European Economic Community (EEC), the precursor to the European Union. The U.K. had not been a signatory to the Treaty of Rome that created the EEC in 1957, and had seen two attempts to join — in 1963 and 1967 — rebuffed by then French President Charles de Gaulle before it was finally being accepted in 1973, after de Gaulle’s tenure ended.
The referendum two years later, asking the question “Do you think the UK should stay in the European Community?” saw an overwhelming vote in favor of staying. Every British county except two voted “Yes” for a victory margin of about 67% to 33% with a 64.5% turnout.
2. Many have tried and failed since then to hold another
The Labour Party’s attempt to win the country’s 1983 election on a platform of withdrawing from the EEC resulted in failure, with the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher being re-elected by a considerable margin.
Fourteen years later, four years after the EEC became the E.U. through the 1993 Maastricht Treaty, the newly formed Referendum Party of Sir James Goldsmith contested the 1997 general elections with a promise to hold a referendum on U.K. membership to the union. However, it only managed to win about 2.6% of the vote and did not capture a single seat in parliament.
3. Cameron made a promise, and kept it
The current U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, rejected calls for a referendum on his country’s continued membership of the E.U. in 2012, but announced less than a year later that his Conservative government would hold one if re-elected in 2015.
Soon after he was voted in for a second term, the European Union Referendum Act 2015 was introduced in the British Parliament to kickstart the process that culminated on Friday.
Subsequently, in a speech to the Parliament’s House of Commons in February 2016, Cameron announced that the referendum would be held on June 23. A staunch advocate of remaining within the E.U., Cameron announced his resignation soon after the results of the vote were declared on Friday.
There is still a long road ahead, with the process of officially seceding from the E.U. set to take at least two years and with many factors to be considered, but the people of the U.K. have made their voice heard. Unlike 1975, this time they want to leave. | There have been multiple calls to leave the E.U. over the years | 48.75 | 0.833333 | 1.333333 | high | medium | abstractive | 856 |
http://time.com/4348162/avigdor-lieberman-defense-minister-israel/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730033042id_/http://time.com:80/4348162/avigdor-lieberman-defense-minister-israel/ | Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Controversial Defense Minister | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.033042 | Some Israelis say he sows “the seeds of fascism.” Others insist he’s more “pragmatic” than you’d think.
Avigdor Lieberman, the Soviet-born, West Bank-settled politician, has just been named as Israel’s next defense minister. His agreement to join the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rattling many in the Middle East but is being hailed in Israeli officialdom as an important step toward a broader and more stable governing coalition.
As a student at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Lieberman was a bouncer at a student night club, later becoming its manager. When he entered the Israeli politics in 1988, it was as a loyal protégé of Netanyahu, a then-ascendant leader of the Likud party nearly ten years his senior. Lieberman would go on to serve as Netanyahu’s chief of staff in 1996, seeming to his critics to bring along some of the strong-armed tactics of the job that helped him through college and the less-than-democratic society in which he grew up.
But just a year after holding that key position during Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister, Lieberman resigned in protest over his boss’s acquiescence to a U.S.-brokered, Israeli-Palestinian agreement known as the Wye River Memorandum. Instead, Lieberman decided to break out on his own and form the Yisrael Beiteinu party – or “Israel is Our Home” – aimed at over a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union. An existing party of Russian émigrés led by former refusenik Natan Sharansky was not nearly as hawkish as Lieberman, who was then vehemently opposed to the land-for-peace formula embedded in the 1993 Oslo Accords.
While Sharansky’s once-formidable party has since disappeared from the political stage, Lieberman’s has continued to grow. In fact, Lieberman just repaid voters in his Russian-speaking constituency by winning attractive pension benefits for his supporters as part of his price for joining Netanyahu’s coalition, which has been ruling for a year with a unstable majority of 61 out of 120 seats in the Israeli parliament.
Lieberman most recently served as Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009-2015), but putting him in the defense ministry spot, a particularly important one in this conflict-saddled region, is a hard sell abroad. He is currently advocating for the death penalty for terrorists – although only for Palestinians who kill Israelis, not Israelis who kill Palestinians. He has proposed a solution to the conflict that would strip some of Israel’s Arab population of their long-standing citizenship, a program dubbed “transfer” because citizens would be like undesirable pawns transferred to areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
Lieberman has continued to question the loyalty of Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20% of the population, and has campaigned to make them sign a loyalty pledge or have their citizenship revoked. Last month, he said Hamas leaders in Gaza should prepare their coffins if they don’t hand over the remains of Israeli soldiers.
“As I see Mr. Lieberman, there’s a big distance between his positions and how he behaves when in office,” says Dr. Shmuel Sandler, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University who has closely followed Lieberman’s career. “I don’t see him as an ideologue,” Sandler adds. “Ultimately he’s a very pragmatic guy. I can see him as another Ariel Sharon.”
A comparison to Sharon, the controversial Israeli general-turned-Prime Minister who died in 2014, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence here and abroad that Lieberman would forge a moderate path. But Sharon is remembered by Israelis for pulling Israeli troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005, ditching his Likud party to do so. And like Sharon, Lieberman is a secular politician for whom religious ideology is of passing importance. Unlike the three Orthodox Jewish parties already in Netanyahu’s cabinet, Lieberman views the idea of a God-given Promised Land is an antiquated concept.
That ought to make him more open to a territorial compromise between Israeli and Palestinians. Indeed, his supporters point out, he’s said that he’d be willing to evacuate his home in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim if a real peace were in the offing.
“He’s been criticized for advocating transfer. But if you take his idea at face value, he’s saying he’ll make a deal along the 67 lines, plus land swaps,” says an Israeli government source who has worked closely with Lieberman, referring to Israel’s borders in 1967, before it occupied the West Bank and other territories in the Six-Day War. “That means he’s accepted a two-state solution. But sure, he’s said things that are problematic. Sometimes he plays into his own caricature.”
Ashley Perry, who served as an advisor to Lieberman for six years (2009-2015), says that his former boss is often unfairly maligned. “I worked with the foreign media, and if I spent my time correcting all the inaccurate statements about him, I would never have slept,” he says. Lieberman’s straight-talk wins points in some corners, says Perry. “A lot of people think he talks honestly, and there’s a respect for that, including in many Arab capitals.”
In the de facto Palestinian capital, the West Bank city of Ramallah and seat of the Palestinian Authority, Lieberman’s frankness means it will be trickier for Netanyahu to don a mask of moderation.
“I think having Lieberman as defense minister will expose the real face of the Israeli right-wing government,” says Khaldoun Barghouti, the international news editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, a daily newspaper affiliated with Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organization.
“Netanyahu had a lot of other alternatives that he didn’t choose,” notes Barghouti, in particular bringing in the Labor Party led by Isaac Herzog. “Lieberman has already caused a lot of embarrassment to Israel, and now he will be leading the army.”
Netanyahu says the move stabilizes his government, but it may just be the rockiest transition in history. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak warned that the move seemed to be sowing fascism. Lieberman now must step into the shoes of the outgoing defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, who quit last Friday saying he had lost all faith in the Prime Minister. | Avigdor Lieberman's agreement to join the cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rattling many in the Middle East | 61.65 | 0.95 | 14.65 | high | high | extractive | 857 |
http://time.com/4314849/prince-harry-justin-trudeau-met/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730040254id_/http://time.com:80/4314849/prince-harry-justin-trudeau-met/ | Prince Harry Met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.040254 | This morning, royal ginger and noteworthy feminist Prince Harry met up with gender equality devotee and confirmed heartthrob Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in what might have been the most attractive meeting of world leaders ever.
But it wasn’t just a photo op to bless us with their good looks and manly handshakes, however — although we’re not complaining — Trudeau and Harry met up to discuss the 2017 Invictus Games, which will be held in Toronto.
The Invictus Games are an international sporting event for injured soldiers and veterans that was founded by Prince Harry after he spent time serving in the British Army.
While the two leaders joined forces to talk about the 2017 games, this year’s competition (which has already sparked a playful Twitter beef between the Obamas and the Queen) will start on May 8 in Orlando, Fla. | Foreign relations never looked better. | 26.333333 | 0.166667 | 0.166667 | medium | low | abstractive | 858 |
http://time.com/4347290/jay-z-beyonces-lemonade-all-the-way-up/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730040339id_/http://time.com:80/4347290/jay-z-beyonces-lemonade-all-the-way-up/?xid=time_socialflow_facebook | Jay Z Mentions Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' on New 'All the Way Up' Remix | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.040339 | Jay Z has finally addressed Lemonade musically. The New York rapper referenced his wife Beyoncé’s hit album, which alluded to his alleged infidelity.
Fat Joe tapped Hov for a full verse on the remix of “All the Way Up,” along with Remy Ma.
On the Tidal exclusive, Jay Z immediately jumps to talking about the record. “You know you made it when the fact/Your marriage made it is worth millions/Lemonade is a popular drink and it still is,” he opens up his verse.
Jay also mentions the late artist Prince, whose catalogue is on Tidal. He claims Prince’s music is protected there: “Prince left his masters where they safe and sound/We never gonna let the elevator take him down.”
Besides paraphrasing Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” the verse’s final line can also be read as a reference to the fight between Jay Z and sister-in-law Solange Knowles in an elevator in 2014.
Hear the “All the Way Up” remix, via Tidal.
This article originally appeared on Ew.com | "All the Way Up” is available on Tidal exclusively | 19.545455 | 0.727273 | 2.727273 | medium | low | mixed | 859 |
http://time.com/4369110/fathers-day-dad-word-etymology/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730040555id_/http://time.com:80/4369110/fathers-day-dad-word-etymology/ | This Is Where the Word 'Dad' Comes From | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.040555 | Of all the words we use our fathers—from pappy to old man—the most common American appellation is three little letters: dad. And with Father’s Day arriving this weekend, you may be wondering where that familiar word comes from.
The leading hypothesis is: babies.
“There’s unusual similarity in the words for mothers and fathers throughout the world,” says the Oxford English Dictionary’s Katherine Martin. “And that has to do with how babies start to vocalize.” Dad most probably comes from dada, which has a construction one can see reflected in other pater words like papa, tata, abba and baba.
To understand this, it is best that we do some things that might weird out the people around you. First, open your mouth and just push some air out. That noise, much like the one you make in the dentist’s chair, should sound a lot like the vowel sound one hears in mama, papa and those other words. Because it takes little thought or skill to make, that tends to be one of the first that babies babble. “Other vowels,” says linguist Gretchen McCulloch, “require more precise control.”
Now, make the “duh” sound. Feel how your tongue is on the roof of your mouth near the back of your teeth? Make the “puh” and “buh” sounds. Feel how that’s all in the lips? Do it one more time and notice how those sounds come from the front of your mouth rather than the back, compared to sounds like g’s “guh” or k’s “kuh.”
While babies have a hard time with those more complicated, back-of-the-mouth sounds—which is why it seems natural and adorable when Tweety Bird sees a “puddy tat” instead of a “kitty cat”—those front-of-the-mouth consonants are much easier for little baby faces to utter. Infants can see what adults do with their lips and imitate those lippy sounds, while, “if you’re doing stuff with your tongue, the easiest thing to do is just throw it up in the front,” McCulloch says.
Young humans also learn words better (even nonsensical ones) when there’s a repeated sound (though we don’t know exactly why). All of which means that “dada” is a natural sound for babies to make. And, as another part of the theory goes, parents want to assume their babies know them by name even if their children are just babbling away. So those sounds have been assumed to be names for caregivers—and then reinforced as names for caregivers over generations.
So why do we think of females as “mama” and males as “dada” or “papa”? The easiest consonant sound to make, says Oxford’s Martin, is the “mmmmm” sound, one that is similar to the noise babies make when they’re nursing. And because women have tended to be the primary caregivers throughout history, that early sound has become associated with them, says McCulloch. Meanwhile, the babbles that tend to be gurgled up soon after that are associated with the person babies have come into contact with the second most: dads.
There are endless spins on these dad words. Papa, for instance, becomes not just pappy but pa, pop, pops, poppa, pa-paw and pop-pop. Part of the reason for this is that people are downright playful with English. Part may be differences in accents and speech patterns from place to place. And another part is likely that, unlike most kinship terms (think: niece, cousin, brother), these words tend to stand in as quasi-names for the people they refer to, says Martin. “They can be really particular to a family or a region,” she says. “Dad and mom are the dominant ones, but families have their own individual practices too.”
Yet the overriding theme here is not difference but sameness. All the global variations on this theme—from tata in Poland to baba in South Asia—are evidence that despite different cultures, people share experiences of kinship, and that babies from every corner of the world at least start out having some things in common. The words that different languages use for father, like Spanish padre and German Vater, have been used to show the genetic relationship between languages themselves, too.
That widespread understanding of what it’s like to have a parent is part of the reason the word dad pops up so often in slang. Parent words are “really ripe for metaphors,” says McCulloch. “They have this relationship that everybody kind of understands.” At its best, that dad relationship boils down father-figures being the greatest in slang—or at least solid.
The most exemplary or outstanding example of something has been “the granddaddy of them all” for centuries. In the mid-1900s, jazz musicians began calling each other “daddy-o” to signal they were equals or friendly. And it’s become fashionable on social media to refer to public figures one admires as “mom” or “dad,” be that man Kanye West or Bernie Sanders. This “dad,” as linguist Ben Zimmer puts it, is usually “a man you’re not actually thinking of as being your father or being like your father but having qualities you respect.”
So whether your dad inspires you or embarrasses you, whether you are a mac daddy or a baby-daddy, whether you are a swingin’ daddy-o or the resigned owner of a dad bod, remember that you are in abundant company this Father’s Day. | A Father's Day history lesson | 184.833333 | 0.666667 | 0.666667 | high | low | abstractive | 860 |
http://time.com/4280573/tesla-model-3-preorders-demand/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730042250id_/http://time.com:80/4280573/tesla-model-3-preorders-demand/ | Tesla Model 3 Preorder Numbers Send Company's Stock Rising | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.042250 | Automaker Tesla is seeing a nice boost in its stock price Monday following news of high demand for its upcoming electric sedan.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed Sunday that the Model 3, which was officially unveiled March 31, racked up 276,000 preorders in less than 72 hours. The news helped push Tesla’s stock up more than 3% in early morning trading Monday.
At a base retail price of $35,000, the Model 3 will be the first car Tesla offers at a mass-market price. The massive number of preorders already far exceeds the number of flagship Model S cars the company has sold. But it’s unclear when Tesla will actually have the production capability to manufacture so many cars in a timely manner.
Musk himself, who at first seemed caught off-guard by the high demand, has already warned that the wait time for the Model 3 is “growing rapidly.”
Definitely going to need to rethink production planning…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2016 | The company's new car looks poised to be a big hit | 16.166667 | 0.5 | 0.666667 | medium | low | abstractive | 861 |
http://time.com/4428627/jojo-wiz-khalifa-new-album/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730123124id_/http://time.com:80/4428627/jojo-wiz-khalifa-new-album/ | JoJo Releases New Track Featuring Wiz Khalifa | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.123124 | JoJo is back, and she’s not even sorry about it. The singer has unveiled a new track called called “F— Apologies,” the first single off her long-awaited new album Mad Love, coming out October 14.
In the stylish music video, directed by Francesco Carrozzini, JoJo makes it clear that she isn’t here to play contrite for anyone. Wiz Khalifa joins briefly for a quick, cutting verse.
As a comeback, “F— Apologies” is a brash statement, though that’s keeping in tradition for the singer, who rose to fame in 2004 with the breakup anthem, “Leave (Get Out).”
Mad Love, which JoJo announced via Instagram, is the 25-year-old singer’s first official studio album since 2006’s The High Road. Although career struggles have plagued JoJo over the last decade, the singer never stopped recording music, releasing two mixtapes and an EP before starting from scratch for Mad Love.
Watch the video for “F— Apologies” below. | Her new album Mad Love comes out October 14 | 21.888889 | 0.888889 | 2.888889 | medium | medium | mixed | 862 |
http://www.tmz.com/2012/10/01/gunplay-50-cent-g-unit-kill-gun-tmz-live | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730174915id_/http://www.tmz.com:80/2012/10/01/gunplay-50-cent-g-unit-kill-gun-tmz-live | Gunplay -- Rapper Says He Wants to KILL 50 Cent | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.174915 | says he absolutely DID NOT fire a gun at the BET Awards ... but claims he DID beat up a member of
's entourage ... and says he wants to "kill" everyone in the G-Unit crew.
Gunplay -- a rapper who's signed to Def Jam -- just called in to TMZ Live to talk about the madness at the BET Awards in Atlanta on Saturday ... where multiple fights broke out behind the scenes.
Gunplay tells us ... he "had to fight off five dudes" who he believes were members of 50 Cent's camp.
Gunplay says things got violent with 50's group because, "I never liked them and always wanted to kick his ass ... and I finally got the opportunity."
The rapper says 50 Cent WAS involved in the action ... but was "hiding behind security." Gunplay says he was trying to "break his f*ckin' neck."
Gunplay says he did manage to beat down one of the guys in 50's entourage -- "kicked one of their fat-asses ... kicked them off in the dirt." Gunplay says cops then rushed in and sprayed him with mase.
Gunplay -- who's friends with
-- says his fight had nothing to do with Rick's altercation with
's crew at the BET Awards ... but explains, "We just goin' at it with everybody ... let's go kill 'em all."
Doesn't sound like he was joking ... Gunplay told us, "If you're playin' with me, you're playin' with fire ... might get gunned down, ya never know." | Gunplay says he absolutely DID NOT fire a gun at the BET Awards ... but claims he DID beat up a member of 50 Cent's entourage ... and says he wants to… | 9.117647 | 0.970588 | 13.735294 | low | high | extractive | 863 |
http://www.people.com/article/army-memorial-bracelets-charles-judge-jonathon-prins | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730212831id_/http://www.people.com/article/army-memorial-bracelets-charles-judge-jonathon-prins | How the Army Is Honoring the Soldiers Allegedly Killed While Defending Woman : People.com | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.212831 | Jonathon Prins (left) and Charles Judge Jr.
