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Three years ago, Coca-Cola (KO.N) ended a joint venture with Nestle (NESN.VX) to sell iced tea in the United States and focused on the ready-to-drink teas it was developing in-house. The decision is paying off when it comes to sales of two of the soda giant's tea brands, Fuze and Gold Peak. The company says they both now produce annual revenues of at least $1 billion. "Increasingly, we've seen this category being very fertile and growing in quite a few regions across the world," said Samir Bhutada, the company's global director of tea and ready-to-drink coffee, in an interview. The company launched Gold Peak in 2006 and Fuze in 2012. Global sales in the ready-to-drink tea category have more than doubled in the last decade, and sales are expected to reach $53.9 billion this year, according to Euromonitor International. For companies that sell soft drinks like Coke and PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N), the category represents an opportunity to diversify the portfolio as both have faced pressure from investors amid a decade long decline in U.S. soft drink sales. Pepsi's chief executive Indra Nooyi last year said the company's Lipton Pure Leaf tea, which it markets through a joint venture with Unilever PLC(ULVR.L), was among its products that achieved more than $100 million in retail sales in its launch year and generated double digit retail sales growth in the second year. Coke had roughly 9 percent of global market share for tea last year, according to Euromonitor. Gold Peak is positioned as a homebrewed tea for U.S. consumers. Meanwhile, Fuze, which combines tea and fruit juice, has performed well in overseas markets like Turkey and Mexico. "The concept is to sort of take this as an alternative to sodas, especially as we're seeing more and more consumer backlash to carbonated soft drinks in Latin America as well as Europe," said Jonas Feliciano, senior beverages analyst at Euromonitor. Coke also sells Honest Tea, a premium product that it acquired, and Ayataka, a green tea brand aimed at the Japanese market.
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Serving up salsa at your next party? Find out how to make a bold negroni to pair with the chip-dipping appetizer from chef Tom Colicchio
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foodanddrink
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A Georgia woman accused of beating her 3-month-old godson to death told his heartbroken parents he fell out of the bed, they said. DeKalb County deputies charged Ramona Odom with murder for allegedly killing little Dylan Frazier while she babysat the infant, WSB-TV reported. Mom Catherine Johnson said Odom originally denied anything happened at all and then confessed he fell from a bed only after doctors diagnosed him with multiple skull fractures and a brain bleed. Johnson dropped the baby off with Odom on Jan. 23. When she picked him up the next day, he had a lump on his head, she said. Dad Damon Frazier rushed his boy to the hospital while Johnson grilled the godmother: Odom maintained nothing happened during the sleepover. "The doctor does a CT scan, and said my son has multiple fractures all over his skull and blood leaking to his brain," Johnson said. The hospital staff put him on a ventilator but the family decided to take Dylan off life support last week. Odom's original child cruelty charge was changed to murder when the boy died, the sheriff's office said. Johnson and Frazier still aren't sure exactly what happened to their little boy. "Then she said he fell out of the bed and that's been her story. That's all she's been saying," Johnson said. "You're the only one who can tell the truth. We deserve that. Tell me what happened to my son." The 3-month-old was an organ donor, and doctors were able to give his heart and his liver to two other infants. "My son saved two lives. That's the only thing keeping us stronger right now," Johnson said. "I really believe Dylan was put here to save those two babies." ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH VIDEO HERE. [email protected]
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news
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John Kilduff, Again Capital founder, says he believes oil will go to new lows. And David Woo, BofA Merrill Lynch, discuss the biggest risks to FX. I think at this point we are entering a currency war, says Woo.
| 3 | 9,203 |
finance
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Here's a riddle to test your Wall Street savvy. What do Yahoo, Olive Garden and Staples have in common? Answer: A hedge fund called Starboard Value LLP is having outsized influence over their futures. Starboard is the big money behind some of the most significant deals in recent months, like Wednesday's news that Staples is buying Office Depot for $6.3 billion or Yahoo's announcement in late January that it would spin off its Alibaba stake valued at a whopping $40 billion. Both deals were, in many ways, at the behest of the hedge fund. Launched in 2002, Starboard's hallmark is so-called activist investing. That means it doesn't just buy stakes in companies it thinks are undervalued and wait for the rest of the market to catch on. Instead, it buys shares in companies it believes have undervalued assets and then pressures management to do what it thinks will unlock that value. Lately, the executives and directors at companies targeted by Starboard are proving quick to act when the fund lays on the pressure. It was only last month that Starboard called on Staples and Office Depot to merge, betting that they could save money and better compete against Amazon and Wal-Mart by combining operations. Staples, for its part, says it began talks to buy Office Depot last September. Starboard had a 5.1 percent stake in Staples and a 10 percent stake in Office Depot, which it started buying back in 2013, when it was pushing a merger with OfficeMax. Staples' stock (NASDAQ:SPLS) skyrocketed when rumors of the pending merger first broke Tuesday, although it fell back on the actual announcement Wednesday. Office Depot (NASDAQ:ODP) shares jumped about 10 percent on the rumor and have held those gains. That's a tidy profit for Starboard. Starboard doesn't have a huge stake in Yahoo (that it has disclosed yet, anyway), but it nonetheless has had CEO Marissa Mayer squarely in its sites for months. Starboard has publicly pushed its plan for Yahoo to spin off its stake in Alibaba, sell its Yahoo Japan holding and then merge with AOL. Mayer may be hoping that the firm will leave her alone now that she's agreed to sell the Alibaba stake. If Yahoo merged with AOL, it's likely AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong who would end up in the top job, not Mayer. Management doesn't always rush to do Starboard's bidding, though. When it bought a 5.6 percent stake in Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) in late 2013, Starboard wanted to spin off the restaurant operator's real estate holdings into a separately traded company. But Darden management foiled that plan by selling Red Lobster, and its real estate with it. Punishment was swift. Not only did Starboard sue, but it also led a proxy contest that resulted in all 12 Darden directors being replaced with Starboard's own slate, which includes Starboard's chief executive, Jeff Smith. Starboard assets total about $3 billion, tiny in comparison to the market caps of some of the companies it targets. Nonetheless, it was recently ranked No. 1 in influence by research firm Activist Insight. That firm expects Starboard's power to keep growing. "2014 has given Starboard the affirmation to be bolder still in years to come," the report surmises. Perhaps not surprisingly, Smith was dubbed "The investor CEOs fear most" in a Fortune profile last December. Related: 6 Brands That May Not Make It Through 2015 The question remains, however, as to whether Starboard is making the right calls for the companies it targets. It is possible (if not likely) that most corporate management teams people with significant expertise in that industry are better at plotting a long-term growth course than a group of outside shareholders. Starboard, over time, will have to show that it picks spots where it can make better calls than the entrenched C-suite. Darden, so far, is a pretty compelling proof point. After treading water for years, the stock has climbed from $44 to $61 a share since last July. That's just one stock, though, and it's too soon to tell for deals inked in the past month. Fortune notes the average activist fund was up only 4 percent vs. 13 percent for the broader market in 2014. This indicates a "gap between activists' success in getting companies to do what they want and their subsequent investing performance." Over time, if that trend continues, activist investors' ability to sway the C-suite will erode. But for now, the trend of activist investors having more say over corporate decision-making isn't going away anytime soon. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: 5 Stupid Tax Proposals Hidden in Obama's Budget The Stock Market Is Weaker Than it Looks Putin Risks It All on Korean Nukes and Cheap Vodka
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Google has bought children's apps developer Launchpad Toys for an undisclosed amount, in a deal that may well be related to its plans to launch a new version of YouTube aimed at kids. The San Francisco-based developer, which made the Toontastic series of apps, announced the acquisition on its website . "We're proud to announce that our little toy company is pairing up with a great big team of tinkerers to empower GAJILLIONS of playful storytellers around the world," explained Launchpad Toys. Related: The best iPad apps for kids of 2014 "Launchpad Toys is joining Google to create even more amazing creativity tools for kids. Today, we've made our digital toys and tools free to creative kids everywhere. Tomorrow... well, we can't wait to share." Toontastic is the umbrella brand for a series of creative storytelling apps for children, which so far have only been released for iOS devices, rather than those running Google's Android software. The main Toontastic iPad app got children to create their own cartoons by choosing scenery, and moving characters around while recording their voices telling stories. Launchpad Toys also released a spin-off Toontastic Jr. Pirates app, and branded versions based on the Shrek and Kung Fu Panda films. However, another of its apps TeleStory seems much more relevant to Google deciding to buy the company. Released in October 2014 , it encourages children to "write, direct, and star in your own TV show" by choosing a theme, writing a script and then filming themselves performing. The app launched with its own online community called ToonTube, with children able to upload their videos to share them with others. Launchpad Toys is now shutting ToonTube , asking parents to download their children's videos by 4 March. Launchpad Toys' TeleStory app. ToonTube was essentially a mini-YouTube where all the videos were created by children, with Launchpad Toys also providing the tool TeleStory used to make those videos. Google buying the company is a big hint at its ambitions to do more with children's videos on YouTube. Those ambitions were the subject of frequent speculation in 2014, first in March with a report that Google was developing a version of YouTube for under-10s with strict moderation on videos and comments, and then in October when the company advertised for a new position as head of family entertainment . Related: This woman's thumbs are the biggest YouTube stars you've never heard of Some of the most popular channels on YouTube are already aimed at children. Toy-unboxing channel DC Toys Collector and Minecraft gamer Stampy were its second and fourth most popular channels in 2014 with 3.3bn and 2.2bn views respectively. Children's nursery rhymes channel Little Baby Bum was also one of the biggest channels on YouTube by the end of the year, with an array of musical and animation channels for kids also building large audiences on the platform. All these channels will figure prominently if YouTube does launch a separate version of its service for children, although the sensitivities around advertising, data collection and moderation would ensure intense scrutiny for such a venture. However, Google's acquisition of Launchpad Toys hints at ambitions to get more children creating and sharing videos rather than just watching them.
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It's difficult to be in two places at once. But if you're headed to Llívia, Spain, then it's no problem at all. That's because it's a country within a country. Llívia is technically a Spanish territory, though it's situated within French land. That leaves Llívia as an exclave of Spain and an enclave of France, meaning it is defined as "an outlying portion of a country, entirely or mostly surrounded by the territory of another country." According to Lonely Planet, this interesting situation is due to the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees when Spain ceded more than 30 villages to France, but held on to Llívia as it was technically a Spanish town. Llívia's got a confusing nationality. For administrative purposes, it's part of the province of Girona, Spain -- the home of the other Eiffel Tower (yes, really!). Geographically, it's in Pyrénées-Orientales, a province on the French coast. Whether you're traveling to Llívia for the skiing, hiking, cycling or the chance to walk along the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, all visitors must pay a visit to Esteve Pharmacy. Esteve Pharmacy is one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe, though these days it functions as a museum. The quirky, medieval attraction has been around since the 15th century and today offers guests the chance to view old prescription books and incredible relics from the Renaissance. Visitors who have traveled to Llívia recommend staying at the Hotel Bernat de So, described as "a gem in the mountains," due to its close proximity to the Pyrenees mountain range. And don't forget to sample the best of the traditional Catalan cuisine at Cal Cofa, famous for its delicious Entrecôte (steak) and homemade cannellonis. No matter what you do while you're in Llívia, you always get to come away with the awesome, intangible souvenir of standing in two countries at once. See you there!
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travel
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@Scott_j_k wants to know why James Shields hasn't found a contract yet so close to spring training.
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sports
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SAFFiR, the humanoid firefighting robot that the US Navy and Virginia Tech engineers have been developing for years, is now more than just a blueprint. In fact, the military division has already demonstrated what the biped can do aboard one of its decommissioned ships. During a series of tests conducted in November 2014, it worked well enough to navigate uneven floors (extremely difficult for humanoid machines), identify equipment using thermal imaging and handle a hose to put out small fires. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot did need a bit of help from a sidekick, though. No, not the firefighting snakebot Anna Konda (which is unfortunate, if you think they're the perfect pair), but a small drone created by Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. That drone is an autonomous quadcopter called Damage Control Technologies for the 21st Century (DC-21) designed to be smaller than commercial models hobbyists can buy, so it can fit in tight entrances. It uses infrared to detect fires, depth cameras similar to Kinect's to map out locations, and it obviously has the capability to communicate, as it was made to relay those data to SAFFiR. Since it's so small, the battery that can fit in it only lasts for 5 minutes. Its creators are planning to build a version with two large propellers instead of four small ones, though -- that way, its power source can last for up to 30 minutes. As for SAFFiR itself, well, looks like a goofier, less terrifying version of DARPA's Atlas . It stands at 5-feet-10-inches and weighs 143 pounds, equipped with infrared and a rotating light detection and ranging (LIDAR) laser to be able to make its way through dense smoke. It apparently has the capability to perform tasks autonomously, but since the goal is for people and robots to work together in the face of danger and not to replace the sailors, it was designed to take orders from a human controller. Despite performing well during the demo last year, that doesn't mean SAFFiR's ready to be deployed. It still needs to be tethered to stay upright in its current state, and it's just much too slow to be a first responder. Plus, the current model is not water- and fire-proof, which sounds like a recipe for disaster since it's firefighting robot on a ship. That's why the Navy plans to commission a more advanced design with "enhanced intelligence, communications capabilities, speed, computing power and battery life for extended applications." Also, SAFFiR will most likely be fitted with more sensors in order to perform mundane tasks and free up sailors to accomplish more complicated ones. US Navy , Carnegie Mellon University
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Just when you think you have answered the age-old housing dilemma, your lease is up and you have to consider it again. You have plenty to think about when deciding whether to buy or rent your next property. And if you've been here many times before, you may wonder if you are making the right decision by renting. Check out the top reasons you may be smarter to keep renting. 1. You Don't Plan to Stick Around The top reason you shouldn't buy a home is if you have an uncertain future, or even know that you will be moving to a new location in a short amount of time (under five years is a good general rule). If you don't know where your path is headed next or want to be open to accept new opportunities, it might not be a good idea to commit to a mortgage, just to worry about selling the home in a matter of months. Plus, with all the upfront costs associated with buying a home, you could lose more money in the long run. 2. You Can't Handle (or Don't Want) Responsibility Having a landlord who takes care of all your home's upkeep is a huge advantage of renting. Maintenance is a big part of homeownership and if you don't feel up to the challenge, you may want to stick to renting and maintain a clear line of communication with your landlord. 3. You Need Time to Build Your Finances Many people hold off on buying a home because they aren't financially ready. If you need more time to save up for a down payment or want to improve your credit score so you are in better shape to qualify for a mortgage, you may want to keep renting until you are financially ready. 4. You Have Other Financial Priorities Right Now Maybe you are focused on building up an emergency fund or saving for retirement. Whatever your financial priorities right now, if using a big chunk of money as a down payment doesn't align with them, you might be better off waiting. 5. You Want a Nicer Neighborhood Renting can sometimes allow you to live in a better neighborhood than buying would. Perhaps you can buy a home but it would be in a less than desirable school district. You might decide that it's better to wait until you can afford to buy a place where you actually want to live. ( Here's a calculator that can help you figure out how much home you can afford .) This article originally appeared on Credit.com .
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A senior al-Qaeda militant has been killed by a US drone strike in the south of the country, the group has said in a Twitter posting. Sheikh Harith al-Nadhari was among four people killed in the 31 January strike in Shabwa province. There have been at least three such strikes this year. Al-Nadhari recently appeared in an al-Qaeda video praising January's attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo. He was among the group's few public faces and had threatened more attacks. "It is better for you to stop your aggression against the Muslims, so perhaps you will live safely. If you refuse but to wage war, then wait for the glad tiding," he was quoted as saying in a 9 January video after the France attacks. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said on Twitter that al-Nadhari and three other militants were killed in a "crusader American drone strike against their car in the Saeed area of Shabwa province". The charred bodies of the four were found soon afterwards, tribal sources told the AFP news agency. The attack, first reported by Yemeni tribal and security officials, has been interpreted by correspondents as a sign of the determination of the US to keep fighting al-Qaeda despite Yemen's political paralysis. Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi resigned at the end of last month along with his prime minister in protest at the takeover of the capital Sanaa by Shia Houthi rebels, creating a dangerous political vacuum. His American counterpart Barack Obama on 25 January rejected any US troop deployments to Yemen but pledged to continue attacking "high value targets" in the country. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Formed in January 2009 by a merger between al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Yemen Mostly based in eastern Yemen Led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, a Yemeni former aide to Osama bin Laden. Deputy leader Saudi ex-Guantanamo inmate Said al-Shihri reported killed in September 2012 Aims to topple Saudi monarchy and Yemeni government, and establish an Islamic caliphate Came to prominence with Riyadh bombings in 2003, and 2008 attack on US embassy in Sanaa Says it was behind an attempt to blow up US passenger jet in December 2009 Yemen proves security nightmare for US Yemen crisis and an uncertain future
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You hear it louder and louder. Today 25% is the new 15% when it comes to tipping in tablecloth restaurants, and perhaps an even bigger difference is that tipping is starting to become more common in places like coffee shops and fast food outlets where it was rare a few years ago. Just why - suddenly - are we parting with more of our money in circumstances that, by definition, are supposed to be volitional? And if it is our choice, why are more of us grumbling? Blame technology for starters, said the experts who pointed to the proliferation of iPad point of sale technology. Consulting firm Software Advice recently looked into the impacts, and they are shocking. But, first, picture the scene. You have ordered a tuna sandwich on rye with a pickle and a coffee. The counterperson totals it up on an iPad, and you are handed the slate to sign. What do you see? A blank space where it says TIP. Or maybe you see a pre-entered tip amount, often 20%, although in that case there probably also are buttons for 15%, 25% and also no tip. What do you do? According to Software Advice, the logistics of that setup shape your behavior. Before, you might have tossed the loose change from your transaction into a jar and patted yourself on the back for generosity. Now, said Justin Guinn, a market researcher at Software Advice, 41% of us say the close proximity of the counter person, or a server, means we will tip and probably tip well. Some 29% of us also told Software Advice that if not tipping required pressing a "No Tip" button on the screen, we would tip rather than press that button. Many of those point of sale systems build in pre-set tipping options for purchases under $10, added Guinn, and typically the customer sees three choices: $1, $2, and $3. $3 on a purchase of a couple coffees to go? Guinn explained what is going on. "These systems encourage tips," he said. "Business operators are seeing more tips. One deli business operator said they are getting 20% tips, where before they got change." But it can't all be blamed on technology. Personally I can think of only one place I frequent where paying is via an iPad slate. Most still are old-fashioned cash and/or credit card swipes, and there too, said the experts, we seem to be digging deeper into our pockets. And then there is what Ray Advani, who runs the personal finance blog Squirrelers, said is a proliferation of low tech jip jars. "Tip jars are creeping up everywhere," he said. "I've seen tip jars even in some quick-serve restaurants. I saw them at a car wash. I don't think these are necessary, and my approach is to simply not be swayed by the need to avoid any 'awkward' interactions if I don't add to the tip jar." Re-read Advani's advice. Tossing money into tip jars is volitional. It is entirely your call. Then, too, "suggested" tip amounts appear to be soaring. Etiquette expert Jodi Smith related that she recently was at a spa where "there was a sign for 20%, 30% and 40% tips." She added: "Any massage that warrants a 40% tip should be investigated by law enforcement." Other experts said they are seeing suggested tips on restaurant credit card receipts as high as 30%. Those "suggestions" are another reason tips are creeping up, but, again, it's your choice. Another reason why tips may be climbing is as simple as our deficient national education system. "Simply put, nobody gives you the math portion of the SAT test when they grant you a credit card, and many people simply cannot do the math to calculate 15 or 18%," said relationship expert April Masini, who blogs at AskApril. "So they do bad math and end up with a bigger tip than they might have." Word of advice: a 10% tip is easy to calculate. If the restaurant bill is $112.47, what's 10%? Right: $11.25. What's half of that, approximately? $5.65. Add them together for 15%: $16.90. Want simpler still? Install a (free) calculator app on your smartphone, you will see the right tip is $16.87. Will servers grumble at a 15% tip? In Manhattan and San Francisco, they will not give you a standing ovation, but even in those towns, agreed the experts, you won't be booed out the door. Ditto if you only throw silver into the coffee shop tip jar. In most of the rest of the country, 15% is perfect, thank you very much, and as for the silver, they are not tossing it back at you in Phoenix, Albuquerque, or Dallas. Bottomline: the best tipping strategy is to know what you are comfortable with and stick with it. Don't be bullied by technology, or server proximity. Know what is right for you and know that is the exact right amount. Written by Robert McGarvey for MainStreet
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Would you like a better credit score as fast as possible? Here's how to get it.
