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Will Jeff Bridges reprise the role of Dude in sequel to The Big Lebowski?
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If 'The Dude' is returning then it has to be big news. One of the most iconic cult classics by the Coen brothers that gave us the most lovable character "The Dude" played by Jeff Bridges seems is going to make a comeback this year. Although it is not confirmed yet, the chances of a 'yes' are high. Jeff Bridges recently took to Twitter and posted a 15-second long snippet with the caption, "Can't be living in the past, man." 'The Dude' walks into a room with broken plates and glasses strewn all over the floor. As the camera pans up, we get a glimpse of that sweater, that iconic loose low hanging sweater that Jeff Bridges has made it popular. The camera then shows Jeff Bridges, who chuckles and then walks away. Cut. The next scene shows a tumbleweed that blows across an L.A. street and reveals the date 2.3.19. "Stay tuned" the actor added. Cant be living in the past, man. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/zL2CLYhGAM Jeff Bridges (@TheJeffBridges) January 24, 2019 Well, it is not sure what is that date for, but football fans were quick to realise that it was Super Bowl Sunday date. Now, everyone is making guesses that it might be the date when the trailer for the latest Coen brothers will be shown on that day. While others are guessing that it is Super Bowl commercial. Now, that is not something out of the blue. There have been instances in the past where advertising agencies have taken to Big game ads like they're actually major releases. For example, last year Australia tourism did an ad that felt like a 'Crocodile Dundee' sequel will release. It had Danny McBride, Chris Hemsworth, and it all felt so real. ", as many times as possible, then people would have been eagerly waiting for the comedy movie. Though, this is not the first time that Bridges has reprised the role for the first time, during 2017 Hollywood walk of fame, when John Goodman was conducted the award, Bridges had turned up at the event as the 'Lebowski' character to 'eulogize' his fellow character with Walter's speech from Lebowski. But, given Bridges has expressed his desire to reprise the role in the future, and 'Going Places' will be releasing this year with John Turturro as Jesus Quintana. Maybe, just maybe, the tease is related to that project. Whatever it will be we will have to wait till February 3.
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https://www.ibtimes.co.in/will-jeff-bridges-reprise-role-dude-sequel-big-lebowski-790728
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Are Rwanda and South Africa irreconcilable?
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President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa attend a panel session during the 49th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, 24 January 2019. EPA-EFE/LAURENT GILLIERON A likely extradition request and sharp differences over the DRC keep reconciliation efforts on ice. First published by ISS Today The slow but stubborn unfolding of justice in a humble magistrates court in South Africa continues to embarrass both Rwandas President Paul Kagame and South Africas Cyril Ramaphosa. It also undermines their intentions to normalise relations between their countries. Last week the Randburg court was meant to start an inquest into the death of Kagames estranged former external intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya on New Years Eve 2013 in a five-star hotel room in Sandton. But Magistrate Mashiane Mathopa stopped the inquest, agreeing with AfriForums Gerrie Nel, the lawyer representing Karegeyas family, that first the police and the National Prosecuting Authority must demonstrate that they have done all they can to arrest the four Rwandans suspected of murdering him. The suggestion is that for over five years South Africa has been sitting on enough evidence to prosecute the suspects but hasnt tried to extradite them, to avoid further souring relations with Rwanda. Mathopa read to the court this week a letter from the Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to the police on 5 June last year in which he revealed he had decided not to prosecute but instead to order an inquest. The DPP suggested that was because the suspects had fled to Rwanda because close links exist between the suspects and the current Rwandan government. There was also no extradition treaty between Rwanda and South Africa and so there was no real chance Rwanda would agree to extradite them to South Africa. It is clear from the above letter that the Prosecution knows who and where the suspects are, and what needs to be done, Mathopa said. He issued an order for the investigating officer in the case to explain within 14 days what steps, if any, had been taken to arrest the Rwandan suspects, since their whereabouts and their identity are known. The date of the letter is suggestive, arousing the suspicions of lawyer Nel that there had been political meddling in the Karegeya case. AfriForum got involved, he said, because it seemed politics was trumping justice. The DPP wrote his letter just three months after Kagame and Ramaphosa met in Kigali and instructed their foreign ministers to normalise relations. Relations have been going further downhill ever since. Justice it seems, is resisting politics. The poor relations between the two countries have mostly been about Karegeya and his friend Kayumba Nyamwasa, the former Rwandan defence force chief of staff who was shot and wounded in Johannesburg in June 2010. Both men were close to Kagame before they fell out with him and fled to South Africa where they established an opposition political party, the Rwanda National Congress. That clearly rattled Kagame, who claims it is plotting to overthrow him by force. The Rwanda National Congress insists it is a political party but is banned in Rwanda. So Kagame accuses South Africa of harbouring terrorists trying to oust him while South Africa accuses Rwanda of sending assassination squads here to eliminate its political opponents. International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu publicly revealed late last year that she had met Nyamwasa to discuss how he might be affected by the attempts to normalise relations. At the time she also disclosed that she had been pleasantly surprised that he was prepared to sit down and negotiate with Kagame. That remark infuriated the Rwandan government which angrily declared it was not prepared to negotiate with terrorists. Social media trolls believed to be close to the government peppered Sisulu with insults. Normalisation was suspended. The Karegeya inquest is making things worse. It now seems likely that if the police confirm to Magistrate Mathopa that they have not sought to extradite the four Rwandan suspects, they will be asked to do so. If they do, Rwanda will no doubt refuse to hand over the suspects, but in the process, will be forced to field awkward questions from media and others about why it wont. Then, Nel said, the next step should be to issue an international arrest warrant for them so that if the suspects set foot in another country which has an extradition treaty with South Africa, they can be arrested and brought to trial. If no suspects are arrested, the inquest can proceed, with everyone confident in the knowledge that the authorities have done all they can to prosecute the suspects. The inquest would no doubt unearth more embarrassments for Kigali. Its beginning to look as though South Africa and Rwandas interests are inherently incompatible, and not only because of this case. Last week Kagame, acting as current chairperson of the African Union (AU), convened a meeting of presidents of the Southern African Development Community and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in Addis Ababa. It included Ramaphosa. Kagame, supported by Angola, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Chad, persuaded the ad hoc summit to issue a call for the Constitutional Court of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to suspend its expected declaration of Flix Tshisekedi as the winner of the presidential elections. Kagame was to lead a delegation of some of these presidents to Kinshasa this past Monday to examine allegations of vote rigging which many observers believe robbed candidate Martin Fayulu of victory. Ramaphosa and Namibias Hage Geingob seemed to be the only ones opposing these decisions. Although Ramaphosa was to be part of the Kinshasa delegation, Pretoria was incensed at what it saw as Kagame railroading the African presidents into interference in the DRCs legal autonomy. There was plenty of hypocrisy to go around of course. Then the DRC Constitutional Court confirmed Tshisekedis victory on Sunday, thereby pre-empting the visit by Kagame and the other presidents the next day. South Africa and Rwanda could no doubt do many things together on the continent like advancing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and reforming the AU if they could only stand each other. But they seem to be inherently incompatible. One thing or another will always erupt to sabotage this reconciliation of irreconcilables. Maverick Insider is more than a reader revenue scheme. While not quite a "state of mind", it is a mindset: it's about believing that independent journalism makes a genuine difference to our country and it's about having the will to support that endeavour. From the #GuptaLeaks into State Capture to the Scorpio exposs into SARS, Daily Maverick investigations have made an enormous impact on South Africa and it's political landscape. As we enter an election year, our mission to Defend Truth has never been more important. A free press is one of the essential lines of defence against election fraud; without it, national polls can turn very nasty, very quickly as we have seen recently in the Congo. If you would like a practical, tangible way to make a difference in South Africa consider signing up to become a Maverick Insider. You choose how much to contribute and how often (monthly or annually) and in exchange, you will receive a host of awesome benefits. Making a real difference to a country that needs your support.
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https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-01-25-are-rwanda-and-south-africa-irreconcilable/
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Are federal workers being forced into involuntary servitude?
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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Michael H. LeRoy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (THE CONVERSATION) Many federal employees are being ordered by the federal government to work without pay until a spending bill is enacted. Some workers object, arguing that they are being pressured to show up for work with no clear prospect of a payday. Some individuals have sued claiming that this violates the 13th Amendment, which abolished involuntary servitude. For now, the answer is likely no. In my law review article, Compulsory Labor in a National Emergency, I found that legal protections against forced labor often fail to help workers. Why most 13th Amendment lawsuits fail Every year, a small number of workers prevail in involuntary servitude cases. The legal standard for arguing that someone is working against their will is evidence of physical or legal coercion. The Supreme Court articulated the standard in 1988 in a case about two mentally disabled men working on a farm. The best way to explain the standard is with an example. In Mouloki v. Epee, a nanny named Christine Mouloki sued the husband and wife who employed her for wages and damages. She alleged that the family refused to let her leave their suburban home near Chicago. The court concluded that a scheme, plan, or pattern intended to convince a plaintiff (person) that serious harm or physical restraint would result if she did not continue to perform the labor and services constitutes involuntary servitude. At trial, the nanny won her case. But plenty of involuntary lawsuits fail. The most common are from high school students whose school districts require them to perform community service as a condition to graduate. In one such case, students were required to provide 50 hours of community service during their four years in school. Parents sued, alleging a violation of the 13th Amendment. The court rejected the 13th Amendment claim, stating: Graduation from a public high school is an important opportunity, but the threat of not graduating does not rise to the level of physical or legal coercion. Pressure, not coercion Federal employees working without pay fall in the gray area between the high school and nanny scenario. So far, their situation does not present the coercion in the nannys home confinement case. The main impediment for the federal employees case is that lack of coercion, not lack of pay for their labor. In a preliminary ruling, workers lost a motion for an injunction but they are scheduled to make a similar motion soon and as time passes, their case improves. For now, however, these employees can call in sick, take vacation time or simply not answer the phone or emails from a supervisor. A court would likely view an order to work without being paid as unfair, or a violation of wage laws, but not coercion. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/are-federal-workers-being-forced-into-involuntary-servitude-110460.
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https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Are-federal-workers-being-forced-into-involuntary-13560850.php
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Was CNN Tipped Off By FBI Ahead Of Stone Arrest?
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The pre-dawn arrest of former Trump adviser Roger Stone in connection with the Mueller investigation has many scratching their heads over how it went down. Not only did the FBI surprise Stone at 6am Friday morning with a knock on his door - as opposed to simply notifying his attorney and letting Stone turn himself in, but CNN was there to film the entire thing going down. Wow wow wow. CNN got video of the FBI making the Roger Stone arrest before 6AM. Former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren certainly thought so on first take, tweeting: "CNN cameras were at the raid of Roger Stoneso FBI obviously tipped off CNNeven if you dont like Stone, it is curious why Muellers office tipped off CNN instead of trying to quietly arrest Stone;quiet arrests are more likely to be safe to the FBI and the person arrested." CNN cameras were at the raid of Roger Stone...so FBI obviously tipped off CNN...even if you dont like Stone, it is curious why Muellers office tipped off CNN instead of trying to quietly arrest Stone;quiet arrests are more likely to be safe to the FBI and the person arrested Greta Van Susteren (@greta) January 25, 2019 Others shared her sentiment: The FBI special ops-style predawn raid of Roger Stone for process crimes and the tipoff of CNN is a sad day for America CNN is literally on the side of the police state left Perp walks are a feature of witch hunts Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 25, 2019 It's possible this tip-off came from FBI rather than Mueller's office, but either way, nobody should be comfortable having law enforcement engineer with media outlets the filming of someone's arrest at their home like a reality TV circus. But it's Roger Stone, so few will care. https://t.co/H7VvltkoCE Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 25, 2019 CNN claims that they staked out Stone's house based on "unusual grand jury activity in Washington yesterday" along with other information. That would be @davidgshortell. He said on air that he got to Stone's house early this morning after they noticed some unusual grand jury activity in Washington yesterday. https://t.co/4ohoaMTdCe Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 25, 2019 CNN producer David Shortell admitted that he was waiting outside Roger Stones house at 5am, an hour before FBI agents and police arrived to arrest the former Donald Trump associate. https://t.co/DzSpuOFVqz Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) January 25, 2019 Van Susteren, upon further reflection, acknowledged that there were others would could have tipped off CNN, including Stone himself. Upon reflection, there are others who could have tipped off CNN ...others knew, maybe even Stone suspected it and tippped them off...as an aside, if I worked for a news org and had the tip, I would have sent cameras https://t.co/aSaiBZ4LNL Greta Van Susteren (@greta) January 25, 2019 Remarkable interview just days before his arrest. who tipped off CNN.https://t.co/TIGS3txRUn Trumpster (@BlaineCurtis8) January 25, 2019 Meanwhile, many are questioning the decision to conduct a "heavy raid" on Stone for lying to Congress, while others connected to the Trump campaign such as Paul Manafort have been allowed to simply turn themselves in. Just shows me its all about the theatrics. Im sure if Stones lawyers were notified of his arrest, he would have turned himself in. The same for Manafort. I dont thing Shock and Awe works in these cases. Barry Butler (@barrybutler2008) January 25, 2019
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https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-25/was-cnn-tipped-fbi-ahead-stone-arrest?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
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Is Trump a Racist?
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Even if you think its an awkward question to ask, we should all think about our answer, especially Republicans and those who voted for Trump. If your answer is yes, youre morally bound to do something about it. I pose the question not because of something Trump has said specifically, but because of the punishment imposed on Steve King, a Republican congressman from Iowa, after he made some racist comments recently. Advertisement In an interview with The New York Times earlier this month, King posed this question: White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization how did that language become offensive? Apparently, King needs to be reminded that these words are offensive because white nationalists and white supremacists, claiming to be acting in defense of racial purity, caused the deaths of millions of people during the Holocaust and throughout history, and have been involved in an untold number of attacks since then. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in 2017 there were 121 neo-Nazi groups and 72 white supremacist groups operating in the United States. King, who has a long history of making racist remarks and who once claimed that some immigrants had calves the size of cantaloupes because theyre hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert wasnt expelled from Congress after his comments were published by the Times, but was removed from all his committee seats in the House of Representatives. Other representatives are calling for his resignation. In a recent episode of 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper asked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the freshman congresswoman from New York, if she thought Trump was a racist. Her answer was unequivocal: Yeah, yeah. No question. Later, on Twitter, the 29-year-old representative the youngest woman ever elected to the House went into more detail: The president defended neo-Nazis who murdered a woman in Charlottesville. The Department of Justice sued him for not renting to black tenants. He launched his campaign by calling Mexicans rapists. He banned Muslims. The president is racist. And that should make you uncomfortable. Advertisement Trump did indeed kick off his presidential campaign in June 2015 by focusing on Mexican immigrants. When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best, he said. Theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. That is an openly racist remark. But theres more. In 2016, Trump suggested that Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge then presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, could not be impartial due to his ethnicity. Trump said in a CNN interview then that the case represented a conflict of interest because Trump wanted to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and Curiel was of Mexican heritage. Advertisement Believing that someone cannot do their job well because of their racial or ethnic background is one of the worst manifestations of racism. And thats the thinking Trump played into. (It should be clarified that Judge Curiel, whose parents are Mexican, was, in fact, born in the state of Indiana.) The president doesnt think he is racist. Im the least racist person that youve ever met, he said in a TV interview with CNNs Don Lemon in late 2015. Its impossible to get into Trumps head. I dont know whats in there. But I am well aware of what has come out of his mouth. And what Ive heard are racist remarks. The only thing worse than a politician who unashamedly voices his prejudices is a group that tolerates his views, cheers him on and emulates his behavior. We have known about Trumps racism for a long time, yet some 62 million Americans still voted for him. But Kings punishment indicates that a change may be coming. I hope it goes beyond that. Jorge Ramos, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, is a news anchor on Univision.
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https://splinternews.com/is-trump-a-racist-1831965124
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What Do Democrats Want on Immigration?
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Photo: Chip Somodevilla (Getty) The right knows what it wants on immigration. It wants none, preferably, but money for a border wall and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to continue its reign of terror over immigrant families will do for now. The left, too, knows what it wants: No ICEor CBP or DHS at all, reallyand something close to open borders, if not the thing itself. In the middle is the vast majority of the congressional Democratic Party. The Democrats have done a pretty remarkable job sticking to their guns during the shutdown, and of unifying around the same issue: Not letting Trump get his way on a wall. The vast majority of Democrats also pay lip service to border security, as if the Trump administration hasnt already made crossing the border legally nearly impossible for migrants, and as if border security efforts havent encouraged a humanitarian crisis. But beyond this, its not exactly clear what the Democrats want in the long run. Its as if the Democrats vision for the future of immigration in America died with the DREAM Act. Nowhere has this been more better illustrated than in this Politico story from Tuesday, which reports very favorably on a letter being circulated by a group of centrist Democrats (how many, exactly, they never say) led by freshman Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia pleading with Nancy Pelosi to...essentially do what shes been doing. Politico reports: A group of centrist House Democrats, eager to end the shutdown and sick of political posturing, is pressing Speaker Nancy Pelosi to counter President Donald Trumps immigration proposal with her own potential compromise. The group, led by Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, is asking the California Democrat to offer Trump a vote on his border wall sometime in February if he signs a bill reopening the federal government, according to a draft copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO. Advertisement The letters demands (this text is from the letter itself): Once the government is reopened, the Democratic Majority will immediately begin debate in committee on the supplemental discretionary funding request by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for border security. This will allow DHS leadership to explain in detail how the funds will be used and whether this expenditure will have the reported results presented by the President. Guarantee a vote for the supplemental funding request on the House floor by the end of February. As part of the supplemental funding request, members will be able to offer amendments to address the current gaps in protections for Dreamers and those enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and those currently in Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED). Advertisement Apart from illustrating just what Politico thinks passes for political posturinganything that doesnt come directly from the Problem Solvers Caucus, I guessthe letter is particularly notable for how closely it mirrors the situation were in already. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have already agreed to talks about the border wall after the government is reopened, and as Politico noted, President Donald Trump already turned down a similar offer floated by Sen. Lindsey Graham last week. (If this isnt political posturing, what is?) This lack of an actual long-term strategy, or even a simple goal, might be one reason why the idea to abolish ICE caught fire on the left, to the point where several Senate Democrats weighing 2020 runs have endorsed the slogan. Yet as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrandthe first Senate Democrat to endorse the ideashowed with details of her proposal in Iowa this weekend, what abolition looks like to her looks like reform to, well, just about everyone else. The underlying issue for the Democratic Party, however, is that its always let the right dictate the debate on immigration, and it has never worked out for them. The last Democratic president was known as the deporter-in-chief and helped build an immigration apparatus ripe for warping by the Trump administration, and the Republicans still called him weak on immigration. A good start would be to contest the narrative that theres an immigration crisis at all. There isnt. If there was, 17 of the 23 counties bordering Mexico likely wouldnt have voted Democratic in the last election. If there was, undocumented immigrants and legal immigrants would commit crimes at higher rates than people born in America, a charge that has always been leveled at immigrants to America whom nativists deem to be undesirable; they dont. Another positive step would be to fully reckon with Obamas record on immigration. Democratic politicians are always wary of openly criticizing Obama, whos the most popular living former president, but its a fact that the last Democratic president deported more people than any other and then left in place an apparatus with which the racist billionaire who succeeded him has terrorized migrants. Yes, Republicans blocked Obamas attempts at comprehensive immigration reform and permanent protections for young immigrants; no, this is not an excuse for what he ended up doing instead. The Democratic Party isnt a monolith, and the Joe Manchins and Kyrsten Sinemas of the world will gripe about any immigration strategy to the left of Bill Clinton. But aside from immigration being much more popular than its been in at least 25 years, we have been in a full-blown humanitarian crisis for years, which has only been exacerbated by the Trump administration. Its a human rights necessity for the Democrats to get this right, abandon their tired assurances that they want the border to be militarized and inhumaneonly a little less than Republicans doand put forward a positive vision for what the future should look like. Otherwise, theyll always be one step behind whatever nativist is running the GOP at the time, and they will ensure that they continue to betray the immigrants they say they care about.
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https://splinternews.com/what-do-democrats-want-on-immigration-1831980285
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Has TV show brought new evidence to light in Helen McCourt murder probe?
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A witness fears murdered Helen McCourts body may have been disposed of in Billinge Hospitals furnace - because her future killer once advised him to dump his rubbish there. A former roofer broke a 31-year silence to contact the Wigan Observer this week after a new ITV documentary revisited the mystery, exploring the details of the case and highlighting the fact that her remains whereabouts are still unknown. Read more: Notorious killings to feature in new TV documentaries This despite pub landlord Ian Simms having been convicted of the 22-year-old insurance clerks killing and is still in prison to this day protesting his innocence. The Wigan 70-year-old, whose details have been passed on to cold case officers but does not want to be identified in this article, said that in the late 1980s - some time before Helen vanished - he replaced the roof of Simmss mothers house extension in Billinge. He said that at some point Simms came round and told him that he could take all the old felting and battens in his trailer to Billinge Hospital because he had a friend who operated the incinerator there. Simms also asked him to pick up waste from the George and Dragon pub - where Helen was later murdered - to pick up some of his businesss refuse as well. This is not the first time that theories have been voiced about the now demolished hospitals incinerator being used for disposing of Helens body, although previously the Observer has been told that line of inquiry had been followed up and the conclusion was that security was too strict there for Simms to have had access. Indeed our informant said that he approached police shortly after Helens disappearance with this theory and they laughed at him, so he never mentioned it again until the tragedy appeared on Judge Rinders Crime Stories last week. And he said: There was absolutely no problem getting to the incinerator. Simms said you just drove round the back and through some open gates and his mate would let you dispose of your rubbish. It sounded like this was a regular thing for him - a good way of getting rid of stuff when the bins were full. Sure enough, we made a couple of trips and were able to drive straight round to this big metal door, chatted to a guy who was about my age - in his 30s - and it just involved opening the door and throwing bags of stuff in. Anything could have gone in there. From what I heard quite a few of the local residents knew about it and would dispose of their own rubbish there too. I never saw a padlock on the gates and they were wide open when we went there. I thought it was a plausible theory at the time when no-one was finding anything, but I just got laughed at when I went to the police with it. After that I thought I had better keep my mouth shut because people would think I was nuts or malicious. But I am neither. I was - and am - just trying to help. Helens mum (Marie McCourt) has been through hell and she deserves closure. I hope that Simms stays behind bars for the rest of his life too. In the programmes aftermath, local media were contacted by two other viewers, one of whom suggested Helens body may have been disposed of in a then open mine shaft at the former Mosley Common colliery site which was being redeveloped in the late 80s; and another who suggested a remote area near Bickerstaff called The Moss might be worth exploring, as forensic examiners found clay on Simmss jewellery and clothes and that land has clay soil. The documentary heard that Helen disappeared on the evening of February 9, 1988 on her way home from work. Suspicion soon fell on Simms and detectives built a case based on a catalogue of forensic evidence linking him to Helen, including her blood and hair in his flat and her earring in the boot of his car. Simms would likely be a free man by now had he confessed and told police what he did with his victims remains, but his protestations of innocence, despite the overwhelming evidence, have so far kept him behind bars. However, he has been moved to a lower security prison and there are fears that if Mrs McCourt cant get Parliament to pass a no body, no parole amendment to legislation - now dubbed Helens Law - he could yet be released without disclosing his secret. Mrs McCourt has continued to search for her daughters body to this day and has thanked members of the public for continuing to come forward with new lines of inquiry. More recent ones have included exhuming a grave in St Aidans churchyard in Billinge and a suggestion that the body may have been buried on land behind what is now the DW Stadium. Det Supt John Webster from Merseyside Police Major Crime Unit said: Merseyside Police continues to work with Helens mother, Marie McCourt, and family to try to identify the location of her body, and we of course welcome any new information following the ITV appeal last week. We remain committed to investigating all information which may help in the recovery of Helens body, and bring her family some closure after all these years. Anyone with details can contact @MerPolCC, call the Major Crime Unit on 0151 777 8618 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111. The Judge Rinders Crime Stories episode can be seen on Catch-up
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https://www.wigantoday.net/news/crime/has-tv-show-brought-new-evidence-to-light-in-helen-mccourt-murder-probe-1-9557959
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Can We Please Stop Pretending Tampons Dont Exist?
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Despite our strides toward gender equality, it seems menstruation is still shameful, and must, at all costs, be hidden. At least once a month, I muster all of the courage I have and make the terrifying walk from my work desk to the office restroom. This is a seriously covert and often stressful operation simply because I happen to have my period. It requires rigid strategizing, meticulous planning, and serious stealth to make the 30-second sprint. I have to consider how Im going to get my tampon from my handbag and into the palm of my hand without anyone seeing the flash of brightly colored plastic. Its been this way since commercial sanitary products began; starting with girls in highschool exchanging maxi-pads between hushed whispers and slights of hand befitting of a shady drug deal, and coming full circle with grown adult women bashfully whispering around office cubicles Do you have a sparetampon? It seems that, for all our social progression and strides toward gender equality, the very idea of women menstruating is still shameful, and must, at all costs, be hidden and remain a secret. Why is such a natural, normal bodily function still considered so gross we cant even mention the word, let alone let anyone think we might be going to the bathroom at work to insert a tampon into our immoral vaginas. That would just be too disgusting. Its a well-known fact that a lot of men are extremely disgusted at the very thought of a period and some dont even have the faintest clue what one even is but its not just men who freak out at the very idea of vaginal blood. A significant portion of society still believes periods are too icky to talk about. Huh?! I still vividly recollect the terrifying feeling that I was dying when I experienced my first period. When my mother calmly explained this was actually totally normal, and I wasnt, in fact, bleeding to death out of my vagina, I breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. Until she went on to inform me it would happen to me once a month for at least the next 40 years, usually accompanied by an emotional rollercoaster and a world full of pain. Until she handed me a tampon, which I, as a naive 11 year-old, was convinced would never, ever fit where she was telling me to put it, and was absolutely terrified of inserting. I remember taking a mirror into the bathroom with me (so I could see what I was doing) and trying to follow the confusing diagram on the leaflet from the tampon box instructing me on how to get the foreign wad of cotton into my vagina. I remember getting flustered, embarrassed and frustrated to the point of crying and giving up, vowing never to tell my mother I hadnt managed to figure out how the tampon worked, and foregoing ever going near one again until I was in my twenties, because the first experience was so traumatizing for me. Making periods a shameful, secret thing means the products were supposed to use to handle them are also secret and shameful by default. If youve ever seen an advertisement for feminine hygiene products like pads or tampons, you would have seen a group of beautiful, glowing and smiling women, clad in white skirts or dresses, laughing and playing tennis or going to the beach. These women show no sign of having a period at all (and, as any sane woman will tell you, this is NOT an accurate depiction of how we feel during that time of the month). If the pad ad dares to show the actual product its trying to sell, theres not a drop of blood in sight. The voiceover tells you how discreet the product is, usually concluding the whole affair with a condescending sentence like, It will be our little secret, because thats exactly what a period is a secret. These products are marketing themselves on the fact they wont let anyone know youre menstruating, which sends a pretty clear message to young girls and women shut up about your periods, be ashamed of them, and suffer in silence, because no-one wants to hear about it. We need to start being more open about periods in general our health depends on it. For example, the shade of your period blood can tell you a lot about your overall health, but its going to be useless information unless were able to talk about it. Tackling period stigma is no small feat, and will take a lot of work and time, but a pretty easy place to start is to remove the shame surrounding pads and tampons. Lets face it. Periods for the most part kinda suck. We shouldnt have to suffer through the dreaded belly bloat, the pain, and feeling ashamed for merely having them. We deserve better than that. If a work colleague sees you carrying a tampon to the restroom or, heaven forbid, even storing the box on your desk, embrace it. Smile at them, because youve got nothing to hide and nothing or be ashamed about. Make the walk from your desk to the restroom with period-pride. Youve got this! Images via imgur.com, giphy.com.
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https://shesaid.com/can-we-please-stop-pretending-tampons-dont-exist/
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What's Behind The Crisis In Venezuela And What Is The UK Doing About It?
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Venezuela has had more than its fair share of international headlines this week, as the countrys deepening political crisis threatens to reach boiling point. The south American country, led by president Nicolas Maduro, has been struggling under the weight of growing discontent. The socialist leaders six-year tenure has been marked by economic collapse, hyperinflation and shortages of many basic items. Millions have fled the country in recent years to escape sky-high inflation rates and food shortages. This week, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the UK does not regard Maduro as the legitimate leader of the country, instead pledging support for National Assembly head Juan Guaido, who is attempting to seize power. Heres everything you need to know. Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013, is increasingly seen as a dictator both at home and abroad. He is backed by the countrys military and was sworn in for a second term as president earlier this month despite widespread claims of vote-rigging in last years election, which was subject to a boycott by the opposition. The former bus driver who had a long career in trade unionism has been accused of abusing human rights and undermining the countrys democracy. Maduro has been increasingly accused of undemocratic behaviour by his opponents, and has presided over skyrocketing inflation, a collapsing economy and widespread shortages of basic goods. The country has been in recession since 2014. Russia has been propping up Maduro with arms deliveries and loans. Over the last decade, China has given Venezuela $65bn in loans, cash and investment. Venezuela owes more than $20bn. As Venezuelas economic crisis deepens, with masses fleeing the country to escape runaway inflation on pace to surpass 23 million percent, many are desperate for a new leader to rescue the once-wealthy oil nation. The fresh-faced, 35-year-old politician was plucked from anonymity and named as president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly in early January. The move set up a high-stakes standoff with Maduro and eventually saw Guaido stun Venezuelans on Wednesday by declaring himself interim president before cheering supporters in the capital of Caracas, buoyed by massive anti-government protests. Key to Guaidos rise to prominence has been timing and behind-the-scenes backing. An industrial engineer who cut his political teeth in a student protest movement a decade ago, he was elected to the National Assembly in 2015, and in its first session this year was named its leader. Critics say Guaido lacks a political vision, pointing to his rambling debut speech as the legislatures president, which was full of rhetorical barbs aimed at the usurper Maduro but short on specifics on how to get out of the malaise. Still, others see his youth and relative inexperience as breathing life into the beaten-down opposition, making Maduros frequent diatribes that it is dominated by elitist relics from Venezuelas pre-revolutionary past harder to stick. Speaking on Wednedsay, he told Univision he would consider granting amnesty to Maduro and his allies if they helped return Venezuela to democracy. Amnesty is on the table, said Guaido. Support for Guaido has rolled in from the Trump, Canada and numerous Latin American countries, along with the Organisation of the American states. But Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Cuba and Turkey have voiced their backing for Maduros government. Hunt said on Thursday that Britain believes Guiado is right person to take the country forward. The UK also condemned as totally unacceptable Maduros decision to break off diplomatic ties with the US following Donald Trumps recognition of the opposition leader as the South American countrys interim president, giving US embassy officials 72 hours to leave the country. Hunt added: The election on 20 May was deeply flawed; ballot boxes were stuffed, there were counting irregularities and the opposition was banned. This regime has done untold damage to the people of Venezuela, 10% of the population have left Venezuela such is the misery they are suffering. So the United Kingdom believes Juan Guaido is the right person to take Venezuela forward. We are supporting the US, Canada, Brazil and Argentina to make that happen. I will be meeting vice-president Pence and Secretary of State Pompeo later this afternoon to discuss this further. He added: But for anyone in the UK who thinks that Venezuela is an example, who thinks that we should be adopting the policies supported by the discredited Maduro regime, they need to look at their TV screens and think again. This regime has caused untold suffering to its people. The remarks were seen as a thinly veiled attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose spokesman said: [Mr Maduro] is still the president of the country. Venezuelans are heading into uncharted political waters with the young leader of a newly united and combative opposition claiming to hold the presidency. Guaido was sworn in and declared himself the acting president in the capital Caracas on Wednesday amid mass protests against Maduro, At least seven protesters were reported to have been killed in the escalating confrontation. Yesterday three Venezuelan lawyers asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to grant precautionary measures to protect Guaido, his wife and his daughter. The request argues that the measure is needed to safeguard the life, personal integrity and personal freedom of Guaido and his immediate family. The human rights body of the Organisation of American States has the authority to grant precautionary measures as a way to request states protection for persons at urgent and grave risk of suffering irreparable harm. Meanwhile, Mexico and Uruguay are urging all parties involved in Venezuelas crisis, both inside and outside the South American country, to try to reduce tensions and prevent an escalation of violence. Uruguays foreign ministry released a statement on Wednesday saying the two countries are proposing a new process of inclusive and credible negotiations with full respect for the rule of law and human rights to resolve the dispute peacefully.
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https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/venezuela-crisis-britain-throws-support-behind-juan-guaido_uk_5c4af62fe4b06ba6d3bc11c2
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Will a toothless drug price watchdog be good or bad for business?
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Shaken by an expanding span of price control over the past two years, industry representatives had alleged that too much power was vested in a single entity, the chairperson of Indias drug price regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). Thus, the government seems to have decided that the medicine price watchdog needs a watchdog itself. On January 21, an order passed by the government through the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, formed a seven member Standing Committee on Affordable Medicines and Health Products (SCAMHP) headed by NITI Aayog (Health) member Dr VK Paul. This committee will now act as the recommending body to the NPPA on price controls and monitoring prices of specific drugs and health products to ensure their affordability. On the face of it, it seems like a good measure, underlining the governments commitment to making medicines and health products more affordable. But health activists see the new standing committee as a move to make the NPPA a toothless tiger. With crucial elections around the corner, Prime Minister Narendra Modis government will have to balance corporate interests with his promise of affordable health initiatives. This is especially true for sectors like pharmaceuticals, which are a crucial part of his initiatives like Make In India as well as generate employment. The upcoming budget, though interim in nature, could give some clues as to how this balance will work out. CARE Ratingss expectations from the interim budget for FY20 include allocation of funds for operation of the Ayushman Bharat and Jan Aushadhi schemes. As the government wants to reduce Indias dependence on imports of bulk drugs and drug intermediaries (raw materials for formulations) and also prefers domestically manufactured drugs in its procurement programmes, it is likely that these factors would be given significant importance while making budget allocation for the drugs and pharma industry. Thus a quid pro quo, of an easing drug price control, in exchange for increased investments in manufacturing, backward integration might be a logical outcome of recent policy moves. But health activists could have a point. The January 21 order means that the NPPA, which both set and monitored the prices of medicines in India, under the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO)-1995 for the drugs mentioned in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), will now have to follow the recommendations of the new committee. The seven members of the new committee will include the chief economic adviser, Ministry of Finance; the secretary, department of health research; the director-general of health services, vice-chairperson, NLEM and joint secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) as well as a subject expert on biomedical devices/pharmaceuticals. Health activists allege that the presence of finance and DIPP personnel on the new committee will sway pricing decisions in favour of corporate interests. The fear is that recent price controls on drugs and medical devices like heart stents could be rolled back or watered down, to the detriment of patient interests. Framed as part of the long overdue overhaul of the DPCO, this seems to be the latest salvo in the tug of war between the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, which constituted the latest standing committee, and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Currently, the MoH&FW prepares the list of drugs eligible for price regulation which the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) incorporates as the NLEM into Schedule 1 of the DPCO. Following this, NPPA fixes the prices of drugs in this schedule. Industry representatives have lauded the move, saying that from a governance point of view, drug pricing will be more balanced as it will be the responsibility of a seven member committee rather than a just the chairperson of the NPPA. Industry representations frequently accused former NPPA chairpersons of overstepping their brief, by (mis)using the special powers conferred under Paragraph 19 of the DPCO 2013, to expand price control beyond the NLEM. The committee now has the onerous task of being the referee in this continuing tussle between profits and patients.
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http://www.expressbpd.com/pharma/editors-note/will-a-toothless-drug-price-watchdog-be-good-or-bad-for-business/408314/
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Are U.S. Airlines Finally Catching Up in the Business-Class Race?
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Its no secret that premium seats aboard U.S.based airlines have always been a bit underwhelming. For many years cabin upgrades were focused on international fleets, but even then they couldnt hold a candle to foreign competitors. Between three-room suites with beds to amenities like onboard showers, U.S. carriers could boast about their lie-flat seats all they wanted, but with limited routes coupled with less-than-stellar lounges that blemish the overall flying experience, there was nothing to really write home about. Domestic flights were even more dejecting. Lackluster first-class seats that gave a modicum of extra space and recline felt as though they were decades old. But in the past few years things have been changing. American Airlines launched lay-flat beds in January 2014, which was shortly followed by JetBlues extraordinary Mint program later that year. Delta really made a statement when they were the firstand still currently remain the onlyU.S. airline to offer an all-suite business class in October 2017, an approach typically reserved for first class on international carriers. The luxurious Delta One suites feature full-height doors, memory foamenhanced cushions, dedicated stowage compartments, and 18-inch entertainment screensand theres more and more of them flying the friendly skies: By the end of this year, 31 planes will be equipped with Delta One cabins with several new routes that include Los Angeles to Sydney, Atlanta to Tokyo, and Minneapolis to Seoul. There have also been enhancements to lounges, with the most recent addition being Uniteds Polaris Lounge at Los Angeles International Airport. Providing guests with shower suites, private daybeds, and California-inspired seasonal cuisine in a space that spans more than 12,000 square feet, its one of the better options stateside. And while not tied to any particular airline, the recently opened Private Suite at LAX provides well-heeled travelers with an unparalleled experience and the ultimate privacy. Theres still a ways to go, but the tide is definitely (finally) turning.
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https://robbreport.com/travel/destinations/are-u-s-airlines-finally-catching-up-in-business-class-race-2839661/
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How can advisers help clients plan for an early retirement?
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Michael Klimes analyses how advisers deal with the challenge of clients who want to retire early Retirees must expect the unexpected when enjoying their later years The pension freedoms have increased the allure of early retirement for many savers who have now been given greater control over how to spend their pot. While adventures are fun, they do require careful financial planning to ensure they end well. How advisers can help clients realise their ambitions to enjoy early retirement in a sensible way is tricky. Advisers say the conversation with a client who wants to retire early is very similar to the one with a client who wants to retire at state pension age or later; they need to consider the motivation that drives the desire to retire, create a robust investment strategy and prepare for unexpected life events. Equally important though are honest conversations about how much a client will need and be able to spend sustainably in order to support the style of retirement they want. Nonetheless, early retirees do face greater risks of running out of money and their portfolio suffering from potential market downturns compared to later retirees. Laying the groundwork Advisers Money Marketing spoke to argue that technical questions about tax efficiency, withdrawal rates and asset allocation are not the immediate priority. Once we arrive at that figure we revisit it with the client on an annual basis. We are agnostic about what that number is, but once we have it we revisit it in meetings with the client. EQ Investors director Jeannie Boyle says: The conversation you have with a client who wants to retire early is fundamentally the same one you have with someone who wants to retire at 65. Sometimes in these conversations it becomes apparent there has to be a dose of realism as clients need to compromise to achieve goals. With every conversation it is usual to find there is a different attitude to risk. Boyle says advisers have to consider the unexpected tragedies life can throw at clients with equal sensitivity regardless of when they want to retire. She adds: I have seen people who lived very frugal lives but tragically they have died before they could enjoy their money. Therefore, if you have clients who are a couple, the adviser has to ensure each partner has enough money to survive. You have to begin here because any retirement age is made irrelevant if people eventually run out of money. Once we have that answer we then work backwards and build the cashflow model and tax-efficient solutions from there. The process for building portfolios is the same: work out the clients attitude to risk, capacity for loss and then try to bridge the gap with the investment strategy. The longevity lottery The fact advisers have to make whatever investments clients own work longer for them due to early retirement is a major challenge to overcome. Any attempt to match an appropriate investment strategy to a clients estimated longevity is hard. The same is true for calculating how much money they can sustainably spend in retirement. Last April, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published research arguing that advisers need to have a better grasp of how long clients will live in order to make successful retirement plans. The study revealed large and systematic biases in individuals expectations that are important for them if they want to take better control over their pension wealth. It said those in their 50s and 60s underestimate their chances of surviving to age 75 and spend too much money. Conversely, individuals in their late 70s and 80s overestimate their chances of surviving to age 90 or above and spend too little money. To mitigate this longevity roulette Boyle says: You have to be very robust in your cashflow planning so a client does not run out of money. During a normal length retirement, which lasts for, say, 30 years, a client can expect one or two significant market downturns. If they retire early an adviser has to build in even more robust planning for a higher probability of downturns. One strategy Boyle champions is part-time work that can both cushion the shock of a market downturn and reverse a clients desire to stop work completely. She says: When I see clients looking to retire I am always curious to see whether the motivation is positive or negative. One of the things we see with clients in high-earning and high-pressure jobs is a desire to leave early because of stress. So if the motivation is negative then maybe an adviser can help them find something in their life that is positive, which would maybe inspire a different view of retiring early. Expert view Work part-time to sustain early retirement The fundamental point to bear in mind is if you retire early the money must last longer. Research shows for every year a person delays retirement they improve the sustainability of income by eight to 12 per cent per year. The way to think about it is if you retire at 64 and take 10,000 from your portfolio, this could be improved if you wait for another year and take the money at 65. That delay generates investment growth and you could take 10,800 from the portfolio instead of 10,000. A person who retires early should be prepared to take less money from their portfolio, and they may need to be invested more in equities to generate income growth. Clients may start retirement early but could work part-time for a better work/life balance. I argue it is useful to consider earnings as an asset class, so if an adviser can reframe the conversation from stopping work to working part-time, opportunities can be created. If a client is in a high pressure and high income job, they will probably be able to continue earning in a consultant capacity. They could work part-time and still earn a decent amount and be happy. Then the drawdown is a way to augment their work earnings rather than fully draw down on the portfolio. Abraham Okusanya is director of Finalytiq Investment strategies An adviser can only start work on a suitable investment strategy after a clients motivation and financial objectives are clear. Here is where advisers views on what the best asset allocation is for early retirees do vary. BKD Wealth Managements Dixon points out that an adviser may have to recommend an investment strategy that is more aggressive than a clients risk score would otherwise suggest to help them retire earlier. He says: An issue with some younger conservative clients who score low on appetite to risk is it suggests they should be in bonds when in fact they should be shooting the lights out, so to speak [if they want to retire early]. They should be in less risky investments about 10 years before they want to retire. Navigator Financial Planning director David Crozier says that his company takes what he believes to be a controversial stance for early retirees as it insists clients have a cash buffer for immediate spending so they do not have to touch their pension. While he says many argue such money should be invested in the markets to generate growth, he believes this misses clients emotional needs. Crozier says: Currently our firm has a client who is already early retired and has two-and-a-half years of disposable cash even though he has been taking money from his pension. We have told him you do not need to do that, so stop taking money from your pension and just live on your cash. The purist view is other than a bit of emergency cash, you should invest the rest of the clients money in the markets. With our approach you can say: You dont need to worry about markets because you have a cash buffer. Right now, I would not like to be looking after a client who is depending solely on their investment growth to live. While advisers can and do recommend contrasting investment strategies for early retirees, they must understand their motivations to develop a suitable strategy. Threesixty director Russell Facer says: The key thing is to understand the motivation of the client who wants to retire early. If the adviser does not work this out then it is likely the advice they give will not be suitable.
