text
stringlengths 5
144k
| label
int64 0
9
| id
int64 0
100k
| label_text
stringclasses 10
values |
|---|---|---|---|
The National Gallery in London has banned selfie sticks. The gallery says it has placed them in the same category as tripods, which are banned "in order to protect paintings, individual privacy and the overall visitor experience". The National Gallery ban follows other galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian museums in Washington. The selfie stick is an elongated pole on which a camera or mobile phone can be attached to take a better photo. Sales of the selfie stick have soared since last year and they are now a common sight at tourist sites. The ban by the National Gallery was welcomed by art critic Brian Sewell. He told The Times: "They are possibly quite dangerous to the art work and cause appalling crowding around a painting. "Anyone who actually wants to go and see a painting can't because people are too busy taking photos. I've seen things in the National Gallery which make my hair stand on end." Some visitors at the National Gallery have backed the ban. Morny Davison told the Press Association the selfie stick was "an interference in what one hopes is a reasonably calm experience looking at great pictures." Another visitor said art lovers would be "thrilled" by the ban, adding: "They should have been banned some time ago." Other British institutions could also follow the ban. The British Museum has confirmed it is reviewing its policy on selfie sticks. A spokeswoman said: "The safety of objects and visitors is paramount to the British Museum". Selfie sticks are currently allowed at the National Portrait Gallery, but a spokesman said "anything that may prove disruptive is reviewed on an ongoing basis.". "It is important that all our visitors enjoy their experience at the Gallery." The Tate does still allow the use of selfie sticks "provided that users respect fellow visitors and adhere to Tate's photography policy". A spokesman for the Natural History Museum said it does not currently ban the use of selfie sticks and "do not currently see a need to alter our stance on this issue". The National Museum Cardiff does not permit any camera extension devices such as tripods, and it classes selfie sticks under this category. A spokesperson said the policy was in place "to ensure the safety of our visitors and the museum's collections, especially during crowded conditions. "We encourage museum visitors to take selfies and share their experiences but leave the selfie sticks at home." The BBC is awaiting confirmation from the National Galleries of Scotland to what their policy is. Analysis by Will Gompertz, Arts Editor It used to be so easy. Cameras were banned - flashlight was bad for the pictures and visitors having their own copies of paintings was bad for business. The camera phone changed all that - making it unfeasible for galleries to stop people taking photographs. The selfie stick has introduced a new problem, which is to stop people looking at pictures and in so doing creates a distraction for those who are trying to study what the gallery has to offer. So the rationale for banning them is because they cause a disturbance - the side benefit being you will now once again have to go the museum shop to get your copy of your favourite picture. Earlier this month, the Smithsonian museum group announced it had banned selfie sticks from its 19 museums and galleries in the US capital. "This is a preventive measure to protect visitors and objects, especially during crowded conditions," it said in a statement. It followed similar restrictions from museums and galleries in the US including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Modern Museum of Art (MOMA), the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The palace of Versailles was the first museum in Europe to ban the use of selfie sticks and it is expected that The Louvre and the Pompidou centre are likely to follow suit. Selfie sticks are also banned from music venues in the UK including the O2 and Wembley Arena.
| 5 | 11,300 |
news
|
Kim Kardashian has made quite an impact on Paris Fashion week, mainly thanks to her newly blonde head of hair. Oh and her series of revealing and risqué outfits. So after all this show stealing you'd be forgiven for thinking Mrs West had no self confidence issues or body hang ups what so ever. But apparently even Kim gets a little insecure sometimes. Partying with her supermodel little sister and her catwalk queen pals the reality TV beauty was feeling a little unsure of herself.
| 8 | 11,301 |
video
|
Amazon is launching a new storefront named Amazon Exclusives , where the retailing giant will curate product from little-known brands. In essence, this means the retailer is giving a number of buzzy gadgets that first appeared on crowdfunding sites and the like the chance for more exposure. This includes a number of Kickstarter projects, but Amazon also says it'll be selling items that first appear on the TV program Shark Tank. As we pointed out at CES this year: gadgets are back. a few Kickstarter successes are already on board The storefront has launched with a number of fully-funded Kickstarter projects on board, including Zackee's turning signal LED gloves for cyclists and Olloclip's detachable iPhone lenses. The products aren't actually exclusives (they can still be bought from the manufacturers' own sites) but Amazon will be the only third-party site stocking them and promises it will offer the "best price available." "Our mission on behalf of customers is to make Amazon the destination for brands and innovators to launch and sell their products, providing our customers early access to new products," said Peter Faricy , VP of Amazon Marketplace. "We understand that helping brands gain exposure for their award-winning new products is beneficial to customers that desire to be the first to have the hot new item."
| 3 | 11,302 |
finance
|
Amazon has been in China a lot longer than it has in India, but America's largest online retailer has a much better shot at winning in the subcontinent's nascent online shopping market than the one dominated by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Recode said in a post on Tuesday. After recently starting to list products on Alibaba's Tmall online marketplace to get the traction it was not getting on its own online shop in China, Amazon could scale back investments there and focus more on India, Recode said, citing a person familiar with Amazon's practices. And founder CEO Jeff Bezos was thinking along these lines, according the person, whom Recode didn't name. "They are more focused on succeeding in India than trying to turn around China," the person told the online tech news and reviews site. India's online shopping market is estimated to hit $8.5 billion in 2016 from about $2 billion in 2013, the year following Amazon's launch of its online marketplace Junglee.com in India, competing with local rivals Flipkart and Jasper Infotech's Snapdeal. The Boston Consulting Group and the Retailers Association of India project online shopping of goods to rise to between $28 billion and $33 billion by 2020. While the Indian startups are backed by a clutch of multinational investors including New York hedge fund and private equity firm Tiger Global Management and Japan's SoftBank Corp., Bezos has committed to investing $2 billion in his Indian operations. Amazon is finalizing a deal to lease 1.3 million square feet office space from privately held builder Bagmane Developers Pvt. Ltd. in Bangalore, India's Times newspaper reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. "we don't comment on anything we may or may not do in the future," Amazon said in an email response to a query on the newspaper report.
| 3 | 11,303 |
finance
|
The current bull market hit its sixth birthday on March 9; stocks have more than tripled since early 2009. To be blunt, extended bull markets can make us feel a little bit greedy. When everything is up by a comfortable margin over an extended period, investors often focus on finding the best r elative performers, neglecting the fact that five-year annualized returns of either 12% or 15% are pretty darn good by historical standards. A related phenomenon: The further away we get from the last bear market, the more we tend to understate the virtue of risk controls. That's often a mistake. Funds that have disappointed during buoyant equity markets frequently make up ground during bear runs, often because they're more valuation- and quality-conscious than their peers. And because of that good downside protection, they do a good job of keeping investors in their seats; Morningstar Investor Returns data point to a correlation between low volatility and better investor returns. Because equity valuations aren't exactly cheap today and investors should, realistically, expect more volatility ahead, today I'll highlight a group of low-risk funds that investors could be underestimating. To be sure, their near-term relative performance is underwhelming; all land in the lower echelons of their categories over the past five years. But all are Morningstar Medalists, earning ratings of Silver or better from Morningstar's analyst team, and all earn the designation of "core" holdings. Moreover, all have Morningstar Risk ratings of "low" and lost substantially less than the S&P 500 during 2008--the worst bear-market year since the Great Depression. Amana Income AMANX Category: Large Blend | Analyst Rating: Silver | Five-Year Return/Ranking: 12.02%/81 | 2008 Loss/Ranking: -23.48%/2 Want proof that highly leveraged, low-quality stocks have generally led the six-year market rally? Look no further than Amana Income's abysmal results during that period. The fund, which is managed for Muslims in accordance with Islamic law, avoids companies with debt/capitalization ratios of greater than 30%; as highly leveraged companies have enjoyed the biggest bounceback since the market and economy recovered, the fund's results have suffered. But the opposite phenomenon was in play during the bear market, as management's focus on dividend payers with solid balance sheets helped it to hold up much better than its peers and the broad market. Expenses are higher than is ideal, and management avoids financials stocks--a key market sector--because it can't invest in companies that earn or distribute interest; but senior analyst David Kathman considers the fund appropriate for Muslim and non-Muslim investors alike. The fund's strong investor returns indicate that shareholders have been happy to stand pat despite the recent performance weakness. Amana Income TWEIX Category: Large Value | Analyst Rating: Silver | Five-Year Return/Ranking: 11.51%/82 | 2008 Loss/Ranking: -20.05%/1 Downside protection is top of mind for this fund's management team, which was short-listed for Morningstar's Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year honors in 2014. In addition to focusing the equity portfolio on high-quality dividend-paying companies with relatively low valuations--a risk-averse stock-picking approach--management further protects on the downside by holding a component of government-agency bonds, convertibles, and convertible preferred stocks. Owing to that low-risk makeup, the fund's standard deviation--a measure of volatility--is among the lowest of any large-value fund. While its five-year numbers are so-so, the fund has managed to deliver good investor outcomes: Its investor returns tend to closely track the total returns of the fund, meaning that most investors have bought in and hung on. The fund may carry a sales charge if purchased through an advisor. Amana Income JENSX Category: Large Growth | Analyst Rating: Silver | Five-Year Return/Ranking: 13.13%/77 | 2008 Loss/Ranking: -28.97%/2 Although it lands in a completely different category, Jensen Quality Growth shares the American Century fund's focus on quality. Management's first cut is to screen for companies that have delivered returns on equity of 15% or better over the past 10 years. Then, they whittle that group down to those with the best growth and valuation profiles. The net result is a basket of companies with strong sustainable competitive advantages: The portfolio features a 71% stake in companies that earn Morningstar analysts' wide moat designation, whereas the large-growth category average is just 48%. Senior analyst Greg Carlson notes that weak picks in health care have dragged down returns over the past five years; management has since sliced its stake. But the fund's low-volatility results appear to encourage patience: Like the other two funds, this fund's investor returns track closely with its total returns.
| 3 | 11,304 |
finance
|
One day in 2010, Paul Solman, business and economics correspondent for "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer," and Larry Kotlikoff, a professor of economics at Boston University, were chatting about money when Kotlikoff asked Solman when he planned to start taking Social Security retirement income . Solman said that his wife and he had decided to delay collecting checks until they would get the maximum amount at age 70 . Kotlikoff pointed out that they would be leaving $50,000 on the table . That's because there's a little-known strategy that couples can use to increase their Social Security income : when one spouse reaches age 66, he or she can file for -- and immediately suspend -- Social Security retirement income. By doing this, when the second spouse turns 62, she can claim spousal benefits (35% of her spouse's benefits), even if she never worked, providing additional income and allowing her husband to maximize his benefit by delaying payments until he reaches age 70. (If she waits until age 66, she can collect 50% of his benefits.) Taking spousal benefits also allows the second spouse to delay receiving payments based on work history and maximizing her benefits, as well. Solman and Kotlikoff, along with Philip Moeller, a financial journalist, write about this and other Social Security strategies in their new book, Get What's Yours: The Secrets To Maxing Out Your Social Security (Simon & Schuster, 2015). "Every married person can choose between two different options when electing Social Security benefits their own benefit or a spousal benefit," explains Annalee Leonard, president of Mainstay Financial Group. "When making a decision about your benefits, it's important to not only consider your own earning record, but also consider your spouse's benefits." "File and suspend is ideal for couples where one spouse earned a significantly larger amount than the other spouse," Leonard adds. "File and suspend allows the primary wage earner to apply for benefits, then suspend collecting, while allowing the other spouse to start collecting spousal benefits immediately." However, "sometimes this strategy may not be beneficial," says Tony D'Amico, CEO of The Fidato Group, such as "when someone has additional income needs on top of the spousal benefits received, and there are no other pensions or fixed income sources." In that case, the person would be dependent on investments and savings distributions, which "could significantly reduce their investment and savings account(s), and may not be what is best for them for the long term," he says. There are other strategies for maximizing Social Security benefits. You can also cash in on divorce, Leonard says. "It's often overlooked, but a divorced spouse can qualify for part of their ex-spouse's benefit if their marriage lasted at least 10 years," she says. "If there are multiple marriages, the person would want to pick the work record that will get him or her the largest check."
| 3 | 11,305 |
finance
|
U.S. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they are searching for a Virginia Tech student who went overboard a cruise ship near the Bahamas. Video footage reportedly shows the 21-year-old falling off the cruise ship Carnival Glory on Sunday, five miles southwest of Abaco Island in the Bahamas. The ship was on a seven-day Caribbean cruise that left Miami on Saturday, NBC Affiliate WSLS reported . Carnival officials as well as Virginia Tech have reportedly confirmed that the person who went overboard is a student. His identity has not yet been released. In a statement, Carnival officials said, "We extend our heartfelt sympathy and concern for the family and loved ones of our missing guest," ABC Affiliate WRIC reported . The Coast Guard conducted search and rescue operations in the area, and another cruise ship, the Carnival Ecstasy, had deviated course to search the area up until Monday evening. Other vessels in the area also reportedly assisted in the search. The search was suspended at sunset on Tuesday, after an area of over 4,600 square nautical miles had been canvassed with two aircraft and a ship, WDBJ7 reported . One Jayhawk rescue helicopter launched from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, and one search and rescue plane launched from Coast Guard Air Station Miami reportedly participated in the search.
| 5 | 11,306 |
news
|
Study: Coddled kids expect special treatment
| 5 | 11,307 |
news
|
For the first time, conservationists have spotted an Amur tiger dad leading his family along a snowy trail in Russia's Far East forests. There are fewer than 500 of the rare Amur tigers left in the wild, according tothe Wildlife Conservation Society. The endangered species lives in remote, mountainous territory that makes it difficult to watch the tigers and monitor their natural behavior. So researchers use remotely activated camera traps to help catch the tigers as they hunt, play and move through the vast territory of Russia's Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve and Udegeiskaya Legenda National Park (two adjacent protected areas). The new photos from the Wildlife Conservation Society show a family of five Amur tigers padding through the snow this winter, lined up from large to small like nesting dolls. Although family group behavior has been seen in Bengal tigers many times, this is the first evidence of male Amur tigers in a family setting, rather than as solitary cats, researchers said. [ Iconic Cats: All 9 Subspecies of Tigers ] "We have collected hundreds of photos of tigers over the years, but this is the first time we have recorded a family together," Svetlana Soutyrina, deputy director for scientific programs at the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve, said in a statement . "These images confirm that male Amur tigers do participate in family life, at least occasionally, and we were lucky enough to capture one such moment." The 21 photos show the tiger family walking in front of the same camera within 2 minutes. "These photos provide a small vignette of social interactions of Amur tigers, and provide an evocative snapshot of life in the wild for these magnificent animals," Dale Miquelle, Russia director for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said in the statement. The camera trap was part of a camera network installed throughout the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve and Udegeiskaya Legenda National Park during a 2014-2015 population count of the endangered Amur tigers. Every 10 years, hundreds of volunteers survey the remote region to estimate the tiger population. In 2005, there were 430 to 500 tigers remaining in the wild, according to the survey. Amur tigers once ranged throughout the Russian Far East, northern China and Korea. But by the 1940s, hunting and habitat loss brought their numbers down to only 40 tigers left in the wild. Thanks to conservation efforts, the population rebounded to around 500 by the 1980s, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. However, the tiger population is restricted to reserves in the Russian Far East and China. Camera traps have also helped monitor the population of another rare Russian cat the Amur leopard. Photos and video footage from the World Wildlife Fund suggest the number of Amur leopards has nearly doubled , from 30 in 2007 to 57 in 2014. Follow Becky Oskin @beckyoskin . Follow Live Science @livescience , Facebook & Google+ . Originally published on Live Science . Photos: Best Wild Animal Selfies Camera Trapped: Wonderful and Weird Wildlife Around the World Gallery: Rare and Beautiful Amur Leopards
| 5 | 11,308 |
news
|
Runway, backstage, and front-row footage from the Paris show. Watch the Valentino Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear fashion show from Style.com. Want more? Visit Style.com for more runway shows, fashion trends, shopping guides, and news about models and designers.
| 8 | 11,309 |
video
|
An advert for a house in Indonesia has gone viral online after the woman selling it offered to throw in an unusual extra feature for free -- her hand in marriage. The Internet ad reads for the most part like a regular house listing, saying that the single-storey property has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a parking space and a fish pond. But it also proposes to buyers a "rare offer" -- "when you buy this house, you can ask the owner to marry you", alongside a picture of Wina Lia, a 40-year-old widow and beauty salon owner, leaning against a car in front of the house. The ad said that terms and conditions apply, and notes the offer is "for serious buyers and non-negotiable". The house in Sleman, on the island of Java, is on the market for 999 million rupiah (about $75,000). News of the offer quickly spread among Internet users in social media-crazy Indonesia. Boldies99, a user on popular online forum Kaskus, said Lia was "quite smart -- even though the house will be sold, she will remain the owner." Lia told AFP she was "shocked at the reaction", as she had been overwhelmed by journalists coming to interview her, and even the police in the conservative, Muslim-majority country had been asking questions. The police "came to verify the news as they consider it as an improper advertisement. But I explained to them that it was not my idea," she said. The mother of two explained that she had asked a friend who was a property agent to help her find a buyer -- and in the process a husband -- but she had expected him to pass on the news to a limited number of people, not put an ad online. "I told a friend of mine who also works as property agent that if there is a buyer who is a single man or a widower who wants to buy a house, and at the same time look for a wife, he can let me know as I'm also a widow," she said. She added that there was only one potential buyer, who had visited on Wednesday, but refused to give further details.
| 5 | 11,310 |
news
|
Facebook this week removed a feature that allowed users to tell their friends they're "feeling fat," in apparent response to an online petition that garnered more than 16,000 signatures. The "feeling fat" emoticon had been among the lengthy list of feelings and activities that users can include when updating their statuses, alongside the likes of "blessed," "loved," and "drunk." Supporters of the petition argued that "fat is not a feeling," and that by including the smiling, double-chinned emoticon, Facebook was "encouraging negative body image among girls." The company removed the emoticon on Tuesday. "We've heard from our community that listing 'feeling fat' as an option for status updates could reinforce negative body image, particularly for people struggling with eating disorders," Facebook said in a statement Tuesday. "So we're going to remove 'feeling fat' from the list of options. We'll continue to listen to feedback as we think about ways to help people express themselves on Facebook." "I feel so happy that I've helped eliminate one form of body shaming hatred on the internet." The Change.org petition was one of several online campaigns launched by the group Endangered Bodies , as part of last month's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. The US petition was spearheaded by 24-year-old student Catherine Weingarten, who claimed that the emoticon was "making fun of people who consider themselves to be overweight, which can include many people with eating disorders." Both Weingarten and Endangered Bodies were understandably pleased following Facebook's decision to remove it. "I'm thrilled that [Facebook] decided to remove the 'feeling fat' emoji," Weingarten wrote in a post to the petition website Tuesday. "This success shows us that people together can challenge the cultural messages that are so damaging to our ability to love ourselves and live comfortably in our bodies. As someone who struggled with body image, I feel so happy that I've helped eliminate one form of body shaming hatred on the internet." The "feeling fat" option may no longer be available on the site, but the same rosy-cheeked, bloated emoticon is still there under the "feeling stuffed" status. It's also worth noting that the "feeling ugly" option is still available under Facebook's emoticons menu.
