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MINNEAPOLIS -- As Torii Hunter met with a small gathering of media members Sunday on his way out of TwinsFest, the future of the organization walked past the 39-year-old veteran. First came Miguel Sano, Minnesota's prized third base prospect. At 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, Sano is an imposing presence, even as a 21-year-old. "Look at this guy, Sano," Hunter said as Sano ambled through a doorway. Right behind Sano was the Twins' other uber-prospect, 21-year-old center fielder Byron Buxton. Ranked by many outlets as the best prospect in baseball, Buxton was hampered by injuries last season. As he and Hunter -- protege and mentor -- shook hands as Buxton walked past, the veteran outfielder continued to compliment the Twins' young duo. "Nothing but talent around here," Hunter said. Hunter, who spent the first 11 years of his major league career with the Twins, saw some of that promise late last season when Minnesota and his old club, Detroit, squared off at Target Field in late August. The first-place Tigers expected to roll over the last-place Twins, but Minnesota had other ideas. In that series, the Twins won games by scores of 20-6 and 12-4 -- which caught the attention of Hunter -- before dropping the next two games of the four-game series. Now Hunter's bat will be added into the lineup that finished seventh in baseball in runs scored in 2014. "The one reason I'm here is because I saw those guys and the way they played in (August) against the Tigers," Hunter said Sunday. "They scored 20 runs off of us and beat us down. . . . We had a four-game series here and we were thinking, 'We're about to sweep the Twins.' No. They actually put it on us. I definitely think these guys have all the potential in the world." As soon as Hunter finished that last sentence, Sano and Buxton strolled by. Neither was on last year's Twins team that put up 20 runs against the Tigers; Sano missed all of 2014 after having Tommy John surgery, and Buxton ascended as high as Double-A before a season-ending concussion. But Hunter sees promise in not only those two but in the rest of Minnesota's lineup. While some of Minnesota's younger talent was on display this weekend at TwinsFest, it was a familiar face -- Hunter -- who was perhaps the most popular man at Target Field. It was Hunter's first TwinsFest appearance in more than seven years, as his last season with Minnesota was in 2007. Back then, the event was held at the now-demolished Metrodome. The 2015 edition took place at Target Field, a stadium Hunter has been to plenty as a visitor. Now he'll call it home for the 2015 season. Based on the reaction he received this weekend, though, it was almost as if he never left. "It's amazing just to see the love," Hunter said. "I just didn't understand that it was still like this. I went away seven years ago. Just to come back, even before I left, it feels like it's still the same. I'm thankful it's that way. The lines of people wanting autographs were long. It's great. It's a great feeling." Hunter will turn 40 years old this season, his 19th in the majors. Though his offensive numbers have held up through the years, his defense isn't the same as it was during his first stint in Minnesota. Hunter will play right field for the Twins, a position he played just a handful of times during his first 11 seasons with Minnesota. That doesn't mean Hunter can't serve as a mentor to the Twins' next crop of young center fielders. That includes Buxton, whose arrival in the majors could possibly come during the 2015 season, if all goes well. And Aaron Hicks has also said he plans to learn as much as he can from Hunter in spring training and throughout the season. "I've talked to him a lot over the years, actually," Hicks said of Hunter. "Once I got drafted, a lot of people found out that he was my favorite player. We talked a little bit. . . . I'm going to be all in his ear the whole time. He might get annoyed I'll be in his ear so much. He's definitely going to be a guy I'm going to go to." Hunter is by no means a stranger to serving as a mentor for younger players. During TwinsFest, he had a chance to talk with some of those outfielders who will be picking his brain for advice. In just a few weeks, the real lessons will begin in Fort Myers, with Hunter as the teacher and Buxton and Hicks as his students. "I try to reach out to guys and get a chance to know these guys personally," Hunter said. "But you can't just go to anybody and say, 'Hey, you do it this way and that way.' You don't have a relationship with them, so they won't listen to you. So you just have to build that relationship up. That's what spring training is for." FOX Sports North's Phil Ervin contributed to this report. Follow Tyler Mason on Twitter
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LOS ANGELES An autopsy will be performed on the body of a 3-week-old girl found dead Saturday in a pickup truck in Santa Clarita, a coroner's official said Sunday. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies found the body of Ellorah Rose Warner after her father, Matthew Warner, led them to the truck, parked outside an apartment complex in the 23600 block of Newhall Avenue. Warner, 30, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder and is being held at the Twin Towers Jail in Los Angeles in lieu of $1 million bail, online booking records state. He is to appear in Los Angeles Superior Court in San Fernando on Tuesday. An autopsy to determine the cause of death will performed, probably on Monday, said Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Fred Corral. Warner and his girlfriend, the baby's mother, reported the child missing Friday night. Officials held the couple for questioning as deputies from three stations conducted an all-night search with helicopters, dogs and the help of neighbors. At about 7 a.m. Saturday, Warner led deputies to the truck, about a mile from the family's home. Warner was arrested shortly after the baby's body was found in the cab. The child's mother was cooperating with investigators and no other arrests had been made Saturday, according to sheriff's officials, who offered no new details on Sunday. The baby's grandmother Nan Allison told The Times Saturday that her daughter had gone to her job as a day-care provider early Friday and left the baby with Warner in the couple's bedroom. Later in the day, Allison said, she heard unusual noises coming from the room and thought the baby's crying seemed weak. The grandmother said she became suspicious and tried to call police around 5 p.m., but the phone had been disconnected. Warner and the baby were gone by the time she called from a neighbor's home, she said. The couple showed up at a sheriff's station about 9:30 p.m. to report the child missing.
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The Mavs have not cracked 100 points in their last two games, and we ask Brian Geltizeiler if they will snap the streak against the Pelicans on Sunday night.
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Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party won the Greek general election for the first time in its history on Sunday, is set to become the country's first radical left-wing prime minister, and the youngest in over 150 years. He brings to the job a burning passion to dump the austerity policies that his party says have brought a "humanitarian crisis" to Greece. "Greece is turning a page, leaving behind disastrous austerity... and five years of humiliation," Tsipras told a jubilant crowd of supporters in central Athens after his party won a clear victory. With over 60 percent of ballots accounted for, Syriza had over 36 percent of the vote. That may not be enough to secure the 151 seats required for an outright majority in the 300-seat parliament, meaning Syriza will likely need to find a coalition partner. Tsipras, who in the last election in 2012 was just 170,000 votes short of victory, has come a long way from his days as a Communist youth activist. The Greek public first learned his name in 1990 when as a 17-year-old he led a school sit-in and told a TV interviewer: "We want the right to judge for ourselves whether to skip class." An engineer by training, Tsipras was born in an Athens suburb in July 1974, a fateful year for Greece. It marked the collapse of a seven-year army dictatorship that mercilessly persecuted leftists and Communists, and culminated in a bloody crackdown against a student uprising. Once a brash motorbike-riding Communist activist, the boyish father of two children who admires Che Guevara -- naming his second son Orpheus Ernesto -- has subtly modified his image as power and responsibility beckoned. He has made efforts to improve his command of English and sought to boost his international standing through meetings with Pope Francis, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and even German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble -- a man whose preoccupation with fiscal discipline he has attacked. - 'Denying reality' - One thing has not changed -- his shirts are still open-necked. Relaxing with journalists on the day before voting, he joked: "I'll put a tie on when we get a haircut (debt reduction)." Tsipras faced his first crisis in 2008 when Athens and other cities were rocked by youths protesting the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by a policeman. Syriza gave the rioters political backing but the move backfired and in the next election the party received just 4.6 percent of the vote. "(We) were the only political power to defend the right and causes of this uprising, and we paid for it," Tsipras later wrote. But when the economic crisis engulfed Greece in 2010, plunging the country into the worst recession in memory, voters were more inclined to listen to Syriza. He has accused the conservative-led coalition government of "denying reality" by "dogmatically" adhering to a failed austerity recipe that has left over a million people unemployed in a country of 11 million. The jobless rate among under-25s is around 50 percent. In three years, Syriza has increased its support five-fold. The outgoing conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras have argued that a Syriza government would reverse years of painful fiscal efforts just as Greece is about to reap the benefits. But Tsipras has turned the argument on its head, wondering how the conservatives could possibly promise to safeguard Greek incomes after imposing a barrage of taxes in the last two years. "The only thing they have not said is that Syriza will round up children and steal wives," he joked at one rally. Syriza pledges to raise salaries and pensions, halt layoffs and freeze the privatisation of state assets -- key elements of reforms demanded by Greece's EU-IMF creditors. Even more crucially for its relations with Greece's EU peers, the party wants to renegotiate the 240-billion-euro ($269 billion) EU-IMF bailout, erase over 50 percent of the country's enormous debt and divert bond repayment funds to the country's economic recovery. Their critics say these are impossible demands, but Syriza maintain that Greece's creditors will agree to renegotiate the bailout when faced with a leftist government elected with a strong popular mandate.
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People like to throw around superlatives in discussing Super Bowl ads -- best, worst, funniest, most moving. But what about most important? How can a Super Bowl ad be important? The six listed below helped change how advertisers, brands and Americans everywhere conceived of what an ad during the Super Bowl could be used to do. Apple -- "1984" (1984) It was a big year for Apple. 1984 was the year the company launched the Macintosh personal computer, and it was the moment when the company decided to make the most expensive ad in its history. "That spot is really what launched the Super Bowl of advertising," said Keith Quesenberry, a former creative director and current lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. "Before that, there was a Super Bowl going on, and just regular ads ran during the Super Bowl. "Because of the sizable audience," he added, "Apple decided to turn it into a special moment." The decision was not unanimous. Members of Apple's board were very hesitant to spend so much money -- the ad had a $900,000 budget -- which included a hefty fee for Ridley Scott, the director behind "Alien" and "Blade Runner ." And, like so many Super Bowl ads, even though "1984" attracted a mountain of attention, it may not have helped move many units . Chrysler -- "Imported From Detroit" (2010) Brands are not in the habit of buying Super Bowl airtime in the midst of historically bad years. But after being rescued from bankruptcy in 2008 and well on the way to its worst sales year since 1962 , Chrysler needed to make a big bet. That's why it laid out nearly $9 million for the 2-minute spot that was supposed to redefine not just the automaker's brand, but the once-noble principle of buying American. "It took the perception of cars and flipped it on its head," Quesenberry said. "This really had this big turning point." A year later, the bet looked like it paid dividends: Chrysler's sales rebounded 17 percent. E*Trade -- "We just wasted 2 million bucks" This may sound crazy, but there was once an era when the streets of Silicon Valley were flush with venture capitalists' cash, teeming with companies built on questionable business models throwing said cash around. On the one hand, this 1999 spot is emblematic of that time -- "It goes back to the excess of the dot-com period," Qusenberry said -- but on the other, it was the first Super Bowl ad to explicitly acknowledge both its stakes and the place Super Bowl ads occupy in the American cultural imagination. Plus, the ad gets bonus points for taking the Super Bowl ad's chief talking point and turning it into a punchline. Coca Cola -- "America the Beautiful" (2014) It's not every day that an ad gets attacked for being too multicultural. But this 2014 Coke ad, which featured people of multiple races, ethnicities and sexual orientations singing "America the Beautiful" in different languages, was apparently too much for some people. So many people took to social media to complain that #SpeakAmerican and #boycottCoke were trending on Twitter within hours of the ad's first broadcast, though the anger over the ad's content was met with an equally passionate response from its defenders. "A brand has to be careful," Quesenberry said of Coke's ad. "Being controversial can bring you extra attention, but if it's negative attention, is it really worth it?" Wendy's -- "Big Bun" (1984) This Wendy's spot from 1984 showed what can happen when you put a catchy slogan in front of 100 million people. Though it technically debuted a few weeks before the Super Bowl, the ad's punch line, "Where's the Beef?" became something else after it aired during Super Bowl XVIII. "It became a cultural phenomenon," Quesenberry said. In addition to Walter Mondale using the phrase to criticize his opponent Gary Hart's proposed economic policies, the phrase was cut into a novelty single and was printed up on T-shirts. It even did something few Super Bowl ads do -- it pushed Wendy's sales up more than 30 percent. E*trade -- Baby (2008) Most brands dream of finding a spokesperson or character that America embraces, but the E*Trade baby, who debuted in 2008, wound up turning into a force that could not be stopped. Created by the ad agency Grey New York, the baby became such a hit that E*Trade wound up using the baby and his pals in five consecutive Super Bowls, as well as countless other spots throughout the year. But after a while, E*Trade executives began to notice something: People had stopped associating the pitchman with the product. " The baby ate the brand ," E*Trade Chief Marketing Officer Liz Landsman told Fast Company.
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Our expert registered dietician, offers this filling and healthy dip great for entertaining!
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CHICAGO Hassan Whiteside bounced around the NBA Development league and played in China and Lebanon, hoping NBA teams were keeping tabs and would give him an opportunity. He was in Charlotte, working out at the downtown YMCA, a few months ago. He then got his chance with the Heat and he's making the most of it. Whiteside had an unconventional triple-double with a team-record and career-high 12 blocks to go with 14 points and 13 rebounds to help Miami beat the sluggish Chicago Bulls 96-84 Sunday. "It's a blessing. Like I told my teammates, you won't believe how things work out in life," said Whiteside, who signed with Miami in late November. "Three months ago I was at the downtown Y just chilling, working on my game. I couldn't get a team to pick up the phone." On Sunday, he made the Bulls miserable. His teammates did their part, too. Dwyane Wade scored 26 points, and Chris Bosh finished with 20. Luol Deng scored 15 in his return to Chicago. Mario Chalmers had 15 points, and the Heat squashed whatever momentum the Bulls appeared to be building after beating San Antonio and Dallas. Miami led by 10 at halftime, 12 going into the fourth quarter and remained in control the rest of the way. Wade and Bosh came through with strong performances. Deng had 10 rebounds and four assists in his first game at the United Center since the Bulls traded him to Cleveland last season. And Whiteside wreaked all kinds of havoc in just 24 minutes after missing two games with a sprained right ankle. Pau Gasol had 13 points and 17 rebounds for Chicago, giving him 50 over the past three games. Derrick Rose scored 19 for Chicago but missed all six 3-pointers. Aaron Brooks scored 17. But Chicago fell to 13-11 at home. It was certainly not what the Bulls had in mind after handing the Spurs their most lopsided loss of the season Thursday in Chicago and then winning at Dallas the following night. Those two wins on the heels of a 2-6 slide seemed like strong signals they were coming around. But this was a big step back. Worse, the Bulls are staring at a tough six-game trip that starts Tuesday at Golden State. "I don't know if there's a straight explanation for it," Gasol said. "We understand the importance of every game, especially here at home. We're trying to get ourselves going, get in some kind of rhythm but we haven't been able to do it yet." The Bulls were within 83-76 after Brooks' four-point play with 6:36 left in the game. But the Heat stayed in control thanks to three dunks by Whiteside in about a two-minute span. That spree started with an alley-oop from Chalmers and continued with a dunk over Gasol off a feed from Deng to make it an 11-point game. Whiteside then answered a layup by Chicago's Taj Gibson with another dunk, his third in about a two-minute span. "What he's doing is, of course, more than I expected," Bosh said. "But I kinda saw the fit (after he signed). He's just playing at a high level right now. I just want him to stay grounded, just continue to work." COMING HOME It was an emotional day for Deng, who was back at the United Center for the first time since the Bulls traded him to Cleveland last year. He spent his first nine-plus seasons in Chicago. "I have so many friends here," Deng said. "You've got everyone (on) your phone (saying) 'I can't wait to see you.' It's a lot of distractions at the same time, but it's also exciting." The Bulls honored Deng with a video tribute, showing clips of his time in Chicago, during a timeout in the first quarter. TIP-INS Heat: Whiteside's 12 blocks were the most in the NBA this season. His previous career high was five blocks. ... Bosh scored his 16,000th career point in the first quarter. Bulls: Chicago was again without Mike Dunleavy Jr., who missed his 13th straight game because of a right ankle injury. The Bulls keep saying he's close to returning, but coach Tom Thibodeau said he is "just not comfortable enough to be in a game." UP NEXT: Heat: Host Milwaukee on Tuesday. Bulls: Visit Golden State on Tuesday.
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PHOENIX Relishing no longer being in the "villain" role, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is painting his team's Super Bowl opponent as occupying that position. He also doubts that the Patriots will be punished by the NFL if they are found guilty of doctoring footballs in the AFC championship game. "I think the perception is the reality," Sherman said Sunday after the defending champions arrived in Phoenix. "It is what it is. Their resume speaks for itself. The past is what the past is. Their present is what their present is. And, will they be punished? Probably not." The All-Pro cited NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's close relationship with New England owner Robert Kraft as his main reason for being skeptical. "Not as long as Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell are still taking pictures at their respective homes. He was just at Kraft's house last week for the AFC championship," Sherman added. "You talk about conflict of interest. "But as long as that happens, it won't affect them at all. Nothing will." Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Saturday the team "followed every rule to the letter" in preparing footballs on game day. New England arrives in Phoenix on Monday as the league's investigation into under-inflated balls continues. This is the second Super Bowl in which accusations of cheating have followed the Patriots. During their unbeaten 2007 regular season, they were fined $250,000 and Belichick was docked $500,000 for spying on New York Jets coaches' signals. New England lost to the New York Giants in that Super Bowl. For many of the Seahawks, the focus on football deflation is a non-topic. Quarterback Russell Wilson brushed aside questions about the subject the way he escapes onrushing defenders. All-Pro safety Earl Thomas admitted he knew nothing at all about it: "I've been in my own little world. I don't watch TV too much." Sherman, as always, was not reticent about discussing it. "I think more people might be inclined to root for us, to see history made," Sherman said, noting the Seahawks are seeking to become the first repeat champions in a decade when the Patriots did it. "I guess the controversy gives us a little edge in that respect." When it was revealed that some of the Patriots' footballs were under-inflated in the AFC championship, Sherman said "I didn't think it was a big deal at the time." "It's a big deal," Sherman added, laughing. The edge that Sherman plays with has helped him become one of the premier players in pro football. It also catapulted him into that "villain" role last year after his rant against 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree following the NFC title game. He didn't understand the reaction. "To be painted villains I guess you need to do something heinous," he said, "and I didn't. You learn a lot about people around you and about society." While he was at it, Sherman also criticized the NFL for not coming through on the booty he is entitled to for being selected to the Pro Bowl. Players who make the Super Bowl are replaced for the Pro Bowl. "Only thing I'm disappointed about is that we didn't get our gifts from the Pro Bowl," he said. "Which is kind of dumb; the NFL is the only league that punishes the players who actually make the all-stars by not giving them their gifts." He believed the gifts included "watches and stuff." ___ AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL
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Bill Haas survived a scare at the final hole to earn a one-stroke victory over five players at the $5.7 million Humana Challenge in the California desert on Sunday. Haas took the sole lead with a 10-foot birdie at the 16th hole at the PGA West Palmer course at La Quinta on his way to his second victory in the event formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic. He carded a 67 to finish at 22-under-par 266 for his sixth PGA Tour victory, leaving the 32-year-old only three short of catching his father, Jay Haas. Fellows Americans Matt Kuchar (67), Charley Hoffman (64), Brendan Steele (64), Steve Wheatcroft (67) and South Korean Park Sung Joon (65) tied for second on 21-under. Kuchar had the best chance to get to 22-under, but he missed a 10-foot birdie at the par-five 18th. Haas parred the final hole but it was anything but routine after he pushed his drive and his ball stopped in the short rough just a couple of inches above the lip of a bunker. He took an awkward stance in the sand with the ball above his feet, almost at waist height, which left him needing to execute almost perfect contact to avoid potential disaster. "I could have whiffed (missed) that shot," Haas told Golf Channel after choking down on an iron and successfully punching the ball 80 yards forward. He eventually tapped in to secure the $1.026 million first prize in front of a gallery that included former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose foundation is a partner in the tournament. Haas was as surprised as anyone with his success in his first event since early November. He suffered a fractured left wrist when he fell down stairs last April, which hindered his 2014 campaign. "I didn't think I'd be able to score this week," he said. "I was really struggling hitting it where I wanted to hit it (but the) putter was unbelievably hot the first few days. "Today, still I was fighting (my swing). I was grinding it out until the end. This is unbelievable." (Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Gene Cherry)
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Since taking over as Michigan's head coach, Jim Harbaugh has already locked up three commits and nine for the total class. How many more will he get before February 4th's National Signing Day?
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Hear from Mike Krzyzewski after career win 1,000.
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Life is good for Joey McIntyre. The New Kids on the Block singer, 42, is starring on a new CBS show, "The McCarthys," preparing to kick off another NKOTB summer tour, and feeling grateful for his 11-year marriage to former real estate agent Barrett Williams. "It's nice to be able to do what you love," McIntyre told Wonderwall.com at Entertainment Weekly's pre-SAG Awards party at Chateau Marmont on Jan. 24 -- which doubled as a date night with his wife. "I guess I just have to turn to [my bandmate] Donnie Walhberg when I think I can't balance anything because he's been doing it for awhile [starring on ] 'Blue Bloods' and doing NKOTB." Joey says Donnie is like a new man since he married Jenny McCarthy last year. "Whatever it is, it makes him smile like I've never seen him smile. It's just genuine," says McIntyre. "People used to say that about me and my wife. We've been together for 12 years now, but when we first got together people would be like, 'you guys are so in love' and you don't really know what that means. That's the feeling I get when I see Jenny and Donnie. It's really nice that he can find that person he can be passionate about and spend the rest of his life with." McIntyre may have been married for nearly a dozen years but says with three kids aged 3, 5 and 7, "It's never boring." Still, he adds, "We're looking for quiet time -- not exciting time." He's also the first to admit that marriage isn't always easy. "It's tough. You've got to hang in there." Thankfully, he adds, "we're in love. There's no one I'd rather just sit with -- it's true. I just want to be with her and I think she kind of feels the same way about me. I haven't blown it yet!" The secret to making his marriage last? "I never feel like there's an out. I can get mad at her and I might have said, 'I'm done' once or twice, but I never really meant it. There's no out. We're in it for the long haul," he says. His band is also in it to win it: NKOTB just announced a summer tour that kicks off on May 1. "Whether you're a Blockhead or not, we want you to have a good time. I think we've been able to put good nights together whether it's been us with Backstreet Boys or us and Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees," McIntyre says. "Now we're teaming up with TLC and Nelly. That's a nonstop night. We never take it for granted -- we're grateful to keep doing what we're doing."
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Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, the "Full House" cast is reuniting. The gang previously got together last July to celebrate Dave Coulier's wedding , and reunited again on Saturday night to celebrate show creator Jeff Franklin's birthday. Lori Loughlin, best known as Aunt Becky, posted photos of herself with her former TV family on Instagram early Sunday. "It's looking like a Full House kinda night," Loughlin wrote as the caption of a photo of herself with Candace Cameron Bure and Jodie Sweetin, who played D.J. and Stephanie Tanner, respectively. It's looking like a Full House kinda night. @candacecbure @jodietweetin #fullhouse💖 A photo posted by Lori Loughlin (@loriloughlin) on Jan 24, 2015 at 11:56pm PST Uncle Jesse, aka John Stamos, and Bob Saget were also there to celebrate. Coulier and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen appeared to be missing (at least according to photos). Great party last night apparently with my brutha @JohnStamos. A photo posted by Bob (@bobsaget) on Jan 25, 2015 at 10:21am PST @candacecbure @bobsaget #fiullhouse #family 💖 A photo posted by Lori Loughlin (@loriloughlin) on Jan 25, 2015 at 1:15am PST 💖 A photo posted by Lori Loughlin (@loriloughlin) on Jan 25, 2015 at 2:29am PST But the gang didn't just gather to take pictures -- they also sang the "Full House" theme song. Andrea Barber, who played Kimmy Gibbler, captured the moment that will bring joy to your nostalgic '90s heart: Only for you, Jeff Franklin. Only for you. Happy Birthday. #everywhereyoulook #whatsmyline? #onlyknewthechorus #cantgetthisdamnsongouttamyhead @candacecbure @loriloughlin @bobsaget @johnstamos *Edited: Who has a better, full version of this?? I saw all those iPhones out there pointed at us!! A video posted by Andrea Barber (@andreabarber) on Jan 25, 2015 at 9:21am PST Now can we just get everyone to sign on for a "Full House" reboot already?
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By Larry Brown Cristiano Ronaldo and Irina Shayk broke up recently, and a new report says their split was due to rumors of the soccer star cheating on the supermodel. Word of the split between the couple emerged over the past two weeks and one report attributed it to Shayk refusing to attend the birthday party of Ronaldo's mother. That report may have originated with Ronaldo's side, because it makes her look bad. Now we're hearing her side of things. Page Six says Shayk broke up with Ronaldo because she finally started to believe rumors about him hooking up with other women. Back in 2012, there was a rumor about Ronaldo getting with Portuguese TV reporter Rita Pereira. Then there were rumors of him hooking up with "Miss BumBum" runner-up Andressa Urach . Plus it didn't help that Page Six burned Ronaldo for partying with bikini babes in Las Vegas last summer. When you're Ronaldo, the speculation about your love life will be endless. You just have to recognize that if you want to date him. As for Shayk, there are plenty of athletes already lining up as potential suitors .
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Mike Krzyzewski reflects on earning his 1,00th career win in Duke's come-from-behind victory over St. John's at Madison Square Garden.
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CLEVELAND (AP) -- The sold-out arena buzzed with 20,000 fans decked out in matching gold T-shirts. There was a national TV audience, two high-profile teams and All-Stars all over the floor. BOX SCORE: CAVALIERS 108, THUNDER 98 It felt like the playoffs in January. LeBron James played as if it was June. James scored 34 points, including the first eight in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-98 on Sunday for their sixth straight win. James made a pair of 3-pointers and a nasty fade-away jumper to give the Cavs a 91-80 lead. Later, the four-time MVP fed Kevin Love for a 3-pointer with 3:38 left that put the Thunder away. The Cavs, who seemed to be unraveling two weeks ago during a six-game losing streak, are now 6-1 since James returned after missing eight games with a strained back and knee. After going scoreless in the third quarter, James scored 12 in the fourth as the Cavs kept their momentum rolling. "We're a confident bunch," James said. "But for us, we're a humble bunch. It's one game versus a very experienced team, a very talented team, a very good team that's been together for a while. It shows that we can match up with some of the high-caliber teams." Love added 19 points and 13 rebounds, Kyrie Irving scored 21 and J.R. Smith had 14 as the Cavs concluded a 4-0 homestand. Reserve Tristan Thompson grabbed 16 rebounds. Kevin Durant scored 32 with nine assists and Russell Westbrook had 22 points for the Thunder, who went 3-2 on their longest road trip this season. Dion Waiters, acquired from Cleveland in a three-way trade earlier this month, added 14, but the Thunder shot only 39 percent and couldn't get big shots to go down. "We were a couple of possessions away from really turning the game to a different outcome," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "Give them credit. They're playing good basketball right now and they have three great players." James sat out Cleveland's previous game at Oklahoma City on Dec. 11 with a sore left knee, and Brooks was hoping he wouldn't have to see No. 23 again. "I want him to miss tonight's game too," Brooks said with a laugh before the opening tip. "I want every advantage I can get. He's not missing it, is he?" Unfortunately for the Thunder, and the rest of the league, James is back to playing like himself after the two-week health break. He is averaging 30.3 points in his past seven games, attacking the rim with renewed vengeance. His flurry early in the fourth was capped by a long 3 over Waiters, and James punctuated the shot with a menacing glare toward Oklahoma City's bench. The matchup between the NBA's past two MVPs -- and teams expected to contend for the title -- had a playoff-like vibe. Both teams played as if there was more at stake. There were highlight-reel worthy dunks, hard fouls and some trash talking. Waiters was booed when he came in as a sub in the first quarter. Cavs fans didn't appreciate his recent comments that he didn't touch the ball enough when he was in Cleveland. "I didn't pay any mind to that," said Waiters, who hugged James following the game. "It is what it is. Boos, no boos. I can't focus on that kind of stuff." STOPPERS The Cavs have held their past four opponents under 100 points. "The defense sparks the offense," James said. "That's going to be the staple for our season. When we defend, the offense comes a lot easier." TIP-INS Thunder: C Kendrick Perkins started for Steven Adams, who was slowed by a migraine headache. Perkins fouled out in the final minutes. ... Oklahoma City is one of just nine teams in league history to be nine games under .500 in the first half of the season before climbing to .500 by the midway point (through 41 games). Cavaliers: The Cavs are 13-0 at home when scoring at least 100. ... A prolific scorer in his own right, Smith marveled at the 37-point third quarter Golden State's Klay Thompson pulled off the other night. "13 for 13 in the third, 9 for 9 from 3, 37 (points), unbelievable," Smith said. "He should have just walked off the court in the third with the old Larry Bird, one finger up, `I'll see you all in the locker room, man, I'm hitting the showers.'" UP NEXT Thunder: Host Timberwolves on Monday. Cavaliers: At Detroit on Tuesday.