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Almost half of Germany's gold is stored in vaults under the streets of Manhattan. Or is it? Peter Boehringer hates the word "conspiracy." It implies something crazy, and if you spend even a little time with the 45-year-old German, it becomes clear he's driven by a desire for order. On a recent morning in Munich, he's dressed in a cobalt blue shirt that matches his blue tie and blue eyes. His black hair is cropped close above his receded hairline. In his gray Volkswagen minivan, the cup holder contains two identical water bottles, each filled to the same level. At the end of a daylong interview, for which Boehringer has arranged an hour-by-hour itinerary, he sends a follow-up e- mail with a numbered summation of points he's made. No. 2 says that the crusade he's been waging for the last three years is simply about transparency. "Questions," he writes, "by definition cannot be 'conspiracy theories.' " Boehringer is a gold bug, a member of the impassioned tribe of investors and academics who distrust central banks and paper money, unless the governments that print it will exchange the cash for gold or silver from their vaults. He has an asset management firm that invests his own money and that of clients in gold, silver, and mining stocks, and he's a founder of the nonprofit German Precious Metal Society, which educates the public about "the craziness of unbacked monetary systems," he says. In short, Boehringer is worried that the global economy is built on a fiction of currencies that aren't backed by precious metals. Which is why he set out to make sure the gold that Germany and other nations say they have actually exists. Almost half of Germany's gold resides at 33 Liberty St., the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 80 feet below street level in a vault that sits on Manhattan's bedrock. In 2012, Boehringer started a campaign on his blog to bring it home. He argued the gold should be shipped to the German central bank in Frankfurt. The hoard, amassed during Germany's postwar boom, had never been subject to a published bar-by-bar physical review by its owners. That lack of accounting had become an insatiable itch for Boehringer. As the volunteer chairman of a private storage company for silver and gold investors based in Gerstetten, Germany, Boehringer personally counts the holdings each year by lugging metal valued at some €140 million ($161 million) from one end of the vault to the other, just to make sure it's all there. His blog became a hub for precious-metal fans. As gold prices peaked in 2011, the Taxpayers Association of Europe asked him to draft a letter to the Deutsche Bundesbank seeking to know precisely where the central bank's gold was. He eagerly agreed to help the group, which advocates for lower taxes and serves as an umbrella for 29 national associations across the continent. After receiving a response that wasn't detailed enough to satisfy him, Boehringer pressed on, starting the "Repatriate Our Gold" campaign in February 2012. He conceded it had low odds of success. Gold bugs largely inhabit the fringes of finance, and some of their apocalyptic arguments for investing had begun to show cracks as gold prices slid. Opponents including bankers and journalists branded Boehringer a conspiracy theorist for even suggesting something was amiss at the core of global finance. Then the seemingly impossible happened: He started to win. Because it doesn't react with air or water, gold always glitters, even in shipwrecks lost for centuries. It's so dense 19.3 times heavier than water that when you lift an ingot, the disconnect between what your eyes see and your hands feel produces an odd sensation, as if you're on a planet with a stronger gravitational pull. A standard central bank gold bar is a bit smaller than two soda cans stuck together end-to-end but weighs about 27 pounds, the combined heft of four newborn babies. Less than 175,000 metric tons (386 million pounds) of gold have been mined in all human history, according to the World Gold Council. Melt it all down King Tutankhamun's death mask, the bars in Fort Knox, your wedding ring and it would form a cube 21 meters on each side, reaching just one eighth the height of the Washington Monument. A 1-kilogram gold bar is the size of a flip phone and could buy a BMW. Gold also has a deeper appeal. When stocks and bonds are plummeting on paper, gold is reassuringly physical. Speaking in October at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said gold is so universally treated like money itself, it's as if it's "inbred into human beings." The fact that gold can be touched means, of course, that it can also disappear. Boehringer cites an anecdote from almost a century ago to argue that Germany has failed to zealously protect its gold holdings. In the 1920s the president of the German central bank, Hjalmar Schacht, paid a visit to the New York Fed and its founding president, Benjamin Strong. In an episode recounted in his 1955 autobiography, Schacht wrote, "Strong was proud to be able to show us the vaults which were situated in the deepest cellar of the building and remarked: 'Now, Herr Schacht, you shall see where the Reichsbank gold is kept.' " The two bankers waited as New York Fed staff sought the German stash. "At length we were told: 'Mr. Strong, we can't find the Reichsbank gold.' " Schacht comforted the flabbergasted Fed banker: "Never mind; I believe you when you say the gold is there. Even if it weren't you are good for its replacement." The men left without the German seeing his bars, instead accepting their existence as a matter of trust. Assuming the German gold actually was somewhere at 33 Liberty St. at the time, it's probably now long gone. The period between the World Wars was plagued by runaway inflation in which Germans legendarily shopped with wheelbarrows of cash and burned bundles of reichsmarks for warmth. (Among the inflation causes, Germany had stopped backing its currency with gold during World War I.) Adolf Hitler exploited the economic meltdown to seize power and then drained Germany's gold holdings, including assets he stole from Jews, to pay for World War II. After the war, global trade revolved around the U.S. dollar, which was backed by gold. Under the arrangement, any nation could cash in its greenbacks for ingots at any time. As West Germany's economy took off, the nation ran a trade surplus during the 1950s and '60s. German companies exchanged their dollars for deutsche marks, filling the new Deutsche Bundesbank with U.S. currency. The central bank, in turn, switched the dollars for gold at the New York Fed, swelling its stores under Liberty Street. That ended in 1971 when President Richard Nixon suspended gold conversions, making the dollar a "fiat currency," backed by nothing but the public's confidence in the U.S. During the Cold War, it made sense to keep the gold in Manhattan rather than Frankfurt, 75 miles from the Iron Curtain, just in case the Soviets invaded. Yet even after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the gold remained in New York. Or so the Germans have been told. The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s left Boehringer, who'd done tech investing, without a job and with time on his hands. After a life ticking the boxes of conventional success growing up middle class near Stuttgart, earning dual degrees in information technology and business, working as a management consultant for Booz & Co. and a private equity group he got to thinking for the first time about how the global economy works. "Some things didn't add up," he says, especially the trust- based monetary system. "I saw how destructive paper money could become." Concluding that precious metals were a reliable store of wealth, he became a gold evangelist, blogging and starting his money-management business in 2003. Three years later he founded the German Precious Metal Society, which organizes conferences and speeches on topics such as gold price manipulation and trends in gold demand in Asia. It was through his activism that the Taxpayers Association of Europe found Boehringer, and they started their campaign. The first breakthrough occurred in September 2012, when Germany's Audit Court followed Boehringer with its own, similar demands. The court, which is a branch of the federal government that examines federal financial management, asked the Bundesbank to say how much gold it had and where it was located and to physically inspect the bars, saying their existence had never been verified. The Bundesbank responded a month later, revealing that at the end of 2011 it had 271,265 bars weighing 3,396 tons today worth about $140 billion. They were stored in Frankfurt and at the New York Fed, the Bank of England in London, and the Bank of France in Paris. "Every year, these central banks provide the Bundesbank with confirmation of its holdings of gold," the German bank said. "The integrity, reputation, and security of these foreign depositories are beyond reproach. … There is no possibility of confusion or commingling with the holdings of other parties." The single biggest slice of the German reserves, at 45 percent, was in Lower Manhattan: 122,597 bars weighing about 1,536 tons, dwarfing the 1,036 tons held in Germany itself. But the Bundesbank said the physical inventory requested by the audit court didn't conform to common practice among central banks that is, one does not just show up at the New York Fed and start counting gold bars. The Bundesbank told the German parliament it was in talks to gain access and that the New York Fed was receptive, as long as its own security and logistical constraints were taken into account. Bundesbank executive board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele, who testified to the parliament's budget committee, added, "We're in negotiations with our partner central banks to develop auditing rights." For Boehringer, the disclosure that it would take negotiations to access the gold felt like proof he was on the right track. The limited transparency he'd won had made plain that Germany didn't necessarily have the right to thoroughly examine the single largest stash of its own gold. "Central banks live from their trust," he says. "Our campaign has the ability to put that trust in question." In October 2012, as part of a compromise with the audit court, the Bundesbank said it would start bringing home some of the reserves. At first, the bank said it would move 150 tons of gold, valued at about $8.4 billion at the time, from New York to its own vaults, dividing the shipments evenly over three years. "It was a huge success for us," Boehringer says. "I would never have believed that." The German central bank later expanded its repatriation plan to 300 tons from New York to Frankfurt by 2020. Boehringer had to wait until Christmas Eve 2013 to see if the Bundesbank was making good on the pledge. That day, the central bank announced the first-year tally in the tabloid Bild under a front-page headline, "Today Only Good News." "At last! The Bundesbank gets its gold treasure back," the story said. The amounts, however, were underwhelming. Although 32 tons came from the Bank of France, just 5 tons came from New York a tenth of the original plan of 50 tons a year from the New York Fed. "Why so little material?" Boehringer recalls wondering. "Something smelled fishy." The article quoted Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann saying the repatriation had been "a huge logistical challenge." Yet one ton of gold, formed into a cube, is just larger than a plastic milk crate. Five tons of gold bars can fit into the back of a pickup truck, assuming the truck's suspension can handle the weight. "The organisational preparations were very time-consuming since the required agreements and contracts are voluminous and detailed," the Bundesbank's Thiele said in a statement four weeks later. Additionally, some bars in New York had to be melted and recast. To Boehringer, the recasting was the ultimate red flag. It meant any trace of original serial numbers had been wiped out. "Their untouched existence since the 1960s is no longer provable," Boehringer says. The Bundesbank explained that it recast the bars because they hadn't met the "London good delivery" standard. Such gold is at least 99.5 percent pure and comes in bars of roughly 400 troy ounces, or 12.44 kilograms. They must bear certain marks, such as year of manufacture, and have sides that measure within specified dimensions. The gold in American vaults is a mix of London good delivery and lower-quality bars. Boehringer figured maybe the German bars had oddball weights and purities and needed to be recast. He did some quick math on the Bundesbank's own numbers, dividing the total weight it had disclosed for New York holdings by the number of bars it listed. It came out to about 12.5 kilograms per bar same as London good delivery. If the central bank's published numbers were right, Boehringer says, "There would not be a reason to melt them, but they did." Asked about the calculations, a Bundesbank spokesperson says meeting the London good delivery standard "cannot be reduced entirely to the weight of a gold bar but needs to take various other features into account, one criterion being the outer appearance." The spokesperson also noted that "parts of the gold reserves, which were relocated from New York to Frankfurt," were recast to meet that standard. Boehringer still doesn't buy it. "Why, of all the possible bars 120,000 it chose to repatriate, did it choose bars that were nonconforming?" He also questions why the Bundesbank doesn't publish lists of bar numbers, which would allow other depositors to see if there's any double counting of the same gold under multiple owners. The Bundesbank says it has such lists for all the gold it keeps in custody at the New York Fed but that "security reasons" prevent it from making those lists public. "Why is a bar list a security risk?" Boehringer says. It reminds him of the 1920s visit the Reichsbank president paid to the New York vault. "That's the culture of 'I don't want to know,' " he says. Boehringer speculates that individual bars may have several owners, perhaps as the result of bars being leased, sold, or subject to complicated financial arrangements. "I can't prove it," he adds, saying the onus of proof should be on the central bankers, not him. He isn't alone in raising doubts. John Hathaway, co-manager of the $1.3 billion Tocqueville Gold Fund, says Germany might need the slow, seven-year repatriation window to unwind complex financial arrangements by which the gold was loaned out, perhaps several times. Their questions about multiple owners aren't completely out of left field, as there is a loan market in which gold bars are put up as collateral and then sold to third parties for the duration of the deals. The German central bank says that's not the case with its New York gold and that its repatriation plans will be completed on schedule. "The Deutsche Bundesbank has never loaned gold bars held in custody at the New York Fed into the market or to other central banks," the bank said. The New York Fed says it isn't party to any transactions that the gold in its custody may be involved in. It says all gold bars on deposit are present at the 33 Liberty St. vault and that the bank doesn't recognize any third-party rights or interests other than those of the account holder. In response to questions for this story, the bank also says foreign depositors are able to conduct inventories and that it provides those depositors with lists of bar numbers for all holdings. Bar lists were cross-checked with bar markings. Spot checks found no irregularities. Yet any identifying trace of the original gold had been wiped out The gold may be in order. The gold may not be in order. But either way, gold bugs around the world are winning unprecedented concessions from their governments, and gold is streaming out of 33 Liberty St. and across the Atlantic. In May 2014, the Bank of Italy, which has the third-biggest gold reserves after the U.S. and Germany, ended years of secrecy by disclosing the locations of its holdings. Citing the German repatriations, the central bank said about half its gold is in Rome and most of the rest is beneath the New York Fed. Then in November, the Dutch central bank announced that it had secretly moved 122.5 tons of gold from New York to Amsterdam. In apparently just months, the Dutch had shipped almost 25 times the gold that Germany moved in all of 2013. "Beyond realising a more balanced distribution of the gold stock across the different locations, this may also have a positive effect on public confidence," the Dutch bank said in its announcement. Soon after, the leader of France's anti-euro, anti-immigration National Front party, Marine Le Pen, asked the Bank of France for an independent audit of its gold and to reveal any lending or financial commitments related to the reserves. At the end of November, a referendum in Switzerland to repatriate some holdings failed but led the country's central bank to disclose locations and amounts of its gold for the first time. Swiss politicians are pushing for more. "I want a clear inspection where you have a list of all the gold bars, where it's written that it's fine gold and only belongs to Switzerland," says Lukas Reimann, a member of the Swiss parliament who led the referendum. On Jan. 19, the Bundesbank delivered its own surprise, publishing a tally of its 2014 gold repatriations. During the year, the German central bank had shipped 85 tons from New York to Frankfurt, blowing away the mere 5 tons from 2013 and setting a pace at which the Bundesbank would easily meet its target of 300 tons returned by 2020. Even if the world's biggest central banks did explain away his gold bug speculations, Boehringer had triumphed. But for him, and his sense of order, the itch is never scratched. There were still 1,447 tons of German gold under Manhattan at year's end, and he wants all of it back in Frankfurt. At the current rate it would take more than 30 years for all German gold stored abroad to return, he says. And there's this detail from the German announcement: "The Bundesbank took advantage of the transfer from New York to have roughly 50 tonnes of gold melted down and recast according to the London Good Delivery standard." Bar lists were cross-checked with bar markings, the statement said. Spot checks found no irregularities. Yet any identifying trace of the original gold had been wiped out, the bars "now destroyed," a freshly fired-up Boehringer says. Melted bars might not prove something's rotten under Liberty Street, but the mere disclosure shows Boehringer is making a difference. To contact the author on this story: Vernon Silver at [email protected] To contact the editor on this story: Bryant Urstadt at [email protected]
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We knew it was coming, but it's finally here. Not to be outdone by Sony , Olympus revealed last year, during Photokina 2014 , that it was working on a lens camera of its own. And now we're starting to learn more about it . Meet the Olympus Air, the company's first attempt at this type of remote device . Aside from being able to connect with your smartphone wirelessly, the Olympus Air has a 16-megapixel Live MOS sensor and can take up to 320 shots on a charge. Interestingly enough, Olympus is pegging the Air as an open-platform camera, since the company does plan to allow third-party developers to create applications for it. In addition to that, Olympus says the Air is capable of producing "SLR-quality" images and can hook up with any Micro Four Third lens . Unfortunately, the company is only bringing it to the Japanese market for the time being, but we wouldn't be surprised to see it make its way to the US in the near future. There's no word on pricing at the moment -- however, we do know that it'll be up for grabs in the Land of the Rising Sun next month.
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What's the worst lie in the history of sports? Does Roger Clemens saying that the bat "slipped" when he threw it at Mike Piazza earn top honors?
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Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) will in March unveil the first major makeover of its top-selling Tucson sports utility vehicle in six years in a bid to revive growth in key markets like Europe and the United States where SUV sales are now strong. The debut follows what analysts say was a sluggish start last year for the South Korean automaker's flagship Sonata sedan in the U.S. and Korean markets. Hyundai, which with affiliate Kia Motors is the world's fifth largest automaker, is also facing stiff competition from Japanese firms as the yen weakens. Last year, Hyundai lost market share in both Europe and the United States. Analysts said the company needs to offer customers more options in the SUV segment, which has become especially popular as oil prices plunged. "The new model should help lift Hyundai sales, but market conditions are tough now. Differentiating the Tucson from the rest of the pack will be challenging," said Ryu Yen-wha, an analyst at IM Investment & Securities. Hyundai's U.S. sales inched up 1 percent in January from a year earlier, lagging the market's 14 percent gain, which was fueled by sales of SUVs and trucks. Hyundai is optimistic about the prospects of the relaunched Tucson, which is expected to ride the global SUV boom, a spokesman said. Tucson, a compact SUV, is Hyundai's top selling vehicle in western Europe and is also one of its biggest sellers in China, the United States and South Korea, its top three markets. On Tuesday, Hyundai unveiled a teaser video in which chief designer Peter Schreyer introduced a sketch of the new model ahead of its March 3rd debut at the Geneva auto show. Hyundai's growth prospects have been clouded by declines in the rouble, which cuts its earnings from major market Russia, and the weaker yen. These concerns have fueled investor anger triggered by the company's purchase of a $10 billion Seoul property last year for three times its appraised price. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Tony Munroe and Miral Fahmy)
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia's new monarch isn't wasting time. Since assuming the throne Jan. 23, King Salman has elevated some of his closest relatives and sidelined previous power-brokers, tightened decision-making and promised lavish payouts designed to win early goodwill. While his new administration gives greater prominence to younger generations, it remains to be seen whether the swift housecleaning will lead to greater political rights and other reforms in the ultraconservative kingdom. One clear winner in the shake-up is Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who has been interior minister since 2012 and spearheads counterterrorism efforts. King Salman named the 55-year-old as deputy crown prince in one of his first acts as king. That's a historic change, because for the first time it puts a grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, on course to rule. He becomes second in line to the throne behind Salman's half brother Crown Prince Muqrin, who is 69. Mohammed bin Nayef, who helped to establish a center for rehabilitating former jihadists, survived a 2009 assassination attempt a suicide bombing orchestrated by al-Qaida's branch in neighboring Yemen. He studied in the U.S. state of Oregon and has worked to strengthen American-Saudi ties. Shortly before King Abdullah's death, Mohammed bin Nayef held talks with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office focused on fighting terrorism and other security issues. Simon Henderson, director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The Washington Institute, described him as "Mr. Security" with favorable reviews from U.S. officials. Another rising star is one of the king's sons, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is in his mid-30s. Salman named the prince as his replacement as defense minister hours after taking the throne. Mohammed bin Salman also oversees royal protocol and is a special adviser to the king, increasing his influence in the royal court. The king elevated another son, Abdulaziz bin Salman, to deputy oil minister as the kingdom weathers a severe slump in the value of its most precious commodity. The long-serving oil minister, Ali Naimi, is one of few Cabinet ministers not to lose his job in the shake-up. He oversees the management of the energy giant's nearly 270 billion barrels of oil reserves and leads the kingdom's negotiating team at OPEC meetings, where Saudi policy dominates. Abdulaziz bin Salman's promotion increases the chances that the prince could succeed Naimi. Salman also opted to retain long-serving Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal to lead diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran, Saudi Arabia's main regional rival. Al-Faisal last year invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Saudi Arabia, but later accused Iran of fomenting unrest throughout the Middle East. Zarif finally visited shortly after King Abdullah's death, and expressed hopes of greater cooperation with the Sunni-ruled kingdom. Salman also has overhauled policymaking by dissolving a dozen advisory bodies and replacing them with two new ones. One of those sidelined in that shake-up is Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who had led a National Security Council created by King Abdullah in 2005. Bandar, the former intelligence chief who was U.S. ambassador from 1983 to 2005, received no position in either of the two new panels: the Council of Political and Security Affairs, and the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. Mohammed bin Nayef leads the first committee, Abdulaziz bin Salman the second. Mustafa Alani, an expert on security and terrorism at the Geneva-based Gulf Research Center, said he expects the changes to promote better decision-making with an infusion of new political blood as Salman confronts security challenges in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Iran. "Look at the map," Alani said. "You can see the situation surrounding the country. ... For this sort of environment, you need a new team." Another of Salman's early acts has been to open the state coffers a reminder that even in an absolute monarchy, public opinion matters. He promised to pay more than 1 million civil servants and soldiers a bonus equivalent to two months' salary, and offered similarly generous cash gifts to students, pensioners, sports clubs, literary clubs and others. It is too soon to say how the king will deal with those pressing for greater openness at home. He has opened the door for pardoning inmates convicted on what are known as "public rights" charges, which could include political activists. But he has left the decision on who gets pardons to the Interior Ministry, which Amnesty International says is primarily responsible for the kingdom's crackdown on dissenting voices. Amnesty and other human rights groups are closely following the king's handling of the case of blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a hefty fine and 1,000 lashes. He was flogged once in January but has not faced any lashes since Salman took charge. Souad al-Shammari, the co-founder of Badawi's liberal blog, was quietly released last week after three months in detention. Alani said King Salman would likely continue his predecessor's policy of gradual reform, which included curbing the power of the religious establishment and easing restrictions on women, who are still barred from driving cars. "The direction is to go for more reform, not less," he said. "The environment has changed. You have social media, and nobody can control any society now. And I think this is understood by the leadership." ___ Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck
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VALHALLA, N.Y. A commuter train engineer hit the emergency brake as the train approached a crossing where an SUV had moved onto the tracks, despite warning signals, before a deadly crash, investigators said Thursday. A preliminary review of the Metro-North Railroad train's data recorders also shows the train was traveling at 58 mph, just under the 60 mph speed limit, National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt said. The agency hasn't mapped out how far before the Valhalla crossing the engineer hit the emergency brake on the train, which takes about 950 feet and 30 seconds to stop, he said in the second day of a probe into a crash that killed the SUV driver and five train passengers. "What we have here is we have a mosaic," Sumwalt said. "We're going to take different pieces of information ... assemble it and see what that picture looks like" and build "a timeline so we know exactly what happened and when." A witness says the driver had gotten out of her SUV after a crossing gate came down on it but then got back in and drove forward onto the tracks as the train approached. And the train's engineer told investigators that he saw the car moving onto the tracks, even though traffic and crossing warning signals were working properly, Sumwalt said. After the impact, flames enveloped the SUV and part of the train, and the electrified third rail pierced them. Hundreds of passengers scrambled through spreading smoke and fear, some helping each other to escape despite their own injuries. Trains hit cars on the tracks many times a year, but such crashes rarely kill train riders. Investigators have emphasized that they want to figure out why this one did, becoming the deadliest accident in the 32-year history of one of the nation's busiest commuter railroads. Investigators are looking for any elements that may have intensified the fire, which they believe was ignited by the SUV's gas tank. The NTSB has been examining such factors as the adequacy of emergency exits, the crashworthiness of the train cars and the third rail's design. The design was an unusual one, Sumwalt said, but investigators have yet to determine whether that played any role in allowing the rail to pierce the train cars. Passengers returned, some with hesitation, as service resumed Thursday on the line where the crash happened, after workers rebuilt about 500 feet of the third rail. Julie Garla was feeling "very lucky and still a little scared" as she rode the Harlem Line but not in her usual seat. She used to prefer the front car because it's more convenient when she gets out at Grand Central Terminal. But the front car became the death zone in Tuesday's wreck. "Now, I'll have to balance everyday convenience against safety," she said. But Bill Peterson is sticking with riding in the front. "I believe the Lord's going to protect me," he said, and "the chances of it happening again are probably tiny."