Jonathon Prins/gofundme; 218TH Leadership Regiment 1ST BN Engineers Facebook
Gone, but never forgotten: That's the message of the military after the loss of two soldiers who, police said,
while attempting to protect a woman allegedly being attacked by a man.
"Our hearts go out to their families and we will not forget them," Col. Renita Berry, of the South Carolina National Guard, tells PEOPLE.
In the days since the deaths of Sgts. First Class Jonathon Prins, 29, and Charles Judge Jr., 40, their tight-knight military community has rallied for them and their families.
In addition to fundraising for the families via GoFundMe, friends and fellow soldiers are helping to sell
inscribed with their names – the proceeds of which will go toward Judge's two children, a 13-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl.
The bracelets also bear a modified version of the military oath: "Support and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
The bracelets were a group effort that brought together the families of Judge and Prins, Master Sgt. Brian Deese tells PEOPLE. The plan came together quickly as the families adopted a "we'll do it now and worry about it later" mentality, he says.
"We're just trying to honor a true hero," Deese says.
He and Berry both say they have been bowled over with the enthusiasm for the project and flooded with calls for bracelets.
Courtesy South Carolina National Guard / Cherry's Delight
organized for Prins' family, by his friends and colleagues in the Army, has raised more than $15,000 as of this writing. Deese says a
has raised more than $3,000.
Judge and Prins were friends, Prins' sister Courtney Jernigan
, when she remembered her brother as a "protector." The two were out together the night they both died, she said.
Deese had supervised Judge for several years but knew him for much longer. He says Judge's heroism in the way he died was completely in character.
"He was always putting other people before himself," Deese says.
An engineer instructor with the Army National Guard who served in multiple units during his 21 years of service, Judge was "a very well-rounded soldier," says Col. Berry, Judge's commanding officer. She says Judge instructed soldiers on working with explosives and on "horizontal construction," such as working on roadways and groundwork. He was named "Instructor of the Quarter" three times, she says. Judge also served as an instructor for the Noncommissioned Officer Academy, which provides leadership training for enlisted soldiers.
Berry says Judge also supported the state of South Carolina in times of crisis, citing as an example when the state was hit by flooding in 2005.
She tells PEOPLE that soldiers like Judge never forget the core values of the Army, including loyalty and selfless service. "You remain true to the Army values, in or out of uniform," she says. "Mentally, you are always in uniform."
She says the Guard has been with Judge's family every day since his death, providing them support, bringing them food and helping them through the logistics of his funeral.
She says they are organizing a memorial service for both Judge's brigade and his family where his family will be presented with awards honoring Judge's service.
Deese says he has visited Judge's family multiple times. They, like Judge's military community, are holding up okay, he says – though Friday's funeral service will likely be difficult.
"But they're not going through this by themselves," he says. | "We're just trying to honor a true hero," one friend tells PEOPLE | 45.625 | 0.875 | 9.25 | high | medium | extractive | 864 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/health/women-doctors-salaries-pay-gap.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160730223904id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/07/12/health/women-doctors-salaries-pay-gap.html?ref=business&_r=0 | Dr. Paid Less: An Old Title Still Fits Female Physicians | 1970-08-22T08:12:10.223904 | Female physicians at some of the nation’s most prominent public medical schools earn nearly $20,000 less a year on average than their male colleagues, according to an analysis published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Before adjusting for factors that could influence income, the researchers found that the absolute difference between the genders was more than $51,000 a year.
Several studies have found a persistent pay gap between male and female doctors. But those reports relied mostly on doctors reporting their own incomes, or focused on pay disparities in one specialty or one region, or on starting salaries.
The new study draws on salary information from a much larger, objective sample. The researchers went to great lengths to account for a variety of factors that can influence income, such as the volume of patients seen by a physician and the number of publications he or she had written.
Medical professionals greeted the results with exasperation.
“It’s 2016, and yet in a very methodically strong, large study that covers a broad swath of the country, you’re still seeing at the very least a 10 percent difference in what men and women take home,” said Dr. Molly Cooke, a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco, who has studied salary disparities among physicians.
Dr. Vineet M. Arora, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, wrote an editorial accompanying the study. “This paper is going to make women academic physicians start a conversation with their institutions to promote transparency and gender equality, because at the end of the day, it’s not fair,” she said in an interview.
The analysis included data on roughly 10,000 physician faculty members at 24 medical schools, including those of the University of North Carolina and the University of Washington. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital relied on public databases of employee salaries in 12 states, and data from Doximity, a networking site for physicians, to adjust for factors that can influence income — years since residency, specialty and age, for instance.
A study found that female doctors at public medical schools tend to make less than their male colleagues. Below, estimated salary differences for different specialties.
Only public medical schools, not private ones, were included, because states like Florida and Texas post employee salaries online.
After adjusting for a variety of factors, the researchers found that female neurosurgeons and cardiothoracic surgeons and women in other surgical subspecialties made roughly $44,000 less than comparable men in those fields.
The average pay gap between female and male orthopedic surgeons was nearly $41,000. The difference was about $38,000 among oncologists and blood specialists, about $36,000 among obstetrician-gynecologists and $34,000 among cardiologists.
Radiology was the only specialty in which women were paid more. Their adjusted average salary exceeded that of male radiologists by roughly $2,000.
Pay differences by gender appeared across all faculty ranks. Full female professors made roughly the same income ($250,971) as male associate professors ($247,212) despite outranking them.
The study’s limitations included a lack of information about who was on a tenure track. More important, reported incomes in some states may not include all payments to physicians, but both men and women are likely to have been affected by such an exclusion.
The researchers also found stark variations in the salary gap at different medical schools, suggesting some address pay inequities more aggressively than others.
“The biggest surprise is there are some schools where this doesn’t seem to be an issue,” said Dr. Anupam B. Jena, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
At two medical centers in the West, female physicians were paid roughly $54,000 and $59,000 less, on average, than their male counterparts. At two schools, there was little income difference. Dr. Jena declined to the identify the schools.
“What policies, procedures, leadership or culture at these sites helps to counteract a gender pay gap?” Dr. Arora asked in her editorial.
Dr. Cooke said her salary had been corrected twice by university administrators — once after research she helped conduct revealed pay disparities among physicians in the late 1980s.
She attributes the persistent pay gap partly to the complicated and individualized nature of academic salaries, as well as a lack of transparency.
A subtle bias against women often is a factor, she said, “until a periodic study comes along, where people go, ‘Oh, my God, it’s happening, again.’”
In the worst cases, the pay gap exists because of “clear discrimination by department chairs in salary settings,” Dr. Jena said.
But he also suggested that two other factors mighty play a role. Men and women may negotiate differently, and “male physicians may be more aggressive in terms of obtaining outside salary offers,” he said.
“Extremely helpful” research like Dr. Jena’s keeps the issue in the public eye, said Dr. Kim Templeton, the president of American Medical Women’s Association and a professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Kansas, which contributed data to the study.
“But just having it out there isn’t going to fix the problem.”
A version of this article appears in print on July 12, 2016, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: A Diagnosis That Hasn’t Changed for Female Physicians: Lower Pay. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe | A broad analysis of salary information from public medical schools found that women made almost $20,000 less a year than comparable male doctors. | 42.32 | 0.96 | 2.56 | high | high | mixed | 865 |
http://time.com/4206719/reishi-lingzhi-mushroom-hot-cocoa-elixir-four-sigmatic/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160801100452id_/http://time.com:80/4206719/reishi-lingzhi-mushroom-hot-cocoa-elixir-four-sigmatic/? | Good for You? Are There Health Benefits? | 1970-08-22T08:13:21.100452 | This is This Is Now a Thing, where we check out the science behind new health trends.
For more than 2,000 years people have believed that certain mushrooms have healing properties—particularly one known as lingzhi in China and reishi in Japan. Grown on logs, reishi can be red or dark-colored with a shiny top, hence its Latin name Ganoderma lucidum, which means bright. If you tap on it, it sounds like a door knock, says Iris Benzie, Chair Professor of Biomedical Science in the Department of Health Technology & Informatics at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who has been studying reishi for 15 years. It’s not usually eaten whole, mind you. More often, it’s ground-up and sold in capsules or a powder that can be stirred into beverages tea or into soup.
One company that has received some recent press for trying to cultivate the use of reishi in the West is Four Sigmatic, which sells a reishi hot cocoa mix (a box of 10 packets costs $20) and a reishi elixir, a powder that also contains various herbs (a box of 20 packets for $35). “Indigenous cultures would use reishi to make a tea or soup, but many people don’t drink soup on daily basis, and tea didn’t catch on,” says Tero Isokauppila, the company’s CEO. Four Sigmatic makes the products by drying out the fungi, which they get from southeast China, boiling them for roughly 12-24 hours in water and alcohol and then putting the mixture into a “spray-drier that uses pressurized hot air” to remove the liquids. What’s left is a powder supposedly concentrated with the two main components of reishi: polysaccharides and triterpenes.
These two ingredients are what give reishi its reputation for being a “sacred fungus” and the “mushroom of immortality.” “Polysaccharides are believed to stimulate white cells and the immune system and possibly be involved in preventing new blood vessel growth, which has an anticancer effect because cancer cells growing rapidly need a good blood supply and encourage blood vessel growth to nourish them,” says the reishi researcher Benzie. “Triterpenes are believed to be ingredients that might have something to do with lowering cholesterol.”
Ancient Chinese textbooks said reishi would help people live longer, “enhancing vital energy,” while the 2000 edition of The State Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China once recommended it for palpitations, insomnia, and to “ease the mind.”
A brochure for the Four Sigmatic elixir echoes the general wellbeing and heart health claims, saying “reishi reduces the possibility of heart disease” by lowering the LDL cholesterol levels and blood pressure. The cocoa and elixir are also touted as a sleep aid: “Reishi is an adaptogen that helps the body in adapting to challenging conditions. It directs people to relax when they are under too much stress.” Isokauppila says reishi also “protects and cleanses” the liver and helps the organ break down stress hormones, so “ideally it’s eaten in afternoon or evening because a lot of liver detox happens at night.” The company also says the mushroom’s antihistaminic properties “help prevent” spring allergies.
“We don’t positively know that the polysaccharides and triterpenes do anything,” says Benzie. Even though many consider reishi the most-researched of so-called medicinal mushrooms, Russell Paterson, who co-authored a 2015 review of the existing research, says “there’s a big gap between the popular myth of the mushroom and the actual scientific research that needs to be done.”
That said, most of its purported medicinal benefits have been documented in rodent studies and in test tubes, which is promising but doesn’t mean these things would necessarily happen in humans. Experts note that when it comes to humans, most of what’s available is a handful of case reports. For instance, in a 2011 Journal of Clinical Oncology paper, doctors observed that the tumors in three liver cancer patients, who happened to be consuming reishi regularly, shrank.
As for the word “adaptogen,” that’s a catch-all phrase that means “anything helps your body,” says Simon Yeung, a doctor of pharmacy who manages the About Herbs website at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Benzie adds the calm people might feel after drinking reishi hot cocoa could just be because “if you’re having the hot chocolate, you tend to be in an environment where you’re sitting and relaxing, so the hot drink will make you feel more relaxed.”
One key limitation to the overall body of research: There’s no standardized way of preparing reishi. Not all products extract the main ingredients or grow the mushroom in the same way, so items on the market may vary in the amount of polysaccharides and triterpenes that they contain, depending both on how old the mushroom is and what part of the mushroom is being used.
Bitter, thanks to the triterpenes. “Triterpenes in plants are the things that stop animals from eating them,” Benzie says. Yeung says reishi tastes like “tree bark.”
“Reishi tastes really bad,” admits Isokauppila, who recommends adding honey or almond milk to the cocoa if it’s not palatable enough, or putting the elixir into a smoothie. With the Four Sigmatic products, we found the elixir is the most bitter, while cinnamon and chocolate hot cocoa mask the bitterness better.
Yeung, who gets questions about reishi a lot from cancer patients, tells them not to consume these mushroom products while undergoing chemotherapy because doctors cannot be sure it won’t affect how chemo works on cancer cells. Yeung also says that people on diabetic medications should take caution because they “may lower their blood sugar level,” which could cause a “cold and shivering” feeling. Four Sigmatic has a similar disclaimer in its brochures.
For those who can consume them, they seem to be safe. There’s no evidence of toxic effects in large doses or over a long period of time yet. As Benzie sums it up: “There’s no evidence that it will do any harm taken in moderation, but no clear evidence that it will do any good, either.” | Experts explain the research, science, behind the medicinal mushrooms | 109.090909 | 0.909091 | 1.272727 | high | medium | abstractive | 866 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2016/07/28/rory-mcilroy-left-nine-off-uspga-championship-lead-as-putting-fa/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160801111244id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/golf/2016/07/28/rory-mcilroy-left-nine-off-uspga-championship-lead-as-putting-fa/ | Rory McIlroy left nine off USPGA Championship lead as putting falls apart | 1970-08-22T08:13:21.111244 | “The people picked me back up,” said Mickelson, who won the US PGA here 11 years ago. “When I was walking off the third [his 12th] tee, a guy said, ‘hey, you’ve got a lot of golf left, you’re not out of this, let’s get going’. He was right. I came back and made some birdies. I birdied that hole.”
Walker’s 65 was beautifully composed, with six birdies and one bogey. The 37-year-old is a proven winner on the PGA Tour with five victories in the past three years and, regardless of a poor year to date, should not be underestimated. But the names are lining up, with Martin Kaymer alongside Fisher and the Argentinian Emiliano Grillo after the German shot a 66 in the tougher afternoon conditions.
Stenson revealed no hint of a Troon hangover in a 67 which is ominous for the rest and Rickie Fowler bounced back from an indifferent spell with a 68, while the 70s of Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose were more than satisfactory. So much ground to make up, so many quality players to bypass in the process. McIlroy has to break the habit of his major career, and do it the hard way. | Rory McIlroy could not remember the last time he went an entire round without a birdie and, it can only be presumed, he would also have failed to recall ever putting so poorly. | 6.694444 | 0.416667 | 0.472222 | low | low | abstractive | 867 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7981651/Bladder-Lane-Bent-Street-and-Butt-Hole-Road-the-street-names-that-reached-the-end-of-the-road.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160801115715id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7981651/Bladder-Lane-Bent-Street-and-Butt-Hole-Road-the-street-names-that-reached-the-end-of-the-road.html | Bladder Lane, Bent Street and Butt Hole Road - the street names that reached the end of the road | 1970-08-22T08:13:21.115715 | The name, which is thought to refer to a communal water butt once located in the area, has now been changed to Archers Way.
Last week residents in the street expressed relief at the change. One, who declined to be named, said: "We had had enough. We are much happier now. We just want to move on."
Bladder Lane, in Plymouth, believed to have been named for the bladderwort plant which grew in an adjacent meadow, was changed to Boniface Lane at the request of a St Boniface's Catholic College, on the road, which was unhappy with it.
Bent Street, in Blackburn, was renamed following lobbying from a new sheltered accommodation complex on the road. It has now been given the rather more bucolic-sounding Greenhurst Place.
In the same town, a local college has also successfully requested that Brewery Street, on its campus, is changed to the more scholarly – and more sober – University Close. "We just felt it was more appropriate," a Blackpool College spokesman added.
However, the changes have upset local heritage campaigners, who are concerned about the loss of local history in such names.
Tony Burton, director of Civic Voice, a new umbrella organisation representing local heritage groups, said: "Street names are an honest reflection of an area.
"They give character. They are part of a rich history and even if they feel a bit dated or unusual, they are worth hanging on to.
"A bit of quirkiness and surprise doesn't go amiss. We don't want to lose the character and distinctiveness that a variety of street names offer us. You would need a very good reason to wipe away that history."
The name changes have been uncovered in a survey of local councils by The Sunday Telegraph and have all occurred within the last ten years.
Changing the name of a street is an expensive and lengthy process, the cost of which is usually met by the local residents, or a developer.
Home owners on the street must also change the deeds of the homes and their mortgage details, as well as other billing information.
As well as to avoid "rude" names, many changes have been made in response to the advent of satellite navigation systems which can confuse certain, similar-sounding names and which often fail to take account of changes to road layouts.
In several cases, however, the changes were requested after addresses became stigmatised, in some way.
Following the conviction of Maxine Carr for perverting the course of justice during the investigation into the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham, villagers in Haddenham, about ten miles away, requested that Carr Close be renamed.
Residents of Whiteway Avenue, near Bath, changed their street to the more picturesque Englishcombe Rise, because of the "negative connotations" of sharing a name with a nearby suburb called Whiteway.
In Walsall, part of Beddows Road was renamed Lavender Grove because the old name had become associated with a high crime rate and anti social behaviour.
Developers in Gloucester requested that the name of Asylum Lane, where a mental hospital in the city is based, be changed to Royal Lane.
According to the local council, the original name was "considered to have negative implications and association with the area".
In Liverpool, the names of a number of streets were changed to avoid linking new properties with the bad credit history of other properties in the area.
Sometimes, residents have changed the name simply because they do not like it.
In Rotherham, residents of Collier Street started a petition to change its name because they felt it was not as attractive as other names on the same estate.
Gritstone Close, in Lancaster, was changed to Oakland Close at the residents' request, while in Bournemouth, Derby Road was changed to Garden Views because the new name was "perceived to have more desirable connotations".
However, it seems that not all residents are concerned by an unusual address. In Northamptonshire, residents asked for Rectory Close, in Great Houghton, to revert to its original – Cracknuts Lane. | Dozens of councils across Britain have reported cases of residents changing the names of their street because they are embarrassed by or dislike the one it had been given. | 25.25 | 0.75 | 1.125 | medium | low | abstractive | 868 |
http://fortune.com/2015/09/04/mastercards-mobile-payments-chief/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160801194142id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/09/04/mastercards-mobile-payments-chief/ | MasterCard talks Apple Pay, Android Pay and more | 1970-08-22T08:13:21.194142 | MasterCard sits at an interesting vantage point overlooking mobile payments. That would be the emerging technology that lets people use their mobile phones to pay at the store checkout counter instead of cash or credit cards.
