text
stringlengths 5
144k
| label
int64 0
9
| id
int64 0
100k
| label_text
stringclasses 10
values |
|---|---|---|---|
Top seed Novak Djokovic has justifiably been nicknamed 'The Djoker' on the men's tennis tour with his comical impersonations of fellow players but on Saturday he revealed he is also a bit of a swot. Djokovic safely negotiated his way into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 7-6(8) 6-3 6-4 victory over the feisty Fernando Verdasco to set up a fourth round clash with Luxembourg's Gilles Muller. Seeking a fifth Australian Open title, Djokovic said he had never played Muller before but had already accumulated quite a dossier of intelligence on the lefthander. "He's been on the tour for many years. Best junior in the world. He's got a great serve, lefty," Djokovic said when asked about what he knew about the 31-year-old. "He comes to the net. He has a nice slice serve. That's his favorite. "He struggled a little bit with injuries last couple years, but I think last six months has been playing some of his best tennis." The level of discussion of his next opponent surprised many, who are used to players blandly stating they have not even looked at the draw let alone studied potential opponents. "It's my job to know my colleagues, tennis players, especially if I get to play them," Djokovic said. "So I do my homework. "To come to the court and play the way I want to play against somebody I never played against before...can be dangerous because of the uncertainty of what he's going to do in some moments. "That's why I've got to do my homework, sit down with the team, prepare myself well with the video analysis." Djokjovic had no such concerns with analyzing Verdasco and was well aware of the threat the former top-10 player posed. The Spaniard had taken Rafa Nadal deep into the night in a five-hour, five set marathon during the 2009 semi-finals in Melbourne and only trailed the Serb 6-4 in their career head-to-head record. "It was a big challenge for both of us," Djokovic added. "He was a former top-10 player. Somebody that loves playing on the big stage, a powerful game. "(The) turning point probably was winning the tiebreaker as close as it was ... so I'm glad to go through in straight sets." (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly) | 1 | 8,900 | sports |
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka eased into the last 16, saying she was more relaxed than ever and having fun on court. Azarenka, who is unseeded as she returns from a horror 2014 when she battled injury and depression, cruised past Czech 25th seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-4. "I'm having a lot more fun," she said, "I'm just being me. I say what I want to say. I laugh when I want to laugh. I play how I want to play. I grunt when I want to grunt." Azarenka, who appeared intense and introverted at Melbourne Park in previous years, has opened up this year, dancing on court after her victories and winning over the Australian crowds for the first time. | 1 | 8,901 | sports |
The Qatar Masters was heading for a thrilling conclusion on Saturday with South African Brandan Grace among six players tied for the lead midway through the final round at the Doha golf Club. A play-off is a distinct possibility for the second consecutive year after Sergio Garcia pulled off a fine win over Mikko Ilonen in 2014. The overnight leading quartet of Grace, Bernd Wiesberger, Emiliano Grillo and Marc Warren continued their neck and neck battle with 14-under par aggregates with the final few holes remaining to be played. They were joined by Frenchman Gregory Bourdy and Eddie Pepperell with South Korean An Byeong-hun, hoping to become the first Asian to win the event, a shot behind. Garcia, who blew his chances of becoming only the first man to win consecutive Qatar Masters titles with a 77 in the third round on Friday, recovered somewhat by shooting a 69 to finish on four-under 284. | 1 | 8,902 | sports |
ATLANTA A Texas lawmaker would strip the salaries from government officials who honor same-sex marriage licenses. Other states would protect government officials who opt out of performing gay nuptials. In Georgia, where lawmakers are considering a bill that critics fear could allow businesses to discriminate against gay customers, the former head of the country's largest Protestant denomination recently urged lawmakers to rein in "erotic liberty." The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in April and could decide by June whether gay couples can marry, and national opinion polls show U.S. voters increasingly unopposed to gay rights. Yet lawmakers in a handful of states are backing longshot legislation targeting gay rights, doubling down on the culture wars. Most, if not all, of the efforts are led by Republicans. The bills are more political theatre than serious policy. Few seem to have widespread support among lawmakers, and senior Republicans are not adopting these efforts as their own. In Georgia, well-funded business groups oppose them. Still, the legislation remains popular with vocal and organized voting blocks in states or parts of the states where they've been proposed. But any political points they score could come at a price. If the bills' backers manage to force a sharp debate in coming weeks, and the Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage a few months later, supporters of the bills would be exposed to criticism that they've been fighting for a fringe issue. "On no issue during my 40-year career have opinions moved as rapidly as they have on the issue of the morality of gay relationships and ultimately gay marriage," said Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and the National Rifle Association. "When you have conservative organizations like the U.S. military and the Boy Scouts openly accepting gay members, the debate is close to being over." Not in Georgia. In a devotional delivered to newly convened lawmakers, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention urged them to defend the freedom to act on religious beliefs, though he stopped short of endorsing legislation that supporters say would do precisely that. "We are a living in a society that is on a collision course with a choice between erotic liberty and religious liberty," the Rev. Bryant Wright told lawmakers. "... Your role in government is about restraining sin." Georgia politicians rejected tougher legislation last year, avoiding a showdown that occurred over a similar bill in Arizona, where Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a measure the Republican-controlled Statehouse had adopted. This year, the toughest measure comes in Texas, where Republican state Rep. Cecil Bell has proposed stripping state and local officials of their salaries if they issue or honor same-sex marriage licenses. In 2005, Texas voters approved an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage, but a federal judge struck it down last year. The judge stayed his ruling until an appeals court could consider the issue. Republican lawmakers in South Carolina, Virginia and Utah have proposed giving government officials or wedding celebrants the right to opt out of gay nuptials if participating violates their religious beliefs. In Georgia, the debate flared this month when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed fired the city's fire chief after learning the chief self-published a book describing homosexuality as a perversion. Reed, a Democrat, said the fire chief never got city permission to publish the book, but the fire chief said he did. The Washington-based Family Research Council and others have used the firing to rally support for the latest legislation in Georgia, though it's unclear the proposed law would have made a difference. The legislation would forbid the state government from infringing on a person's religious beliefs unless the government can prove it has a compelling interest. Unlike legislation in other states, the bill in Georgia makes no reference to same-sex relationships, though critics fear it would allow businesses to discriminate against gay customers. Other states have passed similar acts. Republican Rep. Sam Teasley, the bill's sponsor, denied the bill is about gay marriage. "This is a modest protection for people of faith," he said. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce says it will oppose any bill that allows discrimination. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, voted for a federal version of the legislation in Congress, though it was before gay marriage began in the United States. "It's not a bill that I'm going to be pushing on my own initiative, but it is one that I have sentiment for," Deal said. The Republican speaker of Georgia's House of Representatives, Rep. David Ralston, has signaled his skepticism. "This is obviously something that was important to the drafters of the constitution because they put religious freedom in the constitution," Ralston told reporters. "I want to know what this bill does that the constitution doesn't do." ___ Associated Press reporters David Crary in New York, Will Weissert in Austin, Texas, and Seanna Adcox in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report. Follow Ray Henry on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rhenryAP. Follow Kathleen Foody at http://twitter.com/katiefoody. | 5 | 8,903 | news |
Autodesk, which makes 3-D modeling software and has been hosting residencies for more than 100 artists over the last three years, opened its first ever art show last night. Set on the waterfront Embarcadero neighborhood in San Francisco, the Autodesk office at Pier 9 (their main one is downtown) is largely a workshop, packed with enormous 3-D printers and water jet slicers, and the coveted residency program (which lets artists lose with the machines) has been largely a quiet phenomenon. So last night, around 60 artists stood proudly next to their pieces for the residency program's first show, which sold out its two-day run in minutes, much to the surprise of organizer Noah Weinstein, who said he had no idea so many people wanted to see this work, and that he'd be finding a bigger space. A taco truck had pulled up next to the office, and inside people drank margaritas. The only music came from a radiation wind chime by the artist JoeJoe Martin made with Geiger-Muller tubes and a Rasberry Pi computer, wind chimes play when the piece encounters Beta and Gamma radiation. The revelry mixed with mysterious large-scale machinery gave the space a Santa's workshop energy. Three interesting pieces below: Jennifer Robin Berry, 38, Sausalito, biologist Piece: "The Virgin Queen and the Almond" made of beeswax, honey, stainless steel, laser-cut acrylic, electronics, CAM software. "When I came here, I didn't know how to use the 3D printer, but I knew about bees, and I thought Bees are 3-D printers. Bees were the original 3-D printers. "So I spent most of my semester experimenting with the bees and trying to get them to participate and collaborate. I created light boxes, cut the comb, stacked it, and they attached it in places, cut it in others, built passages and reinforced the structure." Kyle Machulis, 35, El Cerito, systems engineer at Mozilla Piece: "Industrial ASMR Stations," an attempt to evoke ASMR, a sensory phenomenon characterized by a tingling sensation in the head or neck region. "When I got here, I wasn't sure I could use the machines to make anything, but I knew they all made sound, so I decided to use the workshop to edit sound. What is the experience of the material as it is being sent through the machine?" He sent two speakers attached to a piece of metal through the slicer. He sent microphones through. He then reattaches the pieces. "I was trying to capture the sound of a table saw and then the noise of putting the sound of material back together, which was much harder. So I'll capture the sound of glue drying." Andreas Bastian, 25, Oakland, artist with a background in 3D printing organs Piece: "Loom Printer" "These are what I call a loom 3D printer a printer that has an unbounded build volume. The others are boxes, and this is more of a window." "My first effort was made with glorified cereal boxes. One thing I learned is that nobody will take seriously a machine made of cardboard." | 5 | 8,904 | news |
It sounds simple in theory, but learning how to differentiate between boredom and hunger can be a struggle. If you ever find yourself standing at the fridge, wondering just how you ended up there - yet again! - these tips will help you build new habits and curb unnecessary weight gain. Become aware: Psychologist and proponent of mindful eating Dr. Susan Albers urges her clients to take stock of their habits. "We're often just mindlessly eating without really being hungry . . . we have habits around certain time periods," she says. If you find yourself heading to the fridge for a snack or minimeal when you have nothing else going on, take stock of how you're feeling at that moment. Are you stressed? Bored? Unless you're actually hungry, there's no reason to chow down. Rethink TV time: When you haven't planned out an afternoon or an evening, it can be tempting to tune in to the tube and sink into the couch. If you're constantly snacking when you're watching television, drop the fork and start making better use of your time. Keep a set of free weights nearby for a little lifting as you watch, or drop to the floor for these TV-friendly exercises that won't get in the way of keeping up with your favorite show. Try a little water: Many people confuse the sensations of thirst for hunger. If you've recently eaten and you're feeling unsatisfied, take this advice from Mara Z. Vitolins , RD and Wake Forest assistant professor of public health sciences. "It is hard to distinguish between being thirsty and being hungry, so try drinking water and waiting 20 to 30 minutes to see if you're still hungry." Start sitting down: Constant grazing or chowing down at the fridge can put you at a disadvantage. When you stand up and eat, you're not always aware of what's being consumed, and food isn't looked at as a meal. Instead of standing up at the fridge and eating, designate specific times for meals and snacks. Not only will this help you differentiate between boredom and hunger, but you'll find yourself eating less when there aren't outside distractions. | 7 | 8,905 | health |
President Obama paid tribute to baseball legend Ernie Banks, who died Friday at 83. Better known as "Mr. Cub," Banks was one of the early African-Americans to play in the major leagues, joining the Chicago Cubs shortly after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. Obama called him an "ambassador or baseball, and for the city of Chicago." "Ernie came up through the Negro Leagues, making $7 a day," Obama said. "He became the first African-American to play for the Chicago Cubs, and the first number the team retired." The Hall of Fame shortstop hit 512 home runs over the course of his career, and was named the most valuable player in back-to-back seasons, but many fans knew him better for his cheer and "love of the game," Obama suggested. "Somewhere, the sun is shining, the air is fresh, his team's behind him, and Mr. Class "Mr. Cub" is ready to play two," Obama said, echoing one of the most famous quotes from Banks. "He was beloved by baseball fans everywhere, including Michelle, who, when she was a girl, used to sit with her dad and watch him play on TV," the president added. Obama awarded Banks the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. | 5 | 8,906 | news |
DAKAR, Senegal A top U.N. official in the fight against Ebola greeted just three patients at one treatment center he visited this week in Sierra Leone. Families in Liberia are no longer required to cremate the remains of loved ones to halt the spread of the virulent disease. And in the streets of Guinea's capital, it is rare to see the formerly ubiquitous plastic buckets of bleach and water for hand washing. Ten months after it dawned on health officials that they were facing an unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa, experts and officials agree the tide is turning, although previous lulls have proved short-lived. There is still no vaccine or licensed treatment, nor is it clear whether the international community has actually learned any lessons from an epidemic that killed at least 8,675 people. "Things have changed drastically for the better no one can deny that," said Aitor Sanchez Lacomba, Liberia country director for the International Rescue Committee. "How can we make sure that we don't have these kinds of situations in the future?" Previous disease outbreaks, including SARS and bird flu, prompted calls to build strong health surveillance systems and to reinforce agencies like the World Health Organization. But little has changed. After the 2009 swine flu pandemic, WHO commissioned an independent review, which recommended creating a $100 million emergency fund for health crises and beefing up rapid-response health experts. Neither has been done. The human toll of Ebola can be starkly seen in one plot of land in Liberia's capital where only Ebola victims are buried now. Cards placed on sticks and stuck into the ground carry the names of those who died. One day, families hope they will be replaced with concrete gravestones marking the years of birth and death as sunrise and sunset. "Recriminations are counterproductive, but it will be necessary to understand whether this outbreak could have been responded to quicker with less cost and less suffering," U.N. Ebola chief, Dr. David Nabarro, told the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week ___ Julius Kamara, a father to two girls who remain home instead of going to school, said sometimes the plastic buckets in Sierra Leone's capital for hand-washing are now empty. There are fewer checkpoints, restrictions on movements are being lifted but gatherings are banned and bars and clubs are closed. "We are all looking forward to when life can get back to normal," he said. Sierra Leone plans to reopen schools in March, following Guinea which opened them this week. Liberia is set to reopen schools on Feb. 2. "The epidemic has turned," Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the new head of the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response known as UNMEER, recently declared. The number of cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone is at its lowest since August, and in Liberia it's the lowest since June. Still, he and other officials caution that they lack critical information about the cases that do remain. Only about half of new cases in Guinea and Liberia are from known contacts, meaning that the remainder is getting infected from unknown sources. No such statistics even exist for Sierra Leone, where deaths are still being underreported because families want to carry out burials in accordance with tradition, which involves touching bodies one of the quickest ways to spread Ebola. "There are still numbers of new cases that are alarming, and there are hotspots that are emerging in new places that make me believe there is still quite a lot of the disease that we're not seeing," said Nabarro, the U.N. Ebola chief. The outbreak has not killed as many people as some predictions. At its height, one estimate warned that as many as 1.4 million people could become infected by mid-January if there were no additional interventions. Instead, the probable, suspected and confirmed case toll is 21,797 with 8,675 deaths. ___ Nearly every agency and government stumbled in its response to Ebola, now expected to cost the three most-affected countries at least $1.6 billion in lost economic growth in 2015. In an internal draft document obtained by The Associated Press last year, WHO acknowledged there was "a failure to see that conditions for explosive spread were present right at the start." WHO blamed incompetent staff and said it let bureaucratic bungles delay people and money to fight the virus. The document said the agency was hampered by budget cuts and the need to battle other diseases flaring around the world. "We're always looking to improve and we want to do better next time, so we will listen to what our member states have to say," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl. Brice de le Vingne, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders, said the Ebola outbreak exposed a vacuum in global health leadership. "The world today doesn't have a proper organization to respond quickly to this kind of catastrophe," he said. Officials must also think about changing risky cultural practices in future epidemics, said Dr. Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus. "I think we underestimate how incredibly difficult it is to change behavior," he told AP. "We make guidelines about it, but there is so much more to it than that." Health officials also agree that time was wasted on nearly every aspect of the Ebola response. It took too long to build treatment centers. The countries that sent soldiers to West Africa namely Britain and the U.S. did not fully commit to the effort, said De le Vingne. Still, he is optimistic the unprecedented scale of the Ebola outbreak will prompt change, and that future outbreaks will be detected more quickly. On Sunday, WHO's executive board plans to discuss several proposals that could redefine how the U.N. health agency responds to outbreaks. In a recent report, WHO wondered if the commitment to battling the dreaded disease will remain strong. "The virus has demonstrated its tenacity time and time again," the report said. "Will national and international control efforts show an equally tenacious staying power?" ___ AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng reported from London. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer and Cara Anna at the United Nations; Michael Duff and Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone; Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea; and Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia contributed to this report. | 5 | 8,907 | news |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Novak Djokovic took a break from his tennis match Saturday to applaud a marriage proposal in the stands. ''It's nice to see this moment,'' Djokovic said, after advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open. ''I'm sure he was very happy when she said yes.'' At the end of the second set, Djokovic and his opponent, Fernando Verdasco, were seated on their benches when a stir erupted in the crowd at Rod Laver Arena. The capacity crowd of 15,000 watched on giant courtside screens as a man offered the woman beside him a ring, and she said yes. The crowd applauded, as did Djokovic from his courtside chair. He later said it wasn't the first marriage proposal to occur during one of his matches. ''I think it happened maybe once prior to this match in my whole career that someone proposed,'' he said. ''It's one of these moments you remember forever. Not just for them, but for everybody who was there.'' By Jocelyn Gecker -- http://twitter.com/jgecker --- COURTSIDE CORRECTION: Do not call Victoria Azarenka - Vicky. After winning her third-round match at the Australian Open, Azarenka seized the opportunity to correct her fans. ''I love playing in front of you guys,'' Azarenka said into the microphone during her on-court interview. ''One thing I don't know (is) why everybody keeps calling me Vicky, but Vicky is not my name,'' said the two-time Australian Open champion. ''It's Vika, Victoria, V, those are goes. Vicky is not my name.'' The crowd laughed and applauded, and one lone voice was heard shouting out ''Vicky!!'' A word to Azarenka about the local vernacular: In Australia, where just about everyone and everything has a nickname, Victorias are often known as Vicky. By Jocelyn Gecker -- http://twitter.com/jgecker --- OUCH: The ball boy is standing at attention, hands behind his back, when along comes a speeding serve by Feliciano Lopez. OUCH, and the boy doubles over. A video making the rounds on YouTube has made the boy a minor celebrity, Lopez said after winning his third-round match Saturday, two days after the incident. ''He became very famous with his mates at school. Everybody was watching the video,'' Lopez said. The ball-boy was hit in the groin during Lopez's second-round match. During his day off between rounds, Lopez went to find him, bearing gifts. ''I just wanted to apologize and to make him happy for a while,'' he said. ''I gave him a T-shirt and a wristband from the match.'' Lopez said the ball boy recovered quickly. ''He was OK, after five, six minutes.'' By Jocelyn Gecker -- http://twitter.com/jgecker --- TOWELING OFF: American Madison Brengle has never played better at a Grand Slam, and that means more towels for her mother. ''My mom is obsessed with the towels,'' Brengle said, referring to the ones players use to dry off during matches at the Australian Open. After Brengle advanced to the fourth round with a win over Coco Vandeweghe, she recounted a typical conversation with her mother, Gaby, who is back in the U.S. ''Did you get another towel?'' she said, replaying the conversation. '''Mom, I won.' She's like, `But the towels.' So, all right, got our priorities straight.'' ''I'm trying to get as many towels as I can,'' she said. ''So I have to try to keep winning.'' By Justin Bergman -- http://twitter.com/justinb3rg --- SCALING BACK: Milos Raonic weighs less in the morning. About 2 kilos (4 to 5 pounds) less than later in the day. The 24-year-old Canadian is noticeably slimmer at this year's Australian Open and said Saturday he shedded the weight at the end of last year. The precise amount depends on what time of day he weighs himself. ''If you ask me right now, after I ate a sandwich, probably four kilos (8 pounds). If you ask me first thing in the morning probably six (13 pounds),'' said Raonic, who advanced to the fourth round after beating Benjamin Becker. ''I tend to fluctuate two kilos, plus or minus.'' Raonic didn't specify his current weight, but the ATP Tour lists the 1.96-meter (6-foot-5) player as 98 kilograms (216 pounds). By Jocelyn Gecker -- http://twitter.com/jgecker --- SERENA'S PICK: Serena Williams says she likes all the top men's players, but she wants to see Andy Murray win. Williams said she typically supports all the top guys - No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 Rafael Nadal, Murray and defending champion No. 4 Stan Wawrinka. Federer is no longer in the running, after losing in the third round. Williams says she is quietly cheering for Murray, whom she played against in mixed doubles at an exhibition recently. ''I like Andy's attitude,'' she said, marveling at his net skills. ''I have a whole new appreciation for his game. He had great hands,'' said Williams, adding she wasn't so bad herself. ''But I was able to return his serve pretty well.'' By Jocelyn Gecker -- http://twitter.com/jgecker --- Australian Open Scene follows tennis' Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne as seen by journalists from The Associated Press. It is updated throughout the day. | 1 | 8,908 | sports |
BI Answers: How much sleep do you really need? Sleep takes up one-third of our lives, but it puzzles us so much. Many of us are tired all the time 40% of Americans sleep less than the recommended seven to nine hours, and according to a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 35% of Americans say their sleep quality is "poor" or "only fair." If you type "why can't I" into Google search, sleep is one of the top three things that comes up, along with getting a job and losing weight our anxieties are reflected by our internet confidante. But how much sleep do we really need? First, let's get the bad news out of the way: there isn't going to be a one size fits all answer sleep needs really do vary from person to person. You could be one of those incredibly rare people that can actually get by on a few hours of sleep a night (almost definitely not), or you could be on the opposite end of the spectrum, what doctors refer to as a " long sleeper ," who might need 11 hours a night. But there are some things we do know about sleep, and these can help you figure out how much sleep you actually need and how to better get a night's rest. Here are five facts that will help you figure out what your personal sleep patterns are and how they compare to the rest of the population. 1. There's a reason that doctors usually recommend seven to nine hours of sleep. The amount of sleep that people need falls into a bell curve type distribution, with the vast majority of the population needing between seven and nine hours of rest each night to be refreshed. The chart to the right, from the book " Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired " by German chronobiologist Till Roenneberg, shows the general distribution of sleep needs. (Chronobiology is the science of our internal clocks.) 2. You have a natural chronotype, or body clock, that determines when you are most comfortable sleeping and being awake. The most recent research suggests that there are actually four natural chronotypes. There are night owls, most comfortable being awake and alert later on in the day and into the night (hello, my people); "larks," otherwise known as morning people; and two groups with schedules in between. Both of those groups like to sleep a little later than the larks and go to bed earlier than the owls, but one of those two groups feels sluggish both morning and evening while the other has high energy levels at both times. If your schedule isn't aligned with your chronotype, you are more likely to feel tired and out of sync. 3. The amount of sleep you need changes throughout your life. The seven to nine hour recommendation is standard for adults, but kids need much more sleep, while some older people need less. This chart by the National Sleep Foundation shows how these requirements change as kids grow up. In addition to length of sleep needs changing, chronotypes change throughout life as well. According to Roenneberg's book, young children naturally tend to be more morning oriented. Around puberty, they're more likely to shift into a night owl chronotype, which tends to shift back to an earlier chronotype after age 20. 4. There are some things you can do to adjust your natural chronotype. While your sleep needs (both chronotype and length) are mostly genetic and can't really be adjusted, there are certain things you can do to adjust your schedule and at least make it a bit easier to get up earlier. Our bodies respond to light, especially the powerful natural light of the sun. Being exposed to that light in the morning tells our body that it's time to be alert and moving. At night, sitting in the dark stimulates the production of the hormone melatonin, which helps us relax and fall asleep (we mess with this process by looking at bright light from smartphones ). But we can adjust this to a degree by controlling our exposure to light. This process, called entrainment, is what our bodies have to do when we go to a different time zone this is why we get jet lagged. But we can also use this to train our bodies to get up and go to sleep earlier by exposing ourselves to natural light in the morning and avoiding bright light at night. This won't turn you into a morning person, but it can make prying the covers loose just a little less painful. 5. Your sleep needs are personal; try to figure out what works for you. Sometimes new research will come out, and people will claim something like "studies have found that seven hours is the optimal amount of sleep not eight." But as interesting as any sleep research is, we do know that people are different and have different needs. The findings of a study don't translate into recommendations for everyone. In the case of sleep, experts recommend figuring out what personally works best for you. If you can let yourself sleep naturally for a few days to a week, going to bed when you are tired and waking up whenever is natural, preferably while limiting alcohol and caffeine, you'll have a better idea of your individual needs. Get some sun during the day, along with some exercise. If you do all that but still have trouble sleeping, it might be time to talk to a doctor. You could be one of the large percentage of the population with undiagnosed sleep apnea, especially if you snore. Or you could have some other disorder that can be addressed. It's worth taking the time to figure out what you can do to sleep better though. There are some incredible benefits to getting better sleep. | 4 | 8,909 | lifestyle |