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https://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/9-and-10-1-of-1-how-can-advisers-help-clients-plan-for-an-early-retirement/
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When is a 'choke' not a choke?
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EACH Saturday the team talks about the big issues in sport locally, nationally and internationally. With our sport editor Jason Gibbs warming up for his return to work next week sport writers Sean Teuma and Glen McCullough will look to score some more brownie points in his absence with their thoughts for the week on today's soapbox. The third-set Australian Open loss by Serena Williams this week when serving for the match at 5-1 has us recalling some other memorable all-time great sport meltdowns. Sean Teuma: American Football is fresh on the mind at the moment after a controversial and thrilling weekend. One of the most watched choke jobs in the history of the sport would have to be Atlanta dropping their bundle after leading 28-3 in the 2017 Super Bowl. Being the modest and humble fanbase that they are, the New England Patriots have been so kind to not bring it up since.... The Falcons, who were simply unstoppable during the first three quarters, suddenly forgot how to play football. It's not as if the Patriots were doing anything ground-breaking during their comeback either, it was a case of dropped catches, a fumble and terrible clock management that cost them the game. Now because of that we have to listen to how Tom Brady has five rings, and is 41. Another that comes to mind is a round two NRL game in 2003 between South Sydney and Brisbane. Sitting in the stands of the SFS with family and after holding out the Broncos in the last minute of play, I thought we were about to pull off the upset of the century. How wrong we were. Gordon Tallis nailed a one-on-one strip on Paul Stringer, and handed it off to Brent Tate to crush the dreams of every fan in the stadium. Thanks Gordon. Glen McCullough: Choke is a harsh word and one I wouldn't use in a story. It can be interpreted as lacking in courage. Choking shouldn't be confused with a drop in performance, superior opposition or plain bad luck. But it does make for a good headline and click bait. Australia will never live down its ODI effort back in 2006 when it posted 434 runs off its 50 overs against South Africa only to see the Proteas run them down on the second last ball of their innings. Easy. The late Jana Novotna suffered one of tennis's most famous meltdowns on one of the world's most public stages in 1993 when she butchered a match-winning Wimbledon final lead against Steffi Graf. Serving for the game up 4-1 in the third set, the Czech double-faulted, fell to pieces and "handed Graf victory. Few will forget the sight of a distraught Novotna breaking down in tears at the championship presentation. This one still hurts. Aussies who agonisingly sat through it will never get over Greg Norman's collapse on the back nine of the 1996 US Masters which gifted victory to Nick Faldo. Norman led for the first three rounds only to see his six shot lead over the Englishman on the final day turn into a five-shot loss. Norman shot 78 and Faldo 67. You wouldn't read about it. There was of course those other forgettable moments in Norman's career when he was denied Major victories by freakish green-side shots by Bob Tway (from the sand) and Larry Mize. But to my mind those heartbreaking losses told me more about Norman than any of his winning achievements. He bravely took both losses on the chin and handled defeat as graciously as I have seen any sport person. Norman went up so much in my estimation on how he shone more in adversity than in triumph. The bloke is a champion in every sense of the word.
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https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/when-is-a-choke-not-a-choke/3631041/
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What will the weather be like for Chambersburg IceFest?
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CLOSE Artists carve the largest Chambersburg IceFest sculpture, a piece exhibiting bears, sponsored by David H. Martin Excavating, Inc. Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion IceFest's dozens of ice sculptures won't be sweating this year while on display in downtown Chambersburg. While a warm spell has been known to move in just in time for the annual winter festival in past years, there will be no worries of melting in 2019. Thousands of people are expected to come to the festival, which officially kicks off at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31 and runs through 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3. Guests won't need to slip down the double-wide ice slide to feel a chill. It will be cold every day, and most will feel much colder than the actual temperature due to wind. Temperatures are not expected to reach 30 degrees at all, and wind chills will be in the teens, according to AccuWeather. Buy Photo A bundled-up boy and girl slide down the double-wide ice slide at the 2018 IceFest. (Photo: Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion) Thursday will be "bitterly" cold, AccuWeather says, with a high of 18 and a wind chill of just 10 degrees. It will likely be a bit colder than that by the 5 p.m. opening, though. It will be slightly less cold Friday, with a high of 26 and a wind chill of 17. There could be some flurries or even snow. Keep in mind activities are in the evening. The biggest day of the festival will be the warmest. A high of 29 and a mostly sunny sky are expected Saturday. Even better, Mother Nature will offer a break from wind; AccuWeather says it will actually feel slightly warmer than the actual temperature come late afternoon. None of this will make much difference, however, to the participants of the Polar Dunk Tank, which is set to begin at 11 a.m. More: IceFest is coming to Chambersburg: Here are 3 things to know now Sunday will be similar to Friday. There will be an extra day of activities this year, as the Live Carve-Off has been moved to Wednesday evening. Two ice carvers will go head to head outside GearHouse Brewing Co. on Grant Street. Temperatures will feel like they are in the teens. How to keep warm The Centers for Disease Control recommends adults and children who will be exposed to cold weather to wear a hat, a scarf or mask that covers the face and mouth, sleeves that are snug at the wrist, mittens (which are warmer than gloves), and several layers of loose-fitting clothing. IceFest will also provide a number of opportunities to warm up. There are plenty of indoor activities, such as Frozen Flicks at Coyle Free Library and the Penn's Woods Printmakers display at the new 11/30 Welcome Center. The Chili-Q - a new take on the traditional chili cook-off - will offer an easy way to warm up from the inside out. Try out samples of chili and barbecue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. under the tent in the lot next to Main Street Deli. More: Hagerstown woman ices competition at IceFest's cake-decorating contest More: 6 benefits of a Public Opinion digital subscription More IceFest activities IceFest is open 5-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, all day Saturday, and through 4 p.m. Sunday. The 40-foot, LED-lit, double-wide ice slide will be open for free all festival long in the parking lot next to Gartenburg Jewelry, 133 S. Main St., and more than 30 tons of ice will be in sculpture form and on display along the Main Street corridor. In addition to the activities previously mentioned in this story, highlights include: On Saturday, the IceFest Beer Garden, Icing on the Cake contest, ArtFest, and multiple art exhibits; and on Sunday, the Kids' Zone Obstacle Course and Scavenger Hunt, Run Your Ice Off 5K. Be sure to check out the full schedule at icefestpa.com. Read or Share this story: https://www.publicopiniononline.com/story/news/local/2019/01/25/icefest-2019-weather-winter-festival-chambersburg-pa/2666514002/
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https://www.publicopiniononline.com/story/news/local/2019/01/25/icefest-2019-weather-winter-festival-chambersburg-pa/2666514002/
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How much money will Derby County get if they beat Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup?
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Get Weekday Derby County FC updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Derby County take on Accrington Stanley in their FA Cup fourth round tie this weekend. The Rams travel to the Wham Stadium on the back of their 2-1 win over Reading in the Sky Bet Championship last weekend. Frank Lampards side secured their place in the fourth round of the famous competition by beating Premier League side Southampton in their replay at St Marys last week. Meanwhile, Accrington booked their place at the first time of asking, after beating Ipswich Town 1-0 earlier this month. Richard Keoghs winning spot-kick in the penalty shootout against the Saints saw the Rams earn 135,000 in prize money, and theyll receive another decent sum should they get past Accrington this weekend. Each club in the competition who wins their fourth round match will receive 180,000. Here is a full breakdown of payments made by the FA after each round of the tournament. Extra preliminary round winners (184) 2,250 - Losers receive 750 Preliminary round winners (160) 2,890 - Losers receive 960 First round qualifying winners (116) 6,000 Second Round Qualifying winners (80) 9,000 Third Round Qualifying winners (40) 15,000 Fourth Round Qualifying winners (32) 25,000 First Round Proper winners (40) 36,000 Second Round Proper winners (20) 54,000 Third Round Proper winners (32) 135,000 Fourth Round Proper winners (16) 180,000 Fifth Round Proper winners (8) 360,000 Quarter-Final winners (4) 720,000 Semi-Final winners (2) 1,800,000 Semi-Final losers (2) 900,000 Final runners-up (1) 1,800,000 Final winners (1) 3,600,000 Meanwhile, Derby could be in line for an additional cash boost. It has been announced that English Football League clubs could earn themselves an extra 250,000 thanks to a new Divisional Progress Prize fund. The money will go to the club from each of the EFL's three divisions that goes furthest in this year's cup, with the pot being shared if more than one team from the same division goes out at the same stage. That means League Two's Newport and Oldham, who both knocked out Premier League opposition in the third round, will get 125,000 each if they lose their fourth-round ties at Middlesbrough and Doncaster, respectively, but one could scoop the lot if they get to the fifth round and the other does not. The field is more competitive further up the pyramid, as there are six League One sides still in the competition and 10 from the Championship. But with seven all-EFL contests among the 16 fourth-round ties, the picture will be very different after the last game on Monday evening, when the Championship's Brentford plays the National League's Barnet. In a statement, the FA's director of professional game relations, Andy Ambler, said: "We are delighted to be able to offer this substantial financial reward to EFL clubs competing in the Emirates FA Cup. "At the start of the season, we doubled the competition prize fund to 30.2million - an increased investment which will have a positive impact on clubs at all levels of the game." The FA has been able to increase the prize funds thanks to the bumper domestic and international broadcast deals it secured for the world's oldest domestic football competition in 2016. EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey added: "The financial rewards that are earned as a result of progressing through the rounds in the Emirates FA Cup deliver a huge boost to EFL clubs and the addition of a 250,000 divisional prize provides an even greater return that recognises a club's success."
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https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-much-money-derby-county-2464408
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Was tun wenn die Windschutzscheibe innen vereist?
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Vor allem morgens sind viele Autofahrer, die im Freien parken, mit Eiskratzen beschftigt. Auch das Zufrieren der Scheiben im Inneren des Fahrzeugs kann zur lstigen Begleiterscheinung werden. Zuviel Feuchtigkeit im Fahrgastraum ist Schuld an dieser unangenehmen Nebenerscheinung des Winters. "Das bermige Eindringen von Wasser kann verschiedene Ursachen haben", erklrt AMTC-Techniker Thomas Stix. Mit einigen Tipps lsst sich die Verwandlung des Autoinnenraums in einen Eispalast aber verhindern. Schuhe gut abklopfen Der grte Frderer von Feuchtigkeit im Autoinneren ist der Autofahrer selber. Nach Regen oder Schneefall bringt man mit den nassen Schuhen und der Kleidung viel Feuchtigkeit mit ins Auto. Besonders wenn es stark schneit, sollte man die Schuhe gut abklopfen bevor man einsteigt. Eine Gummimatte auf dem Boden verhindert zudem, dass die Nsse in den Teppich des Autos eindringt. "Abtropfendes Wasser fngt sich in der Matte und kann so leicht entfernt werden", sagt der AMTC-Techniker. Aber Vorsicht beim Einsteigen, denn feuchte Gummimatten knnen sich ber Nacht schnell in eine Rutschbahn verwandeln. Dichtungen verhindern im Normalfall, dass bei Niederschlag Wasser in den Innenraum eindringt. Wenn die Dichtung aber auch nur an einer kleinen Stelle defekt ist, ist die Feuchtigkeit nicht mehr zu stoppen. Auch verstopfte Ablaufkanle am Auto bieten Wasser die Chance, einzudringen. Ab in die Waschstrae Um defekte Stellen an Dichtungen zu finden, bietet sich eine Fahrt in eine Waschstrae an. Whrend des Waschganges kann man nach versteckten Wassereinbrchen suchen. Mit einem simplen Wasserschlauch und einer weiteren Person kann man sich aber auch helfen. "Die erste Person spritzt das Auto von auen ab und die zweite Person kann durch Wassertropfen im Innenraum die undichten Stellen identifizieren", wei der AMTC-Techniker. Trotz geschlossener Tren und Fenster gibt es im Auto eine natrliche Luftzirkulation. Ist diese nicht mehr ausreichend gegeben, kann es zu einer verstrkten Ansammlung von Kondenswasser kommen. Hier empfiehlt es sich, den Innenraumfilter zu kontrollieren, denn ist dieser verstopft, wird der ntige Luftaustausch verhindert. "Am besten tauscht man den Filter gleich gegen einen mit Aktivkohle aus, der auch Schadstoffe am Eindringen in den Fahrgastraum hindert", rt der AMTC-Techniker abschlieend.
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https://www.bvz.at/auto-motor/feuchtigkeit-im-auto-was-tun-wenn-die-windschutzscheibe-innen-vereist-oeamtc-133552542
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Who is Roger Stone?
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Roger Stone, a longtime Republican political consultant and confidant to President Donald Trump, was arrested on Friday in connection to the special counsels Russia investigation. The seven-count indictment charges Stone with lying to Congress and obstructing special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Stone has long attracted investigators attention, but this was the first time he was charged in the probe. Stones relationship with Trump dates back over 30 years, according to Stones personal website. The website claimed that Stone urged Trump to run for president as early as 1988 and again in 2000. When Trump finally decided to run in 2016, Stone was one of Trump's earliest political advisers. He briefly served on Trump's campaign, but he was pushed out amid infighting with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Stone continued communicating with Trump on occasion and stayed plugged into the circle of advisers both formal and informal who worked with and around Trump. Stone was especially close with Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign chairman who was found guilty of tax and bank fraud and witness-tampering in Muellers investigation last year. Stone and Manafort co-founded a political lobbying firm in the 1980s. Their firm lobbied on behalf of Trumps casino business in the 90s. Sign up for the GMJ On the Go Thanks for signing up! Something went wrong. This email will be delivered to your inbox once a day in the morning. Please check your email to confirm your subscription. Please try again later. Submit Well-known for his political antics and hard ball tactics, Stone has reveled in being a Washington wheeler-dealer dating back to the Nixon administration. He campaigned for Nixons reelection in 1972 and still holds the former president in high regard he has a tattoo of Nixon on his back and a room full of Nixon posters in his Florida home. He also worked for Ronald Reagans campaign. Stone lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. CNN aired video on Friday of the FBI's raid of his home, showing agents in body armor using large weapons and night-vision equipment, running up to the home and banging repeatedly on the door. Fridays indictment provides the most detail to date about how Trump campaign associates in the summer of 2016 were actively seeking to politically benefit from the release of hacked material damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign. It alleges that unnamed senior Trump campaign officials contacted Stone to ask when stolen emails relating to Clinton might be disclosed. The indictment does not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website that published the emails, or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked them. Instead, it accuses him of witness tampering, obstruction and false statements about his interactions related to WikiLeaks' release. Some of those false statements were made to the House intelligence committee, according to the indictment. The indictment had been expected. Stone has said for months he was prepared to be charged, though he has denied any wrongdoing. A grand jury for months had heard from witnesses connected to Stone. And the intelligence committee last year voted to release a transcript of Stone's testimony to Mueller as a precursor to an indictment. Attorney Grant Smith, who represents Stone, did not return a phone message seeking comment Friday. Contributing: TEGNA Staff
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https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/nation-world/who-is-roger-stone/77-e9a30ea8-de16-487c-9cca-080c67fbca99
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What are the critics saying about new film Green Book?
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Get Daily updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali star alongside each other in a 'controversial' movie that is being described as "engaging, funny, moving and even inspiring". The story of The Green Book takes place in America's Deep South in the early 1960s. African-American pianist Dr Don Shirley recruits rough-around-the-edges Italian-American bouncer Tony Lip to drive and protect him throughout his concert tour. In an era sadly defined by segregation, the pair form an unlikely bond. Based on true events, the film's title is itself a nod to The Negro Motorist Green Book that was first published in 1936. At a time in history where many restaurants and hotels refused to serve or shelter African Americans to give "the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trip more enjoyable". How to save money on cinema tickets Vodafone Rewards - Vodafone customers can get two Odeon Cinema Tickets for 7 by downloading the Vodafone App, clicking the 'VeryMe' button and selecting the Odeon deal. Once through, click 'get deal' to receive your code. Meerkat Movies - If you use or used the Compare The Market website over the past 12 month you can get 2 for 1 cinema tickets every Tuesday or Wednesday. Print the code or download the Meerkat Movies app and show your smartphone at the box office. Vue Cinema Mondays - Register to Vue Super Monday and click 'Activate' to have your unique code e-mailed to you. Enter the code online or quote it at your nearest Vue Cinema Box Office when purchasing your tickets. TasteCard 40% Off - Purchase a tastecard membership by click through to their home page here. Once you are signed up, click here to see their cinema offers at tastecard.co.uk/cinema-offers This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently, see more details here What the Critics Say The Good "Mortensen and Ali both give fabulous performances in this feel-good road-trip drama that's part buddy comedy, party history lesson, and part social commentary on friendship and race." commonsensemedia.org "Peter Farrellys delightful little film is all heart and a sure shot Oscar contender." - indiatimes.com "Green Book is a delightful and inspiring story fueled by terrific performances by its leads, a sharp screenplay, and deft direction." screenrant.com The Bad "There is virtually no milestone in this tale of interracial male friendship that you won't see coming from a long way, including scenes that seem too corny or misguided for any movie in its right to contemplate." - NYTimes "The argument to be made for these illustrations is that theyre educationala set of lessons in Americas racial history that may stun young members of the audience. Still, the surface-skimming, clich-ridden writing leaves one hungering for more." Maybe. But in a time when our nation is more divided than ever, the movie offers the possibility of redemption." rollingstone.com "Perhaps it's strangely fitting that we can't give 'Green Book' a definitive yay or nay, a definitive black-or-white verdict. It, like the world it portrays, is complex and sometimes difficult." - pluggedin.com The Green Book will be officially released in UK cinemas on Friday, February 1st
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https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/whats-on/film/what-critics-saying-new-film-2464790
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What Will The Digital Workplace Look Like In 2019?
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As we begin the new year with a fresh perspective on our goals, it is important to take a collective pause to reflect on what we have learned this past year for a clearer look into the future. The pace of digital change is showing no signs of slowing. More than a decade into the era of this transformation, the corporate world is still far from reaching digital maturity. However, organizations adopting a digital-first approach are quickly leaving their competitors in the dust. Business leaders hoping to leap aboard the moving train of digital should take critical note of its trajectory for the coming year. Here are four predictions on the future of the digital workplace in 2019: 1. AI Will Change How Employees Acquire Knowledge And What They Need To Know The past few years have seen countless headlines foretelling an AI takeover that will potentially wipe out the careers of millions of hard-working Americans. While articles of this nature receive clicks, they fail to accurately assess the situation. AI will change the workplace -- this much is true -- but its role will be a supporting one. These technologies, once fully adopted, will not only serve to replace human employees but will also be used to empower them. This means that employees will move away from being skill-focused. Workplace skills that were once valuable, such as fluency in a specific digital platform, will soon become irrelevant. Instead, the core principles that make one a professional in their field will carry increased weight. In the new workplace, there will be no need for paper-pushing employees. However, there are certain processes that cannot be replaced by AI. These include decision making, assessing talent, negotiation and people management. These traits that make an employee good at those core human functions will become increasingly valuable as automation arrives in the workplace. The requirements for new talent will need a makeover, centering on employees traits rather than skills. Automation and AI will replace some workers, but with each need that is filled by technology, a new need will arise that requires human traits. The workplace of the future will allow for human abilities to truly shine. Businesses that understand the potential of this future will start to bolster their workforces with talent to carry them through the age of automation. 2. Convergence Of Devices Means The Laptop Will Be Demoted In Favor Of More Mobile Digital Tools In tune with the ever-growing cohort of digital-native employees, demands for mobile communication will continue to rise. The fast pace of the digital workplace requires its employees to bounce between emails, clients and information systems without missing a beat. Increasingly, employees have been turning to their pocket-sized computers to get the job done. This is disrupting the nature of work. In fact, a study conducted by Staffbase (via Harvard Business Review) revealed that a mobile employee app boosts internal communication, and it pinpointed four domains in which companies can see concrete ROI. While tech employees have already begun migrating to their mobile devices, in 2019, I believe it will be the non-tech industries that begin to have a mobile-first approach in their workplaces. Mainstream industries will start incorporating mobile-native enterprise applications into their everyday work, and the slow legacy systems will be left behind. Companies that embrace the evolution of mobile will see an increase in engagement and collaboration. If harnessed, this trend will birth a new era of productivity in the workforce. 3. AI Will Be Used To Reinforce The Enterprise User Experience The user experience revolution first swept consumer technology and is now making its debut in enterprise technology. Forward-thinking companies are realizing that the usability of their digital systems can have powerful and costly effects on the bottom line. When it comes to streamlining systems and improving the employee digital experience, the answer is quite literally right under our noses. Applications are holding a wealth of usability data, and in 2019, I believe companies will realize they can learn how workers are using this data with company systems. AI has the ability to enable greater process discovery, a tool that can immediately extract valuable actionable insights into any process on any software. By unlocking the potential of process discovery, AI will have the ability to decipher how each employee can best use a system, providing a range of possibilities based on what the individual needs to do. With the overwhelming number of enterprise systems used by an organization, applying deep learning will bring said organizations closer to realizing a systems true value to their business. 4. IT Will Become Increasingly Decentralized Companies are abandoning complicated legacy enterprise software systems and are turning to hyperspecialized applications created for one purpose. One of these micro-platforms, for example, could be a system whose sole purpose is to monitor the sound quality of sales calls. Companies have begun investing in these micro-platforms for a couple of reasons: 1) They fill in functionality gaps between what digital systems offer and new needs that may arise, and 2) they can be deployed more quickly and with greater customization than more robust platforms. The result is a divorce of IT from the software purchasing life cycle. With an ever-growing arsenal of digital systems, businesses will need to have visibility into usability and put extra focus on the adoption of these new tools. Leaders need to reorient themselves to face an ever-growing number of digital systems and empower their staff to learn to operate them. Businesses should begin to imagine a future in which digital systems and technology are recognized as true assets in their digital transformation journey. This type of digital-first approach, with businesses utilizing technology to empower their workforce and users, must be a priority for organizations in 2019.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/01/25/what-will-the-digital-workplace-look-like-in-2019/
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Is Gillette's Stand A Tipping Point for Brands?
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Gillette joins a list of brands that is getting longer: brands that are no longer neutral when it comes to important topics related to the lifestyle experience the brand enables. Dove, American Eagles Aerie, Nike, Sephora, and a host of startups like Toms, Brilliant Earth and Allbirds are now joined by a nearly 120-year-old brand in taking a stand for something. And like these other brands, Gillette didnt pick some feel-good topic they waded right into the middle of #MeToo and raging debates about toxic masculinity with a two-minute cinematic ad that exhorted men to be better, complete with a pointed reference to their own past (sexist) advertising and a new hashtag #TheBestMenCanBe. When as staid and aged a brand as Gillette wades into the fray, you know the trend towards socially-conscious brands is more than just a fad. When Nike promoted Colin Kaepernick, some people literally self-destructed (their shoes, that is) in protest. But there was also a sense that of course Nike would do this they havent been afraid to take provocative stances, so their turn towards Kaepernick was almost seen as being something in line with the brand ethos, whether you agreed with the politics behind it or not. Gillette, on the other hand, faced no such controversies. Yes, their past ads were sexist in hindsight, but in the context of all the other TV ads there was nothing radical in their sexism. Even then, they were trying to fit in. They were following a pretty time-tested formula for appealing to consumers: identify an aspirational motivation in your target segment, and exploit it. Buy Gillette. Buy Gillette. And, by the way, get your message across through targeted mass-media buys. None of that works any longer. And thats why Gillette is a tipping point. While the ad they put out has Super Bowl-quality production values, they didnt sit on it until the big game. They put it on YouTube. And posted about it on social media. With a hashtag. And its important to note that Gillette didnt do this just for the fun of it. Digital-native brands like Dollar Shave Club (DSC) and Harrys have been taking big bites out of Gillettes market share over the last five years, to the point where Gillette paid $1 billion to get DSC off their backs. And as soon as they stuffed DSC in the fold, Harrys stepped up to take its place on the digital-native frontier. Gillette - and every other traditional brand out there - cant afford to continue like nothings wrong or nothings changed in the way people find brands and stick with them. Digital-native brands take a completely different approach to appealing to consumers. They take a stand. It doesnt always have to be political Dollar Shave Club got its start with controversial videos (spread via YouTube, not by TV) that took an extreme position on price. The brand also took a stand on convenience, offering to ship directly to you, both so that youd never run out of razors, but also to remind you to change your blade something men dont do as often as they should, and pay for it with painful or uneven shaves. Dollar Shave Club didnt try to create some Plato-like super-image of a man. They found problems that men had, and they solved them. Oh, and they did it in a very entertaining way, that got peoples attention long enough to get them to realize they had those problems too, and thus a brand was born. Gillettes current move reflects some of what they may have picked up from DSCs rocket growth. Harrys and DSC own extreme affordability and convenience. Gillette, the flagship brand, must now choose: meet them on these dimensions (which would cannibalize DSCs success and kill the brand Gillettes margins), or differentiate on experience. Gillettes distribution model through grocery & drug stores really limits their options when it comes to experience. Short of opening stores and moving into competing against luxury shave brands like Art of Shaving, the only way the company can provide an experience is to take a stand on an issue important to the people who buy their products, so that buying the product has the feel-good feeling equivalent to buying a raffle ticket on Omaze or buying a t-shirt to support a cause. And while you might argue that men might not take too kindly to being told to be better, just remember that when it comes to the grocery aisle (and most consumer spending budgets), its actually women who influence spend. And the womens voices protesting Gillettes stand have been very quiet. The Bottom Line Nike is sometimes controversial for controversys sake, so their taking a stand was not nearly as momentous for brand marketing as Gillettes move. Its too early to tell, but I think the answer to both questions will be yes.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikkibaird/2019/01/25/is-gillettes-stand-a-tipping-point-for-brands/
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Why arent these hummingbirds flying south for the winter?
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DEAR JOAN: For many years, we have had a large number of hummers that feed on our back deck, but are always gone by the end of October at the latest. It is now past mid-January and we still have 12 to 15 hummers sometimes more feeding. We took down all but one feeder but had to put them back up due to the number of birds. Judy Bentley, Walnut Creek DEAR JUDY: Were lucky in the Bay Area that we have a variety of hummingbirds, some that visit for breeding season and some that live here year round. If you had hummers that always left by mid October, you have been hosting the migratory hummingbirds. The ones that remain through the winter are Annas hummers, who tend to stay in the same Bay Area neighborhoods. Leaving feeders out all year is a good idea, not only to treat the Annas hummers, but as feeding stations for birds along the migratory route. Some hummingbirds fly thousands of miles, twice a year, and they depend on finding food along the way. Some people worry that having hummingbird feeders up all the time will prevent migratory hummers from going on their journeys, but it doesnt work that way. Migration is hardwired into birds, and it would take a lot more than sugar water to change that. Finding a dog I had a few emails offering advice to Jackee, who had asked for guidance on adopting another dog after the death of her beloved bichon mix. Here are some of the suggestions. DEAR JOAN: The letter from Jackee could have been written by me nearly a year ago. After losing my Chihuahua-mix rescue following a difficult battle with Cushings Disease, the house was so empty. I found petfinders.com to be a terrific resource. The ability to set filters was extremely helpful in focusing in and finding an appropriate rescue. My Ranger was one of the 45 dogs confiscated in the Oakland Animal Services raid of a pet warehouse. She was being fostered by Power of Chi rescue, an amazing group. I hope Jackee finds that perfect new companion just like I did! C.N., East Bay DEAR C.: Congratulations to both you and Ranger for finding each other. DEAR JOAN: Tell her to contact Norcal Poodle Rescue. Our website, www.norcalpoodlerescueadoption.com, shows available dogs and an adoption interest form. In 2018, we rescued 192 poodles and poodle mixes, and we are always looking for volunteers and donors. Colin Schlesinger, Norcal Poodle Rescue volunteer DEAR COLIN: Norcal Poodle is indeed an excellent organization. DEAR JOAN: Regarding the writer who recently lost her bichon and was looking for a rescue dog, the Nextdoor site that I belong to regularly posts photos of rescued pets and (news about) local pet groups special adoption days. If available in her area, Nextdoor can be a great resource. Janeene Johnson, Menlo Park DEAR JANEENE: I normally dont recommend using online sites (such as Craigslist) to adopt pets, but I hadnt thought of Nextdoor, which is more intimate and less likely to be a problem. Thats a good suggestion. For more pets and animals coverage follow us on Flipboard.
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https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/01/25/why-arent-these-hummingbirds-flying-south-for-the-winter/
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When does BBC Scotland launch? How can I watch? What programmes will air?
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In February the BBC is launching a dedicated Scottish television channel with a new daily hour-long news programme and bespoke drama, arts and entertainment coverage. Advertisement The new channel, called BBC Scotland, will have a prominent slot on Electronic Programme Guides (EPGs) in Scotland, and will be available across the UK via BBC iPlayer. BBC Scotland will officially launch on Sunday 24th February. The new channels place on the EPG is yet to be confirmed but the BBC say it will be prominent in Scotland. There had been speculation that it would take the place currently occupied by BBC4 but the BBC insists that this is now not likely to be the case. The plan is to air 50% original content and 50% repeats. Each weeknight there will be an hour-long news programme at 9pm featuring national, UK and international news. Called The Nine, it will be anchored from Scotland by presenters Martin Geissler and Rebecca Currin (pictured). Existing BBC Scotland TV programmes will be showcased on the channel including Scottish drama River City which will feature each Monday night at 10pm and will continue to keep its 8pm Tuesday evening slot on BBC1 Scotland. The new channel will also air existing shows like police comedy Scot Squad and will premiere the final series of Scottish sitcom Still Game (which will air later in the year on BBC1). Other programmes include an eight-part documentary series The Childrens Hospital, about The Royal Aberdeen Childrens Hospital (below), and A View from The Terrace, a weekly sideways glance at Scottish football adapted from the cult fan-led podcast The Terrace. There will also be a music series Emeli Sands Street Symphony which will see the singer-songwriter travelling across Scotland and recruiting her favourite buskers for a concert with an entire orchestra. The first drama commission is Guilt a new four-part series starting Scottish actors Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe, Line Of Duty and Unforgotten, pictured) and Jamie Sives (Chernobyl, Frontier, Game Of Thrones). They play brothers Max (Bonnar) and Jake (Sives) who, while driving home from a wedding together one night, accidentally run over and kill an old man on a darkened street. After making the panicked decision to cover their tracks, the brothers have to face the consequences of their crime. The flagship news programme The Nine will be at the heart of the schedules and will report regional, national and international news through a Scottish perspective. Rebecca and Martin will co-present Monday-Thursday while Laura Miller and John Beattie will present the news hour each Friday. Weekend coverage comprises a 15-minute bulletin on Saturday evenings at 7pm followed by a 45-minute review programme presented by Fiona Stalker and Nick Sheridan. On Sundays, the 15-minute 7pm bulletin will be presented by Lucy Whyte. The programme will have a distinct social media presence and audiences will be able to access the best of The Nine on digital platforms. Other programmes include The Peoples News where topical events will be presented through the eyes of people from across Scotland who dial in each week. There will also be a Modern Scotland documentary strand and bespoke Scottish arts coverage, with Edinburghs globally renowned summer arts festivals one area of strength. The channel will be live every day, broadcasting a total of 1,825 hours each year including more than 900 hours of original content. BBC Scotlands core hours will be 7pm until midnight. Between 12 noon and 7pm the channel will show BBC2 content alongside up to 150 hours per year of BBC Scotland content such as coverage of First Ministers Question Time and sporting and music events. The channel has a total annual programming budget of 32m and will replace the Scottish programmes currently shown on BBC2 Scotland. Its additional 40m comes from central BBC funding with the money split between TV services specifically for audiences in Scotland and additional network programming made in Scotland for audiences across the UK and beyond. Yes. The BBC says it will be available in both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) via Freeview, YouView, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media (on Freeview, the channel will be available in HD between 7pm and midnight only). The channel and its content will also be available on the BBC iPlayer. The decision to launch the channel came after much discussion about the quality and range of BBC programming and spending in Scotland. Just over half of the estimated 320m raised from Scottish licence fee payers is spent in the country, the lowest proportion among the four nations of the United Kingdom. The BBC anticipates that at the end of the first financial year in which the channel has been operating, the accounts will show that around 80% of the licence fee collected in Scotland will have been spent there. Advertisement For many years activists in Scotland have demanded a dedicated news bulletin for the country with many believing that either a Scottish Newsnight would be a solution or a 6pm bulletin the so-called Scottish Six.
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https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-25/bbc-scotland-guide/
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Is coal as reliable as we think?
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A number of coal-fired power plant outages across Australia have left thousands of heatwave-stricken homes without power. Yallourn Power Station in Victoria became the third electricity generator to be shut down last night ahead of temperature predictions of 44C today. About 5,800 properties lost power, leaving them without air conditioning. A spokesman for the State Control Centre said the cause of the outages was under investigation. Victorian Energy Minister Lily DAmbrosio told Australian news publication 3AW that three coal-fired units across the state had experienced outages. She added: This means we cant rule out brownouts. We have ageing coal-fired power stations. They are becoming less reliable. She urged households across the region to ration non-essential electricity use, such as turning off dishwashers, washing machines and swimming pool pumps.
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https://www.energylivenews.com/2019/01/25/is-coal-as-reliable-as-we-think/
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Could the new year mean a new home?
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Bovis Homes has new offers for the new year - meaning your dream home could be closer than you think. Picture: Lee Pilkington Lee Pilkington If you are looking for the perfect new home to buy in Costessey or Wymondham, Bovis Homes has an offer thats too good to miss. Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. A bedroom at one of Bovis Homes' new properties. Picture: Lee Pilkington A bedroom at one of Bovis Homes' new properties. Picture: Lee Pilkington For January only, Bovis Homes is offering you the chance to reserve your dream home for only 99! Whats more, the housebuilder is including a fantastic new home bundle at no extra cost. This includes a 42 Smart TV, Dyson vacuum cleaner, 32GB iPad Pro, carpets and garden turf. Woodland Park in West Costessey is a stylish development situated in Queens Hills Country Park, offering a mix of quality homes with a contemporary feel. Ideally located just four miles from Norwich city centre, it offers the perfect combination of relaxation and active pursuits. Woodland Park is close to the rivers Tud and Wensum and is surrounded by beautiful, mature trees. There is a choice of attractive two and three-bedroom homes with flexible layouts, which are ideal for young professionals and growing families. Bovis Homes' new developments are carefully designed and built to provide luxury living. Picture: Lee Pilkington Bovis Homes' new developments are carefully designed and built to provide luxury living. Picture: Lee Pilkington Families can also benefit from a new school, plus lots of play areas, which are dotted around the location, enabling both older and younger children to play safely. Costessey also provides an ideal base to explore Norfolks coastline, the Norfolk Broads, as well as the regions market towns and villages, plus other attractions. Meanwhile Birch Gate is an impressive development on the outskirts of the historic Norfolk market town of Wymondham and just 11 miles from Norwich. Wymondhams town centre offers modern convenience and services with shops, pubs, cafes, schools, a medical centre, arts, sports and transport facilities. The new properties offer flexible living accomodation - perfect for young professionals and growing families. Picture: Lee Pilkington The new properties offer flexible living accomodation - perfect for young professionals and growing families. Picture: Lee Pilkington At Birch Gate youll find a stunning range of three, four and five-bedroom homes, each carefully designed and built to provide a quality new home to suit the needs of todays lifestyles. So, if youre looking for a new home within a traditional Norfolk setting, Birch Gate could be the place for you! Bovis Homes offers the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, which means purchasers only need a five per cent deposit. With the Governments 20 per cent equity loan, home buyers can then access a 75 per cent mortgage, which opens the door to more competitive lending rates and a dream move into a brand new Bovis Home. For more information and to book your viewing at Woodland Park, call Bovis Homes sales advisors on 01603 519 207 or email [email protected]. For Birch Gate, call 01953 666 890 or email [email protected]
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https://www.edp24.co.uk/edp-property/bovis-offers-january-deal-on-new-homes-1-5866566
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Has Venezuelas moment of truth arrived?
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As for Trump, he isnt playing the man of peace. Its not his style. He has been riling opponents at home by refusing to rule out military action, saying that all options are on the table. Hes not a great one for nation-building, but he doesnt need to be. The US role is to do what it can to encourage allies to provide a Latin American solution to a Latin American problem. The next steps are tactical. The US can pull strings to make it clear that things will get better in Venezuela after Maduro goes: not just the lifting of sanctions, but perhaps a US-inspired bailout by the International Monetary Fund. While Venezuela does have oil, it lacks oil experts they have left the country, along with anyone else who could. If American expertise is needed to revive the industry, then Trump will have to avoid the temptation to demand any kind of price.
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https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/has-venezuelas-moment-of-truth-arrived-1.61661274
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Will Lower Revenues Dampen Juniper's (JNPR) Q4 Earnings?
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Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2018 financial results after the closing bell on Jan 29. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 22.7%. Notably, Juniper surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average beat being 11%. Volatile demand and intense market competition are likely to have affected the companys revenues. Lets find out how things are shaping up prior to the announcement. Factors at Play During the fourth quarter, Junipers Metro Fabric solutions were picked by Epsilon for the latters global network upgrades to power IoT applications and enterprise services. The companys Metro Fabric unifies Metro Ethernet, cable, broadband, mobile and cloud-based offerings into a single control domain. Juniper also strengthened its collaboration with Nutanix by announcing new initiatives under their partnership, which aims to simplify the transition process of enterprises to multicloud environments. Notably, both the companies collaborated on providing seamless integration between virtual and physical networks for automated network management. The alliance involves the integration of Junipers Contrail Enterprise Multicloud with Nutanix APIs. During the quarter, Juniper announced that CENIC, a non-profit network provider connecting Californias education and research institutions with the world, has simplified its infrastructure leveraging Junipers MX Series 5G Universal Routing Platform for current 10GbE and future 100GbE service growth. Furthermore, Juniper announced that its advanced multicloud visualization and analytics platform Juniper AppFormix and security solution Juniper Networks Advanced Threat Prevention Appliance were integrated into NEC Networks & System Integration Corporations FA Network Monitor solution. The company also unveiled new offerings as part of the Juniper Networks Advanced Threat Prevention Appliances. The solution helps businesses to detect malware, understand behavior as well as mitigate threats with a single touch. The telecommunications equipment provider expects Chinese tariffs not to have material impact on its fourth-quarter results. However, customer buying behavior could be affected and gross margin may be adversely impacted. Top-Line Contraction Despite the positives, unfavorable global macro environment and weak investment patterns among customers are likely to have hampered Junipers revenue growth. Ongoing consolidation in the telecom market is also expected to weigh on the companys financials. Moreover, Cloud revenues, which are expected to be $257 million in the to-be-reported quarter, is facing challenges due to slower pace of expected deployments from cloud customers. For the fourth quarter, net revenues from Routing are expected to decrease to $503 million from $510 million a year ago. Net revenues from Switching are expected to increase to $237 million from $233 million, and the same from Security is likely to decline to $87 million from $88 million. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues from the Product segment (comprising Routing, Security and Switching products), which accounts for the lions share of total revenues, is currently pegged at $823 million. It reported $830 million in fourth-quarter 2017. Revenues from the Service segment are expected to decline to $403 million from $409 million. Consequently, total revenues for the quarter are likely to fall to $1,229 million from $1,240 million reported in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings per share are pegged at 57 cents. The company reported earnings of 53 cents a year ago. What Our Model Says Our proven model does not conclusively show that Juniper is likely to beat earnings this quarter as it does not possess one of the two key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is not the case here as you will see below: Earnings ESP: Junipers Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is 0.00% as both are pegged at 57 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Juniper Networks, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
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https://news.yahoo.com/lower-revenues-dampen-junipers-jnpr-144902793.html
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Was ist die Bemer-Therapie?