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Losing weight isn't about doing one good thing like going for a run or throwing kale in your smoothie - it's made up of a million healthy choices that you make all day long, every day. Don't view this as a burden; view it as a fun challenge! Every hour is an opportunity to do something that can bring you closer to your weight goal. So tomorrow, when you wake up, here's your around-the-clock guide to feeling slimmer by bedtime. Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Glen Giffen 6 a.m. - Wake up, and sip a big glass of water. It'll fill you up and get things moving to prevent belly bloat. Eat a small snack that offers quick carbs and a little protein such as half a banana and a few almonds - eating first thing jump-starts the metabolism. Now go work out! Morning exercisers tend to work out longer and more intensely than those who sweat it out during other times of the day. Plus, it'll keep the fire lit under your metabolism, so you burn more calories throughout the day. 7 a.m. - Do some stretches in the shower . Eat a filling breakfast that includes protein and fiber - at least 10 grams of each. Don't be afraid to fill up on healthy carbs, because enjoying them in the beginning of the day ensures you'll have time to burn them off. 8 a.m. - Make your lunch for later. These lunch-packing tips will help you lose weight . 9 a.m. - Fill your reusable water bottle once you arrive at work. Sip on it throughout the morning, since staying hydrated will prevent hunger pangs. 10 a.m. - Take a break from work to snack on some belly-filling fiber. Keep it under 150 calories like these snacks . 11 a.m. - Take a few minutes to fill in your food and fitness journal, writing down what you've eaten and how much you've exercised. It'll give you an idea of how many calories you're allowed the rest of the day, and seeing your stats from the previous weeks will motivate you to stay on the healthy path. 12 p.m. - Get moving by going for a walk with a co-worker, bike ride to run an errand, or grab that set of dumbbells under your desk and do these strength-training moves . Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Jenny Sugar 1 p.m. - Eat a healthy lunch that you packed from home that includes low-fat protein, fiber, fresh veggies, whole grains, and fruit for dessert. Enjoy it with nature's calorie-free beverage. 2 p.m. - Take that afternoon meeting for a walk. Whether you're on the phone or meeting in person, walking and talking can help you think more clearly while burning some calories. 3 p.m. - Have a 150-calorie snack to keep energy levels going till dinner. This could include a little something sweet like these 150-calorie desserts since indulging a little can prevent overeating later. 4 p.m. - Sip some green tea. The caffeine will give you a little pep, and green tea has been shown to suppress your appetite and increase your metabolism. 5 p.m. - Walk or bike home from work. Not only will it burn some calories, but it can also relieve work stress, which can trigger overeating. 6 p.m. - Make a low-cal dinner filled with veggies, low-fat protein, and whole grains. Here are some vegetarian options under 300 calories . After dinner is made, put away leftovers before sitting down to eat to prevent going back for unnecessary seconds. 7 p.m. - Brush your teeth while doing this two-minute butt-and-leg workout . It'll tone your tush, and that minty breath will prevent mindless late-night snacking. Source: POPSUGAR Studios 8 p.m. - If you like to relax in front of the TV, do these strength-training moves during commercial breaks . 9 p.m. - Get your workout gear ready for tomorrow morning. Slip into your pj's, and do these yoga poses to encourage sleepiness . 10 p.m. - Snuggle into bed on your way to dreamland. Getting enough sleep is proven to help with weight loss.
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SAN FRANCISCO Feeling the sting of rejection? Itching to get even with an ex? The San Francisco Zoo is offering the burned and spurned masses the chance to "adopt" a hissing cockroach or giant scorpion in honor of their special ex-someone for Valentine's Day. The zoo is highlighting two of its less-desirable inhabitants through the adopt-an-animal program that is usually used to raise money for the care of more cuddly or attractive creatures, such as penguins, lions and pandas. It has a Valentine's special comparing the creepy characteristics of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and the giant hairy scorpions native to the Southwest U.S. to the ways of heart-breaking mammals with two legs. "These invertebrates are aggressive, active, and alarmingly nocturnal. Much like your low-life ex, they are usually found in and around low-elevation valleys where they dig elaborate burrows or 'caves,' " the zoo says on its promotion page for the desert scorpion (http://bit.ly/1yit8jl). "Also just like you-know-who, when a suitable victim wanders by, the scorpion grabs the doomed creature with its pinchers and stings the prey ... Charming." For $50 and up, donors can adopt a scorpion and have the zoo send a certificate and stuffed stinger to the person who inspired the adoption. The cockroach valentine that the zoo says represents "the detritus of your love life" costs $25. "With a little luck, this generous donation will release your bad love life karma so that you never have to encounter a cockroach again," the zoo said.
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I have decided that becoming a sister wife might be the most awesome thing ever. A girlfriend who lives with me and helps me cook and clean and remember what our husband said during that last argument so we can both hold it against him? Yes, please. However, I also realize that it would take a special woman with very specific characteristics to want to join our band of crazy. Along with the ability to laugh at fart jokes and negotiate your way out of a toddler "why" spiral, here are the qualities you would need to have as my sister wife; 1. You can't be too hot. Let's even say you could be manly-looking. Facial hair, displeasing moles, that type of thing. My husband must still see me as the hottest. You aren't here to rain on my parade, just to hold my umbrella. 2. Okay, maybe no umbrella holding. Lets just say you are asexual. We need to take that whole thing out of the equation. 3. You don't want any of your own children, ever. Mine are enough, trust me. 4. BUT…you have to love my kids as much as I do. And you have to really like getting down on the floor and playing with them. You don't mind getting bossed around by toddlers and you love to hear lengthy descriptions about Minecraft worlds complete with nausea-inducing demonstrations. The kids will still love me the most, though. 5. You don't judge the occasional glass of wine before 5 o'clock. In the morning. I'm kidding. 6. You don't mind getting asked trick questions by children all day long. Like…"Sister Mommy, do your want the blue blanket or the green blanket?" If you say, "The blue one." You will be told, "Actually, you get the green one." This happens every single time. You will never get the answer right. 7. You have a high tolerance for sleep-deprivation. In fact, you think sleeping is for sissys and grandmas. 8. You love irony. For example, a child who has not wet the bed in years will always wet the bed the night after you wash their sheets. Or, a child will only throw down the f-bomb in front of your mother-in-law or the clergy. 9. You get genuine joy from removing brown kid goo from walls and teaching unwilling participants to use forks and saying things like, "You guys have lost the right sit within touching distance of each other for the rest of your lives." 10. Cooking dinner is your jam. Because the people around here expect dinner every night. I KNOW. 11. Speaking of dinner, you don't get your feelings easily hurt because the amount of effort you put into cooking dinner is directly related to how much everyone is going to hate it. 12. You would love to read the children's book Holler Loudly! 10 times a day for 6 months with a convincing southern accent. 13. You are very creative and know a wide variety of fun activities that the kids would like to do around us but by themselves. That's the key. BY THEMSELVES. 14. You enjoy the feeling of asking someone to clean their room and they burst into tears . 15. You don't have an aversion to strong smells. In fact, you consider catching vomit with your hands an art form. If you match all of the above criteria, congratulations and I'm very sorry. You just might be my sister wife.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Fatherhood has given Ryan Braun a different perspective on baseball and life in general. The Milwaukee Brewers outfielder has more pressing matters to worry about right now than whether an offseason medical procedure will finally fix the nerve damage near his right thumb that affected his swing. So far, so good -- both with the thumb and raising a 4 1/2-month-old daughter. "It's a lot of work," Braun said Sunday. "We've been sleep training her this week, which is one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my life, but productive for all of us moving forward. So overall it's been great." Almost everything sounded rosy on Sunday at the Brewers On Deck winter fan outreach event, where Braun, catcher Jonathan Lucroy and other teammates signed autographs and met fans. In a month, baseball will become more of a priority when spring training begins in Arizona for the Brewers. The slugger hopes to get a better feel by then about what kind of impact that the procedure known as cryotherapy had on his lingering nerve problem. The procedure involved the application of extreme cold. Assistant general manager Gord Ash said Braun and the team's medical staff are very optimistic, but cautioned that "until he gets to spring training and gets some continuous at-bats and continuous repetitions, we're not going to know for sure." The sore thumb left Braun struggling through a subpar season when he hit .266 -- well below his career average of .306. His 19 homers and 81 RBIs were also career lows for a full season. It was Braun's first full year following a 65-game suspension at the end of the 2013 season for his connection to the Biogenesis doping scandal. There was work needed in 2014 off the field to rebuild trust with fans. He also switched positions. "Ryan did everything we asked him to do last year," owner Mark Attanasio said. "With that all behind him -- I think the thumb was the primary thing we were focused on -- but being another year removed from the drama, I think, is certainly going to help, and it's another year now that he's comfortable in right field." It is his comfort level at the plate that could make the biggest difference in Milwaukee. A predominantly free-swinging club struggled at the plate the last five weeks of the season. A 20-7 start that allowed Milwaukee to stay atop the NL Central for five months was wasted by a 9-22 collapse to finish the season. The Brewers missed the playoffs for a third straight year. Milwaukee tweaked in the offseason instead of making wholesale changes. The hope is that a healthy Braun will make just a positive impact on the lineup as a big free agent addition. "It's certainly big. I know he's said that if he was healthy, things might have been different last year and maybe they would have," manager Ron Roenicke said. At the same time, Roenicke said the other hitters need to be more consistent, too. "It shouldn't all be on him," the skipper said. "Is he a big part? Absolutely. We need him to bounce back and be the kind of hitter we know he is, and be the kind of defender we know he is." Braun said the thumb feels good so far. He started hitting a little earlier than he usually does in the offseason, but otherwise Braun is maintaining his typical routine. The thumb feels much better than it did at this point last year, Braun said. The first real test will come in spring training. "I feel as good as I ever do this time of year ... I think it's always kind of a progression of getting to the point where you feel really comfortable with your swing," Braun said. "That normally happens at some point during spring training. But overall right now it feels good as I could possibly hope for." NOTES: General manager Doug Melvin said he hasn't spoken recently with the Philadelphia Phillies about trading for closer Jonathan Papelbon. "That changes day by day. Sometimes you think there's nothing happening and sometimes you get a phone call. But I haven't gotten any phone calls lately," Melvin said. ... The Brewers appear to still be in touch with free agent closer Francisco Rodriguez, who had 44 saves last season. In 2014, Rodriguez signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee about a week before spring training started. Jonathan Broxton would be the favorite to close if the Brewers didn't make another bullpen move.
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Oil slid in early Asian trade on Monday, with U.S. crude falling close to a six-year low, after Greece's election results heightened uncertainty in the euro zone and depressed the bloc's currency against the dollar. Greece's left-wing Syriza appeared on course to trounce the ruling conservatives in Sunday's snap election, setting up a possible confrontation with international creditors. March Brent crude fell 37 cents to $48.42 a barrel by 0226 GMT, wiping out light gains made on Friday after the death of the Saudi King Abdullah but off an early low of $47.85. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was trading down 46 cents at $45.13 a barrel. Front-month WTI earlier slid to an intraday low of $44.35, just above $44.20 hit on Jan. 13, which was the lowest since April 2009. Global financial markets reacted to the Greek election on Monday with the euro dropping to near an 11-year low against the dollar. [MKTS/GLOB] The common currency came under pressure on Friday after the European Central Bank said it would flood markets with over a trillion euros, more than expected, to prevent the euro zone from sliding into deflation. "We saw the dollar rally again on Friday and this is largely on the back of ECB stimulus measures and the euro," Barnabas Gan, an economist at OCBC Bank in Singapore. "Oil being a dollar-denominated commodity has been depressed by a stronger dollar." Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to Jan. 20, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday. In Saudi Arabia, new King Salman was quick to keep veteran oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Friday, in a message aimed at calming a jittery energy market following the death of King Abdullah. In the United States, a swath of the East Coast from Philadelphia to New York City to Maine was bracing for a potentially historic blizzard on Monday. (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Ed Davies)
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Browns WR Josh Gordon could face a one-year ban from the NFL for violating the substance abuse policy after a test found alcohol in his system. How big of a loss is this for the Browns?
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The top U.S. House of Representatives Republican said it was "critically important" to improve the country's infrastructure and said Congress is looking at options to pay for repairs, according to an interview aired Sunday night on the CBS program "60 Minutes." House Speaker John Boehner said he agreed with the White House there was room for bipartisan compromise on the issue of fixing crumbling roads and bridges, but that Congress in the past has not opted for an increase in federal gasoline taxes to fund the effort. Lawmakers face a May deadline to fund massive road, bridge and transit projects, with money in the highway trust fund that pays for the projects set to run out then. Republicans have been struggling to find a way to pay for legislation with a five-year price tag in the range of $75 billion to more than $100 billion. "We believe that through tax reform, a couple of other options that are being looked at, we can find the funds to fund a long-term highway bill. It's critically important to the country," Boehner said, according to a transcript of the interview. TACTICS NOT VISION On "60 Minutes," the Ohio Republican also discussed intra-party disagreements and said small-government Tea Party activists who have dominated the party in recent years differed with him on strategy and tactics, rather than on a vision. In 2013, Tea Party Republican lawmakers pushed a confrontation over Obamacare, the president's signature healthcare reform law, that led to a two-week government shutdown. "We continue to work to bring those members along, and they bring them along... But it's always a work in progress," Boehner said. STATE OF THE UNION RESPONSE In the interview, conducted with both Boehner and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the wake of President Barack Obama's defiant State of the Union speech last week, the pair declared several of Obama's initiatives outlined in the speech as dead on arrival. There is no chance that Obama's proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy and help Americans pay for community college will gain traction in Congress, Boehner and McConnell said. In the wide-ranging interview, the pair also said they disagreed with Obama's characterization that Congressional action on sanctions against Iran would derail multi-party talks under way to curb Iran's nuclear program. "Under the proposal we're considering those enhanced sanctions would only occur if a deal is not reached," McConnell said. (Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) -- After an embarrassing loss at Georgetown, Villanova's players seethed for nearly a week and couldn't wait to get back on the court. They took their anger out on Creighton. Darrun Hilliard scored a season-high 24 points to lead No. 4 Villanova to a 71-50 victory over Creighton on Sunday night. Ryan Arcidiacono added 10 points for the Wildcats (18-2, 5-2 Big East), which rebounded from one of its worst performances of the season - a 78-58 defeat at Georgetown on Monday. ''We know we were coming off getting our butts kicked,'' Arcidiacono said. ''We were eager to get on the court. It was in our minds. We know how to play tough and for us not to do that against Georgetown really was eating at us.'' In that loss to the Hoyas, the Wildcats had season lows for points and assists (8), and were one off a season high with 18 turnovers. They had 15 assists and just five turnovers against Creighton. ''It was tough on all of us,'' Villanova coach Jay Wright said. ''It would've been better to play a game in two days. It was a long time after a loss like that to get hammered.'' Wright said Villanova's defensive commitment had been slipping leading up to the Georgetown loss and he challenged his players to fix it. They did, forcing five turnovers while jumping out to a 15-0 lead that was too much for the Bluejays to overcome. ''We wanted to start the game off diving all over the place,'' Arcidiacono said. James Milliken had 13 points for the Bluejays (9-12, 0-8), who lost their ninth straight game. Creighton's last win came Dec. 19 at home versus Texas-Pan American. The Bluejays reached the third round of the NCAA tournament each of the last three seasons. ''I knew we had some rebuilding to do, but I wouldn't have predicted this,'' coach Greg McDermott said. ''We have some guys learning new roles and obviously it hasn't gone as well as I hoped.'' The victory was a bit of redemption for Villanova. Creighton handed the Wildcats their only two league losses last season, winning a pair of blowouts by a combined 49 points. The Bluejays set a Big East and school record by making 21 3-pointers in a 96-68 victory last January in Philadelphia. They also routed Villanova 101-80 in Omaha last season. Of course, that Creighton team had last season's player of the year Doug McDermott, along with three other starters. None were with Creighton Sunday night. The Bluejays were 4 for 21 (19 percent) from the arc this time, committed 19 turnovers and lacked the talent to stay with Villanova. ''We were a pretty good shooting team early in the season and now everybody has it going bad at the same time,'' Greg McDermott said. Villanova, meanwhile, was 12 for 26 (46.2 percent) from 3-point range after struggling from the distance the last two games, going 13 for 41 (31.7) from long range. Villanova, which led by 15 at intermission, maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the second half. The Wildcats went ahead 64-42 on Dylan Ennis' 3-pointer with 6:02 remaining and took their biggest lead on Hilliard's 3 with 4:04 left that made it 67-43. FOR STARTERS Villanova scored the first 15 points of the game, capped by JayVaughn Pinkston's free throw 6:51 in. ''You put yourself in almost an impossible situation,'' Greg McDermott said. ''It's as bad (of a start) as I can remember because of the foolish turnovers.'' WAITING GAME After a five-day break between games, Villanova now must wait until Saturday to resume playing. ''We have a week again here, which is kind of crazy in the middle of the season,'' Wright said. ''How do we keep these guys fresh and hungry as we get ready for DePaul? It's taken up a lot of my thought. Like, what do we do with these guys for five days?'' TIP-INS Creighton: Coach Greg McDermott and his staff wore pink sneakers in support of Coaches vs. Cancer. Villanova: The Wildcats improved to 9-0 this season at their on-campus home court while winning their 24th straight at the Pavilion, where they are 267-61 (.814) all-time. UP NEXT Villanova: plays at DePaul on Saturday. Creighton: hosts St. John's on Wednesday.
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Andy Murray avenged his shock loss at last year's Wimbledon and battled his way into his 16th successive grand slam quarter-final with a 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 7-5 victory over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open on Sunday. The 27-year-old Scot was upset by Dimitrov in the quarter-finals in his title defense last year at Wimbledon and Sunday's victory helped dim those memories and set up a last eight clash with Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios. The match was characterized by brilliant stroke play, lengthy rallies and comebacks from both players as the momentum ebbed and flowed. Murray saved a set point while serving at 5-2 down in the fourth that would have sent the match into a decider, then got it back on serve at 5-5, broke Dimitrov to love -- which prompted the 23-year-old to destroy his racquet -- and then served out to raucous applause. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Justin Palmer)
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CNN's Will Ripley discusses ISIS's newest demand to spare the life of the remaining Japanese hostage.
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CP3 thinks this looks weird too. It is no secret that the Celtics will look to trade Tayshaun Prince till the trade deadline. If no logical deals present themselves, it was widely assumed that the team would reach a buyout agreement with the veteran. That might not be happening though. Not necessarily another Green deal for Tayshaun Prince | Boston Herald According to league sources, the Celts would still like to move Prince for a draft pick before the Feb. 19 NBA trade deadline . But it's what could happen if he's not dealt that may be up for more discussion in the coming days. There was strong word that if Prince wasn't moved by the deadline that the Celtics would seek agreement with him on a buyout of this final year of his contract (he makes a bit more than $7.2 million). But coach Brad Stevens has taken a strong liking to Prince, who had four points in 17 minutes in last night's 100-99 win against the Nuggets . It's fair to assume he may lobby to keep him on the squad the rest of the season if he is not traded. Poor Brad must be pretty starved for veterans that know how to play the game right. We've already got one elder statesman at the small forward position, but Gerald Wallace doesn't play much anymore. As much as I'd like to see James Young play, there are worse things than him learning lessons from a guy like Prince. An interesting subplot here is "how much is Danny Ainge going to listen to what Brad Stevens wants?" Will he give him a lottery roster and say "sorry, just do the best you can?" I think the short answer is "if it helps us add assets later, he'll absolutely sacrifice the current and Stevens will just have to hope for a better roster next year.
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With the debate over immigration in America locked in a stalemate, it would seem neither side has much to fight for. And yet both sides are fighting furiously in Congress, in the courts, and in the political arena. The slow death of the legislative process in the House and the Republican takeover of the Senate have killed any hopes for passage of a big reform bill in the foreseeable future a victory for the proposal's opponents. On the other hand, President Obama in November used executive action to temporarily protect as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation a major, long-delayed victory for immigrant-rights advocates. Proponents and opponents of reform have reached the limits of what they can achieve on their own, and are dissatisfied with the status quo, but none of them can change it independently, and they're not prepared to compromise. In Iowa this weekend, top Republican presidential contenders assembled at a "Freedom Summit" convened by Representative Steve King, the right-wing congressman who is a high-profile opponent of illegal immigration. You may recall the time he sought to replace the popular image of immigrant children as hardworking strivers with the idea that many have "calves the size of cantaloupes" from "hauling ... marijuana across the desert"; last week, King excoriated First Lady Michelle Obama for inviting, as a guest to the State of the Union, "a deportable" Ana Zamora , a 20-year-old Dallas college student brought to the U.S. as a toddler by her undocumented Mexican parents. Potential candidates Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Scott Walker all spoke at King's Iowa gathering; other top contenders, including Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, and Rand Paul, did not attend. The Republicans were met in Iowa by a phalanx of immigration activists and Democratic officials, including the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, who loudly decried their willingness to kiss the ring of such a divisive figure. King has become notorious in the Hispanic community, but it's not clear how much clout he will have in the 2016 Iowa caucuses: Though thought to have a following among hard-core conservatives, he made no endorsement in 2012, and in 2008 endorsed the television actor and former senator Fred Thompson, who finished third. "I hope this is not wishful thinking I think Steve King is in the process of marginalizing himself, even within his own party," said Harold Heie, an immigrants' rights advocate based in Sioux City, whose group sponsored a pro-immigration-reform ad in the Des Moines Register . Failing that, said Erika Andiola, co-director of the DRM Action Coalition, Republicans need to remember what happened in 2012, when Romney's loss was ascribed in part to his poor showing among Hispanic voters. "It's very important to get that message to the presidential candidates to remind them what happened to Mitt Romney and remind them what the Latino community's really thinking," she said. Meanwhile, in Congress, Republicans have vowed not to take Obama's executive immigration actions lying down. In December, they passed legislation to fund the whole government for the better part of the year except for the Department of Homeland Security, whose purview includes immigration enforcement, which was funded only until next month. The idea was that this would give the new Republican Congress a chance to impose some sort of restriction on Obama's immigration policy. But it's never been clear how they planned to do this. Earlier this month, the House passed a measure seeking to invalidate the executive actions, but it's not expected to get through the Senate, and Obama has said he would veto it. Republican House and Senate aides have confirmed to me that there was no advance game plan for the DHS gambit; leadership seems to be hoping that the right-wingers will exhaust themselves as they try and figure out something to do, and finally accept that they must suck it up and fund the department or be accused of putting American security at risk. The alternative, a department shutdown, would be bad politics, particularly in light of the recent terrorist attack in France. Obama's unilateral liberalization of immigration policy won't begin to go into effect until the end of next month. Advocacy groups are gearing up for a major enrollment push, for reasons both substantive and symbolic. Though the relief from deportation is only temporary, such an assurance can make a huge difference in the lives of the undocumented, they say, while demonstrating the appetite and enthusiasm for the measure will put pressure on policymakers to go further. Opponents, meanwhile, have pinned their hopes on a lawsuit, brought by 24 states, that challenges the action in federal court. Hearings were held on the suit earlier this month in Brownsville, Texas, before a conservative judge thought to be sympathetic to the states. On Friday, a group of prominent mayors fired back with a court brief siding with the administration. "We believe we have a moral obligation to act to answer the lawsuit with the voices of the grassroots," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a Washington press conference with other mayors announcing the brief. He said he was speaking on behalf of "12 million people who are not yet documented but are still our constituents." The Texas judge is expected to decide soon whether to temporarily halt the deportation-relief measures while the lawsuit proceeds. The upshot of all this action is a lot of furious argument over a policy in relative stasis. Republicans are expected to control all or part of Congress many years into the future, and their demonstrated unwillingness to reform immigration continues to be a political problem for the party's national candidates, even as they appear mostly powerless to stop the president from allowing millions of immigrants who came here illegally to live and work openly in the United States. In his State of the Union last week, Obama raised immigration only to say that he hoped his opponents would leave his policies alone. "We can't put the security of families at risk by ... refighting past battles on immigration when we've got a system to fix," he said, adding that he would veto any bill that sought to do so. Advocates are mostly pleased with what the president has done, though some are still pressuring the White House to do more; at the same time, they have little hope for a permanent solution and are at a loss to regroup and go forward. Still, for the millions of undocumented immigrants, their families, and those who advocate for their interests, giving up isn't an option, notes Frank Sharry, director of the immigration-reform group America's Voice. "Some of us are lifers, I'm afraid," he said. This article was originally published at http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/01/the-zombie-immigration-fight/384804/
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NASA's Opportunity rover celebrated 11 years on Mars Saturday (Jan. 24), and the robot's handlers are marking the occasion with a gorgeous panoramic photo that Opportunity took of its Red Planet home. Opportunity landed on Mars on the night of Jan. 24, 2004, a few weeks after its twin, Spirit, made its Red Planet debut. The rovers were tasked with three-month missions to search for signs of past water activity on the Red Planet. Both Spirit and Opportunity found plenty of such evidence, and then kept rolling long after their warranties expired. Spirit stopped communicating with Earth in 2010 and was declared dead a year later, but Opportunity is still going strong. The robot has been exploring the rim of the 14-mile-wide (22 kilometers) Endeavour Crater since August 2011, and it crested a rise on the rim known as Cape Tribulation earlier this month. [ Latest Mars Rover Photos from Opportunity & Spirit ] Opportunity took a number of photos with its panoramic camera while at the summit of Cape Tribulation. Mission team members combined some of these images into a mosaic, which NASA released Thursday (Jan. 22) to mark the 11-year anniversary. Opportunity held its robotic arm so that a small American flag printed on the rover would be visible in the photos, NASA officials said. "The flag is printed on the aluminum cable guard of the rover's rock abrasion tool, which is used for grinding away weathered rock surfaces to expose fresh interior material for examination," agency officials wrote in a description of the image . "The flag is intended as a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York." "The aluminum used for the cable guard was recovered from the site of the twin towers in the weeks following the attacks," they added. "Workers at Honeybee Robotics in lower Manhattan, less than a mile from the World Trade Center, were making the rock abrasion tool for Opportunity and NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, in September 2001." Opportunity isn't celebrating the anniversary atop Cape Tribulation. The rover left the location on Jan. 17 to head for a spot mission scientists dubbed Marathon Valley, because Opportunity will have traveled the equivalent of a marathon 26.2 miles, or 42.2 km on Mars by the time it gets there. Opportunity's odometer currently reads 25.86 miles (41.62 km). The rover has driven farther on the surface of another world than any other vehicle. Opportunity broke the off-world driving record last year; it had been held by the former Soviet Union's remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 rover, which racked up 24.2 miles (39 km) on the moon in 1973. While Opportunity is still a highly capable machine, the golf-cart-size rover is showing some signs of age. Its robotic arm is a bit arthritic, for example, and Opportunity recently began having issues with its flash memory the kind that can store data even when the power is off. Mission team members are testing out some potential software fixes for the memory problem. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+ . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on Space.com . Opportunity Rover Breaks Off-World Driving Record | Video Opportunity On Mars: Science It's Performed | Video Mars Myths & Misconceptions: Quiz Still Going! 'Opportunity' Roving Mars For 11 Years | Highlight Video
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If you've always wanted to do a split, you need flexible hips and hamstrings. Practice these nine stretches, and you'll soon be on your way. For more stretching options, do check out our video with yoga poses that will help you master the splits. Tipover Tuck This relaxing stretch is a great way to begin stretching both hamstrings at the same time while also increasing flexibility in your lower back. You'll also get a nice stretch in the chest and shoulders, which won't help with doing splits but will definitely feel good. Begin standing with your feet hips distance apart. Bring your arms behind you and interlace your fingers right below your sacrum (back of your pelvis). If you can, press the heels of your palms together in a double fist. Actively pull your hands away from your shoulders to increase the stretch in your chest. From here, lean your chest forward and lift your hands up overhead as you fold your torso toward your thighs. Keep both legs straight. Make sure you're lengthening through your spine by reaching the top of your head toward the floor.Stay like this for five breaths, and when you're ready to come out, actively press into your feet, engage your thighs, and slowly lift your torso back up to a standing position. Head to Knee Here's a stretch to work one hamstring at a time. You'll feel this in your lower back, too, and it'll also begin to open your hips. Sit on the floor with both legs extended in front of you. Bend your right knee and pull the sole of your foot against your left inner thigh.Reach your right hand to the outside edge of your left foot so you can stack your torso directly on top of your left leg. Bring your left hand to the arch of your left foot. If you can't reach your hands to your foot, then reach out as far as you can, resting your chest on your left thigh. Remember, the point here is to stretch your hamstrings, hips, and lower back, not to touch your foot.Stay here for five breaths, relaxing your shoulders away from your ears. Then do the other side. Seated Straddle Here's another great pose that will stretch both hamstrings and your lower back . Since your legs are separated, it focuses more on the part of the hamstrings closest to your bum. Sit down with your feet about three to four feet apart (not as wide as you can go). Reach back with your right hand and move the flesh of your right bum cheek away from you, and then do the same with your left. This will help your pelvis ground more firmly so you can stretch your hamstrings more effectively.Sit tall, reaching your head away from your hips, and draw your belly and ribs in. Keep that length as you begin to fold forward at your waist, sliding your hands down your legs or on the floor in front of your head.Go down as far as you need to feel a stretch in your hamstrings, but you don't want to feel pain. Hold for five breaths. Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch Against a Wall Flexible hamstrings aren't the only thing you need to do a split. Flexible hips and hip flexors are also a must, so try this stretch using a wall . Fold up a towel and place it about eight inches away from a wall.Kneel down and place your left knee on the towel and your toes against the wall.Now place your right foot on the ground in front of you, and lower your hips until you feel a stretch in the front of your left hip. Make sure your right knee is directly above your ankle.Place your hands on your front knee to help keep your torso straight. Stay like this for five breaths. Then slowly release and do this stretch on the other side. Lizard This hip flexor stretch will stretch you even deeper. Begin on your hands and feet in Downward Facing Dog . Step your right foot forward between your palms, as if you're going to come into Warrior 1 , but keep your hands on the ground.Lower your left knee to the floor and release your elbows to the floor if you can. Either rest your hands palms facing down on the mat, or bring your hands together in prayer position. Continue to squeeze your right knee toward your body and keep your gaze in front of you to encourage your hips to lower toward the floor.Hold here for five breaths, and then repeat on the left side. Sage Here's a way you can gently use your upper-body strength to help your legs move into split position. From Downward Facing Dog , step both feet together so your big toes are touching. Move your right hand over to the left six or so inches so it's at the upper center of your mat. Step your right foot forward two inches, and plant the sole of your right foot firmly on the mat so your toes are pointing to the left.Then roll over to your right side and lift your left hand off the mat, coming into a Side Plank . Lift your left leg up bending your left knee and hold on to your big toe with the first two fingers and thumb of your left hand.Stay here balancing, or work on straightening your left leg completely. Try to keep your shoulders, spine, and hips in one straight line, and gaze toward your right toes. Stay here for five breaths, trying to keep your core strong and the pose steady.Release hold of your left foot and place your left hand back on the mat. Move your right hand back where it was near the top right corner of your mat. Separate your feet so you are in a top of a push-up position. Take a vinyasa and come back to Downward Facing Dog . Then do this pose on the other side. Standing Hand to Big Toe A Here's a more intense vertical split that allows you to use your upper-body strength to stretch your hamstring even more. Keep your lifted leg straight in order to effectively target the muscles in the back of the leg. Stand with your big toes touching. Put all your weight into your left foot and lift your right foot up. Bend your knee so you can hold on to your right foot with both hands. Keep your left leg straight.From here, work on straightening your right leg. Then if it's easy, pull your right thigh in toward your belly so your toes are pointing straight up.Try to lengthen through your spine, and tuck your tailbone in so your torso is in line with your standing leg. Hold for five breaths, then slowly release your right foot to the ground. Repeat this stretch on the other side. Supported Split Before trying out a full split, doing this stretch with a block is a great way to ease into it. Sit on a mat and come back into Lizard . Sit up and shift your weight back, bending your left knee and straightening your right leg.Place a block or rolled-up blanket under your right hamstring. Then start to inch your left foot away from you, coming into Split . Allow all your weight to be supported by the block or blanket. If it's too much of a stretch, make your support a little higher. Hold for five breaths here, and then do this stretch on the other side.
