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DC5m United States art in english 53 articles, created at 2016-12-03 12:05 articles set mostly positive rate 3.1
1 2.6 Yes it snows in Hawaii: More than 2 feet of snow in forecast (2.06/3) The summits of Hawaii’s Big Island could get more than two feet of snow, with a winter storm warning in effect through Saturday 2016-12-03 04:51 3KB www.cbsnews.com
2 1.4 Panel urges better cybersecurity to President-elect Trump
(2.06/3) A presidential commission on Friday made 16 urgent recommendations to improve the nation's cybersecurity, including creating a nutritional-type label to help consumers shop wisely and appointing a new international ambassador on the subject — weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. 2016-12-03 04:12 7KB www.charlotteobserver.com
3 3.3 PICTURED: From a delicate flower comes a very pricy spice (2.06/3) TORBAT HEYDARIYEH, Iran (AP) — It's a brilliant patchwork of color. The women open the purple petals of thousands of crocus flowers and, from each one, separ... 2016-12-03 03:57 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
4 3.3 It’s the giving season. Would you like a radio station? Philanthropically minded people regularly try to donate stuff — cars, catamarans, collections of all sorts — to nonprofits. In the best of circumstances, they believe that... (1.02/3) 2016-12-03 04:02 9KB lasvegassun.com
5 1.0 Coming soon: Obama TV? Forget it, White House says US President Barack Obama's frequent remarks on the spread of information in the (1.02/3) social media age have fueled rumors about his life after the White House. 2016-12-03 00:00 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net
6 0.0 Team11 highlights: Tattnall Square vs. ELCA Watch the #Team11 highlights for Tattnall Square vs. ELCA. 2016-12-03 00:45 715Bytes (1.02/3) rssfeeds.11alive.com
7 1.1 South Korean president Park Geun-Hye to face impeachment vote (1.02/3) The motion, backed by 171 lawmakers in the 300-seat legislature, will be put to a vote in the National Assembly on Friday 2016-12-03 00:36 4KB www.theguardian.com 8 3.6 Rebecca Judd celebrates Channel Nine Postcards Christmas party... after giving up weather presenter duties (1.00/3) Rebecca Judd, 33, took to Instagram on Saturday to share a snap from the Channel Nine Postcards Christmas party. 2016-12-03 03:30 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
9 0.8 Erupting geysers, dramatic waterfalls and epic fjords: Stunning drone footage captures the breathtaking beauty of Norway and Iceland Incredible drone footage filmed by Russian tourist Dmitry Bubonets has captured the breathtaking beauty of Norway and Iceland from a unique aerial perspective. 2016-12-03 04:46 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
10 1.9 On new album, John Legend considers love and darkness Releasing his fifth studio album on Friday, John Legend stretches into new musical territory as he subtly broadens his conception of ballads, injecting elements of funk and rap. 2016-12-03 00:00 4KB entertainment.inquirer.net
11 1.0 Scribe Turin Film Review Thomas Kruithof’s debut boasts a skillfully crafted script that keeps audiences tensely guessing the outcome until the delicious “did that just happen?” denouement. 2016-12-03 04:44 5KB variety.com
12 4.8 General Tso's Chicken inventor dies at 98 Peng Chang-kuei first bought the dish to New York about 40 years ago, despite that it was never a part of Chinese culinary tradition 2016-12-03 04:02 3KB www.cbsnews.com
13 1.2 Pittsburgh's noisy rooster doing great with St. Louis family The story of the Wylie Avenue rooster ended happily on the afternoon of Nov. 20. Frank Cantone and his two daughters returned to the scene in the Hill District after all the media folks had left. 2016-12-03 04:02 4KB www.washingtontimes.com
14 0.6 Anti-theft jewelry, seller database called underutilized In 11 years of operating a Greensburg pawn shop, Ashley Nicklaus prides herself on the good relationships she has built with police who occasionally call when they suspect customers may be selling stolen merchandise. 2016-12-03 04:02 4KB www.washingtontimes.com 15 0.0 Ads follow users to websites the marketer would rather avoid The Vanguard Group does its best to stay away from politics when advertising, going so far as to have a policy against marketing on overtly partisan websites... 2016-12-03 04:02 8KB lasvegassun.com
16 3.6 More than cookie sellers, Girl Scouts enter music industry The Girl Scouts of the USA are used to making you smile with sweet cookies, but now they're hoping to soothe your ears with sweet music... 2016-12-03 04:02 1KB lasvegassun.com
17 2.1 Miami mega-mall plan: economic miracle or mirage? American Dream Miami sees its plan for a massive retail theme park in Northwest Miami-Dade as a historic boost to the county’s economy, employing nearly 15,000 people and providing enough over-the-top attractions to rival Orlando. 2016-12-03 04:01 7KB www.washingtontimes.com
18 1.1 Heart Healthy Foods In Your Healthy Heart Diet Knowledge of heart healthy foods is very important to acquire because your heart is everything for life. Without the heart, the blood will not be pumped to all body parts. When you have problems with your heart, you will suffer a lot. When your heart... 2016-12-03 04:01 3KB article.wn.com
19 2.1 Mariah Carey holds hands with new beau Bryan Tanaka as she performs at VH1 Divas Holiday in plunging leotard and fishnet stockings The hit-maker was performing in New York on Friday. It's been a whirlwind few weeks for Mariah and Bryan. The couple recently confirmed their romance by kissing in Maui. 2016-12-03 03:50 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
20 2.2 Quality healthcare still mostly benefits the rich - health minister Universal access to quality healthcare can work as an equaliser between the rich and the poor, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has said. 2016-12-03 03:39 3KB www.news24.com
21 0.0 WATCH: Yahya Jammeh calling president-elect Barrow to concede defeat A video of Gambian President Yahyah Jammeh conceding defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow has gone viral on social media. 2016-12-03 03:36 1KB www.news24.com 22 2.4 Hamish Blake pens emotional post thanking listeners... after announcing he and co-host Andy Lee will quit radio in 2017 Hamish Blake has penned an emotional post on Instagram thanking listeners for their support. The 34-year-old and co-host Andy Lee wrapped up their popular show for 2016 on Friday. 2016-12-03 03:34 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk
23 3.4 Terry Porter settles into new role with Portland Pilots These days Terry Porter often finds himself thinking back to the day he showed up on the campus of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. 2016-12-03 03:27 5KB www.charlotteobserver.com
24 3.4 The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills step out en masse for season 7 premiere party The seven excited doyennes went all out to try and upstage each other in their cleavage-baring ensembles. 2016-12-03 03:24 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk
25 1.2 Angels Romee Strijd, Lais Ribeiro and Josephine Skriver show their heavenly legs in flirty dresses for Victoria's Secret event On Monday, they graced the Victoria's Secret catwalk in Paris. But come Friday, the ladies were back in New York promoting the holiday collection of the brand that made them famous. 2016-12-03 03:04 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
26 1.7 Dachau gate appears to be found in Norway The gate, bearing the slogan “Arbeit macht frei,” or “Work sets you free,” was stolen two years ago from the memorial site at the concentration camp 2016-12-03 03:02 3KB www.cbsnews.com
27 5.0 Couple's efforts secure forgotten Civil War veteran his due
It’s the kind of oversight that’s hard to imagine. 2016-12-03 03:02 7KB www.washingtontimes.com
28 1.3 Tribally owned tech startup lands Air Force contract From his cozy office atop a hill on the south end of town, Thomas Acevedo can see the impressive reach of Flathead Lake stretching into the northern horizon beyond his home - the Flathead Indian Reservation - and providing a vital source of sustenance to the region. 2016-12-03 03:02 12KB www.washingtontimes.com
29 4.5 Ethical gifts: think of others when you think of others this Christmas Lendwithcare offers ethical alternatives to traditional gifts, so you can help budding entrepreneurs across the globe 2016-12-03 02:59 10KB www.theguardian.com 30 0.4 5 Simple Ways to Keep Your Employees Motivated It's a fact that right now employee attrition rates are higher than ever because employees want bigger salary packages than ever. Or is it? Not quite! The simple reason is that most employers forget to treat their employees as assets. What they forget is that... 2016-12-03 02:57 3KB article.wn.com
31 0.9 Tearful husband of Sherri Papini reveals harrowing details of her captivity Keith Papini shared new details about his wife's harrowing abduction. It has now been just over a week since Sherri was found on the side of a freeway 150 miles from her home. 2016-12-03 02:33 12KB www.dailymail.co.uk
32 2.2 ‘Siren’ Review: Sequel to ‘V/H/S’ A belated feature expansion of the best segment from 2012 horror omnibus “V/H/S,” with Hannah Fierman as the titular creature the only major returning talent. 2016-12-03 02:31 4KB variety.com
33 2.0 Aung San Suu Kyi accuses international community of stoking unrest in Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi accuses international community of stoking unrest in Myanmar Leader says outsiders are ‘concentrating on the negative side’ of what the UN and Malaysia claim is ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority 2016-12-03 02:23 4KB www.theguardian.com
34 2.6 Megan Marx films Tiffany Scanlon NAKED in the shower for Instagram On Saturday, the shenanigans of Bachelor couple Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon continued as one of them filmed the other in the shower before sharing it to social media. 2016-12-03 02:19 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
35 2.9 Home And Away's Ada Nicodemou dotes on son Johnas during a Christmas outing The 39-year-old Home And Away star was spotted enjoying quality time with her four- year-old son Johnas on Saturday, as they celebrated the Christmas season in Cronulla, Sydney 2016-12-03 02:04 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
36 2.1 Minnesota rancher embraces buffaloes' beauty, but not horns Mike Marvin was 20 when he bought his first buffalo. He didn’t have any experience. He just thought the animals were cool. He liked their big woolly heads and their horns, and their connection to the American west. That was 44 years ago. 2016-12-03 02:01 3KB www.washingtontimes.com 37 1.4 SkyBell Video HD WiFi Doorbell I guess we are on the nice list this year. I though Cyber Monday Deals Week ended yesterday, but I was wrong. We got our readers $60 off the SkyBell video doorbell on Cyber Monday and thought that was 2016-12-03 01:51 2KB dailycaller.com
38 3.8 Microsoft AI will describe images in Office 365 (new accesibility features) The American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond(Washington), announced a new accessibility feature for PowerPoint and Microsoft 2016-12-03 01:51 1KB www.roundnews.com
39 0.0 HIV stigma Image copyright National AIDS Trust Theresa May 2016-12-03 00:00 3KB headlinenewstoday.net
40 1.2 Queen’s holiday deteriorate job 2 December 2016 Last updated at 19:58 GMT The Queen of Denmark has been working as a set and costume designer at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen. 2016-12-03 00:00 642Bytes headlinenewstoday.net
41 1.7 Gaffe or provocation, Donald Trump's Taiwan phone call affects global stability Gaffe or provocation, Donald Trump's Taiwan phone call affects global stability US president-elect’s ill-considered dealings with Taipei illustrate inexperience that could be exploited by China, say experts 2016-12-03 01:24 6KB www.theguardian.com
42 0.5 Lady Gaga belts A Million Reasons with Victoria's Secret Angels backstage The 30-year-old pop diva looked as though she was pledging a preppy sorority rather than catering to her usual outcast, eccentric Little Monster fanbase 2016-12-03 01:06 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
43 2.4 TV news executives are not seeing a bidding war for Fox News star Megyn Kelly Megyn Kelly ’s bestselling memoir is called “Settle for More,” but the star anchor may have to settle for less money if she decides to leave the Fox News Channel. 2016-12-03 01:01 6KB www.latimes.com
44 1.9 8 Honeymoon Places In Sri Lanka That Will Make Tour Memorable Are you newly married couple and planning for your honeymoon? If you are thinking of the place that makes your special honeymoon days truly memorable, then the best option is Sri Lanka. Honeymoon in Sri Lanka is like spices having flavors by the way of culture,... 2016-12-03 00:45 3KB article.wn.com 45 2.5 TV industry pioneer Robert Bennett dies at 89 Robert “Bob” Bennett, a television industry pioneer and 31-year resident of Newport Beach, died Tuesday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach after a long illness, according to longtime friend and business associate Paul Rich. 2016-12-03 00:40 4KB www.latimes.com
46 3.3 DSO family grows with new training orchestra for adults Detroit Symphony broadens its reach by creating Detroit Community Orchestra for amateur musicians of all ages. The ensemble makes its public debut Sunday 2016-12-03 00:36 8KB rssfeeds.freep.com
47 1.4 Local man's singing gives cancer patient strength to dance Kenny Sway is known to many in D. C. as the guy who's sings Adele outside of the Chinatown metro. 2016-12-03 00:31 2KB rssfeeds.wusa9.com
48 1.1 Hidden Hospital Costs Leave Some Patients With Sticker Shock Can you imagine paying $15 for one Tylenol, $8 for a tissue or $50 for a tongue depressor? 2016-12-03 00:30 3KB newyork.cbslocal.com
49 1.0 Joy on streets as Gambia's Jammeh toppled in presidential election Gambia's strongman president of 22 years has conceded defeat in his country's election, hours after news of the result sent thousands to celebrate in the streets in an unprecedented dis 2016-12-03 00:21 4KB www.independent.ie
50 1.9 Owner of Rock Hill music store to close business after 40 years Bill Broyhill, owner of the Record Cellar at the Rock Hill Galleria, will close the music store by the end of February. The Charlotte resident said he will try to sell the business, which is stocked with vinyl records, cds, cassettes and sheet music... 2016-12-03 00:16 3KB www.heraldonline.com
51 2.1 In Macedonia's fake news hub, this teen shows how it's done “A fake news article is way more opened than any other,” says teenage purveyor of bogus online "news" 2016-12-03 00:13 6KB www.cbsnews.com
52 0.1 Queensland MP George Christensen on provocative Good Weekend photo shoot Far right politician George Christensen laughs off his new found fame after a controversial photo of him emerges in Good Weekend on Saturday. He says the jokes are simply 'water off a duck's back'. 2016-12-03 00:10 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 53 1.7 Khloe Kardashian demonstrates how to get a 'Better Butt' in 90s-style workout video The grainy two-minute clip featuring six toning moves from the 32-year-old reality star, who's long been rumoured to have had butt implants 2016-12-03 00:10 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk Articles
DC5m United States art in english 53 articles, created at 2016-12-03 12:05
1 /53 2.6 Yes it snows in Hawaii: More than 2 feet of snow in forecast (2.06/3) HONOLULU -- The summits of Hawaii’s Big Island could get more than two feet of snow, with a winter storm warning in effect through Saturday.
A Winter Storm Warning is in effect through Saturday evening for elevations above 11,000 feet. The summits could get 20 to 30 inches of snow through Saturday, CBS affiliate KGMB.
An upper level low pressure area has brought the sub-freezing temperatures and unstable conditions. The low will combine with moisture surging in from the southeast, which could result in bursts of heavy snow, especially above 12,000 feet.
The summits of two famous Hawaiian volcanoes are blanketed in snow and ice
Conditions on the summits are dangerous. Besides being cold, east to southeast winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour are expected with higher gusts. The strong winds also will cause drifting snow, and freezing fog will reduce visibility to as low as a quarter of a mile.
It may be a while before you can see the white stuff up close. The road to the summit of Mauna Kea is closed at the Visitor Information Station at the 9,200-foot level due to freezing fog, heavy snow and icy roadways. The summit of Mauna Loa is also closed due to high winds and heavy snow. This means hiking and overnight camping is prohibited. The National Park Service said a thick blanket of snow was visible as low as 10,000 feet.
Yes, it snows in Hawaii, Matthew Foster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said he had to explain to some surprised out-of-state callers Friday. “Typically when we get these snow events, it does get a lot of attention,” he said, adding that he explains to curious callers that the snow is falling in a small, remote area where there are mainly telescopes and scientists. “We do have very high mountains here.”
Once they realize the heights of the mountains, snow in the island state makes a little more sense, said Ryan Lyman, forecast meteorologist with the Mauna Kea Weather Center. Mauna Kea is nearly 14,000 feet above sea level.
The weather service forecasts new accumulations of about a foot of snow Friday night through Saturday. An additional foot is possible Sunday. Temperatures are in the mid-20s to lower-30s. That’s a significant amount of snowfall, but not uncommon for the summits, meteorologists say.
Lyman said there has been 30 to 36 inches in recent winters.
It’s enough snow to shut down operations on Mauna Kea, Lyman said. The mountain’s access road is expected to remain closed until next week, he said. The weather service doesn’t keep track of what the record amounts of snowfall are on the summits. Heavy snow is often accompanied by wind, which create drifts that make it difficult to accurately measure snowfall, Lyman said. Abundant snow on Mauna Loa’s 13,677-foot summit could be seen at sunset Thursday from parts of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, said park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane. There was heavy rain in other parts of the state Friday, with a flash flood warning in effect for Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island.
Hawaii summits could get Hawaii's Big Island summits more than 2 feet of snow could get more than two feet lasvegassun.com of snow in early winter storm dailymail.co.uk
2016-12-03 04:51 CBS/AP www.cbsnews.com
2 /53 1.4 Panel urges better cybersecurity to President-elect Trump (2.06/3) A presidential commission on Friday made 16 urgent recommendations to improve the nation's cybersecurity, including creating a nutritional-type label to help consumers shop wisely and appointing a new international ambassador on the subject — weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The release of the 100-page report follows the worst hacking of U. S. government systems in history and accusations by the Obama administration that Russia meddled in the U. S. presidential election by hacking Democrats.
The Presidential Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity urged immediate action within two to five years and suggested the Trump administration consider acting on some proposals within its first 100 days.
The commission recommended that Trump create an assistant to the president for cybersecurity, who would report through the national security adviser, and establish an ambassador for cybersecurity, who would lead efforts to create international rules. It urged steps, such as getting rid of traditional passwords, to end the threat of identity theft by 2021 and said Trump's administration should train 100,000 new cybersecurity workers by 2020.
Other ideas included helping consumers to judge products using an independent nutritional- type label for technology products and services.
"What we've been doing over the last 15 to 20 years simply isn't working, and the problem isn't going to be fixed simply by adding more money," said Steven Chabinsky, a commission member and the global chair of the data, privacy and cybersecurity practice for White & Case LLP, an international law firm.
He said the group wanted the burden of cybersecurity "moved away from every computer user and handled at higher levels," including internet providers and product developers who could ensure security by default and design "for everyone's benefit. "
The White House requested the report in February and intended it to serve as a transition memo for the next president. The commission included 12 of what the White House described as the brightest minds in business, academia, technology and security. It was led by Tom Donilon, Obama's former national security adviser.
The panel studied sharing information with private companies about cyber threats, the lack of talented American security engineers and distrust of the U. S. government by private businesses, especially in Silicon Valley. Classified documents stolen under Obama by Edward Snowden, a contractor for the National Security Agency, revealed government efforts to hack into the data pipelines used by U. S. companies to serve customers overseas.
One commissioner, Herbert Lin of Stanford University, said some senior information technology managers distrust the federal government as much as they distrust China, widely regarded as actively hacking in the U. S.
President Barack Obama said in a written statement after meeting with Donilon that his administration will take additional action "wherever possible" to build on its efforts make progress before he leaves office next month. He urged Trump and the next Congress to treat the recommendations as a guide.
"Now it is time for the next administration to take up this charge and ensure that cyberspace can continue to be the driver for prosperity, innovation, and change both in the United States and around the world," Obama said.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump would accept the group's recommendations. Trump won the election on promises to reduce government regulations, although decades of relying on market pressure or asking businesses to voluntarily make their products and services safer have been largely ineffective.
Trump's presidential campaign benefited from embarrassing disclosures in hacked emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton's campaign staff and others, and Trump openly invited Russian hackers to find and release tens of thousands of personal emails that Clinton had deleted from the private server she had used to conduct government business as secretary of state. He also disputed the Obama administration's conclusion that Russia was responsible for the Democratic hackings. Though Trump is a prolific user of online social media services, especially Twitter, he is rarely seen using a computer. His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted a photograph Monday of Trump working on an Apple laptop inside his office at Trump Tower. He testified in a deposition in 2012 that he did not own a personal computer or smartphone, and in another deposition earlier this year said he deliberately does not use email.
Trump has already promised his own study by a "Cyber Review Team" of people he said he will select from military, law enforcement and private sectors. He said his team will develop mandatory cyber awareness training for all U. S. government employees, and he has proposed a buildup of U. S. military offensive and defensive cyber capabilities that he said will deter foreign hackers.
The new report suggested that the government should remain the only organization responsible for responding to large-scale attacks by foreign countries.
Obama has a mixed legacy on cybersecurity.
Under Obama, hackers stole personal data from the U. S. Office of Personnel Management on more than 21 million current, former and prospective government employees, including details of security-clearance background investigations for federal agents, intelligence employees and others. The White House also failed in its efforts to convince Congress to pass a national law — similar to laws passed in some states — to require hacked companies to notify affected customers.
But the Obama administration also became more aggressive about publicly identifying foreign governments it accused of hacking U. S. victims, arrested some high-profile hackers overseas, successfully shut down some large networks of hacked computers used to attack online targets, enacted but never actually used economic sanctions against countries that hacked American targets and used a sophisticated new cyber weapon called Stuxnet against Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities.
Congress passed a new law in late 2015 to encourage companies and the government to share information about online threats.