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Neugierig beobachtet die Fuchsstute, was Michaela Wieland ihr auf den Rcken legt. So eine Decke hat Juli noch nie gesehen. Dann drckt die Pferde-Physiotherpeutin einen Knopf auf dem orangen Steuergert. Ein grnes Licht blinkt. Zwei Minuten spter senkt die Stute den Kopf, schliet die Augen und dst. Juli geniet ihre erste Behandlung mit der Bemer-Decke. Immer mehr Therapeuten, Tierrzte und Reiter schwren auf die Pferdedecke des Liechtensteiner Medizinprodukte-Unternehmens Bemer (veterinary.bemergroup.com). Die Decke soll nicht nur fr Entspannung auf Knopfdruck sorgen, sondern auch Krankheiten vorbeugen und die Heilung untersttzen. Der Allesknner hat seinen Preis: 3.750 Euro. CAVALLO hat sich die Wunder-Decke genauer angeschaut und mit verschiedenen Anwendern gesprochen. Elektromagnetische Felder regen Stoffwechsel an Die Bemer-Decke der neuesten Generation sieht abgefahren aus. Sie wirkt wie ein Gadget aus einem Science-Fiction-Film. Ungewhnlich ist allerdings vor allem das Innenleben: In die Decke sind Magnetspulen eingenht. Hinzu kommen Steuergert sowie Akku. Schaltet man die Decke ein, fliet Strom durch die Magnetspulen, erklrt Wieland (www.michaelawieland.de). Sie erzeugen ein elektromagnetisches Feld. Dieses ist ungefhr so stark wie das Magnetfeld der Erde. Das ist an sich nichts Neues; Magnetfeldprodukte fr Pferde gibt es schon seit vielen Jahren. Besonders an der Bemer-Decke ist jedoch, dass das Magnetfeld dazu dient, ein spezielles physikalisches Signal ins Pferd zu bertragen, sagt Wieland. Dieses sogenannte Bemer-Vet-Signal muss man sich wie eine Sequenz von aneinandergereihten Einzelimpulsen vorstellen, deren Amplituden und Frequenzen variieren. brigens: Fr die Decke der neuesten Generation wurde das Signal optimiert. Das Signal regt im Pferd einen natrlichen Mechanismus an. In jeder Zelle des Krpers laufen permanent Stoffwechselvorgnge ab. Sauerstoff, Nhrstoffe und Hormone mssen ber das Blut zu den Zellen gebracht und Abfallprodukte wie Kohlendioxid abtransportiert werden. Je besser dieser Stoffaustausch funktioniert, desto gesnder und leistungsfhiger ist das Pferd, sagt Dr. Norbert Beer, Pferdefachtierarzt aus Babenhausen in Bayern. Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe Das Herz hlt diesen Kreislauf in Schwung. Zustzlich regulieren die kleinsten zu- und abfhrenden Gefe an den Zellen die durchflieende Blutmenge, indem sie sich weiten oder verengen. Diese Pumpbewegung nennt man Vasomotion, erklrt Dr. Norbert Beer. Bei einem jungen, gesunden Pferd funktioniert dieser Mechanismus einwandfrei. Mit zunehmenden Alter oder auch wenn der Krper in einen Ausnahmezustand gert, etwa bei Stress oder Verletzung, verlangsamt sich die Vasomotion. Dadurch verschlechtert sich die Versorgung der Zellen, und Abfallprodukte hufen sich an. Die Schulmedizin kann auf die Vasomotion momentan keinen Einfluss nehmen, ergnzt der Tierarzt. Das Bemer-Signal hingegen schon. Es kurbelt die eingeschrnkte Pumpbewegung an und verbessert so die Mikrozirkulation. Bemer leistet quasi Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe. Experten wie Dr. Norbert Beer raten, Pferde vorbeugend zu bremern, wie Anwender umgangssprachlich dazu sagen. Denn eine Vielzahl von Beschwerden wird durch eine gestrte Mikrozirkulation verursacht, so der Tierarzt. Dazu zhlen unter anderem Stoffwechselkrankheiten wie Cushing oder Hufrehe, aber auch Leistungsabfall, Koliken und Muskelverspannungen. Bemer-Decke fr die Regeneration nach dem Reiten Wie gut Bemer der Muskulatur tut, zeigt eine noch nicht verffentlichte Untersuchung des Unternehmens, deren erste Ergebnisse CAVALLO vorliegen. In einer Doppelblindstudie wurden Reitpferde zwei Mal tglich ber einen Zeitraum von sechs Wochen mit der Bemer-Decke behandelt. Das Ergebnis: Die Tiere zeigten in der Lsungsphase eine bessere Losgelassenheit als die Tiere der Placebo-Gruppe. Diese Erfahrung mache ich in der Praxis auch, sagt Pferde-Physiotherapeutin Michaela Wieland. Wer die Decke vorm Reiten benutzt, sorgt darber hinaus dafr, dass das Pferd vom Temperament her ruhiger wird, denn Bemer stimuliert den Parasympathikus, den sogenannten Ruhenerv. Das ist vor allem bei nervsen Kandidaten super. Man kann die Decke auch nach dem Reiten aufs Pferd legen. Die Tiere haben nach anstrengenderen Ritten dann weniger Muskelkater, und der Krper regeneriert erstaunlich schnell, sagt Wieland. Diese Beobachtung besttigt ebenfalls eine neue Untersuchung von Bemer. Zahlreiche Anwendungsgebiete der Bemer-Decke Neben gesunden Pferden profitieren auch kranke Tiere von der Decke. Wunden heilen oft sehr viel schneller und besser, berichtet Dr. Beer. Auch bei Sehnenschden hat der Tierarzt gute Erfahrungen gemacht: Die Heilung braucht meist nur ein Drittel der Zeit. Normalerweise mache ich sechs bis acht Wochen nach der Erstuntersuchung einen erneuten Ultraschall, um den Heilungsverlauf zu kontrollieren. Mit Bemer schaue ich schon nach 14 Tagen, was sich getan hat. Das Ergebnis ist wirklich faszinierend. Das Anwendungsgebiet der Bemer-Decke wirkt schier unendlich. CAVALLO liegen Berichte von Tierrzten, Therapeuten und Reitern vor, die gute Erfahrungen mit der Bemer-Therapie unter anderem bei Hufrehe, Blutergssen, Phlegmonen, Atemwegsbeschwerden, Prellungen, berbeinen, Gallen, Mauke, Allergien, und Ekzemen gemacht haben. In der Pferde-Physiotherapie habe ich am meisten mit Muskelverspannungen zu tun, erzhlt Michaela Wieland. Um einen verhrteten Muskel nur mit manuellen Therapien wie Massagen zu lockern, dauert es manchmal bis zu 20 Minuten. In Kombination mit Bemer geht das viel schneller. Zudem kann der Reiter sein Pferd jeden Tag bemern. Die Decke ist daher eine super Ergnzung zu meiner Therapie. Bemer-Decke nach Operationen Ein weiteres Einsatzfeld der Decke sind Operationen. Einer Bemer-Untersuchung zufolge zeigten OP-Patienten tendenziell bessere Narkoseverlufe hinsichtlich Atmung, Herzfrequenz und Medikamentenverbrauch. Auch die Muskulatur erholte sich nach einer Operation in Rckenlage schneller. Trotz diverser positiver Berichte gilt die Therapie als alternatives Heilmittel. Sind wir mal ganz ehrlich, sagt Tierarzt Dr. Norbert Beer. Die Decke ist kein Allheilmittel. Sie kann auch keinen Tierarzt oder Therapeuten sowie Medikamente ersetzen, aber die Decke kann meine Behandlung sehr gut ergnzen und damit erziele ich sehr gute Erfolge. Darber hinaus kann die Decke keine Wunder wirken, etwa wenn die Haltungsbedingungen nicht stimmen, das Futter schimmelig ist oder der Sattel drckt. An die Grenzen stt die Decke auch bei offenen Wunden und Fieber. Da wrde ich nicht lange fackeln und sofort einen Tierarzt rufen, rt Dr. Beer. Das Bemer Horse Set (Decke und Manschette) knnen Reiter fr 3750 Euro bei einem Bemer-Partner kaufen. Bemer-Partner gibt es in ganz Deutschland, sagt Inka Strbele (stroebele.bemergroup.com). Wir erklren Reitern die Wirkungsweise und geben Anwendungstipps. Darber hinaus kann man uns auch nach dem Kauf jederzeit kontaktieren, wenn man eine Frage hat. Alle Bemer-Partner finden Sie unter: deutschland.bemergroup.com Wer die Decke nicht gleich kaufen mchte, kann sie bei einigen Bemer-Partnern fr einen gewissen Zeitraum testen. Darber hinaus bieten mehrere Therapiezentren fr Pferde die Bemer-Therapie an. Fazit Auch wenn die Wirkung der Decke bislang nicht zweifelsfrei belegt wurde, spricht einiges dafr, Bemer auszuprobieren als Gesundheitsvorsorge und im Krankheitsfall. Ob Ihrem Pferd die Behandlung guttut, zeigt es Ihnen im brigen ganz genau: Viele Pferde wie unser Fotomodel Juli legen whrend der Behandlung ein Nickerchen ein. Da wrde man sich doch am liebsten mit unter die Decke kuscheln. Mehr Wellness frs Pferd:
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https://www.cavallo.de/pferde-medizin/pferdemedizin-kopf-bis-huf/was-ist-die-bemer-therapie.1919974.233219.htm?root=233219
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Does Trump administration care about the people?
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One White House aide mused that the shutdown was like a paid vacation for some furloughed workers. President Donald Trumps daughter-in-law said employees little bit of pain was worth it for the good of the country. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross questioned why cash-poor workers were using food banks instead of taking out loans. The president himself says workers simply need to make adjustments. With hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay during the monthlong partial government shutdown, Trump and his team, which includes the wealthiest Cabinet ever assembled, have struggled to deliver a full dose of empathy for those who are scraping to get by. Ross set off howls when he was asked on CNBC on Thursday about reports that some of the 800,000 workers currently not receiving paychecks were going to homeless shelters to get food. Well, I know they are, and I dont really quite understand why, he said. The obligations that they would undertake, say borrowing from a bank or a credit union, are, in effect, federally guaranteed. So the 30 days of pay that some people will be out theres no real reason why they shouldnt be able to get a loan against it. In a subsequent interview with Bloomberg, Ross said he was painfully aware that workers were suffering hardships. He added that in his earlier remarks, hed been trying to let workers know that credit union loans were available for those experiencing liquidity crises hardly the language of those living paycheck to paycheck. It all contributed to perceptions that the Trump administration was out of touch with workers bearing the brunt of the shutdown impact. Is this the Let them eat cake kind of attitude? said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Or call your father for money? With that, the speaker evoked Marie Antoinette and took an indirect jab at Trump for inheriting family money to launch his business career. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Ross comments reveal the administrations callous indifference toward the federal workers it is treating as pawns. He added: Secretary Ross, they just cant call their stock broker and ask them to sell some of their shares. Deeming air traffic controllers who are calling in sick disappointing, Ross said that workers will eventually get their pay and that there is no reason why a loan would not be a reasonable option for workers who have been staring at zeros on their pay statements. Now, true, the people might have to pay a little bit of interest, but the idea that its paycheck or zero is not a really valid idea, said Ross, whose financial disclosure forms reveal $700 million in assets. The president said he hadnt seen Rosss comments but added: I do understand perhaps he should have said it differently. Trump said the commerce secretarys point was that grocery stores, banks and other local entities were working along with federal employees to ease the shutdowns impact. He added that Ross has done a great job. Other Trump officials have been more effective in conveying their sympathies for those affected by the shutdown. Nobody, including myself, likes the hardship caused, the temporary hardship caused by the government shutdown, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said Thursday. I have young people on my staff, devoted young people. You know, when youre 28 years old, you dont save a lot. I get that, and I think a lot of people have to get through this. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly maintained, without providing evidence, that federal workers support the need for a border wall even if it means going without a paycheck. The president did not mention the furloughed workers during his Oval Office address to the nation earlier this month and has said that government employees will make adjustments to get by. Asked Thursday what his message to furloughed workers was, Trump said: I love them. I respect them. I really appreciate the great job theyre doing. He continued to insist that many of those people that are not getting paid are totally in favor of what were doing because they know the future of this country is dependent on having a strong border. Kevin Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, said early in the shutdown that some furloughed employees were, in some sense, theyre better off because people who were already taking vacation over the holidays ultimately would not be charged for their already-planned trip. Hassett has since said that his remarks were taken out of context. Lara Trump, the presidents daughter-in-law and campaign aide, said this week that for the furloughed workers, It is a little bit of pain, but its going to be for the future of our country. On Thursday, she tried to explain the comment, insisting to Fox News that I am incredibly empathetic towards anyone right now without a paycheck and blaming the mainstream media for misrepresenting her message. ___ Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Kevin Freking and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire _______________________________________________________ Copyright 2019 Capitol Hill Blue Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Print Google Like this: Like Loading...
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https://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/76329
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Why Do Entrepreneurs Shy Away From Retirement Savings?
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Most working class Americans are employed by companies that either require or offer retirement savings options in the form of a 401(k), 403b), or pension plan. Because these contributions are automatically deducted from the employees paycheck, saving for retirement tends to be a rather painless process. Over time, the cumulative effect of regular monthly contributions leads to a nice sized nest egg that can be used in the retirement years. But for entrepreneurs, the story is a little different. With no steady paycheck or employer-sponsored plans, many of these hardworking individuals forgo retirement contributions. And though it may not seem like a big deal in the early years, this misstep can prove to be dangerous and irresponsible as entrepreneurs age. Entrepreneurs and Retirement: Troubling Data Millennials catch a lot of flak in the financial planning world for not saving nearly enough money for retirement, but they arent the only segment of the marketplace thats coming up short. According to a survey by Manta, an online community for small business owners, entrepreneurs are falling behind. Research from the Manta survey suggests that 34 percent of entrepreneurs dont currently have any retirement savings plan even though 60 percent say they plan on retiring before the age of 65. And of those that do have retirement savings, the majority are significantly underfunded according to their age and retirement goals. Here are a few of the more pertinent factors: Putting everything into the business. According to the Manta survey, 37 percent of entrepreneurs say they dont make enough profit to save for retirement. Of the profit that these entrepreneurs do make, theyre pouring most of the funds back into the business to build and grow. This is smart, to a degree, but can eventually set a well-intended entrepreneur back. According to the Manta survey, 37 percent of entrepreneurs say they dont make enough profit to save for retirement. Of the profit that these entrepreneurs do make, theyre pouring most of the funds back into the business to build and grow. This is smart, to a degree, but can eventually set a well-intended entrepreneur back. Laziness (a lack of planning). Some entrepreneurs are simply lazy. They view retirement planning as some complicated process that requires lots of meetings, micromanagement, and constant attention to market performance. This perception as flawed as it is discourages many from sitting down and developing a plan. Some entrepreneurs are simply lazy. They view retirement planning as some complicated process that requires lots of meetings, micromanagement, and constant attention to market performance. This perception as flawed as it is discourages many from sitting down and developing a plan. Planning to sell the business. Right around 18 percent of entrepreneurs plan to sell their business to fund their retirement. Unfortunately, most business owners overestimate the value of their companies and dont account for how challenging it can be to find a buyer. (Not to mention companies frequently fail, which can leave an entrepreneur without any assets.) Right around 18 percent of entrepreneurs plan to sell their business to fund their retirement. Unfortunately, most business owners overestimate the value of their companies and dont account for how challenging it can be to find a buyer. (Not to mention companies frequently fail, which can leave an entrepreneur without any assets.) No plans to retire. Believe it or not, 12 percent of entrepreneurs say they have no plans to retire. And while this may be true for some, health issues and dwindling motivation ultimately force most people to clock out for good. Believe it or not, 12 percent of entrepreneurs say they have no plans to retire. And while this may be true for some, health issues and dwindling motivation ultimately force most people to clock out for good. Dont see the need. A small segment of entrepreneurs see no value or need in saving for retirement. Theyd rather spend their money now and wing it during their final years. Most of these individuals assume that Social Security will cover their needs, even though its rarely enough to survive on. Saving for retirement is important. It provides financial security in the latter years of your life when you may be unable or unwilling to work. For some, retirement savings are enough to provide opportunities like traveling or exploring new hobbies. For others, the money is needed to fund healthcare expenses or pay off debt. Theres no specific amount thats regarded as the perfect retirement number. How much you need to save depends on your personal circumstances, goals, needs, hopes, and dreams. But there are some rules of thumb you can use to determine a ballpark number. For example, two pieces of common advice are to save at least 10 percent of your income while working and withdraw 4 percent from your retirement savings annually during retirement, RISE mentions. There are also milestones that try to simplify the answer, such as having your annual earnings in retirement savings when youre 30 and six times your annual income in retirement savings once youre 55. But, again, these are oversimplified suggestions. There are countless factors that determine what you need to have saved up. One person retiring at age 60 may be able to make do on $750,000, while someone else retiring at age 70 may need $2 million. Health needs, insurance, and lifestyle factors all need to be carefully considered and projected. Its for this reason that it would be smart to meet with a retirement planner or financial advisor even if just one time. 5 Useful Tips on Retirement Planning for Business Owners Just because youre an entrepreneur without an employer-sponsored plan, doesnt mean you cant save for retirement. In fact, it means you need to be even more disciplined and vigilant with tucking away money for the future. Fortunately, saving for retirement doesnt have to be a monumental feat or a significant source of frustration. Using the following tips and techniques, you can begin to set things into motion. 1. Know Your Options The first step is to understand your options. While you dont have access to an employee-sponsored fund or pension plan, there are plenty of investment products for self-employed entrepreneurs. Some of the more popular include: Roth IRA. With a Roth IRA, you invest after-tax money into an account thats tax-free upon withdrawal. So while you dont get a tax break now, you potentially save tens of thousands of dollars at retirement. For those under 50, maximum contributions are $6,000 per year. If youre over 50, you can contribute up to $7,000 per year. With a Roth IRA, you invest after-tax money into an account thats tax-free upon withdrawal. So while you dont get a tax break now, you potentially save tens of thousands of dollars at retirement. For those under 50, maximum contributions are $6,000 per year. If youre over 50, you can contribute up to $7,000 per year. Traditional IRA. A traditional IRA has the same rules and contribution limits as a Roth IRA, but uses pre-tax money. This allows you to reduce your tax bill in the contribution year, but also requires you to be taxed upon withdrawal. (It should also be noted that the total contribution to your traditional and Roth IRAs cannot be more than $6,000 total. For this reason, most people contribute to one or the other.) A traditional IRA has the same rules and contribution limits as a Roth IRA, but uses pre-tax money. This allows you to reduce your tax bill in the contribution year, but also requires you to be taxed upon withdrawal. (It should also be noted that the total contribution to your traditional and Roth IRAs cannot be more than $6,000 total. For this reason, most people contribute to one or the other.) Solo 401(k). IRAs are the easiest, most hassle-free way for entrepreneurs to invest. But if you want to invest more than the maximum of $6,000 per year, you should look into a Solo 401(k). Valid for business owners with no full-time employees, a Solo 401(k) allows you to contribute up to $50,000 of pre-tax business income per year. There are a handful of other retirement products as well, but simple is sometimes best. Start with one of these (or a combination) and go from there. 2. Slow and Steady Wins Albert Einstein famously called compound interest the most powerful force in the universe and it would be hard to argue otherwise. As this chart shows, you dont have to invest a lot of money to become wealthy in retirement. Rather, its a slow and steady climb. For a 25-year-old entrepreneur to accumulate $1 million by retirement age, she would only need to invest $241 per month (assuming a rather conservative 8 percent average rate of return). 3. Create a Budget Different rules of thumb say how much money you should put aside for retirement, but most financial advisors suggest somewhere between 10 to 15 percent of every paycheck. To do this with consistency, youll need to develop a monthly budget that keeps you disciplined and on track. Using your budget, youll be able to determine how much you can realistically invest while still covering monthly expenses, existing debt, and other needs. And with this amount, you can then set up automatic monthly deductions that streamline your investing and make it as hands-off as possible. 4. Diversify Within your IRA or Solo 401(k), youll have to determine exactly what youll be investing your money in. Regardless of what anyone tells you, its unwise to be investing in individual stocks. Youre far better off spreading out your risk by making investments in a variety of mutual funds. If you follow what I teach, you know you want to invest in good growth stock mutual funds and spread your investment across four categories: growth, growth and income, aggressive growth and international, retirement expert Chris Hogan writes. You may or may not agree with Hogans exact approach, but you should be diversifying to a degree. Come up with a plan and be sure to spread out your risk. 5. Keep Your Hands Off Finally, keep your grimy hands off your retirement account! Youll be tempted to pull out money or move it around when the market dips or to buy a bunch when the market is booming but dont! Regular investments in both bull and bear markets will ensure you get a healthy rate of return. (And never withdraw prematurely! The penalties, fees, and taxes arent worth it.) Saving for retirement may seem complicated and time-consuming on the surface, but it doesnt have to be. With a disciplined plan in place, you can develop a strategy that sets you up for success over the long haul. At this point, youll only need to check in a couple of times per year to evaluate, tweak, and make necessary adjustments. Dont be part of the 34 percent of entrepreneurs who lack a retirement savings plan. Be purposeful and diplomatic with how you handle your financial future. You work hard and owe it to yourself to be smart.
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https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/01/retirement-planning-for-business-owners.html
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Why do people in Wales celebrate Saint Dwynwen's day?
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Image copyright Mathew Browne Image caption Thousands of people visit Saint Dwynwen's Llanddwyn church in Wales each year There's a 5th Century girl from Wales to blame for why people are getting unseasonably loved up on January 25. Saint Dwynwen might be the Welsh patron saint of love, but she did not have much luck in that department. Legend has it, she had an arranged marriage gone wrong, a frozen man to deal with and ended up as an agony aunt. Here's everything you need to know about Saint Dwynwen and what people in Wales do to celebrate. Well, scrap Saint Valentine and his miracle-working skills. This girl - whose face you might have seen on a stained glass window in a church - has had a rough old time of it. Brecon girl Dwynwen, one of 36 daughters of an Irish king, fell in love with Maelon Dyfodrull from north Wales. But her dad, Brychan, didn't like the look of this northern boy and wouldn't let the loved-up pair get married. Maelon lost his temper with Dwynwen and threatened to rape her when she wouldn't marry him, according to Sin Lewis, author of Dwynwen: Santes Cariadon Cymru. So she prayed to God, and he was turned to ice - to freeze his passion. An angel also gave her three wishes. Image copyright Mathew Browne Image caption Dwynwen became the ultimate agony aunt to lovers in pain, at this church in Anglesey First she wished to be free of Maelon, and he vanished. Second, to never marry and finally to help other lovers in pain. Dwynwen settled down after all that drama (worse than Love Island) in a convent in Anglesey, Llanddwyn church. Just to finish Dwynwen's weird fortune in love, according to folklore, a sacred fish swam by the church, predicting the future relationships of couples with its movements. Quite a few people apparently, especially if you search #SaintDwynwensDay on Twitter and Instagram. And many people still visit the scenic Llanddwyn church, as part of the Anglesey Coastal Path. Also it's a good day to give someone a spoon. Love spoons have been exchanged by Welsh lovers since the 17th Century. Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Love spoons have been exchanged by Welsh lovers since the 17th Century Photographer Mathew Browne, from Carmarthen, said that the church is a "hotspot" for photographers because it is so scenic. "It is rare to have the island to yourself with the age of social media, everyone is trying to get that shot for Instagram," he said. Mr Browne, 34, added that he hopes to celebrate St Dwynwen's day with his wife and visit the church again. "I haven't got a card or anything today, but I will do a cwtchy dinner in with my wife tonight," he added.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-47000509
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Do these 3 numbers make the FTSE 100 a screaming buy?
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The P/E ratio of a stock or index helps you calculate whether it is good value. It takes the price of a share, and divides it by Others will be wondering if this is a buying opportunity. The following three numbers may give you an indication. Last year was tough for the FTSE 100, with the index falling 12%. After a promising start to 2019 it is fading away and trades at 6,823, at time of writing. Many will be disappointed as the index is now roughly 1,000 points lower than at its peak in May last year. I would like to receive emails from you about product information and offers from The Fool and its business partners. Each of these emails will provide a link to unsubscribe from future emails. More information about how The Fool collects, stores, and handles personal data is available in its Privacy Statement. Register by giving us your email below to continue reading all of the content on the site. Soon you will also begin to receive our FREE email newsletter, The Motley Fool Collective. It features straightforward advice on whats really happening with the stock market, direct to your inbox. Its designed to help you protect and grow your portfolio. (You may unsubscribe any time.) Last year was tough for the FTSE 100, with the index falling 12%. After a promising start to 2019 it is fading away and trades at 6,823, at time of writing. Many will be disappointed as the index is now roughly 1,000 points lower than at its peak in May last year. Others will be wondering if this is a buying opportunity. The following three numbers may give you an indication. 1. Price/earnings ratio The P/E ratio of a stock or index helps you calculate whether it is good value. It takes the price of a share, and divides it by earnings. A result of around 15 is generally seen to suggest fair value, with anything above that expensive, and below cheap. The FTSE 100 now trades at 11 times consensus earnings for the year ahead. That is some way below 15. It is also well below the Shiller P/E for the US S&P 500 index, which currently stands at a hefty 29.05 times earnings. So by that measurement, the FTSE 100 is good value. It has underperformed global stock markets over the last year or two, and many investors believe it is one of the most undervalued in the world, and due a re-rating if we get some Brexit sense. It could fall lower though. 2. Dividend yield The FTSE 100 offers a forecast yield of 4.9% for 2019, a stonking rate of income especially at at time when the average savings account pays 0.5% or 1.5% if you shop around. You also have to remember that you are buying into a rising income and your yield should steadily rise, expressed as a percentage of your initial entry price. Shareholder payouts from the index look set to reach a record high 93.7bn this year. That is a quite astonishing amount of money. 3. Foreign exposure The FTSE 100 is only nominally a British index. Its constituent companies generate roughly 75% of their earnings overseas. This gives you a relatively safe way to invest in the global economy via a tracker fund listed in the UK and priced in pounds. It also gives you a broad spread of sectors, including oil and gas, industrial goods, automobiles, food and drink, household goods, healthcare, retail, media, travel, telecommunications, utilities and banks. You have to offset this against the danger of concentration, as the five biggest companies HSBC Holdings, Royal Dutch Shell (both A & B shares), BP and AstraZeneca make up 29.07% of the index. Oil and gas alone make up 14.29%. Lucky numbers The FTSE 100 has been a surprise beneficiary of Brexit, which sent the pound plummeting to boost overseas earnings once converted back into sterling. However, that may now be reversing. If we get some kind of Brexit deal, it could accelerate. That would knock the index, although improved investor sentiment could offset that. To me, the FTSE 100 looks great value with a killer yield. It gives you massive global exposure, albeit with short-term currency risk. Overall, I say its a buy. Maybe even a screaming one. Provided you plan to hold for the long term.
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https://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2019/01/25/do-these-3-numbers-make-the-ftse-100-a-screaming-buy/
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Why is Oscar-nominated James Bulger documentary Detainment so controversial?
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Get celebs updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email The 1993 murder of two-year-old James Bulger shocked the world. While his mother Denise was shopping in the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, James was led away by two older boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. They took him to a nearby railway line where they killed him Now the killing is the subject of an Oscar-nominated drama-documentary - Detainment. The 30-minute film has been criticised for its sympathetic portrayal of the killers, not least by James's mother, Denise Fergus. She is particularly unhappy that she was not invited to view or comment on the film until well after it had been shown at film festivals. (Image: ITV) Speaking to ITV's This Morning, she said "I'd have asked him to let me know what the film was going to be about first - how he was going to pan it out," Asked whether she would have approved of Detainment's content she said "No, I wouldn't have agreed with the way he's done it." (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock) Appearing on Loose Women, she said that she hoped that one day there would be legislation to protect people in situations like hers from having documentaries about them made without their consultation or consent: "I'm going to try to stop other families from going through what I'm going through with these things being made." (Image: Twelve Media) She went on to urge the film's director, Vincent Lambe, to withdraw it from the Oscar nominations list: "He should remove it from the Oscars. "Remove it from the public domain - withdraw yourself." A petition calling for the film's withdrawal has amassed over 130,000 signatures. Lisa Young, who started the petition, describes the film as 'a heartless thing.' Lambe, speaking to the BBC, rejected Mrs Fergus's suggestion, saying that it would be tantamount to censorship: "It's like saying we should burn every copy of it. I think it would defeat the purpose of making the film." (Image: PA) While Lambe concedes that he should have spoken to Mrs Fergus earlier, he has defended the content of his film, saying that it poses questions about the nature of Thompson and Venables' crime beyond the consensus narrative: "The public opinion at the moment now is that those two boys were simply evil and anybody who says anything different or gives an alternate reason as to why they did it or tries to understand why they did it, they get criticised for it. "I think we have the responsibility to try and make sense of what happened." Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now The film itself sticks very closely to police interview tapes recorded at the time of the boys' arrest, with two brilliantly-cast young actors Ely Solan and Leon Hughes, portraying Venables and Thompson. Caleb Mason plays James himself. Detainment was at one point considered a strong contender for the Academy Award for short film but the growing controversy over the film has been reported by numerous US outlets, including entertainment industry bible Variety, and the furore may well deter Academy voters.
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https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/oscar-nominated-james-bulger-documentary-13905984
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Where next for La Liga's plans for a game in Miami?
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related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. If La Liga had got its way, Sunday's derby between champions Barcelona and Girona would be taking place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, with 65,000 stateside supporters buzzing about getting their first glimpse of Lionel Messi. BARCELONA: If La Liga had got its way, Sunday's derby between champions Barcelona and Girona would be taking place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, with 65,000 stateside supporters buzzing about getting their first glimpse of Lionel Messi. The league's plans hit a wall of opposition, however, leading to Barca withdrawing from the game, which will instead take place at Girona's humble, 14,000-capacity Montilivi ground. Advertisement But Barca's withdrawal has not affected the league's appetite to take future games to the United States, its second biggest market for television rights. "We respect the decision by Barcelona and will take the opportunity to work with all the parties involved to get everyone to understand the benefits of this proposal to plan a match stateside," Joris Evers, La Liga's head of communications, told Reuters. "We will continue to make the argument and build the consensus, as we believe it makes sense for everyone involved." The league's president Javier Tebas has revealed plans to apply to play a game in Miami next season and follow the NFL and NBA in staging regular season games abroad. Advertisement Advertisement Reports in the Spanish media suggest the league would earn around 10 million euros (8 million pounds) from playing a game in Miami from ticket sales, television rights and merchandise. In order to succeed where he failed last time, Tebas must convince a series of stakeholders who have either refused to back or have fiercely opposed the plans. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said last year he would not authorise a league game outside of its traditional territory. Spanish federation (RFEF) chief Luis Rubiales has been the loudest opponent of the league's ambitions, despite breaking with tradition last year by staging the single-match Spanish Super Cup in Morocco. "The idea was not well thought out from the start, not because the league didn't consult the RFEF but because it acted without acknowledging the other parties that have vested interests in it," a federation source told Reuters. "SURPRISE AND ANGER" David Aganzo, head of the Spanish footballers union (AFE), which last August threatened to strike if the idea was not shelved, also said he was bemused by the league's stance. However, he did not rule out a league game happening abroad in the future. "When we heard about it in the news our first reaction was surprise, then anger because they had not consulted the footballers," he said. "For the game to happen, there would have to be a total consensus between all parties involved, beginning with the footballers." The league's organising body, however, rejects the notion that other parties did not know about their plans. "La Liga has been talking about playing a league match outside of Spain for nearly two years, suggesting this was a surprise move last August is bizarre," Evers said. The league also feels their plans have been helped by the success of last month's Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and River Plate, which was controversially switched from Buenos Aires to Madrid due to fan violence. "The fact that so many people welcomed this final to Spain showed that football is a global spectacle," Evers added. "La Liga is a global spectacle too, so a La Liga game outside of Spain also makes sense." (Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/where-next-for-la-liga-s-plans-for-a-game-in-miami--11167672
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Which branches of Santander are closing and how many are staying open?
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Santander is closing 140 branches before the end of the year (Picture: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images) Over 1,200 jobs are now at risk, as 140 branches of Santander are set to close by the end of the year. Mouse poo and urine found on food surfaces at Indian restaurant These closures are planned because of a lack of footfall that the Spanish-owned bank has seen recently, with the number of transactions carried out at Santander branches falling by 23% over the past three years. Meanwhile transactions online and on mobile phones has jumped by a whopping 99%. The powers that be at Santander are currently consulting with unions, and will try to find new roles for the 1,270 employees set to be affected, however the company only expects this to be successful for roughly a third of these people. These closures will be implemented at Santander branches which either arent used as much by their customers, or are simply close to another, presumably more successful, branch. Advertisement Advertisement According to the BBC, the list of planned closures, and the dates on which they will shut, are as follows: Planned Santander branch closures Aberdeen George Street (closing on 7 November 2019) Acton (27 June 2019) Aldershot (16 May 2019) Alloa (6 June 2019) Amersham (20 June 2019) Ammanford (30 May 2019) Antrim (30 May 2019) Axminster (2 May 2019) Aylsham (4 July 2019) Ballymoney (16 May 2019) Bathgate George Street (25 April 2019) Belfast Newtownards Road (20 June 2019) Berkhamsted (20 June 2019) Bideford (25 April 2019) Birmingham New Street (25 July 2019) Birmingham Acocks Green (2 May 2019) Birstall (27 June 2019) Boscombe Christchurch Road (13 June 2019) Brechin (9 May 2019) Brixham (30 May 2019) Broadstone (9 May 2019) Burnley Briercliffe Road (27 June 2019) Buxton (27 June 2019) Chandlers Ford (11 July 2019) Cheam (6 June 2019) Clapham High Street (2 May 2019) Cleethorpes (4 July 2019) Clitheroe (25 April 2019) Coalville (11 July 2019) Cockermouth (2 May 2019) Cockfosters (16 May 2019) Colchester Culver Street West (7 November 2019) Corby (25 April 2019) Coventry High Street (7 November 2019) Crosby (13 June 2019) Crouch End (4 July 2019) Devizes (16 May 2019) Didcot (4 July 2019) Dorchester (27 June 2019) Dorking (18 July 2019) Driffield (30 May 2019) East Sheen (25 July 2019) Eastcote (25 April 2019) Edinburgh Leith Walk (9 May 2019) Edinburgh 194-196 Morningside Road (12 December 2019) Egham (30 May 2019) Epping (6 June 2019) Esher (27 June 2019) Feltham (11 July 2019) Fleetwood (27 June 2019) Forfar (25 July 2019) Four Oaks (9 May 2019) Gainsborough (13 June 2019) Gerrards Cross (23 May 2019) Glasgow Forge Shopping Centre (27 June 2019) Glasgow Springburn Shopping Centre (20 June 2019) Godalming (6 June 2019) Goole (13 June 2019) Gracechurch Street, London (25 April 2019) Guildford High Street (12 December 2019) Hadleigh (23 May 2019) Haslemere (25 April 2019) Havant (25 July 2019) Heathfield (13 June 2019) Helensburgh (25 April 2019) Henley-On-Thames (30 May 20190 Holt (13 June 2019) Hythe (6 June 2019) Keynsham (4 July 2019) Kingswinford (6 June 2019) Kirkcaldy High Street (13 June 2019) Knutsford (6 June 2019) Lanark (4 July 2019) Leather Lane, London (12 December 2019) Leeds Street Lane (4 July 2019) Leicester Evington Road (13 June 2019) Leicester Uppingham Road (9 May 2019) Liverpool Church Street (7 November 2019) Llangefni (4 July 2019) Ludgate Circus (27 June 2019) Lymington (25 July 2019) Manchester Cross Street (5 December 2019) Marylebone High Street, London (16 May 2019) Middleton (25 July 2019) Monmouth (30 May 2019) Morden (9 May 2019) Newmarket (30 May 2019) North Shields (9 May 2019) Northwood (16 May 2019) Norwich St Stephens Street (12 December 2019) Nottingham 2 Clumber Street (12 December 2019) Oakham (25 April 2019) Otley (16 May 2019) Oxted (16 May 2019) Parkstone (18 July 2019) Pembroke (9 May 2019) Penarth (2 May 2019) Plymouth New George Street (5 December 2019) Portobello Road (25 July 2019) Portslade (23 May 2019) Purley (20 June 2019) Queensway, London (25 April 2019) Ramsbottom (20 June 2019) Rayners Lane (4 July 2019) Reigate (13 June 2019) Renfrew (18 July 2019) Ripon (6 June 2019) Romsey (18 July 2019) Ryde (6 June 2019) Selby Market Cross (16 May 2019) Selsdon (25 July 2019) Shoreham (2 May 2019) Shrewsbury High Street (5 December 2019) Sidmouth (20 June 2019) Skipton High Street (18 July 2019) South Woodham Ferrers (2 May 2019) Southend High Street (7 November 2019) St Andrews (2 May 2019) Stanmore (2 May 2019) Stowmarket (25 July 2019) Swiss Cottage (9 May 2019) Tavistock (23 May 2019) Tonypandy (11 July 2019) Totnes (27 June 2019) Troon (18 July 2019) Ulverston (30 May 2019) Upminster (13 June 2019) Wandsworth (30 May 2019) Ware (11 July 2019) Watford Harlequin Centre (7 November 2019) Wealdstone (20 June 2019) West Ealing (9 May 2019) West Kirby (20 June 2019) Wetherby (16 May 2019) Windermere (23 May 2019) Wisbech (2 May 2019) Woodley (4 July 2019) Worcester Park (20 June 2019) Workington (6 June 2019) Yeadon (25 July 2019) This plan will leave 614 branches still open, however Santanders customers can also use the more than 11,000 Post Office sites across the UK. indicates that the figure has dwindled to by two thirds to 7,586. Santander, very likely in a bid to get more customers through the door, has also announced that it will spend 55 million on refurbishing 100 branches over the next two years, with a view to focusing on personal service, convenience and community engagement. MORE: Millennials 2,700,000,000,000 worse off because of previous generations decisions MORE: Sports Direct scraps zero-hours contracts for casual staff
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https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/25/which-branches-of-santander-are-closing-and-how-many-are-staying-open-8390207/
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Where Are Democratic 2020 Hopefuls on the Trump-Backed Coup Attempt in Venezuela?
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (C) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) (L) pictured at a news conference on Capitol Hill, March 10, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Of the major Democrats or progressives who have declaredor are expected toonly Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders have made statements. We will update the story if others speak out. The silence of potential challengers to Trump is especially noteworthy since the president has the authority to commit troops on the ground as commander in chief. Update: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), widely expected to seek the Democratic nomination, released the following statement Thursday: The Maduro government in Venezuela has been waging a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violated the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly and was re-elected last year in an election that many observers said was fraudulent. Further, the economy is a disaster and millions are migrating. The United States should support the rule of law, fair elections and self-determination for the Venezuelan people. We must condemn the use of violence against unarmed protesters and the suppression of dissent. However, we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. The United States has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries; we must not go down that road again. Update: Presidential candidate and congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, declared Thursday on Twitter, The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don't want other countries to choose our leadersso we have to stop trying to choose theirs. Earlier: Every major Democrat or progressive who has declaredor is expected to declarehis or her candidacy for U.S. president has been silent in the wake of Wednesdays announcement that President Donald Trump will recognize Venezuelas National Assembly president Juan Guaid as the interim president. In These Times requested comment from Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. ), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.)but received no response. An email sent to Beto ORourke, a former Representative of Texas, bounced. Not a single top 2020 presidential hopeful on the Democrat side has released a statementor even tweetedabout the development. Trump called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government illegitimate two weeks after Maduros inauguration for a second term. The declaration came after Guaid swore himself in as president with the support of several right-wing governments in Latin America. The Lima Group, a coalition of mostly conservative-led Latin American countries, along with Canada, released a statement on January 4 denying the legitimacy of Venezuelas May 2018 presidential election while recognizing the National Assembly as a democratically elected constitutional body. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has participated in meetings with representatives of the Lima Group through video conference at least since last May. The developments, which are moving rapidly, are being denounced by some as a coup attempt. Brazil, one of the groups member nations, has ramped up its opposition to Maduro after far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was inaugurated at the start of January. Bolsonaro met with exiled Venezuelan opposition leaders and threatened Maduro that he would do everything for democracy to be re-established. In spite of the Assemblys support from right-wing governments, several Democratic legislators joined Trump in denouncing Maduros presidency. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) released a statement praising Trump for appropriately recognizing Guaid, and several House Democrats announced in a video that they will introduce legislation to support the people of Venezuela and hold the illegitimate President accountable for the crisis he created. On Thursday, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called recognizing Guaido, an appropriate step. So far, Representatives Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have expressed opposition to Trumps declaration. On Wednesday, Khanna accused the Trump administration of hypocrisy for attacking Maduro while continuing their support for the Saudi Arabian government. While Khanna criticized Maduros policies, he also warned that, crippling sanctions or pushing for regime change will only make the situation worse. Omar shared Khannas tweet on Wednesday from her official congressional account and called for the universal application of human rights, not just when its politically convenient. On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez retweeted a response to Durbin from Khanna that reiterated his opposition to both his regime change and Trumps sanctions while supporting Uruguay, Mexico, & (sic.) the Vatican's efforts for a negotiated settlement. The silence of potential challengers to Trump is especially noteworthy since the president has the authority to commit troops on the ground as commander in chief. It remains unclear if any of the candidates are willing to challenge Trump's move or oppose a series of economic sanctions against Venezuela that cut off Venezuela from most international financial markets. The Trump administrations move follows bipartisan U.S. efforts to oppose Venezuelas government since it was first elected in 1998 ago by the Bolivarian socialist movement. The Obama administration funded some groups critical of the Venezuelan government, issued a 2015 executive order declaring Venezuelan crackdowns on protestors an extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, and implemented sanctions against seven Venezuelan government officials. Trump built on Obamas sanctions to further block Venezuelan involvement in financial markets in 2017, despite warnings this would worsen the food and medicine supply in Venezuelaand prevent the country from achieving economic recovery. Democratic 2020 hopefuls silence on Venezuela contrasts with their willingness to discuss other interventions: Senator Bernie Sanders has criticized U.S. military spending and led the Senates push to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen, and some have called for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Syria.