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When 33-year-old Mike Krzyzewski arrived in Durham in the spring of 1980, he didn't have grand visions of four national championships, 11 Final Fours and 999 career wins. "I don't know how young coaches do it today, but for me, I was just completely in the moment," Krzyzewski said while reflecting last June. "Even what our team might be eventually - it was survival mode. I got that from being at Army and inheriting a group that was 7-44 before I got them. And here, they were going through a huge change. I think that's why I got the job." Now, 35 years later, Krzyzewski has achieved more than anyone could have initially dreamed. Already the all-time wins leader in men's Division I basketball, Krzyzewski will attempt to make history (again) Sunday: a win against St. John's in the world's most famous arena - Madison Square Garden - would give him 1,000 for his career. Such staying power is rare in college sports - Kentucky, for example, has had six coaches since Krzyzewski arrived. ACC programs have churned through 66 coaches in that span. But back in 1984, entering his fourth season, Krzyzewski was just trying to get win No. 39 at Duke (against 47 losses). As the story goes, there was a faction of Duke boosters that wanted the young coach fired. Then-athletic director Tom Butters, though, chose to be patient. "He and I had lunch a couple of times, and that was when Duke was trying to get rid of him. It was vicious. It was vicious, vicious, vicious," said Gene Banks, who was a senior on Krzyzewski's first team. "Some of it was inhumane. The Iron Dukes and the not-so Iron Dukes were trying to get him out of there. His biggest thing was they just had to believe in him and follow the plan. 'We're going to be OK,' he said, 'we're going to be OK.' " In 1982, Krzyzewski had signed one of the top recruiting classes in the country, bringing in McDonald's All-American Johnny Dawkins, and Jay Bilas, Mark Alarie and David Henderson. The four freshmen started for the 1982-83 team, Krzyzewski's third - but they finished a disappointing 11-17 with a 3-11 mark in ACC play. It was a league dominated by veteran players like Ralph Sampson and Michael Jordan, both unanimous all-ACC selections that year. And on the heels of North Carolina's 1982 national championship, N.C. State won it all in 1983. "You start four freshmen - it doesn't seem crazy now, but even today few teams now start four freshmen in the one-and-done era," Bilas said. "We were the No. 1 recruiting class and all that stuff. I think people thought it was going to be easy, but it certainly wasn't." Krzyzewski didn't let his uncertain job status permeate the program. It wasn't something players could feel in the locker room or in the huddle. But as soon as they left the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium, they were reminded of the public perception. "Back then, there was no Internet, but the newspapers, there was a rag back then called the Poop Sheet. That had his picture on it and opined whether he would make it and things like that it," Bilas said. "We were aware of it, but he never let it get to us, and we never felt it from him." Bilas even recalled a time when Krzyzewski took him and Alarie to a luncheon at Durham's Croasdaile Country Club. During the question-and-answer session, someone stood up and asked the two players if they thought the team should be playing more zone defense. "He and I kind of thought, what kind of question is that, you realize our coach is standing right here, right? Why would you ask that?" Bilas said. "It's funny, I'm 51 years old now, and I still remember all of the people that claimed to be on the bandwagon back then that weren't. I don't have a problem with it. You welcome everybody on when they jump on. They jumped on pretty quick when we got good. Welcome aboard." During Krzyzewski's fourth year in 1983-84, Duke started 14-1, winning its ACC opener at Virginia. Losses to No. 5 Maryland, No. 12 Wake Forest and No. 1 North Carolina followed, though. The Blue Devils led the Tar Heels 67-64, late in the second half in Cameron, when the scorer's table failed to sound the horn to allow a UNC sub to enter the game. Dean Smith angrily banged the table, hitting a button that inadvertently credited UNC with 20 extra points on the scoreboard. Smith was sent back to his bench without a technical foul. Later in the game, Krzyzewski was the one tagged with a technical foul. The Tar Heels went on to pull out a 78-73 comeback win. Now on a three-game losing streak, with plenty of boosters still wanting his removal, Krzyzewski fought back. "I want to tell you something," an angry Krzyzewski said afterward. "You cannot allow people to go around pointing at officials and yelling at them without technicals being called. This is just not allowed. So let's get some things straight here and quit the double standard that exists in this league, all right?" Standing up to Smith and fighting for his team was a turning point in the rivalry and his career. Three days later - with a 52-51 career record at Duke - Butters awarded Krzyzewski a five-year contract extension. Four national championships, 11 Final Fours and 999 wins justified that decision. The results can be seen hanging from the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium. Krzyzewski finished that fourth year 24-10, earning his first NCAA tournament berth (complete with a flight into Moscow, Idaho, accommodations in an off-brand motel and a game in Pullman, Wash.). Before leaving as the highest scoring class ever at Duke (7,324 points), the 1982 quartet took Krzyzewski to his first Final Four in 1986. That was the first in a streak of seven Final Four appearances over the next nine years. "I always tell people, I would never trade my spot in Duke history for anyone else's, because we were there when the program under Coach K was starting to really take off," Johnny Dawkins said. "You look at guys that have come after us - if I had to do it over, I would do it the exact same way. I would choose the exact same spot I chose then. It was a leap of faith in that person and in that program." Keeley: 919-829-4556; Twitter: @laurakeeley
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NEW DELHI President Barack Obama defended his counterterrorism strategy in tumultuous Yemen Sunday, saying efforts to root out a dangerous al-Qaida affiliate there would not be affected by the political vacuum in the country. The U.S. campaign against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is heavily dependent on using drone strikes to take out terror targets. Obama has held up that approach as a model for the military mission against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, which relies on airstrikes instead of U.S. ground troops. Obama, who is traveling in India, said that approach "is not neat and it is not simple, but it is the best option we have." "The alternative would be massive U.S. deployments in perpetuity, which would create its own blowback and cause probably more problems than it would potentially solve," Obama said during a joint media appearance with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The president said that while he was concerned about the fragility of Yemen's central government following the resignation last week of the U.S.-backed president and Cabinet, the country "has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability." The instability in Yemen has raised concerns among some lawmakers about Obama's broader anti-terror strategy. Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told CBS' "Face the Nation" that more special operations forces may be need in countries battling extremists. McCain, the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused the administration of being "delusional" in thinking that its strategy in the Middle East was working and said Iran was "on the march." The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who now control Yemen's capital of Sanaa are widely believed to be backed by Iran, though they deny having any support from the Islamic republic. "We need more boots on the ground," said McCain, R-Ariz. "I know that's a tough thing to say, and a tough thing for Americans to swallow. But it doesn't mean the 82nd Airborne. It means forward air controllers. It means special forces, it means intelligence, and it means other capabilities." Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she agreed that more special operations forces are necessary. She also said the U.S. needs more human intelligence in the region instead of relying so heavily on intelligence gathered by technical means. The California Democrat said that while Americans "don't want another war," she believes it is time "to look more deeply and broadly into what we're doing and how we're doing it." She said the U.S. must also do more to protect U.S. partners in the region, including Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Sunday they expect that Congress won't try to prohibit ground troops in upcoming legislation authorizing U.S. military force against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Obama has called on Congress to pass such a measure, and GOP leaders have agreed. But administration officials also have said Obama won't send combat troops to Iraq or Syria, while Gen. Martin Dempsey, the top uniformed military officer, said at some point he could recommend that. "I don't want to limit the president's ability to take on the terrorist threat directly," Boehner told CBS' "60 Minutes." Yemen is home to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which the U.S. views as the global terrorist network's most dangerous branch. The group has been linked to numerous failed attacks on the U.S. and claimed responsibility for the attack on a Paris satirical magazine this month. Obama has relied heavily on drone strikes to take out terror targets in Yemen. There were 23 U.S. drone strikes last year and 23 the year before, according to Long War Journal, which tracks the strikes based on local media reports. The U.S. military also has trained elite counterterrorism units of Yemen's military that have battled al-Qaida. ___ Flaherty reported from Washington.
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Ford is expanding its global research team with the new Research and Innovation Center Palo Alto, which opened this week. The automaker chose Silicon Valley to accelerate research and development of new technologies including connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles , customer experience, and big data. "At Ford, we view ourselves as both a mobility and an auto company, as we drive innovation in every part of our business," said Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company president and CEO, in a release. "This new research center shows Ford's commitment to be part of the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem anticipating customers' wants and needs, especially on connectivity, mobility and autonomous vehicles. We are working to make these new technologies accessible to everyone, not just luxury customers." The new Palo Alto facility joins Fords other research and innovation centers in Dearborn, Michigan (advanced electronics, human-machine interface, materials science, big data and analytics) and Aachen, Germany (next-generation powertrain research, driver-assist technologies, and active safety systems). By the end of the year, Ford expects to have 125 researchers, engineers, and scientists working at the new Palo Alto facility, which will make it one of the largest automaker research centers in Silicon Valley. With the new facility located in Stanford Research Park, the automaker is working with the university by providing a Fusion Hybrid Autonomous Research Vehicle to students for testing. Ford also brought over Dragos Maciuca, a former Apple engineer, to be the senior technical leader at the new facility. Maciuca's background experience includes consumer electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, and automotive as well as with startups and collaborating with universities. One thing the facility will be working on is the furthering of the Ford Smart Mobility plan, which the automaker debuted at the 2015 CES earlier this month. Some of the projects include connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles , customer experience, big data, and analytics. Connectivity refers to integrating the car with the Nest app, which controls the home's thermostat to provide the proper temperature when the owner arrives home. With mobility, the automaker is working to control the vehicles remotely, which could be used for valet parking. Ford is also using gaming software, called aDRIVE (for Autonomous Driving Refined in Virtual Environments), to test features like traffic sign recognition. The automaker also wants to improve the customer experience by improving the human-machine interface by understanding how the owner prefers to interact with the vehicle features. Ford is using its OpenXC platform to understand how customers use their cars to make future improvements. The automaker hopes to grow existing relationships with Silicon Valley companies and universities and create new ones to continually improve vehicle technologies . Source: Ford
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When you need to tinkle on your travels, it's hard to remain calm. If you can't get back to the luxurious comfort of your hotel bathroom , but still crave the posh amenities that come with it, you need a sanctuary in which to pee -- and you need it fast . Enter Airpnp , the (relatively) new app that directs you to the nearest restroom no matter where you are. Not unlike Airbnb , you'll enter your location on the app and instantly see a plethora of high-quality toilets in your area. Some are free (like those in a local cafe or store, for example), while some are in private homes that charge a fee -- this top-notch spot in Manhattan costs $3 a pop (or is that $3 a poop?). You can also list your own bathroom , offering others a spot to pee with photos, descriptions, hours of operation and pricing. We're not kidding. This is real, the company debuted last year , and their actual tagline is "pee all you can pee with Airpnp." Of course, Airpnp isn't the only app to help travelers relieve themselves on the road. SitOrSquat , from toilet paper brand Charmin, lets users rate and review roadside bathrooms, and the brand-new Flush Toilet Finder lists more than 100,000 loos worldwide. But as far as we know, none of these allow you to rent someone's restroom quite like Airpnp. We think it sounds like a whole new way to travel... and we're so excited we could tinkle.
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This is one of the most pivotal weeks in Harry Reid's personal life, not to mention his congressional career. How he handles Monday's complex surgery to rebuild a crushed orbital socket and remove pools of blood behind and in front of his right eyeball will not only determine whether the Nevadan regains the vision he lost earlier this month in a freakish exercising mishap . His recovery's pace and comprehensiveness also will help decide how long he remains the top Senate Democrat and his ability to seek re-election next year. The senator is setting high expectations for his recuperation, his place in the Capitol power structure and his political fortunes back home. At a news conference four days before the operation meticulously planned so Reid might appear as robust and engaged as possible he boasted of his medical team's prognosis that "there's no reason I can't come back to work" on Feb. 2, after a single week of post-operative healing. He moved to dispel the impression he's been compelled by pain or partial blindness to relinquish any substantive aspects of his leadership portfolio, offering, "There's been no surprises for me." And he asserted that his injuries had not altered his plans for 2016, declaring , "At this stage, I'm fully intending to run." Still, the number of warning signs and unanswered questions make plain Reid's future is not entirely clear on any of those fronts. Other than the occasionally balky balance that preceded his accident, Reid comes across as a very vigorous 75-year-old which makes him, at the start of his second decade as Democratic floor leader, the oldest senator ever in the job. He likes to boast that though his legendary stint as an amateur boxer is over, his three-times-a-week workout includes 250 situps and several hundred repetitions of arm and chest exercises. (When a big rubber exercise band snapped during his routine on New Year's Day, he said he was thrown violently off balance and into some cabinets at his Las Vegas home, breaking four ribs in addition to several bones in his face.) So his maxillofacial surgeons and ophthalmologists are, according to Reid, confident he's a healthy enough candidate for the procedures they'll perform Monday at George Washington University Hospital, which is about as close to Reid's condominium at the Ritz-Carlton as his leadership suite in the Capitol is from his other office in the Hart Building. Still, his eye damage was serious enough that he had to sleep sitting up for a couple of weeks, has been discouraged from driving on bumpy roads and was not able to walk unassisted until late last week. And he's been told not to read or watch television for fear of straining both his good blue eye, (20/20 vision, he says), and the one covered with a thick patch and outsized bandage. He skipped not only swearing-in day and the State of the Union address, but also the year's first 26 roll call votes, half of which occurred after his staff described him as back to work. And rather than appear at his usual podium to parry with the congressional press throng for his 2015 debut, Reid sat for 14 minutes in a Chippendale chair in a room that could accommodate only three-dozen reporters, photographers and video technicians. Those facts alone mark Reid as the most medically challenged party leader since Lyndon B. Johnson had a heart attack in 1955. (It kept him off the floor for the final month of a session that ended in August, but his recuperation back in Texas lasted to December.) Reid, his aides and his leadership lieutenants are portraying a different situation now. They all describe the Democratic leader as regularly on the telephone to help plot strategy and receive the briefings normally delivered on paper. And at his news conference, he had detailed responses to questions about the Homeland Security funding impasse, the Keystone XL pipeline bill, Iran sanctions, trade policy and a possible speech to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. ("He called me, as a matter of fact, about my injury, which I appreciated.") Senate Democratic leaders don't sound concerned. "He's very impatient, more than anything," Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, who's been filling in on the floor as the embodiment of leadership, told CQ Roll Call. "He's fine, and he's going to be fine," said the No. 3 senator in the Democratic hierarchy, Charles E. Schumer of New York. Reid's support among his peers cannot be described as rock solid. After the Democratic losses in the fall's midterm elections, 5 of the 46 members of his caucus voted against retaining him as leader , essentially matching the 10 percent of House Republicans who voted against re-electing Speaker John A. Boehner. And his standing is not strong in Nevada, a swing state in presidential years, where majorities currently disapprove of Reid's job performance but think well of his potential Republican challenger, recently re-elected Gov. Brian Sandoval. But the bruising and broken bones do not appear to have altered a bedrock bipartisan conventional wisdom at the Capitol. Reid is one of the most physically and politically resilient members in modern times. He's lived through a hospitalization for exhaustion in 2013, a serious car crash the year before and even an attempted car bombing when he was Nevada's top gambling regulator in 1981. In between, he's won 4 of his 5 Senate elections with 51 percent of the vote or less. So betting against him is a risky move. "He's one tough guy," offered Nevada's other senator, Republican Dean Heller. "He'll be back. He always comes back," added GOP Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa. And Reid himself had this to say when asked how he was managing to work despite his pain: "I take Tylenol once in a while." Related: Harry Reid 'Intending to Run,' Expects Swift Recovery Reid Heads Back to Capitol, Misses State of the Union Reid's Been Absent, but Still in Charge Reid Pushes On Despite Injuries, Reiterates 2016 Run A Battered Reid Stays on Message (Video) Durbin to Fill In for Injured Reid as Senate Convenes Reid Suffers Broken Ribs in Workout Accident Harry Reid Making Most of Final Days in Majority McConnell Plots a Functional, Bipartisan Senate Harry Reid Leaves Hospital After Doctors Diagnose Him as 'Exhausted' 2013: Reid Isn't Going Anywhere Anytime Soon The 114th: CQ Roll Call's Guide to the New Congress Want More Stories Like This? Subscribe to our Thought Leaders newsletter . Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call in your inbox or on your iPhone .
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Inter's revival under Roberto Mancini stalled as Emiliano Moretti's injury-time goal saw Torino snatch a shock 1-0 win at San Siro. The center back pounced from close range in the 94th minute to head the visitors to a second successive top-flight away victory - the first time they have achieved the feat since April 1995. Lukas Podolski and Nemanja Vidic were the only players to threaten either goal in the first half, the former bring a good save out of Daniele Padelli. Torino offered more in the final third after the break and brought the first save out of Samir Handanovic after 72 minutes, Cristian Molinaro having his side's first shot on target. Inter wasted late chances courtesy of Mauro Icardi and Rodrigo Palacio, which it was left to rue as Moretti nodded home in stoppage time. The win lifts Torino to within a point of Inter, which saw its hopes of a top-four finish dented. Inter coach Roberto Mancini recalled Joel Obi for his sixth start of the season in place of Hugo Campagnaro at fullback, while Mateo Kovacic returned as part of an attacking trio in support of Icardi. The visitor made two changes from its victory over Cesena, but it was unable to build any momentum as Inter dominated proceedings. Inter may have been dictating the play, but its final ball lacked quality and chances were at a premium, with only Podolski and Vidic posing any sort of threat to Padelli. Palacio created the game's opening chance after 13 minutes for Podolski, but the Germany international's low shot was parried by the Torino goalkeeper. With the visitor restricted to rare counter-attacks, Inter continued to look more threatening, and Vidic should have done better with a looping header from a left-wing corner. Inter was forced into a change before the break as Marco Andreolli suffered a hamstring injury, and it was lucky not to suffer further misery when Torino's best opening arrived, Josef Martinez inexplicably leaving a Marco Benassi cross from the right when unmarked in the penalty area. Little changed after the break as both sides wasted promising opportunities, Martinez particularly guilty of directing a free header wide from a corner. The introduction of Xherdan Shaqiri and Maxi Lopez early in the second half gave the two teams increased attacking impetus, and it was again Torino which looked more likely, only for Alexander Farnerud to blaze over. Handanovic finally was called into action with 18 minutes remaining, the Slovenia international getting down well to hold Molinaro's speculative effort. Icardi wasted the chance to become Inter's hero in the final 15 minutes as he missed Palacio's low cross and Torino eventually cleared to safety. And the home side was made to pay as the visitor finally broke the deadlock when Moretti struck at the death. Lopez's front-post flick found the 33-year-old unmarked six yards from goal and he made no mistake, much to the frustration of the home fans.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday it will create a contingency fund and an emergency workforce to respond quickly to crises after strong criticism of the agency's delay in confronting the Ebola epidemic. Director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said at an emergency meeting called to discuss the agency's Ebola response that the outbreak showed the need to strengthen WHO's crisis management and to streamline procedures for recruiting frontline workers. Ebola has been "a mega crisis and it overwhelmed the capacity of WHO", she told a news briefing. "Member states truly understand that the world does need a collective defence mechanism for global health security." In the past year, 21,724 Ebola cases have been reported in nine countries and 8,641 people have died, according to the WHO, which says West Africa's outbreak is ebbing. A resolution seeking major reforms, brought by the United States and South Africa, was adopted by consensus at the meeting of the 34-member executive board. "The WHO we have is not the WHO we need, not the WHO we needed to respond to health emergencies of the magnitude of Ebola," Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), told the talks. In the debate, he said that political considerations often overruled technical expertise at the United Nations agency. "We have given some structure to what we expect in May, which is far-reaching reforms," said Frieden, referring to the WHO's annual meeting of health ministers in May. Major donors welcomed agreement on the emergency fund, which a WHO committee had recommended in 2011 should contain $100 million after the 2009-2010 influenza pandemic. Chan told reporters that the figure was "a good starting point". Bruce Aylward, WHO assistant director-general in charge of the Ebola response, said the agency would need about a workforce of about 1,500 for such emergencies, up from 1,000 currently. "What you see here is the potential for some of the most wide-ranging and sweeping reforms in any area of WHO that we've seen almost since the organisation was established," he said. Dr. Dirk Cuypers of Belgium's health service said on behalf of the European Union: "We need to ensure that a clear line of command for all levels of the organisation is in place for emergency operations and we need a global work force ready to be deployed in a effective and timely manner." Ebola cases are declining in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Chan said. "But we must maintain the momentum and guard against complacency and donor fatigue." (Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Stephen Powell and Michael Urquhart)
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US President Barack Obama and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke the deadlock on a long-stalled nuclear pact Sunday as they hailed a new era of friendship between the world's two largest democracies. After greeting Obama with a bear hug as he stepped off Air Force One, Modi then trumpeted the "chemistry" with his fellow leader on the first day of a three-day visit to the Indian capital. Obama, whose administration treated Modi as a pariah until barely a year ago, said their new "friendship" reflected a natural affinity between the two countries. Both are looking for a counter-balance to a rising China. While there were no major policy announcements apart from the unblocking of the nuclear agreement, Modi said Obama's decision to become the first US president to visit India twice while in office had huge symbolic importance. "Relations between countries depend less on full stops and commas and more on the relationships between leaders... the chemistry between them," Modi told a joint press conference. "Barack and I have struck up a strong friendship... this chemistry has not just brought me and Barack closer but also brought Washington and Delhi -- and the people of our countries -- closer together." After opening his remarks with a few words in Hindi, Obama also hailed the "personal friendship" with his counterpart, saying the closeness reflected a shared commitment to values such as democracy and entrepreneurship. "In addition to a personal friendship, we are also reflecting the warmth and affection between the Indian people and American people," said Obama. "It's not surprising that we have a friendship because hopefully we are reflecting the values of our peoples." The two men spoke for more than three hours, capping a remarkable turnaround in relations between the two countries after a diplomatic row in late 2013 that saw the Stars and Stripes torched on the streets of Delhi. Modi's election in May 2014 was a potential headache for the US, which had blacklisted the Hindu nationalist for more than a decade after deadly communal riots in Gujarat when he was state chief minister. He was only brought in from the cold last February when the then US ambassador Nancy Powell travelled to Gujarat once it appeared Modi was likely to end the centre-left Congress party's 10-year rule. Since coming to power, Modi has borne no obvious grudge and personally invited Obama to become the first US president to be chief guest at India's Republic Day parade on Monday. The Indian premier has also invited Obama to co-host a radio phone-in show and is reportedly planning a private dinner for him at his Delhi home. After flying into an overcast Delhi, Obama received a welcoming ceremony that included a 21-gun salute and full guard of honour. He also laid a wreath at a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, India's independence hero. The US president, who is being driven around in his armoured limousine known as the "Beast", said at the ceremony it was "a great honour" to return to India and thanked his hosts for their "extraordinary hospitality". He and his wife Michelle had been scheduled to visit the Taj Mahal, but their trip has been cut short to allow Obama to travel on to Saudi Arabia and pay respects to new King Salman. - Stronger on symbolism - Obama's trip comes just months after Modi's first official visit to the United States, and with so little time to lay the groundwork it was always expected to be stronger on symbolism than on content. The headline-grabbing announcement was over the nuclear pact, which has faced a series of delays since being signed in 2008. The agreement should give India access to civilian nuclear technology but has been held up by US concerns over India's strict laws on liability in the event of a nuclear accident. "I am pleased that six years after we signed our bilateral agreement, we are moving towards commercial cooperation, consistent with our laws (and) international legal obligations," Modi said at the press conference. While there were no immediate details on how the impasse had been broken, India has reportedly offered to set up an insurance pool to indemnify companies that build reactors. "Today we achieved a breakthrough understanding on two issues that were holding up our ability to advance our civil nuclear cooperation and we are committed to moving towards full implementation," said Obama. "This is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship." The two men also discussed climate change, with India seen as one of the main obstacles to a global deal on limiting emissions that should be signed in Paris in December. In a statement issued by the White House,·both men agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation on climate change "to achieve a successful and ambitious agreement in Paris". Modi told reporters he did not feel under any "pressure" from Obama over climate change but did feel "pressure when we think about the future generations and what kind of world we will give them".
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news
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Dark comedy "Birdman" took home best movie at the Producers Guild Awards Saturday, boosting its status ahead of the much-anticipated Oscars next month. The film, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, beat industry favorites and leading Academy Awards contenders including coming-of-age tale "Boyhood", stylish crime caper "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and World War II code-breaking thriller "The Imitation Game". "I feel humbled by this. All these films nominated this year have an individual voice," Inarritu told Variety. "Birdman" is about a washed-up film actor played by Michael Keaton trying to revive his career on stage. This month, Inarritu won best screenplay and Keaton took home best musical or comedy actor at the Golden Globes, considered a dry-run for the Oscars, the climax of Hollywood's awards season. Birdman led the PGA nominations with four nods. PGA winners have been a strong indicator of Oscar winners in years past, with some of its 6,700 members also taking part in Academy Awards voting. Fan favorite "The Lego Movie" won best animated picture, after being left out of the Oscar nominations, while "Life Itself" by Steve James won best documentary. In the TV category, widely acclaimed "Breaking Bad", which ended in 2013 after five seasons, continued to shine, taking home the prize for best television drama. The show's star Bryan Cranston said winning awards wasn't the only measure of the program's success. "You only know that your show is a big hit when the location signs are stolen," he said in Variety. Netflix original series "Orange Is The New Black" won best comedy, while mini-series "Fargo" took home the top trophy in its category. HBO's AIDS drama "The Normal Heart", starring Mark Ruffalo as activist and playwright Larry Kramer, won the Stanley Kramer Award for raising awareness of social issues. Hollywood heavyweights, including Jennifer Lawrence, Adrian Brody, Sharon Stone, Ethan Hawke, Eddie Redmayne and Kerry Washington were at the gala in downtown Los Angeles.