| 5 | 11,311 |
news
|
Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with 2003 Sprint Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, who is currently 10th in the point standings for Joe Gibbs Racing. Q: If NASCAR allowed you to listen to music while you were racing, would you want to? A: At certain times I would. At Daytona I definitely would have, since I was wrecked and had to ride around all day and there was nothing else really to do, especially at a plate race. You never really get bored in a race car, because you're always concentrating on stuff. But at a restrictor plate race when you're wrecked and riding around or like at Pocono when you're 10 laps down with a broken transmission, those would be good times to be able to listen to music or communicate with somebody else. Would you prefer music to pump you up or would this be soothing music? Usually when I'm mad, I'd rather listen to angry music than soothing music. So probably more heavy metal, some Metallica or something. Q: Where did your first paycheck come from? A: Well, when I was a kid, I mowed all the neighbor ladies' lawns, but they always gave me cash. So the first real paycheck was when I worked at Cambridge Hide and Fur when I was in high school (in Wisconsin). It was kind of a gross job, but I was sizing mink furs. Sizing furs? What does that involve? Well, they're just all in a big bin and they're already dried and tanned and all that stuff. You basically take them out and lay them on a table that has a bunch of marks on it, then whatever size they are you throw it in that bin. Wow. It was really, really great work. It was awesome. (Laughs) Q: Who is an autograph you got as a kid that seemed to be a big deal to you at the time? A: The only ones I ever really got was at the local short track, when I'd go out and sit up in the stands and watch my uncle and all the guys race. They used to have these Old Style Frisbees Old Style the beer and they'd autograph them and throw them up in the stands. So I got a few of them from the local guys who used to race out there at Jefferson Speedway. Those were on my wall for a long time. I might still have one or two of them somewhere. Q: Where's a place you've never been that you'd like to go visit? A: I'd like to go on an African safari. Q: Do people ever accuse you of being addicted to your phone? A: (Smiles) Yes, they have. Do you agree? Well, the person who accused me was a real old guy, so… I see. So you don't get that a lot. I don't get it a lot, because my wife (Katie) is on it more than me and (son) Ross is on it more than me. So I'm probably that guy to everyone else, where I think everyone else is on it too much. I like to tell Katie that most of the time it's work,, which most of the time it is, because I'm texting Jason (Ratcliff, his crew chief) or somebody. But yeah, I think everybody these days are on their phones more and more and addicted to them somewhat. I just feel like I'm less addicted than most of the people around me, but they might not all agree. Q: If a genie promised you a championship in exchange for never being able to do your favorite hobby again, would you accept that offer? A: Well, how could I win a championship if I can't race? I guess that would be a problem if your favorite hobby is racing. I don't believe in genies, so that's a tough one to answer. You haven't seen all the science behind genies? Sorry. PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Matt Kenseth Q: What's your preferred method of dealing with an angry driver after a race? A: I'd prefer not to have any drivers angry with me after a race. (Laughs) Well, what if they are? It depends on your personality. Everybody is different. You're always going to have disagreements with other drivers, unless you're not competitive and you never run good. I deal with everybody differently. Most guys, I have a lot of respect for and I'd like to keep it that way. So I try to communicate with them, maybe the next week or whatever, and try to find some common ground. Q: Do you ever get mistaken for another driver or celebrity? A: Yeah, people mistake me for Kevin Harvick all the time. Seriously? Yeah, and he's told me the same thing. And this isn't something that just happened; it's been that way since he came in the sport, like 14 years. The first time I remember hearing it, I was at Milwaukee, of all places about an hour away from where I grew up. I was running an (Xfinity Series) race and he was in it, and he had his all blue ACDelco stuff and I had my sponsor stuff and people were still convinced I was him. And that has continued for your whole career? I still get it once in awhile. I was flying to Las Vegas for that tire test (in January) and I was waiting by the ramp to walk onto the plane and this guy came up and said, "Hey man, you're Kevin Harvick." I'm like, "No, I'm not." He's like, "Yeah, you are." I'm like, "No, I'm really not." He's like, "Well then you must be his brother because you look just like him!" I said, "No, I'm really not him and I'm not his brother." So I got on the plane and flew to Vegas and we were getting off and the guy came walking up to me. He said, "Hey, I've been thinking about it the whole flight; I got the wrong guy. You're Matt Kenseth, aren't you?" I said, "Yeah, that's me." He was a really nice guy and I talked to him for a long time. It turned out he was a big race fan who lived in Vegas. But yeah, I get that once in awhile. Q: If you had a time machine and you could travel to any year and race, where would you go? A: I don't know what year exactly, but back in the day when there were tons of different owners and rules were a lot looser and you hear stories about people cheating and all that, it'd be fun to be back there. Nobody really understood aerodynamics and it was more about setups and who built the biggest motor. It'd be fun to go back and be part of that, back when there wasn't so much coverage and phones and social media. Back when everybody was just dirty and greasy and working in the garage and it was just about trying to beat that guy and that's all you cared about, and the rest of it didn't really matter. Q: Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible? A: How about fly invisibly? Well, I guess you could make that an option. I gotta say it would be really cool to fly, but being invisible would come in really handy sometimes, too. I don't really want either one of them, but being invisible would be kind of fun until it's not. Like you'd be standing there and somebody is talking bad about you and you'd get your feelings hurt. Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. The last interview was with Ryan Reed, and he wanted to know: What was the biggest difference in going from Roush Fenway Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing? A: Does he want to leave already? Why's he asking that? (Laughs) I'm just kidding. Just the way it was structured a lot differently. It was more individual race teams and it was so, so big. Q: And do you have a question I can ask the next driver? A: Sure, but you'll have to get back with me when you know who it is. Q: Finally, how did this interview go on a scale of 1-10? A: Oh, a 10. Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck PHOTOS: 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup staff predictions
| 1 | 11,312 |
sports
|
Payphones might be outmoded, but they're not useless. People across the world have found ways to repurpose them, building pop-up libraries and Wi-Fi hotspots in New York, surreal goldfish aquariums in Osaka, and now free cell phone charging stations in London. The first " Solarbox " debuted at Tottenham Court Road in October, and since then the battery-juicing apparatus has had an incredible run. As many as 80 people a day plugged into the box (which, as its name implies, is fueled by the sun). They did this without spending a pound, thanks to advertising that's split 70 percent for companies and 30 percent for community purposes like art and music shows. The "Solarbox" snagged a runner-up position in last year's Mayor's Low Carbon Entrepreneur contest, and now there are plans to plant 10 more around the city by the end of 2015. That news comes from a recent interview in Global Young Executive , in which "Solarbox" cofounders Harold Craston and Kirsty Kenney explain what got them interested in the project in the first place: The idea came about for three reasons. Firstly, Phone boxes have become sites of anti-social behaviour, they are no longer a good use of our public spaces. The second thing is that the battery life on our phones just isn't good enough! We found that there wasn't really anywhere that you could charge your phone in the public realm and it was out of those two things that the concept was born. Thirdly, we saw an opportunity to do this in an environmentally friendly way. Bringing solar down to the human level sends a really powerful message to the public. The duo's been hyping the "Solarbox" with a Twitter campaign that gives out tips ("double your charging speed... by turning on aeroplane mode") and shout-outs, like this one to a woman who wanted free power so much she got on a train: Bumped into @angelinajordan who googled 'free charge in London' and #solarbox came up! She took a tube to get here! pic.twitter.com/NLVudXiwen solarbox (@solarboxlondon) February 20, 2015 If the idea continues to magnetize interest in London, Kenney and Craston say they'd like to take it to other cities. Have a look at what might soon sprout up on your street corner: @HarrietFDP @MarnieGill and @siobhanmorgan chilling in the @solarboxlondon garden. #london #greenisthenewred pic.twitter.com/gVZML0pDj6 solarbox (@solarboxlondon) October 1, 2014 @bradleywkent Sorry for interrupting your free charge, Bradley... We just couldn't help ourselves! #SolarAussie pic.twitter.com/FezpsZZiC5 solarbox (@solarboxlondon) October 28, 2014 Rethinking design again this morning with @gvergaraII #solarbox #design #ergonomics pic.twitter.com/d5pBwGvL5R solarbox (@solarboxlondon) January 21, 2015
| 5 | 11,313 |
news
|
Sen. David Vitter sounds off
| 5 | 11,314 |
news
|
David Sutton is looking for the worst possible news about Uber Technologies. An accident in San Francisco, an assault in Boston: Such bad tidings for Uber are ammunition for Sutton, a 48-year-old publicist. "Uber is a creep magnet," Sutton says in a news release sent to U.S. local and national media outlets in February. Sutton is a hired gun in the dirty war that's broken out between old-line taxi companies and Uber, the ride-share phenom. His client, a powerful trade association, represents 1,000 taxi and limousine firms worldwide. These firms want to kill the young juggernaut or at least buy themselves enough time to develop rival car-hailing apps. Probably no amount of media spin will win this one for Big Taxi. Uber is a textbook example of what happens when an aggressive newcomer enters a business that's gone unchallenged for decades. But compared with the hubbub about Uber its tactics, its safety, its pricing, its legality, and, most of all, its $40 billion valuation Big Taxi has been operating in stealth mode. Publicly, its campaign has been led by the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association, or TLPA. The group has retained Sutton's Bethesda, Md., public relations firm, Melwood Global, to create a media campaign called "Who's Driving You?" The goal is to bring attention to what taxi companies say are Uber's unsafe and illegal business practices. Uber's response: The taxi industry is basically a cartel, and the cartel wants to protect its turf. Behind the scenes, one of the world's largest private transportation companies a firm few people have probably ever heard of is exerting pressure through operators like Sutton. The company, Transdev, is Uber's single biggest competitor. It has 10,000 vehicles in more than 100 cities worldwide, including Denver, London, and Paris, as well as shuttle services to 50 airports in North America. Transdev is co-owned by two French companies Veolia Environnement, a public utility company, and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, a state-owned bank. And it's lobbying hard to contain the disruption to the $11 billion global taxi market. "We survived two world wars and the Great Depression; we will survive Uber," says Mark Joseph, the chief executive officer of Transdev North America, who has been president of the TLPA eight times. Joseph says Transdev subsidiaries have prompted investigations into Uber by sending letters to regulators in core markets like Colorado, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Transdev was also among the companies that took the battle to a commercial court in Paris, which last year resulted in a 100,000-euro ($107,000) fine for Uber's UberPop ride-sharing service, Europe's equivalent of UberX. "They have been lobbying to be self-regulated on the grounds that they are a technology company, but then they market themselves as cheaper than taxis," Joseph says of Uber. New York, where Uber generates the most revenue, was the first market where Uber complied from day one with the law, hiring drivers with commercial licenses also for its UberX ride- sharing service, whose drivers elsewhere are mostly commuters driving their own cars. New York has the most modern regulation, which allows companies to charge less than limousines as long as you have a commercial license, says Corey Owens, Uber head of global public policy. Las Vegas and Kansas City, Mo., where Transdev has a strong presence, are the toughest, he says. "The way that they protect their business is by trying to use laws to keep out competitors, rather than improving the rider and driver experiences," says Owens. Elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad where most transportation regulations dictate things like minimum pricing and advance booking times Uber's strategy has been to launch services regardless of the rules and then leverage its popularity to force regulators to adapt. So far, that approach has succeeded in about 30 markets in North America, including Colorado, Illinois, and California, where new laws on licensing and safety have been created for so-called transportation network companies like Uber, or are in the process of being approved. Pennsylvania is experimenting with similar rules, pending formal legislation, while a Transdev subsidiary, Yellow Transportation, is fighting such regulation in Maryland. "If the government protects the public, providing a level playing field, competition should increase, and maybe these companies will last 100 years or they can become the next Webvan," says Joseph, referring to the online delivery company that went public in 1999 and filed for bankruptcy in 2001, becoming one of the symbols of that tech bubble. Amid all the bickering, taxi companies confront an obvious dilemma: They say Uber is a taxi company, rather than a technology company, but they wouldn't mind being technology companies themselves. Many in the taxi industry praise Uber's app-driven business, and some, including Transdev, want to replicate it. "The app system is the future, absolutely. There's no going back," says Mike Fogarty, the TLPA president and head of Tristar Worldwide, a global limousine company with operations stretching from London to Boston and Hong Kong. "Users love Uber's technology." For now, at least, Uber's business model has been validated by investors, as well as by brand-name companies that have adopted the young company as a business partner. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, for instance, is giving extra points to preferred guests who link their accounts to Uber's, while American Express credit card holders can spend points on Uber rides. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have adopted Uber for Business as their corporate black car service. Nonetheless, Transdev's Joseph criticizes Uber's app for only serving people with smartphones and credit cards. He also takes issue with its so-called surge pricing algorithm, which drives up fares during busy times. Joseph expects Transdev to partner with a technology company to improve its own mobile reach. Its taxis are already connected by the TaxiMagic app, recently renamed Curb. In California, Transdev has launched ZTrip, a ride-sharing app. "Uber's technology can be easily replicated," Joseph says. "This is an early chapter in the battle."
| 3 | 11,315 |
finance
|
The San Francisco 49ers appear set to release wide receiver Stevie Johnson. We break down what it means for the salary cap and the depth chart. After a couple weeks of waiting, it appears it is finally happening. Ian Rapoport is reporting the San Francisco 49ers will release wide receiver Stevie Johnson once newly acquired wide receiver Torrey Smith officially passes his physical. Dianna Russini first reported about this on February 28. The reports were disputed, but it appears she was right. In making this move, the 49ers will clear $6,025,000 in cap space. Prior to the Torrey Smith and Blaine Gabbert transactions, the 49ers had approximately $15 million in cap space. This moves the up to $21 million, but obviously that will come back down with the Smith and Gabbert signings. We still do not have the specifics on Smith's deal, so we will see just how much of his 5-year, $40 million deal actually hits the cap in year one. The addition of Torrey Smith and the departure of Stevie Johnson leaves the 49ers with a wide receiver corps looking as follows WR: Anquan Boldin , Bruce Ellington , Chuck Jacobs , Lance Lewis WR: Torrey Smith, Quinton Patton , Jerome Simpson , Trindon Holliday There have been no rumors about Michael Crabtree , so it is certainly possible he could still return on a short-term deal. However, if he does not, for now it likely becomes a competition among Simpson, Ellington and Patton for third and fourth receiver roles. The team still could elect to add a receiver in the draft. Considering Boldin would hit free agency next year, adding a receiver fairly early in the draft is not the worst idea in the world.
| 1 | 11,316 |
sports
|
Target Ticket is no more. On Saturday, the retailer shuttered its digital video rental service, just a year and a half after its launch. Truth be told, Target Ticket never really had a chance. When the company unveiled the service, I was skeptical . In my view, Target's lack of hardware and its inability to differentiate its product made it unlikely to succeed. But Target wasn't the only retailer that attempted to crack into the digital video market. Wal-Mart , through its subsidiary Vudu, also competes in the space. Although it faces many of the same challenges, Wal-Mart's service seems likely to remain viable even as Target's fails. Wal-Mart was early, and had an advantage The fall of 2013 was not the right time for Target to enter the streaming video market, especially not with a service that offered so few advantages over the competition. The streaming video market was well established by then: Blockbuster had declared bankruptcy three years earlier (it closed its last stores just a few weeks after Target Ticket's debut). Competitors such as Amazon , Apple , and Google had gotten there first with services that were just as good, if not better, than Target's. Wal-Mart, in contrast, was early: It acquired Vudu in Feb. 2010, and began working to get the service loaded on many of the TVs it sold in its stores. It also pushed quality: to this day, Vudu is one of the only digital storefronts that allows customers to rent 3D movies, and though it's not as good as physical Blu-ray discs, Vudu's higher-end "HDX" streaming tier is superior to the standard HD offered by most other providers. A move into hardware Most of the dominant players in streaming video are also hardware manufacturers or platform holders -- the ability to preload their media stores, and encourage their use, has proven to be a great advantage. iTunes, for instance, comes installed on all Apple products, while Android-powered devices ship with Google Play. Amazon offers its Instant Video on its own Fire tablets and set-top boxes. Like Target, Wal-Mart has had to rely on others to distribute its Vudu service -- putting it at risk of marginalization. But in January, it went where Target never did: Wal-Mart released its own hardware. The Vudu Spark is a streaming stick that plugs into any HDTV. Unlike its major competitors -- Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV -- it's limited to Wal-Mart's own Vudu service (there's no Hulu or HBO Go, for example) but is significantly cheaper than the competition. It retails for $25, but includes $25 worth of promotional credits, effectively making the device free. The importance of streaming Eventually, all movies will be purchased or rented through digital streaming services. When that happens, Target will be at a disadvantage, as it will be unable to replace the sales of physical DVDs sold in its stores with digital files sold through Target Ticket. So long as Vudu remains viable, Wal-Mart won't have that problem. Of course, both Target and Wal-Mart sell many other products -- the loss of physical DVD discs alone won't be crippling to either firm. Wal-Mart includes DVD sales in its "Entertainment" category (which also encompases electronics, toys, cell phones, and video games, among many other products) which generates about 11% of U.S. revenue. Target puts it in "Hardlines" (along with music, books, sporting goods, and video games) which brings in about 18%. Still, this is one instance where Wal-Mart's management should be applauded for their foresight. Target shareholders, in contrast, might rightly wonder what Target Ticket ever hoped to accomplish. 1 great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond 2015 is shaping up to be another great year for stocks. But if you want to make sure that 2015 is your best investing year ever, you need to know where to start. That's why The Motley Fool's chief investment officer just published a brand-new research report that reveals his top stock for the year ahead. To get the full story on this year's stock -- completely free -- simply click here . The article Why Wal-Mart Succeeded Where Target Failed originally appeared on Fool.com. Sam Mattera has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, Google (A shares), and Google (C shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, Google (A shares), and Google (C shares). Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days . We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . Copyright © 1995 - 2015 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
| 3 | 11,317 |
finance
|
BOSTON, March 11 (Reuters) - The jury hearing the Boston Marathon bombing trial on Wednesday saw pieces of one of the pressure-cooker bombs that ripped through the crowd at the race's finish line in 2013, killing three people and injuring 264. Prosecutors also presented shredded pieces of a black and white backpack that they contend 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, used to carry their homemade bombs. FBI agent Sarah DeLair showed debris including nails, BB's and pieces of shrapnel, as well as a piece of wire collected amid the wreckage on Boylston Street on April 15, 2013. The wire, she testified in U.S. District Court in Boston, was part of one of the bomb's detonators. "It's the part of the bomb that would make it go off," DeLair said. Tsarnaev could be sentenced to death if he is convicted of charges including fatally shooting a police officer three days after the bombing as he and his brother tried to flee the city. Tamerlan, 26, died that night following a gunbattle with police. Tsarnaev's attorneys opened the trial by admitting he committed the crimes of which he is accused, but are seeking to spare him the death penalty by demonstrating he was following the lead of his older brother. Federal prosecutors contend Tsarnaev, who emigrated with his family from Chechnya a decade before the attack, was driven by an extremist view of Islam and a desire to strike back at the United States in revenge for military campaigns in Muslim-dominated countries. On Tuesday, jurors were presented with photographs of the blood-stained message that prosecutors say Tsarnaev wrote in pencil inside the hull of a boat in which he was hiding in Watertown, outside Boston, before his violent capture. The note accuses the United States government of killing Muslims and says "I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished." It adds "I don't like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said (...) it is allowed." Words were missing from the note due to bullet holes. After opening with three days of emotional and graphic testimony by witnesses including nine people injured in the attack, Tsarnaev's trial has moved into to a more technical phase as prosecutors show evidence about the bombs and communication between the two brothers. Despite the admission that opened the trial, Tsarnaev's not guilty plea stands, leaving it to the federal government to prove his guilt before the trial moves into a second phase, when the jury will determine whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Scott Malone and Tom Brown)
| 5 | 11,318 |
news
|
Toddler snatched out of his stroller
| 8 | 11,319 |
video
|
Seven US Marines and four aircrew were missing Wednesday after an army helicopter crashed during a training exercise in Florida, the military said. The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was reported missing Tuesday around 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Wednesday) near Eglin Air Force Base while the area was under heavy fog. Base spokesman Andy Bourland said search and rescue teams located debris from the aircraft around 2:00 am (0600 GMT). "Search and rescue efforts are under way at the accident site currently," he added, noting the accident was under investigation. A second helicopter returned safely to the base. The aircraft, assigned to the 1-244th Assault Helicopter Battalion in Hammond, Louisiana, were participating in what the military called a routine training mission with the Marine Special Operations Regiment from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina.
| 5 | 11,320 |
news
|
Taxes are one of the few constants in life, but what happens when you change the way you do your return? People move or get divorced, tax preparers pass away. There is always the lure of do-it-yourself - the number of people using tax software to file, like Intuit's TurboTax, increases by 6 percent annually, according to the Internal Revenue Service. And then there is the reverse exodus of people who have decided their financial lives are too complicated, and they need to hire a professional. With so many changes, consistency takes a beating. If you are on the wrong end of it, you could end up drawing the dreaded attention of the IRS. Here are the items that can trip up taxpayers when they switch the way they do their taxes: 1. Mileage logs When John Dundon took over his father's tax business after he passed away last July, the biggest surprise for the Denver, Colorado-based tax preparer was that road-warrior clients were not keeping mileage logs. "Boundaries erode all the time between practitioner and taxpayer," Dundon says. Laziness seeps in disguised as trust, and years later, there are simply no logs. Dundon tells his father's crossover clients they need a renewed zeal for paperwork - get a GPS device or a smart phone app for next year. For 2014 taxes, he is asking clients meticulously through calendars and maps to sort it out. 2. Rental property depreciation Depreciation is a deduction you can take on certain assets, like rental property. The tax impact can be pretty significant, especially if you are trying to off-set income like rent. The dollar amount is determined by a formula you follow year-after-year, called a depreciation schedule, which could run almost the full course of a 30-year mortgage. "You definitely need that schedule. You can try to guess at it, and you'd probably be okay, but you wouldn't be doing it 100-percent right," says tax preparer Anil Melwani, who runs his own firm, 212 Tax & Accounting Services, in New York. If it was not done at all previously or done wrong? You'll need to file an amended return to correct it, Melwani says. 3. Carryforward losses The IRS allows taxpayers to take $3,000 in losses a year on investments, and to carry forward those losses indefinitely until the amount is all used up. But use it or lose it - meaning, if you miss a year because you forget, you can't pick it up in the following years as if nothing happened. Harvey Bezozi, who has his own firm in Boca Raton, Florida, has a new client this year who will likely have to file amended returns because she skipped over this with her last preparer. 4. Home office Taking the home office deduction? Stay consistent with the square footage of your home office. The best way to do that is to get out your tape measure and only include space that you use exclusively for work. If there's a pingpong table in the middle of the basement study you're trying to claim, that's a no-go, says Dundon. 5. Life changes There is a lot that a new tax preparer - or a tax software autobot - can learn about you by just looking at your past returns, but their questionnaires will not catch everything. If you have a baby, buy a house, get divorced, have income in a foreign country or have job-hunting related expenses, you've got to speak up. But things can get missed when people do not know enough to know what they are missing. That's what drove a DIY-type like Ben Jaffe into the hands of a paid tax preparer this year. Jaffe, a 29-year-old who works in PR in New York, bought a house in 2014 while his wife had a baby. He made the switch away from tax software because, he says, "I wanted an expert opinion to verify that I was doing everything right." One hour and $500 later, he's feeling confident: "It saved me a lot of time and stress." (Editing by Lauren Young and Andrew Hay)
| 3 | 11,321 |
finance
|
Eglin Air Force Base spokesman gives update
| 5 | 11,322 |
news
|
Iraqi forces entered Tikrit Wednesday, dodging bombs and sniper fire in search of their biggest victory yet against embattled jihadists who tried to light new fires elsewhere in Iraq and Syria. The Islamic State group has suffered stinging defeats in the heart of its self-proclaimed "caliphate" recently, but its ultraviolent ideology has inspired attacks and recruits globally. With IS brutality and population displacement reaching new highs, Washington sought increased powers from the US Congress to take on a group threatening to reshape the Middle East. However, it was without direct support from the US-led coalition's air campaign that Iraqi government and allied forces punched into parts of Tikrit, marking a new phase in a 10-day drive to wrest the city back from IS. A combination of army, police and volunteer forces moved into northern and southern Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and a main IS stronghold. A major general told AFP on condition of anonymity that government forces were battling "to cleanse the neighbourhood of Qadisiyah" in Tikrit. "But we are engaging in a very delicate battle because we are not facing fighters on the ground, we are facing booby-trapped terrain and sniper fire. Our movement is slow," he said. An army colonel said forces coming from another direction had also retaken the main hospital on the city's southern edge. Early in the offensive, in which up to 30,000 men were initially involved while IS is believed to have just a few hundred fighters inside Tikrit, most outlying areas were reconquered. - Ramadi bombings - The town of al-Alam, a flashpoint north of Tikrit along the Tigris river, was fully under the control of pro-government fighters and local anti-IS Sunni tribesmen Wednesday, an AFP reporter there said. On the back foot in eastern and northern Iraq, IS tried to seize the initiative elsewhere, including with a spectacular coordinated attack in Ramadi in the west. Twelve car bombs exploded almost simultaneously around the city after dawn, with at least seven suicide bombers targeting government security installations, police said. At least 17 people were killed and 38 wounded, according to a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor at Ramadi hospital. Clashes ensued but IS failed to gain any ground in one of the biggest attacks against a rare pocket of government control in Anbar. "Our brave security forces were ready and had excellent intelligence about the operation," Anbar Governor Sohaib al-Rawi said on social media. In and around Baghdad on Wednesday, at least 17 people were killed in five attacks, including nine in a car bomb in the Hurriya neighbourhood. Also on the offensive in Syria, the jihadists launched a "huge assault" Wednesday to try to capture a strategic town on the border with Turkey, killing dozens. Their attack focused on Ras al-Ain and IS seized a nearby village, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the offensive was a preemptive strike against Kurdish militiamen planning to attack the IS-held town of Tal Abyad farther west. At least 12 fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units, which control Ras al-Ain and surrounding villages, were killed, he said. - US unease - IS has also ramped up its propaganda war in what some analysts see as a possible sign of desperation by a movement on its last legs. After destroying several Iraqi heritage sites that are among the planet's most precious, the jihadists again shocked the world on Tuesday by releasing a video in which an Arab Israeli accused of spying for Israel is "executed" by a boy who looks no older than 12. Addressing US lawmakers, Secretary of State John Kerry said it was a "pivotal hour" in the battle against the most violent group in the history of modern jihad. Appearing before the Senate foreign relations committee, he and top US defence officials appealed for a united vote in favour of a new authorisation for the use of military force against IS. The United States leads a 60-nation coalition involved in the fight against the jihadists and has carried out hundreds of strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria. However, the US security establishment has expressed unease at the prominent role played by Iran in the military effort. "I am made uncomfortable by the fact that it looked like a Shia advance against a Sunni town," former CIA chief Michael Hayden said Tuesday of the operation to retake Tikrit. Iran's top commander for external military operations, Qassem Soleimani, has been ubiquitous on Iraq's front lines. Comments by Iranian-backed militia commanders had stoked fears that the recapture of Tikrit could lead to widespread sectarian reprisal killings. But so far, reports of abuses by the mostly Shiite Iraqi forces battling IS in and around Tikrit have been relatively limited.