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Copy of the report: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2016/12/02/cybersecurity-commission-report- final-post.pdf The "Two Trumps" surface The “Two Trumps” surface in president-elect's transition in president-elect’s transition cbs46.com wtop.com
2016-12-03 04:12 By TAMI www.charlotteobserver.com
3 /53 3.3 PICTURED: From a delicate flower comes a very pricy spice (2.06/3) TORBAT HEYDARIYEH, Iran (AP) — It's a brilliant patchwork of color. The women open the purple petals of thousands of crocus flowers and, from each one, separate out three deep crimson threads that are tiny, delicate, and extremely valuable. This is harvest season in Iran in the production of saffron, lauded as the world's most expensive spice. It gives a bright golden hue to rice and infuses a complex flavor into paellas, bouillabaisse or Persian dishes. Luckily only a tiny pinch is needed because on store shelves around the world, a small packet of a few grams can easily run for the equivalent of $5,000 a kilogram (2.2 pounds). Iran produces more than 90 percent of the world's saffron supply, more than 300 tons the past year, and it's been expanding every year. What it is hoping to do now is increase its exports — and crack open new American and European markets — after international sanctions were lifted under the nuclear deal reached with the West last year. That has been slow to happen, however. The harvest is laborious and time consuming. All must be done by hand. Men, women and even children and the elderly join the harvest in places like Torbat Heydariyeh in northwestern Iran. Saffron is the dried stigma of the crocus flower — the three threads inside the petals. The flowers are picked, and workers sit around tables or on blankets with piles of flowers to gently pluck out the stigmas. The workers are paid around the equivalent of $10 a day. The strands are then dried in the sun. Thousands of flowers are needed for a single gram, or 1/30th of an ounce. A hectare of flowers, about the size of two football fields, yields about 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of saffron. The farmers can then sell it off to Iranian dealers at about $1,500 a kilogram. Iranians, who use it to flavor everything from stews and rice to cookies and sweets, consume about 80 tons a year, the head of the office for expanding saffron exports, Ali Shariati-Moghadam, told the Iranian state news agency IRNA. Now after the nuclear deal, the country is hoping to boost exports, which have languished under sanctions, amounting last year to $165 million dollars, down from a year earlier. So far the first seven months of this year have seen an improvement, with $93 million in sales, up from the same period the previous year, according to IRNA. Here is a gallery of images by AP photographer Ebrahim Noroozi of the saffron harvest in Torbat Heydariyeh. ___ Follow AP photographer Ebrahim Noroozi: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ebrahimnoroozi/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EbrahimNoroozi1 Follow AP photographers on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP/lists/ap-photographers ___ Follow AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images ___ Visit AP Images online: http://www.apimages.com http://www.apimages.com/
AP PHOTOS: From a AP PHOTOS: From a delicate flower comes a very Delicate Flower Comes a pricy spice Very Pricy Spice thenewstribune.com abcnews.go.com
2016-12-03 03:57 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk
4 /53 3.3 It’s the giving season. Would you like a radio station?
(1.02/3) Nathaniel Wood / The New York Times
Jason Wolff, a value investor who donated a whole radio station in San Luis Obispo to KCRW, the local NPR affiliate, and Jennifer Ferro, president of KCRW, at the station’s studios in Santa Monica, Calif., Dec. 1, 2016. Most donations are checks written to favorite causes, but some come in the form of orphan radio stations, junked cars, unwanted boats or collections of baseball cards.
By Paul Sullivan, New York Times News Service
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 | 12:02 a.m.
Philanthropically minded people regularly try to donate stuff — cars, catamarans, collections of all sorts — to nonprofits. In the best of circumstances, they believe that their donations will help a cause. Other times, they are just looking for an organization to take junk off their hands or validate their taste.
Then there is the case of Jason Wolff. At the end of 2007, Wolff, who considers himself a value investor, bought 16 radio stations in the greater Los Angeles area. He did very well with them, and this year he got an offer to sell them. But after the transaction was completed, he still had one left.
“My wife said, ‘Why don’t we just give it to NPR?'” Wolff said. “My first response was, ‘Because we can make a lot of money selling it.’ But then I thought about it. Intellectually, this felt good. This felt like a value donation — if there is such a thing.” So he called the president of KCRW, the National Public Radio affiliate in Los Angeles, and asked if she wanted his radio station in San Luis Obispo, California.
“It was so weird,” said Jennifer Ferro, president of KCRW. “I didn’t understand what he meant.”
Radio stations are generally owned by conglomerates that are not in the business of giving them to public radio stations. But in this particular case, the offer seemed stranger still: Weeks before Wolff’s offer, KCRW tried to buy a station in the same area but was outbid.
Ferro called her board and explained what was happening. “They said, ‘Wait, you said we weren’t going to be able to buy this station.'”
The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve is the giving season, when Americans make the bulk of their charitable donations.
Most of those gifts are checks written to favorite causes. But some come in the form of orphan radio stations, junked cars, unwanted boats or collections of baseball cards.
And many charities are more than happy to accept gently used or even broken-down goods that can be sold, like old cars. The proceeds go toward their mission.
“We bring in $500,000 a year from cars,” Ferro said, adding that a station in San Diego gets more than $1 million from unwanted automobiles. “Normally on a pledge drive, you’d get $10 a month. But that same person would say, ‘I have this car.’ Someone may only give you $400 for that car, but that’s $400 to KCRW.”
According to a recent survey by U. S. Trust, a banking company that caters to the wealthy, only 10 percent of people make nonfinancial gifts — like works of art, land or collections of all sorts. More than 80 percent write checks, and half of those donations are made online.
Still, more than twice as many people, the study found, give items rather than appreciated securities.
“I have a client who gave over a whole building, a rental apartment building, in the downturn,” said Claire Costello, national practice executive for philanthropic solutions at U. S. Trust. “The charity ran the building and used the proceeds for its operations. It had nothing to do with social services.”
As with any gift, advisers caution, people need to know what they want to accomplish with their donation before they make it, no matter what form it takes. And they need to understand the needs of the nonprofit.
“We were involved once when someone wanted to donate a building to a small arts nonprofit,” said Melissa Berman, president and chief executive of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. “But the building needed so much work that it wasn’t clear they could remodel a building that had so much asbestos in it. In the end, it wasn’t in the nonprofit’s best interest to take the building without more support than was being offered.”
When the gifts and needs match, it works well. For potential heirs, it can also ease the worry about whether to keep something or sell it — and the speculation about what mom or dad would have done. Costello thought of a client who had given a sizable collection of sports memorabilia to charity, a collection that probably cost the client more than it was worth. “The charity has zero investment in it, so what do they care what it’s worth?” she said. “They’re not looking to recoup their investment, like the collector was. It’s like the junk car. Who wants the junk car? But it’s valuable.”
Many of these donations are one-offs. You only have one radio station or so many junked cars to give.
But there are other helpful ways to give away unwanted items. Ken Shubin Stein, a doctor turned investor, started Crutches 4 Kids with his sister and brother-in-law, both orthopedic surgeons. The premise is straightforward: collect no-longer-needed crutches and send them to the developing world, where lack of mobility is a public health problem for 50 million children.
Shubin Stein started the charity after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, when he saw a wave of children having legs amputated. Since then, the foundation has collected and distributed about 10,000 pairs of crutches.
“One of the things about crutches is you can definitely solve the problem,” he said. “They’re low- cost, lightweight, and there’s no lucrative black market value, so they’re not likely to be stolen.” There are also schools and hospitals that serve as ready-made collection points for used crutches.
Shubin Stein said he and his family had been paying for the organization’s annual budget, which is about $100,000. They have also relied on groups like Americares and MedShare International to transport the crutches that last mile.
“Our landed-and-delivered cost for children’s crutches is about $10,” he said. “It seems like the ultimate return on investment.”
What has limited this effort, Shubin Stein said, is the logistics of collecting the crutches more widely and then getting them to places in need.
And this can be a challenge for anyone or any organization that wants to give or get: It’s a lot harder to get things from one place to another than it is to use a credit card to make a financial donation. This is often true in the case of a natural disaster, when people send care packages.
“Even if these places need things like tents or canned goods, it may often be easier for the groups that can reach the afflicted to get local merchandise than deal with customs to get goods off the plane,” Berman said. “You may be creating more of a headache than it’s worth when you send the canned sweet potatoes.”
That is not to say that small things aren’t appreciated. Berman said donating toiletries to local homeless organizations can be helpful.
James Dondero, the founder of Highland Capital Management in Dallas, came up with a solution for passing along all the gifts he receives: When his company gets expensive bottles of wine or the use of an event space as thanks for its $3 million in annual giving, it gives them to another organization in need.
The wine, for example, goes to the American Heart Association’s annual wine auction. The space, in places like the Dallas Zoo or the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, goes to smaller organizations that couldn’t afford to rent such space themselves.
“We make large gifts, so we have access to tables, admissions and golf tournaments,” said Linda Owen, director of Highland’s charitable giving program. “We’ve calculated that there is value in this, and we thought, ‘How can we give nonfinancial gifts to other organizations?'”
She said the firm supported Education Is Freedom, which helps underserved children finish high school and get into college. It took the access it had to the Dallas Zoo and gave it to the group for its graduation ceremony, which the company also underwrote.
This matchmaking is not always easy. “It is labor-intensive,” Owen said. “On one level, the easiest thing to do would be to decline these opportunities. But we try to be mindful and thoughtful about the access that we have.”
Wolff said the radio station donation was surely bigger than any other gift he had made. He said he was still waiting for the appraiser to give him the final value, though he sold an inferior station in the same market for $600,000.
And, like many people who get more involved in an organization, he said the gift felt different. “It’s like ‘The A-Team’: ‘I love it when a plan comes together.'” he said, quoting a line from the 1980s television show. “These guys are going to be able to fulfill their mission.”
The 10 biggest radio stations in SA channel24.co.za
2016-12-03 04:02 By Paul lasvegassun.com
5 /53 1.0 Coming soon: Obama TV? Forget it, White House says
(1.02/3) WASHINGTON—US President Barack Obama’s frequent remarks on the spread of information in the social media age have fueled rumors about his life after the White House.
But his team quashed speculation Friday that he is going to launch a career in the media business.
“@POTUS is interested in the changing ways people consume info, but he has no plans to get into the media business after he leaves office,” White House Communications Director Jen Psaki said in a tweet, referring to Obama by his Twitter handle. It was apparently in response to an article Friday on the Mic news site that the soon-to-be ex- president was considering working in digital media and “launching his own media company.”
READ: What Barack Obama could do for an encore
Numerous times during the bitter campaign to pick his successor, Obama expressed concern about how information is distributed and digested.
The current media ecosystem “means everything is true and nothing is true,” he told The New Yorker.
“The capacity to disseminate misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, to paint the opposition in wildly negative light without any rebuttal — that has accelerated in ways that much more sharply polarize the electorate and make it very difficult to have a common conversation.”
Asked by Rolling Stone about his transition out of the Oval Office, Obama explained that he wanted to set up his presidential center to focus on training and empowering up and coming leaders.
READ: Michelle Obama ‘never’ will run for White House–president
“How do we rethink our storytelling, the messaging and the use of technology and digital media, so that we can make a persuasive case across the country?” he asked rhetorically.
“And not just in San Francisco or Manhattan but everywhere, about why climate change matters or why issues of economic inequality have to be addressed.”
Obama also revealed his immediate plans for after the official January 20 handover to President-elect Donald Trump.
“You know, I’m gonna sleep for a couple of weeks when I get out of here, take my wife on a well- deserved vacation,” he said.
Obama confirmed plans to write a book in his first year out of office.
White House releases report on efforts to help Detroit rssfeeds.freep.com
2016-12-03 00:00 Agence France newsinfo.inquirer.net
6 /53 (1.02/3) 0.0 Team11 highlights: Tattnall Square vs. ELCA Watch the #Team11 highlights for Tattnall Square vs. ELCA.
PHOTOS | #Team11 WXIA
Team11 B2C MIC'D UP: Roswell vs. Westlake
WXIA
Team11 highlights: Mary Persons vs. Cartersville
WXIA
Team11 highlights: Jefferson vs. Thomson
Team11 B2C MIC'D UP: Team11 highlights: Team11 highlights: Mary Roswell vs. Westlake Jefferson vs. Thomson Persons vs. Cartersville rssfeeds.11alive.com rssfeeds.11alive.com rssfeeds.11alive.com
2016-12-03 00:45 WXIA rssfeeds.11alive.com
7 /53 1.1 South Korean president Park Geun-Hye to face impeachment vote (1.02/3) South Korea’s opposition parties have filed an impeachment motion against scandal-hit president Park Geun-Hye as a fresh weekly protest was expected to draw a million protesters, organisers said.
The motion, backed by 171 lawmakers in the 300-seat legislature, will be put to a vote in the National Assembly on Friday.
The joint opposition commands the most seats in the legislature, but will need the support of nearly 30 members of Park’s Saenuri Party to secure the two-thirds majority needed to impeach the president.
“If the impeachment motion fails to get passed because of the lack of cooperation from the ruling party, it must take responsibility for all consequences”, the main opposition Democratic Party’s floor leader Woo Sang-Ho was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. Accused of colluding with a close friend who faces embezzlement charges, Park said last week she would be willing to step down in the face of weekly mass protests that have seen millions take to the streets of Seoul and other cities.
But the opposition says Park’s offer, which put the manner and timing of her resignation in the hands of parliament, is an effort to buy time and avoid impeachment.
If passed, the motion would go to the Constitutional Court for approval – a process that could take up to six months.
The ruling party has called on Park to stand down voluntarily in April, allowing a presidential election to be held in June – six months ahead of schedule.
Party officials have given her a week to accept the timeline or face impeachment.
The scandal engulfing Park’s administration is centred around a long-time friend of the president, Choi Soon-Sil, who has been dubbed “Korea’s female Rasputin”.
Prosecutors say they have evidence that Park colluded in Choi’s efforts to coerce firms to “donate” tens of millions of dollars to two dubious foundations.
Park has been named as a formal suspect in the investigation, making her the first sitting president to be subject to a criminal probe while in office.
While she retains the presidency, Park cannot be charged with a criminal offence except insurrection or treason, but she would lose that immunity once she steps down.
Massive weekly protests have been intensifying over the past month, with organisers claiming up to 1.5 million people braved freezing temperatures in Seoul last Saturday to demand Park’s resignation.
Activists have called for a sixth protest Saturday in central Seoul, despite Park’s announcement that she would be willing to cede power.
“About a million will come to the rally, more or less”, spokesman Ahn Jin-Geol of an umbrella group of activists organising the rally told AFP.
“The people have already impeached Park in their mind. They simply don’t want a criminal hanging around there as a president until April”, he said.
Park on Wednesday approved a lawyer recommended by the opposition-controlled parliament as an independent prosecutor.
The special prosecutor will interview the president and be given 120 days to follow up on the findings of state investigators.
Park has backtracked on earlier promises to make herself available for questioning in a judicial probe. South Koreans to march for 6th weekend calling for Park ouster newsinfo.inquirer.net
2016-12-03 00:36 Agence France www.theguardian.com
8 /53 3.6 Rebecca Judd celebrates Channel Nine Postcards Christmas party... after giving up weather presenter duties
(1.00/3) She commenced maternity leave in August. And Channel Nine presenter Rebecca Judd took time out from her role as a mother to newborn twins Tom and Darcy on Saturday, to celebrate the Postcards program Christmas party. Taking to Instagram, the 33- year-old mother-of-four shared a playful snap from the previous night, alongside the caption: 'Fun times with our crew.' 'Fun times with our @9postcards crew at our 9 Xmas party. I'm so lucky to work with such a great team....bring on more fun adventures in 2017,' Rebecca captioned the image. The photo saw the entrepreneur posing alongside a group of Channel Nine colleagues, sporting a number of photo booth props. Rebecca was pictured in the background, styling her stresses sleek and straight, and opting for a glamorous makeup palette. The Melbourne-based star gave birth to twin boys Tom and Darcy, in late September. Rebecca, married to AFL Carlton player Chris Judd, took to Instagram shortly after to announce the birth. 'Tom and Darcy Judd are here!' the stylish WAG captioned a precious family snap. 'Born at lunch time today, perfectly healthy. We are the luckiest parents in the world,' Rebecca gushed. Makeup-free Rebecca beamed for the photo alongside an equally ecstatic Chris, as their newborns were introduced to the world. Now a mother of four, the cute arrivals join Oscar, 4, and Billie, 2, in the Judd family residence. Apart from her role as a Postcards presenter on the lifestyle series, Rebecca also featured as a weather presenter for Channel Nine. Rebecca recently told the Herald Sun she will be giving up her duties for Channel Nine to focus on her family. 'I’ve deliberated about it for six months and we need some time together as a family,' she said. 'When I found out I was having twins I thought I’m not sure I can go back to working weekends. 'I might go back once the kids are older. Channel Nine were fantastic about it,' she concluded. Channel Nine's Director of News Hugh Nailon supported Bec's decision, saying she 'will always be part of the Nine News family.' The former model will continue her role as host for the network's travel program Postcards once a week from January. She will also be working on her active wear label Jaggad and fulfill her duties as a fashion ambassador for Myer.
Makeup-free Rebecca Judd continues with the baby spam by sharing a precious snap as she bonds with twins at a tranquil ranch dailymail.co.uk
2016-12-03 03:30 Kristy Johnson www.dailymail.co.uk
9 /53 0.8 Erupting geysers, dramatic waterfalls and epic fjords: Stunning drone footage captures the breathtaking beauty of Norway and Iceland Incredible drone footage has captured the breathtaking beauty of Norway and Iceland from a unique aerial perspective. The enthralling video shows the dramatic landscape of the two countries, from enormous craggy craters bearing no sign of life to beautiful waterfalls cascading down grass-covered cliffs. Dmitry Bubonets, from Moscow, Russia, used a Phantom 4 drone during his trip in August and has called the final film Nord. The stunning footage records a plethora of beautiful landscapes, many of which wouldn't seem out of place in a Lord of the Rings film. Amazing rock formations tower above lush green grass, a road snakes between miles upon miles of apparent nothingness and an enormous geyser erupts as a small group of excited tourists eagerly look on. Nord evokes a great sense of space and the wilderness of both Iceland and Norway. Squawking birds and the occasional human visitor seem to be the only living beings present. No one landscape is focussed on for long in the film, giving viewers an impressive snapshot of the beauty of the two countries in just four minutes. However, according to Bubonets, he still didn't have enough time to capture everything he'd hoped to. The amateur filmmaker wrote on video sharing site Vimeo: 'Nord is an aerial adventure that was captured entirely on Drone. All footage was captured during a summer trip to Norway and Iceland in August 2016. 'I'm looking forward to a second trip to enjoy the sunsets, auroras, take some hikes in the mountains, shoot some timelapses and make a selfie with a puffin.' Viewers have been quick to praise the film: 'Absolutely stunning, Dmitry. A cut above!' one admirer wrote online, while another commented: 'A piece of art, a peace of mind, just wonderful! Thank You.' 2016-12-03 04:46 Harriet Mallinson www.dailymail.co.uk
10 /53 1.9 On new album, John Legend considers love and darkness NEW YORK—John Legend has become known as a modern master of the ballad, probing the emotional depths behind love and discovering the darkness that lurks nearby.
Releasing his fifth studio album on Friday, Legend stretches into new musical territory as he subtly broadens his conception of ballads, injecting elements of funk and rap.
The new album is titled “Darkness and Light” but instead of representing some sort of tug-of-war between the two forces, Legend sees them as intertwined — no love song is spared from a touch of melancholy.
The first single off the album, “Love Me Now,” is among the most rocking on the album, with a beat bringing uplift — in contrast to Legend’s biggest hit, 2013’s heartrending “All of Me.”
Yet “Love Me Now” also has an undercurrent of loss, even as Legend implores the listener to celebrate the joys of the moment.
“I don’t know who’s gonna kiss you when I’m gone / So I’m gonna love you now like it’s all I have,” Legend sings.
The album comes at a new stage of life for the 37-year-old Legend.
A musical prodigy whose talents brought him an Ivy League education and a steady ascent through the music business, Legend recently became a father with his wife, the model Chrissy Teigen.
READ: John Legend, Chrissy Teigen welcome baby daughter
Legend dedicates “Right By You,” a piano number with a smoky jazz backdrop, to his daughter Luna as he promises to care for her but wonders about her future and that of the world.
“You see, love contains a meaning of despair,” Legend warns his daughter, his mellifluous voice backed by strings.
“Will we do right by you? Will you have what you require to make your days on this Earth be not so dire?”
Subtle politics
The reflective tone of “Darkness and Light” may come as a surprise to those who know Legend more for his politics.
Long active on global anti-poverty efforts, Legend in the past two years has emerged as one of the most prominent artist advocates of the Black Lives Matter movement and has been a vociferous critic of President-elect Donald Trump.
Legend shared an Oscar last year with rapper Common for co-writing the song “Glory,” the theme to the civil rights movement drama “Selma.”
READ: ‘Underground’ snares John Legend for slave drama’s music
Legend’s latest album is political only on a close reading. Legend — raised in humble surroundings in working-class Springfield, Ohio — portrays a struggling city that finally makes the television news on “Penthouse Floor.”
“Once you’re above the city lights / Won’t want to spend another night down there on your own,” Legend sings, casting escapism as the American dream.
“Penthouse Floor” brings in an all-star cast including a lengthy passage by Chance the Rapper. Legend co-wrote the song with Greg Kurstin, the producer best known for Adele’s blockbuster single “Hello.”
Also credited on “Penthouse Floor” are Sia and Beck, the alternative rock icon who can be felt on the song’s funky bass line and guitar licks.
Other collaborators on “Darkness and Light” include Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard, who refines her famously forceful voice to complement Legend’s falsetto on the title track.
Legend is at his most introspective at the very start of the album on “I Know Better.”
To the sound of church organs, he vows never to forget his roots.
“Legend is just a name,” sings the man born as John Stephens. “I know better than to be so proud.”
2016-12-03 00:00 Agence France entertainment.inquirer.net
11 /53 1.0 Scribe Turin Film Review The political thriller genre gets a very timely infusion of life with Thomas Kruithof ’s debut “ Scribe ,” a lean, edgy drama about an outwardly bland middle- aged factotum hired to transcribe taped conversations that may or may not have been recorded by the French secret service. Set during an election clearly intended to elicit parallels with current right-wing campaigns from Marine Le Pen to Donald Trump, the film, at one time given the unwieldy English title “The Eavesdropper,” boasts an ace cast and the kind of skillfully crafted script that keeps audiences tensely guessing the outcome until the delicious “did that just happen?” denouement. The movie is likely to do strong home business on its January opening, and should be enjoyed by Francophile art houses worldwide.
When we first meet bookkeeper Duval (François Cluzet), he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown, precipitated by a nasty boss and a weakness for alcohol. Two years later he’s a teetotalling AA member, unemployed and needing a job, not just for the money but to give his life a sense of structure. After a few unsuccessful interviews, he gets a call from Mr. Clément (Denis Podalydès), proposing they meet the next day; in a spare office, Duval is offered a job transcribing phone-tapped conversations which, according to the coldly intimidating Clément, are vital to the nation’s interests.
The whole set-up is peculiar: an empty apartment has been rented, where Duval is to go every workday strictly between 9 and 6. Each morning numbered tapes will be waiting for him, which he’s to transcribe on a typewriter, not a computer, so there’s no risk of hacking. Duval protests he’s not the right person for the job, but Clément counters he’s ideal, and so he seems: older, not especially adapted to computer systems, apolitical, lives alone, and has no friends outside of AA. Besides, he needs the work, so he allows himself to think that perhaps Clément is part of French national security.
Duval develops a routine mindlessly typing out the phone conversations until he hears what seems to be the murder of a Libyan businessman acting as go-between with the government to release some French hostages. Shaken, he wants to throw in the towel, but suddenly Clément’s lackey Gerfaut (Simon Abkarian) shows up, recklessly running his mouth and literally strong- arming Duval into breaking into the offices of the Libyan’s lawyers to steal notebooks meant to contain important information. The operation is a failure, Gerfaut kills the janitor, and the next day the traumatized Duval is interrogated by Major Labarthe (Sami Bouajila) from the Secret Service.