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will add two automatic braking technologies to its list of recommended safety features included alongside star ratings for new vehicles. NHTSA's crash test ratings will now identify whether or not cars offer crash imminent braking (CIB) or dynamic brake support (DBS) to give consumers a more complete picture of a car's overall safety. Having or not having these technologies will not influence a car's star rating, however. CIB systems use automatic braking when they sense the driver has not applied the brakes to prevent an imminent crash. DBS systems, on the other hand, provide supplemental braking when they sense the driver isn't braking hard enough. Both systems can help mitigate or completely prevent rear-end crashes. "Today marks an enormous leap in the evolution of auto safety by encouraging adoption of new technologies to keep drivers and their passengers safe on our roads," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a recent statement. "I want this Department, the entire automotive industry, and other innovators to keep raising the bar on safety like we are doing now." NHTSA began recommending certain safety technologies to consumers starting on 2011 model-year vehicles. Other safety technologies currently recommended by NHTSA include electronic stability control, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning. Each vehicle equipped with advanced safety technologies must meet certain performance requirements for that technology to be recommended by NHTSA. As safety technologies continue to advance, we won't be too surprised if crash test ratings become more stringent in the future. At one point, NHTSA was pushing to make automatic braking systems mandatory on new vehicles. If this is still a plan, it could take awhile, considering auto braking technologies are typically offered as optional equipment on select models. Source: NHTSA | 9 | 8,910 | autos |
Fifteen people were killed in shelling in the east Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, Ukraine's interior ministry said, an attack Kiev blamed on separatist rebels and the Russian military. A witness described the shelling to Reuters as enough to knock the paint off his house. The deaths follow the separatists' rejection of more peace talks and as fighting surged to its most intense in months. The United Nations said on Friday 262 had been killed in the previous nine days. Government-held Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, lies on a coastal route from the Russian border to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine last March. The city council said rockets fired by rebels from long-range GRAD missile systems struck a multi-storey building and caused fires to break out. Oleksander Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's national defence council, described the incident as "another bloody crime against humanity committed by the Russian military and the bands of terrorists under their complete control," in an online statement. The attack started in the early morning, 76-year-old pensioner Leonid Vasilenko, who lives in the eastern suburbs of Mariupol, said by telephone. "The walls were shaking, the window frames were shaking,paint started to crumble off the house. I hid in the basement.What else can you do? I took the dog and the cat. In the basement you could hear the earth tremble," he said. The interior ministry said 15 people had been killed and 76 injured. Separatists denied responsibility for the attack, news agency Interfax reported. Despite international calls for a ceasefire, rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko vowed on Friday his forces would push on with a new offensive, as the UN said the conflict, which began in east Ukraine more than nine months ago, was now in its "most deadly period" since a peace deal was agreed last September. The Kiev military reported "high-intensity" rebel attacks on government positions. "Illegal armed groups are trying to widen the boundaries of controlled territories and correct the demarcation line to their advantage," spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said last week Russia had 9,000 troops inside Ukraine and called on Moscow to withdraw them, blaming it for an armed aggression. Moscow denies sending forces and weapons to east Ukraine, despite what the West says is irrefutable proof. On Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed "criminal orders" by Ukrainian leaders on Friday for the surge in the conflict, which has killed over 5,000 people. Ukraine says its troops are holding the line against the separatists after suffering a symbolic and morale-sapping setback last week when they withdrew from the main terminal at the airport in Donetsk, the biggest city in the east. | 5 | 8,911 | news |
ROCHESTER, N.H. A New Hampshire woman got a surprise at a Burger King drive-thru: a bag full of cash instead of food. Janelle Jones says she discovered on the way home that the bag did not contain the sweet tea and junior spicy chicken sandwich that she had ordered Friday at the Rochester fast-food restaurant. Foster's Daily Democrat (http://bit.ly/1EEYFl9 ) reports that Jones called her husband and they decided to return the $2,631, which was a Burger King bank deposit. Matthew Jones says the couple briefly considered keeping the money, which they certainly could have used. But he says he and his wife are Jehovah's Witnesses, and that "Jehovah sees everything." The newspaper reports that the restaurant confirmed the couple's account but had no comment on it. ___ Information from: Foster's Daily Democrat, http://www.fosters.com | 5 | 8,912 | news |
American teenager Madison Keys toppled fourth seed Petra Kvitova 6-4 7-5 in an impressive display of clean hitting to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday. The 19-year-old captured the decisive break at 5-5 in the second set and served out the match nervelessly under the lights of Rod Laver Arena, stunning the two-time Wimbledon champion. Keys' win made it four American women in the last 16 at Melbourne Park, the most since five made it to the fourth round of the 2003 Australian Open. She will play compatriot Madison Brengle for a place in the quarter-finals. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Alan Baldwin) | 1 | 8,913 | sports |
MELBOURNE, Australia The battle of Madisons is set at the Australian Open. Nineteen-year-old American Madison Keys shocked No. 4 seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova on Saturday night here, booking a place in the fourth round against compatriot Madison Brengle. How'd it happen? Read on. Scoreline: Madison Keys (USA) def. [4] Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6-4, 7-5 In one of the most power-laden exchanges in recent memory in women's tennis, the up-and-coming American matched Kvitova blow for blow in what was the biggest win of Keys' career. What it means : For Keys, it puts her into the fourth round of a major for the first time, but also against a very beatable opponent. Brengle is the world No. 64, a player who had had just one Grand Slam match before this Australian Open fortnight. Keys will go in as the heavy favorite as many in tennis had pinned her as the next American breakthrough star. Is this the tournament where she goes from "next" to "now?" How it happened : Kvitova and Keys were no strangers to one another's game plans going in: Hit as hard as possible. They traded breaks early in the first set, but Kvitova double faulted at break point down at 4-all and then Keys held her cool, closing out the first set with a big serve up the T. In the second, Keys never cracked under the pressure of playing one of the world's best. They again traded breaks again, but Keys served to stay in the set at 4-5 and then broke Kvitova with an alarming display of power. The 19-year-old (who recently began working with former Grand Slam champ Lindsay Davenport) then belted her way into the second week, not backing down as she served out the match for a straight-set triumph. Key stat : The two were dead even on serving stats, but Keys went five for 11 on break points and won 50 percent of receiving points, just a touch better in both categories than Kvitova. Keys knocked down 16 winners to Kvitova's 15 and was a little cleaner off the ground, committing 25 unforced errors to 32 from the Czech. What she said: "I think my hands are still shaking," a smiling Keys said on court after the upset. "I'm really happy that I served that game out so well. Right now I can't process anything. I'm just so excited to play Madi [Brengle] in the next round. Lindsay and John have been amazing. It was a great off-season and I learned a lot." | 1 | 8,914 | sports |
Greece stood Saturday on the brink of a make-or-break general election that could sweep the anti-austerity Syriza party to power and set the country on a collision course with its international creditors. Syriza wants to renegotiate Greece's massive 318 billion euro ($356 billion) debt and put an end to years of wage cuts and public spending reductions linked to an international bailout. The possibility of Alexis Tsipras' left-wing party winning Sunday's vote has sparked fears that Greece could fail to keep up its debt repayments and leave the euro. Syriza have a lead of at least four points over the incumbent conservative New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, according to opinion polls. In his final appeal to voters on Friday, Tsipras pledged to restore "dignity" to Greece. Samaras told his party's supporters in his closing rally that it would be crazy to elect Syriza just when the fiscal reforms he has supported could be about to pay off. "Syriza will turn all of Europe against Greece.... They don't understand Europe, they don't believe in Europe," he said. Greece has endured deep budget cuts tied to its 240 billion euro bailout from the so-called troika -- the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB). - 'Make debt manageable' - Unemployment is around 25 percent and the economy has shrunk by a quarter since the start of the eurozone crisis. Tsipras has said he wants to work out a solution on the debt with the ECB by July, and has promised to cut the amount by half. Nevertheless, Evdokia Kasoli, a pensioner in central Athens, expressed doubts on Saturday about whether Syriza would be able to keep their pledges. "Tsipras is presentable, personable and a sweet-talker. But what can he achieve in the situation we're now in?," she said. Other voters though were pinning their hopes on a new approach, even if does represent a leap into the unknown. "We don't know if Tsipras will manage to cut the debt but we hope he will be able to make it more manageable," said Paris Lizos, a 59-year-old unemployed father of two, at Syriza's final rally on Thursday. Campaigning is banned on the eve of a Greek election, so Tsipras met journalists covering his campaign. A Syriza official told AFP the party was heading for victory and was confident of forming a coalition government if necessary. "Polls show we are five to 10 points ahead of New Democracy. What remains to be seen is whether we will have a clear majority," the official said. Samaras was greeted by a media scrum as he visited New Democracy party workers in rainy central Athens. He said up to 14 percent of voters remained undecided and predicted they would choose the "stability" he represented. Greek newspapers said the country was at a potentially crucial point in its modern history. "Fasten your seatbelts" said the Proto Thema weekly. It warned that Greece would have "one foot outside the eurozone" if it failed to stick to the ECB's debt repayment schedule. The pro-government Kathimerini newspaper said whichever party won, Greece faced "suffocating deadlines" imposed by its international creditors. In Germany, widely seen by Greeks as the driving force behind the stringent cuts linked to the bailout, the weekly centre-left Die Zeit newspaper said if Tsipras won, he could no longer be "demonised". "Tsipras... could be the man to give Europe's austerity policy the legitimacy it has so far lacked with the Greek people. (ECB chief Mario) Draghi senses this, and as yet nobody has come up with better proposals," the paper said in an editorial. A victory for Syriza could pave the way for other anti-austerity parties to break through in Europe. The leader of Spain's radical Podemos movement, Pablo Iglesias, appeared with Tsipras at an Athens rally this week. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday appealed to Greece to stay in the eurozone. "At the heart of our principles lies solidarity. I want Greece, despite the difficulties, to remain part of our story," she said. | 5 | 8,915 | news |
Berlin is one of the most popular destinations in Europe for city tours. It attracts a growing number of Israeli tourists, many coming to revisit the locations that define the city's Jewish heritage. | 2 | 8,916 | travel |
Are the San Francisco 49ers preparing for the possibility of Jim Tomsula flaming out early and losing his job by hiring former head coaches who could take over at a moment's notice? I'm not entirely sure what I expected out of the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. Obviously, we all knew that Jim Harbaugh was on his way out, but beyond that, we really had no idea what approach the 49ers would take with building the coaching staff. To this point, it's looking an awful lot like they're trying to bring in a lot of, for lack of a better phrase, "yes men." That's speculation on my part, and it should be noted that I'm a big fan of Jim Tomsula and believe he has what it takes to be a head coach in the NFL. I think when that season gets underway, if Tomsula can do his thing, then the 49ers will be in good shape. On the other hand, I have no idea if he'll be allowed to do his thing or what his thing even is at this point. I don't know if Eric Mangini will coach his defense, or Tomsula's defense, or Jason Tarver's defense ... or Trent Baalke's defense. I'm not sure if the 49ers haven't hired an offensive coordinator because they already have someone in mind, nobody wants the job or if they're trying to find someone who will do what Baalke wants. I was already a pessimist, but I didn't count myself a true cynic until Jed York's post-Harbaugh press conference. One thing about the coaching search that's interested me, aside from the odd fact that the 49ers are building from the bottom up and not vice versa (a rarity these days), is the experience of the guys brought in. All the 49ers have said, to this point, is that they're after synergy, but I recall Baalke saying something about not wanting too many guys with a ton of experience, because those guys are looking at turning each opportunity into another shot at being a head coach. I don't know who would give Mangini another chance at being a head coach, but it's still pertinent. Sparano is still well-respected (and maybe should have had an opportunity to stick around with the Oakland Raiders ) and then the reported top candidates for offensive coordinator -- Rob Chudzinski and Lane Kiffin -- also want to be NFL head coaches again. If the 49ers have the kind of success they want to have, any one of those guys would earn another shot at leading a team in the near future. But one thing I've been wondering is whether or not the 49ers have another reason for bringing these guys in. During his press conference after Harbaugh's departure, York made it clear that the next 49ers coach will be expected to win right away. Any owner should expect that out of his team and his coaches, but York took it a step further and suggested that things would need to change if the 49ers didn't win the Super Bowl . I don't know that the statement specifically suggests that Tomsula would lose his job in the event that he doesn't lead the 49ers to the big dance, but what if he performs particularly poorly? Mangini, Sparano, Chudzinski and Kiffin all seem like guys the 49ers might want to have in place in the event that they let Tomsula go over the course of the regular season. If you'd asked me a couple months ago if I thought this was a likely possibility, I'd say there's no way and defend York. After that press conference though, I have absolutely no idea. So what do you guys think? Are these guys here because they'd be good insurance in the event that Tomsula doesn't find quick success with the 49ers? Could we be looking at one of those guys leading the team in the interim sooner rather than later? | 1 | 8,917 | sports |
For the millions of people who have been touched by some form mental illness, Pete Wentz has a message for you: It's OK to open up. The Fall Out Boy singer joined HuffPost Live's Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani earlier this week, where they discussed mental health stigma and the common misconceptions about what it means to treat the disorders. While many who struggle with mental illness believe that they'll be on medication or in therapy forever, Wentz stressed that everyone's journey is different. "I think that the idea there's a 'one-size-fits-all' [treatment] is one of those myths," Wentz said. "Everybody figures themselves out in a different way. And I think there's no shame in talking about that kind of stuff. It's not something you should feel scared ... talking about." Check out the full HuffPost Live clip above to hear more about Wentz's battle with bipolar disorder and for more on mental health, click here . Have a story about mental health that you'd like to share? Email [email protected] , or give us a call at (860) 348-3376, and you can record your story in your own words. Please be sure to include your name and phone number.Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline . | 7 | 8,918 | health |
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. To those who know and love the Grand Canyon, the names of its historic lodges are synonymous with the national park itself. Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Lodge, El Tovar all bring to mind a place coveted worldwide for its sweeping views, river rapids and history told though layers of geology. But the fate of those names is up for debate after a longtime Grand Canyon concessionaire applied to trademark them. Approval of its bid would mean Xanterra Parks & Resorts could charge future concessionaires to use roughly 20 names of the park's most popular properties. It also could walk away with those names, leaving the iconic lodges and other facilities to adopt a new identity. The National Park Service is weighing how to respond with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to what a spokesman described as relatively uncharted territory. Park Service spokesman Jeff Olson said he's aware of only two other national parks where companies have registered for trademarks for names: Yosemite in California and Hot Springs in Arkansas. "This is a new issue for us," Olson wrote in an email. Xanterra applied for the trademarks just before its contract to manage South Rim hotels, restaurants and mule rides expired at the end of December. The company later won a temporary contract and can bid on a new one expected sometime this year. The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company and its predecessors have operated at the Grand Canyon for more than a century. Places like the famed El Tovar Hotel, which overlooks the canyon, were housing visitors before the Grand Canyon was named a national monument and, later, a national park. Experts say the intent of the trademark applications is clear: to stifle competition for the upcoming concessions contract or earn money for the value Xanterra has created in the names. "They're just playing a card," said Kristelia Garcia, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School. Xanterra declined to comment. The National Park Service wouldn't say whether it would oppose Xanterra's trademark applications. But going forward, the agency says it will include language in contracts that tells concessionaires how names and logos associated with the park can be used. A recent change to a contract proposal at California's Yosemite National Park reflected that with hundreds of names of park identifiers. Yosemite concessionaire Delaware North Parks & Resorts placed the value of its intellectual property including trademarks it bought in 1993 for names like The Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village at $51 million. The Park Service says the value of the well-known lodge and cabin names is closer to $3.5 million. But future concessionaires aren't required to pay it. A successor instead could choose to rename those places, the agency said in the contract proposal. Bidding on it ended this week. Derrick Crandall, counsel at the National Park Hospitality Association, said park concessionaires have invested time and money to create brands and market them to the public, building up goodwill in the names. It's not unlike what happens with hotels and businesses outside national parks, he said. "If the next concessionaire decides, 'I don't want to pay that intellectual property,' and they want a new name, that's fine," Crandall said. "It's legitimate to say there's some kind of payment due." Doug Sylvester, dean of Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, said Xanterra has a good case for winning approval for the federal trademarks but suggested the Park Service oppose the move so it could include the right by any concessionaire to use those names as part of a contract. "To lose those names is to devalue those particular operations," he said. "I do think for those who are familiar with the Grand Canyon, those names themselves have some value." For the public, the effect could be its attachment to names that have been staples of the Grand Canyon for decades. El Tovar named after a Spanish conquistador who never made it to the Grand Canyon harkens back to a railroad company that set up lodging for passengers amid a remarkable landscape. Bright Angel Lodge pays ode to the popular hiking trail and winding creek of the same name. Wayne Ranney's first Arizona residence was at Phantom Ranch where he worked as a backcountry ranger. He says he couldn't imagine the grouping of rustic cabin, cantina and cottonwood trees being called anything else. Phantom Ranch is deep within the park and can be reached only by foot, mule or raft. Famed architect Mary Jane Coulter designed it in the 1920s with materials from the surrounding landscape. She rejected efforts to name it Roosevelt's Chalets. "We'll all get used to a new name if it comes to that, but how far down on the mat will these companies go to squeeze every nickel out of it?" Ranney said. "This is a heritage that belongs to all of us. To strip it of its name is to take a piece of it away with you." | 5 | 8,919 | news |
Setting up the weekend in college basketball: Best bets : It's safe to say a majority of Big 12 members will be dancing in a couple of months. What remains to be seen is how far those teams will advance, or, more to the point, how much they'll have left in the tank after a grind of a regular season. That continues Saturday with a pair of top-25 clashes. No. 14 Kansas gets the midafternoon spotlight in a visit to No. 18 Texas (2 p.m. ET, CBS). The Jayhawks enter the weekend with a share of the conference lead, though they continue to struggle with the inconsistency one might expect from a freshman-heavy squad. What KU does do well on a regular basis is defend, though even that nearly let the Jayhawks down in their most recent outing (more on that below). The Longhorns also play solid defense, holding their last two opponents to a total of 98 points. But they might have to adjust on the fly against the Jayhawks, whose lack of a true star means anyone could develop the hot hand. No. 20 Oklahoma, on the other hand, does have a standout in Buddy Hield. The 6-4 guard's 26-point effort in Allen Fieldhouse nearly rallied the Sooners to a huge comeback at Kansas on Monday night. He and OU take to the road once again Saturday at No. 21 Baylor (6 p.m. ET, ESPN2), where the Bears will be looking to get back to the .500 mark in league play. Baylor's Rico Gathers isn't likely to repeat his record-setting 28-rebound performance he achieved in Wednesday night's tune-up against NAIA member Huston-Tillotson, but Oklahoma must keep a body on him just the same. Number of the day : 1,000. Coach Mike Krzyzewski probably would have preferred to skip his team's earlier two-game losing streak that delayed his first attempt to reach the 1000-win milestone until this weekend. But the fact that he now has a chance to do it at one of his favorite venues other than Cameron Indoor Stadium could make up for it a bit. Coach K likes to get in at least one visit a year to Madison Square Garden, and The sixth-ranked Blue Devils will be there Sunday to meet the arena's primary college tenant St. John's (2 p.m. ET, Fox). The Red Storm will to their best, however, to spoil the Blue Devils' party and give themselves a resume booster in the process. Days until Selection Sunday : 50. GALLERY: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK IN COLLEGE HOOPS | 1 | 8,920 | sports |
A break-out 2014 season and a career-high ranking of five has added extra weight to Kei Nishikori's shoulders, with the U.S. Open finalist already bearing the burden of huge expectations in his home country Japan. Nishikori became the first man from an Asian country to reach a grand slam final at Flushing Meadows and though the 25-year-old wears the distinction with pride, he also feels the pressure to take the extra step. Nishikori reached the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday with a 6-7(7) 6-1 6-2 6-3 win over much-improved American Steve Johnson at the Hisense Arena. But the fifth seed still has a huge mountain to climb at Melbourne Park with top seed Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka likely to stand in the way of a maiden final in Australia. "Obviously number five is a different feeling than outside of the top 10 because you still feel a lot of confidence, but you feel other things off the court," Nishikori told reporters. "I think I feel more pressure than before. I try not to think too much. But you obviously feel a little bit. It's still not comfortable for me to be this ranking. "But I think I need more time to get used to it. If I can play good tennis, I think I have a lot of chance to stay here this whole year. You know, practise hard and prepare good. Hopefully I can do good this week and next week." Nishikori will have one less distraction at Melbourne Park before his fourth-round match against David Ferrer, with Japan's national soccer team bombing out of their Asian Cup title defense in Australia. The defending champions lost a penalty shoot-out to underdogs United Arab Emirates in Sydney on Friday much to the disappointment of huge fan Nishikori. "Yeah, (I'm) disappointed because I think they really had a chance of winning the whole thing. So really sad to see," he said. "I hope tennis gets bigger in Japan, Asia. But I love soccer. So I hope lot of kids start playing soccer, too." (Editing by Michael Hann) | 1 | 8,921 | sports |
A collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia, including a lock of the 16th U.S president's hair, will be up for auction in Dallas on Saturday, months before the United States marks 150 years since the end of the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination. The collection of more than 300 items, with a combined estimated value of about $400,000, belonged to a Fort Worth history buff and is considered to be one of the best private Lincoln collections known to exist, according to Heritage Auction officials. The late Fort Worth art gallery owner Donald Dow built the collection over five decades, beginning in 1963 with the purchase of a box of books, according to his son Greg Dow, who is selling the collection. The elder Dow died in 2009. "He started collecting because of his interest in the Civil War and military history," Greg Dow said. "But then he became interested in Lincoln and the assassination." Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and supporter of the Confederacy. He died the next day. Highlights of the collection include a fragment of a letter Lincoln wrote to a Baltimore attorney in 1862, containing a rare admission that Civil War was not going well for the north but rejecting surrender. The fragment is projected to sell for about $25,000. Papers endorsed by Lincoln arranging a prisoner swap between a Union soldier in Confederate custody and the son of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who was being held by the Union, is estimated to sell for $10,000. The items up for auction include the arrest warrant for Booth, estimated to sell for $4,000, and two eyewitness accounts of the assassination, expected to fetch $6,000 and $8,000. Greg Dow said the time is right for him to sell the collection. "I want other collectors to have a chance to enjoy it," Dow said. (Reporting by Marice Richter; Editing by David Bailey and Mohammad Zargham) | 5 | 8,922 | news |