| 5 | 11,323 |
news
|
MIAMI It was in early 2014 that federal officials and immigrant rights activists noticed a disturbing trend at the U.S. border with Mexico. Tens of thousands of children were crossing illegally without their parents. The surge in unaccompanied minors shocked the nation as arrivals reached record levels. In all, at least 51,705 minors from Central America entered the United States illegally during fiscal year 2014 a 148 percent increase over fiscal year 2013. Most of the minors eventually were resettled throughout the country, and a significant number more than 3,100 wound up in South Florida. Now that the exodus has eased, how are the children doing? Depending on who you talk to, some of the children are doing relatively well, others are dealing with various issues and still others are facing a crisis. "I believe a large number, 50 percent, have been able to show up in immigration court and have been allowed to stay, avoiding deportation," said Nora Sandigo, leader of American Fraternity. "They have not become a public charge or a burden on the community, though there may be some isolated cases of that." Sandigo said the main issues are a lack of attorneys to represent the children in court and not enough resources for public schools. Francisco Portillo, president of Francisco Morazan Honduran Organization, echoed Sandigo's assessment, adding that the main problems the children face are not enough lawyers to represent them, not enough resources for local public schools and increased pressure by immigration authorities on many of the children's parents who themselves lack papers. "Immigration authorities keep requiring me to report my whereabouts and that affects my ability to get a stable job," said Cindy Figueroa Castro, a Honduran mother whose 4-year-old child was among the children who crossed the border last year. Figueroa Castro, who previously lived in North Carolina, recently moved to Miami after her husband beat her in a bid to take the child from her, she said. For Jose Cruz, a Cuban-American and former Jesuit priest who helped resettle young Cubans during the Pedro Pan exodus in the 1960s, the Central American minors are facing a crisis. Cruz and two other Cuban-Americans have formed the Peter Pan Border Operation an organization designed to assist the Central American children in resettlement. "Our organization responds to the fact that 90 percent of the boys and girls, teens of both sexes, since they range from 4 to 18 years of age, are living without any kind of supervision," said Cruz, executive director of the group. "They also lack economic assistance and they have been turned over to people who are very poor, though morally very sound, because they do not have immigration status." Cruz said he is also concerned that some of the children may be living in overcrowded homes, while others may be forced to work to support their families. In addition, some of the children are facing problems in school because they don't know English, and don't eat well. Dr. Jorge Herrera, president of the group, said he also is worried about the children's overall health. "These children don't necessarily have access to health care systems," said Herrera. "They don't have health insurance coverage or medical supervision." Because of the problems or potential problems they perceive, Cruz and Herrera have asked the White House to grant the Peter Pan Border Organization authority and resources to supervise the status of Central American children nationwide. Thus far, the White House has not responded, said Cruz. The White House official Cruz contacted also did not reply to an email message from el Nuevo Herald. John Schuster, Miami-Dade County public schools administrative director, public relations, said the Central American children have been welcomed in the local schools "with open arms" and are adjusting as well as can be expected. "For those who speculate about language difficulties keeping students from learning, I must remind them that Miami-Dade was the first school district in the country to offer bilingual instruction, at Coral Way K-8 Center, and that our school district was a pioneer in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes," Schuster said in an email message. "Language resources are available to all of our newly arrived students." Schuster also took issue with the notion the students are not eating well. "For many of our economically challenged families, the meals students receive in school, including free breakfast for all students, may be the best meals they receive each day," he said. Overall, Schuster said, the children may be facing problems but not in the schools. "Of course, many of these children face challenges every day, but it is not from their enrollment in public schools," he said. "It's because they are thousands of miles away from their families and native lands, having been abruptly separated because of unspeakable violence in their home countries. Students do need extra attention, particularly in the area of counseling. Estimates for these additional services amount to about $1,900 per student, and that is why the school district has requested federal assistance in providing extra funding." Cheryl Little, executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, said the children face special challenges. "While so many of the children we see are thrilled to finally feel safe and have opportunities they never dared dream of, a number of them could use some help adjusting to life in America," said Little. "Many children were forced to work at an early age in their home country in order to survive and didn't have a chance to advance in school. Many also feel the need to work to help pay off the debt they owe coyotes (migrant smugglers) who facilitated the difficult journey."
| 5 | 11,324 |
news
|
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has received initial orders from carriers that show its latest flagship smartphones might go on to be a hit, helping it begin a turnaround from the lacklustre performance of the previous model, The Korea Times reported Tuesday. Samsung, which released the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain earlier this month, has received pre-orders of 20 million units, citing the top executive at a leading mobile carrier in Europe, who wasn't named. The "record" orders include 15 million S6 smartphones and five million S6 Edge handsets, according to the anonymous executive cited in the report. Korea Times also cited Samsung's mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun as saying the response to the S6 models was far better than the previous model, with "really huge" pre-orders. In comparison, Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models saw first-day pre-orders of four million in the U.S., Reuters reported on Sep. 15, and sales in the first three days after launch ratcheted up to 10 million units, according to Apple . In China, carriers and the ecommerce site JD.com together got 20 million pre-orders for the iPhone 6 models MacRumours reported on Oct. 13, three days after the phones went on sale there. Samsung has received positive reviews for features including overall design, a dual curved screen on the Edge model, wireless charging and one of the best camera experiences ever offered by the company, traditionally known for its good cameras and OLED screens. Strong sales of the S6 would help Samsung recoup some of the sheen it has lost as the maker of premium handsets after Chinese customers went wild buying Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6 smartphones. The company, still the largest smartphone maker by shipments, saw its profits fall sharply last year, for the first time since 2011. And in rapidly growing markets such as India, Samsung has seen its market share eroded by local as well as Chinese competitors at the lower end of the price band, while Apple's lure is rising at the top end. The Netherlands was the first country to start receiving orders of the S6 models, with the 32GB S6 costing 700 euros without a contract, while the S6 Edge would set one back by 850 euros, according to the report.
| 3 | 11,325 |
finance
|
The world was host to 34,011 golf courses and facilities at the start of this year, ruling body the R&A revealed in a new report issued on Wednesday. It was the first time that such a report had been commissioned coming at a time when the sport is growing globally and will return to the Olympic fold at Rio de Janeiro next year. Produced by the National Golf Foundation (NGF), a golf market research organisation based in the United States, the report reveals that by the end of 2014, there were 34,011 golf courses and facilities in 206 countries around the world. Of these facilities 79% are located in ten countries -- the United States, Japan, Canada, England, Australia, Germany, France, Scotland, South Africa and Sweden. Although the United States is home to 45% of the world's golf facilities and Europe to 22%, the report also states that there are 50 countries with only one golf facility compared to 30 with more than 100 and eight (outside of the United States) with more than 500. The report tracks the development of golf worldwide and finds that 696 golf courses are under construction or in advance planning. While 80% of these new projects are in Asia, Europe and North America, there are clear signs the sport is spreading with countries such as Belarus, Azerbaijan and Georgia opening their first golf courses in the last two years. There are initial courses under construction in countries as diverse as Macedonia and Sao Tome and Principe. Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A said, "The new report provides a fascinating insight in to the development of golf around the world and gives us a precise measure of the number of facilities for the first time." The report will be produced biennially and will allow monitoring of the sport's development in future years. The Golf around the world report is available to download at .
| 1 | 11,326 |
sports
|
Why is Jordan Sibert first team all A-10? The same reason he's one of the most valuable players in college basketball... because he'a awesome. Check out what's made him one of the most electrifying players in hoops today.
| 1 | 11,327 |
sports
|
A perfectly-organized, designer-filled walk-in closet: the universal object of desire for every fashionable woman. While you may not have the real estate yet, there's no harm in taking wardrobe organization inspiration from these 14 enviable walk-ins all spotted on Pinterest. Clothing Exhibition The glass doors give this closet a museum-worthy display. Accessory Spotlight An island of see-through drawers for the ultimate accessory collector. Girl Crush An all-white palette and pale pink accents create a feminine allure. Fashion Heights Take storage to new heights with the help of a cool ladder. Less Is More No huge walk-in closet needed a simple clothing rack and shelves can be just as swoon-worthy. The Fashion Flowers Fresh flowers make a great addition to any closet. Black is The New Black Who said head-to-toe black was a bad thing? Take A Seat Sit back and take in the breath-taking view of your shoes in a luxe armchair of course. Showcased Goods Show off your designer collection with open-faced shelves. Boudoir Babe A closet and a relaxing place to lounge. Shoe Porn The ultimate in shoe heaven centered with a glam chandelier. Black and White is Always Right A monochromatic wardrobe translates into a stylish closet. Laid-back Luxe Because fashion can be exhausting a nice place to lay down in style.
| 4 | 11,328 |
lifestyle
|
Ring in the spring (and some hippie vibes, too): Thanks to the current pottery renaissance, the handmade ceramic hanging bell is back. Above: Talisman White Bells made by Beth Katz of Mt. Washington Pottery in LA. Inspiration: "I grew up in the 1970s hippie enclave of Topanga Canyon in Southern California," says Katz. Go to Mt. Washington Pottery and More & Co. to see more of her talismans and bells. Above: A hand-thrown stoneware Ceramic Bell by potter Jude Allman of Cowes, England. It's 2.7 inches tall and available for £20 ($30) via Folksy (the British competition to Etsy). N.B.: Allman also sells some of her wares on Etsy. Above: Wide Indigo-Striped Throw Bells by Michelle Quan, reigning high priestess of the hanging bell, are $180 to $245 each from Dara Artisans. They range from 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches tall. See more of Quan's work at Ceramic Bells Inspired by Japanese Shrines and in her online shop, MQuan. Above: From Etsy seller L and M Studio of Catskill, New York, Large Porcelain Bells, six inches in diameter, are $105 each. Above: A slip-cast porcelain Bell, 1.9 inches tall, is $33 AUD ($25 USD) from Toni Park of Brisbane, Australia. Above: A wall of ceramic wind chimes made by Austin, Texas, artist Jennifer Pritchard for a porch room in the Hampton Designer Showhouse designed by Brad Ford, a member of the Remodelista Designer Directory. Go to J. Pritchard Design to inquire about commissions. And see Gardenista's 5 Favorites: Wind Chimes. Go to Ceramics to see more of our handmade finds, including: Japanese Tableware Made in LA Photographer Jim Franco's Ceramic Bowls with a Cult Following Small Batch, Big Demand: Humble Ceramics of LA Soft Touch: Pastel Pottery by Lenneke Wispelwey All the Freshness of New York: Katakana Ceramics More Stories from Remodelista Channeling the Laid-Back Look with L'Aviva Home 10 Easy Pieces: Handmade Patterned Tiles The New Mod: Wallpaper from Kismet Tile
| 4 | 11,329 |
lifestyle
|
Rocco DiSpirito, celebrity chef and author of 'Cook Your Butt Off' shares amazing recipes that keep us lean. Watch this now!
| 7 | 11,330 |
health
|
What does our doctors' panel have to say? The answers are not what you think! Watch this!
| 7 | 11,331 |
health
|
It's a fact of life: 2-year-olds are cute. With their chipmunk cheeks and big bright eyes, practically every toddler we've encountered on the street is adorable enough to make us interrupt our conversations to go "aww." But, according to 50 Cent, his 2-year-old is so cute, he just landed a major modeling contract. During a recent interview with " TheBreakfast Club " radio show, the rapper revealed that his toddler son, Sire Jackson, hadjust scored a gig as the face of the headphone company Kidz Safe. He's not just talking chump change, either. As 50 told host Angie Martinez, "He'll get $700,000 to be the face of the company. Already, he's making his own money." Don't worry, though: The Grammy winner and Vitaminwater magnate won't let the tot spend it all in one place. "[The money] goes into a trust," he explained. "He can't even touch it until he turns 18...I was ready to say, 'This is your college fund.' But I gotta handle that part and let him have the [$700,000]." Jackson is only the latest in a long line of celebrity children turned models, including Cindy Crawford's (doppelgänger) 13-year-old daughter, Kaia Gerber , and Slyvester Stallone's teenaged daughter, Sistene . Although he is only 2, we can assume this is a kid who clearly knows what he's doing. A quick scroll through his father's Instagram reveals not only that he's perfected his Blue Steel, but that he's already practicing his own version of Mario Testino's Towel Series . And, with his father's business savvy behind him, we have absolutely no doubt that big things are in store for the littlest member of G-Unit.
| 4 | 11,332 |
lifestyle
|
GADSDEN, Ala. A judge has refused a defense request to end the trial of an Alabama woman accused of running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death. Attorneys for 49-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard asked for a mistrial Wednesday. They say the state failed to turn over some records on 9-year-old Savannah Hardin's hospital treatment after her collapse in 2012. Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree refused to halt the trial. Minutes later, prosecutors took a medical scribe off the stand before she could testify in detail about the girl's treatment records. The exchange between lawyers leading to the witness removal was heated. One attorney loudly told another to "shut the hell up" during a discussion with the judge. Prosecutors say Garrard made the girl run for hours as a punishment. She passed out and died three days later. The defense says Garrard didn't mean to harm her.
| 5 | 11,333 |
news
|
Small clusters of survivors, bundled up against a chilly wind, gathered along Japan's northeast coast Wednesday to remember the nearly 19,000 lives lost in the March 11, 2011, tsunami. Four years later, the region is still struggling to recover. Associated Press photographer Eugene Hoshiko returned to the devastated town of Rikuzentakata last week for the first time since the immediate aftermath of the disaster. He found a vast emptiness. In this March 11, 2011 file photo, houses swallowed by the tsunami burn in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture. Still struggling to recover, the tsunami-hit region of northeastern Japan marks the fourth anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disaster Wednesday, March 11, 2015. People offer prayers for the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami as they observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern coast four years ago, at Ginza shopping district in Tokyo Wednesday, March 11, 2015. In this Tuesday, March 15, 2011, file photo, a Japanese survivor of the earthquake and tsunami rides his bicycle through the leveled city of Minamisanriku, in northeastern Japan. In this Thursday, April 7, 2011, file photo, two women walk past debris in an area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan. In this Tuesday, March 29, 2011, file photo, new Suzuki vehicles, destroyed by tsunami waters from the March 11 massive earthquake, are piled on the Suzuki company lot, in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Much of Japan's auto industry, the second largest supplier of cars in the world, remained idle two weeks after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the country's northeast coast. People observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. during a special memorial event in Tokyo Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Still struggling to recover, the tsunami-hit region of northeastern Japan marked the fourth anniversary of the disaster Wednesday with simultaneous moments of silence along the coast. In this Tuesday, May 10, 2011, file photo, Fishermen's overalls are hung in an area destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma, northeastern Japan. In this Nov. 12, 2011 file photo, workers in protective suits and masks wait to enter the emergency operation center at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Okuma, Japan. In this Friday, March 6, 2015 photo, trucks carry soil to the Tsunami damaged area in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Still struggling to recover, the tsunami-hit region of northeastern Japan marks the fourth anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disaster Wednesday. In this March 26, 2011, file photo, a Japanese funeral parlor worker fills a mass grave for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Yamamoto, northeastern Japan. In this Sunday, March 20, 2011 file photo, two Japanese soldiers stop to look at a ship blocking a road in the tsunami destroyed town of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. In this Tuesday, March 22, 2011, file photo, a Japanese soldier walks down a path in the earthquake and tsunami-destroyed town of Shizugawa, northeastern Japan. In this Thursday, March 17, 2011, file photo, refugees, including 53 who were saved from a retirement home during the tsunami, take shelter inside a school gym in the leveled city of Kesennuma, northeastern Japan. A woman lights a candle in prayer to mourn for victims of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami during a special memorial event in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 11, 2015. In this Wednesday, March 4, 2015 photo, the lone pine tree that miraculously survived the deadly 2011 tsunami among 70,000 trees along the coastline, stands in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. The tree, which was badly damaged from seawater after surviving the tsunami, was cut down in 2012 and treated for decay after which it was preserved using artificial materials. It was later placed back where it was found to stand as a symbol of hope and survival. People mourn for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami during a special memorial event in Tokyo Wednesday, March 11, 2015. In this Friday, March 6, 2015 photo, some objects from the March 11, 2011, tsunami remain tossed along the ground in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. In this Friday, March 6, 2015 photo, a damaged motorcycle is left on the side of a road in the Tsunami damaged area in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Women join their hands in prayer to mourn for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tokyo Wednesday, March 11, 2015. In this Wednesday, March 4, 2015 photo, people walk next to a temporary breakwater in the Tsunami damaged area in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. In this Thursday, March 5, 2015 photo, a woman pauses at the site of a residential district destroyed by the March 11, 2011, Tsunami. A woman lights a candle in prayer to mourn for victims of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tokyo Wednesday, March 11, 2015. In this Thursday, March 5, 2015 photo, the lone pine tree that miraculously survived the deadly 2011 tsunami among 70,000 trees along the coastline, stands in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. The tree, which was badly damaged from seawater after surviving the tsunami, was cut down in 2012 and treated for decay after which it was preserved using artificial materials. It was later placed back where it was found to stand as a symbol of hope and survival.
| 5 | 11,334 |
news
|
John Daly is not a big fan of the PGA Tour's drug-testing policy and he let his expletive-riddled opinions fly on his Sirius XM PGA Tour radio show on Tuesday. Daly, who claimed to know he would be tested after Friday's second round of this week's Valspar Championship , called the tour's anti-doping efforts "a joke" and far from random. Here's some of what Daly had to say (listener discretion advised): "I know when I'm getting drug tested," the two-time major winner said on Hit It Hard with John Daly . "That's sad. They all know when we're getting drug tested. And for you dopers and all that s**t on the PGA Tour, you know you're getting drug tested, you got it made! You got it made! And I'm tired of it." Daly claimed he would be tested as soon as he finished Friday's second round at Innisbrook, according to ESPN.com . "I'm gonna play at 1:50 on Friday so they're [going to] get me about 6:52, 7 o'clock," he said. "This'll be the fifth or sixth year in a row I'm going to get drug tested [at Valspar]. It's the biggest bulls**t, I'm sorry, I'm gonna say it, fine me. I don't care what you do, fix 'em right now, fine me, but I'm tired of it. "It's not random; it's big a joke," Daly continued. "This whole drug testing is a joke." Daly, clearly on a roll, and likely with no pun intended, added, "I'm pissed 'cause I know I'm going to get drug tested no matter where I go." A tour spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but according to GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard the tour's testing staff regularly tests players after they finish signing their cards in the scoring trailer. Phil Mickelson, for example, was tapped after his first-round 74 last week at Doral and J.B. Holmes (62) was not, according to Hoggard. The rants by Daly who, according to Hoggard (who cited a 2010 Tour report), had been fined some $100,000, suspended five times, and put on probation six times also came on the heels of a claim last month by a journeyman golfer that Tiger Woods had been suspended for failing a drug test. Woods' agent, and tour officials vehemently denied the accusation and the player ended up recanting his charges.
| 1 | 11,335 |
sports
|
After listening to SandRidge Energy Inc .'s fourth-quarter conference call, one thing became abundantly clear to me: This is a company that was built for $90 oil. With that oil price in the rear-view mirror, and no signs that we'll see it again any time soon, it suggests SandRidge Energy might not be around for too much longer. Now, that doesn't mean I think the company is going bankrupt, but it is becoming obvious that SandRidge's assets might be better off inside a larger entity with deeper pockets. A billion too much on the balance sheet SandRidge CEO James Bennett told listeners on the company's conference call that its $3.2 billion in debt was "high, relative to our asset base." However, its intention all along was to grow "the cash generation ability of our asset base to get in line with the balance sheet." That was clearly something it could do at $90 oil, but now that oil is in the $50 to $60 range, it's "less easy to do," according to Bennett. In fact, Bennett admitted that if the current oil price was the new normal, the company would "probably want to remove $1 billion of debt from the balance sheet." This tells me SandRidge Energy clearly wasn't built to handle low oil prices, which means it wasn't built to last. While there was a general consensus that the oil prices would stay elevated for years, that doesn't mean the company shouldn't have taken actions to really strengthen its balance sheet when oil prices were high to ensure its survival if prices collapsed. No ability to self-fund growth In addition to having a balance sheet that wasn't built for $50 oil, the company's asset base also isn't ideal for a low oil price. That's pretty clear given the fact that the company can't self-fund its capital program at the current oil price. On the call, SandRidge noted that it was cutting its capital spending plan from $1.6 billion last year to just $700 million this year. That capital is expected to deliver 6% production growth in 2015. However, that $700 million is still too high, as the company is outspending its cash flow by several hundred million dollars. It plans to bridge the gap by selling $200 million in non-core assets while also using its $180 million cash position as well as tapping its $900 million credit facility. To make matters worse, the cash flow the company does have coming in this year will drop substantially next year as its oil and gas hedges roll off. The company currently has 92% of its liquids volumes hedged this year, or 10 million barrels of oil, at around a $90 oil price. However, next year, its hedges cover just 4 million barrels of oil, meaning its cash flow will drop substantially if oil prices don't pick up. That makes an already bad situation worse as the company's production will likely drop next year if it chooses to invest within its meager cash flow. In fact, Bennett pointed out on that call that if the company "halted drilling altogether for the whole Company, you're on a 35% exit-to-exit decline" rate for production. This suggests the company needs to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into new wells each year just to keep its production flat. The problem is that it won't have the cash it needs to do this if oil prices stay where they are. So, the company might not even be able to self-fund maintenance capital at $50 oil to keep its production from slipping, let alone deliver any growth. Investor takeaway It's becoming clear that SandRidge Energy wasn't built to last, as it clearly hasn't been built to withstand $50 oil prices for more than a year or two. So, if oil prices don't start to meaningfully recover, the company might have to take some dramatic steps to either reduce its debt or find a deep-pocketed suitor. Otherwise, the company runs the risk of running itself in the ground, as its liquidity will dry up quickly if it keeps drilling itself deeper into debt. How to invest in the technology fueling the U.S. energy boom As the price of oil plummets, savvy investors are looking for a way to invest in this new energy dynamic. And there's one high-caliber company in the oil-services sector using advanced technology to profit from the U.S. oil boom. Given the country's ongoing quest to extract more and more oil, I strongly urge you to claim your copy of our brand-new investigative report on this company helping fuel its boom. Simply click here for access . The article Why This Oil and Gas Producer Isn't Built to Last originally appeared on Fool.com. Matt DiLallo owns shares of SandRidge Energy. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days . We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . Copyright © 1995 - 2015 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
| 3 | 11,336 |
finance
|
Today's a big day for Apple fans: The company hosted a major event to detail the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch and the newly upgraded MacBook. But lest you think the event was just a drool-fest for techies, there was a significant piece of automotive news: Apple CarPlay will soon be found in dashboards across the auto industry. Yes, while Apple CEO Tim Cook was onstage hawking the latest smartwatch and whisper-thin laptop, he announced the big future moves for the company's in-dash software. "Now every major car brand has committed to delivering CarPlay," Cook says, noting that 40 models will ship with the software this year. That's big news for in-car tech: Unlike the janky, infuriating, almost invariably out-of-date software of most in-car entertainment systems, Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto, Google's competitor are designed in-house by mobile tech experts. Allowing Apple and Google to design our dashboard software promises a smoother, more familiar experience that's as familiar as your smartphone's screen. Cook didn't go into specifics about which manufacturers have signed on for Apple CarPlay, but it sounds like the software will be nearly ubiquitous in new cars. We already know that Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz feature the software, as does the soon-to-be-released Volvo XC90. Notably absent from the list is Toyota, which has repeatedly insisted it will stick with its own in-dash software. "We may all eventually wind up there, but right now we prefer to use our in-house proprietary platforms," Toyota tech communications manager John Hanson told The New York Times last month. But the more the merrier, we say especially if Apple's speedy rollout encourages equally widespread market coverage from Android. Oh, and if you can't afford a new vehicle with CarPlay, perhaps you'll be interested in the Apple Watch, which will let you hail a ride from Uber without having to reach into your pocket for your iPhone. Think of the time you'll save! Related Link: See more Car Tech news
| 9 | 11,337 |
autos
|
Some of the most amazing basketball trick shots just in time for March Madness!