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entertainment
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Patriots coach Bill Belichick took the the podium on Saturday to defend and explain all the happenings in regards to Deflate-gate . Belichick, in typical fashion, did not provide much in the way of substance, but did happen to mention both SpyGate, something he never talks about, and the cult classic movie "My Cousin Vinny." He also tried to explain the science behind football deflation. Noted scientist and avid debator Bill Nye 'The Science Guy" says Belichick has no idea what he's talking about. MORE: Know your "Gates" | Theismann tests out deflated balls | Brady's bizarre press conference Super Bowl XLIIX cannot get here soon enough.
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sports
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Lawmakers' enthusiasm for passing a cybersecurity bill will face a major hurdle this summer National Security Agency (NSA) reform. By June 1, Congress must reauthorize the sections of the Patriot Act that are the basis for the NSA's most controversial surveillance programs. Surveillance concerns have taken a back seat to cybersecurity following the dramatic hack on Sony and a subsequent White House cyber push . But many believe NSA reforms are crucial before the centerpiece of the White House's cybersecurity proposal cyber information sharing between the public and private sector can pass Congress. "I think whenever you talk about cyber information sharing, you're going to have to address the NSA issue, or, more properly, the privacy issue," said Alex Manning, who was staff director of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on cybersecurity last Congress. The White House proposal would put the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the center of a program allowing the private sector to share information about cyber threats with government agencies, in exchange for legal liability protection. Industry groups and intelligence agencies argue information exchange is essential to bolstering the nation's cyber defenses. The administration's DHS-centered plan seeks to respond to privacy concerns about the NSA that derailed past cyber info sharing proposals. During the 2014 lame-duck session, lawmakers' failure to curb the NSA's surveillance programs was seen as the death knell for a cyber info-sharing bill. "I think the politics are you don't want NSA doing a domestic security role, or if they do it has to be very limited," said Jim Lewis, a cyber warfare expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "And cybersecurity would be very much like domestic surveillance." While privacy advocates say putting DHS in charge is a step in the right direction, they argue the measure lacks clear safeguards to prohibit personal information from ultimately migrating to the NSA. They say only addressing NSA reform first can truly accomplish that goal. "Instead of calling on Congress to pass information sharing legislation, the president should again call for the passage of effective surveillance reform," said Robyn Greene, policy counsel for the Open Technology Institute. Both sides are focused on the June 1 deadline to renew portions of the Patriot Act. The fight over the act and NSA reform could make or break cyber information-sharing efforts. "It shouldn't," Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) told The Hill in an interview. "Come on, are you holding the country hostage here? Let's deal with the immediate threat." King's ire reflects a bipartisan sense that Congress needs to pass cybersecurity legislation quickly. But that sense of urgency is undercut by a number of obstacles. The White House cyber proposal cuts across at least four different congressional committees and support for the measure doesn't split evenly along party lines, giving the bill no obvious path. "The whole process seems to be somewhat stalled," said King, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which backed the most prominent cyber info-sharing bill last Congress. "We've got everybody talking about it, but nothing's really happening." On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold this Congress's first hearing on the topic, perhaps giving the White House initiative some momentum. Homeland Security ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.) told The Hill he is considering introducing the White House proposal either by himself, or hopefully with committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). "My inclination is to ensure that it's introduced," he said in an interview. "That doesn't mean we agree with every piece of it, just to make sure it's not forgotten." Carper wants a bill on the table before the Patriot Act reauthorization efforts start in earnest, probably around April or May. "We know what didn't work," Carper said, referring to 2014's attempt to tackle surveillance reform first. "So maybe we should try something else." Further complicating the issue is a competing cyber info-sharing bill already floating around Congress. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), recently reintroduced the more controversial and NSA-focused Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The bill, which passed the House last year before stalling in the Senate, would allow private companies to share cyber threat info directly with the intelligence agency. "I think we may very well end up with something in the middle," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told The Hill. "Exactly what that looks like, I'm not sure," Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, supports the White House proposal, but recognizes it can't pass as written. King called on Congress to set its own deadline for compromise legislation. "We ought to have a summit meeting with the committee chairs and leadership and say, 'Ok boys, you have a week to come back with a consensus bill,'" King told The Hill. CSIS's Lewis believes three measures would end up in such a consensus bill: legal protections for companies sharing info with the government; a definition of what constitutes "cybersecurity information"; and limitations on how the government can access and use that information. The final part is the sticking point for privacy activists and possibly a cyber info-sharing bill as a whole. Limits on using that information are inherently "tied to surveillance reform," said Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, a lobbyist at Monument Policy Group, which represents tech giants like Microsoft. Until structural changes are made to the NSA's surveillance authority, limitations written into a bill are unlikely to be completely effective, said OTI's Greene. "The administration's cyber proposal does not do enough to protect privacy," she said. But lawmakers insist Congress has to act on cybersecurity, NSA reform or not. "This is a freight train headed for us," King said. "Let's quit it with the excuses."
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news
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For centuries, shamans and healers have been using psychedelics in sacramental rituals in the belief that the substances have healing qualities and can lead to meaningful spiritual experiences. It turns out contemporary science may back these ancient claims. A new study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health found that participants who took controlled doses of "classic" psychedelics magic mushrooms, DMT, mescaline and LSD had significantly reduced incidences of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and psychological distress in the long term. The study, published recently in the Journal of Pharmacology , analyzed data from an annual survey conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health that measures substance abuse in relation to mental illness. The data were compiled between 2008 and 2012, and drew from the experiences of 190,000 adults. Participants took the survey online, answering pre-recorded questions about their individual use of classic psychedelics. Of those surveyed, 13.6%, or about 27,235 people, reported having used classic psychedelics. The results showed that those who had taken these substances were 19% less likely to have psychological distress in the past month, and their reports of suicidal thoughts in the past year were 14% lower than those who didn't use the drugs. What's more, that same group reported 36% fewer suicide attempts in the past year. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that 30,000 people in the U.S. die from suicide each year, and worldwide that number is 1 million. While treatment for mental health disorders has improved markedly in the past century, the suicide rate remains stagnant. Only two studies to date, this one included, specifically address the relationship between mental illness and psychedelics. In 2011, individuals with advanced-stage cancer were given single doses of psilocybin and were found to have reduced long-term incidences of depression and anxiety. In recent years, some scientists, such as this study's lead researcher, Peter S. Hendricks, have been pioneering innovative treatments to help decrease the suicide rate. Hendricks is a clinical psychologist by trade, but his interest in the use of psychedelics was piqued by working with people who struggled with addiction, particularly lifelong cigarette smokers. He says he became "demoralized" by patients who had little luck quitting with the intervention programs he and his team developed. Hendricks says psychedelics can possibly help patients shift their priorities, or lead to drastic changes in perspective or even spiritual experiences that will help them improve their mental states. "Those who are addicted to, say, smoking or using cocaine, aren't doing so because it's their purpose in life; in fact, often that behavior can conflict with what their overall purpose is. So when we administer a psychedelic, what you can say is that you re-prioritize their values such that what their grander purpose is takes priority over some of these more immediate reinforcers like cigarettes or cocaine," Hendricks said in an interview with Newsweek . "So if we mobilize these spiritual resources, there may not be anything we couldn't do." The UAB isn't the first study to flirt with this idea. A smoking-cessation trial in the fall found that lifelong smokers who took several controlled doses of psilocybin demonstrated tobacco abstinence rates of up to 80% in the long term. The heightened connectivity to spirituality has also been demonstrated to curb suicidal thoughts and attempts. A lack of resources and funding is a hindrance to continuing studies, however, as psychedelics are still classified as schedule 1 narcotics in the U.S. and criminal offenses accompany their possession. While skeptics may question the idea of using psychedelics as treatment for psychological distress, Hendricks emphasizes that he does not advocate for rampant recreational use of psychedelics, or widespread legalization. He believes the data support the idea of demoting psychedelics to schedule 3 or 4, and that they can be used in controlled therapy situations. The study does have shortcomings: For one, the data were compiled independently, so there is a possibility of misreported individual data. Also, the sample size is not large enough to make a definitive conclusion about psychedelics in relation to mental illness. And the effects of psychedelics on the developing brain are still largely unknown, meaning they could pose a threat to people with a predisposition to schizophrenia. Culturally, psychedelics bear quite a bit of baggage: Timothy Leary's call to "turn on, tune in and drop out" became a countercultural slogan in the 1960s, and proved damaging to potential research on utilizing the drug to improve mental health for more than three decades. Perhaps this study will be a turning point in how our culture regards psychedelics and mental health. "I know scientists are supposed to be objective and dispassionate," Hendricks says. "But I've seen the data -- it seems to me that psychedelics hold tremendous therapeutic potential."
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A marathon is not just race designed to test the physical and mental endurance of a person, but also an exclusive club consisting of one percent of all athletes. After 26.2 miles of wear and tear on the body, plus months, and even years of marathon training, most runners need to spend weeks on recovering from the journey but not Tim Durbin. The 31-year-old San Francisco resident decided to push his body to the limit and enter The World Marathon Challenge , which he completed Friday. The contest took him to all seven continents around the world. He ran in Union Glacier, Antarctica; Punta Arenas, Chile; Miami, U.S.A.; Madrid, Spain; Marrakesh, Morocco; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Sydney, Australia. He ran one marathon each day for seven days, along with 11 other runners from around the world. "And done!" Durbin posted on Twitter, after running the last race in 4 hours 55 minutes in Sydney, where he plans to vacation and finally recover over the next week. He said he had needed that rest since he finished his fourth race, and the nonstop physical exertion began to set in. Each day he spent between four and six hours running, and nearly twice that much time traveling. In between the races and plane rides, he slept as much as he could during small intervals filled with jetlag and lactic acid buildup. He began experiencing the consequences of the quick turnarounds before his fifth race in Marakesh. It "was the second in less than 24 hours and started seven hours after finishing Madrid," Durbin told The Chronicle . "It was cold and drizzled a bit as well." The weeklong test of endurance and willpower was only one part of his ambitious bucket list goal of logging a distance of 24,901 miles the circumference of the world's equator. Not only did Durbin resist succumbing to the sheer physical exhaustion, he also spent the year fundraising. In honor of several of his family members' battles with cancer, he raised $77,777 for the V Foundation for Cancer Research . "When thinking about the World Marathon Challenge during the numerous 'lonely' hours spent running or walking around San Francisco in 2014, I realized that even if I do finish 'last' I won't be finishing last at all," Durbin wrote in his online journal. "I dared to do something that most people view as impossible." What Does It Take? It does seem impossible. Within the first 48 hours of the first half of his journey, Durbin ran three marathons on less than nine hours of sleep. During a marathon, the body loses heat and heat production by 10-fold. What happened to Durbin's body when he ran through Antarctica's below freezing conditions may have accelerated muscle weakness and the disorientation the typical body goes through in extreme temperatures. By the time he set foot on Australia's summer-hot starting line, the high humidity levels likely reduced evaporation, increased dehydration, and impaired his ability to transfer heat from the muscles to the skin a trick the body does to cool itself down. Body heat is lost through the evaporation of sweat, along with the heart's ability to control body temperatures by supplying oxygen-rich blood to the body. Even if the body is fully functioning and sweating, it's not uncommon for marathon runners to cross the 26.2-mile mark with body temperatures as high as 105 degrees, according to Marathon and Beyond . Multiply that by seven and Durbin has put his body through 183.4 miles of extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation, and a demonstration of extreme physical ability.
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health
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Greek voters began voting in an election that could lead to a dramatic showdown with the debt-laden nation's lenders.
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video
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Brian Hoyer could be back in Cleveland next season. The Browns have reached out to the veteran quarterback about a new contract, Hoyer's agent told Ohio.com . "We never got to the numbers part," the agent, Joe Linta, said on Saturday. "They called and said they were interested in bringing him back." Hoyer, who started 13 games for Cleveland in 2014, is scheduled to become a free agent on March 10. He has repeatedly said he would like to return to the Browns, but his decision will hinge on whether the team is willing to give him a shot to compete with Johnny Manziel for the starting job. "I think the only thing that would make him not [want to] come back is if they said Manziel or whoever we take in the draft or whoever we sign in free agency is going to be the starter and you will only be the backup," Linta said. "I think that would probably drive him away a little bit. "If Pettine said, 'Hey, it's going to be an open competition again between you and Johnny,' great, let's go. ... [Hoyer] wants to play. The kid wants to have an opportunity to compete and play." Given Manziel's poor play on the field and repeated issues off of it, the Browns are far from committed to the 2014 first-rounder. A report published by ESPN on Friday revealed that Manziel's rookie season was marked by immaturity and unpreparedness and team owner Jimmy Haslam said earlier this week that he's unsure whether next season's starter is currently on the roster.
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sports
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Carles Gil marked his first Aston Villa start with a wonderful goal in a 2-1 victory over Bournemouth. Paul Lambert's men have found goals hard to come by of late scoring just once in their previous six outings in all competitions prior to the match but Gil's stunning 51st-minute strike, along with an Andreas Weimann effort 20 minutes later, will give the club's fans cause for optimism. Championship leader Bournemouth looked bright during the first half and came close twice through midfielder Shaun MacDonald, who saw one effort cleared off the line by Kieran Richardson. Eunan O'Kane also looked dangerous for the visitors at Villa Park, but the home side came out for the second period with renewed energy. After going close moments earlier, Gil who arrived from Valencia for an undisclosed fee earlier this month curled in a sublime left-footed strike to give Villa the lead. Weimann found the net in the 71st minute, but substitute Callum Wilson set up a tense finish with a goal three minutes into stoppage time for Bournemouth, which has scored more goals in one match an 8-0 win at Birmingham City in October than Villa has managed at home all season in the Premier League (seven). But Villa clung on to take its place in the fifth round with its first goals since beating Blackpool 1-0 in round three. Villa announced a new long-term deal for Fabian Delph in the buildup to kickoff, but there was no place for the England midfielder in Lambert's matchday squad, while Bournemouth made eight changes from its last Championship outing. It was the visitors who forced the first opening, with MacDonald sending a deflected effort over the crossbar after good work by Ryan Fraser. Shay Given then had to get down to keep out a Harry Arter strike from the edge of the penalty area, before Weimann headed just wide at the other end. Former Swansea City midfielder MacDonald continued to cause problems for the Villa defense and was denied by a Richardson block on the line after rounding Given in the 18th minute. Despite making wholesale changes, Bournemouth was holding its own against top-flight opposition and O'Kane saw an effort tipped around the post by Given shortly after the half-hour mark. Gil found the side-netting after some neat buildup play from Christian Benteke at the beginning of the second half, but the Spaniard was on target with a sensational strike soon after. After cutting onto his left foot on the right of the penalty area, Gil sent a wonderful curling effort beyond Lee Camp and into the Bournemouth net. Weimann appeared to have made sure of a place in the next round when he slotted home from 12 yards after a cutback from Alan Hutton, but Bournemouth refused to go down without a fight. Substitute Simon Francis fired just wide before fellow replacement Wilson squeezed the ball past Given from close range. Despite the late drama, Villa held on for a result that marks the first time it has won by more than one goal since a 3-1 Premier League victory against Hull City in May.
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sports
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If you happen to meet Bambi one night while driving on a dark road, here's a suggestion: Hit her. Animal rights activists and nature lovers will surely disagree. Yet a wide body of evidence suggests that motorists should actually hit animals that jump in front of their cars instead of trying to avoid them. Why? Because by some estimates, swerving to avoid the loss of animal life is a very costly problem. While being responsible for the death of an animal is tough to carry on your conscience, some auto safety experts say its better than the alternatives. "When considering some of the options a driver could take when confronted by an animal in the road swerve right into a tree or ditch, swerve left into oncoming traffic, or brake severely which would promote the animal possibly rolling up the hood and into and through the windshield the best advice is simply, hit it," said Robert Sinclair of AAA. "It's very counterintuitive, and many respond that they would not want to kill Bambi," he said. "But I'd rather kill Bambi than myself and my family." Even though it might be the safest, it is merely the least of all evils. One estimate from a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report to Congress in 2008 said collisions with wildlife cost motorists and taxpayers more than $8 billion per year. Although people rarely die from hitting a big animal, it can do a lot of damage to a car and sometimes it can land a driver in the hospital. The flip side is that hitting an animal can be dangerous for a species' longevity. The same report identified 21 species considered threatened or endangered in the United States, for which road mortality is "one of the major threats to their survival." Many other species are far more common such as white-tailed deer but the report noted that every deer hit by a car is one that does not bring revenue to state-run hunting programs. While the number of auto crashes has held steady, the number of animal-related collisions have risen. The FHWA report said there were about about 300,000 such collisions reported annually as of 2008, and researchers believe that number is still low some local government agencies do not have the resources to collect statistics, and some drivers don't report collisions. Some ecologists, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society's Amanda Hardy, observe that smaller species, including birds, squirrels, and even reptiles and amphibians, usually are not counted at all. "There is a lot of question about the actual numbers," Hardy said. "Many of us who work in the field have been pushing for a national data reporting standard. That could go a long way to helping us understand what is going on." Insurance companies, however, have much higher figures. State Farm estimates that there were 1.22 million collisions between deer and vehicles alone in the United States between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013. That was a slight decline over the previous year, which is encouraging. The FHWA report from 2008 showed that animal-related collisions became a larger and larger proportion of all auto accidents beginning in the mid-1990s to 2004. State Farm values damage to vehicles alone at about $4 billion a year. Some times of the year are worse than others. During spring and fall, when animals are mating or migrating, roadkill numbers spike and that number briefly jumps even higher near the beginning and end of daylight saving time. Scientists think this might be because animals are having trouble adjusting to the change in human commute times. Certain parts of the country also get hit harder than others. Deer one of the frequently struck species, and among those that cause the most damage to cars are especially abundant in the eastern half of the United States. Drivers in far northern states such as Maine occasionally crash into moose, which are particularly dangerous since the animal's sheer height gives it a much higher chance of crashing through a windshield and killing a driver. Scientists who study the effects of human transportation on wildlife have been able to identify crossing points for animals, and have seen some success redirecting the animals away from danger. Government agencies are building fences, overpasses and culverts at areas where wildlife are likely to cross a road. Besides developing a database and data reporting standard, Hardy thinks a separate federal fund for state transportation departments could be used for wildlife crossings or fences. That might prod state governments to consider making improvements, without having to dip into their highway appropriation budgets. It could be a lot cheaper in the long run to build the protections into roads ahead of time. "It would pay for itself in terms of collisions avoided," Hardy said. "But there would be other benefits to society as well, in terms of protecting wildlife," she said. "Vehicle-related deaths are a problem [for] 21 species on the endangered species list, and once an animal is on that list, the preservation efforts required by law can cost a lot," Hardy added. "It might cost less just to keep them off the list in the first place." For concerned drivers, there are also devices that can sense wildlife in front of a car and automatically shoo it away with flashing lights or sound. "If you know you are in an area where you know there are animals, you can really just drive a bit slower and be prepared it is actually a very effective technique," said Hardy.
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finance
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The Federal Reserve could be key for Wall Street next week as investors get to hear from the U.S. central bank for the first time since a series of moves by its global peers, including the European Central Bank's massive stimulus plan. Thursday's larger-than-expected stimulus package from the ECB lifted U.S. stocks, helping indexes post gains for the week after three straight weeks of losses. But the increased stimulus measures from the ECB and elsewhere globally, including the Bank of Canada, may make it tougher for the Fed to move ahead with its own plan to start raising interest rates by mid-year, lest U.S. economic policy move out of sync with the rest of the world. "Global central policy is not one of their mandates, but I think they have to acknowledge it, because this is not just global economic headwinds, this is actually the moves of other central banks. They've got to take that into account," said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer for Well Fargo Private Bank in San Francisco. Should the United States raise rates when other major developed economies are being more expansive, that could boost the dollar, putting further pressure on commodity prices - which because they are denominated in dollars become more expensive for non-U.S. investors - and adding to the threat of deflation. The Fed is expected to reiterate that those global risks have not yet put the U.S. recovery or the Fed's rate plans off track when it issues its policy statement at the close of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. The timing of the Fed's eventual rate move has been a top concern for investors. Stocks rallied when the Fed said after its December meeting that it would take a patient approach toward raising interest rates and gave an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy. The sharp decline in oil prices that began last June and worries about deflation could keep the Fed on hold for longer, analysts said. "It bodes well for the Fed to be patient," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. "There's no inflation here; the problem is deflation. If oil prices were to go lower, that could create more of a problem." THE ATTRACTION OF EUROPEAN SHARES At the same time, more money has been moving from the U.S. market into European stocks as a result of the ECB measures, adding to concerns for U.S. stock investors. Sharp declines in the euro, which hit an 11-year low against the dollar on Friday, make European stocks cheaper, especially compared with U.S. equities. Flows into EPFR Global's European regional equity funds rose to one-year highs in the week leading up to the ECB announcement, EPFR Global said. Exchange-trade funds tied to Europe rallied following the ECB move this week. The SPDR Emerging Europe ETF (GUR.P) jumped 3.7 percent this week, its biggest weekly gain since September. Investors will also be watching elections Sunday in Greece. The country's anti-austerity leftist party Syriza will easily win the election but may fall short of an absolute majority in parliament by as little as one seat, the first official projection of the vote showed. Underpinning the argument for U.S. stocks, though, is the growing strength of the U.S. economy while overseas economies have been weakening. "European equities will likely improve in the short term, but in the medium term equity performance is likely to be tied to the performance of the real economy," Rob Waldner, chief strategist at Invesco, wrote in a note this week. Next week also marks one of the busiest weeks for fourth-quarter U.S. earnings, with 141 S&P 500 companies slated to report. Among them are several top technology names including Apple (AAPL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O). With fourth-quarter earnings projected to grow 10.6 percent, tech is expected to be a bright spot in an earnings season that has been lackluster thus far. Profit growth expectations for S&P 500 companies, now at 3.3 percent, are down sharply since the start of the fourth quarter following a big drop in forecasts for energy company earnings. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Super Bowl rings: Check out the championship bling from every winner Super Bowl I: Green Bay Packers Green Bay won the first Super Bowl and were rewarded with this modest ring. As time marched on, these would become anything but modest. Super Bowl II: Green Bay Packers As back-to-back champs in the first two Super Bowls, the Packers' second ring looked a bit more like a college graduation ring. Super Bowl III: New York Jets This is how Joe Namath's guarantee paid off. Super Bowl IV: Kansas City Chiefs Hank Stram's hardware after beating the Vikings. The Chiefs became the second AFL team to win a Super Bowl. Super Bowl V: Baltimore Colts Jim O'Brien's 32-yard field goal got the Colts this bad boy. It's a nice design -- not sure the losing Cowboys would agree, though. Super Bowl VI: Dallas Cowboys The first team to lose a Super Bowl then win it the next year got Tom Landry his first ring. Super Bowl VII: Miami Dolphins The Dolphins became the second team to lose a Super Bowl the previous year and then win it. Oh, and they did it while going undefeated (17-0). Super Bowl VIII: Miami Dolphins The Dolphins became the second back-to-back champs in the eight-year history of the Super Bowl. Super Bowl IX: Pittsburgh Steelers The first of the Steelers' six rings, the most in NFL history. Super Bowl X: Pittsburgh Steelers What's better than winning one ring? Winning another the next year! Super Bowl XI: Oakland Raiders This John Madden-led squad beat up on the Vikings. This is a close-up of former Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Otis Sistrunk's ring. Super Bowl XII: Dallas Cowboys The famed Doomsday Defense of the Cowboys got Landry his second ring by smashing an ex-teammate, quarterback Craig Morton, and the Broncos. Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers The Steelers dethroned the champs, but this game may be known best for Jackie Smith's drop in the end zone that would have tied the game. Instead, Dallas settled for a field goal, and the game was ultimately decided by four points with the Steelers coming out on top, 35-31. Super Bowl XIV: Pittsburgh Steelers The Steelers successfully defended their title, beating the Rams and getting their fourth ring of the decade. Super Bowl XV: Oakland Raiders The Raiders become the first wild-card team to win a Super Bowl. Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers The 49ers loaded up on diamonds for the first of their four 1980s Super Bowl rings. Super Bowl XVII: Washington Redskins The Redskins got their first of three rings under head coach Joe Gibbs. Super Bowl XVIII: Los Angeles Raiders Late owner Al Davis wears his championship bling as the Raiders collect their third Super Bowl title but first in Southern California. Super Bowl XIX: San Francisco 49ers Two engraved Lombardi Trophies for their second Super Bowl win of the 1980s. Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears The Bears' reward for fielding arguably the best defense in NFL history. Super Bowl XXI: New York Giants Former Giants punter Sean Landeta shows off both of his Super Bowl rings from his days with Big Blue, but the one from 1986-87 is on the left. Super Bowl XXII: Washington Redskins The Doug Williams-led squad pounded the Broncos to get two trophies on this rendition. Super Bowl XXIII: San Francisco 49ers Beating the Bengals for the second time in the decade, the 49ers collected their third ring. Super Bowl 49ers: Super Bowl XXIV The team of the 1980s closed out the decade by winning its fourth Super Bowl. Super Bowl XXV: New York Giants Bill Parcells & Co. beat the Bills (in their first of four straight Super Bowl losses) to get the franchise's second ring. Super Bowl XXVI: Washington Redskins Their third Super Bowl win under Gibbs -- with three different quarterbacks, mind you -- was a rout of the Bills. Super Bowl XXVII: Dallas Cowboys The Cowboys kept this design simple after their third Super Bowl victory in team history and first since the Landry era ended. Super Bowl XXVIII: Dallas Cowboys With their second straight Super Bowl win over the Bills, the Cowboys put four diamonds in the center of this ring to commemorate their fourth title. Super Bowl XXIX: San Francisco 49ers The 49ers and Steve Young beat up on the Chargers, 49-26, to get the team's fifth ring and first without Joe Montana. Dallas Cowboys: Super Bowl XXX Avenging two Super Bowl losses to the Steelers in the 1970s, the Cowboys became the first team to win three Super Bowls in four years. Super Bowl XXXI: Green Bay Packers After their first title since Super Bowl II, the Packers kept it simple with this diamond-encrusted "G." Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII: Denver Broncos John Elway capped his career with back-to-back Super Bowl titles. Super Bowl XXXIV: St. Louis Rams Kurt Warner's improbable run with "The Greatest Show on Turf" ended with this fine piece of jewelry. Super Bowl XXXV: Baltimore Ravens One of the best defenses in NFL history took home this hardware just five seasons after leaving its Cleveland Browns' heritage behind. Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots The first of Tom Brady's three, three-point Super Bowl wins led to this. Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jon Gruden beat his former team -- the Oakland Raiders -- to bring Tampa Bay its only title to date. Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England Patriots The Patriots won their second title in team history when they beat the Panthers in Houston. Super Bowl XXXIX: New England Patriots The Pats became the second team in NFL history to capture three titles in a four-year span. Super Bowl XL: Pittsburgh Steelers By beating the Seahawks in the 40th Super Bowl, the Steelers became the third team with five Lombardi Trophies. Super Bowl XLI: Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning got the monkey off his back and this ring on his finger. Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants The Giants let us all know 19-0 was not meant to be for the Patriots. Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger flashes his second Super Bowl ring. Super Bowl XLIV: New Orleans Saints It took 43 seasons, but the Saints won the franchise's first Super Bowl by beating Peyton Manning and the Colts. This was their reward. Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers After denying the Steelers their seventh Lombardi Trophy, the Packers celebrated with their fourth ring. Super Bowl XLVI: New York Giants Jason Pierre-Paul flashes the Giants' reward for beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl for the second time in five years. Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens Ray Lewis retired a two-time Super Bowl champ after the Ravens beat the 49ers. Super Bowl XLVIII: Seattle Seahawks The Seahawks got their first championship after pummeling the Broncos and kept is classy and simple with their logo at the heart of this ring.
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sports
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Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera tells Fredricka Whitfield that the approaching winter storm may bring several feet of snow and cause airport closures.
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Scott Dixon caught a break when Jordan Taylor was forced from his car because of rules regarding the amount of time drivers can race. Dixon went on to win the 53rd running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway by 1.33 seconds over fellow IndyCar driver Sebastien Bourdais. Taylor stopped under caution with 10 minutes left and was replaced by brother Ricky Taylor because he had exceeded the time allotted for individual drivers. Dixon then stayed ahead of Bourdais after a restart with 7 minutes remaining. Dixon, the three-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner, stalked Taylor during the late hours of the annual sports car race on the Daytona road course. With 38 minutes left, Dixon put the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford-powered Riley back in front of Taylor's No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP after both drivers made their final pit stops. Dixon, who was teamed with fellow IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan and NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, recorded his third victory in the Rolex 24. He also was part of Ganassi teams that won in 2006 and 2008. Kanaan, who won the 2013 Indianapolis 400, McMurray, who won the 2010 Daytona 500, and Larson, who was named 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie of the year, took home their first Rolex championship. Just three cars the Ganassi No. 02, the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP driven by Bourdais, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi and the WTR No. 10 were on the lead lap at the end of the race. The No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP shared by Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller finished fourth, six laps behind. The No. 3 Corvette Racing entry driven by Ryan Briscoe, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia won the GT Le Mans class and finished fifth overall. Colin Braun was leading the Prototype Challenge class and running ninth overall when his No. 54 CORE autosport Chevy-powered ORECA FLM09 spun, hit the wall and burst into flames. Braun escaped and was not injured, but Tom Kimber-Smith went on to win the PC class and finish ninth overall in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09. The No. 93 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT driven by Ben Keating, Dominik Farnbacher, Al Carter, Kuno Wittmer and Cameron Lawrence won the GT Daytona class and finished 13th overall. Follow Olson on Twitter @jeffolson77
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sports
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The big day has finally arrived. Your adorable, sweet child has turned into an angsty, sarcastic teenager. Unfortunately, no one has written What To Expect When You're Expecting a Teen , leaving you clueless and, to be honest, a little scared. We wish we could tell you the teen years will be fun and filled with joy, but then we'd be lying. Find out what you have to look forward to for the next seven years (it's more than pimples and periods ). Your child has gone from someone sweet to someone scary. Source: Muse Productions Suddenly, you're to blame for everything. Source: Disney Learn what else to expect when raising a teen.