Jeb Bush is promising "adult conversations" over politics and policy if he runs for the White House. In his first major speech since signalling last month he's seriously considering a presidential bid, the former Florida governor laid out his economic, immigration, foreign policy and energy ideas to a San Francisco audience on Friday, according to the Washington Post . His remarks come as many of his potential, more conservative, GOP rivals are gathering in Iowa for the unofficial kickoff to the presidential race, just over a year out from the state's presidential caucuses. The Iowa Freedom Summit is hosted by controversial Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a hardline proponent against immigration reform. Instead, in the Friday paid speech at the National Automobile Dealers Association's annual convention, Bush drew loud applause, according to the Post, when he called for immigration reform and a pathway to legalized status for undocumented immigrants. "We have a history of allowing people to come in legally to embrace our values and pursue their dreams in a way that creates prosperity for all of us," Bush said. "No country can do this like America. Our national identity is not based on race or some kind of exclusionary belief. Historically, the unwritten contract has been, come legally to our country, embrace our values, learn English, work and you can be as American as anyone else." Bush challenged voters to question "every aspect of how government works." "Millions of Americans want to move forward in their lives they want to rise but they're losing hope," said Bush. The former governor and famous political scion was also critical of the inner workings of Washington and President Obama. But he also had particularly tough words for the new GOP-controlled Congress, saying it was filled with too many "academic and political hacks" with "hard-core ideology." "They're basically Maytag repairmen," said Bush. "Nothing gets done." Bush added, "It is time to challenge every aspect of how government works how it taxes, how it regulates, how it spends to open up economic opportunity for all." | 5 | 8,923 | news |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) When Americans Madison Keys and Madison Brengle won their first-round matches at the Australian Open, Keys was asked at a news conference if she knew anyone else with the unusual name Madison. ''I think it's actually a pretty popular name for younger people,'' the 19-year-old Keys said, causing some laughter in the room. ''Walking through grocery stores, I hear it a lot. But Madison (and I) are a few of the older ones. I think it's more like 5 and 6 year olds.'' On Saturday, Keys and Brengle both won again to set up a meeting in the fourth round, ensuring at least one American - and one Madison - will move on to the quarterfinals. ''We're obviously representing our name pretty well,'' Keys said. With new coach Lindsay Davenport watching from the stands at Rod Laver Arena, Keys matched big-hitting Czech Petra Kvitova stroke for stroke and broke the two-time Wimbledon champion's serve five times to advance with a 6-4, 7-5 win. A 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter) power hitter with good footwork and speed, Keys has an all-court game that has drawn comparisons to Davenport. Now, with Davenport and her husband Jon Leach as her coaches, she got the breakthrough win at a major that was long expected of her. ''Obviously this is my first time in the second week of a Grand Slam. I feel good about it,'' she said. ''But at the same time it's one of those things where I want more. ... So I'm not really getting ahead of myself and letting myself get too excited over this.'' While Keys has the celebrity coach and has been tipped as a future star, the 24-year-old Brengle is more of a late bloomer. A speedy counterpuncher from Dover, Delaware, Brengle has played almost exclusively on the second-tier women's pro tour. She showed enough talent as a teenager to earn a few wild cards to slams, but after the 2008 French Open she failed to qualify for another one for more than six years. Meanwhile, other young Americans such as Keys, Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens passed her by. ''I played Caroline (Wozniacki) a bunch in juniors and she got to No. 1 and you see that it can be done,'' Brengle said. ''But at the same time, everybody kind of progresses at their own pace so I don't think you want to compare yourself too much with other players.'' Brengle has finally started to string together good results in the last few months at the same time she's been dealing with a serious health concern. Two days before the U.S. Open, she discovered a strange spot on her leg and it was later diagnosed as cancerous. ''They found it really, really early. We took care of it,'' she said. ''I have a nice scar on my leg to show for it.'' She's been applying and reapplying sunblock during every match in Australia - and continuing to win. On Saturday, she beat fellow American Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2 to set up the fourth-round match with Keys. One of them will make the quarters - the first American besides Serena Williams to do so at a major since Stephens made two in 2013. ''Everybody kind of pushes each other,'' Brengle said. ''I'm really, really optimistic with how American women's tennis is looking.'' | 1 | 8,924 | sports |
(Bloomberg) -- A Japanese hostage captured by Islamic State militants was said to have been killed after a deadline passed for Japan to pay a $200 million ransom to secure his release. Haruna Yukawa, a self-styled security contractor, was beheaded, according to a Twitter post today from SITE Intel Group, based in Bethesda, Maryland, which monitors terrorist activity. A video was released showing the other Japanese hostage, war correspondent Kenji Goto, pleading for his life and asking for the release of a woman imprisoned in Jordan for allegedly attempting to take part in a suicide bombing, according to the Twitter post. Islamic State sought to punish the Japanese government for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Jan. 17 pledge of $200 million in non-military aid for nations fighting the militant group, setting the ransom at the same amount. The group set a 72-hour deadline in a separate video released on Jan. 20 that showed the two men kneeling before a knife-wielding militant who said Japan must pay "otherwise, this knife will become your nightmare." On a six-day Middle East trip that ended the day the first video was released, Abe said in a speech in Cairo that allowing terrorism and weapons of mass destruction to spread there would impart an "immeasurable" loss on the region. He later denounced the kidnappings as an "unforgivable" act and said his government would never cave to terrorism, pledging to do everything possible to secure their release. To contact the reporters on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at [email protected]; Alexis Leondis in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at [email protected] Bernard Kohn, Sylvia Wier | 5 | 8,925 | news |
WICHITA, Kan. The recent plunge in fuel prices has been a welcome relief across the agricultural sector, helping ease the pain of low grain prices for growers and boosting profits for cattle ranchers. "Every movement we make in farming takes fuel," Kansas cattle rancher and hay grower Randy Cree said. Livestock producers in the Midwest and vegetable growers in the Sun Belt alike are reaping the immediate benefits. And with average retail gas prices for 2015 forecast to be about $1 lower than last year, farmers this spring may end up planting more energy-intensive crops, such as corn or rice, as the cost to irrigate and cultivate drops. Consumers, however, shouldn't expect to see lower prices at the supermarket. Transportation costs constitute only a small slice of those prices, and it takes months, if ever, for cost savings at the farm level to trickle to the shelf sticker. For years, Cree hasn't been able to afford to fill the fuel tanks at his farm west of Lawrence. But with the local price of untaxed diesel and regular gasoline both below $2 a gallon, Cree plans to completely fill the two 300-gallon and one 200-gallon tanks. It takes fuel to feed his 100 cows all winter long, fuel to drive to the feed store. The lower prices will also make "a big difference" this summer. Each time he harvests his hay, his tractor must make three trips over every field one to mow it, one to rake it, and another to bale it. "We are hoping that for the first time in a long, long time to have the burden of high fuel prices off our backs so we can maybe make a little bit of money this year," Cree said. Farmers use mostly off-road diesel, for which they don't pay federal and state taxes, in their tractors and other farm equipment. While diesel averages about 20 cents per gallon more than regular gasoline, road taxes alone can add 14 percent more at the pump. On-road diesel prices nationwide are forecast to average $1.86 a gallon this year well below the $2.81 per gallon in 2014. And looking into 2016, prices are forecast to average $2.30 a gallon for on-road diesel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's good news for farmers who depend on row crops, and who've seen farm income drop by as much as 50 percent because of low grain prices. Lower energy prices increase planted acres for most major row crops and drop the price of the commodity, according to an April 2014 federal study on the impact crude oil prices have on agriculture. Nearly 20 percent of operating costs for major U.S. row crops are tied to direct energy expenses, the Economic Research Service's study showed. Vance Ehmke, who grows wheat near Healy in western Kansas, said low diesel fuel prices will "definitely help," but might not be enough. "On one level, fuel going down is really going to save us $20,000 to $25,000 which is a nice chunk of change," Ehmke said. "However, the other side of the coin is that while we have had a collapse in the oil market, we also have had a collapse in the grain market." Consumers can expect to use some of their savings at the pump toward grocery bills. The price of food at both restaurants and grocery stores is predicted to go up 2 to 3 percent in 2015, according to agricultural economist Annemarie Kuhns with the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service. Only 4.7 cents of every dollar spent at the supermarket goes toward food transportation costs, Kuhns said. Mostly, retail food prices are driven by other factors, such as supply and demand. That's evident in beef prices, which soared when ranchers had to liquidate cattle herds during recent droughts. Among those currently enjoying the lowest-in-years diesel prices is Florida vegetable grower Rick Roth, who also operates a packing house where crops such as celery, leafy greens and radishes are sorted and cleaned before shipped. Roth figures he buys about 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel a week, which he mainly uses in his tractors for land preparation, planting, cultivation, spraying and harvest at his farm in Palm Beach County. Any fuel savings will go toward the bottom line, he said, and will help keep his farm fully staffed with 25 full-time employees and 150 seasonal workers. "One of the things that is really interesting about vegetable production is that you have years that you make money, and you have years that you lose money," he said. "Probably 25 percent of overall cost is related to fuel. I think what it will mean is you will just have people staying in production." | 3 | 8,926 | finance |
Ever wonder why your skin gets red and blotchy when you drink alcohol? Blame your gut's reaction to a good time. Moments after booze hits your belly, your stomach releases an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) that tries to convert the alcohol into something less toxic to your nervous system. The byproducts of that process are energy and ethylaldehyde. While ethylaldehyde is less toxic than alcohol, it's still not entirely benign. It stimulates the release of adrenaline, quickening your pulse; that's why overimbibing can lead to "holiday heart syndrome," a temporary but potentially dangerous irregular heartbeat. Ethylaldehyde also has the cosmetic consequence of dilating capillaries in your face hence the rosy coloration of your cheeks. Why doesn't it show in everyone? Some people tend to secrete more ADH than others, which produces more ethylalehyde and, as a result, a more noticeable "I've had a few" flushed face. | 7 | 8,927 | health |
Romantic restaurants around the world Surprise your loved one with a romantic dining experience. Here's a look at the most romantic restaurants around the world. Le Jules Verne, Paris The fact that it is located in the Eiffel Tower makes it all the more coveted. With the most beautiful view of Paris, the guests are treated to the finest gourmet delicacies. The restaurant is managed by celebrated French chef Alain Ducasse. La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise, Prague People who want to try some delicious Czech cuisine can try this restaurant. Away from the teeming touristy crowd, the place is tucked on a lovely atmospheric street in Prague. The Tides, Holetown, Barbados One of the best restaurant in Barbados, the place has a lavish setting. Ocean-facing, the restaurant is known for its seafood dishes. De Librije, Zwolle, Amsterdam An hour-long train ride away from Amsterdam, the restaurant guarantees a warm and intimate experience. It's housed in a 15th-century Dominican abbey in Zwolle, offering modern and adventurous dining experience. Nautika, Dubrovnik The sea-side restaurant, settled by the entrance to the Old Town, specializes in locally caught fish. On warm nights, patrons throng the outdoor terraces. Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Maldives Situated 5 metres (16 feet) below the Indian Ocean surface, the restaurant is a hit among honeymooners. Offering a 270-degree view of uninterrupted sea through transparent panelling, it is clearly a unique place to dine out. Breeze restaurant, Lebua hotel, Bangkok This rooftop restaurant offers a wonderful dining experience on balmy evenings. You can even find occasional fireworks display at the restaurant, which is situated next to Chao Phraya River. Gran Caffè Quadri, Venice A visit to this restaurant can become all the more exciting for a couple on a romantic vacation. Offering traditional Venetian dishes, the guests are treated to excellent service. Le Louis XV - Alain Ducasse, Monaco With opulent decoration and lavish space, the restaurant looks more like a palace. Apart from delicious food, the restaurant is popular for engagements or anniversaries celebrations. Solo per Due (only for Two) in Vacone, Italy This restaurant, with its capacity to sit only two people at a time, has earned the title of being the smallest restaurant in the world. Popular for its discreet and unobtrusive service, the restaurant also offers private fireworks display. Galvin Bistrot de Luxe, London With wood panelling, antique mirrors and chocolate leather banquettes, the restaurant offers quite relaxing ambiance. The food is consistently excellent and the service is quite impressive. Fasano, Uruguay This romantic dining get away is for couples who are looking for an idyllic experience. A part of the Hotel Fasano Las Piedras, the restaurant is designed with wooden floors and ceilings to add a simple and rustic feel. | 2 | 8,928 | travel |
Pakistan's central bank Saturday slashed the basic interest rates by one percent to a 10-year low on the back of improving economic indicators at home. Addressing a press conference in the country's financial capital Karachi, the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Ashraf Mehmood Wathra said the discount rate was being lowered by one percent to 8.5 percent. "Central board of directors has decided to reduce the SBP policy rate by 100 basis points from 9.5 percent to 8.5 percent effective from 26th January 2015," he said. The central bank also revised its inflation rates projection for the current fiscal year from 4.5 to 5.5 percent, compared to an earlier target of 8 percent. Reduction in inflation rates was the result of a staggering drop in the global oil and other commodities prices. "Given the reduction in domestic oil prices and its second round impact, such as on transport services, inflation is likely to decrease further going forward," Wahtra said. Pakistan has successfully completed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) 4th and 5th reviews linked to a $6.6 billion loan programme in November leading to release of $1.1 billion in December. The Washington-based lender granted the extended fund facility to Pakistan in September 2013, on the condition that it carry out extensive economic reforms especially in the energy sector and tax system. | 5 | 8,929 | news |
The decision to have a second - or third or fourth - child is one that will change your family forever. And if you're still on the fence about whether or not it's a good idea, we've got some great reasons to give your child a sibling. There are some things that only brothers and sisters understand, from childhood to those tough transitional years, and throughout the highs and lows of being an adult. Here, captured on the camera, 20 moments that can only be shared with a sibling. When You Need Someone to Look Up To Source: Jennifer Little | Sugar Photography Love this? Follow us on Facebook. Or You Need Someone to Torture Source: Flickr user Dave Goehring Love this? Follow us on Facebook. When You're Questioning Your Parents' Decisions Source: Jennifer Little | Sugar Photography Love this? Follow us on Facebook. Or Feel Sad About Something No One Else Could Possibly Understand Source: Flickr user james goodman Love this? Follow us on Facebook. When You're Not Quite Ready to Be All On Your Own Source: Priceless Impressions Love this? Follow us on Facebook. When You're Trying Something New For the First Time Source: Jennifer Little | Sugar Photography When Looking at Each Other Is (Almost) Like Looking in a Mirror Source: Flickr user Hendrik Terbeck When All You Want Is to See a Familiar Smile Source: Flickr user Angela Vincent When You Realize You'll Have Someone to Grow Old With Source: Flickr user Patrick And It's the Same Person Who Was Always There to Show You the Ropes Source: Flickr user fuzzyblue When You Need Someone to Ruin Mom's Pictures With Source: Flickr user Amanda Tipton Or Simply a Partner in Crime Source: Zoom Photography When You Need Someone to Pick a Fight With Source: Flickr user clappstar But Making Up Is a Guarantee (It Has to Be!) Source: Flickr user Luc de Leeuw When You're Simply in Awe of the Other's Existence Source: Jennifer Little | Sugar Photography Because You're Like Your Own Secret Society Source: Flickr user Ken Wilcox When He's the Only One Who Can Get You to Crack a Smile Source: Alexander N Or the Only One Whose Advice You'll Listen To Source: Flickr user Illusive Photography When You Turn the Most Ordinary of Days Into an Adventure Source: Flickr user Ben Francis And When You Realize You're Not Just Siblings - You're Best Friends Source: Flickr user Mark | 4 | 8,930 | lifestyle |
If you're like me, by the time Friday rolls around, sometimes I need a serious attitude check. Especially when your to-do list keeps growing, but the days seem to be getting shorter and shorter. Often times it makes me want to spend my Friday night just curled up with a pizza and a blanket (no shame, no shame). It's easy to get wrapped up in stress, which steals away our otherwise cheerful and happy selves. Not today though, sister! Do any of these 7 tricks today for an instant mood boost! 1. COMPLIMENT SOMEBODY This might sound strange, but I'm always surprised with how complimenting somebody results in an instant surge of happiness. Not just a "hey, nice shirt" compliment, but a real, sincere compliment. It could be a coworker, or even better, the girl with the amazing hair that you see on the train everyday. Random acts of kindness are always a mood booster for both parties, and a reminder that the little things in the world make a big difference. Try it, I promise, it works! 2. SWIPE ON SOME RED LIPSTICK My tried and true method. If you've stuck around GG long enough, you've heard me say this before. I feel very strongly that a girl can conquer the world with a good red lipstick. I don't know what it is, but it has to be red. I suppose it's because red is the ultimate color of confidence it's an attitude adjustment in a tube, I swear. Back when I worked in advertising, sometimes I'd even put it on for presentations, even though they were over the phone and nobody could see me. Something about it makes me more confident. Red lipstick = go time. 3. TAKE A WALK AROUND THE BLOCK Something about the fresh air does wonders for your mood. Take a quick break and get outside whenever you're feeling stressed or down. If you don't have time for a break during the work day, try taking the long way to work or the long way home. I love going for walks by the lake and listening to one of my favorite podcasts as a way to tune out. (Pssst I made a list of my favorites you can see here !) 4. DRINK A COLD GLASS OF LEMON WATER Soo random, right? I just discovered this the other day and it was like, WOAH! For me, this week has been super stressful, as it is most times one tries to cram in 5 days of work into 4. I've been trying to drink more water lately and I took a quick break and decided to pop a lemon into my water, and it completely brightened my mood. Citrus contains vitamin C, which not only boosts your immunity, but it's thought to reduce stress related hormones. I mean...makes sense to me! 5. CLICK BACK TO 2007 ON YOUR FACEBOOK TIMELINE Wow. Just, wow, is all I have to say. The amount of photos I have on the internet of me and my friends being complete idiots are remarkable. Who can't look back to 2007 and laugh at what they were wearing, the silly shenanigans they were getting into. I, for one, can tell you that I was wearing very large metallic belts, various stripper-like heels, and there are a frightening number of photos of me in a homemade indian costume (I remember I had a dance class final the morning after a "Cowboys and Indians" party with war paint stains on my face.) HELLO how does time traveling not make you so happy? That made me giggle just typing this paragraph. (Disclaimer: non-millennials probably won't get much out of this tip, sorry, Mom!) 6. LOOK LAST YEAR'S BIRTHDAY CARDS Sometimes I'll save my birthday cards and open them weeks or even months later, a couple at a time, for when I need a little boost of cheerfulness. I did that this year, and it made them so much more special. If you already opened all of yours (like most normal people) the effect is the same if you glance over them from time to time. Little reminders of how much you are loved always lead to a happier mindset. 7. WATCH THIS VIDEO If you didn't see me tweet this the other day, read this article and then watch the video right now! I don't remember the last time I watched something online and smiled this hard. It also makes me love this band SO much more! (Can you guess who I'm talking about now?) I don't care if you've already seen it, watch it again. | 4 | 8,931 | lifestyle |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Jevon Carter sank two free throws with 1 second left in overtime to lift No. 18 West Virginia to an 86-85 victory over TCU on Saturday. West Virginia (16-3, 4-2 Big 12) narrowly avoided another meltdown after falling 77-50 at No. 17 Texas a week ago. Devin Williams and Juwan Staten had 18 points apiece for the Mountaineers. Jonathan Holton added 15 points and Daxter Miles Jr. scored 10. Kyan Anderson scored 22 points to lead six players in double figures for the Horned Frogs (14-5, 1-5). TCU led 80-75 after an Anderson jumper with 1:16 left in overtime, but Daxter Miles Jr. hit 3-pointers 21 seconds apart to put West Virginia ahead 84-83 with 8 seconds left. After TCU's Trey Zeigler made a basket in the lane with 2 seconds left, Carter was fouled by Anderson on a drive and made both free throws to win it. TCU did everything it could in overtime in trying to pull off the upset, making 5 of 6 field goals. But the Mountaineers made 6 of 8 free throws in overtime after going 16 of 24 in regulation. In regulation, TCU came from eight points down in the final nine minutes, with Zeigler's turnaround jumper in the lane giving the Horned Frogs a 72-70 lead. Miles hit a layup with 1 second left, and TCU turned the ball over on the subsequent inbounds play without any time ticking off the clock. Staten then inbounded to Williams, who had his back turned to the basket and missed an off-balanced short shot at the buzzer. TIP-INS: TCU: Charles Hill Jr. had all of his 13 points in the second half before fouling out. Kenrich Williams and Amric Fields had 11 points apiece, and Zeigler and Chris Washburn had 10 apiece. West Virginia: The Mountaineers won their sixth straight against the Horned Frogs and swept the season series. ... Coach Bob Huggins earned career win No. 756 and moved into 13th place ahead of Henry Iba among major college coaches. Western Kentucky's Ed Diddle is 12th with 759 wins. NEXT UP: TCU: Hosts No. 11 Kansas on Wednesday. West Virginia: at Kansas State on Tuesday. | 1 | 8,932 | sports |
To fill out the eight-team field, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey will use a team made up of players of North Americans who are 23 and under on Sept. 1, 2016. Who could be on that team. Centers: Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Ryan Strome (New York Islanders), Sean Monahan (Calgary Flames), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton Oilers), Alex Galchenyuk (Montreal Canadiens) and Sean Couturier (Philadelphia Flyers). Left wings : Brandon Saad (Chicago Blackhawks), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers), Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames) and Matt Nieto (San Jose Sharks). Right wing : Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets), Curtis Lazar (Ottawa Senators), Tom Wilson (Washington) , Jonathan Drouin (Tampa Bay Lightning). Defensemen : Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers), Seth Jones (Nashville Predators), Jacob Trouba (Winnipeg Jets), Dougie Hamilton (Boston Bruins), Morgan Reilly (Toronto Maple Leafs), Connor Murphy (Arizona Coyotes), Cody Ceci (Ottawa Senators) and Ryan Murray (Columbus Blue Jackets) Goalies: John Gibson (Anaheim Ducks), Malcom Subban (Boston Bruins) and Zachary Fucale (Montreal Canadiens). Summary: Most of the top young players are centers, meaning some of them will likely play on the wing. Because there were openings, we already have Scheifele as moving to right wing. The under-23 defense will be talented, and there are others out there, such as Matt Dumba (Minnesota Wild) who could make this squad. There are also others who aren't yet in the NHL yet who could make this team, such as Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Max Domi, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Riley Barber, etc. | 1 | 8,933 | sports |
Neglecting to clean your cell phone is a nasty tech habit to break this year . Cell phones have been proven to carry bacteria, germs, even feces. Yes, feces. If there's one new routine to create for yourself, it's keeping that smartphone shiny and clean. Your health will thank you. Check out a few of our tech-friendly tips to clean that gadget, below. Cleaning your touch screen smartphone is kind of like cleaning your LCD monitor - you don't want to use any harsh chemicals or, even more damaging, water. Using a tried-and-tested cleaner like iKlear ($21) will ensure you won't damage your phone's sensitive bits. Use the included microfiber cloth (or one of your own) and shine that baby up. If you don't want to spring for a special formula, a 40/60 alcohol-to-water mixture on solid phone parts and keyboards should be OK for your devices (use a damp cloth and/or cotton swab for small and hard-to-reach places). However you do not want to use any sort of alcohol, ammonia, or harsh cleaning agent on touch screens. If you're in a pinch and want to quickly rid your phone of dirty crevices and fingerprints, use a piece of Scotch Tape to peel away dirt and dust in between keys, and rid your phone of fingerprints. Perfect for when you're at the office (without a microfiber cloth), but unfortunately it won't help the germ situation. Serious germaphobes can ensure a clean device with the PhoneSoap Charger ($60), which cleans, sanitizes, and charges your device all at once. Just drop it in once a day for germ-free surfing and calling. In the mood to refresh your tech life? Here's nine more bad tech habits to break this year! | 5 | 8,934 | news |
The anointment of the House of Saud more than three centuries ago came with a pledge to rule in tandem with the austere clerics of Wahhabi Islam whose puritanical theology has provided some of the underpinnings for extremist groups throughout the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, that partnership has left the royal family - often free-wheeling and free-spending in its own habits - presiding over a deeply conservative society with one of the worst human rights records on Earth. Public beheadings routinely follow Friday prayers, drawing large crowds. A Burmese woman convicted of killing her stepdaughter met her fate last week at the hands of a swordsman in the streets of Mecca, screaming her innocence as she was held down by police, according to video distributed by human rights activists. This month, a Saudi blogger become the subject of an international campaign to save him from a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes spread over 20 weeks - a sentence so severe that doctors recommended that a second round of 50 lashes be postponed Friday because he had not healed from the first. Wahhabi doctrine is so deeply entrenched in the desert kingdom that few believe that King Salman - an elderly brother of the late King Abdullah who took the throne this week - is likely to make many reforms. The grand bargain forged in 1774 between Mohammed ibn al Saud, then a minor clan leader, and the cleric Mohammed Abdul Wahhab, provided the ideological justification for uniting the fractious tribes scattered across the Arabian Peninsula under the rule of the House of Saud. As their empire expanded, so did the influence of the Wahhabi clerical establishment, which seeks to convert Muslims to their "purer" form of Islam, as practiced at the time of the prophet Muhammad's early followers. Since the 1970s, billions of dollars from the country's rich oil earnings have been spent on spreading Wahhabism around the world. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was initially a joint venture between a worldly ruler and the leading cleric," said Jane Kinninmont, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, a British-based think tank. "And that has always been the case since then, in that the clerics have been partners to the government and to some extent provided their legitimacy." Though the relationship isn't codified, it has given the clerics broad power over education, justice, family law and the role of women while leaving the messy business of domestic politics, foreign policy and the military largely to the monarchy. Yet tension has emerged through the years, especially with the rise of extremist groups such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State, viewed as domestic security threats. In the last decade, the country's rulers have sought to moderate the sermons of some of the kingdom's most radical preachers. More modern-thinking clerics have been promoted to senior state positions and scholars from other branches of Sunni Islam brought onto the top clerical council. "The Wahhabis do not have the same grip over power in Saudi Arabia as they used to over the past centuries," said Ammar Ali Hassan, a Cairo-based political analyst. "The power of politics has overtaken the influence of religion on governing the kingdom, and King Abdullah should be the one taking the credit." King Abdullah encouraged a reevaluation of the status of women and the rights of religious minorities through a series of national dialogues. He took steps to modernize education and aspects of the judicial system. And in 2013, he appointed 30 women to the Shura Council, a consultative body that produces recommendations for the Cabinet. But the changes were modest. Women are still forbidden from accessing higher education, marrying, obtaining a passport or traveling without the approval of a male guardian. Two women were detained last month for trying to drive a car across the border from the United Arab Emirates. "It is not enough for women to sit on the Shura Council if they can't even drive themselves to work," Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Friday. The spread of the Internet has provided an opening for Saudis to discuss social and political issues. But the government continues to punish those who criticize members of the royal family, senior religious leaders or government policies. Raif Badawi's jail and flogging sentence was handed down for starting a website, Free Saudi Liberals, accused of publishing an article seen as ridiculing the kingdom's religious police and other "offensive" material. Two weeks ago, Badawi was taken in handcuffs and shackles to a square outside a mosque in Jidda, his hometown. A crowd gathered as a security officer approached from behind and started to beat Badawi with a large cane, according to an unidentified witness quoted by the London-based rights group Amnesty International. "The officer beat Raif on his back and legs, counting the lashes until they reached 50," the witness said. "Raif raised his head towards the sky, closing his eyes and arching his back. He was silent, but you could tell from his face and his body that he was in real pain." The "Arab Spring" uprisings of 2011 were a shock to the royal family, which escalated its crackdown on dissent, Kinninmont said. With the rapidly declining situation on the country's borders with Yemen and Iraq, she said, the new king could decide to fall back on the alliance with the religious leaders, with whom he enjoys close personal ties. "At the same time, it is going to be a priority for any new king to make sure that Saudi Arabia is seen to be at the forefront of the struggle against terrorism," she said. "So you're likely to see pressure on the clerics to reign in their followers with jihadi sympathies. And what might they get in return? Maybe they'll get somewhat more influence over local society on issues that aren't seen as so relevant for security." That could bode ill for those seeking greater protections for women, religious minorities and peaceful dissent. Special correspondent Amro Hassan in Germany contributed to this report | 5 | 8,935 | news |
Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford starred in a 2-0 upset win as Middlesbrough stunned Manchester City in the FA Cup fourth round. The Championship's second-place side absorbed sustained first-half pressure, with normally second-choice goalkeeper Tomas Mejias making a string of impressive saves at the Etihad Stadium. And Middlesbrough's resilience was rewarded as City produced some shambolic defending for Bamford to strike in the 53rd minute. Aitor Karanka's team almost doubled its lead when the excellent Lee Tomlin struck the post before substitute Kike sent a packed away end into raptures by sealing victory in injury time. City, which arrived back in Manchester on Friday evening following a training break in Abu Dhabi, appeared jaded as its performance unraveled. Frank Lampard came off the bench to strike the post in the 89th minute but back-to-back, scoreless home defeats means manager Manuel Pellegrini and his players head into next weekend's pivotal clash at Bamford's parent club with a season to salvage. The visitors made a confident and stylish start, though they were almost undone in the fifth minute when Stevan Jovetic was inches away from converting Aleksandar Kolarov's cross. Middlesbrough had the ball in the net after 19 minutes - Lee Tomlin heading home after Willy Caballero kept out Bamford's flick - but the latter was penalized for offside. Sergio Aguero's first sight of goal arrived five minutes later as he skipped around Ben Gibson to drill into the side netting. The hosts' recent problems defending set pieces were almost exposed when Daniel Ayala's free header from a 26th-minute corner was scrambled clear before City piled on relentless pressure for the remainder of the first half. A busy period for Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mejias began with him beating away a low drive from Jovetic and he produced similar heroics to deny James Milner after the England international crossed for recalled center back Dedryck Boyata to thrash wastefully over. Mejias was at full stretch to keep out David Silva's deflected 37th-minute strike before frustrating Jovetic once more. The Montenegro forward found himself in the familiar position of being denied by Mejias as he headed goalward from Kolarov's 50th-minute corner before some calamitous defending from City handed Middlesbrough the lead. Fernando played an ill-advised backpass under pressure and Caballero missed his kick, leaving Bamford to scramble over the line. A poor Caballero clearance gave Middlesbrough a glorious chance to increase its advantage in the 57th minute but the goalkeeper recovered to save from Tomlin and a desperate block by Vincent Kompany kept out Grant Leadbitter's follow-up. Aguero glanced wide from a Navas center but City's early poise had disappeared Albert Adomah failing to lob the ball over Caballero after Tomlin's lofted pass easily unlocked a creaking home defense. Tomlin came even closer himself in the 64th minute when he spun clear of Kompany to send Caballero the wrong way and stab a shot against the inside of the right-hand post the rebound rolling agonizingly across the face of goal. Middlesbrough defender George Friend made an important 73rd-minute challenge to deny Aguero, moments before the visitors streamed forward on the break and Caballero kept out a Jelle Vossen volley. Lampard's shot clipped former City youngster Adam Clayton and hit the upright but Bamford then drove Middlesbrough forward on the break and fed Kiki, who ensured his teammates would not rue their profligacy. | 1 | 8,936 | sports |
MIAMI -- Ace Madison Bumgarner stole headlines with his historic performance in Game 7 of the World Series, but Michael Morse drove in the winning run as the San Francisco Giants captured their third title in five years. When the Miami Marlins front office entered the offseason searching for a bat to protect slugger Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup, Morse's name kept coming back into the discussion. His resume checks several boxes, but most importantly that of a veteran presence in the clubhouse. Much like the organization did the winter before by signing catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jeff Baker, Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee, it hoped to add postseason experience. Morse could check that off after the October run. When president of baseball operations Michael Hill and general manager Dan Jennings met with Morse at Marlins Park prior to last month's winter meetings, both left the visit calling Morse a perfect fit for "what we're trying to do." "(He said) 'Deep down I'm a Marlins fan' and you appreciate that he has a sense of the history of our franchise and what we've gone through," Hill said. "He's coming from the mountaintop. One thing that we discussed as we talked about him specifically was he just won. How hungry is he going to be to do it again? He just won. "When I say we were excited when we left the meeting was an understatement 'cause you talk about a guy who's been to the mountaintop but wants to do it again in his hometown and wants to be a part of raising that trophy again in South Florida and will do everything in his power to make that happen. It resonated with both of us." His character and championship pedigree stood out. His determination to impart his experience on his new teammates -- young but talented -- did as well. As a recent high school graduate, Morse signed a deal with the Chicago White Sox after being selected in the third round of the 2000 draft. At a gym off Red Road, he shared a trainer with Mike Lowell, Cliff Floyd, Pudge Rodriguez and Preston Wilson. Morse picked the brains of those Marlins greats, who took him under their wings and made his journey less stressful. "Anytime you have experience it's very important," Morse said. "At the same time a lot of guys on this team have experience like Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He's done it, he's a winner, he's been there. A lot of these guys have so much talent. You don't have to tell them much. You just have to point them in the right direction." Jennings sees Morse being able to do the same thing for the clubhouse already in South Florida. Christian Yelich is a Gold Glove recipient. Stanton finished as the runner-up for National League Most Valuable Player. Marcell Ozuna became a reliable run producer, while Adeiny Hechavarria vastly improved at the plate. "Each guy (we acquired) in their own way mentioned it and I think it speaks volumes to what they're wanting to accomplish," Jennings said. "Certainly in Michael Morse's case he's been to the top of the mountain and these two guys (Dee Gordon and Mat Latos) want to get there. When you look at the quality of people they are and what they bring to really an already young and exciting team we feel very confident and look forward to the 2015 season." It took his 10th big-league season to become a champion, but Morse got there with the Giants in 2014. In 704 games, he is a .281 hitter with 99 home runs and 333 RBI. During that meeting at Marlins Park, Hill and Jennings wanted to get a feel for him, see whether winning had tampered his motivation and drive. Turns out it just made him hungrier to succeed elsewhere. "When you get a trifecta of an organization that is on the rise, in it to win it now, I'm playing at home and I'm playing on a team where these guys are great -- they have the attitudes you want, the positivity and the chemistry," Morse said. "You put that together and you get winning baseball. I've seen it, I've been a part of winning baseball, and this is very close to what I was part of in San Francisco." You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at [email protected] . | 1 | 8,937 | sports |
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The NHL will have three outdoor games next season, including a return of the Winter Classic to Boston, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced. This Jan. 1, 2016, game would be played between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The 2010 game was played in Fenway Park. The intense rivals have met in the playoffs 34 times, including a hard-fought, seven-game series last year won by Montreal. The Canadiens, who have played in two Heritage Classics, will be the second Canadian team to play in a Winter Classic. The Toronto Maple Leafs played in the 2014 game in Michigan Stadium. The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild, who have long petitioned for an outdoor game, will host Stadium Series games next season. The Wild will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 21, 2016, at TFC Bank Field at the University of Minnesota. The Avalanche will host the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 27, 2016, at Coors Field. The Blackhawks will be making their fourth outdoor appearance, following two Winter Classics and one Stadium Series. "Some teams are more comfortable playing these games competitively than others," Bettman said. "Everything we hear from (Blackhawks owner) Rocky Wirtz and (team president) John McDonough is they love to be part of it." | 1 | 8,938 | sports |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Kansas found a solution for Texas' size and muscle: pinpoint passing and nearly flawless handling of the basketball. Ruthlessly efficient on offense and willing to match Texas' physical effort under the basket, the No. 11 Jayhawks snagged a key 75-62 Big 12 road win Saturday. Freshman Cliff Alexander had 15 points and nine rebounds, and three other Jayhawks scored in double figures. Kansas (16-3, 5-1) had just three turnovers - none in the second half - tying a school record set back in 1966. ''This is a huge road win for us. It was big,'' said Brannen Greene, who scored 14 points and made four of Kansas' six 3-pointers. Kansas coach Bill Self compared Texas' size to top-ranked Kentucky, a team that blew out the Jayhawks by 32 back in November. ''Against Kentucky, we shied away from it. Today we didn't,'' Self said. Isaiah Taylor scored 23 for Texas in his best game since returning from a long layoff with a broken wrist. But Texas (14-5, 3-3) showed little offensive flair beyond Taylor's scoring. Taylor had just one assist as Texas' big frontcourt all but disappeared for long stretches. Cam Ridley, a 6-foot-9, 285-pound center who averaged nearly 15 points the previous two games, took just one shot in the second half, and had just four overall. Freshman Myles Turner, who is 6-11 and came in as Texas' leading scorer, scored eight on 4-of-11 shooting, but the Big 12's best free-throw shooter didn't get to the line. ''We're one of the biggest teams in the country and we don't take advantage of it,'' senior forward Jonathan Holmes said. ''I don't understand it.'' The loss is a tough blow for Texas' conference title hopes, which could all but end if the Longhorns lose at league co-leader Iowa State on Monday night. Texas did what it could to energize its best home crowd of the season. The Longhorns' mascot ''Hook'Em'' dropped about five stories down to the middle of the court and thousands of balloons were released from the rafters just before tipoff. The Longhorns fed off the energy for a quick 11-2 lead but a Kansas program that has won 10 consecutive Big 12 titles isn't one to be rattled by a little showmanship. The Jayhawks slowly broke down Texas' zone defense with 3-pointers before picking it apart from the inside. Perry Ellis scored eight points and Alexander had consecutive dunks to help the Jayhawks to a 32-30 halftime lead. The teams traded the lead seven times in the opening minutes of the second half before Holmes' 3-pointer put Texas up 42-38. The Jayhawks responded with an 8-0 run behind consecutive 3-pointers from Wayne Selden Jr., and Greene. Greene's last 3-pointer pushed the Kansas lead to six with just under seven minutes to play and the Jayhawks steadily pulled away. TIP-INS Kansas: The Jayhawks not only silenced the Texas frontcourt offensively, they also handled themselves well on the boards. The Jayhawks outrebounded Texas 37-36 and grabbed 24 offensive boards. Texas: Home hasn't been friendly for the Longhorns over the last month. The Longhorns have lost three of their last five at the Erwin Center. BLOCK PROBLEMS Texas is lauded for its shot-blocking and the Longhorns had nine more against Kansas, five by Turner. But coach Rick Barnes sees a flaw in all those swats. ''We're one of the best shot-blocking teams in the country. That also tells you our perimeter guys are getting beaten a lot. Our guard play has got to be better,'' Barnes said. DUNK CITY Alexander had no trouble establishing his territory among Texas' big men under the basket. Five of his six baskets came on dunks. He didn't sound impressed by Texas' Turner, who came into the season hyped as one of the top recruits in the country. ''He's kind of thin,'' Alexander said. ''I played against Turner all the time in high school. I played against Ridley too ... It was nothing to it.'' UP NEXT Kansas visits TCU on Wednesday. Texas visits Iowa State on Monday. | 1 | 8,939 | sports |
Bomb threats made at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport | 8 | 8,940 | video |
Forget deflated footballs and physics for a minute. Bill Belichick's media conference Saturday afternoon was about defending everything he has ever accomplished. How else can you explain the most guarded coach in the NFL one who goes to the greatest of lengths to minimize distractions passionately and publicly detailing a study the New England Patriots took time away from Super Bowl preparation to conduct, at a time a league investigation is ongoing? Belichick pointed out he's not a scientist but did something he didn't two days earlier: tried to present a plausible explanation for how the Patriots' game balls lost pressure during the first half of last weekend's AFC championship win over the Indianapolis Colts. On Saturday, Belichick entertained questions about the 2007 Spygate videotaping scandal, too. He was adamant the Patriots are "on the side of caution" about any potential rules violations. "I'm embarrassed to talk about the amount of time I've put into this compared to the other important challenge in front of us," Belichick said. Love him or loathe him, Belichick is an extraordinarily smart man. He knows some will always view his first three titles as tainted, even if, as Belichick said, plenty of other teams were videotaping signals that 80,000 people in the stadium could see, too. The Patriots leave Monday for Arizona and Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks a game set up as the best (and perhaps last) chance for Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady to silence skeptics of a modern-day dynasty that's gone a decade since its last title. Instead, both have spent the bye week under heavy scrutiny over an issue to which most NFL observers probably had never given a thought until the allegation surfaced Sunday night. If the Patriots beat the Seahawks, Deflategate will discredit this title in the minds of the same skeptics, no matter what the NFL investigation finds. All Belichick can try to do is win, and you can be damn sure that's his sole focus from here. Offering an explanation, any explanation, for what happened to those footballs was his best option for minimizing a distraction that is inevitable as players face the media crush next week. They'll still hear the questions. Now they can defer to his answers. For Belichick, this game was going to mean everything regardless. Now somehow it means even more. | 1 | 8,941 | sports |
A look at some of the banned items passengers try to sneak onto airplanes, from sickles to baseball bats to lots and lots of hammers. A lipstick case hiding a knife blade at the Pennsylvania State Surplus Store in Pennsylvania, on January 6, 2015. Prohibited items collected at TSA checkpoint screenings at Newark Liberty International Airport are sent to this store, where they are sold at drastically discounted prices. Curious about what happens to these forbidden goods? The "Washington Post" reveals the afterlife of banned TSA items . Pink brass knuckles that double as a cell phone case, being sold at the Pennsylvania State Surplus store on January 6, 2015. Items that look like weapons are not allowed as carry-on items at airports. This 8-inch double-edged knife was found inside a statue of the Eiffel Tower, in a carry-on bag at Oakland International Airport. Brass knuckles that were caught at a Transportation Security Administration airport security checkpoint. All weapons are destroyed by the TSA. Mini-bats on sale for $1 at the Pennsylvania State Surplus Store on January 6, 2015. Bats are prohibited carry-on items. A double-bladed knife that did not make its way through a TSA airport security checkpoint screening, ending up in the Pennsylvania surplus store. A homemade avalanche control charge was discovered in a carry-on bag at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The FBI responded and arrested the passenger. An 8.5" knife was discovered in an enchilada at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport, California. A loaded folding-stock rifle with two loaded magazines was discovered in a carry-on bag at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas. Fake grenades and ammunition being displayed on November 18, 2014, after being confiscated at airport security checkpoints at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York. A toy dagger is displayed after being confiscated at an airport security checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York. Prohibited liquids are displayed after being confiscated at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York. Box cutters are displayed after being confiscated at an airport security checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York. A confiscated piece of artwork with a fake grenade is displayed on November 18, 2014, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York. Confiscated knives, displayed on November 18, 2014, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York. Bullet belts and other items that replicate guns or ammunition are prohibited as carry-on items. This belt ended up at the Pennsylvania surplus store on January 6, 2015. Advanced imaging technology detected an anomaly in the chest of a passenger at the Philadelphia International Airport. After a pat-down, this pen and highlighter were discovered to conceal small knives. Confiscated nunchakus and a Chinese star are displayed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 18, 2014 in New York, New York. This toy chainsaw was confiscated at an airport security checkpoint and put on display at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 18, 2014. Credit card knives shown on January 5, 2015 in Newark, New Jersey. These prohibited items, collected at TSA checkpoint screenings at Newark Liberty International Airport, will be destroyed. Handcuffs, both metal and furry, are prohibited as carry-on items by the TSA. These ended up at the surplus store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A sickle, cleaver and billy club are some of the items that people tried to take through TSA security checkpoints at the Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey. A confiscated belt buckle with a toy gun on display at John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 18, 2014, in New York, New York. | 2 | 8,942 | travel |
ESPN will reportedly replace their Super Bowl Sunday broadcast of the Lakers-Knicks game with a celebrity bowling event. Yes, you read that right. Do you agree with ESPN's move? | 1 | 8,943 | sports |
Who is the Atlanta Hawks most valuable player through the halfway point of the season? The guys make their picks. | 1 | 8,944 | sports |
Video posted on social media shows one of two Japanese hostages holding a photo that appears to show the other Japanese hostage had been killed. Julie Noce reports. | 8 | 8,945 | video |
Federal prosecutors produced more than 100 pages of grand jury transcripts, investigative reports and other document Saturday in an effort to discredit former Gov. John G. Rowland's claim that the government withheld evidence he could have used to defend himself from campaign fraud charges last fall. In a long written argument, also filed in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney's office claims that Rowland's complaint is based on erroneous assertions and the faulty recollections of defense lawyers. Much of the government's rebuttal is directed at a sealed affidavit filed last week by a lawyer representing Rowland co-conspirator Lisa Wilson-Foley, a 2012 Congressional candidate. The affidavit, of attorney Craig A. Raabe, lists statements Wilson-Foley and Raabe claim to have made in a March 2014 meeting and in conversations with prosecutors and government investigators. Rowland wants a hearing in court on his claim that he was denied the information Wilson-Foley and her lawyer gave the government. Had Rowland been provided the information, his lawyers argue, it could have strengthened his defense when he was tried and convicted in September for conspiring to violate federal campaign laws and obstruct the subsequent federal investigation. "It is important to note at the outset that the Government believes that the principal assertions set forth in Counsel's Affidavit are inaccurate," the prosecutors wrote. "Much of Counsel's Affidavit does not comport with the recollections, notes or memoranda of the Postal Inspectors who investigated this matter or the Assistant United States Attorneys who prosecuted it." The prosecution claims it provided Rowland with virtually all the evidence it had. There is no need for further argument about the evidentiary dispute because Rowland's claim is based on mischaracterized evidence, the prosecutors said. Should Rowland he succeed in convincing U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton otherwise, his conviction could be overturned. Such decisions are rare. The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1963 decision in Brady v. Maryland spells out the requirement for authorities to disclose evidence supporting a defendant's claim of innocence. Rowland, Wilson-Foley and her husband Brian Foley, owner of the Apple Rehab nursing home chain, have been convicted of conspiring to violate federal campaign reporting law during Wilson-Foley's unsuccessful run for Congress. The two Foleys pleaded guilty and Brian Foley was the government's chief witness against Rowland. Under the government's view of the conspiracy, Rowland worked secretly as a top adviser to Wilson-Foley's campaign while being paid $5,000 a month under a sham consulting contract with Apple Rehab. All three were charged with violating campaign law by failing to publicly report Rowland's salary as a campaign expenditure. Raabe asserts in the affidavit that he and Wilson-Foley told federal prosecutors and investigators, repeatedly, that Wilson-Foley initially was unaware she was breaking the law. She claims to have been persuaded by her husband that Rowland was doing valuable work for Apple and that his campaign work was voluntary, meaning it was exempt from federal campaign reporting requirements, according to court filings. Rowland prosecutors Christopher Mattei and Liam Brennan dismiss Raabe's account of events as "inaccurate" in written arguments filed Saturday. "In particular, Counsel's recollection that he advised the Government that Brian Foley had multiple conversations with Ms. Wilson-Foley in which he informed her that Mr. Rowland was doing work at Apple is incorrect," the prosecutors wrote. "However, an evidentiary hearing to resolve these differing recollections is unnecessary," the prosecutors said. "Even assuming that Ms. Wilson-Foley and her attorney provided the Government with the information set forth in Counsel's Affidavit, there has been no Brady violation." The prosecutors said they "substantively and extensively" disclosed the disputed information to Rowland's defense lawyers before the trial. They said the "defense was aware or should have been aware of this information." Even if the disputed evidence had been withheld, the prosecutors argue, the defense was provided with substantially the same information provided by other witnesses. The prosecutors also are dismissive of a claim by Rowland's defense layers that they might have called Wilson-Foley as a defense witness had they been aware of the disputed information. Such a defense decision would have amounted to legal malpractice because, under government cross examination, Wilson-Foley would have implicated Rowland in the conspiracy to violate campaign law, the prosecutors said. "If called as a defense witness, Ms. Wilson-Foley's testimony would have likely inculpated Mr. Rowland, not exculpated him," the prosecutors wrote. "Mr. Rowland received a fair trial, and nothing in Counsel's Affidavit suggests that the jury's verdict should be disturbed." | 5 | 8,946 | news |
A number of NFL players' wives, including Leah Harris and Antonique Peterson, use the Pro Bowl as an opportunity to give back to charities. | 1 | 8,947 | sports |
Rafa Nadal weathered an early serving storm from Kevin Anderson before dismantling the South African giant with a 7-5 6-1 6-4 masterclass to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday. On the comeback trail after illness and injury, the Spanish third seed wrote off his chances before the tournament but now finds himself in the last eight with energy to spare after needing little more than two hours to despatch the 14th seed on a cloudy day at Rod Laver Arena. Nadal barely had a look at Anderson's serve early but after saving five break points at 5-5 in the first set, the 28-year-old went on an eight-game tear to take complete control of the match. Breaking Anderson in the third game of the third set, Nadal then cruised to victory, preserving himself for his next match against Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych, a man he has beaten everytime in their last 18 meetings. (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly) | 1 | 8,948 | sports |
Show business satire "Birdman" took the lead in what promises to be a competitive race for the best picture Oscar by winning the top award from Hollywood producers on Saturday. "Birdman" beat nine other films, including "Boyhood" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel," to take the Producers Guild of America award for outstanding producer of a motion picture. PGA winners have gone on to win the Academy Award for best picture, the film industry's highest honor, for the past seven years. "Birdman," the first comedy from Mexican director and producer Alejandro G. Inarritu, has won critical acclaim for its story of a washed-up former superhero actor trying to make a comeback. The lead is played by Michael Keaton, who has real-life parallels with his character. The film also breaks visual ground, unfolding in what appears to be one continuous shot within the cramped confines of a Broadway theater. Inarritu said his crew's "only ambition was a risky and experimental kind of exploration in the cinematic land, to go through the mind of an artist with this complexity and the stressful mind of Riggan Thomson played by the incredible Michael Keaton." "Birdman," from Fox Searchlight Pictures, has been among the favorites in the Hollywood awards season. It tied with Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" for the most Oscar nominations with nine a piece. But in recent weeks, the coming-of-age tale "Boyhood" appeared to pick up momentum in the best picture race. Awards experts believe voters at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wanted to reward the indie film that director Richard Linklater made over 12 years with the same actors. Producers are influential in the Academy as one of the biggest voting blocs, along with actors, who will give out the Screen Actors Guild awards to their peers on Sunday. One category in which the PGA and the Academy will differ is in best animated motion picture. The PGA's award went to "The LEGO Movie," which was not nominated for an Oscar, one of the most surprising exclusions of the Hollywood awards season. The Academy Awards, Hollywood's biggest night, will be held on Feb. 22 and coming weeks will be filled with intense lobbying and promotion to sway the 6,000-plus voting members. (Reporting by Mary Milliken; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Larry King) | 6 | 8,949 | entertainment |