| 8 | 11,338 |
video
|
Mar 11, 2015; 12:35 PM ET A ferocious storm ripped through Sydney on Wednesday evening, March 11, damaging structures, cutting powerlines, uprooting trees and interrupting train services.
| 8 | 11,339 |
video
|
Get your hair did? Bone Comb, 5th-8th Century The people of the ancient Merovingian civilization (which today would be located in parts of France and Germany) tamed their tresses with combs made out of actual bone that we pray came from animals. Also pictured are scissors and engraved hair pins what a classy dynasty. Curling Tons and Trimmer, 575 BC-1194 BC Always conscious of vanity, styling tools were a symbol of rank amongst ancient Egyptians. They used fancy, weapon-like bronze tools like these for curling and trimming their hair. The Hair Hygrometer,1783 In 1783, Horace Benedict de Saussure, a Swiss physicist and geologist, made the first hair hygrometer. What's a hair hygrometer? Well, it measures the humidity of human hair. (Naturally.) Mark this down as something we really want to try today. Thermicon Hair Dryers, 1880's After being filled with boiling water, these glazed stoneware Thermicon hairdryers promise to "dry the hair after washing" in a matter of minutes. Curling Tongs, 1891 Tongs have been used since ancient times, but it was only in the late 19th century when women began to wear their hair curly at the top that they really rose to popularity. This Crompton electric curling heater was used to heat the tongs before curling. The Electric Hairbush, Late 1890's Invented by Charles Klein, this electro-prophylatic hairbrush is made of slightly-magnetized iron rods. It promised curative powers such as magneto-therapeutics said to relieve headaches and prevent baldness. Curling and Waving Irons, Early 1900's In early 20th century France, women used these metallic, gardening tool-like waving and curling prongs to keep their hair perfectly coiffed. Hair Dryer, 1935 In 1935, this head-shaped drying device took a hair fashion show by storm in London. (Sidenote: Why aren't "hair fashion shows" still around?!) We're hailing it as the ultimate suit of armor for a bad hair day. Hair Dryer, Early 1930's Believe it or not, back in the '30s this dual lamp situation was considered a "modern" hair dryer. We're guessing it was more suitable safe for setting a hairstyle as opposed to an at-home blowout. The Wave Machine, 1939 This is what you might call an old-fashioned approach to a perm. Here, a woman at Em Westmore's beauty salon has her strands coiled in an electric permanent wave machine, which was used on long hair of the time. Westmore's MO was turning every gal from a "chairlady" to a "glamour girl."
| 4 | 11,340 |
lifestyle
|
Rocco DiSpirito, celebrity chef and author of 'Cook Your Butt Off' shares gluten free recipes from his new cookbook!
| 7 | 11,341 |
health
|
The scale of the euro's decline is surprising because the structure of the ECB's stimulus measures has been known for some time, Katie Martin says.
| 3 | 11,342 |
finance
|
When the New York Rangers acquired defenseman Keith Yandle before the trade deadline, it was the NHL equivalent of unlocking their genetic code. He is the missing link, the final building block in their search to discover who they need to be as a team. His puck-moving skill should tie together their offense and defense in such an efficient manner that they will be superior to the team they were last season in reaching the Stanley Cup Final. "Yandle helps the Rangers push the pace of the game; he can really help quarterback their power play," NBC analyst Pierre McGuire said. "They have a great defense." The Rangers were among the boldest shoppers at the trade deadline, giving up prized rookie Anthony Duclair, young defenseman John Moore and their 2016 first-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes for Yandle. As an unrepentant risk-taker, Yandle is not an ideal fit for every team or every coach, but he is a perfect fit for the speedy Rangers and the offensive style embraced by coach Alain Vigneault. The Rangers already had Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Kevin Klein to play a stingy defensive game, giving Yandle the green light to play an attacking style. New York also has Dan Boyle in that offensive role, but he is 38. Yandle is 28, in the prime of his career. "(Vigneault) wants me to get up in the play and join the rush," Yandle said. "If you look at this lineup, there are guys who can make plays at all ends. It's a fun style to play." It is, however, unfair to cast Yandle as an offense-only defenseman. During the 2014 U.S. Olympic selection process, Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi, a member of the selection committee, presented a passionate, thoroughly researched, well-reasoned argument that Yandle was a more complete player than his reputation would suggest. Although Yandle didn't make the U.S. squad, Lombardi's oration on Yandle's merits did make committee members take a closer look at what Yandle had to offer as an offensive game-changer who can help defensively by moving the puck quickly out of his end. It feels fitting for Yandle, a Massachusetts native, to wear the Rangers uniform, because he idolized New York defenseman Brian Leetch while growing up. "I was a Boston Bruins fan, but I was an NHL fan," Yandle said. "I tried to emulate his game a little bit." Yandle had a banner with Leetch's photo on it hanging in his room. He wore Leetch's No. 2 until he reached high school. No one in New York views Yandle as another Leetch, who was a two-time Norris Trophy winner. But there are expectations for Yandle to run the power play as effectively as Leetch did. It will take time for Yandle to find his comfort zone in the Rangers offense. He has gone from one of the NHL's worst teams to one of the NHL's best. Yandle had no points in his first four games through Sunday, but it is easy to see he was born to play for this style of offensive team. He has averaged a little more than 19 minutes a game, including 21 minutes on Sunday. Yandle had played in Arizona since 2006, and it wasn't easy to say goodbye. But it is easy to fall in love with playing for a team that has a chance to win a Stanley Cup, especially if Yandle can make New York's forwards even better with his first passes. "It's what you play for to get in the playoffs," he said. "It was a bit of a tough situation in Arizona. ... Now we are in the thick of things, trying to win games. It's fun to play games that matter."
| 1 | 11,343 |
sports
|
A cute baby can't contain his excitement at the sound of the phone ringing.
| 8 | 11,344 |
video
|
For more than a thousand years, Iceland barely had any visitors. There were the colonizers Norwegians, then Danes, then the US military plus a few eccentric adventurers, but that was about it. That's changed in the last 20 years. Today the streets of Reykjavik are teeming with non-Icelanders. Most are tourists, but there are also migrants, who now make up about eight percent of Iceland's population. Among them are at least 1,200 Muslims. "Nobody thinks I'm a Muslim," said Somali-born Yassin Hassan. "Most people think I'm an American basketball player. When I tell them my name is Yassin, they start to get the picture." Hassan was one of a half-dozen men I met on a snowy evening in Reykjavik. The others were an Eritrean, two Danes of Turkish ancestry, an Iraqi and a Syrian. They had come to pray at a makeshift mosque tucked between a piano school and a discount picture framing store in a commercial district of Reykjavik. "I love extreme weather and extreme wind," said Muhammed Kizilkaya, a sociology student. He's from Denmark, born to Turkish-Kurdish parents. No one else shared his views on the local climate. "It's tough," said Hassan of the winter's darkness. "Depression, no Somalis here. The only community you have is the mosque. You have to come to mosque and chat with people." That mosque is due for an upgrade. The Muslim Association of Iceland is working in co-operation with the Association of Icelandic Architects on plans for the country's first custom-built mosque, constructed on land donated by the city of Reykjavik. The mosque and its minaret would have size restrictions, but it would accommodate at least 300 worshippers, according the Muslim Association's chairman, Sverrir Ibrahim Agnarsson. "In most other countries in Europe, you usually have a Moroccan mosque, a Syrian mosque, a Turkish mosque and a Pakistani mosque," Agnarsson said. But not in Iceland: The size of the local Muslim population couldn't support that. And Agnarsson enjoys the mix of nationalities and styles. "We are all from all over and we try to keep it like it like that," he said. "We keep it simple. This mosque is just for praying and the usual things that Muslims do marry, you die, get buried, you have the Eid festivals here. That's the function of the mosque." Agnarsson is a native Icelander who was baptized a Christian as child. He roamed the world as young adult and lived for a time in Pakistan, where he converted to Islam. He expects to spend much of the next few years trying to raise money to build the mosque; he rejected Saudi Arabia's offer to partially bankroll the construction costs. Agnarsson says his group rejects all forms of extremism. There is another Muslim group in Reykjavik he says has closer ties to the Saudis, but they don't have a donated plot of land or permission to build. Icelanders are still getting used to Islam in their own backyard. A poll last year found that 42 percent of those surveyed opposed the construction of a mosque. One party made opposition to the mosque its main campaign issue during Reykjavik's most recent municipal elections. They did better than expected, winning two seats on the city council. "There is a very hardcore opposition to Islam and Muslims in Iceland, basically inspired by this Islamophobic literature from America," Agnarsson said. "When this political party took this card out of their sleeve and tried to increase their following, they did. But we also got a lot of sympathy." Agnarsson says he finds himself online almost every day conversing about Islam with other Icelanders, sometimes explaining the religion, sometimes defending it. "I make my jihad on the computer keyboard," he tells me with a smile. But defending the faith doesn't come so easily to Yassin Hassan. He escaped violence in Somalia, and now he says he finds himself pegged as the worshipper of a violent religion. The questions from Icelanders have been especially pointed after the fatal jihadist attacks in Paris and Copenhagen. "Sometimes you're sitting on your sofa at home and you're trying to watch TV, and you hope you pray that something doesn't happen in the Middle East because it's going to affect you here," Hassan said. "What happened in a couple of European countries the last two months, you have to explain to the people that that is not Islam. You have to explain to the people, 'I hate these people as much as you do. Don't put us in the same category.' It's sometimes boring, but you have to do that."
| 5 | 11,345 |
news
|
1. Your bridesmaids can wear gorgeous pastel colors like pistachio, pale pink, and robin's egg blue. 2. Spring is all about rebirth and renewal aka. the best season to start your life together as a married couple. 3. It's the most perfect "Goldilocks" temperature. Not too hot and not too cold. 4. Your signature cocktail can be a mint julep or Pimm's cup. 5. Gardens and flowers will be in bloom. And who doesn't want flowers EVERYWHERE at their wedding? Our dream idea: branches of cherry blossoms. 6. If flowers aren't your thing, embrace greenery, moss, and herbs. 7. You'll reap the benefits of your new year's fitness resolution (if you stuck to it). 8. Unlike a fall or winter wedding, you can entertain the thought of having it in a tent. 9. Peonies are in season. Enough said. 10. You can incorporate colorful fresh spring produce: ramps, new potatoes, asparagus, sugar snap peas, baby carrots, strawberries, apricots, and rhubarb. 11. The groom can wear seersucker. 12. Your getaway car can be a convertible. 13. You can get married in a garden. 14. The flower girls can wear fresh spring floral crowns or have flowers in their hair. 15. There aren't as many conflicting holidays and vacations as a summer wedding. 16. You'll reap the benefits of your new year's fitness resolution (if you stuck to it). 17. You can serve a gorgeous naked wedding cake with fresh flowers .
| 4 | 11,346 |
lifestyle
|
Gary Cohn, Goldman Sachs President and COO, weighs in on the global currency and commodity picture.
| 3 | 11,347 |
finance
|
Get it together Hollywood.
| 8 | 11,348 |
video
|
By definition, anything involving the Maple Leafs is going to be a big deal. Acquiring Olli Jokinen via throw-in merits a full day of coverage. So, it's only natural that the decision to suspend their best center, Nazem Kadri, for two games gets the blow-out treatment. President Brendan Shanahan announced that on Wednesday morning; Kadri had also been scratched Saturday against the Islanders . From the outside, it seems like the right decision. It also shouldn't be that big a deal. Shanahan has a rebuild to oversee, and Kadri should be a big part of it. MORE: Pavelec lets in a softie | The race for last "There's a history here," Shanahan said before Toronto's game against the Sabres. "Incidents like this won't be tolerated." "We need this to be a real learning moment ... It's really how (Kadri) responds to it that's important to us" Any discussion about Kadri, now and moving forward, has to consider the fact that he's 24 years old and already very good. His numbers, at minimum, are that of a top-notch second center, and there's reason to believe he'll outgrow that label. This season, he's got 36 points (16G, 20A), and all but two of them came at 5-on-5. That rate 1.79 points per 60 minutes of play is second on the Leafs overall and 59th league-wide among centers with at least 40 games played. It's also worth noting that efficient 5-on-5 point production isn't a new thing for Kadri; he's at 2.02/60 in the last four years, which is 54th in the league. Also, guys like that tend to be power-play fixtures, which he certainly is not. Factor in his most frequent linemates (guys like Daniel Winnik and Mike Santorelli, rather than Phil Kessel or James van Riemsdyk), his usage (a fair amount of defensive zone starts against decent competition), and the fact that he drives possession better than any of Toronto's other regular regular forwards (Toronto takes 49.9 percent of all 5-on-5 shot attempts with him on the ice), and it's easy to see that the Leafs have a very good player on their hands. ( Stats via stats.hockeyanalysis.com and behindthenet.ca . ) "A good guy and a good teammate. Everyone in here likes him," Joffrey Lupul said. "(He's) probably one of our best, most consistent players this year." Thing is, it's possible to be all those things and still do dumb, concern-inducing stuff. You can be a good player while you're growing up. Shanahan, it should go without saying, is a smart man, and publicly calling out Kadri like this seems more of an attempt at a wake-up call than anything else. There's no way the Leafs front office, as currently constituted, doesn't realize that they have a good one on their hands. Like everyone else, they've seen the Tyler Seguin deal blow up in Boston's face, and the Evander Kane trade carries that same possibility for Winnipeg. Broadcasting disciplinary issues, minor as they may be, don't do much for trade value. So, let's say the way Toronto reacted on Wednesday supportive, but unmistakably disapproving is angled toward improving Kadri for their own sake. You can certainly bet that it'll be a negotiation point when he becomes and RFA over the summer. That can't hurt. "There comes a point in the careers of many hockey players, similar situations, but there comes a point where you gotta grow up," Shanahan said. "This is not something that we felt would benefit him if we swept it under the rug." So they called him on the carpet. Better now than later.
| 1 | 11,349 |
sports
|
Do you stare at the clock during your workout waiting for it to end? Or maybe you space out, staring glossy-eyed at a big-screen television while you step, run or elliptical your evening away. Exercise trends such as Zumba, Tae Bo, Jazzercise, P90X and Insanity come and go. Many styles of yoga fall into this category of providing a "quick fix" because they eliminate details and the depth of a thorough yoga practice. A workout style of yoga is a popular entry point for students. However, it often leaves them unsatisfied, injured and seeking more. Rather than chase instant gratification and a temporary solution to get healthy, try quality yoga for a full, meaningful and safe experience. A Full-Spectrum Practice At some point, you need depth in your yoga practice to achieve healthy, long-lasting results. Like a relationship, if you are bored and not enjoying yourself, it will be short-lived. If it is purely physical, it will burn out quickly. Yoga that provides insight and fitness is a great way to maintain a practice with radical depth. You can have fun, get fit, and continuously learn and evolve. A robust yoga practice delivers profound insights on alignment, while bringing your attention to the simplicity of the breath. Afterward, you feel more grounded in your mind. It's this mind-body experience that makes you feel blissed-out after yoga and provides a richness in your practice. Applicable A good yoga practice helps to find the value of its teachings in everyday life. Unlike working out, yoga classes have a specific focus or theme that is woven throughout the sequence. These are simple concepts that correlate with real-life situations. A theme could be something as simple as commitment or patience. It is a way to focus your practice and also helps to guide you in the sequence of poses you are working on. When you practice with a vision, it gives you a purpose that goes beyond the physical poses. Acceptance Over Competition Don't live to do yoga. Practice yoga to live. Your physical body will go through many different evolutions through time as you grow with your yoga practice. Some poses you will achieve, some you won't. You might be able to practice some poses today that you won't come close to achieving in five years. The poses are fun, and are a great way to keep your vitality. However, a strong yoga practice helps you relish life and the things that matter most to you. The point is not whether you can put your foot behind your head or get into a handstand, but rather to practice showing up for the people and things you love most. Awareness Yoga is one of the few times in your busy life where you can step away from the phone, computer and TV to really be present with yourself. With workouts, you can mindlessly go through the motions. In yoga, you have to be completely focused on the instruction, every movement and every breath. This focused attention creates a moving meditation where you can only be in that moment and you forget about the stress of life. Alignment There is no limit to the ways you can approach the poses. The subtle nuances that you can focus on while working the biomechanics in your body provide a very tangible method to advance in your practice. Through this awareness, you find revelations in your body that are fascinating and keep you longing for more. Something as fundamental as how you shift your weight in your feet and the tendency to favor one side while balancing can make profound shifts in your practice and daily life. When you intellectualize the physical postures, rethink and rework them with healthy alignment, you open up your body and mind to the possibility of more. Community The joy of yoga is to take what works for you and your gifts and offer them to others. You learn more about yourself and the practice when you are in conversation. It is powerful to experience a yoga class with your peers. It feels uplifting, and you bring one another to a higher level. You unconsciously put in more effort and feel more inclined to be at your best when you are in the company of others. Integrated Overall, everyone wants to be healthy, fit and at their best. Working out is not a bad thing if done intelligently. In fact, most yoga is a great workout. But to say yoga is only a workout is like saying music is only a sound. Yes, fitness is an important part of most modern yoga systems, but it is only a piece of a very dynamic puzzle. Yoga has staying power because it is a great way to align all facets of your life so that you feel more complete and healthy. Copyright 2015 U.S. News & World Report
| 7 | 11,350 |
health
|
1. When you're behind the same person through a succession of doors. Do you say, "Thank you," each time? Or just one sincere thank you at the first door and nothing at the following doors? GAH. 2. When someone sneezes a few times. Do we all have to say, "Bless you"? Do we all have to say it every time? 3. When you can't understand a colleague's accent and you've maxed out your three socially acceptable "sorry?"s. Just pretend to faint. It's your only way out now. 4. When you get stuck in the kitchen waiting for the microwave to ping with someone you're not friendly with. "Soooooo. Microwaves are kind of amazing, aren't they?" 5. When someone you know for a fact doesn't care about your weekend says, "Good weekend?" And then you have to return the question even though you don't care about their life either. It's one big cycle of non-shit-givery. 6. Leaving work at the same time as someone who's walking your way, but you'd rather just listen to music. So you just take a random and unfeasible diversion just to lose them. You'll probably miss the bus now, but it's worth the risk. 7. Accidentally sending a bitchy email to the person you're bitching about. *Facepalm.* Whose idea was it to make the reply and forward buttons so close together?! 8. Going into the bathroom after a colleague created smells in there that could kill a small mammal and making eye contact en route. Shit happens, of course, but it's still a moment of horror that will haunt the two of you forever. 9. Overthinking a handshake versus hug situation, so you inevitably opting for an awkward "don't touch me" wave instead. Smooth. Real smooth. 10. The complex decision-making process of figuring out if you're "close enough" to go into the revolving door with someone. You will misjudge this at least once in your career and be met with stony silence. 11. Having birthday treats in the office for someone you don't even know. Then having to feign a perfectly timed coughing fit in the "Happy birthday, dear [name]" part so they won't know you don't know their name. 12. Having to figure out when is a socially acceptable time to slip away from a snacks-type situation back to your desk instead of wasting your valuable time celebrating the birth of a virtual stranger. Seven minutes is usually a good bet. 13. Trying to open the closing elevator doors for someone running for the elevator but it's just too late. Or you were just pressing "close" instead of "open." Double awks. 14. Trying to have a kitchen bitch-fest when the person you're chatting about walks in and you have to instantly change the subject in a really unconvincing way . "I've always loved Wildberry Pop Tarts. A truly underrated flavor." 15. Having to endure someone's selfish decision to eat the stinkiest lunch of all time. Everyone glare at the girl who decided to microwave fish. 16. Being in a packed elevator and trying really hard not to look at your reflection like you do when you have the elevator to yourself. You know everyone's thinking exactly the same thing. *Just look at the floor. Just look at the floor.* 17. When the printer jams at the precise moment you're trying to print something totally not work-related. UMM. I'll just wait here until it's fixed. 18. Writing a leaving card for someone you barely know. What do you write?! Keep in touch. You'll be missed. BEST OF LUCK XXX. 19. When you forget to mute your computer and the unmistakable Facebook chat tone blares. Yep. Really busy over here, guys. 20. Getting an email with the sentence, "Did you see the below?" Yes, I saw it, and I plan to continue procrastinating the issue for the foreseeable future. Kind regards.
| 4 | 11,351 |
lifestyle
|
By David Fox Earlier, Athlon Sports looked at the teams that are surging into the NCAA Tournament. This is the flip side. These are teams that are limping their way into the field, provided some of them making at all. For whatever reason cold shooting, injury these teams will be in the field but perhaps in name only. The teams you may have liked at one point of the season are giving off clear warning signs. Pick them in your bracket at your own risk. Indiana Given the roller coaster of Indiana basketball this season, maybe a great postseason is in the works for the Hoosiers. Indiana was 15-4 on Jan. 22 and has gone 4-8 since. The defense in the last three games, in particular, has been dreadful, allowing 1.16 points per possession against Northwestern, Iowa and Michigan State. Kansas The Jayhawks expect Perry Ellis back for the NCAA Tournament. Make no mistake: That's huge for their prospects. The junior forward has been carrying KU for the latter portion of the conference schedule. Even with Ellis, though, Kansas flashed some warning signs in losses to Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Kansas State, plus sluggish games against TCU and Texas. Kansas won its 11th consecutive Big 12 title and will be seeded well, but unless the Jayhawks do something great in the conference tournament, stay away. Oklahoma State At one point in February, Oklahoma State had defeated Baylor twice and Kansas once. Since Feb. 14, the Cowboys are 1-5 including two losses to West Virginia and losses to TCU and Texas Tech. Oklahoma State doesn't have a ton of scoring depth and one of those options (Phil Forte) is prone to awful days from 3-point range. Ole Miss The Rebels are sliding off the bubble and may well find their way into the NIT if they can't win a game or two in the SEC tournament. Since Feb. 25, Ole Miss lost at home to fellow bubble team Georgia and a Vanderbilt team that's not going to get an at-large bid. The Rebels also lost by 10 on the road to LSU. Stefan Moody has been great at getting to the free throw line and converting when he's there (35-of-37) in the last four games, but he's shot 6-of-31 from long range during the same span. Live by the 3, die by the 3. Texas The Longhorns closed the regular season with victories over Baylor and Kansas State in what were essentially must-win games. Before that, Texas had underachieved all year with two four-game losing streaks contributing to a 6-10 Big 12 record at one point. Is Texas finally delivering on its potential or still a team to avoid? Texas A&M Like Ole Miss, Texas A&M is flirting with disaster if it can't win in the SEC tournament. Unlike the Rebels, the Aggies don't have as many quality wins A&M swept the series against LSU whereas Ole Miss beat Arkansas and Oregon on the road and Arkansas on a neutral court. Texas A&M went from reasonably safe to losing nailbiters to Florida and Alabama. Utah The Utes were one of the best turnaround stories in the sport, and when Utah was 21-4, it was easy to get overly optimistic. The last three weeks of the season may have brought things down to Earth. Arizona completed a season sweep of Utah, and the Utes let a lead slip away in a 77-68 loss to a Washington team that won only five Pac-12 games all year. After Utah finished 2-3 in the Pac-12, watch the Utes carefully. VCU You'll be tempted to pick VCU on name recognition and the Rams' NCAA Tournament seed. Beware! The Rams lost the linchpin of the havoc defense, Briante Weber, on Jan. 31 and finished on a 5-6 slide. VCU had defeated only one KenPom top 100 team without Weber.