Silicon Valley giants like Apple AAPL and Google GOOG are trying to capitalize on the opportunity. MasterCard MC , the nearly 50 year-old credit card company, is also trying to keep up.
One way is through what’s known as contactless payments, whereby shoppers can merely wave their phone in front of a reader at the cash register. Their credit card is automatically billed without them having to take it out of their wallet. MasterCard is also involved in peer to peer money transfers. People link their debit card accounts online or on a phone so they can transfer money to friends, family or anyone else.
Fortune sat down with MasterCard’s chief emerging payments officer, Ed McLaughlin, to talk about the company’s partnerships with Apple’s mobile payment service, Apple Pay; Google’s alternative, Android Pay; and what’s next for the company when it comes to mobile payments. The following was edited for length and clarity:
Fortune: In Mastercard’s experience, how’s the consumer adoption of Apple Pay?
McLaughlin: We are seeing strong uptake. But these technologies will take time to grow. Particularly with Apple Pay you need to have a new iPhone to start using Apple Pay [older versions of the iPhone are not compatible]. But we’re seeing adoption track really well.
What about Google’s mobile payments technology, Android Pay?
McLaughlin: Android Pay is going to be more interesting because it will be compatible to Google’s latest version of its operating system, meaning that most Android users will be able to use the technology after upgrading to the new OS. I think there are over 1,000 different handsets that are out there that will be able to accept Android Pay, giving it a bigger installed base for that. So it will be interesting to see how quickly that moves.
How many MasterCard credit cards have been integrated into Apple Pay?
McLaughlin: We haven’t released that number. But we do see a lot of users using their cards with Apple Pay. We’re also analyzing where and how people are using Apple Pay with their MasterCard cards. It’s also really interesting to see what’s happening with contactless payments outside of the U.S. In the UK, I can tap my Apple Watch to pay to get onto the Tube, and that is a great experience. And I think it’s those anchor experiences that will build usage around contactless payments. We have not published tracking stats on that yet, but it’s being adopted, and it’s being used.
Do you see Android Pay and Apple Pay as partners or competitors, since you have your own contactless payments system, MasterPass?
McLaughlin: We see all of this as highly complementary. Whether you use the plastic card, whether you use the device, we’re tying it all back to your MasterCard account. And I think the most important thing that’s often missed: You get all the rights and benefits in Android Pay and Apple Pay that you get from a genuine MasterCard transaction — all the protections. So whether it’s rewards or cash back or zero liability, all of that’s retained regardless of the environment you use it in.
Initially with Apple Pay, people would say things like, “Well, it’s an Apple Pay transaction.” But It’s a MasterCard transaction that’s being generated from that environment. If you have a MasterCard account, we want to enable whatever makes the most sense for you in your life and make sure it works really well.
What are your thoughts on Samsung Pay, Samsung’s Android Pay competitor?
McLaughlin: We think there’s going to be lots of environments for payments. One of our mantras is that every device is going to be a commerce device. Your game system and your car could all become places where commerce takes place. And we will see payments on wearables that are coming out. As more devices get connected and smarter, those create opportunities for commerce.
But are the security standards on some of these non-mobile devices enough to handle payments and credit card information?
McLaughlin: Our mission is to make sure that digital payments are as secure, or even more secure than anything we can do in the physical world. So when we enable any of these devices, we’re using a token, not your real card number. So it can be only used from that device for what that device does.
There’s also an encrypted key, which is a unique security key that’s put on a transaction. So every transaction is a one-time transaction. It can’t be captured or replayed.
The other good news: If anything happens to that environment, we just burn the token. You know, the transaction is blocked at the network level and we burn the token down. None of your other environments are impacted. So you don’t have to replace the card.
What do you think is next for contactless payments?
McLaughlin: I think you’ll see markets emulate what we’ve already seen in Canada and Australia, which is when people tap to pay more than two or three times, they don’t go back to their prior behavior because it is faster and more convenient. In Australia, around 60% to 70% of our transactions under $100 are already contactless because consumers like the speed and convenience.
In markets like the US, where 80% of VeriFone’s new terminals are already shipping with contactless payments enabled, you have merchants like Best Buy BBY and Target TGT and Rite Aid RAD now turning contactless back on. We think that’s just going to be part of the payments infrastructure.
It feels like peer to peer payments is having sort of a renaissance. MasterCard announced its peer to peer payments technology recently, MasterCard Send
McLaughlin: When you move into a connected world, things change. I wouldn’t necessarily go home and log on to send you $20. I’d probably hand it to you. But if you’re in my contacts on my phone and I’m texting you, I might flick it to you because it’s right there. So I think peer to peer payments are taking off because people are getting more connected. It’s changing how we interact and changes in how you interact will change how you transact.
And what we keep hearing from people is they want all this to work together from the accounts they are already using instead of opening a new account.
What are your thoughts about companies like Square, for example, that are taking on the point-of-sale world? [Square sells merchants software and an adapter that turns smartphones and tablets into point of sale devices that can accept credit cards].
McLaughlin: Square is not competition to us in any way. In fact, we did a lot to help them get started. I think one of the great stories with Square, is that it is part of “bringing your own device” movement. Now, with a simple adapter, you can take this incredibly powerful smartphone you have in your pocket and turn it into a full-fledged credit card terminal.
Around the world we’ve seen millions of merchants with Square and Square’s European competitor iZettle and other providers now able to take electronic payments because it’s lowered the barrier to entry for that. And we think that’s a great thing. I think there’s always vigorous competition on who can serve the merchant best, and we think that’s really healthy.
What are some of the payments companies MasterCard has invested in?
McLaughlin: We have a program called Commerce Innovated, where we’re working with innovative young companies around the world to take advantage of payments, take advantage of MasterCard technology, and take advantage of the expertise we can offer. We help them develop and incubate their businesses in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank [which also offers them resources]. Sometimes we actually provide funding and investment for early stage companies that are part of this program.
One good example that’s gotten a lot of attention is investing in a company called BioMed. They have created a wearable band that actually reads your EKG. And we think we can use that to help validate transactions.
We’re not in the business of trying to pick winners in these highly competitive markets, but more facilitating these type of transformative innovations which help extend what we can do and offer to consumers.
Do you have a separate fund?
McLaughlin: No, we don’t have a separate fund. What we have done is that we’ve worked with some of the venture capital funds that are out there and taken positions in those funds. We do direct funding into companies that we find are particularly interesting. But large dollar, late-round, high valuation investing—that type of thing isn’t as interesting to us.
What’s are some of the new technologies we’re going to see in the payments world in 2016?
McLaughlin: In 2016, you will see payments built into all the major operating systems, which will allow an access and convenience that hadn’t been there before. You’ll see an acceleration of consumer interactions, particularly around commerce, in all devices. So the ongoing sophistication of mobile shopping apps and more merchants accepting electronic payments will be essential. And we will see the acceleration of e-commerce transactions, which represent 15% of our business. | The executive who handles mobile payments for the credit card giant shares where he thinks the future of payments is heading. | 84.5 | 0.636364 | 1 | high | low | abstractive | 869 |
http://www.people.com/article/miss-teen-usa-karlie-hay-5-things | http://web.archive.org/web/20160801215854id_/http://www.people.com/article/miss-teen-usa-karlie-hay-5-things | 5 Things to Know About Karlie Hay : People.com | 1970-08-22T08:13:21.215854 | 08/01/2016 AT 01:40 PM EDT
Karlie Hay's joy over winning the title of
on Saturday came crashing down Sunday when her old tweets using the N-word surfaced online.
Hay has since apologized, and the Miss Universe organization says they will not take away her crown – despite protests on social media – in order to support "her continued growth."
Here's what you need to know about the 18-year-old winner from Tomball, Texas.
Hay, who says she was inspired to enter pageants by a friend, made her debut at the 2015 Miss Texas Teen competition. She then gave Miss Houston Teen a shot, earning the second runner-up spot, before going to the Miss Kemah Teen pageant in Kemah, Texas, and winning the crown. In her second attempt Hay took the title of Miss Texas Teen 2016, which earned her
, the 2016 graduate of Tomball High School said that her favorite sport is cheerleading. "I was a cheerleader for six years, and the varsity cheer caption my senior year, and I also love watching football, so cheerleading and football [are my favorite sports]." She was also the yearbook editor and an honor-roll student.
A photo posted by Miss Texas Teen USA 2016 (@karlie_hay) on Jan 15, 2016 at 7:01pm PST
is over, Hay will head to Lone Star Community College in the fall, with plans to transfer to Texas A&M University. "I'm majoring in either communications or business," she said.
Hay is a proud military sister, and her one brother, Josh Hay, 21, is in the United States Marine Corps.
After seeing a close family member battle with alcoholism, Hay says she wants to be a national voice about the effects of alcoholism and drug abuse on family members. "Her own childhood experiences have engendered great empathy for children growing up in unstable environments and for the families of alcoholics," according
on the Miss Teen USA website. "Were her fondest wish to be granted, every child would grow up in a stable and loving home." | 5 things to know about Karlie Hay, the new Miss Teen USA 2016 | 29.071429 | 0.785714 | 1.928571 | medium | medium | mixed | 870 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/6228127/My-Europe-Catalonia.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802004913id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/worldnews/europe/6228127/My-Europe-Catalonia.html | My Europe: Catalonia | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.004913 | “I’m from Catalonia and I feel Catalan and European – not Spanish. So, I’m from the hidden Europe, from that part of the continent where its inhabitants are not comfortable within the state they are living. Catalonia has its own institutions, language and culture and enjoys autonomy from Spain, so it runs itself as a nation inside another nation, with all the problems that brings.
I’m enthusiastic about the values that the EU represents: peace, freedom, democracy and development. But Catalans cannot help build Europe because it’s a union of states, and governments still exert too much power over European citizenry.
So, Catalonia has two options: change Europe or become a state. Changing the EU is a matter of all citizens and countries, becoming a state depends on our democratic will.
If we won independence, we would become the ninth largest European country by population, of a total of 28. ” | Pol Pagès, 26, lives in Barcelona. He supports the independence of Catalonia within the EU | 9.578947 | 0.526316 | 0.631579 | low | low | abstractive | 871 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802023154id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all | The New York Times | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.023154 | WASHINGTON — A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers.
The weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the officials said.
The C.I.A. officers have been in southern Turkey for several weeks, in part to help keep weapons out of the hands of fighters allied with Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, one senior American official said. The Obama administration has said it is not providing arms to the rebels, but it has also acknowledged that Syria’s neighbors would do so.
The clandestine intelligence-gathering effort is the most detailed known instance of the limited American support for the military campaign against the Syrian government. It is also part of Washington’s attempt to increase the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who has recently escalated his government’s deadly crackdown on civilians and the militias battling his rule. With Russia blocking more aggressive steps against the Assad government, the United States and its allies have instead turned to diplomacy and aiding allied efforts to arm the rebels to force Mr. Assad from power.
By helping to vet rebel groups, American intelligence operatives in Turkey hope to learn more about a growing, changing opposition network inside of Syria and to establish new ties. “C.I.A. officers are there and they are trying to make new sources and recruit people,” said one Arab intelligence official who is briefed regularly by American counterparts.
American officials and retired C.I.A. officials said the administration was also weighing additional assistance to rebels, like providing satellite imagery and other detailed intelligence on Syrian troop locations and movements. The administration is also considering whether to help the opposition set up a rudimentary intelligence service. But no decisions have been made on those measures or even more aggressive steps, like sending C.I.A. officers into Syria itself, they said.
The struggle inside Syria has the potential to intensify significantly in coming months as powerful new weapons are flowing to both the Syrian government and opposition fighters. President Obama and his top aides are seeking to pressure Russia to curb arms shipments like attack helicopters to Syria, its main ally in the Middle East.
“We’d like to see arms sales to the Assad regime come to an end, because we believe they’ve demonstrated that they will only use their military against their own civilian population,” Benjamin J. Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said after Mr. Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, met in Mexico on Monday.
Spokesmen for the White House, State Department and C.I.A. would not comment on any intelligence operations supporting the Syrian rebels, some details of which were reported last week by The Wall Street Journal.
Until now, the public face of the administration’s Syria policy has largely been diplomacy and humanitarian aid.
The State Department said Wednesday that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would meet with her Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia-Pacific foreign ministers in St. Petersburg, Russia, next Thursday. The private talks are likely to focus, at least in part, on the crisis in Syria.
The State Department has authorized $15 million in nonlethal aid, like medical supplies and communications equipment, to civilian opposition groups in Syria.
The Pentagon continues to fine-tune a range of military options, after a request from Mr. Obama in early March for such contingency planning. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators at that time that the options under review included humanitarian airlifts, aerial surveillance of the Syrian military, and the establishment of a no-fly zone.
The military has also drawn up plans for how coalition troops would secure Syria’s sizable stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons if an all-out civil war threatened their security.
But senior administration officials have underscored in recent days that they are not actively considering military options. “Anything at this point vis-à-vis Syria would be hypothetical in the extreme,” General Dempsey told reporters this month.
What has changed since March is an influx of weapons and ammunition to the rebels. The increasingly fierce air and artillery assaults by the government are intended to counter improved coordination, tactics and weaponry among the opposition forces, according to members of the Syrian National Council and other activists.
Last month, these activists said, Turkish Army vehicles delivered antitank weaponry to the border, where it was then smuggled into Syria. Turkey has repeatedly denied it was extending anything other than humanitarian aid to the opposition, mostly via refugee camps near the border. The United States, these activists said, was consulted about these weapons transfers.
American military analysts offered mixed opinions on whether these arms have offset the advantages held by the militarily superior Syrian Army. “The rebels are starting to crack the code on how to take out tanks,” said Joseph Holliday, a former United States Army intelligence officer in Afghanistan who is now a researcher tracking the Free Syrian Army for the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.
But a senior American officer who receives classified intelligence reports from the region, compared the rebels’ arms to “peashooters” against the government’s heavy weaponry and attack helicopters.
The Syrian National Council, the main opposition group in exile, has recently begun trying to organize the scattered, localized units that all fight under the name of the Free Syrian Army into a more cohesive force.
About 10 military coordinating councils in provinces across the country are now sharing tactics and other information. The city of Homs is the notable exception. It lacks such a council because the three main military groups in the city do not get along, national council officials said.
Jeffrey White, a defense analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who tracks videos and announcements from self-described rebel battalions, said there were now about 100 rebel formations, up from roughly 70 two months ago, ranging in size from a handful of fighters to a couple of hundred combatants.
“When the regime wants to go someplace and puts the right package of forces together, it can do it,” Mr. White said. “But the opposition is raising the cost of those kinds of operations.”
Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon. Souad Mekhennet also contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on June 21, 2012, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: C.I.A. Said to Aid In Steering Arms To Syrian Rebels. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe | A small number of American officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping decide which Syrian rebel fighters across the border will receive arms. | 50.615385 | 1 | 6.076923 | high | high | mixed | 872 |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/caterpillar-plans-to-build-its-own-dump-trucks-in-texas-1438092335 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802132740id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/caterpillar-plans-to-build-its-own-dump-trucks-in-texas-1438092335 | Caterpillar Plans to Build Its Own Dump Trucks | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.132740 | Caterpillar Inc. said Tuesday that it plans to build its own line of dump trucks at a plant in Texas and wind down an existing arrangement it has with Navistar International Corp. to build the trucks.
The plan was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Caterpillar, the world’s sales leader in off-road construction machinery, has been selling the on-road trucks built by Navistar since 2011. Beginning in the first... | Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar said it plans to build its own line of dump trucks at a plant in Texas and wind down an existing arrangement it has with Navistar International to build the trucks. | 2.243243 | 0.918919 | 19.027027 | low | medium | extractive | 873 |
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/marco-rubio-endorses-presidential-the-job-training | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802163606id_/http://www.msnbc.com:80/rachel-maddow-show/marco-rubio-endorses-presidential-the-job-training | Marco Rubio endorses presidential on-the-job training | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.163606 | “I view the Senate as a place that can always act as a check and balance on whoever the next president is,” Rubio said on WGN radio on Wednesday. “I also think there’s something to be said for, once you’re actually in that position, once you’re actually working at this thing, and you’re in there, and you start to have access to information that perhaps you didn’t have before, especially for someone that’s never been in politics, I think it starts to impact your views a little bit.”
“And that’s my sense of it, as he settles into this role as the nominee and ultimately the president, access to these issues is going to begin to, in some ways, kind of shape some of the policy positions given reality versus perhaps what you might read about on a blog somewhere.”
For that matter, what does it say about Rubio that he’s endorsing Trump, even as he acknowledges Trump doesn’t know what he’s saying?
For those who disagree, and say there still some lines the 2016 nominee cannot cross, the question requires an answer: where exactly are these lines? What would Donald J. Trump have to do in order for Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, John McCain, et al, to announce, “I just can’t stick with him anymore, partisanship be damned”?
Is there a breaking point? Is Trump close to it? | Marco Rubio is convinced that Donald Trump isn't prepared for the presidency, but the Florida Republican continues to support Trump's candidacy anyway. | 10.884615 | 0.538462 | 0.615385 | low | low | abstractive | 874 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/9150338/Sade-Still-cashing-in-on-the-diamond-life.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802180856id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/9150338/Sade-Still-cashing-in-on-the-diamond-life.html | Sade: Still cashing in on the diamond life | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.180856 | Last week, just as we were getting used to the idea that Adele was in with the chance of a decent career, we were reminded of who really reigns as the Queen of British Pop. Figures from Billboard, the music industry journal, revealed that Sade Adu earned £10.5 million last year in the US alone, easily out-grossing not only the quivery-lipped Tottenham blonde, but Paul McCartney, Elton John and Coldplay. Among female singers, only Lady Gaga made more money.
The astonishment that greeted this achievement was largely rooted in the perception that Sade and her honey-smoked lounge songs went out with shoulder pads and Ford Sierras. Cutting-edge pop chroniclers felt obliged to remind their readers who Sade actually was (“a comfortable heritage act,” condescended The Guardian) and that her name should be pronounced “Shar-day”. Even then, the collective scramble for up-to-date Sade information ran into a familiar obstacle in the shape of the lady herself.