LOS ANGELES The most surprising statistic of Kobe Bryant's second consecutive lost season has surfaced, and it's not about points or percentages, but perception. In the wake of the news that Bryant suffered a torn rotator cuff Wednesday, latimes.com conducted a poll asking whether Bryant should retire. About 74 percent of 3,418 respondents said yes. Although there is no way of knowing the exact geographical location of those respondents, reports indicate most of them are from Los Angeles, where folks have spent the last 19 years screaming and hugging and even weeping over Kobe Bryant. Thus the educated response to this poll would be . . . wow. It's understandable that Lakers fans are ready for the next era, itching for the rebuilding of a champion, weary of routinely losing by 100 points to the Clippers. But it's difficult to imagine they would want to start that process at the expense of one more chance to watch the toughest of Lakers figuratively and literally giving it one more shot. As this column reported last week before his injury, a battered and weary 36-year-old Bryant was considering retirement this spring, one year before his $48.5-million contract expired. But if he decides to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery after his Monday examination with Dr. Neal ElAttrache of the Kerlan Jobe Clinic thus ending any potential farewell tour 38 games early there is seemingly no way he will quit. A relentless competitor who has played more than 9,000 more minutes than anyone in Lakers history retiring from the second row of the bench? A renowned gunslinger who has taken nearly 5,000 more shots than anyone in Lakers history retiring with his shooting arm in a sling? It is difficult to imagine Bryant accepting either scenario. The thought here is that if Bryant chooses to undergo surgery, he will do so with the idea that he wants to be sound enough for one last wild ride into a sunset that could be much prettier than it was week ago. It's a great idea, it works for everyone, and even if about 74 percent of Lakers fans don't agree now, they eventually will. If Bryant is out for the rest of this season, any small chance that the Lakers could win enough to lose their top-five-protected draft pick this summer is gone. With a 12-32 record, they are already one of the four worst teams in the league, and this should ensure they don't move any higher. This means that Bryant would come back next season to play with a top-five pick, a presumably healthy Julius Randle, and possibly a top free agent or two, who would be attainable after the expiration of about $24 million worth of expiring contracts belonging to Steve Nash, Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer. It wouldn't be a championship team, but it should be a competitive team, and how fun would it be to see Bryant try to end his career leading an underdog into the postseason? He'd probably play barely 25 minutes a game to guard his health, he'd be as much facilitator as scorer, but he'd be the nightly attraction and inspiration he was this season, a wise and humbled veteran who has learned to appreciate every minute while openly and often humorously sharing the ride on his final parade. Did you hear about his tweet after he suffered the shoulder injury? "This is what happens when I pass too much!" he wrote. Did you see the video he released of team doctor Steve Lombardo informing him of his torn cuff? It's black and white and feels brutally honest. Now that Bryant is finally wrapping his arms around his city in a giant embrace, let's not be so quick to shoo him away. Not only has Bryant earned a chance to finish his contract, enjoy a farewell tour and say goodbye on his terms without appearing selfish, but fans deserve that same chance without appearing sappy. Watching Bryant play is like watching living history, and who doesn't want to see him in one more All-Star game, one more playoff game, one more Staples Center showdown with San Antonio or Oklahoma City, one more chance to grab some buzz back from the Clippers? There are a few good memories left in his fall-away jumper, his bared teeth, his pumped fists. Don't wish them away, because they'll be gone soon enough, and when Kobe Bryant has disappeared, the Lakers aren't going to feel like the Lakers for what could be longer than anyone imagines. There is a reasonable school of thought that Bryant should retire today to allow the Lakers to use the $25 million in cap space to begin the rebuilding process this summer. The idea being, he holds a news conference saying he's giving away the money for the good of the organization, he doesn't have anything else to accomplish, everyone cheers, the Lakers sign a franchise-changing talent and life goes on. Two problems with that. First, would you give away $25 million, plus more in endorsements, while also surrendering a fulfilling ending to your career? Second, that franchise-changing-free-agent ship sailed last year with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, and doesn't return again until the summer of 2016 with Kevin Durant. So who would you rather see next year, the final blazing days of Kobe Bryant with Goran Dragic, or the first tentative days of an overpriced Kevin Love and Dragic? The Buss duo were foolish to tie up so much money in Bryant by simply handing him a non-negotiated deal in November 2013 when he had not even played a game after his Achilles' tendon tear. They are paying for it now, and will be paying for it after he is gone. But now that Bryant stands on the precipice of that final year, of a priceless farewell, it's a season worth keeping. | 1 | 8,950 | sports |
Tomas Berdych ruined local hopes of a massive Australia Day celebration on Monday when he hammered Bernard Tomic to advance to the quarter-finals of the season-opening grand slam on Sunday. The Czech seventh seed, who announced his engagement to girlfriend Ester Satorova earlier this week, was in no mood to extend that sentimentality to the local fans cheering Tomic with a clinical 6-2 7-6(3) 6-2 victory. The tall 29-year-old destroyed Tomic's serve in a quick-fire match with two thirds of the points decided in rallies of less than four shots to set up a quarter-final with either third seed Rafa Nadal or South Africa's Kevin Anderson. The local fans still have the opportunity to celebrate their national holiday on Monday with at least one player advancing to the quarter-finals with Nick Kyrgios, the last Australian remaining in either draw, playing Andreas Seppi later on Sunday. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly) | 1 | 8,951 | sports |
ATHENS, Greece A triumphant Alexis Tsipras told Greeks that his radical left Syriza party's win in Sunday's early general election meant an end to austerity and humiliation and that the country's regular and often fraught debt inspections were a thing of the past. "Today the Greek people have made history. Hope has made history," Tsipras said in his victory speech at a conference hall in central Athens. Official results with 60 percent of polling stations counted showed Syriza with 36 percent, far ahead of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' conservatives, who had 28 percent. But it was still unclear whether Syriza would have the minimum 151 of parliament's 300 seats needed to form a government without support from other parties. Greek election officials said that would likely only become clear once all votes were counted something expected by early Monday at the earliest. Whatever the case, all eyes will be on the opening of world financial markets after Syriza beat Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' incumbent conservatives. "The sovereign Greek people today have given a clear, strong, indisputable mandate. Greece has turned a page. Greece is leaving behind the destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism. It is leaving behind five years of humiliation and pain," Tsipras said to a crowd of rapturous flag-waving party supporters. The 40-year-old Tsipras campaigned on promises of renegotiating the terms for Greece's 240 billion-euro ($270 billion) bailout, which has kept the debt-ridden country afloat since mid-2010. To qualify for the cash, Greece has had to impose deep and bitterly-resented public spending, salary and pension cuts and repeated tax hikes. Its progress in reforms is reviewed by debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, collectively known as the "troika," before each installment of bailout funds can be disbursed. "The verdict of the Greek people ends, beyond any doubt, the vicious circle of austerity in our country," Tsipras said. "The verdict of the Greek people, your verdict, annuls today in an indisputable fashion the bailout agreements of austerity and disaster. The verdict of the Greek people renders the troika a thing of the past for our common European framework." | 5 | 8,952 | news |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) In their latest public display of friendship, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki posted a photo of getting their nails done before the Australian Open. The camaraderie, in a sport better known for its rivalries, has prompted discussion among players on what it's like in the locker room and behind-the-scenes with top women's tennis stars. Is everyone friends? The answer: it depends who you ask. The No. 1-ranked Williams, who plays her fourth-round match Sunday and is known for having some of the highest-profile rivalries on the tour, says the mood has changed since she joined the professional ranks way back in the 90s. ''It's like a big family now,'' said Williams, who at 33 is pushing for her 19th Grand Slam title and shows no sign of easing her dominance. She came of age during a different era, recalling that rivals Steffi Graf and Monica Seles ''never spoke.'' ''When you're young, you really idolize those people. I wanted to do what they did. I was really quiet. I did my own thing,'' Serena told a news conference at the Australian Open. ''I just tried to copy them.'' Now, things are different, partly because players spend more time together due to the packed schedule of tournaments year-round. ''I definitely think people talk a little bit more now than back in the 90s,'' said Williams, who faces No. 24 Garbine Muguruza in the quarterfinals. ''We travel 10, 11 months of the year together. So you just know everyone.'' Social media has played a big role in opening a window into the players' private lives, with many posting comments to each other or photographs of their off-court friendships. The former No. 1-player Wozniacki, who exited in the second round of this year's Australian Open, shared the picture of herself and Williams getting pedicures the weekend before the tournament started. Asked about competing against a friend at the top level, Wozniacki later said: ''Whenever you're on court, you just want to win. It doesn't matter who is on the other side.'' The two friends faced off in a Grand Slam final at last year's U.S. Open, which Williams won. Two days later, Wozniacki showed up to support Williams at her first runway show during New York Fashion Week. Williams then live tweeted from the New York City Marathon as she cheered on Wozniacki, who ran an impressive 3 hours and 26 minutes. ''Is it normal to cry when someone finished (a) marathon? So proud of you Caro,'' Williams tweeted after the race. The two have been spotted at the beach, hockey games, basketball games and concerts. Williams has been quoted as saying that Wozniacki is her closest friend on the circuit other than her sister, Venus. Naturally, though, tense rivalries remain, and Williams doesn't like to talk about them. There was great speculation about Williams' apparently icy relationship with Sloane Stephens, after the young American upset the No. 1-ranked player in the 2013 Australian Open quarterfinal. No. 2 Maria Sharapova, who advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday, has publicly said she has no friends on the women's tour. She and Williams have long had a not-so-friendly rivalry that made headlines in 2013 when the pair traded personal barbs relating to their romantic relationships. Williams could face Sharapova in the final. To have any chance of that happening, Sharapova has to clear a quarterfinal hurdle against rising star Eugenie Bouchard, a rematch of last year's French Open semifinal that Sharapova won en route to the title. The No. 7-ranked Bouchard also prefers to keep competitors at a distance. ''I don't want to become really good friends with any of the girls on the tour,'' said the Wimbledon finalist. ''I come here, do my job, and leave. I think that's the best way for me to stay focused and not really have distractions.'' Asked what it's like in the locker room, Bouchard laughed. ''I'm sure you imagine `Mean Girls' or something. It's not like that,'' said the 20-year-old Canadian, referring to Hollywood's take on a mean-spirited high school clique. ''It's pretty chill, pretty relaxed. We're all friendly and talking to each other.'' For what it's worth, ''Mean Girls'' happens to be Bouchard's favorite movie. Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka says her perspective has changed over the years, and she wants to get to know more players. ''Not that I wasn't friendly, but it's nice to get to know girls,'' said Azarenka, unseeded here because her ranking fell late last year during an injury layoff. She faces No. 11 Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals. ''On the court there are no friends, unless there are umpires you try to be nicer to,'' the 25-year-old Azarenka said. But off the court, she would like to ''make an effort'' and build friendships - possibly with Sharapova or other players who have residences near her in the Los Angeles area. ''I haven't hit with any girls yet,'' Azarenka said. ''I know Maria lives there. But we haven't hit yet. Hopefully, maybe one day it will happen.'' | 1 | 8,953 | sports |
Romanian third seed Simona Halep battled through to the Australian Open quarter-finals Sunday with a hard-fought straight sets win over unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer. Halep downed world number 80 Wickmayer 6-4, 6-2 to set up a final eight clash with Russian tenth seed Ekaterina Makarova. | 1 | 8,954 | sports |
Grocery stores are ice boxes of misery. | 4 | 8,955 | lifestyle |
Strip House's executive chef Michael Vignola knows his meats. You can too! Watch this now. | 0 | 8,956 | foodanddrink |
Syriza, the radical leftists who have pledged to roll back austerity and push to cut the country's mammoth debt burden, have emerged as comfortable winners of the Greek elections, early exit polls suggest . Minutes after polling stations closed at 7pm (5pm GMT) on Sunday, the first exit polls considered reliable indicators, but frequently out by several points put Alexis Tsipras's party at 36-39% of the vote, between 10 and 12 points clear of the rival incumbent conservatives of New Democracy. The projections suggest Syriza, which would collect a 50-seat bonus for finishing first, could end up with 158 MPs, an outright majority. But the party could also fall just short of the 151 it needs to govern alone: the final percentage of the vote a winning party needs for a majority depends on the share taken by the smaller parties that score below the 3% threshold needed to enter parliament. The polls suggested seven or eight parties would make it into the new parliament, with the new centrist To Potami party and far-right Golden Dawn apparently locked in a neck-and-neck race for third place between with 6.4% and 8% of the vote respectively. More accurate results are expected later in the evening. "This is a historic victory, but we still have to see if it will be a big historic victory," Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis said on Mega TV. "It sends a message against austerity and in favour of dignity and democracy," he said. After five brutal years of austerity and recession, Greece's 9.8m voters went to the polls under clear skies in a high-stakes vote that risked putting their country on a collision course with the European Union. Looking confident and relaxed, Alexis Tsipras, the 40-year-old Syriza leader who has promised to light an "anti-austerity" fire across Europe, strode smiling up the steps of a primary school in the Kipseli neighbourhood of Athens to cast his vote. Surrounded by a throng of reporters and chanting supporters, Tsipras declared election day to be the "last step of the Greek people towards … the return of hope, the end of fear, the return of dignity in our country". Europe's future was "not the future of austerity it is the future of democracy, solidarity and cooperation," he said, adding that a strong vote for Syriza would ensure Greece negotiated "a tough bargain" with Europe. Voters in Kipseli said the election felt like the most important in Greece's recent history. "I just voted for the party that's going to change Greece in fact, the party that is going to change the whole of Europe," said Panagiotis, 54, a self-employed electrician. "There has to be change, big change. The economy has collapsed. Poverty has reached proportions … People, ordinary people like you and me, are poking around in dustbins to get food to eat. The young can only find work abroad. Syriza is Greece's hope." Phoebe Greenwood talks to Greeks before a high-stakes election in the country. Maria, 78, a lifelong conservative, said she had voted Syriza for the first time because she had "no confidence left in anyone, any party, who has governed us up until now". She added: "Things are in a very bad way here. But at least Syriza seem to care. My grandson he's seven said to his mother, just now: 'Vote Tsipras, mummy. He talks about the poor people.'" Dimitra, a 32-year-old bank employee who declined to say for whom she had voted, said something "huge" plainly had to happen in her country. "So much has fallen apart, just stopped working. People are really suffering. But I worry expectations are too high today no one can fix it alone. The truth is, all of us will have to make it happen." Tsipras's fierce anti-austerity, anti-bailout message has found an enthusiastic audience across a now visibly strung-out and worn-down country. Since 2009, Greece's GDP has plummeted by a quarter, its household income by more than a third, and joblessness has trebled, to 26%. Swingeing spending cuts and soaring unemployment have seen about 3.1 million people, or a third of the population, lose their social security and health insurance, leaving the country on the brink of humanitarian crisis. Almost a third of Greece's population now lives below the poverty line, while 18% are unable to afford basic food needs. The Syriza party's poster reads 'the hope is coming' in an election campaign kiosk in Athens. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis /AFP/Getty Images "For us, hope is not just a campaign slogan," said Gabriel Sakellaridis, a young Syriza candidate in central Athens. "Hope has been missing from the Greek people through five years of fear, anxiety, despair. Syriza has convinced them we not just that we want to change this, but that we can." The prospect of a Syriza victory has spooked creditors who worry that Athens will seek a write-off of at least part of its €320bn (£240bn) debt. Some analysts fear that a tough Syriza approach to negotiations could push Greece out of the eurozone, although Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, insisted on Friday that this was not what she wanted. Tsipras's line has softened markedly in recent weeks, but several EU capitals are still alarmed by promises to cancel the most draconian budget cuts imposed as part of the country's €240bn bailout package. "We will start with the things we can easily do, that we can afford, but will make a difference," said Sakellaridis. "We don't have a magic wand; people know that. But we can take simple steps to restore some social justice: raise the minimum wage and pension, abolish the most unfair new taxes." If the party does need a coalition partner, its choices are limited. The extreme-right, anti-immigrant, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn, several of whose 18 MPs are in jail awaiting trial for membership of a criminal organisation, is clearly not an option. The Communist party has refused all cooperation with Syriza. Possible allies could include To Potami, which wants root-and-branch reform of Greece's dysfunctional state, or the populist Independent Greeks, who agree with Syriza that austerity has to end, but disagree on almost everything else. Syriza's Alexis Tsipras heads up the polling station stairs to vote pic.twitter.com/DsMtHWrLLv jon henley (@jonhenley) January 25, 2015 | 5 | 8,957 | news |
Matt Bellamy misses Kate Hudson. The Muse rocker, who split from the 35-year-old actress last year after four years together, is reportedly eager to rekindle their relationship and even wants them to undergo couple's therapy. A source said: "Matt is realizing that he misses her and is begging her to give their love and family another try. He's even asked her to go back to counselling with him." But the blonde beauty, who has three-year-old son Bingham with the British star, doesn't think they should be together even though she feels bad about ending their engagement. The insider told Life & Style magazine: "Although she feels a little conflicted, Kate's ready to move on." The 'Something Borrowed' actress, who also has 10-year-old son Ryder with her ex-husband Chris Robinson, is rumored to have already moved on from Matt with 'Dancing With the Stars' performer Derek Hough, who started giving her dance lessons last year. The pair surprised everyone when they "acted like a couple" at a party in Los Angeles last month. A source previously said: "As Kate told Derek about her problems with Matt, they grew closer and closer. Derek knew the relationship was over, so he didn't think twice about hooking up with Kate." | 6 | 8,958 | entertainment |
Four "strongly radicalized" terror suspects arrested for allegedly plotting suicide attacks in Europe. CNN's Al Goodman has this report. | 5 | 8,959 | news |
Henry A. Wallace, handpicked as vice president by Franklin Roosevelt, would have liked President Obama. In 1942, Wallace called for federal support for education-a novel concept at the time-and universal health care for workers. Highly progressive even by New Deal standards, Wallace championed many social programs and government giveaways. In response, prominent Princeton economist Harley L. Lutz employed one of the earliest known uses of a now-famous aphorism. "Mr. Wallace neglects the fact that such a thing as a 'free' lunch never existed," Lutz wrote. "Until man acquires the power of creation, someone will always have to pay for a free lunch." Harley Lutz didn't live to see Barack Obama's political rise. The Princeton professor passed away in 1975, the year famed University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman produced a best-selling book, "There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch." Practicing what he preached, Friedman worked until the day he died in 2006 at age 94. Obama was in the Senate by then, already eyeing the White House and planning a successful 2008 presidential run that included campaign slogans "Change We Can Believe In" and "Yes We Can!" Six years into the Obama presidency, those mottos have been fleshed out with a subtext that might be expressed thusly: "Lutz and Milton Friedman Were Wrong." The Obama doctrine, espoused unambiguously in his 2015 State of the Union address, is that there is indeed a free lunch. Free breakfast and dinner, too. And free midnight snacks. Don't forget happy hour. "Drinks all around!" is this administration's mantra. In his speech, Obama called for government-subsidized broadband access, federally mandated sick leave, and "free" community college. His goal, the president said, is ensuring that "two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today." The administration put the price tag at $60 billion over the next 10 years. Although that's a high number, it vastly understates the likely costs: making community college as universal as high school would require building many more colleges. Moreover, California's experience suggests that the president's proposal is a solution in search of a problem. In California, which pioneered the junior college system, annual tuition averages around $1,500 a year, meaning that students spent more on books than tuition. So cost isn't the problem-access is: the state reported in 2012 that 470,000 junior college students were on waiting lists for classes they need. There are other problems with the president's "free lunch" approach to governance. Here are three: First of all, the president doesn't have this money to spend. He's borrowing it. The day Obama took office, the national debt was $6.3 trillion. Today, it stands in excess of $13 trillion, which is what happens when you run annual budget deficits averaging $1 trillion a year. The president is happy that the 2014 deficit is "only" $483 billion. I'm happy, too, but that number would still be larger than any other deficit in U.S. history-even adjusting for inflation-except for during George W. Bush's last year in office. Yes, Obama inherited a fiscal mess, no doubt. But acting like there's a pile of found money lying around is disingenuous. Future generations of Americans will foot that bill because voters are being promised more goodies than their politicians are making them pay for. The second problem is one of federalism. By what rationale should workplace salaries be mandated from Washington? States and counties with traditional manufacturing might mandate time-and-a-half for hourly employees. States and counties with many seasonal agricultural jobs might not. And when it comes to the minimum wage, the folly seems obvious. Do entry-level workers in Lincoln, Nebr. (median housing price $146,000) need to be paid exactly the same as those in San Francisco (median housing price $769,000)? Most states are managing this issue pretty prudently, U.S. Department of Labor data suggests. Only five-all of them in the South-lack a minimum wage law. Fourteen others have laws tying their minimum to the federal standard. A majority of states exceed the federal minimum. Third, when the president says he wants to mandate sick leave and raise the minimum wage-and underwrite "free" community college by raising capital gains taxes-he continues to send a message of hostility to business. Over the years, many Democrats have exhibited an odd duality about business: they venerate jobs, but not employers. Obama takes this to new levels, while cheerfully spending Other People's Money. In his State of the Union, Obama didn't try to explain why business owners launching a startup or trying to keep a small business afloat should welcome federal laws governing their pay scales. Instead, he taunted Congress: "If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it." This was effective theater, but also a reminder how easily Obama's populism slips into business-bashing. In his 2012 campaign, he said, "If you've got a business-you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." He meant somebody in government. It was also in 2012 that most Americans learned that the Affordable Care Act included a requirement that employers pay for "free" birth control. Here, folk wisdom about free lunches comes full circle. "Free Lunch" originally was not a metaphor; it was an advertisement. Saloons, mainly in the American West, offered free lunch with the stipulation that patrons purchase at least one drink. Only the most naïve would deem this lunch truly free, so the extrapolation to government came naturally. The earliest known reference came in a 1938 editorial in an El Paso, Texas, newspaper unearthed by "Yale Book of Quotations" editor Fred Shapiro. Called "Economics in Eight Words," it's a fable about a king who asks his advisers for a brief economic textbook. Instead, they produce 87 volumes of 600 pages each-thicker than Obamacare's statutory language and regulations-which results in their execution. Finally, the last remaining economist says he can distill the dismal science into eight words: "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." | 5 | 8,960 | news |
You don't need to head to the gym to fit in a good workout. In fact, you don't even need weights! This 40-minute bodyweight workout requires no equipment, takes little space to do, and is chock-full of classic moves and fun variations of basic exercises. Press play, and get ready to warm up, strength train, and then cool down with some stretching. You're going to feel great! | 7 | 8,961 | health |
Former champions Rafa Nadal and Maria Sharapova charged into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday, as the guardians of the tennis establishment crushed the grand slam dreams of upstart challengers. Nadal withstood an early serving barrage from South African beanpole Kevin Anderson in a 7-5 6-1 6-4 masterclass at Rod Laver Arena to continue his brilliant comeback from a 2014 season ravaged by injury and illness. The Spaniard, who ruled himself out of contention before the tournament, now faces Tomas Berdych for a place in the semi-finals, a man he has mastered in their last 18 matches. The Czech seventh seed, whose record of pain against Nadal dates back to 2007, overpowered local hope Bernard Tomic 6-2 7-6(3) 6-2. "The chance to be in the quarter-finals after a tough period of time for me is a fantastic result," 14-times grand slam champion Nadal said courtside. "I probably played my best match of the year." Ticketholders at Rod Laver Arena may have felt a bit short-changed by the day session, with Nadal's two-hour nine-minute romp to victory following Sharapova's 69-minute demolition of Peng Shuai. U.S. Open semi-finalist Peng, taking the mantle from retired Chinese champion Li Na, stayed with the Russian second seed for seven games, but was blanked in the next eight as Sharapova set up a blockbuster showdown with Canadian sensation Eugenie Bouchard, a 6-1 5-7 6-2 winner over Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. Twenty-year-old Bouchard was dubbed 'the next Sharapova' as she announced herself in a breakout 2014, and bristles at the comparison which was put to the test at the French Open semi-finals last year. Sharapova came back from a set down to quash Bouchard that day before going on to win the title and expects another stiff test from the Canadian upstart. "We all want to create our own path and go through our own career," the five-times grand slam champion told reporters. "And we're all destined for some sort of thing. We work extremely hard at a sport, and that's what we want to be known for." PEP TALK Canada's first grand slam finalist Bouchard was the first into the last eight, but needed to battle through a mid-match meltdown at Rod Laver Arena. She gave herself a pep talk during a toilet break between the second and third sets, having inexplicably conceded five games in a row and double-faulted to allow unseeded Begu back to level terms. "I gave myself a good long hard look in the mirror and I said, 'Genie, this is unacceptable' and I really kind of kicked myself in the butt a little bit," she said in a courtside interview. There was no need for any soul searching from feisty Russian counter-puncher Ekaterina Makarova, who booked her third Melbourne Park quarter-final of the past four years with a 6-3 6-2 thrashing of Julia Goerges. Makarova, who famously dumped favourite Serena Williams out of the 2012 tournament, will bid for a maiden semi-final in Melbourne against the winner of third seed Simona Halep and Yanina Wickmayer, the first match of the evening session. Seventh seed Berdych left only one Australian hope, Nick Kyrgios, in the tournament, after subjecting Tomic to a two-hour thrashing on the second show court at Margaret Court Arena. "I will need to sit down with my team to prepare the right tactics and strategy," Berdych said of his impending clash with Nadal. Sixth seed Andy Murray clashes with his Wimbledon nemesis Grigor Dimitrov in day seven's blockbluster later in the evening session at Rod Laver Arena. | 1 | 8,962 | sports |
Rihanna, who has topped the charts with a pop-driven R&B sound, has unveiled a new acoustic song in a collaboration with Beatles legend Paul McCartney. Rihanna unexpectedly late Saturday released the new single, "FourFiveSeconds," which features the Barbados-born singer's signature robust voice but has a minimal backdrop of McCartney's guitar strumming without percussion or electronic elements. The song also features verses sung by rapper Kanye West. The track is the latest collaboration between West and McCartney, who unexpectedly released a song on New Year's Day after the two stars met each other in Los Angeles. "FourFiveSeconds" is a song about personal travails and confusion, with Rihanna singing, "We got three more days 'til Friday / I'm just trying to make it back home by Monday morning." The song could offer hints at the directions of both Rihanna and West, who are separately expected to unveil new albums this year. Rihanna, who has released seven studio albums, has become an international superstar with electronic-dominated songs such as the ballad "Diamonds" and the danceable "Only Girl (In The World)." Her music has at times been overshadowed by her turbulent relationship with fellow singer Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to assaulting her in 2009. | 6 | 8,963 | entertainment |
Reese Witherspoon admits juggling the needs of her three children is "hard". The 'Wild' actress has daughter Ava, 15, and son Deacon, 11, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe and two-year-old Tennessee with current spouse Jim Toth and is often surprised at how she manages to cope with her busy life. She said: "It's a wonderful thing to be able to have a great family around you and realize how fortunate I am. "My husband and I have a beautiful young son and that's given us so much joy. Sometimes it's hard to manage everything during the day because you also want to give your older kids as much of your time as you can too. "Your mind is going in 10 different directions and you think you can't keep up but somehow you manage." As part of her research for 'The Good Lie', Reese visited a Sudanese refugee camp and was accompanied on the trip by her daughter and the 38-year-old actress thinks the visit had a profound effect on Ava.She told Britain's OK! magazine: "I hope she gained consciousness, awareness and a feeling of wanting to give back. "Kids nowadays, we get them all these technologies and access to things that disconnect them. So, as much of the world as you can show them is great. "Ava's a wonderful, socially conscious girl but even a kid that reads a million books about a situation doesn't understand it until they see it themselves. "She didn't say a word the whole day. She really didn't talk about it until a couple of days later. It's definitely going to affect her for a long time, as it did me as well. It was amazing." | 6 | 8,964 | entertainment |