| 1 | 11,352 |
sports
|
Shauna Martin, author of the 'Daily Greens 4 Day Cleanse' and breast cancer survivor, helps us juice to stay healthy. This is a must see!
| 7 | 11,353 |
health
|
Tune up and tone up with these simple powerful moves!
| 7 | 11,354 |
health
|
What's behind the shift?
| 5 | 11,355 |
news
|
When you have babies it can be a challenge to find the time (or energy) for any postnatal 'romance' with your partner. After all, you are too busy trying to deal with postnatal everything else… But do not fear. Help is at hand. Here is my guide on how to have some post-baby action: You and your partner agree to have an "early" night. Search the underwear drawer for something other than pajamas. Options are: baggy t-shirts, comfortable knickers, two old maternity bras, three used breast pads or a random thong that must have escaped the Great Thong Purge of 2010. Wonder whether you have time to give your underwear drawer a quick clear-out before all the sex. Decide you better not, as the baby could wake up any minute. Both jump into bed, ready for action, only to realize you are so tired you could do with an actual early night. Postpone all the sex until tomorrow. The next day, have an earlier night. Get into bed. Proceed to be romantic. Partner thinks he hears the baby. Both sit up and listen. Nothing. Continue with romantic proceedings. You think you hear the baby. Both sit up and listen. Nothing. Continue with proceedings. Baby wakes up. Get up and feed baby. Return to bed. Partner is asleep. Decide to have sex the next day no matter what. Up all night with the baby so you are too tired. Two days later you agree to definitely have some sex that night. Suggest trying it on the settee to spice things up a bit (avoid falling asleep). Begin the romantic activity. Ride On Thomas The Tank Engine is watching you. Turn Thomas to face the wall. Resume activity. Accidentally sit on a plastic Fireman Sam. Partner throws Fireman Sam into the toy car box. Resist the urge to go and put Fireman Sam into the toy figures box and continue with romance. You can't stop thinking about Fireman Sam. That was clearly a box for CARS. If we all put everything back in the wrong boxes, we would never find anything. Try not to get annoyed with partner for always putting the toys away in the wrong boxes, despite the system having been explained several times. Stop thinking about it, you tell yourself. Think sexy thoughts… 'You are thinking about Fireman Sam, aren't you?' Partner says. 'No,' you reply. 'I only have eyes for you my darling…' 'Come on. You know you want to…' You get up and move Fireman Sam into the correct box. While you are there you notice there is a stray block in the box. Put block away only to find a single piece of jigsaw in block box. Start searching through the jigsaw cupboard to find which one the piece belongs to… Husband coughs. Get back to the romance. Romance progresses to socks off and partner leans in to whisper something into your ear…you presume sweet nothings… 'Is it me or does this settee really smell of piss?' Both agree to put settee sex on hold and watch TV. Three days later, the grandparents take the children out for a few hours so you decide to spend the time having lots of sex (followed by sorting out toy boxes and underwear drawer). Partner heads for the bedroom. Explain you can't just go from 'wiping a toddler's bum to feeling all frisky.' Suggest that 'having lunch and just talking would be nice' first. Compromise by having coffee and cake in bed. Start showing each other pictures of the baby on your cellphones. Realize you now only have ten minutes left before the baby is due back. Romantic relations postponed. Two weeks later…both decide you probably need a whole night away to have really good postnatal action so leave the baby with the grandparents and go to posh hotel. Enjoy your first ever night away from the baby by eating, drinking, making merry, drinking some more and finally having fantastic, mind-blowing postnatal romance (probably, you can't quite remember due to all the drinking). Six weeks later… mind-blowing postnatal hotel romance confirmed in the form of a positive pregnancy test. So, there you have it: Sex when you have babies. While you have young children, it is inevitable that some nights you will opt for sleep over sex. Other nights you will opt for sex, but be up all night with a teething baby instead. The post How to Have Sex When You Have Babies appeared first on Scary Mommy .
| 4 | 11,356 |
lifestyle
|
From on-the-spot translation to digital room keys and wireless payments, the travel and hospitality industry has really started to embrace the capabilities of mobile devices. A new report from Juniper Research published Wednesday, forecasts that the end of the traditional paper boarding pass is nigh. It's about to be replaced by a smartphone or smartwatch -- 745 million digital boarding passes will be used this year, appearing on a device screen and scanned at the gate or check-in desk. Just over half (53%) of the world's airlines already offer digital passes via smartphone apps, and by 2017 91% of carriers will. Juniper's report forecasts that by 2019, one in every three, or some 1.5 billion boarding passes, will be delivered this way. What's more, as scanning a barcode makes way for Near Field Communication, the secure wireless technology used by the iPhone for mobile payments and by a host of other handset makers for pairing and connecting devices, mobile devices will become the de-facto tickets on bus, metro and train systems too as a tap against a sensor is all that will be needed. "The ultimate position that NFC can reach in the airline industry is 'the extinction of the boarding pass' whereby boarding pass, baggage tickets and identity information can be stored on the phone and simply accessed using NFC readers. However, this transition will not only be delayed by the success of barcode but there is the need to gain agreement and investment from airlines and airports around the world," said the report's author Nitin Bhas. Before that moment arrives, ApplePay itself is gaining momentum in the industry. In February US airline JetBlue became the first airline to accept it for in-flight purchases and on Monday Marriott International announced that it plans to accept ApplePay initially at all of its US sites but eventually worldwide as Apple rolls the feature out to other countries. "Approximately 75% of our guests travel with one or more mobile devices, and it is even higher among 25-35 year olds -- a group that will make up a much larger proportion of our guests over the next three years," said George Corbin, senior vice president, Marriott Digital. Monday also saw the official launch event for the Apple Watch and with it demonstrations of a host of airline and hotel chain apps. Starwood has developed an app that will turn the smartwatch into a room key. InterContinental Hotels will be offering an Apple Watch version of its Translator app, which will offer pre-programmed phrases and translations via dictation and, on April 24 when the Apple Watch actually arrives in store, there will be an easyJet app, making it the first low-cost airline in the device's app store. But it's not just the Apple Watch's potential capabilities that the hospitality industry is testing. KLM is testing passenger services via Android Wear smartwatches. The app will push notifications about a flight to the watch screen and once the wearer arrives at the airport, information such as gate number and departure time will appear automatically. "In the future, we will further link technologies to offer innovative services ensuring that passengers are always a step ahead on their journey," said Tjalling Smit, Senior Vice President of E-Commerce at Air France-KLM. And of course, the app will serve as a digital boarding pass.
| 2 | 11,357 |
travel
|
Goldman Sachs (GS) President Gary Cohn told CNBC on Wednesday he is very concerned about the short-term window for oil and said crude prices could fall to $30 a barrel as the industry runs out of storage space. With the winter heating oil season ending, refineries are turning to producing more gasoline for the summer driving season, he said. That means they will not need crude oil for weeks or months, depending on turnaround and maintenance time, he added. "That crude oil backs up in the system," he said. "I'm concerned we're going to run out of crude oil storage, land-based storage in the United States, especially in the mid-continent and Texas." On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration reported that inventories of U.S. commercial crude rose by 4.5 million barrels, pushing stockpiles to the highest level on record. The Associated Press previously reported that the United States is now importing or producing about 1 million barrels of crude per day above what it can consume. If the industry runs out of storage, front-month contracts for oil could plummet, Cohn warned. "Forward prices could stay relatively stable, but the headline may read, 'We've got $30 oil in the United States," he added. That will likely boost consumer sentiment and would have a fairly big impact on Federal Reserve's timeline for raising interest rates, he said. "It's hard to raise interest rates potentially when you see deflationary oil prices," Cohn said.
| 3 | 11,358 |
finance
|
The U.S. is the most popular destination for world travellers. But if money were not a concern, more travellers would rather visit Australia, according to a new survey on the global travel economy. The survey of more than 44,000 travellers from around the world also found that 67% of U.S. travellers plan to take an international leisure trip this year, up from 50% who reported taking such a trip last year. Still, the travel budget of the average American traveller is expected to be $8,700 this year, about the same as last year, according to the online survey by the travel website TripAdvisor. The U.S. was the most popular destination for world travellers in 2014 and for travel plans in 2015, according to the survey. But when asked which destination they would visit if money were no object, Australia took the top spot, followed by the U.S. and Italy. The cost of travel may be going up. Half of all hotels globally and 59% of U.S. hotels said they plan to increase their room rates this year, with more than one-third of global accommodations and 42% of U.S. hotels planning to raise rates by up to 10%, according to the survey. For the 40% of global travellers who said they planned to spend more in 2015 on travel, the top reasons were "going somewhere on my wish list" and "my family deserves it." To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow me on Twitter at @hugomartin.
| 2 | 11,359 |
travel
|
These gorgeous cat videos come from camera traps, the motion-sensing cameras that researchers are using to monitor rare animals.
| 8 | 11,360 |
video
|
Apple apologized to users Wednesday after a nearly 12-hour outage of some of its major online services, affecting customers worldwide. The tech giant's status page showed the App Store, iTunes, iBooks store and Mac App store went down from 0900 GMT and were offline until around 2030 GMT. Similar outages were seen in Apple online services in Britain and France. The Next Web, an international technology news site, said it had reports of outages affecting more than 40 countries. "We apologize to our customers experiencing problems with iTunes and other services this morning," Apple said in a statement emailed to AFP, blaming an internal domain name system error, referring to the system which locates Internet addresses. "We're working to make all of the services available to customers as soon as possible, and we thank everyone for their patience." Apple's iCloud and mail services were also down, but appeared to have been restored after around four hours, according to the status page. Other services such as FaceTime, messaging and Apple TV did not appear to be affected. The outage made it impossible for iPhone and iPad users to download music or to install or update apps on their devices. Apple support forums included complaints from users around the world, including the Netherlands and Iceland, unable to install or update apps. Reddit forums mentioned problems from users in Britain, Australia and elsewhere. The news comes two days after Apple announced details about its smartwatch, which will be available in several markets on April 24, along with a new MacBook computer. Apple said at the event that it has sold more than 700 million iPhones since launching the device in 2007.
| 5 | 11,361 |
news
|
How much is an Apple (AAPL) store worth? It turns out, a whole lot. Although sales from the tech giant's 400-plus retail stores only contributed a fraction of its $183 billion in revenue last year, its locations can raise sales at the malls where these stores are located by 10 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal . Citing data from Green Street Advisors, the publication reported Tuesday that the draw of Apple stores not only allows the iPhone maker to negotiate low-rent deals for itself, but drives rents higher for neighboring stores. Whereas a typical mall tenant can pay rent up to 15 percent of its sales per square foot, Apple pays 2 percent of this metric, tops, industry executives told the paper. Apple declined to comment on rent to the Journal, though spokesman Nick Leahy did say that its stores draw about 1 million shoppers each day. The popularity of Apple stores underscores a growing trend in the retail industry, where the large department stores or "anchor" tenants are no longer the catalysts they once were. Although these megastores used to bear the primary burden of pulling consumers into the mall giving them lower rent costs, to boot industry experts have noted that as consumers do more research ahead of their shopping trips, they're less likely to influence someone's decision over where to shop. For example, if a shopper finds the perfect blouse while shopping online at a specialty store such as Express (EXPR) , they will visit a mall that has an Express regardless of what the mall's anchor tenants are. In this way, smaller shops can serve as the anchor for a specific shopper. "The idea, the concept of the anchor is changing completely," Jesse Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, told CNBC in an interview last week. "Every mall has a website and you as a consumer know the brands that you follow and that you like and so you go to a specific mall probably for a specific brand." And while shoppers don't tend to linger at the mall like they used to, according to Tron, there is still an opportunity when customers are making that trip for a specific item, to lure them in and get them to make an unexpected purchase. That's one reason why the idea of an anchor stores is shifting, and now includes nontraditional concepts such as grocery stores or gyms, which can repeatedly draw shoppers to the mall.
| 3 | 11,362 |
finance
|
Ashley Koff, registered dietician, shares vital information about how we can gauge what time is the right time to cleanse. It's not when you think! Watch this!
| 7 | 11,363 |
health
|
Now you can commute like a lunatic and still get to the office with your coffee intact.How? A cool piece of car tech called the Maksimatic cup holder, invented by Maksim Ghyvoronsky. His original intent (see the animation above) was for it to be something that could come pre-installed from the factory with new cars, but when he found incredible demand for the spill-proof wonder tech, he built a version that can be retrofitted to just about any vehicle. The Maksimatic Bullet is designed to be mounted in your car's existing cup holder. It's on Kickstarter now. Toss Ghyvoronsky a few bucks and help him bring about a world where no one ever has to lose half of their Dr. Pepper again. Source: Gizmodo
| 9 | 11,364 |
autos
|
The withdrawal deadline for college basketball players considering early entry into the NBA Draft could be pushed back if an upcoming proposal goes through, reports Nicole Auerbach of USA Today . Coaches and representatives from the NBA, NCAA and National Association of Basketball Coaches put together a plan that'd give players more time to make a life-changing decision. The proposal, which needs to be submitted by Sept. 1, would give players an extra five weeks to decide if they want to withdraw their name from the draft early-entry pool. If it had been in effect this year, the deadline would have been pushed back from April 14 to May 21. The 2014 NCAA Tournament concluded on April 7 when Connecticut topped Kentucky in a game featuring several prominent NBA prospects. The date for early application to the draft would stay the same -- 60 days before the big event -- but this would give players significantly more time to gather information about their prospects and pull out and maintain their NCAA eligibility if necessary. For players who are uncertain about their draft status, that extra time is extremely valuable in deciding whether to bypass another year of school. Over the past three years, players have had to decide on their status for the NBA Draft by the first day of college basketball's spring signing period. After that day, players can no longer withdraw from the draft and become ineligible for the NCAA. As Auerbach notes, that's been difficult on players who play deep into the NCAA Tournament , leaving them with as a little as a week to weigh a huge decision. Coaches and other people involved with college hoops and the NBA have grown concerned with the situation, says Auerbach, and together "they've been working for the last eight months on a recommendation to change the pre-NBA draft process" in order to give players more time to gather information. "It's an exciting concept because it helps student-athletes and their families help hopefully the best-informed decisions they can make about their future -- that should be what we're all trying to accomplish," NCAA vice president for basketball championships Dan Gavitt said. The support for the proposal across the NBA, NCAA and NABC makes some kind of change likely, even if it doesn't follow the specific details listed above. With these different groups opening public dialogue on the topic, it's going to be hard to ignore until addressed. "If you're really worried about the kids and them making the right decision, it just seemed like a no-brainer, to be honest with you," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
| 1 | 11,365 |
sports
|
Some of pro football's best players are descending upon the AFC East like good neighbors during another New England snow storm. Can they clear the roads of all that snow inflicted by the New England Patriots? And can they stop the Patriots' next winter offensive? Since the 2001 season, which ended in New England's first victorious Super Bowl, the Patriots have won the AFC East in all but four seasons. In that span, neither the Jets, Bills nor Dolphins have gotten to a Super Bowl. Those whipping boys have made stunning investments to change that. Miami gave Ndamukong Suh $60 million guaranteed dollars to destabilize the middle. In doing so, Suh will make Cameron Wake (11.5 sacks in 2014) and Olivier Vernon (6.5) even more dangerous. MORE: Early free agency winners and losers The Jets signed Darrelle Revis when the Patriots didn't, and they also got Brandon Marshall from Chicago. New coach Todd Bowles was an avant-garde blitz designer when he was Arizona's defensive coordinator. The Bills hired Rex Ryan to replace shiver with swagger, but Buffalo is coming off a promising 9-7 season anyway. Then the Bills traded for LeSean McCoy, which put him in a funk, and then signed him to a new deal, which lifted that funk. At last report Buffalo was eyeing Miami tight end Charles Clay. Of course, hiring Ryan ensures Buffalo's defense will be aggressive. All of this has one purpose: to move Tom Brady off his launch point in the middle of the pocket. It is the suggested way, maybe the only way, to diminish him. MORE: Early NFL retirements show a change in the league New England then lost useful running back/receiver Shane Vereen to the Giants, although it did re-sign safety Devin McCourty. It lost nose tackle Vince Wilfork, after passing on his option, and risks losing Brandon Browner at the corner opposite Revis. On top of that, the Patriots watched Seattle acquire tight end Jimmy Graham from New Orleans, meaning the Seahawks will have a suitable target for that one-yard slant in the next Super Bowl. The moves were significant, but they don't change the essential fact of life in the division. New England has a championship quarterback and nobody else does. The Bills have Matt Cassel and EJ Manuel, the Dolphins have the improving Ryan Tannehill, and the Jets are reportedly talking to Ryan Fitzpatrick and angling to pick Marcus Mariota as they figure out what to do with Geno Smith. If Brady can brave the mercenaries, the Patriots win the division again.
| 1 | 11,366 |
sports
|
An advert for a house in Indonesia goes viral online after the woman selling it offered to throw in an unusual extra feature for free -- her hand in marriage. Duration: 00:30
| 5 | 11,367 |
news
|
A 480-million-year-old relative of the lobster, cockroach and tarantula was a sea monster which snared food with spine-covered protrusions on its head, researchers said Wednesday. The two-metre (seven-foot) creature used spiny appendages to filter morsels from ocean water, said a study in the journal Nature . The technique is similar to the method used by modern-day ocean giants like baleen whales. But the bizarre beast also shared features with today's arthropods, the family of invertebrates with exoskeletons that includes spiders, insects, crustaceans and centipedes. It had pairs of "flaps", possibly for swimming, along the length of its segmented body. Aegirocassis benmoulae is the earliest giant filter feeder yet discovered. "This would have been one of the largest animals alive at the time," said study co-author Allison Daley of Oxford University. The creature, which lived in the Palaeozoic era, is named after sea god Aegir from Norse mythology, the Latin for helmet (cassis) and a Moroccan fossil hunter, Mohamed Ben Moula, who discovered its remains. The creature's anatomy was pieced together by studying fossils unearthed at Morocco's Lower Fezouata Formation and kept in the collection of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in Connecticut. One particularly well-preserved, three-dimensional fossil was gently pried from surrounding rock using tiny needle-like tools, an Oxford University statement said. An artist's impression reveals an animal with a protruding, squid-like head attached to a body resembling that of a shrimp but with two pairs of flaps per segment, both upward- and downward-pointing, instead of legs. The reconstructed A. benmoulae had side-facing eyes and two articulated appendages jutting from the "mouth" area, covered in a comb of spines with which it captured plankton. "While filter feeding is probably one of the oldest ways for animals to find food, previous filter feeders were smaller, and usually attached to the sea floor," said Daley. Gentle giant "We have found the oldest example of gigantism in a freely swimming filter feeder," Daley said. The new species belonged to a now-extinct clan of marine animals called anomalocaridids which first appeared on the scene about 520 million years ago. Most of A. benmoulae's older and contemporary cousins, however, were apex predators with sharp-toothed mouths. The researchers said the creature's flaps were likely the precursors of the double-branched legs of today's arthropods, "but at a stage before they fused together into one leg". Arthropods are A. benmoulae's closest living relatives, and use their versatile legs for everything from walking and sensing their environment, to eating and mating. The Palaeozoic period lasted from about 570 to 250 million years ago -- from the rise of the first invertebrates with hard external skeletons, to the dominance of reptiles. It ended with the greatest extinction event in the history of Earth, which then had a single continent, followed by the Triassic period and the rise and fall of the dinosaurs.
| 5 | 11,368 |
news
|
Oil prices finished mixed Wednesday after a key report showed US crude stockpiles had swollen to another record high, adding to an oversupplied global market. The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery, slipped 12 cents to $48.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark Brent North Sea crude for April rose $1.15 to settle at $57.54 a barrel in London. Both futures contracts had fallen sharply Tuesday, under the pressure of a stronger dollar and worries about ample global supplies. The US government's Department of Energy reported Wednesday that US crude-oil inventories rose by 4.5 million barrels in the week to March 6 to 448.9 million, the highest level since the beginning of the weekly data series in 1982. The increase was slightly above the consensus estimate of 4.6 million barrels, according to Bloomberg News. Gene McGillian of Tradition Energy said the US market showed "a little resiliency" in the face of the latest storage report. "With new records in crude stockpiles and new highs in production levels, WTI still has a pretty weak fundamental outlook, whereas Brent continues to move higher because of its sensitivity to geopolitical risks and the possibility we could see an increased demand with the ECB bond-buying program," he said. The European Central Bank launched a massive government bond purchase program Monday, aimed at boosting growth in the sluggish 19-nation eurozone economy. Taking a longer view, McGillian said the market was continuing to consolidate above six-year lows, which were driven by excess supplies. "We have yet to see any change in that." The dollar continued to climb Wednesday, striking a 12-year high against the euro. A stronger US currency makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, tending to curb demand. "The strong US dollar (is) limiting any upside potential in crude oil prices," added Myrto Sokou, senior research analyst at brokerage Sucden Financial.