Britain has more than its share of pop recluses, but Sade makes the likes of Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading look like Jordan. For most of the past 20 years, she has lived out of the spotlight in a remote part of the Cotswolds. Occasional photographs have shown her trudging through the greasy West Country rain, lugging plant tubs from the local garden centre, but her public appearances have been rare and her musical excursions even rarer.
In 2010, however, to the mild amazement of fans who thought they were stuck with listening to Diamond Life for ever, Sade produced a new album, Soldier of Love, and last year took it on a sold-out world tour with the band that shares her name. The extended American leg of this, and the record sales it generated, pushed the 53-year-old singer back into the commercial stratosphere.
“When you haven’t toured for 10 years, putting 54 shows on sale is a little daunting, given the way the world is going,” Sade’s manager, Roger Davies, told Billboard. “When we felt the demand, we made the tour bigger.”
Adele fans – mortified to see their girl outdone – pointed out that the 21 singer’s tour had been sabotaged by illness. Even so, as one critic wrote, “the music world could only look on in awe and envy at what Sade had achieved”.
Looking on may be as close as it is possible to get to Sade, the daughter of an English nurse and a Nigerian college lecturer. Her parents, Anne and Adebisi Adu, met in Britain in the early Fifties, and later moved to the university town of Ibadan, north of Lagos, where Helen Folasade Adu was born. The marriage broke up when “Sade” was four, and Anne and her daughter moved back to Britain.
They settled in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, a deathless destination even by the standards of post-war English holiday resorts. Sade, nevertheless, grew up bright, attractive and with a brush of mixed-race exoticism, and after school headed to London in the vague hope of becoming a model. Instead, she was roped into a band by fashion college friends, and in 1983 recorded her first single, Your Love Is King, followed by the blockbuster album Diamond Life.
The sound was jazzy, seductive and soulful, and in the Eighties and Nineties provided a sanctuary of sophistication from the preponderant post-punk and heavy metal outfits, some of whom sniffed at Sade’s efforts as “elevator music”.
Then she went quiet. The appearances began to dry up, and the records came along more slowly. No one completely understands why, but a series of failed relationships is cited as a clue. “She’s a lovely woman,” says BBC radio presenter Robert Elms, who lived with her in the early years. “She is very charming and down to earth, and the most remarkable thing is how normal she is. You won’t find her at parties, but more likely curled up on the sofa cackling at a DVD. She is very private and can afford to be – people love her music and that is all she wants.”
She fell madly in love with Spike Denton, a nightclub owner and fringe fashion type for whom she was reported to have tried to buy Fulham FC as a love token. But the romance still collapsed, and in 1989 she married Carlos Pliego, a Spanish film-maker. The union lasted only three years.
In the music business, there was talk that she was “difficult” and not really interested in working, charges that Sade always denied. “It’s partly just because I don’t do what the others do,” she said. “It’s because I don’t give a damn if Janet Jackson’s at number one and I’m at number 10. I really don’t care, and I think a lot of the others do. Therefore, people separate me from the others. But really I’m not that extremely different. It’s just that there’s a lot more things I’m not prepared to do.”
She lives now with Ian Watts, a former Royal Marine, in a newly renovated pile near Stroud, which is shared with her 15-year-old daughter Ila from a relationship with Jamaican record producer Bob Morgan, and Watts’s son, Jack. Neighbours describe them as a happy bunch, unshowy and hard to equate with the £40 million estimate of Sade’s fortune.
In a cosy chat with her local newspaper, Sade gave a hint of why music will only ever be one part of her life. “I always said that if I could just find a guy who could chop wood and had a nice smile, it wouldn’t bother me if he was a thug or an aristocrat, as long as he was a good guy. And I’ve ended up with an educated thug.” | Despite a glacial work rate, Sade - the ultimate 80s dinner-party diva who now lives reclusively in the Cotswolds - remains Britain’s pop queen, outperforming even the ubiquitous Adele. | 32.166667 | 0.555556 | 0.666667 | medium | low | abstractive | 875 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/technology/facebook-casts-a-giant-shadow-over-twitter.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802194323id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/07/29/technology/facebook-casts-a-giant-shadow-over-twitter.html | Facebook Casts a Giant Shadow Over Twitter | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.194323 | How big is the divide in the social media industry these days? Take a look at the performances of Facebook and Twitter.
On Wednesday, Facebook reported another quarter of stunning growth — revenue up 59 percent from a year earlier, profits nearly triple over that period, its monthly users rising 15 percent to more than 1.7 billion — we could go on and on. The company also fleshed out what it sees as another source of growth, video and video advertising, writes Mike Isaac.
The performance leaves a onetime social media competitor, Twitter, even further in the dust. A day earlier, Twitter had posted a 3 percent increase in users and 20 percent revenue growth. It, too, had emphasized video as a way forward, particularly by live streaming events.
Which one would you bet on? | Facebook’s quarterly revenue is up 50 percent and its monthly users 15 percent, versus Twitter’s 20 percent growth and 3 percent rise in users. | 5.607143 | 0.785714 | 1.285714 | low | medium | abstractive | 876 |
http://time.com/money/4416034/millennials-cash-investing/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802214204id_/http://time.com:80/money/4416034/millennials-cash-investing/ | Changing Views of Cash Could Be Bad for Saving, Spending | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.214204 | Millennials may be winning the battle to wear flip-flops in the office or work from the beach. But when it comes to how they treat cash, disruption may have a price.
Young people do not carry tangible loot; one in four carries less than $5 in bills and coins when they leave home seven days a week. They basically hate cash—unless it is in their investment portfolios. There they hold hordes of cash equivalents. Some 38% of investors under 30 prefer savings accounts and bank CDs to stocks, bonds and gold, according to a Bankrate survey.
This behavior stands long-held practice on its head. Start with those investment portfolios. Yes, stocks can fall. Young people saw their parents and many others take a huge portfolio hit in the Great Recession. The fallout left a lasting impression, and some swore off stocks for life. But that is the wrong lesson to take away. Stocks regained all that lost ground in just a few years. Only those who could not afford to wait for the rebound lost out.
Read next: Almost 40% of Millennials Are Making This Horrible Money Mistake
Over the long term nothing beats the return of a low-cost, diversified stock portfolio. Young people are best positioned to benefit because they have three decades or longer to wait out the bumps. Yet just 26% of people under 30 invest in stocks. Holding giant wads of cash is smart past age 70. But holding it decades earlier makes your financial goals almost impossible to achieve. A cash-heavy portfolio isn’t as safe as you imagine. It may actually lose value over time. With short-term interest rates below the inflation rate, the spending power of cash falls.
Young people are ahead of the retirement savings game in some respects. They are saving more and earlier—just in the wrong places. To keep things simple and safe, set up an automatic investment account—your 401(k), for example—and steer all contributions to a target-date mutual fund.
If cash is a horrible but popular option for a young person’s portfolio, it is a wonderful but unpopular option for their wallet. Years of research shows that those who spend cash—not plastic—feel the sting of spending more acutely and spend less. A team of researchers led by Avni M. Shah, an assistant marketing professor at University of Toronto, recently concluded that people assign greater value to things they purchase with cash. They showed that those who donated to a charity by check, not credit card, were more likely to donate again. They also showed that those who bought a $2 mug with cash demanded 75% more than those who paid with plastic, if they were to resell the mug.
Hard cash has drawbacks. If you lose it you can’t get it back. It’s less convenient than swiping plastic, flashing a screen on your mobile device, or sending money via Paypal, Splitwise, or Venmo. It’s also more difficult to track cash spending. Why save receipts when a bank is willing to keep track of everything for you? These are all good reasons to favor plastic and digital payments. Within 20 years there will be no more ATMs, one expert predicts.
But maybe it shouldn’t be so easy. Human beings are prone to impulse spending, and the less painful the process the more likely they are to buy something they don’t need or even really want. Cold cash makes you stop and think because parting with it stings. In an under-saved nation, that’s probably a good thing.
If you are hooked on digital payments and plastic for the right reasons, consider some simple strategies for curbing your spending. For example, wait a week, or at least a day, to buy something you wanted instantly. Odds are you won’t go back. Technology will only move forward. It is critical that we master it before unparalleled convenience empties our coffers. | Disruption can be costly. | 154.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 | high | medium | abstractive | 877 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/race/how-america-snubbed-jesse-owens/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160802223141id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/films/race/how-america-snubbed-jesse-owens/ | How America snubbed Jesse Owens | 1970-08-22T08:13:22.223141 | After the Berlin Olympics, there was no invitation for Jesse Owens to the White House. To celebrate the release of Race in UK cinemas on 3 June, here's a look at how the athlete was treated at home and abroad
After his Olympic triumph, Jesse Owens burnished his own legend. He was well aware of its symbolic power and marketability. The defeat of Nazi designs for an athletic exhibition of Aryan supremacy came to seem almost a personal battle between the black athlete and the Führer.
Owens later wrote: “My whole life was wrapped up, summed up – and stopped up – by a single incident: my confrontation with the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, in the 1936 Olympics. The lines were drawn then as they had never been drawn before or since. The Germans were […] coming to represent everything that free people have always feared.”
It is not clear whether Hitler snubbed Owens by refusing to acknowledge his victories. The record suggests this reading is wrong, or at best doubtful. There are reports of a Nazi salute, a wave or a handshake. Yet there is no doubt at all about the hurt inflicted on Owens by the neglect of US President Franklin D Roosevelt.
After confounding Nazi racial theories at the Berlin Olympic stadium, it was hurtful to return to his homeland and find clear signs of similar attitudes
Owens received no telegram of congratulations for his record-breaking haul of medals. On his return, there was no invitation to the White House to shake hands with the President. That honour was reserved for white Olympians. Owens even had to attend a non-presidential reception in his honour with his mother at the Waldorf Astoria using the goods lift.
Was Roosevelt, architect of the New Deal, a closet racist? According to one account, FDR segregated black and white servants at the White House at mealtimes to stop them talking. He appointed Hugo Black to the Supreme Court in the knowledge that he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He neither enacted nor supported legislation to outlaw lynching.
The US civil rights movement was still at least two decades from building up a head of steam under Martin Luther King. In 1936, more than 70 years after Abraham Lincoln had declared emancipation of the slaves who had fought for freedom on the Union side in the Civil War, American society was still rife with racial discrimination.
Owens had experienced this reality all his life, from his impoverished Alabama childhood to his growing success as an athlete at university. Though he was the first black captain of the Ohio State University athletics team, he had to live off campus, shower separately, eat at designated black-only restaurants and stay in black-only hotels while travelling.
After confounding Nazi racial theories at the Berlin Olympic stadium, it was hurtful to return to his homeland and find clear signs of similar attitudes. Yet he did not seem surprised.
He said of the experience: “I'd spent my whole life watching my father and mother and older brothers and sisters trying to escape their own kind of Hitler, first in Alabama and then in Cleveland, and all I wanted now was my chance to run as fast and jump as far as I could so I'd never have to look back.
“If I could just win those gold medals, I said to myself, the Hitlers of the world would have no more meaning for me. For anyone, maybe.”
He maintained a kind of detachment: “I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn’t in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I’d learned long ago from Charles Riley [Owens’s coach], the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”
As America began to change post-war, Owens was happy to capitalise on his achievements by working as a sporting ambassador for the government. He accepted well-paid corporate jobs and made a good living as a motivational speaker. He had complained soon after losing his amateur status post Berlin: “A fellow desires something for himself.”
He believed in the ethos of sport, its power to transcend politics. And yet, by 1972, he could also write in his book I Have Changed: “I realised now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man concerned, that any black man who wasn’t militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.”
• New movie Race tells the incredible true story of Jesse Owens. Race is released in UK cinemas on 3 June 2016. For tickets, go to racemovietickets.com | On Jesse Owens's return to the US after the Berlin Olympics, there was no invitation to the White House to shake hands with the President | 33.592593 | 1 | 7.222222 | medium | high | mixed | 878 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/dining/08books.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160803144120id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2010/12/08/dining/08books.html | The Yearâs Best Cookbooks | 1970-08-22T08:13:23.144120 | THIS year’s best cookbooks did not explore the twisted minds of culinary geniuses, reveal obscure hill towns of Tuscany or take us back in time. (Although readers with some appetite left for Mark Twain will enjoy Andrew Beahrs’s deep dive into 19th-century American food, “Twain’s Feast,” Penguin Press, $25.95).
Instead, they brought brilliant recipes and ideas for right now: at this time of year, even enthusiasts may grow weary of the kitchen. In the span of just two years, David Tanis has published two modern classics. “Heart of the Artichoke” is the follow-up to “A Platter of Figs” (both Artisan, $35). Despite his triply enviable lifestyle (Paris resident, part-time chef at Chez Panisse, frequent traveler to Morocco and Mexico), Mr. Tanis is also a highly practical adviser to American home cooks. His tricks for improving supermarket steak (rub it with garlic and salt) and making pasta for one person (cook it like risotto) will inscribe themselves on your brain. Mr. Tanis’s gifts for composing menus and conveying kitchen wisdom are on every page, along with some perfect sentences like “Sheep, it turns out, adore bread.” (This is followed by the unimprovable opening: “When I worked as a cook in a chateau in the Dordogne. ...”)
Home cooks will find less romance, but more recipes in “Around My French Table” by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin, $40). This is Ms. Greenspan’s first book on savory cooking (she is the author of “Paris Sweets” and “Baking: From My Home to Yours”) and she clearly has been bursting to share. Some of the text is windy — do we need to be told what Dijon mustard is? — but her recipes for stylish, updated French food like marinated salmon with potatoes are welcome, and they really work. Her mustard batons — a zippy rework of the cheese stick — are a new go-to hors d’oeuvre.
If I were just starting out in the kitchen, I’d want a short book with some dignity, such as “In the Green Kitchen,” by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, $28). It’s a better-than-it-sounds compendium of basic recipes from luminaries: David Chang’s quick pickles, Thomas Keller’s roast chicken, Lidia Bastianich’s spaghettini with parsley. (And all proceeds from the book go to the Edible Schoolyard and other sustainable-food programs.)
In these times, cooking is a choice: other options are cheaper, faster and tasty enough. If eating were simply a necessity, pasta and salad could be dinner every night, just as jeans and a sweatshirt could be clothes every day.
But just as it is never too late to start engaging with fashion (as, say, a 40-something mother might suddenly find herself wearing over-the-knee boots) it is never too late to engage with food, even food that doesn’t seem simple or familiar at first. With this year’s publication of “Street Food of India” (I. B. Tauris, $28), “At Home with Madhur Jaffrey” (Knopf, $35) and “India: The Cookbook” (Phaidon, $49.95) by Pushpesh Pant, there are no excuses for not cooking Indian dishes at home.
Ms. Jaffrey’s new book is very much based in her daily life in New York, and that is a good thing for cautious cooks: tame ingredients like grape tomatoes, melted cheese and pickled chili peppers from the “ethnic” aisle of the supermarket are just as likely to appear in her recipes as fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Mr. Pant’s beautifully packaged book covering the entirety of Indian cuisine is surprisingly short on explication (he is an academic and political analyst as well as an authority on North Indian food) but has wave upon wave of recipes that illustrate the enormous creativity of Indian cooks.
My favorite is “Street Food of India” by Sephi Bergerson, a photographer who lives in Delhi. In just 50 recipes and under 200 pages, Mr. Bergerson accomplishes the rare feat of capturing how people eat, not just what. He shows people eating, making and clamoring for the outdoor snacks that are nearly universal in India: cool lemonade spiked with cumin and salt, scalding hot sweet tea with ginger, potato cakes with vibrant herb chutneys.
“One Big Table” (Simon & Schuster, $50) by Molly O’Neill (formerly a writer and editor at The New York Times) does the same thing for modern American home cooking, although it takes longer, at 600 recipes and 800 pages. With hundreds of profiles, each accompanied by a recipe, it is overwhelming and yet completely absorbing, a cookbook to dip into for years. Her take on Tater Tots with smoked paprika, watermelon salad with mint and chilies, and the fish chowder concocted by the slugger/angler/chowhound Ted Williams make a convincing case for American exceptionalism, written in food.
This year brought the rise of a vociferous interest group: the gluten-free party. “Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef” by Shauna James Ahern (Wiley, $29.95) is one of the movement’s most appealing books, since it celebrates ingredients like Marcona almonds and brown basmati rice instead of obsessing about pasta substitutes.
Conversely, demonstrating the spectrum of American interests, there are numberless new baking books. Start simply, by whisking cold butter into warm maple syrup according to the “Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook” (Little, Brown, $29.99), thus creating a life-changing emulsion for pancakes, waffles and loved ones. The book also includes the celebrated pancake recipe served by the chef Neil Kleinberg (the author with his wife, DeDe Lahman) at his Lower East Side brunch magnet. Using whipped egg whites to lighten pancakes is not the revolutionary act the authors want you to believe: James Beard was doing it in the 1960s. Still, they are good. A corresponding book from Boston’s popular bakery, “Flour” (Chronicle, $35), has also just been published by the baker Joanne Chang, with recipes for her exemplary muffins and mock Oreos. For more serious bakers, the first cookbook by Sarabeth Levine, “Sarabeth’s Bakery” (Rizzoli, $39.95), offers careful explanations and detailed photographs invaluable for puff pastry and a host of other fundamentals. From San Francisco, Chad Robertson’s “Tartine Bread” (Chronicle, $40) is the most beautiful bread book yet published (they tend to be thick and beige, like unappealing loaves). Nostalgic bakers will want “The Gourmet Cookie Book” (Houghton Mifflin, $18), a small, tactile masterpiece of graphic design with one great recipe from each of the years Gourmet was published: 1941 to 2009. “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy” (Artisan, $25.95) is another all-cookies book, but its author, Alice Medrich, has advanced notions like garam masala sugar and lemon bars with a slick of apricot glaze.