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Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News apologized on his Wednesday broadcast for mistakenly saying he was aboard a helicopter that was hit by enemy fire while covering the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The claim was made Friday in a NBC Nightly News story about Williams accompanying a retired soldier to a New York Rangers hockey game at Madison Square Garden. The veteran, Tim Terpack, had provided ground security for the helicopters Williams claimed to have been aboard. Williams said in the piece that "a helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG." The story was also told over the Madison Square Garden public address system when Williams and Terpack were introduced to the crowd. "On this broadcast last week, in an effort to honor a veteran who protected me and so many others after a ground fire incident in the desert during the Iraq War invasion, I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago," he said in a statement delivered in the second half of his broadcast. "It did not take long to hear from some brave men and women in the air crews who were also in that desert. I want to apologize. I said I was in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft. We all landed after the groundfire incident and spent two harrowing nights in a sand storm in the Iraq desert. This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran and by extension our brave military men and women veterans everywhere - those who have served while I have not. I hope they know they have my greatest respect and now my apology." The on-air mea culpa came after Stars and Stripes reported it heard from crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that was hit by rockets and small arms fire in the incident that Williams described. They told the publication that the anchor and his crew were not on the aircraft. Stars and Stripes reported that "two other Chinooks flying in the formation took fire" and Williams arrived an hour later on another helicopter. Crew members also disputed Williams' account on social media before Williams issued his first apology through Stars and Stripes . Williams had perpetuated his inaccurate account of the incident in at least one other TV appearance. He told David Letterman in a 2013 guest spot on The Late Show , in great detail, that the helicopter he was in had been hit. NBC News pointed out that Williams gave an accurate account on the incident on Dateline NBC in 2003. "On the ground, we learned the Chinook ahead of us was almost shot out of the sky," he said in the report.
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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Marc-Andre Fleury had 22 saves for his seventh shutout of the season, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Evgeni Malkin and David Perron scored for the Penguins, who improved to 12-6-5 on the road this season. Viktor Fasth had 24 saves in the Oilers' second loss in three games. After a scoreless first period in which there were few chances, Malkin got Pittsburgh on the scoreboard 24 seconds into the second. He picked up a loose puck during a scramble in front of the Oilers' net and slipped in his 20th goal of the season. The Penguins doubled the lead with 0.4 seconds to go in the period as the rebound of Kris Letang's shot hit Perron on the way toward the net and caromed in.
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Phil Forte made two free throws with 2.1 seconds left in overtime and Oklahoma State beat No. 25 Texas 65-63 on Wednesday night, handing the Longhorns' their fourth loss in a row. Le'Bryan Nash scored 17 points for the Cowboys (15-7, 5-5 Big 12), who led most of the game, only to see Texas rally in the final minute of regulation to tie. Isaiah Taylor scored 18 points for Texas (14-8, 3-6). He had the final six points in regulation. Forte, an 85-percent free-throw shooter on the season had a big miss late in regulation, but calmly made his last shots for the win. Texas' Connor Lammert tied it at 63 when he made one of 2 with 11.6 seconds left. Texas had a final chance to win, but Taylor's long, running 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim. After Lammert's free throws, Oklahoma State got the ball to Forte, who had stuggled most of the second half to find an open shot against a stifling Texas defense. But the lane opened up and Forte drove, drawing a foul against Cam Ridley. Forte, who had been dogged by chant of ''air-ball'' from the home crowd in the second half, went through several practice motions before making the free throws to lift the Cowboys to their first Big 12 road win of the season. Forte finished with 14 points. Anthony Hickey added 15 points for the Cowboys. Demarcus Holland scored 14 points for Texas, making three 3-pointers in the second half as Texas rallied and recovered from a sloppy first half that saw the Longhorns commit 13 turnovers. The loss sends Texas further into a downward spiral. The Longhorns were ranked as high as No. 6 and were 12-2 before running in to all sorts of problems in the Big 12. TIP-INS Oklahoma State: The Cowboys pestered the Longhorns into a rash of first-half turnovers but forced just five in the second. The Cowboys scored 18 off the Texas turnovers. Texas: Texas was already without guard Javan Felix (concussion) and then lost starting forward Jonathan Holmes after he took a blow the head early in the second half. Holmes came in averaging 12.1 points but was scoreless when he left the game. UP NEXT Oklahoma State: vs Kansas on Saturday. Texas: at Kansas State on Saturday.
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Pete Nelson takes a tour of German treehouses and finally gets to see the treehouses of a builder he admires most - Andreas Wenning.
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JOHN SCOTT AKA JOHNNY HOCKEY ARRIVED. But seriously, Kris Russell finally scored. The Flames are now in second place of the Pacific division. They close out their home-stand against Pittsburgh on Friday and are currently 4-1 at home in the last five games. The last time these two teams met, Sean Monahan ended it in overtime after blowing their two goal lead. Tonight yielded some tight checking play to start followed by a burst of offence, and then not a lot of nothing happening. Oh and the Flames can't score on empty nets apparently. First Period - Right off the opening draw (a loss to Joe Thornton), the pace of the game was chaotic and unhinged. Melker Karlsson had the Sharks first chance but it was tipped wide. Moments later, Joe Pavelski tried to make something happen in close but Mark Giordano would use his big body presence to keep it 0-0. All within the same sequence, Gio would haul down Thornton sending the Sharks to the first power play of the game. Nothing happened for the Sharks on their man advantage. They barely gained the Flames zone -- or even the neutral zone for that matter. For a top ten ranked PP, it was unimpressive. The Flames aggressive PK continued forcing the Sharks back into their zone for much of the man advantage and limiting them to zero shots on it. Shortly after the PP ended, Kris Russell would get cross-checked from behind by John Scott . It would end up being a very delayed call as referees finally called it when they caught the Flames with too many men. During 4on4 play, the teams would exchange a few shots; though Giordano had the only quality shot on net. Through long lulls of nothing happening, Hiller would stop Matt Irwin bombing in on the Flames netminder. David Jones would get two great chances in close on Stalock because of a Lance Bouma zone entry. Beyond all of that, the period ended up resulting in tight checking and not a whole lot of exciting play. Hell, Brandon Bollig even had a shot on net in the period. His hunger to enter the scoring race against the likes of Rick Nash and Alex Ovechkin is very visible now. Shots would be 10-10 . Second Period - The tight checking play of the first period was no more. The Flames opened the middle frame on an aggressive forecheck which lead to Jones and Brendan Dillon taking off-setting minors. 4on4 play was definitely a lot more looser this time as Brent Burns had a decent shot on net. The Flames would counter with Brodie drop-passing to Hudler on the rush to keep the game moving north to south. Joe Pavelski would trip up Gio sending the Flames back to the man advantage. The Flames would manage one shot and nothing of substantial quality but good things would come. Following an offside call, a decisive faceoff win in the neutral zone would allow Paul Byron to force his way into the Sharks zone and drop to Russell who would blast his first goal of the season past Alex Stalock . The Flames would be sent back on the man advantage again later on thanks to Tomas Hertl. Unfortunately for the Sharks, it would be Johnny Gaudreau's tricky zone entry and pass from behind the net (which is becoming a set play almost) to Jiri Hudler in front to make it 2-0 . The goal would be Hudler's 15th of the season with assists to Gaudreau ( 24 ) and Monahan ( 17 ). Gaudreau wouldn't stop there, rushing down the ice and causing chaos around the San Jose net nearly making it 3-0. The Sharks would wake up sort of - veteran Joe Thornton's passing ability is the best in the league next to Crosby and he found Brent Burns across the ice as he blasted off a great shot on Hiller. Gio would take a needed penalty preventing Pavelski from potentially scoring. The Flames would kill of the penalty thankfully and the Sharks only had one chance with Patrick Marleau in close on Hiller. With just under two minutes left in the period, the Flames would have zone control allowing them to set up. After Brodie's pass failed to connect, Colborne would gain possession and pass it to Mason Raymond would put home his eighth of the season. Period would end with shots in favour of San Jose 11-10 and 21-20 for the Sharks overall. Third Period - A bit of concern for the Sharks to start the period as Marc Edouard-Vlasic was unavailable to start the period. He would return later on. Not a lot was happening, the pace of the game deteriorated a bit and both teams looked inconsistent. The Flames caught themselves puck watching and trapped in their own zone leading to this fantastic sequence... That's right. John Scott scored his second goal of the season. He must have been encouraged by Brandon Bollig's first of the season the other night. I'm fairly certain that's Scott's fourth career goal as well. He's setting career highs so we should definitely trade for him. Motivated by the goal, the Sharks seemingly woke up. It must have been because Johnny Hockey scored. Thornton would get in close and fail to pull the trigger and the Sharks took liberties controlling play at times in the Flames zone. It wouldn't get better in that time as Deryk Engelland would take an unnecessary delay of game call. The Flames PK (which was the best thing on the ice besides the goals) ensured no shots at all happened on the man advantage. Hiller would get knocked out of position and a huge scramble ensued near the Flames net and they skated away very lucky from the sequence. At times it almost looked like the Sharks were attempting to generate something but it quickly dissipated. Mikael Backlund would be sprung on a breakaway but Stalock would hold firm. The Sharks would pull the goalie with just over two minutes left and hem the Flames in their own zone, generating quite a few chances. That said, when they did get out; Calgary was able to attempt about four times of scoring on the empty net but failing each time as it was either blocked or a missed shot. Bouma was sprung on a near breakaway at the end but Thornton prevented the scoring chance. Flames win 3-1 . Shots for the period: 8-3 Sharks. 29-23 for the Sharks overall. Stray Observations - I'm going to make these short because I'm still super sick and I have to get some rest but... Lance Bouma looked pretty physical tonight with two huge hits. They were impressive. He still shouldn't be in the top six but what can we do? I guess we could play Sven Baertschi . Johnny Gaudreau's hands are not of this mortal coil. They are magical. Well, just about everything he does is magical. He seemed okay after the wrist cut in the game from the other night. No call on Brent Burns hauling down David Jones? I don't get it. John Scott is Johnny Hockey Hiller looked good minus the positional issues he had during some scrambles. Hell, most of the team during those scrambles was a little embarrassing. Positioning for this team is something that has never been fixed. Mason Raymond is scoring goals and that means HOPEFULLY that Hartley sees to use him as a top six forward in Friday's game against the Penguins . I hope. Kris Russell scored. That means of the team regulars, Engelland is the last person with zero goals on the season. If Bollig can score, he can...we hope. Flame of the Game - Mason Raymond That goal was a rocket and a perfect one-timer. Still, Hartley needs to accept that he can move up and play on the second line. 10:28 tonight. 1:38 of that was PP time. Not good enough. On a team so weak depth-wise on the wings, he needs to be up there ahead of Bouma. He finished with the goal, two shots, and a single takeaway. In his last three games, he has two goals and an assist. USE HIM MORE, BOB! What If... ... we saw Ramo start soon? I doubt he'll get the start against the Penguins. Hiller is certainly the more confident goalie but maybe he should have been given the start tonight considering Stalock got his. For a guy who is seemingly going to walk at the end of the season (if he isn't dealt), we're not seeing his being shown off enough. Teams need goalies (like Minnesota for example). Show him off, give him a few more starts, and maybe we'll get a decent pick or prospect or anything for the guy.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Defending champion Lee Westwood and major winner Graeme McDowell shared the clubhouse lead in Thursday's opening round of the Malaysian Open. Westwood, who romped to a seven-shot victory last year, again thrived at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, mixing seven birdies with one bogey to record a six-under-par round of 66. Former U.S. Open champion McDowell then matched that effort, also carding seven birdies on the par 72 layout, with both players' only blemish coming on the tricky par-four sixth hole. They led a number of low early scores at the tournament, which is co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours, although the heat and some unpredictable wind were factors for some players. Among other early finishers, England's Tommy Fleetwood was third after a 67, two strokes ahead of European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley. Canadian Richard Lee and Australia's Andrew Dodt also shot 69, while local hope Mohd Iylia Jamil had a 70. Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who won the season-opening event on the Champions Tour in Hawaii late last month, opened with a 72, level with reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, American David Lipsky.
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Mexico manager Miguel Herrera says that joining Major League Soccer is "an option" for players in the national team discussion. Speaking to FutbolMLS.com's Tiro Libre Radio, the 46-year-old praised the league, despite the rivalry between the USA and Mexico. "They should be looking for the best option possible, so long as the player is seeing the field," he was quoted as saying by Major League Soccer's official website. "I've always said that MLS is growing, and every day it's much more solid, much stronger and more competitive, so it's an option, but it is they who have to decide in the end." Mexican internationals have joined MLS in the past, with Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Nery Castillo suiting up for the Chicago Fire, and Jorge Campos playing for the Fire and LA Galaxy in the late 1990s, but only recently has Erick Torres become the first player to turn MLS form into El Tri minutes. Herrera says that the striker, on loan to Guadalajara before joining the Houston Dynamo, has a chance to play a larger part in the national team setup this summer. "We'll see. The other day he came in during a Copa MX game and played very well and scored a goal," said Herrera. "He is maintaining that hunger and wants to be part of our group. He's still in the picture. We can't get count him out yet. There's still another five rounds of matches in Mexico before I have to name my roster for the upcoming FIFA fixtures and two-months-and-a-half for the Copa America squad." MLS clubs have reportedly targeted unsettled Mexican players in Europe in recent years, with Giovani dos Santos and Javier Hernandrez both linked with moves to the league.
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Eddie Redmayne learnt how to act through ''osmosis''. The 'Theory of Everything' star has revealed that he has a bizarre method of trying to emulate the acting skills of those he appears alongside. He said: ''With acting, you learn, by observing and hopefully by osmosis, a bit about the craft and the actual work, but it's also about behaviour and how you treat people. ''The key to film acting, really, is that everything about the circumstance is entirely fake. You have thousands of people, money, cameras and technology, and you have to be at your most relaxed, and yet everything around is the least relaxing you could possibly imagine. ''Some actors will go stand in a corner to get themselves into the zone. Other actors will have devices or ways to force themselves into being relaxed.'' The 33-year-old actor - who won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his portrayal as Stephen Hawking in the biographical drama - also admitted that he found it ''frightening'' moving from the stage to the screen. He told Collider.com: ''I found it genuinely frightening. I had done theatre for a few years. I got into acting through theatre. ''Suddenly, I got this extraordinary opportunity to be in a film ['The Good Shepherd'] that Robert DeNiro was directing. ''With the whole film world, suddenly you're flying across the Atlantic, you're staying at hotels in New York, you're being taken to work in big SUVs with blacked-out windows, and you arrive at a studio and there's Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon, so there are paparazzi outside. You get inside and there are these beautifully complicated sets that have been built, and everywhere you look, there's a famous person.''
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Twitter, which is set to announce its fourth quarter earnings Thursday, has reached an agreement with Google to make its tweets visible in search results, Bloomberg reported. Sometime in 2015, tweets will start to appear on the search engine as they are posted. Google has reportedly been given access to Twitter's "firehose," the stream of data created by users of the microblogging service, whereas Google had to previously crawl Twitter for the data. A source told Bloomberg that there is no advertising revenue being exchanged between the two, which could suggest that Twitter will receive data-licensing revenue for its content. Twitter also provides its data to Microsoft's Bing service and Yahoo!, and this week announced deals with news app Flipboard and Yahoo Japan. The company recently announced that it plans to improve the visibility of tweets outside the service itself, pushing promoted tweets as ads onto other services. "What makes Twitter unique is that Tweets can flow from Twitter to other mediums seamlessly, like TV, websites and mobile applications," Twitter's Senior Director Ameet Ranadive said in a statement . "These new partnerships open a significant opportunity to extend the reach of their message to a larger audience." Twitter and Google had a similar deal from 2009 to 2011, but sources told Bloomberg that former Chief Operating Officer Ali Rowghani had allowed the deal to lapse, wanting to keep more control over Twitter's content. In 2011, Google launched its own social network, Google+, hoping to compete with other networks like Facebook and Twitter. Twenty-three percent of online adults reportedly use Twitter, up from 18 percent in 2013, according to a University of Michigan report .
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Look, there's no shame in watching others skydive or rappel instead of doing it yourself. So if you have a Roku, fire it up and and prepare to live vicariously through GoPro-toting adrenaline junkies, because the adventure camera's channel has arrived on the media player. Just like the older versions for Xbox 360 , LG smart TVs and Virgin America's in-flight entertainment systems, GoPro for Roku will show on-demand content and featured playlists from its YouTube channel. It will also note which camera model was used to capture a particular video clip, just in case you decide to get off your computer chair and decide to live a little. If you're already a thrill seeker with a GoPro Hero4, though, you may want to monitor your cameras instead of the screen. The newest firmware that comes with a bunch of useful features is landing on your devices today, as well, if it hasn't yet. Those features include time lapses' auto-conversion to video and a 30-picture burst photo setting, so we wouldn't be surprised if you're already planning another trip to test them out. PS: In case numbers, earnings and the stock market excite you more than parasailing and bungee jumping (no judgement here), the company will also deliver its financials today for the first time since going public. GoPro
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A Seattle woman has filed a $1 million claim over an alleged assault by a city police officer, who punched her in the face after she kicked him while being handcuffed, The Seattle Times reported Thursday. Miyekko Durden-Bosley claimed that she was falsely arrested by Officer Adley Shepherd during a June 22 incident. Durden-Bosley alleged that she was assaulted by the officer and suffered a fractured orbital in one eye and a severe concussion. A patrol-car video reportedly showed Shepherd punching the 23-year-old woman, who claimed that she had accidentally kicked the officer while being placed in the back of a patrol car. The claim was filed against the city of Seattle, more than a month after the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office in December declined to bring a felony assault charge against Shepherd, stating that the state's law allows police to use "all necessary means" to make an arrest or overcome resistance to arrest. Durden-Bosley claimed that she spent several days in King County jail, "wrongfully incarcerated and suffering the effects of her injuries caused" by the officer, before being released without any charges filed against her. The claim reportedly serves as a precursor to a lawsuit unless it is settled, The Seattle Times reported. Police initially took Durden-Bosley into custody for questioning about a domestic violence incident outside a South Seattle home, following a complaint. But she was later booked for assaulting the police officer, The Seattle Times reported. The FBI is reportedly assisting a criminal review, conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, to determine whether Durden-Bosley's civil rights were violated. The Seattle Police Department's internal investigation into whether the officer violated department policy, has been put on hold due to the criminal review, The Seattle Times reported, adding that Shepherd is on administrative leave until the investigation is completed.
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An attorney for Bobby Brown says the events that led to Bobbi Kristina being found unresponsive in a bathtub at her home last weekend are being investigated.
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Marcus Posley's last second floater leads the Bonnies past the Wildcats in an A-10 thriller. The game marks win number 200 for Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt.