She's a personal assistant, photographer, butler and home security guard all in one and she's a robot. Robotbase, a robotics company headquartered in New York City, is developing a personal robot that can perform a variety of daily functions at home or at work everything from turning on lights to managing social calendars. The bot can even read a bedtime story to your kids, and adjust the color of the room's lighting based on the story's mood, the makers said. [See video of the personal robot in action ] The first prototype was launched earlier this month at CES 2015 in Las Vegas, and the company has already raised more than $127,000 through a crowdfunding campaign. "Twenty years ago, personal computers came along and changed everything. Ten years ago, we had the smartphone," said Duy Huynh, founder and CEO of Robotbase. "We look at our product as the next device after the computer and the smartphone." A variety of robots exist on the market today, yet most of them fall into one of two categories: toy robots or industrial robots, Huynh told Live Science. "But there's a huge gap in between the consumer robot ," he said. Robotbase wants to build a robot that people can enjoy and feel comfortable seeing around everyday at home and at work, Huynh said. Personal assistant The new personal robot has a wide array of capabilities. It can recognize faces and expressions, or recognize objects around the house and navigate around them automatically . If you're hosting a party, the bot can move around and snap candid shots of your smiling guests. The robot can also recognize speech and respond to requests. The bot can tell you about the news or the weather, play music and schedule meetings, much like Apple's digital assistant Siri. But unlike Siri, the robot uses artificial intelligence to understand what the words mean, Huynh said. For example, users can ask it to do things like order takeout, and it will learn their preferences. Robotbase's prototype bot is a female avatar named Maya, but its makers are working on creating other customizable faces, names and voices. "When we launched our Kickstarter [crowdfunding campaign] two weeks ago, we thought we were going to get a lot of challenging technical questions," Huynh said, "but the number one question was, Can I change that face into a guy face?" or "Can I change it into Alfred in 'Batman?'" Building a smart robot To develop the robot's software , Robotbase used a set of machine-learning algorithms collectively called deep learning, which seeks to identify patterns in information and match it to something recognizable, much like the human brain does. Google uses deep learning in many of its products, and demonstrated the technology to great effect in 2012, when it used 16,000 computers to recognize cats in YouTube videos. The robot runs on the Android operating system, and is designed to be a system for which software developers can build their own apps. "We are not building a 'product,'" Huynh said. "We want to be a platform." Robotbase has a working prototype of the robot, and expects to have a commercial model ready to ship by the end of 2015, Huynh said. The company has already taken orders for its first units, priced at $1,000, which sold out in a few days. The second tier of sales is priced at $1,195, or $1,495 for a developer model. The final retail price will likely be between $1,500 and $2,000, Huynh said. The notion of a personal robot that can film your house and has access to many of your personal preferences and habits may seem disturbing to some. But, Robotbase takes privacy concerns seriously, Huynh said. "We are not going to share that data with anyone else," he said. Earlier this month, prominent figures such as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warned about the potential threats of artificial intelligence in an open letter. But Huynh rejects the admonitions. "I think we are hundreds of years away from [dangerous AI], if it happens," he said, adding that the benefits of the technology are going to outweigh the risks. More information about the Robotbase project is available on the company's Kickstarter page . Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter . Follow us @livescience , Facebook & Google+ . Original article on Live Science . The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created 5 Reasons to Fear Robots Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures | 5 | 8,965 | news |
Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios fought back from match point down to beat Andreas Seppi in five sets to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Sunday. The 53rd-ranked Kyrgios defeated the 46th-ranked Italian, who beat Roger Federer in the last round, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) 8-6 and will play either Andy Murray or Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight. | 1 | 8,966 | sports |
Through the first half of the NBA season, which player has been the most valuable player for the Thunder? #120Talk | 1 | 8,967 | sports |
TOKYO (AP) A Japanese diplomat emerged from talks in Jordan on Monday with no signs of progress in securing the release of a freelance journalist held hostage by the extremist Islamic State group. Japanese officials refused direct comment on the contents of the talks in Jordan, where Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama is coordinating regional efforts to save hostage Kenji Goto. The Islamic State group said in an online video on Jan. 20 that it had two Japanese hostages and would kill them within 72 hours unless Japan paid it $200 million the same amount Tokyo recently pledged in aid to nations fighting the militants. Over the weekend, a new, unverified video showed a still photo of Goto, a 47-year-old journalist, holding a picture of what appears to be the body of fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa. It included a recording of a voice claiming to be Goto, saying his captors now want the release of a prisoner held in Jordan instead of a ransom. Asked if the latest demand makes the situation more complex, chief Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga avoided a straight answer. But he said, "Naturally, Jordan has its own thoughts." "The government is doing its utmost as the situation is still developing," he told reporters. "We are seeking cooperation from every possible party toward a release (of the remaining hostage)." Japanese officials have indicated they are treating the video released over the weekend as authentic and thus accepting the likelihood that Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer captured in Syria last summer, was killed. "It was an extremely dastardly act," Suga said. In Amman, Jordan, Deputy Foreign Minister Nakayama emerged from meetings with no fresh progress to report. "Due to the nature of this problem, please understand why I cannot disclose information such as with whom I had meetings," he said. Nakayama vowed to "absolutely not give up until the end." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for Goto's unconditional release. "The Japanese hostage Mr. Goto needs to be released unconditionally," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "That's what we call for and we call for the release of all other people who are being held against their will by extremist groups in the region." The Associated Press could not verify the contents of the weekend video message, which differed from earlier videos released by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq. News of the likely killing of Yukawa drew international condemnation, and outrage in Japan. Goto is thought to have been seized in late October after going there to try to rescue him. Some in Japan are critical of the two men for taking such risks. Some Japanese also are criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for pursuing a more assertive foreign policy, saying it may have contributed to the crisis. Abe has pushed to expand the role for Japan's troops one that has remained strictly confined to self-defense under the pacifist constitution adopted after the nation's defeat in World War II. While on a visit to the Middle East earlier this month, Abe announced $200 million in humanitarian aid to the nations fighting the militants. ___ Associated Press writers Omar Akour in Amman and Mari Yamaguchi, Kaori Hitomi, Koji Ueda and Emily Wang in Tokyo contributed to this report. | 5 | 8,968 | news |
North Korea Sunday described US President Barack Obama as a "loser" over his criticism on its regime, accusing him of being obsessed with hostility towards Pyongyang. The comment from the North's foreign ministry came after Obama spoke of the eventual collapse of the regime ruling what he called "the most isolated, the most sanctioned, the most cut-off nation on Earth". "We will keep on ratcheting the pressure, but part of what's happening is... the Internet over time is going to be penetrating this country," Obama said in an interview on YouTube from the White House last week. "Over time you will see a regime like this collapse," he said, adding the US was looking for ways to accelerate the flow of information into the country. A spokesman for the North's foreign ministry lashed out at the remarks, describing them as "rubbish". "The recent wild remarks made by Obama are nothing but a poor grumble of a loser driven into a tight corner in the all-out standoff with the (North)," the spokesman told state news agency KCNA. "We cannot but be shocked to find that Obama... is so preoccupied with the inveterate repugnancy and hostility toward a sovereign state." Attempts to topple the regime -- led by Kim Jong-Un -- would only strengthen unity among its people, he said. The North has often used bombastic and sometimes racist rhetoric to slam Obama and other US leaders. Last month its top military body chaired by Kim compared Obama to a "monkey" over his support for the screening of a Hollywood comedy hated by Pyongyang. "The Interview" -- about a fictional plot to assassinate Kim -- was released online and in theatres last month, despite devastating cyberattacks on its producer Sony Pictures. Washington blames Pyongyang for the attacks, a charge the North has angrily denied. | 5 | 8,969 | news |
For more than three years, Tanya Gottesburen refused to have her son Robert vaccinated. She didn't like what she read about the ingredients in vaccines things like mercury, aluminum and bovine serum that she found "really disturbing". Many of her stay-at-home mum friends on the affluent Westside of Los Angeles felt the same way. When Robert was an infant, Tanya didn't think his immune system could handle what the doctors wanted to inject into him. She preferred to keep breast-feeding until he was almost two and a half and give him solid food that was organic and healthy. "I received 12 vaccines when I was a kid, now it's up to 36," Gottesburen said. "I could not see myself doing that to him." Then came the recent measles outbreak at Disneyland , 45 minutes' drive from Gottesburen's house, and an avalanche of media coverage featuring complaints from doctors that the anti-vaccination movement has single-handedly revived an entirely preventable disease . Related: Too rich to get sick? Disneyland measles outbreak reflects anti-vaccination trend Gottesburen felt torn, and fearful. Her family had been at Disneyland in November, three weeks before the outbreak, and now she imagined how if the timing had been different, Robert might have ended up sick in hospital. For the past two weeks, she has worried about what he might pick up at the preschool he has just started attending. "I don't know where those other kids have been," she said. "I don't know if they were at Disneyland when the outbreak happened. I don't know if they went to other countries." She also worried about the baby she is due to deliver in a few weeks. What if Robert got measles and it affected her newborn? Still, though, she did not know what to do. She didn't like feeling bullied into vaccinating her child. She didn't like parents who shun anti-vaccination advocates and refuse to have unvaccinated children over to their house for playdates. The turning point came when she heard a radio interview with Jay Gordon, a Los Angeles pediatrician known to be sympathetic to vaccine-resistant parents. Dr Gordon, whose patients include the vocal anti-vaccination celebrity Jenny McCarthy, has been critical of some ingredients in common vaccines and has offered anecdotal evidence refuted by peer-reviewed studies of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. On this occasion, however, Dr Gordon said unequivocally that MMR was "not a dangerous vaccine". He thought giving it at 12 months, the standard time, was too early, but otherwise he had no objection. Three hours later, Gottesburen took her son to the doctor and had him inoculated. Parents in affluent communities all over California have been going through similar agonies since the news broke about the Disneyland outbreak. While the spread of the disease has been relatively modest fewer than 100 cases in five US states, plus one case in Mexico media coverage has been intense, almost all of it shining a spotlight on the anti-vaccination movement and the threat it has posed to "herd immunity", a level of inoculation high enough to protect even the most vulnerable, including newborns, the elderly and those with auto-immune conditions. California is a lightning rod for such debate, because it has unusually lax rules permitting parents to opt out of vaccination for non-specific personal beliefs. It also has a relatively high population of affluent, protective parents who don't like to take what they are told on trust and have tapped into an online community of doubters, critics and conspiracy theorists who believe the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment are concealing the truth about vaccines. Related: Disneyland says unvaccinated kids should avoid park amid measles outbreak The degree of doubt varies widely, from people like Jay Gordon who believe the MMR vaccine should be delayed until the age of 3 something public-health advocates say has needlessly caused sickness in 1-to-3-year-olds to much more controversial figures like Joseph Mercola , an osteopath from rural Illinois who mistrusts sunscreen and microwave ovens as well as vaccinations, or Mike Adams, a writer for Natural News who dismisses vaccines as "medical child abuse". Anti-vaccination suits part of the political left, which has long been suspicious of the lobbying power of the pharmaceutical industry and its influence on government regulators, and also the fringe political right, which has at different times seen vaccination, fluoridisation and other public-health initiatives as attempts by big government to impose tyrannical limits on personal freedom. Everyone, however, seem to view the Disneyland outbreak as an important event a reason either to rethink some of the doubts they have about vaccination, or to dig in and resist even harder. Certainly, the medical community has been urging wavering parents to get their children vaccinated, and not just in the media. Parents at the main public high school in Santa Monica, a community with a strong anti-vaccination streak, received a note from the school nurse this weekend warning them that unimmunised students risked being banned from school for up to 21 days, the incubation period for measles. Some schools in Orange County, nearer Disneyland, have already issued such orders to unimmunised children. "Exposure to unimmunized children poses a serious health risk to these students whose immune systems are unable to protect them," the note from Santa Monica High School went on. "The more district and community members who are immunised, the safer the environment is for our school community and in particular to these fragile children." Many previously outspoken parents have gone suddenly quiet including in response to comment for this story. The Westside Waldorf school , which has only a 20% rate of measles immunisation among its students, did not respond to an invitation to comment. Neither did a parent representative at PS1 , a private school in Santa Monica with a 63% measles immunisation rate. Herd immunity kicks in at around 95%. The more radical voices refused to be silenced, however. Mike Adams of Natural News penned a furious piece titled: "Afraid of the Disneyland measles outbreak? Don't be fooled by Mickey Mouse science." He urged parents to read the small print on the vaccine insert, "rather than just blindly injecting your child with toxic chemicals the same way all the obedient sheeple [sic] do". Related: What kind of parent wants to protect their kid from vaccines but not Disney? | Sarah Miller One Los Angeles parent vehemently opposed to vaccination, Michelle Henney, said she hadn't even been aware of the Disneyland outbreak because she refused on principle to follow the mainstream news media. But she was in no doubt, even without reading the coverage, that "they have skewed the facts in favor of trying to sell people more pharmaceuticals". "This whole vaccination thing is just a scam to steal your money," Henney said. Two of her three children went to the Calvary Christian School in Pacific Palisades (which had a 75% MMR immunisation rate last year). A third went to public school, but was spared the risk of being sent home in the event of an outbreak because Henney found a doctor willing to falsify her immunisation records. None ever went to a pediatrician. Henney relied instead on natural medicines, a chiropractor and acupuncture. She actively sought to expose her daughter to chicken pox, preferring what she called "natural immunisation" by contracting the disease to a vaccine. Henney said she did not reject the concept behind all vaccines she understood the appeal of eradicating formerly common childhood diseases like measles but felt they were too dangerous because of "toxins" like formaldehyde, mercury and aluminum (ingredients that the scientific community has deemed to be safe). "Vaccines are a great idea," Henney said, "but they are poisoning us, adding things that kick in later in life so they can sell us more drugs." | 5 | 8,970 | news |
Romanian third seed Simona Halep battled through to the Australian Open quarter-finals Sunday with a hard-fought straight sets win over unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer. Halep downed world number 80 Wickmayer 6-4, 6-2 to set up a final eight clash with Russian tenth seed Ekaterina Makarova. "I just wanted to go on court and be aggressive and focused because she's beaten me in the past," the 23-year-old said. Halep, a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park last year, faced a stern challenge from Wickmayer, a former world number 12 who reached the US Open semi-finals in 2009. | 1 | 8,971 | sports |
Three-time runner-up Andy Murray rode his luck to fight back and win a titanic four-setter over Grigor Dimitrov and reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Sunday. Sixth seed Murray beat the 10th seeded Bulgarian 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5 and will now play Australian teenager Nick Krygios in the last eight. The British star showed fantastic fighting qualities to claw back from 2-5 down in the fourth set to deny Dimitrov taking the epic match into a fifth and deciding set. Murray, a two-time Grand Slam champion but luckless in Melbourne in three losing finals, will now have to battle a home crowd when he takes on Kyrgios in the last eight on Tuesday. The Scot hit 42 winners and served at 67 percent, breaking Dimitrov's serve seven times. "I got quite lucky at the end, a couple of net cords went my way and that was the difference really," Murray said of the gruelling 3hr 32min match on Rod Laver Arena. Murray won match point on a net cord. "A lot of the games were close, back and forth, and the momentum was switching both ways all the time," he said. "Grigor is an unbelievable athlete, he's extremely quick around the court, so agile, and he gets shots that other players don't get to and he's got fantastic hands as well. "I'm just glad that I managed to get through it at the end." | 1 | 8,972 | sports |
MELBOURNE, Australia Hey, tennis fans, we're halfway there. The Australian Open reached halftime Sunday night, with a week worth of story lines in the books and another week still unwritten. What will we remember? And what do we have to look ahead to? Federer's fall: For the first time since 2001, Roger Federer failed to make the second week in Melbourne. Four times a champion here, Federer had made 11 consecutive semifinals at the year's opening major. But Friday afternoon, unheralded Italian Andreas Seppi, ranked No. 46, did the unthinkable inside Rod Laver Arena, having lost to Federer in all 10 of their previous matches winning just one out of the 22 sets they played. The 33-year-old Federer is still searching for Grand Slam No. 18. Will he ever win another? The rise of the Aussies: Know the name Nick Kyrgios yet? He's the sole remaining Australian player in singles, the survivor in what was a week to remember for the host nation. Eleven Australians reached the second round in the men's and women's singles draws, the most in recent memory. Along with Kyrgios, rising stars like Thanasi Kokkinakis and Bernard Tomic gave Australian fans plenty to cheer for at Melbourne Park. Kyrgios now has the challenge of two-time major champion Andy Murray, who has looked in fine form so far, including in a four-set thriller late Sunday night over Grigor Dimitrov. Serena, Sharapova on collision course: The women's draw was riddled with upsets in the first day alone Ana Ivanovic, Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki all went out but the biggest of the favorites have remained intact for the most part. Serena Williams has had to fight off several slow starts, while No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova saved two match points in the second round against countrywoman Alexandra Panova. Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Genie Bouchard and Venus Williams all still remain in the hunt, as well. The biggest name to go down? Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Rafa, unresolved: Fourteen-time major champion Rafael Nadal came in to the Australian Open as the most unknown entity in the men's draw, having played just 13 matches since winning Roland Garros last June because of a wrist injury and surgery to remove his appendix. But Nadal left it all out on the court in an epic second-round match, overcoming American qualifier Tim Smyczek, 7-5 in the fifth set. The 2009 Australian Open winner has looked increasingly more imposing in his next two outings, and will meet No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals. Doing their tabloid best: This isn't London, but the Melbourne controversy machine is a pretty good second-string option. The tabloids got an easy target with "twirlgate," as Bouchard was asked on court by a TV reporter to do a twirl for the crowd. The question was labeled as sexist by some, and it's made its rounds in the international media. Bouchard, however, is staying out of it. "Personally I'm not offended," she told reporters. "I think it was an in-the-moment thing and it was funny. It's just funny how it's taken a life of its own. I'm just going to try to focus on my tennis." Clear eyes, full half: The second half of this tournament promises to be electric. What are the other story lines to watch? • Venus Williams is looking to make the last eight at a major for the first time in nearly five years. • Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka have looked in fine form to meet for a third straight year here (set for the semifinals). • Madison Keys, a 19-year-old American, and Madison Brengle, a 24-year-old American, face off in the fourth round. That means at least one American named Madison will make quarterfinals. • The high temperature for week two: 79! And evening temperatures could dip as low as 55. Break out the long sleeves, tennis fans ... | 1 | 8,973 | sports |
Madonna and MIA - Super Bowl XLVI Not only was this performance absolutely dreadful, but Madonna wasn't looking as sexy (or flexible) as we remember her. Adding to the horror was MIA flipping the bird to the camera. MIA once had a catchy tune that we all became obsessed with. After this performance, she lost a lot of respect from fans. According to The Independent, MIA begged Madonna for money after the NFL demanded MIA pay $16.6 million over the incident. New Kids on the Block - Super Bowl XXV Don't get me wrong, I love me a boy band every once in a while (and you do too, you just won't admit it) but "It's a Small World" followed by this ? It was really bad. I get it, it was 1991, but that's just awful. Didn't they end up breaking up not too long after this? At least we all still have our Donnie and Joey posters. Black Eyed Peas - Super Bowl XLV This could have been such an amazing performance. Slash from Guns N Roses did his AMAZING guitar intro to "Sweet Child of Mine." Fergie tried to do her best Axl Rose impression , and it was just terrible. The vocals were messy and quite honestly, it was boring. Gloria Estefan, and a Bunch of Other People - Super Bowl XXVI I will defend Gloria Estefan to the end. She is not what's wrong with this performance, it's the skating, and the cheesy music that comes into play before she sets foot on the field. I'm so glad we have passed those times. Grab your ear plugs and cover your eyes… Kid Rock - Super Bowl XXXVIII Okay, I'm actually a fan of Kid Rock and like this song. But this is America's Sport, stop talking about meth clinics, crackheads, and hookers . Please. Tony Bennett and Patti Labelle Ruin The Lion King - Super Bowl XXIX I genuinely have no idea what's going on, and nobody else does either. Two of the most historic voices in the world ruined The Lion King for everyone . At the end of the performance, Patti LaBelle and Tony Bennett sang "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" Typically a beautiful song, but this version makes your ears bleed. But no pressure, Katy. | 1 | 8,974 | sports |
MakerBot is embracing Android. The company has rolled out a version of its mobile app for Android , allowing you to control and monitor your 3D printer straight from your smartphone. The app largely matches the iOS MakerBot Mobile app that came out over the summer: with it, you can choose a design from the massive collection on Thingiverse or your own library, scale and adjust it, and send it off to the printer. Once you're printing, you'll be able to monitor progress using your printer's built-in camera, and you can pause and resume printing as necessary. The app is available now for free on Google Play, and is compatible with the MakerBot Replicator, MakerBot Replicator Mini, and MakerBot Replicator Z18. | 5 | 8,975 | news |
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- The NFL will test having game officials use tablets for video reviews in Sunday's Pro Bowl. Coaches and players for the first time have been using the Microsoft Surface tablets on the sidelines all season to look at photos of previous plays. Having the referee look at replays to determine if calls were correct could lead to eliminating the official going "under the hood" for reviews. "The test in the Pro Bowl gives us the opportunity to see the practicality of the technology in game-time situations, make adjustments or improvements where necessary, and also gauge the usefulness of it to the officials," Troy Vincent, the NFL's football operations chief, said Saturday. "Certainly, we believe it is an enhancement that we would like to integrate in the future." An NFL staffer will wear a backpack containing wireless radios, and will hold a Surface Pro 3 tablet and headphones during the game. When a video review is needed, that staffer will hold the tablet and referee John Parry will don the headphones. It is hoped this will speed up the entire process. If it works well Sunday, this review method won't be a one-off. "Preseason testing of this technology is very likely," Vincent added. "The process for regular-season use would involve a review and approval by the competition committee." The powerful competition committee meets in February to present recommendations and proposals to the 32 owners in March at league meetings in Phoenix. The league also will debut use of real-time video on the tablets for coaches and players to review during the Pro Bowl. Vincent believes the use of in-game video rather than photos still could make the game more competitive. "The sideline of the future may also see technology that tracks a player's health during the game, his recovery time, and other particulars that may make the game safer," he said. "As technology advances, so will the ability of our coaches, players and officials to adapt and adopt new uses. "The future of the sideline is very exciting and promising." Microsoft signed a five-year, $400 million deal with the NFL in 2013, and has quickly brought enhanced technology to the field and sidelines. "We're very pleased with the incredibly positive feedback we've received from players, coaches, video directors, and league personnel on their use of the Microsoft Surface tablets and the Surface sideline viewing system in-game this year," said James Bernstrom, director of product marketing at Microsoft. The Pro Bowl is "yet another way we're working with the NFL to utilize Microsoft technology to help make teams more productive on the sidelines and the game more competitive." --- AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL | 1 | 8,976 | sports |
The next time Marshawn Lynch decides to go with his signature touchdown celebration, it will cost him and the Seattle Seahawks. Dean Blandino, the NFL 's vice president of officiating, revealed to ESPN's Sal Paolantonio that should Lynch reach down to his groin and make an obscene gesture, officials will flag the Seahawks for unsportsmanlike conduct. They'll incur a 15-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff if Lynch does the gesture after a touchdown, via Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith . The league informed Seattle of the rule change. On Thursday, the NFL fined both Lynch and Seahawks wideout Chris Matthews for doing the patented celebration in Seattle's NFC Championship Game victory over the Green Bay Packers, per ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL.com's Ian Rapoport: NFL fined Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch $20,000 for an obscene gesture after his TD in Sunday's NFC Championship... http://t.co/36bthWh8NH Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 22, 2015 #Seahawks WR Chris Matthews was fined $11,025 for making an obscene gesture (he grabbed his crotch), not for shaking Marshawn Lynch's hand Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 23, 2015 It marked the second time the league has punished Lynch for said celebration. Clearly, Blandino feels that a potential flag might be a stronger deterrent than hitting the Pro Bowl running back's wallet. Between his TD trademark and aversion to postgame press conferences, Lynch has become a thorn in the side of the league. | 1 | 8,977 | sports |