“The Book of Tapas” by Simone and Inès Ortega (Phaidon, $39.95) is irresistible for many reasons: bright red type, ribbon bookmarks and easy-to-buy ingredients, transformed into 250 recipes from tapas-loving chefs in Spain and abroad. It is summer cooking bound between sunny covers. | A new batch of cookbooks bring brilliant recipes and ideas for right now: at this time of year, even enthusiasts may grow weary of the kitchen. | 49.758621 | 0.931034 | 18.448276 | high | medium | extractive | 879 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11636522/How-to-enjoy-the-skilful-art-of-masturdating.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160803145405id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/men/thinking-man/11636522/How-to-enjoy-the-skilful-art-of-masturdating.html | How to enjoy the skilful art of masturdating | 1970-08-22T08:13:23.145405 | The masturdate is primarily the preserve of the older, possibly widowed man, the unlucky in love man, and the 40-year-old virgin. I would describe myself as none of these. Yes, I have been single for much of my adult life, sometimes by choice and otherwise by circumstance, but I find that I can get company for an evening meal at a click of my online dating profile. So why am I so keen to take myself out for an evening's entertainment?
Of course, the truth is that I sometimes crave my own company. I enjoy it. As much as I’m content to hang out at home on my own, or to dine with friends en masse, you’ll also find me sat at bars enjoying a cocktail or three while looking out the window, or sat at a table for one observing those around me.
I'm always surprised that my masturdating habit could potentially single me out as an oddball. I have friends who I’ve never known to be single who freely admit they function better within relationships – but they're in the minority. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data back in February that showed 51pc of people in England and Wales are single. There are plenty of singletons around, yet I encounter so few fellow masturdaters on nights out.
Instead, I'm subjected to pious, pitying looks from a sea of couples on dates and married pairs on nights out. In my formative masturdating days, these sometimes unnerved me and made me feel quite self-conscious. But I've moved through that stage, thanks in part to a few steadfast rules that I've developed. Take heed of these and you too could become skilled in the fine art of dedicating an evening to glorious masturdation:
Always book aisle seats at the cinema. There is nothing worse than finding yourself hemmed in between two courting, smooching couples when you're trying to forget about yourself and enjoy a good film.
Take a book to dinner. Sitting alone in a restaurant while scrolling through your phone bears all the hallmarks of being stood up – whereas burying your head in a good book appears planned and sophisticated. Plus, it can be a magnet for conversation from a handsome stranger (not that you'd want it, of course. You're here to enjoy your own company, thank-you very much).
Pick good restaurants. Again, looks sophisticated. Moreover, the finer establishments seem to have caught onto the masturdating game and always have a lovely window seat for one.
Dress up. You’re on a date for god’s sake. Make an effort.
Smile. Disarm the worried glances from the sea of happily coupled humans around you by beaming whenever you catch their eyes. It will put their troubled little minds at ease.
Don't make it a solo marriage. Perhaps the most important rule. As much as you may enjoy a night spent masturdating, remember that variety is the spice of life and you will probably feel happiest in the long run if you mix your solo adventures with actual, face-to-face dating experiences.
On which note, I have a date this week. Not a masturdate, but a real live date with a guy. I’ll be leaving the book at home. | Got an evening to spare but no one to share it with? Patrick McAleenan explains the onanistic delights of the 'self date' | 24.576923 | 0.538462 | 0.846154 | medium | low | abstractive | 880 |
http://fortune.com/2016/08/01/saatchi-publicis-kevin-roberts-women/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160804014314id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/08/01/saatchi-publicis-kevin-roberts-women/ | Saatchi Chairman Disciplined For Saying Women Lack 'Vertical Ambition' | 1970-08-22T08:13:24.014314 | Publicis Groupe was quick to try to clean up the mess made by Saatchi & Saatchi executive chairman Kevin Roberts, who said that women employees lack “vertical ambition” in an interview last week. He also suggested that the debate of gender diversity in the advertising world is “over.”
The communications giant—which owns Saatchi, a communications and advertising firm—released a statement on Saturday stating that, given the gravity of Roberts’ remarks, it had asked him to take an immediate leave of absence. The supervisory board will “further evaluate his standing.” The company also said that Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO Maurice Lévy sent a statement to all Publicis Groupe employees that reiterated the company’s “no-tolerance policy towards behavior or commentary counter to the spirit of Publicis Groupe.”
In an interview with Business Insider on Friday, Roberts downplayed the issue of gender diversity in advertising. “The [expletive] debate is all over,” he said. “This is a diverse world, we are in a world where we need, like we’ve never needed before, integration, collaboration, connectivity, and creativity … this will be reflected in the way the Groupe is.”
Roberts told BI that Publicis has about a 50-50 split among male and female employees. Saatchi’s staff, meanwhile, is about 65% women since it wants its workforce to reflect the people who buy the types of products it advertises.
He did admit that Saatchi has trouble promoting women to senior-level roles, which he said is largely due to women not wanting to manage people and a piece of the business.
“So we are trying to impose our antiquated shit on them, and they are going: ‘Actually guys, you’re missing the point, you don’t understand: I’m way happier than you.’ Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy. So they say: ‘We are not judging ourselves by those standards that you idiotic dinosaur-like men judge yourself by.’ I don’t think [the lack of women in leadership roles] is a problem. I’m just not worried about it because they are very happy, they’re very successful, and doing great work. I can’t talk about sexual discrimination because we’ve never had that problem, thank goodness.”
Roberts’ statements reflect advertising’s struggle to shake its reputation as a boys’ club, one all too reminiscent of the fictionalized Mad Men workplace. BI notes that all six major advertising agencies are run by men CEOs, and a 2014 survey by diversity advocacy group The 3% Conference found that women constitute 46.4% of the advertising industry but only 11.5% of more senior, creative director roles.
A recent lawsuit against Gustavo Martinez, former CEO of ad agency J. Walter Thomspon, brought even more attention to the problem. The company’s chief communications officer Erin Johnson sued him for discrimination and accused him of making sexist, anti-Semitic, and racial slurs against company employees. Martinez denied the accusations, but resigned amid the scandal. Later, a video surfaced on him making a rape joke at a company meeting.
That lawsuit indirectly ensnarled Publicis after CEO Lévy suggested that the conduct it alleged was an isolated incident. “I don’t believe what happened at JWT is an example of what’s happening in our industry,” he said. “It’s a one-time mistake, a huge mistake, a huge fault. But it’s not a fair representation of the industry.” Those comments, unsurprisingly, were met with outrage. | He also suggested that the debate over gender diversity in advertising is "over." | 43.375 | 0.875 | 3.625 | high | medium | mixed | 881 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/fashion/day-out-kathryn-hahn-bad-moms-piercing.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160804025907id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2016/07/31/fashion/day-out-kathryn-hahn-bad-moms-piercing.html?_r=0 | Being Bad With Kathryn Hahn | 1970-08-22T08:13:24.025907 | “I can’t wait to go home and show my 7-year-old daughter,” the actress Kathryn Hahn said. “‘Look what mommy did!’”
In “Bad Moms,” a comedy arriving in theaters Friday, Ms. Hahn, 43, plays a mother unbound, a raunchy libertine loosed from the P.T.A.-enforced strictures of political and parental correctness. It seemed only on message that on a trip to New York to promote the film, she found herself flat on her back at New York Adorned, a Second Avenue piercing parlor, a needle homing in on her upper ear.
Though now, she added afterward, in a taxi headed toward her former New York neighborhood for a drink and a poke around, “I’m going to be typecast as mother-with-piercings.” A tiny new diamond sparkled in the upper part of her cartilage.
Ms. Hahn, late of Hell’s Kitchen, New York, is now Ms. Hahn of Silver Lake, Los Angeles, a transition that is a mark of career success.
Since leaving New York for Hollywood more than a decade ago, Ms. Hahn, Yale School of Drama-trained and screwball-practiced, has worked steadily. After several years on “Crossing Jordan,” an early-aughts NBC procedural, she has appeared mostly in film and TV comedies, usually in supporting roles but always with gusto.
As a result, she is recognizable though occasionally hard to place. Some know her as Rabbi Raquel, the much-suffering moral compass of “Transparent” on Amazon; others as one of the campy stewardesses of the Broadway revival of “Boeing-Boeing.”
Three young women who stopped Ms. Hahn on the street and requested selfies recognized her as Alice, the married woman seducing John C. Reilly in “Step Brothers.” Ms. Hahn said the role she is most often stopped for was an ongoing guest appearance as a hard-charging political consultant on “Parks and Recreation.”
Deposited on 10th Avenue, Ms. Hahn strolled toward the building on 49th Street where she and her husband, Ethan Sandler, an actor and writer/producer on “New Girl,” spent eight years in a fourth-floor walk-up.
She lived the archetypal struggling New York actress life: working as a receptionist by day (at Garren New York, the high-end hair salon), briefly waitressing at Joe Allen, the unofficial canteen of Broadway, and sending out endless head shots wherever she could. (This method resulted in the acquisition of a New Jersey agent and a gig passing out bagel sandwiches for Dunkin’ Donuts.)
On the stoop outside her old apartment building stood John Matejas, 78, enjoying the sunshine, his tank top tucked into belted jean shorts. His eyes widened when he saw Ms. Hahn; he had been the building’s super when she lived there.
He punched numbers into his clamshell phone and summoned his wife, Minerva, down from upstairs. Another set of eyes widened; tears came to eyes.
“For us, she is like our daughter,” Mr. Matejas said. (His own daughter had given birth to her own daughter in the years since Ms. Hahn had been a resident.) Ms. Matejas added that they heard about all her movies.
After numbers were exchanged and photos taken to send to Ms. Hahn’s husband, and promises to stay in touch, Ms. Hahn clambered down the stairs. She agreed cheerfully to an alfresco palm reading by a psychic set up at a curbside card table, who advised her she needed more positivity in her life.
Actually, things are looking pretty positive for Ms. Hahn, the rare Hollywood actress whose prospects have been improving, rather than declining, after 40.
Her leading role in “Bad Moms” arrives just before another star turn, as a lovestruck, unhappily married filmmaker in “I Love Dick,” an Amazon pilot based on Chris Kraus’s postmodern novel of the same name, by the “Transparent” creator, Jill Soloway.
Ms. Soloway wrote the part of Rabbi Raquel for Ms. Hahn, which has made her a minor heartthrob in the Jewish community, although Ms. Hahn, surprising to many, was raised Roman Catholic.
She has often played Jewish characters onscreen (in “Afternoon Delight,” too, as well as Showtime’s “Happyish”), and Ms. Soloway “just refuses to believe” that she isn’t Jewish, Ms. Hahn said with a laugh. (Her husband is.)
“Sometimes it takes an outsider to really get inside,” she said. “They did have to walk me through some of the Hebrew. It doesn’t just roll off the tongue.”
Sitting over watermelon salad and bread with local butter at the Marshal, a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant, Ms. Hahn, joined by her cousin, George, a sometime fellow-actor, style writer and neighborhood resident, recalled their struggling earlier years, auditioning and commiserating.
“‘Backstage,’ Equity showcases,” Mr. Hahn said, recalling listings for “brief nudity, no pay.”
“Can’t wait to audition for that show,” Ms. Hahn replied.
Though Ms. Hahn no longer has to contend with brief nudity, no pay, “I feel like I still have a way’s to go,” she said.
Hollywood is still getting a handle on her. “I know that I don’t necessarily fit the specific, you know, mold,” she said, drolly. “I certainly am not consciously trying to avoid big roles. At all.”
More may be coming. “If I could write sonnets,” the Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote, reviewing “Bad Moms,” “I would write one about Ms. Hahn.”
But for any casting directors still seeking clarity:
“The biggest inspirations to me were those imperfect ’70s heroines,” Ms. Hahn said. “Not, like, camera-ready: Teri Garr, Gena Rowlands. A little bit messy and a little bit unwaxed.” | Piercings, psychics and Hell’s Kitchen: just another day for the “Bad Moms” and “Transparent” star. | 51.130435 | 0.956522 | 1.826087 | high | high | mixed | 882 |
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36950013 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160804043941id_/http://www.bbc.com:80/news/world-asia-china-36950013 | Dutch man waits 10 days in Chinese airport for 'girlfriend' | 1970-08-22T08:13:24.043941 | You might expect love to hurt, but for one lovesick Dutch man in China it resulted in a hospital trip for exhaustion.
Alexander Pieter Cirk, 41, recently flew from Holland to Hunan province in the hope of meeting his online girlfriend, a Chinese woman known only as Zhang.
But he ended up spending 10 days waiting at Changsha airport, after she failed to show up. And he has won little sympathy in China.
Mr Cirk told Chinese media that he met Ms Zhang, 26, in an app two months ago and romance blossomed.
He decided to fly to visit her, but when he got to Hunan found no-one had come to meet him.
He refused to leave the airport for the next 10 days, and was eventually taken to hospital suffering physical exhaustion, according to reports by Hunan TV.
Ms Zhang contacted the TV channel a day after the report aired to give her side, saying that she had thought it had all been a joke.
"We had advanced our romantic relationship but later he seemed a little callous towards me," Ms Zhang told Hunan TV.
"One day he sent me a photo of air tickets abruptly and I thought it was a joke. He didn't contact me later."
Ms Zhang also added that by the time Mr Cirk arrived at the airport, she was away having plastic surgery in another province and had turned off her phone.
On Chinese social media, the majority of users were keen to point out the apparent absurdity of the man's actions.
The hashtag "Foreign man went to Changsha to meet his online girlfriend" has been trending on micro-blogging site Weibo.
"He must be stupid, why would anyone do this?" asked one user.
"Doesn't he know that everything in China is fake?" said another.
"Perhaps she did go to the airport, saw what he looked like, and promptly turned back around," was a theory proposed by another user.
Others, however, had some sympathy.
"Here's a guy taking a relationship seriously, don't play around with his feelings," the netizen said. "If you don't want him anymore, tell him so he can go home."
"What does this say about Chinese integrity?", asked another.
Mr Cirk was scheduled to fly home earlier this week.
Ms Zhang reportedly said she would be keen to meet him after her recovery, saying she was still interested in maintaining their relationship.
To what lengths have you gone for love? Share your stories via [email protected]. If you're happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please include a telephone number.
You can also contact us in the following ways: | A Dutch man who lived in a Chinese airport for 10 days after the online girlfriend he was hoping to meet failed to show up wins little sympathy online. | 18.066667 | 0.866667 | 1.8 | medium | medium | mixed | 883 |
http://www.people.com/article/lily-tomlin-sag-life-achievement | http://web.archive.org/web/20160804221211id_/http://www.people.com/article/lily-tomlin-sag-life-achievement | Lily Tomlin to Receive 2016 SAG Life Achievement Award | 1970-08-22T08:13:24.221211 | 08/04/2016 AT 01:40 PM EDT
The Screen Actors Guild announced Thursday that Tomlin will be the 53rd recipient of the 2016 SAG Life Achievement Award.
"Lily Tomlin is an extraordinary actress, as equally adept at narrative drama as in comedy roles," SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said in making the announcement. "But it is through her many original characters that Lily's creative genius fully shines. She has an ability to create diverse and distinct characters that are at once familiar, eccentric and oh so honest – in a way that illuminates life's hidden corners."
Tomlin, who currently stars opposite Jane Fonda in her Emmy-nominated role on the Netflix series
, is perhaps most well-known for her work on TV's
and on the big screen in Robert Altman's
The SAG Life Achievement Award is a fitting honor for Tomlin, who has already received many awards for her performances and contributions to the industry such as: a 2014 Kennedy Center Award, the 2003 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, two Peabody Awards, multiple Emmys, numerous American Comedy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, a Writers Guild of America Award and both the Crystal Award and the Lucy Award from Women in Film.
The 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will air live on TNT and TBS Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017 at 8 p.m. ET. | The Grace and Frankie star will be the 53rd recipient of SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment | 12.52381 | 0.714286 | 2.714286 | low | low | mixed | 884 |
http://fortune.com/2012/03/11/why-chief-executives-pay-keeps-rising-fortune-1985/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805030042id_/http://fortune.com:80/2012/03/11/why-chief-executives-pay-keeps-rising-fortune-1985/ | Why Chief Executives’ Pay Keeps Rising (Fortune, 1985) | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.030042 | Editor’s note: Every Sunday, Fortune publishes a favorite story from our magazine archives. These days, CEO salaries make headlines and generally stir up resentment because they’re so huge. Even those who accept low official salaries, such as Chrysler’s CEO Sergio Marchionne who had a $1 salary for 2011, are quite comfortably compensated in other ways, for example, equity. This week, we look back to 1985, when FORTUNE called out how the paychecks of CEOs were getting much fatter much faster than those of other employees. Writer Monci Jo Williams explains some of the origins of the trend.
By trying to keep up with the Joneses, companies are hiking the boss’s compensation at a rapid pace. The independent directors on the compensation committee aren’t so independent, it turns out. And yes, the urge to please the C.E.O. plays a role.
The compensation paid to America’s chief executives keeps increasing at a handsome rate. The phenomenon is a puzzler because pay inflation is slowing dramatically in the lower ranks (see chart). Why is the boss’s pay exempt from the general trend? The reasons turn out to be considerably more complicated than mere managerial greed–though that is indeed a problem at some companies. At the heart of the phenomenon is the use, or abuse, of salary surveys–studies of how much other companies are paying. The studies were supposed to provide a coherent statistical framework for what might otherwise be a highly subjective exercise. What the surveys have provided instead is a set of averages that most companies get an understandable itch to exceed. Who, after all, wants to be considered merely average? So the averages, and the chief executive’s pay, keep ratcheting upward year by year.
The trend lines on those charts don’t necessarily demonstrate that chief executives as a group are overpaid. In this unique job, the “right” salary–one that will encourage superior performance from which the company’s shareholders will benefit–is probably unknowable. For that matter, not every chief executive fits the trend and gets a raise–and some get fired.
But the boss’s raise–revealed in a proxy statement prior to that spring rite, the annual meeting–has been attracting extensive media coverage, most of it critical. As this has happened, the entire subject of executive pay has become so controversial that many companies, and many directors, were unwilling to discuss with FORTUNE how they determine executive compensation. Still others agreed to be interviewed, but only if their remarks were not attributed to them by name. As one corporate personnel executive explained it, “I’m very close to retirement, and I’d like to retire in peace.” The people who will talk for attribution are mostly the consultants whose survey data seem to have put their corporate clients on a smooth upward escalator.