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NEW YORK (AP) A driver heading home from her jewelry shop-job, a Metropolitan Museum of Art curator taking the train home, and a fellow train commuter with a long career in finance were among those killed when a commuter train hit an SUV stopped on the tracks at a suburban rail crossing. A look at the victims, whose employers and friends have identified them as among the dead: ELLEN BRODY Ellen Brody, the SUV's driver, worked at a suburban jewelry store, helped found a student news network in her town and was involved in almost everything at her synagogue, friends and her rabbi said. And the 49-year-old mother of three was mindful of safety, said Paul Feiner, a longtime friend and the town supervisor in Greenburgh, a community near the crash site. She was not "somebody who was careless not risky when it came to her safety or others," he said. Brody and her husband, author and journalist Alan Brody, had three daughters in their teens and 20s. They've been active in Chabad of the Rivertowns throughout the synagogue's 12 years, where she was "definitely the connector" who helped create camaraderie, Rabbi Benjy Silverman said. "She was passionate about Judaism, she was passionate about her kids, and she did a great job of fulfilling the values that were important to her," he said. Silverman told the Wall Street Journal that when he was looking for a couple to demonstrate Jewish wedding traditions to Hebrew school children, the Brodys volunteered, performing the ceremony in a tuxedo and wedding dress and dancing at the afterparty. Whoever she encountered "always left smiling," Virginia Shasha, a co-worker at the jewelry shop, told WABC-TV. ___ WALTER LIEDTKE During his 35 years as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walter Liedtke gave millions of visitors a window on legends. He organized dozens of major exhibitions that featured the works of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals and other renowned artists, and wrote dozens of articles and books, from 1982's "Architectural Painting in Delft" to 2008's "Vermeer: The Complete Paintings." "He will long be remembered for his vast knowledge, his wit and a passion for art that inspired all who came in contact with him," the museum said in a statement. With a master's degree from Brown University and a doctorate from the University of London's Courtauld Institute, Liedtke taught at Ohio State University for four years in the 1970s before getting a fellowship and then a job at the Met, according to a 2009 interview on the Dutch and Flemish art site Codart. He relished working among its large, specialized curatorial staff and its collection. "When asked what my favorite painting in the Met might be, I sometimes explain that historians don't think that way," he said, "and then answer frankly that it depends on my frame of mind." ___ ERIC VANDERCAR Eric Vandercar spent his career in finance and a lot of his free time in the freewheeling world of jam-band fans. Vandercar, 53, worked at Morgan Stanley for 27 years before moving to Mesirow Financial last March, according to Mesirow. He was a senior managing director in the Chicago-based firm's institutional sales and trading office in New York. "Eric was not only a pillar in our industry, he was a great partner and friend to many," Mesirow said in a statement. Vandercar focused on what are known as tender option bonds, complex financial transactions involving local-government bonds. He earned an MBA from New York University and bachelor's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Science, according to Mesirow. A married father, Vandercar was a familiar figure among jam band aficionados who make and circulate live-show recordings, generally with the bands' approval. "Words can't express how devastated we are today," the band moe. the period is part of the name posted on its website Wednesday. Vandercar saw the group play as recently as last month in Jamaica, the band wrote, adding that members would remember him enjoying music and hanging out backstage, "chatting with that easy smile of his." ___ ROBERT DIRKS Robert Dirks was a scientist at D.E. Shaw Research in Manhattan. He earned his bachelor's degree from Wabash College and a PhD in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. His company's website said he worked in the "development of novel computational chemistry methods," but his father told The New York Times his son had an easier way to describe his complex job. "He used to say 'Dad, just say I'm a scientist, then they can understand.'" Dirks, 36, who was married and had two young children, was born in Bangkok, Thailand, where his mother was from, his father said. His wife also formerly worked for D.E. Shaw. He lived in Chappaqua, New York. ___ JOSEPH NADOL Joseph Nadol was a JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive. He was a managing director and analyst who covered the aerospace and defense industries. He joined JPMorgan in 2001 after five years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. "Our thoughts and support are with Joe's family during this difficult time," the company said in a statement. ___ ADITYA TOMAR Aditya Tomar of Danbury, Connecticut, He worked in asset management at JPMorgan. He was born in India, and was married, with no children. _________ Jennifer Peltz and Verena Dobnik contributed.
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HOUSTON (AP) -- Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau watched in disappointment as Houston Rockets guard James Harden picked apart his team's defense. "Guys like that, you've got to guard them with your whole team, and they still have the ability to make," Thibodeau said. "You have to stay the course against them." BOX SCORE: ROCKETS 101, BULLS 90 Harden's 27 led the Rockets to a 101-90 victory over the Bulls on Wednesday night. Fifteen came in a pivotal second quarter that helped the Rockets build a lead that they never relinquished. The Bulls lost their third straight game for the first time all season and have now lost four of five. The Rockets have won five of six. Harden overwhelmed the Bulls in the second, menacing small forward Jimmy Butler in multiple one-on-one battles to score 13 consecutive points in the fading minutes of the first half. He was more excited about the Rockets' defense that held a versatile Bulls offense to just 90 points. "Every night, that's our motto is to be aggressive," Harden said. "We have so many guys that can come in and play that we don't worry about getting tired." Fatigue and a lack of consistent effort seemed to be a common theme in the Chicago locker room following the loss. "We can't afford to have those lulls," Thibodeau said. Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 27 points, and Derrick Rose scored 23, playing in his 12th consecutive game for the first time since the 2010-11 season. "It shouldn't be anywhere near this, knowing how talented we are and knowing how much guys really want to win," Rose said. "We've got time, but we've got to figure out a way out." Despite the win, the Rockets missed Dwight Howard's boards. The center was out for a fifth straight game with a right knee injury and Chicago's big men dominated the glass, 60-47. Joakim Noah pulled down a season-high 19 rebounds in 32 minutes. However, he had just one point, finishing 0 for 8 shooting. "We're playing hard in spurts, but we just can't do it for 48 minutes right now," Noah said. "We've got to figure it out or it's going to be a long year." In all other categories, however, the Rockets owned Chicago's big men, outscoring the Bulls 50-28 in the paint and notching eight blocks to just five from Chicago, who entered the game as the league's leaders in blocks at 6.7 per game. "I thought we tried to attack the basket well, especially early," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "We weren't getting to the line very much, but we just kept attacking." TIP-INS Bulls: F Paul Gasol had a double-double in his 10th consecutive game, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds. ... F Mike Dunleavy missed his 17th straight game with a right ankle injury suffered on Jan. 1. Rockets: F Trevor Ariza complemented Harden's performance with 20 points, matching Harden's 3-for-5 line from beyond the arc. ... Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon sat courtside, next to the broadcast table with former Rocket Shane Battier and former Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy. BEST IN THE WEST, AGAIN Harden earned his second consecutive West Conference Player of the Month award, becoming the first player in Rockets franchise history to win in consecutive months. Harden averaged 25.8 points, 6.7 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game, leading the Rockets to an 11-6 record in January. HEADBAND OF BROTHERS On a headband giveaway promotional night in the Toyota Center, Houston's "Headband of Brothers," in veterans Corey Brewer, Josh Smith and Jason Terry all made solid contributions. With Smith and Brewer both scoring nine points, the trio combined for 23 points and eight assists, with Smith pulling down 11 rebounds. LIMITING TURNOVERS The Rockets turned the ball over just six times, compared to 12 from the Bulls. Harden attributed the improvement to the team's newfound decisiveness and confidence in their decisions. UP NEXT Bulls: Visit New Orleans on Saturday before finishing a six-game road trip in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday. Rockets: Home against Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
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ATLANTA Jeff Teague scored 26 points, Al Horford added 21 and the Atlanta Hawks got back to winning after their first loss in more than a month, pulling away from the Washington Wizards for a 105-96 victory Wednesday night. The East-leading Hawks were coming off a 115-100 loss at New Orleans that snapped their franchise-record, 19-game winning streak. They made sure it didn't turn into a different kind of streak, overcoming a dismal third quarter to beat the Wizards for the third straight time this season. Teague finished off the Wizards with a drive to the basket, laying the ball in despite getting bounced to the floor by Marcin Gortat. Teague sank the free throw to complete the three-point play, giving Atlanta a 103-92 lead with 1:54 remaining. John Wall had 24 points and Bradley Beal 23, but it wasn't enough to keep Washington from its season-high fourth consecutive loss. Horford had a double-double, also grabbing 13 rebounds. As usual, plenty of Hawks contributed, with DeMarre Carroll scoring 14, Paul Millsap 11 and Dennis Schroder 10 off the bench. Shortly after tipoff, the NBA announced a first: all five Atlanta starters (also including Kyle Korver) were named players of the month for January after teaming up to lead the Hawks to a 17-0 record. The Hawks knocked down seven 3-pointers in the opening quarter, building a 29-18 lead. They stretched the margin as high as 16 and led 59-46 at halftime, but the Wizards dominated the third quarter. Atlanta endured a miserable stretch, missing eight of nine shots from the field and four of six free throws, in addition to turning it over twice. The Wizards took advantage, surging ahead for the first time since the opening minutes, 74-73, on Wall's two free throws with 1:17 left in the third. But the Hawks hit the final two baskets of the quarter, reclaiming a 77-74 lead heading to the final period. They never trailed again. ___ TIP-INS Wizards: Coach Randy Wittman was called for a technical after complaining about a foul on Paul Pierce, who was called for contesting a desperation 3 by Carroll with the shot clock running down. Korver stepped in to make the technical, then Carroll made two of three at the line. ... Wall became the second player in franchise history to have 500 assists by the 50th game of the season. Rod Strickland reached 500 in the 48th game of the 1997-98 season. Hawks: Atlanta improved to 34-2 overall and 19-0 at home when leading at halftime. ... G Shelvin Mack (left calf strain) missed his ninth straight game but is getting close to returning, according to coach Mike Budenholzer. UP NEXT Wizards: At Charlotte on Thursday. Hawks: Host West-leading Golden State on Friday in the first meeting this season between the teams with the NBA's best records. ___ Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
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When you open your bag of McDonald's, unwrap your sandwich, and take a bite, you expect things to proceed as usual. But sometimes people find some really weird and unexpected stuff in their McDonald's order. Here are five. Human Tooth In August 2014, a visitor to an Osaka outpost of McDonald's discovered a shard of human tooth in their order of fries. McDonald's conducted an investigation and was unable to find any way that the tooth could work its way into the order. Plastic McDonald's Japan is on a bit of a losing streak. Recently, two customers discovered pieces of plastic in their Chicken McNuggets ordered from a Japanese McDonald's. In response, McDonald's pulled the nearly 1,000,000 nuggets that were made in the same Thai factory on that day, but another customer found plastic in his McNugget two days later. Chicken Head Back in 2000, a woman bought a couple orders of McNuggets for her kids, and what she found was terrifying: a whole chicken head that had been battered and fried. While many people thought that it was just an urban legend, it's actually true. Condom In 2009, a girl in Switzerland reportedly found a condom in her McDonald's French fries. The seven-year-old girl's mother called the police, who launched an investigation. Band-Aid In 2007, a Canadian family claimed that a used Band-Aid was found lurking in their McDonald's fries. They filed a lawsuit claiming that they immediately became queasy and nauseous at the prospect of eating food tainted by the Band-Aid. McDonald's Canada launched an internal investigation, and discovered that the family planted the Band-Aid themselves. ]]>
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Ohio State's recruiting classes have finished in the top five since Urban Meyer took the reins. Is there a direct relationship between winning and recruiting class rankings?
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The guys take a look at the state of the Nashville Predators. When they get healthy, can they contend for a Stanley Cup?
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Katy Perry's backup dancer, Left Shark, stole the Super Bowl halftime show. Check out this tattoo a fan got of the new icon.
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Kris Russell, Jiri Hudler and Mason Raymond all scored in the second period to help Calgary beat San Jose 3-1. The Flames are now in second place in the Pacific Division.
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Add Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to the list of people to have a take on the Seahawks' final play call in Super Bowl XLIX. For some reason Cuban was asked about the play on Wednesday. He ended up having some interesting thoughts, however. He's among those defending the decision to pass. MORE: Must-see SB photos | Belichick saw play coming | Carroll defends call | Chancellor played with MCL tear "If it was me and that happened, I'd be pissed, but I wouldn't be mad at the coach and I wouldn't be mad at the call," Cuban said via ESPN . "If they ran it and got stopped, I would be mad. Because then that means you (wimped) out. "Those people that said, 'Oh, it's the worst call ever,' they're idiots. Never take advice from someone who doesn't have to live with the consequences. So what I say is worth what it's worth, but they've never been in a situation where you've got to make a call where everything, literally everything, is on the line. If you're afraid to go with what's gotten you there, you're not long for this league." Cuban's definitely in the minority on this issue, but he's not alone. Some football analysts defended the Seahawks' decision not to run the ball with Marshawn Lynch on the 1-yard line.
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(Bloomberg) -- Oil investors are still betting on a rebound after being proved wrong since October. They've poured more than $4 billion into oil exchange- traded products in the past four months even as prices tumbled 47 percent. That included the $1.99 billion added in January, the biggest monthly inflow in six years. West Texas Intermediate crude on Wednesday resumed a decline that sent prices near a six-year low last month, halting its biggest four-day rally since January 2009. U.S. inventories increased to the highest level in at least three decades and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its production above quota for an eighth month in January. "There are contrarian buyers in the oil market who think that there is a floor to oil prices," Matt Hougan, president of San Francisco-based research firm ETF.com, said Wednesday. "Over the last few days they've been vindicated but who knows what happens from here." A total of $4.21 billion has been sent into the four biggest U.S. oil ETFs since October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The U.S. Oil Fund, the biggest oil ETF, attracted $1.15 billion in January. The fund, which follows WTI prices, dropped 6.8 percent Wednesday on New York Stock Exchange after jumping 18 percent in the previous four days. The number of U.S. Oil Fund shares on loan to short sellers was 31.3 million as of Jan. 15, or about 93 percent of average daily volume, according to exchange data. Short interest was as much as eight times daily volume in June. Volatility Index The four funds also include ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil, iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN and PowerShares DB Oil Fund. They had 311.5 million shares outstanding on Jan. 30, the highest in data going back to 2008, according to exchange data compiled by Bloomberg. The share count dropped to 303.2 million Tuesday. WTI futures sank $4.60, or 8.7 percent, to $48.45 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest loss since Nov. 28. It gained 19 percent in the four days to Tuesday. Prices are down more than 50 percent from June's peak. The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index, which measures oil price fluctuations using options of the U.S. Oil Fund, climbed to as much as 63.10 Wednesday, the highest since August 2011. U.S. crude stockpiles climbed 6.33 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 30 to 413.1 million, the most since Energy Information Administration weekly data started in 1982. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI futures, increased 2.52 million barrels to 41.4 million. Oil bulls are betting that falling U.S. rig count and producers' spending cuts will halt production growth. Companies including BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. have announced investments cuts in response to the price collapse. U.S. drillers pulled 94 rigs from U.S. fields in a single week, the most on record, Baker Hughes Inc. said on Jan. 30. "Until you really see production starting to be cut, you are not going to see any kind of sustainable rally," Tariq Zahir, a New York-based commodity fund manager at Tyche Capital Advisors, said Wednesday. To contact the reporter on this story: Moming Zhou in New York at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at [email protected] Stephen Cunningham
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Oil prices rose on Thursday, rallying a little after big losses in the previous session, after China took steps to pour fresh liquidity into the world's second-biggest economy to spur activity. Oil markets remain highly volatile, with U.S. crude losing 9 percent on Wednesday in one of its biggest routs ever as record high oil inventories in the United States cut short a four-day rally. Prices rose again on Thursday on optimism that a system-wide cut in bank reserve requirements by China's central bank, the first in over two years, would spur economic activity and demand for energy. Chinese stocks jumped more than 2 percent on Thursday in reaction to the measure, which will free up 600 billion yuan ($96 billion) or more held in reserve at Chinese banks. Brent crude for March delivery was 74 cents higher at $54.90 a barrel by 0233 GMT (9.33 p.m. EST), after settling $3.21 or 5.5 percent lower. U.S. crude traded 46 cents higher at $48.91 a barrel. The contract had closed down almost 9 percent on Wednesday after the large build-up in inventories. U.S. crude stocks increased by 6.3 million barrels last week, rising for the fourth consecutive week to hit a record high of 413.06 million barrels, data from the Energy Information Administration showed. Crude prices began to rise last week from near six-year lows, in part due to a reported downturn in U.S. rig activity that could eventually dampen rapid growth in shale oil production. "However, production from existing completed wells is currently unaffected and is contributing to consistent weekly stock builds," analysts at BNP Paribas said in a note. Moreover, seasonal demand is expected to fall in the second quarter as refineries enter spring maintenance. "The resulting drop in demand for crude at refineries is likely to lead to further large crude inventory builds," BNP Paribas said. Negotiations continued between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and union leaders over a new wage contract for striking U.S. refinery workers. The two camps have been in a stalemate since walkouts early on Sunday at nine plants with about 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity. In Libya, gunmen killed 12 people after storming a remote oilfield, raising further doubts about the likelihood of an increase in exports from the OPEC member. (Editing by Alan Raybould)
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BYU has signed Motekiai Langi, a rugby player who has limited football experience. Luckily for the Cougars, Langi is 6'7" and 410lbs. Is that even fair? #120Talk
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CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Kris Russell scored his first goal of the season, Jonas Hiller stopped 28 shots, and the Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Wednesday night. Jiri Hudler and Mason Raymond also scored to help the Flames improve to 4-1-0 on a six-game homestand, which concludes Friday against Pittsburgh. John Scott scored for San Jose, which lost in regulation for the first time in its last five games (3-1-1). Calgary opened the scoring at 9:28 of the second period when Russell's shot from inside the blue line was partially stopped by Alex Stallock but still squeaked through. It was the first of three consecutive goals for the Flames, who led 3-0. Calgary moved from the second wild card spot in the Western Conference up to second place in the Pacific Division. The Flames also matched their season high of nine games above .500, which they were also at on Dec. 4, prior to going on an eight-game winless skid. Calgary took a 2-0 lead at 11:55 of the second on the power play. Johnny Gaudreau patiently carried the puck behind the San Jose net then centered it to Hudler for his 15th goal. With less than 2 minutes left in the second, Raymond was set up perfectly by Joe Colborne and sent a one-timer past Stallock. The Sharks' lone goal came when Scott banged in his second of the season 2:48 into the third. San Jose had the territorial edge in the third but could not get any closer. Hiller has given up only eight goals over the past five games and improved to 17-14-2 on the season. Stallock finished with 20 saves. NOTES: Mikael Backlund (illness) returned to the Flames' lineup after missing one game. ... San Jose placed Tye McGinn on injured reserve and recalled Chris Tierney from Worcester of the AHL. ... Calgary has led after the first period an NHL-low nine times this season. ... After narrowly escaping a serious injury Monday night when a skate nearly cut his wrist, Gaudreau wore wrist guards inside his gloves.
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Mark Cuban says that Rajon Rondo will be out at least until the All-Star break. How will the Mavs cope without their PG?
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VALHALLA, N.Y. (AP) An investigation into what caused a fiery crash that killed a motorist and five rail riders is focusing on how a mother of three described by friends as safety conscious ended up between two crossing gates in her SUV as a commuter train barreled toward her. "The big question everyone wants to know is: Why was this vehicle in the crossing?" Robert Sumwalt, a National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman, told reporters in suburban New York a day after the deadliest accident in the 32-year history of Metro-North Railroad, one of the nation's busiest commuter railroads. NTSB investigators were working Thursday to examine the tracks, interview the crew and find out whether Ellen Brody's Mercedes SUV had a data recorder of its own. Service on the Harlem Line resumed Thursday with delays, as trains slowed down through the crash site area. Brody, 49, was driving home from her jewelry-store job Tuesday night when a witness said she got out of her vehicle to check after a guardrail came down on top of it. She then got back into the car, driving forward onto the tracks just before she was struck by the train, motorist Rick Hope told The Journal News. "She wasn't in a hurry at all, but she had to have known that a train was coming," Hope told the newspaper, adding he backed up and motioned for her to do the same. The crash happened in the dark in an area where the tracks are straight but drivers exiting or entering the adjacent Taconic Parkway had to turn and cross them. Traffic also was backed up because of an accident on the parkway. Investigators had no evidence the crossing gates weren't working properly, but their examination was just beginning, Sumwalt said. Brody was a mother of three grown daughters and an active, outgoing member of her synagogue. She was "not risky when it came to her safety or others," said family friend Paul Feiner, the town supervisor in Greenburgh. The crash was so powerful that the electrified third rail came up and pierced the train and the SUV, and the SUV was pushed about 1,000 feet, Sumwalt said. The blaze consumed the SUV and the train's first car. Sumwalt said the NTSB would also examine the adequacy of the train's exits and the intensity of the fire, which investigators believe was sparked by the SUV's gas tank. In the first car, a man whose own hands were burned elbowed open the emergency exit latch, allowing some of the train's roughly 700 passengers to escape, passenger Christopher Gross said on ABC's "Good Morning America." The train's engineer tried to rescue people until the smoke and flames got so severe that he had to escape, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said. While officials did not immediately release any victims' names, employers and family members confirmed that the dead included Walter Liedtke, a curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Eric Vandercar, 53, a senior managing director at Mesirow Financial, Aditya Tomar, 41, who worked in asset management at JPMorgan, Robert Dirks, 36, a research scientist at D.E. Shaw Research in Manhattan, Joseph Nadol, an executive with JPMorgan Chase & Co. It was not the first deadly crash at the site: A Metro-North train hit a truck, killing its driver, at the same Commerce Street crossing in 1984, according to Federal Railroad Administration records. Every day, trains travel across more than 212,000 highway-grade rail crossings in the U.S. There are an average of 230 to 250 deaths a year at such crossings, down over 50 percent from two decades ago, FRA figures show. Risky driver behavior or poor judgment accounts for 94 percent of grade crossing accidents, according to a 2004 government report. Metro-North is the nation's second-busiest commuter railroad, after the Long Island Rail Road, serving about 280,000 riders a day. Late last year, the NTSB issued rulings on five Metro-North accidents in New York and Connecticut in 2013 and 2014, repeatedly finding fault with the railroad. Among the accidents was a 2013 derailment in the Bronx that killed four people, the railroad's first passenger fatalities. The NTSB said the engineer had fallen asleep at the controls because of a severe, undiagnosed case of sleep apnea. ___ Associated Press writers Kiley Armstrong, Ula Ilnytzky and Meghan Barr in New York; Joan Lowy in Washington; and Michael Kunzelman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.