| 3 | 11,369 |
finance
|
About 480 million years ago, the seven foot-long Aegirocassis benmoulae swam about in the sea. The lobster-like sea creature used its flaps swimming devices on its belly and back and long segmented body to get around. And unlike many of its fellow its relatives, it ate plankton. This means that it had to swim with its appendages outstretched in front of its head, dragging a net-like "sieve" made of long downward-directed spines through the water. "It would have dwarfed anything else at the time." "It would have dwarfed anything else at the time, being twice as big as the next biggest animal at the very least," says Peter Van Roy, an archeologist at Yale University and a co-author of a Nature study published today that contributes entirely new information about Aegirocassis benmoulae . "They were absolutely massive." illustration by Marianne Collins, ArtofFact A lot of what you've just read wasn't known until recently. When the Aegirocassis benmoulae 's relatives a group of marine animals called anomalocaridids were first discovered, archeologists looked their spiny appendages and thought they represented the body of a shrimp. Some also believed that their toothed mouths were jellyfish, and their complete bodies were actually described as sea cucumbers. Then, in 1985, a group of researchers figured it out. The bits and pieces that people were associating with various other species actually belonged to a single group of early marine animals called anomalocardids large sea creatures that are ancestors to all arthropods, a category of animals composed of everything from lobsters and crabs to scorpions and ants. "Nevertheless, the affinities of anomalocaridids remained enigmatic: it would take almost another decade before they were finally recognized as arthropods," Van Roy says. "With a big smile, he walks over to me and says, 'you know, I have something to show you.'" In 2011, things started coming together. Before that, archeologists thought that Aegirocassis benmoulae was a predatory animal, much like the major of anomalocaridids that had come before it. But the man who found the Aegirocassis benmoulae fossils a local collector in Morocco by the name of Mohamed Ben Moula who doesn't have archeological training changed all that. "With a big smile, he walks over to me and says, 'you know, I have something to show you,'" Van Roy says. Ben Moula showed him was a beautifully preserved appendage with "very delicate filter feeding morphology; it had all these fine spines," Van Roy says. "It was shocking." To show their gratitude, Van Roy and his team named Aegirocassis benmoulae after the Morrocan collector. In the time of the Aegirocassis benmoulae , during the the Ordovician period, plankton ecosystems were changing and many new species of plankton were popping up. This likely spurred the emergence of this large plankton-eating anomalocaridid. And going from predation to plankton-filtering is part of a larger evolutionary theme, Van Roy says. "Exactly the same thing happened much, much later in sharks and whales," he says. "They started out as predators, and because of a major plankton diversification suddenly you get extremely big filter-feeding animals, like whale sharks and blue whales." Researchers also think Crocodiles went through a similar period in which a large plankton-eating species of crocs emerged. "They reached massive sizes," he says. "And our animal is the oldest example of this." this explains how some arthropods ended up with limbs that have two branches The researchers also had no idea that Aegirocassis benmoulae or any of other anomalocaridids, for that matter had ventral flaps. No one thought they had fin-like swimming devices on their bellies, Van Roys says. "They were believed to lack limbs on the body." This might seem like a small oversight, but it's actually quite significant from an evolutionary standpoint; it's the missing link that explains how some crustaceans like shrimp and lobsters ended up with limbs that have two branches. These branches are involved in everything from gas exchange, to swimming, walking and grasping, and transferring sperm. Biramous limbs, Zhang, X.-l., et al. (2007) The fact that anomalocaridids had two sets of flaps instead of just one set on their backs supports the idea that the two-branched limbs we see in most crustaceans arose from the fusion of the dorsal and ventral flaps. "Because these structures are not yet joined together at their base in anomalocaridids, this confirms that anomalocaridids represent a very early stage in the evolution of arthropods," Van Roy says. It's one of the most exciting discoveries he has ever made. "When I discovered these flaps, the implications for the evolution of limbs and for anomalocaridids… I thought 'jeez, is this really true?,'" Van Roy says. "And so for weeks, I went back to the fossils every day just to make sure that 'yes the flaps are there, I'm not being crazy, I'm not seeing things.'" He wasn't crazy or seeing things. Eventually Van Roy and his team of researchers looked at other, older anomalocaridid fossils and discovered that the flaps had simply been overlooked. "When we went back [to the older fossils], we saw that they actually also had this second set of flaps." It's important to note that although Aegirocassis benmoulae was the largest animal on Earth at the time of existence, it isn't the largest arthropod to ever exist. That title goes to the sea scorpion. It was eight feet long. Sea Scorpion. [Credit: Ryan Somma/ FLickr] Now that the researchers and have published their findings, Van Roy says that he plans to move on to other types of arthropods. But he doesn't think he will leave anomalocaridids behind; there is far too much knowledge to gain from them. "There's still new material to study, and much more to learn from the specimens that have already been studied this study isn't finished by a long stretch." MORE ON MSN: Gaint Salamander arrives in London Blue whales 'switch on' Antarctic song The Astonishing Moment a Baby Humpback Whale Is Taken by Orcas
| 5 | 11,370 |
news
|
Islamic State militants have desecrated another ancient Iraqi capital, the government said on Wednesday, razing parts of the 2,700-year-old city of Khorsabad famed for its colossal statues of human-headed winged bulls. Officials have said for several days they were checking reports of damage at Khorsabad following attacks on the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Hatra by the Islamist radicals who control much of northern Iraq. On Wednesday the head of Iraq's antiquities board and the country's antiquities minister both confirmed that damage had been inflicted in recent days at Khorsabad, although neither was able to give details. "The city walls were razed, and some elements of the temples, but we don't know the exact extent (of the damage)," antiquities director Qais Rasheed told Reuters. "Looting took place, and then the razing". Islamic State rules a self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria which contain some of the richest archaeological treasures on earth, where ancient Assyrian empires built their capitals, Graeco-Roman civilization flourished and Muslim and Christian sects co-existed for centuries. The group, which rejects all but its own narrow interpretation of early Sunni Muslim theology as heresy, has systematically destroyed historic temples, shrines, manuscripts statues and carvings. Officials say it has also looted widely, selling artifacts to help fund its rule. The United Nations has condemned Islamic State's actions as a war crime and an attack on humanity's common heritage, but the global outrage has not slowed the destruction. Iraq has asked a U.S.-led coalition which is supporting Baghdad's fightback against Islamic State with air strikes to deploy its aerial power to defend the country's heritage. U.S. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said in Baghdad on Monday the military priority was focused on populated areas ruled by Islamic State, as opposed to some of the remote antiquities sites. SEEKING SATELLITE IMAGES Rasheed said Iraq had asked for, but not received, satellite imagery from Hatra and Khorsabad so it could assess the scale of the damage. "They say they are working on getting pictures. How? Is it hard for the Americans to get satellite photos?" Huge stone carvings of winged bulls with bearded human faces were shipped from Khorsabad and other Assyrian cities in Iraq to France, Germany, Britain and the United States in the 19th century. But Rasheed said those huge statues, each weighing several tonnes, were just a fraction of the Khorsabad treasures. "The French and English excavated at Khorsabad and the excavations only got 10 percent of the city - it's a big city, a capital," he said of the three square km site. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with foreign ambassadors and the United Nations to set out the scale of the damaged wreaked by Islamic State and press for a stronger international response. Rasheed said in the northern province of Nineveh alone there were 1,700 archaeological sites under Islamic State control, as well as Iraq's third largest museum at Mosul, ransacked by the insurgents according to video footage released two weeks ago. "We ask the whole world, and primarily the international coalition, to activate its capabilities, because every day that passes, we have new losses," Tourism and Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab, who also addressed the meeting, told Reuters. Rasheed said Iraq was also seeking help in returning looted items. "There are many stolen artifacts, in auction houses in America and Europe. The diplomatic corps can play a role in helping Iraq return them," he said. James Ratcliffe of Art Loss Register, which runs a database of lost or stolen works of art, said he had seen little sign of anything of significant value reaching U.S. or British markets. "I'm sure lower value stuff is getting through but higher value items are not," he said, adding there were likely to be networks in the region working to get materials out. "In Syria, Turkey and Lebanon there will be groups who are engaging in the trade of antiquities for profit in an organized fashion." (Additional reporting by Isabel Coles in Arbil; Editing by Gareth Jones)
| 5 | 11,371 |
news
|
A 200-word essay and $125 is all it will take to become the proud owner of a bucolic New England inn, says its owner, who won the establishment in the same way. For more than two decades, Janice Sage has run the Center Lovell Inn, a majestic bed and breakfast nestled in western Maine, famous for its cross-country skiing and mountain vistas. Now, 68-year-old Sage plans to retire, and she's ready give away the inn, valued at nearly a million dollars, for next-to-nothing. "Have you ever dreamed of owning a country inn and restaurant in New England? Well, here is your chance!" she wrote on the inn's website: https://wincenterlovellinn.wordpress.com. "In 1993, the former owner ran an essay contest and I was the winner," she explains. "After 22 successful years, it is time for me to retire. Now, I would like to fulfill someone else's dream." Entrants will have until May 21 to submit an essay entitled: "Why I would like to own and operate a country inn." The establishment in Maine's White Mountains -- a favorite destination of summer holiday makers -- will go to whoever writes the best essay. She won the inn from the former owners by answering a similar essay question and paying a $100 fee. The bed and breakfast, built in 1805, is in the town of Lovell, 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the state capital Portland. Sage expects to attract around 7,500 entries, netting around $937,000 -- just short of the inn's market price. A committee will choose 20 finalists based on the essays, and the winner will be announced on May 21.
| 5 | 11,372 |
news
|
During a hearing Wednesday with top Obama administration officials, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made clear their desire to debate and pass an authorization for the use of military force against ISIS. At the same time, however, it's clear that stark divisions remain over the language of such an authorization. Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the panel to make the case for the White House's proposed authorization. President Obama sent the AUMF language to Capitol Hill last month, but a large number of senators on both sides of the aisle immediately took issue with the proposal. Wednesday's hearing rehashed those concerns. While all senators on the committee spoke about the importance of Congress passing something approving the use of force, the nature of their divisions makes it difficult to see any middle ground for compromise. Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the committee, laid out this difficulty in his opening statement, saying he doesn't know of a single Democratic senator who supports the proposal, but that Republicans also have serious concerns with it because of geographic and time limits specified in the language. Democrat Tim Kaine, one of the senators who has been most vocal in calling for congressional approval of the use of force, said there would be drastic consequences if Congress isn't able to pass something. Like others, he questioned whether force authorizations in 2001 and 2002 gave authority for the current military action against ISIS, but said the lack of action in Congress has been "highly, highly challenging and disturbing." "If we do not act to authorize it, I think from a legal and precedential standpoint, it would be somewhat catastrophic," Kaine said. "I can't imagine asking people to risk their lives with us not having done our job, and if we were to pass it in a narrow way or a partisan way, that would not send a message that would make people who are risking their lives feel very good about the risk that they are taking." The Virginia lawmaker, along with several other Democrats on the committee, brought up one of the biggest issues for their party regarding the specific AUMF language : the phrase "enduring offensive ground combat operations." Some Democrats mentioned the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, relaying concerns that the vagueness of the term "enduring" could lead to U.S. troops on the ground for an open-ended period of time. Sen. Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the committee, questioned the administration panel about the phrase. "We all know that it may be the intent of someone not to have any large-scale, long-term offensive combat troops, but that intention can honestly change along the way," Menendez said. The draft authorization for force would expire after three years, though Carter made clear that that doesn't mean the administration believes the mission to destroy ISIS will be completed within that period; instead, the time limit was put in place for political reasons, allowing Obama's successor to reconsider the AUMF a year into his or her presidency, and go back to Congress for approval to continue the fight if necessary. Kerry also made the point that because of a 2001 AUMF that was passed after the 9/11 attacks, the White House believes it has the full legal authority to carry out its campaign against the terror group even if Congress can't manage to pass a new authorization. Republican Jeff Flake asked Kerry at what point is it not useful to pass an AUMF and whether a partisan vote would be worse than no congressional action at all. "Is that worse than no AUMF now? Absolutely," Kerry responded. After the hearing, Corker said the difficulties in finding a path forward on the issue, both in the committee and in the full Senate, are "pretty significant." "If you look at where we are today, obviously that path forward is difficult," he said. "But I think you see, in spite of some of the tensions and drama that we've seen in the last 10 days over a number of things, I think you see a group of people who understand the importance of what we do on the foreign relations committee and will seek a way forward." While the authorization for the use of military force was the main topic of the hearing, many senators also used it to air grievances with Kerry over the ongoing nuclear weapons negotiations with Iran. In one of the more contentious moments, Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, got into a heated debate with Kerry over the issue. "I believe that much of our strategy with regards to ISIS is being driven by a desire not to upset Iran so that they don't walk away from the negotiating table on the deal that you're working on," Rubio said. "Tell me why I'm wrong." "Because the facts completely contradict that," Kerry responded. "But I'm not at liberty to discuss all of them here for a lot of different reasons." Also brought up multiple times was the letter , addressed to Iranian leaders about the negotiations, written earlier this week by Republican Tom Cotton and signed by 46 other GOP senators. Kerry, who spent nearly three decades in the Senate, spoke for more than five minutes about the letter, calling it "quite stunning" and saying his reaction was "utter disbelief." Corker who did not sign the letter eventually cut Kerry off to bring the hearing back to questioning over the AUMF. The matter came up again later when Sen. Rand Paul, also a likely presidential contender, said he signed it to send a message to the Obama administration. Paul said if the negotiations undo sanctions against Iran, it will need to be approved by Congress. "I signed the letter to Iran, but you know what? The message I was sending was to you," he said. "The message was to President Obama that we want you to obey the law, we want you to understand the separation of powers."
| 5 | 11,373 |
news
|
Nick Foles reportedly told his family that he was overjoyed to be out of Philadelphia. Do you think this has to do with Chip Kelly?
| 1 | 11,374 |
sports
|
Jordan Spieth has Georgia on his mind. But this week he's still mindful of the Snake Pit. From the moment the young Texan started mapping out his schedule for this season, the Masters has been one big circle in his thoughts, a natural occurrence for all of the game's best players. The first major of the year begins in less than 30 days and Spieth, who finished with a share of second place last year at Augusta National after leading by two with 11 holes to play, is starting to think more about coming up short. And more about what it will take for him to slip on a green jacket and earn a lifetime of golf's most coveted invites. "Obviously the plan is to peak there," Spieth, 21, said after a practice round on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla., home to the Valspar Championship starting Thursday. While he has played in a Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, has one PGA Tour title, added two more wins during a December blitz on two continents last year, is ranked No. 10 in the world and has banked more than $9 million, failure is what drives him. "It's hard," Spieth said of thinking back to the 2014 Masters and finishing three shots in back of Bubba Watson. "The job was to win the tournament." He was in position on the final day after making a lot of good things happen, including holing a bunker shot on the fourth for birdie and making a wicked-fast putt on seven for another birdie. But he can't forget about the bogeys at eight and nine and all the birdie putts that slid by on the back nine. "I still can't figure out to this day what happened," Spieth said of the 30-yard chip shot he had on eight that he thought needed to get down and instead checked up 25 feet above the hole. He three-putted for bogey. His approach on the ninth fell short and he made another bogey and lost his lead for good. "I do have a lot of positives to look back on as I move forward," Spieth said. "But having lead on a Sunday there, just like if it happened here, I'm not going to look back and be pleased to just have a good week. I had a chance to close it out and I didn't get the job done." Spieth, who will play this week and the Texas two-step of the Valero Texas Open and the Shell Houston Open before heading to Augusta, got the job done in 2013 in the Valspar. With a tie for seventh, he earned temporary membership for the rest of the season. Secure with playing status, he became the youngest player in 82 years to win a Tour title at the John Deere Classic, tied for most top-10s on Tour with nine and was the Tour's rookie of the year. "This is a good course for me," Spieth said. "A lot of good memories here." Including on the Snake Pit, a three-hole finishing stretch that is 1,145 yards of nasty. In 2013, Spieth made an improbable birdie on the 475-yard, par-4 16 th on Saturday, and on Sunday knocked in a flop shot for birdie on the 215-yard, par-3 17 th and made a tough 5-footer for par on the 455-yard, par-4 18 th to secure temporary membership by one shot. His birdie on 16 came the result of what he calls "the best shot I've ever hit." He drove through the fairway so far into the trees that TV cameras couldn't locate him. His shot to the green had to clear a collection of small trees and stay below the limbs of a log row of taller trees. And he had to hook the ball 40 yards. He knocked it to 10 feet. That's a memory he enjoys. The memory of the Masters is what fuels him. "It's been a good start this year but not great," said Spieth, who has three top-10s and a tie for 17 th in five starts in 2015. "But I feel good about my game as we get closer to the Masters. I'm trending in the right direction."
| 1 | 11,375 |
sports
|
Scientists have long looked for life on Mars , with little success. Maybe they should try Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus instead. Last year, scientists determined that Enceladus has a liquid ocean (underneath a layer of surface ice) that contains organic chemicals , the compounds that serve as the building blocks of life. Now, new evidence suggests the third crucial component necessary for life is also present on Enceladus: an energy source. Though the moon is too far from the Sun for photosynthesis to occur, in new study published today in Nature, scientists determined that hydrothermal activity is occurring on Enceladus' ocean floor. On Earth, life has evolved to feed off the chemical energy released in similar seafloor environments . If this new study is correct, it's very plausible that life could have evolved on Enceladus too. Enceladus' intriguing ice-covered ocean Enceladus is covered in ice, but in 2005, when the Cassini spacecraft flew by it, it detected plumes of water vapor shooting out through cracks and holes in its surface. Since, Cassini has found about 100 of these geysers , with traces of nitrogen, methane, salt and other substances along with water vapor. For years, the plumes were a mystery, though scientists suspected they were a sign of a liquid water ocean underneath the ice. Last year, scientists confirmed that hypothesis: at its south pole, the moon has a liquid ocean underneath a 20-30 mile-thick layer of ice. It's estimated that the ocean could have about as much water as Lake Superior . Enceladus is very far from the Sun, and its surface is very cold, so it's unclear what heat source is melting the ice to make water. On Jupiter's moon Europa which is also covered in ice, but has a liquid ocean underneath the force of Jupiter's gravity squeezes the moon repeatedly over time, creating friction, and thus heat. But calculations indicate that this source alone can't explain the heat we see emanating from Enceladus, leading scientists to suggest other sources, like the decay of radioactive isotopes , could be involved. Regardless, the ocean discovery got a lot of people excited. If there's a liquid water ocean with organic chemicals like methane, life could theoretically form. It'd just need a usable form of energy to feed off of... New evidence shows that Enceladus has hot springs For the new study , a group led by Hsiang-Wen Hsu of the University of Colorado looked at data that Cassini collected on tiny pieces of dust that have been observed flowing into space from the outermost ring of Saturn (called the E ring). Particles that shoot out of Enceladus' geysers are the original source of the material in the E ring, so these dust grains were formed in Enceladus' interior. The size and chemical makeup of this dust, the scientists determined, indicates that it likely formed as a result of interactions between hot rock and water that is, hydrothermal activity. "The most clear indication of this is that they're most made of silica ," Hsu says. On Earth, silica similarly forms at undersea hydrothermal vents, when chemicals dissolved in hot water crystallize as the water is suddenly cooled when it meets the ocean. Hsu's team used lab experiments to simulate Enceladus' hot springs, and found that to produce silica grains of the size and composition found by Cassini, you'd need rock that's at least 90°C (194°F) to be in contact with the cool ocean water. All this, Hsu says, tells us that Enceladus has a rock core covered in crevices where water can enter and get heated up. Soon after, the water leaves and rises to the ocean surface quickly before it's shot out in plumes (the tiny size of the silica particles indicates they didn't have much time to grow). This means that if we can sample the plumes with a future spacecraft, we might be able to directly determine whether life has evolved on Enceladus and perhaps even see a glimpse of it ourselves. The big question: has there been enough time for life to evolve? The reason that hydrothermal springs on Enceladus are so exciting is that, on Earth, all sorts of life forms have evolved around similar environments. In a commentary article accompanying the new study, geophysicist Gabriel Tobie (who wasn't involved in the research) highlights the potential similarities between Enceladus' hot springs and Lost City , a series of hot vents in the extremely cold water of the mid-Atlantic. Previously, other researchers have speculated that these sorts of hydrothermal vents could be the sites on Earth where life originally evolved billions of years ago, feeding off the chemical energy emitted by them. So if the new findings are accurate, Enceladus would seem to have an environment in which life can evolve. But there's still another big question to be answered. "The other element you need for life is time," Hsu says. "Has the system been stable for long enough for life to evolve?" It took roughly a billion years for life to evolve on Earth. So if Enceladus' ocean is only 100 years old, for instance, it's hard to imagine any organisms living in it. But for all we know, even the emergence of life on Earth could have been a singular accident an exceedingly unlikely event that might not occur again, even given unlimited time. Or it could be a predictable event that happens whenever conditions are right, and maybe even takes far less than a billion years most of the time. To learn more about the age of Enceladus' ocean, we can use Cassini to measure the heat emanating from the moon, and use that data to test different ideas about the mechanisms that might be heating it from the inside. But if we want to know for sure if there's life on Enceladus, we'll have to send another spacecraft one that's capable of looking for signs of life in the plumes of water vapor, and perhaps even returning a sample of it to Earth.
| 5 | 11,376 |
news
|
The most powerful solid rocket booster ever built was fired up for the first time Wednesday in a test that NASA described as a "significant milestone" toward Mars. Tied horizontally to the ground at the base of a Utah mountain, the 177-foot-long (54-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) booster was hot-fired for two minutes to see how the system would perform when eventually launched. "Great test, just a fantastic result," said Alex Priskos, who manages the Boosters Office for the SLS program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "This thing was about as perfect... as it could be." Two boosters and four RS-25 rocket engines will eventually propel the SLS and the Orion spacecraft atop it to deep space destinations like an asteroid and Mars, places where humans have never before ventured. The rocket's first test flight is scheduled for 2017, when it will be configured to lift 70 tons of gear into space on an unmanned Orion spaceship. Eventually the SLS "will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons) to enable missions even farther into our solar system," the US space agency said on its website. The technology represents a big boost over the power needed to send astronauts to space during the three-decade-long shuttle era, which ended in 2011 when the program was retired. "These motors have 25 percent more energy than the motors we used to get the shuttle off the ground during the space shuttle days," said Todd May, program manager for SLS. Eventually, the Orion multipurpose capsule aims to carry humans to Mars sometime in the 2030s, according to NASA's plans. Wednesday's booster test, which heated the equipment to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), took place at ATK Aerospace System's test facility in Promontory, Utah. A second, low-temperature test of the booster is planned for early 2016.