In the manner of the best political thrillers, Duval is sucked into a nightmare of uncertain loyalties, forced to play sides against each other in a game he doesn’t understand. The mild- mannered bookkeeper with a fragile core must develop a steely quick-wittedness, especially after his AA buddy Sara (Alba Rohrwacher) is threatened. As a character, Sara is almost superfluous, patently designed to provide Duval with a slightly more developed emotional trajectory, and Rohrwacher, giving life to the weakest plot point, has little to do of any consequence.
Otherwise, the cat-and-mouse game becomes increasingly gripping as viewers put the pieces of the puzzle together one step ahead of Duval himself until the corker of an ending. In the backdrop – but not so far back – is an election campaign in which conservative candidate Philippe Chalamont touts his slogan “France is back.” Surely it’s no coincidence that the phrase has a similar ring to “Make America Great Again” (though such nativist mantras are the stock-in- trade of all right-wingers). Nor is it likely to be mere chance that the hostage situation referred to, on the eve of an election, recalls the 1979 hostage crisis when Ronald Reagan was campaigning against Jimmy Carter. One of the strengths of “Scribe” is how it plays on the notion that conspiracy theories don’t always have to be far-fetched, bringing a frightening plausibility to the film’s deadly game of manipulation.
Duval’s age is a nice detail, making the chain of events far more believable than if he were some young office worker with a drinking problem: Cluzet’s lived-in mien allows the character credibility as well as depth, wordlessly adding layers not spelled out in the tight screenplay, co- written by the director and Yann Gozlan (who delivered another enjoyable thriller last year, with “A Perfect Man”). In his first feature, Kruithof boldly exhibits a fine sense of control and a mature understanding of how to build scenes. Visuals are uniformly crisp, suitably cold when required, and matched by ace editing.
2016-12-03 04:44 Jay Weissberg variety.com
12 /53 4.8 General Tso's Chicken inventor dies at 98 NEW YORK -- The chef credited with inventing General Tso’s Chicken, a world-famous Chinese dish smothered in a sweet sauce that was never a staple in China, has died in Taiwan at 98. Peng Chang- kuei died of pneumonia last Wednesday in Taipei, his son, Chuck Peng, told The Associated Press. He was still cooking in the family’s Taipei restaurant kitchen just a few months ago. Peng first brought the sticky, sweet and spicy dish to New York about 40 years ago.
The inventor of General Tso's chicken died at age 98. CBSN's Kristine Johnson has more on the iconic dish and the man behind it.
It’s now on Chinese restaurant menus across the United States, exploding in popularity after President Nixon visited China in 1972. The dish also reportedly became a favorite of famed statesman Henry Kissinger, who with Nixon helped open the communist country to the West, spotlighting its culture and food. But General Tso’s chicken was never part of the Chinese culinary tradition. The chef created the dish in the 1950s in Taiwan, where he fled in 1949 with Chiang Kai-shek after the communists took over, said Chuck Peng, speaking from his home in Taipei. In Taiwan, the chef helped welcome the commander of the U. S. Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific with a banquet that included the new culinary creation named after a 19th-century Chinese military leader from Peng’s native Hunan Province.
The U. S. is home to more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants, but what's in your local take-out order bears little resemblance to the many types of c...
By the 1970s, he was in New York running a restaurant named after himself near the United Nations on Manhattan’s East Side. Kissinger was a frequent guest, said Chuck Peng. “General Tso’s Chicken is so famous because of Henry Kissinger, because he was among the first to eat it, and he liked it, so others followed,” said Peng. Americans quickly took to what is now a mound of deep-fried chunks of floured chicken, smothered in sweetness that usually includes soy sauce, sugar, ginger and other spices. In the dish’s first incarnation, the chicken reportedly was not fried, and its unsweetened flavor came from garlic, soy sauce and chilis. The story of the delicacy is told in a 2014 documentary called “The Search for General Tso,” which traces the roots of Chinese food in America through the iconic dish. Chuck Peng runs the family’s chain of 10 restaurants in Taiwan, all called Peng’s. Until he was hospitalized a few months ago, his son said Peng was a daily presence at their flagship Taipei restaurant which opened after the chef left New York in 1983. The restaurant space on East 44th Street was later occupied by a steakhouse that also is gone. “My father thought other people’s cooking was no good,” his son said, chuckling. “The way he cooked was different, it was much better.” While he was “very good to other people, he was very hard on his family” - seven children from three mothers. “He was very demanding, he didn’t want us to make any mistakes.” Some of Peng’s hundreds of students plan to attend his funeral on Dec. 15 in Taipei.
2016-12-03 04:02 AP www.cbsnews.com
13 /53 1.2 Pittsburgh's noisy rooster doing great with St. Louis family PITTSBURGH (AP) - The story of the Wylie Avenue rooster ended happily on the afternoon of Nov. 20. Frank Cantone and his two daughters returned to the scene in the Hill District after all the media folks had left.
The rooster had been oddly absent in the morning, but he was right there on Henry Gaston’s property at 4 p.m. It’s where inspectors have seen him - citing Mr. Gaston multiple times for violating a city ordinance prohibiting roosters. It’s where neighbors fed him, where he could be spotted almost any given day. But he had always evaded capture.
The Cantones were there to relieve Mr. Gaston of his legal burden and to save the rooster from possible harm. They run a chicken rescue operation in St. Louis and read about Mr. Gaston’s appearances in District Judge Oscar Petite’s courtroom in my stories published in July and September. At the Nov. 2 hearing, Mr. Gaston had run out of time. He was to have been fined. But a phone message to the court from Mr. Cantone saved the day. Judge Petite called him back and told him that if he could catch the bird, Mr. Gaston could avoid a fine.
The Nov. 20 story of the capture lacked details. When Mr. Cantone texted “We got him” at 4:30 p.m. I called him, got the essence and called the newsroom, informing the editor that Felicity, the 10-year-old, had made the catch after a four-block chase. That’s what I had understood Mr. Cantone to say. But here’s how it really went down:
“He was on the property, and Lindsey (who is 12) and I went to get him and he got away,” Mr. Cantone said.
The rooster headed across Roberts Street, then north, with the Cantones in pursuit. On the other side of Webster Avenue, Lindsey and her dad ran ahead of Felicity, who saw the rooster dart under a bush.
“I heard Felicity yelling, ‘Daddy, Daddy, he’s right here!’ If she hadn’t seen where he went, we’d have lost him,” Mr. Cantone said.
“He was under the bush, worn out. That’s one of the keys to catching a chicken is to wear them out. When I reached in to get him he moved and I scooped him up.”
The Cantones first arrived at the property Saturday evening along with TV crews and reporters. Mr. Cantone thinks the rattling of the cage spooked the bird high into a tree, and by Sunday morning, when everyone returned, it was either smart enough to lie low or someone was harboring it. The Cantones decided to try again later, alone.
Sometimes, when I talk to journalism students, they ask how I find stories. Sometimes, they fall into your lap.
Last July, I was interested in a particular case in Judge Petite’s court, and while waiting for it, I was focusing on my Sudoku app. I heard a woman mention “that rooster” on the property across the street from her. I put my phone away and listened, and when the hearing was over, I got that rush every reporter feels when she has a delightful, oddball story that will have everyone talking. In September, Mr. Gaston was back in court. He was supposed to have caught the rooster. He said he couldn’t. He said he doesn’t even own the bird, that it just hangs out there. He said even Animal Control couldn’t catch it.
Apparently it takes people who know something about roosters to catch one.
The St. Louis Chicken Rescue now has nine chickens. Its second rooster will remain Rudy, the name Mr. Gaston’s neighbors gave him. So far, Rudy isn’t showing much interest in the hens. He has eaten a bit of an apple, but he doesn’t like chicken feed, Mr. Cantone said.
“He’s so used to human food from all the people who fed him,” he said.
Rudy is a Chantecler, Mr. Cantone thinks, and about 2 years old.
“He is a precious bird, so well behaved. He loves my girls. He’s very protective of them,” he said. While the Cantones were here, they visited the Strip District. Mr. Cantone found a cool cigar shop; the girls found a cool candy store. The Hampton Inn in Green Tree agreed to let them stay overnight with the rooster.
“We had so much fun,” Mr. Cantone said. “What a beautiful city. The girls want to move there. They didn’t want to leave. There’s such a positive vibe.
“We’ll definitely come back. I can see us bringing Rudy back on a leash and letting him walk in the old neighborhood and say hi to the neighbors.”
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Online: http://bit.ly/2fJdY5q
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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com
2016-12-03 04:02 By DIANA www.washingtontimes.com
14 /53 0.6 Anti-theft jewelry, seller database called underutilized GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - In 11 years of operating a Greensburg pawn shop, Ashley Nicklaus prides herself on the good relationships she has built with police who occasionally call when they suspect customers may be selling stolen merchandise.
When her license to buy and sell gold, silver and precious metals at Pawn & Jewelry Exchange on East Pittsburgh Street changed to require her to enter those transactions and information about sellers into a regional database, she and other gold buyers around the region complied. But as the database’s founder works on plans to expand its reach, Nicklaus said its adoption by local police is lagging.
“If it’s used in the right way, it can be a great tool,” said Nicklaus, who also uses a separate program to track goods coming and going from her shop. “But I haven’t come across any law enforcement agency that has access to it or uses it. … I’m still getting police officers calling in asking me to check my own database.”
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. spearheaded the creation of PAPreciousMetals.com in 2015. Licensed dealers in gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals are required to upload photos and descriptions of merchandise people sell them, along with information on the seller. Investigators, in theory, can check the database for jewelry reported stolen and track it to whomever sold it.
The regional database was established under state law that gives sheriffs the authority to license and regulate businesses that buy and sell precious metals and jewels. It covers businesses in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
A grant from Zappala’s office, used to launch and operate the database for its first year, expires Dec. 31.
Westmoreland County commissioners this month added $200 to the annual $50 fee paid by 52 precious-metal dealers here to support the multi-county database.
Allegheny County passed a similar fee hike on its 125 dealers in December, raising nearly $10,000, Zappala said.
He did not rule out using more grant money from his office if fees are not enough to cover costs for the database.
“We’ll look at the effectiveness of the program. And, if the program continues to operate, we’ll find the money to get it done,” he said.
On the surface, Zappala said it appeared to be accomplishing its goal of helping to tackle the issue of stolen jewelry being fenced across county lines.
Instead of visiting individual shops to go over paper records or check recent acquisitions, investigators and insurers can check the database to see who is selling what - usually drug addicts fencing personal items or stolen goods not far from where they were taken, Zappala said.
“Within 24 hours, you have the transaction in the system,” he said. “On paper, if you say ‘gold chain’ or ‘class ring,’ that doesn’t help me. But having the seller’s (identification) in the database and pictures of the merchandise, that gives you all kinds of tools you didn’t have before. “It’s been a success, and we’re looking to expand it.”
Zappala said he would like to establish a way for the public to be able to search the database and notify police if they see that someone has pawned or sold their stolen property.
About 1,000 officers in 16 Western Pennsylvania counties have signed up to use the system, Zappala said. Other agencies in York County, parts of Virginia and Ohio also have used the system, and Zappala hopes to expand it to counties in the central and eastern parts of the state.
Store owners say they would rather see more local police use the database and enforce compliance from all stores to keep it fair.
“(Police) will still come in here and do inquiries, even though I’m putting it online,” said Rachelle Timarac, manager at GoldNGals on Freeport Road in Natrona Heights. “I’m telling them about the website. … It’s better than them coming into the store when I have customers here.”
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Online: http://bit.ly/2gGMAWB
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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com
2016-12-03 04:02 By MATTHEW www.washingtontimes.com
15 /53 0.0 Ads follow users to websites the marketer would rather avoid By Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times News Service
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 | 12:02 a.m.
The Vanguard Group does its best to stay away from politics when advertising, going so far as to have a policy against marketing on overtly partisan websites. So it was a surprise to Vanguard, an investment management company, when it found its ads on Breitbart News, the hard-right site that has become closely tied to President-elect Donald Trump.
An email from a client alerted Vanguard to the issue last week, prompting it to pull its ads from the site. Breitbart had been inadvertently included on a list of preapproved websites the company and its ad agency use to try to reach people who have visited Vanguard’s site, said Emily Farrell, a spokeswoman.
Vanguard is one of at least a dozen companies, including prominent brands like Allstate, Kellogg and Warby Parker, that have said recently that they will stop advertising on Breitbart. The brands have attributed their appearances on the site to the automated nature of online advertising, in which a complicated system of third-party networks and agencies are used to place ads. That has cast a spotlight on how the zeal to capitalize on consumer data and advanced targeting technologies has resulted in some companies being associated with sites they want to avoid.
It is increasingly rare for marketers and their agencies to place ads directly on websites. Unlike advertising on television or in magazines, where brands often choose placements in advance based on content, marketers online deploy sophisticated technologies to target and personalize ads in real time for the people who are most likely to be interested in their products or services, wherever they may be roaming on the web.
Kris Charles, a Kellogg representative, said that while the company reviewed sites for potential ad placements “using filtering technology to assess the words and phrases that make up a site’s content,” there is also “a very large volume of websites, so occasionally something is inadvertently missed.”
All of this has resulted in the kind of publicity — and political repercussions — brands were hoping to avoid. After Kellogg said it would stop advertising on Breitbart because the site was not “aligned with our values as a company,” pointing to publicly available marketing guidelines, Breitbart started a #DumpKelloggs boycott campaign. Larry Solov, Breitbart’s chief executive, said in an editorial that the cereal maker “has shown its contempt for Breitbart’s 45 million readers and for the main street American values that they hold dear.”
A spokeswoman for Breitbart did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
Allstate responded to one consumer’s complaint about its appearance on Breitbart by saying, “Unfortunately, the nature of internet media buys is such that we are not always able to receive full disclosure with regards to all of the websites on which our advertising may run,” though it would exclude Breitbart from its ad buys in the future. The eyeglass company Warby Parker blamed “third-party ad networks or ad exchanges,” and affirmed its commitment to diversity and inclusivity. Other brands, including Nissan, have said they aim to reach as many customers as possible and do not plan to change their advertising strategy based on complaints from some consumers.
The nuances of how a brand ends up on a website, however, are often meaningless to consumers who may associate the two regardless of whether they have a direct relationship — which is being highlighted anew as tensions run high after the election.
About two weeks ago, a Twitter account called “Sleeping Giants” was created with the goal of choking off ad dollars going to Breitbart, urging people to screenshot ads on the site, then post those pictures and flag the advertisers. (The New York Times is among companies that have been criticized for advertising on the site.)
Workable, a startup that sells recruiting software and champions diversity, was flagged by the account, which has roughly 6,000 followers, for having a banner ad on Breitbart above the headline, “There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews.” A screenshot of the ad was posted and sent to Nikos Moraitakis, Workable’s chief executive, who said he “nearly had a heart attack” when he saw it.
Workable’s ad ended up on the site through one of the Google companies that brokers web ads, and Workable has now added Breitbart to an “opt out” list, Moraitakis said in an interview. But even as it has blocked Breitbart, “there’s probably another 10 sites we haven’t excluded,” he said.
“We rely on our ad networks to keep the networks clean, and then obviously, the big ethical question is what clean means,” he said. “Unfortunately, these hate speech sites and fake news sites are a new breed, and I don’t think Google has caught on to them.”
He added, “The unfortunate side effect of this is that to the consumer, it looks like we are directing our advertising dollars to a specific media site.”
Most ads are placed based on data about the user rather than the content of the website, and limits are set after the fact — say, ensuring that brands do not show up next to pornography or neo-Nazi literature. This process is known as blacklisting, and because of the sheer number of websites, brands tend to value its efficiency over any qualms they may have about appearing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The blacklist approach starts with 500 billion impressions a day across the globe in real time across all screens and all formats, the white list approach starts with zero,” said Joe Zawadzki, chief executive of MediaMath, a marketing technology company. “So it’s, do you start with the universe, then filter, or start with nothing, then build up?”
To some, that illustrates the underlying problem. Joe Marchese, president of advertising products for the Fox Networks Group, said that while audience profile “matters first and foremost,” there “has to be a better standard set for the environment” where an ad will appear.
“When you buy so many sites that you don’t know them all, there’s almost no way to kind of guarantee you’re not going to be supporting something fraudulent, sensationalist or alt-right or whatever the content happens to be,” he said.
The uproar about Breitbart with the separate issue of fake news sites has sent advertisers to online ad verification companies like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science. On Thursday, DoubleVerify added an “Inflammatory Politics & News” category to a list of more than 75 categories that advertisers can choose to avoid. If selected, it will block ads from appearing on sites including Breitbart, Rawstory.com, WND.com, LibertyWritersNews.com and YoungCons.com, the company said.
“With the surge in these new sites that are living on unsubstantiated stories that are oftentimes very politically charged, large brands are coming to us and ensuring that their ads don’t appear on those kinds of sites,” said Wayne Gattinella, chief executive of DoubleVerify.
Breitbart said in its editorial that Kellogg’s move would have “virtually no revenue impact” on the site. While at least one ad tech firm, AppNexus, has barred Breitbart from using its tools, citing a violation of its hate speech rules, data from Ghostery, a data governance company, shows the site works with many ad tech companies. And while select brands have pulled away from the site, plenty of others remain.
Still, John Montgomery, executive vice president for brand safety at the advertising giant WPP’s GroupM, predicts that the price of ads on Breitbart could decline, affecting the company’s revenue, if enough “venerable brands” act.
“Since the Breitbart issue came up, we’ve obviously been talking to our people internationally and making sure they have their clients understand if they don’t want to be on political sites, we need to put them onto the blacklist,” Montgomery said in an interview. “Particularly after the publicity of the election there are many big brands who are having these discussions with agencies right now.”
2016-12-03 04:02 By Sapna lasvegassun.com
16 /53 3.6 More than cookie sellers, Girl Scouts enter music industry Associated Press
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 | 12:02 a.m.
NEW YORK — The Girl Scouts of the USA are used to making you smile with sweet cookies, but now they're hoping to soothe your ears with sweet music.
The organization announced Thursday that they've recorded an original song for the first time, featuring backup vocals from actual Girl Scouts.
"Watch Me Shine" was written by Liz Rose, who has won Grammys for her work with Taylor Swift and Little Big Town, and Emily Shackleton, who sings lead on the song.
The track is being used in a Girl Scouts PSA called "I'm Prepared," which praises girls for being leaders, problem solvers and innovators.
It's available on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Music. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Girl Scouts organization.
2016-12-03 04:02 Associated Press lasvegassun.com
17 /53 2.1 Miami mega-mall plan: economic miracle or mirage? MIAMI (AP) - American Dream Miami sees its plan for a massive retail theme park in Northwest Miami-Dade as a historic boost to the county’s economy, employing nearly 15,000 people and providing enough over- the-top attractions to rival Orlando.
But opponents call the pitch less of a dream and more of a mirage, arguing that the six-million-square-foot mall would swamp traffic while sapping jobs from existing retail centers.
“There’s no net economic benefit from this project for the county,” Robert Weissert, head of research for Florida Tax Watch, told a local zoning board this week. “The jobs that are created are being destroyed in other places. They’re being cannibalized, they’re being displaced. Jobs leave from one area and go to this project.”
Economics helped frame the opening skirmish Nov. 29 between American Dream Miami and its would-be retail rivals in Miami-Dade, with the two sides facing off in the community council hearing held in a middle school auditorium less than two miles from the proposed project site. “You get to create an engine that will drive this economy,” Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a land-use lawyer and lobbyist representing the project, told board members. “American Dream Miami is an economic-development project, first and foremost.”
On the one side: American Dream Miami developer Triple Five, the Canadian company that owns Minnesota’s Mall of America and Alberta’s West Edmonton Mall; and the Graham Cos., the Miami Lakes developer that provided land to the 200-acre project and wants to build residential and commercial on about 340 acres just south of the proposed retail theme park.
On the other side: the South Florida Taxpayers Alliance, a group backed by the owners of the Dolphin Mall (Taubman Centers), Miami International Mall (Simon Property Group) and Bayside Marketplace (General Growth Properties).
“What we’re talking about today is one gigantic project,” said Jeffrey Bercow, a land-use lawyer and lobbyist representing the Alliance.
The community council, a county zoning board, voted to forward American Dream’s proposal on to the county commission for a preliminary vote in January. A final decision is expected in May, provided the project survives the initial vote.
Tuesday’s hearing offered a glimpse at the bitter, behind-the-scenes confrontation under way between Triple Five and its would-be competitors in Miami. Before the vote, Triple Five head Eskandar Ghermezian lashed out at the idea of existing mall operators coming to the public hearing to oppose the $3 billion proposal.
“If you are a homeowner, you have all the rights to be here,” said Ghermezian. “But if you are a developer, or a shopping-center owner,” he said, his voice rising to a shout, “standing in the back there, to oppose me, they have no right to be here!”
From the start, Triple Five positioned its Miami venture as a milestone moment for Miami-Dade. It wants to build an even bigger version of the Mall of America near Miami Lakes and Hialeah, a 150-acre wedge of undeveloped land between I-75 and the Florida Turnpike.
Along with 3.5 million square feet of retail, American Dream would build a portfolio of rides and attractions unlike anything south of Central Florida. Those include a domed water park, a 16- story artificial ski slope, an indoor roller coaster and a lagoon with submarine rides.
Backers of the project say it could fill a void in the county’s tourism landscape, which lacks large, regional attractions.
“We have a great hole in Miami-Dade’s economy,” Joe Goldstein, a lawyer for the Graham Cos., told council members. “Now is the time to fix the loss of Disney.”
While American Dream says its entertainment offerings make it more of an attraction than a shopping destination, the coalition of existing malls in Miami-Dade are trying to deflate that argument. Alex Heckler, a lawyer and lobbyist representing the Taxpayer Alliance in Miami- Dade, identified the retail companies backing the group. He also represents Turnberry, owner of the Aventura Mall, but said that firm is not part of the alliance.
The alliance hired Florida Tax Watch to study American Dream Miami’s economic claims and produced a critical study by the county’s former chief economist. Robert Cruz, who lost his county job in 2015 and now is Tax Watch’s chief economist, wrote that department stores outside the Mall of America, Triple Five’s flagship property in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, saw “paltry” employment growth after the massive facility opened in 1992.