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lifestyle
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The New York Public Library recently started an Instagram series featuring questions that people posed to librarians in the days before Google. Apparently, librarians stored the more interesting queries for decades. So far, the series has featured etiquette questions ("When one has guests, who kisses whom first?" someone asked in 1946) and a health and science inquiry from 1962 ("What is the gestation period of human beings in days?"). As antiquated as this analog method seems, millions of people in jails and prisons with no Internet access still rely on librarians for answers that could be found in seconds online. In an office building near the NYPL's central library, with big windows looking out on the famous marble lions, a team of four people answers questions from inmates through the library's Correctional Services Program. The program started decades ago and now runs lending libraries in prisons and publishes a guidebook to help people upon release . Responding to as many as 60 weekly letters isn't an official service, but it seems to be growing in popularity. "By word of mouth we get more and more every year," says librarian Sarah Ball, who supervises the program. Most questions 84 percent, responders say come from facilities in New York state; the rest arrive from all over the country. Many have to do with life after incarceration, but others speak to the interests and curiosities of the more than 6.8 million people behind bars in the U.S. One, for example, wanted to know how to grow potatoes and start a farm. Another wanted to eventually start a diaper business and sought consumer data. There have been questions about the power of healing crystals, trumpet playing and Wiccan priesthood certification. There have also been many, many requests for baseball statistics, and one frequent writer always asks for rap song lyrics. Some letters have included personal stories and illustrations; some were written in pencil on toilet paper. "It's long overdue that we haven't found some kind of system where people can have access to the Internet [in prison]," Ball says. A 2009 survey found that correctional facilities in only four states Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas and Louisiana permitted some Internet access to inmates, though in all cases it was limited. In Kansas, only minimum-security inmates had access. In Louisiana, the Internet was only available to inmates within 45 days of release and for the purpose of job searches. Federal prisons have increased access in recent years. Since 2009, those facilities have allowed inmates to send and receive emails through a system called TRULINCS. They can only correspond with approved individuals, and messages are subject to monitoring. Incarcerated people write letters like this one to the New York Public Library. Deborah Rabina As the pile of letters at the NYPL grows responding can take a month or two Ball's team has enlisted the help of students at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science. Two professors there just began their fourth semester of having students respond to the inmate questions. The process of answering usually starts with Google, associate professor Deborah Rabina says, and then students move on to resources such as newspaper archives and public records. Rabina and Emily Drabinski, a visiting assistant professor, have written an article about their experience answering the letters that will appear later this year in the online journal Reference and User Services Quarterly . The professors found that almost half of the requests (44 percent) were general reference questions, 35 percent had to do with reintegrating back into society (such as the location of halfway houses) and 21 percent were "self-help" questions (information that would improve people's time behind bars, such as regarding inmates' rights). The only questions the folks at NYPL and Pratt won't answer, they say, are requests for personal contact information or legal advice. Ball says their page limit for responses is 10, but they use the fronts and backs and try to fit in as many words as possible. While many of the questions have to do with hobbies and preoccupations, the lack of Internet access has more significant implications. For one, people trying to get degrees while behind bars are at a disadvantage when it comes to research materials. Also, missing out on technological advances while in prison makes reintegrating into the real world more challenging. "People need to have practice using the Internet, just to get back into the swing of things when they're released," Ball says. Rabina agrees: "If you want people to successfully reintegrate into society upon their release, being able to have access to this service is essential." Students behind bars have an especially hard time. In order to obtain a Bard College degree, the incarcerated people participating in the Bard Prison Initiative must complete research papers that can run more than 100 pages. With no Internet access, those students rely on "research assistants" who must bring to the prisons paper materials that are subject to search. The reference question letters seem to be unique to New York. In other states, where prison populations are greater, librarians say they have received such questions from inmates, but the requests are less common and they have no team devoted to responding. The director of branch library services at the Los Angeles Public Library says its reference staff receives only 20 or 30 reference question letters from inmates per year. A spokeswoman for the Phoenix Public Library says it receives around one a month, and its policy is not to answer any mailed reference questions, regardless of the origin. Nicholas Higgins, Ball's predecessor at the NYPL and now director of outreach services at Brooklyn Public Library, which also receives letters from inmates, says he believes incarcerated people write them not only for reference answers but also "as a human connection, some sort of outlet to have that conversation with people who are willing to listen and respond." A library is meant to "allow access to information to everybody in your community," Higgins says, adding that correctional facilities too often are "a system that resists that sort of access to information."
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news
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It was only a matter of time before someone spun the "Uber for __" wheel and landed on WEED. More and more states are voting in favor of legalization . Congress recently instructed the feds to back off medical marijuana. Peter Thiel's venture capital fund just bet millions that legal cannabis is gonna be huge . Why not pair pot with our newfound appetite for on-demand delivery via smartphone? "Uber for weed" was so inevitable that at least six startups attempting to deliver medical marijuana to your door launched in the past eight months: Eaze, Nestdrop, Meadow, Grassp, Time for Dave, and Canary. That doesn't include standard offerings like the " dozens " of delivery services in Seattle, for example, that will let you call in and place an order. Even Uber itself has partnered with Weedmaps, a popular dispensary locator, as well as a Denver-based pot shop called the Clinic, in order to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. Would you believe there's something in it for Uber, too? The partnership lets Uber sow the seeds for its rumored API, which would insert a "Get an Uber" button into every app on Earth. The only thing more obvious than the demand for these apps is the inevitable crackdown. Imagine Uber's bitter clashes with city governments and then factor in the political pressure around a federally controlled substance. Last month, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge shut down Nestdrop , which tried to argue that its weed delivery app was "simply a communication technology" just as Uber used to argue that it was a tech company that didn't own any cars. Before the ruling against Nestdrop, LA's city attorney publicly announced his intention to squash the startup . Time for Dave was supposed to launch in Seattle last month, but try to download the app in the Google Play store and you'll find the link has been disabled for "violating our Terms of Service." Meanwhile, Buzzfeed reports that Instagram and Apple's App Store have been heavily policing accounts by "ganjapreneurs." Silicon Valley fears being held liable, when laws vary from state to state and from medical to recreational use: "With a flick of a switch, a digital marijuana business can lose access to its entire customer base. Not just cannabis dispensaries, hash oil extractors, and edible makers, but any individual who posts a lot about weed or business that sells marijuana-related products, like Fairbrother's Medtainer." Canary, Seattle's most recent "Uber for weed" contender, is a good example of the next wave of pot startups hoping to side-step disjointed regulations and glide by legal gray areas while everyone is still confused by how the new rules will be enforced. The app, which was founded by two students from the University of Washington and launched earlier this month, has a slippery path. Washington Initiative 502 legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, but it bans delivery. And The Seattle Times makes the city sound as unwelcoming to weed apps as LA; Mayor Ed Murray promised a crackdown on marijuana delivery, while City Attorney Pete Holmes called the growing for-profit marijuana industry illegal. But Canary co-founders Josiah Tullis and Megh Vakharia claim they've found a way to get officials to leave them alone by using a strict verification process and the industry's favorite buzzword: "ancillary." (Since "ancillary" products and services don't touch the plant directly, there's less risk involved.) As a preventive measure, for example, Canary did a demo of the app for Murray's office before launching in Seattle and tried to emphasize that it is a tech company. Over the phone, Tullis told me it was "very similar to Postmates," the pricey delivery app that relies on independent contractors. The independent contractor defense hasn't insulated Uber and seems even shakier when there's weed involved. John Strait, an associate professor at Seattle University's law school explained the risk to the Times : "He said prosecutors could view Canary's actions as aiding and abetting or conspiracy. "The key will be whether they profit from the independent contractor's decision to break the law," Strait said." Nonetheless, Canary's verification process sounds relatively rigorous. To sign up, users have to send a photograph of their state ID, medical marijuana card, and collective garden agreement through the app. Then, some human at Canary calls the user's issuing doctor to make sure the user is verified. Even without the delivery aspect, Washington's laws are complicated. The state doesn't technically allow dispensaries, but there's a loophole that allows for " collective gardens ." Under the "collective garden" rule, medical marijuana can only be delivered by someone from the same collective, so Canary has its network of couriers sign up for all the partnering collectives when they start. Tullis also claims Canary is HIPAA compliant. ( Meadow , San Francisco's version of Canary, claims the same.) Tullis told me Canary already partnered with eight dispensaries during the few weeks it was in private beta. Businesses pay Canary $500 to create a digital storefront with product photos in the app. Users can search for and filter by things like flowers, edibles, and concentrate, and Canary takes a cut of sales driven through the app. Uber became a $40 billion behemoth while breaking the rules. Likewise, while politicians plan on turning the 2016 election into " the pot primary ," tech founders and investors are busy trying to make weed into the next premium consumer product . Tullis and Vakharia told me they got the idea after hearing a local venture capitalist from Kinzer Capital talk about investing in the cannabis industry. A couple days before Canary launched, Founders Fund, the firm co-founded by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, participated in a $75 million round of fundraising for Privateer Holdings, a Seattle-based private equity company that invests in marijuana businesses. At the time of the announcement, Founders Fund partner Geoff Lewis, who initially discovered Privateer, told The Verge that the legal cannabis industry was "complex," but "will become an incredibly important and profitable industry within the next decade," adding: "Privateer only operates in jurisdictions where cannabis is fully legal, in contrast to many other players in the space that, until recently, have operated illegally. The company's ability to successfully navigate the regulatory complexities in this space over the last 4.5 years was a big differentiator from other companies we looked at." Canary's co-founders sped up the process a little. Once they had the idea, the students taught themselves a 10-month "crash course" in regulations. Tullis thinks proactively involving regulators will help them avoid the same fate as Nestdrop, which wasn't "very transparent," he said. Tullis estimated that half the people with medical marijuana cards are using them recreationally. But Washington's focus right now, he said, is illegal delivery to unauthorized patients. "We're very low priority to them." In fact, Vakharia seems less concerned with the law and more concerned with Canary's image as a "lifestyle brand." The marijuana industry is going to look different in five or 10 years, and "brands are going to have to rise up" and meet artisanal expectations. That means "no Bob Marley, no pot leaves, no joints. I guess no throwback to what pot was five years ago or what it will be five years from now," Vakharia said. Privateer is taking a more traditional approach. In November the company launched a global pot brand "based on the legacy of Bob Marley." Either way, Founders Fund will be just fine. By investing an unspecified number of " multimillions " in Privateer, the firm has already associated itself with venture capital's next Bitcoin; where the potential upside is so big, the volatility is worth it. They're not regular VCs, they're the cool VCs .
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finance
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The World Health Organization's chief on Sunday admitted the UN agency had been caught napping on Ebola and pledged reforms to avoid similar mistakes in future. Despite turning a corner in the fight against Ebola, there was no room for complacency, WHO head Margaret Chan told a rare emergency session of the agency. Chan acknowledged blistering criticism that WHO's response to the epidemic had been slow and shoddy and called for a revamp of its crisis management techniques. "This was west Africa's first experience with the virus and it delivered some horrific shocks and surprises," she said. "The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us," she told delegates at only the third emergency session in the history of the WHO. "The data tell us we have bent the curve and avoided the worst-case scenario," she said. "Ebola is a tragedy that has taught the world, including WHO, many lessons also about how to prevent similar events in the future," she said. "Never again should the world be caught by surprise, unprepared." Chan also told AFP that "the priority in 2015 is to help countries get the Ebola rate down to zero." - $100-mln contingency fund - A resolution adopted at the end of the session called for the creation of a war chest to fight future epidemics with Britain immediately pledging $10 million (nine million euros). Chan said the overall aim was to create a contingency fund of $100 million, which would be "a good starting point". Other measures agreed upon included faster recruitment and deployment of frontline workers in future emergencies, the development of "quality, safe, effective and affordable vaccines and treatments", and streamlining and strengthening the WHO's response with the naming of a WHO special representative to coordinate and oversee the Ebola fight. The worst outbreak of the virus in history has seen nearly 9,000 deaths in a year -- almost all in the three west African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- and sparked a major health scare worldwide. "Countries must be supported to have their own workforce for responding to emergencies, trained and drilled to perform with military precision," Chan said. - Criticism - David Nabarro, the UN's Ebola coordinator, said "responses must be strategic, strong and speedy" in the future, acknowledging "weaknesses" in the global action against the epidemic. But he noted a string of generous contributions in funds, expertise and help in building up the creaky health infrastructure of the worst-hit countries, singling out Britain, China, France, the United States as well as the African Union and the west African regional bloc ECOWAS. The WHO still came in for criticism from delegates at the conference. "Too many times the technical is overruled by the political in WHO, we have to revise that," said Tom Frieden, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The WHO we have is not the WHO we need," he said. The conference also heard from Sierra Leonean nurse Rebecca Johnson, who survived the disease after a four-week treatment in December. Johnson said she could not walk or talk and nearly went blind. "But I have recovered my sight," she said. Despite her recovery, Johnson said she was "stigmatised and am still stigmatised by some people in my community." "I sometimes go to a (lonely) place and cry," she said, but ended her speech with a message of hope. "Ebola is not the end of the world. Ebola can be beaten."
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health
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Emmanuel Sanders can't wait to get his chances at burning Aqib Talib in tonight's Pro Bowl. It's kind of a Denver Broncos thing that carries over from spirited competition on the practice field. "I've got him in practice," Sanders, a fifth-year receiver in his first Pro Bowl, told USA TODAY Sports. "But it will be more fun in a game." The NFL scrapped the traditional setup of conference all-star teams for a second consecutive year. The squads captained and named after Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Michael Irvin were formulated in a schoolyard-style draft on Wednesday. Matchups pitting teammates is one several tweaks instituted for the Pro Bowl that the league hopes will increase competition. Other potential teammate-on-teammate matchups include Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers, Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts facing D'Qwell Jackson Vontae Davis, and DeMarcus Ware against Broncos tackle Ryan Clady. The 8 p.m. ET game at The University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will be telecast by ESPN. "The game is on national TV," Sanders said. "You want to represent. I want to look good." While the intensity of the competition in a Pro Bowl will never approach that of a regular-season game you'd think that a player would hesitate to deliver a blow that might injure a teammate the NFL has incorporated a few tweaks that have moved the needle. For years, the NFL has lamented the lack of competition in the all-star games, to the point that Commissioner Roger Goodell has even publicly mused about not having a Pro Bowl because of it. Last year's game was promising in that it went down to the wire, with Team (Jerry) Rice edging Team (Deion) Sanders, 22-21. "They got a good game last year, and I think this year they're going to get another good one," Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, playing for Team Carter, told USA TODAY Sports. "I think the draft creates good competition, because it's like schoolyard ball. Guys get picked to a team, and if you don't get picked, guys get a little upset and play harder on Sunday." The rules changes installed specifically for the Pro Bowl also add intrigue. Among them: • There will be a two-minute warning at the end of each quarter, with possessions not carrying over at the end of the first and third quarters. That means more hurry-up drives. • Each team will get two timeouts per quarter, rather than three per half. • The goal posts are narrowed, 14 feet wide as opposed to 18 feet. • The scrimmage line for extra-points are moved to the 15-yard line, rather than the 2-yard line, making for kicks equivalent to 33-yard field goals. • The 40-second play clock is reduced to 35 seconds. • No kickoffs. Possessions will start at the 20-yard line. • Defenses can play Cover 2 and press techniques which were previously disallowed in Pro Bowls. There's also the money, which has always been a potential motivator. Players from the winning squad will receive $55,000, versus $28,000 for participants on the losing team. "The first half may be a little sluggish, but then it's about winning," Hilton told USA TODAY Sports. "Guys will pick up the intensity and start playing." Another tweak that may fuel competition: Rather than the singular Pro MVP award that always went to an offensive star, there are now two awards an offensive MVP and a defensive MVP. Said Watt, alluding to the MVP prizes, "Who doesn't want a new truck?" PHOTOS: One great photo from every Super Bowl in history
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sports
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We all love a rumour and the football world has more than most. Remember though they are just rumours not promises or even true! Transfer rumours are always fun and those of us in the UK have only just over a week to go until Sky Sports brilliant Transfer Deadline Day show. To keep up with the spirit we are going to post all the days crazy transfer rumours leading up to the close of the window for your comments. Villarreal have agreed a deal in principle with Arsenal for centre back Gabriel Paulista . With the Gunners clearly needing more options at the position if not a replacement Per Mertesacker , this seems a good move to secure the top four target. Arsenal will need to secure a work permit first with Arsene Wenger saying it made the deal a 50-50 chance of happening. I'd think the deal has a much higher chance than that myself. Rumours are that Joel Campbell has gone the other way as part of the deal. Samuel Eto'o has completed his medical for a move to Sampdoria . Eto'o who moved to Everton on a free transfer just five months ago reportedly accepted a 40% pay cut to join the Serie A side, showing you just where the Serie A sides are in the financial stakes nowadays. The fantastically named Memphis Depay is the man in a middle of a bidding war between Manchester United and Tottenham. 11 goals and 3 assist this season for the youngster who so impressed in the World Cup has seen his value increase to 15m, a bargain for whoever wins that race. Aston Villa star Fabien Delph has signed a new 4 and a half year deal with the club. With Liverpool's reported interest Villa have done well. They keep their influential midfield man and get to sell him at a much higher price if Liverpool's interest returns in the summer. Reports in the Sunday papers had Raheem Sterling turning down Liverpool's latest contract offer with interest from Chelsea and Real Madrid . A couple hours after breakfast and his agent stated nothing was turned down but negotiations were ongoing. Sterling is rightly looking for the contract his potential offers and Liverpool will want this one sorted prior to the summer window to move forward with the rebuild job started last summer. Stall
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THE FIRST WORD: What does it take to be No. 1? This season it would take Kentucky underachieving and very steady improvement from someone else. Arizona has done the latter and while there are several teams ranked ahead of the Wildcats, it's fair to say this team is hitting its stride and rising to title-contending status here in late January. Last season around this time, the Wildcats were dealt their first loss, knocking them off their then-No. 1 perch. Arizona had peaked early, before the season-ending injury to Brandon Ashley derailed the momentum. Teams want to be peaking in February and March, and Arizona is well on its way to doing so. And the Wildcats are peaking later than they did last season before staging an Elite Eight run that left them one possession away from the Final Four. Every team hits adversity we saw it with Kentucky in two near-losses and with Duke in back-to-back losses. Arizona has two losses, at UNLV on Dec. 23 and at Oregon State on Jan. 11. But following a demolition of its top challenger Utah on Jan. 17 and road victories at Stanford and California, it's about time we start throwing title contender in front of Arizona. Isn't it? Arizona lost two players to the NBA (Nick Johnson and Aaron Gordon), but the Wildcats look at least as good if not better than last year's team. Stanley Johnson (15 ppg, 7 rpg) might be the best freshman in the country not named Jahlil Okafor. Athletic forwards Brandon Ashley and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson give Arizona versatility few teams can match. And T.J. McConnell (9.0 ppg, 5.9 apg, 4.0 rpg) might be nation's best point guard. "We want to put ourselves in the best position to be a No. 1 seed in the tournament," Johnson said after Arizona's 73-50 win at Cal . "I don't think we can drop any more games on the road or at home. So we're going to try to do our best. I think we're getting better every day, every shootaround. We're going to try and run it out." Arizona is positioned to join Kentucky and Virginia as No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats have beaten No. 3 Gonzaga and have better a résumé than Wisconsin, Duke and Villanova. QUOTE TO NOTE: "You almost feel like you are watching them grow up right in front of you," Kansas coach Bill Self said about his team's evolution following a pivotal 75-62 road victory at Texas , which catapulted the 10-time defending champion Jayhawks to the top of standings in the deep Big 12. TWEET THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES: In the biggest upset Saturday, basement team Texas Tech stunned Iowa State 78-73 . Meanwhile, Baylor beat Oklahoma 69-58 in a top 25 Big 12 clash, West Virginia escaped TCU 86-85 in a wild overtime game and Kansas State upended Oklahoma State 63-53. Just another crazy outcome in the loaded Big 12. *** BIGGEST SURPRISE: Wisconsin clipped Michigan 69-65 in overtime on Saturday, an unexpected result considering the Badgers' strength as the top team in the Big Ten and the fact that the Wolverines are without top player Caris LeVert, who suffered a season-ending injury last week. Derrick Walton Jr. provided the heroics to force overtime in this thriller, making a game-tying three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left. *** NUMBER: 36. How many games Gonzaga has won in a row at home. The Bulldogs' 91-60 victory against Pacific is just another sign of how potent and loaded this team is this season. Of course, the life of a mid-major is not an easy one. It will be nearly impossible for us to gauge the 'Zags' ceiling until March with the lack of competition in the West Coast Conference. That's always been the case, but perhaps it's more intriguing this year with many sharing the belief that this is coach Mark Few's best team, which is saying something considering the incredible squads of years' past. CONFERENCE RACE SPOTLIGHT: Following Saturday's wild night (Arkansas defeated Missouri 61-60, LSU beat Vanderbilt 79-75 in OT, Alabama edged Auburn 57-55 and Texas A&M got past Tennessee 67-61), there are five teams (Arkansas, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M and Tennessee) with 4-2 records in second place in the SEC. Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida are 3-3. The league has an obvious projected champion in Kentucky (which rolled 58-43 on Saturday against South Carolina), but the race for second will be a doozy. CONFERENCE RACE SPOTLIGHT, TAKE 2: Colorado State's 79-73 win against San Diego State (fueled by J.J. Avila's 29 points) on Saturday just made the Mountain West Conference race a whole lot more cloudy. The Aztecs, Rams and Fresno State are all 5-2, while challengers Wyoming, New Mexico are still close behind. Not sure parity will benefit this league in the NCAA tournament selection committee's eyes, but it will be a fun race to watch. STAR WATCH: Nebraska's Terran Petteway wasn't picked as the Big Ten preseason player of the year for nothing. His 32 points Saturday helped lifted the Cornhuskers to a much-needed 79-77 victory against Michigan State, which keeps Nebraska (12-7, 4-3) in the discussion for NCAA tourney-worthy teams. THE HIGHLIGHT REEL: Wyoming edged out New Mexico 63-62 in overtime in a down-to-the-wire affair. Larry Nancy Jr. was again the star of the show. *** THE HIGHLIGHT REEL, TAKE 2: Georgetown went on to beat Marquette 95-85 in overtime in a thriller. Matt Carlino forced OT with this clutch bucket. *** BIGGEST RÉSUMÉ STAINS: Saturday's losses that hurt the most.
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FALL RIVER, Mass. Aaron Hernandez once seemed to be a man with a bright future. At age 23 he had a Super Bowl appearance under his belt and a $40 million contract as a star tight end with the New England Patriots. He and his fiancee had started a family, living in a mansion in the Boston suburbs with their 8-month-old daughter. This week, prosecutors will paint a different picture of Hernandez: they will portray him as a killer who orchestrated the shooting of semiprofessional football player Odin Lloyd. Hernandez was arrested days after Lloyd's bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial park near his North Attleborough mansion. He has pleaded not guilty and, after more than two weeks of jury selection, his trial is expected to kick off in earnest this week with opening statements. The case will be laid out in the courtroom just as Hernandez's old team prepares for Sunday's Super Bowl, the Patriots' first appearance since 2012, when Hernandez caught a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XLVI. The Patriots cut him less than two hours after he was arrested. Hernandez, now 25, is also charged with killing two men in Boston in 2012 because he felt disrespected after one of them spilled a drink on him at a nightclub. He pleaded not guilty after being charged in those shootings in May, and the case has not yet gone to trial. Lloyd, 27, played for the Boston Bandits football team and was dating the sister of Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez's fiancee. Prosecutors say he and Hernandez were friendly and had been at a nightclub together a couple of days before he was killed. Prosecutors have said Hernandez and two friends from his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut, picked up Lloyd at his home in Boston's Dorchester section around 2:30 a.m. on June 17, 2013. Those men, Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace, have also pleaded not guilty to murder charges and will be tried separately. From Dorchester, prosecutors say the four men drove to North Attleborough in a rented Nissan Altima, stopping along the way to buy bubble gum at a gas station. An hour after he left his house, prosecutors say Lloyd was dead, shot multiple times by a .45-caliber Glock. They have not said who pulled the trigger, but say Hernandez orchestrated the killing. The murder weapon has never been found. Prosecutors have said toll booth, video surveillance, GPS and cellphone records clearly place Hernandez in the car with Lloyd at the time of his murder, and have said video from the security system inside Hernandez's own home shows him walking through his house with a gun minutes after the killing. Christopher Dearborn, a professor at Suffolk University Law School, says that while the Bristol County District Attorney's office has a lot of circumstantial evidence, its challenge is to offer a motive to jurors. Prosecutors have said a possible motive was that Hernandez may have showed Lloyd the spot where the 2012 shooting took place. But Bristol County Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh last month ruled they may not introduce anything having to do with the 2012 killing in the Lloyd murder trial. The lack of a clear motive is the biggest weakness in the prosecution's case, Dearborn said. "You need to give a jury a reason why, or they're going to have pause," Dearborn said. "I don't think they have a motive that they can present in concrete fashion with witnesses that can support a motive." Hernandez's legal team is likely to focus on the holes, Dearborn said. "We don't have a weapon. We don't have a confession. We don't have eyewitnesses," he said. Hernandez's team does not have to offer a defense or explanation, or even deliver an opening statement. But Dearborn said he expects to hear one. "They will absolutely have to have their own narrative," he said. "That narrative will probably suggest alternatives." Jenkins, Hernandez's fiancee has been charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury including when she said she could not remember what she did with a box prosecutors believe she disposed of after getting what they called a coded message from Hernandez. She has pleaded not guilty. In the run-up to the trial, Jenkins was often seen in court, and the judge this month granted a request from Hernandez's legal team that she be allowed to attend the trial to support him even though she is listed as a potential prosecution witness. But two days before the trial began, the district attorney petitioned the judge to grant Jenkins immunity, which would compel her to testify. The court has not said yet whether it was granted. Jenkins has not been seen in the courtroom since.
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Arsene Wenger says Arsenal is "very, very, very close" to making Gabriel Paulista its second signing of the January transfer window. Goal UK reported last week that the Gunners were in advanced talks for the centre-back with the Brazilian's agent in London to try to finalize a deal worth up to 20 million euro for the Villarreal defender. Wenger, speaking after Arsenal's 3-2 win over Brighton in the FA Cup, now expects confirmation of Gabriel's arrival to come on Monday. When asked on reports the deal is close, Wenger told reporters: "They are accurate, it's very very very close. It should be done I think tomorrow. "[He is] a player who's 24 years old, good size, good pace and a good defender. He plays for only one year in Europe so maybe there are some things to work on but the potential is there." There have been concerns over Gabriel's work permit application to play in the Premier League having yet to feature for Brazil at any international level, but Wenger is confident of no hold-ups in completing the move. He added: "We will be all right on that front."