From conversations with the players, it’s clear that most of American big business believes in a fairly standard model of how the chief executive’s pay is supposed to be determined. The process begins in the corporate personnel department, where the vice president in charge, or his deputy, assembles salary surveys put together by compensation consulting firms and others as a guide to the raises and incentive pay awards other companies are offering. The vice president looks at what the market is paying and at his own company’s financial performance, then makes a recommendation to the compensation committee of the board of directors on what pay levels might be reasonable. But the personnel executive’s ultimate boss is the chief executive, and that relationship might be thought to sway his opinion. So at most companies a consultant weighs in with a second opinion–based on his own collection of survey data–just to ensure that directors will get all the facts.
The surveys themselves are tributes to that old American fondness for sampling and statistics. Consultants survey companies continually through the year, collecting data on past and projected pay levels and increases in salary, bonuses, and long-term incentive pay. They then spew out an endless variety of surveys. One of the largest data banks belongs to the New York consulting firm of Towers Perrin Forster & Crosby: it puts out surveys on salaries, bonuses, long-term incentives, benefits, and perquisites, based on information from some 800 mostly industrial companies. Hewitt Associates, another consulting firm, offers a survey called Total Compensation Measurement, which covers the same types of compensation for about 300 industrial and financial service companies. Hewitt used to publish data about salaries and bonuses alone, but in the competitive quest to provide bigger and better surveys, has added information about perquisites, benefits, and long-term incentives as well. A few companies have even gone into the survey business for themselves. One consultant reports that a client compiled its own “Survey of Other High-Paying Companies.”
By the time a couple of sets of such documents are unloaded on it, the compensation committee is inundated with what one director says is “about six tons of data, certainly enough to make a decision.” The committee’s recommendation goes to the full board for still more discussion, and finally a vote. The chief executive is informed of the results only after his pay package has been approved by the full board.
The trouble is, the decision is almost never really made this way. In practice, contrary to the basic tenets of the model procedure, the chief executive often has his hand in the pay-setting process almost from the first step. He generally approves, or at least knows about, the recommendation of his personnel executive before it goes to the compensation committee, and may take a similar pregame pass at the consultant’s recommendation too.
Personnel executives and consultants say they have only rarely been pressured to change their recommendations to suit a chief executive. But the urge to please, though more subtle, can work to shape their proposals. Both, after all, rely upon the good graces of the chief executive for their livelihood. The consultant in particular–who is typically hired by management–would like to be invited back for a return engagement.
The board’s compensation committee doesn’t operate independently of the chief executive either–although it is usually composed of outside directors with the aim that it will: At a very few companies–Pacific Telesis is one–the chief executive is actually a member of the compensation committee. But at most other companies he just sits in on the committee meetings at the committee’s invitation. When the boss’s compensation is about to be discussed, the directors ask him to leave the room, but the committee’s decision rarely comes as a big surprise–and if properly done, perhaps shouldn’t.
Why do directors put up with this state of affairs so readily? Howard Waner, a retired manager of executive compensation at Exxon, says that directors are simply afraid to stand up to the chief executive. Graef S. Crystal, a vice president and compensation consultant with Towers Perrin, believes that directors feel compelled to please the C.E.O. because they regard him as EI Supremo on his own turf. Edward Delahanty, a partner with Hewitt Associates, points out that most directors are chief executives of their own companies. He believes that members of the compensation committee simply do unto the chief executive as they want their compensation committee to do unto them.
For such reasons, directors don’t need to be pushed around by the chief executives—they can usually find a few good reasons to raise his pay on their own. Consultants help in various ways. A few, such as Crystal and Louis J. Brindisi Jr. of Booz Allen & Hamilton, say they believe it is their job to advise the C.E.O. and the compensation committee how much pay is too much, and which long-term performance plans best measure and reward executive excellence. What does Brindisi do when faced with a client that he thinks is paying its top executives too much? “We up the performance goals and integrate them into the bonus system and the incentive plan,” he says. That way, the executives have to prove they’re worth the high pay. Other consultants don’t try to tell directors what’s best for the company and the shareholders. Says Michael Guthman, manager for compensation consulting in Hewitt’s eastern region, “We view ourselves as providers of information. We interview the board to find out their compensation philosophy and present them with alternatives in keeping with their goals.”
With surveys in hand and the C.E.O. looking over their shoulders, directors come up with a number of justifications for higher pay, many perfectly rational. Take a company whose performance is well above the average and whose compensation committee has adopted a policy of paying above the market rate. The committee gets its recommendations from the personnel director and the compensation consultant, each buttressed by plenty of data from several surveys. The committee members look at what competitors are paying their top executives, and at how well the company has done, and conclude that their policy of paying much more than the average is justified.
Across the street sits an average-paying company, whose performance is also just middling. The directors may look at the survey data, look at the company’s performance, and conclude that pay increases are not warranted. “But hold on,” one director argues. “We’re a quality company, and average isn’t good enough for us. We want to make a long-term investment in our people, hold the good ones, and be able to attract the best. We have to start paying more.”
A similar kind of logic may prevail at the company down the road that pays at the low end of the scale and whose performance is poor. The survey data come in, the directors look at the lousy performance, and pretty soon someone has suggested, rightly or wrongly, that part of the problem is paltry pay. “We aren’t competitive,” the argument goes. “We need to pay more, or we’ll lose the good people we have and our performance will suffer more.”
By the time the following year’s survey comes out, the market average has moved up. Even the low-paying company must pay more to try to avoid being at the bottom of the heap. It helps push everybody else’s pay scales upward too.
These annual exercises have had their inflationary effects not just on salary but also on the size of bonuses and long-term incentive awards. These days directors usually construct the chief executive’s pay package so that bonuses and long-term incentives account for at least as much as his base salary. The idea is to tie the bulk of the executive’s pay to the performance of the company, and thus to make him attentive to the shareholders’ interests. But many directors now view bonus awards and incentive payments as part of the total market price they need to pay to stay competitive. So when they raise part of the pay package, they have to adjust the other components to keep the proportion of base and incentive pay constant.
If the incentive plan is a sound one, with demanding performance goals, the shareholders’ interests will be served. Some of the best plans tie the payout to return on shareholders’ equity, a measure that over the long run acts as a powerful determinant of the stock price. But at too many companies, says Delahanty of Hewitt Associates, executives have come to view the payoff from incentive plans as “entitlements.” Indeed, when consultants are called in to overhaul compensation plans, it is often because the plans don’t pay out enough money. “Executives and directors know they must make some cosmetic effort to reward for performance,” says Delahanty. “But they want to make sure that plans are put in place so they will pay well.”
One way to do that is to structure plans so they require executives to do a minimum of stretching before the plans start to pay out. Most companies tie incentive plans to such measures as earnings per share-one of the easiest targets for management to manage. They avoid tough ones like total return to shareholders–dividends plus stock price appreciation. Many argue that this yardstick is too subject to the vagaries of the stock market.
Or a company can leave performance requirements entirely to the discretion of the board. Earlier this year the shareholders of Walt Disney Productions approved a stock incentive plan that allows the compensation committee to award stock, options, and stock appreciation rights. As to performance measures against which to gauge the Disney executives’ mettle, the proxy informed shareholders that “the committee may, but need not” establish them.
That’s not to say that Disney’s new president, Michael D. Eisner, doesn’t have goals to meet. In fact, he had such goals written into his employment contract. For starters, Eisner got a yearly salary of $750,000 and a $750,000 one-time bonus to compensate him for the benefits he lost when he quit as head of Paramount Pictures. His contract also grants him the option to buy 510,000 shares of Disney stock at the market price of $57.44. The stock was recently trading at over $77. The contract also stipulates that Disney pay him “an annual bonus equal to 2% of the amount … by which the company’s net income for the fiscal year exceeds a 9% return on stockholders’ equity.”
Many analysts laud the plan because it encourages Eisner to increase a measure usually critical to stock price: the more he improves return on equity, the more money he will pull down. Dave Londoner, a security analyst at Wertheim & Co., suggests, however, that coming up to the 9% benchmark is the equivalent of achieving “a C-plus average at a good college.” Disney’s return on equity may have been 8.5% in fiscal 1984, but it averaged more than 10% over the previous eight years. Security analysts say Eisner will meet his mark easily in fiscal 1985.
Some executives seem to wonder what all the fuss is about. When asked about his 1983 compensation of $1.1 million, GM’s Roger Smith reportedly replied: “Do people say, ‘I’m not going to listen to Michael Jackson now because he made $20 million’?” Such comparisons don’t cut much mustard with people outside the executive suite. Several compensation experts believe that by failing to address the issue of executive pay levels, corporate America invites continued criticism and government meddling. Congress has already slapped a penalty tax on some of the income executives get from golden parachutes–they pay out if the recipient’s company is taken over. As part of its tax proposal, the Treasury Department has also taken aim at the tax breaks on incentive stock options.
At least one chief executive has taken it on himself to hold directors accountable for the shareholders’ interests in setting managerial compensation. He is Jack MacAllister, a former chief of Northwestern Bell who inherited the newly created U.S. West regional telephone company after the AT&T breakup. Faced with the task of creating an entirely new compensation plan for an entirely new company, MacAllister decided to place the matter in the directors’ hands, and to leave it there. “My experience at AT&T convinced me that the usual process for setting pay puts management in control of the database, and that doesn’t give directors much lever-age in dealing with management or in representing the shareholders’ interests,” MacAllister says. He did let his compensation committee know he favored a salary level for U.S. West somewhere between that of utilities and more competitive companies. He also wanted an incentive plan that would tie bonuses and stock grants to how well the shareholders fared with the company’s stock. But he refused to discuss the subject further with directors, consultants, or the head of his personnel department.
The committee collected its own information and selected its own consultants, firing one because it was dissatisfied with an off-the-shelf solution to the problems of the new company. When Ed Delahanty, the consultant who was brought in to complete the job, made his recommendations, the committee thanked him for his efforts, saying they would figure out what to do from there. Delahanty says it was the first time in his 15-year career that a compensation committee did not adopt his recommendations wholesale.
What the committee ended up with was a performance plan that tied compensation directly to the shareholders’ interests. To be paid a bonus, MacAllister and the 67 other top executives at U.S. West and its subsidiaries must meet a combination of targets for net income, growth in earnings per share, and return on shareholders’ equity. In 1984 MacAllister was paid $380,000 in base salary and a bonus of $219,500. U.S. West’s long-term incentive plan calls for comparing, over three years, the company’s total return to shareholders with the return of companies in two different groups, the first a group of other regional telephone companies, the second a collection of corporate paragons such as GE, IBM, and 3M.
The idea–that a company’s executives will be paid well only when its shareholders gain–is right. If more C.E.O.s championed it as MacAllister did at U.S. West, or more compensation committees came to feel they had a responsibility to insist on it, executives might take a lot less flak when their raises are announced every spring. | Editor's note: Every Sunday, Fortune publishes a favorite story from our magazine archives. These days, CEO salaries make headlines and generally stir up resentment because they're so huge. Even those who accept low official salaries, such as Chrysler's CEO Sergio Marchionne who had a $1 salary for 2011, are quite comfortably compensated in other ways, for… | 47.785714 | 0.942857 | 15.714286 | high | medium | extractive | 885 |
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/fashion/chef-run-service-teaches-nannies-recipes-that-skip-the-microwave.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805070031id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/2013/11/14/fashion/chef-run-service-teaches-nannies-recipes-that-skip-the-microwave.html?smid=tw-nytstyles&seid=auto&_r=0 | The Nanny Recipes: Skip the Microwave | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.070031 | Like other 5-year-olds, Erela Yashiv likes pizza and cupcakes and detests food that contains “green specks” of vegetables.
But her mother, Stephanie Johnson, 46, who lives in TriBeCa and runs a cosmetics-case and travel-accessories line, wanted her daughter to adopt a more refined and global palate, whether it’s a gluten-free kale salad or falafel made from organic chickpeas.
As working parents, she and her husband, Dan Yashiv, 42, a music producer, do not have time to prepare such fare. And their nanny, from Wisconsin, does not always know the difference between quinoa and couscous.
So they called marc&mark, a new nanny-consulting service, to teach their daughter’s nanny a thing or two. “We want to give Erela the advantage of having a palate diversified enough to enjoy all of the delicious food from around the world,” Ms. Johnson said.
Founded by two veterans of the private-chef world (Marc Leandro spent six years with the family of Mickey Drexler, the J. Crew chairman, while Mark Boquist cooked at the home of the footwear giant Steve Madden), marc&mark teaches nannies of affluent parents how to prepare healthful, organic meals that don’t come frozen or under plastic wrap.
“Some of these nannies already do the cooking in the family, but they’re throwing chicken fingers in the oven, or worse, the microwave — they’re doing the bare minimum,” Mr. Leandro said.
In today’s foodie culture, in which some fifth graders would rather feast on hand-delivered lunches of locally procured salmon over turkey on rye, the company is playing to moneyed, obsessive parents striving to tutor their children’s palate much the way they would their math skills.
“In our experience, so many city kids already eat an interesting diet, and we want to make it better,” Mr. Leandro said. “But if a kid is in a mac-and-cheese phase, we also want to help them out of it.”
The service, which costs $2,500, begins with a consultation, during which parents describe their child’s eating habits and areas for improvement. In the case of Erela, Ms. Johnson wants to introduce her to meals outside her comfort zone of roast chicken and rice and beans.
“We were too basic with her food in the beginning, so we want marc&mark to help us explore more sophisticated food that has some diversity and flavor,” she said. “I don’t want her growing up not liking curry because she never had it.”
The nanny counselors then create a cookbook featuring 20 to 30 customized recipes, divided into breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. For Erela, they created menus based on her favorite foods, like quinoa, chickpeas and dried fruit, while also incorporating more green vegetables and soups.
“Every client is unique in how they want their kids to eat and the habits they want to reinforce,” Mr. Leandro said. “We don’t have set templates. We’re not going in and doing the same thing for everyone.”
Next is a two-day cooking demonstration, in which Mr. Leandro and Mr. Boquist prepare two-thirds of the cookbook with the nanny at her place of work. On a recent Tuesday, they met Erela’s caregiver, Ashley Hofkens, at a Whole Foods Market near her employers’ apartment. They taught her food-shopping tips. “It’s knowing how to pick a ripe avocado or peach, really simple stuff you might not think of,” Mr. Boquist said. “It’s making sure something is organic, or trying to find products that are local.”
Back at Ms. Johnson’s apartment, the chefs unloaded the day’s groceries as Erela twirled around in her new cowboy boots. Mr. Boquist began preparing the glaze for the citrus-glazed salmon while showing Ms. Hofkens how to debone the fish. In a span of eight hours, the group prepared several dishes, including black rice and edamame, cinnamon ice cream with toasted almonds, and Tunisian couscous with braised carrots.
Erela’s favorite (despite its speckled green color) was from the snack section of the recipe book: a lacinato kale chip. “Yummy,” she said, mid-twirl.
A version of this article appears in print on November 14, 2013, on page E9 of the New York edition with the headline: The Nanny Recipes: Skip the Microwave. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe | A chef-run consulting service teaches nannies there’s more to cooking than mac and cheese. | 48.611111 | 0.833333 | 1.055556 | high | medium | abstractive | 886 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/11668447/How-to-keep-teenagers-occupied-this-summer.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805105300id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/lifestyle/11668447/How-to-keep-teenagers-occupied-this-summer.html | How to keep teenagers occupied this summer | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.105300 | 3 Encourage healthy sleep patterns: 10 hours’ sleep is ample and it is advisable to help establish good habits. Late-night horror movies or online activities under the duvet until 3am will result in late starts and persistent lethargy. Daytime TV/screen time will zap motivation because it interferes with dopamine in the brain. Help your children to organise their day with screen-based activities as a reward after they have accomplished other things.
4 Create a focus: During the weeks when children are on holiday, but parents are still working, help teens to have a focus/purpose. This could be volunteering or finding a couple of weeks’ paid work – a local farm/garden, shop/café, doing some bar work/waitressing, youth club, pony club, activity centre, cleaning holiday cottages, nannying, babysitting, looking after Granny, domestic chores (cooking family dinner?).
Don't dumb down classical music for teenagers
5 Choices and responsibility: Long holidays are an ideal time to get your child to take responsibility for their social life, travel plans, appointments and their own washing/ironing/packing. Thinking, weighing up choices and making decisions fosters independence and problem solving.
Tempting as it is to micro manage or do it for them, try and rein yourself in. Remind yourself that without practice, children can’t learn how to make decisions. If they have always looked to adults for guidance, they become helpless passengers in their metaphorical car. Easy-going compliance from your child is nice while you are behind the wheel, but when someone undesirable hops in, your child will be easily led astray because they have no inner compass to guide them.
6 Expect some mishaps: Letting go and allowing some (safe) risk taking gives children a chance to learn from mistakes. The brain is gradually wiring itself up to have self-control but it is work in progress and can only develop via experience. How parents manage mishaps (at the pub, a party, festival or excursion) can offer vital learning – about accountability, limits (alcohol, sex, drugs) and develop an emotional gauge, a conscience and a brake pedal.
Ten top holidays with teenagers
7 Keep talking: Keeping lines of communication open is vital, so your relationship and how you talk to your child needs to be as good as it can be.
a. Try not to harbour resentments. By saying, “I am still furious about what you did last week”, you may drive your teenagers underground and they will not confess so easily when they next mess up.
b. Limit the lectures and have balanced discussions instead.
c. If they are off to a festival, a holiday with another family or off travelling with friends, ask them where they stand on key issues before they depart. The aim is to encourage an independent mind by asking them to articulate their values.
d. If you want to steer the chat to meaty topics such as sex, porn, legal highs or marijuana, arm yourself with facts and plan what you are going to ask. Approach with caution, opportunities don’t come by that often.
8 Encourage a new skill or experience: The long holidays are a chance for your child to develop a skill, an interest or pursue a hobby. Many teens thrive on being part of a team, competition, getting physically fit or getting better at something – sport, music, art, cooking. This boosts confidence and self-esteem in a way gaming, TV reality shows or Facebook do not.