Cruz wrote that department stores elsewhere in Minnesota saw stronger growth (1.2 percent versus 0.3 percent in Minneapolis), confirming the views of Mall of America critics “who worried that hiring at the mega-mall was almost assuredly displacing jobs” instead of creating new ones. In his report, Cruz also noted that Miami-Dade already enjoys status as “a shopping ‘Mecca’ ” for tourists, particularly international travelers. He wrote American Dream Miami “would not likely have any unique economic benefits as the applicant’s analysis suggests.”
The report was a rebuttal to American Dream Miami’s own economic analysis, which predicts the project would add $1 billion worth of real-estate value to the county’s tax rolls and pay more than $35 million a year in local taxes. The study by Miami Economic Associates predicted 14,530 full-time jobs at the property, with about 60 percent earning less than $25,000 a year. Building the massive theme park would produce 23,000 jobs, with almost all of them earning more than $40,000 a year, according to the December 2015 study for the developers.
A study by Miami-Dade’s planning department found that American Dream Miami could add up to $1.7 billion to the region’s economy - roughly the size of South Florida’s production industry, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The report also said American Dream Miami could fulfill a longstanding county goal of creating a new entertainment district to help “solidify” Miami-Dade’s “place as a destination center.”
But the report also noted the American Dream site will eventually produce jobs, since the county’s growth plans already call for the land to be developed with warehouses and other industrial uses.
“There is no doubt that, when completed, the American Dream Mall will create jobs and infuse money in the economy of Miami-Dade,” the report stated. “Yet development of the same site for industrial acres would, most likely, provide higher-salary jobs.” The report noted that the industrial uses would take longer to materialize, while American Dream Miami wants to open in 2019.
Ghermezian declined to answer questions after Tuesday’s hearing, and Triple Five representatives were not available for interviews Wednesday.
Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida not involved in the project, backed Triple Five’s assertion that creating a theme park in Miami-Dade would boost the county’s retail and tourism sectors.
“This is not just the Gap and Banana Republic,” Snaith said in an interview. “If it becomes a destination, a Mall of America-type thing, that pulls people from outside of the area, that’s a bonus to the economy.”
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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com
2016-12-03 04:01 By DOUGLAS www.washingtontimes.com
18 /53 1.1 Heart Healthy Foods In Your Healthy Heart Diet By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Plant- based diets are tied to a lower risk of health problems like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and certain cancers - and pretty...
Image Credit: yourhealthtube.com Many people use coconut oil because it is really popular. Recently, as a nutritionist, I have been asked a lot about the health benefits of...
(Source: OhioHealth Corporation ) Vegetarian diets are healthy for people of all ages, as well as the environment, according to a new update of the Academy of Nutrition and ...
Hypercholesterolemia is when the levels of cholesterol in your body are above the desired levels. I'm sure all of us know that cholesterol is nothing but a fat-like...
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu season peaks around December and again in February. Help beat the flu by staying healthy year round: Eat right,...
Holidays are fun, exciting and joyous. Family gatherings, festive shopping, dolling up our homes and the scrumptious meals add to the holiday spirit! Squeezing in some down-time during your Christmas break is a far cry; leave alone your exercise routine. Given the festive and cheerful spirit in everything and everyone around, almost all of us end up overindulging in food and...
Are you trying extremely hard to lose those extra pounds yet again? You are not alone. In fact, 50% of the people complain that within six months they gain back the weight that they have managed to ditch. Not to worry, we have got some best solutions for you to ditch that weight once and for all. Here are some of the best dieting tips to lose weight and keep it off: 1. Weigh...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 3 American adults (about 70 million people) have high blood pressure.1 About half have uncontrolled high blood pressure, which increases your risk for a number of serious health problems, including: Heart disease Stroke Kidney disease2 Cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer's disease3,4 Globally, more ...
(Source: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ) Chef Zubaida Tariq selecting pulses at a grocery stall at Empress Market, a famous market in downtown Karachi, Pakistan. 2 December 2016, Rome - A high-level international symposium on nutrition ended here today with a resounding reminder of the importance of promoting healthy diets and ensuring adequate ...
A family already struggling to make ends meet will have to spend more than one-third of their entire weekly budget on food if they want to eat a healthy and balanced diet, according to a report from food safety and nutrition agency Safefood. A family of two adults and two children will need to spend between €121 and €160 a week to eat a healthy balanced diet, a figure which...
2016-12-03 04:01 danielrayn article.wn.com
19 /53 2.1 Mariah Carey holds hands with new beau Bryan Tanaka as she performs at VH1 Divas Holiday in plunging leotard and fishnet stockings They confirmed their relationship earlier this week, after weeks of speculation. And Mariah Carey looked on top of the world as she held hands with her new boyfriend, back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka, while hoisted onto the shoulders of her dance team during her performance at VH1 Divas Holiday: Unsilent Night in New York on Friday. Mariah's much younger new beau, 33, couldn't take his eyes off his leading lady, 46 - and for good reason too. The chart-topper wore an extremely eye- catching, sparkling red Nutcracker-inspired leotard complete with gold tassels and a plunging neckline. She was all dressed up in fishnet stockings, black ankle boots, and sensibly styled her hair back into an ultra high ponytail. Her back-up dancers wore similar ensembles, topped off with a white feather gold hat. Ever the crowd pleaser, Mariah had the audience on their feet as she kicked off the holiday season by singing a series of hits. All throughout the routine, Mariah's beau remained not far from her side. It's been a big few weeks for Mariah and Bryan lately. Not long after splitting from fiancé James Packer, Mariah began sparking rumours that she was romantically involved with Bryan. The couple finally confirmed the romance when they were spotted kissing on the beach in Maui, Hawaii earlier this week. But while speaking with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb for Today about her upcoming reality series Mariah's World, the star remained tight-lipped about her new romance. 'I refuse to answer under the grounds that it may incriminate me!' she said when asked about Bryan. The Fantasy singer has been spending plenty of time with Bryan recently and earlier in November they were spotted dining together at Berri's on 3rd Street in Los Angeles. Along with Anthony Burrell, Bryan has been touring with Mariah the longest out of all her dancers. Their bond is said to be one of the reasons for tension in Mariah's relationship with her Aussie ex. Mariah, meanwhile, wasn't the only star to dazzle the crowd that evening. Patti La Belle, Chaka Khan, Teyana Taylor, Vanessa Williams, JoJo, Bebe Rexha, and Serayah were all on hand to usher in the holiday season. VH1 Divas Holiday: Unsilent Night will air on the network December 5.
2016-12-03 03:50 Christine Rendon www.dailymail.co.uk
20 /53 2.2 Quality healthcare still mostly benefits the rich - health minister Johannesburg - Universal access to quality healthcare can work as an equaliser between the rich and the poor, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Friday.
“The financing of healthcare is not dedicated to those who need it. Healthcare financing is in favour of the well-to-do. The time for that to change has arrived,” Motsoaledi said.
He was speaking at the unveiling of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in Parktown, Johannesburg, after two-and- a-half years of construction.
Work on the R1bn facility began in April 2014. It has 200 beds and will be a referral-based hospital, a training centre for specialists, and a centre for research into childhood illnesses.
The hospital has pledged not to turn away any child in need of care.
Motsoaledi said he and many others across the world, including members of the United Nations, believed that if universal healthcare coverage was amended, it would be one of the biggest equalisers between the rich and poor.
“If there is no universal healthcare coverage, all the dreams we have will not be realised. No matter how sick you are, the type of assistance you get depends on the depth of your pocket.
“Generally in South Africa, 80% of specialists serve 16% of the population. It is therefore obvious that when it comes to specialised needs for children, there is a great unmet need that needs to be addressed.”
Most people loved children, regardless of their nationality, race, or gender. However, there were millions of children around the world who were not being cared for.
1.3 million children without parents
He said that in South Africa 1.3 million children had either lost one or both parents.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital was only the fourth such hospital on the continent, besides the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in the Western Cape and two more in Egypt. It was the most technologically advanced of the lot, he said.
These numbers compared dismally to the first world.
“There are 23 such hospitals in Canada, 19 in Australia, 20 in Germany, and 157 in the United States.”
He said the wealth of the world lay in the well-being of its children.
South Africa, like most countries in Africa, was in need of specialised medical staff, especially nurses, he said.
The hospital had 48 critical care beds, which was 16% of the required number of such beds a hospital should have, according to international guidelines. Globally, most hospitals had between 8% and 12% of their beds dedicated to critical care. In South Africa it was 4%.
“The hospital will assist us to fill many gaps. The only way all children of the region can have access to this hospital is when government supports it,” he said.
2016-12-03 03:39 www.news24.com
21 /53 0.0 WATCH: Yahya Jammeh calling president-elect Barrow to concede defeat Cape Town
– A video of Gambian President Yahyah Jammeh conceding defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow has gone viral on social media.
Jammeh, who ruled the west African country for 22 years, accepted his defeat on Friday following an election in which over 800 000 people voted.
"Allah is telling me my time is up and I hand over graciously with gratitude toward the
Gambian people and gratitude toward you," Jammeh said.
He also wished Barrow "the best".
Watch the video below.
Responding to Jammeh's congratulatory message, Barrow said: "We will continue from where you left. "
Official results showed Barrow, a businessman and politically unknown until six months ago, comfortably won Thursday’s poll with 45.54%.
Jammeh took 212 099 votes (36.66%) and third party candidate Mama Kandeh 102 969 votes
(17.80%).
2016-12-03 03:36 www.news24.com
22 /53 2.4 Hamish Blake pens emotional post thanking listeners... after announcing he and co-host Andy Lee will quit radio in 2017 retrospective series 10 Years in 10 Weeks airing instead from January 16. The popular pair made the shock announcement on Friday, saying they feel content to be 'going out on a high'. They will instead be concentrating on their new Channel Nine show which they start filming in February ahead of a July launch. 'Next year will be our final year for radio,' Andy revealed. 'We were actually thinking about stopping this year but we were having way too much fun.' Hamish explained that after 13 years on radio, the pair would be focusing on their TV commitments. 'We've tried to juggle everything to make sure we can have one more year,' he said. 'This year on radio has been the funnest of our whole careers and we want that fun to continue next year. He added: 'It's a year away, we've got so much more fun to have.'
2016-12-03 03:34 Greg Styles www.dailymail.co.uk
23 /53 3.4 Terry Porter settles into new role with Portland Pilots These days Terry Porter often finds himself thinking back to the day he showed up on the campus of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
There had been no schools battling to recruit the young point guard from Milwaukee. The Panthers showed interest but couldn't offer him a scholarship. He arrived, like any freshman, unsure of his decision. But he did know one thing: He loved basketball.
The journey that started at the Division III college a couple hours' drive from his hometown long ago has brought Porter to the University of Portland, where he's charged with guiding a team of kids that are in so many ways just like he was.
"I liked the coach, and they had a couple of kids that were from my conference down in Milwaukee, so I knew I could room with them," Porter recalled. "I tell our players all the time that they're so far ahead of me when I was their age, because I didn't get a scholarship to play basketball. At Stevens Point there were no scholarships to be had. I was on grants and work study and things like that. "
Porter is in his first season as coach of the Pilots after some 17 seasons as a player in the NBA, then more than a decade as a coach or assistant in the league. He replaced Eric Reveno, who was dismissed earlier this year after 10 years with the Pilots.
Tapping Porter, who is beloved in Portland, was a savvy move that's generated excitement for the Catholic university's program.
"It was a great hire, I think, for the school," said Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who played for the Pilots. "He's one of the Rip City legends in Portland. He has such a great class and reputation about him in the Northwest. I think it's a fantastic fit. He brought more interest in the program just from him signing on than we've had in probably the history of the program. "
Porter played for the Trail Blazers from 1985-95, with a team that went to the Western Conference finals three times from 1990 to 1992 and to the NBA Finals twice. The starters on that team were Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams and Kevin Duckworth, but the group would never win a title: In 1990, the Blazers lost to the Detroit Pistons, and in 1992 they couldn't overcome Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Porter also played for the Timberwolves, the Heat and the Spurs over his NBA career. A two- time All-Star, he averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 assists and 1.2 steals a game. His 7,160 assists rank 14th on the NBA's all-time list.
After his playing career was over, Porter was head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons from 2003-2005 and for the Phoenix Suns during the 2008-09 season. He had stints as an assistant coach in Minnesota, Sacramento and Detroit.
He's not sure the young players on his team knew he was that Terry Porter when he was introduced as head coach. The only exceptions were his sons, freshman Malcolm and sophomore Franklin.
"They knew I played pro, but they didn't know if I had won championships, or all the teams I played with, or all the players I played with, and they wouldn't have known all the coaches I was blessed to work with," Porter said. "They were just like, 'Oh, he played in the LEAGUE, and he played for a long time.' I think it made it a little bit easier for me, my body of work, because they were like 'OK, he knows what he's talking about.'"
Porter has never coached at the college level before, but he's already excited about sharing his experiences.
He's drawn on his contacts for advice. Porter even traveled to Miami to pick Spoelstra's brain. "We just met and talked shop, and it was fun. Swapping stories and talking about when he was here years ago and how excited he is about the job. I told him whatever he needs from me, I'm here to help him," the Heat coach said.
Porter also used his contacts in the sporting world to come up with some unique team-building activities. The group went to Seattle to spend a few days with the Seattle Seahawks, watching practices and hearing from coach Pete Carroll.
He also draws on his experiences at Stevens Point, and his coach there, Dick Bennett.
"My college coach was the first coach I really learned a lot about basketball from, because my high school years were good, but I wasn't a great basketball player," Porter said. "There was a huge amount of learning as my game progressed, and I definitely fell under the late bloomer category because I didn't have a great start. "
After four years at Stevens Point, Porter was the 24th overall pick by the Blazers in the 1985 draft. He remains Portland's career leader in assists (5,319) and is its third-leading scorer (11,330). He made 773 3-pointers on 2,006 attempts.
At the Moda Center, just five miles away from the Pilots' campus, Porter's No. 30 hangs from the rafters.
"I've been around basketball my whole life. The journey has been amazing. It's taken me to places I never could have imagined," he said. "I have young men now, some who aspire to do the same thing as me, get to the pros or play overseas, and just to be able to talk to them and share my experiences is something I'm proud to do. "
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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
2016-12-03 03:27 By ANNE www.charlotteobserver.com
24 /53 3.4 The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills step out en masse for season 7 premiere party The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills returns to Bravo for a seventh season on Tuesday. And on Friday night, the ladies who lunch gathered for a premiere launch party at a Beverly hills hotel. The seven excited doyennes went all out to try and upstage each other in their cleavage-baring ensembles. Joining stalwarts Lisa Vanderpump, Kyle Richards and Lisa Rinna were Eileen Davidson and Erika Jayne Girardi along with newcomer Dorit Kemsley and new cast friend Eden Sassoon. Kathryn Edwards and Yolanda Foster are not returning. The first trailer for the new season released last month showed the wealthy women traveling the globe to glamorous destinations although their personal feuds continue apace. Showing up to support her sister and the rest of the cast of the reality show was Kim Richards. Kyle's older sibling was part of the Bravo series until alcohol abuse and run-ins with the law forced her out of the show. But after a difficult period, Kim looked in fabulous form in a long-sleeved LBD with dark tights and black heels.
2016-12-03 03:24 Dailymail.com www.dailymail.co.uk
25 /53 1.2 Angels Romee Strijd, Lais Ribeiro and Josephine Skriver show their heavenly legs in flirty dresses for Victoria's Secret event On Wednesday, they graced the Victoria's Secret catwalk in Paris. But come Friday, the ladies were back in New York promoting the holiday collection of the brand that made them famous. Romee Strijd, Lais Ribeiro and Josephine Skriver dazzled in Christmas dresses while at the lingerie line's new Fifth Avenue location. Romee wore a silver, sequin gown complete with a strapless neckline. The 21-year-old added extra height to slender frame with a pair of silver, strappy heels. The stunning blonde wore her long locks down and in soft curls. For make-up, the model stayed true to the go- to Victoria's Secret look; natural glam. Lais Ribeiro, 26, posed in a flared, spaghetti-strap dress, while Josephine Skriver, 23, was reminiscent of the '90s, in a long-sleeve, velvet mini. Among Victoria's Secret's holiday collection, a portion of the items paid tribute to clothing of Christmas' past. In addition to traditional undergarments, one bra took on a more modest take with a turtleneck neckline. On Wednesday, the girls, along with Angels such as Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio, walked the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Paris. The event is set for air on CBS next Monday. Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, and Bruno Mars provided the night's entertainment.
2016-12-03 03:04 Brittany Valadez www.dailymail.co.uk
26 /53 1.7 Dachau gate appears to be found in Norway BERLIN -- The wrought iron gate to the Nazis’ Dachau concentration camp that was stolen two years ago, prompting an international outcry, appears to have been found in western Norway, police said Friday. The gate, bearing the slogan “Arbeit macht frei,” or “Work sets you free,” was located in the Bergen area of Norway after authorities received an anonymous tip, German police said in a statement. Authorities said they were trying to determine if the recovered gate is authentic, but police said there was a “high probability it is the iron gate stolen in Dachau,” Bavarian police said.
Five suspects have been arrested by Polish police for the theft of a historic sign hanging from the entrance of one of the most notorious World ...
The gate seemed to be good condition, and will be handed over to German authorities “as soon as it is feasible,” according to police in Bergen, which is located 125 miles northwest of Oslo. Local newspaper Bygdannytt reported the gate was found in Ytre Arna, a settlement north of Norway’s second- largest city. It was not immediately clear when it was found. So far, the perpetrators remain at large. The concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, near Munich, was established by the Nazis in 1933. The missing gate, measuring 75 by 37 inches, originally was set into a larger gate at the camp’s entrance. More than 200,000 people from across Europe were held at Dachau, and more than 40,000 prisoners died there.
Remembering the victims of Nazi Germany's first SS-controlled concentration camp
The camp was turned into a memorial site, and the gate’s theft in November 2014 was viewed as a desecration. The Dachau memorial’s director described the gate as “the central symbol for the prisoners’ ordeal.” Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial labeled the theft as “an offensive attack on the memory of the Holocaust. A replica was installed in the missing gate’s place last year as part of events marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by U. S. forces in April 1945. It was the second time in recent years that a Nazi camp gate was targeted by thieves. In December 2009, the “Arbeit macht frei” sign that spanned the main gate of the Auschwitz death camp, built by the Nazis in occupied Poland, was stolen. Police found it three days later cut into pieces in a forest on the other side of Poland. A Swedish man with a neo-Nazi past was found guilty of instigating that theft and jailed in his homeland. Five Poles also were convicted of involvement and imprisoned.
2016-12-03 03:02 AP www.cbsnews.com
27 /53 5.0 Couple's efforts secure forgotten Civil War veteran his due TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - It’s the kind of oversight that’s hard to imagine.
Maybe the relatives of James and Irene Powers were just too busy to take care of the final arrangements for their loved ones, who died in 1921 and 1928, respectively.
After all, the couple’s son, the Rev. Jesse D. O. Powers, was a leading progressive clergyman in bustling Seattle back in the day, supporting the women’s suffrage movement, among other causes, with prayer and speeches.
“In Seattle, no one spoke more frequently or convincingly than the Rev. J. D. O. Powers of the First Unitarian Church and Rev. Sidney Strong of Queen Anne Congregational Church,” according the book, “The Concise History of Women’s Suffrage,” which was published in 1978.
Whatever the reason, urns containing the cremated remains of James and Irene Powers sat in “community storage” at a Seattle cemetery for decades until a Kent couple with a passion for the Civil War came across them this year.
Seeing what they considered a wrong, Loretta and James Dimond decided to try to make it right. Now, James Powers, who served in the Union Army during that long-ago conflict, will get the military burial he rightfully deserves. His wife will be buried with him during a Dec. 10 memorial service at Tahoma National Cemetery near Kent.
“It is a significant event,” James Dimond told The News Tribune (http://bit.ly/2gGngBi ) recently.
The Dimonds are teaming with Robert Patrick of the Washington chapter of the Missing in America Project, which works to find, identify and inter the unburied remains of veterans.
The three are planning a service with full military honors for James Powers, replete with gun salute, the playing of taps and other accoutrements. Members of local Civil War re-enactment groups plan to be on hand.
“We’re going to support this the best we can,” said Tom Yokes, director of Tahoma National Cemetery. “It’s important.”
Powers will become the second Civil War veteran buried at the cemetery, joining Medal of Honor winner 2nd Lt. Jesse T. Barrick, who lies at rest in Section 8 of the picturesque graveyard. Barrick also served in the Union Army.
Originally buried in Pasco Cemetery, Barrick’s remains were exhumed and then reburied with full military honors at Tahoma in 2000.
That Powers will join him is due in large part to the curiosity of the Dimonds, who both have master’s degrees in history and come from families with military backgrounds.
For the past 22 years or so, they’ve dabbled in American history for fun, James Dimond said. The Civil War has been of special interest, he said. Their hobby has included searching for the remains of veterans lying in unmarked graves and obtaining proper headstones for them.
“We’ve worked from one end of the state to the other,” James Dimond said. “If we find veterans, we try to take care of them.”
But even they were surprised by their discovery at Lake View Cemetery, a picturesque graveyard on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
George Nemeth, manager of Lake View, said that decades ago the cemetery became a repository for the city’s unclaimed cremated remains.
“We have a number of cremated remains that over the years were stored here from various funeral homes,” Nemeth said. The cemetery eventually accumulated nearly 1,700 such remains. Until recently, they were stored in a maintenance shop, but when the shop was renovated, Lake View workers cataloged the remains and moved them into empty crypts throughout the cemetery.
“It happens periodically that people will come claim them,” Nemeth said.
Last summer, Loretta Dimond paid a call to Lake View, looking for the remains of possible veterans. Two names on the cemetery’s list of unclaimed remains, those of James and Irene Powers, caught her eye.
The dates of their deaths, during the Roaring Twenties, coincided with a period of time that saw many Civil War veterans die.
“It seemed possible that Mr. Powers was a Civil War veteran,” Jim Dimond said.
The Dimonds’ curiosities began to buzz, but there was work to do to establish whether Powers was a Civil War veteran and whether he qualified for a military burial.
“We had to make sure we had the right person,” James Dimond said.
A process of “detective work” ensued, he said, including trips to the National Archives offices in Seattle for copies of military pension payment receipts, the scouring of newspaper microfiche for obituaries and internet searches for information about Powers.
Their conclusion: Powers was in fact a Civil War veteran and deserved a military funeral that recognized his service.
The Dimonds then worked with Patrick to complete the bureaucratic process to have Powers verified as a veteran and win authorization to hold a military funeral for him at Tahoma.
Powers, it turns out, was born in Michigan and worked as a farmer near Kalamazoo before enlisting in the Union Army in 1864 along with his future father-in-law, the Rev. Orlando Keyes.