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Jerry Jones has suggested before that running back Joseph Randle could rack up 100-yard games if given enough carries. Here's hoping the Cowboys don't have to find out soon. For the second time in four months, Randle's been arrested. This time, he was cited for unlawful possession of marijuana in a hotel room in Wichita, Kansas, at 2:53 a.m. Officers reportedly showed up after receiving a call for domestic violence with a weapon. There wasn't a weapon in the room by the time Wichita police arrived. I hope the Cowboys act quickly to release Randle if he's charged with domestic violence, but that is still being investigated. All we know at this point is that any chance Randle had of being a candidate to replace DeMarco Murray is probably gone. In the aftermath of these two incidents involving Randle, it just reinforces Murray's professionalism. Garrett has leaned on Murray as a team leader since 2012. He was recently named the NFL's offensive player of the year after rushing for 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns. Jones is faced with what one high-ranking Cowboys executive told me was "the toughest decision he's had to make in years." Randle just made that decision easier. He's fortunate that he plays for an organization that believes in third chances. He's a talented tailback, but he hasn't come close to earning a look as a starter. This in some ways confirms his shoplifting arrest wasn't completely out of character. The fact that he was taped throwing his teammates under the bus after that arrest also hurt his reputation. That said, it's too soon to simply cut him. The Cowboys rarely make examples out of talented players. They couldn't wait to welcome back Josh Brent despite his actions leading to the death of a teammate. Some folks think it would be easy to find a replacement for Randle in the draft. I'm not convinced. It basically requires you to use a draft pick that might be better spent on defense. This team doesn't take moral stands. It shrouds players in forgiveness. But Randle's shown he's not serious about being a professional. His arrest reminds the Cowboys how much they would miss Murray. For some reason I think Murray will be easier to sign than Dez Bryant. He doesn't strike me as someone who'll demand the same salary as Marshawn Lynch in 2015. Bryant will be more willing to challenge the Cowboys. He fired at least one warning shot at Jones during the Cowboys bye week this past season. The Cowboys can't afford to lose either Bryant or Murray. And lucky for Murray, one of his potential replacements isn't trustworthy. If you think letting Murray walk seems like a good idea, maybe you share Randle's interest in "green botanical" substances. MORE FROM FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST: - Five-star recruits who were never stars in college - Ranking NFL quarterback salaries - Oldest player on every NBA team - Famous Dallas Cowboys fans
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Nato is set to announce details of a plan to bolster the alliance's military presence in Eastern Europe in response to continued fighting in Ukraine. The bloc's chief says it will be the biggest reinforcement of its collective defence since the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry is to hold talks in Kiev as the US considers whether to send weapons to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian rebels. The US has so far only provided "non-lethal" assistance to Ukraine. On Wednesday Ashton Carter, the White House's choice for defence secretary, said he was "inclined" to start supplying arms. Rapid reaction Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday will seek to reassure the alliance's member nations in Eastern Europe by boosting its forces there. A rapid reaction force of up to 5,000 is expected to be announced, with its lead units able to deploy at two days' notice. Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has said the bloc faces a "fundamental change" to its security environment because of Russian aggression. Speaking as ministers arrived in Brussels, he said: "This is something we do as a response to the aggressive actions we have seen from Russia, violating international law and annexing Crimea," he said. "I very much underline that this is something we do because we have to adapt our forces when we see that the world is changing." Nato will also reveal plans for a network of small command centres in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. The move is being seen as a potential deterrent against any Russian threat to the Baltic states or other bloc members should the crisis in Ukraine spin out of control. Russia denies accusations by Ukraine and the West that it is arming rebels in eastern Ukraine and sending regular troops across the border. Analysis: Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent Nato sees its actions as entirely defensive - but this is not the way they will be seen in Moscow. Indeed their fundamentally different perceptions of the Ukraine crisis is what is driving the wider rift between Russia and the West. Nato's wider actions - it also plans to open a training centre in Georgia and support for the reform of Ukraine's military - all ring alarm bells in Moscow. Tensions could get worse still if the US or other Nato allies move to arm the Ukrainian military. This is not a Nato issue as such but something for national governments, and everyone is watching the course of the evolving debate within the Obama administration. Nato readjusts as Ukraine crisis looms Later on Thursday, Mr Kerry will meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Ukraine's capital. The issue of weapons deliveries to Ukraine - and other avenues of US assistance - is expected to be one of the main items on the agenda. On Wednesday Mr Carter, who previously served as deputy secretary of defence, appeared in front of the Senate Armed Service committee in Washington for questioning ahead of a full Senate confirmation vote on his nomination as Secretary of Defense. He spoke positively on the possibility of moving arms supplies to the Ukrainians. "I'm very much inclined in that direction, mister chairman, because I think we need to support the Ukrainians in defending themselves," he said when asked by Senator John McCain if he supported delivering "defensive weapons" to Ukraine. "The nature of those arms, I can't say right now," he added. Ongoing fighting The White House has previously expressed fears that sending in weapons could trigger a tense confrontation with Russia and escalate the conflict. But US President Barack Obama is now said to be reconsidering his position, accusing Russia of escalating the conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, leaving a September ceasefire in tatters. Earlier this week, a group of former senior US officials and officers urged a major increase in military assistance, including providing light-armour missiles designed to take out tanks and armoured vehicles. And on Tuesday, a group of US senators called on President Obama and Nato "to rapidly increase military assistance to Ukraine to defend its sovereign borders against escalating Russian aggression". Fighting in eastern Ukraine began last April, when separatists seized government buildings after Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
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Remember that time Herman Cain led the GOP field in the quest for the White House? Or when Michele Bachman briefly was Iowa's first choice? In the last presidential cycle, nearly every Republican candidate had his or her moment in the sun as the party searched for an alternative to the one whom voters wound up choosing anyway. Some serious contenders flamed out early, while some upstarts lasted longer than expected. That jockeying might be in the GOP's rear-view mirror as a new opportunity and a new-ish crop of candidates starts to take shape, and it also serves as a reminder that it's one thing to step into the sunlight of voter and media attention and another to stay there. Unlike in 2012, the 2016 Republican primary is shaping up as an open race with a deep bench of viable contenders. Each is looking to gain a position in the field that provides enough momentum to attract top support talent along with the donors needed to compete over the long haul. But too much sun, especially too soon, can burn. The challenge for candidates at this stage of the game is to catch on without being perceived as the frontrunner. There is still a year to go before voters in Iowa, the first caucus state, officially weigh in on the choices. And there are drawbacks to getting out ahead of the pack this early in the process: The media vetting begins in earnest, opposition scrutiny increases, as does the prospect of dirt being dished. Steadiness may go unnoticed in the face of such attention, but any stumbles are magnified. The challenge is especially great for first-time presidential candidates. That's why observers say Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker intends to contend for second best at this stage of the game -- that is, to be a consensus candidate with a foot in different camps who can be there for voters whose first choices don't pan out. But Walker is picking up momentum faster than many had imagined. There are benefits to gaining campaign steam, to be sure, but those risks are real. A recent poll in Iowa found him leading the field with 15 percent of the support, a sizable chunk for a new candidate this early on. (Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was right behind him with 14 percent.) The influential Drudge Report has been spotlighting the governor and promoting its own reader poll showing him far ahead of the pack. Last week, basking in the glow of accolades for a speech he gave in Iowa, Walker launched Our American Revival, an organization that lets him raise money, build a political team, and travel around promoting his message. This week, the group brought in key advisers and staff with national experience. Walker is certainly on a roll. Which is why he might be well advised to keep his head down. Still, "it's always better to be ahead than behind. Walker has got a tremendous boost, and I'm sure it's driving [Jeb] Bush crazy," says Larry Sabato, the director of University of Virginia's Center for Politics, noting that Walker's rise signals that primary voters are searching for an alternative to the man considered the establishment pick now that Mitt Romney has taken himself out of the running. Sabato notes that candidates like Walker aren't going to refuse an early lead, as it helps recruit staffers and donors, and indicates viability. And with consecutive presidential losses in the rear-view for the GOP, early signs of viability might encourage backers to hang on for the long haul. But good news can be fleeting. Walker's rise "is an indicator of something, but that something doesn't have to last." One of the most compelling feathers in Walker's cap is that he won three races (including a recall election) in four years in a blue state, an achievement that should have wide appeal in the party. His successful fight against government-employee unions allows him to campaign as a fighter who doesn't back down, which especially attracts conservatives. He is positioning himself as a "bold" reformer and a fresh face able to compete against an old name (Hilary Clinton, specifically, and also Bush). But Walker is also going to be pushed beyond those adjectives and challenged to make his freshness last for at least a year. One of those tests came on Sunday, when he was asked in an interview with ABC News about his strategy for taking on terrorists in Iraq and Syria. When Walker called for an "aggressive" approach, Martha Raddatz stopped him. "But what does that mean?" she asked. The governor said the United States had to be prepared to put boots on the ground in Syria, and shouldn't take anything off the table. Walker hasn't officially announced his candidacy -- no candidate has -- but that doesn't lessen the calls for specifics when it comes to policy positions. In unveiling his state budget this week, Walker proposed steep cuts to the state university system, eliciting objections from educators and evoking past budget fights that led to his claim to fame. The budget proposal helps the governor build a broader national message, but it also invites criticism as the party works to attract younger voters. Walker's union battles figure to play well in Iowa, where voters seem to have taken an interest in what he has to offer. "Scott Walker is someone I think Iowa Republican activists have had an eye on for a while, and he is known to us because of the recall," said Craig Robinson, a former political director for the Iowa GOP and current editor of The Iowa Republican. "Having endured that, he's getting the home field advantage a little bit from being so close." With that in mind, Robinson noted, Walker has already been through considerable vetting in Iowa and elsewhere, as his recall became somewhat of a nationalized election. "I would be ecstatic to have these poll numbers this early," he said. "It will help fundraising, which is such a critical thing in these campaigns. Being out front early will really help him get his campaign off to a good start." Still, there is a long time to go between now and when Iowans actually vote. Polls fluctuate, and often respond to whoever is in the news. "The idea that one speech is going to make someone the nominee is not an accurate understanding of the way Iowa works," says Matt Beynon, a spokesman for Rick Santorum, who narrowly won the caucuses in 2012 by slowly and steadily making his way around the state's 99 counties. "It doesn't mean someone in the lead can't win it, but they're going to have to earn it." Steve Deace, a talk radio host and an influential Iowa Republican whom many candidates work to court, has a related view: "Walker has something no other Republican contender has: substantive victory over the American left. But he's still going to have to make his case like everyone else, and he's just now getting vetted."
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Nick Calathes discusses the Grizzlies' 100-90 win over the Jazz.
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The guys take a look at the top recruits over the last four years and examine how they've fared.
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Phil Mickelson says he's "not overly concerned" after missing the cut at the Phoenix Open. What can we expect from Phil Mickelson at Torrey Pines?
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Police say Lance Armstrong hit two parked cars after a night of partying, but wasn't charged until after his girlfriend said she wasn't driving. CNN's Jean Casarez reports.
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"I've never looked this regal in my life."
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Jacque Vaughn comments on the loss to San Antonio.
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CNN's Rafael Romo reports on two former drug trafficking brothers who turned government informants to infiltrate a powerful Mexican drug cartel.
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What SI Swimsuit Edition cover was the best ever? The guys make their picks. Is Dave Ross showing his age by picking Kathy Ireland?
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Have you kept a new pair of shoes secret from your spouse? Or perhaps purchased a new golf club and hid it in your golf bag? You're not alone. Financial infidelity is more common than you may think. According to a new report from CreditCards.com , 1 in 5 Americans said they've spent $500 or more without telling their partner. And some have taken their subterfuge to a whole new level. About 6 percent admitted to leading financial double lives by maintaining hidden checking or savings accounts or using secret credit cards, the report says. The study included responses from 843 Americans living with a spouse or partner. Matt Schulz, CreditCard.com's senior industry analyst, told MoneyWatch that you're playing with fire if you're harboring financial secrets. These secrets are a recipe for disaster. If you and your significant other aren't honest with each other about what you're spending, you never really know how much money you have, and that can lead to big problems. You don't necessarily have to share every single purchase with your partner, Paula Levy, a certified public accountant and marriage and family therapist in Connecticut, told CreditCards.com. Some independence is fine. "In most cases, the secret is mostly to avoid conflict and to make sure they get what they want," Levy said. Other highlights of the financial infidelity survey include: Men vs. women . Men are more likely than women to keep financial secrets, such as a private credit card or bank account (8 percent vs. 5 percent), or make a big purchase without their partner's knowledge (26 percent vs. 14 percent), the survey said. Old vs . young . Younger couples are more likely than their older counterparts to have hidden accounts or secret purchases. Independent purchases. "Thirty-one percent of men and 18 percent of women say they would have no problem with their partner spending $500 or more without letting them know," the survey said. My husband and I combined our checking accounts shortly after we were married. It really helped alleviate the financial frustrations we had about each other's spending because we could both see what money was going in and out of our accounts. We also typically talk about any purchases of more than $200.
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Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) healthcare technology is spreading quickly among major U.S. hospitals, showing early promise as a way for doctors to monitor patients remotely and lower costs. Fourteen of 23 top hospitals contacted by Reuters said they have rolled out a pilot program of Apple's HealthKit service - which acts as a repository for patient-generated health information like blood pressure, weight or heart rate - or are in talks to do so. The pilots aim to help physicians monitor patients with such chronic conditions as diabetes and hypertension. Apple rivals Google Inc (GOOGL.O) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), which have released similar services, are only just starting to reach out to hospitals and other medical partners. Such systems hold the promise of allowing doctors to watch for early signs of trouble and intervene before a medical problem becomes acute. That could help hospitals avoid repeat admissions, for which they are penalized under new U.S. government guidelines, all at a relatively low cost. The U.S. healthcare market is $3 trillion, and researcher IDC Health Insights predicts that 70 percent of healthcare organizations worldwide will invest by 2018 in technology including apps, wearables, remote monitoring and virtual care. Those trying out Apple's service included at least eight of the 17 hospitals on one list ranking the best hospitals, the U.S. News & World Report's Honor Roll. Google and Samsung had started discussions with just a few of these hospitals. Apple's HealthKit works by gathering data from sources such as glucose measurement tools, food and exercise-tracking apps and Wi-fi connected scales. The company's Apple Watch, due for release in April, promises to add to the range of possible data, which with patients' consent can be sent to an electronic medical record for doctors to view. "TIMING RIGHT" Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans has been working with Apple and Epic Systems, Ochsner's medical records vendor, to roll out a pilot program for high-risk patients. The team is already tracking several hundred patients who are struggling to control their blood pressure. The devices measure blood pressure and other statistics and send it to Apple phones and tablets. "If we had more data, like daily weights, we could give the patient a call before they need to be hospitalized," said Chief Clinical Transformation Officer Dr. Richard Milani. Sumit Rana, chief technology officer at Epic Systems, said the timing was right for mobile health tech to take off. "We didn't have smartphones ten years ago; or an explosion of new sensors and devices," Rana said. Apple has said that over 600 developers are integrating HealthKit into their health and fitness apps. Many of the hospitals told Reuters they were eager to try pilots of the Google Fit service, since Google's Android software powers most smartphones. Google said it has several developer partners on board for Fit, which connects to apps and devices, but did not comment on its outreach to hospitals. Samsung said it is working with Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital to develop mobile health technology. The firm also has a relationship with the University of California's San Francisco Medical Center. Apple's move into mobile health tech comes as the Affordable Care Act and other healthcare reform efforts aim to provide incentives for doctors to keep patients healthy. The aim is to move away from the "fee for service" model, which has tended to reward doctors for pricey procedures rather than for outcomes. Still, hospitals must decide whether the difficulty of sorting through a deluge of patient-generated data of varying quality is worth the investment. "This is a whole new data source that we don't understand the integrity of yet," said William Hanson, chief medical information officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. FIRST STEPS Apple has recruited informal industry advisors, including Rana and John Halamka, chief information officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, to discuss health data privacy and for introductions to the industry. The company said it had an "incredible team" of experts in health and fitness and was talking to medical institutions, healthcare and industry experts on ways to deliver its services. A few hospitals are also exploring how to manage the data that is flowing in from health and fitness-concerned patients, whom many in Silicon Valley refer to as the "worried well." Beth Israel's Halamka said that many of the 250,000 patients in his system had data from sources such as Jawbone's Up activity tracker and wirelessly connected scales. "Can I interface to every possible device that every patient uses? No. But Apple can," he said. Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles is developing visual dashboards to present patient-generated data to doctors in an easy-to-digest manner. Experts say that there will eventually be a need for common standards to ensure that data can be gathered from both Apple's system and its competitors. "How do we get Apple to work with Samsung? I think it will be a problem eventually," said Brian Carter, a director focused on personal and population health at Cerner, an electronic medical record vendor that is integrated with HealthKit. (Additional reporting by Vincent Lee in Seoul, editing by Peter Henderson and Stuart Grudgings)
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(Reuters) - Weatherford International Plc plans to cut 5,000 jobs, or about 9 percent of its workforce, by the end of the first quarter as the oil services company tries to save costs amid sinking oil prices and budget cuts. The job cuts will focus on both operating and support positions and a majority of the reductions will be in the Western Hemisphere, the company said in a statement. Weatherford, which currently employs about 56,000 people across the world, expects the job cuts to result in annualized savings of over $350 million. "Due to the quickly changing market conditions, we are aligning and reducing our cost as well as organizational structures to match the new environment," the company said. Weatherford said it expects its cost actions, a reduction in capital expenditure by $550 million to $900 million in 2015 and a positive contribution from working capital balances, to offset any reduction in earnings. Last month, the company said it would eliminate the position of chief operating officer as it copes with a 60 percent slide in global crude oil prices. Global oversupply and tepid demand growth have sent crude prices to five-year lows, prompting oil producers to trim their budgets. Oil companies have responded to the lower spending levels by cutting thousands of jobs and also salaries. Schlumberger NV , the world's largest oilfield services provider, is laying off 9,000 employees, while Baker Hughes Inc is reducing its headcount by 7,000.Oil major BP Plc said it last month that it would freeze base pay across the company this year, while Resolute Energy Corp said it would slash its CEO's base pay by 96 percent. (Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The way Russell Westbrook saw it, Wednesday night's game at New Orleans was a must win. The Thunder had lost four of their past six and were missing forward Kevin Durant -- out with a sprained left big toe -- for the fourth time in five games. BOX SCORE: THUNDER 102, PELICANS 91 All Westbrook did against a hot Pelicans team was tie a career high with 45 points in leading the Thunder to a 102-91 win. "Just trying to find a way to keep us in the game and get us a win," Westbrook said. "This was a must-win for us coming into their building. That was my only thing." Down 91-89 with a little less than six minutes to play, Westbrook found a way to not just keep the Thunder (25-24) in the game, but to put them ahead for good. Starting with a Serge Ibaka dunk assisted by Westbrook, Oklahoma City finished on a 13-0 run over the final five minutes. Westbrook had two assists and four points in the closing stretch. The last time Westbrook scored 45, the Thunder needed two overtimes to beat Minnesota on March 23, 2012. This time, all it took was regulation. "Russell is as competitive as any player I have been around," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "He obviously has the talent and the skill base, but his heart and his desire to win, and to win every possession, is what makes him great." New Orleans (26-23) had won six of its past seven games, including a stirring 15-point victory over Atlanta, which came in having won 19 straight. While Westbrook scored 25 first-half points, including a career-best for one quarter-- 19 in the first -- the Pelicans maintained momentum behind 25 points from their bench. And Quincy Pondexter's buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave New Orleans a 57-51 halftime. But after building to a 68-57 lead midway through the third, Westbrook, along with teammate Serge Ibaka, took over. They combined for 15 points in four minutes, wiping out New Orleans' double-digit lead and giving Oklahoma City the momentum and energy it lacked in the first half. "Defensively, I thought Russell just had his way with us tonight, whether it was coming off screens or knocking down shots," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. "We did not have an answer for him." Not even All-Star forward Anthony Davis could give New Orleans that spark. Though Davis finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, he didn't dominate down the stretch like he has during the Pelicans recent run. That was largely due to Ibaka, whose 13 points all came in the second half and whose six rebounds and seven blocks helped seal the inside for the Thunder. Oklahoma City outscored New Orleans in the paint 66-46 and held New Orleans to just 38.5 percent shooting, including 14 of 46 in the second half. "We got down, I think it was 11 at one point, and we didn't get thrown apart," Brooks said. "We still stuck together and figured out ways to get stops and score in transition off of those stops. That is how we win." The two teams meet again Friday in Oklahoma City. TIP-INS Thunder: Anthony Morrow scored 14 points, including two fourth-quarter 3-pointers. The former Pelican made both 3-pointers in front of the New Orleans bench. Pelicans: New Orleans lost for just the second time at home this season when at least seven players record assists. They had won 13 straight at home when doing so. UP NEXT Thunder: Host New Orleans on Friday Pelicans: At Oklahoma City on Friday
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Cam Talbot made 18 saves in place of the injured Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash had a goal and an assist, and Derek Stepan snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to their third straight win, 3-2 over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night. Talbot, whose previous start was a 3-0 loss at Boston on Jan. 15, got the nod after Lundqvist was forced to sit out by a neck injury caused when he was struck in the throat by a shot against Carolina on Saturday. Lundqvist is day to day. Nash gave the Rangers a 1-0 edge in the first period with his NHL-leading 32nd goal, and Derick Brassard and Stepan scored in the second. Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron had goals in the first period for Boston, which was 8-1-1 in its previous 10. Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots. The Rangers regained the lead in the second period on goals by Brassard and Stepan. Mats Zuccarello dug the puck out behind the Boston net and sent it to Chris Kreider in the right circle. With his back to the net, Kreider sent the puck into the slot to Brassard for a shot past Rask at 6:41. It was Brassard's 13th goal and second in seven games. New York made it 3-2 when, after taking a stretch pass from defenseman Dan Girardi, Nash moved the puck to Stepan, who got behind defenseman Dougie Hamilton and beat Rask with 3:04 left for his ninth goal. Talbot had a much better second period, stopping all seven shots. Things had started well for Talbot and the Rangers, who took a 1-0 lead before the Bruins recorded a shot. Nash scored in the first period for the third straight game when he raced down left wing, cut in front of Rask, shifted the puck from forehand to backhand, and put it in at 5:50. Talbot made his first save with 12:15 remaining when he stopped defenseman Adam McQuaid, drawing a big cheer from the crowd, and then made another solid stop just over 2 minutes later against Loui Eriksson. But despite notching only five shots in the first period, the Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the intermission with a pair of quick strikes. Lucic got it started just hours after he arrived in New York by scoring his 11th goal. The puck popped free from a scrum in the lower right corner of the Rangers end and came to Lucic in the slot for a hard drive that nestled into the top left corner at 13:37. It was the second goal in three games for Lucic, who missed practice on Tuesday because of the flu. The Bruins needed only 1:52 more to grab a 2-1 edge on Bergeron's 13th of the season. Eriksson carried the puck down the left side into the Rangers end and fed a crisp pass into the slot that Bergeron deftly deflected past Talbot. NOTES: Nash is the first Rangers player to score in at least 25 of the team's first 49 games since Adam Graves did it in the 1993-94 season. ... Five of Stepan's goals have come in two games this season. ... MacKenzie Skapski was recalled from Hartford (AHL) to serve as Talbot's backup. He was born on June 15, 1994, the day after the Rangers last won the Stanley Cup. ... Bergeron also scored for the second time in three games.