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http://inthesetimes.com/article/21697/democrats-president-donald-trump-coup-venezuela-juan-guaido-nicolas-maduro/
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What is a vote-on-account and why is Congress alleging that BJP is violating tradition by seeking to present a full budget?
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the budget for 2019-2020, his sixth consecutive one, on 1 February. The country, though, will go to polls shortly afterwards. Yet on 17 January, Jaitley gave strong indication that his budget will not be an interim one but will instead aim to handle the whole financial year's plans. Traditionally, in situations where a government may not be in power for the full duration of the budget period, a full Union Budget is not presented. Instead, the finance minister announces what is called a vote-on-account a much simpler plan with no major tax or scheme announcements in it. Should Jaitley indeed announce a full-fledged budget, the idea would be implicit that the BJP government is confident of making a return. The Congress, therefore, has been thoroughly critical of the possibility and has said that the move would only "hoodwink" people. "The BJP government's move to present a regular budget few months before the elections is against all norms, rules and established parliamentary practices. The term of the government is five years, which ends in May 2019. The government presented five full budgets and can only present a vote-on-account," senior Congress leader Anand Sharma told PTI. A vote-on-account is a formal request by the government to the Parliament, to allow it to utilise the Consolidated Fund of India for meeting its expenses till the time of the elections, says Business Line. According to the Constitution, the earnings of the government are the Consolidated Fund of India. Before each election, the Parliament votes to allow the outgoing government to meet regular government expenses, including the salaries of government employees, loan interest payments, subsidies and pensions. Because the government would be in transition soon after a vote-on-account is sought, such a budget announcement does not present a full picture of expected income and expenditure for the whole financial year, but only a list of expenditures. Vote-on-account versus full budget A key point of difference between a vote-on-account and a full-fledged Union budget is that the former is only valid for two months (until the new government presents its budget) while the latter is for a whole year. The Economic Times reports that the vote-on-account traditionally avoids announcing new schemes, sops or taxes as the new government's stance on these financial issues could differ from that of the outgoing government. A pre-poll projection of income and expenses for a whole year is traditionally considered improper as it imposes policy changes or budgetary constraints on a government which may not be open to them. To the average citizen, a vote-on-account means no significant shift in the existing tax structure, as that would require amendments to the Appropriation Bill. There will, therefore, be no decrease or increase in the income tax you pay. There may be minor changes to indirect taxes. It is not mandatory for an outgoing government to present a vote-on-account, so technically, Jaitley would be well within his rights to present the government's fiscal plans for the next 12 months. He had said such a departure from custom might be necessitated to address the "worries confronting the economy". The Economic Times quoted him as having said, "Convention has always been that election year budget is an interim budget. However, the larger interest of the nation dictates what will be a part of the interim budget." Amidst clamours for financial policies that will make the lives of farmers easier, including a farm loan waiver, the government may be looking to extend its poll plank by announcing sops for farmers. In a full budget announcement, the finance minister may also seek to push the Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme and announce tax discounts for those in the middle class. Livemint quoted a source as saying that the government would also be publishing an Economic Survey, essentially the economic report card for 2018-2019, though normally, this task is left to the next government. Earlier, the government had advanced the presentation of the Union budget to 1 February so as to let government departments undertake spending from the beginning of the fiscal. The Congress has pointed out that a Finance Bill following a budget must be adopted within 75 days. The government, said All India Congress Committee spokeman Manish Tewari, would have very few days to get its decisions vetted by the various parliamentary standing committees, reported The Times of India. The deadline would put pressure on the Parliament and cut short discussions on the budget, argued the Congress. "If the NDA-BJP government presents a full-fledged budget, then it will be a flagrant violation of parliamentary conventions and norms followed over seven decades. The Modi government has neither the electoral mandate nor electoral legitimacy to present its sixth full budget in five years," Tewari said. With inputs from PTI Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.
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https://www.firstpost.com/india/what-is-a-vote-on-account-and-why-is-the-congress-alleging-that-the-bjp-is-violating-tradition-by-seeking-to-present-a-full-budget-5959111.html
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What does Facebooks massive Dublin expansion mean for the Irish jobs market?
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This week in Careers, we reported on the news that Facebook plans to recruit a staggering 1,000 new people at its Irish operation in Dublin. The announcement was made by Facebooks controversy-hounded chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, who was in the country attending Facebooks Gather event for small businesses. The recruitment drive will bring the tech firms Irish headcount to 5,000. Its certainly good news for people working in areas such as engineering, safety, legal, policy, marketing and sales. It is a definite boost to the already healthy Irish tech labour market. The glut of the roles announced this week in Ireland were in Dublin. There was also a small number of roles, 27 to be exact, announced by Portadown engineering firm Boyce Precision Engineering. The concentration of roles in Irelands capital risks further exacerbating the existing accommodation crisis that is brewing there. That said, at this stage every Irish major city is feeling the pinch, showing how much the situation is spiralling out of control. It also further entwines Ireland with Facebook, a company that has had a rather bad 12 months PR-wise, and that doesnt look to improve any time soon. With that, it is easy to feel ambivalent about the revelation. As reported on last week, the news from Accenture that it is set to host a data science course geared towards women in STEM is positive for the Irish jobs market, as it aims to simultaneously plug existing skills shortages and redress the lack of diversity often seen in these sectors. Indeed, reskilling is a great way to not only keep your mind sharp, but maintain a competitive edge on the jobs market. If you are in the job-search process, youd probably celebrate the news that you have been invited back for a second interview. Yet it is also pretty huge pressure; the stakes are high, so its understandable you may have your fears. This guide provided by Hays Robby Vanuxem can help allay your anxieties and prepare to put your best foot forward. Finally, we caught up with MSDs Mark Roberts this week to hear his thoughts on the differences between living in the UK and Ireland, and how country living is treating him. For more on any of these stories, check out the links above. View of Facebook corporate office in Dublin. Sign up for Tech Trends, Silicon Republics weekly digest of need-to-know tech news.
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https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/facebook-ireland-dublin-jobs-market
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What happens when a boxer loses his shot at glory and goes back to real life?
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Luke Jackson calmly and politely pauses the interview. Excuse me mate, Ive just got to save a mother duck and all of her chicks, he laughs. Jackson slows his car in suburban Hobart to shield the family as they cross the road. Seconds earlier, Jackson had been talking about a childhood that included drug abuse, self-harm and suicide attempts. The sudden conversation shift to saving fluffy ducklings provides a welcome respite for a fighter who has always lived a life of extremes. Hobart is a beautiful city on an island state that retains an atmosphere that is distinct to mainland Australia. Tourists flock to the city in Tasmania to revel in its majestic waterside views and sample the delicious fresh food in its famed Salamanca market. However, Jacksons childhood in the suburb of Glenorchy does not easily reflect the glossy tourist brochures. I spent a hell of a lot of my childhood alone, he recalls. My mum and dad broke up, so I was spending a lot of time on my own from a young age. I had problems from 12 with drug abuse and I became this horrible person. I would steal from anyone you could think of to feed this habit that grew and grew. Jacksons drug use coincided with problems in the classroom, finding it nearly impossible to focus on academic problems. As his habit grew, his school attendance plummeted until he finally dropped out in his early teens. He cant remember the exact year. From that age I dropped out until I was 18, those were dark dark years. I would just go into a daze and didnt care about anything or anybody, much less myself. Id sleep, steal or be on drugs. I became obsessed with thoughts of death. Sometimes I would drive the car with my eyes closed just to see what would happen. Boxing has saved so many troubled youths that it has almost become trite to say it. Jackson says calling the sport his salvation is underplaying it. People always ask me how I found boxing. I tell them that boxing found me. I stepped into a boxing gym at 18 or the reason that, I suppose, I wanted to be known for something good, because up to that point there hadnt been much positivity about me. Boxing almost acted like a parent for me. It taught me good habits: when to go to bed, what good foods to eat and how to treat people with respect and decency. All that I learned about being a good person came from boxing. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Luke Jackson in 2012. Photograph: Mark Nolan/Getty Images Boxing gave Jackson discipline but he also had a natural aptitude for the sport. I am all about extremes. I cannot give anything less than 100%. Maybe thats where my OCD diagnosis, which came later in life, has a rare positivity. I find calmness in giving complete effort and dedication. In that boxing ring, I am calm and at peace with the world. After 13 fights I went to the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and came away with a bronze medal. For the first time in my life, I had gained respect. Once Jackson started competing seriously in boxing, his drug use stopped completely. He replaced a painful addiction with one that offered him a lifeline. His dream as a boxer was not to become professional, but to go to the Olympic Games and then stop. I have never cared about money. All of my life I had never managed to do anything, yet with boxing I had a chance to go to the Olympics and make people proud of me. That was a dream that kept me going. I would pray to God to just get me to those Games and that is me happy. Thats all I wanted. What I have learned from scoring 528 fights as a boxing judge | Karla Caputo Read more Jackson narrowly missed qualification to the 2008 Olympics, losing to an opponent he had beaten three times previously. He admits he was outboxed, but his biggest opponents were coming from outside the ring. Jacksons then undiagnosed OCD was haunting him with an inner voice that dared and taunted him at all hours. Simple tasks became a torment. When cutting a raw chicken breast for dinner, his mind would become obsessed about picking up the pink flesh and eating it. He knew he would get food poisoning and become sick, but his mind would not stop its narrative. Even breathing could feel onerous. My mind would become obsessed on the task of deep breathing and it would torment me that I wouldnt be able to catch my breath. Then sometimes, I would lying terrified about my breathing. The night before my final Olympic qualifier, I was awake all night worried about my breathing, unable to tell anyone what was going through my mind. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Luke Jackson before the 2012 Olympics. Photograph: Mark Nolan/Getty Images For the next four years, Jackson worked away from the eyes of the boxing world in sleepy Hobart. His form on the amateur circuit was so impressive that he was selected as team captain for Australia for London 2012. However, after dreaming about the Olympics, the reality of competition proved a nightmare. Jackson was beaten convincingly in his first fight, losing 20-7 to Qiang Liu of China. He had climbed a sporting mountain only to be pushed off at base camp. Dormant demons climbed on to Jacksons slim shoulders and started taunting him again. After the Olympics, I just thought: Fuck this. I had fought like shit after dreaming for so long for something. I was just in a daze. Old bad habits started to creep back in and I was terrified that I was going to go back those dark old days. I didnt go into professional boxing for money or fame. I went in because I had to have that focus back and the gym gave me that calmness and saved me again. Football in the Canadian Arctic Read more Jacksons professional career started in spartan casinos and town halls across Australia as he slowly built an adoring fanbase. He climbed to the top of the World Boxing Organisation rankings and was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Belfast to fight Carl Frampton for his interim WBO title in Windsor Park. The venues Jackson had fought in across Australia never held more than a few thousand people, many of whom were friendly faces. Not at all. Im not really meant to be here. Im meant to be dead. The fact I was able to compete at that level was everything I was working towards. Whether its 24,000 or 1,000, as a professional fighter you have to tell yourself its just noise. The thing I love about boxing and where I feel this huge sense of calmness is that, after the noise, its a ring, with just you and your opponent. Obviously I had great respect for Carl, but I was ready to compete. The fight was stopped in the ninth round after Jackson took brutal punishment from Frampton. Jackson had fought bravely but he found the loss difficult to process. Boxing is a lot about pride. You work towards these occasions, fighting for a world title in front of thousands of fans in a packed stadium. I worked my guts off, dedicated everything. Then on the night, I just found that he is too good for me. Maybe, but losing is a very hard thing to process for any fighter. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Frampton knocks Jackson down in Belfast. Photograph: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/Getty It was Jacksons first defeat since London 2012. Again, his physical cuts and bruises have healed quicker than the damage done to his mental state. I was scared of falling again. I am lucky I had a good woman by my side throughout it all. I needed to get back in the ring, as that is what gets me through those difficult times, having that ability to channel the pain into training. Just before Christmas, Jackson returned to the ring in the humble Emporium Function Centre in Western Sydney to face the unheralded Indonesian fighter Rivo Rengkung. Weeks before the fight, Jackson realised he had damaged his right hand, which meant he could only use his jab in training. Thousands of miles away from the bright stadium lights that had shone on him in Belfast, Jackson bit hard on his gumshield using his jab and occasional right hooks to win a convincing points victory. Jackson is now 34 and knows that, while his boxing career will not be infinite, his OCD will always be an unwelcome member of his entourage. I honestly just dont know, but the truth is I absolutely need to find something. I am thinking hard and want to help the young people and give back to the sport that has given me so much. Maybe at the end of my career Ill be able to pass something on and give hope.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/behind-the-lines/2019/jan/25/boxer-loses-title-fight-luke-jackson-boxing-olympics
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What Would MAGA-Jesus Do?
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The social media firestorm that erupted after a group of MAGA-hat-wearing high school students taunted a Native American man on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial has yet to die down. Unlike many of the pundits out there, I dont think this event is all about the evils of social media and confusion over video angles. This event is about a large group of students from a Catholic high school in Kentucky getting into a confrontation with a handful of Hebrew Israelites which led the students into a confrontation with an old Native American man. Yes, the Hebrew Israelites are a nutty and foul-mouthed bunch of zealots, but that does not justify a racist tomahawk-chop display by dozens of high school kids, many who were wearing MAGA hats (and at least one MAGA ski hat). More mind boggling than the event itself is the (literally) holier-than-thou PR response by some of the students and their defenders. Just a good bunch of Catholic school boys, they are! Boys who support an immoral president who separates babies from their mothers who are trying to escape violence and other horrors, to name just one thing I think might make Jesus just a teeny tiny bit upset.
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https://progressive.org/dispatches/what-would-maga-jesus-do-fiore-190125/
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Should I 'dumb-down' my resume to get a job?
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In just about every case I feel the hiring manager will be much younger than I, and I wanted to know how, or if, I should dumb-down my experience to appear less experienced and perhaps less threatening. With more than 20 years of sales experience, I am afraid I will come across as intimidating for some younger hiring managers. - Debra Dear Debra: I think it is much less about coming across as potentially intimidating and much more about painting a competitive picture of your candidacy regardless of the age or experience of the hiring manager. Rarely would a job posting -- if ever -- ask for 20+ years of experience, so you must take your content and keyword cues from the job postings you are applying for. If most of the positions you are seeking are asking for 5-7 or say 8-10 years of experience, present the "expected" 10 or so years of professional experience on your resume. Long gone are the days in which a resume served as a narrative of everything you had ever done in your career; now is the time to make your resume more of a strategic image of what you have done to qualify you for what you now want to do. Hiring managers expect you to present about 8-10 or 10-15 years of experience -- school of thought differs from person to person -- but there really is no need to go back into the 90s unless there are specific elements of that early experience that add value to your candidacy. I would encourage you to think about presenting your experience in a competitive way, versus thinking you need to potentially "dumb-down" your resume. Personally, I do not think diluting the value of your experience ever leads to a job someone wants; it may get you the interview, but it rarely leads to a solid "fit" between employer and employee. Best of luck to you. - James Dear James: Great question! Most resumes, at least those for mid-career professionals, would be two pages in length. It is only when I am working with an entry-level candidate, or someone with very few employers, that I can accomplish a one page resume. There is really no limit on how long a resume can be--I have written 10+-page CVs -- but the general rule is: one page for entry-level candidates, two for professionals, and three for executives. What is more important than selecting an arbitrary length for your resume, is determining how much space you should take to communicate your value. Ensuring you do not sacrifice value for brevity was a focus of a recent column I wrote as far too many candidates focus on the length of a resume instead of spending the appropriate time and space exploring how they have added value to their employers and therefore their candidacy. Remember, in the ever-so-brief screening process, an employer will not even get through page one of your resume before making a decision whether to bring you in. Hence, if you have two pages exploring your candidacy, the employer will spend the time to review that -- just as they would the rest of page one -- after the all-important decision has been made to screen you "in." Therefore, the length of a resume is fairly inconsequential the scheme of the initial screening process, it is much more important to utilize your space wisely. In addition, if you arbitrarily trim your resume to one page, when your resume is scanned for keywords by an applicant tracking system, you will likely have far lower keyword relevance just due to the limited content. I hope this helps shape your decision as to the length of your resume. Samantha Nolan is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and owner of Nolan Branding, a full-service resume writing firm. Reach Samantha at [email protected]. For extended content, visit our Dear Sam Live resource on our website! For information on Nolan Branding's nationwide resume writing services, visit www.nolanbranding.com or call 614-570-3442.
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https://www.cleveland.com/careeradvice/2019/01/should_i_dumb-down_my_resume_t.html
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Who is Bhupen Hazarika?
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India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Jan 25: The Centre on Friday conferred former President Pranab Mukherjee with the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award. Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and singer and musician Bhupen Hazarika have also been awarded posthumously. The late classical singer was born on September 8, 1926 and had passed away in 2011 on November 5. He was widely hailed as 'Sudhakantha' and his songs were mostly written and sung in the Assamese language on themes revolving around humanity, empathy, communal amity and universal brotherhood and justice. His works have been translated into different languages. In 1975, he had been a recipient of the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1975. Other accolades received by the late singer include Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, Padmashri in 1977, and Padmabhushan in 2001. He was also awarded India's highest award in cinema, the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1992, India's highest award in cinema and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 2008. In 2012, shortly after his death, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award. He also served as the Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama from December 1998 to December 2003.
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https://www.oneindia.com/india/who-is-bhupen-hazarika-2842115.html?utm_source=/rss/news-india-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.50.225.204&utm_campaign=client-rss
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Who is Nanaji Deshmukh?
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India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, Jan 25: The Centre on Friday conferred former President Pranab Mukherjee with the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award. Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and singer and musician Bhupen Hazarika have also been awarded posthumously. Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh also known as Nanaji Deshmukh was a social activist from India. He worked in the fields of education, health, and rural self-reliance, and was honoured with the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and also a member of the Rajya Sabha. Born on 11 October 1916 into a Marathi-speaking Deshastha Brahmin family at Kadoli, which is a small town in the Parbhani district, Nanaji had a great desire for education despite the lack of money. Due to this, he worked as a vegetable seller to raise money for his education. He was inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Deshmukh became inspired by Lokamanya Tilak and his nationalist ideology, as well as showing an acquired interest in social service and activities. His family was in close contact with Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar who was a regular visitor to Deshmukh's family. He could discern potential in Nanaji and encouraged him to attend RSS shakhas. He was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the NDA Government in the year 1999 in recognition of his services to the nation. After retirement from active politics Deshmukh then served Deendayal Research Institute that he himself had established way back in 1969. [9] He wanted Deendayal Research Institute to be devoted to strengthening the movement for constructive work in Bharat. Deshmukh died on 27 February 2010 in the premises of Chitrakoot Gramoday Vishwavidyalaya that he established. He was unwell for some time due to age-related ailments and had refused to be taken to Delhi for treatment. He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2019 and Padma Vibhushan in 1999. India's former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam praised Deshmukh for his "single-minded devotion to the uplift of the people".
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https://www.oneindia.com/india/who-is-nanaji-deshmukh-2842114.html?utm_source=/rss/news-india-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.50.225.204&utm_campaign=client-rss
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Why are so few NI men training for nursing profession?
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The historic lack of a male presence in nursing has been frequently debated and attempts to showcase the profession to men in the past have made little difference to the numbers. Now a group of nurses are tackling the gender disparity with renewed vigour. HELEN MCGURK finds out more. In the 2000 film Meet the Parents, much is made of the fact that Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, is a nurse. Chris Maguire, an A&E nurse at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald He faces the usual jokes and innuendo. But what is most significant is that the term male nurse is still in use at all. True, the number of men in nursing and midwifery remains low - only 6.2 per cent in Northern Ireland - but its hard to recall someone being referred to as a female teacher, solicitor, architect - or even a female journalist. Men in caring professions continue to be viewed as slightly curious. They are lucky if people simply assume they are gay; if unlucky, that they have darker motives for choosing a caring role. This gender apartheid is based on archaic assumptions about gender roles and risks condemning another generation to a life of gender inequality, which is why a group of local nurses, both male and female, have been working hard to change the image of nursing to that of gender neutrality, and promote the profession to anyone with the right attributes and academic abilities. David Ferran, from Carrickfergus, a registered dermatology nurse at Belfasts Royal Victoria Hospital, is chair of Northern Ireland Men in Nursing and co-chair of Valuing Diversity in Nursing Northern Ireland, both of which aim to promote diversity at all levels of the nursing profession. The 32-year-old came to nursing as a mature student and said the profession simply wasnt offered to him as an option when he was younger. I was at an all-boys school and healthcare and nursing werent promoted to us at all. It was through working as a healthcare assistant that David could see the work of nurses and discover it wasnt just a job for women, men could do it too. That drove me to want to start my nurse training, he said. I was lucky enough to be sponsored by my employer, the Belfast Trust, while I worked as a care assistant and they put me through my nursing degree. I qualified two years ago at the age of 30. David and his colleagues have been carrying out school visits, both primary and secondary, educating young people, boys and girls, their parents and teachers as to the role of a nurse, its academic requirements and vast career opportunities. He said: What we find at schools is that children know very little; they dont know that nursing is a profession, that you do a degree and that it is also quite an academic job. Northern Ireland Men in Nursing also plan to visit farmers markets and careers events, to let members of the public see that men can also be nurses. The work of the group has been supported by the provinces chief nursing officer Charlotte McArdle, all five health trust in Northern Ireland, trade unions, universities and service users who all recognise the benefits of a diverse nursing workforce who are caring for a diverse patient population. David said: It is of benefit to all patients to have a diverse nursing workforce caring for them, with some patients finding conversations or examinations of an intimate or sensitive nature uncomfortable when a nurse of the opposite sex is providing care. Stereotypes, said David. People automatically assume that nursing is a profession that is more suited to females. On television there is often a derogatory portrayal of nurses as being a doctors assistant and that is not the case; nurses are autonomous and are highly educated. Also a male nurse will commonly be portrayed as a gay, or made a mockery of - thats what feeds and perpetuates the stereotype. David said using gender as a prefix to your job implies that there is something different about you being a male nurse, rather than just a nurse. Thats why we are targeting children so young, in Primary 1 and 2 because that is when kids are playing with toys and the female is always the nurse and the male is always the doctor, so we are trying to let them see that men can be nurses too to try and change that perception of what nursing is, or who it is for. Of course, there are many other reasons why men may be hesitant about entering the profession; it is common to read news headlines of nurses being demoralised and demotivated by low pay. David said: The starting salary for a graduate nurse is 21,500 per year and the pay scales climb the more experience you get. The average salary for a nurse in Northern Ireland is 32,344 and, indeed, whilst there are low numbers of male nurses, there is no indication that they suffer in their career. Pay disparity results in male nurses earning more than their female counterparts, and anecdotal evidence suggests that male nurses are more likely to be fast-tracked into management positions. Furthermore, a report into the role of men in nursing found there to be more focus on human caring amongst male nurses. It is a very rewarding profession, said David. I feel incredibly lucky to nurse and to be able to look after people. It is such a versatile career so that you can be a teacher and a nurse, you can be a ward manager - nursing ticks every box for any career anyone would want. There are so many opportunities and it can take you anywhere in the world. Chris Maguire, 24, from Enniskillen works as a nurse in the A&E department at the Ulster Hospital. Like David, he said he didnt realise nursing was an option for him when he was growing up. Its not really something you consider when you are a young male growing up in Northern Ireland, its all pointed towards engineering or medicine or construction and then whenever you say you are going to do nursing, some people think its a bit strange, but then they realise its a very good profession. He also believes the stereotypes are putting men off taking up nursing. You are not considered a nurse, you are a male nurse - thats used by everybody. I think its a result of what we have been brought up with through society; nobody has been promoting nursing for males. Chris also believes that it is time to drop the short-sighted prejudices about mens ability to care. Traditionally women were seen as more caring, but the reality is that men do care and theres a whole other argument that men dont talk about their feelings enough, but you get past that to work in nursing. Chris loves his work and has no regrets about taking up a role in one of the most gender-segregated professions. Its the most rewarding job that I have ever done and that I can ever imagine doing. You are affecting peoples lives in their most desperate state, especially in A&E, you can change that persons day from being one of the most horrible experiences in their life to a little less. I get tremendous satisfaction from it and I just hope that in the future a lot of other young men will be able to say the same.
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https://www.newsletter.co.uk/lifestyle/why-are-so-few-ni-men-training-for-nursing-profession-1-8785168
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Which Late-Night Host Tortured Celebrities Best This Week?
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Sarah Paulson and Billy Eichner on Watch What Happens Live. Photo: Bravo This week, James Corden berated linebackers while they tried to dance. It was allegedly in the spirit of giving these men some shine. I actually sympathize, said Corden, because my show airs at 12:37 a.m. Literally no one knows were here. It was a surprising admission that the late-night audience is getting smaller and smaller, and that these shows are now mostly consumed as YouTube clips when something political happens or when someone famous debases themselves in a new and creative way. Today we rank these publicity stunts by how much was asked of the star. Honorable mentions go to Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon. Meyers doesnt usually have guests do silly things; he saves that space for his writers. The most embarrassing thing a celebrity did on Late Night With Seth Meyers this week was endorse Kirsten Gillibrand. And Fallon doesnt shy away from embroiling stars in shenanigans, but when it comes to dignity, hes usually the one to take the hit. When Robert Irwin brought a camel to Fallons 1,000th episode of The Tonight Show, it was Fallon who got slobbered on. Conversely, Jimmy Kimmel is equal parts well-connected and sadistic, so he had multiple entries for contention. When you get Nathan Fillion to leave a sensual voice-mail for a studio audience members mother and it doesnt even rank as the wildest thing to happen to a star that week, youre either doing something right or something very, very wrong. 7. Samantha Bee Made Furloughed Workers Sing for Their Supper This barely counts, as federal workers are not celebrities. Theres a lot of buzz around them! Full Frontal correspondent Allana Harkin used these workers need for anonymity to create the TV-show parody no one saw coming. Youll have to guess based on painfully obvious riddles (just like the real show)! 6. Tom Hanks Pretended to Be in Awe of an Egg for Conan It makes sense that Tom Hanks was Conan OBriens first guest on his newly streamlined show. Hanx came up with the name Team Coco. But he almost got bumped by the Very Famous Egg. Poor Conan was still on hiatus last week when everyone else made their egg jokes, so Im glad he got a chance here. And Hanks is always down for a goof. This is a man who tweets a picture of every lost glove he sees. 5. Jimmy Kimmel Sculpted His Mount Rushmore This sketch from Kimmels Halftime Tribute to Trump just inches out Nathan Fillions u up? voice-mail partially due to sheer volume. Four stars Anthony Atamanuik, Fred Armisen, Bobby Moynihan, and Jeff Ross join Kimmel in a papier-mch Mount Rushmore. They are, in my opinion, miscast. Not letting Moynihan play Teddy Roosevelt is almost as shocking as not letting Atamanuik gesture as Trump. Kimmel and Armisen should switch as well. Washington is the leader of the mountain, Kimmel is the leader of the sketch. And Armisens voice is a better match for Lincolns famously reedy tenor. 4. Stephen Colbert Made AOC Do Spon for His Ice Cream Colbert likes to offer his guests treats. Its a running joke on The Late Show that he will have a favorite booze hidden under his desk. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on social media that she recently had ice cream for dinner after a long day in Congress. When pressed, Ocasio-Cortez admitted the brand was Ben & Jerrys Stephen Colberts AmeriCone Dream. (A fine flavor, but honestly nothing will ever compare to Jimmy Fallons Late Night Snack. The chocolate-covered potato chips presaged the salty-sweet combo that now dominates desert culture. But I digress.) AOC looked casual af and very on-brand as she stabbed at the carton with her spoon. But you cant actually talk policy when youre chowing down on ice cream. 3. James Corden Made Will Arnett Vomit The Late Late Show took the cast of The Lego Movie 2 to space camp. Everyone does extremely brand-affirming goofs in this segment: Elizabeth Banks shows off some space knowledge, notoriously conservative Chris Pratt says notoriously liberal Chris Evans doesnt even rank on the Hollywood Chris List, and Will Arnett pretends to vomit. Never kid a kidder, and never assume the star of The Brothers Solomon wont go for a gross-out laugh. 2. Busy Philipps Made Terry Crews Milk a Goat Female nipples are banned on Tumblr, but female goat nipples can freely lactate on E! This clip really speaks for itself. Terry Crews is so happy milking a goat. Im so happy watching Terry Crews be happy milking a goat. Nobody gets kicked, and the camera operator gets that goat boob close-up weve all been waiting for. Rarely have I seen something dumber grace my TV screen. 1. Andy Cohen Made Sarah Paulson and Billy Eichner Name Names This seems like a pretty standard WWHL party game, but in reality it was the cruelest stunt Ive seen pulled in my days of late-night coverage. The game was called When Co-Stars Align, but it should have been called Gay Torture, because each question was like a bamboo skewer under a fingernail. There is no greater sadist than Andy Cohen, and we should all live in fear of his capricious whims.
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https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/which-late-night-host-tortured-celebrities-best-this-week.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nymag%2Fvulture+%28Vulture+-+nymag.com%27s+Entertainment+and+Culture+Blog%29
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Was wird bleiben vom Handball-Wintermrchen?
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Auch der Bundesprsident ist begeistert. "Das Halbfinale ist erreicht. ", fragte Frank-Walter Steinmeier mit einem breiten Lcheln im Gesicht, nachdem die deutsche Handball-Nationalmannschaft das Halbfinale bei der Weltmeisterschaft erreicht hatte. Wie schon 2007, als das DHB-Team unter Leitung des damaligen Bundestrainers Heiner Brand bei der Heim-WM triumphierte, ist auch jetzt wieder eine Handball-Euphorie im Lande ausgebrochen, die auch das Staatsoberhaupt erfasst hat. Grund fr die Begeisterung, so Steinmeier, sei nicht nur das erfolgreiche Auftreten der Mannschaft, sondern "auch die Typen, die Leistung zeigen und den unbndigen Ehrgeiz und die Freude am Spiel mitbringen". Wenn das Team von Bundestrainer Christian Prokop am Freitag in Hamburg gegen Norwegen (Beginn 20.30 Uhr MEZ) um den Einzug ins Finale spielt, wird der Bundesprsident wieder auf der Tribne sitzen. Handball als Quotenrenner Das wiederentflammte Handballfieber lsst sich auch mit Zahlen belegen: Bereits vor den beiden Halbfinals und dem Endspiel melden die WM-Veranstalter Deutschland und Dnemark mit insgesamt 837.000 Zuschauern einen Besucherrekord. Die bisherige Bestmarke lag bei 750.000, aufgestellt bei der WM 2007 in Deutschland. Auch im Fernsehen ist die WM ein Quotenrenner: Zehn Millionen Zuschauer verfolgten am Montag im ZDF den 22:21-Krimi gegen Kroatien, das entspricht einem Marktanteil von rund 30 Prozent. Selbst das letzte Hauptrundenspiel am Mittwoch gegen Spanien, vor dem der Halbfinaleinzug bereits feststand und bei dem es nur noch um den Gruppensieg ging, verfolgten in der ARD neun Millionen Zuschauer. Handball-Boom 2007 verpuffte "Wir sind jetzt da, wo wir hinwollten", sagt Bob Hanning, Vizeprsident des Deutschen Handball-Bunds und fgt mit Blick auf den Fuball hinzu: "Wir wollen den Abstand zur Lieblingssportart verkrzen." Das wollte der DHB auch schon nach dem WM-Erfolg 2007, doch die Handball-Euphorie verpuffte damals ebenso schnell wie nach dem sensationellen EM-Titel 2016. "Da wird ein kurzzeitiges Hoch erzeugt, das vielleicht auch ganz kurzzeitig einen Mitgliederzuwachs erzeugt", analysierte zuletzt der Philosoph und Publizist Wolfram Eilenberger im Deutschlandfunk, "aber die Gesamtinteressenlage ist so stark verankert, so stark verhrtet, dass man nicht annehmen kann, dass Handball jetzt einen extrem hohen Zuwachs erfahren wird." Eilenberger hatte nach dem EM-Triumph 2016 fr einen Aufschrei unter den Fans gesorgt, als er in einem Essay Handball als "Sport volkstmelnder Reihenhausspieer" bezeichnet hatte. Deutschlands Handballer begeistern das Publikum - nicht nur in der Halle Mutterland des Handballs Obwohl das erste Regelwerk 1906 in Dnemark, dem anderen Gastgeberland der aktuellen WM, entworfen wurde, gilt Deutschland als Mutterland des Handballs. Als Geburtsstunde der Sportart gilt der 29. Oktober 1917. Damals legte der Berliner Oberturnwart Max Heiser fest, dass "Torball" - ein Spiel, das er zwei Jahre zuvor fr Frauen entworfen hatte - knftig "Handball" heien solle. Mit ber 750.000 Mitgliedern ist der DHB heute der grte Handball-Verband weltweit. Auerhalb Europas ist Handball in einigen Lndern Nordafrikas, wie zum Beispiel in Tunesien und gypten, in Teilen Sdamerikas (Brasilien, Argentinien) und Asiens (Sdkorea, Japan) und neuerdings auch im arabischen Raum (Katar) populr. "Entwicklungsland" Grobritannien Im angelschsischen Raum ist die Sportart dagegen kaum verbreitet. Grobritannien etwa ist nach wie vor ein Handball-Entwicklungsland. Als London den Zuschlag fr die Olympischen Sommerspiele 2012 erhielt, wurde weltweit nach Handballern mit britischen Wurzeln gefahndet. Die Nationalmannschaft, die dann antrat, war eine Mischung aus talentierten Hobbyspielern, Basketballern, Rugby-, American-Football- und Fuballspielern. Die Zeitung "Sun" klrte damals ihre Leser so auf: "Handball ist wie Wasserball ohne Wasser." "Wir mssen jnger werden" Kretzschmar fordert neues Handball-Image Obwohl es sicher auch in Deutschland viele Menschen gibt, die sich mit den Handballregeln nicht genau auskennen, muss man der ffentlichkeit hierzulande die Sportart an sich nicht erklren. Damit die Euphorie diesmal aber nachhaltig wirkt, bedarf es nach Ansicht von Handballexperten Reformen. Viktor Szilagyi, Sportchef des deutschen Rekordmeisters THW Kiel, schlgt vor, im Sommer Handball-Camps fr Jugendliche anzubieten. Die Vereine mssten zudem ihr Scouting verstrken. "Wir mssen das Image unserer Sportart verndern", sagt Ex-Nationalspieler und Handball-Ikone Stefan Kretzschmar. "Das heit, wir mssen jnger werden, interessanter fr die Kids. Das ist die Herausforderung fr die nchsten Jahre."
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https://www.dw.com/de/was-wird-bleiben-vom-handball-winterm%C3%A4rchen/a-47214739
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Is the Nokia 9 PureView penta-lens phone coming February 24?
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Weve heard a lot recently about HMDs efforts for the Nokia 9 PureView penta-lens smartphone. It really needs no introduction, if youre even remotely exposed to mobile tech news. However, despite the most recent rumor talking about a pre-MWC announcement it might be unveiled at MWC 2019, as we initially suggested, Barcelona being basically Nokias home turf. Juho Sarvikas, HMD Globals Chief Product Officer took it to Twitter to let everyone know that we need to tune into their showdown on the 24th of February. Its no mistake other events have been planned for the same date, but its not certain what HMD will unveil. Wed hope to finally see the Nokia 9 PureView become official, but there could be other candidates as well, like the Nokia 8.1 Plus. We all remember the Nokia 808 PureView announcement from 2012 Well be there to tell you all about it, in case the rumor mill doesnt spit more information out until then.
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https://pocketnow.com/nokia-9-pureview-mwc-2019?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pocketnow+%28pocketnow.com%29
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What was happening in the world way back in 1994?
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Taking a look back at what was in the headlines nationally and across the world this week, in 1994. This week in 1994, a mortar bomb exploded in the main market square in Sarajevo killing 68 and wounding 200 people. It was the worst single atrocity in the then 22-month-old conflict between Bosnias Serbs, Muslims and Croats. The single 120mm shell hit a stall in the busy open-air market, just before midday, leaving Muslims and Serbs, dead and injured. UN inspectors examined the crater left by the bomb, to determine where it came from and while it was widely believed the Serbian forces besieging the city had launched it, it could not be proven. In other news, pop star Michael Jackson was rushed to hospital to receive treatment for serious burns to his head, after his hair caught light during a freak filming accident. The 25-year-old who has at the pinnacle of his career at the time of his accident was singing his hit song Billie Jean for a Pepsi Cola advert in LA when the special effects went badly wrong. Three thousand fans saw a firework display erupt behind the multi-million selling superstar, showering him in sparks and setting light to his hair. Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp in the freak accident. Elsewhere, Barcelonas leading opera house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, burned down. The iconic building on La Rambla was destroyed by a fire caused by a spark that accidentally fell on the curtain during a routine repair. In sport, Americas Frankie Randall beat Mexican boxing legend Julio Csar Chvez, by split decision, to win the WBC super lightweight title at MGM Grand, Las Vegas. It was the first time in his career Chavez had been knocked out and it led to the first defeat of his career in 91 professional fights. Closer to home, a massive clean-up operation was under way after an oil slick was washed up along the Lancashire coastline. Scores of seabirds were affected by the spillage at Southport, South Shore in Blackpool and Lytham. Officers from the RSPCA battled throughout the weekend to rescue birds coated in the substance, and more than 50 were saved from the northern stretch of the coastline alone. They were treated at the RSCPA base in Southport before being sent on a four-hour journey to the organisations specialist treatment centre for birds in Somerset. An operation to clean up the slick was mounted by Fylde Council. Preston schoolboy Andrew Flintoff was poised to become Lancashire Cricket Clubs new boy wonder. The 16-year-old, of Preston, was offered terms to join the Old Trafford set-up. He had already played for Lancashires Under-15s side. Also in 1994, actor Peter Cushing famous for starring in Hammer Horror films died, and boy band star Harry Styles was born. The word Botox was added to the dictionary for the first time and the film Schindlers List, starring Liam Neeson, was awarded the BAFTA for best film. Pope John Paul II was named the Times Person of The Year. TOP 10: These were the best-selling albums of 1994 1. Cross Road: The Best of Bon Jovi Bon Jovi 2. Carry On up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South 3. Music Box Mariah Carey 4. Always & Forever Eternal 5. The Division Bell Pink Floyd 6. End of Part One: Their Greatest Hits Wet Wet Wet 7. Monster R.E.M 8. Parklife Blur 9. Live at the BBC The Beatles 10. Steam East 17
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https://www.fleetwoodtoday.co.uk/news/what-was-happening-in-the-world-way-back-in-1994-1-9558453
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Will we ever see the iPad Air's processor in a Mac?
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No, there won't be a Mac that runs on the A7. It just doesn't have the performance. That's less clear. Rumours that Apple is looking to replace Intel's processors in its Mac range have circled ever since the company first revealed that it was making its own chips for the iPhone and iPad. Apple's success has been built on integration and the idea of controlling everything from the development of the hardware to the optimisation of the software to make it the best possible experience. Read more: Nya iPad Pro p 11 tum - recension Macs, however, use a lot of third-party hardware in their construction, with Intel's chips being one of the most prominent. This partnership has offered great advantages, though, with Intel's and Apple's priority largely in alignment at the moment: power management. Apple's best-selling Macs are its laptops, and with Intel having previously focussed on computing power over energy usage, it's now putting its considerable effort into making its mobile chips as electrically frugal as possible - a process that has resulted in the excellent battery life on the latest MacBook Airs. Yet Intel is still miles behind the technology that underlies Apple's A-series chips. The architecture of Apple's chips has two advantages over Intel when it comes to power use: it uses literally a different way of processing information that's more efficient; and the chips are less complex in design. The flipside of being simpler, though, is that they're less powerful, even if performance is improving significantly every year - the dual-core A7 in the iPhone 5s appears to be slightly more than a third as powerful as the Intel Core i5-4250U processor in the latest MacBook Air (based on Geekbench scores). Both of these chips are dual-core, with a clock speed (meaning the frequency of operation) of 1.3GHz. That there's such a difference in performance at the same clock speed tells you a lot about the more advanced design of Intel's chips, but if Apple were to look at putting its chips in a Mac instead of a mobile device, it could make some changes to the design, particularly since it would have to worry less about the amount of power used and heat produced. In the first instance, Apple could increase the clock speed, though this is no magic solution to better performance - increase too far and you start to get steep increases in the power needed for even modest additional gains. Some architectures are also optimised for lower-clocked operations, including Apple's. "Apple has made some very specific design choices that will make it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to take the A7 and run it at anything like 3GHz," says David Kanter, principal analyst at Real World Tech. He gives the example of the small memory cache on the CPU - Apple uses a cache twice the size of Intel's that's accessed more efficiently. It's a great design, but it doesn't scale up to desktop chips. Doing it this way at something like 3GHz would increase the power needed for that one task hugely - Apple has optimised for low-power, low-speed chips. Turbo Boost However, a more modest increase to something like 1.8GHz is feasible, especially if combined with something akin to Intel's Turbo Boost mode, which lets CPU cores produce much higher clock speeds for short times under heavy loads. Apple could also switch to a quad-core design, doubling the number of CPU cores available, but again, this isn't quite the fantastic solution it might sound: it only produces significant speed increases in apps that can split their processes to take advantage of more cores.