9 Do something together: try and find an activity or sport that you can do regularly with your child over the holidays (camping, tennis, chess, golf, cycling, cooking, fishing, walking). Being together is important bonding time that is difficult to find during school terms.
10 Make time for yourself: The holidays are a long haul for parents so use teenage late starts to read, meet a friend, go for a walk. Prioritise family meal times to enjoy being with your children. It is a chance for them to interact with all ages, be interesting and look interested in what others have to say, listen and be able to accept other viewpoints. The best way these skills are imbibed is through experience and what is modelled to them.
Visit teenagerstranslated.co.uk for Teenagers Translated/Maudsley Learning Courses, which translate research into practical strategies to help prevent problem behaviour in children. | School is out and the long summer break is upon us. Our family experts have a 10-point plan to keep the holiday harmonious | 34.64 | 0.6 | 0.76 | medium | low | abstractive | 887 |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119461288943387907 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805114710id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/SB119461288943387907 | Merck's Tactics Largely Vindicated As It Reaches Big Vioxx Settlement | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.114710 | NEW ORLEANS -- Merck MRK 0.33 % & Co.'s $4.85 billion settlement over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx largely vindicates its unusually aggressive strategy for fighting off tens of thousands of liability claims.
While the price tag isn't cheap, it brings the drug maker a measure of certainty and removes a cloud of litigation and bad publicity that had promised to distract it for years.
Ever since Vioxx was pulled from the market on Sept. 30, 2004, because it was tied to higher risk of heart attack and stroke, Merck had vowed to defend liability suits one by one. The scorched-earth battle plan yielded early results as some key Merck victories put plaintiffs on notice that the odds were against them. And the daunting caseload gave judges 26,600 reasons to push for a compromise.
Investors demonstrated their approval of the deal, sending Merck shares up $1.13, or 2.1%, to $55.90 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange trading Friday.
A festive mood prevailed in the New Orleans courtroom where the agreement was announced Friday morning, with lawyers from both sides standing to recite a long list of thank-yous beneath a giant screen on which the settlement plan was projected. The key players had been negotiating nearly all day and night for three days straight.
Bruce Kuhlik, Merck's general counsel, said the company had proved it could win in court. Those early successes "enabled us to reach a reasonable resolution for such a reasonable amount of money," he said.
About 20 million Americans took Vioxx, which went on the market in 1999 and was widely advertised as a treatment for arthritis. Most of the suits were filed after Merck withdrew the drug.
Under the settlement plan, plaintiffs will have to show that Vioxx was taken for at least 30 days. The person on Vioxx must have suffered a heart attack or ischemic stroke -- one that involves blockage of arteries to the brain -- within 14 days of using the drug. Payouts will be lowered if the person had cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity or diabetes. Merck will set up two funds, a $4 billion one for heart-attack claims and a $850 million one for stroke claims.
The deal will only go ahead if 85% of eligible claims are enrolled. Plaintiffs' lawyers can only participate if they recommend the program to all their clients.
There could be a big payday for some plaintiffs' lawyers who led the litigation. Lawyers whose clients receive money from the settlement will pay an agreed-upon percentage to a legal-fees fund. A court-appointed committee will then disburse fees to lawyers who did the legwork on the litigation, with an individual firm's take depending on its efforts.
Beasley Allen, a plaintiffs' firm in Montgomery, Ala., has roughly 8,300 cases in the Vioxx litigation. Herman, Herman, Katz & Cotlar in New Orleans has 100 to 120, after reviewing 3,000. Russ Herman, a member of the plaintiffs' steering committee, estimates the plaintiffs' firms that developed the litigation spent $100 million.
One factor that worked in Merck's favor: Over the past decade, judges have increasingly controlled the number of cases being tried at any one time in big liability litigation. That meant Merck wasn't overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases, said David Bernick, a product-liability defense lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Also, many plaintiffs had trouble proving that Vioxx -- and not a health problem such as diabetes -- was responsible for a particular heart attack or stroke. Merck won 11 of 16 cases that reached trial, including four victories in five cases considered to be bellwethers.
Still, plaintiffs didn't come away empty-handed. At the first Vioxx trial, a jury awarded a Texas widow $253.4 million in August 2005 -- a judgment later reduced to $27.2 million, including interest.
Merck set aside $1.9 billion for litigation costs -- not including any payouts to patients -- and has spent $1.2 billion of that so far. By settling now, it avoids piling up hundreds of millions of dollars a year in legal fees. Merck said it expects to record a pretax charge of $4.85 billion in the fourth quarter to cover the cost of the agreement.
It still faces some 10,000 to 15,000 claimants who aren't expected to qualify for the settlement. Some of these claimants suffered ailments other than heart attack or stroke, or hadn't had 30 pills of Vioxx dispensed to them. The company believes these cases are weaker.
Talks toward a deal gathered steam last December, said Mr. Herman, the plaintiffs' lawyer. That's when U.S. District Judge Elden E. Fallon of New Orleans said the four judges overseeing nearly all the cases wanted both camps to think about an endgame. The four judges included Judge Fallon and state-court judges in Texas, California and New Jersey, where Merck is based. The judges had good reason to want a solution: Merck's strategy threatened to clog their dockets for years.
The initial settlement meeting among the parties took place Dec. 11. "When you have three judges running 90% of the litigation asking you to sit down, I don't think you're going to say no," said Judge Carol E. Higbee, who was overseeing cases in New Jersey.
Over the ensuing months, Merck and its adversaries found another spur to negotiate: The statute of limitations for filing new suits was about to expire in many states. Merck says the deadline has now passed in more than 40 states. That meant both sides could estimate more accurately how many plaintiffs would be in line for payouts.
"We really should know the universe of claims at this point," said Mr. Kuhlik, the Merck general counsel. "We've really done everything we can to ensure that this resolves the vast majority of the cases and that we've closed the door on new filings."
The plaintiffs' lawyers had stated early on their desire to sit down with Merck. The lawyers were generally working on a contingency-fee basis, meaning they were spending millions of dollars upfront on litigation in the hopes of a payout.
Money figures weren't discussed until August, according to plaintiffs' attorneys who were involved with negotiations, and the $4.85 billion sum first surfaced in mid-October. Along the way, attorneys from both sides examined random samples of cases from firms around the country to get a handle of what the cases looked like.
Last weekend, Judge Fallon ordered the parties to New Orleans to negotiate and exchange drafts of agreements each day.
When money was first discussed in August, "we came in higher and Merck came in substantially lower," said Christopher Seeger, a key lawyer for the plaintiffs. "We got to a point of major stalemates and breakdowns many times. There were many times where we thought we could not do a deal, but the judges forced us back."
Mr. Seeger said the plaintiffs refused to budge on two points: streamlining the administrative process for plaintiffs, such as limiting the number of medical records required, and the $4.85 billion figure. He said a turning point in the negotiations came four or five months ago, when both sides developed more mutual trust.
"If I have any concerns, it's making sure that the system we've put in place gets the money to the victims," Mr. Seeger said. He said plaintiffs should receive their money within a year to 18 months.
Merck's outside counsel, Theodore Mayer of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, said one model for Merck's settlement was Bayer AG's settlement of cases surrounding its cholesterol drug Baycol, which was withdrawn from the market in 2001 after it was linked to muscle breakdown.
Bayer's settlement "made very clear which cases were in and which cases were out," Mr. Mayer said. Plaintiffs had to provide "objective proof" to show they qualified for money. "That was a very, very important message for us," Mr. Mayer said.
A major objective for Merck was avoiding the fate of Wyeth, which in 1999 allotted $3.75 billion for a class-action settlement to resolve litigation over its former diet drugs -- including half of the popular "fen-phen" combination -- that were linked to heart-valve damage. Wyeth's ultimate costs have ballooned to more than $21 billion because some people opted out of the settlement and continued with litigation.
The fen-phen settlement permitted patients who later determined that they had heart-valve damage to pursue claims against Wyeth. The idea of the Vioxx settlement is to avoid payments to someone who has a heart attack now and thinks it might be linked to years-ago use of Vioxx.
Mr. Herman of the plaintiffs' committee said it's too soon to say whether Merck's defense tactics can apply to other liability cases. If they can, he said, "the plaintiffs' bar is going to have to find a completely new strategy."
Write to Heather Won Tesoriero at [email protected], Sarah Rubenstein at [email protected] and Jamie Heller at [email protected] | Merck's deal to pay $4.85 billion to settle suits tied to withdrawn painkiller Vioxx largely vindicated its aggressive legal tactics. Shares rose 2.1%. (Conference call) | 54.875 | 0.78125 | 1.53125 | high | low | mixed | 888 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/lifestyle/beautiful-skin/11582987/creative-activities-for-adults.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805120657id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/sponsored/lifestyle/beautiful-skin/11582987/creative-activities-for-adults.html | Creative activities to help stressed-out adults | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.120657 | Kids love getting creative – whether it’s playing games or drawing and crafts, they can be completely absorbed for hours. But as adults going about our professional lives we’re encouraged to “put childish things aside” – and it turns out this may be to our detriment. Several studies have shown that creative activity boosts wellbeing, reduces depression, improves medical outcomes, reduces stress and heightens your sense of flow and spontaneity. A 2014 study by San Francisco University showed that people who partake in creative activities outside of work perform better when they’re back at their desks.
It’s time to invest in some coloured pencils, with Waterstones reporting a 300 per cent rise in sales of adult colouring books between Christmas 2013 and 2014. As strange as it may seem, colouring in is actually a kind of meditation: It calms the mind, occupies the hands and focuses attention on simple, repetitive tasks. This level of concentration creates a state of peace, blocking out negative or intrusive thoughts. Try The Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt & Colouring Book by Johanna Basford (Laurence King, £6.97) or Tiddy Rowan’s Colour Yourself Calm: A Mindfulness Colouring Book (Quadrille, £9.99) and The School of Life’s The Psychology of Colour Pencil Set (theschooloflife.com £18).
You might have closed your secret diary back in your teenage days, but it turns out that sharing your angst on paper has some serious benefits for adults. Studies ranging over 30 years highlighted in the British Journal of Psychiatry show that writing about stressful or emotional events results in improvements in physical and mental health, improved memory, improved sleep, improved sporting performance, higher grades and quicker re-employment after job loss. To get the benefits, set aside 15 to 30 minutes, daily or weekly, to do some “expressive writing”. Focus on a stressful experience, and write down whatever comes to mind without stopping. Don't concern yourself with grammar, punctuation or writing style, and explore your innermost thoughts and feelings without holding back.
It’s easy to end up spending our downtime in front of electronic gadgets, but adult play can prove a more therapeutic and life-affirming experience. Publications such as Psychology Today have highlighted its benefits, which include stress relief, improved brain function and learning ability, greater intimacy and emotional awareness, and greater connection to others and the world around you. Play can also make work more productive and pleasurable. Tapping into the trend, some UK play centres run “big-kid” sessions, while adult-only ball pools have been popping up in London, and at Bounce Below you can jump around on a giant trampoline in an underground cavern. | Colouring books for adults have seen a surge in popularity in the past year – tapping into your inner kid has all kinds of health benefits | 18.5 | 0.642857 | 0.928571 | medium | low | abstractive | 889 |
http://www.wsj.com/articles/connecticut-democrats-are-wary-of-bail-bill-1464225627 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805130555id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/articles/connecticut-democrats-are-wary-of-bail-bill-1464225627 | Connecticut Democrats Are Wary of Bail Bill | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.130555 | HARTFORD—Gov. Dannel Malloy wants to overhaul Connecticut’s criminal-justice system, but it is unclear whether his fellow Democrats will give him the votes he needs to make it a reality.
On Wednesday, Mr. Malloy went to the Hartford Correctional Center, a pretrial detention center for adult male offenders, to make his case for eliminating bail for most misdemeanors and to raise the maximum age of juvenile offenders for certain... | Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut are wary of bill backed by Gov. Dannel Malloy that would eliminate bail for most misdemeanors and raise the maximum age of juvenile offenders for certain crimes to 20 from 17. | 2.25 | 0.555556 | 3.166667 | low | low | mixed | 890 |
http://fortune.com/2016/08/02/express-scripts-valeant-drug-prices/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805133102id_/http://fortune.com:80/2016/08/02/express-scripts-valeant-drug-prices/ | Pharmacy Benefit Manager Won't Cover Drugs From Valeant and Others | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.133102 | Express Scripts Holding said on Monday it would add a handful of medicines in 2017 to its list of drugs that are excluded from insurance coverage, including treatments for arthritis and psoriasis, while several other medicines will be removed from the exclusion list.
The nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager has been excluding medicines from its coverage list since 2014, citing concern about costs to its health insurers and corporate customers. The 2017 excluded medicines list will entail 85 drugs, it said, compared with 87 in 2016.
By excluding drugs from its formulary, Express Scripts esrx said it has been better able to negotiate lower prices from drugmakers, and will thereby save customers an estimated $1.8 billion in 2017, up from $1.3 billion this year. The coverage list determines whether millions of people with private insurance can easily use an insurance co-pay to buy their medicine.
The drugs that will be newly excluded in 2017 include Zyclara, a skin cream for actinic keratosis sold by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International vrx , a Canadian drugmaker that has been criticized for big price increases on its products. The condition involves scaly skin growths that can develop into skin cancer.
Express Scripts spokesman David Whitrap declined to comment whether Zyclara, which costs more than $1,100 a tube, or other specific drugs, have been excluded because of price hikes.
Other drugs that will be newly excluded from coverage next year include Bristol-Myers Squibb’s bmy arthritis treatment Orencia, Eli Lilly’s lly new Taltz treatment for psoriasis and brands of gout drug colchicine sold by privately held Prasco Laboratories and West Ward Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Hikma.
Express Scripts said a number of drugs excluded in 2016 will no longer be excluded next year, including Pfizer’s pfe arthritis drugs Xeljanz and Xeljanz XR and GlaxoSmithKline’s gsk Arnuity Ellipta and Flovent Diskus asthma treatments.
All four of the drugs will instead be considered “preferred alternatives,” following price negotiations between the drugmakers and Express Scripts. Whitrap declined to say what magnitude or price rebates his company may have won.
Two costly drugs for hepatitis C from Gilead Sciences gild , Epclusa and Harvoni, remain on the 2016 excluded medications list, Whitrap said. But he said their status could change in 2017, with an announcement to be made later this year. | It's one of 85 that have been deemed just too expensive. | 33.461538 | 0.538462 | 0.692308 | medium | low | abstractive | 891 |
http://www.people.com/article/courteney-cox-directs-daughter-coco-foy-vance-music-video | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805220224id_/http://www.people.com/article/courteney-cox-directs-daughter-coco-foy-vance-music-video | Courteney Cox Directs Daughter Coco in Foy Vance 'Coco' Music Video : People.com | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.220224 | 07/15/2016 AT 09:00 AM EDT
's daughter – didn't just inspire Foy Vance's sentimental new song "Coco": She stars in its music video, too, and PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the clip.
Singer-songwriter Vance met Cox, 52, through the actress' Snow Patrol rocker
, 39, with whom Vance was already friends through their shared Northern Irish and music roots.
"Johnny brought Foy into my life a few years ago, and, immediately, he became a very close friend. He also got to know my daughter, Coco, and a song was born," Cox told PEOPLE.
"From the first time Foy played 'Coco' for me – and every time I've heard it since – I've felt he captured, not only Coco's unique personality but also the beautiful childhood innocence that sadly, but inevitably, fades with time," Cox added. "It is like a snapshot of the world as seen through a child's eyes ... sung by a man who is moved by how the world seems from her perspective. I think it's a perspective that we, as adults, never stop longing for."
Vance says the song and its accompanying clip came together organically.
"That old adage 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' has never proved more true than with Courteney and Coco. As soon as I wrote the song 'Coco' – which started out as an off the cuff verse to make Coco laugh – it was obvious that Courteney would direct the video," Vance told PEOPLE. "They both have such beautifully inquisitive spirits and kind hearts. Mix that with a killer sense of humour and you've got the Courteney/Coco double act!"
Mark Davis / Getty; Mireya Acierto / FilmMagic
Cox has done her share of directing, from
to Kodaline's "Love Will Set You Free"
last year. So her behind-the-scenes role was a natural fit.
"I was thrilled when Foy asked if I would direct the video for 'Coco.' My hope is that I conveyed in a visual way the many levels of feeling that Foy's song so brilliantly expressed," she added. "I am struck and continue to be struck by Foy's incredible soul as a musician and father. He is a truly unique human being, and I am proud to call him a friend."
As it turns out, Coco, Cox and McDaid aren't Vance's only famous friends: He's signed to pal
's record label. Vance released his second LP, | Vance was inspired by Cox's daughter to write about "the beautiful childhood innocence that sadly, but inevitably, fades with time," said Cox | 18.214286 | 0.857143 | 8.5 | medium | medium | extractive | 892 |
http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Three-49ers-WRs-leave-practice-early-9123269.php | http://web.archive.org/web/20160805225917id_/http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Three-49ers-WRs-leave-practice-early-9123269.php | 49ers S Reid could have new role | 1970-08-22T08:13:25.225917 | Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press
49ers S Reid could have new role
In 2016, the 49ers will face seven tight ends who had at least 48 receptions last year, a group that includes New England’s Rob Gronkowski, Carolina’s Greg Olsen, Seattle’s Jimmy Graham and Dallas’ Jason Witten, a quartet that’s combined for 19 Pro Bowls.
And covering them could be a job for safety Eric Reid.
The 2013 first-round pick said he could have a new role this season when opponents employ two tight-end formations. That is, he could cover a tight end in the slot, which would allow the 49ers to remain in their base defense rather than moving to nickel. In the past, teams have often countered by running when the 49ers have brought an extra conerback on the field.
Reid, 6-foot-1 and 213 pounds, is stouter in run support than most corners.
“I just think it’s something I can do to help the team, especially with the tight ends we play in this division and that we are going to play this year,” Reid said. “When they get in two tight-end personnel, we don’t have to be in nickel … Hopefully, it just gives our defense a little versatility.”
Injury report: It was a painful practice for the 49ers wide receivers corps as Torrey Smith (knee), Eric Rogers (knee) and Bruce Ellington (finger) were sidelined with injuries.