Keyes officiated at the wedding of his daughter, Irene, and Powers the day after their enlistment. The two men left Michigan a few days later with their unit, Company D of the 12th Michigan Infantry Regiment, according to online records and research by the Dimonds.
Powers spent most of his enlistment in Arkansas, where he worked as a company clerk and medical assistant, James Dimond said.
The 12th Michigan, which fought at Shiloh and Vicksburg in preceding years, mostly served more mundane duties in 1864-‘65, including guarding railroads and other public property after the taking of Little Rock, according to Nation Park Service records.
After the war, Powers returned to Michigan, where he embarked on a career in public service that included working as a teacher, school inspector, highway commissioner and state representative, records show.
“He was a literate and smart person,” said James Dimond, adding that Powers went on to become an attorney.
In 1920, James and Irene Powers moved to Seattle to be near their eldest son, the Rev. Powers, according to a July 1, 1921, obituary published in The Seattle Times. James Dimond said Powers, who then was in his late 70s, was not well when he moved west and died about a year after arriving. He was 78.
James Dimond said he and his wife are thrilled to have played a role in identifying Powers as a Civil War veteran and in helping him receive an honorable burial after all these years.
He admitted becoming emotional when he and Loretta Dimond got to hold the urns of Powers and his wife this summer.
“This guy fought to save the Union and end slavery,” James Dimond said. “It was highly moving.” ___
Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com
2016-12-03 03:02 By ADAM www.washingtontimes.com
28 /53 1.3 Tribally owned tech startup lands Air Force contract POLSON, Mont. (AP) - From his cozy office atop a hill on the south end of town, Thomas Acevedo can see the impressive reach of Flathead Lake stretching into the northern horizon beyond his home - the Flathead Indian Reservation - and providing a vital source of sustenance to the region.
From the same perch, he can envision the continued growth of a family of Salish and Kootenai businesses under his watch that are setting a global standard among tribally owned companies, reported the Flathead Beacon (http://bit.ly/2fLl9O1).
In November, the U. S. Air Force awarded S&K; Aerospace a multi-year contract worth at least $4.2 billion. It’s the largest single contract in the history of S&K; Technologies, a corporation headquartered in Polson and owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that encompasses five subsidiary companies, including S&K; Aerospace.
Acevedo, CEO of S&K; Technologies since 2007, considers the Air Force contract the latest in a long line of success stories, rooted in the tribes’ identity as “A People of Vision” and the entrepreneurial spirit that thrives across Montana. It also provides another significant boost of revenue for a corporation that has given more than $25 million since 2002 to the CSKT tribal government, which oversees the reservation and its roughly 7,750 enrolled tribal members.
“This is a phenomenal win for us,” he said from inside the company’s headquarters. “It has given us tremendous satisfaction to be able to (give back to the tribes through annual dividends) and help at that level.”
At the end of November, S&K; Technologies will employ more than 500 people, including 50 in Polson and St. Ignatius, where the other company office is located. Among this large staff working around the globe, all types of skills and backgrounds are represented, including physicists, psychologists, engineers and former military personnel.
The corporation operates offices across the U. S., including Georgia, Colorado, Texas, and Florida. In 2012, it opened an office in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia after a lengthy vetting process that few companies survive. S&K; did, receiving approval to set up shop in “The Kingdom” to work with the Royal Saudi Air Force for supply-chain management government contracts. Now, with S&K; establishing a strong reputation and knowledge for doing business in the Middle East, the Polson-based corporation has become a go-to source for other U. S. and foreign companies trying to develop offices in The Kingdom.
“Our reputation stands out,” said Dermot O’Halloran, senior vice president of corporate development with S&K; Technologies.
The recent multi-billion dollar contract, which was awarded after a competitive bid and analysis process, could likely lead to added employment as roughly 100 people will be dedicated to the Air Force’s Parts and Repair Ordering System (PROS) V Program. This contract, which has the ability to extend 15 years and swell beyond the $4.2 billion baseline, will put S&K; in charge of facilitating parts and repair orders, as well as specialized engineering and technical services, with more than 90 foreign military customers.
S&K; was the primary contractor overseeing the U. S.-based program for the last six years, and when the latest, expanded contract was announced, the company emerged victorious despite other companies bidding lower than the Polson-based outfit, according to Acevedo.
“We were not the lowest bidder, but they said the reason we got it was because we did beyond- satisfactory work on previous contracts and did substantially better work,” he said.
The PROS program is tasked with providing allied customers a way to maintain aging weapons systems, and S&K; oversees the global network of vendors and specialists who will accomplish that high-profile goal.
“The success of the program relies on our ability to process a significant volume of customer requirements in a relatively short period of time to meet the requirements of the contract, as well as managing a well-qualified and diverse vendor base to satisfy the wide range of needs,” said Tim Horne, director of PROS programs.
If the importance of the Air Force contract seems impressive, consider the other projects and programs in which S&K; is actively involved.
S&K; Logistics Services, another company under the S&K; Technologies umbrella, is overseeing the cleanup of two former nuclear development sites. In Moab, Utah, S&K; has led efforts to remove uranium-ore tailings and other contaminated materials at the former atomic energy site. Recently, the local corporation was awarded another contract to lead cleanup efforts for the U. S. Department of Energy at the Savannah River site, a 310-square-mile property in Georgia where nuclear materials were once refined for deployment in nuclear weapons.
Through a partnership with Boeing, S&K; Global Solutions, another subsidiary, is providing a wide range of engineering and technical services for NASA’s International Space Station program and Orion program, which is being built to take humans farther than ever before in space. Among its many projects, the company is closely involved in the development of human- like robots that NASA plans to use on manned space missions, including the exploration of Mars.
NASA has developed a particular fondness for working with the Polson company dating back to 1997, when the government agency awarded the contract that fueled the inception of S&K; Technologies.
Today, S&K; has an office at Johnson Space Center in Houston with a team that works directly with the director of NASA. At the agency’s last space shuttle launch in Florida, Acevedo was invited to witness the event in person. He also sat in one of the Mars rover simulators and experienced the state-of-the-art technology that the Polson-based company has helped shepherd.
“It’s amazing how far (NASA) has come so far,” he said. “It’s good to be part of that team, stretching those dimensions.”
It’s also amazing how far this tribal startup in Polson has evolved in a relatively short period of time.
In the early 1980s, a deep recession swept the U. S., leading to increased unemployment and economic turmoil. At that point, 35 percent of families on the Flathead Indian Reservation were living below the poverty threshold, according to U. S. Department of Labor statistics. Jobs were few and far between, and the CSKT tribal government began exploring ways to spur economic development.
Enter Tom Acevedo. Born in St. Ignatius and raised in Plains, Acevedo was a tribal member who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Montana and a law degree at the University of New Mexico. Hoping to help his home tribe and fellow tribal members, Acevedo returned to northwest Montana after working in Washington, D. C. and Colorado.
Under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the U. S. government allowed tribes to establish unique forms of government. The CSKT became the first collective of tribes in the U. S. to adopt a federally approved constitution and governing body. Through this agreement, tribes had the ability to own corporations. Boards of directors are established to oversee the specific corporations. In the instance of S&K; Technologies, there are five board members who are appointed to staggered four-year terms.
Through these corporations, tribes can gain added revenue sources that benefit the entire reservation.
“The tribal government was really trying to find employment and was focused on job creation,” Acevedo said. “They were subsidizing a lot of businesses and not really focusing on the bottom line or worried about why the businesses were not in the black.”
Acevedo was tasked with evaluating the tribes’ businesses and the local economy. Instead of investing in traditional industries, such as timber, the CSKT turned their attention to tourism. Acevedo spearheaded the creation of KwaTaqNuk Resort in Polson, a $7 million development that replaced a former mill site on the shores of Flathead Lake with a large hotel and casino. While the KwaTaqNuk was a success, the long-term viability of relying on tourism was uncertain, leading the tribes to explore tech startups and manufacturers.
“The tribes have always been more interested in being environmentally oriented, from its history as the first tribe to designate the Mission Mountain Wilderness as an official tribal environmental haven,” Acevedo said. “That’s the mindset. So we decided, if we’re going to do other businesses, we didn’t want to do smokestack industries.”
The CSKT made another small investment in a startup manufacturing company called S&K; Electronics, founded in 1984. Its humble origin began with local employees, including O’Halloran, a Polson native, going door-to-door seeking work with residents and businesses.
Small but successful growth followed. And then the big break arrived in 1997, when U. S. Sen. Max Baucus brought NASA leaders to northwest Montana to show off S&K; as a rising star in the tech services world. The agency awarded the local company a multimillion-dollar robotics contract, which spurred the development of S&K; Technologies as a separate services corporation and allowed S&K; Electronics to stay focused on manufacturing.
“They were looking for a company that seemed to really know what it was doing. They took a chance with us,” O’Halloran recalled. “The key to our success was teaming with the right people. In this case, we didn’t have any experience in that type of environment, but we knew what we had in our tool kit.”
From there, the company thrived. By 2003, S&K; had landed contracts with the Department of Interior, the Department of Defense and the various military branches. In 2006, it became apparent that the growth was only going to keep expanding exponentially. Enter Acevedo once again. After taking his talents to the East Coast to help other tribal governments address economic change, he once again returned home to Polson and was named CEO of S&K; Technologies. In 2007, the decision was made to branch out with the subsidiary companies that could specialize in different areas and programs, a move that has proven visionary.
The success of S&K; also provided confidence and a clear model that paved the way for Energy Keepers, another tribally owned corporation that oversees the management of the former Kerr Dam south of Polson. In 2015, CSKT became the first tribes in the nation to own and operate a major hydroelectric facility when they took over Kerr Dam.
Today, Acevedo could have an office atop any hill in any city in America. S&K; Technologies could thrive in any corner of the country, perhaps even more so in an investor-rich hub like Silicon Valley or the government contract capital of Washington, D. C.
But Acevedo, O’Halloran and the other S&K; leaders in northwest Montana are perfectly content being right where they are now. This is home, and Acevedo relishes the chance to introduce national and global leaders to this place and its successful family of tribes.
“When (potential partners) look at us, they see our brand and they see that we’re wholly owned by a Native American tribe,” Acevedo said.
“When they look at us, they see that identity and they see that all of the profits go back to the tribe and its people. That goes a long ways. And we can explain about the Confederated Salish and Kootenai. It is a nice opening to our story.”
___
Information from: Flathead Beacon, http://www.flatheadbeacon.com
2016-12-03 03:02 By DILLON www.washingtontimes.com
29 /53 4.5 Ethical gifts: think of others when you think of others this Christmas I t’s the ethical Christmas gift that can throw a financial lifeline to people in poorer countries who are trying to improve their lives. Lendwithcare gift vouchers allow Britons to lend relatively small sums of money to people in 11 countries who are keen to start or grow their own small business – and the occupied Palestinian territories have now been added to the list of locations, meaning it is possible to lend money to individuals and families in the West Bank and Gaza. People such as Tayseer Ghanem, a 58-year-old farmer, and Walaa Shaltaf who runs a beauty salon.
Guardian Money has previously featured the vouchers , which for a limited time are available as a “buy one, get one free”. So if you are struggling for a present for a loved one, how about the gift that really does keep on giving? Alternatively, there are plenty of other ethical Christmas gifts for those looking for something that will transform people’s lives or help the planet (see below).
Lendwithcare is a peer-to-peer microfinance website set up by aid charity Care International UK, which fights poverty and injustice around the world. When you buy someone a Lendwithcare gift voucher, they then go online and choose an individual who they are going to lend the money to. It might be a rice farmer in Cambodia, a market stall holder in Zambia or a taxi driver in Ecuador. In most cases the voucher will be a contribution towards the total amount the entrepreneur is looking for. He or she will use the money to start or expand their small business, thereby helping them to feed their family and send their children to school.
The idea is that the loan will be repaid, and the voucher recipient can either keep the money or “recycle” it by lending it to another budding entrepreneur, and then another.
The vouchers are available in various amounts from £15 upwards and can be emailed to the recipient or printed out and tucked inside a Christmas card. Previous recipients of the vouchers have told the charity that it was one of their favourite gifts “because it gets the whole family gathered around the computer to pick an entrepreneur to help”.
Remember that these are loans, not handouts. The money is paid back – typically over anything from four to 36 months depending on the recipient’s plans for it – in instalments to the local microfinance institution (MFI) that has partnered with Care International in that country. The MFI then transfers these repayments to Care International, which credits them to the UK lender’s Lendwithcare account.
Since their launch in 2010, more than 33,000 people – many of them Guardian readers – have lent more than £11.5m to 46,400 entrepreneurs, helping people in Togo, Benin, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ecuador, Pakistan, Philippines, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and, now, the occupied Palestinian territories.
While Care International works extensively across the Middle East, this is Lendwithcare’s first activity in the region. It has teamed up with a local MFI called Reef Finance, which operates in the West Bank and Gaza, and specialises in providing agricultural, business, housing and personal loans to individuals – typically for things such as greenhouses and livestock. “The Palestinian territories are within a volatile region, but more than 4.4 million people live in the West Bank and Gaza and, like everywhere, they need to earn a living,” the charity says. “We believe that in helping people to increase their income and tackle poverty, they may become less vulnerable to the effects of conflict and will be in a better position to … continue with their livelihoods during peacetime, and to be more hopeful about the future.”
The amounts being sought vary. Tayseer Ghanem, for example, is seeking a loan of $2,000 (£1,600) to buy agricultural materials such as fertiliser, seeds and pesticide. A farmer all his life, the married father-of-four has a greenhouse and grows tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and other vegetables which he sells through a co-operative.
Walaa Shaltaf, meanwhile, is looking for a $3,000 loan (£2,400). Divorced and living with her parents, Shaltaf started working in salons 13 years ago when she finished her basic education, and recently opened her own, Beautiful All The Time. She feels she would boost her income if she offered more treatments and sold beauty products at the salon, so she plans to buy creams, cosmetics and other items, plus additional equipment. She also wants to hire an assistant.
Lendwithcare says that, as with all its MFI partners, the organisations it is working with in the occupied territories “have undergone rigorous research and are deemed to have met our stringent ethical criteria”. It adds: “Due to the elevated security situation in the region, our partners and entrepreneurs in the West Bank and Gaza undergo additional verification.” In most cases, the MFI partner there will buy and deliver the items requested by an entrepreneur and financed by Lendwithcare.
To date, only 10 Lendwithcare loans have ever defaulted – a pretty impressive statistic. In the case of five of these the individuals died, and the other five were made to groups in Malawi who lost their businesses or incurred difficulties because of severe floods.
This Christmas the charity’s buy one, get one free offer means that if you buy a gift voucher, you’ll also get a £15 voucher free (though this portion can’t be withdrawn after it is paid back).
This year’s crop of ethical Christmas gifts range from chickens and shares in a wind turbine to composting toilets for refugee camps and wash-cloths for keeping camels’ udders clean, writes Rupert Jones. The charity goat is also present and correct.
The Good Gifts website , run by the Charities Advisory Trust, has a goat for £25, or two for £45. Present Aid , which supports the work of Christian Aid, is offering a kid goat for £9 and a nanny goat for £22. Oxfam has them, too, and is offering a free milk chocolate goat with every Oxfam Unwrapped gift card order until Friday 9 December.
Some of the more offbeat gifts we found include: a kit for making banana wine, a popular drink in Malawi (£25 from Present Aid); the aforementioned wash-cloths for Kenyan camels (£15 from Good Gifts); “a pile of poo”, which is a mix of manure and organic fertiliser, plus some training in eco-friendly farming techniques (£9 from Oxfam’s online shop); and an acre of rainforest (£52 from Good Gifts – or those with deep pockets can treat someone to 25 acres for £1,300).
With some of the websites, including Present Aid, the money will go towards relevant projects rather than being used to buy that animal or item. However, sites such as Good Gifts guarantee that your money buys the described gift.
Meanwhile, the Small Wind Co-op is offering wind energy gift certificates, available in any amount from a minimum of £100. Available until 16 December, these can be exchanged for shares in the co-op which is building three wind turbines in Scotland and Wales. So far, it has attracted more than 350 members and raised more than £1.1m to fund the installation of farm- scale turbines in Wemyss Bay and Inverclyde in Scotland, and Ceredigion in Mid Wales. Projected average annual returns for shareholders are 6.5% over 20 years, says a spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, waste company London Junk is offering what it calls “the world’s first ever waste collection experience day gift package”. You might think they would pay you to get elbow-deep in the capital’s rubbish, but this comes with a £300 price-tag.
Ethical Consumer , which describes itself as the UK’s leading alternative consumer magazine, has a Christmas gift guide for those on the hunt for present ideas. It mentions Hive.co.uk as “a great alternative to Amazon” for books, combining online shopping with support for local shops. The magazine’s best buys for perfume and aftershave include Dolma, Neal’s Yard Remedies, Florame and Pacifica. These are all vegan and not tested on animals. On the clothing front, People Tree is described as a stand-out best buy, and on the high street H&M, Marks & Spencer and New Look are all recommended.
If you are still to buy your Christmas cards this year, writes Miles Brignall , we recommend as a Guardian Money best-buy the handmade cards from Sreepur in Bangladesh, from which 100% of the purchase price goes to charity.
The Sreepur Village charity, two hours north of the country’s capital, Dhaka, cares for up to 100 destitute women and 500 abandoned children. Started 25 years ago by former British Airways flight attendant Pat Kerr, it now helps fund itself from the sale of the cards it makes. You can hand over your money safe in the knowledge that the organisation has made a real difference: in 2009 we visited the project and were so impressed that we have promoted the cards ever since. A pack of 16 costs £14.75, delivered in the UK.
At the heart of the project is a paper-making facility. Women from the local community have been trained to produce it from locally grown jute, and the cards are decorated in return for a living wage – money that makes a huge difference to their lives. British Airways flies the cards to the UK for free, while volunteers collect and distribute them here. This ensures all the money spent on the cards goes directly to Sreepur.
For more info and to buy the cards go to sreepurcards.org. Cards are sent within 24 hours of an order being placed.
2016-12-03 02:59 Rupert Jones www.theguardian.com
30 /53 0.4 5 Simple Ways to Keep Your Employees Motivated NEW YORK, Dec. 01, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Across the country, thousands of protestors are demanding a mandatory minimum wage increase of $15 per hour for low wage ... null New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) Look different with your dupatta and stand out from the crowd, says an expert. Mandeep Nagi, Design Director at Shades of India, a textile...
(Source: Walsall FC Ltd ) Treat the family this Christmas to an Aladdin Pantomine here at the Banks's Stadium! On 30th December, we will see Aladdin and Wishy Washy on the ... (Source: Ohio State Bar Association ) Dec. 1, 2016 Most lawyers would argue that documents rank in their top three most important assets, along with their brilliant ...
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(Source: CAT - Chatham Area Transit ) Posted on December 1, 2016 Jingle All The Way…to the Bank! This holiday season, CAT wants to help you and your loved ones save even more! Keep reading for 3 easy ways how. 1. For a limited time only, CAT is offering a Buy One, Get One deal on Airport Express passes. From business colleagues to college students, if they're going to fly,...
(Source: University of St Andrews ) « Back to news items Thursday 01 December 2016 Vice- Chancellor, ladies and gentlemen, graduates of 2016 both here in person and in absentia, but with us in spirit and perhaps watching now on the web: congratulations! Congratulations, first of all of course, to you, the graduates, looking splendid in your academic dress; and congratulations ...
(Source: Appian Corporation ) With the constant acceleration of expectations, it almost doesn't matter what line of business you are in, really. All organizations will face growing pressure to operate at DIGITAL SPEED. To come out on top in this fast-moving environment… to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack, means taking your app development game to another...
Words are easy ways to express our thoughts, opinions, judgments and beliefs but we must appreciate the fact that words are powerful. God created us by His words. Satan deceived us by words and Jesus came to earth to save us with words. They are like arrows which when thrown, cannot be taken back. Words also have psychic energy to perform just what we want them to do. They...
(Source: Salmat Limited ) 1. Embrace marketing automation Automation can now be integrated at basically every touchpoint of the customer journey. Email marketing, content marketing, and social media management are just three areas that can be automated to improve efficiencies across a company's franchise model. Grow your output without your marketing team spending hours on...