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TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. The Marines Corps has identified two pilots killed when their helicopter crashed during a training exercise in Southern California. The Marines said Sunday that Capt. Elizabeth Kealey and 1st Lt. Adam Satterfield died from their injuries in the crash Friday at the Twentynine Palms Marine base. The pilots were the only two people onboard the UH-1Y Huey helicopter. Lt. Col. James M. Isaacs, commanding officer of their squadron, says the two were outstanding officers and talented pilots. Kealey, 32, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, was commissioned in 2005 and had earned several awards and medals. She was deployed once in Afghanistan. Satterfield, 25, of Oldham, Kentucky, was commissioned in 2011 and supported training operations in Southern California. Both pilots were based at Camp Pendleton. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
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Rafael Nadal looked back to his best after recent problems as exciting Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios won a memorable five-setter to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Sunday. Spain's world number three Nadal mastered big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to set up a last eight showdown with Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych. It will be Nadal's eighth quarter-final appearance as he bids for his second Australian title after losing to Stan Wawrinka in last year's decider. Nadal, who won the Open in 2009, showed no signs of the cramps and dizzy spells he suffered when taken to five sets by American Tim Smyczek in the second round as he starts hitting top form. "After a tough period of time for me it's a fantastic result and I'm very happy with the way I played today," he said. "It was probably my best match here this year so that's very important for me and very special." Berdych was too strong for Australia's Bernard Tomic, winning in straight sets. Berdych, a semi-finalist last year, had too much power for the 66th-ranked Tomic to win 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in 2hr 1min, taking his record against the Australian to 3-0. He has now made the quarters for the third straight year without losing a set. "I was feeling good on the court. It's not easy, the crowd was great but they're on the other side," Berdych said. "I'm not complaining about it, but I'm just saying that was the set-up of today's match. I'm happy with the way I handled it and glad to be in the quarter-finals." - High emotion - There was high emotion on Hisense Arena as local teen Kyrgios roared back from match point down to overhaul Roger Federer's conquerer Andreas Seppi in five sets. The 53rd-ranked Kyrgios defeated the 46th-ranked Italian 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) 8-6 and will play Andy Murray in the final eight. Kyrgios fought off a match point at 5-6 in the fourth set and went on to force a tiebreaker before downing Seppi in a titanic fifth set in front of a charged home crowd. It will be the second quarter-final inside a year for the 19-year-old after he reached the last eight at Wimbledon, becoming the first male teen to reach multiple Grand Slam quarter-finals since Federer in 2001. "When I saw I had finally won the match it was incredible. It was the best feeling I ever had," Kyrgios said. "To know the body could come back from two sets to love, knowing I haven't had matches, it's just massive confidence." Murray rode his luck to fight back and win an engrossing four-setter over Grigor Dimitrov in the night match on Rod Laver Arena. Sixth seed Murray beat the 10th seeded Bulgarian 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5 to set up his intriguing showdown with Kyrgios. The British star showed fantastic fighting qualities to claw back from 2-5 down in the fourth set to deny the Bulgarian 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 partisan home crowd when he takes on Kyrgios on Tuesday.
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CLEVELAND -- After getting his American League Cy Young Award in New York Saturday night, Corey Kluber was back in Cleveland late Sunday morning and made an appearance at Tribe Fest. Kluber, along with catcher Yan Gomes, were given the option of returning to their offseason homes after Saturday's banquet but chose to return to Cleveland for the final day of Tribe Fest. The Indians entourage to New York also included pitching coach Mickey Callaway, manager Terry Francona and general manager Chris Antonetti. Kluber's wife, Amanda, his parents and agent also attended. "I'd say it probably has been (a little surreal). I think last night was probably maybe like it all coming to a head -- getting to sit up at a table with all those award winners and past players, things like that," Kluber said. "It was very cool to have a chance to not only sit at a table with, but have a chance to meet and talk a little bit with people like Cal Ripken and Sandy Koufax. Legends of the game." Kluber received his award from John Smoltz, who will be part of this year's Baseball Hall of Fame class. Kluber did get to present the NL Rookie of the Year award to fellow Stetson alum and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom. The awards were presented during the Baseball Writers Association of America's annual dinner in New York. In winning the award, Kluber is the fourth Cy Young winner in franchise history, joining Gaylord Perry (1972), C.C. Sabathia (2007) and Cliff Lee (2008). The Indians are the first team since the Blue Jays (1996-2003) to have three different Cy Young winners within an eight-year span. "I think I have a grasp of it now," Kluber said. "Not to downplay it at all. I think the coolest part about last night was just getting to sit at (the table with) and be recognized along with all those other people." Gomes didn't find out until a couple days before Tribe Fest that he was also getting to attend. Like Kluber, Gomes was also a little in awe of who else was at the event. Gomes added: "I was like a little kid. I was too nervous to talk to anybody, really. ... Oh my gosh. We were sitting up there watching from (Sandy) Koufax to Willie Mays and Frank Robinson and all these guys. You're seeing Cal Ripken sitting up there. It was an amazing experience and I'm very thankful." When asked about the possibility of a new contract for Kluber, Indians president Mark Shapiro said that it is something they will start to assess when spring training starts. Kluber made $524,000 this season which included a $10,000 incentive for winning the Cy Young. As the ace of the staff, Kluber is one of the hardest workers on the team. But he will also turn 29 on April 10, which is the Tribe's home opener against Detroit. "You look at contracts and you say, 'Can we find that point where we're both comfortable with the shared risk?' We don't know that right now. That's something that we'll have to look at," Shapiro said. "'Can we find that point where Corey is comfortable with his risk and the amount of money he might be giving up should he go through the process year to year, and we're comfortable with our risk and what it means to commit those dollars over an extended period of time? But he has all the precursors that we would look for to enter into a multi-year agreement." It has been a whirlwind week for Kluber, who also was honored as the Best Professional Athlete in Cleveland during Thursday's Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. Despite the busy schedule Kluber said he has fun coming to Tribe Fest because it marks only a couple weeks until spring training. "You're already excited about getting going. And then you get back here and you see how excited fans are, and you get to see your teammates. Things like that, it just adds that extra level to where, when you do get to Arizona, it's almost like you can't wait," he said.
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(Bloomberg) -- The average price of regular gasoline at U.S. pumps dropped 13.3 cents to $2.0691 a gallon, as the plunge may be abating, according to Lundberg Survey Inc. Prices are $1.2422 lower than a year ago, according to the survey, which is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations during the two weeks ended Jan. 23 by the Camarillo, California-based company. Gasoline prices may be nearing a trough after falling in every Lundberg survey since July. Declines have lost steam and prices will be hitting a bottom soon unless there is a renewed plunge in crude oil prices, according to Trilby Lundberg, the president of Lundberg Survey. "In the past 10 days, the wholesale prices that gasoline marketers and retailers pay are up," Lundberg said in a telephone interview. "Retail prices will most likely be bottoming soon, if they haven't already." The highest price for gasoline in the lower 48 states among the markets surveyed was in San Francisco, at $2.54 a gallon, Lundberg said. The lowest price was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where customers paid an average $1.73 a gallon. Regular gasoline averaged $2.33 a gallon on Long Island, New York, and $2.42 in Los Angeles. Crude Prices West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark priced in Cushing, Oklahoma, declined $2.77, or 5.7 percent, to $45.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the two weeks to Jan. 23. Prices have fallen 58 percent since June 20. U.S. oil output fell to 9.186 million barrels a day in the week ended Jan. 16, after reaching 9.192 million Jan. 9, the highest level in weekly Energy Information Administration data dating back to 1983. U.S. production has increased 70 percent in five years as companies have used horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to tap into hydrocarbon-rich layers of underground shale rock. Crude oil remained below $50 after Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said he would maintain Saudi Arabia's energy policies after taking over as king following his predecessor's death on Jan. 22. Oil has slumped about 36 percent since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' Nov. 27 accord to maintain production at 30 million barrels a day amid a glut caused in part by the fastest U.S. output in three decades. King Abdullah oversaw a fivefold expansion in the size of the Arab world's biggest economy and met the Arab Spring with a mixture of force and largesse. He died after almost a decade on the throne. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, who led OPEC's November decision to defend market share against surging U.S. shale supplies, remains in his post, according to state-run Saudi Press Agency. With production of 9.5 million barrels a day and exports of 7 million, Saudi Arabia accounts for more than 10 percent of global supply and a fifth of crude sold internationally. Refineries processed 14.9 million barrels of oil a day in the week of Jan. 16, the lowest level since October 2013 and down 9.2 percent in just two weeks. Related News and Information: Oil's Advance Seen Fleeting After Saudi King's Death Amid Glut Top Energy Stories: ETOP Top gasoline stories: NI GASOLINE To contact the reporters on this story: Dan Murtaugh in Houston at [email protected]; Jessica Summers in New York at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at [email protected] Richard Stubbe, Richard Bravo
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English DJ and producer Mark Ronson on Sunday became the first act of 2015 to top both the British singles and album charts at the same time, the Official Charts Company said. Ronson's track "Uptown Funk", featuring Hawaii-born singer Bruno Mars, took the top spot for a sixth week, while his fourth studio album "Uptown Special" was a new entry in the number one spot. U.S. singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor was the highest climber in the singles chart, jumping 48 places to number two with "Lips Are Movin'" and leaving Hozier's "Take Me To Church" a non-mover in third place. In the album charts, Fall Out Boy were a new entry in second place with "American Beauty/American Psycho", outsold by Ronson by less than 1,900 copies. Ed Sheeran's "X" and Sam Smith's "In The Lonely Hour" both dropped one spot to third and fourth respectively. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
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Look, we embrace the way food culture has emerged as its own huge world. We'll be the first ones to jump on a cronut, we enjoy making ricotta from scratch, and the toast that accompanies it, we try to shop at the farmers' market for fresh local produce when we can, and we try to eat healthfully in general and not scarf too much sugar (within reason). But, some of our fondest childhood food memories involve packaged (and yes, probably processed) noms and we have no plans to mind-erase those pleasures.The truth is, though it feels virtuous (and genuinely good) to prepare and cook with and eat whole foods like kale, sometimes what we really crave is Jacked Doritos or old-school peanut M&Ms. We took a walk down memory lane to revisit some of our favorite snacks from childhood (and just a couple of items that we couldn't resist when we saw them in the supermarket). Join us for the jaunt, read up on a little back story about these foods, and then share your favorite childhood "junk" food memories or just what snack you're craving right now in the comments section below. Look, we embrace the way food culture has emerged as its own huge world. We'll be the first ones to jump on a cronut, we enjoy making ricotta from scratch, and the toast that accompanies it, we try to shop at the farmers' market for fresh local produce when we can, and we try to eat healthfully in general and not scarf too much sugar (within reason). But, some of our fondest childhood food memories involve packaged (and yes, probably processed) noms and we have no plans to mind-erase those pleasures.The truth is, though it feels virtuous (and genuinely good) to prepare and cook with and eat whole foods like kale, sometimes what we really crave is Jacked Doritos or old-school peanut M&Ms. We took a walk down memory lane to revisit some of our favorite snacks from childhood (and just a couple of items that we couldn't resist when we saw them in the supermarket). Join us for the jaunt, read up on a little back story about these foods, and then share your favorite childhood "junk" food memories or just what snack you're craving right now in the comments section below. SpaghettiOs SpaghettiOs came on the market in 1965. The 'O' was reportedly generated after a study of what shape pasta could be eaten least messily (rejected ideas were cowboys, Indians, spacemen, and stars). We await a handmade pasta O. Hostess cupcakes Long before New York City's Magnolia Bakery helped launch the national cupcake craze in the 1990s, Hostess cupcakes presented a little bit of dessert perfection: plush chocolate cake filled with the sweetest white fluff, topped with a firm shell of icing and that signature white swirl. In the early years of Hostess (around the '20s), they also reportedly offered a malted milk flavored icing. Bring that back! Lunchables Lunchables, a tidy package of bologna circles, cheese squares, and round buttery crackers, have spoken to mothers pressed for time since their arrival in 1985. Regardless of your feelings on packaged lunches, we can all get behind a meal composed entirely of charcuterie and cheese. Spam Spam essentially canned pork shoulder became a mainstay of the U.S. military's diet during World War II when food preservation was an issue. Nowadays, homemade and small-batch pork terrines and pates are the territory of foodies all over (and we're more than a little giddy at the mention of a pork shoulder). White Wonder bread White Wonder bread is reportedly one of the first breads to be sold pre-sliced, leading to the phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread." (In 2010, a whole wheat version finally came to market.) However, we think the original just feels naked without marshmallow fluff and peanut butter in tow. Pop Ups There's something so satisfying about a frozen dessert that you eat gradually, pushing it up as you make progress. Smaller ice cream shops across America now offer push-up ice cream and popsicles in an array of sophisticated adult flavors, like Vietnamese iced coffee and mango lemongrass yet sometimes we just long for the original Orange Burst. Hostess Donettes Powdered Mini Donuts The package copy for Hostess Donettes Powdered Mini Donuts includes the phrase "sweet rings of beauty." We truly couldn't have said it better ourselves. These are safest enjoyed alone/when you don't have to worry about dusting off the loose powder off your work ensemble. Easy Cheese Easy Cheese can be entertaining for both children and wistful adults, and as a bonus time-saver, you won't need fancy cheese-label markers or utensils to enjoy it. Admit it, you're guilty of spraying this bright orange goo straight into your mouth. Crackers are always optional.
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US President Barack Obama said Sunday he would recommend a large swath of Alaska be designated as wilderness, the highest level of federal protection, in a move angering state oil proponents. By setting aside 12.28 million acres (five million hectares) of public land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, as wilderness, the oil-rich area would be sealed off from roads and development, including drilling. "I'm going to be calling on Congress to make sure they take it one step forward, designating it as a wilderness so we can make sure that this amazing wonder is preserved for future generations," Obama said in a video posted online. If Congress approves the measure, it would mark the largest wilderness designation since the classification was created more than 50 years ago. The 19.8-million-acre ANWR is home to countless species, including polar bears, gray wolves, caribou, muskoxen, more than 200 species of birds and 42 species of fish. "It's very fragile and that's why I'm proud my Department of Interior has put forward a comprehensive plan to make sure we're protecting the refuge, and that we're designating new areas including coastal plains for preservation," Obama said. More than seven million acres of the refuge are already designated as wilderness, but don't include Alaska's coastal plain, which is home to numerous species and oil. "Just like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of our nation's crown jewels and we have an obligation to preserve this spectacular place for generations to come," said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. - 'What an awful thing' - But Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, slammed the move, calling out Jewell and Obama. "What an awful thing for AK to wake up to on a Sunday: gut punches from this White House to our economy and future," she tweeted, using an abbreviation for the state. Meanwhile, the committee's Republicans cited a Friday phone conversation between Murkowski and Jewell, in an online post. "What's coming is a stunning attack on our sovereignty and our ability to develop a strong economy that allows us, our children and our grandchildren to thrive," Murkowski said in a statement. Alaska Governor Bill Walker derided the move, tweeting that he joined his state's congressional delegation in "denouncing President Obama's attempt to block future oil development in ANWR." But the White House defended the proposed expansion in a blog post. "The Obama administration believes that oil and natural gas resources can be developed safely. Unfortunately, accidents and spills can still happen," wrote presidential counselor John Podesta and Mike Boots, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Environmental groups heralded the move. "This wilderness recommendation has been a long time coming for the place where life begins for the porcupine caribou herd and for many of America's polar bears," Center for Biological Diversity Alaska director Rebecca Noblin said. Neither the Interior Department nor Obama referenced oil in their announcements. The agency also said it was recommending four Alaskan rivers for protection under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
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In his second official visit to India, President Barack Obama received full State honors and attentions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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CNN's Ivan Watson visits the only Jewish school in Poland.
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French coach Claude le Roy enhanced a remarkable record as Congo Brazzaville defeated Burkina Faso 2-1 on Sunday to reach the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals. It was the seventh time in eight attempts with five different countries that the 66-year-old has reached the knockout stage of the African football showcase. Thievy Bifouma scored on 51 minutes, Aristide Bance levelled four minutes from time and Fabrice Ondama snatched the 88th-minute winner. Congo top Group A with seven points from an unbeaten three-match run and are joined in the last eight by hosts Equatorial Guinea, 2-0 winners over Gabon in Bata. Congo made two changes to the team that upset Gabon in midweek to give the Red Devils a first Cup of Nations victory since defeating neighbours Democratic Republic of Congo 41 years ago. The suspension of Boris Moubhio necessitated a defensive reshuffle with Francis Nganga coming into the middle while midfielder Franci Litsingi was preferred to Cesair Gandze. Burkina Faso also made two changes and, not surprisingly, both were in attack as the Stallions had failed to score in two previous group games. Teenager Bertrand Traore and Bance were axed with Prejuce Nakoulma and Abdou Razack Traore offered chances to end a goal drought that followed seven goals in two warm-up games. With so much at stake at the 5,000-seat Estadio de Ebebiyin on a hot night, the opening 45 minutes produced few scoring chances and ended goalless. The best chance fell to Bifouma midway through the half when a Delvin Ndinga pass sent him clear, but he fired across goal and wide of the far post. A disappointing tournament for Burkinabe talisman Jonathan Pitroipa -- voted best player of the 2013 Cup of Nations -- continued as he was repeatedly whistled offside. But the United Arab Emirates-based winger did feature as Burkina Faso twice caused discomfort to the Congo defence. Pitroipa offered pacey Nakoulma a chance with a ball over the defence, but goalkeeper Christoffer Mafoumbi darted off his line to collect. Almost immediately a loose ball inside the goalmouth fell to Pitroipa, but his hurried shot flew over. After Fode Dore and Pitroipa went close to scoring early in the second half at opposite ends, Bifouma broke the deadlock. There was a hint of offside as Congo attacked down the right before Bifouma poked a Dore cross past goalkeeper Germain Sanou from inside the six-yard box. Desperate Burkina Faso reacted just before the hour by sending on Bertrand Traore and Bance for the ineffective Nakoulma and defender Issa Gouo. As the game entered the final 15 minutes, Stallions coach Paul Put played his final card, introducing Issiaka Ouedraogo for Abdou Razack Traore. Bance equalised off a Ouedraogo cross only for Ondama to pounce on a Sanou error following a free-kick and nudge the ball into the net, securing the win and top spot in the group.
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BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- So often this season, when No. 2 Virginia has needed a lift, it has come from Justin Anderson. The junior guard provided a huge one Sunday, this time with an assist from coach Tony Bennett, and led the Cavaliers on a critical 12-0 run late in the game to give them a 50-47 victory at inspired Virginia Tech and sold-out Cassell Coliseum. "I think he understood it was time," forward Anthony Gill said of Anderson, who scored eight points in the run. It was time to go ahead and pick it up and that's what he did. He really carried us in those last couple minutes." Anderson started the burst with a 3-pointer, then Bennett went with a call that he hoped might light a fire. "Justin's been begging me for three years, `When are you going to put a lob in for me, coach? When are you going to put in a lob?" Bennett said, laughing. " ... I'm glad we put it in because it was well-timed." Anderson gathered London Perrantes' pass and dunked, tying the game at 45 and giving the Virginia fans in the building renewed hope, and he then put them ahead to stay with another 3-pointer. Gill capped the 12-0 burst with a tough stickback. "When he said we were going to run it, I was just ready to go up there and get it," Anderson said of the lob play. It pulled Virginia out of a hole the Cavaliers hadn't seen before this season. The Cavaliers (19-0, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 43-33 after the Hokies outscored them 30-9 in a long stretch spanning the halves. It included a drought of 9:14 between the Cavaliers' first basket of the second half -- a 3-pointer by Brogdon -- and its next points -- a 3-pointer by Perrantes -- the latter pulling them within 43-36 with 10:20 remaining. After Christian Beyer's inside basket for the Hokies (8-11, 0-6), Anderson made a 3-pointer from the left corner. "We just needed the seal to be broken, as we say," Bennett said. Virginia shot just 34.7 percent (17-for-49). Darion Atkins followed with two free throws, Anderson scored on a game-tying alley-oop dunk on a pass from London Perrantes and then made another 3-pointer, giving Virginia back the lead at 48-45. The Hokies, playing their third consecutive game without scoring leader Justin Bibbs because of a concussion, weren't lacking for playmakers. Ahmed Hill scored with 1:06 to play for the Hokies, but missed a free throw that resulted from the play. Atkins kept the Hokies in it by missing a free throw with 12.8 seconds left, but Adam Smith's long 3-pointer spun around the inside of the rim and then popped back out as time expired. "I thought it was in." said Smith, whose 15 points led the Hokies. "I thought we were going to overtime." That they didn't, but lost instead, was of no consolation to first-year coach Buzz Williams. "You don't play for all that. That's the truth. I'm not trying to be silly," Williams said. "If we're supposed to be applauded for playing hard, I think you can do that over at the Blacksburg Rec (Recreation Center). It has to be more than that." LAST TIME THEY MET: Anderson and Joe Harris made consecutive 3s to spark Virginia's rally for an 11-point, second-half deficit on its way to a 557-53 victory. TIP INS: Virginia: Anderson scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. ... The Cavaliers were 6 for 22 (27.3 percent) in the second half. Virginia Tech: Sunday's game completed a string of four consecutive games against teams in the top 15 for the Hokies. The streak started at No. 10 Louisville and No. 15 North Carolina and included a Thursday night visit from No. 8 Notre Dame before the game against the Cavaliers. UP NEXT: Virginia plays Duke next Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena. The Hokies host Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
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SYDNEY (AP) Australian motor racing champion Jamie Whincup has been bitten by a snake at Sydney's Taronga Zoo during a pre-season photo shoot for the domestic V8 Supercars series. Whincup, a six-time V8 champion, was being photographed with the series trophy and a non-venomous, one-meter black-headed python when the snake latched onto his hand. It took handlers about two minutes to force the snake to let go. Whincup said ''It was pretty painful. We pushed the friendship a little bit. We decided to have the snake round the championship trophy and we moved around a few times and it wanted to get out of there.'' Whincup said water had to be poured over the snake to encourage it to relax its grip. He wasn't injured, saying ''I live to fight another day.''
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NBC anchor apologizes for fabricating story
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By Scott Sargent Was Andrew Wiggins traded by the Cavaliers before ever playing a game for them because he spurned LeBron James' agency? That is a question to be pondered based on some speculation. ESPN.com basketball scribe Brian Windhorst joined Tony Rizzo and WKNR's "Really Big Show" as a guest and provided some excellent insight in to the Cleveland Cavaliers and their current wart-filled winning streak. Windy discussed Kevin Love's offensive struggles, the team's lack of "plays," and James' wrist. But what may be the most intriguing part, at least from a pulling-back-the-curtain standpoint, is the back-channel interworking of James, his marketing firm LRMR, and Wiggins. At about the 22-minute mark of his interview on Tuesday morning, Windhorst offered the following: Let me draw a bit of a map for you. Andrew Wiggins is from Toronto-area Canada, right? Tristan Thompson is from the Toronto area. Cory Joseph, who wound up playing for the San Antonio Spurs, is also from the Toronto area and is also represented by LeBron by Rich Paul and LeBron. Obviously, you can imagine, because of their relationship with Canadian basketball and getting players out of there that they were on Wiggins as a potential representation player very early and he did not choose to go with them. That choice was made before the Cavs even won the lottery; the decision was made long before that. There was a chance for Andrew Wiggins to "join up with LeBron" before LeBron had a chance to pair up with Wiggins. Just keep that in mind. … I also think LeBron wanted Kevin Love, so that was a factor. I think the issue is Wiggins said that he never heard from LeBron. Kyrie Irving heard from LeBron. Dion [Waiters] heard from LeBron that story of 'get yourself ready.' They made the deal in mid-July. LeBron had been a Cav for several weeks before the deal was struck and still never reached out to him. You could tell, Wiggins passed up the opportunity to join LeBron's team… Windhorst and Rizzo waxed nostalgic about James and Wiggins going at one another in the Cavs' recent win. When asked point blank if he believes Wiggins would still be a member of the Cavaliers had he signed with LRMR, Windhorst said, "I do." The potential moral of this story: Turn your back on #LaFamilia, get sent to Minnesota.
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SALT LAKE CITY Zach Randolph had 18 points and 11 rebounds and the Memphis Grizzlies used balanced scoring for a 100-90 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. The win extended the Grizzlies' Western Conference-high winning streak to eight games. BOX SCORE: GRIZZLIES 100, JAZZ 90 Besides Randolph, three other starters scored in double figures Marc Gasol with 23, Mike Conley with 17, and Jeff Green with 13. The Grizzlies led by 16 in the first half and controlled the game, but the Jazz went on several runs to stave off a blowout. Still, they never led after the 7:30 mark of the first quarter. Trey Burke led the Jazz with 21 points and is averaging 16.8 points in the last six games Enes Kanter scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Gordon Hayward finished with 15 for the Jazz. The Grizzlies led 58-51 at halftime thanks to a 56.1 field goal percentage, including 62.5 percent from 3-point range. Four starters scored at least eight points each and the bench chipped in with 16. The Jazz kept falling far behind, down 16 at one point. But they closed the half with a 9-0 run highlighted by an Elijah Millsap buzzer-beating layup to cut the lead to seven. TIP-INS Jazz: Forward Chris Johnson saw his first game action after being signed to a 10-day contract on Jan. 28. He finished with five points in nearly 17 minutes. ... The Jazz are 5-7 on the second night of back-to-back games. ... The Jazz were outscored 46-36 in the paint and lost the assists comparison 26-15. ... The Jazz missed nine free throws to shoot 65.4 percent. Grizzlies: Vince Carter did not play due to a left foot tendon injury suffered last Thursday. ... Tony Allen played through hamstring and ankle issues. ... Beno Udrih played despite a sore right calf. ... Randolph hit a 60-foot bank shot at the first-quarter buzzer to give Memphis a 30-23 lead. CHUGGING ALONG The Jazz are now four games into a tough five-game Western Conference stretch that included the Clippers, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Suns. Their record is 1-3, but the losses to the Clippers and Blazers were by six points combined. "I think we've been competitive, the scores would indicate that," coach Quin Snyder said. "More than that I think we're beginning to develop more of an identity. I think there is some maturity, and I think these type of games, even though they are difficult, help you grow." UP NEXT Jazz: At the Phoenix Suns on Friday Grizzlies: At the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
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The fast get faster. There's some added incentive to performing well in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Draft Combine, according to ESPN : Three players will win Porsche 911 Carrera cars.The offer comes from Adidas, which is promising the cars, worth about $83,000 each, to the three fastest players in the combine's 40-yard dash who sign with the company before they step up to the line. But wait, shouldn't they give the fast cars to the slowest guys? Fast dudes already get to go fast all the time! Let the big men live! Doing well at the draft used to just be about showing your athletic talent to teams. Now that it's a huge event, you can actually win stuff from doing well. The cars will have customized cheetah paint jobs, because cheetahs are fast. It's a win-win for Adidas -- they get publicity from this, *and* presumably at least one speedy dude will pick Adidas in hopes of getting a free car, which means one more fast dude wearing Adidas.