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https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/computing/apple/will-we-ever-see-the-ipad-air-s-processor-in-a-mac-1208384
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Can Netflix break through at The Oscars?
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(Image: Netflix) The 2019 Oscar nominations has featured many successes, but one name seems to be celebrating more than most Netflix. The streaming giant, so often an outsider at cinema events such as these, bagged 10 nominations (including Best Picture) for Alfonso Cuarons Roma, and three for The Coen Brothers The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Given the company gained just three nominations two years ago, its a huge jump that is the result of fierce (and expensive) campaigning by Netflix. The heavy presence at The Oscars is a significant turnaround for the streamer, who in past years have been treated with disdain by the movie making establishment. Their inception signalled the end of rental stores like Blockbuster, and changed the viewing habits of millions. They are in every sense a digital disrupter, and one of the main ways they have been going about this is releasing big budget films straight to their service, either giving the films a very limited theatrical run or bypassing the cinema altogether. This has made them unpopular in places like Cannes, where films without a theatrical release were banned from competition. It was also made them outsiders at the Oscars in recent years, although Roma seems to have changed that. Advertisement Advertisement A deeply personal endeavour by Gravity director Cuaron, the story of a live-in housekeeper and the middle class family she works for has dazzled critics and clearly impressed award voters. It also also helps that Netflix reportedly put $20million (around 15million) into the films Oscar campaign. In terms of Best Picture, it has its work cut out for it. No foreign language film has ever won the award in the history of the Oscars, with the last nominee being drama Amour four years ago. Going on traditional wisdom, Romas most likely outcome may winning Best Foreign Language film, a win that acknowledges the films quality while giving the big prizes to an American-made production. Roma could be the first foreign language film to win Best Picture (Image: Carlos Somonte/AP/Netflix) However, this is no normal year. Whereas in previous cycles films like The Artist or The Kings Speech seemed pre-ordained to take home the title, theres really no runaway favourite for Best Film. The surprise success of Bohemian Rhapsody at The Golden Globes made the musical biopic a late contender, and Roma really has as much chance as any of its fellow nominees. Were it to win The Big One, the film establishment would be shaken in a significant way. Netflix would no longer be the disrupter, it would be part of the establishment. In many ways, the sheer amount of nominations means they already are. Making a film that was released via streaming service Best Picture sends a significant message for the way we watch films too, with the cinema no longer being the sole preserve of must-see award winners. Whatever the result next month, it appears that Roma is the film that will make sure Netflix is taken seriously for years to come. Advertisement Advertisement
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https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/25/can-netflix-break-through-at-the-oscars-8376316/
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When is Chinese New Year? And what is the animal for 2019?
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The video will start in 8 Cancel Get daily updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email The Chinese New Year is one of the most colourful and vibrant events in the calendar. Its date moves each year because it is decided by the Chinese lunar calendar but typically it falls between January 21 and February 20. This year it will be celebrated on Tuesday, February 5. In traditional Chinese culture a different animal is associated to each lunar year. 2019 is the Year of the Pig, here is everything you need to know about it. The animal chosen for each year is based on Chinese zodiac signs, which moves in 12-year cycles. Those born in 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, and 2019 are represented by Year of the Pig. According to astrology, your year of birth - and the animal that represents it - says a lot about your personality traits. Pigs are believed to have beautiful personalities and are blessed with good fortune. In Chinese culture the animal is the symbol of wealth. (Image: Liverpool Echo) The Chinese zodiac animal signs include the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. It was formed according to the Chinese lunar calendar, which also defines the dates of festivals and is used for horoscopes. The calendar has a very long history going back to the Xia (21st century BC - 16th century BC) and Shang Dynasties (16th century BC - 11th century BC). The calendar is also referred to as the Lunar, Yin, Xia or the old Chinese calendar. The animal changes at the beginning of the Chinese New Year, see which one represent the year you were born:
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https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/chinese-new-year-what-animal-15733659
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Is Wilfried Zaha primed to get monkey off his back against ravaged Spurs?
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Having gone months without scoring, the stage could be set for the luckless Ivorian to break his prolonged duck COMMENT By Seye Omidiora Follow on Twitter By Crystal Palaces 2-0 win at Huddersfield Town in gameweek four was significant for two reasons: the Eagles had just prevented a third successive loss on the spin, and Wilfried Zaha just scored his third of the season in four appearances. The widemans purple patch at the start of the campaign put him on pace to shatter his personal best of nine league goals set in 2017/18. While that game might be remembered for the rough tackles he received, it couldnt dampen the expectations thatd been birthed as a consequence of his streaky spring out of the blocks. If anyone had at the time predicted that the Ivorian would still be stuck on three strikes for the season with January in its final week theyd probably have been laughed out of the room. However, the shocking reality is that Zaha has failed to score since August, and doesnt seem like besting his individual high anymore. Having hit the back of the net at a frequency of one in 283 minutes last term, that number has slumped to one every 599 in the current campaign. Its disappointing considering how his performances and improved end product in the previous season prompted reported interest from the leagues top sides, and even a few on the continent. In truth, the heavily burdened attacker hasnt been helped by Roy Hodgsons overly defensive structure which has seen the South London club score only 23 times in 23 games in the league. Their pervading over-reliance on the wideman, who's latterly been linked with a move to Borussia Dortmund, often leaves him with too much to do, and snuffing him out is often the primary tactic of opposition managers. The aforementioned goals return only puts them above Fulham (21), Newcastle United and Cardiff City (21) as well as Huddersfield (13) in the top flight, and their atrocious home record only betters a Terriers side propping up the table. Hodgsons negativity has slightly limited Zahas effectiveness this season, as was apparent in their London derby encounter against Chelsea before the turn of the year. The experienced manager set up his side so defensively that it infuriated home supporters; they were without an attempt on goal until the 85th minute, and ended the game with a risible expected goals of 0.24. When they did make a push in the final few minutes of the game, they couldve pegged the Blues back, but it was a game plan that frustrated the isolated Zaha who couldnt get a kick all game. Wilfried Zaha | 2018-19 Premier League stats Admittedly, the handbrake has been off recently, evidenced by last weeks seven-goal thriller against Liverpool at Anfield. Its ironic that the previously low-scoring Glaziers were the first side to put more than one goal past Alisson Becker in Merseyside this season. While they played on the counter for a large duration of the encounter, there was more ambition in possession, as opposed to the aforementioned Chelsea loss. It was on one of those quick breaks that Palaces talisman showed his quality by picking out Andros Townsend with a brilliant pull-back. What was more impressive than the Englishmans astute finish was how the Ivory Coast international surged past James Milner in the build-up to the goal. Zaha had the makeshift full-back on toast all game, and it was no surprise he was directly involved in the stand-in defenders two yellows which saw the Reds reduced to 10 men. He created three chances on the day, just one less than the whole Palace squad combined, and was a constant threat with his direct running. Having struggled for consistency since the start of the season, the attackers recent trio of games indicates hes returning to his best and that his prolonged drought may soon be over. With Tottenham Hotspur set to visit Selhurst Park in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup on Sunday, theres a sense of revenge being on the cards for the Eagles owing to how their league encounter in early November panned out. Crystal Palace 2018-19 Premier League stats Zaha missed out as Spurs secured an unconvincing 1-0 win, and his absence was felt given how his team lacked that extra edge in the final third. The Lilywhites werent in the best of form at the time, and it was disappointing how the home failed to take advantage. With Mauricio Pochettinos side seemingly there for the taking yet again owing to the absence of a glut of key players, Palace and Zaha will be relishing their chances of causing a causing a Fourth Round upset. If their first-half performance in Thursday nights Carabao Cup semi-final elimination by Chelsea is anything to go by, Hodgson will have his lads up for it from the blast of the whistle, and instruct them to get at a backline that seemed unable to cope with an invigorated Blues side in the opening half. Article continues below Ben Davies suffered a knock too, further thinning the options available to the Spurs boss. It wouldn't be the biggest giant killing in FA Cup history, but the Eagles will smell blood this weekend, and hope to catch their London rivals out on a bad day. With Zaha seemingly back in form, they certainly stand a chance to upset the applecart. Perhaps the forward could finally get the proverbial monkey off his back; against a vulnerable Spurs, he may not have a better opportunity.
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https://www.goal.com/en-ke/news/can-wilfried-zaha-end-his-drought-against-ravaged-spurs/1xazm53bcxb3f1ukcg9nwioi2o
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How many A Star is Born films have there been and how are they different?
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There have been a fair few adaptations of A Star Is Born. (Picture: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock) Considering how many times A Star Is Born has been remade, its possibly even more impressive that Bradley Coopers directional debut has done so well. The 2018 version has Golden Globe, SAG, Bafta, and now eight Oscar nominations to its name, in addition to love from critics, so calling it a hit doesnt seem to be a matter of opinion anymore its a fact. With that being said, its true that Cooper has found this success by standing on the shoulders of giants. Here, we take a look at the other A Star Is Born films, and how they informed the triumph of the 2018 version. Warning major spoilers ahead. Since 1937, there have been four different film versions of A Star Is Born. Advertisement Advertisement Even though they veer off over the years in slightly different directions, the four films still have a basic plot in common. A man with a successful but waning career in showbiz meets a talented young ingenue who wants to break into his field. They fall madly in love, and he helps her achieve fame and recognition just as his substance abuse problems speed up his own professional decline. He finds a new low when he embarrasses her while inebriated at an awards ceremony where she is being honored, tries to get better, but eventually realises that hes holding her back and tragedy ensues. A Star Is Born (1937) This was the version that started it all off. In it, we see farm girl Esther Victoria Blodgett (played by Janet Gaynor) journey to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming a movie star. She meets Norman Maine (Fredric March), an established actor with an alcohol problem, while working as a waitress and he takes an interest in her at once. Maine gets Esther a screen test, and gets her a part in Normans new film, which launches her into the spotlight. Janet Gaynor as Esther, holding her Oscar. (Picture: United Artists/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock) Norman proposes to Esther and she accepts on the condition that he give up drinking. However when they get back from their honeymoon, the continued decline of Normans career pushes him towards the bottle again until finally, as Esther accepts an Academy Award for Best Actress, he drunkenly interrupts her speech. Advertisement Advertisement After this, Norman tries once again to get sober, but to no avail. When he overhears Esther saying that she wants to quit Hollywood to take care of him, he drowns himself in the Pacific. The film ends with Esther, devastated after the loss of her husband, introducing herself at the premiere of her next film as Mrs. Norman Maine. A Star Is Born (1954) Here, we see Judy Garland as Esther and James Mason as Norman Maine, in a movie which resulted in one of the most famous real-life Oscar snubs of all time. This film intruded the strong musical element to the story, with Judys famously incomparable voice being used to show Esther as a person destined for success in show business, just waiting for the right chance. That chance comes in the form of (you guessed it) Norman, a matinee star who meets Esther when hes blind drunk and stumbles on to a stage where an orchestra is performing. Esther manages to pass it off like its part of an act, and when he realises she saved him from a big potential embarrassment, he asks her to dinner and sees her perform. James Mason and Judy Garland as their characters in the second version of A Star Is Born. (Picture: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock However theres the same trouble in paradise that we saw in the original. Again, Maine is shown drunkenly embarrassing and (this time) accidentally hitting Esther during her Oscars acceptance speech, and again, Norman overhears Esther say that she wants to give up her Hollywood career to take care of him. Advertisement He realises the hurt hes caused her, and the damage hes done to his own life, so one morning he tells his wife hes going for a swim, and drowns himself in the ocean. A shattered Esther is convinced by her friend to carry on working, because he says she is her own husbands finest achievement. The fact that Grace Kelly won the Oscar for Best Actress for The Country Girl in 1965, rather than Judy for her powerhouse performance here, still enrages some film fans to this day. A Star Is Born (1976) This is probably the least critically successful version of the story. Starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson as the two lovers, the 1976 version of A Star Is Born has been criticised for miscasting Streisand and for there being a lack of chemistry between the two leads. It was even accused of being boring by Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times. The film makes the swap from films to music, as John Norman Howard (Kristofferson), a rock star on a sharp downward trajectory, hears Esther singing in a bar, and fireworks ensue. Howard later invites Esther to sing on stage with him, her career takes off, his crashes and burns, they get hitched, but he remains self-destructive. Barbra Streisand as Esther in 1976 (Picture: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock) Howard gets up to much more dangerous antics than his previous counterparts; riding and crashing a motorcycle on stage, shooting a gun at a helicopter, getting into fights and generally being a bit of a nuisance. Advertisement Rather than sacrificing himself to keep himself from holding her back, he cheats on Esther, and in the end, he drives dangerously and gets himself killed. Not quite the same tragic romance of decades past, but the films original song Evergreen won an Academy Award for their trouble. Lady Gaga as Ally in A Star Is Born 2018. (Picture: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock) A Star Is Born (2018) Here, director Bradley Cooper took some of the best bits from the previous three films and squished them all together. This version sees Cooper as Jackson Maine, an on-the-cusp-of-washed-up woke-bae country rock singer, who discovers Lady Gagas Ally singing in a drag bar. They fall head over heels for each other almost instantly, and he gives her the shot she needs to become a star. Jackson turns out to be a very sympathetic character here, for all his faults. Unlike Norman mark II in 1954, who gets into a fight over taunts that hes living off of his wifes success, Jacksons self-destructive nature is largely not due to the wounding of his ego, but more deep-seated issues in his past. Cooper and Gaga make a pretty convincing on-screen couple. (Picture: Warner Bros/Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock) His masculinity is secure enough that hes completely chill with Ally putting him in makeup and fake Edith Piaf-esque eyebrows. It is intimate, playful scenes like this that, for all the films inherent cheesiness, make their relationship believable. Its blissfully shorter than the 1954 and 1976 versions, the soundtrack is full of bangers, theres chemistry between the leads, and Jackson is arguably far more empathetic than his predecessors, which makes the films climax all the more poignant. In the end, Jackson goes the way of all the male leads in A Star Is Born history and dies. This time, he hangs himself in their garage after Allys manager berates him for being the reason she wants to cancel her first international tour. This latest version of A Star Is Born has been nominated for eight Academy Awards at next months Oscars ceremony. These nominations are: Best Picture, Lead Actor for Bradley Cooper, Lead Actress for Lady Gaga, Best Supporting Actor for Sam Elliot, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, Best Cinematography and Best Original Song for Shallow. The 2019 Oscars are taking place on Sunday 24 February. MORE: VIP tickets, private jets, $1,000,000 and luxury villas: Influencer explains how bloggers were lured to Fyre Festival MORE: Oscars open to Kevin Hart hosting 2019 ceremony after Ellen DeGeneres interview
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https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/25/how-many-a-star-is-born-films-have-there-been-and-how-are-they-different-8384749/
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Will The Big Bang Theory's elevator ever be fixed?
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The broken elevator hasnt been fixed in more than 11 years (Picture: CBS) The Big Bang Theory have been keeping several gags running for a while now but to be honest, none of them are as baffling as the elevator. Becoming a source of frustration for viewers and the characters alike, even the cast have admitted they want to see the damn thing fixed before the end of the series. So, in honour of a character that has been more ignored than Stuart in his comic book shop, were looking back on whats happened to it and what could come before the show ends. We had to wait nearly four long seasons before we were eventually told what happened to cause the elevator to end up with a permanent out of order sticker on its doors. Advertisement Advertisement However Leonard finally gave in and told Penny what happened in season threes 22nd episode The Staircase Implementation. As it happensit all started with a big bang. Shortly after moving in with Sheldon, Leonard was showing off his latest experiment in the kitchen to Howard and Raj. Sheldon, who at the time wasnt part of the friendship group, stepped in and told him his equation was wrong just as his concoction began to smoke. Panicking, the group ran out into the hallway to get rid of it before it exploded and Sheldon sent it down the elevator, pulling Leonard to safety moments before it exploded. With a simple: Youre welcome, Sheldon went about his day but the group have been in his debt ever since. Well to be fair, a pretty big explosion is going to take some time to fix, its not just a case of replacing a part. Though saying that, it has been 11 years now, so maybe their maintenance man has purely forgotten, or got really, really lost. Its not as if weve ever seen any of the guys chasing them up with a phone call telling them to get it done. In actuality, it proves to be a pretty nifty plot device for the writers as forcing the gang to walk up the stairs gives them time to talk to each other. Advertisement Advertisement The cast have made no secret about the fact that if there was one thing they want to see happen, fixing the elevator is top of the list. However, the writers are keeping very tight-lipped about whats going on. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Johnny Galecki said: The elevator, definitely. Thats one of my wishes for the final episode. The elevator gets fixed, at least for a minute, and then we all get stuck in it. More: The Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Theorys Rati Gupta knows exactly what shes taking from the set when it ends The Big Bang Theory cast send heartwarming videos to boy battling inoperable brain tumour The Big Bang Theory's Rati Gupta rules out baby for Anu and Raj ahead of season 12 finale Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny, also wanted to see the lift finally gets sorted out and added: It would be a great show ending for me! To be honest that does sound like a very Big Bang Theory way to see the show come to an end. The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays on CBS in the US and at a later date in the UK. If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Kaley Cuoco shares epic behind-the-scenes photo from star-studded The Big Bang Theory final season and fans are chuffed MORE: Life After The Big Bang Theory: What Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki and co will be up to when the series ends
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https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/25/will-big-bang-theorys-elevator-ever-fixed-remember-loved-plot-device-sitcom-history-8362871/
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Was Man Utd win over Arsenal in Champions League the moment Sir Alex Ferguson peaked?
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Man Utd beat Arsenal 3-1 in 2009 in another Sir Alex Ferguson masterclass Manchester United and Arsenals rivalry used to be blockbuster. And, when the two teams met in the Champions League in 2009, the fixture generated much excitement around the footballing world. The Red Devils travelled to the Emirates in May 1-0 up from the first leg. John OShea, whose deft chip had sealed a 4-2 win over the Gunners four years previously, had given United a crucial advantage. Arsenal were confident in the build-up to the return fixture, however. They had home advantage. They had the likes of Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie to cause havoc. And, in Arsene Wenger, they had a manager with the astuteness to steer them through. How wrong they were. United were simply unstoppable at the Emirates. Park Ji-Sung silenced the crowd early on, stabbing the ball home from close range. And then it became the Cristiano Ronaldo show. A bullet free-kick from 40 yards had Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia flailing. His second goal was the result of a sweeping counter-attack where Wayne Rooneys energy propelled United forwards at blistering speed. After the match, United players were jubilant. They strutted around the Emirates celebrating their triumph and the prospect of another Champions League final. At the time, the Red Devils were Englands leading force. Sir Alex Fergusons side had won two league titles in two years previously. They had claimed the Champions League in 2008. They had won the EFL Cup, Club World Cup and Community Shield already that season. Man Utd hero Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates beating Arsenal a decade ago You could say it was when the Scots era peaked. Think back. Ferguson had United winning trophies, after already steering them to many more. In the years after the Arsenal game, United still won silverware. But it was never with the same swagger, the same style, the same panache as before. Part of that was personnel. United won league titles in 2011 and 2013 but they never - and maybe still have never - replaced Ronaldo. The 2011 triumph was a bizarre one, partly because the Red Devils were just the best of a bad bunch. Man Utd saw the best of Cristiano Ronaldo that night against Arsenal Trending
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https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1077879/Manchester-United-Arsenal-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-news
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Can Comcast Begin Fiscal 2019 On A Strong Note?
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Comcast reported solid fourth quarter results on January 23, as both its earnings per share and revenues came in ahead of market expectations. The companys consolidated revenues grew 5% year-over-year (y-o-y) and its adjusted EBITDA grew 11% y-o-y on a pro forma basis, reflecting solid growth at Cable Communication and NBCUniversal in Q4. The company benefited from continuing gains in Broadband revenues, which offset declines in video revenues as residential subscribers continued cutting cords. On the other hand, NBCUniversal saw strong results in television (broadcast and cable) amid higher distribution, advertising, and licensing revenues. In addition, cost cuts helped the company post adjusted EPS growth of 36% y-o-y to $0.64. Going forward, we expect the company to benefit from this positive momentum and post improved growth in sales and earnings in Q1 driven by its streaming products and X1 services and cost-saving measures. Comcasts management also offered details on its streaming video service that the company expects to launch in the first half of 2020. The service is expected to include current and past seasons of shows seen on NBCU networks as well as some original content. Comcasts stock was down over 15% over the course of 2018, largely due to weakness in its pay-TV business as a result of cord cutting. Our $42 price estimate for Comcasts stock is around 15% ahead of the current market price. We have created an interactive dashboard on What To Expect From Comcasts Q1, which outlines our forecasts for the companys Q1 and full-year fiscal 2019 results. You can modify our forecasts to see the impact any changes would have on the companys earnings and valuation. Expected Trends In Q1 We forecast Comcast to report a minor loss in cable TV subscribers due to expected competition and cord cutting measures in Q1. While cord cutting is likely to weigh on its revenues, the popularity of Xfinity Double and Triple Play bundling should continue to largely offset these declines. Accordingly, we expect the subscriber losses to have a fairly limited impact on the companys top line going forward. In addition, Comcast is also aggressively pursuing over-the-top streaming services, with the launch of Xfinity Stream and the recently rolled out Xfinity Instant TV across markets that the company already serves. Although the company currently does not provide the breakdown for its OTT service, we believe that the streaming service will be instrumental in retaining and attracting consumers for Comcasts cable offerings. NBCUniversals cable network and broadcasting revenues are likely to improve as the increases in contractual rates could increase revenues in Q1. We expect Theme Parks to boost the companys revenues in Q1, driven by the continued increase in guest spending and higher guest attendance in the U.S. FY 2019 Outlook In 2019, Comcasts Filmed Entertainment segment boasts of a strong slate which includes the third installment of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and the return of the Fast and Furious franchise. The Theme Parks segment has some attractions opening, with Jurassic World in Hollywood and a Harry Potter Coaster in Orlando. Overall, we expect Comcasts theme parks to be an important driver for its long-term growth due to its international expansion as well. The company plans to partner with Nintendo at Universal Studios Japan and open a new large park in Beijing by 2020. We expect the company to benefit from its streaming and broadband services for full-year 2019, and we expect the company to grow at a similar pace as 2018 going forward. We expect Comcast to generate around $95 billion in revenues in 2019. Of the total expected revenues in 2019, we forecast $57 billion for the Cable TV business and nearly $38 billion for NBCUniversal. Comcasts Cable TV business provides video, high-speed internet, voice, and security and automation services to residential customers under the Xfinity brand. We estimate an average count of 21 million video subscribers in the U.S. with an average monthly fee of $85, translating into $21.4 billion in video revenues for fiscal 2019. Comcasts video subscribers and voice subscribers have been declining modestly over the last three years due to stiff competition in live streaming media and telecom alternatives, respectively. We expect this trend to continue in the near term as well. However, we expect Comcasts high-speed internet customers to grow going forward, as the company could benefit from initiatives such as Xfinity Mobile, a wireless service through 16 million WiFi hot-spots. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/25/can-comcast-begin-fiscal-2019-on-a-strong-note/
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How Appropriate Is The Objective Of Maximizing Societal Health Outcomes?
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Given a set of available healthcare resources, surely maximizing societal health outcomes is a reasonable objective. The conventional utilitarian approach to economic analysis evaluates healthcare interventions with the aim to maximize the efficiency of the healthcare system in order to produce the greatest population-wide number of a given outcome, such as the Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY), given certain budget constraints. In effect, what matters according to this narrative is the sum total of the population health and not the distribution of health. Judging from where a disproportionate number of health dollars are spent, namely, difficult to treat conditions that are life-threatening, rare diseases, and end-of-life care, healthcare systems don't operate under a maximization principle. Legislators, for that matter, tend not to think in maximizing terms. Federal and state laws often serve to protect those with severe disabilities, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases by directing funds to shield such patients from the vagaries of the market; for example, mandates to cover cancer and HIV drugs, and Medicare Part D's protected classes clause which ensures that "all or substantially all" drugs in six broad therapeutic categories are covered by Medicare plans. As Professor Tony Culyer of York University once showed in an enlightening hypothetical example several decades ago, societal health maximization ignores distributional concerns and doesn't serve those who are in the poorest baseline health states well. Specifically, Culyer compared the objectives health maximization, resource equalization, and health equalization. In the illustrative example, summarized and adapted from Culyer and depicted in the two tables below, policymakers have 20 resource units to distribute across four subgroups of patients. The initial health outcomes total 230 units of, say, QALYs, with a distribution among subgroups A through D as shown in Table 1. Under each societal objective, such as health maximization, there are three columns. The left-hand column shows the baseline health outcome units for each subgroup. The middle column depicts the healthcare resource distribution per subgroup. And, the right-hand column contains the health outcome units per subgroup after healthcare resources have been spent. The marginal products of healthcare resources - or added QALYs accruing to an increments of resources - are listed in Table 2. 1. Distribution of Healthcare Resources Health maximization Health equalization Resource equalization Subgroup A 100 (5) 100 100 (0) 50 100 (5) 100 Subgroup B 80 (10) 100 80 (0) 50 80 (5) 70 Subgroup C 40 (5) 50 40 (5) 50 40 (5) 50 Subgroup D 10 (0) 0 10 (15) 50 10 (5) 10 Aggregate health outcomes and resources allocated 230 (20) 250 230 (20) 200 230 (20) 230 In parentheses, the allocated healthcare resource units are enumerated. 2. Marginal Products of Deployed Healthcare Resources Effect of doing nothing Increasing resources from 0 to 5 Increasing resources from 5 to 10 Increasing resources from 10 to 15 Subgroup A -50 50 30 10 Subgroup B -30 20 30 10 Subgroup C -10 20 30 10 Subgroup D -10 10 30 10 When compared to the two other policy objectives, health maximization yields the greatest overall health outcomes across the population, but also leads to the largest disparity between different subgroups of patients. Subgroup D dies as a result of having no resources allocated to it, while subgroups A, B, and C each gain in terms of health outcomes. Health equalization implies spending nothing at all on the first two subgroups, while spending everything on subgroups C and D. This leveling approach reduces the health of subgroups A and B, while raising the levels of C and D. Resource equalization provides an equal amount of resources to all four subgroups. Here, A and D remain the same in terms of health outcome, while B loses and C gains. In sum, health maximization bumps up against considerable distributional challenges, because it would allocate healthcare resources strictly in accordance with their marginal product, i.e., where they have the most benefit. Though healthcare systems often attempt to maximize health outcomes within specific disease areas or subgroups of patients, for equity reasons healthcare systems generally allocate a disproportionate amount of resources to those in poor health states where the yield (marginal product) of current treatments is usually low.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2019/01/25/how-appropriate-is-the-objective-of-maximizing-societal-health-outcomes/
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What Is Kimberly-Clark's Outlook For 2019?
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Kimberly-Clarks stock price dropped slightly after it reported its fourth quarter results, as revenues came ahead of market expectations but earnings per share missed. In Q4, the companys net sales declined marginally year-over-year to $4.6 billion, primarily due to a difficult environment particularly significant commodity inflation and negative foreign currency effects. However, the companys organic sales grew 3% y-o-y, as a 3% improvement in net selling prices was offset by a 4% decline due to currency effects. During Q4, the company saw gains in the K-C Professional segment, which was more than offset by weakness in the Personal Care and Customer Tissues segments. In terms of bottom line, Kimberly-Clarks adjusted earnings per share grew slightly, driven by cost savings and reduced overhead spending. Kimberly-Clarks stock price declined slightly over the course of 2018, due to falling prices and rising cost inflation. Our $107 price estimate for Kimberly-Clarks stock is slightly below the current market price. We have created an interactive dashboard on What To Expect From Kimberly-Clarks Q1, which outlines our forecasts for the companys Q1 and full-year fiscal 2019 results. You can modify our forecasts to see the impact any changes would have on the companys earnings and valuation. In Q1, we expect Kimberly-Clarks revenues to decline slightly on the back of continued declines in the Personal Care segment. In addition, commodity costs, foreign exchange challenges, and transportation costs could likely persist in Q1, which could impact the companys growth rates. What To Expect In Fiscal 2019 For full-year 2019, Kimberly-Clark expects its total sales to decline 1% to 2%, including an expected 3% to 4% headwind from currencies. In addition, the company also plans to grow its organic sales by 2% and achieve a higher net selling price of at least 3% in the same period. Further, the company also plans to grow adjusted operating profit by 1% to 4% in fiscal 2019, of which commodities and currencies in total could be a headwind to operating profit of about 20%. All in all, Kimberly-Clark is targeting full-year adjusted earnings per share of $6.50 to $6.70 and diluted earnings per share of $4.85 to $5.35. Overall, we expect the environment to remain challenging for the company in 2019, although better than in 2018. Margin Pressure To Continue Kimberly-Clarks full-year gross margin was 33.2%, down 270 basis points y-o-y. The primary reason for this decline was higher pulp and raw material cost and inflation commodities were a drag of $795 million for the year. We expect the continued cost pressure from inflation in raw materials and input costs to hurt the companys margins going forward, as the company has guided for its full-year commodity inflation to fall in the range of $300 million to $400 million in 2019. In addition, some big-box retailers aggressive pushes towards launching their own private-label products could impact Kimberly-Clarks shelf space, which could also put pressure on margins. Growth In Cost Savings Program In 2018, Kimberly-Clark achieved $510 million of cost savings, which include its FORCE and Restructuring program savings. The company had announced its restructuring program as part of a multi-year cost savings target, whereby it set a four-year cost savings target of more than $1.5 billion. These savings are to be achieved by improving productivity at manufacturing facilities, optimizing raw material and product design costs, generating benefits from procurement activities and improving distribution efficiencies. Kimberly-Clark expects the program to generate annual pre-tax cost savings of $500 million to $550 million by the end of 2021 through workforce reductions in the range of 5000 to 5500, or about 12% to 13% of its total workforce. Additionally, this program is expected to broadly impact all of the companys business segments and organizations in each major geography. For 2019, the company is targeting to deliver $400 million to $450 million of total cost savings. This includes FORCE savings of $300 million to $325 million and restructuring savings of $100 million to $125 million. In addition, supply chain related restructuring activities and savings are also expected to ramp up in 2019. Growth In Emerging Markets Markets outside North America remain an area of strength for the company, as almost 48% of total sales are observed here. In 2018, Kimberly-Clarks organic sales grew 2% y-o-y in emerging markets, compared to 1% y-o-y growth in developed markets. The company is looking at developing and emerging markets to drive growth, as it grapples with weak pricing and market saturation in the North American market. The company has strong growth prospects in markets such as China and Brazil, primarily due to low penetration of its category products in these regions, and the likely increase in the consumption of these products with economic development. We expect this to be a key driver for Kimberly-Clarks long-term growth. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/25/what-is-kimberly-clarks-outlook-for-2019/
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How far is Bishop George Bells reputation restored? When is a cloud not a cloud?
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This is a guest post by Synod members Martin Sewell and David Lamming. _______ The Church of England has now published the Briden Report into the further allegations against Bishop George Bell, and as with the report of Lord Carlile, Archbishop Justin Welby and the Bishop of Chichester have immediately issued statements of their own in response to the conclusion that the fresh allegations do not reach the ordinary standards of proof which are routinely required in the civil courts to enable a safe finding to be made against those accused. Few can fail to welcome the closure that this report appears to bring to these matters, based upon what it is possible to state with any reasonable degree of confidence, given that six or seven decades have passed since the events in question, with all the problems, lack of clarity and potential for injustice that such delay inevitably brings. In the Carlile Report, Professor Anthony Maden, a leading forensic psychiatrist with a specialism in false memory issues, had put his finger on the key evidential requirement for any such historic case corroboration. If one is to avoid guilt by denunciation, one should look to find some extraneous evidence, whether witness, diary date, physical evidence or closely contemporaneous complaint. He explained the reason from a psychological/ psychiatric perspective very clearly: The delays in reporting in this case are exceptional. Memory is not reliable over such long periods of time and the only way to establish that the allegations are true would be through corroborating evidence Memory is not reliable over such long periods of time. Recall is an active mental process in which memories tend to become distorted with time to fit the individuals beliefs, needs and values. Both the content and the meaning of recollections change with time. Events can and do acquire a significance years later that they did not have at the time (Carlile Report, para 178). These observations made in respect of the original allegations are no less pertinent to the subsequent complaints which were of similar antiquity. We should further have regard to the well-established principle that the more serious the allegation, the more cogent should be the evidence necessary to established it: in simple terms, one might require less evidence to believe an archbishop guilty of a parking infringement than that he indulged in devil worship. Few allegations are more serious, or indeed destructive of reputation, than a suggestion of child abuse, and the evidence required to establish it is, and should be, proportionately robust. On this basis alone, based upon the age of the new allegations and the delay in bringing them until after the original allegations by Carol were made public, we were naturally mindful of the observations of Lady Elizabeth Butler Sloss during the House of Lords debate on the first set of allegations: sometimes one just has to accept that as a result of the passage of time, we simply cannot know the truth. That notwithstanding, Tim Bridens report is actually forceful in rejecting the new allegations as inconsistent, inaccurate, unconvincing or, in some cases, mere rumour. See, too, his summary of decision on page 23 where he uses the terms: unverified by independent sources and unreliable; inherently unconvincing and without corroboration, and unsubstantiated. These are trenchant words addressed to allegations that after thorough investigation can only be described as thin. Given human nature, and the sensitivity of any complaint against Church or clergy in these febrile times, it is probably not surprising that an effort is being made by the Church of England to temporise between those protective of the Bishops considerable reputation and the not inconsiderable number of victims of other scandals, many with well attested stories, complaining that traditionally victims have had great difficulty in being taken seriously by the Church. Archbishop Justin identifies what he perceives as the lingering problem: This very difficult issue therefore leaves the church with an impossible dilemma which I hope people with different perspectives on it will try to understand. Surely, however, these problems were of the churchs own making, by reason of the various deficiencies within its original process and a core group investigation that transgressed so many of the principles of a fair and just inquiry. By characterising the dilemma as impossible, the Archbishop seems to be seeking to justify his earlier omission to issue a retraction that George Bell remained under a significant cloud. That characterisation was injudicious at the time and remains problematic. Bishop Martin complements the Archbishops observation: We have all been diminished by this case. The legitimate quest for certainty has been defeated by the nature of the case and the passage of time. Bishop Bell cannot be proven guilty, nor can it be safely claimed that the original complainant has been discredited. There is an uncertainty which cannot be resolved. We ask those who hold opposing views on this matter to recognize the strength of each others commitment to justice and compassion. Some will argue that it is disingenuous to say that it cannot be safely claimed that the original complainant has been discredited when the original process inaugurated by the church was so deeply flawed and for which, to his credit, Archbishop Justin has now unreservedly apologised. Surely what the Bishops cannot now do is to rely on the inadequacies of the Bell 1 investigation to justify these self-justifying comments. The Church of England has already learned much though still not quite enough. The deficiencies in the management of proper process identified by Lord Carlile were noted and avoided in the approach of Timothy Briden. This report is as robust in the way that the first Bell core group findings were weak. Dr Warner identifies important aspects: In particular, we have learned that the boundaries of doubt and certainty have to be stated with great care, that the dead and those who are related to them have a right to be represented, and that there must be a balanced assessment of the extent to which it would be in the public interest to announce the details of any allegation. This is good, but we ought not to ignore that old habits died hard. When the fresh allegations arose, we had to work very hard to reverse the original decision that the church, not the last surviving relative of Bishop Bell, Mrs Barbara Whitley, should nominate who should represent the late Bishops interests in the new investigation. Fortunately, joint representations by ourselves, Desmond Browne QC, Bells biographer Andrew Chandler, and Lord Carlile himself, finally resolved the matter in accordance with Mrs Whitleys wishes. Happily, she, unlike Bishop Bells chaplain and private secretary Canon Adrian Carey, lived to see diligent due process applied and better justice according to the law resulting. She and Bell supporters may not be so pleased with the gloss being applied by Church leaders. Even with the Briden investigation we had a degree of secrecy and delay. There was initial reluctance to identify the investigating officer or the reviewer. The estimated timetable was not disclosed, nor were the terms of reference published until now, despite the possibility of appropriate protection of identities being employed, which no campaigners we are aware of objected to. As for delay, the announcement by the National Safeguarding Team (NST) that there was to be an independent investigation was made on 31st January 2018, yet it took another six months before Mr Briden was formally instructed (on 30th July 2018). By then, Sussex Police, with whom the 31st January statement said the NST would be work[ing] collaboratively had reported to the church (on 20th March 2018) that they had carried out a proportionate investigation, which had been done thoroughly and sensitively and that there were no current safeguarding issues. Transparency and accountability are much praised within the church, yet even with a review which is likely to gain much approval, its reasoning being set out with great clarity, we can still see that its genesis showed a reluctance to embrace these important principles. As set out above, their was chronic delay and cards being played closer to the chest than was needed. It was very hard to question the evolving process. We do try to give credit where it is due. When we first joined together to raise concerns about the allegations against Bishop Bell at the General Synod, we struggled to impress on the Bishops the value of involving specialist lawyers from the earliest stage. We hope the clarity brought by both report authors will have established the value of our initial insistence that these matters need early professional expertise from the outset. Without dwelling excessively on this, we note with regret that the Church of England still employs not a single specialist safeguarding lawyer. We are still beset with the problem that the decision does not bring closure, for unlike the courts we still have a but. Those devoted to his memory will still want to see his memory revered in the Cathedral where he served with distinction for many years. Not unreasonably, they want the property of significant value specifically gifted to the Diocese by a private benefactor as a memorial to the Bishop, to have its original name George Bell House restored from the more prosaic 4 Canon Lane, by which it is currently known. They make similar representations about a local school and a school house. Why not? they ask. Does the Church not subscribe to the principle of innocent until proven guilty? Survivors generally complain of a number of bishops against whom clergy discipline complaints have been raised. All have been dismissed: some after full evaluation of the evidence, but others evading scrutiny by pleading the rule that ordinarily allegations must be brought within 12 months. It is reportedly a relatively high bar to clear. These may, of course, have concerned less grave matters (though serious enough to the complainants), but surely critics will ask if any of these bishops are still officially considered to be under a cloud, especially those whose cases were defeated not on merit but on the application of the time limitation only. He has not had those allegations upheld. Superficially it may seem attractive to seek favour with the victim community in such a highly publicised statement case. It could curry favour with those who have been treated so poorly by the Church in the past to have such a figure placed under a cloud. Some do still assert that the victim must be believed contrary to the recommendations of Sir Richard Henriques in his report on the Met Polices Operation Midland, as approved by Lord Carlile. However, there is another strand within the victim community that will see the willingness to treat the dead differently from the living as proof of the purple circle willing to sacrifice the dead to better protect living colleagues. The allegations were extremely serious. Archbishop Justin is to be applauded for treating the matter so seriously: we cannot ignore the fact that the evidence in all cases was not strong. Justice is a balance: if one finds it hard to administer coolly and dispassionately, it might be an argument for placing such decisions away from the Church. A pastors heart is a great thing, but perhaps not in one necessarily exercising judicial decisions and commentary. The suspicion of dual standards between the living and the dead is illustrated by the case of the former Bishop of Gloucester, Michael Perham, who was the subject of similar allegations which were also found unreliable after investigation. Upon his retirement he received a standing ovation from General Synod, with Archbishop Justin declaring that he was glad to thank Bishop Perham wholeheartedly for his ministry after all the investigations and inquiries had cleared him. The Archbishop was, of course, dealing with someone he knew; a much-liked and respected colleague. But his acknowledgment that Bishop Perham had been cleared followed the well established rule: innocent until proven guilty. It was good to see a faithful servant of the Church vindicated, but is hard to see how that precedent differs from that of George Bell, save that one was personally known to many of those insisting innocent until proven guilty at the time, whereas few of us will have a personal attachment to a man who died in 1958. If there is a clear and proper distinction between the cases, it needs to be fully articulated. As things stand, the discrepancy between the cases is hard to reconcile. It seems to us that a black-and-white approach to these matters has the considerable merit of certainty, whereas once one moves into gradations of grey we will be asking for trouble. That is why an official approach that accepts the quasi-judicial decision is probably the wisest course of action in such cases. What one thinks privately and individually is, of course, entirely a matter of conscience. These matters will no doubt be further examined in the days ahead. They may even reappear on the General Synod agenda.