2016-12-03 02:57 jameshopes article.wn.com
31 /53 0.9 Tearful husband of Sherri Papini reveals harrowing details of her captivity At one point during her horrifying 22 days spent in captivity, Sherri Papini tried to find a moment of peace from just a piece of discarded cloth. The mother-of-two rolled the cloth up and pretended it was her two-year- old daughter Violet, rocking it as if it was her baby girl. This was just one of the emotional moments Papini's husband Keith shared during an exclusive interview with 20/20 that aired Friday, a week after his wife was found. Keith revealed new details about how his wife was held captive by two Hispanic women who kept her shackled in a basement, starving, beating and branding her. He said guns were involved, and that he believes the two women pulled over while Papini, 34, was out on a morning jog as she prepared for a Thanksgiving Day race. 'It makes more sense that Sherri approached a vehicle that pulled up with to women inside, asking for help,' he said. 'That makes more sense to me'. Keith said the women drove Sherri for two- and-half hours straight that day, speaking Spanish most of the time. Papini was then shackled in captivity, and Keith said she revealed that guns had been involved. She had little to comfort her, pretending to tuck her children in at night to feel closer to her family. Papini's head was covered with a hood the entire time, making it hard to see anything but the women's eyes as they abused her. Keith saw the extent of their beatings when he saw his wife for the first time in weeks on Thanksgiving Day. That morning the women had cut the restraint that bound Papini inside the car and pushed her out onto the road around 4am. There was still another chain around her waist, which one of her hands was cuffed to, but Papini managed to use her free hand to take off the bag over her head. She then ran to a house where she hoped to ask for help, but it 'didn't look inviting', Keith said. Papini then ran to a building but it was locked. That's when she decided that her best shot was standing on the side of the road of the freeway and waving down a car. 'People were driving past her and not stopping,' Keith said of the moment. 'In her mind, she's frightened and scared.' 'She's screaming so much she's coughing up blood.' Keith said his wife then realized the chain around her waist could be scaring people away, wondering if they believed she had escaped from a prison. So Papini tried to tuck the chain under her clothes. A woman named Allison was driving in the right-hand lane when she saw Papini frantically waving what she said 'looked like a shirt'. 'She had a wide-eyed panic look, it was dark, she came out of nowhere, I was startled to see her.' 'I figured if she was willing to risk being hit by a car, she must really need some help. I pulled over and called 911.' Emergency responders who first arrived on the scene said Papini was 'heavily battered' in what looked to be 'some sort of assault'. Keith said his wife was so disoriented she had no idea what time or day it was. 'The paramedics were the first to tell her happy Thanksgiving,' he said. 'And she said, "Oh, its Thanksgiving night? ". They say, "No, its Thanksgiving morning.'" Keith was shaving when his missed a call on his cell phone rang from a number he didn't recognize. Then, immediately after, his house phone began to ring. On the other line was Papini, screaming his name in the background while a police officer told her to stay calm. She was alive. 'I'm panicked but I'm happy because at this point this is the first time I've heard her voice,' said Keith. 'I know she's alive.' Keith then rushed to the hospital, where an officer said he needed to brace himself before seeing the extent of Papini's injuries. 'He put his arm around me and said, "Prepare yourself, she's alive and you just gotta be happy.'" The officer then added, 'and they branded her'. 'I just wanted to see her,' Keith continued. 'I ran past everyone, throw open the curtain and she was there, and I just hugged her, I felt like I hugged her for 20 minutes.' When Keith finally examined his wife's injuries, he said he felt 'nauseated'. Her face was covered in yellow and black bruises, the bridge of her nose was broken. She was emaciated, weighing just 87 pounds. 'It was so hard for me to see her like that. The bruises were intense. Her hair, she's always had very long blonde hair, chopped it all off.' Keith revealed that Papini's face was not branded, but would not say where it happened. Neither Keith nor Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko have shared details about what was branded on Papini's body. But Bosenko did tell DailyMail.com that he believed Papini's captors branded her with some sort of message. 'I would think that was some sort of either an exertion of power and control and or maybe some type of message that the brand contained,' he said earlier this week. 'It is not a symbol, but it was a message.' As Keith visited his wife in the hospital, their community in Redding was releasing yellow balloons to wish for her safe return - unaware she had already been found. But before they would get to find out, Keith had the happy task of telling the couple's two children that their mom was finally back home. Keith fought back tears as he recalled grabbing his four-year-old son Tyler and sitting the boy down, saying: 'You know what buddy? I found mom.' Little Tyler sprinted '100 miles an hour' to hug his mother, who quickly burst into tears. 'She said, "I'm so happy", and my son said, "You don't cry when you're happy"', Keith recalled. Papini replied: 'When you're this happy, you cry.' It was then Violet's turn, and she screamed and 'took off running' into her mother's arm. The entire family then began to hug each other, all falling to the ground for 'big family snuggles', as they call them. 'It makes me smile,' Keith said. 'We're back, we're whole.' It was 'family snuggles' that Keith thought were waiting for him when he returned home from work on November 2 only to find an empty house. Keith said he remembers 'everything about that day', giving Papini a kiss around 6.50am on the way to check on their daughter before leaving for work. When he returned home, he saw her car in the driveway and had no reason to believe anything was amiss. But when Keith walked inside, he was greeted with silence. 'I thought, maybe they're outside. I thought they were all together,' he said. 'I had no reason to believe otherwise.' He turned on the Find My iPhone app and saw that Papini's phone was near their mailboxes a mile away. 'I wasn’t looking for a phone,' he said. 'I was looking for Sherri.’ But when he drove to their mailbox, she was nowhere to be found. Keith said he first called his mom, who said she hadn't spoken to Papini. Then he called the children's daycare center - and found out they were still there. That's when he realized something was very wrong. He began to search for his wife's phone, using the app to make it ring. Keith found it right off the road, blonde hair still tangled in the headphones. Keith took two pictures of the phone and then called 911. 'I knew she was taken,' he said adamantly. After consenting - and passing - a polygraph test, Keith is ruled out as a suspect. 'To me, I was like no problem,' he said. 'Let's hurry up and get this over with.' Investigators began to check with friends and family members to put together a timeline. They checked local area motels and hotels, looked into her finances. They even reached out to Papini's ex-husband, who lives in another state and told them he had not talked to her in at least six years. Keith began making TV appearances to keep his wife's face in the public eye, but inside he was constantly worrying about her. 'I'm just wondering about her health, are they feeding her, is she hot, is she cold, I thought about that,' he said. 'I thought about her being there, screaming my name, and that I wasn't there. That really got me.' One of the hardest days was during a search when Keith and a group of friends were heading back to the home and he saw a group of birds circling the sky. 'I just went to my knees and I thought, am I really hiking up here to look for my wife? I don’t want to find her right now, but I do want to find her,' he said. 'It was a very sad and a very emotional and angry moment for me,' Keith said as he begins to cry. 'That was a tough one for me, that day.' After a couple of weeks, Keith knew he had to tell something to Tyler. 'I picked him up, told him I had something important to tell him. He knew something was up. He said “Dad you can tell me anything. "' 'For a little four year old to say that, I wasn’t prepared for that.' Keith told Tyler that his mother had gone running and didn't come home. 'Are you looking for her?' he said Tyler asked. 'Everyone in the whole world is looking for her right now. And we’re gonna find her and we’re gonna get her back,' Keith promised his son. One day during the search, Keith saw his son standing in front of one of Papini's missing posters. 'He's just sitting there with tears in his eyes, hands on her face,' Keith said. He admits it was hard to here investigators said they weren't 100 percent sure if it was an abduction, but Keith said he never lost hope. The Shasta County Sheriff's Department is still looking for clues to determine why Papini was targeted and the motive of her kidnappers in their ongoing investigation. Bill Garcia, a private detective who has been looking into the case, said in an interview with Today on Thursday that he believes she may have been a sex trafficking victim. 'I suspect based on the types of injuries Sherri incurred, the beatings, the broken nose, the cut hair, especially the chains and the branding, indicate that most likely it was one of these sex trafficking groups,' said Garcia. When asked about sex trafficking being a possible motive Sheriff Bosenko would only say: 'We don't know if this was related to any cartel or sex trafficking.' Bosenko told DailyMail.com on Wednesday: 'Right now we have no known reason why she was abducted, we do not know if she was specifically targeted or if this was a random abduction. 'It's still an active and ongoing investigation and we're still looking for the reasons or the motive for this abduction. 'Abductions are generally rare, especially in this area, but I mean in general an adult abduction is an unusual occurrence.' Police said the women may be traveling in a dark SUV and that the younger of the two has long curly hair and a thick accent. She also has pierced ears and thin eyebrows. The older woman has thick eyebrows and straight black hair with streaks of gray. The women are believed to be armed. Keith made his first statement to the media about his wife's disappearance earlier this week after spending the weekend alone with his family. In addition to describing her injuries, he also lashed out at those who have implied that his wife is lying about the kidnapping. 'Rumors, assumptions, lies, and hate have been both exhausting and disgusting. Those people should be ashamed of their malicious, sub human behavior,' said Keith in the statement, which was released just four days after his wife was found safe. 'We are not going to allow those people to take away our spirit, love, or rejoice in our girl found alive and home where she belongs.' He later stated: 'I do not see a purpose in addressing each preposterous lie. Instead, may I give you a glimpse of the mixture of horror and elation that was my experience of reuniting with the love of my life and mother of our children.' The family continues to live in a secret location to safeguard Papini's privacy and she continues to heal. Keith said he is just happy to have her back in his life. 'It made me sick that there is people out there that could do something like this,' he said. 'I just wanted to hold her. We just embraced each other and cried. I mean I was so happy though, you’re upset at what happened - but you’re happy.'
2016-12-03 02:33 Anneta Konstantinides www.dailymail.co.uk
32 /53 2.2 ‘Siren’ Review: Sequel to ‘V/H/S’ Easily the best segment in the 2012 franchise-starting, found-footage omnibus “V/H/S” was its first, “Amateur Night,” in which a trio of frat-type dudes out to shoot some consensual-or-not porn with unwitting “real” girls find that one bar pickup isn’t a girl — or even human — at all. It was short, sweet, and shocking. None of those qualities quite carry over to “Siren,” a belated feature expansion of the earlier film, with Hannah Fierman the only major returning talent, as the titular creature. Encompassing more conventional genre material than its predecessor (and jettisoning the found-footage angle, perhaps thankfully), this is nonetheless an energetic and entertaining exercise that could spawn its own spin-offs. Chiller Films opened “Siren” on a handful of U. S. screens Dec. 2, with DVD and streaming release following four days later.
After a prelude, in which a sheriff and the cowboy-hatted Mr. Nyx ( Justin Welborn ) discover the bloody aftermath of an apparent occult ritual, we enter standard horror terrain with the introduction of young protagonists whose numbers will surely dwindle in short order. It’s the bachelor party for generic nice guy Jonah ( Chase Williamson ), who’s about to marry Eva (Lindsey Garrett). He assures her he won’t be getting up to much trouble; neither he nor best men Elliott (Randy McDowell) and Rand (Hayes Mercure) are much inclined toward hedonistic excess. Unfortunately, they’re at the mercy of Jonah’s brother Mac (Michael Aaron Milligan), who promptly ditches their cellphones (so no girlfriends or spouses can be contacted mid-revel), breaks out the drugs, and hustles the otherwise reluctant group to the nearest strip club.
Truly wild nightlife proves hard to find, however, at least until an insinuating stranger claims he can lead them to the “real underground” local party scene. This involves a disquietingly long drive to the middle of nowhere. But at road’s end, the stag quartet find themselves faced with an incongruous mansion-full of upscale club/bordello kinkiness under the proprietorship of the aforementioned Mr. Nyx. Suspicious exotic libations are drunk, smirking staffers (looking like a cross between Burning Man attendees and Russian mafia) are goaded, and, as a special treat, Jonah is hustled off to a side chamber for a promised “experience” that will be memorable, but not — in deference to Eva — involve actual physical contact.
The experience turns out to be sexual, however, despite Jonah and the mysterious Lily (Fierman) being different rooms, with a window in-between. All it takes for the imminent newlywed to experience an earth-shaking orgasm is for her to press up to the glass. Upon leaving, he takes note of her locked cell and assumes she is being held against her will. He’s right about that, but very wrong in freeing her, which has immediate unfortunate consequences for everyone — not least for Jonah, to whom this shape-shifting “Lilith” now has an emotional attachment, and woe betide anyone who gets in her way. The bachelor party members flee, pursued not only by that amorous, now-not-so-pretty critter but also by her enraged keeper Nyx and his goons.
Director Gregg Bishop , who made two prior indie genre features before contributing to 2014 franchise entry “V/H/S Viral,” replaces original segment helmer/co-writer David Bruckner (“Southbound”). Here, Bishop, along with scenarists Luke Piotrowski and Ben Collins, hits some pretty familiar notes. The yuppie-terrorizing badass villains and their only-in-the-movies decadent pleasure-palace are redolent of “Hostel,” “From Dusk Till Dawn” and so forth. The semi-tongue-in-cheek tone makes for a flying-stalker-creature movie that’s less scary than “Jeepers Creepers,” and “Lily’s” backgrounding mythology is not very fully explained. (Her “siren song” could be a lot more distinctive, too.)
Stlll, “Siren” is lively if occasionally rough around the edges, packing a satisfying amount of action and a couple of amusingly nasty surprises into its short running time. Performers are game, and digital FX are wisely kept rationed until the last reel. While the concept’s potential isn’t fully tapped, there’s enough fun to be had here that one hopes any future installments will sustain and increase the air of macabre unpredictability rather than succumbing to the succubus-slasher model of the “Species” films, which have a somewhat similar gist.
2016-12-03 02:31 Dennis Harvey variety.com
33 /53 2.0 Aung San Suu Kyi accuses international community of stoking unrest in Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi accuses international community of stoking unrest in Myanmar Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi accused the international community on Friday of stoking resentment between Buddhists and Muslims in the country’s northwest, where an army crackdown has killed at least 86 people and sent 10,000 fleeing to Bangladesh.
Aung San Suu Kyi appealed for understanding of her nation’s ethnic complexities, and said the world should not forget the military operation was launched in response to attacks on security forces that the government has blamed on Muslim insurgents.
“I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability, and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities, instead of always drumming up cause for bigger fires of resentment,” Aung San Suu Kyi told Singapore state-owned broadcaster Channel News Asia during a visit to the city-state.
“It doesn’t help if everybody is just concentrating on the negative side of the situation, in spite of the fact that there were attacks against police outposts.”
The violence in the northwest poses the biggest challenge so far to Aung San Suu Kyi’s eight- month-old government, and has renewed international criticism that the Nobel Peace Prize winner has done too little to help the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
Her comments come as Malaysia said Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya amounted to “ethnic cleansing”.
“The fact that only one particular ethnicity is being driven out is by definition ethnic cleansing,” Malaysia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“This practice must stop, and must be stopped immediately in order to bring back security and stability to the Southeast Asian region.”
Muslim-majority Malaysia has been increasingly critical of Myanmar’s handling of violence in northern Rakhine state.
Soldiers have poured into the north of Rakhine State, close to the frontier with Bangladesh, after attacks on border posts on 9 October that killed nine police officers. Humanitarian aid has been cut off to the area, which is closed to outside observers.
Myanmar’s military and the government have rejected allegations by residents and human rights groups that soldiers have raped Rohingya women, burned houses and killed civilians during the operation.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s remarks came as a commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan arrived in the state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have lived separately since clashes in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed.
Despite often having lived in Myanmar for generations, most of the country’s 1.1 million Rohingya are denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as healthcare and education.
The UN’s human rights agency said this week that abuses suffered by the Rohingya may amount to a crimes against humanity , repeating a statement it first made in a June report.
The Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups recognised by law in Myanmar, where many majority Buddhists refer to them as “Bengalis” to indicate they regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
In northern Rakhine, one of the poorest parts of the country, Muslims outnumber the ethnic Rakhine population.
“In the Rakhine, it’s not just the Muslims who are nervous and worried,” said Suu Kyi. “The Rakhine are worried too. They are worried about the fact that they are shrinking as a Rakhine population, percentage-wise.”
UN officials said this week more than 10,000 people have fled the recent fighting to Bangladesh. There are continuing reports of people fleeing across the river border in flimsy boats, bringing accounts of razed villages, uprooted communities and separated families.
Still, Aung San Suu Kyi said the government has “managed to keep the situation under control and to calm it down”.
2016-12-03 02:23 Reuters www.theguardian.com
34 /53 2.6 Megan Marx films Tiffany Scanlon NAKED in the shower for Instagram They're the unlikely couple to emerge from this year's season of The Bachelor. And on Saturday, the shenanigans of Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon continued as one of them filmed the other in the shower before sharing it to social media. The footage shared via Megan's Instagram story showed a completely nude Tiffany pulling silly faces behind the glass, before her girlfriend opens the door, appearing to join her. Scroll down for video 'Tiffany's got her sexy face down pat,' Megan laughed as Tiffany pressed her contorted face up against the shower door. The 27- year-old health promotions worker then said: 'Gotta let me in now,' while opening the door. Meanwhile, Tiffany was seen covering her chest with her arms while shying away from the camera. The reality TV pair have been busy flaunting their love for each other on social media since meeting on the show earlier this year. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia at Maxim's Hot 100 last month, Tiffany revealed they confessed their love for each other on holiday in Bali, Indonesia in June. 'While we were in the show, it was just a friendship. It probably wasn't until we were in Bali together that it was like ''Oh, this is more'',' said Tiffany. Her partner Megan also confessed she wasn't expecting to fall for another woman while filming the TV dating series, starring Richie Strahan. 'We had very different experiences when we were on the show. Obviously I found Tiffany very attractive but I was there to get to know Richie,' she said. 'But instantly we knew there was a very strong connection. I was so excited to meet her in Bali,' Megan added. The couple revealed 'no one seemed to notice' they had become more than friends during that fateful holiday - and it took 'months' for anyone to find out. 'It started in June and it wasn't until October that people noticed! So it was quite a long time,' Tiffany revealed. Last week, Megan gushed over her girlfriend while enjoying an outing at Bather's Beach House in Fremantle. Megan posted a picture of herself holding Tiffany complimenting the 29-year-old Training Administrator for her 'adventurous and fun' qualities. 'I want Tiffany to be considered bold/inspiring not because of her sexuality or relationship status. 'But because she is adventurous and fun and warm and delicate, and full of a love for others and life that sometimes I cannot relate to.' Posting the same picture Tiffany wrote: 'The way she looks at me makes me feel like I'm the most beautiful person in the whole wide world!
2016-12-03 02:19 Jody Phan www.dailymail.co.uk
35 /53 2.9 Home And Away's Ada Nicodemou dotes on son Johnas during a Christmas outing She recently moved on with new millionaire boyfriend Adam Rigby after splitting from her husband of nine years. But Ada Nicodemou was spotted enjoying quality time with her son Johnas, four, on Saturday, as they attended a festive event in Cronulla, Sydney. Cutting a stylish figure in a red dress, the 39-year-old was seen doting on her little boy as they spent the afternoon together. Scroll down for video Ada appeared to be enjoying her summer outing, indulging in an ice cream at one point while also posing for photos. It appears she is putting on a brave face despite her estranged husband Chrys Xipolitas' recent cryptic social media posts. The chef and restaurant owner shared a series of cryptic messages about 'heartbreak' earlier this week. Taking to Instagram, he shared a meme from the film The Godfather which read, 'You're dead to me.' 'Even in anger I don't think those words could ever come out of my mouth,' Chrys wrote in a caption. '#ARGO to anyone and everyone that I'm dead to.' Argo is an urban term for 'f**k you'. 'Those 4 (sic) words will really come back and bite you one day... Have a great weekend everybody,' he concluded. Last week, he shared an Instagram post which read: 'If only our tongues were made of glass. How much more careful we would be when we speak.' Then on Monday evening, he shared an image of shattered glass followed by a meme about heartbreak. 'That moment when you can actually feel the pain in your chest from seeing or hearing something that breaks your heart.' He was seemingly referring to his son Johnas, who he shares with Ada, writing in his caption: 'I'm sure today wont be the last time my boy breaks my heart. With being the first time it really is a hard pill to swallow.' 'I know he wouldn't have the slightest of an idea.. he is pure, he is innocent.' 'Still doesn't make the feelings disappear,' he wrote, alongside the hash-tags 'my life,' 'my everything,' 'my boy,' 'my best mate,' and 'my love.' It comes after he confirmed last week that Ada had found love again with millionaire businessman Adam. The new couple were spotted putting on a very loved-up display as they enjoyed a night out in Surry Hills. Ada and Adam shared a passionate kiss during dinner and held hands as they strolled through the inner city streets. Friends of the soap actress told Woman's Day last week that Ada is 'finally enjoying life again' with her new partner. 'Ada is in such a good place, you can see it written all over her face,' a source told the magazine. 'It's still early days but you can tell Adam is making her happy.' Ada, who plays Leah Patterson-Baker on the Channel Seven series, and Chrys reportedly separated in November of last year. It was said that the immense grief they faced since their second son, Harrison, was stillborn in 2014, was largely to blame. Woman's Day reported that Chrys moved out of the family home before Christmas, last year.
2016-12-03 02:04 Jody Phan www.dailymail.co.uk
36 /53 2.1 Minnesota rancher embraces buffaloes' beauty, but not horns WARROAD, Minn. (AP) - Mike Marvin was 20 when he bought his first buffalo. He didn’t have any experience. He just thought the animals were cool. He liked their big woolly heads and their horns, and their connection to the American west. That was 44 years ago.
“Back then, buffalo ranchers were fools or dreamers,” he told Minnesota Public Radio (http://bit.ly/2gMe3aF ). “There wasn’t really a business plan.”
He found a buffalo rancher in South Dakota who would sell him a bull and some breeding stock. Mike’s cousins own the Marvin Windows company, one of the area’s largest employers. He’s not involved in the window business, but his cousins agreed to ship his first few buffalo back to Warroad, on Minnesota’s northernmost border, in a window delivery truck.
“I was young and I didn’t have any commitments,” he said. “It just sort of went from there.”
Marvin still runs one of the northernmost buffalo ranches in the lower 48. Most of the time, his herd of 57 buffalo roam nearly 300 acres of pasture just outside of Warroad.
Marvin makes his money selling calves to a feedlot in southern Minnesota. He said there were some bad years in the early 2000s, but the buffalo market is getting better. But that’s not really why people raise buffalo. Marvin drove around the pasture, surveying the herd from his Chevy Silverado.
“It’s called safety,” he said as the herd jogged out of the way of the truck.
“I’ve only been hurt once, thank goodness,” he said. “I had some animals in a corral. They ran at me. My leg came out of my hip socket. They hit me pretty good.”
Marvin edged up to a massive one-ton bull. It’s head is the size of small refrigerator. A woolly beard hangs down to its knees and horns curl to sharp points. It’s a wild and romantic creature, Marvin said. That’s why he got into the business, but it’s also why he’ll get out one day.
Buffalo are not domesticated, like beef cattle. It takes special heavy duty fencing to keep them in. Over the last 44 years, Marvin has carried thousands of railroad ties and strung miles and miles of barbed wire. It’s hard work, especially with a dislocated hip.
Even the best fence doesn’t always work.
“If you make a mistake on your fence, or you don’t close the gate, you have a problem,” he said. “The problem is, they’re out. It’s kind of the worst phone call you can get.”
Marvin got that phone call twice in his long career. Once, when he was new to buffalo ranching he forgot a gate open. A state trooper called him just before midnight. His buffalo were walking around on the highway.
Twelve years ago they escaped again - this time running eight miles into the nearby state forest, where they evaded capture for a full week. Finally, one of Marvin’s childhood friends tracked them down with a high-powered rifle. They set up floodlights and butchered into the night.
“It was very exciting for everyone but the rancher who owned them,” Marvin said. “A few more phone calls like that and I’m done.”
Some days, Marvin feels like he’ll keep ranching for many years. He enjoys his easy access to buffalo roasts. On other days, his body hurts from moving all those railroad ties, and from getting trampled. On those days, he says, he thinks hard about retirement.
___
Information from: Minnesota Public Radio News, http://www.mprnews.org
2016-12-03 02:01 By JOHN www.washingtontimes.com
37 /53 1.4 SkyBell Video HD WiFi Doorbell I guess we are on the nice list this year. I though Cyber Monday Deals Week ended yesterday, but I was wrong. We got our readers $60 off the SkyBell video doorbell on Cyber Monday and thought that was that. But thankfully that deal has been extended to today. The last day. Wow.
The SkyBell WiFi video doorbell sends you a live stream of what happens on your doorstep (and of course rings when you press it). It has been called “home security disguised as a doorbell.” It allows you to see who’s out front and also talk to them. So you can tell the mailman where to put your package to protect it from porch pirates. So you can tell a potential burglar that you’re on your way home and you have a gun. It also features night vision and motion sensor technology, so you get an alert when someone doesn’t ring the bell.