| 5 | 11,377 |
news
|
"Top Gear "host Jeremy Clarkson may have been suspended by the BBC, but that doesn't mean he's abandoned his old antics. The gregarious television personality seemed to be taking his time on the sidelines in stride. In fact, fellow hosts James May and Richard Hammond seem to be equally nonchalant about the situation. With the BBC set to scrap the remaining three episodes of the show's 22nd season, "Top Gear's" trio of charismatic hosts took to Twitter to brainstorm ideas of the many shows that could take its Sunday night time slot effectively trolling the employer that has suspended him. James May started off the conversation by suggesting a 1964 film about a fictional British World War II fighter-bomber squadron called " 633 Squadron " be shown instead. Clarkson then insists that the 1968 Richard Burton-Clint Eastwood WWII classic, " Where Eagles Dare ," is a better option. Richard Hammond finally made an appearance, suggesting the BBC show an episode of " Last of the Summer Wine " a British sitcom that ran for 31 seasons, exploring the youthful antics of a group of elderly men. Hammond was referencing to a joke the hosts recently made at a press event about "Top Gear" becoming a show about the antics of three old men. Clarkson has the final word. He'd like the network to show one his war documentaries. Outside of "Top Gear," Clarkson has also presented a series of war documentaries addressing topics such as the history of the Victoria Cross , the 1942 raid of St. Nazaire , and WWII allied supply convoys in the Arctic. Although, the bombastic host may be in a cheerful mood, his daughter has jokingly taken to Twitter to announced it was time for her father to return to work. Since news of Clarkson's suspension and the show's removal from the airwaves broke, support from fans has been swift. Within a day, more than half a million of the show's fans have signed an online petition seeking Clarkson's reinstatement. Finally, fellow host James May offered words of support for his colleague when approached for comment by ITV. NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do
| 6 | 11,378 |
entertainment
|
You know your Lohans and Lipnickis, your Drews and KStews. Still, you might be surprised to learn just how many Hollywood A-listers got their start as child stars. No, not just the cast of Harry Potter.While the rest of us were playing Nintendo or throwing spitballs in science class, these celebs were having lunch with Spielberg at The Ivy. They had agents, adorable little headshots, and IMDB profiles, all by the time puberty hit. And, then they kept on going, transforming that early taste of fame into successful Hollywood careers. These power players are proof that early stardom isn't necessarily a recipe for disaster. Judging by the amount of Oscars this crowd has racked up, we're starting to wonder if that early-bird-catches-the-worm thing isn't a metaphor for acting. Click through to see which youngsters grew up to be major stars, DiCaprio-style. Designed by Ly Ngo. You know your Lohans and Lipnickis, your Drews and KStews. Still, you might be surprised to learn just how many Hollywood A-listers got their start as child stars. No, not just the cast of Harry Potter.While the rest of us were playing Nintendo or throwing spitballs in science class, these celebs were having lunch with Spielberg at The Ivy. They had agents, adorable little headshots, and IMDB profiles, all by the time puberty hit. And, then they kept on going, transforming that early taste of fame into successful Hollywood careers. These power players are proof that early stardom isn't necessarily a recipe for disaster. Judging by the amount of Oscars this crowd has racked up, we're starting to wonder if that early-bird-catches-the-worm thing isn't a metaphor for acting. Click through to see which youngsters grew up to be major stars, DiCaprio-style. Photo: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Jake GyllenhaalBaby Jake played Billy Crystal's son in 1991's City Slickers. Photo: ITV/REX USA. Felicity JonesThe Oscar-nominated star began acting at age 12, landing roles in The Treasure Seekers and The Worst Witch. Photo: Courtesy CBS/Procter & Gamble Productions. Amanda SeyfriedPrior to Mean Girls, Seyfried was a teen actress in soaps like All My Children and As the World Turns. Photo: Courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Rose ByrneThe Annie star had her first role at age 13, appearing in 1994's Dallas Doll in her native Australia. Photo: c.MGM/Everett/REX USA. FergieThe pop star played cutie-pie Stacy Ferguson (her real name) on The Disney Channel's Kids Incorporated from 1984 to 1989. Photo: Everett Collection/REX USA. Joaquin PhoenixWay back when, Phoenix was a kid actor (shown here in 1986's SpaceCamp) who went by the name of Leaf. Photo: Courtesy of Pee-wee Pictures. Natasha LyonneThe Orange Is The New Black star was cast as Opal in Pee-wee's Playhouse at age six. Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television. Regina KingBehold, 227's Brenda Jenkins and her fabulous hair, circa the late '80s. Joseph Gordon-LevittJGL had a stack of acting credits even before 3rd Rock from the Sun debuted. Here he is holding tight to Danny Glover in a scene from 1994's Angels in the Outfield. Photo: Courtesy of CBC Television. Mike MyersYes, that's Austin Powers at age 12 in his guest role on Canadian sitcom King of Kensington. Gotta love the hair. Photo: c.TBS/Everett/REX USA. Jennifer LawrenceJust a few years ago, J Lawr was a regular on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. My, how times have changed. Photo: Everett Collection/REX USA. Cynthia NixonLike Sarah Jessica Parker, Nixon got her career off to an early start thanks to roles in afternoon specials and 1980's Little Darlings. Scarlett JohanssonScarJo's been acting since age 9, appearing in films like If Lucy Fell, North, and Just Cause. Photo: Columbia/Everett/REX USA. Sarah PolleyThe little girl from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen grew up to be a badass actress, director, and screenwriter. Photo: Everett Collection/REX USA. Christian BaleHow many 13-year-olds can lay claim to a leading role in a Spielberg film? Bale got his big break in 1987's Empire of the Sun. Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX USA. Alex PettyferThe Magic Mike star played a teen secret agent in Stormbreaker. Pure schoolgirl crush material. Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX USA. Katherine HeiglThe former child model had her big break in 1994's My Father the Hero, in which she played Gérard Depardieu's lovesick daughter. Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX USA. Michael CeraGeorge Michael Bluth was not Cera's first time at the rodeo. The Canadian actor had roles in Frequency, Steal This Movie!, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and I Was a Sixth Grade Alien. Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX USA. Natalie PortmanAnyone who saw a 12-year-old Portman in Léon: The Professional knew she'd eventually end up winning an Oscar. Photo: Moviestore Collection/REX USA. Neil Patrick HarrisEveryone knows about Doogie Howser, M.D., but NPH was acting long before then. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the 1988 Whoopi Goldberg film Clara's Heart. Photo: REX USA. Laurence FishburneCan we take a moment to appreciate just how cute Fishburne is on this 1975 film poster? Kate WinsletThe Oscar winner cut her teeth on British TV in the early '90s. Photo: Everett Collection/REX USA. Johnny GaleckiHere's the Big Bang Theory star and baby Juliette Lewis in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (a.k.a. your favorite holiday film ever). Photo: Everett Collection/REX USA. Jack O'ConnellThe Unbroken star landed a role in This Is England at the age of 15. Photo: Andre Csillag/REX USA. Naomi CampbellLook closely and you'll see the supermodel gearing up for a tap-dancing routine for Culture Club's 1982 "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" video. Campbell also appeared in Bob Marley's "Is This Love" video in 1978. Photo: Jim Smeal/BEImages. Josh HutchersonOh, Peeta. Too cute. The 22-year-old Hunger Games star has been acting since 2002, with roles in kiddie favorites like The Polar Express and Zathura. Photo: Everett Collection/REX USA. Ryan GoslingJust another Mickey Mouse Club member, hanging with Britney, Christina, and Justin. Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Television. Shailene WoodleyShe may have been replaced as Kaitlin Cooper in The O.C., but Woodley had no shortage of acting credits as a youngster, including the lead in Felicity: An American Girl Adventure. Photo: Courtesy of YTV. Ryan ReynoldsFuture stud right here. Reynolds got his start on the Canadian teen soap Hillside, which aired on Nickelodeon as Fifteen. Photo: REX USA. Reese WitherspoonThe A-lister has been acting since 1991's The Man in the Moon. Photo: REX USA. Diane LaneA 13-year-old Lane starred opposite Laurence Olivier in 1979's A Little Romance, eventually landing on the cover of Time as a Hollywood "whiz kid." Like this post? There's more. Get tons of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and cat videos on the Refinery29 Entertainment Facebook page. Like us on Facebook we'll see you there!
| 6 | 11,379 |
entertainment
|
Sleep expert Heather Turgeon, co-author of "The Happy Sleeper: The Science-Backed Guide to Helping Your Baby Get a Good Night's Sleep Newborn to School Age," will fix your family's sleep problems in this space as she does in her home consultations. Turgeon's solutions are nonjudgmental, kind and best of all based on science. No situation is too challenging. Leave your sleep problem in the comments. Let's all get a good night's sleep, finally. Dear Heather, How do I know when it's time to drop the nap? My 3-year-old only naps half the time and, when she does, her bedtime is much later. Should she stop napping completely? Dear Nap or Not, It's a puzzle! Let's figure it out, because there isn't a set age when kids should stop napping. To nap or not to nap depends on your child's schedule and individual sleep needs (some kids need slightly more or less sleep, just like adults). First, kids 3 to 5 years old need 11 to 13 hours total sleep in 24 hours. Three-year-olds are on the young side of that spectrum, so let's say the average kid this age needs 12 to 13 hours. Your 3-year-old could nap for two hours and sleep 10 to 11 hours at night. Or, she could stop napping and sleep 12 hours at night consistently. Often when kids stop napping, they get the same total sleep, but consolidated into the nighttime. Signs your little one is ready to make that jump are: She's at least 3 (closer to 3.5). She lays calm but awake in her crib or bed for 1 to 2 weeks straight. This doesn't mean she's jumping out of bed (which is more of a protest than a genuine not-tiredness). Rather, you'll notice she's laying there or quietly playing, but she's awake. When she does nap, she can't fall asleep until 9 p.m. If she sleeps 12 hours at night but doesn't nap, she holds it together pretty well and seems alert and happy in the afternoon and evening. You'll find guidelines and checklists for going from three to two to one naps my book, " The Happy Sleeper ." The key is that if you do decide to drop the nap, your preschooler needs a super early and consistent bedtime 7 p.m. or even a little earlier. If you can't accommodate that, it's better to keep the nap in place, so she can make up for lost nighttime sleep during the day. The biggest mistake would be to drop the nap but have her get to bed at 8 p.m. unless she's one of those rare kids who can sleep in till 8 a.m.
| 4 | 11,380 |
lifestyle
|
Using Google Glass, hairstylist Matt Fugate walks us through the four-strand (or chain) braid.
| 4 | 11,381 |
lifestyle
|
A legal loophole has temporarily made it legal to possess ecstasy and other drugs in Ireland. CNN's Erin McLaughlin reports.
| 5 | 11,382 |
news
|
Lots of people rely on coffee to wake up in the morning, but you don't have to. Gillian Pensavalle (@GillianWithaG) has are some ways to start your day without caffeine.
| 8 | 11,383 |
video
|
Guardians of the French language have dropped their famously fierce blockade against invading English words and are now welcoming them for enriching -- rather than threatening -- the lexicon. "The French language is not frozen. A language is always evolving," Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said Wednesday at an event for the annual French Language and Francophonie Week starting this weekend. "Some languages -- like English today, or Italian in the past -- have been particularly generous in offering hundreds of new words to French," she added in a statement for the launch. The government's stance marks a dramatic break with France's previous rigid defence of its language against other tongues -- especially English, which is uncontested as the global lingua franca, largely thanks to Hollywood and the Internet. Before, France stomped on the public use of English loan words. It legislated to make sure all advertising was in French or at least included a translation of non-French terms; it fixed quotas for French songs on the radio; and it fought a campaign against terms like "e-mail", "marketing" and "challenge" being used in official documents. Much of the struggle was in vain. French businesspeople and youth today frequently sprinkle their speech and, yes, e-mails with anglicisms. - French 'not in danger' - Pellerin -- a technophile Frenchwoman born in South Korea who also fluently speaks English and German, and is passable in Italian -- argued that French is robust enough to accommodate words from English and other languages without being overrun. "French is not in danger and my responsibility as minister is not to erect ineffective barriers against languages but to give all our citizens the means to make it live on," she said. France's 1994 law decreeing that all public advertising must be in French still stands, but with authorities permitting greater leeway in its application than in the past. French linguists cheered the shift in position, saying it did away with pedantry in favour of a more open approach. Alain Rey, author of a dictionary on the history of French and a member of a Commission on French Terminology, said attempts to stop the adoption of some commonly used words were ridiculous. He pointed out that the word "challenge", for instance, in fact originally came from Old French ("chalonge") before being taken up in English. "Passing laws (against loan words) is to tilt at windmills," Rey said. - A language 'needs to live' - A Haitian-Canadian writer, Dany Laferriere, said at the culture minister's launch event that "a language needs to live first of all, otherwise it's all just ideology". Another linguist and author on the French language, Henriette Walter, said that "it is annoying" when foreign words are used to substitute for perfectly good and common French words. "But when one needs a new word for a new object, say a plant that comes from another country, one is rather pleased to have a word to refer to it," she said. The French and Francophonie Week celebrating the French language, spoken by 274 million people in different countries around the world, begins on Saturday.
| 5 | 11,384 |
news
|
After trailing by 20 points in the second half, Clemson mounted a ridiculous comeback against the Seminoles in the final two minutes of the game, scoring 15 points in 1:25 to make it a one-possession game. Watch the Tigers' furious rally in the second round of the 2015 New York Life ACC Tournament!
| 1 | 11,385 |
sports
|
How will we ever know?
| 5 | 11,386 |
news
|
Four teenagers from Milton, Georgia were arrested for stealing a goat so one of them could make a video asking a girl to prom. Mara Montalbano (@maramontalbano) has the story.
| 8 | 11,387 |
video
|
Three inmates were killed, including at least one who was fatally shot, during a Honduran prison riot that also left seven prisoners and eight guards hurt, authorities said on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Honduras National Police said 400 officers and military troops dispatched to the San Pedro Sula prison to restore order were met by gunfire from within the facility, and they were pelted with stones and other projectiles. Once order was finally restored, police said they confiscated assault rifles, automatic firearm ammunition and other munitions from inside the facility. Bloodied and incapacitated inmates could be seen being taken out of the prison by emergency crews following the riot and clash with police. The San Pedro Sula prison, located some 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of the capital city Tegucigalpa, was built for 1,300 inmates, but houses 2,900. Officials said one of the deceased inmates died from a bullet wound to the head, but provided no immediate cause of death for the others. President Juan Orlando Hernandez has ordered a crackdown against criminality in Honduras's prisons, where violence and gang activity is rampant. He also ordered the removal to other facilities of about 20 of the most hardened criminals at San Pedro Sula prison, which officials said appeared to have precipitated Wednesday's uprising.
| 5 | 11,388 |
news
|
In 2006, the tiny Caribbean state of St. Kitts and Nevis was in deep trouble. Its sugar plantations had closed a year earlier, gang violence had given it the dubious distinction of having one of the world's highest murder rates, and only two governments on Earth were more indebted. A three-hour flight south of Miami, the country of 48,000 people was more or less unknown. Certainly, the two specks of volcanic rock in the middle of the West Indies weren't of much interest to the world's rich. St. Kitts and Nevis had run a citizenship-by-investment program had sold passports since 1984, but it didn't get much attention and was never a moneymaker. Then a Swiss lawyer named Christian Kalin showed up. Thanks to Kalin, St. Kitts has become the world's most popular place to buy a passport, offering citizenship for $250,000 with no requirement that applicants ever set foot on the island's sun-kissed shores. Buyers get visa-free travel to 132 countries, limited disclosure of financial information, and no taxes on income or capital gains. The program became so successful that St. Kitts emerged from the global financial crisis far ahead of its neighbors in the Caribbean. "It's been a complete transformation," says Judith Gold, head of an International Monetary Fund mission to the country. Just as Kalin put St. Kitts on the map, Bloomberg Markets will report in its April 2015 issue, the reverse is also true. It made his reputation. Before St. Kitts, Kalin's firm, Henley & Partners, was an obscure wealth management and immigration consultancy, and Kalin was working out of a small branch office in Zurich. Tall, with a runner's build, Kalin was known as a researcher, he says, not the hard-nosed dealmaker he's become. His claim to fame was having edited a 766-page guide to doing business in Switzerland, a tome found in every one of the country's embassies. Soon, prime ministers from around the world were seeking Kalin's advice, in the hope he could reproduce the magic of St. Kitts, where he effectively created a resource out of thin air for a nation that had few. Many countries allow wealthy foreigners to buy residency cards through what are called immigrant investor programs, but before the financial crisis, St. Kitts and another Caribbean island called Dominica were the only ones selling citizenship outright. Since then, another five countries have gotten into the game. More are coming. Kalin advised the governments of Cyprus and Grenada, which established citizenship-by-investment plans in 2011 and 2013, respectively. Also in 2013, he designed a program very much like St. Kitts's for Antigua and Barbuda. In 2014, Kalin crafted a plan for Malta, the smallest member of the European Union. "Pretty much every government that has even contemplated this has talked to us," he says. In St. Lucia, a task force is considering proposals from Henley and other firms. Albania, Croatia, Jamaica, Montenegro, and Slovenia are looking at programs, too. "The bottom line" it's a phrase Kalin uses often "is that more states are open to making citizenship rights available through investment," he says. "And it makes a lot of sense. Why not give citizenship to people who contribute a lot to the country?" Since revamping the St. Kitts program in November 2006, Kalin has built Henley into the biggest firm in an industry turning citizenship into a commodity. Investors spent an estimated $2 billion buying new passports last year alone, and Kalin predicts demand will grow along with the ranks of the wealthy in emerging countries. "It's a question of mobility and also security," he says. "If you're from a country that's politically unstable, where you're not sure what the future holds, you want to have an alternative." Henley is privately held and Kalin won't discuss its revenue, but he says by the end of 2014, the firm had helped dozens of governments raise $4 billion in direct investment through citizenship or residency programs. It has also advised thousands of multimillionaires on where and how to buy a passport of convenience, collecting fees and commissions from all sides. Last year, at 42, Kalin became Henley's chairman. The business Kalin pioneered has its share of critics, who say it gives the wealthy more room to avoid taxes and provides safe harbor to people who made their money illegally. "We've created over the past 50 years an entire shadow financial system that helps people hide money," says Raymond Baker, president of the Washington-based advocacy group Global Financial Integrity. "This is a new wrinkle in that." In June, Bloomberg News reported that Paul Bilzerian, a former Wall Street raider who served two prison terms for fraud, was claiming to be licensed to process citizenship applications for St. Kitts, where he now lives. Bilzerian helped an entrepreneur named Roger Ver a provocateur widely known as Bitcoin Jesus to purchase citizenship on the island. The two men then launched a website called Passports for Bitcoin to help people in places such as China use virtual currency to skirt local laws limiting money transfers. Learning of this, the St. Kitts citizenship unit made a hasty announcement that it wouldn't be accepting bitcoins as payment. Bilzerian declined to comment for this story. "Like everywhere, in any industry, you have a spectrum of highly professional people all the way down to crooks and idiots," Kalin says. Still, the passport business isn't quite like any other. It presses moral buttons that most industries don't. Is it right to turn citizenship into something that can be bought and sold? That's still an open question for most people, and Kalin admits as much. "It's sensitive," he says. Beyond those sensitivities, there's also concern that criminals, or even terrorists, are buying second passports. The U.S. Treasury Department issued a warning in May 2014 that St. Kitts had granted passports to Iranian nationals seeking to avoid trade sanctions on the country for its nuclear program. In November, Canada announced it would no longer allow St. Kitts citizens to enter without a visa, due to concerns about "identity management practices within its Citizenship by Investment program." St. Kitts responded the next month with a passport recall. Those issued from January 2012 to July 2014 would have to be returned and replaced with ones indicating the holder's place of birth and any other names by which he or she had been known information that wasn't on the originals. Montreal-based Arton Capital, Henley's biggest competitor, estimates as many as 16,000 passports may be returned. Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands, a 2010 book about tax havens, says the industry feeds into a culture of corruption in poor countries that make a business of ignoring their own laws. "These smaller jurisdictions haven't got anything to sell besides 'we'll let you do anything you want,'" he says. Developed countries run into trouble, too. Miguel Macedo, Portugal's interior minister, stepped down in November, and the head of the country's immigration services was arrested amid an investigation into influence peddling and embezzlement in its new residency-by- investment program. Macedo has denied any wrongdoing. "All of the programs have a certain tendency for corruption, unfortunately," Kalin says. "But you have to understand that we, and I, have not paid a single cent to any government official, ever." *** Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda , starts his sales pitch with a geography lesson for all would-be citizens who might have trouble finding the country on a map. (It's about 60 miles [100 kilometers] east of St. Kitts.) Then, bending over the podium, he reads out a list of the country's selling points, including its "365 beaches, its pristine waters, beautiful climate." The prime minister sounds less like a statesman than a tour guide, or perhaps the property developer he once was. He's selling Antiguan citizenship, which can be had for a $200,000 donation or a $400,000 investment in real estate, plus about $60,000 in fees, a deal similar to the one St. Kitts offers. In the weeks before, Browne had delivered the same pitch at roadshows in Toronto and London. This time, in late October, he's in Singapore at the five-star Fullerton Hotel, where Henley & Partners is hosting its eighth annual Global Residence and Citizenship Conference. The golf course at the Four Seasons resort at Pinney's Beach on Nevis. Buy a villa here minimum $400,000 and become a citizen. The prime minister of Malta, the premier of Nevis, the commerce minister of Cyprus, and a Portuguese ambassador are here, too. They've all come at Kalin's invitation. Each will have about 15 minutes to make his pitch. For Joseph Muscat of Malta, it's the fourth appearance at a Henley event in 12 months. Malta's contract with Henley requires high-ranking government officials to speak at the firm's events "whenever requested." The audience is 300 or so lawyers and accountants, middlemen in the citizenship-by-investment industry who probably have little interest in tourist amenities. For their clients mostly wealthy Chinese, Russians, and Middle Easterners looking for second passports the less time spent in places like Antigua the better. Indeed, one of the first things Browne did after being elected last June was to lower Antigua's residency requirement for citizenship buyers to five days over five years from 35 days over the same period. Browne also threw out a plan to publish passport recipients' names. No other program except Malta's does that. "It was an issue of competition," he explains the day before his speech. Antigua settled on five days of residency as a compromise, he says, "so there will be some familiarity with the destination. We don't want it to appear as just a vulgar sale of passports." That's what the industry is most afraid of, says Nuri Katz, CEO of Apex Capital Partners, an immigration consulting firm based in Montreal. It's the reason leaders like Browne talk about beaches few want to visit and people in the business insist on the term citizenship by investment rather than passports for sale. "There's a stigma against it, so everyone is trying to keep it under the radar," Katz says. There are things about Antigua's situation that Browne leaves out of his standard speech. The economy has shrunk by a quarter since the financial crisis. Tourism has taken a hit, and the country's biggest employer, Stanford International Bank, collapsed after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged its owners with operating a massive Ponzi scheme. "We need the money," Browne says. Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, the commerce minister of Cyprus, makes a few remarks about beaches and then cuts to the chase, taking about 30 seconds to speed through the procedure of buying citizenship in the third-smallest country in the European Union, with no residency required. "The process?" he says. "Very simple." Applicants fill out a three-page form, invest €2.5 million ($2.8 million) in a villa, and pay €7,000 in fees. Then, as long as they're able to produce a Certificate of Clean Criminal Record, "within 90 days, they can get their European passport." "Within 90 days," he repeats. "Lately, we even achieve 70 days. It's very easy process and has very high approval rate." Kalin says the essential attraction of a second passport has to do with travel: People of means want to be able to move around without endless visa hassles. Taxes are another motivation. Citizenship in places such as St. Kitts or Antigua, where the rate on capital gains is zero, can help a tax lawyer make the case you don't owe money in other jurisdictions. Thomas Liepman, director of the Christophe Harbour resort in St. Kitts, is at the Singapore conference selling time-share condominiums that come with citizenship for a minimum investment of $400,000. Henley promotes Liepman's resort, along with several others, and collects referral fees. Condo-with-passport packages have become so popular that the island is dotted with villas that are rarely occupied. "This is a fantastic property to have a home, to have an address when the taxman comes asking why I claim that I'm a resident of St. Kitts and Nevis," Liepman tells the audience. There are a few passport shoppers mingling among the crowd of brokers during intermissions. Auyong Jeen is one of them. A short man from Indonesia in his late 60s, with his shirt untucked and a stack of brochures under one arm, he says he has commercial interests all over the place, including cigarette and cup ramen factories in Cambodia. "Travel difficult," he says, struggling for words in English. Indonesians can visit only 56 countries without a visa, and prized destinations like the U.S. and the EU countries aren't among them. Another potential buyer is Gul Chotrani. A heavyset Singaporean with his sleeves rolled up, he says his job is managing the family fortune. He's come to the conference as a guest of his representative at Bank of Singapore. "If you haven't noticed," Chotrani says, "there's no such thing as home loyalty anymore. You have to protect your assets. It's the simplest economic logic." *** After Henley struck the deal in St. Kitts , business came more easily. So did controversy. Kalin made enemies by driving hard bargains in country after country. In Antigua, the government backed out of its agreement with him just months after the ink dried on a November 2012 contract that would have given Henley the exclusive right to market its citizenship program. Then Attorney General Justin Simon says Henley took advantage of Antigua's desperation. "I'm just a very good negotiator," Kalin says. "The former prime minister and Justin Simon can say they were cornered, or they can say what they want. But the process was very fair and very transparent. They reneged." When Kalin started the St. Kitts deal, the world's oldest citizenship-by-investment program had already been around for decades, but it was slow-moving and bureaucratic. "It was a mess," Kalin says. Earlier that year, the U.S. State Department had warned the program's inadequate regulation was adding to the islands' already high risk of corruption and money laundering. Kalin's idea was to put the program directly under the oversight of Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, a physician who'd been in power since 1995. It was a move that had unintended consequences. The deal gave Henley exclusive rights to market St. Kitts as a citizenship destination and a 10 percent commission on every $250,000 investment into a vehicle Kalin set up: the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation, a fund meant to generate jobs for people who'd lost work in the cane fields. The government, which had owned the sugar plantations and processing plants, shuttered the industry in 2005, saying it was no longer competitive. Henley's deal was a five-year, renewable monopoly. From the start, the contract made members of Douglas's own cabinet uncomfortable. "I didn't believe that anybody should get exclusivity," says Sam Condor, the former deputy prime minister. "All these people who are now saying Henley got a sweetheart deal?" Kalin says. "It's bullshit. We all started from zero. Totally from zero. No one knew how successful this would be." 'The process? Very simple,' says the commerce minister of Cyprus. 'Within 90 days, they can get their European passport.' Shortly after the agreement was concluded, Henley hired a man named Wendell Lawrence, a consultant who was at the same time a paid adviser to the prime minister. Lawrence had been the top bureaucrat at the finance ministry until mid-2005 and was also related to Douglas through marriage, a typical connection on an island where everyone knows everyone. Lawrence says his consulting work for Douglas never involved the citizenship program. "There were firewalls to prevent conflict of interest," he says. Kalin says that although Lawrence was advertised on Henley's website as a partner, he didn't have an ownership stake in the firm. The tangle of relationships stretched in other directions, too. Douglas appointed the mother of his two children, a former diplomat named Kate Alex Woodley, to head a consulate in Dubai that opened in 2012 to market the citizenship program. Meanwhile, the business got an unexpected boost. In May 2009, the EU and six Caribbean countries, including St. Kitts, signed an agreement permitting mutual visa- free travel. All of a sudden, a St. Kitts passport was a lot more valuable. Then another piece fell into place. Canada started to close its investor immigration window. Since the 1990s, the country had been offering residency to wealthy people in exchange for an interest-free loan worth about $650,000. When the program was shuttered outright in early 2014, there were 75,000 unprocessed applications, an enormous opportunity for every other country trying to lure investors. The St. Kitts citizenship-by-investment unit doesn't say who buys passports or how much money has been generated. The country has no freedom of information legislation, and an integrity-in-public-life act, promised when Douglas took power, hasn't been made law. "Dr. Douglas handled all of the passports. He signed them all," says Dwyer Astaphan, a former minister of national security who resigned in 2008 and became an outspoken critic of Douglas. "Nobody in St. Kitts has the slightest clue how many passports have been issued, including his cabinet members. I was one." Douglas didn't respond to multiple interview requests and declined to answer questions in writing. The prime minister was defeated in a Feb. 16 election by Timothy Harris, a former political ally. At the time of this writing, Harris had yet to comment publicly on his plans for the citizenship program. *** In the summer of 2013 , Kalin took his product to Malta, an island of 420,000 people near Sicily. The stakes were now much higher. Maltese citizenship confers the right to live and work anywhere in the European Union and to travel visa-free to the U.S. "That's pretty much the entire story," says Demetrios Papademetriou, an expert on investor immigration programs and founder of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. In January of last year, Malta started selling citizenship for €650,000. (Over the next few months, it added additional investment requirements.) During its first year, the program raised more than €500 million an amount equal to 16 percent of the government's 2014 budget. Henley earns a 4 percent commission on all the funds paid to Malta. The firm also gets €70,000 from each of its clients, and additional fees if their spouses or children apply. Kalin says he designed the program with higher barriers to entry than elsewhere. Applicants are run against law-enforcement databases and checked by a due diligence firm. Even then, a candidate who comes up clean might be rejected simply because something doesn't feel right, Kalin says, offering the hypothetical example of a Pakistani national with a pharmaceutical business in the Central African Republic. Despite these apparent safeguards, then EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding blasted the program in January 2014. "Citizenship must not be up for sale," she said. The truth is, though, the EU can do little about the program other than make speeches. There's no legal basis for stopping a member country from exercising its sovereignty. "The reason the EU commission really slammed down on this," says Papademetriou, "was because it amounted to selling an EU passport and they didn't trust Malta to do the due diligence." Jason Azzopardi, a Maltese lawmaker from the opposition Nationalist Party, calls the program the "prostitution of our citizenship." He says the prime minister deceived voters by waiting until after being elected in June 2013 to mention the idea of selling passports. Kalin brushes it all aside. "This is the key point," he says. "The opposition realizes that this program is going to keep them out of power for a long time. It's going to bring in a lot of money, and whoever is in office is going to benefit." Malta's Individual Investor Programme was eventually modified to include a residency requirement that is vague even according to the program's CEO, Jonathan Cardona. "It doesn't say physical residency," Cardona says. "We expect an individual to be in Malta for a number of days; we don't go into the specific number. If you're asking me, are these people going to move here entirely, I would say, 'Listen, let's not fool ourselves.'" "Forget residency," says Apex Capital's Katz. "There's not even an educational requirement. You don't have to have graduated high school. The only criteria are you have dough and you're not a criminal." Prime Minister Muscat presents things differently. He describes Malta's citizenship program as an exclusive membership club open only to the best and brightest of the wealthy. "If you are after the cheapest route to citizenship," he tells the audience at Henley's Singapore conference, "Malta is not for you. If you're after a program that allows in all and sundry, then, sorry again, we're not for you. But if you want to join the highest-end talent program in the world, we welcome you." As the prime minister speaks, a PowerPoint glitch plays an unfortunate trick on him. He'd come onstage after a slide show introducing Henley's salespeople, the last of whom was blond- haired Christopher Willis, the firm's rep in St. Kitts. Willis's giant head shot, next to a map of the Caribbean, is frozen on- screen. It looms over the prime minister's shoulder the entire time he's pitching Malta and its better class of citizenship program. However Muscat tries to sell it, nobody watching will be able to forget where it all started. This story appears in the April 2015 issue of Bloomberg Markets. To contact the author on this story: Jason Clenfield at [email protected] To contact the editor on this story: Daniel Ferrara at [email protected]
| 3 | 11,389 |
finance
|
Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix answers your questions including what more Russell Westbrook has to do to win the MVP, why Ernie Grunfeld still has a job and what seed the Spurs would rather have.
| 1 | 11,390 |
sports
|
Brice Johnson dunked early and often against the Eagles, and Isaiah Hicks had an impressive putback for the Tar Heels. Watch the top 3 North Carolina dunks against Boston College in the second round of the 2015 New York Life ACC Tournament.
| 1 | 11,391 |
sports
|
WASHINGTON The United States will provide Ukrainian forces fighting Russia-backed separatists $75 million in nonlethal equipment, including small reconnaissance drones, radios and military ambulances, a senior administration official said. President Barack Obama has also approved the transfer of 30 armored Humvees and up to 200 unarmored Humvees under a separate authority, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity. "We have said from the outset of the crisis in Ukraine that the United States supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the official said. "We have been working together with our European and other international partners to achieve a diplomatic solution to this crisis." The aid comes amid an ongoing debate inside the administration and Congress over whether the U.S. should start providing defensive weapons to the Ukrainian forces to try to force Moscow to withdraw its support for the separatist insurgency. Despite a cease-fire negotiated by leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine on Feb. 12, fighting has continued in parts of Ukraine. An estimated 6,000 people have died since fighting broke out 11 months ago after Russia's seizure and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory. "While we continue to believe that there is no military resolution to this crisis, Ukraine has the right to defend itself," the official said. Many in the U.S. government, including lawmakers, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and James Clapper, director of national intelligence, have publicly advocated providing lethal arms to Ukraine. Thus far, the U.S. has given only nonlethal aid to Ukraine's military, including medicine, night-vision goggles and armored vests since the conflict erupted. As many as 300 American troops are also to be sent to the Lviv region on Ukraine's western border, far from the conflict zone, to train Ukrainian soldiers. The White House approved the new allocation of $75 million through the Pentagon's European Reassurance Initiative funds. The Pentagon expects the equipment to arrive in six to nine months. The package includes counter-mortar radars for warning and protection against mortar and artillery fire and night-vision devices. It also includes small remote-controlled Raven drones, made by AeroVironment Inc. in Simi Valley, Calif., that are thrown into the air by soldiers and provide a bird's-eye view of what's happening over a ridge or around a bend. Also Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting eight Ukrainian separatists, a Russian pro-separatist organization and a bank that has become the largest in Crimea since Russia seized the area from Ukraine. The sanctions freeze all assets held on U.S. property and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.
| 5 | 11,392 |
news
|
People with stress, depression and coronary heart disease were 48 percent more likely to have a heart attack or die in the next 2.5 years.
| 7 | 11,393 |
health
|
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve approved plans by major U.S. banks to raise dividends and buy back shares, but gave only conditional approval for Bank of America, citing weaknesses in the bank's planning processes. The Fed also rejected plans by the U.S. divisions of two European banks, saying their planning for financial risks is inadequate. Those divisions belong to Germany's Deutsche Bank and Spain's Santander. The Fed approvals announced Wednesday followed part of its "stress tests" an annual check-up of the nation's biggest financial institutions. This year, 31 banks were tested to determine if they have large enough capital buffers to keep lending through another financial crisis and severe economic downturn. The remaining 28 banks can raise dividends or buy back shares. They included JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo & Co., which with Bank of America are the four biggest U.S. banks by assets. Shortly after the Fed announced its results Wednesday, a handful of banks began increasing their dividends, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Bank of America announced plans to buy back $4 billion in stock after the conditional approval from the Fed. Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, has until Sept. 30 to resubmit its capital plan. If the new plan for its financial management processes isn't acceptable to the Fed, the regulators said they may restrict dividend increases or share buybacks. In stress tests in 2013, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs were required by the Fed to resubmit their capital plans. This year, Wall Street powerhouses JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley revised their capital plans to reduce their dividend payouts or share repurchases late last week after the initial results of the stress tests. The notable "pass" among the 31 banks was Citigroup. The bank did not pass last year and Citi CEO Michael Corbat was under tremendous shareholder pressure to make sure Citi got through. Industry analysts had said previously that if Citi did not pass this time, Corbat could have lost his job. "Citi doing as well as it did is a big positive sign for the industry as a whole," said Nancy Bush, an industry analyst with NAB Research. The dividends and share buybacks plans that the Fed considered are important to ordinary investors, and to banks. The banks know that their investors suffered big losses in the financial crisis, and they are eager to reward them. Some shareholders, especially retirees, rely on dividends for a portion of their income. But raising dividends is costly, and regulators don't want banks to deplete their capital reserves, making them vulnerable in another recession. Buybacks also are aimed at helping shareholders. By reducing the number of a company's outstanding shares, earnings per share can increase. It was the second straight year that the Fed rejected the plans of Santander, which is one of the biggest banks in Europe. Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, was added to the testing roster for the first time this year. Santander and Deutsche Bank have extensive U.S. operations, with about $118 billion and $55 billion in assets, respectively. Still, a Fed official noted that Santander's U.S. division represents less than 10 percent of its global operations. The affected part of Deutsche Bank's U.S. operations is small, only 12 percent to 14 percent of the U.S. division. The Fed said Santander's U.S. operation showed "widespread and critical deficiencies" with regard to governance, planning for risk and other areas. The affected part of Deutsche Bank's operations showed "numerous and significant deficiencies" in identifying risks and projecting revenues and losses, the regulators said. Ken Sweet contributed to this report from New York.
| 3 | 11,394 |
finance
|
President Obama remains committed to "common-sense" gun regulations, even though his administration backed off a proposal to ban a popular type of armor-piercing ammunition. "The president's commitment to putting in place common-sense rules that will protect Second Amendment rights, but also prevent those who shouldn't have firearms from getting them, is as strong as ever," White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday. "I think the president's own personal conviction on this matter has been pretty evident to those who have watched his public comments," he added. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) on Tuesday delayed a plan to ban 5.56 millimeter M855 "green tip" bullets, which are used in AR-15 rifles. That prompted criticism from some Capitol Hill Democrats that the agency caved to the gun lobby. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) ripped the ATF, saying the decision puts police officers in danger. "Our law enforcement officers and first responders risk their lives every day to keep our communities safe," he said in a statement. "ATF should stop jeopardizing their safety by caving to the gun lobby and implement this common-sense proposal to save lives and keep our men and women in uniform safe." Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said "it's shameful that the gun lobby has, yet again, successfully worked to block an effort that would keep our communities safer from the threat of gun violence." The National Rifle Association (NRA) spearheaded a campaign against the proposed ban since it was announced last month, arguing that the bullets are commonly used by sportsmen. In announcing the delay, the ATF noted that it received over 80,000 comments on the proposal, the vast majority of them negative. Republican lawmakers railed against the rule, arguing that the administration was infringing upon the Second Amendment. Gun-control groups have argued that hunters and sportsmen do not need to use the specific type of bullet in question. And the ATF had said that the bullet could be loaded into certain handguns, which could endanger police officers because the bullets could pierce their body armor. The ATF said it would re-evaluate the proposal after the comment period closes on March 15. "After the close of the comment period, ATF will process the comments received, further evaluate the issues raised therein, and provide additional open and transparent process (for example, through additional proposals and opportunities for comment) before proceeding with any framework," the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
| 5 | 11,395 |
news
|
CLEVELAND The leader of a breakaway Amish community in eastern Ohio plans to appeal his new federal sentence for the forced cutting of beards and hair of Amish people with whom he and others disagreed. A judge this month resentenced 69-year-old Samuel Mullet Sr. and 15 others from the Bergholz, Ohio, Amish community after an appellate court last year dismissed hate crime convictions against them, but left other charges intact. Mullet's original 15-year sentence was reduced to 10 years and nine months. A notice of appeal was filed Monday. Attorney Wendy Overmyer says the new appeal will argue that the judge used incorrect calculations for Mullet's latest sentence and wrongly ruled against Mullet's motion to dismiss all the charges against him. Mullet's been in custody since November 2011.
| 5 | 11,396 |
news
|
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) Ryan Johanningmeier, a versatile offensive lineman for the University of Colorado, died Monday. He was 38. A cause of death has yet to be determined. There will be a memorial service for Johanningmeier on March 21 at Folsom Field. Johanningmeier was part of former CU coach Rick Neuheisel's first recruiting class in Boulder and played tackle, guard, center and tight end for the Buffaloes from 1996-99. Neuheisel said in a release that Johanningmeier was ''one of those players who never gave it anything less than his best effort, in practice, in games and off the field.'' He went undrafted, but spent time with the Atlanta Falcons in 2000-01 before neck and back injuries shortened his career. Johanningmeier's father, B.J., played football at Colorado State and then for Green Bay and Denver.
| 1 | 11,397 |
sports
|
If the NASCAR Sprint Cup season ended today, two things are certain. 1. The season sure was short. 2. Some drivers need to hit the panic button. MORE: Allmendinger on the rise | Stewart not happy | PHOTOS: Memories from Phoenix All kidding aside, the season is official 1/13th complete. Not exactly time to pack up the hauler and start thinking about 2016. But through three races, there are several drivers who are still scratching their heads about just exactly where 2015 is going. Some of those drivers have had bad luck while others just haven't been running well. And while there's still time for all of these drivers to turn it around, now's not the time to be wasting trying to figure out exactly when that will be. Phoenix will be a great opportunity to turn things around. So which drivers need to hit the panic button heading into the Valley of the Sun and which drivers need to just play it Joe Cool? 'Cause it really is a loooong season. MORE: Kurt Busch reinstated, will run at Phoenix | Fallout from NASCAR's decision | Patricia Driscoll comments 1. Jeff Gordon Daytona: 33rd; Atlanta: 41st; Las Vegas: 18th Average finish at Phoenix: 11.0 Points standings: 30th So Gordon had bad luck. Make that a lot of bad luck. He was in the mix at Daytona until wrecking on the final lap. At Atlanta, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Denny Hamlin got loose. Then, at Vegas, he hit the back of Jeb Burton, who was trying to avoid Jimmie Johnson as he hit the wall. Call us crazy, but Gordon won't go down in his final season without a fight. His team has the talent. It might just need a lucky rabbit's foot (or three) to break the curse. 2. Tony Stewart Daytona: 42nd; Atlanta: 30th; Las Vegas: 33rd Average finish at Phoenix: 12.4 Points standings: 34th Smoke is not a happy guy right now. In addition to blasting the 2015 rules package and calling his car terrible at Vegas, to put it lightly, he's had really bad runs to start the season. To put it into perspective, Brian Vickers is 33rd in points with 29, two points higher than Stewart. And Vickers ran a race for the first time last week at Vegas. 3. Danica Patrick Daytona: 21st; Atlanta: 16th; Las Vegas: 27th Average finish at Phoenix: 29.4 Points standings: 20th It's clear that while Stewart-Haas Racing's Kevin Harvick is dominating the season so far with two second-place finishes and a win at Vegas, it's just the opposite for the rest of the organization. Danica was decent at Atlanta, but a 16th-place finish isn't saying a lot. Her highest finish through any season's first three races in her career was eighth at the 2013 Daytona 500. She promptly followed that with a 39th (Phoenix) and 33rd (Vegas). Her time is past running out again. 4. Kurt Busch Average finish at Phoenix: 14.3 Phoenix will be his first race of the season following news that NASCAR reinstated Busch on Wednesday. Don't be surprised if he is a little rusty. But Busch usually runs really well at the track, which is his third best in terms of average finish. With a win, five top-fives and 13 top-10s on his resume, it wouldn't be a big surprise if Busch did really well. A win not only would be a jolt to NASCAR; it would lift spirits at Stewart-Haas Racing. 5. Carl Edwards Daytona: 23rd; Atlanta: 12th; Las Vegas: 42nd Average finish at Phoenix: 12.2 Points standings: 23rd Last week's incident at Vegas that also took out Kasey Kahne is a pretty good indication of how frustrating the season has been so far for Edwards. The week before at Atlanta, he shredded his left rear tire on Lap 275, knocking him out of contention. The move from Roush Fenway to Joe Gibbs has no doubt been exasperating. But you've got to believe it's something more than an adjustment from driving a Ford to a Toyota. 6. Jamie McMurray Daytona: 27th; Atlanta: 40th; Las Vegas: 11th Average finish at Phoenix: 20.8 Points standings: 25th McMurray had seven top-fives and 13 top-10s last season. And he started so well in 2014 with finishes of 14th, 10th and 15th at Daytona, Phoenix and Las Vegas. This season has been quite a struggle, with the crash that involved Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon at Atlanta serving as his low point. A solid Vegas run is a start but a disappointing performance at Phoenix might be too hard to overcome. 7. Brad Keselowski Daytona: 41st; Atlanta: 9th; Las Vegas: 7th Average finish at Phoenix: 14.6 Points standings: 16th His finish at Daytona might be his early-season bump in the road. Back-to-back top-10 finishes have Keselowski rising quickly in the points standings. However, news that his crew chief, Paul Wolfe, is on probation through season's end for illegal modification of Keselowski's car could be more than just a hump. Another strong run at Phoenix might quiet things. 8. Clint Bowyer Daytona: 7th; Atlanta: 24th; Las Vegas: 21st Average finish at Phoenix: 18.1 Points standings: 14th You could say Bowyer has been driving in the wrong direction since the Daytona 500. He led one lap at Atlanta and that was because he didn't pit like everyone else. He had two top-five finishes at Phoenix for his career but has only led seven laps there. So while you shouldn't expect a big turnaround this Sunday, we still believe Bowyer will be a factor as the season progresses. 9. Austin Dillon Daytona: 14th; Atlanta: 39th; Las Vegas: 20th Average finish at Phoenix: 31.0 Points standings: 22nd It's hard not to like Dillon with that cowboy hat he's always wearing. But his 24.3 average finish isn't something anybody likes, particularly Richard Childress Racing. Dillon has so much potential and it would be so cool to see the No. 3 Chevrolet back in victory lane. He won once in the Xfinity Series and has another top-five finish. But against the big boys, so far the season has been a struggle. 10. Greg Biffle Daytona: 10th; Atlanta: 25th; Las Vegas: 14th Average finish at Phoenix: 13.8 Points standings: 11th Biffle can sometimes be hard to figure out. He has the talent and success to be considered among the elite. There just hasn't been any flash about him so far this season other than finishing in the top 10 at Daytona. His most recent victory was at Michigan in 2013, a span of 60 Sprint Cup races. He has run well at Phoenix but doesn't have a win either. So don't panic if you're a fan. Do remain on the edge of your seat, at least. 11. Denny Hamlin Daytona: 4th; Atlanta: 38th; Las Vegas: 5th Average finish at Phoenix: 11.0 Points standings: 8th Atlanta appears to be just a case of bad luck. Hamlin was running well before spinning out and having his day cut short. He should also do well at Phoenix, another sign he's heading in the right direction. 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Daytona: 29th; Atlanta: 36th; Las Vegas: 29th Average finish at Phoenix: 15.8 Points standings: 32nd Put it this way … his girlfriend, Danica Patrick, is ahead of him in the points standings. By a lot. And we had her as a driver who should panic. Where does that leave Stenhouse, who has a 31.3 average finish already this season? 13. Trevor Bayne Daytona: 30th; Atlanta: 19th; Las Vegas: 28th Average finish at Phoenix: 40th Points standings: 24th His first season as a full-time driver with Roush Fenway Racing has been so discouraging. One week it's bad, the next week promising and then bad again. It's hard to believe where his career has gone since winning the 2011 Daytona 500 for the Wood Brothers. Bayne has completed 99.4 percent of his laps. But his average finish is 25.7 and average start is 33.7. Plus, his only run at Phoenix resulted in finishing 40th.
| 1 | 11,398 |
sports
|
Houston Texans defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney was bitten by teammate D.J. Swearinger's dog last week. The bite was bad enough to send Clowney to the emergency room. SportsRadio 610 reported that Swearinger's pit bull broke the skin on the right arm of Clowney with the bite, which was described as "minor."
| 8 | 11,399 |
video
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.