MOSCOW The key port city of Mariupol became the latest flash point of rapidly intensifying hostilities in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, as a barrage of rocket fire struck the area, killing dozens of civilians, and pro-Russian rebels announced a push toward the strategic coastal city that serves as Ukraine's last bastion of control in the region. The onslaught on Mariupol, which separates Russia from its newly annexed territory of Crimea, comes just a day after pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk rejected an existing cease-fire agreement and pledged to press their offensive all the way to the borders of the region. Saturday's shelling sparked a fresh wave of outrage in Kiev and among its allies, who blame the rebels and Russia for the bloody event and warned that if Moscow did not withdraw support for the separatists, the West would step up already punishing pressure against Russia. But the quick and dramatic escalation of hostilities and the silence from the Kremlin Saturday as at the death toll climbed at least 30 civilians, according to city officials suggests that neither sanctions, nor low oil prices , nor other economic difficulties are likely to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to heed Western demands to help end the conflict. Donetsk rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko announced the Mariupol offensive on Saturday during a memorial service to the victims of a recent bus stop shelling in Donetsk, calling it "the best monument to all our dead," according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Zakharchenko later clarified on a rebel Web site that the drive on Mariupol was to "suppress" the Ukrainian troops to the east of it, not storm the city. He also charged that the shelling of civilians was an incident of friendly fire by Ukrainian forces, who then tried to blame the rebels for their mistake. But Ukrainian officials said at least three Grad rocket-launching systems had fired on Mariupol and squarely blamed the rebels for the civilian deaths. President Petro Poroshenko called the shelling "a crime against humanity." And National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said, "Putin is directly responsible." Kiev and its allies believe the rebels' new offensive on Mariupol and Debaltseve a strategically important city on the route from Donetsk to Luhansk along with other areas of eastern Ukraine is being fueled by Russian reinforcements. Ukrainian officials said over 9,000 Russian troops are operating in Ukraine this week. U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry also decried Russia on Saturday for its "irresponsible and dangerous decision" to resupply rebels in recent weeks, warning that if Russia did not pull back "all weapons, fighters and financial backing" for the separatists, "U.S. and international pressure on Russia and its proxies will only increase." Neither the Kremlin nor Russia's Foreign Ministry reacted to the deadly events in Mariupol on Saturday. But Russian officials have routinely denied Western accusations that they are sending troops or weapons into eastern Ukraine to support the pro-Russian rebels fighting there. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov also cautioned the West against trying to push Putin through sanctions Friday, saying that a Russian would "never, never turn away and give up his leader" because of outside pressure, and warning that continued economic sanctions against Russia "will be a bleeding wound for decades." The United States and Europe have applied several rounds of sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its involvement in Ukraine. Since clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists began in April, Mariupol has largely been under the control of the government in Kiev. But the area around Mariupol was the scene of intense fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels during the late summer, as rebels backed by Russian support, Ukrainian officials maintained made a push for the city. That was shortly before the two sides agreed to a cease-fire in Minsk, Belarus, in early September . That cease-fire is now effectively dead, after pro-Russian rebel leaders in Donetsk said Friday they were no longer recognizing it and would not initiate any new peace talks. The United Nations estimated Friday that almost 5,100 people have died in Ukraine since the fighting began last April 262 in the past nine days before the updated figure was published, making it the deadliest period since this summer, before the Minsk cease-fire agreement was signed. | 5 | 8,978 | news |
Kylie Jenner has denied speculation she's dropped out of school. The 17-year-old reality TV star confirmed she's still a home-schooled high school student and has four months to go until she graduates. Kylie revealed: "I haven't dropped out of school. I still go to school every day." Kylie explained that once she gets her diploma, she will be exploring a wide variety of interests. She told PEOPLE Magazine : "I want to keep doing what I do now. I love fashion ... I have a lot of interests I'm pursuing." Meanwhile, Kylie's 19-year-old sister, Kendall Jenner, recently admitted she "grew up too fast a long time ago". The model rose to fame on her family's reality TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians eight years ago and claimed she was "brought up to be a workaholic" by her parents, Bruce and Kris Jenner. She said: "I feel like I grew up too fast a long time ago. "Having older siblings, you grow up around adults, so you mature more quickly. I saw my sisters and parents working every day, so I was pretty much brought up to be a workaholic. But I just turned 19 a couple weeks ago, and I'm scared to be 20 - it's the first step out of being a teenager." | 6 | 8,979 | entertainment |
LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) -- Matt Kuchar's ball crashed into the rocks at the foot of the Santa Rosa Mountains and shot sideways into the All-American Canal. More rocks and water gobbled up another ball -- and with it, his third-round lead on Saturday in the Humana Challenge. "It's too bad, but it's what happened," Kuchar said. "I still got one more day left to try to make some birdies and still pull this thing out." Two strokes ahead after a birdie on the par-5 14th, Kuchar bogeyed three of the final four holes for a 1-under 71 on PGA West's Arnold Palmer Private Course. That left him a shot behind two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, Bill Haas, Justin Thomas and Michael Putnam. The highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11, Kuchar lost a shot on the par-3 15th when he drove to the right, sent his second to the back edge and missed a 14-footer. "Just nearly an impossible up-and-down if you miss the green right," Kuchar said. He bogeyed the par-3 17th after his tee shot went right, bounced off the mountain rocks and raced across the green into the canal. "With a pitching wedge, you're looking to hit a good shot," Kuchar said. "Unfortunately, I let it hang too much and it caught a rock and went in the water." The seven-time tour winner closed with another rocky bogey, ending his birdie-eagle string on the par 5s. On the first 12 pars 5 of the week, he had an eagle and 11 birdies. On 18, his 235-yard approach sailed long and left into the rocks and water. After his ball rolled away on a penalty drop, he placed it deep in the dormant grass, blasted out to 8 feet and two-putted. "I hit a great drive and was in between a 3- and 4-hybrid," Kuchar said. "I went with a 3-hybrid, trying to get it back to the hole and hit a solid shot that just didn't fade." Compton shot a 67 on the Jack Nicklaus Private Course to join Haas, Thomas and Putnam at 17-under 199. Haas, the 2010 winner, had a 69 on the Nicklaus layout. Thomas shot 68 on the Palmer course, and Putnam had a 69 at La Quinta Country Club. Compton birdied three of his last five holes in breezy, warm conditions. "I had a couple shots that were loose on the drives, but I salvaged the round," Compton said. "Tomorrow's a new day." On the final day of the pro-am competition, Compton played in a group with amputee Chad Pfeifer and Baltimore Orioles pitcher Bud Norris. Pfeifer lost his left leg in Iraq. "On the third hole, he said, `Hey, listen, you know, you really inspired me learning about your story,'" Compton said. "And I'm kind of speechless, because I see him with a huge adversity that he's gone through and it speaks volumes." Haas is making his first start since November. He took the long break to rest his left wrist, injured when he fell down stairs at Hilton Head. "So far, something to build on, but I also know in the back of my head I don't think I'm a hundred percent," Haas said. "So, I'll go on the range and work on it. I just got to stay in the moment and try not to hit too many foul balls tomorrow." Thomas birdied two of the last three holes. The 21-year-old former Alabama player hit a 91-yard shot to a foot for birdie on the par- 4 16th and two-putted for birdie on the 18. "I'm pleased where I'm at going into tomorrow," Thomas said. Ryan Palmer, Scott Pinckney and Steve Wheatcroft were a stroke back along with Kuchar. Palmer followed his 61 on Friday on the Nicklaus course with a 68 on the Palmer layout. Wheatcroft had a 68 on the Nicklaus course, and Pinckney shot 69 in the Palmer. Defending champion Patrick Reed, paired with Kuchar, was tied for ninth at 14 under after a 67. He's coming off a playoff victory two weeks ago in Hawaii in the Tournament of Champions. Phil Mickelson was 11 under in his first start since the Ryder Cup in September. He had eight birdies and four bogeys in a 68 on the Palmer course. "It was a day that could have been really low," Mickelson said. "It had a lot of potential and I ended up making too many bogeys and letting some birdie opportunities slide." The 44-year-old Mickelson won the event in 2002 and 2004. DIVOTS: Former President Bill Clinton was on the Palmer course, greeting players as they crossed the bridge between the 17th green and 18th tee. The Clinton Foundation is a tournament partner. ... Blake Adams missed the cut by four strokes in his return from hip replacement surgery. A shot out of the lead after an opening 64 on the Nicklaus course, he had a 79 on Friday at La Quinta and a 69 on Saturday on the Palmer course. | 1 | 8,980 | sports |
The cheapest Super Bowl tickets have increased from $2,490 to $4,250 in a matter of days. Are you surprised to see that steep jump? | 1 | 8,981 | sports |
Matt Kuchar had the lead going into his last four holes, but dropped three strokes as the day came to a close. He finished at -16, one shot back of the top of the leaderboard. | 1 | 8,982 | sports |
STAMFORD, Conn. The former CEO of an arena catering business who resigned in September after video surfaced of him kicking a puppy in an elevator has been charged with animal cruelty in Canada. Desmond Hague, the former chief executive of Stamford-based Centerplate Inc., was charged Friday with two cruelty counts as a result of the July 2014 incident in a Vancouver apartment complex. Hague said at the time he was "ashamed and deeply embarrassed" by his actions. Information about Hague's lawyer couldn't be determined late Saturday. If convicted, Hague faces a maximum fine of $75,000, up to two years in jail or up to a lifetime ban on owning animals. A spokesman for the Provincial Court in Vancouver told the San Diego Union-Tribune (http://bit.ly/1CPPUU1 ) that Hague is to appear in court Feb. 24. Hague had agreed to walk the Doberman pinscher puppy, named Sade, for a friend, and the video appears to show him kicking the dog and jerking its leash so severely that it lifts off the floor. The ensuing backlash as the video circulated on the Internet prompted Centerplate, which provides services to arenas across North America, to direct Hague to donate $100,000 to an animal abuse nonprofit organization, the newspaper reported. He resigned days later. British Columbia's SPCA said that after the incident, the dog was taken into the SPCA custody and returned to its owner on the condition it have no further contact with Hague. | 5 | 8,983 | news |
In honor of Deflate-Gate, one Goodyear is offering free air pressure checks for New England Patriots fans. | 1 | 8,984 | sports |
A doctor and a registered nurse are heading to court Monday over startling accusations that a University of Miami supervisor at South Florida's only organ bank physically struck them during a 2013 staff meeting in an attempt to silence their complaints about personnel shortages, inadequate training and other concerns with UM's leadership. The former UM employees claim in separate lawsuits that the assaults - the nurse called the blow "a karate chop" to her back - were witnessed by about 50 colleagues, and that university administrators barely addressed their complaints afterward. In interviews with the Herald, the two women employees said the attacks occurred as university administrators stepped up the pressure to harvest more organs for transplant surgeries, sometimes at the expense of quality and safety measures. UM officials deny the allegations in the lawsuits, calling them character attacks by "a small group of employees." They say an internal investigation failed to back up the women's assault accusations. And they label as untrue the employees' statements to the Herald that medical quality or patient safety has suffered from their push to procure more organs - an effort driven, UM officials say, by the overwhelming number of patients on waiting lists for a transplant. While a judge sorts out the legal claims, court documents and interviews offer a look at the world of organ transplants and the emotional work that comes with saving lives in an increasingly competitive and expensive arena of healthcare. It's tough territory for health professionals: Difficult calculations of organ viability and accusations of rationing come with the territory. Today, nearly two years after the alleged assaults, the women are no longer employed at the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency, or LAORA. One was fired; the other says her contract is not being renewed. But the UM administrator accused of striking them remains in the same leadership position. "I didn't really expect anything different, although I'm a little bit surprised that they won't just own up to it,'' Susan Ganz, 61, the physician and former medical director of LAORA, said in an interview. After filing her lawsuit in October 2013, Ganz said, she was excluded from meetings and ignored by university administrators. Ganz said she was notified last August that after 17 years with UM her contract would not be renewed. Both Ganz and Marla Geltner, 49, a registered nurse and former director of clinical operations for the organ bank, claim in their suits that they were struck in front of dozens of witnesses at the same meeting by the same supervisor: Rafic Warwar, vice chair of administration for the surgery department at UM's Miller School of Medicine, which oversees the organ bank. "The university has failed to protect me and any other employee in that institution,'' Geltner said in an interview. She was fired in August 2013 after about eight months with the organ bank, and filed suit two months later. Last year, she filed another suit against UM in federal court, accusing the university of firing her in retaliation for taking medical leave in August 2013. She had previously worked at UM Hospital as a cardiology nurse for two years. UM officials said their investigation of the original complaints lodged by Ganz and Geltner found no wrongdoing by Warwar. But they wouldn't divulge details of the investigation to the Herald. Questions directed to Warwar, who has worked at UM for 14 years, were addressed by university officials. Dan Gelber, an attorney and former state legislator acting as a university spokesman, said UM investigated as soon as it learned of the assault accusations. "The allegations in the lawsuit are strongly disputed and the investigation results support that position," he said. Alan Livingstone, a physician and surgery department chairman at UM, said two human resources managers attended the disputed meeting, and they said the attacks did not occur. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Abby Cynamon has scheduled a hearing Monday in her chambers to consider whether portions of the lawsuits will proceed. ALLEGED ASSAULT The suits accuse Warwar of striking both women during a general staff meeting on May 21, 2013, in LAORA's offices at UM's Life Science and Technology Park building. About 50 people attended the meeting, the lawsuits allege. During the meeting, Ganz and Geltner, seated on either side of Warwar at a table, said they disagreed with Warwar's complaints about LAORA staff members, the lawsuits allege. Though the suits do not specify his complaints, Ganz and Geltner said in interviews that Warwar was criticizing the clinical staff. Geltner said she spoke up in their defense. And that's when Warwar hit her, "like a karate chop. It hit me so hard that the chair moved and knocked me to the right,'' she said. In an interview, Ganz, the physician, recounted a similar experience, saying that Warwar seemed "taken aback" when some of LAORA's clinical staff questioned him, asking why he had not spoken with them about his concerns. When Warwar made a comment about not receiving updated information, Ganz said she told him he already had received it. His response was to strike her, she said. "All of a sudden he hauls off and he bashes me on the back,'' she said. "He hit me. He clearly didn't want me to say any more." Geltner said she was stunned after Warwar hit her and later got up and left the conference room. Ganz said she, too, was dumbstruck when he hit her, but she remained in her chair while Warwar continued to speak. As medical director, she said, "I tried very, very hard to not make a big deal out of it. Everybody was in the room, and I didn't want to make a scene." Both women said Warwar struck each of them twice. Geltner said several colleagues approached her in disbelief afterward, urging her to call police, but she said no. Ganz's lawsuit alleges Warwar's strikes bruised her back, and that she has photographic evidence. She refused to provide those photos to the Herald on her lawyer's advice since the photos will be evidence in the case. Ganz and Geltner both said university administrators interviewed them about the incidents, and that they provided written statements. In court papers, Geltner said the university's Cane Watch compliance hotline received numerous calls from employees who witnessed the assault. Ganz said she followed up for months after first reporting the assault to UM administrators. But she never received a final report about the internal investigation. "It seemed like a cover-up to me,'' she said in an interview. "I have nothing at all from them.'' A few months after the meeting, UM fired Geltner. She said university officials sent her a termination letter, citing her failure to participate in an internal investigation of her expenses and activities while on a business trip. She said the investigation was unrelated to the complaints about Warwar's alleged assaults. Gelber and Livingstone would not give the reason for Geltner's termination. Ganz, the doctor in charge of protocols for evaluating donors and for recovering and placing organs, remains on the UM payroll until August, but says she was asked not to report to work at LAORA. Though Livingstone said Ganz's position was eliminated "as part of a reorganization" by LAORA's new executive director, Ganz believes her contract is not being renewed because of the suit. "In my book,''she said, "it has everything to do with the lawsuit.'' UNDER PRESSURE In interviews with the Herald, Ganz and Geltner painted a picture of an agency under increasing pressure from UM administrators to harvest more organs from potential donors. Livingstone said that the desire to procure more organs for transplant was real. He said he instructed Warwar to work toward that goal because the list of patients waiting for transplants far exceeds the number of organ donations. "We have almost as many people dying on the waiting list for livers as getting transplants. It's a huge problem,'' he said. "It's become essential that we increase the number of organ donors.'' Livingstone said that effort did not impact LAORA's performance. "We have prided ourselves in not making any errors because we spend so much time on the quality assurance and quality improvement,'' he said. The organs LAORA recovers are transplanted as far away as Massachusetts and California, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, a private organization that evaluates organ transplantation. LAORA's service area covers South Florida's transplant centers, including UM's program called the Miami Transplant Institute, operated with Miami-Dade's public hospital network, Jackson Health System. The institute, created in 1970, receives organs from LAORA and from other organ banks. And though it's the oldest and busiest transplant center in South Florida, the Miami Transplant Institute has run into increased competition from area hospitals that have begun performing transplants. Ganz said Warwar and Livingstone often questioned LAORA staff about the numbers of organs the bank was sending to the Miami Transplant Institute, which is housed at Jackson Memorial Hospital. "We used to get yelled at a lot: 'How come more organs aren't going to Jackson?''' Ganz said. "I kept explaining that we have to follow a list. If Jackson doesn't show up [to recover an organ] or they decline, somebody else was going to take it." UM administrators even asked for an accounting of organs, she said: "We had to send them a statement every month explaining where all the organs went, and where Jackson was on the list. And if Jackson was declined, why.'' Livingstone said UM administrators never attempted to steer organs to the Miami Transplant Institute. It is against federal law for an organ bank or transplant surgeons to manipulate the allocation of an organ. Livingstone said LAORA's "record confirms it is one of the best run programs in the nation.'' He added that LAORA and UM cannot steer organs to the Miami Transplant Institute - or any other transplant center - because "every single organ that is transplanted" has to be reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, a nonprofit organization that coordinates organ donation under a contract with the federal government. UNOS then assigns the organ to a recipient, he said. "So we can't simply say, 'Well, you know, the organ donor was one of our patients, so we're going to transplant the organs to one of our other patients.' You can't do that,'' he said. "If somebody is a higher priority, the organ must go to that patient. This is the most regulated field in medicine.'' AGGRESSIVE PROCUREMENT As one of 58 federally-designated organ procurement organizations in the country, LAORA is responsible for recovering organs from "donor hospitals" in a six-county area from Monroe County to St. Lucie, and also the Bahamas. While surgeons get the spotlight for performing transplants, LAORA staff members labor behind the scenes: recruiting donors, coordinating and training area hospitals, evaluating donors and managing their medical care until the organs are recovered. It's hard work, Ganz said, that requires clinical expertise and an empathetic approach to grieving families. Her job as medical director was to clinically evaluate potential donors and the viability of their organs for transplant. Ganz said that after the former executive director resigned in August 2013, Warwar began questioning her clinical processes and requiring weekly meetings of her staff, part of what she saw as his drive to obtain more organs. Transplants boost prestige and represent significant revenue for medical centers. The average billed charge - from pre-operative procedures through recovery - can run as high as $1.5 million in some cases. LAORA is not alone in its desire to procure more organs, said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University's Langone Medical Center. The number of patients waiting for an organ transplant nationwide is nearly 10 times greater than the number of organ donors - a supply-and-demand dynamic that impacts organ banks, like LAORA, Caplan said. "At a time when there's severe scarcity, there's all kinds of pressures to procure organs,'' he said. "Some OPOs chase everything. Others say, 'We won't go after A, B or C. But we will now think about D, E and F'. Every OPO has to make those decisions.'' Nationwide last month, there were 123,505 people waiting for a transplant, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which is run by UNOS. But in the first 10 months of last year, there were only 24,382 transplants performed. Ganz said LAORA receives about 400 referrals a month from a network of about 85 hospitals in its service area, and spent considerable resources pursuing many donations that she said wouldn't usually be considered due to age or infection or poor function. But Livingstone said the organ bank is becoming more efficient. For example, he said, LAORA's donation rate - the percentage of eligible donors who consent to donate organs - was 75.6 percent from June to mid-November last year. "Better than expected,'' he said. In their lawsuits, Ganz and Geltner each seek monetary damages of more than $15,000 from Warwar and UM, as well as legal fees. Both said in their lawsuits that they fear Warwar, and that his actions caused them anxiety, loss of sleep and apprehension about going to work. Ganz, who is joined as a plaintiff in the lawsuit by her husband, William Ganz, said she is saddened to no longer be working with colleagues to save lives. "All I ever asked was for an apology,'' Ganz said, "and we would have gone on as if nothing had happened. I waited for three months for an apology, and all they tried to do was let it blow over.'' | 5 | 8,985 | news |
The "polite gays," was how Tracy and Kathryn described themselves. Not political or loud, not obvious or overt, but understated, in keeping with their Oklahoma surroundings. Never asking anyone to think too hard or talk too much about the fact that they were gay at all. Except now they were about to ask everyone they knew to think about it, because they'd decided to have a wedding. "Okay, here are our wedding plans, right here," Tracy Curtis said, opening her notebook at the Hideaway Pizza and scanning the friends she and her partner, Kathryn Frazier, had invited to their inaugural planning session. "If you'll notice, this notebook's empty. We need help." "Tracy, I don't know." Across the table, one friend half-raised her hand. "I just haven't been to many gay weddings. And I'm gay. We're in kind of uncharted territory." They were at this restaurant because in October the Supreme Court decided to let several lower court marriage rulings stand, which made same-sex unions legal in some of the country's reddest states, including theirs. The next day, Tracy and Kathryn picked up a marriage license on the advice of a lawyer friend who told them to hurry before this suddenly opened window closed. But after a two-minute ceremony, Kathryn, 39, went to work and Tracy, 44, went to a doctor's appointment, and then went home and cried because what they'd just experienced felt like checking something off a list, not like getting married. And so now, in November, they were at the Hideaway to plan an actual wedding, to take place in a state where 62 percent of people in a recent poll said they didn't approve of same-sex marriage and 52 percent said they felt that way strongly. One friend suggested that the reception could have a casino night theme. A teenager at the table wondered why the couple hadn't chosen their outfits a long time ago "Because, honey, we didn't think we could ever get married in Oklahoma," Kathryn explained and someone else started ticking off venues. Tracy had a vision of guests holding candles. But centerpieces? Flowers? Music? Thinking of it all made them feel overwhelmed, especially when it came to one question above all: Who would come to this wedding? A few nights later, the couple sat at their dining room table and went over prospective guests. They still didn't have a venue, but they'd chosen a day, in January, and they'd made enough save-the-date cards to send to 86 people, a list Tracy had written on the bottom of her Bible study worksheet and kept re-counting. "Are they coming?" Kathryn asked, pointing to one of the names in surprise. "I don't think they'll come," Tracy said. "We're just sending a postcard to be polite." She looked at another name and laughed. "I just cannot imagine inviting her to this wedding." But they would, they decided. They would invite everybody to this wedding and let them decide for themselves whether to come. "It feels very emotional and vulnerable to be inviting all these people," Kathryn said. "But that's why you have a wedding," Tracy replied. So the next week, they put the save-the-dates in the mail, and soon after, the invitations, and then they waited. **** Oklahoma. This was a place where Kathryn's workplace had a cussing jar, a quarter per swear, and the words written on it, "Let Go and Let God." Here, Christianity was the religion Tracy and Kathryn were believers and Oklahoma football was the religion Tracy and Kathryn were believers and people could be decent and kind and judgmental, sometimes all at once, which was why, when Tracy told some Rotary Club friends that she and Kathryn were getting married, she kept her eyes planted above their heads so she wouldn't have to look at their faces. Tracy and Kathryn had been together for seven years and known each other for 18, but they began worrying about everything in their lives that could be disrupted by this ceremony. They worried about offending people. They worried when Tracy called their top choice for a venue. At first the woman who answered the phone said the location was available, then she asked for the bride's name "Kathryn" and the groom's name "Tracy" and then, when she figured out that Tracy was not a man but a woman, she explained that they didn't do same-sex weddings and wouldn't accommodate the party after all. "We had our first run-in with meanness the other day," Kathryn told her mother, Jane Webb, the next morning when they met for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel. "Well, did you have to tell them it was a gay wedding?" Jane brainstormed. "Couldn't you just say you were having a beer fest?" "No, Mom." "Now, I haven't told him about the wedding, and I'm not sure that I intend to," Jane said a few minutes later, bringing up her own worries about her husband, Kathryn's stepfather. He hadn't reacted well to learning she was gay. Kathryn wondered: Would her stepfather come to the wedding? Tracy wondered: Would her parents come? Her empathetic mother and her ex-military father? What about Kathryn's boss, Tim? He and Kathryn talked all the time about homosexuality and the Bible, and his wife, Kelly, was the leader of Tracy's Bible study. The two couples had eaten dinners at each other's homes and been friends for more than a decade but would Tim and Kelly come to the wedding? The person Kathryn wondered about most was her biological father. He had raised her; after his divorce from Jane, it was the two of them alone in a small, boxy house in the middle of open plains. He was a rural postman and the job suited him a solitary route that took him down the same path, every day, a hundred miles of roads. His world was predictable and contained, and Kathryn hadn't found the right way to talk to him about the wedding. Tracy didn't know they hadn't spoken. She sent his invitation in a batch with all the others and now Kathryn had no choice but to call her father, or he would learn about the ceremony by checking the mail. As the words about the invitation came spilling out, they became words about why she and Tracy