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These seasonal structures reach astonishing heights and are filled with frozen sculptures, slides, and even waterfalls. Stratton Ice Castle Where: Sun Bowl Lodge, Stratton Mountain Resort, Vermont When: January 15, 2015 through March 7, 2015 (dates are weather-dependent) Featuring tunnels, 31 towers, waterfalls, and arches that reach up to 20 feet in height, this acre-sized ice castle was constructed by "icicle farmers" from the Utah-based company Ice Castles , which has been creating ice structures throughout the U.S. since 2009. Built using a patented sprinkler system, the Stratton Ice Castle took 17 days to "grow" and is open in the evenings for everyone to enjoy. Lights are frozen into the more than 20,000,000 pounds of ice used to construct the castle to brighten up your evening visit, while soothing music played over speakers adds to the ambiance. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Vermont Travel Guide SnowCastle of Kemi Where: Kemi, Finland When: January 25, 2015 through April 6, 2015 Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the SnowCastle of Kemi is the biggest snow fort in the world. The castle is redesigned each year with a new theme but always contains a chapel, hotel, and restaurant. Located near the Gulf of Bothnia, the castle dates back to 1996, when it UNICEF and the City of Kemi created it as a gift to children around the world. The structure typically takes about five weeks to construct and is made up of more than 741,000 cubic feet of snow, sometimes reaching three stories in height. This year, there is a new SnowCastle Anniversary Exhibit, where visitors can look back at the tradition's evolution. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Finland Travel Guide Lincoln Ice Castle Where: Lincoln, New Hampshire When: January 9, 2015 through March 2015 (dates are weather-dependent) Double the size of last year's New Hampshire ice castle at the Loon Mountain Adventure Center (also created by Ice Castles ), the Lincoln Ice Castle is made up of towering 50-foot walls, a frozen throne, 63 ice towers, and an ice slide that visitors are welcome to try. In the evening, LED-lights frozen into the ice create a glow around the acre-sized castle. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's New Hampshire Travel Guide Jungfraujoch Ice Palace Where: Jungfraujoch, Switzerland When: Year-round Travel by electric railway and high-speed lift to reach the secluded Jungfraujoch Ice Palace (or Eispalast), which is open year-round to visitors. Located in the Swiss Alps, the Jungfraujoch is the highest railway station in Europe, making its ice castle among the highest in the world. Created from the Aletsch Glacier, the palace features animal sculptures, vaulted rooms, and ice-furniture even the floor is made of ice! A new tunnel build in 2012, called the Alpine Sensation, now links Sphinx Hall (an observation area) and the Ice Palace cave. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Berner Oberland Travel Guide Eden Prairie Ice Castle Where: Eden Prairie, Minnesota When: January 9, 2015 through March 7, 2015 (dates are weather dependent) Located just outside of Minneapolis, Eden Prairie Ice Castle 's construction was delayed due to an unprecedented heat wave in the area, but now the ice castle is up and ready for an estimated 50,000 70,000 visitors. Ice Castles, LLC "grew" a similar structure two years ago next to the Mall of America, but this new location gives the creators a chance to incorporate more slides and water elements. With 20-foot towers and a series of tunnels to explore, the ice castle is a must-see to make Minnesota winters a little more fun. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Minneapolis-St. Paul Travel Guide Harbin Ice Festival Where: Harbin, China When: January 5, 2015 through February 25, 2015 As the largest ice festival in the world, the Harbin Ice Festival features a number of expertly crafted ice castles. Located on the bank of the Songhua River, the entire Ice and Snow World theme park spans more than 4,305 square feet. The festival itself dates back to 1985 and features sculptures, slides, and plenty of ice castles (designs are illuminated at night) to keep you entertained during your visit. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's China Travel Guide Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Ice Palace Where: Saranac Lake, New York When: Starting February 7, 2015 for as long as weather permits Constructed using ice from the nearby Pontiac Bay on Lake Flower, the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Ice Palace is a crucial part of the annual festival. The tradition dates back to 1898, when an Ice Palace was first added to the festival, and continued at many of the carnival celebrations throughout the 1900s. In past years notable architects have designed the structure (including Michael L. Bird and Max Westoff), but now local community members meet to map out and build the castle based on the year's Winter Carnival theme. Be on the lookout for "IPW 101," (International Palace Workers Union 101) which, due to unknown origins, is written using slush on one of the castle's walls each year. In the past, the castles have been built as large as 60 feet tall, 90 feet long, and 30 feet wide using mostly two-by-four blocks of ice. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's The Adirondacks and Thousand Islands Travel Guide The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Where: Lake Louise, Alberta When: Winter 2015 Constructed with giant blocks of ice, this Ice Castle on the Lake Louise ice rink is the perfect backdrop for skating. Located on the Victoria Glacier with the Rocky Mountains in the background, you'll feel like royalty as you skate through and around the castle, which is illuminated in the evening. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Alberta Travel Guide The White Pines Cottage Resort Where: Calabogie, Ontario When: Winter 2015 After last year's inaugural ice castle, which developed out of a corporate team-building session, members of The White Pines are hoping to continue the success with an even bigger and better structure this year. Built using chainsaws and ice tongs, last year's castle was 30 feet by 20 feet and featured two turrets. More than 800 blocks of ice from Black Donald Lake were used to create the structure. As part of the process, resort guests can help make the ice castle during the building period, which takes a couple of weeks. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Ontario Travel Guide Quebec Winter Carnival Where: Québec City, Québec When: January 30, 2015 through February 15, 2015 Dating back to 1955, the Ice Palace has become a Québec Winter Carnival tradition. The structure is sometimes referred to as Bonhomme's Palace, named after the carnival's guest of honor the year the castle was first constructed. Last year's structure was 40 feet tall and used approximately 300 tons of ice. And, of course, there's a Bonhomme mascot roaming the crowds to take pictures with visitors inside his palace. Plan Your Trip: Visit Fodor's Québec City Travel Guide
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Swatch (UHR.VX) will launch a smart watch in the next two to three months, the Swiss watchmaker said on Thursday. A spokesman for Swatch confirmed Chief Executive Nick Hayek made the remarks to Bloomberg earlier on Thursday. Asked how much of a concern the smart watch from Apple Inc (AAPL.O) was to the Swiss company, Hayek also told CNBC that Swatch had already been in the smart watch market for a long time but did not give detail on its plans for a new product. (Reporting by Joshua Franklin)
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Jurgen Klopp admits relegation-threatened Borussia Dortmund deserve to be criticised after their own fans jeered their 11th defeat of the season that leaves them bottom of the Bundesliga. Dortmund slumped again in Wednesday's 1-0 defeat at home to fourth-placed Augsburg, who played the last 20 minutes with 10 men. Borussia are desperately low on confidence and have just three league games before their Champions League last-16 clash at Italian league leaders Juventus. The 2011 and 2012 German champions are facing their first relegation since 1972 but have another chance to claim some badly needed points at fellow strugglers Freiburg on Saturday. Borussia's passionate fans voiced their frustrations with a chorus of whistles after the Augsburg match as veteran goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller and captain Mats Hummels approached the terraces to address their disgruntlement. "The result hurts, but we can't pretend that we had nothing to do with the outcome," admitted Dortmund's head coach Klopp. "We didn't do anything with our main chances, so there's nothing positive to report. "After that performance the fans can accuse us of everything, but we will not give up. "The fact that nerves play a role in a situation like this is beyond question. We need to get a grip. We have to give the boys some faith back. "It's something we have already been working on the whole time, but clearly not enough." Dortmund's next three opponents are all in the bottom half of the table as they face Freiburg, Mainz and Stuttgart in the next fortnight. Dortmund's trademark free-flowing football, which carried them to the 2013 Champions League final, has all but deserted them as they have scored just 18 goals in 19 league games. Klopp has failed to find an adequate striker since Robert Lewandowski joined Bayern Munich before the start of the season and their goal supply has dried up. Ciro Immobile and Henrikh Mkhitaryan squandered clear chances to equalise late on against Augsburg. "Our problem is simply that we are not going ahead in games," said Hummels. "We can now expect to fight in the next 15 matches, anything else is a bonus. "We know that it's over 98 percent about fighting. "The last two percent are about staying relaxed so that we make the right decisions in front of goal." Klopp has a contract until June 2018 but is clearly under pressure to turn results around. He has been given a job guarantee by Dortmund CEO Hans-Jaochim Watzke on the back of four successful years which saw Dortmund always finish in the league's top two.
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Lindsay Lohan pretended to be a security guard on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' The 28-year-old star poked fun at her Esurance Super Bowl commercial - in which she played a reckless driver and "sorta mom" - by dressing up as Jimmy's sidekick Guillermo. Lindsay wore a curly black wig and fake mustache and disguised her pretty pink dress by donning a shirt and tie and oversized blazer complete with 'Jimmy Kimmel Live! Security' emblazoned on the pocket. Speaking to the camera at the start of the show, Jimmy said: "But first, a message from our friends at Esurance ... You know, some companies base your insurance based on general categories such as your age and gender, not really based on you yourself. Isn't that right Guillermo?" The camera then pans to the studio doors where Guillermo usually stands guard, and Lindsay is seen trying to keep a straight face while replying: "Yes Jimmy". The chat show host continued, saying: "Now that means you're not getting insurance based on who you are, you're getting insurance for someone who's 'sorta' like you, right Guillermo?" Following the 'Mean Girls' actress' second, "Right Jimmy", the 47-year-old comedian begins to get suspicious, asking: "Is that you Guillermo? 'Cause you look about 200 pounds lighter than usual." Lindsay then replied, saying: "Sorta. I've been going to pilates." Jimmy responded: "Well, you look great ... Are you sure you're Guillermo because you look a little bit like Lindsay Lohan." However, the flame-haired beauty continued with the skit insisting she is Guillermo and, turning to Guillermo dressed in a blue dress, gold stilettos and long red wig, she claimed he is her. She said: "I'm sorta Guillermo. And I'm definitely not Lindsay Lohan." Guillermo added: "Hello. I'm sorta Lindsay Lohan."Feigning confusion, Kimmel concluded the skit saying he'd "never been more confused" before Lindsay and Guillermo both removed their clever disguises. Esurance's Super Bowl advertising campaign also saw Bryan Cranston reprise his role as crystal meth dealer Walter White from 'Breaking Bad' pretending to be a pharmacy worker named Greg who tries to give a customer a dodgy prescription.
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President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2016 budget was unveiled Monday to the American public, along with the Department of Treasury's Greenbook, which provides further explanation and details of the proposals in the president's budget. In truth, the president's budget is really more of a wish list than anything else, but it's a good indication of where the administration is headed. This year's version of the budget includes a number of provisions targeting retirement accounts. That's no surprise, as provisions aimed at retirement accounts have been a regular feature in budgets in recent years. What is a surprise, however, is how many proposals are targeting retirement accounts and how many new proposals there are. All told, this year's budget features over a dozen provisions that, if they were to become law, could directly impact your retirement savings. Below you will find a complete list of these provisions, as well as some commentary: 1. Eliminate the special tax break for NUA The proposal Net unrealized appreciation, or NUA, one of the biggest tax breaks in the entire tax code for some retirement account owners, would be eliminated if this proposal were to become law. To be eligible to use the provision, which allows you to pay tax on some of your retirement savings at long-term capital gains rates, you must have appreciated stock of your employer (or former employer) inside your employer's (or former employer's) sponsored retirement plan and follow certain rules. Any plan participants 50 or older by the end of 2015 would still be eligible for the special NUA tax break, provided they meet all the rules. Comment The tax break for NUA has been around for decades, and now it suddenly finds itself under attack. Although those 50 and over would be exempt, younger savers who invested in the stock of their company within their retirement plan would miss out on the tax break. 2. Limit Roth conversions to pretax dollars The proposal After-tax money held in your traditional IRA or employer-sponsored retirement plan would no longer be eligible for conversion to a Roth account. Comment For years, many taxpayers who have been restricted from making contributions directly to Roth IRAs (because their income exceeded their applicable threshold) have instead, made contributions often nondeductible (after-tax) to traditional IRAs. Then, shortly thereafter, they have been converting those contributions to Roth IRAs. This two-step process, widely known as the backdoor Roth IRA, would be all but eliminated by this provision. Perhaps the only bit of good news to come out of this provision is that for years some have questioned whether or not such conversions amounted to step transactions. While the administration doesn't explicitly say otherwise, it's inclusion of this provision appears to be a tacit endorsement of that strategy. There is no reason to create a rule to stop something that is already forbidden. 3. 'Harmonize' the RMD rules for Roth IRAs with the RMD rules for other retirement accounts The proposal To further "simplify" the RMD rules, the administration seeks to impose required minimum distributions for Roth IRAs in the same way they are imposed for other retirement accounts. In other words, this proposal would require you to take distributions from your Roth IRA once you turn 70 ½ in the same way you would for your traditional IRA and other retirement accounts. If, however, you are already 70 ½ at the end of this year (2015), you would be exempt from the changes that would be created by this proposal. Comment This is one of the most egregious proposals in the entire budget. Countless individuals made Roth IRA conversions over the last 17 years, and many of them did so, in part, due to the fact that Roth IRAs have no required minimum distributions. To change the rules now, after people have already made these decisions, would be terribly unfair and would constitute a tremendous breach of the public's trust. At the very least, the administration should grandfather any existing Roth IRA money into the "old" rules should this provision ever become law. 4. Eliminate RMDs if your total savings in tax-favored retirement accounts is $100,000 or less The Proposal If you have $100,000 or less across all your tax-favored retirement accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, then you would be completely exempt from required minimum distributions. Defined benefit pensions paid in some form of a life annuity would be excluded from this calculation. Required minimum distributions would phase in if your total cumulative balance across all retirement accounts is between $100,000 and $110,000. Those amounts would be indexed for inflation. Comment There's really no reason why someone with a $15,000, $20,000 or even $100,000 IRA should be forced to withdraw specified amounts from their retirement account each year. It simply creates complexity without any real benefit. Sure, some will argue that $100,000 amount should be higher, but in the end, a line had to be drawn somewhere. There will always be those on the other side. 5. Create a 28% maximum tax benefit for contributions to retirement accounts The proposal The maximum tax benefit (deduction or exclusion) you could receive for making a contribution to a retirement plan, like an IRA or 401(k), would be limited to 28%. Thus, if you are in the 28% ordinary income tax bracket or lower, you would be unaffected by this provision. However, if you are in a higher tax bracket, such as the 33%, 35%, or top 39.6% ordinary income tax bracket, you wouldn't receive a full tax deduction (exclusion) for amounts contributed or deferred into a retirement plan. Comment This one is sure to be another politically divisive aspect of the overall budget proposal. If this provision were to become law, it would create a terrible compliance burden for those in the highest tax brackets with respect to their retirement accounts. According to the Greenbook, if a tax benefit for a contribution to a retirement plan was limited by this proposal, it would create basis within a person's retirement account. 6. Establish a cap on retirement savings prohibiting additional contributions The proposal This proposal would prevent you from making any new contributions to any tax-favored retirement accounts once you exceeded an established cap. The cap would be calculated by determining the lump-sum payment it would take to produce a joint and 100% survivor annuity of $210,000 a year, beginning when you turn 62. Currently, this would cap retirement savings at approximately $3.4 million. The cap, however, would be a soft cap, as your total tax-favored retirement savings could exceed that amount, but only by way of earnings. Adjustments to account for cost-of-living increases would also apply. Comment While I understand the administration's reasoning behind this proposal, I'm not a big fan. I believe we should be inspiring people to save as much as possible for retirement, because as 2008 showed us, you never know when the next rainy day is going to come. Here's the bigger question though, at least for me: What happens if someone is over their applicable limit, but would otherwise be eligible to receive employer contributions, such as profit-sharing contributions, to their retirement account? It would appear that, under the proposal, these amounts would be forfeited altogether. That would be a completely unjust outcome and would be something either Congress or the regulations would have to address. 7. Create a hardship exception to the 10% penalty for the long-term unemployed Proposal A new 10% early distribution penalty exception would be created to help those with financial hardships due to being unemployed for long periods. The exception would apply to IRAs, as well as employer-sponsored retirement plans. To qualify, an individual would have to be unemployed for more than 26 weeks and receive unemployment compensation during that period (or less if due to State law). Furthermore, the distribution would have to occur in either the year the unemployment compensation was paid, or the following year. Finally, the exception would be limited to certain amounts. All qualifying individuals would be eligible to use this exception for at least $10,000 of their eligible retirement account distributions. However, if half of their IRA balance or plan balance exceeded this amount, then that amount, up to $50,000, would be eligible for the exception. Comment It would seem pretty hard for either political party to fight against this provision too hard. No one likes to be looked at as kicking someone while they're down. 8. Mandatory five-year rule for non-spouse beneficiaries Proposal The overwhelming majority of non-spouse beneficiaries would be forced to empty their inherited retirement accounts by the end of the fifth year after the account owner's death. To be very clear, this provision would effectively mark the death of the "stretch IRA," and all the tax benefits that come along with it. The provision would, however, exempt certain beneficiaries, such as those that are disabled, chronically ill and aren't more than 10 years younger than the deceased retirement account owner from the more restrictive rules. Minor children would also be given a break, but would still be required to distribute their inherited retirement account no later than five years after they reach the age of majority. The proposal wouldn't impact those who are already beneficiaries, but rather, only those who inherit in 2016 and beyond. Comment If retirement accounts are really for retirement, then as much as you may not like this provision (I don't either), it isn't an unreasonable position for the administration to take. Our government is broke and the stretch IRA, by providing tax benefits to individuals the accounts were never really intended to benefit, costs the government a lot of money. In fact, the budget proposal estimates that by implementing this change, it could collect almost an additional $5.5 billion dollars over the next decade. One thing that some might find particularly irksome is that the proposal is included under the section of the budget entitled "loophole closers." Those beneficiaries who are stretching distributions aren't using any sort of gimmick or trickery to do so. They are following the law and regulations precisely as they were created and were intended to be followed. To claim otherwise casts those smart enough to maximize the value of their inherited accounts by stretching distributions in an unfairly negative light. 9. Allow non-spouse beneficiaries to complete 60-day rollovers for inherited IRAs The proposal Non-spouse beneficiaries would be allowed to move money from one inherited retirement account to another via a 60-day rollover, in a similar fashion to the way retirement account owners can move their own savings. Comment This proposal has been included in the president's budget for several years now. That it hasn't yet been passed into law is somewhat a testament to Washington's inability to accomplish just about anything constructive. There is absolutely no downside to including such a provision in the tax code, as the budget consequences would be "negligible." This is a provision that should be supported by everyone in Congress, regardless of whether they are blue, red, or somewhere in between, because it would eliminate one of the most common, damaging and irreversible mistakes made with inherited retirement accounts. 10. Require retirement plans to allow participation from long-term part-time workers The Proposal Retirement plans would be required to allow participation from workers who have worked at least 500 hours a year for three consecutive years with the sponsoring employer. Employees eligible to participate in a plan because of this provision wouldn't be required to receive employer contributions, however, including employer matching contributions. In other words, this provision would only require qualifying employees to be able to contribute their own funds to their employer's retirement plan. Comment While the goal of this provision encouraging people to save more for their retirement is certainly laudable, it's hard to imagine employers getting behind it. If they wanted to cover these employees now, they could. Although they're not required to do so, they certainly aren't prohibited from doing so either. A lot of it comes down to expenses. Part-time employees often have lower plan balances, which as the budget proposal points out, "can be costly to administer relative to the size of the balance." 11. Require Form W-2 reporting for employer contributions to defined contribution retirement plans The proposal Simply put, this proposal would require companies to report any amounts they contribute to an employee's defined contribution retirement plan (i.e., 401(k)) on the employee's Form W-2. Comment Would it be nice for an employee to see this information on the W-2? Sure, but it isn't that big of a deal. 12. Mandatory auto-enrollment IRAs for certain small businesses The Proposal Employers in business for at least two years and have more than 10 employees would be required to offer an automatic IRA option to its employees if it doesn't already offer another type of employer-sponsored retirement plan (i.e., 401(k), 403(b), SEP IRA). These automatic IRAs would be funded via payroll deductions. A standard notice would be provided to employees letting them know about the automatic IRA and would give them the opportunity to establish their own contribution rate or to opt out altogether. Employees would also be able to choose between allocating their salary deferrals to a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. In absence of an election, employees would automatically be enrolled at a default rate of 3%, and contributions would be made to a Roth IRA. To offset some of the costs associated with establishing the automatic IRAs and to further encourage employers to offer more robust retirement savings options, the proposal would also expand existing tax credits, while establishing some new ones as well. Comment One interesting aspect of this proposal is that the default option for the automatic IRA is a Roth IRA. This could lead to some unintended consequences. Unlike traditional IRAs, which have no maximum income limits for contributions (though in some cases deductions may be limited), Roth IRA contributions are prohibited once a person exceeds their applicable income threshold. If a person has exceeded their applicable threshold and errantly makes Roth IRA contributions anyway, those contributions are subject to a 6% excess contribution penalty every year until the problem is corrected. To be sure, this provision is aimed at those with lower incomes, but there may be certain employees and small businesses making significant incomes. Or an employee with modest income could have a spouse who has high income, pushing the couple above their applicable Roth contribution income threshold. If that were the case, and 3% of the employee's paycheck was sent to a Roth IRA per this provision, it's possible that, without taking any action on their own, an employee's own salary could be diverted to a retirement account they're ineligible to contribute to ultimately leading to penalties that the IRS has no authority to waive. That doesn't seem fair. 13. Facilitate annuity portability The Proposal If an employer-sponsored retirement plan decided to offer an annuity investment within the plan, but at some later point changed its mind and prohibited such an investment from being authorized to be held under the plan, participants would be eligible to roll over the annuity within their plan to an IRA or other retirement account via a direct rollover. This distribution would be allowed even if such a distribution would otherwise be prohibited. Comment In recent years, the administration has taken numerous steps to increase annuity options within retirement accounts for savers. This provision seems like the next logical step in that progression. Given that there is no requirement here for employers to offer annuity options, there would be no added expenses and the provision doesn't seem to favor either the wealthy or the poor, it would seem that our lawmakers should be able to get together on this one. 14. Eliminate deductions for dividends on stock of publicly traded companies held in ESOPs The proposal In general, publicly traded companies would no longer be allowed to claim a deduction for dividends paid that are attributable to stock held in an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. Comment Publicly traded corporations (and their employees) may not like this one, but it makes sense as a matter of tax policy. There should be no additional tax incentive for a company to offer stock to its employees via an ESOP than there is to offer them the same stock via a 401(k) or other retirement plan.
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NEW YORK An Australian woman won the annual race up the Empire State Building's stairs for the sixth time, a record for the women's event. Suzy Walsham dashed up 1,576 steps to the 86th-floor observatory in the Empire State Building Run-Up on Wednesday night in 12 minutes and 30 seconds. The men's race was won by German runner Christian Riedel, a first-time winner who came in at 10 minutes and 16 seconds. The 38th annual tower climb was organized by NYCRUNS. The participants came from around the world and were led by the elite women's and men's groups. The general field followed, with staggered, seconds-apart start times for racers to avoid a crush of people all trying to get into the stairwell at the same time. Last year, Walsham won the women's event in 11 minutes and 57 seconds and Thorbjorn Ludvigsen, of Norway, won the men's race in 10 minutes and 6 seconds. The course records are 9 minutes and 33 seconds for the men, set by Australian Paul Crake in 2003, and 11 minutes and 23 seconds for the women, set by Austrian Andrea Mayr in 2006. German Thomas Dold holds the record for most men's victories, with seven. The Empire State Building Run-Up is one of the most well-known tower climbs in the world.
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Could your method of losing weight affect your chances of getting hired for a job? The Doctors weigh in on new research about implicit and explicit discrimination.
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health
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GoPro continued its march toward its goal of becoming a media company on Feb. 5, with the announcement of its new channel on the streaming media player Roku, which will launch in the spring. The channel will host a combination of original GoPro-produced and user-submitted content. The content won't be wildly different from what's available on the company's popular YouTube channel and its own site, although the company is looking to move beyond its traditional base of extreme sports and motorsports videos. GoPro's head of programming, Adam Dornbusch, told Quartz that some of the new content he's excited about some of which is user-generated is about animals and musicians. Not quite skydiving from the edge of space , then. Dornbusch said that the Roku channel would have some of the footage shot on GoPros from the company's partnerships with the US's National Hockey League (NHL) and the X-Games . Dornbusch said, however, that the channel would not have any live footage, although this is something GoPro is considering adding once it figures out how to make its live footage more "compelling." Dornbusch also said that GoPro would like to bring more professional sports to its channels in the future, but currently has no other deals in the works. GoPro is entering a crowded Roku channel marketplace ; it's competing for users' attention against HBO, ESPN, Netflix and other established digital channels. There's also a wide array of sports channels on Roku, including an NHL channel. Dornbusch said the GoPro channel will include 'how-to' and behind-the-scenes videos on how its most popular videos are shot. There will also be a feature on the channel allowing users to pause any video to see what camera and accessories were used to create the shot, rather like Amazon's X-Ray feature, except that users won't be able to purchase GoPros via their Rokus. The Roku launch follows similar GoPro offerings on Xbox and Virgin America in 2013, all seemingly geared toward its predominantly young, adventure-seeking audience. Bringing its content to the top-selling streaming device for cord-cutting millennials is one more way to tap into the lifestyle surrounding its camera business. There are more platforms coming for GoPro lovers, Dornbusch added: "This is just the beginning."
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Apple is in talks aimed at getting hold of content for a pay-television service, technology news website Re/code reported on Wednesday. The California-based maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, Macintosh computers and Apple TV boxes is exploring the potential for deals that would let it sell bundles of programming directly to viewers. Apple could model a service after recent moves by Dish and Sony to work with programmers to deliver live TV shows along with the kind of on-demand video just cable companies sell. Apple has made several attempts at finding a key to the television market, including marketing an Apple TV box for routing content from the Internet to home screens. Apple would not comment for this report.
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You should always be careful what you post on Facebook, especially if it's "I love you" and you're a Hindu in India around Valentine's Day you just might end up getting hitched . At least that's what will happen if a conservative organization called the Hindu Mahasabha has its way. The organization's leaders say they will monitor social-networking sites on the day of love and forcibly marry any couples expressing the emotion publicly, the Times of India reports. "Display of love in the entire Valentine's week is equivalent to not following Indian traditions. Anyone found displaying love on Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp will be caught hold of," said the group's national president Chandra Prakash Kaushik, adding that eight social-media teams are already in place in the capital New Delhi. The group had announced earlier this week that it would also have people on the ground making sure couples exchanging flowers, gifts or public displays of affection tie the knot immediately. That's only for Hindus, however interfaith couples will reportedly be made to undergo a "purification" ceremony. Online, Kaushik said, Mahasabha volunteers would message offending couples and ask for their phone numbers and addresses so they can start planning the nuptials. "If they refuse to share their numbers, we will contact their parents especially those who are active online and ask them to get them married if they really love each other," he said. The New Delhi police have plans to tackle the moral police, however, and inspector general Alok Sharma told the Times that any attempts to force couples to marry would be met with legal action. Twitter, of course, had a field day. https://twitter.com/BeingOffended/status/563149998343213056 https://twitter.com/iKaranDeshmukh/status/563081575097982976 https://twitter.com/accidentlwriter/status/562898967235936256 Indian satire website Faking News took it one step further with an article entitled "Gay couples excited after Hindu Mahasabha announces weddings on Valentine's Day," pointing out that homosexuality remains illegal in the country.
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A Miami Beach man who police say beat his 9-year-old niece then forced her into a garbage bin has been charged with kidnapping, child abuse and torture and resisting arrest without violence. Police said they were called to an apartment at 645 85th St. Wednesday night by neighbors concerned for the child's safety. When they got to the apartment, police said Jesus Crys, 30, refused to open the door and they had to enter through a window. Police spent several hours interviewing Crys before he was charged just before midnight. He is to appear in court Thursday morning. The girl was take to Mount Sinai Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The Department of Children & Families was notified of the incident and of another child in the apartment. According to police, Crys became angered after accusing the child of lying and forcibly removed her from her room and took her to a bin outside the apartment. He ordered her into the garbage container after punching her in the head. When the girl asked Crys why he wanted her in the dumpster, police said he struck her three more times in the back of the head with a closed fist. Officers said Crys said he told the child "I need a new one of her." When Crys was done harming and humiliating the child, police said he took her back into the apartment and refused to answer the door when police arrived. They eventually forcibly entered through a window. Police said that although the child refers to Crys as her father, he is actually her uncle. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com
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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) Jordanian warplanes bombed Islamic State targets on Thursday, state TV said, after the country's king vowed to wage a "harsh" war against the militants who control large areas of neighboring Syria and Iraq. The military confirmed the airstrikes, but did not provide details. Jordan TV, quoting military officials, reported that the strikes targeted Islamic State positions, but did not say in which country. Jordan is part of a U.S.-led military coalition that has bombed IS targets in both countries since last fall, but until now Jordanian warplanes are only known to have carried out raids in Syria. King Abdullah II pledged to step up the fight against the IS group after the militants burned a captive Jordanian pilot in a cage and released a video of the killing earlier this week. The images have sent waves of anger across the region. On Thursday, warplanes roared overhead as the king paid a condolence visit to the family of the pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, in his village in southern Jordan. The king pointed upward, toward the planes, as he sat next to the pilot's father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh. Al-Kaseasbeh told the assembled mourners that the planes had returned from strikes over Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants' self-declared caliphate. His son had been captured near Raqqa when his F-16 fighter plane went down in December. Earlier this week, Islamic State displayed the video of the killing of the pilot on outdoor screens in Raqqa, to chants of "God is Great" from some in the audience, according to another video posted by the militants. Also Thursday, Jordan released an influential jihadi cleric, Abu Mohammed al-Maqdesi, who was detained in October after speaking out against Jordan's participation in the anti-IS coalition, according to his lawyer, Moussa al-Abdallat. Jordan's Islamic militants are split between supporters of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, the branch of al-Qaida in Syria. Last year, al-Maqdesi had criticized Islamic State militants for attacking fellow Muslims. However, after Jordan joined the military coalition, he called on his website for Muslim unity against a "crusader war," a reference to coalition airstrikes. ___ Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Amman contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON Outnumbered by Republicans, Democratic lawmakers are jockeying to get their views heard as Congress moves ahead on revising the much-maligned No Child Left Behind education law. With votes anticipated in the House and Senate, House Democrats plan their own Capitol Hill forum on Thursday for changing the law a protest of Republicans' handling of the issue. In the Senate, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, came out against a provision in a draft bill circulated by the panel's chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that would allow federal dollars to follow low-income students to a different public school. Annual testing requirements, Common Core standards and school choice expansion are all hot-button issues wrapped into the debate. Both sides heartily agree that the landmark law needs to be fixed, but tension centers on the level of federal involvement in classifying and fixing schools. Complicating the issue, allegiances don't clearly fall along party lines. Among Republicans, for example, some members want to essentially eliminate the federal role in education, but GOP-friendly business groups side with civil rights groups in support of a strong federal role. Teachers' unions, historically aligned with Democrats, have criticized the Obama administration's handling of education policy as having too much of an emphasis on testing. The No Child Left Behind law, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002, was designed to bring equity into schools and mandated that students in grades three to eight be tested annually in reading and math and once again in high school. Schools that didn't show annual growth faced consequences and every student was to be proficient by 2014. Deciding that the goal was unattainable, the Obama administration in 2012 started granting waivers to states allowing them to avoid some of the more stringent requirements of the law if they met conditions such as adopting meaningful teacher evaluation systems and college- and career-ready standards like Common Core. The standards spell out what skills students in each grade should master in reading and math. Widespread disagreement over how to change the law has kept Congress from getting a bill to President Barack Obama. With Republicans now controlling both the House and the Senate, congressional leaders are hopeful they can get a bill passed this year. That's left House Democrats frustrated with the speed at which it's moving. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, on Tuesday released a bill to update the law similar to one passed by the House in 2013 without one Democrat on board, and scheduled a Feb. 11 committee meeting to consider it. The bill maintains federal testing requirements, but it strips the federal government of much of its authority including limiting the education secretary's role in "coercing" standards. A vote is expected in late February. Kline said the committee has had more than a dozen hearings over the last four years. "Americans have waited long enough for reforms that will fix a broken education system," he said. Like Alexander, Kline has expressed concern that a strong federal role in education stifles education advancement and innovation in states. But Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Va., the newly appointed ranking Democrat on the committee, accused House Republicans of a "hasty, partisan push" to rewrite the law with legislation that would "undermine equity and accountability in public schools." He announced that Democrats were having their own forum with a panel of education experts. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement that Kline's bill would "turn back the clock on growth." Much of the discussion in the Senate has focused on whether the federal testing mandates should continue. Alexander has said he's willing to listen to both sides. Murray supports continuing the testing mandate but opposes the provision in Alexander's draft bill that would allow $14.5 billion in Title I money to follow 11 million low-income children if they switch public schools. Murray said policies like that would drain "much-needed resources away from struggling students and the highest-poverty schools." After speaking Wednesday at a school choice event at the Brookings Institution, Alexander told reporters that he expects to see amendments related to issues such as the Common Core standards and allowing vouchers that allow public money to be used on private tuition. He's hopeful by the end of the month he can get a bill out of his committee. "We have to have a bipartisan result. Otherwise we won't have a law," Alexander said. _____ Follow Kimberly Hefling on Twitter: http://twitter.com/khefling
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The Federal Reserve is right to hold off on raising U.S. interest rates for now so as not to risk a further and potentially economically costly drop in already low inflation, a top U.S. central banker said on Thursday. The Fed has kept rates near zero since December 2008, and though most Fed officials now believe raising borrowing costs sometime this year will be appropriate, they also have said they will be "patient" in beginning to tighten monetary policy. While unemployment has dropped to 5.6 percent from its recession-era peak of 10 percent, inflation is running at around 1.3 percent, well below the Fed's 2-percent goal. Central bankers worry about persistently low inflation not only because it can be a sign of slack in the labor market, but also because it can undercut inflation expectations, acting as a further drag on growth. "Given how low total and core inflation have fallen in most developed countries, a policy of patience in the United States continues to be appropriate," Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said in remarks prepared for delivery in Frankfurt, Germany. "This is particularly true given the inherent asymmetry that we face at the zero lower bound meaning, while we have all kinds of room to respond to an unexpectedly favorable shock, we remain quite limited in our ability to respond to negative shocks." Rosengren was speaking at a conference sponsored by The Peterson Institute for International Economics and Moody's Investors Service's 8th Joint Event on Sovereign Risk and Macroeconomics. Rosengren, who does not vote on Fed policy this year, did not address his preferred timing for raising U.S. interest rates in his prepared remarks, which were largely focused on making the case that the Fed's three rounds of quantitative easing effectively helped boost the U.S. economy. The European Central Bank recently said it would launch its own bond-buying program to combat low inflation and sluggish economic growth, a move which Rosengren implicitly applauded. "A significant undershooting of the inflation target should be treated with the same policy urgency as a significant overshooting of the inflation target," Rosengren said. The current drop in oil prices "has served to accentuate a potential monetary policy pitfall, in this case, the failure to quickly and vigorously address a significant undershooting of inflation targets, potentially leaving economies stagnant at the zero lower bound," he added. In the U.S., he said, there is "insufficient evidence" that inflation is rising back to the 2-percent goal, and little evidence that wage growth is returning to pre-crisis levels. (Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Diane Craft)
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Bobby Brown Bobby Brown's wife is pregnant.The 'My Prerogative' hitmaker is said to be in "emotional turmoil" as he battles between his happiness at having a child with wife Alicia Etheredge - who TMZ reports is four months into her pregnancy - while sitting at the bedside of his 21-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina, who was hospitalized at the weekend after she was found facedown in the bathtub of her home in Atlanta.The 46-year-old singer - who, as well as Bobby Kristina, has three other children from previous relationships and five-year-old Cassius with his wife - hadn't told his good news to many people but has been forced to speak out as Alicia's condition has been clear to see while they visit Bobbi at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.Despite the stressful situation, Alicia - who married the singer in 2012- is said to be handling things well, even though there is apparently a feud brewing between her husband and Bobbi Kristina's relatives on her mother, the late Whitney Houston's side.A source said: "The Houston family is sick of the Brown family acting up, as they always do."It has previously been reported the aspiring actress has been placed in a medically-induced coma and has diminished brain function.A statement from Bobby earlier this week read: "Bobbi Kristina is fighting for her life and is surrounded by immediate family. As her father already stated, we are asking you to honor our request for privacy during this difficult time. Thank you for your prayers, well wishes, and we greatly appreciate your continued support."