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http://archbishopcranmer.com/bishop-george-bell-reputation-restored-cloud/
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Could expectant muthers in Ipswich benefit from a Call the Midwife-style experience?
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Opinion Do we need an omnipresent midwife or are we just making a fuss about motherhood. Picture: PA Archant Call the Midwife represents an ideal world where the midwife is always there: always supportive and keen to do whatever she can to help, but this week a new survey has revealed two of three new mums feel they were under supported. Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. Here Liz Nice looks at the national midwife shortage and asks whether we could all benefit from the service offered by the nuns and midwives from Nonnatus House. Home births are fine, hospital is only there if there is a complication, such as the sickle cell anaemia story we saw in last weeks episode, and Dr Turner can always be called upon as well if things go awry. There are clinics regularly where babies are weighed and advice is dispensed and all around are happy, smiling mothers with their apple-cheeked little chubsters punching the air with joy. But that was back then. A scene from Call the Midwife Picture: OLLIE UPTON A scene from Call the Midwife Picture: OLLIE UPTON Nowadays, an omnipresent midwife is becoming as rare as hens teeth and, according to a survey by Private Midwives, mothers are feeling the lack. Of course, as a private midwives provider, Private Midwives are hardly going to say we dont need more midwives. But there is a national shortage and it is concerning to hear that from a survey of 300 women, two out of three mums felt under supported during their pregnancy, while over half of mothers are consulting the internet for help because it is not forthcoming elsewhere. The Internet is no substitute for someone reassuring you in person over the worries (and piles) that are keeping you awake half the night, or actually showing you how to breastfeed another stick used to beat new mothers if, for whatever reason, they struggle to get their babies to latch on. My personal experience when I had my babies 12 and nine years ago was that I rarely saw the same midwife twice and didnt know any of the several midwives who delivered my babies from Adam. It was my other half who helped me persevere with breast-feeding and we got there in the end, though neither of us had much of a clue. But this is not to say I had a bad experience. I was an older mother, desperate for a baby, and reasonably chilled about the whole thing, thanks as well to having an un-alarmist and supportive mother who made pregnancy and childcare an adventure to be embraced, rather than a list of worries and fears to be overcome. In some ways, we do make an awful fuss about motherhood. For most of us, its the most natural thing in the world, as long as we pay no heed to the NCT Nazis who go on about pain-free childbirth and organic baby food and the need to be an endlessly overflowing milk cow. But any woman would benefit from the Call the Midwife experience, if only it were still available, because it celebrates motherhood and women and the greatest achievement any of us will ever have. Sadly, that world is now lost to us though, which is why we all like watching it on the telly so much.
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https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/liz-nice-debates-childbirth-nct-and-call-the-midwife-1-5863392
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Are cargo bikes the future for urban deliveries?
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Carlton Reid thinks so, but the cars won't make room without a fight. Now bike expert Carlton Reid answers the question, concluding that Cargobikes Not Drones Are The Future For Urban Deliveries. He relies on a big study out of the Netherlands, which suggests that electric cargo bikes could change deliveries. Reid writes: E-cargobikes fit the bill. Their 350kg [770 lbs] capacity is not weedy in the Netherlands, the average van carries as little as 130kg per trip. And e-cargobikes are nimble, which will become increasingly important as more and more of us opt to live cheek by jowl in cities, where road space will always be in short supply. City Logistics: Light and Electric/ City Logistics: Light and Electric/ CC BY 1.0 The study, City Logistics: Light and Electric concludes that Light Electric Freight Vehicles (LEFVs) could replace 10 to 15 percent of delivery vehicles. "The industry sectors with most potential in city logistics are food, construction, services, non-food retail and post and parcel delivery. It is estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the trips with a delivery vehicle in cities are suitable for cost-effective deployment of LEFVs." There are questions of where they would go and how they would integrate with existing traffic. Certainly, nobody wants them clogging the bike lanes or parked on sidewalks. Urban infrastructure and traffic rules are not yet prepared for an increase in the number of LEFVs. There is uncertainty over which part of the streetscape LEFVs will be allowed to use to drive, load and unload; and furthermore there is a shortage of parking facilities. Further speed limits on the road, the construction of bicycle streets and installation of loading and unloading spaces for LEFVs offer opportunities for better integration of LEFVs in traffic. The city classifies this as a two-lane street. But because of parking & double parking its actually *six* lanes devoted to moving & storing cars. New York has space for expanded sidewalks, bus lanes, & safe bike lanes. We just prioritize the wrong mode. pic.twitter.com/inRtOFselz Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) January 25, 2019 Of course, in many cities there is lots of room for bikes, e-scooters and cargo bikes; you just have to take away a bit of car storage and make some decisions about what the future of transportation and logistics are. The UK Roads minister is quoted by Reid: "Encouraging electric delivery bikes on to our city streets will cut traffic and improve air quality, and will show how these vehicles have the potential to play an important role in the zero-emission future of this country." In the USA, everybody is writing about Amazon's test of a new delivery drone, six of which are rolling around a suburban neighbourhood with wide smooth empty sidewalks on a nice sunny day. The customer has to come out to the sidewalk and open it to get her package, and it doesn't actually hold very much. All of these new technologies suffer from the same problem: they are all competing for space in the road allowance. I wrote about earlier when the Starship Robot was launched: Starship Industries Starship Industries We all know the story about how a hundred years ago, roads were shared. People walked in them, kids played in them, vendors set up pushcarts in them. Then along came the car, the invention of jaywalking, and people were pushed off the roads onto sidewalks. Then more cars came and they even took away most of the sidewalks to widen the roads. Reid does discuss the issues of sharing road space and quotes the study which notes that There are questions about the safety of LEFVs when they use the road together with regular car and bicycle traffic. And resistance to their use on already crowded cycling infrastructure, especially when the LEFVs involved are large. NYPD on ebikes: we get so many complaints, our hands are tied, we are REQUIRED to enforce against ebikes, the law is the law! NYPD on cars parked on sidewalk: omg people complain too much, these weirdos should grow up and get a life, business is businesshttps://t.co/OcC58BpZ6S macartney (@macartney) January 24, 2019 In the end, the most serious issue in our cities will not be whether we are getting delivery by truck or LEFV or drone or e-bike, but whether the politicians, the police and the public will make room for them. Lloyd Alter/ Life in the Fedex lane/ Lloyd Alter/ Life in the Fedex lane/ CC BY 2.0 It isn't about the vehicle; It is about a fundamental reassessment of how our road space is distributed and regulated. Until then, I will still be riding in the Fedex lane.
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https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/are-cargo-bikes-future-urban-deliveries.html
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When is GLOW season 3 released on Netflix?
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Alison Brie, Marc Maron and the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are officially headed to Las Vegas for season 3 of Netflixs GLOW. Advertisement Despite ending season two on what felt like a rather final note, as the girls ventured to Sin City to put on a live wrestling show following the cancellation of their short-lived TV series, the return was confirmed by the shows official Twitter account in August. Let's do this. #GLOWS3 pic.twitter.com/tZhWzOJGHu GLOW (@GlowNetflix) August 20, 2018 The second season reached new heights as Alison Bries Ruth Wilder and Betty Gilpins Debbie Eagan attempted to mend their complex friendship, and were excited to see where show-runners Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive take us next time out. Find out everything you need to know about GLOW season 3 below. Well, GLOW wouldnt be GLOW without Alison Bries Ruth Wilder, Betty Gilpins Debbie Eagan and Marc Marons Sam Sylvia, who are all expected to return for season 3. On top of this, the rest of the ensemble cast, including Rhonda (Kate Nash), Carmen (Britney Young), Sheila (Gayle Rankin), Tamm (Kia Stevens), Melanie (Jackie Tohn) and Bash (Chris Lowell), to name a few. No plot details for season 3 have been revealed as yet, beyond the fact that the gang are headed to Vegas, but there are certainly a couple of loose ends from season 2 that need tying up. Ruth is about to enter a long-distance relationship with moustachioed cameraman Russell, so the door for anything romantic with Sam looks like it is now firmly closed. Theres also the small matter of newlyweds Bash and Rhonda, who got married in the season 2 finale to enable Rhonda to stay in the country, and seem to be trying to give a relationship a go, too. However, there were hints throughout the season that Bash was struggling to understand his own sexuality, after it was revealed that his friend Florian had died of AIDS. Without really clarifying anything, the writers seem to be hinting that Bash rushed into the marriage with Rhonda as a way out of accepting who he really is. And, of course, theres the small matter of having to actually pull a GLOW live show together Advertisement Watch this space for updates on the new season as they come in
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https://www.radiotimes.com/news/on-demand/2019-01-25/glow-s3/
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Did Dave Dombrowski close the door on Craig Kimbrel's return?
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originally appeared on nbcsportsboston.com Judging by Dave Dombrowski's most recent comments, it doesn't look like Craig Kimbrel will be back in Boston for 2019. Scroll to continue with content Ad The Red Sox President of Baseball Operations already implied earlier in the offseason that there would be no big expenditure for a closer. That insinuation now appears to be more definitive. Dombrowski appeared on Thursday's episode of Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney, where he was asked whether he anticipates the team making any additions before the 2019 season. "I don't, really," Dombrowski said. "I mean, I would gather that if we did anything, they would be bullpen oriented. That's where we've lost a couple guys, but we do like some of the people we have in our 'pen and some guys coming back. And I think the rest of the club is pretty well stabilized so I don't really see where we would make any moves. So that's the one area where you keep an open mind to." "I don't anticipate a large expenditure there. I think it'd be more big-league roster invites and see if they can make the club. But of course you keep a pulse on everything taking place and if there's one area, that would be it." If Dombrowski indeed decides to pass on Kimbrel, that means it'll likely be Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes, and Tyler Thornburg competing for the closer role. Kimbrel has been linked to the Phillies as a possible destination. Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.
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https://sports.yahoo.com/did-dave-dombrowski-close-door-230043817.html?src=rss
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How would a no-deal Brexit directly affect Norfolk residents?
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Anti Brexit demonstrators outside the Houses of Parliament in London before Tuesday's commons vote on Prime minister Theresa May's Brexit deal. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire As a number of amendments designed to rule out a no-deal Brexit are set to be tabled in parliament on Tuesday, Geraldine Scott looks at how leaving the EU without a plan in place could impact Norfolk. Share Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. Health Norfolk hospitals depend on the European Union for more than one in 10 doctors. And data last year showed 13.6pc of frontline staff - that is doctors, nurses, and midwives - at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kings Lynn were EU nationals. This compared to 8.5pc at the James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) in Gorleston, and 7pc at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH). While the government dropped a 65 cost for EU nationals to apply for settled status, many Norfolk employees still feel uneasy. Danny Mortimer, chief executive of trust representatives NHS Employers, warning that if numbers of nurses continued to fall then waiting times would go up dramatically. We would have to close capacity because we couldnt man the beds or run the theatres. Costs would go up because we had to rely on agency staff and they are more expensive. Peter Passingham, regional organiser for Unison, said: Our health staff are already up against it with all the talk of a no-deal Brexit and the farce Theresa May has created at Westminster. But the belated decision to drop the charges for EU nationals to stay living and working in their new homes is a rare piece of good news. Ministers must make sure the registration process is simple and makes European workers feel welcome. Norfolk cannot afford to lose valuable staff from its already strained health and social care sectors. Norfolk patients might also see shortages in their medications. While Tony Dean, chief officer at the Norfolk Local Pharmaceutical Committee (LPC), said there were a number of reasons for medicine shortages, he said Brexit could have an impact as people prepare for what might happen after March 29. Despite being warned not to patients are stockpiling their own medicines, and pharmacists are already sending patients away with half their prescribed drugs, writing IOUs, or in extreme cases sending patients back to the GP for different brands. Fishing A British exit with no deal would automatically bar British boats from fishing in EU waters and EU boats from fishing off Britain. The two main sticking issues for fishermen before Brexit were the free access to British waters allowed to continental boats, which can fish up the six mile limit, and the quotas, which limit the quantities of fish that can be caught. So afterwards more fish will likely be landed by British boats leading to a drop in prices and a cheaper fish and chip supper. However, there is a catch - two thirds of the fish we eat is imported and the cost of this could rise if trade deals are not worked out. Groups have been set up to kick-start the industry in the region again. The first meeting of the Renaissance of East Anglian Fisheries (REAF) steering group met this month. Established following the referendum, REAF has been working towards obtaining funding to allow them to conduct a thorough investigation into the potential impacts and growth of the fishing industry. Paul Lines, chairman of Lowestoft Fish Market Alliance and REAF steering group member, said: I came here [to Lowestoft] in 1974, to a town buoyant from fishing. Every other business had an involvement in the industry and slowly that was eroded by Europe - but we are going to get it back. Manufacturing More than 61,000 people work in manufacturing in Norfolk and Suffolk. The worry is that, like in agriculture, EU workers may not continue in the industry and as UK workers generally expect to be paid more, it could become too expensive for companies to operate in the region. Funding may also be hit - Hethel Engineering Centre is funded by the EU Regional Development Fund and losing eligibility for this money could hit manufacturings competitiveness. For the man on the street this means is wages and overall costs go up, this is likely to be passed on in the final product - so whatever you are buying from cars, to boilers, the price is likely to rise. Widening inequality Some of the richest and poorest parts of Norfolk are separated by just one street. For example, the difference is at its starkest along Dereham Road in Norwich. The Larkman estate area, which includes Motum Road and Beecheno Road is in the 10pc most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. Further north-west along Dereham Road, the part of Costessey around Norwich Road, is in the 20pc least deprived neighbourhoods. The Great Yarmouth area is home to some of the most deprived parts of England, but it is not the same across the board. In two areas - where Southtown meets Great Yarmouth and near Bradwell and Brasenose Avenue - there are huge differences in deprivation. The Brasenose Avenue area is again in the most 10pc deprived neighbourhoods in the country - but to the east, a neighbourhood in Bradwell, is in the least 20pc deprived. But these inequalities look set to rise in the event of a no deal Brexit. Research from consultancy firm Oliver Wyman estimates no deal will cost households 1,000 per year. Even in the most optimistic scenario families would lose 245 each. And Hannah Worsley, from the Norwich Foodbank, said any little change in circumstances could see families needing their services. She said their demand was ever so slightly down on last year but with Universal Credit coming into effect in the city late last year, they expected this would rise. She said: Any little cost will make a massive difference to families who are already struggling. Travel If youre planning on jetting off from Norwich Airport this summer you will need to make sure your passport has more than 15 months left until it expires. Brits with fewer than 15 months may not make it through customs, given changes to passport validity rules in the event of a no deal Brexit on March 29. Additionally, in a bulletin published by the Department for Transport last month, the government admitted that some things may change if the UK leaves the EU without a plan though did not specify how. The statement read: From 29 March 2019, if there is no EU Exit deal, flights should continue as today. Both the UK and EU want flights to continue without any disruption. However, it did advise passengers to take out insurance and check travel information before departing for the airport. On sea and rail overseas travel the message was the same: most passengers should not experience any difference on their journey. The pound In the hours after Britain voted to quit the European Union the pound tanked. It reached a 31-year low as panic took hold mainly due to the shock of the decision taken by the British public. And there was further despair to come in October 2016 a flash crash knocked another 6pc off the pound in comparison to the dollar. When Article 50 was triggered there was even more gloom for the pound. Clearly the financial markets do not like Brexit. But many argued that this revaluing of the pound was long overdue. And when a divorce deal was struck the pound actually rallied. It appears a no-deal Brexit would spark another slump this means more expensive overseas trips and the price of imported products will also increase. Basically, the cost of living would most probably go up. But if a deal is struck the pound is likely to stay reasonably stable and could even begin a slow climb. Food and farming Some food prices could rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit if border friction and tariffs force up costs but equally there have been longer-term concerns of a flood of cheap, low-quality imports from outside the EU which Norfolk farmers could struggle to compete with. The county is a major producer of cereals, vegetables, pigs and poultry, so there could be opportunities to satisfy more of the UKs domestic demand if Norfolk producers can continue to be viable without the EUs farm subsidies which will be phased out after Brexit. While there could be shortages of imported European luxuries like cheese or wine, we have award-winning producers of both of those goods in Norfolk including Fielding Cottages Wensum White goats cheese and Winbirri Vineyards bacchus white wine. But generally farming leaders in East Anglia said a no-deal departure would be catastrophic for the regions food producers, with a temporary ban on exports of meat, dairy, and eggs to the EU, until the UK was listed as an approved third country. This has caused particular concern in the pig sector, with an estimated 20pc of the national herd kept in Norfolk and Suffolk.
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https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/how-will-brexit-affect-people-in-norfolk-1-5866932
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Why is Vanderbilt turning hostile to religion on its campus?
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Once upon a time, American universities encouraged students to create community around common interests and protected the right of student organizations to operate in a manner consistent with their beliefs. But a rising tide of resistance to religious organizations on college campuses, allegedly aimed at reducing intolerance, ironically advances it, fostering an unwelcoming and hostile learning environment for many students and threatening the very existence of religious student organizations. In the fall of 2010, Vanderbilt University began investigating the constitutions of every religious organization on its Nashville, Tenn., campus after a discrimination complaint was filed against a Christian fraternity. During the investigation, the university changed the student organization handbook to remove a section protecting religious association. The university eliminated a clause that read, "In affirming its commitment to this principle [of non-discrimination], the University does not limit freedom of religious association and does not require adherence to this principle by government agencies or external organizations that associate with but are not controlled by the University." In a letter to Vanderbilt students and faculty on Jan. 20, Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos insisted that the university "does not seek to limit anyone's freedom to practice his or her religion. We do, however, require all Vanderbilt registered student organizations to observe our nondiscrimination policy. That means membership in registered student organizations is open to everyone and that everyone, if desired, has the opportunity to seek leadership positions." Contrary to the university's stated goal of inclusion and tolerance, the change in policy jeopardizes the operational freedom of all religious organizations on campus. Patricia Helland, an associate dean who oversees religious life at Vanderbilt, defended the change in an interview saying "organizations can have core beliefs, but that organizations can't require their members or leaders to abide by or adhere to those core beliefs." The answer is: It can't. Vanderbilt's new nondiscrimination policy enables a Jewish student to become president of the Muslim student organization, or a Christian student to become the president of the campus Hindu organization. Vanderbilt's new nondiscrimination policy undermines the very purpose of encouraging students to organize around a common interest, threatening students' ability to create community and develop vibrant supporting and learning environments for themselves. While university administrations and it's not just Vanderbilt; certain universities across America are instituting overly broad, counterproductive nondiscrimination policies seem blind to their own cognitive dissonance, the Supreme Court, fortunately, has acknowledged the fundamental importance to religious entities of government noninterference with their leadership standards. In his concurring opinion in the Jan. 11 decision in Hosanna-Tabor vs. EEOC regarding religious association, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that "a religious body's right to self-governance must include the ability to select, and to be selective about, those who will serve as the very embodiment of its message." University administrators and the activists who are targeting religious organizations with discrimination complaints would have us believe that new anti-discrimination policies are not that big of a deal. But under Vanderbilt's policy, for example, all registered organizations religious, non-religious, fraternities, sororities and political organizations alike must agree to the new policy by April 16. Otherwise, in the name of fairness under these misguided policies, they should be forced off campus. Vanderbilt's new religious nondiscrimination policy is still subject to input from the community (although university officials have denied the local Christian Legal Society president a chance to speak on behalf of the school's religious organizations at an upcoming town hall meeting.) But on many campuses the quest for tolerance has already codified aggressive intolerance, and on many more it could come in the near future. If students are to flourish in a learning environment that values diversity, community and debate, college administrators must return to the nationwide practice of allowing an exemption in their religious nondiscrimination policy for religious organizations organizations whose very reason for existence is to promote a particular religion. Policies like Vanderbilt's irrationally discriminate against such groups, and fail to fulfill universities' duty to protect students' rights to associate and operate under their constitutionally-protected beliefs. Jason Hoyt is the Executive Director of Beta Upsilon Chi, a national Christian fraternity affected by Vanderbilt's change in policy.
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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-is-vanderbilt-turning-hostile-to-religion-on-its-campus
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Whats the Difference Between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?
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Diabetes is a serious and lifelong condition, typically associated with abnormally high levels of glucose, or sugar, in the blood. Although there are numerous similarities between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, its important to note that they are two very distinct conditions, each with its own symptoms and treatments. By understanding these differences and learning the correct treatment strategies for your specific condition, you should be able to manage it more effectively. Here are the main differences between the two most common forms of diabetes. Causes Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, is a chronic illness in which the pancreas is unable to produce insulin a hormone that enables cells to absorb sugar and convert it into energy. Although it can occur at any age, type 1 diabetes is typically diagnosed in younger people. The disease can be caused by a range of factors, including genetics and contact with certain viruses. Similar to type 1, type 2 diabetes is related to the bodys inability to use insulin effectively. Individuals with type 2 diabetes can produce insulin, but it is either resisted by the body or produced at insufficient levels. This is, by far, the most common form of the disease, accounting for roughly 95 percent of all diabetes cases, according to the American Diabetes Association. Although the exact cause is unknown, excess weight and poor diet are thought to contribute to its development. Symptoms While both types of diabetes exhibit similar symptoms, there are a few small, noticeable differences. Like those with type 1 diabetes, type 2 sufferers may experience increased thirst, hunger and frequent urination, as well as weight loss, fatigue and blurred vision. However, while these symptoms often develop very quickly with type 1 diabetes, many individuals can live with type 2 diabetes for years before it is diagnosed. Sufferers of type 2 diabetes may also notice telltale dark patches on the skin around the folds of the body, such as the armpits. If you suspect that you may have diabetes, ask your doctor about getting a blood test. Treatment Unfortunately, both types of diabetes are chronic, lifelong conditions. However, by closely monitoring and managing your blood sugar levels, you can keep the effects of diabetes to a minimum. Since type 1 sufferers are unable to produce insulin properly, they require regular insulin therapy. Insulin levels are generally managed using a combination of rapid-acting and long-acting insulin, in conjunction with intermediate treatments. Managing type 2 diabetes can be less demanding, though it still requires plenty of discipline and determination. Monitoring your glucose levels regularly is essential to preventing dangerous fluctuations. You should be vigilant about eating a healthy diet and trying to exercise regularly. Over time, you should begin to learn how your body responds to specific foods and activities, which will enable you to treat your glucose levels accordingly.
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https://www.foxnews.com/health/whats-the-difference-between-type-1-and-type-2-diabetes
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Why did Fuller's sell its brewing arm to company known for bland beers?
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Fuller's has secured a promise from Asahi to continue brewing at the famous Griffin brewery in London Fuller, Smith & Turner's decision to sell its brewing arm to Asahi of Japan has come as a shock to legions of beer lovers. As Jackie Parker, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale, points out: "Fuller's has been a family brewer in Britain for more than 100 years, and it's a very sad day to see such a well-known, historic and respected name leaving the brewing business." Roger Protz, author of the Good Beer Guide and one of the UK's foremost beer experts, declared himself to be "dumbfounded" by the deal. And Dominic Walsh of The Times, Britain's foremost business journalist covering the leisure and hospitality sector, likened the 250m sale to the ravens leaving the Tower of London. Those were the more polite comments. Beer lovers take the ownership of who brews their favourite tipple exceptionally seriously and social media has been full of anger that Fuller's, still regarded by many as essentially a family company, has sold its brewing business to a major international company best known for making bland lagers. The sale means Fuller's can no longer lay claim to owning London's last family brewery - a proud claim it has made since Young & Co sold its famous Ram brewery in Wandsworth, south London, in 2006. :: Fuller's sells beer business to Asahi for 250m Image: The deal means Fuller's can no longer lay claim to owning London's last family brewery Five years later, when Young's pulled out of brewing altogether, Fuller's published a statement saying: "We've been brewing for 350 years and we're going to continue for 350 more." As it turns out, that pledge has lasted for barely eight years. Fuller's, like Young's, will now be a focused pub, restaurant and hotel operator. Firstly, because Asahi has made a fabulous offer. It is paying getting on for twice what most City analysts had assumed the Fuller's brewing business was worth. The price tag, more than 23 times the cashflow generated by the brewing business, is high by the standards of these deals. Secondly, the brewing business had already become less important to Fuller's as a business. Simon Emeny, the chief executive, pointed out that the group's managed pubs and hotels already contribute 87% of operating profits. Those parts of the business were also growing more strongly than the brewing arm of the company. Operating profits in the brewing arm went backwards in the last full financial year (2017-18) on which the company has reported, while in both 2016-17 and 2015-16, it suffered falling beer and cider volumes. Image: Asahi made a 'fabulous offer' for the London-based brewery business The company has clearly been finding the going tough and the chance to exit brewing at such a full price will have proved irresistible to the Fuller and Turner families who still own just over half the shares in the company. Fuller's has also secured a promise from Asahi to continue brewing at the famous Griffin brewery in Chiswick, west London, although no such pledges appear to have been made about the Dark Star brewery in Sussex that Fuller's acquired only last year. Nor does Asahi appear to have made any promises about the Gales and Seafarers brands that Fuller's acquired with its 92m takeover, 13 years ago, of the Hampshire brewer George Gale & Co. The assumption will be that Asahi is really only interested in the blockbuster London Pride brand. And it is quite a moment for brewing in the capital. The city in which famous names such as Charrington, Watney, Whitbread, Courage and Truman were born now has no locally owned major brewers. Even the sizeable players among the new wave of craft brewers to have emerged in the last decade or so have all fallen into foreign hands, with Camden Town brewery now owned by Budweiser-to-Stella Artois behemoth AB InBev, Beavertown owned by Heineken, the London Fields Brewery is owned by Carlsberg and the Meantime Brewery is now owned by Asahi itself. That is not to say that brewing is in crisis in London or elsewhere. Hundreds of craft brewers have emerged in recent years and the Morning Advertiser, the industry paper, reckons there are now more than 2,000 across the UK - the highest total since the 1930s - including dozens in the capital, including Whitechapel-based One Mile End, Hackney-based Five Points, Battersea-based Sambrook's, Bermondsey-based Kernel Brewery and Ealing-based Weird Beard. But the sale by Fuller's does mark another nail in the coffin of the old "vertically integrated" arrangement in which brewers brewed beer and then sold it in pubs that they owned. Image: Whitbread still operates pubs but the bulk of its sales come from the Premier Inn budget hotel chain This was once the standard business model for the brewing sector until the 1989 Beer Orders broke the power of the "beerage" and resulted in most of the "big six" at that time - Bass, Courage, Scottish & Newcastle, Whitbread, Grand Metropolitan (owner of Watney, Mann & Truman) and Allied Breweries - eventually getting out of brewing altogether. None of those companies still exists in the form they did 30 years ago. Whitbread still operates pubs but the bulk of its sales come from the Premier Inn budget hotel chain. Bass became Intercontinental Hotel Group. Allied sold itself to Carlsberg. Grand Met and Courage both sold their brewing arms to Scottish & Newcastle, the last of the big six, which was bought by Carlsberg and Heineken in 2008. Some smaller regional players, such as Yorkshire-based Samuel Smith's, Kent-based Shepherd Neame, Suffolk-based Adnams and Bristol-based Butcombe, are still set up in this way. But the only genuinely major national players to still have a "vertically integrated" model of brewing and running pubs are Marston's and Greene King. And, having seen the spike in Fuller's shares today, it would be remarkable if they were not giving some thought to offloading their brewing arms too.
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https://news.sky.com/story/why-did-fullers-sell-its-brewing-arm-to-company-known-for-bland-beers-11617263
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Should steroid users be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?
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The Baseball Hall of Fame revealed its Class of 2019 in late January, and there are a few notorious names on the ballots. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are infamous steroid users, but they are still garnering votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Many believe steroid users shattered the integrity of the game and should not be honored among the game's greatest players. Others believe they have paid the price, and their greatness deserves to be recognized. PERSPECTIVES Baseball is a game of integrity and honor. There is no room for cheaters. Steroid users represent an era of players who didn't respect the game enough to play it the right way. Instead of earning their way with talent and hard work, they turned to substances to get money and glory. They may have gotten numbers, but those numbers mean nothing because they were ill-conceived. Baseball has lost its way by thinking that the Steroid Era was acceptable because everyone was doing it. The bottom line is that steroid users cheated, and cheaters should not be inducted into the Hall of Fame. If you ever failed a test, got suspended, or admitted to using performance enhancers you should NOT be in the hall of fame. No hard feelings but you disgraced the integrity of the game, your stats are tainted. You don't deserve the honor. -- Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher22) January 18, 2019 It is pretty rich that baseball players of yesteryear are complaining about steroid use when they weren't clean themselves. Most players took "greenies" or amphetamines in order to gain an unfair advantage against those who wouldn't. The hypocrisy of those players has no merit in the discussion of letting steroids users into the Hall of Fame. The reality is that players who played in the Steroid Era made it more popular with their long bombs and incredible pitching. Steroids might make you bigger and stronger, but it doesn't help with seeing a pitch and making contact with it. It doesn't help curve a ball more. It still takes an immense amount of talent to be a great player. If steroids helped so much, then everyone would be a Hall of Famer. They may not have been clean, but Steroid Era greats still belong in the Hall of Fame. COLUMN: It's past time for Bonds, Clemens to earn Hall of Fame induction The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.
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https://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2019/01/should_steroid_users_be_induct.html
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Who Are The Black Israelites?
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The Black Israelites are the group of black men who intimidated the Covington Catholic high school boys during the MAGA hat debacle at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. They were shown on the extended footage calling them derogatory names such as faggots, crackers and incest babies. They rant about a whole host of subjects including Halloween, saying This is a license for our women to dress up like the whores that they truly want to be like. Theyre also against interracial relationships and have controversial views on Jesus, complex geopolitical economics, parenting and Christmas. Watch our video and check out some of their stances on such issues. (RELATED: Bar Hopping With Liberals On Election Night) Also dont forget to watch some of The Daily Caller News Foundations other videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you never miss out. SUBSCRIBE HERE! The Libertarian View: MAGA Hat Madness Why Walls Work Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
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https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/25/who-are-the-black-israelites/
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How Affected Will Sports Media Be By Super Bowl Air Travel Amidst Government Shutdown?
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As much as sportswriters get razzed about complaining about air traffic delays, they have a point. Getting stuck in an endless delay loop is brutal, and the fact that you are privileged enough to cover games for a living isnt exactly a consolation in the moment for having your life put on hold by factors beyond your control. That being said, we are starting to see signs today amidst the government shutdown that if this doesnt get resolved quickly, next week could be a true travel hellscape. Today is the second missed paycheck for federal government workers, which includes TSA and air traffic control. LaGuardia is feeling the pinch of the latter, and incoming flights were halted this morning. Newark and Philadelphia are also starting to be affected in the form of delays. If these problems compound the interconnectedness of all the countrys airports causing a domino effect, and/or more and more TSA workers and air traffic controllers calling out due to frustration of not getting their paychecks, or worst yet collective action triggering a widespread air travel shutdown next weeks Super Bowl travel could get very, very ugly. If you are traveling to the Super Bowl from the West Coast, you just have to hope and pray, presuming this doesnt get resolved, that at least you make it down to Atlanta next week in one piece. If you live in the area bound by the corners of, say, Maine, Florida, Illinois, and Texas, you may want to look into car rental contingency plans.
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https://thebiglead.com/2019/01/25/how-affected-will-sports-media-be-by-super-bowl-air-travel-amidst-government-shutdown/
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Has 64-bit computing finally come of age?
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With the ability to reference up to 17.2 million terabytes of RAM, 64 bit is the future of computing There's only one thing worse than a technological breakthrough that never gets going: one that makes a promising start, but fails to fulfil its potential. We can live with promised advancements of technologies like speech recognition a theoretical godsend which would make the lives of RSI suffers easier if only it worked. With 64-bit computing, however, the frustration is more pronounced. We should have faster and frankly better computers by now, but for all its much vaunted advantages, 64-bit still isn't mainstream. The situation is made all the more annoying because the pieces of the puzzle began falling into place over seven years ago, when Windows XP 64-bit was released. The hardware's there too: both Intel and AMD have long offered 64-bit processors. Yet driver incompatibilities and a lack of updated software have stalled progress in 64-bit computing. Thankfully, that's all about to change. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 will be the last version of the OS to be released in both 32-and 64-bit flavours. Major companies such as Autodesk and Adobe have also put their shoulders behind 64-bit, releasing updated versions of their flagship apps. Finally, laptop makers such as Dell and Lenovo now ship a 64-bit OS almost as often as a 32-bit OS. The answer is simple: a 32-bit operating system can only access up to 4GB of RAM, whereas a 64-bit OS can access more RAM than anyone could conceivably fit into their PC case: 17.2 million terabytes (TB). In practical terms, a 64-bit Dell workstation such as the Precision T3400 can be configured with 16GB or more of RAM. The difference is profound. Here's a good visual picture of why the higher memory addressing is important: if the memory size for a 32-bit PC is as big as a standard water pipe to a suburban home, the pipe for a 64-bit computer is as big as the Atlantic Ocean. That's a lot of room for programmers to be innovative in how they handle data, and they wouldn't have to worry about performance or bottleneck issues. There's another angle to this, however. A 32-bit application can only use 3GB of data for a single process. This means that for many fields such as the oil and gas industry, or high-end media creation and music production there is a severe limitation. Companies such as Pixar and LucasArts have used 64-bit Linux computers for the past decade because they need to work with products like Autodesk's Maya, an app for creating 3D models. On a 32-bit PC running Windows, the 3GB limitation per process would mean breaking the models into separate pieces and continually swapping memory to hard disk.
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https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/computing/has-64-bit-computing-finally-come-of-age-548307
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Did Trump Just Reveal Identities of His Secret US Navy Seal Team With a Twitter Video?
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. @FLOTUS Melania and I were honored to visit our incredible troops at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.! pic.twitter.com/rDlhITDvm1 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 26 December 2018 US President Donald Trump may have inadvertently unmasked a Navy SEAL team during his short visit to a US base in Iraq this week.Ordinarily, the whereabouts of special operations forces are a closely held secret. In the rare instances when they are filmed while in a combat zone, their faces and other identifying features are usually blurred out.But after his lightning trip to Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq on Wednesday, Trump tweeted a video of him posing for photos with US troops, shaking their hands and signing mementos. In one scene, he is giving a thumbs up alongside a group of what appear to be special operations forces.According to the pool report of the event, held in a dining hall at the base, a man called Kyu Lee told Trump he was the chaplain for SEAL Team Five. Lee recalled Trump telling him: "Hey, in that case, lets take a picture. "While the president has broad authority to declassify information, so his tweet likely didn't run afoul of any rules, some observers called it a breach of operational security.Revealing identities "even if it's the commander-in-chief, would prove a propaganda boom if any of this personnel are detained by a hostile government or captured by a terrorist group," Malcolm Nance, a former US Navy intelligence specialist told Newsweek.Special Operations Command (SOCOM) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trump also drew criticism in the US for repeating a previously debunked claim that he had secured military members a pay raise for the first time in 10 years, when in fact the Pentagon has increased pay each year.In Iraq following the visit, pro-Iran lawmakers called for the government to expel US forces. *Rental / capacity fee of Rs.130/- as charged by cable / DTH operator may apply. **GST extra.
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https://www.news18.com/news/world/did-trump-just-reveal-identities-of-his-secret-us-navy-seal-with-a-twitter-video-1985293.html
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Was war dein schnster Liebesbeweis?
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Fragen und Antworten rund um die Kommentar-Funktion Warum dauert es manchmal so lange, bis mein Kommentar sichtbar wird? Unsere Leser kommentieren fleiig Tag fr Tag gehen Hunderte Meinungen zu allen mglichen Themen ein. Da die Verantwortung fr alle Inhalte auf der Website bei der Redaktion liegt, werden die Beitrge vorab gesichtet. Das dauert manchmal eben einige Zeit. Warum wurde mein Kommentar gelscht? Womglich wurde der Beitrag in einer Fremdsprache verfasst. Wir geben nur Kommentare in den Landessprachen Luxemburgisch, Deutsch und Franzsisch frei. Beitrge, die Beleidigungen, Verleumdungen oder Diffamierungen enthalten, werden sofort gelscht. Auch Kommentare, die aufgrund mangelnder Orthografie quasi unlesbar oder in Versalien geschrieben sind, werden das Licht der ffentlichkeit nie erblicken. Habe ich ein Recht darauf, dass meine Kommentare freigeschaltet werden? L'essentiel ist nicht dazu verpflichtet, eingehende Kommentare zu verffentlichen. Ebenso haben die kommentierenden Leser keinen Anspruch darauf, dass ihre verfassten Beitrge auf der Seite erscheinen. Schreiben Sie an [email protected] Hinweis: Wir beantworten keine Fragen, die sich auf einzelne Kommentare beziehen.
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http://www.lessentiel.lu/de/community/story/19098723
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Are Tampa Bay Rays discriminatory for eliminating cash purchases at Tropicana Field?
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The New York Yankees make their first visit to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Friday, May 10. Anyone making the trip down, or frankly, anyone going to any Rays home game this season, better bring a credit card, because cash will no longer be accepted in the stadium. Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal was the first to report the news: Tropicana Field becomes the first American sports venue to go cashless. those with only cash can exchange there for gift cards. There has been push back in some political circles to cashless stores, with the argument they discriminate against the poor. Heres why this plan is a big problem, according to NBC Sports' Craig Calcaterra: The polices have met with backlash, however, because they freeze out people who dont have access to bank accounts and/or credit or debit cards, such as low-income and people of color, who are far more typically unbanked of underbanked than others. According to the FDIC, plans such as the one being put in place by the Rays end up targeting minorities and the underprivileged, because they are less likely to have existing relationships with banks and financial institutions. Unbanked and underbanked rates were higher among lower-income households, less-educated households, younger households, black and Hispanic households, working-age disabled households, and households with volatile income. Lower-income households, less-educated households, black and Hispanic households, working-age disabled households, and foreign-born, noncitizen households were more likely not to have mainstream credit. Differences by race and ethnicity were substantial: 36.0 percent of black households and 31.5 percent of Hispanic households had no mainstream credit, compared with 14.4 percent of white households. At all income levels, black and Hispanic households were more likely not to have mainstream credit. Racial and ethnic differences in bank account ownership and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics beyond income can account for some, but not all, of the racial and ethnic differences in the likelihood of not having mainstream credit. Calcaterra also explained how the trickle-down effect of this policy will hurt employees working at Tropicana Field. Its also worth noting that this will hit concession employees who get tips rather hard. Rather than keeping the change on a sale, the beer guy will likely be tipped out of a pool if, in fact, people think to tip on their card transactions at all. Either way, pool tipping serves to cost servers money, and can lead to the owner keeping a cut.
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https://www.nj.com/sports/2019/01/are-tampa-bay-rays-discriminatory-for-eliminating-cash-purchases-at-tropicana-field.html
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Why Is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Ending?
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Where to Stream: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt More Options All good things come to an end! Fans of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt know this all to well, as Netflix just dropped the final episodes of Season 4episodes that are also wrap up the entire series! But just because Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is over doesnt mean the shows broken. Far from it! This shows going out on its own terms. Not because of a decline in interest, acclaim, or viewers (although we have to assume that last one since Netflix doesnt make those numbers readily available). The shows still an Emmy mainstay, earning Outstanding Comedy Series nods every year from 2015 to 2018. Tituss Burgess also got four consecutive nominations (and it is a crime that he still doesnt have any Emmys!). Kimmy Schmidt is ending on its own terms after four seasons, and thats a good thing considering how it got to Netflix in the first place. The show was originally developed by NBC way back in 2013 as a way to team up some creators that gave the peacock a hit (30 Rocks Tina Fey and Robert Carlock) and an emerging comedic force named Ellie Kemper (then coming off a stint on The Office). Fey and Carlock came up with a show built around Kemper, one originally titled Tooken. NBC gave it a straight-to-series order, and production for the shownow titled Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidtbegan. It wasnt until Kimmy Schmidt had already shot 9 episodes of its initial 13-episode order that one drastic change was made: NBC sold the show to Netflix! NBC said that they just didnt have space on their drama-heavy midseason schedule for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Netflix, after watching those 9 episodes, eagerly bought the show from NBC and immediately picked it up for a second season. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt became Netflixs very first original comedy series, debuting two months before Grace and Frankie. Those 9 episodes originally shot for NBC were then re-edited, restoring some of the content cut for time and to get by the censors. After releasing Season 3 in 2017, the show was renewed for fourth and final season that would be split into two halves and aired across 2018 and 2019. With the release of the rest of Season 4, the saga of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt comes to a close. The news of Kimmys conclusion was initially paired with rumblings that the series might conclude with a Netflix movie. Now the shows over and theres no movie to stream, nor are there any official updates from Netflix about its status. TV Insider spoke with series co-creator Robert Carlock about this mystery movie, and he had this to say: Nothing to announce yet, but we are working with Netflix on a special secret something. Could be filmed content. Could be a fragrance. Only time will tell what that means for Kimmy Schmidts future, but one things for sure: Titus Andromedon would definitely have some opinions about what Netflixs first fragrance should smell like. Stream the final Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episodes on Netflix
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https://decider.com/2019/01/25/why-is-unbreakable-kimmy-schmidt-ending/
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When Will Broad City Season 5 be on Hulu?