had decided, despite all their worries, to have this wedding. She told him that she didn't think there was anything wrong with the way she and Tracy felt about each other. She said that marriage was an important rite in the history of humanity, something people had been doing throughout time, and something she wanted to be a part of. She told him that marriage, as a value, was American. He didn't say anything. There was only silence on the other end of the line. "I'd like for you to come," Kathryn said after a while. She left it at that. **** The first RSVP arrived in the middle of December, addressed to "Bride Central." Tracy saw it in the mailbox but made herself wait until Kathryn was home to open it. Inside was a response from a teenage girl Tracy had mentored at a homeless shelter. "This will be my first wedding!" the girl wrote, and the couple took the card inside and started to make a pile: three more "Will Attends" arrived the next day, five the day after that. By then they'd found a venue, a tea house on Main Street, whose owner recalled telling them, "I haven't been exposed much to that life, but I love all God's children," and by then Tracy's mother had phoned with a request. "Tracy," Diana Lobrano asked her daughter in a serious voice. "Would you consider wearing your grandmother's wedding dress?" Tracy snorted before she could help herself. The gown may have been an heirloom, but her grandmother was a diminutive size six and Tracy was a tall 14 it would never fit. But in that moment, Tracy began to realize that other people were taking this ceremony seriously. They ordered trays of cupcakes and truffles, downloaded dance tutorials and made multiple trips to Dillard's, where a white-haired clerk sold Kathryn a gray blazer and helped Tracy find an evening gown, then a different gown, and a different gown when she still couldn't make up her mind. They told the clerk they needed the clothes for a wedding; they were too worried about what she might think to tell her the wedding was theirs. A few weeks before the wedding, Tracy's parents arrived from South Carolina, where they'd moved several years before. On their first night in town, her father came into the kitchen while Tracy and Kathryn were washing dishes. He told them he had a question he felt a little awkward about asking. Bill Curtis was politically conservative. A retired technical sergeant with the Air National Guard, he thought that things might have been easier before the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, when someone would know another person was gay but not talk about it. He questioned news polls that said that the majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage. People on the coasts might, he thought, but he wasn't sure about people in the middle of the country. He also thought that his daughter was a good person who deserved to be happy, with the same rights as everyone else, and so he had packed a gray suit and a selection of ties and driven 17 hours with Diana to be at the ceremony. Now, in the kitchen, he asked, "Is there a role you would like me to have in this wedding?" He didn't mean to presume or impose, he said he just wanted to offer. **** A week before the wedding, the pile had grown to 67 affirmative RSVPs: Tracy's sister, in California. An old friend in Washington state. Brandon, the 22-year-old Tracy and Kathryn gained custody of after his mother died five years before, would be driving up from Florida. There were a handful of no's "This is our annual duck hunt weekend," one invitee apologized but Tracy and Kathryn were starting to feel optimistic. "Maybe I underestimated the people around me," Tracy said. They still hadn't heard from Kathryn's boss, Tim, though, and they still hadn't heard from Kathryn's dad. They'd visited him for the holidays, but he didn't bring up the wedding then and neither did they, and finally, with six days to go, Kathryn telephoned and asked whether he was coming. There was another uncomfortable silence. "I don't want you to hate me, and I don't want you to disown me," she would remember him telling her. "But I just want things to stay as they are." He would not be coming. Kathryn didn't ask him why. "Mad is not the right word," she told him. "But I am disappointed." Two days later, Kathryn's mother called. She would not be coming either a medical procedure had been scheduled for a few days before the wedding and she didn't know whether she'd be recovered in time. "It's really okay," Kathryn told herself. A few hours after that call, Tim stopped by Kathryn's office to ask about a service request in Prague, Okla., several miles out of their normal coverage area. "I told them I'd have to bill them double," Kathryn said. "At least," Tim said. "It's about a 50-minute drive." "I trust you," he said, and soon after he left, Kathryn's cellphone rang. Tracy was on the other end. She'd just gone to the mailbox and found an RSVP, she said. It was from Tim and Kelly. They wouldn't be coming. "Mmm-hmm," Kathryn said, staring at the window in front of her as Tracy told her about the thoughtful card the Lashars had sent along with their RSVP. A few minutes later, Tim came back in. "Where is Prague, anyway?" he joked. "Isn't that in Europe?" Kathryn took a deep breath. She laughed, and meanwhile, back at the house, after Tracy talked with Kathryn, Tracy's father pulled her into the kitchen and asked that his daughter hear him out on something. Don't recite vows, he suggested. Have a party, not a wedding it just seemed like that might be the sensitive thing to do. Besides, he pointed out, the couple was technically already married. That wasn't the point, Tracy remembered telling him. Their ceremony in October had been done in haste with court decisions in mind. They wanted, she told her father, to feel married . **** Two days to go now, and across town Tim and Kelly were waiting for Kathryn to come by to pick up a projector they'd said they would lend her for the ceremony. They cared about Kathryn, they explained, and they cared about Tracy, too. They said they believed that if Kathryn got sick, Tracy should be allowed to visit her in the hospital. They thought everybody should be allowed to designate one "person" the loved one with whom they'd legally decided to share their lives. It was obvious to them that Tracy and Kathryn could be each other's "people." But marriage, they said, was something holy and biblical, something whose definition shouldn't be changed. In the greeting-card section of the store, Kelly said, she had hesitated over which card she should buy to accompany the RSVP saying they wouldn't be attending. A card with bride and a groom seemed insensitive. She ended up choosing one with a dog holding a glass of champagne, after which she and Tim crafted the message inside together: "The two of you have been special to our family in many ways, and we pray nothing but happiness for you." And then the greeting card and the RSVP card sat, unmailed, on Tim and Kelly's kitchen counter, until they were a full week late. Kelly liked to include notes on her RSVPs saying that her family was looking forward to attending an event, or that she was sorry they couldn't come but for this wedding, she hadn't been able to think of a message she could honestly write. "Sorry this is so late!" she wrote finally, underneath the box checked "Cannot Attend." They knew the card had probably arrived by now, but Tim still hadn't talked with Kathryn about it at work. "I'm sure we'll discuss it at some point," he said. "Because I have to wonder if they think, deep down, that we don't accept them." Kelly was silent for a moment. "I do think that deep down, in the quiet of their hearts, they might wonder that." A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Kathryn came into the foyer to examine the projector with Kelly. "They have a big white wall there, and that's where you're going to want to project it," Kelly suggested. She knew the tea house it was the same place she held her Bible studies. "Is it going to be a thing where people are looking at it, or is it just looping?" "Just looping," Kathryn said. She explained that the reception would have tables with games, and the slideshow would be playing in the background. "It's a good, strong bulb," Kelly said. "It shouldn't burn out. I would hate for you to take it and then have it burn out in the middle." "Are you planning on coming in to work tomorrow?" Tim asked. "I'm not sure." "Don't make a trip in," he said. "I'll handle the calls." **** Less than 24 hours left, and Kathryn and Tracy were staying up late with Tracy's family, checking off last-minute details and talking about the final guest count. "Every solitary day here, there is someone disapproving of my life," Kathryn said to Tracy's mother, who was upset with some of the people who weren't coming. "Every minute, probably," Diana responded. "Every second," Tracy said. "But to some degree," Kathryn said, "if you're a gay person living in Oklahoma, you're just going to have to decide how to respond to that." "It's a process," Tracy said. "Maybe this is not the ending journey for some people," Kathryn said. "Maybe this is the beginning. Maybe our wedding will be useful for later in their journey." Her father wasn't coming, her mother and stepfather weren't coming perhaps nobody in her family was coming, but she didn't want to lose relationships over this wedding. "Sometimes I do feel like an abomination," Tracy said, a few minutes later. Diana shook her head. "Don't. Don't you ever let people say you're an abomination." "There is no deeper question that they can have about me that I haven't had about myself," Kathryn said. "I'm a gay Christian in Oklahoma there is no greater cosmic joke than for me to be a gay Christian." "You have to understand," Tracy told her family, finally. "For some of these people, we're the only gay people they've ever met ." Tracy and Kathryn went to bed, and in the middle of the night Kathryn woke Tracy up, twice, to shake her arm and say, "We're getting married today, can you believe it?" and in the morning Kathryn's stepsister called. She wouldn't be coming she had the flu. A good friend in Texas called he was sick, too. Not coming. Mid-morning, Kathryn made a final run to Dillard's to buy a different shirt to wear under her blazer. The same clerk was there, the tiny white-haired woman who had helped on their previous shopping excursions, and with whom Tracy and Kathryn had avoided talking about the ceremony. This time, however, the clerk asked directly: The wedding Kathryn had bought clothes for who, exactly, was getting married? Kathryn later remembered bowing her head to her chest, not wanting to make eye contact. She felt her muscles tense as she decided whether to set herself up for another possible rejection. "Do you know that woman I've been coming in here with?" she finally said. "I thought that might be it, but I wasn't going to ask," the clerk said. Then she started jumping up and down in the middle of the store, grabbing Kathryn's arms, saying, "I'm so excited for you!" Kathryn looked into the elated face of the clerk whose name she didn't know, and she burst into tears. **** Tracy painted her toenails, hobbling around the living room to dry them, and then carefully slid on her new high heels. One hour before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, Kathryn put on her own shoes sparkly Vans sneakers and showed them to Tracy's father. "I know you're jealous of my footwear," she said. "I can just tell." "I wouldn't exactly call it jealous," Bill said. She beckoned him into the kitchen. "I have a boutonniere for you, Mr. Curtis." He fumbled with the rose and then handed it back to her. "Can you put it on?" he asked. Kathryn pinned the flower to Bill's lapel. "That looks fine," he told her. "That's just fine." "You're all set." And then there was almost nothing left to do and almost no time left to worry. Tracy's parents left for the venue so they could greet early guests. The couple was alone in the house. "Are you happy with how I look?" Kathryn asked. "Is my hair good?" "I think you look fantastic," Tracy said. "How do I look?" "You look beautiful." "I have lots of crying things if we start to cry, I can whip some Puffs out of my bra." "Okay," Kathryn laughed. "I want you to know that I have prayed for us many times today, because I'm so excited," Tracy told Kathryn as they got in their truck to drive to the ceremony. "I just I hope I don't miss our moment." "You won't," Kathryn said. "We won't. Because we are going to take a deep breath. And we're going to be fine." They breathed. Kathryn pulled into a parking space a block from the tea house, and as they got out of the truck, her phone beeped with a message. "I just got a ding," she said. It was a text from Brandon saying that everyone had arrived, and Tracy and Kathryn could come inside whenever they wanted. They walked toward Main Street in Norman, Okla. When they got all the way to the door, they looked inside and saw the dim glow of candles held by the 60 guests who had decided to come. "Ready?" Kathryn asked, and they went inside and had a wedding. | 5 | 8,986 | news |
Brendan Rodgers admits he overlooked Mario Balotelli for Liverpool's FA Cup fourth round 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers at Anfield because the Italian forward is not working well enough in training and does not fit in with his current style of play. Balotelli was "not well" in the past week and, as such, was not available to be selected for the League Cup semifinal first-leg against Chelsea on Tuesday. However, he was fit for selection for Saturday's match but Rodgers opted against bringing him in despite the continued absence of Daniel Sturridge due to injury. "I've had a chat with Mario," Rodgers told the press. "He knows exactly what's required to be in this squad before he can be in the team. He is available, like the rest of the team. We had about an hour or so yesterday chatting. I think he understands where it's at. "He was out for a week or so, not well, obviously wasn't available for selection in midweek and last week. It's difficult for him. He knows now the level of what this team is at. You see the pressing in our game, the aggression in our game. If you can't do that, then you're not going to be part of what this team is trying to achieve." Rodgers says Balotelli has learned a lot about what is expected of him at Anfield due to the team's recent performances, and will return to the matchday squad when he demonstrates a greater work ethic in training. "He probably sees the real Liverpool over these last six or seven weeks and he understands just what is required to get into the team. "Of course, I'm judging it every day in training as well. Mario is exactly the same as every other player. There's no special treatment for anyone. Fabio Borini, Rickie Lambert, they're working tirelessly for me in training and when they go on they've contributed. I have to judge it on that. "He is a player that will work very hard now to get back in. It doesn't matter who the player is, what price he came with or what he was bought for. It's a collective team, it's about the team, and if you want to contribute then you have to be at it every single day in training in order to be in the squad for a matchday." | 1 | 8,987 | sports |
LSU running back Leonard Fournette was one of the biggest stars in last year's recruiting class, and he showed why as a freshman, rushing for 1,034 yards and 10 touchdowns on just 187 carries. Fournette's younger brother Lanard isn't as highly touted, but he was heavily recruited as well, and will be joining his brother in Baton Rouge. " I have officially committed to Louisiana State University Proud to be a tiger ," Fournette wrote on Twitter. Fournette's commitment comes after an official visit to LSU over the weekend. Alabama and Texas were also in on the three-star athlete from New Orleans. | 1 | 8,988 | sports |
KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii (AP) -- Miguel Angel Jimenez shot an 8-under 64 in windy conditions Saturday for a share of the lead with Rocco Mediate in the Champions Tour's season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship. Jimenez had nine birdies and a closing bogey to match Mediate at 11-under 133 at Hualalai Golf Club. Mediate, the first-round leader after a 66, had a bogey-free 67. ''I played very well today,'' Jimenez said. ''Very solid for the first hole. I have myself a chance on just about every hole.'' Jimenez is making his third Champions Tour start. The Spaniard won the Greater Gwinnett Championship last year, a week after finishing fourth in the Masters. In May, he won the Spanish Open at 50 years, 133 days to break his own record as the oldest European Tour champion. Mediate won twice on the 50-and over tour in 2013. ''With this wind, you just have to pay attention and play the right shot,'' Mediate said. ''It was nasty coming in.'' Olin Browne was third at 9 under after a 67. Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie and Mark O'Meara were another stroke back. Couples shot 64, Montgomerie 66, and O'Meara 67. Couples had an eagle and three birdies on the four par 5s. ''I putted really well,'' Couples said. ''I hit some really good putts early in the round and they didn't go in, then I started making them and they all went in.'' Defending champion Bernhard Langer was 7 under after a 65. He had a 10 on the par-5 seventh hole in his opening 72. The 40-player field features major champions from the last five years, other tournament winners in the last two seasons and sponsor invitees. | 1 | 8,989 | sports |
Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber is now the king of the NHL's big shooters. Weber fired a puck 108.5 mph to win the hardest shot competition at the NHL All-Star Skills competition, ending Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara's run of five consecutive titles. Weber's first shot was disqualified because he missed the net, but his second blast was just short of Chara's NHL record of 108.8 mph. "It's not right - guys have to get hit with that thing," Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien said, clearly in awe. "It's amazing. He works on that thing, and when your sticks are working, that's what you get." Weber's said his previous hardest shot was in the range of 106 mph. He had no idea how hard he could shoot because there hasn't been an All-Star Game since 2012, and he doesn't practice a slap shot with a big skating start. "Given one more chance, I'm sure he could have broken the record," Chicago's Jonathan Toews said. "I don't think there's anyone who shoots the puck as hard as him." Asked to describe Weber's velocity, Toews said: "I've never drive that fast. It's scary fast. He is the type of player who can beat goalies from far out with no screen, no nothing, and that's something because usually in this league if the goalie see the puck they will stop it." Chara has missed a significant amount of this season because of a knee injury and wasn't chosen to play in the All-Star Game. The second hardest shot on Saturday was Washington forward Alex Ovechkin's shot of 101.4 mph. It was pointed out to Weber that he might have beaten Chara, even if he had been there. "We will never know," Weber said. "...until next time." | 1 | 8,990 | sports |
Deflategate -- the frenzy surrounding the Patriots' 45-7 drubbing of the Colts in the 2015 AFC Championship -- is probably one of the dumbest things to happen in recent sports memory, at least from a viewership standpoint. The non-story of slightly under-inflated balls has caused the American public to collectively go pants-on-head crazy thanks to the involvement of New England. Perhaps the regional proximity is what caused the Bucknell-Boston game to start off with an official replacing a ball due to over-inflation on Saturday ? MORE: Belichick says Patriots didn't cheat | Amazing inbounds play Seriously, Massachusetts just can't catch a break with this stuff. Players from both teams tested out the ball before the game after the referee suspected it had too much pressure in it. The teams then apparently agreed to make a swap and a new ball was chosen. Bucknell wound up winning the game, 92-77. | 1 | 8,991 | sports |
Sometimes all you can do is laugh... To keep from crying. | 4 | 8,992 | lifestyle |
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) Devaugntah Williams scored a career-high 22 points and Toddrick Gotcher added 17, leading Texas Tech over No. 9 Iowa State 78-73 Saturday for its first Big 12 win. Fans swarmed the court after the victory. Gotcher made five of Texas Tech's 11 3-pointers, tying the team's high for the season. Williams, a junior transfer, added three 3s. The Red Raiders (11-9, 1-6) led most of the way and were up 74-68 when Iowa State's Georges Niang tossed in a desperation 3-pointer from the corner with 43 seconds remaining. Gotcher and Williams each hit two free throws to help keep Texas Tech ahead. Monte Morris scored 20 points and Matt Thomas added 12 for the Cyclones (14-4, 4-2). The win for the Texas Tech was the first over a top 10 team since March 2009 when they beat ninth-ranked Kansas. Red Raiders senior guard Robert Turner had a career-high 10 rebounds and Jameel McKay also had a career-high 10 boards for the Cyclones. The Red Raiders got 30 points from their bench, and the Cyclones got that many in the paint -- most of those late in the game. Cyclones leading scorer, Georges Niang, was benched a couple of times in the first half, as the Cyclones seemed to be searching for energy. Iowa State cut the lead to six points twice in the second half but after the second time, the Red Raiders went on an 8-0 run. And they kept hitting 3-pointers. The Cyclones pulled within three points in the games closing minutes. The 11 3-pointers matched what the Red Raiders got in a win over South Carolina in nonconference play this season. The Cyclones dug a hole for themselves early in the first half, allowing the Red Raiders to shoot plenty from beyond the arc. Texas Tech made 7 of 14 3-pointers -- four of those by Toddrick Gotcher -- while Iowa State hit just 3 of 14 3-pointers. Iowa State trailed by 19 twice in the first half but ended on a 6-0 run on back-to-back 3s by Matt Thomas to pull within 36-25 at the break. It was the lowest first-half total for Iowa State this season. The Cyclones got 26 first-half points at home against Oklahoma State. MASH UNIT: Texas Tech freshman Justin Gray is having surgery Monday on his left knee. He's been struggling with tendinitis in both knees all season. Red Raiders freshman center Norense Odiase was out with the flu Saturday. TIP-INS: Iowa State: The Cyclones lost some ground at having a shot at another Big 12 regular season title. They've won it twice since the league began in 1996, and were leading the conference before Saturday's loss followiing a recent win over Kansas, which has won or shared the regular season title 14 times. Texas Tech: The Red Raiders were looking for a little intervention or redemption Saturday, having started Big 12 without a win through six games. It was the first 0-6 start in conference for a Tubby Smith-coached team in his 24 seasons as a head coach. UP NEXT: Iowa State plays host to Texas on Monday Texas Tech travels to Oklahoma on Wednesday. | 1 | 8,993 | sports |
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. Conservative benefactor Charles Koch on Saturday called on other wealthy donors to expand their commitment to promoting free-market ideas and shrinking government, saying they would only succeed if the cause was "a central part of our lives." Speaking at the opening dinner of a three-day donor conference, the billionaire industrialist alluded to the November victories of a slate of Republican candidates that the group supported during last year's midterms. "Americans have taken an important step in slowing down the march toward collectivism," he said, according to excerpts of his speech shared with reporters. "But as many of you know, we don't rest on our laurels. We are already back at work and hard at it!" "In fact, the work never really ends," Koch added. "Because the struggle for freedom never ends. Much of our efforts to date have been largely defensive to slow down a government that continues to swell and become more intrusive causing our culture to deteriorate." Koch's remarks were released by Freedom Partners, the tax-exempt business league that functions as the hub of a sprawling network financed by the Kochs and other major donors on the right. The organization is primarily made up of nonprofits , such as Americans for Prosperity, that do not reveal information about their financing or their spending. Because of that, the Kochs have been lambasted by senior Democrats and others on the left for trying influence politics with secret money. This weekend's gathering, one of two donor conclaves that the network holds annually, is being held at an exclusive desert resort perched on a rocky hillside near Palm Springs, with stunning views of the palm tree-speckled desert floor. Among the more than 450 attendees expected to join Charles Koch and his brother David are top donors on the right and prominent Republican officials. Visitors who attempted to enter the grounds of the resort Saturday were told politely by security officials that the venue was closed for a private event. But for the first time, officials are providing a look at what happens inside the gathering, a significant change in approach. On Sunday, Freedom Partners is going to share with reporters a live Web stream of a panel featuring three potential 2016 presidential contenders: Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida that is taking place as part of the conference. In the excerpts of his speech released Saturday, Charles Koch described what he said is the group's vision of society, one that "maximizes peace, civility and well-being." "A society that is free in which people succeed by helping others improve their lives," he added. "A society with a culture of integrity, responsibility, hard work, tolerance and treating others with dignity and respect. Such a society secures individual and property rights with equal protection for everyone under the law. It ensures free speech and free markets so everyone has the right to express their views and the opportunity to benefit by benefiting others." Koch said creating that society "is up to us." "Making this vision a reality will require more than a financial commitment," he said. "It requires making it a central part of our lives. This group has created millions of jobs and improved the lives of countless people through hard work and philanthropy. Imagine what we can achieve together if we focus our time, talent and resources on the cause of freedom and well-being." "To me," he added, "there is no more worthy cause." Earlier in the day, at the base of the curving driveway that led up to the resort, a small clutch of protesters stood on a busy street corner, waving a large American flag and holding up signs denouncing the Kochs and their reach. "They claim they're being more open," said Tracy Turner, a 49-year-old retiree from Palm Springs, noting that the press was barred from the event. "Clearly, that's not the case. They're scripting it very carefully." Keith Coleman, a 57-year-old activist from Cathedral City, organized the demonstration after reading about the event in the local newspaper. "The Koch brothers are too influential in politics," he said. "With all their oil and gas interests, it's a very anti-environmentalist stance. They influence a lot of Republicans." Bill Baker, 78, a former computer engineer from La Quinta, said what most offends him is the idea that those assembled for this weekend's gathering have more political power because of their wealth. "I totally disagree with what the Koch brothers stand for," Baker said. "It's not democratic. It's an oligarchy they're supporting. It shouldn't be about money it should be about the best people." He waved a sign reading "KOCH$ R BAD 4 U" as cars zoomed by, the drivers occasionally honking in support. "I'm surprised how positive the reception is," Baker said. Just then a white Porsche peeled down the driveway of the resort and past the protesters. A woman stuck her arm out the window, making an emphatic thumbs down sign as she passed. | 5 | 8,994 | news |
Nashville defenseman Shea Weber won the Hardest Shot competition at Saturday night's Skill Challenge. The Predators captain clocked in with a 108.5 MPH slap shot. | 1 | 8,995 | sports |
Taking a look at the skill set of Michigan's second four-star 2015 quarterback commit. Michigan was able to flip the commitment of four-star 2015 quarterback Zach Gentry (Albuquerque, New Mexico) from Texas to the Wolverines on Saturday night, giving the team two signal-callers now committed in this recruiting cycle. Gentry brings a unique skill set to the table for a player of his size. At 6-7, 230 pounds he is the eighth-ranked pro-style passer in the 2015 class, according to the 247 Composite. Some have said Jim Harbaugh 's pitch to Gentry was using him in a similar fashion to what he did with Colin Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers. He shows those similar traits on film. He has the frame and bulk to sustain hits and the legs to move around quickly in the pocket, make throws on the run and escape from trouble when things collapse. Given how large he is, it is really surprising to see how fast he is. Gentry sees the field well and is not afraid to make throws with defenders in his face, but his throwing mechanics could use some work. He has the tendency to throw off of his back foot a lot. He has a powerful throwing motion but can be inconsistent with where the ball is released from at times. Still, when he's on, he has one of the more impressive arms in the class. Gentry has a ton of upside, perhaps more than any other quarterback on Michigan's roster, but Harbaugh will have to polish and adjust some aspects of his game. With that being said, he has the look of a player that will thrive in this offense. | 1 | 8,996 | sports |
In a pivotal Big 12 matchup, Kansas took down Texas 75-62 in Austin on Saturday. Kansas got 31 points from its bench, led by freshman star Cliff Alexander's 15 points. | 1 | 8,997 | sports |
Marcus Paige scored 19 points and Brice Johnson added 18 points and 14 rebounds to help #15 North Carolina defeat Florida State 78-74 in Chapel Hill. Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored a career-high 35 points for the Seminoles, but it wasn't enough to stop a Tar Heel offense that featured four players in double digits. | 1 | 8,998 | sports |
Kia is recalling nearly 87,000 Forte sedans from the 2014 model year because of a potential fire risk. The recall is expected to begin on February 24. The Problem: In certain 2014 Forte vehicles, the cooling system's radiator fan resistor may overheat and melt, increasing the risk of a fire. The defect applies to Forte sedans equipped with both 1.8-liter and 2.0-liter inline-four engines. At least two fires were reported in early 2014 where the resistor was identified as the possible culprit, but no accidents or injuries have come to light. No additional incidents were logged between June and December 2014. The Fix: Kia will notify owners affected by the recall, which is expected to begin February 24. At that time, dealers will replace the defective fan resistor and the multi-fuse unit in models built from December 5, 2012 to January 27, 2014. Models made between January 28, 2014 and April 17, 2014 will only receive a new multi-fuse unit. Kia says the remedy component is more heat resistant than the current parts. Also, models with the 1.8-liter engine will also receive an update to the engine control unit software. Number of Vehicles Potentially Affected: The recall involves 86,880 2014 Forte sedans in the U.S. Source: NHTSA | 9 | 8,999 | autos |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.