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Former Duke basketball player and presidential "body man" Reggie Love joins Don Lemon for a candid discussion on race, America, and what it's like to work for Obama
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The best way to participate in the internet and mobile revolution is by learning to code. The future is written in software. You can write it or be programmed by it. As a proficient software developer, you can implement your own ideas, or you can help other people implement theirs. And the best part is that you can learn coding for free. You just need sustained effort. Here is what I recommend for aspiring software entrepreneurs. Start with codecademy.com , which is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes. Take the HTML/CSS class and build yourself a free website on neocities.com , a hosting service. Then take the Javascript class for at least two weeks. While you're taking these classes explore what programmers and entrepreneurs in the world are up to. Visit news.ycombinator.com and producthunt.com to get a sense for where the tech industry is headed. After two weeks on CodeAcademy, you'll want to select a particular "stack" or group of technologies you can use to implement an application. Android, JavaScript & Ruby are good choices. Take one week to explore different stacks. Do " Hello, world! " type tutorials in different languages. At the end of a week, pick a stack and stick to it for a minimum of three months. Once you have a stack selected, create a learning path for yourself, which includes online classes and small projects you can do to pick up different skills. This is where the real work begins. Look at mysliderule.com for inspiration. Create a GitHub account and set a goal for yourself to have a significant project that you have written up on GitHub in three months. Every three months create a new learning path for yourself. Emphasize small open source projects that use different technologies. While you continue your studies explore online freelancing websites, which can help you make money like odesk.com , guru.com and CodersClan.com . Use your newly-gained technical skills for social good. Work for NGOs and develop technology solutions for them. Look for projects with technical mentors or reach out to the local technology community for mentors who can review your work and provide feedback. Spend at least one year working for the best startup you can find. Surround yourself with great people. These are the people who will form the base of your professional network for the rest of your career. At this point you should have technical skills, an understanding of problems that exist in the world and how people currently deal with them, a work ethic, and the beginnings of a professional network. Recruit a few friends and start playing with ideas. Look at what new technologies enable and apply them to old problems. There you have it. In just four years you can be a software professional with your own business and a long career ahead of you. Commit to the path. It is not fast. It is difficult. It is going to take six months to one year before you're able to make any money from it. You will frequently be frustrated. Be patient. Be humble but persistent in asking for help online. Be generous and help other people when you can. Think about it like going to college but instead of a degree you get an online business that will pay the rent. We welcome your comments at [email protected] .
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Syracuse has self-imposed sanctions that will keep them out of the NCAA and Conference Tournaments. How should players approach the rest of the year?
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The actor who plays "The Mountain" in Game of Thrones set a weightlifting record by lifting a 1,400 pound log.
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The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has returned. The cover for the 2015 issue was unveiled Wednesday by Sports Illustrated . The magazine selected Hannah Davis as this year's cover model; she joins the likes of Kate Upton, Nina Agdal and Irina Shayk, who made the cover in recent years. Previous cover models also include Kathy Ireland, Heidi Klum, Brooklyn Decker and Tyra Banks. You can see the entire cover featuring Davis below: The 2015 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue will launch on print, digital and mobile platforms on February 9. You can get more information on this year's issue and Davis' reaction to being selected as the cover model at SI.com .
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Check out highlights of Creighton's overtime win over Xavier.
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If USC can learn to finish games the way it closes the recruiting cycle under Coach Steve Sarkisian, the Trojans' future could be bright. After enduring years of NCAA sanctions, USC on Wednesday welcomed its first full recruiting class since 2011. And for the second consecutive year the Trojans finished with a flourish. Previously uncommitted cornerback Iman Marshall of Long Beach Poly High and defensive lineman Rasheem Green and linebacker John Houston of Gardena Serra signed national letters of intent, capping what by consensus of recruiting websites ranked as the second-best class in college football. The Trojans retained every player who had made a verbal commitment before signing day and added the local trio for a class that filled needs in every position group. "Everything we thought could occur ... happened exactly the way we thought it could happen," Sarkisian said. For each of the last three years, USC was limited to 15 new scholarship players. On Wednesday, the Trojans signed 19 to go along with five already enrolled for the spring semester. Kicker Matt Boermeester was awarded a scholarship during training camp last year and counted against this year's class as what is known as a blue shirt. The fast finish echoed of last year, when cornerback Adoree' Jackson, receiver JuJu Smith and offensive lineman Damien Mama announced commitments on signing day. All played significant roles for the Trojans last season. "Just like last year they finished with a bang," said Greg Biggins, national recruiting analyst for Fox Sports and Scout. "They got everybody they were supposed to get." Said Sarkisian: "I remember a year ago at this time and talking about Adoree' and JuJu and Damien and all the excitement of that class, when in reality we knew how important this class was going to be." Quarterbacks Ricky Town, who is already enrolled, and Sam Darnold are part of a class that includes Texas running backs Ronald Jones and Aca'Cedric Ware, touted Utah linebackers Osa Masina and Porter Gustin, rangy junior college receivers Isaac Whitney and De'Quan Hampton, and Marshall, who is regarded as the nation's top cornerback prospect. Marshall's announcement was not without drama. He was scheduled to announce his choice in the afternoon on ESPNU. Shortly before the ceremony, his pick was revealed in a music video that was posted on Bleacher Report's website. "SC was the fit for me," Marshall said during his announcement ceremony at Long Beach Poly High. "I felt that was home and I'm trying to bring a [national championship] back to Los Angeles." Marshall said he was looking forward to playing with Jackson and linebacker Su'a Cravens. "Just be a legend at one of the premier colleges in the nation and bring L.A. back to the promised land," he said. Sarkisian and his staff will bolster the roster with more blue shirts - players who were not officially recruited under NCAA rules but will be awarded scholarships during training camp and count against next year's class. Serra receiver Deontay Burnett and Anaheim Servite offensive lineman Clayton Johnston could fall in that category. The Trojans finished 9-4 in Sarkisian's first season. They lost to Arizona State on a last-second Hail Mary pass and to Utah on a touchdown pass in the final seconds. USC could have avoided both defeats by assuming control in the fourth quarter. Sarkisian said his staff pursued "taller, longer and rangier" players to help the Trojans become more stout. "We need to build a football team that has the potential to be a bully," he said. Near the end of last season, Sarkisian said the Trojans' future was "ridiculously bright." He repeated that statement after the season-ending Holiday Bowl victory over Nebraska. As he reviewed the new recruiting class, he remained steadfast. "I'm not backing off that," he said.
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The SI Swimsuit cover has been released, and the 120 crew reacts to Hannah Davis getting the cover honor.
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French bank BNP Paribas (BNP-FR) reported a sharp decline in full-year net profit on Thursday, of 157 million euros ($178 million) -- down 96.7 percent in 2014, on the previous year on the back of penalties. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a net profit of 531 million euros. BNP said the results were hit by one-off items of 7.4 billion euros, including 6 billion euros for a settlement with the U.S. Excluding one-off items, net profit came in at 7 billion euros. Lars Machenil, chief financial officer of BNP, told CNBC that although the settlement had impacted domestic business, the bank had "engines of growth." "If you look at our domestic markets overall there is some impact on it, but of course we compensate for it by looking at the costs, so we basically…compensate the value creation through that," he told CNBC Wednesday. "On the other hand, in our retail banking (division), there are also our specialized businesses, such as personal finance...that have performed very well this year." In July 2014, BNP pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and Iran and agreed to pay almost $9 billion a settlement with U.S. authorities. Prosecutors had accused the bank of processing billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of some countries that are barred because of human rights abuses, support for terrorists and other national security concerns, Reuters reported. Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Signing day is always full of surprises at Notre Dame, and Wednesday's was no different. What was different this year was a lot of the ruckus didn't come from recruits. In addition to signing 24 players in the Class of 2015, coach Brian Kelly had an interesting day when it came to his coaching staff, with one assistant reportedly leaving for another job and one bogus report involving a former rival coach joining Kelly's staff. It appears the Irish will say goodbye to quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur after one season. Multiple reports had LaFleur set to accept a job with the Falcons under new coach Dan Quinn. LaFleur would join defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks on his way out the door. Cooks has taken the same position at Oklahoma, according to his Twitter bio. Meanwhile, Coachingsearch.com reported early Wednesday that former Michigan coach Brady Hoke had accepted a job on Kelly's staff, setting off an Internet conflagration. But a Notre Dame source told the Tribune that was "not happening," while Hoke later denied it during his analyst gig on CBS Sports Network. Kelly even went on CBS Sports Network later Wednesday to joke about the fracas with Hoke. But during his signing day news conference, Kelly declined to address any impending staff changes. "We've got nine coaches," Kelly said. "We're only talking recruiting today. Any changes we have on the staff, we will definitely get you up to date on it." All this went down as the faxes and scans of national letters of intent rolled in and the Irish awaited the decisions of five recruits. Notre Dame landed two of those players, both big gets. One was Dexter Williams, a four-star running back according to 247Sports.com's composite rankings. Williams, from Winter Garden, Fla., had recently decommitted from Miami and chose the Irish over the Hurricanes on Wednesday. Then there was Equanimeous St. Brown, a four-star receiver from Anaheim, Calif., who had possibly the most Notre Dame of signing day announcements. He made his decision in German, French and English on ESPN. Notre Dame had targeted three safeties who announced their decisions Wednesday, but each signed elsewhere. Justin Reid, a three-star prospect from Geismar, La., chose Stanford; Arrington Farrar, a four-star prospect from Atlanta, picked Wisconsin; and Nathan Meadors, a three-star prospect from San Bernardino, Calif., signed with UCLA. The Irish class placed 13th in the composite rankings, 11th in Rivals.com's and seventh in Scout.com's. Kelly hinted the Irish might take more than one fifth-year graduate transfer to help fill the depth issues at safety, but he said the Irish are done signing high school prospects in this class. In terms of the needs Notre Dame fulfilled, Kelly pointed to having three versatile cornerbacks in Nick Coleman, Shaun Crawford and Ashton White. And kicker Justin Yoon will replace the departing Kyle Brindza. "We don't recruit through anybody else's lens but our own," Kelly said. "These are guys we believe help us win a championship. They're guys that fit here at Notre Dame." Extra points: Kelly said cornerback KeiVarae Russell and defensive end Ishaq Williams, who were suspended last season as part of an academic investigation, are on track to rejoin the team next season. Russell, a native of Everett, Wash., is taking classes at Washington. ... Kelly said offensive lineman Conor Hanratty, who has had a history of concussions, has decided to end his career. ... Kelly said the Irish's spring game, which won't be at Notre Dame Stadium because of construction on campus, is likely to take place on campus. Soldier Field had been mentioned as a possible contingency plan.
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Amazon , Google , and UPS are experimenting with delivering items by drone, but it's not just American companies that are trying to get items to their customers by unmanned aerial vehicle. China's Alibaba has begun a three-day drone delivery trial that sees the online retail giant using remote-controlled quadcopters to carry items to customers who live near distribution centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The vehicles are emblazoned with Alibaba's Taobao brand, a site that works like a combination of eBay and Amazon, and offers a range of food, clothing, and electrical products. During the trial, the drones will only deliver orders of a specific type of ginger tea, a restriction that BBC News says keeps the maximum weight of the packages to 340g (12oz). The 450 shoppers involved in the trial will also need to live within a one-hour flight of Alibaba's distribution centers in order to receive their goods. The drones will only deliver a specific type of tea during the trial The company's drone trial is the latest in a list of challenges to western tech and retail giants like Google and Amazon, as Alibaba continues its push to globalize . Alibaba CEO Jack Ma said his company aimed to have two billion customers by 2025, and it has adopted some of the methods used by western tech giants in order to reach that goal. Last month, the company announced it was making a movie with established director Wong Kar-wai , following a similar path to Amazon by creating exclusive entertainment content it could push on its platforms. An aspirational video published on Taobao's blog explains the company's drone delivery system, showing a woman making an order for the brand of ginger tea at home, before filling a kettle with water and placing it on the stove. By the time the water's boiled, Alibaba's drone has arrived, and her notable frown is turned upside down by the smell of the tea. The video shows a slick operation, but it's not clear whether Alibaba hopes to expand its drone delivery after the trial is over, or what kind of safety considerations it has made for flying around urban areas. Should it plan to deliver more items by drone, it has hopefully cleared the flights with the relevant Chinese authorities, or it might end up with a frowny face of its own BBC News reports that another drone delivery enterprise, set up by China's InCake bakery, was shut down by Shanghai authorities in 2013 for operating without a license.
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Police say around 100 women in Japan who thought they were participating in a sleep study were actually drugged and raped. CNN's Will Ripley reports.
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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- In the midst of his highest-scoring performance ever at home, Stephen Curry figured he'd call a play for someone else. Instead, teammate Draymond Green looked him and shouted, "Get 50." No problem. BOX SCORE: WARRIORS 128, MAVERICKS 114 Curry raced down court and made his 10th 3-pointer to finish with a season-high 51 points, capping an electrifying effort that rallied the Golden State Warriors from an early 22-point deficit to down the Dallas Mavericks 128-114 on Wednesday night. "Sometimes Steph plays his best when we're down big and he just senses that he has to put the Superman cape on," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "And he's so good at it. He loves the freedom of being down and saying, `All right. I'm going to let it fly and bring us back.' And that's what he did." Curry connected on 10 of 16 shots from beyond the arc and 16 of 26 overall. The All-Star point guard and MVP candidate put on a dazzling dribbling display to match his streaky shooting stroke, scoring 26 points in the third quarter alone to help the NBA-leading Warriors (39-8) complete their biggest comeback of the season in front of a roaring sellout crowd of 19,596. "If I had any kind of daylight off the pick-and-roll, I was going to shoot it," Curry said. "I had a good feel and a good rhythm." Chandler Parsons scored 24 points, and Tyson Chandler had 21 points and 17 rebounds in a disappointing defeat for Dallas, which played without injured point guard Rajon Rondo again. The Mavericks led 40-18 in the first quarter before Curry carried Golden State back. "He had one of those extra-special nights. I've never seen anybody in this league hit shots like that from that distance," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. Curry finished just shy of his 54-point masterpiece at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 27, 2013. He made a career-high 11 3-pointers in that game, a 109-105 loss to the Knicks, but could savor a home victory this time. Curry had 41 points and nine 3-pointers to give Golden State a 101-98 lead through three quarters. The Warriors stretched that margin to 112-101 early in the fourth with Curry on the bench, then called him back when the Mavericks moved within seven. The quick-footed guard guided the Warriors in the right direction, putting the game out of reach when he chased down an errant pass by Devin Harris in the backcourt and drew a foul on Dirk Nowitzki while going for a layup. Curry made both free throws, then hit another pair the next time down to put Golden State up 124-113 with 1:35 remaining. Curry cemented another career night with the step-back 3-pointer, setting off chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" throughout the building. His hot-shooting performance only highlighted an impressive display by the Warriors, who hit 19 of 38 shots from 3-point range. The Mavericks made 10 of 30 from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson had 18 points, and Marreese Speights and Leandro Barbosa scored 14 each off the bench as the Warriors won their third straight game. They begin a stretch of 10 of 11 on the road Friday night at East-leading Atlanta. The Mavericks (33-18) had won three in a row and looked poised at the outset to extend their streak in the NBA's toughest venue for visiting teams. Dallas went ahead 24-4 in a little more than six minutes, stretched its lead to 22 and held on for a 42-25 advantage at the end of the first quarter. It was the most points the Warriors had allowed in any quarter this season. The Warriors trimmed Dallas' lead to 62-58 at halftime and went ahead early in the third quarter, with Curry creating his own shots and bringing fans screaming out of their seats after every swish. "It's one thing for him to hit the spot-up shots, but he hit shots in traffic, he makes tough floaters," Chandler said. "An incredible all-around game." ------ TIP-INS Mavericks: Rondo missed his second straight game after he broke an orbital bone in his left eye and fractured his nose during Saturday's win at Orlando. He remains out indefinitely. ... Al-Farouq Aminu was called for a technical foul late in the third quarter after arguing with an official. Warriors: Golden State improved to a league-best 23-2 at home. ... Andrew Bogut had eight rebounds to eclipse 5,000 for his career. SILVER ON HAND Curry treated a special guest to his performance: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who also attended Golden State's win at Sacramento on Tuesday. UP NEXT Mavericks: At Sacramento on Thursday. Warriors: At Atlanta on Friday.
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Dana White says that the UFC will not implement yearly random drug testing and Anderson Silva will still coach the Ultimate Fighter. How can the UFC curb the problem?
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Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman went absolutely nuts during Wednesday's Super Bowl parade. Rob Gronkowski isn't the only one going cray. Julian sent a clear message to Seattle's Richard Sherman. During the 3rd quarter of Super Bowl 49, Sherman taunted the Patriots on national television after New England cornerback Darrelle Revis was badly burned by Doug Baldwin for a touchdown. Clearly Sherman's taunting turned out to be a big mistake.
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Malcolm Butler's Super Bowl-winning interception created a stir of reactions ranging from high pitch screaming to punishing the television screen. Tom Brady and Pete Carroll's reactions were revealed to the world on Tuesday during Inside the NFL. Brady looks like a jubilant boy after getting his first Nintendo, but Carroll looks like he just witnessed a puppy get hit by a truck.