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Broad City is back, baby! Its the final season of Broad City (baby). After five seasons, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobsons explosively funny Comedy Central series is coming to an end. No, queen. Actually, well answer that last one now: Comedy Centrals The Other Two. Its brilliant. Heres how to watch Broad City Season 5 online! New episodes of Broad City air Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. ET on Comedy Central. We got some good news, and we got some bad news. The first four seasons of Broad City are currently streaming on Hulu. Season 5, however, is not. Theres no official announcement regarding if/when Broad City Season 5 will be added to Hulu, but based on past trends, we have an idea of when new episodes could drop. Season 4 of Broad City concluded on December 6, 2017, and those episodes were added to Hulu two months later (February 4, 2018 to be exact.) With that in mind, Broad City Season 5 could hit Hulu two months after the series finale airs on Comedy Central. Well update this story as it develops. Nope. Sadly, Broad City isnt streaming on Netflix. New episodes of Broad City will be available to stream on Comedy Centrals website after they first air on TV. The first four seasons of Broad City are currently available to purchase on Prime Video. Right here! Broad City airs on Comedy Central, which means its available to live stream on Comedy Centrals website as well as the Comedy Central App (available on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Fire TV.) Unfortunately, youll need a valid cable login to watch via the Comedy Central website or app. You can also find a Comedy Central live stream if youre a DIRECTV NOW, Sling TV, or Philo subscriber. Where to stream Broad City
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https://decider.com/2019/01/25/broad-city-season-5-hulu/
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Could High-Speed Rail Help California's Housing Crisis?
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Housing is cheaper along Japan's Shinkansen, because it expands housing access for lower-income workers. Shizuo Kambayashi/AP A UCLA study says that bullet trains between Tokyo and Osaka helped reduce housing prices. The future of Californias ambitious but troubled high-speed rail project is murkier than ever. Always controversial, the California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) project, which promises to whisk passengers from Los Angeles to the Bay Area in about 2 hours and 40 minutes at speeds that hit 220 mph, has experienced cost overruns and delays since it was conceived a decade ago. When approved by California voters in 2008, the project was projected to cost $40 billion. Since then, however, the price tag has swelled to $77 billion, with some estimates going up to $100 billion. Construction is now in progress in the states less-populated Central Valley, and the first phase of the line, between San Jose and Bakersfield, could open by 2025, with San-Francisco-to-L.A. service beginning in 2029. Phase 2 of the project would extend service to Sacramento and Stockton in the north and San Diego to the south. As costs mount, public opinion on the project has been closely watched. One 2018 USC/L.A. Times poll found that just 31 percent of Californias registered voters supported the project after they were told it would cost twice the initial estimates; another 2018 survey, however, from the Public Policy Institute of California, found a slim majority of state residents still on board. The projects full funding remains uncertain, as well. Perhaps most alarming to those who share the high-speed rail dream, Californias new governor, Gavin Newsom, appears to be less enthused about CHSR than predecessor Jerry Brown was. In the run-up to his recent inauguration, Newsom signaled a willingness to reassess the project. CHSR has been touted as a job creator and smog fighter, as well as a way to help lower the states carbon footprint by taking cars off the road and airplanes from the skies. Bullet-train boosters are hoping that another, less-examined impact of the project is due for attention: the possibility that the rail network could eventually help ease the housing affordability crisis in the cities at either end of the line. Thats the question that a recent UCLA study explores, through the lens of Japans extensive high-speed rail system, the Shinkansen. The authors, led by UCLA management professor Jerry Nickelsburg, analyzed more than 50 years of prefecture-level economic and demographic data. The study follows up on a similar one from 2012, which used the Shinkansen to take a critical look at the expectation that high-speed rail would boost tax revenues in the towns and cities along the route. This time, the team charted the impact the Japanese trains had on housing affordability. Their findings are no great surpriseJapans rail network allowed lower-wage workers to access exurban areas where housing development is less expensive. While areas close to stations experienced price increases, in general prefectures linked by rail were more affordable than they would have been without rail. What happens is you have effectively increased the size of the city, Nickelsburg said. The size of the city expands, and you get urbanization moving out. Nickelsburg developed the study with California in mind, and he expects to see the same socio-economic sorting if CHSR is completed. The study suggests that high-speed rail could be a boon specifically for workers in the Bay Area and Los Angeles metros that find themselves priced out of increasingly unaffordable central cities. Higher-income workers who can afford urban amenities and rents would be more likely to live in inner cities, Nickelsburg said. Speedier rail might liberate more lower-wage Bay Area workers, many of whom have already migrated to inland exurbs, from their epic commutes. We see that in cities everywhere, Nickelsburg said of the rush to the exurbs in search of affordable housing. [High-speed rail] just facilitates that. Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... That, at least, has been the story in Japan, a nation whose development patterns have been shaped by their extensive high-speed rail network. In the postwar era, as the U.S. and many other countries invested heavily in air and auto infrastructure, Japan went all-in on trains: In 1959, the Japanese national railway company began construction on the Shinkansen, in part to relieve rail congestion between Tokyo and Osaka. The system opened in 1964 and added on average one new line every four years until 2004. To determine the impact of Shinkansen lines on real estate values over the last 50 years, Nickelsburg and researchers from the University of New Mexico and the International Monetary Fund analyzed the difference between real estate values in Japanese prefectures with rail lines and their expected values based on other economic factors. Prefectures where lines were not built were used as a control. The authors found that the presence of a Shinkansen line was enough to keep overall housing prices lower than they would have been without the line, Nickelsburg said, because the train gave access to lower-income housing in exurban areas, when compared to prefectures that did not have a Shinkansen line. The Shinkasen helped Japanese cities to decentralize, which in return reduced prices in cities from what they otherwise might have been, the study states. Japans rail network makes the best model to examine how high-speed rail could reshape California over the next decades, Nickelsburg said, because of certain parallels. Like Californias proposal, Japans system passes through mountainous regions and is built in an active earthquake zone. The state is roughly comparable in size to Japan, and its bullet-train routes would serve similar roles: The Tokaido line, for example, links two major cities, Osaka and Tokyo, with smaller cities and farmland between. Nickelsburg also considered studying Chinas fast-growing high-speed rail system or Frances expanding TGV network, he said, but found that the Shinkansen offered the best point of comparison for what California is trying to achieve. Japans has been running the longest and it has the most variation on where it goes, so it was the local case study, he said. But there are many limits to the comparison. For one, Japan is far more densely populated than California, with multiple cities that developed alongside its high-speed rail system. CHSR has more ground to cover, too: The Tokaido line links Tokyo and Osaka in just over 340 miles of track, while the proposed route from San Francisco to Los Angeles is 438 miles. Some experts have observed that the length of the proposed line from San Francisco to Los Angeles could make it difficult for the train to compete with airlines. For high-speed-rail skeptics like Cato Institute transportation pundit Randal OToole, thats more than enough to dismiss the studys findings on affordable housing. What a fantastically dumb idea, OToole wrote on his Antiplanner blog. [T]he high-speed rail line would probably do more to make the Central Valley less affordable than it would to make the coastal areas more affordable. Rail proponents have their own doubts about CHSR. Joe Nation, a public policy professor at Stanford who represented Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties in the California State Assembly from 2000 to 2006, thinks the speedy train no longer makes sense, regardless of what it might some day do to spur affordability. Nation, who commutes to Stanford from San Jose via the Caltrain commuter rail system (and bike), thinks the HSR funds would be better spent on upgrades to conventional rail, which is vastly cheaper and could offer similar benefits to rent-strapped commuters priced out of cities. I believe commuting by car is a waste of time and a waste of fuel, he said. I am a rail advocate, but I believe that regional rail makes much more sense. Nation also pointed to the most fundamental difference between California and Japan: With roughly similar land area, the island nation packs in three times as many residents. High-speed rail tends to work in areas that are densely populated. Europe and Japan are densely populated. California is not. Nickelsburg declines to take sides in the debate over the fate of CHSR or the overall worthiness of the project, but he insists that Japans experience does indeed have lessons for California. Right now, its still very unclear exactly how, and with what speed, the state can deliver on its bullet-train dream. How could California fall off track? Nickelsburg said. There are hundreds of ways. There are a lot of unknowns relative to high-speed rail in California.
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https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/01/high-speed-rail-california-affordable-housing-crisis-japan/581161/
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Does Matthew McConaughey Know He Was in the Greatest Movie Ever?
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Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Lopez, and her Gucci shoe. Photo: Columbia Pictures In the hallowed world of romantic comedies, there are two kinds of films: your standard, person-A-and-person-B-fall-in-love-despite-various-hijinks, and Jennifer Lopez movies. A Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy features many of the same tropes as the former category, but they also star Jennifer Lopez, which alone makes them singular. Her characters are often too busy for love; immaculately coiffed, for one reason or another; and meet their soulmates under extraordinary circumstances. In Maid in Manhattan, she falls for a politician staying at the hotel where she is (you guessed it) a housekeeper. In The Back-Up Plan, she falls for the love of her life shortly after undergoing artificial insemination to have a kid on her own. And in The Wedding Planner, the most holy of J.Lo rom-coms, she is (again, you guessed it) a wedding planner who breaks the cardinal rule of wedding planning: do not fall in love with the groom. I suppose the second most-important rule is to try to talk the couple out of a cash bar. Yet Matthew McConaughey, a man who is lucky to have shared screen time with J.Lo as the object of her wedding planners affection, seemingly does not agree! On a recent Watch What Happens Live! appearance, hard-hitting journalist Andy Cohen asked the actor to rank three romantic comedies from best to worst. The options: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, and The Wedding Planner. In response, McConaughey put How to Lose a Guy at the top of the list, ostensibly because it is what he called great mailbox money. In laymans terms, thats a residual check: It is always on and theres always this great little check that shows up in the mail from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, he quipped. The Kate Hudson vehicle is also the single greatest movie about the journalism industry ever made (do not @ me, All the Presidents Men). I am sure intrepid Andie Anderson, How-To Girl, went on to write about politics. Maybe she worked at Teen Vogue! But McConaughey then ranked Failure to Launch second; admittedly, I have never seen it so I have zero opinion on the matter. But! He ranked The Wedding Planner last, and neither Cohen nor Anne Hathaway pressed him for a reason. Yes, it is. Also yes, but I posit, a good number of romantic comedies are! Yes, absolutely, and I speak from personal experience. I argue, yes. But in the wise words of Justin Chamberss Massimo, love is just love. And I love The Wedding Planner. Its plot seems ripped from a Page Six headline; it all but justifies cheating; and every time Judy Greer accuses J.Lo of being a workaholic who hasnt been on a date in two years, I feel personally attacked. Yet if an ambitious San Francisco wedding planner can find love in the height of the web boom, perhaps I can, too. And perhaps McConaughey knows that Maria would have dumped Steve, started her own planning agency, and rode off into the sunset with Judy Greer. That is, of course, how all rom-coms should ultimately end. Judy Greer deserves no less. Stay in touch. Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily Email By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.
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https://www.thecut.com/2019/01/matthew-mcconaughey-ranks-the-wedding-planner-rom-com.html?utm_source=nym&utm_medium=f1&utm_campaign=feed-part
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How can I get blurry backgrounds in my photographs?
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I have an admission to make. I didnt buy a DSLR to just capture my kids smiles. Point-and-shoot cameras accomplished that task sufficiently. While I didnt understand exactly what made a DSLR camera better than a point-and-shoot, I did know the photos were better. Because they had a blurry background. Thats right. I wanted a DSLR camera to get blurry backgrounds. For me, that is what the difference between a professional photo and a snapshot. And I know that I am not alone! Maybe you have seen those photos on Instagram and on holiday cards and wanted to be able get that gorgeous blur. Perhaps like me you invested in a brand new camera so that you could take those kinds of pictures. One of the first lessons I learned in my pursuit of blur is that the camera isnt what is going to make the difference. Its how the photographer uses the camera, lenses, and all of the settings. And its not always easy. Sometimes you get that blur you are after but your subject is also blurry! And thats definitely not what we want. To get the results you want, you first have to understand depth of field and the focal plane and what variables will affect them both. And I am here to help! Lets work together to decode the vocabulary and fully understand how to get that blurry background. And then you can go out and get photos you will love (blurry background and all).
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https://www.clickinmoms.com/blog/how-get-blurry-backgrouds-photographs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClickinMomsBlog+%28ClickinMoms+Blog%29
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How Do Natural Disasters Affect Childrens Learning Abilities In School?
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Natural disasters do affect children's ability to learn, finds a new study. Poor academic performances were seen in children those who had lived in regions affected by bushfires compared to those who were less affected by the fire. In the study, the memory skills related to types of learning were found to be affected by early experiences of trauma. The results of this study are published in thejournal.The social disruption that results from natural disasters often interrupts children's schooling. However, we know little about how children's learning is affected in the years after a disaster. A new study looked at changes in children's academic performance after major bushfires in Australia. The study concluded that children in regions affected significantly by bushfires demonstrated poorer academic outcomes in some subjects than children in regions that were less severely affected by the fires.The findings come from researchers at the University of Melbourne, Smouldering Stump (a charity to support children affected by natural disasters), Swinburne University of Technology, and the University of New South Wales. "Our study is the first in Australia to track the academic performance of elementary-school children affected by a natural disaster over a four-year period," explains Lisa Gibbs, director of the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program at the University of Melbourne, who led the study. "The findings highlight the extended nature of the academic impact and identify important opportunities for intervention in the education system so children can achieve their full potential. "The study looked at 24,642 children who attended primary schools in Victoria, Australia, that were affected by the Black Saturday bushfires in Australia in February 2009. Researchers compared students in schools that had a high or medium impact from the fire (based on the effects of the fire on lives and property) to peers in schools with low or no impact.They examined students' academic scores on tests of reading, writing, spelling, numeracy, and grammar two and four years after the fires (when students were in grades 3 and 5). The tests were standardized assessments given as part of the National Assessment Program to evaluate literacy and numeracy skills across time through the school curriculum.The researchers also took into account the different family circumstances of the children, such as level of parents' education, language, cultural and health factors, and whether they came from single- or two-parent families, as well as the potential influence of schools.The study found that students' expected gains from 3rd to 5th grade in reading and numeracy were reduced in schools that had higher levels of impact from the fire. There were no significant impacts of exposure on trends in academic scores for the writing, spelling, and grammar parts of the academic assessment, and no gender differences in any of the scores.The authors note that cognitive skills related to types of learning may be affected by early experiences of trauma. After a disaster, ongoing disruptions in the home, school, and community may also affect learning opportunities. The study didn't include students who moved to different schools between grades 3 and 5 but given that relocation was more common among families who were affected by the loss of property, these children are also likely to be at risk of impacts on learning. "Our study extends the evidence base by examining the period up to four years after a disaster and identifying a subject-specific decline in academic achievement associated with the level of impact of the fire," explains Jane Nursey, senior clinical consultant at Phoenix Australia-Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, who co-authored the study. "Given the apparent delayed impact of the fires, it will be important for future studies on the impacts of disasters on children to extend beyond three years, and to consider academic and cognitive impacts alongside factors related to health and social and emotional well-being," Nursey continues. "In this way, we can be more confident of capturing the longer-term impact of disasters on children's academic performance, impacts that might not be apparent the first few years after an event, and we can ensure that interventions target appropriate areas to help children succeed at school and in life. "Such interventions might include extended social and emotional support for students, as well as additional academic support to address the developmental factors that likely influence academic achievement, especially those that relate to reading and numeracy, the authors note.Source: Eurekalert
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https://www.medindia.net/news/how-do-natural-disasters-affect-childrens-learning-abilities-in-school-185396-1.htm
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Who Is Taliban's New Chief Negotiator?
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As peace talks between the United States and Afghan Taliban enter a crucial stage, the Taliban leadership has announced a new chief negotiator, a man named Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. According to a statement issued Thursday night by Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, the action is intended to "strengthen and properly handle" the ongoing dialogue. The change has signaled to many that the negotiations have progressed beyond any contact between the two sides in the past. Here is a look at why. Baradar, also known as Mullah Baradar Akhund, is one of the founding members of the Taliban movement. He was present in its first meeting headed by Taliban chief Mullah Omar in the autumn of 1994, in a village in Maiwand district of Kandahar province. Known primarily as a military man and an astute commander, Baradar was sent to what was considered the most difficult places. As the Taliban solidified and expanded its hold on Afghanistan in the mid- to late 1990s, Baradar held many important posts in the government, fighting on various fronts. He became the governor of Herat at a time when fighting was fierce. As a trusted companion of Mullah Omar, Baradar was third in line in the Taliban hierarchy. The second in line, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, later died in a prison in Pakistan. "He was always there. He was in every important meeting," said journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai, who has covered the region for decades. When the Taliban government fell in 2001, Baradar was the deputy minister of defense. He was immediately listed as one of the top Taliban commanders on a U.N. Security Council sanctions list. Out of power and on the run, he continued to serve in important roles in the organization. After Obaidullah Akhund was taken into custody, Baradar took over as head of the Taliban Supreme Council, also known as Quetta Shura. Mullah Akhtar Monsour, the man who became the head of the Taliban after Mullah Omar died, was previously a deputy to Baradar, according to the U.N. records. "If he [Baradar] was not in custody, I think he would have been the leader after Mullah Omar died," Yousufzai said, adding that in many ways, he is considered as important as the current chief Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada. Akhundzada has also appointed him his deputy for political affairs. Baradar was taken into custody in 2010 from Karachi in a joint raid by Pakistani and American security operatives. "At the time of his arrest, he was the effective No. 2 in the movement and the de facto operational chief of the insurgency," wrote Kate Klark in her piece for the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a Kabul-based research organization. "His wife is Mullah Omar's sister. He controlled the money. He was launching some of the deadliest attacks against our security forces," an Afghan official who did not want to be named told the BBC at the time of Baradar's arrest. According to United Nations Security Council documents, Baradar was born in 1968 in Yatimak village, Dehrawood district, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. He was part of the Popalzai branch of the Durrani tribe, the same as former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The appointment of Baradar as the chief negotiator will likely bring additional credibility to the negotiation process and assuage any concerns of the Taliban cadre fighting on the ground, according to people who watch the region closely. "Someone who is from Kandahar or southern Afghanistan usually gets importance among the Taliban. Secondly, they have more credibility. If you want to get the political process more acceptance among the cadre on the ground, it's helpful," said Tahir Khan, a journalist who has sources among the Taliban. Baradar was released from a prison in Pakistan last October at the insistence of Zalmay Khalilzad, the special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation who is leading the negotiations from the American side. "When they started talking to Taliban, the Taliban raised this issue whenever there was any contact with the Americans," Yousufzai said. On one hand, the Americans wanted to facilitate the Taliban to move the process forward. On the other hand, they also wanted the Taliban's Qatar office to be empowered to make decisions. They wanted to "negotiate with the most important people among the Taliban," according to Yousufzai. Baradar's release fulfilled that dual purpose.
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https://www.voanews.com/a/who-is-new-taliban-chief-negotiator-/4758847.html
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Did Calif. school hire rookie head football coach to land his star QB son?
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A California private school has filled its football coaching vacancy with a novice head coach who has as much relevant experience as a coach in the Arena League as the high school level. However, the appointment of Ryan Green as the new coach at Modesto Christian comes with a catch: Hes bringing a pretty impressive young quarterback with him in the form of his son, Beau Green. The younger Green was a sophomore at Downey (Calif.) High School, where he started at quarterback for the teams first five games before he injured his shoulder and was lost for the remainder of the season. According to the Modesto Bee, Green had a quarterback rating of 109.3 with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in his games before the injury. The expectation is that the younger Green will now take over as the starting quarterback at Modesto Christian for the next two seasons, assuming hes allowed to. That part of the equation isnt quite so straightforward, as he will have to prove a need for a hardship waiver to justify immediately eligibility on his new campus; the Bee reported Beau Green will be expected to be on campus in a matter of days. While the Green family has yet to file for a transfer, it is expected that will come in a matter of days, and so long as Ryan Green is not deemed to be a part of Downeys coaching staff for the 2018 season he allegedly helped out with a handful of practices, but did nothing more there are no hard and fast structural reasons why the younger Green couldnt play for the older Green from Day 1 at Modesto Christian. All of this raises other unique questions of course, chief among them what role the availability of a talent like Beau Green has on making his father a more attractive candidate. Thats not to say that Ryan Green was hired because he has a talented quarterback son, just that its worth wondering whether that played some role in the decision. Either way, if Beau Green is deemed eligible, Modesto Christian will be ready to roll with a talented quarterback and precisely the man who knows how to design an offensive game plan to get the most out of him, all packaged nicely from the get-go.
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https://usatodayhss.com/2019/did-calif-school-hire-rookie-head-football-coach-to-land-his-star-qb-son
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Where does Minnesota stand on its climate change goals?
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CLOSE The United Nations has released a new report warning that the world may be on a path toward catastrophic climate change. Veuer's Chandra Lanier has the story. Buzz60 ST. PAUL In 2007, then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty declared Minnesota a "birthplace of the renewable energy movement" in signing a bill that required energy companies to provide 25 percent of power from renewable sources by 2025. More than a decade later, Minnesota is well on track with its renewable energy goals, but it's not meeting its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions overall, according to recent state reports. Those goals were set the same year. "The energy sector's shown us we can achieve greenhouse goals when we set our minds to it," said Jessica Hellmann, professor and director and the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment. When Minnesota set its energy standards, it was ambitious, but now other states have surpassed it with more ambitious targets, she said. The pressures of climate change are increasingly dire, prompting steps to mitigate carbon emissions. Man-made climate change impacts communities the world over, including causing warmer winters, more rain and other shifts in Minnesota ecosystems. Minnesota has managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions since 2005, but the state missed a 2015 goal, according to a January report from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. RELATED: U.S. impacts of climate change are intensifying, federal report says State Democrats took control of the House this year and created the new House Energy and Climate Finance and Policy Division Committee. Buy Photo The St. John's University solar farm shown Jan.10, 2017, with 23 acres recently added. On peak sunny summer days, it could produce as much as 90 percent of the campus' power. (Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudt) The federal government has pulled back from the issue, most visibly when President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. But businesses and other governments are working to reduce emissions. Xcel Energy plans to continue reducing its reliance on carbon, including the goal to provide zero-carbon electricity by 2050. "Now we see Xcel Energy as a national leader," Hellmann said. Central Minnesotans will experience that transition firsthand, as Xcel retires two coal-fired units in Becker by 2026. RELATED: Xcel Energy works to bring Google site to Central Minnesota Another provider, Minnesota Power, met the state's renewable standards 10 years early, in 2015, according to the Commerce Department's November report: Minnesota Renewable Energy Update. That report shows how the shift to cleaner energy in Minnesota has moved at a steady pace. Jessica Hellmann, professor and director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. (Photo: Contributed photo) "The utilities have been able to meet that standard and exceeded it in some respects," Hellmann said. "Our state's energy supply is more diverse, and we're producing it locally." Compared to other states, Minnesota ranked seventh for wind energy as a share of total electricity generation, according to the November Department of Commerce report. Wind energy made up more than 18 percent of the energy generated in the state in 2017. "We are blessed with amazing wind resources, some of the best in the country," Hellmann said. And wind farms tend to be very productive. RELATED: 2017 a sunny year for solar in Stearns County The amount of solar power generated rose dramatically over time, but made up 1.2 percent of the energy generated in 2017. Buy Photo Tim Bode of Hunt Electric, St. Paul, carries a solar panel as he and others work to install an array of 616 new panels in November 2014 at the St. John's Abbey Solar Farm. The new panels are more efficient than existing ones but they will not follow the sun through the sky as the others do. (Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloud) "We have seen massive growth in the solar sector," Hellmann said. According to the January report: "Minnesota installed more (megawatts) of community solar in 2017 than total U.S. community solar installations in all of 2016." Minnesota's solar market ranked sixth nationwide in 2017. There is still work to do to help combat climate change, especially in other sectors, like transportation and agriculture, according to the January Pollution Control Agency report. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases in the state. State policies can help reduce emissions or incentivize people to reduce emissions, Hellmann said. But there's also a need for new technologies and research. There's good news in the state report, Hellmann said. Emissions have dropped from 1995 to 2005, even as the population and the economy continues to grow. "We have to be able to grow our economy without growing our emissions," Hellmann said. "(A new practice) needs to be economically viable in order for it to spread. And it needs to spread in order for it to work." Nora G. Hertel: 320-255-8746, [email protected] and on Twitter @nghertel. READ MORE: Read or Share this story: https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2019/01/25/minnesota-climate-change-goals-energy-emissions-greenhouse-gas-jessica-hellmann/2667883002/
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https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2019/01/25/minnesota-climate-change-goals-energy-emissions-greenhouse-gas-jessica-hellmann/2667883002/
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Could The All Blacks Pathway From Sevens To Test Rugby Soon Close?
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The All Blacks Sevens team has always given players a stepping stone to the Test arena, but DJ Forbes tells Oliver Pickup change may be afoot. When the worlds number-one ranked rugby union nation, New Zealand, narrowly defeated England 16-15 at Twickenham last November, there was a zinger of a statistic that was trumpeted by growing legions of sevens supporters across the globe. Five of the All Blacks seven starting backs, or 71.4 per cent to be exact, had all represented their country at international level in the abridged version of the sport. That handful in more ways than one were Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams, Jack Goodhue, Rieko Ioane, and Ben Smith. Together they have hitherto amassed 231 Test caps. On the surface, this stat would seem to serve up compelling evidence that the rich heritage of catapulting sevens stars to the Test arena is in rude health in New Zealand. But a deeper dig uncovers a contrary trend. Ioane, the 21-year-old wing who has dotted down 22 tries in only 24 Tests, is the latest in a long list of All Blacks to have graduated from the sevens circuit. Almost exactly three years ago, the teenager crossed for a brace of tries in the last three minutes as his country came from 21-7 down to pip South Africa 24-21 and be crowned HSBC New Zealand Sevens in the penultimate tournament held in Wellington. Previously, the likes of Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Joe Rokocoko, Julian Savea, and Mils Muliaina five contenders for inclusion in an all-time world XV have been propelled to stardom by sevens. However, the pathway from sevens to Test rugby is becoming closed off, according to one of the greatest and committed sevens players in history. DJ Forbes, skipper of the All Blacks Sevens for a decade until his retirement in 2017 under his leadership New Zealand triumphed at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and, three years later, the World Cup, alongside chalking up six Sevens Series titles contends that because the variations of the oval-ball game are growing apart there will be far fewer crossover athletes in the future. Speaking on the eve of the HSBC New Zealand Sevens, which takes place in Hamilton this weekend (Jan 26-27), the 36-year old says: Sevens has been used as a launchpad for players, historically, to expose their talents so they can reach the next level. Now the two sports are going their separate ways. The progress and status elevation of sevens has been catalysed by its inclusion in the Olympics, undoubtedly. The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series has slowly and surely expanded the sport and continues to do so, around the planet, not least at grassroots level but interest exploded following its Games debut at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. HSBC reckons 17 million new fans brought into the sport almost overnight thanks to the Olympics, and Forbes agrees that the sudden boost of interest transformed the games fortunes. Now, owning to the chance of going for a gold medal, and with a (much-needed) cash injection, players are faced with a serious dilemma at the outset of their careers: sevens or 15-a-side rugby. Doing both is no longer viable.
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https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/all-blacks-pathway-closed-96905
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Is Meghan Markle hosting another close friend at Kensington Palace this week?
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The Duchess' stylist Jessica Mulroney has touched down in the UK The Duchess of Sussex may be hosting another close friend at Kensington Palace this week, if Jessica Mulroney's Instagram posts are anything to go by. Jessica, who is Meghan's stylist and BFF from Canada, has touched down in London and announced her arrival by sharing a selfie from high-end Chinese restaurant Park Chinois in Mayfair. The mother-of-three looked ultra-glam in black metallic skinny jeans and a black tuxedo blazer, cinched at the waist with a belt. Jessica will no doubt make the most of her stay in London by visiting her best friend Meghan, and who knows, the Duchess may even host her. Last week, the pregnant royal pulled out all the stops for her friend Daniel Martin, the MUA behind her wedding day look. Meghan whipped up a delicious brunch of avocado toast, served on an actual silver platter, with Fortnum & Mason truffles to finish. Jessica has touched down in London "Back to our Tig days Thank you Meghan for being the consummate hostess this weekend and still being the #avocadotoast whisperer, YUM!" Daniel wrote of their weekend together. The friends also enjoyed freshly brewed tea from a teapot designed by Soho Farmhouse. The stoneware teapot, in a small size, is part of the brand's Country Home collection and costs 25. Meanwhile, the matching cups and saucers cost 12 each. MORE: Strictly's Dianne Buswell hints at new career with Joe Sugg The pair have been friends since Meghan's Suits days Meghan and Jessica became best friends after meeting in Canada when the former actress was based in Toronto for her TV show, Suits. Jessica, meanwhile, is married to Ben Mulroney, the son of former Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney. The couple's children five-year-old daughter Ivy and twin sons Brian and John, eight made up part of Meghan's bridal party at the royal wedding last May. MORE: David and Victoria Beckham celebrate special anniversary Jessica is still believed to help Meghan with her outfits, even though the pair live thousands of miles apart. The Canadian stylist even flew out to Australia during Harry and Meghan's royal tour, no doubt to help choose the Duchess' maternity looks. Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2019012567063/is-meghan-markle-hosting-jessica-mulroney-london/
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Did Anthony Scaramucci leave Celebrity Big Brother because he was a mole?
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Anthony Scaramucci disappeared from the house without a trace (Picture: CBS) Celebrity Big Brother viewers have been left baffled by claims that former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci left the house early because he was a mole. Scaramucci was intended to be one of the newest housemates in the US version of the series, but before live shows started it appears that he got cold feet, leaving the house and hopping on a plane, later being seen in Switzerland. His swift exit came after he was nominated for eviction against Tom Green and Jonathan Bennett, but there was still a chance for him to save himself. (Picture: CBS) On Thursday nights live feed, according to GoldDerby, comedian Tom Green was seen wondering if Scaramucci was in actual fact a mole, planted by the production team in order to keep the housemates on their toes. Advertisement Advertisement Do you think when he went to the Diary Room, he would go in a trap door and go talk to Julie and stuff? Tom asked. Kato Kaelin stepped in and admitted he didnt have a clue, but added: Yeah, itd be like a door he can walk in. Yeah, thats where he went. To Julie or whoever. Anthony was up against Tom Green and Jonathan Bennett in the eviction (Picture: CBS) Tom reportedly said: The Mooch has now gone gray because he pulled a hilarious prank on us on Big Brother. You got us. He was a mole. I was actually pretty duped by that. I was certainly spending a lot of time hanging out with Mooch. Hes a great guy, Tom continued. We had some amazing conversations. Hes hilarious and really interesting and full of all sorts of incredible information. More: Celebrity Big Brother Anthony Scaramucci has left Celebrity Big Brother and no one knows how or why Piers Morgan says Roxanne Pallett 'needs to be allowed to move on' after CBB punch row Jonathan Bennetts boyfriend so proud after Celebrity Big Brother USA throw huge twist Whatever happened, The Mooch is now goner in terms of the house, and the series made the choice to hide his walk out/elimination from Thursday nights show leading some to believe that it could happen on Friday nights first live show. Celebrity Big Brother airs weeknights on CBS. If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you. Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Anthony Scaramucci has left Celebrity Big Brother and no one knows how or why MORE: Roxanne Palletts Celebrity Coach Trip partner George Sampson hits back at trolls as he gets slammed for teaming up with CBB star
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https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/25/anthony-scaramucci-leave-celebrity-big-brother-mole-8393141/
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Which 2019 Best Picture Nominee Will We Be Watching In 30 Years?
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Universal The Oscar villain phenomenon is fully intact this year, and it has plenty to do with whether well still be watching this years nominees in a few decades. Im genuinely sorry if I did something wrong. Thirty-four minutes after that, My thoughts on this please educate me in the future if I do something problematic. I want to better myself and grow! I was also vaguely aware the director of said film was bad but had no other information as to why he was considered such or what he had done. I know now. Thats the internet outrage lifecycle in a nutshell. 1. Someone says something 2. Someone gets yelled at 3. Someone apologizes for the something Usually, the internet scolding is deserved (especially when the Ratio Rule applies), but not here: Fisher was genuinely happy that a movie she enjoyed won two major awards. Little did she know that Bohemian Rhapsody was directed by Bryan Singer, who has been accused of sexual misconduct; she also may not have been aware of the films alleged straight-washing of Queen singer Freddie Mercury. (To her credit, Fishers response was mature, especially considering shes all of 15 years old. She didnt even use the word hater, like every other no-good teen.) Ill let Vulture explain. The movie usually debuts at one of the fall festivals, where it earns rave reviews from the mostly white commentariat. It gets good buzz throughout the fall, and debuts to largely positive reception, but also some side-eyes on social media over its racial or sexual politics. These rumblings are often crystallized in a widely shared piece of criticism, after which viewers are forced to divide themselves into three camps: those who take pride in dunking on the film, those who defend it from the legions of haters, and those in the middle who consider it, at best, a problematic fave. It wouldnt be the Oscars without a Best Picture villain Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2017, Hacksaw Ridge in 2016, American Sniper in 2014, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close in 2011, the granddaddy of them all Crash in 2005, etc. and it wouldnt be Best Picture without multiple films not passing the Driving Miss Daisy test. Before BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee had never been nominated for an Oscar. To be honest, after Do the Right Thing, I said, Thats it. You know? Lee told GQ. As far as Oscars, my thing has always been my body of work. What film won best film of 1989? Driving Miss Daisy. Driving Miss motherf*cking Daisy. Whos watching that film now? To quote Mitski: Nobody, nobody, nobody. Meanwhile, Do the Right Thing is a much-beloved mainstay at my local Alamo Drafthouse.
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https://uproxx.com/movies/best-picture-controversies-oscars/
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Was wusste Roger Stone von den geleakten Hillary-Clinton-Emails?
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Es sind unangenehme Neuigkeiten fr US-Prsident Donald Trump: Sein langjhriger Vertrauter Roger Stone ist am Freitag in Florida festgenommen worden. Trumps frherem Wahlkampfmitarbeiter wird Behinderung von Ermittlungen vorgeworfen, wie das Bro des Sonderermittlers Robert Mueller mitteilte. Stone soll mehrere Falschaussagen gemacht haben. Auerdem soll er versucht haben, einen Zeugen zu beeinflussen. Ein FBI-Team rund um Mueller untersucht, ob es im Prsidentschaftswahlkampf 2016 Absprachen des Trump-Lagers mit Vertretern Russland gab. Trump geielt die Russland-Ermittlungen regelmig als "Hexenjagd". Stone ist in den Untersuchungen bereits einer von mehreren Beschuldigten aus Trumps direktem Umfeld. Stone hatte 2015 fr Trump gearbeitet - bei den Vorbereitungen fr den Prsidentschaftswahlkampf 2016. Er stand auch danach weiter in engem Kontakt mit ihm, als eine Art informeller Berater. Falsche Angaben vor Kongress Konkret geht es um den Hackerangriff auf E-Mail-Konten der Demokraten whrend des Wahlkampfes 2016, fr den US-Geheimdienste Russland verantwortlich machen. Bei dem Angriff waren E-Mails aus dem Umfeld der demokratischen Prsidentschaftskandidatin Hillary Clinton gestohlen worden, die spter von der Enthllungsplattform Wikileaks verffentlicht wurden. Muellers Team wirft Stone vor, vor dem US-Kongress falsche Angaben dazu gemacht zu haben, was er ber den Hackerangriff wusste und mit wem er darber wie kommunizierte. Auerdem soll er einen anderen Zeugen bedrngt haben, falsche Angaben in der Sache zu machen. In den Ausfhrungen des Mueller-Bros heit es auch, Stone habe sich 2016 in Absprache mit - nicht nher genannten - Vertretern aus Trumps Wahlkampf-Team mit der Frage beschftigt, ob und wie weiteres belastendes Material gegen Clinton verffentlicht werden knnte. "Werde auf nicht schuldig pldieren" Stone selbst verteidigt sich. Er werde flschlicherweise beschuldigt, sagte er. "Ich werde auf nicht schuldig pldieren", sagt der 66-Jhrige vor laufenden Fernsehkameras, nachdem er gegen Zahlung einer Kaution aus der Haft entlassen wurde. Er kndigte zudem an, unter keinen Umstnden gegen Trump aussagen zu wollen. SHAWN THEW/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Sarah Huckabee Sanders Die Sprecherin des Weien Hauses, Sarah Sanders, mhte sich, jede Verbindung der Anschuldigungen zu Trump zurckzuweisen. "Die Vorwrfe gegen Roger Stone haben nichts mit dem Prsidenten zu tun", sagte Sanders dem Fernsehsender CNN. "Der Prsident hat nichts Falsches getan." Es habe keinerlei geheime Absprachen mit Russland gegeben. Stones Name fiel im Zusammenhang mit der Russland-Affre immer wieder. Er war einst Mitarbeiter von Prsident Richard Nixon und blickt auf eine lange Karriere als schillernder, aber umstrittener Lobbyist und Politikberater zurck. "Werde nie gegen Trump aussagen" Im Dezember hatte Trump in einem Tweet Stone mit Worten zitiert: "Ich werde nie gegen Trump aussagen." Dazu schrieb Trump, Stone lasse sich nicht von einem auer Kontrolle geratenen Ermittler dazu bringen, Lgen ber ihn zu erfinden. Trump fgte damals hinzu: "Gut zu wissen, dass manche Leute noch Mut haben!" Die Russland-Ermittlungen bringen Trump zunehmend in Bedrngnis. Bereits ein halbes Dutzend Personen aus seinem direkten Umfeld wurden in den Untersuchungen beschuldigt und zum Teil bereits verurteilt - darunter Trumps frherer Wahlkampfmanager Paul Manafort und Trumps Ex-Anwalt und langjhriger Vertrauter Michael Cohen.
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http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/was-wusste-roger-stone-von-den-geleakten-hillary-clinton-emails-a-1250077.html
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Is Knox the Next Big Destination?
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The tourism industry is growing. Thats good news for our economy, both locally and across the Commonwealth. Specifically, Knox County tourism created more than 100 jobs and generated more than $23 million in economic impact in 2017, said Hank Phillips, President and CEO of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association. Our emergence as a tourism state provides an annual economic impact exceeding $15 billion and over 196,000 jobs, he said. As Kentuckians, we should take pride in knowing that the Commonwealth is finally being recognized for all the reasons we love our state, he enthused. You must be logged in to view this content.
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http://mountainadvocate.com/is-knox-the-next-big-destination/
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Is Samsung about to launch a tiny mirrorless camera?
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The miniature Samsung is likely to have a one-inch sensor. Image courtesy of MirrorlessRumors. Rumours are circulating that Samsung is soon to launch a small mirrorless camera, thought to be known as the Samsung NX Mini, which features a one-inch sensor. Currently, Samsung CSCs use an APS-C sized sensor, the same size as found in beginner- and enthusiast-level DSLRs. As such, current models are not particularly small. If the rumours are correct, then the new camera would share the same sensor size as both the Nikon 1 range and the fixed lens Sony RX100 II compact camera. Towards the end of last year, Panasonic launched the GM1, a tiny compact system camera which still manages to fit a larger than one inch, Four Thirds size, sensor. It is smaller overall than the Sony RX100 II camera. Lens range Details are sparse about what Samsung is intending to do, but the rumours suggest that the new camera would be compatible with small interchangeable lenses which would include a 9mm fixed prime lens and a 9-27mm standard zoom lens. It seems unlikely that Samsung's current NX lens range would be compatible, at least not without some form of adapter. It's also been suggested that a 3-inch tilting LCD will be included. Other suggested specifications include an ISO range of 160 to 12,800, micro SD card storage and full HD video recording. "Super continuous shooting capability" is rumoured to be powered by a DRIMe IV New Image Engine. We'll bring you more as and when it emerges. via Engadget, Mirrorless Rumors
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https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/photography-video-capture/cameras/is-samsung-about-to-launch-a-tiny-mirrorless-camera-1228749
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What's Texas Instruments' 2019 Outlook After Its Q4 Earnings Beat?
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Semiconductor bellwether Texas Instruments published its Q4 2018 results on Wednesday. While the company reported a stronger than expected set of earnings, its guidance for the first quarter was somewhat mixed, on account of cooling demand for semiconductor products and the uncertainty caused by the trade tensions between the U.S. and China. In this note, we provide a brief overview of what could lie ahead for the company. Our interactive dashboard on what to expect from Texas Instruments in 2019 provides an overview of the company's key value drivers. You can modify any of our forecasts and estimates to gauge the impact changes would have on the company's valuation. Outlook For Q1 2019 Texas Instruments has guided for Q1 2019 earnings of between $1.03 per share to $1.21 per share, marking a decline of ~17% year-over-year at the midpoint, with revenues expected to come in between $3.34 billion and $3.62 billion a decline of close to 8% year-over-year at the midpoint. The semiconductor industry appears headed to a downturn, on account of slower demand for personal electronics such as smartphones after years of robust growth. The Chinese market, in particular, is cooling off, with TI noting that this could be due to both lower local demand as well as reduced exports. China (including Hong Kong) accounted for over 40% of the companys shipments over the first nine months of the year. However, this could be partly mitigated by stronger demand for analog semiconductors from the deployment of 5G telecom networks as well as continued growth in areas such as industrial and automotive, where semiconductor content is generally rising. While the downcycles typically last about 12 months, the company has indicated that this could be worsened by the current trade tensions. Inventory holding is typically a closely-watched metric for analog semiconductor players, as the build-up of unsold components serves as an indicator of customer confidence, with higher inventory levels potentially hurting selling prices. TIs inventory position has been expanding, coming in ahead of its projected range at 152 days in Q4, up by about 18 days from a year ago. This could also point to some softness in the market going forward.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/25/whats-texas-instruments-2019-outlook-after-its-q4-earnings-beat/
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Why Is TV So Addicted to Crime?