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Sci-fi fans in Japan are trying to raise nearly $1 million to recreate in real life a fictional scene in which the "Spear of Destiny" is plunged into the moon. The spear -- also known as the Holy Lance or Heilige Lanze -- is the weapon Christians believe was used to stab Jesus in the side during his crucifixion. Also called the "Lance of Longinus", it is well-known in Japan for its appearance in the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" sci-fi animation series, particularly for a scene in which the main character flies into space and thrusts it into the moon. To mark the 20th anniversary of the cartoon, fans are trying to crowd-fund a 100 million yen ($850,000) mission to send a 24-centimetre (9.5-inch) replica to the lunar surface aboard a specially-designed lander. If the craft successfully reaches the moon, the lance will be ejected and hopefully stuck in the dusty surface, the organiser has said. As of Thursday, a total of 33.9 million yen had been pledged by more than 800 people. The project will be cancelled if the funding campaign fails to collect at least 100 million yen by April 5. However, the plan has provoked fears of a religious backlash in a country deeply scarred by the recent beheadings of two of its citizens by Islamist extremists. "Wouldn't it trigger the fury of the Pope? Can we really do this? Oh, I am worried," one comment on the crowd-funding website reads. "I am against this. Please don't do this. I cannot be more worried about my children now after the Islamic State named Japan as a target," wrote user Shizuka Yasuda. Many Japanese believe in aspects of both native Shintoism and imported Buddhism -- although few would describe themselves as devout -- and there is little general understanding of world religions, which can appear undifferentiated to some.
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Drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said it would buy Hospira Inc (HSP.N) for about $15 billion to gain access to its biosimilars. The offer of $90 per share represents a premium of 39 percent to Hospira stock's close on Wednesday. The total enterprise value of the deal is about $17 billion, the companies said. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
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As inveterate watchers of sitcom reruns (and a real-life Felix/Oscar combination), my sister and I loved The Odd Couple while we were growing up. One of our favorite episodes featured a courtroom sequence in which Felix (Tony Randall) berates a witness to "never assume," and proceeds to use the chalkboard to demonstrate what happens when you do. More years later than I care to admit, the mere mention of the word "assume" makes me smile. But assumptions aren't always a laughing matter, and that's certainly true when it comes to retirement planning, where "hope for the best, plan for the worst" is a reasonable motto. Incorrect--and usually too rosy--retirement-planning assumptions are particularly problematic because, by the time a retiree or pre-retiree realizes her plan is in trouble, she may have few ways to correct it; spending less or working longer may be the only viable options. What follows are some common--and dangerous--assumptions that individuals make when planning for retirement, as well as some steps they can take to avoid them. Dangerous Assumption 1: That Stock and Bond Market Returns Will Be Rosy Most retirement calculators ask you to estimate what your portfolio will return over your holding period. It may be tempting to give those numbers an upward nudge to help avoid hard choices like deferring retirement or spending less, but think twice. To be sure, stocks' long-term gains have been pretty robust. The S&P 500 generated annualized returns of about 10% in the 100-year period from 1915 through the end of last year, and returns over the past 20 years have been in that same ballpark. But there have been certain stretches in market history when returns have been much less than that; in the decade ended in 2009, for example--the so-called "lost decade"--the S&P 500 actually lost money on an annualized basis. The reason for stocks' weak showing during that period is that they were pricey in 2000, at the outset of the period. Stock prices aren't in Armageddon territory now, but nor are they cheap. The Shiller P/E ratio, which adjusts for cyclical factors, is currently at 27, versus a long-term mean of 17. Morningstar's price/fair value for the companies in its coverage universe is a not-as-scary 1.04, meaning that the typical company is 4% overpriced relative to our analysts' estimate of intrinsic value. But that slight overvaluation surely isn't a bullish signal, either. What to Do Instead: Those valuation metrics suggest that prudent investors should ratchet down their market-return projections somewhat just to be safe. Morningstar equity strategist Matt Coffina has said that long-term real equity returns in the 4.5% to 6% range are realistic. Vanguard founder Jack Bogle's forecast for real equity returns is in that same ballpark. Investors will want to be even more conservative when it comes to forecasting returns from their bond portfolios. Starting yields have historically been a good predictor of what bonds might earn over the next decade, and right now they're pretty meager--roughly 2% or 3% for most high-quality bond funds. That translates into a barely positive real (inflation-adjusted) return. Dangerous Assumption 2: That Inflation Will Be Mild or Nonexistent In a related vein, currently benign inflation figures--CPI measured less than 1% in 2014--may make it tempting to ignore, or at least downplay, the role of inflation in your retirement planning. Like robust return assumptions, modest inflation assumptions can help put a happy face on a retirement plan. But should inflation run hotter than you anticipated in the years leading up to and during your retirement, you'll need to have set aside more money and/or invested more aggressively in order to preserve your purchasing power when you begin spending from your portfolio. What to Do Instead: Rather than assuming that inflation will stay good and low in the years leading up to and during retirement, conservative investors should use longer-term inflation numbers to help guide their planning decisions; 3% is a reasonable starting point. And to the extent that they can, investors should customize their inflation forecasts based on their actual consumption baskets. For example, food costs are often a bigger slice of many retirees' expenditures than they are for the general population, while housing costs may be a lower component of retirees' total outlay, especially if they own their own homes. (This article looks at historical inflation rates for a broad range of goods and services.) The possibility that inflation could run higher than it is today also argues for laying in hedges in your retirement portfolio to help preserve purchasing power once you begin spending your retirement assets. That means stocks, which historically have had a better shot of outgaining inflation than any other asset class, as well as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and I-Bonds, commodities, precious-metals equities, and real estate. The good news is that most of these asset classes--apart from stocks--are arguably trading cheaply today, as discussed here. Dangerous Assumption 3: That You'll Be Able to Work Past Age 65 Never mind how you feel about working longer: The financial merits are irrefutable. Continued portfolio contributions, delayed withdrawals, and delayed Social Security filing can all greatly enhance a retirement portfolio's sustainability. Given those considerations, as well as the ebbing away of pensions, increasing longevity, and the fact that the financial crisis did a number on many pre-retirees' portfolios, it should come as no surprise that older adults are pushing back their planned retirement dates. Whereas just 11% of individuals surveyed in the 1991 Employee Benefit Research Institute's Retirement Confidence Survey said they planned to retire after age 65, that percentage had tripled--to 33%--in the 2014 survey. In 1999, just 5% of EBRI's survey respondents said they planned to never retire, whereas 10% of the 2014 respondents said that. With that in mind, there appears to be a disconnect between pre-retirees' plans to delay retirement and whether they actually do. While a third of the workers in the 2014 survey said they planned to work past age 65, just 16% of retirees said they had retired post-age 65. And a much larger contingent of retirees--32%--retired between the ages of 60 and 64, even though just 18% of workers said they plan to retire that early. As Morningstar.com assistant site editor Adam Zoll discusses here, the variance owes to health considerations (the worker's, his or her spouse's, or parents'), unemployment, or untenable physical demands of the job, among other factors. What to Do Instead: While working longer can deliver a three-fer for your retirement plan--as outlined above--it's a mistake to assume that you'll be able to do so. If you've run the numbers and it looks like you'll fall short, you can plan to work longer while also pursuing other measures, such as increasing your savings rate and scaling back your planned in-retirement spending. At a minimum, give your post-age-65 income projections a haircut to allow for the possibility that you may not be able to--or may choose not to--earn as high an income in your later years as you did in your peak earnings years. Dangerous Assumption 4: That You'll Receive an Inheritance Here's the good news: While it's a convention in movies for children to be crestfallen when their parents don't leave them an inheritance, a recent study showed such surprises to be relatively rare. In fact, the study found that just the opposite scenario is common: More parents intend to leave their children an inheritance than the children expect to receive one. A Fidelity survey found that adult children underestimate the value of their parents' estates, to the tune of $300,000, on average. But that doesn't mean there's not the potential for some adult children to receive less than they expected to. Increasing longevity, combined with long-term care needs and rising long-term care costs, means that even parents who intend for their children to inherit assets from them may not be able to. Alternatively, the parents may not be inclined to give at all, even if they have the money: A U.S. Trust survey found that wealthy baby boomers are less likely than other generations to believe in leaving money to their heirs; just 53% of those boomers surveyed said they believe that leaving an inheritance is important, whereas 68% of high-net-worth investors over age 69 said that it's important to them to do so. Adult children who expect an inheritance that doesn't materialize may be inclined to overspend and undersave during their peak earning years. And by the time their parents pass away and don't leave them a windfall--or leave them much less than they expected--it could be too late to make up for the shortfall. What to Do Instead: Don't rely on unknown unknowns. If you're incorporating an expected inheritance into your retirement plan, it's wise to begin communicating about that topic as soon as possible. Alternatively, if you don't want or need an inheritance but suspect that your parents are forgoing their own consumption to give you one, you can have that conversation, too. This video provides some tips for intrafamily conversations about money.
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Ashley Graham gets 120 Seconds of Glory for becoming the first plus-sized model to ever be featured in the SI Swimsuit Issue.
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The calendar has flipped from January to February. And with that change, there comes familiar territory for Blue Jackets fans. They have been in this position before, knowing their team was on the outside looking in by a long-shot and April tee times are looming. As of Thursday morning, the chances of Columbus going on an historic run to make the playoffs lie at just 0.08 percent (courtesy of sportsclubstats.com). After 49 games played, they have a record of 21-25-3 that is good for 45 points. It used to be that you had to position yourself in the playoff hunt by mid-January. Then it became being in a playoff position by Thanksgiving in November. In reality anymore, you almost need to be in a playoff position by the end of the first month of the regular season. There appears to be that much parity in the NHL right now. "Obviously," said defenseman James Wisniewski, "I think this has been a very disappointing season. The 'luck' that we've had this year hasn't favored our team. Right now, I think we need to keep moving forward as a team in trying to get better. "I don't think there's anybody in here that's giving up and we're not packing it in. This season shows just how important every single game is; not just in January, but in October and November, too." This has been a season unlike any other for the Blue Jackets in regard to injuries. Going into Friday night's game against the St. Louis Blues, they have lost 312 man games due to injury. That's a staggering amount for any team and it put Columbus behind the curve almost from the very beginning of the season. Head coach Todd Richards has had to make do with what he has, which equated to a hodge-podge of line combinations throughout the first part of the season. The injuries have settled down at this point, but he's still juggling combinations of players in search of a spark that might lead to more scoring and better play. "I think right now, with injuries and guys getting sick," said Wisniewski, "everyone is looking for anything to help. As a group, I think we need to bear down, concentrate and play better defense. If we're not scoring goals, we definitely can't be giving up goals." One could make the case that by facing this adversity, the guys in the room are better for it in the long run. Paraphrasing Friedrich Nietzsche from his book Twilight of the Idols , "what does not kill me makes me stronger" would almost seem an appropriate summation of this season for the Blue Jackets moving forward. "I would rather have them feel only a winning way, obviously," Wisniewski said. "But this year just shows how hard it is every year. Three years ago the Islanders made the playoffs. Then they didn't make the playoffs. Now, they're pretty much top in the Eastern Conference. It just shows how many good teams there are out there. "It shows that if you have a slump, it takes one heck of a winning streak to gain it back. You can see that when we were 10 points out going into December, we went 10-1-1 and gained, like three points. You would think that you'd be in the playoff hunt. But when you have to leap-frog a bunch of teams, it's no good." Soon, the focus will be on the players healing their bodies and the team getting ready for the draft in June. It appears more likely with each passing day that Columbus will end up with a high pick in a deep draft. There is always the outside chance that they would win the draft lottery for the No. 1 pick. But, they're not there yet. They still have a chance, albeit a very slim one, of making the playoffs. Factor in their pride and there's no telling where they will finish in the standings when April rolls around. As the last few years have shown us, this Blue Jackets team is anything but boring. It's time to enjoy the ride that the final 33 games will surely be. The Blue Jackets return to action Friday night as they host the St. Louis Blues at 7 p.m. Catch all the action with the FOX Sports Ohio pregame show "Blue Jackets LIVE" at 6:30 p.m.
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In line with the growing popularity of coconut-based products, coffee giant Starbucks has announced plans to add coconut milk to their shelves as non-dairy alternative. After generating more than 84,000 votes on the company's crowd-sourced blog MyStarbucksIdea.com, to become the second most requested customer idea of all time, the company said that it will be introducing coconut milk as an alternative to dairy and soy for its hot, iced and Frappuccino beverages. While almond milk was the most popular request on the blog, Starbucks says it opted for coconut milk to avoid allergen challenges present in the nut milk. "Soy is highly allergenic and really not healthy in large quantities. Many people (actually probably most) also cannot tolerate cow's milk. Please offer rice, almond, or coconut milk, since you don't allow people to bring in their own milk alternatives. This has kept me out of Starbucks for years. Thanks," reads the original post that inspired the idea. Starbucks Origin Sumatra Coconut Milk is certified vegan and made from single-origin coconuts from the tropical Indonesian island of Sumatra. Coconut milk will be available in stores beginning February 17.
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Years of rock-bottom interest rates have continued to punish savers while rewarding borrowers. Experts say rates will continue to hover around historic lows until the end of 2015, which means if you have plans to save more money this year, it might not make sense to bank with a big-name, traditional institution. The idea of belonging to a bank that exists solely online might seem strange at first, but it's no accident that many of the best savings accounts in the country right now are offered by online banks. In September 2014, GOBankingRates found online savings accounts offered interest rates nearly seven times higher than brick-and-mortar banks. Compared to local credit unions which often boast better rates thanks to their not-for-profit status online banks still outpaced returns from credit unions four times over. If you're hesitant to try an online bank , it might be tied to concerns over security. After all, 2014 was a tough year for data security, as major retailers and companies suffered security breaches that exposed sensitive information belonging to millions. Rest assured, however, that online banks are FDIC-insured and offer your funds the same level of protection as any traditional bank. And because they function exclusively over the Web, online banks implement strict security measures to keep your financial data out of the hands of strangers. Beyond security, there are other factors to consider: Without a physical branch to visit, will you be able to seek guidance from a bank representative? Will an online bank offer the same suite of services and products as its brick-and-mortar counterparts? These are all fair questions, but know that your banking experience doesn't have to exist with just one bank. If you want to empower your finances in 2015 , it might be time to diversify your banking products and try an online bank to get the highest interest rates and lowest fees. So if you're feeling motivated to look at your current deposit rates and possibly make a switch to a better bank, where should you start? GOBankingRates took the guesswork out of finding the best online banks by comparing 30 of the top online institutions to rank the 10 best. We examined checking account fees, savings account rates, one-year CD rates and BauerFinancial star ratings for overall financial strength, as well as whether banks offer 24/7 customer service via Web or phone, live chat with a representative and a mobile app for convenient banking on the go. 10 Best Online Banks of 2015 These are the top 10 online banks of 2015, according to the findings: 1. Ally Bank. Taking the top spot, Ally Bank doesn't charge customers monthly maintenance fees on its checking account. It also offers high yields of 0.99 percent APY on its savings account and 1.05 percent APY on its one-year CD. Those who prioritize customer service are in luck as well; Ally Bank offers 24/7 online and phone support, live chat with a bank representative and a mobile app. BauerFinancial gave Ally Bank a 3.5 out of 5 star rating. 2. Bank5 Connect. With a slightly lower savings account yield of 0.90 percent APY and lower CD yield of 1 percent APY, Bank5 Connect fell into the No. 2 spot. The bank does, however, boast a BauerFinancial star rating of 5 and doesn't charge its customers any checking account maintenance fees. Live chat is available, as is a mobile app, but 24/7 customer service is not. 3. Discover Bank. Tied in savings and CD yields with Bank5 Connect, Discover Bank has a lower BauerFinancial rating of 4 but offers customers 24/7 phone support in addition to live chat capabilities and a mobile app. Discover Bank customers that hold a checking account are not charged a monthly account maintenance fee. 4. GE Capital Bank. With a higher savings account yield of 1.05 percent APY and CD rate of 1.10 percent APY, GE Capital Bank ranked No. 4 due to its lack of a checking account product. Interest rates are a big bonus for GE Capital Bank customers, and the bank has a high BauerFinancial star rating of 4. However, the bank's account access and customer service are weaker. Customers do not have access to a mobile app, live chat or 24/7 customer service via telephone or the Web. 5. Synchrony Bank. In comparison to GE Capital Bank, Synchrony Bank's deposit rates are right on par. Customers can earn a solid 1 percent APY on savings and 1.15 percent APY* on its one-year CD. The bank does offer a mobile app, but not 24/7 telephone or Web access, or live chat. BauerFinancial gave Synchrony Bank a 4 out of 5 stars, but the bank does not offer a checking account product to its customers. 6. CIT Bank. With lower deposit yields than Synchrony Bank, CIT Bank ranked No. 6. CIT Bank also doesn't offer its depositors a checking account product, though it still pays high deposit rates of 0.95 percent APY for savings and 1.10 percent APY for a one-year CD. Customers have mobile access to their accounts through the bank's app, but 24/7 phone and Web customer service isn't available, nor is live chat. 7. Sallie Mae Bank. With no checking account product, a lower savings yield of 0.80 percent APY, but higher CD rate of 1.15 percent APY, Sallie Mae Bank is a great option for those interested in investing with a CD this year. Just like CIT Bank, Sallie Mae Bank only offers a mobile app, not live chat or 24/7 customer service. BauerFinancial scored it the same as CIT Bank with 4 stars. 8. TIAA Direct. Depositors with TIAA Direct earn 0.80 percent APY on their savings accounts and 1.01 percent APY on the one-year CD. The bank's checking account comes with no maintenance fee, but its BauerFinancial rating is 3 out of 5. TIAA Direct customers have access to a mobile app, but do not enjoy the convenience of 24/7 customer service or live chat. 9. First Internet Bank. BauerFinancial gave First Internet Bank a 5 star rating, the highest possible, and the bank offers customers a checking account product. However, its lower savings yield of 0.60 percent APY affected its ranking. First Internet Bank's CD rate is a high 1 percent APY on its one-year term, and the bank offers customers a mobile app and live chat, but not 24/7 customer service. 10. Barclays Bank. Depositors with Barclays Bank don't have access to a checking account, but its high savings yield of 1 percent APY and one-year CD rate of 0.80 percent APY might make up for it. BauerFinancial gave Barclays Bank 4 stars, and customers have access to their account information wherever they are through Barclays Bank's mobile app. The bank does not offer 24/7 customer service or live chat. Tenths of a percent might not seem like much when it comes to deposit rates, but in this low interest rate environment, every bit helps. Combine competitive rates with low fees and excellent customer service, and it's easy to see why these banks are the best place to put your money in 2015. *Synchrony Bank's ranking is based on the one-year CD APY of 1.10 percent originally offered when GOBankingRates conducted the study. Copyright 2015 U.S. News & World Report
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Archaeologists say they've made a grim discovery in Siberia: the grave of a young mother and her twins, who all died during a difficult childbirth about 7,700 years ago. The finding may be the oldest confirmed evidence of twins in history and one of the earliest examples of death during childbirth , the researchers say. The grave was first excavated in 1997 at a prehistoric cemetery in Irkutsk, a Russian city near the southern tip of Lake Baikal , the oldest and deepest freshwater lake in the world. The cemetery has been dubbed Lokomotiv because it was exposed in the base of a hill that was being carved out during construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1897. [ 8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries ] Because the cemetery is partially covered by city development, it hasn't been fully excavated. All 101 of the bodies found so far at Lokomotiv were members of a hunter-gatherer community that roamed the area between 8,000 and 7,000 years ago. It's rare to find transient hunter-gatherer communities who buried their dead in formal cemeteries, but archaeologists have documented this practice at several other sites in northeastern Asia. Angela Lieverse, an archaeologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, studies these communities with the Baikal-Hokkaido Archaeology Project. In 2012, Lieverse was revisiting some of the bones found at Lokomotiv, which were in storage at Irkutsk State University. The occupants of the grave in question had initially been interpreted as a mother, 20 to 25 years old, and a single child. But when Lieverse pulled out the box of fetal remains, she said she quickly realized there were duplicates of four or five of the fragile bones. "Within 5 minutes, I said to my colleague, 'Oh my gosh; these are twins ,'" Lieverse told Live Science. The fetal bones were all found within the mother's pelvic area and between her thighs. By analyzing the original placement of the remains, Lieverse reconstructed a traumatic childbirth scenario that even today with modern medicine and the option of a C-section would have been risky for the mother and her babies. It seemed that one of the twins might have been breech (positioned with its feet down) and was partially delivered, Lieverse said. The second twin was positioned with its head down and seems to have remained in the womb. Lieverse thinks the breech baby may have been trapped or locked with its sibling, leading to a fatal obstructed birth. "It might be a bit circumstantial, but I think it's quite strong," Lieverse said of her interpretation. She added that there has been very little postmortem shifting of the bones found at Lokomotiv, and everything is in place on the mother, even her ribs and little bones in her hands. What makes the discovery remarkable is that cases of death during childbirth and instances of twins tend to be invisible in the archaeological record. There have been some cases of babies of a similar age buried in the same grave, but even if you had "impeccably preserved DNA," it would still be difficult to tell if these were twins and not siblings or cousins, Lieverse said. Maternal death would have been common in prehistory. Still, it's hard to find archaeological evidence of a woman dying during childbirth even if she died with a baby still inside of her. For instance, in ancient Rome, the law known as Lex Caesaria mandated that if a pregnant woman died, her baby had to be cut out her womb before she could be buried. Even if a woman's baby was left in the womb after she died, gas from the decomposing body might force the fetus out in what's known as a coffin birth. Fetal bones are also quite fragile and are less likely to survive than adult bones. It's hard for archaeologists to know, based on this one burial, what this hunter-gatherer community thought of twins or death during childbirth. The young mother was buried lying on her back with several marmot teeth adorning her corpse quite typical of the graves at Lokomotiv, Lieverse said. "It suggests either they didn't know she had twins or that dying during childbirth wasn't so out of the realm of possibility that it would be considered unique," Lieverse said. The finding was reported in the February issue of the journal Antiquity . Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience , Facebook & Google+ . Original article on Live Science . Seeing Double: 8 Fascinating Facts About Twins 7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Babies The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth
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Cristiano Ronaldo will go down as one of football's all-time greats. To mark the Real Madrid and Portugal star's 30th birthday, we look at his career in numbers. 12.24 million pounds - Manchester United parted with a sizable sum to bring Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon in August, 2003. Ronaldo ran the show for Sporting in a 3-1 friendly win against the English giant and boss Alex Ferguson later claimed his players urged him to sign the attacker after his stunning performance. 28 - The number Ronaldo requested to wear at United. That was turned down by Ferguson, though, who wanted him to wear the club's number seven shirt - made famous by the likes of George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Ronaldo obliged and went on to inspire a whole new generation of the club's fans to put the number seven on the back of their shirt. 9 - Ronaldo's trophy haul with the Manchester club. He would cherish the UEFA Champions League success - after edging a penalty shootout against Chelsea in 2008 - and three Premier League crowns (2007, 2008 and 2009). United also won the FA Cup (2004), League Cup (2006 and 2009) and Community Shield (2007, 2008) in his time at the club. 118 - Ronaldo scored 118 times in 292 appearances in all competitions for the Old Trafford outfit. Given he started at the club as a winger, his record is particularly impressive. United's official website lists him as one of the club's "legends", putting him in the esteemed company of Best, Bobby Charlton and former teammates Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs . Ronaldo has also won 118 senior caps for Portugal. 80 million pounds - When Ronaldo left United to join Real Madrid, the Spanish giant was forced to part with a breathtaking sum of money. It was the world record for a transfer at the time, only usurped when Gareth Bale also moved to Real in 2013. 3 - Ronaldo has won FIFA's Ballon d'Or - now awarded to the world player of the year - on three occasions. His first victory, in 2008, was when it was given to the European Footballer of the Year. 52 - So often Portugal's savior, Ronaldo's goal-scoring record at international level is close to one every two matches. The talisman single-handedly fired Portugal into the 2014 FIFA World Cup, scoring all four of the side's goals in a two-legged playoff against Sweden, while he also netted in the nation's UEFA Euro 2004 semifinal win against the Netherlands. That put Portugal into the showpiece, but, on home soil, he was unable to rise to the occasion as Greece celebrated a shock 1-0 win. 23 - With 23 goals in European Championship matches - be it qualifiers or tournament matches - Ronaldo now holds the all-time record. He passed Denmark's Jon Dahl Tomasson with the only goal in Portugal's 1-0 win over Armenia in Group I qualifying in November. 17 - Along with a plethora of trophies and medals, Ronaldo also has his fair share of records. His 17 goals in Real's successful UEFA Champions League campaign of 2013-14 is a record for one season. He netted nine in the group stage and his 120th-minute penalty in Real's 4-1 final win over arch-rival Atletico Madrid sealed the record. 465 - An incredible number of career senior goals for any retired player to have, let alone one who is still cleary in his prime. Few would bet against Ronaldo adding several hundred more to his account before he calls it a day.
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