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From the Kalahari in South Africa to the Thar in India, look at some stunning desertscapes from across the world. Kalahari Desert, South Africa The Kalahari Desert, one of the world's most iconic, is named for the word "Keir," which, in the Tswana dialect, means "the great thirst." The vast, arid expanse is well-named - the area receives between five and 10 inches (127 to 254 millimeters) of rain every year, but most of it is lost to the unrelenting heat and dry sand. Namib Desert, Southern Africa Regarded as one of the world s oldest deserts, the Namib is spread across three countries Namibia, South Africa and Angola. One of the region s main attraction is the Namib Sand Sea the world s only coastal desert with fog-enclosed sand dunes. Sahara Desert, Northern Africa The largest hot desert in the world is as large as the U.S., spreading across Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Algeria, Libya, Niger, Tunisia, Chad, Egypt and Sudan. It is also home to several mountain ranges, including the Tibesti Mountains, Aïr Mountains, Hoggar (Ahaggar) Mountains, Saharan Atlas and the Red Sea hills. Grand Bara Desert, Djibouti Situated in southern Djibouti, this desert is known for being one of the flattest, most barren sand surfaces in the world; it doesn't have any bushes, trees or rocks. The desert is famous for the Grand Bara 15K, a marathon that has taken place every year since 1982. Great Basin Desert, US The Great Basin Desert, spread across Nevada, California, Oregon and Idaho, is made up of several small basins. Certain parts of this cold desert are at altitudes greater than 13,000 feet (3,962 meters), allowing visitors to experience a snowy, mountainous climate in colder months. Mojave Desert, US The Mojave is well-known for its many ghost towns the most notable being the gold-mining town Oatman in Arizona, the silver-mining town Calico in California and the defunct rail depot Kelso in California. Spread over California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona, the desert also houses the world s tallest thermometer - it is 134 feet (41 meters) tall and is located along Interstate 15 in Baker, California. Chihuahuan Desert, US and Mexico The Mexican side of the desert is bordered by two mountain ranges the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental which do not allow moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean to reach the region. As a result, the Chihuahuan is also known as a rain shadow desert. Great Sandy Desert, Australia The second-largest desert of the continent is home to two famous national parks of Australia: the Rudall River National Park and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The latter is known for the iconic Ayers Rock (pictured), a holy place of the aboriginal people, and one of the most recognized natural landmarks of Australia. Sonoran Desert, US One of the four main North American deserts, the Sonoran is visually different from the other three due to the presence of legume trees and columnar cacti. The desert s bi-seasonal rainfall pattern and mild winters are another of its defining characteristics. Syrian Desert, Middle East Spread across parts of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the desert is a combination of steppe and true desert. A steppe is marked by scanty grass coverage, while a true desert is an arid, sandy region. The landscape of this desert is lined with lava flows, which originated from the Jabal al-Druze volcanic region. Patagonian Desert, Argentina Known by many names the Patagonia Desert, Patagonian Steppe or Magellanic Steppe, to name a few the desert is primarily located in Argentina with small parts in Chile. Home to indigenous communities like the Tehuelche and Mapuche tribes since the 19th century, the region is otherwise sparsely populated. Simpson Desert, Australia Covering the Great Artesian Basin, one of the world s largest drainage systems, the desert is made up of red sand dunes. It is, in fact, an erg that houses the longest parallel dunes in the world. An erg refers to a flat surface that is covered with wind-swept sand with very little vegetation. Atacama Desert, Chile The driest desert in the world receives only about 0.6 inches (15.24 millimeters) of rainfall annually. Soil samples of the region are often compared to that found in Mars, which is why NASA uses it for testing instruments that are to be used on the Red Planet. Despite the extreme aridity of the area, some of the highest peaks in the desert have been spotted covered in snow. Arabian Desert, Western Asia The Arabian Desert stretches across multiple countries, including Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Human encroachment and hunting have resulted in many species, like gazelles, becoming extinct in the region. Great Victoria Desert, Australia Australia s largest desert was named by explorer Ernest Giles for the then-British monarch. In 1875, Giles became the first European to cross the desert, which is home to several sand hills, grassland plains and gibber plains, which are areas packed with pebbles. Rub' al Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia The name Rub' al-Khali means empty quarter in Arabic and the desert is the world s largest area of continuous sand. It is classified as hyper-arid, making it unsuitable for habitation. The world's largest conventional oil field, Al-Ghawār, was discovered in the northeastern part of this desert in 1948. Badain Jaran Desert, China Despite its harsh arid conditions, the desert is dotted with over 100 permanent lakes that lie in the valleys between the dunes. It is believed underground water streams beneath the sand are responsible for the existence of these freshwater lakes. Gobi Desert, Central Asia This cold desert spans parts of northern and northwestern China and southern Mongolia. Several fossil findings, including remains of dinosaurs and Cenozoic Era-mammals, as well as sites from the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras have been found here. Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan In Turkic languages, the name Kyzylkum means "red sand." Stretching between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and parts of Turkmenistan, the desert is famous for deposits of several metals, including gold, silver, aluminum, copper and uranium. It is also rich in natural gas and oil reserves. Taklamakan Desert, China The desert is known for eolian (wind-formed) sand dunes that are forever shifting, forming new patterns and channels in the sand. In fact, 85 percent of the region is covered by these shifting sand dunes. Due to severe scarcity of water, it houses extremely little plant and animal life. Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan Covering almost 70 percent of the country, the region is known for large deposits of oil and natural gas (pictured). The Kara Kum Canal, one of the largest irrigation and water supply canals in the world, runs across the desert. Dasht-e Kavir, Iran Also known as the Great Salt Desert, the region consists of mud and salt marshes, which are like quicksand and can be dangerous to cross. Frequently hit by severe storms, the desert experiences extreme heat and rains that lead to severe erosion. These extremes and the harsh geography make this area largely uninhabited. Thar Desert, India This desert, which is also known as the Great Indian Desert, is the most densely populated desert in the world. An festival, held during the winters, celebrates the cultural legacy of the land and attracts tourists from all over the world. Cholistan Desert, Pakistan Adjoining the Thar Desert, the Cholistan Desert is locally known as the Rohi and the people living in the region lead a semi-nomadic life. The country s biggest motor sports events the Cholistan Desert Jeep Rally is held here annually. Tabernas Desert, Spain Located within the province of Almería, the desert receives an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine annually. Despite its semi-arid climate, the region boasts an abundance of plants, including the sea lavender and toadflax linaria. Owing to its similarity to North American deserts, the Tabernas has served as a set for Western films since the 1950s. Dasht-e Lut, Iran The salt desert is also known as the Lut Desert. The region is considered one of the driest and hottest places on earth. The desert is a site of ongoing geological processes because of its erosional and depositional features. In July 2016, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Negev Desert, Israel Covering more than half of Israel, this rocky desert is made up of brown mountains, erosion craters and seasonal riverbeds. The region, together with its surrounding area, is the main center of the country s solar industry. Gibson Desert, Australia Part of the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve, the desert covers a large portion of the state of Western Australia. The desert is named after Australian explorer Alfred Gibson, who went missing while searching for water in the desert during an expedition with Ernest Giles in 1874. The area is inhabited by indigenous Australians, mostly in the western part of the desert. Black Rock Desert, US The desert features lava beds, dry lakes, canyons and mountainous regions. Inhabited by humans since 11,000 BC, the Black Rock Desert is also the venue for the annual Burning Man Festival, a week-long desert festival. White Desert, Egypt Located in the Farafra depression, the desert is dotted with huge chalk rock formations. These cream-white structures were formed due to wind activity and occasional sandstorms in the area.
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Simon Flowers, senior vice president for global industry and corporate analysis at Wood Mackenzie, discusses how much cost-cutting needs to take place with the oil price so low.
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Twitter has reached a deal with Google to make its short messages more visible on the Internet, Bloomberg said Thursday. In the first half of this year tweets will show up with Google engine searches as soon as they are posted, under a deal giving the Internet company access to the flow of Twitter's 284 million users, the news agency said, citing sources close to the transaction. Google from now on will go to search information on the Twitter web site and the process will become automatic. Google and Twitter engineers are now working on the project, according to the sources cited by Bloomberg, who said the companies reached a previous accord from 2009 to 2011. Twitter, which has yet to make any profit and is trying to convince Wall Street of its growth prospects, is trying to expand its audience and generate more ad resources. It said Tuesday it will allow its advertisers to run ads on web sites outside its network.
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In the depths of winter, many Americans are daydreaming about their summer travel plans. To save money on your warm weather getaways, now is the time to consider applying for a credit card that can offer summer travel rewards and benefits. If you're considering adding a rewards credit card to your wallet's arsenal, keep in mind that these cards are best suited to cardholders who don't carry a balance from month to month, as any interest charges you'd incur can outweigh the rewards the cards offer. These cards also generally come with higher interest rates than standard credit cards. This winter, there are five credit cards that will help you get where you want to go this summer, and save you money once you get there. 1. Barclaycard Arrival Plus This card offers new cardholders 40,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 within 90 days of account opening. These miles are worth one cent each as statement credit towards any travel expenses, and cardholders receive a 10% mileage rebate on redeemed miles. Therefore, the total value of these bonus miles is $444. In addition, cardholders earn double miles on all purchases with no limits. When traveling overseas, cardholders will benefit from having an EMV smart chip that is compatible with the Chip and PIN implementation, not just Chip and Signature, and no foreign transaction fees . There is an $89 annual fee for this card that is waived the first year. 2. Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card From Chase This card offers new customers 50,000 Rapid Rewards points when they spend $2,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. These 50,000 points are worth $700 in award tickets in their "Wanna Get Away" fare class on any flight. In fact, there are no change or cancellation fees for these awards, so it results in very flexible tickets. In contrast, traditional airline awards can be very hard to find, and travelers can face huge fees should they need to change or cancel their flights. Finally, this credit card offers points that bring cardholders nearly halfway to the 110,000 points needed for a Companion Pass, which is good for unlimited free travel for a designated person on a revenue or award ticket (except for taxes). There is a $69 annual fee for this card. 3. The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card From American Express Starwood Hotels and American Express offer this card that earns points in the Starwood Preferred Guest program. New applicants receive 10,000 points after their first purchase, and another 15,000 points after using their card to make $5,000 in purchases within six months of account opening. Starwood points can be used to book award nights at Starwood Properties, which include Westins, Sheratons and other brands, starting at just 2,000 points a night. In addition, these points can be transferred to airline miles with more than 30 different carriers, making it one of the most valuable loyalty programs offered. There is a $65 annual fee for this card that is waived the first year. 4. The Discover it Card With 14 months of Interest-Free Financing If you need to reserve your summer travel now, but need some time to pay for the purchases, then you can use a card with a promotional financing offer like the Discover it card. New applicants receive 14 months of 0% APR financing on both new purchases and balance transfers, with a 3% balance transfer fee. This card also offers 1% cash back on all purchases, and an additional 4% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases made each quarter at eligible retailers. For the first quarter of 2015, qualifying purchases include gas stations and ground transportation including buses, taxis and trains. There is no annual fee for this card. 5. BankAmericard Travel Rewards Card From Bank of America If you are planning on traveling overseas this summer, and are on a tight budget, then you need a card with no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and EMV smart chip compatibility. That narrows down your choices to just a few cards including the BankAmericard Travel Rewards card from Bank of America. In addition to having all of those features, cardholders earn 1.5 points per dollar spent, and points can be used for travel anywhere, any time with no blackout dates. In addition, new cardholders can receive 10,000 bonus points when they use their card to spend $500 on purchases within their first 90 days of card membership. Note: It's important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for credit cards , loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards , loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with credit card issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly. This article originally appeared on Credit.com .
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finance
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CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks with Stephen Fredrick, who flew ATR 72s, the same model plane that crashed in Taipei on Wednesday.
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video
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MADRID (AP) Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez has broken a bone in his right foot and will undergo surgery on Thursday. Madrid said on its club website that medical tests revealed Rodriguez has a ''fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot'' and that he will be operated on ''in the next few hours.'' Rodriguez suffered the injury after scoring the opening goal in Madrid's 2-1 win over Sevilla in the Spanish league on Wednesday. He was substituted in the first half after doctors examined his foot on the sideline. The 23-year-old Rodriguez quickly became a first-choice midfielder for coach Carlo Ancelotti after his arrival from Monaco following his outstanding World Cup with Colombia when he was the top scorer with six goals and helped his country reach the quarterfinals. He has played in 33 of Madrid's 36 games this season, scoring 12 goals and assisting on 10 more for teammates. Madrid leads the Spanish league and visits defending champion Atletico Madrid on Saturday. Madrid has also reached the knockout rounds of the Champions League as it seeks to defend its European title. It begins its round-of-16 tie at Schalke on Feb. 18.
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sports
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The car sales recovery in Western Europe gathered pace in January with a 7.1 percent gain as southern markets including Spain continued to bounce back, according to industry data published on Thursday. Registrations last month increased to 960,531 cars from 897,008 a year earlier, based on data and estimates compiled by consulting firm LMC Automotive, helped by low oil prices and returning consumer confidence. This compared with a 4.7 percent gain in December. The strength of the year-on-year advance partly reflected weaker sales recorded in January 2014, however. Last month's selling rate fell slightly to 12.43 million cars annually from 12.61 million in December, on a seasonally adjusted basis. "The Western European car market is off to a solid start," LMC analyst Jonathon Poskitt said. "Consumer confidence in the region is, in general, improving and, with relatively low oil prices assumed to carry on for some time, the economic outlook looks a little brighter." The data, an aggregation of published registrations and projections for some smaller markets, show a regional advance powered by southern European countries recovering from the deep slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis. January sales rose 28 percent in Spain and Portugal, and an estimated 42 percent in Greece, LMC said. Spain's recovery will remain a "key component of regional growth this year", Poskitt predicted. (Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by James Regan)
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finance
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The Office has been named the best TV show of the past 20 years at the Broadcast Awards. The excruciating comedy, set in a paper company in Slough, launched the careers of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and generated a hit US spin-off. Broadcast magazine editor Chris Curtis, said the fact he could "still rattle off" several scenes from the show proved "how influential" it was. The awards ceremony also saw BBC One named channel of the year. Citing the success of Sherlock, Call The Midwife and the channel's World Cup coverage, the judges said: "BBC One is a channel with its big guns firing. "EastEnders is back at the top of its game and The Graham Norton Show is firmly established as TV's premier chat-show. The Christmas specials of Mrs Brown's Boys delivered great comedy numbers, as did the nostalgic glow of Still Open All Hours." Consolidating the channel's success, Match of the Day received a special recognition award, while The Great British Bake Off won best factual programme - repeating its success at last month's National Television Awards. Bake Off programme-makers Love Productions also won best independent production company, an award that also recognised its work on the controversial Benefits Street documentary for Channel 4. Channel 4 itself picked up the best news and current affairs prize for its investigation into the kidnapping of 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by terrorist group Boko Haram. Dispatches: Nigeria's Hidden War was praised for its "outstanding and courageous reporting of an extraordinary story". Bedlam, a four-part fly-on-the-wall series looking into the treatment of mental health disorders also won Channel 4 the best documentary series prize. All of the winners were chosen by a jury of industry professionals - including critics, programme commissioners, producers and channel bosses. The Office, which ran for two series and two specials between 2001 and 2003, won its accolade after an audience vote. Each table at the ceremony was given one vote, choosing from a shortlist that included Big Brother, Broadchurch, Gavin and Stacey and Life On Mars. Creators Gervais and Merchant could not be there to receive their prize, but sent their thanks on Twitter, with Merchant deadpanning: "Haven't won anything for a while so thanks guys". Writing in Broadcast, a trade paper for the television industry, the show's producer, Jon Plowman, recalled that it had gotten off to a shaky start. "Series one famously had the lowest AI [audience appreciation] of any new BBC Two show that year," he said. "Ratings were rotten too, but they belatedly went up. [BBC Two controller] Jane Root repeated it within a couple of months and it doubled its figures. "The audience had got that it was okay to laugh even though there was no audience track or obvious jokes. "It wasn't the first mock-doc, but it helped to make single-camera comedy more acceptable and fashionable." Full list of winners Channel of the year - BBC One Best Factual Programme - The Great British Bake-Off (BBC One) Best Drama Series - Happy Valley (BBC One) Best Soap - EastEnders (BBC One) Best Single Drama - Common (BBC One) Best Original Programme - Glasgow Girls (BBC Three) Best Comedy Programme - Harry And Paul's Story Of The Twos (BBC Two) Best Entertainment Programme - Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV1) Best Daytime Programme - Couples Come Dine With Me (Channel 4) Best News & Current Affairs Programme - Dispatches: Nigeria's Hidden War (Channel 4) Best Documentary Programme - Storyville: Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer (BBC Four) Best Documentary Series - Bedlam (Channel 4) Best Music Programme - Coldplay: Ghost Stories (Sky Arts) Best Pre-School Programme - Lily's Driftwood Bay (Nick Jr) Best Sports Programme - The Grand National 2014 (Channel 4) Best Children's Programme - Operation Ouch! Goes Back In Time (CBBC) Best Multichannel Programme - Uncle (Channel 4 / BBC Three) Best International Programme Sales - The X Factor UK Best Independent Production Company - Love Productions Best Post Production House - Envy Post Production Special Recognition - Match Of The Day Best programme of the last 20 years - The Office
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entertainment
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FREDERICK, Md. More than a dozen police academy cadets searched a high school athletic field Thursday, eyes trained on the frozen ground for signs of a getaway path possibly used by suspects who shot and wounded two students outside a gymnasium where two basketball games were in progress. Police were considering gang violence and the rivalry with crosstown opponent Gov. Thomas Johnson High as possible motives for the Wednesday night shooting at Frederick High School. Investigators believe the victims and assailants knew each other, Frederick Police Sgt. Aaron Lapp said in a written statement Thursday evening. They also were looking into reports from students who said they saw four to five males dressed in big coats and hands in their pockets walk into the gymnasium during the game and leave shortly before shots were fired, Capt. Richard Hetherington said. Investigators believe the culprits fled on foot, he said. Police also obtained school surveillance video and planned to re-interview the victims, he said. Frederick, with about 68,000 residents, is a rapidly growing city about 40 miles west of both Baltimore and Washington. The shooting left two male students with injuries that were not life-threatening, and sent spectators running for cover as frantic parents rushed to the scene to make sure their children were OK. The wounded students are 14 and 15, said Denise Pouget, chief of Frederick County Fire and Rescue Services. She said one was shot in a leg, and the other was hit in the back. Lapp said they were flown to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The school was closed Thursday but some players and their parents returned to retrieve street clothing the athletes left behind. One mother, who would give only her first name, Talia, said she didn't think school security was too lax. Another, who declined to give her name for fear of putting her family at risk, said the shooting made her feel the school was unsafe. Two junior varsity basketball games were going on at the time of the shooting, Frederick County public schools spokesman Michael Doerrer said. The students who were shot attend a Frederick County school other than Frederick High, Doerrer said. He said two, unarmed, private security guards were on duty during the game. Security officers and police patrols were increased at all district schools Thursday, he said. Superintendent Theresa Alban told a news conference the number of security officers at athletic events depends on the anticipated size of the crowd and the perceived potential for trouble. "Historically, JV basketball games have not been where we've seen incidents occur as often," she told reporters in video footage posted online by The Frederick News-Post. In a video posted to the district's YouTube channel, Alban said the shooting doesn't mean the schools are dangerous. "We all know that there are issues, many times, that are out there in the community that sometimes spill into our schools, and that's exactly what happened yesterday," Alban said. After the shootings at about 8 p.m., officers took about 200 players, faculty, staff and fans into the school cafeteria, secured the building and questioned witnesses, Hetherington said. The students were released to their parents several hours later in the parking lot of a nearby bowling alley. There was excited chatter as parents hugged their children. Frederick High School junior Sofia McCluskey said she was watching the game and heard a muffled shot. "Someone yelled, 'Yo, they're shooting,'" she said. "And we just ran as fast as we could." Her friend Stephanie Sanchez said it was a frightening experience. "I was, like, shaking the whole time. I still am," she said late Wednesday night. DeJuan Jones, a sophomore, said he knew the boys who were shot. He said he believes the shooting was gang-related. Dana Wiles said her daughter sent her a text message about the shooting from inside the school. The girl didn't see the shooting, but saw one of the victims who had come back inside after he was hit, Wiles said. "She's not coming back to any more basketball games," Wiles said. "I'm keeping her home with me." Tanika Mayweather, whose 15-year-old son Lawrence was playing in the basketball game, said she's not letting him play basketball for the school anymore. "We'll have our basketball games out in the park," she said. Frederick High School, on the city's west side, has about 1,300 students. The school district closed the school and West Frederick Middle School for students on Thursday. The schools are set to reopen Friday.
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news
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Swatch Group AG plans to start selling a smartwatch within the next three months, potentially pitting the Swiss maker of colourful plastic timepieces against the debut of the Apple Watch. The device will communicate via a form of technology known as NFC and won't have to be charged, Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek said in an interview. The Swatch smartwatch will also let consumers make mobile payments and work with Windows and Android software, he said. Hayek is ready to go head-to-head with Apple Inc., which has scheduled its smartwatch introduction for April. The market for such timepieces, which enable phone or data communication, will probably reach about $10 billion in 2018, Citigroup Inc. analysts forecast last year, with half of the market coming from traditional watch wearers switching to the devices. Swatch has decades of experience developing technology that might go into a smartwatch, such as long-lasting batteries so thin they're bendable. The company's Tissot brand has made watches with touch-screens since 1999 that now offer an altimeter, a compass, and sensors to record a diver's descent. Skeptic's u-turn Hayek has been skeptical about the smartwatch's potential. Two years ago, he said that he didn't think the smartwatch would be a "revolution" for the industry. He has repeatedly voiced concern that watch screens are too small for communicating and that such devices might need too much charging. Last year, he said Swatch won't participate in a race to be first in developing the products because of consumer resistance. He once said Swatch's luxury brands such as Blancpain are smartwatches because "they make you look smart." "Entrepreneurs are practical people, and they care more about being successful than being consistent," said Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. "Hayek has always said they have relevant technology for a smartwatch -- sensors, display, battery - and seems to be set to make the most if it. Better to have an option and a hand in this category than not to. Nobody can yet say how relevant smartwatches will be in the end." Patent destiny The Biel, Switzerland-based Swatch said its patent applications reached a record in 2014, adding it will be reflected in "numerous innovative project launches in all segments" this year. Such patents include batteries based on new materials that can double their performance, Hayek said. "We'll implement all of those into new products," Hayek said. "Some of them, such as the battery, will take a few years though, and are also destined for other industries, like the automotive industry." The Apple Watch will feature health-tracking features and other applications for maps, photos, and messages. Apple CEO Tim Cook also rolled out a mobile-payment system last year. The Cupertino, California-based company hasn't given information about the battery life of its smartwatch, which needs to be charged with a magnetic connector. LVMH, Richemont A few high-end Swiss watch brands, owned by luxury-goods makers LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA and Richemont, have been dipping a toe into the market. LVMH's TAG Heuer plans to release a smartwatch this year, featuring GPS functions and health monitoring. Richemont's Montblanc has unveiled an "e- Strap," an interchangeable watch band that can track the wearer's activities and can help find the user's mobile phone via Bluetooth technology. Swatch is in talks with retailers on its payment system, Hayek said, without naming them. The device will enter the market in two to three months, he said. The stock closed 2.9 percent higher in Zurich today, erasing a decline of as much as 7.4 percent after Swatch reported full-year earnings that trailed analysts' estimates.