Smith came up gimpy while running a route late in practice. After a brief visit with a trainer, he returned for just one play, exiting for good after hobbling through a route. After practice, Smith did not immediately receive medical assistance and was seen lifting in the weight room.
Meanwhile, Rogers, who led the CFL in receiving yards last year, fell down while running a route and didn’t return to practice. He limped off the field and was examined by trainers for several minutes. Asked if he was OK after practice, Rogers said: “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Ellington left after battling cornerback Jimmie Ward for a pass from Colin Kaepernick. He finished practice with the index finger and middle finger on his right hand taped together.
Transaction: The 49ers claimed rookie cornerback Cleveland Wallace, 22, off waivers from the Texans and waived undrafted rookie linebacker Lenny Jones.
Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. | In 2016, the 49ers will face seven tight ends who had at least 48 receptions last year, a group that includes New England’s Rob Gronkowski, Carolina’s Greg Olsen, Seattle’s Jimmy Graham and Dallas’ Jason Witten, a quartet that’s combined for 19 Pro Bowls. The 2013 first-round pick said he could have a new role this season when opponents employ two tight-end formations. After a brief visit with a trainer, he returned for just one play, exiting for good after hobbling through a route. After practice, Smith did not immediately receive medical assistance and was seen lifting in the weight room. [...] Rogers, who led the CFL in receiving yards last year, fell down while running a route and didn’t return to practice. The 49ers claimed rookie cornerback Cleveland Wallace, 22, off waivers from the Texans and waived undrafted rookie linebacker Lenny Jones. | 2.704545 | 0.954545 | 31.113636 | low | high | extractive | 893 |
http://www.bbc.com/storyworks/capital/a-world-of-opportunities/money-transfers-explained | http://web.archive.org/web/20160806022735id_/http://www.bbc.com:80/storyworks/capital/a-world-of-opportunities/money-transfers-explained | Money Transfers Explained | 1970-08-22T08:13:26.022735 | There are countless providers out there able to transfer your money overseas, but only a handful offer this crucial service as their core offering. OFX is an Australian company that offers simple and secure international money transfers online. The company’s Head of Asia Pacific, Scott Redmond, says the process differs substantially depending on the institution used.
It can be a cumbersome space for banking providers, and this is often reflected in high fees, poor exchange rates and very little service. But companies that focus solely on money exchange usually offer competitive exchange rates and fees, a friendly online customer interface and supportive customer service, Redmond explains.
Established providers aren’t just focused on slick online experience at the lowest possible cost. Aside from expert knowledge, established providers have an arsenal of infrastructure including well established banking networks and customer service, he adds. “What this means is that the customer can access great rates and low fees, knowing that their money will arrive at its destination safely and securely,” Redmond says.
Of course, an essential part of international money transfer is the delivery of funds, Redmond explains. “If you think about it in terms of a delivery company, would you choose the cheapest option with little assurance about when the package will arrive, what condition it will be in or how the company will help if the package is lost?”
Melbourne energy efficiency company Shine On conducted an internal audit of systems and processes, uncovering a far higher cost for international money transfers than necessary a few years ago.
Managing director and founder James Johnson says his first priority was finding a provider with the best rates. A number of unexpected benefits followed. “I didn’t realise at the time, but the slow and restrictive payment system we used through our bank had been really slowing us down,” Johnson says. “Orders weren’t processed until payment had been received, and this sometimes took up to three days, slowing up production, delivery and then installation for our customers.
“Not only this, but we had to give confirmation by 2pm for exchanges on any given day, and this was just not always possible for our business.” Johnson says.
Switching to OFX offered greater flexibility, with payments turned around within 24 hours. Johnson estimates he has also saved more than AUD$80,000 on international money transfers since switching to OFX four years ago.
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Redmond explains that customers can complete a lump sum transfer when timing is critical, however this requires them to be comfortable with where the market is trading and the value they receive from their provider.
Alternatively, customers can split the transfer amount into portions. “This works well for clients who have a modicum of time and are keen to take advantage of exchange rates at different times,” Redmond says. For example, a customer with a transfer requirement of AUD$50,000 can choose to break this up into parcels of $10,000 by booking in separate transfers at various points in time and exchange rates.
“In this scenario, the customer will end up with five transfers, and while there will invariably be a variety of exchange rates across these five transfers, the benefit is by not putting all your eggs in one basket, they end up with the dollar average of the exchange rates,” Redmond says. Whichever you choose, it’s important to note that there are few savants in the world of foreign exchange, so the likelihood of picking the top of a market subject to so many influences is slim.
“To this end, the customer needs to go back to first principles and consider whether they are receiving good value from their foreign exchange provider across exchange rates, fees and services,” he says.
While there are a variety of products out there to help you conduct a transfer that works best for you, one is a forward exchange contract*. “For example, if the market was to move in a customer’s favour but the customer doesn’t need to transfer money for six months, they could use a forward exchange contract to secure the favourable rate,” Redmond says. “Great foreign exchange providers will have accredited currency specialists who can walk customers through forward exchange contracts.”
Customers should consider their individual circumstances and seek professional advice before selecting a product.
*This advertisement feature is presented by OzForex Limited trading as OFX (ABN 65 092 375 703) (AFSL 226 484) and contains content advertising OFX’s products and services. There are risks associated with Forward Exchange Contracts including the inability to make financial gains due to favourable exchange rate movements and potential realisation of financial losses if the FEC is cancelled. For general risks of entering into Forward Contracts and the other foreign exchange transactions offered by OFX, please read our Product Disclosure Statement at ofx.com and consider your individual circumstances and objectives. | What you need to know about transferring money overseas. #aworldofopportunities. Advertisement Feature presented by OFX. | 49.210526 | 0.789474 | 1.210526 | high | medium | abstractive | 894 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/06/01/gary-neville-roy-hodgson-should-continue-as-england-manager-afte/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160806040434id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/football/2016/06/01/gary-neville-roy-hodgson-should-continue-as-england-manager-afte/ | Gary Neville: Roy Hodgson should continue as England manager after Euro 2016 | 1970-08-22T08:13:26.040434 | “Roy’s brought calmness. Players respect him. They say: ‘Yes, I like him’. There’s nobody looking at Roy and thinking: ‘He’s a bad man, he’s arrogant’. Actually they say: ‘I’ve got a lot of time for him’.”
The Football Association will review Hodgson’s future after the tournament and has conceded that England’s performance at the Euros will influence its decision. Hodgson has said he is hoping to take England to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Only Ryan Bertrand – who has a “slight injury”, according to Hodgson – is unavailable to England for their final Euro 2016 warm-up match against Portugal at Wembley on May 2. | Gary Neville has made an impassioned case for Roy Hodgson to continue as England manager after Euro 2016 when his current contract expires. | 5.307692 | 0.384615 | 0.461538 | low | low | abstractive | 895 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/08/05/healey-knocks-city-council-over-winthrop-square-deal/sH7RXYjdotzSYvItnmgJOK/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20160806152607id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/08/05/healey-knocks-city-council-over-winthrop-square-deal/sH7RXYjdotzSYvItnmgJOK/story.html | Healey knocks City Council over Winthrop Square deal | 1970-08-22T08:13:26.152607 | The state’s top lawyer said Friday that the Boston City Council violated the open meeting law when it voted to turn the Winthrop Square Garage over to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
But the ruling could have the effect of smoothing the way for the garage’s planned conversion into one of Boston’s tallest buildings.
The office of Attorney General Maura Healey said the council failed to give notice 48 hours ahead of its meeting in December at which it voted, 10 to 3, to transfer ownership of the garage to the BRA.
The Winthrop Square vote was not on the council’s published agenda; instead during the meeting, the Council pulled the item from a list it maintains of previously discussed items, the so-called “Green Sheets.”
That process is allowed for emergency issues, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Manganaro wrote in a letter to city officials, but not in cases like Winthrop Square that have been before the council for months.
In the contest for one of the most prized building sites in Boston, city officials chose an increasingly familiar name.
“This was a longstanding project, not an emergency that arose just before the meeting,” he wrote. “Selecting matters from the Green Sheets to discuss without including notice of that discussion on the meeting agenda ahead of time does not comply with the open meeting law.”
But, Manganaro indicated in the letter, the attorney general’s office now considers the matter resolved, with the City Council receiving a warning not to vote on Green Sheets items without notice again. No revote is required.
Because of a legal challenge to that vote, city officials have yet to transfer the property to the BRA, which is necessary to allow the agency to designate a developer for the former garage.
On Wednesday, the BRA chose as its preferred developer Millennium Partners, which has offered to buy the garage for $151 million and build a 55-story, 750-foot condo and office tower there.
BRA officials are eager to get the project underway in this hot real estate market, and on Friday, a spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the city now plans to push ahead with the transfer.
She said the city Law Department had reviewed the ruling and did not believe it requires a new vote of the City Council. Council president Michelle Wu did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Longtime civic activist and BRA critic Shirley Kressel, who filed the complaint with Healey’s office, did not return a message Friday. | A vote to transfer a garage violated the open meeting law, but the deal will probably still happen | 25.315789 | 0.736842 | 2 | medium | low | mixed | 896 |
http://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/hospital-chains-ceo-faces-lawsuit-over-business-practices-1470021573 | http://web.archive.org/web/20160806190014id_/http://www.wsj.com:80/amp/articles/hospital-chains-ceo-faces-lawsuit-over-business-practices-1470021573 | Hospital Chain’s CEO Faces Lawsuit Over Business Practices | 1970-08-22T08:13:26.190014 | Over the past decade and a half, California cardiologist Prem Reddy has built Prime Healthcare Service Inc. into one of the largest for-profit hospital chains in the U.S. by targeting distressed hospitals for acquisition. He boasts that his aggressive turnaround strategies have righted the finances of each and every one.
But the chief executive has also attracted criticism, including claims that he plays hardball with insurers. Now Dr. Reddy is the central figure in a lawsuit brought by an employee and the Justice Department alleging that he strong-arms doctors in an effort to unnecessarily hospitalize patients at Medicare’s expense.
The tension is increasing scrutiny of one of the hospital sector’s most unconventional and ambitious CEOs, who is known for his rapid-fire acquisitions. It could also complicate Ontario, Calif.-based Prime’s ability to keep growing rapidly, or to pull off the initial public offering it is considering.
The lawsuit, filed by a Prime employee in 2011 and joined by the Justice Department in May under the False Claims Act, alleges Dr. Reddy pressured emergency-room doctors in 14 Prime hospitals in California to admit patients instead of holding them for observation, because Medicare typically pays more for admissions. The Justice Department, in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in California, claims Dr. Reddy pressured managers and doctors to meet admission quotas, and to “embellish” medical records to justify hospital stays.
“Not plausible,” says Mark Hardiman, an attorney representing Dr. Reddy, who added that his client lacked the “ability or interest in micromanaging the admissions” of doctors. The Justice Department declined to comment beyond the allegations in the complaint.
In response to written questions, Dr. Reddy said the allegations won’t deter Prime’s growth prospects, adding that the company has “time to decide” on a possible IPO. He referred other questions about the lawsuit to his lawyer. Prime’s reputation for turnarounds “speaks for itself,” Dr. Reddy said.
Proponents say Prime has made critical investments in the hospitals it acquires and describe Dr. Reddy as a generous philanthropist.
Dr. Reddy, 68 years old, graduated from medical school in India before immigrating to the U.S. 40 years ago and becoming an entrepreneur. In 1998, he sold a physician management company and a Victorville, Calif., hospital he built for $187.2 million. (Dr. Reddy’s company is unrelated to the Indian pharmaceutical company, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories . )
In 2001, he reacquired the money-losing hospital and other assets for $8 million. Within two years, the hospital’s operating losses swung to a profit, Medicare data show.
That turnaround became the template for the company’s business model, Dr. Reddy says. Analysts said Prime continues to demonstrate a skill for reversing the fortunes of distressed hospitals. “They have a high batting average,” said Fitch Ratings analyst Adam Kates. Prime now operates 32 hospitals in a dozen states. A nonprofit affiliate owns another 11 hospitals. Dr. Reddy owns the management company that operates Prime and the nonprofit affiliate.
Lately, Prime’s acquisitions have accelerated: the company has acquired 14 hospitals in the past 18 months.
Much of that growth has been financed through an unconventional avenue: a real-estate investment trust. Prime leases or has mortgaged 24 hospitals from Medical Properties Trust, a publicly traded REIT and one of the few to own hospitals. Medical Properties Trust declined to comment.
Some of Prime’s revenue-boosting tactics have raised eyebrows among would-be sellers, consumer advocates and lawmakers. The company has canceled insurance contracts, including with national players, and taken the unusual step of suing insurers over what it describes as “unfair” payment when its hospitals are out of the insurers’ network.
Dr. Reddy defends the company’s relations with insurers as necessary for it to win “fair compensation.”
Prime has also maximized its revenue by paying close attention to complex codes used to bill insurers in order to be paid the most possible for its services, a practice common among hospitals but one at which Prime excels, said Joshua Nemzoff, president of merger and acquisition advisers Nemzoff & Co., which advised Prime before parting ways with the company in 2013 after a disagreement over acquisition strategies.
Justice Department officials, however, claim Prime’s billing practices induced doctors to admit patients who could have avoided hospitalization. Prime employee Karin Berntsen first made the allegation five years ago in a federal lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act. Ms. Berntsen is now the hospital’s director of performance improvement at the company’s San Diego hospital. The government’s compliant validates the allegations raised by Ms. Berntsen, said her attorney Elaine Stromgren. “She is hopeful her efforts will make a difference,” Ms. Stromgren said.
Ms. Berntsen made additional allegations that were not included in the government complaint that she will pursue separately, Ms. Stromgren said. Ms. Berntsen declined interviews through her attorney.
“It certainly is going to be a concern for investors,” said Jay Ritter, an IPO expert and a University of Florida finance professor.
Investors also typically avoid legal challenges that embroil leadership and “shatter their confidence in the management team,” said Bryan Armstrong, a managing director for FTI Consulting and head of the firm’s capital market communication group. He declined to comment specifically on Prime.
Dr. Reddy said he is not certain the company will go public, but says an IPO would allow it to expand and compete with publicly traded rivals.
Write to Melanie Evans at [email protected] | Prem Reddy has built Prime Healthcare Service into one of the largest for-profit hospital chains in the U.S. But he has attracted criticism, and now he is the central figure in a lawsuit brought by an employee and the Justice Department alleging that Dr. Reddy strong-arms doctors to unnecessarily hospitalize patients at Medicare’s expense. | 17.360656 | 1 | 9.721311 | medium | high | extractive | 897 |
http://time.com/4396352/game-of-thrones-samwell-tarly-theory/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160807182620id_/http://time.com:80/4396352/game-of-thrones-samwell-tarly-theory/ | Samwell Tarly Finale Scene Key to End | 1970-08-22T08:13:27.182620 | Warning: This post contains spoilers for the sixth season of Game of Thrones.
The season six finale of Game of Thrones saw Samwell Tarly, Gilly and Little Sam finally arrive at the Citadel in Oldtown after a long and arduous journey from Castle Black. Once inside the maesters’ headquarters, Sam entered the library, where he was greeted with the sight of chandeliers that closely resembled the gyroscope from the show’s opening credits.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, John Bradley — who plays Sam — revealed that he believes the similarity may hint at how the series will end. “One theory is that what we’re seeing now and how we’re experiencing Game of Thrones is Sam telling the story of Game of Thrones,” he said. “If you take the logic of the story now, the story of Westeros and the story of the battle for the Iron Throne, it would be a book in that library.”
The actor also spoke about how the detail is proof of showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ exemplary storytelling ability. “The one thing I found moving about that object being the same in the Citadel and in the opening titles is that it’s a testament to [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss’] foresight, that they can plan something that only comes to fruition much later on,” he said. “It shows an incredible kind of long game, in terms of giving people drips of information and being brave enough to puzzle people for a while.”
And Sam’s writing skills may not be the only thing he has to contribute to the people of Westeros. During his stop at his family’s home at Horn Hill in the season’s sixth episode, Sam gained possession of House Tarly’s ancestral Valyrian sword Heart’s Bane — a weapon that may have a big part to play in the wars to come. “We saw in Jon and Sam’s final scene in season five, that Sam was talking about the effects of Valyrian steel on White Walkers,” Bradley said. “They’re talking about Jon’s experience at Hardhome, and how [Jon’s sword] Longclaw came into play in a big way there. Sam’s constantly aware of these details, and he knows that Heart’s Bane is Valyrian steel. He knows the impact it can have. But it’s an interesting kind of mix between the symbolism of Heart’s Bane to him, and the practical use of it in the wider world. It’s a coming together of head and heart, which you don’t get very often.” | Is Westeros headed for a happy ending? | 61.75 | 0.5 | 0.75 | high | low | abstractive | 898 |
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/06/19/game-of-thrones--series-6-episode-9-battle-of-the-bastards-will/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20160807190017id_/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/tv/2016/06/19/game-of-thrones--series-6-episode-9-battle-of-the-bastards-will/ | Game of Thrones, season 6, episode 9: Battle of the Bastards will be on the scale of big budget war films | 1970-08-22T08:13:27.190017 | Battle of the Bastards, episode 9 of the latest season of Game of Thrones, required 25 days of filming, with 500 extras, 600 crew members and 70 real horses – so difficult to control in a battle sequence that they are only used in the most lavish productions. Although only 60 minutes long in its final cut, the expense behind the pitched battle scene was on a par with big budget war films.
Episode director Miguel Sapochnik, who last season helmed the stunning “Hardhome”, told Entertainment Weekly: “David and Dan [showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] wanted to do a thing of spectacle … [that] they hadn’t had the resources to do back in season 1 or 2. I was particularly interested in depicting both the horror of war and the role of luck in battle.” | Battle of the Bastards, episode 9 of the latest season of Game of Thrones, required 25 days of filming, with 500 extras, 600 crew members and 70 real horses – so difficult to control in a battle sequence that they are only used in the most lavish productions. | 2.872727 | 0.963636 | 31.909091 | low | high | extractive | 899 |
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