Normally $200, the SkyBell is 30 percent off for Cyber Monday Deals Week with code CYBER60 (Photo via SkyBell)
SkyBell HD, Wi-Fi Video Doorbell on sale for $139 (plus Free Shipping) with code CYBER60
The video below makes a convincing case for the SkyBell. After watching it, I immediately told my roommates we need one for our house. (We could also connect it to our Amazon Echo ).
And, almost a full week days after first reading it, this testimonial still gets me:
“We told the stranger we were inside eating dinner and he must have the wrong house, but really we were out of the country. A house several doors down ended up getting robbed that same evening.”
Can’t believe something like this only costs $139. Your family, your house, your belongings. All worth WAY more than that.
WATCH The Functionalities Of The SkyBell :
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2016-12-03 01:51 Jack Kocsis dailycaller.com
38 /53 3.8 Microsoft AI will describe images in Office 365 (new accesibility features) The American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond(Washington), announced a new accessibility feature for PowerPoint and Microsoft Word from an upcoming Office 365 update. With the help of its general-purpose artificial intelligence algorithms, the software suite will be able to automatically suggest slide deck and image captions (the so called alt-text). This text can then be read-out loud for people with disabilities.
Similarly to other artificial intelligence, Microsoft's Computer Vision Cognitive Service also uses neural networks trained with deep learning techniques. This way the AI can easily and better understand the contents of embedded digital photos. The Office 365 team wrote the following in a blog post: "We will offer you automatic suggestions for alt-text when you insert a photographic image that can be recognized with high confidence... Through machine learning, this service will keep improving as more people use it, saving you significant time to make media-rich presentations accessible".
The American online social media and social networking platform Facebook announced back in April 2016 a similar feature for image captions. The tech industry from today is using similar artificial intelligence techniques in order to both improve the quality of their images and videos parsing algorithms and also in order to improve accessibility.
2016-12-03 01:51 Written by www.roundnews.com
39 /53 0.0 HIV stigma Theresa May has cursed a stability tarnish opposite people vital with HIV in a UK, job it an ‘unacceptable mark on a society’.
Speaking in a video summary done for a National AIDS Trust’s World AIDS Day campaign , a Prime Minister praised a advances done in a diagnosis and impediment of HIV though added:
“For all a swell in diagnosis and impediment of HIV, open attitudes have not progressed as distant or as fast.” A separator to being tested
The latest UK HIV tarnish index found roughly one in 5 respondents vital with HIV in a UK have had suicidal thoughts in a past 12 months and one fifth of participants reported written nuisance or threats over a final year as outcome of their HIV status.
Deborah Gold, Chief Executive of a National AIDS Trust, told BBC Radio 5 live: “The impact of tarnish is unequivocally one of a biggest barriers, both to people vital with HIV vital good happy lives, and people during risk of HIV accessing a contrast and a diagnosis they need in a timely fashion”.
The Executive Director of a Elton John Aids Foundation pronounced vigour on people who yield services is another problem:
“We know that a lot of doctors are really shaken to lift a emanate of an HIV exam with people, notwithstanding a fact that 17% of people in a UK are undiagnosed, or don’t know they are infected, since they feel somehow that is a judgement”. ‘You don’t let it out publicly’
Andy Evans lives with HIV and is a haemophiliac. He engaged it by a infested blood supply. He lives in a tiny encampment in a UK and pronounced he only doesn’t speak about his status:
“You don’t tell people in a tiny community, we don’t demeanour for support from your neighbours, we demeanour for support on a internet, we demeanour for support from people who are going by a same thing, we don’t let it out publicly.” Chris in South East London was diagnosed in his early fifties, he told 5 live’s Sarah Brett and Nihal Arthanayake one of a issues is tarnish within a happy community:
“I think that’s since people in a encampment don’t wish to take tests necessarily, since of a greeting they are going to get within dating sites observant we wish purify people ie. HIV is dirty.” Awareness
Tom Hayes is HIV positive, and a Editor in arch of ‘beyondpositive’, an online lifestyle repository for people vital with HIV, he described visiting his GP shortly after he was diagnosed in a tiny encampment in Worcestershire:
“When we went in all of a files were built on a accepting desk, cave was on a tip and it had HIV scrawled opposite a front of a folder in large red coop pen, out in a open…. That done me feel we was a leper.”
To get absolved of a problem of stigma, Mr Hayes believes preparation is essential. The final ubiquitous open information debate for HIV was a 1987 Government announcement with a picture of a tombstone being chiselled with a word ‘AIDS’ and a summary ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’.
Mr Hayes believes it is time for another campaign, not only one destined during a happy community:
“There needs to be something bigger, something some-more general. If we can have it for asthma, healthy eating, plumpness and smoking, can we not have one for HIV?”
5 live Afternoon Edition is on BBC Radio 5 live Monday to Thursday, 13:00 to 16:00. Listen online or download a programme podcast.
2016-12-03 00:00 admin headlinenewstoday.net
40 /53 1.2 Queen’s holiday deteriorate job 2 Dec 2016 Last updated during 19:58 GMT
The Queen of Denmark has been operative as a set and dress engineer during a Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen.
2016-12-03 00:00 admin headlinenewstoday.net
41 /53 1.7 Gaffe or provocation, Donald Trump's Taiwan phone call affects global stability Gaffe or provocation, Donald Trump's Taiwan phone call affects global stability Not for the first time, and almost certainly not for the last in this two months of shadow government by Twitter, it is far from clear whether Donald Trump has made US foreign policy by accident or on purpose.
As has also become normal in the “post-truth” aftermath of the bitter election, the facts surrounding his telephone conversation with Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen are in dispute. Reacting to the wave of alarm caused by the call, upending 37 years of US diplomatic practice in a few minutes, the president-elect protested in a tweet that it was Tsai who had called him, implying he just happened to pick up the phone.
According to the Taipei Times however, the call had been orchestrated by the Trump transition team, several members of which have strong leanings towards a more pro-Taiwan policy.
On the same day as the call, Trump met John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the UN, a candidate for the secretary of state job, and a fierce advocate of stronger commitment to Taiwan as a way of exacting a price for China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
Bolton wrote in the Wall Street Journal in January: “The new US administration could start with receiving Taiwanese diplomats officially at the State Department; upgrading the status of US representation in Taipei from a private ‘institute’ to an official diplomatic mission; inviting Taiwan’s president to travel officially to America; allowing the most senior US officials to visit Taiwan to transact government business; and ultimately restoring full diplomatic recognition.”
Stephen Yates, a former White House aide to Dick Cheney now advising the Trump transition was in Taiwan at the time of the call. “It’s great to have a leader willing to ignore those who say he cannot take a simple call from another democratically elected leader,” Yates tweeted .
The third now familiar transition theme illustrated by the Taiwan call is that it is unclear where Trump’s business interests end and his presidential intentions begin. A Trump representative had reportedly visited the north-west city of Taoyuan to inspect investment opportunities at a new luxury development there. And the president-elect’s son Eric Trump is expected in Taiwan on business next year.
As is bound to happen in relations with the 20 or so countries around the world where the Trump Organisation has business interests – unless Trump decides to sell his holdings and set up a genuine blind trust – decisions will have both commercial and geopolitical implications and it will be hard to disentangle one from another.
Isaac Stone Fish, a senior fellow at the Asia Society’s Centre on US-China Relations, said it mattered whether the call was a careless gaffe or well-prepared provocation, especially when it came to Beijing’s perceptions.
“I don’t know whether Trump and his advisers understood the unprecedented nature of this phone call, or how much he debated the effect this may have with his advisers beforehand,” Fish said in an email. “But the issue of whether or not they knew is hugely important. It helps determine how much trust and respect Americans, and governments around the world, should have in Trump and his team’s competence in handling US foreign policy – if he and his team didn’t know this would cause a stir, then they deserve less respect and trust.”
He added: “It’s far more worrying for global stability if Beijing believes that Trump and his advisers just didn’t understand US policy towards Taiwan. If they view this as a blunder, they could decide to move quickly to exploit Trump’s inexperience and incompetence in foreign affairs, and Obama’s lame-duck status.”
Christopher Hill, a former assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific affairs said in a tweet the call looked to be an “example of winging it in the extreme” and he said he hoped “Trump doesn’t feel he has to double down on this judgment error.”
That is what appeared to be happening late on Friday, as new battle lines were drawn around the call. The president-elect defended his decision saying that the US sells Taiwan “billions of dollars of military equipment”, and his aide Kellyanne Conway, insisted he was “ well aware of what US policy has been ” toward Taiwan.
Republicans piled in on Trump’s side. Senator Tom Cotton, issued a statement saying: “I commend President-elect Trump for his conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen, which reaffirms our commitment to the only democracy on Chinese soil.”
Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut argued that, even if Trump wanted to change US policy, this was no way to do it.
“What has happened in the last 48 hours is not a shift. These are major pivots in foreign policy [without] any plan. That’s how wars start,” Murphy tweeted. “And if they aren’t pivots – just radical temporary deviations – allies will walk if they have no clue what we stand for. Just as bad.”
Aaron Friedberg, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, said he was an advocate of closer ties with Taiwan but said “this seems ill-considered [and] pointlessly provocative”.
“Strategy involves thinking more than one move ahead. No evidence of that here,” Friedberg said, adding that whatever the circumstances of the call, Beijing was more likely to see it as a deliberate provocation and a test than a blunder.
2016-12-03 01:24 Julian Borger www.theguardian.com
42 /53 0.5 Lady Gaga belts A Million Reasons with Victoria's Secret Angels backstage Victoria's Secret released a behind-the-scenes video of Lady Gaga belting her new song A Million Reasons alongside the Angels in Paris last Wednesday. The three-minute clip featuring the 30-year-old pop diva has already amassed 37K views on YouTube since being uploaded Friday. In it, the six-time Grammy winner bonded musically with a bevy of similarly scantily-clad beauties backstage at the annual fashion show. Scroll down for video 'So much girl fun!' Mother Monster - who boasts 145.6M followers - later said of their a cappella performance. 'These girls show tremendous vulnerability and strength entertaining the [world] in this show. Was proud to be there just to cheer them on.' Gaga - born Stefani Germanotta - looked as though she was pledging a preppy sorority rather than catering to her usual outcast, eccentric Little Monster fanbase. 'Thank u all my angels for helping me remind the world that we all have an angel inside us. Love u girls!' the native New Yorker wrote of the 'brave and fearless' models. And while Kendall Jenner and the Hadid sisters skipped the lip-sync session, the clip featured Alessandra Ambrósio, Adriana Lima, Lily Aldridge, Elsa Hosk, Taylor Hill, and Jasmine Tooks. Not to be outdone by them, Lady Gaga 'loved rocking' the San Francisco label's silver-lace bra and thong, and she shared two snaps of her 'beautiful lingerie.' The Golden Globe winner's waist-length hair extensions were coiffed by Frederic Aspiras and her make-up was applied by Sarah Nicole Tanno. While sharing the coveted catwalk of the Grand Palais with 50 models, the Joanne songstress rocked designs from Yolan Cris, Azzedine Alaïa, and Yves Saint Laurent. On the runway, Gaga - who relies on stylist Brandon Maxwell - sang her new tracks A Million Reasons, A-Yo, and John Wayne. Victoria's Secret big bra and panty show will officially airs this Monday on CBS, and it also features performances from Bruno Mars and The Weeknd. The 31-year-old Uptown Funk crooner - born Peter Hernandez - posted his own video Friday of six Angels lip-synching and dancing to his new single 24K Magic. The glorified VS advert featured Elsa Hosk, Adriana Lima, Lais Ribeiro, Taylor Hill, Jasmine Tookes, and Stella Maxwell striking their best boudoir poses. Lady Gaga will next headline the half-time show for Super Bowl 51, which airs February 5 on Fox. The AHS: Roanoke actress' next confirmed role is Esther Blodgett in A Star is Born, which was previously played by Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Janet Gaynor. The Warner Bros. remake, with Bradley Cooper directing and playing alcoholic movie star Norman Maine, won't hit US theaters until September 28, 2018.
2016-12-03 01:06 Cassie Carpenter www.dailymail.co.uk
43 /53 2.4 TV news executives are not seeing a bidding war for Fox News star Megyn Kelly Megyn Kelly ’s bestselling memoir is called “Settle for More,” but the star anchor may have to settle for less money if she decides to leave the Fox News Channel.
Kelly is said to have not made up her mind about staying with Fox News beyond the end of her contract in July, even with an offer of more than $20 million a year to stay, which would put her in the same income bracket as NBC’s “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer.
So far no other networks have offered to top Fox ’s figure, according to network news executives and agents familiar with the talks and who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. A spokesperson for Creative Artists Agency, which represents Kelly, declined to comment on her contract negotiations.
Kelly’s future is being closely watched. She is the first breakout talent in the TV news business in recent years, becoming an even bigger name in the aftermath of her showdown with President- elect Donald Trump at the first Republican primary debate in 2015.
In an earlier era, her availability likely would have commanded a bidding war. But in a fragmented media environment where there are no longer surefire ratings hits, networks are cautious about making major financial commitments.
Fox News is willing to give Kelly a raise over the $15 million a year she is currently earning because she consistently attracts more than 3 million viewers a night for her prime-time program “The Kelly File.” But there is no guarantee that the loyalty of the Fox News audience is transferable to another channel, where Bill O’Reilly, the most popular personality on cable news, would not be her lead-in.
To the editor: Megyn Kelly is another face in a decades-long conga line of celebrity journalists queuing for their close-ups. (“ After a big year, Fox's Megyn Kelly could command $20 million — but would her success carry to another network? ” May 31)
Moreover, Kelly is hardly “the first breakout...
To the editor: Megyn Kelly is another face in a decades-long conga line of celebrity journalists queuing for their close-ups. (“ After a big year, Fox's Megyn Kelly could command $20 million — but would her success carry to another network? ” May 31)
Moreover, Kelly is hardly “the first breakout...
One agent who handles TV news talent noted how executives have been wary of taking a star out of a successful format since Katie Couric moved from NBC’s “Today” in 2006. After leaving the top-rated morning show, Couric was unable to move “CBS Evening News” out of third place in the ratings. She then failed in a bid with a daytime syndicated talk show.
“Katie Couric is the perfect example of how her success at the ‘Today’ show never transferred to anyplace else,” said the agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “And that happens with most people.”
A story on the Drudge Report, citing unnamed sources, said CNN President Jeff Zucker is making an aggressive play to bring Kelly to his network, which trails Fox News in the ratings. CNN declined to comment on the report.
While Zucker is a fan of Kelly’s work, there is internal skepticism that he can poach her because his network has eschewed huge salary deals for on-air talent.
Anderson Cooper is the top earner at CNN, receiving between $10 million and $12 million a year in his latest contract. After Cooper, the salary drop-off is significant, with no other CNN anchor earning more than $3 million a year.
Zucker “thinks Megyn Kelly is great, but we’re not going to pay her enough,” said one executive not authorized to comment publicly. “I think it’s more likely that she convinces the Murdochs [the family that controls Fox News parent 21st Century Fox] to pay her what she wants.”
Election night coverage on the cable news networks reached new heights Tuesday.
But Fox News , CNN and MSNBC have to focus on how to keep audiences now that the contentious and expectation-defying 2016 race for the White House is over.
CNN had 13.3 million viewers in prime time to watch the election...
Election night coverage on the cable news networks reached new heights Tuesday.
But Fox News , CNN and MSNBC have to focus on how to keep audiences now that the contentious and expectation-defying 2016 race for the White House is over.
CNN had 13.3 million viewers in prime time to watch the election...
ABC News has been cited as the top broadcast suitor for Kelly’s services on its major profit center “Good Morning America.” But after report from the Drudge Report surfaced Thursday, executives said the network is no longer pursuing her.
NBC could spread the expense for Kelly across its broadcast network programs and its cable news network MSNBC, but another agent has not heard of any interest from the network. A spokesperson for NBC News declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.
The newest round of speculation about Kelly’s next move comes amid negative reaction within Fox News over her new book, which includes allegations that she was sexually harassed by the division’s former Chief Executive Roger Ailes. Ailes resigned from his position in July amid a sexual harassment lawsuit and allegations from other women in the company. He has denied all of the accusations.
O’Reilly has said he believes that rehashing the Ailes case in the book was hurtful to the company, which has tried to get past the controversy.
Relations between Kelly and O’Reilly have reportedly been strained over the past year since Kelly first clashed with Trump. But internal tensions have never kept millionaire anchors from working side by side at any network.
Kenneth Turan reviews the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic "Jackie," directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Natalie Portman, who shows us aspects of the first lady we might not have known before. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Justin Chang reviews "The Comedian," a likable enough movie with terrific supporting performances but an unconvincing lead turn from Robert De Niro. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Director Michael Dudok de Wit explains why "The Red Turtle" has no dialogue.
For her role as Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman says, "It's not a fashion story," but the clothes do tell a story.
Emma Stone discusses working with choreographer Mandy Moore on "La La Land. " Emma Stone discusses working with choreographer Mandy Moore on "La La Land. "
2016-12-03 01:01 Stephen Battaglio www.latimes.com
44 /53 1.9 8 Honeymoon Places In Sri Lanka That Will Make Tour Memorable Sydney, Dec 1 (IANS) Swashbuckling middle-order batsman Glenn Maxwell is eyeing the upcoming tour of India early next year to make his comeback to the Australian Test side...
The allure of Colombo, Jaffna and Galle captivated readers, as did Sri Lanka’s national parks (with leopards), beautiful B&Bs, street food (with a real kick) and tea. Lots...
Sri Lanka on Wednesday said it has roped in legendary Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram as a mentor ahead of the team's gruelling tour of South Africa next month. Akram, 50,...
Colombo: Sri Lanka on Wednesday said it has roped in legendary Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram as a mentor ahead of the team's gruelling tour of South Africa next month. ...
(Source: The President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ) President Maithripala Sirisena commended the immense contribution made by the Catholic Church for ...
Legendary Pakistani paceman Wasim Akram said that Sri Lanka had a promising crop of fast bowlers despite their traditional reliance on spin after holding a coaching session with the islanders Thursday. After spending several hours with the national team's main established strike bowlers and promising youngsters, Akram said there was no lack of raw pace but they needed to...
(Source: IndustriALL Global Union ) In June 2016, Sri Lanka re-applied for inclusion on the list of eligible beneficiary developing countries for the EU's Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+), which provides enhanced market access on the basis that the applicant is not in serious violation of a number of human rights instruments, including core ILO labour conventions. ...
(Source: The President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ) President Maithripala Sirisena said the present need in the island is not for political heroes but individuals who can solve the country's issues in a just manner. The President made this observation joining the Committee Stage debate on the budget proposal for financial year 2017 under the financial...
(Source: Sri Lanka Telecom plc ) Since 800 B. C Sri Lanka has been home to the cultivation of rice, evidence of this lies in the archeological discovery of large irrigation structures dating all the way back to 390 B. C. Throughout the period of the monarchy, Sri Lanka boasted the existence of over 2000 indigenous varieties of rice, thus earning the fitting title, 'The Granary of... (Source: Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ) Minister for Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Hon. Rajitha Senarathne and the High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka Maj. Gen. (R) Syed Shakeel Hussain jointly inaugurated Pakistan's Food, Shopping and Cultural Festival with Painting and Photographic ...
2016-12-03 00:45 jameshopes article.wn.com
45 /53 2.5 TV industry pioneer Robert Bennett dies at 89 Robert “Bob” Bennett, a television industry pioneer and 31-year resident of Newport Beach, died Tuesday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach after a long illness, according to longtime friend and business associate Paul Rich.
Bennett, who was 89, had a career in television that spanned more than 50 years. He worked in Los Angeles and later managed stations in Washington, New York and Boston. With media magnate John Kluge, Bennett helped build Metromedia Broadcasting into one of the nation’s most prominent station groups.
In 1985, Kluge and Bennett sold the chain for $2 billion to Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch and oil tycoon Marvin Davis.
That small station group — which included KTTV-TV Channel 11 in Los Angeles — formed the backbone of the Fox Broadcasting television network.
“He really helped create of the fourth television network, although he doesn’t get credit for it,” said Rich, who went to work for Bennett in the early 1970s at the Boston station.
Bennett’s bid for Boston’s WCVB-TV Channel 5, along with some Boston-area professors, included a nearly 10-year battle that reached the U. S. Supreme Court. Once he took over the station, he saw how a broadcast outlet could serve as an influential part of a community.
Bennett built the Boston station into a juggernaut known for strong local programming — 60 hours a week of original shows, including a magazine and public affairs program called “Chronicle,” whichremains on the air.
The station had its own daily children’s program, Rich said, and even produced movies and shows for network television, including “Summer Solstice,” starring Myrna Loy and Henry Fonda in his last film role, according to a biography provided by family spokesman Jerry Digney. There was also a syndicated situation comedy developed with Norman Lear called “The Baxters.”
He earned the respect of his competitors.
“Bob was an innovator,” said media executive Tony Vinciquerra. “Boston was probably the best- served market in America because you had these two TV stations banging away at each other.
“He was bigger-than-life, a John Wayne-like swashbuckling character,” said Vinciquerra, who ran rival station WBZ-TV.
Born in Altoona, Penn., in 1927, Bennett began his broadcasting career in 1948 as a page for CBS Radio in Hollywood. In 1952, he went to work as a salesman for the Los Angeles television station, KTTV, then owned by Times-Mirror Co., the publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Bennett became sales director before rising through Metromedia Broadcasting.
He was a member of the Bel Air Country Club and the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. Three years ago, he published the book, “WCVB-TV Boston: How We Built the Greatest Television Station in America.”
He is survived by his wife, Marjie, daughter, Kelly Bennett, and grandson, Brandon Bennett of Santa Monica, and a son, Casey Bennett of Marina del Rey.
Kenneth Turan reviews the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic "Jackie," directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Natalie Portman, who shows us aspects of the first lady we might not have known before. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Justin Chang reviews "The Comedian," a likable enough movie with terrific supporting performances but an unconvincing lead turn from Robert De Niro. Video by Jason H. Neubert.
Director Michael Dudok de Wit explains why "The Red Turtle" has no dialogue.
For her role as Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman says, "It's not a fashion story," but the clothes do tell a story.
Emma Stone discusses working with choreographer Mandy Moore on "La La Land. "
Emma Stone discusses working with choreographer Mandy Moore on "La La Land. "
2016-12-03 00:40 Meg James www.latimes.com
46 /53 3.3 DSO family grows with new training orchestra for adults Hal Osgood started playing the violin at age 4 and took lessons until he was 16. He got married at 18, had a family right away, studied engineering at Michigan Tech and spent 50 years in the construction business in metro Detroit. Life didn't leave much time for music, so he didn't touch his fiddle for 60 years.