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finance
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The erotic bestselling novel Fifty Shades of Grey was devoured across the world by millions, from British housewives to Guantanamo Bay inmates. Now manufacturers and retailers are hoping that its Valentine's Day movie release will fuel a boom in sex toy and bondage accessory sales. Fans are avidly awaiting the big screen sexual adventures of business magnate Christian Grey and the young graduate Anastasia Steele whom he seduces. The expected blockbuster will screen 20 minutes of lovemaking between Grey, played by British actor Jamie Dornan who shot to stardom playing a serial killer on BBC series The Fall , and Steele, portrayed by Melanie Griffith's daughter Dakota Johnson. And to cinemagoers hoping to get in on the action, American sex shops are stocking up on everything from blindfolds to bondage gear, determined to ride the wave of celluloid-inspired desire. " Fifty Shades of Grey was the most influential cultural phenomenon for sex toys' sales that I've seen," says Claire Cavanah, co-founder of Babeland, which has stores in New York and Seattle. Her company has added 20 especially branded Fifty Shades items and says appetites have been whetted by film trailers. "We're ready to respond," Cavanah told AFP. Those willing to shell out the big bucks can indulge in an "Ultimate Date Night Set" for $152, which includes a "greedy rabbit" vibrator. Those on a tighter budget might prefer a "vibrating bullet" for $13. Sex toy industry explodes Cavanah says the release of the novel, written by former TV executive, British mother-of-two E L James, fueled a 40-percent sales increase at Babeland's SoHo store in Manhattan alone. Sales jumped more than 500 percent for pleasure balls, used by Steele to gear up for sex with Grey, as well as riding crops and cuffs which also feature prominently, she said. British company Lovehoney worked closely with James to design official "Fifty Shades" sex toys in late 2012 and before the movie release have branched out into luxurious items. Lovehoney co-owner Neal Slateford told AFP that the books were instrumental in making sex toys and bondage mainstream, and says he is expecting a large increase in sales. "Bondage play, which was previously a relatively niche activity, suddenly became something that was enjoyed and talked about by millions of people," he said. The books have been translated into 50 languages, and have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, making it one of the fastest-selling book series ever. It's perhaps so mainstream that US discount retail giant Target, which specializes in everyday items, is selling Fifty Shades of Grey lubricant, blindfolds and "love rings." Slateford credited the books and growing acceptance of sexual openness with causing "the adult sex toy industry to explode". "We have experienced spikes in sales after each movie trailer has been released which gives us a good indication of just how influential this movie will be," he added. Double pleasure Its official spin-off merchandise includes replicas from the books such as handcuffs, a riding crop, spanking paddle, blindfold, the silver balls and now high-end luxury bondage items. US manufacturer California Exotic Novelties says its sales of pleasure balls more than doubled from 800-900,000 a year to a million in six months following the release of the books. CEO Susan Colvin says the company is prepared for a corresponding increase in sales after the movie. "We expect - and hope - there will be an increase in sales," she said. Lisa Berman, CEO of publicly listed, West Coast-based sexual wellness retailer Peekay, agreed. "Just having the movie come out will have a positive impact on sales for our entire industry," she said. And she doesn't think it'll be a one-hit wonder. Universal Pictures and Focus Features acquired the rights to James' entire trilogy - which includes follow-up reads Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed . The industry "is more prepared knowing there's a movie, a DVD, then likely a second movie, a second DVD, and a third movie, a third DVD", said Berman.
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lifestyle
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We all knew Rob Gronkowski was going to do something crazy at the Super Bowl parade in Boston on Wednesday. Gronk is opening champagne, chugging beer, standing on top of duck boats, and he's doing it while wearing a minion hat from 'Despicable Me.'
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sports
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Ahead of next month's Geneva show , Infiniti has released a teaser shot of the QX30 concept. This compact crossover benefits from Infiniti's partnership with Mercedes-Benz and will be based off the German automaker's MFA platform, which currently underpins the CLA and GLA and will also underpin the Infiniti Q30 hatch. Both the QX30 and Q30 are expected to enter production later this year at the Sunderland plant in the U.K. Powertrain information has not been released, but the models could come with a version of Mercedes' 2.0-liter turbo inline-four. Infiniti hasn't released much information on the crossover's design either, but we do know the automaker intends it as a product for the "urban week and get-away weekend lifestyle." Related Link: Research the 2015 Infiniti Q40 Taking a close look at this teaser image, the similarities between the Q30 and QX30 concepts become clear. While the QX30 crossover may be larger, the styling cues that are visible are almost identical. Both models feature the same rear design, with the same tailpipes, lighting design, and chrome accents. The only noticeable difference is the height, which tweaks the overall look just slightly. While the Q30 concept features a single exterior color, the QX30 concept shows off a two-toned exterior color scheme, giving it more of an edge than its smaller sibling. Unfortunately, there is much left to be seen of the new Infiniti QX30 concept, and we will have to wait for its unveiling next month at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Source: Infiniti
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autos
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Dunkin' Brands Group Inc (DNKN.O), the owner of the Dunkin' Donuts coffee and donut chain, reported a 5.5 percent rise in quarterly sales as lower gas prices allowed U.S. customers to spend more on food and discretionary items. The company, which also owns the Baskin-Robbins icecream brand, said comparable sales rose 1.4 percent at its Dunkin' Donuts stores in the United States. The net income attributable to Dunkin' Brands rose to $52.5 million, or 50 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 27 from $42.1 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $193.2 million from $183.2 million. (Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)
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finance
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Curfew imposed on Iraqi capital 10 years ago to end beginning Saturday, state media reports. Iraq is to permanently lift a decade-old curfew on Baghdad beginning on Saturday, according to state TV. Brigadier General Saad Maan, the spokesman for the Baghdad Operation Brigade, said on Thursday that the directive to end the nightly curfew was given by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. "The prime minister ordered that the curfew in the city of Baghdad be completely lifted starting from this Saturday," Maan told the AFP news agency. The move came after al-Abadi visited the operations command on Wednesday and was briefed on the security situation and the status of operations, Maan said. Lifting the curfew is a major change to a longstanding policy that sought to curb violence in the capital by limiting movement at night. The hours it has been in force have varied over the years, but it has most recently lasted from midnight to 5am. The decision to lift the curfew comes as Iraqi forces battle to regain ground from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which spearheaded an offensive that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last June. While the capital is no longer under threat of a major assault by fighters, it is still hit by frequent bombings. Mid-range weapons ban In addition to lifting the curfew, Baghdad has banned all but light weapons in several key neighbourhoods in the capital. State run Iraqiya television said mid-range weapons would no longer be allowed in the neighbourhoods of Kathamiya, Athamiya, Mansour and Sadiya. It said security convoys in those neighbourhoods would be limited to three vehicles. Kathamiya is home to the Kathamain shrine where two imams are buried. The remainder are neighbourhoods in which security forces have recently cracked down on kidnappings and killings. A statement by Al-Abadi also said that only local security forces would be allowed to make arrests within those neighbourhoods. The new rules are an apparent effort to limit the role of militias, which have played an increasing role in Baghdad security. The rules also aim to limit what are seen as abuses by security forces attached to government ministers and other officials. A spokesman for the Karbala provincial government said they also lifted a midnight curfew effectively immediately.
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news
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A decade ago McDonald's (MCD.N) UK business needed better menus and a fresh image to catch up with consumer tastes. Now the U.S. firm, facing the same problems but on a much bigger scale, has turned to the man who fixed it for them last time. Briton Steve Easterbrook, a 47-year-old company veteran, was appointed boss of the world's biggest burger chain last week, only the second non-American to take the job. His challenge is to halt a slide in sales around the world, caused by unpopular menus with too many options and accusations of poor quality. The man from Watford, northwest of London, first made his mark in 2006 when he revived British sales by improving the brand's burgers, cutting the salt in its fries and introducing fresh, healthier food alongside organic milk and better coffee. Easterbrook, who says he is partial to the company's quarter pounders with cheese, also opened up what had been seen as a closed corporate image, inviting consumers to visit its farms and blog about them and launching a website to answer food questions. "It was something unheard of in the upper echelons of McDonald's at the time," said a former colleague, who did not wish to be named. "He was a breath of fresh air." He even took on one of the chain's fiercest critics, "Fast Food Nation" author Eric Schlosser, and scored points in a live TV debate on food quality, such as healthier options, and better animal welfare standards. Easterbrook's tenure sparked a rise in customer satisfaction data and UK sales, reinvigorating the company's British business that he has reminisced about visiting with school friends in the late seventies. As Easterbrook readies to take the McDonald's helm on March 1 the company has already adopted some of his approaches more widely. Its 'Our Food, Your Questions' U.S. site has 20 million hits on YouTube, addressing queries from "Does McDonald's beef contain worms?" to "What's in the Big Mac sauce?" Insiders hope this and other initiatives will remedy a collapse that has seen sales at established U.S. franchisees rise in only 12 of the last 30 months. BETTER FOOD, BETTER TECH After his UK success, Easterbrook led McDonald's European division. He was named global chief brand officer in 2013 following a short spell in charge of UK restaurant chains Pizza Express and Japanese food outlet Wagamama. His knowledge of what works in which global markets is now core to the group's hopes of a turnaround and shares in McDonald's rose 3.2 percent on news of his appointment. "For 59 years we asked customers to fit around our business model: Here's our menu and here's the way you can interact with us... But peoples' desires are changing," Easterbrook told a conference in December. Those close to Easterbrook - a soccer fan who also played cricket at university with ex-England captain Nasser Hussain - speak of his straightforward and friendly management style. Ideas are encouraged and staff motivated to act fast, avoiding hierarchical structures and internal politics that have slowed the group down elsewhere. Shareholders hope that approach should help him and his team engage swiftly with young consumers in the U.S., who currently prefer fast chains like Subway or more upscale rivals like Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N) and Shake Shack (SHAK.N), where menus may be pricier but food is fresher and of higher quality. McDonald's, which serves 70 million customers a day worldwide, is also struggling to restore its reputation in Asia, where its Japanese business was hit last year after a major Chinese poultry supplier was found to have been in breach of food safety standards. Under a turnaround plan launched by outgoing CEO Don Thompson, McDonald's U.S. menus will change to reflect local and regional interests and customization options such as adding mushrooms to your quarter pounder are being trailed, despite fears from restaurant operators that it could slow service. The company is also improving its technology: self-service kiosks, mobile ordering and payments, and digital marketing are all in the works, the company has said. McDonald's admits the problems it faces today in markets such as Australia, the U.S. and Germany are a repeat of the issues successfully fixed in Britain. Larry Light, McDonald's global chief marketing officer from 2002 to 2005 and part of an earlier turnaround push, suggested a simple recipe for fixing what ails the firm. "Fix the speed, fix the food," said Light. "Love the customer you have more than the one you don't." (Additional reporting by Paul Sandle, Martinne Geller and Freya Berry in London and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Sophie Walker)
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Scientists working on Europe's Planck satellite say the first stars in the Universe lit up later than was previously thought. The team has made the most precise map of the "oldest light" in the cosmos. Earlier observations of this radiation had suggested that the first generation of stars burst into life about 420 million years after the Big Bang. The new Planck data now indicates they fired up around 560 million years after the Universe got going. "This difference of 140 million years might not seem that significant in the context of the 13.8-billion-year history of the cosmos, but proportionately it's actually a very big change in our understanding of how certain key events progressed at the earliest epochs," said Prof George Efstathiou, one of the leaders of the Planck Science Collaboration. Subtle signal The assessment is based on studies of the "afterglow" of the Big Bang, the ancient light called the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which still washes over the Earth today. The European Space Agency's Planck satellite mapped this "fossil" between 2009 and 2013. It contains a wealth of information about early conditions in the Universe, and can even be used to work out its age, shape and do an inventory of its contents. Scientists can also probe it for very subtle "distortions" that tell them about any interactions the CMB has had on its way to us. Forging elements One of these would have been imprinted when the infant cosmos underwent a major environmental change known as re-ionisation. It is when the cooling neutral hydrogen gas that dominated the Universe in the aftermath of the Big Bang was then re-energised by the ignition of the first stars. These hot giants would have burnt brilliant but brief lives, producing the very first heavy elements. But they would also have "fried" the neutral gas around them - ripping electrons off the hydrogen protons. And it is the passage of the CMB through this maze of electrons and protons that would have resulted in it picking up a subtle polarisation. The Planck team has now analysed this polarisation in fine detail and determined it to have been generated at 560 million years after the Big Bang. The American satellite WMAP, which operated in the 2000s, made the previous best estimate for re-ionisation at 420 million years. The problem with that number was that it sat at odds with Hubble Space Telescope observations of the early Universe. Hubble could not find stars and galaxies in sufficient numbers to deliver the scale of environmental change at the time when WMAP suggested it was occurring. Planck's new timing "effectively solves the conflict," commented Prof Richard McMahon from Cambridge University, UK. "We had two groups of astronomers who were basically working on different sides of the problem. The Planck people came at it from the Big Bang side, while those of us who work on galaxies came at it from the 'now side'. "It's like a bridge being built over a river. The two sides do now join where previously we had a gap," he told BBC News. That gap had prompted scientists to invoke complicated scenarios for how re-ionisation could have occurred, including the ideas that there was an even earlier population of giant stars or energetic black holes. Such solutions are no longer needed. The finding is also good news for the next generation of observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope, which will have the power to see right through the epoch of re-ionisation. The history of the Universe Planck's CMB studies indicate the Big Bang was 13.8bn years ago The CMB itself can be thought of as the 'afterglow' of the Big Bang It spreads across the cosmos some 380,000 years after the Big Bang This is when the conditions cool to make neutral hydrogen atoms The period before the first stars is often called the 'Dark Ages' When the first stars ignite, they 'fry' the neutral gas around them These giants also forge the first heavy elements in big explosions 'First Light', or 'Cosmic Renaissance', is a key epoch in history The new Planck result is contained in a raft of new papers that will be appearing on the Astro-PH (arxiv) pre-print server from Friday. These papers accompany the latest data release from the satellite that can now be used by the wider scientific community, not just collaboration members. Two years ago, the data dump largely concerned interpretations of the CMB based on its temperature profile. It is the CMB's polarisation features that take centre-stage this time. It was hoped that Planck might find direct evidence in the CMB's polarisation for inflation - the super-rapid expansion of space thought to have occurred just fractions of a second after the Big Bang. This has not been possible. But all the Planck data - temperature and polarisation information - is consistent with that picture, and its precision measurements mean new, tighter constraints have been put on the likely scale of the inflation signal, which other experiments continue to chase. What is clear from the Planck investigation is that the simplest models for how that super-rapid expansion worked are probably no longer tenable, suggesting there some exotic physics may eventually be needed to explain it. "We're now being pushed into a parameter space we didn't expect to be in," said collaboration scientist Dr Andrew Jaffe from Imperial College, UK. "That's OK; we like interesting physics. That's why we're physicists, so there's no problem with that. It's just we had this naïve expectation that the simplest answer would be right, and sometimes it just isn't." and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
| 5 | 9,295 |
news
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As if living with chronic illness wasn't challenging enough, living with an autoimmune disease can be even more difficult. Still highly misunderstood by medical professionals and the public alike, autoimmune diseases are characterized by nebulous symptoms that can make diagnoses difficult to come by. Treatments vary, and in some cases rely entirely on behavior changes. In an effort to making living with -- or loving someone with -- an autoimmune disease just a little bit easier, here are seven important things to know about these health conditions. 1. Autoimmune diseases essentially cause a person's body to fight itself. We all have an immune system, comprised of the cells and organs that fight off germs and other foreign invaders. In a healthy person, the body immediately understands the difference between cells that are your own and therefore safe and cells that are foreign and need fighting off. In people with an autoimmune disease, the immune system is flawed in a way that causes it to attack normal cells. "The result is a misguided attack on your own body ," writes the Office on Women's Health, which can affect any number of the body's functions. 2. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases . A small sampling of those conditions includes Celiac disease, Crohn's disease, endometriosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, narcolepsy, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. 3. Autoimmune diseases are relatively common. The National Institutes of Health estimate that upwards of 23 million Americans are affected by an autoimmune disease. That's roughly about as many people who have been diagnosed with diabetes . But the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) estimates that number may be closer to 50 million . Specific autoimmune diseases, on the other hand, can be extremely rare. For example, types of the autoimmune disease vasculitis may only affect 200,000 people or less , USA Today reported. 4. They can be genetic. There's evidence to suggest that family members are more likely to develop the same or similar autoimmune diseases. But genes don't paint the whole picture. It's likely that environmental factors and even infections play a role in triggering an autoimmune disease in a person with a genetic predisposition. 5. Autoimmune diseases are not allergies. Symptoms of autoimmune diseases are sometimes confused for allergic reactions. And while there is some evidence linking a genetic predisposition for both allergies and autoimmune disease , and even suggesting that allergies may trigger autoimmune diseases , the two are different conditions entirely. Celiac disease is a clear example: A person with a wheat allergy and a person with Celiac disease would both be treated similarly; namely, they will both remove gluten from their diets. But the body of a person with a wheat allergy is not attacking itself. That person is not at the same risk of intestinal damage, nutritional deficiencies and other risks associated with Celiac disease , like some types of gastrointestinal cancers. 6. They can take years of trial and error to diagnose. Because many autoimmune diseases affect various parts of the body across specialties, and symptoms may come and go, these conditions can sometimes be difficult even for medical experts to recognize and consequently treat, according to the AARDA. In most cases, there is no single test a doctor can order to confirm a diagnosis; rather, tests either suggest one diagnosis or rule out others. It's not uncommon for someone with an autoimmune disease to receive another diagnosis first , or to be told that his or her symptoms are just due to stress, Everyday Health reported. 7. Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are not autoimmune diseases. Both are frequently categorized as such, because they share many common symptoms to autoimmune diseases, but they are technically not autoimmune diseases . As such, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome may be even less understood by doctors. People with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue may, however, also have associated autoimmune diseases , according to the AARDA.
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health
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Cordell Broadus has pulled a double move on his famous rapper father, Snoop Dogg. Broadus, a wide receiver from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, signed with UCLA instead of his father's favourite team. Snoop Dogg had hoped his son would play for Southern California, but was still thrilled for him. "Channel 21 comin to @UCLAFootball !! Proud of u @C_Broadus21 ! LA's team!!" Snoop tweeted. Twenty-one is a reference to the number his son will wear for the team. UCLA coach Jim Mora says he had offered a scholarship to Broadus when he was just 15 years old. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Broadus was ranked the 27th best receiver in the nation by Rivals.com, a leading recruiting news site.
| 6 | 9,297 |
entertainment
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Around the world in 10 soups Our worldwide love of soup spans at least 25,000 years. We take a look at some delicious soup recipes from around the world and show you how to make them. Australia: Chicken and Corn Ginger makes the Aussie national soup a little bit spicy, while creamed corn offers a touch of sweetness. The result is a bit like a bisque but much easier to prepare. Browse: delicious chicken and corn soup recipes Colombia: Ajiaco This rich, cream-based soup incorporates corn and at least three types of potatoes, so it's not for the carb-wary, but all those carbs pay off in the ultimate South American comfort food. Browse: Columbian Ajiaco recipes Hungary: Goulash It seems that every suburban mum with a refrigerator full of leftovers and a packet of egg noodles has a recipe for " goulash ." But real goulash dates back to the ninth century , when Hungarian shepherds would slow-cook meat in liquid, then dry it in sheep's stomachs to be reconstituted in water over a campfire. Modern-day goulash is much less grotesque; it's now a thick, meaty stew-like soup heavily flavoured with paprika. Make it: tasty goulash recipes Japan: Ramen This is not your freshman-year, plastic-wrapped snack food. The Chinese originally brought ramen to Japan in the 1800s , but since then, the humble noodle has taken on a life of its own. There are four main types of ramen broth: pork, miso, soy, and chicken. All may contain meat, but the most common ingredient is an egg boiled in the broth. More tasty ramen recipes Malaysia: Laksa Laksa can have many different proteins, from seafood to chicken, but it usually contains coconut, tamarind, and lemongrass over fluffy egg noodles for a sweet and spicy curried flavour. More healthy laksa recipes Spain: Gazpacho Gazpacho has been native to Spain so long that its roots have been lost, but some believe the cold soup was brought over by the Moors. There are many modern variations, but the traditional recipes call for stale bread, tomato, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, bell pepper, onion, and salt. The ingredients are blended into froth and chilled to make a delicious summer soup. Deliciously healthy gazpacho recipes Vietnam: Phở This rice noodle dish is among Vietnam's most traditional dishes. In Vietnam, phở is usually served with slivers of beef or chicken so thin they cook immediately upon submersion in a bowl of steaming hot broth made of spicy, sour, sweet, and bitter flavours. More delicious rice noodle dishes Tobago and Trinidad: Callaloo Callaloo is sometimes a soup and sometimes a sauce served over meat. Either way, it's delicious. Callaloo is made with young greens, usually either amaranth, dasheen, or taro, which taste similar to spinach. Other ingredients include onion, garlic, okra, salt, hot pepper, and some kind of protein. The soup is so good it's been known to make young men propose marriage. Try making your own Callaloo soup Ukraine: Borscht Though borscht is important to many Eastern European cultures, including Russia and Poland, most historians trace the origins of the blood-red soup to Ukraine. The red colour comes from boiled beets, and the soup usually also contains beef, cabbage, and potatoes. Browse: more borscht recipes
| 0 | 9,298 |
foodanddrink
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Somebody, somewhere, is going to call this "chipgate", aren't they? You might recall that last season, as the post-Moyes fallout fell out, there was a brief kerfuffle about chips, and the lack of same. Apparently United's players were in the habit of getting together for a few the night before a game (low-fat ones, of course), and Moyes' decision to end this tradition demonstrated that he simply wasn't up for the job, that he didn't understand top flight management, that he really hated Rio Ferdinand . Well, he's had his say. In a Q&A with FourFourTwo , Real Sociedad's mister has explained his decision, and it turns out he wasn't trying to alienate the squad after all. No, he was worried: Yes, I did ban chips. It was because a couple of players were overweight and I didn't think chips were good for their diet. You can, of course, reach you own conclusions on which players Moyes was worried about. Still, it's all very well banning chips before the game. If he'd banned them during the game, then Danny Welbeck might have scored past Manuel Neuer, and who knows where we'd be now?
| 1 | 9,299 |
sports
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