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Dragnet and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Photo: NBC In 1949, CBS started broadcasting a show called Man Against Crime. It starred Ralph Bellamy, and the general idea would be familiar to anybody watching TV in 2019: A crime happens, and then a man solves it. Bellamy played Detective Mike Barnett, a beefy, gun-wielding tough who would discover clues and pressure witnesses, rooting out the neer-do-wells to return things to the status quo. Whats striking today about Man Against Crime is not just its fantastically simplistic title, or Bellamys hard-boiled, shoulders-and-jawline-centric performance. Its that in 1949, only the third year TV shows were aired in the United States, television was already keyed into the themes and stories that would dominate the medium for the next 70 years: cops and murderers, mobsters and FBI agents, thieves and fraudsters and violence. Over and over on TV, we watch someone commit a fundamental act of social transgression, ideally one thats an unusual act of thrilling violence, and then we watch someone else pick up the pieces. Crime is not just a television thing, of course: Books and movies and video games are likewise obsessed. But its most noticeable on TV, where on any given weeknight you can turn on network television and have your pick from several crime procedurals, and then flip over to a premium cable channel and have your choice of more high-minded murdery offerings: criminals on motorcycles, true crime, prestige murder dramas, supernatural detectives, detectives working a case across multiple timelines, and so on. Ralph Bellamy in Man Against Crime. Photo: Getty Images Nor is it a new television thing. Man Against Crime was one of dozens of crime shows in the first decade of TV, including Dragnet and The Defenders, but also lesser known titles like Adventures of Ellery Queen, Mark Saber, Crime Syndicated, and Rocky King, Inside Detective. When ABC finally connected New York and Chicago via coaxial cables in 1949, the first show they broadcast was called Stand by for Crime, a TV adaptation of a radio drama that played the story up to the moment the criminals identity was revealed. At that point, the show would pause and invite viewers to call in with their guesses. In the earliest years of TV, crime didnt yet make up such an overwhelming percentage of TV programming although the numbers are higher if you include the Westerns, many of which followed the same central good-guy-with-a-gun formula but there were enough to suggest that crime has been a part of TVs DNA from the very beginning. There is an easy answer to why that might be: We like crime stories because theyre full of all the things were not allowed to do, all the dark corners of the human imagination we know we shouldnt indulge, all the scariest, most alluring, most sensational kinds of behavior we could never do because itd blow up our regular lives, but which would make things so much more exciting if we did. They let us play out hypotheticals. Crime TV can be dark and gritty or silly and escapist, or voyeuristic or drily distant, but its always about disrupting the everyday. Breakfast is boring, and you already know what breakfast looks like. Murder is not boring, and TV can show you something you havent seen in your own life. Theres a whole subgenre of TV that circles around this idea: Crimes are exceptional, criminals are mysterious and bizarre, and we want access to the titillating, horrible things we cannot see in regular life. Bones found more grotesque, unimaginable ways to dispose of a body than I couldve ever dreamed possible. Shows about serial killers like Mindhunter, True Detective, or The Fall present their murderers as edge cases of humanity, uncanny broken evil things we want to stare at because they scare us. The voyeurism angle is even more obvious in true crime, where, for instance, The Jinx focuses a camera on Robert Dursts glassy-eyed twitchiness for hours on end so we can marvel at his monstrousness. We like crime shows because theyre about scary dark things, and we can watch them and get an adrenaline hit. Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote. Photo: CBS/Getty Images Theres also another kind of crime TV show, one that often gets called cozy or escapist, thats less about reveling in the human capacity for evil, and is more about images of safety. Theres a hefty British tradition of these (Foyles War, Midsomer Murders, Shetland, Lewis, Father Brown, all the Agatha Christie adaptations), and plenty of Canadian and Australian entries (Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries, Murdoch Mysteries), but theres a solid American cohort as well. Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Columbo, more recent shows like Psych, Monk, Castle, or Elementary no ones watching them for soul-rattling dives into the human psyche, or for hypotheticals about what it would take to drive someone to murder. They are about reliable patterns of tension and release, about breaking the status quo and then fixing it, every single week. Most crime stories, especially the giant body of TV police procedurals, also constantly reinforce a particular idea about who gets to be the default viewer. By positioning crime as enjoyable, as a vacation from the everyday, crime stories emphasize whose experience gets to be the everyday. If you live your life aware that, without warning, you could get pulled over for a broken taillight and then imprisoned for resisting arrest, and potentially shot and killed in the process, your relationship with policing and crime is not reflected by a CBS procedurals fun pursuit of dastardly bad guys. When we call crime stories escapist, the implication is that they are vacations you can return from. Theyre jaunts into deviant behavior that promise the usual order will reassert itself, and that institutions like the police, the FBI, the courts, and superheroic private eyes will stop the evildoers eventually. The shows that dont work this way, especially mob shows and other crime stories that make the criminal the protagonist, tend to valorize a very specific kind of criminality that is its own version of social reinforcement: Criminal protagonists are often white men, whose crime helps support some kind of family, and who are usually put in opposition to a police system thats corrupt, making their own crimes somehow more acceptable. Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz in Bones. Photo: FOX/Getty Images Thats one answer for why there are so many crime stories on TV: They let us imagine an alternate existence where we could smash the current social order and run berserk through the streets. But at the same time, these crime shows quietly reinforce the idea that getting in trouble with cops means youre bad, the status quo is (mostly) good, and the occasional white male criminal mastermind who evades the law is probably meting out his own rougher but still meaningful form of justice. The other answer is simpler: We like crime stories because crime stories are questions. Even the messiest, most complicated, most gorgeously complex stories about criminals still imply answers. They imply endings. That makes crime perfect for TV, a medium thats lived for decades on the need to negotiate between one ending (the end of an episode) and another ending hovering somewhere far off in the distance (the end of a series). Its ideal for serialization, too: horror, but contained. For stories where that containment doesnt happen on the level of the episode, in shows like The Shield or True Detective, the mechanism for containment is nevertheless ready to deploy whenever you need it. Ending the story is just a matter of letting the handcuffs snap shut, or revealing the solution to the puzzle, or letting the criminal drive off into the sunset, or killing someone. Telling stories with predictable ends is comforting. Telling stories that flout those predictable ends is even better. If Man Against Crime is the title that best represents the genre, the other 1949 series Stand by for Crime is the title that best explains the genres appeal. Crime is a dangerous, unexpected, status quodisrupting event, something performed by inexplicable, inhuman people, something that must be solved or fixed or at the very least investigated. On TV, that experience is controllable. If you stand by and wait, a crime will appear at a predictable time. It will come prepackaged with a solution, or, if not exactly that, its terror will be mediated by being a story told to you, rather than a crime happening to you. Turning crime on and off feels powerful and soothing. It is a way to see the darkest parts of humanity while also being assured of your own safety. Because when you watch crime on TV, youre not out there being murdered or robbed or violated by some terrifying, unknowable evil. Youre at home, on your sofa, sitting in front of your television.
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https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/why-is-tv-addicted-to-crime-shows.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nymag%2Fvulture+%28Vulture+-+nymag.com%27s+Entertainment+and+Culture+Blog%29
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Why Isnt Law & Order Streaming Anywhere?
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Virtually every other big show launched in the 1990s, from ER and Friends to Seinfeld and The X-Files, has now found a digital home. Law & Order spinoff SVU, while slowly disappearing from Netflix, is available to stream in its entirety on Hulu. But the mothership, the series which launched Dick Wolfs ever-expanding empire of procedural dramas back in 1990, remains stubbornly absent from any subscription video-on-demand service. Its a pop-culture crime, one which demands solving. Vulture decided to investigate. Dun-DUN! After all, this isnt the first time the chief er, our editor has assigned us to the missing-shows beat. Unfortunately, the usual culprits dont seem to apply with Law & Order. While music rights and the costs associated with making an older show ready for the digital age have delayed or prevented some classic series from landing a streaming home (or even launching on DVD), those arent factors with Law & Order. Up until late 2014, the first eight seasons of the show were a staple on Netflix. And then they just vanished, forcing die-hard fans who wanted on-demand access to the OG L&O crew to either buy digital downloads of each episode or to pay $300 for the full series DVD collection. (For the frugal, reruns of the original series can be seen on the Ion broadcast network or on cable via AMC Networksowned channels We and Sundance, the latter of which offer a handful of rotating episodes for streaming on demand.) That L&O would leave Netflix back in 2014 isnt particularly surprising. Classic series come and go from the streamer regularly, either because Netflix decides it no longer wants to pay an outside studio to license the show, or because said studio gets a better offer from a rival platform. For example, The Wonder Years left Netflix in the fall of 2017 after a six-year run, only to pop up on Hulu a year later. Indeed, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu both have rich libraries of classic shows, with the latter proving to be particularly aggressive of late in snatching up popular faves of yore long missing from streaming, including ER and The Golden Girls. Plus, as noted, Hulu is also home to SVU, making it (at least in theory) a logical contender to also carry that shows predecessor. Thats why its so confounding, more than four years after its Netflix exit, that L&O remains a digital ghost. To unravel this mystery, we first reached out to reps for NBCUniversal, which produced the show and controls the streaming rights. Big corporations arent in the habit of freely gabbing about how they manage their various creative properties, so we didnt expect the Comcast-owned company to issue a long statement detailing exactly whats been going on with such an important asset. But a spokesman for the company responded to our questions with a flat no comment. Two different representatives for Dick Wolf also stayed silent when we sought guidance, declining to even offer any not-for-attribution background information about any factors that have kept the series from streaming, or any future plans to return it to the digital airwaves. Our gumshoe role models on Law & Order often have doors slammed in their faces (literally, rather than metaphorically! ), so we kept poking around the various back alleys of Hollywood in search of answers. (Translation: We kept emailing sources.) And finally, after some prodding, we hit upon a couple of leads. According to two well-informed sources with knowledge of the streaming business, it appears Law & Order is a victim of its own success specifically, its early triumph as a weekly series on a broadcast network. Wolfs creation lasted for 20 years and, more importantly, a jaw-dropping 456 hour-long episodes. When it finally wrapped up in 2010, it tied Gunsmoke as TVs longest-running drama series. As awesome as this fact is for Wolf and fans of the show, its actually a handicap when it comes to selling L&O streaming rights. The series has so many episodes that the show would be pretty expensive to license in its entirety, as one person familiar with the economics involved tells Vulture. Thats because in the business of TV syndication a.k.a., a shows life once it finishes its initial series run its financial value is tied directly to how many episodes it produced. This was true even in the days before streaming: Cable networks such as TBS would make deals for hit network sitcoms such as Friends or The Big Bang Theory years before they finished their runs, agreeing to pay a per-episode fee that would be based on how many episodes ultimately got produced. The networks didnt mind this, because more episodes meant more potential advertising revenue could be gleaned from their linear schedules. But in the streaming world, bigger isnt always better. Sure, Netflix and Hulu are constantly looking to add more and more content to drive greater engagement, and keep subscribers on their sofas streaming for hours on end. And they dont mind shows with big libraries, either: Netflix just agreed to spend another $80 million to keep all 236 episodes of Friends on the service for another year. But the full series run of L&O contains nearly twice as many episodes (and about four times as much overall content, since it was a one-hour drama). Whats more, while sitcoms such as Friends and The Office have lightly serialized story arcs (think Ross and Rachel, or Pam and Jim), Wolf deliberately created his drama to be as self-contained as possible, focusing every episode on cases and offering little to no exposition regarding the lives of its regular characters. As such, streaming-industry insiders say the original L&O might not be as valuable as a show where audiences feel compelled to click ahead to the next episode. Bottom line: The combination of a procedural format and a huge price tag may very well explain Law & Orders prolonged absence from the streaming marketplace. It really comes down to whether a streamer believes the original series would drive enough viewing [and] subscriber retention to be worth the high licensing cost, our source knowledgeable in streaming economics explains. All of this is not to suggest L&O wont be back on a streaming platform in the future, perhaps even sometimes soon. As noted earlier, all seasons of SVU are now streaming on Hulu. Given SVU this spring will match the 20-season run of L&O, clearly its not impossible for a streaming platform to absorb the cost of such a long-running series. NBCUniversal could also decide to price the original series at a more favorable rate, prompting Hulu, Amazon, or Netflix to do a deal for the show. (Worth noting: Amazon Prime Videos leadership ranks now include at least two former NBC execs who worked very closely with Wolf, though there are no indications theyre even mulling doing a deal for L&O.) The most likely path back to streaming for Law & Order, however, seems to be through the ad-supported streaming platform NBCUniversal parent Comcast is planning to launch next year. Much the way Disney has started taking back its big film titles from Netflix to help boost its upcoming Netflix alternative Disney+, Comcast may want to make the original L&O one of the centerpieces of its own service. Doing so would still come with a cost, since Wolf has an ownership stake in the series and would surely demand to be fairly compensated. But NBC has had talks with Wolf before about using his branded properties (which now also include the Chicago series) to create value for the companys content platforms. A few years ago, there were reports Wolf and NBC were in discussions to turn the Oxygen cable channel into a Wolf-centric true-crime network. While Oxygen did make the switch to crime, the Wolf branding never happened. But the fact that such talks took place at all underscores why NBC Universal/Comcast would want to work out a way to put as much of the Wolf Films library including L&O on a new service. Assuming the notoriously independent-minded Wolf feels the same way, this could be the way the detectives of Law & Order finally return to the streaming universe.
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https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/why-law-and-order-isnt-streaming-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nymag%2Fvulture+%28Vulture+-+nymag.com%27s+Entertainment+and+Culture+Blog%29
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Will Spongebob's 'Sweet Victory' be played during Maroon 5's Super Bowl halftime show?
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We know Maroon 5 is headlining the Super Bowl 53 halftime show. We also know that Travis Scott and Big Boi will be joining him on stage. What we don't know for sure is whether the artists will incoporate Spongebob Squarepants' "Sweet Victory" song into the performance. If you're wondering why that would even be a thing, let me catch you up. The creator of Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg, died in November, 2018. Not too long after a petition was started on Change.org that garnered a lot of attention. Have Sweet Victory Performed at the Super Bowl. The petition has over 1.1 million signatures as of this writing. MORE: The best and worst Super Bowl halftime performances of all time "As some of you may or may not know, Stephen Hillenburgthe creator of Spongebob Sqaurepantshas passed away recently," the petition page reads. "As a tribute to his legacy, his contributions to a generation of children, and to truly showcase the greatness of this song, we call for Sweet Victory to be performed at the Halftime Show." Obviously the Change petition isn't anything official, but it did generate enough attention that it seems like this might actually happen. The biggest clue we have is Maroon 5's teaser for the performance, which included a brief appearance by the square-bottomed sponge. Spongebob appears at 32 seconds in We also have a tweet from Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where the game is being played) that teased a Spongebob appearance. There's been no official statement from the people involved on whether this will actually happen, but it seems at this point like Spongebob will be honored in some fashion. We'll have to wait to find out as it seems unlikely we'll get any official word. Confirming this before it happens seems like it'd ruin the surprise. And just for fun, you can watch "Sweet Victory" again below.
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http://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/super-bowl-halftime-show-spongebob-sweet-victory-petition/1hqxwv2bntzoh1mnbhd32n0nj5
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Will it be a package deal?
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In Uttar Pradesh, especially eastern Uttar Pradesh, everyone is called bhaiya whether youre the baby of the family or the eldest. But bhaiyas are always men. So it is a matter of mystery why Priyanka Gandhi is called bhaiyaji by constituents of Amethi and Rae Bareli. Heres why. When Rahul and Priyanka were children and used to visit the constituency with their grandmother Indira or father Rajiv, both had very short hair. So much so that most constituents thought for a long time that Priyanka was a boy. Hence the sobriquet bhaiyaji, that has stuck till today when ...
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https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/will-it-be-a-package-deal-119012501588_1.html
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When is it cold enough to close schools?
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hello When it comes to closing schools for extreme cold, some districts have guidelines with specific temperature outcomes that have to be met before closing. Daily Herald File Photo, 2015 After Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges posted on his Twitter account Thursday night that he was monitoring weather conditions to determine if school would be in session Friday, he was flooded with hundreds of tweets begging him to call off classes. Ultimately, those pleas fell on deaf ears as Bridges announced early Friday morning that school was a go. "We don't have a hard and fast rule when to close schools for cold weather," said the district's communications director Sinikka Mondini. "The ultimate goal is to keep kids safe and keep them in school." Mondini said Bridges was in consult with other area superintendents and the DuPage Regional Office of Education before making the decision. In the end, only a few schools in northern Lake and McHenry counties canceled classes Friday. Despite predictions that temperatures weren't going to get much above zero degrees all day, that's not cold enough for most schools to cancel classes. "For cold weather closures, we have a response plan we put in place several years ago and it sets the bar for anyone to understand," said Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 spokesman Tom Petersen. Forecasts of sustained wind chill of negative 30 degrees or lower or sustained temperatures of minus 15 degrees or lower will get school canceled at most districts in Northwest Suburban Cook County, Petersen said. "This took the guessing game out of whether we'll be closed or not," he added. In other districts, officials are far more apt to make the decision case-by-case. "While there is no set standard, we typically get concerned when there's a sustained wind chill of negative 25 or below," said Elgin Area Unit District 46 CEO Tony Sanders. "We actively monitor weather and have subscribed to a service that provides us with up-to-date alerts that are specific to the 90 square miles we serve." Some parents believe elementary and unit districts are quicker to cancel classes than high school districts because the students are older and better equipped to take care of themselves. However, Mondini said that's not necessarily the case. "You have to think about all students, including some seniors who maybe aren't dressing appropriately to walk to school," she said. District officials said they continue to monitor the weather forecasts for the coming days as temperatures are expected to warm up slightly this weekend and then dip back down even colder next week.
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https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190125/when-is-it-cold-enough-to-close-schools
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Did Irina Shayk Take the Deconstructed Denim Trend a Step Too Far?
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Though a wardrobe staple for decades, denim just really isnt doing enough. Sure, it launched Brooke Shieldss career and gave us the most iconic red carpet look of the 21st century, but theres still a lot of unchartered territory when it comes to the jean family Or at least thats what Irina Shayk and her stylist think. You see, midway down Shayks thigh, her pant legs disappear and then reappear and flare down to the floor where they meet her black boots. Image zoom Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Getty Images Its jean-ception! Of course, its not hard to draw a comparison between the 33-year-olds denim double-dose and the mini jean boots Jennifer Lopez shocked and delighted us with over the summer. Image zoom Josiah Kamau/Getty Images RELATED: Important Question: Is J. Shayk has made it clear that shes boyfriend Bradley Coopers red carpet bae this awards season. Fingers crossed she can convince him to go full Britney and Justin at the Oscars. Image zoom Steve Granitz/Getty Images
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https://www.instyle.com/news/irina-shayk-jeans-shorts-paris-couture-week
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Was heit denn hier Widerstand?
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Das Recht auf Widerstand ist nicht auf die Vergangenheit beschrnkt. Wir mssen Demokratie und Rechtsstaat verteidigen, ehe das Schlimmste geschehen ist. Was fr ein Glck, nicht beweisen zu mssen, ob ich den Mut gehabt htte, damals Held gewesen zu sein Ich muss gestehen, ich zgerte, als ich eingeladen wurde, hier zu sprechen. Stellen wir uns doch nicht dmmer, als wir sind. Die Wahl der Worte ist Teil des Kampfes. Die einstigen Widerstandskmpfer und Widerstandskmpferinnen zu ehren und sie nicht zu verraten heit, nicht nur zu erzhlen, wie es war, sondern vor allem auszusprechen, was ist, was um uns geschieht und wie uns angekndigt wird, wir wrden noch unser blaues Wunder erleben. Widerstand ist nichts Vergangenes. Wer einmal blo Rosa Jochmann hrte, wei, wie sie uns dazu aufrief, die Freiheit zu verteidigen. Lange nach der Befreiung aus Ravensbrck warnte sie vor den Scharfmachern und vor den Geschichtsleugnern der Gegenwart. Auch an Hans Landauer muss ich denken. Er hatte in Spanien gegen die Faschisten gekmpft und das Konzentrationslager Dachau berlebt. Hans arbeitete im Dokumentationsarchiv des sterreichischen Widerstands, ber das der jetzige Innenminister Herbert Kickl 2016 sagte, es sei an der Spitze der Skala der unntigen Vereine in sterreich. So sieht es aus, wenn Rechtsextreme damit betraut sind, Rechtsextreme zu berwachen. Wovon ich rede, ist nichts Neues. Alle wissen Bescheid. Beschlagnahmt wurden auch Akten der Sachbearbeiterin, die ber jenes rechtsextreme Milieu forscht, das die freiheitlichen Minister teils nur allzu gut kennen. Aber Strache will uns glauben machen, von seinen Verbindungen zum Neonazismus gar nichts zu wissen. Er behauptet, Fotos, die ihn im Kreis von Rechtsextremen zeigen, seien geflscht, bis das Gegenteil nachgewiesen wird. Die Bilder von ihm in jenem Lokal verffentlichte er selbst im Netz, um dann zu leugnen, je dort gewesen zu sein. Zu Recht kann gesagt werden, der Vizekanzler dieser Republik hat bessere Beziehungen zu Rechtsextremen als zur Wahrheit. Es ist nur wenige Monate her, da ich meinen Freund Rudi Gelbard, der Theresienstadt berlebt hatte, vor seinem Tod noch sah. Wenn er von finsteren Zeiten sprach, denen wir entgegengehen, dann meinte er nicht sein unmittelbar bevorstehendes Ableben, sondern den Aufstieg rassistischer Populisten bis hin zur Regierungsebene in Europa und in sterreich. Davon redeten wir, als wir uns zum letzten Mal voneinander verabschiedeten. Neonazistische Wurzeln Wren diese berlebenden unter uns, sie wrden nicht schweigen. Sie wrden nicht davor zurckschrecken, zu sagen, was sie von den Beteuerungen des Vizekanzlers halten, die Vergangenheit der eigenen Partei aufarbeiten zu lassen, solange er seine eigene frhe Verwurzelung in der neonazistischen Szene leugnet. Wie unglaubwrdig sind jene, die nur gegen den Hass auf Juden sind, wenn er von Muslimen kommt. Sie posten antisemitische Karikaturen in "Strmer"-Manier. Sie dichten Menschen jdischer Herkunft zur Gaudi ihres einschlgigen Publikums den Beinamen Kohn an. Sie heucheln zu Gedenkterminen Trauer um die Opfer und bejammern hernach die Niederlage der Wehrmacht. Sie grlen antisemitische Lieder und wollen es nicht so gemeint haben, wenn andere entsetzt zurckweichen. Dann schauen sie wieder ganz treuherzig drein. Das nazistische Deutschland entstand nicht an einem Tag. Erst wurde der Hass auf die sogenannten Andersartigen geschrt und jedes Mitgefhl verhhnt. Weist einer darauf hin, wie die Sprache der Hetze einst schon in den Abgrund fhrte, werfen ihm die Apologeten der Regierung vor, den Nationalsozialismus zu verniedlichen und die Rechtspopulisten zu Nazis zu stempeln. Beschreibt Michael Khlmeier zu Recht, wie bereits in den Dreiigerjahren des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts sich manche brsteten, die Grenzen vor Flchtlingen gesperrt zu haben, verdreht ihm der Kanzler das Wort im Mund. Allein der Anspruch, aus der Vergangenheit fr die unmittelbare Gegenwart lernen zu wollen, gilt schon als unerhrt. Aber kein Wort ist vom Kanzler zu hren, wenn der freiheitliche Landesrat Waldhusl Asylwerber hinter Stacheldraht und von Hunden bewacht einquartieren lsst und meint, sie bruchten eine "Sonderbehandlung". Kein Wort, kein Sterbenswrtchen angesichts dieses Mrderjargons war von der trkisen Bundespartei zu hren. Kein Vorwurf, hier wrden die nazistischen Verbrechen beschnigt. Geschichtsvergessenheit Das Gedenken ist ein hoher Staatsakt, doch die Erinnerung wird zum politischen Skandal. Die Trauer um die Ermordeten wird zum heiligen Ritual der Geschichtsvergessenheit. Ich danke fr Ihr Verstndnis, doch der ermordeten Juden wird mittlerweile hierzulande gedacht, um gegen lebende Muslime umso besser hetzen zu knnen. Die Heimat von Lueger und Hitler, die den antisemitischen Populismus erfand, meint, der Judenhass sei blo ein Importprodukt, eine Kolonialware unserer Zeit. Nichts bleibt vom Kampf gegen den Nationalsozialismus, wenn er zum Slogan fr jede Auseinandersetzung absinkt. Niemand wird hierzulande wegen eines Protests liquidiert. Derjenige, der heute seine Stimme erhebt, riskiert nicht sein Leben. Was fr ein Glck habe ich, nicht beweisen zu mssen, ob ich den Mut gehabt htte, damals ein Held gewesen zu sein. Wie leicht ist es doch heute, fr die Menschenrechte einzutreten. Aber wer nicht ansprechen will, was damals in die Vernichtung fhrte, soll auch von Auschwitz schweigen. Wer damals Verfolgten, ob Juden oder Roma, beistand, wurde ins Lager verschleppt oder gleich hingerichtet. Jene, die in unserer Gegenwart Ertrinkende aus dem Meer retten, werden nicht mehr umgebracht, sondern nur noch von unserem Kanzler diffamiert und mit Schleppern gleichgesetzt. In verschiedenen Lndern der Europischen Union wird indes bereits gegen Hilfsorganisationen der Zivilgesellschaft mobil gemacht. Es ist der Triumphzug der Niedertracht: Das Recht auf unmittelbare Menschlichkeit wird im Namen des Gesetzes bestraft. Ausweitung individueller Freiheiten Der Innenminister wiederum, der die Gesetzeseinhaltung schtzen sollte, meint mittlerweile gar, der Rechtsstaat habe sich der jeweiligen Regierungspolitik zu beugen. So stellt er sich ber Gesetz und Verfassung. Aber was Kickl sagt, ist keineswegs nur ein Versprecher, sondern durchaus ein Versprechen, und es wird etwa in Polen bereits vollzogen. Widerstand bedeutet, sich der Zumutung der Obrigkeit zu widersetzen und im Namen des hheren Rechts, auf dem die Gesetze beruhen, gegen die Ordnung und wenn ntig sogar gegen Gesetze zu verstoen. Das ist kein Freibrief. Widerstand kann sich nicht der Frage nach der Verhltnismigkeit der Mittel entziehen. Der Widerstand darf nicht greres bel herbeifhren als jenes, dem er sich entgegenstellt. Der zivile Ungehorsam setzt auf die Ausweitung individueller Freiheiten. Indem etwa Menschen geholfen wird, die Opfer von bergriffen der Exekutive sind. Es gibt tausende Beispiele zivilen Widerstands voller List und Lust. Kunst, die den Regelversto zum Teil der Inszenierung macht. Proteste gegen die Vasallen Putins innerhalb der Union. Bevor es zu spt ist Das Recht auf Widerstand ist nicht auf die Vergangenheit beschrnkt. Wer behauptet, nur gegen Hitler sei Widerstand gestattet, hat die Freiheit bereits preisgegeben. Wir mssen Demokratie und Rechtsstaat verteidigen, ehe das Schlimmste geschehen ist. Wenn es bereits an der Macht ist, wird es zu spt sein. Lngst sind Sonntagsreden fehl am Platz. Den Anfngen wehren gengt nicht mehr. Was Widerstand heit, kann jeder erklren, der seine Stimme erhebt, wenn Menschen aufgrund ihrer Herkunft, ihrer Religion, ihres Geschlechts oder ihrer Sexualitt angegriffen werden. Was Widerstand heit, lehren uns jene, die in den letzten Tagen in Budapest, doch auch in Bukarest und in Warschau auf die Strae gehen. Was Widerstand heit, rufen uns jeden Donnerstag die Demonstranten in Wien, in Salzburg, in Linz, in Innsbruck oder hier in Graz zu. Was Widerstand heit, lehren mich jene, die den Verfolgten zu Hilfe kommen. Von wegen NGO-Wahnsinn; von wegen Schlepper; von wegen Mafia ... Nein. Was Widerstand heit, lerne ich von denen, die Menschen nicht ertrinken lassen, die andere auf hoher See retten, selbst dann, wenn es dem Gesetz widerspricht, ja, obgleich sie dabei nicht selten ihr eigenes Leben gefhrden. Sie beweisen und sie machen Mut. Diese Menschen sind die Helden und die Heldinnen des heutigen Widerstands. (Doron Rabinovici, 25.1.2019)
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https://derstandard.at/2000097049639/Was-heisst-denn-hier-Widerstand?ref=rss
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Is There a Connection Between Meat Consumption and Climate Change?
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The Lancet medical journal has published a study that calls for dramatic changes to food production and our diet; making the case that meat production plays a role in climate change. James Hogan, a British animal rights campaigner with over 40 years' experience working for animal rights in countries as far afield as Afghanistan and Russia, and who has been a vegetarian for over 30 years joins the program. To a question about how certain can the Lancet, a very respected British medical journal be about a connection between diet and climate change, James answers: "I think that there can be no doubt anymore that there is a link. Every stage of meat production to a greater or lesser extent makes some contribution to climate change. Most animals produced for meat are confined in intensive units, so called factory farms. They have to be fed, and they cannot be fed as they once were by chucking a bale of hay into a manger or letting them out to graze for a few hours. An intensive farming system needs a particular kind of concentrated food, and one of the main constituents of the animal feed used for animals in intensive systems is soya beans. Soya is grown in particularly large quantities in the Amazon region and in parts of Africa such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Amazon is the area that is the best known. The way that it is produced is to first of all destroy swathes of ancient rain forest. By doing that two things happen. Firstly, the forest acts as a kind of sponge for the already existing greenhouse gasses that have been emitted into the atmosphere. Once the trees have been felled, they release the carbon dioxide that they have absorbed back into the atmosphere.Another link is that cows and cattle, to put it politely, also emit gasses in the form of methane, and methane is recognized as being one of the worst forms of greenhouse gasses, mainly because it is longer lasting. When the carbon dioxide has been deleted, in many years hence, methane will continue to exist. These are two very obvious examples.the figures I heard recently put the rate of destruction of the rain forests in the Amazon at a rate of three large football pitches per hour." The Lancet is pushing for a 50% reduction in meat consumption, which sounds rather radical. James comments: "It sounds like a lot, but another magazine, Nature, is aiming for 90%. I do not subscribe to sensationalism and I think that such dramatic statements frighten people, but the principle remains the same we need to make a reduction. This latest report from the Lancet comes on the back of many other reports. In recent years there has been a report from the World Resources Institute, this in a very reputable study, and said pretty much the same thing. Oxford University's Future of Food program commented that we need to reduce red meat consumption and back in 21012 or 14, Chatham House, that well-respected think tank here in the UK, came to the same conclusion." A new word has entered common use, and that is: flexitarianism. This means that the individual takes a flexible approach to his or her diet, and tries to reduce the amount of meat he or she eats. In the UK, there are about 3 million registered vegetarians, and many more who have not declared that they do not eat meat; however the number of vegetarians is dwarfed by the number of flexitarians. These are people who from time to time stop eating meat, be it only for I or 2 days a week, or month. James comments. "There are a lot of people who are doing this, and what's giving it real impetus is the commercial interest by the food producers and supermarkets. You cannot go into a supermarket in London now without becoming aware that there is food available for you that doesn't contain meat. Marks & Spencer's, the high-end food company is the latest company that has gone into this in a very big way, producing their own vegetarian and vegan meals. Although the western world is moving towards reducing meat consumption quite rapidly, the opposite is happening in `some countries, such as China. James comments: "This is a challenge, no doubt about it. We can only do what we can do what we can do where we live. There are encouraging signs though, in that the Chinese government last year did give some indication that they going to try and encourage meat consumption, whether or not that was just for publicity purposes or not I don't know." We'd love to get your feedback at [email protected]
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https://sputniknews.com/radio_brave_new_world/201901251071815867-meat-consumption-and-climate-change/
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Is Kawhi Leonard having the best season in Raptors history?
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It remains to be seen whether Kawhi Leonard will play more than one season with the Toronto Raptors, but his first year with the team is shaping up to be one of the best-ever played in team history. Whether on offence or defence, the small forward is showing Raptors fans why he's one of the best in the NBA, averaging career highs in points (27.6) and rebounds (7.9) to go along with 1.9 steals and 3.1 assists a night. "I think when it's all said and done, Kawhi Leonard will be looked upon in this season, as perhaps having the best season of anyone in a Raptor uniform with what he's able to do both ways," said Chuck Swirsky, the former play-by-play television and radio voice of the Toronto Raptors from 1998-2008. Whether Leonard is in the process of delivering the greatest individual Raptor season is debatable. Take a look at the graphic below. Kawhi Leonard's stellar first season with the Raptors is shaping up to be the best ever played in the uniform! See how the all-stars stats compare <a href="https://t.co/6ErUKtYgGr">https://t.co/6ErUKtYgGr</a> <a href="https://t.co/IMjdcdGxux">pic.twitter.com/IMjdcdGxux</a> @cbcsports In addition to being named a starter for the 2019 all-star game in Charlotte, Leonard is one of only five players this season to be named player of the week more than once, and has scored 20 or more points in his last 20 games. The Raptors have owned the best record in the NBA for stretches of this season and Leonard has a legitimate chance to lead the Raptors to the first 60-win regular season in franchise history. "Depending on the rest of the second half and if he stays healthy I think Kawhi Leonard is going to be a legit superstar, when the Raptors have probably never seen that type of player in their franchise history," said Swirsky, who is now the play-by-play radio voice of the Chicago Bulls. "I don't toss [the word] superstar...around a lot. "He is a superstar." Staying fresh for April Despite the fact Leonard has sat out 13 games due to rest this season, he's made all the difference when he's been on the floor. He's shown little rust coming back from a quad injury that limited him to just nine games played last season. The Raptors' record with Leonard on the floor this season is 26-10 and he also led the team to a 7-4 record during a stretch when Kyle Lowry was out with a back injury. Earlier this season, the Raptors defeated the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks 123-116 on the road with Lowry on injured reserve. Leonard had 30 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals in a heavyweight matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo. Kawhi (30p/6r/6a) & Giannis (43p/18r/4a) duel as the <a href="https://twitter.com/Raptors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Raptors</a> win 123-116 in Milwaukee! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheNorth?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheNorth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FearTheDeer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FearTheDeer</a> <a href="https://t.co/0AOPqOXKfI">pic.twitter.com/0AOPqOXKfI</a> @NBA "I think what the Raptors are doing with load management and rest is wise on their part, because they want [Leonard] fresh for April," said Swirsky, who covered Vince Carter in his heyday with the Raptors. "We know what they can do right now and trust me they are having a fantastic season but they are going be judged on what they do in the playoffs and I think everyone gets that." Uncharted territory Pairing team success with career-best statistics is a good way to throw your name in the discussion for league MVP. Leonard also won back-to-back defensive player of the year awards in 2015 and 2016 and he's a candidate to win it again this season as the Raptors' defensive anchor. But for a Raptors superstar, this is uncharted territory. No Raptor has ever won defensive player of the year, and Vince Carter (2000-2001) and Kyle Lowry (2015-2016) are the only Raptors to finish as high as 10th in MVP voting. Kawhi Leonard dives for the no-look steal! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KiaTipOff18?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KiaTipOff18</a> <a href="https://t.co/wlR9vCBx9j">pic.twitter.com/wlR9vCBx9j</a> @NBA Leonard's highlight plays often leave fans in amazement, but you can't forget about the history of all-star players this team had over the years. And despite his praise for Leonard, Swirsky still says the effect Carter had on the franchise is transcendent. "I still think the greatest player in Raptors history was Carter, because I think it transcended more than just on the court," said Swirsky, "I would say that in terms of [being] impactful and setting the tone, it would be Carter." National audience Carter's effect on the franchise can be exemplified in the national audience he garnered during his time with the Raptors. In his first game on national TV, Carter had 51 points against the Phoenix Suns during the 1999-2000 season. WATCH | Vince Carter's impact in 2000-01 season: In just his second NBA season, Vince Carter has taken the Toronto Raptors to unprecedented heights of popularity. Carter/Raptors footage: NBA 1:57 But even during the glory days of Carter, Swirsky remembers the national TV appearances being scheduled at odd times. And despite the amount of success the Raptors franchise had over the past few seasons, national TV appearances have been hard to come by. "Vince's first game on national TV I think was on a Sunday against Phoenix The Raptors would make the playoffs but [they] were on NBA TV at around the early playoff game at around 11:30 in the morning," said Swirsky. Leonard brought a new buzz to the franchise before he even stepped on the floor in a Raptors uniform. This season's 15 U.S. nationally televised games are tied for the second-most in franchise history. Correction: this should read "tied for the 2nd-most in franchise history" with 15 scheduled national TV games in the US. They got 15 in 2000-01 and 17 in 2001-02. Full list here: <a href="https://t.co/W4kUvOISPC">pic.twitter.com/W4kUvOISPC</a> @JLew1050 The perception of the Raptors may always be influenced by the fact that they are north of the border and not quite as attractive as some of the NBA's other big markets like Los Angeles and New York. But that could be changing this season. "The perception is national TV With Kawhi being traded, that was the major offseason story line along with LeBron going to the Lakers," said Swirsky. "Now with Kawhi Leonard as a ready-made superstar, everyone wants to see how this is going play out. I think that's why that perception of 'oh boy what's going on now, how come we are not getting our just due?' I think that's out the window now." Leonard was acquired by the Raptors in July through a blockbuster trade with the San Antonio Spurs, packaged along with Danny Green for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poetl and a 2019 first-round pick. Leonard is a free agent after this season and has offered no commitments to staying in Toronto. If this is, in fact, a true one-and-done season for Leonard in Toronto, it will rank as one of the greatest in franchise history.
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https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/nba/kawhi-leonard-best-season-raptors-history-1.4989282?cmp=rss
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What Can Homebuyers Learn From a Sellers Disclosure Statement?
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Any responsible buyer wants to know everything about the home theyre buying before signing on the dotted line. After all, this is probably the biggest purchase you will ever make, so due diligence is a must. One of the ways buyers can protect themselves is by carefully reviewing the sellers disclosure statement. This form is essentially a checklist in which a seller indicates the condition of the different features of a property, any known problems affecting the property, and any pending legal issues. Michigan disclosure laws require a seller to disclose what is personally known about the home, including any imperfections. This could include things like knowledge of lead-based paint, water damage, pest damage, past repairs, past insurance claims, any history of property line disputes, etc. Disclosure documents also often ask sellers if they are involved in bankruptcy proceedings, if there any liens on the property, and so on. If something happens to the home after the form is completed maybe there is a heavy rain and the seller suddenly finds water in the basement they are legally required to amend the form in writing as soon as possible. Typically, a sellers disclosure form is filled out by the seller along with their listing paperwork. When buyers agents go into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to look up potential properties for their clients, that disclosure statement should be available. One of the benefits of this statement is that it can save everyone time, said REALTOR Julie Baker with RE/MAX Real Estate Professionals. If I have a client who does not want to take on a home that has ever had a water issue, I can quickly rule out homes in which the sellers disclosure statement includes a past water problem. Once your REALTOR has lined up a few houses to tour, he or she will most likely bring along a copy of the sellers disclosure statements to review with you. Every home will have issues...theres no way of getting around that. However, if you or your REALTOR spot something of concern on the sellers disclosure statement, you can request more information from the sellers, and/or you can make a note to have the home inspector look at the area in more detail. Which brings up an important point. A sellers disclosure form is NOT a substitute for a home inspection. Remember, sellers are required to disclosure only problems they know about. Most homeowners dont go in their attic very often, and have probably never been up on their roof, and they arent required to do so before filling out the disclosure, said Baker. If a seller violates disclosure laws prior to closing, the buyer is able to cancel the transaction. If the closing has taken place and the buyer finds out a seller did not disclose a known problem, the Mid-Michigan purchase agreement allows mediation up to six months after the closing. If mediation is unsuccessful, the dispute can be taken to a court of law. The disclosure statement really protects both parties, said Baker. I not only advise my buyers to carefully review this document, but I also advise my sellers to be as open and honest as possible. If a seller is questioning whether or not to disclose something, I would err on the side of caution and include it. The importance of this disclosure statement is just one of the many reasons why its critical for both buyers and sellers to use a trusted REALTOR during any real estate transaction. REALTORS are up-to-date on the latest laws and regulations and are very experienced with the complex documents and paperwork. They can help walk buyers through the disclosure so they understand all aspects of the home theyre buying. If you are getting ready to begin the buying process, visit the Greater Lansing Association of REALTORs website at www.lansing-realestate.com for a list of experienced area service providers, including agents, lenders, and more. Disclosure (Photo: alexskopje, Getty Images/iStockphoto) Read or Share this story: https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/marketplace/real-estate/2019/01/25/learn-sellers-disclosure-statement/2679312002/
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https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/marketplace/real-estate/2019/01/25/learn-sellers-disclosure-statement/2679312002/
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