But there was Osgood, now 75, his face a mask of concentration, sitting among the second violins in a small string orchestra on Tuesday night in a rehearsal room at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center. "The amazing thing I'm experiencing here is that when you start out with an orchestra like this it just sounds like garbage, but as each person begins to work on the music individually and then we work on it together as a group, it becomes a tremendous coordination and you become part of a larger instrument, which is the orchestra," said Osgood. "That's an excitement I wanted to experience again. "
►Related: DSO brings jolt of jazz age syncopation, blues to concert ►Related: DSO opens season with stars, Beethoven, nods to pop culture
Spearheaded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Community Orchestra makes its public debut with a concert on Sunday. You won't hear world-class musicianship from this ensemble. Frankly, you might not even hear all the right notes played at the right time. But what you will hear are Osgood and about 30 other string players of varying skill levels, ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s, playing their hearts out for the sheer love of making music.
Student training ensembles are de rigueur among American orchestras, but the Detroit Community Orchestra extends the idea to adults. Several other major orchestras have started musical training programs for avocational musicians, but the DSO model of an ongoing chamber orchestra appears unique. The musicians rehearse weekly at the Max, conducted by two former high school music directors who work in the DSO's community and learning department.
The group is diverse by race, gender and age. Some members are school music teachers, college students and retirees. There's an office administrator, a day care worker and a bartender. Some play at a high level; others are just trying to hang on. There's a $250 tuition fee to join and no audition is required, though at least two to five years of playing experience is recommended.
The idea for the community orchestra has been floating around the DSO offices for a while, but only got the green light this fall. The DSO has been embedding itself deeper into the Detroit community on a variety of fronts in recent years, from an ambitious menu of concerts in the suburbs to expanding education programs and the re-branded Cube recital hall, which offers a mix of national and local performers. The Detroit Community Orchestra creates another layer of connection.
"We're pushing the boundaries of what an orchestra like the DSO is and what it does," said Nelson Rodriguez-Parada, general manager of training ensembles and one of the conductors of the community orchestra. "I told everybody when we first met that as far as I'm concerned, they're all now part of the DSO family. This building is a community center. "
Tuesday's rehearsal started with sectionals. Violins, violas, cellos and basses each worked for an hour in separate rooms with DSO musicians. Assistant concertmaster Hai Xin Wu conducted the 18 violinists through "Perseus," a short tone poem by Soon Hee Newbold about a hero of Greek mythology who slays Medusa and rescues a princess. The music, written in a dramatic style but at an intermediate level appropriate for high school orchestras, suggests Harry, Hermione and Ron heading out on a new quest.
Wu, an animated podium presence with a warmly enthusiastic and humorous way of addressing the musicians, tried to get to them play with greater intensity and personality, connect the notes into longer phrases and pay closer attention to changes in the character of the music that demanded a different kind of expression. "It sounded bar-by-bar," he said, stopping at one point. "Can we think of it as a long journey? " He picked up his violin and demonstrated. Players nodded and smiled.
Metro Detroit is rife with regional and community orchestras of varying sizes and missions, from more professionalized ensembles like the Michigan Philharmonic to more grassroots groups like the all-volunteer Royal Oak Symphony. The Detroit Community Orchestra fills another niche, offering musicians of all skill levels the reflected glory of the DSO brand and the opportunity to rub shoulders with world-class musicians.
"There's nothing quite like this," said Dileonte Jones, a 27-year-old Detroiter, who studied music for two years in college. Like a few members of the Detroit Community Orchestra, he has a history with the DSO, formerly playing with the civic orchestra when he was in high school. He works at his cousin's day camp, giving music lessons to children. He learned about the orchestra via the DSO's Facebook page.
"I don't really have any other groups to play with," he said. "I needed something to keep me playing, keep me brushed up. I trust the name 'DSO.' I know we're going to get instruction from the best musicians. "
Nationally, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been a pacesetter in developing community programs for adult instrumentalists. It offers daylong clinics with BSO musicians and a Rusty Musicians program in which community members sit side-by-side with the pros from the orchestra for an informal rehearsal. The orchestra also sponsors an eight-day immersive camp in which high-level amateurs, drawn from across the country, receive coaching from BSO musicians, attend master classes, rehearse chamber music and orchestral repertoire and play concerts. The Minnesota Orchestra has run a similar fantasy camp.
The Boston Symphony uses a lottery system to select participants for a four-day program in which a full orchestra of musicians rehearses three times and performs a concert. The San Francisco Symphony used to host instrumental and choral workshops for adults, but budget cuts have put the program on hiatus.
Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras in New York, said that programs for avocational musicians can foster creativity among people already interested in classical music and broaden the orchestra's relationships. "And it’s a two-way street," he said. "The musicians receive a vital outlet for making music in fellowship, while the orchestra develops a committed base.”
Back at the Max, the second hour of Tuesday's rehearsal brought the full orchestra together with the DSO coaches sitting in their respective sections for added support. The ensemble ran through the pieces that comprise Sunday's 30-minute concert program. Some passages bloomed with polished expression; others remained a work in progress. But nobody was just going through the motions.
"I'm just shy of tears thinking of this opportunity," cellist Jasmine James said after rehearsal. At 25, she teaches music in grades 3 through 8 at a charter school in Detroit. "Sure we just had to sign up, but it's invaluable. I'll be back for more and more semesters to come. "
Contact Mark Stryker: 313-222-6459 or [email protected]
1:30 p.m. Sunday The Cube
Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center
3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit
313-576-5111 www.dso.org
Free admission
For more information on how to join the Detroit Community Orchestra and other programs of the DSO's Wu Family Academy, go to www.dso.org/wfa.
2016-12-03 00:36 Mark Stryker rssfeeds.freep.com
47 /53 1.4 Local man's singing gives cancer patient strength to dance WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - Kenny Sway is known to many in D. C. as the guy who's sings Adele outside of the Chinatown metro.
The Maryland native is always singing, and people are often talking about it on social media.
That's exactly what they're doing right now, but this time it's different.
They aren't sharing a video of Kenny Sway singing for a major crowd or a sidewalk full of strangers. They're sharing a video of him singing to a woman with Stage 4 breast cancer.
He says the woman's name is "Ms. Amanda" and she's the mother of one of his friends.
He drove to her home in Northeast, D. C. and did what he does best - sing.
"When I opened up my mouth," Sway began, "it's like the spirit just moved her and that's when she started dancing. It's like she was getting her strength back. "
In the video, Ms. Amanda can be seen slowly standing up. As she carefully stands next to her bed, Sway begins to sing a song and Ms. Amanda starts to dance.
"I thought she was just going to lay there," he told WUSA9. "But when I started singing her favorite song, [by] Smokey Robinson, she just got up as if nothing was wrong. " "Music moves, you know. In many different ways. "
Sway says he didn't do it for the attention. He wasn't paid to preform and just wanted to be their for a friend, but he says it's "beautiful" to know other people are seeing it.
"It a beautiful thing because it's positive," he said. "You know people can relate because there are some people out here really struggling with cancer or may have a loved one who's struggling with it. "
"It's a beautiful thing to see... a cancer patient that's Stage 4 can get up and move. "
2016-12-03 00:31 Ellison Barber rssfeeds.wusa9.com
48 /53 1.1 Hidden Hospital Costs Leave Some Patients With Sticker Shock NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Can you imagine paying $15 for one Tylenol, $8 for a tissue or $50 for a tongue depressor?
If a store charged those prices, you’d probably find somewhere else to shop. But as CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez reported, those are actual hidden hospital fees.
“Seventeen thousand dollars is roughly what you would pay for a decent used car,” Ryan Edgerton said.
It’s also the cost of a handful of stitches and a tetanus shot at Bayonne Medical Center, according to a medical bill he received.
His sticker shock is not all that uncommon.
Baer Hanusz-Rajkowski was equally shocked by a bill from Bayonne for a cut to his finger that didn’t require any stitches at all.
“Nine thousand dollars is a lot to eat for a band-aid,” he said.
“That’s why we are in the crisis that we are in with health care,” said Pat Palmer, who runs a company that negotiates health care costs on behalf of patients.
She said she’s seen it all.
“Fifty-three thousand for the trauma team that never performed one thing,” Palmer said.
You might recall hearing about the $39 “skin to skin” fee for a nurse to hand a newborn to his mother at a Utah hospital. Palmer said that’s just another way to pad a patient’s bill. She also takes issue with the wording of some hospital bills. For example, would you know what a “mucus recovery system” is?
“That would be a box of Kleenex,” Palmer said.
Martin Gaynor, an economist who specializes in health care costs, said hospitals, just like any other business, need to turn a profit to pay for overhead like salaries, equipment and regulatory compliance.
“Hospitals live and die on sales revenues,” he said. “The total charges, which are like a sticker price on a car, that’s what the hospital asks but not what they actually get paid.”
Gaynor said typically insurance companies will negotiate with hospitals over these “list prices” or “aspirational charges,” as they’re called.
“They get paid what are often called allowed amounts,” he said. “Usually a fraction of the charges.”
Additionally, a spokesperson for Carepoint Health System, which oversees Bayonne Medical Center, told CBS2 that when hospitals have a lot of uninsured or under-insured patients, some costs shift to the private payers.
At the end of the day, both Edgerton and Hanusz-Rajkowski were billed less than $1,000 out of pocket for their care, but still say it was too much.
2016-12-03 00:30 newyork.cbslocal.com
49 /53 1.0 Joy on streets as Gambia's Jammeh toppled in presidential election Gambia's strongman president of 22 years has conceded defeat in his country's election, hours after news of the result sent thousands to celebrate in the streets in an unprecedented display of disdain for his rule.
With state television cameras rolling, Yahya Jammeh called the winner, opposition coalition leader Adama Barrow, on a mobile phone to praise the election and vow not to contest the result.
"Allah is telling me my time is up and I hand over graciously with gratitude toward the Gambian people and gratitude toward you," he said.
Jammeh, a man long accused of heading a government that tortures opponents and silences all dissent, was jovial during the call, promising to help Mr Barrow through the transition period before retiring to his home village to begin a new life as a farmer.
It was a stunning turn of events in a country where critics have long alleged votes are rigged. Just five years ago Jammeh said he could stay in power for a billion years.
According to the electoral commission's tally, Mr Barrow received 45% of Thursday's vote compared with Jammeh's 36%.
Many Gambians stayed up all night listening to the radio and tallying results as they were read out constituency by constituency.
Once the results were announced on Friday, some tore down posters of Jammeh as the military stood by and men in pick-up trucks rode through the streets of Banjul screaming: "Freedom! Freedom! "
For the tens of thousands watching abroad from political exile, it was a day they thought might never come.
Speaking by phone from Washington, Gambian activist Pasamba Jow said the election was a "great victory" for the country and the entire African continent, though he anticipated a "difficult task of rebuilding our country and healing our nation".
White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price congratulated Mr Barrow and welcomed Jammeh's concession, saying the country's first democratic transfer of power was a "moment of great opportunity".
"The United States looks forward to being a strong partner in efforts to unify the country," he said. Eight opposition parties united behind Mr Barrow, a former businessman, and the campaign period featured large opposition rallies.
Nevertheless, Jammeh had projected confidence, saying his victory was all but assured by God and predicting "the biggest landslide in the history of the country" after he voted.
"We are happy to be free," said Omar Amadou Jallow, an opposition leader for the People's Progressive Party, which joined the coalition that backed Mr Barrow.
"We are able to free the Gambian people from the clutches of dictatorship and we are now going to make sure Gambia becomes a bastion of peace and coalition. Our foundation will be based on national reconciliation. "
Jammeh came to power in a coup in 1994 and then swept elections in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 after a 2002 constitutional amendment removed presidential term limits. Critics say those earlier elections were not free and fair.
All internet and international phone service was cut on election day in what Jammeh's government said was a bid to thwart unrest.
Jammeh's removal demonstrates that even Africa's most entrenched leaders can be brought down if opposition politicians overcome their divisions, said Jeffrey Smith, a human rights activist and founding director of Vanguard Africa, a US-based group that worked with Gambia's opposition coalition. "This is going to have resonance way beyond the tiny borders of Gambia," he said, describing the result as "a momentous occasion for the region writ large".
AP
2016-12-03 00:21 Press Association www.independent.ie
50 /53 1.9 Owner of Rock Hill music store to close business after 40 years Don Murfin received AARP’s top volunteer award, the Andrus Award. Murfin runs three cafes in two York County communities, Lake Wylie and Fort Mill, serving free meals and encouraging fellowship. Murfin was presented with the award at Sisk Memorial Baptist Church in Fort Mill.
Hundreds of people gathered Thursday in downtown Rock Hill for the first day of ChristmasVille — a four-day Christmas festival that transforms Old Town Rock Hill into a wintry wonderland. School choirs and bands performed at the Rock Hill City Hall amphitheater and Mayor Doug Echols read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to families bundled in blankets and coats. High-kicking dancers in Santa costumes and Santa himself entertained the crowd. The festival continues through Sunday.
Kevin DeJesus, 22, accused of killing a Charlotte greenhouse owner at his Lake Wylie SC home in January, agreed to a plea deal Thursday under which he would be sentenced to 12 years for involuntary manslaughter. Attorneys said the victim, Jesse Campbell, owner of Campbell's Greenhouse in the Dillworth area, tried to sexually assault the shooter.
Rock Hill and Charlotte reporters joined forces with the York County Sheriff's Department Wednesday for the third annual media police academy in York. Members of the media strapped on bullet-proof vests and other police gear to learn what it takes to be a law enforcement officer.
Oakridge Middle School Assistant Principal Nicole Thompson was honored by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators Nov. 30 as the 2017 South Carolina Middle Level Assistant Principal of the Year.
Gov. Nikki Haley made another visit to Fort Mill Wednesday to help officially open the LPL Financial high-rise and campus In Kingsley II near downtown. Haley is no stranger to Kingsley, having attended groundbreaking and ribbon cutting events at the Fort Mill commerce site.
Ryley Hufford, 2, and his grandparents, Cindy and James Hufford of Rock Hill, received a special chair Tuesday from All Things Possible Ministries. Ryley was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes digestion problems, low muscle tone and other issues, his grandparents say. The community came together to help raise $6,500 for a chair to help his grandparents, who provide around-the-clock care.
Ray Degraffenreid, one of two men convicted in a 1973 Chester murder that they and police say they did not commit, addressed a parole board Tuesday at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. The board then voted to parole Degraffenreid. A second man convicted in the murder, James Robert McClurkin, was released on parole earlier this month.
An early morning fire at Brittany Place Apartments off West Main Street near Herlong Avenue in Rock Hill displaced 20 residents. Several apartment units were gutted and 12 were damaged, Rock Hill fire officials said.
The Smith family enjoyed a once in a lifetime trip to Walt Disney World in late September thanks to Ace
2016-12-03 00:16 www.heraldonline.com
51 /53 2.1 In Macedonia's fake news hub, this teen shows how it's done VELES, Macedonia -- On the second floor of a noisy sports center in the Macedonian town of Veles, a teenage purveyor of fake news cracked open his laptop and laid out his case for why lying is more lucrative than the truth.
Real news gets reported everywhere, he argued. Made-up stories are unique.
“The fake news is the good news,” the 18-year-old said, pointing to a graph showing his audience figures, which reached into the hundreds of thousands, a bling watch clasped firmly around his wrist. “A fake news article is way more opened than any other.”
As President Barack Obama, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg , journalists and academics argue over the impact of social media-driven propaganda on the latest American election, this sleepy former manufacturing town overlooking the Vardar River in central Macedonia has found itself increasingly drawn into the debate.
Fake news websites and stories are flooding the internet. Be careful out there. Here are some to keep an eye out for.
BuzzFeed News identified Veles as a hub of the fake news industry seeding sensationalized or falsified information across Facebook. A reporter from Britain’s Channel 4 News chased the industry’s adolescent kingpins across town, cornering one 16-year-old fake news baron who said he had no plans to stop — even though he acknowledged it was wrong. But there were no such qualms from the teenager who spoke to The Associated Press at Veles’ Gemdidzii Sports Hall.
Retreating from a spirited indoor soccer game into an empty office, he walked an AP journalist through the ins-and-outs of his fake news operation on condition that neither he nor his stable of bogus news sites would be identified, because otherwise that would hurt his business.
He showed the AP how he ripped much of his material off The Political Insider, a right-wing news site that produces a steady drumbeat of pro-Donald Trump pieces. He then flipped over to Google Analytics , an audience tracking tool, to show that he’d managed to gather more than 685,000 page views a week.
Facebook is promising changes to fight the spread of misinformation and fake news on the social network. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is layin...
The teen said his monthly revenue was in the four figures, a considerable sum in a country where the average monthly pay is 360 euros ($383). As he navigated his site’s statistics, he dropped nuggets of journalism advice.
“You have to write what people want to see, not what you want to show,” he said, scrolling through The Political Insider’s stories as a large banner read “ARREST HILLARY NOW.”
Using the web intelligence service Domain Tools, the AP confirmed that the teen is behind more than a dozen different websites, including knockoffs of well-known U. S. media outlets. Typical headlines include “Wow! Queen Elizabeth Invited Trump - This Is A Game Changer” or “BREAKING: What George Soros Just Did Will Leave You SICK!” Both pieces carried untrue or questionable assertions.
A simple Domain Tools search revealed roughly 200 U. S.-oriented news websites registered in Veles, most created within the last 12 months.
These sites tend to follow one of two patterns: Some masquerade as well-known outlets like The New York Times or Fox News, while others operate under made-in-America-sounding names like USA Daily News 24. That latter site’s lead story — “ Michelle Obama DEMANDS Americans PAY UP To Give Her Mom A Cushy $160k Pension” — is entirely false.
A message seeking comment from USA Daily News 24’s administrator, Goran Trajkov, was not immediately returned.
Most of the sites appear fueled by plagiarism. Stories are cribbed from blogs, conspiracy sites and fake news outlets, and reposted across social media.
For the residents of Veles, a Macedonian rust belt town of 50,000 people with shuttered factories and high unemployment, the thousands of dollars brought in by fake news operations aren’t necessarily unwelcome.
“They see it in a positive way,” said local journalist Petar Peckov. “They say, ‘The boys are working. There is money and we will benefit from it.’”
For everyone else on Facebook, Veles’ new cottage industry means a bewildering assault of misinformation and propaganda. “Telling real from fake is difficult when people are intentionally trying to mask this from you,” said Robyn Caplan, a researcher at Data & Society, a New York-based institute that studies the cultural impact of technological change.
“The headlines that this Macedonian guy was using would have, could have been found a few years ago on something like — not in the same political sentiment — on Upworthy or on Elite Daily” she said in a telephone interview, referring to two websites that pioneered the viral news phenomenon. “They’re building off of practices that people have become really used to.”
The Macedonian teenager says he’s indifferent to politics. He sees it all as a money-making scheme, as well as a preparation for his career after high school, where he has been studying marketing and politics.
Shrugging off the handwringing over the ethics of fake news , he said the onus was on readers.
“They can read it if they want to,” he said. “I’m not the one pushing them to click on the article.”
2016-12-03 00:13 AP www.cbsnews.com
52 /53 0.1 Queensland MP George Christensen on provocative Good Weekend photo shoot Controversial MP George Christensen has shrugged off his new found fame after a photo of him wearing a blue singlet with a whip slung over his shoulder emerged. Mr Christensen, who appeared in a feature for Good Weekend on Saturday, said the jokes made at his expense were simply 'water off a duck's back'. The image went viral after it was first shared on social media on Wednesday afternoon, prompting ABC News Breakfast host Virginia Trioli to describe it as 'an astonishing portrait that will go down in Australian political history'. 'Mixed messages much? This is, bar none, the gayest image I've ever seen. Totally could pass for one of my lesbian mates,' she said. 'I know what my next film role is. I will play George Christensen in bio-pic of his life as a closet sadism and masochism lesbian.' The photo was controversial, but that's exactly what Fairfax photographer Andrew Meares intended when he dreamt up the concept. Mr Meares described the politician as a 'complex character'. He said the whip symbolised his influence as the National party's 'chief whip' and his exposed Coptic icon tattoo told the story of his faith. Mr Meares said his aim was to capture the provocative MP as he was, no bells or whistles. And provoke it did. Since first shared on Wednesday, Mr Christensen's Twitter account has been overrun with comments and even cartoons ridiculing the MP's photo shoot. Cartoonist Harry Bruce created an image which depicted One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson 'swooning' over the MP and pleading with him to sign the cover photo for her. With the cartoon, it's believed Mr Bruce was alluding to the two politicians' shared far right stance. 2016-12-03 00:10 Kate Darvall www.dailymail.co.uk
53 /53 1.7 Khloe Kardashian demonstrates how to get a 'Better Butt' in 90s-style workout video Khloé Kardashian demonstrated how to get a 'Better Butt' in a nineties-style VHS-taped workout video for Vogue. The grainy two-minute clip featuring six toning moves from the 32-year-old reality star has amassed 49K views on YouTube since being uploaded Thursday. 'These are a few of my favourite sculpting moves to help you look great in a pair of jeans,' said the Strong Looks Better Naked author. Scroll down for video 'Remember, you guys never regret doing your workout, you only regret not doing your workout.' Khloé has long insisted her 5ft10in hourglass figure came from daily gym sessions with trainers Don Brooks and Gunnar Peterson as well as organ- squashing corsets from Waist Gang Society. But if fans compare the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star's famously large rear-end with any picture dated before 2013, it appears she's had injections or implants. 'Sorry 2disappoint!' the half-Armenian socialite - who boasts 100.2M followers - tweeted back in 2014. 'I've always had an a**. I know its more fun 2believe its not real, kind of a compliment since I kill myself in the gym.' In a surreal episode of KUWTK last year, Kim Kardashian West and Kendall Jenner casually snacked on cookies as Khloé underwent OptiLipo to remove cellulite at Dr. Simon Ourian's Epione clinic. At a Fortune Q&A panel on Tuesday, Kardashian said 'f*** that' at the idea of her ever being considered 'plus size.' 'I don't want to be called that. I'm a woman with curves,' the Calabasas presenter balked. 'And what I would say was average size at the time. I was very proud of who I was. I felt so shamed at the time to go into boutiques and denim shopping. It was something that was super hard for me.' The Kocktails with Khloé host decided to launch her own denim collection Good American - offering sizes 00 to 24 - in October with Emma Grede. Following the April 4 cancellation of her FYI talk show, Kardashian focused on her six-episode E! makeover series called Revenge Body, which premieres January 12.
2016-12-03 00:10 Cassie Carpenter www.dailymail.co.uk
Total 53 articles.
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Created at 2016-12-03 12:05